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Chronographia

CHRONOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY COMMAND OF CONSTANTINE THE CHRIST-LOVING AND PORPHYROGENNETOS DESPOTES, SON OF LEO THE MOST WISE DESPOTES AND AUTOKRATOR .... BEGINNING WHERE THEOPHANES LEFT OFF ................. ............ IN THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR MICHAEL, SON OF THEOPHILUS THE KOUROPALATES, THAT IS FROM THE REIGN OF LEO THE ARMENIAN. The emperor Constantine himself diligently collected the details of each event and set them forth in a clear summary, so that they might be clear to those who came after ...... of the empire. And this is surely one of your fine deeds, O most philosophical emperor, among many others both great and small, to bring back to life and 4 rebirth things that have flowed away with time and departed into non-existence, and to have taken care of the noble task of history, which was neglected by those who held imperial power before you. For let those who, having felt a zeal that is not to be emulated by the good, be removed from the account. Some have striven to be different from the many in no respect, except that they have been companions not of reason but revelers in boorishness. For what sort of thing must an emperor practice, which does not .... bring benefit when things are done with reason, when it is necessary to take care of men and especially of rational science, from which comes the strength of the empire, so that men, having been deprived of reason, may not find themselves carried headlong, and this, in which we differ from all other things, be endangered, given over to speechlessness. But how much you have labored, O most gentle emperor, concerning reason and the care of men, so that other things......, the wise will perceive, that you too are wise; or rather, that you perceive clearly that they too are wise. But you yourself narrate, taking only our hand to serve you, all that was lived by those before you, even if they have in abundance what is base and not brilliant, since even from these things the diligent can hunt for what is useful. Therefore, having of course preferred the study of letters to all business and idleness, since this most of all engenders zeal and virtue in subjects who are lovers of learning and history, you have rightly decided to collect things from written sources and things 5 handed down by oral tradition and to set them before all as a sort of common school, believing it to be the best beginning for this history to start from the conclusion made by the blessed Theophanes, whom, it being your lot to be his grandson by kinship and marriage, you both sufficiently honor by your own deeds and in turn receive from him a certain glory. He, then, ended with the reign of the kouropalates Michael and the defeat that befell him at the hands of the Bulgars when he was betrayed by his own men, mentioning only the proclamation of Leo, making nothing clear to his readers either whence he was or how he was raised. But we, as if joining the other parts to the head, show the history itself to be whole and not half-finished, and we pass it on to the successive time below for those who live not too idly, providing for them a profit and not a loss, if indeed it is a fine thing and a smooth path to security to distinguish in life the good and the not-good.

{1CONCERNING THE REIGN OF LEO. DISCOURSE I.}

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Chronographia

ΧΡΟΝΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣΑ ΕΚ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΓΜΑΤΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΡΦΥΡΟΓΕΝΝΗΤΟΥ ∆ΕΣΠΟΤΟΥ, ΥΙΟΥ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΣΟΦΩΤΑΤΟΥ ∆ΕΣΠΟΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ .... ΑΡΧΟΜΕΝΗ ΟΠΟΥ ΕΛΗΞΕ ΘΕΟΦΑΝΗΣ ................. ............ ΤΩ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ ΜΙΧΑΗΛ ΥΙΟΥ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΥΡΟΠΑΛΑΤΟΥ, ΗΓΟΥΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΜΕΝΙΟΥ. Τῶν δὲ καθ' εκαστα τὰς ὑποθέσεις ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος φιλοπόνως συνέλεξε καὶ εὐσυνόπτως ἐξέθετο, νῆ τῶν μετέπειτα δῆλα

