History

THE HISTORY OF LEO THE DEACON, beginning from the death of the emperor Constantine, up to the death of John the

emperor, who was called Tzimiskes. BOOK I. 1. If any other of good things benefits life, no less than this, but even more so, does history, being a thing by nature both helpful and useful. For by recounting varied and all sorts of deeds, and as many as the passage of time and of events 4 is accustomed to roll forth, and especially the choice of those who have engaged in these events, it legislates for men to embrace and emulate some, but to drive away and turn from others; so that they might not unwittingly cast aside what is beneficial and better, and involve themselves in what is abominable and harmful. Since, therefore, history is acknowledged to be a useful thing along with other things beneficial for life, inasmuch as it allows mortal things to live again or to be rejuvenated, and does not permit them to be dragged down and covered over in the depths of oblivion; for these reasons, since many extraordinary and strange things have been newly brought about in my time, and terrible signs have appeared in the sky, and incredible earthquakes have been set in motion, and thunderbolts have been brought down, and furious rains have burst forth, and wars have broken out, and armies have overrun many parts of the inhabited world, and cities and countries have been displaced, so that it seemed to many that life had just now undergone a change, and that the expected second coming of the Savior and God was drawing near at the gates; it seemed good to me not to pass over in silence events so full of horror and worthy of wonder, but to proclaim them publicly, so that they might be an instruction also for those who come after; unless indeed it has been decreed by Providence that the ferry of life should immediately and at once put into the harbor of the consummation, and that the fashion of this world should pass away. But may it be granted to me, having undertaken so great a 5 contest beyond my strength, not to fall short of my zeal, but to rise to the magnitude of the events, and to explain these things as is fitting. The history, then, will be told by me in part, according to my ability; and I who composed these things am Leo, the son of Basil; and my fatherland is Kaloë, a most beautiful place of Asia, settled by the slopes of Tmolus, near the sources of the Cayster river, which, flowing past the Cilbian plain and presenting a most pleasant wonder to beholders, empties into the gulf of renowned and famous Ephesus like a sea. But one must proceed to the narrative of public affairs, holding truthfulness in the highest possible regard, because this also is more fitting for history than other things. For even those skilled in speech say that cleverness belongs to rhetoric, myth-making to poetry, but truth to history. Therefore, whatever events occurred during the time of the emperor Constantine, son of Leo, whose epithet is Porphyrogennetos (at whose birth and death a comet is said to have appeared in the sky, foretelling both his birth and his demise), I think I shall pass over; for they have been sufficiently recorded by others. But the events following these, and whatever I myself have seen with my own eyes (if indeed eyes are more trustworthy than ears, according to Herodotus), the

Historia

ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΟΥ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ, ἀρχομένη ἀπὸ τῆς τελευτῆς τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Κωνσταντίνου, μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς Ἰωάννου τοῦ

