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was killed. Theoktistos and his men took possession of the fortress of Menikos, which was surrendered to them by a nephew of Mousaraph, and another fortress situated on a precipitous rock, the so-called Argyrokastron. Having settled these matters thus, Theoktistos entered the capital, bringing with him also Alach, the son of Pinzarach, whom the emperor also deemed worthy of the patrician rank. Afterwards Pinzarach also came, escorted and guarded by the former governor of Antioch, Niketas of Mistheia; whom the emperor received kindly, and having welcomed him with no small gifts and benefactions, sent him away home rejoicing. He also ransomed Choirosphaktes from captivity and returned him to his family.

As for the protospatharios Orestes, whom the narrative above indicated was sent to Sicily by the emperor Basil, being inexperienced in warfare and undertaking matters unskillfully, the Saracens from Sicily, having watched for an opportunity and suddenly attacked the Romans, who were already overcome by intestinal disease from luxurious living, inflicted no small destruction. The emperor, seeking to recover from the misfortune that had occurred, having gathered a formidable force from both Hellas and Macedonia, sends it to Italy, although it was not able to accomplish anything noble because of the simplicity and incompetence of the general. In this year, being #22φλθʹ, of the fourteenth indiction, Prousianos also voluntarily is tonsured a monk, and his mother is transferred from the monastery of Mantineion in Boukellarion to the Thrakesians, and Constantine Diogenes the patrikios, having been cast out of the tower, is tonsured a monk in the monastery of Stoudios. The emperor Romanos, having purchased the house of Triakontaphyllos, converted it into a monastery in the name of our lady, the Mother of God, sparing no expense, on this pretext, however, oppressing and mistreating his subjects not a little in the transport of stones and other materials. He also adorns the capitals of the Great Church and of the most holy Theotokos of Blachernae with silver and gold. And when he was about to also repair the altar of Blachernae, he found an ancient icon hanging, which he ordered to be restored. Seeing that the plaster of the wall was silvered, he ordered it to be taken down and a new one made. When the plaster was taken down, a painted wooden icon was found, a small half-length panel of the Mother of God holding our Lord and God, which had remained undefiled from the days of Kopronymos until this day, three hundred years having passed. In the year #22φμʹ, of the fifteenth indiction, in the month of September, Amer, the son of the lord of Aleppo, came to the emperor Romanos with many gifts, requesting to renew the peace and to provide the previous tributes. And so Theophylaktos the Athenian, protospatharios, is sent, and he both confirmed the treaties and established a joint enterprise with the people of Aleppo. The empress Zoe, after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, having gone suddenly to the Petrion, tonsured her sister Theodora as a nun, saying that it was otherwise impossible for the plots and scandals to cease. The emperor Romanos also gave his own niece in marriage, with a large dowry, to the ruler of Greater Armenia. The emperor, intending to make a second invasion perhaps against Syria, went out to the Mesanakta. While he was staying there, it is reported to the empress Zoe through Theophanes of Thessalonike that Constantine Diogenes, having conspired with her sister Theodora, is planning an escape to Illyricum, with the knowledge of the metropolitan of Dyrrachion and the bishop of Peritheorion. And immediately both the bishops and Diogenes are seized. And Constantine, being questioned in the palace of Blachernae by John the praipositos, who afterwards

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ἀνῃρέθη. παρειλήφασι δὲ οἱ περὶ τὸν Θεόκτιστον αὐτό τε τὸ φρούριον τὸν Μενῖκον, παραδοθὲν αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ ἀδελφόπαιδος τοῦ Μουσάραφ, καὶ ἕτερον φρούριον ἐπί τινος ἀποτόμου κείμενον πέτρας, τὸ λεγό μενον Ἀργυρόκαστρον. ταῦτα δὲ οὕτω καταστησάμενος ὁ Θεό κτιστος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα, ἐπαγόμενος μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ Ἀλὰχ τὸν τοῦ Πινζαρὰχ υἱόν, ὃν καὶ πατρικιότητος ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἠξίωσε. κατόπιν δὲ ἦλθε καὶ ὁ Πινζαράχ, προπεμπόμενος καὶ δορυφορούμενος παρὰ τοῦ χρηματίσαντος ἄρχοντος Ἀντιοχείας Νικήτα τοῦ ἐκ Μισθείας· ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς φιλοφρόνως ἀποδεξάμε νος καὶ δώροις καὶ εὐεργεσίαις δεξιωσάμενος οὐ μικραῖς οἴκαδε χαίροντα ἐξαπέστειλεν. ἐλυτρώσατο δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὸν Χοιροσφάκτην καὶ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀπέδωκε.

Τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου δὲ Ὀρέστου, ὃν ὑπὸ Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν Σικελίᾳ πεμφθῆναι ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσεν ἄνωθεν, ἀπεί ρως ἔχοντος περὶ τὰ πολεμικὰ καὶ ἀτέχνως ἐπιχειροῦντος τοῖς πράγμασιν, οἱ ἐκ Σικελίας Σαρακηνοὶ καιροφυλακήσαντες καὶ αἰφνίδιον ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, ἤδη καὶ κοιλιακῷ νοσήματι ἀπὸ τρυφῆς κατασχεθεῖσιν, ὄλεθρον οὐκ ὀλίγον εἰργάσαντο. ἀνα 2.497 κτώμενος δὲ τὸ γεγονὸς ἀτύχημα ὁ βασιλεὺς δύναμιν ἀξιόμαχον ἔκ τε Ἑλλάδος καὶ Μακεδονίας ἀθροίσας ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ ἐκπέμπει, κἂν οὐδέν τι γενναῖον δρᾶσαι ἴσχυσεν ἀφελείᾳ καὶ κακότητι τοῦ στρα τηγοῦ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει #22φλθʹ τυγχάνοντι, ἰνδικτιῶνος ιδʹ, καὶ ὁ Προυσιανὸς ἑκουσίως ἀποκείρεται μοναχός, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ ἐκ Μαντινείου τῆς ἐν βουκελλαρίῳ μονῆς εἰς Θρᾳκησίους μετα βιβάζεται, καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος πατρίκιος ὁ ∆ιογένης ἐκβληθεὶς τοῦ πύργου ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Στουδίου ἀποκείρεται μοναχός. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Τριακονταφύλλου ἐξωνησάμενος εἰς μοναστήριον μετεσκεύασεν ἐπ' ὀνόματι τῆς δεσποίνης ἡμῶν θεοτόκου, μηδεμιᾶς πολυτελείας φεισάμενος, συντρίψας μέντοι τῇ προφάσει ταύτῃ οὐ μικρῶς τὸ ὑπήκοον καὶ κακώσας ἔν τε ταῖς τῶν λίθων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰδῶν διακομιδαῖς. καταλαμπρύνει δὲ καὶ τὰ κιονόκρανα τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας καὶ τῆς ὑπεραγίας θεο τόκου τῶν Βλαχερνῶν ἀργύρῳ καὶ χρυσῷ. μέλλων δὲ καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον ἐπιποιεῖσθαι τῶν Βλαχερνῶν εὗρε κρεμαμένην εἰκόνα παλαιάν, ἣν ἀνακαινισθῆναι προσέταξεν. ἐξαργυρωμένον δὲ τὸ τοῦ τοίχου χρίσμα ἰδὼν καθαιρεθῆναι προσέταξε καὶ νέον γενέ σθαι. καθαιρεθέντος δὲ τοῦ χρίσματος εὑρέθη εἰκὼν ὑλογραφική, σανίδιον ἐπιστήθιον κρατούσης τῆς θεοτόκου τὸν κύριον καὶ θεὸν ἡμῶν, ἀμόλυντος διαμείνασα ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου ἕως τῆσδε τῆς ἡμέρας, ἐτῶν διελθόντων τριακοσίων. 2.498 Τῷ δὲ #22φμʹ ἔτει, ἰνδικτιῶνος ιεʹ, μηνὶ Σεπτεμβρίῳ, ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν μετὰ δώρων πολλῶν ὁ τοῦ Χαλεπίτου υἱὸς Ἄμερ, ἐξαιτῶν ἀνανεῶσαι τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ τοὺς πρόσθεν παρέχειν φόρους. καὶ δὴ στέλλεται Θεοφύλακτος πρωτοσπαθά ριος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, καὶ τάς τε σπονδὰς ἐβεβαίωσε καὶ κοινοπραγίαν μετὰ τῶν Χαλεπιτῶν ἔθετο. Ζωὴ δὲ ἡ βασιλὶς μετὰ τὴν ὕψωσιν τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ αἰφνίδιον ἀπελθοῦσα εἰς τὸ Πετρίον τὴν ἑαυ τῆς ἀδελφὴν Θεοδώραν ἀπέκειρε μοναχήν, ἀδύνατον ἄλλως εἶναι φήσασα παυθῆναι τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ τὰ σκάνδαλα. δέδωκε δὲ καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνεψιὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς μετὰ πολλῶν ἕδνων εἰς εὐνὴν τῷ τῆς μεγάλης Ἀρμενίας ἐξουσιάρχῃ. μέλλων δὲ δευ τέραν εἰσβολὴν τάχα ποιήσασθαι ὁ βασιλεὺς κατὰ Συρίας ἐξῆλθεν εἰς τὰ Μεσάνακτα. ἐκεῖσε δὲ τούτου ἐνδιατρίβοντος μηνύεται τῇ βασιλίδι Ζωῇ διὰ Θεοφάνους τοῦ Θεσσαλονίκης ὡς Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ ∆ιογένης κοινολογησάμενος τῇ ταύτης ἀδελφῇ Θεοδώρᾳ ἀπό δρασιν πρὸς τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν μελετᾷ, εἰδήσει τοῦ μητροπολίτου ∆υρ ραχίου καὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Περιθεωρίου. καὶ εὐθὺς ἀνάρπαστοι οἵ τε ἐπίσκοποι καὶ ὁ ∆ιογένης γίνονται. καὶ ὁ μὲν Κωνσταντῖνος ἐταζόμενος ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ τῶν Βλαχερνῶν διὰ Ἰωάννου τοῦ πραι ποσίτου, τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα