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she laid aside. And according to me as judge and to the many of the best people and those who care for the truth, the longing for her son had kept her in the palace for a little while at that time. 3.1.5 But so much for what concerns the empress Maria; but Alexios my father, who had for the time seized the sceptres, having come inside the palace, his own wife, who was in her fifteenth year, along with her sisters and mother and the caesar, her grandfather on her father's side, he had left behind in the lower palace; for it had come to be so called, having received its name from the position of the place. But he himself with his brothers and his mother and his sons-in-law related to him by marriage, goes up to the upper palace, which is also named Boukoleon for the following reason. For near its walls a harbor had been built long ago of native stone and marble, where the stone lion captures the ox; for it holds the horn of the ox and having broken its neck it somehow fastens onto its throat. From this, indeed, the whole place has been named Boukoleon, both the buildings on the mainland and the harbor itself.

3.2.1 Many, therefore, as was said above, suspecting the empress's persistence in the palace, were muttering, that he who had now seized the empire was about to take her in marriage. But the Doukai were not thinking anything of the sort (for they did not go along with common notions), but knowing for a long time the unprovoked wrath of the mother of the Komnenoi against them, they were terrified, suspecting her, as I also have often heard from those who told the story. And when George Palaiologos, having arrived with the fleet, began the acclamations, those around the Komnenoi, leaning out from above, were silencing them, not to join Irene with Alexios in the acclamation and acclaim them together. But he, shouting angrily at them from below, says "Not for your sakes did I myself undertake so great a struggle, but for the one you call Irene." At the same time he also urged the sailors to acclaim Irene with Alexios. These things cast great confusion into the souls of the Doukai, but for the fault-finders it became material for slander against the empress Maria. 3.2.2 But the emperor Alexios, not even taking such a thing to mind (and how could he?), but having taken over the leadership of the Romans, a man active in all things, he immediately takes charge of all affairs and, as one might say, begins to rule all things as from a center. For having entered the palace at sunrise, before he could shake off the dust from the revolt and rest his body, he was immediately entirely given over to the care of military matters. And revering his brother Isaac as a father, he had him as a partner in all things, along with his mother as well, supporting him in the administration of common affairs, although his magnanimity and energy were sufficient not for the administration of one empire, but for many and various ones. But he himself had turned his attention to what was urgent for the rest of the day and spent the whole night in anxious thought, since the multitude of the army had been scattered into Byzantium and at the same time was given to disorderly impulses, how he might check them from their disorderly impulse without a disturbance, and provide security for the state for the future. For he also feared the recklessness of the soldiers, and all the more because it had been gathered from various peoples, lest they might contrive something worse even against him. 3.2.3 But the caesar John Doukas, wanting to get the empress Maria to pack up more quickly and drive her from the palace and to rid the many of false suspicion, on the one hand was trying in every way to win over the patriarch Cosmas, asking him to look after their interests and in no way yield to the words of the mother of the Komnenoi, on the other hand he prudently suggested to the empress Maria to request a written document from the emperor for her own sake and for the safety of her son and thus from there

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ἀπετίθετο. Καὶ κατά γε ἐμὲ κριτὴν καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀρίστων καὶ ἀληθείας ἐπιμελουμένων ὁ τοῦ παιδὸς πόθος αὐτὴν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις πρὸς ὀλίγον τῷ τότε κατέσχηκεν. 3.1.5 Ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς βασιλίδος Μαρίας τοσαῦτα· ὁ δέ γε τέως τῶν σκήπτρων δραξάμενος Ἀλέξιος ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ εἴσω τῶν βασιλείων γενόμενος τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν σύνευ νον πεντεκαιδέκατον ἔτος ἄγουσαν σὺν ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς καὶ τῇ μητρὶ καὶ καίσαρι τῷ πρὸς πατρὸς αὐτῆς πάππῳ ἐν τῷ κάτω καταλελοίπει παλατίῳ· οὕτω γὰρ ἔφθασε καλεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ τόπου θέσεως τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν λαχόν. Αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀγχιστείας προσηκόντων αὐτῷ γαμβρῶν εἰς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον παλάτιον ἄνεισιν, ὃ καὶ Βουκολέων ἐπονομά ζεται ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε. Καὶ γὰρ ἀγχοῦ τῶν τούτου τει χῶν λιμὴν δι' ἐγχορήγου καὶ μαρμάρων πάλαι τῶν χρόνων ᾠκοδόμητο, ὅπου ὁ λίθινος λέων ζωγρεῖ τὸν βοῦν· ἔχεται γὰρ τοῦ κέρως τοῦ βοὸς καὶ ἐξαυχενίσας αὐτὸν ἐμφύεταί πως τῷ λαιμῷ. Ἐξ οὗ δὴ καὶ Βουκολέων ὁ τόπος ὅλος ὠνόμασται τά τε ἐν ἠπείρῳ οἰκοδομήματα καὶ αὐτὸς δὴ ὁ λιμήν.

