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that happened there to the emperor. 30. Concerning the apocrisiaries to Pope Martin, and how when they departed they were not received, and how on account of this the emperor's zeal on their behalf was broken. 31. Concerning the testaments of the patriarch Joseph. 32. How the events concerning Belgrade came about. 33. The triumph of those captured at Belgrade. 34. Concerning John, the ruler of the Laz, and how he came and became the emperor's son-in-law. 35. How the emperor prepared forces against the sebastokrator John, summoning also the Tochars, and how he was prevented from setting out by the empress. 30. How the emperor along with his men was in peril at sea, and how, having reached Allage, he died in the monastery of Pachomios. 23

{FIRST BOOK OF HISTORIES}.

Preface of the author and concerning the truth of what is said.

George, a Constantinopolitan from of old, but born and raised in Nicaea, and established again in the city of Constantine when by the nod of God it came under the Romans, being then nineteen years of age, and given to the divine clergy and having distinguished himself in ecclesiastical offices and having reached the rank of protekdikos, and furthermore honored as dikaiophylax in the palace, wrote these things, not having received unattested accounts from long ago, nor trusting in hearsay alone, if someone should say he had seen or even heard it himself, and should deem the accounts trustworthy, if he only says so, but being an eyewitness for the most part, it so happening, or also having learned precisely from those by whom they were first seen to be done, yet not unattested, but also corroborated by many others, so that all of time, which has a nature of hiding many things in its frequent cyclical periods, might not also make these things disappear, as they gradually become effaced by the passage of time, because it is necessary for all things that have appeared to be hidden, as one of the wise men said and truly judged, not, however, so as to consider the truth of less account than falsehood when speaking of such things; for truth, as one might say, is the soul of history, and the matter of truth is necessarily sacred, and he who prefers falsehood to it is outright sacrilegious. 25 And besides, it is least of all our purpose to attribute greatness to the events, as if moved by hatred or indeed by goodwill, so that what happened badly might be disparaged more than is likely, or what turned out well might be praised, with our account bewitching the ears of the audience. For since it is possible to recount events wherever they took place, for those who wish to speak, and it is also possible to leave them unsaid, if there is no necessity, in my judgment silence is better than speaking otherwise than how they happened, and it is surely better for the listeners not to learn at all than to learn otherwise than how true history intends, since from the one course comes that simple ignorance from which no blame accrues, but from the other a double ignorance, so that it happens that the one who thinks he knows does not know, than which indeed nothing is worse. However, I myself would not have undertaken this writing, had it not occurred to me to expect that, as time goes on, even worse things will happen, conjecturing the future from the present, or rather reckoning what will be from what has been. For it is surely far more amazing to the ear to hear that from such peace and stability as we have tasted, affairs have come to this point of disaster, than that things, having appeared thus and having collapsed in this way from their former prosperity when a terrible storm burst in, should wither even more, so as not only to not flourish, but not even to partake of vital movement at all.

2. An excuse for not speaking of the things before the author's time. To go back, at any rate, to those who ruled before our time and to begin from there their affairs

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γεγονότα ἐκεῖσε τῷ βασιλεῖ. λʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πρὸς τὸν πάπαν Μαρτῖνον ἀποκρισιαρίους καὶ ὡς ἀπελθόντες οὐκ ἐδέχθησαν καὶ ὡς ἐπεκλάσθη διὰ ταῦτα ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων σπουδή. λαʹ. Περὶ τῶν διαθηκῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰωσήφ. λβʹ. Ὅπως συνέβη τὰ κατὰ τὰ Βελλάγραδα. λγʹ. Θρίαμβος τῶν ἑαλωκότων κατὰ τὰ Βελλάγραδα. λδʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν Λαζῶν Ἰωάννην καὶ ὅπως ἐλθὼν ἐπε γαμβρεύθη τῷ βασιλεῖ. λεʹ. Ὅπως ὁ βασιλεὺς δυνάμεις ἐξηρτύετο κατὰ τοῦ σεβαστοκράτορος Ἰωάννου, μετακαλεσάμενος καὶ Τοχάρους, καὶ ὡς παρὰ τῆς δεσποίνης ἐκωλύετο ἐξελθεῖν. λʹ. Ὅπως κατὰ θάλασσαν ὁ βασιλεὺς συνάμα τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐκινδύνευε καὶ ὡς, φθάσας τὴν Ἀλλαγήν, ἐν τοῖς Παχωμίου ἐτελεύτησεν. 23

{ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΙΚΩΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ ΠΡΩΤΗ}.

Προοίμιον τοῦ συγγραφέως καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν λεγομένων.

Γεώργιος Κωνσταντινουπολίτης μὲν τὸ ἀνέκαθεν, ἐν Νικαίᾳ δὲ καὶ γεννηθεὶς

καὶ τραφείς, ἐν Κωνσταντίνου δὲ καταστὰς αὖθις, ὅτε Θεοῦ νεύματι ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους αὕτη ἐγένετο, ἔτη γεγονὼς εἴκοσιν ἑνὸς δέοντος τηνικάδε, καὶ κλήρῳ δοθεὶς θείῳ καὶ ἀξιώμασιν ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς διαπρέψας καὶ ἕως καὶ ἐς πρωτεκδίκου φθάσας τιμήν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀνακτόρων εἰς δικαιοφύλακα τιμηθείς, τάδε ξυνέγραψεν, οὐ λόγους λαβὼν ἄνωθεν ἀμαρτύ ρους, οὐδ' ἀκοῇ πιστεύων μόνον, ἤν τις λέγοι ἑωρακὼς ἢ καὶ ἀκούσας αὐτός, πιστοὺς δ' ἀξιοίη τοὺς λόγους, εἰ μόνον λέγοι, λογίζεσθαι, ἀλλ' αὐτόπτης τὰ πλεῖστα, οὕτω ξυμβάν, γεγονὼς ἢ καὶ μαθὼν ἀκριβῶς παρ' ὧν τὸ πρῶτον ὡράθη πραχθέντα, πλὴν δ' οὐκ ἀμάρτυρα, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις συνη γορούμενα, ὡς ἂν μὴ ὁ ξύμπας χρόνος, φύσιν ἔχων τὰ πολλὰ κρύπτειν συχναῖς κυκλικαῖς περιόδοις, καὶ τάδ' ἀφανίσειε, κατὰ μικρὸν ἐξίτηλα τῇ παραδρομῇ γιγνόμενα, διὰ τὸ φανέντα κρύπτεσθαι πάντα ἀνάγκην εἶναι, ὥς πού τις τῶν σοφῶν ἔφη καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐγνωμάτευσεν, οὐ μὴν ὥστε καὶ τὸ ἀληθὲς περὶ ἐλάττονος τοῦ ψεύδους ποιήσασθαι περὶ τοιούτων λέγοντα· ἱστορίας γάρ, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, ψυχὴ ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας χρῆμα ἐπάναγκες ἱερόν, ὁ δὲ πρὸ ταύτης τὸ ψεῦδος ἄγων ἄντικρυς ἱερόσυλος. 25 Ἄλλως τε καὶ ἡμῖν ἥκιστα πρόθεσις τοῖς πραχθεῖσι μέγεθος ἐντιθέναι, ὡσανείπερ κινουμένοις ἐκ μίσους ἢ μὴν εὐνοίας, ὡς ἂν πλέον ἢ εἰκὸς ἢ τὸ κακῶς ξυμβὰν διασυρείη ἢ τὸ εὖ ξυμπεσὸν ὑμνηθείη, τοῦ λόγου τὰς ἀκοὰς γοητεύοντος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ ὁπουδήπου πραχθέντα ἔστι μὲν καὶ διεξιέναι, οἷς δὴ καὶ λέγειν βουλομένοις ἐστίν, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐᾶν ἄρρητα, μὴ ἀνάγκης ὑπούσης, νικᾷ κατ' ἐμὴν γνώμην τὸ σιωπᾶν ἢ τὸ λέγειν ἄλλως ἢ ὡς ἐπρά χθησαν, καὶ κρεῖττον δήπου τοῖς ἀκουσείουσι τὸ μὴ μανθάνειν ὅλως ἢ τὸ μανθάνειν ἄλλως ἢ ὡς ἡ ὄντως ἱστορία βούλεται, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν μὲν τῆς ἁπλῆς εἰσαγομένης ἐκείνης ἀγνοίας ἐξ ἧς οὐ μῶμος προστρίβεται, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τῆς διπλῆς, ὥστε μὴ εἰδέναι συμβαίνειν τὸν εἰδέναι οἰόμενον, οὗ δὴ καὶ χεῖρον οὐδέν. Οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἐγκεχείρηκα ἂν τῇ γραφῇ, ἤν μοι μὴ ἐπῄει ἐλπίζειν, προϊόντος τοῦ χρόνου, τὰ χείρω καὶ ἔτι ξυμβαίνειν, ἐκ τῶν παρόντων καὶ τὰ ἐσαῦθις στοχαζομένῳ, ἢ μᾶλλον ἐκ τῶν συμβάντων λογι ζομένῳ τὰ συμβησόμενα. Πολλῷ γὰρ δήπου εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου θαυμασιώτερον ἐκ τοιαύτης, ἧς δὴ καὶ γεγεύμεθα, ἡσυχίας καὶ καταστάσεως εἰς τόδε ξυμφορᾶς τὰ πράγματα προελθεῖν, ἢ τοιαῦτα φανέντα καὶ οὕτως τῆς προτέρας εὐθαλείας, δεινοῦ χειμῶνος ἐπεισφρήσαντος, καταρρεύσαντα ἐπὶ μεῖζον καταυανθῆναι, ὥστε μὴ ὅπως εὐθαλεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ζωτικῆς τὸ παράπαν μετέχειν κινήσεως.

βʹ. Παραίτησις τοῦ μὴ τὰ πρότερα ἢ κατὰ τὸν συγγραφέα λέγειν. Τὸ γοῦν ἀνατρέχειν ἐπὶ τοὺς πρότερον ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἄρξαντας κἀντεῦθεν ἄρχεσθαι τὰ ἐκείνων