On the ex-emperor Michael Kalaphates, when he was arrested and blinded for having banished the Empress Zoe from imperial rule
So the thrice-hapless city of Byzas was to behold
the dreadful battle between the ship-caulker and the townsmen,
and the sun was to behold another disaster,
brought about by the exile of the fair empress
Zoe, the noble-born, whom, when she was still young,
the purple received, and the breast of an empress nursed;
Romanos thereafter obtained her as his wedded wife,
a high-bred man, they called him Argyropolos;
and it was he who loosened her maiden girdle.
Her exile bore the city many woes,
orphanhood for children, widowhood for women,
blood and wounds, strife and murder,
painful deaths, much sorrow and moaning,
all because of the infantile mind of her adopted child.
By a bad fate this man reigned over the great city.
Intent on evil, he quickly forgot the covenants,
and in his rashness he devised a wicked plan.
But in the middle of the city he lost his dear sight
by violating the truthful oaths with his offence.
He brought his crown to shame, he trampled upon truces,
this baneful emperor, by expelling the empress from the palace.
But foolishness and the unlawful violation of oaths
have terribly blinded him and taken away his sceptre.
Now this wicked creature sighs heavily, and cries out grief-stricken,
calling ruined “this empire that I ruled”.
He lies now on the ground, the wretched one, who once held power,
an example of utter misery for future generations,
craving the light he lost with his foolish aspirations.
Translated from Greek by Floris Bernard and Christopher Livanos