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
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 spear drenched in blood, at last, being taken alive, his pupils are dug out and the beautifully shining lamps of his eyes are extinguished, and after this, he is terribly hacked to pieces with swords. But the emperor Michael, about to depart this life, having reigned over the Romans for eight whole years, hands over the scepter to his son Theophilos; who, in all other respects, sailing the brine of life unfortunately and perilously but not calmly, found this one good thing paradoxically, the all-revered and divine Theodora among women, like a pure white pearl, like a carbuncle stone. Having her, therefore, as his bedfellow, being yoked to her in marriage, he also became a father of children, sowing in fertile soil, and was more fortunate than Adam the first-formed. For the rib-born and first mother Eve led him out from the delight of the trees of Eden; but she made him who dwelt with her and was her life's partner of the right and saved portion. And here alone for David did the beautifully melodious lyre that charms even the stones sound out of tune. For it declares, being played for God, "God settles the solitary in a house;" but here dung met with fragrant myrrh, and a red-leaved rose with a thorny wild pear, and a bile-colored hue with a purple dye. For she was a grove overgrown with all virtues and a grace-sprouting garden and a tree of seemliness, while he was a field directly opposite of the caltrops of impiety and a thorn-pricked bush and a heart-piercing buckthorn. For hating the sacred paintings and the images of Christ and the martyrs, he tortured those who paid them relative veneration with unbearable and terrible torments. But also those who shone in life and word above the beauties of the stars, above the brilliance of the sun, the holy Theodore, the divine Theophanes, having oppressed with inflictions of grievous torments, and having flayed the skin of their bodies with ox-hide whips, he also tattooed their foreheads up to their eyebrows, and carved upon them iambic verses. These men, therefore, wore the tattooing on their foreheads like a jewel-bright crown of pearl; but the emperor Theophilos, regarding the icons and the depictions of the holy persons, was exceedingly awkward and wicked and ill-disposed, but in other respects he was also brilliant-minded and magnanimous and a protector of justice and of lawful statutes. A most clear sign of his magnificence was the artful construction of the gold-plated organs, from which the wind, sent up by a mechanism, sounded forth melodious and pleasing harmonies and a clear, tickling musical piece flowed forth. Along with these were the all-golden and far-gleaming trees, glittering from afar with the pale-yellow of gold, on which musical sparrows made of gold were perched, as on the leaves of a pine or a high-tressed fir, pouring forth a honey-sweet chatter by means of a mechanism. Thus do the craftsmen's hands of resourceful men almost rival soul-nurturing nature. But if someone wishes to understand more accurately his magnanimity and his love of splendor, let him look at the sea-neighboring walls, which guard the glorious city among cities. For once a savage winter, descending with a heavy roar, crystallized the brine to an immense depth and turned the liquid to stone, congealing its flow, and the stormy coldness turned the sea into a shell. After a short while, the warming rays of the sun broke apart the continuous mass of the petrified brine, and from there fragments of ice broke off, and overcoming wagon-sized stones in their magnitude. One would have said that the peaks of deep-ravined hills, breaking off from on high, were rolling down with a crash, or that wall-shaking stones, thrown from battlements, were flying, whizzing through the thin air with their motion. And so, coming down from the Pontic sea, they crashed against the seaside walls and shook the firm foundations of the tower-structures. which the... seeing
59
κἀντεῦθεν τὸ κτιζόμενον ῥίζοθεν ἀνετράπη, καὶ φόνοις χράνας τὰς αὐτοῦ φιλοπολέμους χεῖρας καὶ δόρυ πᾶν κατάβαπτον τοῖς αἵμασι
ποιήσας τὸ τελευταῖον ζωγρηθεὶς ὀρύττεται τὰς κόρας καὶ σβέννυται καλλιφεγγεῖς λύχνους τοὺς τῶν ὀμμάτων, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ξίφεσι
δεινῶς κρεωκοπεῖται. Ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ Μιχαὴλ μέλλων τὸν βίον λείπειν, ἐφ' ὅλοις ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεύσας, τῷ Θεοφίλῳ τῷ
παιδὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον ἐγχειρίζει· ὃς ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τὴν ἅλμην τὴν τοῦ βίου κακοτυχῶς καὶ σφαλερῶς ἀλλ' οὐκ εὐδίως πλέων
τοῦτο καὶ μόνον τὸ καλὸν εὕρατο παραδόξως, τὴν πάνσεμνον ἐν γυναιξὶ καὶ θείαν Θεοδώραν, ὡς μάργαρον κατάλευκον, ὡς λίθον ἀνθρακίαν.
ταύτην οὖν σχὼν κοινολεχῆ, ταύτην ζυγεὶς εἰς γάμον, καὶ παίδων γέγονε πατὴρ εἰς γῆν γονίμην σπείρων, καὶ πλέον ἐπευτύχησεν
Ἀδὰμ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἡ πλευροφυὴς καὶ πρωτομήτωρ Εὔα ἐκ τῆς τρυφῆς τῶν τῆς Ἐδὲμ ἐξήγαγε δενδρέων· ἡ δὲ τὸν συνοικήσαντα
καὶ κοινωνὸν τοῦ βίου τῆς δεξιᾶς πεποίηκε καὶ σωζομένης μοίρας. κἀνταῦθα μόνον τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἤχησε παρὰ μέλος ἡ καὶ τοὺς λίθους
θέλγουσα καλλιμελὴς κινύρα. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀποφαίνεται θεῷ ψαλαττομένη "τοὺς μονοτρόπους ὁ θεὸς ἐν οἴκῳ κατοικίζει·" ἐνταῦθα δὲ
συνέδραμε κόπρος εὐώδει μύρῳ καὶ ῥόδον ἐρυθρόφυλλον ἀχέρδῳ κεντροφόρῳ καὶ χρῶμα χολοβάφινον βάμματι πορφυρέῳ. ἡ μὲν γὰρ πάσαις
ἀρεταῖς κατάφυτον ἦν ἄλσος καὶ κῆπος χαριτόβλαστος καὶ δένδρον εὐκοσμίας, ὁ δὲ χωρίον ἄντικρυς τριβόλων δυσσεβείας καὶ βάτος
ἀκανθοβελὴς καὶ ῥάμνος σπλαγχνοτύπος. καὶ γὰρ ἀπεχθανόμενος ταῖς ἱερογραφίαις καὶ τοῖς ἀπεικονίσμασι Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν μαρτύρων,
τοὺς ἀπονέμοντας αὐτοῖς τὸ κατὰ σχέσιν σέβας ἀνυποφόροις καὶ δειναῖς στρεβλώσεσιν ἐκάκου. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐκλάμποντας τῷ βίῳ
καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ὑπὲρ ἀστέρων καλλονάς, ὑπὲρ ἡλίου σέλας, τὸν ἱερὸν Θεόδωρον, τὸν θεῖον Θεοφάνην, ἐπιφοραῖς βαρυαλγῶν βασάνων ἐκπιέσας,
καὶ φλοῦν τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν βουνεύροις ἐκλεπίσας, ἔστιξε καὶ τὰ μέτωπα μέχρις αὐτῶν ὀφρύων, καὶ τύπους ἐνεχάραξεν αὐτοῖς ἰαμβοπλόκους.
Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τὴν κέντησιν τὴν ἐπιμετωπίαν ὡς στέφος καταμάργαρον λιθολαμπὲς ἐφόρουν· ὁ κράτωρ δὲ Θεόφιλος περὶ μὲν τὰς εἰκόνας
καὶ τὰ στηλογραφήματα τῶν ἱερῶν προσώπων ἄγαν σκαιῶς καὶ πονηρῶς καὶ κακοτρόπως εἶχεν, τὰ δ' ἄλλα καὶ λαμπρόψυχος ἦν καὶ μεγαλογνώμων
καὶ τοῦ δικαίου φροντιστὴς καὶ τῶν ἐνδίκων νόμων. σημεῖον ἐναργέστατον τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας ὀργάνων φιλοτέχνησις τῶν χρυσιοκροτήτων,
ἐξ ὧν ἀναπεμπόμενον ἐν μηχανῇ τὸ πνεῦμα τὰς εὐκελάδους καὶ τερπνὰς ἀπήχει μελουργίας καὶ λιγυρὸν μουσίκευμα γάργαλον ἀπορρέον.
σὺν τούτοις τὰ κατάχρυσα καὶ τηλαυγοῦντα δένδρα, χρυσίου τῇ χλωρότητι πυρράζοντα μακρόθεν, ἐν οἷς στρουθία μουσικὰ χρυσότευκτα
καθῆστο, ὡς ἐν πετάλοις πίτυος ἢ πεύκης ἀκροκόμου, ἐκ μηχανῆς ἐκχέοντα λάλημα μελιτόεν. οὕτως ἀνθρώπων τεχνουργοὶ πολυμηχάνων
χεῖρες ἀντιφερίζουσι μικροῦ τῇ ψυχωτρίᾳ φύσει. Εἰ δέ τις ἀκριβέστερον καταμαθεῖν θελήσει τὸ μεγαλόψυχον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν φιλοκοσμίαν,
εἰς τοὺς θαλασσογείτονας βλεψάτω περιβόλους, οἳ τὴν λαμπρὰν ἐν πόλεσι περιφρουροῦσι πόλιν. χειμὼν γὰρ ἄγριός ποτε κατενεχθεὶς
βαρύθρους τὴν ἅλμην ἐκρυστάλλωσεν ἕως ἀπλέτου βάθους καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν ἐλίθωσε πήξας αὐτῆς τὴν ῥύσιν, καὶ θάλασσαν ὠστράκωσε δυσάνεμος
ψυχρία. μετὰ μικρὸν δ' αὐγάσασαι θερμότητες ἡλίου τὸ συνεχὲς διέσπασαν τῆς λιθωθείσης ἅλμης, κἀντεῦθεν ἀπερράγησαν κρυστάλλων
ἀποσπάδες, καὶ λίθους ἁμαξοπληθεῖς νικῶσαι τῷ μεγέθει. εἶπέ τις ἂν ὡς κορυφαὶ βαθυφαράγγων λόφων ὑψόθεν ἀποσπώμεναι κυλίνδονται
σὺν κτύπῳ, ἢ λίθοι ῥιψεπάλξιδες πέτονται τειχοσεῖσται, περιρροιζοῦντες τὸν λεπτὸν ἀέρα τῇ κινήσει. καὶ τοίνυν καταβαίνουσαι
πελάγους ἐκ Ποντίου προσήρασσον τοῖς τείχεσι τοῖς παραιγιαλίοις καὶ συνεδόνουν τὰ στερρὰ τῶν πυργοδομημάτων. ὧνπερ ἰδὼν ὁ
59
