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the attackers anticipate and seize it, and as they poured inside there were panicked disturbances, and by what they were both doing and threatening before entering the temple, they were clearly intending to murder. Now the protovestiarios had a personal secretary, Theophylaktos by name and my kinsman, who resembled his master in all things. So when that man went out to find out what was happening, the resemblance deceived the attackers, with his clothing also contributing, being mourning attire worn equally by the small and the great because of the emperor's death, and suspecting him to be the one they were seeking, they immediately killed him with countless daggers; for there was no one who did not dip his blade in him, even when he was dead; and as I heard from someone, in their terrible madness they even drank of the blood. But they immediately knew they had made a mistake; for the sandal, visible on his foot, being black, declared the perpetrators' clear ignorance. And at once, with the greatest madness and confusion, sword-bearers burst into the temple, and immediately, when those murderers appeared, the sacred hymn was silenced, with the cantors scattering here and there and slipping into corners and places where they hoped to be saved. And the Mouzalones, one ran to the sanctuary and, getting under the mystical table, thought to be saved from there, while another, having pushed himself 87 behind the gate of the temple, pulled it firmly towards himself with all his might, so that the door settled on a level surface, so that it even seemed to be glued open to the doorframe, with nothing being in the way; and their brother-in-law—for just as this man had shared in the good fortune with his relatives, so he was also destined to become a partner in their misfortune—slipping away somewhere else near the heroön of the emperors as best he could, hastened to hide; the protovestiarios, however, having himself entered the sanctuary of the temple and being near the apse of the prothesis, gets under something standing like a small pillar and trusts in the darkness there along with the sanctity of the place. But it was not possible for any of them to escape the danger. For the attackers, being very many, made the others flee, each one fearing for his own life, and it happened that even those in authority were at a loss, having nothing they could do. But those men, with an abundance of confidence, leaping about in a bacchic and manic way, searched carefully, leaving nothing of the temple unexamined; whence one after another, finding and seizing someone, dealt with them ruthlessly and as he saw fit. Indeed the others did not hold back, but many of them surrounding one man, would throw things, strike, and mutilate the wretched man even when he was dead, so that the one man was cut into many pieces; thus did wickedness arm them, and their anger showed them to be maddened beasts. However, the protovestiarios, a certain Karoulos, having dared to enter the sanctuary and searched most of it, since he did not find him, gave up and was about to turn back, but fate did not allow that one to be outside the suffering; for having entered the prothesis and looked around here and there, he saw the most pitiable man kneeling down below and seeing him, he rushed to cut him down ruthlessly. And he implored him, trying to buy his own life for a great price; but the other man neither regarded the posture of his supplication, nor was he swayed by his promises, but immediately seizing him, killed him with a small sword. And when what had been done became known, there was no one who was absent from there, but each one standing over him, wounding him as he could and with insults, mutilated him, and they tore him limb from limb to such an extent that even the undertakers afterwards, having placed the limbs in a sack, thus carried them out and gave them to the grave. And when the audacious deed had been accomplished by those savages, whetting their teeth in the manner 89 of a boar, so that not even those in authority dared to stand in their way and rebuke them or even to ask what had possessed them and at whose instigation they were doing such things, they immediately rushed to the dwellings of the murdered men, and whatever each one happened upon, with a noble air, as if nothing unusual had happened, they carried it out, mocking them, and the accusation often on their tongues was: "The enemies and ill-wishers of the emperors, those who play the emperor, those who by every means, if not

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προκαταλαμβάνουσι καὶ κρατοῦσιν οἱ ἐπιόντες, καὶ ἅμ' εἰσχεομένων ἐντὸς πανικοὶ θόρυβοι ἦσαν, καὶ οἷς ἔδρων τε καὶ ἠπείλουν πρότερον ἢ τὸν ναὸν εἰσελθεῖν δῆλοι ἦσαν φονῶντες. Ἦν οὖν τῷ πρωτοβεστιαρίῳ γραμματικὸς οἰκεῖος, Θεοφύλακτος τοὔνομα καὶ ἐμὸς συγγενής, προσόμοιος τῷ κυρίῳ τὰ πάντα. Ἐξελθόντος γοῦν ἐπὶ τῷ μαθεῖν ἐκείνου, σφάλλει τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἡ ὁμοιότης, συναιρομένης καὶ τῆς ἀμπεχόνης, πενθίμου οὔσης ἐπ' ἴσης καὶ μικροῖς καὶ μεγάλοις διὰ τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατον, κἀκεῖνον ὑποτοπάσαντες τὸν ζητούμενον εἶναι, εὐθὺς ἀναιροῦσι κοπίσι μυρίαις· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ὅστις καὶ τεθνηκότι τὸ ἔγχος οὐκ ἔβαπτεν ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ· ὡς δὲ ἐγώ τινος ἤκουσα, καὶ ἀπερρόφουν ἐκ τῆς δεινῆς μανίας τοῦ αἵματος. Πλὴν ἀλλ' εὐθὺς οὐκ ἠγνόουν σφαλέντες· τὸ γὰρ πέδιλον ὑποφανὲν τοῦ ποδός, μέλαν ὄν, τῶν δεδρακότων φανερὰν ἄγνοιαν κατηγόρει. Καὶ παραυτίκα μεθ' ὅτι πλείστης μανίας καὶ ταραχῆς ξιφήρεις ἐμπίπτουσι τῷ ναῷ, καὶ παραχρῆμα, φανέντων τῶν φονώντων ἐκείνων, ὁ μὲν ἱερὸς ὕμνος κατασιγάζεται, ἄλλων ἀλλαχοῦ τῶν ψαλλόντων σκεδαννυμένων καὶ παραδυομένων γωνίαις καὶ τόποις οἷς ἤλπιζον σῴζεσθαι. Οἱ δὲ Μουζάλωνες, ὁ μὲν τοῖς ἀδύτοις προστρέχει καί, τὴν μυστικὴν τράπεζαν ὑπελθών, ἐκεῖθεν ᾤετο σῴζεσθαι, ὁ δ' ὄπισθεν τῆς τοῦ ναοῦ πύλης ἑαυτὸν 87 συνωθήσας, ἐφ' αὑτῷ ὑφεῖλκε στερρῶς καὶ ὡς εἶχεν, ὡς συνιζάνειν ἐν ἐπι πέδῳ οἱ τὴν θύραν, ὡς καὶ προσκολλᾶσθαι δοκεῖν ἠνεῳγμένην τῷ ἀντιθύρῳ, μηδενὸς ἐμποδὼν ὄντος· ὁ δ' ἐκείνων γαμβρόςκαὶ οὗτος γὰρ ὥσπερ τῆς εὐπραγίας τοῖς συγγενέσι μετεῖχεν, οὕτω καὶ κοινωνὸς ἔμελλε γενέσθαι τῆς δυσπραγίας, ἀλλαχοῦ περί που τὸ τῶν βασιλέων ἡρῷον ὡς εἶχε παραδυόμενος, λαθεῖν ἔσπευδεν· ὁ μέντοι γε πρωτοβεστιάριος, ἐν τοῖς ἀδύτοις καὶ αὐτὸς εἰσελθὼν τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ πρὸς τῇ κόγχῃ γενόμενος τῆς προθέσεως, ἐπί τι κιονῶδες ἱστάμενον ὑπανέρχεται καὶ τῷ ἐκεῖσε σκοτώδει σὺν τοῖς ἀδύτοις θαρρεῖ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν οἱστισινοῦν ἐκείνων διαδρᾶσαι τὸν κίνδυνον. Πλεῖστοι γὰρ ὄντες οἱ ἐφορμῶντες τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἐποίουν φεύγειν, περὶ τῇ σφετέρᾳ ζωῇ δεδιότος ἑκάστου, ἀπενεοῦσθαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τέλει συνέβαινε, μηδὲν ἔχοντας πράττειν. Ἐκεῖνοι δέ, ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ πρὸς τὸ θαρρεῖν περιόντος, παράβακχόν τι καὶ μανικὸν ἐφαλλόμενοι, ἀκριβῶς ἠρεύνων, μηδὲν τῶν τοῦ ναοῦ καταλιπόντες ἀνεξερεύνητον· ὅθεν καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλον εὑρών τε καὶ κατασχών, ἀπηνῶς καὶ ὡς αὐτῷ δοκοῦν διεχρᾶτο. Οὐ μὴν δὲ οἱ ἄλλοι κατερρᾳθύμουν, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑνὶ πολλοί τινες περιστάντες ἔβαλλον, ἔπληττον, ᾐκίζοντο καὶ νεκρὸν τὸν ἄθλιον, ὡς καὶ εἰς πολλὰ τὸν ἕνα κατακεκόφθαι· οὕτως ὥπλιζεν αὐτοὺς ἡ κακία, καὶ ὁ θυμὸς μεμηνότας θῆρας ἐδείκνυ. Τὸν μέντοι γε πρωτοβεστιάριον, Κάρουλός τις, τῶν ἀδύτων κατατολμήσας καὶ τὰ πολλὰ διερευνησάμενος, ἐπεὶ οὐχ εὕρισκεν, ἀπειπών, ἔμελλεν ὑπο στρέφειν, ἀλλ' ἡ μοῖρα οὐδ' ἐκεῖνον εἴα τοῦ πάθους ἐκτός· τὴν γὰρ πρόθεσιν εἰσελθὼν καὶ τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περιβλεψάμενος, ἐπὶ γόνασι συνιζάνοντα κάτωθεν εἶδε τὸν οἴκτιστον καὶ ἰδὼν ὁρμᾷ καθαιρεῖν ἀπηνῶς. Καὶ ὃς δυσωπεῖ, τὸ οἰκεῖον αἷμα πολλοῦ τινος ἐξωνούμενος· ὁ δὲ οὔτε πρὸς τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ἱκετείας ἀπεῖδεν, οὔτε μὴν ὑπεκλάσθη τοῖς ἐπηγγελμένοις, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς κατασχὼν ἀναιρεῖ ξιφιδίῳ. Καὶ δῆλον γεγονὸς τὸ πραχθέν, οὐκ ἦν ὅστις ἀπῆν ἐκεῖθεν, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος ἐπιστάς, ὡς εἶχεν οὐτάζων καὶ μεθ' ὕβρεων, ᾔκιζε, καὶ ἐς τοσοῦτον μελεϊστὶ κατεδάσαντο ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐνταφιαστὰς ὕστερον, σάκκῳ τὰ μέλη καταθέντας, οὕτως ἐκφορῆσαι καὶ τάφῳ δοῦναι. Ἐπεὶ δ' εἰς τέλος τοῖς ἀνημέροις ἐκείνοις ἐπράχθη τὸ τόλμημα, συὸς 89 τρόπον θήξαντες τοὺς ὀδόντας, ὡς μηδὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τέλει κατωπαδὶς ἐκείνων ἔχειν ἵστασθαι καὶ ἐλέγχειν ἢ μὴν ἐρωτᾶν τί παθόντες καὶ τίνος ὁρμήσαντος τοιαῦτα πράττοιεν, ἐπὶ τὰς σκηνὰς εὐθὺς ὥρμων τῶν φονευ θέντων, καὶ ᾧ προστετύχει ἕκαστος, μεθ' ὅτι γενναίου τοῦ παραστήματος, ὡς οὐδενὸς καινοῦ γεγονότος, ἐξεφόρουν ἐπεγγελῶντες, καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ γλώσσης ἔγκλημα συχνάκις λεγόμενον ἦν· «Οἱ ἐχθροὶ καὶ δύσνοι τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, οἱ βασιλειῶντες, οἱ παντὶ τρόπῳ, εἰ μὴ