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with his approval, one of those who had planned the conspiracy, Ablabius the son of Meltiades, confided the plan to Eusebius the count of the foederati and to John the son of Dometiolus, that "In the evening we want to attack the pious emperor, as he sits in the triclinium." And when the plot was revealed, Marcellus the silversmith was found on that very evening on which he was about to carry out the conspiracy entering the palace wearing a dagger, and Ablabius who had revealed the plot was likewise with a sword. And as they were discovered beforehand, Marcellus was arrested, and having failed in his expectation, he drew the dagger which he wore and inflicted three wounds upon himself, and so he died; Sergius the nephew of Aetherius took refuge in the [church of] our 494 Lady the Theotokos in Blachernae. And having been expelled from the sanctuary, as one who had plotted against the emperor, and having been interrogated, he testified that Isakius the silversmith, who was with Belisarius the patrician, was also privy to the same conspiracy, and also Vitus the silversmith and Paul the hypoption of Belisarius. And when both were arrested and handed over to Procopius, prefect of the city, with Constantine the quaestor and Julian the antigrapheus and Zenodorus the asecretis sitting with him and examining them, and taking down their answers, they denounced Belisarius the patrician; and because of this he fell under displeasure. And certain others of those who were named took to flight. And on the fifth of the month of December the same emperor, having held a silentium conventus, orders all the magistrates to enter and the patriarch Eutychius and some men from the scholae; and having received them in the triclinium, he orders their depositions to be read and the details of the plot to be revealed to all, I mean those of Sergius the nephew of Aetherius and Eusebius the silversmith and Paul the hypoption and Vitus. And their depositions were read, and from these depositions the patrician Belisarius was subject to displeasure; and the same emperor, having sent men, took away all of Belisarius' men, and that man did not resist in any way. and Constantine the quaestor and Julian the 495 antigrapheus were suspected, as having acted, he says, on behalf of Aetherius, as Aetherius himself was also privy to the plot; and after six days those who had planned the same conspiracy were examined again by Marinus the count of the excubitors and Constantianus the stratelates, and the same Belisarius remained under displeasure. And in the same month an edict was published by the same emperor concerning those who were separated in various churches, that "One must not speak of one nature after the union, but confess two." And in the same indiction the reconsecration of the most holy great church took place. And 30 feet were added to the dome according to the old design, and they made the two arches by addition, both the northern and the southern one. and at the completion of the vault, with Eutychius the patriarch holding the holy majesty and the crowd standing by, was chanted, "Lift up your gates, O ye rulers, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in," and the rest. In the month of January of the 11th indiction, when the hippodrome games were being held, the charioteer Julianicus died, having been dragged in the hippodrome. And in the same month some parts of Africa were taken by the Mauritanians; for Cutzinas the exarch of that nation had the custom of receiving a certain amount of gold from the Romans through the governor of the time, since he ruled the nation of the Moors. and 496 when John, surnamed Rogathinus, arrived, and gave him nothing according to the former custom, but on the contrary even murdered him, the children of the same Cutzinas rose up, avenging their father's blood. and having risen up against the parts of

