Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

Life and Deeds of Emperor Basil I

867-886 A.D.

Translated from Greek by Ihor Sevcenko

 

 

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND DEEDS OF EMPEROR BASIL OF GLORIOUS MEMORY WHICH HIS GRANDSON CONSTANTINE, BY THE GRACE OF GOD EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS, ASSIDUOUSLY GATHERED FROM VARIOUS ACCOUNTS AND SUBMITTED TO THE PRESENT WRITER

 

1. It has long been an eager wish of mine to instil the experience and knowledge of public affairs into the minds of men of excellence through the ever-memorable and immortal voice of history; and I intended to record—assuming I would be able to do so—the more noteworthy deeds accomplished throughout the entire duration of Roman rule in the city of Byzantium: the deeds of emperors, of officials serving under them, of generals and their lieutenants, and so on in detail. But as the undertaking would have required considerable time, concentrated effort, an abundant supply of books, and respite from a life of action, and these were not available to me, I was reduced to choosing the next best course: which was, for the time being, to narrate the deeds and the entire conduct of but one emperor, from his beginnings to his very end—the one who raised the power of the imperial office to lofty heights, whose very name derives from the word for “empire,” and who greatly benefited the Roman state and its affairs. In that way posterity would not be kept in ignorance of the first seed and root of that imperial stem which has been growing for such a long span of time, and thus would a standard of virtue— a statue, and a model for imitation—be erected for his progeny within their own halls. Should I, however, be granted more time to live, obtain some small respite from my illnesses, and freedom from external obstacles, I might perhaps add a sequel and narrate the whole history of his descendants down to my own time.

2.        Now Emperor Basil—for he is the one whom our work intends to present—hailed from Macedonia, but traced his origins to the nation of the Armenians and his lineage back to the Arsacids. For since the ancient Arsaces, the ruler of the Parthians, had attained great glory and virtue, a law had existed in successive generations, by virtue of which the kings of the Parthians, Armenians, and even Medes had to be drawn from no other race than that of Arsaces and his descendants. While the aforementioned nations were being governed by this dynasty, it happened that one time when the ruler of the Armenians had left this life, a struggle ensued over the crown and the succession to that realm. As a result, Artabanos and Kleienes, who had not only been banished from the realm ruled by their forefathers, but were in peril of their very lives, came to our imperial city of Constantinople. At that time Leo the Elder, father-in-law of Zeno, held sway over the Roman Empire. He received these men, welcomed them warmly and in a manner worthy of their noble station, and assigned to them suitable quarters and provisions in the capital. When the ruler who at that time reigned over the Persian empire learned that these men had fled their fatherland, had found refuge in our imperial city, and had been graciously received by its sovereigns, he attempted to summon them back by letter. He pretended benevolence toward them and promised to reinstate them on the throne of their forefathers; in fact, he sought in this way to secure the subjection of their nation to himself. After our men received the letter and were still pondering their course of action, the fact was disclosed to the emperor by one of their servants, and the letter was handed over to him. When the matter became known—namely that the Persian was summoning our men with the intent not so much of restoring the rule to them as of subjugating their nation, which would have been of advantage neither to those who were being summoned nor to the interests of the Roman state—measures were taken to prevent the Persians from carrying out their designs. To that end the emperor, advancing a plausible excuse, somewhat reduced the ease with which our men could escape (should they attempt to do so): they were resettled, together with their wives and children—for these, too, had been secretly brought by them at a later date—in Nike, a city in Macedonia, on the pretext that they would enjoy more space and comfort there. When, with the passage of time, the power of the Saracens began to increase, the caliph of the day proposed a similar undertaking to the descendants of the earlier Arsacids: he, too, summoned them by letter, ostensibly to come back and claim their ancestral power and domain. This scheme, too, was exposed to Heraclius, emperor of the time, and the letters were handed over to him. He realized that the summons had been issued not out of good will toward these people, but for the purpose of enlarging the domain of those who set such machinations in motion for the Saracens hoped that once they had these people on their side, they could subdue their nation with ease, because of the affection it bore toward Arsaces of old. The emperor therefore transferred them again—this time to Philippi (which, too, happened to be a Macedonian city), where they would be more secure. Afterward, Heraclius moved them again from there to Adrianople, ostensibly to offer them superior living conditions and status. Finding that that place suited them well, they banded together into a clan and tribe of their own, as it were; multiplied, and became quite prosperous. They also preserved the purity of their ancestral stock by keeping it free of any admixture.

3.        Years later, when Constantine ruled together with his mother Irene, the renowned Maiktes came to our much admired city of Constantinople on an embassy or some other business; he, too, was an Arsacid by blood. Through a chance encounter, he met a compatriot of his named Leo, and recognized from his outward appearance and distinctive apparel that he was no lowly and insignificant person, but rather a noble and prominent man. Maiktes kept company with Leo and found it familiar and congenial. When he had learned about Leo’s origins and heard of the Arsacid community living in Adrianople, he chose a foreign country over his own homeland, on account of that man’s virtues; and he became Leo’s in-law, by taking one of his daughters to wife. The offspring of this marriage was the father of the man who is the subject of the present narrative. He was well brought up, and after admirable training and education came to man’s estate; excelling in vigor and bodily strength, and endowed with all kinds of virtues, he kindled in many people the desire to befriend him and to attach him to themselves through the bonds of marriage. A certain noble and seemly woman who dwelt in Adrianople and had led a chaste life of widowhood since the death of her husband (reports, not quite unreliable, circulated that she traced her lineage back to Constantine the Great) appeared to him preferable to the others, both and those among whom they dwelt, and for that reason he took to wife her daughter, who excelled in nobility and bodily beauty, and was graced with modesty. From this couple did Basil, that imperial root, spring forth: on his father’s side he traced his ancestry, as has already been mentioned, back to Arsaces, while his mother con one side proudly claimed descent from Constantine the Great and on the other side boasted the splendid ancestry of Alexander. As the scion of such parentage, Basil straightaway displayed many harbingers of future glory: as his first hair began to grow, a scarlet headband was to be seen around his head and a purple border around his swaddling clothes.

4.        Until that time, the clan of Arsaces’s descendants constituted a separate tribe, as it were, and resided in Adrianople, though on occasion perhaps forming bonds of marriage with local inhabitants. But then the famous Krum, ruler of the Bulgarians, insolently broke the truce with the Romans, built siege earthworks around Adrianople, beleaguered it for a long time, made it surrender on terms after its supplies had been exhausted, and transferred all its inhabitants, including Manuel, its archbishop, to Bulgaria. It happened then that the parents of Basil (who was still in swaddling clothes) were also carried off, along with the others, into the land of the Bulgarians. There, the admirable prelate and his flock preserved their Christian faith in all its purity and converted many Bulgarians to the true faith in Christ (for that nation had not yet been converted to the right belief); they sowed the seeds of Christian teaching in many places, drawing the Scythians away from their pagan error and leading them toward the light of the knowledge of God. For this reason, Mutragon, Krum’s successor, was moved to anger against them and, after subjecting them to much torture, delivered the most holy Manuel, and many others similarly denounced, to a martyr’s death, for he had failed in his attempts to persuade them to abandon Christ. And thus it happened that many of Basil’s relatives attained the glory of martyrdom, so that he, too, shared in the honor coming therefrom. But soon God visited His people and granted them their departure; for the ruler of the Bulgarians was not long able to withstand the Roman armies, and inclined again toward submission. When the Christian flock, about to be released to go home, were gathered in front of that ruler, he, seeing the child Basil, so noble in his appearance, smiling winningly and frolicking about, drew him to himself and gave him an apple of wondrous size. The child, utterly guileless and at the same time confident, rested on the ruler’s lap and displayed his high breeding by his natural manners. This amazed the ruler, but his followers were filled with secret anger against him. To make a long story short, by God’s favor the whole Christian flock that had been taken into captivity left for their homes, as did the parents of Basil, along with their most beloved child.

5.        A wondrous thing, an intimation of his later fortunes, happened to him in his very tender years; and it would ill behoove me, I think, to pass it over in silence. At harvest time his parents went out to their fields and were overseeing the reapers and urging them on to vigorous labor. When the day was drawing toward noon and the sun was sending forth most intensely its burning midday rays, they built a kind of shelter out of sheaves and put the child into it so that he might sleep there and pass the heat of the day unharmed by the scorching sun. While they were busy with the reapers, an eagle swooped down, perched above the child, spread its wings, and provided shade for him. When those who saw it cried out “The eagle might bring death to the child,” the mother, affectionate and child-loving as mothers are, forthwith ran toward her offspring. Though she saw that the eagle was procuring shade for the baby with its wings, and that it was not frightened by her approach, but was looking upon her with a kindly eye, she could come up with no better thought on the spur of the moment than to hurl a stone at the bird. At that, the eagle flew up and was gone, or so it seemed. When she returned to her husband and the workers, the eagle was there again, casting its shadow over the child just as before; and once more, in like fashion, a cry went up from among the onlookers, the mother rushed toward the baby, the eagle was frightened away by the hurled stone, and the mother returned to the workers. Since, however, Providence wished to reveal with all clarity that this was happening not as a mindless accident of chance, but by Divine Foreknowledge, the same thing was repeated for yet a third time: the eagle swooping toward the child, the onlookers crying out, the mother rushing toward the eagle, and the reluctant eagle being forced to depart. In such a way does God always, well before great events occur, introduce certain symbolic intimations of what is to come. The same thing would not infrequently happen to Basil in his later childhood as well, for he was quite often found with an eagle spreading its shadow over him while he was asleep. Still, at that time this attracted almost no attention, for before his virtues were revealed, the portents, striking as they were, went unheeded and unnoticed, since it could not have occurred to anyone that such a momentous event would ever happen in a family of simple and humble people. However, dwelling at too great a length on such matters will perhaps seem not far removed from the ways of a flatterer, and in our narrative we might possibly appear to busy ourselves with such subjects owing to a shortage of virtues in Basil himself. We shall therefore pass over all stories of this kind, as well as all that pertains to his boyhood. Let us instead speedily move our story towards subsequent events, spum­ing the surfeit of praise along with other blameworthy things.

6.        The boy, then, was brought up by his father, who was his guide in things to be done; his mentor and teacher in things to be said; and his master in all that was excellent and praiseworthy. Thus the boy was in no need of Cheiron, that half-man and half-beast, as Achilles had been, or of Lycurgus the lawgiver, or of Solon; nor did he need to go abroad to receive foreign education: rather, it was the one who had begotten him who was his sole trainer in the best of good things: in piety and reverence toward the Godhead, in respect and obedience toward his parents, in deference to his elders, in pure good will toward his contemporaries and kinsmen, in submission to the mighty, and in charity toward the poor. Thus brightly did he shine in all kinds of virtues, appearing both moderate and courageous from his youth; he loved fairness coupled with prudence and greatly honored both, never showing arrogance toward a man of humbler station. All this brought him universal good will, and he was beloved by all and dear to everyone.

7.        When he had already passed the years of childhood and reached the age of adolescence and was about to turn to more manly pursuits, the father who had begotten him departed this life and moved to the world beyond. As was to be expected, mourning and wailing invaded the household: the mother was a widow, and our most worthy Basil, an orphan, all of which gave rise to grief and feelings of oppression. There followed, furthermore, a swarm of worries over the handling of practical matters, for right away all caring for the household and providing for his mother and siblings devolved upon him. The income derived from fanning seemed to him insufficient and mean; for that reason, he made plans to go to the capital, and to display his talents there. In this way he would provide for his own necessities and those of his dependents, and would show them his eminently beneficial patronage and forethought. For he realized that in large cities (especially those which are capitals), people of talent are held in high esteem and those who surpass others in some respect obtain recognition through advancement to a more distinguished station in life, while in obscure and humble towns, as well as in the rural way of life, virtues become tarnished and fade away; because they are neither displayed nor admired, they go to waste and wither away. For this reason, a move to the capital seemed to him both profitable and expedient; however, he held back, restrained by his love for his mother and by his desire to lighten her burdens, especially since she herself bore “hopes that sustain old age” and required due aid and assistance at close quarters.

8.       Since, however, Divine counsel was to prevail and our hero was to move step by step along the path leading up to his preordained destiny, his mother had a vision in a dream that persuaded her to give in to him and to yield to his fervent wish to set out for the City; more than that, in the end it was she who urged him on, persuading him to go to the capital and display there the flowering of his soul and the advantages of his noble mind. For once the mother fancied in a dream that a huge plant sprouted forth from her—just as the mother of Cyrus had seen the vine. That plant, then, stood by her house in full bloom and heavy with fruit; the large trunk that rose from the ground was of gold, while its branches and leaves were gold-like. She described her vision to a close friend of hers who was reputed to have been successful in interpreting such things, and heard from him that the vision portended that a brilliant and great fortune was awaiting her son. A short time afterward she again had a dream in which she saw an old man, fire issuing from his mouth, who plainly told her: “God will hand over the scepter of the Roman empire to your beloved son Basil; you should persuade him to go to Constantinople.” When she heard these glad tidings, her heart melted, and she was filled with joy; she bowed before the old man and said to him, “Who art thou, my lord, who hast not disdained to appear before thy servant, but hast brought such cheery tidings to me?” And he said, “I am Elijah the Tishbite,” and took wing, disappearing from her sight. The mother awoke and, elated and fired, as it were, by this propitious vision—or, to put it more appropriately, by this divine revelation—began herself to encourage her son and to send him on his way to the capital; and mother that she was, she admonished and entreated him to keep the fear of God in his soul at all times, always to believe that the eye of Providence was watching over his every deed and thought, to attempt nothing unworthy of such a supervision, but rather to display his virtues through proper demeanor and in no wise to bring dishonor to his noble ancestry.

9.        Basil, then, set out from the Macedonian region of Thrace and journeyed to our city that holds sway over all others, where he wished to approach some powerful and prominent man and to have himself enlisted and appointed as one of his servants or attendants. He covered the distance that lay between, arrived at the Golden Gate of the imperial city, entered through it as the day was coming to an end, and drew near the monastery of St. Diomedes, which happened to be close by. As he was greatly wearied from his journey, without further ado he threw himself down somewhere on the bench in front of the gate and was resting there. Around the time of the first vigil of the night, the martyr Diomedes appeared in a dream to the abbot of the monastery and ordered him to go out to the gate and call out the name “Basil.” Whoever answered the call should be brought into the monastery, deemed worthy of care, provided by the abbot with food, shelter, and clothing, and his needs should be given all possible attention; for God had anointed him to be emperor, and he was to contribute to the restoration and growth of the monastery in question. The abbot, holding the vision to be a vain illusion and an empty figment of his imagination, took no account of it and turned over to sleep again. But then, he saw and heard similar things a second time. As he apparently still did not come to his senses, sluggish and drowsy as he was, he saw the martyr for the third time, no longer exhorting him gently and serenely, but fiercely threatening him and attempting, or so it seemed, to apply the whip if he did not carry out forthwith what he had been told to do. Only then, as if recovering himself and shaking off sleep, that neighbor of death, from his eyes, did the abbot betake himself to the gate and, following the martyr’s bidding, call out the name, “Basil!” The latter straightaway answered, “Here I am, my lord. What orders do you have for your servant?” The abbot took him into the monastery, and seeing that Basil was filthy and disheveled, and that his face showed long exposure to the sun, he provided him with suitable care and attendance and treated him with perfect humanity. Then, having instructed Basil to keep the secret to himself and divulge it to no one (for the matter was fraught with danger), he revealed to him the prediction of the martyr and enjoined Basil to remember him when the prophecy should be fulfilled. Basil, however, seemed not even to acknowledge the message, deeming the matter far above his station. He requested instead that the abbot help him to obtain access to some notable, so that he could enter his service, and the abbot eagerly undertook this task. Since a relative of Emperor Michael and of Caesar Bardas, a man fondly nicknamed Theophilitzis, and surnamed Paideuomenos, was well acquainted with that monastery and was a frequent and friendly visitor to it, the abbot recommended Basil to him. As it happened, this little Theophilos was a man of high spirit, nor was he devoid of pride; he therefore strove to surround himself with men of excellence, handsome and tall in stature, men above all outstanding in courage and strength of body; and he derived a great deal of pride and satisfaction from these people: thus, to give an example, one could see them decked out in silken robes, and being conspicuous on account of other kinds of apparel. The young newcomer Basil was enlisted among these, and since he was found to be far superior to others, both in the strength of his body and in the manliness of his soul, Theophilos made him his protostrator. His love for Basil increased day by day, as did his admiration for his superior qualities; for Basil showed his excellence in deeds of hand and his wisdom in matters of soul, and was prompt and efficient in carrying out whatever orders might be given him.

10.      In the meantime his mother, who ceaselessly implored God on his behalf, and was despondent and grieving because she still did not know how he had prospered away from home, again saw in her dream a large tree resembling a cypress. It stood in her courtyard, was thickly covered with gilt foliage, and had a golden trunk and branches; her son Basil was sitting on its crown. When she awoke and day came, she described her vision to a certain pious woman who, like Anna of old, night and day departed not from the temple of God, but gave herself to prayers and fasting. The woman exhorted Basil’s mother to be of good cheer with regard to her son, and, interpreting the vision, declared that it revealed with certainty that “your son will become Emperor of the Romans.” The mother added this latest experience to the earlier ones, and from then on was no longer impatient or saddened on account of Basil, but flourished again, nurtured by high hopes, and awaited succor from above.

11.      It so happened that Basil’s master, Theophilos, had at that time been dispatched to the Peloponnesus by Emperor Michael and Caesar Bardas on some business connected with the public treasury. Basil accompanied his master and assisted him in performing the duties which had been assigned to him. When the aforementioned Theophilos arrived at Patrai in Achaia, he entered the church of Andrew, the first-called apostle, to pray. Basil, however, was apparently attending to his own duties and did not enter with him, but came to the church later and alone, in order that he, too, might render due homage to the apostle. When a certain monk who resided there and spent most of his time in the church of the apostle saw Theophilos enter, he did not rise or say a prayer for him, and did not deign address him with a single word; nor, as might have been expected, did he show awe for Theophilos’s splendid retinue. Later, however, when Basil entered, the monk rose respectfully, as one does before an eminent personage, and addressed him with an acclamation that is usually offered to emperors. Some people who chanced to be there and saw and heard this, reported it to a noble and fabulously wealthy woman of the area, whose name, derived from that of her husband, was Danelis. Since she knew from experience that the monk had been graced with the gift of foresight, she did not disregard what she had been told, but summoned him and upbraided him at length: “Spiritual father, you have known me for a very long time,” she said, “and you are aware, I am sure, that I am of more than ordinary station, that I am prominent among the people of this region, and that I hold the highest rank among them; still, not once did you rise when you saw me, or say a prayer for me; nor have you ever given such an honor either to my son or to my grandson. How is it that now, seeing a man of no account, a stranger known only to a few, you rise to your feet out of respect and honor him as emperor?” That pious monk answered her: “It is not, as you say, that I saw that man as someone of no account; rather, I both rose and acclaimed him because I saw him as a great emperor of the Romans anointed by Christ. For those who are honored by God ought surely to be honored by men as well.” After spending some time in that region, Basil’s master completed the business (having to do with the state treasury) with which he had been entrusted, and was ready to return to the capital; it so chanced, however, that Basil succumbed to a bodily ailment and was left behind. But with proper care he recovered from his illness in time, and was making ready for his return. The aforementioned lady Danelis summoned him and greeted him with many not inconsiderable favors. In an eminently reasonable and wise manner, she dispensed these favors as one casts seeds upon fertile ground, in order to reap a manifold harvest at an opportune time; for she gave him a quantity of gold and thirty slaves to serve him, a considerable wealth of apparel, and a variety of other goods. At first she made no other request of him, save that he should enter into a bond of spiritual brotherhood with her son John. Basil attempted to reject this appeal as one directed to a man above his station, given the lady’s distinguished reputation and his own apparent insignificance, but eventually he did as he had been told, yielding to her repeated and entreaties. Only then did she tell him openly, gaining more confidence, as it were: “God deems you to be a great man and will elevate you to great honor, and I request, indeed beg, nothing else of you than that you have love and mercy for us.” Basil promised that if this were to come to pass he would proclaim her insofar as possible sovereign over all of that land. And thus he departed from there and in turn took the road up to the capital, to rejoin his master. Back home, he purchased large estates in Macedonia with the monies which had accrued to him from the Peloponnesus, and set up his relatives in considerable opulence; he, too, became wealthy, both in virtues and in land and money. Still, he remained with his master and continued to serve him.

12.      One day Antigonos, patrician and domestic of the scholae, gave a sumptuous banquet in the imperial houses that had been built in the courtyard near the imperial palace; he made his own father Bardas both host and guest on that occasions. The caesar invited prominent members of the senate and people from his own entourage, and went to the feast; he also invited the “friends” from Bulgaria who at that time were paying their regular visit to the capital. Basil’s master Theophilos was present at the reception as well, since he, too, was a relative of the caesar. Also in attendance was Constantine the patrician, father of Thomas the patrician, the consummate philosopher and gloriously incorruptible logothete of the course in our own day. Since the Bulgarians, who are almost invariably vainglorious braggarts, happened at that time to have with them a Bulgarian who prided himself on the prowess of his body and was an outstanding wrestler (until then, practically no one who had wrestled with him had been able to throw him in a match), they appeared presumptuous past all endurance on account of their man, and boasted about him beyond measure. As the drinking progressed and good cheer was spread around the table, our little Theophilos said to the caesar: “My lord, I have a man who, with your permission, should wrestle this famous Bulgarian; for it would be a great disgrace to the Romans and no one would be able to endure the Bulgarians’ boasting, if their man should return to Bulgaria undefeated.” When the caesar gave orders that it be so, that Constantine the patrician whom we just mentioned, and who was a close friend of Basil (being himself of Armenian descent), noticed that the spot where the two were to contend was damp, and feared that Basil might perchance slip; he therefore asked the caesar to order sawdust to be strewn on the ground. When this had been done, Basil grappled with the Bulgarian; he quickly squeezed him in a stranglehold, lifted him above the table, and threw him down on it with the ease with which one throws a bundle of hay, weightless and inanimate, or a tuft of wool, light and dry. When this happened, all those present, none excepted, showed Basil respect and admiration. The Bulgarians were also awestruck by his superior skill and power and remained dumbfounded. From that day on, Basil’s fame began to spread ever wider all over the city, his name was on everyone’s lips, and he was the object of everyone’s admiring gaze.

13.      Emperor Michael had a horse that was rebellious, undisciplined, refractory, and proud, but excellent in all other respects: a thoroughbred, large in stature, and admirable for its beauty and speed. If by chance it became untethered or was let loose in any other way, it was most difficult to lay hand upon it again, and the stable­hands had great trouble mastering it. It once happened that the emperor, who had gone out hunting mounted on this horse, struck a hare with a cudgel that he threw by his own hand. Pleased as he was, he at once swiftly dismounted, in order to dispatch the hare. The horse, let loose and left unattended, cantered away, and although many people came running, and were joined by the heads of the stable, by the manglabitae, and by other attendants running along with them, no one was able to catch it; so that the emperor, beside himself with anger, commanded that the horse’s hind legs be hamstrung if it were to be caught. Caesar Bardas, who was present, pleaded with the emperor that such an excellent horse should not needlessly be destroyed on account of a single fault. Basil, who was there together with his master, said to the latter: “If I overtake the emperor’s horse and mount him by jumping off my own, will the emperor be indignant at me, since his horse is decked out with imperial trappings?” When the emperor was notified and gave his permission that this be done, Basil accomplished the feat with ready skill. When the emperor saw this, he was greatly pleased with Basil’s courage, native cleverness, and wisdom, and immediately took him over from little Theophilos, to enroll him among the imperial stratores. He lavished attention upon him and grew fond of him, for he saw how greatly Basil surpassed others in all things. For that reason, after Basil had distinguished himself in front of him on many occasions, the emperor promoted him to the office of protostrator.

14.      Following these events, a hunting party was announced for the so-called Philopation. The protostrator, in accordance with protocol, rode ahead of the emperor, carrying the imperial mace, commonly called the bardoukion, at his belt. While the attendants of the hunt were noisily scaring up the game, a wolf of truly prodigious dimensions leaped out of the thicket, sending nearly everyone into a state of panic and confusion. Basil rushed forward against the beast, hurled the imperial bardoukion at it from behind, struck the animal’s head in the middle, and split it in two. The caesar, who according to custom was riding behind the emperor and saw what had happened, remarked to some of the friends and acquaintances who were accompanying him: “I think this man will prove the undoing of our whole race.” He inferred this from Basil’s success and good fortune in all things, which had elicited the emperor’s favorable disposition toward him. More than that, it is also reported that the caesar repeatedly inquired of Leo, who at that time excelled in all branches of science, concerning these things and that at first he heard from him: “I find that a certain youth will prove the undoing of your race”; later on, as  Basil was coming into prominence, Leo pointed to him with his finger and said: “This one happens to be the very man whom I said would become the successor to you all.” Henceforth the caesar was suspicious of Basil and set traps for him, even though he was powerless to undo any of the things already ordained by Divine Will. For fate is not so much unexpected as it is ineluctable. These things may have been related as a digression; yet they remain well within the scope of our subject.

15.      Shortly afterward, the emperor, who was fond of hunting, again crossed over to the place called Armamentarea, both for the sake of the chase and for a modest outing. At some point, refreshments having been privately served, the emperor was seated at table together with his mother Theodora, his relatives, and those members of the senate who belonged to his inner circle; and by the request of the emperor the protostrator was invited as well. After Basil sat down, Empress Theodora began to cast frequent and intense glances in his direction, to fasten her eyes on him, and to contemplate and inspect him most carefully. Having recognized some marks on him, little by little she fell into a faint, so that she had to be sprinkled with water and her breathing was barely restored with the help of rose drops; at which those present retired. When thus revived she had come to herself again, her son the emperor asked her what had happened to her and why she had been so overcome by this sudden distraction. With difficulty she calmed her tumultuous thoughts, regained her composure, and said: “The man whom you call Basil, Sire and child, is the very man who is to cause the utter destruction of our race; so I heard from your father. For this man has the marks that your father said our successor would have. That is why I became so distraught and fainted, for I grasped the whole thing in my mind and beheld, as it were, our ruin with my own eyes.” The emperor tried to allay his mother’s fears, to calm her down, and to console her, by saying: “You have it all wrong, mother; this man is an artless simpleton; all he has is valor, as did Samson of old, and he is nothing more than some Enoch or Nimrod who has reappeared in our own day. Have no fears on his account, and harbor no suspicion of evil.” This is how Basil, guarded by God, escaped such a great storm at that time.

16.      In those days the emperor had Patrician Damianos the eunuch, a Slav by origin, as his chamberlain. Greatly devoted to his master, Damianos often reported to the emperor that certain people were improperly managing public affairs and, in particular, that the emperor’s uncle Caesar Bardas had usurped too much power for himself and often exceeded the bounds of propriety. On this account, Damianos would annul some of the caesar’s ordinances by pointing out to the emperor that public affairs should be conducted otherwise. That is why the caesar, persuaded by his friends and loyal counselors and advisers, hatched a plot against Damianos. He heaped slander on him in front of the emperor, spun a web of plausible accusations, changed the emperor’s mind, and altered his good will toward Damianos; he even persuaded the emperor that Damianos should be removed from office. After the eunuch had been expelled, the post remained vacant for some time. When Providence steers the course of events in accordance with her will, however, prudence is of no avail, and villainy becomes entangled in its own artifices. For while the caesar and many other people spoke in favor of elevating now this and now that man to the rank and were secretly furthering their candidates, against all their expectations the emperor soon afterward promoted Basil to the office of chamberlain and honored him with the rank of patrician. He also married him to a woman who surpassed almost all the noble ladies in shapeliness of body, beauty, and modesty. She was the daughter of Inger, whose noble lineage and prudence were then on everyone’s bps. When this happened, and as the emperor’s fondness for Basil was daily increasing, the caesar saw it all and, stung by jealousy and fearful for the future, repeatedly reproached and blamed those who had advised him and incited him to calumniate Damianos. He called them fools and purveyors of bad advice, and said: “Wrongly persuaded by them, I expelled a fox, only to let in a lion in his place, to gulp us down and swallow us all.”

17.      Soon afterwards, when Emperor Michael and Bardas, his uncle and caesar, were about to set out on a campaign against Crete, the caesar handled matters with much arrogance and issued orders with much imperiousness; and frequent and persistent slander directed against him began to reach Emperor Michael every day. When the expedition arrived at Kepoi (which is a coastal place in the Thracesian theme near the mouth of the Meander River), whether by chance or by design, the imperial tent was pitched on a low and level ground, while that of the caesar was set on a high and prominent spot. Those who had long been weighted down with hatred against the caesar seized upon this apparently plausible pretext and many  against him: by now, he must surely be showing contempt for the emperor and openly insulting him if, no longer satisfied with all his other honors, he strives to feed his ambition on this too, namely on having the emperor’s tent appear inconspicuous and low down, and having his own prominently displayed and on high ground! The emperor, persuaded by these words, was moved to stage a plot against Bardas and to plan and conspire how to do away with him—he was not in a position to say or undertake anything against him in the open, since Bardas shared with him almost equal honors and power, and in addition everyone feared the clan and faction represented by his partisans. The high officials and strategoi were all beholden to him and looked up to him rather than to the emperor as being the man more alert in the conduct of affairs and directing the course of things as he saw fit. Most important, his son, the anthypatos and patrician Antigonos, happened to be the domestic of the imperial scholae at that time. The emperor, however, rallied many supporters, who shared in his design and promised to carry out the murder. When, according to custom, the caesar entered the imperial tent at daybreak, in order to discuss matters at hand (even though evil omens had previously appeared to him), the emperor judged that the opportune moment for slaying him was at hand. He signaled with a nod to Symbatios the patrician, logothete of the course and son-in-law of the caesar, as well as a member of the emperor’s conspiracy, to leave and fetch the hench­men who were to dispatch the caesar. Symbatios left and gave the signal that had been agreed upon—which was to make the sign of the cross over his face. The henchmen, however, were plainly faint-hearted and lost their nerve: standing on the brink of this horror, they reeled away from it because of the immensity of the deed; and the emperor became desperate at the ensuing delay. When he learned from one of the imperial chamberlains that the henchmen were quak­ing with fright and putting off the undertaking (which admittedly was a daring act requiring a manly spirit and bold heart), he sent a trusted member of his household who was in the tent to the patrician and chamberlain Basil with this message, commingled with fear: “If you do not instantly stiffen the resolve of those who have been readied for the deed and if you do not exhort them to set about their task this very moment, I know for sure that I will be slain by him on the spot, for he can in no wise remain unaware of my designs against him. In the end it will thus be you people who will appear to have been my murder­ers and slayers.” When Basil heard this, he was overcome by appre­hension that something might befall the emperor; he forthwith instilled the cowardly with courage and the trembling with boldness and prodded them into carrying out the imperial will. As if filled with martial fury, they suddenly burst into the imperial tent; the caesar, suspecting that the rushing crowd was after him (which, in fact, was the case), leaped up and clung to the emperor’s feet. The assassins dragged him away and slaughtered him under the emperor’s very feet. This happened on the twenty-first day of April of the fourteenth indiction. The emperor straightaway called off the expedition and returned to the capital.

18.      So skilfully was Providence guiding Basil toward her desired goal that immediately after the expedition’s return the emperor adopted him (for as it happened Michael had not a single offspring of his own) and bestowed upon him the most splendid dignity of magistros. The Logothete Symbatios, bursting with resentment at this, and unable to behold the man who filled him with envy forging ahead with great strides every day, resigned from the duties that had been his up to that time, for—so he intimated—he was no longer able to live in the capital; and he requested the office of strategos of the Ionians, that is, of the theme of the Thracesians. The emperor granted him his wish and promoted him to the rank of strategos of the aforementioned theme. After a short time passed, affairs began to take a dangerously unsteady course and the state, swaying to and fro, searched for a protector, because the emperor preferred to busy himself with other things rather than to deal competently and appropriately with affairs of state. This had largely gone unnoticed in the past, because the caesar, who shared power with him, always attended to essential matters and him­self assumed almost the entire burden of conducting affairs as well as the responsibility for administering the universal state; but now outcries and mutterings were heard from the senate and the establishment, indeed from practically everyone involved in the administration and management of affairs, as well as from the army and all the populace of the city. The emperor learned of this through his closest intimates; sobered, as it were, though with difficulty and only for a short while; acknowledged both his own negligence and indolence and his ineptitude and incompetence in matters of state; and, fearing a popular uprising or defection, decided to coopt a colleague in the handling of affairs and in the exercise of authority. Since he had shortly before adopted Basil and was aware that Basil stood out from the rest both in prowess and in wisdom and was capable of making up for his own shortcomings in steering the ship of universal state; since, furthermore, divine Providence herself urged him to this end, he confirmed his imperial intention. And, God lending His helpful hand in the design as well as in the deed itself, the imperial crown was placed upon Basil’s head in the celebrated temple named after the Wisdom of God on the very day of the Holy Pentecost on which the Paraclete of the Father descended upon the disciples of Christ our Lord. It was placed there by the hand of Michael who was reigning at that time, but through the decree and choice of Christ who reigns forever. The day was the twenty-sixth of May of the fourteenth indiction according to the Romans.

19.      When Symbatios, who had taken up residence as strategos in the theme assigned to him, learned of this event, he could no longer bear, as part of the human condition, the envy that was eating out his heart, and made the patrician Peganes, who was strategos of the Opsikian theme, an accomplice in his madness. They contemplated defection, and in their insanity decided to stage a rebellion. They suborned the troops under their command and carried out their plans by acclaiming Michael as emperor (for by this device the many could be won over and the rebels would not appear to raise the banner of revolt against the ranking emperor), while heaping abuse and insults. Throughout the summer, they displayed their insolence in similar acts of folly; they also set aflame many crops in fields belonging to magnates who resided in the imperial city, and they seized and burned a large number of ships in various harbors, that were on their way to the capital. When winter came, however, their troops melted away, as small groups of accomplices in their insolent deed began surreptitiously to scatter in all directions. When the ringleaders of the undertaking saw this, they attempted to seek safety in flight. Symbatios slipped into the fortress of the so-called Plateia Petra, while Peganes occupied Kotyaeion. This scheme came to naught, for they were seized by troops sent out by the emperor Michael and were brought to him in chains. They met with him while he was residing in the palace of Saint Mamas. When he saw them, he upbraided them and reviled them greatly for their rebellious folly, and, after first pun­ishing them with a sound whipping, he handed them over for the penalty of law to be exacted. Symbatios was deprived of both eyes and of one hand and was sent into exile; Peganes, too, had his eyes gouged out and his nose cut off with a knife and was banished as well. When the magnanimous Emperor Basil assumed sole power, he recalled both men from banishment and generously bestowed upon them the estate granted them before the revolt. He showed not a trace of resentment toward them, entertained them often at table, offered them words of consolation, and made, by such deeds of beneficence, the misfortune attendant upon their folly easier to bear. This, however, happened later. At the time, the prophetic vision was being fulfilled, which Isaac, priest and monk blessed with the keenest of insights, had beheld three hundred and fifty years earlier. Himself tracing his origins back to the Arsacids, he learned from a vision that after a lapse of that many years, a descendant of Arsaces was to be elevated to the Roman throne. This idea was welcomed by high officials, by the entire populace of the capital, by the army and by its strategoi, and by all the subjects throughout the entire countryside and in all the cities of the empire. For all wished that the direction of public affairs be entrusted to a man who knew from experience what it meant to occupy a lower station in life; how maltreated the poor were by the rich, how unjustly despoiled by them, and how the lowly were made to “rise up and move,” so to speak, and were enslaved by people of their own kin. All these evils were rampant during the reign of Michael, because that emperor, unwilling to attend to matters of this kind, preferred to concern himself with other things.

20.     In fact, since my account has taken this turn, I think that I should go back to the very beginning, letting the history of Emperor Basil rest for a moment, and reveal in as succinct a manner as possible what kind of life Emperor Michael had made for himself, what kind of activities he found most enjoyable, and on what sort of people he spent his time, all his energy, and public monies. Anyone who so desires should thus be able to draw his own conclusions from this and realize that it was clearly Divine Decree that had summoned Basil to assume power (for it was impossible that matters could have gone on the way they were), and that once this happened it was Michael alone who sharpened the swords against himself, who gave strength to the right hands of his slayers, and who provoked them to his own slaughter: so far did he stray from his duties, so frantically did he indulge in all kinds of lawless deeds, so totally did he debase things divine and so insolently break the laws of both society and nature. For this wretch surrounded himself with an impious band of wanton, foul, and depraved men; he dishonored the gravity of imperial majesty and spent his days in carousing, drinking, wanton lust and shameful tales, and moreover with charioteers, horses, and chariots, falling into the madness and frenzy of mind that comes from such pursuits; and he extravagantly squandered public monies upon such men as these. Most shocking of all, he scoffed at and mocked the very sacred rites of our faith; for he set up the mimes and buffoons with whom he sur­rounded himself as counterparts to the honorable priests. Thus he made these sacred rites the object of sneering, jest, and derision. I shall recount some of these deeds— not very many—so that you might infer those remaining from the few related here.

21.      That he was a charioteer and a driver, that he sat in a chariot driven by horses in the cloak of a driver, and that he vied with other contestants in a double course both within the capital and its imperial palace and without, in the imperial residences near the church of the martyr Mamas; and that he wasted vast sums of money for this purpose, so that monies destined for the pay of the soldiery were turned into funds earmarked for spectacles; that Roman wealth rather than being spent on military contingents was squandered on theatrical dances and foolish talk; and that the imperial treasury was plundered profligately and with abandon to support these wanton revelries and acts of love forbidden by laws—all that I have decided to pass over, since it is known and obvious to all. However, I shall indeed recount how he mocked things divine, how he gave the title of patriarch to one of his company of foul and profligate catamites, and how he set apart eleven of them to be metropolitans, himself bringing their number up to twelve. For he bestowed the name of patriarch upon that most accursed and abominable Groullos, adorned him with the most splendid episcopal vestments embroidered with gold, and put a pallium over his shoulders. He accoutred the other eleven who came from the same congregation of like-minded individuals, as has been said, with the insignia of the metropolitans’ rank, and gave to himself, as to the twelfth among them, the name of Archbishop of Guttown. Then he gave each of them a lute to be carried hidden inside the priestly robe, and ordered that the lutes be struck in response from underneath the robes. In such a fashion did he pretend to celebrate the sacred rites and the liturgy, while in fact he engaged in jest and mockery—the most foul one together with the wholly foul, the accursed one together with the profane. And during the mock recital of the silent prayer the lutes were to respond softly, but when the moment called for the priest’s prayer to be said aloud or for a response by the congregation, these lutes were to be struck with plectra, induced to give a loud sound and their melody was to be made audible to all. Moreover, into the sacred vessels encrusted with precious stones and splendid pearls, which were wrought of silver and gold, and which perhaps had served during the celebration of the divine mysteries—into these, then, they would put mustard and vinegar which they would administer as communion to others of their ilk, interjecting bursts of laughter, obscene words and abominable and disgusting gestures. So much for that.

22.     On one occasion, the most holy Patriarch Ignatios, accompa­nied by the full ranks of his ecclesiastical retinue, went out of the city in a public procession, singing litanies, and was making his way toward some holy temple while observing the customary rules of sacred chant. It also happened that Groullos, the emperor’s impious and profane “factionarch,” attired in priestly garb and mounted on an ass, was coming from the opposite direction; he, too, was accompanied by his metropolitans, even more impious than himself, and by all of his dancing ranks of satyr-like impersonators who were singing, in a vulgar theatrical display, words appropriate to their own deeds. As they came nearer, they threw chasubles over their shoulders, struck their lutes more vigorously, responded with words and songs worthy of a brothel while following the melody of the sacred chant, and leaped and sounded the cymbals in the manner of the god Pan and of the satyrs. Having thus mocked their competitors, so to speak—that is, the priests and their prelate—they went on with their devilish revel and travel. The high priest of God asked who they were and by whom and for what purpose they had been gathered. When he learned the answer, he groaned loudly, mourned for their chief who had been at the root of all this, made a tearful entreaty that God put an end to such blasphemy and outrage and scatter the impious at the grave’s mouth, so that things holy be not profaned, nor things secret and revered disparaged. He then took up the hymnody and continued on his way.

