Then, having impiously committed many shameful, terrible, and absurd acts, they were driven from there as apostates. But having fled to the imperial city, they did not abandon their lawless follies. Wherefore, having been inscribed as criminals, they were condemned to the spectacle and were persecuted again." adding that "even if they are not good, let it not concern you." And he said this knowing them to be most wise and best trained in the precision of the 808 poetic figures, when someone said, "These men are not worthy that their iambics should be good." But they said, "Write, write, O Emperor, what seems good to you, as this is destined to be read before the just and terrible Judge." And the prefect, having brought them to the praetorium, after two days, stretching them out on benches and binding their hands and feet, tattooed and carved the verses onto their faces and exiled them. And in exile, Theodore, who is among the saints, died, but the celebrated Theophanes the poet survived until the time of Michael and Theodora, having struggled greatly for the restoration of orthodoxy; who also became metropolitan of Nicaea, when matters were already tending towards greater piety ... 26. In the reign of Theophilus lived also Joseph the Hymnographer, who was exiled by the empress Theodora. His life extended to the reign of Leo the Wise. 27. In his reign the golden tuft of Justinian, of the so-called Augusteum, fell down. When everyone was at a loss, and they were deliberating how they might ascend, a certain skilled scaffolder was found, and having gone up on the tiles of the great church, he shot an arrow with a rope attached to the equestrian statue of Justinian, which was made of bronze, and when the arrow was fixed there, he, by running along the rope, caused amazement to the onlookers and he fitted the tuft and drew the emperor's favor and to his 809 art and nature he added a great name, having been honored by the emperor with one hundred coins. 28. And Theophilus crowned Michael his son in the great church, having generously honored everyone at the coronation festivities. And he also built a hospice, the one now called of Theophilus, which had been the house of Isidore the patrician who came from Rome with Olybrius in the time of Constantine the Great, and after some time was given over to a curator, so that women of noble birth who did not know how to be chaste might live there. In the time of Leo the Isaurian, it served as a hostelry instead of a brothel under him. Later it became the house of Constantine, son of Irene, after the blinding inflicted on him by his mother. And when he died, his wife, having put on the monastic habit, established a monastery and called it Metanoias. And since this same house was very large and wondrous, when a beam in the triclinium broke, it threatened to collapse. And the nuns, as the emperor was departing in Blachernae, made a plea concerning this. And he, having consented and inspected the house, being pleased with it, moved these same nuns to another monastery, and having embellished the house itself with every kind of ornament, he made it a hospice, bestowing upon it much money and silver and suburban properties, naming it 'of Theophilus'. 29. Before his own death, this God-hated emperor, 810 having held a secret council with those of like mind concerning Theophobos the Persian, because both the Persians under him and not a few of those in authority had great love and loyalty for him, and lest, when I die, they plot tyranny against both my son, who is an infant, and my wife, brought Theophobos into the palace and kept him with him. But being weighed down by his illness, he imprisoned Theophobos in the chambers of the Boukoleon. And when the Persians were searching for him, wondering what had happened, the emperor, having sent by night Petronas, the brother of the Augusta, with the logothete, cut off the head of Theophobos. And these men persuaded the Persians that he was with the emperor in the palace. And when the emperor wretchedly gave up his spirit from the disease of dysentery, his miserable body was carried away to the Holy Apostles. But the body of the

πολλὰ λοιπὸν ἐξ ἀτοπίας πράξαντες αἰσχρὰ δεινὰ δυσσεβοφρόνως, ἐκεῖθεν ἠλάθησαν ὡς ἀποστάται. πρὸς τὴν πόλιν δὲ τοῦ κράτους πεφευγότες οὐκ ἐξαφῆκαν τὰς ἀθεμίτους μωρίας. ὅθεν γραφέντες ὡς κακουργοὶ τὴν θέαν κατακρίνονται καὶ διώκονται πάλιν." προσθεὶς ὅτι "κἂν μὴ ὦσι καλοί, μή σοι μελέτω." τοῦτο δὲ εἶπεν εἰδὼς αὐτοὺς ὡς σοφωτάτους καὶ ἄριστα ἠσκημένους τῶν 808 ποιητικῶν σχημάτων τὴν ἀκρίβειαν, εἰπόντος τινός "οὐδὲ ἄξιοί εἰσιν οὗτοι, ἵνα καλοὶ ὦσιν οἱ ἴαμβοι." οἱ δὲ εἶπον "γράφε, γράφε, βασιλεῦ, τὸ δοκοῦν σοι, ὡς μέλλον τοῦτο ἀναγνωσθῆναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ δικαίου καὶ φοβεροῦ κριτοῦ." ὁ δὲ ὕπαρχος τούτους ἀγαγὼν εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον, μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας ἁπλώσας ἐν σκάμνοις καὶ δήσας αὐτῶν χεῖρας καὶ πόδας, κατακεντήσας τε καὶ ἐγκολά ψας τοὺς στίχους εἰς τὰς ὄψεις αὐτῶν ἐξώρισεν. καὶ ἐν μὲν τῇ ἐξορίᾳ τελευτᾷ ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις Θεόδωρος, ὁ δὲ ἀοίδιμος Θεοφάνης ὁ ποιητὴς διήρκεσε μέχρι Μιχαὴλ καὶ Θεοδώρας, ἀγωνισάμενος πλεῖστα ἐν τῇ γενομένῃ ὀρθοδοξίᾳ· ὃς καὶ μητροπολίτης εἰς Νί καιαν γέγονε, τῶν πραγμάτων ἤδη πρὸς τὸ εὐσεβέστερον ... 26. Ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Θεοφίλου ἦν καὶ Ἰωσὴφ ὁ ὑμνογράφος, ὃς ἐξωρίσθη ὑπὸ Θεοδώρας τῆς βασιλίσσης. παρέτεινε δὲ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἕως τῆς βασιλείας Λέοντος τοῦ σοφοῦ. 27. Ἐπ' αὐτοῦ ἔπεσεν ἡ χρυσῆ τοῦφα Ἰουστινιανοῦ τοῦ λεγομένου Αὐγουστέως. ἀμηχανούντων δὲ πάντων, καὶ πῶς ἀνέλθοιεν διαλογιζομένων, εὑρέθη τις σκαλωτὴς τεχνίτης, καὶ ἀνελθὼν ἐν τοῖς κεραμίοις τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας βέλος ἀφῆκε μετὰ σχοινίου εἰς τὸν ἱππότην Ἰουστινιανοῦ τὸν ἐκ χαλκοῦ συν ιστάμενον, καὶ τοῦ βέλους παγέντος ἐκεῖσε αὐτὸς διὰ τοῦ σχοινίου διαδραμὼν θάμβος μὲν τοῖς ὁρῶσι παρέσχετο καὶ τὴν τοῦφαν προσήρμοσε καὶ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπεσπάσατο εὔνοιαν καὶ τῇ 809 τέχνῃ καὶ τῇ φύσει μέγα προσέθηκεν ὄνομα, φιλοτιμηθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως νομίσματα ἑκατόν. 28. Στέφει δὲ Θεόφιλος Μιχαὴλ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ, φιλοτιμησάμενος ὢν πάντας ἐν τοῖς στεψίμοις. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ ξενῶνα, τὸν νῦν μὲν τὰ Θεοφίλου λεγόμενον, οἶκον μὲν γεγονότα Ἰσιδώρου πατρικίου ἀνελθόντος ἀπὸ Ῥώμης μετὰ Ὀλυβρίου ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου, μετὰ δὲ χρόνον ἐκδοθέντος κουράτορα, ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐκεῖσε γυναῖκας τῶν εὐγε νῶν μὴ εἰδυίας σωφρονεῖν. ἐπὶ δὲ Λέοντος Ἰσαύρου ἐκ πορνείου ξενοδοχεῖον ἐχρημάτισεν ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ. ὕστερον δὲ γέγονεν οἶκος Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ τῆς Εἰρήνης μετὰ τὴν ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς γεγο νυῖαν ἐκτύφλωσιν εἰς αὐτόν. τελευτήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ἡ γυνὴ αὐ τοῦ τὸ μοναδικὸν σχῆμα περιβαλομένη μοναστήριον κατεσκεύασε καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὰ Μετανοίας. τοῦ δὲ αὐτοῦ οἴκου μεγίστου τε ὄντος καὶ θαυμαστοῦ, ξύλου ἐν τῷ τρικλίνῳ ἀποκλασθέντος ἠπείλει πτῶσιν. αἱ δὲ μονάζουσαι ἀπερχομένου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν Βλαχέρ ναις ἐδεήθησαν περὶ τούτου. ὁ δὲ ἐκνεύσας καὶ θεασάμενος τὸν οἶκον, ἀρεσθεὶς εἰς αὐτὸν μετοικίζει τὰς αὐτὰς μοναζούσας ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μονῇ, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν οἶκον κόσμῳ παντοίῳ καλλωπίσας ξενῶνα πεποίηκεν, ἐπιδοὺς αὐτῷ χρήματα πάμπολλα καὶ ἀργύριον καὶ προάστεια, ἐπονομάσας αὐτὸν τὰ Θεοφίλου. 29. Πρὸ δὲ τῆς αὐτοῦ τελευτῆς ὁ θεομισὴς οὗτος βασι 810 λεὺς βουλὴν μυστικὴν ποιησάμενος μετὰ τῶν ὁμοφρόνων αὐτοῦ περὶ Θεοφόβου τοῦ Πέρσου, ὡς ὅτι πολλὴν ἀγάπην καὶ πίστιν ἔχουσιν εἰς αὐτὸν οἵ τε ὑπ' αὐτὸν Πέρσαι καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει οὐκ ὀλίγοι, καὶ μή πως ἐμοῦ τελευτήσαντος μελετήσωσι τυραννίδα κατά τε τοῦ ἐμοῦ παιδὸς νηπίου ὄντος καὶ τῆς γυναικός, ἀνήγαγε Θεόφοβον εἰς τὸ παλάτιον καὶ εἶχε μετ' αὐτοῦ. βαρηθεὶς δὲ ἐκ τῆς νόσου καθεῖρξε Θεόφοβον ἐν ταῖς καμάραις τοῦ Βουκολέοντος. τῶν δὲ Περσῶν ἐπιζητούντων αὐτὸν τί ἄρα γέγονεν, ἀποστείλας τῇ νυκτὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Πετρωνᾶν τὸν τῆς Αὐγούστης ἀδελφὸν σὺν τῷ λογοθέτῃ ἀπέτεμε τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ Θεοφόβου. ἔπεισαν δὲ οὗτοι τοὺς Πέρσας ὡς μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως δυσεντερίας νόσῳ τὴν ψυχὴν κακῶς ἀπορρήξαν τος ἀπεκομίσθη τὸ δύστηνον αὐτοῦ σῶμα εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ἀποστό λους. τὸ δὲ σῶμα τοῦ