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rulers from the most noteworthy and incorruptible men, being himself a despiser of money and most scrupulous. He was also ambitious about his own voice, wanting to be a certain melodious person, even if he did not have a nature that was in harmony with it; for he was unrhythmical and unsuited for harmonious melodies. For he was accustomed even in the psalmody to lead the praises, and especially when at the birth of Christ the canons of the feast were being chanted; for he would lead the odes with a rather piercing and harsh voice, and when he began the heirmos of the 7th ode which says "they scorned the all-ruling One with desire." By this, indeed, he incurred laughter from 2.61 the hearers, having scorned the fear of God and added himself to the portion of the demons through the denial of the all-venerable icons. And so much for the emperor in these matters. But Michael of Amorion, always stretching forward to the things that were before, advancing to greater things, was accused of conspiracy; though with difficulty, he nevertheless shook this off and was sent out by the emperor to teach military tactics to the people under his command. But Michael was not only prone to all other vices, but he also suffered from an intemperance of the tongue, and was able to reveal the inner mysteries of his heart. For he spoke openly everything that came to mind, and he even cast out unseemly words against the emperor himself, threatening him with deposition from the empire and brandishing an unholy marriage for his wife. When the emperor learned of these things, at first he cleverly tried, pretending not to know, to make him cease from his unbridled speech and evil counsels; for he knew that he was a slave to the most shameful disease of an intemperate tongue. But when, using both exhortations and threats as occasion offered, he found him immediately denying what was said, but then, having again obtained immunity, not desisting from his purpose, he secretly sent spies and eavesdroppers after him, who, often catching him at banquets and drinking-bouts when his mind was deranged by wine and he was very eagerly applying himself to his former plans, made it clear to the emperor. An addition to the credibility of the 2.62 accusations against Michael was also Hexaboulios, a prudent man and an intimate of the emperor, but not unknown to Michael either. This man, having often attempted to restrain him from his unbridled speech, and having advised him to be silent, and having urged him not to speak so freely out of season and thrust himself into manifest danger, when he could not persuade him, makes everything concerning him known to the emperor. And indeed, one day before the birth in the flesh of Christ our God, the emperor received the reports and sat on the tribunal in the imperial secretariat, and became a careful examiner of what had been reported. Michael is therefore convicted of treason, having been forced to confess by the clarity of the evidence; and a sentence is passed against him to end his life by fire, being thrown into the furnace of the palace bath, and that the emperor himself should be a spectator of the drama. So he was led as a prisoner on the way to death, and the emperor followed, eager to be a spectator of the deed. But while they were passing through the intervening space, the empress Theodosia, the daughter of Arsaber, having learned what was about to be done, went out of her chamber with all haste, stirred by a kind of bacchic and mad frenzy, and having overtaken the emperor, she called him a fiend and an enemy of God for not even sparing the holy day, when he was about to partake of the divine body, and she tried to prevent his impulse. And he, fearing to offend God, for the moment awarded him a reprieve and salvation, but he placed an iron fetter on Michael's feet, and 2.63 having entrusted the guard of the key to himself, he assigned his custody to the papias. And turning to his wife, he said, "Woman, persuaded by your frenzies I have done as you commanded; but you will see before long both the offspring of my own womb and what will befall them, even if today you have freed me from the sin." Thus the future,

