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and lamented the good sovereign, the sweet, the affable, the approachable, the serene, and by whatever other names it is necessary to call the man to whom one is bound by affection. But when the porphyrogennetos Constantine was seen to be breathing his last, he made Romanos his son autocrat and emperor, handing him over and putting on oath Joseph, patrikios and praepositos, to protect him with his astuteness and shrewdness; for such was the man, shrewd and upright and faithful, and faster than an eagle in political administration, but in impartiality both pious and just, so that another such was not known. 52 Augusta Helen, together with her children and the patrikios and parakoimomenos Basil and the chamberlains, when they saw the sovereign Constantine expiring and failing, crowded around the bed with immeasurable weeping and wailing, 467 bewailing and lamenting such a master, and they accomplished nothing more than washing that royal body with deaf and empty tears. And indeed, as they both surrounded his bed and were struck with many lamentations, and the sweet and wealth-giving emperor was in every way at his end, choirs of holy and just monks and martyrs and hierarchs stood by, and they committed his all-holy spirit to angelic hands. And quickly having washed him, they laid him out in the nineteen-couch hall. And having completed the service for him with psalms, they immediately brought him out, and laying him in state at the Chalke, the high priest and the priests and the magistroi and the patricians and the whole senate gave the final kiss; and the master of ceremonies, as was the custom, cried out, "Come forth, O emperor; the king of kings and lord of lords calls you," and as the great crowd of people raised a cry and wailing and lamentation, and as he proclaimed this a third time, immediately lifting up the sovereign they brought him out from the royal palace to the main thoroughfare, and carried him to the church of the Holy Apostles, with the whole senate escorting him, and magnifying the procession with processional hymns. (53) And what needs to be said of the assembled people and crowd of the city, some viewing that royal bier from on high, others watching from nearby, and some leaning out from buildings and 468 lofty and high dwellings and throwing themselves toward the sight of the bier, while others mourned secretly and were shaken with heartfelt groans, and others were rent with laments, and some others wailed more shrilly, and were pressed together and mourned at the common misfortune, while some even poured forth tears in streams and watered and sprinkled the gold-inlaid bier. And when they approached the church of the Holy Apostles and the royal body, escorted by guards, was seen inside, the patrikios and parakoimomenos Basil, having with his own hands prepared his all-holy body, as is the custom to do for the dead, and the tomb, that is, the sarcophagus, having been made ready and raised, laid him with Leo the emperor, his father. But the most beloved son did not turn away from his fatherly unity and love even after death and burial. 54 In appearance, the porphyrogennetos Constantine the emperor was tall in stature, white in complexion like milk, with fine eyes, having cheerful eyes, hook-nosed or aquiline, long-faced, rosy, long-necked, upright in stature like a cypress, broad in the shoulders, well-mannered, affable to all and for the most part shy, a lover of banquets and a lover of wine, pleasant in his words, and rich in gifts and support. This man from his birth until his death lived fifty-five years, two months, ..... days. and he died on the fifteenth of the month of November, 469 in the third indiction, in the year from the creation of the world

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καὶ ἀπωδύρετο τὸν καλὸν ανακτα, τὸν γλυκύν, τὸν εὐ- προσηνῆ, τὸν εὐπρόσιτον, τὸν γαληνόν, καὶ οσοις αλλοις χρὴ ὀνόμασι καλέσαι τὸν ανδρα πρὸς ους τῷ πόθῳ συνδέδεται. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ τελευταῖα πνέων ὡρᾶτο ὁ πορφυρογέννητος Κωνσταντῖνος, ̔Ρωμανὸν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ αὐτοκράτορα βασιλέα ἐποίησεν, παρα- δοὺς καὶ ὁρκώσας ̓Ιωσὴφ πατρίκιον καὶ πραιπόσιτον τοῦ διαφυ- λάξαι αὐτὸν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐντρεχείᾳ καὶ πυκνώσει· καὶ γὰρ τοιοῦτος ην ὁ ἀνήρ, πυκνὸς καὶ ὀρθὸς καὶ πιστὸς καὶ πρὸς τὰ πολιτικὰ διοικήματα ἀετοῦ ταχύτερος, εἰς δὲ τὸ ἀπροσωπόληπτον καὶ εὐσε- βὴς καὶ δίκαιος, ὡς τοιοῦτον ετερον μὴ γνωρίζεσθαι. 52 Αὐγοῦστα ̔Ελένη σὺν καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῆς καὶ τῷ πατρικίῳ καὶ παρακοιμωμένῳ Βασιλείῳ καὶ τοῖς κοιτωνίταις, ὡς ἑώρων τὸν ανακτα Κωνσταντῖνον ψυχορραγοῦντα καὶ συγκοπτό- μενον, περιχυθέντες τῇ κλίνῃ κλαυθμοῖς καὶ ὀδυρμοῖς ἀμέτροις 467 περιρραίνοντες ἀπωλοφύροντο καὶ ἀπωδύροντο τοιοῦτον δεσπότην, καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν ὠφέλησαν η κωφοῖς καὶ κενοῖς δάκρυσι καταπλύ- νοντες τὸ βασιλικὸν ἐκεῖνο σῶμα. καὶ δὴ τὴν κλίνην αὐτοῦ ἀμφο- τέρων περικυκλούντων καὶ ταῖς πολλαῖς οἰμωγαῖς κοπτομένων, καὶ πρὸς τὰ τέλη πάντη ων ὁ γλυκὺς καὶ πλουτοδότης βασιλεύς, χορο- στασίαι ἁγίων καὶ δικαίων μοναχῶν τε καὶ μαρτύρων καὶ ἱεραρχῶν παρίσταντο, καὶ τὸ πανάγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα χερσὶν ἀγγελικαῖς παρέθεντο. καὶ τάχιον τοῦτον ἀποσμήξαντες προέθηκαν ἐν τοῖς δεκαεννέα ἀκουβίτοις. καὶ ψαλμοῖς τοῦτον τελέσαντες παρευθὺ ἐξήγαγον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Χαλκῆν ἀποθέντες, τελευταῖον ἀσπασμὸν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ οἱ μάγιστροι καὶ οἱ πατρίκιοι καὶ ἡ πᾶσα σύγκλητος κατησπάζοντο· καὶ ὁ τῆς καταστάσεως, ὡς εθος ην, ἀνακράξας "εξελθε, βασιλεῦ· καλεῖ σε ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν βα- σιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων," καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τοῦ οχλου βοὴν καὶ κωκυτὸν καὶ ὀδυρμὸν βαλλόντων, καὶ τοῦ τρίτου τοῦτο φωνήσαντος, παρευθὺ αραντες τὸν ανακτα ἐξήγαγον ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλικῶν δόμων ἐπὶ τὴν λεωφόρον, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ναὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων εφερον, τῆς συγκλήτου πάσης προπεμπούσης, καὶ ᾳσμασι προπομπίοις τὴν εξοδον μεγαλύνοντες. (53) καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν εἰς τὸν συνελθόντα λαὸν καὶ οχλον τῆς πολιτείας, τῶν μὲν ἀφ' υψους τὸ βασιλικὸν ἐκεῖνο σκῆνος κατοπτευόντων, τῶν δὲ πλησίον παραθεωρούντων, καὶ αλλων μὲν ἐξ οἰκοδομῶν καὶ 468 οἰκημάτων μετεώρων καὶ ὑψηλῶν προκυπτόντων καὶ πρὸς τὴν θέαν τῆς κλίνης ἐπιρριπτόντων, τῶν δὲ κρυφίως μυρομένων καὶ στεναγμοῖς ἐγκαρδίοις κλονουμένων, καὶ αλλων ὀδυρμοῖς καταξαινομέ- νων, καὶ αλλων τινῶν ὀξύτερον ἐπικωκυόντων, καὶ συνθλιβόμενοι καὶ ἀπολοφυρόμενοι τῷ κοινῷ δυστυχήματι, τινῶν δὲ καὶ τὰ δά- κρυα κρουνηδὸν προχεόντων καὶ τὴν χρυσοκόλλητον κλίνην καταρ- δευόντων καὶ καταρραινόντων. ὡς δὲ τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστό- λων προσήγγισαν καὶ εσω τὸ βασιλικὸν δορυφορούμενον ἐφαίνετο σῶμα, ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ παρακοιμώμενος Βασίλειος τὸ πανάγων αὐτοῦ σῶμα ταῖς οἰκείαις, ὡς εθος τοῖς νεκροῖς ποιεῖν, λαζαρώσας, καὶ τοῦ τάφου ητοι τοῦ λάρνακος εὐτρεπισθέντος καὶ σηκω- θέντος, κατέθετο μετὰ Λέοντος βασιλέως τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. τὴν δὲ πατρικὴν ἑνότητα καὶ ἀγάπην οὐδὲ μετὰ θάνατον καὶ ταφὴν ὁ φίλτατος υἱὸς ἀπέστρεψεν. 54 Ην τῇ ἰδέᾳ ὁ πορφυρογέννητος Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ βα- σιλεὺς εὐμήκης τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, λευκὸς τῇ χροιᾷ ὡσεὶ γάλα, εὐόφθαλ- μος, χαροποιοὺς εχων ὀφθαλμούς, γρυπὸς ητοι ἐπίριν, μακρο- πρόσωπος, ῥοδινός, μακροτράχηλος, τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ορθιος ὡσεὶ κυ- πάρισσος, εὐρὺς τοῖς ωμοις, καλότροπος, προσηνὴς τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ δειλός, φιλοτράπεζος καὶ φίλοινος, ἡδὺς τοῖς λόγοις, καὶ τοῖς δώροις καὶ ταῖς ἀντιλήψεσι πλούσιος. ουτος ἀπὸ τῆς γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ μέχρι θανάτου αὐτοῦ εζησεν χρόνους πεντή- κοντα πέντε μῆνας δύο ἡμέρας ..... ἐτελεύτησεν δὲ μηνὶ Νοεμ- 469 βρίῳ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἰνδικτιῶνος τρίτης, ετους ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου