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
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 betrothal pledges to his daughter. And when he was about to celebrate the wedding feast of the bride, he also crowns his father-in-law with the emperor's diadem. Thus did the emperor act towards Romanos, drawing him, as he thought, to affection. But the deep-minded Romanos, having plotted much in secret and strengthened his own power on all sides, after he had yoked his daughter to the emperor and sovereign, alas, from the four-horse chariot of the ancestral rule he casts headlong his purple-born son-in-law, and bestowing only the name of emperor on the unfortunate one who had unfortunately taken him in, he himself seizes the reins of government, and Romanos is emperor on all tongues, but Constantine nowhere; for fortune was angry and covered him over as a cloud does a star. Yea, having partaken to satiety of such ambrosia, he did not halt the gluttony of his ambition at this point, but wickedly seizing the whole of another's loaf, he fed his own people, leaving the owner of the loaf starving; for he proclaimed his own sons and the son of Christopher, his first-born child, as emperors and sovereign lords. And what was more grievous to the spirit and greater in bitterness, touching the very bones and heart, he placed them all before Constantine in the acclamations, in documents, and on thrones. There was therefore a many-headed hydra in the palace, and a crop of emperors sprang up, just as the myth tells of the Spartoi, the earth-born men, fashioned from a dragon's teeth, and in the midst was the long-suffering ear of purple grain like a rose being choked by sharp-pointed thorns. But when Romanos had managed to fortify everything and had laid the foundations for a wall of Semiramis, or cemented with bitumen a giant-built tower, then falling on his head he broke his back and, tumbled from power, the wretch was cast into Tartarus. For the purple-born sovereign Constantine, having now reached vigorous manhood, when the torch of reason shines upon men, taking to himself as champions men of good character, as Heracles took Iolaus, as Theseus took Pirithous, he reaps the snaky heads of the hydra and contrives for the Spartoi to fall by one another's hands, and striking away the thick and murky cloud, he makes the rays of his rule shine more brightly. First, then, Romanos, having already reached old age, already thrice an old man according to the long-lived, and having passed a very long time in power and ruled with the scepter for twenty-five years, and having filled all with gifts and done well by all, is cast from the throne by his own sons and his formerly crown-adorned hair is shorn, as one might say, the aged Cronus by Zeus. Then the purple-scion, the emperor Constantine, seizing the most wicked sons of Romanos, ostracizes them, making them islanders all at once. And then for the first time he looked upon the old woman, the empire, as a lavishly-golden maiden, as one bearing pearls, as one gleaming in a delicate tunic, as living in luxury, and smiling warmly and speaking to him, and uniting with him maritally for the begetting of children. This man appoints Bardas Phokas as commander-in-chief, whom the Romans would call Domestic of the Schools, and Basil the eunuch, one of the castrated, born to Lekapenos from a clandestine union, as *parakoimomenos* and guardian of the imperial bed. And when Bardas's ardor for battles and his swift-rushing impetus had been extinguished (for old age was cooling it), he turns the command over to Nikephoros Phokas, as one might say, from the lion to his cub. And being fortunate to see a son from his own loins, who was born from Helen, the daughter of Romanos, he names him Romanos. And when he reached puberty, he yokes him to a wife, and having seen a son's offspring, Basil the greatest in victories, and having held in his arms so great a babe, and for five years having shared in the
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ἀκρώρειαν ὑψῶν ἐκ τῶν χθαμαλωτέρων πατέρα καὶ προφύλακα ποιεῖ τῆς βασιλείας. καὶ πλέον ἐφελκόμενος τὸν Ῥωμανὸν εἰς φίλτρον
ἐχέγγυα προγάμια νέμει τῇ τούτου κόρῃ. ἤδη δὲ γαμοδαίσια μέλλων τῆς νύμφης θύειν, καὶ τὸν γυναικοπάτορα κράτορος στέφει στέφει.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς Ῥωμανὸν ἐποίει, ἐκεῖνον ἐφελκόμενος, ὡς ᾤετο, πρὸς φίλτρον. ὁ δὲ βαθύνους Ῥωμανὸς πολλὰ βυσσοδομεύσας
καὶ κρατυνάμενος αὑτῷ πάντοθεν τὰ τοῦ κράτους, ὡς βασιλεῖ ὡς ἄνακτι ζεύξας τὴν θυγατέρα, ἐκ τοῦ τετρώρου τῆς ἀρχῆς φεῦ τῆς
παπποπατρῴας τὸν πορφυρόβλαστον γαμβρὸν κύμβαχον ἐκδιφρίζει, καὶ μόνον χαρισάμενος ὄνομα βασιλείας τῷ δυστυχεῖ καὶ δυστυχῶς
αὐτὸν προσλαβομένῳ αὐτὸς ἐπιλαμβάνεται τῆς ἡνιοστροφίας, καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ Ῥωμανὸς κἀν ταῖς ἁπάντων γλώσσαις, ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος
δ' οὐδαμοῦ· τύχη γὰρ ἐνεκότει καὶ κατεκάλυπτεν αὐτὸν ὥσπερ ἀστέρα νέφος. ναὶ μὴν εἰς κόρον μετασχὼν τοιαύτης ἀμβροσίας οὐ
μέχρι τούτων ἔστησε τὸ λαιμαργὸν τῆς γνώμης, ἀλλ' ὅλον τὸν ἀλλότριον ἄρτον κακῶς ἁρπάσας ἐψώμισε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ, τὸν ἔχοντα τὸν
ἄρτον καταλιπὼν λιμώττοντα· τοὺς γὰρ ἰδίους παῖδας καὶ Χριστοφόρου τὸν υἱὸν παιδὸς τοῦ πρωτοσπόρου κράτορας ἀνεκήρυξεν ἄνακτας
αὐσονάρχας. τὸ δέ γε θυμαλγέστερον καὶ μεῖζον εἰς πικρίαν καὶ τῶν ὀστῶν ἁπτόμενον αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς καρδίας, ἐπίπροσθεν ἐτίθετο
πάντας τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου ἐν ταῖς ἀνακηρύξεσιν, ἐν γράμμασιν, ἐν θρόνοις. ἦν οὖν μυριοκέφαλος ἐν βασιλείοις ὕδρα, καὶ λήϊον
ἀνέβαινεν ἄντικρυς βασιλέων, ὡς τοὺς σπαρτοὺς τοὺς γηγενεῖς ὁ μῦθος ἀναπλάττει, πλασθέντας ἀπὸ δράκοντος ἄνδρας ὀδοντοφύτους,
καὶ μέσον ἦν ὁ τληπαθὴς τῆς ἁλουργίδος στάχυς ὡς ῥόδον συμπνιγόμενον ἀκάνθαις ὀξυκέντροις. Ἀλλ' ὅτε πάνθ' ὁ Ῥωμανὸς ἔφθη κατοχυρώσας
καὶ τεῖχος Σεμιράμιδος ἄντικρυς κρηπιδώσας ἢ πύργον γιγαντόκτιστον χαλάνης ἀσφαλτώσας, τότε πεσὼν ἐπὶ βρεχμὸν καὶ νῶτα κατεάγη
καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκκυλισθεὶς τάλας ἐταρταρώθη. ὁ γὰρ πορφυροφύτευτος αὐτάναξ Κωνσταντῖνος ἤδη σφριγώσης ἐπιβὰς ἀνδρώδους ἡλικίας,
ὅτε πυρσὸς φρονήσεως ἀνθρώποις ἐπιλάμπει, προβόλους προσλαβόμενος ἄνδρας ἀγαθοτρόπους ὡς Ἡρακλῆς Ἰόλεων, ὡς ὁ Θησεὺς Πειρίθουν,
τὰς ὀφιώδεις κεφαλὰς τῆς ὕδρας ἐκθερίζει καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλων τοὺς σπαρτοὺς πεσεῖν παρασκευάζει, τὸ δὲ παχὺ καὶ θολερὸν ἀπορραπίσας
νέφος καθαρωτέρας τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀκτῖνας ἀποστίλβει. πρῶτα μὲν οὖν ὁ Ῥωμανὸς ἤδη πρὸς γῆρας φθάσας, ἤδη τριγέρων γεγονὼς κατὰ τοὺς
μακρογήρως, καὶ πλεῖστον μὲν διηνυκὼς ἐπὶ τῷ κράτει χρόνον καὶ πέντε πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι χρόνους σκηπτροκρατήσας, πάντας δὲ πλήσας
δωρεῶν καὶ πάντας εὖ ποιήσας, ὑπὸ τῶν παίδων ἑαυτοῦ ῥιπτάζεται τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τρίχας ἀποκείρεται τὰς πρὶν στεφοκοσμήτους,
εἴποι τις ἄν, ὑπὸ ∆ιὸς πρεσβυγενὴς ὁ Κρόνος. εἶτα τοὺς παῖδας Ῥωμανοῦ τοὺς κακεντρεχεστάτους ὁ πορφυρόρπηξ συλλαβών, ὁ κράτωρ
Κωνσταντῖνος, ἐξοστρακίζει θέμενος ἀθρόον νησιώτας. καὶ τότε πρῶτον ἔβλεψε τὴν γραῦν τὴν βασιλείαν ὡς κόρην χρυσοσπάταλον,
ὡς μαργαροφοροῦσαν, ὡς ἁβροχίτωνα στιλπνήν, ὡς τρυφερευομένην, καὶ προσγελῶσαν καπυρὸν καὶ προσλαλοῦσαν τούτῳ, καὶ συνιοῦσαν
νυμφικῶς ἐπὶ παιδογονίᾳ. Οὗτος τὸν Βάρδαν τὸν Φωκᾶν στρατάρχην καθιστάνει, ὃν τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικον εἴποιεν ἂν Ῥωμαῖοι, τομίαν
δὲ Βασίλειον, ἕνα τῶν ἀποκόπων, φυέντα τῷ Λακαπηνῷ σκοτίων ἐκ σπερμάτων παράκοιτον καὶ φύλακα τῆς βασιλείου κλίνης. ἐπεὶ δ'
ὁ Βάρδας ἔσβεστο τὴν πρὸς τὰς μάχας θέρμην καὶ τὴν ὀξύρροπον ὁρμὴν (ἔψυχε γὰρ τὸ γῆρας), εἰς Νικηφόρον τὸν Φωκᾶν τὴν στραταρχίαν
τρέπει, εἴποι τις ἄν, ἐκ λέοντος εἰς τὸν ἐκείνου σκύμνον. υἱὸν δ' ἰδεῖν εὐτυχηκὼς ἰδίας ἐξ ὀσφύος, ὃς ἐξ Ἑλένης Ῥωμανοῦ τῆς
θυγατρὸς ἐξέφυ, κατονομάζει Ῥωμανόν. ἐλάσαντα δ' εἰς ἥβην καὶ γαμετῇ συζεύγνυσι, καὶ βλέψας υἱοῦ γόνον Βασίλειον τὸν μέγιστον
ἐπὶ τροπαιουχίαις, καὶ βρέφος ἐπαγκάλιον βαστάσας τὸν τοσοῦτον, καὶ πέντε χρόνους μετασχὼν τοῦ
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