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

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 ravine-like ascent was seized by the enemy, and to pass through it, and swiftly to occupy the summit. With difficulty, therefore, through impassable mountains the remainder of the army escaped the raid of the Mysians, having lost almost all its cavalry and the baggage it was carrying, and it returned to the Roman borders. 9. And before this disaster had finally subsided, Bardas Phocas the Magister rebelled against the rulers, and won over the Roman force of Asia, and by sea he seized naval stations and cities except for Abydos; and having launched many triremes, he guarded the strait of the Hellespont, not allowing the merchant ships to set sail for the reigning city; and he established a very large army, which Leo Melissenos the Magister commanded, on the mainland of Abydos, to guard his own triremes and to besiege Abydos. And again he pitched a strong camp before Byzantium on the hill of Chrysopolis, having sent as large a cavalry and infantry force as possible; and he appointed as leaders of this army his own kinsman the Patrician Nikephoros, and Kalokyres the Patrician, whose surname was Delphinas. These men the emperor Basil 174, having crossed the Bosphorus with a sufficient force, routed again in a pitched battle; and having taken prisoners, he declared Nikephoros, the kinsman of Phocas, a captive in fetters, and shut him up in prison; but Kalokyres Delphinas he impaled there by the hill of Chrysopolis, where his tent had also been pitched. But Bardas Phocas, having been informed of the utter destruction of the army at Chrysopolis, and the capture and imprisonment of his kinsman, and the nailing of Delphinas to the stake, gathered the forces around him and came down to Abydos, attempting both to besiege the fortress there and to cross over to Europe, so that he might win it over as well. But the emperor Basil, having learned of the tyrant's descent upon Abydos, gathered the army around him, and having fitted out the fire-bearing triremes, stood opposite him; and, having crossed the Hellespont, he pitched the imperial tent in the plain before Abydos, drawing up and drilling his phalanxes daily, and considering in what way he might attack the apostate. Therefore, one night, having drawn up the army in ambush, he attacked the enemy by the path along the sea, and, as day was already dawning, he both set fire to all the triremes, and did not cease from burning the enemy. But Bardas Phocas, struck with terror at the suddenness of the emperor's arrival and attack, went out to face him from the camp; and indeed, having taken his stand in the space between the armies, and having been suddenly thrown from his horse, his neck was cut off with a sword. And his 175 gigantic body was buried in the earth at Abydos; but his head, having been sent to the reigning city and fixed upon a spear, was paraded in triumph through the streets, and was sent down to the rebels in Asia. And so the affairs of the apostasy were changed into a stable calm. 10. And the rising of the star that had appeared signified other very difficult things, as did the fiery pillars shown again toward the northern region late at night, and terrifying those who saw them. For these indeed signified both the capture of Cherson which happened at the hands of the Tauro-Scythians, and the seizure of Berrhoia by the Mysians.

γέγονα παρανάλωμα, εἰ μή με θεία τις ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κινδύνου ἀπήγαγε πρόνοια, ἥτις ἐξιππάσασθαι τάχος πεποίηκε, πρὸ τοῦ καταληφθῆναι τὴν φαραγγώδη πρὸς τῶν δυσμενῶν ἄνοδον, παρελθεῖν τε ταύτην, καὶ δρομαίως καταλαβεῖν τὴν ἀκρώρειαν. μόλις οὖν διὰ δυσβάτων ὀρέων τὸ περιλειφθὲν τοῦ στρατεύματος τὴν καταδρομὴν διέφυγε τῶν Μυσῶν, τὴν ἵππον σχεδὸν ἀποβαλὸν ἅπασαν καὶ τὴν ἐπικομιζομένην ἀποσκευὴν, καὶ πρὸς τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ ἐπανέζευξεν ὅρια. θʹ. Μήπω δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου πάθους τελευταίως ὑπολωφήσαντος, Βάρδας Μάγιστρος ὁ Φωκᾶς κατὰ τῶν κρατούντων ἐτραχηλίασε, καὶ τὴν τῆς Ἀσίας Ῥωμαϊκὴν ὑπεποιήσατο δύναμιν, καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐπίνεια καὶ πτολίσματα πλὴν Ἀβύδου εἷλε· καὶ τριήρεις συχνὰς νεολκήσας, ἐφρούρει τὸν τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου πορθμὸν, οὐκ ἐῶν τὰς φορτίδας ἀνάγεσθαι πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν· στρατιάν τε πλείστην, ἧς Λέων Μάγιστρος ὁ Μελισσηνὸς ἡγεῖτο, παρὰ τὴν ἤπειρον τῆς Ἀβύδου καθίδρυσε, τάς τε σφετέρας τριήρεις φρουροῦσαν, καὶ πολιορκοῦσαν τὴν Ἄβυδον. αὖθίς τε χάρακα καρτερὸν πρὸ τοῦ Βυζαντίου ἐπὶ τοῦ τῆς Χρυσῆς πόλεως λόφου ἔπηξεν, ἱππικὴν ὅτι πλείστην καὶ πεζικὴν στειλάμενος δύναμιν· ἀρχηγοὺς δὲ τῆς στρατιᾶς ταύτης τόν τε σύναιμον αὑτοῦ τὸν Πατρίκιον Νικηφόρον, καὶ Καλοκύρην Πατρίκιον, ᾧ ἐπίκλησις ∆ελφινᾶς προεστήσατο. τούτους ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ αὖθις 174 Βασίλειος, μετὰ δυνάμεως ἀποχρώσης τὸν Βόσπορον περαιωθεὶς, ἐξ ἀντιπάλου μάχης ἐτρέψατο· καὶ ζωγρίας συνειληφώς, τὸν μὲν Νικηφόρον καὶ ὁμαίμονα τοῦ Φωκᾶ πεδήτην ἀποφήνας, εἱρκτῇ συνέκλεισε· τὸν δέ γε Καλοκύρην τὸν ∆ελφινᾶ αὐτοῦ που παρὰ τὸν τῆς Χρυσοπόλεως λόφον, ἵνα καὶ ἡ σκηνὴ αὐτῷ ἐπήγνυτο, ἀνεσκολόπισε. Βάρδας δὲ ὁ Φωκᾶς, τὴν ἐν Χρυσοπόλει πανολεθρίαν τῆς στρατιᾶς διενηχηθεὶς, τήν τε τοῦ ὁμαίμονος σύλληψίν τε καὶ κάθειρξιν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ ∆ελφινᾶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου προσπαττάλευσιν, τὰς περὶ αὑτὸν δυνάμεις συνηθροικὼς, εἰς Ἄβυδον κάτεισι, τό, τε φρούριον τὸ ἐκεῖσε πειρώμενος πολιορκῆσαι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Εὐρώπην διαπεράσαι, ὡς καὶ ταύτην ὑποποιήσαιτο. ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ Βασίλειος, τὴν ἐν Ἀβύδῳ κάθοδον τοῦ τυράννου ἐνωτισθεὶς, τὴν περὶ αὑτὸν στρατιὰν συναγηοχὼς, καὶ τὰς πυρφόρους τριήρεις ἐξαρτυσάμενος, ἀντίπαλος τούτῳ καθίσταται· καὶ, περαιωθεὶς τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, ἐν τῷ πρὸ τῆς Ἀβύδου πεδίῳ τὴν βασίλειον σκηνὴν ἐπήξατο, ὁσημέραι τὰς φάλαγγας συντάττων καὶ ἐξασκῶν, καὶ γνωματεύων ὅτῳ τρόπῳ τῷ ἀποστάτῃ ἐπέλθοι. μιᾷ τοιγαροῦν τῶν νυκτῶν ἐς λόχους συντάξας τὸ στράτευμα, διὰ τῆς παρὰ θάλασσαν ἀταρπιτοῦ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐπέθετο, καὶ, ἤδη τῆς ἡμέρας διαφαυούσης, τάς τε τριήρεις πάσας ἐνέπρησε, καὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους κατακαίνων οὐκ ἀνίει. Βάρδας δὲ ὁ Φωκᾶς, τῷ αἰφνιδίῳ τῆς ἀφίξεως καὶ ἐπιθέσεως τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐκπλαγεὶς, ἀντιμέτωπος τοῦ χάρακος ἔξεισι· καὶ δῆτα κατὰ τὸ μεταίχμιον ἀντικαταστὰς, καὶ τοῦ ἵππου ἀθρόον κατενεχθεὶς, ξίφει τὸν αὐχένα ἐκκόπτεται. καὶ τὸ 175 μὲν γιγαντῶδες τούτου σῶμα κατὰ τὴν Ἄβυδον τῇ γῇ κατορύττεται· ἡ δὲ κεφαλὴ, πρὸς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν ἐκπεμφθεῖσα καὶ δορατίῳ περιπαρεῖσα, κατὰ τὰς ἀγυιὰς θριαμβεύεται, καὶ τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καταπέμπεται στασιάζουσι. καὶ οὕτω τὰ τῆς ἀποστασίας εἰς σταθηρὰν γαλήνην μετεσκευάζετο. ιʹ. Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ παγχάλεπα ἡ τοῦ φανέντος ἀστέρος παρεδήλου ἐπιτολὴ, καὶ οἱ παραδειχθέντες αὖθις πρὸς τὸ βόρειον μέρος ἀωρὶ τῶν νυκτῶν πύρινοι στύλοι, καὶ τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἐκδειματούμενοι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι τήν τε συμβᾶσαν πρὸς τῶν Ταυροσκυθῶν τῆς Χερσῶνος ἅλωσιν παρεδήλουν, καὶ τὴν τῆς Βεῤῥοίας κατάσχεσιν παρὰ τῶν Μυσῶν.