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the third drungarius of the Vigla, having honored all as proedroi, 2.481 and Eustathios, the one after many others, as great hetaireiarch. And he also appointed as duke of Antioch a certain eunuch called Spondyles, and of Iberia, Niketas from Pisidia, both disreputable and evil men; who, having filled all things with disturbance and confusion, almost overthrew the empire which was already being well governed from the reign of Romanos, the father of the two emperors, and of Nikephoros and John and Basil, who successively received the scepters and made it formidable to the neighboring nations. And not only was his judgment indifferent in the appointments to offices, appointing them as it happened, but he also persecuted constantly the more worthy and more proven men, plotting against the well-reputed. For he blinded even Constantine the patrikios, the son of Michael magistros Bourtzes, who had offended him before his reign and had reported his licentious deeds to the emperor Basil, and he destroyed not a few other good men, as the account will relate as it proceeds. And these and such were the preludes of his reign; but what history could present what followed worthily? For, as was said, being attached only to jesters and mimes, and gaping at the horse races more than anyone else, he considered them his only necessary business, esteeming the rest of no account but reckoning them secondary to his licentious deeds.

For Nikephoros Komnenos, a prudent man and renowned for his virtue and bravery, ruler of Media 2.482 and Asprakania, who had also subjugated the neighboring nations, he blinded for no reasonable cause, but out of envy for his virtue, bringing against him an accusation of conspiracy. For this man, often engaging with the neighboring Saracens in Media, and seeing his own soldiers growing soft and turning their backs in a disorderly fashion and fleeing, and reproaching them on the one hand, and on the other exhorting them not to flee so shamefully but to stand bravely against their opponents, persuaded them to agree. And when he demanded that they confirm their assent with an oath, that they would die with him fighting against the enemy, they issued a written document, confirming with the most blood-guilty curses and most dreadful oaths to stand manfully in the battle-line and die with their general. When this came to the ears of Constantine, Nikephoros was immediately removed from his command and brought to the capital, and a court and tribunal were set up, and he was condemned as having conspired against the empire, and his eyes were put out. And being angry also with Bardas the patrikios, the grandson of the magistros Bardas Phokas, and with certain others, he concocted through one of his cherished sycophants an accusation of tyranny against him, and immediately blinded him and those slandered with him. And when a rebellion occurred in Naupaktos against George its strategos, whom they called Morogeorgios because of the instability of his mind, the strategos was killed, and they plundered all his 2.483 possessions, for he had treated the locals badly and crushed them with artful and continuous exactions. But the emperor not only punished the perpetrators of the murder harshly, but he also blinded the archbishop of Naupaktos himself. And Basil patrikios, the son of Romanos Skleros, clashing with the magistros Prousianos the Bulgarian, strategos of the Boukellarioi, was moved to such a degree of boldness as to come to battle with him. Constantine the emperor, judging their dispute an act of shamelessness against the empire, exiled both of them, the one to the island of Oxeia, the other to Plate. A little later, he blinded Basil, who had been accused of planning an escape, while Prousianos was in danger of suffering this very same thing

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τρίτον δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλας, προέδρους τοὺς πάντας τιμήσας, 2.481 Εὐστάθιόν τε τὸν πολλοστὸν μετ' ἐκείνους μέγαν ἑταιρειάρχην. προεβάλετο δὲ καὶ δοῦκα Ἀντιοχείας εὐνοῦχόν τινα Σπονδύλην λεγόμενον, καὶ Ἰβηρίας Νικήταν τὸν ἐκ Πισσιδίας, καὶ ἄμφω ἐπιρρήτους ἀνθρώπους καὶ πονηρούς· οἵτινες ταραχῆς καὶ συγχύ σεως τὰ πάντα πληρώσαντες μικροῦ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνέτρεψαν ἤδη καλῶς ἀγομένην ἀπό τε τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ τοῖν βα σιλέοιν πατρός, Νικηφόρου δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννου καὶ Βασιλείου τῶν κατὰ διαδοχὰς δεξαμένων τὰ σκῆπτρα καὶ φοβερὰν καθισταμένην τοῖς πλησιάζουσιν ἔθνεσι. καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀδιάφορον εἶχε τὴν γνώμην ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀρχῶν προβολαῖς, ὡς ἔτυχεν αὐτὰς καθιστάς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀξιολογωτέρους καὶ δοκιμωτέρους ἐδίωκε διὰ παντός, τοῖς εὐ δοκίμοις ἐπιβουλεύων. ἀπετύφλωσε μὲν γὰρ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον πα τρίκιον τὸν υἱὸν Μιχαὴλ μαγίστρου τοῦ Βούρτζῃ, πρὸ τῆς αὐτοκρα τορίας αὐτοῦ προσκρούοντα καὶ τὰς ἀκολάστους αὐτῷ πράξεις Βασι λείῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ μηνύοντα, καὶ ἄλλους οὐκ ὀλίγους ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς ἠφάνισεν, ὡς προϊὼν ἐξείπῃ ὁ λόγος. καὶ τὰ μὲν προοίμια τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας αὐτοῦ ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα· τὰ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ποία ἂν καὶ κατ' ἀξίαν παραστήσειεν ἱστορία; μόνων γάρ, ὡς ἐρρέθη, ἐξεχόμενος γελωτοποιῶν καὶ μίμων, καὶ περὶ τὰς ἱπποδρομίας εἴ πέρ τις ἄλλος κεχηνώς, ἔργον μόνον ἀναγκαῖον ταύτας ἡγεῖτο, τὰ λοιπὰ μηδενὸς ἀξιῶν λόγου ἀλλὰ δεύτερα λογιζόμενος τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀκολάστων ἔργων.

Νικηφόρον γὰρ τὸν Κομνηνόν, ἄνδρα συνε τὸν καὶ ἐπ' ἀρετῇ καὶ ἀνδρίᾳ βεβοημένον, Μηδίας ἄρχοντα τῆς 2.482 καὶ Ἀσπρακανίας, τὸν καὶ τὰ πρόσχωρα ὑποτάξαντα ἔθνη, δι' αἰτίαν μὲν εὔλογον οὐδεμίαν, τῆς δὲ ἀρετῆς φθονήσας ἀπετύφλω σεν, ἔγκλημα τούτῳ καθοσιώσεως ἐπενεγκών. οὗτος γὰρ πολλά κις συμπλεκόμενος τοῖς γείτοσιν ἐν Μηδίᾳ Σαρακηνοῖς, καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ στρατιώτας μαλακιζομένους ὁρῶν καὶ τὰ νῶτα στρέφοντας ἀκόσμως καὶ φεύγοντας, καὶ τὰ μὲν ὀνειδίζων, τὰ δὲ καὶ παρα καλῶν μὴ οὕτω φεύγειν αἰσχρῶς ἀλλ' ἵστασθαι κατὰ τῶν ἀντι πάλων γενναίως, ἔπεισε συγκαταθέσθαι. ὡς δὲ καὶ ἐνωμότως τὴν κατάθεσιν βεβαιῶσαι οὗτος ἀπῄτει, ὅτι σὺν αὐτῷ θανοῦνται μαχόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους, ἔγγραφον ἐκδεδώκασι γραμμα τεῖον, παλαμναιοτάταις ἀραῖς καὶ φρικωδεστάτοις ὅρκοις ἐμπεδω σάμενοι στῆναι ῥωμαλέως ἐν τῇ παρατάξει καὶ ἀποθανεῖν σὺν τῷ στρατηγῷ. τοῦτο ὡς ἦλθεν εἰς ὦτα τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, παρα λύεται μὲν εὐθὺς τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ Νικηφόρος καὶ εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα εἰσάγεται, κριτήριόν τε καὶ βῆμα ἦρτο, καὶ καταδικάζεται ὡς συνομοσάμενος κατὰ τῆς βασιλείας, καὶ τὰς ὄψεις πηροῦται. ἐγκοτῶν δὲ καὶ Βάρδᾳ πατρικίῳ τῷ ἐκγόνῳ τοῦ μαγίστρου Βάρδα τοῦ Φωκᾶ καί τισιν ἄλλοις, ῥάπτει διά τινος τῶν παρατρεφομέ νων συκοφαντῶν τυραννίδος ἐπίθεσιν κατ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ εὐθὺς ἀπο τυφλοῖ τοῦτον καὶ τοὺς συνδιαβληθέντας αὐτῷ. καὶ στάσεως δὲ γενομένης ἐν τῇ Ναυπάκτῳ κατὰ Γεωργίου τοῦ στρατηγοῦντος αὐτῆς, ὃν καὶ Μωρογεώργιον ἐκάλουν διὰ τὸ ἄστατον τῆς γνώ μης, ἀναιρεῖται μὲν ὁ στρατηγός, διαρπάζουσι δὲ καὶ τὰ προσ 2.483 όντα πάντα αὐτῷ, κακῶς διατιθέμενος περὶ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους καὶ εἰσπράξεσι σεσοφισμέναις καὶ συνεχέσι τούτους συντρίβων. ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ οὐ μόνον τοὺς αἰτίους ἀπηνῶς ἐκόλασε τοῦ φόνου, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀρχιερέα τῆς Ναυπάκτου ἐτύφλωσεν. ὁ δὲ τοῦ Σκληροῦ Ῥωμανοῦ υἱὸς Βασίλειος πατρίκιος, προσκρούων τῷ μαγίστρῳ Προυσιανῷ τῷ Βουλγάρῳ στρατηγοῦντι βουκελλαρίων, ἐς τοσοῦτον προήχθη τόλμης ὡς καὶ διὰ μάχης τούτῳ ἐλθεῖν. τού των τὴν διένεξιν Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναισχυντίαν κρίνων κατὰ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ ἄμφω ὑπερορίζει, τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ Ὀξείᾳ νήσῳ τὸν δὲ ἐν τῇ Πλάτῃ. μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ τὸν μὲν Βασίλειον, κατηγορηθέντα ὡς εἴη ἀπόδρασιν μελετῶν, ἀπετύφλωσε, τὸν δὲ Προυσιανὸν μικροῦ δεῖν τοῦτο αὐτὸ πείσεσθαι κινδυνεύοντα