Theophanes the Confessor, Chronography

having named; from whom many setting out were becoming according to it, both Amer of Melitene, whom somehow thus corrupting the letters the many called Ambron, and Ales of Tarsus and this very wretched Karbeas, did not cease from insolently devastating the land of the Romans. But Ales, having been sent to rule in a certain land of the Armenians, there more quickly than he had planned ended his life with his ill-timed army; but Amer with his co-ruler Skleros (for so he was called) having entered into a civil war out of rivalry, was both being destroyed and thought it necessary to fight him and not 167 others. And to such an extent had the strife between them increased and they campaigned against each other, until their force of about fifty thousand and a little more ended at barely ten thousand. When, therefore, this one prevailed over his enemies, he decided again, being led by rashness, to move arms against the Romans, being united with Karbeas. But Petronas campaigned against them, then administering the office of the domesticus; for in name it had been given to Bardas to manage this, but since he was forced to be at leisure as regent, he deemed his brother, being strategos of the Thrakesians, fit to actually manage and administer it. 17 However, to set out against the Ishmaelites and to sally forth against them both emperor Michael (for having just passed his childhood age he was hastening towards manhood) both wished and always held it as a desire. But planning these things, he decided somehow to begin first, as he ought not to have, with civil matters, not from home nor from himself, but by the opinion and counsel of the regent Bardas. Whence and how, the history will also reveal these things; for the body of history is in fact somehow deaf and empty, when it lacks the causes of the actions. But where indeed it has not been well discerned by us because of time, may lovers of learning by all means grant pardon to those who wish to write true things but not fictitious ones, 168 for which not even for the ordinary person is there a lack of supply; but where it is known, one must reveal it and make it clear to the readers, as the benefit is provided to them by all means not from elsewhere but from these things. 18 But there arose in this Bardas a not ignoble love for the imperial power, and a love not like that of others, now increasing, now being checked by the impulses of reason, but a certain unfortunate and inescapable love. Or rather, so that we may take the account further, there arose for Manuel against Theoktistos, both being regents and living somewhere there in the palace, a certain dispute, which he even called a plot and quickly had spoken of secretly to him. Manuel indeed, being wary of this, and seeing envy as something invincible and hard to overcome, thought it necessary to mutilate and depose this one, if only he were to be further from the palace. And indeed he goes down to his house, being near the cistern of Aspar, which he later converted into the form of a holy shrine and there laid his own dust. From there, therefore, arriving each time he became a partner in the administrations in the palace. Bardas having thus shaken this one off not by himself but through Theoktistos, which is to say also having unburdened himself, and taking fortune as a partner for his own endeavor, planned himself no longer through another but through himself to accomplish the 169 whole thing, and for the time being to depose Theoktistos, so that he might not have this one as an obstacle to his forward momentum and at the same time might slap away and put further away the great reproach concerning his daughter-in-law (for he was continually reproaching him for this). (19) For there was for the emperor Michael a tutor who was ill-bred and far from noble habits. The emperor deemed it right to raise this man, himself, Theoktistos, and his mother above the imperial dignities and to award a greater honor to this one. Theoktistos, however, was not persuaded by this, nor did he wish to please his fancies, speaking worthily and not unworthily the things of the empire

κατονομάσαντες· ἀφ' ων ὁρμῶντες πολλοὶ κατ' αὐτὸ γινό- μενοι, ο τε τῆς ΜελιτινῆςΑμερ, ον ουτω πως συμφθείροντες τὰ στοιχεῖαΑμβρον ἐκάλεσαν οἱ πολλοί, καὶ ὁ τῆς Ταρσοῦ ̓Αλῆς καὶ αὐτὸς ουτος ὁ Καρβέας ὁ δείλαιος, οὐκ εληγον αὐθαδῶς τῇ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων γῇ λυμαινόμενοι. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Ἀλῆς εν τινι τῶν ̓Αρμενίων χώρᾳ αρχειν ἀποσταλεὶς ἐκεῖσε θᾶττον η  βουλῆς ειχε τὸν βίον κατέστρεψε σὺν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ἀκαίρῳ στρατῷ· ὁ δὲΑμερ μετὰ τοῦ συνάρχοντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σκληροῦ (ουτως ἐλέγετο) εἰς ἐμφύλιον στὰς πόλεμον ἐκ φιλονεικίας ἐφθείρετό τε καὶ ἐκείνῳ ἀλλ' οὐκ αλ- 167 λοις πολεμεῖν ῳετο δεῖν. εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ τούτοις ἡ ερις ἐπηύξητο καὶ ἀλλήλοις ἀντεστρατήγουν, αχρις αν εἰς δέκα μόλις εληγεν χι- λιάδας ἡ τούτων ἰσχὺς ἐκ πεντήκοντά που καὶ μικρόν τι πρός. ἐπεὶ γοῦν ουτος τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑπερίσχυσεν, εγνω αυθις θρασύτητι καταστρατηγούμενος κατὰ τὴν ̔Ρωμαίων οπλα κινεῖν, τῷ Καρβέᾳ ἑνούμενος. ἀντεστρατεύετο δὲ αὐτοῖς Πετρωνᾶς, τὴν τοῦ δομε- στίκου τότε ἀρχὴν διοικῶν· λόγῳ μὲν γὰρ Βάρδα ταύτην διέπειν ἐδέδοτο, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ σχολάζειν ουτος ἠναγκάζετο ὡς ἐπίτροπος, τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἠξίου, στρατηγὸν οντα τῶν Θρᾳκησίων, πράγματι ταύ- την διέπειν καὶ διοικεῖν. 17 Πλὴν ἀνθορμᾶν κατὰ τῶν ̓Ισμαηλιτῶν καὶ ἀντεπεξιέ- ναι καὶ Μιχαὴλ ὁ βασιλεύς (αρτι γὰρ τὴν παιδικὴν ἡλικίαν παρ- αμείψας πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἠπείγετο) ἐβούλετό τε καὶ δι' ἐπιθυμίας ειχεν ἀεί. εγνω δέ πως ταῦτα βουλευόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐμφυλίων πρότερον, ὡς οὐκ ωφειλεν, ἐναπάρξασθαι, οὐκ οικο- θεν οὐδ' ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ, τῇ δὲ τοῦ ἐπιτροπεύοντος Βάρδα γνώμῃ τε καὶ βουλῇ. οθεν δὲ καὶ οπως, δηλώσει καὶ ταῦτα ἡ ἱστορία· κωφὸν γὰρ τῷ οντι πως καὶ διάκενον τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἱστορίας, οταν ἐστερημένας εχει τὰς αἰτίας τῶν πράξεων. ἀλλ' ενθα μὲν καὶ ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου καλῶς οὐ διέγνωσται, συγγνώμην πάντως οἱ φιλομαθεῖς ἀπονέμοιεν τοῖς ἀληθεῖς ἀλλ' οὐ πλασματώδεις γρά- 168 φειν ἐθέλουσιν, ων οὐδὲ τῷ τυχόντι ἀπορία καθέστηκεν· οπου δὲ γνώριμος, δηλοῦν δεῖ ταύτην καὶ σαφῆ καθιστᾶν τοῖς ἀναγινώ- σκουσιν, ὡς οὐκ αλλοθεν πάντως η  ἐκ τούτων χορηγουμένης τῆς ὠφελείας αὐτοῖς. 18 ̓Εγένετο δὲ τούτῳ τῷ Βάρδᾳ ερως τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἀγεννής, καὶ ερως οὐ κατὰ τοὺς αλλους, νῦν μὲν αὐξανόμενος νῦν δὲ ταῖς τοῦ λογισμοῦ ὁρμαῖς προσεπικοπτόμενος, ἀλλὰ δύσε- ρώς τις καὶ δυσαπάλλακτος. μᾶλλον δέ, ινα τὸν λόγον πορρω- τέρω ἀγάγωμεν, ἐγένετο δὴ τῷ Μανουὴλ πρὸς τὸν Θεόκτιστον, ἀμφοτέροις ἐπιτροπεύουσιν καὶ αὐτοῦ που κατὰ τὰ ἀνάκτορα διαι- τωμένοις, διάφορά τις, η  καὶ καθοσίωσιν ἐπεκάλει καὶ λάθρα τα- χέως ειχεν ὑπολαλούμενα αὐτῷ. ταύτην δὴ ὁ Μανουὴλ εὐλαβού- μενος, καὶ τὸν φθόνον αμαχόν τινα καὶ δυσκαταγώνιστον ἐνορῶν, ᾠήθη δεῖν τοῦτον ἀκρωτηριάσαι καὶ καθελεῖν, εἰ μόνον γένοιτο πορρωτέρω τοῦ παλατίου. καὶ δὴ κάτεισιν εἰς τὸν οικον αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὴν κινστέρναν τοῦΑσπαρος οντα, ον εἰς σεμνείου τύπον υστερον ἐνηγάγετο καὶ τὸν χοῦν ἐκεῖσε κατέθετο. ἐκεῖθεν γοῦν ἑκάστοτε ἀφικνούμενος κοινωνὸς ἐγίνετο τῶν κατὰ τὰ ἀνάκτορα διοικήσεων. τοῦτον ουτως οὐ δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦ Θεοκτίστου ἀποσεισάμενος ὁ Βάρδας, ταὐτὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀποφορτισάμενος, καὶ τὴν τύχην λαβὼν πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σπουδαζόμενον κοινωνόν, ἐβουλεύετο καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκέτι δι' ἑτέρου δι' ἑαυτοῦ δὲ διανύσαι τὸ 169 πᾶν, καὶ τέως τὸν Θεόκτιστον καθελεῖν, ινα μὴ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω φορᾶς τοῦτον εχοι ἐμπόδιον καὶ αμα τὸν πολὺν ονειδον τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ νύμφῃ αὐτοῦ (καὶ γὰρ ὠνείδιζε τοῦτον διηνεκῶς) ἀπορραπίσοι καὶ πορρωτέρω ποιήσεται. (19) ὑπῆρχε γοῦν τῷ βασιλεῖ Μι- χαὴλ παιδαγωγὸς ἀνάγωγός τε καὶ πόρρωθεν τρόπων τῶν εὐγενῶν. τοῦτον ἠξίου ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτόν τε καὶ Θεόκτιστον καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἀνωτέρω τῶν βασιλικῶν ἀξιωμάτων ἀναγαγεῖν καὶ μείζονα τούτῳ ἐπιβραβεῦσαι τιμήν. οὐκ ἐπείθετο γοῦν τούτῳ ὁ Θεόκτιστος, οὐδὲ ταῖς αὐτοῦ ἀρέσκειν ἀρεσκείαις ἠβούλετο, ἐπαξίως λέγων καὶ οὐκ ἀναξίως τὰ τῆς βασιλείας