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were supporters of his cause, he would perhaps have denounced many, if the patrician John Hexaboulios had not said, "It is not right, O Emperor, but also utterly irrational, to trust enemies against friends," and with this speech he dispelled the punishments that were about to be raised against his miserable citizens and friends. And the apostate ended his life, breathing his last under gradual tortures, in the middle of the month of October, having seemed at the beginning to be ambitious and bold and capable of accomplishing his purpose, but as he proceeded forward he appeared much inferior 2.90 to himself and to the expectation of outsiders. And those from the fortress of Bizye quickly changed their minds, suspecting the impending danger; for as soon as they learned of Thomas's misfortunes, they did the same, and seizing Anastasius, they brought him to the emperor, bound hand and foot. And he also suffered things similar to his father, and violently departed this life. And with the tyrants deposed, the coastal cities of Thrace, both Parion and Herakleia, still held out, supporting the tyrant's cause, both out of hatred for Michael and because he was unwilling to restore the holy icons. And Parion was taken when its wall was thrown down by some earthquake that occurred, while Herakleia was captured from the sea.

And so the affairs concerning Thomas had such an end, and thus the emperor returns as a victor from the cities of Thrace, having devised nothing else against those who had rebelled with Thomas and were captured in the war, but that, when the hippodrome races were held, they be led around riding on donkeys and be handed over to exile. But the ember of the rebellion remained in the fortress of Kabala and Saniana, of which Choireas held the one and the Gazarene the other, from which they set out and carried on raids and plunder. But since they too did not accept the imperial letters acquitting them and the offered dignities (for the emperor had made both of them magistroi), 2.91 when those inside had been suborned, as these men went out for their usual raids, the gates of the fortresses were shut against them, and fleeing toward Syria, they were caught by the strategoi governing the high passes and were impaled. And thus indeed the rebellion was completely extinguished and gone, but the onslaught of evils was not destined to stop at these things, but after the two continents, we mean Asia and Europe, like a certain head and tail, had been chastised in the wrath of the Lord, even if they did not understand, with murders, conflagrations, earthquakes, plundering, civil raids, unexpected migrations of cities, signs from heaven, signs from the air, finally the calamities also ran upon the miserable islands, as on a kind of middle, so that the blow might be on the whole body. But it was not possible for those who had denied the veneration of the God-man's form to be chastened. For just as the rebellion of Thomas had begun, when these things were heard everywhere, the Agarenes inhabiting the western gulf of Iberia, being neighbors to the Ocean (they call them Spaniards), having grown to be numerous, and seeing that the land they inhabited was poor and moderately prosperous and for this reason unable to support them, approached their own ruler Abochaps (whom the local language calls amermoumnes) and demanded a colony and a migration from the land for themselves, as they were crowded by their numbers and lacked 2.92 necessities. And he, having gladly received the proposal, immediately fitted out long ships and embarked on them a force from among them, and turned for the time being to raiding our islands lying toward the east, having a hidden purpose, at once fulfilling what was desired by his subjects and sating them with the property of others, and at the same time to investigate if any of the islands was fertile and suitable for them to resettle. And having set sail in the season of spring, and attacking many of the islands,

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εἶεν τὰ αὐτοῦ φρονοῦντες, τάχα ἂν κατεῖπε πολλῶν, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατρίκιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἑξαβούλιος "οὐ δέον" ἔφη, "ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν ἀλόγιστον, ἐχθροῖς πιστεύειν κατὰ τῶν φίλων," καὶ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ διέλυσε τὰς κατὰ τῶν ταλαιπώρων πολιτῶν καὶ φίλων αὐτοῦ μελλούσας ἐγείρεσθαι τιμωρίας. καὶ ὁ ἀποστάτης δὲ κατέλυσε τὸν βίον, ἀπορρήξας τὸ πνεῦμα ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν ποιναῖς, μεσοῦντος Ὀκτωβρίου μηνός, κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἀρχὰς μεγαλεπήβολος δοκῶν γενέσθαι καὶ τολμηρὸς καὶ τοῦ προτεθέντος ἐξεργαστικός, προβαίνων δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν πολὺ καταδεέστερος 2.90 ἑαυτοῦ φανεὶς καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐκτὸς προσδοκίας. καὶ οἱ ἐκ Βιζύης δὲ τοῦ φρουρίου ἑτέρας ταχέως ἐγένοντο γνώμης, τὸν ἐπηρτημένον ὑφορώμενοι κίνδυνον· ἅμα γὰρ τῷ πυθέσθαι τὰ κατὰ τὸν Θωμᾶν ἀτυχήματα, τὰ ὅμοια πεποιηκότες καὶ τὸν Ἀναστάσιον συσχόντες δεδεμένον χεῖρας καὶ πόδας προσήνεγκαν τῷ βασιλεῖ. πέπονθε δὲ καὶ οὗτος τὰ παραπλήσια τῷ πατρί, καὶ τὸν βίον βιαίως μετήλ λαξε. καὶ τῶν τυράννων δὲ καθαιρεθέντων αἱ παράλιοι τῆς Θρᾴκης πόλεις, τό τε Πάριον καὶ ἡ Ἡράκλεια, ἔτι τὰ τοῦ τυράννου φρονοῦσαι ἀντεῖχον, μίσει τε τῷ πρὸς Μιχαὴλ καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ θέλειν τοῦτον τὰς θείας ἀναστηλῶσαι εἰκόνας. καὶ τὸ μὲν Πάριον ἑάλω τοῦ τείχους καταβληθέντος ἀπό τινος γενομένου σεισμοῦ, ἡ δ' Ἡράκλεια ἐκυριεύθη ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς θαλάσσης μερῶν.

Καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ Θωμᾶν τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τὸ τέλος, καὶ οὕτως ὁ βασιλεὺς τροπαιοφόρος ἐκ τῶν κατὰ Θρᾴκην ἔρχεται πόλεων, οὐδὲν ἕτερον κατὰ τῶν συναποστατησάντων τῷ Θωμᾷ ἐννοήσας καὶ τῷ πολέμῳ ἁλόντων, ἀλλ' ἱπποδρομίας γενομένης ὄνοις ἐποχου μένους περιαχθῆναι καὶ ἐξορίᾳ παραδοθῆναι. ἔμεινε δὲ ζώπυρον τῆς ἀποστασίας τὸ φρούριον ἡ Καβάλα καὶ ἡ Σανίανα, ὧν τὴν μὲν ὁ Χοιρέας κατεῖχε τὸ δ' ὁ Γαζαρηνός, ἐξ ὧν ὁρμώμενοι λῃ στείας ἐποιοῦντο καὶ προνομάς. ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτοι ὡς οὐκ ἐδέξαντο τὰς ἀθωούσας αὐτοὺς βασιλικὰς συλλαβὰς καὶ τὰ πεμφθέντα ἀξιώματα (καὶ ἄμφω γὰρ μαγίστρῳ πεποίηκεν ὁ βασιλεύς), 2.91 ὑποφθαρέντων τῶν ἔνδον, ὡς ἐξῆλθον οὗτοι πρὸς τὰς συνήθεις διαρπαγάς, ἐκλείσθησαν τῶν φρουρίων αἱ πύλαι αὐτοῖς, καὶ φεύγοντες πρὸς Συρίαν ὑπὸ τῶν τὰς ἄκρας διεπόντων στρατηγῶν κατασχεθέντες ἀνεσκολοπίσθησαν. Καὶ οὕτω μὲν τὰ τῆς ἀποστασίας ἀπέσβη τέλεον καὶ ᾤχετο, οὐκ ἔμελλε δὲ ἄχρι τούτων στήσεσθαι ἡ φορὰ τῶν κακῶν, ἀλλὰ τῶν δύο ἠπείρων, Ἀσίας φαμὲν καὶ Εὐρώπης, ἐν θυμῷ κυρίου οἷόν τινος κεφαλῆς καὶ οὐρᾶς, εἰ καὶ μὴ συνίεσαν, παιδευθει σῶν φόνοις ἐμπρησμοῖς σεισμοῖς ἁρπαγαῖς ἐμφυλίοις καταδρο μαῖς, πόλεων ἀνελπίστοις μεταναστάσεσι, σημείοις ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, σημείοις ἐξ ἀέρος, τέλος καὶ ταῖς ταλαιπώροις νήσοις, οἷόν τινα μέσην, ἵν' ὁλοσώματος εἴη ἡ πληγή, ἐπέδραμε τὰ δεινά. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν παιδευθῆναι τοὺς τὴν θεάνθρωπον ἐξηρνημένους μορφὴν προσκυνεῖν. ἄρτι γὰρ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν Θωμᾶν ἄρξαντος νεωτε ρισμοῦ, ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ἠκούετο πανταχοῦ, οἱ τὸν ἑσπέριον κόλπον τῆς Ἰβηρίας οἰκοῦντες Ἀγαρηνοί, πρόσχωροι τῷ Ὠκεανῷ ὄντες(Ἱσπάνους τούτους κατονομάζουσιν), εἰς εὐανδρίαν ἐληλακότες, καὶ ἣν ᾤκουν γῆν λυπρὰν οὖσαν καὶ μετρίως εὐδαίμονα ὁρῶντες καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τρέφειν μὴ δυναμένην αὐτούς, προσελθόντες τῷ ἑαυτῶν ἄρχοντι Ἀπόχαψ (ἀμερμουμνῆν οἶδε τοῦτον ἡ ἐγχώριος γλῶσσα καλεῖν) ἀποικίαν καὶ γῆς μετανάστασιν ἀπῄτουν γενέσθαι αὐτοῖς πλήθει τε στενοχωρουμένοις καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων σπανί 2.92 ζουσιν. ὁ δὲ ἀσπασίως τὸν λόγον δεξάμενος, πλοῖα εὐθέως ἐπι σκευάσας μακρὰ καὶ δύναμιν τούτοις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐμβιβάσας, ἐπὶ λῃστείαν τέως, λανθάνουσαν ἔχων τὴν ἔννοιαν, τῶν πρὸς τῇ ἕῳ κειμένων νήσων καὶ ἡμετέρων ἐτράπετο, ὁμοῦ μὲν τὸ τοῖς ὑπη κόοις ὀρεκτὸν ἐκπληρῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων αὐτοὺς κορεννύς, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ μετασκεψόμενος εἴ τίς ἐστιν εὔφορος τῶν νήσων καὶ πρὸς μετοικίαν ἐπιτηδεία αὐτοῖς. ποιησάμενος δὲ τὸν ἀπόπλουν ἔαρος ὥρᾳ, καὶ πολλὰς ἐπιὼν τῶν νήσων,