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especially zealous and preachers. The empress therefore resolved to convert390 these from heresy to orthodoxy and sent men from among the most distinguished to hasten this. But they, having handled the matter clumsily and ineptly, not only made their effort fruitless, but also forced the whole nation, many myriads strong, to rush into apostasy. Which, mingling with those of Ishmael, campaigned with them against the Romans, and became the cause of many disasters for them. But the emperor Michael, having passed his boyhood and now being counted among the young men, was vexed at seeing the administration of the empire in the hands of others, and was also incited by his maternal uncle Bardas to a love of sole rule; and he too was one of Michael’s regents. When a dispute once arose between the magister Manuel and the logothete of the drome Theoktistos (and both happened to be co-regents of the emperor), Manuel withdrew from the palace (for he was living there) and moved to his own house and from there went to the palace and attended to administrative duties. This seemed most pleasing to Bardas; at any rate, it was his earnest desire to get rid of Theoktistos 391 as well; for he was aspiring to the throne and feared this man as one who would oppose him in the matter. The emperor, then, had a tutor, a certain vile and wicked little man, whom the emperor desired to honor with one of the more brilliant dignities, and made a request to his mother about this. But Theoktistos said that the tutor should not be honored with a dignity greater than his own station, so that the dignities might not be dishonored. From this, Theoktistos was an object of hatred to the tutor. Bardas therefore made this the foundation of his own endeavor and through the tutor he sounded various slanders into the emperor’s ears and he irritated his fickleness against Theoktistos and finally he suggested that he get rid of him. And this would not be accomplished otherwise, unless the man were killed; for while he was alive the empress would both cling to him and protect him. So when the man’s death had been decided, he was watched for as he was coming out from the empress’s chambers (for he was reporting to her about both reports and administrative matters) and as he was coming out from there they set the slayer upon him. But he, seeing the naked sword raised against him, 392 ducked under a stool, and the slayer thrust the sword against his belly, with Bardas having drawn his sword and brandishing it and threatening to strike anyone who would defend the dying man. Theoktistos, then, was killed as has been said; but the empress, when she learned what had happened, rushed out of the chamber, wailing and reviling her son and her brother, and cursing them both to end their lives in such a fashion. But Bardas, adding evil to evil and managing things for his own design, also advised that the empress Theodora herself be brought down from the palace. But she, understanding what was planned, chose not to resist, so that massacres of men might not occur. And having summoned the members of the council, "I for my part," she said, "am withdrawing from the palace; but so that the emperor may not be able to say that he has found the palace treasuries empty of treasures, for this reason I am declaring to you what has been treasured up;" and at once she ordered the treasurers to state 393 the amount of the gold and silver. They stated that they had one thousand and ninety centenaria of gold, and about three thousand centenaria of silver. And the empress said, "In addition to these, much other wealth of all kinds has also been treasured up;" and having said these things, she departed from the palace. But Michael, having become master of sole rule, quickly squandered so great a wealth, squandering it on mimes and flatterers and charioteers, and emptying it out, as the saying goes, by whole wagonloads. When the treasuries had been emptied, and the time arrived for the distribution belonging to the dignities, and he did not have the means from which to make it, the golden plane tree and the two lions and the many griffins and the organs, all wrought from gold, being an ornament of the empire, and inspiring astonishment in those from foreign nations, having melted them down, he gave them for the

