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(he was also terrible and great in wickedness) having landed on the island of Chios with a few small ships, he took possession of it and built a fleet there, by means of which he seized Lesbos and made Samos and Rhodes subject to himself, and many other of the islands. But he was driven out from them again, when a Roman fleet attacked his triremes. And the island of Crete, and also Cyprus, fell sick with rebellion, Karykes having seized the one and raised a hand against the emperor, and Rhapsommates Cyprus. But these too were not long after saved again for the Roman dominion. From this point, the emperor, being in need of funds, devised odious methods for collecting money, and those appointed by him introduced unjust debts against the people, and those who justly owed nothing were deprived of their own properties. Thenceforth, registrars were sent everywhere for the possessions belonging to his subjects in fields and villages, and the new 738 names were devised, I mean the *hypertima* and the *hyperplea*, and at different times other methods of extortion against the subjects were introduced, and sacred objects were taken from divine temples. This emperor, having found the coinage debased by his predecessors, established a bronze one, which he used for the expenses of the empire, but he collected the taxes in gold of approved standard, and in some cases also in others, which were also of gold, but half-gold, and there were times when he exacted tribute in bronze coins. Wherefore, needing more bronze, he restruck the obols into coinage and having pulled down some of the public works, I mean the bronze works, he minted them into staters and he instituted new tithes. And the Augusta bore a daughter to the emperor, who was named Anna after her paternal grandmother, for whom the emperor betrothed Constantine, the son of the queen Maria of the Alans; but since he ended his life at the time of the betrothal, when the daughter became of marriageable age for the king, he brought in another bridegroom for her, the elder of the sons of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom the account previously showed attempting tyranny 739 and being captured and blinded in his eyes. Having betrothed this daughter to him, he honored the man as *panhypersebastos*. And a son is also born to the emperor, who, being deemed worthy of holy baptism by the patriarch in the sacred precinct of Sophia, the Word of God, and being called John, his father immediately also crowns with a diadem. And two other sons were born to the emperor, Andronikos and Isaac, and three other daughters, Maria, Eudocia, and Theodora. For Maria, therefore, he betrothed the son of that Theodore Gabras, the *sebastos* and martyr. Then, dissolving this betrothal, as it seemed good to him, and having sent him away, he brought in another suitor for this daughter, Nicephorus, the son of Katakalon Phorbenos. And to Eudocia he joined the son of Constantine Iasites; who did not treat his spouse as an emperor's daughter, but conversed with her and behaved towards her from a superior position, and he frequently offended the empress and his mother-in-law, who, being vexed with him, immediately had her daughter tonsured when she fell ill, and drives Iasites from the palace. And to the 740 last of his daughters, the father married a young man who was a statue in appearance, but not of distinguished family. And during his reign there occurred a most dreadful earthquake on the day of the commemoration of the far-famed in miracles, Saint Nicholas, by which many houses and temples and stoas were ruined, through which the city's paths are roofed, and very many were buried in the ruins and died. During these times there also occurred a movement of the nation of the Patzinaks, migrating from their own territories into Roman land and plundering all of Thrace and Macedonia. The emperor, having marched out against them, was shamefully defeated, as the soldiers were boasting. Then again he goes out against the barbarians, after the army was humbled and the whole of the divine

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δεινὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν πολύς) διὰ πλοιαρίων ὀλίγων ἀνωιστὶ τῇ νήσῳ Χίῳ προσορμισθεὶς κατέσχε ταύτην καὶ στόλον ἐν αὐτῇ ναυπηγεῖ, δι' οὗ τήν τε Λέσβον ἀνήρπασε καὶ τὴν Σάμον τήν τε Ῥόδον ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ἐποιήσατο καὶ πλείους ἄλλας τῶν νήσων. ἐξηλάθη δ' αὖθις αὐτῶν, στόλου Ῥωμαϊκοῦ ἐπελθόντος ταῖς ἐκείνου τριήρεσι. καὶ ἡ νῆσος δ' ἡ Κρήτη, πρὸς δὲ τῇ καὶ ἡ Κύπρος ἀποστασίαν ἐνόσησαν, τὴν μὲν τοῦ Καρίκη κατεσχηκότος καὶ ἀντάραντος χεῖρα τῷ βασιλεῖ, τὴν Κύπρον δέ γε τοῦ Ῥαψομμάτου. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὗται τῇ Ῥωμαίων αὖθις οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ἐπανεσώθησαν ἡγεμονίᾳ. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναλωμάτων δεόμενος τρόπους ἀποτροπαίους συλλογῆς χρημάτων ἐξεύρισκε, καὶ ὀφειλὰς ἀδίκους εἰσῆγον κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τεταγμένοι, καὶ ἀφηροῦντο τὰς οἰκείας οὐσίας οἱ μηδὲν δικαίως ὀφείλοντες. ἐντεῦθεν ἀπογραφεῖς πανταχοῦ τῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς καὶ χωρίοις διαφερουσῶν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἐστέλλοντο κτήσεων, καὶ τὰ καινὰ τῶν 738 ὀνομάτων ἐπινενόητο, τὰ ὑπέρτιμα λέγω καὶ τὰ ὑπέρπλεα, καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλοι τρόποι ἐπηρειῶν κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων εἰσήγοντο, καὶ ἱερὰ δ' ἀφῄρηντο ἐκ θείων ναῶν. οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τὸ νόμισμα κεκιβδηλευμένον παρὰ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ εὑρηκὼς χάλκεον ἔθετο, ᾧ εἰς τὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκέχρητο ἀναλώματα, τοὺς δέ γε φόρους διὰ χρυσίνων δοκίμων εἰσέπραττε, πῇ δέ γε καὶ δι' ἑτέρων, χρυσίνων μὲν κἀκείνων, ἀλλ' ἡμιχρύσων, ἔστι δ' οὗ καὶ διὰ τῶν χαλκέων ἐδασμοφόρει. ὅθεν χαλκοῦ δεόμενος πλείονος τοὺς ὀβολοὺς εἰς νόμισμα μετετύπωσε καί τινα τῶν δημοσίων ἔργων, τῶν χαλκουργημάτων φημί, κατασπάσας εἰς στατῆρας συνέκοψε καὶ νέας δεκάτας ἐκαίνισεν. Ἐγείνατο δὲ θυγάτριον ἡ Αὐγούστα τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὅπερ Ἄννα ὠνομάσθη διὰ τὴν πατρομήτορα, ἐφ' ᾗ τὸν τῆς βασιλίσσης Μαρίας υἱὸν Κωνσταντῖνον τῆς ἐξ Ἀλανῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐμνηστεύσατο· ἐκείνου δ' ἐπὶ τῇ μνηστείᾳ τὴν ζωὴν καταλύσαντος, ὡς ὡραία γάμου ἡ θυγάτηρ ἐγεγόνει τῷ ἄνακτι, νυμφίον ἕτερον ἐπ' αὐτῇ εἰσῳκίσατο τὸν μείζω τῶν υἱῶν Νικηφόρου τοῦ Βρυεννίου, ὃν ὁ λόγος προέφηνε τῇ τυραννίδι ἐπιχειρήσαντα 739 καὶ ἁλόντα καὶ πηρωθέντα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. τούτῳ τὴν θυγατέρα ταύτην κατεγγυήσας τετίμηκε τὸν ἄνδρα πανυπερσέβαστον. γίνεται δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ υἱός, ὃν ἐν τῷ θείῳ τεμένει τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου Σοφίας παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου καταξιωθέντα τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος καὶ Ἰωάννην κληθέντα αὐτίκα ὁ πατὴρ καὶ διαδήματι ταινιοῖ. γεγόνασι δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ ἕτεροι δύο υἱοί, Ἀνδρόνικός τε καὶ Ἰσαάκιος, καὶ θυγατέρες ἕτεραι τρεῖς, Μαρία, Εὐδοκία καὶ Θεοδώρα. τῇ μὲν οὖν Μαρίᾳ τὸν τοῦ Γαυρᾶ ἐκείνου Θεοδώρου τοῦ σεβαστοῦ καὶ μάρτυρος υἱὸν ἐμνηστεύσατο. εἶτα τὴν μνηστείαν ταύτην λύσας, οὕτω δόξαν αὐτῷ, κἀκεῖνον ἀποπεμψάμενος ἕτερον μνηστῆρα τῇ θυγατρὶ ταύτῃ τὸν τοῦ Φορβηνοῦ υἱὸν τοῦ Κατακαλὼν τὸν Νικηφόρον εἰσεποιήσατο. τῇ δ' Εὐδοκίᾳ τὸν τοῦ Ἰασίτου Κωνσταντίνου παῖδα συνέζευξεν· ὃς τῇ τε συνεύνῳ οὐχ ὡς βασιλέως ἐκέχρητο θυγατρί, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ κρείττονος ὡμίλει ταύτῃ καὶ προσεφέρετο, καὶ τῇ βασιλίσσῃ δὲ πλειστάκις προσκεκρούκει καὶ πενθερᾷ, ἥπερ αὐτῷ προσοχθίσασα τὴν θυγατέρα νοσήσασαν εὐθὺς ἀποκείρει καὶ τὸν Ἰασίτην ἀπελαύνει τῶν βασιλείων. τῇ δέ γε τε740 λευταίᾳ τῶν θυγατέρων συνῴκισεν ὁ πατὴρ νεανίαν τὸ μὲν εἶδος ἀγαλματίαν, τὸ δὲ γένος οὐ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν. Γέγονε δ' ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας τούτου κλόνος τῆς γῆς φρικωδέστατος κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς μνήμης τοῦ ἐν θαύμασι περιωνύμου ἁγίου Νικολάου, ὑφ' οὗ πολλαί τε οἰκίαι καὶ ναοὶ κατηρείπωντο καὶ στοαί, δι' ὧν αἱ τῆς πόλεως ὠρόφωνται ἀτραποί, καὶ πλεῖστοι ἐν τοῖς συμπτώμασι συνεχώσθησαν καὶ ἀπέθανον. Κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους καὶ τοῦ τῶν Πατζινάκων ἔθνους συγκίνησις γέγονεν, ἐκ τῶν σφετέρων ἠθῶν μεταναστεύσαντος εἰς χώραν Ῥωμαϊκὴν καὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην πᾶσαν καὶ τὴν Μακεδονίαν ληιζομένου. κατὰ τούτων ἐκστρατεύσας ὁ βασιλεύς, τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀλαζονευομένων, αἰσχρῶς ἥττητο. εἶτ' αὖθις ἄπεισι κατὰ τῶν βαρβάρων, ταπεινωθείσης τῆς στρατιᾶς καὶ τὸ πᾶν τῆς θείας