155
they passed through; and having written to Dorotheus, the general 473 of Armenia, to arm against these same Huns, and the Huns having heard, taking all the booty, they returned through the places by which they had come. And the general Dorotheus, having pursued them, took from them no small amount of booty. And in this time of the tenth indiction, it happened that a pretext for a disturbance arose in Byzantium through certain avenging demons, while Eudaimon was Prefect of the City and held disorderly men from both factions in custody, and having examined various persons, he found among them seven names guilty of murder; and he sentenced four of them to beheading, and the three to impalement. And as they were paraded through the whole city and led along, and while some were being hanged, two fell when the timbers broke, one of them a Blue, and the other a Green. And the crowd standing by, having seen what happened, acclaimed the emperor. But the monks near the church of Saint Conon, having heard and come out, found two of those who had been hanged lying alive on the ground. And taking them down near the sea, and putting them in a boat, they sent them to the church of Saint Laurence in a place of sanctuary. And the Prefect of the City, having learned these things, sent a military guard and kept them under watch there 474. And after three days, the hippodrome race called 'of the Ides' was held; and they are called Ides because the emperor of the Romans feasts all those who are promoted in the military campaigns at dinners in his palace, granting to each the rank of primicerius. And when the hippodrome race was held on the thirteenth of the month of January, both factions begged the emperor to show mercy. And they persisted in shouting until the twenty-second race, and were not deemed worthy of a response. But the devil put a wicked thought into them, and they shouted to one another, 'Many years to the merciful Greens and Blues!' And dismissing the games, the crowds went down reconciled, having given each other the watchword by saying 'Nika', so that no soldiers or excubitores would mix with them; and thus they surged on. And when it was late in the day, they came to the praetorium of the Prefect of the City, asking for a response concerning the fugitives who were in the church of Saint Laurence. And not receiving a response, they set fire to the same praetorium; and the praetorium was burned, and the Chalke of the palace as far as the Scholae, and the Great Church, and the public portico; and the people persisted in surging on in a disorderly way. And when morning came, the emperor having ordered a hippodrome race to be held, and the customary curtain having been hung, the same demesmen again set fire to the stairway of the hippodrome; and part of the public portico was also burned, as far as the Baths of Zeuxip 475 pus. And Mundus, Constantiolus, and Basilides went out with reinforcements by order of the emperor, wishing to quiet the rioting crowds; for the crowd was shouting against John, surnamed the Cappadocian, and Tribonian the Quaestor, and the Prefect of the City, Eudaimon; and the senators who had been sent out, having heard these things from them, reported to the emperor; and immediately John, Tribonian, and Eudaimon were relieved of their offices. And when Belisarius came out with a multitude of Goths, and an engagement took place, many of the demesmen were slaughtered. But the crowd, enraged, also set fire in other places and murdered some in a disorderly way. On the eighteenth of the same month, the emperor went up into the Hippodrome carrying the Holy Gospels; and the crowds, learning of it, went up, and he addressed them with commands under oath; and many of the people were shouting for him as emperor, but others were rioting, shouting for Hypatius. And the demesmen, taking this same Hypatius, led him away
155
παρῆλθον· καὶ γράψας ∆ωροθέῳ τῷ στρατηλάτῃ 473 Ἀρμενίας ὁπλίσασθαι κατὰ τῶν αὐτῶν Οὕννων, καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ Οὗννοι, λαβόντες τὴν πραῖδαν πᾶσαν ὑπέστρεψαν δι' ὧν ἐπανῆλθον τόπων. καὶ καταδιώξας αὐτοὺς ὁ στρατηλάτης ∆ωρόθεος ἀφείλατο παρ' αὐτῶν οὐκ ὀλίγην πραῖδαν. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς δεκάτης ἰνδικτιῶνος συνέβη ὑπό τινων ἀλαστόρων δαιμόνων πρόφασιν γενέσθαι ταραχῆς ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, Εὐδαίμονος ἐπάρχου πόλεως ὄντος καὶ ἔχοντος ἀτάκτους ἐν φρουρᾷ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν, καὶ ἐξετάσαντος διάφορα πρόσωπα εὗρεν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὀνόματα ἑπτὰ αἰτίους φόνων· καὶ ψηφισάμενος τῶν μὲν τεσσάρων καρατόμησιν, τῶν δὲ τριῶν ἀνασκολοπισμόν. καὶ περιβωμισθέντων αὐτῶν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ περασάντων αὐτῶν, καὶ τῶν μὲν κρεμασθέντων, ἐξέπεσαν δύο τῶν ξύλων ῥαγέντων, ἑνὸς μὲν Βενέτου, καὶ ἑτέρου Πρασίνου. καὶ ἑωρακὼς ὁ περιεστὼς λαὸς τὸ συμβὰν εὐφήμησαν τὸν βασιλέα. ἀκηκοότες δὲ οἱ πλησίον τοῦ ἁγίου Κόνωνος μοναχοὶ καὶ ἐξελθόντες, εὗρον ἐκ τῶν κρεμασθέντων δύο ζῶντας κειμένους εἰς τὸ ἔδαφος. καὶ καταγαγόντες αὐτοὺς πλησίον θαλάσσης, καὶ ἐμβαλόντες ἐν πλοίῳ, ἔπεμψαν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Λαυρεντίῳ ἐν ἀσύλοις τόποις. καὶ γνοὺς ταῦτα ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἔπαρχος, πέμψας στρατιωτικὴν βοήθειαν ἐφύλαττεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖσε 474 ὄντας. καὶ μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἤχθη τὸ ἱπποδρόμιον τὸ ὀνομαζόμενον τῶν εἰδῶν· εἰδοὶ δὲ ὀνομάζονται, διότι πάντας τοὺς προκόπτοντας ἐν ταῖς στρατείαις ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων ἐν ἀριστοδείπνοις τρέφει ἐν τῷ αὐτοῦ παλατίῳ, χαριζόμενος ἑκάστῳ τὰ τοῦ πριμικηράτου. τοῦ δὲ ἱπποδρομίου ἀγομένου τῇ τρεισκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ ἰανουαρίου μηνός, τὰ ἀμφότερα μέρη παρεκάλουν τὸν βασιλέα φιλανθρωπευθῆναι. ἐπέμενον δὲ κράζοντες ἕως τοῦ εἰκοστοῦ δευτέρου βαΐου, καὶ ἀποκρίσεως οὐκ ἠξιώθησαν. τοῦ δὲ διαβόλου ἐμβαλόντος αὐτοῖς λογισμὸν πονηρόν, ἔκραζον πρὸς ἀλλήλους, Φιλανθρώπων Πρασίνων καὶ Βενέτων πολλὰ τὰ ἔτη. καὶ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ ἀπολύσαντες κατῆλθον τὰ πλήθη φιλιάσαντα, δεδωκότες ἑαυτοῖς μανδᾶτα ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν Νίκα, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναμιγῆναι αὐτοῖς στρατιώτας ἢ ἐξκουβίτορας· καὶ οὕτως εἰσήλαυνον. βραδείας δὲ γενομένης ὥρας ἦλθον ἐν τῷ πραιτωρίῳ τοῦ ἐπάρχου τῆς πόλεως, αἰτοῦντες ἀπόκρισιν περὶ τῶν προφύγων τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Λαυρεντίῳ. καὶ μὴ τυχόντες ἀποκρίσεως ὑφῆψαν πῦρ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ πραιτωρίῳ· ἐκαύθη δὲ τὸ πραιτώριον καὶ ἡ χαλκῆ τοῦ παλατίου ἕως τῶν σχολῶν καὶ ἡ μεγάλη ἐκκλησία καὶ ὁ δημόσιος ἔμβολος· καὶ ἐπέμεινεν ὁ δῆμος εἰσελαύνων ἀτάκτως. καὶ πρωίας γενομένης, τοῦ βασιλέως κελεύσαντος ἀχθῆναι ἱπποδρόμιον, καὶ κρεμασθέντος τοῦ ἐξ ἔθους βήλου, ὑφῆψαν πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ δημόται ἐν τῇ ἀναβάθρᾳ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ· καὶ ἐκαύθη μέρος καὶ τοῦ δημοσίου ἐμβόλου ἕως τοῦ Ζευξίπ 475 που. καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ περὶ Μοῦνδον καὶ Κωνσταντίολον καὶ Βασιλίδην μετὰ βοηθείας κατὰ κέλευσιν τοῦ βασιλέως, βουλόμενοι κατασιγῆσαι τὰ στασιάζοντα πλήθη· κατέκραζε γὰρ τὸ πλῆθος Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἐπίκλην Καππάδοκος καὶ Τριβουνιανοῦ τοῦ Κοιαίστωρος καὶ τοῦ ἐπάρχου τῆς πόλεως Εὐδαίμονος· καὶ ταῦτα παρ' αὐτῶν ἀκηκοότες οἱ ἐκπεμφθέντες συγκλητικοὶ ἀνήγαγον τῷ βασιλεῖ· καὶ εὐθέως διεδέχθησαν τῆς ἀρχῆς ὅ τε Ἰωάννης καὶ Τριβουνιανὸς καὶ Εὐδαίμων. καὶ ἐξελθόντος Βελισαρίου μετὰ πλήθους Γοτθικοῦ, καὶ συμβολῆς γενομένης, πολλοὶ ἐκ τῶν δημοτῶν κατεσφάγησαν. θυμωθὲν δὲ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις τόποις ἔβαλον πῦρ καί τινας ἀτάκτως ἐφόνευον. Τῇ δὲ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς ἀνῆλθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν τῷ Ἱππικῷ βαστάζων τὸ ἅγιον μεγαλεῖον· καὶ μαθόντες οἱ ὄχλοι ἀνῆλθον, καὶ προσεφώνησεν αὐτοῖς μεθ' ὅρκων μανδᾶτα· καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν τοῦ δήμου ἔκραζον αὐτὸν βασιλέα, ἕτεροι δὲ ἐστασίαζον, κράζοντες Ὑπάτιον. καὶ λαβόντες οἱ δῆμοι τὸν αὐτὸν Ὑπάτιον ἀπήγαγον