αὐτοκράτορος, τοῦ ἐπιλεγομένου Τζιμισκῆ. ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ Α. αʹ. Εἴπερ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸν βίον ὀνίνησι, τούτου οὐχ ἧσσον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον ἡ ἱστορία, ἐπωφελές τι πρᾶγμα πεφυκὸς καὶ λυσιτελές. ποικίλας γὰρ καὶ παντοδαπὰς ἀπαγγέλλουσα πράξεις, καὶ ὅσας ἡ φορὰ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων 4 κυλίνδειν εἴωθεν, ἡ προαίρεσις δὲ μάλιστα τῶν κεχρημένων τοῖς πράγμασι, τὰς μὲν ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ ζηλοῦν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις νομοθετεῖ, τὰς δὲ ἀποδιοπομπεῖσθαι καὶ ἀποτρέπεσθαι· ὡς μὴ λάθωσιν ἀβουλήτως τὰ μὲν ὀνησιφόρα καὶ λῴονα προηκάμενοι, τοῖς δὲ ἀπευκταίοις καὶ βλαβεροῖς ἑαυτοὺς περιπείραντες. ἐπεὶ οὖν λυσιτελὲς ἡ ἱστορία μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων βιωφελῶν χρῆμα τελεῖν ὡμολόγηται, ἅτε τὰ θνητὰ ἀναβιώσκειν ἢ ἀνηβάσκειν παρεχομένη, καὶ μὴ ἐῶσα τοῖς τῆς λήθης βυθοῖς παρασύρεσθαί τε καὶ συγκαλύπτεσθαι· διὰ ταῦτα, πολλῶν ἐν τῷ κατ' ἐμὲ χρόνῳ πραγμάτων ἐξαισίων καὶ ἀλλοκότων καινοτομηθέντων, καὶ φοβερῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν δειμάτων ἐπιφανέντων, καὶ σεισμῶν ἀπίστων κινηθέντων, σκηπτῶν τε κατενεχθέντων, καὶ ὑετῶν λάβρων καταῤῥαγέντων, πολέμων τε συῤῥαγέντων, καὶ στρατευμάτων πολλαχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπιδραμόντων, καὶ πόλεων καὶ χώρων μεταναστάντων, ὡς πολλοῖς δοκεῖν, ἀλλοίωσιν ἄρτι τὸν βίον λαβεῖν, καὶ τὴν προσδοκωμένην δευτέραν κατάβασιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ θύραις ἐγγίζειν· ἔδοξέ μοι, μὴ οὕτω φρίκης μεστὰ καὶ θαύματος ἄξια πράγματα σιγῇ παραδραμεῖν , ἀλλ' εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἀνειπεῖν, ὡς εἶναι παίδευμα καὶ τοῖς ὕστερον· εἴ γε μὴ δεδογμένον εἴη τῇ προνοίᾳ, αὐτίκα καὶ καταπόδας τὸ βιωτικὸν πορθμεῖον ἐν τῷ τῆς συντελείας ὅρμῳ ἐλλιμενίζειν, καὶ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου παραγαγεῖν. ἀλλά μοι εἴη τὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ τοσοῦτον 5 ἆθλον ἐπανῃρημένῳ, μὴ δεύτερον τῆς προθυμίας δραμεῖν , ἀναλόγως δὲ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἱκέσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα δεόντως ἐπεξηγήσασθαι. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἱστορία κατὰ τὸ ἐνὸν ἐμοὶ λεχθήσεται κατὰ μέρος· ὁ δὲ ταῦτα συντάξας Λέων εἰμὶ Βασιλείου υἱός· πατρὶς δέ μοι Καλόη, χωρίον τῆς Ἀσίας τὸ κάλλιστον, παρὰ τὰς κλιτῦς τοῦ Τμώλου ἀνῳκισμένον, ἀμφὶ τὰς πηγὰς τοῦ Καϋστρίου ποταμοῦ, ὃς δὴ, τὸ Κελβιανὸν παραῤῥέων καὶ ἥδιστον θαῦμα τοῖς ὁρῶσι προκείμενος, ἐς τὸν τῆς κλεινῆς καὶ περιπύστου Ἐφέσου κόλπον πελαγίζων ἐσβάλλει. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν κοινῶν πραγμάτων ἰτέον διήγησιν, περὶ πλείστου τὸ ἀληθίζειν ποιουμένοις ὡς μάλιστα, ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον ἁρμόττει. φασὶ γὰρ καὶ οἱ τὸν λόγον σοφοὶ, ῥητορικῇ μὲν προσήκειν δεινότητα, ποιητικῇ δὲ μυθοποιΐαν, τῇ δὲ ἱστορίᾳ ἀλήθειαν. ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸν χρόνον τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Κωνσταντίνου υἱοῦ Λέοντος, ᾧ Πορφυρογέννητος ἡ ἐπίκλησις , ἐπισυμβέβηκε πράγματα (οὗ καὶ γεννωμένου καὶ τελευτῶντος κομήτην λέγεται φανῆναι κατ' οὐρανὸν, τὴν ἐκείνου καὶ γέννησιν προδηλοῦντα καὶ ἀποβίωσιν) , παρήσειν μοι δοκῶ· ἀποχρώντως γὰρ ἄλλοις ἱστόρηται. τὰ δὲ τούτων ἐχόμενα, καὶ ὅσα ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ αὐτὸς τεθέαμαι (εἴπερ ὀφθαλμοὶ ὤτων πιστότεροι, καθ' Ἡρόδοτον), τὰ