These events took place in the evening, and not long after Isaac, now utterly despairing both of his throne and his life, allowed himself to undergo the ceremony of tonsure and assumed the robe of a monk. About midnight the illness became less severe and he revived a little.
Then, realizing his predicament and giving up all hope for the future, when he saw that Constantine was now in power, he admitted that the affair had his full approval and without more ado left the palace. A journey by sea brought him to his retreat in the monastery at Studium.**242
I have already described how he went off there, to die a lingering death,**243 in the history of the last reign. Constantine was now complete master of the Empire and firmly established on the throne.
In the privacy of the throne-room, with the separating curtain still drawn, and with only myself standing beside him at his right hand his first act was to render thanksgiving to God, his hands raised above his head, his eyes filled with tears. After this preliminary act of dedication, he drew aside the curtain and called in the Senate all the soldiers who happened to be there at the time, the keepers of the public records, and the magistrates who presided in the courts of justice.
When all were assembled, he made an extempore speech on the subject of justice and mercy and righteous dealing. The address was suited to his audience, as he appealed now to their sense of justice, now to their humanity and the responsibilities of Empire. At the end he invited me to say a few words appropriate to the occasion, and then dismissed the assembly.
Assembly was sent away without some reward
He proceeded at once to put into practice the advice he had given, guided by the two principles just emphasized, namely, ‘Do good’ and ‘Dispense Justice’. Not a single man out of that assembly was sent away without some reward. The government officials, their deputies, the minor dignitaries, even the manual workers, all received something. In the case of the last-named, he actually raised their social status. Until his time there had been a sharp distinction between the class of ordinary citizens and the Senate, but Constantine did away with it. Henceforth no discrimination was made between worker and Senator, and they were merged in one body.
Seeing that the majority of his subjects were disturbed at the injustice of their lot, some persons exercising more power than they should have done, while the rest were oppressed by them, he decided to act as a judge himself, ‘seeing things’, as the Prophet-King has it, ‘with an unbiased eye’. Wrong-doers he treated with severity, but to the injured parties he showed himself most gracious and kind.
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