In fact, he made him servant of the bedchamber, and in order that the young man might do this office, deliberately abandoned his wife to him. When his sister Pulcheria and some of the chamberlains discovered a plot against his life and told him of it and warned him to be on his guard, still he did not destroy the secret adulterer and cut short the whole drama, as he could have done. He could have suggested any reason but the real one and still have had his way, but he refused.
In fact, he made no effort to combat the intrigue. Once he did send for the lover–or the beloved– and questioned him about the affair; however, as Michael pretended to know nothing about it, Romanus made him give his word of honour and swear by the Holy Relics, and after the other had completely perjured himself, the emperor looked upon the stories of the rest as mere calumny, listening only to Michael and calling him ‘his most faithful servant’.
Another factor helped to confirm the emperor in this attitude, so that Michael’s guilt seemed even more unlikely. Ever since his childhood the young man had been afflicted by a terrible illness.
This malady took the form of a periodic derangement of the brain. Without any previous symptoms he would be suddenly confused, roll his eyes, throw himself down on the ground, bang his head, and suffer prolonged and convulsive fits. Then he would become himself again and gradually return to his normal appearance. The emperor had seen him afflicted by this illness and was sorry for him. He thought the young man unfortunate. His madness, therefore, he did recognize, but he failed to recognize his indulgence in the pleasures of love.
To most folk it seemed that this malady was a pretext and veil for Michael’s scheming, and the suspicion would have been justified, were it not for the fact that, when he became emperor, he still continued to suffer from this derangement. However, discussion of that problem must be postponed to the part of my history concerned with Michael’s reign. We can say that the trouble was not self-induced. Equally, we can say that the malady, which had no pretence about it, served as a veil to hide his designs.
To convince the emperor, therefore, that those who loved one another were not really in love, was no great task, for he was very easily convinced. I had a conversation with one of the gentlemen who regularly attended the imperial court at that time, a man well acquainted with the whole question of Zoe’s love-affairs, and one who supplied me with material for this history, and he told me that Romanus did wish, in a way, to be convinced that she was not Michael’s paramour. On the other hand, he knew she was greatly attracted to the opposite sex, on fire with passion, so to speak.
Particularly disgusted
So, to prevent her sharing her favours among many, he was not particularly disgusted at her association with one. Although he pretended not to see it, he allowed the empress to satisfy her desires to the full. I have been told another version of the story. The emperor, according to my other informant, was indulgent towards his wife’s amorous intentions or their consummation, but his sister Pulcheria was enraged, and so were all those whom she treated as her confidants.
So she and they waged war with Michael and the empress. The arrangements for the struggle did not pass unnoticed, but their anticipated triumphs never came to pass, for the sister died not long after, while of her friends one also died suddenly and another left the palace, at the express desire of the emperor. As to the rest, some approved of the business, others held their tongues. Zoe and Michael, therefore, far from consummating their love in an underhand way, did so with an almost legal sanction.
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