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And he wished to be called a lover of justice, but he was not; however he laid claim to it, and he carried out many of the judgments by himself, sitting in the Lausiac. And once, when someone made an accusation to him concerning the abduction of a woman, that one of the eminent men had abducted his wife, and that "I have not even been deemed worthy of a hearing by the prefect, though I have often troubled him," that man, since he testified that he was present on the spot and that things were so, he brought to account, removing him from his office and pouring much bitterness upon him, but he ordered the adulterer to be handed over to the law. But with these things he, as it were, fawned upon the state and, as one might say, trafficked in goodwill towards himself; (20) but concerning the faith he was violently mad, so much so that it did not seem good to him even to name God. For in making the thirty-year treaties under oath with these very Huns called Bulgars and arranging peace agreements, since he was about to confirm and ratify these by oaths, he did not use our own, [calling upon] God and the heavenly powers or the one who became the mother of Christ the God according to the flesh as overseers and witnesses of what was said and done; but, like some barbarian soul alienated from piety, he used as witnesses of the proceedings dogs, and those things to which the lawless nations sacrifice, and he cut them up and was not disgusted to bring them to his mouth for confirmation, with which those people sated themselves, but the faith of the Christians, which was at some point to be transmitted by us to them, he, it seems, entrusted to that. And thus he was clearly not ashamed of being impious; for to those before whom he cast the pearls of the faith, according to the Lord's saying, before the swine and compelled these to be used upon the mouth, the man 32 was worthy of abomination, being impious; and again, he himself, governing the empire and rule of the Romans, did not blush at being initiated and consecrated in their rites in a public theater and one so full of both the faithless and the faithful, deserving of the eternal worm and fire and nothing else. And whomever he found holding to the orthodox doctrine, these he tortured bitterly and terribly; on the other hand, the troops and companies of those of like mind he both organized and gathered together at the same time, placing them at his side and overwhelming them with benefits. Among these was also enrolled John the Grammarian, who was unpracticed in every good thing. To them Leo, having ordered them to draw up some document initiating a certain new and polluted faith, pursued the course against the divine icons. And somehow he fanned the flames and blew it up, raising him to a height (for he was fickle and was carried toward nothing with a rational mind) the leader of the sacred company and clergy of the imperial courts. For lying in wait for him for a long time and, as it were, from an ambush, desiring to catch him like Proteus, when at a certain time that divine saying was being proclaimed in church for all to hear, "To whom have you likened the Lord, and with what likeness have you likened him? Did a carpenter make an icon, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, gild it, or did he fashion a likeness?" When, then, this was resounding and being proclaimed throughout the church of the Pharos, having somehow crept up quietly and brought himself into view, "Understand what 33 the sacred oracle says," he said, "O Emperor; and let there be no regret for you for what has been begun, but having put out of the way every depiction that seems divine, hold to the orthodox worship of those who do not venerate them." By these words, as I said, being illogically inflamed and having his wretched soul further set on fire, he moved his own madness entirely against the pious, and against the impious the divine and just wrath. For he by an edict summoned all the bishops from exile, despoiling them, placing them far from the sight of the patriarch and denouncing them, so as to make them obedient to his own will, having persuaded many to undertake the good witness, by their not being persuaded by him.

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καὶ δικαιοσύνης μὲν ἐρα- στὴς λέγεσθαι ἐβούλετο, οὐκ ἐγίνετο δέ· πλὴν ἀντεποιεῖτο ταύτης, καὶ πολλὰς τῶν κρίσεων δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἐξεπέραινε κατὰ τὸ Λαυσια- κὸν ἐγκαθήμενος. καί ποτε δή τινος εγκλησιν πρὸς αὐτὸν ποιη- 31 σαμένου περὶ γυναικὸς ἁρπαγῆς, ὡς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τις τῶν ἐπιφανῶν ἀνηρπάκει ἀνδρῶν, καὶ οτι οὐδὲ λόγων ἠξίωμαι τῷ ὑπάρχῳ πολ- λάκις διενοχλῶν, ἐκεῖνον μέν, ἐπείπερ αὐθωρὸν παραστάντα ουτως εχειν ἐπεμαρτύρησεν, εἰς εὐθύνας ηγε τῆς ἀρχῆς μεταστήσας καὶ πικρίαν πολλὴν καταχέας αὐτοῦ, τὸν δὲ μοιχὸν νόμῳ ἐκδοθῆναι προστέταχεν. ̓Αλλὰ τούτοις μὲν τὴν πολιτείαν οιον ὑπέσαινε καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς αν ειποι τις, ευνοιαν ἐκαπήλευσεν· (20) περὶ δὲ τὴν πίστιν ἐμαίνετο κραταιῶς, τοσοῦτον ὡς μηδὲ θεὸν ὀνομάζειν ἐδό- κει τούτῳ καλόν. καὶ γὰρ τὰς τριακοντούτας σπονδὰς τοῖς Ουν- νοις δὴ τούτοις τοῖς καλουμένοις Βουλγάροις ἐνωμότως ποιῶν καὶ εἰρηνικὰς συμβάσεις καταπραττόμενος, ἐπεὶ δι' ορκων ταύτας εμελλε βεβαιοῦν τε καὶ ἐμπεδοῦν, οὐ τούτοις δὴ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐχρῆτο, θεὸν καὶ οὐρανίους δυνάμεις η  τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γενομέ- νην μητέρα Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν λεγομένων τε καὶ πραττομένων ἐφόρους καὶ μάρτυρας· ἀλλ' οιά τις ψυχὴ βάρβαρος θεοσεβείας ἀπῳκισμένη, κύνας μέν, καὶ οις τὰ ανομα εθνη θύουσιν, ἐχρῆτο μάρτυσι τῶν πραττομένων καὶ ἀπέτεμνεν καὶ διὰ στόματος αγειν οὐκ ἐμυσάττετο εἰς βεβαίωσιν, οις ἐκεῖνοι ἐμφορούμενοι, τὴν τῶν Χριστιανῶν δὲ πίστιν ἐκείνοις μέλλουσί ποτε ὑφ' ἡμῶν διαβιβά- ζεσθαι πρὸς ἐκείνην, ὡς εοικε, κατεπίστευσεν. καὶ σαφῶς οὑτωσὶ οὐκ ᾐσχύνετο ἀσεβῶν· οις τε γὰρ τοὺς τῆς πίστεως μαργαρίτας κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου φωνὴν εμπροσθεν ἠφίει τῶν χοίρων καὶ χρῆ- σθαι τούτοις ἐπὶ στόματος ἐξεβιάζετο, αξιος βδελυρίας ὁ ἀνὴρ 32 ἀσεβῶν· καὶ οις τὰ ἐκείνων αυθις αὐτὸς τὴν τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων διέπων βασιλείαν τε καὶ ἀρχὴν οὐκ ἠρυθρία μυσταγωγούμενος καὶ τελού- μενος ἐν πανδήμῳ θεάτρῳ καὶ ουτω γε δὴ πλήρει τῶν ἀπίστων τε καὶ πιστῶν, τοῦ αἰωνίου σκώληκος καὶ πυρὸς ἀλλ' οὐκ αλλων ἐπάξιος. καὶ οσους δὲ τὸν ὀρθὸν ευρισκε λόγον τηροῦντας, τού- τους πικρῶς κατῄκιζε καὶ δεινῶς· ἑτέρωθεν δὲ τὰ τῶν ὁμοφρόνων οἱ στίφη τε καὶ συστήματα συνεκρότει τε καὶ συνήγειρεν ἐν ταὐτῷ παρὰ πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ τιθεὶς καὶ προσεπικλύζων ταῖς ὠφελείαις. τούτοις καὶ ̓Ιωάννης ὁ γραμματικὸς ἐγκατέλεκτο, παντὸς ἀνάσκη- τος ὑπάρχων καλοῦ. οις καί τινα γραφὴν ὁ Λέων νεαρᾶς τινὸς καὶ μιαρᾶς ἐξαρχομένην πίστεως ἀναγράψαι κελεύσας, τὸν κατὰ τῶν θείων εἰκόνων δρόμον ἐδίωκεν. ἀνερρίπισε δέ πως οιον καὶ ἐξεφύσησεν εἰς υψος αιρων αὐτὸν (καὶ γὰρ ην κοῦφος καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἐφέρετο λελογισμένῳ τῷ νῷ) ὁ τοῦ ἱεροῦ συστήματός τε καὶ κλήρου τῶν βασιλικῶν αὐλῶν ἀρχηγός. λοχῶν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐκ πολ- λοῦ καὶ οιον ἐξ ἐνέδρας ὡς τὸν Πρωτέα αἱρήσειν ἐρῶν, ἐπεὶ κατά τινα καιρὸν τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο εἰς ἐπήκοον ῥητὸν ἐκκλησιαζόμενον ἐκηρύττετο "τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον, καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώ- σατε αὐτόν; μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων, η  χρυσόχοος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν, η  ὁμοίωμα κατεσκεύασεν;" ἐπεὶ γοῦν τοῦτο κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Φάρου ναὸν ἐξηχεῖτό τε καὶ διεβεβόητο, ἠρέμα πως ὑποσυρεὶς καὶ ἑαυτὸν εἰς προῦπτον ἀγαγών, "σύνες ο 33 τι λέγει," φησίν, "ω βασιλεῦ, τὸ ἱερὸν λόγιον· καὶ μηδείς σοι μετάμελος ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐναρχθεῖσιν εστω, ἀλλ' απαν θεῖον δοκοῦν ἐκ- ποδὼν ποιήσας εἰκόνισμα τῆς ὀρθῆς εχου λατρείας τῶν μὴ σεβο- μένων αὐτά." τούτοις, ὡς ειπον, ἀσυλλογίστως ὑπεκκαεὶς καὶ τὴν αθλιον ἐκείνην ψυχὴν προσεκπυρωθεὶς ολην ἐκίνησε κατὰ μὲν τῶν εὐσεβῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μανίαν, κατὰ δὲ τῶν ἀσεβῶν τὴν θείαν καὶ δικαίαν ὀργήν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεσπίσματι πάντας τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς ἐκ τῆς ὑπερορίας μετεπέμπετο, συλαγωγῶν τούτους, τῆς τοῦ πα- τριάρχου θέας πόρρωθεν καθιστῶν καὶ ἀποκηρύττων αὐτούς, ὡς τῷ οἰκείῳ βουλήματι πειθηνίους κατεργαζόμενος, πολλοὺς τὴν καλὴν ἀναιρήσασθαι μαρτυρίαν πεπεικὼς τῷ γε μὴ πεισθῆναι αὐτῷ.