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he seemed to be pleased, as one might think from appearances, by the melody, but in truth, and as it was not possible to suspect the one singing, by what seemed to him a good omen in the present circumstances. But when they had thus completed their journey in a few days and had reached the emperor, the one who had been sent appeared as quickly as possible to the ruler and 53 announced the arrival, but the prison received the other, who was not brought in at all, as a condemned man; it was otherwise suspected that, when the ruler had leisure, his case would be given over to an examination greater than was possible at that time. But time was spent in the interval while the emperor was ill, and the jail held him as a prisoner, yet not as one for confessed acts of treason; for there was no charge at all, unless someone should make it a charge against the one held that there was suspicion and that many were reporting in secret, whom one could believe were whispering about his fate. But for the time being the pretext also seemed a charge. And this was..., but we must take up the story again, so that we may have an easier understanding of the matters before us.

12. How the ailing emperor suspected everyone of magic, and the affairs concerning Martha. A sickness had befallen the ruler, and the sickness was terrible; for he was seized, falling down frequently. And this was, as it seems, from a natural heat in the heart. Whence, I think, his cleverness was also beyond what was proper, since the organ could not contain the affliction and from there reason was turned aside, so that often he did not even send up useful breaths to the brain, whence also comes reasoning. For in this matter one might also reconcile the philosophers' strife concerning thought; for the heart is the fount of thoughts, except that when they are brought up to the brain, as that organ might have symmetry or indeed asymmetry, so it happens that what is brought up is given its form. At that time, therefore, since the sickness frequently attacked him, I do not know from where, the sufferer supposed the affliction to be a demonic wrath from sorcery. And the many on the outside, who were wont to believe such things, attributed the crime to the Mouzalons, who had obtained dignities unexpectedly and as they would not have expected; to the sufferer, however, everyone was suspect, if only someone were to accuse him of sorcery. Whence also very many, even of the common people, were arrested, if anyone should but mutter an accusation. And the one prosecuting for sorcery often brought forth the charge against another on behalf of himself or his neighbor, as if he would receive justice by proving it; but when the charge was brought before the emperor, immediately—for it was not possible for him to remain silent upon hearing it—he, not on behalf of anyone else, but altogether anxious for 55 himself, ordered an investigation to be made. But the proof that the one being judged should not be convicted by a unanimous vote was not the production of witnesses, not the proposing of oaths, not examinations of previous lives, nor other things