Finally, Zeno alienated his fellow Isaurian general Illus, who was bribed by Basiliscus. In the middle of the conspiracy was Verina, who fomented a popular revolt against the Emperor. The uprising, supported by Theodoric Strabo, Illus and Armatus, was successful, and Verina convinced the Emperor to leave the city. Zeno fled to his native lands, bringing with him some of the Isaurians living in Constantinople, and the Imperial treasury. Basiliscus was then acclaimed as "Augustus" on 9 January 475 at the Hebdomon palace, by the palace ministers and the Senate. The mob of Constantinople got its revenge against Zeno, killing almost all of the Isaurians left in the city. In the beginning, everything seemed to go well for the new Emperor, who even tried to set up a new dynasty by conferring the title of "Augusta" upon his wife Aelia Zenonis and naming his son Marcus "Caesar", and later "Augustus"; however, due to his mismanagement as emperor, Basiliscus quickly lost most of his supporters. The most urgent problem facing the new Emperor was the scarcity of resources left in the imperial treasury. Basiliscus was forced to raise heavy taxes, and to revert to the practice of auctioning the offices, obviously causing a diffuse discontent in the population. He also extorted money from the church, with the help of the Prefect Epinicus, Verina's long-time favourite. Early in his reign, Constantinople suffered a massive fire, which destroyed houses, churches, and completely incinerated the huge library built by Emperor Julian. The fire was seen as a bad omen for the rule of Basiliscus. Basiliscus had relied on the support of some major figures of the court in his bid for power. However, he quickly lost most of them. First, Basiliscus alienated his own sister Verina, executing the "Magister officiorum" Patricius. Patricius was the lover of Verina, and the empress had planned to raise him to the imperial rank and to marry him: the very revolt against Zeno was organised to make Patricius emperor. Basiliscus, however, had out-witted his sister, and, after the flight of Zeno, had the ministers and the Senate choose him, and not Patricius, as Emperor. Basiliscus ordered the death of Patricius, as the officer was a natural candidate to overthrow the new Emperor; as a consequence, Verina later intrigued against Basiliscus.