Another very great light has been extinguished too, or rather that brightly shining moon, the great achievement and pride of the East and the West, the Empress Irene. And yet we live and breathe I One ill has followed upon another and hurricanes have beaten down upon us and we have been forced to see the climax of our troubles, the death of the Caesar, and we have been reserved for such terrible catastrophes. For some days the ill prevailed and skill failed and I let myself sink into an ocean of despondency and amidst it all I only grieved that my soul still lingered in my body.
And, it seems likely, that if I had not been adamantine, or fashioned of some other such substance . . . and distracted from my real self, I should have perished at once; but now I live and have died a thousand deaths. We hear from some the wonderful story of Niobe . . . changed into stone by grief . . . then even after the change which transformed her into an insensitive substance her sufferings were immortal even in that insensitive substance.
The evils having proceeded so far
But I in truth am more unfortunate than she was, because after these very great and supreme misfortunes I am still alive and shall still feel others. It would have been better to be turned to senseless stone … and to have remained with tears flowing … without any feeling for sufferings . . . than to endure such ills ; and that intolerable troubles in the palace should be stirred up against me by men is more wretched than even Niobe’s sufferings . . . the evils having proceeded so far . . . ceased. After the death of the imperial pair the loss of the Caesar and my consequent grief would have been sufficient for the contrition of my soul and body; but now like rivers flowing down from high mountains … the rivers of ills … into one torrent which is inundating my house. But now my history must be concluded, for if I were to describe sad events any longer I might become bitter.
Read More about The Man and the Snake part 4
