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the place being difficult, they settled on the slopes of the said mountain, on one side the Melingoi, and on the other side the Ezeritai. And the aforesaid protospatharios Theoktistos, strategos of the Peloponnese, having managed to subdue these also, assessed upon the Melingoi sixty nomismata, and upon the Ezeritai three hundred nomismata, which they used to pay while he was strategos, as this same report is preserved by the locals to this day. But in the reign of the lord Romanos, the emperor, when the protospatharios John Proteuon was strategos in the same theme, he made a report to the same lord Romanos concerning both the Melingoi and the Ezeritai, that they had rebelled and were not obeying the strategos, nor were they submitting to the imperial command, but were as if autonomous and their own masters, and they neither accept a governor from the strategos, nor submit to campaigning with him, nor are they persuaded to perform any other public service. And before his report arrived, it happened that the protospatharios Krinites Arotras was appointed strategos in the Peloponnese, and when the report of the protospatharios John Proteuon, strategos of the Peloponnese, arrived and was read in the presence of the emperor, the lord Romanos, and contained the rebellion of the aforesaid Slavs and their stubbornness or rather disobedience towards the imperial commands, the same protospatharios Krinites undertook, since they had driven to such rebellion and disobedience, to campaign against them and to make war on and subdue and exterminate them. Beginning, therefore, to war against them from the month of March and burning their summer crops and plundering all their land, he had them resisting and holding out until the month of November, but from then on, seeing their own extermination, they asked for terms and to be subdued and to obtain mercy for what they had formerly transgressed. The aforesaid protospatharios and strategos Krinites therefore assessed upon them a larger tribute than they used to pay, for the Melingoi, on top of the sixty nomismata which they previously paid, five hundred and forty nomismata, so that their total tribute was six hundred nomismata, and for the Ezeritai, on top of the three hundred nomismata which they previously paid, another three hundred nomismata, so that their total tribute was six hundred nomismata, which the same protospatharios Krinites both demanded and brought into the divinely-guarded chamber. But when the protospatharios Krinites was transferred to the theme of Hellas, and the protospatharios Bardas Platypos was appointed strategos in the Peloponnese, and disorder and sedition arose on the part of the protospatharios Bardas Platypos himself and his like-minded protospatharioi and archons, and they drove the protospatharios Leo Agelastos from the theme, and immediately there was also the attack of the Sklavenoi against the same theme, the same Slavs, both the Melingoi and the Ezeritai, sent to the lord Romanos, the emperor, begging and entreating that the additions to their tribute be remitted and that they should pay as they had paid before. And since, as has been said before, the Sklavenoi had invaded the theme of the Peloponnese, the emperor, fearing that they too might join the Slavs and bring about the complete destruction of the same theme, made for them a golden bull that they should pay tribute as before, the Melingoi sixty nomismata, and the Ezeritai three hundred nomismata. This then is the reason for the addition and the remission of the tribute of the Melingoi and the Ezeritai. It should be known that the inhabitants of the fortress of Maina are not from the race of the aforesaid Slavs, but from the older Romans, who to this day are called Hellenes by the local inhabitants because in very ancient times they were idolaters and worshippers of idols after the manner of the ancient Hellenes, who in the reign of the ever-memorable Basil, having been baptized

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εἶναι τὸν τόπον δύσκολον κατῴκησαν εἰς τὰς πλευρὰς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὄρους, ἐν μὲν τῷ ἑνὶ μέρει οἱ Μηλιγγοί, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑτέρῳ μέρει οἱ Ἐζερῖται. Καὶ ὁ μὲν προρρηθεὶς πρωτοσπαθάριος Θεόκτιστος καὶ στρατηγὸς Πελοποννήσου δυνηθεὶς καὶ τούτους καθυποτάξαι, ἐξέθετο τοῖς μὲν Μηλιγγοῖς νομίσματα ξʹ, τοῖς δὲ Ἐζερίταις νομίσματα τʹ, ἅτινα καὶ ἐτέλουν, αὐτοῦ στρατηγοῦντος, καθὼς παρὰ τῶν ἐντοπίων διασώζεται μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἡ τοιαύτη φήμη. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ κυροῦ Ῥωμανοῦ, τοῦ βασιλέως, στρατηγῶν ὁ πρωτοσπαθάριος Ἰωάννης ὁ Πρωτεύων εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ θέμα ἀνήγαγεν πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν κύριν Ῥωμανὸν περί τε τῶν Μηλιγγῶν καὶ τῶν Ἐζεριτῶν, ὅτι ἀποστατήσαντες οὐ πείθονται οὔτε τῷ στρατηγῷ, οὔτε βασιλικῇ κελεύσει ὑπείκουσιν, ἀλλ' εἰσὶν ὥσπερ αὐτόνομοι καὶ αὐτοδέσποτοι, καὶ οὔτε παρὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ δέχονται ἄρχοντα, οὔτε συνταξιδεύειν αὐτῷ ὑπείκουσιν, οὔτε ἄλλην τοῦ δημοσίου δουλείαν ἐκτελεῖν πείθονται. Καὶ μέχρι τοῦ ἀνελθεῖν τὴν ἀναφορὰν αὐτοῦ συνέβη προβληθῆναι τὸν πρωτοσπαθάριον Κρινίτην τὸν Ἀροτρᾶν στρατηγὸν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, τῆς δὲ ἀναφορᾶς τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου Ἰωάννου καὶ στρατηγοῦ Πελοποννήσου τοῦ Πρωτεύοντος καταλαβούσης καὶ κατ' ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ κυροῦ Ῥωμανοῦ ἀναγνωσθείσης καὶ περιεχούσης τὴν ἀποστασίαν τῶν προρρηθέντων Σκλάβων καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰς βασιλικὰς προστάξεις δυσπείθειαν ἢ μᾶλλον ἀπείθειαν, ἐδέξατο ὁ αὐτὸς πρωτοσπαθάριος Κρινίτης, ἵνα, ἐπεὶ εἰς τοσαύτην ἤλασαν ἀποστασίαν καὶ ἀπείθειαν, ἐκστρατεύσῃ κατ' αὐτῶν καὶ καταπολεμήσῃ καὶ ὑποτάξῃ καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσῃ αὐτούς. Ἀρξάμενος οὖν πολεμεῖν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ μηνὸς Μαρτίου καὶ κατακαύσας τὰ θέρη αὐτῶν καὶ ληϊσάμενος πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν, ἔσχεν αὐτοὺς ἀνθισταμένους καὶ ἀντέχοντας μέχρι μηνὸς Νοεμβρίου, ἀπὸ τότε δὲ ἰδόντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐξολόθρευσιν, ᾐτήσαντο λόγον καὶ τοῦ ὑποταγῆναι αὐτοὺς καὶ τυχεῖν συμπαθείας, ὑπὲρ ὧν πρώην ἐπλημμέλησαν. Ὁ οὖν προρρηθεὶς πρωτοσπαθάριος καὶ στρατηγὸς ὁ Κρινίτης ἐξέθετο αὐτοῖς πάκτα πλείονα, ὧν ἐτέλουν, τοῖς μὲν Μηλιγγοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ξʹ νομισμάτων, ὧν πρότερον ἐτέλουν, νομίσματα φμʹ, ὡς εἶναι τὸ πᾶν πάκτον αὐτῶν νομίσματα χʹ, τοῖς δὲ Ἐζερίταις ἀπὸ τῶν τʹ νομισμάτων, ὧν πρότερον ἐτέλουν, ἕτερα νομίσματα τʹ, ὡς εἶναι τὸ πᾶν πάκτον αὐτῶν νομίσματα χʹ, ἅτινα καὶ ἀπῄτησεν καὶ εἰσεκόμισεν ὁ αὐτὸς πρωτοσπαθάριος Κρινίτης ἐν τῷ θεοφυλάκτῳ κοιτῶνι. Τοῦ δὲ πρωτοσπαθαρίου Κρινίτου ἐν τῷ θέματι μετατεθέντος Ἑλλάδος, καὶ τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου Βάρδα τοῦ Πλατυπόδη προβληθέντος στρατηγοῦ ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ, καὶ τῆς ἀταξίας γεναμένης καὶ στάσεως παρὰ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου Βάρδα τοῦ Πλατυπόδη καὶ τῶν ὁμοφρόνων αὐτοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίων καὶ ἀρχόντων, καὶ τὸν πρωτοσπαθάριον Λέοντα τὸν Ἀγέλαστον ἀποδιωξάντων ἀπὸ τοῦ θέματος, καὶ εὐθέως γενομένης καὶ τῆς τῶν Σκλαβησιάνων ἐπιθέσεως κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ θέματος, ἀπέστειλαν οἱ αὐτοὶ Σκλάβοι, οἵ τε Μηλιγγοὶ καὶ οἱ Ἐζερῖται, πρὸς τὸν κύριν Ῥωμανόν, τὸν βασιλέα, ἐξαιτούμενοι καὶ παρακαλοῦντες τοῦ συμπαθηθῆναι αὐτοῖς τὰς προσθήκας τῶν πάκτων καὶ τελεῖν αὐτούς, καθὼς καὶ πρότερον ἐτέλουν. Ἐπεὶ δέ, καθὼς προείρηται, εἰσῆλθον οἱ Σκλαβησιάνοι ἐν τῷ θέματι Πελοποννήσου, δεδιὼς ὁ βασιλεύς, ἵνα μὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ προστεθέντες τοῖς Σθλάβοις παντελῆ ἐξολόθρευσιν τοῦ αὐτοῦ θέματος ἐργάσωνται, ἐποίησεν αὐτοῖς χρυσοβούλλιον τοῦ τελεῖν αὐτοὺς πάκτα, ὡς καὶ πρότερον, τοὺς μὲν Μηλιγγοὺς ξʹ νομίσματα, τοὺς δὲ Ἐζερίτας νομίσματα τʹ. Αὕτη οὖν ἐστιν ἡ αἰτία τῆς προσθήκης καὶ τῆς ἐκκοπῆς τῶν πάκτων τῶν τε Μηλιγγῶν καὶ τῶν Ἐζεριτῶν. Ἰστέον, ὅτι οἱ τοῦ κάστρου Μαΐνης οἰκήτορες οὐκ εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς τῶν προρρηθέντων Σκλάβων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν παλαιοτέρων Ῥωμαίων, οἳ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν παρὰ τῶν ἐντοπίων Ἕλληνες προσαγορεύονται διὰ τὸ ἐν τοῖς προπαλαιοῖς χρόνοις εἰδωλολάτρας εἶναι καὶ προσκυνητὰς τῶν εἰδώλων κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς Ἕλληνας, οἵτινες ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ ἀοιδίμου Βασιλείου βαπτισθέντες