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rule, if they would give him sufficient funds and an adequate army for the task. And indeed, having obtained what he asked for, he immediately marches out against the Romans, and on account of the magnitude of his undertakings, he also adopts as a son a certain half-barbarian man he had found, who, along with depravity of soul and foolishness, also suffered from a deformity of body and in other respects †of these things of his†; whom he indeed allows to be called Constantius, and having given him a portion of the Saracen army, he invades the Roman territories with him. Leo was the emperor at that time of these events, the son of the patrician Bardas, and deriving his lineage from the Armenians; not deeming the evil that had befallen the Romans worthy of much attention, he hastily assembled a small number of troops and appointing a guide who was more a soldier than a general, he sends them against Thomas. And indeed, when both armies clashed with each other in one of the places in the east, the emperor's army stumbled and was put to flight; and the apostate, being at liberty, overruns everything towards the rising sun and by force makes them take his side. 2.5 And not much time passed, and Michael murders Leo and succeeds to the empire. But Thomas, the leader of the sedition, as if his dominion over almost the entire land were not enough for him, now suborns the entire navy under Roman command, except for that called the imperial, and having built many other ships, some for transporting grain and horses, and others warships, he orders them to wait for him at Lesbos; but he, with some ten thousand troops, seizes the strait between Sestos and Abydos, and leaving behind him the Pseudo-Constantius and adopted son with a very great force from those previously captured by him, he permits him to overrun the remaining areas. But this man, led by the suggestions of demons and by oracles, foretells to his drinking companions the day of the year on which he would approach the ruling city in some ineffable glory; and when the very appointed day had arrived, he falls upon the army under Olbianus, whose attack he could not withstand for long, and he both flees and is immediately captured. And the noble Olbianus, cutting off his head, sends it to the emperor Michael; who sends it to the seditious and falsely-named father. But this man did not relinquish any of his madness, but along with the naval fleet that had come from Lesbos, and himself using horse-transport ships, having watched for a moonless night, from a certain coastal place, which is indeed called Orkosion by the locals, he secretly crosses over to many places in Thrace, having indeed found all the Thracians obedient to him, although the emperor, when it was announced by rumor that the apostate was crossing the sea strait at Abydos with ships, had marched out against him with a very small army and had taken pledges from all the Thracian cities that they would ally with the emperor; nevertheless, as they considered all these pledges as nothing, the tyrant had become great, with these men also having flocked to him. Immediately the emperor returns to the city, and having made the affairs in it as secure as possible, he gathers an army of infantry and navy from the eastern parts, which were now freed from the tyranny for at least a short time, since the apostate had withdrawn. And the emperor puts Greek fire on the ships, and he stretched the iron chain from the acropolis to the fort of Pera, so that the so-called Horn in the city might not be harmed by the fleet of the adversaries. And Gregory, who had formerly been a general, but had become an object of accusation to the emperor and for this reason had been exiled to Skyros, one of the Cyclades islands, the apostate took, since he had indeed gone over to him, and appoints him leader of an army of ten thousand men, and sends him ahead of himself as a forerunner against the ruling city, and indeed also a fleet of seamen, so that both might arrive at the same time in the city of Constantine. And indeed this happened quickly, they having come together with each other from both land and sea at the mouths of the Barbyses river, with not even the iron chain being sufficient to prevent the attack of the enemy ships. after not

