But upon the death of John Mercurius, Agapetus, archdeacon of the Roman Church, was ordained pope, exceedingly learned in the ecclesiastical canons. At that time Theodatus, king of the Goths, writing to the pope himself and to the Roman senate, threatened that he would put to the sword not only the senators but also their wives and sons and daughters, unless they should prevail upon the emperor to withdraw the army he had appointed from Italy. But the pope, having undertaken a legation for that very cause, set out for Constantinople; and at first, receiving honorably those sent to him by the emperor, he nevertheless scorned the presence of Anthimus, and was unwilling to receive him for a greeting; then, having seen the prince, he pleaded the cause of the legation he had undertaken.
But the emperor, unwilling—on account of the great expenses of the treasury—to recall the army he had directed from Italy, refused to hear the pope's supplications. Yet he, doing what was his own, discharged the legation of Christ. Finally, when the princes requested that the pope receive Anthimus in greeting and communion, he said it could be done if he should prove himself orthodox by a written profession and return to his own see. He said it was impossible for a transferred man to remain in that see; but the Empress secretly promising many gifts, and again threatening the pope, the pope persisted in this, that he would not hear her petition. And Anthimus, seeing himself driven from the see, gave back to the emperors the pallium which he had, and departed to where the Empress might protect him by her patronage.
Then the pope, by the favor of the prince, ordained Mennas as bishop in his place, consecrating him with his own hand in the basilica of Saint Mary. This Mennas had been the superior of the greater hospice which is called Samson, an Alexandrian by birth, and one who accepted the Synod of Chalcedon. 'To withdraw the army he had appointed.'] which, under the command of Belisarius, had taken the island of Sicily, and was to be transported into Italy after the winter. See Procopius, book I of the Gothic War. 'Pallium.'] which was the insignia of the patriarchal dignity. The same is afterward related of Paul of Alexandria, namely that he was stripped of the pallium when he was deposed. 'Then the pope, etc.'] See Evagrius, book iv, chapter
55, where he is silent about the deposition of Anthimus by Agapetus, and inserts Anthimus between Mennas and Epiphanius—which is a hallucination rejected by all; for Anthimus did not precede Epiphanius, but followed him.