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It was their custom to sing and perform the mysteries, they performed their songs to the cithara, now sounding them softly and melodiously, now piercingly, just as in the holy liturgies the priests make the exclamations of the sacred rites. And they had vessels of gold and studded with gems, and filling these with vinegar and mustard they gave them to the communicants, thus making a mockery of the undefiled mysteries. It happened once that this foul troupe encountered on the road the blessed patriarch, as he was passing by with the priestly clergy and the procession. On seeing him, Gryllos, very insolently, and without any sense of shame, lifting up his chasuble with his fellow initiates, used more vigorous strumming, and assailed those pious men with insults and shameless words.

This most shameful emperor once summoned his mother Theodora, who was still in the palace, supposedly to be blessed by the patriarch, pretending that this was the blessed Ignatius. So when the most venerable woman came forth with reverence and threw herself on the ground asking for a blessing, suspecting nothing at all, while the foul Gryllos was for the time hiding his 2.178 beard, Gryllos stood up and broke wind and uttered some words worthy of his own mouth. But she, distressed at what had happened, assailed her son with curses, and prophetically declared that before long he would fall from the providence of God. But it was not possible for one who had once turned from the straight path to be improved. Whence also a very swift destruction overtook him, and before him Bardas, and before him Theoktistos the kanikleios, who indulged him and were unwilling, as his tutors, to check his evil teachings. And how Theoktistos perished, the narrative has already shown, but the following signs indicating the destruction of Bardas preceded it: appearances of comets, strange visions of dreams. For it seemed to him in his sleep that he went with Michael to the great church, as if there was a festival. So when they arrived and were further inside the divine temple, it seemed that he saw some men in white robes going before, who, guiding him, led him to the gates of the sanctuary, and he sees nothing else, but an old man sitting on the patriarch's throne (he guessed this to be Peter, the chief of the apostles), at whose feet the blessed Ignatius was rolling, begging for vengeance for the terrible things he had suffered. And that he gave a sword to one of the bystanders and said, 'With this, the God-angered one,' thus naming the Caesar, 'placing him in the region of the left, cut him limb from limb. But the impious child,' by this address indicating the emperor, 'enroll him on the 2.179 right, but bid him to await the same punishment.' And such was the dream; but whether the things seen came to pass, what follows will show. Just then Bardas was arming with all his forces with Michael against the Cretans, and going to the church of the Theotokos of the Guides, he entered with lamps, fulfilling his farewell rite. When, therefore, he approached the sanctuary, suddenly his cloak, slipping from his shoulders, prepared him to be aware of more terrible evils. And he himself, one day before he was to depart from the city, whether of his own accord or otherwise driven by what was to come, gathering his friends together and dining with them, urged them to remember his friendship and gave them legacies, as if he were already departing from life. So when they were going out against Crete and had entered the theme of the Thrakesians, and at a certain place called Choros, his servants, going ahead, pitched the tents with rivalry and haste, there somewhere, whether by providence or otherwise through ignorance, they pitched the emperor's tent on level ground, but they spread the Caesar's on a certain elevated hill. which as

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ᾄδειν αὐτοὺς ἐχρῆν καὶ τελεῖν τὰ μυστήρια, διὰ κιθάρας τὰς ᾠδὰς ἐξεπλήρουν, νῦν μὲν ἠρέμα πως καὶ λιγυρῶς ἐπηχοῦντες, νῦν δὲ διαπρυσίως, ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς λειτουργίαις οἱ ἱερεῖς τὰς ἐκφωνήσεις ποιοῦσι τῶν ἱερῶν. εἶχον δὲ καὶ σκεύη διάχρυσα καὶ διάλιθα, ταῦτα δὲ πληροῦντες ὄξους τε καὶ σινήπεος τοῖς μεταλαμβάνουσι μετεδίδοσαν, τῶν ἀχράντων οὕτω καταπαίζοντες μυστηρίων. τοῦτον τὸν μιαρὸν θίασον συνέβη ποτὲ τῷ μακαρίτῃ συναντῆσαι κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν πατριάρχῃ, μετὰ τοῦ ἱερατικοῦ κλήρου καὶ τῆς λιτῆς διερχομένῳ. ὃν ἰδὼν ὁ Γρύλλος ἰταμῶς ἄγαν, καὶ ἀνερυθριάσεως μηδὲν ὑποστειλάμενος, φελόνην ἀναστείλας μετὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ συμμυστῶν εὐτονωτέροις ἐχρῆτο τοῖς κρούμασι, καὶ τοὺς εὐαγεῖς ἐκείνους λοιδορίαις καὶ ἀναιδέσιν ἔβαλλε ῥήμασιν.

Ὁ τοιοῦτος αἴσχιστος βασιλεὺς καὶ Θεοδώραν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μητέρα ἔτι τοῖς ἀνακτόροις οὖσαν μετεκαλέσατό ποτε, εὐλογηθη σομένην τάχα παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου, πλασάμενος τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν μακαρίτην Ἰγνάτιον. ὡς οὖν ἐξῄει μετ' εὐλαβείας ἡ σεμνοτάτη γυνὴ καὶ ἔρριψεν ἑαυτὴν εἰς τὸ ἔδαφος ἐξαιτουμένη εὐχήν, μηδὲν ὅλως ὑποτοπήσασα, τοῦ μιαροῦ Γρύλλου τὴν γενειάδα τέως κρύ 2.178 πτοντος, ἀναστὰς ὁ Γρύλλος ἀπέπερδε καὶ ῥήματά τινα ἀπεῖπε τοῦ οἰκείου στόματος ἄξια. ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι δεινοπαθήσασα ἀραῖς ἔβαλλε τὸν υἱόν, καὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας ἐκπεσεῖν ἀπε φοίβασε προφητικῶς τοῦτον οὐκ εἰς μακράν. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν τὸν ἅπαξ παρατραπέντα τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ βελτιωθῆναι. ὅθεν καὶ ταχυτάτη κατειλήφει τοῦτον καταστροφή, καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ μὲν τὸν Βάρδαν, καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνου τὸν κανικλείου Θεόκτιστον, τοὺς χαριζο μένους αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ τῶν πονηρῶν ἀνακόπτειν ἐθελήσαντας δι δαγμάτων ὡς ἐπιτρόπους. καὶ ὅπως μὲν ὁ Θεόκτιστος ὤλετο, προλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσε, σημεῖα δὲ τὸν ὄλεθρον δηλοῦντα τοῦ Βάρδα προηγήσατο τάδε, ἐπιτολαὶ κομητῶν, ὄψεις ὀνει ράτων ἀλλόκοτοι. ἔδοξε γὰρ καθ' ὕπνους οὗτος πρὸς τὴν μεγά λην ἐκκλησίαν μετὰ τοῦ Μιχαὴλ ἀπελθεῖν ὡς τάχα πανηγύρεως οὔσης. ὡς οὖν ἀφίκοντο καὶ προσωτέρω ἐγίνοντο τοῦ θείου ναοῦ, ὁρᾶν ἐδόκει λευκοφόρους τινὰς προηγουμένους, οἵτινες ὁδηγοῦντες αὐτὸν ἄγουσι πρὸς τὰς κιγκλίδας τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ βλέπει μὲν ἄλλο οὐδέν, περὶ δὲ τὸν θρόνον τοῦ πατριάρχου καθήμενόν τινα γηραιόν (Πέτρον εἴκασε τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν κορυφαῖον τῶν ἀπο στόλων), οὗ πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν ὁ μακαρίτης ἐκυλινδεῖτο Ἰγνάτιος, ἐκδίκησιν ἐξαιτῶν ὧν ἐπεπόνθει δεινῶν. τὸν δὲ ἑνὶ τῶν παρεστώ των μάχαιραν δοῦναι καὶ εἰπεῖν "ταύτῃ τὸν θεόργιστον" οὕτω τὸν Καίσαρα κατονομάσαντα "τῇ τῶν εὐωνύμων χώρᾳ ἐγκατα στήσας μεληδὸν διάτεμνε. τὸν δὲ ἀσεβότεκνον" διὰ τοῦ τοιού του προσρήματος τὸν βασιλέα δηλοποιήσαντα "κατάλεγε μὲν τοῖς 2.179 δεξιοῖς, τὴν δ' ὁμοίαν δίκην ἀπεκδέχεσθαι πρόσειπε." καὶ ὁ μὲν ὄνειρος οὗτος· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀπέβη τὰ θεαθέντα, δηλώσει τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα. Ἄρτι κατὰ τῶν Κρητῶν ὁ Βάρδας πανδημεὶ μετὰ τοῦ Μι χαὴλ καθωπλίζετο, καὶ πρὸς τὸν τῆς θεοτόκου ναὸν τῶν ὁδηγῶν φοιτήσας εἰσῄει μετὰ λαμπάδων τὸν συντακτήριον ἐκπληρῶν. ὡς οὖν τοῖς ἀδύτοις προσήγγισεν, ἄφνω τῶν αὐτοῦ ὤμων ἡ χλαμὺς ὀλισθήσασα αἰσθέσθαι τοῦτον δεινοτέρων δεινῶν παρεσκεύασε. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τοῦ μέλλειν ἀπαίρειν ἀπὸ τῆς πό λεως, εἴτ' ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως ὑπὸ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐλαυνό μενος, συναγαγὼν εἰς ταυτὸ τοὺς φίλους καὶ συμποσιάσας μεμνῆ σθαί τε τῆς αὐτοῦ παρῄνει φιλίας καὶ λεγάτα, ὡς τοῦ βίου ἤδη ἔξω γινόμενος, παρέσχετο. ὡς οὖν κατὰ τῆς Κρήτης ἐξῄεσαν καὶ τῷ θέματι τῶν Θρᾳκησίων ἐπέβησαν, καὶ κατά τινα Χῶρον τόπον οὕτω λεγόμενον οἱ τούτῳ ὑπηρετοῦντες προκαταλαβόντες τὰς σκηνὰς κατεπήγνυον ἁμίλλῃ χρώμενοι καὶ σπουδῇ, ἐνταῦθά που, εἴτε δὴ κατὰ πρόνοιαν εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως κατ' ἄγνοιαν, τὴν μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ πεδινοῦ χωρίου αὐλαίαν ἐπήξαντο, εἴς τινα δὲ λόφον ὑπερανεστηκότα τὴν τοῦ Καίσαρος ἀνεπέτασαν. ὅπερ ὡς