Annals (Chronographia)

Armenians; for the Assyrians trace their name from the Assyrians, but the Armenians from a certain Armenius so called, who came from the city of Armenia in Thessaly, and who accompanied Jason on his expedition. ^A

2. This Leo, having been crowned with the imperial diadem by the Patriarch Nicephorus and inaugurated by him, professed in writing that he was of the orthodox faith. Yet the wolf, covered in sheep’s clothing, did not escape notice as a good shepherd. For while he was binding the diadem upon his wicked head, it seemed to him as though he were suffering the prick of pain from thorns and briars. And when the customary rite was completed, the malicious man departed for the palace, while the people shouted acclamations. But when he reached [the area] before the Bronze Gates, at the circular place paved with porphyry marble, he offered thanks to the image of Christ our God situated there, whether in truth or merely in pretense. There he doffed the robe he had been wearing, which shone with rose-colored hues, and the *colobium*—which they call such according to the ancient custom reserved for generals—and gave them to Michael, who was his equerry, a man from Amorium. As he put this on, it occurred to those in the know as an omen of the lordship of the empire that would follow Leo. Then, having come to the place called Scyla, he trod upon Leo's robe with a forceful step. Leo, having understood the matter, conjectured that some rebellion was being stirred up against him that night.

3. He therefore turned his mind to the monk living in Philomelium, who, in the time of Bardanes, had told him what would come to pass. He sends him gifts and offerings appropriate for the fulfillment of his vow. But as that monk had meanwhile departed this life, it happened that another monk named Sabbatius—who had also heard the words of the former monk—had succeeded into his cell and place, ^B and he was opposed to the veneration of the holy icons. When he saw what had been sent by the Emperor, he made a show of sending them away, because he [Leo] offered veneration to the holy icons; for which reason, he, as a wicked seer, predicted that the Lord would overthrow his empire, and sent a letter to that effect. Deceived by these things, the Emperor summoned Theodotus Cassiteras, who, even before Leo had seized the empire, having heard a certain woman possessed of a Pythonic spirit walking in the marketplace and crying out that the Strategos of the Anatolics was about to receive the empire of Michael, had taken Leo with him and gone to the Church of Saint Paul in the Orphanotropheion. There they made a covenant of mutual keeping and trust one toward the other; ^C and he [Theodotus] insisted to him, "It has been revealed to me by divine vision concerning you, that you shall quickly attain the empire." Having summoned this Theodotus, ^D Leo showed him what had been sent. He, grasping this opportunity, piled evil upon evil, and made mention of another monk living in the house of Maurianus, asserting that unheard-of things were being performed by him, and praising and proclaiming him as another great Anthony. He persuaded Leo that this was the state of affairs, and then, coming to the monk, he spoke these things with a wicked mind: "The following night the Emperor will come to you in a humble state, [with the intention of] falling before you, and he is to pass [into the church] quickly

^A under my guidance, and he shall be prepared [to do so]; but if you listen to me, you will heap curses upon him, and declare that he will die shortly, unless he follows the doctrine and faith of Leo the Isaurian. If he does this, he will see more than seventy years of imperial rule, and will see his children's children sitting upon the throne, and he will be exalted with the honor of the thirteenth apostle. But if he acts otherwise, he will be subject to countless evils, and will shortly lose both his empire and his life."

Now, therefore, in the darkness of the night, the Emperor, with Cassiteras as his companion, went to the monk and was immediately rebuked by him quite harshly, as if he had foreseen the former's disguise and deception. "It is not fitting," he said, "for one who is emperor to feign the role of a private citizen." Struck with stupefaction by these words, the Emperor allowed himself to be easily persuaded to the opinion of abolishing the holy images; and immediately, vomiting out the venom of impiety that he had stored up in his mind, and agitated by furies, he led the beginning of the heresy.

4. Seeking to join to himself like-minded men, he finds John, called the Grammarian—rather another Jannes or Simon—who was also called Hylzilas, which in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted as "precursor and helper of the devil." He was the son of Pancratius the *sciastes* (we might call him a hat-maker), whom a demon had possessed since he was a boy, and whose fame for divination by means of a basin and for acts of filth and lust had spread far abroad. He also found Constantine, a priest, the son of a cobbler, who had taught law in the time of Phoracius, but having fled on account of accusations, he became a monk and took the name Antonius; he was a man devoted to fables and mockery, living a base life. Having become the superior of the monastery called "of the Metropolitans," he taught these same things to the monks he governed; and later, by the permission of God, he even became Bishop of Syllaeum. He found also others of the same mind as himself.

Meanwhile, a comet appeared in the shape of two bright, moon-like orbs, which would come together and then separate into diverse shapes, even forming the shape of a man without a head, just such as had appeared in the time of Michael the Curopalates, Emperor. Some, interpreting this, ^C said that the headless [figure] was a head, foreshadowing Thomas, who would later take up tyranny and with his fellow conspirators assault the city. Indeed, terrible earthquakes, plagues, droughts, and fever-heat also occurred during the days of this man who was hateful to God.

5. In the same year, he summoned the celebrated Patriarch Nicephorus along with the bishops who were with him before the senate, and said: "It certainly does not escape your notice that some have arisen who say that there is no need to venerate the images." To whom the holy Nicephorus first replied: "They are to be honored, O Emperor, the holy images of the saints, as they existed from the beginning by divine nod. For the holy cloth which Christ once took in His hands and held to His own face, and was marked with His own image, not by human hand, is deservedly held in honor and is worthy of veneration. Then, too, the images of the holy apostles which they themselves painted with their own hands (most notably of Christ Himself and of her who gave birth to Him), and which even now in Rome...

^A is preserved the painted image of the Transfiguration, through which Christ shone forth with Moses and Elijah on Tabor, and which Peter, the prince of the apostles, commanded to be made. But there is also the miracle that took place in the Eastern city of Lydda. For there is an ancient and venerable temple built by the faithful in the name of the holy Mother of God, in which a painted image of the same Mother of God is seen. When the Jews sought to claim this temple for themselves, the holy Mother of God, hearing of this while she was in Jerusalem, gave this response: "Let the temple be closed, and let no one enter, and on the fortieth day let it be opened; and if no sign is seen in it, let the temple belong to the Jews." Therefore, when the temple was opened on the appointed day, they beheld an image of the Mother of God, holding Christ as an infant in her arms, an image and beauty at once marvelous, most venerable, and most divine, depicted on transparent tablets, clearly visible and appearing throughout ^B in its entire depth. Seeing this, the Jews fled. After this, many Jews and Greeks attempted to scrape it away, but failed; and the image, not made by human hands, remains until this day on the tablet to the glory of God, just as it was. Furthermore, there is the image of the woman with the flow of blood, which, by means of an herb, heals every infirmity in Paneas and in the whole world.

6. After this, the holy Euthymius, Metropolitan of Sardis, speaking with freedom of speech, stopped the mouth of the wicked one. Theodore, the superior of the Stoudios monastery, said: "Do not disturb, O Emperor, the state of the Church; for the state of the commonwealth and the army have been entrusted to your care to look after them, but leave the Church alone." The tyrant, stirred to excessive rage, drove everyone away with insults, and he banished the Patriarch Nicephorus and Theodore. It is said that when Patriarch Nicephorus was being led into exile, he was seen from afar by Theophanes, called the Sigrian and superior of the monastery of the Great Field, who, with prophetic eyes, lit incense and, with prayer, sent him on his way, raising his hands ^C and commending him to God while offering a greeting; and when someone asked for the reason, Theophanes said that he did this because the great confessor, Patriarch Nicephorus, was passing by on his way into exile, struggling on behalf of the holy icons. As for the holy Euthymius, because he had rebuked the heresy more harshly and with a freer voice, the tyrant crushed his jaws with blows and tore his back with scourges so severely that he breathed his last under them. After these things were done, he appointed Theodotus Cassiteras as patriarch, a man senseless and more speechless than a fish, and he openly stirred up an implacable persecution against the Church, yielding to the advice of those whom he had joined to himself as fellow-initiates, who had submitted to him three things to do: the denial of our orthodox faith, the destruction of the divine icons, and the persecution of the pious. And first he removes every holy ^D

^A image erected in the churches throughout the land; then, those who were discovered to possess any image of Christ or of the saints in their own homes, he condemned to dire torments and to death, and he slaughtered many men of renown and distinction, as well as an infinite multitude of monks.

7. But since Leo had adopted the daughter of the Michael from Amorion—whom he had also taken from the spiritual font—and had honored him with the dignity of patrician and commander of the Excubitors, and as this man, with a bold and insolent tongue, was reproaching Leo as a destroyer of the holy images and asserting that his wife ought to be united in incestuous wedlock, the emperor, thinking he was plotting tyranny, ordered him to be bound and tied to a stake at the palace baths, which they call the Pithecium, and cast into the furnace fire to be consumed; and as the man was on the point of destruction, the emperor stood by as a spectator. ^B However, the Augusta Theodosia, with tearful supplications, rescued the man from the executioner, and the emperor ordered the accused to be released for the time being. But these were the words he said to his own wife: "O woman, today you have delivered my soul from the judgment that was to come, yet perhaps you will soon deprive me of life; but you and our children shall see what is to come to pass." For the time of his destruction had long been revealed to him from a certain Sibylline book of oracles. For it contained a representation of this kind: it depicted the entire figure of a lion. On the head was inscribed the letter X, and on the back the letter Φ, and in the middle of the beast, piercing its very flanks, a bloody sword or blade was fixed; which, having shown to Stephen, known by the surname Capitoliges, he said to him: "What does this signify?" But he said: "Let it be, my lord; do not let me even behold the drawing." But he would not accept this. Then Stephen, considering it within himself, says to the emperor: "This lion stands for the sign of the empire, and between the letter X and the Φ, some evil threatens him." ^C And the emperor: "What do the Φ and the X mean?" He says: "Between the birth of Christ and the Lights" (that is, the Epiphany). But he was also troubled by that which had been said to him through the patrician Bardanes by a monk at Philomelium, and by the matter of the official robe he had put on, the hem of which he had trodden upon while entering the palace to take up the imperial power. In addition to these things, the vision seen by his mother also filled him with terror. At the time it happened, she had considered it of no value, but now it pressed upon and tormented her soul even more grievously. For as she was frequently resorting to the divine church in Blachernae and constantly attending it with pious prayers, a maiden appeared to her, surrounded by a large retinue of candidati, while the entire church was overflowing with blood. ^D Then the maiden commanded one of those standing by to fill a pot with blood and present it to the mother of Leo to drink. When she excused herself, citing her long years, during which she had tasted neither flesh nor anything containing coagulated blood, and that therefore she had no need of this pot, the maiden replied with anger: "And how is it, then, that your son does not cease from filling me with much blood, and from provoking this my son and God?" From that time on, she entreated her son many times to depart from the heresy of the iconoclasts, [P. 407] [index: entries preserved]

those who delivered sacred images to the flames and abolished them, mourning this vision lugubriously. But another nocturnal vision also cast no less terror than the first. For he heard a man named Michael calling out to the patriarch Tarasius of glorious memory—who had long since departed among the dead—and heard him strike Leo with a lethal blow and thrust him over a precipice into the vast abyss lying beneath ^A.

8. In the days of the impious Leo, the Bulgarians came with no one to meet them or block their approach, arriving even at the city gate. Crumus, according to the custom of his people, performed a sacrifice outside the Golden Gate and slaughtered many men and beasts. Having wetted his feet at the seashore, bathed, and purified his army, he was received with auspicious shouts and favorable signs by his own men; he proceeded through the middle of his concubines, who prostrated themselves before him in reverence and praised him, all this while everyone watched from the wall, and no one dared to hinder him or shoot a dart at him ^B. When he had accomplished everything he desired and whatever he willed, he encircled the city and threw up a rampart against it. The siege continued for several days, and after all the fields outside the city had been plundered, he began to demand a great quantity of gold and clothing, and a certain number of choice maidens as well. Wherefore Leo, having deliberated with his nobles, signified to Crumus: "Come with a few unarmed men to the seashore, and we ourselves will come up to the shore unarmed in a boat, and we will hold discussions; whatever you have asked for, we will do." Having held these discussions, through the night they led out three armed men and concealed them in certain chambers ^C of the Hall outside the Blachernae gate, giving them a sign: "When we are speaking with Crumus, we will perform a certain signal; when you see this, come out from your ambush and kill him." The next day, the Bulgarians having stationed themselves at the Church of the Holy Anargyroi outside the city gate, Crumus descended to the sea as agreed, along with three others: his logothete, and Constantine, called "the Patziki," who many years before had fled to Bulgaria and whom he had taken as a son from the sister of Crumus. These four, having separated themselves from their people ^D unarmed, descended to the sea as agreed, not knowing the trap set for them. Soon, those from the city also went out in a boat, wishing to parley with Crumus, and having received assurances, they dismounted from the ship. Crumus jumped down from his horse and sat upon the ground, and the son of Constantine held his horse, which was saddled and bridled. While they were conversing, one of those from the city, who was Exabules, gave the signal by uncovering his head with his hand. Crumus noticed this, and offended by the evidence of the deed, he recoiled, and having already readied his horse, he was mounted by his companions and sat upon it. Then the people on the wall cried out: "The Cross has won!" And Crumus took to flight. Those who had been lying in wait in the houses...

pursued Crumus, and having discharged their arrows, thinking that they had wounded him, he alone escaped to his people. The other three were captured by those who were in the skiff. The logothete was immediately slaughtered, but Constantine and his son were taken alive.

9. ^B Now, therefore, these things having taken place, Crumus, being enraged, ordered that on the following day they should burn and destroy every place. And beginning to burn, they consumed all the churches opposite the city—which were great—as well as those which Irene, Nicephorus, and Michael had restored; likewise also the monasteries, the palaces, the houses, and the suburbs. And coming to Saint Mamas, they set fire to the palaces and the imperial bedchambers there; they broke the columns, and they carried away the masses of lead and the statues adorning the circuit of the hippodrome, and they slaughtered all the captives, likewise also the cattle. And passing through the coastal area of the Stenos and completely burning the upper trade depots, they seized much spoil and went away. And having occupied the right part of the city toward the East, they burned the areas outside the Golden Gate as far as Regium. When they had come to Athyra, they destroyed the fortress there and the bridge, which was remarkable and very strongly fortified. And having come to Selybria, they razed the fortress there to the ground, and burned the churches and the houses. And after this, they destroyed the fortress of Daon. And having come to the city of Heraclea, not being able to enter it, they burned all the houses situated on the shore and the farms and places ^C surrounding the city itself. And after this, having come to Rhaedestus, they destroyed this fortress as well, burning all the houses and churches within it and slaughtering a great number of people there. And having come to the fortress of Panium, they found it fortified and possessing a great number of people; and having accomplished nothing against it, having burned and destroyed everything outside, they went up to Aspros, a fortress also, and having destroyed and burned this, and ^D very many other fortresses, they descended from there after ten days and entered the mountains of Ganus. And having found there a great number of people hiding, and almost all the cattle of Thrace, they slaughtered the men, and having taken captive the cattle—which were in a multitude—together with many women and children, they sent them to Bulgaria. And then they went also to Hexamili, and descended as far as Abydus, and turned back toward the Hebrus and the upper region, and destroyed all the fortresses, from the small to the great, as far as Adrianople. And finding Adrianople fortified, they laid siege to it. And having spent not a few days in the siege, since they were not able to capture the city, they began to assault it with siege engines. And indeed the citizens

being hard pressed, and having no hope of help from anywhere, and dying of famine, they surrendered themselves. And the Bulgarians, having taken all the captives, who were an uncountable multitude, and all their baggage, deported them far away into Bulgaria beyond the Ister river. While these things were happening, Leo did not leave the city, but held the empire tyrannically. And finally, when the festival of the Nativity had arrived, he crowned his son, who was still small and named Sambates ^B — though he falsely claimed he was called Constantine — and, having gathered the people who had survived the slaughter from the various cities, he distributed money to them, making them acclaim Leo and Constantine, imitating those who had recently held the empire, Leo and Constantine the Isaurians, whose heresy he also revived, wishing to live for many years, just as they did, and to become famous; but God confounded his counsel, cutting short his years.

10. And finally, the weather having become fair in winter, and the rivers not having much water, ^C thirty thousand armor-clad Bulgarians went out; and coming as far as Arcadiopolis, and having crossed the Rigia (for this is the name of the river), they found a great multitude of people and took them captive. And before they crossed back with the captives, there was a heavy rain for eight days, and the river, swelling, became like a sea. And being unable to cross back, the Bulgarians remained for fifteen days, holding the captives. And although they sent word to Leo to help them, he did not pay heed, nor did he leave the city, nor did he send any others to their aid. But eventually, when the weather became fair and the river had subsided, they compelled the captives themselves to cut wood and build a bridge; ^D and thus they crossed over with the captives, who altogether—men, women, and children—numbered fifty thousand. They also took all their possessions, Armenian rugs and precious tapestries and much clothing and bronze vessels, and loaded everything onto the carts; and having taken all their herds, oxen and sheep, they entered Bulgaria. And he who reigned unjustly by the permission of God neither left the city himself to help the captives, nor sent others.

11. Then, after these events, it was reported to them that Krum had mobilized a great army, having gathered together the Avars and all the Sclabinians; and in addition to these, he was preparing engines for taking cities and siege machines and mangonels of immense size, caltrops and stone-throwers and tortoises and high ladders, and globes and levers and pickaxes, and rams and ballistae, fire-throwers and stone-throwers and scorpions for throwing arrows and

^A all the engines for the pulling down of the ramparts and the conquest of the city. On the western side, he says, of the city, at the wall of the Blachernae, he wishes to bring up all these engines; there he was also shot [by an arrow], having stabled ten thousand oxen to transport all the aforementioned instruments, which were placed upon wagons, for which he ordered five thousand laborers, bound in iron. Having heard these things, Leo, after sending scouts and learning the truth, and having gathered a great multitude of people and craftsmen, began to build ^B another wall outside the wall of the Blachernae, having also cut a wide trench in front. And when he had begun to build, before it was even completed, in order that God, who frustrates the counsels of nations, and brings to nothing the designs of peoples and the counsels of princes, might show that neither one’s own industry nor power avails for anything, before spring had yet arrived, as some who were saved from captivity in Bulgaria report, about the Great Thursday of Pascha did the first of the Bulgarians, the renowned Krum, who had determined in his mind to take the city, depart from life, secretly struck down [P. 411] by the power of God. He poured out streams of blood through his mouth, his nostrils, and his ears, and thus he gave up his soul in misery.

12. ^C Elated, then, with pride because he claimed to have overthrown the enemy himself—not God—Leo sent imperial letters to all the cities and provinces, stating: "I found the Bulgarians being close to the city, and through my own prudence, courage, and leadership, having shot the first of them, I destroyed them all; and because of this wound," he says, "our enemy has fallen." So much for that.

13. It is also said that a voice was heard from heaven suddenly, proclaiming the destruction of the godless emperor, and that it was heard by many sailors; those who observed the time and hour (for it was the tenth hour of the night) at last found that this was the truth.

14. However, Michael was kept in prison and in ^D bonds. And since Leo intended to kill him immediately after the conclusion of the solemnity of Christ’s Nativity, Michael sent word to the conspirators, among whom was the *papias* of the palace, saying: "Unless you hasten to deliver me from prison, I shall denounce you all to the emperor." They gathered accordingly, and dressing themselves in priestly vestments and hiding swords underneath them, since the palace doors were open, they rushed upon the emperor as he entered the temple, hacked him to pieces, and buried his body on the island of Prote. At that very hour they released Michael from his bonds and brought him into the celebration, adorned with a crown instead of chains. And the prophetic word was fulfilled: "At evening weeping shall tarry, but in the morning there shall be rejoicing." His spouse was brought to the monastery which they call

[COL. 681]

^A ...to his son, who had been renamed Constantine at his crowning, and to the others, namely Basil, Gregory, and Theodosius, they tonsured them and made them monks on the First Island. And there, Constantine, now renamed Basil, being possessed by aphasia after his virile parts had been removed, would pray to God—and also to Gregory the Theologian, whose image stood erected there—that his voice might be loosened and his tongue regain its ability to sound forth. And he was heard. For on the feast day of the Lights, he saw that divine image of wax, which seemed to address him: "Arise, read." Entering without hesitation, he read with a clear and pure voice: "Again, Jesus is mine." From that time forward, therefore, he loathed the heresy he had inherited from his fathers and began to honor and embrace the images of the saints. But these things [happened] later.

Roman Emperor Michael the Amorian and the Stammerer, the Iconoclast, [reigned for] 8 years, 9 months.

^B [P. 412] 1. In the year of the world 6314, in the year of the divine incarnation 814, the Roman Emperor Michael the Amorian, the Stammerer and Iconoclast, [reigned for] 8 years, 9 months. He took as his wife Euphrosyne, the daughter of Constantine who had been blinded, [and who] had dedicated herself to the monastic life. Although he relaxed somewhat the malice that had prevailed before—inasmuch as those who had been in prisons or relegated to exile were able, as if in a nocturnal vision or dream, to imagine liberty and some remission of their state and a truce—he still secretly cherished the God-hated sentiment and opinion ^C of his impious predecessor. For he himself was likewise trapped by the hook of that terrible heresy, out of supreme ignorance and lack of education. Hence, at a silentium, he said: "Those who investigated the ecclesiastical rule of dogmas before us, from them is an account to be demanded as to whether they decreed well or ill. But we, in whatever state we have found the Church walking, in that we choose to preserve it. For to honor the images or not to honor them, let it be something indifferent and free for each man." At that time, the throne of the high priesthood was held by Antony of Syllæum, who was averse to the worship of the holy images.

2. Upon these things, Michael crowned his son Theophilus, [born] of Euphrosyne, in the Great Church. But Thomas the rebel, having set out from the eastern parts—trailing along a populace both vagrant and mixed—moved against Byzantium, desiring the empire ^D beyond his worth. For he, being a Roman and a man of no note, had gone off to Syria and, renaming himself Constantine, styled himself the son of the Empress Irene; by this fraud he deceived many, both barbarians and Romans. Having gathered an immense multitude, and boasting of their numbers, he advanced upon Constantinople and besieged and pillaged it for three years. But when he saw his ships burned by fire and the flower of his troops destroyed by the citizens, being at a loss for counsel, he abandoned the city and withdrew into Thrace, plundering it. Michael, having gone out from the city with a great force, marched against him, and for a short time [he] besieged...

^A he easily brought him under his power; and having cut off his hands and feet, and then impaling him, he put an end to the civil war which had lasted for three years.

3. In the midst of these tumults and these anxieties, Crete, Sicily, and the Cyclades islands were torn away from the Roman Empire by the Africans and Arabs, the beginning of this disaster having just recently come about through the sins of the people and the impiety of those who ruled. ^B With events in this state, the emperor summoned Ireneus the magistrate, and said to him: "I congratulate you, magistrate, that Sicily has rebelled." And he said: "Far be it, master, that one should be congratulated on this account"; and turning to one of the great men, he said: "A beginning of evils will fall upon the land, When the dragon of Babylon shall start to rule, Stammering of tongue and most thirsty for gold."

4. For the leader of the Hagarenes, Apohap, attacked the promontory of Crete and anchored his fleet at Charax, ordering the people under him to abandon their ships and go to plunder and ravage the region. But when the army had moved off for such an enterprise, he ordered their ships to be set on fire. As they murmured for this reason, he said to them: "You yourselves, O murmuring men, were seeking just the other day to establish a colony. For this purpose I have brought you to this place, where the land flows with milk and honey." They responded to him: "But where shall we find our children and our wives?" He replied to them: "You know that you have taken a great deal of booty for yourselves; therefore, from these, take wives for yourselves." ^C This advice pleased all of them; and they fortified the place all around with a palisade: the Greeks call this *charax*. From which it came about that the place is still called Charax to this day.

Afterward, a certain monk having been carried to the island said to them: "If it is decreed for you, and it is firmly set in your minds that you should fully possess the island, attach yourselves to me as companions, and wherever I show you a place convenient for building a city, build [it] there, from which you may extend your power across the whole island." He led them, therefore, to a place called Chandax, where their city is [now] situated, and they fortified it all around with a rampart. Having captured ninety cities, they reduced all of them to slavery, only one not having been stormed or ravaged, which, having accepted the faith and made a surrender, received the freedom to live according to the Christian rite. ^D Those who live there are to this day called *Hypologioi*, as if one were to say "accepted into the faith by voluntary surrender." And the islands would indeed have remained under the dominion of the Hagarenes, if the Emperor Michael had not commanded Craterus, the commander of the Cibyrrhaeots, to prepare all the ships under his command and set sail for Crete. Having arrived with a fleet of two hundred ships, he liberated them; and having set out for Crete, he gained control of all the Hagarenes there, and had decided to put the enemy to death, had not certain of the soldiers intervened with counsel not sufficiently sound, who said: "They will make no attack by night: in the morning they should be held and captured." Being deceived by their words, and having neglected the care of their own salvation, they withdrew into their tents.

returned to their tents, not at all concerned for their own safety. But during the night, the enemy troops fell upon them and brought all of them to that sleep of iron, while only their commander escaped by boarding a merchant vessel and sailing away. Upon learning this, the leader of the Agarenes placed his men on two transport ships and pursued him, and having caught him at the island of Cos, he impaled him there ^B. Thereafter, Oryphas (for that was the man’s name), by order of the emperor, assembled a naval force, distributed forty gold pieces to each, and embarked them on ships. They set out for Crete, but having failed to achieve anything, they returned; many of them were lost there, and those who were left behind were called the "Quadragenarii." On this island, Cyril, the miracle-working bishop of Gortyna of that island, was slaughtered by the Agarenes as a spotless sacrifice for Christ; his precious blood, bubbling forth even to this day, performs miracles.

So much for him. The impious Michael, having fallen severely ill with a urinary blockage and being tormented by pains in his kidneys, ended his life miserably. His wretched funeral procession was carried out, and he was laid to rest in the Church of the Holy Apostles; his son Theophilus, along with his mother Euphrosyne, took possession of the empire.

Roman Emperor Theophilus, son of Michael the Stammerer, Iconoclast, 12 years

1. In the year of the world 6323, of the divine incarnation 825, the Roman emperor Theophilus, son of Michael the Stammerer, Iconoclast, reigned for 12 years. His mother Euphrosyne, wishing to provide him with a wife, brought together several maidens of incomparable beauty. Among them there was one of great beauty named Icasia, and another named Theodora. The mother, having given him a golden apple, told him to give it to the one whose form pleased him most. Theophilus, stunned by the beauty of Icasia, said, "From woman have evils flowed." To which she replied with composure: "But also, better things from woman have flourished." Astonished and offended by her response, he dismissed her and gave the golden apple to Theodora, who was from the land of the Paphlagonians. Both were crowned by the patriarch Anthony in the Oratory of Saint Stephen on the day of Pentecost. From there, they proceeded to the Great Church, where he bestowed generous gifts upon the patriarch, the clergy, and the senate ^D. Icasia, frustrated in her hope for the empire, built a monastery where, having cut her hair, she lived a life governed by virtue and pleasing to God until the end of her days, leaving behind many ornaments of her own genius. Euphrosyne, however, the emperor's mother, voluntarily departing from the palace, lived a private life in the monastery of Gastria.

2. A horse-race having occurred, the great candelabrum was brought out, which in the slaughter of the Armenian Leo had been cut by a sword.

^A Theophilus showed it to the entire senate in the assembly place, and said that they had dared to commit murder in the temple of the Lord, though in truth he had killed them as his own co-heretic and one who shared his impiety. For that wretch held to that God-hated heresy of his, breaking down some of the holy icons and digging up others, and exiling and torturing monks illustrious for their piety.

3. In the second year of Theophilus, Theophobus the Persian along with his father and fourteen thousand Persians fled to the Romans. Theophilus divided them into companies and assigned them dwellings in the themes. He made Theophobus himself the husband of the sister of Theodora Augusta, thus making him his brother-in-law. ^B For among the Persians it was the custom to designate those who would rule them from the royal lineage. Therefore, when the royal line had failed through continuous wars and the Persians were in these straits, it occurred to them that some of royal blood had fled to the Roman emperor. For this reason they thought it necessary to abandon their fatherland and set out for the lands under Roman dominion, for the sake of Theophobus, so that they might obtain a leader from his own people. This was especially the case because the Persian leader Babek, having been exalted by a rebellion against the Amermumnes for five years, was defeated in the interval by the uncertainty of wars and battles, and had come with a cohort of seven thousand to the Romans, seeking the father of Theophobus in the city of Sinope. ^C When this Babek had found him, and had received a pledge of safety from the emperor, he placed the men under him and himself in subjection to the emperor. There are others who relate it differently: that the father of Theophobus came to Byzantium a needy man, and attached himself to a certain woman who worked for wages in a tavern. Captivated by love for her, he had carnal relations with her; from which the woman, having conceived, gave birth to a male child. The Persians, therefore, being highly practiced in astronomical science and the art of divination, knew that a kinsman of the Persian king was living in Byzantium. From there they went to the emperor and asked that the man for whom they had come be diligently sought out. The emperor, when he had heard and made careful inquiry about the man, accomplished nothing. ^D But later, having found the woman with whom the Persian Babek had associated, he learned that that man had already passed away, but that the son from those carnal embraces was still surviving, and they showed him to him, twelve years of age. The emperor took him up and raised him in the palace, and enrolled the Persians in the military ledgers.

4. The Emperor Theophilus, then, being a lover of fine things, built from its foundations the Pentapyrgion, and two very great organs of solid gold inlaid with various precious stones, and a golden tree on which birds perched, singing through—

^A hidden conduits by the force of the spirit.

5. He also renewed the imperial robes and the loroi and the rest, having everything fashioned in cloth of gold. He also raised the walls of the city, which were too low, to a greater height. Though he feigned himself a champion of human justice, he injured the faith and piety more grievously than did those who had reigned before him. A widowed woman approached him at Blachernae (for it was his custom to go there) and cried out that she was suffering an injustice at the hands of Petronas, brother of the Augusta and drungary of the Watch—for he was raising the height of his own apartments, and they obscured the light from hers, rendering them useless, as if the widow were someone to be despised—but the emperor immediately sent men to investigate the truth of the matter. Having been assured that the woman spoke the truth, he ordered the drungary to be stripped in the middle of the street and soundly whipped, and after having his aforementioned buildings pulled to the ground, he turned them over to the widow. And when a ship was passing by the Bucoleon one day, he asked whose it was, and upon learning that it belonged to the mistress, "Woe is me," he said, "that I have become a ship-owner, since this ship belongs to my wife." And having sent men to them, he burned the ship and its cargo.

6. The mother of Theophilus, Euphrosyne, was a nun in her own monastery, the house of Gastria, which she had purchased from Nicetas the patrician and had made a convent for women, naming it Gastria. ^B She never ceased summoning the daughters of Theodora (there were five: Thecla and Anna, Anastasia, Maria, and Pulcheria) and instructing them in all piety and the discipline of the Lord, and also in the veneration of the holy icons. This did not escape Theophilus, but he would call his daughters to him and question them about everything. And the others, being wise, would stoutly parry his inquiries, as if avoiding handles or traps for catching them; but Pulcheria, who was still small in age and understanding, told of the endearments and the plenty of fruit she received, and she further mentioned the adoration of the venerable icons, saying—not with a very firm judgment, to be sure—that her grandmother had many dolls in a box and, after kissing them, would press them to her head and face. This drove the emperor into a rage, but being unable to do anything to her, he merely forbade any further visits of his daughters to their ^C grandmother.

7. A similar thing happened to the Augusta Theodora. The emperor had a certain demented little man, no different from the Homeric Thersites (Denderis was his name), who spoke inarticulately, provoked laughter, and lived in the palace for the sake of amusement. This man, then, jumping unexpectedly one day into the sacred bedchamber of the Augusta, caught her embracing the holy icons and applying them to her eyes with devotion. Having seen these before his eyes, this madman asked what they were, and he brought his eyes closer to them. To whom

^A she replied, “These are my beautiful dolls, and I love them very much.” The emperor was dining at the table at that moment, and as soon as he had crossed over to her, he asked where she had been. He—meaning Denderis—replied that she had been with the “mana” (calling Theodora this, as if to say mother and grandmother), and that he had seen her taking beautiful dolls from a cushion. The emperor, therefore, understood, and filled with rage, he rose from the table and went to her, pouring out many insults and calling her an idolater with his unbridled tongue, and at the same time demanding an account of the babbling man’s words. But she, keeping her anger suppressed within her breast for a time, said readily, “It is not so, O Emperor, it is not as you have supposed. I was gazing at myself in the mirror with my maidservants, and Denderis, seeing the forms reflected therein, foolishly went and reported it to my lord and emperor.” Thus, for the moment, his anger was quenched. A few days later, however, she punished Denderis in a fitting way and taught him wisdom, instructing him thereby never again to speak to anyone about the beautiful dolls. Whenever Theophilus was warmed by drink and would insult the Augusta, he sometimes asked her about that, whether the “mana” was still embracing and kissing the beautiful dolls. Denderis, placing his hand over his mouth and his left hand on his behind, would reply, “Hush, hush, Emperor, do not speak of the dolls.” ^B

8. In the third year of his reign, he adopted as his son-in-law Alexius the Armenian, surnamed Muselem, a very brave and robust man, giving him his daughter Maria, and he created him a patrician and then a magistros. But having formed certain suspicions of him, as if he were aiming at the empire, he sent him away as praetor and duke of Sicily. But such is the offspring of envy; certain Sicilians came and accused him to the emperor, saying, “He is betraying the possessions of the Christians to the Hagarenes, and is plotting against your empire.” In the meantime, the emperor’s daughter, Maria, died, and the emperor covered her sarcophagus with silver plates, and granted immunity to those who took refuge there; [P. 418] this silver, however, Emperor Leo later removed. ^C

9. In the fourth year of his reign, when Alexius had been slandered and denounced, the emperor summoned Theodore, the archbishop called Crithinus, who was in the city at the time of the accusation, and, giving him his own pectoral cross, sent him to Sicily to guarantee Alexius’s safety and recall him to him. But when he arrived, the emperor beat him severely as a rebel, confiscated all his goods, and threw him into prison. When Theodore heard this, he took it very ill. And a short while later, the emperor having departed to the Blachernae, Theodore occupied his path, and standing before the altar dressed in his priestly vestments—and when the emperor was near the soleas—he cried out with a loud voice, “Attend, proceed prosperously, and reign; for what reason, O Emperor?” The emperor, respecting the senate present before him, said, “For the sake of truth and meekness ^D [P. 419] and justice.” He then said, “And what justice is in you, that you have…

not kept for Alexius the written pledge given through me?” The emperor, moved to uncontrollable wrath and fury, dragged him violently from the altar and, having inflicted upon him no light lashes, sent him into exile—not only because he had been reproved by him, but also because he learned that he worshipped and honored the holy icons and denounced his own impiety. Not long after, however, when the patriarch had reproached him at the Great Church, he brought the archbishop back with entreaties. And when he judged himself unworthy of the priesthood because of the injury he had suffered, the emperor made him steward of the Great Church. He also released Alexius from prison, restored all his property, and held him in honor. He, having cut his hair, built the monastery of Anthemius, finished his life there, and was buried in holiness.

10. In the fifth year of his reign, Manuel, the most famous general of all the East, was held in great esteem by the emperor. Once, when he had some conversation with Myron, the logothete of the drome and father-in-law of Petronas, he was denounced to the emperor as one who aspired to the empire and was plotting terrible things against him. Leo, the protovestiarius, being concerned for the safety of Manuel and defending him, earnestly asserted that these things were falsely alleged against him. When Manuel learned this, and seeking to escape the wrath of the emperor and the accusations, he left the city secretly and went as far as Pylae ^B. Getting into public carriages, he fled as far as the mountain passes of Syria, cutting the hamstrings of his horses to delay pursuit. He declared to the Agarenes, “I am fleeing the wrath of the emperor, and if you do not compel me to abandon my faith, I flee to you. If you receive me on these conditions, send me a pledge of safety.” They, cheered and gladdened by this news, and trusting in it, received him with honor not inferior to that of the Roman emperor. When Theophilus heard this, he fell into great grief and distress of mind. Having consulted with John the Syncellus, he said, “If you truly desire, O emperor, for Manuel to return to you, I am ready to bring this about.” Having taken money and having set off on the journey to the Amermumnes ^C—purporting to visit those who were held in prison and in bonds—and possessing a written document under the hand of your majesty, through which I will persuade Manuel to return, I expect to accomplish this both by the written document and by my own persuasion, and by his piety, and by the probability that he loves his homeland. The emperor therefore sent him forth, provided with a vast amount of money and gifts. Entering the city, John distributed gifts to those in bonds and, having taken the protosymbulos aside, he managed to speak with Manuel in secret and to give him the written document ^D and the protective cross of the emperor. Having done these things, he returned and reported everything to the emperor. Manuel, having requested of the Amermumnes that he might allow the Roman captives who were held in prison to return, after receiving assurance from him regarding those who were under the

^A necessity of undertaking an expedition—under the condition that if they went forth to war, they would not flee, but rather fight bravely—he obtained his request. Having thus taken the son of the Amermumnes and relying on a numerous army, he led his battle line against the Persians; and having gained a great victory, and also having delivered the Hagarenes from the wild beasts that were bringing devastation upon the region, he obtained even greater honor and fame among them than before, and there was nothing that he could not achieve from the Amermumnes, so great was the favor he enjoyed with him. Wherefore, being anxious and deeply concerned in his heart to return to the Romans and his own kin, after some time had passed he said to the governors of Syria: "If you grant me the son of the Amermumnes and troops, and I undertake an expedition attended by them, I will subjugate Romania for you." They reported this to the Amermumnes and sent him off. Manual, however, approaching the Oriental themes, and having summoned the commanders he had under his authority, and—under the pretense of relaxation and hunting—having ^B taken the son of the Amermumnes along as if for that purpose, and having moved far from the enemy, he embraced the son of the Amermumnes, kissed him, and said: "I, for my part, am departing to the emperor and my own people, for I hold nothing in life more precious than my faith and my fellow countrymen. As for you, go your way with your men to your own people, fearing no harm from us." While he departed with tears and shame, Manual proceeded toward the emperor, having sent one ahead to announce his arrival. The emperor, receiving the messenger with generosity and welcoming Manual with all the humanity and benevolence that was becoming, made him a magister and domestic of the schools, and received his children from the holy baptismal font.

11. In the seventh year of his reign, the emperor, with Manual and the senate and the whole army, set out against the Hagarenes. And having easily ^C captured Zapetra and Samosata—a city exceedingly rich in wealth, and from which the Amermumnes originated—he returned, elated by his victory and spoils. And having come as far as Bryas, he ordered a palace to be built, gardens to be planted, and water to be brought; which was done. Returning thence to the city, having held the circus games and himself performing in the first munus, he was crowned victor, riding in a white chariot and celebrating a triumph with his spoils, as the factions shouted: "Welcome, incomparable lord!"

12. In the eighth year of his reign, after the patriarch Anthony had died, John the syncellus was ordained in his place (or rather, he should be called Jannes and Mambres, the grammarian mentioned above in the time of Leo the Armenian and apostate, a man most notorious for his conjuring, his divinations by a basin, and every kind of impiety). Being found to be a suitable instrument for the royal impiety, he worked in concert with him and diligently executed all things that lead to destruction. And the basilisks of impiety which the emperor was bringing to birth (though he had kept them hidden), he brought forth and delivered, by promulgating an edict ordering the sacred images to be smeared over or abolished. ^D

^A 13. This John, having constructed a dwelling outside the city from hewn stones—it is called the Trullus to this day—was accustomed to converse with demons through certain sacrifices, and he would reveal future events to the Emperor. And it remained uninhabited because of the hauntings of the demons that occurred in it at that time.

14. In these days, the Emperor, having heard that a certain woman from the Hagarenes, who had a spirit of Python, which he had taken captive, was able to prophesy, summoned her and inquired for how many years his reign would last. And she replied: "That of the Martinacii." Placing his trust in this utterance, he condemned Martinakios to the monastic life and converted his house into a monastery. From this, he also foretold to Constantine Triphyllios the things that were to happen to him, specifically that both he and his children would be tonsured into the clerical order by the Emperor Basil—and this came to pass. Likewise, he also prophesied to many others the events that would occur to them, and he accurately foretold to the Emperor what was to happen after his own death, as well as that images would receive veneration and worship, and that Jannes would be removed from his see. And to George, who had obtained the military documents, he prophesied that he would be killed by a sling at the Hippodrome, and that his property would be seized for the imperial treasury.

^B 15. In the ninth year of his reign, the Arabs, with a great force, marched out against Romania, and the Emperor went out against them with the Persian refugees, the regiments, and the Domestic Manuel. When battle was joined, the Emperor was defeated and entered into the midst of the Persians, assuming he would be saved by them. But Manuel, when he looked around and realized that the Emperor was in the midst of the Persians, who indeed already wished to betray him to the Arabs and through him gain their favor, broke through their formation, and seizing the bridle of the Emperor's horse, dragged him away against his will; for he considered it an unbearable disgrace if the Emperor of the Romans were to be captured by the Arabs. But the Emperor, distraught through an excess of panic, wished to defect back to the Persians. Manuel drew his sword as if to strike him, and the Emperor, terrified, left. Then, out of shame and having suffered a great defeat, he returned to Dorylaeum. Manuel, having been wounded in the battle and fallen ill, died, having performed many brave deeds against the Hagarenes. His body was taken to the monastery which he himself had built not far from the cistern of Aspar.

^C 16. Immediately, slanderous accusations were brought to the Emperor against the Persians, and threats were leveled against Theophobos as if he were a tyrant, a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy. Learning of this, Theophobos took the Persian troops with him and withdrew to Sinope; which received its name from one of the Amazons who founded it. But Amastris, which was previously called Cromma, was named after Amastris the Persian, the daughter of Oxyartes, the brother of Darius, who, having lived with Dionysius, the tyrant of Heraclea, remained under his rule.

^A Theophobus held the city which he had occupied by the right of a tyrant. When the emperor learned of this, he was affected by great grief. Fearing, however, that they might join themselves to the Arabs, he came as far as Paphlagonia; and having given his word that they would suffer no harm, he returned to the city, having taken Theophobus with him. The remaining Persians returned to the dwellings previously assigned to each. Furthermore, Theophobus was held in no less affection by the citizens than by the Persians, for the reason that he was orthodox.

17. In the tenth year of the emperor Theophilus, a son was born to him by Theodora, whom he named Michael. As the emperor was proceeding to the Blachernae according to custom, someone met him saying: "The horse upon which your Majesty is riding is mine." The emperor inquired of the count of the stable whose horse it might be. He said: "The count of the Opsikion sent it to your Majesty." On the next day, therefore, having brought the count of the Opsikion (for it happened that he was in the city at that time), he said: "Whose horse is this?" He replied that he had bought it. But when the claimant objected and said that it had been taken from him by force and without any price being paid, the emperor said: "Why did you not pay the price beforehand?" He answered: "I offered him one hundred coins; he was seeking to be enrolled among the Scholarioi, but because he was an ignorant man, he did not obtain this and was unwilling to accept the one hundred coins." The emperor, thus being made certain that the horse had been taken by force, returned it, ordering that he also be enrolled among the Scholarioi. He was not satisfied to receive the horse, but departed having been gifted with two pounds of gold.

18. ^C When the Saracens came against Amorium, the emperor quickly led his forces as far as Cappadocia. But the Amermumnes, choosing out fifty thousand men and placing over them Gundees, a man most famous among the Agarenes, sent them against the emperor. A battle being joined, the emperor was defeated and routed, and he himself escaped from the slaughter with shame, having barely saved himself. The Saracens, having surrounded Amorium on all sides and having attempted it with various battles, since they saw those inside defending the city strenuously, were meditating on breaking off the siege. But a certain disciple of Leo the Philosopher, who was then serving in the garrison, sent word to these men, saying: "If you persevere for only two days, you will overthrow the city." Which is what happened; for it was betrayed by the man named Buditzes and by Manicophanes. There were captured the most distinguished men of the faithful: Theophilus the patrician and general, and Melissenus and Aetius, and Theodorus the protospatharios and the eunuch Craterus, Callistus the tourmarches, Constantine the droungarios, and Basoes the cursor, as well as certain commanders of the tagmata. Wishing to ransom them, the emperor sent ambassadors to the Amermumnes with two hundred centenaria, but he could not overcome his resolve; for he said that even if he were to pay a thousand centenaria of gold in that name to receive the captives, not even one of them would be set free.

19. ^D When the captives were then led away into Syria, many things were suffered at the hands of the protosymboulos, [P. 426]

^A and through seven years of imprisonment and maceration; and since they could not be persuaded by any hardships or tortures to deny Christ, they were put to the sword, loving eternal life rather than this fleeting one. The next day their corpses were thrown into the river. And what surpasses all wonder is that each severed head was joined and grew together with its own trunk; and just as their souls were gathered in one place of paradise, so also the bodies of the saints were carried out for burial by the faithful in a single grave. After these things were completed, the protosymboulos ordered that the head of Buditzi also be taken off, saying that he too, if he had been an upright Christian, ought never to have been imbued with the rites of Mahomet. And so after he was taken away, his corpse was thrown together with the saints, yet it was found outside the pile of them; and his head, too, was far removed from the trunk, nor had it become attached like the heads of the saints. Also, when the bodies were thrown into the river, while all the bodies of the saints, with the crowd looking on, had easily swum across and reached the other side, the crocodiles tore asunder its body alone and devoured it.

20. Now the disciple of Leo the philosopher, ^B who had denounced the treachery, was questioned by the Amermumnes about his knowledge, and he said that he was a disciple of Leo the philosopher. When the latter learned what sort of man Leo was, he desired to see him, and giving letters to one of the captives, he sent them to Leo the philosopher in Constantinople, promising that he would be second in honor to him. Leo, having received the letters, brought them to Theophilus the emperor. He, having recognized the matters regarding his own expertise, and that he had such a wise man in his city, taking him into the palace, placed him in the Magnaura, and conferring upon him every immunity, he ordered him to teach the most noble of the youths the disciplines. This man was later made metropolitan of Thessalonica, having been ordained by the most holy patriarch Methodius.

21. In his eleventh year, ^C the emperor built in the palace the Triconchon chamber, and that which they call the Sigma, and the stands for the factions; he also set up the Phiale, in which that which is called the saximodeximon takes place, with the horses of both parties passing through with golden trappings. Below the Triconchon he made by a machine that which they call the Mysterion, in which, if anyone in one corner inclines himself and speaks in a mystery, the voice is heard clearly in the other.

22. In these times, Theophilus the emperor, having learned that Theophanes, the author of the ecclesiastical canons and hymns, and his brother Theodore, while living by themselves, were mocking and refuting his impiety, ordered them to be brought before him, and he says: "Where are you from?" And they said: "From Palestine." And Theophilus said: "And why, having left your own land and come to mine, do you not obey my majesty?" And when they answered nothing, he ordered their faces to be beaten hard. Then, with scourges of bull-hide ^D

^A until they were near death, he said in anger to the prefect: "Take them to the praetorium, and once you have composed verses, write them by branding them upon their faces; and if they are not elegant, let it not concern you." He said this because the holy men were the most learned, being well-versed in the more refined letters. The holy men said to him: "Write, emperor, write what you please, as you will read these things in the presence of the just Judge." The prefect, having led the holy men into the praetorium, inscribed the following verses not only on their faces but also upon their chests:

To all those who hasten to reach the city Where the all-pure feet of God the Word Stood for the constitution of the world, These appeared in that venerable place As wicked vessels of superstitious error. Thence, after having there committed many ^B Shameful deeds against God, impiously, As deserters they were ordered to leave the land. But having fled to this city, the head of the empire, They did not cease from their unholy madness. Therefore, marked as criminals upon their faces, They are condemned and driven out once again.

Then, having written this, he sent them into exile. And as they were traveling by public post-horses, it chanced that they stayed at the harbor called Carta. And since the great Methodius had been locked up by that same most wicked Theophilus on the island of Antigonis in a tomb with two robbers, Theodore and Theophanes wrote to him by way of a certain very faithful fisherman, who was also devoted to serving the holy Methodius in humble tasks. For since the tomb was dark, he would bring a flask of oil every Sabbath for the use of the lamp, and for those locked up, it was sufficient to provide light for seven days. And when, at one time, as the fisherman was laboring under a sickly state of health, it was not permitted for him to bring the customary oil on the Sabbath, God consoled his lack through the prayers of the holy man; and when the lamp appeared to be on the point of going out, it did not cease to shine until the next Sabbath, ^C until oil was brought to him. Through this fisherman, therefore, they wrote:

To the living dead and the life-giving corpse, Dwelling on earth and also treading the heavens, The bound and branded write to the bound one.

To whom the holy man, in turn, through the same fisherman, wrote back:

To those inscribed in the books of the heavens, And upon their brows wisely branded, The living one buried greets you as fellow prisoners.

^D 23. And indeed, the holy Theodore died in exile, whose body was later moved to the monastery in Chalcedon called Michaelitzis by Michael himself, who had founded it. But the illustrious Theophanes survived until the time of Michael and Theodora, and was ordained metropolitan of Nicaea by the holy Methodius, who had become patriarch. And since there were not lacking those who bore his ordination with annoyance, saying that he was a Syrian, and it was not clear whether he was orthodox, as no one bore witness to him, the holy Methodius replied, saying: "I

desire no better testimony than this which he bears upon him," showing the inscription upon his forehead. ^A

24. Now it is worthwhile to relate the manner in which the holy Methodius was recalled from the tomb. He had spent seven years confined in the most dreadful and narrowest of tombs with two robbers, he having been condemned by Theophilus after the most grievous scourging, the breaking of his jaws, and the pulling out of his teeth on account of the veneration of the holy icons. There was only a small hole in the monument, through which they brought him meager food and water, and it happened in the second year that one of the robbers died there in that pit. It is certainly known what stench and swarming of worms are produced by a body after the soul has departed. However, the noble men—both the holy Methodius and the robber who survived the other—endured such necessity. When seven years had been completed, the saint was drawn from the tomb in the following manner: Emperor Theophilus, while pondering some matters of study, by the providence of God came upon a written document in the palace library, the meaning of which he could in no way grasp. He therefore sent it to the Patriarch John, and likewise to Leo the philosopher, who, as has been said earlier, taught philosophy in the Magnaura; yet the efforts of both were vain. ^B Stung by this, the emperor was distressed, and for some days lived sullenly and without food. Someone from among the imperial chamberlains, taking courage, addressed him in these words: "My lord, no one can explain this writing except Methodius, who is held confined in the monument. But if your imperial majesty commands, I shall take the matters in question and go to him by night, as if without your majesty’s knowledge; and I shall certainly bring back an unambiguous interpretation of them." The emperor consented. When the chamberlain had gone to the island, while he was still at a distance, he heard the saint saying: "You have come well, brother John the chamberlain"—for that was how he was named—"I know why you have been sent by Theophilus. But give me paper and ink." Having taken them, he set forth these things in a triple solution. ^C When Theophilus read them, he was amazed; he sent and brought him to the palace, and he took up lodging in the place called the Sigma near him, having ordered that no one from the outside should enter to him except the minister serving to Theophilus. He himself, however, entered to him daily and inquired of him concerning the matters in search. As for the robber who was left behind there, although he had been set at liberty, he did not wish to come out, but ended his life in that very place, having been adorned with great signs and wonders.

25. At the same time, the golden sphere of the pharos fell in the Augusteum of Justinian, and one hundred coins [nomismata] were given by the emperor to the workman, by which price it was restored. Theophilus crowned his son Michael in the Great Church, bestowing gifts upon all, as is the custom in such inauguration ceremonies. ^D

26. In the twelfth year of his reign, that which he had prepared...

is the hospital, which they now call Theophilus’s. ^A It was originally the house of the patrician Isidore, who came from Rome with Olybrius under Constantine the Great. For many years thereafter, it was annexed to the imperial treasury and served as a dwelling for noblewomen of ill repute. During the reign of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, these premises, which had been a brothel, were converted into a hospital. Later, under Constantine, son of Irene, after he had been blinded by his mother, it served as a house. Upon his death, his wife embraced the monastic life and constructed a monastery there, which she called "Metanoia" (that is, repentance). When a huge beam of the dining hall cracked and threatened to collapse, the nuns implored Theophilus, who was passing by, to provide help. He stretched out his head, looked at the house, and was pleased with it; having transferred the nuns to another monastery and decorated the house with every kind of ornament, he dedicated it for the reception of foreigners in the manner of a hospital, enriched it with funds and suburban estates, and named it Theophilus’.

27. The emperor, suffering from dysentery ^B and tortured by severe pains, took counsel with his companions regarding Theophobos the Persian. For knowing that he possessed great trust and love among the Persians—and indeed among not a few of the nobles—he feared that, should he die while Theophobos was still alive, they might set him up as emperor, casting aside his own son, Michael. He therefore sent for him, brought him into the palace, and held him under guard. Later, as his illness grew worse, he ordered him to be beheaded. Seeing the severed head, he said, "Now, Theophobos, you have ceased to live, and I am free of cares." Soon after, he expired with terrible and painful agony. His funeral was conducted at the Church of the Holy Apostles, while that of Theophobos was held in his own house near the residence of Narses. ^C Meanwhile, as the Persians were inquiring about Theophobos and what indeed had become of him, the courtiers assured them that he was living in the palace. This rumor has prevailed among the Persians to this day, that Theophobos never tasted death.

The Roman Emperors Michael and Theodora

1. In the year of the world 6335, and of the divine incarnation 835, Michael and Theodora reigned as Emperors of the Romans for 14 years; Michael alone for 10 years, and with Basil for 1 year and 4 months; in total 27 years and 4 months. Theodora, being pious, faithful, and orthodox, ^D while her husband was still alive, secretly honored and venerated the holy icons. Acting upon her own resolve, and with the advice and encouragement of Theoctistus, the keeper of the inkstand and logothete, she cast from the Church the impious Patriarch John—even though he was her child's godfather—and relegated him to exile in a monastery at the Stenon called Cleidion. There, because he had gouged out the eyes of the icons of Christ our God, the Theotokos, and the princes of the heavenly host, Theodora had intended to have his own eyes gouged out. However, those whose advice was sought in the matter did not permit it.

She brought back the God-loving Methodius. Having gathered together the monks and bishops whom Theophilus had sent into exile, she confirmed the orthodox faith and restored peace to the Church on the first Sunday of Lent. ^A Theodora, therefore, expelled the wretched Jannes from the patriarchate in the following manner. She gave instructions through Constantine, the drungary of the Watch, that many pious men and monks, having assembled from every direction, had presented a petition to the imperial government requesting that the most holy icons be commanded to be set up and restored with all veneration. "If, therefore," she said, "you agree with them and are of one mind, let the Church of God recover its ancient order. But if you are hesitant and do not hold a right opinion, then leave your see and the city and depart to your country estate until the gathering of the holy Fathers can take place together with you; for they are prepared to dispute and debate, and to lead you back to a sounder way of thinking regarding these matters, concerning which you hold evil views." The patriarch, or rather "patriarch-wrecker," was at that time lying on a recliner in the Thessalonian triclinium in the patriarchal residence, receiving the royal communications. Upon hearing these words, his soul was struck, and he said that he would deliberate well upon this matter. He immediately dismissed the messenger, and more quickly than word could tell, taking a lancet, he cut the veins of his abdomen, which he knew would evoke fear and pity among the many due to the copious flow of blood, but would by no means cause death or any danger. ^B A clamor and shouting immediately spread throughout the Church, and indeed, reaching the royal ears, it was reported by the drungary that the Augusta had murdered the patriarch through his agency. The patrician Bardas, therefore, a rigorous investigator, was sent to examine what was being said, and he quietly discovered how the wounds had been inflicted by his own intent, and the drama could not escape the evidence, for his own servants testified against him and produced the instruments of the incision—a lancet, that is, prepared for the purpose of blood-letting. From that time on, deemed worthy of no further speech, and having been caught in such a flagrant act of guilt, the wretch was driven out of the Church and confined to a certain monastery in Kleidi. ^C There, since he scraped away the holy icons, the Empress had him punished with two hundred lashes, and he was sent away to his own suburban estate, which is called Psicha.

2. This aforementioned patriarch John, who because of his own impiety was called Jannes by the pious, was no outsider or stranger, but a native and a product of the Queen of Cities, and he was descended from a very noble, aristocratic line, that which is called the Morocardian. He had been the superior of the monastery of the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, which is at the house of Hormisdas, and as he was counted among the clergy of the Emperor from an earlier time, he was especially loved by Michael the Stammerer, whether because he was his sole companion in this heresy, or because [he was...] ^D

loved, and was established as the tutor of Theophilus. And when this man held the reins of the empire, he first honored him with the rank of syncellus, and then later established him as Patriarch of Constantinople, since he delivered to him certain predictions through divination by a basin and sorcery. And the sorcery was as follows: A certain infidel tribe, governed by three leaders, savage and hard-hearted, was at one time invading and ravaging the territory of the Romans. As was to be expected, Theophilus and all his subjects were anxious and sad because of this. John bids him lay aside his sadness, and to keep his heart secure and full of joy, if only he would be willing to follow his advice. This, then, he advised him: Among the bronze statues at the Euripus of the Hippodrome, there was, it was said, a certain statue fashioned with three heads, which by some magical formation was connected to the leaders of that tribe. Therefore, he ordered three huge iron mallets to be forged and handed to three very robust men. In the deep of night when both parties had come to the place of the statue, John concealed himself in the attire of a layman, while the men stood there with the mallets raised, and he, after having performed magical invocations with himself, ordered in a loud voice that each striker should deliver a blow with all his strength, manfully and vigorously. And while two of them struck off the two heads of the statue, the third [man] bent [the third head] a little, but did not completely sever it from the torso. Thus, therefore, the affairs of the leaders followed suit: for a heavy discord having broken out among them and a civil war, two of the leaders fell by the severed heads, [while] the third alone was saved, though not in sound health. In this way did that tribe, reduced to nothing, return again to its own lands with flight and great slaughter.

3.

in its possession, and the dignity of the high priesthood having been rendered back to the most holy Methodius, on the first Sunday of the holy fasts, together with the Empress, having spent the whole night from evening onward in sacred songs in the church of the Theotokos at Blachernae, at dawn they proceeded with a procession to the great temple of the Word of God; and the Church received its adornment back again, with the mysteries celebrated holy and pure, and all the heretics throughout the whole world, along with the prelate mentioned (that is, John), being subjected to deposition.

^B 4. This man, therefore, with his faction, as has been said, having been moved from his rank and reduced to the order of laymen, could not yet be induced to pass his execrable life in peace, but still raged against the holy icons. For once, having been exiled again to a certain monastery, when a certain divine image standing on the roof looked intently at him, as if despising him, he, not bearing the sight of that look descending upon him from above, ordered it to be taken down by one of his servants and its eyes to be put out, adding only this for his satisfaction, that he could not bear looking at its form. The Empress heard of these things, and she had the eyes of that very man, John, blinded. But not even so did he bring into his soul a love for quiet, but he strove with his companions to cast some stain upon the reputation of St. Methodius in any way possible. Having therefore seduced a certain woman, they demanded that she charge him with fornication. ^C But the most blessed patriarch, not wishing to be considered a stone of stumbling, bared his private parts, and they were found withered and dried up, contrary to expectation, having been disposed of in a fashion other than what is usual. Being asked the reason, he said, "When I was living in Rome, and was being moved by the tickling and sensation of lust, I approached the Apostle Peter with suppliant prayers. He stood by at night, and touching those parts, said: 'Henceforth, be secure from lust.' I, having been strongly pained, awoke from sleep, and from that time I have remained immune from that heat of lust." Furthermore, the woman, having been safely taken, told the whole story, and she exhibited the gold given to her, still tied in its pouches and sealed with their own seals. The judges demanded just punishment for them, but because of the intercession of St. Methodius, they allowed them to go free.

^D 5. As therefore at this feast, that is, the Sunday called that of Orthodoxy, the Empress Theodora received the entire fullness of the Church at the Carian palace, which Theophilus had built for the sake of his own daughters, though it had first been constructed by the Emperor Maurice, and there was no one of the priests and confessors not present there, among whom was also Theophanes of Nicaea—when the ardor of the banquet had faded and the confections and cakes that belong to the second course had been set out, the Empress being observed intently and continuously gazing at the image inscribed on the forehead of the holy Theophanes and sighing, it chanced that he also, as if by agreement, looked back in turn, and she, with the eyes of the mistress fixed and turned upon him, said, "What then is the cause of your gaze toward me"?

^A She replied that she wondered at the steadfastness of his endurance of what was written, and the cruelty of the one who had done these things. And the blessed Theophanes, not intimidated nor considering what had been previously secured, said very clearly, "Regarding this writing, I shall contend more fiercely against your husband in the uncorrupted judgment seat of God." Having heard this, the Augusta, becoming sorrowful and tearful, said to the holy man, "Are these your written promises and agreements, such that you not only do not forgive my husband, but even pursue him with charges and drag him into judgment?" "No," said the patriarch, rising immediately, along with the rest of the priests, "O Augusta, it is not so; but our promises shall stand firm, as his contempt for them has been brought to nothing." Thus these things were quieted, and the decrees of the Church remained unshaken. ^B

6. There appeared also another heresy, called that of the Zelikoi, with its own leader, named Zelik, who held the rank of *asecretis* among the first. He was corrected and brought back to sound doctrine in the royal procession, along with those who had adhered to him and his companions, by the mere anointing of oil and with new lights and garments, and they were splendidly perfected in their appearance.

7. In the second year of her reign, Theodora sent Theoktistos, the logothete, against Crete; and having dealt poorly with those under his command, he himself chose flight, while the army was made the work of the sword for those in Crete. ^C

8. In the third year of her reign, Amer having campaigned against Romania, Theodora sent the same Theoktistos against him again with great forces; and a battle having occurred at Maurotopos, he was defeated again, and while many were killed, even more were taken captive. Theoktistos, having returned to the Augusta, regained the same intimacy with her as before; and having had a conversation with Bardas, the brother of the Augusta, he attributed the slaughter to him, claiming that it was by his prompting and counsel that the Roman army was struck and routed. ^D

9. In the seventh year of the reign, Michael reaching manhood and devoting all his leisure and effort to hunting and debauchery, when Theodora discovered that he was joined in friendship with Eudokia, daughter of Inger, whose profligate ways were hateful both to her and to the logothete, they joined him in marriage to Eudokia, daughter of the Dekapolites, and both received the nuptial crowns in the temple of St. Stephen which is in Daphne.

10. In the tenth year of his reign, the *strategos* of the Boukellarioi brought to the emperor a wonderful and noble horse, yet one very fierce and intractable, so that no one could even examine its age by the evidence of its teeth because of its untamable nature. The emperor was anxious about this. And when Theophilitzes, who was then the comes of the Noumera and of the walls, heard, he said to the emperor, "I have a young man most experienced and brave with horses, such as your majesty loves, by the name of Basil." And the emperor having commanded, he was brought immediately, and with one hand the

^A bridle of the horse he held, and with the other he took hold of its ear, and brought it to the tameness of a sheep. This pleased the emperor, and he handed him over to Andrew the hetairiarch, to be enrolled among the companions and to serve the royal horses.

11. Now this Basil was from Macedonia, from the villages of Adrianople. He attached himself to the strategos of Macedonia, Tzantzes, to serve him; he was twenty-five years old. Having gained no benefit from him, he came to the city. And having entered within the Golden Gate, because he was exhausted from the journey and it was Sunday, toward evening he lay down in the porch of Saint Diomedes, which had previously served as a temple to the Sun. For it was a public church, and was under the charge of a warden named Nicholas; to whom in the night appeared one who said: "Arise, lead the emperor inside." He, having arisen, found no one except Basil lying there like a poor man, and having turned back, he went to sleep again in his bed. In the same way this happened a second time. But at the third time, with greater force and insistence, he struck his side with a sword, saying: "Do you not see him lying outside the gate? He himself is the emperor; lead him inside." He, therefore, went out with haste, trembling, and finding Basil with a bag and a staff, he brought him inside. And the next morning, he bathed him and changed his garments, and having made him his sworn brother, he rejoiced with him. ^B There was a brother of Nicholas, a physician serving the aforementioned Theophilitzes, who also by chance came to his brother Nicholas, saw Basil, and, having marveled at both the stature of his age and his appearance, asked his brother whence he was. He told him everything except the vision. A few days later, therefore, when Theophilitzes was looking for a brave man for his horses, the physician was present and related what he knew about Basil. Basil was therefore brought quickly, and upon seeing him, Theophilitzes conceived an affection for him. Since he was a sturdy youth and large-headed, he called him "Cephalas," and gave him to serve his horses. Hence, as has been said, he is given to the emperor Michael. And the emperor Michael, having brought Basil before his mother, said: "Come, see, mother, the man whom I have obtained now." She, having gone out and seen him, turned away, saying: "This is, my son, he who is to destroy our lineage." But the emperor was in no way persuaded, nor did he listen to his mother. ^C

12. In the eleventh year of his reign, Methodius, the patriarch in holiness, died, and in his place was ordained Ignatius, the son of the Curopalates who had once been emperor. And when the Bulgarians were plundering Thrace and Macedonia, Theodora sent an army and checked their insolence and restrained their attack. ^D

^A 15. In the thirteenth year of Michael, Bardas Caesar, while outside the city, formed a bond of friendship with the patrician and parakoimomenos Damian; and the latter, having secured the emperor, persuaded him to bring Bardas into the city and the palace. Having also won over the protospatharios Theophanes, surnamed Phalgana, and certain others who were devoted to him—with Michael himself privy to it—he slaughtered Theoctistus within the palace. When Theodora learned of this, she took the matter most grievously, railing with loud cries against the emperor and the others responsible for the murder. But, struck by a harsher voice, she kept to the chambers of the palace in mourning attire and demeanor; for one of the ex-generals, stemming from the Melissenos family, had declared to her that she should return home, indicating that it was the day of the assassins. Although Michael endeavored by every means to soothe his mother's spirit, she would accept no consolation whatsoever. Wherefore the emperor, having shifted his mind and purpose, just as he shifted his appearance, bearing, and actions, strove to afflict her with as many contrived pretexts and manners of distress as he had previously pretended to cherish and soothe her with blandishments. And indeed, he banished his sisters Thecla, Anastasia, and Anna to the house of Carianus, while Pulcheria, as being most dear to her mother, he relegated to the monastery of Gastria. Soon after, he forced them all to live according to the rite and custom of nuns in the monastery of Gastria. At that time, while the entire senate greeted the emperor, he alone held the reigns of power. Furthermore, he appointed Bardas magister and domestic of the Schools. ^B His mother took these things ill, as if she were being ordered about, but there was also an implacable hatred between them because of the unjust slaughter of Theoctistus. Therefore, he removed her also from the palace and banished her to Gastria. There, her faculty of reason being swallowed by the force of her sorrow, and her sound sense cast down by stupor, she plotted against Bardas in a manner not sufficiently in accordance with her dignity or her own interest, having added to the conspiracy, along with many others, the man who held the office of protostrator, intending that they should kill Bardas as he was returning from his suburb which they call Cosmedium. But the plot being revealed before it was carried out, the evil turned back upon those very men who had devised it; for they were apprehended and seized, and were beheaded at the Sphendone. ^C And Michael appointed Basil in place of the deceased protostrator, and likewise appointed Bardas, his uncle, curopalates.

14. In the second year of his reign, a quantity of bloody ash fell from the sky, and many found stones red in color like blood. Michael, for his part, letting loose the reins for every crime and luxury, ill-advisedly squandered the funds stored in the palace, which exceeded one thousand and ninety centenaria of gold, and an immense quantity of silver, which his mother had kept in the treasury. Indeed, adopting the children of the charioteers as his own sons from holy baptism, he would give to each one hundred coins, or at the very least fifty. And to one of the patricians, named Imerios (this man was called "the Pig," being so named because of the savagery of his face), while he was barking out certain base things at the table toward the face of the emperor and those dining with him, as [the document] also [shows] the tray which provided light for them...

had been extinguished by the incredible miracle of that sound, he paid out one hundred gold coins.

^A 15. Thus did he squander public funds on things for which there was no need. And when not even a full year had passed, since the time for the military pay had arrived and there was no supply of money, he melted down that golden and celebrated plane tree, and the two lions and two griffins, which were of solid, wrought gold, and also the organ of solid gold, and other works not less than two hundred centenaria in weight, as well as eight hundred sixty garments of gold and woven with gold, and having minted them, he paid the military stipend. But when Basil assumed the empire, he found nothing other than thirteen centenaria and nine bags of miliarisia. Therefore, being reduced to poverty, he ordered what we now call the *senzaton* to be minted, so that by it the treasury might be provided for.

^B 16. But that I may confirm what is being recounted with a brief statement and make the man's wantonness and folly—if indeed one ought to call him a man—clearer: as he was standing in the chariot and the horses were about to be released from the starting-gates, news arrived and a messenger came reporting that Amer was cruelly devastating the Thracesian district and had entered the Opsician district and was approaching the Malagines, and that there were fears of evils such as had not yet occurred. As the protonotary was distressed at this and sorrowful, and brought to him the reply of the Domestic of the Schools with a heavy heart, while at the same time holding and showing him the letters in his hands, he [the emperor] said: "What, you fellow, what boldness drives you to attempt to speak to me of such things while I am occupied with this necessary contest, when I am concerned only with this: that I might make the one holding the middle [lane] swerve to the left, which is where my whole struggle and effort lies?"

^C 17. But I shall also recount another thing about him that is more grievous, not only falling away from what is proper, but also most contrary to the imperial dignity. Having encountered a certain woman whose child he had received from the sacred font, as she was coming from the bath and holding her own bucket in her hands, he dismounted from his horse, and after ordering the others to go to the palace, he went off with that woman, accompanied by a base and profligate crowd of gluttonous companions, having taken the bucket from her hands. And he said, "Come now, woman, be of good cheer, and welcome me into your home, for I desire to eat coarse bran-bread and fresh cheese," ^D imagining perhaps that she possessed something from the fifty gold coins which he had given to her husband. Astonished at this strange and unheard-of spectacle, and since she was in need of everything, the woman [looked on as] Michael himself placed her towel, still wet from the bath, upon the stool in place of a tablecloth (for there was no table), and taking the key from her, he, the emperor of all, became table-setter, cook, and guest. And having brought out what the poor woman had in her chest, he...

^A consumed it along with her, and from there he went back on foot to the palace.

18. And what is far worse is this: he maintained a certain sodality, these were some sort of Satyrs, dissolute in every kind of turpitude and lust, whom he held in honor while he showed utter contempt for divine things. He provided them with priestly vestments interwoven with gold and stoles according to the custom of pontiffs, and compelled them to perform holy offices in a shameful and profane manner. He called the leader of these ones patriarch, Gryllus by name, and the remaining eleven, metropolitans of special and illustrious sees; unless he himself was a partner with them, he did not even deem the very citadel of the empire a thing to be desired by him. For the bishop of the first see of Colonia was the twelfth, and the emperor Michael himself was [the thirteenth]. And they fulfilled the canticles ^B by playing upon citharas; and things that are said in secret they imitated, resounding them softly in a shrill way; but the exclamations which are properly uttered with a higher and modulated voice during the sacred rite, they gave forth with free impetus and a louder sound. They had golden vessels adorned with gems, and filling them with vinegar and mustard, they dispensed them to those who showed a disposition to communicate, and in that manner they mocked the undefiled mysteries. This Gryllus, therefore, would ride upon a white mule, performing public processions, and he rejoiced, having such a choir following him. And it happened once that as the blessed Ignatius was going along with an ecclesiastical litany, he encountered them; and pulling back his chasuble along with his fellow-celebrants, [Gryllus] began to play more intensely than the instruments, and overwhelmed the clergy with ^C countless and most shameful language. The saint rebuked the man’s insolence; but he kept nothing of what he had been warned and corrected about. In the meantime, however, he did turn aside from the path. This most demented of men exhibited to himself a shameful laughter and cacophony, by which the holy oblation was afflicted with far-reaching procacious injury and disgrace; the divine oracles were also afflicted, being subjected to their impious and impure pursuits and jests, and pronounced amid those things.

19. Not long after the most holy Ignatius ^D had been ordered to cease and was removed from the throne of the patriarchate, when the holy rite was being performed in a mimic fashion before the emperor’s table in the presence of Photius, and was being mocked with the most shameful imitation by those contemptible and execrable men, he [Photius] not only did not rebuke or argue against and abolish this most absurd custom, but even, as a most wicked man, he confirmed the wicked act, praying for that God-hated Theophilus (who is also called Gryllus), whom the most profligate and dull-witted of men, the emperor, called his own patriarch—a man, forsooth, industrious at mocking even in priestly vestments and divine oracles, and at emitting, like a mule, most loud rumblings, and at calling out to them the one thing worthy of this, that all should drink from it and take meats with mustard and vinegar. And with his own omophorion the profane man profanely sealed the profane princedom for the profane one, raising his voice in laughter amid the fools as a fool himself.

mocking the illustrious Ignatius for not being yielding in matters and, as he himself thought, for not being wafted about like a weathercock with every wind. Moreover, he engaged in a contest with the wretched emperor Michael to see who could drink the most, and he surpassed him by ten cups; for while Michael had filled himself with fifty, [P. 439] this Photius, having drunk sixty, boasted and bragged that he had not been overcome by the wine.

^B 20. And once, when Michael’s mother was living in the palace, with Gryllos practicing his wicked deeds along with him, he feigned that this man was the blessed Ignatius, and summoned her to be blessed by him. So, as she came out with piety and reverence, she threw herself onto the floor, asking for a prayer; for he had been cleverly hiding his beard until that moment. But he, jumping up immediately, emitted a breaking of wind from his belly and, adding unseemly words, said: "We, my lady, bestow what we have." And he filled the whole chamber with the stench. But she, having divined what was to happen, declared that he would be far removed from the providence and hand of God.

^C 21. Further, while Theodora was holding the empire, Bogaris, the ruler of Bulgaria, hearing that a woman held the helm of the Roman Empire, sent messengers to her, declaring that he was breaking the treaties and marching against the Romans. It was answered back to him: "You shall find that I also will march against you, and we hope to overcome you. But if not, even then I shall come out superior to you, having the victory clearly assured, because it is a woman, and certainly not a man, whom you will have been defeated by." Because of this answer, the barbarian became milder, maintained the peace, and renewed the bonds of affection.

^D 22. She then made inquiries regarding the monk Theodore Koupharas, who had been taken captive a long time before. Bogaris also, seizing the occasion, sent word to her about his own sister, who was likewise a captive and held in the emperor’s palace. She had learned letters and the order of the Christians, and the reverence and glory accorded to the Divine, and when she happened to return to her brother, she never ceased praising the Christian cause and exhorting her brother to transfer his mind to the true faith. Although he, suffering from his incredulity, did not yet wish to open his eyes to the truth, when famine began to devastate the whole region, he was forced to cross the Roman borders.

23. In his third year, the emperor Michael promoted Antigonus, the son of Bardas, to be Domestic of the Schools; and to his other son—after giving him a wife, with whom he was suspected of having an illicit relationship—he granted the rank of Monostrategos of the West. Upon his brief death, on the fourth day of Easter week, Michael adorned Bardas, his own uncle, with the insignia of Caesar.

[P. 440] 24. In this year, Amer went out as far as Sinope, and after plundering everything of the Romans, he returned unharmed.

^A 25. In the fourth year of his reign, the emperor Michael, together with the Caesar, led out his forces by land and sea against Gobor, prince of the Bulgarians. When the Bulgarians heard of this preparation—and being at the same time consumed by famine—they were as if struck from heaven, and becoming numb, they abandoned all hope of victory even before the contests and the battle. They asked to become Christians and to be subject to the Roman emperor. The emperor brought them into the city, baptized them all, and named their prince Michael after himself. Having returned to his own people, he had the Judgment and the future retribution painted in his own house by the hand and brush of the painter Methodius; for this reason, his people—even more incensed—rebelled against him. After engaging them in battle with a few men, and wearing the image of the divine cross as a pectoral, he made them all openly Christians. He also indicated to the emperor about land, because the multitude of people subject to him was cramped within its own borders, and also because both parties were resolved to be of one mind in the faith and to keep the bonds of love unbroken for all time. The emperor agreed graciously, and granted them the then-uncultivated region from the Iron (that is, the Sidera), which at that time was the border between the Roman and Bulgarian domains, as far as Debeltos—a region called Zagora by them in their native tongue—and assigned to them a portion of those fields. ^B

26. In the fifth year of the reign of Michael, when Amer again led his forces out against the Romans, the generals Petronas and Nazar came to meet him at Lalakaon. When the battle was joined, Amer was put to flight, and his severed head—along with those of many others—was brought into the city by the victorious army and the generals. From this there came great tranquility in the East. Others labored and performed illustrious deeds of war against the enemy; but the emperor's love was poured out upon Basil, and he considered this man alone to be the one who cared for him. ^C

27. In the sixth year of his reign, Michael built a stable for his horses, adorning it with marble and streams of water in every way. When it was finished, he showed the irrational structure of the building to a certain Peter—a man of wisdom and accustomed to witticisms, whom they called "Ptochomaches" (or, as one might say, the champion of the poor)—wishing to be praised, and said: "I deserve to be remembered for the construction of this work." But Peter said to the emperor: "Justinian Augustus built the Great Church, adorning it magnificently with gold and silver and precious marbles, and his memory does not endure now; and you, O emperor, think that through building a place for dung and a stable, you will be celebrated in the clear memory of posterity?" Enraged because he had failed to obtain the praise he sought, the emperor had him beaten and dragged out of the house. ^D

28. In the seventh year of his reign, a rumor spreading that Bardas the Caesar was engaging in foul love affairs with his daughter-in-law Eudocia, the patriarch Ignatius warned him repeatedly to desist from the evil. But he, not being persuaded, rather

^A behaved toward the patriarch not only with disobedience, but actually rose up against him and railed at him as he strove to bring him to his senses. And so, when Bardas approached to receive the holy mysteries at one time, the patriarch drove him away as unworthy. Stung in his soul by this, Bardas cast out his monitor as a wicked man and a corrupter of the Church, and in order to force him to resign, he subjected him to countless torments. For he handed him over to Theodosius, called the Fool, and to John Gorgonites and Nicholas Scuteloptes, who even locked him naked in the sarcophagus of Copronymus during the winter season. In that place, by the force of the cold and frost, he began to void pus mixed with blood from his inner parts and intestines. Yet, enduring these evils, the most patient man spoke no evil against the Lord. ^B Accordingly, the Lord raised up for him Constantine the Armenian to offer him some relief; for he would secretly bring the holy man a small vessel of wine, some bread, and apples, while the evildoers were away, and by taking him down from the sarcophagus, he alleviated much of his distress until they returned. Bardas the Caesar, having subjected the holy man to these things, since he could not obtain from him his resignation, appointed Photius the protosekretis as patriarch in his stead. He exiled Ignatius to the island of Terebinthus, where he was also tormented, suffering countless afflictions every day to force him to resign. Then they brought him in bonds to Hiera and locked him in the sheepfold of Aigai. Then, having led him to the house of Promuntus, Leo Lalacon shattered his jaws with blows and slaps so that two of his molars fell out. Then, binding his feet with the iron rod of a murderer, they locked him in a small and narrow prison, and after a few days they threw him, bound in iron, into the prison called the Noumera. From there they exiled him to the island of Mitylene, and they dispersed the metropolitans into prisons here and there.

^C 29. It is worth saying a few words also about Photius. This Photius was the son of Sergius the spatharios, whose father was named Zacharias, who in turn had a son Leo... For Sergius, being of gentile blood, broke into a nunnery, and having snatched out a nun and stripped her of her habit, he took her as his wife. After some time, it happened that the holy Michael of Synada, being a friend of Sergius, entered his house; and having caught sight of his wife who was pregnant, as if indignant and as though about to strike her, he threw his staff at her, and spoke thus: "Would that there were someone able to kill her and the embryo that is with her! ^D For I see another Eve carrying a serpent in her womb, and the embryo is male. And this one, by the permission of God, I see will be patriarch and will despise the all-holy and precious cross. He himself will turn toward impiety, and will lead many to the perjury of trampling upon the cross, and will shut many out of the kingdom of heaven by his varied devices and arts." To which Sergius replied: "And if he is to be such, I will kill him together with his mother." To which the saint replied: "You will not be able to prevent that which is by the divine permission. Therefore, take heed to yourself."

^A 30. After he was born, his mother sent for Jacob, the hegumen of the monastery of Maximina, and threw herself at his feet, weeping, that he might baptize him with the holy water. For she said, "Being pregnant, I saw in a dream that my womb was rent asunder and a dragon came forth from me." And the holy confessor Hilarion of the monastery of Dalmatus also said to me that I was carrying a "Satan incarnate in my body." Therefore, he took the infant and baptized him, calling him Photius, saying, "Perhaps the wrath of God will pass away from him." Sergius, his father, seeing certain signs in him, said, "Is my wife, peradventure, that monastress expected among the Hebrews who is to bring forth Antichrist?" Since they were lovers of monks, receiving the monks into their house, she asked them to pray for them and for Photius. Once, when his father had brought this Photius, while still a young boy, to the saintly Joannicius on Mount Olympus, he besought him to pray for him. But he, answering immediately, said, "Photius, O Lord, does not wish to know Thy ways in his heart." llbracketB Sergius, heaving a deep sigh, said, "Why did you say this, Father?" The old man replied, "I am declaring to you the things that are to be perpetrated by him." Then Sergius, having sprinkled his head with ashes, came down from the mountain.

31. Committed to studies, he inclined more enthusiastically toward the Greek and gentile ^C writings than toward the ecclesiastical ones. Whence, having encountered a certain Hebrew magician, he said to him, "What will you give me, young man, that I may cause you to have all Greek learning on your tongue and to outshine all in wisdom?" But he said, "My father will willingly provide you with half of his wealth." To whom the Hebrew said, "I have no need of money, nor do I wish your father to know of the matter; but come with me to this place, and deny the sign in which we nailed up Jesus, and I will give you a wondrous amulet, and your whole life shall be in prosperity and wealth and great wisdom, and you shall excel in all things, enjoying happiness." Having heard this readily, and having fully performed the business according to the will of the impostor, from that time he made no end of reading the forbidden books of their divination and astrological vanity, and of addicting his mind to them. But because he had heard from his father that he had accepted from spiritual men, endowed with the knowledge of future things, that he would ascend the patriarchal ^D throne by varied artifice and machinations—revolving this in his mind, he made friendship with a certain Gregory, who had been bishop of the Syracusan Church (who was also called Asbetas, and had been ordered by the great Methodius to cease from his office, both on account of many other things and because he had ordained, outside his diocese, Zacharias, a presbyter sent by the same Patriarch Methodius as a nuncio to the Roman pontiff), and with him and others besides who had been removed from their rank on account of crimes, among whom were Eulampius of Apamea and Peter of Sylaue and many others with them, who, gathering together in the house of Photius and consulting with Gregory, were plotting against the great Ignatius; whom the synod of metropolitans and bishops, having been assembled in the patriarchate, all...

^A deposed and excommunicated. Bardas Caesar, the uncle of the Emperor Michael, created this Photius patriarch. A few days later, he requested the document written by his own hand, which he had provided to the metropolitans when they brought him to ordination, pretending that he wished to inspect something in it. The document was therefore brought, and they requested an assurance that it would not be torn up. But those who were of Photius’s party, seizing it by force from the hand of the one holding it, tore the paper; and Photius, gathering it up, tore it into small pieces, saying: "I do not consider you bishops, nor Ignatius."

32-33. In the second year, when Photius was elevating the venerable cross for the feast of its solemnity, a certain monk standing not far from the altar, a man perspicacious in his understanding of future things, saw a strange and altogether unusual vision: a serpent of immense size gripping Photius’s hands, while the venerable cross itself was being elevated of its own accord. ^B Being terrified by the sight of the event, he cried out with a loud and intense voice, "Lord, have mercy!" When those religious men who were standing with him asked the cause of the cry, he revealed the vision to them. These were from the presbyters of the church, and they themselves said to this venerable and perspicacious monk: "We too, while celebrating the sacred rites with him, have never heard him utter a solemn prayer, but rather murmuring the words of profane seers. And what is more grievous than these things, he has even vomited a most foul vomit beneath the divine and holy table."

34. John the Hesychast, a man of God and truly gifted with prophecy, narrated to us that: "When I was once sitting in my cave in great distress, two monastic superiors, Euthymius and Joseph, ^C who were being severely persecuted by Photius, came to me; and, as God granted, I strengthened them, and finally adding, *He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved* (Matt. 10:22), I dismissed them. On the following night, before I fell asleep, a great and repulsive Ethiopian stood before me, terrible to behold, who stretched out his hands to seize my throat and strangle me. I immediately made the sign of the cross and, taking confidence, said: 'Who are you, and what is your name? And who sent you here, and for what reason?' He answered and said: ^D 'I am a powerful one of Beliar, and a minister of Photius; my name is Lebufas, assistant to sorcerers and poisoners, leader of adulterers and thieves, a friend of the Greeks and of Photius, who is my servant and worshipper in secret. My master sent me to avenge himself for the reproaches cast upon him yesterday, and to observe you with curiosity, so that, led to repentance, you might receive him and be estranged from God, just as he has done to many others. For you, indeed, [with] the armament of the cross, [have made] the invalid...

shown him to be powerless. Then I rendered him ineffective by the precious cross and he vanished from sight.

35. One night it happened that there were great earthquakes; and Photius himself, having ascended the ambo to address the people, said that earthquakes do not arise from a multitude of sins, but from a surfeit of water, and that every man has two souls, and that the one sins, while the other does not sin. Hearing this, the Chief Secretary went and spoke to the Emperor, saying: "Our servants are using force, saying: 'We were hoping that we each possessed one soul, for the care of which we were each receiving two modii of grain every month. But now, as the Patriarch openly teaches, each person has two souls; therefore, it is necessary that two more modii be added for us.'" And the Emperor, breaking into laughter, said: "Is this how he who has the face of a Chazar teaches?" So he immediately summoned the Patriarch, and asked him, as though appearing to be angry: "Do you truly teach, O Marzuca, that man has two souls?" But he, by using persuasive arguments and wily deception, convinced him that he had said no such thing, but had been speaking of other matters. ^A Gregory of Syracuse asked him what that word "Marzucas" meant. He replied: "Mar, dog; zu, drag; cas, skin—that is to say, a dog dragging a skin."

36. A certain artisan (as those who saw and heard firmly attested), whose dwelling was near the church of Sophia, for many days, while in his death throes, kept eating his own tongue, lips, and hands, yet could not give up his spirit. But emerging for a while from his stupor and becoming of sound mind, he said: "Know, brothers, that the Patriarch Photius taught me not to receive communion while fasting. And this is the cause of my suffering what you see, and why I cannot die." Having said these things, he breathed his last. And these things, then, are about Photius. ^B

37. In the ninth year of his reign, the Emperor Michael set out on an expedition against the Agarenes, having left the Prefect Oryphas in the city. And when he had already pitched his camp at Mauropotamum, the latter sent word that the Rhos were approaching with a fleet of two hundred ships. Upon hearing this, the Emperor returned immediately, having accomplished nothing at all. ^C

38. In the tenth year of his reign, the Rhos, having arrived within the Hieron, committed much slaughter. They surrounded the city, and when the Emperor had with difficulty managed to cross over, he went immediately with the Patriarch Photius to the church of the Theotokos at Blachernae; and having brought out with hymns the holy maphorion of the same Theotokos, they dipped it lightly into the sea. And when there had been no breeze, sudden gusts of wind arose, and the sea, which had been calm, was whipped into a succession of continuous waves, and the ships of the impious Rhos were broken and dashed to pieces, with only a few escaping the danger. ^D

39. Now, Caesar Bardas, at the procession...

^A of him passing by, was sitting in the horologium, and Damianus the patrician, who was also the paracōimōmenos, did not rise to honor him. Exasperated by this, he reported it to the emperor in tears, and said that he had not risen for him, intending by this to insult the imperial majesty itself. Upon hearing this, the emperor banished the paracōimōmenos Damianus to Saint Mamas, and appointed his own protostrator, Basil, as paracōimōmenos. When Caesar saw this, he was greatly aggrieved and sought to kill Basil.

40. In the eleventh year of his reign, Emperor Michael compelled Basil to divorce his wife, Maria, and gave him in marriage Eudocia Ingerina, ^B commanding him to have her as his lawful wife; for she had been the emperor’s concubine, and he loved her greatly because she was exceedingly beautiful. Her former husband, Basil, having been given gold and much wealth, was sent back to his own estates. He then betrothed his own sister, Thecla, to Basil, that he might have her privately. However, Caesar and Basil were mutually suspicious of one another, each seeking how he might destroy the other. Basil therefore slandered Caesar to the emperor, alleging that he was plotting against him. But the emperor heard these things as nonsense. Therefore, Basil, hastening to convince the emperor, reconciled himself with Symbatius the patrician and logothete of the dromos, the son-in-law of Caesar; and by oaths they confirmed a concord between them. Basil convinced Symbatius ^C with fearful oaths that the emperor loved him very much and wished to promote Caesar, but could not do so because of his father-in-law. Deceived by these things, Symbatius conspired against Caesar Bardas, his own father-in-law, and entering in to the emperor, he swore an oath and convinced him, saying: "Caesar wishes to kill you," and he even revealed the details of the plot. The emperor, believing the oaths of Symbatius and confirmed by the words of Basil, inwardly harbored designs against Caesar. But Basil, having prepared everything against Caesar, and being unable to do anything in the city, persuaded the emperor to move the fleet against Crete. While this was happening, Leo the philosopher advised ^D Caesar Bardas to withdraw and to guard himself against Basil. But Caesar replied that the emperor was more inclined toward Basil. Now, as the procession of the Annunciation was being celebrated in the Chalcoprateia, after the Gospel had been read, Patriarch Photius ascended with the emperor, along with Caesar and Basil the paracōimōmenos, to the catechumena; and as the patriarch held in his hands the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the emperor and Basil, having dipped [their pens], signed the venerated crosses, binding themselves by oath to Caesar to ensure his faith, so that, free from every fear, he might undertake that expedition with them. But Leo the philosopher openly warned Bardas not to go out with them; or if he did, he would not return.

41. ^A Signs of his death also followed. For an earthquake having occurred, the statue which stood in the second row on a column near Saint Anna collapsed. Bardas reported this to Leo the Philosopher, and he explained it openly thus: that ruin and death were imminent for the one who was second to the first emperor. Furthermore, his sister Theodora had sent a cloak, which was found to be shorter than the proper length, and upon which a partridge was woven in gold. Having received the garment, he inquired why it had been made shorter; and as I believe, it presaged the end of life for both: namely, by the symbol of the partridge, it hinted at the treachery plotted against him by deceit, and by its shortness, the brevity of his days. He also saw a dream of this kind: He seemed to himself to have arrived with the emperor at the Holy Wisdom of God on a solemn day, with the usual splendor and ceremony, and when they had approached near the holy altar, angels in white attire appeared to them. Within the chancel, a certain elder was seen, sublime upon a throne. This was Peter the Apostle; to whom Ignatius, suppliant on his knees and filled with tears, was explaining the evils he had suffered from him. Peter, moved by the bitterness of the matter and pitying the man, said, "You shall obtain vengeance from the hand of the Lord." ^B And presently he hands a sword to one of the two standing by him, who were shining in golden garments in the manner of those in charge; and immediately gesturing, he placed the emperor on the right, but the one called Caesar, devoted to the wrath of God, on the left, and said that he must be cut to pieces with the sword. As he was leaving, he added concerning Michael that he too should expect to be cut to pieces; calling him a wicked offspring.

42. Therefore, after Easter, the emperor, accompanied by huge forces, came to the Thracesian theme. Now, Basil was plotting the death of the Caesar. There were in the conspiracy his brother Marianus and Symbatius, the Caesar's son-in-law, also Bardas, the brother of Symbatius, and Peter the Bulgarian and Leo the Assyrian, his cousin, as well as John Chaldes and Constantine Toxaras. The matter became known to John Neatocomitus, ^C and he reported it to the Caesar through Procopius. To whom he in turn replied: "You are young, and you are raving, sowing tares." The Caesar spent a sleepless night, and at the crack of dawn, having called all his own to council, he declared what had been told to him, asking what they thought needed to be done, and their opinion. To whom Philotheus the protospatharios and general, a close friend of the Caesar, said, "In the morning, master, put on your golden, gray-colored chlamys, and show yourself openly before your enemies, and they will flee from your face." Therefore, at sunrise, having mounted his horse, in shining attire and with a huge retinue, the Caesar came to the emperor. Basil met him, and having taken him by the hand, led him into the sacred inner chamber, and said to the emperor: "Having gathered, master, the whole army, order them to cross over into Crete." And presently Basil, standing behind the Caesar, drives a sword into him. The rest ^D cut him limb from limb, while the emperor watched and con-

^A-nived. It was nearly the third hour; and immediately they returned to the city. And when they had come to the Acrita market, a certain monk from a high rock was shouting to the emperor with a loud and firm voice: "Truly excellent, O emperor, is this expedition of yours, in that you have killed your kinsman and relative. Woe to you who have done these things!" The emperor and Basil, angered, sent men to kill the monk. But those who were present asserted again and again to the executioner who had been sent that the monk was insane and driven by a demon; which resulted in his barely escaping punishment at last.

43. Therefore, during the solemnities of the holy day of Pentecost, ^B Emperor Michael and Patriarch Photius created Basil the accubitor emperor in St. Sophia, a tome having been cast by Castor the secretary, in these words: "Bardas the Caesar plotted my death, and for that purpose lured me out of the city with evil intent; and I would not even be numbered among the living, had it not been reported to me by Symbatius and Basil. Wherefore he has died by his own wickedness. But Basil the accubitor, as a faithful protector of my majesty, and one who has delivered me from the enemy and follows me with great love, I wish to be the guardian and curator of my empire, whom I order to be praised by proclamation as emperor of all." Therefore, all received it with auspicious voices and omens: "Many years to Michael and Basil!" But he who had read the tome, Castor the secretary, having gone out to Nicomedia, when he had come to a certain monastery of men, and had stood in the middle of the meadow where a well was, having fallen headlong into it, he was suffocated.

44. But Symbatius, the Caesar's son-in-law, seeing that he had been deluded by Basil, is incited to hatred against him; and having entered into a plan with George Peganes, he asks to be made leader of the armed militia, and indeed he obtains it. In his place, Gumer the dromologothete is promoted. Therefore, Symbatius and Peganes having gone out together, with the soldiers' spirits turned away, they devastate the fields with fire (for it was summer time), shouting auspicious things only to Michael, but disowning Basil. The emperors heard, and by letters ordered the remaining leaders to take up arms against them. But Nicephorus Malcinus, having thrown leaflets through all the wide ranks, warns the rebels to be taken by guile, and to beware lest civil war be kindled by them. Therefore, Peganes is captured, and having been led into the city, is blinded, and placed in the Milion to beg for alms. But Symbatius is also captured by Malcinus at Celtzine; and Symbatius having been led to St. Mamas, they bring the blind Peganes with a clay censer burning sulfur; and having met Symbatius, he burns it. Symbatius is also blinded in the other eye, and his right hand is cut off; whom they also station at the house of Tzauses to beg for alms; and after three days they bring them to their own houses in the city.

45. Emperor Michael [had] the corpse of Constantine Cabalinus [exhumed] from the sepulcher by a machine-operator named Lamarus-

- ^A ejectum, and the impious patriarch John, having been taken out of the tomb with his omophorion (the pontifical vestment), he caused the prefect to shut up in the praetorium. And on the day when the games of the Hippodrome were held, he had them brought forth, stripped, and scourged, and burned their bones at the houses of Maurianus. As for the urn of Copronymus, which was made of green marble by a wonderful craft, he cut it with a saw and made small columns from it in the church he himself had built in the palace of the Pharos.

46. In the month of September, in the fifteenth indiction, Constantine the emperor was born to Michael and Eudocia Ingerina, while Michael was still alive. And when the games of the Hippodrome were held at Saint Mamas, the emperor rode as a Blue, while Constantine the Armenian—the father of Thomas the patrician and drungary of the Watch—was White, Agallianus was Green, and Crassus was Red. The emperor was victorious. And what happened thereafter? For this too is a specimen of the folly of the emperor Michael, in that he thus diminished the strength of the Romans. Leo the Philosopher, who had been bishop of Thessalonica, had advised the emperor Theophilus to construct two clocks, which were to have the same power and run in unison. One he placed at the fortress near Tarsus in Cilicia, and the other was kept in the palace. On them were inscribed for every hour the events that might occur in Syria: for instance, at the first hour, if there were an incursion of Saracens; at the second, if a battle were joined; at the third, if a fire were ignited; at the fourth, if something else occurred; and similarly for the rest. From these twelve inscribed propositions, therefore, if anything happened in Syria, at the hour in which the event took place, a torch was lit from the elevated position there, as the guards were always watching attentively and accurately for the marks set upon them. The torch ^B lit from the fortress called Loulon signaled it to the inhabitants of Mount Argaeus, and again to those at Samos and those at Aegilon, then to those at the mountain of Saint Mamas, from which it reached Cyrizus, then Mocilus, and from there to the mountain of Saint Auxentius, making it manifest in a short time to those standing constant watch at the sun-dial of the Pharos in the palace. Thus, as has been said, while the emperor Michael was riding in the Hippodrome, a torch signaled an incursion of the Saracens. He, so that the spectators of the Hippodrome might not be distracted on the morrow, ordered such torches to be lit no more from the neighboring watchtowers.

47. As has been said, when the emperor was victorious, he sat at supper together with Basil and Eudocia. Basiliscianus the patrician was praising the emperor for having driven the chariot so skillfully and cleverly. The emperor then immediately ordered him to rise, and, having stripped off his own red boots, bade him put them on. He refused, casting his eyes upon Basil. Which, however, the emperor, struck by anger, had commanded, and Basil nodded; so he put on the imperial boots. And the emperor says to Basil, swearing by God, "They suit him better." And so ^C

^A for do I not have the power, just as I made you emperor, to make another as well?" And he raged and fumed against Basil. [P. 451] But Eudocia, bursting into tears, said to the emperor: "The dignity of your empire, my master, is great, and we have been honored with it beyond our merit; it is not right that it should be held in contempt." And she said to Basil: "Do not be vexed by this; I wish to make the Basiliscian emperor as well." And she said to those present: "Tell me, I pray you, does it not befit him to be emperor?

First, the form worthy of tyranny, And second, the crown is naturally joined to him. Everything is in harmony with his dignity.

And how much better, therefore, is it for me to make this man emperor!" But Basil was filled with great anger and grief.

48. After the emperor had gone off to the hunt, a certain monk gave him a document containing the plot being hatched against him by the emperor, namely, that the emperor had commanded one of his guards to thrust his spear at Basil. During the time of dinner—not only then, but at other times as well, once he had gorged himself with wine—he would command evils beyond measure, so that he would have people’s ears shorn off, or their noses, or their heads. And if certain men, moved by pity, had not neglected these commands and put them off until the morrow, waiting for his repentance—and they were not disappointed, for this is what usually happened—no one deserving of punishment in the palace would have remained unscathed. Basil, too, having been the sport of his drunken fury not infrequently, endured it and waited for some change to take place. Yet, led to suspect that in the end he might suffer some irrevocable ill, he thought it better to strike first than to allow himself to be killed by him.

When Michael’s mother, Theodora, invited the emperor to the house of Anthemius, Basil fomented a conspiracy. Then, as he sat at dinner, the emperor invited Basil and Eudocia to dine with him. When the emperor had consumed much wine, Basil rose, as if to attend to some necessary business, and went into the emperor’s bedchamber, where he tampered with the door-latches, being a strong man, so that the doors could not be shut. He then returned to the table and sat as a companion to the emperor at dinner. Later, when the emperor Michael rose and, due to his great drunkenness, was unable to walk, Basil took him by the hand and supported him as he withdrew to his private bedchamber. Basil kissed his hand and departed. Inside the bedchamber, by the emperor's order, the Basiliscian was sleeping on the bed of Rentacius the *parakoimomenos*, acting as his guard. [P. 452] But Ignatius, the chamberlain, going to close the door of the bedchamber, found it tampered with, and in despair sat on the bed, tearing his hair. When the emperor, owing to the wine, was sleeping a sleep nearly akin to death, Basil, coming suddenly with his associates, broke open the doors. Ignatius then went out and resisted Basil, trying to prevent him from entering. At this, the emperor was startled awake, and immediately John Chaldus cut off his hands. The assassin Janudizes then struck the Basiliscian with a sword and threw him [dead] before...

^A Apelates the Jacobite struck the Basiliscian, wounded by the sword, from his bed onto the floor. As the others stood outside on guard, when both had come together, Asylaeon said to Basil: “Although we cut off his hands, we have left him alive; and if he lives, how shall we excuse ourselves?” Returning, therefore, he drove his drawn sword into the emperor’s chest and spilled his entrails.

When the sea was being tossed by waves, they came together as far as the strait, and having climbed the wall, they reached the palace. There was a beam protecting the wall, which Basil, supported by the hands of two of his companions, kicked and broke, and he entered as far as the palace gate. Eulogius the Persian, who was with Basil, spoke in his own tongue to Ardabasdus, the count of the Foederati, and signified that Michael had been killed by the sword and ordered him to open to Basil. Ardabasdus ^B then ran to the papas, and having taken the keys from him by force, opened the gate. Having been received inside, Basil himself took the keys of the palace into his hands. These things happened on the third day of the week, in the year 6362, at the third hour of the night, in the first indiction, on which the festival of the holy protomartyr Thecla was dawning. In the morning, he appointed Gregory, called the son of Philemon, as papas; and immediately sending to Saint Mamas, he brought Eudocia Ingerina into the palace with great pomp. He also sent John the praepositus to bring Eudocia of Decapolis back to her parents, and he sent Paul the cubicularius to take care of the funeral of Michael. When he arrived, he found his corpse wrapped in the saddlecloth of his own right-hand horse, which he had been riding, and his mother and sister mourning and lamenting over him. ^C And having placed him in a small boat, he transported him to the monastery of Chrysopolis and buried him there.

Orthodox Emperor of the Romans, Basil, for nineteen years

In the year of the world 6362, of the divine incarnation 862, Basil, the orthodox emperor of the Romans, reigned for 19 years. Now Basil was of the most flourishing bodily form, corpulent, supercilious, with large eyes, a broad chest, somewhat morose, and, as one might conjecture, thoughtful in his mind about the care of his affairs, and rather bold; he was a native of Adrianopolis in Macedonia. This city was formerly called Orestias, from Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who, on account of a just rivalry, because Clytemnestra had treacherously killed his father, ^D having killed her together with Aegisthus, was struck by a great frenzy and madness, and by washing in the confluence of the rivers Hebrus, Arzus, and Artabus (the three, that is to say), he was released from his disease; where, having built this city, he named it after himself. But Hadrian Caesar, having magnified it with well-built fortifications and having extended its boundaries, renamed it Adrianopolis. It is distant by a three-day journey from Philippopolis, in the bosom of Mount Haemus, at which the three rivers, just like rain water, mix together in one channel.

^A 2. This Emperor orders Marianus the prefect, son of Petronas, and proclaims him sole emperor. Coryphas, however, commander and leader of the naval force, when he had understood what had been done by Basil against Michael, being a lover of his master and a noble servant, girded himself for the vengeance of the Emperor Michael. The autocrat fetches him, and at first threatens him with insulting words, but afterward deems him worthy of reception for the sake of the things he had chosen to dare for his master. Indeed, as time went on, his confidence in him grew so great that, when setting out against enemies, he entrusted the city to his fidelity.

3. But it is necessary also to write of the vengeance that came from God upon those who did away with Michael. Jacobitzes, then, being a companion to the Emperor while hunting, and his sword having fallen out, as he was about to descend to retrieve it, his foot became stuck in the stirrup, and the horse, having been terrified, dragged him through hollows of ravines and precipices and tore him limb from limb. John Chaldus, who had been commander of the army in Chaldia, since he was detected plotting against the Emperor, was impaled by Andrew the master of soldiers. The Emperor’s brother, Asylaeus, having been exiled by the Emperor to his own suburban estate because he was pitiless and cruel toward his own slaves and domestics, was killed by them with a sword; the Emperor, having captured them and cut them limb from limb, burned them at the Amastrianum. The Apelates of the Persian was eaten by worms and gave up his spirit. ^B Constantine Toxaras, having been slashed with swords among the Cibyrrhaeots, finished his life, and Marianus, the brother of the Emperor, died having fractured his foot and having been consumed by worms.

4. At the feast of the Nativity of Christ, a procession having taken place, the Emperor baptizes his son Stephen through Photius in the Great Church.

5. In his third year, at the feast of St. Polyeuctus, there occurred an earthquake for forty days and forty nights, and many churches were thrown down, among which was the most holy Theotokos, the one called the Sigma, such that all who were chanting there perished. Leo the Philosopher, who happened to be there, urged everyone to go out; but they, not being persuaded, all met their end. This philosopher himself, however, having stood by a pillar under an arch with two others, was saved, and nine others alone stayed under the ambo.

6. Photius the patriarch, when the Emperor came into the church and was about to partake, dared to call him a robber and a murderer and unworthy of the divine communion. ^C He, having been enraged, sent to Rome and brought a tome with the bishops of the Romans, and he cast him out of the throne; and he again elevates Ignatius, the patriarch among the saints, for the second time.

7. After Photius had been cast out of the church and exiled to the monastery of Scepe, he contrived a fiction of this sort: Having drawn up the genealogy of the Emperor Basil...

as though he derived his origin from Tiridates, Prince of Great Armenia, he took care to have the book deposited in the royal library by the agency of Theophanes, surnamed Sphenodæmon, who was then a palace cleric and a man dear to Basil by reason of his wisdom and erudition. ^A For by extracting the initial letters of the names in this manner—Basil, Eudocia, Constantine, Leo, Alexander, and Stephen—from which, when read, the word *Beclas* is formed; and having learned the genealogy from the beginning, whether you look at the region or the deeds performed, and having reduced these into commentaries, and having composed a little book with such subtle art that it properly represented an ancient codex, he deposited it, as has been said, in the royal library through the agency of Theophanes Sphenodæmon. And when at one time, by the emperor's order, he was searching for a book in that same library, and was acting with an anxious mind because of the curious investigation of the finding, he showed it to the emperor, and said that, except for Photius, there was no one who could understand what was written in it. And immediately he himself was sent to Photius. The pretext was easy: "Unless," he said, "I see the emperor, I will not say who the book is or what is its inscription." Having entered, therefore, he read the book, and scanned it as if he had learned it from an angel. From this, the intimacy between Photius and the emperor was renewed once again.

8. In the fifth year of his reign, on the twenty-third day of the month of November, the emperor Alexander was born to Eudocia Ingerina, the legitimate offspring of Basil. The emperor undertook an expedition against the Agarenes of Tephrica, and having joined many battles, he was defeated in all of them and lost many Romans. ^B And when the emperor himself already seemed about to be captured, Theophylactus Abastactus saved him, the father of Romanus, who later held the empire. The emperor, having returned to the city, sent his son-in-law Christophorus into Tephrica, and having obtained victory, he laid waste to the place and razed it to the ground.

9. In the sixth year of the reign of Basil, Ignatius the patriarch built the church of Satyros in the name of the Heavenly Host’s Prince of the East, and afterward made it a monastery for men, where he was also buried. And it is indeed surnamed Satyros, because not far from that monastery an ancient place was called Satyros, where there was a temple built by the superstition of the Greeks to the same Satyrus, and from its vicinity it happened, through a similarity of name, that the monastery also was valued by the same term. ^C But the Emperor Theophilus, having taken materials from there, built the royal palace of Bryas. As to why he is called "of the East," the reason is this: When at one time the Emperor Nicephorus was hunting in those parts where the monastery is now situated, in that very place where now the altar of the basilica is founded, after a stag had been caught, an old table was found resting on a column, bearing this inscription: "This is the holy altar of the Prince of the East, Michael, which the holy apostle Andrew placed."

10. In the seventh and eighth years of his reign, Basil baptized all the Hebrews who were under his rule, granting them positions of dignity.

^A At that time also, he promoted the aforementioned Nicholas, the *mansionarius* of Saint Diomedes, to the dignity of *oikonomos* and *syncellus*; he appointed his brother John as *drungarius* of the watch; he placed his other brother, Paul, in charge of the imperial *sakelle*; and finally, he created his third brother, Constantine, *logothete* of the public treasury.

11. In the ninth year of the reign of Basil, the emperor began to build the New Church, and the city of Syracuse was betrayed to the Saracens.

12. In the eleventh year of the reign of Basil, Nicetas Xylenites, the *praepositus* of the table, was accused of being loved by the empress and, having had his hair shorn, he was thrust into a monastery. The emperor melted down many bronze vessels for the sake of the New Church; he also took marble, mosaics, and columns from many churches and houses for its construction. Among these ornaments there was a bronze statue in the senate, wearing the habit of a bishop and holding a rod in its hand, around which a serpent was coiled. This statue was brought into the vestiary; when the emperor came and inserted his finger into the mouth of the serpent, a living snake that was hiding inside bit him, and he was so injured that he could barely be cured by any remedies. Furthermore, he took the statue of Solomon which was in the basilica, had it fashioned in his own name, and, offering himself to God as a sacrifice, he laid it in the foundations of the New Church.

13. In the eleventh year of his reign, the emperor again set out on an expedition against the Melitenians, and having been victorious in many battles and taken much booty and many captives, he returned.

14. In the twelfth year of his reign, the patriarch Ignatius died, and Photius was once again raised to the throne of the royal city.

15. In the thirteenth year of his reign, the emperor set out with his forces against Germanicia, and having plundered and devastated it, he returned. Constantine, the son of Michael by Eudocia—though in the opinion of the people he was held to be the son of Basil—died. Basil followed his funeral with great mourning and laid him to rest in the imperial tombs.

16. In the fourteenth year of his reign, on the Calends of May, the New Church was dedicated and opened for public divine worship by the patriarch Photius.

17. In the fifteenth year of his reign, Leo Salibaras introduced to the patriarch Photius the monk Theodore Santabarenos (who was later created archbishop of Euchaita by Photius), as a religious man and a wonderful worker of miracles, endowed with the art of foreknowing the future. ^D Photius introduced the man to the emperor Basil; the emperor, delighted by him (since he assented to his desires), held him in great esteem. Seeing the emperor suffering from grief over the death of his son Constantine, through the strength of the love he bore him, this impostor promised that he would show him the boy alive; and in fact he did the deed. For as the emperor was riding past a certain thicket, a phantom appeared to him, sitting on a horse and wearing garments woven with gold, in the form of Constantine; he saw it with his eyes and embraced and kissed it.

When it had disappeared, he believed he had truly met him and that it was no delusion. Wherefore, having built a monastery there, he gave it the name of Saint Constantine.

18. ^A Well-versed in these and many other matters according to the instruction of Apollonius, Santabarenus gained great trust for himself in the eyes of the emperor. This notorious Santabarenus, whom Photius during his second tyranny promoted to be bishop of the Euchaitae, was the son of a Manichaean and a Manichaean himself; as a younger man, having barely escaped a death sentence through the intervention of Bardas the Caesar, he was handed over to the Studite monastery to be corrected and to learn better ways. There, however, although he put on the habit of a monk, he did not abandon his wickedness in the slightest. Furthermore, during the first tyranny of Photius, he served as head of that same monastery; for this reason, all the devout monks fled the monastery, unwilling to be defiled by communion with Photius. But when Photius was driven from the patriarchal see, this man, whose name is linked with Satan, was also expelled from the monastery.

Then, having been admitted among the intimates of Photius, he said: "Employ one of the members of the emperor's bedchamber, and let him sprinkle the water I have prepared upon the sacred bedchamber; and you shall immediately see the emperor devoted to your love. After this has been done, strive so that I may see him once, and I will cause you to return to your former honor." When this had been done, the next morning the emperor sent his sons to Photius for instruction, and he sent a quantity of gold ^B and had him reside in the Magnaura for lodging. There, constant meetings and conversations took place, and Photius was granted such confidence that he employed all his own household and close associates in palace duties. Consequently, he introduced the arch-magician Santabarenus to the emperor’s sight, and rendered him most dear, as if he were a holy, devout, and most sagacious man capable of foretelling the future.

19. In his sixteenth year, the emperor arranged a marriage for the emperor Leo with Theophano, daughter of Martinakios, and having crowned them, he celebrated the wedding in the Magnaura.

20. In his seventeenth year, the naval forces of the Saracens attacked Italy, Sicily, and other regions, during which the following event occurred: ^C Soldanus, the leader of the Hagarenes, having captured Bari—which is a large city of the Ragusans—established his headquarters there and proceeded to plunder many other cities and surrounding territories. The emperor, therefore, wrote to the king of the Franks, asking him to provide support for the fleet he had sent against the Hagarenes. And when the war was joined, the fortress was captured, along with the territory, and indeed Soldanus himself and the forces under him. The king led Soldanus to Capua; where, having passed two years and having gained the freedom of conversation and intimacy, he, being crafty, thought to secure his own safety by slandering others. For he secretly addressed the nobles of Capua and Benevento, saying: "I wish to reveal to you a secret plan of the king, but I fear that if I disclose it, danger will befall me on that account." When they swore an oath that they would reveal to no one the things he...

told them, he said: "The king will shortly send all of you in irons to his own land of Francia." When they did not believe him, but sought clearer evidence of the matter, Soldanus again said to the king: "It is never possible for you to hold these towns securely as long as their leaders remain here. But if you wish to possess their domain securely, send them to Francia in chains." The king, persuaded by these words, ordered chains to be quickly forged, as if for some urgent necessity. ^A Seeing this, Soldanus said to the leaders: "Do you not even now believe me?" The leaders, therefore, realizing that the barbarian spoke the truth, considered how they might take revenge on the king. So, when he went out for the sake of hunting, they closed the gates against him, and he departed to his own land in sorrow. Soldanus then demanded the reward for his disclosure; this was that he be allowed to return to his own country. Having thus recovered his own principality, and not having abandoned his evil nature, he came with an army against Capua and Beneventum. The inhabitants sent an embassy to the king of Francia, but the envoys were treated with insult and sent back. Then they sent to the emperor, who, having dismissed the envoy, ordered them to expect the appropriate reinforcements to be sent shortly from him. The messenger, however, was caught by the enemy. ^B Soldanus thus said to him: "If you comply with my will, you shall both attain your safety and be gifted with many rewards." While he pretended to agree, Soldanus said: "I want you to stand before the ramparts of the town and say these words to those within: 'I have indeed fulfilled my mission; do not, however, expect reinforcements from the emperor, for he did not heed your petition.'" Standing therefore near the wall with the ministers of Soldanus, and having requested that the leading men of the city come forward, he said: "Although my death is manifest and my slaughter is at hand, I will not, however, conceal the truth from you. For the rest, I pray and adjure you to return the favor to me regarding my children and my wife. For I, O my masters, even if I am now held in the hands of the enemy, have nevertheless fulfilled my mission and delivered your embassy to the emperor of the Romans, and you should shortly expect reinforcements from him. Therefore, stand bravely and do not lose heart; for he who will deliver you is coming, even if he may be of no use to me." ^C Having heard these things, the satellites of Soldanus, enraged because they had been deceived, immediately cut him down with their swords. Consequently, Soldanus, fearing the imperial forces he expected, lifted the siege and returned to his own land.

21. In the eighteenth year of his reign, Leo the Emperor was accused by the Santabarenus to his own father in the following manner: Leo, being of a keen intellect and leading a pious life, used to criticize the words and deeds of the Santabarenus, reproving him and keeping his distance from him. When he could not bear this hatred of his—fearing that these charges of his would reach the emperor—what did he contrive? Having made a large dagger, which the Greeks call a parameirion, and...

^A having adorned it with various ornaments, he gives it to Leo, saying: "I know that you often encounter a wild beast while hunting alone, and because you have no sword to slaughter it, it is lost to you. Carry this, therefore; perhaps your father the emperor will also praise you." Leo, being persuaded by the treacherous man, takes the sword. The deceitful Santabarenus then goes away and slanders him to his father, saying: "Leo, your son, is carrying a parameirion, and whenever he is alone with you, he is eager to slaughter you." Having heard this, and after conducting a careful investigation of the matter and finding that things were as reported, the emperor shut him up in the Margarita, intending to put out his eyes, had not Photius the patriarch, along with many others of the senate, dissipated such a plan. He punished all of Leo’s servants greatly, and since nothing of the alleged crime was found, he sent them into exile. Leo himself spent three months excluded from his father’s sight, mourning and lamenting, and importuning the emperor’s clemency through many letters. When the feast of the holy prophet Elias arrived—since the emperor held great faith in the saint—Leo was restored to his father’s sight in this manner: There was a certain bird, suspended in a wicker basket on the wall in the dining hall, a creature indeed clever and capable of mimicking a varied voice—they call it a parrot. This bird, whether taught by some or induced in some other way, frequently cried out: "Alas, alas, Lord Leo!" When, therefore, a feast was prepared for the emperor ^B and the leading men of the senate were sitting at the banquet and the table, as the bird I mentioned spoke the refrain more frequently, the guests were turned to sadness; abstaining from their food, they sat in low spirits. The emperor noticed this and asked the cause. Then they, filled with tears, said: "What feast could we eat, when a mute animal so reproaches us, who appear to be gifted with reason and to be loving masters? For it calls upon its own master, while we, living in luxury, have forgotten the master who did no wrong. For if he is convicted of doing wrong and of having prepared his right hand against his father’s head, let us all ourselves be his executioners, and let us not have our fill of his blood: but if not, how long will a slanderous tongue prevail against him?" Softened by such words, the emperor ordered them to sit down for the time being and promised that he would examine the matter. ^C Not long after, returning to his natural disposition, he brought him out of prison and into his sight, and commanded that he put off his mourning garments and that the excess of hair which had grown during his sorrow be removed, and he restored him to the former rank and honor of imperial dignity. And as the procession of the holy Elias took place, the peoples and factions, seeing him, cried out with joy: "Glory to You, O God!" And the emperor said: "Do you glorify God on behalf of my son? You shall suffer many evils from him, and you shall pass days full of misery."

VARIOUS READINGS

John Curcuas, the Domestic of the Scholai, was plotting tyranny, since one who lived cloistered in the Blachernae had prophesied imperial power for him. There were sixty-six nobles who had conspired with him, among whom were Michael the Hetaireiarch, ^A and Catudes, and Myxiares, and Babutzicus. Having seized them all, he had them beaten with rods in the Hippodrome, shaved their heads, burned what hair remained, and after parading them through the city, punished them with exile.

23. When the emperor had gone out for hunting, a stag of huge size appeared and lifted the emperor from his belt off his horse with its antlers. Someone arrived and, having cut the belt with his sword, set him free; but the emperor turned and cut off [that man's] head, saying, “Do not bare a sword against the emperor!” Having fallen ill from the jolting of the ^B stag, the Emperor Basil died, having spoken these words to his son and successor Leo, and also to Stylianus, the guardian of his children: “The profane Photius and his fellow-initiate Santabarenus have drawn me far from God, and rendering me a stranger to righteous knowledge, have dragged me into the same abyss of punishment as themselves.” Having said these things, he gave up his soul, leaving behind Leo, Stephen, and Alexander.

Roman emperor Leo, 25 years, 9 months.

In the year of the world 6388, of the divine incarnation 888, the Roman emperor Leo reigned 25 years and 9 months. Stephen, his brother, being a cleric and syncellus, lived with Photius the patriarch, being raised and educated by him. ^C But Leo, after becoming emperor, sent Andrew the strategelates with many wax tapers and clerics and men of the senatorial order to Chrysopolis, and brought back with great zeal, honor, and hymns the relics of the Emperor Michael, and deposited them in the church of the Holy Apostles in a sarcophagus. He expelled Photius the patriarch from the Church, after he was caught in treacherous activity, and confined him in the monastery of the Armeniacs, which they call Gordon; where he also died. He had Stephen, his own brother, ordained as syncellus by Theophanes, the prothronos, and the other bishops; and he lived 6 years and 5 months, and is buried in the monastery of the Sykai. A fire also occurred near the Hagia Sophia and the Iron [Gate], in which the church of Saint Thomas was burned down, which Leo himself magnificently restored. ^D He brought Theodore Santabarenus from Euchaita into the city. But Andrew the domestic and Stephen the magistor brought charges against him and against Photius, because they had slanderously denounced the Emperor Leo to the Emperor Basil, his father. Upon the Senate’s passing judgment against them, they allowed Photius to remain at [the monastery of] Gordon, but they had Santabarenus beaten and exiled to Athens. Then, the emperor sending [men] after him, blinded him and exiled him to the East. But after many years, having been placated, he brought him [back] into the city and commanded him to receive an allowance from the New Church.

2. In the second year of his reign, owing to the sedition in Longobardia, Constantine, [the official] of the table, was sent with

all the military forces; and when the battle was joined, Constantine alone—the only one ^A of those [who went]—could with difficulty escape, while the others were slaughtered or captured. There occurred also an eclipse of the sun, such that it became night for three hours and the stars appeared. There occurred also violent winds and lightning and thunder, from which seven men were burned in the Forum.

3. In the third year of his reign, the fortified city of Samos was besieged by the Hagarenes, and its strategos, Paspalas, was led away captive. The Emperor, being in love with Zoe, the daughter of Zautzas, promoted him to be *basileopator*, having himself invented this title of honor. Symeon, the ruler of Bulgaria, campaigned against the Romans, but being fought by the Turks, he was defeated, and all the captives were ransomed by the Emperor. Then [Symeon] again routed the Turks, and by entreaty recovered the captives and made peace. But not long after, the peace being again overturned, a battle took place at Bulgarophygon, as the place is called, and the whole army being routed, they were all struck down and killed in one slaughter, and among them [was] the *protovestiarios*, Theodore. Upon the death of Patriarch Stephen, Antony, called Cauleas, was ordained patriarch in his place.

4. In the seventh year of his reign, the inhabitants of Cherson slaughtered their strategos. The fortress of Koron in Cappadocia was also captured by the Hagarenes. The Emperor Leo, having made a procession to the [church of] Saint Damian, and Zautzas, who was exercising supreme power, being present together with his daughter Zoe—for his first wife, Theophano, was steadfastly remaining in the Holy Ark of the Blachernae in prayer—the kinsmen of Zautzas, both Tzantes and the others, plotted to kill the Emperor. But Zoe, sleeping in the Emperor’s bosom, as she perceived the evil and discovered the treachery, awakened him; and immediately they crossed by boat to Pegai, and early in the morning he entered the palace. ^B

5. In this year ^C Theophano Augusta passed away, having reigned for twelve years. Not many days later, God showed her to be a worker of miracles because she suffered from no vice of jealousy and was mindful of no injuries, but was constantly devoted to God in almsgiving and prayers. Emperor Leo crowned his second wife, Zoe, the daughter of Zautzas, and received a blessing with her from a certain cleric named Syneupes. The minister who had imparted the blessing was deposed from his office; and Zoe lived in the empire for one year and eight months, and died. A sarcophagus was found for the interment of her body, having written inside letters carved as follows: "Daughter of Babylon, the wretched one." Not far away, in the month of May, having constructed a temple by the name of Saint Zoe, he buried her there. And near the [Church of the] Holy Apostles, having purchased houses, Emperor Leo built a very beautiful church in the name of his first wife, Theophano, and he deposited her funeral remains there as well. ^D

^A

6. In the ninth year of Emperor Leo, a conspiracy was formed against the Emperor by the kinsmen of Zautzas, and once it was uncovered, he seized them all, punished them with exile, and utterly destroyed the entire family of Zautzas.

7. In the tenth year of his reign, Antonios the patriarch died, and Nikolaos, the Emperor’s *mystikos*, was ordained patriarch. At that time, Demetrias was captured by Damian the Saracen. The Emperor crowned Anna, the daughter of Zoe, daughter of Zautzas, because there being no *Augusta*, he could not hold the banquets according to custom.

8. In the eleventh year of his reign, the Emperor married his third wife, Eudokia from the Opsikion, crowning her and naming her *Augusta*. ^B She gave birth to a male child by him and died, and the infant that was born also died.

9. In the thirteenth year of his reign, the Emperor built a temple in the place called the "Topoi" in the name of Saint Lazaros and constructed a monastery for eunuchs; there he deposited the body of Saint Lazaros and Saint Mary Magdalene. At this time, Tauromenion was surrendered to the Saracens.

10. In the fifteenth year, the island of Lemnos was taken by the Saracens.

11. In the sixteenth year, during the procession of Pentecost, as the Emperor was entering the church of Saint Mocios—which they say was formerly a temple of Hercules—when he had come near the *solea*, someone stepped out from the ambo and struck him on the head with a strong, thick staff. ^C And had the blow not been hindered by the intervention of a many-branched suspended chandelier, he would have killed him on the spot. Because blood was flowing copiously from his head, terror seized the officials, and they fled. Because of this, and because his brother Alexander had feigned illness and not descended for the procession, a suspicion arose that he had been the author of such a conspiracy. The one who had struck the Emperor was seized and, after enduring many tortures and torments for many days, because he did not confess the name of any other person, his hands and feet were cut off and he was burned at the *meta* of the Hippodrome. From then on, such a procession was suppressed. ^D Some time later, Marcus, the most wise *oikonomos* of that same church—who had completed the *tetraodion* of Lord Kosmas for the Great Week, that is, for Great Saturday—came to the Emperor, and while sharing a meal with him, he begged him not to abolish the feast and the procession. When the Emperor refused, Marcus said that this was foretold by David. He says, "How the enemy has acted wickedly in Your sanctuary, and those who hate You have boasted in the midst of Your feast" (Ps. LXXIII, 3). "And it is necessary, master, that from now on you hold the empire for ten years." And this is what happened, for on that same day on which he had received the blow, when the circle of those years had been completed, he died.

^A

12. In the seventeenth year, the emperor married a fourth wife, Zoe, whom they call Carbonopsina.

13. In the eighteenth year, the naval army of the Hagarenes advanced against the city with the Tripolitan. They are called Tripolitans because they were gathered from three nations: from Arabs, Tyrians, and Sidonians who had migrated. Similarly, the Aegean Sea also received its name from the rush of its waters, leaping ^B in the manner of a goat (which the Greeks call *aix*). Likewise, Strobolo was named from its local position, and Lampsacus from the brilliance of light, which shone down from heaven by night while the Phocaeans were laying foundations and praying; by this, through the favor of the divine, the stable framework of the walls was established. Imbrus was named from Imbrus, son of Antheus, whose father was Staphylus, the dearest offspring of Dionysus. The Hellespont [is named] from Helle, the sister of Phrixus, who was cast into the sea in that place. Cibyrrha [is named] from her brother Cibyrrhus. Thasos was formerly called Chryse. Samothracia, which is a peninsula in Thrace, was previously called Theriusa because it was full of wild beasts and was sacred ^C to the Nymphs. Later, however, when it had been separated from the mainland by the collision of the current, it became an island and was possessed by Samian colonists; with its name changed, it was called Samothracia by them. Laodicea was named from the wife of Antiochus Seleucus, who founded Laodicea in her name. Tenedus is from Tenus, the son of Cycnus, son of Neptune, and from the temple located there dedicated to Minerva. Mesembria, previously Memnebria, [is named] from Memnos the Thracian, its founder, and *bria*, which among some Thracians means a city; but for the sake of smoother pronunciation, it is now called Mesembria. Haemus is from a certain person slain there by Hercules, by whose blood the place was stained; it is a promontory of Thrace. ^D Media obtained its name from Medis, daughter of Aeetes. Silybria [is named] from Silyus, king of the Thracians, who led a colony there. Macedonia, which was formerly called Amathia, located toward the sea, shares its name with the people. Nicopolis is named from the victory of Augustus over Antony and Cleopatra, by which he bent the Egyptian scepters to the Roman fasces. Hierum of the Euxine (as if one were to say "temple") was founded by the Argonauts as they traveled that way. Pharus is a structure of this kind, [a mound] upon which a torch is placed, so that travelers in the darkness of night may be guided without stumbling. The Russi, who by a congruent name are also called Dromitae, were so named from a certain strong man, Ros, because when they had escaped injuries and harm—either by warning and counsel, or by some divine inspiration and oracle, [or] through the power of those using them and those above them—they were called by this name; the speed of their running gave the cause for them to be called Dromitae. They derive their lineage from the Franks. The Tricephalus hill, which is in the Opsikion [theme], received its name from the figure by which it rises in a triple mound. Rhadenus [is named] from the town of Rhada in the Anatolic theme.

^A 14. An emperor therefore sends Eustathios, the droungarios of the fleet, with the available fleet and armored soldiers; but since they were unable to join battle, they returned empty-handed. When the Agarenes reached Abydos, they asked their guides: "Do we wish to return by this same route, or do we have another by which we might depart for our homeland?" And when they said, "We wish to return by this way," they feared the narrowness of the path—such are the judgments of God!—and immediately turned their ships back. Having captured and sacked Thessalonica, they committed a great slaughter of the citizens and carried off many captives. And since they intended to destroy the city itself, Symeon, the first of the secretis, ran to them. Having received from Rhodophyllos, who had been sent to the Franks, one hundred pounds of gold which he was carrying in a small chest, he gave both the gold and the chest to the Saracens, and they spared the city and the walls. ^B

15. In the nineteenth year of the reign of Leo, when Samonas resorted to flight toward Syria, because they were pursuing him from behind, and he came even to the Halys, Nikephoros the droungarios, who is called Kamytses, met him to prevent him from crossing. He therefore flees to the venerable cross of Serichana, pretending that he had come there for the sake of prayer. Constantine, the son of the Doux, taking him up, returned with him to the city. The emperor therefore orders him to be guarded in the house of Bardas the Caesar. And because the emperor wished to summarize [the case for] Samonas, he instructed the Doux not to say before the senate that Samonas had fled to Syria, but that he had gone to Serichana for the sake of prayer. The emperor therefore asked Constantine in the presence of the senate in these words: "As you love God and my head, was Samonas fleeing to Syria or not?" He replied, "He was fleeing." Enraged and indignant at this answer, the emperor dismissed him. ^C Samonas spent four months in the house of Bardas.

16. At that time, a comet star also appeared, sending its rays toward the East, and it was visible for forty days and as many nights.

17. In the twentieth year of his reign, Samonas was received into favor and admitted to the court at the birth of the emperor’s son, Constantine, from Zoe, his fourth wife; he was baptized on the holy day of Theophany by Nicholas the patriarch, and was also made a patrician. ^D

18. In the twenty-first year of his reign, Leo and Zoe were blessed after the festival by Thomas the presbyter, who was also deposed, and he proclaimed his wife Zoe as Augusta. Hence the patriarch forbade the emperor from entering the church. For this reason, he walked from the right side as far as the mitatorion, and not at all through the customary way.

19. In the twenty-second year of his reign, the emperor appoints Samonas as parakoimomenos, because he was a partner in... [text ends]

every crime and wickedness, and both began to plot against the Church. ^A For they summoned the patriarch Nicholas, and begged him many times to accept the law of fourth marriages. But since he would not allow himself to be brought to that opinion, they placed him in a small boat by way of the Bucoleon and ferried him to Hieria; from there, he barely arrived on foot at Galacrenae, as the ground was covered in deep snow. In his place, Euthymius, the syncellus, was ordained patriarch, a man of religious modesty, restrained and very pious, whom they say accepted those fourth marriages by divine revelation, since the emperor wished to introduce a heresy and enact a law permitting a man to have three or four wives, while many very learned men supported him in this.

20. In the month of June there occurred a very strong south-westerly wind, so strong that it shook houses ^B and churches, and everyone fled into the open and declared it to be the end of the world. However, by the mercy and goodness of God, it was quieted by the force of rain.

21. In the twenty-third year a fleet of Saracens set out against the Roman domain. The emperor appointed the logothete Himerius as leader and head of all the naval forces. He also wrote to the duke Andronicus to join Himerius. Now Samonas, being implacable in his hatred toward Andronicus and desiring in every way to bring ruin upon him, persuaded someone to write to him secretly: "Beware of entering the ships, lest you be captured by Himerius." Although many people begged and urged Andronicus—as the Agarenes were pressing in—to set sail with him, he could not be persuaded. Therefore, Himerius alone, on the feast day of Saint Thomas, joined battle with the Agarenes ^C and won a great victory. When this became known, Andronicus, driven to despair, was led into rebellion with his relatives and retinue, and departing, he seized the city of Cabala, so that Samonas remarked to the emperor, "Did I not say, Master, that the Duke would be a rebel?"

22. In the twenty-fourth year, the emperor sent the Domestic of the Schools, Gregory, nicknamed Iberitzes—a relative of Andronicus by marriage—to combat him. When Andronicus learned of this, and heard that the patriarch Nicholas had also been cast out of the Church, he fled to the Agarenes together with his relatives, family, and friends. This matter troubled Leo. And indeed, he treated a Saracen from the praetorium graciously, and having reconciled him with gifts, sent him to Andronicus with a golden bull and red letters in the royal manner, enclosed in a small wax staff. ^D When the Saracen had departed from the emperor’s sight, Samonas called him aside and said: "Do you know what you are holding?" (referring, of course, to the wax he was carrying in his hand) "The destruction of Syria, to be sure." And having given him money, he ordered him to place it into the hands of Ouzer. He did so. And so Andronicus was captured and bound, together with his men. And learning that this had been done to him through the treachery of Samonas, forced by necessity, he abjured the Christian faith,

^A defiled by the sacred rites of Mahomet. But Constantine and the rest, knowing well that it was impossible for Andronicus to escape, soon after, by his advice, took the step of fleeing—a matter truly worthy of admiration—from the middle of Syria, and after being constantly exhausted by the enemy's detachments, they arrived in the territories of the Roman state.

23. At that time, the elder Abalbaces and the father of Samonas came to the city for the sake of an exchange. Having received them, the emperor showed them all the splendor of the church, though it was certainly not in accordance with the Christian rite, by which it is not fitting for those outside the faith to see the sacred vessels of God. The father of Samonas had the intention of remaining with his son and not returning to Syria. But Samonas discouraged him, saying: "Keep your faith; I prefer, if the opportunity allows, to come to you."

24. In the twenty-fifth year of his reign, on the day of Holy ^B Pentecost, the Emperor Leo crowned his son Constantine, who had been born in the purple, through the patriarch Euthymius. Now Samonas gave his own man, Constantine—who had previously served in the ministry of Basil the magistros and prefect of the kanikleion—to the service of Zoe Augusta. This man became very dear to the Emperor Leo and to the Empress. For this reason, Samonas, being kindled with great envy toward him, accused him of having a clandestine affair with the Empress. Leo, suspecting that the accusation was true and wishing to do a favor for Samonas, ordered Constantine to have his hair tonsured in the monastery of Saint Tarasius. Yet, a short time after, Samonas ordered him to receive him again in his own monastery, which they call Spira, wishing to restore him to his office. The emperor set out, and after holding a procession to Damatrys, ^C and having dined in the monastery of Samonas, he saw Constantine. And at once he ordered Samonas to have him dressed in secular garments, and he mingled with the emperor at the banquet, and after this he returned to the palace. And again, the envy of Samonas blazed up, because of the benevolence with which the emperor treated Constantine. Having entered into a plot with Tzirithon and certain others, they drew up a document full of abuse against the emperor, having it written and composed by the Rhodian, who was the notary of Samonas. When the emperor came to the Great Church, he threw it down in the Metatorion. The emperor, being offended upon reading the pamphlet, was anxious and grieved, searching for the one who had done this. It happened then that the moon was eclipsed, and the emperor ordered the astronomers who were in the city at the time to declare what that ^D eclipse portended. Now, when Pantaleon the metropolitan entered to the emperor, Samonas asked him: "Against whom is this malice directed?" He replied: "Against you, indeed; and if the thirteenth of the month of June passes, you will suffer nothing more serious." But to the Emperor Leo he said that the moon’s affliction concerned him who was second in the state; which the emperor took to mean his brother Alexander. Afterwards, Tzirithon said privately to the emperor that Samonas was the author of the pamphlet. And immediately he deposed him from his rank in his own house

^A and made him a monk. Thence he led him away to the monastery of Patriarch Euthymius; but when he continued to cast insults, they dragged him to the monastery of Martinacius. Samonas, therefore, having been removed from office, Constantine the *accubitor* was appointed in his place. Leo built for him a monastery in Nosiai, and having gone there with Patriarch Euthymius, he performed its dedication. It is worth saying a few words to explain in what manner the monastery of the Nosiai was founded.

25. This Constantine had a father, an old man, pious and God-fearing, who possessed in that same place of the Nosiai, near the sea, a very small and truly humble suburban estate, in which water, flowing into a basin, used to refresh passersby with a drink. It happened, however, that a soldier passed by that water, and, his thirst slaked, he began to pour out the coins he had earned through honest toil and to count them; there were three pounds of gold. Then, rising, as often happens, he mounted his horse and departed on his journey, the money having been left there upon the spot. The old man, therefore, ^B as was his custom, went to the basin, and having found the gold, he was himself afflicted with the grief of him who had lost it. But keeping it with him, he did not cease night after night to pray to God that he who had suffered the loss might return to receive his own. The soldier, however, when he had already crossed the Pylae, as the thought of the money came to his mind and he had no means of help at hand, continued his journey in sadness. Three years later he came to the place of the Nosiai, and dismounting from his horse, he watered it, and he himself also drank, and sat lost in thought, and heaving a deep sigh, he said: "In this place, alas, I lost all the provisions for my life." The venerable old man heard this, and asked what it was that had happened. To him he said: "I lost here the coins which I possessed, my entire capital." And immediately he pointed out the place, and described the seals of the purse and the amount of the gold. The man of God straightway drew it out from his bosom, and said: "Do you recognize this?" The other, ^C held fast for a long time in speechlessness, yet said: "Yes, this is what I lost." He said: "Take it, being assured that I did not open it, nor did I see what was stored inside." Having received the purse, the man begged the old man to take from it as much as he wished. But he refused to touch anything at all. Wherefore the soldier departed on his way, rejoicing and giving thanks to God. Therefore, on that night the old man sees in a dream Christ coming to him and saying: "In reward for how you behaved toward the soldier, behold, tomorrow you shall hear that your son has been exalted with the honor of *accubitor*, and that this suburban estate of yours ^D will be turned into a great monastery for my glory. And you yourself will receive the reward on their behalf." On the following day, the messenger of this matter arrived; and a few days had not passed when, by the favor and expense of Leo, as it is said, the monastery was built, and the place was frequented for divine praises by a solemn dedication.

26. In the same year, after the naval war of the Saracens had been going on for eight months against Himerius the logothete, while Romanus—who later became emperor—was governor of Samos, Himerius was defeated, and almost all in

Himerius and he scarcely escaped, while almost everyone there perished. After this, the emperor Leo began to suffer from a bowel complaint. And there occurred a fire in the candle-store of the Great Church, and all the archives and the sacristy were burned. On the eleventh day of the month of May, the emperor Leo died, having designated his brother Alexander as emperor; seeing him entering to him, it is said that he said: "Behold, also it is a bad time after thirteen months," imploring him much to protect his son, Constantine.

Alexander, Emperor of the Romans, with Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Year 1, Days 29.

In the year of the world 6407, of the divine incarnation 907, the Roman emperor Alexander with Constantine Porphyrogenitus, son of Leo, [reigned] for one year and 29 days. Alexander therefore sent immediately and brought Nicholas from the Galacrenai and enthroned him, having deposed Euthymius, whom, having ordered to be exiled to the [monastery] of Agathus, he brought after a few days to Magnaura; and having held a conventicle and synod there, they performed his deposition, shamefully plucking the beard of that venerable and most worshipful man, and inflicting upon him other insults and punishments, which this holy shepherd endured quietly and meekly. And he was sent back again to the [monastery] of Agathus, where he also died and was buried in his own monastery in the city, at Psamathia. As for the cleric who plucked the hair of the patriarch, it happened that as soon as the saint was ordered into exile, at that very hour, his house was consumed by an invisible fire. His daughter was seized by an absolute epileptic seizure, being unable to move hand or mouth or any other part of the body, or to utter a voice; she remained bedridden and begging for alms until the emperor Nicephorus Phocas.

The emperor Alexander, being able to perform no imperial task, occupied himself always with hunts and wicked deeds. Having often wished to castrate the son of Leo, his design was dissipated by those who had been benefited by Leo, sometimes alleging his tender age, at other times his sickly health. In his time, a comet appeared from the west for forty days, which they called a "sword" (xiphias, as if from the figure of a sword or blade), and [it was said] to signify that there would be a shedding of human blood in the city. This Alexander, surrendering himself to deceivers and magicians, and having been persuaded by them that his own health and life depended on the statue of a boar placed in the Hippodrome—since they, by that ruse, insinuated his swinish and senseless life—gave credence to them. To act according to them, he added genitals and teeth to the boar, which it was clearly lacking; and believing their deception, he adorned the Hippodrome and made an illumination for the figure. Whence also the hand of Christ was removed from him, as one who had offered the honor due to God to idols.

^{A B C D} Himerius, having returned from the defeat by the Agarenes...

...as having returned from the defeat, Alexander confined him in the monastery of the palace called Calypa, threatening him as one who had been hostile to him during the reign of his brother Leo. And he, from great distress and anguish of spirit, was struck by an illness and yielded to fate.

^C 3. Symeon, prince of the Bulgarians, sent envoys to Alexander to signify terms of peace and to ask that he be treated with kindness and honored just as he had been under the Emperor Leo. But he, held captive by madness and folly, dismissed the legates ignominiously, terrifying Symeon with threats; this was the cause for him to wage war against the Christians.

4. After Alexander had breakfasted during the dog-days heat and, intoxicated with wine, had gone down to play ball, he was struck by a divinely-sent sword, and with a great quantity of blood flowing from his nostrils and genitals, he died after two days, leaving as guardians the Patriarch Nicholas, the Magister Stephen, and John the Rector Helladas, and entrusting the empire to Constantine, the son of Leo. Having died, he was buried with his father Basil.

^D Roman Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, 48 years.

In the year of the world 6408, of the divine incarnation 908, the Roman Emperor Constantine was born in the purple, [reigning for] 48 years. For upon the death of his father Leo, being seven years old, he was left by his uncle Alexander under guardians. Therefore, he reigned with those guardians and his mother for 7 years, and with his father-in-law Romanus, to whom he was subject, for 26 years. Finally, he held sovereign power alone for 15 years, so that the entire time of his reign was 48 years. Having thus taken the power of the palace, the Patriarch Nicholas, inasmuch as he himself was one of the guardians along with the Magistri Stephen and John the Rector Helladas, provided for the public interest and took upon himself every care of the affairs pertaining to the empire daily.

