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and for the dead body to be brought to Nicaea, to be entombed in the monastery of Tornikios, according to some proprietary right from his wife. 32. He thus passed away, but the emperor placed the entire mediation of common affairs upon the mystikos alone, whom not long after he also appointed to the office of kanikleios, using him with a few others as a counselor and collaborator for most matters, affecting nothing of luxury, inasmuch as even the imperial table, from which it was customary to honor daily both councilors and nobles (for Agamemnon also honored the hero with the continuous chines of an ox), he considered even this as nothing, disdaining popular luxury and feigning no interest in the freedom of the table, persevering in standing and all-day fasting, thus, it seemed, he bore the toil of his resolve. For in truth in these matters he conquered even the adamant of the proverb, so as to go unwashed and to fast and to endure, standing night and day, and at times 194 having spent the whole day in common cares and occupations that brought some benefit, when night fell, he made it his duty to offer hymnody to God, which he was accustomed to perform with priests, as superior to all rest, and late at night to consider it the same whether he ate or not, but to break his fast on the following day and again at night, with whatever was at hand. For the good health of his body, combined with his resolution, neither gave opportunity for the voluntary aspect of his endurance to harm him as he endured, nor allowed the involuntary aspect of necessity to grieve him as he strove to endure, with each supporting the other towards the completion of a single virtue, so that neither did lack cause grief, due to his good health, nor was the object of his zeal unpleasant, due to his resolution. So then the emperor, beginning from that point, distinguished himself by living with endurance, feigning no interest in all luxury and indolence, even if it happened that an imperial and ancient custom was being set aside. 195

{G.} But since his son Michael was already a young man for the emperor and beyond the

youth, he considered it not unreasonable nor unfitting to crown him royally, and that too, having such full confidence in the one who was to be crowned. ὅθεν καὶ ἐξαρτύεται μὲν τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ χρείᾳ προσήκοντα ἀποχρώντως λίαν καὶ φιλοτίμως· καιρὸν δ' ἡγησάμενος πρέποντα ἡμέραν τῆς μνήμης τοῦ πρώτου ἐν Χριστιανοῖς βασιλέως, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ σφίσι τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἄρξαντος Κωνσταντίνου, ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ τὰ τῆς στεφηφορίας τῷ υἱῷ ἀπεπλήρου. Therefore the things fitting for such an occasion were prepared very sufficiently and lavishly; and considering a fitting time the day of the commemoration of the first emperor among Christians, or rather of Constantine who had begun their freedom, on this day he fulfilled the rites of coronation for his son. And on the twenty-first of the month Pyanopsion in the church of the Wisdom of God, with everyone gathered, as many as were in office and otherwise and in the imperial service, as many of the civil administration and as many of the military forces, with not even the Italians in the city being absent, and also those who were visiting Constantinople on embassy business, and even those who were mediating the marriage alliance concerning Catherine (these were those around the one called Sirperon), the entire body of priests and monks from evening performed the hymnody all night under abundant lights, while the emperor stood above and listened to the hymns. 196 But at dawn, when they had gathered, and were filling the court of the Augusteon to such an extent that all were compressed into one structure and continuity, appearing as one living creature, expanding in breadth in a strange and foreign way, using ten thousand tongues, so when all these had been gathered, and the railings of the Makron triclinium had been completely removed, so that the one being acclaimed might be clearly seen by all, the men in office set the young man upon a shield and raised him up and acclaimed him more loudly. Then, while celebrating the sacred liturgy, at once the patriarch himself, and at the same time the high priests and all those of the bema, at each of the rites being performed, also dedicated to the son, as was fitting, the things appropriate to his father and emperor. And indeed when those things had been completed

