De Administrando Imperio

CONSTANTINE THE EMPEROR PORPHYROGENITUS DE ADMINISTRANDO IMPERIO BOOK (Ans. BANDURI, Imperium Orientale, vol. I)

OF CONSTANTINE, BY THE GRACE OF CHRIST THE ETERNAL KING, EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS, TO HIS OWN SON ROMANUS, THE GOD-CROWNED AND PORPHYROGENITUS EMPEROR.

PROOEMIUM

in addition to its circuit and measurement, and concerning those things which at various times have occurred between the Romans and various nations: and then concerning those matters which have been innovated among us, or indeed throughout the entire Roman Empire at certain times. These things, having been considered by me according to the laws of wisdom, I have decided to make known to you, my beloved son, so that you may thoroughly understand the distinction between each of them, and may know by what method these are to be handled, or reconciled, or defeated, and repelled. For they will dread you as a high-souled man, and will flee from you as from fire; their lips shall be bridled, and they shall be pierced by your words as if by javelins. You will appear ^A terrible to them, and from your presence trembling will seize them, and the Almighty will protect you. He who created you will grant you understanding, will direct your steps, and will establish you upon an unshakable foundation. Your throne shall be as the sun before Him, His eyes shall be beholding you, and no adverse things shall befall you, since He Himself chose you and separated you from your mother's womb, and handed over to you His empire, as to one excelling others, and placed you as a watchtower upon a hill, and as a golden statue on high, and as a city on a mountain He exalted you; so that nations may bring gifts to you, and the inhabitants of the earth may worship you. But You, O Lord my God, whose kingdom is incorruptible and eternal, may You be guiding him who through You was born of me, and may the watch of Your countenance be upon him, and Your ear be inclined to his prayers, may Your hand protect him, and may he reign for the sake of truth, and may Your right hand lead him, and may his ways be directed in Your sight so that he may keep Your justifications, before his face shall enemies fall, and his enemies shall lick the dust. May the stock of his lineage be overshadowed by the leaves of fruitful offspring, and may the shadow of its fruit cover the royal mountains; for by You kings reign, praising You unto the ages.

CHAPTER ONE

Hearken therefore, my son, to what I think you should not be ignorant of, and become understanding, so that you may attain the art of government. For I say that it is useful for all subjects to have knowledge, but especially for you, who ought to look out for the salvation of all, and to steer and govern the ship of the world. ^C But if I use a clear, worn, and, as is fitting, fluid, pedestrian, and simple style of speech to declare the things I have proposed, do not marvel, my son. For I have not sought the exhibition of fine writing, nor of bombastic and sublime Attic diction, ^D but rather…

and to increase that which is divided, and to make it lofty; but rather, I hastened to teach you through a common and familiar narrative, things which I think you ought not to be ignorant of, and which can easily procure for you understanding and prudence from long experience. For I consider that it is always very advantageous for the Emperor of the Romans to desire to have peace with the nation of the Patzinakites, and to make friendly treaties and covenants with them, and to send ^A from here to them each year an Apocrisiarius with gifts befitting the nation, and in return to receive hostages, that is, ὄψιδας, and an Apocrisiarius; who, in this God-protected city, shall meet with the one administering these affairs, and they shall enjoy imperial benefits and honors worthy of all ^B those of the Emperor; because such nation of the Patzinakites is near to the part of Cherson, and if they are not kindly disposed toward us, they are able to sally forth against Cherson, and to raid, and to plunder both Cherson itself and the so-called Climata.

CAPUT II. Concerning the Patzinakites and the Russes.

^C That the Patzinakites are neighbors and conterminous to the Russes, and often, when they are not at peace with one another, they plunder Russia, and harm and ravage it significantly. That the Russes also are anxious to have peace with the Patzinakites. For they buy from them oxen, and horses, and sheep, and from these they live more easily and more luxuriously, since none of the aforementioned animals are raised in Russia. But neither can the Russes go at all to foreign wars, unless they are at peace with the Patzinakites, because when those depart beyond their borders, they themselves, making an incursion, can lay waste and ravage their lands; wherefore the Russes always ^D strive more, both so as not to be harmed by them, and because of the strength that is...

such a nation, to seek their alliance and have them as helpers, so that they might both be rid of their enmity and enjoy their aid. ^A For the Rus cannot reach this imperial city of the Romans, neither for the sake of war nor for trade, unless they are at peace with the Patzinakites, since when the Rus arrive with their ships at the rocky obstacles of the river and are unable to proceed further unless they carry their small boats out of the river on their shoulders and transport them, at that time the men of this nation of the Patzinakites attack them, and easily, as they are unable to withstand two labors at once, they put them to flight and slaughter them.

CHAPTER III.

Of the Patzinakites and Turks.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Patzinakites, the Rus, and the Turks.

CHAPTER V.

Of the Patzinakites and the Bulgarians.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

^A Indeed, in the region which we have said above is named after the rivers. But the place which the Turks occupied at first is called by the river flowing between them, Etel and Cuzu, in which the Patzinakites now dwell; by whom indeed the Turks were driven out and, fleeing, took up seats where they now live. In this place, however, some ancient monuments remain; among which is the bridge of the Emperor Trajan [at the beginnings of Turkey], and Belegrada, which is distant three days' journey from that same bridge, where the tower of the holy and great Emperor Constantine stands; and again, at the course of the river, stands Sirmium, which is two days' journey from Belegrada: from there [is] the great Moravia, unbaptized, which the Turks devastated, and whose prince was once Splendoplocus. And these, indeed, are the monuments and names along the Ister river. But the things further on, which are all inhabited by the Turks, now have names from the rivers flowing through them. The first of them is Timeses; the second, Tutes; the third, Moreses; the fourth, Crisus; the fifth, Titza. But the borders of the Turks towards the east are the Bulgari; where the Ister river, which is also called the Danube, separates them: towards the north, the Patzinakites; towards the west, the Franci; towards the south, the Chrobati. These eight tribes of the Turks are not subject to their own princes, but each one, according to the rivers by which they are distinguished, have established by mutual agreement between themselves that if any part ^B should happen to be infested by war, they will all commonly and with every zeal and care bring aid. Moreover, they have a first leader of the army from the lineage of Arpade, with whom two others, the gylas and the carchan, who act in the place of judges, hold authority. And each tribe has a peculiar prince; but gylas and carchan are not proper names, but dignities. It must be known indeed that Arpade, the great prince of Turkey, begat four sons, of whom the first [was] Tarcatzus; the second, Jelech; the third, Jutotzas; the fourth, Zaltas. Again, Arpade’s firstborn Tarcatzus had a son, Tebele; the second, Jelech, begat a son, Ezelech; the third, Jutotzas, received a son, Phalitzin, who now holds the principality; the fourth, Zaltas, had a son, Taxis. And all the sons of Arpade are indeed dead, with only their grandsons Phale and Tase surviving, along with their cousin Taxi; and Tebeles, dying, left a son Termatzus, who recently, in favor... ^C ... ^D

CHAPTER VI.

Concerning the Patzinakites and the Chersonites.

That another nation of such Patzinakites ^A lies adjacent to the part of Cherson, who also transact business with the Chersonites and perform services for them as well as for the emperor, in Russia, Chazaria, Zichia, and in all the regions situated thereabout, is evident; for, taking from the Chersonites the prearranged stipend for such service, according to what is fitting for their labor and effort—such as blattia, prandea, charemia, sementa, pepper, genuine leopard skins, and other goods sought by them, as each Chersonite ^B may agree—they carry on their commerce. For they are free and, as it were, their own masters...

the fourth, Zaltas. Know that the first son of Arpad, Tarcas, begot a son, Tebel. The second son, Ielech, begot a son, Ezelech. The third son, Ioutotzus, begot a son, Phalitzis, the present ruler. The fourth son, Zaltas, begot a son, Taxis. Know that all the sons of Arpad have died. But his grandsons, both Phales and Tasis, and their cousin Taxis, are alive. Know that Tebel has died, and his son is Termatzous, who recently came as a friend [to Constantinople] with Bultzous, the third ruler and ^A *carcha* of Turkey. Know that Bultzous the *carcha* is the son of Kale the *carcha*; and that Kale is a proper name, while *carcha* is a dignity, just as *gylas* is, which is greater than *carcha*.

CAPUT XLI. Concerning the Region of Moravia.

Know that the ruler of Moravia, Sphendoplocus, was brave and fearsome to the nations neighboring him. This same Sphendoplocus had three sons, and at his death, he divided his country into three parts and left one portion to each ^B of his three sons, making the eldest the great ruler and leaving the other two to be under the authority of the first son. He exhorted them not to fall into discord and against one another, showing them such an example: bringing three rods and tying them together, he gave them to the first son to break; when he could not, he gave them in turn to the second, and likewise to the third; and then, dividing the three rods, he gave them to the three separately; and they, having received and been ordered to break them, immediately broke them. And by such a demonstration he exhorted them, saying that if they remained united in concord ^C and love, indivisible, they would be invincible and unconquerable by their enemies; but if strife and contentiousness arose among them, and they separated into three principalities, not being subject to the first brother, they would both be destroyed by one another, and would be utterly exterminated by the enemies neighboring them. But after the death of this same Sphendoplocus, having spent one year in peace, strife and sedition fell upon them, and having waged civil war against each other, the Turks came and utterly exterminated them, and seized their country, in which they dwell even now; and those of the people who were left behind were scattered, taking refuge among the neighboring nations, both among the Bulgarians, and the Turks, and the Croats, and among the other nations.

CAPUT XLII. Geography from Thessalonica as far as the Danube River, and the fortress of Belegrada, and Turkey and Patzinakia, as far as ^D the Khazar fortress of Sarcel, of Roma...

sint Patzinacitæ, operam sine mercede nullam præbent.

CAPUT VII.

De Cæsarianis missis a Chersone in Patzinaciam.

Cum itaque talis ministerii causa Cæsarianus quispiam in Chersonem venerit, statim in Patzinaciam mittat, ac obsides, itinerisque duces petat oportet: qui cum venerint, obsides in castro Chersonis sub custodia relinquere, ipse vero cum itineris ducibus in Patzinaciam se conferre debet, ut jussa exsequatur. Patzinacitæ autem, utpote insatiabiles, eorumque, quæ rara apud ipsos percupidi, numera ab illis bene ^B multa exposcere non erubescunt; obsides quidem tum suo, tum uxorum nomine; itineris vero duces, pro suscepto sui equorumque labore. Postea cum Cæsarianus in ipsorum regionem ingressus est, imperatoris munera expetunt. Deinde cum homines ipsorum accipiunt, pro uxoribus et parentibus exigunt. Denique qui redeuntem in Chersonem comitantur, pro labore tum a se tum ab equis suscepto mercedem sibi postulant.

[For they are free and, so to speak, autonomous, these Patzinakites, and never perform any service without pay.] ^A

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ζ'.

Περὶ τῶν ἀποστελλομένων βασιλικῶν ἀπὸ Χερσῶνος ἐν Πατζινακίᾳ.

Ὅτι ἡνίκα περάσῃ βασιλικὸς εἰς Χερσῶνα ἕνεκα τῆς τοιαύτης διακονίας, ὀφείλει εὐθὺς ἀποστέλλειν εἰς Πατζινακίαν, καὶ ἐπιζητεῖν ὄψιδας παρ' αὐτῶν καὶ διασώστας, καὶ ἐρχομένων αὐτῶν, τοὺς μὲν ὄψιδας εἰς τὸ κάστρον Χερσῶνος κρατουμένους καταλιμπάνειν· αὐτὸς δὲ μετὰ τῶν διασωστῶν πρὸς Πατζινακίαν ἀπέρχεσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἐντεταλμένα ἐπιτελεῖν. Οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτοι Πατζινακῖται ἄπληστοι ὄντες, καὶ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς σπανίων ἐξεῖς ἐπιθυμηταὶ, ἀναίδην ἐπιζητοῦσι ξενάλια ἱκανά. Οἱ μὲν ὄψιδες, ἄλλα μὲν λόγῳ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἄλλα λόγῳ τῶν αὐτῶν γυναικῶν. Οἱ δὲ ἀποσῶσται τὰ μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόπου αὐτῶν, τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ κόπου τῶν ἀλόγων αὐτῶν. Εἶτα εἰσερχομένου τοῦ βασιλικοῦ εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν, ζητοῦσι πρότερον τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως δῶρα· καὶ πάλιν ὅτε χωρήσουσι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αὐτῶν, ζητοῦσι τὰ τῶν γυναικῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν γονέων αὐτῶν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι ἐν τῷ ἀποσώζειν αὐτὸν ὑποστρέφοντα πρὸς Χερσῶνα κατέλθωσι μετ' αὐτοῦ, ζητοῦσι παρ' αὐτοῦ προγευθῆναι, διὰ τὸν κόπον αὐτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων αὐτῶν.

CAPUT VIII.

De Cæsarianis ab urbe a Deo custodita missis in Patzinaciam cum chelandiis per Danubium, Danaprim et Danastrim flumina.

Bulgariam versus in partibus Danapri, et Danastri, reliquorumque illic fluviorum Patzinacitæ quoque sedes habent: ac Cæsarianus hinc cum chelandiis missus, non necesse habet Chersonem adire, sed potest illic nullo negotio, celeriterque Patzinacitas invenire: quos conveniens Cæsarianus dum ipse in chelandiis manet servans et custodiens res imperatoris, ipsis per famulum adventum ^C

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Η'.

Περὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς θεοφυλάκτου πόλεως ἀποστελλομένων βασιλικῶν μετὰ χελανδίων, διά τε τοῦ Δανουδίου, καὶ Δάναπρι, καὶ Δάναστρι ποταμοῦ ἐν Πατζινακίᾳ.

Ὅτι καὶ εἰς τὸ μέρος τῆς Βουλγαρίας καθέζεται λαὸς τῶν Πατζινακιτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ μέρος τοῦ Δάναπρι καὶ τοῦ Δάναστρι, καὶ τῶν ἑτέρων τῶν ἐκεῖσε ὄντων ποταμῶν. Καὶ βασιλικοῦ ἀποστελλομένου ἐντεῦθεν μετὰ χελανδίων δύναται καὶ χωρὶς τοῦ εἰς Χερσῶνα ἀπελθεῖν, ἐνταῦθα συντόμως καὶ ταχέως εὑρίσκειν τοὺς αὐτοὺς Πατζινακίτας· οὓς καὶ εὑρὼν μηνύει διὰ ἀνθρώπου αὐτοῦ ὁ βασιλικὸς ἐντὸς τῶν χε- ^D

For up until the time of Emperor Theophilus, no governor was sent from here, but the person who administered all things was the one known as the Proteuon (the First-Man), along with the so-called fathers of the city. When Emperor Theophilus deliberated about who he should send as governor, he decided to send the aforementioned Spatharocandidatus Petronas, as he was experienced in that area and not ignorant of its affairs. He honored him ^A by appointing him governor and sent him off to Cherson, ordering the Proteuon of the time and everyone else to submit to him. From that time to this, it has prevailed that governors appointed from here are sent to Cherson. But this, then, is how the founding of the fortress of Sarcel came about. From the river Danube up to the aforementioned fortress of Sarcel, the journey is sixty days. In the middle of this land there are many rivers, the two greatest of which are the Danastris and the Danapris. There are also other rivers, such as the one called Syngul, and the Hybul, the Almatai, the Cuphis, and the Bogu, and many others. In the ^B higher reaches of the river Danapris dwell the Russes, from which river they sail down and make their arrival to the Romans. The Patzinacia keeps control over the entire land of Russia and Bosporus, and as far as Cherson, and as far as the Sarat, the Burat, and the thirty regions. The distance along the sea coast from the river Danube up to the river Danapris is one hundred and twenty miles. From the river Danapris to Cherson the distance is three hundred miles, and in between there are marshes and harbors, in which the Chersonites produce salt. ^C From Cherson to the cities of the climata of Bosporus is a distance of three hundred miles, and from Bosporus is the mouth of the marsh of Maeotis, which everyone calls a sea on account of its size; and many great rivers flow into it. To the north it has the river Danapris, from which the Russes set off for inner Bulgaria, Chazaria, and Syria. And that very Maeotian gulf...

remains in the *chelandia*, and with him he takes the imperial [officials] and guards the goods in the *chelandia*. They descend to him, and when they have descended, the imperial [official] gives men of his choosing as hostages to them, and he himself likewise receives other hostages from such Patzinaks, and keeps them in the *chelandia*; and then he makes an agreement with them. And when the Patzinaks have made their oaths to the imperial [official] according to their *zakana* ^A (93), he gives them the imperial gifts, and takes on as many friends from among them as he wishes, and returns. But it is necessary to make an agreement with them so that wherever the Emperor may request them, they shall perform service, whether against the Russians, or against the Bulgarians, or even against the Turks. For they are capable of warring against all these, and often having come against them, they have now become fearsome. And this is clear also from this. For when the Clerk Gabriel was once sent to the Turks by imperial command, and said to them, "The Emperor gives you notice to depart and drive the Patzinaks from their territory, and that you should sit [there]; for you used to sit there before, ^B so as to be near my empire, and when I wish I send [for you], and I find you quickly," all the princes of the Turks cried out with one voice: "We do not set ourselves against the Patzinaks; for we are not able to make war against them, because both their country is great, and their people are numerous, and they are evil children (94), and you should not speak this word to us in the future; for we do not care for it." Because the Patzinaks also cross over from beyond the Dnieper river after spring, and always spend the summer there (95).

CAPUT IX. Concerning the Russians coming from Russia to Constantinople in monoxyla (96).

That the *monoxyla* coming down from outer Russia to Constantinople ^C are from Nemogarda (97), in which Sviatoslav (98), the son of Ingor, the prince of Russia, resided. There are also [others]—

ANSELMI BANDURII NOTES

(93) *Zakana* (an Illyrian word written corruptly, as often happens among the later Greeks, for names of foreign origin; *Zakon* indeed in the singular number, or as our people write *Sakon* or *Sacon*, signifies law, both written and unwritten, that is, law and custom; and in the plural *Zakona* or *Sakona*, laws and customs. The same word is used also in chap. 38 of the same book: "Whom they have also made prince, according to the custom and *zakhanon* (*zakana*) of the Khazars, having lifted him up on a shield," where in the editions it is read incorrectly as *ethnos* instead of *ethos*. Correct it, Ducange, *Gloss. med. Græc.* s.v. *Ζάκανον*.)

(94) I have translated it, and they are very pugnacious; Meursius [translated it] literally, and they are bad boys. But the same Meursius wrongly in his notes to this passage of the Porphyrogenitus cites the verse of Epimenides, which is found in St. Paul, as follows: "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts (evil children), slow bellies." For there, it is not written *kaka paidia* (evil children), but *kaka theria* (evil beasts).

(95) *Kalokairizein* signifies to spend the summer; for *kalokairion*, according to the same author in chap. 29 of *De Adm. Imp.*, is summer: "And such a fortress has high mountains in its circle, so that only in summer can it see the sun because of its being at the zenith, but in winter not at all." See Meursius, *Gloss. med. Græc.* as well as Ducange.

(96) *Monoxyla* are smaller boats made from a single log. Vegetius, book III, chap. 7, calls *scaphas* (skiffs) excavated from single logs. Hence they are called by the Latins *Trabariæ*, which are hollowed out from single trees, as is in Isidore, book XIX, *Orig.*, chap. 1. These were proper to the Scythians, Bulgarians, Russians, and the other peoples to the North, by which they used to cross the Ister (Danube) and greater rivers. Claudian in *4 Consul. Honorii*: "The Goths once dared to swim the Danube, They broke the forest into boats, when a thousand Full alders, with huge wedges, rushed down the river."

