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Being an A137rian, to kill a certain Orthodox deacon who was very close to him and had converted to Arianism for his sake, saying, "since you did not keep faith with God, you will much less keep it with me." But when Anastasius, the pope of elder Rome, died, and the people were divided, some voting for a certain Laurentius, but the Orthodox for Symmachus, and from this they were in strife with one another, the aforementioned Theoderic, then ruling Rome, came to it, and having gathered a synod, he confirmed Symmachus to be bishop of Rome, and drove out Laurentius. In these times it is recorded that the nation of the Bulgars overran Illyricum and Thrace, not having been known before. And when the Agarenes were plundering the East, Anastasius made a truce with them. However, when Vitalian the Thracian had attempted a tyranny, having allied himself with the Mysians and Scythians, and with them was plundering the cities around the queen of cities, and indeed also having attacked it with a fleet, Anas138tasius opposed him through Marinus the prefect, and when a naval battle occurred by means of a certain device made by the great Proclus (for he then flourished in philosophy and in mechanical devices, having gone through all the works of the famous Archimedes in these matters and having himself made new discoveries in addition to them) the fleet of the enemy was defeated. For Proclus is said to have forged fire-bearing mirrors, and to have suspended these from the wall opposite the enemy ships, and when the rays of the sun struck these, a fire was discharged like lightning from them, burning the naval force of the enemy, and the ships themselves, which Dio recorded that Archimedes had invented long ago, when the Romans were then besieging Syracuse. But Anastasius, being a zealous follower of the heresy of Eutyches, wished to add to the Trisagion "who was crucified for us." Therefore, for this reason he sent to the church both the logothete and the prefect; who, standing in the ambo as on a platform, began to announce the imperial command. Then as many of the multitude as were Orthodox were moved, and they rushed to tear the men apart. But they barely escaped the popular madness, and the multitude, inflamed with anger, attacked 139 the houses of the aforementioned men. And they demolished some, and plundered what was in them and killed many, and they reviled the emperor, but they acclaimed Vitalian as emperor, and they burned many houses and murdered very many; and having killed a certain monk who was near the cistern built by Anastasius, called the cistern of Mocius, and who was held in honor by this emperor, and moreover having slain a certain enclosed nun near the Xerokerkos gate, as the emperor had faith in her also, and having bound both bodies together, they dragged them, then burned them. In the times of this emperor, Alamundarus the phylarch of the Agarenes, having been instructed by the Orthodox, both believed and was baptized. To him Severus sent two bishops, hastening to draw him into his own heresy. Therefore, when the bishops were teaching him that the two natures of Christ were confused into one nature, and it was deduced from this 140 that the divinity also suffered with the flesh of the Lord, he, wishing to refute them for saying strange things and teaching incredible things, arranged for one of his own men, in the presence of those unholy bishops, to report something in his ear. And when he had done what was commanded, Alamundarus scowled and pretended to be grieved. And when the bishops asked on what account he was disturbed and what the message might be, he said that it was reported to him that the archangel Michael had died. And when they insisted that the message was false, for it was impossible for the archangel to die, the phylarch replied and said, "If then an angel does not die, how according to you did the divinity both suffer and die, having been mingled with the flesh and made into one nature?" At this the bishops marveled at his understanding; but they themselves

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Ἀρει137 ανὸς ὤν, διάκονόν τινα ὀρθόδοξον αὐτῷ πάνυ ᾠκειωμένον καὶ διὰ θεραπείαν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἀρειανισμὸν μεταθέμενον ἀποκτεῖναι, εἰπὼν ὡς "ἐπεὶ τῷ θεῷ οὐκ ἐτήρησας πίστιν, μᾶλλον οὐ τηρήσεις ταύτην ἐμοί." Ἀναστασίου δὲ τοῦ τῆς πρεσβυτέρας Ῥώμης πάπα θανόντος, καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ μερισθέντος, καὶ τῶν μὲν Λαυρέντιόν τινα ψηφισαμένων, τῶν ὀρθοδόξων δὲ Σύμμαχον, κἀντεῦθεν πρὸς ἀλλήλους στασιαζόντων, ὁ εἰρημένος Θευδέριχος, τῆς Ῥώμης τότε κρατῶν, ἀφίκετο πρὸς αὐτήν, καὶ σύνοδον ἀθροίσας τὸν μὲν Σύμμαχον ἐπίσκοπον εἶναι τῆς Ῥώμης ἐκύρωσεν, ἀπήλασε δὲ τὸν Λαυρέντιον. Κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους ἱστορεῖται τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔθνος τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν καὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην καταδραμεῖν, μήπω πρὶν γινωσκόμενον. τῶν δὲ Ἀγαρηνῶν τὴν ἑῴαν ληιζομένων, σπονδὰς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐποιήσατο Ἀναστάσιος. τοῦ μέντοι Θρᾳκὸς Βιταλιανοῦ τυραννίδι ἐπικεχειρηκότος, Μυσούς τε καὶ Σκύθας προσεταιρισαμένου, καὶ ἅμα τούτοις τὰ περὶ τὴν βασιλίδα ληιζομένου τῶν πόλεων, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ στόλῳ κατ' αὐτῆς ἐπελθόντος, ἀντικατέστη τούτῳ διὰ Μαριανοῦ τοῦ ὑπάρχου ὁ Ἀνα138 στάσιος, καὶ ναυμαχίας γενομένης ἔκ τινος μηχανῆς παρὰ Πρόκλου τοῦ πάνυ γεγενημένης (τότε γὰρ ἤνθει ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μηχανήμασι, τά τε τοῦ περιβοήτου ἐν τούτοις Ἀρχιμήδους ἅπαντα διελθὼν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκείνοις προσεξευρών) τὸ ναυτικὸν τῶν ἐναντίων κατεπολεμήθη. κάτοπτρα γὰρ ᾄδεται χαλκεῦσαι πυρφόρα ὁ Πρόκλος, καὶ ταῦτα ἐκ τοῦ τείχους τῶν πολεμίων νεῶν ἀπαιωρῆσαι κατέναντι, τούτοις δὲ τῶν τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτίνων προσβαλουσῶν πῦρ ἐκεῖθεν ἐκκεραυνοῦσθαι καταφλέγον τὸν νηίτην τῶν ἐναντίων στρατόν, καὶ τὰς νῆας αὐτάς, ὃ πάλαι τὸν Ἀρχιμήδην ἐπινοῆσαι ὁ ∆ίων ἱστόρησε, τῶν Ῥωμαίων τότε πολιορκούντων Συράκουσαν. Ἀναστάσιος δὲ σπουδαστὴς τῆς Εὐτυχοῦς αἱρέσεως ὤν, ἐβουλήθη προσθεῖναι εἰς τὸ Τρισάγιον τὸ "ὁ σταυρωθεὶς δι' ἡμᾶς." ἔστειλεν οὖν διὰ τοῦτο εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὸν λογοθέτην τε καὶ τὸν ἔπαρχον· οἳ ἐν τῷ ἄμβωνι ὡς ἐπ' ὀκρίβαντος στάντες διαγγέλλειν ἤρξαντο τὸ πρόσταγμα τὸ βασιλικόν. κινεῖται τοίνυν ὅσον τοῦ πλήθους ὀρθόδοξον, καὶ διασπάσαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ὡρμήκεσαν. ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν μόλις τὴν δημοτικὴν μανίαν ἐξέφυγον, τὸ δέ γε πλῆθος εἰς θυμὸν ἐκκαυθὲν κατὰ 139 τῶν οἰκιῶν ἐπῆλθον τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνδρῶν. καὶ τὰς μὲν καθηρήκασι, τὰ δ' ἐν αὐταῖς διηρπάκασι καὶ πολλοὺς ἀνεῖλον, καὶ εἰς τὸν βασιλέα ἐξύβριζον, τὸν δὲ Βιταλιανὸν ὡς βασιλέα εὐφήμουν, καὶ πολλοὺς οἴκους ἐνέπρησαν καὶ πλείστους ἐφόνευσαν· καί τινα μοναχὸν πλησίον ὄντα τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Ἀναστασίου κτισθείσης κινστέρνης τῆς Μωκισίας καλουμένης, καὶ διὰ τιμῆς τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ ἀγόμενον, κτείναντες, ἀλλὰ μὴν καί τινα μονάζουσαν ἐγκεκλεισμένην ἐγγὺς τῆς πόρτης τῆς Ξηροκέρκου ἀνελόντες, ὡς πίστιν καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν κεκτημένου τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ συνδήσαντες ἄμφω τὰ σώματα ἔσυραν, εἶτα κατέκαυσαν. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀλαμούνδαρος ὁ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν φύλαρχος κατηχηθεὶς παρὰ ὀρθοδόξων ἐπίστευσέ τε καὶ ἐβαπτίσατο. πρὸς ὃν ὁ Σευῆρος ἐπισκόπους ἔστειλε δύο, σπεύδων εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν αἵρεσιν ἑλκύσαι αὐτόν. τῶν γοῦν ἐπισκόπων διδασκόντων αὐτὸν εἰς μίαν φύσιν τὰς δύο τοῦ Χριστοῦ συγχυθῆναι φύσεις, κἀντεῦθεν συναγομένου τοῦ 140 συμπαθεῖν τῇ σαρκὶ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τὴν θεότητα, ἐκεῖνος ἐλέγξαι θέλων ἄτοπα λέγοντας καὶ διδάσκοντας ἄπιστα, παρεσκεύασέ τινα τῶν οἰκείων παρόντων τῶν ἀνιέρων ἐπισκόπων ἐκείνων πρὸς οὖς τι αὐτῷ ἀπαγγεῖλαι. τοῦ δὲ ποιήσαντος τὸ ἐπιταχθὲν ὁ Ἀλαμούνδαρος ἐσκυθρώπασε καὶ λυπεῖσθαι ὑπεκρίθη. ἐρομένων δὲ τῶν ἐπισκόπων ὅτου χάριν συγκέχυται καὶ τί ἂν εἴη τὸ ἀγγελθέν, ἐκεῖνος ἔφη ἀγγελθῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν ἀρχάγγελον θανεῖν Μιχαήλ. τῶν δὲ ψευδῆ τὴν ἀγγελίαν διατεινομένων τυγχάνειν, ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἶναι θανεῖν τὸν ἀρχάγγελον, ὑπολαβὼν ὁ φύλαρχος εἶπεν "εἰ οὖν ἄγγελος οὐ θνήσκει, πῶς καθ' ὑμᾶς ἡ θεότης ἔπαθέ τε καὶ ἔθανε τῇ σαρκὶ συγκραθεῖσα καὶ εἰς μίαν φύσιν ἀποτελεσθεῖσα;" τούτοις οἱ ἐπίσκοποι ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἐθαύμασαν τῆς συνέσεως· αὐτοὶ