ephorus II. and John
I., though she was appalled by the vices of this empress, who had
married and murdered the first and been scorned by the second guardian.
Furthermore, threatening invasions and domestic unrest proved the need
of a soldier as her colleague in the Empire. Love came to the assistance
of reason, and Eudocia determined to break her vows and to take a second
husband.

Romanus Diogenes, the most daring and popular general of the Empire, had
been convicted of treason for participation in a conspiracy against her
children's throne, and was then in prison awaiting sentence of death
from Eudocia as regent. The latter, however, became enamored of her
distinguished captive, and his beauty and valor convinced her that he
was destined to share with her the throne. The army was clamoring for
his release; and when he received a full pardon from the empress-regent,
it at first created no suspicion of her romantic designs. The Seljukian
Turks were at that time overrunning Cappadocia and it was necessary that
the army should be under the control of an able and a daring general.
Romanus was therefore raised from the scaffold to the headship of the
army.

Before the empress could take any further step toward carrying out her
matrimonial intentions, it was necessary to secure possession of the
document which evidenced her pledge to her husband that she never would
contract a second marriage. Feminine diplomacy enabled her to accomplish
this delicate task; and the lack of principle and high moral character
in the patriarch caused him to fall readily into the net laid for him by
Eudocia.

Xiphilinus at first urged upon her emissary the sanctity of the oath the
empress had taken, and the sacred nature of the trust he had assumed;
but when it was whispered in his presence that his own brother was
destined for the high honor, the patriarch's scruples were relaxed, and
he yielded--out of proper regard, as he alleged, for the welfare of the
state. He resigned the important paper into the empress's hand, and at
her solicitation proposed and carried through a measure in the Senate,
favoring her second marriage, and in addition released the senators from
their vow never to recognize as emperor any other than a son of
Constantine. Great was the confusion of the credulous patriarch when he
realized that he had been outwitted by the clever woman, who, when her
plans were fully matured, made an official proclamation that she had
se