200

Adding to these his lineage and the fame from his lineage ... he sent a competent general against Tancred in Cilicia, having honored him as commander-in-chief, as I have already written.

12.3.1 But so much for these matters; to the leaders who were tarrying in the west he sent other dispatches, instructing them to make their way straight to Sthlanitza. What then? Did he summon his champions while he himself lay back enjoying his leisure and using the baths, as kings who prefer a pastoral life are accustomed to do? By no means, but he no longer endured to stay around the palace at all. Having departed from Byzantium, as has been said above, he had come to the middle of the western regions, having reached the city of Thessalus in the month of September of the fourteenth indiction, it being the twentieth year since he had girded on the reins of empire. 12.3.2 And he compelled the Augusta to come out with him. For her character was something like this: she did not wish to appear in public at all, but for the most part she stayed at home and did her own work, I mean the unrolling of books of the blessed men and turning her mind to herself and acts of kindness and favors to people, especially to those whom she knew served God by their habit and their life, and devoted themselves to prayer and appropriate hymns. But whenever she was about to appear in public as empress for some most necessary reason, she was filled with modesty and a blush immediately bloomed on her cheeks. 12.3.3 The philosopher Theano, when her forearm was bared and someone said to her in jest: "The forearm is beautiful." -"But not for public view," she said. But the empress and my mother, the very image of modesty, the abode of holiness, not only did she not like to expose her forearm or her glance to the public, but she did not even want her voice to be conveyed to unfamiliar ears; so wonderful a creature was she in her modesty. But since, as they say, not even the gods fight against necessity, she was forced to accompany him on the emperor's frequent expeditions. 12.3.4 For her innate modesty kept her within the palace, but her affection for the emperor and her ardent love for him led her out of the palace, even unwillingly, for these reasons. First, because the disease of the feet that had befallen him required the greatest care. For the emperor had sharp pains from his gouty condition and he would not accept any touch as he did that of my lady and mother. For she ministered to him harmoniously and by touching skillfully she somehow relieved the pains in his feet. For that emperor (and let no one blame me for boasting; for I admire what is my own; nor let anyone suspect me of lying about the emperor; for I speak the truth) put everything of his own and concerning himself second to the safety of the cities. For nothing separated him from his love for the Christians, not pains, not pleasures, not the evils of wars, not anything else, not small not great, not the flames of the sun, not the rigors of winter, not attacks of barbarians of every kind. But he was unyielding towards all these things and though he cowered before the onslaught of his illnesses, he sprang up to the aid of public affairs. 12.3.5 A second and very great reason for the empress to be a companion to the emperor was that, since many conspirators were springing up from all sides, he required much supervision and, as it were, a many-eyed power. For the night was treacherous for him and the middle of the day, and the evening brought forth some evil, and the morning devised the worst things; God is witness to these things. Was it not necessary, then, for the emperor, plotted against by so many evils, to be guarded by countless eyes, some aiming their arrows at him, others the sword

200

τούτοις ἐπισυνάψας τὸ γένος καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους εὔκλειαν ... ἀξιόμαχον στρατηγὸν ἀποστέλλει κατὰ τὴν Κιλικίαν πρὸς τὸν Ταγγρὲ στρατοπεδάρχην τετιμηκώς, καθάπερ φθάσασα γέγραφα.

12.3.1 Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τούτων· πρὸς δέ γε τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐνδιατρίβοντας ἡγεμόνας ἑτέρας ἐκπέμπει γραφὰς κατευθὺ Σθλανίτζης τὴν πορείαν ἐντειλάμενος ποιεῖσθαι. Τί δέ; Τοὺς μὲν προμάχους μετεκαλεῖτο, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀναπεπτώκει ῥᾳστώνης ἀπολαύων καὶ βαλανείοις χρώ μενος, ὁποῖα εἰώθασιν οἱ τὸν βοσκηματώδη βίον προελόμε νοι βασιλεῖς; Οὐμενοῦν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ περὶ τὰ ἀνάκτορα ὅλως ἐνδιατρίβειν ἔτι ἠνέσχετο. Ἐξεληλυθὼς δὲ τοῦ Βυζαντίου, ὡς ἄνωθεν εἴρηται, κατὰ τὸ μέσον τῶν ἑσπερίων ἐληλύθει χωρῶν τὴν Θετταλοῦ πόλιν καταλαβὼν εἰς μῆνα Σεπτέμ βριον ἐπινεμήσεως τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτης εἰκοστοῦ ἔτους ὄντος, ἐξ οὗ τὰς τῆς βασιλείας ἡνίας περιεζώσατο. 12.3.2 Καὶ τὴν Αὔγουσταν δὲ παρεβιάσατο συνεξεληλυθέναι μετ' αὐτοῦ. Ὁ γὰρ τρόπος ἐκείνης τοιοῦτός τις ἦν· οὐ πάνυ τι δημοσιεύεσθαι ἤθελεν, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλὰ μὲν οἰκουροῦσα ἦν καὶ τὰ ἐκείνης ἔργα ἐποίει, λέγω δὲ βίβλων τε ἀνελίξεις τῶν μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπιστρέφειν καὶ εὐποιίας καὶ χάριτας εἰς ἀνθρώπους, μάλιστα δὲ εἰς ἐκεί νους οὓς οἶδεν ἀπό τε τοῦ σχήματος ἀπό τε τοῦ βίου θεραπεύειν Θεὸν καὶ προσευχῇ προσανέχειν καὶ καταλλή λοις ᾠδαῖς. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ μέλλοι δημοσιεύειν ἑαυτὴν κατά τινα χρείαν ἀναγκαιοτάτην ὡς βασιλίδα, αἰδοῦς τε ὑπεπίμ πλατο καὶ ἐρύθημα εὐθὺς ἐξηνθήκει ταῖς παρειαῖς. 12.3.3 Καὶ ἡ μὲν φιλόσοφος Θεανὼ τοῦ πήχεως αὐτῆς γυμνωθέν τος, ἐπειδή τις παίζων εἰρήκει πρὸς ταύτην· «Καλὸς ὁ πῆχυς». -»Ἀλλ' οὐ δημόσιος», εἶπεν ἐκείνη. Ἡ δὲ βασιλὶς καὶ μήτηρ ἐμή, τὸ τῆς σεμνότητος ἄγαλμα, τὸ τῆς ἁγιότητος καταγώγιον, μὴ ὅτι γε πῆχυν ἢ βλέμμα δημο σιεύειν ἠγάπα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ φωνὴν ἐκείνης ἤθελεν εἰς ἀσυνή θεις παραπέμπεσθαι ἀκοάς· τοσοῦτον ἦν ἐκείνη χρῆμα θαυμάσιον εἰς αἰδῶ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀνάγκῃ οὐδὲ θεοί, φησι, μάχονται, ἀναγκάζεται πρὸς τὰς συχνὰς τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐκστρατεύσεις αὐτῷ παρακολουθεῖν. 12.3.4 Κατεῖχε μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἡ σύμφυτος αἰδὼς ἔνδον τῶν βασιλείων, τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα φίλτρον καὶ ἡ διάπυρος πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀγάπη ἐξῆγεν αὐτὴν καὶ μὴ βουλομένην τῶν ἀνακτόρων διὰ ταυτασὶ τὰς αἰτίας. Πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τὸ συμπεσὸν αὐτῷ νόσημα τῶν ποδῶν ἐπιμελείας ἐδεῖτο πλείστης. Καὶ γὰρ ἀλγηδόνας εἶχε δριμείας ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐκ τῆς ποδαλγικῆς διαθέσεως καὶ οὐδεμίαν ἐπαφὴν οὕτω προσίετο ὡς τῆς ἐμῆς δεσποίνης καὶ μητρός. Ἐμμελῶς τε γὰρ αὐτῷ προσε φέρετο καὶ ψαύουσα δεξιῶς τὰς ὀδύνας τῶν ποδῶν ὑπεκού φιζέ πως. Ὁ γάρ τοι βασιλεὺς ἐκεῖνος (καὶ μοὶ μηδεὶς τῆς περιαυτολογίας ἐπιμεμφέσθω· τὰ γὰρ οἰκεῖα θαυμάζω· μηδ' ὡς καταψευδομένην τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ὑφοράσθω· τὰ γὰρ ἀληθῆ λέγω) πάντα τὰ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν κατόπιν ἐποιεῖτο τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν πόλεων. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐχώριζεν αὐτὸν τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀγάπης, οὐκ ἀλγηδόνες, οὐχ ἡδοναί, οὐ πολέμων κακώσεις, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδέν, οὐ μικρὸν οὐ μέγα, οὐχ ἡλίου φλογώσεις, οὐ χειμώνων δριμύτητες, οὐ προσβολαὶ βαρβάρων παντοδαπαί. Ἀλλ' ἀκλινῶς εἶχε πρὸς ἅπαντα ταῦτα καὶ ὤκλαζε μὲν πρὸς τὴν φύρσιν τῶν νοση μάτων, ἀντανέθορε δὲ πρὸς τὴν βοήθειαν τῶν πραγμάτων. 12.3.5 ∆εύτερον δὲ καὶ μέγιστον αἴτιον τοῦ τὴν βασιλίδα συνο παδὸν εἶναι τῷ αὐτοκράτορι, ὅτι τοι πολλῶν ἐπιβούλων ἀναφυομένων ἁπανταχόθεν πολλῆς ἐδεῖτο τῆς ἐπιβλέψεως καὶ ὡς ὄντως πολυομμάτου δυνάμεως. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ νὺξ αὐτῷ ἐπίβουλος ἣν καὶ τὸ μεσαίτατον τῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ ἡ ἑσπέρα προσανέφυέ τι κακόν, καὶ ἡ πρῴα ἐτέκταινε χεί ριστα· μάρτυς τούτων Θεός. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐκ ἔδει τὸν βασιλέα ὑπὸ τοσούτων κακῶν ἐπιβουλευόμενον ὑπὸ μυρίων ὀμμάτων φρουρεῖσθαι, τῶν μὲν ἐπιτοξαζόντων αὐτῷ, τῶν δὲ τὸ ξίφος