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of his own servants. And as the emperor suspected nothing of the contrary, certain justifications were presented by him to Exaboulios, that Leo would never wish to be a tyrant. Therefore the emperor went away to the palace, where not long after the proclamation of the tyrant Leo was also announced. When the emperor Michael was vexed at this, some advised him to resist the tyrant firmly by all means; but he, being calm in mind and not bloodthirsty in disposition, restrained everyone from bloodshed, obediently bowing to the command of God, and so much so that he even sent one of his household servants, the exarch, to Leo with the imperial insignia, and urged the senate to go to meet him, so that not a drop of Christian blood should be shed on his account. At which his wife Procopia, being jealous, said something like this: “A terrible, terrible thing, if the consort of the tyrant Leo should put on the modiolus,” calling her Barca. But he, rebuffing her with wise words, said: "It is good that what is happening follows the will of the Lord." 1.4 And when the tyrant had occupied the church of the Prodromos through the Golden Gate, which Stoudios had built, many of the senate, or almost all, came to him, and escorting him as a bodyguard with the accompanying crowd, they led him away to the palace. And indeed, entering and standing before the brazen gates, on the circular and all-purple marble on the surface, about to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the icon of Christ our God there, whether in truth or in pretense, he takes off the garment which he had put on, a dress resplendent with rose-like colors, which they call a kolobion in the vernacular tongue, and this, loosened from its girdle according to the ancient custom observed by generals, he conspicuously hands over to Michael, the chief of his own grooms. And as he immediately put it on, it was reckoned by those who knew as an omen of his succeeding to the throne after Leo. And in a certain place of the palace, which is called Skyla, Michael insulted the hem of Leo’s garment by stepping on it, whether doing this out of rashness, or because the providence from above was foreshadowing the future. And Leo, becoming aware of this, took it as an omen that there would be some rebellion from him <πρὸς> against himself. 1.5 And indeed, when Leo had proceeded into the palace, straightway Michael the emperor and his wife with their children, having had their hair shorn, are shown as pitiful suppliants in the oratory of the most holy Theotokos, which is named Pharos, asking to receive some clemency. But he, being persuaded by the entreaty, granted them their lives, and sends Michael to pass his time in a certain monastery, being confined to the solitary life, upon whom a gift of gold was lavished annually at a certain fixed time; but he separated his wife and children, of whom he condemned Ignatius to castration. 1.6 And when Leo had seized the reins of the empire, the things that had been revealed in secret to Bardanios the patrician, whose surname was Tourkos, concerning him came to light. For this Bardanios, when he was governing the theme of the East, had in his mind an excessive preoccupation with attacking the imperial power so that he might seize the empire; wherefore he cautiously laid this before a monk of those who had attained foreknowledge, who was dwelling in a certain place of Philomelion, having as a confidant of such a plan Leo, a man distinguished by many advantages of nobility, manly in appearance and grim in stature, middle-aged and affable, who was brought up in the same theme in a certain place called Pidra, and with him also Michael, who happened to be from Amorion, who had the impediment of speech, along with whom also Thomas from the lake of Gazouron, he too tracing his lineage from the Armenians, but moreover brave and very meddlesome. Therefore, when Bardanios approached the monk, it is said that all the intentions of his mind were revealed by him, and

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οἰκείων ὑπηρετῶν. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως οὐδὲν τῶν ἐναντίων ὑφορωμένου, ἀπολογισμοί τινες παρ' αὐτοῦ τῷ Ἐξαβουλίῳ προὐτίθεντο, ὡς μὴ τυραννήσειν ποτὲ βουληθησομένου τοῦ Λέοντος. ἀπῄει τοιγαροῦν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια, οὗ μετ' οὐ πολὺ καὶ ἡ τοῦ τυράννου Λέοντος ἀνάρρησις διηγγέλλετο. πρὸς τοῦτο τοῦ βασιλέως Μιχαὴλ δυσχεραίνοντος, παρῄνουν τινὲς αὐτῷ πᾶσι τρόποις τῷ τυράννῳ στερρῶς ἀντιτάξασθαι· ὁ δὲ γαλήνιος ὢν τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ οὐχ αἱμοχαρὴς τὴν προαίρεσιν, ἀπεῖργε πάντας μιαιφονίας, τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ προστάγματι εὐγνωμόνως ἐπικλινόμενος, καὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε καί τινα τῆς κατοικιδίου θεραπείας αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἐξάρχοντα, στεῖλαι πρὸς Λέοντα μετὰ καὶ βασιλικῶν συμβόλων, προτρέψαι τε καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον ἀπιέναι πρὸς τὴν τούτου ἀπάντησιν, ὡς μή τινα ῥανίδα Χριστιανικοῦ αἵματος ἐκχεθῆναι αὐτοῦ ἕνεκα. ἐφ' ὅτῳ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γαμετὴν Προκοπίαν ζηλοτυπήσασαν τοιοῦτον εἰπεῖν· δεινόν γε δεινόν, ἐὰν ἡ τοῦ τυράννου σύζυγος Λέοντος περιβάλοιτο τὸν μοδίολον, Βάρκαν αὐτὴν ὀνομάσασα. ὁ δὲ ταύτην φρονίμοις λόγοις ἀποκρουσάμενος εἴρηκεν· καλὸν τῇ τοῦ κυρίου δοκήσει συνέπεσθαι τὰ γινόμενα. 1.4 Τοῦ δὲ τυράννου καταλαβόντος διὰ τῆς Χρυσῆς πύλης τὸν τοῦ Προδρόμου ναόν, ὃν ἐδείματο Στούδιος, πολλοὶ τῆς γερουσίας ἢ καὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες προσῄεσαν αὐτῷ, ὃν καὶ δορυφοροῦντες μετὰ τοῦ συνεπομένου ὄχλου τοῖς βασιλείοις ἀπήγαγον. καὶ δὴ εἰσιὼν καὶ πρὸ τῶν χαλκηλάτων ἐπιστὰς πυλῶν, ἐπὶ τῷ κατ' ἐπιφάνειαν κυκλικῷ τε καὶ περιπορφύρῳ μαρμάρῳ, εὐχὴν χαριστήριον ἀποδώσων τῷ ἐκεῖσε Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰκονίσματι, εἴτε ἀληθείᾳ εἴτε προσχήματι, ἐκδιδύσκεται τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἣν ἐπεβέβλητο, ἔνδυσιν ῥοδοειδέσι χροιαῖς ἀετίζουσαν, ἣν κολόβιον τῇ ἐγχωρίῳ ῥήσει προσονομάζουσιν, καὶ ταύτην ἀνειμένην ζωστῆρος κατὰ τὸ ἔκπαλαι τηρηθὲν ἔθος τοῖς στρατηλάταις Μιχαὴλ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἱπποκόμων πρωτάρχῳ περιφανῶς ἐπιδίδωσιν. τοῦ δὲ ταύτην ἐξαυτῆς ἀναβαλλομένου εἰς οἰωνὸν μετὰ Λέοντα βασιλικῆς ἐπιβάσεως τοῖς εἰδόσι λελόγιστο. περὶ δέ τινα τοῦ παλατίου χῶρον, οὗ ἐπώνυμον τὰ Σκῦλα, ὁ Μιχαὴλ τῆς ἐσθῆτος τοῦ Λέοντος τὸ ἄκρον ἐπιβάσει καθύβρισεν, εἴτε ἐκ προπετείας τοῦτο καταπραξάμενος, εἴτε τῆς ἄνω προνοίας τὸ μέλλον προχαραττούσης. ἐν συναισθήσει δὲ τούτου Λέων γενόμενος νεωτερισμόν τινα παρ' αὐτοῦ ἔσεσθαι <πρὸς> ἑαυτὸν οἰωνίσατο. 1.5 Καὶ δὴ τοῖς εἴσω τῶν βασιλείων χωρήσαντος Λέοντος, εὐθέως τὰς τρίχας κειράμενοι Μιχαήλ τε ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἡ τούτου γε σύνευνος σὺν παισὶν ἱκέται ἐλεεινοὶ τῷ εὐκτηρίῳ οἴκῳ τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου, ὃς Φάρος κατονομάζεται, δείκνυνται, εὐμενίας τινὸς ἀξιοῦντες τυχεῖν. ὁ δὲ τῇ δυσωπήσει ἐπιπειθὴς γεγονὼς ἄνεσιν ζωῆς αὐτοῖς ἐδικαίωσεν, πέμπει τε τὸν Μιχαὴλ ἔν τινι φροντιστηρίῳ διατελεῖν τῷ μονήρει βίῳ συμφρασσόμενον, ᾧ κατ' ἔτος χρυσοῦ δωρεὰν κατά τινα προθεσμίαν ἐδαψιλεύετο· τὴν δὲ γαμετὴν καὶ τὰ τέκνα τούτου διέστησεν, ἐξ ὧν τὸν Ἰγνάτιον εὐνουχίᾳ κατέκρινεν. 1.6 Ὡς δὲ τῶν βασιλείας ἡνιῶν ὁ Λέων ἐδράξατο, τὰ μεμυημένα Βαρδανίῳ τῷ πατρικίῳ, ᾧ Τοῦρκος ἐπίκλησις, περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς φῶς διανέκυπτεν. οὗτος γοῦν ὁ Βαρδάνιος, ὅτε τοῦ τῆς ἀνατολῆς ἐξηγεῖτο θέματος, βασιλειῶν ἄγαν διὰ φροντίδος ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἶχεν ἐπίθεσιν ὥστε τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιλαβέσθαι· ὅθεν ταύτην μοναχῷ τῶν ἐπειλημμένων προγνώσεως περιεσκεμμένως προσανετίθει, τὴν διατριβὴν ποιουμένῳ πρός τινα χῶρον τοῦ Φιλομηλίου, συνίστορα τοῦ τοιούτου βουλεύματος κεκτημένος τὸν Λέοντα, ἄνδρα πολλοῖς ἐμπρέψαντα γενναιότητος προτερήμασιν, ἀνδρικὸν τὴν ὄψιν καὶ βλοσυρωπὸν τὸ κατάστημα, μεσήλικα καὶ εὐόμιλον ἐκτραφέντα τε τοῦ αὐτοῦ θέματος ἐπί τινι τόπῳ Πίδρᾳ προσονομαζομένῳ, σὺν αὐτῷ δὲ καὶ Μιχαὴλ τὸν ἐξ Ἀμορίου τυγχάνοντα, ᾧ τὸ τῆς γλώττης παράσημον ἐγεγένητο, μεθ' ὧν καὶ Θωμᾶν τὸν ἀπὸ λίμνης Γαζουροῦ, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐξ Ἀρμενίων τὸ γένος κατάγοντα, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἀνδρεῖον καὶ πολυπραγμονέστατον. τοῦ οὖν Βαρδανίου προσιόντος γε τῷ μονάζοντι, πάντα πρὸς αὐτοῦ τὰ τῆς διανοίας ἀνακαλύπτεσθαι βουλήματα λέγεται, καὶ