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chamberlain, to tonsure him in the Stoudios monastery. And after a little while, Zaoutzas died in the palace, and carrying him down through the Boukoleon, they buried him in the monastery of Kauleas. 15 And Basil, the claimant, became friendly with the cubicularius Samonas, who was from the Hagarenes, aspiring to the dignity of the empire. And he confided in Samonas that after our aunt Zoe died, the emperor would surely be joined to another wife, and would get us out of the way. Therefore, give me your word that you will keep the secret, and I will confide in you everything that we are planning. And he, having done this, was taught the whole plot by him. 363 But Samonas, going in to the emperor, said, "I wish to tell you something in private, master, which if said by me, will cause my death, but if kept silent, yours." And he recounted to the emperor the whole plot of Basil. But when the emperor disbelieved what was said, and said that perhaps he had spoken these things at someone's suggestion, Samonas said, "If you wish to be fully informed, send whom you wish to my cell, and I will hide them in a secret place, and let them write down whatever is said by Basil and by me, and then you will be assured that there is no falsehood in the things spoken by me to you." Therefore the emperor sends Christopher the protovestiarios along with Kalokyris the chamberlain; who, going up into the cell of Samonas, were hidden. And Samonas, having lured Basil and given him his word under oath, persuaded him to openly declare again the whole plot to him and those who conspired with him; which Kalokyris and Christopher, hearing, noted down in writing. And while these men were at lunch, those men went down, presented the document to the emperor, and read it. And immediately summoning Basil, he gave him 24,000 miliaresia, as if designated for the soul of his aunt Zoe, and sent him away to Macedonia; and Pardos the droungarios of the vigla, who had conspired with him, he sends to Stypiotes to supposedly bring him, who, having been forewarned by an imperial letter, arrested this man; and Nicholas the hetaireiarch he banished from the city. And bringing Basil from Macedonia 364 and interrogating him and beating him severely and singeing his hair and parading him in triumph through the middle of the city, he exiled him to Athens. And the emperor, summoning all the magistroi and those in authority, read before them the things reported by Samonas. And they highly praised him as being the cause of the preservation of the emperor's life, and they declared him to be worthy of the greatest honor. And he immediately deemed him worthy of the honor of protospatharios and made him one of his own household. 16 And the patriarch Stephen died, and in his place the mystikos Nicholas was ordained patriarch, a man of many advantages in wisdom with a dignified demeanor. And the city of Demetrias, which is in the theme of Hellas, was taken by the Hagarenes. 17 And Leo the emperor crowns Anna, the daughter of Zoe, who was from Zaoutzas, because it was not possible to hold the formal invitations, there being no Augusta. And the emperor took a girl from the Opsikion theme, both beautiful and most lovely; and her name was Eudokia. And he married and crowned her; by whom he had a male child, upon which both she and the newborn died. 18 And the emperor built a church near the shrine of the Holy Apostles in the name of his former wife Theophano. And he also built the church of Saint Lazarus 365 in the place called Topoi, and in it he established a monastery of eunuch men; where also, having brought them, he deposited the body of Saint Lazarus and of his sister Magdalene. And while the fleet was occupied with such works of the churches, Tauromenium in Sicily was taken by the Africans and a great slaughter of the Romans occurred. And Lemnos was also seized by the Hagarenes, and very many people were taken captive. 19 Procession

