198

with the balance tipping, and attacks the enemies. But they, not even enduring the assault, threw their weapons to the ground and with wails called upon the Romans for mercy. Therefore, a great many of the Scythians perished, and the rest were captured and were in chains, and their captors sold them into slavery. But the emperor, having selected a multitude 741 of vigorous and strong men, settled them in the theme of Moglena with their wives and children and established them as a very special regiment; who even to this day remain in succession, taking as an epithet the place in which they were settled, and being called Patzinaks of Moglena. When a plot was revealed to him, whose ringleaders were Umbertopoulos and Ariebes, of whom the one drew his lineage from the Franks, while Ariebes was of the Armenians, and both were among the most distinguished and in command of armies, they were arrested along with as many as participated with them in the plan. Therefore, he condemned the two men who led the conspiracy to confiscation of property and a dishonorable triumph, and in addition to these, to exile, limiting their punishment to these; at which time he also drove the regiment of the Manichaeans from military service, which until then had been serving unlawfully; for an ancient law absolutely forbids the Manichaeans to serve in the army. Then again another plot was formed against this emperor, which was led by the son of that emperor Dio742genes, Nikephoros, the scion of the purple, a man of unparalleled strength, but not possessing a disposition of mind and nobility of soul to match his bodily strength. This man, having composed the drama but postponing the action, suffered before he could act as he had planned. For he was captured and delivered over to the necessities of tortures, so that he might reveal his fellow conspirators, and in the end his eyes were put out and his property was taken away. Then the nation of the Franks, set in motion from the western lands, went up to the queen of cities, intending to cross over from there into the east; a divine sign foretold their movement. For a countless multitude of locusts, having its origin in the west and so great as to be likened to flying clouds and to overshadow the sun, making its flight through the greatest of cities and its boundaries, rushed toward the east and came to rest there. Therefore, having crossed over and having attacked Nicaea in Bithynia, which was held by the Turks, with time and great destruction on both sides, they nevertheless took the city. And this they sold for 743 a great sum of money to the emperor, and they advanced forward. And some took Antioch on the Orontes with much toil and slaughter, while others became masters of the city of Jerusalem with great struggles. But so I have related the affairs of the nation of the Franks in summary; But a certain abominable heresy appeared during these times, that of the Bogomils. And the herald of this heresy and great teacher and leader of their apostles was a certain physician named Basil, wearing the habit of a monk, but having put on Satan himself. who, having learned the destructive doctrines of the error in fifteen years, and having taught them for fifty-two, filled almost the entire inhabited world with his own ruin. Then he also spread to the queen of cities, but the enemy of truth was caught in the act. For the emperor, having learned of his impiety, pretended to have faith in that wretched man and called him a teacher and a savior of wandering souls. Therefore with these and many other things, with difficulty and over time, he at last was able to persuade that destructive man to vomit forth the poison of his wicked744ness. And when the prey was within the nets, he made his teaching public and condemned the doctrines, and by a common decree he made him an offering to the fire in the theater of the hippodrome. Again another rebellion arose against the emperor, and the one who organized it said that he was the son of the emperor Diogenes, who a multitude of Cumans

