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

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 with them, he devises a good plan; for he feigns foolishness and pretends madness, and from this he escapes the expected evil, the fate from the sword. from this he was named Brutus by those who did not know; and the word signifies a fool and one damaged in his mind. So Tarquin brings him into the palace, pretending to care for Brutus as a kinsman and one of the same blood and supposedly pitying him, but in truth wanting to grant a playmate to his own children for the sake of amusement, with whom he also associated, providing jests and games. When the children of Tarquin were once sent to Delphi to inquire about a pestilential disease, Brutus was also sent along to delight them with games. They indeed greeted Apollo with gifts, but Brutus, having bored through a wooden staff all the way through like a pipe, hid a golden rod, and presented this as a votive offering to Phoebus. But they, not at all recognizing the resourceful wisdom of Brutus and his steadfastness and power, played tricks on him, jeered, insulted, and mocked him for having brought such a gift to the oracle-giver. And as they were about to depart from the Delphic precinct, they asked Apollo who of the Romans would rule. And he prophesied clearly, "he who first manages to embrace his mother." So Brutus understood, but they did not recognize what was being signified by the oracle. And wanting to hold the power and the crown jointly, they agreed together to embrace their own mother. And indeed they embraced her. But Brutus, disembarking from the boat, falling face down on the ground, kissed it. So Brutus had feigned foolishness; but when what had happened concerning Lucretia was made public, he revealed everything, and being the first to rise up and summon the populace and arm them with words, he was able to bring about the overthrow of the tyrants, I mean Tarquin and his children. So after the overthrow, Brutus and Collatinus were established as the very first consuls for the Romans, and after them others, and after them all sorts, Cassii and Ciceros and Luculli and Catuli, Catos and Scipios, Pompeys and Scauri. So such great strength and so much power for four hundred and sixty-four years was governed in this way until Gaius Caesar, who changed the consulate into a kingdom and a tyranny. And if ever the instability of affairs and their complexity and the hardship of fortune pressed, with the senate coming together, and also the consuls, one dictator was made, an all-ruling autocrat (the word explains the unaccountable rule and the absolute administration of all things); and when the storm of affairs subsided, he would lay aside the power of his absolute rule. But Gaius, having become dictator with absolute power, and having subjugated countless nations, and having extended the strength of the Romans as far as Gades itself and as far as the rising sun, was envied after his victories and triumphs, and having learned from some (what things you contrive, O Envy!) that a most unjust decree had been ratified against him, being compelled by the circumstances he proceeds to tyranny, and having clashed with those who came against him nobly, and having overcome them and mastered all, he girds himself with the power of absolute rule. This Caesar, when he was a boy, seemed in his sleep to see a thing revealing the future, that he was having intercourse with his mother and behaving indecently with her. And a prodigy was born in his horse-pastures, a horse armed with feet in cloven hooves, and it only accepted Gaius himself as a rider, just as the horse Bucephalas accepted Alexander. A strange thing of this sort happened to this Caesar. A certain charming woman was joined to a husband; Nero was her husband, and she was Julia. This woman, having borne a child to Nero her husband and being again with child in her womb and her belly being full and of the

22

πατρὸς σφαγὴν ἀδικωτάτην, καὶ συνιδὼν ὡς νουνεχὴς ὅτι συγκινδυνεύσει σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τἀδελφῷ καὶ συναποθανεῖται, βουλὴν βουλεύεται καλήν· πλάττεται γὰρ μωρίαν καὶ σκέπτεται παράνοιαν, κἀντεῦθεν ἀποφεύγει τὸ προσδοκώμενον κακόν, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ξίφους πότμον. ἐντεῦθεν κατωνόμαστο τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι Βροῦτος· δηλοῖ δ' ἡ λέξις τὸν μωρὸν καὶ φρένας βεβλαμμένον. μετάγει δ' οὖν Ταρκύνιος τοῦτον ἐν ἀνακτόροις, κήδεσθαι μὲν ὡς συγγενοῦς κἀκ τῶν αὐτῶν αἱμάτων τοῦ Βρούτου προσποιούμενος καὶ δῆθεν κατοικτείρων, τὸ δ' ἀληθὲς βουλόμενος συμπαίστορα τοῖς τέκνοις τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ χαρίζεσθαι ψυχαγωγίας χάριν, οἷς καὶ συνὼν γελοιασμοὺς καὶ παιδιὰς προυξένει. ἀποσταλέντων δέ ποτε τῶν παίδων Ταρκυνίου ἐπὶ ∆ελφοὺς ὡς πεύσαιντο περὶ λοιμώδους νόσου, καὶ Βροῦτος συνεπέμπετο τέρψων αὐτοὺς παιγνίοις. οἱ μὲν οὖν τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα δώροις ἐδεξιοῦντο, ὁ Βροῦτος βακτηρίαν δὲ ξυλίνην διατρήσας ὅλην δι' ὅλης ὡς αὐλὸν χρυσῆν ἔκρυψε ῥάβδον, καὶ ταύτην ὡς ἀνάθημα κεχάριστο τῷ Φοίβῳ. ἀλλ' οὗτοι τὴν εὐμήχανον σοφίαν τὴν τοῦ Βρούτου καὶ τὸ στερρὸν καὶ δυνατὸν μηδ' ὅλως ἐπιγνόντες κατέπαιζον ἐτώθαζον ὕβριζον ἐμωκῶντο τοιοῦτον προσενέγκαντα τῷ χρησμοδότῃ δῶρον. μέλλοντες δὲ τοῦ ∆ελφικοῦ τεμένους μεταβαίνειν ἠρώτων τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα τίς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἄρξει. ὁ δ' ἀπεφοίβασε τρανῶς, ὃς πρῶτος τὴν μητέρα φθάσει περιπτυξάμενος. συνῆκεν οὖν ὁ Βροῦτος, ἐκεῖνοι δ' οὐκ ἐπέγνωσαν τί τῷ χρησμῷ δηλοῦται. κοινῇ δὲ σχεῖν βουλόμενοι τὸ κράτος καὶ τὸ στέφος ἅμα συνέθεντο τὴν σφῶν προσπτύξασθαι μητέρα. καὶ μέντοι προσεπτύξαντο. Βροῦτος δ' ἐκβὰς τοῦ σκάφους, πρηνὴς πεσὼν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκείνην κατεφίλει. Εἶχε μὲν οὖν προσποίητον ὁ Βροῦτος τὴν μωρίαν· ὡς δ' ἐφημίσθη τὸ συμβὰν περὶ τὴν Λουκρητίαν, τὸ πᾶν ἐδημοσίευσε, καὶ πρῶτος ἐφορμήσας καὶ συγκαλέσας τὴν πληθὺν καὶ λόγοις ἐφοπλίσας κατάλυσιν ἐπενεγκεῖν ἴσχυσε τοῖς τυράννοις, τῷ Ταρκυνίῳ δή φημι καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνου τέκνοις. Μετὰ γοῦν τὴν κατάλυσιν ὕπατοι πάντων πρῶτοι Ῥωμαίοις κατεστάθησαν Βροῦτος καὶ Κολατῖνος, καὶ μετ' ἐκείνους ἕτεροι, καὶ μετ' αὐτοὺς παντοῖοι, Κάσιοι καὶ Κικέρωνες καὶ Λεύκολοι καὶ Κάτλοι, Κάτωνες καὶ Σκηπίωνες, Πομπήϊοι καὶ Σκαῦροι. ἡ τηλικαύτη γοῦν ἰσχὺς καὶ τὸ τοσοῦτον κράτος ἐν ἔτεσιν ἑξήκοντα πρὸς τοῖς τετρακοσίοις καὶ πρὸς ἑτέροις τέσσαρσιν οὕτως ἐκυβερνᾶτο μέχρις Γαΐου Καίσαρος, ὅστις τὴν ὑπατείαν εἰς βασιλείαν ἤμειψε καὶ καταδυναστείαν. εἰ δέ ποτε κατήπειξε πραγμάτων ἀστασία καὶ τὸ πολύστροφον αὐτῶν καὶ τύχης δυσκληρία, συνερχομένης τῆς βουλῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὑπάτων, δικτάτωρ εἷς ἐγένετο πάνταρχος αὐτοκράτωρ (τὴν δ' ἀνυπεύθυνον ἀρχὴν ἡ λέξις ἑρμηνεύει καὶ τὴν αὐτοκρατορικὴν πάντων οἰκονομίαν)· τῆς ζάλης τῶν πραγμάτων δὲ καταστορεννυμένης τὸ κράτος ἀπετίθετο τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας. Γάϊος δὲ γενόμενος δικτάτωρ αὐτοκράτωρ, καὶ κατατροπωσάμενος μυρίας ἐθναρχίας, καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων τὴν ἰσχὺν ἄχρις αὐτῶν Γαδείρων καὶ μέχρι καὶ πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα πλατύνας, μετὰ τὰς νίκας φθονηθεὶς καὶ τὰς τροπαιουχίας, καὶ πρός τινων ἀναμαθὼν (οἷα τυρεύεις, φθόνε!) ὡς κατ' αὐτοῦ κεκύρωται ψῆφος ἀδικωτάτη, πρὸς τῶν πραγμάτων βιασθεὶς χωρεῖ πρὸς τυραννίδα, καὶ συμπλακεὶς τοῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ γενναίως ἐπιοῦσι, καὶ καταγωνισάμενος καὶ πάντων κυριεύσας, τὸ κράτος περιζώννυται τῆς αὐτοκρατορίας. Οὗτος ὁ Καῖσαρ παιδικὴν ἄγων τὴν ἡλικίαν καθ' ὕπνους ἔδοξεν ἰδεῖν πρᾶγμα δηλοῦν τὸ μέλλον, ὡς τῇ μητρὶ μιγνύοιτο καὶ συνασχημονοίη. ἐτέχθη δὲ κἀν τοῖς αὐτοῦ τέρας ἱπποφορβίοις, ἵππος βοείαις ἐν χηλαῖς τοὺς πόδας ὡπλισμένος, μόνον δ' αὐτὸν ἐδέχετο Γάϊον ἀναβάτην, καθάπερ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον ἵππος ὁ Βουκεφάλας. Τούτῳ τῷ Καίσαρι καινὸν τοιοῦτόν τι συνέβη. γυνή τις ἐπαφρόδιτος συνέζευκτο γαμέτῃ· Νέρων ὁ ταύτης ἦν ἀνήρ, ἐκείνη δὲ Ἰουλία. ταύτην τεκοῦσαν Νέρωνι τῷ συνοικοῦντι παῖδα καὶ πάλιν σχοῦσαν ἐν γαστρὶ καὶ τὴν νηδὺν πλησθεῖσαν καὶ τῆς

22