In these times also the peoples of those regions use boats which they call in their native tongue *Golise*, even as our people [do]. Frequent mention of such *monoxyla* occurs among Byzantine writers, and also in the *Tactics* of the Emperors Leo and Constantine. See Ducange, *Gloss. med. Lat.* under *Linter*, and *med. Græc.* s.v. *Μονόξυλα*.

(97) Probably here [he means] Nemogarda, which is also called Novogorod.

(98) Thus the Greek writers pronounce [the name] Wenceslaus.

^A He was a patricius and a great hetairiarches, commanding that he should himself go to Cricoricus, the prince of Taron, with gifts, and that he should order Sinutes to depart to Adranaser, the curopalates of Iberia, for some other business, having given him the fitting gifts for both. When the aforementioned protospatharios had arrived at Taron, and had delivered to Cricoricus the gifts and letters sent by the emperor, he took the illegitimate son of the Taronite, named Asotius, and led him away to the imperial city. The emperor, having honored him with the rank of protospatharios and bestowed many benefits upon him, sent him back to his father through the same protospatharios. ^B And when the same Constantine had also received Apoganes, the brother of Cricoricus, the prince of Taron, he brought him together with the two sons of Arcaica to the blessed emperor, who, after honoring him with the rank of protospatharios and treating him in other respects kindly, sent him back home to his brother through the same Constantine. Afterwards, that same Constantine, having spent much time in Chaldia, was ordered to go to Taron and to bring back the prince of Taron, Cricoricus, to the city of Constantinople, which he also did. Cricoricus, having entered the God-guarded city and having been made a magister and praetor of Taron, received to inhabit the house called Barbari, which is now of Basilius the chamberlain. And an annual stipend of ten pounds of gold was decreed for him, and as many of miliarisia, so that in total there were twenty pounds. And after having stayed in the city for some time, he was safely conducted back to his own land by the same protospatharios, Constantine. Later, Apoganes also came again to the blessed emperor, and was promoted by him to the rank of patriciatus, and it was permitted to him to take as wife the daughter of the said Constantine, and on that occasion he sought a residence, and the Barbari house was also assigned to him. ^C And after these things, the aforementioned Constantine, having spent considerable time in Chaldia, was permitted by command to enter into Taron and to take up the prince of Taron for the sake of such business, and for Adranaser, the curopalates of Iberia, for some other affairs, having given to him also for both parties the appropriate gifts. ^D

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

from the fortress of Miliniska, and from Telioutza and Tchernigov, and from Vusegrad. All these descend by the Dnieper river, and are gathered together at the fortress of Cioaba, which is also called Sambatas. Their tributary Slavs, the so-called Krithetainoi and the Lezanenoi, and the remaining Slavinians, cut their *monoxyla*—that is, hollowed boats—in their mountains during the winter time, and having fitted them out, when the weather opens and the ice—as the ice breaks—is melted, they bring them into the nearby lakes. And since these flow into the Dnieper river, they enter the same river from those places and go down to Kiova, and they drag them for the rigging, and sell them to the Rhos. ^B The Rhos buy those small boats alone, and breaking up their own old *monoxyla*, they take from them the planks [(6)] and rowlocks [(7)] and other equipment, and fit them out. And in the month of June, setting off down the Dnieper river, they descend to Vitetzebe, which is a tributary fortress of the Rhos. And having gathered there for two or three days, until all the *monoxyla* have been collected, they then set off and descend by the aforementioned Dnieper river. And first they come to the first rapid, which is named Essupe, which in the language of the Rhos and the Slavs signifies "Do not sleep." So narrow is the aforementioned place that it does not exceed the width of a *tzycanisterion*; but in the middle there are steep and very high rocks, which from a distance present the appearance of islands. Therefore, the water striking against these and swelling, and then driven headlong with a great noise, strikes fear. For this reason the Rhos do not dare to pass through there, but having debarked not far off, ^C

THE NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI.

[The note regarding *Splendostlabus* omitted as it pertains to the list of names.]

(1) Tchernigov is a famous city on the borders of Russia and Lithuania; it is called *Czernichow* by the local inhabitants.

(2) [He refers to the city] which some call *Kiaba* or *Kiabou*; which others call *Kiobia*, that is to say *Kiowia*, once the capital of Russia, situated on the Borysthenes, whose size is described and praised in many ways by Ditmar, lib. 7 *extremo*, Adam of Bremen, cap. 66, Matthias of Miechow, lib. 11, cap. 18, Alex. Gaguino, and others. Furthermore, one should read *eis to castron*, as in the manuscript.

(3) Ducange interprets *pactiotai* as "tributaries." Porphyrogenitus says below: "and the remaining Slavs, who are tributaries of the Rhos."

[The long note regarding the seasonal closing and opening of the seas, citing Theodoret of Cyrus, St. Jerome, Hesiod, Proclus, Theophrastus, and Apuleius, as well as Vegetius *De re militari* regarding Roman navigation, is here presented as a continuous scholarly discourse.]

(5) Thus the manuscript. The printed editions, however, have "*eis ton Kioba*." A little above, the same Constantine calls this very city *Kioaba*, as we have noted.

(6) *Pellas* are here referred to as naval instruments. "They seem to mean *pelae*," says Ducange, "by which the waves are cast out from the ships; we even now call them *pelas*."

(7) *Scalmus*, the timber to which the oar is fastened. Our countrymen, in our native tongue, even now call that timber *Scaram*.

but promised that, beyond the gifts customarily sent in garments and copper up to the value of ten pounds, providing for three or four years. But afterwards he showed that he could not pay even this tribute; he demanded a stipend, or dowry, just as it had been under the most blessed emperor Leo, or else he wished for this also to be abolished; for which reason, so that it might not be a stumbling block to Cacicius, and the curopalates, and the rest, the most blessed emperor Romanus, whom I mentioned, also abolished this. And for that reason, as a consolation, he afterwards created his son Aso- ^A dius, when he had come to the city, a patrician, and after he had been held in great honor for some time, he sent him back to his own land. But when the magister Cricoricis had died, Tornicius, the son of Apoganem, showed a great desire to see the city and the emperor: wherefore the emperor sent the protospatharios Crinites and an interpreter thither, who, when they had brought him to the city, honored him with the dignity of a patrician. He pretended, however, that he had a right to the house of Barbarus, and understanding that his uncle, upon receiving the suburban estate in Celtzene, had handed this over, he denied that he had been able to exchange his paternal inheritance, and wanted either to receive the house or the suburban estate: unless both were ceded to the emperor, lest his cousins obtain them. And so the emperor received the suburban estate, since the old Taronite was already dead; nor did he give the house in its place, as no golden bull had been drawn up regarding these matters, as was stated above. Afterwards, however, Pancratius, the greatest of the sons of that magister Cricoricis, came to the royal city, and was raised by the emperor to the rank of patriciates, and was created praetor of Taron: and when he also desired to take a wife from the imperial blood, he ^B was given the sister of Theophylactus the magister; and after the marriage was consummated he made a will, in which he instituted that if children were born from this marriage, they should have his entire region as a paternal inheritance; and for that reason he petitioned the emperor that the suburban estate of Gregoræ be given to him, so that his patricia wife might dwell there, and when she had passed away, it should return to his majesty. And the emperor also assented to this petition, and embraced him with great munificence, and sent him back to his land with his wife. But the sons of the magister Cricoricis, both Pancratius the patrician himself, as well as 118 Asotius the patrician, were causing trouble, and were bringing no small violence to bear upon their cousin Tornicius the patrician: who, not bearing the matter, wrote to the emperor to send a faithful ^C man who would receive his land, and lead him himself, his wife, and his son to him. And the emperor sent the protospatharios Crinites and an interpreter; who, as he had requested, should receive him, and lead him into the city guarded by God. But when Crinites had arrived there, he found him already dead, but that he had provided by his will before his death that his entire land should be subject to the emperor of the Romans.

^D [Greek text follows:] ^A ...the most blessed king Leo gave to my father; but after the death of my father, because I was still an infant and an orphan, my uncle seized the authority over this house, always promising me that when I should reach the age of maturity he would restore the paternal house; and now, as I have learned, my uncle has given such a house to your imperial majesty, and has received as a compensation for it the suburban estate of Gregoras in Celtzene. But from such imperial favors towards the prince of Taron, envy budded and blossomed against him, from both Cacicius, the prince of Vaspurakan, and Adranasir the curopalates of Iberia, and Asoticus the prince of princes; who wrote to the emperor murmuring, asking for what reason the Taronite alone enjoys the imperial salary, while all of them receive nothing. "For who," they said, "performs greater service than we do, or benefits the Romans more than we?" Therefore, it is necessary that we also be granted a salary just as he is, or that he too should not receive such a gift. The blessed Romanus wrote back to them, that the salary for the Taronite was not established by him, so that the cutting off of it might now lie with him, but by the blessed emperor [Leo]; and that it was not just that the provisions of those who had reigned before should be overturned by those who came after. He wrote, however, to the same Taronite, signaling to him the pain and scandal of the aforementioned men. But he brought forward that he could not provide gold or silver; he promised, however, to give garments and copper goods valued up to ten pounds outside of those gifts sent according to custom; which he also gave for up to three or four years. But after this he brought forward that he could not provide such a pact; but he demanded that the salary be received either as a dowry, just as it was under the most blessed emperor Leo, or that it be cut off; whence, so that there would be no scandal for Cacicius, and the curopalates, and the rest, the aforementioned most blessed emperor Romanus cut it off. Consoling him, however, as it were, he afterwards honored his son, Asotius, who had arrived in the city, with the rank of patricians, and having shown him sufficient hospitality, he sent him back to his own affairs. And when the magister Cricoricis had left this life, Tornicius, the son of Apoganem, represented his heartfelt desire to enter and see the emperor; for which the emperor sent out the protospatharios Crinites and an interpreter, who brought the aforementioned Tornicius into the city, and the emperor promoted the same Tornicius to the dignity of patricians. He also proposed legal arguments concerning the house of Barbarus; and having heard that his uncle, upon receiving the suburban estate in Celtzene, had surrendered the authority over this, he said that his uncle could not make an exchange regarding his paternal inheritance.

^A Mὴ κοιμάσαι; of which its cataract is as narrow as the width of the *Tzykanisterion*. In the middle of it are high, rooted rocks that appear like islands. The water flows towards them, swells up, and then plunges down to the lower part, creating a great sound and dread. For this reason, the Rus do not dare to pass through the middle of them, but mooring nearby, they put the men out on dry land while leaving the rest of the goods in the monoxyla. In this way, they feel along with their bare feet so as not to strike against some stone. They do this—some at the prow, some at the middle, and others even at the stern—by poling with rods, and with all such caution they pass through this first cataract, by way of the corner and the river bank.

^B When they have passed through this cataract, they again take up the rest of the men from the land and sail on, and they come down to the second cataract, which is called in Rus *Oulborsi* and in Slavonic *Ostrobouniprach*, which is interpreted as "The Islet of the Cataract." That one is like the first, difficult and hard to traverse. And again, having put the people off, they convey the monoxyla across just as before. Likewise, they pass through the third cataract, called *Gelandri*, which is translated into Slavonic as "The Sound of the Cataract." Then, the fourth cataract, the great one, which is called in Rus *Aeiphaz* and in Slavonic *Neaset*, because pelicans nest in the rocks of the cataract. At this cataract, therefore, they all moor their *orthoplora* monoxyla upon the land, and the men chosen to guard the sentinel post go out with them, and they depart, and these men keep watch at the lookout vigilantly on account of the Patzinakits.

^C The others, having taken up the goods which they have in the monoxyla, convey their *psycharia* (the slaves) along with the chains by land for six miles until they have passed the cataract. Then, some dragging and others carrying their monoxyla on their shoulders, they convey them to the other side of the cataract; and thus, casting them into the river and having put their *petzimenta* aboard, they board themselves and sail on again. Departing, they go to the fifth cataract, which is called in Rus *Baroupharos* and in Slavonic *Boulneprach*, because it creates a great lake. Again, having conveyed their monoxyla across at the corners of the river, just as in the first and second cataracts, they arrive at the sixth, named by the Rus *Leanti* and by the Slavs *Beroutze*, which is as if to say "The Source of the Waters." At this cataract also, having passed it in like manner, ^D they sail on to the seventh, which in the tongue of the Rus is called *Struboun*, which is interpreted as "The Little Cataract."

CONSTANTINI PORPHYROGENITI

CHAPTER XLIV.

Regarding the land of Apachunes, and the fortress of Mantziciert, and of Percri, and of Chliat, and of Chalial, and of Arzes, and of Tibe, and of Chert, and of Salamas, and of Tzermatzu.

Before Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius, the prince of princes—whom the Emir of Persia, Aposalas, punished with death—and who had two sons, namely Asotius, who after him was prince of princes, and Apasacius, who was later honored with the dignity of magister: these three fortresses, Percri, Chaliat, and Arzes, were under the dominion of Persia. ^A The prince of princes resided in Great Armenia, in the city of Cars, and he held the three cities I have mentioned: Percri, Chaliat, Arzes, as well as Tibe, Chert, and Salamas. Apelcart held Mantziciert, and he was subject to the prince of princes, Symbatius [his] father; and the same Asotius, the prince of princes, gave to Apelbart the cities of Chliat, Arzes, and Percri; for the aforementioned Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius, also the prince of princes, possessed all the lands of the East. But when Apelbart had departed from life, his son Abelchamit succeeded him, and to him [succeeded] his firstborn son, Aposebatas. ^B But when Symbatius, the prince of princes, was killed by Aposata, the Emir of Persia, he held Mantziciert alone as supreme lord and of his own right, along with the remaining cities and lands; and he himself and his two brothers, Apolesphuet and Aposelme, were subject to the Emperor of the Romans, because their cities and lands were frequently infested by war and ravaged by the Domestic of the Schools, and they also paid tributes on account of these. Now, from the aforementioned Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius—but the grandfather of the second Asotius, the prince of princes, and of Apasacius the magister—up to the second Asotius, the prince of princes, these three cities were under the power of the prince of princes, and he used to receive tributes from them. In like manner, Mantziciert, with the land of Apachunes, and Charca, and Core, were under the power of the same prince of princes, up to that time ^C when, on account of being variously warred against and plundered, the fortresses [were…].

ANSELMI BANDURII NOTÆ. (62) Mantziciert is called a city in Baaspracan; and Matzicier in another place in the same author, but by Cedrenus, Maurikierge. (63) As it is in the manuscript, and so it should be read, as the following suggests. In the printed editions one reads, *and of Percri, and of Chaliat, and of Chaliat*, etc. Percri [is] a town very near Babylon according to Cedrenus. Chliat, however, [is] a town near Armenia [according to] Curopalates, and [to] Cedrenus, Chleat. (64) It is written *Arzerum* [for] Curopalates; and today it is called Artzerum, and by the Turks *Ram*, as Leunclavius writes. It is situated between the borders of Armenia and Cappadocia. (65) The town of Tibe seems to be near Great Armenia in Cedrenus and Curopalates. (66) Thus it is in the manuscript. In the printed editions [it is] incorrectly read: *and the dominion of Persia they attained*; where Meursius says it should be read: *according to the dominion of Persia*, etc. (67) A city of Persarmenia. Carse [for] Cedrenus and Curopalates. Now *Cars*, as Leunclavius thinks. (68) As it is also below in the manuscript. In the printed editions, it is read *Apelkart*. [Here] it also seemed good to add a genealogical table of the Emirs of Mantziciert, by which this chapter of Constantine might be illustrated. (69) Achmet [is] an adoptive son.

1. Apelbart I 2. Abelchamit 3. Aposebatas 4. Abderachim 5. Apolesphuet 6. Aposelme 7. Apebart II Apelmuze

^A And the Chersonites, along with the Patzinakites, cross over at the passage called *Krariou* to combat the Rus.

After passing through this place, they reach the island called St. Gregory, ^B upon which island they perform their sacrifices because there stands there an immense oak tree; and they sacrifice live poultry. And they also fix arrows all around, and others [offer] loaves of bread and meat, and whatever each has, as their custom prevails. They also cast lots regarding the poultry, whether to eat them, or to slaughter them, or to leave them alive. From this island the Rus are no longer afraid of the Patzinakites until they reach the river *Selinan*. ^C Then, setting out from there, they sail for four days until they reach the lake which is at the mouth of the river, in which is also the island of St. Etherius. Having reached this island, they allow themselves to rest there for two or three days, and they again prepare their monoxyla for whatever needs are lacking, both the rigging and the masts, and the steering-oars which they carry with them. Since the mouth of this river is the aforementioned lake, as has been said, and it stretches as far as the sea, and the island of St. Etherius lies toward the sea, ^D they depart from those parts toward the Danapris [Dnieper] river, and having been brought safely there, they rest again. When the weather becomes favorable, they weigh anchor and set out for the river called *Aspros*, and having rested there in like manner, they set out again and arrive at the *Selinan*, which is called the *Paracladion* of the Danube river. And until they have crossed the *Selinan* river, the Patzinakites run alongside them. And if the sea frequently drives the monoxyla onto the land, they all disembark so that they may draw up in battle array together against the Patzinakites; but after the *Selinan*...

^A and to be destroyed, and their lands [to be taken] by the domestic of the Schools; yielding to the King of the Romans and providing everything [due] for their fortresses and their villages. From the aforementioned Asotios, Prince of Princes—the father of Symbatios and grandfather of the second Asotios—and of the magister Apasakios (70), until the lifetime of the second Asotios, Prince of Princes, such three fortresses existed under the authority of the Prince of Princes, and the Prince of Princes received everything from them. But also the fortress of Mantziciert, together with the region of Apachunes, and of Charka (71), and of Kore, existed under the authority and dominion of the same Prince of Princes, until Aposebatas the amera of Mantziciert, along with his two brothers, ^B Apolesphuet and Aposelmes, submitted to the Emperor, giving also everything [due] for their fortresses and their villages; since the Prince of Princes happens to be a servant of the King of the Romans (72), as being promoted by him, and receiving such a dignity; clearly the fortresses, cities, and villages of which he is master also belong to the King of the Romans. That Symbatios, the Prince of Princes of Greater Armenia, having been captured by Aposatas the amera of Persia (73) and beheaded by him, Aposebatas, who was residing in the fortress of Mantziciert, seized the fortress of Chliat, and the fortress of Perkri, and the city of Arzes. That the second brother of Aposebatas, Apolesphuet, and his nephew and adopted son Achmet, seized the fortress of Chliat, and the fortress of Arzes, and the fortress of Altze; and they too submitted to the King of the Romans, and were under his authority, and they provided everything just as their brother Aposebatas (74) did, for their fortresses and their villages. That the third brother of Aposebatas and Apolesphuet, Aposelmes, held the fortress of Tzermatzu along with its villages, and he also submitted to the King of the Romans, and was giving everything just as his brother Aposebatas, and his second brother Apolesphuet, did. That upon the death of Aposebatas, Abderachim, the son of Aposebatas, ^D held Mantziciert along with its villages and all its territory; upon the death of Abderachim, Apolesphuet, the second brother of Aposebatas and uncle of Abderachim, held the fortress of Mantziciert and all the aforementioned lands; and upon his death, the third brother, namely of Aposebatas and Apolesphuet, Aposelmes, held Mantziciert and all the aforementioned lands. That Aposebatas had a son

fearing no one, but having gone through the land of Bulgaria, they arrive at the mouth of the Danube. From the Danube they reach Conopa, and from Conopa they go to Constantia to the river Varna, and from Varna they arrive at the river Ditzina, all of which are lands of Bulgaria; and from Ditzina they reach the regions of Mesembria ^A, and thus their painful, fearful, difficult, and arduous voyage is completed.

