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

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 Romulus as its lawful king in the beginning, and again having brought its power around to a Romulus, no longer had its government from kings, but having submitted to barbarians and been trodden by them, and having had the misfortune to be taken captive by them, it saw as rulers kings, provincial governors, satraps. And ingloriously deprived of consuls and emperors and dictators and a senate, and also of patricians, it bore on its shoulders the yoke of the barbarians. And formerly being a free-ranging ox from the herd, it became an unyoked subject to plowing masters, and was condemned to be worn out by the furrows of the earth. And these things indeed happened to the elder Rome; but ours flourishes, grows, is strong, is young, and may it grow until the end, yes, O king, lord of all, having such a far-shining, light-bringing king, the greatest Ausonian lord, victor of ten thousand battles, Manuel the Comnenian, a golden rose of purple, whose power ten thousand suns might measure. But let the account be brought back to its path, and let it finish the remaining course of the history. The young Theodosius, being still a boy and in his tender and first age, Arcadius established on the imperial thrones, and he appointed as guardians for him of the empire the leading men of the senate and the most astute, and with them the ruler of Persia, Yazdegerd; who, having learned that a plot was being contrived against Theodosius by certain men who loved tyranny, threatened to attack even as far as Byzantium with myriads of valiant, armed fighters. Therefore, those who had plotted against the emperor, their souls shaken with fear of the Persian king, cast off their ill-will and wickedness, and they refrained from their plan and their undertakings. So it seems that good character exists even among barbarians, and a man of another tongue knows how to keep friendship inviolate and mutual affection untroubled; for the good is sown by nature in all men. And this emperor Theodosius had a sister of venerable character, of venerable life, by the name of Pulcheria, both shining with the beauty of a fair body, and gleaming with the graces of inner comeliness; who, having chosen to preserve herself a virgin and to keep the meadow of her purity inviolate, abstained completely from the company of men, but rejoiced in a pure and orderly life, and showed zeal for every good deed. Not only did she thus adorn her own life, but she also guided her brother toward virtue and noble ways with all sorts of devices. She also joined to him in the fellowship of marriage Eudocia, who sparkled with all kinds of beauty, who, bearing a meadow of beauty in her face, came from the renowned Athens, and having arrived at the glorious city of Byzas, in order to accuse her own kinsmen of not having given her a share of her father's property, finds the incidental result much more profitable. And how this came about I shall state in a brief account. There was a certain man in Athens, Leontius by name, who had reached the height of all philosophy, both of logic and of physics and of astronomy. To him were born three children by one wife; two were males, and the third a daughter, a splendidly beautiful, most graceful daughter. The girl was named Athenais by her father. When, therefore, the one who had begotten her was about to leave this life, composing a death-bed and final writing, he left to his male children his property, as much as was in clothing, as much as was in gold, in houses, in herds, in furnishings, in slaves (for he was indeed very wealthy and one of the great landowners); but to his daughter, and she being beloved, he ordered that only one hundred gold coins be given as an inheritance, saying that her brilliant fortune was sufficient for her, surpassing all the good fortune of women. Having spoken, he drank the cup of death, but the girl's brothers, proving to be of a wicked character, appropriated all the paternal property and completely disinherited

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Ὀρέστης τε, καὶ μετὰ τὸν Ὀρέστηνὁ παῖς Ῥωμύλου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἥψατο τελευταῖος. καὶ πόλις μεγαλώνυμος, ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων πόλις, Ῥωμύλον σχοῦσα κατ' ἀρχὰς ἔννομον βασιλέα, καὶ πάλιν περιστήσασα τὸ κράτος εἰς Ῥωμύλον οὐκέτι τὴν κυβέρνησιν ἔσχεν ἐκ βασιλέων, βαρβάροις δ' ὑποκύψασα καὶ χωροβατηθεῖσα, καὶ τούτοις δυστυχήσασα δορύληπτος γενέσθαι, ῥῆγας κατεῖδεν ἄρχοντας, χωράρχας, σατραπάρχας. καὶ στερηθεῖσα δυσκλεῶς ὑπάτων καὶ κρατόρων καὶ δικτατόρων καὶ βουλῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατρικίων, ἐπωμαδίαν ἤνεγκε τὴν ζεύγλην τῶν βαρβάρων. καὶ πρώην χρηματίζουσα βοῦς ἀγελαῖος ἄζυξ ὑπήκοος ἐγένετο δυνάσταις ἀροτρεῦσι, καὶ γῆς τοῖς αὐλακίσμασι τρύχεσθαι κατεκρίθη. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν συμβέβηκε τῇ πρεσβυτέρᾳ Ῥώμῃ· ἡ δ' ἡμετέρα τέθηλεν, αὔξει, κρατεῖ, νεάζει, καὶ μέχρι τέλους αὔξοιτο, ναὶ βασιλεῦ παντάναξ, τοιοῦτον σχοῦσα τηλαυγῆ φωσφόρον βασιλέα, μέγιστον Αὐσονάνακτα, μυριονικηφόρον, Κομνηνιάδην Μανουήλ, πορφύρας χρυσοῦν ῥόδον, οὗπερ τὸ κράτος ἥλιοι μετρήσαιεν μυρίοι. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ πάλιν εἰς ὁδὸν ὁ λόγος ἀναγέσθω, καὶ τερματούτω τὸν λοιπὸν δρόμον τῆς ἱστορίας. Τὸν νέον Θεοδόσιον ἔτι παιδίσκον ὄντα ἄγοντά τε τὴν ἁπαλὴν καὶ πρώτην ἡλικίαν Ἀρκάδιος ἐνίδρυσε τοῖς βασιλείοις θρόνοις, καὶ φύλακας ἐπέστησεν αὐτῷ τῆς βασιλείας τοὺς τῆς συγκλήτου προύχοντας καὶ τοὺς ἀγχινουστέρους, καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς τὸν ἄρχοντα Περσίδος Ἰσδιγέρδην· ὃς καὶ μαθὼν ἐπιβουλὴν κατὰ Θεοδοσίου τυρευομένην ἔκ τινων ἀνδρῶν φιλοτυράννων ἠπείλησεν ἐπιδραμεῖν ἄχρι καὶ Βυζαντίου σὺν μυριάσι μαχητῶν ἀλκίμων ὁπλοφόρων. οἱ τοίνυν βουλευσάμενοι κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, κατασεισθέντες τὰς ψυχὰς τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Περσάρχου, τὸ δύσνουν ἀπεβάλοντο καὶ τὴν κακοτροπίαν, καὶ τῆς βουλῆς ἀπέσχοντο καὶ τῶν ἐγχειρημάτων. ὡς ἄρα τὸ χρηστότροπον ἔστι κἀν τοῖς βαρβάροις, καὶ τὴν φιλίαν ἄτρωτον καὶ τὴν φιλαλληλίαν οἶδεν ἀνὴρ ἀλλόγλωσσος ἀθόλωτον φυλάσσειν· τὸ γὰρ καλὸν ἐκ φύσεως ἅπασιν ἐνεσπάρη. Ἦν δ' ἀδελφὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ Θεοδοσίῳ σεμνότροπος, σεμνόβιος, τὴν κλῆσιν Πουλχερία, καὶ κάλλει διαλάμπουσα σώματος εὐπροσώπου, καὶ στίλβουσα ταῖς χάρισι τῆς ἔνδον εὐπρεπείας· ἥτις παρθένον συντηρεῖν αὑτὴν προελομένη καὶ τῆς ἁγνείας ἄσυλον φυλάττειν τὸν λειμῶνα, ἀρρένων μὲν ἀπέσχετο καθάπαξ ὁμιλίας, τῷ καθαρῷ δ' ἐπέχαιρε καὶ τῷ κοσμίῳ βίῳ, καὶ ζέσιν ἐπεδείκνυτο πρὸς πᾶσαν χρηστουργίαν. οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸν ἑαυτῆς οὕτως ἐκόσμει βίον, ἀλλά γε καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν παντοίαις ἐπινοίαις εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐρύθμιζεν καὶ τρόπους φιλοκάλους. ἣ καὶ συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ πρὸς γάμου κοινωνίαν τὴν κάλλεσιν ἀστράπτουσαν παντοίοις Εὐδοκίαν, ἥτις λειμῶνα φέρουσα κάλλους ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ ὡρμᾶτο μὲν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν τῶν περιλαλουμένων, πρὸς δὲ τὴν Βύζαντος λαμπρὰν ἀφικομένη πόλιν, ἐφ' ᾧ κατηγορήσειεν ἰδίων ὁμογνίων ὡς τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῇ μὴ μεταδόντων, πολλῷ κερδαλεώτερον τὸ πάρεργον εὑρίσκει. τὸ δ' ὅπως τοῦτο γέγονε λόγῳ συντόμῳ φράσω. Ἦν ἐν Ἀθήναις τις ἀνήρ, Λεόντιος τὴν κλῆσιν, εἰς ἄκρον ἀφικόμενος πάσης φιλοσοφίας, καὶ λογικῆς καὶ φυσικῆς καὶ τῆς ἀστεροσκόπου. τούτῳ μιᾶς ἐκ γαμετῆς ἐτέχθησαν τρεῖς παῖδες· δύο μὲν ἦσαν ἄρρενες, τριτάτη δὲ θυγάτηρ, θυγάτηρ ἀγλαόμορφος ἐπιχαριτωτάτη. Ἀθηναῒς ὠνόμαστο πρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ κόρη. ὡς οὖν τὸν βίον ἔμελλε λιπεῖν ὁ ταύτην σπείρας, ἐπιθανάτιον συνθεὶς καὶ τελευταῖον γράμμα τοῖς μὲν παισὶ κατέλιπε τοῖς ἄρρεσι τὸν βίον, ὁπόσος ἐν ἱματισμοῖς, ὁπόσος ἐν χρυσίῳ, ἐν οἴκοις, ἐν βοσκήμασιν, ἐν σκεύεσιν, ἐν δούλοις (ἦν γάρ τοι μεγαλόπλουτος καὶ τῶν βαθυκτημόνων)· τῇ θυγατρὶ δ' ἐκέλευσε, καὶ ταῦτα φιλουμένῃ, μόνους χρυσίνους ἑκατὸν παρασχεθῆναι κλῆρον, τὴν τύχην τὴν περίλαμπρον ἀρκεῖν ἐκείνῃ φήσας, ἁπάσης ὑπερφέρουσαν γυναίων εὐποτμίας. ὁ μὲν εἰπὼν ἐξέπιε τὸν τοῦ θανάτου σκύφον, οἱ δὲ τῆς κόρης ἀδελφοὶ φαυλότροποι φανέντες πᾶσαν ἐσφετερίσαντο τὴν πατρικὴν οὐσίαν καὶ παντελῶς ἀπόκληρον

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