23.     On another occasion, presuming to humiliate Patriarch Ignatios of glorious memory and to pour derision upon his own mother, the emperor, out of his senses and demented as he was, staged the following performance. He seated himself prominently upon the imperial throne in the most splendid Chrysotriklinos and had the most disgraceful Groullos, clad in episcopal vestments, sit close by his side, and impersonate the true patriarch. He granted him the honors owed to the archpriest of God, made him conceal his accursed beard under his hood, and announced to his own mother through one of the eunuchs of her bedchamber, “The most holy Patriarch Ignatios is sitting here with me; if you wish to receive his blessing, do come and we shall both obtain it.” The empress mother, being a pious and God-loving woman, filled with great affection toward the most holy Ignatios and with an ardent faith in him, rushed forth eagerly as soon as she heard the message. She had no evil or suspicious thought in mind; out of respect she could not bring herself so much as to raise her eyes; she surmised no foul play, and thus she fell at the feet of, as she believed, that famous holy archpriest and besought him to say a prayer on her behalf. The most abominable Groullos rose a little from the throne, turned his rear toward her, emitted an ass-like noise from his foul entrails and said to her: “So that you will not say, Milady, that we did not deem you worthy at least of this thing.” The emperor guffawed, while that wholly profane individual roared with laughter; and they uttered much nonsense against her, or rather indulged in senseless ravings that came from their deranged minds. As the empress realized the ruse and the deceit, she groaned deeply, condemning those present, heaped many maledictions upon her son, and at the end said to him: “Behold, evil child, God has withdrawn His hand from thee and a reprobate mind was given to thee ‘to do those things which are not convenient.’” Having said this she retired, pulling at her hair with wailing and lamentations. Such were the spirited acts of the noble emperor and such was his piety and reverence toward things divine and toward holy men.

24.     These and many worse things were happening daily throughout the whole of Michael’s reign, and he continued in the same ways even after he had elevated Basil and associated him with himself. Seeing and hearing all this, Basil was deeply aggrieved and distressed, and was despairing of his own life. Since he wanted to render all possible help, and not fail to try anything likely to lead to improvement, he first attempted through other people to divert Michael from such deeds and to guide him back on the right path; then he himself ventured to admonish the emperor with well-meaning purpose and intent, and, if possible, to keep him away from such sacrilegious acts. Adopting a submissive and humble bearing, he reasoned with him in these words: “Master and Emperor, it is appropriate for me, who have enjoyed so many acts of beneficence and gifts from you, to advise what is proper, to counsel the best of things, and to propose what is profitable and salutary. We are hated, know this, Master, we are hated”—he included himself so as not to be offensive, though he took no part in Michael’s wickedness—“by the entire city and the senate, and accursed by the archpriests of God; and all reprove and reproach us. And while we may consider the opinion of men to be of no account, still we must dread God’s indignation and fear lest we should experience His anger and wrath.” But in saying these things, he seemed only to sow upon rocks, to talk to the seashore, and to wash a blackamoor white, so imbued with vice had Michael become and so deaf had he grown to every salutary counsel, stopping his ears, just like the adder does against the voice of charmers. For after that, not only did he not mend his ways, but he began to hate Basil and to turn away from him. He first intimated, and later more transparently hinted at, his estrangement from him by disparaging and mocking Basil’s counsels in the company of his fellow-revelers and co-celebrants in his rituals. And when those scoundrels and rogues realized this, they moved in concert and conspired against Basil. They served their calumnies in a believable mixture, calling his gravity, arrogance; his unwillingness to take part in their lascivious pleasures, malevolence; and they called his refusal to share in their sinful deeds, “contempt.” “How,” they would say, “can he claim that he loves you, he who does not delight in things in which you yourself delight, and who does not exert himself along with you in catering to your pleasures?” The emperor, yielding by degrees to these men until he was persuaded by them, began to brew a potion of death for Basil, and cast about for some plausible pretext for slaying him, but he could find none. Yet his madness advanced to such a pitch that he went so far as to plan a secret murder; he urged some members of his abominable conventicle in whom he had utter confidence that, when they would go out on the hunt, they should hurl a spear at Basil on the pretense of striking the game, and thus dispatch him. And one of them did just this, so they say, and threw a javelin; the weapon missed Basil, and flying past him, fixed itself in the ground; but the assassin’s horse suddenly champed at the bit, carried him away, and hurled him down from the cliff, so that from this fall he came face to face with his end. At that, repenting in vain, so they say, he bade his accomplices henceforth never to dare assail a guiltless man, lest they themselves come to the same ruin. Then, having summoned a pious monk, he owned up to this deed, confessing it along with the rest of his crimes and transgressions.

25.     As, then, the emperor could find no means or pretext for murdering Basil, he embarked on another wicked and unlawful scheme: he resolved to introduce yet another colleague and give him a share of the throne. Indeed, that notorious Basilikinos (such was his nickname), who also was a member of the murderous conventicle, being a worthless scoundrel, effeminate, and particularly vain about his hair— he hailed from Nicomedia and was the brother of Constantine, nicknamed Kapnogenes, who afterward was twice invested with the office of eparch (but who at that time was enlisted among the oarsmen on the imperial trireme)—it was upon this ill-named Basilikinos, then, that Michael once put the celebrated imperial purple, the splendid, envi­able crown, the mantle of sheer gold, the scarlet boots encrusted with precious stones, and the rest of the imperial insignia; and he led him forth before the senate, clasping his hand and waiting upon him, just as the famous Nero of old led forth the notorious Eros; and he said in exactly these words:

“Behold ye and keep marveling:

Is it not meet to make him king? ‘

His looks are worthy of the throne,’

The crown, it calls his brow its own;

The dignity fits him alone.”

And, “How much better would it have been had I made this Basilikinos emperor rather than Basil!” When everyone throughout the palace saw and heard these things, they remained aghast and astounded at the emperor’s reason-defying madness and the derangement that had come from all his folly. Thus, by reason of his unbridled drunkenness and his lawless and wanton deeds, this fellow had overstepped the bounds of propriety in every way, became demented and was madly reeling about.

26.     Now, from his drinking Michael acquired not only the gentle, the releasing, the tender, the relaxed, the soft, and the mind-altering qualities of Dionysos the giver of joy, whom in his own fancy he eagerly imitated, but also, being a man-eater, again like Dionysos, he became possessed of qualities associated with the Furies and Titans. Often his comic nocturnal carousings would come to a tragic and calamitous end. For when he was well in his cups on account of drinking and defied the laws on account of carousing, he would stray into every sort of impiety; but when he was wholly besotted with unmixed wine and out of his senses altogether, he would proceed to murders, to absurd punishments and to butcherings of guiltless people. He would give orders to his attendants: “Seize such and such a man,” he would say, and “give him over to the executioners; gouge out the eyes of another, and cut off the hands and feet of yet another. Let this one be punished with beheading and let that one be burned alive.” The attendants would seize the men; but since they knew that the emperor was out of his mind when he was issuing his decrees, they would hold the men under arrest without subjecting them to punishment. Often, however, when there happened to be someone toward whom their feelings were not kind, but hostile, they abused the emperor’s command and delivered the innocently condemned man to vengeance. Later on, Michael’s chamberlains would lay the pitiful wretch, by then dead to the world, down on the imperial couch and would hand him, brute that he was, over to sleep, that neighbor to death. But next morning, sleep having barely scattered away the vapors and the heavy mist produced by wine from his brain, he would awaken and, remembering nothing of what had happened the night before, would often ask for some of those men whom in his drunkenness he had condemned and delivered to death; and he would repent and wail upon learning from his bodyguards and attendants of the verdicts he had pronounced against these people the previous night. Sometimes those who were inquired after would be found; but at other times, the emperor’s repentance of his wicked deeds was of no avail to him, since those given over had already been put to death. But when evening came again and the heavy drinking and licentious words and deeds continued late into the night, he would go on in the same manner. And who, upon hearing and seeing these things, even if he had a heart of stone or were altogether obtuse, would not ever be roused to anger and fired up to avenge those guiltless victims? I do not think that even David, the meekest of men, would have condoned the drunken conduct of this reprobate. For in such circumstances mercy is not reckoned as long- suffering, but as folly and insensibility.

27.     By then Michael had almost entirely expended his reserve funds on things of this sort; and there was a manifest and impending danger that all the magistrates would perforce have to be slain and their property confiscated, so as to provide the emperor with the means to bestow favors upon charioteers and harlots and profligates. For while his father Theophilos had left ninety-seven thousand pounds of minted gold (apart from silver, both coined and uncoined), that were kept in the imperial coffers, and while his mother Theodora had added yet another three thousand, producing the round sum of one hundred thousand pounds, Michael had managed to squander and spend all of this in the not quite fourteen years since he had assumed supreme power, so that after his death nothing else was found except a mere three hundred pounds. And how could funds not have run out, even if they had flowed in as if from rivers, when they were being so wantonly and prodigally dissipated? Once when Michael became godfather to the child of the charioteer nicknamed Cheilas, he made him a gift of a whole hundred pounds. Then there was the Patrician Himerios, whom the emperor himself called “the Hog” on account of the fierce expression of his countenance, although in fact he deserved such a designation more on account of his swinish and sordid way of life; now, once when this man was indulging in foul language in the presence of the emperor and making inappropriate use of fooleries from the stage, he also let go with an indecent sound from his foul belly (for he was utterly shameless and shrank from no disgraceful act); a sound that roared and erupted so violently that it even made a lamp-wick’s flame go out. For this the emperor honored him with a gift of fifty pounds, as though the man had performed some Herculean labor. Just as excessive was the largess the emperor bestowed upon others cut out of the same cloth as Himerios. If these sums had been expended with the same readiness upon the soldiery, stalwart defenders and men outstanding for their valor, or upon those excelling in some other good, one would have considered them signs of magnanimity and liberality and of a generous turn of mind; but inasmuch as they were being foolishly squandered on mimes and charioteers, on dancers and buffoons, on flatterers and people filled with every sort of loathsome vice, and not a farthing was forthcoming for any man of quality, such behavior had to be considered as sure proof of prodigality, drunken madness, and stupidity. And since by that time funds were running out, the need arose, as has been said, to despoil churches, seize pious foundations, and put to death and slaughter all those who possessed more property than the others. Wherefore the most worthy among the magistrates and the wise members of the senate banded together and caused Michael to be slain in the palace of the holy martyr Mamas by the guards posted in front of the imperial bed­chamber and he passed imperceptibly from sleep to death in his drunken stupor. For just as people destroy scorpions and vipers on sight, before they strike, on account of the evil inherent in them, so do those who anticipate danger from virulent and murderous men hasten to slay them before they can strike to kill. And Michael, who had lived thus, shamefully and ruinously for himself and the affairs of state, met such an end, worthy of his previous life.

28.     Basil, who up to that time had been second in command, was forthwith promoted to supreme rule and was proclaimed sole emperor by the honorable senate, the subordinate troops from the capital, the whole army and the populace of the city—the man whom they had been calling for through supplications and prayers even before this event. No sooner did Basil attain power over all things than he offered himself and the reins of the state to God in a prayer which ran word by word as follows: “O Christ the King, now that I have received the empire by Thy decree, I offer it and myself to Thee.” Then he immediately summoned the foremost members of the senate and the most prominent dignitaries and, together with them, opened the chamber for safekeeping the imperial treasures. Nought was found there of what had been so vast an amount of money, except, as I have just said, a mere three hundred pounds. The emperor searched for the register of disbursements, and found it with a certain elderly eunuch, the former[?] Protospatharios Basil. Having discovered where these sums had gone, he submitted the matter to the best men for deliberation. They ruled in full accord and unanimity that the people who had wrongly obtained these sums should restore them to the public treasury deviated somewhat from an overly strict construction of the law, and commanded each one of those people to return one-half of what they had received to the imperial treasury. As a result, unworthy as they were of any generosity, these individuals retained a not insignificant portion of the donations bestowed upon them, while thirty thousand pounds were thus gathered into imperial coffers. From these sums the emperor began to meet the most urgent expenses and to administer things suitably.

29.     It so happened that on the very day when Basil assumed supreme power, news reached our capital announcing great victories and the ransoming of many Christian prisoners: it was as if God wished to signify the change for the better in Roman affairs. The emperor went in public procession to the great temple of God that bears the name of His Wisdom, gave thanks to Him for each and every thing, and on the way back made a display of consular largesse by distributing vast sums among his subjects, not from public funds (for there were none) but from his own private means that he had earlier acquired. His spouse Eudokia the empress, too, displaying consular largesse together with the sons Constantine and Leo, made a large gift to the citizens from her private funds. Although, as has been said, the emperor was short of funds at that point, still a considerable quantity of additional wherewithal came into his possession at a later time. For one thing, it pleased God, on account of the charity and justice that the emperor had shown toward the poor, to cause many treasures buried underground to be discovered in the days of his rule; for another, this was duo to the gold found in the imperial private treasury. This gold—the previous emperor Michael had had the most beautiful works melted down; I am referring to the famous and much talked about golden plane tree, to two griffins of pure gold, two lions of hammered gold, an organ of pure gold, and various other objects belonging to the gold plate used at table; the vestments of the emperor and of the empress, and the garments which were destined for high dignitaries, all of which were embroidered with gold—all of this he had melted down, as has been said, and was about to misuse it for his pleasures. He had been snatched away beforehand, however; the gold was found, minted and was used by the emperor for all kinds of purposes. For, as the saying goes, “money must be had and without it nothing proper can be done.” But all this happened later.

30.     Now, in these days when Basil, exalted by Providence, had taken his seat at the helm of government, he strove right from the start, as they say, to appear worthy of the greatness of this event; he lay awake at night and kept watch during the day, he exerted all his thoughts and mustered up all his resolve, so that he might become the source of some good for all his subjects, and public affairs would take a manifest and significant turn for the better. To begin with, he selected and promoted the very best people for office without accept­ing the smallest gift in return. Since these men were the best, they considered, both on their own and on account of meticulous inquiry on the part of the emperor, that their obligation and duty was, first of all, to keep their own hands clean of any ill-gotten gain before ensuring that those of others remained undefiled; furthermore, to honor justice above all other virtues, to cause fairness to prevail everywhere, to see to it that the poor were not oppressed by the rich, nor that anyone suffered any harm unjustly, but rather that the poor and needy man should be delivered out of the hands of those who were stronger than he, and that little by little, people should revive who had already given up the ghost, as it were, and were on the very brink of dying from all that had happened beforehand; to give all men renewed vigor and to endeavor to restore them to their former prosperity. As these officials vied with each other, each eagerly trying to outdo the other in carrying out all that was right—both on account of their innate bent toward the highest values (for such were the men selected in all cases) and on account of the zeal shown by their ruler in such things and of his vigilant watchfulness in all directions—straightaway all injustice began to be chased away from all walks of life and justice, to reassert itself with confidence; the hands, more numerous than the hands of Briareus, that had been stretched out for the property of others, were now numbed and paralyzed, as it were, while the once feeble limbs of the poor were gaining in strength. Now every man could till his plot of land and gather the fruit of his own vineyard with­out fear, because no longer was anyone daring enough to appropriate that man’s ancestral olive or fig trees, and everyone could now safely rest in their familiar and ancestral shade. In such a way did the pious emperor treat all who lived under his rule in the countryside, inhabited places, and cities of his realm. And if an evil offshoot had become, as it were, firmly ingrown in someone, and local officials were unable to turn it around or excise it entirely, that shoot was turned around or in some other way cured by the emperor himself. For this best of rulers strove to uproot the last trace of injustice everywhere; he issued general edicts, which he would send out to every province, that abrogated and annulled all practice of offering gifts, a practice which until then, owing to an evil and inveterate custom, had been regarded as reasonable. Thus equal justice under law seemed to be returning to everyday life as if from some banishment abroad, and was resuming its place among men.

31.      Furthermore, in well-nigh every street and every pious establishment the emperor installed men suitable to act as judges, men whose competence was proven by their learning and whose mind and character attested to their pious and incorruptible ways; he raised and elevated them from lower ranks by conferring dignities upon them and honored them by granting them yearly stipends and providing them with other allowances and largess. In particular he caused the so-called Brazen House to be cleared and restored at great personal effort and expense, for on account of the savages of time and the indolence of previous rulers, and perhaps because of certain fires as well, several parts of this once splendid and most impressive structure had fallen into ruin, and the structure itself had a leaky roof. He set this building up to be a general court, more honorable than the Areopagus and the Heliaea. Not only through selection and promotion of judges did he provide that justice be dispensed to those who claimed to have been wronged; he did it also by offering daily sustenance to those who were obliged to visit the capital city whenever they sought redress for violence done to them by the mighty. Since he feared that, lacking the necessary means, some people might perchance have to depart from here before the judicial proceedings concerning their case were concluded, he set aside sufficient income to sustain the plaintiffs until they obtained a verdict from the judge. Not only did he devise these means for the utter suppression of injustice, but he also turned his own attention to this task. Whenever he happened to find respite from military campaigns and from granting audiences to embassies coming from all parts, he would go down from the imperial palace, take his seat in the “General Office”—apparently so called because of the people who flocked to it from everywhere—and examine with painstaking effort and much care the cases of those who were seeking refuge in this establishment as in a general court, so to speak, for the purpose of submitting their complaints against the collectors of state taxes by whom they may have been perchance wronged (a thing that does in fact happen) on account of the extensive powers residing in these collectors’ authority. In such a fashion would the emperor come to the aid of the wronged, and by invoking the penalty of law cause the perpetrators of injustice to desist and no longer dare to commit such acts. The story goes that years later the emperor once went down to the aforementioned place in order to advocate the rights of the wronged; as there were no plaintiffs present, he surmised that some people had prevented them from gaining access to him, and he sent out members of his bodyguard to inquire in many quarters of the city whether there was anyone wishing to submit a complaint against someone else. When they returned saying that they had found no one anywhere who was raising a complaint against anyone, that noble man of blessed memory, so the story continues, shed tears of joy and so gave his thanks to God. When he discovered that wicked men found a pretext for committing injustice by using, in the name of conciseness, ancient shorthand signs to denote parts and fractions of numbers—such as, for example, one-half, one-sixth, or one-twelfth—in drawing up registers of taxes due, he resolved to take away this pretext from those who might tend toward wrongdoing, and pronounced that these registers of taxes due should be written in uncial letters which even rustics would be able to read, and that the numbers denoting sums stated in these registers should be written out in full and in a clear fashion. From his own resources, he fixed the relevant fees for writing materials and for the writing itself, so that the poor would suffer no injustice. This, then, is significant and considerable proof of his care for his subjects and of his desire that no one be wronged at another’s hands. Such an emperor was he in matters secu­lar and public.

32.     Nor did he wish to seem neglectful of the churches of God (these, too, being contained within the ship of universal state, are most assuredly subject to the protection of the ruler; and this applied especially to Basil, inasmuch as he was a God-loving man, greatly respectful of things divine). Because he saw that the churches, too, were, so to speak, unsettled and troubled (for they, too, had been affected by the ruin wrought under the preceding ruler, and the man who ought legitimately to be governing them had been expelled from his throne and flock and another installed in his place), neither did he neglect these matters. By convoking a general council and assembling hierarchs of God from all parts, he restored stability to the churches insofar as it was possible. Then, after confirming the Seventh General Council, which had been held before his time, and after anathematizing what remained of the iconoclastic heretics, he restored her true bridegroom to the Church and their true father to the flock in observance of canonical rules, and bade the one installed in the place of the lawful patriarch to remain free of duties until the Lord should call that lawful patriarch unto Himself. Thus did he advantageously and properly settle the affairs of the Church and by his zeal and foresight provide her with all possible serenity as well.

33.     He also found Civil Law in great disarray, lacking in clarity, because good laws had currency along with bad ones—I refer to the indiscriminate codifying of obsolete laws together with those in force. He amended the Civil Law, as far as was fitting and possible, in a suitable fashion, by abrogating the useless and the obsolete and clarifying the body of those laws that remained in force, and by compressing their formerly immense bulk into chapters, as in a synopsis, so that they could be easily committed to memory.

34.     Since, however, Envy tends to attach itself to good things as worms mostly do to sweet-tasting wood, and since despicable demons, begrudging the well-being and flourishing of the universal state, attempt through evil people to disturb the flow of these good things— because of all this, Symbatios and George, too, planned and contrived a plot against the emperor, and armed themselves for murder together with a band of nefarious and impious men. God, however, did in no wise allow or in the slightest condone that evil, once vanquished, should recover its ground and banish the rule of laws and justice from earth; and the wickedness of those men was revealed by one of the conspirators. Proof of guilt came next, and the ultimate penalty allowed by the laws was threatening the plotters—that is, confiscation and loss of all property followed by the privation of life itself. On that particular occasion, however, the noble emperor’s clemency limited the penalty solely to the blinding of the ringleaders of this wicked plot, and he would have shown even more moderation in exacting his punishment, had he not been aware that excess of clemency toward these men would spur others on to imitation, and in the end he would have been compelled to resort to even more severe retribution. This is why he chose the aforementioned punishment and thus offered the plotters time to repent, while instilling prudence into any evildoers that remained. To curb still further the impulses of those who sought the unjust death of their neighbor and to put an end to their hopes once and for all, he promoted to imperial dignity the eldest of his offspring, Constantine and Leo, who were already enjoying an imperial upbringing and education and were shining forth with all kinds of royal virtues. By thus elevating the noble offshoots of the imperial house to supreme power, he placed it, as it were, upon firmer and broader foundation.

35.     Now that I have come to this point in my narrative, I wish to deal with his remaining children as well, and with his pious counsel concerning each of them. For God blessed him with many fair children, as He did the pious and blessed men of old—nay, even to a higher degree. After some time he had Alexander, his third son, crowned co-emperor as well; as for Stephen, the youngest of them, he presented him to the Lord by enrolling him in the Church of God and consecrating him to it, as Abraham did with Isaac. His female off­spring, who equaled the males in number, he consecrated in the holy convent of the all-renowned martyr Euphemia, dedicating them as an acceptable gift and offering to God, and adorning them with a habit and dress like that worn by the virgins wed in pure and undefiled fashion to Christ, the Immortal Bridegroom. This may have happened later, but let it be recorded here, linked as it is both to the daughters’ natural bonds with their four brothers and to the latters’ story.

36.     Now that domestic matters were running well for the emperor and in accordance with his pious goals pleasing to God, his deep solicitude for the state as a whole summoned him to foreign campaigns, so that he might by his own efforts, courage, and excellence extend the boundaries of his realm, force out his foes, and drive them far off. Nor did the emperor neglect that task. First of all, since military contingents had been reduced in strength owing to the cutting off of liberalities, stipends and imperial provision-monies issued to soldiers, he replenished these contingents by gathering and selecting new recruits, and strengthened them by providing what was needed in the form of both regular and extraordinary contributions. Second, he trained the recruits through exercises in tactics, made them toil without rest until they were thoroughly practiced in military drills, and imbued them with respect for discipline and regard for obedience. Only then did he set out with them on campaigns against the barbarians, in defense of those who were his fellow countrymen, kinsmen and subjects. For he knew full well that not even one of those vulgar and common crafts could be mastered before having been learned; and that there is no case of one’s becoming an accomplished craftsman—not even a cobbler, not to speak of the more serious arts—without a teacher. Were it possible for everyone to learn military science or art without study and considerable practice, authors of works on tactics who devote so much labor to this topic would be merely ranting senselessly, as would the greatest among emperors and generals with many triumphs over many enemies to their credit: for none of them ever dared attack the enemy ranks with an undrilled and untrained army. In fact, as no one can know anything before learning it, so no one can go to battle without first having been trained and exercised. This is why our noble emperor first subjected his military units to exercise, put them in a state of preparedness, mingled the newly recruited troops with the experienced ones, and made their sinews supple and their right hands strong through the bestowal of appropriate gifts. Only then did he engage the enemy in their company and was able to celebrate many triumphs and win countless victories.

37.     Now, I shall briefly narrate how he, having spent time  on activities concerning and the state of the capital, and having devoted himself to them, took up arms and joined his troops when the spring sun began to shine, for he thought that a ruler truly worthy of the name should brave danger in person for his own people and submit willingly to suffering and hardships in order that all his subjects might live without fear. Since the man who ruled Tephrike at that time, Chrysocheir by name (a man who, or so it seemed, excelled in courage and sagacity) was sorely harrassing Roman territory and its inhabitants and, leading many of the countryfolk into captivity every day, was puffed up with arrogance, the emperor set out on a campaign against both him and the city under his sway. This arrogant and insolent man, however, did not dare to take an open stand against the invading troops, possessed as they were of such high morale, or against the sagacity and courage of the emperor; so he withdrew, determined to protect and hold his own city alone. With none to hinder him, the emperor advanced, pillaging and harrying, cutting down and laying waste with fire all the countryside and the small towns sub­jected to Chrysocheir, and gathering countless booty and numerous captives. He also assaulted the town of Tephrike itself, and tried to take it by means of skirmishes and a brief siege. But he saw that it was solidly fortified and that the strength of its walls, large numbers of barbarians within, and its abundant supplies would make it difficult to capture; furthermore, everything in the surrounding country had been laid waste in no time by the host of soldiers; and the necessities of life had nearly been consumed. He therefore avoided the long delay a siege would involve, harried Abara and Spatha, the forts around Tephrike, as well as several other forts; evacuated his entire army intact from that region, and slowly withdrew, with, as has been said, rich booty and many captives.

38.     When the other city of the Ishmaelites which they call Taranta, saw the great slaughter of those in Tephrike, it sent ambassadors to sue for peace and to request that it be enlisted among the cities allied with the emperor. The most excellent emperor showed as much magnanimity as he toward anyone who resisted him; he yielded to the embassy, granted peace to those who requested it, and from that time on had allies instead of enemies. As a result, not a few others sought refuge with him, particularly a certain Kourtikios, an Armenian who at that time held Lokana and was relentlessly ravaging Roman borderlands. Kourtikios put his city, troops, and people under the sway of the emperor, admiring his magnanimity blended with courage and his justice combined with strength.

39.     While the enemy kept their minds on him, watching closely to see which way he would turn, so that they, too, might send troops for the defense of the threatened area, he sent a raiding party of select warriors against a place called Zapetra. Quickly crossing the narrow passes along the way, they swooped down upon the city itself and captured it on the first assault. They slew many within, took many prisoners and much booty, and led out of dungeons a large number of captives who had spent a long time there. They then set fire to the surrounding countryside, ravaged Samosata, and in the same thrust, with no one to hinder them, crossed the Euphrates, for the enemy was encamped near the emperor. Taking many prisoners and spoils, they returned to the emperor who was still encamped by the Zamouch River, where Keramisin lies, and who appeared to be idle; in fact, he was very cleverly reaping results such as these through his subordinates.

40.     Setting out from there, the emperor proceeded with his whole army along the road leading to Melitene. But when he came to the banks of the Euphrates, he beheld it swollen and overflowing in the summer season. Deeming it dishonorable and unworthy of his troops to set up camp by the crossing and wait for the river to subside, he determined to span it with a bridge, and everything was speedily readied for this task. As for himself, he sought to bring relief to his toiling troops and persuade them to endure their labors readily; at the same time he sought to subject himself in person and by his own will to the strain of labor; so that, should perchance some task present itself against his will, he would not find it an unfamiliar experience or one in which he would be lacking practice; and he eagerly joined his soldiers at their work and put heavy loads upon his shoulders and carried these loads to the bridge. At which time one could see three soldiers who together would be barely able to carry across a load equal to that which the emperor alone would lift with ease. Having thus crossed the Euphrates, he began by pillaging the fort called Rasakion. He also gave orders that men from the themes of Chaldaia and Koloneia should in a separate raid lay waste the area between the Euphrates and the Arsinas; through these men he came into possession of considerable booty and many captives and conquered the following forts: that of Kourtikios; Chachon; Amer; the one called Mourinix; and Abdela. Himself, he attacked Melitene, well-populated at that time and defended by a large host of barbarians who met him in front of the city with barbaric boastful ululations. There, he made a show of bravery, so that not only those under him, but also the enemy were manifestly astounded by his courage and fortitude. For he engaged the enemy with both prudence and vigor, revealed high spirit in deeds, and distinguished himself in acts of daring, showed courage and imperturbability in the very midst of danger, and amidst much slaughter was the first to turn back the enemy facing him. Only then did each of his units begin to slay their foes; and they pursued them as far as the town itself, so that the plain before the city was strewn with many dead and the water in the moat before the wall, mixed with blood. Many of the enemy were captured alive; others changed sides on their own out of fear; and those remaining were shut up in the town and from then on altogether barred from making sallies. Thereupon the emperor thought of building machines of war, of sending for all kinds of siege engines and of displaying deeds of daring nobility in a siege. But as he saw that the city was strong behind its circumference of walls and difficult to capture owing to the host of defenders manning them, and as he learned from deserters that it was abundantly supplied and had no fear of a lengthy siege, he departed from there and attacked the country of the Manichees. He laid it waste, burned their houses, and destroyed everything in his path; he set fire to their forts—one called Argaouth, that of Koutakios, that of Stephen, and Rachat—and razed them to the ground. Then, amply rewarding all the troops under his command and bestowing upon each of his bravest soldiers a prize befitting that soldier’s valor, he returned to the capital with many spoils and wreaths of victory. He entered through the Golden Gate, as ancient emperors of the most glorious Rome had done upon their triumphal returns; received the cheers of victory and shouts of acclamations from the people; and, just as he was after the campaign, he straightaway betook himself to the great temple of the Wisdom of God, to offer prayers and give due thanks. And crowned with the garland of victory by the patriarch of that time, he returned to the palace.

41.      Once again, civil matters were on his mind, and he dealt expeditiously with embassies from various nations. And after he had rejoiced in the company of his wife and children for a short while, made the rounds of the holy churches of God throughout the city, and offered his prayers there, he busied himself once more with the usual matters of state administration and the courts, displaying solicitude and vigilant forethought for his subjects. For all that, he would enter the holy church of God every day without fail, and beseech the Lord—in this he put forward as his mediators before God both the Archangel Michael and the Prophet Elijah—that he should not depart this life before witnessing the downfall of Chrysocheir and fixing three arrows in that man’s foul head. Which thing later came to pass. For in the next year, after the aforementioned Chrysocheir had invaded Roman territory and while he was despoiling it, the emperor as usual sent the domestic commanding the scholae out against him. The domestic set out, taking with him the entire Roman army. Since, however, Chrysocheir was reluctant to face him in open combat, for the time being the Roman troops followed at a distance, checking the individual forays by his troops and barring him from scattering about the countryside with impunity. Now, having succeeded in some actions and failed in others (the season, too, already summoning him back), the barbarian turned his thoughts homeward and began to set out for his own country with many spoils: while the domestic commanding the scholae assigned two of the strategoi, one of the Charsian, the other of the Armeniac theme, each with his own forces, to keep pace with Chrysocheir and follow him as far as Bathyrryax. If Chrysocheir should let loose a force against Roman territory, they were to send word about this to the domestic from that place; but if he tried to slip into his own lair without straying from his path, they were to leave him alone and return to the domestic.

42.     Now, when the barbarian army had already reached the so-called Bathyrryax at eventide and had encamped below, at the foot of the mountain, and while the Roman strategoi occupied the higher slopes and were keeping a watchful eye on what would happen next, a rivalry and contest over primacy arose among the rank and file, as well as the taxiarchae and captains, of the armies of the two themes. Those of the Charsian theme ascribed to themselves the lion’s share in outstanding prowess, while those of the Armeniac theme would not concede to them the first place in bravery at war. And as the rivalry between the two parties further increased and minds became greatly excited, it is reported that the following was said by some man prominent in the Armeniac corps: “Why are we each so bold in words to no purpose and so boastful in vain, when we can give the proof of the contested virtue by deeds? For, since the enemy are not far off, the best men can show themselves in action and the victors can be determined by their noble deeds.” When those words were reported to the strategoi, they realized the host’s desire and eagerness for deeds of bravery. They also recognized the advantage accruing from the ter­rain, since they would be setting out from higher ground upon the enemy encamped in the plain. They divided their forces in two: it was decided that the elite of these forces, as many as six hundred in number and led by the strategoi, would set upon the barbarian army; as for the remainder of the scanty Roman troops, they contrived to dispose them where they had been encamped, that is, on the high slopes, so as to make it appear that vast numbers were involved; and they agreed upon a signal and a time, so that just as the strategoi would set upon the enemy, these troops would let out terrifying clamors with deafening warwhoops and trumpet blasts that would make the very mountains reverberate. The elite troops put on their armor and stealthily drew near the enemy’s encampment under the cover of darkness. Before dawn, that is, before the sun had fully emerged from the hemisphere below the earth, they let out a resounding cry of vic­tory, all of them shouting “Cross hath overcome,” and set upon the enemy, while the rest joined them whooping from the mountain. The barbarians, stricken with tenor by the surprise, took no time to form a line of battle or to assess the number of their attackers; nor were they able on the spur of the moment to bethink themselves of any other salutary measure, but forthwith took flight. Surely it was the emperor’s continuous prayers that filled them with terror and drove them to their destruction. And, in line with the prearranged plan, the pursuing Romans frequently called out the names of even those strategoi who were not present, as well as those of the troops from the capital and the name of the domestic commanding the scholae. The fleeing enemy was thus driven into even greater fright and confusion, and it came about that the pursuit continued for up to thirty miles and the ground along the way was strewn with countless corpses.

43.     At which time, so the story goes, the shameless and insolent Chrysocheir was fleeing with a few men of his retinue, with a certain Roman surnamed Poulades in hot pursuit. It so happened that Poulades had once spent some time as a captive in Tephrike and, graced as he was with wit and charm, had become Chrysocheir’s close friend. Now, when the barbarian saw Poulades pursuing him with the zeal of the possessed, he turned about and said, “What wrong have I done unto you, wretched Poulades, that you pursue me in such a frenzy and are so keen on slaying me?” To which the other pithily retorted, “Because, Patron, I trust in God that on this very day I shall be able to requite you for all your kindnesses; that is why I am following so closely upon you.” Then as one of them galloped along in despair and misery, inasmuch as God had distracted his mind, and the other followed boldly and courageously in vigorous pursuit, the one pursued came to a deep trench; his horse was shying and rearing instead of clearing it. And while Chrysocheir kept his mind on the trench, Poulades struck him in the flank with a spear; reeling with pain, Chrysocheir forthwith sank from the horse. A man of his ret­inue, surnamed Diakonitzis, threw himself from his own mount and attended to his fallen master, resting Chrysocheir’s head on his own lap and lamenting what had befallen him. But Poulades was meanwhile joined by others who leaped off their horses and cut off the head of Chrysocheir who was already unconscious and on the point of dying, and they added that Diakonitzis to the roster of other captives. As the foes had thus been unexpectedly subdued and the glory of the Christians exalted, Chrysocheir’s head was swiftly sent ahead to the emperor, along with the bearers of the glad tidings. At that time the emperor happened to be staying at a place called Petrion, wherein lay the convent in which his daughters had their residence. When the head was brought to him, he recalled his prayers; in tears he turned his mind’s eye to Him that fulfils the desires of those who call upon Him, and ordered that a bow and arrows be brought; quickly drawing the bowstring and facing backward, he discharged three arrows at the murderous head; nor did he miss a single shot. He thought that he had made this offering, so amply deserved by that miscreant, to God as a kind of sacrifice to the dead, on behalf of the countless multitudes whom Chrysocheir had destroyed in the many years of his rule. And so the story of Chrysocheir and Tephrike, whose power was then at its peak, came to such a conclusion, with the help of God Who had been moved to pity by the frequent supplications of Basil, the pious emperor.

44.     Soon after Patriarch Ignatius of glorious memory had met his end in a way that was both pious and pleasing to God, and, surrounded on all sides by attendant virtues and blessed by all men, left in ripe old age the life allotted to him and passed over to the better one, the emperor, in a fair decision, gave the church back to the man who had formerly been found to be laying unfair claim to it, and lawfully and canonically restored the most wise Photios to the vacant see of the Queen of Cities. Indeed, even before that event the emperor extended continuous favors to him, honoring him for his excellence in all branches of knowledge. True, he had had him removed from his see, for he did not wish to put anything ahead of considerations of justice; still, he unstintingly provided him with all sustenance. It was then that he offered him the hospitality of the imperial palace and appointed him as teacher and preceptor to his own children. Thus, insofar as he was able, he permitted no one to remain in distress, but treated everyone with kindness and gentleness; nor did he neglect to offer comfort to everyone as much as he could.

45.     Although his feelings toward his subjects were thus as those of a father and a guardian, he still had enemies who hated—or rather envied—him and hatched plots against his life. Thus one going by the name of Kourkouas, overcome by the lust for tyranny and having reached a high pitch of insolence because of his wealth and luxury, or so it seemed, gathered a band of like-minded plotters and waited for the opportune occasion to launch his attack. But the plot was revealed to the emperor beforehand by one of the plotters, and the wicked men were given over to the law. Again the clemency of the noble emperor blunted the severity of the laws and reduced the penalty; hence, while the ringleader had his eyes gouged out, the remaining plotters were chastened by humane means; they were subjected to corporal punishment and their beards were plucked out. Thus he brought these people back to the state of calm in a way befitting a father rather than an absolute ruler.

46.     As for Basil himself, concern for the common weal and for the victories that still remained to be won allowed him no rest. First, the exceedingly well-defended town by the name of Loulon, of utmost advantage to Roman dominion, which had been seized by the Hagarenes together with its entire garrison, owing to past neglect concerning and to the failure to adopt advantageous measures, and which had been provided with defenses and held by them because of the security offered by its site—this fortress the emperor, combining force with persuasion, freed from barbarian dominion, restoring it to the former sovereignty of the Romans by his own sagacity and diligence and by lavish gifts. Because of that the town of Melou, too, went over to him of its own accord and proclaimed the emperor its master. At the same time he had the Manichaean city, Katabatala by name, taken by his generals; all the same, he was less delighted by having his dominions enlarged through others, than he was vexed at not setting up the trophies by his own toil and braving the dangers himself. For this reason, taking along his eldest son Constantine, he set out with him against Syria, so as to give that cub of noble race a taste for slaying the enemy and to be himself his teacher in tactics and manly valor in the face of peril. Upon reaching Caesarea, the first city of the Cappadocians near Mt. Argaeus, he exercised his troops according to the rules of the science of tactics. From among those troops, he set aside a body of picked men whom he sent forward as scouts and reconnoiterers; he himself then followed with his main force so that, as in the case of a well-working dagger, the most piercing part would lead and the more massive part follow. They swiftly traversed the deserted places, seized the forts of Psilokastellon and Paramokastellon, and led into captivity those inside whom they seized there. The inhabitants of the town called Phalakrou, smitten with terror at the approach of the main force, went over to the emperor of their own accord. Then Apabdele, the son of Amr, who made a great display of barbarian arrogance so long as the emperor was far away, took his body of men from Melitene and sought salvation in flight, believing that the only guarantee of his safety lay in keeping secret the location of his hideout. In the sweep of this campaign, Kaisu (that is, Kasama) and Roban (that is, Endelechone) were put to the sack; so were Ardalos [?] and a place called Eremosykaia; at that time, too, the notorious Sernas, son of Tael, sought refuge with the emperor.

47.     Let no one wonder or cavil if we have reported such momen­tous events succinctly and in barest outline, as if in a rapid survey. On the one hand, our narrative has imitated, as it were, the speed of those actions and has been for that very reason so simple and cursory—for, indeed, those strongholds were then conquered, and those missions accomplished, in less time than it takes now to tell the tale. On the other hand, because the long years that have already elapsed have, so to speak, blurred the details of these deeds, silencing what happened in between, and because we lack the knowledge needed both to give an account of the various orders of battle, methods of attack, extension or contraction of phalanx formations, and to tell what opportune uses were made of military stratagems, it has been impossible for us to devote much time to single points, or, so to speak, lovingly linger over them, all of which are devices used to draw out the story. As for the things whose credibility does not rest on evidence, even if they perchance are passed on by word of mouth, we do not want to accept them merely on faith, to avoid the appearance of offering the emperor a fictitious narrative of deeds that never happened; all the more so, because in his lifetime he himself plainly frowned upon fawning flattery uttered for the sake of currying favor. We who have neither the ability nor the leisure to commit to writing what is a matter of universal agreement can hardly be expected to indulge in long dis­quisitions about what is controversial. But now let our discourse back up and rejoin the path of our original narrative.

