he marched, having gathered a great army and the Avars and all the Sklavinias; and in addition to these he prepares instruments of various city-takers and engines and enormous catapults, caltrops and stone-throwers and tortoises and high ladders, spheres and levers and trenches, rams and ballistae, fire-throwers and stone-throwers and scorpions for throwing arrows and slings, all the engines against the battlements for the purpose of taking the city. To the western part, he says, of the city against the wall of Blachernae he wishes to bring all these engines, where he was also shot, stabling ten thousand oxen to carry all the aforesaid instruments, placed on wagons, which he ordered to be five thousand, iron-bound. When Leo heard these things, having sent spies and learn 618 ing the truth, having gathered a great army and artisans he began to build another wall outside the wall of Blachernae, having also cut a wide ditch. And having begun to build, not yet having finished, so that God who scatters the counsels of nations, who frustrates the plans of peoples and frustrates the counsels of rulers, might show that it is not by their own contrivance and strength that men are able to do anything, spring not yet having arrived, as some who were saved from captivity from Bulgaria say, around the great Thursday of Easter, the first of Bulgaria, Krum, the famous one, who wished to take the city, met the end of his life, having been invisibly slaughtered; who also brought forth torrents of blood through his mouth and nostrils and ears, and thus in evils he gave up his soul. 12. Leo, therefore, being puffed up in his pride that he himself, not God, had cast down the enemy, sent imperial letters to all the lands, announcing that they found the Bulgarians being near the city, and through prudence and manliness and through my leadership, having shot their first man, I destroyed them all; who also for this reason, he says, our enemy dies. And these things about this matter; (13) and it is said that a voice from heaven broke forth at that very moment, announcing the overthrow of the godless emperor, and that it was heard by many who were sailing; and having written down its time 619 and hour (for it was the tenth hour of the night), they later found the truth. 14. Nevertheless, prison and bonds held Michael; and since he wished to kill him after the feast of Christ's birth, Michael declares to his fellow-conspirators, among whom was also the papias of the palace, "if you do not hasten to release me from the guard, I will denounce all of us to the emperor." And they, having gathered and wearing chasubles like priests, and wearing their swords underneath, when the palace was opened and the emperor entered the church, they rushed in and cut him limb from limb and buried his body on the island of Prote. And at that very hour they release Michael from his bonds, and they bring in on the feast day a crown-bearer instead of a prisoner. And the prophecy was fulfilled, "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." and to take away his wife to the monastery of the Despotai; and his son Symbatios, who at his coronation was renamed Constantine, and the others, Basil and Gregory along with Theodosios, having tonsured them on the island of Prote, they made them monks. There also Constantine, renamed Basil, being afflicted with a loss of voice after his reproductive organs were removed, prayed to God, and also to Gregory the Theologian who was depicted there, that his own voice might be loosed and his tongue recover its melodiousness. Wherefore he was also heard. 620 For during the festival of the Lights he sees that divine figure saying, "Take the wax tablet and read." And he, entering without hesitation, read with a bright and clear voice, "Again my Jesus." From that time on, therefore, loathing his ancestral heresy, he honored and embraced the images of the saints. But these things later. Year of the world 6314, year of the divine incarnation 814, Emperor of the Romans Michael the Amorion, the
ἐστράτευσεν λαὸν πολὺν συναθροίσας καὶ τοὺς Ἀβάρεις καὶ πάσας τὰς Σκλαβινίας· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις παρασκευάζει διαφόρων ἑλεπόλεων ὄργανά τε καὶ μηχανήματα καὶ μαγγανικὰ παμμεγεθέστατα, τριβόλους καὶ πετροβόλους καὶ χελώνας καὶ ὑψηλοὺς κλίμακας, σφαίρας τε καὶ μοχλοὺς καὶ ὄρυγας, κριούς τε καὶ βελοστάσεις, πυρόβολά τε καὶ λιθόβολα καὶ σκορπίδια εἰς τὸ βαλέσθαι βέλη καὶ σφενδόνας, πάντα τὰ μηχανήματα κατὰ τῶν ἐπάλξεων πρὸς τὸ ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν. ἐπὶ τὸ δυτικὸν δὲ μέρος, φησίν, τῆς πόλεως κατὰ τοῦ τείχους τῶν Βλαχερνῶν ταῦτα πάντα βούλεται προσαγαγεῖν τὰ μηχανήματα, ἔνθα καὶ ἐτοξεύθη, σταβλίζων βόας χιλιάδας δέκα πρὸς τὸ βαστάξαι πάντα τὰ προλεχθέντα ὄργανα, τεθέντα ἐπὶ ἁμαξῶν, ἃς προσέταξεν χιλιάδας εʹ σιδηροδεθέντας. ταῦτα ἀκούσας Λέων, πέμψας τε κατασκόπους καὶ μα 618 θὼν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, συναθροίσας λαὸν πολὺν καὶ τεχνίτας ἤρξατο κτίζειν ἕτερον τεῖχος ἔξωθεν τοῦ τείχους τῶν Βλαχερνῶν, κόψας καὶ τὴν σούδαν πλατεῖαν. καὶ ἀρξάμενος κτίζειν, μήπω τελέσας, ἵνα δείξῃ ὁ θεὸς ὁ διασκεδάζων βουλὰς ἐθνῶν, ἀθετῶν λογισμοὺς λαῶν καὶ ἀθετῶν βουλὰς ἀρχόντων, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῇ μηχανίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἰσχύϊ αὐτῶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι δύνανταί τι ποιῆσαι, οὔπω τοῦ ἔαρος καταλαβόντος, ὡς φασί τινες διασωθέντες τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἀπὸ Βουλγαρίας, περὶ τῇ μεγάλῃ πέμπτῃ τοῦ πάσχα ὁ πρῶτος Βουλγαρίας ὁ Κροῦμος, ὁ περίφημος, ὁ τὴν πόλιν ἑλεῖν βουλόμενος, τέλει τοῦ βίου ἐχρήσατο ἀοράτως σφαγιασθείς· ὃς καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αἱμάτων ὀχετοὺς διά τε τοῦ στόματος καὶ τῶν ῥινῶν καὶ τῶν ὤτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὕτως ἀπέρρηξεν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν κακοῖς. 12. Ἐπαρθεὶς τοίνυν τῷ φρονήματι ὁ Λέων, ὅτι αὐτὸς κατέβαλε τὸν πολέμιον, οὐχὶ θεός, ἔπεμψεν εἰς πάσας τὰς χώρας σάκρας, ἀναγγέλλων ὅτι εὗρον τοὺς Βουλγάρους ἐγγὺς ὄντας τῆς πόλεως, καὶ διὰ τῆς φρονήσεως καὶ ἀνδρίας καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγωγῆς μου τοξεύσας τὸν πρῶτον αὐτῶν πάντας ἀπώλεσα· ὅστις καὶ διὰ τὴν πρόφασιν ταύτην ἀποθνήσκει, φησίν, ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἡμῶν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τούτου· (13) λέγεται δὲ καὶ φωνὴν οὐρανόθεν ῥαγῆναι αὐθωρόν, τὴν τοῦ ἀθέου βασιλέως κατάλυσιν εὐαγγελιζομένην, καὶ πολλοῖς πλέουσιν ἀκουστὴν γενέσθαι· ἧς τὸν καιρὸν 619 καὶ τὴν ὥραν ἀπογραψάμενοι (ἦν γὰρ δεκάτη ὥρα τῆς νυκτὸς) ἐσχάτως εὗρον τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 14. Ὅμως τὸν Μιχαὴλ εἱρκτὴ καὶ δεσμὰ εἶχον· καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐβούλετο αὐτὸν μετὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν τῶν Χριστοῦ γέννων ἀνελεῖν, δηλοῖ ὁ Μιχαὴλ τοῖς συμβούλοις, μεθ' ὧν ἦν καὶ ὁ τοῦ παλατίου παπίας, ὡς εἰ μὴ σπουδάσητε ἐξελεῖν με τῆς φρουρᾶς, πάντας ἡμᾶς καταμηνύω τῷ βασιλεῖ. οἱ δὲ συναχθέντες καὶ φελόνια ὡς ἱερεῖς φορέσαντες, καὶ ἔνδοθεν τὰ ξίφη φοροῦντες, ἐπεὶ τὸ παλάτιον ἀνεῴχθη καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὸν ναὸν εἰσῆλθεν, αὐτοὶ εἰσπηδήσαντες τοῦτον μεληδὸν κατέκοψαν καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ Πρώτῃ νήσῳ ἔχωσαν. καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ λύουσι τῶν δεσμῶν τὸν Μιχαήλ, καὶ εἰσάγουσιν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ ἀντὶ δεσμοφόρου στεφηφόρον. καὶ ἐπληρώθη τὸ προφητικὸν τὸ "ἑσπέρας αὐλισθήσεται κλαυθμός, καὶ εἰς τὸ πρωῒ ἀγαλλίασις." τήν τε γαμετὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ τῶν ∆εσποτῶν μονῇ ἀπαγαγεῖν· Συμβατίῳ δὲ τῷ υἱῷ τῷ κατὰ τὸ στέψιμον μετονομασθέντι Κωνσταντῖνον, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς, Βασιλείῳ τε καὶ Γρηγορίῳ ἅμα Θεοδοσίῳ, ἐν τῇ Πρώτῃ νήσῳ ἀποκείραντες μοναστὰς πεποιήκασιν. ἔνθα καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος μετονομασθεὶς Βασίλειος, ἀφωνίᾳ συσχεθεὶς μετὰ τὸ τὰ γόνιμα τῶν μορίων ἀφαιρεθῆναι, ἐδέετο μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ Γρηγορίου τοῦ θεολόγου ἐκεῖσε ἀνεστηλωμένου, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ λυθῆναι φωνὴν καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν τὸ εὔηχον ἀπολαβεῖν. ὅθεν καὶ εἰση 620 κούσθη. κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῶν φώτων πανήγυριν ὁρᾷ τὸν θεῖον ἐκεῖνον χαρακτῆρα, "τὸν κηρὸν" λέγοντα "λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι." ὁ δὲ ἀδιστάκτως εἰσελθὼν ἀνέγνω λαμπρᾷ καὶ καθαρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ "πάλιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἐμός." ἔκτοτε οὖν τὴν πατροπαράδοτον αὐτοῦ βδελυξάμενος αἵρεσιν τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἰδέας ἐτίμα καὶ περιεπτύσσετο. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον. Κόσμου ἔτος τιδʹ, τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτος ωιδʹ, Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ Ἀμοραῖος ὁ