had become the concubine of
Basil, and after he had assassinated Michael and ascended the throne,
Thekla consoled herself with other lovers. On one occasion it happened
that an attendant employed in the household of Thekla was waiting on the
emperor, when the latter asked the shameless question: "Who is living
with your mistress at present?" The attendant imprudently told the name
of the successful lover; Basil's jealousy was aroused, and he ordered
the paramour of the woman he had put aside to be seized, scourged, and
immured for life in a monastery. It is even said that he ill treated
Thekla and confiscated part of her property. But the Empress Eudocia
Ingerina avenged the unfortunate princess in a manner more pardonable in
the mistress of a besotted debauchee than in the wife of an emperor.
When her amours were discovered, the empress was prudent enough to avoid
scandal by merely compelling her lover to retire privately to a
monastery.

In pleasing contrast to the story of these licentious princesses,
revealing the absence of any shame in the high life of Constantinople,
is that of the widow Danielis who played the lady bountiful to Basil in
his earlier years, and to whom he delighted to show his gratitude after
he had mounted the throne.

Once when he was an attache of the courtier Theophilitzes, whom Theodora
had sent on public business into the Peloponnesus, he fell sick at
Patras. A wealthy widow, Danielis by name, who had been struck with the
handsome looks of the gallant attache, had him removed to her house and
carefully nursed him through his illness. When he recovered, she made
Basil a member of her family, by uniting him with her own son John in
those spiritual ties of brotherhood sanctioned by the Greek Church with
peculiar rites; also she bestowed on him considerable wealth so that
from that time on he could play well the part of a courtier, and had the
means to make himself the boon companion, friend, and colleague of the
erratic Michael.

The lasting friendship between the widow and the emperor constitutes the
most interesting episode in the checkered career of Basil. When he
became emperor, he displayed his gratitude by sending for the son of his
former benefactress and making him protospatharios, or chief of the
guards. He also urged the widow to visit him, and see her adopted son
seated on the throne. The account of her journey to Constantinople, is a
most valuable commentary on the life of Greek