In fact, they anticipated a time of wonderful prosperity. With regard to the emperor’s character, people who met him only at certain times, when he was seated on his throne, in the process of dealing with state affairs, or giving audience to some embassy, or uttering the most dreadful threats against the barbarians, had the impression that he was abrupt and hard.**199 To such folk it was inconceivable that there could be a softer side to the man’s character. But if one saw him in his home-life, or choosing his officials, one realized the extraordinary duality of Isaac’s nature. It was like hearing the string; of some musical instrument pitched to one certain note, but producing two sounds, one soft, the other harsh.
Serious deliberations
I myself have seen him in both moods, in moments of tension and moments of relaxation, and in my opinion his character was indeed twofold. When he was relaxing, it was incredible to me that he would ever concentrate again; when he was fiercely concentrated on some purpose, that he would ever relax again or forget his serious deliberations and come down to earth. He was so gracious and pleasant in the one case, and in the other — why, even his face changed, his eyes flashed, and his brow, to put it metaphorically, hung threatening over the clear light of his soul like some dark cloud.**200
47. When the throne was ready for him and the senators were standing in groups on either side of it, Isaac would at once relapse into silence, a perfect imitation of Xenocrates’s**201 picture, his mind open, as it were, to receive ideas. This silence of his struck no little fear into the hearts of the senate. Some stood rooted to the spot, as if they had been hit by lightning, in the same position as when the thunderbolt fell, dry and bloodless, like men without souls.
Others reacted differently: one standing stiffly to attention, another folding his arms more tightly than usual across his chest, a third staring at the ground. Another (and this was true of them all, for they were all filled with terror) repressed a desire to move by sheer will-power, shifting his posture as quietly and unobtrusively as he could. Every time the emperor refused his consent to proposals set before him, their breath would come fast, and you recognized the change in them by the beating of their hearts.
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