A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

842 CONSTANTINUS.
Besides his own writings, we owe to Constantine's love of literature the preservation of some
works from destruction or oblivion, and the compilation of others at his order. Such are: I. " Collectanea
et Excerpta Historico-Politica et Moralia," an extensive compilation, of which but the 27th book,
HTepl lpEo@eDIC, " De Legationibus," and the 50th,
Ilepl 'ApETj- cal KaKias, " De Virtute et Vitio,"
have been preserved. A further account of this
work is given in the life of PRisCus. II. 'IrTrmaTrpuca, " De Medicina Veterinaria," compiled from
the works of a number of writers, a list of whom
is given by Fabricius; it is divided into two
books. Editions: 1. A Latin translation by J.
Ruellius, Paris, 1530, fol. 2. The Greek text, by
Simon Grynaeus, Basel, 1537, 4to. 3. ByValesiis,
together with the " Collectanea," &c., Paris, 1634,
4to. An Italian translation of it was published
at Venice, 1543, 8vo., and a French one at Paris,
1563, 4to. III. Freworotcda, " De Re Rustica,"
which is generally attributed to Bassus Cassianus.
[BAssus CASSIANUS.] Both the Hippiatrica and
the Geoponica were held in high esteem in the
middle ages as well as in after times, and they
were both used for practical purposes, as we may
see from the numerous editions and translations,
especially of the Geoponica. The first eight books
of this work, which treat on the cure of beasts,
and form a kind of domestic veterinary handbook, were separately published in a Latin translation by Andreas a Lacuna, Cologne, 1543, 8vo.
An Italian translation of the complete work appeared at Venice, 1542; French ones at Poitiers,
1545, Lyon, 1557; and a German, by Michael
Herr, in 1551, 3rd edition, edited by Ludwig
Rabus, Strassburg, 1566, 8vo.
The Annals of Theophanes were continued by
Constantine's order [THEOPHANES], and he also
induced Josephus Genesius to write his Annals,
which contain the period from Leo Armenus to
Basilius Macedo. [GENESIUS.] An account of
Constantine's laws is given in the life of the emperor LEo PHILOSOPHUS. (Cedren. pp. 607, &c., 631,
&c., ed. Paris; Leo Diaconus, pp. 487, &c., 507,
&c., ed. Paris; Zonar. vol. ii. pp. 182, &c., 192, &c.,
ed. Paris; Joel, pp. 180, 181, ed. Paris; Glycas,
pp. 302, 303, ed. Paris; Hanckius, De Script.
Byzant. pp. 461-478; Hamberger, Zuverlissiye
Nachrichten, &c., vol. iii. p. 686, &c.; Fabric. Bibl.
Graec.vol. viii. p. 1,&c.; Leich, Commentatio de Vita
et Rebus Gestis Const. Porpshyr., Leipzig, 1746, 4to.,
and also in his and Reiske's edition of Constantine's works, as well as in the Bonn edition of
" De Cerem. Aulae Byzant.") ' [W. P.]
CONSTANTI'NUS VIII., emperor of the
East, reigned, together with his brother Stephanus,
after the deposition of their father, Romanus Lecapenus, but was soon compelled to cede the throne
to the lawful sovereign, Constantine Porphyrogenitus. (A. D. 945.) [CONSTANTINUS VII.]
CONSTANTINUS IX., emperor of the East,
A. D. 976-1028, the son of the emperor Romanus II., was born in A. D. 961, and began to reign,
together with his elder brother, Basil II., in 976;
but, addicted to idleness and luxury, he took no
part in the administration of the empire. After
the death of Basil in 1025, he became sole emperor; but, fortunately for his subjects, who suffered
much from the Arabians during his miserable administration, he died three years afterwards, in
1028. Constantine IX. was the last of the Mace

CONSTANTINUS.
donian dynasty. His successor was Romanus
Argyrus, the husband of his daughter Zoe, whom
he had by his wife Helena Augusta. [BASILIUS II.]
CONSTANTI'NUS X. MONOMA'CHUS
(' Mo'vogLdXos), emperor of the East, A. D. 1042 -1054. His surname was given him on account of
his personal courage in war. In 1042 the government of the empire was in the hands of two
imperial sisters, Zoe, the widow of the emperor Romanus Argyrus, and afterwards of Michael IV. the
Pa.phlagonian, and Theodora, a spinster, who were
placed on the throne by the inhabitants of Constantinople, after they had deposed the emperor
Michael V. Calaphates, the adopted son of Zoe.
The two sisters being afraid of their position, Zoe
proposed to Constantine Monomachus that he
should marry her; and as she was rather advanced
in age, being then upwards of sixty, she allowed
the gallant warrior to bring his beautiful mistress,
Sclerena, with him to the imperial palace, where
the two ladies lived together on the best terms.
Constantine was saluted as emperor, and conferred
the dignity of Augusta upon Sclerena. Soon after
the accession of Constantine, Georgius Maniaces, a
brother of Sclerena, who was renowned for his
victories over the Arabs, and who then held the
command in Italy, raised a rebellion. At the head
of a chosen body of troops he crossed the Adriatic,
landed in Epeirus, joined an auxiliary army of
Bulgarians, and marched upon Constantinople. An
assassin delivered the emperor from his fears:
Maniaces was murdered by an unknown hand in
the midst of his camp.
A still greater danger arose in 1043 from an
invasion of the Russians, who appeared with a
powerful fleet in the Bosporus, while a land force
penetrated as far as Varna: but the fleet was dispersed or taken in a bloody engagement, and the
Russian army was routed by Catacalo.
In 1047, while absent on an expedition against
the Arabs, Constantine received news of another
rebellion having broken out, headed by Tornicius,
a relative of the emperor, who assumed the imperial
title, and laid siege to Constantinople. The emperor hastened to the defence of his capital, broke
the forces of the rebel in a decisive battle, and
Tornicius, having fallen into the hands of his pursuers, was blinded and confined to a monastery.
Constantine was not less fortunate in a war with
Cacicus, the vassal king of Armenia and Iberia,
who tried to make himself independent; but, unable to take the field against the imperial armies,
he was at last compelled to throw himself at the
feet of the emperor and implore his clemency. His
crown was taken from him, but he was allowed to
enjoy both life and liberty, and spent the rest of
his days in Cappadocia, where his generous victor
had given him extensive estates. Iberia and Armenia were reunited under the immediate authority of the Greeks.
While the frontiers of the empire were thus extended in the East, Thrace and Macedonia suffered
dreadfully from an invasion of the Petchenegues,
who were so superior to the Greeks in martial
qualities, that they would have conquered all those
provinces which they had hitherto only plundered,
but for the timely interference of the emperor's
body-guards, composed of Waregians or Normans,
who drove the enemy back beyond the Danube,
and compelled them to beg for peace. (A. D. 1053.)
At the same time the Normans made great progress