108

but having gone out and found Basil sleeping on the bare ground, he supposed the dream to be a vain phantom. 410 But when the saint seemed to command the same thing again, he went out again and found no one other than Basil, and returned, supposing the same things. For a third time, therefore, the martyr stood before the sacristan and urged him to bring in the one lying outside; "for this one," he said, "is the emperor." So the sacristan, going out, raised Basil up and lodged him at his own residence and shared what he had. Now the sacristan had a brother who practiced medicine and served Theophilitzes. This Theophilitzes was related by birth to Caesar Bardas and the emperor Michael, and because of his very young age he was called by the diminutive "Theophilitzes." To this brother, therefore, the sacristan, after revealing the secret dream, asked him to introduce this man to one of the officials for service. And he introduced him to his own master. But first, both brothers revealed to Basil the oracle through dreams concerning the imperial rule and bound him with oaths beforehand to remember them in his reign. Theophilitzes, therefore, was pleased with Basil (for he was both handsome and tall, and noble and skillful with his hand, and he wore his hair long and curly) and set him over his 411 own grooms; the common dialect knows to call this one *protostrator*. And a certain noble groom was also sought for the emperor, one naturally skilled in this service. For a horse had been brought from somewhere to the emperor Michael, suitable for every excellence befitting a horse, but stiff-necked and not easily mounted. The emperor, coming to see it, ordered someone to mount it. And though several tried, it grew bold and proud and threw off the rider. The emperor was angry at these things and was vexed that he did not have a skillful groom. But Theophilitzes, being present, said that he himself had such a one, and said, "If you wish, O emperor, let him come forward." And he permitted it; and Basil was summoned, and taking hold of the horse's bridle and having clicked his tongue and stroked it, he lightly lifted himself and mounted it and, 412 having galloped a little, then gave it full rein and rode it hard. The emperor was pleased with these things and took Basil into his service and enrolled him with the imperial grooms, and in time he honored the man as *protostrator* (a rank for the distinguished and those close to the emperor); and the emperor's disposition toward Basil increased daily, and so much so as to move the Caesar to envy. Once, when the emperor's mother was dining with the emperor, the *protostrator* Basil was summoned, as the emperor had ordered this. and the empress gazed at him continuously and observed the man rather curiously, then she also declared prophetically that this man was the destroyer of her line, having recognized this from certain signs, as she said, made known to her long ago by her own husband. But to Michael these things seemed nonsense and nothing turned him from his favor toward Basil, but he even now appointed him *parakoimomenos*. And this too became an increase of the Caesar's malice against Basil, and he plotted against the man and was plotted against by him in turn. 413 When an expedition was proclaimed by Michael against the Hagarenes who held Crete, the Caesar went away to the church of the Theotokos called "of the Guides," to bid farewell to the Mother of God; and as he was already approaching the altar, from no apparent cause his cloak slipped from his shoulders. which sign seemed an ill omen to both the Caesar and those who saw it. And with many reviling the emperor, because he had yielded all authority to the Caesar, so that he did whatever he wished and did many things contrary to what was right, by the persistence of the reproaches that foolish man seemed at one point to sober up a little from his deepest stupor, and some of the things arranged by the Caesar he both corrected and overturned;

108

δὲ ἐξελθὼν καὶ τὸν Βασίλειον εὑρὼν ἐπὶ ψιλοῦ τοῦ ἐδάφους ὑπνώττοντα, φάντασμα 410 εἶναι τὸν ὄνειρον ὑπείληφε μάταιον. ὡς δὲ καὶ αὖθις τὸ αὐτὸ ἐδόκει ὁ ἅγιος ἐγκελεύεσθαι, ὁ δὲ καὶ πάλιν ἐξελθὼν οὐχ ἕτερον εὗρεν ἢ τὸν Βασίλειον, ὑπέστρεψεν ὑπειληφὼς τὰ αὐτά. ἐκ τρίτου τοίνυν ὁ μάρτυς τῷ νεωκόρῳ ἐφίσταται καὶ προτρέπεται αὐτὸν εἰσαγαγεῖν τὸν ἐκτὸς κατακείμενον· "οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν" ἔφη "ὁ βασιλεύς." ἐξελθὼν οὖν ὁ νεωκόρος ἀνίστησι τὸν Βασίλειον καὶ ξενίζει τοῦτον παρὰ τῇ κατοικίᾳ αὐτοῦ καὶ μεταδίδωσιν ὧν εὐπόρει. ἦν δὲ τῷ νεωκόρῳ ὁμαίμων τὴν ἰατρικὴν μετιὼν καὶ τῷ Θεοφιλίτζῃ ὑπηρετῶν. ὁ δὲ Θεοφιλίτζης οὗτος τῷ Καίσαρι Βάρδᾳ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ κατὰ γένος ᾠκείωτο, διὰ τὸ τῆς ἡλικίας βράχιστον ὑποκοριζόμενος καὶ Θεοφιλίτζης καλούμενος. τούτῳ τοίνυν τῷ ἀδελφῷ ὁ νεωκόρος τὸ ἀπόρρητον ἐκκαλύψας ἐνύπνιον ἠξίωσε συστῆσαι τοῦτόν τινι τῶν ἀρχόντων εἰς ὑπηρέτησιν. ὁ δὲ τῷ οἰκείῳ κυρίῳ τοῦτον συνίστησι. πρότερον δὲ τὸ περὶ τῆς βασιλείας δι' ὀνειράτων χρησμῴδημα τῷ Βασιλείῳ ἀνεκάλυψαν ἄμφω τὼ ἀδελφὼ καὶ μεμνῆσθαι σφῶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ ὅρκοις αὐτὸν προκατέλαβον. ἡσθεὶς οὖν ὁ Θεοφιλίτζης ἐπὶ τῷ Βασιλείῳ (ἦν γὰρ εὐειδής τε καὶ εὐμήκης καὶ τὴν χεῖρα γενναῖος καὶ περιδέξιος, βαθεῖάν τε τρέφων κόμην καὶ ταύτην οὔλην) τοῖς οἰ411 κείοις ἱπποκόμοις τοῦτον ἐπέστησε· πρωτοστράτορα τοῦτον οἶδεν ὀνομάζειν ἡ διάλεκτος ἡ κοινή. ἐζητήθη δὲ καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ γενναῖός τις ἱπποκόμος καὶ περὶ τὴν ὑπηρεσίαν ταύτην εὐφυῶς διακείμενος. κεκόμιστο γάρ ποθεν ἵππος τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαήλ, εἰς πᾶσαν μὲν ἀρετὴν ἵππῳ πρέπουσαν ἐπιτήδειος, σκληραύχην δὲ καὶ μὴ ῥᾳδίως ἀναβαινόμενος. τούτου εἰς θέαν ἥκων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναβῆναί τινι τοῦτον ἐπέτρεπε. πλειόνων δ' ἐπικεχειρηκότων, ἐκεῖνος ἐθρασύνετό τε καὶ ἐγαυρία καὶ τὸν ἀναβαίνοντα ἀπεσείετο. ἐχαλέπηνεν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ὅτι μὴ ἔχοι ἱπποκόμον περιδέξιον ἤσχαλλε. παρὼν δὲ ὁ Θεοφιλίτζης ἔχειν εἶπεν αὐτὸς τοιοῦτον, καί "εἰ βούλει" φησί, "βασιλεῦ, παρίτω." καὶ ὃς ἐπέτρεψε· καὶ ὁ Βασίλειος μετεκέκλητο καὶ τοῦ χαλινοῦ τοῦ ἵππου λαβόμενος καὶ περιποππύσας καὶ καταψήσας αὐτὸν κούφως τε μετεωρίσας ἑαυτὸν ἐπιβέβηκε καὶ 412 παρακαλπάσας μικρόν, εἶτα καὶ ὅλον αὐτῷ τὸν ῥυτῆρα ἐνδέδωκέ τε καὶ ἐξιππάσατο. ἥσθη τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τὸν Βασίλειον προσελάβετο καὶ τοῖς βασιλικοῖς ἱπποκόμοις συνέταξε καὶ προϊὼν καὶ πρωτοστράτορα τὸν ἄνδρα ἐτίμησεν (ἡ ἀξία δὲ τῶν ἐπισήμων καὶ τῶν ᾠκειωμένων τῷ βασιλεῖ)· καὶ ἐπεδίδου καθ' ἑκάστην ἡ περὶ τὸν Βασίλειον τοῦ βασιλέως διάθεσις, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὡς καὶ εἰς φθόνον κινῆσαι τὸν Καίσαρα. Ποτὲ δὲ τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως μητρὸς συνεστιωμένης τῷ βασιλεῖ ὁ πρωτοστράτωρ εἰσεκλήθη Βασίλειος τοῦτο τοῦ βασιλέως κελεύσαντος. καὶ ἡ βασίλισσα συνεχῶς αὐτῷ ἐνητένιζε καὶ ἑώρα τὸν ἄνδρα περιεργότερον, εἶτα καὶ ἀπεφοίβασε τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν ὀλετῆρα τοῦ γένους αὐτῆς, ἔκ τινων σημείων τοῦτο γνοῦσα, ὡς ἔλεγε, πάλαι αὐτῇ γνωρισθέντων ἐκ τοῦ οἰκείου ἀνδρός. ἀλλὰ τῷ Μιχαὴλ ταῦτα λῆρος ἐδόκει καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπῆγεν αὐτὸν τῆς εὐνοίας τῆς περὶ τὸν Βασίλειον, ἤδη δὲ καὶ παρακοιμώμενον αὐτὸν προεβάλετο. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τῆς κατὰ τοῦ Βασιλείου βασκανίας ἐπίδοσις τῷ Καίσαρι γέγονε, καὶ ἐπεβούλευε τῷ ἀνδρὶ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀντεπεβουλεύετο. 413 Ἐκστρατείας δὲ κατὰ τῶν τὴν Κρήτην ἐχόντων Ἀγαρηνῶν κηρυχθείσης τῷ Μιχαήλ, ὁ Καῖσαρ πρὸς τὸν τῆς θεοτόκου νεὼν τὸν τῶν Ὁδηγῶν κεκλημένον ἀπῆλθε, τῇ θεομήτορι συνταξόμενος· καὶ ἤδη τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ αὐτοῦ προσεγγίσαντος ἐξ οὐδεμιᾶς ἐμφανοῦς αἰτίας ἡ χλαμὺς τῶν ὤμων αὐτοῦ ἐξωλίσθησεν. ὅπερ σημεῖον καὶ τῷ Καίσαρι καὶ τοῖς ἰδοῦσιν ἀπαίσιον ἔδοξε. πολλῶν δὲ τὸν βασιλέα κακιζόντων, ὅτι πᾶσαν ἐνέδωκε τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῷ Καίσαρι, ὥστε ἐκεῖνον ἅττα βούλεται πράττειν καὶ πολλὰ παρὰ τὸ δέον ποιεῖν, τῇ τῶν ὀνειδῶν ἐνδελεχείᾳ ἔδοξέ ποτε μικρὸν ἀνανῆψαι τοῦ βαθυτάτου κάρου ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἀβέλτερος ἄνθρωπος καί τινα τῶν ᾠκονομημένων τῷ Καίσαρι καὶ διωρθοῦτο καὶ ἀνεσκεύαζεν·