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so much so, that the removal of his property and the blinding of his eyes were announced to him beforehand. And while he was distressed at these predictions as not being to his liking, yet having omitted his customary prayer, the means for his withdrawal were prepared for him. And when his attendants brought horses to him, the monk, seeing them, advises Bardanios to return with the greatest haste. But to him, who had turned back with great joy, as if expecting some favorable omen for himself, the prophetic man says again the contrary to his hopes: Let it be no concern to you about the evil omen, which has wrongly entered your mind. For, as I have already told you, you will suffer the loss of your own eyes and property; and the men who brought you the horses for service, of these the first and the one after him will wear the diadem, and the third, having attained acclamation, will be quickly destroyed by death. Bardanios, therefore, groaning bitterly at these things, revealed his thoughts to Leo and Michael and Thomas, his subordinates, with a certain insulting vexation towards the monk, saying the following: You, Leo, after becoming emperor, and Thomas, having been proclaimed, will be killed by Michael, while he himself will be preserved in the empire completely unharmed. 1.7 Thence Bardanios, angered in his soul and returning to the theme entrusted to him with the armies under him and some others who shared his arrogance, foolishly encamped in Bithynia against the then emperor Nikephoros. The emperor, having heard about these things, and having assembled a considerable army, sends it against him. But he, terrified by the expedition, becomes submissive to the emperor, asking for a guarantee of pardon, and indeed is easily deemed worthy of this, having received security by the symbol of the cross, and he obeys, condemning himself for the affair to be sent to the island of Prote to the estate there built by him. And when not much time had passed, some men from Lycaonia, whether acting insolently, or with imperial approval, or wishing to please the emperor Nikephoros himself, suddenly attack Bardanios and blind his eyes, and they went to the church asking for forgiveness. 1.8 But when the matters of the revolt by Bardanios were being stirred up, Leo, of Armenian and Assyrian descent, went over to the emperor, and then also Michael from Amorion, of whom the one is entrusted with the command of the federates, and the other with the command of the Count of the Tent; But Thomas fulfills the duties of loyalty to his own master even to the point of dangers. And after some time had passed, Leo, having been appointed sub-strategos of the Anatolics, performs great feats of bravery against the Ishmaelites and by the emperor Michael, who came after Staurakios, he is honored with the magnificent dignity of the patricians. 1.9 This Michael possessed a household maidservant, in whom a spirit of divination was at work for some periods. who suddenly, in a stone place which is called Boukoleon, approaching, cried out with a piercing voice to the emperor: Come down, come down, withdraw from what is another's. When, therefore, such a cry had been uttered many times, the emperor, being naturally amazed and no less frightened, confers about this with Theodotos, a spatharokandidatos and his familiar acquaintance, the son of Michael the patrician, of the Melissenos family, whose well-known name was heard as Kassiteras, that if the girl should become possessed, to restrain her in some house by all means and to investigate and to tell whose house this is and what is the mark of this man. And she having revealed the sought-after name and character, urged him to arrive opportunely at the acropolis, where two men would happen to be, of whom the one riding a mule would ride to the imperial throne. And such were the words of the possessed woman, but the inquiries of the emperor were naturally more thorough, as of one who was anxious about his own reign. For Theodotos, having been questioned closely by him, denied that

