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and the life of Copronymus as the archetype of his own life for imitation, and he was eager to imitate this to the extreme. For this reason he also reached the very citadel of impiety, at one time legislating to fast on the Sabbath, at another time sharpening his tongue against the divine prophets, at another time denying the future resurrection and slandering the good things promised from there, and claiming that the devil does not exist at all, since this had not been handed down by Moses. And he embraced fornication, and he legislated that one must swear by God in all things, and with an intemperate tongue he ranked Judas among the saved. 2.74 mocking that the feast of the saving Pascha was celebrated badly and at the wrong time, and scorning our and divine education as if it were perhaps Hellenic education, turning away from it so much as not to allow the young to be educated anywhere, so that no one might ever be able to stand against his irrationality and refute it, nor again might one, carried along by the swiftness of his eyes and the flow of his tongue through education, compel him to take second place.

For he was so slow at combining letters and reading syllables, that one could more easily go through a book than he, with the slowness of his mind, the letters of his own name. But let these things be passed over, as they have been sufficiently exposed by others, and let the history proceed with what follows. For at this time the civil war, having taken its start from the east, filled the inhabited world with all kinds of evils, and it brought about a great destruction of men and on account of this a scarcity of men. Thomas was the leader of the apostasy, concerning whom two accounts are told, of which the one says that this man sprang from obscure and poor parents and was of barbarian race, and that he lived for a long time in poverty, providing for his livelihood by the work of his hands, and sometimes also serving for hire; then, having left his native land and having come to this great city, and having been taken into the service of one of the senators, he had advanced to such a degree of licentiousness and insolence as to even dare to defile his master's bed. And when 2.75 he was caught, being unable to bear the disgrace, and also fearing the prescribed penalties for perpetrators of such things, he became a fugitive to the Hagarenes; and having given them sufficient proof of his loyalty both from engaging in suitable actions and from confirming his deeds over time (for a twenty-fifth year was completed by him in his stay with them) and from renouncing the holy religion of the Christians and attaching himself to that of the accursed Mohammed, he is appointed commander of some military phalanx and is sent out against the Christians, having promised to place the empire of the Romans under their hand. And so that he might not have any impediment as a foreigner and one of another faith, being distrusted by the Romans, he gave out that he was Constantine, the son of Irene, whom his mother, on account of his malevolence and the treacherous and malicious character of his ways, had long ago deprived of both the empire and his eyes, and at that time he had also happened to end his life. And the first and widely held account is believed to be thus concerning this matter; but the other says that this is that Thomas who was formerly with Bardanios, about whom the monk in Philomelion 2.76 also uttered the prophecy, and who was promoted by the emperor Leo to the command of the tagma of the foederati. Who, when he had learned that Leo had been slain by Michael, perhaps avenging his benefactor, and at the same time sating his own anger (for it happened that he had been at odds with Michael from his youth), and at the same time also fearing the prophecies about him from the monk in Philomelion, he raises a hostile hand, beginning from the Anatolic theme, where indeed he was staying, having gathered a force not ignoble or small but heavy and manly, compelling every man able to bear any sort of arms to follow him, some by force, others by friendship

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καὶ ἀρχέτυπον τοῦ οἰκείου βίου πρὸς μίμησιν τὸν τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου βίον, καὶ τοῦτον μιμεῖσθαι εἰς ἄκρον ἐσπούδαζε. διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἔφθασε τῆς ἀσεβείας, ἄρτι μὲν σάββατον νηστεύειν νομοθετῶν, ἄρτι δὲ κατὰ τῶν θείων προφητῶν τὴν γλῶτταν ἐξα κονῶν, ἄρτι δὲ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἀνάστασιν ἀθετῶν καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖθεν ἐπηγγελμένα ἀγαθὰ διασύρων, διάβολόν τε μὴ εἶναι ὅλως ἰσχυρι ζόμενος ἅτε μηδ' ὑπὸ Μωσέως τούτου παραδεδομένου. πορνείαν δὲ κατησπάζετο, καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι δεῖν ὀμνύναι θεὸν ἐνομοθέτει, καὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν ἀκολάστῳ γλώσσῃ τάττων μετὰ τῶν σωζομένων. 2.74 τὴν ἑορτὴν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάσχα κακῶς καὶ παρὰ καιρὸν χλευάζων τιμᾶσθαι, καὶ ὡς Ἑλληνικὴν τάχα παίδευσιν διαπτύων τὴν ἡμετέραν καὶ θείαν παίδευσιν τοσοῦτον ἀποστρεφόμενος ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς νέους παιδοτριβεῖσθαί που συγχωρεῖν, ἵνα μήτε τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀλογίᾳ ἀντιστῆναί τις ἔχῃ ποτὲ καὶ διελέγξαι, μήτε πάλιν τῷ τάχει τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ τῇ τῆς γλώττης ῥύμῃ φερόμενος διὰ τῆς παιδεύ σεως τὰ δευτερεῖα τοῦτον φέρειν καταναγκάσειε.

Τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἤργει πρὸς τὴν μῖξιν τῶν γραμμάτων ἐκεῖνος καὶ τὴν τῶν συλλα βῶν ἀνάγνωσιν, ὡς ῥᾷον ἄν τις διῆλθε βιβλίον ἢ αὐτὸς τῇ βραδυ τῆτι τοῦ νοῦ τὰ τοῦ οἰκείου στοιχεῖα ὀνόματος. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν παρείσθω ὡς καὶ ἄλλοις ἱκανῶς ἐστηλιτευ μένα, ἡ δ' ἱστορία ἐχέσθω τῶν ἐφεξῆς. κατὰ γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ὁ ἐμφύλιος πόλεμος ἀρχὴν εἰληφὼς ἐξ ἀνατολῆς παντοίων ἐνέπλησε τὴν οἰκουμένην κακῶν, φθόρον δὲ πολὺν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ὀλιγανδρίαν εἰργάσατο. Θωμᾶς ἦν τῆς ἀποστά σεως ἔξαρχος, περὶ οὗ διττοὶ φέρονται λόγοι, ὧν ὁ μὲν εἷς ὁρμᾶ σθαι τοῦτόν φησιν ἐξ ἀσήμων γονέων καὶ πενιχρῶν καὶ τὸ γένος βαρβάρων, ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ πενίᾳ συζῆν, διὰ τῆς τῶν χειρῶν ἐργα σίας τὰ πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ποριζόμενον, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ θητεύοντα· εἶτα τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν ἀπολιπόντα καὶ πρὸς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν ταύτην πεφοιτηκότα, καί τινι τῶν συγκλητικῶν εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν προσλη φθέντα, ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀκολασίας ἐληλακέναι καὶ ὕβρεως ὡς καὶ αὐτὴν κατατολμῆσαι τὴν δεσποτικὴν καθυβρίσαι εὐνήν. καὶ ἐπεὶ 2.75 ἐφωράθη, μὴ οἷός τε ὢν τὰ ὀνείδη φέρειν, δεδοικὼς δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐπηρτημένας ποινὰς τοῖς τῶν τοιούτων τολμηταῖς, φυγὰς πρὸς τοὺς Ἀγαρηνοὺς γίνεται· καὶ τούτοις πίστιν ἱκανὴν δεδωκὼς ἔκ τε τοῦ καταλλήλαις χρᾶσθαι πράξεσι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου βεβαιῶσαι τὰ ἔργα (ἔτος γὰρ πέμπτον καὶ εἰκοστὸν διηνύσθη τούτῳ ἐν τῇ πρὸς ἐκείνους διατριβῇ) καὶ ἐκ τοῦ τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀπομόσασθαι θρησκείαν καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἐπαράτου προστεθῆναι Μωά μεδ, πολεμικῆς τινὸς φάλαγγος ἀποδείκνυται ἀρχηγὸς καὶ κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐκπέμπεται, τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείαν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτῶν θεῖναι χεῖρα καθυποσχόμενος. καὶ ἵνα μή τινα ὡς ἀλλόφυλος καὶ ἀλλόπιστος ἐμποδισμὸν ἔχῃ ἀπιστούμενος ὑπὸ Ῥω μαίων, Κωνσταντῖνον ἑαυτὸν ἐπεφήμιζεν εἶναι τὸν τῆς Εἰρήνης υἱόν, ὃν ἡ μήτηρ διὰ τὸ κακόνουν καὶ τὸ τοῦ τρόπου ὕπουλον καὶ κακόηθες πάλαι μετὰ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπεστέ ρησε, τηνικαῦτα δὲ καὶ τὸν βίον ἐτύγχανε καταστρέψας. καὶ ὁ μὲν πρῶτος καὶ πολὺς οὕτως ἔχειν περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ὑποθέσεως πιστεύεται λόγος· ἅτερος δὲ τοῦτον εἶναί φησι τὸν Θωμᾶν τὸν τῷ Βαρδανίῳ πάλαι συνόντα, περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ ἐν τῷ Φιλομιλίῳ μονα 2.76 χὸς τὴν πρόρρησιν ἀπεφοίβασε, παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δὲ Λέοντος ἀναχθέντα εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ τῶν φοιδεράτων τάγματος. ὃς ἐπεὶ μεμαθήκοι τὸν Λέοντα ὑπὸ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ ἀνῃρῆσθαι, ἐκδικῶν τάχα τὸν εὐεργέτην, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ θυμὸν ἴδιον ἐμπιπλὰς (ἐτύγχανε γάρ πως ἐξ ἡλικιωτῶν διαφερόμενος πρὸς τὸν Μιχαήλ), ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ Φιλομιλίῳ μοναχοῦ προρρήσεις φοβού μενος, χεῖρα ἐναντίαν κινεῖ, τοῦ τῶν ἀνατολικῶν ἀρξάμενος θέ ματος, ὅπῃ δὴ καὶ διέτριβε, δύναμιν οὐκ ἀγεννῆ τινὰ καὶ μικρὰν ἀλλὰ βαρεῖαν καὶ ἀνδρώδη συνηθροικώς, πάντα τὸν ὅπλον τὸ οἱονοῦν κινεῖν δυνάμενον ἕπεσθαί οἱ καταναγκάσας, ὃν μὲν βίᾳ, ὃν δὲ φιλίᾳ τῇ