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bearing the abuse and the insult moderately, he quickly sends letters to the orphanotrophos, reporting that Maniakes was plotting a revolt against the emperor. And he is immediately brought as a prisoner to the capital and is imprisoned along with Basil patrikios Theodorokanos, and all the authority of the command is transferred to Stephen, with a certain eunuch, Basil praipositos Pediadites, being sent out with him; who in no short time ruined the situation, betraying Sicily through sordid avarice, cowardice, and indolence. For Maniakes, upon taking the cities of the island, would build citadels in them and install sufficient garrisons, so that the inhabitants would not be able to recover the cities through conspiracy; but when he was brought to Byzantium as a prisoner, as has been said, the inhabitants, taking advantage of the negligence and indolence of the commanders, and having acquired a Carthaginian force, attacked the cities, and having overcome the garrisons they tore down the citadels, and recovered all the cities except Messene; for it fell to the lot of the protospatharios and commander of the Armeniakon regiment, Katakalon, surnamed Kekaumenos, to garrison this city, having with him three hundred horsemen and five hundred foot soldiers. 2.524 The islanders, therefore, being eager that not even a spark of Roman power should remain lurking on the island, gathering everyone able to bear arms and no small contingent of Carthaginian allies, went to Messene and surrounded the city. But when he had closed the gates for three days and allowed no one to sally forth from the ditch, but gave the appearance of cowardice, the Saracens, grown contemptuous, scattered about fearlessly and by night and day were engaged in drinking and with flutes and cymbals, as if the city would probably be taken on the morrow. But on the fourth day, on which we are accustomed to celebrate Pentecost, Kekaumenos, observing the negligence and carelessness of the Saracens, and that they were living in great heedlessness, paying no attention to those inside the wall, encouraging his own people and ordering the priests to perform the bloodless sacrifice, and having partaken of the divine mysteries along with everyone, around the hour of breakfast, he threw open the city gates and charged with the greatest force against the enemy who were drunk and heavy-headed, he himself first with those with him riding out against the tent of Apolaphar, the ruler of the island. And he is killed at once, being unsteady from drunkenness, and his tent is torn down; and the rest of the Saracens were falling in heaps, stumbling from drunkenness, and unable, because of the unexpectedness of the attack, to even think of resistance.

So there was a rout of the whole army, with the Saracens being trampled and killed by one another, so that the plain 2.525 and the nearest ravines and the rivers were filled with corpses, so that out of so many myriads very few escaped to Panormos. The entire camp was also taken, full of gold and silver and pearls and precious stones, which, as it is said, the soldiers divided among themselves by the medimnus. And thus all of Sicily, having been subdued in a short time by Maniakes, in a brief time through the negligence and wickedness of the generals came again under the Saracens, with only Messene remaining in the manner we have described, as Stephen and Pediadites fled into Longobardia. And so matters stood in Sicily. But the emperor Michael for the most part stayed in Thessalonica, beseeching at the tomb of the gloriously triumphant martyr Demetrios and longing to find a release from his disease. And he did not involve himself in affairs in any way, unless there was absolute necessity, but the administration and the handling of public affairs were carried on by John; and no kind of profane and unlawful device was omitted that he did not invent for the ruin and affliction of those under his hand. To recount each of these