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τοσοῦτον, ὥστε προαγγελθῆναι αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν περιουσίας ἀφαίρεσιν καὶ τὴν ὀφθαλμῶν πήρωσιν. τούτου δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς προρρηθεῖσιν ὡς οὐ θυμήρεσιν ἐπασχάλλοντος, ὅμως τὰ συνήθη τῆς εὐχῆς ἀπολειψαμένου, τὰ τῆς ὑποχωρήσεως αὐτῷ παρευτρέπιστο. προσκομισαμένων δὲ τῶν ἐξυπηρετουμένων ἵππους αὐτῷ, τούτους ὁ μοναχὸς ἀπιδὼν μετὰ πλείστης ἐπείξεως ὑπονοστεῖν παραινεῖ τὸν Βαρδάνιον. τῷ δὲ μετὰ περιχαρίας ἀνακάμψαντι, ὡς προσδοκῶντι τῶν καταθυμίων αὐτῷ τι οἰωνισθῆναι, τοὐναντίον αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐλπίδων πάλιν φησὶν ὁ θεοπρόπος ἀνήρ· μηδέν σοι περὶ τοῦ σκαιωρήματος, ὃ τῇ σῇ διανοίᾳ καλῶς μὴ ἐνέσκηψε, πεφροντισμένον ἔστω. τῶν γὰρ σῶν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών σοι, ὀμμάτων καὶ τῆς ὑπάρξεως ὑποστήσῃ τὴν ἀλλοτρίωσιν· οἱ δὲ τοὺς ἵππους σοι πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν ἐπικομίσαντες ἄνδρες, τούτων ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ μετ' αὐτὸν διαδηματοφορήσει, καὶ ὁ τρίτος ἐπιτυχὼν ἀναρρήσεως ταχέως θανάτῳ καταστραφήσεται. ὁ οὖν Βαρδάνιος πρὸς ταῦτα χαλεπῶς ἀνοιμώξας τὰ τοῦ λογισμοῦ αὐτοῦ τῷ τε Λέοντι καὶ Μιχαὴλ καὶ Θωμᾷ, τοῖς ὑπὸ χεῖρα τούτῳ, μετὰ καί τινος ἐπὶ τοῦ μοναχοῦ ὑβριστικῆς προσοχθίσεως παρεδήλου, φάσκων τοιάδε· σὺ μέν, ὦ Λέων, βασιλεύσας, καὶ Θωμᾶ, ἀναρρηθεὶς παρὰ Μιχαὴλ φονευθήσεσθε, αὐτοῦ γε διαφυλαχθησομένου ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ πάντως ἀπήμονος. 1.7 Ἐντεῦθεν Βαρδάνιος κατὰ ψυχὴν χαλεπήνας καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐγκεχειρισμένον αὐτῷ θέμα ἐπανιὼν σὺν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῷ στρατοπέδοις καί τισιν ἄλλοις ὁμόφροσι τῆς ἀλαζονείας αὐτοῦ κατὰ τοῦ τηνικαῦτα Νικηφόρου βασιλέως ματαιοφρόνως ἐν Βιθυνίᾳ στρατοπεδεύεται. περὶ τούτων ὁ βασιλεὺς διακηκοὼς καὶ συνθεὶς στρατιὰν ἀξιόλογον αὐτῷ ἐπαφίησιν. ὁ δὲ τῇ ἐκστρατείᾳ καταπλαγείς, ὑποκλινὴς τῷ βασιλεῖ γίνεται ἐξαιτῶν ἐγγύην ἀφέσεως, καὶ δὴ ταύτης ἀξιοῦται ῥᾳδίως τῷ σταυρικῷ συμβόλῳ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἐνεγκάμενος, καὶ πειθαρχεῖ ἑαυτὸν κατακρίνων τῷ δράματι παραπεμφθῆναι ἐν νήσῳ τῇ Πρώτῃ εἰς τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖσε φιλοπονηθέντα ἀγρόν. οὔπω δὲ πολλοῦ χρόνου διεληλυθότος, τῶν ἐκ Λυκαονίας τινές, εἴτε ἀπαυθαδιαζόμενοι, εἴτε βασιλείῳ συνευδοκήσει, εἴτε καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ Νικηφόρῳ ἀρέσαι βουλόμενοι, τῷ Βαρδανίῳ αἰφνιδίως ἐπιτίθενται καὶ πηροῦσιν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ προσῄεσαν ἀξιοῦντες συγχώρησιν. 1.8 Ὁπηνίκα δὲ τὰ τῆς στάσεως παρὰ τοῦ Βαρδανίου ἐπεφυσίωτο, Λέων ὁ ἐξ Ἀρμενίων καὶ Ἀσσυρίων τῷ βασιλεῖ προσερρύη, εἶτα καὶ Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἐξ Ἀμορίου, ὧν ὁ μὲν τὴν τῶν φοιβεράτων, ὁ δὲ τὴν κόμητος κόρτης ἀρχὴν ἐγχειρίζεται· Θωμᾶς δὲ καὶ μέχρι κινδύνων τῷ ἰδίῳ δεσπότῃ ἀφοσιοῖ τὰ τῆς πίστεως. προϊόντος δέ τινος χρόνου Λέων χρηματίσας τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν ὑποστράτηγος κατὰ τῶν Ἰσμαηλιτῶν μεγάλως ἀνδραγαθίζεται καὶ πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Μιχαὴλ τοῦ μετὰ Σταυράκιον τιμᾶται τῷ τῶν πατρικίων μεγαλοπρεπεῖ ἀξιώματι. 1.9 Οὗτος δὲ Μιχαὴλ παιδίσκην ἐκέκτητο κατοικίδιον, καθ' ἣν πύθωνος πνεῦμα ἐπί τινας περιτροπὰς διενήργητο. ἥτις ὀξέως ἐν χώρῳ λιθίνῳ, ὃς Βουκολέων προσαγορεύεται, προσχωροῦσα διαπρυσίως φωνὴν ἐκεκράγει πρὸς βασιλέα· κάτελθε, κάτελθε, ὑποχώρει τῶν ἀλλοτρίων. τοῦ γοῦν τοιούτου προσφωνήματος πολλάκις ἐκλαληθέντος ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰκότως καταπλαγεὶς καὶ οὐκ ἔλαττον ὑποπτήξας, κοινολογεῖται περὶ τούτου Θεοδότῳ σπαθαροκανδιδάτῳ καὶ οἰκείῳ γνωστῷ, τῷ υἱῷ Μιχαὴλ πατρικίου τοῦ πρὸς γένους Μελισσηνοῦ, οὗ τὸ εὔφημον Κασσιτηρᾶς διηκούετο, ὡς εἴπερ ἐγκάτοχον γένηται τὸ κοράσιον, ἔν τινι κατασχεῖν πάντως οἰκίᾳ καὶ διερευνᾶσθαι καὶ φράζειν τίνος αὕτη ὑπάρχει ἡ οἰκία καὶ τούτου ὁποῖον τὸ γνώριμον. τῆς δὲ ἀνακαλυψάσης τὴν ἐπιζητουμένην κλῆσιν καὶ χαρακτῆρα προτρέψασθαί γε αὐτῷ εὐκαίρως κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἀφῖχθαι, καθ' ἣν συγκυρῆσαι δύο ἄνδρας, ἐξ ὧν ἡμιόνου ὁ ἐπιβάτης τῷ βασιλικῷ θρόνῳ ὀχηματίσειεν. καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς ἐξεστηκυίας τοιαῦτα, τὰ δὲ τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀκριβείας κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἐπεξεργαστικώτερα, οἷα περὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας ἐμμεριμνῶντος. ἀκριβολογηθεὶς γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεόδοτος ἀπηνήνατο μὴ