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and to raise him in a royal manner and to leave him as emperor; whom, they say, seeing coming towards him as he was already failing, he said "behold the evil time after the thirteen months." Leo reigned for twenty-five years and some months. But Alexander, as soon as he came to power, at the same time brought the patriarch Nicholas from Galakrenai and raised him to the throne of Constantinople for a second time, having brought456 down Euthymius and effected his deposition on the tribunal, with many of the partisans of Nicholas heaping insults upon the man, and then he also sent him into exile. And this emperor, having become sole ruler, did nothing befitting an emperor, but gave himself over to luxuries and hunts and licentiousness, and he entrusted the affairs of the empire and the state to vagabonds and men from the crossroads, whom before his sole rule he had as partners in unspeakable deeds, one of whom, named Basilitzes, he intended to make the successor to the scepter; for he wished his nephew Constantine to live as a private citizen and to deprive him of his generative organs. And if the end of his life had not come upon him quickly and thus his plans were thwarted by providence from above, they would perhaps, as far as it depended on him, have been put into action. And asking sorcerers if his life would be prolonged for a long time, he heard from them that his life would be long-lasting if he were to attach teeth and genitals to the boar in the theater, which is made of bronze. "For this," they said457 "is your element, standing opposite to Leo your brother," judging nothing else sound than to liken this emperor to a boar, because he was gaping for his belly and was continually devoted to common meals and debaucheries. Believing their words, therefore, he who was more senseless than swine, had these missing parts fashioned for the bronze statue. However, when Symeon, the leader of the Bulgarians, asked through certain men sent by him whether he would accept peace, Alexander both received the envoys dishonorably and spoke arrogantly and threatened extravagantly. Wherefore Symeon, not bearing the insult, took up arms against the Romans. And Alexander, who was wholly addicted to symposia and drunkenness, once after lunching after a bath and emptying his stomach and insatiably drinking unmixed wine, decided to play ball; and having strained his body with the horsemanship and the violent movements of the ball game, he suffered a rupture, and discharging blood through his nose and his private parts, he died after one day, having written down as regents for his nephew and administrators of the empire the patriarch458 Nicholas and the magistros Stephen and the magistros John Eladas and the rhaiktor John and two of those promoted by him from a fortune of vagrancy to senatorial rank and to the patriciate, Basilitzes and Gabrielopoulos. So Alexander, having gambled away the imperial rule for one year and a month, ended his life; and the power devolved upon Constantine, the son of Leo, who was still a very young child; for he was completing the seventh year of his age. However, Constantine, the son of Andronikos Doukas, being domestikos of the scholae and having heard of the death of Alexander (for he was away from the queen of cities), partly uncovering and fanning the spark of desire for imperial rule which he was hiding under the ashes, and partly being incited to this by others (of whom the patriarch Nicholas is said to have been one, for since Alexander's will had not yet been read, he did not know that he himself had been left as regent), he attempted a usurpation. And taking with him459 the elite of the troops, he came to Byzantium and entering by night through a certain postern, he seized the gate of the Hippodrome with torches, having won over some of the senators, with a large crowd of common people also gathering, who acclaimed and proclaimed him as emperor. But as those inside would not open the gates, the protostrator of Constantine, trusting in his hands and

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καὶ ἀνάγειν βασιλικῶς καὶ αὐτοκράτορα καταλιπεῖν· ὅν, φασί, βλέπων ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἤδη ἐκλείπων, φάναι "ἴδε ὁ κακὸς καιρὸς μετὰ τοὺς δεκατρεῖς μῆνας." ἐβασίλευσε δὲ ὁ Λέων ἔτη εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἐπὶ μησὶ τισίν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἅμα τε τοὺς πόδας ἤρεισε τῇ ἀρχῇ καὶ ἅμα τὸν πατριάρχην Νικόλαον ἐκ Γαλακρηνῶν ἀγαγὼν εἰς τὸν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως θρόνον ἀνήγαγε τὸ δεύτερον, κατ456 αγαγὼν τὸν Εὐθύμιον καὶ ἐπὶ βήματος τὴν τούτου ποιήσας καθαίρεσιν, ἐνυβρισάντων εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα πολλὰ τῶν προσκειμένων τῷ Νικολάῳ, εἶτα καὶ ὑπερόριον ποιήσας αὐτόν. αὐταρχήσας δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς οὑτοσὶ οὐδὲν ἐοικὸς εἰργάσατο βασιλεῖ, ἀλλὰ τρυφαῖς καὶ θήραις καὶ ἀσελγείαις ἐξέδωκεν ἑαυτόν, τὰ δὲ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ κοινὰ πράγματα ἀνθρώποις ἀνέθετο ἀγύρταις καὶ τοῖς ἐκ τριόδων, οὓς πρὸ τῆς μοναρχίας ἐπιρρήτων εἶχε πράξεων κοινωνούς, ὧν ἕνα Βασιλίτζην λεγόμενον καὶ διάδοχον τῶν σκήπτρων διενοεῖτο ποιήσασθαι· τὸν γὰρ ἀδελφόπαιδα Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ ἰδιωτεῦσαι ἐβούλετο καὶ τῶν παιδογόνων ἀφελέσθαι μορίων. καὶ εἰ μὴ ταχὺ τὸ τέλος αὐτῷ τῆς ζωῆς ἐπελήλυθε καὶ οὕτως αὐτῷ παρὰ τῆς ἄνω προνοίας ἐσφάλησαν τὰ βουλεύματα, τάχα ἂν ὅσον τὸ ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ καὶ εἰς ἔργον ἐξέβησαν. γοήτων δὲ πυνθανόμενος εἰ ἐς μῆκος αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ζωῆς προελεύσεται, ἤκουσεν ἐξ ἐκείνων ὡς ἔσται αὐτῷ μακροχρόνιον τὸ βιώσιμον, εἰ τῷ ἐν θεάτρῳ συΐ, ὃς ἐκ χαλκοῦ πέπλασται, ὀδόντας καὶ αἰδοῖα περίθοιτο. "σὸν γὰρ οὗτος" ἔλεγον 457 "στοιχεῖόν ἐστιν, ἀντίος ἱστάμενος Λέοντι τῷ σῷ ἀδελφῷ," οὐδὲν ἕτερον κρίνοντες ὑγιὲς ἢ τὸ συῒ τοῦτον ἀπεικάσαι τὸν αὐτοκράτορα, διὰ τὸ περὶ γαστέρα κεχηνέναι τε καὶ συσσίτια καὶ ἀκολασίαις προσκεῖσθαι διηνεκῶς. πιστεύσας οὖν τοῖς λόγοις ἐκείνων ὁ καὶ χοίρων ἀνοητότερος τὰ λείποντα ταῦτα τῷ χαλκουργήματι ἐξειργάσατο. Τοῦ μέντοι τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀρχηγετοῦντος τοῦ Συμεὼν εἰ τὴν εἰρήνην ἀσπάζοιτο ἐρωτῶντος διά τινων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεμφθέντων, ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀτίμως τε τοὺς πεμφθέντας ἐδέξατο καὶ ὑπερηφάνως ὡμίλησε καὶ ὑπερόγκως ἠπείλησεν. ὅθεν ὁ Συμεὼν τὴν ὕβριν μὴ ἐνεγκὼν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ὡπλίσατο. Συμποσίοις δὲ καὶ μέθαις διόλου προστετηκὼς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, ἅπαξ ἀριστήσας μετὰ λουτρὸν καὶ κοίλῃ χρησάμενος τῇ γαστρὶ καὶ ἀπλήστως ἀκρατισάμενος σφαιρίσαι προέθετο· καὶ κατατείνας τὸ σῶμα τῇ ἱππασίᾳ καὶ ταῖς τῆς σφαίρας ἐκτραχηλίσεσι ῥῆξιν ὑπέστη, καὶ αἷμα διά τε τῆς ῥινὸς κενώσας καὶ τῆς αἰδοῦς μετὰ μίαν ἡμέραν ἐξέλιπεν, ἐπιτρόπους τῷ ἀνεψιῷ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας διοικητὰς γράψας τόν τε πατριάρχην 458 Νικόλαον καὶ τὸν μάγιστρον Στέφανον καὶ τὸν μάγιστρον Ἰωάννην τὸν Ἐλαδᾶν τόν τε ῥαίκτωρα Ἰωάννην καὶ δύο τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προαχθέντων ἐκ τύχης ἀγυρτίδος εἰς συγκλητικὴν ἀξίαν καὶ εἰς πατρικιότητα, τὸν Βασιλίτζην καὶ τὸν Γαβριηλόπωλον. Ὁ οὖν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα καὶ μῆνα τὴν βασίλειον διαπεττεύσας ἀρχὴν κατέλυσε τὴν ζωήν· τὸ δὲ κράτος ἐς Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Λέοντος περιέστη, παῖδα ἔτι τυγχάνοντα κομιδῇ· ἕβδομον γὰρ ἔτος αὐτῷ τῆς ἡλικίας ἠνύετο. ὁ μέντοι τοῦ ∆ουκὸς Ἀνδρονίκου υἱὸς ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος, δομέστικος ὢν τῶν σχολῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐνωτισάμενος τελευτήν (ἀπεδήμει γὰρ τῆς βασιλίδος τῶν πόλεων), τὸ μέν τι ὃν ἔκρυπτεν ὑπὸ σποδιᾷ σπινθῆρα τοῦ ἔρωτος τῆς βασιλείου ἀρχῆς ἀνακαλύπτων τε καὶ ἀναρριπίζων, τὸ δὲ καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλων πρὸς τοῦτο ἐρεθιζόμενος (ὧν εἷς εἶναι λέγεται καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης Νικόλαος, μήπω γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου διαθήκης ἀναγνωσθείσης οὐκ ᾔδει καὶ αὐτὸς καταλελειμμένος ἐπίτροπος) τυραννίδι ἐπικεχείρηκε. καὶ τοὺς ἐκκρίτους τῶν στρατευμάτων παραλαβὼν 459 τῷ Βυζαντίῳ ἐπιδεδήμηκε καὶ διά τινος πυλίδος νυκτὸς εἰσελθὼν τὴν τοῦ Ἱπποδρόμου πύλην μετὰ λαμπάδων καταλαμβάνει, τινὰς καὶ τῶν συγκλητικῶν προσεταιρισάμενος, πολλοῦ καὶ δημώδους ὄχλου συναθροισθέντος, οἳ καὶ ὡς βασιλέα αὐτὸν εὐφήμουν καὶ ἀνηγόρευον. τῶν δ' ἐντὸς τὰς πύλας μὴ ἀνοιγνύντων, ὁ πρωτοστράτωρ τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου ταῖς χερσὶ πεποιθὼς καὶ