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σπουδαστὰ διαφερόντως καὶ κήρυκε. καὶ τούτους τοίνυν ἡ βασιλὶς εἰς νοῦν ἐβάλετο μετ390 αγαγεῖν εἰς ὀρθοδοξίαν ἐκ τῆς αἱρέσεως καὶ στέλλει τοὺς τοῦτο σπεύσοντας ἄνδρας τῶν ἐπιφανεστέρων. οἱ δὲ ἀδεξίως τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἀφυῶς μεταχειρισάμενοι οὐ μόνον ἀνήνυτον ἔθεντο τὴν σπουδήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἀποστασίαν ὁρμῆσαι τὸ γένος ὅλον εἰς μυριάδας πολλὰς ἐβιάσαντο. ὃ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσμαὴλ συμμιγνύμενον κατὰ Ῥωμαίων σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐστρατεύετο, καὶ πολλῶν γέγονεν αὐτοῖς αἴτιον συμφορῶν. Ὁ δέ γε βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ τὸν μείρακα παρελάσας καὶ νεανίσκοις ἄρτι καταλεγόμενος ἤσχαλλε παρ' ἄλλοις τὴν τῆς βασιλείας βλέπων διοίκησιν, ἠρέθιστο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦ πρὸς μητρὸς θείου τοῦ Βάρδα τῆς αὐταρχίας πρὸς ἔρωτα· εἷς δ' ἦν καὶ οὗτος τῶν ἐπιτρόπων τοῦ Μιχαήλ. διαφορᾶς δέ ποτε τῷ μαγίστρῳ Μανουὴλ γενομένης πρὸς τὸν λογοθέτην τοῦ δρόμου Θεόκτιστον (καὶ ἄμφω δὲ συνεπιτρόπω τοῦ βασιλέως ἐτυγχανέτην), ὁ Μανουὴλ τῶν ἀνακτόρων ὑποχωρεῖ (ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖ διαιτώμενος) καὶ εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον οἶκον μεταχωρεῖ κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια ἀπιὼν τῶν διοικήσεων εἴχετο. τοῦτο τῷ Βάρδᾳ θυμηρέστατον ἔδοξεν· ἀποσκευάσασθαι γοῦν καὶ τὸν Θεόκτιστον 391 διὰ σπουδῆς αὐτῷ ἦν· βασιλειῶν γὰρ ἐδεδοίκει τοῦτον ὥς οἱ πρὸς τοὖργον ἀντιστησόμενον. τῷ βασιλεῖ τοίνυν παιδαγωγὸς ἦν, ἀνδράριόν τι φαῦλον καὶ πονηρόν, ὃν δι' ἐφέσεως εἶχεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀξιώματι τῶν λαμπροτέρων τιμῆσαί τινι, καὶ ἐποιεῖτο περὶ τούτου πρὸς τὴν μητέρα ἀξίωσιν. ὁ δὲ Θεόκτιστος μὴ δεῖν ἔλεγε μείζονι τὸν παιδαγωγὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ καταστάσεως τιμηθῆναι τιμῇ, ἵνα μὴ ἀτιμοῖντο τὰ ἀξιώματα. ἐντεῦθεν δι' ἔχθρας ἦν τῷ παιδαγωγῷ ὁ Θεόκτιστος. τοῦτο τοίνυν ὁ Βάρδας τῆς οἰκείας σπουδῆς προυστήσατο σύστασιν καὶ διὰ τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ ποικίλας διαβολὰς ἐνήχει τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως ὠσὶ καὶ τὴν ἐλαφρίαν αὐτοῦ κατὰ τοῦ Θεοκτίστου ὑπέκνιζε καὶ τέλος ἐκ μέσου αὐτὸν ποιήσασθαι ὑποτίθησι. τοῦτο δὲ μὴ ἂν ἄλλως γενήσεσθαι ἀνυστόν, εἰ μὴ ἀναιρεθείη ὁ ἄνθρωπος· ζῶντος γὰρ ἀνθέξεσθαί τε αὐτοῦ τὴν βασιλίδα καὶ περιέξεσθαι. ὡς γοῦν ὁ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς κεκύρωτο θάνατος, ἐπιτετήρητο ἐκ τῶν τῆς βασιλίδος ἐξιὼν θαλάμων (ἦν γὰρ ἀναφέρων αὐτῇ περὶ ἀναφορῶν τε καὶ διοικήσεων) κἀκεῖθεν ἐξιόντι καθιᾶσιν αὐτῷ τὸν σφαγέα. ὁ δὲ γυμνὸν ἰδὼν τὸ ξίφος ἠρμένον καθ' ἑαυτοῦ, 392 σκάμνον εἰσέδυ, καὶ ὁ σφαγεὺς κατὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ γαστρὸς τὸ ξίφος ὠθεῖ, καὶ τοῦ Βάρδα ξίφος ἐσπασμένου καὶ ἀνασείοντος καὶ ἀπειλοῦντος πλήξειν αὐτῷ τὸν ἀμυνοῦντα τῷ θνήσκοντι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Θεόκτιστος ἀνῄρητο ὥσπερ εἴρηται· ἡ δέ γε βασιλὶς ὡς ἔγνω τὸ γεγονός, ἐξέθορε τοῦ θαλάμου γοωμένη καὶ τῷ υἱῷ λοιδορουμένη καὶ τῷ ὁμαίμονι, ἐπαρωμένη τε καὶ ἀμφοῖν τοιούτῳ τέλει τὸν βίον ὑπεξελθεῖν. ὁ δὲ Βάρδας ἐπισυνάπτων κακὸν τῷ κακῷ καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν μελέτην οἰκονομούμενος, καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν βασιλίδα Θεοδώραν συνεβούλευσε τῶν ἀνακτόρων κατενεγκεῖν. ἡ δὲ συνεῖσα τὸ βουλευόμενον ἀντιστῆναι οὐχ ᾑρετίσατο, ἵνα μὴ σφαγαὶ ἀνθρώπων συμβῶσι. μεταπεμψαμένη δέ γε τοὺς τῆς βουλῆς, "αὐτὴ μέν" ἔφη "τῶν βασιλείων ἐξίσταμαι· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἔχῃ λέγειν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὡς κενὰ θησαυρῶν τὰ ταμιεῖα εὕρηκε τὰ βασίλεια, διὰ τοῦτο ὑμῖν τὰ τεθησαυρισμένα δηλῶ·" καὶ αὐτίκα τοὺς ταμίας εἰπεῖν ἐκέλευε 393 τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀργύρου τὸν ἀριθμόν. οἱ δὲ χίλια μὲν καὶ ἐνενήκοντα χρυσίου ἔχειν κεντηνάρια κατετίθεντο, ἀργύρου δὲ ὡσεὶ τρισχίλια κεντηνάρια. ἡ δὲ βασιλίς "πρὸς τούτοις" ἔφη "καὶ ἄλλος πλοῦτος πολὺς καὶ παντοδαπὸς τεθησαύρισται·" καὶ ταῦτα εἰποῦσα τῶν ἀνακτόρων ἀπῆλθεν. Ὁ δέ γε Μιχαὴλ τῆς αὐταρχίας ἐγκρατὴς γεγονὼς ταχὺ τὸν τοσοῦτον διεσκόρπισε πλοῦτον, μίμοις καὶ κόλαξι καὶ ἡνιόχοις τοῦτον καταπροέμενος καὶ ὅλαις ἁμάξαις, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, αὐτὸν ἐκκενῶν. ὃς ἐπεὶ τὰ ταμιεῖα κεκένωτο, ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ἐφίστατο τῆς τοῖς ἀξιώμασιν ἀνηκούσης διανομῆς, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν ὅθεν ταύτην ποιήσεται, τὴν πλάτανον τὴν χρυσῆν καὶ τοὺς διττοὺς λέοντας καὶ τοὺς τοσούτους γρῦπας καὶ τὰ ὄργανα, ἐκ χρυσοῦ ἅπαντα εἰργασμένα, εἰς κόσμον ὄντα τῆς βασιλείας, ἔκπληξιν δ' ἐμποιοῦντα τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν, χωνεύσας δέδωκεν εἰς τὸ