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together with many Syrian Monophysite heretics, the majority of whom, living in Thrace up to the present day, and crucifying the trinity in the trisagion according to Peter the Fuller, have persisted. From the tenth of the month of August until the fifteenth, a misty darkness occurred. Then Marwan, having conquered and recovered Emesa, killed all the relatives and freedmen of Hisham, and he also pulled down the walls of Heliopolis and Damascus and Jerusalem, killing many powerful men and mutilating those who were left behind in the cities themselves. ʹ. γʹ. ιγʹ. ιζʹ. γʹ. In this year a great earthquake occurred in Palestine and the Jordan and all of Syria on the 18th of the month of January, at the fourth hour, and many myriads and countless people died, and churches and monasteries fell down, and especially in the desert of the holy city. In the same year a pestilential death, beginning from Sicily and Calabria, like some spreading fire came upon Monemvasia and Hellas 423 and the adjacent islands throughout the whole 14th indiction, lashing beforehand the impious Constantine and checking his madness against the holy churches and the venerable icons, even though he remained uncorrected, like Pharaoh of old. The same bubonic plague arose in its fifth outbreak in the queen of cities. And it began suddenly and invisibly to appear on men's clothes and on the sacred vestments of the churches and on the veils very many oily little crosses. Therefore from this there came upon the people much grief and despondency at the perplexity of such a sign; and a divine wrath also seized them, unsparingly destroying not only those in the city, but also those in all its surrounding country. And phantoms also appeared to many of the people, and falling into a trance they thought they were accompanying some strange, as it seemed, and robust persons, and that they were greeting and conversing with those who met them as if they were friends. And taking note of the things spoken by them, they would interpret their ultimate fate. And they saw the same ones also entering into houses, and killing some of the household, and wounding others with a sword. And it happened that most of the things said by them came to pass in this way, just as they had seen. And in the spring time of the 1st indiction it grew much worse, and in the summer it blazed up all at once, so that even whole houses were shut up completely, and there was no one who was obliged to bury the dead. Therefore out of great distress it was devised to place planks with four carrying-poles on pack animals, and thus carry out the dead, and likewise also to place them on top of one another in wagons. And when all the tombs both within the city and in the suburbs were filled, and furthermore also dry cisterns and pits, and very many vineyards had been dug up, but also that the gardens inside the old walls were used for such a burial of human bodies, and so with difficulty they met such a 424 need. And since every house was destroyed by such a calamity because of the impious attack made by the rulers against the holy icons, immediately the fleet of the Hagarenes from Alexandria arrived in Cyprus, where the Roman fleet also was. And the general of the Cibyrrhaeots, having suddenly fallen upon them in the harbor of Keramaia and having seized the mouth of the harbor, out of a thousand dromons they say only three escaped. ζʹ. δʹ. ιδʹ. ιηʹ. δʹ. In this year Gregory is killed by the Arouritae, and Marwan, the chief of the Arabs, was victorious, as I have said before. ηʹ. εʹ. ιεʹ. ιθʹ. εʹ. In this year, from the more eastern parts of Persia, the peoples called Khorasanites, the Black-robed, were stirred up against Marwan and all the kinship of those who had ruled from Muamed the false prophet up to this same Marwan, that is, against the so-called child of Umayya. For while these were warring against each other and were occupied after the assassination of Walid, the so-called sons of Echim and Alim, they too being relatives of the false prophet
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σὺν καὶ πολλοῖς Σύροις Μονοφυσίταις αἱρετικοῖς, ὧν οἱ πλείους εἰς τὴν Θρᾴκην οἰκοῦντες μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἐν τῷ τρισαγίῳ τὴν τριάδα σταυροῦντες κατὰ Πέτρον τὸν Κναφέα διήρκεσαν. ἀπὸ δεκάτης δὲ τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνὸς ἕως πεντεκαιδεκάτης σκότος ἐγένετο ὁμιχλῶδες. τότε Μαρουὰμ ἐκνικήσας καὶ ἀπολαβὼν Ἔμεσαν ἀναιρεῖ πάντας τοὺς συγγενεῖς καὶ ἀπελευθέρους Ἰσάμ, καθαιρεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ τείχη Ἡλιουπόλεως καὶ ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ Ἱεροσολύμων, ἀναιρῶν πολλοὺς δυνατοὺς καὶ ἀκρωτηριάσας τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς πόλεσι περιλειφθέντας. ʹ. γʹ. ιγʹ. ιζʹ. γʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐγένετο σεισμὸς μέγας ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ καὶ τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ Συρίᾳ μηνὶ Ἰαννουαρίῳ ιηʹ, ὥρᾳ δʹ, καὶ πολλαὶ μυριάδες καὶ ἀναρίθμητοι τεθνήκασιν, ἐκκλησίαι τε καὶ μοναστήρια πεπτώκασιν, καὶ μάλιστα κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως. Τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει λοιμώδης θάνατος ἀπὸ Σικελίας καὶ Καλαβρίας ἀρξάμενος οἷόν τι πῦρ ἐπινεμόμενον ἐπὶ τὴν Μονοβασίαν καὶ Ἑλλάδα 423 καὶ τὰς παρακειμένας νήσους ἦλθε δι' ὅλης τῆς ιδʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος προμαστίζων τὸν ἀσεβῆ Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ ἀναστέλλων τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων μανίας, εἰ καὶ ἀδιόρθωτος ἔμεινεν, ὡς Φαραὼ τὸ πάλαι. ἡ δὲ αὐτὴ λοιμικὴ νόσος τοῦ βουβῶνος ἀνέδραμε τῇ εʹ ἐπινεμήσει ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι πόλει. ἤρξατο δὲ αἴφνης ἀοράτως γίνεσθαι ἔν τε τοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἱματίοις καὶ εἰς τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἱερὰ ἐνδύματα καὶ εἰς τὰ βῆλα σταυρία ἐλαιώδη πλεῖστα. ἐγένετο οὖν ἐντεῦθεν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις λύπη καὶ ἀθυμία πολλὴ τῇ τοῦ τοιούτου σημείου ἀπορία· κατέλαβε δὲ καὶ θεομηνία ἀφειδῶς ὀλοθρεύουσα οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ περιχώρῳ αὐτῆς. ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ φαντασίαι εἰς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἐν ἐκστάσει γενόμενοι ἐνόμιζον ξένοις τισίν, ὡς ἐδόκουν, καὶ βριαροῖς προσώποις συνοδεύειν, καὶ τοὺς ἀπαντῶντας αὐτοῖς ὡς δῆθεν φίλους προσαγορεύοντας καὶ διαλεγομένους. σημειούμενοι δὲ τὰ παρ' αὐτῶν λαλούμενα ἔσχατον ἐξηγοῦντο. ἑώρων δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς καὶ εἰς οἴκους εἰσερχομένους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν τοῦ οἴκου ἀναιροῦντας, τοὺς δὲ ξίφει τιτρώσκοντας. συνέβαινε δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς λεγομένων γίνεσθαι οὕτως, καθὼς εἶδον. τῷ δὲ ἐαρινῷ καιρῷ τῆς αʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος ἐπέτεινε μειζόνως, καὶ τῷ θερινῷ ἐξεκαύθη εἰς ἅπαξ, ὥστε καὶ ὁλοκλήρους οἴκους κλεισθῆναι παντελῶς, καὶ μὴ εἶναι τοὺς ὀφείλοντας θάπτειν τοὺς νεκρούς. ἐκ πολλῆς οὖν περιστάσεως ἐπενοήθη διὰ ζώων σαγματουμένων ὑποτετρακανθήλους σανίδας ἐπιτίθειν, καὶ οὕτως ἐκφέρειν τοὺς νεκρούς, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ εἰς ἁμάξας ἐπάνω ἀλλήλων τούτους ἐπιτίθειν. ἐν δὲ τῷ πληρωθῆναι πάντα τά τε ἐνάστεια καὶ προάστεια μνήματα, ἔτι μὴν καὶ κιστέρνας ἀνύδρους καὶ λάκκους, καὶ πλείστους ἀμπελῶνας διασκαφῆναι, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἔνδον τῶν παλαιῶν τειχῶν κήπους εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην προχωρῆσαι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων ταφήν, καὶ οὕτω μόλις ὑπαντῆσαι εἰς τὴν τοιαύτην 424 χρείαν. παντὸς δὲ οἴκου ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης συμφορᾶς διαφθαρέντος διὰ τὴν ἀσεβῶς γενομένην εἰς τὰς ἱερὰς εἰκόνας ὑπὸ τῶν κρατούντων κατένεξιν, αὐτίκα ὁ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν στόλος κατέλαβεν ἀπὸ Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐν Κύπρῳ, ἔνθα ἦν καὶ ὁ Ῥωμαϊκὸς στόλος. ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς τῶν Κιβυραιωτῶν ἐπιπεσὼν αὐτοῖς αἴφνης ἐν τῷ λιμένι τῶν Κεραμαία καὶ κρατήσας τὸ στόμιον τοῦ λιμένος, χιλίων δρομώνων ὄντων τρεῖς μόνους ἐξειλῆσαί φασιν. ζʹ. δʹ. ιδʹ. ιηʹ. δʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει κτείνεται Γρηγόριος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀρουριτῶν, καὶ ἐξενίκησε Μαρουάμ, ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων ἀρχηγός, ὡς προέφην. ηʹ. εʹ. ιεʹ. ιθʹ. εʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει ἐκινήθησαν ἐκ τῶν ἀνατολικωτέρων μερῶν τῆς Περσίδος λαοὶ οἱ λεγόμενοι Χωροσανῖται Μαυροφόροι κατὰ τοῦ Μαρουὰμ καὶ πάσης τῆς συγγενείας τῶν προαρξάντων ἀπὸ Μουάμεδ τοῦ ψευδοπροφήτου ἕως τοῦ αὐτοῦ Μαρουάμ, τοῦτ' ἔστι κατὰ τὸ λεγόμενον τέκνον τοῦ Οὐμαΐα. τούτων γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ Οὐαλὶδ ἀλλήλους πολεμούντων καὶ ἀπασχολουμένων, οἱ λεγόμενοι υἱοὶ τοῦ Ἐχὶμ καὶ τοῦ Ἀλίμ, συγγενεῖς μὲν καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῦ ψευδοπροφήτου