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searching through all the lists of men in service and in dignities, he commanded that such and such a one be sent to him. Whence the general, seizing the opportunity, took away the man's horse even against his will, and sent it to the emperor as his own. This was the reason, and the deprivation of the horse. But when, by some turn of events, the emperor commanded everyone, even those who had been dismissed for whatever reason, to go out to war, this man also, having gone out deprived of a good horse, was taken from life, leaving behind a wife and poor children. What then of the wife? Hearing of the emperor's willingness to listen and love of justice, and burning with love for her husband, and not having the means to provide the necessities of life for her children, she comes to the reigning city, and seeing Theophilos, on the day he was accustomed to go to Blachernae, riding this very horse of her husband, falling on her knees and wailing, she begged the emperor, holding the horse's bridle, and explained how the horse was hers 94 and that no one else but he himself was the cause of her husband's slaughter. Therefore the emperor, being struck with astonishment and amazed at the woman's boldness, and knowing nothing of what was said, for the time being ordered her to be kept in custody until his return to the palace, and having returned in haste, he said to summon this very woman; and she was present immediately, explaining and relating everything clearly. So the emperor commands the general to come, and makes a vigorous inquiry about the horse. But as the general was asserting that the horse had been sent from his own house and from nowhere else, and not from plunder, he brings the woman face to face with him as a refutation and accuser of what was said. Therefore the general could not bear to look at the woman's face, radiant against his lie, and at once becomes a pitiful suppliant and takes hold of the emperor's feet with weeping. What then did the emperor do? He makes that woman with her children equal siblings and heirs of his substance, and he removes him from his office, and his just judgment and his hatred toward robbers becomes manifest to all. 8 But no less did he show his diligence by being devoted also to building projects. For having rebuilt from the foundations the lower walls, scraping off their old age as it were and raising them to a height with beauty, he made them altogether impassable to the enemy, which 95 even to this day show his name inscribed on them. Moreover, having also driven prostitutes from their dwellings, and having cleansed that whole area, he constructed a hospice bearing his name, most beautiful in beauty and largest in size, well-ventilated and with good views, through which corrupting afflictions are washed away and saving remedies are produced. Thus he was disposed toward prostitutes. Except that they say that he, being once captivated by the beauty of a handmaiden of Theodora, had intercourse with her, living carelessly at that time; so when he became aware of his sin arising from her beauty, and as this had not escaped Theodora's notice either, who was downcast and squalid and sullen, from then on he confessed to her, swearing an oath and dreadfully raising his hands to God that he had indeed slipped then and only then, and seeking forgiveness from his wife. In addition to these things, he erected and raised with a lavish hand a certain house and palace for his daughters near the so-called place of Karianos, of which some remains and columns are preserved as a memory of them to our own time. 9 And since, following an old custom, he wanted to make the facts of his reign manifest to the sons of Hagar, whether taking them as partners in his good fortune or rather that he might be seen as fearsome to them, he judged John, who was then synkellos, but formerly, as we have already said, 96 his teacher, as worthy for such a service. For this man [was] full of civil order

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γραμμάτων πάντας ἐν τέλει καὶ ἀξιώμασιν ἀνερευνῶν ἐκέλευε τοιόνδε καὶ τοιόνδε ἀπο- στεῖλαι αὐτῷ. οθεν λαβόμενος ὁ στρατηγὸς ἀφορμῆς ἀφείλετο τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὸν ιππον καὶ ακοντος, καὶ πρὸς βασιλέα ὡς οἰκεῖον ἀπέσταλκεν. αυτη ἡ αἰτία, καὶ τοῦ ιππου δὲ ἡ στέρησις. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατά τινα περιπέτειαν πάντας ἐκέλευσεν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς οἱᾳδήποτε αἰτίᾳ πεπαυμένους, ἐξιέναι πρὸς πόλεμον, καὶ τὸν αν- δρα τοῦτον ἐξεληλυθότα ιππου στερούμενον ἀγαθοῦ ἀπήγαγε τῆς ζωῆς, γυναῖκα καταλελοιπότα καὶ τέκνα πτωχά. τί ουν ἡ γυνή; καὶ τὸ φιλήκοον ἀκούουσα τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ φιλοδίκαιον, καὶ τῷ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς φίλτρῳ ἐκκαιομένη, καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις οπως καὶ χορη- γοίη οὐκ εχουσα τὰ πρὸς ζωήν, τὴν βασιλεύουσαν καταλαμβάνει, καὶ τὸν Θεόφιλον, ἐν ῃ  ἡμέρᾳ ειθιστο πρὸς Βλαχέρνας ἀπιέναι, τοῦτον δὴ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς ιππον ἀναβαίνοντα κατιδοῦσα, γονυ- πετοῦσα καὶ κατολοφυρομένη ἐδέετο τοῦ βασιλέως, τὸν χαλινὸν τοῦ ιππου κατέχουσα, καὶ ἀνεδίδασκεν πῶς αὐτῆς τε ειη ὁ ιππος 94 καὶ οὐκ αλλος τις ἀλλ' αὐτὸς αιτιος τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς σφαγῆς. ἐκ- πλαγὴς ουν ὁ βασιλεὺς γενόμενος ἐν τῇ παρρησίᾳ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ περιθαμβής, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων εἰδὼς οὐδέν, τέως μὲν αὐτὴν ταμιευθῆναι διωρίσατο τῆς αὐτοῦ αχρι ἐπανόδου πρὸς τὰ ἀνάκτο- ρα, καὶ καλεῖν ταύτην καὶ δὴ εφησεν τὴν γυναῖκα μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπαναδραμών· καὶ ηδε παρέστη εὐθέως, ἐκδιδάσκουσά τε πάντα καὶ διεξιοῦσα σαφῶς. κελεύει ουν τόν τε ἀφικέσθαι τὸν στρατη- γὸν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ περὶ τοῦ ιππου ζήτησιν ποιεῖ νεανικήν. ὡς δ' οικοθεν ὁ στρατηγὸς καὶ οὐκ αλλοθεν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς τὸν ιππον ἀποσταλῆναι διεβεβαίου, παρίστησι κατὰ πρόσωπον τὴν ανθρωπον ελεγχον τῶν λεγομένων καὶ κατήγορον. οὐκ εφερεν ουν ὁ στρατηγὸς τῷ ψεύδει καταλαμπρύνεσθαι τὴν οψιν τῆς γυναικὸς ἐνορῶν, καὶ αμα ἱκέτης γίνεται ἐλεεινὸς καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τοὺς πόδας λαμβάνει μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ. τί ουν ὁ βασιλεύς; ἐκείνην μὲν τὴν γυναῖκα μετὰ τῶν αὐτῆς παίδων ἀδελφοὺς ἐξ ισου καὶ κλη- ρονόμους τῆς ἐκείνου δείκνυσιν ὑποστάσεως, μεθίστησί τε τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτόν, καὶ πᾶσι κατάδηλος γίνεται ἡ δικαία κρίσις αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς αρπαγας φιλαπέχθημον. 8 Οὐχ ηττον δέ γε καὶ ταῖς οἰκοδομαῖς ἐγκείμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐδείκνυτο ἐπιμέλειαν. τείχη τε γὰρ τὰ χθαμαλώτερα ἐκ βάθρων ἀναδειμάμενος, τὸ γῆρας ωσπερ ἀποξύσας καὶ πρὸς υψος μετὰ κάλλους ἀπάρας, αβατα πάντῃ πεποίηκε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, α  95 καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τὴν τούτου προσηγορίαν ἐμφαίνουσιν ἐγγεγραμ- μένην εχοντα ἐν αὐτοῖς. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ πόρνας ἀπελάσας ἐξ οἰκημάτων, καὶ καθάρας ολον ἐκεῖνον τὸν χῶρον, ξενῶνα τὴν ἐκεί- νου φέροντα προσηγορίαν, κάλλει τε κάλλιστον καὶ μεγέθει μέγι- στον, ευπνουν τε καὶ ευοπτον, δι' ων τὰ φθοροποιὰ μὲν παθή- ματα ἀποκλύζονται, τὰ σωτηριώδη δὲ ἐπιγίνονται ἀλεξήματα, κατεσκεύασεν. ουτως ειχεν ἐκεῖνος πρὸς πόρνας. πλὴν οτι γέ φασιν αὐτόν ποτε κάλλει θεραπαινίδος τῆς Θεοδώρας ἁλόντα συμ- φθαρῆναι αὐτῇ, ῥᾳθύμως τότε βιοῦντα· ἐπεὶ γοῦν ῃσθετο τῆς ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ διαμαρτίας, καὶ αλλως οὐδὲ τὴν Θεοδώραν τοῦτο λαθοῦσαν, κατηφιῶσαν δὲ καὶ αὐχμῶσαν καὶ στυγνάζουσαν, εκ- τοτε ἐξειπεῖν αὐτῇ, ἐπομνύμενον καὶ φρικτῶς τὰς χεῖρας ἐπαίροντα πρὸς θεὸν η μὴν τότε καὶ μόνον διολισθεῖν, καὶ συγγνώμην ἐπι- ζητεῖν παρὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γυναικός. πρὸς τούτοις οικόν τινα καὶ ἀνάκτορα ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ θυγατράσιν παρὰ τὸν ουτω καλούμενον χῶρον τὰ Καριανοῦ πλουσίᾳ χειρὶ ἐξανέστησέν τε καὶ ηγειρεν, ων λείψανά τινα καὶ κολωνοὶ τῆς ἐκείνων μνήμης μέχρις ἡμῶν δια- σώζονται. 9 ̓Επεὶ δὲ παλαιῷ εθει ἑπόμενος ἐβούλετο τοῖς τῆςΑγαρ τὰ τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας ποιῆσαι κατάδηλα, ειτε δὴ κοινωνοὺς εὐ- φροσύνης λαμβάνων ειτε μᾶλλον τῷ φοβερὸς μέλλειν ὁρᾶσθαι αὐτοῖς, πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην αξιον διακονίαν κρίνει ̓Ιωάννην τὸν τότε μὲν σύγκελλον, αὐτοῦ δὲ πρότερον, ὡς εφθημεν εἰπόντες, 96 διδάσκαλον. πολιτικῆς γὰρ εὐταξίας τοῦτον πλήρη