Constantine Manasses, Chronological Compendium

The materialistic soul gapes at material things, and contrives everything to attain its desire; but you, O queenly and most learned soul, ever thirsting for knowledge and reason and education, you are always attached to books, you revel in words, and for you the whole time of your life becomes discourse. Since, therefore, as a nursling of reason, you have desired a concise and clear work to be composed for you, plainly teaching the histories of old, and who ruled from the beginning and how far they advanced and over whom they reigned, and for how many years, we will undertake the burden of the labor, though the matter be difficult, though it be burdensome, though it be arduous; for your great gifts and your generosity console our toils in these words, and your frequently poured-out donations cool the burning heat of the effort and the hardship. And let these things stand here for me and up to this point, lest the account seem too flattering to some, and abandoning its purpose, be heard to run another course. And though many have written histories and chronicles, and have striven to speak correctly and truthfully, yet have written about the same things differently from one another, we, having selected those who seem most to adhere to accuracy and to speak more truthfully, will fulfill our task for you according to our ability. The all-perfect and world-creating Word of God brought forth from the beginning the starless heaven, shining with immeasurable beauty of divine splendors, and the all-nourishing earth, and with it, the light. But the earth was unadorned and unseen, and a deep darkness sat upon its back. And when the light shone and was poured out everywhere, and the white-robed, brightly shining day came to be, the things previously unseen appeared, and the gloom of darkness was put to flight by the torch of the light's rays. In these things, therefore, the first of the days passed by. And when the eyelid of the second day shone, He most wisely fashioned into a sphere the second heaven, which, having created it as an all-covering roof for those on earth, God the good artist named the firmament, it being a different sphere from the first, starless one. Then also, dividing the all-poured-out watery nature and the abysses, and of these lifting one part lightly upwards to an unimaginable height, and leaving the other upon the earth, He set the heaven in their midst like a barrier, like a strong wall. So the pupil of the second day's eye closed, and a third again began to shine, and again the craftsman, the all-creating, the wise, attended to other works. For since all the water that was under heaven had poured out over all the earth, roaming about, and its whole face it covered, forming a lake, He gathered all the effusion together at once, as if one should curdle with rennet a drop of sweet-juiced white milk and shape a round of cheese. Therefore, when that which previously covered it was broken away, the face of the earth was seen, the form appeared both of rocks and of mountains and of deep-cliffed hills. Thence, the whole system of the waters He named sea; and the nature of the dry land, all that was strewn with rocks, all that was of rich soil, the craftsman, God the all-worker, has called earth. And manifesting His transcendent power, before the ray of the giant sun had yet shone, He commanded every kind of herb to spring forth, some for the mere pleasure and delight of the eyes, others also life-sustaining and useful to those on earth. Then for the first time the earth was adorned with ornaments beyond a delicate maiden just being wed,

Compendium chronicum

ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΝΑΣΣΗ ΣΥΝΟΨΙΣ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΗ, ΑΡΚΟΜΕΝΗ ΑΠΟ ΚΟΣΜΟΠΟΙΙΑΣ ΜΕΧΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ ΤΟΥ

ΒΟΤΑΝΕΙΑΤΟΥ. Ἡ μὲν φιλόϋλος ψυχὴ ταῖς ὕλαις ἐπιχάσκει, καὶ πάντα πραγματεύεται πρὸς τὸ τυχεῖν τοῦ πόθου· σὺ δέ, ψυχὴ βασίλισσα καὶ φιλολογωτάτη, ἀεὶ διψῶσα γνώσεως καὶ λόγου καὶ παιδείας, βίβλοις ἀεὶ προστέτηκας, ἐπεντρυφᾷς τοῖς λόγοις, καὶ γίνεταί σοι τῆς ζωῆς ἅπας ὁ χρόνος λόγος. ἐπεὶ γοῦν ἐπεπόθησας οἷα τροφίμη λόγου εὐσύνοπτόν σοι καὶ σαφῆ γραφὴν ἐκπονηθῆναι, τρανῶς ἀναδιδάσκουσαν τὰς ἀρχαιολογίας, καὶ τίνες ἦρξαν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τοῦ προῆλθον καὶ τίνων ἐβασίλευσαν, ἐτῶν δὲ μέχρις πόσων, ἡμεῖς ἀναδεξόμεθα τὸ βάρος τοῦ καμάτου, κἂν δυσχερὲς κἂν ἐπαχθὲς τὸ πρᾶγμα, κἂν ἐργῶδες· παραμυθοῦνται γὰρ ἡμῶν τοὺς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις μόχθους αἱ μεγαλοδωρίαι σου καὶ τὸ φιλότιμόν σου, καὶ τὸν τοῦ κόπου καύσωνα καὶ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας αἱ δωρεαὶ δροσίζουσι κενούμεναι συχνάκις. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐνταῦθά μοι καὶ μέχρι τούτου στήτω, μή πως κολακικώτερος δόξῃ τισὶν ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν καταλιπὼν ἄλλην ἀκούσῃ τρέχειν. πολλῶν ἱστορησάντων δὲ καὶ χρονογραφησάντων, καὶ σπουδασάντων μὲν εἰπεῖν ὀρθῶς καὶ φιλαλήθως, ἀλλήλοις ἀνομοίως δὲ ταὐτὰ συγγραψαμένων, ἡμεῖς προχειρισάμενοι τοὺς μάλιστα δοκοῦντας τῆς ἀκριβείας ἔχεσθαι καὶ μᾶλλον ἀληθεύειν, τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν ἡμῶν ἀποπληρώσομέν σοι. Ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παντέλειος καὶ κοσμοκτίστωρ λόγος τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸν ἄναστρον παρήγαγεν ἀρχῆθεν, ἀπλέτῳ κάλλει λάμποντα μαρμαρυγῶν ἐνθέων, καὶ γῆν τὴν παντοθρέπτειραν, καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ τὸ φάος. ἡ γῆ δ' ἀπερικόσμητος ἀόρατος ὑπῆρχε, καὶ σκότος ἐπεκάθητο βαθὺ τοῖς ταύτης νώτοις. τοῦ δὲ φωτὸς αὐγάσαντος καὶ πανταχοῦ χυθέντος, καὶ λευκοπέπλου λαμπραυγοῦς ἡμέρας γενομένης, ὤφθη τὰ πρὶν ἀθέατα, καὶ σκότους ἡ στυγνότης ἐφυγαδεύθη τῷ πυρσῷ τῶν φωτοβολημάτων. ἐν τούτοις οὖν παρέδραμε τῶν ἡμερῶν ἡ πρώτη. Τοῦ δὲ βλεφάρου λάμψαντος ἡμέρας τῆς δευτέρας τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸν δεύτερον ἐσφαίρωσε πανσόφως, ὃν τοῖς ἐν γῇ παντοστεγῆ δημιουργήσας στέγην ὠνόμασε στερέωμα θεὸς ὁ καλιτέχνης, παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἄναστρον ἑτέραν ὄντα σφαῖραν. τότε καὶ τὴν παντόχυτον φύσιν τὴν ὑδατίαν καὶ τὰς ἀβύσσους διελών, καὶ τούτων τὸ μὲν ἄνω πρὸς ὕψος ἀνεννόητον κούφως μετεωρίσας, τὸ δ' ἐπὶ γῆς ἀπολιπών, ἔστησε τούτων μέσον τὸν οὐρανὸν ὥσπερ φραγμόν, ὥσπερ στερρὸν τειχίον. Κόρη μὲν οὖν ἐπέμυεν ἡμέρας τῆς δευτέρας, καὶ τρίτη πάλιν ηὔγαζε, καὶ πάλιν ὁ τεχνίτης ὁ παντοτέκτων ὁ σοφὸς ἄλλοις προσεῖχεν ἔργοις. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐξεκέχυτο κατὰ τῆς γῆς ἁπάσης ὁπόσον ἦν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν ὕδωρ περιπολεῦον, καὶ πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῆς ἐκάλυπτε λιμνάζον, πᾶσαν τὴν χύσιν εἰς ταὐτὸ συνήγαγεν ἀθρόως, ὡς εἴ τις γάλακτος λευκοῦ νοτίδα γλυκυχύμου ὀπῷ συμπήξει καὶ τυροῦ κύκλον ἀποτορνεύσει. ἀπορραγέντος τοιγαροῦν τοῦ πρὶν ἐπιπροσθοῦντος ὤφθη τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς, ἡ μόρφωσις ἐφάνη καὶ τῶν πετρῶν καὶ τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ λόφων βαθυκρήμνων. ἐντεῦθεν τὸ μὲν σύστημα σύμπαν τὸ τῶν ὑδάτων θάλασσαν κατωνόμασε· τῆς δὲ ξηρᾶς τὴν φύσιν, ὁπόση πετροστοίβαστος, ὅση λιπαροβώλαξ, γῆν ὁ τεχνίτης κέκληκε θεὸς ὁ παντεργάτης. τὴν δ' ὑπερφέρουσαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν ἐμφανίζων, μήπω λαμψάσης τῆς αὐγῆς τοῦ γίγαντος ἡλίου παντοδαπὴν ἐκέλευσε βοτάνην ἐκφυῆναι, τὴν μὲν πρὸς μόνην ἡδονὴν καὶ τέρψιν τῶν βλεφάρων, τὴν δὲ καὶ ζωοθρέμμονα καὶ τοῖς ἐν γῇ χρησίμην. τότε τὸ πρῶτον στολισμοῖς ἡ γῆ κατηγλαΐσθη ὑπὲρ κορίσκην τρυφερὰν ἄρτι νυμφευομένην,