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uninitiated, but they worshipped groves and woodlands, and through barbarian 251 simplicity trees were considered gods by them. But Justinian made it his endeavor to convert them to piety and having sent holy men among them, through them he brought them to the knowledge of God. Then he also built a divine temple of the Theotokos among the Abasgians and installed priests and thus he led them from their utterly barbaric ways to the customs of the Christians. From that time, since the Abasgians were ruled by no one, the emperors of the Romans would send governors, and by them their affairs were administered. But when those who were sent turned to injustices and treated them more tyrannically, fearing that they might be entirely enslaved by the Romans, they revolted and no longer wished to receive a Roman governor. For this reason, Justinian the slit-nosed, wishing to punish them, sent the spatharios Leo to the Alans, whom Procopius writes of as Albanians, with a great amount of money to arm them against the Abasgians, who were their neighbors. So Leo, having gone there and having spent many 252 years, returned late and with difficulty, finding neither Justinian (for he had been killed), nor indeed Philippicus (for he had been deposed and blinded in his eyes, as has been said). He therefore approached Artemius, who was then emperor; and he received him kindly and appointed him strategos of the Anatolic theme. For him, at any rate, as has been said, pretending to be his defender, he raised his hand against Theodosius and seized the scepters (O unsearchable abyss of the judgments of God) and immediately he gave his daughter in marriage to Artabasdos, having honored him as kouropalates. But Masalmas, the leader of the Arabs, having crossed over from Abydos with a great army to Thrace, plundered much of the Thracian land, and attacking the queen of cities, he pitched a camp by its land walls, and he himself was besieging it from there, while from the sea was the chief satrap Solimas with a great 253 fleet. But the Romans routed their ships, both the warships and the transport ships, with the liquid fire, so that many of the naval commanders, whose ships this liquid fire had not yet approached, despaired and went over to the emperor. Thus the greater part of the Arab navy was destroyed. And Roman infantry forces, encountering those of them who were plundering in Bithynia, killed many, so that they too fled in fear. A severe famine afflicted the Arabs who were in Thrace, whence they did not abstain from any of the dying animals. It is also said that they touched human flesh. But also a pestilential disease fell upon them and destroyed very many. And the Bulgars, attacking them, put many thousands of them to the sword, as some record. But Sergios, the strategos of Sicily, having learned of the Arabs' attack on the city and that the affairs of the Romans were in disarray, he himself also attempted a usurpation; and he did not 254 deem himself worthy of the imperial title, but he caused a certain Gregory, one of his subordinates, to be proclaimed emperor by the people, renaming the man Tiberius, who by the will of Sergios also promoted certain men to offices. When these things were reported to Leo, they stirred him to oppose the usurper, and having honored Paul, the head of the imperial stables (the Roman tongue knows to call him a chartoularios), as a patrikios and naming him strategos of Sicily, he sent him against the apostate, entrusting to him commands for the governors of the provinces, ordering them to support Paul, and having composed a letter for the army in Sicily declaring that the affairs of the Romans were in good order, with the Arabs having already been defeated and routed, he sent this also to the soldiers through Paul. When Sergios learned that he had reached Sicily unexpectedly and had entered Syracuse, he immediately 255 fled and went to Lombardy.

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ἀμύητοι, ἄλση δὲ καὶ ὕλας ἐσέβοντο καὶ τὰ δένδρα τούτοις ἐξ ἀφελείας βαρ251 βαρικῆς εἰς θεοὺς ἐνομίζοντο. Ἰουστινιανὸς δὲ μεταθεῖναι σφᾶς πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν σπούδασμα ἔθετο καὶ στείλας παρ' αὐτοῖς ἱεροὺς ἄνδρας δι' αὐτῶν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν αὐτοὺς μετήνεγκε τοῦ θεοῦ. εἶτα καὶ θεῖον ἐν Ἀβασγοῖς τῆς θεοτόκου ἐδείματο τέμενος καὶ ἱερεῖς ἐγκατέστησε καὶ οὕτως εἰς ἤθη τὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν αὐτοὺς μετήγαγεν ἐκ τῶν πάνυ βαρβαρικῶν. ἐντεῦθεν ὑπ' οὐδενὸς ἀρχομένων τῶν Ἀβασγῶν οἱ βασιλεῖς Ῥωμαίων ἔστελλον ἄρχοντας, καὶ ὑπ' ἐκείνων αὐτοῖς διῃτῶντο τὰ πράγματα. χωρησάντων δὲ τῶν στελλομένων εἰς ἀδικίας καὶ τυραννικώτερον χρωμένων αὐτοῖς, δείσαντες μὴ πάντῃ δουλωθῶσι Ῥωμαίοις, ἀφίστανται καὶ οὐκέτι δέχεσθαι ἄρχοντα Ῥωμαίων ἐβούλοντο. διὰ τοῦτο τίσασθαι θέλων αὐτοὺς ὁ ῥινότμητος Ἰουστινιανὸς στέλλει τὸν σπαθάριον Λέοντα πρὸς τοὺς Ἀλανούς, οὓς Ἀλβανοὺς ὁ Προκόπιος γράφει, χρήμασι πλείστοις κατὰ τῶν Ἀβασγῶν ὁμόρων ὄντων αὐτοῖς, ὁπλίσαι τούτους βουλόμενος. ἐκεῖ τοίνυν ὁ Λέων γενόμενος καὶ συχνοὺς διατρίψας 252 ἐνιαυτούς, ὀψὲ καὶ μόλις ἐπανελήλυθε, μήτε τὸν Ἰουστινιανὸν εὑρηκώς (ἀνῄρητο γάρ), μήτε μὴν τὸν Φιλιππικόν (καθῄρητο γὰρ πηρωθείς, ὡς εἴρηται, καὶ τὰ ὄμματα). πρόσεισιν οὖν Ἀρτεμίῳ βασιλεύοντι τότε· ὁ δὲ καὶ προσήκατο αὐτὸν εὐμενῶς καὶ στρατηγὸν τοῦ τῶν ἀνατολικῶν προεχειρίσατο θέματος. τούτῳ γοῦν, ὡς εἴρηται, δῆθεν ἀμύνων ἀντῆρε χεῖρα κατὰ Θεοδοσίου καὶ τῶν σκήπτρων γέγονεν ἐγκρατής (ὦ θεοῦ κριμάτων ἄβυσσος ἀκατάληπτος) καὶ αὐτίκα τὴν θυγατέρα τῷ Ἀρταβάσδῳ συνῴκισε, κουροπαλάτην αὐτὸν τιμήσας. Μάσαλμας δὲ ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων ἀρχηγὸς ἐξ Ἀβύδου σὺν μεγάλῳ στρατεύματι πρὸς Θρᾴκην περαιωθεὶς πολὺ μὲν τῆς Θρᾳκῴας ἐληίσατο χώρας, τῇ δὲ βασιλευούσῃ τῶν πόλεων προσβαλὼν χάρακα παρὰ τοῖς κατὰ χέρσον αὐτῆς ἐπήξατο τείχεσι, καὶ ἦν αὐτὸς μὲν ἐντεῦθεν ταύτην πολιορκῶν, ἐκ δὲ θαλάσσης σὺν στόλῳ 253 μεγάλῳ ὁ ἀρχισατράπης Σολιμᾶς. ἀλλὰ τὰς μὲν νῆας αὐτῶν τάς τε πολεμιστηρίους τάς τε μὴν φορτηγοὺς τῷ ὑγρῷ πυρὶ Ῥωμαῖοι κατετροπώσαντο, ὥστε πολλοὺς τῶν ναυάρχων, ὧν οὔπω ταῖς ναυσὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν τοῦτο προσήγγισε πῦρ, ἀπογνόντας προσρυῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ. τὸ μὲν οὖν πλεῖον τοῦ ναυτικοῦ τῶν Ἀράβων οὕτω διώλετο. τοῖς δὲ κατὰ Βιθυνίαν αὐτῶν ληιζομένοις ἐντυχόντα στρατεύματα Ῥωμαίων πεζὰ πολλοὺς διεφθάρκασιν, ὥστε κἀκείνους δείσαντας ἀποδρᾶναι. τοὺς δὲ κατὰ Θρᾴκην τυγχάνοντας Ἄραβας λιμὸς ἐπίεζε κραταιός, ὅθεν οὐδενὸς τῶν θνησκόντων ζῴων ἀπείχοντο. λέγεται δὲ καὶ σαρκῶν ἀνθρωπείων αὐτοὺς ἅψασθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ νόσος αὐτοῖς ἐνέσκηψε λοιμικὴ καὶ διέφθειρε παμπληθεῖς. καὶ Βούλγαροι δὲ τούτοις ἐπελθόντες πολλὰς χιλιοστύας αὐτῶν, ὥς τινες ἀναγράφουσι, μαχαίρας ἔθεντο παρανάλωμα. Ὁ δὲ τῆς Σικελίας στρατηγὸς Σέργιος τὴν τῶν Ἀράβων κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐπέλευσιν γνοὺς καὶ ὡς ἐν ἀκαταστασίᾳ τὰ Ῥωμαίων τυγχάνουσι, τυραννίδι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπεχείρησε· καὶ οὐχ 254 ἑαυτὸν τῆς βασιλείου ἠξίωσε κλήσεως, ἀλλά τινα Γρηγόριον τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων αὐτῷ ἀναρρηθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ λαοῦ βασιλέα πεποίηκε, μετονομάσας τὸν ἄνδρα Τιβέριον, ὃς γνώμῃ τοῦ Σεργίου καί τινας εἰς ἀρχὰς προεβίβασε. ταῦτ' ἀγγελθέντα τῷ Λέοντι διανέστησαν αὐτὸν τῷ τυραννήσαντι ἀντιτάξασθαι, καὶ Παῦλον τὸν τῶν βασιλικῶν ἱπποκόμων ἐπιστατοῦντα (χαρτουλάριον ἡ Ῥωμαίων οἶδε τοῦτον λέγειν φωνή) πατρίκιον τιμήσας καὶ στρατηγὸν Σικελίας ὀνομάσας στέλλει κατὰ τοῦ ἀποστάτου, προστάγματα πρὸς τοὺς τῶν χωρῶν ἄρχοντας ἐγχειρίσας αὐτῷ συναίρεσθαι τῷ Παύλῳ κελεύοντα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐν Σικελίᾳ δὲ στρατιὰν γραφὴν ἐγχαράξας δηλοῦσαν καλῶς ἔχειν Ῥωμαίοις τὰ πράγματα, ἤδη τῶν Ἀράβων ἡττημένων καὶ κατατροπωθέντων, διὰ τοῦ Παύλου καὶ ταύτην τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐκπέπομφε. καταλαβόντα τοίνυν τὴν Σικελίαν τοῦτον ἀνωιστὶ καὶ εἰσελθόντα εἰς τὴν Συράκουσαν μαθὼν ὁ Σέργιος εὐθὺς ἀπέ255 δρα καὶ πρὸς Λογγιβαρδίαν ἐφοίτησε.