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reveling in his accumulated wealth and luxury. For the estates allotted to him by his father were worth over sixty thousand gold pieces, and indeed the aim was, if he survived, to increase it even to a hundred. And he had subordinated great men, rulers from the palace, to his service, and on account of this, he, having much income and spending little, except perhaps for ambitious benefactions, which itself gave rise to greater suspicion, reveled in many things and was arrogant toward the submission due to the emperor. The emperor, seeing these things, and indeed being irritated on account of that recent affair which had occurred, 158 spent the night with the protovestiarios, who was lying with a long-lasting illness; for his kidneys were afflicted with very painful agonies, and there was no treatment brought forward that did not further harm the sufferer. And for this reason, since the emperor himself was not able to hold audiences, the emperor, approaching this man daily, took counsel concerning common affairs. At that time, therefore, being with him, he was troubled by his brother's transgression beyond the proper bounds, and to humble him seemed advantageous to both. For the time being, this was by feigning indifference and with averted gazes and by paying no mind to his affairs, whether he was present or absent; for thus they thought to soften his character and bend him toward a more servile disposition. But he, seeing the emperor doing these things, pretended to court the emperor with more frequent audiences than before, and wished to seem to submit to the lesson. Whence also, sending to the protovestiarios, he asked him to beseech the emperor not to be angry, and if anything was done in a sudden fit of passion, with anger having won out, to be sympathetic and not be wrathful. While time was being spent in these matters, the patriarch's monk Sabas was also present there, and committing his usual works of insolence 159 he did not cease, with the emperor permitting all things, judging it perhaps not proper nor otherwise seemly to stand in the way of the actions of the patriarch’s men for reasons of piety, and so as not to seem to obstruct what were considered measures for the correction of the many. For what Sabas was doing, he considered to be entirely the will of the patriarch, as he himself later revealed when making his defense to one of the archbishops; for when that man said to the emperor that it would have been fitting for the patriarch to be hindered by him, being emperor, if he had so wished, he himself made the defense that it was not worthy for a patriarch to be ordered about by the emperor like Niketas Tzykandyles, using this very name as a diminutive (and he was the least of the palace staff). So at any rate, the monk Sabas, being his familiar and appearing faithful in many things, having heard, as he said, from that one, reported to the emperor that the Porphyrogennetos had allegedly said to him in secret that as soon as the emperor arrived at the city of Constantine, he would both expel the patriarch and install the monk Kosmas in his place. Then, indeed, the emperor grew even more wild, if that man were to make war on him, even lying about the patriarch himself, winning over his partisans, and he gathered evil suspicions. A little while after, some of that man's followers, approaching the emperor, reported that he, along with the protostrator Strategopoulos who was spending the night with him, was saying 160 and thinking great things tending toward disloyalty against the emperor, and they offered themselves as ready to prove it, with the emperor taking them up on it. They said these things, and the accusations seemed entirely plausible to the hearers based on what was happening. On account of these things, indeed, the ruler, taking much and very great care both that it escape that man's notice for what reason he was being summoned and that he be caught, and that no rebellion be attempted by him, as he thought, sent for his forces to be brought to him, and he announced to all his own people that they should gather at the palace at dawn. And then around the time the market was full he sent and summoned the one implicated in the accusations, who knew nothing for certain. And when he arrived quickly, the emperor, straightaway, being unable to restrain his anger against him, both him and also Strategopoulos, and not long after

