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with secret instructions he sends his own archdeacon, and chartophylax of the church, Constantine Meliteniotes, 631 in order to transport the body, as was necessary, to Nicaea. And at the same time, taking a fitting opportunity to arrange that the porphyrogennetos, having cast off the red on account of mourning, should not wear it again, he prepared certain things of another color, purple with white, variegated with gold, and having affixed the imperial symbol, the eagles, in pearls, and having sent from these sandals and cloaks and bridles, he ordered his son to parade in these as his insignia, ceding the red to the emperor alone. And the timing was indeed wise, so that it might not seem that he was changing the insignia and, at the same time as casting off the red, assuming the variegated ones, but, after time had passed in mourning with only black garments, the change was deemed acceptable, as if the wearer was adorned from the beginning with the splendid things next after the emperor, as having the insignia for the stated honors of the empire. And indeed the ruler urged on the archdeacon and immediately sent him off without any delay, so that the emperor might not find out; but he, having shortened even the given time, rode to the east, but the emperor, though trying to escape notice, did not achieve what was planned, but the secret was easily discovered, and the one who suffered bore his misfortune as best he could. But the one who was sent, upon arriving, seemed burdensome, bringing unwelcome gifts to the son from the emperor; and having waited a short while, enough to prepare the body for easy transport along the road, he hurried to bring it to Nicaea. And immediately the patriarch is sent on his way to Nicaea, and also sent are as many hierarchs as were in the city and the entire elite of the clergy; and the ruler prepared the things befitting the holy one, and they were very splendid. Then 633 the patriarch, having performed the customary rites for the deceased and having gifted many of the notables with sufficient amounts of gold, gaining much from the holy one, even if his judgment had cause to blame his hand for the generosity of his purpose, rode again towards the city. And learning that the emperor Andronikos, again attending to matters in the east, had crossed the Bosphoros, he immediately turned aside and met with him as he was encamped somewhere at the foothills of the mountain of Saint Auxentios. And since, as the month of Maimakterion was ending, the feast of the holy apostles was approaching, having remained there a short while, speaking with the emperor as was fitting—for the emperor seemed to be bound to him by affection—finally, having performed the divine liturgy in the monastery of the Archistrategos on the feast day and, as was right, having offered prayers, he departed.

29. The expedition of Emperor Michael to the Sangarios and the events there. But the emperor, when it was again reported to him that the lands beyond the Sangarios were weak, and that the Persians, making frequent attempts, crossing over with great impunity, were also doing harm to the lands on this side of the river, having gathered as many forces as the occasion allowed and as his own affairs then permitted, reaching there with wingless speed, crosses the Sangarios. Then, therefore, seeing what one might call a Scythian wasteland there, he all but tore his hair. For he was exceedingly pitying the place and lamenting the mockery of his own people. And to the patriarch of Alexandria, who was staying there for the emperor's consolation, he insisted with groans of his heart on the cause of this desolation, remembering the place as it was before, when he himself was governor, and seeing to what a degree of misfortune it had then come, so as not even to be passable for men, being covered with high-crested trees. The cause, he says, is the attack of the zealots and their haste to make the subjects hostile to the emperor 635, saying that such and such things have been done and that the emperor is acting unlawfully and other things by which, alienating the hearts of the people from the ruler, they caused the emperor also to fear for himself and, since fear is entirely of the heart, it happened that the limbs were drawn in together. For immediately hesitation followed and the administration of the regions by governorships and by generals alone, who indeed of avarice

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ἀπορρήτοις στέλλει τὸν αὐτοῦ μὲν ἀρχι διάκονον, τῆς ἐκκλησίας δὲ χαρτοφύλακα, τὸν Μελιτηνιώτην Κωνσταντῖνον, 631 ἐφ' ᾧ μετακομίζειν τὸν νεκρόν, ὡς ἐχρῆν, ἐς Νίκαιαν. Ἅμα δὲ καὶ καιρὸν λαβὼν εὐπρεπῆ τοῦ τὸν πορφυρογέννητον, ἀποβαλόντα διὰ τὸ πένθος τὰ ἐρυθρά, μὴ φορεῖν ἄλλοτε παρασκευάσαι, εὐτρεπίσας ἀλλόχρο' ἄττα, σὺν λευκῷ πορφυρᾶ χρυσῷ ποικιλτά, καὶ διὰ μαργάρων τὸ βασιλικὸν σημεῖον, τοὺς ἀετούς, περιθεὶς καὶ πέμψας ἐκ τούτων πέδιλά τε καὶ ἐφεστρίδας καὶ χαλινά, σφίσιν ὡς παρασήμοις τὸν υἱὸν προσέταττεν ἐμπομπεύειν, μόνῳ τῶν ἐρυθρῶν ἐκστάντα τῷ βασιλεῖ. Σοφὸν δὲ ἄρα καὶ τὸ τοῦ καιροῦ ἦν, ὡς μὴ δόξαι τὰ ἐπίσημα μεταλλάττειν καί, ἅμ' ἀποβαλόντα τὰ ἐρυθρά, μετα λαμβάνειν τὰ ποικιλτά, ἀλλά, χρόνου ῥυέντος διὰ τὸ πένθος ἐπὶ μόνοις μέλασιν, ἀνεκτὴν τὴν μεταβολὴν δεδόχθαι, ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς κοσμηθέντος τοῦ φορέσαντος τοῖς μετὰ βασιλέα λαμπροῖς, ὡς ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς γέρασι βασιλείας τοὐπίσημον ἔχοντος. Καὶ δὴ ἤπειγέ τε τὸν ἀρχιδιάκονον ὁ κρατῶν καὶ παραυτὰ μηδὲν μελλήσας ἀπέστελλεν, ἐφ' ᾧ μὴ γνοίη ὁ βασιλεύς· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν καὶ τὸν δοθέντα καιρὸν συντεμὼν ἤλαυνεν ἐφ' ἑῴας, βασιλεὺς δὲ πειράσας διαλαθεῖν ὅμως τὸ κατὰ βουλὴν οὐκ ἤνυτεν, ἀλλ' εὐφώρατον γέγονε τὸ ἀπόρρητον, καὶ τὴν συμφορὰν ὁ παθὼν ὡς εἶχε διέφερεν. Ὁ μέντοι γε πεμφθεὶς ἐπιστὰς βαρὺς μὲν ἔδοξεν, ἄδωρα δῶρα φέρων τῷ υἱῷ παρὰ βασιλέως· ὀλίγον δὲ διαλιπὼν ὅσον ἐπισκευάσαι τὸν νεκρὸν εὐάγωγον καθ' ὁδόν, σπεύσας εἰς Νίκαιαν φέρει. Καὶ παραυτὰ στέλλεται μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ Νικαίας ὁ πατριάρχης, στέλλονται δὲ καὶ ἱεράρχαι ὅσοι δὴ κατὰ πόλιν ἦσαν καὶ τὸ τοῦ κλήρου ἔκκριτον ξύμπαν· τὰ δέ γε τῇ ὁσίᾳ προσήκοντα καὶ λίαν περιφανῆ ὁ κρατῶν ηὐτρέπιζε. Τότε 633 τοίνυν τὰ νενομισμένα τῇ κειμένῃ τελέσας ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν γνω ρίμων χρυσίοις ἱκανοῖς δωρησάμενος, ἐκ τῆς ὁσίας τὰ πολλὰ κερδάνας, εἰ καὶ τὴν χεῖρα ἡ γνώμη μέμφεσθαι εἶχε τῷ φιλοδώρῳ τῆς προαιρέσεως, τὴν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ αὖθις ἤλαυνε. Πυθόμενος δὲ τὸν βασιλέα Ἀνδρόνικον, πάλιν ἁπτόμενον τῶν καθ' ἕω, διαπεραιωθῆναι τὸν Βόσπορον, αὐτίκα παρεγκλίνας ἐν τῷ τοῦ Ἁγίου Αὐξεντίου βουνῷ κατά που τοὺς πρόποδας σκηνουμένῳ συγγίνεται. Κἀπειδή, μαιμακτηριῶντος λήγοντος, ἡ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων προσήλαυνεν ἑορτή, ἐκεῖσε μικρὸν ἐπιμείνας, τῷ βασιλεῖ ὁμιλῶν τὰ εἰκόταἐῴκει γὰρ καὶ συνδεδέσθαι ταῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπαις ὁ βασι λεύς, τέλος τὴν θείαν ἐκτελέσας μυσταγωγίαν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ Ἀρχιστρατή γου κατὰ τὴν ἑορτὴν καί, ὡς εἰκὸς ἐπευξάμενος, ἀπαλλάττεται.

κθʹ. Ἐκστρατεία Μιχαὴλ βασιλέως πρὸς Σάγγαριν καὶ τὰ γεγονότα ἐκεῖ. Βασιλεὺς δέ, καὶ αὖθις ἀγγελθὲν ἐκείνῳ ὡς τὰ πέραν τοῦ Σαγγάρεως ἀσθενεῖ, Πέρσαι τε, συχναῖς ἐπιτιθέμενοι πείραις, κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν διαπεραιούμενοι, κακῶς ποιοῦσι καὶ τὰ ἐνδοτέρω τοῦ ποταμοῦ, δυνάμεις συναθροίσας ὅσας ὁ καιρὸς ἐδίδου καὶ ἐνεχώρει τότε τὰ καθ' αὑτὸν πράγματα, ἀπτέρῳ τάχει τἀκεῖσε καταλαβών, διαπεραιοῦται τὸν Σάγγαριν. Τότε τοίνυν, βλέπων τὴν Σκυθῶν, εἴποι τις, ἐρημίαν ἐκεῖ, μόνον οὐ τρίχας ἔτιλλε. Κατῳκτίζετο μὲν γὰρ ἐκτόπως τὸν τόπον καὶ τὴν χλεύην κατωδύρετο τῶν ἰδίων. Πρὸς δέ γε τὸν Ἀλεξανδρείας πατριάρχην, ἐκεῖσε κατὰ παραμυθίαν τῷ βασιλεῖ συνδιάγοντα, τὴν τοῦ ταῦτ' ἠρημῶσθαι αἰτίαν καρδίας στε ναγμοῖς ἰσχυρίζετο, τοῦ τόπου μὲν μεμνημένος ὡς εἶχε τὸ πρότερον, ὅτε κατ' ἐπιτροπείαν αὐτὸς ἐστρατήγει, ἐς ὁπόσον δὲ βλέπων συμφορᾶς κατην τήκει τῷ τότε, ὡς μηδὲ βατὸν ἀνθρώποις εἶναι, δένδρεσιν ὑψικόμοις κατει λυμένον. Τὸ δ' αἴτιον, φησίν, ἡ τῶν ζηλωτῶν ἐπίθεσις καὶ τὸ ἐκπολεμοῦν βασιλεῖ 635 τὸ ὑπήκοον σπεύδειν, ὡς τὰ καὶ τὰ πέπρακται λέγοντας καὶ ὡς παρανομοίη ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τἆλλα οἷς, τὰς καρδίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀλλοτριοῦντες τοῦ βασιλεύοντος, ἐποίουν καὶ βασιλέα περὶ ἑαυτῷ δεδοικέναι καὶ τὴν καθ' αὑτὸν ὀρρωδίαν, πάντως καρδίας οὔσης, τὰ μέλη συγκατασπᾶσθαι ξυνέβαινεν. Αὐτίκα γὰρ μέλλησις ἠκολούθει καὶ τὸ ἐπιτροπαῖς στρατηγῶν καὶ μόναις διοικεῖσθαι τὰ κατὰ τόπους, οἳ δὴ γλισχρότητος