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reclaiming it as if it were a hereditary possession and his own due, since he had a closer blood relationship than the others to the departed emperor. And when he was at the praetorium, breaking open the gates of the prison, he led out the prisoners, hoping, I suppose, to accomplish something great and noble through them. Arriving at the Chalke, he did this same thing there as well. But when the rebellion became known to the eunuchs in the palace, quickly the soldiers guarding the palace, both Romans and Varangians (the Varangians are a Celtic race serving the Romans for pay), armed themselves, and quickly too those serving in the imperial triremes were roused. And a considerable force was gathered and was about to be sent against Theodosius. But he, learning this, abandoned his plan to go to the palace and turned back towards the great church of God; for he hoped that when he entered it, the patriarch and the clergy would receive him, and a great multitude of people would gather and proclaim him emperor. But all these things turned out contrary for him. For both the patriarch and the clergy of the church closed its gates to him as he approached, and those who usually rejoice and run together in such situations were nowhere to be found, and those who had followed him up to that point, learning of the force that was about to be sent 2.614 against them, little by little slipped away and were scattered, and finally, left destitute of all, he sat as a pitiful suppliant with his son before the church; they immediately sent men to lead him out of the church and exiled him to Pergamum. And they did this same thing to the more prominent of those who had been led astray with him. And from that time, Michael was proclaimed emperor without dispute. And taking up the reins of the empire, he raised all the notables of the senate to higher ranks of office, and he won over the people with promises of many good things; but being very old and mindful of many ancient things, he also undertook to restore many of the old customs that had fallen into disuse, which contributed nothing to the advantage of the empire or the common good. For he ordered the so-called Strategion to be cleared out, at which the citizens scoffed, saying that he was clearing away the dirt in search of his own knuckle-bone, which he had lost there while playing, and that the heads of citizens should be covered not with unadorned cloth, as now, but with large-patterned linens woven from purple fine linen; and he appointed as public curators not senators, but some of the stenographers who had been promoted in each office. And many other such things, of which if I should wish to recount each one, I would become tiresome to my listeners. But when the time arrived for the imperial largesse, which the emperors were accustomed to distribute annually at the 2.615 time of Easter to the senate, and all the leaders of the army, renowned for both birth and bravery, entered, -these were the magistros Isaac Comnenus and the magistros Catacalon Cecaumenus (this man was doukas of Antioch, and having been removed from this office, he was succeeded by Michael, the emperor's nephew, whom upon his acclamation he named Ouranos, as supposedly tracing his lineage to the ancient Ouranos, and honoring him as magistros of Antioch, just as the other had been, he sent him out as successor to Cecaumenus), and Michael Bourtzes the vestarches, Constantine and John who were descended from the family of the eastern doukas, and the other notable officials. And they all ran together, in order to both see the new emperor and receive largesse from him; for his generosity and magnificence and liberality towards benefactions had been reported to all. But the emperor, entering into conversation with Comnenus and Cecaumenus, and having praised them and called them noble and good generals, and Cecaumenus even more so as not from his fathers nor from any patronage but from his own deeds of valor to which

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ἀνακαλούμενος ὡς κληρονομιαῖον τάχα κτῆμα καὶ αὐτῷ προσῆκον ὡς μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἐγγύτατα ἔχοντι αἵματος πρὸς τὸν ἀπελθόντα βασιλέα. ὡς δὲ ἐγένετο κατὰ τὸ πραιτώριον, διαρρήξας τὰς πύλας τῆς φυλακῆς ἐξάγει τοὺς καθειργμένους, ἐλπίσας οἶμαι δι' αὐτῶν μέγα τι δια πράξασθαι καὶ γενναῖον. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν Χαλκῇ φθάσας ἐποίει. ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐπαναστάσεως τοῖς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις γνωσθεί σης εὐνούχοις, ταχὺ μὲν οἱ φυλάσσοντες ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ στρατιῶ ται Ῥωμαῖοί τε καὶ Βάραγγοι (γένος δὲ Κελτικὸν οἱ Βάραγγοι μισθοφοροῦντες Ῥωμαίοις) καθοπλίζονται, ταχὺ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἐν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς ὑπηρετοῦντες τριήρεσιν ἠγείροντο. καὶ χεὶρ ἱκανὴ συνηθροίσθη καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Θεοδοσίου ἔμελλε πέμπεσθαι. ὁ δὲ τοῦτο πυθόμενος, ἐκκλίνας τοῦ πρὸς τὸ παλάτιον ἀπιέναι, ὑπο στρέφει πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν· ἤλπισε γὰρ ὡς εἰσελθόντα τοῦτον ἐν αὐτῇ ὁ πατριάρχης τε καὶ ὁ κλῆρος προσ δέξεται, καὶ λαὸς ἀθροισθήσεται πλεῖστος, καὶ βασιλέα ἀναγο ρεύσουσι. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα αὐτῷ εἰς τοὐναντίον ἀπέβη. ὅ τε γὰρ πατριάρχης καὶ ὁ τῆς ἐκκλησίας κλῆρος ἐρχομένῳ τὰς ταύτης ἀποκλείουσι πύλας, καὶ οἱ συνήθως ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις χαίροντες καὶ συντρέχοντες ἦσαν οὐδαμοῦ, καὶ οἱ παρεπόμενοι τούτῳ μέχρις ἐκείνου τοῦ τόπου, μαθόντες τὴν μέλλουσαν πέμπεσθαι δύναμιν 2.614 κατ' αὐτῶν, κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπορρέοντες ἐσκεδάσθησαν, καὶ λοιπὸν ἔρημος πάντων καταλειφθεὶς ἱκέτης ἐλεεινὸς μετὰ τοῦ παιδὸς πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καθίζει· ὃν εὐθὺς ἀποστείλαντες ἐξάγουσι τῆς ἐκ κλησίας καὶ ἐξορίζουσιν ἐν Περγάμῳ. τὸ δ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἐμφανεστέρους τῶν αὐτῷ συναπαχθέντων ἐποίησαν. καὶ τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἀναμφισβητήτως ἀνηγορεύετο αὐτο κράτωρ. Παραλαβὼν δὲ τὰς ἡνίας τῆς βασιλείας πάντας μὲν τοὺς λογάδας τῆς συγκλήτου εἰς βαθμοὺς ἀξιωμάτων ὑψηλοτέρους ἀνήγαγε, καὶ τὸν δῆμον ὑποσχέσεσιν ὑπεποιεῖτο πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν· ὡς ὢν δὲ κάρτα γέρων καὶ πολλῶν μεμνημένος ἀρχαίων, ἐπεβάλ λετο καὶ πολλὰ τῶν παλαιῶν σχολάσαντα ἐθίμων ἐπανακτήσασθαι, μηδὲν πρὸς λυσιτέλειαν συντελοῦντα τῆς βασιλείας ἢ τοῦ κοινοῦ. τό τε γὰρ λεγόμενον στρατήγιον ἀνακαθαίρεσθαι ἐκέλευσε, πρὸς ὅπερ ἀποσκώπτοντες οἱ πολῖται ἔφασκον ὡς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀστράγα λον ἀναζητῶν, ὃν ἐκεῖσε παίζων ἀπώλεσεν, ἐκκαθαίρει τὸν χοῦν, καὶ τὰς τῶν πολιτῶν κεφαλὰς σκέπεσθαι μὴ δι' ἀγραμμάτων, ὡς νῦν, ἀλλὰ διὰ μεγαλογράμμων ὀθονίων ἐκ βυσσοῦ πορφυρᾶς ἐξυ φασμένων· καὶ δημοσίους φροντιστὰς οὐ συγκλητικοὺς προεβάλ λετο, ἀλλά τινας τῶν ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἀρχείῳ ἐναυξηθέντων ταχυγρά φων. καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα, ὧν τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον καταλέγειν θελήσας προσκορὴς γενήσομαι τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ καιρὸς ἐπέστη τῆς βασιλικῆς φιλοτιμίας, ἣν διανέμειν ἐτησίως κατὰ τὸν 2.615 καιρὸν τοῦ πάσχα πρὸς τὴν σύγκλητον εἰώθασιν οἱ βασιλεῖς, καὶ πάντες εἰσῆλθον οἱ τοῦ στρατοῦ ἡγούμενοι καὶ γένει καὶ ἀνδρίᾳ ὠνομασμένοι, -ἦσαν δὲ ὅ τε μάγιστρος Ἰσαάκιος ὁ Κομνηνὸς καὶ ὁ μάγιστρος Κατακαλὼν ὁ Κεκαυμένος (δοὺξ δὲ οὗτος ἦν Ἀντιοχείας, καὶ παραλυθέντα τοῦτον τῆς ἀρχῆς διεδέξατο Μιχαὴλ ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀνεψιός, ὃν ἅμα τῇ ἀναρρήσει Οὐρανὸν κατονο μάσας ὡς δῆθεν εἰς τὸν παλαιὸν Οὐρανὸν ἀναφέροντα τὸ γένος, καὶ μάγιστρον Ἀντιοχείας, ὥσπερ ἦν ἐκεῖνος, τιμήσας διάδοχον ἐκπέμπει τῷ Κεκαυμένῳ), Μιχαήλ τε βεστάρχης ὁ Βούρτζης, Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ Ἰωάννης οἱ ἐκ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἑῴων τοῦ δουκὸς καταγόμενοι, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ λογάδες τῶν ἀρχόντων. συνέδραμον δὲ πάντες, ἵνα καὶ τὸν νέον βασιλέα θεάσωνται καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐ τοῦ τύχωσι φιλοτιμιῶν· διεδόθη γὰρ πρὸς ἅπαντας τὸ προετικὸν ἐκείνου καὶ πρὸς τὰς εὐεργεσίας μεγαλοπρεπές τε καὶ ἐλευθέριον. ἐς λόγους δ' ἐλθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ Κομνηνῷ καὶ τῷ Κεκαυμένῳ, καὶ ἐπαινέσας μὲν αὐτοὺς καὶ στρατηγοὺς γενναίους καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ὀνομάσας, καὶ μᾶλλον τὸν Κεκαυμένον ὡς μὴ ἐκ πατέρων μηδ' ἐκ προσπαθείας τινὸς ἀλλ' ἐξ οἰκείων ἀνδραγαθημάτων πρὸς ἣν