Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

he assailed this man, who had been condemned to be held liable for the same things, with both reproaches and insults, and in the presence of the entire senate cried out, "What has happened to you, O men, and you worst of the worst, you who have received such great benefits from me, that you wicked ones were not at all eager to put off being seen by your benefactor, but from the very first, one of you is convicted of having plotted such things against his master and own brother, and the other against him who was first 161 the cause of his still seeing the sun, and later also his benefactor?" But when they denied everything and demanded their accusers, those who had spoken against them immediately stood by, and as they had both the power and the will to be zealous, they presented their proof. Immediately then, as is wont to happen in such cases, there was a clamor of some being astonished, others hating, and others, moved more than was fitting by a certain desire to please, both to speak and to act. Finally, he sends some to seize their houses, which were very wealthy, and especially that of the porphyrogenitus, and he gave one of them over to prison guards, while he confined his brother by shutting him up in one of the royal chambers in the palaces in a secure place. And those properties and herds and storehouses of all kinds of goods, and gold, some minted in coins and some worked into drinking cups, and silver and robes of every sort, they assigned to the public treasury, and that luxury and splendor was a scene and a plaything of a single hour. And it was a wonder to those who saw such a mass of luxury and the splendor of such a house, not much inferior even to a royal one, how in an instant it came to nothing, and how those brilliant and until then 162 much-celebrated things were extinguished when an unfavorable and slanderous breeze blew. And these things were done in the month of Cronius, when also upon many of those of the palace and not a few of those of the church the charge of disloyalty to the emperor was brought on account of that man, as if he were aiming at the throne. For in truth the man was exceedingly fond of giving gifts, and he won over many with his acts of kindness, so that they loved him for the benefits they received, not, however, to the extent of being privy to his plans or indeed of counseling what he, knowing and willing it, as those who spoke against him were able to show, was being convicted of. Therefore the emperor was lenient towards the many of the palace who had received benefits from him, judging the gifts given to be beyond the giver’s station, but worthy of the recipients. For he pretended to bring charges against that man, being the emperor's brother, for giving gifts to so many people to whom it was likely not even the emperor would give; but those who received them, being magnates, even if they received beyond measure, he nevertheless justified them as being worthy to receive such and so many things, by reasonably submitting to him. But as for those of the church, not only those who had received benefits from him but all of them, Sabas, having seized upon plausible pretexts, as if zealous against them and on behalf of the 163 emperor, and being before this a malefactor to all, he both openly called them disloyal (20) and going through their administrations he assailed them, seizing and demanding their revenues as though they were condemned. These things were a pain for the clergy to learn, but not so that they were able to escape the accusation. This indeed grieved them more than being deprived of their own possessions, and they could not set aside the accusation and treat it as a minor matter. This indeed greatly agitated such men, and they did not know what to do, and as if having condemned themselves by their grief, they were at a loss. Finally they recognized one escape from the evil: taking refuge with the patriarch, as he too would immediately upon learning consider the slander against the church a terrible thing. And so when Sabas also came, they gathered and complained of their suffering, and they dramatized the calamity as unbearable, and "What has happened to you, O man," they said in his presence, "that you involve the members of the clergy in such terrible things? It is necessary that the one who is under accusation be judged, but that the rest remain innocent of the offense." But as he offered no 164 defense for the matters in question, but instead surrounded them with accusations having no

