1.20 From this point, for Basil the change was not an end of evils, but a beginning and a starting-point; for immediately the emperor, having reviewed in his thoughts the beginning of his own reign, from which the *parakoimomenos* began to administer, ran through that man's foresight from that time, and of the things done, whatever happened to be beneficial to both himself and the public he did not see fit to tamper with, but as much as looked to a mass of benefactions and dignities, he tried to undo, claiming to be aware of the former, but to be ignorant of the latter, and he contrived in every way to do whatever would bring harm and misfortune to that man. Indeed, the most magnificent monastery which that man had built, dedicating it to the great Basil, named after his own title, magnificently constructed and at great expense of labor having variety with beauty, and having been allotted by abundant grants more than enough for self-sufficiency, he wished to tear down from its foundations, but being wary of the shamelessness of the act, he took some things away from it, and shook others down, the furnishings, the fitted stones, and doing other such things, he did not stop until he had made the monastery look like a 'house of care,' as he wittily said, because those in it were put to the care of how they might provide the necessities for themselves. 1.21 So the *parakoimomenos*, being struck each day by such arrows, so to speak, was filled with despondency, and did not know how he might heal his own pains; for nothing at all consoled him; whence once, being suddenly shaken, that immense man, and his head being filled with a cloud, became unable to control himself, and with his limbs paralyzed and having become a living corpse, after a short time he also gave up the ghost, and became truly a monument in life and a great tale, or rather, an example of the easily changeable confusion of things in this world. He then, having spun out his allotted life, departed. 1.22 But the emperor Basil, having recognized the complexity of the empire, and that it is not an easy and simple matter to govern so great a dominion, abstained from all good cheer, and moreover he had also come to despise bodily adornments and neither decorated his neck with necklaces, nor his head with tiaras, nor did he make himself resplendent in purple-bordered cloaks; and he took off his superfluous rings, and indeed also the varied dyes of his garments; he was always somber and thoughtful, as to how he might bring the affairs of the empire into royal harmony. And he was disdainful not only of others, but now also of his brother, for whom, having provided a certain small bodyguard, he seemed to begrudge the higher and more splendid equipage; for having first constrained himself, so to speak, and deprived himself of extravagant equipage, he easily subdued his brother also by means of a rule that differed little for the worse. And leaving this man to his own devices with the delights of estates and the enjoyments of baths and hunts, which that one cared for, he launched himself at the troubled frontiers, choosing to clear out the surrounding barbarians, as many as encircle our eastern and western domains. 1.23τ On the second rebellion of Skleros after the slaughter of Phokas. But these things he was destined to accomplish later; for the present, at least, Skleros was preventing him from the campaign against the barbarians, keeping him busy with himself. For when Phokas was killed, the other part of the battle-line, as much of it as had been submissive to Skleros even before the engagement, having lost their hopes in that man, both separated from one another and broke up the entire shield-wall; but Skleros and as many as with

1.20 Ἐντεῦθεν οὐ τέλος τῷ Βασιλείῳ ἡ μετάστασις γίνεται τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλ' ἀρχὴ καὶ ὑπόθεσις· εὐθὺς γὰρ ἀναλύσας ταῖς ἐννοίαις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐς τὴν πρώτην αὐτῷ τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας ἀρχὴν, ἀφ' ἧς διοικεῖν ὁ παρακοιμώ μενος ἤρξατο, κατέδραμε τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐκείνου προμήθειαν, καὶ τῶν δρωμένων ὁπόσα μὲν αὐτῷ τε καὶ τῷ δημοσίῳ συντε λοῦντα ἐτύγχανεν οὐκ ἠξίου παραποιεῖν, τὸ δ' ὅσον εἰς εὐεργετημάτων καὶ ἀξιωμάτων ὄγκον ἔβλεπεν, ἀναλύειν ἐπειρᾶτο, ἐκεῖνα μὲν συνειδέναι, ταῦτα δὲ ἀγνοεῖν διϊσχυ ριζόμενος, καὶ πάντα τρόπον ὁπόσα εἰς κάκωσιν ἐκείνῳ καὶ συμφορὰν ἐμηχανᾶτο ποιεῖν. Ἀμέλει καὶ ἣν ἐκεῖνος ἐδεί ματο λαμπροτάτην μονὴν Βασιλείῳ τῷ πάνυ ἀναθέμενος, ἐπώνυμον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κλήσεως, μεγαλοπρεπῶς μὲν κατεσ κευασμένην καὶ πολλῇ δαπάνῃ χειρὸς τὸ ποικίλον μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ ἔχουσαν, ἀφθόνοις δὲ χορηγίαις τὸ πλέον τοῦ αὐτάρ κους ἀποκληρωσαμένην, ἐβούλετο μὲν ἐκ θεμελίων καθαι ρήσειν, τὸ δὲ τῆς πράξεως ἀναιδὲς εὐλαβούμενος, τὸ μὲν ἐκεῖθεν ὑφῄρει, τὸ δὲ κατέσειεν, τὰ ἔπιπλα, τὰς ἐφηρμοσ μένας λίθους, τὸ δ' ἄλλο τι ποιῶν τοιουτότροπον, οὐκ ἀνίει ἄχρις οὗ φροντιστήριον ἰδεῖν, χαριεντισάμενος εἰπὼν, τὸ μοναστήριον δέδρακε, διὰ φροντίδος τιθεμένων τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ, ὅπως ἂν ἑαυτοῖς τὰ ἀναγκαῖα πορίσαιντο. 1.21 Τοιούτοις οὖν ὁ παρακοιμώμενος καθ' ἑκάστην τοξεύμασιν βαλλόμενος ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀθυμίας τε ἐνεπίμπλατο, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν ὅπως ἂν ἑαυτῷ τὰς ἀλγηδόνας ἰάσαιτο· παρη γόρει γὰρ αὐτὸν τῶν ὅλων οὐδέν· ὅθεν ἅπαξ ποτὲ ἀθρόον κατασεισθεὶς ὁ ὑπερμεγέθης ἐκεῖνος καὶ νέφους τὴν κεφα λὴν πληρωθεὶς, ἀκρατὴς ἑαυτοῦ ἐγεγόνει, καὶ τὰ μέλη παραλυθεὶς καὶ νεκρὸς ἔμψυχος γεγονὼς, μετὰ βραχὺ καὶ αὐτὴν ἀπέρρηξε τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ γέγονεν ὡς ἀληθῶς στήλη τῷ βίῳ καὶ διήγημα μέγα, μᾶλλον δὲ παράδειγμα τῆς τῶν ἐν γενέσει εὐμεταβόλου συγχύσεως. Ὁ μὲν οὖν τὴν ἀποκεκληρωμένην ἐπικλώσας ζωὴν ἀπελήλυθε. 1.22 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Βασίλειος τὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιγνοὺς ποικιλίαν, καὶ ὡς οὐκ εὐχερὲς πρᾶγμα καὶ ῥᾴδιον τηλίκην ἀρχὴν διοικεῖν, γλυκυθυμίας μὲν πάσης ἀπείχετο, ἔτι γε μὴν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα κόσμων καταπεφρονήκει καὶ οὔτε στρεπτοῖς ἐκόσμει τὴν δέρην, οὔτε τιάραις τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἀλλ' οὔτε περιπορφύροις χλαμύσι κατελαμπρύνετο· ἀπεδύσατο δὲ καὶ τοὺς περιττοὺς δακτυλίους, ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὰς ποικίλας τῶν ἐσθημάτων βαφάς· σύννους δὲ ἀεὶ καὶ πεφροντικὼς ἦν, ὅπως ἂν τὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς εἰς ἁρμονίαν βασιλικὴν συμβιβάσειεν. Ὑπεροπτικῶς δὲ εἶχεν οὐ τῶν ἄλλων μόνων, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ, ᾧ δὲ καὶ βραχεῖάν τινα δορυφορίαν περιποιησάμενος, τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας καὶ λαμπροτέρας ὥσπερ ἐφθόνει παρασκευῆς· ἑαυτὸν γὰρ πρῶ τον ἀποστενώσας, ὡς εἰπεῖν, καὶ τῆς ὑπερόγκου ἀποστε ρήσας κατασκευῆς, εὐκόλως καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐχειροῦτο διὰ τῆς βραχὺ παραλλαττούσης εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἀρχῆς. Καὶ τοῦτον μὲν χαίρειν ἀφεὶς ἀγρῶν τε χάρισι καὶ λουτρῶν ἀπολαύσεσι καὶ κυνηγεσίοις, ὧν ἐκεῖνος ἐφρόντιζεν, ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ δυστυχοῦντα τῶν ὁρίων ἀφῆκεν, ἀνακαθᾶραι τοὺς πέριξ βαρβάρους αἱρούμενος, ὁπόσοι τάς τε ἑῴους ἡμῖν λήξεις καὶ τὰς ἑσπερίους περιστοιχίζονται. 1.23τ Περὶ τῆς τοῦ Σκληροῦ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Φωκᾶ σφαγὴν δευτέρας ἀποστασίας. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐς ὕστερον ἔμελλε κατεργά σασθαι· τὸ γοῦν παρὸν ὁ Σκληρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνεῖργε τῆς κατὰ τῶν βαρβάρων στρατείας, ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκεῖνον ἀσχολῶν. Ἀναιρεθέντος γὰρ τοῦ Φωκᾶ, τὸ μὲν ἄλλο μέρος τῆς παρα τάξεως, ὅσον ἐκείνῳ καὶ πρὸ τῆς συμμίξεως ὑπέστρωτο τοῦ Σκληροῦ, τὰς ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ ἐλπίδας ἀπολωλεκότες διέσ τησάν τε ἀπ' ἀλλήλων καὶ τὸν συνασπισμὸν πάντα διαλελύ κασιν· ὁ δέ γε Σκληρὸς καὶ ὅσοι σὺν