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he took pains to have him and to write, whom he, as is said, was the first of others to acclaim as the new Constantine; For what could be greater than to be ranked as father to the new Constantine and emperor? For to speak broadly on this matter, Germanos first arranged it, currying favor with the emperor, such was his service to rulers, and the emperor accepted it exceedingly, as if it had not happened simply, but because Constantine had once heard it from his fathers from infancy, as he said. But some say Manuel; which I think is truer, because by that very utterance the measures of his life would be made equal in number, I mean of his name and surname. This indeed also misled some who set the time at seventeen; for Palaiologos Michael has 17 letters; but the addition of Manuel clearly indicated the twenty-fourth year of his reign. At that time, then, as he was considering the providence concerning him and was promising not a few things, he said concerning the one who would preside over the church: "God will see to the one who is sufficient for shepherding, and will also assist him in the holy cares. And to be ranked as father to the emperor is great and otherwise venerable; yet for him whom God has taken for adoption, who is fit to be called father to this one, unless it be he whom He alone shall judge worthy of the guardianship? Moreover, to provide and care for necessities is otherwise superfluous and not necessary for those who have Him who feeds the young of the ravens. Nevertheless, my church—and he meant Adrianople—being rich in my archpriest, is able to feed both together, with God providing." These things, then, Germanos said at that time, declining all that was proposed. 393

22. Concerning Basil of Adrianople, or rather Barlaam. He whom he called his own, proclaimed in Adrianople after him by him, was that man's nephew Barlaam, or rather Basil, who was very neglectful concerning matters of the spiritual life, and otherwise, being a lover of the world, used horses, and at times also weapons, and ambitiously advanced to close quarters with the enemy. For these things, then, while his uncle was alive, he was forgiven for doing these reprehensible things; but later, when other accusations were brought against him, after the old man had passed away, since, being called to judgment, for many days he feigned epilepsy, so as to pretend to know nothing of his own affairs, he finally underwent deposition by the synod. And straightway after some days the one supposedly out of his mind became sane, and the one who did not even know what he was doing or suffering regarding himself, about which matters no argument was put forth to him, earnestly begged the emperor to allow him to use his state and be a general, as one able to go to close quarters with the enemy and to set up many trophies over them. But this, when the emperor heard it, led to the worst suspicion and then danger for him. For the ruler, reflecting that the one saying these things would be able to do them too—for his age and the strength of his body and thirdly his experience in these things made the suspicion seem credible—and having obtained release, he would not so much for us against them, but against us with them, by escaping, perhaps both plan and execute it, so he held him bound in prison and watched him, lest, he said, he should succeed in carrying out against us what he had promised against the enemy. Then, wishing to be relieved of his concern for him, he ordered Tzykandeles, who was nimble in these matters, to lead him away to Nicaea, both him and with him a Bulgarian, also under suspicion of escaping, named Tzoilas, and before leading them into the fortress, to deprive them both of their eyes; which indeed happened after this.

23. How Joseph is elected patriarch by the archbishops. The emperor, however, having dismissed Germanos, consulted with the priests about a patriarch, as if, forsooth, he knew nothing, nor had ready the man whom he had already chosen in his heart. To those, then, for whom these things are not a matter of knowledge, to these 395 superficially

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ἔχειν αὐτὸν καὶ γράφειν προσεφιλοτιμεῖτο, ὃν ἐκεῖνος, ὡς λέγεται, πρῶτος τῶν ἄλλων νέον Κωνσταντῖνον προσεπευφήμει· τί δὲ μεῖζον εἶναι τοῦ εἰς πατέρα τετάχθαι τῷ νέῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ καὶ βασιλεῖ; Τὰ γὰρ περὶ τούτου πλατικῶς εἰπεῖν, ἔταξε μὲν Γερμανὸς πρῶτος, τῷ βασιλεῖ χαριζόμενος, οἷος ἐκεῖνος τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας θεραπείαν, ὑπεραπεδέξατο δὲ βασι λεύς, ὡς οὐχ ἁπλῶς συμβάντος, ἀλλ' ὅτι ποτὲ νηπιόθεν Κωνσταντῖνος παρὰ πατέρων, ὡς ἔλεγεν, ἤκουε. Οἱ δὲ Μανουὴλ λέγουσιν· ὃ καὶ ἀληθι νώτερον, οἶμαι, διὰ τὸ παρ' αὐτὸ προφοίβασμα ἰσαριθμήσοι τὰ μέτρα τὰ τοῦ βίου, τῆς κλήσεώς τέ φημι καὶ τοὐπωνύμου. Ὃ δὴ καί τινας ἔσφαλε ἱστῶντας τοὺς χρόνους ἐν δεκαεπτά· τὸ γὰρ Παλαιολόγος Μιχαὴλ στοιχεῖα ιζʹ. φέρει· προσκείμενον δὲ τὸ Μανουὴλ τὸν εἰκοσιτέταρτον τῆς βασιλείας χρόνον ἐδήλωσεν ἄντικρυς. Τότε γοῦν καὶ περὶ τῆς κατ' ἐκεῖνον προσκοποῦντος προνοίας καί γε οὐκ ὀλίγα προσεπαγγελλομένου, ἐκεῖνον εἰπεῖν περὶ μὲν τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας προστησομένου· «Ὄψεται Θεὸς τὸν εἰς τὸ ποιμαίνειν αὐτάρκη, πρὸς δὲ καὶ συνεπιλήψεταί οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν μεριμνῶν. Τὸ δὲ εἰς πατέρα τετάχθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ μέγα μὲν καὶ ἄλλως σεμνόν· πλὴν ὃν καὶ Θεὸς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν προσεπελάβετο, τίς ἱκανὸς εἰς πατέρα κεκλῆσθαι τούτῳ, εἰ μὴ ὃν ἐκεῖνος καὶ μόνος ἄξιον εἰς τὴν ἐπιτροπείαν κρινεῖ; Τὸ μέντοι γε καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων προμηθεύεσθαί τε καὶ προνοεῖν περιττὸν ἄλλως καὶ οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον τοῖς καὶ τὸν τοὺς νεοσσοὺς τῶν κοράκων τρέφοντα ἔχουσι. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐκκλησίαἐδήλου δὲ τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν, τὸν ἐμὸν ἀρχιερέα πλου τοῦσα, ἔχει τρέφειν καὶ ἄμφω συνάμα καὶ Θεῷ χορηγοῦντι.» Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τότε ὁ Γερμανὸς ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς προβληθεῖσι παραιτούμενος ἔλεγεν. 393

