BOOK SIX NOTES
76. 'Women's quarters.'
77. It had been the custom for high offices to be bought. This practice was now forbidden and letters were sent to the provinces to this effect (Cedrenus, 753, p. 541)
78. Nicolaus was appointed to high office in the East and Constantine Cabasilas in the West. George Maniaces became magister and was sent back to Italy as supreme commander there (Cedrenus, ibid.).
79. The Nobilissimus was recalled from exile and forced to surrender to the empresses his own considerable fortune. He was then banished a second time (Cedrenus, 753A, p. 541)
80. Constantine Catepanus, surnamed Artoclinas, who was said to have been a lover of Zoe in the past.
81. Possibly poisoned by his own wife, who, says Cedrenus (753C, p. 542), could not bear to lose him.
82. Cedrenus, who is not without some humor, suggests that Zoe decided to marry Monomachus because one Constantine was as good as another: Catepanus had been murdered, therefore another of the same name should take his place! At the beginning of the reign he had been recalled from exile (John the Guardian of the Orphans had sent him to Mitylene) and was given a post in Greece.
83. One of Zoe's chamberlains, a eunuch, Stephanus Pergamenus, was sent to escort him to the palace.
84. The Byzantine Church forbade a third marriage.
85. The ceremony was performed by the priest Stypes on 11. June 1042. The patriarch crowned Constantine the next day.
86. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, is said to have beer the son of Lyxes and Dryo, and was born at Halicarnassus in 484 B.C. Several Greek writers are known to have attacked him on the ground that he was biased in tavour of the Persians vis-�-vis his own countrymen. Judging by the work De Malignitate Herodoti, usually ascribed to Plutarch, their arguments were futile.
97. Lat. Aquilo, the north wind.
98. Lat. Septentrio, a north wind.
89. The classical Acte, the famous mountain on the most easterly of the three peninsulas of Chalcidice in north-east Greece, the home of thriving monastic communities and known as the Holy Mountain.
90. Psellus here apostrophizes the emperor.
91. Not altogether fair. Constantine relied on the advice and judgment of such eminent men as Michael Cerularius, who became patriarch in 1043, Constantine Lichudes, and Psellus himself. His elevation of Romanus Sclerus was perhaps not so wise, but he could hardly be expected to foresee the rebellion of Maniaces to which Romanus directly contributed the cause. There were personal reasons why this grandson of Bardas Sclerus was promoted: he was the brother of the new emperor's mistress, Sclerena. At the beginning of the reign certain other changes took place: Michael V was sent to Chios, the Nobilissimus to Samos, the Guardian of the Orphans to Mitylene (perhaps to remind him of Constantine's own sojourn there?).
92. Plotinus (A.D. 205-269) was one of the great neo-platonist philosophers. The facts of his life are known to us chiefly through the Vita of Porphyry prefixed to the Enneads, the series of essays in which Plotinus explains his doctrines.
93. Porphyry of Tyre (A.D. 232-c. 305) wrote voluminously on many subjects. Although not an original thinker himself, he is important because of his frequent references to older authorities.
94. Iamblichus was born at Chalcis, in Coele Syria, about A.D. 250. He enjoyed a reputation quite out of proportion to his real merit as a neo-platonic philosopher, for his main interests were in thaumaturgy.
95. Proclus flourished in the fifth century A.D. He was given the surname Diadochus, because it was comrnonly believed that he had inherited the mantle of Plato. Certainly his writings are extensive, and if one is to credit even a fraction of what his admirers attributed to him, he must have been a remarkable man.
96. The Epinomis, though usually ascribed to Plato, is really of doubtful origin. Diogenes Laertius (III. 37) hints that the author of the book was Philip of Opus who is said to hare transcribed the De Legibus of Plato.
97. Sclerena was a niece of Pulcheria, sister of Romanus Sclerus and grand-daughter of Bardas. She had shared Constantine's exile on Lesbos. She was unpopular with the people. In fact, so vehement was the feeling against her that a riot broke out during the emperors's procession to the Church of the Holy Martyrs (9 March 1044) and he escaped with his life only through the intervention of Zoe.
98. His second wife was Pulcheria's daughter, niece of Romanus III Argyrus.
99. Homer, Iliad, III, I56-7: 'It were no shame that Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans should suffer pain long time for a woman such as she.'
100. The exact date is unknown, but she probably died in 1044. She was buried in the monastery of Mangana and eleven years later Constantine was interred beside her.
