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defeated; in which rout Photeinos too barely escapes in a single ship to 77 Dia, and becomes his own messenger to the emperor of what had been done. But since he was always held in honor by the emperor, he exchanged the generalship of Crete for that of Sicily again; (23) but while the Spaniards were still living somehow in turmoil and anxiety, a certain man, a monk, coming down from the mountains of the island, said there was another place more suitable for them for the founding of a city and for their remaining endurance and dominion. And at the same time taking them he showed them Chandax, where their city is built even now; and its leader then was Abu Hafs. Setting out from this, therefore, as if from a kind of acropolis, they overran this entire island and some of the adjacent ones no less, so as to even settle in them, having enslaved the inhabitants and natives themselves. And the light-armed and foot soldiers captured twenty-nine cities of Crete, with only one remaining from then on unconquered and unharmed, and though subject in name, it kept its own customs and Christianity undefiled. Then too Cyril, the prelate of Gortyn, since he would not go over to them in denial of Christ, was slaughtered like a blameless sacrificial victim; whose blood, remaining uncorrupted, also cries out to God like that of Abel or Zechariah; and it is possible for the faithful to draw myrrh from there, soaking it up with certain sponges, but it is not possible to alter the stain of the blood. Moreover, there have been erected in that very place sarcophagi and tombs of many others who were martyred for Christ then and of the 78 ten renowned martyrs. In such a way, then, and at this time were the Cretans snatched from the midst of the Christians. 24 But when Michael, late and with difficulty, had shaken off the enemies surrounding and assailing him, though he should have turned to God and propitiated him, making him merciful through his deeds, he, on the contrary, or as the civil ordinances will it, as if he had been saved not by Him but by himself, acted and administered the state. For when his wife died, and wanting to acquire a reputation among the many that he felt an unforgettable grief for her, he caused the senate through certain secret and mysterious messages to choose to persuade him to be yoked to a wife again, and not only to urge him to this but also to compel him, and for them to proceed to revolt if this did not happen; "for it is not possible," they were to say, "for an emperor to live without a wife and for our own wives to be deprived of a mistress and empress." He was persuaded, then, late, by these feigned words, which in time could not remain hidden; and first he demanded written guarantees from every hand concerning matters neither existing nor to come, that they would not cease after his death to protect and defend both his future wife and her offspring, but that they would have her too after them as emperors and mistress, as was fitting. Thus he thought he would control not only the age 79 during his time but also the one after him, when he ought to have entrusted everything to God's hand and not to theirs, by whom kings reign and tyrants rule the earth. Nevertheless, he who ruled all the earth submitted to the decree of the senate, and he who had chosen a chaste life endured to be joined unwillingly. He was led then to marriage not with this or that one, but with a certain woman who had long since renounced the world and its affairs, but had been wedded to Christ and from childhood had devoted herself to ascetic practices in the monastery on the island of Prinkipo and given herself to God; Euphrosyne was her name, and she boasted of being the daughter of Constantine, who by a just judgment had endured blinding by his mother. He accomplished these things, and through them he not only did not make God merciful but even angered him. 25 And against those who had seized Crete and were ravaging it he again sends out an army; Krateros was the name of the general, who at that time was governing the generalship of the Kibyrrhaiotai, seventy biremes

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ἡττημένους· καθ' ην τροπὴν καὶ ὁ Φωτεινὸς ἐν μονηρίῳ μόλις διασώζεται πρὸς τὴν 77 ∆ίαν, καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν πραχθέντων αὐτάγγελος γίνεται. ἀλλ' ουτος μὲν ἐπεὶ διὰ τιμῆς ηγετο παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀεί, τὴν τῆς Σικελίας στρατηγίδα αυθις τῆς Κρήτης ἀλλάσσεται· (23) τοῖς δ' ̔Ισπανίοις ετι πως ἐν ταραχῇ καὶ μερίμνῃ διάγουσιν ἀνήρ τις ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων τῆς νήσου ἐπικαταβὰς μοναστὴς αλλον εφησεν ειναι τόπον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδειότερον πρός τε πολίσματος κτίσιν καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς διαρκείας καὶ ἐπικρατείας αὐτῶν. καὶ αμα λαβὼν τὸν Χάνδακα τούτοις ἐπέδειξεν, ενθα καὶ νῦν εκτισται ἡ πόλις αὐτῶν· καὶ ἡγεμὼν αὐτῆς ὁ ̓Απόχαψ τότε ἐγεγόνει αὐτῆς. ἐκ ταύτης ουν οιόν τινος ἐξ ἀκροπόλεως ὁρμώμενοι πᾶσάν τε ταύτην τὴν νῆσον κατέτρεχον καί τινας τῶν παρακειμένων οὐκ ελαττον, ὡς καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ἐγκατοικῆσαι, αὐτοὺς τοὺς οἰκήτορας καὶ αὐτόχθονας δου- λωσάμενοι. καὶ πόλεις δὲ Κρήτης ἐννέα πρὸς ταῖς εικοσιν ευζω- νοί τε καὶ πεζοὶ ᾐχμαλώτευσαν, μιᾶς εκτοτε μόνης παραμεινάσης ἀναλώτου καὶ ἀπαθοῦς, καὶ λόγῳ μὲν ὑποταγείσης, τὰ ἑαυτῶν δὲ εθιμα καὶ τὸν χριστιανισμὸν φυλαττούσης ἀλώβητον. τότε καὶ Κύριλλος ὁ Γορτύνης πρόεδρος, ἐπεὶ μὴ τούτοις εἰς αρνησιν ἐχώρει Χριστοῦ, ὡς ἱερεῖον αμωμον ἐσφαγίαστο· ου  καὶ τὸ αιμα βοᾷ μένον ὡς τοῦΑβελ η  καὶ Ζαχαρίου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀναλλοίω- τον· καὶ μύρον μὲν ἐκεῖθεν εστιν ἀρύσασθαι τοῖς πιστοῖς σπόγγοις τισὶν ἐναποματτόμενον, τὴν δὲ βαφὴν τοῦ αιματος ἀλλοιῶσαι οὐ πρόσεστιν. προσέτι μὴν αὐτόθι σοροὶ καὶ τάφοι ἀνεγήγερται αλ- λων τε πολλῶν τῶν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τότε μαρτυρησάντων καὶ τῶν 78 δέκα περιωνύμων μαρτύρων. τοιούτῳ γοῦν τρόπῳ καὶ κατὰ τοῦ- τον ἀνηρπάσθησαν τὸν καιρὸν ἐκ μέσου τῶν Χριστιανῶν οἱ Κρη- ταιεῖς. 24 ̓Επεὶ δὲ ὀψὲ καὶ μόλις τοὺς περικυκλοῦντας τοῦτον ἐχθροὺς καὶ περικτυποῦντας ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἀπεσείσατο, δέον πρὸς θεὸν τραπέσθαι καὶ τοῦτον ἐξευμενίσασθαι, ιλεω διὰ τῶν εργων ποιῶν, ὁ δὲ τοὐναντίον η  ὡς οἱ πολιτικοὶ θεσμοὶ βούλονται, ὡς οὐ παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ δὲ σωθείς, επραττέ τε καὶ ἐπεπολί- τευτο. τῆς γαμετῆς γοῦν τελευτησάσης αὐτοῦ, καὶ δόξαν θέ- λοντος κατασχεῖν τῶν πολλῶν ὡς πένθος αληστον εχει αὐτῆς, τὴν σύγκλητον ἐποίει διά τινων μηνυμάτων κρυφίων καὶ μυστικῶν αἱ- ρήσασθαι τοῦτον πεῖσαι γυναικὶ αυθις ζευχθῆναι, καὶ οὐ παρα- καλέσαι μόνον πρὸς τοῦτο ἀλλὰ καὶ βιάσασθαι, καὶ εἰς ἐπανάστα- σιν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο γένηται, χωρῆσαι αὐτούς· "οὐ γάρ ἐστιν οιον γυναικὸς ανευ" φάσκειν "βασιλέα τε ζῆν καὶ τὰς ἡμετέρας στε- ρεῖσθαι γαμετὰς δεσποίνης καὶ βασιλίδος." ἐπέπειστο γοῦν ὀψὲ διὰ τῶν ἐπιπλάστων λόγων, ους τῷ χρόνῳ λαθεῖν οὐκ ην· καὶ πρῶτον μὲν χειρόγραφα ὑπὲρ τῶν μήτε οντων μήτε ἐσομένων πᾶ- σαν ἀπῄτει χεῖρα, ὡς αὐτήν τε τὴν ἐσομένην αὐτῷ γαμετὴν καὶ τὰ ἐκ ταύτης εκγονα ὑπερασπίζειν καὶ ὑπερμαχεῖν μετὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ μὴ παύσαιντο θάνατον, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνην τε μετ' ἐκείνους βασιλέας εχοιεν καὶ δέσποιναν, ὡς εἰκός. ουτως οὐ τοῦ κατ' ἐκεῖνον ἀλλὰ 79 καὶ τοῦ μετ' αὐτὸν ῳετο κατακρατήσειν αἰῶνος, δέον πάντα ἐκ θεοῦ ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκείνων ἀναρτῆσαι χειρί, δι' ον βασιλεῖς βασι- λεύουσι καὶ τύραννοι κρατοῦσι γῆς. πλὴν ὑπέκυπτεν ὁ πάσης κυριεύων γῆς προστάγματι τῷ συγκλητικῷ, καὶ συνάψεσθαι ακων ἠνείχετο ὁ σώφρονα βίον ἀνῃρημένος. ηγετο ουν πρὸς γάμον οὐ τήνδε η  τήνδε, ἀλλὰ γυναῖκά τινα πάλαι τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ αὐτοῦ ἀποστέρξασαν, Χριστῷ δὲ νυμφευθεῖσαν καὶ ἀσκήσεσιν ἐκ παιδὸς κατὰ τὴν ἐν Πριγκίπῳ νήσῳ μονὴν σχολάσασαν καὶ προσανέχου- σαν τῷ θεῷ· Εὐφροσύνη ταύτης ἡ κλῆσις, καὶ πατρὸς ἐσεμνύ- νετο Κωνσταντίνου ειναι, δικαίᾳ κρίσει τὴν τύφλωσιν ὑπομεμενη- κότος παρὰ μητρός. ταῦτα μὲν ἐξεπέραινεν, καὶ ιλεω δι' αὐτῶν οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐποιεῖτο ἀλλὰ καὶ παρώργισε τὸν θεόν. 25 Καὶ κατὰ τῶν τὴν Κρήτην δὲ καταλαβόντων καὶ λυ- μαινομένων αυθις ἐπαποστέλλει στρατόν· Κρατερὸς ονομα τῷ στρατηγέτῃ, ος τηνικαῦτα τὴν τῶν Κιβυρραιωτῶν διέπων στρα- τηγίδα, ἑβδομήκοντα ναῦς διήρεις