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he dedicated to the Wisdom of God the Word. And through him the Roman empire acquired Cyprus, which was held by the Hagarenes. Then he went against Syria, and after sacking cities and taking lands situated near Lebanon and the coast, he came to Antioch. But when the Antiochenes resisted more stoutly, and provisions were already failing the soldiers, and a great swamp had formed from much rain, he abandoned the siege and returned to the queen of cities, bringing with him the sacred and divine image of the Savior Christ, which he found on a tile in Hierapolis 504 of the Syrians, and a lock of hair of John the Baptist stained with blood. In military matters, then, this emperor was of such a kind, and for a long time he had enlarged the borders for the Romans and extended the boundaries of their dominion; but for certain reasons he was hateful to all. And the reasons were that he did not restrain the soldiers who had joined his revolt when they mistreated those whom they happened to meet, and when many houses of both distinguished men and commoners were plundered, he acted as if nothing bad had happened, but rather he even reveled in the outrages against the citizens, and these were the ones who had supported him in attaining the emperorship, and that on the pretext of continuous wars he wore out his subjects with new taxes and increases of the old ones and the collection of all kinds of goods, and the military treated the subjects in whose territory they were quartered no better than enemies. In addition to these things, on the pretext of having a lack of money due to frequent campaigns, he partially reduced the imperial donatives distributed to the senate, and the annual payments assigned from of old to sacred precincts 505 and pious houses he suspended completely. Then he also enacted an imperial decree that the churches should not be enlarged in immovable property, and the pretext was that, according to him, the resources of the churches were not being spent properly by the bishops. Then, when the bishops of that time and the chief pastor Polyeuktos were disagreeing about the elections, with some claiming for themselves the freedom to elect whomsoever they might approve, while he alleged that the elections were not made dispassionately nor with upright judgment and was eager for the bishops to consult with him about those to be elected, the emperor, seizing this opportunity, transferred the entire matter of the appointment of bishops to his own authority, ordering that no one should be sent to any church whatsoever without his consent; but if a bishop died, he would send an imperial servant to the vacant church and, while the necessary expenses were met sparingly by him, he himself appropriated the surplus. And while he was emperor, census officials, inspectors 506, soldiers, and the so-called protonotaries did not cease to be sent into all the provinces, who with all kinds of mistreatment squeezed the subjects and drove them to extreme poverty, not even sparing the utterly destitute, but enrolling them in the courier service, and re-enrolling those formerly subject to this into the naval services, and transferring the sailors into foot soldiers, and enrolling those who were formerly such among the cavalry, and changing the cavalry into cataphracts, and imposing on each a heavier military obligation. For he seemed to be dedicating everything to military management; whence also a decree, as far as it depended on him, was enacted that soldiers killed in wars should be honored equally with the martyrs and receive similar hymns and be venerated in like manner. And if the patriarch and some of the bishops, and indeed some of the leading men of the senate had not bravely resisted, saying, "How could those who kill and are killed in wars be considered martyrs by anyone or equal to the martyrs, whom the divine canons place under penance, excluding them for three years from the awesome and holy communion," perhaps the

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τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου Σοφίας ἀνέθετο. καὶ τὴν Κύπρον δὲ παρὰ Ἀγαρηνῶν κατεχομένην δι' αὐτοῦ ἡ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴ προσεκτήσατο. εἶτα τῇ Συρίᾳ ἐπῆλθε καὶ πόλεις ἐκπορθήσας καὶ χώρας ἑλὼν πρὸς τῷ Λιβάνῳ καὶ τῇ παραλίᾳ κειμένας ἦλθεν εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν. τῶν δ' Ἀντιοχέων ἀντικαθισταμένων ἐρρωμενέστερον, ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐπιλιπόντων τοῖς στρατιώταις καὶ τέλματος ἐξ ὑετοῦ γεγονότος πολλοῦ, ἀπέστη τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν πόλεων ὑπερκειμένην ἐπανελήλυθεν, ἐπηγμένος καὶ τὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ἱερὸν καὶ θεῖον ἐκτύπωμα, ὃ ἐν κεράμῳ εὗρε κατὰ τὴν Ἱεράπολιν τὴν 504 τῶν Σύρων, καὶ βόστρυχον τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου αἵματι πεφυρμένον. Ἐν μὲν οὖν στρατηγίαις τοιοῦτος οὗτος ἐγεγόνει ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ καὶ ἐπὶ μακρὸν ηὐξήκει Ῥωμαίοις τὰ ὅρια καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν ἡγεμονίας ἐξέτεινε τὰ σχοινίσματα· ἀλλὰ δι' αἰτίας τινὰς πᾶσιν ἦν στυγητός. αἱ δ' αἰτίαι ὅτι τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ τῇ ἀποστασίᾳ ἐπιχειρησάντων στρατιωτῶν κακῶς διατιθεμένων τοὺς οἷς ἂν ἐντύχοιεν τῶν κακουμένων οὐκ ἐπεστρέφετο καὶ οἰκιῶν πολλῶν περιφανῶν τε ἀνδρῶν καὶ δημοτικῶν διαρπαγεισῶν, ὡς οὐδενὸς κακοῦ γεγονότος διέκειτο, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐνετρύφα ταῖς εἰς τοὺς ἀστοὺς παροινίαις, καὶ ταῦτα συναραμένους αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ τῆς βασιλείας τυχεῖν, καὶ ὅτι προφάσει τῶν συνεχῶν πολέμων καιναῖς εἰσφοραῖς καὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων αὐξήσεσι καὶ εἰδῶν εἰσπράξει παντοδαπῶν ἐξέτρυχε τὸ ὑπήκοον, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄμεινον πολεμίων τὸ στρατιωτικὸν διετίθετο τοῖς πρὸς οὓς ἂν τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐπεχωρίασεν. ἐπὶ τούτοις διὰ τὰς πυκνὰς ἐκστρατείας ἔνδειαν ἔχειν χρημάτων προφασιζόμενος, τὰς μὲν διανεμομένας τῇ γερουσίᾳ βασιλικὰς δωρεὰς κατὰ μέρος ἠλάττωσε, τὰς δ' ἀπονενεμημένας ἀνέκαθεν τεμένεσιν ἱεροῖς 505 καὶ εὐαγέσιν οἴκοις ἐπετείους δόσεις ἐσχόλασε τέλεον. εἶτα καὶ ψήφισμα βασίλειον ἔθετο ἐν ἀκινήτοις τὰς ἐκκλησίας μὴ ἐμπλατύνεσθαι, καὶ ἡ πρόφασις, ὅτι κατ' ἐκεῖνον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχιερέων οὐκ εἰς δέον τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἀναλίσκονται. εἶτα τῶν τότε ἀρχιερέων καὶ τοῦ ἀρχιποίμενος Πολυεύκτου διαφερομένων περὶ τῶν ψήφων, καὶ τῶν μὲν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἑλκόντων τὴν ἄδειαν τοῦ ψηφίζεσθαι οὓς ἂν ἐγκρίνοιεν, τοῦ δὲ τὰς ψήφους αἰτιωμένου ὡς οὐκ ἀπαθῶς γινομένας οὐδὲ κατὰ γνώμης εὐθύτητα καὶ σπεύδοντος κοινοῦσθαι αὐτῷ τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ψηφίζεσθαι, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀφορμῆς ἐκ τούτου δραξάμενος εἰς οἰκείαν ἐξουσίαν τὸ πᾶν τῆς τῶν ἐπισκόπων μετήνεγκε προχειρίσεως, μηδένα κελεύσας γνώμης ἄτερ αὐτοῦ εἰς ἐκκλησίαν οἱανδήτινα στέλλεσθαι· ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐτεθνήκει ἐπίσκοπος, βασιλικὸν ὑπηρέτην εἰς τὴν χηρεύσασαν ἐκκλησίαν ἐξέπεμπε καὶ γλίσχρως παρ' ἐκείνου τῶν ἀναγκαίων γινομένων ἀναλωμάτων, αὐτὸς ᾠκειοῦτο τὰ περιττεύοντα. οὐ διέλιπον δ' ἐν ταῖς χώραις ἁπάσαις αὐτοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἀπογραφεῖς στελλόμενοι ἐπόπται 506 τε καὶ στρατευταὶ καὶ οἱ κεκλημένοι πρωτονοτάριοι, οἳ παντοίαις κακώσεσιν ἐξεπίεζον τὸ ὑπήκοον καὶ εἰς ἐσχάτην ἀπορίαν συνήλασαν, οὐδὲ τῶν παντάπασιν ἀπόρων φειδόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τούτους μὲν ταῖς δρομικαῖς στρατείαις ἐγγράφοντες, τοὺς δὲ πρῴην ταύταις ὑποκειμένους εἰς τὰς πλευστικὰς μετεγγράφοντες, τοὺς δὲ πλωίμους μετατιθέντες εἰς στρατιώτας πεζούς, τοὺς δὲ πρὶν τοιούτους τοῖς ἱππόταις ἐγκαταλέγοντες καὶ τοὺς ἱππότας εἰς καταφράκτους ἀμείβοντες καὶ ἑκάστῳ βαρύτερον στρατιωτικὸν ἐπιτιθέντες λειτούργημα. ἐῴκει γὰρ τὸ πᾶν τῇ στρατιώτιδι μεταχειρίσει ἐπιγραφόμενος· ὅθεν καὶ δόγμα ὅσον τὸ κατ' ἐκεῖνον ἐθέσπισε τοὺς ἐν πολέμοις ἀνῃρημένους στρατιώτας ἐπ' ἴσης τιμᾶσθαι τοῖς μάρτυσι καὶ ὕμνων ὁμοίων τυγχάνειν καὶ παραπλησίως γεραίρεσθαι. καὶ εἰ μὴ ὁ πατριάρχης καί τινες τῶν ἀρχιερέων, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἔνιοι τῶν λογάδων τῆς γερουσίας γενναίως ἀντέστησαν, λέγοντες "πῶς ἂν οἱ ἐν πολέμοις ἀναιροῦντες καὶ ἀναιρούμενοι λογίζοιντό τισι μάρτυρες ἢ τοῖς μάρτυσιν ἰσοστάσιοι, οὓς οἱ θεῖοι κανόνες ὑπὸ ἐπιτίμιον ἄγουσιν, ἐπὶ τριετίαν τῆς φρικώδους καὶ ἱερᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀπείργοντες μεταλήψεως," τάχ' ἂν τὸ