dejected, and as one might guess, pondering his own affairs. He had set out from Adrianople of Macedonia, which was formerly called Orestias from Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who, in righteous zeal because of Clytemnestra’s treacherous murder of his father, had killed her together with Aegisthus and had gone stark mad, and having bathed at the confluence of the three rivers, the Hebrus, the Arzus, and the Artabus, was freed from the sickness; where, having built this 687 city, he called it by his own name. But Adrian Caesar, having magnified it with well-built fortifications, renamed it the city of Adrian. This is a three-day journey for a swift man on the road from Philippopolis, embraced by Mount Haemus, by which the three rivers meet as if in a river-glen, their waters swelling with rain. 2. This emperor gives orders to Marianus the prefect, the son of Petronas, and proclaims him sole emperor. But Ooryphas, being admiral of the fleet and commander, understanding what had been done by Basil and being loyal to his master, was moved to avenge the emperor Michael. The emperor summons him, and at first threatens him with insolent words, but then deems him worthy of approval for having chosen to dare such things on behalf of his master. But indeed, as time went on, he had such confidence in him that he would leave the city to him when going out against enemies. 3. It is necessary to write also of the vengeance from God that came upon those who had murdered Michael. Iakobitzes, then, while hunting with the emperor, when his sword had fallen and he was about to dismount to pick it up, his foot was caught in the stirrup, and the horse, taking fright, dragged him over ravines and cliffs and cut him limb from limb. John the Chaldos, having become general of Chaldia, since he was found plotting against the empe 688 ror, was impaled by Andrew the stratelates. The brother of the emperor, Asylaion, having been exiled by the emperor to his own suburb, being harsh and cruel to his own slaves, was killed by them with daggers; whom the emperor seized, and having cut them limb from limb, burned them in the Amastrianum. The Apelates of the Persian, becoming worm-eaten, gave up the ghost. Constantine Toxaras died in the Cibyrrhaeot theme, cut down by the sword, and Marianus the brother of the emperor, his foot having been crushed and consumed by worms, died. 4. On the feast of Christ’s nativity, a procession having taken place, the emperor, through Photius, baptizes his son Stephen in the great church. 5. In his 3rd year, on the feast of Saint Polyeuctus, there was an earthquake for 40 days and 40 nights, and many churches fell, among which was also that of the most-holy Theotokos called to Sigma, so that all the cantors there perished. Leo the philosopher, happening to be there, advised everyone to go out; but those who were not persuaded were all killed. But the philosopher himself, having been placed at a column under a vault with two others, was saved, and only 9 others under the ambo. 6. But Photius the patriarch, when the emperor came into the church and was about to receive communion, called him a robber and murderer 689 and unworthy of the divine communion. But he, angered, sent to Rome, and brought back a tome with Roman bishops, and drove this one from the throne; and he raised up again Ignatius, the patriarch among the saints, for the second time. 7. After Photius was driven from the church and exiled in the monastery of Skepe, he devised a fiction of this sort. Having composed a genealogy for the emperor Basil, as tracing his descent from Tiridates, ruler of Greater Armenia, he contrived to have the book placed in the imperial library through Theophanes, called Sphenodaimon, who was then an imperial cleric and was close to Basil on account of his wisdom and great learning. And taking the first letters of the names thus, of Basil, Eudokia, Constantine, Leo, Alexander, and Stephen, which when read is called Beklas. The genealogy of this one from the beginning both
κατηφής, καὶ ὡς ἄν τις εἰκάσῃ, τῶν ἑαυτοῦ συλλογιζόμενος. ὥρμητο δὲ ἀπὸ Ἀδριανουπόλεως τῆς Μακεδονίας, ἥτις πρότερον μὲν Ὀρεστιὰς ἐκαλεῖτο ἐξ Ὀρέστου υἱοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος, ὃς ζήλῳ δικαίῳ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Κλυταιμνήστρας δολοφονίαν ταύτην σὺν Αἰγίσθῳ ἀπεκτονηκὼς λίαν ἐκμέμηνεν, καὶ ἐν τῇ συνελεύσει Ἕβρου Ἄρξου τε καὶ Ἀρτάβου τῶν τριῶνποταμῶν λουσάμενος τῆς νόσου ἀπήλλακτο· ἔνθα ταύτην οἰκοδο 687 μήσας ἐπὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ ὀνόματι κέκληκεν. Ἀδριανὸς δὲ Καῖσαρ εὐκτίστοις ἐρύμασιν αὐτὴν μεγαλύνας πόλιν Ἀδριανοῦ μετακέκληκεν. αὔτη τρίτης ἡμέρας παρὰ ἀνδρὸς εὐπετοῦς ἐν διόδῳ Φιλιππουπόλεως σταδιάζεται, ἠγκαλισμένη ὄρει τῷ Αἵμῳ, παρ' ᾧ οἱ τρεῖς ποταμοὶ ἐς μισγάγκειαν οἷον συμβάλλετον ὄμβριμον ὕδωρ. 2. Οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς προστάσσει Μαριανῷ ἐπάρχῳ τῷ υἱῷ Πετρωνᾶ, καὶ ἀναγορεύει αὐτὸν μόνον βασιλέα. Ὠορύφας δὲ τοῦ πλωΐμου στρατηγὸς χρηματίζων καὶ καθηγεμών, συνεὶς τὸ πραχθὲν παρὰ Βασιλείου καὶ φιλοδέσποτος ὤν, πρὸς ἐκδίκησιν Μιχαὴλ βασιλέως κεκίνηται. τοῦτον μετακαλεῖται ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ, καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα λόγοις αὐτῷ ἐφυβρίστοις ἐπαπειλεῖ, ἔπειτα ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιοῖ ἀνθ' ὧν ὑπὲρ δεσπότου τοιαῦτα τετολμηκέναι προῄρηται. ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ χρόνου προβεβηκότος ἐπ' αὐτῷ τοσοῦτον πεπληροφόρηται ὥστε καταλιμπάνειν αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν ἐξιὼν κατ' ἐχθρῶν. 3. Ἀναγκαῖον δέ ἐστι καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ γενομένην ἐκδίκησιν εἰς τοὺς τὸν Μιχαὴλ διαχειρισαμένους γράψαι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἰακωβίτζης κυνηγῶν μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τοῦ ξίφους αὐτοῦ ἐκπεσόντος, καὶ αὐτοῦ μέλλοντος κατελθεῖν εἰς τὸ ἆραι αὐτόν, ὁ ποῦς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ σκάλῃ ἐκρατήθη, καὶ θροηθεὶς ὁ ἵππος ἔσυρεν αὐτὸν κατὰ φαράγγων καὶ κρημνῶν καὶ μεληδὸν κατέκοψεν. Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ Χάλδος στρατηγὸς Χαλδίας γενόμενος, ἐπεὶ κατὰ τοῦ βασι 688 λέως μελετᾶν ἐφωράθη, ἀνασκολοπίζεται παρὰ Ἀνδρέου στρατηλάτου. ὁ δὲ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀσυλαίων, ἐξωσθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τῷ προαστείῳ αὐτοῦ, ἀπηνὴς ὢν καὶ ὠμὸς πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοῦ δούλους μαχαίραις ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀνῃρέθη· οὓς κρατήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ μεληδὸν κατακόψας ἐν τοῖς Ἀμαστριανοῦ ἔκαυσεν. ὁ δὲ ἀπελάτης ὁ τοῦ Πέρσου σκωληκόβρωτος γενόμενος τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπέρρηξεν. Κωνσταντῖνος δὲ ὁ Τοξαρᾶς εἰς Κιβυρραιώτας σπαθοκοπηθεὶς τελευτᾷ, καὶ Μαριανὸς ὁ ἀδελφὸς τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν πόδα συντριβεὶς καὶ ὑπὸ σκωλήκων καταβρωθεὶς τελευτᾷ. 4. Ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ τῶν Χριστοῦ γέννων προελεύσεως γενομένης βαπτίζει ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ Φωτίου Στέφανον τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ. 5. Τῷ γʹ αὐτοῦ ἔτει, τῇ ἑορτῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πολυεύκτου, γέγονε σεισμὸς ἐπὶ μʹ ἡμέρας καὶ μʹ νύκτας, καὶ ἐπτωήθησαν πολλαὶ ἐκκλησίαι, μεθ' ὧν καὶ ἡ ὑπεραγία θεοτόκος ἡ λεγομένη τὸ Σίγμα, ὥστε πάντας τοὺς ψάλλοντας ἐκεῖσε τελευτῆσαι. Λέων δὲ ὁ φιλόσοφος τυχὼν ἐκεῖ παρῄνει πάντας ἐξελθεῖν· οἱ δὲ μὴ πεισθέντες συνετελέσθησαν ἅπαντες. αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ φιλόσοφος εἰς κίονα ὑπὸ συσταματίου σταθεὶς μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων δύο ἐσώθη, καὶ ἕτεροι θʹ μόνοι ὑποκάτω τοῦ ἄμβωνος. 6. Φώτιος δὲ ὁ πατριάρχης, ἐλθόντος τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ κοινωνεῖν, λῃστὴν καὶ φονέα 689 ἔλεγεν καὶ ἀνάξιον τῆς θείας κοινωνίας. ὁ δὲ θυμωθεὶς ἀπέστειλεν ἐν Ῥώμῃ, καὶ ἤγαγε τόμον μετὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐπισκόπων, καὶ τοῦτον τοῦ θρόνου ἐξέωσεν· καὶ ἀναβιβάζει πάλιν Ἰγνάτιον τὸν ἐν ἁγίοις πατριάρχην τὸ δεύτερον. 7. Μετὰ τὸ ἐξωσθῆναι τῆς ἐκκλησίας Φώτιον καὶ ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῆς Σκέπης ἐξορισθηνῆναι ἐτροπεύσατο πλάσμα τοιόνδε. γενεθλιαλογήσας τὸν βασιλέα Βασίλειον, ὡς ἀπὸ Τηριδάτου τῆς μεγάλης Ἀρμενίας ἄρχοντος τὴν γενεὰν κατάγοντος, καὶ τὸ βιβλίον βασιλικῇ βιβλιοθήκῃ ἐνθεῖναι διὰ Θεοφάνους τοῦ λεγομένου Σφηνοδαίμονος, βασιλικοῦ κληρικοῦ τότε τυγχάνοντος καὶ τῷ Βασιλείῳ προσκειμένου διὰ σοφίαν καὶ πολυμαθίαν. ἐκλαβόμενος δὲ τὰ πρῶτα στοιχεῖα τῶν ὀνομάτων οὕτως, Βασιλείου Εὐδοκίας Κωνσταντίνου Λέοντος Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Στεφάνου, ἃ καὶ ἀναγινωσκόμενα Βεκλὰς ὀνομάζεται. τούτου τὴν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς γενεαλογίαν κατά τε