tyr sisters Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora.[455] The
chapel built by Maroules in fact belonged to a convent, and owing to its
comparatively recent date might well be standing to this day. But the
evidence in favour of the proposed identification is slight. In a city
crowded with sanctuaries more than one small chapel could be situated
near the gate of S. Romanus. An old font, turned upside down and made to
serve as a well-head by having its bottom knocked out, lies on a vacant
lot on the same side of the street as Monastir Mesjedi, but nearer the
gate of S. Romanus, and seems to mark the site of another sanctuary. So
likewise do the four columns crowned with ancient capitals which form
the porch of the mosque Kurkju Jamissi, on the north side of the street.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXVII.
THE CISTERN OF AETIUS.
With the kind permission of Sir Benjamin Stone.
_To face page 262._]

Phocas Maroules was domestic of the imperial table under Andronicus II.
Palaeologus (1282-1328). He appears also as the commander of the guards
on the city walls that screened the palace of Blachernae, when
Andronicus III. Palaeologus, accompanied by John Cantacuzene, the
protostrator Synadenus, and an escort of thirty soldiers, stood before
the gate of Gyrolimne to parley with the elder emperor. The domestic was
the bearer of the messages exchanged between the imperial relatives on
that occasion. It was a thankless task. But what troubled the mind of
Maroules most was how to avoid giving offence to both sovereigns and
succeed in serving two masters. To salute the grandson as became his
rank and pretensions would incur the grandfather's displeasure; to treat
rudely the young prince, who had come on a friendly errand, and
addressed the domestic in gracious terms, was an impropriety which the
reputation of Maroules as a paragon of politeness would not allow him to
commit. Furthermore, fortune being fickle, he felt bound as a prudent
man to consult her caprices. Accordingly, allowing less discreet
officials beside him to insult the younger emperor as much as they
pleased, he himself refrained both from all taunts and from all
courteous speech. In response to the greetings of Andronicus III. he
said nothing, but at the same time made a respectful bow, thus
maintaining his good manners and yet guarding his interests whatever
turn the dispute between the two emperors might take. John Cantacuzene,
a kindred spirit, extols the behaviour of