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clasping and lying on his neck, did not help at all, but only with deaf and empty tears. Again, after the passage of some days, the emperor moved them from there, and he assigned Zoe, Theodora, and Theophano to the convent of Antiochus, and he sent Agatha to the monastery founded and established by Romanos, who was emperor at that time and the emperor's472 grandfather; and he decreed that they be supplied with the same things that they were given in the palace. 4 And he honored Nikephoros Phokas, the magistros and domestic of the schools, and sent him out to the East against the deniers of Christ; and he appointed his brother, the patrikios Leo, as strategos, whom not long after he made magistros and domestic of the West. And it was possible to see the emperor enjoying himself, and living in the country entirely occupied with hunts and the chase, so that he completely avoided the royal palace and entrusted the care of the army to the brothers, while he himself rejoiced and exulted in the hunts outside Byzantium, associating with his peers and flatterers and ill-counseling pimps. 5 What could one say about the tirelessness and uprightness and valor and manliness and goodness of the emperor? In a single day, he both sat in the Hippodrome, and feasted with the senate, and provided the distribution of silver coins, and in the afternoon played polo in the tzykanisterion with skilled and experienced men, often defeating them, then moved to a different station at Anoratas, and having hunted there four enormous boars, he returned to the palace in the evening. For he was young in age, vigorous in body, wheat-colored, with beautiful eyes, a prominent nose, a rosy face, 473 cheerful and sweet in his words, straight in his stature like a cypress, broad in the shoulders, quiet and affable, so that all were amazed and astounded by the man. The state rejoiced because of him, as he was successful and held sway over the nations. And for Byzantium the grain supplies and provisions furnished were abundant. 6 The emperor Romanos also begot another son after the death of his father, naming him Constantine. And not long after he is crowned by Patriarch Polyeuktos on the ambo of Hagia Sophia. And the Augusta Helen, being bedridden in the palace and rejoicing with the emperor, and having been sick for a considerable time, died piously on the nineteenth of the month of September; and having honored her with a royal funeral, and having been placed on a bier glued with gold and adorned with pearls and gems, with the senate escorting her, she is buried in the monastery established by her father, the emperor Romanos, which is at the Myrelaion, in a sarcophagus near and next to his father. 7 And the good, the sweet, the affable emperor—and by whatever good names it is right to call and name the man—decreed that the magistros and domestic of the schools, Nikephoros Phokas, should go to Crete with an expedition and a great force and an armament of warships and Greek fire; for the Cretans were committing many terrible and evil acts and takings of captives every day in the land of the Romans, ever since they sacked this great 474 island. For they seized it in the time of Michael the Amorian, the father of Theophilos, and the Saracens who came up from Spain, finding an opportunity in the rebellion and tyranny of Thomas the Slav, the foster-brother of Michael (for the tyrant held Thrace and Macedonia for almost three years or more), seized it with a large fleet of warships, so that their dominion and possession of it lasted one hundred and fifty-eight years, until the day they were sacked by the magistros and domestic Nikephoros Phokas. (8) wherefore the emperor Romanos, moved by divine zeal, on the

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σφιγγουσῶν καὶ τῷ τραχήλῳ ἐπικειμένων, πλέον οὐδὲν ὠφέλησαν ἡ κωφοῖς καὶ κενοῖς δάκρυσι. πάλιν δὲ αὐτὰς μετὰ διίππευσιν ἡμερῶν ἀπ' ἐκεῖσε ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ μετέθηκεν, καὶ τὴν μὲν Ζωὴν καὶ Θεοδώραν καὶ Θεοφανὼ εἰς τὰ ̓Αντιόχου ἐκλήρωσεν, τὴν ̓Αγάθην εἰς τὸ ἱδρυνθὲν καὶ κατασκηνωθὲν φροντιστήριον παρὰ ̔Ρωμανοῦ τοῦ τηνικαῦτα βασιλεύσαντος καὶ πάππου τοῦ αὐτοκρά472 τορος ἀπέστειλεν· καὶ διωρίσατο χορηγεῖσθαι αὐτὰς α καὶ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ἐδίδοντο. 4 Τὸν δὲ Νικηφόρον καὶ δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν τὸν τοῦ Φωκᾶ μάγιστρον ἐτίμησεν καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἀρνητῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ ἑῴᾳ ἐξέπεμψεν· καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ πατρίκιον τὸν Λέοντα στρατηγὸν προεβάλετο, οντινα καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ μάγιστρον καὶ δομέστικον τῆς δύσεως ἐποίησεν. καὶ ην ἰδεῖν τὸν ανακτα εὐ- φραινόμενον, καὶ ἐν κυνηγίοις καὶ θήραις δι' ολου ἀγροδιαιτοῦντα, ὡς τὸν βασιλικὸν δόμον πάντη ἀποστρεφόμενον καὶ τὴν φροντίδα τοῦ στρατοῦ τοῖς αὐταδέλφοις καταπιστεύσαντα, αὐτὸς εχαιρεν καὶ ἠγαλλιᾶτο τοῖς κυνηγίοις εξω τοῦ Βυζαντίου, μετὰ τῶν ὁμη- λίκων καὶ κολάκων καὶ κακοσυμβούλων μαστρωπῶν συναναστρε- φόμενος. 5 Τί δὲ αν ειπῃ τις περὶ τῆς ἀοκνίας καὶ εὐθύτητος καὶ ἀνδραγαθίας ἀνδρίας τε καὶ ἀγαθότητος τοῦ ανακτος; ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱππικῷ καθεσθεὶς καὶ τῇ συγκλήτῳ συνεστιαθεὶς καὶ τὴν δόσιν τῶν ἀργυρίων παρασχών, καὶ τῇ δείλῃ ἐν τζυκανι- στηρίῳ σφαιρίσας μετὰ τῶν δοκίμων καὶ ἐμπείρων καὶ πολλάκις τούτους νικήσας, εἰς μεταστάσιμον εἰς ̓Ανωράτας μετέβη, κἀκεῖσε θηρεύσας παμμεγέθεις χοίρους τέσσαρας καὶ κυνηγήσας πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ ἀντεπέρασεν. ην γὰρ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ νέος, σφρι- γῶν τῷ σώματι, σιτόχροος, εὐόφθαλμος, ἐπίριν, ῥοδινοπρόσω- 473 πος, χαροποιὸς καὶ γλυκὺς τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ορθιος τῇ ἡλικίᾳ ὡσεὶ κυπάρισσος, εὐρὺς τοῖς ωμοις, ησυχος καὶ προσηνής, ὡς πάντας θαμβεῖσθαι καὶ ἐκπλήττεσθαι τὸν ανδρα. συνέχαιρεν δι' αὐτὸν ἡ πολιτεία ὡς εὐτυχοῦντα καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν κρατοῦντα. καὶ τῷ Βυζαντίῳ πλούσιαι αἱ σιτήσεις καὶ αἱ τροφαὶ χορηγούμεναι. 6 ̔Ο δὲ βασιλεὺς ̔Ρωμανὸς καὶ ετερον υἱὸν μετὰ θάνα-τον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεγέννησεν, Κωνσταντῖνον τοῦτον ὀνομά- σας. καὶ [οὐ] μετ' οὐ πολὺ στέφεται παρὰ Πολυεύκτου πατριάρ- χου ἐν τῷ αμβωνι τῆς ἁγίας Σοφίας. ἡ δὲ Αὐγοῦστα ̔Ελένη ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ουσα κλινήρης καὶ συναγαλλομένη τῷ ανακτι, καὶ ἐπὶ ἱκανοὺς χρόνους ἀρρωστοῦσα, εὐσεβῶς τέθνηκεν κατὰ τὴν ἐννεα- καιδεκάτην τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνός· καὶ ταύτην βασιλικῶς τιμή- σας, καὶ ἐν τῇ χρυσοκολλήτῳ καὶ διὰ μαργαριτῶν καὶ λίθων κλί- νῃ τεθεῖσα, τῆς συγκλήτου προπεμπούσης, ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ τῷ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς ̔Ρωμανοῦ βασιλέως συσταθέντι, τῷ οντι εἰς τὸ Μυρέλαιον, θάπτεται ἐν λάρνακι πλησίον καὶ σύνεγγυς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. 7 Τὸν δὲ μάγιστρον καὶ δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν Νικηφόρον τὸν τοῦ Φωκᾶ ὁ αναξ ὁ χρηστός, ὁ ἡδύς, ὁ προσηνής, καὶ οσοις ὀνόμασι χρὴ καλεῖσθαι καλοῖς καὶ τὸν ανδρα ὀνομάζειν, μετὰ ἐκστρατείας καὶ δυνάμεως πολλῆς καὶ ἐξοπλίσεως καραβίων πολεμικῶν καὶ ὑγροῦ πυρὸς εἰς Κρήτην διωρίσατο ἀπελθεῖν· οἱ γὰρ Κρητικοὶ πολλὰ δεινὰ καὶ κακὰ καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας καθ' ἑκάστην εἰς τὴν ̔Ρωμαίων γῆν ἐποιοῦντο, ἀφ' οτου ταύτην τὴν μεγάλην 474 νῆσον ἐπόρθησαν. ἐπὶ γὰρ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ ̓Αμορραίου τοῦ πατρὸς Θεοφίλου ταύτην ἐκράτησαν, καὶ τῶν στρατευμάτων εἰς τὴν στά- σιν καὶ τυραννίδα τοῦ Μωροθωμᾶ τοῦ συντρόφου τοῦ Μιχαήλ (καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τρισὶ χρόνοις σχεδὸν καὶ πλεῖον τὴν Θρᾳκικὴν καὶ Μακεδονικὴν ἐκράτησεν ὁ τύραννος) εὐκαιρίαν εὑρόντες οἱ ἀπὸ Σπανίας ἀνελθόντες Σαρακηνοὶ μετὰ πολλοῦ στόλου πολεμικῶν καραβίων κατέσχον ταύτην, ὡς ειναι τὴν τούτων διακράτησιν καὶ κατάσχεσιν εως τῆς ἡμέρας ης ἐπορθήθησαν παρὰ τοῦ μαγίστρου καὶ δομεστίκου Νικηφόρου τοῦ Φωκᾶ ετη ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα ὀκτώ. (8) οθεν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ̔Ρωμανὸς ζήλῳ θείῳ κινηθείς, τῇ