Compendium chronicum

 Gold-bearing, glistening with robes studded with pearls. the fragrant violet shone, the rose shone back. every kind of violet's color smiled from ever

 The fine-spun ones. the large-winged, large-hooked-beaked, hooked-clawed, boasting their claws like javelins, having a beak sharper than daggers, for

 Having made him a composite of soul and body, and having bestowed the grace of a will moved by itself, and having formed him according to his likeness

 Of yours, and you will be called gods, and you will know all things. the woman heard these things, she heeded the flattery, she was conquered by the

 Land-born, winged, walking but god, opening the floodgates of heaven, brought down from there whole seas of rain, covered the peaks of the deep-cliff

 They stole, they committed adultery, and finally they looked toward idolatry. seruch was the first to begin to use carved images and pillars, being th

 Javelin-bowmen, armor-bearers, spearmen, men furious in battle, and having taken an allied force from the nation of the huns, and having made allies o

 Chaldeans, and the plaything of fortune and the dice of affairs, having sufficiently mocked others, passed over to others. and when these things were

 Mandane, and that the liquid poured forth was so great as to be able to cover the face of the land of asia. this was the first dream, and a second one

 Not even among the most famous, like that of the medes and persians, or that of the assyrians. candaules was king of lydia and phrygia, tracing his li

 To be contrived by such devices. he, having learned and discerned which mare the horse of darius loved more than all the others, after the two of them

 Having heard that joseph, the one born of rachel, was governing the land of egypt for pharaoh, and also contriving to find a release from his sufferin

 Was sung. and a light of gladness rose for the hebrews, but the darkness of calamities overshadowed the egyptians. the israelites who fled egypt then

 He exposes him in a place called parion after paris himself. he was therefore cast aside carelessly. shepherds found him, pitied him, took him up. the

 Because helen had been seized by someone, all fought on her behalf with their own bodies. so after much entreating and importuning, they persuade the

 While strong-handed achilles was present, the counsels of the son of laertes were ineffective, and every plot devised and scheme stitched together aga

 The swarm of trojans mingled with each other, daring to do nothing. and there was a temple before the walls of beautifully-towered troy, where achille

 To proteus, he also finds his consort there in memphis, and having been hosted and honored he receives helen, and after considerable toils he reaches

 Flapping its wings, a great-winged bird, fanned the fire into flame with its wings. but a certain cunning fox, vying with these and contending against

 To be called, remaining faithful, keepers of the house and guardians of what is within. then taking a clod of earth in his hand from outside, he throw

 The most unjust slaughter of his father, and perceiving as a man of sense that he would share the danger with his father and brother and would die wit

 Caesar wished to take into the fellowship of marriage a woman who was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, and he urged nero to betroth his wife to hi

 And his whole character was lecherous, and worse than others, lusting after women joined to men, and commanding their spouses to serve his abomination

 You will cause me pain for those who are sated on my rotten limbs will vex me for a short time, but if others fall upon me, they will cling more viol

 Bringing with them a chariot-driver mime, they came upon him to kill him. and nero, knowing this, killed himself, saying this at the end: what an art

 Extinguishes it, and dogs, running up and eating the bonds, release the stargazer who was invoking the gods many times. and these things indeed were a

 Ravaging and plundering, being in want of money, pressed by need and having no army from anywhere to arm against them, set forth in the marketplace th

 Of great things, what terror was not present, what was not dared! slaughters and toils everywhere, and pools of blood. and the gloom of the prison hel

 Their names were constans and constantine) manages the western parts and rome and the gauls. but these were extinguished rather quickly and before the

 But when that woman again added that her husband was plotting against gratian himself, he replied again, what is that to you, woman? and they say th

 Orestes, and after orestes the son of romulus was the last to take hold of the rule. and the great-named city, the city of the romans, having had romu

 They set aside the young woman. athenais the maiden, exceedingly distressed at these things and wounded in her soul, goes to her maternal aunt, she sh

 Learning of the emperor, she arrives in the city of jerusalem as quickly as possible, and there, having completed the remainder of her life, she pays

 When a fierce battle had broken out and he was leading the romans against the arrogant persians, marcian, seized by a death-threatening illness, remai

 A man, a treasure of wisdom, was slandered as a hellene, isocasius by name, a quaestor by rank and from there, stripped of both honor and money, he i

 Having reigned over the romans for eighteen years. but this one, having tasted power for a short time, departed from the earth rather quickly, leaving

 The poison with the trisagion hymn, and when he saw the whole crowd immediately run wild and drive the eparch from the temple with stones and burn dow

 Justin, but being inflamed with zeal for the pious religion, kindled an implacable war against the manichaeans and a persecution more severe than thos

 Manly minds for with this man he joined mighty battles, and so terrified chosroes that he wished to exchange peace for man-slaying wars. and rome the

 With graces and bear torches for creation, and appear as bright stars to those on earth but the sun leaped up from a most beautiful lake, and the tor

 Such power, and being filled with greater zeal, he held to what must be done. and it happened that not long after something like this occurred, worthy

 Into the judgments of the judge shook the hearts of all. from there a calm of justice-doing was spread everywhere, instead of a winter and a gloomy te

 And by the things that will be said and the khagan, having attacked the garrisons of the romans (the khagan was king of the northern scythians) and h

 Of dregs. therefore, he is caught fleeing together with the empress and the purple-born branches sprung from him. but the most god-hated, man-slaying

 With golden helmets, delicate, all quiver-bearing, on snorting, gold-phalerad horses. so when the emperor saw it was impossible to engage with the arm

 Having embarked in boats, they came on, covering the back of the sea with their dense light boats, with their single-log vessels. thus there were many

 But nevertheless he did not long enjoy his fortune, but it quickly grew cold, but appearing he was hidden, just as a rose might spring up and immediat

 Him, only one thing troubled, lest the scepter reach justinian again, and he who was formerly deprived of it, and of his nose along with it, might aga

 Infancy was subjected to murderous hands for slaughter but here, boys of fifteen, girls in their early bloom, young men, soft-skinned women, little g

 You will see a dreadful thing, and he bespattered the ground, flowing away like water. thus it was said well and wisely by the ancients, nothing beyo

 But the emperor theodosios, shrinking from the audacity and the beast-like heart of leo, yielded the throne and the crown to his enemy, willingly or u

 From the kandys and the torc i will know, and the croaking raven from its blackness. near the precinct of the wisdom of god a splendid house had been

 He plundered beauty, he cut out the sacred images from the churches, and in their place with the same colors and mosaics he engraved his beloved hunti

 From there he is rolled towards lawless deeds, and he shaves the head of his most temperate consort, and introduces the union with another woman into

 They drive him from the throne and the city as a fugitive. and he, having indicated these things in writing to the empress and having besought to rece

 They were supplicating, even employing force. but he, not knowing the turn of the balancing scale of fortune, and fearing its wavering will, approache

 And again the tail of the dragon was moved. the abomination, i mean, of iconoclasm, like a great dragon, crept, dreadful and gaping, it rushed to devo

 And from there what was being built was overturned from its roots, and having stained his own war-loving hands with murders and having made every spea

 The king, on account of the bruises and the numerous wounds, or rather cases of paralysis, was shaken in his soul at what had happened, and wishing to

 Finding their catch, they write to the just man while he is fishing with nets a short writing in iambic meter, which, since i have deemed it not right

 Having been persuaded and having received complete assurance that theophilos was delivered from the torments there, she became a fellow-diner with the

 Of the ancient kings, both the golden trees, and the chattering sparrows, and lions made of hammered gold, and simply every royal thing gleaming in th

 By his hand, but the contriver of evils paid the penalty, and the preparer of terrible things drank a cup of wrath. bardas, therefore, while digging a

 Scarcely the temple-keeper he immediately makes basil a member of his household, and deems him worthy of fitting care. and basil was handsome, noble,

 To earth-born men, and certain innate dooms accompany men. for this one, great in understanding among emperors, having been persuaded by certain serpe

 By the transgression of tetragamy. but leo, the most philosophical among emperors, having fallen into the natural necessities of the body and being af

 He arms himself on behalf of the one who had been out-generaled with an army drawn from many places, from the lycaonians, from the thracians, from the

 Raising him from a lowly state to the summit, he makes him father and guardian of the empire. and drawing romanos further into his affection, he gives

 Of unstained rule, and being about to be released from the bonds of nature, he appointed his son romanos as sole ruler. but he, entrusting all strengt

 He conveys everything, and says, alas, o general, for the fortune of the romans! until when will woman-souled eunuchs steer the ship of state, resour

 Medimni of grain to be sold for a nomisma. thus phocas managed the matter meanly, and this though he was rich in thousand-bushel granaries, laden with

 Near the ister cutting down the phalanxes, breaking the scytharchs, killing, pursuing, routing the champions, as if some lion falling upon broad-flank

 Slumber to his eyelids, nor sleep to his eyes, until he drove out the wolves, the devourers of sheep. the mighty ones of the bulgars recognized his st

 And having been taught by certain people that after him the rule would pass to romanos, one of the senate, surnamed argyropoulos, he compels the man t

 Having the care of those in the home for the aged, he managed all other matters of state up and down and was seen openly as the keeper of the ruler. t

 Rushing into the inner sanctuary, from there they seize the wretched man, crying out with groans from the heart, with hot tears, and they gouge out hi

 Bloody streams, but murderous outpourings. he seized the fortresses, he seized the cities. he went on, roaring in his anger, breathing fire more than

 Of the power to comnenus. but those who were allotted to steer the ship of state, wishing not to save it but to sink it and swamp the most wretched th

 But suddenly the tempests of the flesh, having grown wild, stirred up a hard-to-calm, wave-tossed wind, they brought on nausea, vomiting, dizziness, t

 To sheep-guarded folds. but a winged dove, flying up from somewhere, alighted on his knees with a silent flutter, not like the one before that flew to

 Promising down on his temples, using caesar his uncle as a rival and the most powerful men and those in high military command, he at once seats himsel

 Shining with purple dye and gold, and using in turn overlapping garments, he sat upon high, silver-studded thrones, adorning with dignities all who ca

Mandane, and that the liquid poured forth was so great as to be able to cover the face of the land of Asia. This was the first dream, and a second one was this: he seemed to see a vine growing up from the private parts of Mandane, by which all of Asia and the race of Medes and Persians were overshadowed. The king, then, disturbed by such dreams, secretly nurtured a hatred against Mandane, and after turning over many thoughts about what must be done, he decided to outwit fortune by a clever plan. Therefore he joins the girl in marriage to a certain man, Cambyses (and Cambyses was of low birth and of humbler stock), so that he might obscure the expected glory, clouding the brilliance of her lineage with low birth. So when he learned that she was very nearly pregnant, he sat watching the time, waiting for the birth. After a short while a male child sprang forth from Mandane, and the king took what was born, wrapped it up, and handed it over to Harpagus, so that it might be destroyed. But he gives the infant to a herdsman to destroy it, to be exposed as food for mountain beasts. What happened after this and how? The herdsman took it, brought it to his house, and found his wife had just brought forth a dead infant from her womb. He shows what he brought, he seeks what should be done. So, having deliberated together, they cast out the dead child, and rear the one given to them as their own legitimate child. And what followed, how wonderful! Cyrus came of age, he played with little boys, he was chosen to be king, he commanded his peers as he wished for each. So for all, the command was carried out with speed; but the son of Artembares alone, being a playmate of Cyrus, having disobeyed, suffered the consequences of disobedience, being insolently treated and subjected to severe torments. And Artembares was noble and one of the preeminent men. The boy, having suffered insolence, goes to his father, tells his father of the insolence, reports what was done. A violent anger immediately seized Artembares, and going to the king he reports the insolence. And Cyrus the child is summoned, and being questioned with severe threats, he confessed everything with a free tongue. The king marveled at his frankness, and was about to subject the herdsman to tortures, the one supposedly considered to be the father of Cyrus, so that he would declare whose child Cyrus was. That herdsman did not bear the threats, and immediately makes known to the king all that had happened. Astyages communicates these things to the wise men and Magi; but the divine power, as it seems, deceived them, and they said that the brilliance formerly hoped for by them had come to pass for the child in his games. And this gladdened his heart, but another thing again vexed it; for he hated as an enemy the unfortunate Harpagus, who had saved Cyrus and had not destroyed or made him disappear. And he summons this man, Harpagus, along with his child, supposedly to a banquet. And he slaughters his son most piteously in a barbaric manner, like a lamb, and when the unfortunate Harpagus came to the table, he sets before him in a dish the flesh of his child. And he, not knowing what had happened, ate until he was full. Immediately after the dinner, both the head and hands of the sacrificed child were brought to Harpagus. And he recognized what had been dared, but not having anything he could do, he was enraged within himself, hating Astyages. And when Cyrus departed from the Medes to the Persians and finally reached the age of manhood, the unfortunate Harpagus did not cease doing everything and contriving everything, and inciting Cyrus to take vengeance on Astyages and depose him from his rule, until he urged him on to raise an army and attack and powerfully engage with his grandfather. What happened after these things? Cyrus wins gloriously, the king of the Medes is defeated, is finally taken captive, and the power is then transferred to the Persians. Thus then Cyrus girded himself with the kingship, and he held Croesus, the very rich ruler of the Lydians who had drawn up in battle against him, as a living prisoner. But indeed, having come to this point and having mentioned Croesus, I will henceforth also mention the fortune of the Lydians, even if it was not great

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Μανδάνην, τοσοῦτον δ' εἶναι τὸ χυθὲν ὑγρὸν ὡς ἐξισχῦσαι τῆς γῆς τῆς Ἀσιάτιδος τὸ πρόσωπον καλύψαι. οὗτος ὁ πρῶτος ὄνειρος, δεύτερος δ' αὖθις οὗτος· ἔδοξε βλέπειν κάτωθεν ἐκ τῆς αἰδοῦς Μανδάνης ἀναφυεῖσαν ἄμπελον, ὑφ' ἧς πᾶσαν Ἀσίαν καὶ γένος Μήδων καὶ Περσῶν κατάσκιον γενέσθαι. τοιοῖσδε γοῦν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκταραχθεὶς ὀνείροις ὑπέτρεφεν ἀπέχθειαν λάθρᾳ κατὰ Μανδάνης, πολλοὺς δὲ στρέψας λογισμοὺς περὶ τοῦ ποιητέου ἔγνω κατασοφίσασθαι τὴν τύχην ἐπινοίᾳ. τὴν κόρην τοίνυν ζεύγνυσιν ἀνδρί τινι Καμβύσῃ (ἦν δ' ὁ Καμβύσης δυσγενὴς καὶ τῶν ταπεινοτέρων), ὡς ἂν τὸ προσδοκώμενον ἐξαμαυρώσῃ κλέος, τοῦ γένους τὴν λαμπρότητα θολώσας δυσγενείᾳ. ὡς οὖν ἐπέγνω κύουσαν ὅσον οὐδέπω ταύτην, καθῆστο καιροφυλακῶν, τὸν τόκον περιμένων. μετὰ μικρὸν δ' ἐξέθορεν ἄρρεν ἐκ τῆς Μανδάνης, καὶ τὸ τεχθὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς λαβὼν καὶ περιστείλας Ἁρπάγῳ παραδίδωσιν, ὡς ἐξαναλωθείη. ὁ δὲ βουκόλῳ δίδωσι τὸ βρέφος διαφθεῖραι, ἐκτεθησόμενον βορὰν θηρίοις ὀρεστέροις. τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο τί καὶ πῶς; ἔλαβεν ὁ βουκόλος, εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἤγαγεν, εὗρε τὴν συζυγοῦσαν ἄρτι νεκρὸν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς βρέφος ἐξενεγκοῦσαν. δείκνυσιν ὅπερ ἔφερε, ζητεῖ τὸ ποιητέον. κοινῇ γοῦν συσκεψάμενοι τὸ μὲν νεκρὸν ῥιπτοῦσι, τὸ δὲ δοθὲν ἐκτρέφουσιν ὡς γνήσιον παιδίον. τὸ δ' ἐφεξῆς ὡς θαυμαστόν! ἡλικιώθη Κῦρος, σὺν παιδαρίοις ἔπαιζεν, ᾑρέθη βασιλεύειν, ἐπέταττεν τοῖς ἥλιξιν ὡς ἤθελεν ἑκάστῳ. πᾶσι μὲν οὖν τὸ κελευσθὲν ὡς τάχος ἐτελεῖτο· ὁ δ' Ἀρτεμβάρου μόνον παῖς συμπαίστωρ ὢν τῷ Κύρῳ ἀνηκουστήσας πέπονθε τὰ τῆς ἀνηκοΐας, καθυβρισθεὶς καὶ κραταιαῖς ὑποβληθεὶς αἰκίαις. ἦν δ' Ἀρτεμβάρης εὐγενὴς καὶ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων. ὁ παῖς ὑβριοπαθήσας πρόσεισι τῷ τεκόντι, τὴν ὕβριν φράζει τῷ πατρί, μηνύει τὰ πραχθέντα. θυμὸς εὐθὺς κατέλαβε σφοδρὸς τὸν Ἀρτεμβάρην, καὶ προσελθὼν τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν ὕβριν ἀπαγγέλλει. καὶ γίνεται μετάπεμπτος ὁ Κῦρος τὸ παιδίον, καὶ πολυπραγμονούμενος σὺν ἀπειλαῖς βαρείαις ἐν ἐλευθέρῳ στόματι τὸ πᾶν καθωμολόγει. ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐθαύμασεν αὐτοῦ τὴν παρρησίαν, καὶ τὸν βουκόλον ἔμελλεν αἰκίαις ὑποβάλλειν, τὸν δῆθεν νομιζόμενον εἶναι πατέρα Κύρου, ὡς ἂν ἐξαγορεύσειε τίνος ὁ Κῦρος τέκνον. οὐκ ἤνεγκε τὰς ἀπειλὰς ἐκεῖνος ὁ βουκόλος, καὶ πᾶν εὐθὺς τὸ γεγονὸς τῷ βασιλεῖ γνωρίζει. κοινοῦται ταῦτα τοῖς σοφοῖς καὶ Μάγοις Ἀστυάγης· ἀλλ' ἔσφηλεν, ὡς ἔοικε, τούτους ἰσχὺς ἡ θεία, καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα τὴν πρὶν αὐτοῖς ἐλπιζομένην ἐν τοῖς παιγνίοις ἔφασαν ἐκβῆναι τῷ παιδίῳ. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἠγάθυνεν ἐκείνου τὴν καρδίαν, ἄλλο δὲ πάλιν ἔκνιζεν· ὡς γὰρ ἐχθρὸν ἐμίσει Ἅρπαγον τὸν δυσδαίμονα, τὸν περισεσωκότα τὸν Κῦρον καὶ μὴ φθείραντα μηδ' ἐξηφανικότα. καὶ τοῦτον μεταπέμπεται δῆθεν εἰς πανδαισίαν σὺν τῷ παιδί, τὸν Ἅρπαγον. καὶ τὸν μὲν τούτου παῖδα βαρβαρικῶς ὡς ἀρνίον οἴκτιστα καταθύει, ἐλθόντι δὲ τῷ δυστυχεῖ πρὸς τράπεζαν Ἁρπάγῳ ἐν σκεύει παρατίθησι τὰ τοῦ παιδίου κρέα. ὁ δὲ μὴ γνοὺς τὸ γεγονὸς ἔφαγεν ἄχρι κόρου. εὐθὺς μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον δὲ καὶ κεφαλὴ καὶ χεῖρες Ἁρπάγῳ παρεφέροντο παιδίου τοῦ τυθέντος. ὁ δ' ἔγνω μὲν τὸ τολμηθέν, οὐκ ἔχων δ' ὅτι δράσει, ἦν ἐγκοτῶν καθ' ἑαυτόν, στυγῶν τὸν Ἀστυάγην. τοῦ Κύρου μεταστάντος δὲ πρὸς Πέρσας ἀπὸ Μήδων ἐφαψαμένου τε λοιπὸν ἀνδρώδους ἡλικίας, οὐκ ἔληγεν ὁ δυστυχὴς Ἅρπαγος πάντα πράττων καὶ πάντα μηχανώμενος, καὶ Κῦρον ἐρεθίζων τὸν Ἀστυάγην τίσασθαι καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκστῆσαι, ἕως αὐτὸν παρώρμησε καὶ στρατιὰν ἐγεῖραι καὶ προσβαλεῖν καὶ κραταιῶς τῷ πάππῳ συμπλακῆναι. τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα τίνα δέ; νικᾷ λαμπρῶς ὁ Κῦρος, νικᾶται Μήδων βασιλεύς, ζωγρεῖται τελευταῖον, καὶ μετατίθεται λοιπὸν τὸ κράτος ἐπὶ Πέρσας. οὕτως οὖν ἀνεζώσατο Κῦρος τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ Κροῖσον τὸν πολύχρυσον τὸν τῶν Λυδῶν δυνάστην ἀντιπαραταξάμενον εἶχε δεσμώτην ζῶντα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὧδε γεγονὼς ἐπιμνησθείς τε Κροίσου ἐπιμνησθήσομαι λοιπὸν καὶ τῶν Λυδῶν τῆς τύχης, κἂν οὐ μεγάλη γέγονεν

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