The flight from Rome of Formoso, bishop of Porto, on Easter night 876 and his subsequent conviction in the Roman synods are echoed in the dedication of the last two John the Deacon’s works, Vita Gregorii I papae and the rhythmic rewriting of the Cena Cypriani. The contribution reconstructs John Immonide’s figure, his role and his friendships within the cubiculum Lateranense, and analyzes the critical loci of the manuscript tradition of the dedication poem to Pope John VIII, prefacing the hagiographical text, and of the so called Epilogus and Suppositio closing the Cena. The sections analyzed show a tradition variously attested and not univocal, that is evidence of reworking and leads to suspect that the author has reviewed the dedications of his works when he was expelled from the Lateran, falled into disgrace with the pope, and he never reached a final version of them.
