a military force being besieged and coming into the greatest necessity, its inhabitants sent an embassy to the emperor Romanos to have the siege lifted, promising to provide the holy impression of Christ. But for such a favor they asked to receive back prominent prisoners, and to receive golden bulls so that their country would no longer be plundered by the army of the Romans; which indeed also happened. And when the holy impression had been sent and was already approaching Constantinople, Theophanes the patrician and parakoimomenos, going out, met it at the Sangarios river with a procession of lights and the required honor and hymnody. And on the 15th of the month of August they entered the city with it, with the emperor being in Blachernae and venerating it there. But on the next day, the two sons of the emperor, Stephen and Constantine, and his son-in-law Constantine 919, went out to the Golden Gate with the patriarch Theophylact; and having received this with the required honor, with the entire senate preceding and a great procession of lights leading the way, they carried it on foot as far as the holy church of the holy wisdom of God, and having been venerated there, they brought it up into the palace. 57. In these days, a certain Armenian prodigy visited the city, conjoined male children who had come from a single womb, whole and complete in all the members of the body, but joined from the pit of the stomach down to the lower abdomen and being face to face with each other. They, having spent a great deal of time in the city, and being seen by all as some extraordinary prodigy, were driven out of the city as some evil omen. But during the sole reign of Constantine they entered again; and since one of them had died, some experienced physicians skillfully cut the joined part, in the hope that the other would live, who, having survived for three days, passed away. 58. The emperor Romanos, as has been said above, had immeasurable faith in all monks, but he especially honored and revered Sergius who was resplendent among monks, who was the brother of the magistros Cosmas, and the nephew of the patriarch 920 Photius; whom the nobility of his soul honored more than his noble birth of the flesh. For he drove to the height of virtue and knowledge, so that it was difficult to discern in which he more excelled; so to the utmost did he practice each. And in addition to his other qualities, there blossomed in him both the gift of discernment and the grace of his character and the modesty of his thought. For he did not raise his eyebrows like the wise men of today, nor did he seem boastful and arrogant, but he had speech dripping sweeter than honey, and a character firm and steady, and a humble spirit. This renowned man the emperor had continually with him, a true rule and measure always regulating his own life. He often advised the emperor to take care of his children and not to leave them uneducated, turning towards evil, lest he himself suffer the fate of Eli, paying the penalty for the lawlessness of his children. 59 But when his children brought this man down from the palace and exiled him to the island of Prote, again he had him as a consolation for his misfortunes and a soothing remedy for his afflictions. With him at that time was also Polyeuctus, a most pious monk, who also gave him fitting consolation; who, after the patriarch Theophylact died, was appointed patriarch of Constantinople 921 under the emperor Constantine. 60. Since God wishes to save man in many ways, he permitted the emperor Romanos also to fall into an unexpected misfortune, so that, being brought to his senses by it and becoming conscious of his own transgressions, he might be deemed worthy of salvation. For he permitted his son Stephen to rise up against him, just as Absalom once rose up against his own father David. Using therefore for this purpose as counselors Marianus from the monks, Basil the protospatharios Petenakes, and Manuel Kourtikes, with the other emperors also being aware, he shamefully brought him down from the palace and, having exiled him to the island of Prote, tonsured him

πολιορκουμένης στρα τεύματος καὶ εἰς ἀνάγκην μεγίστην περιισταμένης, ἀπέστειλαν οἱ ταύτης οἰκήτορες πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν διαπρεσβευόμενοι τὴν πολιορκίαν λυθῆναι, τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἅγιον ἐκμαγεῖον παρέ χειν ἐπαγγειλάμενοι. ὑπὲρ τῆς τοιαύτης δὲ χάριτος δεσμίους ᾐτή σαντο τῶν ἐμφανῶν ἀπολαβεῖν, χρυσόβουλλά τε λαβεῖν ὥστε τὴν τούτων χώραν μηκέτι παρὰ τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ ληΐζεσθαι· ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν. τοῦ δὲ ἁγίου ἐκμαγείου ἀποσταλέντος καὶ ἤδη τῇ Κωνσταντινουπόλει πλησιάσαντος, Θεοφάνης ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ πα ρακοιμώμενος ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ Σαγγάρῳ ἐξελθὼν ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ μετὰ φωταγωγίας καὶ τῆς δεούσης τιμῆς καὶ ὑμνῳδίας. καὶ τῇ ιεʹ τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνὸς σὺν αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσῆλθον, τοῦ βα σιλέως ἐν Βλαχέρναις ὄντος κἀκεῖ αὐτὸ προσκυνήσαντος. τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἐξῆλθον ἐν τῇ Χρυσῇ πόρτῃ οἵ τε τοῦ βασιλέως δύο υἱοὶ Στέφανός τε καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος καὶ ὁ γαμβρὸς αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντῖνος 919 σὺν τῷ πατριάρχῃ Θεοφυλάκτῳ· καὶ μετὰ τῆς δεούσης τοῦτο ἀνα λαβόντες τιμῆς, τῆς συγκλήτου πάσης προπορευομένης καὶ φωτα γωγίας μεγίστης προαγούσης, μέχρι τοῦ ἁγίου ναοῦ τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας πεζῇ διεκόμισαν, καὶ προσκυνηθὲν ἐκεῖσε ἐν τῷ πα λατίῳ ἀνήγαγον. 57. Ἐν ταύταις δὴ ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἀρμένιόν τι τέρας τῇ πόλει ἐπεδήμησεν, παῖδες συμφυεῖς ἄρρενες ἐκ μιᾶς προελθόντες γαστρός, σῶοι μὲν καὶ ἄρτιοι πάντα τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ στόματος τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ μέχρι τῶν ὑπογαστρίων συμπε φυκότες καὶ ἀλλήλοις ὑπάρχοντες ἀντιπρόσωποι. οἳ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τῇ πόλει ἐνδιατρίψαντες, καὶ ὑπὸ πάντων ὡς ἐξαίσιόν τι τέρας ὁρώμενοι, τῆς πόλεως ὡς πονηρός τις οἰωνὸς ἐξηλάθησαν. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς μονοκρατορίας Κωνσταντίνου πάλιν εἰσήλθοσαν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ἕτερος αὐτῶν ἐτεθνήκει, ἰατροί τινες ἔμπειροι τὸ συγκεκολλημένον μέρος διέτεμον εὐφυῶς, ἐλπίδι τοῦ τὸν ἕτερον ζήσεσθαι, ὃς τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἐπιβιοὺς ἐτελεύτησεν. 58. Ὁ δὲ Ῥωμανὸς ὁ βασιλεύς, ὡς ἀνωτέρω εἴρηται, ἐν πᾶσιν μοναχοῖς πίστιν ἐκέκτητο ἄμετρον, διαφερόντως δὲ ἐτίμα καὶ ὑπερεσέβετο Σέργιον τὸν ἐν μονασταῖς διαλάμποντα, ὃς ἀδελ φὸς μὲν τοῦ μαγίστρου ὑπῆρχε Κοσμᾶ, ἀνεψιὸς δὲ τοῦ πατριάρ 920 χου Φωτίου· ὃν πλέον τῆς σαρκικῆς εὐσυγγενείας ἡ κατὰ ψυχὴν ἐτίμα εὐγένεια. ἀρετῆς γὰρ εἰς ἄκρον καὶ γνώσεως ἤλασεν, ὡς δυσχερὲς εἶναι διακρίνειν ποτέρῳ μᾶλλον ἐπλεονέκτει· οὕτως εἰς ἄκρον ἑκατέραν ἐξήσκησεν. ἐπήνθει τε αὐτῷ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τὸ τῆς διακρίσεως χάρισμα καὶ τὸ χάριεν τοῦ ἤθους καὶ τὸ μέτριον τοῦ φρονήματος. οὐ γὰρ ἀνέσπα τὰς ὀφρῦς ὡς οἱ νῦν σοφοί, οὐδὲ ἀλαζών τις ἐδόκει καὶ ὑπερήφανος, ἀλλὰ τὸν λόγον μὲν εἶχε γλυκύτερον μέλιτος ἀποστάζοντα, τὸ ἦθος δὲ πάγιον καὶ σταθερόν, ταπεινὸν δὲ τὸ φρόνημα. τοῦτον δὴ τὸν ἀοίδιμον ἀδιαλείπτως μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ εἶχεν ὁ βασιλεύς, κανόνα ὄντως καὶ σταθμὴν τὸν αὐτοῦ βίον ἀεὶ ῥυθμίζοντα. ὃς πολλὰ παρῄνει τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν παίδων ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ ἀπαιδεύτους ἐᾶν εἰς πο νηρίαν ἐκκλίνοντας, μή ποτε αὐτὸς πάθοι τοῦ Ἠλί, τιμωρίαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν παίδων παρανομίας ἐκτίσας. 59 ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦ παλατίου τοῦτον οἱ παῖδες κατήγαγον καὶ ἐν τῇ Πρώτῃ νήσῳ ἐξώ ρισαν, πάλιν τοῦτον εἶχε τῶν συμφορῶν παραμύθιον καὶ τῶν θλίψεων ἀκεσώδυνον φάρμακον. ᾧ συνῆν τότε καὶ Πολύευκτος μοναχὸς εὐλαβέστατος, καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ εἰκότα παραμυθούμενος· ὃς τοῦ πατριάρχου Θεοφυλάκτου τελευτήσαντος πατριάρχης ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Κωνσταντίνου προχειρίζεται Κωνσταντινου πόλεως. 921 60. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλοῖς τρόποις βούλεται ὁ θεὸς σώζειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, συνεχώρησε καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν ἀδοκήτῳ περι πεσεῖν συμφορᾷ, ἵνα δι' αὐτῆς σωφρονισθεὶς καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐν συναισθήσει παραπτωμάτων γενόμενος σωτηρίας ἀξιωθῇ. συνε χώρησε γὰρ ἐπαναστῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Στέφανον, ὥσπερ ποτὲ Ἀβεσαλὼν ἐπανέστη τῷ οἰκείῳ πατρὶ τῷ ∆αβίδ. συμβού λοις οὖν οὗτος πρὸς τοῦτο χρησάμενος τῷ τε ἀπὸ μοναχῶν Μα ριανῷ καὶ Βασιλείῳ τῷ πρωτοσπαθαρίῳ τῷ Πετεινάκῃ καὶ Μα νουὴλ τῷ Κουρτίκῃ, συνειδότων αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βασιλέων, τοῦτον τοῦ παλατίου κακῶς κατήγαγε καὶ ἐν τῇ Πρώτῃ νήσῳ ἐξο ρίσας ἔκειρε