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And having received greater encouragement, he fulfills her purpose. When the woman's desire had been fulfilled, she decided not to conceal the will of God, but to make public and reveal the great deeds of God, which she knew were foretold and made manifest in these ways. Therefore, taking Basil aside in private, she said, "Know, my child, that God is about to place you on a high watchtower and show you to be lord of all the earth. Therefore, in fulfillment of my prophecy, I ask nothing else from you but only 2.193 to be loved and shown mercy, both me and my descendants." And he, if God should grant the things revealed to be accomplished, promised to declare her mistress of all that land, if it were possible. And so, having greeted the woman, he went up to the reigning city and to his own lord. And from the money that came to him from these things, he bought sufficient properties in Macedonia and established all his relatives in lavish prosperity, but he nevertheless stayed with and served his lord.

On one of those days, Antigonus, the commander of the *scholae*, the son of Caesar Bardas, prepared a lavish feast and had as the guest of honor among those reclining his own father, Bardas the Caesar, who went to the banquet having brought with him many other relatives, friends, and associates; and there were present with him also some Bulgarian associates and friends, who happened to be staying in the capital city. Theophilos, the lord of Basil, was not absent from the feast either, being himself a relative of the Caesar. As the drinking went on and the banquet was at its height, since the Bulgarians happened to have with them a certain athletic man who prided himself on his physical strength, they seemed to think highly of him and were boastful, and they bragged that there was no one who could come to grips with him. So, in the middle of the banquet, Theophilos says to the Caesar that, if it please your excellency, there is one of my attendants who is able to wrestle with this famous Bulgarian; for it would be a great disgrace to the Romans, 2.194 if this man should arrive in Bulgaria so unchallenged. When the Caesar approved of the idea and ordered the young man to be brought into the middle, the patrician Constantine, the father of Thomas the logothete, who was very friendly towards Basil since he himself also traced his lineage from the Armenians, seeing that the place where the wrestlers were about to struggle was very wet, and fearing a slip from the moisture, sprinkled dust and sawdust on the ground. When this was done, Basil grappled with the Bulgarian, and having squeezed and gripped him like a newborn child, he lifted him lightly and easily, like some bundle of hay or a fleece of wool, and threw him down upon the table. This event filled the Romans with joy, but the Bulgarians with shame. From that day on, Basil's fame spread further throughout the reigning city, and he was on everyone's lips, having now become a conspicuous figure. And another thing happened that raised him to even greater glory. The emperor Michael had a horse, stiff-necked and hard to control, which in age, beauty, speed, and grace of form surpassed all those ever admired; if it happened to be loosed from its bonds or released in some other way, it was extremely difficult to get hold of again and gave the grooms much trouble to restrain it. Riding this horse, the emperor went out to hunt, and having hit a hare with his rod, he dismounted from the horse in order to 2.195 kill the hare. But the horse, being left free, started to buck and leap away; and though many grooms and nobles and the rest of the emperor's retinue ran up together, it was not possible for anyone to restrain the horse, so that the emperor became angry and ordered that, if it were caught, its hind legs should be cut. was present

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πλείονα δὲ παράκλησιν δεξάμενος ἐκπληροῖ τὸν ταύτης σκοπόν. ἐκπληρωθείσης δὲ τῇ γυναικὶ τῆς ἐφέσεως, ἔδοξεν αὐτῇ μὴ ἐπι κρύπτειν τὸ βούλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ δημοσιεύειν καὶ φανερὰ τι θέναι τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ θεοῦ, οἷς οἶδε τρόποις προλεγόμενα καὶ δηλοποιούμενα. ἰδίᾳ τοίνυν παραστησαμένη τὸν Βασίλειον "ἴσθι" ἔφη, "ὦ τέκνον, ὡς ὁ θεός σε ἐπὶ μεγάλης μέλλει τιθέναι τῆς σκο πιᾶς καὶ κύριον ἀποδεικνύειν πάσης τῆς γῆς. εἰς ἔργον οὖν ἐκ βάσης τῆς ἐμῆς προρρήσεως οὐδὲν αἰτῶ ἕτερον παρὰ σοῦ ἀλλ' ἢ 2.193 τὸ μόνον ἀγαπᾶσθαι καὶ ἐλεεῖσθαι ἐμέ τε καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐμοῦ." ὁ δέ, εἰ δοίη τελεσθῆναι θεὸς τὰ μηνυόμενα, κυρίαν αὐτὴν ἀπο φῆναι κατεπηγγείλατο πάσης, εἰ οἷόν τε, ἐκείνης τῆς γῆς. καὶ οὕτως ἀσπασάμενος τὴν γυναῖκα ἀνῄει πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν καὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κύριον. ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν αὐτῷ προσγενομένων χρημάτων ἐξωνησάμενος εἰς Μακεδονίαν κτήσεις ἱκανὰς κατέστη σεν ἐπὶ εὐπορίας ἅπαντας τοὺς προσήκοντας δαψιλοῦς, συνῆν δ' ὅμως καὶ διηκόνει τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ.

Ἐν τινὶ δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν Ἀντίγονος ὁ τῶν σχολῶν ἀφηγούμε νος, ὁ τοῦ Καίσαρος Βάρδα υἱός, ἑστίασιν πολυτελῆ κατασκευα σάμενος δαιτυμόνα εἶχε τὰ πρῶτα τῶν ἀνακειμένων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα Βάρδαν τὸν Καίσαρα, ὃς πολλοὺς καὶ ἄλλους τῶν συγγε νῶν καὶ φίλων καὶ συνήθων παραλαβὼν πρὸς τὴν εὐωχίαν ἀπῄει· συμπαρῆσαν δ' αὐτῷ καὶ Βούλγαροι συνήθεις καὶ φίλοι, οὕτω παρατυχὸν τῇ βασιλίδι ἐνδιατρίβοντες. οὐκ ἀπῆν δὲ τῆς πανδαι σίας οὐδὲ ὁ Θεόφιλος ὁ τοῦ Βασιλείου κύριος, οἷα συγγενὴς καὶ αὐτὸς τοῦ Καίσαρος. τοῦ δὲ πότου προϊόντος καὶ ἀκμαζούσης τῆς εὐωχίας, ἐπεὶ ἔτυχον οἱ Βούλγαροι ἔχοντές τινα μεθ' ἑαυτῶν ἄν δρα ἀθλητικὸν καὶ ἐπ' ἰσχύϊ σεμνυνόμενον σώματος, ἐδόκουν ἐπ' αὐτῷ μέγα φρονεῖν καὶ ἠλαζονεύοντο καὶ μηδένα εἶναι τὸν εἰς χεῖ ρας αὐτοῦ συμπεσεῖν δυνάμενον ἐμεγαλαύχουν. λέγει γοῦν περὶ μέσας τραπέζας ὁ Θεόφιλος πρὸς τὸν Καίσαρα ὡς εἰ ἀρέσκει τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ, ἔστι τις τῶν ὑπηρετούντων μοι δυνάμενος συμπλακῆ ναι τῷ περιβοήτῳ τούτῳ Βουλγάρῳ· μέγα γὰρ ὄνειδος Ῥωμαίοις, 2.194 εἰ οὕτως ἀκαταγώνιστος οὗτος ἐν Βουλγαρίᾳ παραγένηται. ἀπο δεξαμένου δὲ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Καίσαρος, καὶ προστάξαντος εἰς μέσον ἄγεσθαι τὸν νεανίσκον, ὁ πατρίκιος Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Θωμᾶ τοῦ λογοθέτου πατήρ, σφόδρα φιλίως πρὸς τὸν Βασίλειον διακείμε νος ἅτε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ Ἀρμενίων τὴν τοῦ γένους ἕλκων σειράν, κάθυγρον ἰδὼν τὸν τόπον ἐν ᾧπερ ἔμελλον οἱ παλαισταὶ συμπλα κῆναι, καὶ δείσας τὸν ἐκ τῆς ὑγρότητος ὄλισθον, κόνιν καὶ πρί σμα ἀπὸ ξύλων ἐπιρραίνει τῷ ἐδάφει. οὗ γενομένου συμπλακεὶς τῷ Βουλγάρῳ ὁ Βασίλειος, καὶ ὥσπερ τι παιδίον νεογνὸν πιέσας καὶ περισφίγξας αὐτόν, ὥσπερ τινὰ δεσμὸν χόρτου ἢ πόκον ἐρίου κούφως οὕτω καὶ ῥᾳδίως μετεωρίσας ἐπάνω τῆς τραπέζης ἀπέρρι ψε. τοῦτο γενόμενον χαρᾶς μὲν τοὺς Ῥωμαίους αἰσχύνης δὲ τοὺς Βουλγάρους ἐνέπλησεν. ἀπ' ἐκείνης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ πλέον ἡ τοῦ Βασιλείου ἡπλοῦτο φήμη ἀνὰ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν, καὶ τοῖς ἁπάντων διεφέρετο στόμασι περίβλεπτος ἤδη καθεστηκώς. Συνέβη δὲ καὶ ἄλλο τι τὸ ἐπὶ πλέον δόξης ἐξᾶραν αὐτόν. ἵππος ἦν παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ σκληραύχην τε καὶ δυσήνιος, ἡλικίᾳ μὲν καὶ κάλλει καὶ τάχει καὶ ὡραιότητι εἴδους τοὺς πώποτε θαυμαζομένους ὑπερβαλλόμενος, ὃς εἰ ἔτυχε λυθεὶς τῶν δεσμῶν ἢ ἄλλως πως ἀφεθείς, λίαν ἦν δυσχερὴς εἰς χεῖρας αὖθις ἐλθεῖν καὶ πολλὰ πράγματα πρὸς τὸ κατασχεῖν παρεῖχε τοῖς ἱπποκόμοις. τοῦτον ἐπικαθήμενος τὸν ἵππον ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς θήραν ἐξῄει, καὶ κατευστοχήσας λαγωοῦ τῇ ῥάβδῳ τοῦ ἵππου καθήλατο πρὸς τὸ 2.195 σφάξαι τὸν λαγωόν. ἄφετος δὲ ὁ ἵππος καταληφθεὶς ἀπεσκίρτα καὶ ἀπεπήδα· καὶ πολλῶν συνδραμόντων ἱπποκόμων τε καὶ ἀρχόν των καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν περὶ τὸν βασιλέα, οὐκ ἦν τινὶ δυνατὸν κατασχεῖν τὸν ἵππον, ὥστε θυμωθέντα τὸν βασιλέα κελεῦσαι, εἰ κρατηθείη, διακοπῆναι τοὺς ὀπισθίους αὐτοῦ τῶν ποδῶν. παρῃ