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Maurice. And the emperor, remembering his transgression concerning the prisoners, beseeched God to pay the penalty for this in the present life and sent everywhere, asking everyone to ask this of God. And as a rumor prevailed that the name of the one who was to succeed him began with the letter phi, he thought this was his son-in-law Philippicus. And the man was under his suspicion and although he swore that he had never entertained such a thing in his mind, he did not convince him. But a dream that once appeared to the emperor dispelled the suspicion against Philippicus. And the dream: it seemed that a great crowd stood by the image of Christ the savior above the Chalke Gate and cried out against the emperor, and that a voice came from the image, and that Maurice was brought forward, and that he was immediately brought and asked where he wished to pay the penalty for the transgression he had committed against the prisoners, in the present age or in the age to come. And he said, "Here, philanthropic master." And he heard a voice saying, "Therefore, hand him and all his family over to Phocas the soldier." Therefore, when the emperor awoke from 195 his agony, he summoned Philippicus and first asked for forgiveness, for having suspected him in vain, and then asked if he knew a soldier named Phocas in the Roman regiments. And he answered that he knew him and that this was the one sent by the army a short while ago, "who also spoke to you rather insolently." And the emperor asked what the man was like in age and character; and Philippicus said that Phocas was young, and in manner rash and cowardly. To this the emperor replied, "If cowardly, also a murderer," and he related the dream to him. And at that time there also appeared a comet star called the sword-shaped one. At any rate, the emperor sent a letter to his brother Peter, who was then general, to cross the Ister with the army and to provide for its needs from there. And this was managed out of avarice, so that the armed force might be nourished by plundering and he himself might gain the soldiers' rations. This created a revolt in the army; and immediately Phocas was proclaimed emperor by them; and he happened to be a centurion. And when the general Peter learned this, he fled and became a messenger of the event to the emperor. And he withdrew from the palace because of those revolting in the city 196 and embarking on a dromon he fled with his wife and children; and he sent his son Theodosius to Chosroes, so that he, remembering what had been done for him by Maurice, might show him the same in return. And when the emperor's withdrawal became known to the multitude, it both raised the revolt to a greater degree and caused Maurice to be reviled throughout the marketplace. And as Phocas was now not far from Byzantium, the people of the Green faction went out, acclaiming him. Who, arriving with them at the Hebdomon, there had his head bound with a diadem by the patriarch; and entering the palace, he immediately proclaimed his wife Leontia Augusta, with the factions present; at which time, a dispute having arisen between the Greens and the Blues over the places in which they were standing, they began to riot against each other. And Phocas, sending some men, attempted to quell their riot. Therefore, when one of those sent insulted the demarch of the Blues and pushed him, the people of the faction, not enduring this, shouted, "Go away, learn your station, Maurice is alive." From this the tyrant was provoked to the murder of Maurice; 197 and having been brought to the harbor of Eutropius in Chalcedon, his children were killed before his eyes. And he, at each one, uttered, "Righteous are you, Lord, and upright are your judgments," bearing the misfortune nobly. And he showed even more the man's nobility and his bearing of the trial with fortitude *** his last and suckling child; for when his nurse, so that the line of Maurice might not be entirely destroyed, had secretly substituted the child she was nursing, giving her own in its place for the slaughter, Maurice demanded that his own be brought. Then he himself also magnanimously received the

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τὸν Μαυρίκιον. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸ ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις ἀνόμημα ἀναλογισάμενος ἱκέτευε τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ τὴν ὑπὲρ τούτου δίκην ἐκτῖσαι καὶ πανταχοῦ διεπέμψατο, ἀξιῶν πάντας τοῦτο αἰτεῖν τὸν θεόν. φήμης δὲ κρατούσης ὅτι τοῦ μέλλοντος αὐτὸν διαδέξασθαι ἐκ τοῦ ˉφ στοιχείου τὸ ὄνομα ἄρχεται, τὸν γαμβρὸν αὐτοῦ Φιλιππικὸν τοῦτον ᾤετο εἶναι. καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ δι' ὑποψίας ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ διομνύμενος μήποτέ τι κατὰ νοῦν τοιοῦτον βαλέσθαι, οὐκ ἔπειθεν. ὄναρ δέ ποτε τῷ βασιλεῖ θεαθὲν τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Φιλιππικοῦ ἔλυσεν ὑποψίαν. τὸ δ' ὄναρ· ἐδόκει πλῆθος παρεστάναι πολὺ τῷ ἄνωθεν τῆς Χαλκῆς πύλης τοῦ σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ἐκτυπώματι καὶ καταβοᾶν τοῦ βασιλέως, φωνὴν δ' ἐκ τῆς εἰκόνος γενέσθαι, παραστῆναι καὶ τὸν Μαυρίκιον, καὶ τὸν αὐτίκα ἀχθῆναι καὶ ἐρωτᾶσθαι ὅποι βούλεται τὴν ἔκτισιν ἀποδοῦναι τοῦ ἀνομήματος οὗ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους εἰργάσατο, ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι ἢ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. τὸν δὲ "ἐνταῦθα" φάναι, "φιλάνθρωπε δέσποτα." καὶ ἀκοῦσαι φωνῆς λεγούσης "παράδοτε οὖν αὐτὸν παγγενῆ Φωκᾷ τῷ στρατιώτῃ." διυπνισθεὶς τοίνυν ἐκ 195 τῆς ἀγωνίας ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τὸν Φιλιππικὸν μετακαλεσάμενος πρῶτα μὲν συγγνώμην ᾔτει, ὡς μάτην ὑπονοῶν κατ' αὐτοῦ, εἶτα ἤρετο εἰ ἐν τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς τάγμασιν οἶδε στρατιώτην Φωκᾶν. ὁ δὲ εἰδέναι ἀνταπεκρίνατο καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν πρὸ μικροῦ σταλέντα παρὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς, "ὅς σοι καὶ ἰταμώτερον διελέγετο." καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς οἷός ἐστιν ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ἡλικίαν καὶ τὸ ἦθος προσήρετο· καὶ ὁ Φιλιππικὸς νέον εἶναι τὸν Φωκᾶν εἶπε, τὸν δὲ τρόπον θρασὺν καὶ δειλόν. πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀντεφθέγξατο "εἰ δειλὸς καὶ φονεύς" καὶ διηγήσατο τὸ ὄναρ αὐτῷ. ἐφάνη δὲ τότε καὶ κομήτης ἀστὴρ ὁ λεγόμενος ξιφίας. τῷ γοῦν ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ Πέτρῳ στρατηγοῦντι τότε ἐπιστέλλει ὁ βασιλεὺς διαβάντι τὸν Ἴστρον μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῇ τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν πορίζεσθαι. ἦν δὲ τοῦτο διὰ φιλαργυρίαν οἰκονομούμενον, ἵνα ληιζόμενον τὸ ὁπλιτικὸν ἀποτρέφοιτο καὶ αὐτὸς κερδήσοι τὸ στρατιωτικὸν σιτηρέσιον. τοῦτο στάσιν τῇ στρατιᾷ ἐνεποίησε· καὶ αὐτίκα βασιλεὺς παρ' αὐτῶν ὁ Φωκᾶς ἀνηγόρευτο· ἐτύγχανε δ' ὢν ἑκατόνταρχος. ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς Πέτρος τοῦτο μαθὼν ἔφυγε καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ αὐτάγγελος τοῦ γεγονότος ἐγένετο. ὁ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει στα196 σιαζόντων ὑπεξῆλθε τῶν ἀνακτόρων καὶ δρόμωνι ἐμβεβηκὼς μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἀπέδρα· τὸν δὲ υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Θεοδόσιον πρὸς Χοσρόην ἀπέστειλεν, ἵνα ἀπομνημονεύσας ἐκεῖνος τῶν παρὰ Μαυρικίου γενομένων αὐτῷ κἀκεῖνος εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ ἴσα ἐνδείξηται. ὡς δ' ἐγνώσθη τῷ πλήθει ἡ τοῦ βασιλεύοντος ὑποχώρησις, καὶ τὴν στάσιν ἐπὶ μεῖζον ἦρε καὶ τὸν Μαυρίκιον δυσφημεῖσθαι διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς παρεσκεύασεν. Ἤδη δὲ τοῦ Φωκᾶ μὴ πόρρω τῆς Βυζαντίδος τυγχάνοντος, οἱ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Πρασίνων ἐξῄεσαν εὐφημοῦντες αὐτόν. ὃς σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ Ἑβδόμῳ παραγενόμενος, ἐκεῖ παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου ταινιοῦται τὴν κεφαλήν· καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα Λεοντίαν Αὐγούσταν εὐθὺς ἀνηγόρευσε τῶν δήμων παρόντων· ὅτε διὰ τόπους, ἐν οἷς ἵσταντο, ἀμφιβολίας γενομένης τοῖς Πρασίνοις καὶ τοῖς Βενέτοις, στασιάζειν ἤρξαντο κατ' ἀλλήλων. πέμψας δέ τινας ὁ Φωκᾶς κατευνάζειν αὐτοῖς τὴν στάσιν ἐπεχείρει. ἑνὸς οὖν τῶν σταλέντων τὸν τῶν Βενέτων ὑβρίσαντος δήμαρχον καὶ τοῦτον ὠθήσαντος, μὴ ἐνεγκόντες οἱ τοῦ δήμου τοῦτο ἔκραζον "ἄπιθι, μάθε κατάστασιν, ὁ Μαυρίκιος ζῇ." ἐντεῦθεν ὁ τύραννος εἰς τὸν τοῦ Μαυρικίου φόνον 197 ἠρέθιστο· καὶ ἀχθέντος εἰς τὸν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι τοῦ Εὐτροπίου λιμένα προανῃρέθησαν ἐπ' ὄψεσιν αὐτοῦ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ "δίκαιος εἶ, κύριε, καὶ εὐθεῖς αἱ κρίσεις σου" ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ἐφθέγγετο, γενναίως φέρων τὴν συμφοράν. ἔδειξε δὲ μᾶλλον τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς γενναιότητα καὶ τὸ φέρειν εὐγνωμόνως τὸν πειρασμὸν *** ὕστατον αὐτοῦ παιδίον καὶ ὑπομάζιον· τῆς γὰρ αὐτὸ τιθηνούσης, ἵνα μὴ πάντῃ τὸ γένος τοῦ Μαυρικίου ἐξόληται, ὑποκλεψάσης τὸ τιθηνούμενον, ἀντιδούσης δὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον πρὸς τὴν σφαγήν, ὁ Μαυρίκιος τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἐνεχθῆναι ἐζήτησεν. εἶτα καὶ αὐτὸς μεγαλοψύχως ἐδέξατο τὴν