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a wall. He also brought as a gift to God and a tithe of his campaign the precious crosses that had been captured, when Stypeiotes, being domestic of the schools and besieging Tarsus, subjected the armies to complete destruction through his own folly; which indeed he dedicated to the all-venerable shrine of the Wisdom of God the Word. In the same second year of his reign, Nikephoros also brought the entire island of Cyprus under the sway of the Romans, having driven the Hagarenes from there by means of Niketas Chalkoutzes the patrician. 2.364 In the third year of his reign, when spring had arrived, the emperor again made an invasion against Syria. And having come near Antioch, he did not attack it, hoping that the Antiochenes would not even withstand the report of him, being terrified by what had happened to the cities of Cilicia. But passing by it, he proceeded into the inner parts of Syria, and having subdued many cities and lands situated near Lebanon and the coast, he returned in the month of December. But since the Antiochenes were vigorously preparing for war, because a great multitude from the surrounding area had entered the city for its defense, and since necessary supplies were failing the Roman army, and an impassable bog had formed from the heavy rain that poured down from the sky, he withdrew without accomplishment and reached the imperial city, bringing with him the tile bearing the image-not-made-by-hands of the form of Christ our God, which he had found in Hierapolis after sacking it, and one lock of hair of John the Baptist matted with blood.

Such was Nikephoros, and having used such strategies and having advanced the affairs of the Romans to such an extent (for he captured more than one hundred cities and fortresses of Cilicia and Syria and Phoenicia Libanensis, of which the greatest and most notable were Anazarbus and Adana, Mopsuestia, Tarsus, Pagras, Synnephion, Laodicea, and Aleppo, and he also made tributary both Tripolis in Phoenicia and Damascus) nevertheless he became hated by every man, and all thirsted to see his downfall. The account will enumerate the reasons at the appropriate time. As Nikephoros was returning from Antioch to the imperial city, while crossing the Taurus, which is locally called the Black Mountain, having built a fortress in the middle of the mountain on a very steep hill, he honored Michael Bourtzes as patrician and left him in the fortress, naming him general of the Black Mountain, instructing him to remain vigilant and by every means to prevent the Antiochenes from coming out and bringing in the necessities for life. He also left behind Peter, one of his own eunuchs, who was a slave, an energetic man, whom he had also made stratopedarches in Cilicia, ordering him to disperse the army for winter quarters, and to await his arrival in the coming year. It was said that the emperor, though able to take Antioch by assault, was unwilling, but deliberately delayed and put off its capture, fearing the rumored saying; for indeed it was on everyone's lips that at the same time as the capture of the city of Antioch the emperor would also die. Indeed, being frightened by such a saying, he himself did not approach Antioch, and he ordered both Peter and Bourtzes to make no attack against it. But he, having arranged these things, as we have said, entered the ruling city; but Bourtzes, being a neighbor to Antioch and desiring to acquire for himself undying fame, paid little heed to the emperor's instructions, and by night and by day considered if he might somehow be able to capture the city. He therefore went continuously and initiated talks for a settlement with the Antiochenes. But as they were boastful and rejected the settlements, he secretly became friends with one of the Saracens (this was Aulax), whom

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τεῖχος. διεκόμισε δὲ καὶ τῷ θεῷ δῶρον καὶ δεκάτην τῆς ἑαυτοῦ στρατείας τοὺς αἰχμαλωτισθέντας τιμίους σταυρούς, ὁπη νίκα δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν ὢν ὁ Στυπειώτης καὶ τὴν Ταρσὸν παρακαθήμενος παντελεῖ πανωλεθρίᾳ τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἀβουλίᾳ καθυπέ βαλε τὰ στρατεύματα· οὓς δὴ καὶ τῷ πανσέπτῳ τεμένει τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου σοφίας ἀνέθετο. Τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ δευτέρῳ τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας χρόνῳ ὁ Νικηφό ρος καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν νῆσον Κύπρον τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων προσήγαγεν ἐπικρατείᾳ, τοὺς Ἀγαρηνοὺς ἀπελάσας ἐκεῖθεν διὰ Νικήτα πατρι κίου τοῦ Χαλκούτζη. 2.364 Τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, ἔαρος ἐπιστάντος, πάλιν εἰσβολὴν ἐποιήσατο κατὰ Συρίας ὁ βασιλεύς. καὶ γενόμε νος κατὰ τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν ταύτῃ μὲν οὐ προσέβαλεν, ἐλπίσας μηδὲ τὴν ἀκοὴν αὐτοῦ ὑποστήσεσθαι τοὺς Ἀντιοχεῖς ἐκπεπληγμένους τὰ εἰς τὰς πόλεις τῆς Κιλικίας συμβεβηκότα. ἀλλὰ παρελθὼν αὐτὴν εἰς τὰ ἐνδότερα μέρη τῆς Συρίας ἐχώρησε, καὶ πόλεις πολλὰς καὶ χώρας καταστρεψάμενος πρὸς τῷ Λιβάνῳ κειμένας καὶ τῇ παραλίᾳ τῷ ∆εκεμβρίῳ μηνὶ ὑπέστρεψεν. εὐσθενῶς δὲ τῶν Ἀν τιοχέων προσδεχομένων τὸν πόλεμον διὰ τὸ πλεῖστον λαὸν ἐκ τῆς περιοικίδος εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἐπὶ βοηθείᾳ, ἐπιλελοιπότων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῷ Ῥωμαϊκῷ στρατῷ, γενέσθαι δὲ καὶ τέλμα ἀδιεξίτητον ἐκ τοῦ πολὺν ὄμβρον οὐρανόθεν καταρραγῆναι, ὑπε χώρησεν ἄπρακτος καὶ τὴν βασιλίδα κατέλαβε, φέρων μεθ' ἑαυ τοῦ καὶ τὸν ἔχοντα ἀχειρότευκτον ἐκτύπωμα τῆς μορφῆς τοῦ Χρι στοῦ καὶ θεοῦ ἡμῶν κέραμον, ὃν εὗρεν ἐν Ἱερᾷ πόλει ταύτην πε πορθηκώς, καὶ τῶν τριχῶν τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου βόστρυχον ἕνα πεπιλημένον αἵματι.

Τοιοῦτος δ' ὢν ὁ Νικηφόρος καὶ τοιαύταις χρησάμενος στρατηγίαις καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον τὰ Ῥωμαίων αὐξήσας πράγματα (κατέσχε γὰρ πλέον τῶν ἑκατὸν πόλεων καὶ φρούρια Κιλικίας τε καὶ Συρίας καὶ Φοινίκης Λιβανησίας, ὧν μέγιστα καὶ ἐπισημό τατα ἡ Ἀνάζαρβος καὶ ἡ Ἄδανα, ἡ Μόψου ἑστία, ἡ Ταρσός, τὸ Παγράς, τὸ Συννέφιον, ἡ Λαοδίκεια, τὸ Χάλεπ, ἔθετο δὲ καὶ 2.365 ὑποφόρους τήν τε ἐν Φοινίκῃ Τρίπολιν καὶ τὴν ∆αμασκόν) ὅμως μισητὸς ἐγένετο παρὰ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου, καὶ πάντες ἐδίψων τὴν τούτου θεάσασθαι καταστροφήν. τὰς δὲ αἰτίας ἀπαριθμήσει ὁ λόγος ἐν καιρῷ τῷ προσήκοντι. Ὑποστρέφων δ' ὁ Νικηφόρος ἐξ Ἀντιοχείας πρὸς τὴν βασι λίδα, ἐν τῷ διέρχεσθαι τὸν Ταῦρον, ὃ Μαῦρον ὄρος ἐγχωρίως λέγεται, φρούριον κατὰ τὸ μέσον τοῦ ὄρους δομησάμενος ἔν τινι λόφῳ ἐρυμνοτάτῳ, Μιχαὴλ τὸν Βούρτζην πατρίκιον τιμήσας ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ κατέλιπε, στρατηγὸν ὀνομάσας τοῦτον τοῦ Μαύρου ὄρους, ἐπισκήψας προσμένειν ἀγρύπνως καὶ τοὺς Ἀντιοχεῖς πάσῃ μηχανῇ κωλύειν ἐξιέναι καὶ τὰ πρὸς ζωὴν εἰσκομίζεσθαι ἐπιτήδεια. κατέλιπε δὲ καὶ Πέτρον ἕνα τῶν ἑαυτοῦ εὐνούχων, δοῦλον ὑπάρ χοντα, δραστήριον ἄνθρωπον, ὃν δὴ καὶ στρατοπεδάρχην πεποίη κεν ἐν Κιλικίᾳ, εἰς παραχειμασίαν τὸν στρατὸν διασκορπίσαι κε λεύσας, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ μένειν εἰς τοὐπιὸν ἔτος ἔλευσιν. ἐλέγετο δ' ὅτι δυνάμενος ἐξ ἐφόδου ἑλεῖν τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, ἀλλ' ἐξεπίτηδες παρεῖλκε καὶ παρεβίβαζε τὴν ταύτης κατάσχεσιν, δεδιὼς τὸν φημιζόμενον λόγον· καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἁπάντων ἐφέρετο στόμασιν ὡς ἅμα τῇ ἁλώσει τῆς πόλεως Ἀντιοχείας καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τεθνήξεται. ἀμέλει καὶ τῷ τοιούτῳ λόγῳ δειλαινόμενος οὔτ' αὐτὸς προσεπέλασε τῇ Ἀντιοχείᾳ, καὶ τῷ Πέτρῳ δὲ καὶ τῷ Βούρτζῃ παρήγγειλε μηδεμίαν προσβολὴν ποιή σασθαι κατ' αὐτῆς. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ταῦτα καταστησάμενος, ὡς εἴπομεν, εἴσεισιν εἰς τὴν βασιλεύουσαν· ὁ Βούρτζης δὲ τῇ 2.366 Ἀντιοχείᾳ γειτονῶν καὶ κλέος ἑαυτῷ ἄσβεστον περιποιήσασθαι ἱμειρόμενος, μικρὰ φροντίσας τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως ὑποθηκῶν, νύ κτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐσκέπτετο εἴ πως δυνηθείη κατασχεῖν τὴν πόλιν. ἀπῄει οὖν συνεχῶς καὶ λόγους μετὰ τῶν Ἀντιοχέων ἐκίνει συμβατικούς. ἀλαζονευομένων δ' ἐκείνων καὶ τὰς συμβάσεις διωθουμένων, ἔλαθεν ἐκεῖνος φιλιωθείς τινι τῶν Σαρακηνῶν (Αὔλαξ οὗτος ἦν), ὃν