Therefore, having plundered it moderately, but not as he had hoped, but as divine providence allowed on account of our sins, he accomplished nothing more of what he had expected. And indeed, not only was his endeavor met with opposition, turned around, and came to naught, but even the very glory and strength he seemed to possess and imagined for himself, he was all but stripped of and it perished; 6 for the citizens, as has been said, nobly and vehemently setting themselves in opposition with the support and alliance of the Almighty, and with such hope fighting at the walls and fighting on foot and fighting at sea manfully and steadfastly, destroyed almost all of his rotten arrogance. For having set fire to the strongholds in which, trusting all too foolishly, he put on airs and acted insolently—I mean his ships—and having routed the 787 chosen men of the enemy and the commanders, great dizziness and helplessness seized the most fickle and frivolous Thomas. Yea, and all his siege-engines of many devices and many kinds, which were invincible, as he thought, and difficult to capture, they utterly and easily destroyed and demolished. And so the house of David, that is, the city of Christ, went on and grew stronger, but the house of Saul, the horde of the enemies, went on and in fact grew weaker, and God was glorified. And one could clearly see indeed fulfilled in his case the other sacred oracle, "you have broken down all his hedges; you have brought his strongholds to ruin" and the rest of the psalm. And so the people of the city sang, "Some in chariots and some in horses" and the rest of the psalm. 7 But the divine word, pledging and heralding to them the sudden and very swift downfall of their enemy, answered all but saying, “Take courage, children, and cry to God; for you will be remembered by him who brought this upon you. For he who brought the evils upon you will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.” 788 8. Since, therefore, the wretch, having been deceived, grew weary of warring uselessly and toiling in vain, and greatly despaired as he had completely missed his mark, and with his affairs day by day clearly going backwards; and in addition to this learning that the emperor Michael had summoned the Bulgarians to an alliance against him, he immediately left the city and went more swiftly against them. And indeed after fighting them and destroying many of them, he supposedly secured himself in Arcadiopolis, suspecting weakness and reduction in his own forward movement. Wherefore those around him, perceiving more clearly their own terrible deception and the failure of their empty hope and his approaching utter destruction, began little by little to withdraw and slip away and to abandon him as a futile man and a deceiver of the people. 9 But Michael, having learned this, that he had been betrayed by his own friends and kinsmen, immediately went forth from the city with a very great force and set out against him. And having besieged him for a short time and captured him without a struggle, and having trodden on his neck according to the ancient custom, and having cut off his hands and feet and thus impaled him, he put an end to the harsh and miserable civil war which had begun on his account and lasted for three years. 789 But while Michael was occupied with the rebel Thomas, and in his preoccupation with him was neglecting everything else, Crete and Sicily and the so-called Cyclades islands were stripped from the rule of the Romans by Africans and Arabs, who then for the first time, on account of the sins of the people and the impiety of the rulers, began both to humble and to bring under their hand the affairs of the Christians. 10. While things were in this state, therefore, and affairs were so disposed, Michael, for his part, was wretchedly released from life by dysuria and pain of the kidneys, and his son Theophilos succeeded to the rule in his place, with his mother Euphrosyne.

λαφυραγωγήσας οὖν αὐτὴν μετρίως, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς ἤλπιζεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἡ θεία πρόνοια παρεχώρει διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, οὐδὲν πλέον ἤνυσεν ὧν προσεδόκησεν. καὶ γοῦν οὐ μόνον εἰς ἐναντίωσιν αὐτῷ παρέστη καὶ περιετράπη καὶ ἀπέβη τὸ σπούδασμα, ἀλλά γε καὶ ὅπερ ἔχειν ἐδόκει καὶ κατεφαντάζετο κλέος τε καὶ σθένος, ἀπε γυμνώθη μικροῦ δεῖν καὶ διόλωλεν· 6 οἱ γὰρ πολῖται, ὡς εἴρηται, γενναίως τε καὶ σφοδρῶς ἀντιπαραταξάμενοι τῇ ῥοπῇ καὶ συμμαχίᾳ τοῦ κρείττονος, καὶ μετὰ τοιαύτης ἐλπίδος τειχο μαχοῦντες καὶ πεζομαχοῦντες καὶ ναυμαχοῦντες ἀνδρικῶς καὶ καρ τερῶς, ἅπαν σχεδὸν τὸ σαθρὸν αὐτοῦ φρύαγμα κατέλυσαν. τὰ γὰρ ὀχυρώματα ἐφ' ὧν πεποιθὼς ἀνοήτως ἄγαν ἐναβρύνετο καὶ κατεθρασύνετο, τὰς ναῦς αὐτοῦ λέγω, πυρπολήσαντες, καὶ τοὺς 787 λογάδας τῶν πολεμίων καὶ στρατοπεδάρχας τροπωσάμενοι, σκο τοδινία πολλὴ καὶ ἀμηχανία περιέσχε τὸν εὐρίπιστον καὶ κουφό τατον Θωμᾶν. ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὰς πολυμηχάνους αὐτοῦ καὶ πολυ τρόπους ἑλεπόλεις πάσας, ἀκαταμαχήτους οὔσας, ὡς ᾤετο, καὶ δυσαλώτους, διέφθειραν καὶ κατέλυσαν εὐπετῶς ἄρδην. καὶ οὕτως ὁ μὲν οἶκος ∆αβὶδ ἤγουν ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πόλις ἐπορεύετο καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο, ὁ δὲ οἶκος Σαούλ, τῶν πολεμίων τὸ στῖφος, ἐπορεύετο καὶ ἠσθένει τῷ ὄντι, καὶ θεὸς ἐδοξάζετο. καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν ἐναργῶς ὄντως ἐπ' αὐτῷ πληρούμενον τὸ θάτερον λόγιον ἱερόν, "καθεῖλες πάντας τοὺς φραγμοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἔθου τὰ ὀχυρώματα αὐ τοῦ δειλίαν" καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ ψαλμοῦ. ἔνθεν τοι καὶ οἱ τῆς πό λεως ἔψαλλον "οὗτοι ἐν ἅρμασι καὶ οὗτοι ἐν ἵπποις" καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ. 7 ὁ δὲ θεῖος λόγος παρεγγυώμενος καὶ προευαγ γελιζόμενος αὐτοῖς εὖ μάλα τὴν ἀθρόαν καὶ ταχίστην κατάπτωσιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ αὐτῶν ἀπεκρίνατο μόνον οὐχὶ λέγων "θαρσεῖτε, τέκνα, καὶ βοήσατε πρὸς τὸν θεόν· ἔσται γὰρ ὑμῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐπαγαγόντος μνεία. ὁ γὰρ ἐπαγαγὼν ὑμῖν τὰ κακὰ ἐπάξει ὑμῖν τὴν αἰώνιον εὐφροσύνην μετὰ τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν." 788 8. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀποκαμὼν ὁ τάλας καὶ πεπλανημένος ἀνονή τως πολεμῶν καὶ ματαιοπονῶν, καὶ μάλα δὴ ἀπογνοὺς ὡς τοῦ σκοποῦ διαμαρτήσας ἐκ διαμέτρου, καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῷ κατόπιν προδήλως φερομένων ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις μαθὼν ὡς ὁ βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ τοὺς Βουλγάρους εἰς συμμαχίαν κατ' αὐτοῦ προσεκαλέσατο, παραχρῆμα τὴν πόλιν ἐάσας κατ' αὐτῶν θᾶττον ᾤχετο. οὓς δὴ καὶ μαχεσάμενος καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν διαφθείρας εἰς Ἀρκαδιούπολιν ἑαυτὸν ἀσφαλίζεται δῆθεν, κατὰ τὴν πρόβασιν αὐτοῦ ἀσθένειαν καὶ ἐλάττωσιν ὑφορώμενος. ὅθεν οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν αἰσθόμενοι σαφέστερον τήν τε δεινὴν οἰκείαν ἀπά την καὶ τῆς κενῆς ἐλπίδος ἀποτυχίαν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου πλησιάζουσαν πανωλεθρίαν, ἤρξαντο κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποχωρεῖν καὶ ὑπορρέειν καὶ καταλιμπάνειν αὐτὸν ὡς μάταιον καὶ λαοπλάνον. 9 ὁ δέ γε Μιχαὴλ ταῦτα μεμαθηκὼς ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν προδοθέντα, αὐτίκα τῆς πόλεως ὑπεξελθὼν μετὰ πλείστης δυνά μεως πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξώρμησε. καὶ δὴ περικαθίσας βραχύν τινα καιρὸν καὶ τοῦτον ἀμογητὶ χειρωσάμενος, καὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν συνήθειαν πεπατηκώς, καὶ ἀκρωτηριάσας αὐ τοῦ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ οὕτως ἀνασκολοπίσας, κατέπαυσε τὸν ἐν τρισὶν ἔτεσι δι' αὐτὸν κατάρξαντα καὶ διαρκέσαντα χαλεπὸν καὶ δύστηνον ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον. 789 Ἀσχολουμένου δὲ Μιχαὴλ πρὸς τὸν ἀντάρτην Θωμᾶν, καὶ τῇ πρὸς τοῦτον φροντίδι παντὸς ἄλλου καταφρονοῦντος, Κρήτη καὶ Σικελία καὶ δὴ καλούμεναι Κυκλάδες νῆσοι τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς περιῃρέθησαν ἐξ Ἄφρων τε καὶ Ἀράβων, λαβόντων ἀρχὴν ἄρτι πρῶτον διὰ τὰς τοῦ λαοῦ ἁμαρτίας καὶ τὴν τῶν κρατούντων δυσσέβειαν καὶ ταπεινοῦν καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα σφῶν ἄγειν τὰ τῶν Χρι στιανῶν πράγματα. 10. Ἐν τούτοις οὖν ὄντων καὶ οὕτω τῶν πραγμάτων δια κειμένων Μιχαὴλ μὲν ἐκ δυσουρίας καὶ τῆς τῶν νεφρῶν ἀλγη δόνος κακῶς ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ ζῆν, διεδέξατο δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ Θεόφιλος ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Εἰφρο σύνης.