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Having received immunity, Sclerus again recovered himself and was preparing his former rebellion. When the emperor learned of this, he urged him by letters to have his fill of the shedding of Christian blood, since he himself was also a man who awaited death and judgment, and to learn at long last what was expedient, and to acknowledge the ruler given by God. Softened by these letters, and having received assurances that he would suffer no harm, he laid down his arms and made a treaty with the emperor, being honored as curopalates. He was not, however, deemed worthy to see the emperor with his own eyes; for on the road, struck by an affliction 2.447 he lost his sense of sight and was brought blind before the emperor. Seeing him being led by the hand, he said to those present, "He whom I feared and trembled before, comes led by the hand." The emperor, being freed from the civil wars and cares, considered how he might deal with the affairs concerning Samuel and the other local rulers, who, having taken the opportunity while he was occupied with the rebellions, had caused no small grief to the Roman dominions. He therefore marched out to the regions of Thrace and Macedonia, and went down to Thessalonica, to give thanks to the great martyr Demetrius; and leaving the magistros Gregory Taronites there to govern, having given him a formidable army with which to restrain and check the raids of Samuel, he himself returned, and after being in the capital city, went up to Iberia; for David the curopalates had already died, having designated the emperor as heir to his possessions. And having arrived there, and having secured the inheritance given to him, and having persuaded George, the ruler of inner Iberia and a kinsman of David the curopalates, to be content with his own possessions and not to encroach upon those of others, and having made a treaty with him and taken his son as hostage, he departed for Phoenicia, having with him also the leading men by birth in his part of Iberia, the chief of whom were Pacurianus and Febdatus and Pherses, who were brothers, whom he also raised to the 2.448 rank of patricians. And having arrived in Phoenicia, and having secured as was possible the amir of Tripoli and of Damascus and Tyre and Beirut (for these a short time before had acted in concert and taken up arms against Antioch, while the emperor was occupied with the war against Phocas, and they had killed Damianus the patrician, who governed Antioch, when he engaged them in battle, and had brought no small danger upon the city) to remain in servitude to the Romans, and having taken hostages, he returned to Byzantium. As he was passing through Cappadocia, Eustathius Maleinus the magistros received him in his own estates with his entire army, having provided abundant supplies for both him and his army; whom the emperor ostensibly welcomed and praised, and taking him with him to the capital city, from then on did not permit him to return, but supplying him lavishly with what he needed and keeping him as if feeding some wild beast in a pen, he detained him until the end of his life overtook him. And when he died, all his property was confiscated by the state. The emperor also wrote a law preventing the powerful from increasing their holdings in village districts. And before him Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the emperor's paternal grandfather, and Romanus, his father-in-law, had also done this. And when Nicolaus Chrysoberges, having governed the church for 12 years and 8 months, departed this life, Sisinnius the magistros was ordained, a learned man who had reached 2.449 the pinnacle of the medical art, in the year #22φγʹ, the 8th indiction; who also united those who were in disagreement over the fourth marriage. And he, having shepherded the church for only three years, departed this life, and Sergius was promoted, who was the abbot of the monastery of Manuel and traced his lineage back to Photius the patriarch.

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ἀδείας λαβόμενος ὁ Σκληρὸς πάλιν ἀνε λάμβανεν ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἐσωμάσκει ἀποστασίαν. ὅπερ πυθόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς γράμμασι παρῄνει κόρον λαβεῖν τῆς τῶν Χριστιανικῶν χύσεως αἱμάτων, ἄνθρωπον καὶ αὐτὸν ὄντα καὶ θά νατον προσδεχόμενον καὶ κρίσιν, καὶ ὀψέ ποτε μεταμαθεῖν τὸ συμφέρον, καὶ τὸν ἐκ θεοῦ δεδομένον ἄρχοντα ἐπιγνῶναι. τού τοις δὲ τοῖς γράμμασι μαλαχθεὶς ἐκεῖνος, καὶ πίστεις λαβὼν ὡς οὐδὲν ὑποστήσεται φλαῦρον, κατατίθεται τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ σπένδεται, κουροπαλάτης τιμηθείς. οὐ μέντοι γε καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς τὸν βασιλέα θεάσασθαι ἠξιώθη· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀ̣̣ασ̣̣ 2.447 πληγεὶς τὴν ὁρατικὴν ἀπέβαλεν αἴσθησιν καὶ τυφλὸς εἰσήχθη πρὸς βασιλέα. ὃν χειραγωγούμενον ἐκεῖνος θεασάμενός φησι πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας "ὃν ἐφοβούμην καὶ ἔτρεμον, χειραγωγούμενος ἔρχεται." Ἀπολυθεὶς δὲ τῶν ἐμφυλίων πολέμων καὶ φροντίδων ὁ βα σιλεύς, πῶς ἂν διάθηται τὰ κατὰ τὸν Σαμουὴλ ἐσκόπει καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τοπάρχας, οἵτινες ταῖς ἀποστασίαις ἐνασχολουμένου ἄδειαν εἰληφότες οὐ μικρὰ τὰς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπικρατείας ἐλύπησαν. ἔξεισιν οὖν εἰς τἀπὶ Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας χωρία, καὶ κάτεισιν εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην, ἀποδώσων τὰ εὐχαριστήρια τῷ μεγαλομάρτυρι ∆ημητρίῳ· ἐκεῖσέ τε Γρηγόριον μάγιστρον τὸν Ταρωνίτην ἄρχειν λιπών, δοὺς αὐτῷ καὶ στρατὸν ἀξιόμαχον ἐφ' ᾧ εἴργειν καὶ ἀνα κόπτειν τὰς ἐπιδρομὰς τοῦ Σαμουήλ, αὐτὸς ὑποστρέψας κἀν τῇ βασιλίδι γενόμενος ἄνεισιν εἰς Ἰβηρίαν· ἤδη γὰρ καὶ ὁ κουροπα λάτης ἐτεθνήκει ∆αβίδ, κληρονόμον τῶν αὐτῷ προσηκόντων γρά ψας τὸν βασιλέα. ἐκεῖσε δὲ γενόμενος, καὶ τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ κληρονομίαν καταστησάμενος, καὶ τὸν τοῦ κουροπαλάτου ∆αβὶδ Γεώργιον τὸν τῆς ἐνδοτέρω Ἰβηρίας ἄρχοντα τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀρκεῖσθαι πείσας καὶ μὴ ἐπιβαίνειν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις, σπεισάμενός τε αὐτῷ καὶ ὅμηρον εἰληφὼς τὸν τούτου υἱόν, ἄπεισιν εἰς Φοινίκην, ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν Ἰβηρίᾳ κατὰ γένος πρωτεύοντας, ὧν ἦσαν κορυφαῖοι ὁ Πακουριάνος καὶ Φεβδάτος καὶ Φέρσης οἱ αὐτάδελφοι, οὓς καὶ εἰς τὸν τῶν πατρικίων ἀνεβί 2.448 βασε θῶκον. ἐν Φοινίκῃ δὲ γενόμενος, καὶ τὸν Τριπόλεως ἀμη ρᾶν καὶ τὸν ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ Τύρου καὶ Βηρύτου (οὗτοι γὰρ πρὸ ὀλίγου ὁμονοήσαντες καὶ ὅπλα κατὰ τῆς Ἀντιοχείας κινήσαντες, τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ πρὸς τὸν Φωκᾶν πολέμῳ σχολάζοντος, ∆αμια νόν τε τὸν πατρίκιον ὃς ἦρχεν Ἀντιοχείας πολέμῳ συμβαλόντα τούτοις ἀνεῖλον καὶ κίνδυνον οὐ μικρὸν τῇ πόλει ἐπέσειον) ὡς ἐνῆν ἀσφαλισάμενος μένειν τῇ δουλώσει Ῥωμαίων, καὶ ὅμηρα λαβὼν ἐπαναζευγνύει πρὸς τὸ Βυζάντιον. ∆ιιόντα δὲ τοῦτον ἐκ Καππαδοκίας Εὐστάθιος μάγιστρος ὁ Μαλεῗνος ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ὑπεδέξατο πανστρατί, πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τε καὶ τῷ στρατεύματι ἀφθόνως παρεσχηκὼς χορηγίαν· ὃν ὡς τάχα ἀπο δεξάμενος καὶ ἐπαινέσας καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ προσλαβόμενος εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα ἔκτοτε ὑποστρέψαι οὐ συνεχώρησεν, ἀλλὰ χορηγῶν αὐτῷ δαψιλῶς τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν καὶ ὥσπερ τι θηρίον τρέφων ἔν τινι σηκῷ κατεῖχεν, ἕως αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ πέρας τοῦ βίου κατέλαβε. τού του δὲ ἀποθανόντος ἡ κτῆσις αὐτοῦ πᾶσα δεδημοσίευτο. ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ νόμον ὁ βασιλεὺς εἴργοντα τοὺς δυνατοὺς ἐν ὁμάδι χωρίων αὐξάνεσθαι. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ πορφυρο γέννητος, ὁ πατροπάτωρ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ Ῥωμανὸς ὁ ἐκείνου πενθερὸς ἐποιήσαντο. Νικολάου δὲ τοῦ Χρυσοβέργη ἐπὶ χρόνους ιβʹ καὶ μῆνας ηʹ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύναντος καὶ καταλύσαντος τὴν ζωήν, χειροτονεῖ ται Σισίνιος μάγιστρος, ἀνὴρ ἐλλόγιμος καὶ ἰατρικῆς τέχνης ἥκων 2.449 εἰς τὸ ἀκρότατον, ἐν ἔτει #22φγʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ηʹ· ὅστις καὶ τοὺς διακρινομένους ἥνωσε διὰ τὴν τετραγαμίαν. καὶ οὗτος ἐπὶ τρεῖς μόνους ἐνιαυτοὺς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ποιμάνας ἐξέστη τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ προεβλήθη Σέργιος ἡγούμενος ὢν τῆς μονῆς τοῦ Μανουὴλ καὶ τὸ γένος ἀναφέρων πρὸς Φώτιον τὸν πατριάρχην.