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to the Boukoleon, and having summoned her son and those around him, she asked how this insurrection had happened. But when no one answered, the emperor's tutor, Theodore, said, "Because Leo Phokas lost the armies, O mistress, and Constantine the parakoimomenos the palace, such a movement has occurred." But the emperor, drawing power from his mother to himself, brought up the patriarch Nicholas with the magistros Stephen into the palace, and on the next day they send John Toubakes to bring the Augusta down from the palace. But she, embracing her son with wailing and tears, moved him to motherly sympathy and pity. Therefore, he says to those leading her, "Let my mother be with me." And they, at his word, left her. And the emperor appointed as Domestic of the Schools, succeeding Phokas, the magistros John Garidas, fearing a revolt from Leo. And at his request, his son Symeon and his brother-in-law Theodore, Zouphinezer, were appointed hetaireiarches. Therefore, having been bound by oaths by the emperor, he went down to his house, and immediately his kinsmen were dismissed from the palace; which when he learned, he was seized with anguish and fear. Immediately 2.292 therefore, mounting his horse, he went to Romanos the droungarios, recounting the insult and the abuse he had suffered. Having therefore conferred and bound one another with oaths, and having made an alliance through their children, they kept their plan secret. But Romanos, sending to the palace, made his defense concerning what had happened, swearing that what had been done was not an insurrection nor a rebellion; suspecting, he says, an attack by Phokas, and fearing for the emperor lest he suffer some harm, he wished to come up into the palace and to set a guard for it and for the emperor. But when the patriarch did not believe him nor accept what was said, Theodore the tutor urged Romanos, having raised the whole fleet, to come to the palace's dock at the Boukoleon. But as he was delaying and hesitating, those who were leading him toward the secret plot persuaded him, even unwillingly, to do what was commanded. And so on the very day of the feast of the Annunciation, having equipped the fleet for war, he arrives at the Boukoleon. And Stephen the magistros immediately comes down from the palace, but the patrikios Niketas, being a kinsman by marriage of Romanos, comes up and brings down the patriarch. And those around the emperor, having sent the precious and life-giving wood to Romanos, and having bound him with the most fearsome oaths and most dreadful curses never to devise any treachery against the emperor, they permit him to come up 2.293 into the palace with a few men. Whom the emperor, having received him as he came up and was about to do obeisance, brings into the church in the Pharos, and having given and received pledges from him, he appoints him megas hetaireiarches.

Letters therefore were immediately sent to Leo Phokas instructing him not to be negligent nor to despair nor to plan anything rash, but to wait a short while quietly in his own house, as his promotion was about to happen shortly. And they compelled the parakoimomenos Constantine to write similar things to him. Having received these, Phokas remained quiet in his house in Cappadocia. In the fifth week of the holy fast a pledge of marital contract was given by the emperor Constantine to Helen, the daughter of Romanos, and on the Tuesday known as of Galilee, the emperor is crowned with her by Nicholas the patriarch, having appointed Romanos basileopator, and in his place as hetaireiarches, his son Christopher. And a short time after, Leo Phokas, persuaded by his kinsmen and regiments, looked towards rebellion, and

