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But others, even after days, from among those seized by the symptoms, were saved after two and three days. And it was heard that the same thing happened in other cities as well. For man does not remember such a great and terrible earthquake upon the earth in that generation. And the earth remained shaking night and day with mercy for ten days, and for a short time the 232 people were contrite, making supplications, but when mercy came from God they became worse again. And the emperor did not wear the crown for 40 days, but even at the holy Nativity of Christ he went forth in the church without it; so that he also stopped the customary banquets for the 19 accubita and gave their expense to the poor. And at the same time a strange nation entered Byzantium, of those called Avars, and the whole city ran together to the sight of them, as having never seen such a nation. For they had very long hair behind, tied with ribbons and braided, and their other attire was similar to the rest of the Huns. These, having fled from their own country, came to the regions of Scythia and Moesia and sent ambassadors to Justinian, asking to be received. And in the month of February a plague of men occurred from the groin, and especially among the young, so that the living were not sufficient to bury the dead; and the plague prevailed from the month of February until the month of July. Year of the world 6051. Year of the divine incarnation 551. Justinian, emperor of the Romans, year 38. 32. Chosroes, king of the Persians, year 48. 34. Pelagius, bishop of Rome, year 5. 3. Eutychius, bishop of Constantinople, year 13. 7. Peter, bishop of Jerusalem, year 20. 14. Apollinarius, bishop of Alexandria, year 19. 10. Domnus, bishop of Antioch, year 14. 14. In this year, on the 7th of the month of May, on the 3rd day, at the 5th hour, while the dome of the great church was being repaired, (for it had been cracked by the earthquakes that had occurred) as the Isaurians were working, the eastern part of the arch of the holy sanctuary fell and smashed the ciborium and the holy table and the ambo. And the engineers were condemned, because they did not make the suspension from below, avoiding the expense, but drilled through the piers supporting the dome, and for this reason they did not hold. Then 233 the most pious emperor, having understood, raised other piers and received the dome, and thus it was built, having been raised more than twenty feet in height above the first building. In the same year the Huns and the Sclaveni rose up against Thrace in great multitudes and waged war on it and killed many and took them captive. And they seized Sergius the stratelates, the son of Bacchus the elder, and Ederman, the general of Calopodius, the most glorious cubicularius and praepositus. And finding some places of the Anastasian Wall had fallen from the earthquakes, entering in they took captives as far as Drypia and Nymphae and the village of Chiton; and all fled into the city with their belongings. And when the emperor learned this, he conscripted many from the demes and sent them to the long wall; and having joined battle there, many of the Romans and scholarii died. Then the emperor commanded and the silver ciboria and the holy silver tables from outside the city were brought down, and the Scholae and the Protectores and the Numeri and the whole senate guarded all the gates of the Theodosian Wall. And when the emperor saw that the barbarians were persisting, he commanded Belisarius the patrician to go out against them with others of the senate. And Belisarius took all the cavalry, both the imperial and of the hippodrome and of the pious houses and of every man, wherever there was a horse; and having armed the people he went out to the village of Chiton; and he made a camp and began to seize some of them and kill them. And he ordered trees to be cut and dragged

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ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέρας ἐκ τῶν καταληφθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν συμπτωμάτων διεσώθησαν μετὰ δύο καὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας. ἠκούσθη δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις πόλεσι τὸ αὐτὸ γέγονεν. τοιοῦτον γὰρ μέγαν καὶ φοβερὸν σεισμὸν οὐ μέμνηται ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ἐκείνῃ. ἔμεινε δὲ σειομένη ἡ γῆ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας μετὰ φιλανθρωπίας ἡμέρας δέκα, καὶ πρὸς ὀλίγον οἱ 232 ἄνθρωποι κατενύγησαν λιτανεύοντες, φιλανθρωπίας δὲ γενομένης παρὰ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον πάλιν γεγόνασιν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἐφόρεσε τὸ στέμμα ἐπὶ ἡμέρας μʹ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ ἁγίᾳ Χριστοῦ γεννήσει χωρὶς αὐτοῦ προῆλθεν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ· ὥστε καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἔθους γινόμενα ἄριστα εἰς τὰ ιθʹ ἀκούβιτα ἔπαυσε καὶ τὴν τούτων ἔξοδον τοῖς πτωχοῖς δέδωκεν. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ χρόνῳ εἰσῆλθεν ἔθνος ἐν Βυζαντίῳ παράδοξον τῶν λεγομένων Ἀβάρων, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ πόλις συνέτρεχεν εἰς τὴν θέαν αὐτῶν, ὡς μηδέποτε ἑωρακότες τοιοῦτον ἔθνος. εἶχον γὰρ τὰς κόμας ὄπισθεν μακρὰς πάνυ, δεδεμένας πρανδίοις καὶ πεπλεγμένας, ἡ δὲ λοιπὴ φορεσία αὐτῶν ὁμοία τῶν λοιπῶν Οὔννων. οὗτοι φυγόντες ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας χώρας ἦλθον εἰς τὰ μέρη Σκυθίας καὶ Μυσίας καὶ ἔπεμψαν πρὸς Ἰουστινιανὸν πρέσβεις αἰτοῦντες δεχθῆναι αὐτούς. τῷ δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνὶ γέγονε θνῆσις ἀνθρώπων ἀπὸ βουβῶνος, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς νέοις, ὥστε μὴ ἐπαρκεῖν τοὺς ζῶντας θάπτειν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας· ἐπεκράτησε δὲ ἡ θνῆσις ἀπὸ μηνὸς Φεβρουαρίου ἕως μηνὸς Ἰουλίου. Κόσμου ἔτη ϛναʹ. Τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτη φναʹ. Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς ἔτη ληʹ. λβʹ. Περσῶν βασιλεὺς Χοσρόης ἔτη μηʹ. λδʹ. Ῥώμης ἐπίσκοπος Πελάγιος ἔτη εʹ. γʹ. Κωνσταντ. ἐπίσκοπος Εὐτύχιος ἔτη ιγʹ. ζʹ. Ἱεροσολύμων ἐπίσκοπος Πέτρος ἔτη κʹ. ιδʹ. Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος Ἀπολινάριος ἔτη ιθʹ. ιʹ. Ἀντιοχείας ἐπίσκοπος ∆όμνος ἔτη ιδʹ. ιδʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει μηνὶ Μαΐῳ ζʹ, ἡμέρᾳ γʹ, ὥρᾳ εʹ, φιλοκαλουμένου τοῦ τρούλλου τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας, (ἦν γὰρ διερρηγμένος ἐκ τῶν γενομένων σεισμῶν) ἐργαζομένων τῶν Ἰσαύρων, ἔπεσε τὸ ἀνατολικὸν μέρος τῆς προϋποστολῆς τοῦ ἁγίου θυσιαστηρίου καὶ συνέτριψε τὸ κιβώριον καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τράπεζαν καὶ τὸν ἄμβωνα. καὶ κατεγινώσκοντο οἱ μηχανικοί, ὡς ὅτι περ ἀποκάτωθεν οὐκ ἐποίησαν τὴν κρέμασιν φυγόντες τὴν ἔξοδον, ἀλλ' ἐτρύπησαν τοὺς πινσοὺς τοὺς βαστάζοντας τὸν τροῦλλον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐβάσταξαν. λοι233 πὸν συνιδὼν ὁ εὐσεβέστατος βασιλεὺς ἤγειρεν ἄλλους πινσοὺς καὶ ἐδέξατο τὸν τροῦλλον, καὶ οὕτως ἐκτίσθη, ὑψωθεὶς πλέον εἴκοσι πόδας εἰς ἀνάστασιν ἐπάνω τοῦ πρώτου κτίσματος. Τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει ἐπανέστησαν οἱ Οὖννοι καὶ οἱ Σκλάβοι τῇ Θρᾴκῃ πλήθη πολλὰ καὶ ἐπολέμησαν αὐτὴν καὶ πολλοὺς ἐφόνευσαν καὶ ᾐχμαλώτευσαν. ἐπίασαν δὲ καὶ Σέργιον τὸν στρατηλάτην, τὸν υἱὸν Βάκχου τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου, καὶ τὸν Ἐδερμᾶν, τὸν στρατηγὸν Καλοποδίου, τοῦ ἐνδοξοτάτου κουβικουλαρίου καὶ πραιποσίτου. εὑρόντες δὲ τοῦ τείχους τοῦ Ἀναστασιακοῦ τόπους τινὰς πεπτωκότας ἐκ τῶν σεισμῶν, εἰσελθόντες ᾐχμαλώτευσαν ἕως ∆ρυπίας καὶ Νυμφῶν καὶ Χίτου κώμης· καὶ πάντες ἔφυγον ἐν τῇ πόλει μετὰ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῶν. τοῦτο δὲ γνοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐδημότευσε πολλοὺς καὶ ἔπεμψεν εἰς τὸ μακρὸν τεῖχος· καὶ συγκρούσαντες πόλεμον ἐκεῖ πολλοὶ ἀπέθανον τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ σχολαρίων. λοιπὸν ἐκέλευσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ κατηνέχθησαν τὰ ἀργυρᾶ κιβώρια καὶ αἱ ἅγιαι τράπεζαι αἱ ἀργυραῖ αἱ ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, καὶ παρεφύλαττον τὰς πόρτας πάσας τοῦ τείχους τοῦ Θεοδοσιακοῦ αἱ σχολαὶ καὶ οἱ προτίκτορες καὶ οἱ ἀριθμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ σύγκλητος. ἰδὼν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ὅτι ἐπιμένουσιν οἱ βάρβαροι, ἐκέλευσε Βελισάριον τὸν πατρίκιον ἐξελθεῖν κατ' αὐτῶν μετὰ ἑτέρων τῆς συγκλήτου. ὁ δὲ Βελισάριος ἔλαβε πᾶσαν τὴν ἵππον, τήν τε βασιλικὴν καὶ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ καὶ τῶν εὐαγῶν οἴκων καὶ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου, ὅπου ἦν ἵππος· καὶ ὁπλίσας λαὸν ἐξῆλθεν εἰς Χίτου κώμην· καὶ ἐποίησε φωσάτον καὶ ἤρξατο πιάζειν ἐξ αὐτῶν τινὰς καὶ φονεύειν. καὶ ἐκέλευσε κοπῆναι δένδρα καὶ σύρεσθαι