situated in the suburb of the city of Cyzicus called by the Cyzicenes
Artace. There he donned the garb of a priest, much against his will, not
a bishop's gown however, but that of a presbyter, as they are called.
But he was quite unwilling to perform the office of a priest lest at
some time it should be a hindrance to his entering again into office;
for he was by no means ready to relinquish his hopes. All his property
was immediately confiscated to the public treasury, but a large
proportion of this the emperor remitted to him, for he was still
inclined to spare him. There it was possible for John to live,
disregarding all dangers and enjoying great wealth, both that which he
himself had concealed and that which by the decision of the emperor
remained with him, and to indulge in luxury at his pleasure, and, if he
had reasoned wisely, to consider his present lot a happy one. For this
reason all the Romans were exceedingly vexed with the man, because,
forsooth, after proving himself the basest of all demons, contrary to
his deserts he was leading a life happier than before. But God, I think,
did not suffer John's retribution to end thus, but prepared for him a
greater punishment. And it fell out thus.

There was in Cyzicus a certain bishop named Eusebius, a man harsh to all
who came in his way, and no less so than John; this man the Cyzicenes
denounced to the emperor and summoned to justice. And since they
accomplished nothing inasmuch as Eusebius circumvented them by his great
power, certain youths agreed together and killed him in the market-place
of Cyzicus. Now it happened that John had become especially hostile to
Eusebius, and hence the suspicion of the plot fell upon him. Accordingly
men were sent from the senate to investigate this act of pollution. And
these men first confined John in a prison, and then this man who had
been such a powerful prefect, and had been inscribed among the
patricians and had mounted the seat of the consuls, than which nothing