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is sent out, and Peganes, he too having suffered the gouging out of his eyes and the cutting of his nose with a sword, is himself also sent away into exile; whom the noble emperor Basil, when he received sole power, both recalled from exile and honored with the gifts they had before the apostasy, and showing not even a trace of vindictiveness towards them he often made them his table-companions and consoled them with words, and by benefiting them with deeds, made it easier for them to bear the misfortune of their folly. But these things happened later; at that time the prediction and prophecy from three hundred and fifty years earlier was reaching its fulfillment, of Isaac, the most clairvoyant of priests and monks, who, himself descended from the Arsacids, learned through a vision that after so much time in between one from the descendants of Arsaces was destined to be raised to the scepters of the Roman empire. 242 The event happened according to the prayer of those in authority and all the people and the army and the generals and all the multitudes under his rule in all the lands and cities; for all were praying for a man to take charge of affairs who had experienced a lesser fortune and who knew the beatings of the poor by those in power and the unjust confiscations from them and the, as it were, uprootings of the more humble and the enslavements by their fellow countrymen, all things which had their opportunity during the reign of Michael because the emperor was more concerned with other things than willing to look into such matters. 20 But rather, since I have come to this point in my account, I think it necessary to pause for a little the history concerning the emperor Basil, and taking it up from the beginning to declare in brief, as far as possible, what the life of the emperor Michael was like and in what things he rejoiced and on what he spent his time and all his effort and the public funds, so that from this anyone who wishes may be able to know by reasoning that it was clearly a divine decree that had called Basil to rule (for it was impossible for affairs to hold together as they were) and that after this, Michael himself sharpened the swords against himself and whetted the right hands of those who killed him and incited them to his own slaughter; so much did he estrange himself from his duties, and so much did he rave for every 243 lawless act, and thus he danced away the divine things and outraged the laws of the state and of nature alike. For having gathered around himself an impious chorus of licentious and defiled and utterly wicked men, and having dishonored the gravity of the imperial majesty, in revels and drunkennesses and licentious loves and shameful stories, and furthermore in charioteers and horses and chariots and the madness and derangement of mind resulting from these the wretched man spent his days, and he lavishly emptied the public funds on such men. And the most dreadful thing, that mocking and deriding the very symbols of our faith, having set up counterparts of the venerable priests from the mimes and buffoons around him, he made these things an object of scorn and mockery and laughter. I will relate some of these things, not many, so that from the few you may know the rest. 21 That he was a charioteer and driver, sitting on the chariot-board of the horses in a charioteer's costume and competing against his rivals in the race-courses both inside the capital and the palaces, and outside at the imperial residences in the area of the martyr Mamas, and that he spent very much money on these things, with the military becoming spectators, and the Roman wealth was poured out from the military ranks into theatrical dances and clubs, and the imperial treasures were profligately and profusely carried off for licentious and 244 lawless revels and dissolute loves, since it is well-known and manifest to all, I think I will pass it over; but that he made a mockery of divine things, and from the

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ἐκπέμπεται, ὁ δὲ Πηγάνης καὶ αὐτὸς τῇ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ὑποπεσὼν ἐκκοπῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν ῥινῶν διὰ ξίφους ἀνατομῇ, πρὸς ἐξορίαν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀποστέλλεται· ους ὁ γενναῖος βασιλεὺς Βασίλειος, οτε τὴν μόναρχον ἐξουσίαν ἐδέξατο, καὶ τῆς ὑπερορίας ἀνεκαλέσατο καὶ ταῖς πρὸ τῆς ἀποστασίας δωρεαῖς ἐφι- λοτιμήσατο, καὶ μηδὲ ιχνος μνησικακίας πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐνδειξάμενος καὶ ὁμοδιαίτους πολλάκις ἐποιεῖτο καὶ λόγοις παρεμυθεῖτο, καὶ εργοις εὐεργετῶν ῥᾷον αὐτοὺς ἐποίει φέρειν τὸ τῆς ἀνοίας ἀτύ- χημα. ̓Αλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν υστερον· τότε δὲ καὶ ἡ πρὸ πεντήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων ἐτῶν πρόρρησις καὶ προφητεία τὸ τέλος ἐλάμβανεν ̓Ισαὰκ τοῦ διορατικωτάτου τῶν ἱερέων καὶ μοναχῶν, ος ἐξ ̓Αρσα-κιδῶν καὶ αὐτὸς καταγόμενος δι' ὁράματος εμαθεν οτι μετὰ τοσοῦ- τον χρόνον τὸν μεταξὺ ἐκ τῶν ἀπογόνων ̓Αρσάκου μέλλει τις ἐπὶ τὰ τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς βασιλείας σκῆπτρα ἀναβιβάζεσθαι. γίνεται δὲ 242 κατ' εὐχὴν τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῖς τε ἐν τέλει καὶ τῷ δήμῳ παντὶ καὶ στρατοπέδῳ καὶ στρατηγοῖς καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνὰ πάσαις ταῖς χώραις καὶ πόλεσιν απασι πλήθεσι· πάντες γὰρ ἐπιστῆναι τοῖς πράγμασιν ηυχοντο ανδρα καὶ τῆς ἐλάττονος τύχης πεῖραν δεξάμενον καὶ ἐγνωκότα τοὺς κατὰ τῶν πενήτων ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων κονδυλι- σμοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀδίκους ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀφαιρέσεις καὶ τὰς ωσπερ ἀνα- στάσεις τῶν ταπεινοτέρων καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἀνδραπο- δισμούς, α πάντα ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ Μιχαὴλ βασιλείας εσχε καιρὸν διὰ τὸ πρὸς αλλοις μᾶλλον ειναι τὸν βασιλέα η περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐθέ- λειν σκοπεῖν. 20 Μᾶλλον δέ, ἐπεὶ ἐνταῦθα τοῦ λόγου ἐγενόμην, οιο- μαι δεῖν τὴν μὲν κατὰ τὸν βασιλέα Βασίλειον ἱστορίαν σχολάσαι ἐπὶ μικρόν, ανωθεν δὲ ἀναλαβόντα δηλῶσαι διὰ βραχέων, ὡς οιόν τε, οιος ην ὁ βίος τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ καὶ οιοις πράγμασιν εχαιρε καὶ ἐπὶ τίσι τὸν χρόνον καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ σπουδὴν καὶ τὰ δημόσια κατανήλισκε χρήματα, ιν' ἐντεῦθεν εἰδέναι λογιζόμε- νος εχοι πᾶς ὁ βουλόμενος οτι καὶ τὸν Βασίλειον θεία ψῆφος σα- φῶς ην ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ αρχειν καλέσασα (ἀδύνατον γὰρ ην ὡς ειχεν εχοντα συστῆναι τὰ πράγματα) καὶ οτι μετὰ ταῦτα αὐτὸς ὁ Μι- χαὴλ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ ξίφη ἠκόνησε καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀνελόντων αὐτὸν ἐστόμωσε δεξιὰς καὶ εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν σφαγὴν διηρέθισε· τοσοῦτον ἑαυτὸν τῶν καθηκόντων ἐξεδιῄτησε, καὶ τοσοῦτον πρὸς πᾶσαν 243 παράνομον ἐξεβακχεύθη πρᾶξιν, καὶ ουτως τά τε θεῖα ἐξωρχήσατο καὶ πρὸς τοὺς τῆς πολιτείας ὁμοῦ καὶ τῆς φύσεως νόμους ἐξύβρι- σεν. συστησάμενος γὰρ περὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀσελγῶν καὶ μιαρῶν καὶ παμπονήρων ἀνθρώπων χορὸν δυσσεβῆ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ μεγέθους ἀτιμάσας σεμνότητα, περὶ κώμους καὶ μέθας καὶ ερω- τας ἀσελγεῖς καὶ αἰσχρὰ διηγήματα, ετι δὲ περὶ ἡνιόχους καὶ ιπ- πους καὶ αρματα καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν μανίαν καὶ παρακοπὴν τῶν φρενῶν ὁ αθλιος διημέρευε, καὶ εἰς τοὺς τοιούτους ἀνθρώπους ἀφειδῶς ἐξεκένου τὰ δημόσια χρήματα. καὶ τὸ δὴ σχετλιώτατον, οτι καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν σύμβολα χλευάζων καὶ κερτο- μῶν, ἀντιτύπους τῶν σεμνῶν ἱερέων ἐκ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν μίμων καὶ γελοίων καταστησάμενος, μυκτηρισμὸν καὶ χλεύην ἐτίθει ταῦτα καὶ γέλωτα. διηγήσομαι δέ τινα ἐξ αὐτῶν, οὐ πολλά, ινα ἀπὸ τῶν ὀλίγων γνῶτε καὶ τὰ λοιπά. 21 Οτι μὲν ουν ἁρματηλάτης καὶ ἡνίοχος ην, ἐπὶ τοῦ δίφρου τῶν ιππων μεθ' ἡνιόχου στολῆς καθεζόμενος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς διαύλους τῶν δρόμων τοῖς ἀντιτέχνοις διαμιλλώμενος ενδον τε τῆς βασιλευούσης καὶ τῶν βασιλείων καὶ εξω κατὰ τὰ ἐν τῷ τοῦ μάρτυρος Μάμαντος βασιλικὰ ἐνδιαιτήματα, καὶ οτι πάμπολλα χρήματα εἰς ταῦτα ἀνήλισκε, θεωρικῶν γενομένων τῶν στρατιω- τικῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμικῶν τάξεων εἰς τὰς θυμελικὰς ὀρχήσεις καὶ λέσχας ὁ ̔Ρωμαϊκὸς ἐξεχεῖτο πλοῦτος, καὶ εἰς ἀσελγεῖς καὶ 244 παρανόμους βακχείας καὶ ερωτας ἀσώτους ἀσώτως καὶ ῥύδην ἐξε- φοροῦντο οἱ βασιλικοὶ θησαυροί, ὡς πᾶσι γνώριμον καὶ καταφανὲς καθεστὼς παρήσειν μοι δοκῶ· οτι δὲ τὰ θεῖα κατέπαιζε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν