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a letter to him containing these words: "O Emperor, secure yourself; for no small danger is prepared for you this night." Some say that the emperor, supposing the note to be a petition, did not read it, others that he did read it but neglected his own safety, fate having stood in his way, and when he was dead it was found containing what was written. Others say that having read it, he entrusted the search and guard to the protovestiarios, and wrote to his brother Leo, who was at home, to take up armed men and proceed with all speed to the palace. But when this was delivered, he received it, and without even unrolling it (for he happened to be playing dice with some men and was demonically devoted to the game) placed it in his own bed under the pillow. But when the game was just breaking up, coming upon the note and understanding the meaning contained in what was written, having gathered a force as the moment demanded, he set out for the imperial palace. But when he was near the sphendone in the hippodrome, he heard some people talking to one another, that Nikephoros the emperor had been slain, and he also heard those in the palace and in the narrow streets acclaiming John. Struck by the unexpected, 2.378 and thinking of nothing noble, with all possible speed he approached the great church with his son 2.378 Nikephoros. These are the things that are said; but whether truly or falsely, I cannot say. Nevertheless Nikephoros dies, murdered inside the palace. 2.379 And John Tzimiskes, upon the death of Nikephoros, took up the cares of the Roman empire, having as co-emperors Basil and Constantine, the sons of Romanos, of whom Basil was in his seventh year of age, and the other, Constantine, in his fifth. Therefore, immediately Basil the parakoimomenos, whom Nikephoros the emperor had honored as proedros for having contributed no small part to his gaining of the empire, the dignity not having existed before, but he having first invented it, summoning him by night he took him on as a partner in rule, since for many years he had engaged in political affairs under his own father Romanos the elder and Constantine Porphyrogennetos his son-in-law, and had campaigned many times against the Hagarenes, and knew how to adapt himself skillfully to difficult circumstances. He, immediately upon taking charge of affairs, removed all those who maintained their loyalty to Nikephoros, confining Leo the kouropalates in Lesbos and Nikephoros Bestes his son in Imbros, and Bardas the younger, then doux of Chaldia and Koloneia, he deprived of his office and sent away to Amaseia. And the others who held civil or military offices he relieved of their posts, and appointed his own men and those loyal to the new emperor. And to those then exiled by Nikephoros he permits a return, and before all others to the hierarchs, who had been exiled for not wanting to sign 2.380 the tome which that man had devised for the division and insult of the church, as the account has already related. And so with matters arranged, on that same night, freed from all suspicion, the emperor goes with a few men to the great church, wishing to receive the diadem from the hands of the patriarch. But when he arrived, Polyeuktos did not permit him to enter, saying that it was not fitting for one having hands dripping with the fresh and still steaming blood of a kinsman to set foot in a divine temple, but that he should hasten to show works of repentance, and only then seek to tread the ground of the house of the Lord. And when John gently accepted the censure and promised to do everything with obedience, and pleaded in his defense that he himself had not been the slayer of Nikephoros, but rather Balantios and Atzypotheodoros by order of the empress, the patriarch ordered that she be brought down from the palace and confined on some island, and that also be banished

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αὐτῷ γράμμα περιέχον πρὸς ἔπος ταῦτα "ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἀσφάλισαι σεαυτόν· κίνδυνος γάρ σοι κατὰ ταύτην τὴν νύκτα οὐ μικρὸς ἀρ τύεται." τὸ δὲ γραμμάτιον ἄλλοι μὲν λέγουσιν ὡς ὑπολαβὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς δεητήριον εἶναι οὐκ ἀνέγνω τοῦτο, ἄλλοι δ' ὅτι ἀνέγνω μέν, ἀλλ' ἠμέλησε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φυλακῆς, τοῦ χρεὼν ἐμποδίσαντος, ἀποθανόντος δὲ τούτου εὑρέθη ἔχον τὰ γεγραμμένα. ἄλλοι δ' ὅτι ἀναγνοὺς ἐπέτρεψε τὴν ζήτησιν καὶ φυλακὴν τῷ πρωτοβεστιαρίῳ, ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Λέοντι ἐπ' οἴκου διάγοντι λαὸν ἔνοπλον εἰληφέναι καὶ φοιτῆσαι τὴν ταχίστην πρὸς τὸ παλάτιον. τοῦτο δὲ διακομισθὲν ἐκεῖνος δεξάμενος, καὶ μηδ' ἀνελίξας (ἔτυχε γὰρ κυβεύων μετά τινων καὶ δαιμονίως τῇ παιδιᾷ χρώμενος) ἔθετο ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ κλίνῃ ὑπὸ τὴν τύλην. ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ παιγνίου διαλυθέν τος τὸ γραμμάτιον ἐπελθὼν καὶ τὸν ἐγκείμενον νοῦν συνεὶς τῶν γραφέντων, δύναμιν ὡς ὁ καιρὸς ἀπῄτει συνηθροικὼς ἀπῄει πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια. γενόμενος δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ ἱπποδρομίῳ σφενδόνην ἤκουσέ τινων διαλεγομένων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὡς ἄρα εἴη Νικηφόρος ἀνῃρημένος ὁ βασιλεύς, ἤκουσε δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ καὶ τοῖς στενωποῖς ἀνευφημούντων τὸν Ἰωάννην. τῷ ἀνελπίστῳ δὲ κατα 2.378 πλαγείς, καὶ μηδὲν ἐννοήσας γενναῖον, ᾗ τάχους εἶχε σὺν τῷ υἱῷ 2.378 Νικηφόρῳ τῇ μεγάλῃ προσέρχεται ἐκκλησίᾳ. καὶ τὰ μὲν λεγό μενα ταῦτα· εἰ δὲ ἀληθῶς ἢ ψευδῶς, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν. θνήσκει δ' ὅμως ὁ Νικηφόρος ἔνδον τοῦ παλατίου κατεργασθείς. 2.379 Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ Τζιμισκῆς τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς ἀποθανόντος τοῦ Νικηφόρου ἀνεδέξατο τὰς φροντίδας, συμβασιλεύοντας ἔχων Βασίλειον καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον τοὺς υἱοὺς Ῥωμανοῦ, ὧν ὁ μὲν Βασίλειος ἕβδομον εἷλκε τῆς ἡλικίας ἔτος, ἅτερος δὲ ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος πέμπτον. εὐθὺς οὖν Βασίλειον τὸν παρακοιμώμενον, ὃν Νικη φόρος ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐ μικρὰ συμβαλόμενον αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν τῆς βα σιλείας κατάσχεσιν πρόεδρον τετίμηκε, μή πω πρότερον ὄντος τοῦ ἀξιώματος, πρώτου δ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐφευρηκότος, νυκτὸς μετα πεμψάμενος κοινωνὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς προσελάβετο, ἅτε ἐν πολλοῖς χρόνοις τά τε πολιτικὰ μετελθόντα ἐπὶ τοῦ οἰκείου πατρὸς Ῥω μανοῦ τοῦ γέροντος καὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πλειστάκις κατὰ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐκστρατεύ σαντα, καὶ δυσχερείαις πραγμάτων εἰδότα εὐφυῶς προσαρμόζε σθαι. ὃς εὐθὺς τὴν ἐπιτροπὴν εἰληφὼς τῶν πραγμάτων πάν τας τοὺς εὔνοιαν τῷ Νικηφόρῳ φυλάττοντας ἐκ μέσου πεποίηκε, Λέοντα μὲν τὸν κουροπαλάτην ἐν Λέσβῳ περιορίσας καὶ Νικη φόρον Βέστην τὸν τούτου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ Ἴμβρῳ, Βάρδαν δὲ τὸν νεώ τερον δοῦκα τότε Χαλδίας καὶ Κολωνείας τυγχάνοντα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφελόμενος ἐν Ἀμασείᾳ παρέπεμψε. καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους δὲ ὅσοι πολιτικὰς ἢ στρατιωτικὰς μετῄεσαν ἀρχὰς τῶν ἀρχῶν παραλύσας, τοὺς οἰκείους ἐπέστησε καὶ τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ φυλάττοντας εὔνοιαν. τοῖς τότε δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Νικηφόρου φυγαδευθεῖσι κάθοδον ἐπιτρέ πει, καὶ πρό γε τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσι, τῷ μὴ θέλειν ὑπο 2.380 γράψαι τῷ τόμῳ ὃν εἰς κατατομὴν καὶ ὕβριν ἐφεῦρε τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκεῖνος ἐξορισθεῖσιν, ὡς ἤδη φθάσας ὁ λόγος ἱστόρησεν. Οὕτω δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων οἰκονομηθέντων, κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν νύκτα πάσης ὑποψίας ἀπολυθεὶς ἄπεισι μετ' ὀλίγων ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν, χερσὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου λαβεῖν βουλόμενος τὸ διάδημα. ὃν ἐλθόντα εἰσελθεῖν οὐκ εἴασεν ὁ Πολύευκτος, μὴ ἄξιον εἶναι φήσας ἐπιβῆναι θείου ναοῦ νεαρῷ καὶ ἀτμίζοντι ἔτι τῷ συγγενικῷ αἵματι σταζομένας τὰς χεῖρας ἔχοντα, ἀλλὰ σπεῦσαι ἔργα μετανοίας ἐνδείξασθαι, καὶ οὕτως ἐφίεσθαι πατεῖν ἔδαφος οἴκου κυρίου. τοῦ δὲ Ἰωάννου ἠπίως δεξαμένου τὴν ἐπιτίμησιν καὶ πάντα πρᾶξαι μετ' εὐπειθείας ἐπαγγειλαμένου, ἀπολογισα μένου δ' ὅτι καὶ αὐτόχειρ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐγένετο τοῦ Νικηφόρου ἀλλ' ὁ Βαλάντιος καὶ ὁ Ἀτζυποθεόδωρος ἐπιτροπῇ τῆς δεσποίνης, ταύ την μὲν ὁ πατριάρχης προσέταττε τῶν ἀνακτόρων κατενεχθῆναι καὶ ἔν τινι νήσῳ περιορισθῆναι, ἐξοστρακισθῆναι δὲ καὶ