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another; and he too set out, and as he was departing, envoys approached him with costly gifts, sent from the ruler of Aleppo, asking to receive pardon and to renew his servitude and to pay the tribute, which had happened to be in arrears, and to pay this annually with gratitude in the future. But he, although many men distinguished in military command were dissuading him from the forward movement as being unprofitable and advising him to make a treaty, was not restrained from his impulse, but imagined he would more easily overcome the Hagarenes, and having achieved this, he thought he would acquire for himself some great and extravagant boast. So he departed into Syria and pitched a camp. But the Arabs, some lightly-equipped 577 men and daring light horsemen, lay in ambush on swift-footed horses, unprotected, on both sides of the camp, and sallying forth, they would kill or carry off those going out to collect fodder and to water the animals, so that both the soldiers and their horses were exhausted by thirst. Then the Arabs, having become more accustomed to the raids against the Romans, and, as it were, scorning their cowardice, having set out all at once from the high ground, and having raised a barbarian war-cry, and creating an illusion of great numbers by not keeping a close formation, but by running out in scattered groups and attacking the camp without order, they terrified the entire army and turned it to flight. And the emperor himself would have been captured, since his guard was thrown into confusion and had left the one being guarded unguarded, if someone had not lifted him onto his horse and urged him to flee, as he was nearly breathless with fear. So the Romans departed, running in disorder as each one could. But the barbarians, astonished at the unexpected rout, did not pursue those who were running away, but ran towards the camp, having taken a few of the most distinguished men alive, and they plundered the royal tent, which was full of all kinds of wealth 578 and royal luxury, and loading the rest of the baggage upon themselves, they returned. But the emperor was saved and brought to Antioch by the efforts of those around him, and from there he hastened to the city of Constantine, no longer showing his former state of mind, but changed, and a change for the worse. For in order to acquire the equivalent of what had been lost, instead of a ruler he became a tax-collector and a bitter accountant, exacting from sons the aged debts of their fathers, and kindling fires against his subjects, which long passage of time had already honored by extinguishing or had meanwhile buried under ashes. From this, many were driven from their ancestral homes and fields, and being stripped of their former prosperity, they were driven into conspicuous poverty. But of what was thus exacted, nothing was brought into the public treasury, but having proposed to build a monastery and to establish a church to the Mother of God, there he spent these sums and he was squandering others from the imperial treasuries, now erecting, now demolishing what had already been erected, and either rebuilding it higher again or wider or varying the design 579 or altering in some other way what was being renewed. He also assigned revenues to the monks, not suitable for monastics, but fitting for those who live in luxury and lead a relaxed and delicate life, consecrating to them whole regions of public lands, and these the most fertile and productive. But no more about these things. And Amer, the son of the ruler of Aleppo, arrived at the queen of cities with many gifts, renewing the peace, and the emperor agreed to this. And the empress Zoe, having arrived at Petrion, tonsured her own sister Theodora as a nun. And when the emperor was away from the city, Constantine Diogenes, as one plotting tyranny and about to flee to Illyricum, was seized, and being questioned, he threw himself from a height and died, so that, overcome by force, he might not expose his accomplices. Then, however, the Arabs overran Mesopotamia, and the Patzinaks Bulgaria, and the Hagarenes the coast of Illyricum. And against these alone a fleet