Concerning the attempt of Constantine Ducas

2. While the empire was in these circumstances, it was signaled to Constantine Ducas, who was Domestic of the Schools, by certain nobles in the city who favored him because he was a man brave and wise and well able to govern the empire, to enter [the city] and take hold of it effortlessly, with the sum of power to be transferred to him without trouble or exertion. He, therefore, as the desire for it had entered his mind even before, with all the haste he could muster, set out for Byzantium with a hand-picked force of capable men from the legions under his command, nor did he travel with a small band; and having entered by night through an obscure and smaller gate of the Protovestiarius Michael, not far from the acropolis, he spent a sleepless night with his associates and co-conspirators in the house of his father-in-law Gregoras. Nicetas the asecretis, who later became protonotary, announced the arrival of Constantine to the Patrician Constantine and the monk Helladicus. Both came that same night to Constantine Ducas; and having consulted together at dawn, when the day had not yet arrived, but while it was still dark, with torches and a large crowd and armed men...

they arrived at the Hippodrome gate, acclaiming Constantine as emperor with auspicious cries. There his groom, being struck by a lance by those inside the Hippodrome gates, was killed. Constantine was not received therein, but was repelled and driven away; as if possessed by some demon and not having his reason sound due to his lust for the empire, he withdrew from the Hippodrome, sad and downcast, judging the slaughter of his groom to be a bad omen. ^B From there he came as far as the Chalke; and having entered through the Iron Gate of the Chalke, he reached the quarters of the Skoutaroi [the guards]. Then the Magister John Helladas, having made a selection from the Company and others, sent them armed against the Doux. When they had arrived at the Chalke and the two sides had clashed, many from both sides fell, so many that the place was engulfed in blood. Gregoras, the son of the Doux, was also killed, as was Michael, his cousin, and that Curtices who was of the Armenian race. When Constantine the Doux learned of these things, in the midst of a great tumult, he urged his horse into the crowd; but the animal, having slipped on the pavement that had been made slippery there, cast its rider to the ground. And someone cut off his head with a sword; this was presented to the emperor, manifest to all for the turning aside of the deception.

3. Now such an enterprise of his was revealed in yet another way. For a certain Nicolaus, who had been entrusted with the collection of public taxes in Chaldia, had arrived in Syria, having abjured the Christian piety and faith, and applied himself to astrology, or rather to astronomy. This man wrote on a black-dyed cloth and sent it to the Logothete Thomas; ^C when it was thrown into water by Manuel, the interpreter of the Hagarenes, the letters written upon it appeared, with the meaning conceived in these words: "Do not fear the red bird [the Doux]; for he will foolishly desire new things, and will immediately perish."

4. After these things were accomplished in this way, Gregoras, his father-in-law, together with Leo whom they called Choerosphaktes, fled to the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God; from there they were dragged by force and tonsured according to the rite of the monks in the Monastery of Stoudios. ^D As for Constantine the Helladic, they beat him with ox-hide cords, clothed him in a hair-shirt, set him upon an ass, and paraded him through the middle of the city for the sake of ignominy, and shut him away in the Dalmata prison to undergo discipline. And some they blinded and sent into exile, and others they beheaded. As for the soldiers, men who were brave and upright, they impaled them all in huge numbers from Damalis [that is, "the Heifer"] to the Leucatium. And the so-called guardians would have destroyed many others as well, had not some of the judges held them back from their unjust impulse, saying, "Since the emperor is a child, how do you dare to carry out such things without his command?"

"] ^A And so, after shearing the wife of the Doux and castrating his son, they sent them off to their own house in Paphlagonia.

5. In the month of August, Symeon the Bulgar, with a numerous and strong army, made for Byzantium and, having led a rampart from sea to sea, he trusted greatly that he would take the city. But, having been cast down in his hopes by the countless multitude of citizens, the violence of their arms, and the protection of the walls, he requested peace treaties and returned to the Hebdomon. When the regents most willingly consented to the peace, Symeon and his children, having been treated with immense and very great gifts, returned to their own land.

6. Since the emperor Constantine was a child and was inquiring for his own mother (for Alexander had already removed her from the palace), she was recalled to him. Once she had gained control of the palace and the empire, she brought Constantine the *parakoimomenos*, and Constantine and Anastasius the Gongylioi, into the palace; and on the advice of John Helladas, she cast out the men of the emperor Alexander—namely, John the rector, Gabrielopoulos, and the rest. Zoe Augusta appointed Theophylact, the son of Domenicus, as *hetæriarch*. However, the *magister* John Helladas was seized by disease and passed away. Furthermore, at the prompting of the *hetæriarch* Theophylact, Zoe cast Patriarch Nicholas out of the palace with anger, saying that he should care for and tend to his own Church.

Not long after, Constantine the *parakoimomenos* accused the *hetæriarch* to Zoe, claiming he was plotting to transfer the sovereignty into the hands of his brother. Therefore, having feigned that he was made a *patrician*, when he went down to the church to receive a blessing ^B as was the custom, she commanded him to remain at home. Zoe then appointed John the Garidas as *hetæriarch*, and the eunuch Damian as *droungarios* of the Watch. ^C

7. While the Bulgar Symeon was ravaging Thrace, John Bogas requested that he be elevated to the dignity of *patrician* and bring the Patzinaks to his aid; having received gifts, he went off and brought hostages into the city, with the Patzinaks agreeing to cross over and destroy Symeon by an attack.

8. Asotius also arrived in the city, a man most renowned for his strength, being the son of the Prince of Princes. They say that when he held an iron rod by its ends in his hands, because of his surpassing might he would bend it and twist it into a circular shape, the nature of the iron, though resistant, yielding to the force of his hands. Having arrived, he was received with great honor and respect, and they sent him back again to his own land. ^D

9. In the month of September, in the third indiction, Pankratoukas the Armenian betrayed Adrianople to Symeon. Not long after, Basil the *patrician* was sent with many gifts and received it back. Damian also came...

^A with a fleet to Strobelos, and he would have taken it, had he not fallen ill and died; and the Saracens turned back without having accomplished anything. But the inhabitants of Hellas and Athens, constantly abused by Chase, son of Ioudes, and unable to endure his debauchery and insatiable greed, pelted him with stones inside the church at Athens and killed him.

10. Seeing the arrogance of Symeon against the Christians, Zoe Augusta, having taken counsel with the nobles, decided that peace should be made and a treaty struck with the Saracens, and that all the military forces of the East should be summoned to fight against Symeon and transported into Europe. Accordingly, John ^B the *patrician*, surnamed Rhadenos, and Michael Toxaras were sent into Syria to establish this peace and truce. Zoe bestowed gifts generously upon all the themes and transported them to Thrace, with Leo Phokas, the *magister* and domestic of the Schools, in command—a man more remarkable for his physical strength than for his military prudence or command. All the generals and commanders, therefore, strengthening their harmony with one another, swore an oath upon the precious wood of the Cross, and once the oath was taken, they set out with the whole army. John Grapson was in command ^C of the tagma of the *Excubitors*, and Romanos, son of Maroules, of the *Hikanatoi*. Romanos Argyros held the rank of strategos, along with his brother Leo, and Bardas Phokas, to whom was joined Melias with the Armenians. Constantine Lips the *patrician* was also with them, as an advisor to them in all matters that pertained to the counsel.

On the twentieth day of the month of August, in the fifth indiction, the battle between the Bulgarians and the Romans was joined at the river Acheloos; and—oh, the judgments of God!—a slaughter occurred such as had not been seen for ages. Leo the *doux* fled to Mesembria and was saved. ^D Among others who were slain in that battle were Constantine Lips, John Grapson, and many other of the nobles and tribunes. Romanos the *patrician* and *drungarios* of the fleet had been sent with the whole navy to the river Danube to provide support for Leo Phokas; and John Bogas had been ordered, as we have said, to bring across the Patzinaks, the task of transporting whom fell upon the *drungarios* Romanos. But a disagreement having arisen among them, the Patzinaks, seeing them bickering among themselves, withdrew to their own lands. When the war had already come to an end, and Romanos and Bogas had returned to the City, the populace rose up against them, and brought the *drungarios* Romanos into such danger that he was condemned to the loss of his eyes, for having neglected—or rather, for having acted with malice and bad council in—not transporting the Patzinaks and not taking up the fleeing Romans into the ships. And he would surely have suffered this, had not the intercession of Constantine the *patrician*, son of Gongolios, and the *magister* Stephen, who had great influence with the Augusta, reversed the sentence.

11. The Bulgarians having marched as far as the City, Leo, the *doux* of the Schools, went out...

^A with Nicholas his son and John the *hetaireiarches* to Catasyrtas with a very large force; and the Bulgarians having fallen upon them unexpectedly at night, all perished utterly.

12. Theodore, then, the tutor of the emperor Constantine, seeing that Constantine—the intimate prefect of the sacred bedchamber (they call him *accubitor*)—was attempting to transfer the sum of affairs to Leo, the husband of his sister, advised the emperor Constantine to take to himself Romanus the drungary, as an old friend by paternal intimacy and well-disposed toward him, so that he might stay with him in the palace and be his guardian, and a defender and helper in whatever might threaten. For though often implored for this cause, Romanus had refused his assent. Therefore, the emperor Constantine himself, having written a note with his own hand, sent it to Romanus against the *accubitor*. ^B As this rumor spread, and the *accubitor* was pressing Romanus to set out with the fleet, while he excused himself and denied that he could set out with the fleet because it had not been paid its military stipend, Constantine the *accubitor*, intending to settle the payment entirely, went to the station of the ships. Romanus met him with the manner and obedience of a slave; and when he was already near, seizing him by force, he shouted aloud, "Take him!" And immediately the marines who were present brought him, having been led into the praetorian trireme of Romanus, and kept him under safe guard. The emperor, having recalled the sum of affairs from his mother unto himself, on the following day sent John the Toubakes to cast the Augusta Zoe out of the palace. But she, embracing her son with wailing and tears, ^C moved his mind to maternal compassion, and said, "Allow the mother to be with me." And they dismissed her as soon as the speech was finished. Furthermore, the emperor, by the counsel of the patriarch, appointed John the Garidas as Domestic of the Schools; for he feared lest Leo Phocas might proceed to rebellion. But he refused to enter the office unless Theodore the Zoupinexeros, his brother-in-law, and Symeon his son were created *hetaireiarches* in like manner. Immediately, therefore, he went out to Romanus, and having given and received an oath, he became concordant in mind and consenting to him.

13. On the twenty-fourth of the month of March, therefore, ^D Romanus sent to the palace to offer excuses in his name, namely, that he had done this to protect the emperor, while he feared the ambushes of Phocas, and lest he should plot any new things against him. He was therefore commanded to come with the entire fleet as far as the Bucoleon. On the feast day of the Annunciation, therefore, which then fell on a Thursday, he came armed with the entire fleet to the Bucoleon; and immediately the patrician Stephen departed from the palace, while Nicetas, the father-in-law of Romanus, ascending into the palace, cast out the patriarch Nicholas. Those who were holding the palace, being reassured by the oath of Romanus, sent to him the venerable and life-giving cross. Which, having worshipped and having confirmed those who were sent with an oath, he went up with them and a few others into

the palace. Having then worshipped the emperor and entered with him into the temple which is in the Pharos, and having given him pledges of security, he is forthwith appointed magistrate and great hetairiarch. ^A Immediately, then, an order was sent to Leo Phocas, to the effect that he should in no way devise any sedition, but should for a little while rest in his own house. In like manner also, Constantine the accubitor was ordered to write, enjoining the same things upon him and to remain in subjection to the emperor Constantine. Having received these imperial letters from Andrew the primicerius, the imperial protovestiary, he lived as a private citizen in his own house in Cappadocia; hence that which follows, celebrated in the poet’s eloquence, was fulfilled: Then indeed drawing the nightingale into the desert island, He left it to the birds to be mangled and devoured, But the eagle he brought back willingly yielding to his own home. ^B

14. In the month of April, a pledge of marriage contract is given by the emperor Constantine to Helena, the daughter of Romanus, and on the third day of Galilee—that is, Passion Week—they receive the nuptial crowns from the patriarch Nicholas. For having elevated Romanus to the rank of basileopator, he appointed in his place his son, Christopher, as hetairiarch. ^C Not long afterwards, however, Leo Phocas, having been deceived by the seductions of certain nobles, moves toward rebellion. Having sent for them, he took with him both the accubitor, Constantine, and Constantine the asecretis, son of Malelias, affirming solemnly and striving to persuade everyone that he was undertaking such a movement out of favor for the emperor Constantine. But Romanus, the father of the emperor, having made a golden bull, fortified with the emperor’s signature and issued in his name, dispelled [P. 479] whatever of these treacherous designs of Leo existed here. The tenor of the letters was this: "All who, leaving Phocas, attach themselves to the father of the emperor, these indeed [are] on the side of the emperor." Trusted with these letters was a brazen and bold woman, Anna by name (to whom they also gave the nickname Basilica, as if to say imperial and royal), and also a certain cleric, Michael, whom he sent into the camp of Phocas, and through them he disseminated the letters throughout the whole army. Now Michael, having been caught, was treated with cruel lashes and had his nose and ears cut off; yet he afterwards received from Romanus the reward and requital that befitted the service rendered. ^D Similarly, too, did the woman Anna who was sent with him. Therefore, the first [to act], Constantine, son of Bary-Michael, prefect of the troop of the Hicanatoi, having left Phocas, fled to Romanus; which was the origin of the overthrow of Phocas’s affairs. Him followed also Balantius and one who is called Atzmorus, both being tribunes. Leo Phocas, therefore, having come with a great host to Chrysopolis—which [place] has its name from the fact that Alexander, happening upon the city of Byzantium, at a certain place of it pitched his camp for his people, and having placed a wall around it, named it Strategium, and from there migrating and going over to the opposite side, distributed a sufficient quantity of gold to his own people, [for which reason] it is called Chrysopolis. Those who [have it] from the gold from its mines...

^A assert that it is so named, just as ^A Chalcedon [is so called] from having copper, or from Chalcis, the daughter of Nicomedes, who founded it. In this Chrysopolis, then, the wife of the Athenian general Chares, named Damalis, died, when he had been sent from Athens to bring aid to the Byzantines. Above her tomb, because of the similarity of the name, a statue of a heifer was set up on a column, with an epigram joined to it that reads as follows:

I am no image of the Inachian cow, nor from my Name has the appellation been given to the straits of the Bosporian sea. For her, long ago, the heavy wrath of Hera drove, But I who am hidden in this tomb am a dead woman of Cecrops. I was the wife of Chares; I came here as his companion on the voyage, To fight against the fleet of Philip. Then I was called the Heifer [Bucula], now that I am heard as the wife of Chares, I rejoice in both continents.

15. Having occupied Chrysopolis, therefore, as has been said, he drew up his battle lines from Damalis to Chalcedon, striking fear into those in the city. ^C Simeon, the prefect of the inkstand [the canicleion], is sent therefore by Romanus in a fast ship, carrying a letter subscribed by the hand of the Emperor Constantine: "I have found no one among my subjects to be a more vigilant guardian, or more immensely benevolent and faithful to my imperial power than Romanus. To him, therefore, after God, I have entrusted the task of guarding me, and I have determined that he should be held in the place of a father, having shown towards me fatherly bowels and a disposition as befits parents. But this Leo Phocas, whose plots were always suspect to me, I have now found him by his very actions to be a plotter, and one who has rebelled against my majesty by tyranny. Wherefore it pleases me neither that he be any longer [my] domestic, nor do I say that he has woven this web with my counsel; but by his own will he has stirred up such a disturbance and made this incursion, with the sole purpose of transferring the sum of affairs to himself." When these things were read out to the military ranks, all began to withdraw and flock to the Emperor's father, Romanus. Phocas, being helpless in counsel, took flight to the fortified city of Aetos; but he was not received there at all. Reaching a place called Goelon, he was met by those pursuing him and captured; and by John Tubaces and Leo his kinsman, who were sent by Romanus to bring him back, he was blinded without Romanus's knowledge.

16. In the month of August, a conspiracy was denounced, plotted by Constantine Ctematerus, ^D David Camulianus, and Michael, the curator of the Manganum; for which reason they were also beaten, their goods confiscated, and for the sake of ignominy, they were led through the city and sent into exile. Zoe Augusta was also caught plotting against the life of Romanus through poisoned foods; for this reason, she was cast out of the palace and shorn [as a nun] in the monastery of Saint Euphemia. There was invited to the banquet [Theodore, the Emperor Constantine's...]

pedagogue and his brother Symeon by Theophylact the patrician and Count of the Stable; and while they were eating, John Curcuas, the Drungary of the Watch, entered with a numerous band of attendants, and having seized them—as if they were conspiring against Romanus—he banished them to the Opsikion theme.

17. On the twenty-fourth day of the month of September, Romanus is honored with the dignity of Caesar; and on the seventeenth day of the month of December ^A in the year 6458, he is crowned with the imperial crown by the Emperor Constantine and the Patriarch Nicholas. On the day of the holy Theophania [Epiphany], Theodora, his wife, is crowned Augusta. And on the same day of the same month, of the eighth indiction, Christophorus the son of Romanus is declared emperor; he is also proclaimed Augustus by the Emperor Constantine on the holy day of Pentecost; and the two of them proceeded alone in state through the city.

18. In the month of July of the same indiction, the union of those who were in schism took place.

19. In the month of October of the ninth indiction, Stephanus the Master, having fallen under suspicion of aspiring to the imperial throne, was shorn [as a monk] on the island of Antigoni together with his men, Theophanes Ticheotes and Paul the Orphanotrophos. ^B Another conspiracy was then reported to be plotted by Arsenius and Paul of the Manglabitai; who, having been scourged and their property confiscated, were sent into exile.

20. Rentakes the Helladic, having become a parricide, since he had plundered all his father’s goods and fled to the city, prepared there to flee to Bulgaria with forged documents he had drawn up. He was captured, therefore, and blinded.

21. And again the Bulgarians make incursions as far as Katasyrtai after the death of the Duke Adralestes. Pothus, the son of Argyrus, the Domestic of the Schools, was appointed in his stead; and having led an army as far as Thermopolis, he sent Michael, the son of Marolis, to scout the Bulgarian camp. He, having fallen unexpectedly upon their ^C wedge of troops, slew many of the Bulgarians, but he himself was wounded and, having been carried into the city, he died.

22. A conspiracy is again reported against Romanus, which was to have been carried out by Anastasius the Sakellarios, Theodoretus the Cubicularius, Demetrius the protonotary of the Eudikon, and certain others, as if they were supposedly struggling on behalf of the Emperor Constantine. They were convicted, scourged, and, having been led through the middle of the city, were sent into exile.

23. Romanus, using this as a pretext, demotes the Emperor Constantine and places him second to himself. Again, therefore, the Bulgarians make an excursion as far as the Manglaba. Emperor Romanus, having learned of this, sends John the ^D Rector together with Leo and Pothus the Argyroi, having with them a sufficient multitude from both the tagmata and the federates, to receive their attack. One...

^A of the *hetairia*—with whom were also the patrician and *droungarios* of the fleet, Alexius Masele, with his own men—was present. Therefore, having drawn up their men in the plains and lower-lying places of the Pegai, when the Bulgarians suddenly appeared from above in an armed phalanx and filled the air with a confused and terrifying clamor, and charged against them with a most powerful onslaught, the commander immediately took to flight. Photinus, son of Platypus, while sustaining the role of defending him, was killed. Some of the others were slaughtered by the sword, others perished submerged in the sea; the rest were led away as captives. The Argyroi escaped by fleeing to the small fort. The Bulgarians, with nothing to delay them or stand in their way, set fire to the palaces of the Pegai and burned down the entire Stenon.

24. In the month of February, in the tenth indiction, on the twentieth day, Theodora, wife of the Emperor Romanus, having passed away, was buried in the house of the same Romanus, which he had converted into a monastery. And Sophia, wife of the Emperor Christopher, was crowned with the imperial crown. At this same time, the Curopalates of Iberia came to the city, and was received with honor with a solemn procession and parade; and Saint Sophia, adorned in magnificent splendor, was shown to him. Entering it, and being struck with wonder at the miracle of the thing, he returned home. ^B

25. Again, the Bulgarians, in the month of June, came as far as the palaces of Saint Theodora, and having burned them, they plundered the rest. And again, a battle having been joined, the Romans were put to flight. But the man called Sachtekes, having performed many noble and brave deeds of valor, and having killed many, when he proved unequal to the multitude, received a mortal wound and began a flight, and having been placed in the temple of the Blachernae, he immediately died. ^C

26. A revolt having occurred in Chaldia by Hadrian the Chaldean and Tatzates the Armenian, on the advice of Bardas Boila, who was *praetor* in Chaldia (by whom also the fortified position of Paiper was seized), John Curcuas, Domestic of the Schools, having joined battle with them and overcome them, blinded the more illustrious ones and confiscated their properties, but commanded the poor and obscure to depart unharmed wherever they wished. Tatzates, however, having escaped to another fortified position and having sought a pledge of safety, entered the city; and having been promoted to *magistros*, he lived under guard in the Manganas. But while he was devising a flight, he was captured and blinded. Bardas Boila, by the clemency of the emperor, was shorn in the manner of a monk. ^D

27. But when Symeon with his entire army had besieged Adrianople and was attacking the city strongly, since a harsh famine was pressing upon the besieged and there was no means left for them to obtain grain, they betrayed themselves and their commander to the Bulgarians. This man was the son of Moroleon, or rather (to speak more accurately) Thymoleon, a man who was excellent in other respects, and most famous for his noble exploits in war, and for many things against the Bulgarians

^A he showed himself conspicuous. Having therefore gotten possession of him, after showing him countless tortures and indignities, Symeon finally put him to death. He then withdrew, having handed over the guardianship of the city to the Bulgarians. But those who had been left as a garrison, having heard of the Romans’ attack against them, left the city and went away, and it returned again to Roman rule.

28. When Leo of Tripoli had arrived with a large force at the island of Lemnos, John Radinos the patrician and druungarios of the fleet fell upon them suddenly and destroyed them all in slaughter, with only the Tripolitan himself escaping by flight.

29. In the month of September, in the second indiction, Symeon the Bulgarian again campaigned with his whole army against Constantinople; and he ravaged Thrace and Macedonia, burning and destroying everything, and cutting down the trees, until he arrived at the Blachernae; and he requested that Patriarch Nicholas and some of the magnates be sent to him, so that they might confer with him concerning peace. Both sides therefore received hostages, and they went out—the Patriarch, Michael Stypiotes the patrician, and John the mystikos who held the position of supreme power; for by then John the rector, having been denounced for conspiracy, had been tonsured in the manner of a monk. While these were negotiating with Symeon concerning peace, he himself wished to see the Emperor Romanos. Having heard this, the Emperor rejoiced greatly, for he was filled with the desire for peace and longed for the shedding of blood to finally cease. Therefore, sending to the shore of Cosmidion, he constructed a very strongly fortified landing-place upon the sea, so that the imperial trireme might sail through ^B and moor alongside it; and, having fenced it off on all sides, he ordered a partition wall to be made in the middle, where they were to speak with one another. During these events, Symeon sent a detachment of his men and burned the temple of the most holy Theotokos at the Pege, which the Emperor Justinian had built, along with everything around it, showing clearly from this that he did not desire peace, but was deceiving the Emperor with vain hopes. But the Emperor, coming with the Patriarch to the Blachernae, entered into the holy shrine ^C and, extending his hands in prayer, then falling prostrate, he watered the holy ground with his tears, beseeching the all-immaculate Theotokos to soften the unyielding and relentless heart of the proud Symeon and persuade him to agree to peace. Taking up, therefore, the holy maphorion of the all-holy Theotokos from the chest ^D, he went out from the temple and reached the appointed place. It was the ninth day of the month of September, the fifth day of the week; and at the fourth hour Symeon arrived, leading with him an infinite multitude, divided into many contingents—some of them with golden shields and gilded spears, others with silver shields and silver-plated spears, and others adorned with every color of weaponry, all of them encased in iron; and those in their midst who surrounded Symeon acclaimed him as emperor in the Roman language. All the senate, sitting upon the walls, watched from afar the things that were being done. There was therefore then vi

^A to be seen a soul that was truly imperial and magnanimous, and one had to marvel at his fearless spirit and the stature of his courage, that, seeing such an onslaught of enemies, he was not struck with dread nor did he shrink or retreat, but just as if he were entering into a throng of friendly lands, he proceeded so calmly, appearing to offer his own life to the enemy as a ransom for the salvation of his subjects. Therefore, having arrived first at the stated landing-stage, he awaited Symeon. When, however, hostages were taken from both sides and the Bulgarians had searched the landing-stage thoroughly, lest any trickery or ambush might be hidden there, Symeon dismounted from his horse and entered to the emperor. Having therefore greeted one another, they began conversations concerning peace. And it is said that the emperor spoke to Symeon as follows: ^B "I have heard that you are a man who worships God and is a true Christian, yet I see your deeds in no way according with the reports and your words. For it is the mark of a man who worships God and is a Christian to cherish peace and love, since God is and is called love, whereas it is the mark of a godless and faithless man to rejoice in slaughter and blood unjustly poured forth. If, therefore, you are a true Christian, as we firmly believe, put an end at last to this unjust slaughter and the shedding of unholy blood, and strike a pact of peace with us Christians, being and being called a Christian yourself, and do not wish to stain the right hands of Christians with the blood of fellow-Christian believers. You are yourself a man, awaiting death and resurrection and judgment and retribution, existing today, only to be dissolved into dust tomorrow. A single fever will extinguish all the haughtiness of a proud spirit. ^C What account, therefore, will you render to God for these unjust slaughters when you have departed from human life? With what countenance will you gaze upon the terrible and just Judge? If the desire for riches agitates you, I shall sate you with them until you have your fill. Only hold back your right hand, embrace peace, and cherish harmony, so that you yourself may live a life that is peaceful, bloodless, and free from trouble, and so that the sorrows and deaths of Christians may finally come to an end. For it is a sin that they should take up arms against those who worship the same faith."

30. Having said these things, the emperor fell silent. ^D Symeon, however, having been moved to reverence by such great humility and such words, gave his assent to establish peace. Having therefore greeted one another and separated, the emperor treated Symeon with magnificence, presenting him with noble gifts. What happened then, I shall narrate, for it was a prodigy and a thing new and unheard-of, at least in the opinion and judgment of those who know how to discern such things. They say that two eagles flew down from above while the sovereigns were talking together, and that they shrieked and grappled with one another and then immediately parted, one flying toward the city and the other toward Thrace.

Those who observe such things accurately deemed this no good omen; for they declared that the two leaders would never be united in peace, but would separate. Symeon, having reached his own camp, reported to his grandees the wisdom and humility of the emperor, and he extolled his appearance, his strength, and his dauntless spirit. ^A

31. In the month of December, Romanus the emperor crowned his sons, Stephen and Constantine, in the Great Church. As for his son Theophylact, who was a eunuch, Nicolaus made him a cleric and, appointing him syncellus, ordained him subdeacon. ^B

32. On the fifteenth day of the month of May, in the third indiction, the patriarch Nicolaus died, having held the patriarchate for thirteen years from the time he ascended the throne for the second time; he was buried in his own monastery of the Galacreni. In the month of August, Stephen, the metropolitan of Amasea, who was a eunuch, became patriarch. Joannes, the mystikos and sub-adjutor, because he was convicted of plotting against the emperor and harboring revolutionary designs, took flight and was tonsured a monk in the monastery of Monocastanus. Constantine Boelas was likewise tonsured on Olympus. The emperor Romanus appointed the sub-adjutor Theophanes as protovestiarius. At that time, a terrifying earthquake occurred in the Thracesian Theme, along with a great and horrific chasm in the earth, such that many estates, places, churches, and men were swallowed up and perished in the vast abyss. ^C

33. On the twenty-seventh of May, in the fifteenth indiction, Joannes the astronomer said to the emperor Romanus: "The statue standing above the arch of the Xerolophus, with its face turned to the west, is the figure of Symeon. If you cut off its head, Symeon will die at that very hour." The emperor therefore sent a minister by night who cut off the head of the statue; and at that same hour, Symeon died in Bulgaria, having designated his son Peter, whom he had born of his second wife, as prince and successor, while he had Michael, born of his former wife, tonsured as a monk. Joannes and Benjamin, brothers of Peter, brought a letter written in Bulgarian. ^D

34. When the surrounding nations, the Croats and the rest, heard of Symeon's death, they planned to wage war against the Bulgars. And since a great famine and a plague of locusts were pressing hard upon and afflicting Bulgaria, the Bulgars feared even more an onslaught by the Romans. For this reason, they also went on campaign against Romania and pillaged Macedonia. But the Bulgars, hearing of the emperor's expedition against them, became concerned for peace and sent a monk named Calosyris, an Armenian by birth. The envoy was received most kindly by the emperor, and once peace had been confirmed,

he requested to conclude a marriage contract with the emperor. Having come to an agreement that they would give to him, Peter, the daughter of the Emperor Christopher, Maria, they wrote to Peter to come. Nicetas the Magister, father-in-law of the Emperor Romanus, is therefore sent to meet him and bring him to the city. Upon their arrival at the Blachernae, the emperor went out to greet them; he embraced the guests with the greatest courtesy. A more private discussion took place, and they signed the peace treaties and marriage contracts, with the Protovestiarius Theophanes acting as ^A intermediary and facilitator. On the eighth day of the month of October, Peter and Maria received the nuptial crowns in the church of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Pegae, with Patriarch Stephen bestowing the blessing. When all the festive customs of the nuptials had been joyfully performed, the Bulgarians made no small contention that Christopher should first be acclaimed with auspicious shouts and invocations, and then Constantine; the emperor consented to this. A few days later, Peter took his wife, Maria, and departed for Bulgaria.

35. Envoys arrive from Melitene, and with them their commander, Apolasath. Being received by Romanus with fitting honor, they concluded treaties of peace and returned to their own land. From that time on, they fought alongside the Romans against their own kinsmen, the Saracens, and in the processions of triumph, they entered the city together with the Romans, leading captive Hagarenes: a thing truly wondrous and unheard of, and a sure proof of the misfortune ^B of the godless Hagarenes. But after the death of Apolasath, a man of prudence and wisdom, those dwelling in Melitene broke the peace. An expedition was therefore undertaken against them by John Curcuas, Domestic of the Schools, with the legions and field armies, and by Melias with the Armenians; they reduced Melitene and the surrounding territory to such straits that the emperor turned it into a curatoria (what we call a province) and commanded that many thousands of gold and silver pieces be received from there as an annual tribute.

36. Furthermore, Nicetas the Magister, father-in-law of the Emperor Christopher, was accused on the grounds that he had suggested to his son-in-law that he should usurp the throne against his own father and drive him from the empire. For this reason, ^C they expelled him from the city and made him a monk.

37. On the eighteenth day of the month of June, in the sixth indiction, Patriarch Stephen died, having held the see for two years and eleven months. On the fourteenth day of the month of December, they brought in Tryphon from the Opsikion, a man testified to for his piety and holiness, and ordained him patriarch for a fixed term. Since he could not endure to perform the office for a fixed term, but wished to hold the see until the end of his life, they led him into their own design by this ruse. For when he was unwilling to give his consent, they said that he did not know his letters and could not write, and that for this reason he was resisting and objecting. Wishing to prove to them ^D that he could both write and read, he asked for

paper and ink. They brought him a new tome, and down near the end, they had him write: "I, Tryphon, by the mercy of God monk and patriarch, finding what is written above acceptable and giving my assent to it, have signed with my own hand." Having received this, they consecrate him patriarch. Then they write above the signature of the patriarch Tryphon whatever they themselves wished; and after the completion of the stated time, they depose him, although against the patriarch's will, yet persuaded by his own signature and unable to bear the deception. This was done because Theophylact, the son of the Emperor Romanus, was now reaching the required age and appeared mature enough for the priesthood. ^A

38. On the twenty-fifth day of the same month, there was a winter so unbearable that the earth did not thaw from the frost for one hundred and twenty days. From this, a great famine and much mortality resulted, so that the living were not sufficient to carry out the dead. ^B Wherefore, the Emperor Romanus, having pondered that unbearable force of the cold and desiring to alleviate the want caused by the famine, blocked off the spaces of the porticos with boards and installed windows, so that the snow and the cold might not enter in upon the poor from those places; and he constructed boxes in all the porticos. He ordered that silver should be given monthly to the poor taking shelter in these, and that quarterly allowances be distributed to the poor in the churches, so that the total distributed each month reached twelve thousand stamped silver pieces. Three poor men ate with him daily, each receiving one coin. On Wednesdays and Fridays, he likewise brought in monks, who each received one coin. There was also one of the boys who read at his table. Being a lover of monks, if anyone else were led by such an affection, he would pour out into tears when speaking of his actions to all the men who were zealously striving for virtue. He provided ornamentation of every kind for the churches; he sent gifts and stipends to the monks exercising their duties on the mountains everywhere. He cherished the monasteries and, for those who had cut their hair for God in them or were even recluses, he ceased not to provide established stipends. We have recounted these things as a few out of many of his countless deeds of accomplishment and almsgiving. ^C

39. John, the brother of Peter the Bulgar, conspired against him along with other grandees of Symeon. When they were discovered, John was beaten and shut up in prison, while the others were subjected to no common punishments. When the emperor learned of this, he sent and brought John to himself. ^D

40. On the second day of the month of March, a man named Kosmites fell in the Forum from among the columns standing in order there, and he crushed six men. A fire also occurred at the portico of the Theotokos of the Forum, and the wax-chandlery and furriers' shops were burned as far as the Pychai.

41. In the month of August, of the fourth indiction,

^A Emperor Christophorus passed away and was buried in the house of his father. Patriarch Tryphon also, having fulfilled the appointed time in his office, was removed and ended his life in his own monastery. The Church remained widowed of a pastor for one year and five months, because of the youth of Theophylact, the son of Romanus.

42. A certain imposter, Basilius the Macedonian, falsely claiming to be Constantine Ducas, enticed many to follow him. Having been seized, he had one of his hands cut off. Then, finding an opportunity, he returned to the Opsikion; having fitted in its place an artificial hand made of bronze ^B and fashioned an oversized sword, he went about deceiving many, pretending he was Constantine Ducas. Having seized a fortress called "Flat Rock" (Lata Petra) and gathered a great store of provisions, he stirred up a great rebellion against the Roman state, plundering those who fell into his hands and ravaging the province. But when he was captured again, he was brought into the city and they burned him in the Forum of the Amastrianus.

43. In the month of February, of the fourth indiction, on the feast of the Meeting of the Lord (Hypapante), the aforementioned son of the emperor, Theophylact, was ordained patriarch, when vicars arrived from Rome bringing a synodical tome ^C prescribing his ordination; by them he was also installed upon the patriarchal throne. Romanus the emperor took for his son Stephen a wife, Anna, the daughter of Gamalas, who, together with the nuptial crown, was also adorned with the imperial diadem.

44. In the month of April, of the seventh indiction, occurred the first incursion of the Turks against the Roman territory; they overran as far as the city and ravaged all the Thracian populace. The patricius and protovestiarius Theophanes was therefore sent, and he made a peace agreement with them.

45. On the fourteenth of the month of January, Romanus took a wife for his youngest son, Constantine, from the race of the Armeniacs, namely Helen, ^D the daughter of the patricius Hadrian; and she having died, in the second month of February he wed him to another wife, from the family of that Mamos, named Theophano.

46. In that same year, the Russians, also called Dromitai (as if one were to say "the wanders" and "expeditious in movement"), originating from the Frankish race, came with a fleet of ten thousand ships to attack Constantinople. The protovestiarius Theophanes was therefore sent against them with naval forces, and having drawn up the fleet, he withstood their attack. Now when they had reached the Pharos in the Euxine Pontus (a "Pharos" is a mole or tower upon which a flame is lit to guide travelers by night; the Euxine Pontus is so called by antiphrasis, as if it were "hospitable," for it was known as "inhospitable" on account of the constant outrages of the robbers there against travelers; once these were destroyed by Hercules, the travelers, having gained security, renamed it the "Euxine")—in the place they call Hieron, which means temple (a name it received because those sailing in the Argo

^A condiderunt), he suddenly attacked them, burning some of their ships with fire and putting others to flight. Consequently, the enemy having been entirely routed and put to flight, he sank some of their ships along with their crews into the sea, while taking a great multitude of others alive. Those who remained sailed to the eastern region, to a place called Rhogas. And concerning the unit which they had sent into the parts of Bithynia for the sake of necessary forage and provisions, Bardas Phocas, having been sent for this purpose with a company of chosen horsemen, intercepted their path, encountered them, and slaughtered them all. But also Curcuas, having descended with all the troops of the East and finding the remnants of the routed army, brought about their destruction. They had burned many places and temples, and those Romans whom they captured, some they crucified, others they impaled in the ground; and as for those of the clergy, having tied their hands behind their backs, they killed them by driving iron nails through the middle of their heads. When winter was already setting in, and they were wishing to depart for their homes, they were eager to escape the notice of the fleet. Therefore, they set sail by night, but the patrician Theophanes met them. [P. 491] And immediately a second naval battle was joined, and a great many ships were sunk. Those few who survived with their vessels and ran into the shore of Coele, escaped under the cover of night. Having returned after a great victory, Theophanes was honorably and magnificently received by the emperor and honored with the rank of *parakoimomenos*. ^B 47. In the month of April, in the first indiction, the Turks again came with a very great force; but the *parakoimomenos*, going out, made a peace treaty with them, by which peace was maintained for five years. 48. In the second indiction, Paschalius, *protospatharios* and strategos of Longobardia, is sent to the king of the Franks, to bring back his daughter to be married to Romanos, the son of the emperor’s son-in-law Constantine. Paschalius brought her back, along with much wealth; and the wedding took place in the month of September, in the third indiction. She lived for five years with her husband and died, during the days of the empire of her father-in-law Constantine, who had by then once again attained the supreme power. 49. In the month of December, in the fourth indiction, a violent and strong wind having blown, the so-called demes in the Hippodrome situated opposite the imperial throne fell down and crushed the seats and pillars beneath them. After some time had elapsed, in the same month, the sons of the emperor Romanos cast him out of the palace. ^C 50. Regarding the city of Edessa, in which was kept the holy image of Christ not made by hands, it being besieged by the Roman army, its inhabitants sent an embassy to the emperor Romanos, promising to provide this to him if he would lift the siege. Which also ^D

it so happened. For a golden bull was granted so that their land and province would no longer be plundered by the Romans. The sacred image having been sent, the cubicularius Theophanes met it with a magnificent display of candles and lights, and with becoming reverence and hymnody, received it at the river Sangarius. On the nineteenth day of the same month, he entered the city with it. The emperor, who was at Blachernae, venerated it piously there. On the following day, the emperor's two sons, Stephen and Constantine, along with his son-in-law Constantine, went out to the Golden Gate with the patriarch Theophylact and the entire senate, and the people also following with lamps and torches; they escorted it on foot to the church of Holy Sophia of God, and having piously venerated that sacred pledge there, they carried it into the palace. ^B

51. In those days a certain prodigy from Armenia arrived in the city: two male children, born from one womb, with all members of the body perfect; but from the navel to the pubes they were joined to one another, facing each other. Having stayed for a very long time in the city, they were admired by all as a huge and singular prodigy; wherefore, as a thing of ill omen, the monster was expelled from the city; it returned to it again, however, when Constantine had gained the head of affairs alone. After one of these twins had died, certain skilled physicians thought to separate with subtle art the joined part, hoping that the other might be preserved alive. He, however, having survived for three days, expired.

52. The emperor, as I have said above, held immense faith toward all monks, but especially toward Sergius, who was preeminent among monks for the sanctity of his life, and he honored and venerated him beyond measure. He was the brother of the magister Thomas, nephew of the patriarch Photius, whom he valued more for the nobility of his soul than for the nobility of his body, which made him all the more illustrious; the rectitude of his discretion, the grace of his countenance, and the modesty of his mind and composition of character commended him marvelously. His speech flowed sweeter than honey; his mind was firm and robust, his sense of soul abundantly humane and modest. The emperor always kept this illustrious man with him as a rule and plumb-line, so to speak, for composing his whole life everywhere. And he kept urging the emperor again and again to take care of his sons, and not to allow them to be undisciplined and to decline into wickedness for lack of chastisement, lest the same thing that happened to Eli should come upon him, and he himself pay the penalty for his sons' crime; which also came to pass. For just a few days before now, when all were examining the undefiled image of the Son of God expressed on the linen, the noble sons said that they saw nothing but the face, but his son-in-law Constantine said he saw eyes and ears. To whom the

^A noble Sergius said: "Well have both of you seen." They replied: "And what does the difference in each of these signify?" He answered: "It is not I, but David the prophet who says: 'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.'" Having heard this, they were filled with rage and took counsel against him. Wherefore they also cast their father out of the palace and banished him to an island; in which very place, the Emperor Romanus found again the solace of sad things and a soothing remedy for his afflictions. With him also dwelt the most religious monk Polyeuctus, himself likewise providing comfort with fitting service. This man, as the Patriarch Theophylact had passed away, was himself appointed Patriarch of Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine. ^B Yet he too was introduced to the Emperor Romanus by the aforementioned most religious monk Sergius in the following manner: since Theophylact, the son of the Emperor Romanus, was often falling ill, Romanus begged Sergius to take up the office of patriarch. When he steadfastly and heartily refused this, his constancy was tested for many days. And he said at length: "If it pleases the emperor, I have a patriarch, a man religious and suitable, but also one possessing wisdom as great as the affairs of this see require." To whom Romanus said: "I beseech you, let me see the man." And so Polyeuctus comes with Sergius; and when both had entered to the emperor, the emperor himself was sitting on his bed, and Sergius sat with him, but Polyeuctus was commanded to sit apart on a stool. The emperor asks Polyeuctus for something useful from the Scriptures, looking to hear his manner of speech, as is the custom among men. ^C But he, being quick-tempered, answered somewhat austerely and decisively in a harsh voice: "Let him who sits with your imperial majesty on your bed interpret it himself." The emperor immediately received the speech into his heart like a dart of envy; but the blessed Sergius, wishing with his natural sagacity and sense of humanity to soften what had been so blurted out, cast himself at the feet of Polyeuctus, and said: "Pray for me, holy Father, that for so long time I did not recognize myself in my disordered ways." The emperor asked why he had acted thus. To whom he said: "Because he who is in charge ought to conduct himself so, and especially he who is set over the Church; and not to do anything out of partiality for persons." From that time on, Sergius could never be persuaded to sit on the emperor's bed at all. ^D 53. Stephen, therefore, the son of Romanus, rebelling against his father, and having taken into his counsel Marianus, who had been a monk, and Basil, surnamed Petinos, as well as Manuel Curtices, with the other Augusti also being privy to it, since he saw him wasted by severe illness and old age, and that he had ordered the affairs of the empire by the tablets of his will, and had determined that Constantine Porphyrogenitus should be the first emperor, and then subsequently his sons

and having explicitly secured this with them, that if they should in any way transgress against the first emperor or violate his majesty, they should be immediately deposed from the empire, he shamefully drove him out of the palace, and having exiled him to the island of Prote, he punished him with the monastic tonsure.

The Empire of Constantine Porphyrogenitus

^A 753 1. The emperor Constantine, his son-in-law, was therefore left as emperor on the twentieth day of the month of December, of the third indiction, in the year 6454. He immediately created Bardas Phocas magistrate and Domestic of the Schools, and Constantine commander of the naval forces, as well as certain other energetic and industrious men as tribunes. He made Petinus patrician and Count of the Stable, and Curtice patrician and Drungary of the Watch; for whom divine vengeance followed shortly after, in that they had behaved wickedly against the Lord's anointed. For, being caught in an act of high treason, both departed this life by a miserable death.

^B 2. After a space of forty days, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, suspecting his brothers Stephen and Constantine, lest they should attempt the same things against him—as was reasonable, for if they had not spared their own father, how would they spare him?—what, then, becomes of his brethren? It is said, for: "Evil communications corrupt good manners." Having received them at a banquet and feasted them sumptuously, even while the food was not yet swallowed, those who were prepared for this seized them and, having enrolled them in the clerical order, deported them to islands not far away. Shortly thereafter, they sought to visit their father, who was a monk, being affected by unendurable grief at the sight. ^C And the father likewise, lamenting, said to them: "I have reared and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." From there they were exiled, Stephen indeed to Proconnesus, then to Rhodes, afterwards to Mitylene, and Constantine to Tenedos, and from thence to Samothrace, where he even plotted tyranny and was killed by his guards. Michael, the son of the emperor Christopher, having been stripped of his imperial sandals, was made a cleric by the patriarch Theophylact. Likewise, he also sent into exile the patrician and ^D *accubitor* Theophanes, as well as George the protospatharios and pincerna, and Thomas the primicerius; all of whom, having been subjected to beating and tonsured, he paraded through the middle of the city in an infamous triumph and sent off into exile. And thus notice was taken of them, because they were found to be seizing an opportunity to bring Romanus back into the palace again.

3. In the month of December, of the sixth indiction, a plot having been formed to bring Stephen back from the island into the palace, since it was reported by Michael Diabolinos, all were captured; some were mutilated by having their noses and ears cut off, and others were subjected to intolerable beatings, and having been placed upon donkeys for the sake of ignominy, they were paraded through the city and sent off into exile.

^A 4. On the 15th day of the month of July, in the sixth indiction, the emperor Romanus died on the island; and his corpse, having been brought into the city, was deposited in his own monastery.

5. After the sole emperor Constantine was left alone, he appointed as his protovestiary Basil, the natural son—born of a concubine—of Romanus, the emperor who had reigned before him, creating him a patrician, a *parakoimomenos*, and the leader of the senate. This man was prudent and learned, and served the emperor in all things sagaciously and decorously. At that time also, the patriarch Theophylact fell ill, and, mastered by that very illness, died, having presided over the Church for 24 years. In his place was ordained the aforementioned monk Polyeuctus, a venerable and most holy man.

6. At that time also, certain apostolic garments that had been hidden in a corner of the city were revealed to the emperor, and, having taken them up with all honor and doxology, he deposited them in the great church of the Holy Apostles. And the relics of Gregory the Theologian, which had been divided, were placed, some in the sanctuary of the Holy Apostles, and some in the church of the Holy Martyr Anastasia.

7. Now, because Bardas Phocas, who was called Domestic of the Schools, was heavy with years and, on account of his age, was not sufficiently equal to the labors of his office, the emperor removed him, and in his place appointed as Domestic his son, Nicephorus, a patrician and General of the East. Likewise, he appointed Leo, the patrician and brother of the same, as General of the West. A great fire occurred near the church of St. Thomas, such that the portico leading to the Iron Gate was burned.

8. It is to be noted further that in the 14th year of the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (for he reached 15 years of rule), his grandson, the emperor Basil, son of Romanus his son, was born. And when the Turks ran down to the very city during the feast of Easter and plundered all of Thrace, and had taken much booty, the emperor immediately sent the patrician and Domestic of the Excubitors, Pothus Argyrus, along with his regiment and the generals of the Bucellarians, the Opsicians, and the Thracesians, that they might pursue them; and these, falling upon them by night, slaughtered them and recovered the booty and all those whom they held captive.

^D 9. They say that at the birth of the Porphyrogenitus, a bright star appeared for 40 days, and again, at his falling asleep and departure, a star appeared having a dim light. Suffering from illness, therefore, and having made his son Romanus emperor, he died and was buried in the church of the Holy Apostles alongside his father, the Emperor Leo. In personal appearance he was tall of stature, white of complexion, with full and graceful eyes, an aquiline or hooked nose, an elongated face and neck, and broad shoulders; he was fond of banquets and wine, and sweet of speech. He lived for 55 years, and passed away in the month of November, on the 15th, in the...

6th indiction, in the year 6456, leaving as emperor his son Romanos, together with his mother, Helena. ^A

Roman emperor Romanos, 3 years, 3 months, 5 days.

In the year of the world 6456, of the divine incarnation 956, the Roman emperor Romanos [reigned for] 3 years, 3 months, 5 days. He was a young man in age, ^B vigorous in body, of wheat-colored complexion, [P. 497] bright-eyed, with an aquiline nose, of pleasing appearance, sweet of speech, upright as a cypress tree, broad in the shoulders, quiet and gentle. Left as emperor by his father, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, at the age of 21, along with his son Basil, who was one year old, his mother Helena, and his own wife Theophano, he immediately promoted his father's household members and courtiers to greater honors and dignities, and after enriching them with generous gifts, he expelled them from the palace. He chose and appointed as associates for the administration of public affairs and as leaders of the senate Joseph the patrician and drungary of the fleet, whom he shortly after made *accubitor* (that is, prefect of the sacred bedchamber and of all domestic affairs); John the protospatharios, whom they call Chounos, he appointed patrician and grand hetaireiarch; Sisinnios the protospatharios, who was *exsacellarios*, he appointed prefect of the city, and shortly after patrician and logothete of the drome. His sisters, Zoe, Theodora, Agatha, Theophano, and Anna, he drove out of the royal halls and transferred to the royal residence called the Kanikleion, where Sophia, the wife of the emperor Christopher, already resided in tonsure; after a few days he assigned them to the house of Antiochus, and sent Agatha to the monastery founded by his grandfather Romanos, decreeing that the same expenses they received in the palace should be provided to them. He honored the domestic of the schools and patrician Nicephorus Phocas with the title of *magistros* and sent him to the East. Similarly, he also made his brother, the patrician Leo, *magistros* and domestic of the West. He himself was entirely given over to hunting and the chase, living a life of luxury. He also fathered another son after the death of his father, whom he named Constantine; ^C he was soon crowned by the patriarch Polyeuctos on the ambo of Hagia Sophia. But Augusta Helena, having stayed in the palace with the emperor, eventually fell ill and died on the 19th of the month of September. She was buried in the monastery of her father, the emperor Romanos, and laid in a sarcophagus near him.

2. The emperor sent the *magistros* and domestic Nicephorus Phocas, with a great army and a heavy force of warships and Greek fire, against Crete. Crete had formerly been under Roman rule, until, during the reign of Michael the Stammerer, father of Theophilus, it was captured by Saracens from Spain, while the Roman fleet was meanwhile occupied in suppressing the tyranny and rebellion of the foolish Thomas, who had been a companion and fellow-soldier of [Michael] before

he seized this island, until the day it was again conquered by the magister and domestic Phocas. ^A One hundred and fifty-eight years had passed since those [Saracens] had initially possessed it, until it was conquered again by the magister and domestic Phocas. There were two thousand chelandia (as these vessels are called by the Greeks) equipped with Greek fire, one thousand swift ships, and three hundred sixty supply ships carrying provisions and armaments. Setting sail, therefore, from the Queen of Cities, Nicephorus the domestic came to Phygela, and he was most intent upon this, striving with all care, that his entire fleet should arrive and anchor in one single line. They arrive at the island with great speed, and upon the landing of the ships, they constructed a rampart and a deep trench. As they were thus sitting down before the island, and the immense force of winter, rain, and cold bore down, and their provisions were consumed, the soldiers, becoming numb, thought of returning home. But the most sagacious Nicephorus, and their leader, kept them in the camp through the enticement of his words. Moreover, the emperor, having learned of the scarcity from which the army was suffering, sent them an abundant supply of every kind of food. In the month of March, a fierce battle having been joined, the fortification was captured by the Romans.

3. In the month of October of the second year of the reign of Romanus, there was a famine of wheat and barley in the city, such that four modii of wheat sold for a nomisma, and six modii of barley. A long time did not pass, however, and the price immediately dropped, so that eight modii of wheat and twelve modii of barley were sold for the same.

4. In the month of March, Basilius Petinus was accused by some of desiring the empire; he was sent into exile, where he met his end. When the emperor learned of the capture of Crete, he rendered praise and thanks to God. Not long after, Nicephorus, domestic of the schools, by command of the emperor, entered the city and came on foot from his house to the hippodrome with many spoils and captives, along with the Emir of Crete, called by the name of Kourapalatos, ^B and all his kinsmen, with all the Saracens dressed in white robes. The magister was deemed worthy of great honors and rewards by the emperor, while the Emir, having received many gifts and gold and silver from the emperor, was permitted to live and cultivate lands in the country; yet, because he did not wish to ^C be baptized, he was not admitted to the senate. The emperor Romanus then sent the magister Nicephorus back to the East to break the arrogance of the haughty Hamdanid. Having set out on the expedition, he first captured the fortified city of Aleppo, from which also a great quantity of spoils was gathered. ^D

LIVES OF THE MORE RECENT EMPERORS BY GEORGE THE MONK

IMPERIUM LEONIS ARMENI

^A 1. In the year of the world 6310, and of the divine Incarnation 810, Leo the Armenian, who was a patrician and later appeared as a transgressor, reigned for 7 years and 5 months, having been crowned with the emblems of empire by the Patriarch Nicephorus. For after two years, falling away into impiety and making void the confession of the true faith which he had set down in writing, he lapsed just as Saul did. For he, too, after having administered the kingdom lawfully for two years, turned aside from the straight path and, being stripped of divine grace and delivered over to a most wicked spirit, was armed against David, by whose benefits he had been enriched, and committed the slaughter of the priests. Not otherwise did this most unhappy man, who was hostile to God, after another year—inflamed with fury and driven by madness against piety—exile the divine Nicephorus, by whom he had been bestowed with the crown.

^B 2. Indeed, he appointed as a pseudo-patriarch Theodotus, a man with no light of reason or learning, and indeed more of a slave and more speechless than the fishes, who knew nothing at all beyond impiety; and from that time he fanned the flames of an implacable war against the Church. If, therefore, a change from bad to worse is worthy of amazement, then it is fitting to marvel all the more at this man and his followers than at the Galatians, who were so transferred from him who had called them in the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, save that it serves to provoke God to anger and to draw down divine vengeance.

^C 3. For the new Sennacherib, Krum, emboldened by his previous victory and having left his own brother to besiege Adrianople, invaded the city on the sixth day after the commencement of the empire of Leo. He went about the walls from the Blachernae as far as the Golden Gate, displaying the forces in which he trusted; and having accomplished at the Golden...

^A Gate a place pleasant and well-watered with foul sacrifices, he also sought peace from the emperor, provided that he might be permitted through it to fix a javelin into the Golden Gate. When the emperor refused, he returned to his own tent, having greatly admired the walls of the city and the well-ordered battle array of the emperor. He therefore turns to terms of peace, engaging in discussions for the purpose of testing the situation.

4. But the emperor, seizing the opportunity, attempted to spear him; yet he was prevented from bringing this to completion by the ineptitude of those ministers whom he had selected for the task; for they struck him indeed, but did not inflict a mortal wound. Enraged at this, that most pestilential man sent cavalry to St. Mamas, and burned the palace that was there; and the bronze lion of the Hippodrome together with the bear and the hydra-serpent, as well as the most beautiful marbles, he loaded into wagons and carried away; and having besieged Adrianople, he captured it as well; and finally, having crossed the river with a great multitude and with the noble youth of the Macedonians, he encamped at the Danube river. Meanwhile, Leo was carrying out works of impiety in the city.

^B 5. At that time a comet appeared in the shape of two bright moons joining together and again separating into different shapes, so as to be formed even into the likeness of a headless man; which indeed was an intimation of their headless leader, who afterwards stirred up a commotion against the Christians, and to whom the vain and demented man Thomas served as head and leader, in order that they might detach themselves from the rest of the Christians. Furthermore, there were terrible and successive earthquakes, and famines and droughts and conflagrations of the air, and civil seditions throughout every city and region, beginning from the days of the God-hated and fated one; ^C and it came to pass that the evil of the civil calamity prevailed for a long time.

6. Imitating, therefore, the leader of this abominable heresy, who corresponded to him both in name and in character, he began the heresy. Then, seeking accomplices and fellow-mystics, he found John, called the grammarian—or rather another Jannes or Simon—a man far celebrated for basin-divination, witchcraft, and shameful acts, and some others of the same mind as he, Jannites and Jambrites and Simonites; surrounded by whose throng and keeping them with him in the palace, he calls the illustrious patriarch Nicephorus ^D and the leading bishops and priests with him before the senate, and says: "You know clearly that some have arisen saying that the images ought not to be venerated; and if you wish them to be present and to debate about this, the truth will shine out more clearly."

7. To which the divine Nicephorus made no reply.

^A He said to the nobles standing by: "Tell me, I pray you, can that which does not exist fall?" When they replied with the assurance of their faith, the patriarch again inquired: "Did not the holy images fall during the time of the emperors Leo and Constantine the Isaurian?" When they nodded and agreed that such was the case, he said: "Therefore, they were definitely standing, and they possessed their ancient stature. For how can that which does not exist, and which neither stands nor persists, fall?"

8. Then, as the other bishops set forth such things for the subversion of the heresy, the most holy Euthymius, bishop of Sardis, speaking with freedom and confidence, said: "Take heed, O Emperor, to the brief words I shall speak. From the time that Christ came upon the earth until our present age, as eight hundred years have passed, everywhere among the nations the image of Christ has been erected, and He is adored in the image. Who, therefore, of such stubborn audacity would presume to abrogate and overturn an apostolic and patristic tradition of so much time? Especially when the Apostle says: ^C 'Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word ^D or by our epistle' (II Thess. II, 14). Even if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which you have received, let him be anathema."

9. After him, Theodore also replied, the zealot and fervent defender of the right faith, the abbot of Studium, saying: "Do not overturn, Emperor, the ecclesiastical order and tranquility. For the Apostle has said: 'And God has set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly pastors and teachers' (Ephes. IV, 1). He did not say emperors or kings. For to you, indeed, has been entrusted the civil order and the army. Have care for these, and leave the Church to pastors and teachers according to the divine Word. But if you are not willing to pay heed to these things and be of our faith, know that even if an angel descending from heaven should wish to overturn us, we will not be obedient to his word, much less to the emperor's."

10. The tyrant, therefore, having heard these things, and boiling over with rage beyond measure, and the ape roaring like a lion, drove everyone away with insults, and having expelled the great Nicephorus from the city, and likewise having driven Theodore the Studite into exile, he appointed to the Church Theodotus Cassiteras, an ex-spatharios, a man who had acquired his name from the theater and the stage. And thus that most wicked man, showing himself a beast by his character rather than by his name, became puffed up against piety and persecuted the Church of God with greater spirit, and fought against it more vehemently, until divine justice justly overtook him. The divine Nicephorus, clearly censuring and exposing his most wretched birth, his depravity, his god-hating disposition, his impiety, and indeed the most disastrous end of his life, declares: "God overlooks, and he has risen against us..."

^A a man—though I know not if it is fitting to call him a man, and not rather a beast, and one more savage and bitter than the beasts. For what is more pitiable than this catastrophe, and what is more wretched than this misfortune? What a great evil has encroached upon the empire! In birth he was doubly-born and mixed-barbarian, in character multifaceted, ignoble, and in his mindset unstable—so far as this concerns his immediate kin and that which is commonly known.

11. For he was indeed a native of the Armenian land, ^B from which source he derived that depravity and malignancy of morals. But there is another more remote and ancient account, as certain elders relate who know what has long been handed down concerning him and his ancestors, nor does he trace his birth purely to these, if it be true that he stemmed from a most wretched offshoot of the Assyrian race, from whom rumor says he derived his paternal blood. For he was descended from the children of Sennacherib, who once ruled over the Assyrians and received a mortal wound from his own offspring. For those who raised their murderous right hands against their own father, ^C being defiled with parricidal gore and having become with their own hands the slaughterers of their begetter, immediately fled and found refuge in the territories of the Armenians. From this parricidal seed, preserved through evil fate until our own generation, this fruit of murder—I know not by what divine judgment this evil was assigned to the Roman empire—was born into this light; he who is familiar with the things he knows, guided by wicked and destructive judgments, is reared and increases in the same customs and deeds.

12. ^D From the Assyrian lioness and the Armenian leopard, therefore, a cross-bred and compound and unnatural kind of tiger was born from a bastard and spurious lineage—whether Armenian or Assyrian, more hideous [to behold]. He was given the name of Leo, but he possessed that rapacious strength of a lion for his own security, while in no way adopting its noble qualities. As for the chameleon, as he was in appearance, so also was he in the multifaceted nature of his soul, because of the deceitful and treacherous character of his lineage, from which he was fostered in that hidden and unspeakable malice and guile. For he schemed to keep hidden the darkness and double-dealing that lurked within his mind, and his inclination toward harming others. And how he had labored and practiced himself never to let his heart agree with his lips, so that he might meditate one thing in his mind while uttering other things with his mouth! But indeed, his life had drifted to such a degree of godlessness and wickedness, that even the demonic [nature] of his mind and his wickedness were difficult for all to perceive and observe.

Since, therefore, having obtained the royal authority—or rather, the tyranny—by the permission of God, he pours out all his wrath and deceit against the immaculate faith, and strives in all things to imitate the impious Copronymus, who was superior to him, he entrusts the whole of his life to certain impure and utterly wicked men, notorious for their lascivious and disgraceful mode of existence, with souls and bodies corrupted—sorcerers, poisoners, and deceivers of the people—who have practiced every kind of wickedness and have simply renounced the piety of the Christians.

13. And indeed, he gladly receives and embraces these men, and submits his mind to their vain and soul-destroying teachings and initiations; like a slave of sin, he is made their captive, and seized by the hook of deceit and lawlessness, the wretched man is miserably impaled. For they set before him three conditions, by which he might fulfill their promise: namely, that he should deny our exact and orthodox faith, abolish the divine icons, and stir up persecution against the pious. And thus, they say, he would reach the highest pinnacle of prosperity and, if any other, would extend the life of the present age for the longest and greatest duration.

14. Deceived, therefore, by these and such-like destructive delusions, the senseless and cattle-like man—who was as loathsome and unapproachable in his appearance as he was ugly in the aspect of his face (for although he had the name of a lion, ^B in appearance he was an ape)—becomes even worse in his manners, more insolent in his spirit, more bestial in his mind, with an intractable impetus, ^C unclean, intolerable, more inconsiderate, harsher in his severity, and more cruel in his tyrannical ways.

15. For the miserable and wretched man, having been buoyed up by the false prophecies and machinations of those abandoned wretches, thus quickly stirs up war. And first of all, he moves his God-fighting tongue against our divine dogmas; and then, in this too, he emulates that most impious Copronymus, Conon, and gathering a wicked and swindling assembly ^D similar to his—or rather, a Jewish council—to which this most baneful man became a fellow-counsellor, a leader, and a president, he is seen once again as the abomination of desolation in the temple of the Lord; and a mouth is opened speaking great things against the glory of the Lord, and uttering grand and arrogant words against the dispensation. And thus, the second Caiaphas, with that Christ-hating cohort, babbling many vain things against the truth, abolishes every sacred erection of icons in the Church, and stirs up hatred against Christ and His servants; for Christ was burdensome for him to see in an image and to bear in memory, as were those who were His friends and servants.

^A 16. Therefore, with a demented mind, he railed against all erection of images, [claiming] that it was rejected by Holy Scripture and altogether unknown to it. What, then, could anyone say or respond to these [claims]? Surely, that the words of divine wisdom are unsearchable, and a fool will speak foolish things. For, being exceedingly ignorant and thick-witted, he did not know at all those golden Cherubim which Moses, the interpreter of divine things, fashioned by God’s command, which [also] the ancient and lawful Tabernacle bore above the Ark; which were not only glorified and held in honor among the Jews, but which the herald of grace clearly calls the "Cherubim of glory" (that is, glorified). ^B Furthermore, whatever was fashioned by Solomon’s wisdom, and seen by the divine Ezekiel, and whatever of this kind is recorded and held in honor in the sacred Books—all of which that wretched and profane man did not shudder to consign to the lot of idols—he chose rather to reject and abrogate the divinely inspired Scriptures. Hence, he is justly to be judged as surpassing even the Jews themselves in greater infidelity and greater wickedness, along with his companions, since they indeed felt and proclaimed that faith in a manner worthy of their lost impudence, infidelity, and lack of reason.

17. For instance, in this matter also, they clearly fight against Christ, who, having received a shining linen cloth, ^C representing His own divine form, surpassing all brightness and beauty, faithfully sent it as a gift to Abgar, the ruler of the Edessenes, who had asked for it out of devotion to the faith. From that time until today, following apostolic tradition and teaching, in order to know and keep in memory those things which Christ both did and suffered for us, as they are recorded in the sacred pages of the Gospels, we venerably depict and adore [Him], even if the Christ-haters burst with rage.

18. Moreover, in addition to these things, a tradition and a report worthy of belief has come down even to us, that the divine evangelist Luke painted in an image our Lord Jesus Christ, ^D and also His all-immaculate Mother, and that the city of Rome preserves these sacred images and effigies. And what need is there to speak of the rest that are in Jerusalem, as some who have traveled there have reported; which [the faithful], having traveled there, piously venerating and adoring, as they have done with the very many sacred pictures of old, erected for worthy worship with great accuracy up to the present day? Likewise, it is again written that the leaders of the apostles, Peter and Paul, when they were preaching the mighty works of God in Rome, and the miracles performed by Christ, first transformed into a painting the divine Transfiguration, as it appeared to Moses and Elias in the midst of the holy prophets, and delivered it to the Romans; which also is preserved even until now.

^A 19. By what reasoning, therefore, will the unbelieving and ungrateful turn away their eyes, beholding what even to this day is celebrated and seen as a miracle in the temple of the holy Mother of God, in the city they call Lydda? The apostles erected this sacred building while the blessed Virgin was still surviving in this life. For many have seen what is held and worshipped with veneration—that venerable image not made by hands, expressed upon shining and pellucid tablets, and extending through the whole depth and fullness. Indeed, when certain of the hostile Greeks and Jews attempted to scrape it away out of hatred for Christ, they vanished, their absurd attempt frustrated. For the more they scraped the effigy, the more it shone with greater light and a brighter ray. It remained nevertheless in the same form and habit. The appearance of the face and the clothing, and whatever else strikes the eyes, remained integral to it, not forgotten nor marred by any stain. For they relate that when the holy apostles, relying on the promise of the most holy Mother of God, had erected a temple under the invocation of her name, and she herself, at their request, had entered the temple for the purpose of sanctifying it and had stood by one of the columns, an image of her was found expressed upon the column; which, as has been said, the Greeks and Jews, despite applying force, could not scrape away. ^B

20. Moreover, a witness besides other divine things is the statue which the woman suffering from an issue of blood—by whom she had been cured—set up near her own house to Christ as a monument of gratitude; a most manifest title and herald of the truth most sincere, exhibiting a miracle wrought in her own person, an unheard-of divine sign and prodigy, spreading it far into future generations; concerning which also the great master among those who fashion images, Eusebius, having made mention in his Ecclesiastical History of the miracles performed by the sacred herb which grew there from a divine stock, and how it was a present help and an expeller of evils for all, adds, saying that he had seen the images of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of Christ himself, painted with a brush and colors, which were still in existence. ^C

21. But sight is also a witness, a truthful teacher; and the length of time clearly shows it, as does the construction of the venerable sacred buildings. Furthermore, there is the creation and consecration of the vessels of sacred ministry, ^D effected in ancient times by the pious zeal of the faithful; of which there is a nearly infinite multitude and abundance. There are also the covers of the holy Gospels, which bear sacred forms and figures, exposed to the veneration of all the faithful and worshipped by them. Likewise the divine columns, and what they call the soles, which partition off the venerable holy sanctuary. For indeed, to no one...

^A is there any other purpose than that for them, as the cause of all things, pious veneration should be offered, together with the adjacent figure of the cross, where they were established from the beginning.

22. Enimvero, this beast-named and ^B lion-like man, having ignored all these things, strove as much as possible to turn away every divine icon and consign it to a deep oblivion. For this reason, fighting against God, this thunderstruck man dared to speak openly before the assembly, saying: "Just as we have destroyed the icons from before your eyes, O brothers, so you too, as servants and friends of God and the emperor, should strive to remove them from your souls." For the fool will speak foolishness, and his heart will conceive vain things, to finish iniquity and speak error against the Lord. From that point on, therefore, whoever was found having an icon of Christ or of any saint and worshipping it, the destroyer and bloodthirsty man condemned to terrible torments and punishments. And thus, being torn to pieces every day and slaughtered, the god-fearing were destroyed everywhere; and he murdered many noble and distinguished men.

23. And these things were perpetrated mercilessly and incessantly against the orthodox; but against those in positions of authority and the more affluent, the wicked and all-contriving one finds another evil plan. For desiring to make them miserable and poor, what does he do? He surrounds them with inescapable accusations and charges, inventing pretexts of sins so that, through fear of the charges, they might surrender all their property ^C for the sake of their salvation from that plight. And there were times when he even used force against some of the more manly or more talented, envying them their courage or their gifts of nature, and suspecting them of plotting revolution. Some he blinded, others he mutilated in their limbs; others, keeping them in bonds, he sent to their deaths after a few days. Among these was Michael, who held command over the Excubitor regiment; for he had been slandered to the emperor as plotting against him, and the emperor kept him guarded in prison and in chains.

24. And when the day of the birth of our Savior approached, ^D he wished to kill him that night; but being prevented by his own wife because of the feast, he spared him for the time being. Now Michael, being in prison, when he learned of this, signaled to all those who were plotting with him, saying: "If you do not bestir yourselves to extricate me from the guard, I will denounce all of you to the emperor." There was with them

^A a steward of the palace, himself a kinsman of Michael. These men, having armed themselves by night and carrying swords concealed beneath their cloaks, entered the church in the manner of priests, with the steward having opened the way. And when the emperor had entered the church, they rushed upon him and took away his most wicked and impious soul, ^B in the palace, where none of the emperors before him had been slain.

25. Furthermore, at that very hour, they went into the prison, brought out Michael, and led him into the festival, adorned with imperial robes (that is to say, his head wreathed with a diadem) instead of chains, so that the oracle of the Psalmist might be fulfilled in him: *Weeping shall remain for the evening, and in the morning there shall be rejoicing.* (Ps. XXIX, 6). ^C But afterward, these most wicked men covered his limbs with cheap rags and, having cast his most impure corpse into a small boat, they carried the funeral to the island which they call Prote, and buried him there. In that very place, they tonsured his children and committed them to the ways of life instituted for monks. I do not know for what reason this place was singled out to receive such a stain in place of such great evils.

26. ^D Moreover, one must observe that if the doctrine of these impious and infamous men—and the things which they devise—had possessed any semblance of truth, it would certainly have been preserved and known in other provinces as well. But now, it is nowhere to be seen in the world, that which they so hold. For at the same time, both East and West venerate this evangelical and apostolic preaching and have received it into their practice; and wherever, in any region under the name of Christians, that wicked and corrupt sprout of Christian piety, that dogma hated by God, is heard of, they do not even allow into their minds the memory of those most base and execrable books, except only in this enslaved, downtrodden nation which plays with divine things at its own whim; in which, indeed, licentiousness and the love of earthly things, to linger and wallow on the earth, the earthly mind, and the spirit swollen with pride and arrogance, prevail. Where that blind and carnal love of self, that ruined desire for power, pleasures, and glory reside, to enjoy all things from the heart, to wish to be superior to all, and to be unwilling to be subject even to God Himself; the acquisition and pursuit of human glory, or to speak more truly, of confusion. Hence the...

^A insult cast against God and the holy ones, and the persecution of the Church. Hence subjects, oppressed by their rule or tyranny, are compelled to submit their minds to their doctrines and wills; for the sake of which a weapon is forged and brought forth, under the color and pretext indeed that the things gathered and acquired may be preserved, but in reality devised to storm and lay waste the Church, as though, as they rave, the divinity of Christ were circumscribed in an image; just as if someone, having shown this solar and disk-shaped ^B body depicted in some place, as it is seen to be in some instances, were to dogmatize that the very substance and radiance of the light is also painted and circumscribed, or that the light is altogether cut off from the sun; or again, if someone seeing a sunbeam resting upon a tree, were to imagine with a senseless mind that if the tree were cut down, the beam would also be cut off. The same logic shall be considered in the case of fire and certain other things, so that they may be deservedly mocked by children for their childish games, since they act insane with a folly and madness greater than all others. For if, in the things mentioned, it is not ^C naturally arranged either to happen or to be seen, nor does it even have a place to be spoken of, how much more impossible and unattempted is it to say or conceive these things regarding the hidden and divine nature, or regarding the ineffable and inexplicable dispensation of Christ? For this does not befall Him when He takes on flesh or dies in the body for our sake, since in that case, if a man of our kind were to be depicted in body, it would be necessary that his soul also be depicted, or he must die by their being separated; for what else is death but the divorce and separation of soul and body? Wherefore it is manifest in these things that they are showing themselves to be no less impious than ignorant; for they do not know how much difference there is between what is painted and what is circumscribed, and how distinct these things are by their own ^D respective reasons; and for this cause, being deceived, they speak vanity. But where has a body ever been heard of from all eternity that is neither painted nor circumscribed? Or how shall the definition and account of a body hold firm, if it does not possess these things? Whoever, therefore, does not think that Christ can be painted or circumscribed in body, either does not know what a body is—from which it is evident that he does not even have a correct opinion—or, knowing what a body and soul are, he refuses to acknowledge it. He, therefore,1 who confesses that Christ has assumed a body such as ours, and this [body] is painted and circumscribed, must by necessity also confess the body of Christ to be painted and circumscribed. But if he will not grant the second, then neither the first, which is altogether unreasonable and ridiculous. 27. We do not, therefore, circumscribe [Christ], but we depict [Him]. But the wretches also talk foolishly about something else more absurd; for the one whom they call uncircumscribable, I know not by what fatuity, they monstrously claim is circumscribed along with the image.

^A If they are going to talk nonsense again, saying that Christ ought not to be depicted, the Charybdis of their teachers—Manes, Valentinus, and Marcion—has gaped wide for them. For those who imagine that the divine Word was incarnate only by estimation and phantom are nonetheless struck by the primary blasphemy of this falsehood, while they do not shrink from standing impiously against the entire dispensation, having drawn up a battle line against it. And who are these people? They are the ones who bring calumny against those things that are worthy of praise; they are the dark ones in the light, the unskilled in wisdom, the ungrateful creatures, according to the theologian’s word.

THE REIGN OF MICHAEL BALBUS

having used craft and deceit to seduce a great multitude of Barbarians and Christians, and having gathered an infinite host from diverse nations, he invaded Constantinople with a heavy crowd and a numerous fleet—not unlike some huge, monstrous, multiform, varied, and many-headed beast, with nations of different kinds gathered together. And as another Sennacherim equipped with arms against the new Jerusalem, he boasted magnificently and grew proud with the multitude that followed him, a man full of arrogance; nor did it at all come to his mind, as it seems, what was said by the Prophet: *A king is not saved by much strength, neither shall a giant be saved by the multitude of his power*f; and: *A horse is a fallacious thing for safety*g; and: *The Lord scattereth the counsels of nations*h, and what follows. For although the city did not possess an Ezechias—I mean a pious and virtuous king—yet the Master of the universe and the lover of mankind, the Lord, did not overlook ^B his city and his people under siege. But on account of the misery of the needy and the groaning of the poor, he said then as well: *Now will I arise, and I will protect my city and my people*j—not on account of me and for the sake of David my servant, as it was then and as he says now, but on account of me and for the sake of my Son who sprang from the seed of David, and for the sake of the new Jerusalem which I have chosen.

4. For even in the time of the impious Achaab, when the Syrian had gathered many myriads against him and was boasting and saying: *If Samaria will suffice for all the people of my footmen*k, the merciful God instantly and easily dissolved the insult of the thrice-wretched king, saying: *Behold, I deliver him into thy hands, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord*l; which also came to pass. For immediately he showed to his own and to strangers alike his own power and the truth of David, when he says: *The Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord is mighty in battle*m. For when the engagement took place, Israel struck down twelve myriads of the adversaries. And that both they and the others might learn that the blow was inflicted by God, the wall of a certain city, composed of those who had fled, collapsed and buried twenty-seven thousand in its ruins.

5. Therefore, the simple-minded Thomas, having used this very arrogance of the Syrian and the Assyrian, was laying siege to Constantinople—or rather Theopolis, the City of God—for one year, while the citizens were strenuously arraying themselves against him and fighting both from the walls and with ships; ^D

for they burned most of his ships and routed the select men of his army. ^A Thomas, however, seized by helplessness, left the city and proceeded into Thrace to plunder it. Having plundered it, then, to a certain degree—though not as he had hoped, but as divine providence permitted on account of our sins—he accomplished nothing more of what he had expected in his mind. And so, not only did his endeavor turn out contrary to him and end in failure, but he was also stripped of the fame and strength which he seemed to possess and with which he flattered himself: it is almost as if one might say he had lost everything.

6. The citizens, as has been said, having arrayed themselves ^B powerfully and bravely, and with the divine power and help and the hope of that same race, joining in battle from the walls, by land, and by sea, with strong vigor and constancy of labor, broke almost all of his rotting boastfulness and pride. For they burned with fire those fortifications—I mean to say, his ships and fleet—in which, having foolishly trusted, he was excessively proud and arrogant; and having routed and put to flight the select men of the enemy and their commanders, a great vertigo and helplessness held the unstable and most fickle Thomas. Furthermore, all his manifold and cunning engines, which he thought were unassailable and difficult to capture, they easily and readily rendered useless and destroyed. And in this way, the house of David (that is, the City of God) ^C indeed proceeded and grew strong, while the house of Saul, the troop of the enemy, went on and was truly weakened, and God was glorified. And one could clearly see the holy oracle being fulfilled in him: "You have broken down all his hedges; You have turned his strongholds into terror," and the rest of the Psalm. Therefore, the people of the city also sang: "Some in chariots, and some in horses," and the rest of the Psalm.

7. The divine word, acting as a sponsor and giving them a blessed foretelling of the sudden and most rapid downfall of their enemy, replied—saying little less than this: "Take heart, O children, and cry out to God; for there shall be for you by Him ^D a remembrance of Him who is the avenger." For He who brought upon you these evils, He Himself, along with salvation, has brought to you eternal joy.

8. Since, therefore, the wretched and miserable man, exhausted and misled by his own mind, was fighting foolishly and laboring in vain, and was quite...

frustrated in his purpose, because events were obviously turning against him day by day; and furthermore, having learned that the Emperor Michael had summoned the Bulgarians to his aid against him, he immediately left the city and marched against them with all speed. Having joined battle with them and slaughtered many of their number, he took refuge in Arcadiopolis, intending to find safety there, as he feared that his own strength would diminish and weaken as the campaign progressed. Whereupon those around him, perceiving more clearly both his own terrible deceit and the failure of their vain hope, as well as the destruction that was soon to overtake him, began little by little to retreat and slip away, abandoning him as a vain man and a deceiver of the people. Michael, having learned of these things—namely, that Thomas had been betrayed by his own friends and kinsmen—immediately left the city and marched against him with a vast force. And having besieged him for a short time and captured him without difficulty, he trampled upon his neck according to ancient custom, cut off his hands and feet, and in this manner impaled him, thus putting an end to the grievous and miserable civil war which, due to him, had begun and lasted for three ^A years.

9. Interim, while Michael was preoccupied with the rebel Thomas and intent upon this business, to the neglect of all other matters, Crete and Sicily, and what are called the Cyclades islands, were torn away from the Roman dominion by the Africans and Arabs, who had begun at that time, because of the sins of the people and the impiety of the emperors, to oppress Christian affairs and bring them under their own rule.

10. While matters stood thus and were in this state, Michael died miserably from a difficulty in urinating and pain in his kidneys; he was succeeded on the throne by his son Theophilus, together with his mother Euphrosyne.

THE REIGN OF THEOPHILUS

1. In the year of the world 6326, and of the divine incarnation 826, Theophilus reigned for twelve years ^C—the new Balthazar, a transgresor and hater of God, an insolent destroyer and profaner of the holy icons, and a man of no religion. His mother, Euphrosyne, sent out to all the themes and territories and brought young women of fair appearance, so that a bride might be joined to her son Theophilus in the bonds of marriage. Having gathered them all in the palace, in what is called the Triclinium of Margaret, she gave her son Theophilus a golden apple, saying, "Give this to her whose beauty pleases you." Now there was among them a maiden born of noble ^D lineage, named

^A Icasia, who was surpassingly beautiful. Seeing her and being astonished at her grace and appearance, Theophilus said, "From a woman have come forth evils." But she, with a certain modesty, replied, "But from a woman also flow forth the better things." Struck in his heart by this remark, he left her, and gave the apple to Theodora, who was from the race of the Paphlagonians. Theophilus crowned Theodora in the oratory of Saint Stephen, having himself been crowned with her by the patriarch Antony with the crown of both marriage and empire on holy Pentecost. From there he proceeded to the Great Church, having lavishly entertained the patriarch, the clergy, and the senate. Icasia, frustrated in her hope of the imperial throne, built a monastery; there, having shorn her hair, practicing asceticism and philosophy, she lived for God alone until the end of her life. She also left behind many of her writings, among which is "Lord, in many sins," and the tetraodion for Great Saturday: "O foolish old man," and other things. The king’s mother, Euphrosyne, having voluntarily left the palace, lived a quiet life in her own monastery, which goes by the name of Gastria.

2. Theophilus set a day for the games and ordered Leo Chamaedracon, his protovestiary, to bring the multi-branched candelabrum that had been severed by a sword during the slaughter of Leo the Armenian. When the games were finished, he summoned the entire senate to the place they call the Kathisma. Having produced the candelabrum and shown it to them, he asked, "What is he worthy of who enters the temple of the Lord and kills the Lord's anointed?" The senate answered and said, "Lord, he is guilty of death." ^B Straightway the emperor ordered the prefect to seize those who had taken part with his father Michael in the slaying of Leo, and to behead them in the Sphendone, despite their many objections, saying that the judgment was unjust. "For if we had not fought for your father, O emperor," they said, "you would not be sitting on the throne." And thus, before the eyes of all, they were beheaded—under the pretext that they had dared to commit a murder in the Lord's temple, but in truth because they had killed one who was a fellow-heretic and of the same mind regarding impiety. For ^C the wretch clung to that God-hated heresy and abhorred piety; he was known for pulling down some icons, digging out others, and for exiling and beatingmonks renowned for their piety, and bringing them to shame with other tortures.

3. During his reign, the Saracens came with great forces to the homeland and city of this same wretch and tyrant; finding it strongly fortified and exceedingly well protected by ramparts, supported by a garrison of fifty ^D commanders and tribunes, along with the pick of the soldiers and their ranks, they besieged it for fifteen days in the month of August, then took it by storm, and having taken the military men captive...

and slaughtered an infinite multitude of people. But indeed their fleets also went out and ravaged the Cyclades islands, and made Crete and Sicily subject to them. There was also a huge cold and a most savage and bitter winter, and a strong famine, and droughts of the air, and intemperances and irregularities, and terrible and frequent earthquakes, which were things proving the immeasurable wickedness and evil-doing of the one ruling. For the impious man had sunk into such godlessness and madness that, having accepted and renewed the heavy and most abominable heresy ^A of Copronymus and those with bestial names, he appeared no less in his impiety and licentiousness, his tyranny and senselessness, than that deluded and foolish-minded man. Since, therefore, he was caught in the same error and stupidity and frenzy as those impious and most wicked men, driven by Manichaean madness and Arian rage, he himself also similarly extended persecution against the Church.

4. To this man—or rather, I should say "Misotheus" (God-hater), rather than the name that sounds the opposite, Theophilus—there came as a refugee the Persian Theophobus, together with his father and fourteen thousand Persians, whom he distributed among the provinces, settling them ^B and establishing them in *turmai*, which to this day are called the "Persian *turmai*." And he made Theophobus himself his kinsman, by giving him the sister of Theodora Augusta as his wife.

5. This same Theophilus, through the head of the goldsmiths, a man of great learning and skill and a kinsman of Anthony the Patriarch, constructed what they call the Pentapyrgion, and two very large organs made of solid gold and decorated with various stones and pearls; as well as a golden tree, in which birds sitting upon it sang musically by means of a certain mechanism. The emperor also renewed the imperial robes, restoring and fashioning with gold-weaving what they call the *lora*, and all other things.

6. Pretending to possess worldly justice, while in fact having wronged the faith and piety more than those who had reigned before him, a widow woman approached him in Blachernae (for it was ^C his custom to go there) and cried out that she was being wronged by Petrona, the brother of the Augusta, who was the *droungarios* of the Watch: "For he is raising up his own houses with the new buildings he is constructing, and he is casting shadows over mine and making them useless, as I am but a despised widow." He immediately sent Eustathios the quaestor, nicknamed "the Monk," who lived in Oxeia, together with Leo Symbatios and Demetrios ^D Camulianos, to inspect whether the new

aedifices of the widow against justice and law. llbracketA Depart- ing therefore, and having seen such an injury, and having verified that the things which had been said and charged by the woman were true, when they had returned, they reported it to the emperor; and Petronas having been convicted by them in the eyes of the emperor, with his garments stripped off, he was severely beaten on his back. It was further decreed that the quaestor and the particular receivers or guards, departing, should raze such buildings to the ground and restore them to the woman.

7. He took to himself as a son-in-law Alexius the Armenian, surnamed Musele, a man of strong vigor and energetic, having betrothed to him his beloved daughter Maria, and created him patrician, and shortly after also magister. But later, because he had come under suspicion of having aspired to the empire and as if he were plotting something against him, he sent him away as master of the militia and commander of Sicily. But what manner of thing does envy beget! Certain Sicilians, going up to the emperor, laid a calumny against him, as if he were betraying the affairs of the Christians to the Saracens and against the emperor was stirring up revolutionary plots. ^B Inter these events, Maria, the most beloved daughter of Theophilus, having been taken from the living, he adorned her urn with silver, and placed a scroll of liberty and immunity for those who might flee to it for any crime; which silver Emperor Leo afterwards took away from the tomb.

8. Further, Theophilus, summoning Theodorus the bishop, called the Crithinus, who was at that time staying in the city when Alexius was attacked by calumny, and having delivered to him a pectoral cross, sent him to Sicily to offer the sworn pledge of immunity to Alexius and to bring him to the city to the emperor. He departed, and by the prudence and sagacity of mind with which he was endowed, having persuaded Alexius and having found him amenable, he brought him to the emperor. The emperor, as soon as he had returned, as if he had attempted tyranny and was a rebel, having afflicted him with blows and bound him, and having confiscated his entire estate, threw him into prison. Then Theodorus said to Alexius: I am the cause that you suffer all these dire things. ^C And the emperor having departed to Blachernae according to custom, he himself, anticipating him, stood inside the place of the sacred tribunal, clothed in priestly vest- ment; and as the emperor approached the soleas, the senate surrounding him, the archbishop called out with a loud voice: "Bend thy bow, and proceed prosperously, and reign," for what cause, O king? The emperor, there- fore, revering the senate, said: "For the sake of truth and meekness and justice." [Ps. XLIV, 5.] ^D And he: What kind of justice is in you, seeing that you have not kept the word which you gave by me as a sworn pledge to Alexius? The emperor, not bearing the reproach and inflamed by that anger, violently expelled him from the sacred place of the altar and, having inflicted not moderate blows upon him, relegated him to exile; and not for that reason alone because he had been reproached by him, but because he had heard that he honored and venerated the holy icons and denounced his impiety. But not long after, when the emperor had arrived at the Great Church, and the patriarch had rebuked him for the affair, he brought the archbishop himself back with requests. And since he judged himself unworthy of the priesthood on account of what he had suffered, the emperor

made him steward of the Great Church. He also cast Alexius out of prison, having restored to him all his taken property, holding the man in esteem.

^B 9. There was also Manuel, most famous of all the tribunes and military leaders in the East, whom the emperor held dear. He, having engaged in some conversations with Myron, the logothete of the drome and father-in-law of Petronas, was accused to the emperor by Basil at the suggestion of said Myron, as one who aspired to the empire and was plotting evils against him. Leo, the protovestiary, however, having undertaken the defense of Manuel and being concerned for him, affirmed to the emperor that the things being said about him were false. Manuel, having learned of this, and wishing to avoid the emperor's wrath and the slanders, secretly departed from the city as far as the Gates and, having boarded public carriages, fled as far as the passes of Syria, cutting the hamstrings of his horses. He signified these things to the Hagarenes, that he was fleeing the emperor’s wrath, and that if they did not force him to abandon his own faith, he was seeking refuge with them. "If you accept me on these terms, send me a guarantee of immunity." They, having received this with great joy and having sent a guarantee of immunity, received him as if he were the Emperor of the Romans.

10. Having learned this, the emperor fell into great grief and despondency, and he took counsel regarding this with John the syncellus. He said, "If you earnestly desire, O emperor, for Manuel to return, I myself am ready to do this, having taken money and being sent to the Amerumnes as if to visit those who are in prison and in bonds, having also a signed document from your majesty, by which I will persuade Manuel to come into your sight. I think that I will accomplish this by the signed document of your majesty, and by my own persuasion, and by his piety, and because it is natural for someone to love their fatherland." The emperor therefore sent him off with very many sums of money and gifts for the Amerumnes.

11. Having entered with much money and equipment of every kind, so much so that the Hagarenes were astonished at his wealth, he distributed gifts to those who were in prison, and having seen the protosymbolos, he was able also to converse secretly with Manuel and to give him the signed document and the emperor’s amulet. And having done this, he returned, announcing to the emperor all that he had accomplished. Manuel, having requested from the Amerumnes to go out against a certain enemy nation, obtained his request, and having taken the son of the Amerumnes and a vast multitude, he went forth and achieved a great victory. And by this he was established in greater honor than before, and there was nothing he could not do with the Amerumnes by his favor.

12. Whence, having great concern to depart for

Romania, he said after some time to the nobles of the Amerumnes: "If you grant me the son of the Amerumnes and an army, I will set out and subject Romania to you." They, having communicated this counsel to the Amerumnes, sent him off. He, arriving near the theme of Anatolia, summoned his subordinates and the son of the Amerumnes as if to move camp and go hunting. When he was already far from the enemy, he threw his arms around the son of the Amerumnes, embraced him, and said: "I am departing for my emperor and my own land, for nothing in this life is dearer to me than my country and the men of my race. But you, with your own men, go back to your own people, secure from any harm from us." And he departed back in this manner with tears and shame; but Manuel proceeded to the emperor, having sent one ahead to announce his arrival. ^B 13. The emperor, receiving the messenger as an emissary of great good things, rewarded him liberally with money and honors. He also received Manuel as was fitting, immediately making him magistros and Domestic of the Schools, and he stood as godfather to his children at holy baptism.

14. Elated by these successes, the emperor went out with Manuel and the senate and the whole army against the Saracens; and with an easy operation, having taken Zapetra and Samosata—a city that flourished then in wealth and power, as it was the fatherland of the Amerumnes—he returned, boasting magnificently of his victory and spoils. Arriving as far as Bryas, he ordered a palace to be built, gardens to be planted, and water to be brought—which was done. Then, heading for the city, he celebrated a triumph with his spoils, having held horse races and enacted the first games, riding in a white chariot and dressed in the color of the Veneti. Having appeared victorious, he was crowned, while the factions shouted: "Welcome, incomparable factionary!"

15. When the patriarch Antonios had passed from life, Ioannes the syncellus was ordained in his place—so that I might call him the new Jannes and Jambres ^C, a man famous for magical arts and divinations by the basin and for all impiety. He was, indeed, the suitable instrument for the impiety by which the emperor was afflicted, and he effected everything to his ruin. And the emperor brought forth and gave birth to him whom he was bearing—though he kept the rule of impiety—by ordering the holy icons to be smeared over or abolished.

16. This Jannes constructed before the city a structure of cut stone (now called the Trullos), where he conversed with demons through certain sacrifices and revealed the future to the emperor. ^D Those buildings remained uninhabitable due to the frequent coming of the demons into them at that time.

17. Therefore, Theophilos, having this man as an ally and confidant of his heresy—that second Nectanebo—him whom they called Ioannes, or rather Jannes,

^A a patriarch or a mandriarch, a truly new Apollonius or Balaam, having appeared in our times to our calamity, an interpreter of divination by the basin and a formidable herald of every god-hated deed and prodigy. Being taught by him in his writings, this unstable and deceitful man became a proven servant of the most hostile affairs and a convenient organ of the devil. ^B Concerning whom the divine word quite justly rails in lamentation, saying: "Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts" (Judic. 11, 16). And in their deceptions. What is written by the theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus] in his pointed oration against the like-minded Julian the Apostate would also fit him very aptly; for he appeared very similar to him, having nothing that did not resemble his wickedness and perversity. For he said: "How shall I not weep for the wretch? How shall I not mourn more for those who have surrendered themselves and allowed themselves to be led away, than for those who have endured persecution? Nay, I shall mourn more for those who have voluntarily turned to evil than for those who were carried off by some force. Indeed, for the latter, that which they suffered for Christ's sake is nothing heavy or dire, but is the most blessed of all things, not only on that account, but also for the glory and grace resulting from it, of which they were the authors for themselves through their dangers. But for the others, ^C the things they have already suffered are the prelude to the evils that await them; and it were better for them if they had been punished longer in this life than to be reserved for the just judgments of the age to come." And indeed, just as they say that the chameleon easily changes into anything and takes on all colors except white, so he too was and became everything to Christians, except for gentleness. And his humanity was very inhuman, his persuasiveness was violent, and his kindness was an apology for his savagery. Whence he must be addressed by us: "O most foolish and unlearned man in great matters, you have risen up against such a portion and the whole world? ^D You against the Church of Christ and the sacrifice with your pollutions? You against the blood of Him who cleanses the world, with your own filthy blood? You are a persecutor after Herod, and a traitor after Judas—save only that you have not shown repentance by a noose, as he did—and a Christ-killer after Pilate, and a hater of God after the Jews, an insulter of the saints. Is it more fitting to call you Jeroboam or Achab the Israelite, the most lawless of men, or the Egyptian Pharaoh, or the Assyrian Nabuchodonosor? Or should we, gathering all these into one word, call you one and the same, since you are seen to have gathered into yourself the vices and marks of all: the apostasy of Jeroboam, the bloody slaughter of Achab, the obduracy of Pharaoh, the sacrilege of Nabuchodonosor, and the impiety of all at once."

^A Where are the sacrifices and rites and mysteries? Where are the victims, both manifest and those in shadow? Where are the portents of foreknowledge and the signs of ventriloquists? Where are the prophecies and threats against Christians? All have passed away, have been found false, have melted away. The boastings and arrogance of the impious have appeared as a dream. Bel has fallen, Dagon has been crushed. No longer will they tell the fool to rule over the empire. Even now these things are perhaps small to the wretched; but there shall be a time when I shall see those who insulted me, and the great high-priest and leader of these men, bewailing their own depravity and malice, when all wickedness and evil will be judged and punished.

18-19. Meanwhile, while these things were being carried out by the emperor and his fellow-initiate the patriarch, the Arabs poured forth with great forces into the Roman domain. The emperor, along with the Persian fugitives, the regular troops, and Manuel the Domestic, marched against them. A battle was joined, and the emperor was defeated; he retreated into the midst of the Persians, thinking he would find salvation through them. But Manuel, when he perceived the emperor standing in the middle of the Persians, and realized that they wanted to betray him to the Arabs and through him be reconciled to them, broke through their ranks, ^B seized the bridle of the emperor’s horse, and forced him out against his will; for he considered it a disgrace that could not be borne by the Romans if the emperor of the Romans were taken prisoner by the Arabs. But the emperor, distraught by fear and casting aside rational thought, tried to escape back to the Persians. Manuel drew his sword as if to strike him. Driven by terror and against his will, the emperor followed and barely escaped with his life. From there, having been afflicted with shame and great slaughter, he returned to Dorylaeum. Manuel, falling ill from the wounds he received in battle, departed this life, having performed many noble deeds of war against the Hagarenes. His body was carried away and deposited in the monastery of Manuel, which he had founded himself, near the cistern of Aspar.

20. Immediately there were accusations against the Persians to the emperor, and threats directed against Theophobos as a rebel and traitor and foe. When Theophobos learned of this, he took the Persians, went down as far as Sinope, and having captured it, held it in the manner of a tyrant. ^C When the emperor learned of this and was filled with great grief (fearing, indeed, that they might desert to the Arabs), he himself marched as far as Paphlagonia. Having given them a pledge of security and taken up Theophobos, he returned with him to the city, while the rest of the Persians diverged to where the seats had been assigned to them from the beginning. Theophobos was loved by the citizens no less than by the Persians, for he was orthodox.

21. Then, indeed, when the emperor was with Bla...

Blachernae on some business, someone approached him and said: "The horse upon which your majesty is riding is mine." ^A Since the horse began to leap on account of the sudden encounter, the emperor held him in and asked the count of the stable: "Whose is this horse?" He replied: "The Count of the Opsikion sent him to your majesty." When this was discovered in the city, the next day the emperor brought him forward and said to the man who had approached him: "Speak the truth, whose is the horse?" The man answered and said: "It was mine, and the general sent for it and took it from me by force, giving me neither payment nor dignity." The emperor said to the count: "Tell me if this is so, and why, without settling the matter regarding the horse, you sent him to me." ^B He replied: "He was seeking to become a scholaris; but I, not knowing whether he was a brave man, offered him a hundred nomismata, but he refused to take them." The emperor said: "And why did you not complete a full bargain with him regarding the price before sending the horse to me?" After the emperor had investigated and was fully informed that he had taken it by force, he disciplined the general with the appropriate scourging, and returned the horse to the man who had approached him. However, he did not wish to receive the horse, but instead took two litrai for it, and the general was ordered to test him, and if he were a brave man, to make him a scholaris. But when he went to war, in the heat of battle he was found to be a coward among the fugitives and was cut down by the enemies.

22. ^C When the emperor was at Bryantas for a procession, a message came to him from the general of the Anatolics that the protosymbolos had gone out with a multitude and was moving to capture Amorium. The emperor, having done what was customary for the army and the commanders, set out quickly as far as Cappadocia. The Amerumnes, having detached fifty thousand of his men—having drawn them from the rest of the army—and having appointed as their leader and head Sudaes, a man most renowned among the Agarenes for his reputation for bravery and prudence, sent them against the emperor. A battle was joined, and the emperor, having been defeated, fled; he returned in shame, having barely escaped safely. ^D The Amerumnes, however, having gone off with a great force, surrounded Amorium with a wall, and though he waged many wars, he was unable to capture it, as those inside fought bravely and steadfastly. A certain student of Leo the Philosopher was in the fortress, and since he wished to defect to the Amerumnes, the astronomer indicated to him, through someone, that: "If you persevere for two days at the fortress, you will capture us." And this is what happened, for it was betrayed by those called Boiditzes and Manicophagus. The named men, who were not ignoble, were seized and captured and taken off as prisoners to Syria: Theophilus the patrician and general, and Melissenus, and Aetius, and Theodorus the protospatharios, the eunuch Krateros, and...

^A Callistus the tourmarches, and Constantine the droungarios, and Basoes the cursor, and many others, and commanders of the legions. When these were compelled by the protosymboulos to deny their faith, and could not be persuaded to join in his opinion, they were put to the sword, exchanging the present life for the eternal.

23. But he who exchanged the most beautiful for a shameful salvation, a disciple of Leo the philosopher, had fled to the Amerumnes, and was questioned by him regarding his knowledge. He said he was a disciple of Leo the philosopher. And he, having learned who and what kind of person Leo was, desired to see that man himself. And so, having given letters to one of the captives, he sent him to Leo the philosopher in Constantinople, ^B promising him that if the same Leo would come out, he would hold him in honor with himself. But Leo, having received the letters and fearing lest by chance he come to the notice of the emperor, reported the matter to the Emperor Theophilus. The latter, having recognized the excellence of his knowledge, and that he had such a wise man in his state, took him and kept him in the palace of the Magnaura, handing students over to him for instruction and providing him with all things necessary for use and service; and this man later became metropolitan of Thessalonica.

24. The same emperor also constructs the Triconchos in the palace, and what they call the Sigma, and the steps where the crowds stand, and he also set up a fountain in which takes place what is called the *saximodeximon*, when the horses of both factions pass by equipped with golden trappings. And under the Triconchos, below, by means of mechanics, he made the "Mystery," in which, if someone speaks in one corner, it is heard clearly in the other. ^C

25. Theophilus himself, having learned that Theophanes and his own brother Theodorus, while living by themselves, were mocking and refuting his impiety, sent for them in anger and brought them before himself, speaking as follows: "From where are you?" They said: "From Palestine." And that wicked man said: "And why, having left your own land and come to our domain, do you not obey our majesty?" When they answered nothing, he ordered their faces to be beaten severely. Then, after this, having tortured them unto death, with fury and a harsh voice he said to the eparch: ^D "Take them to the praetorium, and mark their faces, by carving these verses upon them:

All desiring to visit that city Which the feet of the most pure Word of God Trod for the restoration of the universe, These men were seen at that venerable place, Vessels of evil, of superstitious error. There, having committed many things from thenceforth out of absurdity, Having acted shamefully and terribly in an ungodly manner, From thence they were driven out as apostates. But having fled to the city of the empire, They did not abandon their forbidden follies. Wherefore, having been branded as villains, They are condemned and driven out again."

Adding that, "Even if they are not noble, let it not be a care to you."

This he said, knowing them to be men most wise, and who understood the most exact rule of verses and poems perfectly well; when someone had said: "Not even they are worthy, so that the iambics may be elegant." But they said: "Write, write, O emperor, what seems good to you, since these things are to be read in the presence of the just and terrible Judge." ^A The prefect, having brought them into the praetorium, after two days stretching them on a bench and binding their hands and feet, and after pricking them and engraving the verses onto their faces, sent them into exile. And indeed, St. Theodore died in exile; but the celebrated Theophanes the cantor persevered until Michael and Theodora, having labored much in the restoration of the images that took place; and when affairs had already been recalled to piety, he became metropolitan of Nicaea.

26. ^B Under the Emperor Theophilus was Joseph the hymnographer, who was sent into exile while Theodora held the empire. His life was prolonged, however, until Leo the Wise became ruler.

27. Under him fell the golden tupha of Justinian, whom they call Augustus. As everyone was anxious and considering how an ascent could be attempted, a certain artisan, a roofer, was found, and having climbed the roof tiles of the Great Church, he shot a bolt with a rope at the bronze equestrian statue of Justinian, and the bolt having stuck there, he himself ran along the rope, and fitted the orb; wherefore he drove those who were watching into amazement, and he reconciled the mind of the emperor to himself, and added a great name to the ingenuity of his art, having been generously rewarded by the emperor with a hundred coins.

28. ^C Theophilus crowns his son Michael in the Great Church, bestowing gifts on all during those inaugural solemnities. He also constructed a hospice, which they now call the hospice of Theophilus. These buildings had been those of the patrician Isidore, who had ascended to Constantinople from Rome with Olybrius under Constantine the Great, ^D and after some time it was designated as a curatory, so that noble women who did not know how to live chastely might dwell there. Under Leo the Isaurian, it was made into a hospice from a brothel. In following times, it was the house of Constantine, the son of Irene, when his mother had deprived him of his sight. Upon his death, his wife, having assumed the monastic habit, built a monastery and named it [the monastery] of Repentance. Moreover, this house, being very great and marvelous, as a beam in the triclinium had broken, threatened ruin. The nuns besought the emperor as he was going to the Blachernae regarding this matter. He, looking back and having seen the house, and being pleased with it, transferred the same nuns to another monastery, and having adorned the house itself magnificently with every kind of ornament, he made it a hospice, bestowing upon it abundant wealth.

as well as money ^A and estates, naming it after Theophilus.

29. Before his own death, this God-hating emperor, having held a secret council with his associates concerning Theophobus the Persian, since the latter was, of course, very greatly beloved, and since both the Persian subjects and not a few of the nobles had faith in him, and fearing lest after my death they might plot a tyranny against my son, who is still a child, and against my wife, he brought Theophobus into the palace and kept him with him. But becoming burdened by illness, he shut Theophobus in the ^B chambers of the Bucoleon. When the Persians sought him, asking what had finally become of him, the emperor sent by night Petrona, the brother of the Augusta, along with the logothete, and took off the head of Theophobus. They persuaded the Persians that he was with the emperor in the palace. When the emperor's soul was wretchedly torn away by a dysentery illness, his miserable funeral was carried out to the Church of the Holy Apostles. But the body of Theophobus, having been taken out secretly through the Bucoleon, was safely delivered near the house of Narses, in the place now called "of Theophobus," and they buried it there. ^C

THE REIGN OF MICHAEL WITH THEODORA HIS MOTHER

1. In the year of the world 6339, and from the divine incarnation 839, Michael, the son of Theophilus, reigned with his mother Theodora for fifteen years, alone for ten years, and with Basil for one year. Having succeeded to the paternal empire, he shook off most sincerely the new religion and superstition that had crept into the Church, hated by God, and had raged terribly against it, and preached the holy, long-established, and most correct faith of God. Theodora was so faithful and orthodox that, while her husband was still living, she ^D secretly honored and venerated the holy icons. By her own will, but also by the suggestion and admonition of Theoctistus, the caniclius and logothete, she expelled the patriarch John, with his followers, from the Church and the city, relegating him to Stenum, to the place called Clidium. It is said that he was also her godfather, the one who had lifted her son from the sacred font. She introduced the saintly monk Methodius, and having restored the Church, established him as patriarch; gathering together all the monks and bishops who had been relegated to exile by Theophilus, she confirmed the orthodox faith and composed the Church in peace on the first Sunday of the Holy Fasts. For although the emperor was an infant and a boy, yet He who *perfected praise out of the mouth of infants and sucklings* (Ps. VIII, 3) also prepared him to celebrate and manifest the truth of the divine dogma.

to the glory of the Word of God, who out of exceeding mercy took flesh, was seen by men upon the earth, and lived among them, according to the holy oracle. ^A

2. For a Synod of holy and God-bearing Fathers was gathered at Constantinople, by whom the worst and ill-omened heresy of the Iconoclasts, being accurately refuted and its abominable ravings clearly overthrown, the light of Orthodoxy shone forth brightly, as if from certain most hidden and impassable labyrinths and dark abysses of that most unholy and ruined heresy. And in this manner, its chief and teacher, together with his like-minded followers, persecutors, and revilers—as they were adversaries of the truth and defenders of falsehood—were driven away like rabid wolves and the filthy and demonic sect of the Manichaeans, from whom they had taken their occasion and origin. In his place, by common ^B vote and divine promotion and grace, the illustrious Methodius was brought in, a champion of right belief and doctrine, who indeed—to sum it up in a word—most excellently and clearly refuted and overturned all the calumnies and the destructive machinations against the holy icons, and the profane vanity of the teachings of the heresiarchs and their students, and the senselessness of their wretched minds—if ever anyone else did. And on this account, he underwent many persecutions and dangers—many and evil afflictions—and, in addition, suffered vehemently from Theophilus, who was driven by God.

3. For who shall count the many and successive persecutions and temptations, and the lightless imprisonments, and the dark pits, ^C and the straits of necessary things, and the loss of friends and like-minded believers, and the other calamities which he bore courageously and eagerly at the hands of the unholy, ever clearly carrying them about as a pattern and example of patience for those suffering trials, being a clear exhortation both in his speech and in his silence? And in this way, the divinely inspired man, having taken hold of the Church by the good pleasure of God, and with the help of the God-bearing Fathers, the house of God and the assembly of the orthodox progressed and was clearly strengthened by divine power, and shone forth in work and word; but the gathering of the heretics, and the ^D company that was truly Jewish and...

wicked, was utterly shamed and evidently weakened, being silenced and overthrown day by day. ^A And so, by an immediate imperial decree and cooperation, the Fathers who had been relegated to exile and detained in bitter prisons were recalled and released, and made free, as was also a copious multitude of monks; and indeed, not a few of the pious laymen whose property that miserable and most wicked man had seized, and whom he had partly dispatched with a terrible death, and partly tormented with various kinds of scourges and sent into exile with grievous punishments, so that they might not obey the blandishments or the threats of the wicked Theophilus.

4. Therefore, while Michael and his mother Theodora were reigning, Apodinar, the Saracen phylarch, having long before prepared his forces, advanced against the God-guarded Constantinople with a fearful and staggering display of four hundred formidable ships and triremes. However, divine vengeance destroyed him beforehand, all his ships along with their passengers and marine soldiers being dashed to pieces upon the promontory of the Cibyrrhaeots, which is called Chelidonia; and no more than seven of them escaped to Syria.

5. Furthermore, on the Sunday of the holy Fast, after the celebration of what they call ^B Orthodoxy—that is, the solemnity of the restoration of the images—Theoctistus the logothete was sent to Crete. Upon departing with a great multitude and a numerous fleet, he struck great terror into the Hagarenes, who were not yet prepared and could not withstand such forces against them. Yet he himself was more vehemently terrified and dismayed, and took to flight, driven, namely, by a rumor that the Augusta had appointed another emperor—which was a Saracen ruse and a corruption of his own men; being downcast in soul by this fear, he was persuaded to return to the empress and abandon the army to the sword of the enemy. And because he had shown himself cowardly and of degenerate spirit in Crete, he appeared in a worse and more wretched state upon his return. For when the Amer, having set out against the Roman domain, was ravaging and destroying everything in his path, Theodora and Michael sent the same Theoctistus ^C back again—as a man most faithful and devoted to them—with great forces against the Amer. He having arrived and joined battle with the Amer at the place they call Mauropotamos, was defeated and fled back; many of his men were slain, and some even fled to the Amer because of the logothete’s harshness and morose character, among whom was Theophanes of Phargana, a man excelling in manliness and strength above the rest, who in later times, having received the word of fearlessness, fled to the Christians. Theoctistus, having returned from there to the city, held to his same intimacy. And having entered into discussions with Bardas, the brother of the Augusta, about the defeat,

he attributed the disaster to him, as though the Roman army had been routed and put to flight by his exhortation and will; whom, even by the nod and counsel of Theodora Augusta, he expelled from the city.

^B 6. The same Theoctistus, while serving as a minister to the Augusta, built houses, baths, and gardens toward the place called Apsida, so that it might be near the palace. And in order to see to his own protection and safety, he constructed an iron gate in the Daphne, and ordained that the *papias* should keep watch there. Now, the emperor, having grown into the age of a man, gave himself over to hunts and to the race-courses of horses in the track of the Hippodrome and to other such impurities. Theodora Augusta therefore formed a plan with the logothete Theoctistus to give a wife to Michael, her son; for she knew that he had joined in friendship with Eudocia Ingerina, a person of impudent spirit and character, who was vehemently hated by the logothete and the Augusta. On this account they linked him with Eudocia the daughter of the Decapolites, with whom he was crowned in Saint Stephen’s, which is in the Daphne. The bridal chamber was laid out in the Magnaura; the senate was received for a banquet in the nineteen accubita.

^C 7. Not long after, a general of the Bucellarii brought a spirited and noble horse to the emperor. But he, wishing to harness it for the Hippodrome, wanted to inspect its teeth, by which the count of the years and the quality of the temperament are distinguished. Since the horse was rearing and leaping, the emperor was troubled regarding this matter, since there was no one present who possessed equal natural dexterity and skill to tame or even hold the horse. As he was thus annoyed, Theophilitzes, who was present, said: "Master, I have a young man very experienced and valiant with horses, such as your majesty desires, by the name of Basil." And after the emperor ordered him to come immediately, a chamberlain was sent to the iron gate, and having found Basil, brought him to the emperor with all haste. He, having taken hold of the bridle with one hand and grasped the ear of the horse with the other, brought the beast itself into the gentleness of a lamb. ^D Refreshed by this thing and softened by his obedience, the emperor handed Basil over to Andrew, who was *hetaeriarch*, so that he might serve among the *foederati* and devote his efforts to the horses.

8. It is worth the while, however, to narrate how he was brought up and whence he came, until such an opportunity was offered. The same Basil was born in Macedonia, in the territory of Adrianople, during the reign of Michael Rangabe, the father of Ignatius the patriarch, son-in-law of the emperor Nicephorus, having taken as his wife Procopia, his daughter. Under his rule, Krum, the prince of the Bulgarians, went out against the Christians; and after Michael had been routed and put to flight, and Leo the Armenian, having seized the tyranny against him and become emperor,

^A Krum, having followed after him, besieged the city. Struck by a lance from Leo the Armenian, he returned to Bulgaria and sent [men] to Saint Mamas to remove the bronze statues that were there. Having gone also to the city of Adrianople, he took it and transferred ten thousand men, not counting the women, and settled them beyond the Danube. In the days of the Emperor Theophilus, there was a master of the soldiers in Macedonia named Cordules. He also had a son, Bardas by name, a man of very great fortitude and vigor, whom he left in his stead to rule over the Macedonians who were positioned beyond the river Danube. By means of a certain art and device, he gained access to Theophilus, exactly as has been written above. Having received him most gladly and learned his intention, [Theophilus] sent ships to pick them up and bring them to the city. The prince of Bulgaria was Baldimer, grandson of Krum, the father of Symeon, who later gained power.

9. The people, therefore, took counsel with their wives and children to depart into the Roman territory. When Michael the Bulgarian had gone out into Macedonia, they began to cross over with their belongings. The count, learning of this, crossed over as well to wage war against them. Anxious for this reason, the Macedonians appointed Tzantzes and Cordules as their leaders; and joining battle, they caused a great slaughter of the enemy: some were also taken prisoner. When they were unable to cross over into Bulgaria, they flocked to the Hungarians and told them of their entire situation and that of the Macedonians. Ships sent by the emperor to take them into the city also arrived. ^B Suddenly, a vast multitude of Huns appeared. Seeing them, the [Macedonians] cried out with tears, saying: "God of Saint Adrian, help us," and they drew up in order for battle. The Turks said to them: "Give us all your substance and depart wherever you wish." However, they could not prevail upon their minds to do this, but for three days they stood under arms with their line drawn up; on the fourth day, they began to embark into the ships. Seeing this, the Turks joined battle from the seventh hour until evening; the nation was routed, and the Macedonians pursued them. On the following day, as they wished to withdraw, the Huns appeared again to fight them. ^C Then a younger Macedonian named Leo, of the family of the Gomostoi, who later became the leader of the etaireia (the foreign guard), and other notable men of the Macedonians, rose up, routed and drove them off; and having returned, they boarded the ships and were saved, returning to the emperor. Having been magnificently received by him, they returned to Macedonia, their own country. ^D Basil was at that time about twenty-five years old. Upon returning to his native land, he attached himself to the service of the governor of Macedonia named Tzantzes, to be at his beck and call. Having obtained no benefit from him, he set out for the city as far as the Golden Gate. Having entered, weary from the journey (for it was the Lord's day, and the sun was near setting, he lay down in the...

vestibule of St. Diomedes. For the church was then a public one, having a mansionarius named Nicholas. On that night, a divine voice called the mansionarius, saying: "Rise, lead the emperor into the oratory." He rose, but found no one except Basil lying there in the habit of a beggar, and returning, he threw himself upon his bed. Then, a second time, the same voice came to him. He went out and looked around, but finding no one, he returned, closed the gate, and lay down. Immediately, someone pricking his side with a sword said: "Go out and lead in him whom you see lying in the atrium: he is the emperor." He went out, therefore, with haste and trembling, and finding Basil with his wallet and staff, ordered him to enter the church. The next day, he went with him to the baths, washed him, and changed his clothes; and coming into the church, he established a brotherhood with him, and they refreshed and rejoiced in one another.

^B 10. Now this same Nicholas had a brother who was a physician, serving Theophilitzes. It happened by chance that the physician came to his brother, and seeing Basil, he marveled at his stature and manliness, and said to his brother: "Whence is this man?" He told him everything and commanded him to keep the mystery. When the physician was sitting at table with Theophilitzes, and the latter was considering to himself, saying, "I wish I could find a man suitable for my horses," the physician rose and told him of Basil’s strength, and that "he is such a man as you desire and seek." He sent for him with haste and brought him in. Seeing that he was a robust youth and sturdy, with a very large head, he gave him the name Cephalas and assigned him to the service of his horses. Thus, for this reason and by this cause, as has been said, Theophilitzes handed Basil over to the Emperor Michael. The emperor, bringing in this same Basil, said to his mother, as if rejoicing: "Come, see, my mother, what a robust youth I have now found." She went out, and having seen him, she stepped back, saying to her son: "This is he, my child, who is going to destroy our race and family." Yet he did not at all believe his mother or yield to her.

11. The holy Patriarch Methodius died, and Ignatius, the son of Michael Curopalates, was ordained in his place. As the Bulgarians were making incursions into Thrace and Macedonia and plundering those themes, Theodora gathered military garrisons; these, rushing upon the Bulgarians from the camps, attacked them dispersed and separated, either killing them or taking them captive, so that the Bulgarians were forced to return to their own country.

12. Bardas the Caesar became friends with Damian the patrician and chamberlain. He, having gained control over the emperor, persuaded him to bring Bardas into the city; and having given gifts to those who were in the palace and the emperor's intimates...

^A and also to Theophanes the [p. 533] protovestiarius, as a very brave man surnamed Pharganus, they entered into a conspiracy with Damianus to kill Theoctistus, who was commonly called the prefect of the canicleion. The emperor, too, being induced by Damianus to this opinion, agreed and himself consented that this should happen. For Bardas used to say to Damianus: "As long as Theoctistus is with the Augusta, the emperor will never rule or exercise authority." Theoctistus, having gone to the baths of Areobindus, as was his custom, and then coming to the secretariorum (the court of clerks), entered the Lausiacus holding the petitions and suggestions. And looking around, he saw Bardas sitting with arrogance, and being greatly disturbed, he said, "If I once enter to the Augusta, I will drive him out again and cast him away." But as he was entering the Horologion, Michael met him with Damianus, and they did not allow him to enter to Theodora, but he was ordered with anger to open the petitions and read them before him. And when he had done this against his will, he was compelled to turn back and exit. And he went out weeping bitterly, lamenting, and crying out. Bardas met him in the Lausiacus and began to strike him upon the cheeks and to pluck out his hair. ^B But the drungarius of the watch, Maniaces, seeing this, arose and contradicted Bardas, saying, "Do not strike the logothete." But they slaughtered him and cut him into pieces at the place of the Scytha, showing the cruelty and ferocity of wild beasts.

13. The story of Theodora's grief and the expulsion of her daughters

13. When Theodora learned this from the Pope, she went out against Michael and, as was natural, was indignant, as she was against the others who had perpetrated the murder. And although the emperor moved every stone to appease his mother, she admitted no relief, nor did she abate her wrath, nor was she capable of any consolation; but like a sea wave, she became no gentler nor did she submit. Therefore, just as he changed his mind, judgment, and will, so also the emperor changed his person and his activity, and he strove to afflict her and trouble her in as many ways as he had previously pretended to soothe and cherish her. ^C And so he cast his sisters Thecla, Anastasia, and Anna out of the palace; but Pulcheria, as being beloved by her mother, he sent to the monastery called Gastria. And shortly after, gathering them all together, he caused them to be clothed in the monastic habit in the monastery of Gastria and tonsured their hair.

14. Praised by the Senate, he alone holds imperial power, and he appoints Bardas magister and domestic of the schools. But since his mother was not reconciled ^D because of the things he caused her to suffer, and because she was wounded in spirit by the unjust murder of Theoctistus, an implacable enmity existed between them. And so, driving her from the palace, he sends her away to the monastery of Gastria. She, being overwhelmed in mind by excessive grief and, because of the shock, [deprived of] sound reason...

plotted things unworthy of herself, forming a conspiracy against Bardas, having as her accomplice in this common plot many others, including the emperor’s own protostrator, with the intention of killing Bardas as he returned from his suburban estate, which is called the Cosmidion. ^A This plot, being discovered before it was executed, brought the ruin upon those who had devised the evil; for they were caught and seized in the Circus and lost their heads. Michael then appointed Basil as protostrator in place of the one who had died, and likewise appointed his uncle Bardas as curopalates.

15. Dust then fell from the sky, descending upon the tiles, full of blood; and many found stones in the streets or gardens as red as blood. Michael appointed Antigonus, the son of Bardas, as Domestic of the Schools. Bardas gave his other son a wife, with whom he was suspected of an illicit affair. On the Sunday after Easter, Michael made his uncle Bardas Caesar, who, traveling in a chariot, scattered consular gifts through the middle of the city.

16. Amer had gone forth and come down as far as Sinope, plundering all things that were of the Roman domain; and he returned without being caught by the Roman army. Michael, having campaigned together with the Caesar Bardas, initiated a movement against Michael, the ruler of Bulgaria, by both land and sea, having learned that the nation of the Bulgarians was wasting away from famine. ^B The Bulgarians, upon hearing this, were terrified as if by a thunderclap, and even before the contests and the battle, they despaired of victory and asked to become Christians and to be subject to the emperor and the Romans. Michael, having baptized their ruler and received him, gave him his own name, and having brought his nobles into the city, he baptized them; from that time on, a deep peace ensued.

17. When Amer had gone out against the Roman territory, Petronas, the master of the soldiers of the East, and Nasar, of the Buccellarii, ^C lying in wait for his return, met him at Lalakaon, and when a collision occurred, they routed Amer. A certain count pursued him as he fled, and having cut off his head, brought it to Petronas the master of soldiers. Entering the city, the commanders celebrated a triumph with these spoils in the Hippodrome. And from that time there was great peace in the East on account of the slaughter of Amer.

18. While others had their own labors and brave deeds against the enemy, the emperor’s affection was poured out upon Basil, and he considered him alone to be the servant of his will.

19. Michael built a stable for his horses, adorning it with marbles and irrigation of waters, constructing it as a very beautiful work. When this was completed, there was a certain man in the city named Peter, a learned and witty man, whom they also called "Ptochomagister" (Beggar-Master). Michael, having called him into the stable, showed him the [splendor] of the built structure...

as if wishing to be praised by him, saying even this: "I shall be remembered forever for the construction of this work." But he answered the emperor: "Justinian built the Great Church, adorning it with gold, silver, and precious marbles, yet his memory is now lost. And you, emperor, having built a dung-heap and a stable for beasts, do you say that you will be remembered for this?" Having thus been disappointed of the praise he expected, the emperor, fueled by rage, ordered the Ptochomagister to be beaten, dragged, and cast out.

20. As a rumor spread concerning Bardas Caesar that he was defiled by an incestuous love affair with his daughter-in-law, Ignatius the patriarch, having heard this, often admonished him to abstain from such an abomination and not to be a scandal to the multitude, he who ought to have been an example of virtue and a chaste life. But he refused to adopt a saner mind. And in fact, when he was once about to partake of the holy mysteries, the patriarch repelled him as one who would not comply with the canons and exhortations. Bardas, struck at heart with rage, cast out the monitor as a villain and a corrupter of the Church, and subjected him to the most cruel and merciless torments in order to force the man to resign. Since he did not yield, he appointed Photius as patriarch in his place, who at that time was First Secretary and a man of great learning. ^B

21. The emperor set out on an expedition against the Agarenes, leaving behind in the city as prefect to guard it Ooryphas, who had not yet performed any act in accordance with the emperor’s plans or intentions when he reported the arrival of the impious Rus, who had already reached the Mauropotamos. The emperor, recalled from the journey he had undertaken, did nothing imperial or courageous for the sake of which he had set out. The Rus, having penetrated as far as the Hierum, committed many massacres of Christians and shed innocent blood. There were two hundred ships, with which they besieged the city and struck the inhabitants with great terror. When the emperor arrived, he could barely cross over; he went with the patriarch Photius to the church of the Mother of God at Blachernae, and there they implored the Divine Power to be propitious. Then, with hymns and praises, they brought out the holy robe of the Mother of God ^C and dipped its edge into the sea; and though no breeze was blowing, immediately the winds rushed in, and the sea, settling from its calm, rose up in successive billows. By these, the fleet of the Rus was broken to pieces, and very few ships escaped the danger.

22. Furthermore, when Bardas Caesar was proceeding in a solemn procession wearing a purple chlamys, Damian, a patrician who was there and prefect of the sacred bedchamber, sitting in the Horologion, did not rise to honor him. Seeing this, the Caesar was inflamed with great anger; and when he [Damian] had entered into the golden triclinium and had sat down with the emperor, ^D

and, weeping from wrath and anger, asked the cause. He said, "Damian, the chamberlain, for the disgrace of myself and your majesty, did not rise before me in the senate." The emperor, angered, immediately ordered Maximian, a chamberlain, to seize Damian and lead him off to the emporium of Saint Mamas, and there to shear him and make him a monk, and to order him to be kept under guard. And on the same day, Basil the protostrator was promoted to the position of chamberlain. Caesar, having heard this, was inflamed with jealousy, and from that time sought to kill Basil.

23. Michael separated Basil from his own wife, Maria, having given to him as a wife Eudokia Ingerina, directing him to have her as his mistress; for she was the emperor’s concubine, and he loved her greatly because of her beauty. To his previous wife, Maria, he gave gold and certain other things and sent her away into Macedonia to her own kin. And he matched his own sister, Thecla, to Basil, for him to have as his own.

24. From then on, Caesar and Basil looked at each other with suspicion, seeking how one might destroy the other. Basil privately maligned Caesar to the emperor, as if he were plotting against him. The emperor, however, heard these things as nonsense. ^B Being eager to convince the emperor, Basil reconciled himself with Symbatios the patrician and logothete of the course, who was Caesar’s son-in-law, and they confirmed to one another with oaths that they would live in harmony and constant love. Basil also convinced Symbatios with fearful oaths, saying, "The emperor has great love for you, and while I am exerting myself on your behalf, he plans to promote Caesar, but he is unable to do this because of your father-in-law." He, deceived by the oaths of Basil, became [hostile] against Caesar Bardas, his own father-in-law, and entering in to the emperor, he swore an oath to inform him that, "Caesar wishes to kill you," and he even revealed the details of the plot.

25. The emperor, persuaded by the oaths of Symbatios and confirmed by the words of Basil, harbored designs within his soul against Caesar. Basil, knowing that all things were well prepared against Caesar and not being able to accomplish this in the city, persuaded the emperor ^C to move the fleet and army against Crete. Upon this happening, Leo the philosopher urged Bardas Caesar to withdraw and guard himself against Basil. Caesar, for his part, kept calling out to the emperor to show indulgence towards Basil.

26. When the procession to the Chalkoprateia occurred on the feast of the Annunciation, and the entry had taken place and the Gospel had been read, the patriarch Photius went up, and the emperor with the Caesar and the chamberlain [ascended] to the catechumena, while the patriarch had in his hands the precious [Body] of the Lord.

^A their own, and having dipped their pens in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Emperor and Basil subscribed the venerable crosses, confirming with an oath that the Caesar should set out with them on the expedition without any fear. For Leo the Philosopher had openly warned Bardas not to set out with them, saying that if he did, he would not return.

27. Once the feast of Easter was over, the Emperor departed with a large army and entered the theme of the Thracesians. When they had pitched camp at Kepoi, Basil the paracomoimomenos began to plot to put the Caesar to death. In this conspiracy were Maurianus, Symbatius, Asylæon his cousin, Peter the Bulgarian, John the Chaldian, and Constantine Toxaras. But John the Neatocomete learned of this, and went down to the Caesar's tent at sunset and spoke to Procopius, the Caesar's protovestiarius, affirming that their lord the Caesar would be cut to pieces on the morrow. Upon hearing this, the Caesar said to Procopius: "Go and tell the Neatocomete: 'You are raving. You know that you are young, and the dignity of a patrician does not befit you; this is why you are sowing these tares.'" The Caesar, having spent the night without sleep, summoned all his men at the crack of dawn and disclosed to them what had been said to him, asking what they thought was to be done. Philotheus the protospatharios and general, a man very close to him, said to the Caesar: "Tomorrow, master, clothe yourself in your golden, cassia-colored chlamys and reveal yourself before your enemies, and they will flee from your face."

28. ^B When the sun had risen, the Caesar mounted his horse and arrived at the Emperor’s tent in brilliant attire, with many surrounding him, having the energetic protostrator Argyros as his armiger. Constantine Toxaras, on Basil's orders, went to meet him under the guise of paying respect, and returning, announced the Caesar's arrival to Basil. Basil went out, greeted him with reverence, and taking him by the hand, led him to the Emperor. The Caesar, sitting down with the Emperor, said: "Now that all the forces are gathered, master, give the order to cross over to Crete." Basil, standing behind him, was brandishing threats at the Caesar with his hand. The Caesar suddenly turned and saw Basil threatening him, and immediately Basil struck him with his sword, and those who were his companions cut him to pieces, while the Emperor looked on and remained silent.

29. ^C It was the third hour of the day. The Emperor and Basil returned at once to the city. As they were proceeding along the road toward the emporium of Acritos, with a great multitude of people gathered to see the Emperor, a certain man clothed in the monastic habit, standing upon a high rock, shouted in a loud voice to the Emperor: "A magnificent expedition you have performed, O Emperor, having slain your own kinsman and one of your own blood with the sword. Woe to you, woe to you for having done these things!" Driven by rage ^D...

^A and the emperor and Basil sent the spiculatarius Theodoros the Monk to slay him with the sword. But the people ran toward the one who had been sent, claiming that he was out of his mind and possessed by a demon, and thus the monk with difficulty escaped the punishment.

30. Late on the day of Pentecost, the emperor signified to Patriarch Photius, through his protovestiarios Rentacius, that he should proclaim Basil emperor and celebrate him as his colleague. On the morrow, two thrones were brought out. The people were disturbed, wondering how, with only one emperor, two thrones could have been brought out. As the emperor proceeded in the procession, Basil walked behind him, wearing a *karamangion* with a sword, as is the custom for the *parakoimomenoi*. When the emperor had entered as far as the palace gates, he did not remove his crown, as is the custom for emperors, but entered as far as the holy doors while still crowned; and turning, he ascended the steps wearing the diadem. Below the emperor was Basil the *parakoimomenos*, and below Basil was Leo Castor the *asekretis*, holding a scroll in his hands, along with Michael the *praipositos* (the Angoures) and the demarchs together with the factions. ^B Leo the *asekretis* began to read, saying: "Bardas Caesar conspired against me to hand me over to death, and that is the reason why he drove me from the city. And if the plot had not been revealed to me by Symbatios and Basil, my life would not still be preserved. Moreover, he died by his own wickedness. I desire Basil, seeing that he is faithful, guards my majesty, has liberated me from an enemy, and bears great love toward me, to be the guardian of my empire, to oversee its laws, and to be saluted by all as emperor." Basil was filled with tears.

The emperor gave the diadem to Patriarch Photius, having taken it from his own head. The patriarch, bringing it to the holy table, offered a prayer over it. Then the *praipositoi* brought the *diaitesion* and the *tzangia* and clothed Basil, who, putting on the chlamys, fell at the emperor's feet. The patriarch came out, took the diadem from the emperor's head, and placed it upon Basil. When the scepters had been lowered, as is the custom, Michael crowned Basil, and everyone shouted: "Many years to Michael and Basil!" ^C He who had read the scroll, Castor the *asekretis*, went out to Nicomedia, came to a monastery of men, and stayed in the middle of a meadow. There was a well there, and having fallen into it, he was drowned and buried in that same place.

31. Symbatios, the son-in-law of the Caesar, finding himself frustrated of the dignity [of the Caesar] and seeing that he had been mocked by Basil, was moved to hatred against him. Having shared his counsel with George the *magistros* and commander of the military at Pegane, on the following day he demanded to be set over the armed military as leader. In his place, however, Gumer, the *logothetes* of the dromos, was appointed, and he himself was [made] Count of the Opsikion. Both Symbatios and Peganes went out together and began to destroy the fields and set fire to the vineyards (for it was summer), ^D while Michael

^A only accompanying Basil with favorable omens and disowning him. When the emperors learned of this, they gave orders to the remaining generals and tribunes to advance upon them with hostile standards. But Nicephorus Maleinos, concocting a plan, sent missives among the soldiers so that they might capture them by guile, and not fight in open warfare and fall into civil war. And all abandoned them. Peganes was captured, and they brought him into the city. By order of the emperor, Constantine Myares the Eparch put out his eyes. Having placed him in the Milion, they put a vessel in his hands, and those passing by would throw into it whatever they were inclined to give. And thirty days later, Symbatios the Armenian was captured by Maleinos in a hostel in Celtzine, and the said Maleinos brought him to the emperor at Saint Mamas. And by order of the emperor, they led Peganes out to meet Symbatios, giving into the hands of Peganes an earthenware incense-burner with burning incense, so that he might smoke him out. And they blinded one of the eyes of Symbatios, and cut off his right hand, and seated him at the Lausiacus, and they placed a vessel in his bosom ^B so that whoever had the desire might throw something into it. And after three days they led them away to their own houses, keeping them under guard.

32. Now the emperor Michael, having sent for the mechanical engineer called Damarios, exhumed Constantine Caballinos from the tomb, whom he found whole. And wishing to put him in a sack, and since he would not fit, he wrapped him [in the sack]. Likewise, he also raised the patriarch John from the tomb along with his omophorion: such is the nature of a pontifical garment. And by order of the emperor, the Eparch shut them both in the praetorium, and on the day of the chariot races, having brought them out and stripped them, he beat them with lashes, and having sent their bones to the Amastrianum, he burned them ^C. He cut the urn of Copronymus, which was of green marble and marvelous, with a saw to make pillars in the church he built at the Pharos.

33. The emperor Leo was born of Michael and Eudocia Ingerina, while Michael was still alive, on the first of September, in the fifteenth indiction. The emperor also held chariot races at Saint Mamas, and he himself drove in the first race as a Blue. Constantine the Armenian, the father of Thomas the patrician and Drungary of the Watch, drove as a White; Agalianos drove as a Green, and Chrysas the Russian as a Red. When the emperor emerged victorious and was seated at dinner with Basil and Eudocia, the patrician Basiliscianus was praising the emperor for how skillfully and brilliantly he had driven the chariot. The emperor ordered him to rise, and to take off his red shoes so that he could take them and put them on himself. When the man refused to perform this, and kept looking toward Basil, the emperor in his wrath ordered him to do it. And when Basil did not assent, he put the red boots ^D on the man himself. And the emperor said with an oath to Basil: "They fit him better than they do you. For do I not..." [alt-version omitted]

and said, "Do I not have the power, seeing that I made you emperor, to make another?" And he burned with anger against Basil. But Eudocia, weeping, said to the emperor, "The dignity of the empire, my lord, is great, and we have been honored beyond our merit; it is not right that it should be held in contempt." The emperor replied, "Do not be troubled by this; for I wish to make Basiliscianus emperor."

34. Basil became filled with anger and great grief. When the emperor had gone out to the hunt, a certain monk met him and gave him a document containing the conspiracy that Basil was contriving against him. Having read it, he was filled with rage and plotted against Basil. When his mother, Theodora, invited the emperor to the house of Anthemius, he sent Rentacius, his protoprovestiary, along with other men ^B of his household, to hunt for something and send it to his mother. Basil, however, was preparing against Michael and was very gloomy. When the emperor sat down to dinner, he invited Eudocia and Basil to dine with him. When the emperor had consumed much wine, Basil arose as if to perform some necessary task. Going into the imperial bedchamber, he tampered with the bolts—being a powerful man—so that the doors could no longer be locked, and then went back to dine with the emperor. When the emperor was overcome with wine again, and Ingerina was rejoicing with him as was her custom, Michael rose and, with Basil holding his hand, went off to the bedchamber; Basil kissed the hand of the man whose hand he held, and then departed. Inside the bedchamber ^C was Basiliscianus, who, by the order of the emperor, had been sleeping in Rentacius’s small bed to guard him. Ignatius, the chamberlain, went to lock the door of the bedchamber, but found the bolt tampered with; despairing, he plucked at his hair and sat upon the bed. While the emperor was sleeping a sleep like unto death from the wine, Basil arrived suddenly with others and opened the doors. The terrified Ignatius came out and tried to prevent Basil from entering. Petrus the Bulgarian slipped under Basil’s arm toward the emperor’s bed, but was held back by Ignatius, who resisted him. In the midst of this, the emperor was roused from his sleep. Immediately, John the Chaldean, ^D taking his sword, gave it to the emperor and cut off his hands. Jacobitzes the Apelates (the Persian) plunged a sword into Basiliscianus and threw him down from above. Bardas, the father of Basil the rector, and Symbatius, the brother of Basil, and Asylaeon, the cousin of Basil, and Constantine Toxaras stood outside on guard, and none of Michael’s protectors or men knew what was taking place. Those who were with Basil gathered and took counsel as to what they should do. Asylaeon said to Basil, "Even though we have cut off his hands, we have left him alive; and if he lives, what defense shall we give?" Wishing to do a favor to Basil, he returned and found Michael, deprived of his hands, lying on the bed, mournfully lamenting against Basil as he groaned.

^A ...which he, drawing his sword, mercilessly plunged into the emperor’s heart, tearing through his entrails. And turning back, he boasted to Basil as though he had committed a noble and great deed.

35. When the sea was stormy and tempestuous, they gathered in a single band and descended to the strait; having crossed it, they reached the house of Eulogius the Persian, and taking him along, they came to the house of Marina. There was a wooden plank walling off the [palace] fortification, and Basil, grasping it with two of his men, kicked it and broke the plank, and they entered as far as the palace gate. Eulogius the Persian spoke in his own language to Artabasdus, the Count of the Federates, that Michael had been dispatched by the sword ^B and that he should open [the gates] to the emperor. And Artabasdus ran to the *papias*, and having taken the keys from him by force, he opened them for the emperor. Having entered inside, Basil took the keys of the palace into his own hands, and in the morning, he appointed Gregory, who was called Philemon’s, as *papias*. Immediately he sent him to Saint Mamas, and he brought Eudokia, the wife of Inger, into the palace with great pomp and honor. He also sent John the *praepositus* to take the Decapolitissa and lead her away to her own parents. He also sent Paul the chamberlain to prepare the funeral for Michael. And upon arriving, he found him wrapped in the saddlecloth of the right horse he was riding, with his entrails hanging out. He also found there his mother and sisters mourning and lamenting over him. Taking the corpse onto a small boat, they crossed over to the monastery at Chrysopolis, where those who survived buried him.

THE REIGN OF BASIL THE MACEDONIAN

1. In the year of the world 6367, and of the divine incarnation 867, Basil the Macedonian reigned, [initially] with Michael for 1 year and 4 months, and then alone for 19 years. He ordered the prefect Marianus, son of Petronas, to ascend to the forum and proclaim him sole emperor before all the people.

2. I have deemed it necessary to record the retribution that came from God upon those who delivered Michael to his death, and the [various] evils that each of them suffered in different times. ^C For instance, Jacobitzes, while hunting with the emperor in the Philopation, dropped his sword; as he descended from his horse to pick it up, before he could set his foot on the ground, his other foot caught in the stirrup. The terrified horse dragged him and, passing through ravines and pits, tore him limb from limb. As for John the Chaldian, who had been a *strategos* in Chaldia, he was caught plotting against the emperor and, by the emperor's command, was impaled by Andrew the *strategos*. Furthermore, the emperor's cousin, Asylaos, having been expelled by the emperor himself to his own suburban estate which bears the name of the Chartophylax—being cruel and brutal toward his servants—was killed by them at night with swords; the emperor had them captured and [had their] limbs... ^D

^A and scorched the dissevered corpses at the Amastrianum. The deserter from the Persian [army], having become infested with worms, departed from life. Constantine Toxaras perished, cut to pieces by swords, among the Cibyrrhaeots. And Marcian, the brother of the emperor, died after his foot was crushed and he was consumed by worms.

[P. 544] 3. The emperor, proceeding on the day of the Nativity of Christ in procession to the Great Church, baptized his son Stephen in the sacred font. Having brought up white horses with chariots, he sat together with the Augusta. The praepositus Baanes also sat with them, carrying the infant as far as the palace, while the emperor scattered consular largesse along the way.

4. On the feast of St. Polyeuctus, there occurred a great earthquake, so that the earth shook for a space of forty days. At that time the globe of the statue in the Forum fell, and also the church of the most holy Theotokos, which is called the Sigma, was destroyed, so that all who were chanting divine praises there perished. Leo the Philosopher, who happened to be there, told the chanters and all who were present there to leave the church; but they, not obeying, were all destroyed in the ruin. The philosopher himself, having stood by a column under the timber supports, escaped safe with two others, and only five others [survived] situated under the ambo.

^B 5. Moreover, Photius the patriarch, when the emperor had come into the church and was waiting to receive the sacred mysteries, called him a brigand and a parricide, and [said he was] unworthy of the divine communion. The emperor, enraged, sent to Rome and brought back a tome with Latin bishops, and expelled Photius from the throne, and again promoted the holy Ignatius to the priesthood. Alexander the emperor was born of Eudocia, daughter of Inger; he was the legitimate son of Basil.

^C 6. The emperor campaigned against the Agarenes who were in Tephrica, and having joined battle, he was defeated; and not rarely, when battle was joined with the Agarenes, no small slaughter [of forces] was inflicted upon the Romans. In such a flight of the emperor, Theophylactus Abastactus—the father of Romanus, who later held power—saved the emperor when he had all but been captured and made a prisoner by the Agarenes. The emperor, having searched for him afterward, and having found and recognized him (for many said to the emperor, "I am the one..."), disregarded the honor [he was offered] and asked for an imperial estate, which he obtained. The emperor, having returned to the city, sent his son-in-law, Christopher, to Tephrica, and having achieved a great victory, he ravaged and destroyed it down to the ground.

^D 7. Ignatius the patriarch built a beautiful church in the emporium of Satyros [P. 545] in the name of the commander of the heavenly host of the East, and he established a monastery for men, where his body also lies.

^A 8. When Thecla, the emperor's sister, had sent a certain man of mediocre status to the emperor to present a small petition of hers, the emperor asked: "Who is it that possesses your mistress?" He replied: "The Neatocometes." Immediately the emperor sent for him, brought him in, had him thrashed, tonsured him, and clothed him in the monastic habit. In the same manner, he sent his protovestiarius Procopius to Thecla, had her thrashed, and seized all her money, which he brought to the emperor. As for the Neatocometes, he later made him an oikonomos in the Great Church.

9. The same emperor baptized all the Jews who at that time were under his authority, all those in official positions having accepted [the faith], and the emperor showing great kindness to all the Jews, and providing them with much support and gifts.

10. The aforementioned Nicholas of Androsalites, the mansionarius of Saint Diomedes—to whom, as has been related, the martyr had appeared—the emperor honored with the dignity of syncellus and oikonomos; and he made his other brother, John, drungarios of the Watch; and he placed another of their brothers, Paul, over the sacellion; and the other, Constantine, he made general logothete. Upon the death of Nicholas the syncellus, they buried him in the Arcadianis, in his own house, where now is the hospice of Saint Constantine (that is, the lesser monastery).

^B 11. The emperor began to clear away the ground near the palace to build the New Church, having purchased many houses for this purpose. It was reported to the emperor that the city of Syracuse was being sacked by the Hagarenes. But while the [naval] ships were occupied with the construction of the New Church, the fleet and naval forces were delayed in their equipment, and the city was captured a little before the naval force could arrive; a fact which caused the emperor much grief and sorrow.

12. Nicetas, he who was in charge of the table of the Xulinites, having been accused of being a favorite of the Augusta, the emperor had him tonsured and made a monk. During the reign of Leo, he became oikonomos of the Great Church, and having finished his life, he was buried in the monastery which he himself had founded, and where he also tonsured his sisters.

