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Meanwhile, Leo, having girt himself with the imperial power, appointed Thomas, who was one of the three whom the narrative has already recorded as being with Bardanios when he visited the monk at Philomelion, a young and impetuous man, tourmarch of the tagma 2.53 of the foederati, and Michael the Stammerer, also one of the three, whose son he had received from the holy font, he proclaimed patrikios and count of the school of the excubitors, and he administered the other affairs of the empire just as he wished. But the Bulgars, further puffed up by the recent defeat of the Romans, were overrunning Thrace and were ravaging and plundering everything in their path. It therefore seemed good to the emperor to send an embassy and to initiate talks about peace. But when the Bulgar grew insolent and rejected the peace, the emperor was compelled to fight. And so, when the armies were gathered, a fierce battle ensued, and again the Roman armies were defeated. And as the Bulgars pressed on in pursuit, the emperor, standing in a certain elevated place with his company around him, was observing what was happening. And noticing that the Bulgars were pursuing the fugitives in disorder and abandoning all formation, he exhorted those around him and beseeched them to be brave men and not to overlook the glory of the Romans coming to naught, he attacked them vehemently. And by the unexpectedness of the attack, having routed those he encountered, he also struck the rest of the Bulgar army with suddenness and filled it with confusion and fear, and no one remembered their courage. Of these, many fell in the attack, and the leader of all himself, even though, quickly lifted onto a racehorse by his men, he secured his safety by flight, and far more 2.54 than those who fell were captured. This deed humbled the pride of the Bulgars, and caused that of the Romans, which was bowed down and stooping to the ground, to take heart again. And the emperor, having reached the capital with splendid trophies and very much booty, applied himself to the matters at hand. And just then, remembering the monk at Philomelion, he decided to reward him with gifts and votive offerings for his prophecy concerning him. He therefore sent one of his most trusted men, bearing votive offerings for him and furniture and vessels of silver and gold and fragrant spices of the kinds imported to us from India. But that monk happened to have died previously, and another monk had been established as successor in his cell, Sabbatios by name, who was full of the godless heresy of the iconoclasts. Arriving to this man, the one sent by the emperor urged him to accept the gifts sent from the emperor to his predecessor, and to repay the sender with letters and prayers. But he was not willing to receive the things sent, and he exhorted him to go back again, saying that the emperor was also unworthy of the purple, as he was devoted to idols and followed the words of the empress Irene and of Tarasios the patriarch, of whom the all-defiled one named Irene a pard and a thyad, and the renowned among patriarchs he called Taraxius. And he threatened the emperor with a swift fall from the empire and the end of his life, if he did not 2.55, being persuaded by his words, more quickly destroy the divine icons. And when the emperor received the letters, and learned from the messenger all that the monk had said and all that he himself had heard, and having become full of confusion, he sent for Theodotos Melissenos and consulted with him about the plan as to what should be done. And he, having long been possessed by such a heresy, and seeking an opportunity to speak freely of his impiety, suggests to the emperor some such counsel as this. Saying that there was a certain monk, a worker of extraordinary deeds, who made his dwelling around Dagistea, "to this man," he says, "one must refer the matter, and whatever he might suggest, this one must also do." And these things he said to the emperor,

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Τέως δὲ τὴν βασίλειον ἀρχὴν περιζωσάμενος ὁ Λέων Θωμᾶν μέν, ἕνα τῶν τριῶν ὄντα οὓς ὁ λόγος ἱστόρησε φθάσας συνεῖναι τῷ Βαρδανίῳ ὁπηνίκα πρὸς τὸν μοναχὸν ἐν τῷ Φιλομιλίῳ ἐφοίτη σεν, ἄνδρα νέον καὶ ὁρμητίαν τουρμάρχην ἀνέδειξε τοῦ φοιδερά 2.53 των τάγματος, Μιχαὴλ δὲ τὸν τραυλόν, καὶ αὐτὸν ἕνα τῶν τριῶν ὄντα, οὗ τὸν υἱὸν ἐκ τῆς ἁγίας ἀνεδέξατο κολυμβήθρας, πατρί κιον ἀνεῖπε καὶ κόμητα τῆς τῶν ἐξκουβίτων σχολῆς, καὶ τἆλλα διεπόνει τῆς βασιλείας καθώσπερ ἦν αὐτῷ βουλητόν. οἱ Βούλ γαροι δὲ πλέον τῇ πρὸ μικροῦ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἥττῃ ἐκφυσηθέντες τὴν Θρᾴκην κατέτρεχον καὶ τὰ ἐν ποσὶν ἐδῄουν καὶ ἐληΐζοντο. ἔδοξεν οὖν τῷ βασιλεῖ πρεσβείαν στεῖλαι καὶ λόγους κινῆσαι περὶ εἰρήνης. τοῦ δὲ Βουλγάρου φρυαξαμένου καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην παρω σαμένου, ἐδέησε μάχης ἐξ ἀνάγκης τῷ βασιλεῖ. καὶ γοῦν καὶ συναθροισθέντων τῶν στρατευμάτων μάχη συνέστη κρατερά, καὶ πάλιν ἡττήθη τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ στρατεύματα. τῶν δὲ Βουλγάρων τῇ διώξει ἐπικειμένων, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔν τινι ὑπερδεξίῳ τόπῳ ἑστὼς μετὰ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν ἑταιρείας κατεσκόπει τὰ δρώμενα. καὶ κατανοή σας ὡς ἀσύντακτοι καὶ πᾶσαν τάξιν ἀπολείποντες οἱ Βούλγαροι ἐπιδιώκουσι τοὺς φεύγοντας, παρακαλέσας τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν καὶ ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς γενέσθαι καθικετεύσας καὶ μὴ τῶν Ῥωμαίων εὔ κλειαν περιιδεῖν χωροῦσαν εἰς τὸ μηδέν, ἐπιτίθεται ῥαγδαίως αὐ τοῖς. καὶ τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως τρεψάμενος τοὺς παρατυ χόντας, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῶν Βουλγάρων στράτευμα τῷ αἰφνιδίῳ κατέπληξε καὶ ταραχῆς καὶ φόβου ἐνέπλησε, καὶ ἀλκῆς οὐδεὶς ἐμέμνητο. τούτων ἔπεσον μὲν ἐν τῇ προσβολῇ πολλοί, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἀρχηγός, εἰ καὶ ταχέως ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ἵππῳ κέλητι ἀναχθεὶς δρασμῷ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐπραγματεύσατο, ἑάλωσαν δὲ καὶ 2.54 τῶν πεσόντων πολλῷ πλείους. τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον τὰ μὲν τῶν Βουλ γάρων ἐταπείνωσε φρονήματα, τὰ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν κεκυφότα καὶ πρὸς γῆν νεύοντα ἀναθαρρῆσαι πεποίηκεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς μετὰ λαμπρῶν τῶν τροπαίων καὶ λείας ὅτι πολλῆς τὴν βασιλίδα καταλαβὼν τῶν ἐν χερσὶν εἴχετο πραγμάτων. Ἄρτι δὲ καὶ εἰς μνήμην ἐλθὼν τοῦ κατὰ τὸ Φιλομίλιον μο ναχοῦ, ἔγνω δώροις καὶ ἀναθήμασιν αὐτὸν τῆς ἐπ' αὐτῷ προφη τείας ἀμείψασθαι. ἐξαπέστειλε γοῦν τινὰ τῶν πιστοτάτων, ἀνα θήματα εἰς αὐτὸν κομίζοντα καὶ ἔπιπλα καὶ σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ καὶ χρύσεα καὶ εἴδη εὐώδη τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐξ Ἰνδίας κομιζομένων. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ὁ μοναχὸς ἔτυχε προαποθανεῖν, κατέστη δὲ τῇ κέλλῃ αὐτοῦ διάδοχος μοναχός τις ἄλλος, τὴν κλῆσιν Σαββάτιος, τῆς ἀθέου τῶν εἰκονομάχων αἱρέσεως ἀνάπλεως ὤν. ἐς τοῦτον ὁ παρὰ βασιλέως πεμφθεὶς ἀφικόμενος τά τε ἀπεσταλμένα τῷ αὐτοῦ καθηγητῇ παρὰ βασιλέως δῶρα δέξασθαι παρηγγύα, καὶ γράμ μασι καὶ εὐχαῖς τὸν πέμψαντα ἀνταμείψασθαι. ὁ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἀπε σταλμένα λαβεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, αὐτὸν δὲ ὀπισθόρμητον ἀπιέναι παρεκελεύσατο, ἀνάξιον εἶναι λέγων καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς ἁλουρ γίδος ὡς εἰδώλοις προστετηκότα καὶ τοῖς λόγοις ἑπόμενον Εἰρήνης τῆς βασιλίδος καὶ Ταρασίου τοῦ πατριάρχου, ὧν τὴν μὲν παρδὼ καὶ θυάδα τὴν Εἰρήνην, τὸν δὲ τὸν ἐν πατριάρχαις ἀοίδιμον Τα ράξιον κατωνόμαζεν ὁ παμμίαρος. ἠπείλει δὲ καὶ ταχεῖαν ἔκπτω σιν τῆς βασιλείας τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν, εἰ μὴ 2.55 θᾶττον τοῖς αὐτοῦ λόγοις πεισθεὶς τὰς θείας καταστρέψειε στηλο γραφίας. δεξάμενος δὲ τὰ γράμματα ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου δὲ μαθὼν ὅσα τε ὁ μοναχὸς εἶπε καὶ ὅσα αὐτὸς ἤκουσε, καὶ ταραχῆς ἀνάπλεως γεγονώς, Θεόδοτον μετεπέμψατο τὸν Μελισσηνὸν καὶ περὶ τοῦ σκέμματος ἀνεκοινοῦτο τὰ ποιητέα. ὁ δὲ καὶ πάλαι τῇ τοιαύτῃ αἱρέσει κατεσχημένος, καὶ καιρὸν ζη τῶν παρρησιάσασθαι τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ὑποτίθησι τῷ βασιλεῖ τοιάνδε τινὰ συμβουλήν. μοναχόν τινα φήσας εἶναι ἔργων παραδόξων δημιουργόν, τὰς οἰκήσεις ποιούμενον ἀνὰ τὸν ∆αγιστέα, "τούτῳ δεῖ" φησί "προσαναθέσθαι τὴν πρᾶξιν, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ὑπό θοιτο, τοῦτο δεῖ καὶ ποιῆσαι." καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἶπε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα,