Chronicon OF GEORGE THE MONK LIVES OF THE NEW EMPERORS.

 he summons to the palace Nikephoros the renowned patriarch and with him the leading bishops and priests in the presence of the senate, and says, Know

 a man-slaying fruit of a seed bitterly kept and sprouted in our generation, I know not whence this terrible condemnation was allotted to the Romans. w

 and the fool will speak foolish things. For being exceedingly ignorant and nonsensical, he did not know at all those Cherubim wrought of gold, which t

 we have recorded as being preserved. 21 And sight is a witness, a truthful teacher. Both the length of time and the building of the venerable churches

 This apostolic preaching they continue to uphold and never in another jurisdiction, where there are Christians, is that wicked and lawless and God-ha

 {THE REIGN OF MICHAEL THE STAMMERER.}

 Therefore, having plundered it moderately, but not as he had hoped, but as divine providence allowed on account of our sins, he accomplished nothing m

 {THE REIGN OF THEOPHILOS.}

 of impiety and insolence, and of tyranny and madness, the deluded and vain-minded one. Since therefore he was possessed by the same deceit and derange

 this? But the emperor, as if rebuked, forcefully dragged him from the sanctuary, and having inflicted no small number of blows upon him, exiled him,

 as was fitting, he received him, immediately making him magister and domestic of the scholae, and receiving his children from holy baptism. 14. Elated

 most lawless ones, or Pharaoh the Egyptian, or Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian? Or should we bring all these together and name you one and the same, since

 he wished to take, but he received two pounds for him, the general having also been ordered to test him, and if he was brave, to make him a guardsman.

 Then, having impiously committed many shameful, terrible, and absurd acts, they were driven from there as apostates. But having fled to the imperial c

 having secretly brought out Theophobos through Boukoleon, they saved him near Narsou, in what is now called 'of Theophobias', and they placed this the

 and overturned every day. And so finally, through imperial commission and cooperation, the fathers in exile and bitter prisons were recalled and resto

 Theophilitzes said, My lord, 817 I have a young man, most experienced and most brave with horses, just as your majesty desires, by the name of Basil.

 church, having a warden named Nicholas. And on that night a divine voice called the warden, saying Arise, bring the emperor into the oratory. And ha

 to Bardas, Do not strike the logothete. But they slaughtered him and cut him limb from limb in the Scythian manner, showing the rawness and savagery

 having constructed it very beautifully with flowing water. And when this was completed, there was someone in the city named Peter, a man of letters an

 plotting against him. But he heard these things as nonsense. But Basil, hurrying to convince the emperor, befriends Symbatios, a patrician and logothe

 standing on a high rock, cried out loudly to the emperor, A fine journey you have made, O emperor, having slain your own kinsman and your paternal bl

 Peganes to cense him with an earthenware censer with sulfur. And they blind Symbatios in one eye, and they also cut off his right hand, and they set h

 the emperor. And John the Chaldos immediately with his sword striking the emperor cut off his hands. And Iakobitzes the apelates, the Persian, woundin

 and having been eaten by worms, he died. 3. And the emperor, having come forth on the day of Christ's nativity during the procession to the great chur

 before the fleet arrived, with the emperor lamenting and mourning greatly. 12. And when Niketas Xylinites, the epi tes trapezes, was accused of being

 he made Leo fashion and wear in his boot, saying to him that Often when your father is looking for a small knife for some need, why do you not give i

 of the drome and having gone up to the ambo of the church, having read the charges against the patriarch Photius, they brought him down from the thro

 to make war against Hagion. And when an engagement occurred, those with Constantine were defeated and slaughtered, with him barely escaping. 9. And th

 He having died, Symeon sought pretexts to break the peace for seeking other captives as well, he advanced against the Romans. And the emperor Leo app

 he having given his word to Basileios, he confided everything to him. But Samonas, entering in to the emperor, said to him that, my lord, I wish to te

 Of Nicholas the Patriarch, the monks were pardoned from death, Karamalos to the Pikridiou monastery, and Eustathios to the Stoudiou monastery. And the

 He was persuading, he fled to Siricha to the precious cross, pretending that he had come on account of faith in the cross. So Constantine, the son of

 Andronikos, learning this, despairing, along with his relatives and his children and his men, went away and seized the fortress of Kabala, having come

 Samonas said, Against whom is the affliction? The metropolitan said to him, Against you and if you get past the 13th of June, from then on you wil

 he dressed it and made an illumination for the animals. For this reason the hand of God was lifted from him, as one who attached the honor of God to i

 of the detachments fell, and so many that the place was flooded with blood pouring down like a river. And Gregoras the son of the Doux was also killed

 879 of Domenikos the Hetaeriarch. Zoe deposes Patriarch Nicholas along with those with him in anger, telling him to look after and care for the affair

 others in the engagement of the war, 882 both Constantine Lips and John Grapson and a sufficient number of other commanders. 17. And at some point Rom

 These things came to pass. 23 But the emperor took Nicholas the patriarch and Stephen the magister to be with him in the palace, drawing the authority

 the basileopator, having made signed golden bulls as if from the person of the emperor Constantine, containing the overthrow of such a plot, and that

 they came forth in a procession. 2. In the month of June, of the 8th indiction, on a Sunday, the union of the church took place under Romanos, with al

 and many others. Therefore, having barely been saved, he entered into the dromon. And Alexios Mouseles the droungarios also came fleeing, armed, with

 is deprived. They tonsured Bardas Boilas as a monk, since the emperor pitied him as he was a friend. 15. When the patrician nicknamed Moroleon, who wa

 of silver-shielded and silver-speared men, and of those adorned with every color of arms, all of them fenced in with 900 iron, who, having taken Symeo

 Stephen the metropolitan of Amaseia being a eunuch. 903 26. In the month of October, the mystikos John, the paradynasteuon, was accused of aspiring to

 and with Maria the daughter of Christopher and with the whole senate to the church of the most holy Theotokos of the Spring, and they blessed both Pet

 son of the emperor Romanos, whom they were about to ordain patriarch of Constantinople. 38. On the twenty-fifth of the same month an unbearable winter

 he having already reached old age and his sons being still infants. and his remains were placed in the aforementioned monastery of his father. 43. And

 Consequently, the rest of the dromons and the triremes, having sallied forth, worked a complete rout, and they sank many ships with their crews, and w

 a military force being besieged and coming into the greatest necessity, its inhabitants sent an embassy to the emperor Romanos to have the siege lifte

 a monk. 1 Constantine, his son-in-law, was therefore left as sole emperor who, having immediately honored Bardas, the son of Phokas, with the dignity

as was fitting, he received him, immediately making him magister and domestic of the scholae, and receiving his children from holy baptism. 14. Elated by these things, the emperor went out with Manuel and the senate and the whole army against the Hagarenes, and easily Zapetra and Samosata, boasting in wealth and power then because the amermoumnes was from there, having taken them, he returned, exulting in the victory and the spoils, and having come as far as Bryas, he ordered a palace to be built and paradises to be planted and waters to be brought in; which also came to pass. And from there, arriving in the city, he celebrated a triumph for the spoils, holding a hippodrome race 799 and playing the first *baïon*, riding in a white chariot, but dressed in the color blue, and having won he was crowned, with the demes shouting, "Welcome, incomparable factonarius." 15. When the patriarch Antony died, John the syncellus was ordained in his place, so to speak, the new Jannes and Jambres, infamous for magic and lecanomancy and all impiety; who, being found a suitable instrument of the emperor's impiety and inclination, worked everything for him towards destruction. And the basilisk of impiety which the emperor had been in labor with but had held back, he broke forth and brought forth, ordering the holy icons to be smeared over or erased. 16. This Jannes, having constructed a dwelling of hewn stones before the city, which is called Troulos to this day, through certain sacrifices conversed with demons and signified future events to the emperor. And indeed it remained uninhabited on account of the visitations of demons that occurred there then. 17. For this reason Theophilos, having this man as an ally and confederate of his heresy, the second Nectenabo, the said John, or rather Jannes, the patriarch or mandriarch, the new Apollonius truly, or Balaam, in our times 800 badly revealed as a lecanomancer and a dreadful interpreter of every God-hated deed and wonder; by whom also having been taught his letters, the fickle and deceitful servant became an approved agent of most hateful things and a suitable instrument of the devil. Whom the divine word would justly curse indignantly, saying, "Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and have run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts in their own deceits." And very fittingly there could be applied to him also the things of the like-minded Julian, stigmatized by the tongue of the Theologian; for he appeared very similar and in no way unlike that one's villainy and perversity. For he said, "How can I not weep for the wretched man? How can I not, more than for the persecuted, mourn for those who ran to him, and more than for those who deserted to wickedness, mourn for the one who carried them away? Rather, for them it is not a terrible thing to suffer for Christ, but even most blessed of all things, not only from there but also on account of the good repute and boldness from here, which they granted to themselves through the dangers. But for the others, what they have already suffered is a prelude to the things with which they are threatened; and it would have been better for them, if they had been punished longer here, than to have been reserved for the 801 just tribunals there. For just as the story goes that the chameleon easily becomes of every kind and changes all colors except one, whiteness, so also that man was and became all things to Christians except gentleness; and his philanthropy was exceedingly inhuman, and his persuasiveness violent, and his kindness an apology for his ferocity. Wherefore it must be said to him, most simple-minded and most unlearned in great matters, you rose up against so great a heritage and the inhabited world, you against the church and sacrifice of Christ with your pollutions, you against the blood that cleanses the world with your polluted blood? You, after Herod a persecutor, and after Judas a traitor, except that you did not show repentance by a halter as he did, and after Pilate a Christ-killer, and after the Jews a God-hater, the insolent abuser of the saints. It is more proper to call you Jeroboam, or Ahab the Israelite, those

ὡς ἄξιον ἦν, ὑπε δέξατο, μάγιστρον εὐθὺς καὶ δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν ποιησάμε νος, καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ παῖδας ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἀναδεξά μενος. 14. Τούτοις ἐπαρθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξῆλθε μετὰ Μανουὴλ καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ παντὸς κατὰ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν, καὶ εὐπετῶς τήν τε Ζάπετρον καὶ τὸ Σαμόσατον, πλούτῳ κομῶν καὶ δυνάμει τότε διὰ τὸ τὸν ἀμερουμνῆν ἐκεῖθεν εἶναι, παραλα βὼν ἐπάνεισι τῇ νίκῃ καὶ τοῖς λαφύροις γαυρούμενος, καὶ ἐλθὼν μέχρι τοῦ Βρύαντος προσέταξεν οἰκοδομῆσαι παλάτιον καὶ παρα δείσους φυτεῦσαι καὶ ὕδατα ἀγαγεῖν· ἃ καὶ γέγονεν. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀφικόμενος εἰς τὴν πόλιν τὰ λάφυρα ἐθριάμβευσεν, ἱππικὸν ποιή 799 σας καὶ τὸ πρῶτον βαΐον παίξας, ἅρματι λευκῷ μὲν ἐποχησάμε νος, χρώματι δὲ τῷ βενέτῳ ἀμφιασάμενος, καὶ νικήσας ἐστεφα νώθη, τῶν δήμων ἐπιβοώντων "καλῶς ἦλθες, ἀσύγκριτε φακτο νάρη." 15. Τοῦ δὲ πατριάρχου Ἀντωνίου τελευτήσαντος ἀντ' αὐ τοῦ χειροτονεῖται Ἰωάννης ὁ σύγκελλος, ἵν' εἴπω ὁ νέος Ἰάννης καὶ Ζαμβρής, βεβοημένος ἐπί τε μαγείαις καὶ λεκανομαντείαις καὶ πάσῃ ἀσεβείᾳ· ὃς ὄργανον ἐπιτήδειον εὑρεθὲν τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως ἀσεβείας τε καὶ ῥοπῆς αὐτῷ πάντα πρὸς ἀπώλειαν εἰργάζετο. καὶ ὃν ὤδινε μὲν κατεῖχε δὲ βασιλίσκον τῆς ἀσεβείας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξέρρηξε καὶ ἀπέτεκε, τὰς ἁγίας εἰκόνας ἀναχρίεσθαι προστάξας ἢ ἀπαλείφεσθαι. 16. Οὗτος ὁ Ἰαννὴς πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος οἴκημα ἐκ λίθων λαξευτῶν κατασκευάσας, ὃ Τροῦλος μέχρι νῦν ὀνομάζεται, διὰ τινῶν θυσιῶν ὡμίλει τοῖς δαίμοσι καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ μέλλοντα διεσήμαινεν. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἀνοίκητον ἔμεινεν διὰ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ γενομέ νας τότε τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιφοιτήσεις. 17. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο σύμμαχον τοῦτον καὶ συνίστορα ἔχων Θεό φιλος τῆς αὐτοῦ αἱρέσεως, ὁ δεύτερος Νεκτεναβῶ τὸν ῥηθέντα Ἰωάννην, μᾶλλον δὲ Ἰαννήν, τὸν πατριάρχην ἢ μανδριάρχην, τὸν νέον ὄντως Ἀπολλώνιον ἢ Βαλαάμ, ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνοις 800 κακῶς ἀναφανέντα λεκανόμαντιν καὶ πάσης θεοστυγοῦς πράξεως καὶ τερατείας δεινὸν ὑποφήτην· ὑφ' οὗ καὶ τὰ γράμματα παιδευ θεὶς ὁ εὐρίπιστος καὶ δόλιος ὑπηρέτης δόκιμος ἀχθίστων πραγμά των καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐπιτήδειον ὄργανον γέγονεν. οὓς ἂν ἐνδί κως ὁ θεῖος λόγος ἐπαράσσεται σχετλιαστικῶς, φάσκων "οὐαὶ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ Κάϊν ἐπορεύθησαν, καὶ τῇ πλάνῃ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ μισθοῦ χάριν ἐξεχύθησαν, καὶ τῇ ἀντιλογίᾳ τοῦ Κορὲ ἀπώλοντο. οὗτοί εἰσι γογγυσταὶ καὶ μεμψίμοιροι, κατὰ τὰς ἐπι θυμίας αὐτῶν πορευόμενοι ἐν ταῖς ἀπάταις αὐτῶν." ἐφαρμόσειεν δ' ἂν αὐτῷ μάλα εἰκότως καὶ τὰ τοῦ ὁμοτρόπου Ἰουλιανοῦ παρὰ τῇ θεολόγῳ στηλιτευόμενα γλώσσῃ· σφόδρα γὰρ ἐμφερὴς ἐναπέ φηνε καὶ εἰς μηδὲν ἀπεοικὼς τῆς ἐκείνου κακουργίας καὶ δυστρο πίας. ἔφη γοῦν "πῶς μὴ δακρύσω τὸν ἄθλιον; πῶς μὴ πλέον τῶν δεδιωγμένων τοὺς προσδραμόντας, πλέον δὲ τῶν αὐτομολη σάντων εἰς τὴν κακίαν θρηνήσω τὸν συναρπάσαντα; μᾶλλον δὲ τοῖς μὲν οὐδὲν δεινὸν τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων μακαριστότατον, οὐκ ἐκεῖθεν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν εὐδοξίαν καὶ παρρησίαν, ἣν διὰ τῶν κινδύνων ἑαυτοῖς ἐχαρίσαντο. τοῖς δὲ προοίμιον τῶν ἀπειλουμένων ἅπερ ἤδη πεπόνθασι· καὶ βέλτιον ἦν αὐτοῖς, εἰ ἐνταῦθα μακρότερον ἐκολάσθησαν, ἢ τοῖς 801 ἐκεῖ δικαιοκριτηρίοις ἐταμιεύθησαν. καὶ γὰρ ὥσπερ τὸν χαμαι λέοντα λόγος παντοῖον γίνεσθαι ῥᾳδίως καὶ πάσας μεταβάλλειν χροιὰς πλὴν μιᾶς τῆς λευκότητος, οὕτως κἀκεῖνος πάντα ἦν καὶ ἐγίνετο Χριστιανοῖς πλὴν ἡμερότητος· καὶ ἦν λίαν ἀπάνθρωπον αὐτῷ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ τὸ πιθανὸν βίαιον, καὶ ἀπολογία τῆς ἀγριότητος ἡ χρηστότης. ὅθεν λεκτέον πρὸς αὐτόν, εὐηθέστατε καὶ ἀπαιδευτότατε τὰ μεγάλα, σὺ κατὰ τοσούτου κλήρου καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀνέστης, σὺ κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίας καὶ θυσίας τοῖς σοῖς μιάσμασι, σὺ κατὰ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον καθαίροντος αἵματος τοῖς σοῖς μιαροῖς αἵμασιν; σὺ μετὰ Ἡρώδην διώκτης, καὶ μετὰ Ἰούδαν προδότης, πλὴν ὅσον οὐκ ἀγχόνῃ τὴν μετάνοιαν ἔδειξας ὥσπερ κἀκεῖνος, καὶ χριστοκτόνος μετὰ Πιλᾶτον, καὶ μετὰ Ἰου δαίους μισόθεος, ὁ τῶν ἁγίων ὑβριστής. Ἰεροβοάμ σε εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, ἢ Ἀχαὰβ τὸν Ἰσραηλίτην, τοὺς