^C 13. The emperor demolished many bronze works for the sake of the New Church. He also took away marbles, mosaics, and columns from many churches and houses for its construction. Among these stood a bronze statue having the appearance of a bishop; this same statue held in its hand a staff with a serpent coiled around it. They brought this down and placed it in the vestiarium. When the emperor came and approached the place where the statue had stood upright, he put his finger into the mouth of the serpent, and a living serpent hidden inside bit the emperor on the finger; from which he was with difficulty cured by antidotes, a matter which was a source of wonder to all. ^D

14. Moreover, having smashed the great statue of Solomon which was in the basilica, he ordered it to be recast in his own name and placed beneath the foundations of this same New Church, as if he were offering himself as a sacrifice to God by means of such a structure. ^A

15. The emperor campaigned again against Melitene, and having taken captives and brought many wars to a successful conclusion, he returned.

16. Patriarch Ignatius died, and the emperor again raised Photius to the patriarchate in his place for the second time. After this, when Patriarch Photius had died in exile, his body was deposited in the monastery called that of Jeremiah in Mardosagari, which had previously been a catholic church and a parish serving both sexes; but Photius had made it a convent for women.

17. Again the emperor went on an expedition into Germanicia, and having taken it and brought it under the yoke, he returned. ^B

18. Constantine, the son of the emperor Michael and Eudocia, died—though rumor among the people says he was the son of Basil. Basil mourned him greatly, since he loved him much. His body was deposited in the tombs of the emperors.

19. On the first of May, the New Church, which the emperor had built and adorned with great beauty, was dedicated and opened for public divine worship by Patriarch Photius; the emperor wore the loros, gave much money, and gave it the name "New." ^C

20. Procopius, the protovestiarius, was sent by the emperor with all the western themes; Eupraxius, the master of soldiers, was in Sicily; Musulices in Cephalonia; Rabduchus in Dyrrhachium; and Oniatus and Apostyppus in the Peloponnese. This Procopius, having performed many deeds and acts of valor, was killed in the final battle, having been betrayed by Apostyppus.

21. Leo the Salibaras joined Theodore, a monk and archbishop of Euchaita, with Patriarch Photius, describing him as pious, a wonder-worker, and endowed with the gift of foreknowledge. Photius introduced him to the emperor and brought them together. The emperor was pleased with him—for he was disposed according to his desires—and therefore held him in great honor. When the emperor was despondent over the death of his son Constantine, due to the love he bore for him, this man deceived him and promised to show him the boy alive; and he did so. For when the emperor was passing through a certain thicket, a mounted phantom met him, dressed in gold-woven garments, appearing in the likeness of Constantine. The emperor saw him with his own eyes, and having embraced him, he kissed him. ^D When the vision vanished, he believed he had truly seen him, and was not being deceived. Therefore, having built a monastery there, he named it after Saint Constantine.

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22. Furthermore, this man, being accurately skilled in the arts of Apollonius and called Santabarenus, caused the emperor to place great trust in him.

23. The emperor gave the daughter of Martinacius to his son, the emperor Leo, whom he also crowned, celebrating the marriage in the Magnaura and in the nineteen accubita. ^B

24. Now the emperor Leo was accused by Santabarenus to his father of carrying a dagger with which he wished to kill the emperor. Santabarenus himself, by a deceitful suggestion, had been the one to provide Leo with the dagger and to tell him to carry it in his boot, saying to him, "Often when your father asks for a dagger for some need, why do you not give it to him?" And after this was contrived, Emperor Leo, being falsely accused and caught carrying the knife in his boot, was not listened to, no matter what defense he offered. Consequently, his protovestiarius Nicetas the Helladic, who later became papias under Emperor Romanus, was scourged, and others with him were subjected, after many evils, to exile. The emperor, keeping Leo captive in the triclinium named Margarites, wished to blind him, if Patriarch Photius had not interceded with many entreaties, along with Zautzes Stylianus, who was at that time the commander of the minor foederati. ^C He remained thus excluded from the emperor’s sight for three months, mourning and lamenting, and by means of a letter he strove to bend and soften the emperor's mind. Since the emperor had great faith in Saint Elias, Emperor Leo granted him his presence on the feast of the saint. When the procession took place, the people, seeing him, cried out, "Glory to Thee, O God!" The emperor, turning to them, responded: "Do you take the occasion of your divine praises to mention my son? You have many tribulations to endure from him and many sad and painful days to pass through."

25. Andreas, the domestic of the schools, was accused by Santabarenus of being a partisan of Leo and was removed from his rank by the emperor. In his place, the Stypiotes was appointed domestic; he departed with an army to Tarsus, was defeated and lost all his men, and Andreas was again appointed domestic by the emperor. ^D

26. A conspiracy was formed against the emperor by John Corcoas, who was the domestic of the regiment of the Icanati, instigated by a prediction of a recluse living in Blachernæ. Many of the senators and officials, up to sixty-six, were found to be involved. Among them were Michael the commander of the foederati, Catudares, Myxaris, Babutzicus, and the rest. Word of such a conspiracy having been reported to the emperor by the protovestiarius Corcoas, and all having been arrested, the emperor went out to the Hippodrome and, having established...

^A himself there and examined their case, he subjected them all to scourging, and after having sheared off the hair that remained, he burned it. After this, he went out for the procession of the Annunciation, when they were also to complete the punishment. They walked behind him naked, bound as far as the forum, just as he had decreed. Then, having confiscated all their property, he sent them into exile.

27. The emperor having gone out to hunt, a stag of immense size appearing from somewhere, as the emperor was pursuing the beast, the stag turned and lifted the emperor by his belt from his horse. Someone, running up and drawing his sword, cut the belt and rescued the emperor. Yet after returning, he ^B ordered the head of the man who had cut his belt to be severed, because he had bared a sword against him. And although he pleaded much, arguing that he had done this for the sake of his safety, it availed him nothing. Basil, falling ill from that mauling by the stag, died, leaving behind as emperors Leo and Alexander.

THE REIGN OF LEO, SON OF BASIL

In the year of the world 6386, and 886 of the divine incarnation, Leo, the son of Basil, reigned for twenty-five years and eight months. His brother, Stephen, who was a clergyman and syncellus, was staying with the patriarch Photius, by whom he was being brought up and educated. When this same Leo attained supreme power, he sent ^C Andrew, the master of the soldiers, with many tapers and a crowd of senators, to Chrysopolis, and he had Michael’s body removed from the tomb and placed in a cypress coffin; and having laid it on a litter, covering it, and honoring it with royal ceremony, with hymns and great pomp and honor, with his brothers themselves also accompanying the funeral, they brought it to the Holy Apostles and placed it in a sarcophagus.

2. After this, the emperor sent Andrew, the domestic of the schools, together with John Hagiopolites, a most learned man and former logothete of the drome; and having ascended the ambo of the church, they read out the charges against the patriarch Photius, deposed him from the throne, and relegated him to the monastery of the Armenians, which is called the monastery of Bordon.

3. The emperor appointed Stylianus Zautzes as magistros and logothete of the drome. He brought back Stephen, ^D the syncellus and his own brother, to the patriarchal residence; and before the birth of Christ he was ordained patriarch by Theophanes, bishop of the first see, and the other bishops. Having occupied the patriarchal office for six years and five months, he passed away and was buried in the monastery of the Sykai.

4. In the time of Leo, the fortress of Hypsele was betrayed and captured by the Hagarenes, and all those who were in it were taken captive. There occurred also a great conflagration near the Sophiani, where the church of the holy apostle Thomas was also burned down, which this same Leo splendidly restored.

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5. The emperor sent to Euchaita and brought Theodore Santabarenus into the city. Now Andreas the Domestic and Stephanus the Magister of Calemaria, who had been falsely accused of many things before the emperor Basil by Santabarenus, fabricating a plot, warned the emperor that Patriarch Photius and Theodore Santabarenus had conspired to make a man from the relatives of Photius the Patriarch emperor. The emperor ordered Patriarch Photius and Theodore Santabarenus to be brought to the palace of the Pegae, and he commanded that they be held in separate custody. There were dispatched by the emperor Stephanus the Magister, Andreas the Domestic Craterus, and the patrician Gumer, and Joannes the Hagiopolite, to investigate their case. When the patriarch had been brought in and placed upon a throne with honor, and they themselves had also taken their seats, Andreas the Domestic said to the patriarch: "Do you know, master, the abbot Theodore?" He replied: "I do not know Abbot Theodore." And Andreas: "Do you not know Abbot Theodore Santabarenus?" To whom the patriarch: "I know the monk Theodore, who is the archbishop of Euchaita."

6. They also brought Santabarenus to them, and Andreas the Domestic says to him: "The emperor asks you, where are the riches and the treasures of my majesty?" He said: "Where the emperor gave them; but now, if he seeks them, he has the authority to take them back." And Andreas said to him: "Tell me, whom did you want to make emperor, when you were advising my father, through your deception, to blind me, who am a relative ^B of the patriarch, or your own?" He replied and said: "I have absolutely no knowledge of what you are talking about, while you are heaping this crime upon me." Therefore Stephanus the Magister says to him: "And for what reason did you signal to me, when I was with the emperor, that I should convict the patriarch of this matter?" Santabarenus, immediately throwing himself at the feet of the patriarch, said: "I adjure you by God, master, that you first carry out my deposition, and then let them subject me, stripped of my priesthood, to punishments as a criminal; for I did not signify any such thing to the emperor." The patriarch, in the sight of all, said: "By the salvation of my soul, master Theodore, you are an archbishop in this present age and in the future." Andreas, incensed with anger at these words, said: "Did you not, abbot, inform the emperor through me that I should convict the patriarch of this crime?" But he persistently denied knowing anything about it. Having returned, therefore, they reported to the emperor everything that had been said ^C by them. The emperor, seized with uncontrollable anger and rage because he had found no crime against the patriarch, sent an executioner and had Santabarenus severely scourged, and banished him to Athens. Later, sending after him, he blinded him and exiled him to Asia. Many years afterwards, however, the emperor, having been placated, brought him back to the city, and ordered him to receive rations from the New Church. Now, Theodore Santabarenus died... ^D

under the emperors Constantine and his mother Zoe. ^B

7-8. During the reign of Leo, Hagius, the exarch and duke of Longobardia, and son-in-law of the king of the Franks, having stirred up a rebellion against the emperor, subjugated the whole region to his own authority. When the emperor learned of this, he sent Constantine, the master of the table, with all the western legions to wage war against Hagius. A battle was joined, and Constantine’s army was defeated and slaughtered, he himself barely escaping with his life.

9. There was an eclipse of the sun, so that it became night at the sixth hour and the stars appeared. Moreover, there were thunderclaps, windstorms, and lightning, such that seven men were consumed by fire on the steps of the Forum.

10. The fortress of Samos was besieged by the Agarenes, and their general Paspalas was taken prisoner. Emperor Leo appointed Zautzas as basileopator, having already become reconciled with his daughter Zoe, after her husband Theodore Gauaniatus had died by some poison. And when Stephen the patriarch had departed this life, Antony, called Cauleas, was ordained in his place.

11. A messenger also came from the praetor of Macedonia, saying that Symeon, the prince of the Bulgarians, intended to campaign against the Romans. The cause of Symeon’s anger was this: Zautzas the basileopator had a slave eunuch named Musicus. He had become friends with Stauracius and Cosmas, Helladics who were greedy for gold and merchants, who, for the sake of ^C shameful gain and desiring to increase their wealth by any means, through the intercession and influence of Musicus, who was in the city, diverted the trade of the Bulgarians from the city to Thessalonica, dealing unfairly with the Bulgarians in matters of commerce. The Bulgarians reported this to Symeon. He made these things known to Emperor Leo. But the emperor, hindered by the basileopator, who was favorably disposed toward Musicus, heard it all as if it were idle nonsense.

12. The Bulgarian, then, being enraged, campaigned against the Romans. Learning of this, the emperor sent the magistros of the military, Crenetes, against the Bulgarians with arms and many of the city’s nobles and officials, to move against Symeon. A battle was joined in Macedonia, and the Romans were routed, with both Crenetes and the Armenian Curticius, as well as all the rest, being slaughtered. Then, some of the Chazars, who were serving in the company of Leo, were captured; and their noses having been cut off as a disgrace to the Romans, they were sent to the city by Symeon. Seeing them, the emperor was filled with rage and sent Nicetas, surnamed Sclerus, with triremes into the river Danube to offer gifts to the Turks and to stir up war ^D

against Symeon. And having gone and met with their leaders, Arpad and Kursan, and having agreed to make war, he took their ^A fleet(?) and came to the emperor. 854 And the emperor again sent Eustathius, patrician and drungary of the fleet, by sea. And he sent the patrician Nicetas Phocas, the domestic of the themes, by land, and he entered as far as Bulgaria. The emperor, however, desiring peace despite such preparations for war, sent the quaestor Constantiniaces to Symeon to deliberate about peace. But Symeon, learning of the movement against him by both land and sea, locked the quaestor in prison, as if he had come in treachery. The Turks, therefore, having crossed [the river], while Symeon was occupied with the army of Phocas, subjugated and captured all of Bulgaria. ^B When Symeon heard this, he marched against the Turks. They, having crossed back, joined battle with the Bulgarians, and Symeon was routed, barely escaping alive into Distra. The Turks then asked the emperor to send [someone] to purchase the Bulgarian captives; this the emperor did, sending citizens to buy them back.

13. Symeon asked for peace through the drungary Eustathius. To this the emperor yielded, and he sent Leo Choerosphactes to conclude a peace. Nicetas accepted it, having returned with the people, and Eustathius, the drungary of the Vigil, likewise. ^C But Symeon did not even deem Leo worthy of speech, but threw him into prison. Having undertaken an expedition against the Turks—since they had no support of aid from the Romans, but had been left without any care—he slaughtered them all, and his arrogance increased. And having returned, he found Leo in Mudagra, and said to him: "I will not make peace unless I receive all the captives." The emperor decided to return them; a Bulgarian, a familiar servant of Symeon, came with Leo, and he received them.

14. When Nicetas Phocas had died, Symeon sought pretexts to break the peace; for, seeking other captives as well, he entered into the Roman domain. ^D Emperor Leo appointed Leo Catacalon as domestic of the schools, who had his residence in Rabdos, and sent with him the patrician and protovestiary Theodosius. And having crossed with all the themes and the regiments, and having joined battle with Symeon at Bulgarophygon, as the place is called, there occurred a general rout, and all perished, including the protovestiary Theodosius, because of whom the emperor was not a little afflicted.

15. Those of the fortress also slaughtered their general, Symeon, the son of John, in Cherson and the fortress of Corum, a fortified stronghold in Cappadocia, was captured by the Hagarenes.

16. The emperor prepared for a procession to the [churches of] Damianos, accompanied also by Zautza, the father-in-law of the emperor, along with

Zoe, his daughter; for Theophano, his wife, was not there, but was at the Blachernae, assiduously present at the holy shrine. ^A Since it seemed good to the emperor to remain there, the kinsmen and relatives of Zautza—namely his son Tzaoutzes and the others—having held a council, conspired to kill the emperor by night. But Zoe, sleeping in the bosom of the emperor, heard the tumult, and looking through the window, she signaled for silence. When she perceived the danger of the conspiracy they had plotted, she awakened the emperor. He immediately boarded a boat and crossed over to Pegas, leaving Zautza and the rest there, and at dawn he entered the palace in haste. He expelled John, the drungarios of the watch, and appointed Pardos, the son of Nicolaus, as count of the *foederati* in his place; for Nicolaus was bound in friendship to the emperor and made known to him everything concerning Zautza, ^B until Leo, the *magister* known as Theodotakes, reconciled them.

17. Theophano Augusta died, having reigned for twelve years. Not many days later, God revealed her as a worker of miracles, because she was free from jealousy and because she was assiduous in alms and in prayers unceasingly to God and the holy churches.

18. The emperor Leo crowned Zoe, the daughter of Zautza. Because the intimacy of Zoe with the emperor while Theophano was still alive had been condemned, the marriage was not blessed by the patriarch, but was considered illicit. And the priest who blessed it, even though he was acting on behalf of the emperor, was nonetheless deposed by decree of the synod. ^C And Leo was blessed with her by a palace cleric, surnamed Sinapes. And the one who blessed them was indeed removed from his rank. Zoe, however, reigned for one year and eight months. When she died, they found a sarcophagus in which to lay her body, having words engraved within it that read thus: *Daughter of Babylon, wretched one.*

19. Musicus and Staurakios were accused before the emperor Leo of receiving gifts for their intercession with the emperor’s father on behalf of the generals and officials and nobles. And once, when Staurakios had entered to see Zautza with letters from one of the generals, the emperor saw him standing in the solarium. He came up behind him, grabbed him by the nape of the neck, and dragged him out, as if to question him regarding the generals. And having led him to the Monothyron, ^D and having taken the letters and thrown them away, he handed him over to those present to be taken out of the palace, ordering that he have his hair shorn. When Musicus heard this, he fell into despair and his spirit collapsed. The emperor, coming to the place where Musicus stood by Zautza, pushed him by the neck and cast him out, handing him over to Christophoros the *koubikoularios* to be taken to the Studion and made a monk. Not long after, Zautza died.

in the palace, and after carrying out his corpse through the Bucoleon, they brought it to the monastery of Kaulias, and there buried it.

20. After the death of Zautzes, Basil Epeiktes, son of Nicholas the hetairiarch, became friends with Samonas the cubicularius, who was of Agarene stock and driven by a desire for the heights of the empire. Basil trusted in Samonas, saying, “Since our divine Zoe has passed away, the emperor intends to take another wife and will eliminate all of us. But give me your word, so that I may entrust to you all our plans.” When he had given his word to Basil, he trusted him with everything. ^B Samonas entered into the presence of the emperor and said to him, “My lord, I wish to tell you something privately; if I speak, it means death for me, but if I do not speak, you yourself will die.” And he recounted to the emperor the whole conspiracy of Basil. When the emperor did not believe what was said by him, and asked, “Has someone induced you to tell me these things, and have you done this to extort some reward?” he said, “Send faithful men whom you command, my lord, into my room, and let them remain hidden; whatever they hear from Basil and from me, let them write it down.” The emperor immediately sent Christophoros the protovestiarios together with Calocyrus the cubicularius; they went up and hid themselves in his room. Thus, Basil, being caught like a fish, and having received an oath from Samonas, in the latter’s private oratory, disclosed to him the entire conspiracy and who the conspirators were. While they were dining, Christophoros and Calocyrus came down and read to the emperor everything just as they had heard it written down. The emperor immediately summoned Basil and gave him fourteen thousand miliarisia, as if they were for the repose of the soul of his divine Zoe, as she had allegedly ordained, ^C and he sent him off to Macedonia. And in this way he drove Basil from the city. As for the rest of those who were partners and participants in his conspiracy: he sent Pardos, the drungarios of the watch, to the Stypiotis, as if to bring him, having warned him with a royal directive to bind the man. Under the pretext of leaving to dine at Saint Lazaros, at the descent of the tzychanisterion, the emperor stationed John Garidas with the others of the company in the cubiculum; and as the emperor was descending, those with John apprehended Nicholas, the hetairiarch of the company, and drove him from the city. Having brought Basil back from Macedonia, and having interrogated and scourged him, and having burned his hair, and paraded him with ignominy through the middle of the city, he exiled him to Athens; and there he ended his life in misery. Likewise, he tonsured some and exiled others of Nicholas the hetairiarch, and Stylianos, and John, and the entire family of Zautzes, having confiscated all their property. And thus, through Samonas, the entire kindred of Zautzes was wiped out. ^D Summoning all the magistri and those in authority, the emperor read in their presence

^A what had been reported by Samonas; and they said that he was worthy of great honor. He immediately honored him with the dignity of protospatharios and made him one of his intimates.

21-22. Now, Patriarch Antonius died, and in his place was ordained Nicolaus, who was the emperor’s mystikos. Furthermore, the fortified city of Demetrias in the theme of Hellas was captured by Damian the Agarene.

23. Emperor Leo crowned Anna, the daughter of Zoe, who was from [the house of] Zautzes, because he was unable to hold the public banquets established by custom, on account of there being no Augusta.

24. The emperor took a wife from the theme of Opsikion, a woman of great beauty named Eudokia, crowning her, proclaiming her Augusta, and taking her as his wife; from whom he fathered a male child, upon which both she and the child died.

25. Emperor Leo also purchased buildings near the Holy Apostles and built there a magnificent church in the name of his first wife, the holy Theophano.

26. Likewise, he built a church at the place called the Topoi, [dedicated to] Saint Lazarus, establishing it as a monastery for men, for eunuchs. There he also deposited the body of Saint Lazarus, brought from Cyprus, and [that] of Mary Magdalene, brought from Ephesus, celebrating also the dedication of that same church. Now, because the fleet was occupied with the construction of such churches, Tauromenium in Sicily was captured by the Africans, through the negligence or rather the treachery of Eustathios, the drungarios of the fleet, and of Caramalus, who was there, and of Michael Charaktos, with a great slaughter of the Romans. When they returned to the city, they were questioned by the emperor and the patriarch, and being accused by Michael Charaktos as traitors, they were condemned to death. But, the emperor having been entreated by Patriarch Nicolaus, the death penalty was remitted for them; they were allowed to enter the monastic life, Caramalus at the [monastery of] Picridion, and Eustathios at [the monastery of] Studiou. Lemnos, the island, was also taken by the Agarenes, with many of its inhabitants carried off as captives.

27. At the procession of Mid-Pentecost, as Emperor Leo had ascended to Saint Mocius and was entering the temple, when he had come near the solea, someone emerged from the ambo and struck him on the head with a strong and thick club. And had not the force of the club been broken ^D by being obstructed by a candelabrum, he would have immediately deprived him of life. But as blood flowed copiously from the emperor's head, there arose confusion and flight among the nobles, and many perished in it. Leo’s brother, Alexander, feigning illness, was absent from the entrance, so that from this a suspicion grew that he had been the author of such a plot. Samonas also was not there, but had gone away to bring Zoe into the palace so that she might be with the emperor. When the man who had struck the blow was captured and examined, and after he had endured many tortures and torments for many days, because he confessed nothing, he...

was finally deprived of his hands and feet and burned in the Sphendone of the Hippodrome; and from that time this kind of penalty was abolished. ^B

28. After some time had passed, the most wise Marcus, the oikonomos of the same church—who, it should be noted, had completed the *tetraodion* for Great Saturday composed by the lord Cosmas—came up to the emperor, and as he was reclining with him at table, he entreated him not to have the solemnity of the feast day cut short. As the emperor refused, Marcus said: "O Master, it was written long ago by the prophet David that this would happen to you (Ps. LXXIII, 3); for he prophesied, saying: *What the enemy has done wickedly in thy sanctuary, and they who hate thee have gloried in the midst of thy feast!* But it must be, O Master, that from this time forward you hold the empire for ten years." And this indeed came to pass, for on the very same day on which he had received the blow, he also died.

29. Zoe, the emperor’s fourth wife, was not adorned with nuptial crowns. As the emperor was proceeding in solemn procession toward the emporium of Boution in order to dedicate the monastery of his *protovestiarios* Christophoros, word came that the fleet of the Hagarenes, with the Tripolitan leading them, was sailing up against Constantinople. The emperor therefore sent Eustathios, the *drungarios* of the fleet, with the entire navy and the commanders and officials against the Tripolitan; but, because they were unable to engage the opposing line, they returned in vain. ^C

30. The Tripolitan then came and entered within Abydos as far as Parion. When the emperor learned of this, he fell into great dejection and distress, and he sent Himerios, the first of the *asekretis*, as head of the fleet against the Tripolitan; but they did not dare even to approach the fleet of the Hagarenes at all. Yet by the judgments of God, the same Leo the Tripolitan changed his plan, turned his sails, set out for Thessalonica, took it by storm, and captured it, along with their commander and leader, Leo Chatzilakes, having caused a great slaughter of the citizens and led away many captives. ^D A certain *koubikoularios* named Rodophyllos, having been sent to Sicily for a certain necessity with a hundred pounds of gold in his possession—happening to fall ill on the road, he entered Thessalonica to bathe and recover his strength, but he was seized by Leo. Symeon, an *asekretis* who later became patrician and first of the *asekretis*, happened to be traveling [along that way]; he received both the gold and the gifts which Rodophyllos had left on the road, while Rodophyllos, after being tortured with many torments, perished. And since it was the Tripolitan’s resolve to destroy the city, Symeon, having learned this, signaled to him to take the gold and leave the city unharmed, which was indeed done.

31. Samonas, feigning an intention to go out to his monastery designated as "Spira," which is situated at Damatrys, fled to Syria with his money and his horses, having hamstrung the public horses at each station along the way. When the emperor learned of this, he sent in pursuit

^A of him Basilius, the count of the foederati, the Camateros, and George the Crentas, in order to apprehend him. And when Samonas wished to cross the Halys, Nicephorus the drungarios, who was called Caminas, overtook him and prevented him from crossing. And since Samonas promised much but did not persuade him, he took refuge in the venerable cross which is at Siricha, pretending that he had made his journey for the sake of faith in the cross. Constantinus, son of Ducas, therefore apprehended him, and taking him back, returned to the city. The emperor ordered that he be guarded in the house of Bardas Caesar, and he inquired of Constantinus, son of Ducas, about him. Having learned that he was truly fleeing to Syria, he charged the son of Ducas not ^B to say this in the presence of the senate, when asked by him, but that he had gone to Siricha for the sake of a vow; for the emperor wished to admit him into his presence. Having therefore summoned Constantinus, son of Ducas, before those in power, he said: "As you hold God and my head, was Samonas fleeing or not?" He, however, as one who had previously asked the emperor not to swear oaths and [not] to command him to say what he was told, upon hearing the oaths and the religious import of these movements, announced before all: "Certainly, he was fleeing to Syria." The emperor sent him away in anger, and kept Samonas for four months in the house of Bardas. And he reconciled ^C with him in the emperor's sovereignty. [P. 559] 32. At that time, a comet star also appeared, sending its rays toward the East, and it was seen for forty days and as many nights. Samonas was created a patrician from the time of his flight. Leo begat a son from Zoe, his fourth wife; and he was baptized on the day of the Lights by the patriarch Nicholas in the Great Church, with the emperor Alexander, the patrician Samonas, and the whole senate as his godparents. 33. Then the Cypha was made a hospital for the care of the elderly, with the prostitutes cast out. 34. The emperor Leo was wedded with nuptial blessing to Zoe after the feast of the Lord's birth by Thomas the presbyter, who was deposed. He also proclaimed the same Zoe Augusta; and for this reason the patriarch ^D forbade the emperor from entering the church. Wherefore he passed on the right side as far as the metatorium, not at all walking through in the customary manner. 35. Samonas was promoted to praepositus of the sacred bedchamber, because he was the emperor's assistant and associate in every crime and wickedness. And they began to plot against the Church. For having summoned the patriarch Nicholas in the month of February, and having pleaded much that polygamy be received, when they were unable to bring him to their opinion, they embarked him from the Cletorion via the Bucoleon in a small boat and ferried him across to the

^A Eria, from where he traveled on foot to the Galacrenas with difficulty, as there was much snow on the ground. Euthymius the syncellus was ordained patriarch in his place, a man who was venerable, continent, and very pious and religious. It is said that he accepted this through divine revelation, since the emperor wished to promulgate a heresy and a law that it should be permitted for a man to have three or even four wives, a matter in which many most learned men were consenting to him.

36. In the month of June, Emperor Leo was invited by Constantine Libos to the monastery that is in Mardosagari, both for its dedication and for a banquet. A wind called the Lips arose, blowing strongly for the third time, shaking and overturning houses and churches, so that all fled into open spaces, saying that it was the end of the world, had not the clemency of God ^B calmed such a storm with erupting rains.

37. The emperor had appointed Himerius, logothete of the dromos, as head of all naval affairs, as the fleet of the Agarenes had gone out against the Romans. Andronicus the Doux had received an imperial order to join Himerius the logothete on the ships and to fight the Agarenes in earnest. Now Samonas was an irreconcilable enemy to Andronicus, and he was continually plotting many things against him and contriving to inflict harm upon him, studying to injure him in every way, by no means and by no effort or fraud, from the time he had been brought back from his flight. He suborned someone to write to Andronicus secretly: "Beware, do not board the ships, lest you be seized by Himerius; for Samonas was the one who ^C advised the emperor to command that you be seized and blinded by him." Although Himerius was using many entreaties and prayers for Andronicus to board the ships against the Agarenes, he recoiled. But as the Agarenes were pressing on, Himerius alone, on the day of Holy Thomas, joined battle with the Agarenes and won a great victory. When Andronicus learned of this, driven to desperation, he left with his relatives, his children, and his men, and seized the fortified city of Cabala, breaking out into perfect defection, so that Samonas said to the emperor: "Did I not tell you, lord, that the Doux was plotting tyranny and was a rebel?"

38. Therefore, the emperor immediately sent the domestic of the legions, Ibiritzes—who was Andronicus’s father-in-law—to overcome him. But when Andronicus learned of this, and also that Patriarch Nicholas had been deposed, he fled to the Agarenes with his relatives, friends, and children—they were at that time raiding Roman territory—and was received magnificently and with signs of joy by the Amyrumnes.

39. Emperor Leo was grieved on account of Andronicus, and ^D he often intended to send him a signed letter of security, which Theophilus had done on account of Manuel. But some advised the emperor to treat kindly one of the Saracens of the praetorium,

^A so that he might conciliate him more generously and send him back into Syria with the subscribed guarantee of immunity. This the emperor did, writing in red letters and sending it with a golden bull enclosed within a wand, wrapped in wax. When the Agarene had departed from the emperor, Samonas called him over and said to him: "Do you know what you are holding?" saying this because of the wax. "You are carrying the destruction of Syria." Having passed this to him, he instructed him to place it into the hands of Azir. He went off and did exactly this. Andronicus was seized ^B and put into chains along with all his kinsmen. Upon learning that these things had befallen him through the treachery of Samonas, forced by necessity, he himself and those who were with him defiled themselves with the impure rites of Mahomet. But Constantine his son and the rest, seeing that it was impossible for Andronicus to escape, on his advice not long after took to flight (a thing truly wonderful!) out of the midst of Syria into Romania; and though they were attacked in the countryside through regions, villages, and towns, with difficulty a few escaped to safety with Constantine his son.

40. From Tarsus, there entered into the city for the sake of an exchange both Abalbaces the elder and the father of Samonas; and the emperor beheld them ^C with adornment, honor, and glory in the Magnaura. They also adorned the Great Church with expensive ornaments and displayed all the precious vessels to the Agarenes, which was unworthy of the empire and the Christian state and discipline, that the eyes of the gentiles should be fed by the spectacle of the holy vessels of God. The father of Samonas wished to be with his son and to remain in Romania. But Samonas advised him, saying: "Hold to the faith which you have; I, if I am able, shall rather come to you."

41. On the day of Pentecost, Leo the emperor crowns his son Constantine through Euthymius the patriarch. Samonas gave Constantine his own man—one who had previously served Basilius the magister and prefect of the inkstand—to serve Zoe the Augusta; and he gained the favor ^D of the emperor Leo and the Augusta. This matter stirred up no light envy against him in Samonas; and he maligned him as having relations with the Augusta, which the emperor, suspecting to be true, sent and tonsured him as a monk in the monastery of Saint Tarasius by way of Samonas. But after a little while he ordered Samonas to take him into his own monastery of Spira, wishing to take him back into his household. Having gone therefore to take part in the procession at Damastris, and having lunched in the monastery of Samonas, he saw Constantine, and immediately ordered Samonas to clothe him in garments of the secular style; and he mingled him with the emperor at the banquet, and he returned with him to the palace.

42. Samonas, observing the love of the emperor toward him increasing, deliberates with the Great Cubicularius and Michael Tzerithon, and they compose a scroll full of reproaches against the emperor, having it written and organized by the Rhodian notary

When the emperor came to the Great Church, he found it at the spot where he was praying, in the metatorium, and he took it up. Having read it, he was in great anxiety and distress of mind, seeking who the author of this scroll might be. ^A There was also an eclipse of the moon, and the emperor commanded those who were astronomers at that time to declare the outcome of this sign. When the metropolitan Pantaleon—who was a friend of Samonas—came to the emperor, Samonas asked him, "To whom does this calamity point?" The metropolitan answered him, "To you; but if you pass the thirteenth day of the month of June, from then on you will be immune to any harm." But he told the emperor that the lunar maleficium concerned the person who held the second place in the state. The emperor assumed that this remark alluded to his brother Alexander. Then Tzerithon reported privately to the emperor that it was Samonas who had composed the scroll. Immediately, therefore, the emperor cast Samonas into his house, tonsured him as a monk, and led him away to the monastery of the patriarch Euthymius. And after he was again accused of crime, he led him away to the monastery of Martinakes. He also made Constantine the intimate prefect of the sacred bedchamber (they call him the accubitor), and founded a monastery for him at Nosiis; and he traveled thither together with the patriarch Euthymius to celebrate its dedication. ^B

43. In the month of October, a naval battle occurred between the logothete Himerius and the Agarenes Damian and Leo, with Romanus—who later held supreme power—acting as strategos at Samos. Himerius was defeated and barely escaped safely, while almost everyone there was brought into peril.

44. Emperor Leo began to suffer from an intestinal ailment, so that he was unable to go out to the Magnaura to deliver the oration at the beginning of the fasts. A fire also occurred in the cerularia of the Great Church, and all the records in the rolls and the sacellum (that is to say, the public treasury of the church) were burned. In the month of May, Leo died, having appointed his brother Alexander to the helm of the empire. Seeing him coming toward him, he said, as they say, "Behold the evil, and the time is thirteen months hence," ^C earnestly entreating and begging him to protect his son Constantine. And the word of the emperor came to pass; for indeed he ended his life after thirteen months.

THE REIGN OF ALEXANDER, SON OF BASIL

1. In the year of the world 6420, and of the divine incarnation 912, Alexander, the son of Basil, reigned for one year and twenty-nine days, together with Constantine, the son of Leo. He sent and brought back Nicholas from Galacrenae, having deposed the patriarch Euthymius, and he restored the same Nicholas to the patriarchal throne for a second time. Alexander also convened a silentium and a synod in the Magnaura, having brought Euthymius from the Stenum and the monastery of the Good, and sitting together with the patriarch Nicholas, they carried out his deposition, unworthily plucking the venerable beard of that holy man who was worthy of honor and veneration, ^D and performing other...

^A outrages and inflicting punishments upon him, which that honorable and holy man bore quietly and meekly. And he was relegated again to the monastery of Agathos, where, having finished his life, he was buried in that same monastery in the city at the Psamathia.

2. This Alexander, because of the suspicions he labored under while his brother Leo was alive, always devoted his leisure and his energy to hunting and to the things of a private man, doing nothing that was imperial, conducting himself rather in delights, immodesty, carousals, and drunkenness, and keeping his mind continuously occupied in such matters. Wherefore, having attained the possession of supreme power, he did nothing of a brave or noble character; but he immediately appointed a cleric, John by name, surnamed Lazaris, as master [of the offices], who also, through an evil fate, after the death of Alexander, ended his life while playing in the Hebdomon. In like manner also, he greatly enriched Gabrielopoulos and Basilitzes, of the Sclavonian race, with the treasures of the palace. And as the rumor goes, ^B he had even intended to make the same Basilitzes emperor, because he himself had no offspring, and to castrate Constantine, the son of Leo. And the plan for this enterprise was frequently thwarted by the efforts of those whom Leo had benefited, when they would point out that [Constantine] was now an infant, and now suffering from illness.

3. In his time a comet appeared from the West for fifteen days, which they said was called a sword [xiphias] and would bring about bloodshed in the city.

4. This man gave himself up to deceivers and magicians, who also made a golden image ^C of him, saying that it was dedicated to you and to your life, implying that the foolish man was a "swine-liver." And he, being deceived by them, renewed the genitals and teeth of the boar as if they were lacking in it. And trusting in that same delusion, he held the games, and having taken the vestments and many-branched candelabra of the churches, he decorated the hippodrome and illuminated it for the animals. For this reason, the hand of God was lifted from him, because he had offered to idols honor belonging to God.

5. Himerios the logothete, having returned after the defeat by the Hagarenes, was sent by Alexander to be confined in the palace monastery named Caluptae, with threats imposed as one who had not been sufficiently well-disposed toward his brother, the emperor Leo. ^D Being overcome by great affliction and anguish, and having fallen ill, he departed this life while in exile in the seventh month.

6. Symeon, the prince of Bulgaria, sent notifying Alexander of the things pertaining to peace, and that he should be treated with hospitality and honored just as had been done in the time of the emperor Leo. But he, being possessed by dementia and madness, sent back the envoys with ignominy, with threatening words against Symeon cont

^A, terrifying them. From that time on, the peace being broken, Symeon prepared to move his arms against the Christians.

7. Now Alexander, having breakfasted and having been struck by a divine sword, passed away, with much blood flowing from his nostrils and private parts; after two days he died, leaving as guardians the Patriarch Nicholas, Stephen the *magistros*, and John Eladas, as well as John the *rhaiktor*, Euthymius, Basilitzes, and Gabrielopoulos, having left the empire to his nephew Constantine, son of the Emperor Leo. Alexander was buried in the tombs with his father.

THE REIGN OF CONSTANTINE, SON OF LEO

1. Constantine, after his father had passed away, while still a boy (for he was in his seventh year of age), had been left in the empire by his uncle Alexander under guardians. He reigned, therefore, under guardians with his mother for another seven years; and with Romanus, his father-in-law, to whom he was subject, for another twenty-six years; and finally, he ruled the empire alone for fifteen years, so that the entire time of his reign ^B is comprised in the space of fifty-five years. Since the Patriarch Nicholas had seized the power of the palace, as he himself was a guardian along with the *magistros* Stephen and John Eladas—who was likewise a *magistros*—he took charge of public affairs and diligently devoted himself daily to matters pertaining to the empire.

2. While the affairs of the empire were thus situated, it was suggested to Constantine Ducas, who was *domestikos* of the schools*, by certain of the magnates in the royal city who loved him as a brave and prudent man and one who could well govern the empire, that he should enter the city and take control of it without any labor, transferring the summit of power to himself. He, for his part, as someone who had long dreamed of the empire and was always consumed with the desire for the crown and diadem, flew into the city with all possible haste ^C with a chosen band of his men, and a multitude also not to be despised. At night, having entered through a postern gate belonging to the *protovestiarios* Michael, not far from the acropolis and by an obscure entrance, he spent the night sleeplessly with his companions in the house of his father-in-law, Gregoras. But Nicetas, a secretary—who later became *protonotarios*—announced Constantine’s arrival to the patrician Constantine and the monk Eladikos; and both of them came that same night to Constantine Ducas. Having taken counsel, and while it was not yet day but still dark, they invaded the gate of the Circus with torches and a not insignificant armed force of soldiers and hailed Constantine as emperor with auspicious acclamations. There, his equerry was pierced by a lance ^D by the guards and those who were inside the gates, and fell dead.

3. Constantine, therefore, not being accepted—nay, being repelled—as if driven by the frenzy of some demon, and not being in possession of his senses due to his love of the empire, withdrew into the Circus, sad and with downcast face, considering the death of his equerry to be a bad omen.

^A Following this, acclaimed by the people, he came as far as the place called the Chalke, and having entered through the Iron Gate of the same Chalke, he reached the guard post. The Magister John Eladas, having made a selection from the foederati and the marines, sent them armed against the Ducas. When they reached the Chalke and joined battle, many fell on both sides; and the slaughter was so great that the place was flooded with rivers of blood. Gregoras, the son of the Ducas, was killed, and Michael his cousin, as well as that certain Curtices the Armenian.

4. When Constantine Ducas learned of this, because great turmoil had arisen, he spurred his horse. But the horse, slipping on the planks with which the ground was paved, threw its rider. When someone found him lying on the ground (for all the others had scattered and were wandering about), he cut off his head with a sword.

5. After these things were thus accomplished, Gregoras, the Magister, whose father-in-law he was, fled with Leo, who was surnamed Choerosphactes, to the Holy Great Church of God; but others dragged them from there by force and tonsured them as monks in the monastery of Stoudios. They scourged Constantine Eladicus with ox-hide scourges, clothed him in vile and ragged garments, set him upon an ass, and paraded him through the middle of the city; then, bringing him to the monastery of Dalmatus, they consigned him to prison under the condition of close confinement. Leo Catacalitzes and Absalon, the son of Arotras, they blinded and sent into exile. Theophilus, the governor under Lampus, cut off with a sword the head of Constantine, the son of Eulampius, and others who were with him, at the turning-post of the Circus. A search was made for Nicetas, the secretary, and Constantine Libys, but they were not found, as they had sought safety in flight. But Aegidas, a man of distinction, and his companions—who were many and brave men—they hung upon gallows from the point called Damalis, which is at Chrysopolis, as far as Leucatus. They were on the point of cruelly and unjustly executing many of the nobility and men of the senatorial order at that time, had not certain of the judges restrained them from their unjust assault and violence, saying to them: "While the emperor is still a boy, how do you dare to commit such deeds without his command?" Therefore, they tonsured the wife of the Ducas and sent her away to her own house in Paphlagonia, having also castrated her son, Stephen.

6-7. In the month of August, Symeon, the prince of the Bulgarians, having set out on an expedition against the Romans with a numerous and formidable army, reached Constantinople; and, laying siege to the city, he constructed a rampart stretching from the Blachernae as far as the gate which is called the Golden, being buoyed by the hope that he would surely take it without a struggle. But when he examined the strength of the walls and the multitude of the people and the armed forces, as well as the abundance of the ballistae, he was frustrated in his hopes and turned back to the place they call the Hebdomon, having asked for terms of peace. The regents, for their part...

having received the peace most willingly, sent Theodore the magister to discuss the terms of peace. ^A Patriarch Nicholas, along with Stephen and John the magistri, having taken the emperor with them, went as far as the Blachernae, and brought in the two sons of Symeon, and they were entertained at a feast by the emperor in the palace. Patriarch Nicholas went out to Symeon, to whom Symeon bowed his head modestly. The patriarch, therefore, having said a prayer over him, placed his own head covering upon his head in place of a crown, as they say. Consequently, Symeon and his sons, having been presented with boundless and most generous gifts, returned to their own land, having departed without sufficient agreement on the aforementioned peace.

8. Since the emperor Constantine was a child and was constantly asking for his mother—for Alexander the emperor, as has been said, had already cast her out of the palace—they brought her back again into the palace. Having therefore obtained power and taken hold of the administration of civil affairs, she brought into the palace Constantine the parakoimomenos, and Constantine and Anastasius, called the Gongylioi, ^B and, on the advice of John Eladas, she removed the associates of the emperor Alexander—John the raiktor, and him who is called Gabrielopoulos, and Basilitzes, and the rest. Zoe Augusta appointed Theophylact Domenicus as hetaireiarches. But John Eladas the magister, having fallen ill and being given up by his doctors, left the palace and, having arrived at the Blachernae and being weighed down by the illness, he died. On the advice of the hetaireiarches Domenicus, Zoe cast out Patriarch Nicholas along with his attendants in anger, telling him to care for his own church.

9. Not long after, Constantine the parakoimomenos accused the hetaireiarches Domenicus to the Augusta, as if he were plotting to transfer supreme power to his brother. Decorating him therefore with the dignity of a patrician as a pretext, when he had gone down to the church to receive a blessing according to the custom, they ordered him to stay at home. Zoe appointed in his place ^C John Garidas as hetaireiarches, and she created the eunuch Damian as drungarios of the vigla. Domenicus went off to his own house lamenting in vain.

10. But because the Bulgar Symeon was again plundering Thrace, and because the Augusta and the officials were anxious about how they might at last put a stop to the man’s arrogance, John the Bogas asked to become a patrician, promising to bring the Patzinaks against him. Having obtained his request and received gifts, he went off to the land of the Patzinaks, and having indeed made a treaty and received hostages from there, he brought them into the city, as the Patzinaks had agreed to cross the Ister and to wage war upon Symeon.

11. There arrived also in the city Asotios, a man most renowned for his strength, ^D being the son of the prince of the princes of

the princes, of whom they say that he held an iron rod by its ends with his exceeding strength, and would bend it and twist it into a circular shape, the stubborn nature of the iron yielding to the force of his hands. Him, upon his arrival, they received with great honor and sent back again to his own land.

12. In the month of September, in the third indiction, Pancratoukas the Armenian betrayed Adrianople to Symeon; but not long after, Basil the patrician and kanikleios, and Nicetas the protospatharius, an Eladic, were sent by Zoe Augusta with many gifts, and they received the city back again.

13. The emir Damianus also came to Strobilos with a fleet, having been equipped to wage war against it with a great force, and he would have taken it had he not been seized by a disease and died; because of his death, the Hagarenes returned in a vain attempt.

14. The inhabitants of Greece and Athens, being constantly harassed by Chasis the son of Joudes, and unable to endure his debauchery, killed him miserably with stones inside the sanctuary of the temple in Athens.

15. Zoe Augusta, seeing the insolence of Symeon and his attack against the Christians, and unable to bear it, deliberated with the chief men and decided to conclude a truce and peace with the Hagarenes, and to transport the entire army of the East to wage war upon and destroy Symeon. Therefore, John Rhadenos the patrician and Michael Toxaras were sent into Syria to conclude the truce. This being accomplished, and the customary distribution of pay having been made to the regiments, they took them up, along with the themes, and crossed over to the Thracian parts, while Leo Phocas the magister was domestic of the Schools, a man endowed with greater spirit than imperial strategic skill. ^C When, therefore, the holy and life-giving woods had been brought out through the ministry of Constantine, the protopapas of the palace, called Cephalas, and Constantine Maleles in Thrace, and all had venerated them and sworn an oath to die together, they set out with the whole army against the Bulgarians. ^D John Grapson was commander of the tagma of the Exkoubitores, and the son of Maroules of the Hikanatoi. Romanus Argyros held the command, and Leo his brother, and Bardas Phocas; and with them was Melias with the Armenians and all the other commanders of the themes. And there was present with the others Constantine the patrician Afer, who was to act as counselor to Leo the domestic in all matters pertaining to him.

17. On the twentieth of the month of August, in the fifth indiction, a battle was joined between the Bulgarians and the Romans at the river Achelous; and (O the judgments of God! how unsearchable and untraceable!) the Romans were turned back with their whole army, and there occurred a complete flight and a terrifying wailing, as they were slaughtered by one another...

^A a shedding of blood such as has not been heard of since the beginning of time. Leo the Domestic was safely received in Mesembria, having fled. Among others who were killed in the heat of the battle were Constantine Afer, John Grapso, and many other of the officials and nobles.

17. At that time, Romanus, a patrician and the Drungary of the fleet, was sent with the entire fleet to the Danube river to provide aid to Leo Phocas; John Bogas was also sent, as has been mentioned, to bring in the Patzinaks. Romanus the Drungary had received orders to transport them against the Bulgarians to assist Leo Phocas. But when they fell into disputes and verbal quarrels, and the Patzinaks saw them thus discordant and wrangling with one another, they returned home.

18. Now, once the war had ended and both Romanus and Bogas had returned to the city, the case against them was set in motion. The matter reached such a state of danger for Romanus the Drungary that a sentence condemning him to the loss of his eyes was handed down, on the grounds that through negligence, or rather through perversity of mind and wickedness, he had not transported the Patzinaks, but instead had withdrawn too quickly and had not even received the fleeing Romans into his ships. And he would have certainly paid this penalty, had not Constantine Gongylos and Stephen the Magister, who possessed supreme authority with the Augusta, striven to the contrary and thus overturned the sentence.

