33

having received authority, whom, looking after his possessions, as is said, he demanded Caesar to crown the other of his sons. And having promised this, he raised him to the imperial dignity. But some say that he was a tribune and a tax-collector in Sely122 mbria. And some say that he drew his lineage from the Thracians, but others from the Dacians in Illyria. λιβερ θῃαρτῃς δεξιμῃς. But when Leo was just established as emperor, Aspar pressed him, forcing him to make the other of his sons Caesar according to his promise. And when he was procrastinating, Aspar, touching the imperial purple robe, said, "Emperor, it is not right for the one wearing this to lie." And he replied, "But neither is it right to be forced and led like a slave." But not being able to hold out to the end, yielding to necessity, he makes the son of Aspar, and brother of Ardaburius, Caesar from the rank of patrician. This also seemed displeasing to the senate and moved the people of the city to sedition. For they feared that if the rule passed to the family of Aspar, the Arians, gaining boldness again, would inflict more evils than before upon the ortho123 dox. Therefore the clergy and the monks and as many of the people of the city as were sound in faith, coming together, begged the emperor to appoint a Caesar of the same mind as themselves. And he for the time being calmed the sedition by what he both said and did. But in the course of time, having learned that those around Aspar were plotting against him, he killed both him and Ardaburius. And Isocasius the quaestor, an eloquent man, who had been accused of certain other things and of Hellenism, he stripped of his rank and handed over to the prefect for examination. And as he was being brought into the court in the guise of a condemned man, the prefect said to him, "Do you see, Isocasius, in what a state you are?" And he said, "I see, and I am not surprised that, being a man, I have fallen into human misfortunes; but you, judge me as you used to judge with me." Hearing these things, the people acclaimed the emperor, but they seized Isocasius and led him away to the church; and the ruler was pleased to learn that he had been baptized. This emperor had a wife named Verina, by 124 whom he had two daughters, Ariadne and Leontia; of whom he betrothed the one to Zeno, and joined Leontia in marriage to the patrician Marcian, son of Anthemius who had reigned in Rome. In the time of this emperor there occurred in New Rome a most terrible conflagration, which girdled the city from sea to sea, that is, from the northern part to the southern, and in length it went through from the Bosporion to the church of Saint John the Calybite, and to the south from the church of the holy apostle Thomas to the church of the great martyrs Sergius and Bacchus; and in the middle of the city it burned everything in between from the Palace of Lausus to the Forum of the Taurus. At that time it is said that Aspar also ran through the streets carrying a vessel full of water on his shoulders and urging the people to do likewise, so that they might extinguish the fire, and giving to each a silver coin for wages. And that fire lasted, consuming the city, for a period of four days, and it burned, 125 in addition to the rest, the great house in the so-called Senate, in which both the senate and the chosen ones, coming together, would deliberate, and the emperor himself, when he assumed the consular robe, a conspicuous and most brilliant work, and the so-called Nymphaeum, another house situated opposite the aforementioned house, serving for weddings to take place in it for those who did not possess houses that could hold a crowd in them; and another royal house in the Taurus, both costly and very large; and in addition to these, most conspicuous churches and many private houses of the more illustrious people. While he was reigning, it is said that a most violent earthquake also occurred in Antioch, so that almost that entire city fell down. And much ash rained down in Byzantium, so that it was even raised to a palm's breadth. And because of this the emperor being afraid

