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they would resist. Therefore, when they were assembled, the opinion of the patriarch was read out, and they were asked if they too would abide by it. And they agreed immediately, and each one affirmed and secured the opinion with his own signature, except for the more prudent ones. Thus, when the opinion was sent, the patriarch was in an inescapable position of not changing his mind even if something should happen; for he was bound by the oaths, and he was clear in saying to the emperor that he would not carry out nor accomplish the undertaking. 491 The emperor, however, despairing from this of his consent—for the oaths were a terrible obstacle—considered what had happened to be a terrible thing; for it was equally desirable to him that the matter be brought to completion as that it be brought with the patriarch, but nevertheless, having been rebuffed by him, he pursued the bishops more earnestly. Meanwhile Bekkos, having devoted himself to books and seeing from them much help for the matter, as the Italians had perhaps dared nothing more than to add to the Creed, also brought forward the saying of the wondrous Cyril, which reconciled us and them as far as was possible, that which substantially exists from both, that is, from the Father through the Son, so that they held the "from" and we the "through," and he became the reconciler of both of these. Having seen these and many such things, and in addition to these having found the great Maximus testifying, in one of his letters to Rufinus, saying expressly after many things thus: from which they have shown that they do not say the Only-begotten is the cause of the Spirit, but so that they might declare that He proceeds through Him and thereby demonstrate the connection and immutability of the substance, and that it is impossible—and he heard this from the great Athanasius—for the Spirit to be known in the order of the Trinity as not proceeding from God through the Son, but as being created, as they say, Bekkos, being strengthened, as it were, by these and similar things, in order to heal his own conscience, inclined toward peace. And from this the emperor gained much momentum, putting forward the impending wars and the blood that would be shed, but nevertheless receiving from the learned men around him the assurance that what he had done would remain safe. Therefore he was also pressing hard upon the bishops and compelling the action, as the ambassadors were delaying even more.

17. Concerning the emperor's envoys and the patriarch's withdrawal. Thus, as the matter was still pending and it was necessary for ambassadors to be sent, so that safety might come from them, and so that, having submitted to the first of the churches and already being considered its legitimate members, they would not suspect danger from here, the ambassadors were chosen. These were the 493 former patriarch Germanus and Theophanes of Nicaea, and from the senators the Grand Logothete Akropolites, the prokathemenos of the vestiarion Panaretos, and the Grand Interpreter Berroites; who indeed, taking one trireme each—on the one hand those of the church, on the other hand those from the emperor except for the Grand Logothete—set sail, bringing also many of the sacred gifts, I mean vestments and gilded icons and very precious compound incenses, and in addition also the church's vestment of gold-embroidered silk with pearls, which the emperor, having offered to the divine temple, a truly worthy gift, being permitted, since there was not time for another to be prepared for the great church of the Coryphaei, making as it were an exchange of what was being made for what existed, took it and sent it as well. So those who had thus set sail sailed away. But the emperor, since he could not easily part with the patriarch—for he clung to him like a limpet to a rock, both because of the pardon from him and the assurance concerning him, as one who would be saved under him—makes agreements with the patriarch—for the bishops had also with difficulty submitted—which were as follows: that he, having left the patriarchate, should reside in the monastery of the Peribleptos, with his privileges preserved and being commemorated as was customary; and when the ... had departed

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ἀντίσχοιεν. Συναχθέντων τοίνυν, ὑπανεγινώσκετο μὲν ἡ γνώμη τοῦ πατριάρ χου, ἠρωτῶντο δὲ εἴ γε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐμμένειν ἔχοιεν κατὰ ταύτην. Καὶ ὡμολόγουν αὐτίκα, καὶ τὴν γνώμην ἕκαστος ἰδίᾳ ὑπογραφῇ, πλὴν τῶν προ νοεστέρων, ἐβεβαίου τε καὶ κατησφαλίζετο. Ὡς γοῦν ἐπέμφθη μὲν ἡ γνώμη, ἐν ἀφύκτοις δ' ἦν ὁ πατριάρχης τοῦ μηδ' εἴ τι καὶ γένοιτο μεταβάλλειν τοῖς γὰρ ὅρκοις συνείληπτο, δῆλος ἦν καὶ πρὸς βασιλέα λέγων ὡς οὐ ποιήσων οὐδὲ καταπραξόμενος τὴν ἐγχείρησιν. 491 Ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεύς, ἀπογνοὺς οἷον ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἐκείνου κατανεύσεως δεινοὶ γὰρ οἱ ὅρκοι κωλύειν, ἐν δεινῷ μὲν τὸ συμβὰν ἡγεῖτοἐπ' ἴσης γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ βουλητὸν τὸ προβῆναι τὴν πρᾶξιν εἰς τέλος τῷ μετὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου προβῆναι, ὅμως δ' ἀποκρουσθεὶς ἐκείνου, τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς μετήρχετο ἐμβριθέστερον. Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καὶ ὁ Βέκκος, ἐνσχολάσας ταῖς βίβλοις καὶ συνορῶν πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τῇ πράξει βοήθειαν, ὡς μηδὲν πλέον τολμησάντων τῶν Ἰταλῶν ἴσως ἢ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ συμβόλῳ προσθεῖναι, καὶ τὴν τοῦ θαυμαστοῦ Κυρίλλου λέξιν παρῆγεν, ἡμᾶς τε κἀκείνους κατὰ τὸ ἐγχωροῦν συμβιβάζουσαν, τὴν τὸ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν οὐσιωδῶς ὑπάρχον, τουτέστιν ἐκ Πατρὸς δι' Υἱοῦ, ὡς ἐκείνων μὲν ἐχόντων τὴν ἐκ, ἡμῶν δὲ τὴν διὰ, καὶ ἀμφοῖν τούτων ἐκεῖνον συμβιβαστὴν γίνεσθαι. Ταῦτα καὶ πολλὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἰδὼν καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὸν μέγαν Μάξιμον εὑρὼν μαρτυροῦντα, ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν πρὸς Ῥουφῖνον ῥητῶς μετὰ πολλὰ οὕτω λέγοντα· ἐξ ὧν οὐκ αἰτίαν σφᾶς τὸν Μονογενῆ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀπέδειξαν λέγειν, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ προϊέναι δηλώσωσι καὶ ταύτῃ τὸ συναφὲς καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον τῆς οὐσίας παραστήσωσι, ἀδύνατον δ' εἶναικαὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀθανασίου κατή κουενἐν τῇ τῆς Τριάδος τάξει τὸ Πνεῦμα γινώσκεσθαι μὴ προοδικῶς ὂν ἐκ Θεοῦ δι' Υἱοῦ, ἀλλὰ ποιητικῶς, ὡς λέγουσι, τούτοις τε καὶ τοῖς τοιού τοις συγκροτηθεὶς οἷον ὁ Βέκκος, ἐφ' ᾧ τὴν ἰδίαν θεραπεῦσαι συνείδησιν, ὑπεκλίνετο πρὸς εἰρήνην. Καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς πολλὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἐλάμβανε τὴν ῥοπήν, πολέμους μὲν τοὺς ἐφεστῶτας καὶ αἵματα ἐκχυθησόμενα προβαλλό μενος, ὅμως δὲ τὸ ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ μένειν πράξαντα παρὰ τῶν ἀμφ' αὑτὸν λογίων λαμβάνων. Ὅθεν καὶ τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι πολὺς ἦν ἐμπίπτων καὶ καταναγκάζων τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἐγχρονιζόντων καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν πρέσβεων.

ιζʹ. Περὶ τῶν ἀποκρισιαρίων τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῆς τοῦ πατριάρχου ἀπο χωρήσεως. Ὡς γοῦν καὶ ἔτι ἀνήρτηντο τὰ τοῦ πράγματος καὶ ἦν ἀνάγκη πρέσβεις πέμπεσθαι, ἐφ' ᾧπερ καὶ παρ' ἐκείνων τὸ ἀσφαλὲς γενέσθαι, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν μὴ ὑποπτεύειν τὸν κίνδυνον, ὑποταγέντας τῇ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν πρωτίστῃ καὶ ἤδη γνησίους ἐκείνης νομιζομένους, ἐξελέγοντο μὲν οἱ πρέσβεις· οἱ δ' ἦσαν ὁ 493 προπατριαρχεύσας Γερμανὸς καὶ δὴ καὶ ὁ Νικαίας Θεοφάνης, καὶ τῶν συγκλητικῶν ὁ μέγας λογοθέτης Ἀκροπολίτης, ὁ προκαθήμενος τοῦ βεστια ρίου Πανάρετος καὶ ὁ μέγας διερμηνευτὴς Βερροιώτης· οἳ δὴ καὶ ἀνὰ μίαν τριήρη, ἐντεῦθεν μὲν οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πλὴν τοῦ μεγάλου λογο θέτου οἱ ἐκ τοῦ βασιλέως λαβόντες, ἀνήγοντο, ἐπιφερόμενοι καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἱερῶν δώρων, στολὰς λέγω καὶ κατάχρυσα εἰκονίσματα καὶ σύνθετα πολύ τιμα θυμιάματα, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐνδυτὴν ἐκ χρυσοπάστου ὀξείας διὰ μαργάρων, ἣν ὁ βασιλεύς, προσενεγκὼν τῷ θείῳ τεμένει, δῶρον ὄντως ἐπάξιον, συγχωρούμενος, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔφθασεν ἑτέραν εὐτρεπισθῆναι τῷ μεγάλῳ τῶν Κορυφαίων ναῷ, ἀνταλλαγὴν τοῦ γινομένου πρὸς τὸ ὂν οἷον ποιούμενος, λαβὼν ἀπέστελλε καὶ αὐτήν. Οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἀναχθέντες ἀπέπλεον. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, ἐπεὶ οὐκ εἶχε ῥᾷον ἀποσχέσθαι τοῦ πατριάρχουἀντεί χετο γὰρ ὡς λεπὰς πέτρας ἐκείνου διά τε τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνου συγχώρησιν καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον πληροφορίαν, ὡς ὑπ' αὐτῷ σωθησόμενος, συνθήκας ποι εῖται μετὰ τοῦ πατριάρχουοἱ γὰρ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ μόγις καθυπεκλίθησαν οὕτως ἐχούσας· αὐτὸν μέν, ἐξελθόντα τοῦ πατριαρχείου, ἐν τῇ τῆς Περιβλέπτου καθῆσθαι μονῇ, σῳζομένων τῶν προνομίων αὐτῷ καί γε μνημονευομέ νου κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες· ἀπελθόντων δὲ τῶν