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Leo, the first of the surviving sons in age, succeeds to the entire rule of the empire. Leo, having become master of all, caring little or not at all for the other matters contributing to the state, but convulsed with anger and keeping fresh in mind the plot formed against him by the Sandabarenos, immediately decided to rise up for vengeance, having first established plausible pretexts, so that his actions might seem to be done with reasonable cause, and having removed the obstacles from his path. For knowing that he could show no evil thing against Sandabarenos while Photios was directing the patriarchal throne—for he suspected that he would stand up for him more nobly and support him, and not allow him to suffer anything tyrannical; 2.249 for indeed a story was also being spread that Photios himself, seeking the empire for his own kinsman and having conferred with the Sandabarenos, and it having seemed to them both that they could not otherwise achieve their desire unless Leo were out of the way, they concocted the aforementioned slander against him. He decided, therefore, first to remove this man from his throne, and quickly sending out the *magistros* Andrew the *stratelates*, along with the *magistros* John Hagipolites, who had been *logothete of the dromos*, he ordered them to ascend the ambo of the great church, and after reading aloud the accusations against the patriarch Photios for all to hear, to depose him from his throne and confine him in the monastery of the Armonians. Immediately after, the emperor appointed Stephen the *synkellos*, his own brother, as patriarch, since the bishop of Heraclea, who had been ordained by Theophanes the *protothronos*, was not numbered among the living. And sending with haste to Euchaita, he ordered Theodore Sandabarenos, who was guiding the aforementioned church, to be brought to him. And while these things were being done, he sent the *stratelates* Andrew and many other senators to the monastery of Philippikos in Chrysopolis, and appointed them to bring out the slain emperor Michael from his tomb with clergy and wax tapers and lamps and spices, and to place him in a cypress coffin, and having honorably and royally shrouded him, to bring him into the city, 2.250 and from there to escort him with odes and hymns as far as the church of the Holy Apostles, with the emperor's brothers Alexander and Stephen the patriarch following there, and to place him in a marble sarcophagus; which was also done. And he also appointed Stylianos Zaoutzes *magistros* and *logothete of the dromos*; for he had already begun to be intimate with his daughter, while his lawfully wedded wife, the Augusta Theophano, was still living, hearing and seeing what was happening, and never being inflamed by the passion of jealousy. Immediately after, the lofty city situated in Charsianon was also taken by the Hagarenes, and all the people in it were taken captive. There was also a fire in the southern part of the city, in the place called Sidera. The church of the holy apostle Thomas was also a victim of this, which, having been reduced to ashes and soot, the emperor again magnificently restored.

And the Sandabarenos was also brought into the city, and Andrew the *stratelates* and Stephen the *magistros*, who had been much slandered by the Sandabarenos to the emperor Basil, suggested to the emperor that he should investigate the matter of the writ that had been made against him. And they asserted that it was possible to prove that Photios the patriarch and the Sandabarenos himself, wishing to raise one of Photios' relatives to the empire, 2.251 had feigned the contrived drama. Therefore some men were sent by the emperor and were ordered to bring both Photios and the Sandabarenos to the palace of the Pege. However, it was decreed that each be guarded separately. And the examiners and judges of the motions brought against them

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διαδέχεται δὲ τὴν ὅλην τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀρχὴν Λέων ὁ καθ' ἡλικίαν πρῶτος τῶν περιόντων υἱῶν. Λέων δὲ τῶν ὅλων γενόμενος κύριος, τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συμ βαλλομένων τῷ πολιτεύματι ὀλίγα ἢ τὸ παράπαν μὴ φροντίσας, τῷ θυμῷ δὲ σφαδάζων καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Σανδαβαρηνοῦ κατ' αὐ τοῦ συστᾶσαν σκευωρίαν ἔναυλον ἔχων, εὐθὺς διαναστῆναι ἔκρινε πρὸς ἐκδίκησιν, προκαταστησάμενος εὐλογοφανεῖς αἰτίας, ὡς ἂν δόξειε τὰ πραττόμενα μετ' εὐλόγου πράττεσθαι ἀφορμῆς, καὶ τὰ ἐμπόδια ἐκ μέσου περιελών. εἰδὼς γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ἄν τι δυνηθείη φαῦλον ἐνδείξασθαι κατὰ τοῦ Σανδαβαρηνοῦ Φωτίου τὸν πα τριαρχικὸν ἰθύνοντος θρόνον, -προστήσεσθαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ γεν ναιότερον καὶ ἀντιλήψεσθαι ὑπετόπασε, καὶ μὴ συγχωρῆσαι τυ 2.249 ραννικόν τι παθεῖν· καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐφέρετο λόγος ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ Φώτιος οἰκείῳ συγγενεῖ μνηστευόμενος τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τῷ Σαν δαβαρηνῷ κοινολογησάμενος, καὶ δόξαν ἀμφοῖν μὴ ἄλλως ἐπιτυ χεῖν τοῦ ἐφετοῦ εἰ μὴ ὁ Λέων ἐκποδὼν γένοιτο, τὴν προειρημένην ἔρραψαν κατ' αὐτοῦ συκοφαντίαν. τοῦτον οὖν ἔγνω πρῶτον με τακινῆσαι τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ταχέως ἐκπέμψας τὸν μάγιστρον Ἀν δρέαν τὸν στρατηλάτην, ἅμα τῷ μαγίστρῳ Ἰωάννῃ καὶ γεγονότι λογοθέτῃ τοῦ δρόμου τῷ Ἁγιοπολίτῃ, κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλη σίαν ἀνελθεῖν ἐν τῷ ἄμβωνι τῆς ἐκκλησίας προσέταξε, καὶ τὰς τοῦ πατριάρχου Φωτίου αἰτίας πάντων εἰς ἐπήκοον ἀναγνόντας τοῦ θρόνου τοῦτον καταγαγεῖν κἀν τῇ τῶν Ἁρμονιανῶν περιορίσαι μονῇ. κατὰ πόδας δὲ Στέφανον σύγκελλον, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφόν, ὁ βασιλεὺς πατριάρχην προβάλλεται, ὅτι μὴ τοῖς ζῶσιν ἐνη ριθμεῖτο ὁ Ἡρακλείας, ὑπὸ Θεοφάνους χειροτονηθέντα τοῦ πρω τοθρόνου. πέμψας δὲ διὰ ταχέων εἰς τὴν Εὐχάϊταν, τὸν Σαν δαβαρηνὸν Θεόδωρον τὴν εἰρημένην ἐκκλησίαν πηδαλιουχοῦντα εἰσαγαγεῖν ὡς αὐτὸν προσέταξεν. Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπράττετο, τὸν στρατηλάτην Ἀνδρέαν καὶ ἄλλους συγκλητικοὺς πολλοὺς εἰς τὸ ἐν Χρυσουπόλει τοῦ Φιλιπ πικοῦ μοναστήριον ἐκπέμψας μετὰ κλήρου καὶ κηρῶν καὶ λαμπά δων καὶ ἀρωμάτων ἐξαγαγεῖν τοῦ τάφου τὸν ἀναιρεθέντα βασιλέα Μιχαὴλ διωρίσατο, ἐν κυπαρισσίνῃ τε λάρνακι καταθεῖναι, καὶ ἐντίμως καὶ βασιλικῶς περιστείλαντας ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσαγαγεῖν, 2.250 κἀκεῖθεν μετὰ ᾠδῶν καὶ ὕμνων ἄχρι τοῦ ναοῦ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστό λων προπέμψαι, ἑπομένων ἐκεῖσε καὶ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Στεφάνου τοῦ πατριάρχου, καὶ ἐν λάρνακι θεῖναι μαρμαρίνῃ· ὃ καὶ ἐγένετο. Προεβάλλετο δὲ καὶ Στυλιανὸν τὸν Ζαουτζᾶν μάγιστρον καὶ λογοθέτην τοῦ δρόμου· ἤδη γὰρ ἤρξατο πλησιάζειν τῇ αὐτοῦ θυγατρί, ζώσης ἔτι τῆς κατὰ νόμον συνεζευγμένης αὐτῷ γυναικὸς τῆς Αὐγούστης Θεοφανοῦς, ἀκουούσης καὶ βλεπούσης τὰ γινό μενα, καὶ μηδαμῶς τῷ τῆς ζηλοτυπίας πάθει ἀναφλεχθείσης ποτέ. Κατὰ πόδας δὲ παρελήφθη παρὰ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸ Χαρσιανὸν διακειμένη πόλις ἡ ὑψηλή, καὶ ᾐχμαλωτίσθη ἅπας ὁ ἐν ταύτῃ λαός. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἐμπρησμὸς κατὰ τὸ με σημβρινὸν μέρος τῆς πόλεως, ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ Σιδηρᾷ. ἔργον δὲ τούτου γέγονε καὶ ὁ ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Θωμᾶ, ὃν τεφρω θέντα καὶ αἰθάλην γενόμενον ὁ βασιλεὺς αὖθις πολυτελῶς ἀνε καίνισεν.

Εἰσήχθη δὲ καὶ ὁ Σανδαβαρηνὸς εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ὑπέ θεντο τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἀνδρέας ὁ στρατηλάτης καὶ Στέφανος μάγι στρος, οἱ πολλὰ παρὰ τοῦ Σανδαβαρηνοῦ πρὸς Βασίλειον τὸν βασιλέα διαβληθέντες, ἐξετάσαι τὰ τῆς γενομένης κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως γραφῆς. διεβεβαιοῦντο δὲ καὶ δυνατὸν εἶναι ἐξελεγχθῆ ναι ὡς βουλόμενοι Φώτιός τε ὁ πατριάρχης καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σανδαβα ρηνός τινα τῶν τοῦ Φωτίου συγγενῶν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν ἀναγαγεῖν 2.251 τὸ μελετηθὲν ὑπεκρίναντο δρᾶμα. πεμφθέντες οὖν τινὲς πρὸς βασιλέως ἀγαγεῖν τόν τε Φώτιον καὶ τὸν Σανδαβαρηνὸν ἐν τοῖς παλατίοις τῶν πηγῶν ἐκελεύσθησαν. ἰδίᾳ μέντοι ὥριστο φρου ρεῖσθαι ἑκάτερον. ἐξετασταὶ δὲ καὶ διαγνώμονες τῶν κατ' αὐ τῶν κινουμένων