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when the one believed to be hostile was removed and had suffered the same things as them, they themselves would easily come to an agreement with the church. But these things later; then, when those men were led away into exile, as far as they were concerned, the emperor was unconcerned and was at ease, having seemed to have removed the troublesome element.

37. But when piracy increased at sea, since the navy was completely unavailable, and furthermore it was announced that the Scythians were on the move, (for Terter was not able, not only to help others, but not even himself) the emperor sent and ordered those living by the sea, who lay as ready prey for the pirates, to be withdrawn further inland, so that from there they might escape the danger, but those living in the interior of Thrace 106 and Macedonia, since he knew the invaders would overrun them unless someone stopped them, which indeed at that time appeared impossible, he shut them up in the fortresses there, which did not offer much safety. But the Vlach element, which indeed was arrayed in superior numbers almost from the areas outside the city to Bizye and beyond, a people delighting in difficult terrain and devoted to their flocks, but no less also accustomed to battles with men, having been suspected of desertion on the grounds that it too would fall upon the invaders, he decided to resettle them in the east, on the opposite coast from Byzantium, and also to humble them with penalties, lest perhaps they should become arrogant, trusting in their numbers and power. And on the one hand they were penalized most heavily, and on the other they were mercilessly resettled, considering the resettlement no less a penalty, but even more so. For those animals and all their property were partly offered up cheaply to the many, and partly, having changed location in winter time, and 107 then, were completely destroyed. And some of their property was plundered, while what was left over was miserably lost, so that they were unable to remain there for long, but when the misfortune had passed them by, they again recovered their own, having bought back their dwelling place with payments of much gold. Then the ruler, fearing also for the emperor's body, lest the Scythians, having come out and overrun the place, along with many other things might take this also, if someone did not ransom it for a great price, as they might see fit, selling an emperor's body, and so bring shame and disgrace, sent and released the guards who were there, the first of whom was the eunuch Eionopolites and great drungarius, who also introduced to the emperor the hieromonk Athanasius, who was living in the mountains of Ganos, having previously been introduced to the Porphyrogennetos, from whom indeed he had also received very many benefits. But he ordered them to take the body and place it in the monastery of the Savior at Selybria, in the church itself, in its own sarcophagus. And so, the body of the Bulgar-slayer emperor, having been brought back 108 from another place, which that man had long ago transferred from the Hebdomon where it had been neglected and had placed there, he himself also placed. The emperor, however, learning the things concerning Athanasius, as one who delighted in virtue, and with the occasion being more persuasive, assigned to him the old monastery of the great logariastes and had him with him whenever he wished. For although he had been introduced to the Porphyrogennetos and was magnificently treated by him, yet when he was later brought before the emperor he received no less of his favor.

{B.} The things concerning Bekkos were thus concluded, and having inserted his sting in the manner of a bee, he departed. For them, however, it was no small concern how they might reconcile the saying of the father from Damascus according to an orthodox mind, so that they might neither think as Bekkos interpreted nor again be carried outside what was suspected. For, following Moschampar, for them to also say that the saying was spurious and that the chapter is not found in some of the books, did not seem prudent; 109 for the book of the sacred Panoply stood in the way, which carried this recorded along with the others and which testified to its originator,

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ἐκποδὼν γενομένου τοῦ δυσμεναίνειν πιστευομένου καὶ ταὐτὰ σφίσι παθόντος αὐτοὶ ῥᾳδίως πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ὁμονοήσουσιν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον· τότε δ' ἀπαχθέντων ἐκείνων εἰς ἐξο ρίαν, ὅσον μὲν τὸ ἀπ' ἐκείνων, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἠφροντίστει καὶ ἐν ἀνακωχαῖς ἦν, δόξας τὸ ἐνοχλοῦν ὑπεξαγαγών.

37. Τοῦ δέ γε πειρατικοῦ κατὰ θάλασσαν πλεονάσαντος, ἐπεὶ τὸ ναυτικὸν παντελῶς ἀπήρτητο, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦ Σκυθικοῦ ὁρμᾶν ἠγγελμένου, (ὁ γὰρ Τερτερῆς οὐχ οἷός τ' ἦν, οὐχ ὅπως ἄλλοις, οὐδὲ ἑαυτῷ προσαρήγειν) πέμψας ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς μὲν πρὸς θαλάσσῃ κατῳκηκότας, ἕτοιμον θήραν προκειμένους τοῖς πειραταῖς, ἐνδοτέρω γῆς ἀναστέλλειν προσέταττεν ὡς ἐντεῦθεν ὑπεκδραμουμένους τὸ χαλεπόν, τοὺς δὲ τὴν μεσογαῖον Θρᾴκης τε 106 καὶ Μακεδονίας κατῳκημένους, ἐπεὶ καταδραμουμένους ᾔδει τοὺς ἐξελαύνοντας ἢν μή τις κωλύοι, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἀδύνατον τηνικάδε κατεφαίνετο, τοῖς ἐκεῖσε φρουρίοις, οὐ πολὺ τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἔχου σιν, ἐναπέκλειε. τὸ δέ γε Βλαχικόν, ὃ δὴ σχεδὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξω τέρω τῆς πόλεως ἐς Βιζύην καὶ πόρρω εἰς πλῆθος ἀριθμοῦ κρεῖτ τον ποσούμενον παρατέτατο, ἔθνος δυσχωρίαις χαῖρον καὶ βοσκή μασι προσανέχον, οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ μάχαις εἰθισμένον ἀν δρῶν, ὑποπτευθὲν εἰς αὐτομολίαν ὡς τοῖς ἐξεληλακόσι καὶ αὐτὸ προσπεσούμενον, μετοικίζειν ἐπ' ἀνατολῆς ἔγνω κατὰ τὴν τῆς Βυζαντίδος ἀντιπεραίαν, πλὴν καὶ ταπεινοῦν ζημίαις, μή πως ἄρα καὶ ὑπερηφανοῖεν πλήθει τε καὶ δυνάμει θαρροῦντες. καὶ ἔνθεν μὲν ἐζημιοῦντο τὰ μέγιστα, ἔνθεν δὲ μετῳκίζοντο ἀνοικτί, οὐχ ἧττον ζημίας ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον τὴν μετοίκησιν λογιζόμενοι. ζῶα γὰρ ἐκεῖνα καὶ κτῆσις πᾶσα τὰ μὲν εὔωνα προύκειντο τοῖς πολλοῖς, τὰ δὲ καὶ τὸν τόπον ἀλλάξαντα καιρῷ χειμῶνος καὶ 107 τότε παντελῶς διεφθείροντο. κτῆσις δὲ τούτων ἡ μὲν διηρπά ζετο, ἡ δέ γε καὶ περιοῦσα κακῶς παραπώλλυτο, ὥστε μὴ οἵους τ' εἶναι ἐγχρονίζειν ἐκεῖ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κακοῦ παραδραμόντος αὐτοὺς καὶ αὖθις τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπολαμβάνειν, συχνῶν χρυσίων καταβολαῖς ἐξωνησαμένους τὴν κατοικίαν. τότε δὲ δείσας καὶ περὶ τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως σώματι ὁ κρατῶν, μὴ ἐξελθόντες οἱ Σκύθαι καὶ τὸν τό πον καταδραμόντες σὺν πολλοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοῦτο λαβόντες, ἢν μή τις πολλοῦ ἐξωνοῖτο, ὡς αὐτοῖς δόξοι βασιλικὸν σῶμα πω λοῦσιν, αἰσχύνωσι καὶ λυμήνωνται, πέμψας τῆς μὲν περὶ ἐκεῖνο φυλακῆς τοὺς ἐκεῖ ἀνίει, ὧν πρῶτος ἦν ὁ ἐκτομίας Ἠονοπολίτης καὶ μέγας δρουγγάριος, ὃς καὶ τὸν ἱερομόναχον Ἀθανάσιον κατὰ τὰ τοῦ Γάνου ὄρη ἐνδιατρίβοντα, πρότερον τῷ πορφυρογεννήτῳ συσταθέντα, παρ' οὗ γε καὶ πλεῖστα εὐηργέτητο, τῷ βασιλεῖ συνιστᾷ. τὸ δέ γε σῶμα προστάσσει φέροντας τῇ κατὰ Σηλυ βρίαν τοῦ σωτῆρος μονῇ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ναῷ αὐτῇ λάρνακι κατα θεῖναι. καὶ τὸ μὲν οὕτως ἀνακομισθὲν τοῦ Βουλγαροκτόνου βα 108 σιλέως ἑτέρωθεν, ὃν ἐκ τοῦ Ἑβδόμου παρημελημένον μεταγαγὼν ἐκεῖνος ἐκεῖσε πάλαι κατέθετο, τίθεται καὶ αὐτός. ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεὺς τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἀθανασίου μαθών, ὅσα δὴ καὶ ἀρετῇ χαί ρων, καὶ μᾶλλον πείθοντος τοῦ καιροῦ, τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου οἱ λο γαριαστοῦ παλαιὰν προσνείμας μονὴν παρ' ἑαυτῷ εἶχεν ὁσάκις ἤθελεν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ προσυνέστη τῷ πορφυρογεννήτῳ καὶ παρ' ἐ κείνου μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἐθεραπεύετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεῖ προσαχθεὶς ὕστερον οὐδὲν ἧττον τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ εὐμενείας ἐτύγχανεν.

{Β.} Τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὸν Βέκκον οὕτω τετέλεστο, μελίσσης δὲ τρό πον ἐνεικὼς

τὸ κέντρον ἀπήλλαττε. σφίσι μέντοι φροντὶς ἦν οὐ μικρὰ ὅπως κατ' ὀρθόδοξον νοῦν τὸ τοῦ ∆αμασκόθεν πατρὸς ῥητὸν ξυμβιβάσειαν, ὡς μήτε κατὰ Βέκκον ἐξηγουμένους φρονεῖν μήτ' ἔξω πάλιν τῶν ὑπονοουμένων φέρεσθαι. τὸ γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Μοσχάμπαρ καὶ αὐτοὺς λέγειν ὡς νόθον δὴ τὸ ῥητὸν καὶ ὡς ἔν τισι τῶν βίβλων οὐ φέρεται τὸ κεφάλαιον, οὐ ξυνετὸν ἐδόκει· 109 προσίστατο γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς ὁπλοθήκης βίβλος, φέρουσα καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνάγραπτον καί γε τὸν γεννήτορα μαρτυ ροῦσα,