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from servitude and to be purely subject to the scepters of the most Christian state of the aforementioned island having been moved by the providence of the man-loving God and the toil of our Christ-loving and pious emperor, we see that the privileges granted by the God-bearing fathers formerly gathered in Ephesus to the throne of the aforementioned man be kept unaltered, so that New Justinianopolis has the right of the city of Constantinople and the most God-beloved bishop established over it presides over all of the province of the Hellespontines and is to be ordained by his own bishops according to the ancient custom (for our God-bearing fathers have also decreed that the customs in each church be preserved), the bishop of the city of the Cyzicenes being subject to the president of the aforementioned Justinianopolis, in imitation of all the other bishops under the said most God-beloved president John, from whom, should the need arise, the bishop of the same city of the Cyzicenes shall also be ordained. Since we have thus accurately outlined and set forth for you the matters concerning nations, it is right that you should have clear knowledge not only concerning the things innovated at certain times in our state, but also concerning the whole empire of the Romans, so that the knowledge concerning nearer and familiar things, remaining in you more than others, may make you more desirous towards the subject. It must be known that in the time of Constantine, son of Constantine, also called Pogonatus, a certain Callinicus from Heliopolis, having fled to the Romans, manufactured the liquid fire brought forth through siphons, by which the Romans also burned down the fleet of the Saracens at Cyzicus and won the victory. 49 He who seeks how the Sclaveni were ordered to serve and be subject to the church of Patras, let him learn from the present writing. Nicephorus held the scepters of the Romans, and these, being in the theme of the Peloponnese, contemplated a revolt, first they plundered the houses of their Greek neighbors and put them to the sack, then they also rushed against the inhabitants of the city of Patras, and they were laying waste the plains before the wall and were besieging it, having with them also African Saracens. And when considerable time had passed, and a scarcity of necessities began to occur for those within the wall, both of water and of food, they consider a plan to come to terms and to receive words of immunity and then to subject the city to them. Since, therefore, the strategos at that time was at the edge of the theme in the castle of Corinth, and there was an expectation of his arrival to fight against the nation of the Sclaveni, as he had also previously been informed about their raid by the archons, the inhabitants of the castle decided that a scout should first be sent to the more eastern parts of the mountains to look out and learn if the strategos was indeed coming, having given instructions and a signal to the one sent, that if he saw the strategos coming, on his return he should dip the banner, so that they might know of the strategos's arrival, but if not, to hold the banner upright so that they would have no expectation of the strategos's arrival thereafter. So the scout, having gone out and learned that the strategos was not coming, was returning holding the banner upright. And indeed, as God was pleased through the intercessions of the holy apostle Andrew, the horse slipped and the rider fell under, he dipped the banner, and the inhabitants of the castle, seeing the sign that had occurred and thinking that the strategos was certainly coming, opened the gates of the castle, and went out boldly against the Sclaveni, and they saw the first-called apostle manifestly seated on a horse and coming at a run against the barbarians; and indeed he turned them to utter flight and scattered them and drove them far from the castle and made them fugitives. But the barbarians

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δουλείας καὶ καθαρῶς τοῖς σκήπτροις τοῦ Χριστιανικωτάτου κράτους ὑποταγῆναιτῆς εἰρημένης μεταναστάντος νήσου προνοίᾳ τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ καὶ μόχθῳ τοῦ φιλοχρίστου καὶ εὐσεβοῦς ἡμῶν βασιλέως, συνορῶμεν, ὥστε ἀκαινοτόμητα διαφυλαχθῆναι τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τὸ πρότερον συνελθόντων θεοφόρων πατέρων τῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ προγεγραμμένου ἀνδρὸς παρασχεθέντα προνόμια, ὥστε τὴν νέαν Ἰουστινιανούπολιν τὸ δίκαιον ἔχειν τῆς Κωνσταντινέων πόλεως καὶ τὸν ἐπ' αὐτῇ καθιστάμενον θεοφιλέστατον ἐπίσκοπον πάντων προεδρεύειν τῶν τῆς Ἑλλησποντίων ἐπαρχίας καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ἐπισκόπων χειροτονεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν συνήθειαν (τὰ γὰρ ἐν ἑκάστῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἔθη καὶ οἱ θεοφόροι ἡμῶν πατέρες παραφυλάττεσθαι διεγνώκασιν), τοῦ τῆς Κυζικηνῶν πόλεως ἐπισκόπου ὑποκειμένου τῷ προέδρῳ τῆς εἰρημένης Ἰουστινιανουπόλεως, μιμήσει τῶν λοιπῶν ἁπάντων ἐπισκόπων τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν λεχθέντα θεοφιλέστατον πρόεδρον Ἰωάννην, ἀφ' οὗ, χρείας καλούσης, καὶ ὁ τῆς αὐτῆς Κυζικηνῶν πόλεως ἐπίσκοπος χειροτονηθήσεται. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ ἐθνῶν οὕτως ἀκριβῶς σοι διετυπώσαμεν καὶ προεξεθέμεθα, δίκαιον μὴ μόνον περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς πολιτείᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ πάσης τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς κατά τινας χρόνους καινοτομηθέντων σαφῆ κεκτῆσθαί σε τὴν εἴδησιν, ὡς ἂν ἡ περὶ τῶν ἐγγυτέρω καὶ οἰκείων γνῶσις πλέον τῶν ἄλλων ἐν σοὶ διαμένουσα ποθεινότερον ἀναδείξῃ πρὸς τὸ ὑπήκοον. Ἰστέον, ὅτι ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίνου, υἱοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, τοῦ καὶ Πωγωνάτου καλουμένου, Καλλίνικός τις ἀπὸ Ἡλιουπόλεως Ῥωμαίοιςπροσφυγών, τὸ διὰ τῶν σιφώνων ἐκφερόμενον πῦρ ὑγρὸν κατεσκεύασεν, δι' οὗ καὶ τὸν τῶν Σαρακηνῶν στόλον ἐν Κυζίκῳ Ῥωμαῖοι καταφλέξαντες τὴν νίκην ἤραντο. 49 Ὁ ζητῶν, ὅπως τῇ τῶν Πατρῶν ἐκκλησίᾳ οἱ Σκλάβοι δουλεύειν καὶ ὑποκεῖσθαι ἐτάχθησαν, ἐκ τῆς παρούσης μανθανέτω γραφῆς. Νικηφόρος τὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων σκῆπτρα ἐκράτει, καὶ οὗτοι ἐν τῷ θέματι ὄντες Πελοποννήσου ἀπόστασιν ἐννοήσαντες, πρῶτον μὲν τὰς τῶν γειτόνων οἰκίας τῶν Γραικῶν ἐξεπόρθουν καὶ εἰς ἁρπαγὴν ἐτίθεντο, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ κατὰ τῶν οἰκητόρων τῆς τῶν Πατρῶν ὁρμήσαντες πόλεως, τὰ πρὸ τοῦ τείχους πεδία κατέστρεφόν τε καὶ ταύτην ἐπολιόρκουν, μεθ' ἑαυτῶν ἔχοντες καὶ Ἀφρικοὺς Σαρακηνούς. Ἐπεὶ δὲ χρόνος ἱκανὸς διῆλθεν, καὶ σπάνις τῶν ἀναγκαίων τοῖς ἔνδοθεν τοῦ τείχους γίνεσθαι ἤρξατο, ὕδατός τε καὶ τροφῶν, βουλὴν βουλεύονται εἰς συμβιβάσεις τε ἐλθεῖν καὶ λόγους ἀπαθείας λαβεῖν καὶ τηνικαῦτα τὴν πόλιν ὑποτάξαι αὐτούς. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ τηνικαῦτα στρατηγὸς ὑπῆρχεν πρὸς τὴν ἄκραν τοῦ θέματος ἐν κάστρῳ Κορίνθου, καὶ προσδοκία ἦν τοῦ παραγενέσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ καταπολεμῆσαι τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Σκλαβήνων, ὡς καὶ πρώην καταμηνυθέντος αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς καταδρομῆς αὐτῶν παρὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων, ἐβουλεύσαντο οἱ τοῦ κάστρου οἰκήτορες πρότερον ἀποσταλῆναι σκοπὸν εἰς τὰ ἀνατολικώτερα τῶν ὀρέων καὶ ἀποσκοπεῦσαι καὶ γνῶναι, εἰ ἄρα παραγίνεται ὁ στρατηγός, παραγγείλαντες καὶ σημεῖον δεδωκότες τῷ ἀποσταλμένῳ, ἵνα, εἰ μὲν ἴδοι ἐρχόμενον τὸν στρατηγόν, ἐν τῇ ὑποστροφῇ αὐτοῦ κλίνῃ τὸ φλάμμουλον, ὅπως γνῶσιν τὴν ἔλευσιν τοῦ στρατηγοῦ, εἰ δὲ μή γε, κατέχειν ὀρθὸν τὸ φλάμμουλον πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἔχειν αὐτοὺς προσδοκίαν τοῦ τοῦ λοιποῦ παραγίνεσθαι τὸν στρατηγόν. Τοῦ οὖν σκοποῦ ἀπελθόντος καὶ μαθόντος μὴ παραγίνεσθαι τὸν στρατηγόν, ὑπέστρεφεν ὀρθὸν κατέχων τὸ φλάμμουλον. Καὶ δὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐδοκήσαντος διὰ πρεσβειῶν τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Ἀνδρέου, τοῦ ἵππου ὀλισθήσαντος καὶ τοῦ ἐπιβάτου ὑποπεπτωκότος, ἔκλινεν τὸ φλάμμουλον, καὶ οἱ τοῦ κάστρου οἰκήτορες ἰδόντες τὸ γεγονὸς σημεῖον καὶ νομίσαντες ἐξ ἅπαντος παραγίνεσθαι τὸν στρατηγόν, ἤνοιξαν τὰς πύλας τοῦ κάστρου, καὶ ἐξῆλθον θαρσαλέοι κατὰ τῶν Σκλαβήνων, καὶ εἶδον τὸν πρωτόκλητον ἀπόστολον ὀφθαλμοφανῶς ἵππῳ ἐπικαθήμενον καὶ δρόμῳ ἐπερχόμενον κατὰ τῶν βαρβάρων· καὶ δὴ τρέψας τούτους κατὰ κράτος καὶ διασκορπίσας καὶ ἀπελάσας πόρρω τοῦ κάστρου φυγάδας ἐποίησεν. Οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι