ikinci basileios

• d&r ve dikkatsiz türk okuyucusu sayesinde michael psellus'un "ondört bizans hükümdarı" adlı eserinin penguin classics'ten çıkan ingilizce versiyonuna cüzi bir fiyata sahip oldum. basileios bulgarkıran bu eserde kilit bir karakter. psellus'un değişik bir tarih yorumcusu olduğu da aşikar. fakat ben eseri ingilizce'ye çeviren e.r.a. sewter'ın önsözünden bir alıntı yapmak istiyorum:
  
  "on christmas day 1025, basil ii bulgaroctonos died. for almost fifty years he had been sole emperor. he had won great glory for himself and his people. to men living in constantinople at that moment it must have seemed that the byzantine empire was at the height of its powers... he crushed rebellions, subdued the feudal landowners, conquered the enemies of the empire, notably in the danubian provinces and the east. everywhere the might of roman arms was respected and feared... two generations later everything had changed. the rulers who succeeded basil were either unworthy or largely ineffective. the riches they inherited were squandered on foolish projects." sf. 12.
  
  bulgarkıran... bizans kanla gelen şanı çabuk harcamış.
  
  psellus da basileios'u şöyle özetlemiş:
  
  "...he was more of a villain in wartime, more of an empreor in time of peace."
  "...savaş zamanı bir caniye dönüşürdü ama barış zamanı bir imparator gibi davranırdı." sf. 47.