the brother of Apsimar, who had become general of the eastern army, and his other commanders and adjutants, he hung on gibbets near the wall. And having seized Apsimar, who was completing the seventh year of his reign, and also Leontius, he bound them in iron fetters and held them in prison; and after this, having held a hippodrome race, he threw the one on his right and the other on his left to be trodden under his feet for a short time, and after this he sends them to the so-called Kynegion to be beheaded. And having shown much favor to Terbel, the ruler of the Bulgars, who was encamped outside the wall of Blachernae, finally, when he came to him, he both clothed him in a royal mantle and proclaimed him Caesar, and having made him his co-ruler, he ordered him to be venerated with him by the people, and having given him very many gifts, sent him away to his own lands. And Kallinikos, the hierarch of the city, because he had spoken ill of him at the proclamation of Leontius, he blinded and sent away to Rome, having appointed in his place to the priesthood Cyrus, who had become a recluse in Amastris, and who had prophesied to him when he was passing by there the establishment of his second reign. And he was carrying out much murder and abuse among his subjects; for some, whom he promoted to be rulers, he immediately sent others after them and killed them, others whom he invited to dinner he killed by treachery, others he threw into the deep, having put them in sacks, and to speak concisely, treating his subjects with much cruelty and a beastly mind. And amid these things he sends for from Khazaria Theodora his wife and Tiberius, the son born to him from her, and crowns them as emperors. After this he breaks the peace with the Bulgars, and having led very many troops by both land and sea through the regions of Thrace, he arrives at the city of Anchialus in order to fight them. And as the people were scattered unguardedly in the plains there for the gathering of fodder, the Bulgars suddenly fall upon them and destroy many of them, and took many captive. And they lay siege for three days to Justinian, who was left behind in the city of Anchialus. And he at night, having boarded ships, sailed away from there in flight and returns to Byzantium. While these things were happening, the king of the Saracens sends a very large armed host, having set over them as commanders those called Masalmas and Solyman in their dialect, in order to besiege the city of Tyana. And they, having arrived there, and having joined many battles, and having thrown down a part of the wall by means of siege engines, and having been able to accomplish nothing more, they wanted to withdraw to their own lands. At which time Justinian sends to the interior, and having gathered a very large host of rustic and agricultural people, he ordered them to go to Tyana to defend those being besieged. The Saracens, seeing them unarmed, rush against them, and some they killed with the sword, and others they took captive. From then on, being more confidently disposed, they held to the siege of Tyana. And they, having given up from a lack of provisions for battle, and not having obtained help from the emperor, surrendered themselves to the enemy by agreement and departed to the lands of the Saracens. From that time on, then, very great confidence was given to the enemy to plunder the lands of the Romans without fear, with no one being strong enough to oppose them, and for a certain detachment of them, consisting of thirty men, to come down as far as Chrysopolis (a seaside place situated opposite Byzantium towards the rising sun), and to slaughter the inhabitants there, and to burn the ferry boats. But Justinian, holding in memory the slander against him by those in Cherson concerning Apsimar, having gathered very many and various ships, having embarked from his own side a number of men up to one hundred thousand, from both the military registers, and also from the agricultural class and the mechanical arts, and from the senatorial council and the people of the city,

