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entry, and the famous Antioch thus more easily came under the Romans. This, when reported to the emperor, caused grief, not joy, and he became enraged with the general, and for Burtzes he provided insults and threats as a reward for his zeal and brave deed, and he took away his command and ordered him to remain at home, not to go out. But another thing also happened, which enraged the people against the emperor and the emperor against the people. according to some ancient custom, on one of the Lord's feasts the emperor made a procession to the divine church at Pege, and it happened that a dispute arose between Armenians and sailors, and from this an encounter511 with one another and a great clamor and din and the murder of men on both sides. And when rumor reported what had happened to those in the city before the return of the emperor, the reckless men of the populace, forming into gangs in many places and meeting the returning Armenians, beat them with clubs. And when the emperor had arrived at the Forum of the Bakers, they poured insults on him as well, and an uproar arose with shouts and a rush of people, and some threw stones at the emperor, while others sprinkled dust on him and reviled him as far as the forum which is paved with slabs and bears the round, porphyry column. And if some of the more honorable citizens had not received the emperor there and restrained those who were following him and reviling him and otherwise acting disorderly, and encircling him, acclaimed him and thus saved him by bringing him into the palace, perhaps some great evil would have happened. From this a report spread that at the hippodrome the emperor, being angry with the people, was about to take revenge on them. Therefore, when a horse race 512 was being held after a time, the emperor brought armed soldiers into the middle of the theater, perhaps to show the people in a kind of war-game what the clash of battle is like, as if supposedly procuring pleasure for them from this, or also wishing to inspire fear in them. So when the soldiers drew their swords, the people in the theater, thinking this was that which was rumored, rushed to flee from the theater, and being crowded at the exits and trampled by one another, not a few perished. And perhaps many more would have been in danger, if the emperor had not been seen unmoved in his own seat. For when the people saw that he had not moved at all from his seat, they stopped their flight. And those who were then related to the dead, mourning their own relatives, publicly mocked the emperor. For these reasons, therefore, knowing that he was hated by the citizens, he surrounded the palace with a wall; but when this was completed and the keys of the gates were brought to him, then the fear which he feared came upon him, and he got no benefit from the security he had devised. And when the Turks, that is the Hungarians, were plundering513 the Thracian lands, the emperor Nicephorus wrote to the ruler of Bulgaria not to allow them to cross the Ister and ravage the land of the Romans. But he did not obey, saying, "When these men were campaigning against us, though asked to ally with us, you were not willing. And now when, under compulsion, we have made a treaty with them, you expect us to break the treaty and take up arms against them and stir up an unprovoked war." Being rebuffed from this quarter, therefore, he sent an embassy to the ruler of Russia, Svendosthlabos, urging him against the Bulgarians; for which reason he also sent Kalokyros, the son of the leading man in Cherson, to Russia. Therefore a Russian detachment campaigns against the Bulgarians and plundered much of their country and drove off from there innumerable booty. And in the following year, the Rus ravaged the Bulgarian lands no less than before. And while Phocas was reigning there was also a most terrible shaking of the earth, from which the city of Constantine did not suffer very much, but other cities suffered severely. And winds also blew during the month of May, by which the crops 514 were destroyed and a severe famine occurred, which Nicephorus turned to his own profit, by manipulating the price of the

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εἴσοδον, καὶ ἡ περιφανὴς Ἀντιόχεια ῥᾷον οὕτως ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ἐγένετο. ὃ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀγγελθὲν ἄλγος, οὐ χαρμονὴν ἐνεποίησεν, ἐμηνία τε τῷ στρατοπεδάρχῃ καὶ τῷ Βούρτζῃ τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ τοῦ ἀνδραγαθήματος ἀμοιβὴν παρέσχεν ὕβρεις καὶ ἀπειλάς, ἀφείλετό τε αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ παρὰ τῷ οἴκῳ μένειν ἀπρόϊτον διωρίσατο. Συνέβη δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον, ὃ τὸν δῆμον κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξέμηνε καὶ κατὰ τοῦ δήμου τὸν αὐτοκράτορα. κατά τι παλαιὸν ἔθος ἐν μιᾷ τῶν δεσποτικῶν ἑορτῶν εἰς τὸν ἐν τῇ Πηγῇ θεῖον ναὸν πρόοδον ἐποιεῖτο ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ συνέβη μέσον Ἀρμενίων καὶ πλωίμων φιλονεικίαν προβῆναι, κἀκ ταύτης συμ511 βολὴν ἀλλήλων καὶ θροῦν καὶ κρότον πολὺν καὶ φόνον ἀνδρῶν ἑκατέρωθεν. τῆς δὲ φήμης τὸ γεγονὸς τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει πρὸ τῆς ἐπανόδου τοῦ βασιλέως καταγγειλάσης, οἱ τοῦ δήμου ἀτάσθαλοι κατὰ συμμορίας γενόμενοι πολλαχοῦ καὶ τοῖς Ἀρμενίοις ἐπανιοῦσιν ὑπαντιάζοντες ξύλοις ἐκείνους συνέκοπτον. ὡς δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐφθάκει κατὰ τὴν ἀγορὰν τῶν Ἀρτοπρατίων, ὕβρεις κἀκείνου κατέχεον καὶ θόρυβος ἦρτο καὶ βοαί τε καὶ συνδρομαί, καὶ οἱ μὲν λίθους ἠφίουν κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως, οἱ δὲ κόνιν ἔπαττον κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐδυσφήμουν αὐτὸν μέχρι τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ἥτις ἔστρωται ταῖς πλαξὶ καὶ τὸν κίονα φέρει τὸν κυκλοτερῆ τε καὶ πορφυροῦν. καὶ εἰ μή τινες τῶν ἐντιμοτέρων πολιτῶν ἐκεῖσε τὸν βασιλέα δεξάμενοι τοὺς μὲν ἐφεπομένους αὐτῷ καὶ δυσφημοῦντας ἄλλως τε ἀτακτοῦντας ἀνεχαίτισαν, ἐκεῖνον δὲ κύκλῳ περιλαβόντες εὐφήμουν καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια διεσώσαντο, τάχα ἄν τι μέγα συνέβη κακόν. ἐντεῦθεν διαδέδοτο λόγος ὡς ἐν ἱπποδρομίᾳ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐγκοτῶν τῷ δήμῳ μέλλει αὐτὸν ἀμύνασθαι. ἁμίλλης οὖν τελουμένης 512 ἵππων μετὰ καιρὸν στρατιώτας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνόπλους προήγαγεν εἰς μέσον τὸ θέατρον, ἐπιδειξομένους τάχα τῷ δήμῳ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ πολέμων οἵα τῆς μάχης ἡ συμβολή, ὡς δῆθεν κἀντεῦθεν αὐτῷ περιποιούμενος ἡδονήν, ἢ καὶ φόβον αὐτῷ ἐπισεῖσαι θέλων. ὡς οὖν οἱ στρατιῶται τὰ ξίφη ἐγύμνωσαν, ὁ ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ λαὸς τοῦτ' ἐκεῖνο τὸ φημιζόμενον εἶναι νομίσαντες ἀποδιδράσκειν ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου ὡρμήκεσαν, καὶ περὶ τὰς ἐξόδους στενοχωρούμενοι ὑπ' ἀλλήλων τε συμπατούμενοι ἀπώλοντο οὐ βραχεῖς. τάχα δ' ἂν καὶ πολλῷ πλείους ἐκινδύνευσαν, εἰ μὴ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀμετακίνητος ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ὦπτο καθέδρας. ἰδὼν γὰρ ὁ δῆμος ἐκεῖνον μηδ' ὅλως τῆς ἕδρας μεταχωρήσαντα ἔστησαν τῆς φυῆς. οἱ δὲ τοῖς θανοῦσι τότε προσήκοντες τοὺς οἰκείους θρηνοῦντες δημοσίᾳ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀπέσκωπτον. διὰ ταῦτα τοίνυν μισεῖσθαι παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐπιστάμενος τείχει περιέζωσε τὰ βασίλεια· ἀλλ' ὅτε τοῦτο ἀπήρτιστο καί οἱ τῶν πυλῶν αἱ κλεῖδες ἀπεκομίσθησαν, τότε ὃν ἐφοβεῖτο φόβον ἦλθεν αὐτῷ καὶ οὐδὲν τῆς ἐπινενοημένης αὐτῷ ἀσφαλείας ἀπώνατο. Τῶν δὲ Τούρκων, τῶν Οὔγγρων δηλαδή, τὰ Θρᾳκῷα ληι513 ζομένων, τῷ Βουλγαρίας ἔγραψεν ἄρχοντι ὁ βασιλεὺς Νικηφόρος μὴ παραχωρεῖν αὐτοῖς διαβαίνειν τὸν Ἴστρον καὶ τῇ Ῥωμαίων λυμαίνεσθαι. ὁ δὲ οὐχ ὑπήκουσε, λέγων ὡς "ὅτε καθ' ἡμῶν οὗτοι ἐστράτευον, παρακαλούμενος συμμαχῆσαι ἡμῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησας. καὶ νῦν ὅτε βιασθέντες σπονδὰς ἐθέμεθα πρὸς αὐτούς, ἀξιοῖς ἡμᾶς παρασπονδῆσαι ὅπλα τε κατ' ἐκείνων ἄρασθαι καὶ κινῆσαι πόλεμον ἀπροφάσιστον." ἀποκρουσθεὶς τοίνυν ἐντεῦθεν εἰς τὸν ἄρχοντα Ῥωσίας τὸν Σφενδοσθλάβον διεπρεσβεύσατο, ἐξορμῶν κατὰ Βουλγάρων αὐτόν· διὸ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἐν Χερσῶνι πρωτεύοντος τὸν Καλοκυρὸν πρὸς Ῥωσίαν ἐκπέπομφεν. ἐπιστρατεύει τοίνυν κατὰ Βουλγάρων σύνταγμα Ῥωσικὸν καὶ χώραν αὐτῶν πολλὴν ἐληίσατο καὶ λείαν οὐκ εὐαρίθμητον ἐκεῖθεν ἀπήλασε. καὶ τῷ ἐπιόντι δ' ἐνιαυτῷ οὐχ ἧττον τῶν προτέρων οἱ Ῥῶς τὰ Βουλγάρων ἐκάκωσαν. Γέγονε δὲ τοῦ Φωκᾶ βασιλεύοντος καὶ κλόνος τῆς γῆς φρικωδέστατος, ἐξ οὗπερ ἡ μὲν Κωνσταντίνου οὐ πάνυ τι πέπονθε, πόλεις δ' ἕτεραι καὶ σφόδρα πεπόνθασιν. ἔπνευσαν δέ γε καὶ ἄνεμοι κατὰ Μάϊον μῆνα, δι' ὧν ἐφθάρησαν οἱ καρποὶ 514 καὶ γέγονε λιμὸς ἰσχυρός, ὃν εἰς οἰκεῖον κέρδος ὁ Νικηφόρος μετήνεγκε, τιμιουλκῶν τὸν