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καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν Νικαίαζε κομισθῆναι, ἐν τῇ τοῦ Τορ νικίου μονῇ, κατά τι κτητορικὸν ἀπὸ τῆς συζύγου δίκαιον ἐν σοριασθησόμενον. 32. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὕτως ἀπεβίω, βασιλεὺς δὲ τὸ πᾶν τῆς τῶν κοινῶν μεσιτείας ἐπὶ μόνῳ ἐτίθει τῷ μυστικῷ, ὃν καὶ οὐ μετὰ πολὺ ἐπὶ τοῦ κανικλείου καθίστα, αὐτῷ γε σὺν ὀλίγοις συμβούλῳ πρὸς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ συνεργῷ χρώμενος, οὐδὲν ὅσα τῶν πρὸς τρυφὴν προσποιούμενος, ὅπου γε καὶ αὐτὴν βασιλικὴν τρά πεζαν, ἐξ ἧς ἦν γεραίρειν ὁσημέραι βουλευτάς τε καὶ ἀριστεῖς (νώτοισι γὰρ καὶ Ἀγαμέμνων βοὸς διηνεκέσι τὸν ἀριστεύσαντα γέραιρε), καὶ αὐτὴν παρ' οὐδὲν ἐτίθει, δημοτικὴν τρυφὴν δυσ χεραίνων καὶ τραπέζης ἐλευθερίαν ἀποπροσποιούμενος, στάσει τε καὶ νηστείᾳ ὁλοημέρῳ προσκαρτερῶν, οὕτω δοκοῦν, ἔκφερε πόνου φρονήματος. ἦν γὰρ ταῖς ἀληθείαις ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ αὐ τὸν νικῶν τὸν ἀδάμαντα τὸν τῆς παροιμίας, ὡς ἀλουτεῖν καὶ νη στεύειν καὶ καρτερεῖν, νύκτας τε καὶ ἡμέρας ἱστάμενος, καί που 194 καὶ ὅλην ἡμέραν διαγαγὼν φροντίσι κοιναῖς καὶ ἀσχολίαις φερού σαις τι χρήσιμον καταλαβούσης νυκτὸς προύργου τὴν πρὸς θεὸν ὑμνῳδίαν ποιεῖσθαι, ἣν συνήθως εἶχε σὺν ἱερωμένοις τελεῖν, ἀνωτέραν πάσης ἀνέσεως, καὶ ὀψὲ τῶν νυκτῶν ἐν ἴσῳ τίθεσθαι τό τε τραφῆναι καὶ μή, ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν καὶ πάλιν νυκτὸς ἀριστᾶν, ὅ τι γε τύχοι. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ σώματος εὐεξία συμπλακεῖσα τῇ γνώμῃ οὔτε τῷ ἐθελουσίῳ τῆς καρτερίας χώραν ἐδίδου βλά πτειν τὸν καρτεροῦντα, οὔτε τῷ ἀκουσίῳ τῆς ἀνάγκης λυπεῖν παρεῖχε τὸν καρτερεῖν ὀρεγόμενον, ἑκατέρας συγκροτούσης θα τέραν εἰς μιᾶς συμπλήρωσιν ἀρετῆς, ὡς μήτε τὸ ἐνδεὲς διὰ τὴν εὐεξίαν λυπεῖν μήτ' ἀηδὲς εἶναι διὰ τὴν γνώμην τὸ σπουδαζόμε νον. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξάμενος καρτερικῶς διέφερε τὸ βιοῦν, συνόλην τρυφὴν καὶ βλακείαν ἀποπροσποιού μενος, εἰ καὶ βασιλικὸν καὶ ἀρχαῖον ἀθετεῖσθαι συνέβαινε νόμιμον. 195

{Γ.} Ἐπεὶ δ' ἀντίπαις ἦν ὁ υἱὸς Μιχαὴλ ἤδη τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τὸν

ἔφηβον ἤλαυνεν, οὐκ ἀπεικὸς ἡγεῖτο οὐδ' ἀπρεπὲς ἄλ λως μὴ βασιλικῶς ταινιοῦν, καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τόσην πληροφορίαν ἐπὶ τῷ ταινιώσοντι κεκτημένος. ὅθεν καὶ ἐξαρτύεται μὲν τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ χρείᾳ προσήκοντα ἀποχρώντως λίαν καὶ φιλοτίμως· καιρὸν δ' ἡγησάμενος πρέποντα ἡμέραν τῆς μνήμης τοῦ πρώτου ἐν Χριστιανοῖς βασιλέως, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ σφίσι τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἄρξαντος Κωνσταντίνου, ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ τὰ τῆς στεφηφορίας τῷ υἱῷ ἀπεπλήρου. καὶ εἰκοστῇ πρώτῃ Πυαντιῶνος μηνὸς κατὰ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας νεών, συναχθέντων ἁπάντων, ὅσον ἦν τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ ἄλλως καὶ ὑπηρετικὸν βασίλειον, ὅσον τῆς πολιτείας καὶ ὅσον τῶν στρατιωτικῶν δυνάμεων, οὐδ' αὐτῶν ἀπόντων τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν Ἰταλῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ὅσοι κατὰ χρείαν πρεσβείας ἐπεδήμουν τῇ Κωνσταντίνου, καὶ αὐτῶν δὴ τῶν τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ Αἰκατερίνῃ κῆδος μεσιτευόντων (οἱ δ' ἦσαν οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Συρπέρον λεγόμενον), τὸ μὲν ἱερατικὸν πᾶν καὶ μοναχικὸν ἀφ' ἑσπέρας παννύχιον ὑπὸ δαψιλέσι φωσὶν ἀπετέλουν τὴν ὑμνῳδίαν, ἄνωθεν τοῦ βασιλέως ἱσταμένου καὶ ἀκροωμένου τῶν ὕμνων. 196 ὑπ' αὐγὰς δὲ συναχθέντων, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Αὐγουστεῶνος αὐλαίαν πληρούντων ἐς τόσον ὥστε καὶ εἰς μίαν ἁρμογὴν καὶ συνέχειαν ξύμπαντας ξυνεπτύχθαι ζῶον φαινομένους ἕν, εἰς πλάτος ἐνδιδὸν ἀλλόκοτόν τι καὶ ξένον, μυρίαις χρώμενον γλώσσαις, τού των οὖν ἁπάντων συναθροισθέντων, περιαιρεθέντων δὲ καὶ τῶν τοῦ τρικλίνου Μάκρωνος δρυφάκτων διόλου, ὡς καθαρὸς παρὰ πάντων θεῷτο ὁ εὐφημούμενος, ἐπ' ἀσπίδος τε τὸν νέον οἱ ἐν τέλει καθιζάνουσι καὶ μετέωρον αἴρουσι καὶ ἀνευφημοῦσι τρανό τερον. εἶτα καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν λειτουργίαν τελοῦντες ἅμα μὲν αὐτὸς πατριάρχης ἅμα δ' ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ τοῦ βήματος πάντες, ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν τελουμένων καὶ τῷ υἱῷ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς συναφωσίουν τὰ πρέποντα τῷ πατρί τε καὶ βασιλεῖ. καὶ δὴ τελεσθέντων ἐκεί νων