3.2.1 Πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν, ὡς ἄνωθεν εἴρηται, τὴν τῆς βασι λίδος περὶ τὰ βασίλεια καρτερίαν ὑποπτεύοντες ὑπετονθόρυζον, ὡς εἰς κῆδος ταύτην ἀγαγέσθαι μέλλει ὁ νῦν τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιδραξάμενος. Οἱ δὲ ∆οῦκαι οὐδὲν μέν τι τοιοῦτον ἐνόουν (οὐ γὰρ συνεφέροντο ταῖς τυχούσαις ἐννοίαις), ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς μητρὸς τῶν Κομνηνῶν ἀπροφά σιστον κατ' αὐτῶν μῆνιν ἐκ μακροῦ γινώσκοντες περιδεεῖς ἦσαν ὑποπτεύοντες αὐτήν, ὡς κἀγὼ πολλάκις διηγουμένων ἀκήκοα. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ Παλαιολόγος Γεώργιος μετὰ τοῦ στόλου φθάσας τῆς εὐφημίας ἐξῆρχεν, οἱ περὶ τοὺς Κο μνηνοὺς προκύπτοντες ἄνωθεν κατεσίγαζον, μὴ τὴν Εἰρήνην τῷ Ἀλεξίῳ κἀν τῇ εὐφημίᾳ συνάψαντας κοινῶς εὐφημεῖν. Ὁ δ' ἐμβριμησάμενος κάτωθεν αὐτοῖς φησιν «οὐ δι' ὑμᾶς τὸν τοσοῦτον ἀγῶνα ἀνεδυσάμην αὐτός, ἀλλὰ δι' ἥν φατε Εἰρήνην». Ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῖς ναυτικοῖς παρεκελεύετο Εἰρήνην σὺν τῷ Ἀλεξίῳ ἀνευφημεῖν. Ταῦτα ταῖς μὲν ψυχαῖς τῶν ∆ουκῶν πολὺν ἐνέβαλε θόρυβον, τοῖς δέ γε μωμοσκόποις λοιδορίας ὕλη κατὰ τῆς βασιλίδος Μαρίας ἐγένετο. 3.2.2 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος μηδ' ἐν νῷ τοιοῦτόν τι βαλλόμενος (καὶ πῶς γάρ;), ἀλλὰ τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν παραλαβών, ἀνὴρ ἐν πᾶσι δραστήριος, εὐθὺς τῶν ὅλων πραγμάτων γίνεται καί, ὡς ἂν εἴπῃ τις, ὡς ἀπὸ κέντρου τῶν ἁπάντων κατάρχεται. Ἀνίσχοντος γὰρ ἡλίου εἰς τὰ βασίλεια εἰσελθών, πρὶν ἢ τὸν, ἀπὸ τῆς στά σεως κονίσαλον ἀποτινάξασθαι καὶ τὸ σῶμα διαναπαῦσαι, εὐθὺς τῆς τῶν στρατιωτικῶν ὅλος ἐγεγόνει φροντίδος. Καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰσαάκιον ὡς πατέρα σεβόμενος κοινωνὸν εἶχεν ἐν πᾶσιν, ἅμα καὶ τὴν μητέρα, ἐν ταῖς τῶν κοινῶν διοικήσεσιν ὑπερείδοντας, κἂν τὸ μεγαλόνουν αὐτοῦ καὶ δραστήριον οὐ πρὸς μίαν βασιλείας διοίκησιν, ἀλλὰ πολ λαῖς καὶ διαφόροις ἐξήρκει. Αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς τὸ κατεπεῖγον ἀπονενευκὼς ἦν τὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπίλοιπον καὶ τὴν ὅλην νύκτα ἐς φροντίδα καταναλώσας, τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ πλή θους σκεδασθέντος εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον ἅμα καὶ ἀτάκτοις ὁρμαῖς κεχρημένου, ὅπως μὲν αὐτοὺς θορύβου ἄτερ τῆς ἀτάκτου ἀνακόψῃ ὁρμῆς, ἀφροντισίαν δὲ τῷ κοινῷ τοῦ λοιποῦ περιποιήσηται. Ἐδεδίει γὰρ καὶ ἄλλως τὸ ἰταμὸν τῶν στρατιωτῶν, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅσῳπερ ἐκ διαφόρων συνεί λεκτο, μὴ καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ χεῖρον διανοήσαιντο. 3.2.3 Ὁ δὲ καῖσαρ Ἰωάννης ὁ ∆ούκας βουλόμενος τάχιον τὴν βασι λίδα Μαρίαν ἀποσκευάσασθαι καὶ τῶν βασιλείων ἀπελάσαι ὑποψίας τε τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀπαλλάξαι ψευδοῦς ἔνθεν μὲν τὸν πατριάρχην Κοσμᾶν παντοίως ὑπεποιεῖτο ἀξιῶν τὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν φρονεῖν καὶ τοῖς λόγοις τῆς τῶν Κομνηνῶν μητρὸς μηδαμῶς ὑπείκειν, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ τῇ βασιλίδι Μαρίᾳ νουνεχῶς ὑπετίθετο ἔγγραφόν τι τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐξαι τησαμένην αὐτῆς τε χάριν καὶ τῆς τοῦ παιδὸς ἀσφαλείας οὕτως ἐκεῖθεν