with freedom to practice the Christian ways having been conceded; who until now have been called tributaries. And indeed the islands would have been conquered by the Agarenes, if Michael the emperor had not commanded Krateros the general of the Kibyrrhaiots to prepare all the ships under him and set sail for Crete; who, arriving with two hundred ships, liberated them, and landing in Crete, he overpowered all the Agarenes there, and he had planned to destroy them, if some of the people, ill-advisedly, had not prevented this, saying that they would in no way fight against us at night, but in the morning we should seize them. And indeed, deceived in their minds by these words, they returned to their tents, in no way having taken thought for their own safety. But during the night the enemy attacked and brought an iron sleep upon them all, with only their general having boarded a merchant ship and sailed away. When the leader of the Agarenes learned this, he embarked on two transport ships and pursued him, and captured him near the island of Kos, and impaled him on it. Then Oryphas, by command of the emperor, 624 gathers a naval levy; to whom he gave forty gold pieces each, and embarking on transport ships and campaigning against Crete, they retreated from the war without success, the majority having been slaughtered there; of whom they named the survivors the Tessarakontarioi. On this island Cyril the wonderworker, bishop of Gortyn on this island, was slain for Christ by the Agarenes, like a blameless victim, whose precious blood, gushing forth to this day, works miracles. And this was the manner of this; but the impious Michael, having fallen grievously ill from dysuria and pain of the kidneys, was miserably parted from life. And his wretched body was carried away and laid in the church of the Holy Apostles; and Theophilos his son, with his mother Euphrosyne, took possession of the empire. Year of the world 323, year of the divine incarnation 823, emperor of the Romans Theophilos son of Michael the Stammerer, iconoclast, for 12 years. And when his mother Euphrosyne wished to give him a wife, she brought various maidens of incomparable beauty, among whom was one most beautiful maiden called Kassia and another named Theodora. His mother, giving him a golden apple, told him to give it to the one who pleased him. But the emperor Theophilos, 625 struck by the beauty of Kassia, said that "Through a woman came the worse things." But she, with some modesty, replied, "But also through a woman spring the better things." But he, struck in his heart by the word, let her be, and gave the apple to Theodora, who was from Paphlagonia. And both were crowned in the oratory of Saint Stephen by Antony the patriarch on holy Pentecost, and from there he comes into the great church, having honored with much money both the patriarch and the clergy along with the senate. And Kassia, having failed to win the empire, established a monastery, in which, having been tonsured, she continued until her death in a philosophical and God-pleasing life, leaving behind many of her own writings; but the emperor's mother Euphrosyne, voluntarily leaving the palace, lived in quiet in the monastery of Gastria. 2. And when a hippodrome was held, the chandelier that was cut by a sword during the slaughter of Leo the Armenian is brought forth, and he points it out to the entire senate in the kathisma, and says that they had dared to commit the murder as if in the temple of the Lord, but in truth they killed his co-heretic and like-minded one in impiety. For the sinner held to that one's God-hated heresy, both tearing down and digging up the holy icons, and exiling and torturing the monks for their piety. 3. In his second year, Theophobos the Persian fled to the Romans, along with his father with 14,000 Persians, whom he 626 also distributed among the themes, settling them and establishing them as tourmas. but Theophobos himself as brother-in-law to a sister of Theodora Augusta
