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he said he had heard about these things; it was possible, however, just as would have happened to them now if the river had not been an obstacle, that those defeated in battle, encountering others, might be destroyed. Thus, said the barbarian, it is likely; but that those soldiers, sparing no one, had committed an injustice, drowning some in the stream and mercilessly spearing others with javelins. After saying such things, he departed, unaware that the one speaking with them was the emperor of the Romans. And the greater part of the army, having spent a sufficient number of days in Roman territory, also departed. A certain rumor, however, spread among all alike, that previously the elder emperor, out of hatred for his grandson, had brought the Scythians against the Romans, and now no less, having secretly sent an embassy to them, he wished to stir up Thrace, because it was devoted to the young emperor. But it had nothing sound to it, but although rumored by many, it was pure falsehood. For neither before nor after had he been the cause of the Scythian raid. 40. The young emperor was staying around Didymoteichon and the city of Hadrian; and around the time of the grain harvest his wife was seized by an illness. Intending to depart for Byzantium himself, he sent her ahead, partly also on account of her illness; but having arrived in Rhaedestus, since she could not hold on, she died on the sixteenth of the month of August of the seventh indiction, having no child by the emperor. Her body, therefore, they brought to Byzantium and buried in the monastery of 1.194 Lips magnificently and royally. But her husband the emperor, while traveling to Byzantium, also fell ill around the same days, having come to Bizye, and he remained there for some days on account of the illness. When he recovered, he continued his journey, and having arrived near Heraclea in Thrace, as it happened, he learned of the empress's death, and he mourned there for fifteen days. Then he came to the city of Constantine, and stayed there with the elder emperor until November of the eighth indiction. And it seemed to the elder emperor that he should arrange a wife for his grandson, for one thing, because he was at the very prime of his life, for he had reached twenty-seven years of age, and for another, because he was not the father of a child, which for emperors seems one of the most necessary things in order to have a successor to the throne. He therefore shared his opinion with the young emperor and tried to persuade him, at once removing his grief for the deceased and also adding the reasons for a second marriage as being necessary. The young emperor entrusted the decision in all matters to his grandfather, as he would certainly be persuaded by whatever seemed advantageous to him. As they were considering from where they might take an empress, they learned that the ruler of Savoy, whom the Latin tongue calls a count, having died, leaving a son and a daughter, 1.195 his son had succeeded to his father's rule, and the daughter, still unbetrothed, was secluded with her brother. Therefore, they immediately selected ambassadors, the *parakoimomenos* Andronikos Tornikes and the *epi tou stratou* Juian de Japlet, a Cypriot by birth and related by blood to the king of that island. They sent them with instructions to Savoy, if the girl was not betrothed to anyone else, and if it was agreeable to her brother, to bring her to marry the young emperor. The ambassadors arrived there and found she for whom they had come was still unbetrothed; however, others from France had come a little before them on account of the same embassy, to betroth her to their own king. But the brother of the one being sought in marriage, the Count of Savoy, chose rather to betroth his sister to the emperor of the Romans, and receiving the Roman ambassadors with much friendliness and honor, he agreed to send his sister to the emperor. As soon as she was named empress of the Romans, her brother changed her entire lifestyle to one more magnificent, and he himself did not treat her in the same way as before. For previously, being superior in age and being the ruler himself, he thought it necessary on these accounts also of his sister

