70

a stranger; but that the more such is the one asking, the request will reach its end among friends who are both reasonable and good. And a reward will be paid to you for this: twenty centenaria of gold, and peace and treaties both eternal and unending. With so much he tried to buy his presence and arrival; but Theophilos, replying that it was unreasonable to give one's own good thing to others and to make public to the nations the knowledge of existing things, by which the race of the Romans is admired and honored by all, did not consent to him, but holding this John in greater honor, who was at that time a claimant to the 191 patriarchal throne in the metropolis of the Thessalonians, and as one full of wisdom and as being related to him by kinship, he is ordered to be ordained. (28) who, when he was in Thessalonica after the ordination, had everyone revering and honoring his virtue, but had them honoring him more splendidly for a certain reason which the account makes clear. For around the time of the fruitfulness of the crops the land was seen to be so barren and fruitless at that time that even death was imminent. Seeing them, struck with the pity of compassion, he advised them neither to be disheartened nor indeed to be destroyed by misfortunes, if they wished to obtain the help of God and of himself. At a certain time, then, which he had learned from astrology, that from the risings and appearances of certain stars some emanation and sympathy comes to be upon earthly things, he cast the seeds upon the earth and gave them to its bosom, of which so great an abundance and fertility happened to come, when spring dawned and the season of summer was at hand, that it sufficed them for many years and for the future, God in every way having brought about the abundant harvest by granting it to the litanies and supplications of those constrained, but not to his vain labor in such matters. This, then, increased the affection of the Thessalonians for the man all the more and aroused their love, as was likely. (29) And while many were marveling 192 at his wisdom, and how he had reached the summit of all sciences, he is said to have said to one of his companions "that while staying in Constantinople he mastered grammar and poetry, but rhetoric and philosophy and the computations of numbers when he was on the island of Andros; for there, having met a certain wise man and having received from him only the beginnings and some principles, since he did not find as much as he wished, wandering through its mainland and taking over monasteries and searching for and procuring the books stored there, and studying them more diligently on the mountain peaks, he was thus raised to the height of knowledge, at which time, having had his fill of studies, he returned again to the imperial city, casting the seeds of the sciences into the minds of those who wished." But these things were before; and now when after three years (for such was the time of his tenure of the throne) he was again at leisure from his deposition, this man was head of the school of philosophy at Magnaura, while his student Theodore presided over the house of geometry, and Theodegios over that of astronomy, and Kometas over the grammar that Hellenizes speech; to whom Bardas, both providing lavishly and visiting frequently out of a love of learning and strengthening the natures of those being taught, within the proper time, as if giving wings to their words, made them fledge and advance forward. 193 30 And Bardas continually gave himself to the judgments of the hippodrome, and was ambitious to be thought a lover of this opinion. And he would have succeeded with many, since time had covered the events; but again having stirred up and disturbed the affairs of the church, and instead of calm having been the cause of strife and ruinous [and] evils for it,

70

ἀλλότριος· ἀλλ' οτι μᾶλλον τοιοῦτος ὁ ἀξιῶν, πέρας ἡ αιτησις λήψεται παρὰ φίλοις ἐπιεικέσι τε καὶ χρηστοῖς. χάρις δέ σοι κα- ταβληθήσεται ὑπὲρ τούτου χρυσίου μὲν εικοσι κεντηνάρια, εἰρήνη δὲ καὶ σπονδαὶ ἀΐδιοί τε καὶ ἀτελεύτητοι. τοσούτοις μὲν ἐκεῖνος τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐξωνεῖτο παρουσίαν καὶ αφιξιν· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεόφιλος ἀντα- ποκρίνας καὶ αλογον τὸ οἰκεῖον δοῦναι ἑτέροις καλὸν καὶ τὴν τῶν οντων γνῶσιν εκδοτον ποιῆσαι τοῖς εθνεσι, δι' ης τὸ τῶν ̔Ρω- μαίων γένος θαυμάζεταί τε καὶ τιμᾶται παρὰ πᾶσιν, ἐκείνῳ μὲν οὐκ ἐπένευσε, τοῦτον δὲ διὰ τιμῆς πλείονος σχὼν τὸν ̓Ιωάννην τοῦ 191 πατριαρχικοῦ τότε θρόνου ἀντιποιούμενον κατὰ τὴν Θεσσαλονι- κέων μητρόπολιν, καὶ ὡς πλήρη σοφίας οντα καὶ ὡς οἰκειούμενον τούτῳ κατὰ συγγένειαν, χειροτονεῖν ἐγκελεύεται. (28) ος ἐπεὶ μετὰ τὴν χειροτονίαν κατὰ τὴν Θεσσαλονίκην ἐγένετο, ειχε μὲν απαντας τὴν αὐτοῦ εὐλαβουμένους τε καὶ τιμῶντας ἀρετήν, ειχε δὲ μᾶλλον τιμῶντας τοῦτον λαμπρότερον εκ τινος αἰτίας ην ὁ λόγος δηλοῖ. περὶ τὰς τῶν καρπῶν γονὰς στεῖρά πως τοσοῦτον ὡρᾶτο ἡ γῆ καὶ ατεκνος κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ὡς καὶ θάνατον κατεπείγε- σθαι. ους ἰδὼν τῷ τῆς συμπαθείας οικτῳ βληθεὶς μήτ' ἀθυμεῖν παρῄνει μήτε μὴν συμφοραῖς ἐπαπόλλυσθαι, ειγε δὴ βούλοιντο τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπικουρίας καὶ αὐτοῦ γε τυχεῖν. περί τινα γοῦν καιρόν, ον ἐκ τῆς ἀστρολογικῆς ἐδιδάσκετο ἀστέρων τινῶν ἐπιτο- λαῖς τε καὶ φάσεσιν ἀπόρροιάν τινα καὶ συμπάθειαν τοῖς περιγείοις προσγίνεσθαι, τὰ σπέρματα τῇ γῇ κατεβάλλετο καὶ ὑπὸ κόλπους ταύτης ἐδίδου, ων τοσαύτην γενέσθαι συνέβη εὐφορίαν τε καὶ εὐ- καρπίαν, ἐπεὶ τὸ εαρ ἀνέτελλεν καὶ ὁ τοῦ θέρους ἐφεστήκει και- ρός, ὡς πολλοὺς ἐπαρκέσαι χρόνους αὐτοῖς καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς, πάν- τως ουτω τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν αμητον πολύχουν ἐνεγκαμένου ταῖς τῶν ἀναγκαζομένων λιτανείαις ἐπιδόντος καὶ ἱκετείαις, ἀλλ' οὐ τῇ ἐκείνου περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ματαιοπονίᾳ. τοῦτο γοῦν τὴν ἐπὶ πλέον τῶν Θεσσαλονικέων ηυξησε πρὸς τὸν ανδρα στοργὴν καὶ τὸ φίλ- τρον αὐτῶν διήγειρεν, ὡς εἰκός. (29) θαυμαζόντων δὲ πολλῶν 192 περὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ σοφίας, καὶ οπως εἰς ακρον εφθασε πασῶν τῶν ἐπιστημῶν, λέγεται πρός τινα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ συνήθων φάναι "ὡς τὴν μὲν γραμματικὴν καὶ ποιητικὴν κατὰ τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν διατρίβων κατώρθωσεν, ῥητορικὴν δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ ἀριθμῶν ἀναλήψεις κατὰ τὴν νῆσον Ανδρον γενόμενος· ἐκεῖσε γάρ τινι σοφῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐντυχὼν καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς μόνον καί τινας λόγους παρ' αὐτοῦ λαβών, ἐπεὶ μὴ οσον ἐβούλετο ευρισκεν, τῇ χέρσῳ ταύτης περινοστῶν καὶ μοναστήρια καταλαμβάνων καὶ τὰς ἀποκειμένας βίβλους ἀνερευνῶν τε καὶ ποριζόμενος, καὶ πρὸς τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων σπουδαιότερον ταύτας ἐμμελετῶν, πρὸς τὸ τῆς γνώ- σεως ουτως υψος ἀνεβιβάζετο, οτε δὴ καὶ κόρον σχὼν τῶν μαθη- μάτων πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν αυθις ὑπέστρεψεν, τὰ σπέρματα τῶν ἐπιστημῶν ταῖς τῶν βουλομένων διανοίαις καταβαλλόμενος." ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πρότερον· καὶ νῦν δὲ ἐπεὶ μετὰ τρεῖς χρόνους (τοσοῦτος δὲ ὁ τῆς τοῦ θρόνου ἀντιλήψεως χρόνος) ἐκ τῆς καθαι- ρέσεως αυθις ἐσχόλαζεν, τῆς κατὰ τὴν Μαγναύραν μὲν ουτος ηρχε φιλοσόφου σχολῆς, ὁ δὲ δὴ τούτου φοιτητὴς Θεόδωρος τοῦ τῆς γεωμετρίας διαιτητηρίου προΐστατο, καὶ Θεοδήγιος τοῦ τῆς ἀστρονομίας, καὶ Κομητᾶς τῆς τὰς φωνὰς ἐξελληνιζούσης γραμ- ματικῆς· οις ὁ Βάρδας καὶ δαψιλῶς ἐπαρκῶν καὶ ἐκ φιλομαθίας πολλάκις ἐπιφοιτῶν καὶ τῶν διδασκομένων τὰς φύσεις ἐπιρρωννύς, ἐντὸς τοῦ καθήκοντος χρόνου ωσπερ πτερὰ τοῖς λόγοις διδοὺς πτε- ροφυεῖν ἐποίει καὶ προβαίνειν εἰς τουμπροσθεν. 193 30 Καὶ τοῖς τοῦ ἱπποδρόμου δὲ συνεχῶς ὁ Βάρδας ἑαυ- τὸν ἐδίδου κριτηρίοις, καὶ ἐραστὴς νομίζεσθαι ταύτης τῆς γνώμης φιλοτιμούμενος. ετυχε δ' αν παρὰ πολλοῖς, τοῦ χρόνου τὰ γε- γονότα καλύψαντος· ἀλλὰ πάλιν τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας κυκήσας τε καὶ ἀναταράξας, καὶ ἀντὶ γαλήνης φιλονεικίας αὐτῇ καὶ κακώσεων [καὶ] ὀλεθρίων αιτιος γεγονώς,