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the resignation of the patriarch? "We renounce them also," he says, "along with the high priesthood." He does not renounce a throne and an honor, but a disorderly and disobedient people. Does he renounce the people along with the high priesthood, so as to renounce both, or does he renounce 177 the people with the high-priestly power and state that is in him, so that the rejection itself would be strong and reasonable? What does he mean by also saying "the appropriate"? Unless it is entirely the one who will condescend in all things to the people. But perhaps these things have been said by the historian also out of season. But one might observe this alone, that having held the church for four years, he saw almost the very day of his expulsion which he had also known of his accession, which was the sixteenth of Elaphebolion, when also the great logothete, condemning his own speech because of the blasphemy of the many for what was written in it, and rather because the wolf of the vegetables man was spoken of by the one who said it from the beginning, committed it to the fire. The emperor, however, having accepted the resignation, both on account of the uprightness of his own judgment, and of not wishing to stir up matters that would profit nothing but rather would harm the church, and for these reasons not even paying close attention to what was written, and persuading the others to this, considering it desirable if he were to depart in peace (for it was not advantageous, as it seemed, that matters concerning him be stirred up and 178 be brought to trial, since all held the man in just enmity, as it seemed), sending him out again by night, he installed him in his own monastery, where with the many who were with him he was to practice his usual ways for some time without coming forth, and he permitted the bishops to seek one who would preside over the church.

25. Meanwhile, two years before these things happened, and I pass over the events in the western region beyond, how it was set on fire once and twice, it so happened when Gregory was patriarch. But in the middle of the month Mounichion, at the lighting of the lamps, within the great city, where the center of the market is, the terrible thing begins from the so-called royal gate. And the all-consuming and irresistible fire, having enveloped all things round about, spreading through the night, completely leveled those houses, full of all sorts of goods for trade, so that the inhabitants fled naked, not only of wealth and property but also of their very clothes, and nothing more was left by morning except broken shards of pottery and nails embedded in them, released from the wood to which they were fastened. And indeed the beauty of the market appeared as a field of destruction. This, not escaping the notice of the emperor himself who was staying at Nymphaion, made him wonder, and to inquire for days, if anyone from Byzantium should arrive, 179 how and from what causes it had happened. For it did not spread for a short time, but, as one might guess, rushing down it would have enveloped the very middle of the city in an instant, devouring the many beauties of houses and the many things stored in them, and threatening terrible things to those far off, it did not stop before, having come upon streets widened artificially by the owners who had managed to tear down and snatch away the material, having reached there it was not able to leap out and seize the things opposite with its all-consuming teeth. For since they had exhausted all the surrounding wells and did not have sufficient water against such a torrent of fire, they used them henceforth as receptacles, and if they snatched anything from the fire, coming to close quarters with it and putting the risk of taking something in second place, they immediately threw it down into them and piled it on. And they themselves, unable to defend what was already caught, preemptively seized and removed the things lying further out, and thus by removing the fire's food, they rendered the beast weaker through starvation, and from there, as it slowly weakened, they barely 180 overcame it, with it leaving behind its own memory for the future no less than the conflagrations of old. But also

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πατριάρχου παραίτησιν; "παραιτούμεθα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὺς" φησὶ "μετὰ τῆς ἀρχιερωσύ νης." οὐ θρόνον καὶ τιμὴν παραιτεῖται, ἀλλὰ λαὸν ἄτακτον καὶ ἀπειθῆ. πότερον δὲ τὸν λαὸν συνάμα τῇ ἀρχιερωσύνῃ πα ραιτεῖται, ὡς παραιτεῖσθαι δὴ καὶ ἀμφοτέρους, ἢ λαὸν παραι 177 τεῖται μετὰ τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ ἀρχιερατικῆς ἰσχύος καὶ καταστά σεως, ὡς εἶναι καὶ αὐτὴν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ εὔλογον τὴν ἀποβολήν; τί δὲ βούλεται καὶ τὸ ἁρμόδιον λέγειν; εἰ μὴ πάντως τὸν τὰ πάντα τῷ λαῷ συγκαταβησόμενον. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἴσως τῷ ἱστοροῦντι καὶ παρακαίρια λέλε κται. τοῦτο δέ τις καὶ μόνον παρατηρήσειεν, ὅτι τέσσαρσιν ἐνιαυτοῖς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν κατέχων αὐτὴν σχεδὸν ἡμέραν εἶδε τῆς ἐκβολῆς ἣν δὴ καὶ τῆς ἀναβάσεως ἔγνωκεν, ἥτις καὶ Ἐλαφηβο λιῶνος ἑκκαιδεκάτη ἦν, ὅτε καὶ ὁ μέγας λογοθέτης τὸν ἴδιον λό γον καταγνοὺς οἷον ἐκ τῆς τῶν πολλῶν βλασφημίας τῶν ἐν ἐκείνῳ γεγραμμένων, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτι καὶ ὁ λύκος ὁ τῶν λαχάνων ἄνθρω πος παρὰ τοῦ ἀρχῆθεν εἰπόντος ἐλέγετο, πυρὶ παρεδίδου. ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεὺς δεξάμενος τὴν παραίτησιν, διά τε τὸ τῆς ἰδίας γνώμης εὐθύ, καὶ τοῦ μὴ θέλειν κινεῖσθαι τὰ μηδὲν ὀνή σοντα ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐκκλησίαν βλάψοντα, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα τοῖς γεγραμμένοις μηδ' εἰς βάθος προσσχών, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους πρὸς τοῦτο πείσας, ἀγαπητὸν ἡγησάμενος εἰ μετ' εἰρήνης ἐξίσταται (οὐδὲ γὰρ συνέφερεν, ὡς ἐῴκει, κινεῖσθαι τὰ κατ' ἐκεῖνον καὶ 178 κρίσει δίδοσθαι, τῶν πάντων δι' ἔχθους δικαίου, ὡς ἐδόκει, ἐχόντων τὸν ἄνθρωπον), ἐκεῖνον μὲν τῇ ἰδίᾳ μονῇ καὶ πάλιν νυ κτὸς ἐξαποστείλας ἐγκαθιστᾷ, ὅπου σὺν τοῖς ἀμφ' αὑτὸν πολλοῖς οὖσι ἐπὶ χρόνοις ἀσκεῖν ἀπρόϊτος ἔμελλε τὰ συνήθη, τοῖς δέ γε ἀρχιερεῦσιν ἐφίησι τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ζητεῖν προστησόμενον.

25. Τέως δὲ πρὸ τοῦ τάδε γενέσθαι δυσὶ πρότερον χρό νοις, καὶ ἀφίημι τὰ κατὰ τὴν περαίαν τὴν δυτικήν, ὡς καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἐνεπρήσθη, οὕτω συμβάν, ἐπὶ Γρηγορίου πατριαρ χοῦντος. ἀλλ' οὖν κατὰ μῆνα μεσοῦντα Μουνυχιῶνα, ὑπ' ἀφὰς λύχνων, ἐντὸς τῆς μεγαλοπόλεως, ὅπου τὸ τῆς ἀγορᾶς μεσαίτα τον, ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλικῆς λεγομένης πύλης ἄρχεται τὸ δεινόν. καὶ πάντα τὰ κύκλῳ περιλαβὸν τὸ παμφάγον καὶ ἀνυπόστατον πῦρ, οἰκίας ἐκείνας πληθούσας παντοίων τῶν εἰς πραγματείαν εἰδῶν αὐτονυχεὶ διανεμηθὲν ἠμάθυνε τὸ παράπαν, ὥστε καὶ γυμνοὺς ἐκφυγεῖν τοὺς ἐνῳκημένους, μὴ ὅτι γε πλούτου καὶ περιουσίας ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν ἐνδυμάτων, καὶ μηδὲν πλέον ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι πρωΐας ὅτι μὴ κεράμων κατεαγότα ὄστρακα καὶ ἥλους σφίσιν ἐνει λημένους, ἀφέτους τῶν ξύλων οἷς συνέχοντες εἴχοντο. καί γε τὸ τῆς ἀγορᾶς κάλλος ὡς πεδίον ἀφανισμοῦ κατεφαίνετο. ὃ μηδ' αὐ τὸν βασιλέα λαθὸν τῷ Νυμφαίῳ ἐνδιατρίβοντα ἐποίει θαυμάζειν, καὶ ἐφ' ἡμέραις ζητεῖν, εἴ πού τις Βυζαντίοθεν παραβάλλοι, 179 ὅπως καὶ ἀφ' οἵων τῶν αἰτιῶν γέγονεν. οὐ γὰρ ἐπ' ὀλίγον ἐπι δραμόν, ἀλλ' ὅσον εἰκάσαιτ' ἄν τις, καταταχῆσαν καὶ αὐτὴν μέσην τὴν πόλιν ἐν ἀκαρεῖ περιλήψεσθαι, πολλῶν μὲν οἰκιῶν κάλλη πολλὰ δ' ἐν αὐταῖς ἀποτιθέμενα δαρδάπτον, καὶ τὰ δεινὰ τοῖς πόρρωθεν ἀπειλοῦν, οὐ πρότερον ἔστη, πρὶν ἂν ἀμφόδοις περιπεσὸν εἰς πλάτος ἐνδούσαις χειροποιήτως τῶν ἐχόντων φθα σάντων καταβαλεῖν καὶ προαρπάσαι τὴν ὕλην, ἐκεῖσε φθάσαν οὐχ οἷόν τ' ἦν ἐκπηδῆσαι καὶ τῶν καταντικρὺ παμφάγοις ἐπιδρά ξασθαι τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ πάντα τὰ κύκλῳ φρέατα ἐξαν τλήσαντες οὐκ ἀποχρῶν εἶχον τὸ ὕδωρ πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ῥύμην πυρός, ἐκείνοις μὲν τὸ λοιπὸν ἀντὶ ταμιείων ἐχρῶντο, κἄν πού τι καὶ ἀφήρπαζον τοῦ πυρός, ὁμόσε τούτῳ χωροῦντες καὶ τοῦ λα βεῖν τι ἐν δευτέρῳ τιθέμενοι τὴν παρακινδύνευσιν, εὐθὺς κατὰ τούτων ἐρρίπτουν καὶ ἐπωμάτιζον. αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ μὲν ἅπαξ ἁλόντι οὐκ ἔχοντες προσαμύνειν, προκαταλαμβάνοντες δὲ τὰ ἐξωτέρω κείμενα προανῃροῦντο καὶ μετεκόμιζον, καὶ οὕτω τὴν τροφὴν τοῦ πυρὸς ἐκποδὼν ποιοῦντες τῇ ἀτροφίᾳ τὸ θηρίον ἀσθενέστερον ἀπειργάζοντο, κἀντεῦθεν μόλις κατ' ὀλίγον ἐξασθενοῦντος περιε 180 γένοντο, οὐχ ἧττον τῶν παλαιῶν ἐμπρησμῶν καὶ αὑτοῦ τὴν ἰδίαν μνήμην καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐπιὸν καταλείψαντος. ἀλλὰ καὶ