rock. Remember your servant, but also your desired one, and now grant me rewards more abundantly. Honor my soul in compassionate ways; propitiate the Lord for me with gifts, bringing in as radiant, hard-working mediators the needy hands of the poor and destitute; for being mortal and of a fleeting substance and easily moved towards evil, I stained my soul long ago; which nothing has the power to whiten so much as a hand generous with gifts and favors. Then my old woman, alas, my mother, care for in her old age and become a staff for her flesh, wrinkled from years and toils. But the concern of my soul more than all else, my kinsman Romanos, a young branch, I place in your hands, to you alone I leave him; so may you profit from your scepter-bearing rule, O lord, so may you profit from your power and your crown, as you will hold him most supportively. You know his grandfather and the grandfather's child, this one who was born, being of noble birth; preserve for him the dignity of his lineage, guard for him the hopes placed on us, yes, everything to me as before and again, Monomachos, the name "the all-sweet, the desired one," and farewell and take care of these commands.” As if, then, she were speaking with you again and were ever present in your heart, take pleasant refreshment, most mighty one. Then cast the glances of your eyes, and turn your mind from your suffering as from a storm to the bright lamp of the palace, the common delight of the inhabited world, the brilliant adornment of the purple, the support of the power of the sceptered rule, the prop of the crown of the palace, the tower or the wall or even the foundation, Zoe, the beauty of earth and heaven. And seeing all the grace of her face and her flashing radiance, console your own heart. Partake of sleep and food, scepter-holder; for you truly have as a servant of your sustenance the one given by God to us below, the bright adornment of Byzantium, the august flower, the offspring of the purple, Theodora, the beauty of life itself. Let her be all things to you in your power, a servant, a mistress, and again a handmaid. And farewell, meadow, ensouled star; and with God, most mighty one, who protects you, rule, be king of the inhabited world.

πέτρα. μνήσθητι δούλης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ποθουμένης, καὶ τὰς ἀμοιβὰς νῦν πάρασχέ μοι πλέον. ψυχὴν ἐμὴν τίμησον εὐσπλάγχνοις τρόποις· ἐξιλεοῦ μοι δωρεαῖς τὸν δεσπότην, λαμπροὺς μεσίτας ἐργομόχθους εἰσάγων πτωχῶν πενήτων χεῖρας ἐστενωμένας· θνητὴ γὰρ οὖσα καὶ ῥεούσης οὐσίας καὶ πρὸς τὸ φαῦλον εὐκόλως κινουμένης ψυχὴν κατεσπίλωσα τὴν ἐμὴν πάλαι· ἣν οὐδὲν οὕτως λευκάναι κατισχύει ὡς χεὶρ πλατεῖα δωρεῶν καὶ χαρίτων. ἔπειτα τὴν γραῦν τὴν ἐμήν, φεῦ, μητέρα γηρωκόμησον καὶ γενοῦ βακτηρία σαρξὶ ῥυείσαις ἐκ χρόνων τε καὶ πόνων. ψυχῆς δ' ἐμῆς φρόντισμα τῶν πάντων πλέον, τὸν σύγγονόν μοι Ῥωμανὸν νέον κλάδον ταῖς χερσί σου τίθημι, σοὶ λείπω μόνῳ· οὕτως ὄναιο σῆς, ἄναξ, σκηπτουχίας, οὕτως ὄναιο τοῦ κράτους καὶ τοῦ στέφους, ὡς τοῦτον ἕξεις ἀντιληπτικωτάτως. τὸν πάππον οἶδας καὶ τὸ πάππου παιδίον, τὸν φύντα τοῦτον, εὐγενεῖς πεφυκότας· τήρησον αὐτῷ τοῦ γένους τὴν ἀξίαν, φύλαξον αὐτῷ τὰς ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐλπίδας, ναί, πάντα μοι πρὶν καὶ πάλιν, Μονομάχε, ἡ κλῆσις «ἡ πάγγλυκος ἡ ποθουμένη», καὶ χαῖρε καὶ φρόντιζε τῶν ἐνταλμάτων.» Ὡς οὖν ἐκείνης συλλαλούσης σοι πάλιν καὶ συμπαρούσης εἰς ἀεὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ἀναψυχήν, κράτιστε, θυμήρη λάβε. ἔπειτα ῥῖψον τὰς βολὰς τῶν ὀμμάτων, στρέψον δὲ τὸν νοῦν τοῦ πάθους ὡς ἐκ ζάλης εἰς τὸν φαεινὸν τῶν ἀνακτόρων λύχνον, τὸ κοινὸν ἐντρύφημα τῆς οἰκουμένης, τὸ λαμπρὸν ἀγλάϊσμα τῆς ἁλουργίδος, τὸ τοῦ κράτους στήριγμα τῆς σκηπτουχίας, τὸ τοῦ στέφους ἔρεισμα τῶν ἀνακτόρων, τὸν πύργον ἢ τὸ τεῖχος ἢ καὶ τὴν βάσιν, Ζωήν, τὸ καλλώπισμα γῆς τε καὶ πόλου. ἰδὼν δὲ πᾶσαν τοῦ προσώπου τὴν χάριν καὶ τὴν ἀπαστράπτουσαν ἀκροφεγγίαν παρηγόρησον τὴν σεαυτοῦ καρδίαν. ὕπνου μέτασχε καὶ τροφῆς, σκηπτροκράτορ· ἔχεις γὰρ ὄντως τῆς τροφῆς ὑπηρέτιν τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν τοῖς κάτω, τὸ φαιδρὸν ἀγλάϊσμα τῆς Βυζαντίδος, τὸ σεμνὸν ἄνθος, τὴν γονὴν τῆς πορφύρας, Θεοδώραν, τὸ κάλλος αὐτοῦ τοῦ βίου. αὕτη τὰ πάντα σοι γενέσθω τῷ κράτει, ὑπηρέτις, δέσποινα καὶ πάλιν λάτρις. καὶ χαῖρε, λειμών, ἄστρον ἐψυχωμένον· καὶ σὺν Θεῷ, κράτιστε, τῷ σκέποντί σε ἄνασσε, βασίλευε τῆς οἰκουμένης.