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ἐνεγκὼν μετρίως τὸν προπηλακισμὸν καὶ τὴν ὕβριν γράμματα πέμπει ταχὺ πρὸς τὸν ὀρφανοτρόφον, μηνύοντα ὡς ἀπόστασιν εἴη μελετῶν ὁ Μανιάκης κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως. καὶ ὁ μὲν εὐθὺς δέσμιος εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα εἰσάγεται καὶ καθείργνυται σὺν Βασιλείῳ πατρικίῳ τῷ Θεοδωρο κάνῳ, ἡ δὲ πᾶσα τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξουσία ἐς τὸν Στέφανον μετατίθεται, συνεκπεμφθέντος αὐτῷ καί τινος εὐνούχου Βασιλείου πραιποσίτου τοῦ Πεδιαδίτου· οἵτινες οὐκ ἐν βραχεῖ τὰ πράγματα διεφθάρκα σιν, αἰσχροκερδείᾳ καὶ δειλίᾳ καὶ ῥᾳστώνῃ καταπροδόντες τὴν Σικελίαν. ὁ γὰρ Μανιάκης αἱρῶν τὰς τῆς νήσου πόλεις ἀκροπό λεις ἐν αὐταῖς ᾠκοδόμει καὶ φρουροὺς ἐφίστα τοὺς ἱκανούς, ἵνα μὴ οἱ ἐγχώριοι δύναιντ' ἂν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς ἀνακτᾶσθαι τὰς πόλεις· τούτου δὲ δεσμίου, ὡς εἴρηται, εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον ἀναχθέντος, τῆς ὀλιγωρίας καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας τῶν ἀρχόντων καταδραμόντες οἱ ἐγχώ ριοι, καὶ δύναμιν Καρχηδονίων προσειληφότες, ἐπιτίθενται ταῖς πόλεσι, καὶ τάς τε ἄκρας κατέσκαψαν τῶν φρουρῶν κρατήσαντες, καὶ τὰς πόλεις πάσας ἐπανεσώσαντο πλὴν Μεσήνης· ταύτην γὰρ ἔλαχε φρουρεῖν ὁ πρωτοσπαθάριος ὁ καὶ τοῦ τάγματος ἄρχων τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν, Κατακαλὼν ὁ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν Κεκαυμένος, τριακο σίους ἱππότας ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ πεντακοσίους πεζούς. σπεύ 2.524 δοντες οὖν οἱ νησιῶται μηδὲ ζώπυρον ὑπολειφθῆναι Ῥωμαϊκῆς δυνάμεως ἐμφωλεῦον τῇ νήσῳ, πάντα τὸν ὅπλον κινῆσαι δυνάμε νον ἀθροίσαντες καὶ συμμαχικὸν οὐκ ὀλίγον Καρχηδονίων, ἀπελ θόντες ἐν Μεσήνῃ τὴν πόλιν περιεστοίχισαν. τοῦ δὲ κλείσαντος τὰς πύλας ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ μηδένα προπηδᾶν ἐῶντος τῆς τά φρου, ἀλλὰ δόκησιν δειλίας παρεσχηκότος, καταφρονήσαντες οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ ἀδεῶς τε ἐσκεδάννυντο καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐν πότοις καὶ αὐλοῖς καὶ κυμβάλοις ἦσαν, ὡς τάχα τῆς πόλεως ἐς τὴν αὔριον μελλούσης ἁλώσεσθαι. ἡμέρᾳ δὲ τετάρτῃ, καθ' ἣν εἰώ θαμεν ἐκτελεῖν τὴν πεντηκοστήν, κατανοήσας ὁ Κεκαυμένος τὴν ἀμέλειαν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν τῶν Σαρακηνῶν, καὶ ὅτι ἐν πολλῇ ἀμερι μνίᾳ διάγουσιν οὐδένα λόγον τῶν ἐντὸς τοῦ τείχους ποιούμενοι, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ παραθαρρύνας λαὸν καὶ τὴν ἀναίμακτον τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἐπιτελέσαι κελεύσας θυσίαν, καὶ τῶν θείων ἅμα πᾶσι μετεσχηκὼς μυστηρίων, περὶ ὥραν ἀρίστου τὰς τῆς πόλεως πύλας ἀναπετάσας προσρήγνυται μετὰ μεγίστης ῥύμης τοῖς ἐναντίοις μεθύουσι καὶ καρηβαροῦσιν, αὐτὸς πρῶτος μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὴν σκηνὴν ἐξιππασάμενος Ἀπολάφαρ τοῦ τῆς νήσου ἄρχοντος. καὶ οὗτος μὲν εὐθὺς ἀναιρεῖται, ἀκροσφαλὴς ὑπὸ μέθης ὑπάρχων, διαρρή γνυται δὲ καὶ ἡ αὐτοῦ σκηνή· ἔπιπτον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι τῶν Σαρα κηνῶν κατὰ τὰς σωρείας ὑπὸ μέθης σφαλλόμενοι, καὶ τῷ ἀπροσ δοκήτῳ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως μηδ' ὅλως πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἀποβλέψαι ἰσχύσαν τες.

Γίνεται οὖν τροπὴ ὅλου τοῦ στρατοπέδου, τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ὑπ' ἀλλήλων συμπατουμένων καὶ ἀναιρουμένων, ὡς πληρωθῆναι 2.525 νεκρῶν τὸ πεδίον καὶ τὰς ἔγγιστα φάραγγας καὶ τοὺς ποταμούς, ὡς ἐκ τοσούτων μυριάδων ὀλίγους πάνυ ἐν Πανόρμῳ διασωθῆναι. ἐλήφθη δὲ καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν, χρυσοῦ καὶ ἀργύρου καὶ μαργάρων γέμον καὶ πολυτελῶν λίθων, οὕς, ὡς λέγεται, μεδίμνοις οἱ στρατιῶται διεμοιράσαντο. καὶ οὕτω μὲν ἡ πᾶσα Σικελία δι' ὀλίγου χειρωθεῖσα παρὰ τοῦ Μανιάκη, ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ ἀμελείᾳ καὶ κακότητι στρατηγῶν γέγονε πάλιν ὑπὸ Σαρακηνούς, μό νης τῆς Μεσήνης περιλειφθείσης καθ' ὃν τρόπον εἰρήκαμεν, τοῦ Στεφάνου καὶ τοῦ Πεδιαδίτου φυγόντων ἐν Λογγιβαρδίᾳ. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν Σικελίᾳ ἐφέρετο ταύτῃ. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ τῇ Θεσσαλονίκῃ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ διέ τριβε, προσλιπαρῶν τῷ τάφῳ τοῦ καλλινίκου μάρτυρος ∆ημη τρίου καὶ ἀπαλλαγὴν εὑρέσθαι τῆς νόσου γλιχόμενος. καὶ ἥπτετο μὲν τῶν πραγμάτων οὐδ' ὁπωστιοῦν, ὅ τι μὴ πᾶσα ἀνάγκη, ἐφέ ρετο δὲ ἡ διοίκησις καὶ τῶν κοινῶν μεταχείρησις ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου· καὶ οὐδὲν εἶδος βέβηλον καὶ παράνομον ἐπινοίας παρελείφθη ὃ μὴ ἐξεῦρεν εἰς συντριμμὸν καὶ κάκωσιν τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρα. καταλέγειν δὲ ἕκαστον τούτων