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a general and sent them against them, and they were not able to stop their sedition. But having gathered armies, they attacked them and killed many and mutilated and exiled them from the city. And Phocas held a horse race, and the Greens insulted him, saying: "Again you drank from the cup; again you lost your mind." And Phocas permitted Cosmas, the prefect of the city, and he mutilated many and hung their limbs in the Sphendone, and others he beheaded, and 297 others he put in sacks and drowned in the sea. And the Greens, having gathered, set fire to the praetorium and burned the secretum and the scrinia and the prisons. And those in the prisons, having come out, fled. And Phocas, being angered, ordered the Greens no longer to take part in public life. But Heraclius, the general of Africa, being troubled by the senate, armed his son Heraclius to set out against Phocas the tyrant; likewise also his second-in-command Gregoras sent out his son Nicetas by land, having agreed that whoever should arrive first and defeat the tyrant should be emperor. In the same year there was a very great winter, so that the sea froze; in which also many fish were cast ashore. Then Phocas ordered Macrobius the scribo to be shot with arrows in the hunt and, having been hung on a pole at the Castellum of the Theodosians in the Hebdomon, on which the recruits train, to be killed for having countenanced the plot against him. For Theodore the prefect of Cappadocia and Elpidius, who was in charge of the armamentum, and various others made a plan to kill Phocas at the hippodrome. And Theodore, the praetorian prefect, having held a breakfast, began to reveal his purpose to them. And it happened that Anastasius, the comes largitionum, was found there. So while the breakfast was taking place and he was explaining the details of the plot, Anastasius, having been found there, changed his mind and did not speak what was in his heart, but kept silent. But Elpidius insisted, saying: "Do you not wish that while he is sitting on the throne at the horse races, I seize him and gouge out his eyes and thus kill him?" And he promised to give them arms. But when the matter was made known to Phocas by the accusation of Anastasius, he ordered the prefect and Elpidius and the officials who knew of the plot to be examined with all accuracy. And when they 298 were examined, they confessed the details of the plot, and that they wished to make Theodore emperor. And Phocas ordered Theodore and Elpidius and Anastasius and all who had known of the plot against him to be beheaded. Year of the world 6102. Year of the divine incarnation 602. Heraclius, emperor of the Romans, for 31 years. 1. Chosroes, king of the Persians, for 39 years. 22. Constantinople, bishop Sergius for 29 years. 2. Jerusalem, bishop Zacharias for 22 years. 2. Alexandria, bishop John for 10 years. 2. In this year, on the 4th of the month of October, the 2nd day, the 14th indiction, Heraclius came from Africa bringing turreted ships, having in their masts chests and icons of the Mother of God, as George of Pisidia also says, and a large army from Africa and Mauretania; likewise also Nicetas, the son of Gregoras the patrician, from Alexandria and the Pentapolis, having with him a great multitude of foot-soldiers. And Heraclius was betrothed to Eudocia, the daughter of Rogas the African, who at this time was in Constantinople along with Epiphania, the mother of Heraclius. And Phocas, having heard that the mother of Heraclius and his betrothed Eudocia were in the city, seized them and guarded them in the imperial monastery, which is called of the New Repentance. And Heraclius, having seized Abydos, found Theodore, the comes of Abydos, and having questioned him learned from him the events taking place in Constantinople. And Phocas sent his brother, Domentziolus the magister, to guard the Long Walls; but the magister, having learned that he had seized

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στρατηλάτην καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς κατ' αὐτῶν καὶ οὐκ ἠδύναντο παῦσαι τὴν στάσιν αὐτῶν. ἐπισυνάξαντες δὲ στρατόπεδα ἐπῆλθον αὐτοῖς καὶ πολλοὺς ἐφόνευσαν καὶ ἠκρωτηρίασαν καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐξώρισαν. ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς ἐποίησεν ἱππικόν, καὶ οἱ Πράσινοι ὕβρισαν αὐτόν, λέγοντες· "πάλιν εἰς τὸν καῦκον ἔπιες· πάλιν τὸν νοῦν ἀπώλεσας." καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν ὁ Φωκᾶς Κοσμᾶν, τὸν ἔπαρχον τῆς πόλεως, καὶ πολλοὺς ἠκρωτηρίασε καὶ τὰ μέλη αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ σφενδόνῃ ἐκρέμασεν, ἄλλους δὲ ἀπεκεφάλισε καὶ 297 ἑτέρους ἐν σάκκοις βαλὼν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἀπέπνιξεν. σωρευθέντες δὲ οἱ Πράσινοι ἔβαλον πῦρ εἰς τὸ πραιτώριον καὶ ἔκαυσαν τὸ σέκρητον καὶ τὰ σκρινία καὶ τὰς φυλακάς. καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς ἔφυγον. καὶ θυμωθεὶς ὁ Φωκᾶς ἐκέλευσε τοὺς Πρασίνους μηκέτι πολιτεύεσθαι. Ἡράκλειος δέ, ὁ στρατηγὸς Ἀφρικῆς, ἐνοχλούμενος ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου ἐξώπλισε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Ἡράκλειον τοῦ ἀπολῦσαι κατὰ Φωκᾶ τοῦ τυράννου· ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ ὑποστράτηγος αὐτοῦ Γρηγορᾶς ἀπέλυσε διὰ ξηρᾶς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Νικήταν στοιχήσαντες, ἵνα ὅς τις προλάβῃ καὶ νικήσῃ τὸν τύραννον βασιλεύσῃ. Τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει γέγονε χειμὼν μέγας πάνυ, ὥστε παγῶσαι τὴν θάλασσαν· ἐν οἷς καὶ ἰχθὺς πολὺς ἐξερρίφη. τότε Φωκᾶς Μακρόβιον τὸν σκρίβωνα ἐκέλευσε τοξευθῆναι εἰς τὴν ἀγραρέαν καὶ εἰς τὸ καστέλλιν Θεοδοσιανῶν ἐν τῷ Ἑβδόμῳ κρεμασθέντα εἰς κοντάριν, εἰς ὃ γυμνάζονται οἱ τίρωνες, ἀποθανεῖν ὡς συγγνώσαντα τῇ ἐπιβουλῇ αὐτοῦ. Θεόδωρος γὰρ ὁ ἔπαρχος Καππαδόκης καὶ Ἐλπίδιος, ὁ ἐπάνω τοῦ ἀρμαμέντου, καὶ ἕτεροι διάφοροι βουλὴν ἐποίησαν ἀνελεῖν ἐπὶ ἱπποδρομίου τὸν Φωκᾶν. καὶ ποιήσας ἄριστον Θεόδωρος, ὁ ἔπαρχος τῶν πραιτωρίων, ἤρξατο ἐπιφαίνειν αὐτοῖς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ σκοπόν. συνέβη δὲ ἐκεῖ εὑρεθῆναι Ἀναστάσιον, κόμητα τῶν λαργιτιώνων. τοῦ οὖν ἀρίστου γινομένου καὶ ἐξηγουμένου τὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, μετεμελήθη Ἀναστάσιος εὑρεθεὶς ἐκεῖ καὶ οὐκ εἶπε τὰ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐσιώπα. ὁ δὲ Ἐλπίδιος ἐπέμενε λέγων· "οὐ θέλετε, ἵνα ἐν ὅσῳ κάθηται ἐν τῷ σέντζῳ ἐπὶ ἱπποδρομίας, πιάσω αὐτὸν καὶ ἐκκορακίσω τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν ἀποκτείνω;" καὶ ὑπέσχετο διδόναι αὐτοῖς ἄρματα. γνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ πράγματος ἐκ διαβολῆς Ἀναστασίου τῷ Φωκᾷ, ἐκέλευσε τὸν ἔπαρχον καὶ τὸν Ἐλπίδιον καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας τοὺς ἐγνωκότας τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ἐξετασθῆναι μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας. ἐξετασθέντων δὲ 298 αὐτῶν κατέθεντο τὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, καὶ ὅτι Θεόδωρον ἐβούλοντο ποιῆσαι βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς ἐκέλευσεν ἀποκεφαλισθῆναι Θεόδωρον καὶ Ἐλπίδιον καὶ Ἀναστάσιον καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐγνωκότας τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν αὐτοῦ. Κόσμου ἔτη ϛρβʹ. Τῆς θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτη χβʹ. Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Ἡράκλειος ἔτη λαʹ. αʹ. Περσῶν βασιλεὺς Χοσρόης ἔτη λθʹ. κβʹ. Κωνσταντ. ἐπίσκοπος Σέργιος ἔτη κθʹ. βʹ. Ἱεροσολύμων ἐπίσκοπος Ζαχαρίας ἔτη κβʹ. βʹ. Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος Ἰωάννης ἔτη ιʹ. βʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει μηνὶ Ὀκτωβρίῳ δʹ, ἡμέρᾳ βʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ιδʹ, ἧκεν Ἡράκλειος ἀπὸ Ἀφρικῆς φέρων πλοῖα καστελλωμένα, ἔχοντα ἐν τοῖς καταρτίοις κιβώτια καὶ εἰκόνας τῆς θεομήτορος, καθὰ καὶ ὁ Πισίδιος Γεώργιος λέγει, καὶ στρατὸν πολὺν ἀπὸ Ἀφρικῆς καὶ Μαυριτανίας· ὁμοίως καὶ Νικήτας, ὁ υἱὸς Γρηγορᾶ τοῦ πατρικίου, ἀπὸ Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ Πενταπόλεως ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ λαὸν πολὺν πεζικόν. ἦν δὲ Ἡράκλειος ὁρμασάμενος Εὐδοκίαν, τὴν θυγατέρα Ῥογᾶ τοῦ Ἄφρου, ἥτις τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ ἦν ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἅμα Ἐπιφανείᾳ, τῇ μητρὶ Ἡρακλείου. ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Φωκᾶς, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἡ μήτηρ Ἡρακλείου καὶ ἡ τούτῳ μεμνηστευμένη Εὐδοκία, ἐκράτησεν αὐτὰς καὶ ἐφύλαξεν εἰς τὸ δεσποτικὸν μοναστήριον, τὸ ἐπιλεγόμενον τῆς Νέας Μετανοίας. καταλαβὼν δὲ Ἡράκλειος τὴν Ἄβυδον εὗρε Θεόδωρον, τὸν κόμητα τῆς Ἀβύδου, καὶ ἀνακρίνας ἔμαθε παρ' αὐτοῦ τὰ κινούμενα ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει. ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς ἀπέστειλε τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ∆ομεντζίολον τὸν μάγιστρον, φυλάττειν τὰ Μακρὰ τείχη· μαθὼν δὲ ὁ μάγιστρος, ὅτι κατέλαβεν