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When the megas konostaulos had finished speaking, all those in authority, as if from one impulse and purpose, as if having nothing more to say, were clearly seen agreeing with what was said; indeed, they were rather annoyed and immediately seemed to be oppressed, if anyone present there were suspected of saying anything other than what was said. Wherefore one anticipated another in speaking words of favor and in showing that he considered it of greater value to be under his command than to rule himself. But this was merely pretense and boasting, as was shown. At any rate, when the council was dissolved, the protovestiarios, having taken assurances from this and from the supposed consent of the magnates, that he and he alone was preeminently the caretaker of the emperor and of affairs, taking up the whole force, marched on Magnesia. And indeed, having entrusted the emperor's guard to faithful men, and that of the imperial treasury to others similarly faithful and worthy, who had security from many, of whom the logothete of the herds, Hagiotheodorites, was then in charge, he himself was busily engaged with the administration of common affairs with the rest. Therefore, 79 orders were drawn up to be sent everywhere to the cities of the land of the Romans, some for other needs, but the most and greatest part concerned the announcement of the emperor's death, and at the same time the proclamation of the new emperor, and, for the sake of attaching themselves to him, by the compacts of oaths as was customary. And the orders were issued in great numbers, but the imperial signatures in red ink, since it was not possible for the new emperor to move his hand and sign, they allowed the aforementioned logothete of the herds to make them. The protovestiarios, therefore, was busy with concerns for all matters and was occupied, using a free mind, as if suspecting nothing, in what he was doing.

18. The army's attack on the Mouzalons. But the envy towards him was swelling, heavy and terrible, and was creeping up on him, though he was not at all aware of it. And the pretext of the secrets against him seemed plausible to those who were angry; for they seemed to be zealous for the emperors, for the one, because he was sick from spells contrived by them and that he would die an evil, premature death, and for the other, because he longed for the throne and was planning to usurp the rule and thought himself greater than he was, despising the emperor and speciously assuming the imperial power for himself. And to the Italian mercenaries, whom the megas konostaulos had under his command, there were also other particular accusations for the attack against him, that they were deprived by the Mouzalons, and especially by the first of them, while the emperor was alive, of the salaries assigned to them, that they were disdained in matters for which they thought themselves worthy of honor, that they were barred from speaking freely to the emperor by his suggestions, that they were dishonored, by the protovestiarios's orders. Aroused by these and similar things, the blond and warlike race were ready to slaughter them, if only someone would incite them. And the cause for this, as the common account has it, was the leader of their phalanx, who, although they had long been eager, and were then even more inflamed, had been freed from fear and were ready to do the unforgivable, incited them to dare the murder, as they had the opportunity. And the story gains plausibility from later events; for they would not have dared 81, if they had not had some instigators, being foreigners and for the most part new arrivals. And if they were so bold and acted only on their own courage, it is necessary above all to suspect their leader.

19. How the murder of the Mouzalons was dared by the army. Meanwhile, the ninth day since the deceased was laid out was at hand, and it was necessary to hold the memorial for him according to custom. So they go up to the monastery of Sosandra, where the corpse of the emperor was buried next to his father, as many of the clergy who were present there; and all those in authority also go up, and besides them also the leading women and matrons, and all the staff who served the rulers. The military, however, by design and even more so, was left behind below around the emperor. As

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τοῦ μεγάλου κονοσταύλου διεξελθόντος, οἱ ἐν τέλει πάντες, ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὥσπερ ὁρμῆς καὶ προθέσεως, ὡς δῆθεν μὴ πλέον ἔχοντες λέγειν, ἐμφανεῖς ἦσαν συντιθέμενοι τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι· μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν ὤχθησάν τε καὶ βαρυνομένοις ἐῴκεσαν παραχρῆμα, εἰ ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὰ λεχθέντα λέγειν ὑπονοοῖτό τις ἐκεῖσε παρών. Ὅθεν καὶ προὐλάμβανεν ἄλλος ἄλλον λέξων τὰ πρὸς χάριν καὶ δείξων ὡς τὸ ὑπ' ἐκείνῳ τάττεσθαι τοῦ ἄρχειν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον περὶ πλείονος ἄγοι. Τὰ δ' ἦσαν σκῆψις καὶ κόμπος ἄλλως, ὡς ἔδειξε. Τότε γοῦν τοῦ συλλόγου διαλυθέντος, τὰ πιστὰ λαβὼν ἐντεῦθεν ὁ πρωτο βεστιάριος τοῦ, καὶ ἑκόντων δῆθεν τῶν μεγιστάνων, βασιλέως καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτὸν καὶ μόνον ἐκεῖνον εἶναι διαφερόντως τὸν φροντιστήν, ἀναλαβὼν τὴν πᾶσαν δύναμιν, ἐπὶ Μαγνησίας ἐχώρει. Καὶ δὴ τὰς φυλακὰς τὴν μὲν βασιλέως ἀνδράσι πιστοῖς ἐγχειρίσας, τὴν δὲ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ταμιείου ἑτέροις ὁμοίως πιστοῖς καὶ ἀξίοις, ἀπὸ πολλῶν τὸ ἐχέγγυον ἔχουσιν, ὧν δὴ ὁ λογοθέτης τότε τῶν ἀγελῶν ὁ Ἁγιοθεοδωρίτης ἐξηγεῖτο, αὐτὸς ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν κοινῶν διοικήσεσι μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐσπουδαιοτρίβει. Συνετάττοντο 79 τοίνυν προστάγματα πανταχοῦ πόλεων τῆς Ῥωμαίων γῆς ἀποσταλησόμενα, καὶ κατ' ἄλλας μὲν χρείας ἑτέρας, τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον καὶ μέγιστον κατά τε δήλωσιν τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ βασιλέως, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ νέου βασιλέως ἀναρρήσεως, καὶ τοῦ εἰς ἐκεῖνον προστίθεσθαι χάριν συνθήκαις ὅρκων κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες. Καὶ ἐξετίθεντο μὲν τὰ προσταττόμενα παμπληθεί, τὰς δὲ δι' ἐρυθρῶν βασιλικὰς ὑποσημάνσεις, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν τὸν νέον βασιλέα χεῖρα κινεῖν καὶ ὑποσημαίνεσθαι, τῷ δηλωθέντι λογοθέτῃ τῶν ἀγελῶν ποιεῖν ἐνεδίδοσαν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν πρωτοβεστιάριος πρὸς ταῖς περὶ τῶν ὅλων φροντίσιν ἦν καὶ ἀσχόλως εἶχεν, ἐλευθέρῳ χρώμενος, ὡς μηδὲν ὑπειδόμενος, τῷ φρονήματι ἐφ' οἷς ἔπραττεν.

ιηʹ. Ἐπίθεσις τοῦ στρατοῦ κατὰ τῶν Μουζαλώνων. Ἦν δὲ ἄρα ὁ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον φθόνος οἰδαίνων βαρὺς καὶ δεινὸς ὑφεῖρπεν ἐκείνῳ, μὴ τὸ σύνολον ἐπαΐοντι. Καὶ ἡ σκῆψις τῶν ἀπορρήτων κατ' ἐκείνου τοῖς ὀργιζομένοις ὡς πιθανή· ἐδόκουν γὰρ καὶ ὑπὲρ βασιλέων ζηλοῦν, τοῦ μὲν ὅτι μαγγανείαις ταῖς παρ' ἐκείνων συσκευασθείσαις νοσοίη καὶ ὡς κακῶς ἀπαλλάξειε πρόωρος, τοῦ δὲ ὅτι βασιλειᾷ καὶ ὑφαρπάζειν τὴν ἀρχὴν μελετᾷ καὶ μεῖζον ἢ καθ' αὑτὸν φρονεῖ, περιφρονῶν τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν εὐπροσώπως ὑποποιούμενος. Τοῖς δὲ τῶν ξενικῶν Ἰταλοῖς, οὓς δὴ καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα εἶχεν ὁ μέγας κονοσταῦλος, καὶ ἄλλα ἴδι' ἄττα ἦσαν τῆς κατ' ἐκεῖνον ὁρμῆς αἰτιάματα, ὡς παρὰ Μουζαλώνων, καὶ μᾶλλον ἑνὸς τοῦ πρώτου, στεροῖντο, ζῶντος βασιλέως, τῶν εἰς ῥόγας αὐτοῖς ἀποτεταγμένων, ὡς καταφρονοῖντο ἐφ' οἷς ἐδικαίουν ἑαυτοὺς τετιμῆσθαι, ὡς τῆς πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀποκλείοιντο παρρησίας εἰσηγήσεσι ταῖς ἐκείνου, ὡς ἀτιμοῖντο, τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου προστάσσοντος. Τούτοις καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις τὸ ξανθόν τε καὶ ἀριμάνιον γένος ἐρεθιζόμενοι ἕτοιμοι ἦσαν κατασφάττειν ἐκείνους, εἰ μόνον τις παρορμῴη. Αἰτίαν δ' ἔσχεν εἰς τοῦτο, ὡς ὁ τῶν πολλῶν λόγος ἔχει, ὁ τούτων τῆς φάλαγγος ἐξηγούμενος, ὃς καὶ πάλαι μὲν ὡρμημένους αὐτούς, τότε δ' ἐξαφθέντας πλέον, ἀνεθέντας τοῦ φόβου καὶ δρασείοντας τὰ ἀνήκεστα ἐξ ἑτοίμου, ἠρέθισε τὸν φόνον ἐπιτολμῆσαι, καιρὸν ἔχοντας. Καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐκ τῶν ὑστέρων φέρει τὸ πιθανόν· οὐδὲ γὰρ 81 ἂν ἐτόλμων, εἰ μή τινας προβιβάσεις εἶχον, ἀλλοεθνεῖς ὄντες καὶ τὸ πλέον ἐπήλυδες. Καὶ εἰ οὕτως εἶχον καὶ μόνως θαρρεῖν, ἀνάγκη παντὸς μᾶλλον τὸν ἄγοντα ὑποπτεύεσθαι.

ιθʹ. Ὅπως παρὰ τοῦ στρατοῦ ἐτολμήθη ὁ φόνος τοῖς Μουζάλωσιν. Τέως δ' οὖν ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ ἀποιχομένῳ ἐννάτη κειμένῳ παρῆν, καὶ ἔδει τὴν μνήμην ἄγειν ἐκείνῳ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες. Ἀνέρχονται τοίνυν εἰς τὴν τῶν Σωσάνδρων μονήν, ὅπου καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐχόμενα τοῦ πατρὸς τέθαπτο, τῶν ἱερωμένων ὅσοι παρῆσαν ἐκεῖσε· ἀνέρχονται δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐν τέλει πάντες, χωρὶς δ' ἐκείνων καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν αἱ προὔχουσαι καὶ ματρῶναι, καὶ πᾶν ὅσον ἦν ὑπηρετικὸν τοῖς κρατοῦσι. Τὸ μέντοι γε στρατιωτικόν, ἐκ προνοίας καὶ μᾶλλον, κάτω περὶ τὸν βασιλέα ἐγκαταλέλειπτο. Ὡς