9. This will explain why the gentleman I was talking about, by acting the philosopher in matters that were not the proper object of philosophy, earned the reputation, not of being a philosopher, but a mimic of one. However, in order to consider all aspects of the man, it has to be allowed that he was quite different in private life, for he lived on a magnificent, sumptuous scale, was generous and incorruptible.
If someone, dining with him, assumed a smiling gaiety and, to quote from the poet,158 ‘stretched forth his hands to the food that was ready’, he would eat with more gusto than usual, chatter away with his guest, and follow his mood with all kinds of pleasantry. Afterwards, he would change again, returning to his normal habits, in no way modified. Nobody else, if he had his way, would share with him the duties of government — but that word reminds me: I must digress once more and introduce myself again to this history.
Before Monomachus died
10. Not long before Theodora’s accession, I had adopted the monk’s cowl. Owing to the fact that I took this step shortly before Monomachus died, many persons surmised that I had previous knowledge of the event. According to them, I knew he was going to die and for this reason changed my manner of life. It is a fact that most people give me credit for more learning than I actually possess. Because I have dabbled in geometry, they imagine that I am capable of measuring the whole heavens, and since I have devoted a certain amount of study to the phenomena of the celestial sphere, they insist that I must also be acquainted with the phases, the obliquity of the ecliptic, eclipses, full moons, cycles and epicycles. They even claim that I can predict the future, despite my repudiation of books written on these subjects.
11. Another thing in which I have been interested is Horoscopy, far enough to learn something of the nonsense that derives from it. The truth is, my education was so wide and the questions of those who consulted me so diverse, that there is no science which I was not induced to study. Because of this interest in horoscopes, I find myself inevitably subjected to troublesome inquiries about them. That I have applied myself to the science in all its aspects I admit but at the same time none of these studies, forbidden by the leaders of the Church, has been put to improper use. I know the theory about the lottery of Fortune and about a presiding Evil Genius, but I certainly do not believe that the positions or the appearance of stars affect what goes on in the sublunary world.
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