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he would first take the Bulgarian prisoners; and having taken them, he did not make a truce. So the emperor used both the eastern and western regiments, which had come together, against the Bulgarians, but they were all defeated when they attacked Symeon. And so matters concerning the Bulgarians went this way. But the emperor, while in some country estates with Zoe, the daughter of Zaoutzes, was plotted against by certain men. But when Zoe perceived the plot from a noise and woke the sleeping emperor, he immediately returned to the palace and thus escaped the plot. And with the empress Theophano having recently died, the emperor proclaimed the aforementioned Zoe as Augusta and made his former concubine his lawful wife, who enjoyed her good fortune for only a short time; for having survived in the reign for one year and eight months, she died. And again another plot 445 is reported to the emperor, which Basil the epektes, who happened to be the nephew of Zaoutzes, was planning. He communicated the secret to the eunuch Samonas, after he had first confirmed by oaths that he would keep what was to be said unspoken. Now Samonas was of Saracen origin, and having learned of the plot against the ruler, he immediately revealed the secret to him. And Basil and the accomplices of the plot were arrested, and Samonas was honored as protospatharios and became an intimate of the emperor. Leo took a third wife, who was called Eudokia, and she drew her lineage from the Opsikion theme and was of extraordinary beauty. But she too lived with the emperor for only a short time; for having conceived and being about to give birth, she died along with the child that was born. But this emperor, having a desire to have a child, and indeed having had this revealed to him by an oracle (for he was a lover of all kinds of wisdom, even of that secret kind which foretells the future through incantations, and he was occupied with the movements of the stars and pursued the predictive science derived from them, and he found that he would have a son as successor to the empire) 446 he takes a fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina. He did not, however, immediately bestow upon her the dignity of the empress, but she lived with him for a considerable time uncrowned, until a child was born to the emperor from her, who was deemed worthy of baptism by the Patriarch Nicholas the Mystic. For after Antony had survived *** years on the throne of Constantinople and had passed away, Nicholas the Mystic was ordained patriarch. And after the birth of his son, whom the emperor named Constantine, he also proclaimed his consort empress. On account of the fourth marriage, Leo was excommunicated by the patriarch. And honoring his first wife, the blessed Theophano, he erected a shrine in her name very near the church of the Holy Apostles, in which he also laid her body. And in the name of Saint Lazarus he built another church, in which he also deposited his holy body, brought from Cyprus, and indeed also that of Mary Magdalene. And while the sailors were occupied with the buildings and the fleet was not sailing, the Saracen navy 447 sacked Taormina and seized the island of Lemnos, and a great slaughter of people occurred among them. And when a procession of the emperor to the church of Saint Mocius took place at Pentecost, this emperor made the procession according to custom; and as the emperor was already approaching the rails of the sanctuary, a certain man rushed out from the ambo holding a very heavy staff in his hands and brought it down upon the imperial head; and he would have crushed it, had not the staff, striking the hanging lamp, been deprived thereby of the violence of its descent. For the time being, however, the blood flowing down from the emperor’s head caused a commotion among the officials; and because Alexander, the emperor’s brother, was not present there, the suspicion prevailed among the majority that he was not uninvolved in the plot. And the one who committed the daring act, having been subjected to tortures and having revealed no accomplice, had his hands and feet cut off and finally was handed over to the fire. The

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αἰχμαλώτους Βουλγάρους λήψοιτο πρότερον· καὶ τούτους λαβὼν οὐκ ἐσπείσατο. ὁ γοῦν βασιλεὺς τοῖς τε τάγμασι τοῖς ἑῴοις καὶ τοῖς ἑσπερίοις ὁμοῦ συνελθοῦσι κατὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἐχρήσατο, ἀλλ' ἡττήθησαν ἅπαντα τῷ Συμεὼν προσβαλόντα. καὶ τὰ μὲν τῶν Βουλγάρων τοῦτον εἶχε τὸν τρόπον. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐν ἀγροῖς τισι τῇ τοῦ Ζαούτζη συνὼν θυγατρὶ τῇ Ζωῇ ἐπεβουλεύθη παρά τινων. αἰσθομένης δὲ τῆς Ζωῆς ἐκ θροῦ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ διυπνισάσης τὸν βασιλέα κοιμώμενον, αὐτίκα ἐκεῖνος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια καὶ οὕτω διέφυγε τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. ἄρτι δὲ τῆς βασιλίδος θανούσης Θεοφανοῦς τὴν εἰρημένην Ζωὴν ὁ βασιλεὺς Αὐγούσταν ἀνηγόρευσε καὶ νόμιμον ἔθετο γαμετὴν τὴν πρὶν αὐτοῦ παλλακήν, ἣ ἐπ' ὀλίγον τῆς εὐτυχίας ἀπώνατο· ἐνιαυτὸν γὰρ ἕνα ἐπὶ μησὶν ὀκτὼ τῇ βασιλείᾳ ἐπιβιώσασα τέθνηκεν. ἑτέρα δ' αὖθις ἐπιβουλὴ 445 μηνύεται τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἣν ἐμελέτα ἐπείκτης Βασίλειος, τοῦ Ζαούτζη τυγχάνων ἀνεψιός. ὃς τὸ ἀπόρρητον τῷ ἐκτομίᾳ Σαμωνᾷ ἐκοινώσατο, ὅρκοις πρότερον βεβαιώσαντι ὡς ἀνέκφορον τηρήσει τὸ λεχθησόμενον. ἦν δὲ ὁ Σαμωνᾶς ἐξ Ἀγαρηνῶν καὶ μαθὼν τὸ κατὰ τοῦ κρατοῦντος μελέτημα εὐθὺς ἐκφέρει πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸ μυστήριον. καὶ κατεσχέθη μὲν ὁ Βασίλειος καὶ οἱ συνίστορες τοῦ βουλεύματος, ὁ δὲ Σαμωνᾶς ἐτιμήθη πρωτοσπαθάριος καὶ ᾠκειώθη τῷ βασιλεῖ. Ἠγάγετο δὲ καὶ τρίτην ὁ Λέων εὐνέτειραν, ἣ Εὐδοκία μὲν ἐκαλεῖτο, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Ὀψικίου τὸ γένος εἷλκε καὶ τὴν ὥραν ἦν περιττή. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὕτη βραχύ τι συνεζήκει τῷ βασιλεῖ· συλλαβοῦσα γὰρ καὶ πρὸς τῷ τεκεῖν γενομένη σὺν τῷ τεχθέντι ἀπέθανεν. ἔχων δὲ δι' ἐφέσεως οὗτος ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ παῖδα ἐσχηκέναι, μᾶλλον μέντοι καὶ κεχρηματισμένον ἐσχηκὼς τοῦτο (ἦν γὰρ ἐραστὴς σοφίας παντοδαπῆς καὶ αὐτῆς δῆτα τῆς ἀπορρήτου, ἣ δι' ἐπῳδῶν μαντεύεται τὰ ἐσόμενα, καὶ περὶ τὰς τῶν ἀστέρων δ' ἐσχολάκει κινήσεις καὶ τὴν ἐκ τούτων ἀποτελεσματικὴν ἐπιστήμην μετήρχετο, καὶ εὕρισκεν ὡς ἕξει παῖδα τῆς βασιλείας 446 διάδοχον) καὶ τετάρτην ἄγεται γαμετὴν τὴν Καρβωνοψῖναν Ζωήν. οὐκ εὐθὺς μέντοι αὐτῇ τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας μετέδωκεν ἀξιώματος, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἱκανὸν αὐτῷ συμβιοῦσα ἦν ἀταινίωτος, μέχρις οὗ παιδίον ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐτέχθη τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου Νικολάου τοῦ θείου κατηξιώθη βαπτίσματος. τοῦ γὰρ Ἀντωνίου τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἐπιζήσαντος ἔτη *** καὶ μεταθεμένου τὴν ζωήν, ὁ μυστικὸς Νικόλαος πατριάρχης κεχειροτόνητο. μετὰ δὲ τὸν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ τοκετόν, ὃν Κωνσταντῖνον ὠνόμασεν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ τὴν σύνευνον αὐτοῦ ἀνηγόρευσε. διὰ γοῦν τὸν τέταρτον γάμον ἀφώριστο παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου ὁ Λέων. τιμῶν δὲ τὴν πρώτην αὐτοῦ γαμετὴν τὴν μακαρίαν Θεοφανὼ τέμενος ἀνήγειρεν εἰς ὄνομα ἐκείνης ἔγγιστα τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων ναοῦ, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν ἐκείνης κατέθετο. καὶ ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ ἁγίου Λαζάρου ναὸν ἐδείματο ἕτερον, εἰς ὃν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐκείνου σῶμα ἀπεθησαύρισεν ἐκ τῆς Κύπρου μετενεχθέν, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸ τῆς Μαγδαληνῆς Μαρίας. ἀσχολουμένων δὲ ταῖς οἰκοδομαῖς τῶν πλωίμων καὶ τοῦ στόλου μὴ πλέοντος, τὸ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ναυτικὸν 447 τὸ Ταυρομένιον ἐξεπόρθησε καὶ τὴν νῆσον κατέσχε Λῆμνον, καὶ πολλὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν αὐτοῖς συνέβη φθορά. Προόδου δὲ κατὰ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν γενομένης τοῦ βασιλεύοντος εἰς τὸν τοῦ ἁγίου Μωκίου ναὸν κατὰ τὸ ἔθος ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος ἐποιήσατο τὴν προέλευσιν· καί τις ἤδη ταῖς κιγκλίσι τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος πλησιάζοντος ἐξώρμησεν ἐκ τοῦ ἄμβωνος βάκτρον μετὰ χεῖρας ἔχων βαρύτατον καὶ κατὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐπήνεγκεν αὐτὸ κεφαλῆς· καὶ συνέτριψεν ἂν αὐτήν, εἰ μὴ τῇ ᾐωρημένῃ λυχνίᾳ προσαράξαν τὸ βάκτρον ἀφῄρητο ταύτῃ τῆς καταφορᾶς τὴν σφοδρότητα. τέως δ' οὖν αἷμα τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως κεφαλῆς καταρρέον θόρυβον τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἐνεποίησεν· ὅτι δ' οὐ παρῆν ἐκεῖ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτάδελφος, ὑπόληψις παρὰ τοῖς πλείοσιν ἐπεκράτησε τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς αὐτὸν μὴ εἶναι ἀμέθεκτον. ὁ δὲ τὸ τόλμημα ποιήσας βασάνοις ὑποβληθεὶς καὶ μηδένα μηνύσας συνίστορα χεῖρας ἀπετμήθη καὶ πόδας καὶ τέλος παρεδόθη πυρί. ὁ