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that divine decree had been ratified. But in addition 507 to his other faults, he was also, as it seems, a slave to money; for while up to that time every coin had a full weight, he invented the tetarteron, having clipped it in its weight, and he made his collections with the heavier coin, but his payments and all his expenditures with the clipped one. And while an old custom prevailed that every stater bearing the imperial image was of equal value to that newly minted by the reigning emperor, he ordered that his own coin be preferred. To what end? So that, being the only one sought after by merchants, it might provide him with a profit, as he exacted a heavy exchange fee for each coin. And while the citizens were being thus mistreated, there was no oversight of prices by the market inspectors, but each of the merchants had his own will as law; and those buying necessities became poorer every day. These things and many others (for it is difficult to enumerate all of them) drove everyone mad against Nikephoros, and it was the prayer of all to be delivered from his tyranny. Not least did the enclosure of the palace with a wall also grieve the people. For having been given an oracle that he was destined 508 to be killed in the palace, he thought to secure safety for himself by means of the wall, when he ought to have reasoned that if the oracle were true, then fate, so to speak, that which is ordained by God, would be inescapable and unalterable; but if it could be prevented by some device, then it was not entirely true and his contrivances were superfluous. But he, reasoning none of these things, at great expense crowned the palace with the wall that is now seen; and the citizens judged this to be a citadel and a tyranny established against themselves. When, therefore, he completed the fortification and thought he had procured for himself a safe guard, then he learned that his contrivance had profited him nothing, suffering his destruction within it. But not yet about this; let the account still recount his deeds. Returning from Antioch on the Orontes, this emperor built a fortress in the Taurus mountains (which the common people now call the Black Mountain), in which he left Michael Bourtzes, having honored him as a patrician and named him general of the Black Mountain, having instructed him to harass the people of Antioch. And he also left behind one of his own servants, Peter, a eunuch, but 509 an energetic and serious man who knew how to command soldiers, having named him stratopedarch, so that he might give the army space in Cilicia to pass the winter. And so the emperor arrived in Byzantium, but Bourtzes, continuously sallying forth, harassed the Hagarenes in Antioch and considered how he might take the city, if he could, and gain glory. So he secretly one time took the measure of the height of one of the towers and prepared ladders corresponding to that height. Therefore, watching for a single winter night, both moonless and snowy, he approached the city wall quietly and, leaning the ladders against it, he ascended with three hundred men (for he brought that many) without anyone noticing, and he killed the guards of that tower and of neighboring ones, and he immediately sends to the stratopedarch, reporting to him what had happened and calling for aid. But he held back; for it is said that the emperor had commanded him not to attack Antioch, because it was rumored among all that the fall of Antioch would be followed by the death of the ruler. But the people of Antioch, learning of the capture of the towers, gathered there, eager to drive out the Romans from them. The stratopedarch, therefore, having his reasoning warring with two 510 opposing things, both the imperial command and the destruction of Bourtzes and the three hundred men with him, decided not to allow so many men to perish, and setting out with the whole army, he attacks Antioch. And immediately the enemy lost heart and courage, but Bourtzes and his men, who were already exhausted, were revived, and Bourtzes, having cut through the bolts of the gates with an axe, provided the stratopedarch with an unimpeded

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θεσπέσιον ἐκεῖνο κεκύρωτο θέσπισμα. ἦν δὲ πρὸς 507 τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ χρημάτων ἥττων, ὡς ἔοικε· μέχρι γὰρ ἐκείνου παντὸς νομίσματος ἐξαγίου σταθμὸν ἕλκοντος ἐκεῖνος τὸ τεταρτερὸν ἐπενόησε, κολοβώσας αὐτὸ κατὰ τὸν σταθμόν, καὶ τὰς μὲν εἰσπράξεις διὰ τοῦ βαρυτέρου, τὰς δὲ δόσεις καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀναλώματα διὰ τοῦ κεκολοβωμένου πεποίητο. ἔθους δ' ἐπικρατήσαντος παλαιοῦ στατῆρα πάντα βασιλικὸν ἐκτύπωμα φέροντα ἰσότιμον εἶναι τῷ ἄρτι κοπτομένῳ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλεύοντος, ἐκεῖνος τὸ ἑαυτοῦ προτιμᾶσθαι κεκέλευκε νόμισμα. ἵνα τί γένηται; ἵν' ἐκεῖνο μόνον τοῖς ἐμπόροις ζητούμενον κέρδος αὐτῷ πορίζῃ ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου νομίσματος ἁδρὰ πραττομένῳ ἀλλάγια. οὕτω δὲ τούτοις κακουμένων τῶν πολιτῶν οὐδέ τις παρὰ τῶν ἀγορανόμων ἦν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὠνίοις προμήθεια, ἀλλ' ἕκαστος τῶν ἐμπόρων νόμον εἶχε τὸ ἑαυτοῦ θέλημα· οἱ δὲ ὠνούμενοι τὰ χρειώδη ἐγίνοντο καθ' ἑκάστην πενέστεροι. Ταῦτα καὶ πλείονα ἕτερα (πάντα γὰρ ἀπαριθμήσασθαι δυσχερές) ἐξέμηνε πάντας κατὰ τοῦ Νικηφόρου, καὶ πᾶσιν ἦν δι' εὐχῆς τῆς τούτου τυραννίδος ἀπαλλαγῆναι. οὐχ ἥκιστα δ' ἐλύπησε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἡ τῶν βασιλείων τῷ τείχει περιβολή. κεχρησμοδοτημένον γὰρ ἔχων τὸ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις μέλ508 λειν ἀναιρεθήσεσθαι ἔδοξεν ἑαυτῷ περιποιεῖσθαι διὰ τοῦ τείχους ἀσφάλειαν, δέον λογίσασθαι ὡς εἰ μὲν ἀληθὲς εἴη τὸ χρησμοδότημα, εἴη ἂν καὶ τὸ πεπρωμένον, ἵν' οὕτως εἴποιμι, τὸ ἐκ θεοῦ ὡρισμένον ἄφυκτόν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον· εἰ δὲ δύναται κωλυθῆναι δι' ἐπινοίας τινός, οὐ πάντως ἀληθὲς καὶ τὰ ἐπινοούμενα περιττά. ὁ δὲ τούτων οὐδὲν λογισάμενος μεγάλαις δαπάναις τῷ νῦν ὁρωμένῳ τείχει τὰ βασίλεια ἐστεφάνωσεν· ἀκρόπολιν δ' οἱ πολῖται τοῦτο καὶ τυραννεῖον καθ' ἑαυτῶν γινόμενον ἔκρινον. ὅτε τοίνυν ἀπήρτισε τὸ ὀχύρωμα καὶ ἔδοξεν ἑαυτῷ ἀσφαλῆ περιποιήσασθαι φυλακήν, τότ' ἔγνω μηδὲν αὐτῷ λυσιτελῆσαν τὸ ἐπινόημα, ὑποστὰς ἐντὸς ἐκείνου τὸν ὄλεθρον. ἀλλὰ μήπω περὶ τούτου, ἔτι δ' ὁ λόγος πράξεις διεξίτω ἐκείνου. Ὑπονοστῶν ἐξ Ἀντιοχείας τῆς πρὸς Ὀρόντῃ οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς φρούριον ἐν τῷ ὄρει τοῦ Ταύρου ἐδείματο (Μαῦρον δὲ ὄρος ἐκεῖνο λέγει νῦν ὁ πολὺς ἄνθρωπος), ἐν ᾧ Μιχαὴλ τὸν Βούρτζην κατέλιπε, πατρίκιον τιμήσας καὶ τοῦ Μαύρου ὄρους στρατηγὸν ὀνομάσας αὐτόν, τοὺς Ἀντιοχεῖς κακοῦν ἐντειλάμενος. καὶ Πέτρον δ' ἕνα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θεραπόντων, ἐκτομίαν μέν, δρα509 στήριον δέ γε καὶ ἐμβριθῆ καὶ ἄρχειν εἰδότα στρατιωτῶν, στρατοπεδάρχην ὀνομάσας κατέλιπεν, ἵν' ἐν Κιλικίᾳ δοίη χώραν τῇ στρατιᾷ τὸν χειμῶνα διαγαγεῖν. καὶ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς ἧκεν εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον, ὁ δὲ Βούρτζης συνεχῶς ἐξελαύνων ἐκάκου τοὺς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ Ἀγαρηνοὺς καὶ διεσκόπει ὅπως ἕλοι τὴν πόλιν, εἰ δύναιτο, καὶ κλέος ἕξει. ἔλαθεν οὖν ποτε μέτρον τοῦ ὕψους ἑνὸς τῶν πύργων λαβὼν καὶ πρὸς τόσον ὕψος ἀναλόγους ἡτοιμάσατο κλίμακας. φυλάξας οὖν νύκτα μίαν χειμέριον ἀσέληνόν τε καὶ νιφετώδη πρόσεισιν ἠρέμα τῷ τείχει τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὰς κλίμακας ἐρείσας αὐτῷ ἀνέβη μετὰ τριακοσίων (τοσούτους γὰρ ἐπήγετο) μηδενὸς αἰσθομένου, καὶ τοὺς μὲν τοῦ πύργου ἐκείνου φύλακας ἀνεῖλε καὶ ἑτέρων πλησιαζόντων, στέλλει δ' αὐτίκα πρὸς τὸν στρατοπεδάρχην, δηλῶν αὐτῷ τὸ γενόμενον καὶ πρὸς βοήθειαν ἐκκαλούμενος. ὁ δὲ ἀνεδύετο· λέγεται γὰρ ἐντείλασθαί οἱ τὸν βασιλέα μὴ προσβαλεῖν τῇ Ἀντιοχείᾳ, ὅτι παρὰ πᾶσι πεφήμιστο τῇ τῆς Ἀντιοχείας ἁλώσει ἕψεσθαι καὶ τοῦ κρατοῦντος τὸν ὄλεθρον. οἱ δὲ Ἀντιοχεῖς γνόντες τῶν πύργων τὴν ἅλωσιν ἐκεῖ συνηθροίσθησαν, ἐξελάσαι τοὺς Ῥωμαίους αὐτῶν προθυμούμενοι. πρὸς δύο τοίνυν ἐναντία μαχό510 μενον ἔχων ὁ στρατοπεδάρχης τὸν λογισμόν, τήν τε βασιλικὴν ἐντολὴν καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον τοῦ Βούρτζη καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ τριακοσίων ἀνδρῶν, ἔθετο μὴ ἐᾶσαι τοσούτους ἄνδρας ἀπολέσθαι, καὶ ἄρας σὺν παντὶ τῷ στρατεύματι προσβάλλει τῇ Ἀντιόχου. καὶ αὐτίκα οἱ μὲν πολέμιοι παρείθησαν τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὰς ψυχάς, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Βούρτζην καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ἤδη ἀπειρηκότες ἀνεζωώθησαν καὶ τὰ κλεῖθρα τῶν πυλῶν ὁ Βούρτζης πελέκει διακόψας ἄνετον παρέσχε τῷ στρατοπεδάρχῃ τὴν