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Being hard-pressed, they asked the emperor for amnesty for their offenses, and having obtained it, they bound Thomas and handed him over to Michael. But he cut off his hands and feet and, having mounted him on a donkey, celebrated the dishonorable triumph. Then he inquired about his fellow conspirators, and Thomas would have revealed many, had not Hexaboulios the patrician checked the emperor's impulse, saying that one ought not to trust enemies against friends. But Thomas, being subjected to one torture after another, ended his life most violently. And his adopted son, having fled to the small town of Bizye, was bound by the inhabitants of the fortress and brought before the emperor, and having been punished in the same way as his supposed father, he too violently gave up his life. 347 The revolt of Thomas, therefore, was quelled in this way. But the coastal cities of Thrace, even after he was gone, still held to the rebellion, and more than the others Panion and Perinthos (for thus Heraclea was formerly named) out of hatred for the emperor. But Panion was captured when its wall fell in an earthquake, while Heraclea was taken by sea. Having accomplished these things, therefore, Michael returned bearing trophies, and while a hippic contest was being held, he brought those who had collaborated in the usurpation with Thomas into the theater seated on donkeys and condemned them to exile, punishing them no further, except for two men, Choireas and Gazarenos, who refused to surrender the fortresses they held even after the downfall of Thomas; these he captured, impaled, and killed. While the Roman forces were occupied, then, with the rebellion of Thomas and the civil wars, the Agarenes of the west, who inhabit the gulf of Iberia 348 and are called Spaniards, finding complete opportunity, approached their own leader, whom they call an amermoumnes, and asked to be sent out as a colony, being straitened for room because of their numbers. And he consented, and taking them with him, he sailed away with triremes, going about and plundering the islands under Roman rule. But when he came to Crete and recognized its great fertility, he sent out the majority for plunder, while he himself, with a few men, supposedly left behind to guard the ships, set fire to them and burned them all. And when the Agarenes were thrown into confusion by this and sought the reason, Apochaps (for so their leader was named) said, "You asked for a colony; behold, then, a land flowing with milk and honey, and taking possession of it, settle here." And when they said, "And where are our dear ones?" Apochaps replied, "Here there are women, from whom you will also have children before long." Persuaded by these words, the men of Hagar brought the island under their control and enslaved the natives. at which time also Cyril, the bishop of Gortyn, having contended for Christ, received the crown of martyrdom. 349 And when the emperor's wife died, he pretended openly that he did not wish to enter into a second marriage, but secretly he sent messages to the leading men of the senate, asking to be urged by them to take another partner in life. and the pretext was plausible; for they said it was terrible for us to be ruled by you, while our own wives were deprived of an empress. And at first, feigning reluctance, he did not accept their request; but as they insisted, he demanded pledges from them, if they wished him to take an empress, that even after his death they would have her as empress and would honor the children born to him from her as emperors. And when the members of the senate promised this to him in writing, he too pretended to be persuaded by them and took to wife a certain woman, said to be the daughter of the emperor Constantine, whom his mother, as has already been said before, had blinded. She had been tonsured long before and on the island of Prinkipos had been enrolled from her first shearing among the nuns practicing there 350; and the woman's name was Euphrosyne. And when the patriarch Theodotos died, who had impiously held sway over the church for six years, Antony was appointed, to whom