by which falsehood is refuted; but one and only thing was what saved the convicted: if they dared with their hand to stoop down and pick up a lump of iron already boiling from the fire, which they indeed called holy, and walk three steps holding it, having been purified beforehand for three days before this was to happen by fasting and prayer, their hand having also been marked with a head-covering and a seal, so that no one might try to anoint it with something, in order that the fire not touch or burn it. And the writer saw, being a youth at that time, some who underwent such things, and yet also departed unharmed, the wondrous thing. At that time, therefore, it was decreed by the ruler that others too should take in marriage women who were well-born, even if they themselves were often of ignoble stock; yet their nobility tended toward the ruler, and, as they had to be dignified by their offices, the ruler made the marriage a kindness for both parties, so that they, on the one hand, would be aggrandized, as the Roman would say, by the matrons, as was fitting, and they, on the other hand, would in turn share in the dignities of the men they were marrying. Therefore he commands, along with the others, a certain one of those assigned to him as pages while his father was living, surnamed Balanidiotes, to take in lawful marriage Theodora, the daughter of Maria, sister of Palaiologos, whether also Martha, whom she had borne to the grand domestic Tarchaneiotes. And the word of the emperor was for them a certain firm guarantee, and from there, since also

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ἡσθῆναι δόξαι, ὡς μὲν ἦν δοκεῖν καὶ τῷ φαινομένῳ, τῇ μελῳδίᾳ, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἦν τὸν μελῳδοῦντα ὑπονοεῖν, τῷ ἐπὶ τοῖς παροῦσι δόξαντί οἱ χρηστῷ ὄρνιθι. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν ἐφ' ἡμέραις τὴν ὁδὸν ἐξανυσάντων καὶ ὡς βασιλέα φθασάντων, ἐμφανίζεται μὲν ὅσον τάχος ὁ πεμφθεὶς τῷ κρατοῦντι καὶ 53 ἀπαγγέλλει τὴν ἄφιξιν, τὸν δὲ μηδὲ τὸ παράπαν εἰσαχθέντα ἡ εἱρκτὴ ὡς κατάκριτον δέχεται· ἦν δ' ἄλλως ὑπονοούμενον τό, ἐνευκαιρήσαντος τοῦ κρατοῦντος, ἐξετάσει τἀκείνου δοθήσεσθαι μείζονι ἢ κατὰ τὸν τότε καιρόν. Ἀλλὰ χρόνος ἐτρίβετο μεταξὺ νοσοῦντος τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, κἀκεῖνον εἶχε δεσμώτην ἡ φυλακή, πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐφ' ὁμολογουμέναις καθοσιώσεσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἔγκλημα τὸ παράπαν, εἰ μή γε τὴν ὑποψίαν καὶ τὸ πολλοὺς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ἐκφέρειν, πρὸς οὓς ἦν πιστεύειν ὑποφωνοῦντας τὸ μόρσιμον, ἔγκλημα θείη τις τῷ κατεχομένῳ. Ἐδόκει δὲ τέως καὶ ἡ πρόφασις ἔγκλημα. Ἡ δ' ἦν ..., ἀλλ' ἀνακτέον τὸν λόγον, ἵν' εὐμαθέστερον τῶν προκειμένων ἔχοιμεν.

ιβʹ. Ὅπως νοσῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς πάντας ἐπὶ μαγείαις ὑπώπτευε καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Μάρθαν. Νόσος ἦν ἐνσκήψασα τῷ κρατοῦντι καὶ ἡ νόσος δεινή· ἐπείληπτο γὰρ καταπίπτων συχνάκις. Τὸ δ' ἦν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐκ ζέσεως φυσικῆς ἐγκαρδίου. Ὅθεν, οἶμαι, καὶ τὸ εὐφυὲς ἐκείνῳ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸ προσῆκον ἦν, οὐ στέγοντος τοῦ μορίου τὸ πάθος κἀντεῦθεν ἐκτρεπομένου τοῦ εἰκότος, ὡς μηδὲ χρησίμους πολλάκις ἀναπέμπειν τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ τὰς ἀναπνεύσεις, ὅθεν καὶ τὸ λογίζεσθαι. Ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ καὶ φιλοσόφων ἔριν περὶ τοῦ φρονεῖν συμβιβάζειν τις ἔχοι· πηγὴ γὰρ λογισμῶν ἡ καρδία, πλὴν ἀναγομένων πρὸς τὸν ἐγκέφαλον, ὡς ἐκεῖνος συμμετρίας ἢ μὴν ἀσυμμετρίας ἔχοι, οὕτως εἰδοποιεῖσθαι συμβαίνει τὸ ἀναγόμενον. Τότε τοίνυν ἐπιπιπτούσης συχνάκις τῆς νόσου, οὐκ οἶδ' ὁπόθεν, μήνιμα εἶναι τὸ πάθος ὁ πάσχων ἐκ μαγγανείας δαιμόνιον ὑπελάμβανε. Καὶ οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ τῶν ἔξω, οἷς ἦν τὰ τοιαῦτα πιστεύειν, τὸ ἔγκλημα προσέτριβον τοῖς Μουζάλωσι, παραλόγων καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἂν προσεδόκησαν τῶν ἀξιωμάτων τυχοῦσι· τῷ μέντοι γε πάσχοντι πᾶς ὕποπτος ἦν, εἰ μόνον τις ἐπὶ μαγγα νείαις κατηγοροίη. Ὅθεν καὶ πλεῖστοι καὶ τῶν τυχόντων συνελαμβάνοντο, εἴ πού τις γρύξειεν ἐγκαλῶν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν διώκων μαγγανείας ἄλλον ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ πολλάκις ἢ τοῦ πλησίον προὔβαλλε τοὔγκλημα, ὡς δίκας ληψόμενος ἀποδείξας· ἀναγόμενον δὲ πρὸς βασιλέα τὸ ἔγκλημα ἐκ τοῦ παραυτίκα οὐ γὰρ ἦν σιωπᾶν ἀκούσαντα, ὁ δέ, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἄλλου του, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς 55 ἑαυτοῦ συνόλως ἀγωνιῶν, προσέταττεν ἐξετάζεσθαι. Παράστασις δὲ τοῦ μὴ ψήφοις ἁπάσαις τὸν κρινόμενον αἱρεῖσθαι οὐ μαρτύρων παραγωγαί, οὐ προτεινόμενοι ὅρκοι, οὐ βίων τῶν πρὸ τοῦ ἐξετάσεις, οὐκ ἄλλ' ἄττα οἷς τὸ ψεῦδος ἐλέγχεται· ἀλλ' ἓν καὶ μόνον ἦν τὸ σῷζον τοὺς ἡλωκότας, εἰ μύδρον ἐκ πυρὸς ἤδη ζέοντα, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἅγιον ἐπεφήμιζον, τολμώσῃ χειρὶ κύψαντες ἀναλάβοιεν καὶ τρὶς βηματίσειαν ἔχοντες, πρότερον τρισὶν ἡμέραις τοῦ ταῦτα γενέσθαι νηστείᾳ καθηγνισμένοι καὶ προσευχῇ, ἐπισεσημασμένοι καὶ τὴν χεῖρα κεκρυφάλῳ καὶ βούλλῃ, ὡς μή τις ἐπιχειροίη ἀλείφων τισίν, ἐφ' ᾧ μὴ ψαῦσαι μηδὲ καῦσαι τὸ πῦρ. Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ γράφων, ἡβῶν τῷ τότε, ὑποστάντας τινὰς τοιαῦτα, πλὴν καὶ ἀλωβήτως ἀπαλλάξαντας, τὸ θαυμάσιον. Τότε τοίνυν ὥριστο μὲν καὶ ἄλλοις παρὰ τοῦ κρατοῦντος λαμβάνειν εἰς γάμον εὖ τοῦ γένους ἐχούσας, κἂν ἐκεῖνοι πολλάκις ἐκ σπερμάτων ἦσαν οὐκ εὐγενῶν· πλὴν τὸ εὐγενὲς ἐκείνοις πρὸς τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἔρρεπε, καί, ὡς σφᾶς ἔδει σεμνύνεσθαι ἀξιώμασιν, ἐν εὐεργεσίας μέρει καὶ ἀμφοτέροις τὸ κῆδος ὁ κρατῶν ἐτίθει, ὥστ' ἐκείνους μὲν ταῖς ματρώναις, ὡς ὁ Ῥωμαῖος εἴποι, ὡς εἰκὸς μεγαλύνεσθαι, ἐκείνας δ' αὖθις συμμετέχειν τῶν ἀξιωμάτων τοῖς ἀγομένοις. Προστάττει τοίνυν σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις καί τινι τῶν εἰς παιδο πούλους ταχθέντων ἐκείνῳ, τοῦ πατρὸς ζῶντος, Βαλανιδιώτῃ τοὐπίκλην, τὴν τῆς αὐταδέλφης τοῦ Παλαιολόγου Μαρίας, εἴτε καὶ Μάρθας, κόρην Θεοδώραν, ἣν τῷ Ταρχανειώτῃ μεγάλῳ δομεστίκῳ ἐκείνη γεγέννηκεν, εἰς γάμον νόμιμον ἀγαγέσθαι. Καὶ ἦν ὁ λόγος τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτοῖς βεβαία τις κατεγγύησις, κἀντεῦθεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