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having taken those under him and all the thematic troops, he encamped, roaring and with great arrogance. And since it did not seem right to those men either to shrink back but to advance to a battle that would demonstrate their own forces and valor (for these are indeed clever among the other Agarenes), they both joined battle boldly, having advanced into the conflict just as the sun was spreading its rays over the earth, neither side gave way until midday, but fighting bravely they showed their own experience and strength; but when the Cretans, having become exhausted as the sun was already declining, gave way to flight, then indeed they killed many of them, and took more as prisoners who had thrown down their arms, following close at their heels. And perhaps having made an effort they would have taken the city that same day, if night, already appearing, had not reversed the state of affairs and brought forth for those seeking rest a slaughter but not salvation. For they, as if they had already conquered, and expecting to capture all of them tomorrow in a short time, since they were few, gave themselves over to drinking and revelry, behaving as if they were in their own land and not in a foreign one, taking no thought for any guard nor for any other safety measure according to the law of war, but only for sleep and for the carelessness and ease that easily overturns and destroys all things. Whence around midnight, when the Cretans, keeping watch out of desperation through their own guards, learned that the men of the Roman camp were overcome by sleep and wine, sallying out at that very moment they destroyed them all with the sword, so that not even a messenger, as the saying goes, returned and was saved from there, η except only for the general, who had boarded a merchant ship and was seeking his safety. However, since the leader of the Agarenes, searching for him everywhere, did not find him but heard that he was fleeing, he ordered him to be sought with transport ships under commanders; οι who, having caught him in Cos, had him hanged on a gibbet and killed. And so, such were the events concerning that battle and conflict, bringing much disaster upon the Romans, not only from that defeat, but also the many-headed hydra which has prevailed and endured since then, always being cut off there and in one place, but sprouting up again in another. 26 After these things, a certain man of military experience, and not without wisdom and sagacity, ου whose surname was Ooryphas, having gathered a certain army then called the *tessarakontarion* by imperial command, from the forty gold pieces distributed to each of them, overran the other islands, against which very few men were brought, and setting ambushes against some and openly warring with others, he utterly destroyed and consigned them to perdition; this one, however, as it seems, he has passed on to us. But God will surely take care of the matters concerning her, and so will we who by night and day expend our soul on her behalf. 27 At the same time a certain Euphemius, serving as a tourmarch in Sicily, fell in love with a certain virgin who was living in a convent and had long since taken up the monastic habit, and he made a great effort to fulfill his desire, somehow taking the virgin as his wife. Since, therefore, he had a not-so-distant precedent that neither forbade nor deterred him, this very Michael (for, as has been said, he himself had also dared such a thing), he snatched the virgin from the convent and brought her to himself against her will. Therefore, her brothers approached Michael, recounting the details of the deed. And he commanded the general, if he should discover the truth to be thus, to cut off the nose of the perpetrator Euphemius, according to the strictness of the law. And Euphemius, having learned these things, both the enforcement of the law against him and the imperial threat, taking as conspirators both those under his own command and some of his fellow tourmarchs, drove off the general who had come there for this purpose, and flees to the amermoumnes of Africa, all of Sicily under that one

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τῶν ὑφ' ἑαυτῷ καὶ πάντων τῶν θεματικῶν λαβών, βρέμων αμα καὶ πολλῷ φρονήματι παρενέ- βαλεν. καὶ ἐπείπερ οὐδ' ἐκείνοις ἐδόκει ὑποστέλλεσθαι ἀλλ' ἐς μάχην χωρεῖν τὴν τὰς ἑαυτῶν δυνάμεις καὶ γενναιότητας ἐπιδειξο- μένην (καὶ γάρ εἰσι τῶν αλλων ̓Αγαρηνῶν ουτοι δὴ εὐφυεῖς), συνέβαλλον δὲ τολμηρῶς ἑκάτεροι κατὰ τὸν ἀγῶνα χωρήσαντες αρτι δὴ τοῦ ἡλίου τὰς ἀκτῖνας ὑπὲρ γῆς ἐφαπλοῦντος, οὐδέτεροι 80 μὲν αχρι μεσούσης ἡμέρας ἐνέκλινον, ἀλλὰ γενναίως μαχόμενοι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐδείκνυον ἐμπειρίαν καὶ δύναμιν· ἐπεὶ δὲ πονήσαντες οἱ Κρηταιεῖς ηδη τοῦ ἡλίου κλίναντος ἐνέδωκαν πρὸς φυγήν, τότε δὴ πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέκτειναν, πλείους δὲ τὰ οπλα ῥίψαντας αἰχμαλώτους ελαβον, ἐκ ποδὸς ἑπόμενοι. τάχα δ' αν σπουδά- σαντες ελαβον τὴν πόλιν αὐθημερόν, εἰ μὴ νὺξ ηδη φαινομένη ἀνέστρεψεν ὡς τὰ πράγματα καὶ ἀνάπαυλαν τούτοις ζητοῦσι φόνον ἀλλ' οὐ σωτηρίαν ἀπέτεκεν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ηδη νενικηκότες, καὶ πάντας αυριον ἐν βραχεῖ βραχεῖς οντας ἐλπίσαντες συλλαβεῖν, πρὸς πότους καὶ τρυφάς, ὡς ἐν οἰκείᾳ ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν ἀλλοτρίᾳ διά- γοντες, ἐξεβάκχευον, μήτε τινὸς φυλακῆς μήτ' αλλης σωτηρίας τῆς κατὰ τὸν πολεμικὸν νόμον γινομένης φροντίσαντες, υπνου δὲ μόνου καὶ τῆς τὰ πάντα ῥᾳδίως ἀνατρεπούσης καὶ ἀπολλυούσης ἀμελείας τε καὶ ῥᾳστώνης. οθεν περὶ μέσας νύκτας, ἐπεὶ διὰ τῶν ἑαυτῶν φυλάκων ὡς ἐν ἀπορίᾳ ἀγρυπνοῦντες οἱ Κρηταιεῖς υπνῳ καὶ οινῳ καθῃρῆσθαι τοὺς τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς παρεμβολῆς ἀνέμαθον, αὐθωρὸν ἐξελθόντες μαχαίρᾳ πάντας ἀπώλεσαν, ὡς μηδ' αγγελον, τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, ὑποστρέψαι καὶ ἐκεῖθεν διασωθῆναι, η  μόνον τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐμπορικοῦ ἐπιβάντα πλοίου καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ζη- τοῦντα. πλὴν καὶ τοῦτον ἐπεὶ πανταχοῦ ὁ τῶν ̓Αγαρηνῶν ἡγεμὼν ἀναζητῶν μὲν οὐχ ευρισκε φεύγειν δὲ διήκουεν, ὁλκάσι τοῦτον μεθ' ἡγεμόνων ἀναζητῆσαι ἐκέλευσεν· οι  καὶ καταλαβόντες τοῦτον ἐν Κῷ ἐπὶ ξύλου κρεμάσαντες διαφθαρῆναι ἐποίησαν. καὶ τὰ μὲν 81 κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἐκείνην καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα συμβεβηκότα τοιαῦτα, πολλὴν ἐνεγκόντα ̔Ρωμαίοις συμφοράν, οὐ τὴν ἐξ ηττης μόνον ἐκείνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν εκτοτε κρατήσασαν καὶ διαμείνασαν πολυ- κέφαλον υδραν, ἐκεῖσε καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ μὲν ἀποτεμνομένην ἀεί, ἀνα- θάλλουσαν δὲ ἀλλαχοῦ. 26 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἀνήρ τις στρατιωτικῆς πείρας, πρὸς δὲ καὶ φρονήσεως καὶ ἀγχινοίας οὐκ αμοιρος, ου  τὸ ἐπώνυμον ̓Ωορύφας, στρατόν τινα ἀθροίσας τὸν τεσσαρακοντάριον τότε κα- λούμενον βασιλικῆς ἐκ προστάξεως, ἐκ τοῦ διανεμηθῆναι αὐτοῖς ἀνὰ τεσσαράκοντα χρυσίνων, τάς τε αλλας νήσους, αις ὀλίγιστοι ἐφέροντο, κατατρέχων, καὶ τοῖς μὲν λόχους ἐπάγων τοῖς δὲ καὶ φανερῶς πολεμῶν, ἐξωλόθρευσέ τε καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ παρέδωκεν· ταύ- την δέ, ὡς εοικεν, παρέπεμψεν εἰς ἡμᾶς. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν περὶ αὐ- τῆς θεῷ πάντως μελήσει, μελήσει δὲ καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν τὴν ψυχὴν δαπανῶσιν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς. 27 Κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρὸν Εὐφήμιός τις κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν τουρμάρχης τελῶν παρθένου τινὸς ηρα ἀσκητηρίοις ἐν- διαιτωμένης καὶ τὸ μοναχικὸν εκπαλαι ἀναλαβούσης σχῆμα, καὶ διὰ πολλοῦ ἐποιεῖτο τὸν αὐτοῦ ερωτα ἐκπληρῶσαι, τὴν παρθένον λαβών πως εἰς γαμετήν. ἐπεὶ γοῦν παράδειγμα οὐ πόρρωθεν ει- χεν οὐ κωλῦον οὐδ' ἀποτρέπον, τοῦτον δὴ τὸν Μιχαήλ (καὶ γάρ, 82 ὡς ειρηται, καὶ αὐτὸς τοιοῦτόν τι ἐτόλμησεν), ἀφαρπάζει τὴν παρθένον τοῦ ἀσκητηρίου καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ακουσαν ὑπηγάγετο. ταύτης ουν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τῷ Μιχαὴλ προσίασι, τὰ τοῦ δράματος διηγούμενοι. ὁ δὲ κελεύει τῷ στρατηγῷ, εἰ ουτως φωράσοι εχουσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν ῥῖνα τοῦ τετολμηκότος Εὐφημίου ἀποτεμεῖν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου ἀκρίβειαν. καὶ ὁ Εὐφήμιος μαθὼν δὴ ταῦτα καὶ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν τοῦ νόμου τήρησιν καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἀπειλήν, συνωμότας λαβὼν τούτους τε τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ χεῖρα καί τινας τῶν συντουρμαρχῶν, τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ παρα- γινόμενον παρελαύνει ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ̓Αφρικῆς ἀποδιδρά- σκει ἀμεραμνουνῆ, πᾶσαν τὴν Σικελίαν ὑπ' ἐκείνῳ