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as he was crossing, the rulers of the cities along the Ister (these were the *magistros* Nikephoros Botaneiates and the *magistros* Basil Apokapes) attempted to prevent their crossing, but they were not able. But the barbarian force, having engaged them, defeated the army with them and the aforementioned men, and led both away as captives, and having crossed the Danube they filled all the land around it. For, as the story goes, those able to bear arms were over sixty thousand; setting out from there, they plundered Macedonia and advanced as far as Hellas. These things caused despondency in the emperor, but he was hesitant and kept putting off gathering forces, so that he might not spend an obol. He said that the nation was invincible; and having sent ambassadors with gifts to their 679 leaders he tried to persuade the barbarians to make a truce. But as everyone was openly reviling the emperor for not proceeding against the barbarians on account of his stinginess, he departed from the city, and encamped around Choirobakchoi, bringing with him, it is said, no more than one hundred and fifty men, and giving thought to the gathering of an army. While this was happening, the destruction of the nation was announced to him. For a plague had broken out among them, and they were severely afflicted by it, the Patzinaks and the neighboring Bulgarians attacked the weakened people and utterly destroyed them, with their leaders barely able to cross the Ister with a few men. But the whole of the stratagem was of divine power; for the emperor, having despaired on all sides, took refuge in the divine, beseeching this with tears and a contrite heart and calling upon aid from there. These things happened in the sixth year of this emperor's reign. Before this, a great earthquake occurred on the 23rd of the month of September, by which both temples and houses 680 in many places were ruined. Then also the Hellenic temple at Cyzicus fell, a most beautiful and wonderful work, and the great and renowned church of the holy fathers in Nicaea was shaken down. In the month of May of the 4th indiction #1505 a comet star was seen behind the sun as it was going toward the west. At first it was the size of a full moon, then, as if sprouting hair, it diminished, and as much as its hair grew, its size became smaller. It stretched its rays toward the east, appearing for forty days. And when the patriarch Constantine Leichoudes had steered the church for four years and six months and passed on to another life, John Xiphilinos was raised to the archiepiscopal throne of Constantine's city, who was from Trapezous, and had been educated in all kinds of learning and was counted among the distinguished members of the senate. But having willingly left everything, he went to the monasteries around Olympus and had his hair tonsured and entered the monastic life, where also 681 having spent a long time he was judged worthy of the patriarchal throne. But the emperor, seized by an illness and suffering from it for a long time and being tormented and already worn out and knowing that his death was coming upon him inexorably, left the empire to his sons, who were three, whom his wife Eudokia had borne him, the two, Michael and Andronikos, while he was still a private citizen, but Konstantios after he had become emperor and she herself had been proclaimed Augusta. For this reason this one was also born in the purple, whom he immediately and before the others adorned with the imperial insignia, then he also proclaimed the rest. These, therefore, he placed in power, and for them he left their mother as empress and guardian and mistress, in a word, having placed the administration of the empire upon her, as she seemed to him to be both prudent and skilled in raising children and naturally suited for the management of affairs, having first demanded a written oath from her that she would not proceed to a second marriage. And the document, 682 confirmed by her, was given to the patriarch to be kept; but also all those of the senatorial council set down in writing that they would never [have] another emperor

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διαβαίνοντος, ἐπειράθησαν μὲν οἱ τῶν παριστρίων πόλεων ἄρχοντες (ἦσαν δὲ οὗτοι ὁ μάγιστρος Νικηφόρος ὁ Βοτανειάτης καὶ ὁ μάγιστρος Βασίλειος ὁ Ἀποκάπης) ἀπεῖρξαι αὐτοῖς τὴν διάβασιν, οὐ μέντοι γε ἠδυνήθησαν. ἀλλὰ συμμίξαν σφίσι τὸ βάρβαρον τήν τε συνοῦσαν αὐτοῖς κατηγωνίσατο στρατιὰν καὶ τοὺς εἰρημένους ἄνδρας καὶ ἄμφω δορυαλώτους ἀπήγαγον καὶ διαβάντες τὸν ∆άνουβιν τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν χώραν ἐπλήρωσαν ἅπασαν. ἦσαν γάρ, ὡς λόγος, ὑπὲρ ἑξήκοντα χιλιάδας οἱ αἴρειν ὅπλα δυνάμενοι· ὅθεν ὁρμώμενοι τήν τε Μακεδονίαν ἐληίζοντο καὶ μέχρις Ἑλλάδος προῄεσαν. ταῦτα ἀθυμίαν ἐνεποίει τῷ βασιλεῖ, συλλέξαι δὲ δυνάμεις ὤκνει καὶ ἀνεβάλλετο, ἵνα μὴ πρόηται ὀβολόν. ἐκεῖνος δ' ἔλεγεν ὅτι ἀκαταγώνιστον τὸ ἔθνος ἐστί· πρέσβεις δὲ πρὸς τοὺς αὐτῶν 679 ἡγεμονεύοντας ἐσταλκὼς μετὰ δώρων ἐπειρᾶτο τούτοις πεῖσαι τὸ βάρβαρον σπείσασθαι. πάντων δὲ ἀναφανδὸν λοιδορουμένων τῷ βασιλεῖ ὡς διὰ φειδωλίαν μὴ κατὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐπεξιόντι, τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἐξεδήμησε, περὶ δὲ Χοιροβάκχους ἐσκήνωσεν, οὐ πλείους, ὡς λέγεται, τῶν ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐπαγόμενος, φροντίζων δὲ περὶ στρατεύματος συλλογῆς. ἐν τούτοις δ' ἠγγέλη αὐτῷ ἡ τοῦ ἔθνους καταστροφή. ἐνσκήψαντος γὰρ ἐκείνῳ λοιμοῦ, καὶ κακωθέντι σφοδρῶς ἐξ αὐτοῦ οἵ τε Πατζινάκαι καὶ οἱ παρακείμενοι Βούλγαροι ἠσθενηκότι ἐπέθεντο καὶ ἄρδην αὐτὸ διεφθάρκασι, μόλις τῶν ἡγεμόνων μετ' ὀλίγων δυνηθέντων διαβῆναι τὸν Ἴστρον. ἦν δὲ τὸ σύμπαν τοῦ στρατηγήματος τῆς θείας δυνάμεως· ἀπογνοὺς γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς πάντοθεν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον κατέφυγε, δάκρυσι καὶ συντριβῇ καρδίας τούτου δεόμενος καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐκκαλούμενος ἀρωγήν. Ταῦτα δ' ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ ἔτει ἐπράχθη τῆς βασιλείας τούτου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. πρὸ δὲ τούτου σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας κατὰ τὴν κγʹ τοῦ Σεπτεβρίου μηνός, ὑφ' οὗ καὶ ναοὶ καὶ οἰκίαι 680 πολλαχοῦ ἠρειπώθησαν. ὅτε καὶ τὸ κατὰ Κύζικον Ἑλληνικὸν κατέπεσε τέμενος, ἔργον κάλλιστόν τε καὶ θαύματος ἄξιον, καὶ ὁ ἐν Νικαίᾳ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων μέγιστός τε καὶ περιώνυμος κατεσείσθη ναός. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Μάϊον μῆνα τῆς δʹ #1505 κομήτης ὦπτο ἀστὴρ κατόπιν τοῦ ἡλίου πρὸς δύσιν ἰόντος. ἦν δὲ πρότερον μὲν κατὰ σελήνην πλήρη τὸ μέγεθος, εἶτα κόμην ὥσπερ ἐκφύων ἐμειοῦτο καὶ καθ' ὅσον τὰ τῆς κόμης ηὐξάνετο, ἠλαττονοῦτο τὸ μέγεθος. πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀνατολὴν τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἀπέτεινεν, ἐφ' ἡμέρας φαινόμενος τεσσαράκοντα. Τοῦ πατριάρχου δὲ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ Λειχούδη ἐπ' ἔτη τέσσαρα καὶ μῆνας ἓξ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύναντος καὶ μεταθεμένου πρὸς ἑτέραν ζωήν, Ἰωάννης ὁ Ξιφιλῖνος εἰς τὸν ἀρχιερατικὸν τῆς Κωνσταντίνου θρόνον ἀνάγεται, ὃς ἐκ Τραπεζοῦντος μὲν ὥρμητο, πεπαίδευτο δὲ παιδείαν λόγων παντοδαπῶν καὶ τοῖς ἐξόχοις τῆς συγκλήτου συνηρίθμηται. πάντα δ' ἑκουσίως λιπών, τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Ὄλυμπον προσφοιτήσας σεμνείοις κείρεταί τε τὴν κόμην καὶ τὸν μοναχικὸν ὑπέρχεται βίον, ἔνθα καὶ 681 συχνὸν διανύσας χρόνον ἄξιος ἐκρίθη τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ πατριαρχικοῦ. Ὁ δέ γε βασιλεὺς νόσῳ ληφθεὶς καὶ ταύτῃ κάμνων ἐπὶ μακρὸν καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενος καὶ ἤδη κατεργασθεὶς καὶ ἀπαραίτητον αὐτῷ γνοὺς ἐπιέναι τὴν τελευτήν, τὴν μὲν βασιλείαν τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ καταλέλοιπε τρισὶν οὖσιν, οὓς αὐτῷ ἡ σύνοικος Εὐδοκία ἐγείνατο, τοὺς δύο τὸν Μιχαήλ τε καὶ τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον ἰδιωτεύοντι ἔτι, τὸν δὲ Κωνστάντιον βασιλεύσαντι καὶ αὐτὴ Αὐγούστα ἀναρρηθεῖσα. ὅθεν οὗτος καὶ πορφυρογέννητος ἦν, ὃν αὐτίκα καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς βασιλικοῖς παρασήμοις ἐκόσμησεν, εἶτα καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνηγόρευσε. τούτους μὲν οὖν ἐπέστησε τῇ ἀρχῇ, αὐτοῖς δὲ τὴν μητέρα βασιλίδα τε καὶ τροφὸν καὶ κυρίαν, τὸ ξύμπαν εἰπεῖν, καταλέλοιπεν, ἐπ' αὐτῇ τὴν τῆς βασιλείας μεταχείρισιν ποιησάμενος, δοκούσῃ αὐτῷ σώφρονί τε καὶ πρὸς παίδων ἀναγωγὴν δεξιᾷ καὶ πεφυκυίᾳ πρὸς πραγμάτων διοίκησιν, πρότερον ὅρκον ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπαιτήσας ἔγγραφον ὡς οὐ πρὸς γάμον ἐλεύσεται δεύτερον. τὸ δ' ἔγγραφον 682 παρ' ἐκείνης βεβαιωθὲν τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἐδόθη φυλαχθησόμενον· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς ἅπαντες ἐγγράφως κατέθεντο μὴ ἄν ποτε βασιλέα ἕτερον