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Starting from there, those of the other themes also proclaimed Constantine alone as king, and having gathered together, they jointly acclaimed him alone as emperor. But Irene, fearing the unanimity of the regiments, brought forth her son. And he immediately, having tortured Staurakios, banished the most honored of his mother’s servants, and leading his mother herself honorably down from the palace to her house, which she had built in the Eleutheriou quarter, he commanded her to live there. And so these things were; but when a fire occurred, the great triclinium of the sacred palace, called the Thomaïtes, was destroyed by the fire, at which time it is said that the drafts of the exegesis of the divine scripture, which John, golden of tongue, had written, were also burned, having been stored somewhere there. And indeed the emperor Constantine marched out against the Bulgarians, while Kardam was leading the nation; but when a small engagement occurred, cowardice fell upon both opposing sides. and the emperor returned to the great city, while the Bulgarians returned to their own lands. But also having set out against the Arabs, he accomplished nothing worthy of mention. And having been persuaded by his mother and some of those in authority, he again brings her up to the palace and allows her to be acclaimed along with himself; and while all the regiments of the themes accepted Irene's renewed proclamation, those of the Armeniakon theme both resisted and revolted and called for their former general, as has been said, Alexios Mosele. For the emperor had already summoned him from there, and having honored him as patrikios, kept him with him, as a rumor was prevailing that the man was about to become emperor. On account of this, therefore, and because he was being called for by the rebels, the emperor, in fear, imprisoned him in the praetorium, having first beaten him and cut off his hair. And when the leader of the Bulgarians had set out against the Roman dominion, the emperor, having attacked him in a disorderly fashion, is defeated and loses a great multitude of soldiers, and indeed also many of the magnates. And the military units, having assembled at the great city, were planning to make Nikephoros, one of the Caesars and Constantine's paternal uncle, emperor. But the plot did not escape notice; therefore Nikephoros himself had his eyes put out; while Christophoros and Niketas and Anthimos and Eudokimos had their tongues cut out. But the emperor also blinded Alexios Mosele, doing these things at his mother's suggestions. But those of the Armeniakon theme, having learned of Alexios's blinding, put their own general under guard. And this was the patrikios Kamoulianos. When this was reported to the emperor, he sends against them with a force Constantine Artaseras and Chrysocheres, who was strategos of the Boukellarioi. And when war was joined, many fell on both sides, but the imperial forces were routed, and with both generals having been taken alive, the Armeniakoi immediately blinded them. Then the emperor himself marched out against them and subdued them, and he puts the leading men to death, and punished the rest with confiscation of their property. And having bound a thousand men from their metropolis and brought them to the great city, and having had their faces tattooed with letters, with ink poured into the brandings (and the writing said "Armeniakon traitor"), he scattered these men in Sicily and in other islands. And the emperor, having come to dislike his wife Maria, forced her to be tonsured, on the advice, as it is said, of his mother, so that he might be hated by all and the administration of the empire might be transferred back to her. For even though she was with her son in the palace, she did not share in the power, but only in the acclamation, and she was greatly sick with love of power. When the emperor's wife had therefore changed her clothes and had unwillingly put on the black garments of a nun instead of the imperial robe, he married a certain Theodote, a lady-in-waiting, having crowned her Augusta. And

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ἐντεῦθεν ὁρμηθέντες καὶ οἱ τῶν ἄλλων θεμάτων μόνον τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον ἀνηγόρευον βασιλέα, καὶ ἀθροισθέντες κοινῇ ἐκεῖνον μόνον ἀνεκήρυττον αὐτοκράτορα. δείσασα δὲ τὴν τῶν ταγμάτων ὁμόνοιαν ἡ Εἰρήνη προήνεγκε τὸν υἱόν. ὁ δὲ αὐτίκα τὸν Σταυράκιον αἰκισάμενος καὶ τοὺς ἐντιμοτέρους τῶν θεραπόντων τῶν μητρικῶν ὑπερώρισεν, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν μητέρα τῶν βασιλείων ἐντίμως καταγαγὼν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς, ὃν ἐν τοῖς Ἐλευθερίου ἐδείματο, διάγειν ἐκέλευσε. Καὶ τὰ μὲν οὕτως ἔσχον· ἐμπρησμοῦ δὲ συμβάντος ὁ μέγας τρίκλινος τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνακτόρων ὁ Θωμαΐτης λεγόμενος ἔργον γέγονε τοῦ πυρός, ὅτε λέγονται καυθῆναι καὶ τὰ σχεδιά293 σματα τῆς ἐξηγήσεως τῆς θείας γραφῆς, ἃ ὁ χρυσοῦς τὴν γλῶτταν συνεγράψατο Ἰωάννης, ἐκεῖσέ που ἀποκείμενα. Ὁ δέ γε βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος κατὰ Βουλγάρων ἐξεστράτευσε, τοῦ Καρδάμου τοῦ ἔθνους ἀρχηγετοῦντος· μικρᾶς δὲ προσβολῆς γενομένης ἀμφοῖν τοῖν ἀντιθέτοιν μεροῖν δειλία ἐνέσκηψε. καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἐπανέζευξεν εἰς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν, οἱ δὲ Βούλγαροι εἰς τὰ ἤθη τὰ ἑαυτῶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ Ἀράβων ὁρμήσας οὐδέν τι λόγου ἄξιον ἤνυσε. Παρακληθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει τινῶν αὖθις ἀνάγει ταύτην εἰς τὰ βασίλεια καὶ ἑαυτῷ συνευφημεῖσθαι παραχωρεῖ· καὶ πάντα μὲν τὰ τῶν θεμάτων τάγματα ἐδέξαντο τὴν τῆς Εἰρήνης αὖθις ἀνάρρησιν, οἱ δὲ τοῦ θέματος τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν ἀντέπιπτόν τε καὶ ἐστασίαζον καὶ ἐπεκαλοῦντο τὸν πρῴην αὐτῶν, ὡς εἴρηται, στρατηγήσαντα Ἀλέξιον τὸν Μωσηλέ. ἔφθη γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκεῖθεν μεταπεμψάμενος καὶ τιμήσας πατρίκιον εἶχε μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ, φήμης ἐπικρατούσης μέλλειν βασιλεῦσαι τὸν ἄνδρα. διὰ ταύτην τοίνυν καὶ ὅτι παρὰ τῶν στασια294 ζόντων ἐπεκαλεῖτο, δείσας ὁ βασιλεὺς καθεῖρξεν ἐν τῷ πραιτωρίῳ αὐτόν, τύψας πρότερον καὶ τὴν κόμην περιελών. τοῦ δὲ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀρχηγετοῦντος ὡρμηκότος κατὰ τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἐπικρατείας, ἀσυντάκτως ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῷ ἐπελθὼν ἡττᾶται καὶ πλῆθος πολὺ στρατευομένων ἀπόλλυσιν, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τῶν μεγιστάνων πολλούς. αἱ δὲ στρατιωτικαὶ συντάξεις ἀθροισθεῖσαι κατὰ τὴν μεγαλόπολιν ἐβουλεύοντο βασιλεῦσαι τὸν ἀπὸ Καισάρων Νικηφόρον τὸν τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου πατράδελφον. ἀλλὰ τὸ σκέμμα οὐκ ἔλαθε· διὸ αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ Νικηφόρος ἐξεκόπη τὰ ὄμματα· ὁ δέ γε Χριστοφόρος καὶ ὁ Νικήτας ὁ Ἄνθιμός τε καὶ ὁ Εὐδόκιμος τῶν γλωσσῶν ὑπέστησαν ἐκτομήν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Μωσηλὲ τὸν Ἀλέξιον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξετύφλωσεν, ὑποθήκαις ταῦτα μητρικαῖς ἐργασάμενος. οἱ δὲ τοῦ θέματος τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν τὴν τοῦ Ἀλεξίου μαθόντες τύφλωσιν, τὸν σφέτερον στρατηγὸν ἐποίησαν ἔμφρουρον. ἦν δ' οὗτος ὁ Καμουλιανὸς ὁ πατρίκιος. ὡς οὖν ἀνηνέχθη τοῦτο τῷ βασιλεῖ, στέλλει κατ' αὐτῶν σὺν δυνάμει Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν Ἀρτασήραν καὶ τὸν Χρυσόχειρα, στρατηγὸν τῶν Βουκελλαρίων τυγχάνοντα. καὶ κροτηθέντος πο295 λέμου πολλοὶ μὲν ἔπεσον ἀμφοτέρωθεν, τρέπονται δὲ οἱ βασιλικοί, καὶ ἀμφοῖν ζωγρηθέντων τῶν στρατηγῶν, οὓς οἱ Ἀρμενιακοὶ αὐτίκα ἐτύφλωσαν. εἶτα ὁ κρατῶν αὐτὸς κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξεστράτευσε καὶ χειροῦται αὐτούς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν προὔχοντας ἀναιρεῖ, τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς δημεύσει τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἐπιτετίμηκε. χιλίους δὲ τῶν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῶν μητροπόλεως δεσμήσας καὶ ἐς μεγαλόπολιν ἐνεγκών, τὰς ὄψεις τε σφῶν καταστίκτους ποιήσας ἐν γράμμασι, μέλανος ἐγχεομένου τοῖς στίγμασιν (ἔλεγε δὲ ἡ γραφὴ "Ἀρμενιακὸς ἐπίβουλος"), διέσπειρε τούτους ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ ἐν ἄλλαις νήσοις. Τὴν δ' ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα Μαρίαν ἀποστέρξας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀποκαρῆναι ταύτην ἐξεβιάσατο, συμβουλῇ, ὡς λέγεται, τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἵν' ὑπὸ πάντων μισηθείη καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἡ τῆς βασιλείας ἀντιπεριενεχθείη διοίκησις. κἂν γὰρ συνῆν τῷ υἱῷ περὶ τὰ ἀνάκτορα, ἀλλ' οὐ συμμετεῖχε τῆς ἐξουσίας, μόνης δέ γε τῆς εὐφημίας, λίαν δ' ἐνόσει τὸ φίλαρχον. μεταμφιασαμένης οὖν τῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος συμβίου καὶ περιβαλομένης ἀκούσης 296 ἀντὶ τῆς βασιλείου στολῆς μοναζούσης ἄμφια μέλανα, Θεοδότην τινὰ κουβικουλαρέαν ἐκεῖνος ἠγάγετο, Αὐγούσταν στέψας αὐτήν. Καὶ