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

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 beyond measure, proportion is a fine thing." For Justinian, having kindled the furnaces of his wrath sevenfold against those in Cherson, ignited a flame of hatred against himself among those under his hand. For God also, they say, hates excessive zeal; so Apsimaros reigns for seven years in between, while Justinian for ten with six others. But the emperor Philippicus, nurturing in his heart impiety and seeds of all kinds of wickedness, did not escape the all-seeing pupils of God. And for that very reason, having had the circles of his eyes gouged out, he was another wretched Oedipus, groping his way in darkness and lamenting the loss of both the light and his rule, having survived his reign for a very short and brief time; for he tasted the crown for only two years. And when Philippicus had thus unfortunately fallen, the senate establishes Artemius as Emperor of the Ausonians, who had a second name according to the two-name custom; and thenceforth they called him Anastasius Artemius. He was weighty and effective, brought up on books, an undersecretary of the emperors, a post which they call asecretis. And so, taking hold of the power more effectively, he showed himself an avenger and punisher on behalf of Philippicus, by punishing those who had blinded his eyes. But learning that Hagarene pirates—those land-and-water beasts, the bears of the sea—were being equipped for a naval expedition, having assembled triremes and swift-sailing ships, he sends out men to join battle with those from Hagar. Who, having sailed straight as far as the Hellespont (for they were running straight with gentle-blowing winds), there they mutinied; for according to him who said it, the lack of discipline of sailors is more potent than fire. And first they stab the admiral with their swords, then seizing Theodosius, a tax collector there, they unwillingly make him emperor and splendidly adorn him with the symbols of rule, a man of soft soul, sluggish in his actions, timid, small-hearted, unworthy of the scepter. And with him and in his company, with shouts of praise, they proceed on their return journey to the blessed city. But the emperor Artemius (for the revolt had been reported) places a guard fleet and strong admirals over the fortunate and royal city, but he himself, having planned, as he thought, for the better, departs from Byzantium, and having reached Bithynia, shuts himself up within the walls of Nicaea, as though they would not yield to ram-battering hands; for the reversal of fickle fortune had driven from his soul and mind the saying "Unless God guards the strong-towered city, its wall-guard has toiled in vain." For a short time, then, those with Theodosius did not achieve their desire, since the tower-guards defended stoutly and kept them out; but when they gave up from long and continuous toil, they intoxicate the guards with craters of hopes, and taking in addition invincible gold, a city-taker, they become superior to their opponents, and at night, rushing inside the gates like wild beasts, they plundered the goods of every splendid house, and made the inhabitants poor from being wealthy, destitute from being rich in gold, naked from being well-robed, and they firmly secured the power for Theodosius. He, having sent to Artemius oaths full of horror that he would keep him untouched by any suffering, if first the hair of his head were shorn, measures out the punishment as far as exile. But him too, who had tasted power for a short while, the royal glory quickly abandons, he having been proclaimed sole ruler for two years. For Leo from Isauria, named after a beast, who was beastly in soul and name and ways, being enriched with the rank of patrician and being general and commander of the eastern regiments, plots a rebellion against Theodosius, having found as a fellow-agent and accomplice in his schemes Artabasdos, a man of great renown, to whom he also joined his own daughter in marriage, when the beast rushed upon the scepters of the Romans, giving her as a reward to his collaborator for the empire.