τοῦτον τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐνέχεσθαι καταγνωσθέντα, ὀνειδισμοῖς τε καὶ προπηλακισμοῖς ἔβαλλε, καὶ "τί παθόντες, ὦ οὗτοι," παρού σης καὶ πάσης τῆς συγκλήτου ἐβόα, "καὶ κακῶν κάκιστοι, αὐ τοὶ τοσαῦτ' ἔχοντες ἀγαθὰ παρ' ἐμοῦ, τὸ εἰς ἀναβολὰς ὀφθῆναι πρὸς τὸν εὐεργέτην κακοὶ οὔμενουν θέσθαι προεθυμήθητε, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῆς ὁ μὲν δεσπότου καὶ αὐταδέλφου, ὁ δὲ πρότερον μὲν 161 αἰτίου τοῦ καὶ ἔτι βλέπειν τὸν ἥλιον, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ εὐεργέτου, τοιαῦτα καταμεμελετηκότες ἐλέγχεσθε;" τοῖς δ' ἀρνουμένοις πάμπαν καὶ τοὺς ἐλέγχους ζητοῦσιν εὐθὺς οἱ κατειπόντες παρί σταντο, καὶ ὡς ἦν ἐκείνοις ἰσχὺς ἅμα καὶ εἰς σπουδὴν πρόθεσις, ἤλεγχον. αὐτίκα τοίνυν, οἷα φιλεῖ ἐπὶ τοιούτοις γίνεσθαι, θροῦς ἦν τῶν μὲν ἐκπληττομένων τῶν δὲ καὶ στυγούντων, ἄλλων δὲ καὶ πλέον τοῦ εἰκότος κατά τινα θεραπείαν παρακεκινημένων καὶ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν. τέλος τοὺς μὲν τὰς ἐκείνων οἰκίας πολυόλ βους οὔσας, καὶ μᾶλλον τὴν τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου, καθέξοντας ἀποστέλλει, αὐτοὺς δὲ τὸν μὲν φυλακαῖς ἐδίδου, τὸν δ' ἀδελφὸν συγκλείσας ἑνὶ τῶν κατὰ τὰ παλάτια βασιλικῶν οἰκημάτων ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ καθείργνυσι. προνοίας δ' ἐκείνας καὶ ἀγέλας καὶ ἀπο θήκας παντοίων εἰδῶν καὶ χρυσόν, τὸν μὲν ἐν νομίσμασι κεκομ μένον τὸν δ' ἐν ἐκπώμασιν εἰργασμένον, καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ πέπλα παντοδαπὰ τῷ κοινῷ ταμιείῳ προσανετίθεντο, καὶ ἡ χλιδὴ ἐκείνη καὶ περιφάνεια μιᾶς ὥρας σκηνὴ καὶ παίγνιον ἦν. καὶ θαῦμα ἦν τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ὄγκος τοσοῦτος τρυφῆς καὶ οἰκίας τοιαύτης φιλο τιμία, μηδ' αὐτῆς βασιλείου κατὰ πολὺ λειπομένης, πῶς ἐν ἀκαρεῖ εἰς τὸ μηδὲν κατήντησε, καὶ τὰ λαμπρὰ ἐκεῖνα καὶ τέως 162 περίπυστα πνευσάσης δυσχεροῦς καὶ τελχινώδους αὔρας κα τέσβεστο. Καὶ ταῦτ' ἐπράττετο Κρονίου μηνός, ὅτε καὶ πολλοῖς μὲν τῶν τοῦ παλατίου οὐκ ὀλίγοις δὲ καὶ τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀσυνθε σίας πρὸς βασιλέα ἔγκλημα δι' ἐκεῖνον ὡς δῆθεν βασιλειῶντα ἐφῆπται. ἦν γὰρ ταῖς ἀληθείαις ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐς ἄκρον φιλοδωρότα τος, καὶ πολλοὺς συνυπήγετο τοῖς φιλοφρονήμασιν, ὥστε καὶ ἀγαπᾶν εὐεργετουμένους, οὐ μὴν δὲ ὥστε καὶ συνειδέναι οἱ ἢ δὴ συμβούλεσθαι ἃ δὴ ἐκεῖνος εἰδὼς καὶ βουλόμενον, ὡς οἱ κατ' ἐκείνου λέγοντες δεικνύειν εἶχον, ἐξηλέγχετο. τοῖς οὖν τοῦ παλα τίου πολλοῖς τισὶν οὖσι τοῖς παρ' ἐκείνου εὐεργετουμένοις συν εγνωμόνει ὁ βασιλεύς, ὑπὲρ ἀξίαν μὲν τοῦ διδόντος, ἄξια δὲ τοῖς λαμβάνουσι τὰ διδόμενα κρίνων. ἐκεῖνον μὲν γὰρ ἀδελφὸν βασιλέως ὄντα τοσούτοις δωρεῖσθαι ὅσοις μηδὲ βασιλέα σχεδὸν εἰκὸς ἦν αἰτίας ἐποιεῖτο δῆθεν· τοὺς δέ γε λαμβάνοντας μεγι στᾶνας ὄντας, εἰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον ἐλάμβανον, ἀλλ' οὖν δι καίους εἶναι τοιαῦτα καὶ τόσα λαμβάνειν ὑποκατακλινομένους ἐκείνῳ ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων ἐδικαίου. τοῖς δὲ τῆς ἐκκλησίας μὴ ὅπως τοῖς ἐξ ἐκείνου εὐεργετηθεῖσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ ξύμπασιν αἰτίας ὁ Σάβας ἐπειλημμένος εὐσχήμονας, ὡς δῆθεν κατ' ἐκείνων καὶ ὑπὲρ βα 163 σιλέως ζηλῶν, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τοῖς πᾶσι κακοποιός, ἀνέδην τε δύσνους ὠνόμαζε (20) καὶ διιὼν ταῖς οἰκονομίαις ἐκείνων ἐπέ χρα, παρακατέχων καὶ ἀπαιτῶν τὰς προσόδους ὡς ἂν ἐκείνων καθωσιωμένων. ἅπερ τοῖς κληρικοῖς μανθάνουσι πόνος ἦν, οὐ μὴν δὲ ὥστε καὶ ἀποφυγεῖν τὴν κατηγορίαν δύνασθαι. ὃ δὴ καὶ πλέον τούτους τοῦ στέρεσθαι τῶν οἰκείων ὠδύνα, καὶ οὐκ εἶχον τὴν κατηγορίαν διαθέσθαι καὶ ἐν μετρίοις ποιήσασθαι. ὃ δὴ καὶ μεγάλως τοὺς τοιούτους ἐκύμηνε, καὶ οὐκ εἶχον ὅ τι καὶ πρά ξειαν, καὶ ὡς ἄν γε τῇ λύπῃ καθοσιώσαντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐν ἀπόρῳ ἦσαν. τέλος ἀποφυγὴν μίαν ἔγνωσαν τῆς κακίας τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην καταφυγήν, ὡς αὐτίκα τῷ μαθεῖν ἐν δεινῷ ποιησο μένου κἀκείνου τὴν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας διαβολήν. ἐλθόντος τοι γαροῦν καὶ τοῦ Σάβα συνελθόντες ἐνεκάλουν τὸ πάθος, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἀνεκτὴν ἐτραγῴδουν τὴν συμφοράν, καὶ "τί παθών, ὦ οὗ τος," ἔλεγον παρόντος κἀκείνου, "τοιούτοις τοὺς τοῦ κλήρου περιβάλλεις δεινοῖς; δέον τὸν μὲν ἐπ' αἰτίαν κείμενον κρίνεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἀθώους τοῦ ἄγους μένειν." τοῦ δὲ μηδὲν ἀπο 164 λογουμένου τῶν ἐς λόγον κειμένων, ἀλλὰ κύκλῳ περιβαλλομένου αἰτίας μηδὲν