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having honored him as magister, sends him out as general autokrator of the regiments in Italy. And these things happened thus. But when a council was proposed concerning an emperor, and it seemed best to all that an emperor be appointed and lawfully joined to Zoe, she herself was eager to bring forward Constantine the katepano, whom they also called Artoklines, from the service he administered; for the man was comely in appearance, and it was said that he secretly had relations with Zoe. But his wife 2.542 took him from life with poisons, not because she was without affection for him, but because she was about to be deprived of him while still living. And so the empress, having missed her mark, summons from exile Constantine Monomachos, who had been condemned by the orphanotrophos to live on the island of Mitylene because it was rumored by all that he was destined to rule the empire. For, when she had planned to raise the other Constantine to the imperial throne, she had appointed this man judge of the Hellenes; but since that man, as we have said, was done away with by poison, the said Monomachos, namesake of the deceased, was thought suitable by the empress. He was brought, therefore, to the church of the Arch-strategos located nearest to the Athyras, in Damokraneia; and Stephen the Pergamene, one of the empress's eunuch chamberlains, was sent and stripped him of his private clothes, and dressed him in the imperial purple, and putting him on a dromon, brings him to the palace. To him, having been brought, the empress is joined in the fellowship of marriage, the sacred rite having been performed by the first of the presbyters of the Nea, who was named Stypes, it being then the 11th of the month of June, in the year #22φνʹ. And on the next day he is crowned by the patriarch. And having now become master of the scepters, he promoted all the senators with degrees of dignities according to the worth of each, and he honored the populace with distributions of gold. He also sent out reports in all the themes, declaring 2.543 his acclamation, and promising an outpouring of every good thing and freedom of speech, and a cutting off of all evil. He also transferred John the orphanotrophos with all that he had from the monastery of the Monobatae to the island of Lesbos, and Michael the former emperor to Chios, and Constantine the nobilissimus to Samos.

And these things were done in the beginning by Monomachos, in the 10th indiction; but on the 4th of the month of October, of the 11th indiction, in the year #22φναʹ, a comet appeared, making its course from the east towards the west, and was seen shining throughout this whole month. And this portended the cosmic misfortunes that were about to occur. For Stephen, also called Voisthlavos, as was said before, having escaped from Byzantium and seized the Illyrian mountains, and overrunning and plundering the Triballi and Serbs and the neighboring peoples subject to the Romans, Monomachos, not bearing his raids, commands by letters the then-archon of Dyrrhachium (this was Michael the patrician, son of Anastasios the logothete) to assemble the military force under him of Dyrrhachium, and also the armies of the themes near it and subject to him, and together with the subordinate generals to go to the Triballi and make war on Stephen. But he, being far removed from military science, as a man raised in the shade and brought up in luxury, having attempted the task ineptly and unskillfully, became the cause of a great misfortune 2.544 for the Roman state. For having assembled the forces he was ordered, being about sixty thousand, he enters the lands of the Triballi, passing through roads that were steep and rough and precipitous and narrow, so that two horsemen could not proceed at the same time, the Serbs deliberately giving way, as they say, and allowing the entry, caring neither for his return nor stationing a competent guard in the narrow passes. He therefore, having entered, was ravaging the

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μάγιστρον τιμήσασα στρα τηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ ταγμάτων ἐκπέμπει. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν γέγονεν οὕτως. βουλῆς δὲ προτεθείσης περὶ βασιλέως, καὶ δόξαν τοῖς πᾶσι βασιλέα προχειρισθῆναι καὶ τῇ Ζωῇ νομίμως συναφθῆναι, ἔσπευδε μὲν αὐτὴ Κωνσταντῖνον ἀγαγέσθαι τὸν κατεπάνω, ὃν δὴ καὶ Ἀρτοκλίνην, ἀφ' ἧς ὑπηρεσίας μετεχειρί σατο, ἀπεκάλουν· ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ εὐπρεπὴς τὴν ὥραν, ἐλέγετο δὲ καὶ λάθρᾳ τῇ Ζωῇ πλησιάζειν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτον μὲν ἡ σύνοικος 2.542 φαρμάκοις ἐξάγει τοῦ βίου, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἀποστόργως εἶχε πρὸς αὐ τόν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔμελλε τούτου ἔτι ζῶσα στερίσκεσθαι. καὶ λοι πὸν ἀστοχήσασα ἡ βασιλὶς τοῦ σκοποῦ, μεταπέμπεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξορίας Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν Μονομάχον, παρὰ τοῦ ὀρφανοτρόφου τὴν νῆσον Μιτυλήνην κατακριθέντα οἰκεῖν διὰ τὸ παρὰ πάντων φημίζεσθαι ὡς μέλλει κρατῆσαι τῆς βασιλείας. τοῦτον γάρ, ὁπη νίκα τὸν ἕτερον ἐβουλεύετο Κωνσταντῖνον εἰς τὸν βασίλειον θρόνον ἀναγαγεῖν, δικαστὴν Ἑλλήνων προεχειρίσατο· ἐπειδὴ δὲ κἀκεῖνος, ὡς εἴπομεν, κατειργάσθη φαρμάκῳ, ὁ ῥηθεὶς Μονομάχος καὶ τῷ θανόντι ὁμώνυμος πρὸς τρόπου ἐνομίσθη τῇ βασιλίδι. ἤχθη οὖν πρὸς τὸν ἄγχιστα τοῦ Ἀθύρος διακείμενον ναὸν τοῦ ἀρχιστρα τήγου τὸν ἐν ∆αμοκρανείᾳ· καὶ πεμφθεὶς Στέφανος εἷς ὢν τῶν θαλαμηπόλων εὐνούχων τῆς βασιλίδος ὁ Περγαμηνὸς ἀποδιδύσκει μὲν αὐτὸν τὴν ἰδιωτικὴν στολήν, ἀμφιέννυσι δὲ πορφυρίδα βασι λικήν, καὶ δρόμωνι ἐμβιβάσας ἄγει πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια. ᾧ τινὶ ἀχθέντι συνάπτεται εἰς κοινωνίαν γάμου ἡ βασιλίς, τῆς ἱερολογίας γενομένης παρὰ τοῦ πρώτου τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τῆς νέας, ὃς Στυπῆς ὠνομάζετο, ιαʹ τότε τοῦ Ἰουνίου μηνὸς ἄγοντος, τοῦ #22φνʹ ἔτους. στέφεται δὲ τῇ ἐπαύριον παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου. Καὶ ἤδη τῶν σκήπτρων γενόμενος ἐγκρατὴς πάντας μὲν τοὺς συγκλητικοὺς βαθμοῖς ἀξιωμάτων κατὰ τὴν ἑκάστου προεβίβασεν ἀξίαν, καὶ χρυσίου δὲ διανομαῖς τὸ πλῆθος ἐφιλοτιμήσατο. ἐξαπ έστειλε δὲ καὶ ἀναφορὰς ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς θέμασι, τήν τε ἀνάρρησιν 2.543 αὐτοῦ δηλούσας, καὶ ὑπισχνουμένας παντὸς μὲν ἀγαθοῦ βλύσιν καὶ παρρησίαν πάσης δὲ κακίας ἀποτομήν. μετεβίβασε δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ὀρφανοτρόφον μετὰ πάντων ὧν εἶχεν ἀπὸ τῆς μονῆς τῶν Μονοβατῶν εἰς τὴν νῆσον Λέσβον, καὶ Μιχαὴλ τὸν πρὸ τοῦ βασιλέα εἰς Χίον, καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν νωβελίσσιμον εἰς Σάμον.

Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπράχθη ἐν προοιμίοις τῷ Μονομάχῳ, κατὰ τὴν ιʹ ἰνδικτιῶνα· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ʹ τοῦ Ὀκτωβρίου μηνός, τῆς ιαʹ ἰνδι κτιῶνος, τοῦ #22φναʹ ἔτους, ἐφάνη κομήτης ἀπὸ τῆς ἕω πρὸς τὴν δύσιν ποιούμενος τὴν πορείαν, καὶ ὡρᾶτο λάμπων παρ' ὅλον τοῦ τον τὸν μῆνα. προεμήνυε δ' οὗτος τὰς μελλούσας ἐπισυμβήσε σθαι κοσμικὰς συμφοράς. Στεφάνου γὰρ τοῦ καὶ Βοϊσθλάβου, ὥσπερ ἔμπροσθεν ἐρρήθη, ἀποδράντος ἀπὸ τοῦ Βυζαντίου καὶ τὰ Ἰλλυρικὰ κατασχόντος ὄρη, καὶ Τριβαλλοὺς καὶ Σέρβους καὶ τὰ πρόσοικα γένη καὶ Ῥωμαίοις ὑπήκοα κατατρέχοντος καὶ ληϊζο μένου, μὴ φέρων ὁ Μονομάχος τὰς ἐκείνου καταδρομὰς τῷ τότε ἄρχοντι τοῦ ∆υρραχίου (ἦν δὲ Μιχαὴλ πατρίκιος, ὁ Ἀναστασίου τοῦ λογοθέτου υἱὸς) γράμμασιν ἐγκελεύεται τὸν ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἀθροῖ σαι τοῦ ∆υρραχίου λαὸν στρατιωτικόν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰς στρατιὰς τῶν ἐγγιζόντων τούτῳ θεμάτων καὶ αὐτῷ ὑποκειμένων, καὶ συνάμα τοῖς ὑποστρατηγοῖς εἰς Τριβαλλοὺς ἀπελθεῖν καὶ κατα πολεμῆσαι τὸν Στέφανον. ὁ δὲ πολεμικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἀπέχων μα κρὰν οἷα σκιατραφὴς ἄνθρωπος καὶ εὐπαθείαις ἐντεθραμμένος, ἀφυῶς καὶ ἀτέχνως ἐπιχειρήσας τῷ ἔργῳ μεγάλης αἴτιος ἀτυχίας 2.544 τῷ Ῥωμαίων ἐγένετο πολιτεύματι. ἀθροίσας γὰρ ἃς προσετέ τακτο δυνάμεις, οὔσας περὶ τὰς ἑξήκοντα χιλιάδας, εἴσεισιν εἰς Τριβαλλούς, διοδεύσας ὁδοὺς ἀνάντεις καὶ τραχείας καὶ ἀποκρή μνους καὶ στενοχώρους ὡς μὴ ἐν ταὐτῷ δύνασθαι δύο ἱππότας βαδίζειν, ἐνδόντων ἐξεπίτηδες, ὥς φασι, καὶ τῶν Σέρβων καὶ συγχωρησάντων τὴν εἴσοδον, μήτε τῆς ὑποστροφῆς φροντίσας μήτε φυλακὴν ἐπιστήσας ἀξιόμαχον ταῖς στενοχωρίαις. ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν εἰσελθὼν ἐδῄου τὰς