a man who followed the military life from his early youth, and who from three marriages brought forth Ardaburius, Patricius, and Ermenarichus, as well as two daughters), he attained the empire. Thus, as we have said, the historian begins from the inception of the reign of Emperor Leo, and ends when Emperor Anastasius was proclaimed. His homeland, as he himself confesses, is that Isauria which is called Trachea or Aspera. By his manner of life, he was a tabellio under those who held the greatest power among the Isaurians; in religion, he was a Christian, and indeed an orthodox one. For he crowns the fourth synod with praises, and deservedly censures those who attack it. He possesses a style for history not quite adequate. For he abuses the phrasing of poets without choice and in a juvenile manner; and his composition is rather harsh and discordant, in the manner of dithyrambs, which at other times slips back into being loose and disjointed. He innovates his constructions not for greater adornment and grace, as others are accustomed to do, but in such a way that he becomes tiresome to the ear, and is entirely devoid of sweetness. Yet sometimes, becoming thoroughly better in words than himself, he is found arranging a confused history, even from extremely disparate elements. This man dares to say that Isauria borrowed its name from Esau. B In his first book, he narrates the power of Aspar and his children, and the election of Leo through Aspar. Concerning the conflagration of the city that arose, and those things which were done by Aspar for the benefit of the republic. Concerning Titianus and
PHILIPPI LABBEI NOTES
daburius, of whom we spoke in relation to Olympiodorus, was the son who was substituted for Marciano Augustus as Emperor Leo, until the death of Zeno and Anastasius Silentiarius in the year 491, through the work of Ariadus C at the inauguration. Others call this Leo a Thracian, and they wish for him to have been surnamed the Great, or the Elder. Theodorus Anagnostes in the first book of the Collectanea: which dignity Candidus sets forth through a long circuitous path: concerning his homeland and office, Theophanes agrees in his Chronicle, using the same words, to which he adds: whether that be true, we shall see in the Chronicle. Candidus mentions three sons of Aspar, begotten from three wives. Concerning whom more will be said by us a little later, both from the author himself and from other contemporary writers; meanwhile, observe that the account entangled in errors in Zonaras can be remedied by a light change: (read Isauriam ab Esau nomen mutuatam. The same thing he also inculcates later on the same page. But concerning this origin, it is D a wonder that there is silence among the others). To the narration of Candidus is added then Suidas in the entry Ardabarius, then Priscus the rhetor as cited in Evagrius, Bk. 3, cap. 16: "Which was most accurately crafted by Priscus the Rhetor. How Leo, having bypassed him with guile, as if paying a reward for his own advancement, removed Aspar, who had bestowed the rule upon him, and his sons Ardaburius and Patricius, whom he had previously made Caesar, so that he might acquire the authority of Aspar, or rather, his goodwill, as the most learned Jacobus Billius already amended in book 1, cap. 58 of his *Observationes sacrae*, for Aspar was joining the senate." Constantinus Manasses in his *Compendio chronico*, page 58 of the Royal edition: That under Emperor Leo, he describes the fire of the royal city most extensively, Evagrius, lib. II, cap. 15: "In the northern climate, in which the dockyards of the city are established from the so-called Bosporus to the old Apollonius; and in the southern, from the Julian harbor to the houses not situated far from the oratory of the church called Homonoia; and in the central part of the city, from the Forum termed Constantinian to the so-called Tauros Forum." With which and the preceding words he signifies, in what manner it spreadA and concerning Tatian and Vivian, and Aspar and the emperor, and the nature of the words they spoke to one another; and how the emperor, for this reason, allied himself with the Isaurian tribe through Tarasicodissa Rousoumbladeotius, whom he also renamed Zeno and made his son-in-law, after he had lost his former wife by the law of death. And how Ardaburius, plotting against the emperor, intended to win the Isaurians to his own side; and that Martinus, a familiar of Ardaburius, revealed to Tarasicodissa what was being contrived by Ardaburius against the emperor; and how, from this point, the suspicion between them grew more severe, and Emperor Leo destroyed Aspar and his sons, Ardaburius and Patricius the Caesar. B Zeno the Roman emperor, the Isaurian, who was formerly named Tarasisscodiseus, being plotted against by Illus and Basiliscus and Conon, with the cooperation of Verina in particular...
PHILIPPI LABBEI NOTES
B "...being in. More correctly Agathias Scholasticus, book IV, page 135 of the Greek edition: 'Zeno the Roman emperor, who formerly was named Tarasis Codiseus, having fallen into a plot laid for him by Hillus and Basiliscus and Conon, with the effort of Verina primarily...' The interpreter, having used a faulty analysis, translates thus, page 127: 'Zeno that Isaurian Roman emperor, who formerly was named Tarasis Codiseus, having been plotted against by Hillus and Basiliscus and Conon, with the aid of Verina in particular, fell from the empire,' etc. The author of the Alexandrian Chronicle might have provided an opening for error regarding Vulcan, had it been published from the darkness into the light: for he thus uses the word only half-way, ind. XI, under the consulship of Leo the Younger... Theophanes in his Chronicle, at the 8th year of Zeno, relates the sacred declaration of Verina Augusta, Zeno’s mother-in-law, in which she boasts that she handed over the empire to Zeno: 'Zeno etc.' We could assert more certain things about these matters if the work of Eustathius the Syrian had not perished through the injury of time, in which—to attest from Evagrius, cited shortly—it was commemorated whence that Zeno had ascended to such great dignity, and for what reason he had been preferred before all others by Leo. C ...may this disaster be, and how great a part of the city the flame had ravaged. Mention of this same conflagration is in Priscus in the *Excerptis legationum*, page [D] of the royal edition, and Marcellinus Comes in his *Chronicon*, under the consuls Basiliscus and Hermenericus, that is, in the year of Christ 465, mentions that Constantinople had been invaded by a great fire and had been disfigured by the ruin. Theodore Anagnostes of the Great Church, book 1 of the *Collectanea*, seems to assign the day: 'A great fire occurred on the 2nd of the month of September, beginning from the *Neorion* and reaching as far as the Apostle Thomas...' At which time the same writer attests that Marcianus, the Oeconomus, had climbed onto the tiles of the church of St. Anastasia, and, grasping the Gospels in his hands, had preserved that temple unharmed with prayers and tears. Theophanes has the same in his Chronicle, in almost the same words, with this alone added besides, that he refers that incendiary desolation to the fifth year of Leo and the fifteenth indiction, or the year of the Lord’s Nativity 461, in which, as you see, he differs by four years from the calculation of Marcellinus. The Alexandrian Chronicle distinguishes a double fire, and reports that the first indeed occurred under the consuls Basiliscus and Armenaricus, days after the unjust slaughter of Menea, prefect of the watch, and that by the vengeance of the divine it had burned eight regions in the city, the 4th fer. of September, indiction III (or rather IV), while the memory of Saint Mamas was being celebrated. The other, however, he refers to the year of Christ 469, under the consuls Leo and Marcianus, at which time he writes that the city burned from sea to sea. Zonaras seems to have confused both, concerning whom he writes that Aspar then ran through the streets carrying a vessel of water on his shoulders, having encouraged the people, and gave to everyone a silver coin as a reward.
D (6) ...regarding Titianus and Vivianus. Reponendus, perhaps for Titianus the historian, of whom Priscus the historian writes in the *Excerptis legationum*, page [D] of the royal edition: '...with the patrician rank being listed,' which words are held there, p. [D]. Vivianus, however, or Bibianus, in the year of the Lord’s Nativity 465, indiction I, held the consulship with Felix, or, as others have it, with Basilius, just as we learn from the consular *Fasti* in Cassiodorus, Marcellinus, and the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle.
(7) ...as for Zeno alone, as far as I know, Candidus commemorates: no one doubts his fatherland. But the primitive name of that barbarian is understood differently by different people, as is the custom with foreign words. Above all, it departs from the correct path in Evagrius, book II, chapter 15: '...Zeno...'
(8) ...Ardaburius. The interpreter will persuade those who disdain to consult the Greeks, which is the custom for most, that his older-born son, homonymous with his grandfather Aspar, had been created Caesar by Leo Augustus. See the passage which we have written out a little earlier. Priscus, page [D] of the royal edition, mentions that the Saracens were overcome by him near Damascus. Anthemius the emperor repelled him as he was conspiring a tyranny in the West, according to Cassiodorus in his *Chronicon*, under the consuls Marciano and Zenone. The Alexandrian Chronicle writes, under the consuls Rusticus and Olybrius, in the year of Christ 464, indiction II, that Saint Symeon Stylites had departed from this life. Consult also Suidas in our *Excerpta*, page [D] of the royal edition.
(9) ...Patricius Caesar, son of Aspar, except for the wound, against expectation, having escaped safe and remained a survivor; Candidus alone, as far as I have read or seen, testifies: for all others report that he was killed along with his father Aspar and his brother Ardaburius: Marcellinus Illyrianus in his *Chronicon*, indiction IX, under the consuls Leo Augustus IV and Probianus, that is, in the year of Christ 471: 'Aspar, the first of the patricians, with his sons Ardabure and Patriciolus, the former once a patrician, the latter indeed a Caesar by marriage...'
' A And the Caesar, having sustained his wounds, was saved and lived in a manner contrary to expectation. But the other of his sons, Armenerichus, not being present with his father at the time of the slaughter, escaped. Emperor Leo made Tarasicodissa his son-in-law by his daughter Ariadne, and renamed him Zeno, having appointed him general of the East. And the successes and failures of Basiliscus in Africa. And how Leo, having much desired and contrived to proclaim as emperor Zeno, his son-in-law, was unable to do so because his subjects did not accept it; and how before his death he created as Caesar his grandson, born to Ariadne by Zeno; and how after the death of Leo, the boy Leo, with the consent of the senate, crowned his father Zeno as emperor. A detailed account of the genealogy B of the Isaurians.
PHILIPPI LABBE NOTES
...Leo, he calls his son-in-law, and writes that he was sent to the East: etc., which Anastasius Bibliothecarius rendered into Latin in *Hist. eccl.* p. 44, edit. Lupar., which is currently in the press: "At that same time, Emperor Leo made Zeno, his son-in-law, commander of the whole East, and established Basiliscus, the brother of Empress Verina, as commander of Thrace. Zeno, however, coming to Antioch, found the holy Martyrius as bishop there. Now Peter the Fuller was pursuing Zeno, etc.," which matters do not pertain to our intent. But in the 13th year of the same Leo, the same chronicler, before he recounts the slaughter of Aspar and his sons, asserts that Zeno, similarly a son-in-law of Leo, was sent into Thrace. Theodorus Lector also, in *Coll.* lib. I, where he calls him Zeno, asserts that he came to Antioch with Peter the Fuller, a presbyter of the church of St. Bassa, which was located at Chalcedon. But our Candidus, Marcellinus, and certain others appear to defer the marriage of Leo with Ariadne until after the slaughter of Aspar: There are, however, certain authors, says Zonaras, who claim that Aspar and Ardaburius were put to death by Leo for that reason, so that he might create his grandson, Leo the Younger, emperor, fearing their power, lest they despise this infant and claim the empire for themselves.... B Leo the Emperor made his son-in-law Zeno commander of the whole East, commander of the troops and son-in-law by his daughter Ariadne. In this year, someone who had planned a tyranny... B Aspar, the patrician, as the first of the senate, he slew within the palace, and Ardaburius and Patricius his sons, who were also senators, in the *convendium*, having hacked their bodies to pieces. Emperor Leo assassinated the leader of the Goths, Aspar, both him and his children. In this year, the 12th of Leo, Patricius the son of Aspar, whom Emperor Leo had made Caesar because he had drawn Aspar away from the Arian belief and because he favored the Emperor, arrived in Alexandria with great show... C Basiliscus, having received money, betrayed everything at the urging of Aspar, and although he could have frequently held Carthage by naval battle, he himself handed the fleet over to the depths at the command of Gizericus... D Armerichus, the child of Aspar, having related the conspiracy to Zeno. Armenarichus. ...but being lured by Gizericus with very much money, he was willingly defeated, as Priscus the Thracian recorded.
NOTES OF PHILIPPE LABBÉ
...called by prince Leo. An Arian, mortally wounded by the swords of eunuchs in the palace. The *Chronicon Alexandrinum*, even if not in its proper place, under the consuls Puseus and Joannes, that is, in the year of Christ 467: (for so it must be read, not... Damascius, in the *Life of Isidore the Philosopher* among Photius, cod. ...; to say nothing of things he fabulates about the phantom of Anthusa appearing in the clouds. Theophanes in his *Chronicle* repeats that same thing two or three times, and reveals the reasons why Aspar had become suspect to Leo, and especially that one, untouched by others, that Aspar had laid traps for Zeno, the Emperor's son-in-law, having been sent into Thrace, and would have killed him unprepared, had not the matter been detected and Zeno fled to Sardica. I know that Procopius, *Vandalic.* lib. I, remembers the slaughter of Ardaburius alone with his father, but not even a whisper of Patricius being safe. Why, however, Patricius obtained the dignity of Caesar before his elder brother Ardaburius, we learn from the same Theophanes, who, because he has not yet been edited, we will represent his words to you from our manuscript codex: etc. But if that is true, Marcellinus unjustly defames Aspar and his sons, when they were killed, with the crime of the Arian heresy. Furthermore, lest it escape one hurrying to other things, Victor Tunnunensis in his *Chronicle*: under the consuls Joannes and Severus, that is, in the year 470, Emperor Leo makes Patricius, the son of Aspar, Caesar; then in the following year: under the consuls Leo Augustus V and Probinus, Aspar and his two sons, Patricius Caesar and Ardaburius, are killed by the order of Leo....Basiliscus. We set forth the unfortunate expedition of this and other commanders in Africa more fully in the *Chronicle* from Idatius, Marcellinus, Theodorus Lector lib. I *Collect.*, where among other things: Procopius lib. *Vandalic.*, Theophanes, Zonaras, Cedrenus, Constantine Manasses, Nicephorus and others. I represent here in advance certain words of Theophanes from our MS codex: they fled the slaughter. That name is depicted in various ways in printed and manuscript codices. Damascius in the *Life of Isidore the Philosopher* calls him Armerichus, and teaches that Severianus's conspiracy against Zeno was detected by him: Marcellinus Comes assigns the consuls Basilius and Hermenericus to the year of Christ 465: He is called Herminericus by Cassiodorus, but in the Sicilian *Fasti* or *Chronicle of Alexandria*... Theophanes in his *Chron.* does not mention this Armenarichus.
... (perhaps crowned). See Theodorus Lector, Theophanes, Marcellinus, Evagrius, *Chronicon Alexandrinum*, Procopius, lib. *De bello Vandalic.*, and others here and there. One thing I cannot be silent about here: that Victor Tunnunensis affirms in his *Chronicle* that that Leo the Younger was sought for slaughter by his father Zeno, but was saved by his mother Ariadne: Another boy, he says, similar to him, his wife offered for death instead of him, and she secretly tonsured the same Leo Augustus, and made him a cleric of one of the churches of CP. Who Leo up to...
A a narrative, and how there might be descendants of Esau, is a long study and narrative. It tells how Zeno, having been deceived by Verina, flees with his wife and the mother of the city and the empire; and how Verina, in the hope of being joined to Patricius the master of offices and that he would reign, chased her son-in-law into exile through deception, and was herself disappointed in her hope, when those in authority proclaimed her brother Basiliscus emperor. It also treats of the incredible slaughter of the Isaurians in Constantinople, and how after Nepos, emperor of Rome, B Orestes his father caused Augustulus to reign over Rome. These things are in the first book.
[19] The second book recounts how Patricius the master of offices, who was living in intimacy with Verina, died after Basiliscus became enraged at him. Because of this, Verina, having established herself in hostility toward her brother, and assisting Zeno with funds for the recovery of the empire, suffered the most extreme things at the hands of her brother; and had not Armatus secretly taken her out of the temple, she would perhaps have been destroyed. It tells how Armatus, having lived in adultery with the wife of Basiliscus, was raised to great power; and how later, having been entrusted with the war against Zeno, he defected C to him through the brokering of Illus by means of certain compacts. And being in favor under Zeno, so as to see his son Basiliscus [made] Caesar, he was later butchered; and the boy, [having been] Caesar, ended up among the readers at the Blachernae. It tells how prior to these events Basiliscus had proclaimed his own son Marcus as Caesar, and then as emperor; and how Verina, in the hope of being joined to Patricius the master of offices and that he would reign, had chased her son-in-law into exile. D [Regarding] Romulus, and [the name] corrupted by current usage: and after Armatus was slain, then [the emperor] also ordained his son, the younger Basiliscus the Caesar, as bishop to Cyzicus, metropolis of the Hellespont, because he had worn the royal purple as Caesar.
He delivers Armatus to a miserable death, Having appeared a treacherous plotter to his master. He fulfills his promise and his child He adorns with the most wretched crown of Caesar. Not long after, having shorn that one's hair too, He forcefully sets him as high priest for the Cyzicenians. Emperor Caesar Basiliscus pious, victor and
A greatest, ever-revered, Augustus, and Marcus the most illustrious Caesar, to Timothy the most devout and God-beloved archbishop of the great city of the Alexandrians: To our in all things most devout and Christ-loving lords Basiliscus and Marcus, eternal victors, Augusti. B Basiliscus and Zenonis were sent away to Bousamoi. In the resting place by the same name, he was butchered together with his wife and children. He took Basiliscus, after having given him his word not to behead him and his children, whom he ordered to be locked into a tower with his wife and children, and to perish by famine. Some say that he was butchered as he was being led away. Then he was butchered with his entire family. Zeno the emperor, having been relieved of the tyrants, cast Calandion out of the church of the Antiochians, and exiled him to the Oasis; he established Peter the Fuller in his place. He who was later condemned to dwell in the Oasis, having been thought to assist Illus, Leontius, and Pamprepius concerning the tyranny of Zeno. And Zeno, by the counsel of Illus, also removed Armatus, a relative of C the Empress Verina, and most wisely D sent his wife and children into a dry cistern, where they perished from the cold.
(20) Regarding Peter the Fuller and Calandion, and other disturbances in the East, Evagrius and other historians report. I will here mention Theophanes, whom Anastasius the Librarian rendered into Latin in great part, p. 46 and following: He anathematized those who do not say that God was crucified, and, dividing the Antiochene people, he added to the Trisagion hymn: "who was crucified for us." Which, from then until today, has obtained as the custom among the Theopaschites. Then later: Zeno ordered Acacius, the bishop of Constantinople, to constitute a bishop for Antioch, who ordained Calandion. The Antiochenes, however, through ignorance, also consecrated John, who was called Cotonatus, whom Calandion enthroned after he was transferred to Tyre, which is the first throne of the Antiochene diocese. Then, so that you may see the versatile genius of Zeno, or the guileful nature of the heretic, in soothing the emperor who had been offended by his favoring Basiliscus, he adds: Zeno, having obtained rest from the barbarians, expelled Calandion from the church of Antioch, making him an exile in the Oasis, and established Peter the Fuller. The Greek in the manuscript codex that I use runs thus: Zeno the emperor, having been relieved of the tyrants, cast Calandion out of the church of Antioch, and exiled him to the Oasis; he established Peter the Fuller. Evagrius, lib. III, cap. 16, reveals the cause of the exile: "He who was later condemned to dwell in the Oasis, having been thought to assist Illus, Leontius, and Pamprepius concerning the tyranny of Zeno."
(21) Illus conferred many things upon the Roman republic. He is praised by Candidus, whom others traduce as a magician and enchanter. See Suidas, Excerpta, p. 47 and 60 of the Royal edition. But our author here lays all the blame upon Pamprepius, an impious man, an Egyptian, a grammarian and conjurer. By the arts of Illus, Armatus went over from Basiliscus to Zeno, as Candidus narrates, and by his persuasion, testing Evagrius, Zeno killed Armatus: "But Illus kills the relative of the Empress Verina, and..." Basiliscus, the son of Armatus, was created Caesar at Nicaea, and first ordained a priest, then later created a bishop. Through his diligent labor and promises, many were drawn away from Marcianus and Procopius, as Theophanes teaches. Eustathius the Syrian wrote many things about this same Illus, whom Evagrius praises with many accolades, lib. III, capp. 26, 27 and 29, which you may consult at your leisure: for it is not helpful to compare what each one reports regarding the treacheries prepared against Illus by Verina or Zeno. Nor are there wanting those who write in Suidas that these were prepared by Ariadne. As for the rest, for those who wish for the unique details about Marsus and Pamprepius, let them go to Damascius in the *Life of Isidore* the philosopher, in Photius, pp. 1050, 1058, 1071, Genevan edition.
Excerpts from the History of Candidus
A After the removal of the Emperor Nepos of Rome and the banishment of Augustulus who succeeded him, Odoacer gained control of Italy and of Rome itself. And when the Western Gauls revolted against him, and embassies were sent by them and by Odoacer to Zeno, Zeno inclined rather toward Odoacer. How an Alan, wishing to kill Illus and having struck him, said that Epinicius, who was a familiar of Verina, had suggested the removal; and how Epinicius was handed over to Illus; and how, through promises of amnesty and favors, Epinicius revealed everything that Verina had plotted against Illus; and how Zeno, because of this, handed over Verina, and he [Illus] sent her away into a fortress in Cilicia and made it secure; how through the impious Pamprepius, by means of Marsus, Illus was reconciled, and little by little he confounded all his [Zeno’s] affairs. How a civil war was stirred up against Zeno, instigated by Marcianus and Procopius, the sons of the man who had been Emperor of Rome [20], Anthemius, and after Zeno had gained the upper hand over Illus, Marcianus was ordained a presbyter, while Procopius fled to Theodoric in Thrace; and how Marcianus, having been banished to Cappadocia and having escaped, stirred up the Galatian region near Ancyra; then, having been captured, he was deported to Isauria. And how the enmity toward Illus was established in the Emperor and increased. And so much, then, for the second [book].
The third book contains other matters, and how Illus, rising up openly against Zeno, proclaimed Leontius as Emperor along with Verina. How, having met with misfortune, they were besieged, and having been captured, were beheaded, and other things up to the death of Zeno. B C D