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he quieted the clamor with his hand. 1.2.7 Late and with difficulty, having quieted them and having brought his speech to the crowd, he said, "It comes upon me to wonder, men of Amaseia, how you have completely ignored the conspiracy of these men who are deceiving you, who are purchasing their own safety with your blood and are always causing you the greatest harm. For what benefit is the tyranny of Urselius to you, if not slaughters and maimings and mutilations of limbs? But these men, who are the procurers of such things for you, on the one hand kept their own property unharmed by serving the barbarian, and on the other hand, in turn, were filled with gifts from the emperor, ingratiating themselves with him because they did not surrender you and the city of Amaseia to the barbarian, and this, having never taken any account of you. For this reason, also wishing to establish the tyranny, by fawningly suggesting good hopes to the tyrant they keep their own property unharmed, but in turn they demand honors and gifts from the emperor. And if any rebellion should occur, they themselves again remove themselves from the drama, but they kindle the emperor's wrath against you. If, therefore, you will be persuaded by me, bid farewell for the present to these men who are provoking you to clamor, and let each of you go home and consider what has been said, and you will know who is planning for your advantage."

1.3.1 Having heard these words, as if at the fall of an ostracon, they changed their minds and withdrew to their homes. But the stratopedarch, knowing that the people were accustomed to changing their minds in an instant, and especially if they were incited by malicious men, fearing that during the night they might plot and attack him, and leading Urselius out of his prison and loosing him from his bonds, might release him, since he did not have sufficient forces to stand against so many, he devised from this a certain Palamedean stratagem. In public he blinded Urselius; and he was stretched out on the ground, and the executioner brought the iron, and he was roaring and groaning just like a bellowing lion. But all these were a pretense of the deprivation of his eyes, for the one who was seemingly being blinded was instructed to shout and cry out, and the one who was seemingly gouging out his eyes was instructed to look fiercely at the man lying there and to do everything frenziedly, or rather, to feign the blinding. And so he was being blinded without being blinded, and the people applauded and everywhere buzzed about the blinding of Urselius. 1.3.2 These things, enacted as if on a stage, persuaded the whole crowd, both the natives and the outsiders, to gather like bees for a collection. For this was the whole plan of Alexios's sagacity, so that those who were reluctant to give money and were plotting to take Urselius from the hands of my father Alexios might both give up hope, seeing that their plot had from that point become useless, and might quickly turn to the will of the stratopedarch, having failed in their former plan, both making him a friend and avoiding the emperor's wrath. Thus, then, having secured this Urselius, the admirable general held him like a lion in a cage, still wearing on his eyes the coverings as symbols of his supposed blinding. 1.3.3 Yet he was not content with what he had accomplished, nor did he, having won glory, relax with respect to other affairs, but he subdued many other cities and forts and brought under the authority of the empire all that had been wickedly sold off in the times of Urselius. Then, therefore, turning the reins, he rode straight for the queen of cities. And having arrived in his grandfather's city and resting himself and the whole army a little from their many toils, from there he was seen to have done a deed such as that Heracles did in the case of Admetus's Alcestis.1.3.4 For when Docianus saw

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κατεσίγαζε τῇ χειρὶ τὸν θόρυβον. 1.2.7 Ὀψὲ δὲ καὶ μόλις τούτους καταπαύσας καὶ πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος τὸν λόγον ἀνενεγ κὼν ἔφη «θαυμάζειν ἔπεισί μοι, ἄνδρες Ἀμασειανοί, ὅπως τὴν συσκευὴν τουτωνὶ τῶν ἐξαπατώντων ὑμᾶς παντάπασιν ἠγνοήσατε τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν σωτηρίαν τῷ ὑμετέρῳ αἵματι ἐξωνουμένων καὶ μεγίστην ὑμῖν τὴν βλάβην προξενούντων ἀεί. Ποία γὰρ ὑμῖν τῆς τοῦ Οὐρσελίου τυραννίδος ἡ ὠφέ λεια, εἰ μὴ σφαγαὶ καὶ πηρώσεις καὶ ἀκρωτηριασμοὶ μελῶν; Οὗτοι δὲ οἱ τῶν τοιούτων ὑμῖν πρόξενοι ἔνθεν μὲν τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀσινῆ διετήρουν τὸν βάρβαρον θεραπεύοντες, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ αὖθις τῶν ἐκ βασιλέως ἐνεφοροῦντο δωρημάτων χαριζό μενοι τούτῳ, ὅτι μὴ ὑμῶν τε καὶ τῆς πόλεως Ἀμασείας παρεχώρησαν τῷ βαρβάρῳ, καὶ ταῦτα μηδένα λόγον ὑμῶν ποιησάμενοι πώποτε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν τυραννίδα συνί στασθαι βουλόμενοι, τῷ μὲν τυράννῳ χρηστὰς ὑποσαίνοντες ἐλπίδας ἀσινῆ τὰ οἰκεῖα διατηρῶσιν, ἐκ βασιλέως δὲ αὖθις ἀπαιτῶσι τιμάς τε καὶ δωρεάς. Ἢν δέ τι καὶ νεωτερισθείη, αὐτοὶ μὲν πάλιν ἑαυτοὺς τοῦ δράματος ἐξάγωσι, τὸν δὲ βασιλέως θυμὸν καθ' ὑμῶν ἐξάψωσιν. Εἴ τι οὖν ἐμοὶ πείθε σθε, τούτους μὲν ὑμᾶς πρὸς θόρυβον ἐρεθίζοντας τὸ παρὸν ἐρρῶσθαι ἐάσατε, ἕκαστος δὲ ὑμῶν οἴκαδε ἀπελθὼν τὰ λεχθέντα σκοπείτω, καὶ εἴσεσθε ὁποῖος ὑμῖν τὸ ξυμφέρον βουλεύεται».

1.3.1 Τούτων ἀκούσαντες τῶν ῥημάτων ὥσπερ ὀστράκου μεταπεσόντος τὴν γνώμην μεταβαλόντες οἴκαδε ἀνεχώ ρουν. Ὁ δὲ στρατοπεδάρχης γινώσκων τὸν δῆμον ἐν ῥοπῇ τὰς γνώμας μεταβάλλειν εἰωθότα, καὶ μᾶλλον εἰ ὑπὸ χαιρε κάκων ὀτρύνεται, δείσας μὴ διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς κατ' αὐτοῦ μελετήσαντες ἐπέλθωσι καὶ τὸν Οὐρσέλιον ἐξαγαγόντες μὲν τῆς φρουρᾶς, λύσαντες δὲ τῶν δεσμῶν ἀφῶσιν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἀποχρώσας εἶχε δυνάμεις πρὸς τοσούτους ἀντικαταστῆναι, μηχανᾶται τὸ ἐντεῦθεν Παλαμήδειόν τι μηχάνημα. Ἐς μὲν τὸ φανερὸν ἀποτυφλοῖ τὸν Οὐρσέλιον· καὶ ἥπλωτο μὲν ἐν τῇ γῇ, ὁ δὲ δήμιος ἐπῆγε τὸν σίδηρον, ὁ δὲ ἐπωρύετό τε καὶ ἔστενε καθάπερ λέων βρυχώμενος. Σχῆμα δὲ πάντα ἦσαν τῆς τῶν ὀμμάτων ἀποστερήσεως, παρήγγελτο δὲ καὶ ὁ τῷ δόξαι τυφλούμενος βοᾶν τε καὶ κεκραγέναι καὶ ὁ μέχρι τοῦ δοκεῖν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορύττων δριμύ τε ἐνο ρᾶν πρὸς τὸν ἐκκείμενον καὶ μανιώδη τὰ πάντα δρᾶν, μᾶλλον δὲ σχηματίζεσθαι τὴν ἀποτύφλωσιν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀπετυφλοῦτο μὴ ἀποτυφλούμενος, ὁ δὲ δῆμος ἐκρότει καὶ πανταχόθι τὴν τοῦ Οὐρσελίου τύφλωσιν διεβόμβει. 1.3.2 Ταῦτα ὥσπερ ἐν σκηνῇ δραματουργηθέντα πέπεικε τὸν ὄχλον ὅλον, ὅσος ἐγχώριος καὶ ὅσος ἔξωθεν, εἰς ἔρανον κατὰ τὰς μελίσσας συλλέγεσθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἅπαν τὸ σκέμμα τῆς Ἀλεξίου φρονήσεως, ἵνα οἱ πρὸς τὸ δοῦναι χρήματα δυσχερῶς ἔχοντες καὶ ἀφελέσθαι τὸν Οὐρσέλιον ἐπιβουλεύοντες ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν Ἀλεξίου τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς ἀποκαραδοκήσωσί τε ὡς ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς ἀνωφελοῦς καθεστηκυίας καὶ ταχὺ πρὸς τὸ βούλημα τοῦ στρατοπεδάρχου τράπωνται τῆς πρῴην ἀστοχοῦντες βου λῆς αὐτόν τε φίλον ποιούμενοι καὶ ὀργὴν βασιλέως ἐκκλί νοντες. Τοῦτον τοίνυν οὕτω κατασχὼν τὸν Οὐρσέλιον ὁ ἀξιάγαστος στρατηγὸς εἶχεν ὡς ἐν ζωγρίῳ τὸν λέοντα ἔτι ἐπικαλύμματα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς φέροντα τὰ σύμβολα τῆς δῆθεν ἀποτυφλώσεως. 1.3.3 Οὐ μὴν ἠρκεῖτο οἷς εἴργασται οὐδὲ ὡς κῦδος ἀράμενος πρὸς τἆλλα τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνα πεπτώκει, ἀλλὰ πόλεις τε ἄλλας πολλὰς καὶ φρούρια κατεκτήσατο καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἐξουσίαν πεποί ηκεν, ὅσα ἐπὶ τῶν Οὐρσελίου καιρῶν πονηρῶς προπέπραχεν. Ἐντεῦθεν οὖν τὰς ἡνίας στρέψας εὐθὺ τῆς βασιλίδος πόλεως ἤλαυνε. Γενόμενος δὲ ἐν τῇ παππῴᾳ πόλει καὶ μικρὸν ἀναπαύων τῶν πολλῶν καμάτων ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν στρατιὰν πρᾶγμα ἐντεῦθεν ὦπτο πεποιηκώς, ὅπερ Ἡρακλῆς ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Ἀδμήτου Ἀλκήστιδι.1.3.4 Ὡς γὰρ εἶδεν ὁ ∆οκειανὸς