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of the image, which was set up in the Chalke, the divine veil, which was hung before the icon, having been brought, was spread upon the bed on which the sick one lay, and covered his body, and the severity of the illness immediately subsided. And he both moved and sat up and spoke and asked for water for his hands and tasted of food; and he was recovering, and the illness was ending. But to the many the recovery was unbelievable. So that, at least, the doubters might be fully convinced about this, after a short while he rode on horseback through the agora. But thus the emperor was rid of the illness; but again a groundless fear crept into the 752 city-dwelling people; for a rumor went about everywhere that the emperor was going to die on the Great Saturday of that year, and this rumor took hold not only of the common multitude, but also of those in authority and those around the ruler, and it shook the soul of the emperor himself, and this though he was not sick nor had anything troubling him. But when the said day arrived, the rumor was proven to be false and everyone was freed from their wicked expectations. Not much time passed after these things, and the emperor of Byzantium journeyed away, taking the women's quarters with him, and this during the winter season, and he encamped in the Thracian Chersonese. And when the winter had passed and the spring dawned, summer was already at hand, and the ruler did not move from there, until an illness befell the empress. Then the Augusta was sent ahead on a royal trireme, but the emperor still remained, staying there and inspecting the military registers, until he had learned that the empress had reached the palace. Then departing from there, in a single day he reached 753 the great city. And she was recovering, but he was occupied with the administration, for the most part spending his time at the Philopation. And he had adopted some such practice; he appointed set days, on which he would sit there in public, looking out towards a broad plain. And access to him was permitted to anyone who wished it, and each of the petitioners would hold up a petition explaining what he needed. And when these were placed before him, he would command the undersecretaries to come forward and make known to him the requests of each one, and immediately he would order that a reply be made for each, and being confirmed, to be given to the petitioners. And this was maintained by the emperor for a considerable time. Then again he journeyed away from Byzantium, as autumn was already waning; and the empress was with him and the women's quarters followed, and he encamped around the foothills of Mount Papikion. There, having spent the whole winter season, as spring was just beginning, he departed from there and reached Philippopolis. Around the borders of this city, then, the emperor Alexios encamped and spent the springtime and the summer and now also much of the autumn, and the work of his sojourn there was dialogue with the Manichaeans, whom the common tongue calls Pau754licians; for a great number of this race was settled in this country, the emperor John Tzimiskes having transferred them from the east and settled them in this place; and in dialogue with them he converted many to the orthodox faith. And now, in the middle of autumn, he returned to the palace. And since the empress was very powerful, her son-in-law, Bryennios the Caesar, also had great influence, and through him everything managed in the palaces was announced. Therefore all approached him and he was permitted to judge and he administered justice like an emperor; for the man was also devoted to letters, and his wife no less, if not even more than he, clung to literary education and had a tongue that was precisely Atticizing and a mind most sharp for lofty theorems. These things she possessed by sharpness of nature and by diligence; for she had devoted herself to books and to learned men and did not converse with them superficially. Thus, as has been said, with matters having turned out for the Caesar, the man was sung of on every tongue. But these things to the

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ἐκτυπώματος, ὃς ἐν τῇ Χαλκῇ ἀνεστήλωται, τὸ θεῖον πέπλον, ὃ πρὸ τῆς εἰκόνος ᾐώρηται, κομισθὲν ἐφηπλώθη τῇ κλίνῃ ἐφ' ἧς ὁ κάμνων κατέκειτο, καὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα περιεκάλυψε, καὶ ἡ τῆς νόσου σφοδρότης ὑπεδίδου εὐθύς. ὁ δὲ κεκίνητό τε καὶ ἀνεκάθισε καὶ ἐφώνησε καὶ ᾔτησεν ὕδωρ κατὰ χειρὸς καὶ τροφῆς ἀπεγεύσατο· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀνερρώννυτο, ἡ δὲ νόσος ὑπέληγε. τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς ἄπιστος ἦν ἡ ἀνάρρωσις. ἵνα γοῦν πληροφορηθῶσι περὶ ταύτης οἱ ἀμφιβάλλοντες, ἔφιππος μετ' ὀλίγον διῆλθε τὴν ἀγοράν. ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν τῆς νόσου ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἀπήλλακτο· αὖθις δὲ τὸν 752 ἀστυπολοῦντα λαὸν δέος ὑπεισῄει ἀναίτιον· φήμη γὰρ περιῄει ἁπανταχοῦ τεθνάναι μέλλειν κατὰ τὸ μέγα σάββατον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου τὸν αὐτοκράτορα, καὶ οὐ τοῦ δημώδους μόνου πλήθους ἡ φήμη κατεκράτησεν αὕτη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸν κρατοῦντα, καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως διέσεισε τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ ταῦτα μηδὲ νοσοῦντος μηδέ τι τὸ ἐνοχλοῦν ἔχοντος. ἐπιστάσης δὲ τῆς λεγομένης ἡμέρας ἠλέγχθη τὸ φημιζόμενον μάταιον καὶ τῶν πονηρῶν προσδοκιῶν ἀπηλλάγησαν ξύμπαντες. Οὐ πολὺς ἐπὶ τούτοις παρῆλθε καιρός, καὶ τῆς Βυζαντίδος ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἀποδημεῖ καὶ τῆν γυναικωνῖτιν συνεπαγόμενος, καὶ ταῦτα καθ' ὥραν χειμέριον, καὶ σκηνοῖ κατὰ τὴν Θρᾳκῴαν Χερρόνησον. τοῦ δὲ χειμῶνος παρελθόντος καὶ τοῦ ἔαρος ἀναλάμψαντος, ἤδη καὶ τὸ θέρος ἐφίστατο, κἀκεῖθεν ὁ κρατῶν οὐ μεθίστατο, ἕως νόσος τῇ βασιλίσσῃ ἐνέσκηψε. τότε δὲ προεπέμφθη μὲν ἡ Αὐγούστα τριήρει βασιλικῇ, ὁ βασιλεὺς δ' ἔτι ἔμενε διάγων ἐκεῖ καὶ τοὺς στρατιωτικοὺς καταλόγους ἐπισκεπτόμενος, μέχρις ἂν ἐμεμαθήκει ὡς ἡ βασιλὶς κατηντήκει πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια. εἶτ' ἐκεῖθεν ἀπάρας διὰ μιᾶς ἡμέρας κατειλήφει 753 τὴν μεγαλόπολιν. καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀνερρώννυτο, ὁ δὲ τῶν διοικήσεων εἴχετο, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ κατὰ τὸ Φιλοπάτιον ποιούμενος τὰς διατριβάς. καί οἱ τοιοῦτόν τι ἐπιτετήδευτο· τεταγμένας ἡμέρας ὡρίσατο, καθ' ἃς ἐκεῖσε δημοσίᾳ προὐκάθητο ἀφορῶν πρὸς πεδιάδα πλατεῖαν. τῷ βουλομένῳ δὲ ἡ εἰς ἐκεῖνον εἴσοδος συγκεχώρητο, καὶ ἕκαστος τῶν δεομένων ἐπανετείνετο δεητήριον διδακτικὸν ὅτου δέοιτο. καὶ ταῦτα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τιθέμενα ἐπέταττε τοῖς ὑπογραμματεύουσιν ἐπιέναι καὶ γνωρίζειν αὐτῷ τὰς ἑκάστων αἰτήσεις, καὶ αὐτίκα τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ἀντιγραφὴν προσέταττε γίνεσθαι καὶ βεβαιουμένην τοῖς δεομένοις παρέχεσθαι. καὶ τοῦτ' ἐπὶ χρόνον ἱκανὸν ἐτηρεῖτο τῷ αὐτοκράτορι. εἶτ' αὖθις ἀποδημεῖ τῆς Βυζαντίδος, φθίνοντος ἤδη τοῦ μετοπώρου· συνῆν δ' ἐκείνῳ καὶ ἡ βασίλισσα καὶ ἡ γυναικωνῖτις συνείπετο, καὶ περὶ τοὺς πρόποδας τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Παπυκίου κατασκηνοῖ. ἔνθα τὸ τῆς ὥρας χειμέριον διαγαγὼν παγγενῆ, ἄρτι ἠργμένου τοῦ ἔαρος ἐκεῖθεν ἀπάρας τὴν Φιλιππούπολιν κατέλαβε. περὶ ταύτης οὖν τὰ ὅρια ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος σκηνωσάμενος ἐκεῖ τὸν ἐαρινόν τε καιρὸν καὶ τὸν θέρειον ἤδη δὲ καὶ πολὺ τοῦ μετοπώρου διέτριβε, καὶ ἦν ἔργον αὐτῷ τῆς ἐκεῖσε διατριβῆς ἡ μετὰ τῶν Μανιχαίων διάλεξις, οὓς Παυ754 λικιάνους ἡ δημώδης ὀνομάζει φωνή· πολὺ γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ γένος ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ ταύτῃ κατῴκισται, τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰωάννου τοῦ Τζιμισκῆ μεταγαγόντος ἐκ τῆς ἑῴας αὐτὸ κἀν ταύτῃ ἐγκατοικίσαντος· οἷς διαλεγόμνεος πολλοὺς πρὸς τὴν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν μετήνεγκεν. ἤδη δὲ μεσοῦντος τοῦ μετοπώρου ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια. τῆς δὲ βασιλίσσης μέγα δεδυνημένης, καὶ τῷ κηδεστῇ τῷ Βρυεννίῳ τῷ Καίσαρι πολλή τις ἦν ἰσχὺς καὶ δι' ἐκείνου πᾶν ἐν τοῖς ἀνακτόροις οἰκονομούμενον ἐκπεφώνητο. διὸ καὶ πάντες ἐκείνῳ προσῄεσαν καὶ δικάζειν αὐτῷ ἐπετέτραπτο καὶ βασιλικῶς ἐθεμίστευεν· ἦν γὰρ καὶ λόγοις προσκείμενος ὁ ἀνήρ, καὶ ἡ σύνοικος δέ οἱ οὐδὲν ἧττον, εἰ μὴ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκείνου, τῆς ἐν λόγοις παιδείας ἀντείχετο καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν εἶχεν ἀκριβῶς ἀττικίζουσαν καὶ τὸν νοῦν πρὸς ὕψος θεωρημάτων ὀξύτατον. ταῦτα δ' αὐτῇ προσεγένετο φύσεως ὀξύτητι καὶ σπουδῇ· προσετετήκει γὰρ ταῖς βίβλοις καὶ λογίοις ἀνδράσι καὶ οὐ παρέργως ὡμίλει αὐτοῖς. οὕτω δ' ὡς εἴρηται τῷ Καίσαρι τῶν πραγμάτων συνενεχθέντων, διὰ πάσης ἦν γλώττης ᾀδόμενος ὁ ἀνήρ. ταῦτα δὲ τῷ