THE EMPEROR'S ILLNESS

74. I, knowing nothing of this, went out to see him and pay my respects as usual. He greeted me lying on a bed. A small bodyguard stood near and there was also present his chief physician. After greeting me he remarked, with a cheerful look, 'You come at an opportune moment', and promptly gave me his hand to feel his pulse, for he knew that besides my other activities I had also practised medicine. I recognized the illness from which he was suffering, but made no immediate comment. Instead, I turned to the aforementioned doctor. 'In your opinion,' I said, 'what sort of fever is this?' In a somewhat loud voice, so that the emperor might hear, he replied, 'Ephemeral. But if it does not pass off today, there is no cause for surprise. The fever sometimes takes that form as well — the name"ephemeral" is deceptive.' 'Well,' said I, 'I do not exactly agree with your diagnosis. The artery pulsation tells me it will be a three days fever. However, let us hope your Dodonian cauldron**216 is right and my Delphic tripod wrong. Probably it will be wrong, for my own studies have not been advanced enough for me to play the oracle.'

75. Well, the third day arrived and the critical stage of the illness had already run on past the normal period. It proved that one of us was a skilled physician, and it also proved that my calculations were not quite accurate. Afterwards some not very solid food was prepared for the emperor, but before he had time to taste it a sudden violent fever assailed him. They do say that Cato,**217 when he was in a fever or suffering from some other illness, used to remain completely motionless and still, resting until the attack passed and the state of his health took a change for the better. Isaac, however, un- [246]like Cato, kept altering the position of his body and twisting about. His breathing was quicker, and laboured. Nature gave him no respite whatever. Then at last he did get some rest, he thought of returning to the palace.

76. At once he embarked on the imperial trireme and put in at Blachernae. Back in the palace, he felt easier and revelled in the change. He talked in a rather provincial dialect,**218 cracking jokes**219 more than was his wont, and kept us until evening with stories of the old times, recalling all the witty sayings of Romanus's son, the emperor Basil the Great.

77. At sunset he dismissed us and prepared for sleep. For my part, I left the palace full of confidence and buoyed up with fond hopes of the emperor's recovery. I returned rather early the next morning. Just before I reached the doors someone gave me the most alarming news: the emperor was suffering from a stabbing pain in his side, his respiration was difficult, and the breathing was not very strong. I was astonished at this information. Quietly entering the bedroom where he lay, I stood there in silence, filled with instant dismay. He looked at me as if he were asking whether he was past hope and on the point of dying, and at once stretched out his hand to me from under the coverlet. Before I put my fingers on his wrist, the chief physician — there is no need to mention his name — interrupted, 'Don't test the artery. I have already taken his pulse. It's irregular. I could detect only half the pulsations. Each alternate beat is very weak. Like the teeth of an iron saw.'

78. I myself paid little attention to the fellow, but at every break in the pulsation I carefully watched the movement of the artery. I did not recognize the 'saw' pulse, but it was beating rather faintly, not so much reminiscent of the movements of a palsied foot, but rather of one held by chains and trying hard to move. The illness afflicting the emperor had now reached its crisis. Actually most of the others were unaware of this and all of them, or nearly all, were in doubt whether he would survive.

79. From that moment confusion reigned in the palace. The empress**220 — a most remarkable woman, descended from a very noble family, foremost in works of piety — and her daughter**221 by Isaac, herself a beautiful girl, not only at the time when her hair w as cut early in her life but even after tonsuration, her simple robes showing off to advantage the warmth of her complexion and the [247] gold-red of her hair, these two women, and the emperor's brother,**222 and his nephew,**223 formed a circle round his bed, giving him their last messages and shedding tears of farewell. They exhorted him to go at once to the Great Palace, so that there he might make any decisions that were necessary. They were anxious, too, lest the family should fall on evil times at his death: they might lose the fortunate status they then held as the emperor's kinsfolk. So Isaac made ready to leave. During these preparations there came to him, none too soon, the High Priest**224 of Saint Sophia, offering spiritual advice and all kinds of consolation.

80. As I said, the emperor agreed with his family that it was desirable for him to move, and here he showed he had lost none of his pristine courage. He left the bedroom leaning on no one's arm. It was typical of the man's independent spirit. Like some towering cypress being violently shaken by gusts of wind, he certainly tottered as he walked forward, but he did walk, although his hands trembled; and he did it unaided. In this condition he mounted his horse, but how he fared on the ride I do not know, for I hurried on by the other road to get there before him. I was successful, but when he arrived I saw that he was extremely agitated and in a state of utter collapse. All the family sat round him lamenting. They would willingly have died with him, had they been able. Leader of the chorus of dirges was the empress; answering her mother's lamentations and weeping in a manner even more lugubrious, was the daughter.

81. While they were engaged thus, the emperor, remembering that he was about to pass on to a higher life, expressed a desire to enter the Church. It was his own wish. We had not influenced him at all, but the empress, who did not know that, blamed all of us for the decision rather than him. Then, seeing me there as well as the others, she exclaimed, 'Pray Heaven we benefit from your advice as much as you hope, philosopher! But what a fine way to show your gratitude — planning to convert your emperor to the life of a monk!'

82. I gave her my word of honour, before she could say another word, that I had never entertained such a thought. More than that, I asked the sick man who had advised him to take this course. 'Not you,' he replied, 'but this lady (the very words he used), this lady, true to her womanly instincts, first tries to prevent us from following wiser counsel, and then blames everyone else for a suggestion that I [248] make myself' — 'Indeed I do,' said she, 'and take on my own shoulders all the sins you ever committed, and if you do get well again — at least I have what I seek and long for; if not, then I myself will defend you before your Judge and God. I will answer for the sins you have committed. Please God you may be found guiltless, but in any case I would gladly be devoured — yes, even by worms for your sake. The deepest darkness can cover me, the outer fire can burn every bit of me — I would welcome it. And you — have you no pity now for us in our desolation? What sort of feeling have you, to take away yourself from the palace, and leave me behind, condemned to a widowhood full of sorrow, and your daughter, a wretched orphan? Nor will that be the end of our sufferings. More dreadful things will follow. Hands, maybe not even friendly hands, will carry us off to faraway places of exile. They may decide on some worse fate. It may be some pitiless fellow will shed the blood of your dear ones. No doubt you will live on after you enter the Church, or perhaps you will die nobly, but what will be left for us? — a life worse than death!'

83. Yet she failed to convince him with these arguments, and when she had given up all hope of winning him over to her own point of view, she went on, 'At least, then, nominate as emperor the roan who serves you with greatest loyalty and devotion. As long as you live, he will treat you with due honour, and he will be just like a son to me.' At these words the emperor gained fresh strength. The duke Constantine**225 was immediately sent for and joined us. Constantine was a man of great renown whose ancestors had been most distinguished. His descent in fact was traced from the celebrated Ducas (I refer to Andronicus**226 and Constantine**227) who are the object of much comment in the writings of historians, both for the keenness of their intellect and for their brave deeds. The duke was no less proud of his more immediate ancestors.

84. His lineages therefore, was enough to cover the man with glory, but no one, in attempting a biography of Constantine himself, would be wrong if he referred to him as an Achilles. Just as that hero's family had a mighty origin — his grandfather was Aeacus, who the myths say was begotten of Zeus, and his father was Peleus, whom the Greek stories exalt and represent as a husband of Thetis, herself a goddess of the sea — and yet Achilles' own deeds surpassed the glories of his fathers, and far from Achilles being honoured [249] because of those who begat him, it is they who win renown from the fact that he was their progeny; so it was also in the case of Duke Constantine who must be the next emperor in my history. Brilliant as the early records of his family were, still more brilliant are the deeds that had their origin in his own nature and moral purpose .

85. But the story of his reign must wait a little. While he was still living as an ordinary citizen, he rivalled even the greatest emperors, as far as aptitude for government was concerned, or pride of lineage. Above all other things, he strove to live prudently, to avoid giving offense to his neighbors or treating anyone with a patronizing and lordly condescension. He was most careful to prove his loyalty to the reigning emperors, while his own brilliance, like the sun behind clouds, was kept in obscurity, to avoid attracting attention to himself.

86. I say these things, not on the evidence of other men, but relying on my own senses and my own opinions, after personal observation of a careful and quite exceptional nature. Others may boast of his many splendid successes, but so far as I myself am concerned, one thing counterbalances all the rest: the fact that this man, who was so admirable, not only in appearance, but in reality, should place more confidence in my judgment than in the scheming of my rivals. Whether he had noticed somewhat more evidence of wisdom in my opinions than in those of the others, or whether it was because my character pleased him, I know not, but he was so much attached to me, and loved me so much more than the rest, that he listened intently to every word that I uttered, depended on me absolutely for spiritual advice, and entrusted to my personal care his most precious possessions.

87. Despite his qualities, Constantine had a hearty contempt for offices of great dignity and preferred to live in retirement. He used to dress in a rather careless fashion, going about like a country yokel. Lovely women, of course, enhance their beauty by the wearing of simple clothes; the veil with which they conceal it only serves to make more evident their radiant glory, and a garment carelessly worn is just as effective, when they wear it, as the most carefully prepared make-up. So it was with Constantine. The clothes he threw round him, far from hiding his secret beauties, only rendered them more conspicuous. It was inevitable that all tongues should be loud in his praise. Men naturally referred to him as destined for the [250] imperial throne. Some prophesied his future with all the solemnity of an oracle; others were more guarded in their language, careful to refrain from causing him embarrassment. All the same, it was not the openly hostile, but his own admirers, who made him most nervous, and he put up all manner of barriers to keep them at a distance. Unfortunately, from his point of view, they proved to be the most pugnacious dare-devils and made light of the obstacles he put in their path.

88. His extraordinary caution and sound judgment were proved when the army elected its leader and Comnenus was preferred to all others, for Comnenus, the man who had actually been designated as the next emperor, was ready to hand over the command of the army to Constantine, after the soldiers' decision was made known but he renounced all claim to it in writing and voluntarily gave up his ambitions in that direction, considering the circumstances in which the offer was made. Certain it is that those who attended that conference would never have reached a unanimous decision on the subject, had he not intervened in the debate himself. By sheer force of character he united the various factions. The army, now acting in concert, had, so to speak, two strings to its bow, a stronger and a weaker, or perhaps I should say a weaker and a stronger, for although Isaac had been elected emperor and Constantine had been promised the lesser honour of Caesar, the latter's more noble ancestry and his extremely lovable character made him a favourite among the people. To show even more clearly what an admirable person he was, when the rebellion ended in Isaac's accession to the throne and he was firmly established in power, Constantine gave up to him the Caesarship as well, though he could have disputed with him the highest position of all. The man's character was, in fact, without parallel. I would like to add an observation of my own here. There can be no doubt that his failure to obtain election at the time of the conference, and his present promotion, were both the result of Divine intervention, for instead of being elevated to the supreme position in the Empire by means of a revolution, a circuitous route, he was chosen directly from the inner circle of the court.

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