48.     Now, after these events the emperor and his troops crossed the rivers called the Onopniktes and the Saros and came to Koukousos. There, after setting fire to the thickets and cutting down the trees, and thereby providing a passage through the heretofore impassable tract, he seized places in those copses that were suitable for ambushes. After reaching Kallipolis and Padasia, he continued marching along rough roads; and, to assuage the weariness of his subordinates by the example of his own toil, he would dismount and proceed afoot through the narrow passes along the way. It was at that time that he attacked Germanikeia; since the entire opposing force retreated from his path and shut themselves up behind their walls—and not one of the enemy dared engage him in hand-to-hand combat—he set fire to the surrounding countryside, turned the cultivated fields around the city into a desolate plain, and reached Adata. But since the inhabitants of that city, too, did not dare fight him in the open country, but had crowded together behind their walls, determined to withstand a siege, he devastated what lay in front of the city and took a nearby fort called Geron. He had it plundered, to make his soldiers the more eager to toil by rewarding them with booty. Next, he attacked Adata’s walls themselves using siege engines; and in view of the strength of his forces he had every expectation of taking the city by storm. When he saw, however, that those within bore their lot fearlessly, untroubled by what to all intents and purposes was the evident ruin of their homeland, he wished to learn what it was that gave them so much confidence that, or so it appeared, they were making light of him. And in fact he did hear from one of the local inhabitants that they happened to have received the assurance from one of their holy men—who had gained his knowledge either from Divine Insight or from some scien­tific procedure—that “it has been ordained that this city will be taken not by you who are besieging it at present, but by another man of your kin, Constantine by name.” That is why they were not disturbed by what was befalling them. When the emperor pointed to his son and informed the man that this son was called by that very name, observing that their prophecy would lose none of its power if the city were to be taken just then, the informant explained that the Constantine who was to destroy their city was not the one present but “some other descendant of yours, after the passing of many years.” Thereupon the emperor, since he was greatly angered and wished to prove by deed that what had been said were but empty words, pressed the siege with renewed zeal and put his engines to work with renewed vigor. Soon, however, he began to realize that for all his pains he was making no headway and was unable to find any firm ground on which to rest some sure hope; moreover, when he contemplated the harm that would come to his troops camping in the open in these freezing cold places, he deemed the survival of his own men preferable to the defeat of the enemy and judged it advantageous to withdraw before the onset of winter. So much for that. As for us who have witnessed that prophecy’s coming to pass after so great a lapse of time, we are seized by wonder at those barbarians who, while leaving so much to be desired both in matters of conduct and of faith, were nonetheless so exact in their knowledge and grasp of the Truth. For while Basil could not take the city at that time, in our own day Constantine Bom of the Purple, son of Leo the most Wise and Basil’s grandson, was able to achieve this distinction, for to him goes the credit for having brought about the utter destruction of the inhabitants of Adata. Thus, as Homer tells us, it was

A good thing for a dying man to leave a child behind,

so that a child might gloriously survive as the avenger, and punish those who had dared to display insolence toward the majesty of his grandfather. Let, however, our discourse retrace its steps and reveal what is lying ahead.

49.     At that time, then, the emperor gave the army its fill of captives and spoils (later, mindful of the difficulty and length of the journey, he ordered that the captives be disposed of and put to the sword); then he took thought for the return, now that he had instilled much fear in the descendants of Hagar. Since, however, he expected some kind of attack in the narrow passes (for he knew that it was a paltry excuse for a commander to say, “I should never have expected it”), he laid ambuscades at suitable places and thus captured many who had expected to capture others. Now, when that notorious Abdelomelek who ruled over these places saw all this, he sent envoys requesting that he be granted immunity and peace; he promised to become a loyal subject and offered to surrender and hand over forts and places that he kept under his control. Upon receipt of this petition, the emperor granted his request, and thereafter had him as a willing ally against people of his own race. From there, Basil again passed through Mount Argaeus; when he came close to Caesarea, he received tidings of victory from Koloneia and Loulon. There followed the insignia, rich booty and a multitude of captives coming from the fortresses belonging to Tarsus and from the cities of the Manichaeans. It was there as well that the emperor ordered a large throng of Kurds brought thither to be slain, for they were almost totally useless, and the troops who had already been utterly encumbered did not wish to keep them on as yet another unwieldy impediment. Continuing on his return journey, the emperor arrived at Medaion, where he distributed honors to his subordinates, promoting and showing favor to each according to his virtues; then he dismissed them to their winter quar­ters and continued on his way. When he arrived in the capital he received, in accordance with the previous custom, the garland of victory from the patriarch and triumphal acclamations from the people.

50.     In the years that followed, the power of Tephrike having already faded away and then altogether disappeared, that of the Tarsites began to flourish and to increase, and the outlying Roman borderlands were constantly. At that time the famous Andrew, a man of Scythian origin, performed frequent acts of manly valor against them; in proportion to the modest numbers of his own force, he killed and took captive a great many of the enemy who had ventured forth on forays, splitting off from the main body of their army. As he thus exhibited ample proofs of his courage and wisdom day by day, the emperor promoted him to the rank of patrician and from that time on, wielding increased authority and commanding larger forces, Andrew engaged frequently in open battles as well as with the Tarsites. Once the emir of Tarsus wrote him a blasphemous message, filled with ravings against our Lord God Jesus Christ and his All-Holy Mother, to this effect: “Let me see what good the Son of Mary and she who bore Him will do for you when I set out against you with a large force.” Shedding many tears, Andrew took the slanderous writing, submitted it to the image of the Mother of God holding her Son in her arms, and said: “Behold, O Mother of the Word of God, and Thou Who hast issued before time from Thy Father and within time from Thy Mother, how this barbarian and braggart, this new Sennacherib, has chided Thee and acted with arrogance toward Thee and Thy pecu­liar people; be Thou the helper and protector of Thy servants, and may all the nations know the might of Thy power.” After he had said this in prayer to God with a contrite heart and abundant tears, he mustered up the Roman forces and went off against Tarsus. When he arrived at the place called Podandos, where flows the river of the same name, he found the barbarian army arrayed against him. Confident in God, our valiant Andrew attacked with his entire force, which he had earlier encouraged toward the fray with words of exhortation, and he dis­played many deeds of wisdom and courage; his subordinate comman­ders, the taxiarchae and captains, as well as the entire army, fought like true men; and the barbarian host was put to rout with much slaughter, the emir himself having fallen first, along with the flower of his force. A few of the enemy at the camp’s rampart and some of those assigned to the very rear barely escaped danger and found safety in Tarsus. Andrew buried his own dead and then collected those of the enemy in one spot, making a great mound of them, so that it might serve as a memorial for future generations. Then he returned home with rich spoils and booty and many captives. But he showed a sober disposition in his triumph, deeming it a deed of God alone, to Whom he attributed command in battle and the palm of victory. Accordingly, he refrained from advancing further for he feared lest insatiable desire for victory and yearning for more, as often happens, should cause envious Nemesis to undo what had already been attained. When he informed the emperor of what he had accomplished, he was prevented from obtaining a prize worthy of his deeds by the envy of his peers, who, having first gained the emperor’s ear, spread constant rumors and slandered the man, accusing him of wilful cowardice and of having taken the capture of Tarsus away from the Romans. “Whereas God,” it was said, “as good as gave us the city, if only Andrew had pressed his victory (for the troops had been emboldened by what they had accomplished); we have lost it through the negligence of the commander.” Since these things were repeated over and over again, the emperor was swayed by them (for even sensible men are deceived when they are told things meant to please them), and relieved Andrew of his command as a man who had failed to take full advantage of his proud achievements in the struggle against the enemy. In his place, he promoted to the command both of the troops of the Capital and of the entire army that well known, nicknamed Stypiotes, who promised to take Tarsus and foolishly thought that he would accom­plish many other noble deeds.

51.      This man, who forthwith took command and set out against Tarsus with the entire Roman force, proved that Andrew had not been a wilful and worthless coward, but rather a considerate and prudent man and an excellent general. Assuming that the barbarians were easy prey, Stypiotes took none of the necessary preliminary measures, nor did he lay ambuscades nor ponder anything worthy of an experienced and prudent general, but approached Tarsus (at a place called Chrysoboullon) in a display of foolish arrogance and mindless insolence. The barbarians found out that he had failed to take precautions; indeed, he had neither taken hold of any strongholds, nor had he dug a trench and built a rampart in front of the encampment, nor had he accomplished any other of those things which thoughtful and sensible generals prepare in advance. Thus they resolved to obtain victory by stealth and attacked the unprepared and unsuspecting man at night, using a stratagem that, as it turned out, was well suited to their difficult position and to their straitened circumstances. As their forces were reduced and few in number owing to their previous defeat, their plight forced them to resort by necessity to cunning. They gathered many horses, fastened dry hides to these horses’ tails, and upon a signal let them loose all at once upon many places in the Roman encampment. Then, beating drums, they drew their swords and rushed from every direction into the middle of the fortified camp. Thus did terror and disorder befall the Roman army, and men and horses were thrown together in confusion and fell upon each other. As a result, the barbarians prevailed and wrought immense slaughter, because most of the Romans ingloriously trampled each other underfoot and were smothered one by another. The Ishmaelites thus prevailed beyond all expectation and belief, severed the sinews of Roman rule and chanted songs of victory, to the accompaniment of the beating of the drums and of barbaric ululations. Such was the outcome of the foolish campaign that Envy had adjudicated to the disadvantage of the Romans and such was the trophy that malicious Nemesis set up against the formerly prospering Romans. So much for the state of affairs in the east during the years of Basil’s pious reign. Now I am about to narrate the state of affairs in the west.

52.     During Michael’s reign matters in the west had been vastly neglected, along with everything else. Thus almost the whole of that part of Italy that had formerly belonged to our New Rome, and most of the area of Sicily, had been conquered by the neighboring Carthaginian power and had become tributary to the barbarians. Moreover, Scythians dwelling in Pannonia, Dalmatia, and beyond—I mean the Croats, Serbs, Zachlumians, Terbuniotes, Kanalites, Diocletians and Rentanians—rebelled against the immemorial rule of the Romans, and became independent and sovereign, led only by their own chieftains. Most of them went a step further in their rebellion and even rejected holy baptism, so as to keep no pledge of their friendship with the Romans and of their submission to them.

53.     Such being the state of affairs in the west, so anarchic and so confused, the Hagarenes from Carthage, too, used this opportunity to launch their attack; they appointed as their chiefs Soldanos, Sambas and Kalphous, who in their opinion stood out among their compatriots in matters of malice and military experience; and they dispatched against Dalmatia a fleet of thirty-six warships that captured various Dalmatian cities, such as Boutoba, Rosa, and the lower Dekatera. As matters thus progressed according to the enemy’s plans, they came to the main city of the whole nation, Ragusa by name. They kept it under siege for a considerable time, being unable to take it right away, because those inside fought bravely, running, as the saying goes, for their very lives. The inhabitants of Ragusa, hard pressed for quite a long time and approaching the limits of their endurance, were forced by necessity to send envoys to the emperor, even though they must have known full well that the ruler of the time was engrossed in things of a rather different kind. Still they entreated him to take pity on them and to come to the assistance of people who were in present danger of becoming subjects of the deniers of Christ. Before the envoys could reach the imperial city, and while they were still tarrying on their way, the worthless emperor had disappeared from among men, and absolute power was transferred to Basil, the watchful and sober-minded steward of the common weal. Even before that, Basil had been greatly vexed and grieved by these things; now, he listened to the envoys with care, prudently weighed the hardships of the besieged, viewed the misfortunes of people of like faith as wounds that affected himself, and turned to preparing the force that was to be dispatched as succor to the suppliants. He fitted out a fleet of one hundred ships, had everything suitably prepared, chose a man who in his sagacity and experience stood out among the many—I mean the droungarios of the navy, Patrician Niketas, nicknamed Ooryphas—and sent him forth like a fiery thunderbolt against the enemy. Upon learning through deserters that the Ragusans had dispatched envoys to the emperor to request a powerful force against them, the Saracens of Africa who were beleaguering the city lifted the siege and retreated from those parts: for one thing, they despaired of a quick capture of the city; for another, they feared the reinforcements that were to come from the emperor. Thus they crossed over to that part of Italy which is now called Longobardia, captured the city of Bari, and settled in there, making daily raids against their close neighbors and bold sallies against those farther away; constantly extending their possessions, they seized the whole of Longobardia almost up to Rome, once so glorious a city. Such was the state of these affairs.

54.     When the aforementioned Slavic tribes—Croats, Serbs, and the others—saw what Roman reinforcements had done for the inhabitants of Dalmatia, and when they learned of the gentleness and the all-embracing justice and virtue of the new Roman emperor, they preferred the lot of well-ruled subjects to the instability of arrogant self-rule and were eager to return to the dominion of their previous masters, and be brought back into Roman servitude. Indeed, they, too, sent envoys to the emperor toward this end—both those tribes who had rebelled while holding on to the common worship and those who had utterly abandoned holy baptism. They opportunely reminded him of their original servitude, stressed how eminently useful they had been to the Romans in the past, and requested that they, too, might submit to the gentle yoke of the power of Rome and be counted among the subjects of its shepherd. The emperor found their request reasonable and granted it (for even before that, he had been vexed and aggrieved on their account, because a considerable part of his realm had suffered from devastation and plunder). Just as the benevolent father did with his son who had once foolishly shaken his paternal reins, but later repented and came home, so also the emperor admitted and received them with kindness. He forthwith dispatched priests as well as the imperial agent along with the Slavic envoys, above all in order to rescue these tribes from spiritual danger, restore them safely to their former faith, and deliver them from the sins of ignorance or rather folly. When this God-pleasing deed was done, and they had all partaken of holy baptism and reverted to the submission to the Romans, the emperor’s domain again became whole in these parts; and by his benevolent command, all of them accepted chieftains drawn from among their kinsmen and people of their own race to rule over them. For the Emperor did not venal so as to have the highest bidders from hereabouts promoted to exercise authority over them, only to despoil his subjects. For that reason, he sensibly ordained that people selected and, as it were, appointed by the natives themselves, should rule them as their elected chieftains, bound to preserve paternal benevolence toward them. So much for that.

55.      The barbarians who had crossed over into Roman dominions during the disorderly and slovenly reign of Michael and had been repulsed from Ragusa were still, as has already been stated, present in Italy, raiding it without respite and plundering it without mercy; in that way they subdued as many as one hundred and fifty towns, either through betrayal or by siege. Upon hearing this, the emperor was greatly distressed, lay sleepless thinking of these matters, and sought some suitable means by which to rout the enemy altogether, or at least drive them away and expel them from Roman dominions. He consid­ered the forces that had been dispatched earlier for the sake of the Ragusans and the entire nation of the Dalmatians—forces which, as we already stated, were commanded by Patrician Nicetas nicknamed Ooryphas—to be no match for such a great multitude of barbarians, especially because there would be need to engage in frequent clashes with the enemy in the land’s interior and thus to be far removed from the sea, a thing which seemed inexpedient, even impossible, for a naval force. On the other hand, he judged that it would be disadvantageous to dispatch additional troops from hereabouts, both because of the large outlays involved in such an expedition and on account of the needs of regions close to home. Thus he took prudent counsel and sent envoys to Lewis, king of Francia, and to the Pope of Rome, asking that both come to the assistance of the troops from hereabouts and join forces with them against the Hagarenes who had settled in Bari. He also commanded that men from the Slavic territories which we have just mentioned take part in the undertaking, the Dalmatians crossing the sea with the help of the inhabitants of Ragusa, as well as on their own local boats. When they had all come together, a large force was gathered, and because the Roman admiral was by far superior to all in wisdom and valor, Bari was speedily captured. The town itself, its countryside, and all the enslaved population were once again restored to Roman sovereignty, and the countryside recovered its inhabitants. As for Soldanos and the Hagarene troops under his command, the king of Francia took them over and led them away to Capua, for he still ruled that city, as well as Beneventum. Thus did the emperor’s first campaign in the west come to an end, and the capital was decked out with spoils and glory coming from those western parts.

56.     Ofttimes History delights in embellishing her discourse and capturing the minds of her listeners through stories told by way of digression. Let us therefore describe in some detail what came to pass between the king of Francia, the emir of Africa, Soldanos, and the inhabitants of Capua and Beneventum. Soldanos, in the two years which he spent in Capua together with the king of Francia, was never seen by anyone to laugh. The king promised an offering of gold to anyone who could discover Soldanos laughing. Now, someone did report once to the king that he had seen Soldanos, that hitherto morose man, laughing; and he was able to produce witnesses to this effect. The king summoned Soldanos and asked what had brought about this change in disposition and this laughter. Said Soldanos, “I laughed as I saw a carriage and considered its wheels, how their topmost parts turn downward as their lower parts rise again, and I took this as an illustration of how unstable and unsteady our good fortune is; for one thing, I considered how we lay such a great store by such an unsteady thing; for another, I thought it not beyond the range of the possible in my case, that just as I, a once exalted man, had become lowly, even so might I be raised to great heights again from the lower depths.” Upon hearing this, the king revolved his own fortunes in his mind, found Soldanos to be a wise man, and began to admit him to his presence and to consort with him.

57.      But Soldanos, who was a crafty man, and privy to Punic wiles, determined to bring about safe return for himself by slandering other people. As it happened, the nobles of the towns of Capua and Beneventum visited him often, as a man whom the experience of old age had made sagacious and wise and as one whose fortunes had turned from good to bad. Soldanos, feigning friendship toward them, said that he would have liked to divulge a secret design that the king had conceived against them, but that he feared the danger attendant upon the disclosure. When they all swore an oath that they would keep secret whatever he might say, he told them that the king wished “to send all of you in fetters to his own country of Francia, for otherwise he would not be able to retain firm control over your cities.” At first the nobles did not quite believe these revelations and sought yet a clearer understanding of the matter. In turn, Soldanos said this to the king, “You cannot keep a firm hold on these towns as long as their nobles continue to live here; but if you wish to put the towns securely under your sway, send the nobles in fetters forthwith to Francia.” The king was persuaded by these words and ordered that chains be forged with all speed, as though for some urgent need. When Soldanos saw the nobles again, he said: “Do you still not believe what I have told you? Make inquiries, and see what all the smiths are forging by order of the king: if you discover chains and fetters, do not disbelieve what I have been telling you for your own safety.” When the nobles learned that the barbarian was telling the truth in this matter, they were no longer disbelieving of the other things as well, and sought a way whereby they might take revenge upon the king. Not long afterward, when the king went out hunting, they had the city gates shut against him and did not allow him to re-enter. The king, unable to do anything right away, went back again to his own country.

58.     Soldanos then approached the nobles and demanded a reward for his disclosure. The reward was leave to return to his homeland. He was granted his request, returned to Carthage, and regained his rule; but he did not abandon his evil ways and set out on a campaign against Capua and Beneventum. Such were the thanks he offered those people in return for his own safety. The nobles sent an embassy to the king, but it was dismissed with scorn and they were told by him that he would rejoice in their ruin. The leaders of these towns then sent a messenger to the emperor with a request for aid. In his compas­sion and kindness, the emperor promptly sent the envoy back, with word to them that they could expect the imminent arrival of succor from hereabouts. But the bearer of the message fell into the hands of the enemy before he could pass imperial instructions on to those who had dispatched him. So Soldanos said to him, “If you should serve my purpose, not only will your life be spared, but you will even be rewarded with gifts.” When the man agreed to do exactly as he was bidden, Soldanos said, “I wish you to stand in front of the town walls and say to those inside: ‘I have discharged my task and carried out all that I had been charged to do; do not expect succor from the emperor, for he has not lent his ear to your petition.’” The man promised to say these things in this way and was sent together with the attendants of Soldanos to deliver the message to the people in the city. After he had come close to the walls, however, and requested the city leaders to come listen to him, he said: “I am plainly facing death, and my slaughter is close at hand; even so, I shall not conceal the truth. I only beg of you and adjure you to pass the gratitude you owe me on to my children and my spouse. For I, my lords, am now in the grip of the enemy; even so, I have fulfilled my duty and presented your message to the emperor of the Romans: expect succor to come from there any day. Therefore stand firm like valiant men and be not fainthearted. For the one who shall rescue you, if not me, is coming.” When the attendants of Soldanos heard this, they were filled with terrible rage by this ruse and on the spot hacked the man down with their swords. But now Soldanos, fearful of the force that was expected to come from the emperor, lifted the siege and withdrew to his own country. And from that time on the leaders of those cities remained faithful to the emperor, and preserved them in servitude to him.

59.     It happened in those days that yet another Hagarene fleet came sailing against the Roman dominions; but through the emperor’s persistent prayers to God, his own prudent ordinances and his proper handling of affairs, victory was granted the Romans, and the descendants of Hagar suffered an ignominious defeat. For the emir of Tarsus, whose name was Esman, fitted out a fleet of thirty large ships called kombaria, and made ready to attack the town of Euripos. The strategos of Hellas, however (Oiniates was his name), following an imperial order, had brought from all over Hellas troops sufficient for garrisoning the town and had provided its walls with suitable defenses. When the people of the town saw the ships nearing the walls and the barbarians discharging a great many missiles in an attempt to push back the defenders and drive them away from the ramparts, they fought back valiantly, filled with courage and zeal, and every day killed a great many barbarians, using engines for hurling stones and catapults for shooting darts, and throwing stones down by hand. More than that, when the wind turned favorable, they burned up most of the enemy ships with liquid fire. Now, the barbarian was at a loss and despondent; but since he knew that greed of money would make ordi­nary people agree to face death, he put down a large shield in front of the rampart, filled it with gold, and said: “I shall give this, along with the choicest maidens, one hundred in number, as a reward for valor to the first man who will enter the town and bestow victory upon his fellow countrymen.” When people from the town saw this and understood the meaning of what was happening, they fortified one another with words of exhortation and, upon one signal, opened the gates and courageously rushed out against the barbarians. As many of the latter were being slain; and as the emir himself received a mortal wound and fell, the rest were put to flight and were being cut down while their pursuers pressed them hard as far as their remaining ships; thus was there a great slaughter of the barbarians. The survivors boarded the few ships cleft to them and fled in disgrace to their own land. Thus, owing to the prayers of the emperor and to the prowess of the defenders, and even without the help of Roman naval forces, the barbarian fleet suffered a resounding defeat and withdrew ignominiously.

60.     No sooner were clouds from Tarsus thus scattered than new storms from Crete began to gather in their stead. For when the notorious Saet, son of Apochaps, was emir of that island and had as his accomplice a certain Photios, a man of war and action, twenty-seven kombaria were outfitted in Crete. The enemy also had at its disposal a correspondingly large number of light boats and fifty-oared ships that common folk usually call saktourai and galleys. With this fleet they would sail forth against the Roman dominions, plunder the whole area of the Aegean, often extending their attacks as far as Prokonnesos in the Hellespont, and capture and kill many people. On that occasion, the aforementioned Patrician Niketas who commanded the Roman triremes attacked the Cretan fleet, engaged them in a fierce battle, and straightaway burned up twenty of the Cretan vessels with liquid fire; and the barbarians on board perished by the sword, by fire, or by drowning. The remaining vessels found safety in flight; as many, that is, as were able to escape the dangers of the seas.

61.      Even though the Cretans were thus reduced in power and beat a calamitous retreat, they refused to lie low, but again engaged in action at sea. With the aforementioned Photios as admiral, they harrassed and plundered regions further removed from the capital—I have in mind the Peloponnesus and the islands to its south. Consequently, the Roman triremes and their outstanding commander Niketas (I mean Ooryphas) were dispatched against Photios. Niketas reached the Peloponnesus after an auspicious voyage of a few days. When he cast anchor near Kenchreai, and learned that the barbarian host were plundering the western areas of the Peloponnesus, that is, Methone and Patrai and places adjacent to Corinth, he conceived a clever and wise plan: he decided against sailing around the Peloponnesus, doubling Cape Maleas, covering a distance of a thousand miles and arriving too late to seize the right opportunity. Instead, just as he was, he employed a multitude of experienced hands to work under the cover of night, had the ships carried by land across the isthmus of Corinth to the other side, set about his task, and suddenly appeared in front of the enemy before they had learned anything of this action; by confusing them and frightening them out of their minds—both because they were still unnerved from the previous encounter and because they had not expected this onslaught—he gave them no chance whatever to form a battle line to defend themselves, but set fire to some of the enemy ships and sank others. Of the barbarians, he slew some by the sword and sent others to the bottom; and he slaughtered their leader and forced the survivors to scatter all over the peninsula. Niketas later trapped them, took them alive and subjected them to various torments. Some he had skinned, especially those who had abjured holy baptism, saying that it was this very thing, the baptism, that he was taking off them and nothing that was their own; from others, he had skin flayed off in strips from head to toe, causing them excruciating pain. Others again, he would lift by means of crane-like contraptions and then forcibly throw from on high into cauldrons filled with bubbling pitch to give them a share—so he said—of their own “baptism” full of darkness and pain. By humiliating them so violently and by exacting from them penalties commensurate with their deeds, he instilled in them no little fear of attempting another campaign against the Roman dominions. In such a way, then, were the storms from the south scattered and the ship of the Roman state held in those parts on a steady course.

62.     Heavy seas were again swelling up in the west, however, for the sultan of Africa had rigged out huge ships, sixty in number, and set sail against the Roman dominions. He ventured as far as the islands of Cephalonia and Zante, plundering the areas in between and taking many captives. When the emperor heard this, he quickly rose to the occasion and offered help: he outfitted many triremes, biremes and other fast-sailing vessels, and dispatched the commander of the navy (Nasar it was) with an impressive force. Nasar speedily sailed off, enjoyed favorable winds, and reached Methone in a short time. He was prevented from launching a rapid attack against the enemy, however, for the following reason: a large number of oarsmen had lost their nerve in the face of danger and were stealthily escaping, a few at a time. Their desertions were depriving the ships of the speed they needed, and they were unable to charge against the enemy with sufficiently rapid movement and dash. Nasar, who had been thus disarmed, decided against simply attacking the adversary; instead he dispatched a courier and reported the incident to the emperor. The emperor promptly sent out people competent in such matters, and had all the deserters captured and put under arrest. Weighing in his mind how both to keep his hands unsullied with the blood of his compatriots and to instil due fear into the remaining oarsmen, so that the wicked­ness of the deserters would not be imitated nor wilful cowardice and indolence spread to the majority, the emperor conceived the following sagacious plan: he commanded the drungarios of the guard to remove, under the cover of night, thirty from among the Saracene malefactors condemned to death by law and imprisoned in the Praetorium. He was to smear their faces with soot and have their beards and hair singed off, thus making them appear unrecognizable; he was also to make sure that absolutely no one would dare accost them or speak to them, such an act of daring carrying the penalty of death. The drungarios was to punish these men, allegedly the ringleaders of those crews that had deserted, by having them whipped in the Hippodrome and then ignominiously paraded, with their hands tied behind their backs, through the Forum of the capital. Thereupon, made fast in the stocks, they were to be sent to the Peloponnesus, in order to receive appropriate punishment in the very place whence, or so it was believed, they had fled. And the strategos of the Peloponnesus, John, nicknamed the Cretan, was charged with attending to this. Carrying out the emperor’s decree John commanded that as many gibbets as there were prisoners that had been sent down be set up in Methone, and had those who had been dispatched as ringleaders of the desertion hanged. When the crews of the Roman fleet heard and saw these things, they pitied the deserters as cowardly wretches; as for themselves, they plucked up courage to face the danger, discarded all traces of faint-heartedness and wantonness, and urged their admiral forthwith to lead them against the enemy.

63.     In the meantime, Nasar had replenished the depleted ranks of his troops with soldiers from the Peloponnesus and with Mardaites, joined forces with the strategos of the Peloponnesus, and made ready for the offensive. By then the Saracens, having decided that the Roman fleet was guilty of abject cowardice (for it appeared to them to be wasting time in the interval), took to disembarking from their ships with full impunity and plundering the adjacent countryside and islands. But all of a sudden the Roman naval forces stealthily drew close to them and, at a signal given by the strategos, one night suddenly launched a surprise attack on the enemy. With no time to form a line of battle or to put up a defense, the enemy perished miserably, while their ships, the fighting men aboard, the crews, and all were consumed by fire. Such ships as escaped the hazards of fire, Nasar presented as an offering of thanks to the church of God in Methone and let the men under his command have their share of spoils and of the surviving captives. He speedily made all this known to the emperor and requested instructions about what to do and which way to turn next. The emperor praised him for what he had accomplished and ordered him to forge ahead.

64.     Since previous accomplishments had made his troops eager for action, Nasar crossed over to Sicily and Palermo and attacked and sacked those cities of that region that were tributary to the Hagarenes of Carthage. He captured a great many cargo ships and other vessels carrying large quantities of olive oil and other valu­able wares. They say that the price of olive oil fell so low in those days on account of this surplus, that a half pint sold for a farthing.

65.     This same fleet also crossed over to Italy, where it joined the Roman infantry and cavalry led by Prokopios, the emperor’s protovestiarios, and by Leo nicknamed Apostypes, at that time commander of the Thracians and Macedonians, and accomplished much that was of benefit to Roman rule. Thus, at the promontory called Stelai, Nasar was victorious in an encounter with the fleet that had again sailed from Africa; with only few exceptions, he also freed all the towns held by the Hagarenes in Calabria and Longobardia from barbarian domination and transferred them to Roman sovereignty. In this fashion, the naval forces overcame treachery, Envy and Nemesis, and returned to the emperor with rich spoils and with wreaths of victory; they filled the hearts of the whole citizenry with joy and offered the emperor ample opportunity for expressing thanks and acknowledging gratitude to God.

66.     The land forces, on the other hand, were not quite able to escape Envy. True, they accomplished brilliant deeds of manly valor, but they lost their senior commander as a result of the strife and rivalry that occurred in the very heat of the struggle. For Leo and Prokopios, though at odds with each other, nevertheless engaged the enemy. So it happened that while Apostypes, who fought together with his Thracians and Macedonians, was overpowering the foe and inflicting much carnage upon them, Prokopios who, together with the Slavs and the western troops, was facing the enemy on the other wing, was hard pressed by them. Since his fellow commander failed to send succor to the troops in distress, owing to the strife that had preceded, the wing led by Prokopios was utterly routed, and he himself was slain during the pursuit, his mount having collapsed under him. As that battle came to such an end, Leo wished to accomplish some brilliant feat so as to obscure what had happened because of the strife. He therefore gathered his army, joined to it the survivors of the rout suffered by the troops under Prokopios’s command, laid siege to the town of Tarentum which was still in the hands of the Hagarenes, took it by assault and led all its inhabitants into captivity. He allowed his troops to profit handsomely from the spoils; he also presented the emperor with much booty. The emperor, however, did not look upon all this with approval, nor did he requite Leo as one does a man of valor. When he discovered, upon investigation, that a fellow commander had perished as a result of rivalry that occurred in the very heat of battle, he relieved Leo of his command and banished him to his residence near Kotyaeion.

67.     Apostypes’s subsequent fortunes, too, were of a similar sort. For Bagianos, his protostrator, and Chamaretos, his chamberlain and the foremost among his closest intimates, conspired against him, drew up a denunciation of their lord, and addressed it to the emperor. It contained the disclosure that the death of Protovestiarios Prokopios had been deliberately brought about by their master, an accusation of high treason, and a number of other grievous and odious charges. Chamaretos took the denunciation and went to the capital, where he delivered it to the emperor. When Bardas and David, sons of Apos- types, learned this, they slew Bagianos and cruelly cut him to pieces with their swords. On account of this rash deed and because they feared the emperor, they set out in flight to Syria together with their father. When the emperor heard of it, he immediately sent Martzapedon the manglabites to seize them and bring them to him. Martzapedon overtook them as they were already nearing Cappadocia and rapidly pushing on their way toward Syria. He tried to seize them on the authority of the emperor’s order, but they made a stand and defended themselves with all their strength; in the ensuing melee and commotion the two sons of the defector were slain, while he himself was taken and brought in chains to the emperor, who at that time was dwelling in the imperial residences at Hiereia. By the emperor’s decree, Apostypes was tried and found guilty by Manuel the magistros; he had one of his eyes gouged out, and was also deprived of one of his hands, on two counts: the denunciation made against him, and his attempted flight to the enemy. Thereafter he grew to an old age in exile in Mesembria. The career of Apostypes, then, who was also in other respects not a worthy man, came to such an end.

68.     While the emperor was successfully managing the affairs of the west through his lieutenants, the Arabs from the south had recovered, and in the belief that the emperor was inactive, idle and indolent, regained courage and resolved to engage again in operations at sea. They intended to build ships in Egypt and in the coastal cities of Syria, and to campaign against the lands and seas that paid tribute to the Romans. But first, they judged it necessary to ascertain through spies how matters stood with the emperor, and they dispatched a man who was to dress as a Roman and, using Roman speech, survey each detail and report back to them. But the emperor, ever alert to the concerns of the state and always making the necessary preparations in advance, and because the ships being built in Syria also did not escape his notice, caused additional triremes and biremes to be built, gathered the naval forces at the capital, and awaited the future. In the meantime, lest the bands of sailors should become too unruly from too much leisure, he decreed that they assist in the construction of the church which was then being raised up on the imperial palace grounds and which was dedicated to Christ our Savior, to the Commanders of the Heavenly Host, and to Elijah the Tishbite; should the armada from Syria heave in sight, appearing from the coasts of that land, however, they, too, were to be sent to confront the enemy. Thus, when the spy from Syria came and saw the multitude of ships and that the naval forces were at hand and ready to be sent forth, and when he had ascertained and surveyed every matter, he made his report to those who had sent him. When the latter heard, against their expectations, that the emperor was well-prepared, they lost courage, chose to lie low at that time, and abandoned their eagerness for sailing forth. The crews of the ships, however, remained in the capital, busily engaged in the aforementioned task.

69.     Their previous defeats made the barbarians dwelling in Carthage fear that the Roman fleet might next attempt to cross over to their own territory; for this reason they, too, built a considerable number of ships. When spring passed and they learned that no imperial forces had arrived, they assumed that the emperor’s army was engaged in other wars and made bold to set out on a campaign against Sicily. They arrived at the main city of the island—I mean Syracuse—laid siege to it, and were pillaging its environs, laying waste its countryside and suburban estates. When the strategos of Sicily reported this to the emperor, the force that had been made ready against Syria was forthwith dispatched to Sicily, with a certain Adrian as commander, since this man happened to be admiral of the fleet at that time. Adrian sailed off from the capital, but as he was not fortunate enough to encounter suitable and propitious winds, he sailed down with difficulty as far as the Peloponnesus, had the ships cast anchor at Monembasia in the harbor called Hierax, and waited for a favorable wind. It appears that he was a rather indolent man, without the spark in his soul needed to face adverse winds and hasten toward his goal by rowing during intervals of calm. While he tarried in the aforementioned harbor for a long time, whereas the Hagarenes were pursuing their siege with increasing vigor and employing all possible means in their haste to achieve their goal before succor would reach the besieged, it happened that the city was taken by assault, that many of the defenders were slain, and that the whole multitude dwelling in the city were sold into slavery, while its wealth became the spoil of the enemy. The town was razed to the ground, and its churches given to the flames; and what hitherto had been a splendid and famous city which had ofttimes overcome the many armies of Hellenes and barbar­ians that had besieged it, was reduced to a heap of ruins.

70.     Adrian learned of this event for the following reason. There was a place in the Peloponnesus not far from Monembasia where the Roman fleet lay at anchor. It was called Helos (i.e., “Woodland”), a name it had received from the dense and tightly shaded woods around it. A host of demons lurked in this place; shepherds who grazed their flocks there often worshiped these demons in the hope that the flocks tended by them would thereby escape harm. These shepherds overheard the demons in question conversing with each other, as it were, and gloating that “Syracuse was captured the day before and all that was in it has been razed to the ground and has gone up in flames.” The shepherds passed this story on to others, and thus it reached Adrian as well. He summoned the shepherds themselves, interrogated them in depth, and found that what they were saying agreed with the story he himself had heard. As he wanted to hear it with his own ears, he went to the place in the company of the shepherds, through whom he asked the demons the question about when he would reach Syracuse. He heard, “Syracuse has already been captured.” He was taken aback by sorrow and confusion, but he regained his composure, and considered that he did not have to trust the words of evil demons because they were not endowed with the gift of foreknowledge. He failed to realize that these things did not involve foreknowledge, but simply the revealing of events that were already past and done, for the demons are able, on account of their delicate structure and swift movement, to arrive ahead of messages sent by human carriers. Anyhow, he remained skeptical. But ten days later some of those who had escaped the ruin and who happened to belong to the troops of the Mardaites and taxatoi stationed in the Peloponnesus, recounted as eye­witnesses the story of the destruction. Reliably informed by them, Adrian took his fleet back to the capital at full sail, all the more because the winds that had been adverse on the outbound voyage were favorable on the return. He took refuge as a suppliant in the great sanctuary of God in which the name of God’s Wisdom has been proclaimed. The enormity of the mishap sorely tore at the vitals of the emperor, however, and sent him into an almost boundless excess of anger and despair. Thus, neither the divine sanctuary itself nor the archpriest who had interceded on Adrian’s behalf could save him from a most severe punishment: true, he was spared the ultimate—and probably deserved—sentence, but his intercessor was not able to save him altogether from the lesser one, imposed upon him as a sobering example to others. Thus it was that the emperor, who in private matters was a man of moderation and self-control, did not moderate his anger when it came to public affairs.

71.      The enemies in the west were thus again gaining strength and, given their present successes, could be expected to take the field against their neighbors closer at hand. One Stephen, nicknamed Maxentios, was therefore dispatched against them. He was a man of Cappadocian origin and in command of the troops in Longobardia, as well as Thracians, Macedonians and some choice units from among the Charsianites and Cappadocians. When Stephen had arrived at the area of command assigned to him and attempted to retake the city of Amantia held by the Saracens, he failed to accomplish anything worth mentioning or equal to the strength of the troops at his disposal, seemingly on account of his bent toward procrastination and slovenliness, but in fact because he was a cowardly and self-indulgent man. He was consequently relieved of his command, and Nicephorus, called Phokas, was dispatched in his stead. Nicephorus was a diligent and vigilant man, noble and wise both in deed and counsel. He brought further reinforcements from generals commanding in the east, includ­ing that famous Diakonitzis, the former attendant of Chrysocheir of Tephrike, who brought with him a troop of men tracing their religion back to Mani. Having, then, joined to his own the troops commanded by Stephen, Nicephorus accomplished many deeds of wisdom, gallantry on the field of battle, and nobility. He forthwith subdued the city of Amantia, inflicting heavy casualties upon the enemy who resisted him; he also restored to Roman sovereignty the town called Tropai and that of Saint Severina; he was victorious over the Hagarenes in other battles and encounters; and he gave his troops their fill of rich booty from the spoils he had taken from the enemy. Such were the deeds that that man accomplished during the lifetime of Emperor Basil of glorious memory; other deeds he added later, under the rule of Basil’s son Leo, the most mild and wise of all emperors. Even if all these deeds did not follow closely in time, one upon the other, as they do in our narrative, still, because the exact date of each deed was not known, all of them have been recounted in one sequence in the present account. Such and so many had been the deeds of war that have come to my knowledge as accomplished by Basil the emperor, both on land and at sea, in the west as well as in the east, either in person or through subordinate commanders.

72.     Our story must now revert to those deeds that had been enacted by our emperor alone, and to narrating how he was always engrossed in public affairs and how, with his mind constantly set on the custody of the whole world, he now would guide them in the right direction by thoughtful handling; now would lend his ear and attentively listen to historical accounts, to precepts concerning statecraft, to moral instructions, and to spiritual admonitions and advice from the holy fathers; and now would exercise his hand and direct it toward the pen. At times he would explore the customs, lives, state­craft and military exploits of generals and emperors and after careful scrutiny, would choose the best and the most praiseworthy among these and would strive to emulate them in his own deeds. At other times he would diligently study the Lives of deceased men who had excelled in the best way of life—the one according to God—, restrain the irrational drives of his soul—for he wished to demonstrate absolute mastery over himself before imposing his rule on those outside—and derive great spiritual profit from all this. For the same reason, he also greatly cherished knowing, meeting, and conversing with those blessed men who were still alive and who, by pursuing a life of the spirit in this world of matter, had taken up their citizenship in heaven while still dwelling among us. As he was exceedingly he would not have them come to him; rather, he would go to them, utterly disregarding imperial pomp, and partake of their prayers. Thus was he wreathed with their blessings, fortified in his fear of God, and directed toward divine decrees. One could see from this that the four cardinal virtues dwelt with him at all times and everyone marveled at his valor joined with wisdom, and temperance coupled with justice; everything was taking a turn for the better. Mankind appeared to have returned to the well-ordered state of old, for the emperor took constant care that his subjects should enjoy tranquility and no one should be mistreated by his neighbor. Those who were promoted to offices strove at all times to imitate their ruler’s piety toward the God­head, his respect toward priests and monks, his compassion toward the poor, and his justice dispensed equally to all men; for his command and precept was that neither the weaker should be exploited by the stronger nor the well-to-do be cursed and slandered by the poor, but that the former should embrace the poor man and take care of him as of his brother, and the latter should bless the well-to-do as a common father and savior and sincerely pray that the Lord bestow all kinds of good things upon him. As the emperor ordered his life in such a way and made his own acts of providence dependent on those of the Divine one, he was manifestly taught many useful things through dreams. Whenever filled with anxiety he would retire for the night and toss about some matter of state in his thoughts, he would frequently see the outcome in a dream, derive good hopes from it and calm the turbulence in his soul. For it is not at all astonishing that those men who wield power on this earth as if it were a kind of public service, and who thereby perform a truly godly ministry in this lower world of ours, and imitate the Divine Model, should be emboldened, as much as possible, by Providence, directed by her toward what is useful, and receive advance instruction about the future.

73.     Now that our narrative has taken leave of warlike struggles and reports, it is fitting that we should record at this point those matters which its rapid flow has swept along and has not allowed us to recount at appropriate times. I mean the record of how the emperor remembered and rewarded those who had been of service to him when he was still a man of modest circumstances, and who besought him not to forget them in the splendor of his fortune. These people were the abbot of the Monastery of St. Diomedes, and Danelis, the lady from the Peloponnesus. His rewards for them surpassed their hopes. Thus it turned out that the emperor magnificently honored the great martyr Diomedes by presenting him with precious offerings, by supplying him with a considerable number of books, and by proffering many other precious gifts and splendid vestments. He ensured the wealth of the monastery that bore that saint’s name by bestowing upon it large tracts of land and by lavishly and generously granting it considerable revenue; he thus offered it freedom from want in all respects, rendered it resplendent by the construction of sumptuous buildings, and exalted it and made it opulent in a great variety of ways.

74.     As for the son of Danelina, the emperor summoned him upon having assumed power, honored him with the dignity of protospatharios and granted him freedom of access to his presence on account of the bond of spiritual brotherhood by which they had been previously united. Although that son’s mother was considered almost an old woman by then, she, too, felt a great longing and desire to visit the emperor and, in her declining years, to partake of some outstanding honor as well, both on account of the prophecy that had issued from the pious monk and, in addition, on account of her own earlier munificence and hospitality. Thus, by order of the emperor, she went up to the capital with great honors and with a large retinue and body of attendants. As she was not able either to ride in a vehicle or mount a horse—perhaps also because she was pampering herself on account of her immense and superabundant wealth—she reclined in a litter, having previously selected three hundred young and strong men from her household to carry her, and gave them orders to come up here. In such a manner did she complete the journey from the Pelo­ponnesus to this Queen of Cities, with teams of ten men each lifting her couch in turns. A reception was held at the Magnaura Palace, a thing usually done by the emperors of the Romans whenever they receive some great and famous leader of a foreign nation; and she, too, was brought before the emperor with honors and in splendor. She also brought with her precious gifts, such as almost no foreign ruler had hitherto brought before an emperor of the Romans. Thus, the gifts comprised five hundred household servants, including hand­some eunuchs one hundred in number; for this powerful and wealthy old woman apparently knew that there is always room for these castrates in the imperial palace, and that they dwell there in numbers exceeding those of flies in a sheepfold in springtime. That is why she had readied them ahead of time, so that she would find them as escorts on account of services of old when she should enter  the imperial palace. There were also one hundred female skiastriai, and richly variegated Sidonian fabrics that are now called sendais, their name seemingly having been corrupted through the ignorance of the many; one hundred linomalotaria (for it is best to use common speech in referring to them); two hundred fine linen amalia, and other fabrics more delicate than a spider’s web, each of which was inserted into a reed tube, their number being one hundred as well; and many and divers costly vessels of silver and gold.

75.      Danelis was graciously received and treated with a magnificent kindness that matched her devotion and nobility; and she was deemed worthy to be called “Mother of the Emperor.” Having also been granted many other tokens of imperial hospitality and many honors, she rejoiced and was happy, and asserted that she had obtained full compensation, or rather that she had received much more than she had given. For that reason, she magnanimously added to the aforementioned gifts a large part of the Peloponnesus: as it was property of her own at that time, she made of it a loving gift for her son and emperor. Having sojourned in this great city of ours she went back again to her own country as if she were the sovereign empress of those dwelling there, bringing a harvest of honors more numerous and higher than those she had previ­ously enjoyed. She went down to her home in the same fashion as she had come up.

76.     At that time construction was proceeding on that most beautiful temple, admired by all, which we had by custom come to call the New Imperial Church; it was being built to bear the names of Jesus Christ our Savior, Michael the very first among the angels, and Elijah the Tishbite. The woman Danelis took the measurements of that temple’s interior and had large woolen carpets woven and sent, of the sort that among us are called by a name signifying prayer. They were worthy of marvel on account of both their large size and beauty and were to cover the whole floor whose variety of rare stones, set next to each other like well-fitted mosaic cubes, imitated the beauty and the varie­gated colors of the peacock. Moreover, so long as the emperor remained alive, Danelis would send yearly gifts, none lesser than those she had brought on the first occasion. As it happened, she lived to a ripe old age, her lifespan having exceeded that of the emperor. That prophetic and pious monk, too, was still alive. When she heard from him that she was going to depart this life the year after next, she wished also to come and see Basil’s son Leo, who had by then assumed imperial power. Again she journeyed over that vast distance easily and without difficulty and in the same way as before, carried by selected youths. She visited the most wise and mild Emperor Leo, brought him admirable gifts as well, made him heir of her own property (for by then her son John had departed this life), and asked that an imperial official be dispatched to draw up an inventory of her property and take it over. Then having taken leave of the good emperor, she again departed to her native soil where she had been raised, to place within it the dust of her flesh. She died a short time after her return.

77.      When Zenobios the protospatharios, who had been appointed and dispatched to carry out all the wishes and dispositions made by the old woman, reached the town of Naupaktos, he learned from her grandson Daniel that she had departed this life. He arrived at her mansion, provided himself with the copy of her will, and executed everything according to her wish and the will’s dispositions. He found an exceedingly large quantity of gold in coins, and other property consisting of silver and gold objects, garments, bronze, slaves and cattle, that surpassed any private fortune imaginable: more than that, it was hardly inferior to a king’s treasure. Her household slaves being a countless multitude, the emperor ordered three thousand of them to be freed and sent as colonists of sorts to the theme of Longobardia. Her remaining property, assets, and slaves were distributed among those whom she had stipulated in her testamentary dispositions, while her heir, the emperor, too, was left with, among other things, eighty suburban estates as his private legacy. Some of these events preceded the deeds and occurrences recounted in the present part of our narrative by many years; others happened considerably later; and neither seem indispensable to our story. Still, let them be placed here by way of a digression in tribute to the aforesaid old woman and as proof of her wealth, nobility, and devotion.

78.     Between the contests of war that he, like an official presiding at the games, over and over guided to their proper conclusion through subordinates, the Christ-loving Emperor Basil took care of many of the holy and divine shrines that had earlier been tom asunder by earthquakes and had either completely fallen down or revealed by their cracks that they were about to collapse. By lavishing constant care upon them and by liberally providing all the things that were needed for their restorations he raised some of them from min and made them not only sturdy, but beautiful; in other shrines, he had weak spots reinforced by appropriate additions and improvements, and in this way he caused them not to fall in mins, but to revert to the prime of their youth. Let us now report on the matter in some detail.

79.     Thus, as the large and lofty western arch of the famous divine shrine that has been assigned the name of the Great Wisdom of God had developed grave cracks and was threatening imminent collapse, he had it tightened up and restored with the help of skilled master crafts­men and thus rendered it sturdy and sound. He also caused the image of the Mother of God carrying in her arms her immaculately conceived Son to be depicted in that arch; and he had Peter and Paul, chiefs among the apostles, placed on either side of her. He also had most generously provided remedies for other wounds in that church, both by construction and by subsidy. For he not only righted Saint Sophia’s weakened walls, but also turned its income deficit into surplus through his own benefactions. For as the holy lamps were on the verge of going out altogether due to the scarcity of oil, he deeded to the church a vast estate bearing the name of Mantea. In that way he saw to it that the light of these lamps would endure unextinguished; moreover, from the abundant income of that estate he richly endowed salaries for the clergy ministering in this divine shrine, which deed assured prompt and uninterrupted services.

80.     The emperor also reinforced the famous and most spacious temple of the Divine Apostles, no longer displaying its former pleas­ing appearance and solid construction, by buttressing it up all around and by having its ruined parts rebuilt: thus did he wipe off the traces of old age and the wrinkles left by time and rendered the church beautiful and wrought anew again. He also restored the divine temple of the Mother of God at the Pege, which had fallen into ruin and lost its pristine beauty, making it more resplendent than it had been before. In a like manner he rebuilt from the very foundations the other church of the Mother of God which went by the name of Sigma and which had also become a pitiful ruin, and made it more stable than it had been before. He also had the church of Stephen the Protomartyr, lying in the Aurelianai district, rebuilt from the very foundations. As for the holy precincts of John the Precursor and Baptist respectively, located in the districts of Strobilaia and Makedoniana, he had the former rebuilt from the very foundations and the latter, in its greater part. Moreover, he cleared away the old debris from the churches of the Apostles Philip and Luke the Evangelist, the latter standing to the west of the former, and thus had them both completely restored.

81.      In addition, since the large temple of the martyr Mokios had suffered numerous cracks and its sanctuary section had fallen down, so that the rubble had broken the holy altar in pieces, the emperor deemed it worthy of appropriate care and had it fully raised up from ruins. Likewise he gave due care to the church of Andrew, the first called among the apostles, which stood near and to the west of the church of Mokios and which had collapsed from prolonged neglect, and restored it to its pristine beauty. He raised from the very foundations the holy shrine of Saint Romanos which had also fallen into decay. He also renewed and beautified the old churches of Saint Anna, situated in the Deuteron district, and of the martyr of Christ Demetrios. Having noticed that the church of the martyr Aimilianos, in the vicinity of that of the Holy Virgin in Rhabdos, had withered on account of old age, he had it renovated, providing it with buttress towers on both sides.

82.     Furthermore, the emperor had entirely rebuilt the holy shrine of the victorious martyr Nazarios which not only had been in a state of collapse for many years but had completely vanished in the end; the new church greatly surpassed its predecessor in beauty and dignity of appearance. As for the exceedingly beautiful church bearing the names of the Holy Resurrection of Christ our Lord and of the martyr Anastasia, situated at the so-called Portico of Domninos, he repaired and embellished it, replaced its wooden roof with one made of stone, and provided it with other admirable decorations. Likewise, noting that the roof of the church of Saint Platon, great among mar­tyrs, had suffered damage, he had a new one built to replace it, and strengthened the main building by adding support walls at appropriate places. He had the Divine shrine of the triumphant martyrs Hesperos and Zoe, which had been well-nigh leveled to the ground, rebuilt, and the new construction was a match for the old. Moreover, since the holy church of the martyr Akakios, located at Heptaskalon, was on the verge of collapse and was falling into ruin, he had it to their everlasting memory, as well as to the Virgin and to Nicholas who holds the first rank among the hierarchs. In this church art, opulence, ardent faith and the emperor’s most bounteous disposition came together, and the most beautiful things were assembled from everywhere that are better seen than heard about to be believed. The emperor offered this church to Christ, the immortal Bridegroom, as a bride decked out and adorned with pearls and gold and gleaming silver and, moreover, with a variety of many-colored marbles, mosaic compositions and silken robes.

84.     The ceilings of that five-domed church glitter with gold and flash forth their beautiful representations like as many stars; on the outside, the roof is embellished with brass work resembling gold; the shrine’s interior walls on either side are varied with costly and many-colored marbles and its sanctuary is variously decked out with a wealth of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls. The chancel barrier that separates the outside area from the altar space; the colonnade set into this barrier and the parts above, functioning as lintels, as it were; the seats within the sanctuary; the steps leading to them; and the altars themselves are all given massivity and substance by silver that is gilded all over and adorned with precious stones in settings made from costly pearls. As for the pavement, it first will appear to be fully spread with rugs woven of silk or with Sidonian fabrics, so beautifully has all of it been inlaid and varied by marble panels of many hues set into the ground; by the variegated mosaic bands that enclose these panels; by the precision with which everything has been joined together; and by the superabundant elegance spreading throughout. The emperor assigned a multitude of singers to perform services in that church and set aside considerable revenues for it; he decreed that these revenues should be generously and magnificently apportioned among the attendants of this shrine, aspiring to surpass almost all of his predecessors by his munificence in such things.

85.     Such, then, is the church and such its interior—insofar as a short description can reveal magnificent things that implant such great amazement in the minds of the spectators. But what about the things on its exterior? Toward the west and in the very atrium of the church there stand two fountain-basins, one to the south and one to the north; absolute is the perfection of their art, splendid the quality of their material, and they bear witness to the munificence of their maker. The southern basin is carved out of Egyptian porphyry stone which we customarily call “Roman.” Around it one can see serpents most exquisitely shaped by the stonecutter’s art. In the middle of the basin stands a perforated pinecone-shaped device; small white columns, hollowed inside, stand around it, forming a dancing group. On top, they carry an entablature; gushing streams of water escape from above out of all these elements and rain down upon the surface and the bottom of the basin below. The northern basin has been fashioned from the stone called Sagarios, which resembles the stone that some call Ostrites; in the center of its base it, too, displays a jutting pinecone-shaped device pierced in many places and made of white stone. Above, along the entablature that runs around the basin, the artist has fashioned roosters, goats, and rams out of bronze; these, too, emit streams of water through pipes, vomiting them forth, as it were, toward the basin’s base. There, one can also see cups near which in former days wine used to spout up from below, providing drink and welcome to the passers-by.

86.     When you leave the temple through the northern door, you enter a long barrel-vaulted portico whose ceiling is splendidly adorned with encaustic paintings; the portico contains the struggles and contests of the martyrs; it both offers nourishment to the eye and rouses the soul to blessed and Divine Love, for the prowess of the martyrs draws the soul toward that Love and urges it to try, as much as it can, to transcend the world of the senses. If, however, you should leave through the southern door facing the sea and wish to proceed eastward, you will find another portico equal in length and direction to the northern one; it, too, runs as far as the imperial playing field where emperors and scions of the high-born are wont to play ball on horse­back. This playing field, too, is the work of our emperor of glorious memory; he bought up the houses that once stood there, razed them to the ground and cleared the area; along the seaward side of this playing field the emperor had exceedingly beautiful houses built and decreed that they should serve as a treasure house and as storehouses for the aforementioned temple. The purchase of the houses and the construction of the playing field were justified, because the field formerly set aside by the emperors for such exercises had been filled, owing to the construction of the Divine temple. As for the space to the east of the church that is enclosed between the two porticoes, the emperor turned it into a garden; it, too, was planted eastward of that new Eden and was luxuriating with all manner of plants and irrigated with abundant supplies of water. Because of its location, we have come to call it the “Inner Garden.” But we have said enough on this topic. Let us now, lest someone should accuse us of wanting in taste, direct the course of our narrative toward the remaining works of our emperor, industrious that he was and deeply concerned with what is good and beautiful.

87.     Within the imperial palace itself, did not our emperor surpass any man ever on record for munificence in things of this sort, such as sumptuousness, beauty, novelty of forms, and elegance of all these admirable things? This applies not only to churches, with their beauty, sumptuousness and delightful appearance, but also to the construction of magnificent and truly imperial dwellings that combine sumptuousness with delight and delight with wondrous practicality. True, sight is by nature the most accurate teacher in such matters, but since such beauties are not accessible to every eye, we have been obliged to offer them to the ears of deserving men in writing, so that in such a fashion their maker may be worthily admired, and those who have no access to the imperial quarters may not remain totally ignorant of them. There is, to begin with, a church constructed for Elijah the Tishbite in the eastern part of the palace. It is replete with sumptuous beauty, and that not only within, but without as well: for its roof above, consisting entirely of well-fitting mosaic tesserae, used to be resplendent with gold, though by now, with the passage of time, frequent rains, wintry snows and frosts have damaged it, and thus have spoiled much of its beauty. Next to this church, the emperor also had built a chapel named for Clement, that long-suffering and most enduring of martyrs, and had his divine head and the holy relics of many other martyrs deposited there. From these both the emperor and his successors have derived strength in body and soul. Bordering upon these churches there also stands the shrine that he constructed in the name of God our Savior; those who have not seen its sumptuous and exceeding riches will find them unbelievable, so vast have been the quantities of silver and gold and the multitude of precious stones and pearls expended on its decoration. For its entire pavement consists of sturdy plaques of wrought silver with niello inlays, their artful execution exhibiting the perfection of the goldsmiths’ craft; the shrine’s left and right walls, too, are amply covered with silver revetments, decorated with gold, and studded with precious stones and splendid pearls. As for the chancel barrier that fences off the sanctuary from the divine shrine itself, how great, by Hercules, are the riches that it contains! Its columns and nether parts consist of silver throughout, while the entire beam that rests on the columns’ capitals consists of pure gold and is covered everywhere with the whole array of the wealth of India; in many parts of the beam the figure of our Lord, the God-Man, is rendered in enamel. It is beyond the power of words to reveal how many beautiful sacred objects are contained and treasured up in the inaccessible sanctuary itself. We therefore intend to pass over the subject, finding it inaccessible and inexpressible in words—for in matters beyond words silence is the wiser course. Such are the palace’s eastern beauties, so to speak, that arose from the faith of Emperor Basil of glorious memory.

88.     The remaining buildings stand in other areas of the palace; among them is the venerable chapel of Paul, the herald of sacred things. It claims the same builder, who constructed it with the same wealth-dispensing hand: in its pavement, too, silver encloses roundels of marble. This chapel is in no way second to any other when it comes to sumptuousness and beauty. The same is true of the divine temple that the emperor had built as a lofty tower at the end of the portico of Markianos in the name of Peter, foremost among the apostles (to which is joined the chapel of the Chief of the Heavenly Host). This temple in turn stands above the church of the Mother of God and displays an unsurpassed wealth of comeliness and beauty. Where is the man whose eye would not feast on it or whose soul not be gladdened by it, or a beholder whom it would not fill with happiness?

89.     As for the beauty of the dwellings that the imperial ruler of imperial name constructed in the imperial palace itself as the most imperial among imperial buildings, it ought to be heralded by a more brilliant orator than myself and by a more skilled pen than mine, one better able to reveal in words that which no deed can successfully imitate. Who would not be struck with amazement upon beholding that house of novel appearance which goes by the name of Kainourgion and which the emperor raised from the very foundations? It is supported by sixteen columns standing in rows; eight of them happen to be of Thessalian marble, green color being one of its properties, while another six proudly display the name of Onychite. The stonecutter embellished them in various ways, fashioning vine motifs upon them and working all kinds of animals in among the vines. The remaining two columns also partake of the nature of the Onychite, but were given a different motif by the stonecutters, for their smooth surface was replaced by diagonal grooves: in such a way did the artist intend to decorate them, as he strove to obtain handsome and lovely effects from a variety of forms. In the space above the columns up to the very ceiling and in the eastern semi-dome the whole building has been covered with beautiful golden mosaic cubes. The work’s creator presides over, attended by his comrades-in-arms—his subordinate commanders—who offer to him as gifts the cities that had been conquered by him. Again, in the ceiling above are depicted the Herculean labors of the emperor: his efforts on behalf of his subjects, his exer­tions in warlike struggles, and the victories granted to him by God; by which, as the sky is by stars, there rises the most splendid bed­chamber, artfully devised by the same emperor; it is lovely, greatly variegated and for its beauty wins the palm of victory over almost every other structure. To begin with, in the very middle of the pavement a peacock, the bird of the Medes, is fashioned by the stone­cutter’s art out of glittering cubes and is enclosed in a well-rounded circle made out of Carian stone. From there, rays of the same stone point toward another and larger circle; beyond that circle and throughout the quadrilateral shape of the hall, they spread out, as if they were streams or rivers made out of Thessalian marble, green color being its property; in the inner comers, they closely surround four eagles made out of fine cubes of various hues. All these birds so closely imitate nature that one might guess that they are alive and about to take flight. The walls on either side are covered with many-hued panels of glass, and thus seem adorned with flowers of various shapes. Above these panels runs another kind of ornament, speckled with gold, which seems to separate that which is above from that which is below. Next, there comes another delight, made of golden cubes, showing the emperor, the creator of the building, and his spouse Eudokia enthroned and decked out in imperial robes and crowned with diadems. The children shared by the couple are depicted all around the chamber as if they were bright stars; they, too, are resplendent in imperial robes and diadems. Of these, the males are shown holding books containing the Holy Commandments that they had been brought up to obey; the female offspring as well are seen holding certain books containing Divine Laws. The artist seems to have sought to indicate that not only the male but also the female off­spring had been instructed in Holy Writ and were not unfamiliar with Divine Wisdom; furthermore, that even if, because of the unsettled circumstances of his life, he who had begotten them did not at first have much commerce with letters, he nevertheless saw to it that all of his offspring would acquire their share of wisdom. It was this that the artist sought to show to the beholders through imagery and without telling a story. These are the beauties that the four sections of walls contain up to the very ceiling. The ceiling of this bedchamber does not stand up and rise upwards, as it were, but rests on the walls in the fashion of a square. Throughout it glistens and glitters with gold; in its very center, it displays the victorious cross, outlined in green glass. Around the cross, you can see the emperor of glorious memory himself, his spouse, and all their children; they shine like stars in the heavens, stretch out their hands toward God and the life-giving sign of the cross as much as to exclaim, “All that is good and pleasing to God has been accomplished and achieved in the days of our rule through this victorious symbol.” On the ceiling there is also contained an inscription addressed to God, and offering Him the thanks of the parents on behalf of their children and, again, those of the children on behalf of their parents. The inscription of thanks coming from the parents runs as follows, almost word for word: “We thank Thee, O supremely good God and King of Kings, for having surrounded us with children who are thankful for the magnificence of Thy wondrous deeds. Preserve them within the bounds of Thy will, and may none of them transgress any part of Thy Commandments, so that we may be grateful to Thy goodness for this as well.” In turn, the inscription of the children offers this message: “We are thankful to Thee, O Word of God, for having raised our father from Davidic poverty and having anointed him with the unction of Thy Holy Ghost. Preserve him and our mother by Thy hand and deem them and ourselves worthy of Thy heavenly Kingdom.” With this let us conclude the description of the aforementioned bedchamber and its works and beauties.

90.     The most spacious dining hall near the portico of Markianos, also called Pentakubuklon, is the work of the same hand or rather mind; this hall has also earned first prize in beauty and grace. Near it has been built the aforementioned (and exceedingly beautiful) chapel of Paul, that traveler through the ether, to which is also joined the chapel of the martyr Barbara, built by the most wise Emperor Leo. Other imperial residences, standing to the east and above the Chrysotriklinos, and to the west of the New Church, are also works of the same emperor Basil. They go by the name of “Eagle,” for they rise to a great height into the air; and the beautiful and all­delighting chapel of the Mother of God is among them. By the extravagance and abundance of their precious materials, the novelty of their form, and the magnificence of their plans, these structures give an intimation of our emperor’s magnanimity and love of beauty. To the west of these are the pyramid-like residences near which also stands another chapel of the Mother of God the Word. They, too, claim our emperor as their patron and builder and surpass many other buildings by the elaborate and novel character of their construction. Below them, at the very entrance called Monothyros, stands the most delightful chapel of John the Theologian; it, too, was conceived by the same emperor, together with the open-air and sunlit walk paved with slabs of marble (it begins at that chapel and extends as far as the Light­house), and with the most solidly built structures to the east of it; one of them functions as a treasure house, the other as a vestiary. These buildings combine grace with a great deal of sturdiness. Again, it is our emperor who is responsible for the elegance with which the most beautiful, spacious, and well-lit palace bath was built. This bath stands above the so-called Basin which has preserved the name of the stone basin of the Blue faction that had previously stood at that spot. This bath is both a work of sumptuous beauty and a source of bodily well-being and comfort. The fountain-basin of the other faction, I mean that of the Greens, had been standing in the court situated to the east of the imperial palace, but was moved when the holy church now standing at that site was being built; for this reason the factions no longer congregate around these basins and performances there have come to an end.

91.      In addition to the aforementioned structures, the imperial house called Mangana and the so-called New House are the work of the same noble emperor as well. His motive in having them set up was as follows: as he did not wish that public funds, which are created and made to grow by taxes levied upon subjects, be spent on his private requirements, and that the toil of others be used to season and support the table he devised these houses and assigned to them considerable income from agriculture. Their revenues were to provide in perpetuity an abundant and legitimate source to cover the cost of his own imperial banquets and of those given by his successors. The same emperor raised from the very foundations the residences and dwellings at the so-called Pegai, used when a change of scenery was in order. He adorned them with beautiful churches, among which are the venerable shrine of the Holy Prophet Elijah; that of Elisha, the latter’s successor and disciple; moreover, the church of Constantine the Great who was the first emperor to have ruled us in the spirit of the true religion; the church of the recent Forty-two Martyrs; and in addition to these, another two chapels piously built in the name and for the glory of the Mother of God. The emperor also had the holy chapel of the same Prophet Elijah built in the palace at Hiereia, a chapel which is considered to be second to none in beauty and grace.

92.     A large and capacious water cistern that was in cone of such places of resort to which emperors would move for a change of scenery, and that had been dug through the efforts of the emperor who had originally embellished this suburban place, i.e. Hiereia—that cistern had been filled with earth by Emperor Heraclius and planted with trees and vegetables. The same had happened to cisterns lying within the imperial palace: the one in front of the Magnaura and the one between the two dining halls—that of Justinian and that of the Terrace. They, too, once contained water in abundance and bred fish for the enjoyment and catch of the emperors, but were turned into pieces of land by the same emperor and used for the planting of gardens, because Stephen the Mathematician, who had carefully drawn up a horoscope of the aforementioned emperor, said that the latter would die by water. It was for this reason, then, that the cistern in Hiereia had been turned into a garden as well. Emperor Basil of glorious memory saw that the place had adequate and sufficient space for planting gardens, but suffered from scarcity of clear drinking water; he therefore had the soil speedily removed again by a large number of handworkers. He thus restored to its ancient shape what until recently had appeared as a meadow with luxuriant plants, and in place of that garden created a reservoir for abundant and continuous water supply. Such are the things that our emperor of glorious memory assiduously and piously devised within the precincts of the imperial palaces.

93.     Let us now leave these palaces and turn in our narrative to further works of the emperor, works that involved either construction or restoration and were undertaken either in this Queen of Cities or in its vicinity. When he saw that the spiritual needs of the multitude of city craftsmen dwelling and eking out their livelihood around the market­place called Phoros, were being neglected (for these people did not have a chapel nearby), he had a most beautiful and venerable shrine to the Mother of God built in that very marketplace, to provide the multitudes both with protection from rains and winter storms and with the help and joy that lead to spiritual salvation. And when he saw that the other divine shrine of the most praiseworthy Mother of God, namely that of Her most sacred and holy reliquary in Chalkoprateia, was of low height and badly lit, he built arches to admit light on either side and raised its roof, illuminating the church by elegant loftiness and making it resplendent with shining light. As for the divine shrine of the foremost among the angels, the one in the quarter called Ta Tzerou, it is our emperor who preserved it along with the humane and generous assistance to the poor that was being provided at that shrine; he endowed the shrine with splendor and turned it into the thing of beauty that we see today; and, by increasing its revenues and by lavishing charity upon the poor, saw to it that the shrine’s services would lack in nothing. He also restored the ruins of the vast church of the holy martyr Lawrence situated in the Pulcherianai quarter and filled it with all kinds of delightful features. He restored about one hundred other pious foundations throughout the City, built almshouses and inns anew, and renovated many hospitals, homes for the aged and monasteries, that had decayed through lapse of time.

94.     The emperor wrought such works not only in the City, moved that he was by his love of God and by generosity, but also displayed a similar zeal outside its boundaries as well. With this zeal, he restored the shrine of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian located in the so-called Hebdomon—a shrine that had fallen into ruins through ravages of time; he redecorated it with embellishments and made it sturdy with reinforcements. He also cleared the brush and rubble from the neighboring shrine of John the Baptist, which had collapsed many years earlier and had become a heap of ruins instead of a church; and by his speedy care and assistance he made it equal to great and renowned churches. As for the sacred precinct of the foremost among the apostles at Rhegion, people refused to enter it, for it was threatened with collapse; the emperor had it razed and rebuilt from the very foundations, so that he would be continuously remembered and never forgotten. The church of the martyr Kallinikos situated on the bridge of Justinian that spanned the river Barbysos had fallen to the ground; the emperor had it built anew, and the new structure surpassed its predecessor. And in our so-called Narrows (I have in mind the straits leading to the Euxine), he built the most sacred shrine of Saint Phokas in a manner both pleasing to God and revealing his love for Him. He gathered there a community of pious monks, made the place wealthy in buildings and landed property, and thus founded a monastery that was put together with God’s help and was a healing place for souls. In addition to all this, the emperor raised from ruins the holy shrine of the Chief Commander of the Heavenly Host, Michael, situated in Sosthenion. This shrine had been in a state of utter neglect for many years; it sank down on account of many cracks, fell to its knees, so to speak, and lost much of its beauty; the emperor restored it to its previous flourishing state and filled it with all kinds of embellishments. Such a man was Basil of blessed memory, the glorious one among emperors, when it came to holy shrines and to their care and repair, activities that are a hallmark of piety toward the Godhead.

95.     Aware that God cherishes nothing more than the salvation of souls and that he who brings forth the worthy from the worthless is the spokesman of Christ, the emperor did not show himself careless or indifferent to this apostolic work, but first captured the nation of the Jews, uncircumcised and obstinate as it was when left to itself, and led it to submission to Christ; for he commanded that they bring forth proofs of their own beliefs and enter into disputations, and either demonstrate that their tenets were firm and irrefutable or, persuaded that Christ was the capstone of the Law and the Prophets and that the Law was but a shadow that is scattered by the sun’s rays, be converted to the teachings of the Lord, and be baptised. By distributing dignities among those who were being converted, removing the burden of taxes they had previously to pay, and promising to make full-fledged citizens of those who had been deprived of rights, he lifted the veil of blindness from many of them and led them to the faith of Christ, even if in their majority they, like unto dogs, returned to their own vomit after the emperor’s departure from this life. But even though they, or rather some from among them, remained like blackamoors unchanged, at least the God-loving emperor, on account of his zeal, was to be rewarded by God with full wages for his work.

96.     We find that the emperor dealt with the tribe of the Bulgarians in the same fashion. Even if this nation had to all appearances already accepted the change to piety and gone over to Christianity, it was not yet firmly committed to the Good and was unstable, easily swayed and swinging to and fro like leaves in the wind. By repeated exhortations, splendid receptions, and magnanimous munificence and donations, however, the emperor persuaded the Bulgarians to accept an archbishop and to allow their country to be covered with a network of bishoprics. Owing to these prelates and also to devout monks whom the emperor summoned from the mountains and dens of the earth and dispatched to that land, the Bulgarians abandoned their ancestral customs and became, one and for all, captives of Christ.

97.     As for the indomitable and utterly godless nation of the Rhos, the emperor lured them, through generous gifts of gold, silver and garments of silk, into conducting negotiations, concluded a treaty of peace with them, persuaded them to partake of the salutary baptism, and made them accept an archbishop who had received his ordination from Patriarch Ignatios. Having arrived in the country of the said nation, the archbishop gained their trust by the following deed. The ruler of that nation convened an assembly of his subjects and presided over it, together with the elders of his entourage; the latter clung to their superstitions even more tenaciously than the rest, because they had long been accustomed to them. In discussing their own religion and that of the Christians, they summoned the prelate who had recently arrived among them and inquired what his message was and what instruction they were about to receive. The prelate held out the Holy Book of the divine Gospel and recited to them some of the miracles performed by our Savior and God; he also revealed to them some of the marvels wrought by God in the Old Testament. Forthwith the Rhos said, “Unless we are shown some similar thing, especially something like that which, as you say, happened to the three young men in the furnace, we shall not in the least believe you, nor shall we again lend our ears to your message.” The prelate put his trust in the truth of Him Who said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name ye shall receive,” and, “He that believeth in me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these shall he do” (provided that whatever is done, is done for the salvation of souls, not for the sake of display), and said to them: “Though one ought not to tempt the Lord God, yet if you have resolved from the bottom of your hearts to join God, then you may ask Him whatsoever you wish, and God surely will accede to it on account of your faith, even if I myself be lowly and the least of men.” They asked that the very book of the Christian faith, that is, the divine and Holy Gospel, be thrown into a fire built by them; should it be preserved without damage and remain unconsumed, they would join the God of whom he preached. These words having been uttered, and after the priest lifted his eyes and his hands to God and said, “Jesus Christ our God, now again glorify Thy holy name in the presence of all this nation,” the Book of the Holy Gospels was thrown into the fiery furnace. Several hours passed, the furnace’s fire went out, and it was found that the holy volume had remained unscathed, unharmed, and had suffered no injury or shrinkage from the fire—even the tassels at the book’s clasps suffered no corruption or outward change. When the barbarians beheld this, they were astounded by the greatness of the miracle, and abandoning all doubts, began to be baptized.

98.     As such deeds were thus being wrought in the years of the wise Emperor Basil’s rule, with public affairs taking a propitious course in accordance with his wishes, with day-to-day life flourishing, good cheer prevailing throughout the City and the palace, and with calm spreading over well-nigh every island and every part of the mainland, all of a sudden a tempest, a squall, and a storm of misfortune rushed into the palace; and lament and dirge, an Iliad of sorrows and a tragedy of affliction swept through the imperial dwellings. For Constantine, the most beloved and the first-born son of the emperor, had succumbed to a severe illness in the very flower of age, at the peak of his youth, and just as he had begun to emulate his father’s noble spirit; he melted with the fervid heat of fever in a few days—the unnatural and violent fire having quickly consumed all his vital humors—and departed this life, abandoning his father to inconsolable sorrow. But a man of culture must use reason to rule over irrational passions, and the emperor knew that he, too, was a human being, and a mortal one at that, and that he had a son who was mortal as well. So he left immoderate grieving for this sad event to the women’s quarters, considering such behavior to be ignoble and unworthy in a man, and most speedily regained control over himself, uttering noble Job’s words of thanks: “The Lord gave,” he said, “again, the Lord hath taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so has it come to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And “What wonder, if He who gave should receive again what He has given, in accordance with His pleasure?” He rather turned to consoling the mother and the siblings of the deceased and went on with his usual pursuits: he protected orphans, extended a helping hand to widows, provided for soldiers and the poor, defended the victims of injustice, and with pleasure and benevolence listened to God-fearing men who expounded and suggested to him useful and salutary things leading to the Kingdom of Heaven.

99.     Those appointed to administrative offices are often in the habit of suggesting measures that contribute to higher taxes and surplus revenues. This they presumably do to make a show of good will; but perhaps they also think that by such means they might prolong their own tenure in office. Moved by considerations of this sort, the man who was at that time in charge of the public treasury suggested one day to our noble emperor that the so-called supervisors or tax assessors be sent to all the themes subject to Roman authority. These men, said that official, would reassign to others any fields or hamlets whose owners, through some sudden reversal of fortune, had been swept away by the currents of time, and thus provide the imperial treasury with considerable revenue. The emperor pretended to agree with this suggestion and commanded that people likely to carry out that task with competence be chosen, made ready, and brought to his presence. The logothete of the public treasury pondered the matter and gave thought to it; when he was satisfied that he had made the best choice of the best people, he submitted to the emperor the names of those selected, but was deemed deserving of severe censure and was subjected to grave reproaches indeed for proposing such men for a task of such magnitude. When the logothete asserted that he had no better candidates among those on active duty, the emperor replied: “I consider the task at hand to be an undertaking of such importance that, were it possible, I myself would set out to perform it. But since, as I am well aware, this happens to be inappropriate and impossible, I am perforce anchoring all my hopes in the two magistroi of the state: they have provided unimpeachable and genuine proof of virtue, considering their lengthy experience and the many duties they have performed in state administration, duties by which they have been tested in the course of their long lives; I am therefore confident that they will properly carry out their task. Go away now,” said the emperor, “and announce to them in person both the usefulness of the task and my wish. And if they desire to set out, I, too, shall put my seal of approval on their resolution.” When both men heard this, they fell into a state of consternation; by way of supplication, they invoked their advanced age and the many toils and labors they had undergone for the public good; and they begged that the cup of such a duty be removed from them. The man who had been sent to them returned perforce empty-handed and reported the message of the magistroi to the emperor. When the emperor heard it, he said: “Given that my own setting out appears to be impossible and has been said to be so, that the most illustrious magistroi decline the service, and I have no one at my disposal who can worthily administer the matter, it is my wish that the undertaking remain unexamined and uninvestigated. For it is better,” said the emperor, “that some people profit illegally from what belongs to me than that someone be subjected to ruinous loss and crushing misfortune.” From that time on, and throughout the entire reign of our emperor, all the inhabitants of all the themes under Roman authority remained unsupervised, so to speak, and unassessed, or, to put it better, free and not subject to sale, and those hamlets and fields to the poor living in their vicinity and were freely offered for fruition. Such a man was our good emperor in his dealings with all his subjects and especially with the country folk, displaying paternal solicitude and care toward them.

100.   Then Envy once again aroused another storm and another tempest in the imperial palace, for it threw bonds of nature into confusion and stirred it up against itself. As Constantine, the most beloved son of the emperor, had recently departed this life, the emperor’s affection and hopes were transferred to his second son Leo; but the envious tribe of demons could not bear this meekly, for in all likelihood they had noticed the mild, peaceful, pious, and harmonious character of the one who was to succeed to the imperial throne and concluded that because of all these his subjects would prosper and would increase in all kinds of laudable qualities during his reign. The demons therefore girded themselves for the contest against him, and battled him in the following fashion. Among those who commanded great affection and full confidence of Emperor Basil of glorious memory was a monk (who was also, or so it seemed, a priest) by the name of Sandabarenos; he was also a friend and skillful helper of the emperor. Although he was loved by the latter, he did not enjoy high opinion or blameless reputation among other people. This is why the most-wise Leo, too, often derided him as a fraud and a rogue who misguided the emperor into improper deeds and directed him away from what was proper. Learning about this, the wily impostor feigned benevolence and friendship toward worthy Leo and said to him: “Now that you have reached a young man’s age and are beloved of your father, why do you not secretly carry a sword or dagger whenever you ride with your father in the fields? You would thus be able to hand it to him should he have need of it against some game; or, should some secret plot perhaps be hatched against him, you would not be found unarmed, but would have something with which you would be able to resist your father’s enemies.” Leo did not suspect the snare, nor did he comprehend the treachery of that man (for people not disposed toward evil do not easily suspect base deeds); he accepted the advice and was persuaded to carry a dagger inside his boot. When the schemer realized that his advice had been carried out, he reported to the emperor: “Your son has murderous designs upon you; if you doubt it, have the boots pulled off his feet when you are about to leave the capital to go on a hunt, or to some other place; should he be discovered to carry a dagger, know that it had been readied for your murder.” When the imperial outing was announced, the usual entourage went out as well; and when they arrived at a certain spot, the emperor pretended to have need of a knife and eagerly requested one. His son, who had accompanied him and who had no inkling of his father’s suspicions, innocently and guilelessly drew out the knife which he was carrying with him and offered it to his father. When this happened, the denunciation made against Leo appeared forthwith credible, and the explanations offered by him, vain and hollow. The party immediately returned to the imperial palace; the emperor was aroused to anger against his son, imprisoned him in one of the imperial residences, called “the Pearl,” and deprived him of his red shoes. The vengeful foe even urged the emperor to extinguish the light of his son’s eyes. The emperor was kept from carrying out this deed by the chief prelate of the capital and by the senate, but he continued to keep Leo behind prison walls. Considerable time passed, and nature, instead of acknowledging its own, was being stirred up by evil spirits. While the foremost among the members of the senate often intended to petition the father on behalf of the son, but were prevented from doing so for one reason or another, the following pretext provided them with a suitable occasion for accomplishing their goal.

101.    There was in the palace a certain winged creature, mimicking and talkative, suspended in a wicker cage; it is called a parrot. This bird, whether taught by someone or for some other reason, repeatedly uttered the words, “Ay, ay, Sir Leo.” Once when the emperor was giving a banquet and prominent members of the senate were feasting with him, while the bird was uttering the aforementioned words over and over again, the guests in their distress ceased their feasting and sat wrapped in deep thought. The emperor noticed this and inquired about the reason of their abstaining from victuals. Their eyes were brimming with tears as they said, “On what food can we feast, we who appear to be beings both reasonable and devoted to our masters, while the voice of this creature devoid of reason is chiding us? For the beast bewails its master, while we luxuriate and have effaced the innocent lord from our memories. If there is proof of his having done wrong and readied his right hand against the head of his father, then let us all have a part in his death, and have no fill of his blood. If, on the other hand, he is innocent of the deeds for which he has been indicted, for how long will the tongue of the informer keep him in its power?” The emperor, mollified by these words, bade the senators do nothing for the time being, and promised to look into the matter; and shortly afterwards he again took cognizance of natural bonds, had Leo released from custody, admitted him to his presence, had him take off his mourning garments, ordered that the excess of hair that he had grown in his distress be removed, and restored him to his previous imperial rank and honors.

102.   A short time afterwards the emperor succumbed to a consumptive illness closely following upon gastric diarrhea, which in its turn owed its origin to some hunting accident. From then on, he was slowly wasting away on account of this consumption. He arranged the affairs of the empire in the best of ways, made known the name of his heir, took appropriate counsel about every detail and made wise dispositions; then, as his scorching fever had flared up and was absorbing and consuming all of his vital humors, he departed this life. He had reigned for one year together with his predecessor Michael, and excelled another nineteen years in his sole rule over the empire, having managed civil affairs to perfection and handled military ones outstandingly; he extended the boundaries of the realm and banished injustice and violence from among all of his subjects, so that the testi­mony of Homer concerning the best ruler fully befitted him, which runs

At the same time a good King and a strong spearfighter.

Thereupon the most mild and most wise Leo, the eldest among his surviving sons, summoned to enter upon the inheritance of his father both by birth and by virtue, and sought after in the prayers of his subjects, succeeded to the fullness of power. Such, then, is the historical record of the pious rule of Emperor Basil of glorious memory, so far as facts concerning it have not been swept along by the currents of oblivion and have not faded away in the course of the intervening time; and such were both his conduct before he had ascended the throne and the contents of the story of his whole life, reported here to the best of our ability and in accordance with the nature of Truth.