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having escaped, was brought back to his own ways. But when Leo entered, the emperor received him very kindly and honored him with victory celebrations and triumphs, and deemed him worthy of appropriate rewards, having honored and promoted both him and all those who had distinguished themselves with him. In the second year of the reign of Romanus, many of the officials were arrested for conspiring against him. And they had as 2.342 ringleader and prime instigator Basil the magistros, called Peteinus, and certain others of the notables, Paschalius the patrikios, Bardas the son of Libos the patrikios, and Nicholas Chalcutzes; who had planned to kill the emperor as he was coming down on the day of the horse races, and to seat Basil on the imperial throne and proclaim him emperor. But when the plot was reported to the emperor by one of the conspirators, Ioannicius by name, a Saracen by race, before the appointed day arrived they were arrested by Joseph, and having been convicted and cruelly tortured, except for Basil alone, and paraded in triumph on the very day of the games, they were sent into exile and tonsured as monks.

And having suffered there for a short time, they were recalled, as the emperor treated them humanely. But Basil Peteinus alone went mad and died in Proconnesus, justice having pursued him for what he had deceitfully shown towards the emperor Stephen, having betrayed him to Constantine. And when Romanus Saronites the magistros, who was the son-in-law of the elder Romanus by his daughter, saw what had happened concerning Peteinus and the others, and fearing lest he suffer the same fate himself, being envied for his own distinction and under suspicion, he divided his property among his children as he wished, and distributed the rest to the poor, and put on the monastic habit. And having entered the monastery of 2.343 Elegmoi, and having remained there for a considerable time, he was especially honored by the emperors who came after. During these times a certain man appeared, called Philoraius, who was a shield-bearer of Romanus Moseles the magistros, the grandson of the elder Romanus. This man, standing upright on the saddlecloth of a very swift horse, and holding a sword in his hands, while the horse was running as fast as it could, would go around the euripus of the hippodrome, turning the sword up and down and not slipping from his stance at all. And in these days the pestilential disease which had for a long time been attacking, ravaging and destroying the oxen of the Romans, which is called krabra, increased. And they say that this had its beginning in the days of the elder Romanus. For while Romanus was building for himself palaces near the cistern of Bonus as a respite from the summer heat, and the foundations were being laid, they say that a marble head of an ox was found, which those who found it smashed and threw into the lime kiln. And from that time until the present, the breeds of oxen have not ceased to be destroyed everywhere in the land, as much as the dominion of the Romans encompasses. And Romanus, urged by his wife, tried to bring down from the palace his mother Helen and his sisters, and to confine them in the palace of Antiochus. But 2.344 Helen, having learned this, turned to lamentations and curses and shamed her son, who feared her curses. But she was allowed to remain in her place, but he brought down his sisters through John the hegumen of Stoudios and had them tonsured as nuns. But as soon as he had departed, they took off the monastic habit and ate meat. And Helen, greatly grieved by the deposing of her daughters, and having survived for a short time, died on the 20th of the month of September of the 5th indiction, and was carried out with imperial honors and was buried in the sarcophagus of her father. But Nikephoros Phokas, as was said before, having been ordered to return from Crete, was not permitted to enter the cap

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διαδρὰς εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη ἀνεκομίσθη. εἰσελθόντα δὲ τὸν Λέοντα μάλα φιλοφρόνως ὁ βα σιλεὺς ὑπεδέξατο ἐπινικίοις τε θριάμβοις τετίμηκε καὶ γερῶν τῶν κατ' ἀξίαν ἠξίωσε, τιμήσας καὶ προβιβάσας καὶ πάντας τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἀριστεύσαντας. Τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Ῥωμανοῦ πολλοὶ τῶν πολιτευομένων ἑάλωσαν ἐπιβεβουλευκότες αὐτῷ. εἶχον δὲ καὶ 2.342 πρωτουργὸν καὶ πρωταίτιον Βασίλειον μάγιστρον τὸν λεγόμενον Πετεινὸν καί τινας ἄλλους τῶν ἐπισήμων, τὸν πατρίκιον Πασχά λιον, τὸν πατρίκιον Βάρδαν τὸν τοῦ Λιβός, καὶ Νικόλαον τὸν Χαλκούτζην· οἵτινες ἐβουλεύσαντο κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῶν ἱππικῶν ἀγώνων κατιόντα διαχειρίσασθαι τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ τὸν Βασίλειον ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ καθίσαντες θρόνου ἀναγορεῦσαι βασιλέα. ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς μηνυθείσης τῷ βασιλεῖ παρά τινος τῶν συνωμοτῶν, Ἰωαννικίου τοὔνομα, τῷ γένει Σαρακηνοῦ, πρὶν ἢ τὴν κυρίαν ἐνστῆναι κρατηθέντες παρὰ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ καὶ ἐλεγχθέντες καὶ ἀπη νῶς αἰκισθέντες ἄνευ μόνου τοῦ Βασιλείου, καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ ἀγῶνος θριαμβευθέντες, ἐξορίᾳ παρεπέμφθησαν καὶ ἀπεκάρησαν μοναχοί.

Χρόνον δέ τινα βραχὺν ἐν αὐτῇ ταλαι πωρηθέντες ἀνεκλήθησαν φιλανθρώπως αὐτοῖς χρησαμένου τοῦ βασιλέως. μόνος δὲ Βασίλειος ὁ Πετεινὸς ἔκφρων γενόμενος ἐτε λεύτησεν ἐν Προικοννήσῳ, τῆς δίκης αὐτὸν μετελθούσης ἀνθ' ὧν δολίως εἰς Στέφανον ἐνεδείξατο τὸν βασιλέα, προδεδωκὼς τοῦτον τῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ. Τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸν Πετεινὸν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἰδὼν ὁ μάγιστρος Ῥωμανὸς ὁ Σαρωνίτης, ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ γαμβρὸς ὢν Ῥωμανοῦ γέροντος, καὶ μὴ τὰ ὅμοια καὶ αὐτὸς πάθοι φοβηθείς, φθονούμενος διὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περιφάνειαν καὶ ὑποπτευόμενος, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ οὐ σίαν τοῖς τέκνοις ὡς ἐβούλετο διαμερίσας καὶ τὴν ὑπόλοιπον πένησι διανείμας τὸ τῶν μοναχῶν περιβάλλεται ἔνδυμα. καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν 2.343 Ἐλεγμῶν μονῇ γενόμενος, καὶ χρόνον συχνὸν ἐν αὐτῇ παραμείνας, ὑπὸ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα βασιλέων ἐτιμήθη διαφερόντως. Κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους ἀνήρ τις ἀνεφάνη Φιλώραιος καλούμενος, ὑπασπιστὴς ὢν Ῥωμανοῦ μαγίστρου τοῦ Μωσηλέ, τοῦ ἐκγόνου Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ γέροντος. οὗτος ἄνωθεν ἵππου ὠκυ τάτου ἐπὶ τῆς ἐφεστρίδος ἱστάμενος ὄρθιος, καὶ ξίφος ταῖς χερσὶ βαστάζων, τοῦ ἵππου τρέχοντος ὅσον ἐδύνατο κυκλῶν ἐπῄει τὸν εὔριπον τῆς ἱπποδρομίας, στρέφων ἄνω καὶ κάτω τὸ ξίφος καὶ μηδ' ὅλως ὑπολισθαίνων τῆς στάσεως. Ἐπέδωκε δ' ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις καὶ πάλαι τὴν Ῥω μαίων ἐπιόν τε καὶ λυμαινόμενον καὶ διαφθεῖρον τοὺς βόας τὸ λοι μικὸν πάθος, ὃ κράβρα κατονομάζεται. φασὶ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦτο λαβεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ γέροντος Ῥωμανοῦ. ἔγγιστα γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Βώνου κινστέρνης ἀναψυχὴν ἑαυτῷ τῆς θερινῆς θέρμης πα λάτια τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ ἀνεγείροντος, καὶ τῶν θεμελίων καταβαλλο μένων, βοός φασιν εὑρεθῆναι μαρμαρίνου κεφαλήν, ἣν οἱ εὑρόν τες συντρίψαντες εἰς τὴν τοῦ τιτάνου κάμινον ἐμβάλλουσιν. ἐξ ἐκείνου δ' ἄχρι τῶν τῇδε χρόνων οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο πανταχοῦ τῆς γῆς ὁπόσην ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων περιέχει δυναστεία, τὰ τῶν βοῶν δια φθείρεσθαι γένη. Ὁ δὲ Ῥωμανὸς παρορμώμενος ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ γυναικὸς κατ ενεγκεῖν ἐπειράθη τῶν βασιλείων Ἑλένην τε τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὰς ἀδελφάς, καὶ ἐν τοῖς παλατίοις τῶν Ἀντιόχου περιορίσαι. γνοῦσα 2.344 δὲ τοῦτο ἡ Ἑλένη καὶ πρὸς θρήνους τραπεῖσα καὶ ἀρὰς ἐδυσώπησε τὸν υἱόν, διευλαβηθέντα τὰς ἐξ αὐτῆς κατάρας. ἀλλ' αὕτη μὲν εἰάθη μένειν κατὰ χώραν, τὰς δ' ἀδελφὰς καταγαγὼν διὰ Ἰωάν νου καθηγεμόνος τῶν Στουδίου ἀπέκειρε μοναχάς. αἱ δὲ ἅμα τῇ ὑποχωρήσει τούτου τὴν μοναχικὴν ἀποδυσάμεναι ἐσθῆτα ἐκρεωφά γουν. ἡ δὲ Ἑλένη τῇ τῶν θυγατέρων καταγωγῇ περιαλγήσασα, καὶ μικρὸν ἐπιζήσασα χρόνον, τῇ κʹ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς τῆς εʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος ἀπεβίω, καὶ βασιλικῶς ἐκκομισθεῖσα ἐτάφη ἐν τῇ λάρνακι τοῦ πατρός. Νικηφόρος δὲ ὁ Φωκᾶς, ὡς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, προστα χθεὶς ἐκ Κρήτης ἐπανελθεῖν οὐ συνεχωρήθη εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βα