σὺν ἐλευθερίᾳ ποιεῖν τὰ Χριστιανῶν συγκεχωρημένων· οἳ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ὑπολόγιοι κέκληνται. καὶ δὴ ἂν ὑπὸ Ἀγαρηνῶν κατεκράτηντο αἱ νῆσοι, εἰ μὴ Μιχαὴλ ὁ βασιλεὺς Κρατερῷ τῷ τῶν Κιβυρραιωτῶν στρατηγῷ ἐνετείλατο πάσας τὰς ὑπ' αὐτῷ ναῦς ἑτοιμάσαι καὶ ἀπᾶραι εἰς Κρήτην· ὃς σὺν διακοσίαις ναυσὶ παραγενόμενος αὐτὰς ἠλευθέρωσε, καὶ ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ ἀπάρας τῶν ἐκεῖσε Ἀγαρηνῶν πάντων κατεκυρίευσεν, καὶ ἀναιρήσειν βεβούλευτο, εἰ μή τινες τοῦ λαοῦ κακῶς φρονοῦντες τοῦτο ἐκώλυσαν, εἰρηκότες ὡς οὐδαμῶς ἐν νυκτὶ οὗτοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀντιτάξοιντο, τῷ δὲ πρωῒ κατάσχωμεν αὐτούς. καὶ δὴ φρεναπατηθέντες τοῖς τούτων λόγοις πρὸς τὰς σκηνὰς αὐτῶν ἐπανέλυσαν, μηδαμῶς τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν πεφροντικότες. τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ἐπελθόντες οἱ ἐχθροὶ σιδήρειον ὕπνον τούτοις πᾶσιν ἐπήγαγον, μόνου τοῦ στρατηγοῦ αὐτῶν ἐμπορικῷ ἐπιβάντος πλοίῳ καὶ ἀποπλεύσαντος. ὅπερ μαθὼν ὁ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἀρχηγὸς δυσὶν ὁλκάσιν ἐπεβίβασε καὶ κατεδίωξεν ὄπισθεν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν νῆσον τὴν Κὼ τοῦτον κατέσχεν, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦτον ἀνεσκολόπισεν. εἶτα ὁ Ὀρύφας τὸ ἐπώνυμον προστάξει βασιλέως 624 συναθροίζει ναυτικὸν στρατολόγημα· οἷς ἀνὰ τεσσαράκοντα χρυσίου ἐπιδοὺς νν, ὁλκάσι τε ἐπιβάντες καὶ ἐπὶ Κρήτης στρατεύσαντες ἄπρακτοι ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου ὑπεχώρησαν, οἱ πλείους ἐκεῖσε κατασφαγέντες· ὧν καὶ τοὺς ἀπολειφθέντας τεσσαρακονταρίους ὠνόμασαν. ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ νήσῳ Κύριλλος ὁ θαυματουργὸς ἐπίσκοπος Γορτύνης ταύτης τῆς νήσου ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, ἄμωμον ὡς ἱερεῖον, ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐσφαγίαστο, οὗ τὸ τίμιον αἷμα μέχρι τῆς δεῦρο ἀναβλύζον θαύματα ἀπεργάζεται. Καὶ τοῦτον μὲν οὗτος εἶχε τὸν τρόπον· ὁ δὲ δυσσεβὴς Μιχαὴλ ἐκ τῆς δυσουρίας ἀρρωστήσας χαλεπῶς καὶ τῆς τῶν νεφρῶν ἀλγηδόνος κακῶς ἀπηλλάγη τοῦ ζῆν. τὸ δὲ δύστηνον αὐτοῦ σῶμα ἀποκομισθὲν ἀπέθετο ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων· Θεόφιλος δὲ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῷ Εὐφροσύνης τῆς βασιλείας ἐκράτησεν. Κόσμου ἔτος τκγʹ, τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτος ωκγʹ, Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Θεόφιλος ὁ υἱὸς Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Τραυλοῦ, εἰκονομάχος, ἔτη ιβʹ. τῆς δὲ μητρὸς αὐτοῦ Εὐφροσύνης βουληθείσης δοῦναι αὐτῷ γυναῖκα, ἄγει κόρας διαφόρους ἀσυγκρίτους τῷ κάλλει, μεθ' ὧν μία τις ἐξ αὐτῶν κόρη ὡραιοτάτη ὑπῆρχεν Εἰκασία λεγομένη καὶ ἑτέρα Θεοδώρα ὀνομαζομένη. τούτῳ δοῦσα ἡ μήτηρ χρυσοῦν μῆλον εἶπεν δοῦναι τῇ ἀρεσάσῃ αὐτῷ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Θεόφιλος 625 τῷ κάλλει τῆς Εἰκασίας ἐκπλαγεὶς ἔφη ὡς ἄρα διὰ γυναικὸς ἐρρύη τὰ φαῦλα. ἡ δὲ μετ' αἰδοῦς πῶς ἀντέφησεν "ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ γυναικὸς πηγάζει τὰ κρείττονα." ὁ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τὴν καρδίαν πληγεὶς ταύτην μὲν εἴασεν, Θεοδώρᾳ δὲ τὸ μῆλον ἀπέδωκεν, οὔσῃ ἐκ Παφλαγονίας. καὶ στέφονται ἀμφότεροι ἐν τῷ εὐκτηρίῳ τοῦ ἁγίου Στεφάνου ὑπὸ Ἀντωνίου πατριάρχου τῇ ἁγίᾳ πεντηκοστῇ, κἀκεῖθεν ἔρχεται ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ, φιλοτιμησάμενος χρήμασι πολλοῖς τόν τε πατριάρχην καὶ τὸν κλῆρον ἅμα τῇ συγκλήτῳ. καὶ ἡ μὲν Εἰκασία τῆς βασιλείας ἀποτυχοῦσα μονὴν κατεσκεύασεν, εἰς ἣν καὶ ἀποκειραμένη φιλοσόφῳ βίῳ καὶ θεῷ ἀρέσκοντι διετέλεσε μέχρι τελευτῆς αὐτῆς, πολλὰ ἴδια συγγράμματα αὐτῆς καταλιποῦσα· ἡ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως μήτηρ Εὐφροσύνη ἑκουσίως κατελθοῦσα τοῦ παλατίου ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Γαστρίων ἡσύχασεν. 2. Ἱππικοῦ δὲ γενομένου ἄγεται τὸ πολυκάνδηλον τὸ ἐν τῇ σφαγῇ τοῦ Ἀρμενίου Λέοντος ξίφει διακοπέν, καὶ ὑποδείκνυσιν αὐτὸ πάσῃ τῇ συγκλήτῳ ἐν τῷ καθίσματι, καὶ φησὶν ὡς εἰ ναὸν κυρίου τετολμηκότας ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἀναίρεσιν, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ ὡς τὸν συναιρεσιώτην αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμόφρονα εἰς ἀσέβειαν ἀποκτείναντας. εἴχετο γὰρ ὁ ἀλιτήριος τῆς ἐκείνου θεοστυγοῦς αἱρέσεως, τῶν τε ἁγίων εἰκόνων τὰς μὲν κατασπῶν τὰς δὲ ἀνορύττων, καὶ τοὺς ἐπ' εὐλαβείᾳ μοναχοὺς ἐξορίζων καὶ αἰκιζόμενος. 3. Τῷ βʹ τούτου ἔτει προσέφυγε Θεόφοβος ὁ Πέρσης Ῥωμαίοις, ἅμα τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ μετὰ Περσῶν χιλιάδας ιδʹ, οὓς καὶ 626 διένειμεν ἐν τοῖς θέμασι κατασκηνώσας καὶ τούρμας ἀποκαταστήσας. αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Θεόφοβον εἰς ἀδελφὴν Θεοδώρας Αὐγούστης γαμβρὸν