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κοιτωνίτην ἐν τοῖς Στουδίοις ἀποκεῖραι αὐτόν. μετ' ὀλίγον δὲ Ζαούτζας τελευτᾷ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦ Βουκολέοντος κατενεγκόντες αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ Καυλέου κατέθαψαν. 15 Συμφιλιοῦται δὲ ὁ ἐπείκτης Βασίλειος τῷ κουβικου- λαρίῳ Σαμωνᾷ τῷ ἐξ ̓Αγαρηνῶν, τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας ὀρεγόμενος ἀξιώματος. ἐθάρρησεν δὲ τῷ Σαμωνᾷ οτι τῆς θείας ἡμῶν τελευ- τησάσης Ζωῆς ἑτέρᾳ γυναικὶ πάντως ὁ βασιλεὺς συζευχθήσεται, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκποδὼν καταστήσει. δὸς ουν μοι λόγον ὡς φυλάξεις τὸ ἀπόρρητον, κἀγώ σοι πάντα θαρρήσω τὰ ὑφ' ἡμῶν βουλευό- μενα. ὁ δὲ τοῦτο πεποιηκὼς πᾶσαν παρ' αὐτοῦ τὴν συσκευὴν 363 ἐδιδάσκετο. ὁ δὲ Σαμωνᾶς εἰς βασιλέα εἰσελθὼν εφη "θέλω σοί τι, δέσποτα, ἰδίᾳ εἰπεῖν, οπερ ἐμοὶ μὲν λεγόμενον θάνατον προ- ξενεῖ, σοὶ δὲ σιωπώμενον." καὶ διεξῆλθε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα πᾶσαν Βασιλείου ἐπιβουλήν. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι διαπιστήσαν- τος, καὶ εἰπόντος μήποτε ὡς ἐξ ὑποβολῆς τινὸς ταῦτα εἰρήκει, ὁ δὲ Σαμωνᾶς "εἰ βούλει πληροφορηθῆναί" φησιν, "ους βούλει εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν κελλίον ἀπόστειλον, καὶ ἀποκρύψω τούτους ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ, καὶ οσα παρὰ Βασιλείου καὶ παρ' ἐμοῦ λέγωνται, γράψωσι, καὶ τηνικαῦτα βεβαιωθήσῃ ὡς οὐδὲν ψεῦδός ἐστι τῶν παρ' ἐμοῦ σοι ῥηθέντων." ἀποστέλλει ουν ὁ βασιλεὺς Χριστοφόρον πρωτοβε- στιάριον αμα Καλοκῦρι κοιτωνίτῃ· οι ἐν τῷ τοῦ Σαμωνᾷ κελλίῳ ἀνελθόντες ἐκρύβησαν. ὁ δὲ Σαμωνᾶς τὸν Βασίλειον δελεάσας καὶ λόγον ενορκον δοὺς επεισε πάλιν πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν φανερῶς ἐξειπεῖν καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ βουλευομένους· απερ Κα- λοκῦρις καὶ Χριστοφόρος ἀκούοντες διὰ γραφῆς ἐσημήναντο. τού- των δὲ ἀριστευόντων ουτοι κατελθόντες τὴν γραφὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑπεσήμηναν καὶ ἀνέγνωσαν. καὶ παρευθὺ Βασίλειον μὲν προσκαλεσάμενος δέδωκε μιλιαρήσια χιλιάδας κδʹ ὡς δῆθεν ψυχικὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ θείας Ζωῆς ὁρισθέντα, καὶ ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ ἀπέστειλεν· Πάρδον δὲ δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλης αὐτῷ κεκοινωνηκότα πρὸς τὸν Στυπιώτην ἀποστέλλει τοῦ δῆθεν ἀγαγεῖν αὐτόν, ος προμηνυθεὶς διὰ βασιλικῆς γραφῆς τοῦτον ἐδέσμευσεν· Νικόλαον δὲ ἑταιρειάρ- χην τῆς πόλεως ἐξήγαγεν. ἀγαγὼν δὲ ἐκ Μακεδονίας Βασίλειον 364 καὶ ἀνακρίνας αὐτὸν καὶ τύψας σφοδρῶς καὶ τρίχας αὐτοῦ κατα- φλέξας καὶ ἐν μέσῃ θριαμβεύσας τῇ πόλει ἐν ̓Αθήναις ἐξώρισεν. πάντας δὲ τοὺς μαγίστρους καὶ τοὺς ἐν τέλει ὁ βασιλεὺς προσκα- λεσάμενος ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν τὰ ὑπὸ Σαμωνᾶ μηνυθέντα ἀνέγνω. οἱ δὲ τοῦτον ὑπερεπῄνεσαν ὡς τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως παραίτιον κατα- στάντα ζωῆς, καὶ αξιον μεγίστης ειναι τιμῆς προσειρήκασιν. ὁ δὲ τοῦτον παρευθὺ τῇ τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου τιμῇ ἠξίωσεν καὶ οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ κατεστήσατο. 16 ̓Ετελεύτησεν δὲ ὁ πατριάρχης Στέφανος, καὶ ἀντ' αὐτοῦ πατριάρχης ὁ μυστικὸς ἐχειροτονήθη Νικόλαος, ὁ πολλὰ μὲν κατὰ τῆς σοφίας προτερήματα σὺν εὐσχήμονι καταστάσει. παρε- λήφθη δὲ ἡ πόλις ∆ημητριάς, ἡ ἐν τῷ θέματι ̔Ελλάδος, ὑπὸ τῶν ̓Αγαρηνῶν. 17 Λέων δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς στέφει Ανναν θυγατέραν Ζωῆς τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ζαούτζα, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ποιεῖν τὰ κατὰ τύπον κλητόρια, Αὐγούστας μὴ ουσης. ἠγάγετο δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς κόρην ἐκ τοῦ ̓Οψικίου θέματος, ὡραίαν τε καὶ περικαλλῆ· ονομα δὲ αὐτῇ Εὐδοκία. εγημέν τε αὐτὴν καὶ εστεψεν· ἐξ ης παῖδα ἐποίη- σεν αρρενα, ἐφ' ῳ καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ γεννηθὲν ἐτελεύτησεν. 18 Εκτισεν δὲ πλησίον τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων ναοῦ ἐκκλησίαν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπ' ὀνόματι τῆς προτέρας αὐτοῦ γυναικὸς Θεοφανοῦς. εκτισεν δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Λαζάρου ἐκκλησίαν 365 τῶν λεγομένων Τόπων, καὶ μονὴν ἀνδρῶν εὐνούχων ἐν αὐτῇ κατε- σκεύασεν· ενθα καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Λαζάρου σῶμα καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτοῦ Μαγδαληνῆς ἀνακομίσας ἀπέθετο. τοῦ δὲ στόλου ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τοιούτων εργοις ἀσχολουμένου, τὸ ἐν Σικελίᾳ Ταυ- ρομένιον ὑπὸ τῶν Αφρων παρελήφθη καὶ πολὺς τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων φόνος ἐγένετο. κατεσχέθη δὲ καὶ Λῆμνος ὑπὸ τῶν ̓Αγαρηνῶν, καὶ πλεῖστος ᾐχμαλωτίσθη λαός. 19 Προέλευσιν