92

to strike a beast, to hurl the spear against it and thus to kill it; which one, as they say, having done and having released the javelin, missed it, and the spear, having run past, was fixed in the earth, but the horse, suddenly biting the bit and snatching him, threw him down the cliff, so that from that fall the end also came upon him, when also, repenting fruitlessly, as they say, he enjoined his fellow initiates not to dare to attack the guiltless for the future, lest they too dare to fall into a similar destruction; and having summoned250 one of the pious men, along with his other absurdities and lawless deeds, he confessed and declared this also. 25 But as the emperor was no longer able to find a way or a pretext for destroying him, he came to another counsel, both wicked and lawless. For he planned to impose another co-heir upon the sceptres. And indeed that Basilicianus by name, who was also himself one of the blood-guilty council, a worthless and vile, effeminate and revelling man, originating from Nicomedia, a full brother of Constantine Capnogenes, who was twice afterwards entrusted with the office of prefect; but at that time he happened to be enrolled among those rowing in the imperial trireme. This infamous Basilicianus he once dressed in the much-hymned imperial purple and the conspicuous and enviable crown and an all-golden cloak and the scarlet and bejeweled sandals and the other insignia of royalty, and he brings him out to the senate, at the same time holding his hand and assisting him, as that Nero of old did with the much-fabled Eros, and says verbatim: “see, all of you, and marvel. Is it not fitting for him to be emperor? First, a form worthy of tyranny, second, the crown is a natural fit, and all things are in harmony with his worth.” 251 And “how much better it was for me to make this man emperor than Basil?” All those in the palace, having seen and heard these things, remained speechless, astounded at the emperor’s irrational stupor and madness from folly. So was the man, from excessive drunkenness and from lawless and licentious deeds, altogether out of his proper mind, and frenzied and delirious. 26 Yet he possessed not only the mild and liberating and luxurious and relaxed and soft and deranged quality from drunkenness of the grace-giving Dionysus, whom he thought to imitate and was eager to; but also, as a raw-flesh-eater, again like that very one, he had the Erinys-like and Titanic quality, and often a comic all-night festival ended in a tragedy of misfortunes. For from drunkenness he behaved violently, and from good fortune he lawlessly ran aground upon every impiety. Therefore, when he became wholly full of unmixed wine and drunkenness and had entirely lost his own senses, he would proceed to murders and to strange punishments and slaughters of innocent men, and he would command his attendants, “Take so-and-so,” he says, “and so-and-so and hand them over to the public executioner, and gouge out the eyes of another, and cut off the hands and feet of another. And let this one be punished with beheading, and let that one be burned with fire.” The attendants, taking them and knowing that he happened to be out of his mind when he issued the sentences, 252 would indeed make them prisoners, but would not subject them to the punishments. But often, if it chanced to be someone with whom they were not on pleasant but on hostile terms, they would make full use of the imperial command, and by the punishment they would deliver over the innocent man as condemned. Then that wretched and miserable man, at that time not even knowing where he was, was put to bed by his chamberlains on the royal couch and given over to sleep, the neighbor of death, like a slave; and in the morning, when sleep had with difficulty scattered the vapors of wine and that thick mist from his brain, upon waking he remembered nothing of the things from the evening, and often he would look for some of those of whom

