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of humble and obscure origins, and he himself was formerly a farmer or a herdsman and swineherd, then transferring his fortune to a military one and advancing as far as commander and becoming a comes. But after the death of Anastasius, when counsel was being taken about the appointment of an emperor, the eunuch Amantius, who was also praepositus and had great power, wishing a certain Theocritus, 145 one of his own men, to be emperor, provided money to Justin to distribute to the soldiers, so that they might choose him as emperor. But he, having distributed the money, secured the empire for himself and was raised by the soldiers and the people to the imperial dignity. Amantius, however, was angered by Justin's clever trick and plotted against him with others of the more distinguished men; when this was discovered, Justin put him to death along with Andreas the cubicularius and Theocritus. This Amantius, when Anastasius had seen in his sleep the man carrying the scroll and erasing some of the years of his life, had a dream that while he was standing before the emperor a great boar came upon him and threw him to the ground and devoured him. He built the church of the holy apostle Thomas; for which reason it preserves his name, being called of Amantius. Justin, being most orthodox, issued a decree that all should honor the council of Chalcedon and that the six hundred and thirty 146 holy fathers who established it should be inscribed in the sacred diptychs of all the churches. And having a wife named Lupicina, he crowned her and proclaimed her Augusta, renaming her Euphemia. To him Vitalian, who had rebelled under Anastasius, was very close and was appointed magister militum, but he also served as consul and was very powerful with Justin. Being orthodox, he ordered Severus to be driven from the throne of Antioch and to be executed; learning of this, Severus fled to Egypt with others of like mind and they threw it into confusion, introducing the dispute concerning the corruptible and incorruptible. After Severus had escaped, Paul the keeper of the hospice of Eubulus was appointed bishop of Antioch; and Justin recalled all those who had unjustly suffered exile under Anastasius. In his time, a comet appeared in the east, casting its rays downward, which meteorologists call a bearded star; and Vitalian was assassinated by the Byzantines, who were angry with him for having killed many when he rose up against Anasta147sius. But some say that he was killed in the Palace by order of the emperor Justin and Justinian, since he wanted to rule even over the emperor himself; and Justinian had been appointed magister militum of the armies. When John the Cappadocian, who was patriarch of Constantinople, died, Epiphanius, a presbyter of this church, was consecrated; and when Hormisdas, the pope of Rome, departed this life, John succeeded to the helm of the Roman church. Since there was hostility between the Romans and the Persians, the emperor Justin sent envoys and gifts to the king of the Huns, asking for an alliance against the Persians; and he agreed. And when Kavad, the king of the Persians, also asked the same king concerning an alliance, that one promised to ally with him; and he went to the Persians with his people, to be arrayed against the Romans. However, the emperor Justin, sending an embassy concerning peace to the king of the Persians, wrote to him not to trust the Huns, as they had made oaths with the Romans concerning an alliance and had received much money and were intending 148 to betray them in time of war. And Kavad asked the king if he had taken money from the Romans; and when he admitted it, he supposed that Justin was telling the truth and immediately killed him and almost all the Huns, except for a few who escaped, and he made a treaty with the Romans and made Justin the guardian of Khosrow, the younger of his sons. For to him he left the kingdom of the Persians, overlooking the elder ones. But he

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ἀσήμων καὶ ἀφανῶν, καὶ αὐτὸς τὸ πρότερον αὐτουργῶν ἢ βουκόλος τυγχάνων καὶ συφορβός, εἶτα εἰς τύχην μεταταξάμενος στρατιωτικὴν καὶ φθάσας μέχρι ταγματαρχίας καὶ κόμης γενόμενος. μετὰ δέ γε τὴν τελευτὴν Ἀναστασίου, βουλῆς προτεθείσης περὶ προχειρίσεως βασιλέως ὁ εὐνοῦχος Ἀμάντιος, ὃς καὶ πραιπόσιτος ἦν καὶ μέγα δεδύνητο, θέλων Θεοκριτιανόν 145 τινα οἰκεῖον ὄντα αὐτῷ βασιλεῦσαι, χρήματα τῷ Ἰουστίνῳ παρέσχε διανεμεῖν τοῖς στρατιώταις, ἵν' ἐκεῖνον ἕλωνται βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ τὰ χρήματα διανείμας ἑαυτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν προεμνηστεύσατο καὶ παρὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τοῦ δήμου εἰς τὴν τῆς αὐταρχίας ἀνήχθη περιωπήν. Ἀμάντιος δὲ ἐν δεινῷ πεποίητο τοῦ Ἰουστίνου τὸ σόφισμα καὶ αὐτῷ ἐπεβούλευε σὺν ἑτέροις τῶν ἐπιφανεστέρων, ὃν γνωσθέντα ὁ Ἰουστῖνος ἀνεῖλε σὺν Ἀνδρέᾳ τῷ κουβικουλαρίῳ καὶ τῷ Θεοκριτιανῷ. οὗτος ὁ Ἀμάντιος, ὅτε ὁ Ἀναστάσιος καθ' ὕπνους ἐθεάσατο τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν τόμον φέροντα καὶ ἀπαλείψαντά τινας τῶν τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ χρόνων, ὄναρ εἶδεν ὅτι ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως ἱσταμένῳ αὐτῷ χοῖρος ἐπῆλθε μέγας καὶ εἰς γῆν κατήραξεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀνάλωσεν. οὗτος τὸν ναὸν τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Θωμᾶ ἐδομήσατο· διὸ καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν ἐκείνου σώζει, τοῦ Ἀμαντίου καλούμενος. Ὀρθοδοξότατος δὲ ὢν Ἰουστῖνος, δόγμα ἐξέθετο τὴν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι πάντας σέβεσθαι σύνοδον καὶ τοὺς αὐτὴν συστησα146 μένους ἑξακοσίους τριάκοντα ἁγίους πατέρας τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐγγραφῆναι διπτύχοις πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν. γαμετὴν δ' ἔχων Λουπικίαν κεκλημένην ἔστεψεν αὐτὴν καὶ Αὐγούσταν ἀνηγόρευσεν, Εὐφημίαν μετονομάσας. τούτῳ Βιταλιανός, ὃς ἐστασίασεν ἐπὶ Ἀναστασίου, πάνυ ᾠκείωτο καὶ στρατηλάτης προεχειρίσθη, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὑπάτευσε καὶ μέγα τι παρὰ τῷ Ἰουστίνῳ ἠδύνατο. ὀρθόδοξος δ' ὢν τὸν Σευῆρον ἐκδιωχθῆναι τοῦ θρόνου τῆς Ἀντιοχείας καὶ ἀναιρεθῆναι προσέταξεν· ὃ γνοὺς ἐκεῖνος ἀπέδρα εἰς Αἴγυπτον μεθ' ἑτέρων ὁμογνωμόνων καὶ ταύτην ἐτάραξαν, τὸν περὶ φθαρτοῦ καὶ ἀφθάρτου λόγον εἰσαγαγόντες. Σευήρου δὲ διαδράντος, Παῦλος ὁ ξενοδόχος τῶν Εὐβούλου Ἀντιοχείας προεχειρίσθη ἐπίσκοπος· καὶ πάντας δὲ τοὺς ἄδικον ὑπερορίαν ὑποστάντας ἐπὶ Ἀναστασίου ὁ Ἰουστῖνος κατήγαγεν. Ἐν τοῖς τούτου χρόνοις ἀστὴρ ἐφάνη κομήτης ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ, κάτω τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἀφιείς, ὃν πωγωνίαν οἱ μετεωρολογοῦντές φασι· καὶ ὁ Βιταλιανὸς ἐδολοφονήθη παρὰ τῶν Βυζαντίων, μηνιώντων αὐτῷ ὡς πολλοὺς ἀνελόντι, ὅτε ἐπανέστη κατὰ Ἀνα147 στασίου. οἱ δὲ προστάξει τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰουστίνου καὶ Ἰουστινιανοῦ φασιν ἀναιρεθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ Παλατίῳ, θέλοντα καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κρατοῦντος κατάρχειν· στρατηλάτης δὲ τῶν στρατευμάτων Ἰουστινιανὸς προκεχείριστο. Ἰωάννου δὲ τοῦ Καππαδόκου θανόντος, ὃς πατριάρχης ἦν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, κεχειροτόνητο Ἐπιφάνιος τῆς ἐκκλησίας ταύτης πρεσβύτερος· καὶ Ὁρμίσδα τοῦ πάπα Ῥώμης μετηλλαχότος τὸ ζῆν, Ἰωάννηςτοὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας Ῥωμαίων διεδέξατο οἴακας. Ἔχθρας δὲ Ῥωμαίοις πρὸς Πέρσας οὔσης, ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστῖνος πρὸς τὸν ῥῆγα τῶν Οὔννων ἔστειλε πρέσβεις καὶ δῶρα, συμμαχίαν αἰτῶν κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν· καὶ ὃς συνέθετο. καὶ τοῦ Περσῶν δὲ βασιλέως Κουάδου τὸν αὐτὸν ῥῆγα περὶ συμμαχίας ἀξιώσαντος, ἐκεῖνος συμμαχῆσαι αὐτῷ ἐπηγγείλατο· καὶ ἀπῆλθε πρὸς Πέρσας μετὰ λαοῦ, κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀντιταξόμενος. ὁ μέντοι βασιλεὺς Ἰουστῖνος περὶ εἰρήνης πρεσβείαν στείλας πρὸς τὸν τῶν Περσῶν βασιλέα, μὴ πιστεύειν τοῖς Οὔννοις αὐτῷ ἔγραψεν, ὡς ὅρκους μετὰ Ῥωμαίων περὶ συμμαχίας ποιησαμένοις καὶ χρήματα λαβοῦσι πολλὰ καὶ βουλομένοις 148 προδοῦναι αὐτοὺς ἐν πολέμου καιρῷ. ὁ δὲ Κουάδης τὸν ῥῆγα εἰ χρήματα παρὰ Ῥωμαίων εἴληφεν ἤρετο· τοῦ δὲ καταθεμένου, ἀληθεύειν τὸν Ἰουστῖνον ὑπέλαβε καὶ αὐτίκα τὸν μὲν ἀνεῖλε καὶ τοὺς Οὔννους σχεδὸν ἅπαντας, εἰ μή τινες ὀλίγοι διαδράντες ἐσώθησαν, τοῖς δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ἐσπείσατο καὶ τὸν Ἰουστῖνον ἐπίτροπον Χοσρόου τοῦ νεωτέρου τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐποιήσατο. τούτῳ γὰρ τὴν τῶν Περσῶν κατελίμπανε βασιλείαν, τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους παραβλεπόμενος. ὁ δὲ