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having asked in the splendor of his fortune. These were the superior of the monastery of Saint Diomedes and the woman from the Peloponnese, Danelis, to whom he gave greater things than what had been hoped for. For he appeared magnificently adorning the great among martyrs Diomedes both by the dedication of costly votive offerings and by the provision of a sufficient number of books 317 and by the offering of other treasures and splendid vestments, and the monastery in his name he brought to a state of wealth by the grant of great estates and by the abundant and lavish supply of sufficient revenues, and he secured for it a complete lack of need from any quarter, and he made it shine with costly constructions of buildings, and in every way he excelled and enriched it. (74) And upon becoming master of the empire, he summoned the son of Danelis and honored him with the rank of protospatharios and granted him freedom of speech with him on account of the preceding fellowship of spiritual brotherhood. And since his mother too, although already considered to be almost an old woman, had a longing and a great desire to see the emperor and to enjoy for herself some more extraordinary honor in her old age because of the prediction from the pious monk and because of the other benefaction and reception, at the emperor's command, she came up to the ruling city with great honor and with a large escort and retinue. For since she was not able either to be carried in a vehicle or to ride a horse, and perhaps also living luxuriously because of her abundant superabundance of wealth, she had herself reclined on a litter, and having selected three hundred of her servants, young and strong of body, she ordered them to carry her up, and so, with ten men carrying the couch and relieving one another in succession, she completed the journey from the Peloponnese to this ruling city of cities. And when a reception was held in the Magnaura, as is the 318 custom for the emperors of the Romans to do when they are about to receive one of the distinguished and great men in the governorship of some nation, she too was brought before the emperor with honor and splendor, bringing costly gifts, such as almost no one of the foreign kings had brought to an emperor of the Romans up to that time. For there were five hundred household servants, of whom one hundred were handsome eunuchs. For that wealthy old woman knew, as it seems, that there is always a place for these eunuchs in the palace, and among these they swarm more than flies in the springtime around a sheep-pen; and for this reason she had prepared them, so that she might perhaps find them to be bodyguards on account of their former servitude, when she entered the palace. And there were one hundred female parasol-bearers, and one hundred all-variegated Sidonian works, which now, the name perhaps having been corrupted by the ignorance of the many, are called *sendais*, one hundred woolen linen garments (for it is good to use common speech for these), two hundred plain fine linen garments, and another hundred that surpassed a spider's web in fineness, each of which had been inserted into the joint of a reed, and a sufficient number of various costly vessels of silver and gold. (75) And having been favorably received and magnificently entertained in a manner worthy of her purpose and nobility, and having been deemed worthy to be called mother of the emperor, and having partaken of many imperial receptions and honors, 319 she rejoiced and was gladdened and confessed that she had received full returns, or rather, ones that far exceeded. Wherefore indeed she also magnanimously added to the aforementioned gifts no small part of the Peloponnese, which, as it was her own possession, she then generously bestowed upon her son and emperor. And having stayed in this great city for as long as she wished of honors and enjoyments, she returned again to her own country like some lady queen of those parts, reaping honors much more numerous and greater than before. and in the manner that she made the ascent,

