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miserable. But the pearl was brought to the king, who, being pleased at the sight of it, rewarded the sons of the fisherman with great gifts. Justinian the Great, wishing to buy this pearl, sent one hundred pounds of gold to the barbarians; but they did not consent, keeping it as a memorial of the Persian folly. And Kavadh, the last son of Peroz, having seized the kingdom, exercised his rule more violently and decreed that women be held in common. Therefore the Persians drove him from his rule and, having bound him, cast him into the prison called Lethe, 1.625 and made his brother Balbes king. And the wife of Kavadh served him in the prison. But the warden of the jail began to fall in love with his wife, who was very beautiful. And Kavadh urged his wife to give in to the man, if somehow he might be able to escape the fortress. And when this was done, his wife, entering to Kavadh without hindrance, attended to him. And a friend of Kavadh, named Seoses, made known to Kavadh through his wife that 'I have horses and men prepared in a certain place.' And when night fell, Kavadh persuaded his wife to exchange her clothes with him, and for him to go out, and for her to sit in the prison. And so Kavadh, having gone out of the prison and mounted a horse with Seoses, arrived among the Nephthalite Huns. And their king gave him his daughter as a wife, and giving him a large army, sent him against the Persians. And having invaded Persia, he took control of the kingdom with no trouble, and having blinded his brother, he cast him into prison. And he safely kept the kingdom (for he was shrewd and energetic) and ruled thereafter for 11 years, having abolished all the laws which he had previously set forth. After the death of Zeno, the empress and the senate and the army proclaim Anastasius the silentiarius as emperor, who was of the heresy of the Acephali, that is, the Confusers. He was very tall in body, having bright and moderately gray-blue eyes, slightly bald and grey-haired. 1.626 And Urbicius the eunuch brought him to the monarchy, at that time having the greatest power from the empress. After the proclamation, a profession of faith is demanded from him by Euthymius the patriarch, that he would not disturb anything of the church and of the faith, calling him unworthy of the rule of Christians. But with Ariadne and the senate pressuring him, he gives his own handwritten pledge to the patriarch, ratifying the dogmas concerning the faith of the council in Chalcedon, and so being crowned, he takes Ariadne in marriage, not having lived with a wife before. He ruled for 27 years and 4 months. Under him the Manichaeans and Arians rejoiced, the Manichaeans because the emperor's mother was a zealot and friendly to them, and the Arians because they had Clearchus his uncle, the brother of his malevolent mother, as one of their own faith. In his first year, Euthymius of Constantinople, having gathered the bishops residing in the city, ratified the holy synod in Chalcedon. When this Anastasius had taken on the imperial dignity in the imperial box of the hippodrome, all the people as from one mouth aptly shouted, "As you have lived, so also rule, master." For before the crowing of the cocks, he would go to church and stand until the dismissal, propitiating the divine, fasting often and distributing his possessions to the poor and destitute. This man completely cut off the informers from the city. He also remitted the tax called the chrysargyron. The chrysargyron was a thing of this sort: every poor person and beggar 1.627 and every prostitute and freedwoman and every slave and freedman made a common contribution to the public treasury for the urine and dung of cattle and dogs that lived in the country and the cities; and the man contributed a silver coin, likewise also the woman, and a horse and a mule and an ox contributed the same, but a donkey and a dog

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ταλαίπωρον. ὁ δὲ μάργαρος ἀπεκομίσθη τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὃς καὶ ἡσθεὶς τῷ τούτου θεάματι τοὺς παῖδας τοῦ ἁλιέως μεγάλαις ἠμείψατο δωρεαῖς. τοῦτον τὸν μαρ γαρίτην βουληθεὶς ὠνήσασθαι Ἰουστινιανὸς ὁ μέγας χρυσίου λίτρας ἑκατὸν ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους· ἀλλ' οὗτοι οὐ κατένευ σαν, μνημόσυνον τῆς Περσικῆς ἀπονοίας τοῦτον φυλάττοντες. Καβάδης δὲ ὁ τοῦ Περόζου ὕστατος υἱός, τῆς βασιλείας δραξάμενος, ἐπὶ τὸ βιαιότερον τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐχρᾶτο καὶ κοινὰς τὰς γυ ναῖκας ἐνομοθέτησεν ἔχειν. ὅθεν οἱ Πέρσαι τοῦτον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀπή λασαν καὶ δήσαντες εἰς φυλακὴν τὴν λεγομένην Λήθην ἐνέβαλον, 1.625 τὸν δὲ ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ Βάλβην βασιλέα ἐποίησαν. ἡ δὲ γυνὴ Καβάδου διηκόνει αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ. ὁ δὲ τῆς εἱρκτῆς ἄρχων ἤρξατο ἐρᾶν τῆς γυναικὸς εὐπρεπεστάτης οὔσης. ὁ δὲ Καβάδης παρεκάλει τὴν γυναῖκα ἐνδοῦναι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, εἴ πως δυνηθῇ ἐκφυγεῖν τοῦ φρουρίου. τούτου δὲ γενομένου ἀκωλύτως ἡ γυνὴ πρὸς Καβάδην εἰσιοῦσα τοῦτον ἐθεράπευσε. φίλος δὲ Καβάδῃ ὀνόματι Σεσώσης ἐδήλου τῷ Καβάδῃ διὰ τῆς γυναικὸς ὡς ἵππους καὶ ἄνδρας ἐμπαρασκεύους ἔχω ἔν τινι χωρίῳ. ὁ δὲ Καβάδης νυκτὸς ἐπιλαβούσης πείθει τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἐσθῆτα αὐτῆς αὐτῷ ἀλλάξασθαι, καὶ ἐξελθεῖν μὲν αὐτόν, ἐκείνην δὲ ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ καθέζεσθαι. καὶ οὕτω Καβάδης ἐξελθὼν τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου καὶ ἵππῳ ἐπιβὰς σὺν τῷ Σεσώσῃ πρὸς Οὕννους τοὺς Νεφθαλίτας ἀφίκετο. ὁ δὲ τούτων βασιλεὺς τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ δίδωσιν εἰς γυναῖκα αὐτῷ, καὶ στράτευμα δοὺς πολὺ ἐπὶ Πέρσας ἐξέπεμψεν. εἰσβαλὼν δὲ εἰς Περσίδα ἐν οὐδενὶ πόνῳ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκράτησε, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκτυφλώσας εἰς φυλακὴν ἐνέβαλε. τὴν δὲ βασιλείαν ἀσφαλῶς διεφύλαξεν (ἦν γὰρ ἀγχίνους καὶ δραστή ριος) καὶ ἐκράτει μετὰ ταῦτα ἔτη ιαʹ, καταλύσας τοὺς νόμους πάντας οὓς προεξέθετο. Μετὰ τὴν Ζήνωνος τελευτὴν ἡ βασίλισσα καὶ ἡ σύγκλη τος καὶ τὸ στράτευμα Ἀναστάσιον τὸν σιλεντιάριον ἀναγορεύ ουσι βασιλέα, τῆς τῶν ἀκεφάλων ἤτοι συγχυτικῶν ὄντα αἱρέ σεως. ἦν δὲ τῷ σώματι μήκιστος, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχων χαροποὺς καὶ γλαυκοὺς μετρίως, φαλακρὸς ἠρέμα καὶ πολιός. 1.626 ἄγει δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν μοναρχίαν Οὐρβίκιος εὐνοῦχος, τότε μεγί στην παρὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἔχων δύναμιν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀναγόρευ σιν ἀπαιτεῖται ὁμολογίαν παρὰ Εὐθυμίου τοῦ πατριάρχου πρὸς τὸ μὴ σαλεῦσαί τι τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῆς πίστεως, ἀνάξιον αὐτὸν ἀποκαλῶν τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν βασιλείας. βιαζομένης δὲ αὐτὸν Ἀριάδνης καὶ τῆς συγκλήτου δίδωσιν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἰδιόχειρον τῷ πατριάρχῃ, κυροῦν τὰ τῆς ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνόδου ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως δόγματα, καὶ οὕτω στεφθεὶς Ἀριάδνην ἄγεται εἰς γάμον, οὔπω πρότερον γαμετῇ συνοικήσας. ἐκράτησε δὲ ἔτη κζʹ μῆνας δʹ. ἐπὶ τούτου Μανιχαῖοι καὶ Ἀρειανοὶ ἔχαιρον, Μανιχαῖοι μὲν ὡς μη τρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως ζηλωτρίας οὔσης καὶ προσφιλοῦς αὐτοῖς, Ἀρειανοὶ δὲ ὡς Κλέαρχον τὸν θεῖον αὐτοῦ, ἀδελφὸν τῆς κακό φρονος μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, ὁμόδοξον ἔχοντες. Τούτου τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει Εὐθύμιος ὁ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, συναγαγὼν τοὺς ἐνδημοῦντας ἐπισκόπους, τὴν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι ἁγίαν σύνοδον ἐκύρωσε. τούτου τοῦ Ἀναστασίου τὸ τῆς βασιλείας σχῆμα λαβόντος ἐν τῷ τοῦ ἱπποδρόμου καθίσματι ἅπας ὁ δῆμος ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος εὐθυβόλως ἐβόησεν "ὡς ἔζησας, οὕτω καὶ βασίλευσον, δέσποτα." πρὸ ᾠδῶν γὰρ ἀλεκτρυόνων εἰς ἐκκλη σίαν φοιτῶν ἄχρι τῆς ἀπολύσεως ἵστατο ἐξιλεούμενος τὸ θεῖον, νηστεύων πολλὰ καὶ τὰ προσόντα αὐτῷ πένησι καὶ πτωχοῖς διαδι δούς. οὗτος τοὺς δηλάτορας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τελείως ἐξέκοψεν. ἀφῆκε δὲ καὶ τὸ τέλος τοῦ λεγομένου χρυσαργύρου. ὁ δὲ χρυσ άργυρος τοιοῦτόν τι πρᾶγμα ἦν· πᾶς πενόμενος καὶ προσαιτῶν 1.627 καὶ πᾶσα πόρνη καὶ ἀπολελυμένη καὶ πᾶς δοῦλος καὶ ἀπελεύθερος συνεισφορὰν ἐποιοῦντο κοινὴν πρὸς τὸ δημόσιον ὑπὲρ οὔρου καὶ κοπρίας κτηνῶν τε καὶ κυνῶν τῶν ἐν ἀγροῖς καὶ πόλεσι διατριβόν των· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἄνθρωπος νόμισμα ἀργυροῦν συνεισέφερεν, ὁμοίως καὶ ἡ γυνή, ἵππος δὲ καὶ ἡμίονος καὶ βοῦς τὸ αὐτὸ συνεισέφερον, ὄνος δὲ καὶ κύων