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and that the dome, by order of the emperor, be taken down171, and be raised again twenty-five feet higher, and be consecrated by Patriarch Eutychius a second time. In the time of this emperor the sea-monster was also caught, which had been troubling the Byzantines for fifty years and more, which they called Porphyrion, not always appearing, but at intervals. When it did appear, it would sink many of the ships and was the cause of destruction for many people; against which they used many devices, but all remained ineffective. However, it was caught while chasing dolphins. For they, fleeing from it, drew near to the land, but it did not check its rush against them, until, having come very close to the land, it fell into deep and swampy mud. There indeed it was stuck fast in the clay and was no longer able to emerge from the swamp. When this became known to the local inhabitants, it armed them against this sea beast, and cutting it up with axes and hatchets, they killed it. Then, tying some of the sturdiest ropes to it, with teams of oxen they dragged it out of the sea. Its length was thirty cubits, and it was ten wide, as Procopius of Caesarea also related concerning this. 172 In the time of this emperor, according to the same writer, the threads of the Seres, that is, silk, began to be produced among the Romans. For it was brought, being bought in Persia, by merchants to the Romans. They did not know, however, the nature of silk, neither how it came to be, nor that it is the threads of worms. But two monks, having arrived at Byzantium from India, described its origin and promised to bring the offspring of those worms, being eggs of the smallest size, and to show the Romans how they are brought to life by being warmed and change into worms, and how they produce the silk, having nature as their teacher. The emperor Justinian, therefore, encouraged these monks for the task both with gifts for the present and with splendid promises for the future. And they transported the eggs of the Seres to Byzantium and changed these into worms by placing them in dung and warming them with it, and they fed them with mulberry leaves 173 and produced silk through them, and from then on it became known to the Romans how silk was made. When a plot being devised by many was revealed to the emperor, the patrician Belisarius was also accused of taking part in it, and the emperor took away all his bodyguards, but left him under guard in his own house; and when he died, his property was assigned to the imperial treasuries. Justinian, however, towards the end, having become susceptible to the heresy of the Aphthartodocetae, who hold the doctrine that the Lord did not assume corruptible flesh, but that it was incorruptible at the same time as its assumption, was eager for all to believe thus; and Patriarch Eutychius, who spoke against him and was opposed to him, he sent into exile to Amaseia, and John, a former scholasticus, was appointed patriarch, being the apocrisiarius of Antioch. Justinian died holding these views, having reigned thirty-eight years, seven months, and thirteen days, leaving the empire to his nephew Justin, who had been honored as curopalates. This man was an Illyrian by birth, by nature skilled in all things, 174 and magnanimous in spirit. He, being pious, adorned the churches built by Justinian and added both apses to the church in Blachernae anew, so that it was cruciform. And he sumptuously built the church of the chief apostles in the orphanage and the church of the holy Anargyroi in the district of Basiliscus; and that of the holy protomartyr Thecla and the Chrysotriklinos of the Palace, and he restored the great aqueduct of Valens, and many other things besides. His wife was Sophia, whom he also crowned Augusta, in whose name he also built the harbor of Sophia and a palace before the city, Sophianae, on account of her, both these and the

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καὶ τὸν τροῦλον προστάξει τοῦ βασιλέως καθαιρε171 θῆναι, καὶ αὖθις ἀνεγερθῆναι ἐπὶ πόδας εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε μετεωρότερον, καὶ καθιερωθῆναι παρὰ Εὐτυχίου πατριάρχου τὸ δεύτερον. Ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τὸ κῆτος ἑάλω, ὃ εἰς πεντήκοντα καὶ ἐπέκεινα Βυζαντίοις ἠνώχλει ἐνιαυτούς, ὃ πορφύριον ἐκάλουν, οὐκ ἀεὶ μὲν φαινόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐκ διαλειμμάτων. ὅτε δ' ἐφαίνετο, πολλὰς μὲν τῶν νηῶν ὑποβρυχίους ἐτίθει, πολλοῖς δὲ φθορᾶς αἴτιον ἀνθρώποις ἐγίνετο, καθ' οὗ πολλαῖς μὲν ἐχρήσαντο μηχαναῖς, πᾶσαι δ' ἔμενον ἄπρακτοι, ἑάλω μέντοι δελφῖνας διῶκον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνο φεύγοντες τῇ γῇ προσεπέλαζον, τὸ δὲ τὴν κατ' ἐκείνων ὁρμὴν οὐκ ἀνέκοπτεν, ἕως ἄγχιστά πῃ τῆς γῆς γεγονὸς ἰλύι βαθείᾳ καὶ τελματώδει ἐμπέπτωκεν. ἔνθα δὴ τῷ πηλῷ προσεπέπλαστο καὶ τοῦ τέλματος οὔπως ἔτι ἀναδῦναι δεδύνητο. ὃ τοῖς περιοίκοις γνωσθὲν ὥπλισεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τοῦ θαλαττίου τούτου θηρός, καὶ ἀξίναις αὐτὸ συγκόψαντες καὶ πελέκεσιν ἀπέκτειναν. εἶτα σχοίνους τῶν ἁδροτέρων τούτου ἐξάψαντες ζεύγεσι βοῶν αὐτὸ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐξείλκυσαν. ἦν δὲ τὸ μῆκος μὲν αὐτοῦ τριάκοντα πήχεων, ἐς δέκα δ' ηὐρύνετο, ὡς ὁ Καισαρεὺς Προκόπιος καὶ περὶ τούτου ἱστόρησεν. 172 Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν συγγραφέα καὶ τὰ τῶν Σηρῶν νήματα, ἡ μέταξα δηλαδή, παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις γίνεσθαι ἤρξατο. ἤγετο μὲν γὰρ ἐν Περσῶν ὠνουμένη δι' ἐμπόρων παρὰ Ῥωμαίους. τὸ τῆς μετάξης χρῆμα οὐκ ᾔδεισαν μέντοι οὔθ' ὅπως γίνοιτο οὔθ' ὅτι νήματα σκωλήκων ἐστί. μοναχοὶ δὲ δύο τινὲς πρὸς τὸ Βυζάντιον ἐξ Ἰνδίας ἀφικόμενοι τὴν ταύτης γένεσιν ἀφηγήσαντο καὶ ὑπισχνοῦντο κομίσαι τῶν σκωλήκων ἐκείνων γόνον, ᾠὰ ὄντα τὸν ὄγκον βραχύτατα, καὶ δεῖξαι Ῥωμαίοις ὅπως ἐκεῖνα ζωογονοῦνται θαλπόμενα καὶ εἰς σκώληκας μεταμείβονται, καὶ ὅπως δημιουργοῦσι τὴν μέταξαν, τὴν φύσιν σχόντα διδάσκαλον. τούτους τοίνυν τοὺς μοναχοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς δωρεαῖς τε πρὸς τὸ παρὸν καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον λαμπραῖς ὑποσχέσεσι πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐπέρρωσεν. οἱ δὲ τά τε τῶν Σηρῶν ᾠὰ μετεκόμισαν ἐς Βυζάντιον καὶ εἰς σκώληκας ταῦτα μετήμειψαν κόπρῳ ἐνθέμενοι καὶ ταύτῃ θερμήναντες καὶ συκαμίνων ἔθρεψαν φύλλοις 173 καὶ μέταξαν εἰργάσαντο δι' αὐτῶν, κἀντεῦθεν τοῦ λοιποῦ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἐγνώσθη ὅπως ἐργάζοιτο μέταξα. Ἐπιβουλῆς δὲ παρὰ πολλῶν μελετωμένης μηνυθείσης τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ὁ πατρίκιος Βελισάριος κατηγορήθη μετέχειν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀφείλετο μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς δορυφόρους αὐτοῦ ξύμπαντας, ἐκεῖνον δ' ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ ἀφῆκε τηρούμενον· τελευτήσαντος δὲ ἡ τούτου περιουσία τοῖς βασιλικοῖς ἀπονενέμητο θησαυροῖς. Ἰουστινιανὸς δὲ περὶ τὰ τελευταῖα αἱρέσει ἁλώσιμος γεγονὼς τῇ τῶν Ἀφθαρτοδοκητῶν, οἳ οὐ φθαρτὴν τὴν σάρκα προσλαβεῖν τὸν κύριον, ἀλλ' ἄφθαρτον ἅμα τῇ προσλήψει εἶναι αὐτὴν δογματίζουσιν, οὕτω πιστεύειν ἅπαντας ἔσπευδεν, ἀντιλέγοντα δ' αὐτῷ καὶ ἀντιδιατιθέμενον τὸν πατριάρχην Εὐτύχιον ὑπερόριον ἔθετο εἰς Ἀμάσειαν, καὶ προεχειρίσθη πατριάρχης ὁ ἀπὸ σχολαστικῶν Ἰωάννης, Ἀντιοχείας ὢν ἀποκρισιάριος. ἐτελεύτησε δ' οὕτω φρονῶν Ἰουστινιανός, βασιλεύσας ἔτη τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ, μῆνας ἑπτά, ἡμέρας τρισκαίδεκα, τῷ ἀνεψιῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰουστίνῳ τὴν βασιλείαν καταλιπών, ὃς κουροπαλάτης τετίμητο. Ἦν δὲ οὗτος τὸ γένος Ἰλλυριός, τὴν φύσιν εἰς ἅπαντα 174 περιδέξιος, τὴν γνώμην δὲ μεγαλόψυχος· ὃς εὐσεβὴς ὢν τοὺς παρὰ τοῦ Ἰουστινιανοῦ δομηθέντας ἐπεκόσμει ναοὺς καὶ τὰς ἁψῖδας ἄμφω τῷ ναῷ τῷ ἐν Βλαχέρναις προσέθετο ἐκ καινῆς, ὡς εἶναι τοῦτον σταυροειδῆ· καὶ τὸν ἐν τῷ ὀρφανοτροφείῳ ναὸν τῶν κορυφαίων ἀποστόλων πολυτελῶς ἐδομήσατο καὶ τὸν τῶν θείων Ἀναργύρων ναὸν ἐν τοῖς Βασιλίσκου· καὶ τὸν τῆς ἁγίας καὶ πρωτομάρτυρος Θέκλης καὶ τὸν τοῦ Παλατίου Χρυσοτρίκλινον καὶ τὸν μέγαν ἀγωγὸν τοῦ Οὐάλεντος ἀνεκαίνισε, καὶ πλείονα δ' ἕτερα. Ἦν δὲ τούτου γαμετὴ Σοφία, ἣν καὶ Αὐγούσταν ἔστεψεν, ἧς ὀνόματι καὶ τὸν λιμένα τῶν Σοφιῶν ᾠκοδόμησε καὶ βασίλεια πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, Σοφιανὰς δι' ἐκείνην καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὸν