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21 But God, whose way is not swift but long-suffering, was indeed polishing the sword, but did not let it fly. For at one time plagues and droughts and fiery suns were upon them, at another, earthquakes and upheavals, and at other times, as it were, hurlings of flame through the air, and from another quarter, civil strifes threatened the most terrible of calamities. But it was not possible to restrain that soul, rushing like a boar over a cliff. From there, at last and opportunely, a striking sword has gone forth from God, so that for a time a nail might be driven out by a nail and evil cured by evil. This was Michael, who at that time had obtained the command of the foederati, and convicted on a charge of treason 34, was able to clear himself with much toil and labor. But before long he was destined to show him as a slain sacrificial victim, always holding a grudge against him. For in other ways Michael exercised a talkative and insolent tongue, and did not cease from parading his [Leo's] beastly nature, since he had grown up with him and delighted in his valor in combat. But Leo (for one who rules all does not bear being worsted by one fool, unless he truly establishes himself as king not of men but of his temper) set up a troop of eavesdroppers against him, so that his words might be conveyed as if through some channel. For he suspected what was to come, as the prophecy about Philomelion had by no means faded from his soul, which had declared that Michael would be proclaimed second to Leo. Among these spies was also Hexaboulios, a man capable of understanding a person's character and nature. As time went on, then, he did not desist from his reckless speech or his mockery, but like a river in flood cast up all manner of filth at the wrong time, he threatened Leo with utter destruction and his wicked temper was nurturing other things, and these things were reported to the emperor, he is seized immediately, and finally, with the accusers substantiating the charges, he is deposed for plotting a tyrannical usurpation. It was the day before the sojourn among us and incarnation of Christ our God, the Word. Since, then, he had been manifestly proven guilty on all counts, as the emperor himself was examining him in the secretariats, and there was no escape from what had been 35 dared, he is condemned to death, and not this or that death, but so that he might have the emperor himself as both spectator and agent, whether overcome by the passion of his anger, or otherwise delighting in cruelty, to be fiercely thrown into the furnace of the royal bath as fodder for the fire. These things were decreed, and he himself ran ahead to watch the drama. But his wife (she was Theodosia, the daughter of Arsaber), hurrying and running as she was, as if driven mad by some Bacchic frenzy, was dissuading him and checking his impulse, calling him a fiend and an enemy of God, since he did not hold the day in reverence, when he was about to partake of the divine body. Therefore, deprecating the dreadful deed, and fearing that his action, coming from anger, would be an offense to God, he then granted him a temporary reprieve, entrusting his guard to the pappias, although he saw fit to guard the key to the iron fetters himself. But he also threatened his wife, and said, "Before long you shall see, both you, woman, and the offspring of my loins, what will come to pass, even if today you have delivered me from that sin." With these words he both made the future dreadful and foretold it. 22 For there was a fear seated in his soul from a certain prophecy, that on the day of the birth in the flesh of Christ our God all his increased prosperity and 36 kingship were about to be shorn away. The prophecy was Sibylline, deposited in a certain book in the imperial library, which had not only simple prophecies but also the forms and figures of future emperors in colors. There was, then, the beast a lion depicted, with the letter chi inscribed from its back to its belly. After this a certain man

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21 Θεὸς δέ, οιος τρόπος ἐκείνου οὐ σύντονός τις ἀλλὰ μακρόθυμος, τὴν ῥομφαίαν ἐστίλβου μέν, οὐκ ἠφίει δέ. νῦν μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῖς λοιμοὶ καὶ αὐχμοὶ καὶ διάπυροι ηλιοι, νῦν δὲ σεισμοὶ καὶ ἀναβρασμοί, καὶ αλλοτε φλογὸς οια κατὰ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀκοντί- σεις καὶ ἑτέρωθεν ἐμφύλιοι στάσεις τῶν δεινῶν τὰ ἀκμαιότατα ἐπεσείοντο. ἀλλ' οὐκ ην ἐκείνην ἐπισχεῖν τὴν ψυχήν, συὸς δίκην κατὰ κρημνοῦ ἐπιβρίσασαν. ἐντεῦθεν ὀψὲ γοῦν καὶ καιρίως πλήτ- τουσα μάχαιρα παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκπεπόρευται, ιν' ηλῳ τέως ηλος ἐκκρουσθῇ καὶ κακὸν τῷ κακῷ ἰαθῇ. Μιχαὴλ τοῦτο ην, ος τὴν φοιδεράτων τότε ἐπειλημμένος ἀρχήν, ἐγκλήματι καθοσιώσεως 34 ἁλούς, μόγῳ πολλῷ καὶ κόπῳ ἀποτρίψασθαι ισχυσεν. ἀλλ' εμελλεν ὑπ' ὀδόντα τοῦτον εχων ἀεὶ καθάπερ διαπεπραγμένον ἱερεῖον δεῖξαι οὐκ εἰς μακράν. αλλως μὲν γὰρ ἐξήσκει γλῶσσαν ὁ Μιχαὴλ πρόλαλόν τε καὶ ἰταμόν, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ εληγεν ἐκ- πομπεύων θηριοτροπίαν, ατε δὴ αὐτῷ καὶ συναυξηθεὶς καὶ τῇ ἐκ χειρὸς γαννύμενος ἀνδρειότητι. ὁ Λέων δέ (οὐ φέρει γάρ τις πάντων κρατῶν ἑνὸς ἡττᾶσθαι μωροῦ, εἰ μή γε οντως οὐκ ἀνδρῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ θυμοῦ βασιλεὺς καταστῇ) ὠτακουστάς τινας τούτῳ λό- χον κατέστησεν, ὡς αν διά τινος πορθμείου διαβιβάζοιντο λόγοι οἱ αὐτοῦ· καὶ γὰρ ὑπείδετο τὸ μέλλον, τῆς κατὰ τὸ Φιλομήλιον προρρήσεως ἐξημβλωκυίας τῆς αὐτοῦ ψυχῆς μηδαμῶς, η  τὸν Μι- χαὴλ δεύτερον τοῦ Λέοντος ἀναρρηθῆναι διωμολόγησεν. τούτων τῶν ἐφεδρευόντων εις ην καὶ ̔Εξαβούλιος, ἀνὴρ οιός τε ων ηθος καὶ φύσιν ἀνθρώπου καταμαθεῖν. ὡς ουν χρόνου προϊόντος οὐκ ἐνεδίδου τῆς ἀθυροστομίας μηδὲ τοῦ τωθασμοῦ, ἀλλ' οιόν τις κυματίας πᾶσαν ἀκαίρως ἰλὺν ἐξέβρασεν ποταμός, ἠπείλησε τῷ Λέοντι πανώλειαν καὶ ἀλλ' αττα θυμὸς ἐτρέφετο πονηρός, ἀνε- πέμπετο δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς βασιλέα, ἀνάρπαστος γίνεται ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ τέλος τῶν ἐλεγχόντων τὰ τῆς κατηγορίας κατεμπεδούντων κατατίθεται τυραννίδος ἐπίθεσιν μελετῶν. ἡμέρα ην προτεραία τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς τοῦ λόγου Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίας τε καὶ σαρκώσεως. ἐπεὶ γοῦν πάντοθεν κατάφωρος ἐγεγένητο αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τοῖς ἀσηκρητείοις ἐξετάζοντος, καὶ δρασμὸς τῶν 35 τολμηθέντων οὐκ ην, καταχειροτονεῖται τὴν ἐπὶ θάνατον, καὶ θάνατον οὐ τόνδε η  τόνδε, ἀλλ' ιν' εχῃ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτὸν θεατήν τε καὶ αὐτουργόν, ειτε τῷ πάθει τῆς ὀργῆς ἐκνικώμενον, ειτ' αλλως τῇ ὠμότητι ἐφηδόμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ βαλα- νείου κάμινον δριμέως ἐκριφῆναι πυρὸς παραβόσκημα. ωριστο ταῦτα, καὶ αὐτὸς προέθεεν τὰ τοῦ δράματος ἐποψόμενος. ἀλλ' ἡ τούτου σύζυγος (Θεοδοσία ην, τὸ τοῦ ̓Αρσαβὴρ θυγάτριον) ἀνασπούδασα καὶ ὡς ετυχε θέουσα, ὡς εκ τινος βακχείας ἐξοιστρη- θεῖσα, ἀπέσπευδε τοῦτον καὶ τῆς ὁρμῆς ἐγατέπαυεν, ἀλάστορα καὶ θεομάχον ἀποκαλοῦσα, οις ουτε τὴν ἡμέραν αγει διὰ φειδοῦς, τοῦ θείου μέλλων σώματος μετασχεῖν. ἐκθειόμενος ουν τὰ δεινά, καὶ τῷ θεῷ μὴ ἀπὸ θυμοῦ γένηται δεδοικὼς, τότε μὲν αὐτῷ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν παλίντροπον ἐπεβράβευσε, τῷ παππίᾳ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐπιτρέψας φρουράν, εἰ καὶ τῶν σιδηροπέδων δι' ἑαυτοῦ φρουρεῖ- σθαι ἠξίου τὴν κλεῖν. ἐπεπείλει δὲ καὶ τῇ γυναικί, καὶ "οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἐπόψεσθε" εφη, "σύ τε ω γῦναι καὶ τὰ τῆς ἐμῆς νηδύος βλαστήματα, τὰ ἀποβησόμενα, εἰ καὶ σήμερόν με τοῦ ἐκεῖθεν ἁμαρτήματος προσηλευθέρωσας." τούτοις τὸ μέλλον ἀπεφοίβασέ τε καὶ προεκήρυξε. 22 Καὶ γὰρ ην αὐτῷ δέος τῇ ψυχῇ ἐγκαθήμενον εκ τινος χρησμολογίας, ὡς κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως πᾶσαν τὴν αὐξηθεῖσαν εὐδαιμονίαν καὶ βα- 36 σιλείαν ἀποκείρεσθαι μέλλοντος. ὁ δὲ χρησμὸς ην Σιβυλλιακός, εν τινι βίβλῳ εἰς τὴν βασιλικὴν βιβλιοθήκην ἐναποκείμενος, οὐ χρησμοὺς μόνον ἁπλῶς ἀλλὰ καὶ μορφὰς καὶ σχήματα εχουσα τῶν γενησομένων βασιλέων διὰ χρωμάτων. ην ουν λέων θηρίον μεμορφωμένον, χῖ στοιχεῖον κεχαραγμένον ἀπὸ τῆς ῥάχεως μέχρι τῆς γαστρὸς αὐτοῦ. τούτου κατόπιν ἀνήρ τις