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Michael is spoken of by his kinsman John the eunuch. For the man was clever and energetic and insincere in character and adapting himself to those he met, hasty and tireless in the mass of his cares, and neither given to gluttony nor indulging in unmixed wine (for he was overcome by wine) did he relax his zeal for public administration. And so matters concerning the empress were managed in this way; but Michael held fast to the management of public affairs. Then his illness grew worse, which some called a demonic wrath that had fallen upon him because of his perjury and was suffocating the man, as long ago it had Saul, but others called it ma588 dness and delirium. But the eunuch John undertook the entire governance of the empire, having long ago put on the monastic habit, but observing this only as far as the habit itself. But Constantine Dalassenos the patrikios, staying at home and learning about the new emperor, was indignant that the empire of the Romans had devolved upon such a man. This filled those around the emperor with alarm, fearing lest Dalassenos might attempt a usurpation. And John sends someone to assure him with oaths that he would suffer no harm and to persuade the man to come to the emperor. And he did come, and the emperor received him gladly and welcomed him with gifts and honored him with a greater dignity and ordered him to live in the city. But Niketas, the emperor's kinsman, appointed doux of Antioch at Daphne, was prevented by the Antiochenes from entering the city. For the citizens of Antioch, having killed a certain collector of public taxes, as he had dealt with them oppressively, and fearing lest they should pay the penalty to the doux for their audacity, they barred the gates of the city against him. But he, 589 having given them assurances with oaths that they would suffer no harm on account of the murder, is granted entry; then, taking no account of the oaths, he kills many, and sent some of their prominent men as prisoners to the great city, writing to his brother John that the Antiochenes had barred him from entry on account of their goodwill towards Dalassenos. Thereupon Dalassenos is confined to the island of Plate, and his son-in-law Constantine Doukas, crying out against the injustice and not remaining silent about the perjury, is shut up in a certain tower. Then Dalassenos is moved from Plate and is imprisoned in a tower. At that time Myra was captured by the descendants of Hagar and the lands of the Mysians became plunder for the Patzinaks. When Niketas, the doux of Antioch, ended his life, Constantine, who was also a brother of the emperor, succeeded the deceased at Antioch, and his other brother was appointed protovestiarios. However, a fleet of Hagarenes sailing from Africa and Sicily was ravaging both the islands and the coastal regions; but a Roman fleet sailing against them sank many of their ships with their crews, and took many prisoners, and some it sent to the emperor, while others were impal 590 ed along the coast. And Pankratios the archon of Abasgia, to whom the emperor Romanos had married his own niece, broke the treaties with the Romans and again took possession of the forts and cities which he had previously ceded to the Romans, as if he were exacting justice from the Romans on behalf of the emperor and uncle of his wife. And often the Patzinaks, crossing the Ister, treated the Romans' lands badly, killing all the captives from youth upwards. And the Arabs besieged Edessa, and the city would have been captured, if Constantine the doux of Antioch, the emperor's brother, had not come to its aid, whom the emperor, rewarding his zeal, appointed domestic of the eastern tagmata. When Amer, the ruler of Egypt, died, his wife, being a Christian, sought to make a treaty with the Romans together with her son; and the emperor ratified a thirty-year treaty with her. And two Saracen brothers ruling Sicily had disagreements with each other, one of whom to the emperor