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πιεζόμενοι ἀμνηστίαν τῶν ἐπταισμένων ἐκ τοῦ βασιλέως ᾐτήσαντο καὶ ταύτης τυχόντες δεσμοῦσι τὸν Θωμᾶν καὶ παραδιδόασι τῷ Μιχαήλ. ὁ δὲ ἀφαιρεῖται αὐτοῦ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας καὶ ὄνῳ ἐπιβιβάσας θριαμβεύει τὸν ἄτιμον θρίαμβον. εἶτα περὶ συνιστόρων πυνθάνεται, καὶ πολλοὺς ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἐξέφηνεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Ἑξαβούλιος ὁ πατρίκιος τὴν ὁρμὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀνέκοψε, φάμενος μὴ χρῆναι πιστεύειν κατὰ τῶν φίλων ἐχθροῖς. ὁ δέ γε Θωμᾶς ἄλλοτε ἄλλαις τιμωρίαις ὑποβαλλόμενος βιαιότατα κατέλυσε τὴν ζωήν. καὶ ὁ τούτου δὲ εἰσποιητὸς υἱὸς εἰς τὸ τῆς Βιζύης πολίχνιον προσφυγών, παρὰ τῶν οἰκούντων τὸ φρούριον δεθεὶς προσήχθη τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ ὁμοίως τῷ πεπλασμένῳ πατρὶ κολασθεὶς βιαίως καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπέρρηξε τὴν ψυχήν. 347 ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Θωμᾶ ἐπανάστασις τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον κατηύναστο. αἱ δὲ Θρᾳκικαὶ πόλεις αἱ πάραλοι κἀκείνου παρελθόντος ἔτι τῆς στάσεως εἴχοντο, καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων τὸ Πάνιον καὶ ἡ Πείρινθος (οὕτω γὰρ πάλαι ὠνόμαστο ἡ Ἡράκλεια) μίσει τῷ πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν Πάνιον σεισμῷ τοῦ τείχους αὐτοῦ πεσόντος ἑάλω, ἡ δ' Ἡράκλεια διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης γέγονεν ἁλωτή. ταῦτα τοίνυν κατορθώσας ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἐπάνεισι τροπαιοφορῶν καὶ ἱππικοῦ τελουμένου ἀγῶνος τοὺς τῷ Θωμᾷ τὴν τυραννίδα συμπράξαντας ὄνοις ἐφεζομένους εἰσαγαγὼν εἰς τὸ θέατρον ὑπερορίαν αὐτῶν κατεδίκασε, μή τι πλέον κολάσας αὐτούς, εἰ μὴ δύο τινὰς τὸν Χοιρέαν καὶ τὸν Ζαγορηνόν, μὴ πειθομένους μηδὲ μετὰ τὴν κατάλυσιν τοῦ Θωμᾶ παραδοῦναι τὰ φρούρια, ἃ κατεῖχον, ἑλὼν καὶ ἀνασκολοπίσας ἀπέκτεινε. Τῇ γοῦν ἀποστασίᾳ τῇ τοῦ Θωμᾶ καὶ τοῖς ἐμφυλίοις πολέμοις τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἀσχολουμένων δυνάμεων ἄδειαν εὑρηκότες πᾶσαν οἱ πρὸς ἑσπέραν Ἀγαρηνοί, οἳ τὸν τῆς Ἰβηρίας 348 οἰκοῦσι κόλπον καὶ λέγονται Ἰσπανοί, τῷ σφετέρῳ προσίασιν ἀρχηγῷ, ὃν αὐτοὶ καλοῦσιν ἀμερμουμνῆν, καὶ ᾐτοῦντο ἀποικίαν στείλασθαι, διὰ πλῆθος στενοχωρούμενοι. κἀκεῖνος κατένευσε, καὶ τούτους παραλαβὼν σὺν τριήρεσιν ἀπέπλευσε, τὰς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους νήσους περιιών τε καὶ ληιζόμενος. ὡς δ' ἧκε καὶ εἰς τὴν Κρήτην καὶ τὸ ταύτης ἔγνωκε πάμφορον, τοὺς μὲν πλείστους εἰς λείαν ἐκπέπομφεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετ' ὀλίγων εἰς φυλακὴν δῆθεν παραλειφθεὶς τῶν νηῶν πῦρ ἐνέβαλε κατ' αὐτῶν καὶ πάσας ἐνέπρησε. τεθορυβημένων δὲ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ζητούντων, ὁ Ἀπόχαψ (οὕτω γὰρ ὁ σφῶν ὠνόμαστο ἀρχηγός) "ἀποικίαν ᾐτεῖσθε" φησίν· "ἰδοὺ τοίνυν χώρα ῥέουσα μέλι καὶ γάλα καὶ ταύτην κατασχόντες οἰκήσατε." ἐκείνων δὲ εἰπόντων "καὶ τὰ φίλτατα ποῦ;" ὁ Ἀπόχαψ "ἐνταῦθα γυναῖκές εἰσιν" ἀνθυπήνεγκεν, "ἐξ ὧν γενήσονται καὶ παῖδες ὑμῖν οὐ μετὰ μακρόν." τούτοις πεισθέντες οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἄγαρ τήν τε νῆσον ὑφ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐποιήσαντο καὶ τοὺς αὐθιγενεῖς ἐδουλώσαντο. ὅτε καὶ Κύριλλος ὁ Γορτύνης ἐπίσκοπος ἀθλήσας ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρίου κεκόμιστο στέφανον. 349 Θανούσης δὲ τῆς συζύγου τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐκεῖνος ὑπεκρίνετο μὲν ἐς τὸ προφανὲς δευτέροις ὁμιλῆσαι γάμοις μὴ βούλεσθαι, κρύβδην δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐξόχους τῆς γερουσίας διεπέμπετο ἀξιοῦσθαι παρ' αὐτῶν ἑτέραν τοῦ βίου κοινωνὸν εἰσοικίσασθαι. καὶ ἡ σκῆψις ὡς εὐπρεπής· δεινὸν γὰρ ἔφασαν εἶναι ἡμᾶς μὲν βασιλεύεσθαι παρὰ σοῦ, τὰς δ' ἡμῶν συνοίκους βασιλίδος στερίσκεσθαι. ὁ δὲ πρότερον μὲν ἀκκιζόμενος τὴν ἀξίωσιν οὐ προσίετο· λιπαρούντων δ' ἐκείνων πίστεις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπῄτει, εἰ βούλοιντο ἀγαγέσθαι αὐτὸν βασιλίδα, ὡς καὶ μετὰ θάνατον αὐτοῦ βασίλισσαν ταύτην ἕξουσι καὶ τὰ ἐκ ταύτης αὐτῷ φυησόμενα ὡς βασιλέας τιμήσουσι. ταῦτα δὲ τῶν τῆς συγκλήτου ἐγγράφως αὐτῷ ἐπαγγειλαμένων, κἀκεῖνος αὐτοῖς προσεποιήσατο πείθεσθαι καὶ εἰσοικίζεται γυναῖκά τινα, θυγατέρα λεγομένην γενέσθαι τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος Κωνσταντίνου, ὃν ἡ μήτηρ, ὡς ἤδη ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, ἐξετύφλωσεν. ἦν δ' αὕτη κεκαρμένη πρὸ πλείονος καὶ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ Πρίγκιπος ταῖς ἀσκουμέναις ἐκεῖ 350 μοναχαῖς ἐκ πρώτης τριχὸς συγκατείλεκτο, καὶ ἡ κλῆσις τῇ γυναικὶ Εὐφροσύνη. Τοῦ πατριάρχου δὲ Θεοδότου θανόντος, ὃς ἓξ ἔτη ἀσεβῶς τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκράτησεν, Ἀντώνιος προεχειρίσθη, ᾧ