κβʹ. Περὶ τοῦ Ἀδριανουπόλεως Βασιλείου, εἴτ' οὖν Βαρλαάμ. Ἦν δ' ὃν ἔλεγεν ἑαυτοῦ, τῇ Ἀδριανουπόλει ἐπικηρυχθέντα μετ' αὐτὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ, ὁ ἀνεψιὸς ἐκείνου Βαρλαάμ, εἴτ' οὖν Βασίλειος, ὃς πρὸς μὲν τὰ εἰς πνευματικὴν πολιτείαν καὶ λίαν ἀμελῶς εἶχεν, ἄλλως δέ, φιλόκοσμος ὤν, ἵπποις ἐχρᾶτο, ἔστι δ' ὅτε καὶ ὅπλοις, καὶ προσεφιλοτιμεῖτο ὁμόσε τοῖς πολεμίοις χωρῶν. Ταῦτ' ἄρα καὶ ζῶντος μὲν τοῦ θείου, ἐν καταγνώσει ταῦτα πράττων συνεγινώσκετο· ὕστερον δὲ καὶ ἄλλων προστριβέντων αὐτῷ κατηγορημάτων, τοῦ γέροντος μεταλλάξαντος, ἐπεί, εἰς κρίσιν καλούμενος, ἐπὶ πολλαῖς ἡμέραις τὸν ἐπίληπτον ὑπεκρίνετο, ὡς προσποιεῖσθαι μηδὲν τῶν καθ' αὑτὸν εἰδέναι, τέλος ὑφίστατο τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς συνόδου καθαίρεσιν. Καὶ εὐθὺς μεθ' ἡμέρας ὁ ἐκστὰς δῆθεν ἔμφρων καὶ ὁ μηδὲ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ εἰδὼς ὅ τι ποιοίη καὶ ὅ τι πάσχοι, περὶ ὧν ἐκείνῳ λόγος οὐδεὶς διετείνετο, καὶ τὸν βασιλέα λιπαρῶς ἠξίου ἐφεῖναί οἱ χρᾶσθαι τῇ ἕξει καὶ στρατηγεῖν, ὡς οἵῳ τ' ὄντι ὁμόσε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἰέναι καὶ συχνὰ τἀκείνων ἱστᾶν τρόπαια. Τὸ δ' ἄρ' ἦν, τοῦ βασιλέως ἀκούσαντος, εἰς ὑποψίαν ἐκείνῳ κακίστην, εἶτα καὶ κίνδυνον. Συννοήσας γὰρ ὁ κρατῶν ὡς ὁ ταῦτα λέγων δυνατὸς ἐσεῖται καὶ πρᾶξαιἥ τε γὰρ ἡλικία καὶ τὸ τοῦ σώματος ἰσχυρὸν καὶ τρίτον ἡ περὶ ταῦτα πεῖρα πιστὴν ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν ὑποψίαν ἐδίδουκαί γ' ἐπειλημμένος ἀνέσεως οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν μᾶλλον κατ' ἐκείνων, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἡμῶν μετ' ἐκείνων τῷ ἀποδρᾶναι καὶ μελετήσει ἴσως καὶ διαπράξεται, ἐν φυλακαῖς δέσμιον κατασχὼν ἐτήρει, μὴ καὶ φθάσοι, φησί, καθ' ἡμῶν ἐκτελέσας ἃ κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπηγγείλατο. Εἶτα τῆς περὶ ἐκεῖνον φροντίδος ἀνεῖσθαι θέλων, προστάσσει τῷ Τζυκανδήλῃ, ὀτρηρῷ γε ὄντι πρὸς ταῦτα, ἀπαγαγόντι πρὸς Νίκαιαν αὐτόν τε καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ Βούλγαρον, καὶ αὐτὸν ὄντα ἐν ὑποψίᾳ τοῦ ἀποδρᾶναι, Τζουίλαν λεγόμενον, πρὸ τοῦ εἰς τὸ κάστρον εἰσαγαγεῖν, ἄμφω στερῆσαι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν· ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονε μετὰ ταῦτα.

κγʹ. Ὅπως εἰς πατριάρχην ψηφίζεται παρὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων Ἰωσήφ. Ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεύς, τὸν Γερμανὸν ἀποσκευασάμενος, περὶ πατριάρχου συνεσκόπει τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, ὡς μηδὲν εἰδὼς δῆθεν, οὐδ' ἕτοιμον ἔχων ὃν καὶ ἐν καρδίᾳ προὐκατεβάλετο. Οἷς γοῦν οὐκ ἐν ἐπιστάσει τὰ τούτων, τούτοις 395 ἐπιπολαίως