198

ἐξαρτώσης ῥοπῆς, καὶ προσβάλλει τοῖς πολεμίοις. οἱ δὲ οὐδὲ τὴν ἔφοδον ὑπομείναντες τὰ ὅπλα κατὰ γῆς ἐρρίπτουν καὶ οἰμωγαῖς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ἐξεκαλοῦντο πρὸς ἔλεον. ὤλετο μὲν οὖν πολύ τι τοῦ Σκυθικοῦ, οἱ λοιποὶ δὲ συνελαμβάνοντο καὶ ἦσαν ὑπὸ δεσμοῖς καὶ εἰς δουλείαν οἱ αἰχμαλωτεύσαντες αὐτοὺς ἀπεδίδοντο. ὁ δ' αὐτοκράτωρ πλῆθος 741 ἀπολεξάμενος σφριγώντων καὶ ῥωμαλέων εἰς τὸ τῶν Μογλένων θέμα τούτους σὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις κατῴκισε καὶ τάγμα τούτους κατέστησεν ἰδιαίτατον· οἳ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο κατὰ διαδοχὰς διαμένουσιν, εἰς ἐπίθετον σχόντες τὸν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ κατῳκίσθησαν, καὶ Πατζινάκοι Μογλενῖται καλούμενοι. Ἐπιβουλῆς δὲ μηνυθείσης αὐτῷ πρωτουργοὺς ἐχούσης τὸν Οὐμπερτόπωλον καὶ τὸν Ἀριέβην, ὧν ὁ μὲν ἐκ Φράγγων εἷλκε τὸ γένος, ὁ δ' Ἀριέβης ἐξ Ἀρμενίων, καὶ ἄμφω δὲ τῶν ἐπιφανεστέρων καὶ στρατηγίαις ἐφεστηκότων, ἐκεῖνοί τε συνεσχέθησαν καὶ ὅσοι συμμετεῖχον αὐτοῖς τοῦ βουλεύματος. τοὺς οὖν τῆς μελέτης ἐξάρχοντας δύο ἄνδρας δημεύσει καταδικάσας καὶ ἀτίμῳ θριάμβῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ὑπερορίᾳ ἐν τούτοις περιώρισεν αὐτοῖς τὴν ποινήν· ὅτε καὶ τὸ τῶν Μανιχαίων τάγμα τῆς στρατείας ἀπήλασεν, ἐκθέσμως μέχρι τότε δὴ στρατευόμενον· στρατεύεσθαι γὰρ τοὺς Μανιχαίους ἀρχαῖος νόμος καθάπαξ ἀπείργει. αὖθις δ' ἑτέρα κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τούτου συνέστη ἐπιβουλή, ἧς ἐξῆρχεν ὁ τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος ἐκείνου ∆ιο742 γένους υἱὸς ὁ Νικηφόρος ὁ τῆς πορφύρας βλαστός, ἀνὴρ τὴν μὲν ἰσχὺν ἀπαράμιλλος, τὴν δὲ τῆς γνώμης ἕξιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς γενναιότητα οὐ κατὰ τὴν σωματικὴν πλουτήσας ἰσχύν. οὗτος τὸ μὲν δρᾶμα συνθέμενος, τὴν δὲ πρᾶξιν ὑπερτιθέμενος, ἔλαθε παθὼν ἢ δράσας ὡς ἐβουλεύσατο. ἑάλω γὰρ καὶ ἐτασμῶν ἀνάγκαις παραδοθείς, ἵν' ἐκκαλύψῃ τοὺς συνωμότας, τέλος ἐξεκόπη τὰ ὄμματα καὶ τὴν περιουσίαν ἀφῄρητο. Εἶτα τὸ τῶν Φράγγων ἔθνος ἐκ τῶν ἑσπερίων συγκινηθὲν ἀνῄει πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα τῶν πόλεων, ὡς ἐκ ταύτης εἰς τὴν ἑώαν διαπεραιωθησόμενον· ὧν τὴν συγκίνησιν θεοσημία τις προεμήνυσεν. ἀκρίδων γὰρ ἄπειρόν τι πλῆθος, ἐκ τῆς ἑσπέρας τὴν γένεσιν ἐσχηκὸς καὶ τοσοῦτον ὡς νέφεσιν ἱπτάμενον ἀπεικάζεσθαι καὶ συσκιάζειν τὸν ἥλιον, διὰ τῆς μεγίστης τῶν πόλεων καὶ τῶν ταύτης ὁρίων τὴν πτῆσιν ποιούμενον πρὸς τὴν ἑῴαν ὥρμητο κἀκεῖσε κατέπαυε. περαιωθέντες οὖν καὶ τῇ κατὰ Βιθυνίαν προσβαλόντες Νικαίᾳ, παρὰ τῶν Τούρκων κατεχομένῃ, σὺν χρόνῳ μὲν καὶ φθορᾷ πολλῇ ἑκατέρωθεν, τέως μέντοι τὴν πόλιν ᾑρήκασι. καὶ ταύτην μὲν πολλῶν ἀπέδοντο 743 χρημάτων τῷ βασιλεῖ, οἱ δ' εἰς τὸ πρόσω προὐχώρουν. καὶ οἱ μὲν τὴν πρὸς τῷ Ὀρόντῃ εἷλον σὺν μόχθῳ καὶ φόνῳ πολλῷ Ἀντιόχειαν, οἱ δὲ τῆς Ἱεροσολύμων μεγάλοις ἀγῶσιν ἐκράτησαν πόλεως. Ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν τὰ τοῦ ἔθνους ἔσχον τῶν Φράγγων συντετμημένως εἰπεῖν· αἵρεσις δέ τις κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους ἀναπέφηνε μυσαρὰ ἡ τῶν Βογομίλων. τῆς δὲ τοιαύτης αἱρέσεως κῆρυξ ἦν καὶ μέγας διδάσκαλος καὶ προβολεὺς τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀποστόλων Βασίλειός τις λεγόμενος ἰατρός, σχῆμα μὲν περικείμενος μοναχοῦ, αὐτὸν δ' ἐκεῖνον ἐνδεδυμένος τὸν σατανᾶν. ὃς ἐν ἔτεσι μὲν πεντεκαίδεκα τὰ τῆς πλάνης μαθὼν ὀλέθρια δόγματα, ἐν δὲ δυσὶ καὶ πεντήκοντα διδάξας αὐτά, πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς οἰκείας λύμης ἐνέπλησεν. εἶτα καὶ τῇ τῶν πόλεων βασιλίδι ἐπεχωρίασεν, ἀλλ' ἑάλω ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρός. γνοὺς γὰρ τὴν ἐκείνου ἀσέβειαν ὁ κρατῶν ὑπεκρίθη πίστιν ἔχειν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν κακοδαίμονα καὶ διδάσκαλον ἐκάλει καὶ σωτῆρα πλανωμένων ψυχῶν. τούτοις οὖν καὶ πλείοσιν ἄλλοις μόλις μὲν καὶ σὺν χρόνῳ, ἴσχυσε δέ ποτε πεῖσαι τὸν ὀλέθριον ἐκεῖνον ἐξεμέσαι τὸν ἰὸν τῆς πονη744 ρίας αὐτοῦ. ἐπεὶ δ' ἦν ἐντὸς ἀρκύων τὸ θήραμα, ἐδημοσίευσε μὲν τὴν ἐκείνου διδασκαλίαν καὶ τὰ δόγματα ἐξεφαύλισε, κοινῇ δὲ ψήφῳ πυρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ τῆς ἱππηλασίας θεάτρῳ παρανάλωμα ἔθετο. Αὖθις δ' ἐπανάστασις ἑτέρα κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος γέγονε, καὶ ὁ ταύτην συστησάμενος υἱὸν ἔλεγεν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος ∆ιογένους, ὃς Κομάνων πλῆθος