History
And what i have accurately ascertained from those who saw it, these things i will also commit to writing. 2. just now in the month of november, of the
He commanded that the triremes and the other transport ships should all be brought to anchor in a good harbor, and that they should control the sea, a
War. therefore, having gone around and seen that it was by nature difficult to enter and hard to approach for on the one side it had the sea as a saf
They would be frustrated. and having gone out of the camp, and having overrun a part of the country, when he learned from those who had been taken ali
It was easy to attack by assault, being raised to the greatest possible height, and girded with two trenches dug to a corresponding depth), and the de
Having divided his phalanx into three parts by night, he went against the scythians, and falling upon them suddenly, in a brief moment of time he wrou
Meet them, when i give the signal with the trumpets. such was the exhortation that the general delivered and the army shouted 22 and applauded, and w
6. but nikephoros phokas, the colleague of the aforementioned leo (for it is necessary, having summarized the account, to proceed with the history in
The general, having seen this, spurred his horse, quickened his pace, rode in and restrained the soldiers' onslaught, persuading them not to kill the
Having drawn up an irresistible battle-line, went through the land of the hagarenes. to them, having heard of the attack of nikephoros, it did not see
Was dignified by his rank), was hostilely disposed towards nicephorus. 11. he decided, therefore, to attempt a revolution at once but not having at h
, to proclaim him supreme commander, and to entrust the forces of asia to him, so that he might defend and check the assault of the foreigners. for th
He said, if you are persuaded to take up the rule of the east, i shall quickly declare you emperor, and restore you to the imperial thrones. speak wel
For he was gently nursing his little body), then, recovering again, he said, “speak, most brave one, what need is there to consider this?” but he said
I have assumed the imperial office, but compelled by the necessity of you, the army, and you yourselves bear witness for me that i was both shunning s
Before the report of his proclamation could fly abroad, to seize in advance the straits and passages of the sea. for thus he thought that matters woul
Numbering over three thousand, attacked the house of joseph and his collaborators along with the people. and having subjected these to plunder and pil
Especially the monks), they did not allow the man to persist in what he had decided, but urged him both to embrace marriage and not to shun meat-eatin
Makes it flood in a single hour) emboldened by these things, the barbarians mocked the emperor and insolently hurled insults at him, and making sorti
Having fallen upon it, accomplishing nothing noble or vigorous. and he considered the matter an outright disgrace and insult, and an indelible reproac
Having come to the region around tarsus, there he encamped and having pitched a palisade round about, he ordered the crops and the meadows, luxuriant
Having recovered the standards, which, crafted from gold and stones, the tarsians had captured in various battles while routing the roman force, and h
Of the spectacle, turned to flight and ran back to their own houses. and from the pushing and disorderly rush, no little slaughter occurred, with very
To blow favorably upon them, but blowing against them strongly and fiercely, it has sunk their affairs. but the account will now clearly reveal these
To those acting against the divine ordinance, if somehow at least in this way people, being afraid, would abstain from evil deeds, and would cling to
He had taken a fortress, and having crossed mount lebanon transversely, he turned his attention to tripoli, which he saw was fortified and exceptional
Being obliged to drive them away, and to guard the flocks from harm, they, in addition to not driving them away, themselves cut them down and tear the
Having come, and having been befriended by the ruler of the tauroi, and having corrupted him with gifts and bewitched him with persuasive words (for t
Reconciliation and friendship might be secured. the mysians gladly received the embassy, and putting daughters of the royal blood 80 on wagons (for it
They might do. but as they were already considering rushing to their defense, and to stoutly resist the enemy in close combat, as dawn was brightly br
