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rightly he bore not the better reputation but the opposite. For Methodius having just passed from this life, after holding the throne of Constantinople for only four years, they raise Ignatius, who was a monk and abbot of the monastery of Satyros, the grandson of the emperor Nikephoros and son of Michael, a man attested for his piety and every virtue, to the patriarchal throne and entrust to him the rudders of the world. This man, therefore, after some time, was barring Bardas from the church for unreasonably and without cause casting off his own wife and for his involvement with his daughter-in-law, since he did not neglect the divine canons; the penalty he was giving that man, being sent away from the church, this he collects from him. And that I may pass over the hunger and the thirst and the man's prostrations on the ground and scourgings and the most savage blows over his whole body, I will say this one thing only and proceed to the rest of the history. (31) Bardas handed Ignatius over to a guard, and a harsh and severe guard; and it was in the sanctuary of the holy apostles, not in the great and revered one, but where the 194 tombs are both said to be and are. There, having locked him in a certain tomb of Copronymus, in the cold and frost, more naked than a pestle, as the proverb goes, having seated him high up, they forced him to suffer from the cold and winter; and these were dysentery and a discharge of the internal necessities through the stomach from the excess of cold, and from this, a bitter death. And he would have died from the cruelty and savagery of his guards (these were John Gorgonites and Nikolas Skouteloptes and Theodore the Fool), if someone moved by pity (it was Constantine the Armenian), in their absence when he was about to eat, had not taken the man down from there, and with a little wine, and also with bread and some small warming, soothed his pain for a short time. And when the punishment seemed sufficient to him, he then makes this man an exile on the island of Mytilene; but since some of the bishops spoke against it and appealed to justice which was somewhere far off and had departed, and threatened not that they would accept another if anything happened, but that they would break away from the church, fearing the disturbance from this, he decided to circumvent these men too by deceit and fox-like cunning. For summoning each of them privately and secretly, he promised and gave them no small or humble thing if only they would abandon Ignatius, but the very throne of Constantinople. And when they all gave in and were overcome by glory, and 195 no one spoke against it for the sake of what was good and lawful, then, yes then he suggested that the emperor would fulfill his promises to them, but that they, maintaining decency and solemnity when called before him, should not assent to what was offered, so that he himself, he says, might be full of admiration for your virtue. Thus, summoning each not together but privately and alone before Michael, he persuaded them not to leap at the honor right away. And they, being deemed worthy and then refusing by a single utterance, unwittingly made an example of themselves; for they fell from virtue, conquered by the love of glory, and they failed in this too, because they were betraying Ignatius not honorably but treacherously. (32) Thus, since these men also proved to be human and were so deceived, he gave the throne of Constantinople to Photius, a man known for his wisdom, but who belonged to the secular order and held the rank of protoasecretis. And so that they might make their own decisions more secure, having sent for legates from Rome sent on other pretexts (for it was against the iconoclasts), and having prepared them to act against Ignatius with the times and having held a council, and in the sanctuary of the divine apostles by a publicly proclaimed deposition of this man

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εἰκότως οὐ τὴν κρείττω δόξαν ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἠνέγκατο. αρτι γὰρ τὸν βίον Μεθοδίου μετηλλαχό- τος, τέσσαρας μόνους χρόνους τὸν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως θρό- νον κεκρατηκότος, ̓Ιγνάτιον μοναχὸν οντα καὶ τῆς μονῆς ἡγούμε- νον τοῦ Σατύρου, τὸν Νικηφόρου μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως εκγονον, υἱὸν δὲ Μιχαήλ, τὸν ἐπ' εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ ἀρετῇ παντοίᾳ μαρτυρηθέντα πρὸς τὸν τῆς πατριαρχίας θρόνον ἀναβιβάζουσι καὶ τῆς οἰκουμέ- νης τοὺς οιακας ἐμπιστεύουσιν. ουτος ουν μετά τινας χρόνους τὸν Βάρδαν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ οἰκείου γυναίου ἀλόγως καὶ ἀναιτίως ἀπο- βολῇ τῆς αὐτοῦ δὲ νύμφης περιπλοκῇ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπείργων, ἐπεὶ μὴ τῶν θείων κανόνων ἠμέλει, τὴν ην ἐκείνῳ ἐδίδου ποινὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποπεμπόμενος, ταύτην εἰσπράττεται παρ' αὐτοῦ. καὶ ινα τὸν λιμὸν καὶ τὴν δίψαν παρῶ καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ γῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐκτάσεις τε καὶ ῥαβδισμοὺς καὶ τὰς καθ' ολον τὸ σῶμα ὠμοτάτας πληγάς, εν τοῦτο μόνον ἐγὼ εἰπὼν ἐπὶ τὰ συνεχῆ βαδιοῦμαι τῆς ἱστορίας. (31) παρεδίδου τὸν ̓Ιγνάτιον ὁ Βάρδας φρουρᾷ, καὶ φρουρᾷ ἀπηνεῖ τε καὶ χαλεπῇ· ἡ δὲ ην ἐν τῷ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστό- λων τεμένει, οὐκ ἐν τῷ δὴ μεγάλῳ τε καὶ σεμνῷ, ἀλλ' ενθα οἱ 194 τάφοι καὶ λέγονται καὶ εἰσίν. ἐκεῖσε δὴ ἐναποκλείσαντες εν τινι τοῦτον τάφῳ τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου, ἐν κρυμῷ καὶ παγετῷ γυμνότερον ὑπέρου, τὸ τῆς παροιμίας, ἐν μετεώρῳ ἐπικαθίσαντες τὰ τοῦ κρυ- μοῦ καὶ χειμῶνος πάσχειν ἐξεβιάζοντο· τὰ δὲ ην ἡ δυσεντερία τε καὶ τῶν ἐντὸς ἀναγκαίων ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ψύχους ὑπερβολῆς διὰ γα- στρὸς ἀπόρροια καὶ θάνατος ἐκ τούτου πικρός. ἀπεβίω δ' αν ἐκ τῆς τῶν φρουρούντων δεινότητος καὶ ὠμότητος (ησαν δὲ ουτοι ο τε Γοργονίτης ̓Ιωάννης καὶ ὁ Σκουτελόπτης Νικόλαος καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ Μωρός), εἰ μή τις οικτῳ βαλλόμενος (Κωνσταντῖνος ην ὁ ̓Αρ- μενιακός) τῇ τούτων ἀπουσίᾳ ἐν τῷ μέλλειν σιτίζεσθαι ἐκεῖθέν τε τὸν ανθρωπον κατεβίβαζεν, καὶ οινῳ βραχεῖ, ετι δὲ καὶ αρτῳ καὶ μικρᾷ τινὶ περιθάλψει τὸ λυποῦν ἐπ' ὀλίγον παρεμυθεῖτο. ὡς δὲ τὸ τῆς τιμωρίας ἀρκούντως ἐδόκει αὐτῷ, τότε δὴ ὑπερόριον μὲν τὸν ανδρα τοῦτον κατὰ τὴν νῆσον Μιτυλήνην ποιεῖ· ἐπεὶ δὲ καί τινες τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἀντέλεγον καὶ τὴν δίκην πόρρω που δὴ ουσαν καὶ ἀποφοιτήσασαν ἐπεκαλοῦντο καὶ οὐκ ει τι γένηται αλλον δέξα- σθαι ἠπείλουν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας συναπορρήγνυσθαι, τὸν ἐκ τού- του τάραχον δὴ κατευλαβηθεὶς εγνω καὶ τούτους ἀπάτῃ περιελθεῖν καὶ ἀλωπεκῇ. ἰδίᾳ γοῦν καὶ κρυφῇ τούτων εκαστον μετακαλού- μενος οὐ μικρόν τι καὶ ταπεινὸν ὑπισχνεῖτό τε καὶ ἐδίδου, εἰ μόνον ἀποσταῖεν τοῦ ̓Ιγνατίου, ἀλλὰ τὸν θρόνον αὐτὸν Κωνσταντινουπό- λεως. ὡς δ' ἐνεδίδοσαν απαντες καὶ τῆς μὲν δόξης ἡττῶντο, τοῦ 195 δὲ καλοῦ ενεκεν καὶ νομίμου ἀντέλεγεν οὐδείς, τότε δὴ τότε ὑπε- τίθει ὡς ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς αὐτοῖς τὰς ὑποσχέσεις μὲν ἐκπληρώσειεν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὸ ευσχημον τηροῦντές τε καὶ σεμνὸν αμα τῷ πρὸς αὐτὸν κληθῆναι μὴ πρὸς τὰ διδόμενα κατανεύσητε, ινα καὶ αὐτός, φησί, τῆς ὑμῶν ειη ὑπεραγάμενος ἀρετῆς. ουτως δὴ εκαστον οὐχ ὁμοῦ ἀλλ' ἰδίᾳ καὶ κατὰ μόνας πρὸς τὸν Μιχαὴλ προσκαλούμενος μὴ αὐθωρὸν ἐπιπηδᾶν τῇ τιμῇ ἀνέπειθεν. καὶ ουτοι μὲν ἐκ μόνου προσρήματος ἀξιούμενοί τε καὶ ἀπαρνούμενοι ελαθον ἑαυτοὺς πα- ραδειγματίσαντες· τῆς γὰρ ἀρετῆς ἐξέπιπτον τῷ τῆς δόξης νικώ- μενοι ερωτι, καὶ ταύτης αυθις ἡμάρτανον, οτι μὴ καλῶς ἀλλ' ἐπιβούλως τὸν ̓Ιγνάτιον παρεδίδοσαν. (32) ουτως ουν ἐπεὶ καὶ ουτοι ανθρωποι οντες ἐφάνησαν καὶ ουτω δὴ ἠπατήθησαν, Φωτίῳ ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ μὲν οντι γνωρίμῳ ἀνδρί, κοσμικῆς δὲ τάξεως ἀντιποιου- μένῳ καὶ τὴν τοῦ πρωτοασηκρῆτις δεδραγμένῳ τιμήν, τὸν θρόνον ἐδίδου τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. καὶ ινα δὴ καὶ τὰ αὐτῶν κρα- ταιότερα ἀποφήνωσιν, τοποτηρητὰς μὲν ἐκ ̔Ρώμης ἐπ' αλλαις προ- φάσεσι (κατὰ γὰρ τῶν εἰκονομάχων) σταλέντας μεταπεμψάμενοι, κατὰ δὲ ̓Ιγνατίου μετὰ τοῦ καιροῦ γεγονέναι παρασκευάσαντες καὶ συνεδριάσαντες, καὶ ἐν τῷ τῶν θείων ἀποστόλων τεμένει δε- δημοσιευμένῃ καθαιρέσει τοῦτον