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ἕτερον· ἐξώρμησε δὲ κἀκεῖνος, καὶ ἀπιόντι προσίασι πρέσβεις μετὰ δώρων πολυτελῶν πρὸς τοῦ Χαλεπίτου ἀπεσταλμένοι, αἰτουμένου συγγνώμης τυχεῖν καὶ τὴν δουλείαν ἀνανεώσασθαι καὶ ἀποδοῦναι τὰς εἰσφοράς, αἵπερ ἔτυχον ὑστερήσασαι, καὶ ταύτας ἐτησίως εἰσφέρειν μετ' εὐγνωμοσύνης εἰς τὸ ἐπιόν. ὁ δέ, καίτοι πολλῶν καὶ στρατηγίαις ἐπιφανῶν ἀποτρεπόντων αὐτῷ τὴν εἰς τὸ πρόσω φορὰν ὡς ἀσύμφορον καὶ σπείσασθαι συμβουλευόντων, οὐκ ἀνείργετο τῆς ὁρμῆς, ἀλλὰ ῥᾷον κρατῆσαι τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν ἐφαντάζετο καὶ τοῦτο κατωρθωκὼς μέγα τι καὶ ὑπέρογκον ᾤετο ἑαυτῷ περιποιήσασθαι σεμνολόγημα. ἄπεισιν οὖν ἐν Συρίᾳ καὶ βάλλεται χάρακα. Ἄραβες δέ, αὐτόσκευοί 577 τινες ἄνθρωποι καὶ τολμητίαι κέλητες, ἐφ' ἵππων ὠκυπόδων γυμνοὶ ἑκατέρωθεν ἐλόχων τοῦ χάρακος καὶ τοὺς εἰς συλλογὴν ἀπιόντας χιλοῦ ὕδατός τε ἀρδείαν ἐκθορόντες ἀνῄρουν ἢ καὶ συνήρπαζον, ὡς τούς τε στρατιώτας καὶ τὴν ἵππον αὐτῶν ἀπειρηκέναι τῷ δίψει. εἶτα συνηθέστεροι γεγονότες ταῖς ἐκδρομαῖς πρὸς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους οἱ Ἄραβες καὶ οἷον καταγνόντες δειλίαν αὐτῶν, ἀθρόον ἀπὸ τῶν μετεώρων ἐξωρμηκότες καὶ βαρβαρικὸν ἀλαλάξαντες καὶ πλήθους φαντασίαν ἀπεργασάμενοι τῷ μὴ συνασπισμὸν τηρεῖν, ἀλλὰ διεσπασμένως ἐκτρέχειν καὶ ἐπιέναι ἀσυντάκτως τῷ χάρακι, ἐκδειματοῦσιν ἅπαν τὸ στρατιωτικὸν καὶ εἰς φυγὴν τρέπουσι. καὶ κἂν ἑάλω ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ αὐτός, τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν ἐκταραχθείσης φρουρᾶς καὶ λελοιπυίας ἀφρούρητον τὸν φρουρούμενον, εἰ μή τις αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον ἀνέλαβε καὶ φεύγειν ἐπέρρωσεν ἐκπεπνευκότα τῷ δέει μικροῦ. ἀπῄεσαν μὲν οὖν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι ἀτάκτως ὡς ἕκαστος ἔτυχε θέοντες. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι τὸ παράλογον τῆς τροπῆς τεθηπότες, κατὰ τῶν ἀποδιδρασκόντων οὐκ ἐπεξέθεον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τοῦ χάρακος ἔθεον, ὀλίγους τῶν ἐπιφανεστέρων ζωγρήσαντες, καὶ τήν τε σκηνὴν διηρπάκασι τὴν βασίλειον, μεστὴν οὖσαν πλούτου παντοδαποῦ 578 καὶ πολυτελείας βασιλικῆς, καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀποσκευὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτοὺς ἀναθέμενοι ἐπανέζευξαν. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν διασέσωστο σπουδῇ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν κἀκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Κωνσταντίνου ἀνέδραμεν, οὐκέτι τὴν πρόσθεν τῆς ψυχῆς δεικνύων διάθεσιν, ἀλλ' ἀλλοιωθεὶς τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἀλλοίωσιν. ἵνα γὰρ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἰσοστάσια κτήσηται, πράκτωρ ἀντὶ κρατοῦντος ἐγένετο καὶ πικρὸς λογιστής, παῖδας πατέρων γεγηρακότα χρέα πραττόμενος καὶ πυρκαϊὰς ἀνάπτων κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων, ἅσπερ ὁ χρόνος ἤδη πολὺς πρεσβεύσας κατέσβεσεν ἢ τέως κατέχωσεν ὑπὸ σποδιᾷ. ἐντεῦθεν πολλοὶ πατρῴων οἰκιῶν καὶ ἀγρῶν ἀπηλαύνοντο καὶ τὴν πρὶν εὐκληρίαν ἐκδιδυσκόμενοι εἰς πενίαν λαμπρὰν συνηλαύνοντο. τῶν δ' οὕτω πραττομένων οὐδὲν εἰς τὸ δημόσιον εἰσεφέρετο, ἀλλὰ σεμνεῖον οἰκοδομῆσαι καὶ ναὸν τῇ θεομήτορι προθέμενος καθιδρύσασθαι ἐκεῖ καὶ ταῦτα κατεδαπάνα καὶ ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν θησαυρῶν ἀνήλισκεν ἕτερα, ἄρτι μὲν ἀνεγείρων, ἄρτι δὲ καταστρέφων τὸ ἤδη ἀνεγερθὼν καὶ ἢ μετεωρότερον ἀνοικοδομῶν αὖθις αὐτὸ ἢ εὐρύτερον ἢ τὸν σχηματισμὸν ποι579 κίλλων ἢ τρόπον ἄλλον τὸ καινιζόμενον ἀλλοιῶν. ἀπένειμε δὲ καὶ προσόδους τοῖς μονασταῖς, οὐκ ἀναλόγους μονάζουσιν, ἀλλὰ τρυφῶσι προσηκούσας καὶ βίον ἕλκουσιν ἀνειμένον καὶ ἁβροδίαιτον, χώρας ὅλας τῶν δημοσίων, καὶ ταύτας τὰς πιοτάτας καὶ παμφόρους, ἀφοσιώσας αὐτοῖς. ἀλλὰ μὴ πλείω περὶ τούτων. Κατέλαβε δὲ τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων Ἄμερ ὁ τοῦ Χαλεπίτου υἱὸς σὺν δώροις πολλοῖς, τὴν εἰρήνην ἀνανεούμενος, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ ταύτῃ ἐπένευσεν. ἡ βασιλὶς δὲ Ζωὴ ἀφικομένη εἰς τὸ Πετρίον τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἀδελφὴν Θεοδώραν ἀπέκειρε μοναχήν. ἐκδημήσαντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς πόλεως ὁ ∆ιογένης Κωνσταντῖνος ὡς τυραννίδα μελετῶν καὶ ἀποδρᾶναι μέλλων εἰς τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν κατεσχέθη καὶ ἐταζόμενος ἑαυτὸν κατεκρήμνισε καὶ ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα μὴ τοὺς συνειδότας ἐκφαυλίσῃ τῇ βίᾳ νικώμενος. τότε μέντοι Ἄραβες μὲν τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν κατέδραμον, οἱ δέ γε Πατζινάκοι τὴν Βουλγαρίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰλλυρικοῦ παράλιον οἱ Ἀγαρηνοί. τούτοις δὲ μόνοις στόλος