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to seize some towns, and to establish his own rule with them. And the pretext for the rebellion given to him by the rebels was that the emperor his father, after countless toils and dangers and the great proof of his loyalty to him, when they had overcome their enemies, through his goodwill towards the emperor John his son-in-law, had preferred not only him, but also all those around him, and the possessions which had previously been seized from them by those men, he did not allow them to recover, but overlooked them holding them, so that they would suffer more, and he took every care to secure the dynasty for the new emperor; who even now, with his adherents, having broken his oaths, was planning to flee. If these things were to proceed according to his plan, nothing would prevent them from being at war again and risking their safety, both he himself and all of them alike. They urged him to take these things into consideration and not to wait for the moment of danger so heedlessly, doing nothing out of indecisiveness, but to take some thought for himself and for them, so that if the emperor his son-in-law should become master of the whole empire, either upon the death of the emperor his father, or in some other way, he himself with his friends might be out of danger. For he should never think that the emperor his son-in-law would be well-disposed towards him, but that he would retaliate in every 3.48 way and would be eager to remove him, thinking that he would dispute the throne with him, as he too was the son of an emperor and had the right to inherit his paternal rule; and they advised him to bring the aforesaid cities under his control and to separate them from the rest of the Roman dominion, not entirely, but after the rebellion to entreat the emperor his father again, so that oaths might be given that they would campaign with him with the army stationed there, wherever he should command, but that all other authority over the cities should belong to him, both while his father was alive and after his death. For in this way both he and his friends would be in safety, and the emperor his son-in-law, even if he wished, would be able to inflict no harm. They therefore gave such advice, gently leading the young man into rebellion and sowing the evil seeds of what would afterwards be a more evil growth. 8. Persuaded by them on account of the impending fears and dangers, the emperor's son undertook the task, as they had planned, and made the cities revolt to his side, with the intention of later entreating the emperor his father that he should have rule over the cities for life, but be subject to the authority of both him and the emperor his son-in-law. But when the emperor learned of it, he was carried away with unrestrained anger against those who had persuaded him to such things and was already set on punishment. Then, 3.49 tempering his anger with gentleness, for he knew that he would more easily win over his son with mildness, he sent the empress Irene, his mother, to reconcile him with his father and to make him desist from his outrageous deeds. And she, merely by appearing before her son, most easily resolved all the obstacles and suspicions. For not only was she intelligent and skilled in handling great affairs and changing them as she wished, but she also loved her son Matthew exceedingly more than her other children, and was loved by him. Therefore she had no need of words with him, but merely gave orders, and he obeyed in everything. Then, after rebuking the authors of the sedition with words and threatening the most terrible things if they should contrive such things again—for they were among her blood relatives—and after showing her son to be, as before, eagerly obedient in all things to the emperor his father, she returned. But when she arrived in Byzantium, she found that Andronikos, the younger of her sons, had died from the plague that had struck at that time, which, beginning first from the Hyperborean Scythians, overran almost all the coastal regions of the inhabited world and destroyed most of the inhabitants. For it passed through not only Pontus and Thrace and Macedonia, but also Hellas and Italy and all the islands, Egypt and Libya and Judea and Syria, and in a circle almost the entire inhabited world. And so 3.50 invincible was the evil, that neither any diet, nor strength of body

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πολίχνας κατασχεῖν, ἰδίαν συστησάμενον ἡγεμονίαν μετ' αὐτῶν. πρόφασις δὲ ἦν καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τῆς ἀποστασίας τοῖς στασιασταῖς, ὅτι βασιλεὺς ὁ πατὴρ μετὰ τοὺς μυρίους πόνους καὶ κινδύνους καὶ τὴν πολλὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐνοίας, ἐπεὶ περιεγένοντο τῶν πολεμίων, τῇ περὶ βασιλέα Ἰωάννην τὸν γαμβρὸν εὐνοίᾳ οὐ μόνον ἐκεῖνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν ἅπαντας προτιμήσαι, καὶ τά τε ὄντα αὐτοῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνων πρότερον ἡρπασμένα, οὐκ ἐάσειεν ἀπολαμβάνειν, ἀλλ' ἔχοντας περιορᾷν, ἵν' ἀλγῶσι μᾶλλον, καὶ πᾶσαν πρόνοιαν ποιοῖτο τὴν δυναστείαν τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ περιποιεῖν· ὃς καὶ νῦν μετὰ τῶν προσκειμένων ἀθετήσας τοὺς ὅρκους, βουλεύσειε δρασμόν. ἃ εἰ προὐχώρει κατὰ γνώμην, οὐδὲν ἂν ἐκώλυεν αὖθις εἶναι ἐν πολέμοις καὶ κινδυνεύειν καὶ περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτόν τε καὶ πάντας αὐτοὺς ὁμοίως. ἃ ἐκέλευον αὐτὸν ἐν φροντίδι τίθεσθαι καὶ μὴ οὕτως ἀπερισκέπτως τῶν κινδύνων περιμένειν τὸν καιρὸν, πράττοντα μηδὲν ὑπ' ἀβουλίας, ἀλλὰ πρόνοιάν τινα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖσθαι καὶ αὐτῶν, ἵν', εἰ βασιλεὺς ὁ γαμβρὸς γένοιτο τῆς ἀρχῆς ἁπάσης ἐγκρατὴς, ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς βασιλέως τελευτήσαντος, ἢ τρόπῳ δή τινι ἑτέρῳ, ἔξω κινδύνων αὐτὸς μετὰ τῶν φίλων εἴη. μηδὲ γὰρ οἴεσθαί ποτε εὐνοήσειν αὐτῷ βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν, ἀλλ' ἀμυνεῖσθαι πάντα 3.48 τρόπον καὶ σπουδάσειν ποιεῖν ἐκ μέσου, οἰόμενον ἀμφισβητήσειν αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς βασιλείας, οἷα δὴ καὶ αὐτὸν βασιλέως ὄντα παῖδα καὶ δίκαιον ὄντα τὴν πατρῴαν ἀρχὴν κληρονομεῖν· συνεβούλευόν τε τὰς εἰρημένας πόλεις ὑποποιεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἡγεμονίας Ῥωμαίων ἀποτέμνειν οὐ παντάπασιν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν ἀποστασίαν δεήσεσθαι αὖθις βασιλέως τοῦ πατρὸς, ὥστε ὅρκους παρασχέσθαι συστρατεύεσθαι μὲν ἐκείνῳ μετὰ τῆς ἐγκαθιδρυμένης στρατιᾶς αὐτοὺς, ὅποι ἂν κελεύοι, τὴν δ' ἄλλην ἅπασαν ἀρχὴν τῶν πόλεων εἶναι πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ζῶντος τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μετὰ τελευτήν. οὕτω γὰρ ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ ἔσεσθαι αὐτόν τε καὶ φίλους, καὶ βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν, κἂν βούλοιτο, μηδὲν δυνήσεσθαι δεινὸν ἐπάγειν. οἱ μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα παρῄνουν, ἠρέμα τὸν νέον εἰς ἀποστασίαν ἄγοντες καὶ σπέρματα καταβάλλοντες πονηρὰ τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα πονηροτέρας ἐσομένης βλάστης. ηʹ. Πειθόμενος δὲ αὐτοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως ὁ υἱὸς διὰ τοὺς ἐπισειομένους φόβους καὶ κινδύνους, ἐπεχείρησε τῷ ἔργῳ, ᾗ ἐκεῖνοι ἐβουλεύοντο, καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀφίστη πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, γνώμην ἔχων ὡς ὕστερον δεησόμενος βασιλέως τοῦ πατρὸς, τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν τῶν πόλεων αὐτὸν ἔχειν διὰ βίου, τελεῖν δὲ ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ τε καὶ βασιλέως τοῦ γαμβροῦ ἡγεμονίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπύθετο ὁ βασιλεὺς, ὀργῇ μὲν ἐφέρετο ἀκράτῳ πρὸς τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πεπεικότας καὶ ἤδη ὥρμητο πρὸς τιμωρίαν. ἔπειτα 3.49 ἡμερότητι κεράσας τὸν θυμὸν, ᾔδει γὰρ ἐπιεικείᾳ ῥᾷον προσαξόμενος τὸν υἱὸν, Εἰρήνην βασιλίδα τὴν ἐκείνου μητέρα ἔπεμπε διαλλάξουσαν ἐκεῖνον τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῶν ἀτόπων ἔργων ἀποστήσουσαν. ἡ δὲ ὀφθεῖσα μόνον τῷ υἱῷ, ῥᾷστα πάντα τὰ προσκόμματα διέλυε καὶ τὰς ὑποψίας. ἦν γὰρ οὐ συνετὴ μόνον καὶ δεινὴ χρήσασθαι πράγμασι μεγάλοις καὶ μεταποιῆσαι, ᾗ ἐβούλετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ματθαῖον τὸν υἱὸν ἐξόχως τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον φιλοῦσα παίδων καὶ φιλουμένη ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. ὅθεν οὐδὲ λόγων ἐδεήθη πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἀλλ' ἐκέλευε μόνον, καὶ πάνθ' ὑπήκουεν ἐκεῖνος. ἔπειτα τοὺς τῆς στάσεως αἰτίους λόγοις ἐπιπλήξασα καὶ ἀπειλήσασα τὰ δεινότατα, εἰ τοιαῦτα αὖθις πανουργεύοιντο, ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῇ τῶν καθ' αἷμα προσηκόντων, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον, πάνθ' ὑπείκοντα προθύμως ἀποδείξασα βασιλεῖ τῷ πατρὶ, ἀνέστρεφε. γενομένη δὲ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, Ἀνδρόνικον εὗρε τὸν νεώτερον ἀποτεθνηκότα τῶν υἱῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ τότε ἐνσκήψαντος λοιμοῦ, ὃς ἐκ τῶν Ὑπερβορέων πρῶτον ἀρξάμενος Σκυθῶν, πάντα ἐπέδραμε σχεδὸν τὰ παράλια τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τὸ πολὺ διέφθειρε τῶν ἐνοικούντων. οὐ γὰρ Πόντον μόνον διῆλθε καὶ Θρᾴκην καὶ Μακεδονίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἑλλάδα καὶ Ἰταλίαν καὶ νήσους ἁπάσας, Αἴγυπτόν τε καὶ Λιβύην καὶ Ἰουδαίαν καὶ Συρίαν, καὶ κύκλῳ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην. οὕτω 3.50 δὲ ἦν ἄμαχον τὸ κακὸν, ὡς μήτε δίαιταν μηδεμίαν, μήτε ῥώμην σώματος