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Heraclea, though it was holding out, was nevertheless overcome in its parts facing the sea, and it too was captured without bloodshed, and was rid of siding with the tyrant, having given pledges to the emperor. And so the events concerning Thomas had such an end from the aforementioned beginning, and thus the emperor comes as a trophy-bearer from the cities on the mainland, having conceived of nothing else for the rebels than, for the spectacle of the contest that happened on this account, to make them pass by with their two hands bound behind them and for the most guilty to be exiled. Immediately, therefore, both to Choireas and also to Gazarenos the Koloneian—men who were faithful to Thomas and guarded his interests, one holding Kabala of 72 Choireas, and Gazarenos holding Saniana, and from there making many raids, and living as brigands and tyrants—Michael sends a golden bull, promising the great honors of the magistri and amnesty for their evil deeds, and making the death of Thomas clear to them. but the one sent did not persuade them, since they were arrogant and possessed of an untamable soul; but having won over certain others of their subordinates and converted them to loyalty to the emperor, he persuaded them, when the others had gone out for their customary raids, to shut the gates of the walls against them and to leave them without a word. Which is also what happened. So when they found the gates closed, they hastened to make their way to Syria, struck with fear. But they were captured alive nevertheless and were hung on the gibbet and were put out of life. But it is worthwhile not to pass over this either, how Gazarenos was betrayed and shut out of the walls. The one sent, having welcomed a certain rustic who was attentive to his voice and took pleasure in these unrestrained and rustic songs, composed a certain melody having reference to that man's steward. It was in these very words thus: "Listen, lord steward, what Gyberin says. If you give me Saniana, I will make you a metropolitan and give you Neocaesarea." This, being sung many times, caused this steward to become aware. Whence, when he understood the meaning and the import of the matter, 73 when Gazarenos had at some point gone out, he closed the gates against him and left him outside. And these things, then, concern these towns above the clouds, and thus their recapture by Michael. 20 But the onslaught of evils was not about to stop at these things, but upon the two continents, we mean Asia and Europe, in the wrath of the Lord, as upon a kind of head and tail, even if they did not understand, they who had been chastised by murders, conflagrations, earthquakes, plunderings, civil raids, unexpected changes of cities, signs from heaven, signs from the air; finally upon the wretched islands too, as a kind of middle, so that the blow might be upon the whole body, the terrible things rushed. But it was not possible to teach those who denied worship to the God-human form. (21) Whence, when the rebellion concerning Thomas had just begun, since these things were heard everywhere, the Agarenes who inhabit the western gulf of Iberia neighboring the Ocean (these the long passage of time has renamed Spaniards), having grown to a multitude of persons and prosperity of their race, seeing that their own western part was poor and moderately prosperous, and was very much lacking in the land's quality and abundance, and was inferior even to the eastern and southern part of Iberia itself (for not all of it is suitable and fertile for every quality of land, but the western part, as has been said, 74 is both arid and poorer than the rest) and for this reason being unable either to feed them or to support men who were of great size of body and increased by an abundance of goods rather than by want, these men, therefore, approaching Apochaps, their own amermoumnes, requested that a certain colony and migration of land be granted to them, since they were constrained by their numbers and by want of necessities,

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̔Ηράκλεια καὶ ως ἀντέχουσα, ομως τῶν ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης μερῶν κατακυριευθεῖσα, ἁλίσκεται καὶ αυτη ἀναιμωτί, καὶ τοῦ φρονεῖν τὰ τοῦ τυράννου ἀπαλλάττεται, πί- στεις δεδωκυῖα τῷ βασιλεῖ. Καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Θωμᾶν συμβεβηκότα τοιοῦτον εσχε τέλος ἐκ τῆς εἰρημένης ἀρχῆς, καὶ ουτω τροπαιοφόρος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν κατ' ηπειρον ερχεται πόλεων, οὐδὲν ετερον ἀπὸ στασιωτῶν ἐννοή- σας η  ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμιλλητηρίου θέας ἐπὶ τούτῳ γεγενημένης ὀπίσω τὼ χεῖρε δεδεμένους ποιῆσαι διελθεῖν καὶ ὑπερορίους τοὺς αἰτιωτάτους γενέσθαι. Αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ πρὸς Χοιρέαν, ετι γε μὴν καὶ πρὸς Γα- ζαρηνὸν τὸν Κολωνιάτην, ἀνθρώπους μὲν οντας καὶ πιστὰ φυ- λάττοντας τῷ Θωμᾷ, κατέχοντας δὲ τὸν μὲν τὴν Καβάλαν τοῦ 72 Χοιρέα, τοῦ Γαζαρηνοῦ δὲ τὴν Σανιάναν, καὶ πολλὰς ἐκεῖθεν ποιούντων καταδρομάς, καὶ λῃστρικῶς ζῶντάς τε καὶ τυραννικῶς, χρυσοβούλλιον ἐκπέμπει ὁ Μιχαήλ, τιμὰς μεγάλας τὰς τῶν μαγί- στρων καθυπισχνούμενος καὶ ἀμνηστίαν κακῶν, καὶ δῆλον τὸν τοῦ Θωμᾶ θάνατον τούτοις ποιῶν. ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν οὐκ επει- σεν ὁ ἀποσταλείς, ἀλαζόνας οντας τε καὶ ἀτίθασσον κεκτημένους ψυχήν· ἑτέρους δέ τινας τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων κλέψας καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως πίστιν μεταθεὶς επεισεν ἐξελθόντας πρὸς τὰς συνή- θεις λῃστείας ἀποκλεῖσαι τούτοις τὰς τῶν τειχῶν πύλας καὶ λόγου καταλελοιπέναι χωρίς. οπερ καὶ γέγονεν. ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ουν ὡς ευρον κεκλεισμένας τὰς πύλας, τὴν ἐπὶ Συρίαν εσπευσαν διανύσαι ὁδόν, τῷ φόβῳ βαλλόμενοι. ζῶντες δὲ ομως ἁλόντες τῷ ξύλῳ ἐξήρ- τηνται καὶ τοῦ βίου εξωθεν γίνονται. αξιον δὲ μηδὲ τοῦτο παρα- δραμεῖν, οπως ὁ Γαζαρηνὸς προδέδοτο καὶ τῶν τειχῶν ἀπεκέ- κλειστο. ανδρα τινὰ αγροικον ὁ ἀποσταλεὶς δεξιωσάμενος φωνῆς ἐπιμελούμενον καὶ ταῖς ᾠδαῖς τερπόμενον ἐμμελῶς ταῖς ἀνειμέναις ταύταις καὶ ἀγροικικαῖς, μέλος τι επλεξεν πρὸς τὸν ἐκείνου οἰκο- νόμον εχον τὴν ἀναφοράν. ην δὲ αὐταῖς λέξεσιν ουτω. "ακουσον, κῦρι οἰκονόμε, τί λέγει Γυβέριν. ἐάν μοι δῷς τὴν Σανιάναν, μη- τροπολίτην σε ποιήσω καὶ Νεοκαισάρειάν σοι δώσω." τοῦτο πολ- λάκις ᾀδόμενον ἐν αἰσθήσει τοῦτον γενέσθαι τὸν οἰκονόμον πε- ποίηκεν. οθεν ὡς εγνω τὸν νοῦν τε καὶ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνα- 73 φοράν, ἐξελθόντος ποτὲ τοῦ Γαζαρηνοῦ εκλεισεν κατ' αὐτοῦ τὰς πύλας καὶ τοῦτον εξωθεν ἐγκατέλιπεν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν ὑπερνεφῶν τούτων πολιχνίων, καὶ ουτω τούτων ἡ πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ κατάληψις. 20 Οὐκ εμελλε δὲ αχρι τούτων ἡ φορὰ στήσεσθαι τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ τῶν δύο ἠπείρων, ̓Ασίας φαμὲν καὶ Εὐρώπης, ἐν θυμῷ κυρίου οιόν τινος κεφαλῆς καὶ οὐρᾶς, εἰ καὶ μὴ συνίεσαν, παιδευθέντων φόνοις, ἐμπρησμοῖς, σεισμοῖς, ἁρπαγαῖς, ἐμφυ- λίοις καταδρομαῖς, πόλεων ἀνελπίστοις μεταβολαῖς, σημείοις ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, σημείοις ἐξ ἀέρος, τέλος καὶ ταῖς ταλαιπώροις νήσοις οιόν τινα μέσην, ιν' ὁλόσωμος ειη ἡ πληγή, ἐπέδραμε τὰ δεινά. ἀλλ' οὐκ ην παιδεῦσαι τοὺς τὴν θεάνθρωπον ἐξηρνημένους μορ- φὴν προσκυνεῖν. (21) οθεν αρτι δὴ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Θωμᾶν αρ- ξαντος νεωτερισμοῦ, ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ἠκούετο πανταχοῦ, οἱ τὸν ἑσπέ- ριον κόλπον τῆς ̓Ιβηρίας τῷ ̓Ωκεανῷ γειτονοῦντες ̓Αγαρηνοὶ κατοικοῦντες ( ̔Ισπάνους τούτους ὁ πολὺς ῥεύσας χρόνος μετωνόμα- σεν), εἰς πλῆθος σωμάτων καὶ εὐθηνίαν τοῦ γένους ἐξηλακότες, τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἑσπέριον πλευρὰν λυπρὰν ουσαν καὶ μετρίως εὐ- δαίμονα ὁρῶντες, καὶ λειπομένην μὲν τῆς πρὸς γῆν ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀφθονίας κατὰ πολύ, ἐνδέουσαν δὲ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἑῷον τῆς ̓Ιβηρίας καὶ νότιον (οὐ γὰρ απασα πρὸς πᾶσαν γῆς ἀρετὴν ἐπιτη- δεία καὶ ευφορος, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς ἑσπερίου πλευρᾶς, ὡς ειρηται, 74 αὐχμηρόν τε καὶ λυπρότερον τῆς λοιπῆς) καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ουτε τρέ- φειν δυναμένης αὐτοὺς καὶ διοικεῖν ανδρας σώμασιν εὐμεγέθεσι χρωμένους καὶ ἀγαθῶν εὐφορίᾳ ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐνδείᾳ αὐξανομένους, ουτοι γοῦν προσελθόντες ̓Απόχαψ τῷ ἑαυτῶν ἀμερμουμνῇ ἀποι- κίαν τινὰ καὶ γῆς μετανάστασιν ῃτουν αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι, πλήθει τε στενοχωρουμένοις καὶ ἀναγκαίων,