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

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 hunting scenes and horse races. Not only these things were dared by the accursed one, but also, tracking down the monks like a dog, alas, he slaughtered them like lambs who offered themselves for slaughter. Therefore the houses of those who wear black were emptied, monasteries were razed like robbers' dens. The prisons were crowded with the incarcerated, and from all sides the black-robed were driven out as if an abomination. Seeing such things, then, that Artabasdos, whom the course of my account has already introduced as having married the daughter of Leo, and hating the savage and barbarous tyranny, joins battle with him, makes him a fugitive, and is proclaimed absolute ruler of the land of the Romans. And again the rays of piety flash forth, and again the fiery-marble splendors of the Graces, and again the word of faith has dawned. The holy things are set up again, the images of the martyrs and of Christ and of the one who bore him shine forth. But again Belial asked to sift the chosen Israel like wheat (for it seems he had not yet been sufficiently punished), and again he marched against the pious to afflict them, as Chusarsathem the satrap of the Syrians did to Israel. What and of what sort was the event, the account will relate. The dragon does not endure his fall from power. He is despondent, he is distressed, he confers with his generals, he approaches them with flattery, he inflames them with hopes, he draws to himself the governors of themes and districts, and having acquired a heavy force of troops he joins a mighty battle, he defeats his adversaries, he routs Artabasdos, he conquers, he captures him alive, and he pours out unmixed his impulse and his wrath and the strength of his anger upon the wretched and suffering man, and he extinguishes the light-bearing lamps of his eyes. And again the God-hater wears the purple, again the beast holds the scepter, again he rules the Romans, and becomes even more bitter than Nebuchadnezzar. What is this reversal, O unstable wheel of life? The rose barely blossoms, and quickly it withers, but the thorny bramble stays fresh for a long time. Titus only glimpsed the meadow of power, and was quickly snatched away without partaking of the fruit; but this one of abominable name, the refuse of his race, became long-lived, O unequal fortune! and he harvested the fruit of his rule to satiety. This thrice-accursed one removed from life the holy Stephen, the crown of the monks; for he was a staunch champion of the holy icons, skillfully piercing the terrible beast and striking it to the heart with the darts of his refutations. And the bones of the gloriously triumphant martyr Euphemia, the profane one mixed with the bones of oxen and the jaws of dogs and gave them over to the fire. Where is the bolt of lightning? And having ruled for thirty-four years he is justly delivered over to the punishments of Hades. But when at last he breathed out his blood-stained soul, Leo, the son of the abominable one, takes up the scepter. But Leo too quickly departed from the earth, having ruled the empire for only five years, leaving Irene his spouse and her son Constantine as most lawful rulers. For they, having gathered God-bearing men, tore out by the root the thorn of iconoclasm which had stung pious hearts, and in the fields of souls that had run wild they cast down the seed of orthodoxy. For a considerable time, then, both son and mother ruled, and the mother was, in the words of David, rejoicing in her child. But when the boy emperor finally came of age and was a handsome youth, with the first down on his cheeks (for he had been left a tender little boy by his father), wicked flatterers infiltrated his circle and consumed his heart with flatteries as wood-eating worms do sweet-juiced trees, he grew arrogant and boasted against the empress, and thinking that he alone was sufficient for state affairs, he made his mother an outcast from the palace and with her, the peace of the world, her nurturer.

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ἐλῄστευσε τὸ κάλλος, ἐξέκοψεν ἐκ τῶν ναῶν τὰς ἱερὰς μορφώσεις, ἀντενεχάραξε δ' αὐτοῖς χρώμασι καὶ ψηφῖσιν τὰ φίλα κυνηγέσια καὶ τὰς ἱππηλασίας. οὐ ταῦτα δὲ τετόλμητο μόνα τῷ καταράτῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς μονάζοντας ὡς κύων ἀνιχνεύων ὡς ἄρνας φεῦ κατέθυεν ἐθελοσφαγουμένους. ἐξεκενοῦντο τοιγαροῦν οἶκοι μελενδυτούντων, σεμνείων ἦν κατασκαφὴ καθάπερ λῃστηρίων. ἐστενοχώρηντο φρουραὶ τοῖς ἐγκαθειργνυμένοις, καὶ πάντοθεν ἠλαύνετο τὸ μέλαν ὥσπερ μύσος. Τοιαῦτα τοίνυν καθορῶν Ἀρτάβασδος ἐκεῖνος, ὃν φθάσας προεγνώρισεν ὁ δρόμος ὁ τοῦ λόγου εἰς γάμον ἁρμοσάμενον τοῦ Λέοντος τὴν παῖδα, καὶ τὴν ἀγριοβάρβαρον μισήσας τυραννίδα, συνάπτει πόλεμον αὐτῷ, δείκνυσι φυγαδίαν, καὶ κράτωρ ἀναδείκνυται Ῥωμαίων γῆς αὐτάναξ. καὶ πάλιν ἀπαστράπτουσιν ἀκτῖνες εὐσεβείας καὶ πάλιν πυριμάρμαροι χαρίτων στιλβηδόνες, καὶ πάλιν ἀνατέταλκε τῆς πίστεως ὁ λόγος. ἀναστηλοῦνται τὰ σεπτά, λάμπουσιν αἱ μορφώσεις αἱ τῶν μαρτύρων καὶ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς αὐτὸν τεξάσης. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐξῃτήσατο καὶ πάλιν ὁ Βελίαρ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τὸν ἐκλεκτὸν ὡς σῖτον σινιάσαι (οὔπω καὶ γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀρκούντως ἐκολάσθη), καὶ πάλιν ἐπεστράτευσε τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς ἐκθλίψων ὡς Ἰσραὴλ Χουσαρσαθὲμ ὁ Σύρων σατραπάρχης. τί δὲ καὶ ποῖον τὸ συμβάν, ὁ λόγος ἱστορήσει. Οὐ στέγει τὴν ἀπόπτωσιν τὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ δράκων. βαρυθυμεῖ, παθαίνεται, κοινοῦται τοῖς στρατάρχαις, προσφέρεται κολακικῶς, ἐλπίσιν ἐκθερμαίνει, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐφέλκεται χωράρχας κλιματάρχας, καὶ δύναμιν κτησάμενος βαρεῖαν στρατευμάτων μάχην συνάπτει καρτεράν, ἡττᾷ τοὺς ἀντιμάχους, τροποῦται τὸν Ἀρτάβασδον, νικᾷ, χειροῦται ζῶντα, καὶ τὴν ὁρμὴν καὶ τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ τὴν ἀλκὴν τοῦ δυστυχοῦς καὶ τληπαθοῦς ἄκρατον καταχέει, καὶ τῶν ὀμμάτων σβέννυσι τὰς φεραυγεῖς λαμπάδας. καὶ πάλιν ὁ μισόθεος φορεῖ τὴν ἁλουργίδα, πάλιν ὁ θὴρ σκηπτροκρατεῖ, πάλιν Ῥωμαίων ἄρχει, καὶ γίνεται πικρότερος καὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ. τί τοῦτο τὸ παλίνστροφον, ἄστατε τροχὲ βίου; τὸ ῥόδον μόλις ἐξανθεῖ, τάχιον δ' ὑπορρέει, ἡ κεντροφόρος ῥάμνος δὲ μέχρι πολλοῦ νεάζει. ὁ Τίτος μόνον ἔβλεψε τοῦ κράτους τὸν λειμῶνα, καὶ τάχιον ἀνήρπαστο μὴ μετασχὼν ὀπώρας· οὗτος δ' ὁ μυσαρώνυμος, τὸ σκύβαλον τοῦ γένους, ἐγένετο μακρόβιος, ὢ τύχης ἀνωμάλου! καὶ τὴν ὀπώραν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐτρύγησεν εἰς κόρον. οὗτος ὁ τρισεξάγιστος ἐξήγαγε τοῦ βίου τὸν Στέφανον τὸν ἱερόν, τῶν μοναστῶν τὸ στέφος· ἦν γὰρ στερρὸς ὑπέρμαχος τῶν ἱερῶν εἰκόνων, καὶ τὸ θηρίον τὸ δεινὸν εὐστόχως διαπείρων καὶ βάλλων κατακάρδια βελέμνοις τῶν ἐλέγχων. ὀστᾶ τῆς καλλινίκου δὲ μάρτυρος Εὐφημίας βοῶν ὀστέοις καὶ κυνῶν ὁ βέβηλος συμμίξας γνάθοις πυρὸς παρέδωκε. ποῦ κεραυνοῦ τὸ βέλος; τριάκοντα δ' ἐν ἔτεσι πρὸς τέσσαρσι κρατήσας ταῖς Ἅιδου παραπέμπεται κολάσεσιν ἐνδίκως. Ἐπεὶ δ' ἐξέρρηξέ ποτε ψυχὴν τὴν μιαιφόνον, Λέων ὁ παῖς τοῦ βδελυροῦ χειρίζεται τὰ σκῆπτρα. ἀλλὰ καὶ Λέων τάχιον γῆθεν μεταναστεύει, τῆς βασιλείας ἔτεσι μόνοις πέντε κατάρξας, Εἰρήνην τὴν ὁμόζυγον καὶ τὸν ἐκ ταύτης παῖδα τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον κράτορας λιπὼν ἐννομωτάτους. οὗτοι καὶ γὰρ ἀθροίσαντες ἄνδρας θεοφορήτους τὴν ἄκανθαν αὐτόρριζον τῆς εἰκονομαχίας ἀνέσπασαν τὴν κνίσασαν τὰς εὐσεβεῖς καρδίας, καὶ ταῖς ἀρούραις τῶν ψυχῶν ταῖς ὑλομανησάσαις τὸν σπόρον κατεβάλλοντο τὸν τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας. ἄμφω μὲν οὖν ἐφ' ἱκανὸν παῖς τε καὶ μήτηρ ἦρχον, καὶ μήτηρ ἦν, τὸ τοῦ ∆αβίδ, ἐπὶ παιδὶ τρυφῶσα. ἐπεὶ δ' ὁ παῖς ὁ βασιλεὺς λοιπὸν ἡλικιοῦτο καὶ μεῖραξ ἦν καλλιφυής, κροτάφους ἰουλίζων (καὶ γὰρ παιδίσκος ἁπαλὸς λέλειπτο τῷ τεκόντι), παρεισφθαρέντων εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν πονηροκολάκων καὶ δαπανώντων τὴν αὐτοῦ καρδίαν κολακείαις ὡς δένδρα τὰ γλυκύχυμα σκώληκες ξυλοφάγοι, ὑπερφρονεῖ μεγαλαυχεῖ κατὰ τῆς βασιλίδος, αὐτός τε μόνος ἐπαρκεῖν τοῖς πράγμασι νομίσας τῶν ἀνακτόρων ἔκπτωτον ποιεῖται τὴν μητέρα καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ τὴν κοσμικὴν εἰρήνην κουροτρόφον.

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