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συναγομένῳ πλούτῳ καὶ τῇ χλιδῇ ἐντρυφῶν. ὑπὲρ γὰρ ἑξήκοντα χρυσίου χιλιάδας αἱ οἰκονομίαι τούτῳ ἀπεκληροῦντο παρὰ πατρός, καί γε σκοπὸς ἦν, εἰ περιῆν, καὶ ἐς ἑκατὸν ἐπαύξειν. καὶ μεγάλοις ἀνδράσιν ἄρχουσι τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ παλατίου εἰς θεραπείαν ἐκεῖνος ὑπέταττέ οἱ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτ' ἐκεῖνος πολλὰ μὲν προσόδων ἔχων ὀλίγα δ' ἐξαντλῶν, εἰ μή που εἰς τὰς κατ' εὐεργεσίαν φιλοτι μίας, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ εἰς ὑποψίαν ἔκειτο μείζω, πολλοῖς ἐνετρύφα καὶ ὑπερηφανεύετο εἰς ὑποταγὴν τὴν ἐς βασιλέα πρέπουσαν. ταῦθ' ὁρῶν βασιλεύς, καί γε τῆς ἐξ ὑπογύου ἐκείνης συμβάσης 158 αἰτίας χάριν παρακεκνισμένος, διενυκτέρευέ τε μετὰ τοῦ πρωτο βεστιαρίου ἐν νόσῳ πολυημέρῳ κειμένου· τὼ νεφρὼ γὰρ πολυω δύνοις πόνοις ἐβάλλετο, καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν τὸ εἰς θεραπείαν προσαγό μενον ὅπερ οὐ προσεζημίου τὸν πάσχοντα. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ οἵῳ τ' ὄντι αὐτῷ τῷ κρατοῦντι τὰς προσόδους ποιεῖν, τούτῳ προσιὼν βασιλεὺς ὁσημέραι περὶ τῶν κοινῶν συνεφρόντιζε. τότε τοίνυν ἐκείνῳ συνὼν διεπονεῖτο τὴν τἀδελφοῦ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ ἐσκαμ μένα ὑπέραλσιν, καὶ ταπεινοῦν συμφέρον ἀμφοτέροις ἐδόκει. τὸ δ' ἦν τέως ἀποπροσποιήσεσι καὶ ἀποστροφαῖς καὶ τῷ μηδὲν τῶν ἐκείνου φροντίζειν, κἂν παρῇ κἂν ἀπῇ· οὕτω γὰρ ὑπομα λάσσειν τὰ ἤθη καὶ πρὸς τὸ δουλικώτερον ὑποκλίνειν ᾤοντο. ἐκεῖνος δὲ ταῦθ' ὁρῶν βασιλέως πράττοντος, συχναῖς τε προσό δοις μᾶλλον πρὸς βασιλέα ἢ πρότερον θεραπεύειν προσεποιεῖτο, καὶ τῇ παιδεύσει καθυποκλίνεσθαι δοκεῖν ἤθελεν. ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν πρωτοβεστιάριον πέμπων ἠξίου καὶ αὐτὸν προσλιπαρεῖν βα σιλέα μὴ χολᾶν, κἄν τι καὶ ἐκ συναρπαγῆς ἐπράχθη νικήσαντος τοῦ θυμοῦ, συμπαθεῖν τε καὶ μὴ ὀργίζεσθαι. ἐν τούτοις οὖν τοῦ καιροῦ τριβομένου, καὶ τοῦ πατριαρχεύοντος μοναχὸς Σάβας ἐκεῖ παρῆν, καὶ τὰ συνήθη τῆς ἀτασθαλίας ἔργα διαπραττόμε 159 νος οὐκ ἀνίει, βασιλέως ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἐφιέντος, μὴ κρίνοντος ἴσως πρέπον μηδ' ἄλλως εὔσχημον ἐμποδὼν ἵστασθαι τοῖς παρὰ τῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου πραττομένοις λόγοις εὐλαβείας, καὶ τοῦ μὴ δο κεῖν ἐμποδίζειν τοῖς εἰς διόρθωσιν τῶν πολλῶν νομιζομένοις. ἃ γὰρ ὁ Σάβας ἔπραττε, θέλημα τοῦ πατριάρχου ὅλως ἡγεῖτο, ὡς αὐτὸς ὕστερον ἔφηνε πρός τινα τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἀπολογούμενος· ἐκείνου γὰρ τῷ βασιλεῖ λέγοντος ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν ἂν ἐμποδίζεσθαι παρ' αὐτοῦ βασιλέως ὄντος τὸν πατριάρχην, εἴπερ ἐβούλετο, αὐτὸς ἀπελογεῖτο ὡς οὐκ ἄξιον πατριάρχην ὡς Τζυκανδύλην Νι κήταν, καὶ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο ὄνομα ὑποκοριζόμενος (ὁ δ' ἦν ὁ τοῦ παλατίου ἐλάχιστος), παρὰ βασιλέως προστάσσεσθαι. ὡς γοῦν οὕτω ταῦτα καὶ ὁ μοναχὸς Σάβας συνήθης ὢν ἐκείνῳ πιστὸς ἐν πολλοῖς κατεφαίνετο, ἀκούσας, ὡς ἔλεγε, παρ' ἐκείνου βασι λεῖ προσήγγελεν, ὡς δῆθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγοντος ἐν ἀπορρήτοις τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου ὡς ἅμα μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐπιδημήσει τῇ Κων σταντίνου, ἅμα δὲ τὸν πατριάρχην ἐκβαλὼν τὸν μοναχὸν Κοσμᾶν ἀντεισάξειε. τότε γοῦν καὶ μᾶλλον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξηγρίαινεν, εἰ γέ οἱ ἐκπολεμῴη ἐκεῖνος καὶ αὐτὸν πατριάρχην ψευδόμενος, τοὺς οἰκείους ἐκείνῳ ὑποποιούμενος, καὶ ὑποψίας οὐκ ἀγαθὰς συνέλε γεν. ὀλίγον τὸ μεταξύ, καί τινες τῶν ἐκείνου βασιλεῖ προσιόν τες μεγάλ' ἄττα καὶ εἰς ἀπιστίαν τὴν κατὰ βασιλέως φέροντα λέ 160 γειν τε καὶ φρονεῖν ἐκεῖνον συνάμα πρωτοστράτορι Στρατηγο πούλῳ διανυκτερεύοντί οἱ προσήγγελον, καί γ' ἐλέγχειν σφᾶς ἑτοίμους ἑαυτοὺς παρεῖχον ἀναδεχομένου τοῦ βασιλέως. ταῦτ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἔλεγον, ἐδόκουν δὲ πάντως ἐκ τῶν γινομένων καὶ τὰ τῆς κατηγορίας πιθανὰ τοῖς ἀκούουσι. διὰ ταῦτα δὴ πολλὴν καὶ μεγίστην πρόνοιαν ὁ κρατῶν ποιούμενος τοῦ τε λαθεῖν ἐκεῖ νον ἐφ' ᾧ προσκαλοῖτο τοῦ θ' ἁλῶναι, καὶ μή τι καὶ νεωτε ρισθείη παρ' ἐκείνου, ὡς ᾤετο, πέμψας ἄγει παρ' ἑαυτῷ τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ τοῖς οἰκείοις πᾶσιν ὑπ' αὐγὰς ἕω ἐπήγγελε κατὰ τὸ παλάτιον συναθροίζεσθαι. καὶ τότε περὶ πλήθουσαν ἀγορὰν πέμψας προσκαλεῖται τὸν ταῖς κατηγορίαις ἐνεχόμενον, μηδὲν ἀκριβῶς εἰδότα. ὃν καὶ διὰ ταχέων παραγενόμενον ὁ μὲν βασι λεὺς εὐθύς, μὴ οἷός τ' ὢν κατέχειν τὰς κατ' ἐκείνου ὀργάς, ἅμα μὲν ἐκεῖνον ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸν Στρατηγόπουλον, μετ' οὐ πολὺ καὶ