He showed a sun-like and fiery head, but as much as was on his chest and belly down to his feet and the opposite parts, it showed full of whatever measures it had taken of the purest whiteness; and if anyone indeed chose to look at him closely, when he was in his prime and his limbs had not yet been weakened, he would have compared his head to the beauties of the sun, shining through his hair as with some rays, and the rest of his body to the purest and most transparent crystal; and he was well-ordered towards a harmonious character, for his tongue had a witty utterance and a charm accompanied him when he spoke, and if ever he smiled, you would at once see the pure snares of the Graces. 6.127t On the illness of the emperor. This beauty, then, the emperor possessed even when he was ruling; but a year's time had not yet passed, and the nature that adorned him, as if not sufficing for so great a wonder and pleasure, but giving in and growing weak, both destroyed his strength and shook his prime; for immediately the principles of his body, I mean the elemental compositions, being dissolved and confused, and now around the feet and the hollows of the joints, now flowing down together to the hands, and again flooding the very tendons and the bones around the back, shook him like some merchant ship, strong from the start, that confluent streams have shaken apart. 6.128 The affliction did not, then, begin all at once, but the feet first bore the rush of the humors; and immediately he had become bedridden, and if there was any need to walk, he was as one moved by another. And this was a kind of cycle and period, and the humor seemed to descend in the same numbers of days, and the immobility was numbered, then indeed the intervals also began to give way, and the remissions had not become long; and as these things were happening in this way, the humor was driven almost to the hands, and again to the shoulders as if making an upward flow, and finally it had seized the whole body. From this, to be sure, every limb of his, being flooded by that terrible humor, was deprived of its function, and with his sinews and ligaments torn apart, the limbs were displaced from their harmony, which was followed by lack of rhythm and weakness. And I saw those well-formed fingers of his having denied their own shape, and bent back <into> hollows and projections, so as to be unable to grasp even a common object; and with his feet bent together, the knee was swollen like an elbow-point; from this, to be sure, he did not even have a steady gait, nor was he at all upright, but was mostly confined to his bed, and whenever he chose to conduct business, being fitted together and molded. 6.129 Wishing to render the imperial processions as some indispensable duties to the citizens, here he especially suffered hardship; but then, a certain equestrian art there fitted and molded him to the saddle; then when he mounted the horse, he barely breathed, and the bridle was superfluous; at any rate, some tall and sturdy grooms supported him on either side once mounted, and thus carrying him across and supporting him like some cargo, they carried him away to where he was to encamp. But he then, even while in these terrible straits, had not quite forgotten his usual character, but arranged his expression most gracefully, and then indeed alone he would shift his position and change his place, so that those who saw him were not quite convinced that he was in pain or had a weakened body. Such were his circumstances in the processions, and the stones of the ground were spread so that his horse might not slip on the paving-stones; but in the inner chambers, being carried as a burden he both passed through the imperial apartments and was moved wherever he wished; but if the humor should attack, alas for those pains.

κεφαλὴν ἡλιῶσαν ἀπέδειξε καὶ πυρσὴν, τὸ δ' ὅσον ἐν στήθεσι καὶ γαστρὶ ἄχρι ποδῶν καὶ τοῖς ἀντιθέτοις μέρεσιν, τῆς ἀκραιφνεστάτης λευκότητος ὁπόσα δὴ μέτρα λαβοῦσα ἀπέδειξεν ἔμπλεων· καὶ εἴ τις δὴ ἐκεῖνον ἀκριβῶς ᾑρεῖτο ὁρᾶν, ὁπότε δὴ ἀκμαίως εἶχε καὶ οὔπω αὐτῷ τὰ μέρη παρείθησαν, κάλλεσι μὲν ἂν ἡλίου τὴν κεφαλὴν εἴκασεν, οἷα δή τισιν ἀκτῖσι ταῖς θριξὶ διαλάμπουσαν, κρυστάλλῳ δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα τῷ καθαρωτάτῳ καὶ διαυγεῖ· ἐρρύθμιστο δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἐμμελὲς ἦθος, ἥ τε γὰρ γλῶσσα τούτῳ ἀστεῖον εἶχε τὸ φθέγμα καὶ ὁμιλοῦντι θέλγη προσείπετο, εἰ δέ γε προσμειδιάσειε, χαρίτων εὐθὺς εἶδες ἀκήρατα θήρατρα. 6.127τ Περὶ τῆς ἀρρωστίας τοῦ βασιλέως. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ κάλλος καὶ βασιλεύσας ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐκέκτητο· οὔπω δὲ χρόνος ἐνιαύσιος προβε βήκει, καὶ ἡ κοσμοῦσα τοῦτον φύσις πρὸς τοσοῦτον θαῦμα καὶ ἡδονὴν οἷον μὴ ἐξαρκέσασα, ἀλλ' ἐνδοῦσα καὶ ἀτονή σασα, τήν τε ἰσχὺν ἐκείνῳ καθεῖλε καὶ τὴν ὥραν διεσείσατο· αὐτίκα γοῦν αἱ τοῦ σώματος ἀρχαὶ, λέγω δὲ τὰς στοιχειώ δεις συστάσεις, διαλυθεῖσαι καὶ συγχυθεῖσαι, καὶ νῦν περὶ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰ κοῖλα τῶν ἄρθρων, νῦν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς χεῖρας συναπορρέουσαι, αὖθις δὲ αὐτούς τε τοὺς τένοντας καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν νῶτον ὀστᾶ κατακλύζουσαι, ὥσπερ τινὰ φορτίδα ἰσχυρῶς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔχουσαν ῥεύματα ξυνερρυηκότα διέσεισαν. 6.128 Ἤρξατο μὲν οὖν τὸ κακὸν οὐκ ἀθρόον εὐθὺς, ἀλλ' οἱ πόδες πρότερον τὴν τῶν ῥευμάτων ῥύμην ὑπήνεγκαν· καὶ αὐτίκα κλινήρης τε ἐγεγόνει, καὶ εἴ πού τις ἀνάγκη βαδίζειν, οἷον ἑτεροκίνητος. Καὶ ἦν τοῦτο κύκλος τις καὶ περίοδος, καὶ ἐδόκει τὸ ῥεῦμα ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀρι θμοῖς ἡμερῶν καταβαίνειν, καὶ ἠρίθμητο ἡ ἀκινησία, εἶτα δὴ καὶ ὑπεδίδου τὰ διαστήματα, καὶ οὐ μακρὰ ἐγεγόνει τὰ διαλείμματα· καὶ τούτων οὕτω γιγνομένων ἐκ τοῦ σχεδὸν ἐπὶ τὰς χεῖρας τὸ ῥεῦμα ἠλαύνετο, καὶ αὖθις ἐπ' ὤμους ὥσπερ ἀνάρρουν ποιούμενον, καὶ τέλος ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα συγ κατειλήφει· ἔνθεν τοι ἅπαν αὐτῷ μέλος τῷ δεινῷ ἐκείνῳ κατακλυζόμενον ῥεύματι ἀφῄρητο τὴν ἐνέργειαν, τῶν τε ἰνῶν αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν συνδέσμων διασπασθέντων, τὰ μέλη τῆς ἁρμονίας μετέστησαν, οἷς ἀρρυθμίαι καὶ ἀτονίαι συνεί ποντο. Καὶ εἶδον ἐγὼ τοὺς εὐφυεῖς ἐκείνῳ δακτύλους ἀπαρνησαμένους μὲν τὸ οἰκεῖον σχῆμα, ἀντικαμφθέντας δὲ <εἰς> εἰσοχάς τε καὶ ἐξοχὰς, ὡς μηδὲ τοῦ τυχόντος περιδράττεσθαι δύνασθαι· τῶν δὲ ποδῶν αὐτῷ συγκαμ φθέντων, ὥσπερ τι ὠλέκρανον τὸ γόνυ ἐξώγκωτο· ἔνθεν τοι οὐδὲ στάσιμον εἶχε τὴν βάσιν, οὔθ' ὅλως ἐξώρθωτο, ἀλλὰ κλινοπετὴς τὰ πολλὰ ἦν, ὁπότε δὲ χρηματίζειν αἱροῖτο, ξυναρμοζόμενός τε καὶ ξυμπλαττόμενος. 6.129 Ἀποδιδόναι δὲ τὰς βασιλείους πομπὰς ὡς ἀπαραίτητά τινα χρέα τοῖς πολίταις βουλόμενος, ἐνταυθοῖ καὶ μάλιστα ἐσχετλίαζεν· ἀλλ' οὖν τέχνη τις ἡ ἱππικὴ ἐκεῖ ἐκεῖνον τῇ ἕδρᾳ συνήρμοζε καὶ συνέπλαττεν· εἶτα ἐπειδὴ ἐπιβαίη τοῦ ἵππου, μόλις δὲ οὗτος ἀνέπνει, καὶ ὁ χαλινὸς περιττός· ὀχηθέντα γοῦν ἱπποκόμοι τινὲς εὐμήκεις τε καὶ στερροὶ ἀντήρειδον ἑκατέρωθεν, καὶ οὕτω διαβαστάζοντες τοῦτον καὶ ἀντιβαστάζοντες ὥσπερ τινὰ φόρτον, οὗ κατα σκηνοῦν ἔμελλεν ἀπεκόμιζον. Ὁ δὲ ἄρα καὶ ἐν τούτοις ὢν τοῖς δεινοῖς, οὐ πάνυ τι τοῦ συνήθους ἐπιλέληστο ἤθους, ἀλλὰ τήν τε ὄψιν χαριέστατα διετίθει, καὶ τότε δὴ μόνος μετεκινεῖτο καὶ μετετίθετο, ὡς τοὺς ὁρῶντας μὴ πάνυ πείθεσθαι ὡς ἐκεῖνος ἀλγοίη ἢ παρειμένως ἔχοι τοῦ σώμα τος. Τὰ μὲν ταῖς πομπαῖς αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα, καὶ οἱ λίθοι τῶν ἐδαφῶν ὑπεστρώννυντο ἵνα δὴ μὴ ὀλισθαίνοι περὶ ταῖς πλαξὶν ὁ ἵππος αὐτῷ· ἐν δέ γε τοῖς ἀδύτοις, ἀχθοφορούμενος τούς τε βασιλείους διήμειβε καὶ μετεκεκόμιστο ὅπη βούλοι το· εἰ δὲ ἐπιβάλοι τὸ ῥεῦμα, παπαὶ τῶν ἀλγηδόνων ἐκείνων.