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The fellow conspirators fell into no small anxiety, and were considering how they themselves might be saved and might rescue him who was in danger of dying at any moment. They therefore devised a plan which both rescued them and granted to Michael his life in addition to the kingdom. 2.66 At that time a custom prevailed, that the clergy who sang in the palace church did not, as now—a practice which began from that time—remain within the palace, but in their own homes, and would assemble around the third watch of the night at the Elephandine, and from there go to the church and offer the morning prayers to God. Then the conspirators, having mingled with these, carrying daggers under their armpits, entered with them, and lying in wait in a certain dark place of the church, they awaited the signal. And as the hymn was being finished, the emperor was already present, and was leading the hymnody, as was his custom, with "they have scorned the desire of the All-King" (for he had, as we said, a rather clear voice), then, indeed, the conspirators, leaping in all at once, missed on their first attack, having been diverted towards the head of the clergy, either because he was similar to the emperor in physical appearance, or because of the similar covering around his head; for the hour was frosty and wintry, and for this reason they all remained in heavier coverings, covering their heads with very pointed felt hats. But the leader of the clergy averted the danger, by taking the felt hat from his head and procuring his salvation by his baldness; but the emperor, perceiving the plot, entered the sanctuary of the altar, and having seized the chain of the censer, or as some say, a sacred cross, he received the blows of his assailants. But the conspirators, running up all at once and not one by one, one wounded him on the head, another in the vitals, 2.67 and another elsewhere on his body. And for a time he held out, warding off the thrusts of the swords with the sacred cross; but being struck from all sides like a wild beast and growing weary from the wounds, finally seeing a certain gigantic man bringing down a blow, he bound him with an oath by the grace that dwelt in the temple and besought him to spare him; this noble man was sprung from the family of the Krambonites. But he, saying, "It is not a time for oaths, but for slaughter," struck a blow straight across his arm, so as not only to sever it at the joint, but also to cut off the arm of the cross along with it. And someone cut off his head, as he was already exhausted by the blows and had sunk down. Leo met such an end to his life, in the month of December, around the tenth hour of the night, having reigned for 7 years and 5 months, having been the most cruel, if anyone ever was, and the most impious of all his predecessors, by which actions he obscured both his inherent diligence in public affairs and his courage in his hands. And it is said that a voice burst forth from heaven, immediately announcing his downfall to many; and some sailors, having heard it, and having recorded the time and the night, found from the subsequent conclusion of events that it was true. And when Leo had been slain, his slayers, dragging his corpse pitilessly through the Skyla, brought it out to the hippodrome, all fear having been removed from them because the imperial court had been fenced in on all sides with their own arms. They also dragged down from the palace his wife along with her four 2.68 children, Sabbatios who was renamed Constantine at his proclamation, and Basil and Gregory along with Theodosios; whom they put on a skiff and took away to the island of Prote, and there, after they had all been castrated, it happened that Theodosios lost his life and shared a burial with his own father.

But Michael, released from the custody of the papias, still having his feet bound in iron fetters because the key to the irons in the bosom of the

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ἀγωνίαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἐνέπεσον οἱ συνίστορες, καὶ διεσκοποῦντο πῶς ἂν αὐτοί τε σωθεῖεν καὶ τὸν ὅσον οὐδέπω θανεῖν κινδυνεύ σαντα διασώσαιεν. ῥάπτουσιν οὖν βουλὴν ἥτις αὐτούς τε ἐρρύ σατο καὶ τῷ Μιχαὴλ πρὸς τῇ βασιλείᾳ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἐχαρίσατο. 2.66 ἔθος ἐπεκράτει τότε, μή, ὥσπερ νῦν, ἔνδον τῶν βασιλείων, ἔκ τοτε λαβὸν τὴν ἀρχήν, μένειν τοὺς τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ παλατίου ψάλλοντας κληρικούς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἰδίοις οἴκοις, περὶ δὲ τρίτην φυλακὴν τῆς νυκτὸς ἀγείρεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἐλεφαντίνην, κἀκεῖθεν ἀπιέναι πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τῷ θεῷ τὰς ἑωθινὰς ἀποδιδόναι εὐχάς. τούτοις οἱ συνωμόται ἐγκαταμιχθέντες τότε, ὑπὸ μάλης ἐγχειρίδια ἔχοντες, συνεισῄεσαν, καὶ ἔν τινι σκοτεινῷ τῆς ἐκκλη σίας λοχήσαντες τόπῳ τὸ σύνθημα ἐξεδέχοντο. ὡς δ' ὁ ὕμνος διεπεραίνετο, ἤδη δὲ παρῆν καὶ ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ τῆς ὑμνῳδίας ἐξῆρχεν, ὡς ἔθος, "τῷ παντάνακτος ἐξεφαύλισαν πόθῳ" (εἶχε γάρ, ὡς εἴπομεν, τορωτέραν φωνήν), τότε δὴ εἰσπηδήσαντες ἀθρόον οἱ συνωμόται ἐκ μὲν τῆς πρώτης ἡμάρτανον προσβολῆς, πρὸς τὸν τοῦ κλήρου ἔξαρχον ἀποπλανηθέντες, εἴτε παρόμοιον ὄντα τῷ βασιλεῖ κατὰ τὴν σωματικὴν ἐμφέρειαν, εἴτε τῇ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὁμοίᾳ περιβολῇ· ἦν γὰρ ἡ ὥρα κρυμώδης τε καὶ χειμέ ριος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν περιβλήμασι πάντες διεκαρτέρουν στεγανω τέροις, πίλοις τὰς κεφαλὰς ὀξυτάτοις περικαλύπτοντες. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν τοῦ κλήρου καθηγεμὼν τὸν κίνδυνον ἀπεώσατο, τὸν πῖλον τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀφελὼν καὶ τῇ φαλάκρᾳ τὴν σωτηρίαν πραγματευσάμε νος· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς συναισθόμενος τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς εἰς τὰ ἄδυτα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου εἰσέδυ, καὶ τὴν τοῦ θυμιατηρίου σειρὰν διαρ πάσας, ἢ ὥς τινες λέγουσι θεῖον σταυρόν, τὰς βολὰς τῶν πλητ τόντων ἐδέχετο. ἀλλ' οἱ συνωμόται ἀθρόοι καὶ οὐ καθ' ἕνα ἐπι δραμόντες, ὁ μὲν κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἄλλος κατὰ τῶν σπλάγχνων 2.67 καὶ ἄλλος ἀλλαχόθι τοῦ σώματος κατετίτρωσκον. καὶ χρόνον μέν τινα ἀντέσχε, τῷ θείῳ σταυρῷ τὰς τῶν ξιφῶν ὁρμὰς ἀποκρουόμε νος· πάντοθεν δ' ὡς θηρίον βαλλόμενος καὶ πρὸς τὰς τρώσεις ἀπο καμών, τελευταῖον ἕνα τινὰ γιγαντιαῖον ἐπιφέροντα ἰδὼν τὴν πλη γήν, ὅρκῳ τῆς τῷ ναῷ ἐνοικούσης κατεδέσμει χάριτος καὶ φείσα σθαι ἐξελιπάρει· τῆς τῶν Κραμβωνιτῶν οὗτος ὁ γεννάδας ὥρμητο γενεᾶς. ἀλλ' ὅ γε, "οὐχ ὅρκων" εἰπών "ἀλλὰ φόνων καιρός," παίει κατὰ τῆς χειρὸς διανταίαν πληγήν, ὡς μὴ μόνον τῆς κλειδὸς ταύτην ἀποτεμεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ κέρας συναποτεμεῖν τοῦ σταυροῦ. ἀποτέμνει δέ τις αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν, ἤδη καταπεπονημένου ταῖς πληγαῖς καὶ ὀκλάσαντος. τοιούτῳ μὲν βίου τέλει ὁ Λέων ἐχρήσατο, κατὰ τὸν ∆εκέμβριον μῆνα, ὥρα ἦν ὡς δεκάτη τῆς νυκτός, ἐπ' ἔτη βασιλεύσας ζʹ καὶ μῆνας εʹ, ὠμότατος, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, γεγονώς, καὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ πάντων ὁ ἀσεβέστατος, οἷς τήν τε προσοῦσαν αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς ἐπιμέλειαν καὶ τὴν ἐν χερσὶ γενναιότητα ἀπημαύρωσε. λέγεται δὲ καὶ φωνὴν οὐρανόθεν καταρ ραγῆναι εὐθὺς τὴν αὐτοῦ κατάλυσιν εὐαγγελιζομένην πολλοῖς· ἧς καί τινες ἀκηκοότες ναυτίλοι, τὸν καιρόν τε καὶ τὴν νύκτα καταγραψάμενοι, ἐκ τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα συμπεράσματος εὗρον οὖσαν ἀληθινήν. ἀνῃρημένου δὲ τοῦ Λέοντος, οἱ ἀνῃρηκότες σύροντες τὸν τούτου νεκρὸν ἀνηλεῶς διὰ τῶν Σκύλων εἰς τὸν ἱππόδρομον ἐξήγαγον, παντὸς αὐτοῖς περιῃρημένου φόβου διὰ τὸ τὴν βασί λειον αὐλὴν ὅπλοις οἰκείοις πάντοθεν περιφραχθῆναι. κατέσπα σαν δὲ τῶν βασιλείων καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ γαμετὴν σὺν τοῖς τέσσαρσι 2.68 τέκνοις αὐτῆς, Σαββάτιον τὸν μετονομασθέντα κατὰ τὴν ἀνάρρη σιν Κωνσταντῖνον Βασίλειόν τε καὶ Γρηγόριον ἅμα Θεοδοσίῳ· οὓς καὶ ἀκατίῳ ἐνθέντες πρὸς τὴν Πρώτην νῆσον ἀπήγαγον, κἀκεῖ σε τῶν πάντων ἐκτμηθέντων συνέβη τὸν Θεοδόσιον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ καταλῦσαι ζωὴν καὶ ταφῆς τῷ ἰδίῳ κεκοινωνηκέναι πατρί.

Ὁ δὲ Μιχαὴλ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ παπία φρουρᾶς ἀνεθείς, ἔτι τοὺς πόδας ἐν σιδηροπέδαις ἔχων κατισχημένους διὰ τὸ τὴν κλεῖν τῶν σιδήρων ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τοῦ