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ἄρχοντας τῶν ἀξιολογωτάτων καὶ ἀδωροτάτων, χρημάτων ὑπερόπτης ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀκριβέστατος. ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φωνήν, εὔρυθμός τις εἶναι βουλόμενος, εἰ καὶ μὴ τὴν φύσιν συνᾴδουσαν εἶχεν· ἄρρυθμος γὰρ ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἐν ἁρμονίᾳ μέλη ἀνεπιτή δειος. εἰώθει γὰρ κἀν ταῖς ψαλμῳδίαις ἐξάρχειν τῶν αἴνων, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτε ἐν τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεννήσει οἱ τῆς ἑορτῆς κανόνες ἐψάλλοντο· ἐξῆρχε γὰρ τῶν ᾠδῶν τορωτέρᾳ καὶ ἀγρίᾳ φωνῇ, καὶ ὅτε τῆς ζʹ ᾠδῆς κατήρχετο τοῦ εἱρμοῦ τοῦ λέγοντος "τῷ παντάνα κτος ἐξεφαύλισαν πόθω." ᾧ δὴ καὶ γέλωτα ὠφλίσκανε παρὰ 2.61 τοῖς ἀκούουσι, τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φόβον ἐκφαυλίσας καὶ τῇ τῶν δαιμό νων μέριδι προσθέμενος διὰ τῆς τῶν πανσέπτων εἰκόνων ἀρνήσεως. καὶ τὰ μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τούτοις. Μιχαὴλ δὲ ὁ ἐξ Ἀμωρίου ἀεὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεινόμε νος, ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον προβαίνων, διαβολὴν ἔσχε καθοσιώσεως· ὃς ταύτην εἰ καὶ δυσχερῶς ὅμως ἀποσεισάμενος ἐκπέμπεται παρὰ βασιλέως τακτικὰ διδάσκειν τὸν ὑπὸ χεῖρα λαόν. ἦν δὲ ὁ Μιχαὴλ οὐ ταῖς ἄλλαις πάσαις κακίαις ἐπιρρεπὴς μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐνόσει καὶ γλώσσης ἀκολασίαν, καὶ τὰ ἔνδον τῆς καρδίας ἐκφαυλίζειν δυνά μενος μυστήρια. ἐλάλει γὰρ πᾶν τὸ παριστάμενον εἰς τοὐμφανές, ἀπερρίπτει δὲ καὶ κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως λόγους οὐκ εὐπρεπεῖς, ἀπειλῶν αὐτῷ τε καθαίρεσιν τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ συζύγῳ γάμον ἐπισείων ἀνόσιον. ἅπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς πυνθανόμενος πρῶτον μὲν εὐμηχάνως ἐπειρᾶτο παραπροσποιούμενος τὴν γνῶσιν, ἀπο στῆσαι τοῦτον τῆς ἀθυρογλωσσίας καὶ τῶν κακῶν βουλευμάτων βουλόμενος· ᾔδει γὰρ αὐτὸν αἰσχίστῃ νόσῳ ἀκολάστῳ γλώσσῃ δουλεύοντα. ὡς δὲ καὶ παραινέσεσι καὶ ἀπειλαῖς ὅπῃ παρείκοι χρώμενος εὐθὺς μὲν ἐξαρνούμενον εὕρισκε τὰ λεγόμενα, ἀδείας δὲ πάλιν τετυχηκότα τῶν κατὰ σκοπὸν μὴ ἀφιστάμενον, ἐπαφίησιν αὐτῷ σκοποὺς καὶ ὠτακουστὰς λεληθότως, οἵτινες πολλάκις ἐν εὐωχίαις καὶ μέθαις μετακινούμενον τῶν φρενῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ οἴνου καταλαβόντες καὶ τοῖς προτέροις μάλα προθύμως ἐπιτιθέμενον κατάδηλον ποιοῦσι τῷ βασιλεῖ. ἐγένετο δὲ προσθήκη πίστεως τῶν 2.62 διαβαλλομένων τῷ Μιχαὴλ καὶ ὁ Ἑξαβούλιος, ἀνὴρ φρενήρης καὶ συνήθης τῷ βασιλεῖ, οὐκ ἄγνωστος δὲ καὶ τῷ Μιχαήλ. οὗτος πολλάκις ἐπισχεῖν αὐτὸν τῆς ἀθυροστομίας ἐπιχειρήσας, καὶ παραινέσας σιγᾶν, καὶ μὴ οὕτως ἀκαίρως παρρησιάζεσθαι καὶ εἰς προῦπτον ἑαυτὸν συνωθεῖν κίνδυνον παρακαλέσας, ἐπειδὴ μὴ ἔπειθε, δῆλα πάντα τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν τίθησι τῷ βασιλεῖ. καὶ δὴ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τῆς κατὰ σάρκα Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν γεννήσεως δεξάμενος τὰς μηνύσεις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ βήματός τε ἐν τοῖς ἀσηκρητείοις ἐκάθισε, καὶ ἀκριβὴς ἐξεταστὴς τῶν μηνυθέντων ἐγίνετο. ἁλίσκεται τοίνυν τυραννίδος ὁ Μιχαήλ, αὐτὸς καταθέ σθαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἐναργείας τῶν ἐλέγχων ἀναγκασθείς· καὶ ψῆφος ἐκφέρεται κατ' αὐτοῦ πυρὶ καταστρέψαι τὴν ζωήν, ἐμβληθέντος ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ τοῦ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ λουτροῦ, εἶναι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν θεωρὸν τὸν βασιλέα τοῦ δράματος. ἤγετο μὲν οὖν τὴν ἐπὶ θάνα τον δεσμώτης, εἵπετο δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς θεατὴς εἶναι ὀριγνώμενος τοῦ δρωμένου. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ παρήμειβον διάστημα, ἡ βασιλὶς Θεοδοσία, τὸ τοῦ Ἀρσαβὴρ θυγάτριον, μαθοῦσα τὸ μέλ λον πραχθῆναι ἔξεισι μετὰ σπουδῆς ὅτι πολλῆς τοῦ θαλάμου, παράβακχόν τι καὶ μανικὸν κινουμένη, τὸν βασιλέα τε καταλα βοῦσα ἀλάστορά τε καὶ θεομάχον ἀπεκάλει οἷς οὐδὲ τὴν θείαν ἡμέραν ἄγει διὰ φειδοῦς, τοῦ θείου μέλλων σώματος μετασχεῖν, καὶ τῆς ὁρμῆς διεκώλυεν. οὗτος δὲ τῷ θεῷ μὴ προσκροῦσαι δε δοικώς, τὸ μὲν παραχρῆμα παλίντροπον αὐτῷ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐβράβευσε, σίδηρον δὲ τοῖς ποσὶ περιθεὶς τοῦ Μιχαήλ, καὶ τῆς 2.63 κλειδὸς ἑαυτῷ τὴν φρουρὰν ἐπιτρέψας, τῷ παπίᾳ τὴν αὐτοῦ φυ λακὴν ἀνατίθησι. πρὸς δὲ τὴν σύζυγον ἐπιστραφεὶς ἔφη "ἐγὼ μέν, ὦ γύναι, ταῖς σαῖς βακχείαις πεισθεὶς ἐποίησα ὡς ἐκέλευ σας· σὺ δὲ οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἐπόψει, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἐμῆς νηδύος βλα στήματα, τὰ ἀποβησόμενα, εἰ καὶ σήμερόν με τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος ἠλευθέρωσας." οὕτω τὸ μέλλον,