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αἰτησαμένων ἐν τῇ τῆς τύχης λαμπρότητι. ουτοι δὲ ησαν ὁ τοῦ ἁγίου ∆ιομή- δους τῆς μονῆς προεστὼς καὶ ἡ ἐκ Πελοποννήσου γυνὴ ∆ανηλίς, οις τῶν ἐλπισθέντων ἀπέδωκε μείζονα. τόν τε γὰρ μέγαν ἐν μάρ- τυρσι ∆ιομήδην καὶ ἀναθημάτων πολυτελῶν ἀναθέσει καὶ βιβλίων 317 ἱκανῶν παροχῇ καὶ κειμηλίων αλλων καὶ λαμπρῶν ἐσθημάτων προσαγωγῇ μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἐφάνη κοσμῶν, καὶ τὴν ἐπ' ὀνόματι τούτου μονὴν καὶ κτημάτων ἐπιδόσει μεγάλων τε καὶ προσόδων ἱκανῶν ἀφθόνῳ χορηγίᾳ καὶ δαψιλείᾳ πρὸς τὸ ευπορον ηγαγε, καὶ τὸ πανταχόθεν ἀνενδεὲς αὐτῇ ἐμνηστεύσατο, καὶ κτισμάτων πολυτελέσιν οἰκοδομαῖς κατελάμπρυνε, καὶ παντοίως ὑπερῆρε καὶ κατεπλούτισεν. (74) τὸν δὲ τῆς ∆ανηλίδος υἱὸν αμα τῷ γενέ- σθαι τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐγκρατὴς μεταπεμψάμενος τῷ τοῦ πρωτοσπαθα- ρίου ἐτίμησεν ἀξιώματι καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν παρρησίας μετέδωκε διὰ τὴν φθάσασαν κοινωνίαν τῆς πνευματικῆς ἀδελφότητος. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ, καίπερ σχεδὸν γραῦς ηδη τυγχάνειν νομι- ζομένη, πόθον εσχε καὶ μεγάλην εφεσιν ωστε τὸν βασιλέα ἰδεῖν καὶ ἀπολαῦσαί τινος καὶ αὐτὴ περισσοτέρας ἐν τῷ γήρᾳ τιμῆς διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ εὐλαβοῦς μοναχοῦ προαγόρευσιν καὶ διὰ τὴν αλλην εὐεργεσίαν τε καὶ δεξίωσιν, προστάξαντος τοῦ βασιλέως ἐντίμως πάνυ καὶ μετὰ μεγάλης δορυφορίας καὶ ὑπηρεσίας πρὸς τὴν βα- σιλεύουσαν ἀνελήλυθεν. ὡς γὰρ ουτε ὀχήματι εποχος ουτε ιππῳ γενέσθαι ην δυνατή, τυχὸν δὲ καὶ τρυφῶσα διὰ τὴν αφθονον τοῦ πλούτου περιουσίαν, ἐπὶ σκίμποδος αὐτὴν ἀνακλίνασα, καὶ τρια- κοσίους τῶν οἰκετῶν ἀπολέξασα νέους καὶ ἰσχυροὺς τὸ σῶμα, βαστάζοντας αὐτὴν ἀνιέναι ἐκελεύσατο, καὶ ουτως ὑπὸ δέκα τὸ λέχος αἰρόντων καὶ ἐκ διαδοχῆς ἀλλήλους ὑπαλλασσόντων τὴν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου μέχρι τῆς βασιλευούσης ταύτης τῶν πόλεων πορείαν διήνυσεν. δοχῆς δὲ γεγονυίας ἐν τῇ Μαγναύρᾳ, καθώς ἐστιν 318 εθος τοῖς βασιλεῦσι ̔Ρωμαίων ποιεῖν, οταν τινὰ τῶν ἐφ' ἡγεμο- νίας εθνους τινὸς περιφανῶν καὶ μεγάλων εἰσδέχεσθαι μέλλωσιν, εἰσήχθη καὶ αὐτὴ πρὸς βασιλέα ἐντίμως τε καὶ λαμπρῶς, εἰσαγα- γοῦσα καὶ δῶρα πολυτελῆ, οια τῶν ἐθνικῶν βασιλέων οὐδεὶς σχε- δὸν μέχρι καὶ τότε πρὸς βασιλέα ̔Ρωμαίων εἰσήγαγεν. ησαν γὰρ οἰκετικὰ μὲν πρόσωπα πεντακόσια, ἐξ ων ὑπῆρχον εὐειδεῖς ἐντο- μίαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἑκατόν. ῃδει γάρ, ὡς εοικεν, ἡ πλουτοκράτωρ ἐκείνη γραῦς οτι ἀεὶ τυγχάνει χώρα τοῖς σπάδουσι τούτοις εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ ἐν τούτοις ὑπὲρ τὰς μυίας ἐν εαρος ωρᾳ κατὰ προ- βάτων σηκὸν ἀναστρέφονται· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τούτους προηυτρεπί- σατο, ὡς αν δορυφόρους αὐτοὺς εὑρίσκοι τυχὸν διὰ τὴν πάλαι δουλείαν, οταν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια εισεισιν. ησαν δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες σκιάστριαι ἑκατόν, καὶ Σιδόνια εργα παμποίκιλα, α δὴ νῦν πα- ραφθαρέντος τυχὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος τῇ τῶν πολλῶν ἀμαθίᾳ λέγεται σενδαῖς, ἑκατόν, λινομαλοτάρια ἑκατὸν (καλὸν γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτοις κοινολεκτεῖν), ἀμάλια λινᾶ ψιλὰ διακόσια, καὶ ετερα ὑπὲρ τὰ τοῦ ἀραχνίου νήματα εἰς λεπτότητα, ων εκαστον εἰς καλάμου κόνδυλον ἐνεβέβλητο, καὶ αὐτὰ ἑκατόν, καὶ σκεύη πολυτελῆ ἐξ ἀργύρου καὶ χρυσοῦ ἱκανὰ καὶ διάφορα. (75) ἀποδεχθεῖσα δὲ δεξιῶς καὶ φιλοφρονηθεῖσα μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἀναλόγως τῆς προαιρέ- σεως καὶ εὐγενείας αὐτῆς, καὶ μήτηρ καλεῖσθαι βασιλέως ἀξιω- θεῖσα, καὶ πολλῶν μετασχοῦσα βασιλικῶν δεξιώσεων καὶ τιμῶν, 319 ἐγεγήθει τε καὶ ἐγάννυτο καὶ εκπλεως τὰς ἀμοιβάς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ὑπεραιρούσας κατὰ πολὺ διωμολόγει λαβεῖν. διὸ δὴ καὶ προσέ- θηκεν ετι μεγαλοψύχως ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις δώροις οὐ μικρὸν καὶ τῆς Πελοποννήσου μέρος, οπερ ὡς ιδιον κτῆμα τυγχάνον αὐτῆς φιλοδώρως τότε τῷ υἱῷ καὶ βασιλεῖ ἐχαρίζετο. διατρίψασα δὲ κατὰ τὴν μεγαλόπολιν ταύτην ἐφ' οσον αὐτῇ φιλοτιμιῶν τε καὶ ἀπολαύσεων, αυθις πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν χώραν ἀνθυπενόστησεν ωσπερ τις δέσποινα τῶν ἐκεῖθεν βασίλισσα, πολλῷ πλείονας τῶν προτέρων καὶ μείζονας καρπουμένη τιμάς. ον δὲ τρόπον τὴν ανοδον ἐποιήσατο,