483

But when Azis the Egyptian went mad and showed much wickedness toward the Christians, and destroyed the church of our lord and savior Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, and then also most shamefully ended his own life, his son, who was born to him by a certain Roman captive woman, permitted those who wished to build the church, which the emperor, having sent men, was eager to build lavishly. But fate intervened and prevented him, and Michael after him became the completer of the work. And the magistros Basil, the brother-in-law of the emperor on his sister's side, Skleros, who had been blinded by Constantine, 2.502 having an unsteady and fickle mind, although he had been honored as magistros and deemed worthy of many benefactions by Romanos, nonetheless he planned a plot against him. But being discovered, he is expelled from the city with his wife. And Maniakos also sent from Edessa to the emperor an annual tribute, fifty litras. And the amir of Tripoli, Pinzarach, being overpowered by the Egyptians, took refuge in the queen of cities; whom the emperor sent back to Syria with a very great force together with the hetaireiarch Theoktistos. And he also sent out with a fleet the protospatharios Tekneas from Abydos to Egypt, to do harm to the mouths of the Nile, wherever it was possible, and Alexandria itself; who, sailing straight and proceeding as far as Alexandria itself, captured very many ships and, gathering a great deal of booty, returned unharmed. And the Saracen Aleim, who held it, also surrendered the fortress called Perkrin, which is situated very near Babylon, to the emperor of the Romans, hoping to be deemed worthy of the patrician rank and very many other rewards, having made his approach to the emperor through his son. And the patrician Nicholas the Bulgarian, surnamed Chryselios, had taken over the fortress, but the son of the Saracen, having entered Byzantium and, because the emperor was afflicted with illness, receiving no attention, returned with anger and persuaded his father to take back his own 2.503 fortress, who, having secretly collaborated with the neighboring Persians, stole back the fortress by night and killed six thousand Roman fighting men through the ease and negligence of Chryselios who held it. But a short while after, the patrician Niketas Pegonites, sent there to command, and using a persistent siege with Rus and the rest of another Roman force, took the fortress by storm through siege and killed Aleim along with his son. Then indeed also Alde, the wife of George the Abasgian, being of the race of the Alans, came over to the emperor, surrendering also the very strong fortress of Anakouphe; whose son Demetrios the emperor honored with the dignity of the magistroi. And Karantenos again set up a trophy against the Saracens when they came out for plunder, and sent six hundred captives to the emperor. In this year #22φμβʹ, on the 17th of the month of February, an earthquake having occurred, the cities in Syria suffered badly. And when Orestes was removed from his command, Leon, called Opos, is sent to Italy to command the infantry, and of the navy, John, one of the chamberlains of the emperor Basil. And since the locusts for a long time were destroying the eastern themes, the inhabitants of these were forced both to sell their children and to be resettled in Thrace; to whom the emperor, giving three nomismata apiece to all, prepared them to return home, until the locusts, 2.504 lifted by a violent wind, fell into the sea of the Hellespont and perished, and being cast up onto the shore, covered the coastal sand. And the emperor had the aqueducts built which bring water into the city, and the castelli that receive it, and the leper-house and the orphanage and all the hostels that had suffered badly from the earthquake, and simply took care of all good works. But with a chronic illness

483

Ἀζίου δὲ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου μανέντος καὶ πολλὰ κακὰ εἰς Χρι στιανοὺς ἐνδειξαμένου, καταστρέψαντος δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύ μοις ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἶτα καὶ αὐτοῦ αἴσχιστα καταλύσαντος τὴν ζωήν, ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ἀπό τινος Ῥωμαίας γυναικὸς αἰχμαλώτου τεχθεὶς αὐτῷ, ἐπέτρεψε τοῖς βου λομένοις οἰκοδομεῖν τὸν ναόν, ὃν ἀποστείλας ὁ βασιλεὺς φιλοτίμως οἰκοδομῆσαι ἠπείγετο. ἀλλὰ φθάσαν τὸ χρεὼν ἐνεπόδισε, καὶ ὁ μετ' αὐτὸν Μιχαὴλ ἐκπληρωτὴς τοῦ ἔργου ἐγένετο. Καὶ ὁ μάγιστρος δὲ Βασίλειος, ὁ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ γαμβρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως, ὁ Σκληρός, παρὰ Κωνσταντίνου ἐκτυφλωθείς, ἄστα 2.502 τον γνώμην ἔχων καὶ ἀλλοπρόσαλλον, εἰ καὶ μάγιστρος ἐτετίμητο καὶ πολλῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἠξίωτο παρὰ τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ, ὅμως ἐπι βουλὴν μελετᾷ κατ' αὐτοῦ. ἀλλὰ φωραθεὶς τῆς πόλεως ἐκβάλ λεται σὺν τῇ γυναικί. Ἀπέστειλε δὲ καὶ ἐξ Ἐδέσσης ὁ Μανιάκης τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐνιαύ σιον φόρον, λίτρας πεντήκοντα. καὶ ὁ τῆς Τριπόλεως δὲ ἀμηρᾶς ὁ Πινζαράχ, κατισχυόμενος παρὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, φυγὰς τὴν βασιλίδα κατέλαβεν· ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς πάλιν μετὰ πλείστης δυνά μεως σὺν τῷ ἑταιρειάρχῃ Θεοκτίστῳ εἰς Συρίαν ἐκπέπομφεν. ἐξ έπεμψε δὲ καὶ μετὰ στόλου τὸν πρωτοσπαθάριον Τεκνέαν τὸν ἐξ Ἀβύδου εἰς Αἴγυπτον, τὰ τοῦ Νείλου στόματα, ὅπῃ παρείκοι, κακώσοντα, καὶ αὐτὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν· ὃς εὐθυπλοήσας καὶ μέχρις αὐτῆς ἐλάσας Ἀλεξανδρείας πλοῖά τε πάμπλειστα ἐχειρώσατο καὶ λείαν ὅτι πολλὴν περιβαλόμενος ὑπέστρεψεν ἀσινής. παρέδωκε δὲ καὶ τὸ φρούριον τὸ λεγόμενον Περκρὶν ὁ κατέχων αὐτὸ Σαρα κηνὸς Ἀλείμ, ἔγγιστα Βαβυλῶνος διακείμενον, τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων, ἐλπίσας πατρικιότητός τε καὶ πλείστων ἄλλων ἀμοιβῶν ἀξιωθῆναι, διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ τὴν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ποιησάμε νος ἔντευξιν. καὶ τὸ φρούριον μὲν παρειλήφει ὁ πατρίκιος Νικό λαος ὁ Βούλγαρος, ᾧ Χρυσήλιος τὸ ἐπώνυμον, ὁ δὲ τοῦ Σαρα κηνοῦ υἱὸς εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῷ Βυζαντίῳ καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν βασιλέα συν έχεσθαι ἀρρωστήματι μηδεμιᾶς τυχὼν ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ μετὰ θυμοῦ ὑποστρέψας ἀνέπεισε τὸν γεννήσαντα ἀντιλαβέσθαι τοῦ οἰκείου 2.503 φρουρίου, ὅστις λάθρᾳ τοῖς ὁμόροις Πέρσαις κοινοπραγήσας νυ κτός τε τὸ φρούριον ἀπέκλεψε καὶ ἑξακισχιλίους ἄνδρας Ῥωμαίους πολεμιστὰς ἀπέκτεινε ῥᾳστώνῃ καὶ ἀμελείᾳ τοῦ κατέχοντος τοῦτο Χρυσηλίου. ἀλλὰ μετὰ μικρὸν ὁ πατρίκιος Νικήτας ὁ Πηγονίτης ἄρχειν ἐκεῖσε πεμφθεὶς καὶ ἐπιμόνῳ χρησάμενος πολιορκίᾳ μετὰ Ῥὼς καὶ λοιπῆς ἄλλης Ῥωμαϊκῆς δυνάμεως, τό τε φρούριον κατὰ κράτος εἷλε πολιορκίᾳ καὶ τὸν Ἀλεὶμ σὺν τῷ υἱῷ ἀπ έκτεινε. Τότε δὴ καὶ Ἀλδὴ ἡ Γεωργίου τοῦ Ἀβασγοῦ γυνή, τοῦ γένους οὖσα τῶν Ἀλανῶν, προσερρύη τῷ βασιλεῖ, παραδοῦσα καὶ τὸ ὀχυρώτατον φρούριον τὴν Ἀνακουφήν· ἧς τὸν υἱὸν ∆ημήτριον ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ τῶν μαγίστρων τετίμηκεν ἀξιώματι. ἔστησε δὲ πάλιν κατὰ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν τρόπαιον ὁ Καραντηνός, ἐξελθόν των ἐπὶ λεηλασίᾳ, καὶ δεσμίους ἑξακοσίους τῷ βασιλεῖ πέ πομφε. Τούτῳ τῷ #22φμβʹ ἔτει, ιζʹ Φεβρουαρίου μηνός, σεισμοῦ γεγονότος κακῶς ἔπαθον αἱ ἐν Συρίᾳ πόλεις. καὶ τοῦ Ὀρέστου δὲ παραλυθέντος τῆς ἀρχῆς Λέων μὲν ὁ λεγόμενος Ὦπος τοῦ πεζικοῦ στρατοῦ κατάρχειν ἐκπέμπεται ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, τοῦ δὲ πλωΐ μου Ἰωάννης, εἷς ὢν τῶν θαλαμηπόλων Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως. τῆς δὲ ἀκρίδος ἐπὶ πολὺν χρόνον τὰ ἑῷα διαφθειρούσης θέματα, ἠναγκάσθησαν οἱ ἔποικοι τούτων καὶ τὰ τέκνα πωλῆσαι καὶ ἐν Θρᾴκῃ ἀποικισθῆναι· οἷς ἀνὰ τρία νομίσματα διδοὺς ἅπασιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑποστρέφειν οἴκαδε παρεσκεύασεν, ἕως ἡ ἀκρὶς ἀνέμῳ 2.504 ἀρθεῖσα βιαίῳ εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἑλλησπόντου πεσοῦσα διεφθάρη πέλα γος καὶ ἐκβρασθεῖσα πρὸς τὸν αἰγιαλὸν τὴν παράλιον ψάμμον ἐκάλυψεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τούς τε τῶν ὑδάτων ὁλκοὺς ἐπεποιή σατο τοὺς τὸ ὕδωρ τῇ πόλει εἰσάγοντας, καὶ τὰς δεχομένας τοῦτο καστέλλους καὶ τὸ λωβοτροφεῖον καὶ τὸ ὀρφανοτροφεῖον καὶ πάν τας τοὺς κακῶς παθόντας ξενῶνας ἀπὸ τοῦ σεισμοῦ, καὶ ἁπλῶς πάντων ἐπεμελεῖτο τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων. νόσῳ δὲ χρονίᾳ