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Μιχαὴλ λέγεται παρὰ τοῦ συγγόνου αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἐκτομίου. ἦν γὰρ καὶ δεινὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ δραστήριος καὶ τὸ ἦθος ὑποκαθήμενος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας ποικιλλόμενος, περισπερχής τε καὶ πρὸς φροντίδων ὄγκον ἀκάματος καὶ οὐδὲ γαστριζόμενος οὐδὲ περὶ τὸν ἄκρατον λιχνευόμενος (ἥττητο γὰρ οἴνου) τῆς περὶ τὰς δημοσίας διοικήσεις καθυφίει σπουδῆς. καὶ τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὴν βασίλισσαν ᾠκονόμητο οὑτωσί· ὁ δὲ Μιχαὴλ τῆς τῶν κοινῶν πραγμάτων οἰκονομίας ἀντείχετο. εἶτα τῷ μὲν ἐκραταιοῦτο ἡ νόσος, ἣν οἱ μὲν ἐκάλουν δαιμόνιον μήνιμα διὰ τὴν ἐπιορκίαν ἐνσκῆψαν αὐτῷ καὶ συμπνῖγον τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὡς πάλαι δὴ τὸν Σαούλ, οἱ δὲ μα588 νίαν τε καὶ παραφοράν· ὁ δ' ἐκτομίας Ἰωάννης τὴν ὅλην ἀνεδέξατο τῆς βασιλείας κυβέρνησιν, μοναχικὸν μὲν πάλαι σχῆμα ἐπενδυθείς, τοῦτο δὲ τηρῶν ἄχρι μόνου τοῦ σχήματος. Κωνσταντῖνος δὲ πατρίκιος ὁ ∆αλασσηνός, οἴκοι διατρίβων καὶ περὶ τοῦ νέου βασιλέως πυθόμενος, δυσανασχετῶν ἦν ὅτι εἰς ἄνδρα τοιοῦτον ἡ βασιλεία περιέστη Ῥωμαίων. τοῦτο θορύβου τοὺς περὶ τὸν βασιλέα ἐμέστωσε, πτοηθέντας μήποτε ὁ ∆αλασσηνὸς τυραννίδι ἐπίθηται. καὶ στέλλει ὁ Ἰωάννης τὸν ὅρκοις αὐτὸν βεβαιώσοντα ὡς οὐδενὸς ἀνιαροῦ πειραθήσεται καὶ πείσοντα τὸν ἄνδρα τῷ βασιλεῖ προσελθεῖν. καὶ ὁ μὲν προσῆλθε, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸν ἀσπασίως προσήκατο καὶ ἐδεξιώσατο δωρεαῖς καὶ μείζονι ἀξίᾳ τετίμηκε καὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει διάγειν ἐκέλευσε. Νικήτας δὲ ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ὁμαίμων, δοὺξ τῆς ἐπὶ τῇ ∆άφνῃ Ἀντιοχείας προχειρισθείς, εἴρχθη παρὰ τῶν Ἀντιοχέωντῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδου. πράκτορα γάρ τινα τῶν δημοσίων τελῶν, ὡς αὐτοῖς φορτικῶς προσενηνεγμένον, ἀνελόντες οἱ τῆς Ἀντιοχείας πολῖται καὶ δεδοικότες μὴ δίκας τῷ δουκὶ τοῦ τολμήματος τίσωσιν, ἐπεζύγωσαν αὐτῷ τὰς πύλας τῆς πόλεως. ὁ δὲ 589 ὅρκοις αὐτοῖς παρασχόμενος πίστεις ὡς οὐδὲν διὰ τὸν φόνον ὑποσταῖεν κακόν, παραχωρεῖται τὴν εἴσοδον· εἶτα τοὺς ὅρκους οὐδὲν λογισάμενος πολλοὺς μὲν ἀποκτίννυσιν, ἐνίους δὲ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπισήμων δεσμίους ἔστειλε πρὸς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν, γράψας τῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἰωάννῃ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ∆αλασσηνὸν εὔνοιαν ἀπεῖρξαι αὐτῷ τὴν εἴσοδον τοὺς Ἀντιοχεῖς. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ ∆αλασσηνὸς εἰς τὴν νῆσον τὴν Πλάτην περιορίζεται, καὶ ὁ ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ κηδεστὴς αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ ∆οῦκας, τὴν ἀδικίαν ἐπιβοώμενος καὶ τὴν ἐπιορκίαν οὐ σιωπῶν, πύργῳ τινὶ κατακλείεται. εἶτα μετάγεται ὁ ∆αλασσηνὸς ἐκ τῆς Πλάτης καὶ πύργῳ καθείργνυται. ἑάλω δὲ τότε τοῖς μὲν ἐκ τῆς Ἄγαρ τὰ Μύρα καὶ τοῖς Πατζινάκαις λεία γέγονε τὰ Μυσῶν. τοῦ δὲ δουκὸς Ἀντιοχείας Νικήτα καταστρέψαντος τὴν ζωήν, ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος, ἀδελφὸς ὢν καὶ οὗτος τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐπὶ τῇ Ἀντιοχείᾳ τὸν τελευτήσαντα διεδέξατο, καὶ ὁ ἕτερος αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸς πρωτοβεστιάριος προκεχείριστο. ἐξ Ἀφρικῆς μέντοι καὶ Σικελίας στόλος ἀποπλέων Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐκάκου τάς τε νήσους καὶ τὰ παράλια· ἀλλὰ τούτοις στόλος ἐπιπλέων Ῥωμαϊκὸς πολλὰ μὲν τῶν σκαφῶν κατέδυσεν αὔτανδρα, πολλοὺς δ' ἐζώγρησε, καὶ τοὺς μὲν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἐκπέπομφεν, οἱ δὲ ἀνεσκολο590 πίσθησαν κατὰ τὴν παράλιον. Παγκράτιος δὲ ὁ ἄρχων Ἀβασγίας, ᾧ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνεψιὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἡρμόσατο Ῥωμανός, τάς τε πρὸς Ῥωμαίους σπονδὰς ἔλυσε καὶ ὧν παρεχώρησε πρὶν Ῥωμαίοις φρουρίων καὶ πόλεων ἐπελάβετο πάλιν, ὡς τάχα δίκας Ῥωμαίους πραττόμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ θείου τῆς αὐτοῦ ὁμευνέτιδος. πολλάκις δ' οἱ Πατζινάκαι τὸν Ἴστρον διαβαίνοντες τὰ Ῥωμαίων κακῶς διετίθεντο, τοὺς ἁλισκομένους ἡβηδὸν ἀναιροῦντες. καὶ Ἄραβες τὴν Ἔδεσαν ἐπολιόρκησαν, καὶ ἥλω ἂν ἡ πόλις, εἰ μὴ ὁ δοὺξ Ἀντιοχείας ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἀδελφὸς αὐτῇ ἐπεκούρησεν, ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς σπουδῆς ἀμειβόμενος τῶν ἑῴων ταγμάτων δομέστικον προεβάλετο. Τοῦ δὲ τῆς Αἰγύπτου κρατοῦντος Ἄμερ θανόντος ἡ ἐκείνου γυνή, χριστιανὴ οὖσα, σπείσασθαι σὺν τῷ υἱῷ μετὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐζήτησε· καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκύρωσε μετ' αὐτῆς τριακοντούτεις σπονδάς. ἀδελφοὶ δὲ δύο Σαρακηνοὶ τῆς Σικελίας κρατοῦντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔσχον διαφοράς, ὧν θάτερος τῷ βασιλεῖ