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to him the signs of a pre-revelation, but also another portent had preceded it. It seemed to the caesar that he was seeing a dream; and it was formed in such a way, that on a feast day both the emperor and the caesar went to the temple of God's Wisdom with the customary splendor. And when they had approached what were like doors, angels depicted on them, wearing shining robes, appeared to them, and inside, someone old was seen enthroned above; who was this? Peter, the first-ranking of the apostles, and kneeling before him with tears was Ignatios for the things he had suffered, having been mistreated. And he, sympathizing with his suffering, said to him that he would carry out the vengeance from the hand of the Lord, and with the word, to one of two certain men standing beside him, like praepositi dressed in gold, he gives a short sword, and he had ordered with a nod to separate the emperor to the right, but the God-angered caesar, so he said, to the left, and to punish him limb by limb with it. When he supposedly let him go, he also spoke about Michael, that he should await the cutting, calling him an impious child. 4.22 And another sign had attended the death of the caesar. A garment, lacking the proper length, was sent to him while he was staying at Kepoi from Theodora his sister, on which a partridge sprinkled with gold was depicted; having received it, he asked: why has this been cut short? and the partridge on it, what does its inscription signify? He depicted the solution of both, through the partridge, the treachery, as it seems, of the sender toward him because of the requital for the murdered Theoktistos, and through the shortness, he was hinting at the shortness of his own days. Wherefore he also ordered Antigonos the patrician and commander of the scholae, his son, to assemble all the people under him and to direct their arrival to the empress. But he was displeased with such a wish. And more things concerning emperor Michael were revealed to the caesar. And some time before, an earthquake having occurred, more terrible than any ever remembered, the statue had fallen, which at Saint Anna, whose eponym is Deuteron, had been erected on a column; which, when reported by the caesar to Leo the philosopher, was clearly interpreted, that the second from the first ruler would fall by death, and that Basileios was pointed out to caesar Bardas as his successor; whom from then on he viewed with an evil eye. 4.23 And these things accompanied the caesar according to prophecy. For when they were present at Kepoi, the emperor was performing the duties of the empire, but the caesar was practicing more the things of love of power, and he was great, surpassing the emperor and others of his intimate retinue. And as they were unbearably disposed toward this, they devised a treacherous plan against him, so that they might murder him; but they feared his company of hetaireia, lest they be overpowered by it. They contrive a competitive horse race with Antigonos his son and they appoint him far from the imperial tent, and for this purpose they draw together the caesar’s chief supporters, so that while they were occupied, some men might attack the caesar unguarded and dispatch him. And Symbatios, son-in-law to the caesar's daughter, who had been deemed worthy of the rank of patrician and had been allotted to manage the race, entering to the emperor with the caesar present and having read the public reports, and departing, having made the sign of the cross as before, since he was the leader of the plot, the sword-bearers lying in wait in a hidden part of the tent advanced, and in the presence of the emperor, mercilessly killing, they cut the caesar to pieces, on the 21st of the month of April, in the 14th indiction; with whom a certain Chaldos was found, whose surname was Tziphinarites. Therefore, as the seditious outrage suddenly arose and the emperor was terrified and involuntarily cast down by the fall the drungarius of the imperial vigla, Konstantinos, was defending the emperor, so that he not be murdered along with him, as a faithful defender and showing his loyalty even unto death. And perhaps both would have perished, if not he

