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he sends out sufficient forces for aid. Volcanus, therefore, being most wicked, immediately asks the emperor about peace and sends out the requested hostages. But he, having persevered for one year and two months, as he had been fully informed that Bohemond was still <ἐν> lingering in the regions of Lombardy, with winter now overtaking them, sent the soldiers to their own homes, and he himself occupied Thessalonica. And while he was making his way to Thessalonica, the first-born of the sons of the porphyrogenitus and emperor John was born at Balabista, bringing with him in birth also another, a female. There, at any rate, after celebrating the commemoration of the great martyr Demetrius, he enters the great city. 12.4.5 And something of this sort also happened. Near the middle of the Forum of Constantine, a certain bronze statue stood and was turned towards the east upon a conspicuous porphyry column, holding a scepter in its right hand, and in its left a sphere made of bronze. It was said, then, to be a statue of Apollo; but the inhabitants of Constantine's city, I think, called it Anthelios. Which that Constantine, great among emperors, and father and lord of the city, transferred to his own name, addressing it as the statue of the emperor Constantine. But the name given from the beginning prevailed for the statue, and it was called by all either Anelius or Anthelios. This statue, very broad south-west winds blowing suddenly pushed from there and threw to the ground, when the sun was then journeying through Taurus. which seemed to most people not a good omen, and especially to as many as were not well-disposed toward the emperor; for they whispered that the event foretold the emperor's death. But he said: "I know one lord of life and death, but I cannot believe at all that the fall of idols brings on death. For whenever some Phidias, so to speak, or one of the stonemasons, having carved a stone, should make an idol, will it both raise the dead and produce living things? And if these things are so, what will be left for the Creator of all? "For I will kill, and I will make to live," he says. And not the fall or raising of this or that idol." For he indeed referred all things to the greatest Providence of God.

12.5.1 But again another turmoil of evils had been stirred up against the emperor, which was not now being prepared by common men. For certain men, boasting greatly of their courage and the glory of their family, plotted against the imperial person, breathing murder. And I marvel, having come to this point in the history, whence so great a multitude of evils surrounded the emperor; for there was nothing, nothing at all from any quarter, which had not been set in motion against him. For affairs within were full of apostasy, and those without were teeming with rebellion. And with the emperor not yet having stood against the internal affairs, all external affairs were inflamed, as Fortune herself caused barbarians and domestic tyrants at the same time to spring up like some earth-born Giants, although the emperor was managing and administering all matters towards the more gentle and philanthropic, and there was no one whom he did not overwhelm with good things. 12.5.2 For some he honored with the distinctions of high office and never ceased enriching them with great gifts; and barbarians everywhere, though he himself gave no pretexts for wars nor brought compulsion upon them, he nevertheless checked when they became insolent, as it is the way of bad generals, when matters are quiet, themselves deliberately to provoke their neighbors to war. For peace is the end of every war, but to always choose for its own sake that which is for the sake of something .... and to always neglect the good end, this is the mark of foolish generals and demagogues and of those who contrive the ruin of the city. But the emperor Alexios did entirely the opposite and of keeping the peace

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προαποσταλέντος δυνάμεις ἀποχρώσας ἐκπέμπει εἰς ἀρωγήν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Βολκάνος εὐθὺς πονηρότατος ὢν ἐρωτᾷ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τὰ περὶ εἰρήνης καὶ τοὺς ζητη θέντας ὁμήρους ἐκπέμπει. Ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἐγκαρτερήσας ἐπὶ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕνα καὶ μῆνας δύο, ὡς τὸν Βαϊμοῦντον ἔτι <ἐν> τοῖς τῆς Λογγιβαρδίας μέρεσι διατρίβοντα ἐπεπληρο φόρητο, τοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπικαταλαμβάνοντος ἤδη, τοὺς στρατιώτας πρὸς τὰς σφῶν οἰκίας ἐξέπεμψεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν Θεσσαλονίκην καταλαμβάνει. Ἐν δὲ τῷ τὴν πρὸς Θεσσαλονίκην ἀνύειν ἐτέχθη ὁ πρωτότοκος τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου καὶ βασιλέως Ἰωάννου κατὰ τὴν Βαλα βίσταν συνεπαγόμενος ἐν τῷ τίκτεσθαι καὶ ἕτερον θῆλυ. Ἐκεῖσε γοῦν τὴν μνήμην τοῦ μεγαλομάρτυρος ∆ημητρίου ἐκτελέσας εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν. 12.4.5 Γέγονε δὲ καί τι τοιοῦτον. Περὶ τὰ μέσα τοῦ Κωνσταντινίου φόρου, χαλκοῦς τις ἀνδριὰς ἵστατο καὶ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἀπέστραπτο ἐπὶ πορφυροῦ κίονος περιόπτου, σκῆπτρον μὲν κατέχων τῇ δεξιᾷ, τῇ δὲ λαιᾷ σφαῖραν ἀπὸ χαλκοῦ κατασκευασθεῖ σαν. Ἐλέγετο δ' οὖν εἶναι οὗτος Ἀπόλλωνος ἀνδριάς· Ἀνθήλιον δέ, οἶμαι, οἱ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου οἰκήτορες αὐτὸν προσηγόρευον. Ὃν ὁ μέγας ἐν βασιλεῦσι Κωνσταν τῖνος ἐκεῖνος καὶ τῆς πόλεως καὶ πατὴρ καὶ δεσπότης εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μετέθηκεν ὄνομα, Κωνσταντίνου αὐτοκράτορος ἀνδριάντα αὐτὸν προσειπών. Ἐπεκράτησε δὲ ἡ ἀρχῆθεν τεθεῖσα προσηγορία τῷ ἀνδριάντι καὶ ἤτοι Ἀνήλιος ἢ Ἀνθήλιος ὑπὸ πάντων ἐλέγετο. Τοῦτον τὸν ἀνδριάντα ἐξ αἰφνιδίου πνεύσαντες ἄνεμοι πλατύτατοι λίβες ἐκεῖθέν τε ὧσαν καὶ εἰς γῆν ἔρριψαν, περὶ τὸν ταῦρον τοῦ ἡλίου τότε ὁδεύοντος. Ὅπερ οὐκ ἀγαθὸς οἰωνὸς τοῖς πλείοσιν ἔδοξε καὶ μᾶλλον, ὁπόσοι μὴ καλῶς πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα εἶχον· ὑπεψιθύριζον γὰρ τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατον τὸ συμβὰν προμηνύειν. Ὁ δέ· «Ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ἕνα κύριον ἐπί σταμαι, ἔλεγε, πτώσεις δὲ εἰδώλων θάνατον ἐπάγειν οὐδ' ὅλως πιστεύειν ἔχω. Ὁπηνίκα γὰρ Φειδίας τις, φέρε εἰπεῖν, ἤ τις τῶν λιθοξόων λίθον ἀποξέσας εἴδωλον ἀπεργά σοιτο, ἀναστήσει μὲν καὶ νεκρούς, παράξει δὲ καὶ ἔμψυχα; Καὶ εἰ ταῦτα, τῷ τῶν ἁπάντων ∆ημιουργῷ τί καταλειφθή σεται; «Ἀποκτενῶ γὰρ καὶ ζῆν ἐγὼ ποιήσω», φησί. Καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦδε ἢ τοῦδε εἰδώλου πτῶσις ἢ ἀνέγερσις.» Καὶ γὰρ τὰ πάντα τῇ μεγίστῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνετίθει Προνοίᾳ.

12.5.1 Κυκεὼν δὲ κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἄλλος αὖθις κακῶν ἐξεγήγερτο, ὃς οὐχ ὑπὸ τῶν τυχόντων ἐξηρτύετο ἤδη. Ἄνδρες γάρ τινες, ἐπ' ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ γένους εὐκλείᾳ μεγάλα αὐχοῦντες, κατὰ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ ἐμελέτησαν σώμα τος φόνιον πνέοντες. Καὶ θαυμάζω, ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἱστορίας γεγονυῖα, πόθεν τοσοῦτον πλῆθος κακῶν τὸν βασιλέα περιεστοίχισεν· οὐδὲν γάρ, οὐδὲν ἦν οὐδ' ὁποθενοῦν, ὃ μὴ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐκεκίνητο. Τά τε γὰρ ἔνδον ἀποστασίας ἦσαν μεστὰ καὶ τὰ ἔξωθεν ἐπαναστάσεως ἔγεμε. Καὶ μήπω πρὸς τὰ ἔνδον τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἀντικαταστάντος τἀκτὸς πάντα περιεφλέγμαινε, βαρβάρους ἅμα καὶ τοὺς ἔνδον τυράννους τῆς Τύχης αὐτῆς ὥσπερ τινὰς Γίγαντας αὐτο φυεῖς ἀναβλαστανούσης, καίτοι τοῦ βασιλέως ἅπαντα πρὸς τὸ ἡμερώτερον καὶ φιλανθρωπότερον ἐπιτροπεύοντος καὶ διοικονομουμένου τὰ πράγματα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὅντινα μὴ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς κατακλύζοντος. 12.5.2 Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀξιω μάτων τιμαῖς κατεκύδαινε καὶ δωρεαῖς μεγάλαις καταπλου τίζων ἀεὶ οὐκ ἀνῆκε· τοὺς δὲ ὁπουδήποτε βαρβάρους, ἀφορμὰς μὴ διδοὺς πολέμων μηδ' ἀνάγκην ἐπάγων αὐτός, ἀνασοβοῦντας ὅμως ἀνέστελλεν, ὡς ἔστι κακῶν στρατηγῶν, τῶν πραγμάτων ἡσυχαζόντων, αὐτοὺς ἐξεπίτηδες ἀνε ρεθίζειν τοὺς πέριξ εἰς πόλεμον. Εἰρήνη μὲν γὰρ τέλος ἐστὶ πολέμου παντός, τὸ δ' ἀνθελέσθαι ἀεὶ αὐτόθεν τὸ ἕνεκά του .... καὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τέλους ἀεὶ ἀμελεῖν, τοῦτο ἀνοήτων ἐστὶ στρατηγῶν καὶ δημαγωγῶν καὶ ὄλεθρον πραγ ματευομένων τῆς πόλεως. Ἀλλ' ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος τοὐναντίον ἅπαν ἐποίει καὶ τοῦ εἰρηνεύειν