History
And what i have accurately ascertained from those who saw it, these things i will also commit to writing. 2. just now in the month of november, of the
He commanded that the triremes and the other transport ships should all be brought to anchor in a good harbor, and that they should control the sea, a
War. therefore, having gone around and seen that it was by nature difficult to enter and hard to approach for on the one side it had the sea as a saf
They would be frustrated. and having gone out of the camp, and having overrun a part of the country, when he learned from those who had been taken ali
It was easy to attack by assault, being raised to the greatest possible height, and girded with two trenches dug to a corresponding depth), and the de
Having divided his phalanx into three parts by night, he went against the scythians, and falling upon them suddenly, in a brief moment of time he wrou
Meet them, when i give the signal with the trumpets. such was the exhortation that the general delivered and the army shouted 22 and applauded, and w
6. but nikephoros phokas, the colleague of the aforementioned leo (for it is necessary, having summarized the account, to proceed with the history in
The general, having seen this, spurred his horse, quickened his pace, rode in and restrained the soldiers' onslaught, persuading them not to kill the
Having drawn up an irresistible battle-line, went through the land of the hagarenes. to them, having heard of the attack of nikephoros, it did not see
Was dignified by his rank), was hostilely disposed towards nicephorus. 11. he decided, therefore, to attempt a revolution at once but not having at h
, to proclaim him supreme commander, and to entrust the forces of asia to him, so that he might defend and check the assault of the foreigners. for th
He said, if you are persuaded to take up the rule of the east, i shall quickly declare you emperor, and restore you to the imperial thrones. speak wel
For he was gently nursing his little body), then, recovering again, he said, “speak, most brave one, what need is there to consider this?” but he said
I have assumed the imperial office, but compelled by the necessity of you, the army, and you yourselves bear witness for me that i was both shunning s
Before the report of his proclamation could fly abroad, to seize in advance the straits and passages of the sea. for thus he thought that matters woul
Numbering over three thousand, attacked the house of joseph and his collaborators along with the people. and having subjected these to plunder and pil
Especially the monks), they did not allow the man to persist in what he had decided, but urged him both to embrace marriage and not to shun meat-eatin
Makes it flood in a single hour) emboldened by these things, the barbarians mocked the emperor and insolently hurled insults at him, and making sorti
Having fallen upon it, accomplishing nothing noble or vigorous. and he considered the matter an outright disgrace and insult, and an indelible reproac
Having come to the region around tarsus, there he encamped and having pitched a palisade round about, he ordered the crops and the meadows, luxuriant
Having recovered the standards, which, crafted from gold and stones, the tarsians had captured in various battles while routing the roman force, and h
Of the spectacle, turned to flight and ran back to their own houses. and from the pushing and disorderly rush, no little slaughter occurred, with very
To blow favorably upon them, but blowing against them strongly and fiercely, it has sunk their affairs. but the account will now clearly reveal these
To those acting against the divine ordinance, if somehow at least in this way people, being afraid, would abstain from evil deeds, and would cling to
He had taken a fortress, and having crossed mount lebanon transversely, he turned his attention to tripoli, which he saw was fortified and exceptional
Being obliged to drive them away, and to guard the flocks from harm, they, in addition to not driving them away, themselves cut them down and tear the
Having come, and having been befriended by the ruler of the tauroi, and having corrupted him with gifts and bewitched him with persuasive words (for t