101. Probably Constantine Lichudes.
102. Proverb ascribed to Solon.
103 . George Maniaces . In the reign of Romanus III, he avenged the emperor's defeat near Antioch by routing the Saracens. Shortly afterwards he captured Edessa (1032) and found there the famous letter said to have been addressed by Our Lord to Abgarus, the king of that city. This precious relic Maniaces presented to the emperor. In 1035 he was sent by Michael IV Paphlagon to carry on the war with the Saracens in South Italy. The conquest of Sicily followed and a great victory over the enerny (1040). Stephen, who was in command of the fleet, allowed the Saracen admiral to escape, and Maniaces was justly incensed (c, note 49). The latter was recalled, accused of aiming at supreme power, and imprisoned. He was however soon released when Michael V Calaphates became emperor, and once again he was put in command of the Italian armies (1042). He quickly restored the province to some semblance of discipline, although outnumbered and despite the terrible reverses suffered by his predecessors Doceianus and Boioannus.
104. The true story is told in Cedrenus (756-7, pp. 547-8). It appears that Maniaces had possessions in the East. One of his neighbours was that Romanus Sclerus mentioned aheady (cf. note 91). Possibly owing to some insult he had suffered in the past, more probably because he saw in Maniaces a serious rival for honours that he coveted himself, he plundered the general's estates in Anatolia and seduced his wife. Not content with that he slandered him and Maniaces was deprived of his title of Magister. It was only then that rebellion was seriously considered.
105. The protospatharius Pardus owed his appointment as successor to Maniaces not to any outstanding ability but to the fact that he was known to the emperor.
106. Stephanus (cf. note 83). The batde took place near Ostrovo. The imperial troops were routed and Maniaces' men, flushed with their triumph, saluted him as emperor on the field of battle It was at this moment that he fell mortally wounded (Cedrenus, 757B, p. 549). The date was 1043.
107. It had already been displayed in the Hippodrome (ch. 86).
108. St. Saviour of Chalce was founded by Romanus I Lecapenus and enlarged by John I Tzimisces.
109. June 1043.
110. The Russians had long been friendly with the Byzantine emperors (cf. Cedrenus, 758, p. 551). Trade between them was cultivated and merchants travelled freely. The immediate cause of the war was said to be the death of some Scythian nobleman in a brawl at Constantinople. Vladimir, son of the ruler of Kiev, collected a force of some 100,000 men and despite the efforts of Constantine to avert war refused to accent compensation for this outrage.
111. The sum mentioned by Cedrenus (759B, p. 552) is three pounds of gold for each sailor.
112. Many ships had been lost in a great fire three years before.
113. The secretweapon of the Byzantine emperors. It is said to have been invented by a Syrian engineer, one Callinicus, in the seventh century. The 'liquid fire' was thrown on to the ships of their enemies and as it was reputed to be inextinguishable caused panic and dread. The secret formula was handed down from emperor to emperor, jealously preserved for seven centuries.
114. There were no less than some 15,000 enemy corpses washed up on the shores of the Bosphorus (Cedrenus, 758D, p. 553). The commander of the Roman fleet was Basil Theodorocanus. After this battle the Russians retreated by land up the west coast of the Black Sea, harassed constantly by the victors (and not invariably with success).
115. Leo Tornicius, a patrician, traced his descent from Armenian kings and had in fact been governor of Iberia. While there he was accused of revolutionary intentions and deposed, being compelled to become a monk. He had other reasons for hating Constantine: in the first place, he had been sent to Iberia in order that the emperor might separate him from his (Constantine's) sister, EuprepiaCpossibly it was a loveaffair; secondly, he disapproved of the imperial policy im Armenia (it had been made a province of the Empire and its king, Gagik II, had been sent into exile).
116. In September 1047.
117. The army of the East was at this time engaged in Armenia Magna.
118. In the part near the monastery of the Anargyroi, not far from Blachernae.
119. Cedrenus (765D, p. 564) says the arrow struck a servant's helmet.
120. Chiefly Constantine Lichudes. He was vehemently opposed by Argyrus Italus, who did his best to dissuade the emperor from this course.
121. In the Spartan army the pyrphoros was the priest who kept the sacrificial fire, never allowed to go out. Hence to say that not even a pyrophoros was left is equivalent to admitting total defeat (cf. Herodotus, VIII, 6 and Dio Cassius, 39, 45).
122. Cf. Cedrenus, 766C, p. 565, where three officers are mentioned by name.
123. In particular Rhaedestus, on the Sea of Marmora (October 1047).
124. These reinforcetnents were put under command of Michael Iasitas.
125. December 24, 1047.
126 Nireus was said to have been, next to Achilles, the handsomest of the Creeks who fought at Troy.
127. Psellus apparently had only the haziest knowledge of Roman history.
128. Leader of the gladiators in the so-called Servile War in South Italy and finally crushed by Crassus and Pompey. The Romans regarded him as no better than common robber, but the man's character has been deliberately maligned.
129. Romanus Boilas rose to high rank about 1049. Cedrenus (788E, p. 605) speaks of him as being a person of some accomplishments.
130. The lady's name is unknown.
131. Alania.
132. Athena and Hera (Homer, Iliad, IV, 20).
133. Principo.
134. The legendary old man of the sea who had the power to assume any shape he pleased.
135. Zoe died in 1050.
I36. Psellus is referring to Julius Caesar and Augustus.
137. Homeric epithets (cf. Odyssey, II, 328, and X, 34).
138. In the poems of Homer Themis is the personification of Law and Justice.
139. Calliope is the Muse of Epic Poetry. Psellus quotes Homer, Iliad, II, 24-5.
140. Constantine Lichudes, who was promoted to the high office of protovestiarius as successor to Michael Cerularius. The latter had become Patriarch in 1043.
141. Lichudes became Patriarch in 1059, appointed by Isaac Comnenus.
142. Zoe was seventy-two when she died in 1050.
143. The Church of St. George of Mangana (Cedrenus, 790B, p. 608).
144. St. Sophia.
145. The Sultan sent presents to Constantine (Cedrenus speaks of an elephant and a giraffe, 789C, p. 607).
146. The well-known Greek physician and contemporary of Socrates.
147. These two friends were John Xiphilinus, a native of Trebizond, who had been appointed Professor of Law (Nomophylax) in the University of Constantinople reorganized in 1045 and probably John Mauropous, a native of Paphlagonia who was a distinguished scholar and Psellus's old teacher.
148. Xiphilinus retired to a monastery on Mount Olympus in Bithynia as a monk.
149. A neo-platonic theory.
150. Hermogenes of Tarsus (c. A.D. 150) was a celebrated sophist and rhetorician. He acquired a great reputation as an orator while still a very young man, but it appears that he was afflicted with some disease that rendered him totally unfit mentally and although he lived to an advanced age he did nothing worthy of note after he was twenty-five. Psellus here obviously refers to this extraordinary collapse of H.'s intellectual powers.
151. I.e. Psellus was tonsured.
152. Theodora had been in retirement and took no interest in state affairs. Her advisers showed great determination and energy at this crisis (Cedrenus, 791C, p. 610).Constantine consulted the leading men of his government and together they decided that the new emperor should be one Nicephorus, governor of Bulgaria. Theodora's faction quickly cut short their plans. Nicephorus was detained at Salonica and deported.
153. The emperor died on 11 January 1055 and was buried in the monastery of Mangana beside Sclerena.
154. Psellus does not mention Michael Cerularius by name, but the Patriarch was undoubtedly expected to play a leading part. To the surprise of everyone Theodora resisted his claims and appointed her own eunuchs to high office. Among others the future emperor Isaac Comnenus was deprived of his military command and Nicephorus Bryennius, whose execution in the next reign precipitated the generals' revolt against Michael VI Stratioticus, was sent into exile.
155. Nevertheless, a revolt was plainly imminent. Not only was Cerularius plotting against the regime, but Theodora's own parsimony alienated the sympathy of the people.
156. Leo Paraspondylus, the protosyncellus (the patriarch's confidential adviser). Psellus is biased in his judgment of this man.
157. Septuagint, Song of Songs, V, 3.
158. Homer, Odyssey, I, 149.
159. Cf. note 156.
160. I.e. Michael Cerularius. The real trouble was that the Patriarch wanted to be completely free of all control in the ecclesiastical sphere.
161. To the Byzantine writers 'Naziraean' is synonymous with 'monk'. The word is derived from the Hebrew nazir, 'separate'. Psellus clearly has nothing but contempt for these fighting monks.
162. Psellus knew hisThucydides well. We are told by the Greek historian that the Acarnanians, being semi-civilized, still went about armed in his time (I, 5).
163. Theodora died 31 August 1056, at the age of seventy-six.
