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of office. And having sent these men, he ordered them to destroy by the sword all who lived in those fortresses and to leave none alive, handing over to them also Elias the spatharios, who was to be appointed archon of Cherson. They, having seized 378 Cherson, with no one resisting them, took the fortresses and killed everyone by the sword except for the young boys, sparing them as children and keeping them for slavery. And Tudunus, the archon of Cherson who acted as the representative of the Chagan, and Zoilus, the protopolites by rank and birth, and forty other prominent and leading men of Cherson with their families, they sent as prisoners to the emperor, and seven other leading men of Cherson they impaled on wooden spits and roasted over a fire, and another twenty they bound hand and foot and, tying them to the straps of a chelandion which they had filled with stones, they sank them into the deep. But when Justinian learned this and went mad over the saving of the young boys, he ordered them to come to him with all speed. But when the fleet set out in the month of October, and was caught on the high seas at the rising of the star called Taurouras, almost the entire fleet was sunk; and the number of those who died in the shipwreck was counted as 73,000. When Justinian learned this and was not grieved, but rather filled with joy and still in the grip of such madness and loudly threatening to send another fleet again and to plow them all under and to raze them to the ground, down to the last one who pisses against a wall, the people of those fortresses heard this and secured themselves, and being compelled to take thought against the emperor, they sent to the Chagan in Khazaria asking for people for their protection. At this, therefore, both Elias the spatharios and Bardanes the exile were stirred up, the latter having at that time been recalled from Kephallenia and being in Cherson with the fleet. But Justinian, learning this, sent with a few dromons Georgius the patrician, surnamed Syrus, and general logothete, and Ioannes the eparch, and Christophoros, tourmarches of the Thrakesians, along with three hundred armed men, 379 having handed over to them both Tudunus and Zoilus, who were to be restored to their former positions in Cherson, and to make an apology to the Chagan through an apocrisiarius, and to bring Elias and Bardanes to him. But when they arrived in Cherson, the people of the city of Cherson took no account of them. On the next day, having urged these men to enter alone, the people of the city shut the gates, and they killed the general logothete along with the eparch by the sword, but Tudunus, along with Zoilus and the said tourmarches, with the three hundred soldiers, they handed over to the Khazars and sent to the Chagan. And since Tudunus had died on the way, the Khazars, in his reception, killed the tourmarches along with the three hundred soldiers. Then the people of Cherson and the other fortresses anathematized Justinian, and acclaimed Bardanes, the exile there, as Philippicus and emperor. Learning this, Justinian, becoming even more enraged, slaughtered the children of the spatharios Elias in their mother's lap, and forced her to be joined to her own cook, who was an Indian; then, having thus equipped another fleet, he sends Maurus the patrician, the Bessian, handing over to him for siege warfare a ram, mangonels, and every kind of helepolis, instructing him to raze the walls of Cherson and the entire city, and to leave not a soul in it alive, and to report his actions to him more frequently through dispatches. And when this man arrived and brought down the tower called Kentenaresion with the ram, and also the one near it called Syagros, and the Khazars arrived, a truce in the war came about. But Bardanes, having escaped, went to the Chagan.

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ὀφφικίου. καὶ τούτους ἀποστείλας παρήγγειλε πάντας τοὺς οἰκοῦντας ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς κάστροις τῷ ξίφει ὀλοθρεῦσαι καὶ μηδένα ζωογονῆσαι, παραδεδωκὼς αὐτοῖς καὶ Ἡλίαν τὸν σπαθάριον ὀφείλοντα ἄρχοντα Χερσῶνος καταστῆναι. οἱ δὲ τὴν 378 Χερσῶνα καταλαβόντες, μηδενὸς αὐτοῖς ἀντιστάντος, τὰ κάστρα παρέλαβον καὶ πάντας τῷ ξίφει ἀνεῖλον χωρὶς τῶν μειρακίων, ὡς νηπίων τούτων φεισάμενοι καὶ πρὸς δουλείαν περιποιηθέντων. Τουδοῦνον δέ, τὸν ἄρχοντα Χερσῶνος ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χαγάνου ὄντα, καὶ Ζώϊλον, τὸν ἐκ σειρᾶς καὶ γένους ὄντα πρωτοπολίτην, καὶ ἑτέρους τεσσαράκοντα ἐμφανεῖς καὶ πρωτεύοντας τῆς Χερσῶνος συμφαμίλους δεσμίους πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀπέστειλαν, ἑτέρους δὲ ἑπτὰ τῶν πρωτευόντων Χερσῶνος εἰς σούβλας ξυλίνας προσαρτήσαντες ἐπὶ πυρὸς ὤπτησαν, ἄλλους δὲ εἴκοσιν ἐξάγκωνα δήσαντες καὶ εἰς χελανδίου λώρους προσδήσαντες καὶ λίθοις τοῦτο γεμίσαντες εἰς βυθὸν κατεπόντισαν. τοῦ δὲ Ἰουστινιανοῦ ταῦτα μαθόντος καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν μειρακίων σωτηρίᾳ μανέντος, ἐκέλευσε σπουδαίως αὐτοὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν παραγενέσθαι. ἀποκινήσαντος δὲ τοῦ στόλου τῷ Ὀκτωβρίῳ μηνί, καὶ ἐν τῷ πελάγει φθασθέντος ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἄστρου ἐπιτολῇ τοῦ λεγομένου Ταυρουρᾶ, μικροῦ δεῖν ἅπας ὁ στόλος κατεποντίσθη· καὶ ἠριθμήθησαν οἱ ἐν τῷ ναυαγίῳ ἀποθανόντες χιλιάδες ογʹ. τοῦ δὲ Ἰουστινιανοῦ ταῦτα μαθόντος καὶ μὴ λυπηθέντος, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν χαρᾶς πλησθέντος καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης μανίας ἀκμὴν ἐχομένου καὶ κραυγικῶς ἐπαπειλοῦντος, πάλιν ἕτερον ἐκπέμπειν στόλον καὶ ἀροτριᾷν ἅπαντας καὶ ἐξεδαφίζειν ἕως οὐροῦντα πρὸς τοῖχον, ἤκουσαν ταῦτα οἱ τῶν κάστρων ἐκείνων καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἠσφαλίσαντο, καὶ ἀναγκασθέντες κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως φρονῆσαι ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς τὸν Χαγάνον εἰς Χαζαρίαν αἰτούμενοι λαὸν πρὸς φυλακὴν αὐτῶν. ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν διεγείρεται καὶ Ἡλίας ὁ σπαθάριος καὶ Βαρδάνης ὁ ἐξόριστος, τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἀνακληθεὶς ἀπὸ Κεφαληνίας καὶ σὺν τῷ στόλῳ εἰς Χερσῶνα ὤν. ὁ δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς ταῦτα μαθὼν ἀπέστειλε μετ' ὀλίγων δρομώνων Γεώργιον τὸν πατρίκιον, τὸ ἐπίκλην Σύρον, καὶ γενικὸν λογοθέτην, καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἔπαρχον, καὶ Χριστοφόρον, τουρμάρχην τῶν Θρᾳκησίων, μετὰ καὶ τριακοσίων ἐξωπλισμένων, 379 παραδεδωκὼς αὐτοῖς Τουδοῦνόν τε καὶ Ζώϊλον ὀφείλοντας ἀποκατασταθῆναι κατὰ τὸ πρότερον ἐν Χερσῶνι, δι' ἀποκρισιαρίου δὲ ἀπολογήσασθαι τῷ Χαγάνῳ, ἀγαγεῖν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἡλίαν καὶ Βαρδάνην. τῶν δὲ περασάντων ἐν Χερσῶνι, οἱ τῆς πόλεως Χερσῶνος τούτοις περιλογὴν οὐκ ἐποίησαν. τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον τούτους μόνους εἰσελθεῖν οἱ τῆς πόλεως προτρεψάμενοι τὰς πύλας ἀπέκλεισαν, καὶ τὸν μὲν γενικὸν λογοθέτην ἅμα τῷ ἐπάρχῳ ξίφει ἀνεῖλον, τὸν δὲ Τουδοῦνον ἅμα Ζωΐλῳ καὶ τῷ λεχθέντι τουρμάρχῃ σὺν τοῖς τριακοσίοις στρατιώταις τοῖς Χαζάροις παρέδωκαν καὶ πρὸς τὸν Χαγάνον ἀπέστειλαν. τοῦ δὲ Τουδούνου κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τεθνηκότος, οἱ Χάζαρεις εἰς δοχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπέκτειναν τὸν τουρμάρχην σὺν τοῖς τριακοσίοις στρατιώταις. τότε οἱ Χερσῶνος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν κάστρων τὸν μὲν Ἰουστινιανὸν ἀνέσκαψαν, τὸν δὲ ἐκεῖσε ἐξόριστον Βαρδάνην Φιλιππικὸν καὶ βασιλέα εὐφήμησαν. ταῦτα μαθὼν Ἰουστινιανὸς καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐκμανεὶς τὰ μὲν τέκνα τοῦ σπαθαρίου Ἡλία εἰς τὸν τῆς μητρὸς ἀπέσφαξε κόλπον, ταύτην δὲ ἠνάγκασε τῷ οἰκείῳ αὐτῆς ζευχθῆναι μαγείρῳ Ἰνδῷ ὄντι· εἶθ' οὕτω τε πλώϊμον ἕτερον κατασκευάσας ἀποστέλλει Μαῦρον τὸν πατρίκιον, τὸν Βέσσον, παραδεδωκὼς αὐτῷ πρὸς καστρομαχίαν κριόν, μαγγανικά τε καὶ πᾶσαν ἑλέπολιν, ἐντειλάμενος αὐτῷ, τὰ μὲν τείχη Χερσῶνος ἐδαφίσαι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν, μηδεμίαν δὲ ψυχὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς ζωογονῆσαι, πυκνοτέρως δὲ δι' ἀναφορῶν τὰ αὐτῷ πεπραγμένα δηλοῦν. τούτου δὲ περάσαντος καὶ διὰ τοῦ κριοῦ τὸν λεγόμενον Κεντηναρήσιον πύργον καταβαλόντος, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ Σύαγρον καλούμενον, Χαζάρων δὲ καταλαβόντων, ἐγένετο ἀνοχὴ τοῦ πολέμου. Βαρδάνης δὲ ἐκφυγὼν πρὸς τὸν Χαγάνον ᾤχετο.