History
And what i have accurately ascertained from those who saw it, these things i will also commit to writing. 2. just now in the month of november, of the
He commanded that the triremes and the other transport ships should all be brought to anchor in a good harbor, and that they should control the sea, a
War. therefore, having gone around and seen that it was by nature difficult to enter and hard to approach for on the one side it had the sea as a saf
They would be frustrated. and having gone out of the camp, and having overrun a part of the country, when he learned from those who had been taken ali
It was easy to attack by assault, being raised to the greatest possible height, and girded with two trenches dug to a corresponding depth), and the de
Having divided his phalanx into three parts by night, he went against the scythians, and falling upon them suddenly, in a brief moment of time he wrou
Meet them, when i give the signal with the trumpets. such was the exhortation that the general delivered and the army shouted 22 and applauded, and w
6. but nikephoros phokas, the colleague of the aforementioned leo (for it is necessary, having summarized the account, to proceed with the history in
The general, having seen this, spurred his horse, quickened his pace, rode in and restrained the soldiers' onslaught, persuading them not to kill the
Having drawn up an irresistible battle-line, went through the land of the hagarenes. to them, having heard of the attack of nikephoros, it did not see
Was dignified by his rank), was hostilely disposed towards nicephorus. 11. he decided, therefore, to attempt a revolution at once but not having at h
, to proclaim him supreme commander, and to entrust the forces of asia to him, so that he might defend and check the assault of the foreigners. for th
He said, if you are persuaded to take up the rule of the east, i shall quickly declare you emperor, and restore you to the imperial thrones. speak wel
For he was gently nursing his little body), then, recovering again, he said, “speak, most brave one, what need is there to consider this?” but he said
I have assumed the imperial office, but compelled by the necessity of you, the army, and you yourselves bear witness for me that i was both shunning s
Before the report of his proclamation could fly abroad, to seize in advance the straits and passages of the sea. for thus he thought that matters woul
Numbering over three thousand, attacked the house of joseph and his collaborators along with the people. and having subjected these to plunder and pil
Especially the monks), they did not allow the man to persist in what he had decided, but urged him both to embrace marriage and not to shun meat-eatin
Makes it flood in a single hour) emboldened by these things, the barbarians mocked the emperor and insolently hurled insults at him, and making sorti
Having fallen upon it, accomplishing nothing noble or vigorous. and he considered the matter an outright disgrace and insult, and an indelible reproac
Having come to the region around tarsus, there he encamped and having pitched a palisade round about, he ordered the crops and the meadows, luxuriant
Having recovered the standards, which, crafted from gold and stones, the tarsians had captured in various battles while routing the roman force, and h
Of the spectacle, turned to flight and ran back to their own houses. and from the pushing and disorderly rush, no little slaughter occurred, with very
To blow favorably upon them, but blowing against them strongly and fiercely, it has sunk their affairs. but the account will now clearly reveal these
To those acting against the divine ordinance, if somehow at least in this way people, being afraid, would abstain from evil deeds, and would cling to
He had taken a fortress, and having crossed mount lebanon transversely, he turned his attention to tripoli, which he saw was fortified and exceptional
Being obliged to drive them away, and to guard the flocks from harm, they, in addition to not driving them away, themselves cut them down and tear the
Having come, and having been befriended by the ruler of the tauroi, and having corrupted him with gifts and bewitched him with persuasive words (for t
Reconciliation and friendship might be secured. the mysians gladly received the embassy, and putting daughters of the royal blood 80 on wagons (for it
They might do. but as they were already considering rushing to their defense, and to stoutly resist the enemy in close combat, as dawn was brightly br
Boasting to all about his brave deeds in wars. 6. having approached the emperor with these words and, 85 as was likely, having bewitched him (for he s
Having lowered from above, one by one they first pulled up all the conspirators, and then john himself. having come up, therefore, beyond all human su
The vengeance for these things, and to those who were slipping he seemed relentless and burdensome, and oppressive to those wishing to lead an indiffe
At the end of the month of december, during the thirteenth indiction of the six thousand four hundred and seventy-eighth year, a throng of select men,
Having captured him, confines him to amaseia. having therefore from this secured sufficient safety for himself and for his affairs, and having purged
To make amends for what nikephoros had improperly introduced. for nikephoros, whether wishing to correct divine matters that were being disturbed by s
And having found him not very accurately versed in secular education, but most diligently trained in divine and our own, he anoints him patriarch of a
The bosporus, but to pass by moesia, which belongs to the romans, and has from of old been a part of macedonia. for it is said that the moesians, bein
To make replies. for we trust in christ, the immortal god, that if you do not depart from this land, you will be driven from it by us even against you
A disgrace by the raids of the scythians to send out bilingual men dressed in scythian attire into the homesteads and customs of the enemy, so that t
The romans on the one hand shouted for joy, and were strengthened for valor but the scythians, growing cowardly at the new and strange nature of the
2. the emperor, when he learned of such a revolt, was disturbed, as was likely, and having brought up bishop stephen from abydos with wingless speed,
He saw that murders along with the ensuing conspirators were proceeding harshly and inhumanely, he decided to no longer delay or be slothful, so that
Considering into what fortunes the unholy and blood-guilty john has enclosed my family, having mercilessly slain the emperor and my uncle, who was his
Eye, and to learn that these things were red, just as they had been from of old. phocas, considering this prodigy a second evil omen, and seeing also
Immediately, lest it be some ill-omened thing, and destruction befall the pursuing mysians but learning they were fleeing at full speed, he both purs
The russian minds were lifted up in audacity and boldness. therefore, the emperor, not enduring their overweening arrogance and their blatant insolenc
Being given out, and going under the earth by the inscrutable wisdom of the creator and again from the 130 celtic mountains gushing up, and winding t
Should set a phalanx against us, things will not end well for us, but in dreadful perplexity and helplessness. therefore, having strengthened your spi
Is called drista) lingering with his whole force. but in this way kalokyres escaped, and night coming on stopped the romans from battle. and just on t
And they killed up to one hundred and fifty vigorous men. but the emperor, learning of such an event, quickly mounted his horse and urged his follower
But the rest of the multitude he bound in fetters and shut up in prisons. he himself, having gathered the entire host of the tauro-scythians, numberin
1. and just as day was dawning, the emperor fortified the camp with a strong palisade in this manner. a certain low hill of dorystolon rises at a dist
He was courting them with gifts and toasts, encouraging them to proceed vigorously to the wars. 3. while these matters were in suspense, and the battl
He flees to a divine and great sanctuary, seen as a pitiful supplicant instead of a haughty and boastful tyrant. whom the men of the drungarius dragge
Having drowned. for it is said that, being possessed by greek 150 orgies, they perform sacrifices and libations for the dead in the greek manner, havi
On the next day (it was the sixth day of the week, and the twenty-fourth day of the month of july), when the sun was setting, the tauro-scythians, hav
Was being concluded. 10. but the romans, following the divine man who went before, 155 engage with the enemy, and a fierce battle having commenced, th
With purity. at any rate, having conferred a few things about a truce with the emperor, seated beside the rowing-bench of the skiff, he departed. but
Was crossed over. this is the greatest of the rivers cutting through asia, 161 and one of those that flow from eden, as we have learned from the divin
The emperor, as one who abused the power of his leadership for certain powerful men, and did not direct the affairs of the church as was established b
Having assembled forces, and having meticulously armed them, departing from the reigning city, he advanced through palestine, a prosperous land, flowi
The mainland is enclosed by strongholds, stretching upon a certain steep hill on the other side it is surrounded by the sea, putting forth a well-hav
Before until fire-bearing ships were secretly sent out from byzantium by those in power. which bardas parsakoutenos the magistros was leading, and ha
I would have been destroyed, if some divine providence had not led me out of that very danger, which caused me to ride out with speed, before the ravi
Furthermore, the star rising in the west at the setting of the morning star, which, making its risings in the evening, kept no fixed position at one c
Of the city, but already becoming feeble, and suffering from a deep and intractable panting. and having just come to the royal hearth, he was shown to
the Bosporus, but to pass by Moesia, which belongs to the Romans, and has from of old been a part of Macedonia. For it is said that the Moesians, being colonists of the northern Cotrags, Khazars, and Cumans, departed from their own customs; and while wandering through Europe, they seized and inhabited this land, when Constantine, who was surnamed Pogonatos, was at that time ruling the Romans; and they called the land Bulgaria, eponymously from Bulgarus (their own tribal leader). 9. Another account concerning these things is also told, running something like this: Justinian, the emperor of the Romans, after his nose was cut off by Leontius and he was confined in Cherson, since by various means he managed to escape from there, arrived at the Maeotis, and made an ally of the nation of the Moesians, on the condition that he would recover the empire for himself, and they would receive great rewards. And that they followed him, and from him, when he had taken up the empire again, they received the land, as much as the Ister encloses within Macedonia; and they made their migration there, and caused many deeds of war and enslavement for the Romans, always being ready to make war, and overrunning the Thracian climes. And the Romans would go against them; but they, not withstanding their valor, would hide in the thickets of vast places, and would defeat them by means of difficult terrain. Therefore, although many wars broke out from that time, and noble generals perished, and Nicephorus, the most ancient emperor, fell at the hands of the Moesians, it is said that the Moesians were defeated only by Constantine Copronymus, and again by his grandson Constantine the son of the Augusta Irene, and now by the emperor John, who subdued the cities of the Moesians by the spear; but no other of the Romans is recorded as having defeated them in their own land. But enough concerning these things. 10. But Sviatoslav, being greatly puffed up by his victories against the Moesians, and bearing himself with exceeding arrogance with barbarian audacity (for he already securely possessed the land), having made the Moesians terrified and panic-stricken by his innate cruelty (for they say that having taken the city of Philip by war, he cruelly and inhumanly impaled twenty thousand of those taken in the city, and in this way terrified all opposition and made them tributary), brought forth exceedingly proud and audacious replies to the ambassadors of the Romans; for he would not withdraw from the land, it being prosperous, unless upon the payment of many talents of money, and the ransoming of both the cities and the captives which they had acquired by war. But if the Romans did not wish to pay these things, let them rather withdraw quickly from Europe, as not belonging to them, and move over to Asia; for otherwise they should not think that the Tauroscythians would come to terms with the Romans. But the emperor John, having received such replies from the Scythian, again replied to those who had been sent before as follows: The peace handed down from our fathers to us, inviolate, for which God was the mediator, we ourselves do not think it right to break; since we believe that there is a providence that directs all things, and we honor the customs of the Christians. For these reasons we propose to you as friends, and we advise, to depart at once from the land which in no way belongs to you, and not to delay, nor to shrink back, knowing that if you are not persuaded by this profitable counsel, not we, but you yourselves, will be breaking the 106 treaties concluded from of old. And let us not seem boastful 106 these
Βόσπορον, τὴν δὲ Μυσίαν παραλιπεῖν, Ῥωμαίοις προσήκουσαν, καὶ ἀπόμοιραν τελοῦσαν Μακεδονίας ἀνέκαθεν. λέγεται γὰρ Μυσοὺς ἀποίκους
τῶν ὑπερβορέων Κοτράγων, Χαζάρων τε καὶ Χουμάνων ὄντας, τῶν οἰκείων μεταστῆναι ἠθῶν· ἀλωμένους δὲ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην, ταύτην
κατειληφέναι καὶ κατοικῆσαι, Κωνσταντίνου, ᾧ Πωγωνάτος ἐπίκλησις, τότε Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονεύοντος· ὁμωνύμως δὲ τὴν χώραν ἀπὸ Βουλγάρου
(τοῦ σφῶν φυλάρχου) Βουλγαρίαν καλέσαι. θʹ. Ἄιδεται καὶ ἕτερος περὶ τούτων λόγος, ὧδέ πη ἔχων· Ἰουστινιανοῦ, τοῦ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτορος,
ὑπὸ Λεοντίου ἐκτμηθέντος τὴν ῥῖνα καὶ κατὰ τὴν Χερσῶνα περιορισθέντος, ἐπείπερ ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῷ διαδράναι πολυτρόπως ἐγένετο,
ἐς τὴν Μαιῶτίν τε ἀφικέσθαι, καὶ τὸ Μυσῶν ἔθνος προσεταιρίσασθαι, ἐφ' ᾧ, τήν τε βασιλείαν αὑτῷ ἀνασώσασθαι, καὶ μισθοὺς μεγάλους
ἐναπολήψεσθαι. τοὺς δὲ ἕψεσθαί τε αὐτῷ, καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῦ, τῆς βασιλείας αὖθις ἐπειλημμένου, εἰληφέναι τὴν χώραν, ὅσην ὁ Ἴστρος
ἐντὸς Μακεδόνων περιορίζει· καὶ τὴν μετοίκησιν ταύτῃ ποιήσασθαι, καὶ πολλὰ πολέμων ἔργα καὶ ἀνδραποδισμῶν προξενῆσαι Ῥωμαίοις,
πολεμησείοντας ἀεὶ, καὶ τὰ Θρᾳκῷα κατατρέχοντας κλίματα. Ῥωμαίους δὲ ἀντεπιέναι τούτοις· τοὺς δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων οὐχ ὑφισταμένους
ἀλκὴν, ἐπ' ἀμφιλαφῶν χωρίων λόχμας καταδύεσθαι, καὶ ταῖς δυσχωρίαις τούτους καταγωνίζεσθαι. πολλῶν τοιγαροῦν ἐκ τοῦ κατ' ἐκείνου
καιροῦ καταῤῥαγέντων πολέμων, καὶ γενναίων στρατηγῶν ὀλωλότων, Νικηφόρου τε, τοῦ παλαιτάτου αὐτοκράτορος, πεσόντος πρὸς τῶν
Μυσῶν, παρὰ μόνου Κωνσταντίνου λέγεται Κοπρωνύμου ἡσσηθῆναι Μυσοὺς, καὶ αὖθις παρὰ τοῦ ἐγγόνου αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ τῆς
Αὐγούστης Εἰρήνης υἱοῦ, καὶ τὰ νῦν δὲ πρὸς Ἰωάννου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, ὃς τὰς τῶν Μυσῶν πόλεις αἰχμῇ παρεστήσατο· οὐχ ἱστόρηται
δέ τις Ῥωμαίων ἕτερος, τούτους ἐπὶ τῆς σφετέρας γῆς καταγωνισάμενος. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἅλις. ιʹ. Ὁ δὲ Σφενδοσλάβος, ταῖς
κατὰ τῶν Μυσῶν νίκαις ἐπὶ μέγα αἰρόμενος, καὶ τῇ βαρβαρικῇ αὐθαδείᾳ ὑπέροπλα βρενθυόμενος (ἤδη γὰρ τὴν χώραν βεβαίως ἐκέκτητο),
περιδεεῖς καὶ καταπλῆγας Μυσοὺς τῇ ἐμφύτῳ ἀπηνείᾳ κατεργασάμενος (φασὶ γὰρ τὴν Φιλίππου πόλιν τῷ πολεμεῖν ἐξελὼν, δισμυρίους
τῶν ἐν τῷ ἄστει ληφθέντων ὠμῶς καὶ ἀπανθρώπως ἀνασκολοπίσαι, καὶ ταύτῃ τὸ ἀντίξουν ἅπαν ἐκδειματῶσαι καὶ θεῖναι ὑπόσπονδον),
ὑπεραύχους καὶ αὐθάδεις τὰς ἀποκρίσεις τοῖς πρέσβεσι Ῥωμαίων ἐξέφερε· μὴ γὰρ ἀφέξεσθαι τῆς χώρας, εὐδαίμονος οὔσης, εἰ μὴ
ἐπὶ χρημάτων πολυταλάντων καταβολῇ, καὶ ἀπεμπολήσει τῶν τε πόλεων καὶ τῶν ἀνδραπόδων, ὅσα τῷ πολεμεῖν ἐπεκτήσαντο. εἰ δ' οὐ
βούλεσθαι Ῥωμαίους ταῦτα καταβαλεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης θᾶττον ἀφίστασθαι, ὡς μὴ προσηκούσης αὐτοῖς, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ἀσίαν μετασκευάζεσθαι·
ἄλλως γὰρ μὴ οἴεσθαι, Ταυροσκύθας εἰς σπονδὰς Ῥωμαίων ξυμβήσεσθαι. Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ, τὰς τοιαύτας ἀποκρίσεις τοῦ Σκύθου
δεξάμενος, καὶ αὖθις τοῖς προαπεσταλμένοις ἀμείβεται τάδε· τὴν ἐκ πατέρων ἐς ἡμᾶς διαβᾶσαν εἰρήνην ἀλώβητον καθ' ἣν Θεὸς ἐμεσίτευσεν,
οὐ δεῖν οἰόμεθα λύειν αὐτοί· ἅτε πρόνοιαν εἶναι πιστεύοντες τὴν τὸ πᾶν διευθύνουσαν, καὶ τὰ Χριστιανῶν πρεσβεύοντες ἔθιμα.
διὰ ταῦτα εἰσηγούμεθά τε ὑμῖν ὡς φίλοις, καὶ συμβουλεύομεν, ἐξαυτῆς ἀπαίρειν τῆς μηδέν τι προσηκούσης χώρας ὑμῖν, καὶ μὴ διαμέλλειν,
μηδ' ἀναδύεσθαι, εἰδότας, ὡς εἰ μὴ καταπειθεῖς ταύτῃ τῇ ὀνησιφόρῳ ξυμβουλῇ γένοισθε, οὐχ ἡμᾶς, αὑτοὺς δὲ, λύειν τὰς 106 ἀνέκαθεν
συντεθείσας σπονδάς. καὶ μή γε δόξωμεν μεγαλαύχους 106 ταύτας τὰς
