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to have been said by one who was secretly contriving such things. 2.85 But the patriarch opposed these words and said that they should not make a disorderly uproar, but obey what had been decided by the empress and the great domestic. While they were in this dispute, when he appeared it had ceased, and as if angry he had said nothing to the others; but he blamed the patriarch, because paying attention to the words of foolish men, he stood engaging in a war of words with them and stirring up a disturbance. And he advised him to go home and not contend with them at all for now, since on the next day he would have a discussion with him about what had been said. And he escorted him as far as his horse, showing him respect on account of the censure that had been made against him, having never done this before, but being accustomed to take his leave and turn back in the royal apartments. Then the great domestic, returning again to the empress, related the cause of the disturbance, and how he himself, having blamed the patriarch for the ill-timed contentiousness, because he paid attention to the words of foolish men which contained nothing sound, had advised him to withdraw to his home. And he himself also strongly affirmed, calling God to witness, that he was conscious of none of the things being said, but that it had been foolishly stirred up by certain uneducated men out of audacity. And when the empress praised him for having put down the disturbance, the great domestic said, "But as for him, I advised him to depart without adding anything to what had been said, thus perceiving that I would easily resolve the contention, especially since it had arisen concerning me. But as for you, I advise you not to overlook their audacity unpunished, 2.86 but, having summoned them, to punish them with words on account of the licentiousness of their tongues. And I would have advised you even to show greater anger toward them, if they were not about to depart from here quickly, with me taking most of them along. Therefore after rebuking them sufficiently, grant them pardon, blaming the necessity of the journey." And the empress, being persuaded by him, both summoned the men and reproached them for their lack of education, saying, "although you were brought up in the laws of emperors and have been with them from childhood, you are in no better state than barbarians who have no king, making a disorderly uproar over everything that confronts you. For consider to what a degree of folly you have now driven yourselves. For first, you openly contradicted emperors in the palace; and second, you contended with the patriarch, who is the common spiritual father of all and especially worthy of much reverence and honor, much more than your fathers in the flesh. And third, that you made your speeches ostensibly on behalf of the great domestic, showing by these means, as far as it was up to you, that he needed your help to obtain anything he might need from us. And that this is most absurd, use not others, but yourselves as judges. For not only now, when the care of all things has devolved upon him, but also while the emperor was living, he stood before you all in 2.87 those matters in which you had need of the emperor; but none of you stood before him. So that from both former and present circumstances you should have understood that he would not need your help. For there is not, there is not anything, which he, wishing to do either for himself or for others, is not also able to do. And if this is so and no one will contradict it, neither should you have made a disturbance and been agitated for no reason. And for this reason you are worthy not of a good deed from him, but of punishment; and I would have exacted from you the fitting penalties for your audacity, if he himself had not begged me off on your behalf, and besides, because you are also prepared for the expedition, to which I think it is fitting that you go rejoicing, not grieving. For this reason indeed, I grant pardon for your offenses, but for the future I command you to be orderly and not to meddle in greater matters at all, but to yield to those who are both able to manage such things well and, if they err in anything, to correct themselves." The empress said these things to them, rebuking them on account of the disturbance. But they, having professed thanks for her gentleness and pardon, and the great domestic more than the others, the others departed; but the great domestic again

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ἀφανῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα 2.85 συσκευάζοντος εἰρῆσθαι. ὁ πατριάρχης δὲ ἀντικαθίστατο πρὸς τοὺς λόγους καὶ, μὴ δεῖν, ἔλεγεν, αὐτοὺς ἀτάκτως θορυβεῖν, ἀλλὰ πείθεσθαι τοῖς βασιλίδι καὶ μεγάλῳ δομεστίκῳ ἐγνωσμένοις. ἐν τούτοις δὲ τῆς ἔριδος ἐκείνοις οὔσης, ἐπεὶ ἐπέπαυτο φανέντος, τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ὥσπερ ὀργιζόμενος οὐδὲν εἰρήκει· πατριάρχην δὲ ἐμέμφετο, ὅτι ἀνοήτων ἀνθρώπων προσέχων λόγοις, ἕστηκε πρὸς αὐτοὺς λογομαχῶν καὶ θόρυβον κινῶν. συνεβούλευέ τε οἴκοι ἀπελθεῖν καὶ μηδὲν πρὸς ἐκείνους διαφέρεσθαι νῦν, ὡς ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίαν ἅμα αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ποιησομένῳ λόγον. προέπεμπέ τε ἄχρι ἵππου θεραπεύων διὰ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν γεγενημένην μέμψιν, οὔπω πρότερον τοῦτο εἰργασμένος, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις οἴκοις συνταττόμενος ἀναστρέφειν εἰωθώς. εἰς βασιλίδα δὲ αὖθις ὁ μέγας δομέστικος ἐπανελθὼν, τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ θορύβου διηγεῖτο, ὅπως τε αὐτὸς τῆς ἀκαίρου φιλονεικίας μεμψάμενος πατριάρχην, ὅτι ἀνοήτων ἀνθρώπων προσχοίη λόγοις ἔχουσι μηδὲν ὑγιὲς, παραινέσειεν οἴκαδε ἀναχωρεῖν. διϊσχυρίζετό τε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιμαρτυρόμενος θεὸν, ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν λεγομένων συνειδείη, ἀλλ' ὑπό τινων ἀπαιδεύτων ὑπ' αὐθαδείας ἀνοήτως κινηθείη. ἐπαινούσης δὲ τῆς βασιλίδος ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν θόρυβον καταστεῖλαι, «ἀλλ' ἐκείνῳ μὲν» ὁ μέγας δομέστικος ἔφη «συνεβούλευσα μηδὲν προσθέντι τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀπελθεῖν, οὕτω συνιδὼν ῥᾳδίως διαλύσειν τὴν φιλονεικίαν, μάλιστα περὶ ἐμοῦ γεγενημένην. σοὶ δὲ, μὴ τὴν αὐθάδειαν ἀτιμώ 2.86 ρητον παραινῶ περιιδεῖν, ἀλλὰ λόγοις κολάσαι προσκαλεσαμένην τῆς γλώσσης τῆς ἀκολασίας ἕνεκα. παρῄνεσα δ' ἂν, καὶ ἐπιπλεῖον ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, εἰ μὴ ταχέως ἔμελλον ἐνθένδε ἀπελεύσεσθαι, τοὺς πλείους αὐτῶν παραλαβών. διὸ μετὰ τὸ καθάψασθαι ἀρκούντως, παράσχου συγγνώμην, αἰτιωμένη τῆς ὁδοιπορίας τὴν ἀνάγκην.» ᾧ πεισθεῖσα καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς, τοὺς ἄνδρας τε προσεκαλεῖτο καὶ ὠνείδιζεν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἀπαιδευσίαν, ὅτι βασιλέων ἐντεθραμμένοι νόμοις καὶ συνόντες ἐκ παιδὸς, οὐδὲν ἄμεινον τῶν ἀβασιλεύτων διάκεισθε βαρβάρων, πᾶν τὸ προσιστάμενον ὑμῖν ἀτάκτως θορυβοῦντες. σκοπεῖτε γὰρ, εἰς ὅσον ἀνοίας ἠλάσατε νυνί. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐν βασιλείοις φανερῶς ἀντείπετε βασιλεῦσι· δεύτερον δ', ὅτι πατριάρχῃ διηνέχθητε, κοινῷ πάντων ὄντι πατρὶ πνευματικῷ καὶ μάλιστα πολλῆς αἰδοῦς ἀξίῳ καὶ τιμῆς, πολλῷ πλέον ἢ οἱ σαρκικῶς γεγεννηκότες. τρίτον δ', ὅτι καὶ ὑπὲρ μεγάλου δομεστίκου δῆθεν ἐποιήσασθε τοὺς λόγους, τόγε εἰς ὑμᾶς ἧκον ἀποδεικνύντες διὰ τούτων τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτὸν δεόμενον ἐπικουρίας εἰς τὸ τυχεῖν, εἴ τινος δέοιτο παρ' ἡμῶν. τοῦτο δ' ὅτι τῶν ἀτοπωτάτων, οὐχ ἑτέροις, ἀλλ' ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς χρήσασθε διαιτηταῖς. οὐ γὰρ νῦν μόνον, ὅτε εἰς αὐτὸν περιήκει τῶν ὅλων ἡ φροντὶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλέως ζῶντος, ὑμῶν ἁπάντων οὗτος προΐστατο, ἐν 2.87 οἷς ἐδεῖσθε βασιλέως· αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμῶν οὐδείς. ὥστε καὶ ἐκ τῶν προτέρων καὶ τῶν νῦν συνιδεῖν ὑμᾶς ἐχρῆν, ὡς οὐκ ἂν δέοιτο τῆς παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπικουρίας. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν, ὃ βουλομένῳ ἢ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἢ περὶ ἑτέρων, μὴ καὶ πράττειν δυνατόν. εἰ δὲ τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ, οὐδ' ὑμᾶς ἐχρῆν θορυβεῖν καὶ ταράττεσθαι εἰκῇ. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εὐεργεσίας, ἀλλὰ δίκης ἄξιοι παρ' αὐτῷ· κἀγὼ δὲ ὑμᾶς τὰς προσηκούσας τῆς αὐθαδείας ἀπῄτησα ἂν εὐθύνας, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς παρῃτήσατο δεηθεὶς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἄλλως δ' ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκστρατείαν παρεσκεύασθε, πρὸς ἣν χαίροντας βαδίζειν, οὐκ ἀνιωμένους, οἴομαι προσήκειν. οὗ δὴ ἕνεκα τὴν μὲν τῶν ἡμαρτημένων παρέχομαι συγγνώμην, τοῦ λοιποῦ δὲ εὐτάκτους εἶναι παραγγέλλω καὶ τῶν μειζόνων μηδὲν περιεργάζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ παραχωρεῖν ἐκείνοις, οἷς τὰ τοιαῦτα καλῶς τε ἔξεστι διοικεῖν καὶ, ἐάν τι σφάλλωνται, ἐπανορθοῦσθαι.» τοσαῦτα μὲν ἡ βασιλὶς πρὸς ἐκείνους διειλέχθη, τοῦ θορύβου ἕνεκα καθαπτομένη. ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τῆς ἡμερότητος καὶ τῆς συγγνώμης χάριτας ὁμολογήσαντες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον ὁ μέγας δομέστικος, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι ἀνεχώρουν· ὁ μέγας δὲ αὖθις δομέστικος