Boasting to all about his brave deeds in wars. 6. having approached the emperor with these words and, 85 as was likely, having bewitched him (for he s
Having lowered from above, one by one they first pulled up all the conspirators, and then john himself. having come up, therefore, beyond all human su
The vengeance for these things, and to those who were slipping he seemed relentless and burdensome, and oppressive to those wishing to lead an indiffe
At the end of the month of december, during the thirteenth indiction of the six thousand four hundred and seventy-eighth year, a throng of select men,
Having captured him, confines him to amaseia. having therefore from this secured sufficient safety for himself and for his affairs, and having purged
To make amends for what nikephoros had improperly introduced. for nikephoros, whether wishing to correct divine matters that were being disturbed by s
And having found him not very accurately versed in secular education, but most diligently trained in divine and our own, he anoints him patriarch of a
The bosporus, but to pass by moesia, which belongs to the romans, and has from of old been a part of macedonia. for it is said that the moesians, bein
To make replies. for we trust in christ, the immortal god, that if you do not depart from this land, you will be driven from it by us even against you
A disgrace by the raids of the scythians to send out bilingual men dressed in scythian attire into the homesteads and customs of the enemy, so that t
The romans on the one hand shouted for joy, and were strengthened for valor but the scythians, growing cowardly at the new and strange nature of the
2. the emperor, when he learned of such a revolt, was disturbed, as was likely, and having brought up bishop stephen from abydos with wingless speed,
He saw that murders along with the ensuing conspirators were proceeding harshly and inhumanely, he decided to no longer delay or be slothful, so that
Considering into what fortunes the unholy and blood-guilty john has enclosed my family, having mercilessly slain the emperor and my uncle, who was his
Eye, and to learn that these things were red, just as they had been from of old. phocas, considering this prodigy a second evil omen, and seeing also
Immediately, lest it be some ill-omened thing, and destruction befall the pursuing mysians but learning they were fleeing at full speed, he both purs
The russian minds were lifted up in audacity and boldness. therefore, the emperor, not enduring their overweening arrogance and their blatant insolenc
Being given out, and going under the earth by the inscrutable wisdom of the creator and again from the 130 celtic mountains gushing up, and winding t
Should set a phalanx against us, things will not end well for us, but in dreadful perplexity and helplessness. therefore, having strengthened your spi
Is called drista) lingering with his whole force. but in this way kalokyres escaped, and night coming on stopped the romans from battle. and just on t
And they killed up to one hundred and fifty vigorous men. but the emperor, learning of such an event, quickly mounted his horse and urged his follower
But the rest of the multitude he bound in fetters and shut up in prisons. he himself, having gathered the entire host of the tauro-scythians, numberin
1. and just as day was dawning, the emperor fortified the camp with a strong palisade in this manner. a certain low hill of dorystolon rises at a dist
He was courting them with gifts and toasts, encouraging them to proceed vigorously to the wars. 3. while these matters were in suspense, and the battl
He flees to a divine and great sanctuary, seen as a pitiful supplicant instead of a haughty and boastful tyrant. whom the men of the drungarius dragge
Having drowned. for it is said that, being possessed by greek 150 orgies, they perform sacrifices and libations for the dead in the greek manner, havi
On the next day (it was the sixth day of the week, and the twenty-fourth day of the month of july), when the sun was setting, the tauro-scythians, hav
Was being concluded. 10. but the romans, following the divine man who went before, 155 engage with the enemy, and a fierce battle having commenced, th
With purity. at any rate, having conferred a few things about a truce with the emperor, seated beside the rowing-bench of the skiff, he departed. but
Was crossed over. this is the greatest of the rivers cutting through asia, 161 and one of those that flow from eden, as we have learned from the divin
The emperor, as one who abused the power of his leadership for certain powerful men, and did not direct the affairs of the church as was established b
Having assembled forces, and having meticulously armed them, departing from the reigning city, he advanced through palestine, a prosperous land, flowi
The mainland is enclosed by strongholds, stretching upon a certain steep hill on the other side it is surrounded by the sea, putting forth a well-hav
Before until fire-bearing ships were secretly sent out from byzantium by those in power. which bardas parsakoutenos the magistros was leading, and ha
I would have been destroyed, if some divine providence had not led me out of that very danger, which caused me to ride out with speed, before the ravi
Furthermore, the star rising in the west at the setting of the morning star, which, making its risings in the evening, kept no fixed position at one c
Of the city, but already becoming feeble, and suffering from a deep and intractable panting. and having just come to the royal hearth, he was shown to
before the report of his proclamation could fly abroad, to seize in advance the straits and passages of the sea. For thus he thought that matters would proceed according to his mind, and that fortune would not be wroth with him, but would rather smile something cheerful and gentle, if indeed he should be first in the capture of the most opportune places. Nicephorus, having accomplished these things, and having consolidated his phalanxes into an unbroken close formation, and having secured them with strong arms, set out from Caesarea and made for the reigning city; and having composed a letter and entrusted it to Philotheus, the bishop of Euchaita, he sent it both to Polyeuctus, who had seized the helm of ecclesiastical 45 affairs, and to Joseph, the initiator of the tyranny, and to the senate. In summary, the letter announced something like this: that they should receive him as emperor, who would protect and train in bodily exercise the children of the sovereign Romanus until they reached the age of majority; and in addition would confer the greatest benefits on the state, and would increase the dominion of the Roman empire by his heroic deeds in war. But if they should not wish this, they would afterward repent of their folly, when matters were decided by iron and slaughter; and there is no opportunity for justification for those who have chosen the worse things instead of the better. 7. Joseph, receiving this letter as if it were some Scythian message, and as if struck in the heart by a starting-rope or a horse-fly, made the bishop a prisoner, consigning him to jail; and having made Marianus, and Paschalius, and the Tornicii—who were ranked among the Patricians and had shown themselves to be hot-headed—his associates, and having entrusted to them the Macedonian phalanx, he held out strongly, walling off for Nicephorus the passage into Byzantium. While matters were thus in suspense, Leo, the brother of Nicephorus, whose trophies in battle the narrative previously recounted in passing, seizing an opportunity (for he happened to be staying in Byzantium), put on the cloak of some artisan and, having slipped through the drains of the wall and boarded a small boat, sailed away to Nicephorus, 46 who had ridden somewhere around the palace in Hiera and was drawing up his army. Then also Bardas, their father, who was ranked among the magistri and had reached a very advanced old age, suspecting the danger from Joseph, was seized with fear and became a suppliant at the great church; a man who from his very youth had been engaged in wars and battles, and had distinguished himself for a long time in the office of the Domestic of the Schools. But Marianus and Paschalius, parading the cohort of Macedonians through the streets, both swaggering with empty boasting and being arrogant, did not cease to stir up trouble; so that the people, driven to a frenzy, looked to their own defence, and stood against them in close-quarters battle, and shut them up in open flight, as if they were some delicately-living youths inexperienced in battle. Then it is said that a woman, having lifted with her hands from the roof a clay pot full of soil, of the kind useful for gardening, hurled it at Marianus, and struck him on the temple; and the blow was so well-aimed that it both shattered his skull and dashed out his brain, and on the second day he departed this life. From this Basil gained confidence, who was a eunuch and had himself been distinguished in the office of parakoimomenos in the time of the emperor Constantine, an illegitimate son born to the most ancient emperor Romanus by a Scythian woman, but energetic, and most provident in carrying into action what occurred to him, since 47 he had a mixed lineage; and at that time being at odds with, and otherwise ill-disposed toward Joseph, having armed his household servants with breastplates and girdles, and helmets and light shields, and javelins and swords,
πρὸ τοῦ διαπτῆναι τὴν φήμην τῆς ἀναῤῥήσεως, τῆς ὑγρᾶς τοὺς πορθμοὺς καὶ τοὺς πόρους προκατασχεῖν. οὕτω γὰρ ᾤετο κατὰ νοῦν
αὑτῷ χωρήσειν τὰ πράγματα, καὶ μὴ ἐπινεμεσήσειν τὴν τύχην αὑτῷ, ἐπιμειδιᾶσαι δὲ μᾶλλον ἱλαρόν τι καὶ ἥμερον, εἴ γε προτερήσοι
τὴν τῶν ἐπικαιροτάτων χωρίων κατάληψιν. ταῦτα ὁ Νικηφόρος διαπραξάμενος, καὶ εἰς ἀῤῥαγῆ συνασπισμὸν καταπυκνώσας τὰς φάλαγγας,
καὶ ὁπλισμοῖς αὐτὰς εὐερκέσιν ἀσφαλισάμενος, τῆς Καισαρείας ἀπάρας ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν ἴετο· ἐπιστολήν τε χαράξας καὶ Φιλοθέῳ
τῷ Εὐχαΐτων ἐπισκόπῳ ἐγχειρίσας, πρός τε τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν 45 ἐπειλημμένον οἰάκων Πολύευκτον ἔστειλε, καὶ Ἰωσὴφ τὸν τῶν τυραννείων
κατάρχοντα, καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον. ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ δὲ ταυτί πως διαπήγγελλεν ἡ γραφή· δέξασθαί τε αὐτὸν αὐτοκράτορα, περιφρουρήσοντα
καὶ εἰς αὔξησιν ἡλικίας σωμασκήσοντα τοὺς τοῦ ἄνακτος Ῥωμανοῦ παῖδας· καὶ προσέτι τὰ μέγιστα τὴν πολιτείαν ὀνήσοντα, καὶ τῆς
Ῥωμαϊκῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν ἐπικράτειαν αὐξήσοντα τοῖς κατὰ πολέμους ἀνδραγαθήμασιν. εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτο βουληθεῖεν, αὐτοῖς μεταμελήσειν
τῆς ἀβελτερίας μετέπειτα, ὁπηνίκα σιδήρῳ καὶ σφαγαῖς τὰ πράγματα διακρίνοιντο· καὶ καιρὸς οὐ μέτεστι δικαιολογίας τοῖς αἱρετισαμένοις
τῶν βελτιόνων τὰ χείριστα. ζʹ. Ταύτην ὡσεί τινα ῥῆσιν ἀπὸ Σκυθῶν ὁ Ἰωσὴφ δεξάμενος τὴν γραφὴν, καὶ, ὥσπερ ὕσπληγί τινι ἢ μύωπι
τὴν καρδίαν βληθεὶς, τὸν μὲν ἐπίσκοπον πεδήτην ἀπέφηνεν, εἱρκτῇ παραπέμψας· τὸν Μαριανὸν δὲ, καὶ τὸν Πασχάλιον, καὶ τοὺς Τορνικίους,
ἐν Πατρικίοις τελοῦντας καὶ θερμουργοὺς πεφηνότας ἑταιρισάμενος, καὶ Μακεδονικὴν αὐτοῖς ἐγχειρίσας φάλαγγα, ἀντείχετο κραταιῶς,
ἀποτειχίζων τῷ Νικηφόρῳ τὴν εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον πάροδον. ἐν τούτοις οὖν τῶν πραγμάτων ᾐωρημένων, Λέων ὁ τοῦ Νικηφόρου σύναιμος,
οὗ καὶ πρώην ὁ λόγος κατὰ παραδρομὴν τὰ περὶ τὰς μάχας ἐπεξηγήσατο τρόπαια, εὐκαιρίας δραξάμενος (ἔτυχε γὰρ ἐπιχωριάζων τῷ
Βυζαντίῳ) τῶν τινος βαναύσων ὑποδὺς ἀμπεχόνην καὶ διὰ τῶν ὑπονόμων τοῦ τείχους ὑπολισθήσας, ἀκατίῳ προσεπιβὰς, ἐπὶ τὸν Νικηφόρον
ἀπέπλευσεν, 46 αὐτοῦ που περὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ἡρίοις ἀνάκτορα εἰσελάσαντα, καὶ τὸν στρατὸν διατάττοντα. τότε καὶ Βάρδας, ὁ τούτων
γενέτης, ἐν τοῖς μαγίστροις τελῶν καὶ εἰς γῆρας βαθύτατον ἐληλακὼς, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ κίνδυνον ὑπειδόμενος, δέει περιληφθεὶς
ἱκέτης ἱεροῦ τοῦ μεγάλου καθίστατο· ἀνὴρ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἥβης ἐν πολέμοις καὶ μάχαις ἀναστραφεὶς, κἀν τῷ τοῦ ∆ομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν
ἐπὶ συχνὸν χρόνον ἐνδιαπρέψας ἀξιώματι. ὁ δὲ Μαριανὸς καὶ ὁ Πασχάλιος τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων σπείραν κατὰ τὰς ἀγυιὰς περιφέροντες,
ἐμβρενθυόμενοί τε κενῷ κόμπῳ καὶ ἐξυπτιάζοντες, νεώτερα ῥᾳδιουργεῖν οὐκ ἐνέλιπον· ὡς ἐκμανέντα τὸν δῆμον πρὸς ἀλκὴν ἀπιδεῖν,
καὶ αὐτοῖς ἀντικαταστῆναι συστάδην εἰς μάχην, καὶ εἰς φυγὴν ὕπαιθρον κατακλεῖσαι, ὡσεί τινα μειράκια ἁβροδίαιτα καὶ μάχης
ἀπείρατα. τηνικαῦτα λέγεται καὶ γύναιον σκεῦος κεραμοῦν χοὸς ἀνάπλεον, τῶν πρὸς κηπείαν ἐπιτηδείων, ταῖς χερσὶ τοῦ τέγους
ἀράμενον ἀκοντίσαι κατὰ τοῦ Μαριανοῦ, καὶ τοῦτον κατὰ τοῦ κροτάφου βαλεῖν· οὕτω δὲ καιρίαν γενέσθαι τὴν βολὴν, ὡς καταγνύναι
τε τὸ κρανίον καὶ προσαραχθῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον, καὶ δευτεραῖον τὸν βίον ἀπολιπεῖν. ἐκ τούτου παῤῥησίαν ὁ Βασίλειος εἰληφώς,
ὃς ἐκτομίας μὲν ἦν καὶ τῷ τοῦ παρακοιμωμένου καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῶν τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Κωνσταντίνου καιρῶν ἐνδιέπρεψεν ἀξιώματι,
νόθος υἱὸς ἐκ Σκυθίδος τῷ παλαιοτάτῳ αὐτοκράτορι Ῥωμανῷ γεννηθεὶς, δραστήριος δὲ, καὶ τὸ παριστάμενον αὑτῷ εἰς ἔργον ἐξενεγκεῖν
προμηθέστατος, ἅτε 47 τὸ γένος ἔχων ἐπίμικτον· τότε δὲ διάφορός τε, καὶ ἄλλως δύσνους τῷ Ἰωσὴφ διακείμενος, τοὺς οἰκογενεῖς
θώραξι καὶ μίτραις, κράνεσί τε καὶ πέλταις, ὑσσοῖς τε καὶ ξίφεσι καθοπλίσας,
