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of glory bore the opposite. For after Methodius the thrice-blessed had passed away, having steered the throne of Constantinople for only four 2.172 years, Ignatius, the grandson of the emperor Nicephorus, and son of Michael who had been cast out of the empire, after he fell from the empire and his genitals were removed, had become a monk and abbot of the monastery of Satyros, is elevated to the patriarchal throne. This man excluded Bardas from the church on account of the blameless repudiation of his wife, and his entanglement with his own daughter-in-law, since he did not neglect the divine canons. Since Bardas, though supplicating and imploring him much, was unable to be deemed worthy of forgiveness, having despaired of other means, he rose up in his own defense, and expels him from the church, and after many and unbearable abuses, finally shuts him up in the tomb of Copronymus, stationing over him guards who were both terrible and most savage. And this most holy man would have died from this very painful abuse, if some God-fearing man, when the guards were away on some business, had not led him out of the tomb and deemed him worthy of fitting care. After this very great abuse, he sends him into exile in Mitylene. And many other bishops also suffered similar and worse things, because they were not pleased with what was happening, proclaiming that they would not accept another, no matter what might happen. Nevertheless, yielding, some to threats and others to promises, they gave way to the will of Bardas, exchanging the love of virtue and glory for money and desertion. And Bardas appointed Photius, a man renowned for wisdom, who was at that time *protasecretis*, as patriarch. And since legates of the 2.173 Pope of Rome were also present, having been sent against the iconoclasts, they persuade them also to be of their own will. Therefore, having gathered a synod in the sanctuary of the Holy Apostles, they subjected Ignatius to a public deposition, having summoned him from exile. These then were the audacious acts of Bardas' ambition. The fleet of the Rus was sacking and overrunning the lands within the Euxine and all its coastland (the Rus are a Scythian nation, dwelling around the northern Taurus, uncivilized and savage), and it shook the queen of cities herself with terrible danger; who, not long after, having experienced the divine wrath, returned home, and their embassy reached the queen of cities, begging to receive holy baptism, which also came to pass. And another fleet from Crete was now ravaging the Cyclades, now the entire coastline as far as Proconnesus. And there were also most dreadful earthquakes. And one, the greatest, on the day on which the Lord's Ascension is celebrated, shaking the earth, leveled to the ground the wall at the Exokionion, and magnificent temples and splendid houses and the Victory set up at the Golden Gate of the city and it shook down the solid structures standing at the Deuteros near Saint Anna, the fall of which Leo the philosopher openly declared to signify the destruction of the ruler after the emperor. And there were also disappearances of rivers and springs, and some other calamities throughout the whole land. Having turned his back on all these things, the emperor was wholly occupied 2.174 with the horse races at the church of the holy martyr Mamas, which had been built at the Stenos. And it is worthwhile not to omit this account, which happens to be illustrative both of the foolishness of this emperor and of the diligence of his predecessors. The emperors of old, wishing to make known the incursions of the Saracens against the land of the Romans, so that they might not fall upon them suddenly, sacking the lands and seizing the inhabitants in the villages and fields, built a certain fortress near Tarsus on a very high and steep hill; Loulon was the name of the fortress. Therefore, the guards in this place, on perceiving a raid, would light a beacon, which those on Mount Argaeus, seeing it,

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δόξης τὰ ἐναντία ἠνέγκατο. Μεθοδίου γὰρ τοῦ τρισολβίου τὸν βίον μετηλλαχότος, ἐπὶ τέσσαρας χρόνους μό 2.172 νον τὸν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως οἰακίσαντος θρόνον, Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Νικηφόρου μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατριδοῦς, υἱὸς δὲ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκπεπτωκότος, μετὰ τὸ τῆς βασιλείας ἀποπεσεῖν καὶ τὰ παιδογόνα ἀφαιρεθῆναι μόρια μοναχὸς γεγονὼς καὶ τῆς μονῆς τοῦ Σατύρου καθηγεμών, πρὸς τὸν πατριαρχικὸν θρόνον ἀνάγε ται. οὗτος τὸν Βάρδαν ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀναιτίῳ ἀποβολῇ, τῇ δὲ τῆς οἰκείας νύμφης περιπλοκῇ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπεῖργεν, ἐπεὶ μὴ τῶν θείων ἠμέλει κανόνων. ὃν ἐπεὶ πολλὰ λιτανεύων καὶ δυσω πῶν ὁ Βάρδας συγχωρήσεως ἀξιωθῆναι οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, ἄλλων ἀπο γνοὺς πρὸς ἄμυναν διανίσταται, καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκβάλλει, καὶ μετὰ πολλὰς κακώσεις καὶ ἀνυποίστους τελευταῖον τῷ τοῦ Κοπρω νύμου τάφῳ ἀποκλείει, ἐπιστήσας αὐτῷ φύλακας δεινούς τε καὶ ὠμοτάτους. ἀπεβίω δ' ἂν ὁ ἱερώτατος οὗτος ἀνὴρ ἀπὸ τῆς πο λυωδύνου ταύτης κακώσεως, εἰ μή τις θεοσεβὴς ἄνθρωπος κατά τινας χρείας τῶν φρουρῶν ἀποδημούντων ἐξῆγέ τε τοῦ τάφου καὶ ἐπιμελείας ἠξίου τῆς προσηκούσης. ὃν μετὰ πολλὴν ὅσην τὴν κά κωσιν ὑπερόριον ἐν Μιτυλήνῃ ποιεῖ. ἔπαθον δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ τῶν ἐπισκόπων τὰ παραπλήσιά τε καὶ χείρω, ὅτι μὴ ἠρέσκοντο τοῖς γινομένοις, μηδ' ἄλλον δέξασθαι διαβοώμενοι, κἂν εἴ τι γένηται. ὅμως δ' ὑπενδόντες οἱ μὲν ἀπειλαῖς οἱ δὲ ὑποσχέσεσιν εἴκουσι τῷ τοῦ Βάρδα θελήματι, τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ δόξης ἔρωτα χρημάτων καὶ λειποταξίαν ἀνταλλαξάμενοι. ὁ δὲ Βάρδας Φώτιον, ἄνδρα ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ γνώριμον, πρωτασηκρήτην τηνικαῦτα ὑπάρχοντα, προχειρίζεται πατριάρχην. ἐπεὶ δὲ παρῆσαν καὶ τοποτηρηταὶ τοῦ 2.173 πάπα Ῥώμης κατὰ τῶν εἰκονομάχων σταλέντες, πείθουσι καὶ αὐ τοὺς τῆς ἑαυτῶν γενέσθαι θελήσεως. διὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ τῶν θείων ἀποστόλων τεμένει συνέδριον ἠθροικότες δεδημοσιευμένῃ καθαιρέ σει καθυποβάλλουσι τὸν Ἰγνάτιον τῆς ἐξορίας μεταπεμψάμενοι. ταῦτα μὲν τὰ τῆς φιλοπρωτίας τοῦ Βάρδα νεανιεύματα. Τὰ δὲ ἐντὸς Εὐξείνου καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν αὐτοῦ παραλίαν ὁ τῶν Ῥὼς ἐπόρθει καὶ κατέτρεχε στόλος (ἔθνος δὲ οἱ Ῥὼς Σκυθικόν, περὶ τὸν ἀρκτῷον Ταῦρον κατῳκημένον, ἀνήμερόν τε καὶ ἄγριον), καὶ αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ βασιλίδι δεινὸν ἐπέσειε κίνδυνον· οἳ μετ' οὐ πολὺ τῆς θείας πειραθέντες ὀργῆς οἴκαδε ὑπενόστησαν, πρεσβεία τε αὐ τῶν τὴν βασιλίδα καταλαμβάνει, τοῦ θείου μεταλαχεῖν βαπτί σματος λιτανεύουσα, ὃ καὶ γέγονε. καὶ τῆς Κρήτης δὲ στόλος ἄλλος νῦν μὲν τὰς Κυκλάδας ἐδῄου, νῦν δὲ ἄχρι Προικοννήσου τὴν παράλιον ἅπασαν. ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ κλόνοι γῆς φρικωδέστα τοι. εἷς δὲ ὁ μέγιστος, καθ' ἣν ἡμέραν ἡ τοῦ κυρίου ἀνάληψις ἑορτάζεται τὴν γῆν κατασείσας, τό τε κατὰ τὸ Ἐξωκιόνιον πρὸς γῆν ἠδάφισε τεῖχος, καὶ ναοὺς εὐπρεπεῖς καὶ οἴκους λαμπροὺς καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὴν χρυσῆν πύλην τῆς πόλεως ἱδρυμένην νίκην καὶ τὰς ἐν τῷ ∆ευτέρῳ κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Ἄνναν παγίας ἱσταμένας κατέσει σεν, ἧς τὴν πτῶσιν ὁ φιλόσοφος Λέων προσημαίνειν ἀνεῖπε φανε ρῶς τὴν τοῦ μετὰ βασιλέα δυνάστου καταστροφήν. ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ ποταμῶν ἀφάνειαι καὶ πηγῶν, καὶ ἀλλ' ἄττα παθήματα κατὰ πᾶσαν χώραν. ἃ πάντα κατενωτισάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς ὅλος εἴχετο 2.174 τῶν ἱππικῶν ἀγώνων κατὰ τὸν ἐν Στενῷ ἀνεγηγερμένον ναὸν τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Μάμαντος. ἄξιον δὲ καὶ τόδε μὴ παραλιπεῖν τὸ λόγιον παραστατικὸν τυγχάνον τῆς τε τουτουῒ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀβελ τηρίας καὶ τῆς τῶν προηγησαμένων ἐπιμελείας. Τὰς τῶν Σαρακηνῶν κατὰ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων χώρας ἐπιδρο μὰς οἱ πάλαι βασιλεῖς διαδήλους ποιεῖν ἐθέλοντες, ἵνα μὴ αἰφνί διοι εἰσπίπτωσιν ἐκπορθοῦντες τὰς χώρας καὶ ἐν ταῖς κώμαις καὶ τοῖς ἀγροῖς τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας καταλαμβάνοντες, φρούριόν τι τῇ Ταρσῷ ἀγχίθυρον ἐπί τινος ὑψηλοτάτου λόφου καὶ ἐρυμνοῦ ἐδο μήσαντο· Λοῦλον τῷ φρουρίῳ τὸ ὄνομα. οἱ ἐν τούτῳ τοίνυν φρουροὶ τῆς ἐκδρομῆς λαμβάνοντες αἴσθησιν πυρσὸν ἀνῆπτον, ὃν βλέποντες οἱ ἐν τῷ Ἀργαίῳ