33

ἐξουσίαν λαβών, ὃν κτήσεων αὐτοῦ, ὡς λέγεται, προνοούμενον ἀπῄτησε Καίσαρα στέψαι θάτερον τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ. καὶ τοῦτο ἐπαγγειλάμενον εἰς τὴν τῆς βασιλείας περιωπὴν ἀνεκόμισεν. ἔνιοι δὲ τριβοῦνον εἶναι αὐτόν φασι καὶ τῶν ἐν Σηλυ122 βρίᾳ τελῶν ἄρχοντα. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐκ Θρᾳκῶν τὸ γένος ἕλκειν αὐτὸν λέγουσιν, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐκ ∆ακῶν τῶν ἐν Ἰλλυριοῖς. λιβερ θῃαρτῃς δεξιμῃς. Ἄρτι δὲ καταστάντος τοῦ Λέοντος αὐτοκράτορος ὁ Ἄσπαρ ἐπέκειτο βιάζων αὐτὸν Καίσαρα ποιῆσαι θάτερον τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. ἀναβαλλομένου δ' αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἄσπαρ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἁλουργίδος ἁψάμενος ἔφη "βασιλεῦ, τὸν ταύτην ἀμπεχόμενον ψεύδεσθαι οὐ χρεών·" καὶ ὃς ἀνθυπήνεγκεν "ἀλλ' οὐδὲ βιάζεσθαι καὶ ἄγεσθαι ὡς ἀνδράποδον." μέχρι δὲ τέλους ἀντέχειν μὴ οἷός τε ὤν, εἴκων ἀνάγκῃ Καίσαρα ποιεῖ ἀπὸ πατρικίου τὸν τοῦ Ἄσπαρος παῖδα, Ἀρδαβουρίου δὲ ἀδελφόν. τοῦτο καὶ τῇ συγκλήτῳ ἔδοξεν ἀποθύμιον καὶ τὸν δῆμον τῆς πόλεως εἰς στάσιν ἐκίνησεν. ἐδεδίεσαν γὰρ μὴ εἰς τὸ γένος τοῦ Ἄσπαρος περιστάντος τοῦ κράτους παρρησίας αὖθις λαβόμενοι οἱ Ἀρειανοὶ πλείονα κακὰ τῶν προτέρων εἰς τοὺς ὀρθο123 δόξους ἐνδείξωνται. συνελθόντες οὖν οἱ τοῦ κλήρου καὶ οἱ μονάζοντες καὶ τοῦ δήμου τῆς πόλεως ὅσον ὑγιῶς ἐφρόνει περὶ τὴν πίστιν, ἐδέοντο τοῦ βασιλέως ὁμόφρονα σφίσι Καίσαρα προχειρίσασθαι. ὁ δὲ τότε μὲν οἷς τε εἶπε καὶ οἷς ἐποίησε τὴν στάσιν κατηύνασε. μεταξὺ δὲ παραρρυέντος καιροῦ, ἐπιβουλεύοντας αὐτῷ γνοὺς τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἄσπαρα, κἀκεῖνον καὶ τὸν Ἀρδαβούριον ἔκτεινεν. Ἰσοκάσιον δὲ τὸν κοιαίστωρα λόγιον ἄνδρα, διαβληθέντα ἐπ' ἄλλοις τέ τισι καὶ ἐπὶ ἑλληνισμῷ, τῆς ἀξίας γυμνώσας τῷ ἐπάρχῳ παρέδωκεν εἰς ἐξέτασιν· εἰσαγομένῳ δ' εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον ἐν σχήματι κατακρίτου ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ ἔπαρχος "ὁρᾷς, Ἰσοκάσιε, ἐν οἵᾳ εἶ καταστάσει;" ὁ δέ "ὁρῶ" εἶπε "καὶ οὐ ξενίζομαι ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ὢν ἀνθρωπίναις περιπέπτωκα συμφοραῖς· σὺ δὲ δίκασον ἐπ' ἐμοί, ὡς ἐδίκαζες σὺν ἐμοί." τούτων ἀκούσας ὁ δῆμος τὸν μὲν βασιλέα εὐφήμησε, τὸν δ' Ἰσοκάσιον ἐξαρπάσαντες εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀπήγαγον· βαπτισθέντα δὲ τοῦτον μαθὼν ὁ κρατῶν ἥσθη. Οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς εἶχε γυναῖκα κεκλημένην Βηρῖναν, ἐξ 124 ἧς ἐγένοντο αὐτῷ θυγατέρες δύο, Ἀριάδνη καὶ Λεοντία· ὧν τὴν μὲν τῷ Ζήνωνι κατηγγύησε, τὴν δὲ Λεοντίαν συνέζευξε τῷ πατρικίῳ Μαρκιανῷ, υἱῷ Ἀνθεμίου τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ. Ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως γέγονεν ἐν τῇ νέᾳ Ῥώμῃ φρικωδέστατος ἐμπρησμός, ὃς ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἕως θαλάσσης, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρκτῴου δηλαδὴ μέρους ἕως τοῦ μεσημβρινοῦ, τὴν πόλιν διέζωσεν, εἰς μῆκος δὲ διεξῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Βοοσπορίου μέχρι τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ Καλυβίτου, πρὸς δὲ νότον ἀπὸ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Θωμᾶ μέχρι τοῦ ναοῦ τῶν μεγάλων μαρτύρων Σεργίου καὶ Βάκχου· ἐν δὲ τῷ μέσῳ τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ τῶν Λαύσου ἕως τοῦ Ταύρου τὰ ἐν μέσῳ πάντα κατέκαυσεν. ὅτε λέγεται καὶ ὁ Ἄσπαρ διαθέειν τὰς ἀγυιὰς ἀγγεῖον ὕδατος πλῆρες ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων φέρων καὶ τὸν δῆμον παρακαλῶν ὁμοίως ποιεῖν, ἵνα τὸ πῦρ κατασβέσωσι, καὶ διδοὺς ἑκάστῳ ὑπὲρ μισθοῦ νόμισμα ἀργυροῦν. διήρκεσε δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο τὴν πόλιν νεμόμενον ἐφ' ἡμερῶν τετρακτύν, καὶ κατέ125 καυσε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις τόν τε ἐν τῷ Σενάτῳ καλουμένῳ μέγιστον οἶκον, εἰς ὃν ἥ τε γερουσία καὶ οἱ λογάδες συνερχόμενοι ἐβουλεύοντο, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεύων, ὅτε στολὴν ὑπατικὴν ἀνελάμβανεν, ἔργον περιφανὲς καὶ ὑπέρλαμπρον, καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Νυμφαῖον, οἶκον ἕτερον ἀντικρὺ κείμενον τοῦ προρρηθέντος οἴκου, εἰς τὸ τοὺς γάμους γίνεσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ χρηματίζοντα τῶν μὴ κεκτημένων οἴκους χωροῦντας πλῆθος ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· καὶ ἕτερον οἶκον ἐν τῷ Ταύρῳ βασιλικὸν πολυτελῆ τε καὶ μέγιστον· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ναοὺς περιφανεστάτους καὶ ἰδιωτικὰς οἰκίας τῶν λαμπροτέρων πολλάς. Τούτου κρατοῦντος λέγεται καὶ σεισμὸν γενέσθαι σφοδρότατον ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, ὡς μικροῦ τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην πᾶσαν καταπεσεῖν. ὑσθῆναι δὲ καὶ σποδὸν ἐν τῇ Βυζαντίδι πολλήν, ὥστε καὶ εἰς παλαιστὴν αὐτὴν ὑψωθῆναι. ἐκ τούτου δὲ δεδειλιακότα τὸν βασιλέα