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having made ready his right hand, may we all become his own murderers and be sated with his blood; but if he escapes refutation on the charges brought against him, for how long shall the slanderous tongue be strengthened against him?” Softened, then, by such words, the emperor ordered them to sit down for the time being, and promised to look into the matter, but not long after, returning to his nature, he brings him out of custody and into his sight, and changes his mourning garments, and orders the excess of hair that had grown in his grief to be cut, and restores to him his former rank and honor of the empire. 102 Not much time passed, and the emperor 352 falls ill with a wasting disease, from a subsequent diarrhea of the stomach, which had its beginning from some mishap during a hunt; and for the rest, he was gradually wasted away by such a consumption. And having arranged the affairs of the empire excellently and designated his heir, and having deliberated on the appropriate matters for each case and wisely defined them, he later departed this life when a burning fever flared up in him, which drew up and consumed all his vital moisture, having reigned as co-emperor with Michael before him for one year, and in other years having distinguished himself in the imperial rule of the empire for nineteen years, having arranged political affairs most excellently, and having conducted himself most nobly also in military matters, and having widened the borders of the empire, and having driven out injustice and violence from every subject, so that the Homeric testimony concerning the best king fits him, being 'both a good king and a mighty warrior'. And he who was called to his paternal inheritance both by nature and by virtue, and sought for by his subjects through prayers, Leo, the most gentle and most wise and the first of the still remaining sons, succeeds to the entire rule of power. And so the things concerning the pious reign of the renowned Basil, as many as have not been swept away by the streams of oblivion and have become faded by the intervening time, and his conduct before his reign, 353 and whatever the whole substance of his life contains, have been reported and recorded to the best of our ability, as the nature of truth held.

{1THE REIGN OF LEO THE EMPEROR. BOOK 7.}1

When Basil died, Leo his son reigned as emperor for years

twenty-five, months eight. And Stephen his brother, being a cleric and *synkellos*, was with the patriarch Photius, being raised and educated by him. The emperor therefore sent the *stratelates* Andrew to Chrysopolis and other senators with him with clergy and candles and chariots; and taking Michael from the tomb, they placed him in a coffin of cypress wood, and placing it on a bier, and having prepared it honorably and royally, they brought it into the city, and with hymns escorted him to the Holy Apostles, with his brothers also following there, and they laid him in a sarcophagus. 2 And after these things the emperor sent the same *stratelates* Andrew together with John Hagiopolites, who was a very learned man and had become logothete 354 of the drome, to the Hagia Sophia, who, having gone up on the ambo and read out the charges against the patriarch Photius for all to hear, brought him down from his throne, and they sent him into exile to the monastery of the Armonians, which is called 'of Bordon'. And he appointed Stephen the *synkellos*, his brother, as patriarch, having been consecrated by Theophanes the *protothronos*. And he lived as patriarch for six years and five months, and upon dying is buried in the monastery of Sikeon. 3 And the emperor Stylianos Zaoutzes, *magistros*