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εὐδοκήσαντος, εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν μελετησάντων, Ἀβλάβιος ὁ Μελτιάδου, ἐθάῤῥησεν Εὐσεβίῳ τῷ κόμητι τῶν φοιδεράτων καὶ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ ∆ομετιόλου τὴν σκέψιν, ὅτι Ἐν τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ βουλόμεθα ἐπιβῆναι τῷ εὐσεβεῖ βασιλεῖ, ὡς κάθηται ἐν τῷ τρικλίνῳ. καὶ φανερωθείσης τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, εὑρέθη Μάρκελλος ὁ ἀργυροπράτης τῇ αὐτῇ ἑσπέρᾳ ἐν ᾗ τὴν σκέψιν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς ἔμελλε ποιεῖν εἰσερχόμενος ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ φορῶν βοῦγλιν, καὶ ὁ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν φανερώσας Ἀβλάβιος ὁμοίως ἀπὸ σπαθίου. καὶ ὡς προγνωσθέντες συνεσχέθη μὲν Μάρκελλος, καὶ ἀστοχήσας τοῦ προσδοκωμένου σύρας τὸ βοῦγλιν ὃ ἐφόρει ἑαυτῷ ἐπήγαγε πληγὰς τρεῖς, καὶ οὕτως ἐτελεύτησε· Σέργιος δὲ ὁ ἀνεψιὸς Αἰθερίου προσφυγίῳ ἐχρήσατο ἐν τῇ δε 494 σποίνῃ ἡμῶν τῇ θεοτόκῳ ἐν Βλαχέρναις. καὶ ἐκβληθεὶς ἐκ τῶν ὅρων, ὡς οἷα κατὰ βασιλέως σκεψάμενος, καὶ ἐξετασθείς, κατέθετο ὅτι καὶ Ἰσάκιος ὁ ἀργυροπράτης ὁ κατὰ Βελισσάριον τὸν πατρίκιον καὶ αὐτὸς σύνοιδε τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιβουλῇ, καὶ Βῖτος δὲ ὁ ἀργυροπράτης καὶ Παῦλος ὁ ὑποπτίων Βελισσαρίου. καὶ ἀμφοτέρων συσχεθέντων καὶ ἐκδοθέντων Προκοπίῳ, ἐπάρχῳ πόλεως, συγκαθημένων αὐτῷ καὶ συνεξεταζόντων Κωνσταντίνου κοιαίστωρος καὶ Ἰουλιανοῦ ἀντιγραφέως καὶ Ζηνοδώρου ἀσεκρῆτις, ἐκλαμβάνοντος τὰς αὐτῶν ἀποκρίσεις, κατεῖπον Βελισσαρίου τοῦ πατρικίου· καὶ ἐκ τούτου ὑπὸ ἀγανάκτησιν γέγονεν. ἄλλοι δέ τινες τῶν ἐξονομασθέντων φυγῇ ἐχρήσαντο. καὶ τῇ πέμπτῃ τοῦ δεκεμβρίου μηνὸς ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ποιήσας σιλέντιον κόμβεντον κελεύει πάντας τοὺς ἄρχοντας εἰσελθεῖν καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην Εὐτύχιον καί τινας ἐκ τῶν σχολῶν· καὶ δεξάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ τρικλίνῳ, κελεύει τὰς τούτων καταθέσεις ἀναγνωσθῆναι καὶ φανερωθῆναι πᾶσι τὰ τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς, λέγω δὴ Σεργίου τοῦ ἀνεψιοῦ Αἰθερίου καὶ Εὐσεβίου τοῦ ἀργυροπράτου καὶ Παύλου τοῦ ὑποπτίωνος καὶ Βίτου. καὶ ἀνεγνώσθησαν αἱ καταθέσεις αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν καταθέσεων ἠγανακτήθη ὁ πατρίκιος Βελισσάριος· καὶ πέμψας ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ἐπῆρε πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους Βελισσαρίου, καὶ ἐν οὐδενὶ ἀντέστη ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνήρ. καὶ ὑπονοηθεὶς Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ κοιαίστωρ καὶ Ἰουλιανὸς ὁ ἀν 495 τιγραφεύς, ὡς, φησίν, ὑπὲρ Αἰθερίου ποιήσαντες, ὡς οἷα καὶ αὐτοῦ Αἰθερίου συνειδότος τῇ ἐπιβουλῇ· καὶ μεθ' ἡμέρας ἓξ πάλιν ἐξητάσθησαν οἱ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐπιβουλὴν μελετήσαντες ὑπὸ Μαρίνου τοῦ κόμητος τῶν ἐξκουβιτόρων καὶ Κωνσταντιανοῦ τοῦ στρατηλάτου, καὶ ἔμεινεν ὁ αὐτὸς Βελισσάριος ὑπὸ ἀγανάκτησιν. Καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ μηνὶ προετέθη ἤδικτον περὶ τῶν διακρινομένων ἐν διαφόροις ἐκκλησίαις ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ βασιλέως ὅτι Οὐ χρὴ μετὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν λέγειν μίαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ δύο ὁμολογεῖν. Καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ ἰνδικτιῶνι ἐγένοντο τὰ ἐγκαίνια τῆς ἁγιωτάτης μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας τὸ δεύτερον. προσετέθη δὲ τῷ τρούλλῳ κατὰ τὸ παλαιὸν σχῆμα πόδες λʹ, καὶ τὰς δύο καμάρας ἐκ προσθήκης ποιήσαντες, τήν τε ἀρκτῴαν καὶ τὴν μεσημβρινήν. ἐν δὲ τῇ συμπληρώσει τοῦ εἰλήματος Εὐτυχίου τοῦ πατριάρχου κατέχοντος τὸ ἅγιον μεγαλεῖον καὶ τοῦ ὄχλου παρισταμένου ἐψάλλετο, Ἄρατε πύλας, οἱ ἄρχοντες, ὑμῶν, καὶ ἐπάρθητε, πύλαι αἰώνιοι, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης, καὶ τὰ λοιπά. Μηνὶ ἰανουαρίῳ ἰνδικτιῶνος ιαʹ ἱπποδρομίου ἀγομένου συρεὶς Ἰουλιανικὸς ὁ ἡνίοχος ἐν τῷ ἱπποδρομίῳ τελευτᾷ. Καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ μηνὶ παρελήφθη μέρη τινὰ τῆς Ἀφρικῆς ὑπὸ τῶν Μαυριτανῶν· Κουτζίνης γὰρ ὁ ἔξαρχος τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔθνους ἔθος εἶχε λαμβάνειν ἀπὸ Ῥωμαίων διὰ τοῦ κατὰ καιρὸν ἄρχοντος πόσον τι χρυσίον, ἐπειδὴ ἦρχε τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν Μαύρων. καὶ 496 κατελθόντος Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἐπίκλην Ῥογαθινοῦ, καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῷ δεδωκότος κατὰ τὸ πρῴην ἔθος, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον καὶ δολοφονήσαντος αὐτόν, ἀνέστησαν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ αὐτοῦ Κουζτίνη, ἐκδικοῦντες τὸ πατρῷον αἷμα. καὶ ἐπαναστάντες τοῖς μέρεσι τῆς