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the preceding account has shown. And having ascended the throne, and having the royal 2.58 authority accompanying him, no longer in darkness and in corners but in the open and with boldness he made public the heresy of the iconoclasts. But the emperor Leo, puffed up by his recent victory against the Bulgars, and having had success against the Arabs a little earlier, was unrestrained in his spirit and inclined toward the harsh and more cruel; for he had become implacable in his anger, and a most severe punisher of offenses, inaccessible to those wishing to meet him and difficult to advise, imposing great sentences for small offenses, from some cutting off hands, from others feet, from others some of the other most vital limbs, which, having decreed they be cut off, he ordered to be hung up along the main road, for the shock and fear of those who saw them. Because of this he became hateful to all under his authority. But what came after intensified the hatred more; for not only was he roused and made savage against men of like nature, but he also raved against the pious faith itself and against God. And he had a suitable instrument for this, a certain man notorious for his villainy, who held the command of the order of chanters in the palace, appearing on the outside to be reverend and God-fearing, but on the inside, as if in a deep fleece, covering the wolf. This profane man, having found a suitable moment, during which the prophecy of the great-voiced Isaiah was customarily read aloud in the church, the one which says "To whom 2.59 have you likened the Lord? and to what have you likened him? Has a carpenter made an image, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, gilded it, or made it as a likeness?" and the rest of the prophecy, standing therefore near his ear, he says to the emperor, "Understand what is being said, O emperor, and let not the truth escape you, and hold to such worship as the prophet suggests to you." Having said such things, he instilled in the mind of the emperor more of the venom of the heresy, so that the worship which he previously hastened to proclaim with caution and hesitation, this he now compelled them to choose with unveiled face and shamelessly, and what is more, with threats and dangers. Therefore, as many as grew weak and betrayed the truth, were in security; but those not obeying his most impious command were handed over to incurable tortures and calamities. And although he was so given to impiety and lawlessness, yet toward the management of public affairs he was most vigilant, so as to leave nothing of what was necessary and beneficial unattended. Indeed they say that after his death the patriarch Nikephoros said that the Roman state, although he was impious, had nonetheless lost a great protector. In addition to managing public affairs diligently and vigilantly, he was also extremely harsh to wrongdoers. For once, as the emperor was coming out of the palace, someone approached him, complaining that his wife had been abducted by one of the senators; "and to me," he says, "though I complained about this to the prefect of the city, no 2.60 vengeance followed." So the emperor, having heard the man's account, immediately commanded that the accused senator should be present before him when he returned. And when the emperor was already returning, there stood before him both the one who had suffered and was seeking vengeance, and the one who had done the abominable deed, and the prefect himself, and when the emperor commanded the petitioner to say what he had suffered, he recounted the events from beginning to end, but the one guilty of the charge, since he was not able to escape the refutations, being constrained on all sides by the evidence, confessed his unholy deed. And when the emperor asked the prefect also why he had not inflicted a fitting punishment for the transgression, since he too had become speechless in his defense, he removed this one from his office, and handed the adulterer over to the penalties of the law. He conducted most of his business while sitting in the Lausiac Triclinium, and he appointed generals and soldiers and

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λόγος φθά σας παρέστησε. καὶ τοῦ θρόνου ἐπιβάς, ἔχων δὲ συνεπαρήγου 2.58 σαν καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐξουσίαν, οὐκ ἐν σκότει καὶ γωνίαις ἔτι ἀλλ' ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ καὶ παρρησίᾳ τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν εἰκονομάχων ἐδη μοσίευε. Λέων δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῇ τε προηγησαμένῃ κατὰ Βουλγάρων νίκῃ ἐξωγκωμένος, καὶ κατὰ τῶν Ἀράβων δὲ μικρῷ πρότερον εὐ τυχήσας, ἀκατάσχετος ἦν τὸ φρόνημα καὶ πρὸς τὸ σκληρὸν ἀπέ νευε καὶ ὠμότερον· ἀπαραίτητός τε γὰρ τὴν ὀργὴν ἐγεγόνει, καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων κολαστὴς αὐστηρότατος, τοῖς τε ἐντυγχάνειν ἐθέλουσιν ἀνέντευκτος καὶ δυσξύμβουλος, ἐπί τε μικροῖς ἁμαρτή μασι μεγάλας ἐπιφέρων τὰς καταδίκας, ὧν μὲν χεῖρας ἀφαιρού μενος ὧν δὲ πόδας ὧν δέ τινα ἕτερα τῶν καιριωτάτων μελῶν, ἅπερ ἀποτέμνεσθαι ἀποφαινόμενος ἀνὰ τὴν λεωφόρον ἀνακρεμαννύειν ἐκέλευσεν εἰς κατάπληξιν τάχα τῶν ὁρώντων καὶ δέος. ἐκ τούτου μισητὸς κατέστη τῷ ὑπὸ χεῖρα παντί. πλέον δ' ἐπέτεινε τὸ μῖσος τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα· οὐ μόνον γὰρ κατὰ τῶν ὁμοτίμων τὴν φύσιν ἀν θρώπων ἐπῆρτο καὶ ἠγριαίνετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατ' αὐτῆς ἐκορυβαντία τῆς εὐσεβοῦς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὄργανον δ' ἐπιτήδειον πρὸς τοῦτο ἔσχεν ἄνδρα τινὰ διαβόητον ἐπὶ πανουργίᾳ, τοῦ τάγματος τῶν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ψαλλόντων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντα, ἔξωθεν μὲν ἱεροπρεπῆ φαινόμενον καὶ θεοσεβῆ, ἔνδοθεν δὲ ὡς ἐν βαθεῖ κω δίῳ τὸν λύκον ἐπικαλύπτοντα. οὗτος ὁ βέβηλος καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον εὑρηκώς, καθ' ὃν εἰς ἐπήκοον ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ εἴωθεν ἡ τοῦ μεγαλοφωνοτάτου Ἠσαΐου ἀναγινώσκεσθαι προφητεία ἡ λέγουσα "τίνι 2.59 ὡμοιώσατε κύριον; καὶ τίνι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτήν, ἢ ὁμοιώματι κατεσκεύασεν αὐτήν;" καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς προφητείας, παραστὰς οὖν πρὸς οὖς λέγει τῷ βασιλεῖ "σύνες τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὦ βασιλεῦ, καὶ μὴ λάθῃ σε τὸ ἀληθές, καὶ τοιαύτης ἔχου λα τρείας ὁποίαν σοι ὑποτίθησιν ὁ προφήτης." τοιαῦτα εἰπὼν ἐνέ σταξε τῇ διανοίᾳ τοῦ βασιλέως πλείονα ἰὸν τῆς αἱρέσεως, ὡς ἣν πρότερον μετὰ φειδοῦς καὶ ἐνδοιασμοῦ κηρύττειν ἠπείγετο λατρείαν, ταύτην ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ καὶ ἀναιδῶς, εἰπεῖν πλέον μετὰ ἀπειλῶν καὶ κινδύνων αἱρεῖσθαι ἠνάγκαζεν. ὅσοι μὲν οὖν μαλα κιζόμενοι προυδίδοσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐν ἀδείαις ἦσαν· οἱ μὴ πει θαρχοῦντες δὲ τῷ αὐτοῦ δυσσεβεστάτῳ προστάγματι ἀνηκέστοις αἰκίαις καὶ συμφοραῖς παρεδίδοντο. Καίπερ δὲ οὕτως ἔχων δυσσεβείας καὶ παρανομίας, ἀλλά γε πρὸς τὴν τῶν δημοσίων πραγμάτων ἀντίληψιν ἀγρυπνότατος ἦν, ὡς μηδέν τι τῶν δεόντων καὶ ὀνησιφόρων ἐᾶν ἀτημέλητον. φασί γέ τοι μετὰ τὸν ἐκείνου θάνατον Νικηφόρον εἰπεῖν τὸν πατριάρχην ὡς ἡ πολιτεία Ῥωμαίων ἄρα, εἰ καὶ δυσσεβῆ, ἀλλά γε μέγαν προστάτην ἀπώλεσε. πρὸς τῷ ἐπιμελῶς δὲ καὶ ἀγρύπνως τὰ δη μόσια διοικεῖν, καὶ τοῖς ἀδικοῦσι λίαν ἐπαχθέστατος ἦν. ἐξιόντι γοῦν ποτὲ τοῦ παλατίου τῷ βασιλεῖ προσῄει τις ἐγκαλῶν ὡς τὸ αὐτοῦ γύναιον ἁρπαγείη ὑπό τινος τῶν συγκλητικῶν· "ἐμοὶ δὲ" φησί "καὶ τῷ ἐπάρχω τῆς πόλεως περὶ τούτου ἐγκαλέσαντι οὐδε 2.60 μία ἐπηκολούθησεν ἐκδίκησις." ὁ γοῦν βασιλεὺς τὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς λόγον ἐνωτισθεὶς εὐθέως προσέταξεν ὡς παρασταίη ἐπανιόντι αὐ τῷ εἰς πρόσωπον ὁ ἐγκαλούμενος συγκλητικός. ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἐπανα ζευγνύντος τοῦ βασιλέως παρέστησαν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ὅ τε παθὼν καὶ τὴν ἐκδίκησιν ἐκζητῶν καὶ ὁ τὸ ἐξάγιστον δράσας ἔργον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ἔπαρχος, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως κελεύσαντος λέγειν τῷ δεο μένῳ ἃ πεπόνθει, ὁ μὲν διεξῄει τὰ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἄχρι τέλους, ὁ δ' ἔνοχος τῷ ἐγκλήματι, ἐπειδὴ μὴ οἷός τε ἦν τοὺς ἐλέγχους διαδι δράσκειν ταῖς ἀποδείξεσι πάντοθεν συνειλημμένος, ὡμολόγησε τὸ ἀνοσιούργημα. ἐρομένου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τὸν ἔπαρχον διὰ τί μὴ πρέπουσαν ἐπενέγκοι τῷ ἀτοπήματι τὴν ἐκδίκησιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ οὗτος ἐνεὸς ἐγεγόνει πρὸς τὴν ἀπολογίαν, τοῦτον μὲν μετέστησε τῆς ἀρχῆς, τὸν δὲ μοιχὸν ταῖς τοῦ νόμου παραδέδωκε τιμωρίαις. ἐχρημάτιζε δὲ τὰ πλείω καὶ ἐν τῷ Λαυσιακῷ καθήμενος τρικλίνῳ, προεβάλλετό τε στρατηγοὺς καὶ στρατιώτας καὶ