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he ordered each one to return half of what he had received to the imperial treasury; 2.203 and thus, from such things, three hundred centenaria of gold were collected for the public treasury. And the emperor also made a public procession to the great temple of the wisdom of the word of God, and on his return he distributed much money to the multitude, not from public funds but from his own private ones; for an unexpected quantity of money came to him, also from hidden treasures of the earth that were revealed. And no small amount of gold was also found in the private treasury, which the previous emperor Michael had collected, by melting down that famous plane tree and the two solid gold griffins and the two hammered lions and the solid gold organ and various other works of gold from the table, and imperial and Augustan robes, which he was going to use for his own desires, but since fate intervened, these were transferred to Basil. But these things later. And having just taken power, Basil first appointed to offices those said to be most incorruptible and testified to keep their own hands clean of every sort of gain, then he cared for justice, and he took pains that equality of law be applied to his subjects and that the poorer not be oppressed by the rich. And everywhere he set forth edicts decreeing that injustice be completely rooted out. He also appointed judges, honoring them with rations and all kinds of gifts, and ordered them to hold court daily and to resolve the disputes of litigants, 2.204 assigning suitable places for them, both the Magnaura and the so-called Hippodrome and the so-called Chalke, which had suffered from time and was in danger of falling down any moment, which he repaired and renovated. He also ordered food for the poorer litigants, so that, oppressed by want, they might not give up on their cases. And he also devoted himself to this task, whenever he happened to have leisure from campaigns and from giving audience to embassies from all over, and going down to the so-called Genikon, he would examine those being taxed by the state, lest anyone be taxed unjustly, and thus he assisted the wronged. And it is said that when he had gone down to the said place of business, since no one happened to be making a complaint, suspecting that those in need were being blocked by certain people from gaining entrance to him, he sent some of the guards to many parts of the city to seek if anyone was in need of help. And when they returned saying they had found no one at all, he shed a tear with pleasure and gave thanks to God. And seeing that the wicked had an opportunity for wrongdoing through the abbreviated form of numerical fractions—I mean of the half and the sixth and the twelfth and such—which used the old signs of the scribes, he wished to remove such an opportunity from those choosing to do wrong, and he ordained that such 2.205 signs be written with simple letters, which are easy even for rustics to read, paying from his own house for the expense of the paper and the letters and the scribes. He also turned his attention to ecclesiastical affairs, casting out from the high priesthood, after a synod had been gathered, Photius who had rushed into the office, ordering him to be inactive until God should remove to Himself the one who was justly appointed, and bringing back in his place Ignatius, who had been badly and unlawfully cast out by Bardas. And thus he brought it about that the churches of God were at peace.

But also seeing that the civil laws had much obscurity and confusion, he hastened to revise these fittingly as was proper, both to remove the uselessness of the repealed ones and to purify the body of the valid ones. But he did not have the time, being overtaken by death. But he began the work and Leo his son completed it afterwards. In the first year of the reign of Basil

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ἡμίση ὧν ἕκαστος ἔλαβεν ἀντιστρέψαι πρὸς τὸ βασιλικὸν ταμιεῖον ἐκέ 2.203 λευσε· καὶ οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων συνήχθη τῷ δημοσίῳ χρυσίου κεντηνάρια τριακόσια. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ πρόοδον ὁ βασιλεὺς δημοσίαν ἐπὶ τὸν μέγαν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σοφίας ναόν, καὶ χρή ματα πολλὰ ἐν τῷ ὑποστρέφειν τῷ πλήθει διένειμεν, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν ἰδίᾳ διαφερόντων αὐτῷ· προσεγένετο γὰρ αὐτῷ πλῆθος χρημάτων ἀπροσδόκητον καὶ ἀπὸ θησαυρῶν κεκρυμ μένων ἀναφανέντων τῆς γῆς. εὑρέθη δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ εἰδικῷ χρυσίον οὐκ ὀλίγον, ὅπερ ὁ προβεβασιλευκὼς Μιχαὴλ συνέλεξε, τὴν θρυ λουμένην ἐκείνην πλάτανον χωνεύσας καὶ τοὺς δύο ὁλοχρύσους γρῦπας καὶ τοὺς δύο σφυρηλάτους λέοντας καὶ τὸ ὁλόχρυσον ὄργα νον καὶ ἕτερα τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης χρυσωμάτων ἔργα διάφορα, καὶ βασιλικὰς καὶ Αὐγουστικὰς στολάς, οἷσπερ ἔμελλεν ἀποχρή σασθαι πρὸς τὰ αὐτῷ καταθύμια, φθάσαν δὲ τὸ χρεὼν εἰς Βα σίλειον ταῦτα διεβιβάσθη. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον. Ἄρτι δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπιβὰς ὁ Βασίλειος πρῶτον μὲν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἀδωροτάτους λεγομένους προυβάλλετο καὶ μαρτυρουμένους τὰς ἰδίας χεῖρας καθαρὰς παντοίου διαφυλάττειν λήμματος, εἶθ' οὕτως δικαιοσύνης ἐπεμελεῖτο, καὶ ἰσονομίαν ἐμπολιτεύεσθαι τοῖς ἀρχομένοις καὶ τὸ μὴ καταδυναστεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν πλουσίων τοὺς πενεστέρους ἐπραγματεύσατο. πανταχοῦ δὲ διατάγματα ἐξετίθει τέλεον ἐξαρθῆναι τὴν ἀδικίαν ὁρίζοντα. δικαστάς τε ἔταξε, σι τηρεσίοις καὶ φιλοτιμίαις παντοδαπαῖς αὐτοὺς μεγαλύνας, καὶ τάξας διημερεύειν καὶ τὰς διενέξεις διαλύειν τῶν φιλονεικούντων, 2.204 τόπους ἀφορίσας αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδείους, τήν τε Μαγναύραν καὶ τὸν καλούμενον ἱππόδρομον καὶ τὴν λεγομένην Χαλκῆν, χρόνῳ μογή σασαν καὶ ὅσον οὐδέπω πεσεῖν κινδυνεύουσαν ἐπισκευάσας καὶ και νουργήσας. ἔταξε δὲ καὶ τροφὴν τοῖς πενεστέροις τῶν τὰς δίκας ἐχόντων, ἵνα μὴ ὑπὸ ἐνδείας πιεζόμενοι ταῖς δίκαις ἀπαγορεύοιεν. ἐπεδίδου δὲ καὶ ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ τοιοῦτον μέρος, ὁπηνίκα τῶν στρα τειῶν ἔτυχεν ἄγων σχολὴν καὶ τοῦ χρηματίζειν ταῖς ἁπανταχόθεν πρεσβείαις, καὶ εἰς τὸ λεγόμενον γενικὸν κατιὼν τοὺς εἰσπραττο μένους ἐσκόπει παρὰ τοῦ δημοσίου, μή πού τις ἀδίκως εἰσπράτ τοιτο, καὶ οὕτως τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις ἐπήμυνε. λέγεται δ' ὅτι κατ ελθόντος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν εἰρημένην διατριβήν, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἔτυχεν ἐγκαλῶν, ὑποτοπάσας εἴργεσθαι ἀπό τινων τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσόδου τοὺς δεομένους, ἀπέστειλέ τινας τῶν δορυφόρων κατὰ πολλὰ μέρη τῆς πόλεως ζητήσοντας εἴ τις ἐστὶ βοηθείας δεόμενος. ὡς δ' ἐπανῆλθον ἐκεῖνοι μηδένα μηδαμῶς εὑρηκέναι λέγοντες, μεθ' ἡδο νῆς τε ἀπέσταξε δάκρυον καὶ θεῷ τὴν εὐχαριστίαν ἀπέδωκεν. Ὁρῶν δὲ ὅτι ἔστι τις τοῖς πονηροῖς εἰς τὸ ἀδικεῖν ἀφορμὴ διὰ τὸ σύντομον ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς μορίων, τοῦ ἡμίσεός φημι καὶ ἕκτου καὶ δωδεκάτου καὶ τῶν τοιούτων, χρωμένων τοῖς παλαιοῖς σημείοις τῶν γραφέων, ἠθέλησε καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην τῶν ἀδικεῖν ἑλομένων περιελεῖν ἀφορμήν, καὶ διωρίσατο γράμμασι λι τοῖς, ἃ καὶ τοῖς ἀγροίκοις ἀναγινώσκεσθαι ῥᾴδιον, τὰ τοιαῦτα 2.205 γράφεσθαι σημεῖα, οἴκοθεν καταβαλὼν καὶ τὴν τῶν χαρτίων δα πάνην καὶ τὴν τῶν γραμμάτων καὶ τὴν τῶν γραφέων. Ἐπιστροφὴν δ' ἐποιήσατο καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν πραγμά των, ἐκβαλὼν μὲν τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης μετὰ συνόδου συναθροισθεί σης τὸν ἐπεισπηδήσαντα τῇ ἀρχῇ Φώτιον, σχολάζειν κελεύσας ἕως ἂν τὸν δικαίως ταχθέντα πρὸς αὐτὸν μεταστήσῃ θεός, ἀντεισαγα γὼν δὲ τὸν κακῶς καὶ παρανόμως ἐκβληθέντα παρὰ τοῦ Βάρδα Ἰγνάτιον. καὶ οὕτω γαληνιᾶν τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας παρε σκεύασεν.

Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς νόμους πολλὴν ἀσάφειαν καὶ σύγ χυσιν ἔχοντας ἰδών, καὶ τούτους κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον προσφόρως ἐπανασώσασθαι ἔσπευσε, καὶ τὴν μὲν τῶν ἀνῃρημένων ἀχρηστίαν περιελεῖν, τῶν δὲ κυρίων ἀνακαθᾶραι τὸ πλῆθος. οὐκ ἔσχε δὲ καιρὸν προκαταληφθεὶς θανάτῳ. ἤρξατο δὲ τοῦ ἔργου καὶ ἐξε πλήρωσε Λέων ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα. Κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Βασιλείου