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Mysia as far as Thessalonica, and the ships of the Africans greatly ravaged the Cyclades. John had no concern for these things, but had only the persistent occupation of how Dalassenos might be kept securely and not escape his snares. And so, having transferred him from the island of Plate, he imprisoned him in a secure tower, setting noble guards over him. He summons from Edessa also George Maniakes the *patrikios*, and sends this man out to rule Upper Media and Asprakania, while in Edessa he sends Leo Lependrenos. And as a sore spread over the orphanotrophos's mouth and all medical art had failed, Nicholas, great in wonders, appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to come to Myra with all speed, as he would obtain a cure there. He went there faster than words can tell, and having honored the divine church of the great saint with myrrh and other costly gifts, and having enclosed the metropolis of Myra with a very strong wall, he obtained a cure and returned healthy. And when Niketas, the *strategos* in Antioch of Syria, ended his life, the other of the brothers, Constantine, was appointed his successor, and George, the remaining one, became *protovestiarios*, as Symeon, as we have said, had put on the monastic habit. And the emperor freed the imprisoned Antiochenes 2.513 from their long confinement, and also raised Michael, the son of his own sister Maria, to the conspicuous height of Caesar. And he continued until the end to lament his sin against the Emperor Romanos, propitiating God through good deeds and distributions to the poor, building new monasteries and settling monks in them, and performing other not blameworthy acts. But these would have been effective if he had rejected the imperial power for which he had committed so many evils and had cast off the adulteress, and had lamented his sin by himself. But having done none of these things, but rather living with her and clinging wholly to the imperial power and fulfilling his supposed good works from public and common funds, and then expecting to receive forgiveness, he considered the divine to be foolish and unjust, buying repentance with others' money.

In the year 6543, indiction 3, in the month of May, Africans and Sicilians, having raided the Cyclades and the shores of the Thrakesion theme, were finally defeated by the guards there, and five hundred were brought alive to the emperor, while all the rest were impaled on the coast from Adramyttion to Strobilos. And John sends George Probatas as an ambassador to Sicily, to discuss peace with its emir; who went and spoke skillfully, and taking the son of the emir, brought him to the emperor. At this time 2.514 fissures occurred in the Boukellarion theme when an earthquake took place, and five whole villages were swallowed up. There it also happened that Nikephoros the *proedros*, the eunuch of the emperor Constantine, who was staying there, almost perished, but having unexpectedly escaped the danger, he was tonsured a monk in the monastery of Stoudios. And Apolaphar Muchumet, the ruler of Sicily, making an alliance with the emperor, was honored as *magistros*. But when his brother Apochaps rose up against him, being overpowered he fled to the emperor for help. And so George Maniakes the *patrikios* is sent with a force to Longobardia as *strategos autokrator*, and with him also Stephen the *patrikios*, the commander of the fleet, who was the emperor’s brother-in-law. And when Saracen Africans and Sicilians with not a few skiffs raided the islands and the coast, the *strategos* of the Kibyrrhaiotai, Constantine Chage, engaging them with the local fleet, routed them completely, and sent five hundred captives to the emperor, while the rest he drowned. And when an unbearable frost occurred and the Ister froze over, the

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Μυσίαν ἄχρι Θεσσαλονίκης, καὶ τὰ τῶν Ἄφρων πλοῖα τὰς Κυκλάδας οὐ μικρῶς ἐλυμήναντο. ὧν οὐδεμία φροντὶς ἦν τῷ Ἰωάννῃ, μόνην δ' ἔμμονον ἀσχολίαν εἶχεν ὅπως ἂν ὁ ∆αλασσηνὸς ἀσφαλῶς τηροῖτο καὶ μὴ τὰς αὐτοῦ λάθοι διαδρὰς πλεκτάνας. καὶ δῆτα μεταγαγὼν ἀπὸ τῆς νήσου Πλά της αὐτὸν πύργῳ καθείργνυσιν ἀσφαλεῖ, ἐπιστήσας αὐτῷ φρου ροὺς οὐκ ἀγεννεῖς. μεταστέλλεται δ' ἐξ Ἐδέσσης καὶ Γεώργιον πατρίκιον τὸν Μανιάκην, καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἄρχειν ἐκπέμπει τῆς ἄνω Μηδίας καὶ τῆς Ἀσπρακανίας, ἐν Ἐδέσσῃ δὲ πέμπει Λέοντα τὸν Λεπενδρηνόν. ἕλκους δὲ διανεμομένου τὸ τοῦ ὀρφανοτρόφου στόμα καὶ πάσης ἰατρικῆς τέχνης ἀπειρηκυίας, ὄναρ αὐτῷ ἐπιστὰς ὁ μέγας ἐν θαύμασι Νικόλαος ἥκειν ἐν Μύροις τὴν ταχίστην ἐκέ λευεν ὡς ἐκεῖσε τευξόμενον θεραπείας. ὁ δὲ θᾶττον ἢ λόγος ἐκεῖσε φοιτήσας, καὶ μύροις καὶ ἄλλαις πολυτελείαις τὸν τοῦ μεγάλου θεῖον δεξιωσάμενος ναόν, καὶ τείχει περικλείσας ὀχυρωτάτῳ τὴν τῶν Μυρέων μητρόπολιν, θεραπείας τυχὼν ἐπάνεισιν ὑγιής. Νικήτα δὲ τοῦ στρατηγοῦντος ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῆς Συρίας κα ταστρέψαντος τὴν ζωήν, ἅτερος τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος καθίσταται τούτου διάδοχος, καὶ Γεώργιος ὁ λοιπὸς πρωτοβε στιάριος γίνεται, τοῦ Συμεών, ὡς εἴπομεν, τὸ μοναδικὸν ἐνδυσα μένου σχῆμα. ἐλευθεροῖ δὲ καὶ τοὺς καθειργμένους Ἀντιοχεῖς 2.513 τῆς χρονίας καθείρξεως ὁ βασιλεύς, ἀναγαγὼν καὶ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος περίοπτον ὕψος Μιχαὴλ τὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφῆς Μα ρίας υἱόν. ἀποκλαιόμενος δὲ καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν ἄχρι τέλους διετέλεσεν ἁμαρτάδα, τὸν θεὸν ἱλασκόμενος διὰ ἀγα θοεργιῶν καὶ τῶν εἰς τοὺς πένητας μεταδόσεων, μοναστήριά τε ἐκ καινῆς ἀνεγείρων καὶ μοναχοὺς ἐγκατοικίζων, καὶ ἄλλας πράξεις ἐπιτελῶν οὐ μεμπτάς. αὗται δ' ἂν ἦσαν ἀνύσιμοι, εἰ τήν τε βασιλείαν ἀπέρριψε δι' ἣν τὰ τοσαῦτα κακὰ καὶ τὴν μοιχαλίδα ἀπώσατο, καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀπεκλαίετο τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. τούτων δὲ μηδὲν πεπραχώς, ἀλλ' ἐκείνῃ τε συνὼν καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ὁλο σχερῶς ἀντεχόμενος κἀκ τῶν δημοσίων καὶ κοινῶν τὰς δοκούσας εὐποιίας ἀποπληρῶν, εἶθ' ὑπολαμβάνων τυχεῖν συγχωρήσεως, ἀνόητον ἐλογίζετο τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἄδικον, ἀλλοτρίοις χρήμασιν ὠνού μενον τὴν μετάνοιαν.

Τῷ δὲ #22φμγʹ ἔτει, ἰνδικτιῶνος γʹ, Μαΐῳ μηνί, Ἄφροι καὶ Σικελοὶ καταδραμόντες τὰς Κυκλάδας καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θρᾳκησίου πα ράλια τελευταῖον κατεπολεμήθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε φυλαττόντων, καὶ πεντακόσιοι μὲν ζῶντες ὡς βασιλέα ἤχθησαν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πάντες ἀνεσκολοπίσθησαν ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ ἀπὸ Ἀτραμυτίου καὶ μέχρι Στροβίλου. πέμπει δὲ καὶ πρεσβευτὴν ἐς Σικελίαν Ἰωάννης Γεώργιον τὸν Προβατᾶν, περὶ εἰρήνης διαλεξόμενον τῷ ταύτης ἀμηρεύοντι· ὃς ἀπελθὼν καὶ δεξιῶς διαλεχθείς, εἰληφὼς τὸν τοῦ ἀμηρᾶ υἱὸν ἤγαγεν εἰς τὸν βασιλέα. κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον 2.514 χάσματα γέγονεν ἐν Βουκελλαρίοις σεισμοῦ γεγονότος, καὶ κατε πόθησαν ὁλόκληρα χωρία πέντε. ἔνθα συνέβη καὶ Νικηφόρον πρόεδρον τὸν Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ βασιλέως εὐνοῦχον διατρίβοντα μικροῦ δεῖν κινδυνεῦσαι, διαφυγόντα δὲ παρ' ἐλπίδα τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποκαρῆναι μοναχὸν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Στουδίου. Ἀπολάφαρ δὲ Μουχούμετ ὁ Σικελίας ἄρχων, ὁμαιχμίαν μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως θέμενος, ἐτιμήθη μάγιστρος. τοῦ δὲ ἀδελ φοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἀπόχαψ ἀντάραντος αὐτῷ κατισχυόμενος εἰς τὴν βα σιλέως βοήθειαν καταφεύγει. καὶ δὴ στέλλεται μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐν Λογγιβαρδίᾳ Γεώργιος πατρίκιος ὁ Μανιάκης στρατηγὸς αὐτο κράτωρ, σὺν αὐτῷ δὲ καὶ ἄρχων τοῦ στόλου Στέφανος ὁ πατρί κιος, ὁ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ γαμβρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως. Σαρακηνῶν δὲ Ἄφρων καὶ Σικελῶν μετὰ σκαφῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐπιδραμόντων τὰς νήσους καὶ τὴν παράλιον, ὁ Κιβυρραιωτῶν στρατηγὸς Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Χαγὲ συμπλακεὶς αὐτοῖς μετὰ τοῦ ἐγχωρίου στόλου ἐτρέψατο κατὰ κράτος, καὶ πεντακοσίους μὲν αἰχμαλώτους πέμπει τῷ βασιλεῖ, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς κατεπόντισεν. ἀφορήτου δὲ παγετοῦ γενομένου καὶ τοῦ Ἴστρου κρυσταλλωθέντος οἱ