consulted with the principal senators and the bishops, the emperor commanded that the boy should not be sent back to the temple, so that, by the grace of God, it should have a guardian till the end of the world. And then the emperor loaded the boy with gifts and honours, and, with the consent of his father, sent him to the Cyclades. Now the conversation of the angel with the boy happened on the right-hand side of the pier of the upper arch, as one ascends towards the dome. [Codinus says, “near the Syllagonum,” for this it has been suggested to read Syllagoeum, or “the place of the council”]. “When the workmen had continued the work up to the second catechumena, and the upper columns and arches were built, and they were roofing the adjacent parts, the emperor began to be anxious for want of funds. But as he was standing in the upper part of an arch, as they were about to begin the dome, at the hour of the Sabbath just before dinner, an eunuch appeared to him, clad in white, and said, ‘Why are you distressed for money? To-morrow bid some of your nobles to come, and they shall have as much gold as they wish.’ On the following day the eunuch came and showed himself to the emperor. The emperor sent to follow him Strategius, and Basilides the quaestor, and Theodorus the patrician, and Colocyns who was a praefect, besides fifty servants, twenty mules, and twenty paniers. With all these he marched out of the Golden Gate. And when they had come to the Tribunalium, there seemed to those who were sent to be built there palaces of stupendous beauty. But when they had dismounted, the eunuch bade them ascend a wonderful stair, and then, producing a splendid gold key, he opened the door of a room, and, as Strategius says, the whole floor was heaped with gold coins. Taking a shovel, the eunuch filled each panier with four hundred pounds of gold, amounting altogether to eight thousand, and with these he sent them back to the emperor; and having closed up the room with the key, he said to them, ‘Take the gold to the emperor, and bid him spend it on the work.’ The eunuch left them there, and they came and showed the emperor the gold they had received. He was astonished, and asked them where they had been, and where the eunuch dwelt. They told him all in order, and how the wealth of gold was spread on the floor of the room. The emperor hoped that the eunuch would return, but as he was disappointed he sent a slave to the place. When the slave had found the place where the palace had been, and saw that there were no houses there, he returned, and told all to the emperor. He was then astonished, but understanding how it was, said, ‘Truly this is a miracle as all may see;’ and he praised God.