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ἀκηκοέναι ἔφασκε περὶ τούτων· ἐνδέχεσθαί γε μὴν, ὥσπερ νῦν αὐτοῖς ἂν, εἰ μὴ κώλυμα ἦν ὁ ποταμὸς, συνέβη, ἑτέροις περιτυχόντας τοὺς κρατηθέντας μάχῃ διαφθαρῆναι. οὕτως, εἴρηκεν ὁ βάρβαρος, εἰκός· ἀδικίαν μέντοι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐκείνους οὐδενὸς φεισαμένους εἰργάσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἀποπνίξαντας ἐν τῷ ῥείθρῳ, τοὺς δὲ κατακοντίσαντας ἀφειδῶς. τοιαῦτα διαλεχθεὶς ἀπῆλθεν, ὅτι Ῥωμαίων εἴη βασιλεὺς ὁ διαλεγόμενος αὐτοῖς ἠγνοηκώς. τὸ δὲ πολὺ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἔτι τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἱκανὰς ἐνδιατρίψαντες ἡμέρας, ἐπανέζευξαν καὶ αὐτοί. φήμη μέντοι τις ᾔρετο διὰ πάντων ὁμαλῶς, ὡς πρότερόν τε βασιλεὺς ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἔχθει τῷ πρὸς τὸν ἔγγονον Σκύθας ἐπάξαι Ῥωμαίοις, καὶ νῦν οὐδὲν ἧττον, κρύφα διαπρεσβευσάμενος πρὸς αὐτοὺς, βουλόμενος ἀναστῆσαι Θρᾴκην, ὅτι προσέκειτο τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ. εἶχε δὲ ὑγιὲς οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ καίτοι ὑπὸ πολλῶν φημισθεῖσα, τὸ ψεῦδος ἄκρατον εἶχεν. οὔτε γὰρ πρότερον οὔθ' ὕστερον τῆς Σκυθικῆς αἴτιος ἐφόδου ἐγεγόνει. μʹ. Ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος κατὰ τὸ ∆ιδυμότειχον καὶ τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ διέτριβε πόλιν· περὶ δὲ τὴν τοῦ σίτου μάλιστα συγκομιδὴν ἡ αὐτοῦ γαμετὴ νόσῳ κατεσχέθη. διανοούμενος δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς Βυζάντιον ἀπελθεῖν, προέπεμψεν αὐτὴν, ἅμα καὶ διὰ τὴν νόσον· γενομένη δὲ ἐν Ῥαιδεστῷ, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐδύνατο ἀντέχειν, ἐτεθνήκει ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ κατὰ Αὔγουστον μῆνα ἑβδόμης ἰνδικτιῶνος, οὐδένα ἔχουσα ἐκ βασιλέως παῖδα. τὸν μὲν οὖν νεκρὸν αὐτῆς κομίσαντες εἰς Βυζάντιον, ἐν τῇ τοῦ 1.194 Λιβὸς ἔθαψαν μονῇ μεγαλοπρεπῶς καὶ βασιλικῶς. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ ταύτης ἀνὴρ τὴν ἐς Βυζάντιον βαδίζων, ἐνόσησε καὶ αὐτὸς κατὰ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμέρας, γενόμενος ἐν Βιζύῃ, καὶ προσέμεινεν ἡμέρας τινὰς ἐκεῖ διὰ τὴν νόσον. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐῤῥάϊσεν, εἴχετο τῆς ὁδοῦ, καὶ γεγονὼς κατὰ τὴν Ἡράκλειαν τῆς Θρᾴκης, συμβὰν οὕτω, τὴν τῆς βασιλίδος ἐπύθετο τελευτὴν, καὶ ἐπένθησεν ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ πεντεκαίδεκα ἡμέραις. ἔπειτα ἧκεν εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου, καὶ συνδιῆγεν αὐτόθι τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ βασιλεῖ ἄχρι Νοεμβρίου τῆς ὀγδόης ἰνδικτιῶνος. τῷ δὲ πρεσβυτέρῳ βασιλεῖ ἐδόκει δεῖν εἶναι γυναῖκα μνηστεύσασθαι τῷ ἐγγόνῳ, τοῦτο μὲν, ὅτι καὶ κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς ἡλικίας ἀκμαιότατον ἦν, ἑπτὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς εἴκοσι μέχρι τό τε γέγονεν ἔτη, ἄλλως θ', ὅτι οὐδὲ παιδὸς ἦν πατὴρ, ὃ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι τῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτων ἐπὶ τῷ διάδοχον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔχειν δοκεῖ. ἐκοινοῦτο δὴ καὶ τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ τὴν γνώμην καὶ ἐπεχείρει πείθειν, ἅμα μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ τετελευτηκυίᾳ λύπην ὑφαιρῶν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ὡς ἀναγκαίας τοῦ δευτέρου γάμου προστιθείς. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἐπέτρεπε τὴν κρίσιν τῷ πάππῳ, ὡς ἐφ' οἷς ἂν αὐτῷ δόξῃ λυσιτελεῖν αὐτοῦ πεισθησομένου πάντως. σκοπουμένοις δὲ αὐτοῖς, ὅθεν ἂν ἀγάγοιντο τὴν βασιλίδα, ἐπύθοντο ὡς τοῦ τῆς Σαβωΐας ἄρχοντος, ὃν κόντον ἡ Λατίνων γλῶττα καλεῖ, ἐπὶ υἱῷ τελευτήσαντος καὶ θυγατρὶ, 1.195 ὁ μὲν υἱὸς αὐτῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν διεδέξατο τοῦ πατρὸς, ἡ θυγάτηρ δὲ ἀμνήστευτος ἔτι θαλαμεύεται παρὰ τῷ ἀδελφῷ. αὐτίκα γοῦν ἐπιλεξάμενοι πρέσβεις, τόν τε παρακοιμώμενον Ἀνδρόνικον τὸν Τορνίκην καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ Τζουϊὰν ντὲ Τζεπλὲτ, Κύπριον μὲν ὄντα τὸ γένος καὶ καθ' αἷμα προσήκοντα τῷ ταύτης ῥηγί. ὑποτεταγμένον δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀπέστειλαν εἰς Σαβωΐαν, εἰ μή τινι ἑτέρῳ ἐμεμνήστευτο ἡ κόρη, εἴγε καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ κατὰ γνώμην εἴη, ἄξοντες συνοικήσουσαν τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ. ἀφικόμενοι δὲ οἱ πρέσβεις ἐκεῖ, ἔτι μὲν ἀμνήστευτον εὗρον περὶ ἧς ἧκον· ἐκ μέντοι Φράντζας καὶ ἕτεροι μικρὸν πρὸ αὐτῶν τῆς αὐτῆς ἕνεκα ἧκον πρεσβείας ὡς τῷ σφετέρῳ μνηστευσόμενοι ῥηγί. ὁ δὲ τῆς μνηστευομένης ἀδελφὸς Σαβωΐας κόντος μᾶλλον εἵλετο τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων κατεγγυῆσαι τὴν ἀδελφὴν, καὶ μετὰ φιλοφροσύνης πολλῆς καὶ τιμῆς προσδεξάμενος τοὺς πρέσβεις Ῥωμαίων, συνέθετο τὴν ἀδελφὴν ὡς βασιλέα πέμπειν. ἅμα δὲ τῷ βασιλίδα Ῥωμαίων αὐτὴν ὀνομασθῆναι, τήν τε δίαιταν αὐτῆς πᾶσαν πρὸς τὸ μεγαλοπρεπέστερον ἐνήλλαξεν ὁ ἀδελφὸς, καὶ αὐτὸς οὐχ ᾗ καὶ πρότερον αὐτῇ προσεφέρετο ὁμοίως. πρότερον γὰρ τῇ τε ἡλικίᾳ προέχων καὶ τῷ ἄρχων αὐτὸς εἶναι, καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς διὰ ταῦτα ᾤετο δεῖν