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δύστλητον ὄψει, καὶ δάπεδον ἐπάλασσεν ὡς ὕδωρ ἀπορρέων. οὕτω καλῶς καὶ συνετῶς τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐρρέθη "μηδὲν ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτριον, καλὸν ἡ συμμετρία." ὁ γὰρ Ἰουστινιανὸς τὰς τοῦ θυμοῦ καμίνους ἐκκαύσας ἑπταπλάσιον κατὰ τῶν ἐν Χερσῶνι, μίσους ἐξῆψε καθ' αὑτοῦ φλόγα τοῖς ὑπὸ χεῖρα. μισεῖ, φασί, γὰρ καὶ θεὸς τὰς ἄγαν προθυμίας· ἑπτὰ μὲν οὖν Ἀψίμαρος κρατεῖ μέσον ἐν χρόνοις, ὁ δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς δέκα σὺν ἓξ ἑτέροις. Φιλιππικὸς δ' ὁ βασιλεὺς τρέφων κατὰ καρδίας δυσσέβειαν καὶ σπέρματα παντοδαπῆς κακίας τὰς κόρας οὐκ ἐλάνθανε θεοῦ τὰς πανοπτρίας. ἔνθεν τοι καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐκκεντηθεὶς τὰ κύκλα ἄλλος Οἰδίπους δύστηνος ἦν, σκοτεινὰ βακτρεύων καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν στέρησιν οἰμώζων, βραχύ τι καὶ μικρόχρονον ἐπιβιοὺς τῷ κράτει· δυσὶ γὰρ μόνοις ἔτεσιν ἐγεύσατο τοῦ στέφους. Φιλιππικοῦ δὲ δυστυχῶς οὕτως ἐκπεπτωκότος ἡ σύγκλητος Ἀρτέμιον ἵστησιν Αὐσονάρχην, κλῆσιν δευτέραν ἔχοντα κατὰ διωνυμίαν· κἀντεῦθεν Ἀναστάσιον Ἀρτέμιον ἐκάλουν. ἦν δὲ βριθὺς καὶ δραστικός, βίβλοις ἐντεθραμμένος, ἀνάκτων ὑπογραμματεύς, ὅν φασιν ἀσηκρῆτις. καὶ τοίνυν δραστικώτερον ἁπτόμενος τοῦ κράτους ἐκδικητὴς Φιλιππικοῦ καὶ τιμωρὸς ἐφάνη, τοὺς ἀσβολώσαντας αὐτοῦ τὰ βλέφαρα κολάσας. Ἀγαρηνοὺς δὲ πειρατὰς μαθὼν ναυστολουμένους, θηρία τὰ χερσόϋγρα, τὰς τῆς θαλάσσης ἄρκτους, τριήρεις συμπηξάμενος καὶ σκάφας γοργοπλόους ἐκπέμπει τοὺς συνάψοντας μάχην τοῖς ἐκ τῆς Ἄγαρ. οἳ μέχρι πρὸς Ἑλλήσποντον εὐθέως πεπλευκότες (εὐθυδρομοῦντες ἦσαν γὰρ πνοαῖς ἁπαλοπνόοις) ἐκεῖσε στασιάζουσι· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν εἰπόντα ἀπαιδευσία ναυτικὴ πυρὸς δραστικωτέρα. καὶ πρῶτα μὲν ἐν ξίφεσι κεντοῦσι τὸν στολάρχην, ἔπειτα Θεοδόσιον ἐκεῖ φορολογοῦντα ἁρπάσαντες ἀέκοντα κράτορα καθιστῶσι καὶ τοῖς συμβόλοις τῆς ἀρχῆς λαμπρῶς κατακοσμοῦσιν, ἄνθρωπον ἁπαλόψυχον, νωθρὸν περὶ τὰς πράξεις, ἄτολμον, μικροκάρδιον, ἀνάξιον τῶν σκήπτρων. καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ βοαῖς ὑμνητηρίοις χωροῦσι παλιμπόρευτοι πρὸς τὴν ὀλβίαν πόλιν. ὁ βασιλεὺς δ' Ἀρτέμιος (ἤγγελτο γὰρ ἡ στάσις) τῇ μὲν ὀλβιοδαίμονι καὶ βασιλίδι πόλει στόλον ἐφίστησι φρουρὸν καὶ καρτεροὺς ναυάρχους, αὐτὸς δὲ βουλευσάμενος, ὡς ᾤετο, κρειττόνως ἀπαίρει μὲν τῆς Βύζαντος, τὴν Βιθυνῶν δὲ φθάσας τοῖς Νικαέων τείχεσιν αὑτὸν ἐγκατακλείει ὡς δῆθεν οὐχ ὑπείκουσι χερσὶ κριοκοπούσαις· ἡ γάρ τοι περιπέτεια τῆς παλιντρόπου τύχης ἐξέκρουσεν ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ νοὸς ἐκείνου τὸ "πόλιν τὴν στερρόπυργον ἂν μὴ θεὸς φυλάξῃ, εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασεν ὁ ταύτης τειχοφύλαξ." χρόνον μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ βραχὺν οἱ σὺν Θεοδοσίῳ τὸ θελητὸν οὐκ ἤνυον, οἷα πυργοφυλάκων ἀμυνομένων καρτερῶς καὶ τούτους ἀπειργόντων· ἐπεὶ δ' ἀπεῖπον ἐκ πολλοῦ καὶ συνεχοῦς καμάτου, μεθύουσι τοὺς φύλακας ἐλπίδων τοῖς κρατῆρσι, καὶ τὸν χρυσὸν ἑλέπολιν ἄμαχον προσλαβόντες ὑπέρτεροί τε γίνονται τῶν ἐναντιουμένων, καὶ νύκτωρ ἔνδον τῶν πυλῶν ὡς θῆρες εἰσδραμόντες ἐλάφυξαν τὰ χρήματα πάσης λαμπρᾶς οἰκίας, καὶ τοὺς κατοίκους ἔδειξαν πένητας ἐξ ὀλβίων, ἐκ πολυχρύσων πενιχρούς, γυμνοὺς ἐξ εὐπαρύφων, τὸ κράτος δ' ἐκρατύναντο στερρῶς Θεοδοσίῳ. ὃς ὅρκους φρίκης γέμοντας ἐκπέμψας Ἀρτεμίῳ πάθους παντὸς ἀπείρατον αὐτὸν διατηρήσειν, ἂν πρότερον ἐκθερισθῇ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὰς τρίχας, τὴν κόλασιν ἐπιμετρεῖ μέχρις ὑπερορίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτον πρὸς μικρὸν γευσάμενον τοῦ κράτους τὸ κλέος τὸ βασίλειον θᾶττον ἀπολιμπάνει, ἐπὶ δυσὶν αὐτάνακτα χρόνοις ἀναδειχθέντα. ὁ γάρ τοι θηριώνυμος ἐξ Ἰσαυρίας Λέων, ὁ καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ τοὔνομα καὶ τρόπους θηριώδης, τὴν τῆς πατρικιότητος καταπλουτῶν ἀξίαν καὶ στρατηγῶν καὶ στραταρχῶν ταγμάτων τῶν ἑῴων, ἀποστασίαν μελετᾷ κατὰ Θεοδοσίου, συμπράκτορα συντυρευτὴν τῶν δολοπλοκημάτων ἐφευρηκὼς Ἀρτάβασδον, ἄνδρα τῶν περιδόξων, ᾧ καὶ συνῆψε τὴν αὑτοῦ πρὸς γάμον θυγατέρα, ὅταν εἰσώρουσεν ὁ θὴρ εἰς τὰ Ῥωμαίων σκῆπτρα, ταύτην διδοὺς ἀνταμοιβὴν τῷ συνεργῷ τοῦ κράτους.

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