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KINGS

<KINGS 1>

CONCERNING LEO FROM AMALEK Having completed the book from history as you commanded, O Emperor, with great studies and toils, I have placed it in you as a gift, so that it might be known to have been composed out of devotion to my master and out of desire.

Prologue The recounting of labors long past, providing truly the greatest benefit, rouses those who have undertaken it to write of them. Whence I too now, having undertaken in many ways the task of writing about these things, having heard of them both from those who lived at that time and knew them somehow, and also from a rumor that had apparently spread, have been spurred on to this contest, on the one hand so that I might in some way be seen as useful to posterity, and on the other hand so that I might reap this for myself, especially since I was commanded to adjudicate these matters by the emperor Constantine, who is otherwise a lover of beauty in his nature and his purpose, and the most learned of all emperors ever, the son of Leo the all-wise, emperor of eternal memory, so that I might write down what has not been handed down in the historical book from the reign of the impious and mad Leo of Amalek and in sequence. 1.1 In the 2nd year of the reign of Michael, son-in-law of Nicephorus the emperor, and in the year ϛτκβʹ of the creation of the world, in the 7th indiction, when a defeat befell the Romans at the hands of Krum, the leader of the Bulgarians, Leo, at that time general of the Anatolics, not having engaged in the clash of the battle, but having ill-advisedly withdrawn with the regiment under his command, watching for his opportunity to seize the empire, the emperor Michael from this became a fugitive with the people left to him. 1.2 But as some have said, that Leo alone, attacking the Bulgarians in one part, fought nobly, so that from this he carried off the greatest glory. But the emperor set his path toward a return, accusing his subjects of many things, as if they had not been mindful of their written oaths, but were proceeding to dissensions, from which defeats occur, ordering Leo with the army under him to encamp outside the city because of his partial superiority over the Bulgarians, so that they should no longer suspect so much Roman scarcity of men and flight. From which things the military assembly reviled the emperor's simplicity, and voted him dissolute, and unanimously preferred the general Leo for the emperorship. But when he fell into a dark and great agony at the word of his proclamation, just as once Gaius Caesar at the bridge, Michael of Amorium testified that he would kill him, if he did not assent to this. And he demanded only his assent, but he promised to make the entry into the city and the palace itself easy, which was brought to completion by the army itself. 1.3 But before these things, when the emperor Michael was near the city, a certain man of distinction named John, entrusted with the care of the walls, of the family of the Exaboulioi, met him, performing the customary reverence to the emperor, and sympathizing with his misfortune, he inquired: Who, O master, of the generals was left in the remaining army? And he says: Leo, the leader of the first theme, a man of quick wit and possessing uprightness. But he replied that it was disadvantageous if he alone should be in command of such a one, without one of your

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BASILIAI

<ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ Α>

ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΕΖ ΑΜΑΛΗΚ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ Τὴν ἐξ ἱστορίας τελέσας βίβλον ὡς ἐκέλευσας, αὐτοκράτορ, μελέταις καὶ καμάτοις μεγάλοις, ἐν σοὶ δῶρον ἔθηκα, ὅπως ἐγνωσμένον εἴη ἐκ φιλοδεσποτίας συντεθὲν ἔκ τε πόθου.

Προοίμιον Ἡ τῶν πάλαι πεπονημένων διάληψις μεγίστην ὄντως ὠφέλειαν παριστῶσα τοὺς ἐπειλημμένους αὐτῆς πρὸς γραφὴν αὐτῶν διανίστησιν. ὅθεν κἀγὼ νῦν τὴν περὶ τούτων γραφικὴν σπουδὴν πολυτρόπως ἀνῃρημένος, ἔκ τε τῶν τότε βεβιωκότων καὶ ἀμωσγέπως εἰδότων ἔκ τε φήμης δῆθεν δραμούσης ἠκουτισμένος, εἰς τόνδε τὸν ἀγῶνα παρώρμημαι, τὸ μὲν εἴ πως πρός τι λυσιτελὴς τοῖς μετέπειτα διοφθείην, τὸ δὲ καὶ ἐμαυτῷ τοῦτο καρπώσοιμι, ἅτε ταῦτά γε καὶ διαιτῆσαι προστεταγμένος πρὸς Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, ἄλλως τε φιλοκάλου τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν, καὶ τῶν πώποτε βασιλέων λογιωτάτου, υἱοῦ Λέοντος τοῦ πανσόφου ἀειμνήστου ἄνακτος, ὡς ἂν τὰ μὴ παραδεδομένα βίβλῳ τῇ ἱστορούσῃ ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ δυσσέβειαν φρενοβλαβοῦς Λέοντος βασιλείας τοῦ ἐξ Ἀμαλὴκ καὶ καθεξῆς ἀναγράψωμαι. 1.1 Ἐν ἔτει βʹ βασιλείας Μιχαὴλ γαμβροῦ Νικηφόρου τοῦ βασιλέως, κοσμικῆς δὲ κτίσεως ϛτκβʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ζʹ, ἐπισυμβάσης ἥττης Ῥωμαίοις παρὰ Κρούμμου τοῦ ἀρχηγοῦ Βουλγάρων, Λέοντός γε τηνικαῦτα στρατηγοῦντος τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν μὴ τῇ συμπλοκῇ τοῦ πολέμου περιτυχόντος, ἀλλὰ σκαιοβούλως ὑποχωρήσαντος σὺν τῷ ὑπ' αὐτὸν τάγματι, καιροφυλακοῦντος τὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἐπίθεσιν, φυγὰς ὁ βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ ἐντεῦθεν καθίσταται σὺν τῷ περιλειφθέντι αὐτῷ λαῷ. 1.2 Ὡς δέ τινες ἔφησαν, ὅτι μόνος ὁ Λέων καθ' ἕν τι μέρος προσβαλὼν Βουλγάροις γενναίως κατηγωνίζετο, ὡς ἐνθένδε μεγίστην ἀποίσασθαι εὔκλειαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὴν πρὸς ὑποστροφὴν τρίβον ἐστήριξεν, τῶν ὑπηκόων πλεῖστα καταιτιώμενος, ὡς μὴ πεφροντικότων τῶν ἐγγράφων ὅρκων αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ προσχωρούντων εἰς διαστάσεις, ἐξ ὧνπερ ἧτται συμβαίνουσιν, προστάξας τῷ Λέοντι μετὰ τοῦ ὑπ' αὐτὸν στρατεύματος ἔξω προσεδρεύειν τῆς πόλεως διὰ τὴν μερικὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς Βουλγάρους καθυπερτέρησιν, εἰς τὸ μὴ τούτους ὀλιγανδρίας καὶ φυγαδείας Ῥωμαϊκῆς τοσοῦτον λοιπὸν ὑφορᾶσθαι. ἀφ' ὧν ὁ στρατιωτικὸς σύλλογος κατελοιδόρει τοῦ βασιλέως ἀφέλειαν, καὶ ἔκλυτον τοῦτον ἐπεψηφίζετο, καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν Λέοντα συμφώνως εἰς βασιλείαν προέκρινεν. τοῦ δὲ ἀχλυώδει ἀγωνίᾳ καὶ πολλῇ συμπεσόντος πρὸς λόγον τῆς ἀναρρήσεως, καθώς ποτε κατὰ γέφυραν Γαΐου τοῦ Καίσαρος, Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἐξ Ἀμορίου ἀναιρήσειν τοῦτον διεμαρτύρατο, εἰ μὴ ταύτῃ κατάθοιτο. καὶ τὴν μὲν κατάθεσιν αὐτοῦ μόνον ἀπῄτει, τὴν δὲ μέχρι τῆς πόλεως καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν βασιλείων εἴσοδον ποιῆσαι ῥᾳδίαν ὑπέσχετο, ἥτις εἰς ἔργον παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ στρατεύματος τετελείωτο. 1.3 Πρὸ δέ γε τούτων, γενομένῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως συναντᾷ τούτῳ ἀνήρ τις τῶν ἐπισήμων Ἰωάννης τὴν τῶν τειχῶν κηδεμονίαν πεπιστευμένος, τῶν Ἐξαβουλίων ἐκ γένους, ἀφοσιῶν τὰ ἔθιμα βασιλεῖ, καὶ τῇ δυστυχίᾳ συναλγυνόμενος ἐπυνθάνετό γέ· τίς ἂν εἴη, ὦ δέσποτα, τῶν στρατηγούντων ἐαθεὶς ἐν τῷ ἐπιλοίπῳ στρατῷ; ὁ δέ φησιν· Λέων ὁ τοῦ αʹ θέματος ἐξηγούμενος, ἀνὴρ ἀγχίνους καὶ εὐθύτητος ἐξεχόμενος. ὁ δὲ ἀντέφη ἀλυσιτελὲς εἶναι εἰ μόνος τοῦ τοιούτου καθηγοῖτο, δίχα τινὸς τῶν σῶν