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ἀρχήν, εἰ καὶ χρήματα ἱκανὰ καὶ στρατὸν ἀξιόχρεων δοῖεν πρὸς τὸ ἔργον αὐτῷ. καὶ δὴ τῶν αἰτουμένων τυχὼν ἐκστρατεύει κατὰ Ῥωμαίων εὐθύς, ποιεῖται δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐγχειρουμένων υἱὸν ἀνθρώπιόν τι μιξοβάρβαρον εὑρηκώς, μετὰ τῆς ψυχικῆς φαυλότητος καὶ ἀνοίας ἔτι δὲ καὶ δυσμορφίαν σώματος δυστυχοῦν καὶ τἆλλα †τῶν τούτου†· ὃ δὴ καὶ Κωνστάντιον ἐπιτρέπει καλεῖσθαι, ἀπόμοιράν τε τούτῳ Σαρακηνῶν στρατεύματος δοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ εἰς τὰ Ῥωμαίων εἰσβάλλει ἤθη. Λέων δὲ τότε καιροῦ τούτων ἦν βασιλεύς, ὁ Βάρδα μὲν τοῦ πατρικίου υἱός, ἐξ Ἀρμενίων δὲ κατάγων τὸ γένος· οὐ πολυωρίας δὲ ἀξιώσας τὸ ἐπιφυὲν Ῥωμαίοις κακόν, σχεδιάσας δὲ πλῆθος στρατεύματος βραχὺ καὶ καθηγεμόνα στρατιώτην μᾶλλον ἢ στρατηγὸν ἐπιστήσας κατὰ Θωμᾶ ἀποστέλλει. καὶ δὴ τῶν στρατευμάτων ἀμφοτέρων συμπεσόντων ἀλλήλοις κατά τι τῶν ἐν τῇ ἕῳ χωρίων, πταίει μὲν ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως στρατὸς καὶ εἰς φυγὴν τρέπεται· ἐπ' ἀδείας δὲ ὁ ἀποστάτης γενόμενος πάντα πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον ἐπιτρέχει καὶ πρὸς βίαν τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖται φρονεῖν. 2.5 Οὐ πολὺ δὲ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ Μιχαὴλ Λέοντα φονεύει καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκδέχεται. ὁ δέ γε στασιάρχης Θωμᾶς, ὡς μὴ ἀρκούσης αὐτῷ τῆς κατὰ γῆν ἐπικρατείας σχεδὸν ἁπάσης, ἤδη τὸ ναυτικὸν ἅπαν τὸ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ὄν, πλὴν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ κληθέντος, ὑποποιεῖται, καὶ ναῦς πλείστας ναυπηγήσας ἑτέρας σίτου τε παραπομποὺς καὶ ἵππων, τὰς δὲ πολεμιστηρίους, ταύτας κατὰ Λέσβον κελεύει μένειν αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ ἅμα μυρίῳ δή τινι στρατῷ καταλαμβάνει τὸν μεταξὺ Σηστοῦ καὶ Ἀβύδου πορθμόν, κατὰ νώτου δὲ λιπὼν ἑαυτοῦ τὸν Ψευδοκωνστάντιον καὶ ποιηθέντα υἱὸν ἅμα μεγίστῃ δυναστείᾳ τῶν προκατειλημμένων αὐτῷ τὰ λοιπὰ καταδραμεῖν ἐπιτρέπει. δαιμόνων δὲ εἰσηγήσεσιν οὗτος καὶ μαντείαις ἠγμένος χρόνου ἡμέραν τοῖς συμπόταις προλέγει, καθ' ὃν τῇ βασιλευούσῃ προσέλθοι πόλει ἐν ἀρρήτῳ δόξῃ τινί· ἤδη δὲ τῆς κυρίας ἐνστάσης αὐτῆς τῷ ὑπὸ τὸν Ὀλβιανὸν περιπίπτει στρατῷ, οὗ πρὸς βραχὺ μὴ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν ὁρμὴν φεύγει τε καὶ εὐθέως ἁλίσκεται. καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ὁ γενναῖος Ὀλβιανὸς ἐκτεμὼν πέμπει τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαήλ· ὁ δὲ τῷ στασιώτῃ ταύτην καὶ ψευδωνύμῳ ἀποστέλλει πατρί. ἀλλ' οὗτος μὲν οὐδέν τι τῆς ἀπονοίας ἠφίετο, ἀλλ' ἅμα τῷ νηΐτῃ Λεσβόθεν ἥκοντι στόλῳ, καὶ αὐτὸς ναυσὶν ἱππαγωγοῖς κεχρημένος, νύκτα διασκοπήσας ἀσέληνον, ἐκ παράλου τοπίου τινός, ὃ δὴ πρὸς τῶν ἐγχωρίων καλεῖται Ὁρκόσιον, πολλαχοῦ περαιοῦται τῆς Θρᾴκης λαθών, εὑρὼν δὴ πάντας Θρᾷκας κατηκόους αὐτῷ, καίτοι τοῦ βασιλέως, ὅτε δὴ φήμῃ περιηγγέλη, ὡς διαβαίνει ναυσὶν ὁ ἀποστάτης τὸν κατὰ τὴν Ἄβυδον τῆς θαλάττης πορθμόν, ἐκστρατεύσαντός τε κατ' αὐτοῦ ὀλιγίστῳ στρατῷ καὶ ἐκ πασῶν πόλεων Θρᾳκικῶν ὡς συμμαχήσουσιν βασιλεῖ πίστεις λαβόντος· ὅμως ταύτας ἁπάσας παρ' οὐδὲν θεμένων αὐτῶν, πολὺς ὁ τύραννος ἐγεγόνει, καὶ τούτων προσρυέντων αὐτῷ. παραχρῆμα ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ὑπονοστεῖ, καὶ ὡς ἐνῆν τὰ κατ' αὐτὴν ἀσφαλέστατα διαθείς, πεζὸν ἅμα καὶ ναυτικὸν συναθροίζει στρατὸν ἐκ τῶν κατ' ἀνατολὴν ἤδη τοῦ ἀποστάτου ὑποχωρήσαντος πρός γε βραχὺν χρόνον τῆς τυραννίδος ἀπηλλαγμένων. ἐνίησι δὲ βασιλεὺς καὶ πῦρ πολεμιστήριον ταῖς ναυσί, καὶ τὴν σιδηρᾶν σχοῖνον ἀπ' ἀκροπόλεως μέχρι τοῦ Πέραθεν φρουρίου διέτεινεν, ὡς ἂν τὸ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν καλούμενον Κέρας μὴ ἐκ τοῦ στόλου τῶν ἀντιπάλων πημαίνοιτο. Γρηγόριον δέ, πάλαι μὲν χρηματίσαντα στρατηγόν, δι' αἰτίας δὲ βασιλεῖ γεγονότα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς Σκῦρον, μίαν τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων, φυγαδευθέντα, λαβὼν ὁ ἀποστάτης, ἅτε δὴ προσχωρήσαντα αὐτῷ, χειροτονεῖ στρατεύματος ἡγεμόνα μυρίων ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τοῦτον πρόδρομον αὐτοῦ κατὰ τῆς βασιλευούσης προπέμπει, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ στόλον ναυτίλων ἀνδρῶν, ἵνα δὴ ἄμφω κατ<ὰ τ>αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντίνου γένοιντο πόλει. καὶ δὴ γέγονεν τοῦτο ταχέως, συνελθόντες ἀλλήλοις ἀπό τε γῆς καὶ θαλάττης κατὰ τὰς Βαρβύσου τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐκβολάς, οὐδὲ τῆς σιδηρέας ἐξαρκεσάσης σειρᾶς κωλῦσαι τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἔφοδον πλοίων. μετ' οὐ