92

θηρίον βαλεῖν ἀκοντίσαι τὴν λόγχην κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ουτως αὐτὸν διαχρήσασθαι· οπερ εις, ως φασι, πεποιηκὼς καὶ ἀφεὶς τὸ ἀκόν- τιον αὐτοῦ μὲν ημαρτε, καὶ παραδραμὸν τὸ δόρυ προσεπάγη τῇ γῇ, αὐτὸν δὲ ὁ ιππος αιφνης τὸν χαλινὸν ἐνδακὼν καὶ συναρπά- σας κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ ἀπεδίσκευσεν, ὡς ἀπ' ἐκείνου τοῦ πτώμα- τος καὶ τὸ τέλος ἐλθεῖν ἐπ' αὐτόν, οτε καὶ ἀνόνητα μεταμελόμε- νος, ως φασι, τοῖς συμμύσταις ἐπέσκηπτε μὴ τολμῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ ἀναιτίου ἐπιχειρεῖν τοῦ λοιποῦ, εἰ μὴ τολμῆσαι κατὰ τὸν ομοιον ολεθρον πεσεῖν καὶ αὐτοί· καί τινα τῶν εὐλαβῶν προσκαλεσάμε250 νος μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀτοπημάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνομιῶν καὶ τοῦτο ἐξωμολογήσατο καὶ ἐξηγόρευσεν. 25 ̔Ως δ' οὐκ ειχε λοιπὸν εὑρεῖν ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὸ ἀνελεῖν αὐτὸν πόρον η πρόφασιν, εἰς ἑτέραν ηλθε βουλὴν πονηράν τε καὶ αθεσμον. ἐβουλεύσατο γὰρ ἐπεμβαλεῖν τοῖς σκήπτροις καὶ ετερον σύγκληρον. καὶ δὴ τὸν κατ' ἐπωνυμίαν Βασιλικῖνον ἐκεῖ- νον, ενα καὶ αὐτὸν τοῦ παλαμναίου συνεδρίου τυγχάνοντα, φαῦ- λον καὶ μιαρὸν θηλυδρίαν τε καὶ φιλόκωμον, ἀπὸ τῆς Νικομήδους ὁρμώμενον, ὁμόγνιον ἀδελφὸν τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Καπνογένην Κων- σταντίνου, τοῦ δὶς τὴν τοῦ ὑπάρχου μετὰ ταῦτα ἐγχειρισθέντος ἀρχήν· τότε δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐλαύνουσιν εἰς τὴν βασιλικὴν τριήρη κατ- ειλεγμένος ἐτύγχανε. τοῦτον δὴ τὸν δυσώνυμον Βασιλικῖνον ἐν- δύει ποτὲ τὴν πολυύμνητον βασιλικὴν πορφύραν καὶ τὸν περίοπτον καὶ ἐπίφθονον στέφανον χλαμύδα τε πάγχρυσον καὶ τὰ κοκκοβαφῆ καὶ διάλιθα πέδιλα καὶ ταλλα τῆς βασιλείας ἐπίσημα, ἐξάγει τε αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον τῆς χειρὸς αμα κρατῶν καὶ ὑπουργῶν αὐτῷ, ὡς ὁ Νέρων ἐκεῖνος πάλαι τὸν πολυθρύλητον Ερωτα, καί φησιν ἐπὶ λέξεως ιδετε πάντες ὑμεῖς, καὶ θαυμάσατε. αρα οὐ πρέπει αὐτὸν ειναι βασιλέα; πρῶτον μὲν ειδος αξιον τυραννίδος, τὸ δεύτερον δὲ συμφυὲς πέλει στέφος, απαντα δ' ἁρμόζουσι πρὸς τὴν ἀξίαν. 251 καὶ οτι πόσον ην κάλλιον τοῦτόν με ποιῆσαι βασιλέα η τὸν Βασί- λειον; ταῦτα πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὰ βασίλεια ἰδόντες τε καὶ ἀκούσαν- τες εμειναν ἀχανεῖς, ἐκπληττόμενοι τὴν παράλογον ἐξ ἀφροσύνης τοῦ βασιλέως ἐμβροντησίαν τε καὶ παρακοπήν. ουτως ην ανθρω- πος ὑπὸ τῆς κατακοροῦς μέθης καὶ τῶν ἀθέσμων καὶ ἀσελγῶν πράξεων ολως τῶν δεόντων ἐξεστηκὼς καὶ φρενοπλὴξ καὶ παρά- φορος. 26 Πλὴν οὐ τὸ μειλίχιον μόνον καὶ λυαῖον καὶ τρυφηλόν τε καὶ ἀνειμένον καὶ ἁπαλὸν καὶ παρακεκινηκὸς ἐκ τῆς μέθης ἐκέκτητο τοῦ χαριδότου ∆ιονύσου, ον μιμεῖσθαι ῳετο καὶ ἐσπούδα- ζεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ὠμηστὴς πάλιν κατ' αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον ειχε τὸ ἐρι- νυῶδές τε καὶ τιτανικόν, καὶ πολλάκις κωμικὴ παννυχὶς εἰς τρα- γῳδίαν συμφορῶν ἐτελεύτησεν. εκ τε γὰρ τῆς μέθης παροινῶν καὶ ἐκ τῆς εὐτυχίας παρανόμως εἰς απαν ἐξώκειλε δυσσεβές. οτε ουν ολος τοῦ ἀκράτου καὶ τῆς μέθης ἐγένετο καὶ πάντῃ τὰς οἰκείας φρένας ἀπώλεσε, πρὸς φόνους ἐχώρει καὶ πρὸς ἀναιτίων ἀνθρώ- πων ἀλλοκότους ποινὰς καὶ σφαγάς, καὶ τοῖς ὑπηρέταις ἐνεκε- λεύετο, τὸν δεῖνα, φησί, καὶ δεῖνα λαβόντες τῷ δημίῳ παράδοτε, καὶ ἑτέρου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορύξατε, καὶ αλλου τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας ἐκκόψατε. καὶ ουτος κεφαλῆς τιμωρείσθω, κἀκεῖνος γινέσθω πυρίκαυστος. ους λαβόντες οἱ ὑπηρέται, καὶ τῷ εξω τῶν φρενῶν αὐτὸν τυγχάνειν, οταν ἐξῆγε τὰς ἀποφάσεις, γινώσκοντες, 252 ἐμφρούρους μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐποίουν, ταῖς ποιναῖς δὲ οὐ καθυπέβαλ- λον. πολλάκις δέ, εἰ ετυχέν τις πρὸς ον οὐκ ειχον ἡδέως ἀλλ' ἀπεχθῶς, ἀπεχρῶντο τῇ βασιλικῇ κελεύσει, καὶ τῇ τιμωρίᾳ τὸν ἀθῶον ἐξεδίκουν κατάδικον. ειτα ὁ δείλαιος ἐκεῖνος καὶ αθλιος τότε μὲν οὐδ' ἐν οις εστιν εἰδώς, παρὰ τῶν κατευναστῶν τῷ βα- σιλικῷ προσανεκλίνετο σκίμποδι καὶ τῷ γείτονι τοῦ θανάτου υπνῳ ὡς ἀνδράποδον ἐξεδίδοτο· εωθεν δέ, τοῦ υπνου τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ οινου ἀτμοὺς καὶ τὴν παχεῖαν ἐκείνην ἀχλὺν μόλις ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου διασκεδάσαντος, ἐξεγειρόμενος οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ ἐμέμνητο, καὶ ἐζήτει πολλάκις τινὰς ἀφ' ων