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As those who had accurately observed the events concerning him narrated to me, he had also made a confession worthy of a noble and great-minded soul. For, imitating the harlot of the Gospel, he summoned the one presiding as high priest of Mitylene for the confession of his errors, and fell to the ground before his feet, and with endless streams of tears washed the earth on which he lay, so that mud was even formed from them, as those who witnessed these things clearly represented to us, and he frequently cried out "I have forsaken you, O Christ," interweaving this with the words of his confession. He, therefore, having thus lived *** and not yet reigned for four whole years; for having begun his rule around November, he reached the end of his life in the month of August. His corpse, then, was carried away to the monastery of Sosandra and was buried there, where also the emperor his father was. And the emperor Theodore, having died, had left behind three children, one male, John by name, and two female, Theodora and Eudokia. For he had joined his other two daughters to husbands before this, the first, also called Irene, to the son of Tich, as we have said, Constantine, and the other, named Maria, to Nikephoros, the son of the apostate Michael; who also, at the time of his apostasy, paid the common debt, having been beaten many times by her husband Nikephoros, as some asserted, but as some said, having fallen into a natural illness.

75 Now the son of the emperor Theodore, John, happened to be very young at the time of the death of the emperor his father; for he was not yet a full eight years old. But his father, the emperor, had made a will, perhaps in appearance for the child, but in truth for his protovestiarios George Mouzalon. For the will made this man lord of all Roman affairs, so that he held power over the entire Roman dominion, until the emperor's son should reach adulthood; and oaths were also made upon these terms at the emperor's command by those who were present at the time. But the emperor's corpse had not yet been lying in the tomb for three days, when, as if by a common signal, all the Romans who were found there ran together—and a considerable army was assembled there—but also the noble men who had been wronged by the emperor and who happened to be of the first rank, of whom one was Alexios Strategopoulos, whose son Constantine he had blinded, and whom he himself had imprisoned, and Constantine Tornikes, whom the emperor John had held as megas primmikerios—and was disgraced by the emperor's son, Theodore Philes, he too having had his eyes gouged out, and George Zagarommates, whom the emperor John had named protovestiarites, but his son, after first honoring him as parakoimomenos, shortly after disgraced him, the four sons of the protovestiarios Raoul, themselves also imprisoned, and Nikephoros Alyates, whom the emperor, having shortly before honored with the office of kanikleios, later cut out his tongue for no reason and disgraced him, and many other useful and renowned men. These, joining with the soldiers and running together and going up together to the monastery of Sosandra charged with a shout against the protovestiarios and regent and his own brothers; for the protovestiarios had his tent there and was fulfilling the holy rites for the deceased emperor. So the protovestiarios, knowing of the people's attack, together with his brother Andronikos, whom they called megas domestikos, and with his first brother, whom they called protokynēgos, went inside the church. And when they saw the crowd advancing against them with drawn swords, they went inside the sacred bema, and embracing the all-holy table, they became there the work of the sword, not even after the murder

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ὡς δὲ οἱ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν ἀκριβῶς τεθεαμένοι μοι διηγήσαντο, καὶ ἐξομολόγησιν ἐπεποιήκει ψυχῆς ἀξίαν γενναίας καὶ μεγα λόφρονος. τὴν γὰρ εὐαγγελικὴν μιμησάμενος πόρνην, τὸν τῆς Μιτυλήνης ἀρχιερατικῶς προϊστάμενον εἰς τὴν τῶν αὐτοῦ σφαλμάτων ἐξαγορίαν μετακαλεσάμενος ἔμπροσθεν τῶν αὐτοῦ ποδῶν πίπτει πρὸς τοὔδαφος, καὶ δακρύων ἀπλέτοις ῥεύμασι τὴν γῆν ἐν ᾗ κατέκειτο ἔπλυνεν, ὥστε καὶ πηλὸν γεγενῆσθαι ἐκ τούτων, καθὼς οἱ κατιδόντες ταῦτα σαφῶς ἡμῖν παρεστήσαντο, καὶ τὸ «ἐγκατέλιπόν σε Χριστέ» συχνῶς ἐπεφώνει, τοῖς τῆς ἐξαγορίας λόγοις τοῦτο συμπαραπλέκων. ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν οὕτω *** βιώσας καὶ μήπω ὅλους τέτταρας ἐνιαυτοὺς αὐτοκρατορήσας· κατὰ Νοέβριον γὰρ ἄρξας ἐν Αὐγούστῳ μηνὶ τὸ τέλος ἔσχηκε τῆς ζωῆς. ὁ μὲν οὖν νεκρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ τῶν Σωσάνδρων ἀπεκομίσθη μονῇ καὶ ἐτάφη ἐκεῖσε, ὅπου καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ. τετελευτηκὼς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Θεόδωρος τρία κατα λελοίπει παιδία, ἓν μὲν ἄρρεν τοὔνομα Ἰωάννην, δύο δὲ θήλεα, τήν τε Θεοδώραν καὶ Εὐδοκίαν. τὰς γὰρ ἑτέρας δύο αὐτοῦ θυγατέρας ἀνδράσι πρὸ τούτου συνέζευξε, τὴν μὲν πρώτην τὴν καὶ Εἰρήνην καλουμένην τῷ τοῦ Τοίχου υἱῷ, καθάπερ ἔφημεν, Κωνσταντίνῳ, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν τὴν καὶ Μαρίαν ὠνομασμένην τῷ τοῦ ἀποστάτου Μιχαὴλ υἱῷ Νικηφόρῳ· ἥτις καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀποστασίας τὸ κοινὸν ἀπέδοτο χρέος, ὡς μέν τινες ἔφασκον, ὑπὸ τοῦ συζύγου Νικηφόρου τυφθεῖσα πολλάκις, ὡς δὲ ἔνιοι ἔλεγον, φυσικῷ περιπεσοῦσα νοσήματι.

75 Ὁ μὲν οὖν υἱὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Θεοδώρου Ἰωάννης πάνυ ἀφῆλιξ ἐτύγχανεν ὢν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τελευτῆς τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πατρός· οὔπω γὰρ τελείων ἐνιαυτῶν ὑπῆρχεν ὀκτώ. ὁ δὲ πατὴρ τούτου καὶ βασιλεὺς διαθήκην πεποίηκε, τάχα μὲν ὡς ἐπὶ τῷ παιδί, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ ἐπὶ τῷ πρωτο βεστιαρίῳ αὐτοῦ τῷ Μουζάλωνι Γεωργίῳ. τοῦτον γὰρ ἡ διαθήκη ἐποίει τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἁπάντων πραγμάτων κύριον, ὥστε τὸ κράτος ἔχειν ἁπάσης τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς, μέχρις ἂν ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸς εἰς τελείαν τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀφίκοιτο· καὶ προύβησαν ἐπὶ τούτοις προστάξει τοῦ βασι λέως καὶ ὅρκοι παρὰ τῶν ἐντυχόντων τῷ τότε. ἀλλ' οὔπω τριταῖος ἦν ἐν τάφῳ κείμενος ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως νεκρός, καὶ ὡς ἀπὸ κοινοῦ συνθήματος συνδραμόντες πάντες οἱ ἐφευρε θέντες ἐκεῖσε Ῥωμαῖοι-στράτευμα δὲ ἦν ἱκανὸν συν ηγμένον ἐκεῖσε-οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως κεκακωμένοι ἄνδρες εὐγενεῖς καὶ τῆς πρώτης τυγχάνοντες τάξεως, ὧν εἷς μὲν ὑπῆρχεν ὁ Στρατηγόπουλος Ἀλέξιος, οὗ τὸν υἱὸν Κωνσταντῖνον τετύφλωκεν, αὐτὸν δὲ καθεῖρξεν, ὁ Τορνίκης τε Κωνσταντῖνος, ὃν μέγαν πριμμικήριον ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης εἶχε-καὶ πρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως υἱοῦ καθ ωσίωτω, ὁ Φιλῆς Θεόδωρος, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξορωρυγμένος, καὶ ὁ Ζαγαρομμάτης Γεώργιος, ὃν πρωτο βεστιαρίτην μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὠνόμασεν Ἰωάννης, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ παρακοιμώμενον πρῶτον τιμήσας μετὰ βραχὺ καθω σίωσεν, οἱ τέτταρες υἱοὶ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου τοῦ Ῥαοὺλ καὶ αὐτοὶ καθειργμένοι, ὁ Ἀλυάτης τε Νικηφόρος, ὃν πρὸ βραχέος ἐπὶ τοῦ κανικλείου τετιμηκὼς ὕστερον τὴν γλῶτταν ἐπ' οὐδεμιᾷ αἰτίᾳ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκτεμὼν καθωσίωσεν, ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ τῶν χρησίμων καὶ ὀνομαστῶν ἀνδρῶν. οἳ τοῖς στρατιώταις ξυνιόντες καὶ ἅμα συνδραμόντες καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν Σωσάνδρων συνανιόντες μονῇ κατὰ τοῦ πρωτοβεστιαρίου καὶ ἐπιτρόπου καὶ τῶν αὐταδέλφων αὐτοῦ αὐτοβοεὶ ἐφώρμησαν· ἐκεῖσε γὰρ εἶχε τὴν σκηνὴν ὁ πρωτοβεστιάριος καὶ τὴν ὁσίαν τοῦ τεθνηκότος βασιλέως ἐπλήρου. Γνοὺς οὖν ὁ πρωτοβεστιάριος τὴν ἔφοδον τοῦ λαοῦ, συν άμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ Ἀνδρονίκῳ, ὃν καὶ μέγαν δομέστικον κατωνόμαζον, καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφῷ, ὃν καὶ πρωτοκυ νηγὸν ἐκάλουν, ἐντὸς ἐγένοντο τοῦ ναοῦ. ὡς δὲ τὸ πλῆθος εἶδον γυμνοῖς τοῖς ξίφεσι κατ' αὐτῶν χωροῦντας, ἐντὸς εἰσῄεσαν καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ βήματος, καὶ τὴν παναγῆ περιπτυξάμενοι τρά πεζαν ἐκεῖσε ξίφους ἔργον γεγένηνται, μηδὲ μετὰ τὸν φόνον