It was

been deposed from their commands and owed a grudge to Theoktistos,' were engnged to lend uctive assistance. arranged that Bardas should station himself in the Lausiakos, and there attack the Logothete, whose duties frequently obliged him to pass through that hall in order to reach the apartments of the Empress.? Calomaria concealed herself in an upper room, where, through a hole, perhaps constructed on purpose, she commanded a view of the Lausiakos, and could, by signalling from a window, inform the Emperor as soon as Bardas sprang upon his victim. Theoktistos had obtained at the secretarial office the

* reports which he had to subinit to the Empress, and us he passed through the Lausiakos he observed with displeasure Bardas seated at his ease, as if he had a full right to be there. Muttering that he would persuade Theodora to expel him from the Palace, he proceeded on his way, but in the Horologion, at the entrance of the Chrysotriklinos, he was stopped by the Emperor and Damianos. Michael, asserting his authority perhaps for the first time, angrily ordered him to read the reports to himself and not to his mother. As the Logothete was retracing his steps in a downcast mood, Bardas sprung forward and smote him. The ex-generals hastened to assist, ind Theoktistos drew his sword. The Emperor, on receiving

” a signal froin his aunt, hurried to the scene, and by his orilers

5

would

") 8

Theoktistos was seized and dragged to the Skyla. It wo
seem that Burdas did not contemplate murder, but intended to
remove the Logothete to a place of banishment. But the
Emperor, advised by others, probably by Damianos, that nothing
short of his death would serve, called upon the foreign Guards
(the Hetairoi) to slay Theoktistos. Meanwhile the Empress,
had heard from the Papias of the Palace that the Logothete's
life was in danger, and she instantly rushed to the scene to
save her friend. But she was scared back to her apartments
by one of the conspirators, a member of the family of Melissenos,
who cried in a voice of thunder, “Go back, for this is the day
of strikers." The Guards, who were stationed in the adjoining
Hall of Justinian, rushed in ;* one of them dragged the victim
from the chair under which he had crawled and stabbed him
in the belly (A.D), 856).

Of the two oflices which Theoktistos had held, the less onerous, that of Chartulary of the Kanikleion, was conferred on Burdas, while his son-in-law Symbatios—whose name shows his Armenian lineage—was appointed Logothete of the Course. The reign of Theodora was now over. She had held the reins of power for fourteen years, and she was unwilling to surrender them. She was not an unscrupulous woman like Irene, she did not aspire to be Autocrat in her own right or set aside her son; but well knowing her son's incapacity she had doubtless looked forward to keeping him in perpetual tutelnge and retaining all the serious business of government in her own.

i Cont. Th. 170, whoso narrativo family soo above, p. 25, n. 3. varies in particulars, represents Theo. • Gen. (ib.) statos that Constantine, kristos as making an attempt to lleo the Drungary of the Watch, tried to to the Hippodrome through iho Asék. savo Thooktistos by holding the doors roteiis, "for at the time the oflice of betworn the Skyla and the Triklinos the Asekritui was thoro." The secre. of Justinian, hoping that he would be tarinl ollices woro probably in tho samo condemned to banishment belore the builling as the Eidikon (op. Ebersolt, guards appeared. But Michael called Le Granul Puluis, 124), and were them, and Constantino was obliged reached through a door on the north unwillingly to givo way. It is clear side of the Lunsjakos. Theoktistos from tho narrative that Theoktistos was doubtless returning thither. was not taken through the Triklinos 2 Gen. 89.

of Justinian ; thereforo he must havo 3 This is told by Gen. 88, and prob. been dragged through a door on the ably comes from his grandfather. The north side of the Lausiakos, into the identification of the ex-general who Therniastra, and thenco to the Skyla scared the Empress as a Melissenos is by way of the Hippodrome. in favour of the incident. Simeon 6 Cont. T'h. 171. does not mention this, but states that . This seems probable, though the l'apins informed Theodora (Cont. Symbution is not mentioned till somo lieory. 822). For the Molissonos

It would appear

hands. The murder of Theoktistos cut her to the heart, and though the Emperor endeavoured to pacify and conciliate her, she remained unrelenting in her bitterness."

• The Senate was convoked, and that body applauded the announcement that Michael would henceforward govern alone in his own name. Bardas was elevated to the rank of magister und was appointed Domestic of the Schools. that for nearly two years Theodora resided in the Palace, powerless but unforgiving, and perhaps waiting for a favourable opportunity to compass the downfall of her brother. It is said that her son plagued her, trying perhaps to drive her into voluntary retirement. At last, whether his mother's proximity became intolerable, or she involved herself in intrigues against Bardas, it was decided that she should not only be expelled from the Palace but consigned to a nunnery. The Patriarch Ignatius, who owed his appointinent to her, was commanded to tonsure her along with her daughters, but he absolutely declined on the suflicient ground that they were unwilling to take the monastic vow. The hair of their heads was shorn by other hands, and they were all immured in the monastery of Karianos (autumn A.D. 858).

for revenge if she did not hope to regain power, entered into a plot against her brother's life. The Imperial Protostrator was the chief of the conspirators, who planned to kill Bardas as he was returning to the Palace from his suburban house on the Golden Horn. But the design was discovered, and the conspirators were beheaded in the Hippodrome.'

1

§ 2. Bardas and Basil the Macedonian. Bardas was soon raised to the high dignity of Curopalates, 'l which was only occasionally conferred on a near relutive of the Emperor and gave its recipient, in case the sovrun died childless, a certain claiin to the succession. His position was at the same time strengthened by the appointments of his two sons to important military posts. The Domesticate of the Schools, which he vacated, was given to Antigonus who was only a boy,' while an elder son was invested with the cominand of several western Themes which were exceptionally united. But for Bardas the office of Curopalates was only a step to the higher dignity of Caesar, which designated him more clearly as the future colleague or successor of his nephew, whose marriage had been fruitless. He was created Caesar on the Sunday after Easter in April A.D. 862.5

The government of the Empire was in the hands of Bardas ! for ten years, and the reluctant admissions of hostile chroniclers show that he was eminently fitted to occupy the throne. A

| Tho source is Sinicon, ib., and wo the conımand alnıost in mediately, as can hardly hesitate to accept his Petronas died shortly after. statement as to the implication of (Basile ler) is wrong in supposing that Theodora, to whom ho was well dis. Petronas succeeded Bardas in this posed. He speaks of her part in an post. apologetic tone, as if she were not * Simeon, ib. The wife of this son responsible for her acts : αθυμία was her father-in-law's mistress. For μετεωρισθείσα τον νούν και υπό έκπλή. other examples of such extended comξεως αφαιρεθείσα και το φρονείν, ανάξια mands see pp. 10, 222. εαυτής κατασκευάζει βουλήν κατά Βάρδα • The year is given by Gen. 97, the βουλευομένη.

day by Simeon, ib., 824. No known ? It appears from Cont. Th. 176, facts are incompatible with this date that he was already Curopalates when (which Hirsch accepts), and we must ho took part in the expedition against decisively reject the "lypotheses of Samosati, tho dato of which wo other. Aristarchos (A.1). 860), Vogt (A.1), 805 wise know to be 859 (sco below, p. or 868), and others. 279).

6 The concession of Nicetas (l'it. : Simeon (Cont. Georg.) 828. Ac. Iyn. 221) is, among others, especially cording to Cont. Th. 180, Petronas significant : σπουδαίον και δραστήριον succeciled him in 303 as Domestic ; περί την των πολιτικών πραγμάτων but if this is true, he was restored to μεταχείρισιν.

Vogt

M

brilliant success won (A.D. 863) against the Saracens, and the conversion of Bulgaria, enhanced the prestige of the Empire abroud; he committed the care of the Church to the most brilliant Patriarch who ever occupied the ecclesiastical throne of Constantinople; he followed the example of Theophilus in his personal attention to the administration of justice ;' and he devoted himself especially to the improvement of education and the advancement of learning. The military and diplomatic transactions of this fortunate decade, its importance for the ecclesiastical independence of the Eastern Empire, and its significance in the history of culture, are dealt with in other chapters.

Michael himself was content to leave the management of the state in his uncle's capable hands. He occasionally took part in military expeditions, more for the sake of occupation, we may suspect, than from a sense of duty. He was a man of pleasure, he only cared for amusement, he had neither the brains nor the taste for administration. His passion for horseraces reminds us of Nero and Commodus; he used himself to drive a chariot in the private hippodrome of the Palace of St. Mamus." His frivolity and extravagance, his impiety and scurrility, are held up to derision and execration by an imperial writer who was probably his own grandson but was bitterly hostile to his memory.

Little confidence can be place in the anecdotes related by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos and his literary Hiltellites, but there is no doubt that they cxhibit, in however oxinggerated a shape, the character and reputation of Michuel. We may not be prepared, for instance, to believe that the fire

, signals of Asia Minor were discontinued, because on one occasion he was interrupted in the hippodrome by an inopportune message;s but the motive of the story reflects his genuine impatience of public business. The most famous or infamous performance of Michael was his travesty of the mysteries and ministers of the Church. One of his coarso boon-companions, a buffoon known as the “l'ig," was arrayed

3

---confined to invitod niemibers of the Court. High oflicials took part in these amateur performances (Cont. Th. 198).