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for succession and for the marriage of one of his daughters. But the choice had a steep path to its fulfillment; for that illustrious man was living with a wife; and this was Romanos of the Argyros family. What then does the emperor contrive for 573 this? He feigns anger against the man, both burdensome and violent, and sends men to carry him off for punishment, and to cut the hair of his wife and transfer her to another life. But she, ignorant of the plot, readily gave herself up to the change of life; so she had her hair cut off and was dressed in black, while he was brought to the palace, and the second of Constantine's daughters was joined to him in marriage. For it is said that the third refused to live with him because his wife had been divorced from him against her will. And so he was joined to Zoe, but the emperor Constantine, after surviving their marriage for three days, paid his debt to nature, being about seventy years old, and having made a mockery of his reign for three years less one month. Romanos then, who was called Argyropoulos, took hold of the scepters and immediately abolished the *allelengyon* tax from its roots, and for the singers of God who were assigned to the great 574 church he increased with a supplement the distribution of gold coins supplied from the imperial treasuries, knowing that what was supplied to them was insufficient. For he had once been the great steward of Sophia, named for the Word of God, since formerly it was permitted for the emperor to appoint the steward of this church. And he freed those imprisoned for public or private debts, paying off the one and forgiving the public ones; and he made a great distribution of money on behalf of the emperor Constantine his father-in-law and ransomed very many captives, and as many of the bishops as had fallen into poverty from the *allelengyon* tax were restored by him, and he comforted those who had been ill-treated by the deceased emperor, whether by mutilation of limbs or confiscation of property or otherwise. But the *magistros* Prousianos the Bulgarian, being suspected of secretly communicating with Theodora, the sister of the Augusta Zoe, and of having designs on the empire, was arrested and guarded, and then also blinded in the eyes; and Theodora was confined to the Petrion, and the emperor's brother-in-law 575 Constantine Diogenes, accused of plotting a usurpation, was bound and imprisoned in a tower. When George, the ruler of Abasgia, died, his wife sought a truce and a wife for her son. And the emperor renewed the truce and sent Helen, the daughter of his brother Basil, as a bride to Abasgia, having honored the bridegroom Pancratios with the title of *kouropalates*. But the emperor wished and was preparing to march against Chaleb, which is also called Beroia. For although the emperors Nikephoros and John had subjected many of the cities of Phoenicia and Syria to Roman rule, Basil, who came after them, being occupied with the wars against the Bulgarians, did not have time to secure the captured cities; nevertheless, as long as he was alive, they did not dare to openly throw off the yoke of servitude. But when Constantine took up the scepters and ruled the empire loosely, the descendants of Hagar, recognizing that this was an opportune time for what they were planning, attacked the garrisons of the 576 cities, and having done away with them, they themselves became masters of the cities. And the chief of Chaleb, making continuous raids, plundered Antioch itself and as many neighboring peoples of the land of the Syrians as were subject to the Romans. The doux of Antioch drew up in battle against him, while the emperor Constantine was still alive, and was shamefully defeated, and having lost most of those with him, he was barely able to escape. Romanos, having removed this man from his command, appointed

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διαδοχὴν καὶ πρὸς κῆδος τῶν θυγατέρων μιᾶς. ἀλλ' εἶχέ τι πρὸς ἔκβασιν ἡ αἵρεσις πρόσαντες· γυναικὶ γὰρ ὁ λαμπρὸς ἐκεῖνος συνεβίου ἀνήρ· ἦν δ' οὗτος ὁ κατὰ τοὺς Ἀργυροὺς Ῥωμανός. τί γοῦν πρὸς 573 τοῦτο μηχανᾶται ὁ βασιλεύς; σκήπτεται κατὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου χόλον καὶ τοῦτον ἐπαχθῆ τε καὶ βίαιον, καὶ στέλλει τοὺς ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἐπὶ κολάσει ἀπάξοντας, τῇ δ' αὐτῷ συνοικούσῃ κεροῦντας τὴν τρίχα καὶ ἐφ' ἑτέραν ζωὴν μεταστήσοντας. ἡ δὲ τὸ σκηνουργούμενον ἀγνοήσασα ἑτοίμως ἑαυτὴν παρέσχε πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου ἀπαλλαγήν· ἡ μὲν οὖν τὴν κόμην τε ἀπετμήθη καὶ μέλανα μετημφίαστο, ὁ δὲ μετήχθη πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ ἡ δευτέρα τῶν θυγατέρων τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου συζεύγνυται αὐτῷ πρὸς συμβίωσιν. ἡ γὰρ τρίτη διὰ τὸ τὴν ἐκείνου εὐνέτειραν ἄκουσαν διαζυγῆναι αὐτοῦ παραιτήσασθαι τὴν μετ' αὐτοῦ συμβίωσιν λέγεται. καὶ ὁ μὲν συνήρμοστο τῇ Ζωῇ, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος τρεῖς ἐπιβιοὺς ἡμέρας τῇ συνοικήσει αὐτῶν ἀπέτισε τὸ χρεών, ἑβδομηκοντούτης καὶ πρὸς γεγονώς, ἐνιαυτοὺς δὲ τρεῖς ἑνὸς ἐνδέοντος μηνὸς τῆς βασιλείας κατορχησάμενος. Ῥωμανὸς δὲ λοιπόν, ὃς Ἀργυρόπωλος ἐκαλεῖτο, τῶν σκήπτρων ἐπιλαμβάνεται καὶ αὐτίκα τὸ ἀλληλέγγυον φορολόγημα ῥιζόθεν ἐξέκοψε καὶ τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμνῳδοῖς τοῖς τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκ574 κλησίᾳ κεκληρωμένοις τὴν ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν ταμείων χορηγουμένην τῶν χρυσίνων διανομὴν προσθήκῃ ἐπηύξησεν, εἰδὼς ἐνδεῶς αὐτοῖς ἔχειν τὰ χορηγούμενα. γέγονε γάρ ποτε τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου ἐπωνύμου Σοφίας μέγας οἰκονόμος, ἐπεὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀνεῖτο πρόσθεν οἰκονόμον τῆς ἐκκλησίας ταυτησὶ προχειρίζεσθαι. καὶ τοὺς διὰ χρέα δημόσια καθειργμένους ἢ καὶ ἰδιωτικὰ ἠλευθέρωσε, τὰ μὲν ἀποτιννύς, τὰ δὲ δημόσια ἀφιείς· καὶ χρημάτων πολλῶν διάδοσιν ἐποιήσατο ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ πενθεροῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ αἰχμαλώτους πλείστους ἐπρίατο, καὶ ὅσοι τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἐκ τοῦ ἀλληλεγγύου φορολογήματος εἰς ἔνδειαν συνεληλύθεισαν, παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀνεκτήθησαν, καὶ τοὺς κακωθέντας παρὰ τοῦ τελευτήσαντος βασιλέως ἢ ἐν πηρώσεσι μελῶν ἢ ἐν δημεύσεσιν οὐσιῶν ἢ ἀλλοίως παρεμυθήσατο. ὑποπτευθεὶς δὲ ὁ μάγιστρος Προυσιάνος ὁ Βούλγαρος λάθρᾳ τῇ τῆς Αὐγούστης Ζωῆς ἀδελφῇ τῇ Θεοδώρᾳ κοινολογεῖσθαι καὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ ἐποφθαλμεῖν, συλλαμβάνεται καὶ φρουρεῖται, εἶτα καὶ πηροῦται τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς· καὶ ἡ Θεοδώρα εἰς τὸ Πετρίον περιορίζεται, καὶ ὁ ἐπ' ἀδελφιδῇ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως γαμβρὸς 575 Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ ∆ιογένης, ὡς τυραννίδα μελετῶν κατηγορηθείς, δεσμευθεὶς ἐν πύργῳ καθείργνυται. Τοῦ μέντοι τῆς Ἀβασγίας ἡγεμονεύοντος Γεωργίου θανόντος ἡ τούτου σύζυγος σπονδὰς ἐζήτησε καὶ σύνοικον τῷ υἱῷ. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τάς τε σπονδὰς ἀνεκαίνισε καὶ τὴν παῖδα Βασιλείου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ τὴν Ἐλένην νύμφην εἰς Ἀβασγίανἀπέστειλε, τὸν νυμφίον Παγκράτιον κουροπαλάτην τετιμηκώς. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς κατὰ τοῦ Χάλεπ ὁρμῆσαι, ὃ καὶ Βέρροια λέγεται, ἠβούλετό τε καὶ ἡτοιμάζετο. πολλὰς γὰρ τῶν πόλεων τῆς τε Φοινίκης καὶ τῆς Συρίας τοῦ Νικηφόρου καὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου τῶν βασιλέων ὑπαγαγόντων τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίᾳ, ὁ μετ' ἐκείνους Βασίλειος σχολάζων ταῖς κατὰ Βουλγάρων μάχαις καιρὸν οὐκ ἔσχε τὰς ἑαλωκυίας ἀσφαλίσασθαι πόλεις· αἱ δ' ὅμως, μέχρι μὲν περιῆν ἐκεῖνος, οὐκ ἐτόλμων εἰς προῦπτον τὸν τῆς δουλείας ζυγὸν ἀποσείσασθαι. τοῦ δὲ Κωνσταντίνου τῶν σκήπτρων ἐπειλημμένου καὶ ἀνειμένως τὴν βασιλείαν ἰθύναντος, οἱ τῆς Ἄγαρ ἀπόγονοι τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν καιρὸν γνόντες πρὸς τὸ μελετώμενον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτήδειον, τοῖς τῶν πόλεων φρου576 ροῖς ἐπιτίθενται, καὶ τούτους διαχρησάμενοι αὐτοὶ τῶν πόλεων γεγόνασιν ἐγκρατεῖς. ὁ δὲ τοῦ Χάλεπ ἀρχηγὸς καὶ ἐκδρομὰς ποιούμενος συνεχεῖς αὐτήν τε τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν καὶ ὅσα πρόσοικα ἔθνη τῶν Σύρων γῇ καὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπήκοα ἐληίζετο. ᾧ ἀντιπαραταξάμενος ὁ τῆς Ἀντιοχείας δούξ, ἔτι περιόντος τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Κωνσταντίνου, αἰσχρῶς ἡττήθη, καὶ τοὺς πλείους τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ ἀποβεβληκὼς μόλις ἠδυνήθη φυγεῖν ἐκεῖνος. τοῦτον ὁ Ῥωμανὸς ἀφελόμενος τὴν ἀρχὴν προεχειρίσατο