ἀδελφὸν Ἀψιμάρου στρατηγὸν τοῦ ἀνατολικοῦ στρατοῦ γενόμενον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἄρχοντας καὶ ὑπασπιστὰς αὐτοῦ πρὸς τῷ τείχει ἐπὶ ξύλου ἀνήρτησεν. Ἀψίμαρον δὲ συλλαβὼν ἕβδομον ἔτος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ διανύσαντα, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Λεόντιον σιδήροις πεδήσας κατέσχεν ἐν εἱρκτῇ· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἱππικὸν ἐπιτελέσας ἀγῶνα, θάτερον μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν θάτερον δὲ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ πατεῖσθαι ῥίψας ἐπὶ ὥρας βραχείας, μετὰ ταῦτα ἐκπέμπει ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Κυνηγίῳ τμηθῆναι τὰς κεφαλάς. τὸν δὲ Βουλγάρων ἄρχοντα Τέρβελιν ἔξω τείχους Βλαχερνῶν σκηνούμενον πολλὰ φιλοφρονησάμενος, τέλος παραγενόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν χλανίδα τε περιβάλλει βασιλικὴν καὶ Καίσαρα ἀναγορεύει, καὶ συμπάρεδρον ποιησάμενος προσκυνεῖσθαι σὺν αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐκέλευε, καὶ πλεῖστα παρασχόμενος δῶρα πρὸς τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξέπεμπε. Καλλίνικον δὲ τὸν τῆς πόλεως ἱεράρχην, ὡς δυσφημήσαντα αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Λεοντίου ἀναγορεύσει, τυφλώσας ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ ἐξέπεμψε, Κῦρον ἀντ' αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἱερωσύνην προχειρισάμενος τὸν ἐν Ἀμάστριδι ἐγκλειστὸν γενόμενον, προσημάναντα αὐτῷ ἐκεῖσε παριόντι τὴν τῆς δευτέρας βασιλείας κατάστασιν. πο 43 λύν τε φόνον καὶ κάκωσιν ἐν τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ἐποιεῖτο· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ εἰς ἄρχοντας προβαλλόμενος αὐτίκα ἑτέρους ὄπισθεν ἐκπέμπων ἀνῄρει, οὓς δὲ ἐν δείπνῳ συγκαλῶν δόλῳ ἀπέκτεινεν, ἄλλους ἐν τῷ βυθῷ σάκκοις ἐμβαλὼν ἀπέρριπτε, καὶ συνελόντα εἰπεῖν, ὠμότητι πολλῇ καὶ θηριώδει γνώμῃ πρὸς τὸ ὑπήκοον διακείμενος. ἐν τούτοις δὲ μεταστέλλεται ἀπὸ Χαζαρίας Θεοδώραν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γαμετὴν καὶ Τιβέριον τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς τεχθέντα αὐτῷ υἱόν, καὶ στέφει αὐτοὺς εἰς βασιλέας. μετὰ τοῦτο λύει τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Βουλγάρους εἰρήνην, καὶ στρατεύματα πλεῖστα διά τε γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης πρὸς τοῖς Θρᾳκῴοις μέρεσι διαγαγὼν πρὸς τῇ Ἀγχιάλῳ πόλει ὡς πολεμήσων αὐτοὺς παραγίνεται. ἀφυλάκτως δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς τὰ ἐκεῖσε πεδία ἐπὶ κομιδῇ χόρτου σκεδαννυμένου ἐπιπίπτουσιν ἀθρόως οἱ Βούλγαροι καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτῶν διαφθείρουσι, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ αἰχμαλώτους εἷλον. καὶ Ἰουστινιανῷ ἐν τῇ πόλει Ἀγχιάλῳ ἀπολειφθέντι ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἡμέραις προσεδρεύουσιν. ὁ δὲ νυκτὸς ναυσὶν ἐπιβὰς φυγῇ ἐκεῖθεν ἀπέπλευσε καὶ εἰς Βυζάντιον ἐπανάγεται. Ἐν τούτοις ὄντων τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν βασιλεὺς λαὸν πλεῖστον ὁπλίτην ἐκπέμπει, ἡγεμόνας αὐτοῖς ἐπιστήσας Μασαλμᾶν καὶ Σολυμᾶν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν διάλεκτον καλουμένους, ὡς τὰ Τύανα τὴν πόλιν πολιορκήσοντας. οἱ δὲ ἐκεῖσε παραγενόμενοι, πολέμους πλείστους συνάψαντες, μέρος δὲ καὶ τοῦ τείχους ἐκ τῶν πρὸς τειχομαχίαν ὀργάνων καταβαλόντες καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν ἀνύσαι ἰσχύσαντες, ἀποχωρεῖν πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐβούλοντο. ἐν ᾧ ἐκπέμπει Ἰουστινιανὸς πρὸς τῇ μεσογείᾳ, καὶ πλεῖστον λαὸν ἄγροικόν τε καὶ γεωργικὸν ἀθροίσας πρὸς τὰ Τύανα ἀφικνεῖσθαι ἐκέλευσεν ὡς τοὺς πολιορκουμένους ἐπαμυνόμενος. τούτους ἀόπλους οἱ Σαρακηνοὶ θεασάμενοι ὁρμῶσι κατ' αὐτῶν, καὶ 44 τοὺς μὲν ξίφει ἀνεῖλον τοὺς δὲ αἰχμαλώτους συνέλαβον. ἐντεῦθεν θαρραλεώτερον διατεθέντες τῆς προσεδρίας Τυάνων εἴχοντο. οἱ δὲ ἀπορίᾳ δαπανημάτων τῶν πρὸς μάχην ἀπειπόντες τῆς τε παρὰ βασιλέως βοηθείας οὐκ εὐπορήσαντες, ὁμολογίᾳ ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς ἐχθροῖς παρέδοσαν καὶ πρὸς τὰ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ἤθη ἀπῴχοντο. ἐξ ἐκείνου λοιπὸν πλείστη τοῖς ἐχθροῖς παρρησία ἐδέδοτο ἀδεῶς τὰς Ῥωμαίων καταληΐζεσθαι χώρας, οὐδενὸς τούτοις ἰσχύοντος ἀντιτάττεσθαι, καί τινα τούτων ἀποδασμὸν εἰς τριάκοντα ἄνδρας περιιστάμενον ἄχρι Χρυσοπόλεως κατελθεῖν (παραθαλάσσιον χωρίον ἀντικρὺ Βυζαντίου πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ἱδρυμένον), καὶ τοὺς μὲν αὐτόσε οἰκήτορας ἀποσφάξαι, τὰς δὲ πορθμίδας ἐμπρῆσαι ναῦς. Ἰουστινιανὸς δὲ ἐν μνήμῃ ἔχων περὶ τῆς γενομένης αὐτῷ πρὸς Ἀψίμαρον παρὰ τῶν ἐν Χερσῶνι διαβολῆς, ναῦς πολὺ πλείστας καὶ διαφόρους συναγείρας, ἐμβιβάσας παρ' αὐτοῦ ἄχρις εἰς ἑκατὸν χιλιάδας ἀριθμὸν ἀνδρῶν, εἰδότας ἔκ τε τῶν στρατιωτικῶν καταλόγων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦ γεωργικοῦ καὶ τῶν βαναυσικῶν τεχνῶν τῶν τε ἐκ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ τῆς πόλεως δήμου,