he conveys everything, and says, "Alas, O general, for the fortune of the Romans! Until when will woman-souled eunuchs steer the ship of state, resourceful for wickedness, inventors of all evils, workers of all evils, soft-souled men, vessels of wickedness, conduits of lawless things, pipes of villainy." The general heard these things and stirred up a flame of anger. And from there the sleeping mountain-roaming lion slightly opened its eyelid and let out a roar, and fear ran through thickets, copses, mountains. He is proclaimed emperor, he reaches the city of Constantine, without dangers he enters, he is seen, he sees, he delights. And all the multitude poured forth, as many as were among the common people, as many as were glorified by the splendor of their family, as many as were among the working class, as many as among the well-robed, above all the empress with the holy priests, receive the man with upturned palms. And by common vote Nicephorus becomes emperor; for he was a most skilled general, bold, strong of hand, unhumbled by toils, a sturdy anvil for hardships. And he marries Theophano, the former empress, and shows a father's disposition toward the children of Romanos. Then Phocas made known the manliness of his soul and his bold-heartedness and his ardor for battles. For he had the bearing of a nobler soul, and from the beginning he showed his firm endurance, and he displayed from afar the skilled horseman; but with the power to act lying with others, he himself smoldered his noble spirit deep down, like one guarding a seed of fire in a firebrand among ashes. But when he took hold of the opportunity and the power to act, and the wheel of life that turns back, turning all things, itself set him upon the well-fitted chariots, then indeed, then Phocas too burst forth like a whirlwind, and ran through all the barbarian tribes, a fire falling, one might say, on a woody thicket and driven by winds and creeping everywhere and consuming every plant and burning up all that is green. The Arabs feared him, the Syrian bowed, the Cilician fled, the Phoenician retreated, and the possessions of the Romans were again restored to the Romans; thus was Phocas invincible to his adversaries. For the circle of virtues crowned the man, and every beauty adorned him, every good thing graced him: strength, manliness, wisdom, gentleness, moderation. But no one among the men on earth is blameless, even if he should reach the summit of virtue. And so the beautifully crowned Phocas, so great a man, shone in other bodily beauties, and revealed a soul shining with graces like a delicately adorned bride, like a maiden with tender skin; for so much did he care for the adornment of his soul that he wore out his little body with a thorn-pricked sackcloth and hid his harsh tunic under the purple and abstained from tables of meat-eating. In other things, therefore, he was a brightly shining lamp of day; yet, as one wearing earth-born and clayey flesh, he also bore the blemishes of certain offenses, like hard-to-wash-out stains on a clean robe. For as those who wrote in earlier times say, though he had a spiritual kinship with the empress, he nevertheless dared to mix with her carnally. This was the first defilement, and that other a second: unworthy of an autocrat, he possessed pettiness, and generosity was absent from his mind as an eye from a body or a leaf from a terebinth tree. And from this every advantage and beauty of Phocas appeared unseemly, was seen as misshapen. For when the pupil is cut out from the body of the eye, the whole appearance is dim, the whole form is wretched; and when the foliage flows from a tender terebinth, the branches are graceless, the trunk is useless. Let there also be set down by me a proof of his mean-spiritedness. Famine was feeding upon the land under the Romans, and the multitude was tormented by the burning tongs of this evil, and all were lamenting the arrow of want; for a medimnus was sold with difficulty for a gold piece. These things came to Phocas, and he was grieved to hear them, and pretending to be zealous to cure the evil, he orders the public granaries to be emptied, and two

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πάντα διαπορθμεύει, καὶ "φεῦ" φησίν, "ὦ στρατηγέ, τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων τύχης! ἕως καὶ πότε τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸ σκάφος ἰθυνοῦσιν εὐνοῦχοι γυναικόψυχοι, πόριμοι πρὸς κακίαν, πάντων κακῶν ἐφευρεταί, πάντων κακῶν ἐργάται, ἄνθρωποι μαλακόψυχοι, σκεύη πονηρευμάτων, τῶν ἀθεμίτων ἀγωγοί, σωλῆνες κακουργίας." ἤκουσε ταῦθ' ὁ στρατηγός, ἤγειρε θυμοῦ φλόγα. κἀντεῦθεν ὁ κοιμώμενος ὀρεσιβάτης λέων ὑπήνοιξε τὸ βλέφαρον καὶ βρυχηθμὸν ἀφῆκε, καὶ φόβος περιέδραμε λόχμας δρυμῶνας ὄρη. κράτωρ δ' ἀναγορεύεται, φθάνει τὴν Κωνσταντίνου, ἄνευ κινδύνων εἴσεισι, βλέπεται, βλέπει, τέρπει. καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος προχυθέν, ὁπόσον ἐν δημόταις, ὁπόσον τῇ λαμπρότητι τοῦ γένους ἐκυδροῦτο, ὁπόσον ἐν ἐργατικοῖς, ὅσον ἐν εὐπαρύφοις, πρὸ πάντων ἡ βασίλισσα σὺν τοῖς ἱερομύσταις, ὑπτίαις ὑποδέχονται τὸν ἄνδρα ταῖς παλάμαις. καὶ ψήφῳ γίνεται κοινῇ κράτωρ ὁ Νικηφόρος· ἦν γὰρ στρατηγικώτατος, εὔτολμος, βριαρόχειρ, καμάτοις ἀταπείνωτος, ἄκμων στερρὸς εἰς πόνους. καὶ μίγνυται Θεοφανοῖ τῇ πρῴην βασιλίδι, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας Ῥωμανοῦ σχέσιν πατρὸς δεικνύει. Τότε Φωκᾶς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐγνώρισεν ἀνδρῶδες καὶ τὸ τολμηροκάρδιον καὶ τὴν πρὸς μάχας θέρμην. εἶχε μὲν γὰρ παράστημα ψυχῆς εὐγενεστέρας, καὶ τὸ στερρὸν μὲν καρτερὸν ὑπέφαινεν ἀρχῆθεν, καὶ τὸν τεχνίτην ἱππαστὴν μακρόθεν παρεγύμνου· τῆς δὲ τοῦ δρᾶν δυνάμεως κειμένης παρ' ἑτέροις αὐτὸς τὸ γενναιόθυμον ἔσμυχε κατὰ βάθους, ὡς ὁ δαλὸν ἐν σποδιᾷ σπέρμα πυρὸς φυλάττων. ὡς δ' ἐπελάβετο καιροῦ καὶ τῆς τοῦ δρᾶν ἰσχύος, καὶ πάντα στρέφων ὁ τροχὸς τοῦ παλινδρόμου βίου αὐτὸς αὐτὸν ἐπέστησε τοῖς εὐαρμάτοις δίφροις, τότε δὴ τότε καὶ Φωκᾶς ὡσεὶ πρηστὴρ ἐρράγη, καὶ πάσας περιέδραμε φυλὰς βαρβαροφύλους, πῦρ ἐμπεσόν, ἂν εἴποι τις, ἐν λόχμῃ πολυξύλῳ καὶ πνεύμασι σοβούμενον καὶ πανταχοῦ διέρπον καὶ πᾶν φυτὸν βοσκόμενον καὶ πᾶν χλωρὸν ἐκκαῖον. ἔτρεσαν Ἄρραβες αὐτόν, ὑπέκυψεν ὁ Σύρος, ὁ Κίλιξ ἐδραπέτευσεν, ὁ Φοῖνιξ ὑπεστάλη, καὶ πάλιν ἀπεδίδοντο Ῥωμαίοις τὰ Ῥωμαίων· οὕτως ἀπρόσμαχος Φωκᾶς ἦν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις. ὁ κύκλος γὰρ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀμφέστεφε τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ πᾶν καλὸν ἠγλάϊζε, πᾶν ἀγαθὸν ἐκόσμει, ἰσχύς, ἀνδρία, φρόνησις, πραότης, σωφροσύνη. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄμωμος οὐδεὶς τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀνθρώπων, κἂν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρώρειαν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐλάσῃ. καὶ γοῦν ὁ καλλιστέφανος Φωκᾶς ὁ τηλικοῦτος ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔλαμπε καλοῖς τοῖς κατὰ σῶμα, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπέφαινε χάρισι λαμπομένην ὡς νύμφην ἁβροκόσμητον, ὡς τρυφερόχρουν κόρην· τοσοῦτον γὰρ τοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεμελεῖτο κόσμου ὡς τρύχειν τὸ σωμάτιον ἀκανθοκέντρῳ ῥάκει καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν σκληρὸν κρύπτειν τῇ πορφυρίδι καὶ τραπεζῶν ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν τῆς κρεοβορίας. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄλλα λύχνος ἦν ἡμεραυγὴς παμφαίνων· πλὴν ὡς φορῶν τὴν γηγενῆ καὶ χωματίνην σάρκα, ἔφερε καὶ σπιλώματα τινῶν προσοχθισμάτων, ὥσπερ ἐν πέπλῳ καθαρῷ κηλῖδας δυσεκπλύτους. ὡς γάρ φασιν οἱ γράψαντες πρὸ χρόνων παλαιτέρων, τὸ κατὰ πνεῦμα συγγενὲς σχὼν πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα ὅμως αὐτῇ συμφύρεσθαι καὶ σαρκικῶς ἐτόλμα. οὗτος ὁ πρῶτος μολυσμός, δεύτερος δ' αὖ ἐκεῖνος· ἀνάξιον αὐτάνακτος εἶχε τὸ σμικρολόγον, καὶ τὸ φιλόδωρον αὐτοῦ τῆς γνώμης ἀπεδήμει ὡς ὀφθαλμὸς ἐκ σώματος κἀκ τερεβίνθου φύλλον. κἀντεῦθεν ἅπαν τοῦ Φωκᾶ προτέρημα καὶ κάλλος ἄσχημον κατεφαίνετο, δύσμορφον καθωρᾶτο. καὶ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος τῆς κόρης ἐκκοπείσης, ἅπαν τοῦ σκῆνος ἀμαυρόν, ἅπαν λυπρὸν τὸ δέμας· κἀκ τερεβίνθου τρυφερᾶς φυλλάδος ἐκρευσάσης, οἱ κλῶνες ἀχαρίτωτοι, τὸ στέλεχος ἀχρεῖον. κείσθω μοι δὲ καὶ γνώρισμα τῆς πτωχογνωμοσύνης. λιμὸς τὴν γῆν ἐβόσκετο τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦς Ῥωμαίους, καὶ τῇ πυράγρᾳ τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ πλῆθος ἠναλγοῦτο, καὶ πάντες ἀπωδύροντο τὸ τῆς ἐνδείας βέλος· χρυσίνου γὰρ ὁ μέδιμνος μόλις ἀπημπολεῖτο. ἀνέβη ταῦτα πρὸς Φωκᾶν, ὁ δ' ἤλγησεν ἀκούσας, καὶ τὸ κακὸν ἰάσασθαι δῆθεν παραζηλώσας τὰς δημοσίας ἀπαντλεῖν κελεύει σιτοθήκας, καὶ δύο

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