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 throned; his eyes were put out, and he was sent to pass the remainder of his life in a monastery, perhaps the same in which the sons of Romanus I. were still dragging on repentant days.

Zoe and Theodora reigned together. But Zoe was jealous of the superior abilities of her sister. She chose another husband in order to destroy her influence. Constantine Monomachus, of whom very little is known, except that he was openly and shamelessly profligate, had a beautiful mistress whom he brought with him to Constantinople, and with whom he appeared in public—a Christian emperor with two empresses.

The emperor, however, had some glimmerings of conscience. He built hospitals and houses of refuge for the good of his own soul: for the same reason he advanced literary men to posts of distinction—a salutary device which has not commended itself to modern princes who are also sinners—and he completed the rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Let us pass over the history of the various revolts which mark this period. Among them was one which led to a siege—which does not appear to have been serious—of the capital.

In the year 1043 began a three years' war with the Russians, which ended in the defeat of the latter. As usual, the Greek fire turned the scale. In the eastern provinces, as well as the western, the empire suffered grievous disasters.

Zoe died in 1050, at the age of seventy. Constantine survived till 1054. Theodora then ruled alone for two