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supposedly. For he made Constantine on horseback appear in a certain thicket to meet his own father; and the emperor, thinking he had embraced and kissed him, no longer saw him. And Santabarenos, having done other such things and having astounded the 437 emperor with them, brought him entirely over to his side, so that he had faith in him and distrusted him in nothing. And so the emperor was thus disposed towards Santabarenos. But Leo, the second of the emperor's sons, having already become a young man and having been joined in marriage to the daughter of Martinakios and having been proclaimed emperor by his father, was not pleased with Santabarenos, but called him a poisoner and a magician and a deceiver of the emperor. He, stung by these words as by some goads, roused himself to self-defense and feigning goodwill toward Leo, says, "Since you are a young man, O emperor, and hunt and ride with your father, you must also carry a dagger, so that you may use it against a beast whenever necessary and perhaps offer it to your father at the right moment or perchance defend yourself against plotters." But he, not detecting the trickery, was persuaded according to the advice to carry a little sword inside his boot. With this little sword, therefore, Santabarenos acted in self-defense against Leo and said to the emperor, "Your son is plotting against you, and the proof of this is that he carries a hidden little sword when he hunts with you." So 438 Basil went out to hunt and Leo accompanied his father; the dagger was found hidden under his sandal, the accuser was thought to be telling the truth, the accused was not accepted when he made his defense. The father was enraged against his son, he shut him up in one of the imperial chambers and stripped him of the insignia of power, and as some relate, he even considered blinding his son, being incited to this by Santabarenos; and the plan would have become a deed, if the patriarch and the leading men of the senate, having pleaded much, had not changed the emperor's mind from his plan. For the time being, however, the anger persisted, and Leo was under guard, and much time passed. And the emperor was banqueting with some members of the senate; and this happened at appointed times from ancient custom. And there was in the house where the symposium was taking place, an animal of the mimicking kind, hanging in a cage, called a parrot. This bird, having constantly heard someone lamenting and calling out for Leo, imitated the voice and frequently cried, "Leo, Leo." At any rate, those feasting with the emperor, finding in these cries of the bird an opportunity for 439 an appeal on behalf of Leo, both rose from the banquet and, filled with tears, said, "Then will this animal not be an accusation against us, O emperor, because it calls for its own master, while we, enjoying the splendid banquet with your majesty, are unmindful of him, who has now been imprisoned for a long time? Release, master, your anger against him and release him from his confinement and look upon him kindly or rather, look upon him as a father." At these words the emperor relaxed his anger against his son and was reconciled with him and restored to him the imperial honor. And having gone out to hunt, he encounters a stag of extraordinary size and bearing antlers raised high, and he pursued it and having drawn near it, he raised his sword-bearing hand, wishing to strike the animal. But it defended itself with its antlers against its pursuer, and when one of the branches growing on them became entangled in the emperor's belt, he was carried aloft, suspended from the animal's antlers; and he would quickly have been killed, if someone had not arrived in time and, cutting the belt with a sword, saved him. To whom he who had been saved by him gave a fine reward for his salvation: the cutting off of his head. And the 440 pretext was plausible: "that he had drawn a sword against an emperor," he said, not considering that the man had drawn the sword on behalf of the emperor and was more worthy of recompense and royal gifts. And so he profited thus from his zeal on behalf of the emperor. But he, having been struck in the body by the antler and his innards having been twisted, survived, but not for long; and he died from this,

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δῆθεν. ἐν γὰρ λόχμῃ τινὶ φαντάσαι τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον ἔφιππον τῷ οἰκείῳ συναντῆσαι πατρί· ᾧ καὶ περιπλακῆναι δόξας ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ καταφιλῆσαι, οὐκέτι τοῦτον ἑώρακε. καὶ ἄλλα δὲ τοιαῦτα ποιήσας ὁ Σανταβαρηνὸς καὶ τούτοις ἐκπλήξας τὸν 437 βασιλέα ὅλον εἰς ἑαυτὸν περιήγαγεν, ὡς πίστιν εἰς αὐτὸν κεκτῆσθαι καὶ κατὰ μηδὲν αὐτῷ ἀπιστεῖν. καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς οὕτω διέκειτο πρὸς τὸν Σανταβαρηνόν. ὁ δὲ Λέων, ὁ δεύτερος τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως υἱῶν ἤδη νεανίας γενόμενος καὶ γυναικὶ συζυγεὶς τῇ θυγατρὶ τοῦ Μαρτινακίου καὶ ἀναρρηθεὶς βασιλεὺς παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, τῷ Σανταβαρηνῷ οὐκ ἠρέσκετο, ἀλλὰ φαρμακὸν ἀπεκάλει καὶ γόητα καὶ ἀπατῶντα τὸν αὐτοκράτορα. τούτοις ἐκεῖνος ὥς τισι κέντροις πληττόμενος εἰς ἄμυναν διανίσταται καὶ πλασάμενος εὔνοιαν πρὸς τὸν Λέοντα "νεανίαν ὄντα σε" λέγει "ὦ βασιλεῦ, καὶ τῷ πατρὶ συνθηρῶντα καὶ συνιππεύοντα δεῖ σε καὶ ἐγχειρίδιον ἐπιφέρεσθαι, ἵνα τούτῳ καὶ κατὰ θηρίου χρήσῃ ὁπότε δέοι καὶ τῷ πατρί σου ἴσως ὀρέξῃ κατὰ καιρὸν ἢ τυχὸν καὶ ἐπιβουλεύοντας ἀμυνῇ." ὁ δὲ μὴ φωράσας τὸν δόλον ξιφίδιον ἔνδον φέρειν τοῦ ὑποδήματος ἐπείσθη κατὰ τὴν συμβουλήν. τούτῳ τοίνυν τῷ ξιφιδίῳ ὁ Σανταβαρηνὸς κατὰ τοῦ Λέοντος χρᾶται εἰς ἄμυναν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ "ἐπιβουλεύει σοι" φησίν "ὁ υἱός σου, καὶ τούτου δεῖγμα τὸ φέρειν, ὅτε σοι συνθηρᾷ, κεκρυμμένον ξιφίδιον." ἐξῆλθεν 438 οὖν εἰς κυνηγέσιον ὁ Βασίλειος καὶ ὁ Λέων παρείπετο τῷ πατρί· εὑρέθη τὸ ἐγχειρίδιον κεκρυμμένον ὑπὸ τὸ πέδιλον, ἔδοξεν ἀληθεύειν ὁ κατειπών, ἀπολογούμενος ὁ κατηγορούμενος οὐ προσίετο· ἐξώργιστο κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὁ πατήρ, ἐγκλείει τοῦτον τῶν βασιλικῶν θαλάμων ἑνὶ καὶ τὰ τοῦ κράτους ἀφαιρεῖται παράσημα, ὡς δέ τινες ἱστοροῦσι, καὶ τὰ ὄμματα τῷ υἱῷ πηρῶσαι διεμελέτα, παρὰ τοῦ Σανταβαρηνοῦ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐρεθιζόμενος· καὶ ἔργον ἂν ἐγένετο τὸ μελέτημα, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου οἱ προὔχοντες πολλὰ δεηθέντες τοῦ βουλεύματος τὸν βασιλέα μετέστησαν. τέως δ' οὖν ἐπέμενεν ἡ ὀργή, καὶ ὁ Λέων ἔμφρουρος ἦν, καὶ χρόνος ἐτρίβη συχνός· συνευωχεῖτο δ' ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν τῆς συγκλήτου τισί· τοῦτο δὲ κατὰ καιροὺς ὡρισμένους ἐκ συνηθείας ἐγένετο παλαιᾶς. ἦν δ' ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ, καθ' ὃν ἐγίνετο τὸ συμπόσιον, ζῷον ἐν κλωβῷ ᾐωρημένον τῶν μιμηλῶν, καλούμενον ψιττακός· τοῦτό τινος ὀδυρομένου καὶ ἀνακαλουμένου τὸν Λέοντα συνεχῶς ἀκοῦον ἐμιμήσατο τὴν φωνὴν καί "Λέων Λέων" ἐβόα πυκνά. τὰς γοῦν φωνὰς ταύτας τοῦ ὄρνιθος οἱ τῷ βασιλεῖ συνεστιώμενοι λαβὴν εὑρόντες 439 τῆς ὑπὲρ τοῦ Λέοντος παρακλήσεως ἀνέστησάν τε τοῦ συμποσίου καὶ δακρύων πλησθέντες "εἶτα" φασίν "οὐκ εἰς κατηγορίαν ἔσται ἡμῖν τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ὅτι αὐτὸ μὲν τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀνακαλεῖται δεσπότην, ἡμεῖς δὲ τῆς μετὰ τοῦ κράτους σου πανδαισίας ἐπαπολαύοντες ἀμνημονοῦμεν ἐκείνου, ἐπὶ χρόνον ἤδη καθειργμένου πολύν; ἄνες, δέσποτα, τὴν κατ' ἐκείνου ὀργὴν καὶ λῦσον αὐτῷ τὴν φρουρὰν καὶ πρόσβλεψον εὐμενὲς ἢ μᾶλλον πρόσιδε ὡς πατήρ." τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐχάλασε τὴν κατὰ τοῦ υἱέος ὀργὴν καί οἱ ἐσπείσατο καὶ τὴν τιμὴν ἀπέδωκε τὴν βασίλειον. Εἰς θήραν δὲ ἀπελθὼν ἐλάφῳ ἐντυγχάνει τὸ μέγεθος ὑπερφυεῖ καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἠρμένα κέρατα φέροντι, καὶ τοῦτον ἐδίωκε καὶ πλησιάσας αὐτῷ ἦρε τὴν χεῖρα ξιφήρη πλῆξαι τὸ ζῷον βουλόμενος. τὸ δὲ τοῖς κέρασιν ἠμύνετο τὸν διώκοντα, καί τινος τῶν αὐτοῖς παραφυομένων ὄζων ἐμβληθέντος τῇ ζώνῃ τοῦ βασιλέως μετέωρος ἐκεῖνος ἐφέρετο, ᾐωρημένος τοῦ ζῴου τοῖς κέρασι· καὶ τάχα ἂν ἠνάλωτο, εἰ μή τις φθάσας καὶ ξίφει τεμὼν τὴν ζώνην αὐτὸν διεσώσατο. ᾧ καὶ σῶστρα καλὰ δέδωκεν ὁ ὑπ' ἐκείνου σωθεὶς τὴν τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐκτομήν, καὶ ἡ 440 σκῆψις ὡς εὐπρεπής· "ὅτι ξίφος" ἔφη, "ἐπὶ βασιλέα γυμνώσειε," μὴ λογισάμενος ὅτι ὑπὲρ βασιλέως ἦρκε τὸ ξίφος ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἀμοιβῆς μᾶλλον ἦν ἄξιος καὶ δωρημάτων βασιλικῶν. καὶ ὁ μὲν οὕτως ἀπώνατο τῆς ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως σπουδῆς. ὁ δὲ πληγεὶς καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῷ κέρατι καὶ περιδινηθεὶς τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐπεβίω μέν, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς μακρόν· ἀπεβίω δ' ἐντεῦθεν,