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

having been persuaded and having received complete assurance that Theophilos was delivered from the torments there, she became a fellow-diner with the holy men, holding a lavish, rich-tabled feast. And with them was Theophanes, the golden of tongue, who had endured the bitter brand on his forehead, being at that time the chief-priest of the city of the Nicaeans. As Theodora, then, was gazing at him and seemed to be amazed at his stout-heartedness, he, understanding, said harshly and with a bitter spirit: "Do you see this brand on my forehead, O queen? On account of this I shall bring a case against your husband, where the universal judge judges incorruptibly, nor does he show partiality, nor is he bribed, nor is he awed by the purple cloak." At this, that renowned woman, having wailed with great passion and from the midst of her heart, and having made her face drip with tears, like some black-watered spring from on high gushing its flow down rocks from watery veins, broke forth a pitiful voice, a sign of the inner storm. "Such things to me, O admirable one, concerning the emperor do both you and the whole company thus proclaim?" At that point the honey-tongued, divine Methodios, leader of the sacred flock of New Rome, rebuked the great boldness of Theophanes, consoled that fair empress, artfully stemmed the channels of her tears, quieted the heavy surge of her heart, having poured forth words that soften the soul like oil. So long, then, as the emperor was still a boy, with him was the empress and mother Theodora and she did all things skillfully, steering in an orderly manner the great-freighted ship of the sceptered rule. But when Michael drove into vigorous youth and alone took hold of such great affairs, he showed by his deeds that the myth was true; for like another very Phaethon in his childishness driving a well-horsed, fire-wheeled chariot, he both destroyed the entire dominion of the Romans, and was himself thrown from the chariot of his ancestral rule, and fell headlong on his crown and back. For he turned out to live a dissolute life, manifestly another Nero, a drunkard, soft-souled, lewd, a drinker of unmixed wine, lavishing whole abysses of money on his companions, jesters and filthy charioteers, mimes, who pursue sessions of drinking unmixed wine early in the morning, and live a luxurious Sybaritic life, indulging greedily in the luxuries of savory dishes, and spending the day with licentious women, and they drink and they play and they are mad for women as before them Sardanapalus, who ruled after Ninus. Consorting then with certain such corrupted men, drinkers who do unspeakable things and evil-doers, masters of the rites of vice, he became a fellow-reveler of the thyrsus-bearing Maenads, and he luxuriated in Dionysian revelries. From this came drinking-bouts and dances and drunkennesses and mixing-bowls, echoes of unseemly and whorish songs, and buffoonish contortions and all filthiness. Myths, then, say that Actaeon the hunter was torn apart by his dogs, who had gone mad, as if he were a wild beast; but the flatterers surrounding Michael, with their beards shaved, powdered with white lead, into what pit of vice did they not hurl him? Thence the conspicuous one, the ruler of the Romans, himself mounted chariots with golden rims, he sat upon four-horse teams and golden-seated chariots. And treasures of money were being drained from all sides and the affairs of the Romans had fallen into a tight spot, but the flatterers were luxuriating in abundant riches and delicate tunics and gold-spangled robes. Thus loosely and softly did Michael live. And often, when no pressing need urged, without guards and a watch, without bodyguards, he himself alone would walk along in the middle of the crossroads, shamelessly mad for spectacles, delighting in horse-races. And he also became a spiritual father to children, the little infants of mimes and charioteers, like a loving father carrying them in his arms as they came forth from the bath of the divine birth. Thence (for the veins of gold were not sufficient, being emptied into so many foul drains) the gold-adorned robes

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πείσασα καὶ πίστωσιν τελείαν δεξαμένη ὡς τῶν βασάνων τῶν ἐκεῖ Θεόφιλος ἐρρύσθη, ὁμόδειπνος ἐγένετο τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀνδράσιν ἁβρὰν λιπαροτράπεζαν ἑστίασιν τελοῦσα. συνῆν δ' αὐτοῖς ὁ χρύσεος τὴν γλῶσσαν Θεοφάνης, ὁ τὴν πικρὰν ὑπενεγκὼν στίξιν ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ, τῆς Νικαέων πόλεως ὢν ἀρχιθύτης τότε. ὡς τοίνυν ἐνητένιζεν ἡ Θεοδώρα τούτῳ καὶ τὸ καρτεροκάρδιον ἐῴκει θαμβουμένῃ, συνεὶς ἐκεῖνος ἔφησε σκληρῶς καὶ πικροθύμως "ὁρᾷς τὴν προμετώπειον, ἄνασσα, ταύτην στίξιν; ἕνεκα ταύτης πρὸς τὸν σὸν δικάσομαι γαμέτην, ὅπου κριτὴς ὁ πάγκοινος ἀδέκαστα δικάζει, οὐδὲ λαμβάνει πρόσωπον, οὐδὲ δωροληπτεῖται, οὐδὲ τὴν περιπόρφυρον χλαμύδα δυσωπεῖται." πρὸς ταῦθ' ἡ περιλάλητος ἐν γυναιξὶν ἐκείνη περιπαθὲς οἰμώξασα καὶ μέσης ἐκ καρδίας, καὶ δακρυσίστακτον αὐτῆς τὸ πρόσωπον θεμένη, ὡς κρήνη τις μελάνυδρος ὑψόθεν κατὰ πέτρας τὸν ῥοῦν διακρουνίζουσα φλεβῶν ἐκ ναματίων, φωνὴν ἐξέρρηξεν οἰκτράν, δεῖγμα τῆς ἔνδον ζάλης. "τοιαῦτά μοι, θαυμάσιε, περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ σὺ καὶ σύμπας ὁ χορὸς οὕτως κατεπηγγέλλου;" ἐνταῦθ' ὁ μελιχρόγλωττος Μεθόδιος ὁ θεῖος, ἀγελαρχῶν τῆς ἱερᾶς ποίμνης τῆς νέας Ῥώμης, ἐπιρραπίζει τὸ πολὺ τῆς τόλμης Θεοφάνους, παραμυθεῖται τὴν καλὴν ἐκείνην βασιλίδα, τοὺς τῶν δακρύων ὀχετοὺς εὐτέχνως ἀνακόπτει, κατασιγάζει τὸν βαρὺν κλύδωνα τῆς καρδίας, λόγους ψυχῆς μαλακτικοὺς ὡς ἔλαιον σταλάξας. Μέχρις μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἦν ἔτι παιδαρίσκος, αὐτῷ συνῆν ἡ βασιλὶς καὶ μήτηρ Θεοδώρα καὶ πάντ' ἐποίει δεξιῶς, ἰθύνουσα κοσμίως τὴν ναῦν τὴν μεγαλόφορτον τῆς σκηπτροκρατορίας. ἐπεὶ δ' εἰς ἥβην ἤλασεν ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἀκμαίαν καὶ μόνος ἐπεδράττετο πραγμάτων τηλικούτων, ἔργοις τὸ μυθευόμενον ἔδειξεν ἀληθεύειν· ὡς ἄλλος γὰρ αὐτόχρημα Φαέθων νηπιάζων ἐφ' ἅρματος ἡνιοχῶν εὐίππου πυριτρόχου, καὶ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἅπασαν ὤλεσε χωραρχίαν, αὐτός τε παπποπατρικῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξεδιφρίσθη, καὶ κύμβαχος κατέπεσεν ἐπὶ βρεχμὸν καὶ νῶτα. ἀπέβη γὰρ ὑγρόβιος ἄντικρυς ἄλλος Νέρων, πάροινος, μαλακόψυχος, μάχλος, ἀκρατοπότης, ὅλας χρημάτων ἐπαντλῶν ἀβύσσους τοῖς συμπαίκταις, γελοιασταῖς καὶ ῥυπαροῖς ἁρματοστρόφοις, μίμοις, ἅμα πρωῒ διώκουσι τὰς ἀκρατοποσίας, καὶ βίον τρυφερόβιον βιοῦσι Συβαρίτην, λιχνευομένοις εἰς τρυφὰς εὐόψων ἐδεσμάτων, καὶ συνδιημερεύουσι γυναίοις ἀκολάστοις, καὶ πίνουσι καὶ παίζουσι καὶ γυναικομανοῦσιν ὡς πρὶν ὁ Σαρδανάπαλος ὁ Νίνου βασιλεύσας. τοιούτοις δή τισι συνὼν διεφθαρμένοις, πόταις ἀρρητουργοῖς καὶ φαυλουργοῖς, κακίας τελετάρχαις, ὁμόστολος ἐγίνετο Μαινάδων θυρσοφόρων, καὶ ταῖς ∆ιονυσιακαῖς βακχείαις ἐνετρύφα. ἐντεῦθεν πότοι καὶ χοροὶ καὶ μέθαι καὶ κρατῆρες, ἀσέμνων τε καὶ πορνικῶν ᾀσμάτων ἀπηχήσεις, καὶ λυγισμοὶ γελωτουργοὶ καὶ πᾶσα ῥυπαρότης. μύθοι μὲν οὖν Ἀκταίωνα φασὶ τὸν θηροφόντην ὡς κύνες διεσπάσαντο λυττήσαντες ὡς θῆρα· κόλακες δὲ τὸν Μιχαὴλ περιεστοιχηκότες, ἐξυρισμένοι πώγωνας, ἐψιμμυθιωμένοι, εἰς ποῖον βάραθρον αὐτὸν κακίας οὐκ ἐρρίπτουν; ἐντεῦθεν ὁ περίοπτος, ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων κράτωρ, αὐτὸς αὐτὸν ἐπέβαινεν ἁρμάτων χρυσαντύγων, τετρώροις ἐπεκάθητο καὶ δίφροις χρυσοδίφροις. καὶ θησαυροὶ μὲν πάντοθεν χρημάτων ἀπηντλοῦντο καὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐν στενῷ πράγματα καθειστήκει, κόλακες δὲ καὶ χρήμασιν ἀφθόνοις ἐνευπάθουν καὶ χιτωνίσκοις τρυφεροῖς καὶ πέπλοις χρυσοπάστοις. οὕτως ὑγρῶς καὶ μαλακῶς ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἐβίου. πολλάκις δὲ μηδέ τινος κατεπειγούσης χρείας ἄτερ φυλάκων καὶ φρουρᾶς, ἄτερ δορυφορούντων μόνος αὐτὸς παρώδευεν ἐν μέσαις ταῖς τριόδοις, ἀσέμνως θεατρομανῶν, χαίρων ἱππηλασίαις. ἐγίνετό τε καὶ πατὴρ παιδίων κατὰ πνεῦμα, τῶν μίμων τὰ βρεφύλλια καὶ τῶν ἁρματοστρόφων οἷα πατὴρ φιλόστοργος φέρων ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις ἐκ τοῦ λουτροῦ προκύπτοντα τῆς θεογενεσίας. ἐντεῦθεν (οὐκ ἐξήρκουν γὰρ αἱ φλέβες τοῦ χρυσίου ἐπὶ τοσούτους ἀγωγοὺς κενούμεναι κοπρώδεις) αἱ χρυσοσκεύαστοι στολαὶ

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