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a man, whom they took unwillingly and proclaimed emperor. Learning these things, Artemius prepared a fleet and set a guard over the city, while he himself stayed in Nicaea, the metropolis of the Bithynians. But the rebels arrived at Chrysopolis by both land and sea, 247 and for a time naval battles took place; then Theodosius, having crossed over to Thrace, entered the great city through the wall of Blachernae by means of treachery, and when his naval and military force rushed into it, much of the property in the houses was plundered. And having seized the magistrates who were resisting on behalf of Artemius and taking with them the patriarch Germanus, they went away to Nicaea, showing Artemius that the city and the palace had already been taken. And he, having changed into the monastic habit and having received assurances that he would suffer nothing further, surrendered himself to them and was confined in Thessalonica, having reigned for one year and three months. Now Theodosius was of good character and a respectable life, but an inactive man and exceedingly ill-suited for the administration of affairs, and especially of an empire. But Leo, also called Conon, who had been appointed general of the Anatolics by Artemius, 248 pretending to support Artemius, did not submit to Theodosius, having in concert with him also the general of the Armeniacs, Artabasdos the Armenian. So setting out from there with the regiments under him, he comes to Nicomedia, where, having found the son of the emperor Theodosius and captured him along with the imperial baggage, he arrived at Chrysopolis. And Theodosius unresistingly abdicated the empire to him, being tonsured as a cleric along with his son, having received assurance that he would not suffer anything else. And he lived quietly for the rest of his life, having reigned for two years. liber thints decims. But Leo was unworthily deemed worthy of the name of emperor; whose homeland was Isauria, and having moved from there with his 249 parents at the instance of the emperor Justinian, before he was driven from his rule, he had made his abode in Mesembria in Thrace. But when Justinian was deposed from his rule, and then was returning with Bulgarians to take up the imperial power again, Leo met him and offered him gifts. And Justinian immediately honored him as a spatharius and, when he became emperor for the second time, made him one of his own. Then he was sent by him to the Alans, to stir them up against the Abasgians who had revolted from Roman rule. For the Abasgians, as Procopius of Caesarea relates, were subject to two of their own race, one ruling the part of their land toward the rising sun, the other the part turned toward the setting sun. And both these rulers, out of love for money, treated the nation badly; for as many boys as they found comely and handsome in appearance and skillful in the rest of their body's nature, they would drag them away by force from their parents and deprive them of their generative organs with a knife, and sell them for a great price to the Ro250 mans, who were always infatuated with eunuchs; and they would immediately kill their fathers, so that they, angered because of their children, might never plot a rebellion against them. And it was among them the greatest misfortune to bear a child good in appearance, exchanging the comeliness of their children for death. And thus did their own rulers treat the Abasgians. But Justinian the First, having sent to them one of the eunuchs in the palace who was of their own race (for many such were employed about the Roman government), forbade the leaders of the Abasgians to castrate anyone any longer by force; for their business would end up in vain, since no Roman would be willing to buy their eunuchs. This was most gladly received by the Abasgians, and taking courage from the command of the emperor of the Romans, for the future they did not submit to their rulers in this matter, and they too were more sluggish in the practice. Then, deposing both their chieftains, they wished to live autonomously. Until that time, however, they were of the Christian religion

