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fled to the Ro591 mans, asking for an alliance. So the patrician George Maniakes was sent to assist him, having been appointed strategos of Longobardia. But before Maniakes had reached Sicily, its sibling rulers made peace with one another and were planning to drive Maniakes away from the island when he arrived, and they sent for an alliance from Africa. When war broke out, the Roman army was victorious, and with great slaughter of the Carthaginians, they first sacked thirteen cities; then advancing little by little, Maniakes brought all of Sicily under Roman rule. And Edessa was nearly captured, as the Arabs had planned to subdue it by a trick. For twelve of their rulers, leading five hundred camels, each of which was loaded with two chests, came to Edessa; and each of the chests had an armed soldier inside. They said they were going to the emperor bearing gifts, and they wished, if they were permitted to bring the chests inside, to bring out the soldiers within them at night and take the city. 592 So when the rulers entered to see the strategos of the city, he received them generously. But those who served them were still outside the city with the camels. But a certain Armenian beggar, who also knew the Arab dialect, approached the Arabs encamped outside to beg. So he heard someone from one of the chests asking where they were, and going into the city he reported the plot to the strategos. And he left the Arab rulers feasting in the city, but he himself went out with those around him and, breaking open the chests, killed all the soldiers inside them; and returning again to the city, he put the rest of their rulers to the sword, but of one he cut off the hands and the ears and the nose and sent him away, so that he might report the disaster to those at home. But the Carthaginian, learning of the destruction of those sent by him to Sicily, himself marched to the island with a larger force. And Maniakes encamped opposite 593 the Hagarenes and ordered the commander of the fleet, the patrician Stephen, the emperor’s brother-in-law (for he too had been dispatched with him with the fleet), to guard the coast securely, so that the Carthaginian, if defeated, would not be able to escape. So when battle was joined, a multitude of the Africans was slain, almost beyond counting, but their commander, escaping from the battle and embarking on a fast galley and eluding those in the fleet, was saved and returned home. Maniakes considered this a partial disaster, and he reviled the commander of the fleet. But since the latter trusted in his imperial kinship and was annoyed at the insults, Maniakes, seized with anger, also inflicted blows upon him. He immediately wrote to his brother John the eunuch, who was called the Orphanotrophos, that Maniakes was attempting a rebellion. Thereupon Maniakes was brought from there in chains and handed over to custody, and the entire command came under Stephen. And the 594 island not long after came around to the Hagarenes through the inexperience and indolence of the commander and, before these things, his sordid avarice, with only Messene (this is a city of the Sicilians) being left to the Romans, and this by the strategy of its commander; this was Katakalon Kekaumenos; for not only did he protect the city, but he also killed thousands of the enemy. But the emperor's brother, the eunuch John, nurturing a most keen desire to preside over the church, won over some of the high priests; and they promised him to depose the patriarch Alexios, on the grounds that he had been appointed not by a common vote, but by imperial authority. But he retorted, "If, as you say, I did not become patriarch canonically, then let all those who were ordained by me be deposed with me." This stirred up the rest of the high priests to rise up against the accusers of the patriarch, and the ambition of the Orphanotrophos remained unfulfilled. And with many unusual exactions he wore down his subjects, being most resourceful in such things

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Ῥω591 μαίων προσπέφευγε, συμμαχίαν αἰτῶν. στέλλεται τοίνυν ὁ πατρίκιος Γεώργιος ὁ Μανιάκης ἐπικουρήσων αὐτῷ, Λογγιβαρδίας προχειρισθεὶς στρατηγός. μήπω δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν καταλαβόντος τοῦ Μανιάκη, οἱ ταύτης ἄρχοντες σύγγονοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐσπείσαντο καὶ καταλαβόντα τὸν Μανιάκην ἀπελάσαι τῆς νήσου διεμελέτων καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐξ Ἀφρικῆς μετεπέμψαντο. συρραγέντος δὲ πολέμου τὸ Ῥωμαϊκὸν ἐκράτησε στράτευμα, καὶ φόνου πολλοῦ τῶν Καρχηδονίων γεγονότος πόλεις μὲν πρότερον ἐξεπόρθησαν δέκα ἐπὶ τρισίν· εἶτα κατὰ μικρὸν προβαίνων ὁ Μανιάκης καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν Σικελίαν τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίᾳ προσήγαγε. Μικροῦ δ' ἂν ἑάλω ἡ Ἔδεσα, δόλῳ ταύτην τῶν Ἀράβων μελετησάντων χειρώσασθαι. δώδεκα γὰρ αὐτῶν ἄρχοντες ἐπαγόμενοι καμήλους πεντακοσίας, ὧν ἑκάστη κιβώτια δύο ἐπήχθιστο, ἧκον εἰς Ἔδεσαν· ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν κιβωτίων ὁπλίτην εἶχεν ἐντός· ἔλεγον δὲ ἀπιέναι πρὸς βασιλέα δῶρα κομίζοντες, καὶ ἐβούλοντο, εἰ παραχωρηθεῖεν ἔνδον εἰσαγαγεῖν τὰ κιβώτια, νυκτὸς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς ὁπλίτας ἐξαγαγεῖν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἑλεῖν. 592 εἰσελθόντας οὖν πρὸς τὸν τῆς πόλεως στρατηγὸν τοὺς ἄρχοντας φιλοτίμως ἐκεῖνος ἐδέξατο. οἱ δ' ἐκείνοις ὑπηρετοῦντες μετὰ τῶν καμήλων ἔτι τῆς πόλεως ἦσαν ἔξω. προσαίτης δέ τις Ἀρμένιος, εἰδὼς καὶ τὴν Ἀράβων διάλεκτον, προσῆλθε τοῖς ἐκτὸς αὐλιζομένοις Ἄραψι μεταιτήσων. ἤκουσεν οὖν ἐκ κιβωτίων τινὸς ὅποι εἰσὶν ἐρωτῶντος, καὶ εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐλθὼν ἀπήγγειλε τὸ δρᾶμα τῷ στρατηγῷ. ὁ δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἄρχοντας τῶν Ἀράβων εὐωχουμένους ἐν τῇ πόλει κατέλιπεν, αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐξελθὼν καὶ τὰ κιβώτια διαρρήξας τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς ὁπλίτας ἀπέκτεινεν ἅπαντας· καὶ εἰς τὴν πόλιν αὖθις ὑπονοστήσας τοὺς μὲν λοιποὺς τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτῶν μαχαίρας ἔθετο ἔργον, ἑνὸς δὲ τὰς χεῖρας ἀποτεμὼν τὰ ὦτά τε καὶ τὴν ῥῖνα ἀφῆκεν, ἵνα τοῖς οἴκοι τὴν συμφορὰν καταγγείλειεν. Ὁ δὲ Καρχηδόνιος τὸν ὄλεθρον τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεμφθέντων εἰς Σικελίαν μαθών, καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν νῆσον ἐστράτευσε μετὰ δυνάμεως πλείονος. καὶ ὁ Μανιάκης ἀντιστρατο593 πεδεύεται τοῖς Ἀγαρηνοῖς καὶ τῷ τοῦ στόλου κατάρχοντι τῷ πατρικίῳ Στεφάνῳ τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως γαμβρῷ (συνέσταλτο γὰρ καὶ οὗτος αὐτῷ μετὰ τοῦ στόλου) ἀσφαλῶς τηρεῖν ἐνετείλατο τὴν παράλιον, ἵνα μὴ ἡττηθεὶς ὁ Καρχηδόνιος ἀποδρᾶναι δυνήσεται. μάχης τοίνυν συστάσης, πλῆθος μὲν τῶν Ἄφρων ἀνῄρητο σχεδόν τι κρεῖττον καὶ ἀριθμοῦ, ὁ δ' αὐτῶν ἀρχηγός, διαδρὰς ἐκ τῆς μάχης καὶ κελητίῳ ἐμβεβηκὼς λαθών τε τοὺς ἐν τῷ στόλῳ, οἴκαδε διασέσωστο. τοῦτο τῷ Μανιάκῃ συμφορᾶς ἥγητο μέρει, καὶ τῷ τοῦ στόλου ἄρχοντι ἐλοιδορεῖτο. τοῦ δὲ τῇ συγγενείᾳ τῇ βασιλικῇ πεποιθότος καὶ δυσχεράναντος πρὸς τὰς ὕβρεις, θυμῷ ληφθεὶς ὁ Μανιάκης καὶ πληγὰς ἐντείνει αὐτῷ. ὁ δὲ αὐτίκα γράφει τῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ ἐκτομίᾳ, ὀρφανοτρόφῳ ὀνομασθέντι, ἀποστασίᾳ ἐπιχειρεῖν τὸν Μανιάκην. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ μὲν Μανιάκης δέσμιος ἐκεῖθεν ἀχθεὶς φυλακῇ παρεδόθη, ἡ πᾶσα δὲ ἀρχὴ ὑπὸ τὸν Στέφανον γέγονε. καὶ ἡ 594 νῆσος οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν περιελήλυθε τοῖς Ἀγαρηνοῖς ἀπειρίᾳ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ τοῦ ἄρχοντος καὶ πρὸ τούτων αἰσχροκερδείᾳ, μόνης τῆς Μεσήνης (πόλις δὲ αὕτη τῶν Σικελικῶν) περιλειφθείσης Ῥωμαίοις, καὶ ταύτης τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ ἄρχοντος στρατηγίᾳ· οὗτος δ' ἦν ὁ Κεκαυμένος Κατακαλών· οὐ γὰρ τὴν πόλιν μόνον περιεφύλαξεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ χιλιάδας ἀνεῖλε τῶν ἐναντίων. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀδελφὸς ὁ ἐκτομίας Ἰωάννης δριμύτατον τρέφων ἔρωτα τοῦ προστῆναι τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐνίους τῶν ἀρχιερέων προσηταιρίσατο· καὶ οἳ αὐτῷ ἐπηγγέλλοντο καθαιρῆσαι τὸν πατριάρχην Ἀλέξιον, ὡς οὐ ψήφῳ κοινῇ προχειρισθέντα, ἀλλ' ἐξουσίᾳ βασιλικῇ. ὁ δέ "εἰ οὐ κανονικῶς, ὡς φατέ, γέγονα πατριάρχης" ἀντέθετο, "καὶ ὅσοι παρ' ἐμοῦ ἐχειροτονήθησαν, καθαιρεθήτωσαν σὺν ἐμοί." τοῦτο τοὺς λοιποὺς τῶν ἀρχιερέων στασιάσαι κατὰ τῶν τοῦ πατριάρχου κατηγορούντων ἠρέθισε, καὶ ἔμεινεν ἀτέλεστος ἡ τοῦ ὀρφανοτρόφου ἔφεσις. πολλαῖς δὲ καὶ ἀσυνήθεσιν εἰσπράξεσιν οὗτος ἐξέτρυχε τὸ ὑπήκοον, ποριμώτατος ἐν τοιούτοις