III., was compelled, perhaps, against his will, to be proclaimed emperor of the East in A. D. 716, by the fleet, which also declared that Anastasius, his predecessor, was unfit to reign. Theodosius filled the unimportant office of a collector of the revenue when he was taken to Constantinople to be crowned Emperor of the East. In January 716, he was proclaimed emperor, and in the following year he prudently abdicated, and left the throne for Leo the Isaurian, who commanded the troops in the East. Theodosius spent the rest of his life in the tranquil retirement of a monastery.