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εὐτρεπίσας τὴν δεξιάν, αὐτόχειρες αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες γενοίμεθα καὶ τοῦ αιματος αὐτοῦ κορεσθείημεν· εἰ δὲ ἐφ' οις ἐνεκλήθη διαφεύγει τὸν ελεγ- χον, μέχρι τίνος ἡ συκοφάντις γλῶσσα δυναμωθήσεται κατ' αὐ- τοῦ;" μαλακισθεὶς ουν τοῖς τοιούτοις τῶν λόγων ὁ βασιλεὺς τότε μὲν καθεσθῆναι τούτους προσέταξε, καὶ σκοπῆσαι περὶ τοῦ πρά- γματος ἐπηγγείλατο, μετ' οὐ πολὺ δὲ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ἐπανελθὼν ἐξάγει τε τῆς φρουρᾶς καὶ εἰς οψιν αγει αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν πένθιμον ἀμείβει στολήν, καὶ τὸ περιττὸν τῆς ἐν τῇ λύπῃ τραφείσης κόμης περιαιρεθῆναι κελεύει, καὶ τὴν προτέραν τῆς βασιλείας τάξιν καὶ τιμὴν ἀποδίδωσιν. 102 Οὐ πολὺ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ φθινάδι νόσῳ περιπίπτει 352 ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐκ διαρροίας παρακολουθησάσῃ γαστρός, η τὴν ἀρ- χὴν ὑπό τινος τῶν κατὰ θήραν παραπτώσεων ελαβεν· καὶ λοιπὸν κατ' ὀλίγον τῇ τοιαύτῃ τηκεδόνι κατεμαραίνετο. διαθεὶς δὲ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας αριστα καὶ τὸν κληρονόμον γνωρίσας, καὶ περὶ τῶν καθ' εκαστα τὰ εἰκότα βουλευσάμενός τε καὶ ἐμφρόνως διορισά- μενος, υστερον πυρετοῦ καυσώδους ἀναφλεγέντος αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ζωτικὴν ἰκμάδα ἀνιμωμένου καὶ ἀναλίσκοντος τὸν βίον ἀπέλιπε, συμβασιλεύσας μὲν τῷ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Μιχαὴλ χρόνον ενα, ἐν ἑτέροις δὲ χρόνοις ἐννεακαίδεκα περὶ τὴν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς βασιλείας δια- πρέψας ἀρχήν, αριστα μὲν τὰ πολιτικὰ διαθείς, κάλλιστα δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰ στρατιωτικὰ διαγεγονώς, καὶ πλατύνας μὲν τὰ ορια τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀδικίαν δὲ καὶ βίαν ἐξελάσας ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπηκόου παντός, ὡς καὶ τὴν ̔Ομηρικὴν περὶ τοῦ ἀρίστου βασιλέως μαρτυρίαν ἁρ- μόζειν αὐτῷ τὴν ἀμφότερον, βασιλεύς τ' ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τ' αἰχμητής. ∆ιαδέχεται δὲ τὴν ολην τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀρχὴν ὁ καὶ παρὰ τῆς φύσεως καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπὶ τὸν πατρῷον κλῆρον καλούμενος καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ὑπηκόου δι' εὐχῶν ἐπιζητούμενος, Λέων ὁ πραότα- τος καὶ σοφώτατος καὶ πρῶτος τῶν ετι περιλειπομένων υἱῶν. Καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς βασιλείας Βασιλείου τοῦ ἀοι- δίμου, οσα μὴ τῆς λήθης παρεσύρη ῥεύμασι καὶ τῷ διὰ μέσου χρόνῳ ἐξίτηλα γέγονε, καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας ἀγωγή,353 καὶ οσα ἡ τῆς ολης αὐτοῦ ζωῆς περιέχει ὑπόθεσις, κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν ἐφικτόν, καθὼς ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας ειχε φύσις, ἀπήγγελται καὶ ἱστόρηται.

{1ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ. ΛΟΓΟΣ Ζ.}1

Βασίλειος τελευτήσας, Λέων ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐβασί- λευσεν ετη

εικοσι πέντε, μῆνας ὀκτώ. Στέφανος δὲ ὁ αὐτοῦ ἀδελ- φὸς κληρικὸς ων καὶ σύγκελλος συνῆν τῷ πατριάρχῃ Φωτίῳ, ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀναγόμενός τε καὶ παιδευόμενος. ἀπέστειλεν ουν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν στρατηλάτην ̓Ανδρέαν ἐν τῇ Χρυσοπόλει καὶ αλλους συγκλητι- κοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ μετὰ κλήρου καὶ κηρῶν καὶ ἁρμάτων· καὶ ἐξαγα- γόντες τοῦ τάφου τὸν Μιχαὴλ ἐν γλωσσοκόμῳ κυπαρισσίνῳ κατέ- θεντο, καὶ ἐπὶ κραβάτου θέντες, ἐντίμως καὶ βασιλικῶς περι- στείλαντες, ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσήγαγον, καὶ μεθ' υμνων μέχρι τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων προέπεμψαν, ἑπομένων ἐκεῖσε καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφῶν, καὶ ἐν λάρνακι κατέθεντο. 2 Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν αὐτὸν στρατηλάτην ̓Ανδρέαν αμα ̓Ιωάννῃ ̔Αγιοπολίτῃ, λογίῳ πάνυ οντι καὶ λογοθέτῃ 354 τοῦ δρόμου γεγονότι, ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ Σοφίᾳ ἀπέστειλεν, οι ἐν τῷ αμ- βωνι ἀνελθόντες καὶ τὰς τοῦ πατριάρχου Φωτίου αἰτίας πάντων εἰς ἐπήκοον ἀναγνόντες τοῦτον τοῦ θρόνου κατήγαγον, καὶ ὑπερό- ριον αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν ̔Αρμονιανῶν τῇ ἐπονομαζομένῃ τοῦ Βόρδονος ἀνήγαγον. Στέφανον δὲ σύγκελλον τὸν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸν πατριάρχην προβάλλεται, ὑπὸ Θεοφάνους χειροτονηθέντα τοῦ πρωτοθρόνου. εζησεν δὲ πατριαρχῶν ετη εξ καὶ μῆνας πέντε, καὶ τελευτήσας θάπτεται ἐν τῇ μονῇ Σικεῶν. 3 ̔Ο δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸν Ζαοῦτζαν Στυλιανὸν μάγιστρον