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to Theophilos and sends a letter having such a meaning "I wished to come to you myself, fulfilling the duty of a true friend; but since the rule entrusted to me by God and the very large populace under my hand and authority do not permit this, the man you have, famous for philosophy and the other sciences, I ask you to send him to me for a short time, to impart his knowledge to me, who am burning with desire and am in love with it. Let there be no delay because of reverence or the foreignness of our race, but rather because he deems such men worthy friends, both fair and good, let the request be fulfilled with all speed. And a reward will be paid to you for this: one hundred centenaria of gold, and unending and eternal peace and treaties." But Theophilos, having received the letter, judging it absurd if he should make available to the gentiles the knowledge of things for which the Roman race is admired, did not assent to what was requested and demanded. But he held Leo in greater honor and appointed him president of Thessaloniki, 2.170 persuading Patriarch John to ordain him, who was also related to him by birth, as we have already said. After his ordination, the Thessalonians honored him exceedingly for his inherent wisdom and his precision in all subjects of study, but they especially marveled for the following reason. The land was barren and fruitless at that time, and famine afflicted the inhabitants of Thessaloniki and its surroundings, and all expected either to become emigrants from their fatherland or to perish by famine and want of necessities. But Leo, comforting them in their helplessness, indicated to them a certain time which the rising and appearance of the stars suggested to him, and permitted them to cast the seeds upon the earth at that time, he became the cause of such a great abundance that the harvested fruits sufficed the locals for many years. Leo, then, said that he had been initiated into grammar and poetics in the capital, but rhetoric and philosophy and higher mathematics and the approaches to the other sciences while on the island of Andros. For there, having met a certain learned man, Michael Psellos, and having received from him only the first principles and some arguments and starting points, since he did not find as much as he wished, he went around the monasteries, and by searching for and procuring and diligently studying the books stored in them, he was raised to the height of such great knowledge. And having partaken of his studies to satiety, he returned again to the ruling city, 2.171 casting the seeds of the sciences into the minds of those who wished it. But these things were before; but when the heresy of the iconoclasts had been cast down and its adherents deposed, and when Patriarch John was also deposed, he too was deposed with him, whom Bardas, as we have already said, appointed head of the school of philosophy, and a certain Sergios, who had been his student (this was the father of the aforementioned youth), of the school of geometry, and Theodegios, who was also his associate, of arithmetic and astronomy, assigning them lavish stipends. And often visiting out of a love of learning, and encouraging the zeal of the students, in a short time he brought knowledge to a state of growth, which before had been completely extinguished and showed not a trace or spark at all.

And the same Bardas, having become Caesar, frequently attended the courts of the hippodrome, and became the cause of the laws' rejuvenation, as time had obscured the precision concerning them. But so many and so great were the fine advantages of Bardas that the love of being first, being like some inborn pollution and unmixed stain, obscured and made them disappear, and the sedition which he stirred up against the church, throwing it into confusion and turmoil. Therefore instead of the better

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τὸν Θεόφιλον καὶ γράμματα τοιαῦτα ἔχοντα τὴν διάνοιαν ἐκπέμ πει "ἐβουλόμην μὲν αὐτὸς ἀφικέσθαι σοι, ἔργον γνησίου φίλου ἀποπληρῶν· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ ἀνακειμένη μοι ἀρχὴ ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ ὑπὸ τὴν χεῖρά μου τελῶν πλεῖστος κατεξουσίας λαὸς τοῦτο οὐ συγχω ρεῖ, ὃν ἔχεις ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐπιστήμαις διαβόη τον ἄνδρα, βραχύν τινα χρόνον αἰτῶ ἐξαποστεῖλαί μοι, τῆς αὐ τοῦ ἐπιστήμης μεταδώσοντά μοι ἐκκαιομένῳ καὶ ταύτης ἐρωτικῶς ἔχοντι. μὴ ἀναβολὴ δὲ διὰ τὸ σέβας καὶ τὴν τοῦ γένους ἀλλο τριότητα ἔσοιτο, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὅτι τοιούτοις ἀξιοῖ φίλοις ἐπιεικέσι τε καὶ χρηστοῖς, πέρας τὸ τάχος λαβέτω ἡ αἴτησις. χάρις δέ σοι ὑπὲρ τούτου καταβληθήσεται χρυσίου μὲν ἑκατὸν κεντηνάρια, εἰ ρήνη δὲ καὶ σπονδαὶ ἀτελεύτητοι καὶ ἀΐδιοι." δεξάμενος δὲ τὰ γράμματα ὁ Θεόφιλος, ἄτοπον κρίνας εἰ τὴν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν, δι' ἣν τὸ Ῥωμαίων γένος θαυμάζεται, ἔκδοτον ποιήσει τοῖς ἔθνεσι, πρὸς τὰ αἰτηθέντα καὶ ἀξιωθέντα οὐκ ἐπένευσε. τὸν δὲ Λέοντα διὰ μείζονος ἦγε τιμῆς καὶ τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης προχειρίζεται πρόε 2.170 δρον, τὸν πατριάρχην ἀναπείσας Ἰαννῆν χειροτονῆσαι τοῦτον, καὶ αὐτῷ, ὡς ἤδη εἴπομεν, κατὰ γένος ᾠκειωμένον. Τοῦτον οἱ Θεσσαλονικεῖς μετὰ τὴν χειροτονίαν ὑπερβαλλόν τως ἐτίμησαν διὰ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν αὐτῷ σοφίαν καὶ τὴν περὶ πάντα τὰ μαθήματα ἀκρίβειαν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ ἐθαύμασαν ἀπὸ τῆσδε τῆς αἰτίας. ἄγονος ἦν ἡ γῆ καὶ ἄκαρπος κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ, καὶ λιμὸς ἦγχε τοὺς οἰκοῦντας Θεσσαλονίκην καὶ τὰ πέριξ αὐτῆς, καὶ πάντες ἢ μετανάσται γενέσθαι τῆς πατρίδος ἢ λιμῷ καὶ ἐνδείᾳ τῶν ἀναγκαίων διαφθαρήσεσθαι ἤλπιζον. ὁ δὲ Λέων τὴν ἀπο ρίαν τούτων παραμυθούμενος καιρόν τινα, ὃν ἡ τῶν ἄστρων ὑπε τίθη τούτῳ ἐπιτολή τε καὶ φάσις, παραδηλώσας αὐτοῖς, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον τῇ γῇ καταβαλεῖν ἐπιτρέψας τὰ σπέρματα, τοσαύτης γέγονεν εὐφορίας αἴτιος ὡς ἐπὶ πολλοὺς ἐπαρκέσαι χρόνους τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις τοὺς δρεφθέντας καρπούς. Τὰ μὲν οὖν γραμματικὰ ἔλεγεν ὁ Λέων καὶ ποιητικὰ μυη θῆναι κατὰ τὴν βασιλίδα, ῥητορικὴν δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ ἀριθμῶν ἀναλήψεις καὶ τὰς τῶν λοιπῶν ἐπιστημῶν ἐφόδους κατὰ τὴν νῆσον Ἄνδρον γενόμενος. ἐκεῖσε γὰρ σπουδαίῳ τινὶ ἐντυχὼν ἀνδρὶ Μιχαὴλ τῷ Ψελλῷ, καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς μόνον καί τινας λόγους καὶ ἀφορμὰς λαβὼν παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἐπεὶ μὴ ὅσον ἐβούλετο εὕρισκε, περιενόστει τὰ μοναστήρια, καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀποκειμένας βίβλους ἀνερευνῶν τε καὶ ποριζόμενος καὶ σπουδαίως ἐκμελετῶν πρὸς τὸ τῆς τοσαύτης γνώσεως ὕψος ἀνεβιβάσθη. εἰς κόρον δὲ τῶν μαθη 2.171 μάτων μετεσχηκὼς πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν αὖθις ὑπέστρεψε, τὰ σπέρματα τῶν ἐπιστημῶν ταῖς τῶν βουλομένων διανοίαις κατα βαλλόμενος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πρότερον· τῆς δὲ τῶν εἰκονομάχων αἱρέσεως καταβληθείσης καὶ τῶν ταύτης ἐχομένων καθῃρεθέντων, καθαιρεθέντος δὲ καὶ Ἰαννῆ τοῦ πατριάρχου, συγκαθῃρέθη καὶ οὗτος, ὃν ὁ Βάρδας, ὡς ἤδη φθάσαντες εἴπομεν, τῆς φιλοσόφου σχολῆς προστάτην ἀπέδειξε, καί τινα Σέργιον, φοιτητὴν αὐτοῦ γενόμενον (πατὴρ οὗτος τοῦ ἄνωθεν εἰρημένου νεανίσκου) τοῦ τῆς γεωμετρίας διαιτητηρίου, καὶ Θεοδήγιον, συνήθη καὶ αὐτὸν τού του ὑπάρχοντα, ἀριθμητικῆς καὶ ἀστρονομίας, δαψιλεῖς αὐτοῖς τὰς χορηγίας ἐπιμετρῶν. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ἐπιφοιτῶν ἐκ φιλομα θείας, καὶ τῶν διδασκομένων τὰς προθυμίας ἐπιρρωννύς, διὰ βραχέων εἰς αὔξησιν τὴν γνῶσιν ἀνήγαγεν, ἀπεσβηκυῖαν τελέως πρὸ τοῦ καὶ μηδ' ἴχνος ὅλως δεικνῦσαν ἢ ζώπυρον.

Ὁ δ' αὐτὸς Βάρδας καὶ Καῖσαρ γενόμενος συνεχῶς ἐφοίτα τοῖς τοῦ ἱπποδρόμου δικαστηρίοις, καὶ τοὺς νόμους ἀνηβᾶν αἴτιος γέγονε, τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτοὺς ἀκρίβειαν συγκαλύψαν τος. ἀλλὰ τοσαῦτα καὶ τηλικαῦτα τῶν καλῶν τοῦ Βάρδα πλεο νεκτημάτων ὁ τῆς φιλοπρωτίας ἔρως, οἷά τις ἐγγενὴς μολυσμὸς καὶ σπῖλος ἄκρατος ὤν, ἠμαύρωσε καὶ ἠφάνισε, καὶ ἣν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀνήγειρε στάσιν, κυκήσας αὐτὴν καὶ ταράξας. διὸ ἀντὶ τῆς κρείττονος