Reconciliation and friendship might be secured. the mysians gladly received the embassy, and putting daughters of the royal blood 80 on wagons (for it
They might do. but as they were already considering rushing to their defense, and to stoutly resist the enemy in close combat, as dawn was brightly br
Boasting to all about his brave deeds in wars. 6. having approached the emperor with these words and, 85 as was likely, having bewitched him (for he s
Having lowered from above, one by one they first pulled up all the conspirators, and then john himself. having come up, therefore, beyond all human su
The vengeance for these things, and to those who were slipping he seemed relentless and burdensome, and oppressive to those wishing to lead an indiffe
At the end of the month of december, during the thirteenth indiction of the six thousand four hundred and seventy-eighth year, a throng of select men,
Having captured him, confines him to amaseia. having therefore from this secured sufficient safety for himself and for his affairs, and having purged
To make amends for what nikephoros had improperly introduced. for nikephoros, whether wishing to correct divine matters that were being disturbed by s
And having found him not very accurately versed in secular education, but most diligently trained in divine and our own, he anoints him patriarch of a
The bosporus, but to pass by moesia, which belongs to the romans, and has from of old been a part of macedonia. for it is said that the moesians, bein
To make replies. for we trust in christ, the immortal god, that if you do not depart from this land, you will be driven from it by us even against you
A disgrace by the raids of the scythians to send out bilingual men dressed in scythian attire into the homesteads and customs of the enemy, so that t
The romans on the one hand shouted for joy, and were strengthened for valor but the scythians, growing cowardly at the new and strange nature of the
2. the emperor, when he learned of such a revolt, was disturbed, as was likely, and having brought up bishop stephen from abydos with wingless speed,
He saw that murders along with the ensuing conspirators were proceeding harshly and inhumanely, he decided to no longer delay or be slothful, so that
Considering into what fortunes the unholy and blood-guilty john has enclosed my family, having mercilessly slain the emperor and my uncle, who was his
Eye, and to learn that these things were red, just as they had been from of old. phocas, considering this prodigy a second evil omen, and seeing also
Immediately, lest it be some ill-omened thing, and destruction befall the pursuing mysians but learning they were fleeing at full speed, he both purs
The russian minds were lifted up in audacity and boldness. therefore, the emperor, not enduring their overweening arrogance and their blatant insolenc
Being given out, and going under the earth by the inscrutable wisdom of the creator and again from the 130 celtic mountains gushing up, and winding t
Should set a phalanx against us, things will not end well for us, but in dreadful perplexity and helplessness. therefore, having strengthened your spi
Is called drista) lingering with his whole force. but in this way kalokyres escaped, and night coming on stopped the romans from battle. and just on t
And they killed up to one hundred and fifty vigorous men. but the emperor, learning of such an event, quickly mounted his horse and urged his follower
But the rest of the multitude he bound in fetters and shut up in prisons. he himself, having gathered the entire host of the tauro-scythians, numberin
1. and just as day was dawning, the emperor fortified the camp with a strong palisade in this manner. a certain low hill of dorystolon rises at a dist
He was courting them with gifts and toasts, encouraging them to proceed vigorously to the wars. 3. while these matters were in suspense, and the battl
He flees to a divine and great sanctuary, seen as a pitiful supplicant instead of a haughty and boastful tyrant. whom the men of the drungarius dragge
Having drowned. for it is said that, being possessed by greek 150 orgies, they perform sacrifices and libations for the dead in the greek manner, havi
On the next day (it was the sixth day of the week, and the twenty-fourth day of the month of july), when the sun was setting, the tauro-scythians, hav
Was being concluded. 10. but the romans, following the divine man who went before, 155 engage with the enemy, and a fierce battle having commenced, th
With purity. at any rate, having conferred a few things about a truce with the emperor, seated beside the rowing-bench of the skiff, he departed. but
Was crossed over. this is the greatest of the rivers cutting through asia, 161 and one of those that flow from eden, as we have learned from the divin
The emperor, as one who abused the power of his leadership for certain powerful men, and did not direct the affairs of the church as was established b
Having assembled forces, and having meticulously armed them, departing from the reigning city, he advanced through palestine, a prosperous land, flowi
The mainland is enclosed by strongholds, stretching upon a certain steep hill on the other side it is surrounded by the sea, putting forth a well-hav
Before until fire-bearing ships were secretly sent out from byzantium by those in power. which bardas parsakoutenos the magistros was leading, and ha
I would have been destroyed, if some divine providence had not led me out of that very danger, which caused me to ride out with speed, before the ravi
Furthermore, the star rising in the west at the setting of the morning star, which, making its risings in the evening, kept no fixed position at one c
Of the city, but already becoming feeble, and suffering from a deep and intractable panting. and having just come to the royal hearth, he was shown to
with purity. At any rate, having conferred a few things about a truce with the emperor, seated beside the rowing-bench of the skiff, he departed. But the war of the Romans against the Scythians thus came to an end. 12. And Sviatoslav, leaving Dorystolon and handing over the prisoners according to the terms of the treaty, sailed away with his surviving companions, making for his homeland. But the Patzinaks, having set an ambush during his voyage home—this is a nomadic and populous tribe, louse-eating and carrying their houses with them, living for the most part on wagons—destroyed nearly all of them, and they slaughtered Sviatoslav himself along with the rest, so that out of so great an army of the Rus' only a few were saved to return to their ancestral lands. And the emperor John, having vanquished the Russian host in four whole months, as the preceding account has shown, and having recovered Moesia for the Romans, 158 and having renamed Dorystolon Theodoroupolis in the name of the general and martyr Theodore, and having left behind a worthy garrison there, returned with the greatest trophies to Byzantium, finding the citizens before the walls, welcoming him with crowns and scepters, wrought of gold and costly stones. They also led a gold-inlaid chariot drawn by white horses; they deemed him worthy to mount this, and to celebrate the customary triumph. But he accepted the crowns and the scepters, and rewarded them many times over with gifts; but he did not consent to mount the chariot; but the icon of the Mother of God, holding in her arms the God-man Word, which he had taken from Moesia, he placed upon the gold-plated throne of the chariot, placing beneath it the purple robes of the Moesians, and their crowns. And he himself, mounted on a riding horse, followed behind, his head bound with a diadem, and carrying the crowns and the scepters in his hands. Thus celebrating the triumph through the middle of the city, which was everywhere adorned with purple garments, and roofed over like a bridal chamber with both branches of laurel and gold-woven cloths, he rides into the great sanctuary of the Wisdom of God; and having offered up prayers of thanksgiving, and having deposited the most magnificent crown of the Moesians with God as a gift of first fruits, as it were, he proceeds to the imperial hearth, and bringing forth Boris, the king of the Moesians, he made him lay aside the insignia of his kingship. These were a tiara trimmed with purple, studded with gold and 159 pearls, a purple robe, and red sandals. And he honored him with the rank of Magistros. Having achieved such trophies in a short time, contrary to all expectation, the emperor John, having cast down and dashed to the ground the Russian insolence and their lofty spirits by his experience of wars and the daring of his calculated courage, and having subjected Moesia to the Romans, returned to Byzantium and spent the winter, and he treated his subjects kindly with gifts, as was fitting, and entertained them with sumptuous banquets. HISTORY OF LEO THE DEACON I. 1. When the summer season arrived, and clear, settled weather had spread over the land, the emperor set out from Byzantium and campaigned against the Hagarenes, who inhabit upper Syria. And indeed, after traveling through the interior, the Euphrates
καθαρότητι. ὀλίγα γοῦν ἄττα περὶ διαλλαγῆς τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐντυχὼν, παρὰ τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ ἀκατίου ἐφεζόμενος, ἀπηλλάττετο. ἀλλ' ὁ
μὲν τῶν Ῥωμαίων πρὸς Σκύθας πόλεμος ὧδε ἐτελεύτα. ιβʹ. Ὁ δὲ Σφενδοσθλάβος, τὸ ∆ορύστολον ἀπολιπὼν καὶ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους προσεπιδοὺς
κατὰ τὰς σπονδὰς, ἀπέπλει μετὰ τῶν περιλειφθέντων ἑταίρων, ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα ἰέμενος. Πατζινάκαι δὲ παρὰ τὸν ἀπόπλουν ἐλλοχήσαντες,
ἔθνος νομαδικὸν τοῦτο καὶ πολυάνθρωπον, φθειροφάγον τε καὶ φερέοικον, ἐπ' ἀμαξῶν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ βιωτεῦον, σχεδὸν διέφθειραν ἅπαντας,
καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Σφενδοσθλάβον τοῖς λοιποῖς συγκατέσφαξαν , ὡς ἐκ τῆς τοσαύτης τῶν Ῥῶς στρατιᾶς εὐαριθμήτους ἀνασωθῆναι ἐς
ἤθη τὰ πάτρια. Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ, ἐν τέτταρσιν ὅλοις μησὶ τὴν Ῥωσικὴν πανοπλίαν καταγωνισάμενος, ὡς φθάσας ὁ λόγος δεδήλωκε,
καὶ τὴν Μυσίαν Ῥωμαίοις ἀνασω 158 σάμενος, τό, τε ∆ορύστολον Θεοδωρούπολιν ἐπ' ὀνόματι τοῦ στρατηλάτου καὶ μάρτυρος Θεοδώρου
μετονομάσας, φυλακήν τε ἀξιόμαχον ταύτῃ παραλιπὼν, μετὰ μεγίστων τροπαίων ἐπάνεισιν ἐπὶ τὸ Βυζάντιον, τοὺς ἀστικοὺς πρὸ τῶν
περιβόλων κατειληφώς, στεφάνοις αὐτὸν καὶ σκήπτροις δεξιουμένους, ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ λίθων ἐξειργασμένοις πολυτελῶν. ἦγον δὲ καὶ
χρυσοκόλλητον λευκόπωλον ἅρμα· οὗ προσεπιβῆναι τοῦτον ἠξίουν, καὶ τὸν νενομισμένον καταγαγεῖν θρίαμβον. ὁ δὲ τοὺς μὲν στεφάνους
καὶ τὰ σκῆπτρα προσήκατο, καὶ πολλαπλασίως τούτους δώροις ἠμείψατο· ἐπιβῆναι δὲ τοῦ ἅρματος οὐκ ἠνέσχετο· ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς θεομήτορος
εἰκόνα, ἐνηγκαλισμένην τὸν θεάνθρωπον λόγον, ἣν ἐκ Μυσίας εἴληφεν, ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ ἅρματος χρυσήλατον θρόνον ἀνέθηκε, τὰς ἁλουργοὺς
τῶν Μυσῶν στολὰς ὑποθεὶς, καὶ τὰ στέμματα. αὐτὸς δὲ, ἵππῳ κέλητι ἐποχούμενος, μετόπισθεν εἵπετο, τεταινιωμένος τὴν κεφαλὴν
διαδήματι, καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους φέρων καὶ τὰ σκῆπτρα ἐν ταῖς χερσίν. οὕτω τὸν θρίαμβον καταγαγὼν διὰ μέσης τῆς πόλεως, ἐσθήσεσιν
ἁλουργοῖς κεκοσμημένης ἑκασταχοῦ, καὶ δίκην θαλάμου τοῖς τε τῶν δαφνῶν κλάδοις καὶ τοῖς χρυσοϋφέσι πέπλοις οὔσης συνηρεφοῦς,
ἐς τὸν μέγαν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας εἰσελαύνει σηκόν· καὶ τὰς εὐχαριστηρίους εὐχὰς ἀποδοὺς, τό, τε τῶν Μυσῶν ἐκπρεπέστατον στέφος
οἱονεὶ πρωτόλειον δῶρον τῷ Θεῷ καταθέμενος, εἰς τὴν ἀνακτορικὴν ἑστίαν φοιτᾷ, καὶ τῶν Μυσῶν βασιλέα Βορὴν παραγαγὼν τὰ τῆς
βασιλείας ἀποθέσθαι παράσημα παρεσκεύασε. τὰ δὲ ἦν τιάρα περιπόρφυρος, χρυσῷ καὶ μαρ 159 γάροις κατάστικτος, ἐσθής τε ἁλουργὸς,
καὶ πέδιλα ἐρυθρά. τοῦτον δὲ τῷ τῶν Μαγίστρων τετίμηκεν ἀξιώματι. τοιαῦτα ἐν εὐαριθμήτῳ καιρῷ παρὰ πᾶσαν ὑπόνοιαν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ
Ἰωάννης διαπραξάμενος τρόπαια, τήν τε Ῥωσικὴν αὐθάδειαν καὶ τὰ ἐπηρμένα τούτων φρονήματα ἐμπειρίᾳ πολέμων καὶ λελογισμένης
ἀνδρείας τόλμῃ καταβαλὼν καὶ κατασπάσας εἰς γῆν, καὶ τὴν Μυσίαν Ῥωμαίοις καθυποτάξας, παρὰ τὸ Βυζάντιον ἐπανελθὼν διεχείμαζε,
καὶ τὸ ὑπήκοον δώροις, ὡς εἰκὸς, ἐφιλοφρονεῖτο, καὶ θαλείαις ἐθεράπευεν ἑστιάσεσιν. ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΟΥ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ Ι. αʹ. Θερείας
δὲ ὥρας ἐνισταμένης, καὶ σταθηρᾶς αἰθρίας κατὰ τὴν περίγειον ἡπλωμένης, τοῦ Βυζαντίου ἀπάρας ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ κατὰ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν,
τῶν τὴν ἄνω Συρίαν οἰκούντων, ἐστράτευσε. καὶ δῆτα τὴν μεσογαίαν περιοδεύσας, τὸν Εὐφράτην
