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how, though you beseeched your son-in-law, the grand domestic, many times on their behalf, you could accomplish nothing more, but having raised you up with empty hopes and deceived you, he went away, as if he would release them from prison, should he return in the evening. But if it has escaped you that this was a deceit, I have every reason to be amazed. For neither, while the emperor was alive, was he unable to free his wife's brothers from their troubles, if indeed he chose to do what was just and fitting for him, being able to do no less than 2.114 the emperor. And now, as you yourself are not unaware, he could accomplish not only such things, but also much greater ones, holding his office without accountability and being autocrat of affairs. But even then, while he was persuading the emperor, they were held as prisoners, as he was jealous of their courage and intelligence and feared lest he be surpassed in esteem by them; and now he has determined no less to keep them in bonds for their whole life. This I have said not by conjecture, but from precise knowledge. For you know that, enjoying much good will from him and sharing in his secrets, which I have now disdained because of my good will towards you, I am precisely aware of all his affairs, wherefore you must not disbelieve me, but take counsel with all speed, while there is time, not only to free your sons from their troubles, but also to secure for yourself the rule of the Romans, which befits you most of all. But this is impossible to achieve in any other way, unless he is first cast out from the administration of the government. And that, in turn, is not possible otherwise, unless you yourself make the empress hostile to him, by denouncing him as intending to seize the empire and to destroy both her and her children. You would be most worthy to be believed by her, not only as one who clearly knows the plans of your son-in-law, but also as one who seems to scorn your own nature for the sake of good will towards her and 2.115 her son, the emperor. And yet someone might say that his overthrow and ruin would not provide you with unalloyed and pure pleasure, since your daughter shares his misfortune. But how great a difference this makes, it is possible to see by placing the matters side by side. For it is not the same thing for some of your children to be, as it were, buried alive, for others to fare badly and live needily and servilely beyond their desert, and for your whole family to be led and carried about like a slave by him, and for you yourself to suffer no better out of sympathy for them all, and for one unfortunate daughter that all those difficulties be resolved and you be able to make not only your family and kin, but also your other friends, brilliant and glorious, with the whole rule of the Romans having been transferred from him to you. For who, if he were to fall or even be cast out from power, is more just than you to be in charge of affairs, you who surpass all Romans by no small measure not only in courage and experience of wars, but also in the splendor of your family and in intelligence and in all other respects. And I will eagerly contend with you in all things, holding the rank of a servant and being most ready to obey everything commanded. Indeed, when preparing for battle against such a most powerful antagonist, one must not quibble about falsehood and truth, but it is fitting to look to one thing alone, his 2.116 overthrow; and to consider the rest as nothing, if you intend to do anything worthy of your intelligence and generalship. We see also that the most intelligent of generals do not always use boldness and meet the enemy face to face, but there are times when they also use deceits and tricks and certain contrivances, and especially, when it is necessary to engage with certain fearsome and most powerful enemies. And no one reproaches them for the deceit, but we all even admire it, since intelligence can achieve more than strength. 19. Having said such things to him and persuaded him, and having secured him with oaths that he would now most eagerly contend with him and, once he was established in power, would serve in the capacity of a subordinate, leaving him only to deliberate how the desired end might be achieved, he proceeded to the brothers Constantine and

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ὡς πολλὰ μεγάλου δομεστίκου τοῦ κηδεστοῦ δεηθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων, οὐδὲν πλέον ἠδυνήθης, ἀλλὰ κεναῖς ἐλπίσι μετεωρίσας καὶ φενακίσας, ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο, ὡς ἀπολύσων τῆς εἱρκτῆς, ἢν ἐπανήξῃ τῆς ἑσπέρας. τοῦτο δὲ εἴ σε λέληθεν ὡς ἀπάτη, πάνυ μάλιστα θαυμάζειν ἔχω. οὔτε γὰρ, βασιλέως ζῶντος, τοὺς γυναικὸς ἀδελφοὺς ἀπαλλάττειν τῶν κακῶν ἀδυνάτως εἶχεν, εἴγε δίκαια καὶ αὐτῷ προσήκοντα ᾑρεῖτο πράττειν, οὐκ ἐλάσσω δυνάμενος ἢ ὅσα 2.114 βασιλεύς. νυνί τε, ὥσπερ οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἀγνοεῖς, οὐ τοιαῦτα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μείζω πολλῷ καταπράττεσθαι δύναιτ' ἂν, ἀνυπεύθυνον ἔχων τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτοκράτωρ ὤν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε, πείθοντος αὐτοῦ βασιλέα, κατείχοντο δεσμῶται, τῆς τε ἀνδρίας βασκαίνοντος καὶ τῆς συνέσεως καὶ μὴ παρευδοκιμηθείη παρ' ἐκείνων, δεδοικότος· καὶ νῦν οὐδὲν ἧττον διανενόηται παρ' ὅλον τὸν βίον κατέχειν ἐν δεσμοῖς. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ στοχαζόμενος εἶπον, ἀλλ' ἀκριβῶς εἰδώς. οἶσθα γὰρ, ὡς πολλῆς εὐμενείας ἀπολαύων παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων κοινωνῶν αὐτῷ, ὧν διὰ τὴν εἰς ὑμᾶς εὔνοιαν καταπεφρόνηκα νυνὶ, πάντα ἀκριβῶς σύνοιδα αὐτῷ, ὅθεν οὐδ' ἀπιστεῖν ἐμοὶ χρεὼν, ἀλλὰ βουλεύεσθαι τὴν ταχίστην, ἕως ἐστὶ καιρὸς, οὐ μόνον τοὺς παῖδας ἀπαλλάττειν τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σεαυτῷ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν, σοὶ μάλιστα προσήκουσαν τῶν πάντων, περιποιεῖν. τοῦτο δ' ἕτερον τρόπον ἀδύνατον γενέσθαι, εἰ μὴ πρότερος ἐκεῖνος ἐκβληθείη τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἐκεῖνο δὲ πάλιν ἑτέρως οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἐκπολεμώσεις ἐκείνῳ βασιλίδα, ὡς ἁρπάζειν τὴν βασιλείαν διανοουμένου κατειπὼν καὶ αὐτὴν καὶ παῖδας διαφθείρειν. ἀξιώτατος δ' ἂν εἴης πιστεύεσθαι παρ' αὐτῇ, οὐ μόνον ὡς τὰ βεβουλευμένα τῷ γαμβρῷ σαφῶς εἰδὼς, ἀλλ' ὡς καὶ φύσεως αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς ἐκείνην εὐ 2.115 νοίας καὶ τὸν παῖδα βασιλέα δοκῶν καταφρονεῖν. καίτοι γε φαίη τις ἂν, οὐδὲ τὴν ἐκείνου κατάλυσιν καὶ φθορὰν ἄδολόν σοι καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν ἡδονὴν παρέχειν, οἷα δὴ τῆς θυγατρὸς ἐκείνῳ συνατυχούσης. τοῦτο δ' ὅσην ἔχει τὴν διαφορὰν, ἔξεστι παράλληλα θέμενον τὰ πράγματα σκοπεῖν. οὐ γὰρ ὅμοιον, τοὺς μὲν τῶν παίδων ὥσπερ κατορωρύχθαι ζῶντας, τοὺς δὲ παρ' ἀξίαν πράττειν κακῶς καὶ ἐνδεῶς καὶ ἀνελευθέρως ζῇν, καὶ γένος ὑπ' ἐκείνου πᾶν ὥσπερ δοῦλον ἄγεσθαι καὶ φέρεσθαι, καὶ αὐτὸν οὐδὲν ἀμείνω πάσχειν ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς πάντας συμπαθείας, καὶ μιᾶς ἀτυχησάσης θυγατρὸς πάντ' ἐκεῖνα λελύσθαι τὰ δυσχερῆ καὶ σὲ δύνασθαι οὐ γένος μόνον καὶ οἰκείους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους φίλους λαμπροὺς ποιεῖν καὶ περιδόξους, πάσης ἐξ ἐκείνου μετενηνεγμένης τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς εἰς σέ. τίς γὰρ, ἐκείνου πεσόντος ἢ καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκβεβλημένου, σοῦ μᾶλλον δικαιότερος, ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων εἶναι, οὐκ ἀνδρίᾳ μόνον καὶ πολέμων ἐμπειρίᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ λαμπρότητι γένους καὶ συνέσει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν οὐκ ὀλίγῳ τινὶ τῷ μέσῳ πάντας Ῥωμαίους παριόντος. ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς ἅπαντα προθύμως συναγωνιοῦμαι, τάξιν ἐπέχων ὑπηρέτου καὶ πρὸς πᾶν τὸ κελευόμενον ἑτοιμότατα ἔχων ὑπακούειν. οὐ δὴ, πρὸς τοιοῦτον ἰσχυρότατον ἀνταγωνιστὴν ἀποδυόμενον, περὶ ψεύδους καὶ ἀληθείας ἀκριβολογεῖν χρεὼν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἓν μόνον, τὴν ἐκείνου κα 2.116 τάλυσιν, προσῆκον ἀφορᾷν· τἄλλα δὲ μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι, εἰ μέλλεις τι τῆς σῆς συνέσεως καὶ στρατηγίας ἀξιόχρεων ποιεῖν. ὁρῶμεν δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν τοὺς μάλιστα συνετωτάτους οὐκ ἀεὶ τῇ παῤῥησίᾳ χρωμένους καὶ κατὰ στόμα τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑπαντῶντας, ἀλλ' ἔστιν οὗ καὶ ἀπάταις χρωμένους καὶ δόλοις καὶ μηχαναῖς τισι, καὶ μάλιστα, ἡνίκα δέῃ φοβεροῖς τισι καὶ δυνατωτάτοις συμπλέκεσθαι πολεμίοις. καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν κακίζει τὴν ἀπάτην, ἀλλὰ καὶ θαυμάζομεν ἅπαντες, οἷα δὴ πλείω τῆς συνέσεως ἢ τῆς ῥώμης δυναμένης κατορθοῦν. ιθʹ. Τοιαῦτα καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εἰπὼν καὶ πείσας, ὅρκοις τε ἀσφαλισάμενος, ὡς νῦν τε προθυμότατα συναγωνιεῖται καὶ, καταστάντος πρὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἐν ὑπηρέτου τελέσει μοίρᾳ, μόνον βουλεύεσθαι καταλιπὼν, ὅπως ἂν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον κατορθωθείη, ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἐχώρει Κωνσταντῖνόν τε καὶ