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ἄνδρα, ἄκοντα λαβόντες ἀνηγόρευσαν αὐτοκράτορα. ταῦτα μαθὼν ὁ Ἀρτέμιος στόλον ἡτοίμασε καὶ τῇ πόλει ἐπέστησε φυλακήν, αὐτὸς δ' ἐν Νικαίᾳ διῆγε τῇ μητροπόλει τῶν Βιθυνῶν. οἱ δὲ στασιασταὶ διά τε γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης ἀφίκοντο εἰς Χρυσόπολιν, 247 καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος ναυμαχίαι ἐγίνοντο· εἶτα περαιωθεὶς εἰς Θρᾴκην ὁ Θεοδόσιος διὰ τοῦ τείχους τῶν Βλαχερνῶν ἐκ προδοσίας εἰς τὴν μεγαλόπολιν εἰσελήλυθε, καὶ τοῦ σὺν αὐτῷ ναυτικοῦ τε καὶ στρατιωτικοῦ εἰσρυέντος ἐν ταύτῃ πολλὰ τῶν ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις χρημάτων ἡρπάγησαν. τοὺς δὲ ὑπὲρ Ἀρτεμίου ἀντεχομένους τῶν ἀρχόντων συλλαβόμενοι καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην Γερμανὸν παραλαβόντες ἀπῆλθον εἰς Νίκαιαν, δεικνύντες τῷ Ἀρτεμίῳ ὅτι ἡ πόλις ἤδη παρελήφθη καὶ τὰ βασίλεια. καὶ ὃς τὸ μοναδικὸν μεταμφιασάμενος σχῆμα καὶ πίστεις λαβὼν μή τι περαιτέρω παθεῖν, παρέδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ περιωρίσθη, βασιλεύσας ἕνα ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπὶ μησὶ τρισίν. Ἦν δὲ Θεοδόσιος ἤθους μὲν χρηστοῦ καὶ βίου σεμνοῦ, ἀπράγμων δ' ἀνὴρ καὶ πρὸς πραγμάτων διοίκησιν καὶ ταῦτα βασιλείας σφόδρα γε ἀποπεφυκώς. Λέων δὲ ὁ καὶ Κόνων, παρὰ τοῦ Ἀρτεμίου στρατηγὸς τῶν ἀνατολικῶν προβληθείς, 248 ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἀρτεμίου δῆθεν φρονῶν, οὐχ ὑπεῖξε Θεοδοσίῳ, σύμπνουν ἔχων καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν στρατηγὸν Ἀρτάβασδον τὸν Ἀρμένιον. ἄρας οὖν ἐκεῖθεν μετὰ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν ταγμάτων εἰς Νικομήδειαν ἔρχεται, ἔνθα τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως Θεοδοσίου υἱὸν εὑρηκὼς καὶ αὐτὸν μετὰ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἀποσκευῆς χειρωσάμενος, ἀφίκετο εἰς Χρυσόπολιν. ὁ Θεοδόσιος δὲ ἀπραγμόνως τῆς βασιλείας ἐξέστη αὐτῷ εἰς κληρικὸν καρεὶς μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ, πληροφορίαν λαβὼν μή τι ἕτερον ὑποστῆναι. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἡσύχως ἐβίω τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ζωῆς, βασιλεύσας δύο ἐνιαυτούς. λιβερ θῃιντῃς δεξιμῃς. Λέων δὲ τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας ὀνόματος ἀναξίως ἠξίωτο· ᾧ πατρὶς μὲν ἦν Ἰσαυρία, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ μετοικισθεὶς μετὰ τῶν 249 τεκόντων παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰουστινιανοῦ μήπω τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξωσθέντος, ἐν Μεσημβρίᾳ τῇ Θρᾳκικῇ πεποίητο τὰς διατριβάς. καθαιρεθέντος δὲ τοῦ Ἰουστινιανοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς, εἶτα ἐπανερχομένου μετὰ Βουλγάρων εἰς τὸ τὴν βασιλείαν αὖθις ἀναλαβεῖν, ὁ Λέων ὑπαντήσας αὐτῷ δῶρα προσήνεγκε. καὶ ὁ Ἰουστινιανὸς σπαθάριον αὐτὸν αὐτίκα ἐτίμησε καὶ βασιλεύσας τὸ δεύτερον αὐτὸν ᾠκειώσατο. εἶτα ἔσταλτο παρ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Ἀλανούς, συγκινήσων αὐτοὺς κατὰ τῶν Ἀβασγῶν ἀποστάντων τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς. οἱ γὰρ Ἀβασγοί, ὡς ὁ Καισαρεὺς Προκόπιος ἱστορεῖ, δυοῖν ὁμοφύλοιν ἦσαν ὑπήκοοι, τῷ μὲν κρατοῦντι τῆς πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον μοίρας αὐτῶν, τῷ δὲ τῆς τετραμμένης πρὸς δύνοντα. καὶ ἄμφω δὲ τούτω τὼ ἄρχοντε ὑπὸ φιλοχρηματίας κακῶς ἐχρῶντο τῷ ἔθνει· ὅσους γὰρ ἂν παῖδας εὕρισκον ὡραίους καὶ τὸ εἶδος καλοὺς καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τοῦ σώματος φύσιν δεξιούς, βίᾳ τῶν τοκέων ἀφέλκοντες καὶ τῶν παιδογόνων μορίων σιδήρῳ στερίσκοντες, ἐκείνους μὲν πολλῶν χρημάτων Ῥω250 μαίοις ἐπίπρασκον περὶ τοὺς ἐκτομίας ἐπτοημένοις ἀεί· τοὺς δὲ τούτων πατέρας εὐθὺς ἔκτεινον, ἵνα μή ποτε μηνιῶντες διὰ τοὺς παῖδας βουλεύσωνται κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπανάστασιν. καὶ ἦν παρ' αὐτοῖς τὸ παῖδα τεκεῖν ἀγαθὸν τὴν ὄψιν δυστύχημα μέγιστον, τῆς τῶν παίδων εὐπρεπείας ἀλλασσομένοις τὸν θάνατον. καὶ οὕτω μὲν τοῖς Ἀβασγοῖς οἱ σφῶν προσεφέροντο ἄρχοντες. Ἰουστινιανὸς δὲ ὁ πρῶτος στείλας παρ' αὐτοῖς ἕνα τῶν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις εὐνούχων σφίσιν ὁμογενῆ (πολλοὶ γὰρ περὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχεῖα τοιοῦτοι ἐστρέφοντο) ἀπεῖπε τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τῶν Ἀβασγῶν μηκέτι μηδένα τὴν ἀρρενωπίαν ἐκτέμνεσθαι βιαζόμενον· τελευτήσειν γὰρ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῖς εἰς κενόν, μηδενὸς Ῥωμαίων πρίασθαι βουλησομένου τοὺς ἐκτομίας αὐτῶν. τοῦτο τοῖς Ἀβασγοῖς ἀσμενέστατα προσεδέδεκτο, καὶ τῇ ἐπιταγῇ τοῦ βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων θαρρήσαντες τοῦ λοιποῦ πρὸς τοὖργον τοῦτο τοῖς ἄρχουσιν αὐτῶν οὐχ ὑπέκυπτον, κἀκεῖνοι δὲ πρὸς τὴν πρᾶξιν ἦσαν νωθέστεροι. εἶτα καὶ ἄμφω τοὺς αὐτῶν ἀρχηγοὺς καθελόντες ἤθελον βιοτεύειν αὐτόνομοι. μέχρι μέντοι τότε καὶ τῆς τῶν χριστιανῶν θρησκείας ἦσαν