121

trying more boldly to strike the gates and force them down, is stabbed by a lance by one of those inside through a certain small opening. And he was immediately dead. But Constantine went away from there to the horse-racing theatre, then he came to the so-called Chalke and advanced as far as the quarters of the Excubitors. And one of the regents, the magistros John Eladas, having gathered some men from the Hetaireiai and the fleet, sent them out to oppose the usurper. And when a skirmish occurred, many fell on both sides; and Gregoras, the son of Doukas, was slain, and his nephew Michael and Kourtikios the Armenian. Constantine, therefore, grieving greatly for these men and being eager to reinforce his own detachment, spurred on his horse, wishing to join those in front; but as the ground 460 was paved with stone slabs, the horse slipped and fell and brought down the rider; and someone immediately came upon him and cut off his head and brought it to the emperor Constantine, entering through the western gate of the Chrysotriklinos, according to the prophecy of the emperor Leo. That Constantine Doukas would not obtain the empire was also known to those around the emperor from another source. For there was a certain tax-collector Nicholas, who, having become a debtor of much money to the state, fled to the Ishmaelites and, having renounced the faith, pursued astrology. This man had sent a note to the logothete of the drome; and its summary was as follows: "Do not be afraid of Doukas; for he will rise up foolishly and will be immediately destroyed." And so the rebellion had ceased; and Constantine's father-in-law, the magistros Gregoras, and Leo Choirosphaktes had taken refuge in the Great Church. Expelling them from the holy sanctuary, the regents tonsured them as monks in the monastery of Stoudios. Others they tortured and led in a triumph, others they blinded, and some they beheaded, 461 and others they impaled from Chrysopolis to Leukates. And many others would have been victims of the regents' power, if not certain of the judges had not restrained their propensity for punishments, saying, "How do you do such things without an imperial command, since the emperor, being a child, does not consent to what is being done?" And the regents, having tonsured the wife of Constantine and having castrated his son Stephen, sent them to their house in Paphlagonia. And the emperor's regents, both the patriarch and the rest, acting autocratically in affairs, did many improper things, and they also disagreed with one another, some introducing these measures, and others the opposite; and their administration was a kind of polyarchy, but not a monarchy. But Symeon the Bulgarian, since the emperor was not overseeing affairs, hoping easily to take the queen of cities, comes against it with a very great force and encamps outside its walls and had intended to besiege it. But seeing the strength of the walls and the multitude 462 upon them and the abundance of siege engines on the walls, being dumbfounded, he moved to the Hebdomon, seeking to make a truce. The patriarch, therefore, and the rest of the regents, taking the emperor, came to the palace at Blachernae, where Symeon also arrived, having given and received hostages, and bowing his head to the patriarch he was blessed by him and dined with the emperor. Then, not being pleased with the agreements, he returned without a treaty, having been honored with gifts, both he and his children. But as the emperor was constantly calling for his mother and weeping for her (for Alexander had managed to bring her down from the palace), the regents were compelled to bring her up. And she, having come up, took hold of the administration, taking on also the parakoimomenos Constantine and both of the Gongylios brothers; and first she removed the patriarch from the palace, then she also expelled the servants of Alexander, the rhaiktor, Basilitzes and 463 Gabrielopoulos,

121

θρασύτερον προσαράξαι τὰς πύλας καὶ καταβαλεῖν βιαζόμενος νύττεται λόγχῃ παρά του τῶν ἔνδον διά τινος ἀμυχῆς. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἦν αὐτίκα νεκρός. ὁ δέ γε Κωνσταντῖνος ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ τῶν ἵππων ἄπεισιν ἁμιλλητήριον θέατρον, εἶτα εἰς τὴν λεγομένην ἦλθε Χαλκῆν καὶ ἄχρι τῶν Ἐξκουβίτων προῆλθεν. ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων εἷς ὁ μάγιστρος Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἐλαδᾶς ἐκ τῶν ἑταιρειῶν καὶ τῶν πλωίμων συλλέξας τινὰς ἀντικαταστῆναι τῷ τυραννοῦντι αὐτοὺς ἐξαπέστειλε. καὶ συμπλοκῆς γενομένης πολλοὶ πεπτώκασιν ἑκατέρωθεν· ἔσφακτο δὲ καὶ Γρηγορᾶς ὁ τοῦ ∆ουκὸς υἱὸς καὶ ὁ ἀνεψιὸς αὐτοῦ Μιχαὴλ καὶ Κουρτίκιος ὁ Ἀρμένιος. τούτοις οὖν περιαλγήσας ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπιρρῶσαι προθυμούμενος σύνταγμα τὸν ἵππον ἤλαυνε, συμμίξαι θέλων τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν· ἐστρωμένου 460 δὲ τοῦ ἐδάφους πλαξὶν ὑπολισθήσας ὁ ἵππος ἔπεσε καὶ τὸν ἀναβάτην κατήνεγκε· καί τις εὐθὺς αὐτῷ ἐπελθὼν ἐξέτεμε τὴν αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ Κωνσταντίνῳ προσήνεγκε, διὰ τῆς δυτικῆς τοῦ Χρυσοτρικλίνου πύλης εἰσελθών, κατὰ τὴν πρόρρησιν τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος Λέοντος. ὅτι δὲ οὐ τεύξεται τῆς βασιλείας ὁ ∆οὺξ Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ ἑτέρωθεν τοῖς περὶ τὸν βασιλέα ἐπέγνωστο. ἦν γάρ τις τελώνης Νικόλαος, ὃς χρεώστης πολλῶν χρημάτων τῷ δημοσίῳ γενόμενος πρὸς τοὺς Ἰσμαηλίτας κατέφυγε καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐξομοσάμενος ἀστρολογίαν μετῄει. οὗτος τῷ λογοθέτῃ τοῦ δρόμου ἀπεστάλκει γραμμάτιον· ἡ δὲ τούτου περίληψις ἦν τοιαύτη· "μὴ φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ τοῦ ∆ουκός· νεωτερισθήσεται γὰρ ἀφρόνως καὶ εὐθέως ὀλοθρευθήσεται." καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀποστασία ἐπέπαυτο· ὁ δὲ τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου πενθερὸς ὁ μάγιστρος Γρηγορᾶς καὶ Λέων ὁ Χοιροσφάκτης τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ προσπεφοιτήκασιν, οὓς ἐκβαλόντες τοῦ θείου τεμένους μοναχοὺς ἀπέκειραν οἱ ἐπίτροποι ἐν τῇ τοῦ Στουδίου μονῇ. ἄλλους δ' αἰκισάμενοι ἐθριάμβευσαν, ἑτέροις τὰ ὄμματα ἐξεπήρωσαν, ἐνίων δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀπέτεμον, 461 καὶ ἄλλους ἐκ Χρυσοπόλεως μέχρι τοῦ Λευκάτου ἀνεσκολόπισαν. καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ πλείους τῆς τῶν ἐπιτρόπων ἐξουσίας γεγόνασιν ἂν παρανάλωμα, εἰ μή τινες τῶν δικαστῶν τῆς πρὸς τὰς τιμωρίας ῥοπῆς αὐτοὺς ἀνεχαίτισαν, εἰπόντες "πῶς τοιαῦτα ποιεῖτε ὑμεῖς κελεύσεως ἄτερ βασιλικῆς, ἐπεὶ παῖς ὢν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς πραττομένοις οὐ συναινεῖ;" ἀποκείραντες δὲ οἱ ἐπίτροποι καὶ τὴν τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου γυναῖκα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Στέφανον ἐκτομίαν ποιήσαντες εἰς τὸν ἐν Παφλαγονίᾳ οἶκον αὐτῶν ἀπεστάλκασι τούτους. οἱ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπίτροποι, ὅ τε πατριάρχης καὶ οἱ λοιποί, ἐναυθεντοῦντες τοῖς πράγμασι πολλὰ τῶν οὐ δεόντων ἐποίουν, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους δὲ διεφέροντο, τῶν μὲν τάδ' εἰσαγόντων, τῶν δὲ τὰ ἀντίθετα· καὶ ἦν ἡ τούτων διοίκησις πολυαρχία τις, ἀλλ' οὐ μοναρχία. Ὁ δὲ Βούλγαρος Συμεών, ὡς μὴ βασιλέως ἐπιστατοῦντος τοῖς πράγμασι, ῥᾳδίως ἐλπίσας κρατῆσαι τῆς βασιλίδος τῶν πόλεων ἔπεισι κατὰ ταύτης μετὰ πλείστης δυνάμεως καὶ ἔξω στρατοπεδεύεται τῶν ταύτης τειχῶν καὶ πολιορκῆσαι ταύτην διανενόητο. ἰδὼν δὲ τὸ τῶν τειχῶν κρατερὸν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος 462 τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς τείχεσι μηχανημάτων τὸ δαψιλές, ἰλιγγιάσας μετέπεσεν εἰς τὸ Ἕβδομον, ζητῶν σπείσασθαι. ὁ γοῦν πατριάρχης καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων λαβόντες τὸν βασιλέα εἰς τὰ ἐν Βλαχέρναις ἦλθον βασίλεια, ὅπου καὶ ὁ Συμεὼν παρεγένετο, ὁμήρους δοὺς καὶ λαβών, καὶ τῷ πατριάρχῃ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν ηὐλογήθη παρ' ἐκείνου καὶ συνειστιάθη τῷ βασιλεῖ. εἶτα μὴ ἀρεσθεὶς ταῖς συνθήκαις ἐπανῆλθεν ἀσύμβατος, δώροις δεξιωθεὶς καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ. Ἀνακαλουμένου δὲ διόλου τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μητέρα τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ δακρύοντος (ἔφθη γὰρ ταύτην τῶν ἀνακτόρων καταγαγεῖν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος) ἠναγκάσθησαν αὐτὴν ἀναγαγεῖν οἱ ἐπίτροποι. ἡ δὲ ἀνελθοῦσα τῆς διοικήσεως εἴχετο, προσλαβοῦσα καὶ τὸν παρακοιμώμενον Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ τοὺς αὐταδέλφους ἄμφω τοὺς Γογγυλίους· καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸν πατριάρχην ἀπάγει τῶν βασιλείων, εἶτα καὶ τοὺς τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου θεράποντας ἐξωθεῖ, τὸν ῥαίκτωρα, τὸν Βασιλίτζην καὶ τὸν 463 Γαβριηλόπωλον,