369

is secretly plotted against Damianus; and having used many slanders against him to the emperor, and having artfully contrived the accusations in a plausible way, he was strong enough to turn the emperor from his goodwill toward Damianus, so that he was able to succeed him in his own office. So when he 2.198 was driven out, the office of the *parakoimomenos* was vacant for some time; and while the Caesar and the faction around him were promoting one man after another for this, the providence of God, invisibly managing affairs as it willed, showed all their wisdom and cunning to be ineffectual.

For after some time the emperor appointed Basil as *parakoimomenos*, honoring him also with the rank of patrician, and joining him to a wife who was foremost of all of her contemporaries in comeliness of body and beauty and modesty; she was the daughter of Inger, who was famous among all for his prudence and noble birth, his family descending from the Martinakioi. When this had happened, and as the emperor's love for Basil was always increasing, the Caesar, seeing this, and being stung by envy and fearing for the future, often said to those who had persuaded him to get rid of Damianus, "I, persuaded by your evil counsels, cast out a fox and brought in a lion in its place, to devour us all at once." Now when the emperor Michael had just marched out against the Cretans with his uncle Bardas the Caesar, and as Bardas was handling matters more arrogantly and gradually annoying the emperor and giving grounds for suspicion to those around him, when they were in Kepoi (Kepoi is a place along the coast, where the Maeander river flows into the sea), there indeed a plot and plan was made by those around the emperor, so that they would not be outmaneuvered and suffer rather than act, and hastening 2.199 they killed Bardas, as the account above has clearly shown, while he was clinging to the emperor’s feet. At that time it was the first of the month of April of the 14th indiction. So when Bardas was killed, the emperor immediately broke up the camp and thought of returning to the reigning city. And returning to Byzantium, since he was without his own offspring, he both adopted Basil and raised him to the rank of *magistros*. Unable to bear this out of envy, Symbatius the *logothetes tou dromou*, the son-in-law of Bardas the Caesar, on the pretext of being unable to live in the capital, requested the generalship of the Thrakesion theme, and indeed he received it. And when a little time had passed and the empire was being governed precariously, since the emperor had his mind on other things and not on the administration of affairs, and the death of Bardas had clearly exposed his own worthlessness and simplicity (for while he was vigilant as a partner in affairs, and was managing the administration as much as was possible, the emperor's worthlessness was concealed by his care and diligence; but when he was slain and the entire care of the empire devolved upon the emperor alone, then indeed his unsuitability and his indolence towards political actions were clearly exposed), there were constant murmurings from the public against the emperor, and neither the senate nor the state was pleased with what was being done, and the army itself happened to be stirred up and agitated. The emperor, hearing these things 2.200 through his closest associates, and perceiving his own ineptitude for worldly undertakings, and at the same time fearing a revolt, decided to take on a partner in affairs and in the rule. And since a little while before, as we said above, he had adopted Basil, and he knew that he surpassed many in courage and intelligence and was capable of making up for the deficiency in the steering of the worldly vessel, but most of all also because a supreme power was leading him to this

369

λαθρηδὸν κατὰ τοῦ ∆αμιανοῦ συσκευά ζεται· καὶ πολλαῖς διαβολαῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα χρη σάμενος, καὶ πιθανῶς σοφισάμενος τὰς κατηγορίας, ἴσχυσε με ταστῆσαι τὸν βασιλέα τῆς περὶ τὸν ∆αμιανὸν εὐνοίας, ὡς καὶ δια δέξασθαι δυνηθῆναι τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας αὐτόν. ἐξωσθέντος οὖν 2.198 ἐκείνου ἐχήρευε λοιπὸν ἐπὶ χρόνον τινὰ τὸ τοῦ παρακοιμωμένου λειτούργημα· τοῦ Καίσαρος δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν φατρίας ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον εἰς τοῦτο προβιβαζόντων, ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια, ἀορά τως ὡς αὐτῇ βουλητὸν τὰ πράγματα διεξάγουσα, πᾶσαν φρόνη σιν καὶ πανουργίαν ἀπέδειξεν ἄπρακτον.

Μετὰ χρόνον γάρ τινα προβάλλεται παρακοιμώμενον ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν Βασίλειον, τιμήσας αὐτὸν καὶ πατρικιότητι, καὶ γυναικὶ συζεύξας εὐπρεπείᾳ τε σώμα τος καὶ κάλλει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ πασῶν πρωτευούσῃ τῶν κατ' αὐ τήν· αὕτη δὲ ἦν θυγάτηρ τοῦ παρὰ πάντων ἐπὶ φρονήσει καὶ εὐ γενείᾳ διαβοήτου Ἴγγερος, τοῦ γένους καταγομένου τῶν Μαρτι νακίων. τούτου δὲ γενομένου, καὶ προσθήκην τῆς πρὸς τὸν Βα σίλειον τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγάπης ἐπιδιδούσης ἀεί, ὁρῶν ὁ Καῖσαρ, καὶ τῷ φθόνῳ δακνόμενος καὶ περὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ὀρρωδῶν, ἔλεγε πολλάκις πρὸς τοὺς αὐτὸν ἀναπείσαντας ἀποσκευάσασθαι τὸν ∆α μιανὸν ὅτι ταῖς κακοβουλίαις ὑμῶν πιθήσας ἐγώ, ἐξώσας ἀλώ πεκα, λέοντα ἀντεισήγαγον, ἵνα πάντας ἡμᾶς ἀθρόως λαφύ ξηται. Ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως Μιχαὴλ κατὰ Κρητῶν ἐξελάσαντος μετὰ Βάρδα Καίσαρος τοῦ θείου αὐτοῦ, καὶ σοβαρώτερον ἁπτο μένου τῶν πραγμάτων τοῦ Βάρδα καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀνιῶντος τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν ὑπονοίας ἀφορμὴν διδόντος, ἐπεὶ ἐν τοῖς Κήποις ἐγένοντο (τόπος δὲ οἱ Κῆποι κατὰ τὴν παράλιον, ἔνθα πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν εἰσβολὰς ποιεῖται ὁ Μαίανδρος ποταμός), ἐν ταῦθα δὴ τῆς συσκευῆς καὶ μελέτης γενομένης τοῖς περὶ τὸν βασι λέα, ἵνα μὴ καταταχηθέντες πάθωσι μᾶλλον ἢ δράσωσιν, ἐπι 2.199 σπεύσαντες ἀναιροῦσι τὸν Βάρδαν, καθὼς ἄνωθεν ὁ λόγος διαρ ρήδην ἐδήλωσε, περιπλακέντα τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως ποσί. πρώτην ἦγε τηνικαῦτα μὴν ὁ Ἀπρίλλιος τῆς ιδʹ ἐπινεμήσεως. ἀποκταν θέντος οὖν τοῦ Βάρδα εὐθὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς τήν τε στρατοπεδείαν καταλύει καὶ νόστου πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν μέμνηται. ἐπανελθὼν δὲ πρὸς τὸ Βυζάντιον, ἐπείπερ οἰκείας ἠμοίρει γονῆς, εἰσποιεῖταί τε τὸν Βασίλειον καὶ εἰς τὴν τῶν μαγίστρων ἀναβιβάζει τιμήν. ὃ μὴ φέρων ὑπὸ φθόνου ὁ Συμβάτιος ὁ λογοθέτης τῶν δρόμου, ὁ τοῦ Καίσαρος Βάρδα γαμβρός, προφασισάμενος τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ζῆν ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλίδος τὴν τῶν Θρᾳκησίων ἐξαιτεῖ στρατηγίαν, καὶ δὴ καὶ λαμβάνει. ὀλίγου δὲ καιροῦ παρελθόντος καὶ τῆς βασι λείας ἐπισφαλῶς κυβερνωμένης, ἅτε τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς ἄλλοις ἀλλ' οὐ ταῖς τῶν πραγμάτων διοικήσεσι τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντος, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου δὲ τοῦ Βάρδα καθαρῶς ἐλέγξαντος τὴν αὐτοῦ οὐθένειαν καὶ ἀφέλειαν (ἐκείνου γὰρ ἐπαγρυπνοῦντος ὡς κοινωνοῦ τῶν πρα γμάτων, καὶ τῆς διοικήσεως καθ' ὅσον οἷόν τε ἀντεχομένου, τῇ τούτου ἐπιμελείᾳ καὶ σπουδῇ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως οὐθένεια ἐκαλύπτετο· ἐπεὶ δ' ἐκεῖνος ἀπεσφάγη καὶ ἡ πᾶσα τῆς βασιλείας φροντὶς εἰς μόνον περιέστη τὸν βασιλέα, τότε δὴ καθαρῶς τὸ αὐτοῦ ἀνεπιτή δειον καὶ πρὸς τὰς πολιτικὰς πράξεις ἀναπεπτωκὸς ἐξηλέγχετο), ἐγίνοντο παρὰ τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεχεῖς διαγογγυσμοὶ κατὰ τοῦ βασι λέως, καὶ οὔθ' ἡ σύγκλητος οὔτε τὸ πολίτευμα τοῖς πραττομένοις ἠρέσκοντο, καὶ αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ στράτευμα ἀνασεσοβημένον καὶ κεκινη μένον ἐτύγχανεν. ἅτινα διὰ τῶν οἰκειοτάτων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνωτιζό2.200 μενος, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κατανοῶν πρὸς τὰς κοσμικὰς ἐπιχειρήσεις ἀδεξιότητα, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐπανάστασιν εὐλαβηθείς, κοινωνὸν ἔγνω τῶν πραγμάτων προσλαβέσθαι καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς. καὶ ἐπεὶ πρὸ ὀλί γου, ὡς ἄνωθεν εἴπομεν, υἱοποιησάμενος ἦν τὸν Βασίλειον, ᾔδει δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀνδρίᾳ καὶ συνέσει τῶν πολλῶν διαφέροντα καὶ ἱκα νὸν ἀναπληροῦν τὸ ἐν τῇ κυβερνήσει τοῦ κοσμικοῦ σκάφους ὑστέ ρημα, τὸ πλέον δὲ καὶ ὑπερτάτης δυνάμεως ἐναγούσης εἰς τοῦτο