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Βου κολέοντα, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν μεταστειλαμένη καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτόν, ἐπη ρώτα πῶς γέγονεν ἡ ἀνταρσία αὕτη. μηδενὸς δὲ ἀποκριναμένου, ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Θεόδωρος ἔφη "διὰ τὸ ἀπολέσαι, ὦ δέσποινα, Λέοντα μὲν τὸν Φωκᾶν τὰ στρατόπεδα, Κωνσταντῖνον δὲ τὸν παρακοιμώμενον τὸ παλάτιον, ἡ τοιαύτη γέγονε κίνησις." ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἀπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ἐφελκόμενος τὸν πατριάρχην Νικόλαον σὺν τῷ μαγίστρῳ Στεφάνῳ ἀνήγαγεν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ, καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον στέλλουσιν Ἰωάννην τὸν Τουβάκην τὴν Αὐγοῦσταν τοῦ παλατίου καταβιβάσαι. ἡ δὲ μετ' ὀλολυγῆς καὶ δακρύων τῷ ἑαυτῆς προσπλακεῖσα υἱῷ πρὸς συμπάθειαν αὐ τὸν μητρικὴν καὶ οἶκτον ἐκίνησε. διὸ καί φησι πρὸς τοὺς ἄγον τας "ἐάσατε εἶναι μετ' ἐμοῦ τὴν μητέρα μου." οἱ δὲ ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ ταύτην κατέλιπον. προεβάλετο δ' ὁ βασιλεὺς δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν, διαδεξάμενος τὸν Φωκᾶν, τὸν μάγιστρον Ἰωάννην τὸν Γαριδᾶν, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Λέοντος δεδοικὼς ἐπανάστασιν. τῇ αἰτήσει τε τούτου προεβλήθησαν Συμεὼν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ Θεό δωρος ὁ γυναικάδελφος αὐτοῦ, ὁ Ζουφινέζερ, ἑταιρειάρχαι. ὅρκοις τε οὖν καταληφθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως κατῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐ τοῦ, καὶ παραχρῆμα οἱ συγγενεῖς αὐτοῦ ἀπελύθησαν τῶν βασι λείων· ὅπερ μαθὼν ἐκεῖνος ἀγωνίᾳ καὶ φόβῳ ἐλήφθη. εὐθὺς 2.292 οὖν ἐξιππασάμενος ἀπῆλθε πρὸς τὸν Ῥωμανὸν τὸν δρουγγάριον, τὴν ὕβριν ἣν ὑπέστη καὶ τὸν προπηλακισμὸν διηγούμενος. κοινο πραγήσαντες οὖν καὶ ὅρκοις ἀλλήλους κατασφαλισάμενοι, καὶ κῆδος εἰς τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ποιησάμενοι παῖδας, ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ κατεῖχον τὸ σπουδαζόμενον. ὁ δὲ Ῥωμανὸς πέμψας εἰς τὸ παλάτιον περὶ τοῦ γεγονότος ἀπελογεῖτο, μὴ ἀνταρσίαν εἶναι μηδὲ ἀπόστασιν ὀμνύ μενος τὰ πραχθέντα· τὴν τοῦ Φωκᾶ δὲ ἐπίθεσιν ὑφορώμενος, φησί, καὶ δεδιὼς περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως μή τι καὶ πάθῃ φλαῦρον, ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ἠβουλήθη ἀνελθεῖν καὶ φυλακὴν τούτου ποιήσασθαι καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως. μὴ πιστεύοντος δὲ τοῦ πατριάρχου μηδὲ τὰ λεγόμενα δεχομένου, ἐπισπέρχει Θεόδωρος ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τὸν Ῥωμανόν, ἄραντα πάντα τὸν στόλον, ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς τὸ τοῦ παλα τίου νεώριον ἐν τῷ Βουκολέοντι. μέλλοντος δὲ τούτου καὶ ἀνα δυομένου, οἱ πρὸς τὴν λεληθυῖαν πρᾶξιν τοῦτον ἐνάγοντες ἀνέ πεισαν καὶ ἄκοντα ποιῆσαι τὸ κελευόμενον. ἀμέλει καὶ κατ' αὐ τὴν τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελισμοῦ ἐξαρτύσας τὸν στό λον πολεμικῶς ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τὸν Βουκολέοντα. καὶ Στέφανος μὲν εὐθὺς ὁ μάγιστρος κάτεισι τῶν βασιλείων, ἄνεισι δὲ ὁ πατρίκιος Νικήτας, κηδεστὴς ὢν Ῥωμανοῦ, καὶ κατάγει τὸν πατριάρ χην. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν βασιλέα τὰ τίμια καὶ ζῳοποιὰ ξύλα πέμψαν τες πρὸς τὸν Ῥωμανόν, καὶ ὅρκοις αὐτὸν κατασφαλισάμενοι φοβε ρωτάτοις καὶ ἀραῖς παλαμναιοτάταις μηδέποτε δόλιον κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐννοήσασθαι, συγχωροῦσι μετ' ὀλίγων αὐτὸν ἀνελθεῖν 2.293 ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ. ὅνπερ δεξάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνελθόντα καὶ προσκυνήσοντα εἰσάγει κατὰ τὸν ἐν τῷ Φάρῳ ναόν, καὶ πίστεις αὐτῷ δοὺς καὶ λαβὼν προχειρίζεται τοῦτον μέγαν ἑταιρειάρχην.

Γράμματα οὖν εὐθὺς ἐφοίτα πρὸς Λέοντα τὸν Φωκᾶν μὴ ὀλιγω ρῆσαι μηδ' ἀπογνῶναι μηδὲ σκαιόν τι βουλεύσασθαι, ἀλλὰ προσ μεῖναι μικρὸν ἡσύχως ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ οἴκῳ διοριζόμενα ὡς μελλού σης γενέσθαι διὰ βραχέος τῆς αὐτοῦ προνοίας. τὰ παραπλήσια δὲ γράψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν παρακοιμώμενον κατηνάγκασαν Κωνσταντῖνον. ἅπερ δεξάμενος ὁ Φωκᾶς ἡσυχίαν ἦγεν ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὴν Καππαδοκίαν οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ. Τῇ δὲ εʹ ἑβδομάδι τῶν ἁγίων νηστειῶν δέδοται παρὰ Κων σταντίνου τοῦ βασιλέως ἀρραβῶν γαμικοῦ συναλλάγματος Ἑλένῃ τῇ θυγατρὶ Ῥωμανοῦ, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τῇ λεγομένῃ τῆς Γαλιλαίας στεφανοῦται μετ' αὐτῆς παρὰ Νικολάου τοῦ πατριάρχου ὁ βασι λεύς, τὸν Ῥωμανὸν βασιλεοπάτορα προβαλόμενος, καὶ ἀντ' αὐτοῦ ἑταιρειάρχην Χριστοφόρον τὸν τούτου υἱόν. καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν Λέων ὁ Φωκᾶς ἀναπεισθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ συγγενῶν καὶ τα γμάτων πρὸς ἀποστασίαν ἀπεῖδε, καὶ