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αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς προδηλώσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερόν τι συμβόλαιον προηγήσατο. ἔδοξεν ὄναρ ὁρᾶν γε τῷ καίσαρι· τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον διεμόρφωτο, ὡς ἐν ἑορτασίμῳ ἡμέρᾳ ὅ τε βασιλεὺς καὶ ὁ καῖσαρ ἐπῄει τῷ Σοφίας θεοῦ ἱερῷ μετὰ τῆς συνήθους λαμπρότητος. ὡς δὲ προσπεφοιτήκεσαν οἷα θυρίσι, ταύταις εἰκονισμένοι λαμπροφοροῦντες τούτοις ἀνεφάνησαν ἄγγελοι, καὶ πρὸς τοῖς ἔσω διώπτετό τις ὑπεράνω γηραιὸς θρονιζόμενος· τίς οὗτος; Πέτρος ὁ ἀποστόλων προβάθμιος, αὐτῷ τε γονυπετῶν δάκρυσιν ὁ Ἰγνάτιος ὑπὲρ ὧν λωβηθεὶς ὑπομεμενήκει. ὁ δὲ τῷ πάθει συνδιατεθεὶς αὐτῷ ἔφη τὴν ἐκδίκησιν ἐκ χειρὸς κυρίου ἀποίσασθαι, καὶ ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ ἑνὶ δύο τινῶν παρ' αὐτῷ ἱσταμένων ὡσεὶ πραιποσίτων χρυσοενδύτων βραχεῖαν ἐπιδίδωσι μάχαιραν, καὶ προσετετάχει ἐννεύσας τὸν μὲν βασιλέα τοῖς δεξιοῖς ἀφορίσαι, τὸν δὲ θεόργιστον καίσαρα, οὕτως εἰπών, τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς, καὶ διὰ ταύτης μεληδὸν τιμωρήσασθαι. οὗ δῆθεν ἐξιεμένου καὶ περὶ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ διειρήκει τὴν τομὴν ἀπεκδέχεσθαι, ἀποκαλῶν αὐτὸν ἀσεβότεκνον. 4.22 Καὶ ἄλλο τι σημεῖον ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ παρηκολουθήκει τοῦ καίσαρος. ἐξαπεστάλη κατὰ Κήπους διάγοντι παρὰ Θεοδώρας τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀδελφῆς ἐσθὴς τοῦ προσήκοντος μήκους ἐλλείπουσα, ᾗτινι πέρδιξ χρυσόπαστος καθιστόρητο· ἣν προσδεξάμενος ἐπυνθάνετο· αὕτη τί κεκολόβωται; καὶ ὁ ἐν ταύτῃ πέρδιξ τί δηλῶν ἀναγέγραπται; ἀμφοτέρων τὴν λύσιν διεζωγράφει, διὰ μὲν τοῦ πέρδικος τὸ πρὸς αὐτὸν δολερόν, ὡς ἔοικεν, τῆς στειλάσης διὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἀναιρεθέντι Θεοκτίστῳ ἀντέκτισιν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἐλλιποῦς τὸ ἐλλιπὲς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἡμερῶν αἰνιττόμενος. ὅθεν καὶ Ἀντιγόνῳ τῷ πατρικίῳ καὶ καθηγεμονεύοντι τῶν σχολῶν, τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ, προσετετάχει τὸν ὑπ' αὐτὸν λαὸν ἅπαντα συντελεῖν καὶ τῇ βασιλίδι κατευθῦναι τὴν ἄφιξιν. ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην δυσανασχετεῖ βούλησιν. καὶ πλέον τὰ κατὰ Μιχαὴλ βασιλέως ἐπεφανέρωτο παρὰ καίσαρι. πρὸ δέ τινος χρόνου σεισμοῦ γεγονότος τῶν πώποτε μνημονευομένων φρικωδεστέρου, ἐπεπτώκει τὸ ἄγαλμα, ὃ κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Ἄνναν, ᾗ ἐπώνυμον τὸ ∆εύτερον, κατὰ κίονα διεστήλωτο· ὅπερ διαγγελθὲν παρὰ καίσαρος Λέοντι φιλοσόφῳ σαφῶς διηρμήνευτο, τὸν ἐκ πρώτου ἄνακτος δεύτερον ἐκπεσεῖσθαι διὰ θανάτου, τῷ τε καίσαρι Βάρδᾳ τὸν διαδεξόμενον δακτυλοδεικτεῖσθαι Βασίλειον· ὃν ἔκτοτε οὗτος βασκάνως ἐπέβλεπεν. 4.23 Καὶ ταῦτα κατὰ προφητείαν συνωμαρτήκεσαν καίσαρι. ἐπὶ Κήπους γὰρ ἐφεστηκότων αὐτῶν ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς τὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἐνήργει πρακτέα, ὁ δὲ καῖσαρ τὰ τῆς φιλαρχίας πλέον ἐπετηδεύετο, καὶ πολὺς ἦν, ὑπεραίρων τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ἑτέρων τῶν κατὰ θεραπείαν ᾠκειωμένων αὐτῷ. ὡς δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο δυσφορήτως διέκειντο, ἐμηχανῶντο κατ' αὐτοῦ βουλὴν δολεράν, ὅπως μιαιφονήσειαν· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἑταιρειῶτιν τούτου πληθὺν ἐδεδοίκεσαν, ἵνα μὴ παρ' αὐτῆς καταδυναστεύοιντο. πρὸς ἁμιλλητήριον δρόμον ἵππων συμφύρονται σὺν Ἀντιγόνῳ τῷ τούτου υἱῷ καὶ αὐτὸν πόρρω τῆς βασιλικῆς σκηνῆς διορίζουσι, καὶ καίσαρος τοὺς πρωταγωνιστὰς ἐπὶ τούτῳ συνέλκουσιν, ὡς ἂν ἐνησχολημένων αὐτῶν ἀφυλάκτως τῷ καίσαρι ἐπίθωνταί τινες καὶ διαχειρίσωνται. Συμβατίου δὲ γαμβροῦ ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ καίσαρος τιμῆς τε πατρικίων ἠξιωμένου καὶ τὰ τοῦ δρόμου διέπειν διειληχότος, εἰσιόντος τῷ βασιλεῖ συμπαρόντι καίσαρι τάς τε δημοσίους ἀνεγνωκότος ἀναφοράς, ἀπιόντος δὲ κατὰ <τὰ> πρόσθεν τύπῳ σταυρικῷ σχηματισαμένου, ἅτε καθηγουμένου τῆς συσκευῆς, οἱ ἐν παραβύστῳ σκηνῆς ἐνεδρεύοντες ξιφηφόροι ἐπῄεσαν, καὶ προσενώπιον βασιλέως ἀνηλεῶς ἀποκτέννοντες κατακερματίζουσι καίσαρα, μηνὶ Ἀπριλίῳ καʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ιδʹ· μεθ' ὧν Χάλδος τις παρεύρητο, ᾧ Τζιφιναρίτης ἐπώνυμον. τῆς οὖν στασιώτιδος ἐπηρείας ἀθρόως ἐπισυστάσης τοῦ τε βασιλέως ἐνθροηθέντος καὶ τῷ πτώματι ἀκουσίως ἐγκρημνισθέντος ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς βίγλης ὑπερασπίζων ἦν βασιλεῖ Κωνσταντῖνος δρουγγάριος, τὸ μὴ συμπεφονεῦσθαι αὐτόν, οἷα πιστὸς ὑπερασπιστὴς καὶ μέχρι ψυχῆς τὸ εὔνουν ἐπιδεικνύμενος. καὶ τάχα ἂν ἀμφότεροι διεφθάρησαν, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς