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marching against the Arabs, he set up a trophy. However, when Kardamos, whom the account has identified as the leader of the Bulgars, demanded that tribute be paid to him by the Romans and sent a message concerning these things to the emperor, threatening to plunder Thrace all the way to the city, he sent the barbarian the dung of beasts of burden, writing to him that "you are an old man, and do not weary yourself by coming here; I instead will come against you." And immediately gathering the Roman forces, he went against the Bulgars, and when the armies were already near each other and the emperor was challenging the barbarians to battle, Kardamos, growing cowardly with his own troops, took to flight. But the Arabs too, having proceeded against Amorion, accomplished nothing against the city, but taking plunder they returned. 297 But Plato, the abbot of the Sakkoudion monastery, would not have communion with the patriarch Tarasios, because he had received the emperor into communion after he had left his own wife and cohabited with another contrary to the ecclesiastical canons; for he called what had happened adultery. The emperor brought him and imprisoned him in the palace; but his mother took Plato's side, because he had put her son to shame. But the emperor, having journeyed from the city with his own mother and arrived in Prousa, and having learned that a male child had been born to him, left his mother there and returned in haste. But she, taking the opportunity, won over the commanders of the tagmata with both gifts and promises and persuaded them to conspire to depose her son and secure sole rule for herself. And since they had conspired, she sought an opportunity. But the child that was born to the emperor, whom he named Leo, died and was mourned by his father. But the conspirators in the plot against him with his mother, fearing that if time were wasted and the deed postponed they would be discovered 298 and, having been seized, be destroyed, acting quickly seized the emperor in the palace and at about the ninth hour most cruelly gouged out his eyes, taking care not only that he be deprived of light but also of life itself. At which time it happened that for seventeen days the sun did not shine, but those days were without light and dark, I do not know whether it so happened by chance or on account of the blinding of Constantine, as it seemed to men at that time, as if divine providence were indignant at the suffering, inflicted as it was by a mother upon a son. And so he had his eyes gouged out on the very day on which he had blinded his uncle Nikephoros and Mosele and, as has been said, cut out the tongues of the others, five years having passed in between. And Irene once again took hold of the sole rule. And in elder Rome, when Pope Adrian died, Leo was consecrated, a venerable and most honorable man. But the relatives of the deceased Adrian incited the people to revolt 299 against him and, seizing him, they injured his eyes, but did not blind him. For those who were entrusted with the blinding spared the man, taking pity on him, and they damaged his eyes on the outside, but they did not deprive him of his sight. He afterwards fled to the king of the Franks, Charles, and by him was restored to the throne of Rome and avenged himself on his enemies, from which time Rome also came under the Franks, when Charles was crowned by Leo and named emperor of the Romans. For in the time of the first Justinian the Franks invaded Italy, being of the German race, as has been said somewhere above, and they were hostile to the Romans. But in the time of Leo the Isaurian, the then pope Gregory, on account of that man's heresy, ceased to submit to that impious emperor and to pay tribute and to have communion with the impious prelates of the church of Constantinople, and he made a treaty with the Franks and put an end to the battles against them. But in the time of Constantine and Irene, Pope Leo also received them into Rome, 300

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κατὰ τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπιστρατεύσας τρόπαιον ἵστησι. τοῦ μέντοι Καρδάμου, ὃν ὁ λόγος τῶν Βουλγάρων ἐγνώρισεν ἀρχηγόν, φόρους ἀπαιτοῦντος αὐτῷ τελεῖσθαι παρὰ Ῥωμαίων καὶ περὶ τούτων διαπεμψαμένου πρὸς τὸν κρατοῦντα, ἢ τὴν Θρᾴκην ἄχρι τῆς πόλεως ἀπειλοῦντος ληίσασθαι, ἐκεῖνος κόπρον ὑποζυγίων τῷ βαρβάρῳ ἀπέστειλεν, ἐπιστείλας αὐτῷ ὅτι "γέρων εἶ καὶ μὴ κοπιάσῃς ἐνταῦθα ἐρχόμενος· ἐγὼ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐλεύσομαι ἐπὶ σέ." καὶ αὐτίκα τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἀθροίσας δυνάμεις ἀπῄει κατὰ Βουλγάρων, καὶ ἤδη πλησίον ἀλλήλων γενομένων τῶν στρατευμάτων καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς μάχην προκαλουμένου τοὺς βαρβάρους, ὁ Κάρδαμος σὺν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀποδειλιάσας στρατεύμασι φυγὰς ᾤχετο. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Ἄραβες κατὰ τοῦ Ἀμορίου χωρήσαντες οὐδέν τι ἔσχον πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἀνύσιμον, λείαν δὲ λαβόντες ὑπέστρεψαν. 297 Πλάτων δὲ ὁ καθηγητὴς τῆς τοῦ Σακουδίωνος μονῆς τῷ πατριάρχῃ Ταρασίῳ κοινωνεῖν οὐκ ἠνείχετο, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος τὸν βασιλέα εἰς κοινωνίαν ἐδέξατο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα καταλιπόντα καὶ ἑτέρᾳ παρὰ τοὺς ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς θεσμοὺς συνοικήσαντα· μοιχείαν γὰρ ὠνόμαζε τὸ γενόμενον. ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀγαγὼν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ καθεῖρξεν· ἡ δὲ τούτου μήτηρ ἀντεποιεῖτο τοῦ Πλάτωνος, ὅτι κατῄσχυνε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς. ἐκδημήσας δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὁ κρατῶν μετὰ τῆς οἰκείας μητρὸς εἰς Προῦσάν τε γεγονὼς καὶ μαθὼν τεχθῆναί οἱ παιδίον ἄρρεν, ἐκεῖ τὴν μητέρα καταλιπὼν σπουδαίως ὑπέστρεψεν. ἡ δὲ λαβομένη ἀδείας τοὺς τῶν ταγμάτων ἄρχοντας δωρεαῖς τε καὶ ὑποσχέσεσιν ὑποποιησαμένη πέπεικε συνθέσθαι καθελεῖν μὲν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς, αὐτῇ δὲ μόνῃ τὴν αὐταρχίαν περιποιήσασθαι. καὶ συνθεμένων εὐκαιρίαν ἐζήτει. τέθνηκε δὲ τὸ τεχθὲν παιδίον τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὅπερ ὠνόμασε Λέοντα, καὶ ἐθρηνήθη παρὰ τοῦ πατρός. οἱ δὲ τῆς κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐπιβουλῆς συνίστορες τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ δείσαντες μὴ τοῦ καιροῦ τριβομένου καὶ ὑπερτιθεμένης τῆς πράξεως γνω298 σθῶσι καὶ κατασχεθέντες ἀπόλωνται, σπεύσαντες συνέσχον ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ τὸν βασιλέα καὶ περὶ ὥραν ἐννάτην τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ ὠμότατα ἐξορύττουσι, προνοούμενοι μὴ μόνον τοῦ φωτὸς στερηθῆναι αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ζωῆς. ὅτε συνέβη ἐφ' ἡμέρας ἑπτακαίδεκα μὴ λάμψαι τὸν ἥλιον, ἀλλ' ἀλαμπεῖς εἶναι καὶ σκοτώδεις τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, οὐκ οἶδα εἴτε τυχαίως οὕτω συμβὰν εἴτε καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου τύφλωσιν, ὡς τηνικαῦτα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐδόκει, οἷα τῆς θείας προνοίας νεμεσησάσης τῷ πάθει, ὡς ἐκ μητρὸς εἰς υἱὸν γενομένῳ. καὶ ὁ μὲν οὕτω τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξωρώρυκτο κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἡμέραν καθ' ἣν ἐκεῖνος τὸν θεῖον αὐτοῦ Νικηφόρον καὶ τὸν Μωσηλὲ ἐξετύφλωσε καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, ὡς εἴρηται, τὰς γλώσσας ἀπέτεμε, πέντε μεταξὺ παρεληλυθότων ἐνιαυτῶν. ἡ δὲ Εἰρήνη καὶ αὖθις τῆς μοναρχίας ἐπείληπτο. Καὶ ἐν τῇ πρεσβυτέρᾳ Ῥώμῃ τοῦ πάπα θανόντος Ἀδριανοῦ Λέων κεχειροτόνητο, ἀνὴρ αἰδοῖος καὶ τιμιώτατος. οἱ δὲ τῷ θανόντι Ἀδριανῷ προσήκοντες στασιάσαι τὸν λαὸν ἠρέθισαν 299 κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ συσχόντες αὐτὸν ἐλωβήσαντό οἱ τὰ ὄμματα, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐξετύφλωσαν. οἱ γὰρ ἐπιτραπέντες τὴν τύφλωσιν ἐφείσαντο τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτὸν κατοικτείραντες καὶ ἔξωθεν ἐλυμήναντο τοῖς αὐτοῦ ὀφθαλμοῖς, τοῦ δὲ φωτὸς αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐστέρησαν. ὃς μετέπειτα τῷ τῶν Φράγγων ῥηγὶ προσρυεὶς Καρούλῳ παρ' ἐκείνου εἰς τὸν τῆς Ῥώμης ἀποκατέστη θρόνον καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀντημύνατο, ἐξότου καὶ ἡ Ῥώμη ὑπὸ τοὺς Φράγγους ἐγένετο, τοῦ Καρούλου ταινιωθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ Λέοντος καὶ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων ὀνομασθέντος. ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ προτέρου Ἰουστινιανοῦ τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ ἐπῆλθον οἱ Φράγγοι, ἐκ γένους ὄντες τῶν Γερμανῶν, ὡς ἄνω που εἴρηται, καὶ ἦσαν τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις πολέμιοι. ἐπὶ δὲ Λέοντος τοῦ Ἰσαύρου ὁ τότε πάπας Γρηγόριος διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου κακοδοξίαν ἀποστὰς τοῦ ὑπείκειν τῷ ἀσεβεῖ βασιλεῖ ἐκείνῳ καὶ δασμοφορεῖν καὶ τοῦ κοινωνεῖν τοῖς ἀσεβῶς προεστῶσι τῆς ἐκκλησίας τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ἐσπείσατο τοῖς Φράγγοις καὶ τὰς πρὸς ἐκείνους μάχας κατέλυσεν. ἐπὶ δὲ Κωνσταντίνου καὶ Εἰρήνης ὁ πάπας Λέων καὶ εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην αὐτοὺς εἰσε300 δέξατο,