"Emperor, this is a nomisma of Carthage," he said in a loud, harsh voice; Carthage then remained under the sway of the Roman Empire, not yet having been fecklessly thrown away by the bungling brigand who stole my throne from me. "Do you see the stamp on it? You and your brothers, Emperors all three. Do not cast them down now. That would be treason against them, for they were raised up at the same time you were."

From that day to this, I have wondered what Leo thought he would accomplish with such foolish freedom of speech. Was he in the pay of my uncles? I had never seen him around them before. Or did he think his simple words would make my father change his mind? Could he have been so naive?

Whatever he was, he paid for it. My father turned to a couple of the excubitores nearest him and said, "This dog's tongue is too forward. Seize him and take him to the executioner, so he can cut it out."

Leo did not even try to flee. He stood staring till the guardsmen laid hold of him and, amid awful silence, began to drag him away. Then, seeming to regain some of his senses, he cried out, "We confess a Trinity in heaven. Let there be a trinity on earth as well!"

Up to that moment, my father had dealt with the unseemly interruption as smoothly as might be expected. Hearing his brothers compared to Persons of the holy Trinity, though, enraged him, and he shouted to the excubitores, "That will cost him his hands and feet along with his tongue! Tell the executioner."

After Leo got what he so richly deserved for his insane insolence, my father looked around the throne room again, as if seeing whether anyone else had the temerity to challenge him. The nobles all tried to pretend they were elsewhere, none of them anxious to meet Leo's fate. Then my father turned his terrible gaze on his brothers.

Tiberius quickly bowed his head. My uncle Herakleios was made of sterner stuff, which was, I suppose, why my father occasionally had to placate him but always rode roughshod over Tiberius. Today, though, my father would placate no one. At last, Herakleios too lowered his eyes in submission.