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the grammarian Kometas, and to provide for these men with imperial gifts; on whose account he, out of his love for learning, often visited and, considering the aptitude of each of the students, nourished them with good hopes, and by his benefactions he made their teachers more diligent toward them, so that the seeds of learning, having been nurtured from then until now, bear more abundant fruit to his unwritten memory. In addition to these things, he practiced incorruptibility, even if feignedly. For he was excessively avaricious, desiring many possessions and valuables, the acquisition of which he undertook out of necessity; for he was extremely ambitious for processions and honors, attracting arrogance and boastfulness, even if with staged prudence and an imperious disposition he was inferior to true excellences. From these things he reigned unrestrainedly, dominating the emperor Michael, so that it often happened that he was overlooked by [both] the senators, and perhaps also because the emperor was captured by a love of spectacles and horse-races, through inattention to better things, or perhaps was also inflamed by his youthful age. 4.18 But Bardas was not troubled by his love for the empire alone, but he also did not cease to try to control the affairs of the church, so that he planned to depose the venerable Ignatius from the patriarchal throne, because he had once been excluded from communion by him for some abominable fault, which had arisen from suspicion, even though he had often been received by him in this matter and, not being persuaded by admonishing counsels to examine himself as has been legislated by Paul, he irreverently and often approached the sacrament; for which reason on one occasion he is rebuffed for his indifferent audacity, and he threatens to depose him from the high priesthood with harsh insults, adding that he would inflict tortures. He, after a little while, having frustrated such a man of virtue by the things contrived against him, makes him an outcast from the church, the one who, after the four-year tenure of the throne and the death of the thrice-blessed Methodius, was chosen by election, with the greatest reverence of the orthodox establishments from his father, of Basil and Gregory, great in virtue, the sons of emperor Leo, even though they were diminished by their father's blameworthy heresy, so that from this he had henceforth inherited the greatest of great things. But he brings in Photius as patriarch, who in some of the better qualities was superior, but in others was base. When many of the senatorial council were summoned for his deposition and installation and sealed these acts, only the aforementioned Constantine does not consent, declaring that it is not lawful for anyone enrolled in the lists of the laity to be registered for such things. His troubles did not end there; but he is subjected to many punishments so that he was nearly deprived of life, and to such an extent that he was thrown to the ground, his two hands and two feet spread out in the form of a cross, bound, and from this was afflicted with pains. But the tortures were not cut short at this point, but proceeded to what was worse. He is handed over by the Caesar to Theodore, called the Moor, the most cruel, and also to John Gorgonites and Nicholas Skutellops, and <is led away> into the celebrated church of the Apostles, in the mausoleum of the emperors, in which he was shut up, worn out by hunger and thirst and much more by the bodily afflictions; who, having straddled him naked over the sarcophagus of Constantine Copronymus, left him. It was the winter season, and a very harsh one; the sharpness of the stone was on his neck, and it was extremely cold to the touch all over, both from the season and from its own nature. From this the athlete suffered a loss of his private parts through putrefaction and blood. And what the pain was like, some of you surely know, who have experienced dysentery, and especially from the cold. For when the bowel is afflicted by the sting of cold and phlegm, the one who feels these things is immediately gripped by pain all over and is distended, then he grows exceedingly pale and, with the thickening of the surrounding fluid, he shudders painfully as the blood clots on the surface, from which perspiration departs; but indeed also in the depth of the heart

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γραμματικῇ Κομητᾶν, καὶ τούτους ταῖς βασιλικαῖς δωρεαῖς ἐπαρκεῖν· ἐφ' οἷς ἐκ φιλοπονίας ἐπιχωριάζων συχνῶς καὶ τῶν μαθητιώντων ἑκάστου τὸ ἐπιτήδειον ἐννοῶν χρησταῖς ἐλπίσιν ὑπέτρεφεν, αὐτῶν τε τοὺς καθηγουμένους ἐμμελεστέρους πρὸς τούτους ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις πεποίητο, ὥστε τοῦ λόγου τὰ σπέρματα ἔκτοτε καὶ μέχρι τῆς δεῦρο διαυξηθέντα ἐπὶ πλέον τελεσφορεῖν εἰς ἐκείνου μνήμην ἀνάγραπτον. πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις τῷ ἀδωροδοκήτῳ, κἂν ἐπιπλάστως, ἐκέχρητο. ἐπεφιλοχρηματήκει γὰρ ἀφειδῶς πολλῶν κτημάτων καὶ μὴν τιμαλφῶν ἐφιέμενος, ὧν τὴν κτῆσιν ἐξ ἀναγκαίου προσελαμβάνετο· ἐπεφιλοτίμητο γὰρ προπομπαῖς εἰς ἄκρον καὶ σεβασμιότησι, τὸ αὔθαδες καὶ ἀλαζονικὸν ἐπισπώμενος, εἰ καὶ μετὰ σκηνικευομένης φρονήσεως καὶ ἀρχικῆς καταστάσεως ἥττων ἦν τῶν ἐξ ἀληθείας βελτιωμάτων. ἐξ ὧν ἀσχέτως ἐβασιλεία, Μιχαὴλ ἐπαυχενίζων τοῦ βασιλέως, ὡς παρορᾶσθαι μὲν πολλάκις ἐκ [τε] τῶν συγκλητικῶν ἐξεγένετο, τάχα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἁλίσκεσθαι φιλοθεάμονι καὶ φιλιπποδρόμῳ προθέσει τὸν ἄνακτα δι' ἀπροσεξίαν τῶν ἀμεινόνων ἢ τυχὸν καὶ ἡλικίᾳ τῇ νεαζούσῃ παραρριπίζεσθαι. 4.18 Οὐ μὴν δὲ Βάρδας μόνης τῆς βασιλείας ἐρῶν ἐτυρβάζετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐγκρατεῖν οὐκ ἐπαύετο, ὥστε καθελεῖν τοῦ ἀρχιερατικοῦ θρόνου τὸν σεμνὸν Ἰγνάτιον διασκέψασθαι, τῷ ἀπεῖρχθαί ποτε κοινωνίας αὐτὸν κατά τι τῶν ἀπευκταίων ἐλάττωμα, ὃ πρὸς ὑπόνοιαν παρενέσκηπτεν, εἰ καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ πολλάκις ἐν ταύτῃ δεχθεὶς νουθετητικαῖς τε συμβουλαῖς μὴ πεισθεὶς ἑαυτὸν δοκιμάζειν καθὰ τῷ Παύλῳ νενομοθέτηται, ἀνευλαβῶς τῷ ἁγιάζοντι πρόσεισι καὶ πολλάκις· διὸ ἐν μιᾷ τῆς ἀδιαφόρου τόλμης ἀπορραπίζεται, καὶ ἀπειλεῖ κατ' αὐτοῦ μεθ' ὕβρεων χαλεπῶν τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης αὐτὸν καθαιρήσειν, προσεπιθησόμενος αἰκισμούς. ὃς μετ' ὀλίγον τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνδρα τῆς ἀρετῆς ματαιώσας τοῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ σκευασθεῖσι τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθίστησιν ἔκβλητον, τὸν μετὰ τὴν τετραετῆ τοῦ θρόνου κατάσχεσιν καὶ τελευτὴν τοῦ τρισμάκαρος Μεθοδίου κατ' ἐκλογὴν προκριθέντα, σὺν εὐλαβείᾳ τῇ μεγίστῃ τῶν ἐκ πατρὸς ὀρθοδόξων συστάσεων, τῶν μεγά λων τῇ ἀρετῇ Βασιλείου καὶ Γρηγορίου, τῶν υἱῶν Λέοντος βασιλέως, κἂν τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιψόγῳ αἱρέσει σμικρυνομένων, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν λοιπὸν κληροῦσθαι τὸ μέγιστον τῶν μεγάλων ἐπαναβέβηκεν. ἀντεισάγει δὲ Φώτιον πατριάρχην, κατά τι μὲν τῶν βελτιόνων ὑπερτεροῦντα, κατά τι δὲ χθαμαλούμενον. ἐφ' ὧν καθόδῳ καὶ τῇ ἀνόδῳ πολλῶν προσκληθέντων τῆς γερουσίου βουλῆς καὶ ταύταις ἐπισφραγισαμένων, Κωνσταντῖνος μόνος ὁ εἰρημένος οὐ κατατίθεται, ἐξειπὼν μὴ ἐξεῖναί τινι τῶν λαϊκοῖς καταλόγοις συνειλεγμένων περὶ τοιούτων ἐγγράφεσθαι. οὐ μέχρι τούτου τὰ κατ' αὐτόν· ἀλλὰ πολλαῖς τιμωρίαις ἐμμεθοδεύεται παρὰ μικρὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἀπηλλάχθαι, καὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε χαμαιριφῆ σταυροειδῶς διηπλῶσθαι τὼ χεῖρε καὶ τὼ πόδε κατάδεσμον καὶ ἀλγηδόσιν ἐντεῦθεν κακύνεσθαι. οὐ μέχρι δὲ τούτου τὰ τῶν αἰκισμῶν διεκόπτετο, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον προέκοπτεν. ἐκδίδοται παρὰ καίσαρος Θεοδώρῳ τῷ Μωρῷ κατὰ κλῆσιν, τῷ ὠμοτάτῳ, πρὸς δὲ καὶ Γοργονίτῃ Ἰωάννῃ καὶ Νικολάῳ τῷ Σκουτέλλωπι, καὶ <ἀπάγεται> ἐν τῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων περιβοήτῳ ναῷ, ἐν ἡρῴῳ τῶν βασιλέων, ἐφ' ὅτῳ ἐγκέκλειστο λιμῷ καὶ δίψει τρυχόμενος καὶ πολλῷ πλέον ταῖς κατὰ σῶμα κακώσεσιν· οἵτινες λάρνακι Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου περισκελίσαντες κατὰ γύμνωσιν εἴασαν. χειμῶνος δὲ ἦν ὥρα, καὶ μάλα τῶν ἐπαχθῶν· τῷ λίθῳ ἐπαυχένιος ἡ ὀξύτης, καὶ δι' ὅλου κατὰ τὴν ἁφὴν λίαν ψυχρὸς ἔκ τε καιροῦ καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φύσεως. ἐνθένδε ὁ ἀθλητὴς τῶν κρυφίων σαρκῶν ἀποβολὴν ἐποιεῖτο σαπρίας καὶ αἵματος. καὶ ἡ ὀδύνη ὁποία, ἴστε πάντως τινές, οἳ δυσεντερίας καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκ ψύχους πεπείρασθε. κρύους γὰρ καὶ φλέγματος δήξει τοῦ ἐντέρου πημαινομένου εὐθὺς μὲν περιοδυνᾶται καὶ διατείνεται ὁ τούτων αἰσθόμενος, εἶτα σφοδρῶς ὠχριᾷ καὶ τῇ πυκνώσει τοῦ περιέχοντος ὀδυνηρῶς φρικιᾷ θρομβουμένου τοῦ αἵματος κατ' ἐπιφάνειαν, ἐξ οὗ ἡ διαφόρησις οἴχεται· ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ κατὰ βάθος τοῦ ἐγκαρδίου