γίν ...... τῆς βασιλείας. Καὶ τοῦτο πάντως τῶν σῶν, ω φιλοσοφώτατε βασιλεῦ, καλῶν, μετά γε πολλῶν αλλων τε καὶ μεγάλων, τὸ τὰ τῷ χρόνῳ παραρρυέντα καὶ κεχωρηκότα πρὸς τὸ μὴ ον πρὸς παλινζωΐαν αυθις καὶ 4 παλιγγενεσίαν ἀναγαγεῖν, καὶ τοῦ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐπιμεληθῆναι καλοῦ, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐπειλημμένοις ἀμεληθῆναι ἀρχήν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ζῆλον ἐζηλωκότες τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀζήλω- τον ὑπεξῃρήσθωσαν τοῦ λόγου. τινὲς διενηνοχέναι ἐσπουδάκασι τῶν πολλῶν κατ' οὐδέν, οτι μὴ λόγου σύντροφοι ἀλλ' ἀγροικίας γεγόνασι κατεντρύφημα. τί γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἐξασκεῖν αὐτοκράτορα δεῖ, ο  μὴ .... ἐπιφέρει τὴν ονησιν μετὰ λόγου γινομένων, δέον ἐπιμελεῖσθαι ἀνδρῶν καὶ τῆς λογικῆς οτι μάλιστα ἐπιστήμης, ἐξ ων τὸ κράτος βασιλείας, ὡς αν μὴ λάθοιεν κατὰ πρανοῦς φερό- μενοι ἀλογωθέντες οἱ ανθρωποι, καὶ κινδυνεύσῃ τοῦτο, ῳ  τῶν πάντων διαφέρομεν, ἀφωνίᾳ παραδοθέν. ̓Αλλ' οσον μέν σοι πεπόνηται, πραότατε βασιλεῦ, περὶ τὴν λογικὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, ινα ταλλα......, θεωρήσουσι μὲν οἱ σοφοί, οτι δὴ καὶ σύ, μᾶλλον δὲ δὴ σὺ σαφῶς, οτι γε καὶ ἐκεῖνοι σοφοί. ἱστορεῖς δὲ αὐτός, χεῖρα μόνως λαβὼν ἡμῶν διακονουμένην σοι, οσα τοῖς πρὸ σοῦ βεβίωται, καν ἀποχρώντως εχωσι τὸ φαῦλον καὶ οὐ λαμπρόν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τούτων ενεστι θηρᾶσαι τοῖς σπουδαίοις τὰ χρήσιμα. ἀμέλει τοιγαροῦν πάσης ἀσχολίας καὶ ἀργίας τὴν περὶ λόγου προτετιμηκὼς σπουδήν, ατε δὴ τούτου μάλιστα τοῖς ὑπηκόοις φιλομαθέσι τε καὶ φιλιστοροῦσιν ζῆλον καὶ ἀρετὴν ἐγγεννῶντος, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῶν ἀκοῇ 5 παραδεδομένων συνηθροικὼς ωσπερ τι κοινὸν διδασκαλεῖον προθεῖναι πᾶσιν ἐβουλεύσω καλῶς, ἐκείνην ταύτης ἀρχὴν ειναι νομίσας τῆς ἱστορίας ἀρίστην, τὴν τῷ μακαρίτῃ Θεοφάνει γενομένην κατάληξιν, ον κατὰ συγγένειαν καὶ ἀγχιστείαν, τὸ ειναι υἱωνὸς λαχών, ἀποσεμνύνεις τε ἐκ τῶν σῶν ἱκανῶς καὶ ἀντιλαμβάνεις αυθις παρ' αὐτοῦ τινὰ ευκλειαν. ̓Εκεῖνος μὲν ουν εἰς τὴν τοῦ κουροπαλάτου Μιχαὴλ βασι- λείαν καὶ ητταν τὴν ἐκ τῶν Βουλγάρων συμβᾶσαν αὐτῷ καταπρο- δοθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κατέληγε, τῆς τοῦ Λέοντος μόνον μνησθεὶς ἀναρρήσεως, μηδὲν μήθ' οθεν ην μήθ' οπως ἐτράφη δῆλον τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσι πεποιηκώς. ἡμεῖς δέ, ωσπερ τῇ κεφαλῇ τὰ αλλα μέρη συνάπτοντες, αὐτήν τε τὴν ἱστορίαν ὁλόσωμον ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡμιτελῆ ἀποδείκνυμεν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἑξῆς καὶ κάτω χρόνον τοῖς μὴ ῥᾳθυμότερον ζῶσι διαβιβάζομεν, κέρδος ἀλλ' οὐ ζημίαν αὐτοῖς ποριζόμενοι, ειγε δὴ καλὸν καὶ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν ευοδον τῶν ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ μὴ τὸν βίον διαγινώσκειν.

6 {1ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ. ΛΟΓΟΣ Α.}