19. When the Bulgarians, elated by their victory at that time, made an excursion as far as the city, Leo the Domestic of the Schools, John the Hetaireiarch, and Nicholas the son of the Doux went out against them with a great force to a place called Catasyrtas. But the Bulgarians fell upon them unexpectedly by night, and when the Domestic was put to flight, Nicholas the son of the Doux was slaughtered along with many others who were with him.

20. Theodore, then, the tutor of the Emperor Constantine, seeing that Constantine the Accubitor was plotting to transfer the empire to his own brother-in-law, Leo, suggested to the Emperor Constantine that he should take on Romanus the Drungary—who had been a free-born servant of his father and was well-disposed and devoted to him—so that he might remain with him, and act as his guardian, protector, and defender, in whatever matters he might have need. Although he was frequently approached about this, Romanus had refused. Therefore, the Emperor Constantine himself wrote a letter in his own hand, confirmed it with his signature, and sent it to him. Upon receiving this into his hands, he promised that he would undertake the attack against Constantine the Accubitor and his relatives in the following manner.

21. When this rumor spread, and Constantine the Accubitor was pressuring Romanus to set out with the fleet, he began to make excuses and pleaded that he was unable to set sail as long as the fleet ^D

had not been provided with its military stipend and due pay. While Romanus was in the arming of the fleet and preparing the ships, ^A Constantine the Accubitor went out to him, as though to hasten the business of setting the fleet to sea. Romanus met him in a servile habit and bearing, and promised with a ready mind to do whatever was commanded. And when the Accubitor, wishing to return, asked Romanus if he had elegant and strong men who could row the imperial trireme, he immediately nodded with his hand to those who were nearby and ready. These men, since the plan did not escape them, when they had come very close to the praetoria of Romanus, and he, walking behind Constantine the Accubitor, had cried out, "Seize him with your hands and lift him up," they immediately snatched him and brought him into the trireme of the Drungarius Romanus, and held him in safe custody. There was no one, therefore, to defend him or move with pity for the man, as all who were with him had fled.

^B 22. When Zoe Augusta learned of these things, she called the Patriarch Nicolaus and her grandees, and sent them to Romanus, wishing to learn the cause of what had happened. But as they were crossing over, a gathering of the people pelted them with stones and put them to flight. In the morning, therefore, Zoe went out to the solar horologium of the Bucoleon and cried out to her son and to all, "How, then, has this rebellion happened?" And Theodore, the tutor of the Emperor Constantine, said to her that it had happened because Leo Phocas was destroying the Romans, and Constantine the Accubitor was ruining the palace.

^C 23. The Emperor further summoned the Patriarch Nicolaus and the Magistros Stephanus to be with him in the palace, transferring the power to himself from his mother. The next day he sent John Tubaces to cast Zoe Augusta out of the palace. She, with weeping and wailing, rushing into the embrace of her son, moved him to maternal compassion and pity, so that the Emperor said, "Allow my mother to remain with me." And they, as soon as he had spoken, left her.

^D 24. The Emperor and the Patriarch summoned John Garidas and appointed him Domestic of the Schools, fearing, of course, that Leo Phocas might turn to rebellion. He did not agree to accept the office unless Theodore Zuphinezer, his brother-in-law, and Symeon, his son, were appointed commanders of the Foederati. Trusting in their sworn oath, he went down to his house. But they immediately cast his relatives out of the palace. When he saw them coming toward him, numbness, trembling, and a shock of the senses seized the man. Immediately, therefore, he went to Romanus and recounted what had been done to him. Thus he was linked to him in closer friendship, and after oath-bound faith had been given and received, they turned out to be one in purpose from that time forward, consenting with one sense of mind; so that even the bonds of marriage

^A they agreed to contract, thereby tightening the bond of love all the more.

25. Therefore, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of March, Romanos sent John the presbyter, who was his own household member and most trusted man, and Theodore, called Mastzuces, into the palace to defend his cause and excuse him, saying that what he had done did not look toward rebellion; but that, being suspicious of Phocas’s aggression and fearing that he might plot some innovation against the emperor, he had for this reason resolved to come up into the palace and take over the guardianship of the emperor. Since Nicholas the patriarch did not approve of or agree to these things, it was signified to Romanos by the aforementioned tutor that he should come with his entire fleet as far as Bucoleon. ^B Having consulted with those who were with him (for the driving force was leading him), on the very day of the Annunciation of the all-holy Theotokos (which was a Thursday), he came armed with his entire fleet to Bucoleon. And immediately, Stephen the magister went out of the palace, and Nicetas the patrician, the father-in-law of Romanos, went up into the palace and expelled Nicholas the patriarch from it. Therefore, since the spirits of the courtiers had been fortified for Romanos by oath, they sent the precious cross to him; and having venerated it and bound himself by oath to them again, he went up with them and a few of his company to the palace to greet the emperor. Having entered with him into the church that is in the Pharos ^C, and having given and received pledges of security there, he was immediately appointed by him as magister and grand hetaireiarches.

26. Immediately, therefore, a divine command was issued to Leo Phocas, instructing him in no way to conceive of any sedition, but to rest for a short time in his own house. Likewise, letters were ordered to be written to Constantine the parakoimomenos, commanding him the same things, not to plot anything contrary, but to remain in subjection to the emperor Constantine. Andreas, primikirios of the imperial vestiarion, took these and delivered them to him in Cappadocia; and having received and read them, he returned home and remained quiet in his own house.

27. In the fifth week of the holy Fasts, the engagement of the marriage contract is given by the emperor Constantine to Helena, the daughter of Romanos, and on the third day of Easter, which is called the [day] of Galilee, she is blessed and crowned together with him ^D by the patriarch Nicholas.

28. Having appointed Romanos basileopator, he set up his son, Christopher, in his stead as hetaireiarches. Not much time had passed, however, when Leo Phocas, having been deceived by certain nobles and his own tribunes and at the urging of the legions subject to him, began to plot new things; and having summoned Constantine the accubitor, and Constantine and Anastasius the Gongylioi,

^A German brothers, as well as Constantine the secret-keeper Maleliani, he strove to persuade everyone and to assure them that he was making such a movement for the sake of the emperor Constantine. But Romanus, the emperor’s father, having made gold bullae and documents signed by his own hand as if from the person of the emperor Constantine, containing the undoing of such a conspiracy, and indicating that those who abandoned Phocas and fled to the emperor were on the side of the emperor, gave these to a certain shameless and bold woman named Anna, and to a certain cleric named Michael, and sent them into the camp of Leo. And they, having received these documents, secretly scattered them throughout the whole army. And Michael, indeed, having been caught by Phocas and beaten pitilessly, was deprived of his nose and ears; but afterwards he received his proper reward from Romanus; and likewise the woman who was sent with him.

29. Therefore, Constantine, the son of Bary-Michael, was the first to abandon Phocas and flee to Romanus, becoming the beginning of the dissolution of such rebellion and tyranny. With him also went Balantius and the one called Atzmorus, both of whom were tourmarchs. Then Leo Phocas, having taken a vast and strongly armed force of people at Chrysopolis, drew up his battle lines from the Stone Dam as far as Chalcedon, to strike fear into those in the city. Therefore, Simeon the keeper of the inkstand, is sent by Romanus on a dromon, carrying a document signed by the emperor Constantine, which declared these things.

30. ^C “As I have found no one among those under my hand as a more vigilant, more benevolent, and more faithful guardian of my empire than Romanus, I entrusted my protection to him after God, and I decided to treat him as a father, since he has shown me paternal bowels and a parent’s disposition. But as for this Leo Phocas, whom I have always suspected of plotting against my majesty, I have now found him to be a plotter by his very deeds, and one who has tyrannically risen up against my rule. Wherefore, I neither wish for him to be my domestic from now on, nor do I declare that this rebellion was carried out with my counsel, but that he took up this attack with his own arbitrary will, usurping the empire for himself.” When these things were read out to the army, all began to withdraw and to flee to the emperor’s father, Romanus. But Phocas, having fallen into a state of helplessness and hopelessness, as he realized he had missed every hope, and having taken to flight and arrived at the fortress of Ateus, and not having been received, Romanus sent John Tubakes and Leo, his kinsman, so that they might bring him into the city. Having seized him, they blinded him, although they had received no order concerning this, but they did it of their own accord, just as Roman ^D

having done this by design, so that Romanos, the father of the emperor, was indignant at this matter.

31. In the month of August, the plot of Constantine Ktematikos, David Kamulianos, and Michael, curator of the Manganon, was denounced. Being beaten and having their goods confiscated, they were led through the middle of the city and sent away into exile. Leo, the magister and domestic of the schools, was also brought into the city and led through the middle of the forum sitting on a mule for the sake of ignominy. ^A

32-33. Moreover, Zoe Augusta was caught plotting against Romanos by means of poisoned food prepared by Theokletos, a notary of the service. On account of this, they cast her out of the palace and led her away to the Petrion, tonsuring her in the monastery of Saint Euphemia. ^B

34. Furthermore, Theophylaktos the patrician and count of the stable invited to a meal Theodore, the pedagogue of the emperor Constantine, and his brother Symeon. Then John the droungarios of the watch, called Kourkouas, entered with a great retinue, and seizing them as though they were conspiring against Romanos, he exiled them to the Opsikion in their own suburban estates.

35. On the twenty-fourth of the month of September, Romanos was gifted with the dignity of Caesar; and in the month of December, on the seventeenth day, the Sunday of the Fathers, which is before the Nativity, he was gifted with the imperial diadem by the emperor Constantine, his son-in-law, and the patriarch Nicholas. And on the sixth of January, which is the holy day of the Lights, he crowned Theodora, his wife, with the imperial crown. In the month of May, on the seventeenth, in the fifth indiction, Christophorus, the son of Romanos, was proclaimed emperor, and was crowned by the emperor Constantine on the twenty-fourth of the same month, on the day of Holy Pentecost; and these two alone marched in that procession. ^C

1-2. In the month of June, in the eighth indiction, on a Sunday, the union of the Church was made through the agency of Romanos, with all being united, both metropolitans and clerics, who had been divided by the schism of Nicholas and Euthymios.

3. On the eighth of the month of February, in the ninth indiction, Romanos sent away and exiled to the island of Antigonis, Stephen, the son of Calomaria, as one accused of aspiring to the empire, and tonsured him a monk together with Theophanes Tichiotis and Paul the Orphanotrophos, his domestic servants. ^D

4. The emperor Romanos held a silentium in the tribunal, with all the cohorts gathered there in arms. But when the announcement was made, suddenly Romanos and Constantine returned with great speed to the palace; for information had been brought by Leo, the servant of Arsenios, that Arsenios himself and Paul the manglabites were weaving a plot; wherefore, being beaten and having their goods confiscated, they were relegated to exile. At that time, the presbyter John, the rector, was the assistant in the administration of the commonwealth and his intimate minister. He

made Leo, son of Arsenius, a hebdomadary, commending him to the emperor and insinuating him into his favor.

^A 5. There was a certain Rentacius in Greece, a relative of Nicetas the patrician, an uneducated man and a parricide. He pursued his own father to kill him, and because his father, fleeing his attack, boarded a ship and sailed away, only to be captured by the Cretans during the voyage, this Rentacius, finding an opening, plundered all his father’s property. Coming up to the city, he took refuge in the Great Church of God. But the emperor Romanus, learning of his disorderliness and plunder, decided to remove him from the church and punish him. He, having forged false letters to the Bulgarians, decided to defect to them. Being caught and convicted, he paid the penalty by the loss of his eyes.

^B 6. Since the Bulgarians had again made an incursion as far as Katasyrtas, and after the death of the domestic Adrelastus, Pothus Argyrus was appointed domestic of the Schools. Having set up camp at Thermopolis, he sent forth Michael, son of Moroleon, who was a lieutenant, to scout the movement of the Bulgarians. He, having unexpectedly fallen into their ranks, inflicted indeed a great slaughter upon the Bulgarians; but having himself received a wound, he entered the city and died.

^C 7. At that time, through Theoklitos, a notary of the administration, the conspiracy against the emperor Romanus by Anastasius the sacellarius and chief of the goldsmiths’ works, and Theodoret the cubicularius, and Demetrius the emperor’s private notary, ^D and Nicholas Koubatzes, and Theodotus the protocarabus, was reported—they who were ostensibly plotting on behalf of the emperor Constantine. Once convicted, they were beaten, led through the middle of the city, and banished abroad. Theodoret was beaten separately in what is called the Triconchos of the palace and he too was exiled. They tonsured the sacellarius Anastasius at the monastery of the Elegmoi, where he eventually died. Taking this as his pretext and occasion, Romanus demoted the emperor Constantine and placed him in the second rank, promoting himself to the fore.

8-9. Symeon again campaigned against the Romans, and having sent a multitude of Bulgarians together with Kaukanos and Menikos and others, he ordered them to march against the city as quickly as possible. Having crossed the mountains, they came as far as Manglaba. Learning of their inroad, the emperor Romanus, fearing that they might descend and burn the imperial palaces of the Pegae and the Stenon, sent John the rector together with Leo and Pothus, called the Argyroi, having with them a sufficient multitude from both the imperial guards, the company, and the tagmata. With them also went Alexius the patrician and drungary of the fleet, the Musele, with his own people. It was the fifth week of the Fast. Having therefore arranged the people in the

^A lower, marshy places of Pegae, the Bulgarians appeared from above, armed, and using a signal that was unclear, fearful, and extremely violent, they charged against them. Joannes the rector immediately took to flight, but Photinus, son of Platypus, fighting in his defense, was killed, as were many others. With difficulty, therefore, he escaped and got into a dromon. Alexius the drungary, the Musele, also came fleeing, armed; and not being able to climb the ladder of the dromon, he fell into the sea with his protomandator and was drowned. Both of the Argyroi escaped by flight into the fort. The rest of the naval and all other forces, some fleeing the hands of the enemy, were drowned in the sea; others perished by the sword; and others were taken captive by Bulgarian hands. The Bulgarians, no one resisting them, then burned the royal buildings of Pegae and laid waste the entire Stenos with fire. Such, indeed, is the great calamity caused by lack of counsel and inexperience in affairs, to which boldness and temerity act as assistants.

10. In the month of February, in the tenth indiction, Theodora, wife of Romanus, died; her body was deposited in the house of the emperor Romanus himself, which he had converted into a monastery.

11. In the same month, Sophia, wife of the emperor Christopher, was crowned. At that same time, the Iberian curopalates arrived in the city, and having been led through the middle of the forum, which had been magnificently adorned, he was received with great pomp and honor. He was also led into the ^C Holy Sophia of God, to inspect its beauty, its scale, and its precious ornamentation; for having adorned it splendidly and draped the walls with gold-woven tapestries and decorated it with all manner of finery, they thus admitted him. He, astonished at the wondrous and immense fabric of the temple, and admiring beyond measure its most precious adornment, calling this sacred place the dwelling of God, returned to his home.

12. But in the month of June, the Bulgarians campaigned again, and having reached the royal residences of Saint Theodora and having given them over to fire, the emperor Romanus invited the commanders and tribunes of the regiments to a banquet; among them was he who is called Sactices; and he exhorted and urged them to go out against the adversaries and fight for the fatherland. They agreed readily to die for his ^D majesty and the safety of the Christian cause. On the next day, therefore, the aforementioned Sactices, having been armed by the emperor, demonstrated the true faith he had given and the virtue of his brave soul; for coming upon the Bulgarians from the rear and falling upon their camp, he slaughtered all those whom he found there. When the Bulgarians learned what had occurred, they returned to the camp, and a battle having been joined, they compelled Sactices, being accompanied by few, to turn his back. Since he

fought bravely and slew many, he was no longer able to withstand the multitude of the enemies, so he let go the reins of his horse and drove it into flight. While he was attempting to cross a certain river flowing nearby, his horse became stuck in the mud, and he received a wound in the anus and the thigh. But since the horse was with difficulty extricated from the mud by the care and industry of his men, he escaped as far as the Blachernae; where, being placed in a holy coffin, because the wound was fatal, he departed from the living. ^B

13. At the same time Petronas, a most venerable man, by order of the Emperor Romanus, brought a funeral urn carved with figures and images, as well as two others lacking such carving, from the monastery of Saint Mamas of the men, which is near the gate called Xylokercos, in which they say Mauricius was laid to rest together with his children; these were deposited in the monastery of the Emperor, that is to say, in the Myrelaion.

14. A certain Adrian the Chaldian, and also Tzantzes the Armenian—a very wealthy man—by the instigation and counsel of Bardas Boilas, who was then acting as general in Chaldia, plotted tyranny and rebellion against the Emperor Romanus, having occupied the fortress called Paiperte. John Kourkouas, domestic of the Schools, having fought against them, captured some; of these, he blinded the more illustrious ones after confiscating their goods, but he ordered the poor and obscure ones, being innocent, to depart wherever they wished. Tzantzes, however, having escaped to another very strong fortress and having received a pledge of immunity, entered the city; and having been honored with the dignity of *manglabites*, he resided in the house of the Manganon under guard. But when he was caught planning an escape, he was deprived of his eyes. As for Bardas Boilas, the Emperor, having pity on him because he held him dear, had him shorn in the manner of a monk.

15. In regard to the patrician nicknamed Moroleon, who was the general of Adrianople—a man of great excellence and skill, who had displayed many acts of bravery against the Bulgarians—Symeon the Bulgarian once again surrounded the aforementioned city with his entire army. When the grain for those in the city had failed and a severe famine pressed upon them (for there was nowhere at all to procure rations), being hard-pressed by need, they betrayed themselves and the general to the Bulgarians. Symeon, having seized him, bound him over his entire body, and having punished him with countless tortures, finally killed him with a bitter death, worthy of his own most impious and cruel soul. Having handed over the guard of the city to the Bulgarians, he withdrew; they, having heard of the arrival of the Roman army against them, abandoned the city and departed, and thus it again came under the Romans. ^D

16. Leo Tripolitas, having set out against the Romans with a great force and warships and having seized the island of Lemnos, John the patrician, called Radinus,

^A suddenly fell upon him and seized the island; and when the battle was joined, by the grace of God those under him routed the Hagarenes, and the Tripolitan alone saved himself by flight.

17. In the month of September, in the second indiction, Symeon, the ruler of Bulgaria, set out with his whole army against Constantinople; and he plundered Thrace and Macedonia, and burned, destroyed, and felled everything. Having arrived at the Blachernae, he requested that the patriarch Nicholas and certain of the nobles be sent to him ^B so that they might meet concerning peace. Both sides therefore exchanged hostages, and first the patriarch went out, then Michael the patrician, surnamed Stypiotes, and John the mystic and administrator of affairs—for John the Rector, having been calumniated before the emperor, had feigned illness and had departed from the palace and had been tonsured in the manner of a monk in his own monastery, which is not far from Galacrenae.

18. The envoys therefore negotiated with Symeon concerning peace, but he sent them away, for he sought solely to see the emperor Romanus himself. By many reports he had been fully informed ^C of his prudence, bravery, and wisdom. The emperor therefore greatly rejoiced at this, for he longed for peace and desired to put an end to the daily slaughters on both sides. He sent men to construct at the seashore of Cosmidium a very secure landing-place, where the imperial trireme might put in and be moored. Having fortified this place on all sides, he ordered a partition to be made in the middle, where they were to confer. Meanwhile, Symeon, having sent a detachment of his men, burned the temple of the Holy Mother of God which is in Pegae, and ravaged all the surrounding area with fire and sword; by this action he ^D clearly showed that his mind was far from peace, and that he was deceiving the emperor with empty hopes.

19. When the emperor arrived at the Blachernae, he entered with the patriarch Nicholas into the holy shrine and stretched out his hands in prayer; then, falling face down, he watered that holy ground profusely with his tears, beseeching the most immaculate Mother of God to soften the unyielding and relentless heart of the tyrant and proud Symeon and lead him to agree to the concord of peace. They therefore opened the holy chest, in which the venerable garment of the most holy Mother of God is stored, and the emperor took this from there and, having put it on as if it were a breastplate that can be pierced by no weapons, and having placed his faith in the immaculate Mother of God like a helmet, he went out from the temple, defended by these sacred arms. Having thus duly equipped his retinue of sailors with shields and other weapons, he came to the appointed place to converse with Symeon.

20. It was the fifth day of the week when these things happened, on the nineteenth day of the month of November, at the fourth hour of the day. There came

^A Symeon, bringing with him an infinite multitude, divided into many companies, some with gilded shields and gilded spears, others with silver, and others adorned with arms of every color; all were encased in iron. Those in the midst of them, having taken up Symeon, acclaimed him in the Roman tongue as emperor and king with auspicious voices. All the members of the senate, standing upon the walls, watched what was happening. It was truly a sight to see the soul of the emperor, genuinely imperial and magnanimous, and to marvel at the unflinching nature of his resolve and the stature of his courage; how, seeing such a massive onrush of enemies, he was not dismayed or forced to retreat, but, as if walking into a multitude of friends, he set forth so calmly, all but offering his own soul to the enemies as a ransom for his subjects.

21. The emperor, therefore, having first reached the aforementioned landing stage, awaited Symeon. And when hostages had been taken from both sides, and the Bulgarians had searched the landing stage precisely to ensure that no treachery or ambush was hidden there, Symeon dismounted from his horse and went in to the emperor. After they had greeted one another, they began to speak of peace. It is said that the emperor spoke to Symeon as follows: "I have heard that you are a religious man and a true Christian, but I see that your deeds do not at all correspond with your words. For it is the character of a religious man and a Christian to love peace and to cherish love, since God is and is called Love; but it is the character of an impious, irreligious, and faithless person to rejoice in slaughter and in blood unjustly shed. If, therefore, you are a true Christian, as we are fully persuaded you are, ^B put an end at last to ^C these unjust slaughters and the shedding of unholy blood, and conclude a peace with us Christians, being and being called a Christian yourself, and do not desire to stain the right hand of a Christian with the blood of fellow-Christians. You too are a man, awaiting death, resurrection, and judgment. Today you exist, and tomorrow you will be dissolved into dust. A single fever will dissolve all your arrogance. What account, therefore, will you give to God when you have departed to that place for these unjust slaughters? With what countenance will you look upon the fearful and just Judge? If it is a desire for riches that drives you to such outrages, I myself will fill you to satiety with what you desire; only hold back your right hand. Embrace peace. Love harmony, so that you too may live a peaceful, bloodless, and untroubled life, and so that the sufferings of Christians may finally cease, and they may stop slaughtering one another; for it is not right for them to raise arms against those of the same faith." Having said these things, the emperor fell silent. Symeon, therefore, struck with awe by his humility and his words, agreed to make peace. Having embraced one another, they parted, the emperor having honored Symeon with magnificent gifts.

22. I shall now narrate the marvelous event that took place then, a thing truly ^D

^A portentous and strange to those who know how to judge such things. They say that while both kings were conversing, two eagles flew over them, circled with a cry, and joined together, but immediately separated from one another, the one flying off toward the City, and the other toward Thrace. Those who carefully observe such things did not judge this to be a good omen; for they declared that the two would part ways without achieving peace. Symeon, having returned to his own camp, recounted to his grandees the emperor’s wisdom and moderation, and celebrated with immense praises the man’s form, strength, and dauntless spirit.

23. On the twenty-fifth day of the month of December, Romanus crowned his sons, Stephen and Constantine, in the Great Church; but the patriarch Nicholas also tonsured his son, Theophylact, an eunuch, and made him a cleric, ordaining him a subdeacon and promoting him to the rank of syncellus, after he had first gone through the order of subdeacons in the holy sanctuary.

24. On the nineteenth day of the month of April, Romanus honored John the Mystic, the administrator of state affairs and his assistant, with the rank of patrician and proconsul, in such a way that on this very account envy was stirred up against him, and he was accused by some.

25. On the fifteenth day of the month of May, in the thirteenth indiction, died Patriarch Nicholas, having held the throne for thirteen years during his second tenure. His body was laid to rest in the monastery he himself had founded, which they call the Galacrene. In the month of August, Stephen, Metropolitan of Amasea, an eunuch, was appointed patriarch.

^C 26. In the month of October, John the Mystic, assistant to the emperor in managing affairs, was accused of aspiring to the empire, at the instigation of the patrician Cosmas, the logothete of the drome, who had given his daughter to him in marriage. Because of this, he was indeed expelled from the palace, yet he was permitted to go out, to serve the emperor, and, in sharing councils with him, to manage what appertained to his office. For the emperor Romanus possessed such great affection for him—because the Mystic was able to serve him in all things—that he could not bring himself to banish him completely from his presence. However, as the accusers pressed the emperor and clearly demonstrated the crimes charged, the emperor investigated, and having learned that these things were true, he decided that the Mystic should be seized and subjected to questioning. Foreseeing this, he took to flight, and reaching the place called Monocastanon, he was tonsured a monk. Constantine, the son of Boilas, the praepositus of the table, also fled, fearing, indeed, that he, who was the Mystic’s confederate and privy to his secrets, might be implicated. The emperor, having had the patrician Cosmas beaten at the palace horologium, dismissed him from his office. Theophanes the protovestiarius was appointed as assistant to the emperor in the management of state affairs in place of John the Mystic.

^A 27. At that time a fearsome earthquake occurred in the Thracesian theme, and a great and terrible chasm in the earth opened, such that many farms and churches were swallowed up with the people in them.

28. On the twenty-seventh day of the month of May, in the fifteenth indiction, Symeon, prince of Bulgaria, died, having appointed as prince his son Peter, whom he had by his second wife, the sister of George Sursubulos, whom also Symeon had left as guardian of his children. Michael, born of his former wife, he had tonsured as a monk. John and Benjamin, the brothers of Peter, were still adorned in the Bulgarian dress.

29. The surrounding nations, therefore, once they learned of Symeon’s death, including the Croats and the rest, wished to campaign against the Bulgarians. But since famine, along with a heavy swarm of locusts, was pressing hard upon the Bulgarian people, they feared an incursion from the other nations, but they feared the march of the Romans even more. Taking counsel, therefore, they prepare to campaign against the Romans and occupy parts of Macedonia. By doing so, they intended, as was likely, to strike fear into the Romans, but once they learned that the Emperor was intending to campaign against them, Peter and George secretly sent a certain monk named Kalokyros, an Armenian by birth, carrying a golden bull. The tenor of the bull was that they embraced peace with the Romans and were ^B of a ready mind to conclude it; and not only that, but they were also willing, if it pleased them, to enter into a marriage alliance with the Romans.

30. The Emperor, having received such a monk most gladly, immediately sent by dromon to Mesembria the monk Theodosius Abukes and Constantine the Rhodian, a palatine cleric, to discuss peace with the Bulgarians. They, having arrived and held the discussion, handled the matter favorably; traveling by land, they returned while in company with Peter the Bulgarian. After them, George Sursubulos also followed; and when they had come to the city, they established peace and sought to conclude a marriage alliance with the Emperor. Having seen Maria, the daughter of Christophoros, and being greatly pleased by her beauty and form, they wrote to Peter to come as quickly as possible, having first agreed upon the terms of the peace that had been established.

31. Nicetas the magister, the father-in-law of the Emperor Romanos, was sent to meet Peter and bring him as far as the city. When Peter the Bulgarian had arrived, the Emperor Romanos boarded a trireme and went to the Blachernae, and as Peter approached him he saw him and greeted him with a kiss. When they had discussed the current affairs with one another, the agreements of the peace and the marriage covenants were signed and ratified, with the ^C protovestiarius Theophanes acting as mediator in these matters and diligently arranging the business between the Romans and the Bulgarians.

32. On the eighth of the month of October...

Patriarch Stephen, along with Theophanes the protovestiarios and Maria, daughter of Christopher, and the entire senate, went to the church of the most holy Theotokos at the Pegai ^A, where they blessed Peter and Maria and placed the nuptial crowns upon their heads, with Theophanes the protovestiarios and George Sursubulos acting as groomsmen. A sumptuous and most magnificent banquet having been prepared, and all things pertaining to the nuptial rites having been performed fittingly and splendidly, Theophanes the protovestiarios returned to the city along with Maria, the daughter of Emperor Christopher. On the third day after the celebration of the marriage, Emperor Romanus prepared a magnificent feast at the landing place of the Pegai, having adorned the structure with silk hangings. In this place, Emperor Romanus feasted with Peter the Bulgarian, as well as with his son-in-law Constantine and his son Christopher. When the Bulgarians, with firm resolve, insisted that Christopher be acclaimed first, and then Constantine, with favorable omens and shouts in the manner of emperors, Emperor Romanus yielded to their insistence, and that which they requested came to pass. 33-34. ^B When all the nuptial solemnities and joys were completed, and Maria was now about to set out for Bulgaria with her husband Peter, her parents accompanied her as far as the Hebdomon, together with Theophanes the protovestiarios. And after having feasted there with Peter, since the time for departure was at hand, they embraced their daughter, shedding many tears—as was fitting for those who were about to be deprived of a most beloved child—and after kissing their son-in-law and placing their daughter into his own hands, they returned to the palace. Maria, delivered into the hands of her Bulgarian husband, made the journey to Bulgaria with joy mixed with sadness ^C: sadness for the fact that she was deprived of her most loving parents, of the royal palaces, and of the habit of those who were kin to her family; and joy because she had been joined to a king as a husband and was hailed as mistress of the Bulgarians. She departed, therefore, taking with her splendid riches of every kind and an uncountable supply of furnishings. 35. At that time, envoys also came from Melitene to Emperor Romanus, offering to establish covenants of peace. Not long after, Apochaps, grandson of Amer, himself the amir of Melitene, and Aposalath the commander—a very noble, wealthy, and vigorous man—also came from Melitene; and having been received with ^D magnificent honor and the proper respect by Romanus, and having struck a peace agreement, they returned to their own lands. From then on, they were numbered as allies and joined in military campaigns with the Romans against their own kin, the Hagarenes, and they would enter the city with the Romans during the triumphal processions, bringing with them Hagarene captives—a truly wonderful and paradoxical indication of the downfall of the godless Hagarenes. But after the death of Apochaps, a prudent, wise, and powerful man, those who inhabited Melitene broke the peace. Consequently, the Domestic of the Schools, John Curcuas, once again campaigns against them with his cohorts

and legions, and Melias, the commander of the Armenians. These, making many forays every day and devastating the whole region far and wide with constant incursions, and leading away captives, drove Melitene into such straits that in a very short time they conquered it and razed it to the ground. And not only it, but also the cities and regions adjacent to it, which were fertile, most rich, and afforded many other revenues. The emperor, therefore, reducing this Melitene into a curatorship (others call it a province), extracted many thousands of gold and silver pieces from it.

36. Nicetas, Magister and father-in-law of the Emperor Christopher, was accused of having instigated him against his own father and having been the author of his dethronement. Wherefore, having cast him out of the city, they tonsured him a monk, condemning him to exile in his own suburb.

37. On the eighteenth day of the month of July, in the sixth indiction, the patriarch Stephen dies, having served for two years and eleven months. But on the fourteenth day of the month of December, they bring in Tryphon, a monk dwelling in the Opsikion, a man testified to for his religious character and holiness, and they ordain him patriarch for a fixed time, until Theophylact, the son of the Emperor Romanus, should reach the measure of age whom they intended to make patriarch of Constantinople.

38. On the twenty-fifth day of the same month, an unbearable winter occurred, so that the earth was frozen into ice for 120 days. Whence there also came a great famine, surpassing any that had ever existed, and such a great number of deaths followed from it, that the living were not able to carry out the dead. The Emperor Romanus, considering that violence of such great evil, which no power of words could explain, took thought worthy of his compassionate and merciful nature, alleviating the want of the famine with generous alms. He closed up the spaces of the porticoes with windows and wooden boards, so that the snow and the cold might not penetrate from there to the poor. Then he also constructed what are called arculae (chests) in all the porticoes, and ordered that a silver coin be given every month to the poor lying there; he also ordered monthly trimisia to be distributed to the poor through the churches, [totaling] twelve thousand pieces of stamped silver. And his mind, inclined to mercy and a generous provider for the poor, did not only establish these things, but he also ordered that three poor men eat with him every day, who each received one coin as an alms. On Wednesday and Friday, he would admit three poor monks as companions at the table, who themselves also received a fixed coin each. And that which is observed in the monasteries by legitimate rite, that while eating reading should take place, this he also did himself, providing the table for himself and the guests.

^A Thus, his body was nourished with accustomed food, while his soul feasted with the pleasure of appropriate readings; to these he paid diligent attention, and being pricked in the spirit of his mind, he poured forth large fountains of tears.

39. As for his faith toward the monks, especially those whom holiness and piety made illustrious, who could recount how great it was? No monk came into his sight to whom he did not disclose his actions with many tears. And since he was most devout in faith and most orthodox, he would splendidly adorn and decorate all the city’s churches with transparent veils of fine weave and an abundance of wax candles and lamps. Nor did he ever cease, at any time, to send annual stipends to the monks in the mountains—namely, those on Olympus, on ^B Kyminas, on what is called the Golden Rock, and on the mountain of Baracheas—caring for their needs and providing for them; and those who were conspicuous among them for their active life and contemplation he would summon to himself, to gather the fruits of their prayers. And not only this, but he never ceased providing annual rations, as he had established, to those who were recluses for God's sake and had hidden themselves in the narrowest huts as in a prison, and indeed to all the monasteries. We have run through these few virtues and alms of the man, as if from among many.

40. Now John, the brother of Peter the Bulgarian, laid ambushes with other of Symeon's nobles. Upon their being caught, John was indeed corrected with scourges and shut up in prison; the others were subjected to bitter punishments. When Romanos the Emperor was informed of these things by Peter, he sent the monk John (who had been the ^C *rhaictor*) under the pretext of redeeming captives, but in reality to seize John and bring him to Constantinople; which is exactly what happened. For having boarded a ship with John from Mesembria, he came to the city. Not long after, John cast off the monastic habit and sought a wife; the emperor assigned him a house and conferred upon him many estates, and also found him a wife from his own fatherland, the Armeniac region, and celebrated a magnificent wedding in the house of the Caesar, with Emperor Christopher and the monk John, who had been *rhaictor*, acting as groomsmen.

41. In the month of March, on the second day, a cornice fell in the Forum from the columns standing in a row there, and killed six ^D men. There was also a great and terrible fire in the portico of the Forum, near the temple of the most holy Theotokos, so that the part of the Forum occupied by the candle-makers and the furriers was consumed by fire up to the Psichas.

42. Christopher the Emperor died in the month of August, in the fourth indiction, when Romanos had mourned him greatly.

By his father, whose funeral he attended with great weeping and lamentation, since at his aged time of life ^A his children were still young and of tender age. His corpse was deposited in the aforementioned monastery of his father, of which we have made mention above.

43. They also deposed Patriarch Tryphon in the month of August, in the third indiction, he having completed the established time. He departed to his own monastery and there met his end; the Church remained widowed of a pastor for one year and five months, because Theophylactus, the son of the Emperor Romanos, was not yet of sufficiently mature age; for his father, as has been said, intended to appoint him patriarch.

44. A certain Basilios, a Macedonian impostor, claiming himself to be Constantine Doukas, led many into following him. ^B Having been seized by the tribune Elephantinos of the Opsikion, he was brought into Constantinople and had one hand cut off by the eparch. Afterwards, finding an opportunity, he returned to the Opsikion and, having fitted a bronze hand in place of the one which had been cut off and having fashioned an oversized sword, he went about again deceiving many of the vagabonds, pretending that he was Constantine, the son of Doukas; drawing them to him, he stirred up a great rebellion against the Romans. Having seized a fortress which is called Plata Petra, he stored therein every kind of edible provision; from there he would sally forth to plunder and lay waste to those he encountered. The Emperor therefore sent an army against him and captured both him and those with him. ^C When they had brought them into the city, they interrogated them and inflicted many blows, so that he might reveal the rebels, if there were any. But he falsely slandered many of those in high office as being his accomplices. When he was convicted of having no truth to speak against them, he was consumed by fire at the Amastrianos.

45. The aforementioned son of the Emperor, Theophylactus, was ordained patriarch on the second of February, in the sixth indiction, when agents arrived from Rome bringing a synodal tome regarding his ordination; they also installed him upon the patriarchal throne. ^D

46. The aforementioned Maria, granddaughter of the Emperor Romanos and wife of Peter, the Emperor of the Bulgarians, entered the city to visit her own father and grandfather. Finally, she came a second time, bringing her three children with her, when her father Christopher had already departed from the living. Having received much precious wealth from her grandfather, she returned home with honor.

47. Emperor Romanos took a wife for his son Stephanos, the daughter of Gabriel and granddaughter of Katakylas, by name Anna. Together with the nuptial crown, the imperial crown was also placed upon his head.

48. The first expedition of the Turks against the Romans took place in the month of April, in the seventh indiction; these...

^A running even to the city, carried off as booty everyone they encountered throughout Thrace. Therefore, the patrician Theophanes, the protovestiarius, administrator of the empire, and prince of the senate, was sent to make peace with them and recover the captives. Furthermore, Theophanes, having dealt with them with admirable prudence and sagacity, accomplished everything according to his wishes, and because of this he gained much praise and admiration from them; at which time the emperor Romanos also demonstrated his own magnanimity and humanity, sparing no expense to ensure the captives were liberated.

49. Emperor Romanos indeed took as a wife for his youngest son, Constantine, Helen, daughter of the patrician Adrian, of Armenian stock; and when she had died in the month of February in the second indiction, he gave him another in marriage, by the name of Theophano.

50. In the month of June, on the eleventh day, in the fifteenth indiction, the Rus sailed against Byzantium with ten thousand ships. ^B Against them was sent the patrician Theophanes, the protovestiarius and deputy of the emperor, with as many triremes and swift vessels—the *dromones*—as happened to be in the city. Having readied and prepared the fleet, and having fortified himself as much as possible with fasting and tears, he awaited the Rus, intending to engage them in a naval battle. When they had arrived and approached the Pharos, he, keeping his station at the mouths of the Euxine Sea in the place they call Hierum (as if one were to say "the Temple"), suddenly made an assault upon them. ^C And so, he himself, running forward first with his own fast ship, broke up the formation of the Rus ships and burned very many of them with the prepared Greek fire, and put the rest to flight; the remaining ships and the triremes of our side, following behind, utterly routed the battle line. They sank many of the ships with their crews, slew many, and captured a great number alive. The remnants that escaped the slaughter sailed away to the eastern region, to a place called Sgora. ^D At that time, Bardas Phokas was also sent by land with a picked troop of cavalry to intercept the progress of the enemy. And indeed, encountering a significant force of them that had been sent toward the regions of Bithynia in order to provide themselves with food and other necessities, the aforementioned Bardas Phokas treated them harshly, routing and slaughtering them. Then also came John the Magister and domestic of the schools, Krokeas, with the entire army of the East, and he destroyed many of them, catching their scattered parties here and there, so that, cowed by fear of his assault, they remained huddled together in their own ships and did not dare to venture out anywhere.

51. Furthermore, they committed many and very great evils before the Roman army had even arrived. For they had devastated the entire Stenum, as it is called, with fire, and of those whom they had taken captive, some they crucified

^A while others they set up like targets and riddled with a shower of javelins. As many of the priestly and clerical order as they managed to seize, they would bind their hands behind their backs and drive iron nails through the middle of their heads. They also surrendered many holy churches to the flames. But as winter was already setting in, and they were running short of provisions, and the army feared both an assault on land and a naval battle, they decided to return home. And indeed, while they were trying to conceal their fleet, in the month of September, in the fifteenth indiction, attempting to sail across toward the Thracian regions, they were met by the patrician Theophanes; for they could not escape his most vigilant and noble spirit. Immediately, therefore, a second naval battle was joined, and the aforementioned man sank very many ships and killed many of them. A few survived with their ships and, having fallen upon the rugged coast of Koile at the onset of night, they escaped. But the patrician Theophanes returned with a brilliant victory and very great trophies, and was received honorably and magnificently, and was honored with the dignity of ^B Parakoimomenos.

52. Since the aforementioned John, the Magister Krokeas, was a man of excellent military skill, and had erected many great trophies, and had widened the Roman borders, and had sacked very many cities of the Agarenes, the Emperor Romanos, because of the brilliance of that man's virtue, desired to take his daughter as a bride for his own grandson, Romanos, who was born to his son Constantine. But, as envy against him was stirred up from this affair by the other emperors, he was cast out of his office, and the patrician Pantherios, a kinsman of the Emperor Romanos, was appointed Domestic in his stead.

53. In the first indiction, in the month of April, the Turks came again with a very large force. But the patrician Theophanes, the Parakoimomenos, going out, made peaceful terms with them, taking hostages from among those of high standing; from which it also came about that peace and a truce were maintained for five years.

54. In the second indiction, the Emperor Romanos sent the protospatharios and strategos of Langobardia, Paschalius, to Hugh, king of Francia, seeking his daughter as a bride for Romanos, the ^D son of his son-in-law Constantine; and having taken her, the aforementioned Paschalius brought her into the city with much luxury and wealth. The wedding took place in the month of September, in the third indiction. She lived with her husband for five years; and she died in the days of the reign of Constantine, her own father-in-law.

55. When a very violent wind had blown in the month of December, those called by the name of the factions in the Hippodrome, 918 who at that time were standing opposite the royal throne, and they crushed…

^A both the pedestals beneath them and what are called the chests. When a year had revolved, in that very same month, the sons of the emperor Romanos brought him down from the palace.

56. In the city of Edessa, where the holy image of Christ imprinted on cloth was stored, as it was being besieged by the Roman army and reduced to the greatest straits, the inhabitants sent envoys to the emperor Romanos asking for the siege to be lifted, and promising to hand over the holy image of Christ that was so imprinted. In return for such a favor, they asked to receive back from their own people some more illustrious prisoners, and that a golden bull be given to them so that their land would no longer be devastated by the Roman army; ^B and this indeed came to pass. When the holy image was sent and had already approached Constantinople, Theophanes the patrician and *parakoimomenos* went out to the river Sangarios and met it with a splendid array of candles and with appropriate reverence and hymns. And on the fifteenth of the month of August they entered the city with it, while the emperor was in Blachernae, and he adored it there. On the following day, the emperor’s two sons, Stephen and Constantine, and his son-in-law Constantine went out to the Golden Gate along with the patriarch Theophylact; and having received that holy pledge with the due honor, with the entire senate preceding them and a vast forest of torches and lamps shining before it, they carried it on foot to the holy temple of the Holy Wisdom of God, and having adored it there, they brought it into the palace. ^C

57. In these days some Armenian portentous event visited the city: two male children joined together, who had emerged from one womb, whole and perfect in all the members of the body, but joined together from the orifice of the stomach down to the pubic region, and facing one another. They spent a long time in the city; and when everyone looked upon them as some monstrous portent, the emperor Romanos expelled them as if they were a bad omen. But when Constantine alone was already in power, they entered again. When one of them had died, some skilled physicians expertly severed the joined dead part, hoping by that remedy that the other would be preserved safe; but he himself, having survived for three days, died. ^D

58. Furthermore, the emperor Romanos, as has been said above, had boundless faith in all monks, and used to show reverence to them, but he especially honored and revered Sergius, a man shining among monks, who was the brother of the *magistros* Cosmas and a nephew of the patriarch Photius; he honored him more for the nobility of his soul than for their fleshly kinship. For he had attained the height of virtue and knowledge, so that it was difficult to discern in which of the two he excelled more; so accurately and with all perfection had he cultivated both. There flourished in him, among his other qualities, the gift of discernment and the grace of…

^A modesty. He did not knit his brows as our present-day wise men are wont to do, nor did he appear arrogant and proud, but rather, speech sweeter than honey dripped from his mouth; his character was steadfast and stable, and his disposition humble. This celebrated man the emperor kept by his side without ceasing, using him as a rule and standard by which to regulate his own life at all times. He would often exhort the emperor to take care of his children and not to let them, uninstructed, decline into wickedness, lest the fate of Heli should one day befall him, he himself paying the penalty for the lawlessness of his children.

^B 59. When the children had driven him from the palace and banished him to the island of Prote, he had [the monk] once more as a solace for his calamities and a soothing remedy for his afflictions. There was also present the most reverend monk Polyeuctus, himself also comforting him in a fitting manner, as I mentioned; he, after the death of the patriarch Theophylact, was promoted by the Emperor Constantine to be patriarch of Constantinople.

60. ^C Since God desires in many ways to save man, He permitted the Emperor Romanus to fall into an unexpected calamity, so that through it, being chastened and brought to an awareness of his own offenses, he might be found worthy of salvation. For He permitted his son Stephen to rise up against him, just as Absalom once rose up against his own father David. Thus, following the advice of the monk Marianos, and of Basil, the protospatharios, surnamed Petinakes, and of Manuel the Curtices—with the other emperors also being privy to it—he wrongfully drove him from the palace and, having banished him to the island of Prote, shrived ^D him as a monk.

1. Emperor Constantine, his son-in-law, was thus left behind; he immediately honored Bardas, son of Phokas, with the dignity of magister, and, because he had demonstrated prowess in many wars over a long period, he appointed him Domestic of the Schools; then he appointed Basil, surnamed Petinakes, a patrician and Megas Hetaireiarch. And, stripping the monk’s habit from Marianos of the family of the Argyroi, he made him a patrician and Count of the Stable, and likewise [made] Manuel, called Curtices, a patrician and Drungarios of the Watch. Not long after, the just judgment of God overtook these three men, because they had behaved insolently toward Christ the Lord and had laid hands upon Him unjustly, being greedy for imperial power; for, having been caught in the act of high treason, each of them went to his end by a pitiable death. The matters concerning them I shall set forth more broadly and in greater detail in the preceding exposition.

2. After forty days, on the twenty-seventh of the month of January, Constantine, suspecting the then emperor, Stephen, and his brother Constantine, [fearing] lest they perform the same actions against him, and reasoning, as was logical, that if they did not spare their own father…

LIVES OF THE RECENT EMPERORS BY GEORGE THE MONK

those who had not spared their father would certainly not spare themselves. He received them at a banquet, and while they were reclining at the table and the food was still in their mouths, he seized them through those called the Tornikioi, the patrician Marianos, and the rest prepared for this purpose; and having cast them out of the palace, he tonsured them according to the rite of the clergy ^A in the neighboring islands.

3. Not long after, having requested permission to see their own father, they arrived at the island of Prote. Seeing him in monastic habit, they were seized with unbearable grief. The father wept with them and said: "I have begotten and raised sons, but they themselves have abandoned me." ^B Thus they were then relegated: Stephen, indeed, to Proikonnesos, and from Proikonnesos they transferred him to Rhodes, and thence to Mytilene; and Constantine to Tenedos, and thence to Samothrace, where, having plotted a rebellion, he was slain by those who were guarding him. As for Michael, the son of the Emperor Christopher, he took off his imperial buskins and made him a cleric.

4. While the Emperor Romanus was on the island, the Patriarch Theophylact, the patrician Theophanes, and the parakoimomenos held a council to bring him back to the palace. ^C Having communicated this plan to him and persuaded him, they were watching for an opportune time to put an end to this conspiracy. But when the plot was discovered and reported to the Emperor Constantine, he took action against its authors and accomplices. He relegated the patrician Theophanes into exile; but he had the protospatharios and pincernes George, and the primikerios Thomas, scourged and tonsured, and paraded them through the middle of the city, and in this manner sent them into exile.

5. In the month of December, in the sixth indiction, some plotted a conspiracy against the Emperor Constantine, ^D with the intention of bringing the Emperor Stephen from the island where he was staying into the palace. This conspiracy having been reported to Constantine by Michael, called Diabolinos, the Emperor had the conspirators seized; he cut off the noses and ears of some, and subjected others to an intolerable torture of scourging, and having set them upon donkeys, he paraded them through the middle of the city and sent them into exile in disgrace.

9. On the fifteenth day of the month of July, in the sixth indiction, the Emperor Romanus died on the island which they call Prote. His corpse was brought into the city and laid to rest in the monastery he had founded.

[P. 594] Up to this point is the edition of the *Scriptores post Theophanem* by François Combefis.