Now the winter and harsh mode of life of these same Russians is as follows: When the month of November arrives, their princes immediately go out with all the Russians ^B from Kiev, and they depart for the *polydia* (which is called *Gyra*), that is, to the Slavinias of the Verdiani, and the Drugubiti, and the Kriviti, and the Severians, and the rest of the Slavs, who are tributaries of the Russians. There, being supported throughout the whole winter, again in the month of April, when the ice of the Dnieper river melts, they descend to Kiev. And thus they take up their monoxyla, as has been said before, and are equipped, and they descend to Romania, since the Uzi ^C are able to make war upon the Patzinakites.

CHAPTER X.

On Chazaria, how one ought to make war upon it, and by whom.

That the Uzi are able to make war upon the Chazars, as they are neighbors to them. Likewise also the ruler of Alania; for the nine districts of Chazaria lie adjacent to Alania, and the Alan, if he so wishes, can plunder these and cause great damage and need from this to the Chazars; for from these nine districts the entire life and abundance of Chazaria is sustained.

CHAPTER XI.

On the castle of Cherson, and the castle of Bosporos.

That the ruler of Alania, not being at peace with the Chazars, but rather preferring the friendship of the emperor of the Romans; if the Chazars do not wish to maintain the friendship and peace with the emperor, he can greatly harm them, lying in wait upon the roads and attacking them ^D unexpectedly as they pass through towards Sarcel, and the districts, and Cherson. And if this ruler applies himself to hindering them, Cherson and the districts will enjoy a great and profound peace; for, fearing the incursion of the Alans, and having been granted no opportunity, they do not invade Cherson and the districts with an army.

^A He sent the patrician and strategist of the Armeniac theme, Dalassenos, along with the strategist of Koloneia, the strategist of Mesopotamia, and the strategist of Chaldia, and they destroyed these forts, freed the churches, and plundered all of Phasiané, which at that time was held by the Saracens. And thereafter he sent once again the magister Katakalon, ^B and domestic of the schools; who, having come to the fort of Theodosiopolis, and having plundered the parts around it, and having delivered the territory of Phasiané and the forts around it to a similar destruction, returned, having dealt a great blow in this to the Saracens. But in the reign of Lord Romanos the Emperor, the magister John Kourkouas, proceeding against the fort of Tibios at its pass, caused the entire land of Phasiané to disappear, as it was held by the Saracens. But the patrician Theophilos, the brother of the aforementioned magister John, while he was first serving as strategist in Chaldia, had also devastated that same land of Phasiané, as it was then under the dominion of the Saracens. For until this matter was brought to bear with the Theodosiopolitans, no village had been established in the land of Phasiané, nor even at the fort of Abnikon; and the Iberians always held love and friendship with the Theodosiopolitans, and with the Abnikiotai, and with the Mantzikiertai, ^C and with all of Persia, but in Phasiané they never acquired villages. That many times both the Lord Leon the Emperor, and the Lord Romanos, and our very Empress, sought for the fort of Cetzeon to be taken back and for tax-paying settlers to be introduced, so that bread might not be supplied from there to Theodosiopolis, guaranteeing to the Curopalates and his brothers that, after Theodosiopolis was taken, they would recover that fort; but the Iberians could not bring themselves to do this because of their love for the Theodosiopolitans, and so that the fort of Theodosiopolis would not be destroyed. Instead they replied to the Lord Romanos and our Empress, saying that "If we do this, we shall be held in dishonor by our neighbors, such as the magister, and the ruler of Abasgia, and the Basparakanitan, and the leading lords of the Armenians; and they would be able to say that the Iberians are unfaithful to the Emperor, namely to the Curopalates and his brothers, and that they do not trust them, and for that reason have taken this city from them. But rather let the Emperor send a Turmarch or some Caesar-man who might reside in the city of Cetzeon and observe." But they received a rescript in the form of a command: "What profit will there be if a Turmarch or Caesar-man is sent? For if he comes, they will be able to enter with ten or at most twelve men, and reside in the inn which you have assigned to them. And since there are many roads by which one may enter Theodosiopolis, it is not possible for caravans entering Theodosiopolis to be observed from the city, for they can enter at night, ^D while they are thinking of nothing of the sort." The Iberians, therefore, because they did not wish Theodosiopolis to be destroyed, but rather for provisions to be supplied, did not obey, nor did they hand over the city of Cetzeon, even though they had received a written oath that, upon the capture of Theodosiopolis, they would recover this city.

and they are forced to live in peace, since they are unable to make war on both at once. ^A

CAPUT XII. DE NIGRA BULGARIA ET CHAZARIA.

CAPUT XIII. DE GENTIBUS QUAE TURCIS FINITIMAE SUNT.

Direct, my son, the eye of your mind to my words, and take note of what I command you, and you will be able in time to bring forth from your paternal treasuries the wealth of prudence and to display a store of understanding. Know, then, that in all the northern peoples there is, as it were, a nature implanted—a desire for wealth that is insatiable; wherefore they seek everything, covet everything, and have no bounds prescribed to their desire, but always crave more, and demand the greatest reward for the most meager labor. ^C Therefore, one must counter and restrain their importunate petitions and impudent demands with persuasion and prudent excuses, which, as I have grasped from use and experience, to speak briefly, should be of this sort. If ever the Chazars, or the Turks, or the Russes, or any other northern and Scythian nations, as frequently happens, demand that imperial vestments, crowns, or stoles be sent to them for the sake of some service and ministry, you must excuse yourself in this way: "Stoles and crowns of this type, which we call ^D *camelaucia*, were neither fashioned by the work of men nor devised by human industry. But as we have found written in ancient history in the secret books, when God made that great emperor Constantine, who was the first Christian—

For ^A the Iberians never wished that the places around the city of Theodosiopolis, or its villages, or the city of Abnicum and its surrounding villages, or the city of Mantziciert and its territory, should be plundered or enslaved. For the Curopalates was pressing ^B regarding the region of Phasianis, demanding the whole of it along with the city of Abnicum, and pretending that he possessed golden bulls from the blessed emperor, our lord Romanos, and from our Majesty; copies of which he sent to us through Zurbaneles, his protospatharius and azatos. Upon examining these, we found they afforded him no assistance. For the golden bull of our father-in-law contains a promise by the Curopalates—which he even confirmed by his own written oath—that he would remain in faith to our Empire, that he would treat our friends and enemies as his own, that he would subject the East to us, besiege cities, and accomplish great deeds on our behalf. My father-in-law, for his part, answered that if he keeps his faith, and performs these services and duties, both he and his descendants shall forever possess this principality and authority, provided that he never transfers the boundaries of his jurisdiction, that he adheres to the covenants of former emperors, and that he does not transgress them, nor hinder the destruction of Theodosiopolis or other hostile cities, whether they be besieged by him alone or by our army. And this was the sum total of those golden bulls; which can be of no benefit to the Curopalates, for what my father-in-law sanctioned was that we should not move him from the ancient boundaries of his jurisdiction, and that he should besiege and subjugate Theodosiopolis and the remaining hostile cities, whether alone, if he be able, or with our soldiers, but they do not confer ownership and property ^C of them. Our decision, however, is that whatever places of the Agarenes he himself, or his relative the magister Adranase, has been able to subject to himself with his own forces, or has subjected up to this day, he should have the ownership and property of them. And since he has not taken Theodosiopolis, nor Abnicum, nor Mastatum with his own forces, he ought not to possess them, as they lie beyond the river Araxes, or the Phasis; and also because Abnicum has remained until this day under its own jurisdiction, obedient to its own lord, and with its own amir, while our forces have frequently pillaged it. Furthermore, the protospatharius John, ^D the praetor Arrhabonites, and the patrician Theophilus, shortly before the praetor of Theodosiopolis, and the remaining praetors, [brought back] a great number of captives from there.

Notes of Anselm Banduri

^A emperor, He sent him such robes and crowns—which by us are called *kamelaoukia*—through an angel, and He commanded him to place them in the Great Holy Church of God, which is called Holy Sophia from the name of the enhypostatic Wisdom of God. He commanded further that they should not be worn every day, but only when a public and great feast of the Lord occurs. Therefore, by the command of God, he deposited these, which indeed hang from above the holy table in the sanctuary of that same church and have been established for the adornment of the church. The remaining imperial vestments and *sagia* lie spread out above this holy table. ^B Whenever a feast of our Lord and God Jesus Christ arrives, the patriarch takes from such robes and crowns those that are suitable and appropriate for the occasion, and sends them to the emperor, and he is clothed in them only as a servant of God and a deacon in the procession. And again, after the need is met, he returns them to the church, and they are stored there. But also, a curse of the holy and great Constantine is written upon this holy table of the Church of God, as God commanded him through the angel: that if any emperor should wish, for any need or circumstance, or by an untimely desire, to remove some of them, or to use them himself or offer them to others, he should be anathematized as an enemy and foe of the commands of God, and be cast out of the Church. But if he himself should also wish to make other similar items so that the Church of God might also receive these—with all the chief priests and the senate speaking ^C frankly regarding these matters—neither the emperor nor the patriarch nor any other person has the authority to remove such robes or crowns from the holy Church of God; and great fear hangs over those who wish to overturn any of such divine ordinances. For one of the emperors, by the name of Leo—who also took a wife from Chazaria—having used an impulsive boldness, took up one of such crowns when no feast of the Lord was present, and without the opinion of the patriarch, he wrapped himself in it. And immediately, a coal breaking out onto his brow, and being wasted by the pains resulting from this, he miserably ended his life, and brought death upon himself before his time. And ^D concerning such a deed, he was quickly punished, and from that time a custom was introduced that the emperor, upon receiving the crown, swears and professes that he will do, attempt, or contemplate nothing against such ancient mandates and customs; and thus he is crowned by the patriarch and performs and completes what is compatible with the established solemnity.

our rule, with the river itself serving as the boundary between both of them, as even the blessed John Kourkouas, when questioned about this, declared it beneficial for the river to be the boundary. For the strict law provides no authority for the Curopalates to hold power on either this or that side of the river; because the armies of our Empire captured and burned all such villages of the Theodosiopolitans, and the Iberians never went out and raided Theodosiopolis without our own people, but always held them as friends and traded with them; and with their mouths they wished for Theodosiopolis to be sacked, but in their hearts they by no means wanted it to be taken. But our Empire, as has been said, because of its affection for the Curopalates, wished for the river Eras, that is the Phasis, to be the boundary for both, and they ought to be content with such a holding and seek nothing ^A more.

CAPUT XLVI. Concerning the genealogy of the Iberians, and the castle of Adranoutzion.

It must be known that Pancratius, and David, and Mampalis, which is interpreted as "all-holy," were sons of the great Symbatius the Iberian. And Adranoutzion fell by inheritance to Pancratius; but to David fell another land. And Pancratius begot three sons: Adranaser, Kourkenios, and the patrician Asotios, also called Kiskases; and he divided his land among them. And Adranoutzion fell to his son Kourkenios, and on his dying without issue, he left it to his brother Asotios, also called Kiskases. And the patrician Asotios, also called Kiskases, took as a son-in-law for his daughter that Kourkenios, the Magister, who, having gained power, took Adranoutzion away from his father-in-law Asotios through tyranny; and he gave him in exchange the Tyrokastron and the river-land of Atzara, which is the border ^B of Romania at Kolor. And the patrician Asotios, also called Kiskases, had as his wife the sister of George, Magister and Exousiastes of Abasgia. And when there arose a conflict between them—both the Magister Kourkenios and George, Magister and Exousiastes of Abasgia—because the Exousiastes of Abasgia was siding with the patrician Asotios, the Magister Kourkenios, being able, took away also the exchange which he had given him for Adranoutzion, drove him out, and he departed to Abasgia. But upon the death of the Magister Kourkenios, Adranoutzion was left to his wife, the daughter of the patrician Asotios Kiskases, as her patrimony. When they were dividing the land of the Magister Kourkenios by force of arms, both the Curopalates Asotios, and George, Magister and Exousiastes of Abasgia, and the Magister Pancratius, brother of the aforementioned Curopalates, came to a settlement, and each took what were adjacent to him. But Adranoutzion was adjacent to Symbatius, the son of the aforementioned David; then all of them seized the wife of the Magister Kourkenios, that is, the daughter of the patrician Asotios Kiskases, saying, "As you are a woman, you cannot hold the castle." Then Symbatius gave the woman villages in exchange for the castle, and took for himself such castle, ^C Adranoutzion. It must be known that the kinship ^D of such Iberians is as follows: The mother of David and of Adranase the Curopalates, the father of Asotios, a former Curopalates, were daughters or granddaughters of the two brothers. Symbatius, the son of David, had as his wife the daughter of the Magister Pancratius, who was the father of Adranase, the former Magister; and upon her death, he took the sister of Adranase, the daughter of Symbatius, son of David. Adranoutzion, however, is a very strong fortress, and it has a great rampart like a large city; and the trade of Trebizond, Iberia, and Abasgia...

^A Likewise, you ought to have care and concern regarding the liquid fire that is sent forth through siphons, so that if ever any people should dare to demand it, just as they have frequently demanded it from us, you may have such words with which to repulse and dismiss them: that this too was revealed and taught by an angel to the great and first Christian emperor, Saint Constantine, ^B and that this same emperor received great instructions regarding it from the same angel, just as we have been assured and fully informed by our fathers and forefathers, namely that it is to be manufactured only among the Christians and in the city ruled by them, and nowhere else; and that it should neither be transmitted nor taught to any other nation whatsoever. Wherefore, this great emperor, having secured the matter for those after him, caused curses to be inscribed upon the holy table of the Church of God, so that whoever might dare to give of this kind of fire to another nation should neither be called a Christian nor be deemed worthy of any rank or office; but even if he should hold any, he is to be cast out from it, and anathematized for all ages of ages, and made an example of, whether he be emperor, or patriarch, or any other man whatsoever, whether he be a ruler or a subject, whoever attempts to violate such a commandment. And he exhorted all who possess zeal and the fear of God ^C as a common enemy and a transgressor of this great commandment, to strive to destroy such a person who attempts to do this, and to hand him over to a most bitter and harsh death. And it happened once, as wickedness always finds a place, that one of our commanders, having received very many gifts from certain Gentiles, handed this fire over to them: but as God did not leave this crime unavenged, when he was about to enter the holy Church of God, fire fell from heaven and consumed and devoured him. From this, a great fear and trembling seized the souls of all; and from that time on, no one—neither emperor, nor prince, nor private citizen, nor military commander, nor any other mortal ^D whatsoever, has dared to bring anything of the sort to mind, much less to attempt or carry through the deed.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

Meursius says it should be read, "he ended his life badly in a bad way." But what Porphyrogenitus relates here concerning the death of Leo the Khazar agrees sufficiently with those things which the other Byzantine writers have concerning him. Our writer is mistaken, however, when he said a little above that his wife was from Khazaria, as we shall show below, where our writer relates the same thing.

(43) Regarding the nature of these siphons, by which they used to shoot the Greek fire, Du Cange discourses at length in his notes to Villehardouin and Joinville, as well as in his *Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Graecitatis*.

(44) The same Porphyrogenitus says below in Chapter XLVIII that a certain Callinicus, a stranger from Heliopolis, first taught the Constantinopolitans the Greek fire and its use in the times of Constantine Pogonatus. And Theophanes, under the fourth year of the same Augustus, speaks of the Greek fire thus: "The aforementioned Constantine... manufactured both large deep-purple barks and dromons equipped with siphons; and he ordered these to be anchored in the Proclianisian harbor of Caesarius." Moreover, the aforementioned Constantine, having discovered the intent of the adversaries of God against Constantinople, ordered biremes also, [coated with] purple [or porphyry-colored] pitch, carrying the fire, and dromons breathing the same fire through siphons, to be prepared to make an assault upon the enemy at the Proclianisian harbor of Caesarius. See what Nicetas has to say about the Greek fire in [his history of] Isaac Angelus, Book I.

(45) Thus in the Regal manuscript, or as it should perhaps be read, "and with a harsh," that is, "acerbißima, or dire death." In the Palatine manuscript it is read, "and straightway by the harsh," etc. Meursius amends it to, "and immediately by the harsh," which reading we follow in our translation.

But turn now to another species of petition, one irrational and indecorous, and devise and learn a suitable and honorable response. For if ever any nation from among these infidel and dishonored northern races shall ask to contract an affinity with the Emperor of the Romans, and either to take his daughter as a bride, or to give him their own daughter ^A to wife, or that she should be named wife of the Emperor or of the Emperor’s son, you must drive back this absurd request of theirs with such words as these and say:

"Concerning this matter, a fearful and immutable command and constitution of the Great and Holy Constantine is inscribed upon the holy table of the catholic church of the Christians of Hagia Sophia, that the Emperor of the Romans should never contract an affinity with a nation which follows foreign and strange ^B customs remote from the Roman state, and especially if it be of another faith and unbaptized; the Franks alone excepted. For this Great and Holy Constantine exempted these alone, because he himself drew his origin from those parts, for there was great kinship and commerce between the Franks and the Romans. And therefore with them alone he permitted the Emperors of the Romans to initiate marital unions, on account of the ancient distinction and nobility of those peoples and nations; but with any other nation whatsoever he forbade it to be done. So that even if anyone ^C should dare to do this, he should be judged as a transgressor of paternal traditions and imperial laws, an alien to the catalog of Christians, and be delivered over to anathema."

Now that aforementioned Emperor Leo, who, as we have said above, wickedly and rashly took the crown from the church without the consent of the patriarch who was then in office and placed it upon himself, and who suddenly paid deserved penalties for his evil enterprise, dared also to treat as vile and to hold for nothing this command of that holy Emperor—which, as has already been shown, stands inscribed upon the holy ^D table—and since he had once cast off all fear of God and of His commandments, he established a marital union with the Chagan of Chazaria and took his daughter to wife, with great disgrace to both himself and the Roman Empire, because he had violated and held for nothing the ancestral precepts; besides the fact that he was not even an orthodox Christian, but a heretic and an enemy of the icons. Therefore, on account of these very impieties, in the holy church of God, he is perpetually [held, etc.]

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(46) Thus I read with Meursius. It is incorrectly written in the ms., "use such words," etc. And a little further down it is incorrectly read in the editions, whereas Meursius rightly amends it. (47) But the same Porphyrogenitus seems to fight with himself; for in Book II of the *Themes*, Chap. IX, he writes that Constantine was born in the city of Naissus in Dacia. Julius Firmicus in Book II of the *Matheseos*, Chap. XIV, says he was born at Tarsus. Nicephorus Callisti says at the city of Drepanum in Bithynia, on the Gulf of Nicomedia, which he afterwards named Helenopolis after his mother’s name, as the writer of the *Alexandrian Chronicle* and Theophanes hand down. Finally, others claim Constantine was born in Britain, relying especially on this argument, that the author of the Panegyric spoken to Maximian and Constantine says these things about Constantine: "He freed the Britains from slavery; you also made them noble by being born there." But as to what Eumenius says elsewhere: "O happy Britain, and now more blessed than all lands, you who first saw Constantine as Caesar!" this should certainly be understood more probably as referring to the dignity of Caesar conferred upon Constantine while he was tarrying in Britain. (48) We have warned earlier, while he ascribes to Leo the Chazar a wife sprung from Chazaria; for this man was nicknamed "Chazar" because of his maternal origin; for Irene, the first wife of Copronymus, was the daughter of the Chagan of the Chazars, who, having been made a Christian, kept the Catholic faith intact as long as she lived. Leo

^A is excommunicated and condemned by anathema; inasmuch as he violated and overturned the constitution of God and of the holy and great Emperor Constantine. For how can it be possible for Christians to enter into marriages and form affinities with infidels, when the canon forbids it, and the universal Church deems such a thing unworthy and alien to the Christian state? Or who among the distinguished, noble, and wise Roman emperors has permitted such a thing? But if they should answer: Why did the lord Emperor Romanus, when he was joined in affinity with the Bulgarians, give his own granddaughter to the lord Peter, the Bulgarian [ruler]? ^B To this we must respond: Because the lord Emperor Romanus was an unlearned and illiterate man, and had neither been raised in the royal palace nor followed the Roman laws and customs from the beginning, nor was he born of imperial and noble stock; and for this reason he acted more boldly and freely in many matters: and in this affair he was neither obedient to the prohibiting Church, nor did he comply with the decree of the Great Constantine; but according to his own whim and judgment, ignorant of what is honorable, spurning the honest and the good, and holding paternal traditions in contempt, he dared to attempt this: using only this as a reasonable pretext, that in this way a huge multitude of Christian captives would be liberated, and that the Bulgarians were also Christians and of the same faith as ourselves. Furthermore, also because the woman being given in marriage was not the daughter of an autocrat and legitimate emperor, but of a third, and last, ^C and even a subject, who had no power in the affairs of the empire; and such a thing in no way differed from [giving] any other of the royal kin who were related to the imperial nobility both further away and closer, and for some public service, even of the lowest and those possessing almost no power; since this was done against the canon of the ecclesiastical tradition, and the decree and commandment of the great holy Emperor Constantine. Indeed, while he was still alive, the same lord Romanus was burdened with many insults, and was subject to calumny and hatred, both among the senate and the multitude of the people and the Church herself, which hatred finally broke out into the open; so that even after he was dead he is despised, slandered, and condemned, because he undertook a thing unbecoming and unworthy of the illustrious Roman Empire. For individual nations, since they have different customs, and likewise different laws and ^D constitutions, ought to retain those which...

and have taken for themselves their own, and from their own people, according to the condition of their own ^B status, to enter into associations. For just as individual animals mate with those that are of the same species, so it is proper for individual nations to join in marriage not with foreigners or those of a different language, but with those of the same tribe and same language. From this, mutual harmony, familiar conversation, and pleasant social intercourse and cohabitation naturally arise. Differing customs and divergent laws, however, generally breed animosity, friction, hatred, and sedition, which are accustomed to bring about not friendship and communion, but enmity and divorce. Those who wish to rule legitimately ought not to imitate the things done by some out of ignorance or arrogance, but should take the praiseworthy deeds of those who have ruled according to laws and justice as good images set before them for imitation, and endeavor to direct all their own actions by them; for indeed, even the end that befalls him who, because of such actions perpetrated at his own whim—I mean the lord Romanus—is a sufficient example for the correction of anyone wishing to emulate the evils perpetrated by him. It is necessary for you, most beloved son, to know these things along with others, since knowledge of them can be of great use to you and make you appear more admirable. These things that follow deal with the distinctions of other nations, their genealogy, their customs and way of life, and the position and climate of the lands they inhabit, as well as their boundaries and dimensions, as will be explained more fully in what follows. ^C

CAPUT XIV. De genealogia Mahometis.

Let us now come to the genealogy of the wicked and impure Mahomet, whom the Saracens say to be their prophet, descended from the most populous tribe of Ishmael, son of Abraham. For Zenarus, the great-grandson of Ishmael, is called the father of them all. He therefore begat two sons, Mundarus and Rhabiam. Now Mundarus...

^A begat Cusarus, and Caisus, and Thymimen, and Asandus, and others of the same name; who, having obtained the Madianite desert by lot, lived as shepherds, dwelling in tents. But there are also those further in, not of their tribe, but of Jectan, who are called Homerites, that is to say, Amanites. It is narrated in the following manner: Mahomet being destitute and an orphan, it seemed good to him to be hired by a certain wealthy woman, his kinswoman, named Chadiga, for the purpose of driving camels and trading with foreigners in Egypt and Palestine. Then, gradually becoming more confident, and seeking the favor of the woman, who was a widow, he took her as his wife. But when he frequented Palestine, and lived with Jews and Christians, he investigated certain discourses and solutions of Scripture. When he suffered from the comitial ^B disease, his wife was greatly grieved, because, being illustrious and wealthy, she had married such a man, not only poor, but also epileptic. In order to appease her, he said that he was seeing a terrible vision of an angel named Gabriel, and not being able to bear the sight of him, he would lose consciousness and fall to the ground. This indeed was believed, for a certain Arian monk, feigning the name of a monk for the sake of shameful gain, gave false witness to him. And thus the woman, having been deceived, proclaimed to her fellow tribeswomen that he himself was a prophet, and in this way this cunning lie

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES

But he who is called Mundarus by our writer, by Theophanes, and by other historians, is called Mudarus by Cedrenus, and Muhdar by Landulphus Sagax; and perhaps he is the same who is called Massaras by Abraham Ecchellensis. But he who is called Rhabia by the Porphyrogenitus, Anastasius, and Cedrenus, is called Arabia by Theophanes, by the Anonymous writer on Saracenic affairs, and by Cyril in his epitome of chronicles; but by Abraham Ecchellensis he is called Rabiha. ^C (60) Theophanes has Cousaron for Cousaron; Landulphus has Sagax. But it is incorrectly read in Theophanes, and in Cedrenus and the Anonymous writer on Saracenic affairs, as Caisus. Abraham Ecchellensis calls him Caisus. Moreover, Corasus, says Jacobus Goar in his notes on Theophanes, is the same man, I believe, who is called Coraiscius by Ecchellensis, from whom the kinsmen and enemies of the false prophet Mahomet were called Coraiscites: hence it sufficiently surprises one where this Saracen Catabas betrayed the kinsmen of Mahomet to their death; for he existed as a most bitter enemy of the Mahometic blood. (61) Theophanes and the Anonymous writer on Saracenic affairs have Thymimen; Cedrenus has Thyminen; Anastasius and Landulphus Sagax call this man Theominem. (62) Theophanes and the Anonymous author on Saracenic affairs call him Asadum; Cedrenus, Assadum; but Landulphus Sagax, Asydum. (63) It is to be read in the same way in the manuscript, and "others nameless," that is, others whose names are unknown, as happens often in Cedrenus and the Anonymous writer cited by us. Theophanes has "and others unknown," and so does Landulphus when he writes "and others unknown." (64) Landulphus book XVIII: They are not of their tribe, but from Getham, namely those who are called the Amanites. Theophanes, and Cedrenus from him, seem to think that the same people who are called Aumarites by Ecchellensis, who left their homes and withdrew into Arabia Felix, are the Homerites, and for this reason their descendants are ascribed to the inhabitants of that region. But the Homerites are indeed the people of Arabia Felix in Ptolemy and Pliny. But Procopius in book I of the Persian War calls them Auzomites. (65) The Anonymous writer on Saracenic affairs: "He went to a certain wealthy woman, his kinswoman, named Chadiga..." The Historia Longobardica: "But a certain matron named Cadiga, who was in charge of a certain province, etc." Landulphus Sagax calls this same matron Badigamus. (66) The Anonymous writer on Saracenic affairs writes that this Arian monk was ejected from the monastery of Callistratus in Constantinople due to depraved thoughts in the faith: The name of this monk was Sergius, as various readings of Theophanes and the Historia Longobardica testify: "There was a certain monk who instructed Mahomet, named Sergius, who, falling into the error of Nestorius, while he was expelled by the monks, came into Arabia, and adhered to Mahomet." Moreover, it is incorrectly written in the Chronicle of the Altissiodorensis monk as "Selgi monk" instead of "Sergius monk." (67) Theophanes narrates the whole matter more fully, and it is thus: "The woman, therefore, being more credulous than others of the false abbot's words, subsequently placed faith in the man, and spread among other women of her own tribe that he was a prophet: and in this way the matter was propagated from women to men, and before others it reached Abubacharus, whom he later left as his successor." Cedrenus, who everywhere transcribes Theophanes almost word for word, here differs from him in many things, as may be seen under the year of the empire of Heraclius Aug.

marking him a prophet, there arose the falsehood of the deception, even to a certain phylarch ^A named Bubachar. Now, the woman having died, and having left him as her successor and heir, he became conspicuous and exceedingly wealthy, and this wicked delusion and his heresy laid hold of the parts of Ethribus. This senseless and deluded man taught those who believed in him that whoever kills an enemy, or is killed by an enemy, enters Paradise, and other such trifles that he prattles on about. They also pray to the star of Venus ^B, which they call Cubar, and they cry out in their prayer thus: *Alla oua Cubar*, which is to say, "God and Venus." For they call God *Alla*, and *oua* they place as a conjunction for "and"; and they call the star *Cubar*, and say thus: *Alla oua Cubar*.

CAPUT XV. De genere Phatemitarum.

It must be known that Phatem was the daughter of Mahomet, and from her the Phatemites derive their origin. But these are not from Phateme, which is a region of Libya; rather, they dwell toward the northern parts of Meca ^C beyond the sepulchre of Mahomet himself.

ANSELMI BANDURII NOTÆ.

(68) I read here with Meursius, and so it is held in the Anonymous *in Saracenicis*. In the manuscripts it is read as "phylarch," but in more recent Greeks, those who were leaders of the Saracens were for the most part called Phylarchs: for they were divided into tribes, which had their own Phylarchs, as Sozomen writes, book vi, cap. 38. Procopius, book i, *de Bello Persico*, cap. 17. See Ducange's *Glossarium Graecum*. (69) This name is found written in various ways. Theophanes: Abubachar. Anastasius and Cedrenus: Abubachar. Anonymous *in Saracenicis*: Bubachar. Landulphus: Eububazer. But Theophanes and Cedrenus relate the matter in a different way, and it was primarily from a woman that it came to men, to Abubachar, whom he left as his successor. (69*) For when they were formerly idolaters, and were worshipping the one called Aphrodite among the Greeks—that is, pleasure—and were mythologizing that her star was the morning star, which they also named *Cudar* ^D in their own barbarous tongue, which means "Great," they remained until now calling Aphrodite a god. Lest we seem to some to be lying, let us clarify their great mystery. The wording of their foul and most profane prayer is thus: *Alla, alla oua kubar, alla*. And *alla, alla* is interpreted as "God, God," and *oua* as "and," and *kubar* as "great," that is, "moon and Venus." Which is to say thus: "God, God is greater, And the great one, that is to say, Aphrodite, is God." And this is clarified by the addition of the final "alla," all of which they speak secretly according to the specificity of their own tongue.

In which they say there lies a great stone, having an impression of Aphrodite. And this is honored as if Abraham had conversed with Hagar above it, or as if he had tied his camel to it when he was about to sacrifice Isaac. The same is related by Euthymius Zigabenus in his *Panoplia*, tit. XXVIII. The rest which is held in this chapter is to be compared with Cedrenus, Euthymius Zigabenus, and the Anonymous *in Saracenicis*. (70) I read with Meursius. In the manuscripts it is falsely read, for he says immediately: "God and Venus," for he says *oua* instead of the conjunction "and." (72) Meursius says *Mexe*, or *Maxe*, or *Baxé*. It was the place in which Mahomet tells the story that a house of prayer was built by Abraham and Ismael. *Catechesis Saracenorum*: "I anathematize the myth-making of Mahomet, in which he says that a house of prayer would be built for God by Abraham and Ismael at *Baxé*, that is to say, *Maxe*, or *Maxech*, which he calls a place of prostration of the observation." And he orders that wherever they might be and pray, they should turn their faces toward that region. I anathematize also that *Maxe* itself, and its entire region, and the seven stones thrown there by the Saracens against the Christians. *Historia Longobardica*: "But once every year, for the sake of recognition, they are commanded to go to the house of God, which is in Mecha, and there to worship, and to go around it with seamless coverings, and to throw stones through the middle openings for the stoning of the devil." Which house they say Adam constructed, and which was a place of prayer for all his sons and for Abraham and Ismael. Finally, they affirm that Mahomet bequeathed that house to himself and all his own nations. Landulphus Sagax calls it the place of blasphemy, book XXII.

inhabit. The Arabian people are exceedingly well-trained in engaging in battle and war. For it was with the aid of this race that Muameth waged war, and he sacked and subjugated many cities and regions. For they are valiant and warlike; so much so that if even a thousand of them are found in a camp, such a camp becomes unconquerable and irresistible. They do not ride horses, but camels; and during the time of war they do not wear cuirasses or chainmail, but buckled cloaks 73; and they have long spears, and shields that cover the whole man, and very large wooden bows which those of shorter stature can scarcely pull.

CAPUT XVI.

From the canon which Stephen the mathematician formulated by divining from the stars regarding the expedition of the Saracens, in what year from the foundation of the world it occurred, and who was then the emperor of the Romans.

The Saracens went forth on the third day of the month of September of the tenth indiction, in the twelfth year of Heraclius, the year from the foundation of the world 6130. The prophecy from the stars concerning these Saracens was made on the third day of the month of September, on a Thursday. At this same time the first leader of the Arabs was Muameth, whom they themselves call Muchumet, who also existed as their prophet; he held the rule of the Arabs for nine years.

CAPUT XVII.

From the Chronicle of the blessed Theophanes.

In this same year, that is, 6139, Muameth 78, the leader and pseudo-prophet of the Saracens, departed this life, having appointed in his place Abubacharum, who also...

tutor, his relative. ^A The deluded Jews, at the beginning of his appearance, thought him to be the Christ expected by them, so that some of their leading men even came to him and accepted his religion, abandoning the religion of the God-seer Moses. But when they saw him eating off a camel, they recognized that he was not the one they had supposed. They taught him things unlawful against the Christians and lived with him. These are the ones who were the authors of his accepting certain parts of the law, namely circumcision and certain other things which the Saracens observe. First, therefore, Abubachar followed him and proclaimed him a prophet, wherefore he also left him as his successor. His sect occupied the regions of Yathrib, ^B first secretly for ten years, then finally by war for ten years also, and openly for nine years. He taught his own subjects that he who has killed an enemy, or who is killed by an enemy, enters into paradise without hindrance. He said that paradise was a place of carnal food and drink and the intercourse of women; and he said that a river of wine and honey and milk flows there, and that the appearance of the women is beyond comparison, not those who are now, but others; and he spoke of long-lasting intercourse and unique pleasure, and other things full of debauchery and madness. He also ordered them to sympathize with one another and to help those who are treated unjustly.

CAPUT XVIII. Second leader of the Arabs, Abubachar, three years.

This Abubachar is the first to take the city of Gaza ^C and all the surrounding region. He died.

ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES. ...whom they had supposed; but what they were to do, they remained in doubt: yet because the wretches feared to abandon his superstition, they teach him to contrive wicked things against the Christians: meanwhile they held fellowship with him. Then Theophanes proceeds to weave the genealogy of Mahomet; from which Theophanes’ narrative, Porphyrogenitus, chapter 14, adorned *On the Genealogy of Mahomet*. ^D ...falsely has it: for that [phrase] must be deleted, since he expounds the mad doctrine of the impious Mahomet more fully... Abubacharus, however, held the principate of the Arabs for two years and a half, as Theophanes, Cedrenus, Anastasius, and others report. Meursius writes falsely in the Notes that Theophanes assigns only two years to Abubacharus; for the tables of Theophanes ascribe three years to him, and at the [24th] year of Heraclius, the same Theophanes writes that Abubacharus was dead, after having reigned for two years and a half: Abubacharus sent four leaders who took Heram and the whole region of Gaza, as Theophanes writes in the same place.

The same Abubachar, having reigned for three years, yielded his authority to Umar, who held the Arab principate for twelve years.

Chapter XIX. The third Arab prince, Umar.

^A Umar himself therefore undertook an expedition against Palestine, and having sat down before Jerusalem, he besieged it for two years and took it by guile. For Sophronius, the bishop of Jerusalem, moved by divine zeal and excelling in sharpness of mind, received from him a most secure guarantee regarding the churches of all Palestine, so that the churches should remain undemolished and unravaged. Seeing this, Sophronius said: "This is truly the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place." He sought out the temple of the Jews, which Solomon had built, to make it a place for the adoration of his own blasphemy. And it remains until this day.

Chapter XX. The fourth Arab prince, Uthman.

He conquered Africa by war and, having reached an agreement on tribute with the Africans, returned. His military commander was named Mavias, who destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes and ravaged Cyprus with all its cities. Furthermore, he captured the island of Arados, set fire to its city, and rendered the island desert of inhabitants until this day. ^B Having captured the island of Rhodes, he took down its Colossus one thousand three hundred and sixty years after it had been erected; a certain Edessene merchant, a Jew, having bought it, loaded nine hundred camels with its bronze. This same Mavias also marched against Constantinople.

Notes of Anselm Banduri

(86) Theophanes ascribes the same number of years to Umar. (87) See Theophanes, year 26 of Heraclius, the 2nd year of the principate. (88) In the tenth year of his principate, Umar moved to restore the temple at Jerusalem, as Theophanes relates in the same place. (89) In the 2nd year of Uthman, and the 6th year of the reign of Constans, the Saracens undertook an expedition to Africa and, having joined battle with the tyrant Gregory, put him to flight, destroyed his army, and, having imposed taxes on Africa by treaty, returned. See Theophanes for the year of the same Augustus. (90) With a fleet of 1700 ships, he undertook an expedition to Cyprus; he captured the city of Constantia, ^C subdued the whole island, and afflicted it with great slaughter. See Theophanes in the year of the reign of Constans; and the 3rd year of Uthman’s principate. (91) Mavias besieged Arados in the 5th year of the principate of Uthman, but in vain; for although his efforts were strenuous, he achieved nothing, and because winter was setting in, he retreated to Damascus with the siege rendered fruitless; in the following year, however, he turned his arms again against Arados and captured it on the condition that the townspeople could live wherever they pleased; but he ravaged the city with fire, overturned its walls, and rendered the island desert of all its inhabitants until this day. See Theophanes in the same place. (92) The Saracens occupied Rhodes and overturned the Colossus in the 12th year of the reign of Constans, but in the 8th year of Uthman's principate, as Theophanes writes. ^D From these, however, says Jacobus Goar, calculate when the Rhodian Colossus was erected. In the year from the creation of the world 5145, and from the birth of Christ 645, it being sold at the price of the metal from which it had been cast, it was 1360 years after it had been erected. It was therefore erected in the year from the creation of the world 4785, in which, according to the computation of Georgius Syncellus (whose continuator is Theophanes), Ezechias counted the twentieth year of his reign. Or again: the year of Abraham is consecrated to the birth of Christ in Eusebius. Add to these 645 years after the birth; the result will be the year 2660 after Abraham, upon which the light dawned; subtracting 1360, there remains 1300, a sum which in Eusebius has the 25th year of Ezechias connected to it. Otherwise: in the year after Christ 645, the bronze of the Rhodian Colossus arrived 1360 years after it was erected; thus 715 years before Christ, to which year, according to Petavius in *De Doctrina Temporum*, lib. XII, p. 547, the 13th year of the reign of Ezechias is joined; to which, by adding seven others (which he contends are missing in the computation of Theophanes, about which elsewhere), the 20th year of Ezechias arises, which has already been collected from Syncellus. I say in summary: the Colossus was placed in the Rhodian harbor around the 20th year of Ezechias, or some year close to it. (93) This is from Theophanes and from the *Regio* copy, where not only in this chapter, but also in the following, in which he speaks also of the Rhodian Colossus, the note is numbered.

and encamped, and devastated Ephesus, Halicarnassus, and Smyrna, and the remaining cities of Ionia. He also became the fifth leader of the Arabs after the death of Uthman, reigning for twenty-four years.

CHAPTER XXI.

It should be known that shortly before the death of Muawiya, the fifth leader of the Arabs, the Mardaites entered into Lebanon and occupied the territory from the Black Mountain as far as the Holy City; they seized the mountain passes of Lebanon, and many slaves and natives fled to them, so that in a short time they increased to many thousands. When Muawiya and his advisors learned of this, they were struck with great fear. He sent envoys to Emperor Constantine seeking peace. For this reason, John, nicknamed Pitzecaudes, was sent by the Emperor Constantine the Orthodox, son of Pogonatus. When he reached Syria, Muawiya received him with great honor, and it was agreed between them that a written peace treaty should be made, confirmed by oath, on the condition of an annual tribute to be provided to the Roman Emperor by the Hagarenes, consisting of three thousand gold coins, eight hundred captives, and fifty thoroughbred horses. ^A Upon this, the rule of the Arabs was divided into two parts. ^{B C D}

^A Ali held authority over Athribos, while Mavias held Egypt, Palestine, and Damascus. Those dwelling in Athribos, along with the sons of Ali, campaigned against Mavias. Mavias armed himself in opposition to them, and joined battle by the river Euphrates; the party of Ali was defeated, and Mavias took Athribos and the entire land of Syria. His lineage held power for two hundred years. ^B After him came forth those called Maurophori from Persis, who rule to this day; they warred against the lineage of Mavias and wiped it out. They slaughtered Maruam, their head. A few of the house of Mavias were left behind, and they were pursued by the Maurophori as far as Africa, along with one grandson of Mavias. This same grandson of Mavias, with a few followers, crossed over into Spain in the days of Justinian Rhinotmetus, and not [in the days of] Pogonatus. This, however, has not been consigned to writing by our historians. For from the time that great Rome was captured by the Goths, Roman affairs began to be mutilated, and not one of the historians made mention of the parts of Spain, nor of the lineage of Mavias. The history of the blessed Theophanes, however, holds as follows: "Mavias, the leader of the Saracens, died, having been general for twenty-six years, and amir for twenty-four years; and Izid, his son, held the rule of the Arabs for six years." When he died, the Arabs of Athribos were in turmoil, and they appointed for themselves as leader Abdelas, the son of Zuber. ^C

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(1) Dissension arose among the Arabs. For those who held the desert region desired Alim, the nephew of Ali—the son-in-law of Muamed—as prince; but those who inhabited Syria and Egypt promoted Mavias, whose party proved superior, and he held the empire for twenty-four years.

(2) In this year Mavias campaigned against Ali; and both gathered between Bardalissus, at the Caesarium near the Euphrates. The troops of Mavias, having become the stronger, seized the water; and the troops of Ali, coming to thirst, deserted. Mavias did not want to fight; but without labor he won the victory.

(3) The number of years here agrees with the death of Mavias, which happened in the 9th year of the reign of Constantine Pogonatus, 678 A.D., to the year 9 of Constantine Copronymus, 748 A.D., in which the Chorasanitae and Maurophori moved an expedition against Maruam; seventy years intervene: of this expedition Theophanes speaks at length in the year of the same Copronymus.

(4) Maruam having been killed by the Maurophori, the remaining kinsmen, survivors of the calamities, migrated from Egypt into Africa; thence crossing the narrow strait of the sea which separates Libya from Europe near the Ocean (the place was named Septem), they held the Spanish part of Europe until this present time; [others have noted] others of the same superstition, and born of the same stock, whom Mavias had indeed deported there by ships, had inhabited that region before. So Theophanes in the 9th year of the reign of Constantine Copronymus. From which it appears that our writer here confuses the first expedition, which the Arabs made into Africa, with this second one, which happened after Maruam was killed by the Maurophori; of which indeed Theophanes speaks in the 9th year of the reign of Constantine Copronymus.

(5) Concerning the posterity of Mavias, who reigned in Spain, see Rodericus Toletanus in his history of the Arabs.

(6) Theophanes reports the death of Mavias in the 9th year of Constantine Pogonatus: In this year, on the sixth day of the month of April, in the first indiction, Mavias, the first king of the Saracens, was extinguished by death. He acted as leader of his people for twenty years, and was declared amir for twenty-four years.

(7) Edition has 26 years. The codices of Theophanes, Palati and Peyresiani, hold as our writer [26].

(8) So the Codex. The Tables of Theophanes ascribe to Izid 6 years. But he is called Izid by Cedrenus, and Gizid by Landulphus.

(9) Theophanes speaks of the death of Mavias in the 9th year of the reign of Constantine Pogonatus, but with different words.

Bosporus and their families; but he himself was making his journey with his own tribe in an orderly manner, so as to surrender the families and depart once he had gathered the Chersonites.

The Chersonites, having received their own envoys in the city of Bosporus and having learned everything that had been done by Constans and Sauromatus, delivered to the man of Sauromatus both the Bosporus and the fortifications of Maeotis and all the families unharmed, and they took possession of the Chersonite territory in peace. Constans, once Sauromatus had departed from the Roman territories, himself also set out for Rome and reported to the Emperor all that had been done by the Chersonites, bringing with him also their two envoys. When the Emperor saw them and received them kindly, and had expressed his greatest thanks, he said to them: "What do you wish that I should grant to you and to your city in return for such goodwill and alliance?" But they said to the Emperor: "We, Master, desire nothing else, except that we ask only for this one thing, that you might grant unto us pledges of freedom and immunity from our empire." And the Emperor, gladly bowing to their request, generously granted them such pledges of freedom and immunity, and sent them away with many gifts to the Chersonites, as they were true subjects of the Roman Empire. Constans, having himself also been greatly received by the Emperor Diocletian because he had courageously arrayed himself in the war against the Sauromatae, and having become illustrious and renowned, after a short time succeeded to the Roman empire, upon Diocletian withdrawing to Nicomedia.

After Constans had died in Rome, his son Constantine reigned. And when he had come to Byzantium, and some of the Scythians were rebelling, he was reminded of what he had heard from his father Constans concerning the goodwill and alliance of the Chersonites, and he sent envoys to the Chersonites, with the request that they should take up arms against the Scythians and subdue the rebels. The prince and protector of the Chersonites at that time was Diogenes, the son of Diogenes; and the Chersonites, gladly obeying the command, with all zeal prepared their war-chariots and the ballistae, and arrived at the river Ister; and having crossed it, they arrayed themselves against the rebels and put them to flight. When the Emperor learned of the rout brought about by them, he ordered them to return to their own land; and having summoned their leaders to Byzantium and given them the greatest thanks, he said to them: "Since you have labored for us graciously even now, just as you did before for our pious ancestors of the imperial line, behold, we also confirm for you the freedom and immunity from tribute granted to you, throughout the regions of the Roman empire; furthermore, we also give a golden statue with imperial chlamys, fibula, and golden crown, for the adornment of your city; likewise our written charter concerning both your freedom and immunity and that of your sailors; furthermore, because of the sincerity of your goodwill, we also give golden rings, in which is depicted the image of our majesty, so that by these your petitions and reports... ^D

Having risen up, they set up as their leader Abdelas, the son of Zubair. Hearing this, the Agarenes living in Phoenicia, Palestine, and Damascus come to Usas, the emir of Palestine, and they propose Maruam and establish him as their leader, and he holds the authority for nine months. Upon his death, Abimelech his son succeeds to the authority and holds it for twenty-two years and six months. He overcomes the tyrants and kills Abdelas, the son of Zubair, and his successor. During these events, the Emperor Constantine, son of Pogonatus, dies—having held the Roman authority for seventeen years—and Justinian his son reigned in his stead. It must be noted that the leader of the Arabs, Mavias, who held the authority of the Arabs as the fifth from Mahomet, was not from the lineage of Mahomet, but from another tribe. And first, indeed, he was appointed commander and admiral by Uthman, leader of the Arabs, and was sent against the Roman state with a strong force and twelve hundred cataphract ships. And he penetrated as far as Rhodes, and from there, having equipped himself, he advanced as far as Constantinople, and having spent a considerable time there—namely, seven years—having laid waste all the territory around Byzantium, he returned empty-handed. But having come to Rhodes, he took down the Colossus standing there. It was actually a bronze, gilded statue of the Sun from head to foot, having a height of eighty cubits and a width in proportion to the height, as the epigram inscribed at the base of its feet testifies, which has it thus:

The Colossus in Rhodes, eight times ten Cubits high, did Laches the Lindian make.

Rhodo colossum bis quater cubitis decem Superbientem Lindius fecit Laches.

^A in the designated places, both parties took up stations on the mountains. Sauromatus, being of great age, trusted in himself and boasted, raging against the Chersonites, while also taking heart in the infinite multitude that was with him. But Pharnacus was small in stature compared to Sauromatus, and having seen the multitude of Sauromatus, he deliberated with his own army to challenge him to a duel, so that an infinite multitude should not perish. And indeed, such a deliberation having taken place, Pharnacus made it known to the multitude of Sauromatus, saying: "What need is there for such a great crowd to suffer destruction? For you did not turn to war by your own choice, but Sauromatus incited you. Be willing, therefore, to persuade him to duel with me; and if through God I prevail over him, you shall return home unharmed, and both he and his city shall be subjected to me; but if he should be able to prevail over me, likewise you shall return home to your own lands, and he shall take possession of my territory." The crowd of Sauromatians, having gladly accepted this, urged Sauromatus to duel with Pharnacus. Sauromatus, therefore, having learned that Pharnacus was very small in stature, but himself being of enormous size, rejoiced at this, trusting in his own strength and armored in the weapons he used. And these things having been decided, Pharnacus said to his own army: "When I descend, by the grace of God, to the duel, and you see that Sauromatus has his back toward you, and his face toward his own men, while I have my face toward you and my back toward the enemies, all of you raise one shout (73), and only saying 'a, a', and do not repeat the shout." And when both of them had descended into the plain for the duel, and were maneuvering against one another, and Pharnacus had come to the side of Sauromatus, and Sauromatus to the side of Pharnacus, the army of Pharnacus gave one shout: "a, a." But Sauromatus ^B being arrogant and relying on both his physical size and the multitude of his soldiers, insolently insulted the Chersonites. But Pharnacus, small in stature compared to Sauromatus, and considering his forces, having held council with his men, decided, so that an infinite multitude might not perish, to fight in single combat with Sauromatus; and having settled the matter, Pharnacus announced to the soldiers of Sauromatus that there was no need for such a great multitude to perish, nor that they had come to war of their own volition, but at the instigation of Sauromatus; they should therefore prefer to be the authors of his descending to single combat; and if, with God’s help, I defeat him, you shall return home unharmed, and he himself and his city shall be submitted to me, and on the contrary, if he should overcome me, you shall likewise return home, and he shall occupy my land. When this matter was agreeable to the Sauromatians, they persuaded Sauromatus to enter into single combat with Pharnacus. Sauromatus, therefore, having learned that Pharnacus was of diminutive stature, and relying on his own height, strength, and the arms which he used, gladly accepted the condition. Pharnacus, however, being about to fight, said to his soldiers: "When I have entered into single combat with the good God’s help, and you see Sauromatus turned with his back to you, and his face toward his own men, but I have turned my face to you and my back to the enemies, with one voice you shall all shout 'A A'; and you shall not repeat this shout." When therefore both had come into the plain for single combat, and were fighting between themselves, and Sauromatus was turned toward the parts of Pharnacus, and Pharnacus toward the parts of Sauromatus, the soldier of Pharnacus shouted with one voice: "A A." Having heard this shout, Sauromatus turned himself to see who this person was, the shout having been arranged for the combat, which was raised in the army of Pharnacus. And while he was turning, his helmet visor having been pulled up a little, Pharnacus immediately struck him with a spear and killed him. When Sauromatus had fallen, Pharnacus, descending from his horse, cut off his head. Being the victor, he dismissed the people of the Maeotian marsh, but keeping the Bosporans in bonds, he established the limits of their captured land in Cybernicum above the Chersonites, leaving them only forty miles of land, and these limits remain to this day. ^C

ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES. (73) And a little below the same Constantine says: "one voice." Anna Comnena lib. viii, pag. 292: "with one voice." For that was the opinion of the ancient tacticians, that enemies are terrified if a horror of shouting is added to the throwing of missiles, as is in Vegetius, book iii, chapter 18, and Leo in *Tactics*, chapter 20, § 114, reports things in agreement with this. This shout was mixed with exhortation, just as Sallust says regarding the Jugurthine War. Hence it is called a "parakaleusmos" by Constantine Manasses. Sometimes an "alala-gmos," or "Areian lalage"; the "Enyalios kelados," as Heliodorus says in lib. i; the ancient Gauls called it "Barditus," as Tacitus writes. But from the time when the Christian religion was brought into the world, those voices, confused and uncertain, which were accustomed to be uttered by soldiers as a token or sign of confidence, ceased, and in their place came the prayer for divine aid, sent to heaven with one mouth by everyone. Moreover, the author ^D implies that Constantine the Great was the originator of this custom. Eusebius, book iv of the *Life of the same Constantine*, chapters 19 and 20, and in the *Oration on the Praises of the Emperor himself*, while he writes that he instructed his soldiers that, at the start of battle, they should seek God as their ally in battle with this prayer: "We recognize Thee alone as God, Thee we acknowledge as King, Thee we invoke as a helper, from Thee we have obtained our victories," etc. And hence some think that it became established among Christians that all battles should be started by an invocation of God. But they are mistaken, since any people would start battles with a divine invocation; the chosen people from the invocation of the true God, as the sacred Scriptures testify everywhere; the Greeks, however, used to sing two paeans: one before the battle to Mars; the other after the battle to Apollo and Diana.

And he took his bronze and transported it into Syria, and offered it for sale to whomsoever would. A certain Hebrew from Emesa bought it, who loaded it from the sea onto nine hundred and eighty camels. ^B

Upon the death of Uthman, Mavias assumed the principate of the Arabs; and he held under his rule the holy city, parts of Palestine, Damascus, Antioch, and all the cities of Egypt. But Alim, who had taken to wife Mahomet’s daughter, Phatime, held Ethrib and all of Arabia Petraea. In those days, therefore, Alim and Mavias, contending with one another for the empire of Syria, broke out into open war, and joined fierce battle by the Euphrates; but as the conflict persisted, and many were falling on both sides, it was shouted from both sides of the Agarenes: Why do we rush into mutual slaughter, and our race is removed from the ranks of men? Verily, let two elders be chosen from both sides, and let him obtain the principate whom they shall prefer to the other. The advice pleased Alim and Mavias, and they drew the rings from their hands and gave them to the two elders; for this among the Agarenes is the sign of the principate, and they committed their power to the will of the two elders, having first sworn an oath that they would acknowledge as lord and prince of all the Saracens whomever the elders should select. And when both elders had progressed into the midst of the camps, and stood in the space interposed between the two lines, the elder who stood on the side of Alim was considered by the Saracens to be a pious man, of the number of those whom they call Cades, that is to say, faithful and holy. But the elder of Mavias wore only the appearance of piety, being otherwise treacherous and contumacious, and surpassing all men in malice: he accosted the elder Alemi thus: Do you, he said, speak your judgment first, as you are a prudent man, pious, and older than I by many years. The elder Alemi replied: As I cast Alim from the principate when I drew the ring from his hand and placed it upon my own finger; so I cast out the ring of Alemi from my finger, and with it him from the principate. To whom the elder of Mavias answered: ^C As I brought Mavias into the principate when I placed his ring upon my finger; so I place the ring of Mavias upon his finger. And then they departed from one another. Mavias therefore assumes the principate of Syria, because all had sworn to the Amirezi that they would obey the words of the elders. Alim, therefore, with his people and all his kindred, departed into the parts of Ethrib, and there he met his final day. ^D

^A Hearing such a cry, Sauromates turned his head to see who had made the noise; and as Sauromates turned his face backward, the visor of his helmet opened a little, and Pharnaces, quickly rushing forward, struck Sauromates with his spear and killed him. When Sauromates had fallen, Pharnaces dismounted from his horse and decapitated him; and having become master of the war, he liberated the multitude of the Maeotians, but took the captives of Bosporus, and having stripped them of their land, he placed them in Kybernikon, above the border of the Chersonites, leaving them only forty miles of land; which borders remain until this day; and the aforementioned first borders are kept in Caffa.

Having kept a few of the Bosporians with him for the sake of agriculture, Pharnaces, moved by pity for the rest of them, allowed them to return to their own. Those who returned, on account of such a benefit and kindness shown to them by him, erected a statue to him in Bosporus. From that time on, the kingdom of the Sauromatae in Bosporus was dissolved.

When these things had happened, with Lamachus holding the office of stephanephoros and holding primacy among the Chersonites, and with Asander ruling over the Bosporians, ^B the Bosporians, full of much malice against the Chersonites and being in no way able to remain quiet in their wickedness, were always eager in some way to make retaliation for their captives to the Chersonites. And having learned that Lamachus had an only daughter, Gycia, and that Asander had sons, they devised an intermarriage, so that by this means they might enter the land of the Chersonites and take revenge with impunity. And so they send envoys to the Chersonites, exhorting: "If we know that true love exists between us, and that we deal with one another without guile, let us intermarry; and give us as a bride the daughter of Lamachus, your leader, for the sake of the son of Asander, our lord, or take him there to be your son-in-law, ^C and we know that we have mutual trust, with the son of the king abiding among you."

The Chersonites said to them: "We do not endure to give our daughter unto you; but if you wish to give one of the sons of Asander your king to us as a son-in-law, we accept; on condition, however, that whoever comes may never be able to attempt a return to the Bosporians for the sake of visiting or greeting his own father: if he should nevertheless attempt it, let him die at that very hour."

The envoys were dismissed on these terms, and having returned home and reported what had been done, Asander sent again to the Chersonites, saying: "If you speak truly, and give me assurance that Lamachus is willing to join his daughter to my eldest son, I will send that very one to you to become your son-in-law." Lamachus was at that time, as it is said, very rich in gold and silver, in manservants and maidservants, in horses and very many estates, and he had a house in four regions, in breadth and in length, ^D up to what was called Susa, where he also had his own gate in the wall and four large portals for entrance and exit, together with other splendid smaller doorways; such that as his flocks came into the city, the individual herds of cattle, and of horses and mares, and of oxen and heifers, and of sheep and donkeys, would each enter through its own gate and depart to its own stable.

brought Mavia into power, just as they brought his ring onto my finger, so I brought Mavia’s ring onto his finger; and then they separated from each other. Mavia then took over the authority of Syria, since all the emirs had sworn to each other that whatever the elders said, they would obey their words. Alim, then, having taken his people, went off to the regions of Athridou with all his kin, and there he ended his life.

^B After the death of Alim, his sons, deeming his father’s counsel to be nonsense and ravings, rose up against Mavia and joined a fierce battle with him; and being defeated, they fled from his presence; and Mavia sent forth and killed them all. From that time on, all the authority of the Arabs came to Mavia. It must be known that this Mavia was a descendant of Sophiam. A descendant of Mavia was Masalmas, who campaigned against Constantinople, and at whose request the Saracen sanctuary [(24)] was built in the imperial praetorium. He was not the leader of the Arabs, but Suleeman was the leader of the Saracens, and Masalmas served in the rank of general. Suleeman came with his fleet against Constantinople, and Masalmas by land, and he crossed at Lampsacus into the regions of Thrace, leading with him eighty thousand soldiers; and through the providence of God, when the fleet of Suleeman, the leader of the Arabs, and the infantry of Masalmas all returned with shame, having been defeated and overcome both by the fleet and the soldiers of the emperor, our commonwealth enjoyed peace for a very long time, through the leadership and protection of our Lady and ever-virgin Mary, the Theotokos, who protects this city, whose immaculate and holy icon Suleeman himself [(25)] also venerated and was awestruck by, and he fell from his horse.

CHAPTER XXII

Excerpt from the chronographer, the blessed Theophanes, concerning the same matters, and concerning Mavia and his lineage, how he crossed into Spain. The Roman emperor Justinian Rhinotmetus [(26)]. This is the beginning of his reign [(27)], and...

And she ordered the maid to place the whorl properly in its place; and she took hold of her and, embracing her, kissed her sincerely, and said to her: "Do not be afraid, child, your fault is forgiven; for God willed that you should stumble, so that He might reveal the treachery to us. See to it, therefore, that you be able to keep the matter quiet, and do not dare to confide this to anyone at all." And thenceforth she kept her with her more than before, as she was a faithful servant.

^A And Gycia, having called two of her kinsmen whom she trusted very much, says to them in private: "Go, assemble among yourselves in secret the chief men and nobles of the city, and let them select three men who are faithful, capable of keeping a secret and carrying out a task; and let them all bind them by oath to inform me on those things that I am about to ask them. And let them send them to me in secret, and I have something necessary and useful to the city to confide to them; only do quickly what I tell you." And when her kinsmen had departed and had told these things in secret to the chief men, they immediately chose three men whom they knew to be faithful; and having bound them all by oath, that if they should agree with Gycia either to do or to give, they should not rescind their words, but should carry out to the end what was ordered by her. And these having gone to Gycia in secret, she received them and says to them: "Can you assure me by oath regarding the things I am about to ask you, that you will do these things?" And they said to her: "Yes, mistress, we are ready to assure you regarding the things you wish to seek from us, that your words will be carried out to the end." Then Gycia says to them: "Assure me, that if I should die, you will bury me in the middle of the city, and I will tell you my secret; see, I am not asking a heavy thing of you." And the men, having heard this, with all eagerness assured her by oath, saying, "If you die, we will bury you in the middle of the city, and we will not carry you outside the walls." And Gycia, being persuaded by their oaths, says to them: "On the conditions that you have assured me, since then I reveal to you my secret; see, I wish for you to know that my husband, having the innate evil of his city, that of treachery and envy against us, has secretly brought into my house, without my knowledge, a crowd of Bosporians, up to two hundred, and is feeding them armed; but God has now, through a pretense, revealed it to me. He, therefore, has this plan: that, he says, when I give a feast to the city in memory of my father, and you, having feasted, have gone to sleep, he himself will rise in the night with the Bosporians and his own household, and set fire to your houses, and slaughter you all. And see then, the anniversary day of my father’s memory is now arriving, and I must, according to my oath, give to you as is my custom, what is necessary for the feast, and I am prepared to provide everything. ^D I would have you, therefore, all come gladly, and request and receive everything willingly, so that by no means he might understand that we have found out the matter, and some civil war might suddenly arise. Therefore publicly, as is the custom, hold the feast, but with moderation; and behave with dances in the streets: let each one indeed show wood, baggage, and solid torches in your houses, so that, as I refuse the feast and the dances, he may think that you are going away to rest,

again he entered, having cast out Leontius and Apsimar 28, and having led both of them in triumph in the hippodrome, he slew them 29. In this year 30, Abimelech sends to Justinian ^B to confirm the peace in this manner: that the emperor should put a stop to the legion of the Mardaites in Mount Lebanon, and should prevent their incursions, and that Abimelech should give to the Romans one thousand nomismata each day, and one noble horse, and one Ethiopian slave 31, and that they should have in common, in equal shares, the tributes of Cyprus, Armenia, and Iberia. And the emperor sent Paul the magistrianus to Abimelech to secure what had been agreed upon, and a written guarantee was made ^C with witnesses. And the magistrianus, having been honored with gifts, returned. And the emperor, having sent to them, led away twelve thousand Mardaites from their settlements; which action diminished and weakened the Roman power. For all the territories whose fortresses the Arabs now occupy, from Mopsuestia up to the fourth Armenia, were until then weak and uninhabited because of the incursion of the Mardaites; and once they were restrained, the Roman Empire has suffered and continues to suffer, up to the present day, the most terrible calamities 32 from the Arabs 33. ^D In the same year, the emperor 34 entered Armenia and there received the Mardaites of Lebanon, having dismantled that wall of bronze 35; and he dissolved the peace that had been firmly established with the Bulgarians, having overturned the precedents 36 which his own father had rightly and prudently ordained. While Abimelech was still in power 37, the Arabs campaigned against Africa and took it, and established a garrison from their own army therein.

and as I, too, make my preparations more quickly, and command my gates to be secured, do you immediately, in great silence, with your children and handmaidens ^A bring everything, and place the wood, baggage, and torches at my gates and posterns, and around the entire house, having poured oil on the wood so that it may catch fire more quickly; and when I come out and say to you, immediately take up the fire. And do you, in armor, stand around the house, so that wherever you see anyone leaping out of the house through a window, you may slay them. Therefore, go and tell this secret, and prepare everything that I have said to you." Hearing these things from the three men, the citizens did everything in haste according to the word of Gycia. ^B

When the day of the memorial arrived, Gycia, as if rejoicing, sent for the men of the city, urging them to receive the provisions for the celebration; her husband also concurred in this, and exhorted that more wine be given to them for the celebration. The citizens, having gladly received everything, rejoiced as they had been commanded, and danced all day long. But when evening came, the citizens began to make preparations and to go away to their own houses to rest, and they made merry with their whole households. And Gycia, in her own house, encouraging all of hers to drink fearlessly, so that they might become intoxicated and sleep more quickly, commanded only her chambermaids to remain sober, and she herself also abstained from wine. For having found a purple cup, she gave it to her chambermaid who was privy to the affair, and commanded her to mix water in it for her; and her husband, seeing the purple cup, did not suspect that she was drinking with water. And the evening having arrived, and the citizens, as I have already said, having finished their preparations, Gycia says to her husband: "Since we have feasted, come, let us also go to bed." Her husband, hearing this word, rejoiced all the more, and fell asleep; for he could not have said this himself, lest he give his wife cause to suspect the ruse he was devising. ^C

Gycia therefore commands all the gates and small doors to be secured, and the keys to be brought to her according to custom; and this having been done, she says in secret to her faithful chambermaid who knew of the ruse: "Be willing, with the remaining chambermaids, to skillfully take up all my jewelry, and the gold, and whatever useful things you are able to tuck into your bosoms, and make yourselves ready; so that when I say to you, follow me." And they, having obeyed her commands, were ready. But her husband having gone to bed, intending to sleep a little, so that he might rise again soon ^D

Leontius at that time had cast out Justinian from the Roman throne and, having exiled him to Cherson, he held the empire. After Tiberius Apsimar had succeeded Leontius in the kingship and held the Roman scepter, Abimelech, the leader of the Arabs, died, and his son Valid ruled for nine years.

In that same year, Justinian returned again to the throne; and because he governed it lethargically and carelessly, the Agarenes conquered the whole of Africa. Then the grandson of Mavia, with a small force, crossed over into Spain and, having gathered all those of his own race, he gained control of Spain, which they hold to this day. Whence the Agarenes living in Spain are called Maviatae. The Agarenes who inhabit Crete happen to be their descendants. For when Michael the Stammerer ^B held the Roman throne and the rebellion of Thomas occurred, lasting for three years, the king was occupied with these attendant troubles. The Agarenes living in Spain, finding an opportunity, fitted out a sufficient fleet and, starting from the regions of Sicily, they ravaged all the Cyclades islands; and coming to Crete, they found it convenient and undefended, and with no one rising up or fighting against them, they seized it and have held it to this day. Suleeman succeeds Valid, and he rules for three years. Under him, Masalmas, the general of Suleeman, campaigned with an army by land, and Umarus by sea, and by the cooperation of God they returned in shame and without success. Umar succeeds Suleeman and holds the Arab empire for two years. Azed succeeds Umar and holds the rule for four years. Isam succeeds him and holds the rule for nineteen years. When he died, Maruam held the rule for six years. When Maruam died, a certain Abdelas became master of the Arab rule, and [at the time that ^C Irene and Constantine were emperors, a certain Abdelas, having succeeded to the rule of the Arabs, reigned twenty-one years. After his death, Madis assumed the Arab rule and reigned nine years. He was succeeded by Aaron, who held the empire of the Arabic dominion for twenty-three years.]

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES

(38) Meursius interprets it wrongly, for instead of *ekratêsen* [held/ruled], I read *ekratei* [was ruling], and translate it thus: "But at that time Leontius, having cast out Justinian and relegated him to Cherson, was holding the empire." For that incursion of the Arabs into Africa happened in the 3rd year of Leontius, or the following. (39) That is, in the seventh year of Apsimar, 704 A.D., or the following. (40) Theophanes assigns the same number of years. (41) Theophanes makes no mention of these Arab deeds in Africa, during the second reign of Justinian Rhinotmetus. (42) Our author relates this in the preceding chapter. But he is mistaken, for this did not occur under Justinian Rhinotmetus, but under Constantine Copronymus. See Theophanes, who explains the whole matter at greater length in the 9th year of the same Constantine. (43) The manuscripts read "a small army." But the manuscript text is to be preferred, for as Theophanes writes in the place cited just above, after Maruam was killed by the Maurophori, his sons and other relatives, surviving those calamities, migrated from Egypt to Africa; and thence, indeed, to Spain, which they have held to this day. (44) Regarding the expedition of the Agarenes or Arabs against Crete and the Cyclades islands while Michael Balbus was emperor, and also regarding Thomas, who aspired to the empire against Michael, consult Leo Grammaticus in the *Life* of that same Augustus, and likewise Cedrenus and Zonaras. Moreover, Ignatius the Deacon, author of the *Lives* of the holy and blessed patriarchs of Constantinople, Tarasius and Nicephorus, wrote iambics against this Thomas, as Suidas relates: "Ignatius, deacon and skeuophylax of the Great Church of Constantinople, and later Metropolitan of Nicaea, a grammarian; he wrote the lives of the holy and blessed patriarchs Tarasius and Nicephorus; funeral elegies, letters, and iambics against Thomas the rebel, which they call *The Deeds of Thomas*, and many other things." (45) The author proceeds to deal with these kings at the end of the preceding chapter; and he follows the series of Arab princes. (46) The Arab prince is called Ized by Theophanes. (47) After Maruam is dead, Valid is numbered as Arab prince by Theophanes, who ascribes one year to him. See the same Theophanes at the 3rd year of Constantine Copronymus.

^A and say to his children, "Bless your kingdom." And when these things were spoken, the man was healed, and was immediately freed from the assault of the demon. Many are witnesses of these words; for the emperor, out of honor and to meet the desired object, having sent the leading men of the deliberative council, and many of the bodyguard having gone out along with them, it happened that even the magistri and patricians, along with those of lower rank, were [among] the hearers and witnesses. And since the events followed the predictions so quickly, it is worth asking whence the demon obtained this foreknowledge. For they are not believed to possess it of themselves, having slipped from the divine glory and become darkness instead of light. Or is it plain that, just as the divine power made use of Balaam as a minister of that prediction at the time, and at other times frequently used others unworthy of the matter, according to some wise and resourceful dispensation, so now also the power existing in the divine image made use of the demon, and for this reason clearly manifested beforehand the things that were to happen a little later. But since this had happened in the meantime, it is perhaps not out of place ^B to make mention of it. Let us proceed to the next parts of the narrative.

XXVIII.

^A He holds it for eleven years. (48) When he had passed away, a certain Aaron of the Arabs becomes chief, and holds the rule for nine years. (49) When he had passed away, a certain Aaron of the Arabs becomes master of the rule, and holds the rule for twenty-three years. (50) In this time, that is to say, during the reign of Irene and Constantine, in the year 6288 from the creation of the world, (51) in that same year Aaron, the chief of the Arabs, died in the inner Persia, called Chorasan. (52) His son Muamed succeeded to the rule, being in all respects inept and unorganized; against whom his brother Abdelas, having started a sedition from the same region of Chorasan, along with his father's forces, became the cause of civil war. And thence the peoples of Syria, Egypt, and Libya were divided into various princedoms, and ruined the public affairs and each other with slaughters, plunderings, and all manner of evils, raging confusedly both against themselves and against the Christians under them. From this, indeed, even the churches around the holy city of Christ our God were laid waste and desolated; likewise the monasteries of the two great Lauras of the saints Chariton and Cyriacus and Saint Sabas, and the remaining monasteries of the saints Euthymius and Theodosius. Moreover, such tumults and mutual slaughters among themselves and against us lasted for five years. Up to this point, Saint Theophanes recorded in order the times of the Arabs; who founded the monastery called the Great Field; and he himself was the uncle of the great, pious, and most Christian emperor Constantine, and of the most wise and excellent emperor Leo, and grandfather of Basil the Macedonian, whose memory is celebrated for having administered the Roman empire brilliantly. ^B

ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES. (48) Theophanes, after Maruam, attributes five years to Muamed, as is evident from those things which the same writer has at the 14th year of Constantine Copronymus. The tables of the same man erroneously ascribe 9 years to Muamed. But in the aforementioned tables, the numbers of the years are found to be corrupt in many places; hence it happens that more recent writers of histories, while they consult only those tables, and not the text of Theophanes, are led into error in many places. Moreover, this ^C Abdelas was the brother of Muamed, as Theophanes writes in the place cited a little above, and assigns to him 21 years of rule. He died in the same month as the impious Copronymus, as the same writer reports in the 35th year of the same Augustus. (49) Madis is spoken of by Theophanes, who attributes as many years [nine] to him. In the editions it is written, Madis. (50) In the 4th year of Irene and Constantine, Mades died, or Madi, and his son Moses obtained the rule; who, when he had reigned for about one year, died, and in his place his brother Aaron was substituted. See Theophanes at the 6th year of Constantine and Irene. (51) In the ms. it is written thus: "In this time, that is to say 6288, of the Romans, etc." But this first number of years from the creation of the world is found in the ms. written in the margin by another hand and in red letters; it is also found interlinear, but by a very recent hand. But the death of Aaron, the prince of the Arabs, and that dissension among the Arabs, did not happen under Constantine and Irene, nor in the year 6288 from the creation of the world, but in the 7th year of the reign of Nicephorus the General, 808 of Christ, as Theophanes has in this very year, who reports the whole matter in almost the same words: whence, instead of Irene and Constantine, it is to be written Nicephorus the General; and the year from the creation of the world is to be replaced, either as Theophanes calculates, namely 6301, or as more recent Greeks count, 6316. (52) Thus the ms. codex, and also Theophanes. He adds: "To inner Persia ^D called Chorasan." Theophanes subjoins: "In the month of March, Indiction 2." (53) Ducange teaches what a Laura is, and what a monastery is, in both Glossaries. (54) Regarding Chariton, the founder of the monasteries and Lauras, a disciple of Paul the Hermit, see the Menaion of September 28 in the Anthologium of Arcudius: "He himself, having made the cave a church, and having gathered a multitude of monks, established it into a monastery." This Chariton lived in the times of the emperor Aurelian; and his ancient Laura is cited by Georgius Syncellus in his Chronicle, p. 107, and it seems to have existed not far from Bethlehem and from the tomb of Rachel: "I have often seen its sarcophagus lying above the ground, passing by there to Bethlehem, and the ancient Laura of the holy Chariton." I saw his tomb standing above the earth, while traveling toward Bethlehem and the ancient Laura of the blessed Chariton. The manuscript Life of the same holy Chariton the Hermit treats of the same: "For these reasons the wonderful man, this Chariton, also constructed there another Laura, which some in the Syriac tongue call Souka, while others, in the Greek language, call the ancient Laura." (55) Born at Corinth under Theodosius the Great, his father being a presbyter of that Church; at the age of 18, he is created a lector, and afterwards he presided over the Laura of Chariton for some time. See the Anthologium of Arcudius. (56) He lived under Trajan. See the Menaion of January. (57) His day is celebrated on December 5. We have treated of this at greater length in Book V of the Commentaries on the Antiquities of CP. (58) His day is celebrated on January 12. (59) The number of years is wanting in Theophanes, and therefore is to be supplied from here. (60) Thus in the ms. It is written erroneously in the editions: "Up to..."

^A all things it is fitting that it should prevail over all. I believe that the pious and just auditor and spectator of this history should carefully learn each particular and receive an uncorrupted knowledge of the antiquity [of these things]. The reason for how, from a moist drop, without pigments or the art of painting, the form of the face was impressed upon the linen fabric; and why the matter, being so fragile, did not suffer corruption through time; and all such other things which one seeking scientifically into the nature of things usually investigates—[the inquirer] should know to yield to the unreachable wisdom of God, knowing that if one struggles to comprehend everything perfectly with the mind, he will be pushed into complete ignorance, and falling into the abyss of incomprehensibility, he will risk [losing] his life for the sake of secondary things, having suffered the loss of important ones, so as not to seem to concede the small things. All you, therefore, who are sound in faith and fervent in zeal, who have gathered here, come, listen, and I shall tell you what I have ^B investigated one by one with the necessary scrutiny, not without labor, having arrived at a search for the truth, both from those who have written the history and from those who have come to us from there. And what they said was preserved among them by secret memory, I have succeeded in verifying.

II.

"》 being uterine uncle of the great, pious, and most Christian Emperor Constantine, son of the most wise and good Emperor Leo, and grandson of Basil of Macedonia, of blessed memory, who held the scepter of the Roman Empire.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Concerning Iberia and Hispania.

^A There are two Iberias. The one is near the Herculean pillars (62), so called from the river Iberus, of which Apollodorus makes mention in the second book of his *Description of the Earth* (63): "Within the Pyrenees is the great river Iberus, which flows into the interior regions." Herodorus reports in the tenth book of his history (65) which he wrote concerning Hercules, that this land is divided into many nations, in these words: "This Iberian race, which I say dwells upon the sea-coast of the strait, although it is one race, is nevertheless divided by names, according to its tribes. First, those who dwell at the furthest point towards the west are called Cynetes. From them, as one tends towards the north, are encountered the Gletes, then the Tartessii, then the Elbysinii (69), then the Mastieni, then the Calpiani, and finally even the Rhodanus." Artemidorus, in the second book of his *Geography*, reports it divided as follows: "From the Pyrenaean mountains as far as the mediterranean regions, which are near Gades, it is referred to by the common name of Iberia and Spania." It was divided by the Romans into two provinces: the first province extends entirely from the Pyrenaean mountains as far as New Carthage and the sources of the river Baetis; the second province occupies what remains, as far as Gades and Lusitania. It is also called Iberites. Parthenius in his *Leucadii*: ... ^B

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES.

^C ...thus regulated the dates of the Arabs, the saintly Epiphanius, etc. That this should be read here as Theophanes and not Epiphanius needs no further proof, since no one is ignorant that Theophanes the Chronographer, from whom Porphyrogenitus has here excerpted many nearly entire chapters pertaining to the history of the Arabs, and especially the present chapter, founded the monastery called the Great Agri, and that his body was interred therein. See the *Menaea* for the 12th day of March. No writer mentions an Epiphanius as a writer of Saracen affairs. But let this suffice for such a manifest matter. Moreover, Ducange must be corrected in his *Life of Leo the Philosopher*, who writes that Zoe Carbonopsina, the fourth wife of the same Leo, was the sister of the saintly Epiphanius, abbot of the Great Agri, based on Porphyrogenitus, so that Zoe Carbonopsina would be the fourth sister of Leo the Philosopher, and sister of Theophanes. But the span of years does not allow this; since Theophanes is said to have died under Leo the Armenian towards the end of his reign. Whence *mēt्रोtheios* (uterine uncle) is perhaps called not only uncle, but great uncle, as is commonly said, namely, the mother's brother. ^D ...near the Herculean pillars; but in *Iberiae* it reads, "towards the Herculean pillars." ...from *Apollodorus*... Apollodorus the Geographer is frequently mentioned by Stephanus in *Abullos*, *Agylla*, and in *Gaugamela*. Tzetzes seems to speak of the same in *Chil. in Histor. c.*, saying: "Apollodorus tells this history in his book concerning islands, cities, and peoples." Regarding Apollodorus, see Vossius *De Historicis Graecis*. ...quippe in editis et in ms, "many of this," etc.

...is read. Herodotus is read; for the tenth book of this Herodorus concerning Hercules is also cited by Stephanus in *Cyneticum*. See Vossius, *De Historicis Graecis*, lib. III. ...history. ...Iberus. ...is read, "then the Elbysinii, then the Mastieni, then the Kelkiani; then the Diorodanus." It is clear from this passage of Herodorus, says Berkelius, that the Elbysinii and the Mastieni, who are also called Mastiani by others, are tribes of Iberia. Philistus calls the Elbysinii "Elbestii" (if the text is not otherwise corrupted, about which I greatly doubt), whom he places not in Hispania, but with the Mastieni in Libya. And in another place, Stephanus, from the *Europe* of Hecataeus, correctly assigns the seat of the Mastiani at the Herculean pillars, so that he seems to state the contrary about these tribes. But, to say what the matter is, in the time of Hannibal, when he was looking to the security of Africa, soldiers were accustomed to be transported from Hispania into Africa and from Africa into Hispania, so that thereby he might sanction the faith and friendship of both peoples with a mutual bond. Among them were the Thersitae, the Olcades, the Mustiani (and perhaps the Elbysinii or Elbestii, their neighbors), whom Philistus, when he heard they had performed some noble feat in Africa, thought were natives, although in reality they owed their fatherland and cradle to Hispania. See Polybius, lib. III, where he reports that the above-named peoples crossed into Africa by the counsel of Hannibal. ...is followed by that which the Rhodanus waters? ...since these words are missing in the editions and in the ms.

and was being consumed by black leprosy, and was afflicted by a double, or rather a manifold, malady—being held by pains in his joints and tormented by the evils of leprosy—there was added to this the shame of his disfigurement, on account of which he was scarcely visible to men. He was not only mostly bedridden, but would hide himself even from those friends who came to visit him out of shame. For this reason, in returning, he sought to obtain more accurate information about the same things, so that he might confidently report them to his master, in the hope that he too might be deemed worthy of the healing provided by Him. He found the Lord again doing the same things: raising the dead, granting sight to the blind, showing the lame to be sound, and strengthening all who were suffering from any ailment. ^B

III. Having become convinced, and having seen clearly that these were the acts of the Lord’s power, when he returned to his home and his country, he informed Abgar, and explained at length everything he had seen and heard. Whereupon, having managed the secondary matter as if it were of greater importance than the primary one, and having been a herald of such good tidings to him, he was deemed worthy of the appropriate reception and was known as one of the most well-disposed servants. And since the infirm always lay hold of a promise as if it were a prize, and as the report and the hope sustain the man, he earnestly urged him to set out in search of the one mentioned. And Abgar, in addition to calling upon him by letter, rose up to summon the one who was said to be able to heal such things. And immediately he wrote this letter, which was circulated everywhere, to the Lord, containing the following: ^C

IV. Abgar, prince of Edessa, to Jesus the Savior, who has appeared as a good physician in Jerusalem, greeting. It has been reported to me concerning you, and concerning the healings which you perform without medicines and herbs. For the report says that you restore sight to the blind, make the lame walk, cleanse lepers, drive out unclean spirits and demons, heal those who are tormented by chronic diseases, and finally raise the dead. When I heard all this about you, I concluded in my mind one of two things: either that you are God, who has come down from heaven to do these things, or that you are the Son of God performing these things. For this reason, therefore, I have written to entreat you to trouble yourself to come to me and heal the suffering I have. For I have also heard that the Jews are murmuring against you and intend to harm you. I have a city, small indeed, but honorable, which will suffice for both of us, that we may live in it in peace. ^D

V. Since, then, Ananias had given clear proofs of his goodwill toward his master, and was experienced in the road, and was skilled in the art of painting, for this reason he sent through him such a letter to Jesus, charging him that if he could not persuade Him by the letter to come to him, he should at least...

[This being the first page of the translation, there is no preceding text to echo.]

^A it settles on the shore of Iberia (that is to say, the Iberian shore). But there is another Iberia located among the Persians. The race itself is called Iberes, like the Pieres or the Byzeres. Dionysius says:

Near the columns, the magnanimous race of the Iberians.

And Aristophanes in the *Triphales*:

As they knew those Iberians, whom Aristarchus [knew] of old.

And again:

The Iberians whom you exhibit at the public games, to have assisted me in the race.

And Artemidorus in the second book of his *Geographic* work: "Those Iberians who dwell by the sea use the grammar of the Italians." From the genitive *Iberos*, the feminine *Iberis* is derived. Menander says in the *Aspis*: "A Greek woman, not an Iberian woman." It is also called Iberian. Dionysius says:

The Iberian sea first for those beginning.

Iberia was divided into two provinces, but now into three, as Marcianus relates in his *Periplus*: "Formerly, indeed, Iberia was divided into two provinces by the Romans, but now into three: into Baetic Spain, Lusitanian Spain, and Tarraconensian Spain." Apollonius derives the nominative from the genitive *Iberos*, just as he derives *phylax* (guard) from *phylakos*. "In denominatives," he says, "the nominative cases are formed from the genitives." *Iber* indeed has two syllables similar to the nominative, with regard to the accent on the penultimate, both in the simple form and in the compound. The simple form is *martyr*, *martyros*, this...

^B

^C

^D

^A nothing is harmed in the truth, whether it happened sooner or later. The other narrative also holds itself thus.

XI. They say that when Christ was about to go to his voluntary passion, at the time when he manifested his human weakness and was seen in agony and praying, when also the Gospel account signifies that his sweat was as it were drops of blood trickling down, at that time they say that from one of the disciples he took this piece of cloth which we see now, and wiped the drops of sweat in it; and immediately there was imprinted the visible likeness of that godlike form which we now see, ^B which he committed to Thomas, and after his ascension into heaven, he commanded that it be sent to Abgar through Thaddaeus, fulfilling the promise made by [his] writings. After, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ was taken up into the heavens, Thomas gave to Thaddaeus the unmade-by-hands form of the Lord’s face and sent him off to Abgar.

XII. Thaddaeus, therefore, upon reaching Edessa, stayed first with one of the Jews there. This man was named Tobias. And indeed, before words, the disciple of Christ wanted to make himself known to Abgar by his deeds, [and] he healed the sick of the city by the mere invocation of Christ. Whence, the fame of Christ having spread (which is wont to happen in such matters; for strange events have many detailing them), the rumor also reached Abgar ^C through one of his officials, named Amdu, that the apostle of Christ had arrived. Thinking, therefore, immediately—from the hope that was cherished within him—that this was the very person whom Jesus had promised in writing that he would send to him, and having learned more perfectly about Thaddaeus from him, he commanded that he be brought. Tobias, therefore, coming, made these things known to the Apostle; and he, having said that he had been sent to him in power, proceeded next to Abgar. But while he was about to appear before him in person, having as it were stationed such a likeness upon his own forehead, he entered thus to Abgar. ^D Seeing him approaching from afar, he seemed to behold a light emanating from his countenance, better than eyesight, which emitted the likeness lying upon it. Whence, struck by the exceeding brilliant radiance, and as if becoming forgotten of the symptoms around him and of the long-standing weakness of his limbs, he leapt up suddenly from his bed and was constrained to run. The same passion he suffered in meeting the [Apostle's] weakened limbs in a different manner than those who had beheld the flashing form on Mount Tabor.

XIII. Having, therefore, received such a likeness from the apostle, and having reverently placed it upon his head, and upon his lips, and not depriving other parts of his body of such a touching, he knew...

Charops [is derived] from *charopos*, [meaning] the Charopian, as in "of Charopus the king." Trezen [is derived] from *Trezenis*, [meaning] the Trezenian, as in "son of Trezenus." Iber [is derived] from *Iberis*, [meaning] the Iberian; whence, according to Quadratus in the fifth book of the *Roman Chiliad*, the dative [form] *Iberisin* is used, in these words: ^A *Warring at once with the Ligurians and the Iberians.* The same [rendering] Abro records in his *Denominatives*. And in Cratinus, in his *Malthaces*, the Iberian is called "goat-bearded." It is said that the Iberians drink water, as Athenaeus [says] in the second book of the *Deipnosophists* in these words: "Philarchus says, in the seventh book, that all Iberians drink water, even though they are the richest of men; for they possess a great deal of silver and gold; but he says that they eat only once a day because of their stinginess, and that they wear the most expensive clothing."

CAPUT XXIV. De Hispania.

Whence is Hispania named? From Hispanus, a giant of this name; [there are] two provinces of Italy called Hispaniae, one indeed great, the other small. Charax mentions this in the tenth book of his *Chronicles*: "Into Hispania the smaller, the outer [part], as the Lusitanians were revolting again, Quintus was sent by the Romans as general against them, the same man who at the same time held the command of the war in both Hispanias." And he, having been defeated by Viriathus, entered into a treaty with him. ^B He says that it was called Iberia in the third book of the *Hellenics* or *Greeks*. Now the Greeks at first called Hispania "Iberia," not yet having learned the name of the whole nation; but from a part of the land which is [located] toward the river Iberus, they called the whole land "Iberia," naming the entire region from that [river]. But later, they say, it was renamed "Pania."

CHAPTER XXV. From the History of Saint Theophanes of Sigriane.

In this year, Valentinian was not only unable to preserve Britain, Gaul, and Spain; he also lost Western Libya, which is called the region of the Africans, in the following manner. There were two generals, Aetius and Bonifacius, whom Theodosius, at the request of Valentinian, had sent to Rome. ^A Since Aetius envied Bonifacius—who had received the prefecture of Western Libya—he slandered him, claiming that he was contemplating rebellion and was eager to seize Libya. He said these things to Placidia, the mother of Valentinian. He also wrote to Bonifacius, saying: "If you are summoned, do not be willing to come; for you have been slandered, and the emperors intend to seize you by treachery." Having received these things, Bonifacius, trusting Aetius as a sincere friend, did not come when he was summoned. Then, indeed, the emperors regarded Aetius as most loyal and benevolent. ^B

At that same time, the Goths and many other numerous peoples were dwelling in the Hyperborean regions as far as the Danube. Of these, the most notable were the Goths, the Gepids, and the Vandals, differing from one another in name alone and in nothing else, using one common language; moreover, all follow the corrupt opinions of Arius. These, having crossed the Danube under Arcadius and Honorius, established settlements in Roman territory. The Gepids, from whom the Lombards and Avars were later separated, inhabited the region near Singidunum and Sirmium. The Visigoths, after they had devastated Rome with Alaric, proceeded into the Gauls and subjugated them. The Goths, indeed, who had first settled in Pannonia, then, in the nineteenth year of Theodosius the Younger, ^C moved into the Gauls and took control of those places; the Goths, however, having held Pannonia first...

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

Plutarch, in his *On Rivers*, bears witness that Iberia was called Pania after Pan, the governor of that region: Having conquered Iberia, he left Pan as governor of those places, who named the region Pania after himself, which those who came after, following the derivation, finally called Spania, as Sosthenes relates in the thirteenth book of *Iberian Affairs*. See also Pliny, book III, chapter 1.

Of a monk of Sigriane. Meursius interprets this title incorrectly: *From the History of Saint Theophanes of Sigriana*. For Theophanes wrote no "Sigrian history," but was a monk of the mountain of Sigriane, whence he is commonly called by writers [a monk] of Sigriane. The Office of Theophanes, which Combefis prefixed to the front of his works, is as follows: *On the twelfth day of the month of March, [the memorial] of our Holy Father Theophanes the Confessor, monk of Sigriane.*

[Concerning the lines] read as corrupt and depraved: Theophanes reports this irruption of the Vandals into Africa in the year of the reign of Theodosius the Younger. But the writer of the Alexandrian Chronicle, Prosper, and others assign this to the 21st and 27th [year] of the same Augustus, namely, in the consulship of Flavius Taurus and Flavius Felix, in the year of Christ 428. See Procopius, *Book on the Vandalic War*, whence Theophanes borrowed what he has here concerning the Vandal irruption into Africa; which indeed, summarized by him, are referred to the year of Theodosius the Younger historically rather than chronologically.

[Concerning the reading] in the editions of Constantine: Read, "If you are summoned, do not think of returning," etc.

[Concerning the reading] in Theophanes: It has, "Of these, the most notable are four: Goths, Visigoths, Gepids, and Vandals," differing in name alone, etc. But another reading of Theophanes has "Visigoths" instead of "Hypogoths" [lit. "Under-goths"]. Whence its interpreter translates thus: *The Visigoths, after the disasters inflicted by Alaric and the devastation of Rome, seceding into Gaul, obtained various provinces.* Meursius advises that it should be read thus: In the manuscript it is written... Furthermore, in what year Rome was captured by the Goths, and when Gaul was occupied by them, [is a matter] that the writers of that age tell at greater length; who rightly record that the Gauls were occupied not by the Goths with Alaric, but with Athaulf, his successor.

^A They crossed into Gaul and gained control of the lands there. The Goths, first holding Pannonia, subsequently, upon the permission of Theodosius the Younger in the nineteenth year of his reign, occupied the regions of Thrace; and, having spent fifty-eight years in Thrace, with Theoderic being their chieftain, as well as patrician and consul, by the permission of Zeno they seized the kingdom of Western Libya. The Vandals, having formed an alliance with the Alans and the Germans—now called the Franks—crossed the river Rhine led by Gogidisclus, and settled in Spain, which is the first region of Europe starting from the Western Ocean. Bonifacius, fearing the Roman emperors, crossed from Libya to Spain and came to the Vandals. Discovering that Gogidisclus had died, and that his sons, Gottharus and Geiserich, were holding the authority, he urged them to divide Western Libya into three parts. He promised that each of them would rule a third part alongside him, and that they would together defend themselves against any enemy whatsoever. Upon these agreements, the Vandals crossed the strait and occupied Libya from the Ocean as far as Tripoli, which is near Cyrene. The Visigoths, having arisen from Gaul, also occupied Spain.

Some Roman senators, friends of Bonifacius, revealed the false accusation concerning Aetius to Placidia, making plain the letter from Aetius to Bonifacius which Bonifacius himself had sent to them. Placidia, being struck by this, did no harm to Aetius, but sent a persuasive letter with oaths to Bonifacius. Upon the death of Gottharus, Geiserich became emperor of the Vandals. Bonifacius, having received the letter, marched against the Vandals, a great army having come to him from both Rome and Byzantium, under the command of Aspar. When the battle was joined against Geiserich, the Roman army was defeated. And thus Bonifacius, returning to Rome with Aspar, dissolved the suspicion by proving the truth; but Africa remained subject to the Vandals. At that time, Marcian—who was a soldier and serving under Aspar—was captured alive by Geiserich; he is the one who later became emperor.

We must know that there are three Amermumnes in the whole [world]. ^{B C D}

ANSELMI BANDURI NOTES. (97) Thus it is in the ms. codex Theophanis. In the Palatine codex the text reads: *In Thrace they tarried, and they seized the kingdom of the West.* But better is the Palatine codex. In the printed editions of Constantine these things are corruptly and depravedly held thus: *Theoderic meanwhile is summoned here from Thrace to Byzantium and is proclaimed consul and is granted the prefecture of Thrace; subsequently compelled by Zeno he sets out for Italy, and with Gizerich [Geiserich] already dead before he himself could reach Rome, he finally gains the city and the whole West at once.* See Theophanes under the year of the empire of Zeno. (98) In the ms. and printed editions of Constantine it is wrongly read, *the river Ninos*. Theophanes has *the Rhine*. (99) The ms. and printed editions have *Gogidisklon*. Theophanes has *Gogidisklos*. (1) It is read in the ms. and in the editions of Constantine, *as far as Tripoli of Cyrene*. Meursius interprets: *as far as Tripoli, which is across from Cyrene.* (2) In the ms. and in the editions of Constantine it is read, *and serving under Aspar*. Meursius interprets: *Then also Marcian, a soldier serving under Aspar, who later obtained the empire, was captured alive by Geiserich.* (3) In the ms. and in the editions, *amermumnes* is used, therefore it should be so written everywhere, says Meursius in his notes. But among Byzantine writers this word is found written in various ways; which indeed is done through the ignorance of copyists, as no one doubts. Furthermore, these are the supreme princes among the Saracens, as is evident from the things which our writer teaches in this chapter.

Syria, that is, in the Arab principality; of whom the first resides in Bagdad and is of the lineage of Muameth or Muchumet; the second sits in Africa and is of the lineage of Alim and Phateme, the daughter of Muameth or Muchumet, whence they are also called Phatemites; the third, however, has his seat in Spain, and traces his origin to Mavia. Nor should it be ignored that from the beginning, when the Saracens possessed the entire empire of Syria, the `Amermumnes` [Commander of the Faithful] resided in Bagdad. He governed all of Persia, Africa, Egypt, and Arabia Felix; and he held great ameradias, or prefectures, these being: the first ameradia was Persia, or Chorossan; the second was Africa; the third, Egypt; the fourth, Philistiim, or Rhamble; the fifth, Damascus; the sixth, Chemps, or Emessa; the seventh, Chalep; the eighth, Antiochia; the ninth, Charan; the tenth, Emet; the eleventh, Esibe; the twelfth, Musel; the thirteenth ameradia, Ticrit. ^B But Africa, having been torn from the power of the Amermumnes of Bagdad and having become self-governing, appointing an Amera of its own, the first ameradia was, as it had been, Persia; the second, Egypt, and the remaining ones in order, as stated above. Lately, however, since the Amermumnes of Bagdad was unequal in strength, the Amera of Persia, or Chorasan, became of his own jurisdiction and power, and called himself Amermumnes, wearing the Alcoran hanging from his neck by tablets like a collar; and he says he is sprung from the lineage of Alim. The Amera of Arabia Felix, however, was always under the power of the Amera of Egypt. But he also became self-governing, and he too called himself Amermumnes ^C and likewise claims he is from the lineage of Alim.

CHAPTER XXVI

Genealogy of the conspicuous King Hugo.

It must be known that the King of Italy, the great Lothair, grandfather of the conspicuous King Hugo, traced his origin to Charlemagne, who is greatly celebrated for his martial fortitude and deeds. This Charles, therefore, alone ruled over all the kingdoms. He reigned in great Francia; and while he reigned, no one else dared to call himself king; but all had made a treaty with him. He, moreover, with many riches and a huge amount of money sent to Palestine, ^D monasteries

[229/230] ^A he brought to completion. This Lothair, therefore, [(11)] taking up his armies, marched against Rome, conquered it by war, and was crowned by the pope of that time. And when he was returning to his own dominion, that is, to Pavia, he arrived at the castle of Piacenza, which is thirty miles from Pavia. And there he died. He sired a son named Adalbert, who took for a wife the great Berta, and from her he sired the aforementioned king, Hugh. 12 After the death of the great Lothair, Louis 13 himself, coming from great Francia, seized Pavia. And he was uncrowned. 14 Later, however, he went to Verona 15, a castle which is one hundred and twenty miles from Pavia, and when he had arrived there, those of the same castle rose up against him, and having seized him, blinded him. And then Berengar, the grandfather of the one who is now Berengar, seized power; 16 and having entered Rome, he was crowned. After this, a great number of people sent to Rudolph 17, who was in Burgundy, saying to him, "Come here, and we will hand the kingdom over to you, and we will kill Berengar." He came from Burgundy toward the regions of Pavia; and half the people were with Berengar, and the rest with Rudolph; and having fought, Berengar won the first battle, and having fought again, Rudolph was the victor. And the people of Berengar fled, and Berengar, left alone,

^A feigned himself dead, and fell among the dead, covering himself with his own hide, but he kept his foot exposed. A soldier of Rudolph came and struck his foot with a maul; but he did not stir at all. And because he did not stir, the soldier abandoned him as one who was truly dead; and Rudolph's people did not know that it was Berengar. And when the war had ceased, Berengar arose and went to his palace alone, and again took possession of the kingdom, and fought against Rudolph, and defeated him. After this, they reached an agreement with each other, and they divided the country into two, and one took one part of the country, and the other took the other. But Rudolph was under the counsel and authority of Berengar. And after this, three marquises came from Burgundy to Pavia to drive out the rulers and take possession themselves. ^B These were Hugo of Taliaphernum, and Boso, and Hugo the brother of Boso, the aforementioned most noble king. He came with a sufficient host. And when Berengar learned of this, he prepared himself and went out to meet him for war, and by surrounding them, he straitened them with famine, and he ordered his people not to kill anyone, but wherever they might capture any of them, to cut off their nose and two ears, and then let them go; and this is what they did. Having seen this, the aforementioned three heads, having taken the divine Gospels barefoot in their hands, came to Berengar, asking for pardon, and swearing that they would never again come there so long as he lived, and then he allowed them to depart to their own country. ^C Later, when Berengar had departed to Verona, his *compater* Palambertus killed him, and then Rudolph took possession of the whole kingdom. After this, the people of the whole country sent word to Burgundy to the aforementioned King Hugo, saying: "Come, and we deliver the country to you." And when he came, they took him and led him into the palace, and appointed him king; but they told Rudolph that he should depart with his riches, whether to his own country or wherever he wished. He betook himself to his own country of Burgundy, and there ruled over a sufficiently large multitude. Upon the death of Rudolph, ^D the kingdom passed to Hugo of Arles, also known as the Count of Provence, in the year of Christ 926.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(18) Interpreted as uncertain, with a *hide*, which he wore, because it is explained in Suidas as *gerous* or *caprea*. Meursius, in his text, interprets *pelle se sua* as if he had read *pro dorcas*. Hesychius: *dora*, hide. In the same author, says Ducangius, I read *dorkai konides*. Perhaps it is to be understood as *Cassis* (helmet), although it is so written also in Favorinus. Moreover, Porphyrogenitus uses this word even below, ch. 51, *scoutaria, dorkas, klibania*, etc. (19) *Menaulon*, a type of spear. See the Glossarium Graecum of Ducangius. (20) *Marchese*. See both Glossaries of Ducangius. (21) In the printed editions these are read as corrupt and mutilated: *tou ekdioxai tous kratesai autoi*. (22) A custom to be observed (says Meursius in his notes to the same passage of Porphyrogenitus) is that of swearing by the sacrosanct Gospels. Harmenopulus, lib. 1, tit. 7: "He who, by judicial sentence or at the request of the adversary, holding an oath in church, touching the immaculate Gospels, is thereafter convicted of perjury, let his tongue be cut out." Immediately, therefore, he who was presiding over the archiepiscopate of the city of Singidunum entrusted the divine books to him through those who were carrying the messages in the midst; and he, having concealed his mind most craftily, rises from his chair, and with much feigned fear and reverence appearing to receive them, and having worshipped most zealously, he swears by the God who spoke the words in the holy parchments that he would not falsify anything of what had been said by Him. (23) Berengar was killed by Palambertus, as we said above, in the year of Christ 924. *Syntechnos* means *compater*, spiritual father. See the Glossarium Graecum of Ducangius. (24) After the death of Berengar, Rudolph did not retain the kingdom of Italy for long; for by the conspiracy of the peoples, the kingdom was handed over to Hugo of Arles or the Count of Provence in the year of Christ 926.

the people, and led him away to the palace, and installed him as king. And they said to Rodulph: "Depart with your wealth, if you wish, to your own land," and he departed to Burgundy, and remained there for a long time. Upon his death (25), Ougon, the aforementioned king, went to Burgundy, and took his wife, who was named Berta, to be his wife. And he took her daughter, named Adel- (26), [and] gave her to his son, currently the king of Italy (27). And she, having come up to Constantinople, and having been joined in marriage to Romanus Porphyrogenitus, the son of the Christ-loving emperor, Constantine—that is, she was the daughter of the same above-mentioned ^A king Ougon (28), who was named Berta, in accordance with the name of her grandmother, the great Berta—after the death of her husband Adelbert, she reigned for (29) ... was renamed Eudocia (30), in accordance with the name of the grandmother and sister of the Christ-loving emperor, Constantine.

CAPUT XXVII. Concerning the theme of Longobardia, and of the principalities and rulers in it.

It is to be known that in former times the entire authority of Italy, that is, Naples, and Capua, and Beneventum, and Salerno, and Amalfi, and Gaeta (31), and all of Longobardia, was held by the Romans, that is, ruled by the ^B emperors of Rome. But after the seat of the empire was transferred to Constantinople, all these were divided into two principalities. And from that time on, two patricians were sent by the emperor in Constantinople. And the one patrician held Sicily and Calabria, and Naples, and Amalfi; and the other patrician was seated in Beneventum, and held the Papacy, and Capua, and all the rest. And they both rendered the customary payments to the emperor's treasury. And all these aforementioned regions were held by the Romans. And in the times of the empress Irene (32), the patrician Narses was sent to Beneventum and ^C Papias; and Pope Zacharias was in Rome.

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES.

(25) Rodulph died in the year of Christ 937, and was the first king of Burgundy, as Sigebert says, or Jurensis, or Cisalpine Gaul, as Flodoardus writes in his Chronicle. (26) Latin writers call this Adelais, daughter of Rodulph, whom Lothair, son of Ugo, married. (27) Lothair, son of Ugo, becomes partner in the paternal kingdom in the year of Christ 932. Both he and Berengarius II are deprived of the kingdom in 945, with this condition, that Ugo, with his son Lothair, be content with the name of king, and the use of the kingdom, while Berengarius manages the sum of affairs. Thus Lothair, having been left in Italy, returns to the province in the year 947, ^D after two years, when Lothair dies, and assumes the title of king, and Berengarius remains with his son Adalbert, in the year 950. From this it is easy to understand why the Porphyrogenitus writes, when he says: "And gave her to his son, currently the king of Italy." (28) This Berta, who married the son of Romanus Porphyrogenitus, was the true daughter of Ugo, king of Italy, and illegitimate, whom he took from a concubine named Beryola. See Lib. IV, cap. 6; and Lib. V, cap. 5 and 9. But it would be shameful for the emperor Constantine to note such a shameful stain for his family. Moreover, Berta was brought by the bishop of Sigefridus Parmensis to Constantinople. (29) The number of years, during which the great Berta reigned after the death of her husband Adalbert, is desired in the editions, but is in the mss. (30) The name Bertha was changed into Eudocia by the Greeks, in memory of the grandmother and sister of Constantine, as it is written. But although Leo had four wives, he had a daughter Eudocia, as we have said in many places, in Comment. in Antiquit. Constantinop. num. 350, hence I send the reader there, so as not to do unnecessary work. Moreover, Liutprand in lib. V, cap. 9, calls this Eudocia wrongly. Eudocia lived with her spouse for five years, and died a virgin, as Sigebert writes. (31) In some mss. and printed editions, it is Gaete, but Meursius says it should be read Gaete, or Gaetē. (32) It is held in the mss. But this is a mistake of a sleepy scribe, and no one knows it; for in the time of the emperor Justin, Sophia was then Augusta, not Irene, and Pope John III, not Zacharias. But others who are the authors of this Longobardian repetition consider Narses the patrician and eunuch among fairy tales.

^A And it happened that wars were being waged in the regions of Pavia, and the patrician Narses 83 was spending the money assigned by pact to the public treasury for the use of the army, and the regular revenue was not only not being sent by him, but on the contrary, he signaled that he expected money to be sent to him from there, since he had spent all the revenue on the encroaching wars, and therefore that nothing should be sought from there. Hearing these things, the Empress Irene, inflamed with anger, sent him a spindle and a distaff, writing to him with these words: "Take these, which are suitable for you; you are not suitable for war." ^A The patrician Narses held Benevento and Pavia; and Pope Zacharias the Athenian held Rome. But it happened that wars occurred in the parts of Pavia, and the patrician Narses disbursed the revenues brought to the public treasury [(53)] for the army, and the regular payment was not sent by him according to the usual form. But Narses sent back word: “I rather hope that money will be sent to me from there, since I have consumed all the revenue brought from here on the wars that have arisen; and rather you should seek revenues from here.”

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

In these matters we have the Most Eminent Cardinal Baronius, but he is worthy of pardon, not only because the lifespan of a single man is not sufficient to weigh individual matters carefully, but also because very many ancient monuments have come to light after the death of such a great man. However, there are very many who believe this history of Narses to be true and genuine, and they easily eliminate the difficulties of Baronius, since they show from historians that several men named Narses flourished in those times. Besides Petavius in his *Ratio temporum*, Pagius, at the year of Christ 567, asserts the truth of this history with many arguments, whose words it is not irrelevant to transcribe here. Thus, therefore, he says: "Paulus Diaconus, book 2 of his *Gesta Langobardorum*, cap. 5; Anastasius in the *Life of Pope John III*; Fredegarius in his *Epitome*, cap. 65; Sigebertus, Marianus Scotus, Hermannus Contractus, and other Latin writers have written that Narses, terrified by Sophia Augusta, so that he did not dare return to Constantinople, invited the Longobards to come into Italy. Baronius rejects this among the fables, and thinks that Narses had been recalled from Italy by Justinian before the reign of Justin, because he had read in Corippus that Narses, a most famous commander, was at Constantinople at the start of Justin's reign for his inauguration, and was then Curopalates, which began to be held as the highest dignity of the Palace, from the time that Justin, the nephew of Justinian, held it. But under the reign of Justin there were three Narses who were distinguished, and they were Persarmenians. Procopius, book 2 of his *History of the Gothic War*, cap. 13, speaks of the first two: 'There was,' he says, 'Narses the eunuch, and count of the sacred largesses,' etc. Justin, a commander of the Illyrians, and another Narses, who had fled to the Romans from the Persians who were subject to the Armenians, long ago with his brother Aratius. The first had been prefect of Italy, and Marius speaks of him as cited. The second, who was the brother of Aratius and Isaacius, perished in the Persian war, conducted during the reign of Justin, as Procopius relates in his *History of the Persian War*, cap. 25, who also frequently makes mention of him elsewhere. The third is that Narses of whom Corippus speaks, and he recited these verses, recounted by Baronius under number XI:

‘Meanwhile the armor-bearer, tracing the footprints of the Lord, Narses stands eminent, towering with his head above all, And he dazzles the Augusta Palace with his attire, Decked in his hair, and distinguished in form and face.’

But this Narses, of whom the poet speaks, is not he who accomplished such great things in Italy, and who incurred the offense of Sophia Augusta. For Narses the eunuch was not of distinguished form and face, nor was he young, but an old man. Therefore, the Narses of whom Corippus speaks was a commander of soldiers under Maurice, and flourished about thirty years after the former, and was such a terror to the Persians that even the Persian infants trembled at the mere hearing of the name of Narses. Theophylactus speaks of him at length in his *Maurician History*. Baronius at the year 582, number XIII and following, speaks of that Narses, and concludes that he has proposed this opinion of his to be considered rather than to be believed by the law of history." ^C The most learned Cardinal doubts in that same place whether that Narses of whom Paulus speaks, book 1, cap. 4, whom he writes condemned Bishop Vitalis of the city of Altinum to exile, is different from Narses the Eunuch; but it is certain that he is the same man, since Paulus also has a discourse there concerning the plague that devastated Italy in Narses' time, namely at the very end of Justinian's reign, as we have shown above. Furthermore, the Narses of whom Theophanes writes at the year 6 of Justin the Younger: "In this year Narses the cubicularius and protospatharius, who was so dear to the Emperor Justin that he was ridiculed for his sake, built the house of Narses and the monastery of the Cathari" — I say, this is the Narses of whom Corippus speaks, who was in charge of the cubicularii and eunuchs; for Corippus describes their order and services in book 3. That this Narses was also a protospatharius, or count of the Protectors, armed and carrying the sign of the squadron subordinate to him, is clearly shown by the verses of Corippus, book 4, which Baronius recites this year at number 11, the beginning of which is, "Also, powerful with the sword, standing strong in the vigor of his limbs," etc.

But whether Narses the Eunuch summoned the Longobards into Italy, we cannot learn from the Greek authors, among whom neither Theophanes, nor Cedrenus, nor Zonaras even make mention of the invasion of the Longobards into Italy, whereas on the contrary, most of the Latin historians, among whom the deed occurred, expressly mention it. There exists in the Colbertine Library a manuscript *Brief Exposition of the Times* by Mellitus, at the beginning of which this author professes to bring forward what he received from older writers and to note briefly the sum of the times from the beginning of the world up to the principate of the Emperor Heraclius, or King Sisebut. When he arrives at Justin the Younger, he says: "Narses the patrician, after he defeated Tutila, King of the Goths, in Italy under Justinian Augustus, terrified by the threats of Sophia Augusta, wife of Justin, invited the Longobards from Pannonia and led them into Italy." Thus Mellitus word for word, who testifies that he concluded his work in the 5th year of the Emperor Heraclius and the 4th of Sisebut, namely in the year of Christ 614 or the following: that he was a Spaniard, the mention of King Sisebut in such a small chronicle shows. We have, therefore, a contemporary author who writes nothing that he did not receive from older ones. The codex was written about eight hundred years ago. Saint Isidore, Bishop of Seville, an author also contemporary in his brief chronicle recently published by Schelstratius from the Urbino-Vatican Library, has the same. So the praised Pagius, who however is deceived when he says that no one among the Greek authors makes mention of this history of Narses, since Porphyrogenitus speaks of it at length, a Greek writer of the tenth century most worthy of faith.

[Col. 236] [(53)] *Pacton*, tribute according to pact, or exaction. Our writer frequently uses this word with the same meaning. It is also found in other Byzantine writers with the same meaning. See Ducange's *Glossarium Graecum*.

^A Having heard these things, the empress Irene was angered and sent him a spindle and a distaff, writing to him: "Take these, for such things are fitting for you. We have deemed it more just for you to spin than to wield weapons as a man, to defend and govern and fight for the Romans." Having heard these things, the patrician Narses wrote back to the empress: "Since it is thought by you that I should spin and weave like a woman, I shall spin threads with the spindle and distaff so that, as long as the Romans live, they will not be able to unweave them." ^B At that time the Lombards were inhabiting Pannonia (34), where the Turks now dwell. And the patrician Narses, having sent them fruits of every kind (35), made it known to them, saying: "Come here and you shall see a land flowing, as the saying goes, with milk and honey, a better one than which, I think, God does not possess; and if it is pleasing to you, dwell in it, so that you may call me blessed forever and ever." The Lombards, having heard these things and being persuaded, took up their families and came to Benevento. Those in the fortress of Benevento, however, did not allow them to enter inside the fortress, but they encamped outside the fortress near the wall by the river, having built there a small fortress, from which it is called Civitanova (36), meaning "New Fortress," which exists even to this day. They used to enter inside the fortress and into the church, and having through a ruse gained control of the inhabitants of the fortress of Benevento, they slew them all and took possession of the fortress (37). ^C For inside [the church], holding swords beneath their robes, and having created a diversion, they began a battle on the spot, and, as has been said, slew everyone; and from that time, having campaigned through all that land, they subjected it, including the theme of Lombardy and Calabria, and as far as Pavia, except for Otranto, Gallipoli, Rossano, Naples, Gaeta, Sorrento, and Amalfi. The first city, ancient and great, was Capua, the second Naples, the third Benevento, the fourth Gaeta, the fifth Amalfi. Salerno was founded in the time of Sicard, when the Lombards divided their principalities. And there are, up to this day, which is the seventh indiction, years from the creation of the world 6457 (Christ 949), and from the division of Lombardy 200 years. There were two brothers, Sicon and Sicard (38). ^D And Sicon indeed held Benevento and the parts of Bari and Siponto. Sicard, however, possessed Salerno, Capua, and parts of Calabria. But Naples was the ancient praetorium of the patricians who were sent out; and he who governed at Naples also governed Sicily, and when the patrician proceeded to Naples, the duke of Naples would go to Sicily. Capua, indeed, was a huge city, and it was captured and devastated by the Vandals or Africans; and when it thus lay desolate, the Lombards inhabited it. And soon, against the Africans once again...

^A [by whom] it is bordered, and also the great unbaptized Croatia, which is also called White. There, then, these Serbs also dwelt from the beginning. And the principality of Serbia having devolved from the father to two brothers, one of them, taking half of the people, fled for refuge to Heraclius, the emperor of the Romans; and the same Emperor Heraclius, having received them, gave them a place for settlement in the theme of Thessalonica, which from that time has taken on such an appellation. The Serbs, in the language of the Romans ^B are called *douloi* (slaves); whence common usage also calls *serboula* the footwear of slaves, and *Tserboulianoi* those who wear cheap and poor footwear. And the Serbs had this name because they became slaves of the Emperor of the Romans. After some time, it seemed good to these same Serbs to return to their own lands, and the emperor sent them; but when they had crossed the Danube river, having felt remorse, they sent word to Heraclius the emperor, through the *strategos* who at that time governed Belgrade, to grant them another land for settlement. And since the present Serbia, and Pagania, and the land called that of the Zachlumians ^C, and Terbounia, and the region of the Kanalitai—Triballos, the Serb.

(49), the castle of Luliano (50), the castle of A- Cabertzentza. It should be known that there are also emporia, and castles.

Pineta, which is called Strobilo (51), the castle of Biniola (52), the castle of Bes, in which is the church of the Holy Apostle Peter, the castle of Elutulba (52), the castle of Bronion (52), the castle of Madaucon (53), the castle of Hola, the castle of Pristina, the castle of Clugia (54), the castle of Brundon (55), the castle of Phosaon (56), the castle of Lauriton (57). It should be known that there are other islands in the same region of Venice. It should be known also that in the mainland part of Italy there are castles of the Venetians, which are these: the castle of Capre (58), the castle of Neocastron, the castle of Fines, the castle of Aeculon (59), the castle of Aimanas (60), the great emporium of Tortzelon, the castle of Mouran (61), the castle of Ribanton (62), which is interpreted as "high place," in which the Doge of Venice sits: the castle of Cabertzentza. It should be known that there are also emporia and castles.

CAPUT XXVIII

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES

The people of the Venetian province arrived at the maritime shore.

Montesilienses, and others dwelling around the mountains, coming to the same disaster by sea, settled on the shores of Mathemaus, Albiola, Palestin, and Clugia. At that time, the nobles of Aquileia came to the Aquilian waters (Gradatas), and on the shore constructed a remarkable castle, which is called after the name of the waters; finally, it becomes the metropolis, Venice.

Concerning the inhabitants of Aquileia fleeing to Gradus through fear of Attila.

In the year of the Lord 424, the inhabitants of Aquileia, besieged by Attila, king of the Huns, not being able to defend themselves, and thus the walls being poorly fortified, and Attila having been deceived and having entered inadvertently, ^D all the inhabitants with all their wives and children and their goods fled, and lived there forever after, whence the Venetians were called as it were new-comers, and hence it is debated up to this day by the patriarch of the Aquileians.

Of the inhabitants of Altino fleeing to various places through fear of Attila.

After this, Attila crossed the river, which was previously called Antenor, because it was first built by Antenor; and they similarly sent infants with their mothers and their treasures to the Islands; but at last, not being able to resist, they fled there by night, and the aforementioned city was reduced to solitude: for the great city was having six gates, and the inhabitants of each having seized the island,

^A a desolate and marshy place. Those now called Venetians were Franks from Aquileia and other parts of Francia, and they used to inhabit the land that lies opposite to the Venetians. And when Attila, the king of the Avars, had come and had despoiled and laid waste all of Francia, everyone—the Franks—began to flee from Aquileia and from the other fortress-cities of Francia, and to go to the uninhabited islands of Venice and to build huts there, for fear of the king, Attila. Now, when this king Attila had laid waste the entire land, and had reached as far as Rome and Calabria, and had left Venice far behind, those who had fled to the islands of Venice, finding security and having, so to speak, cast off their fear, all took counsel to dwell there, which is what they did, and they have dwelt there to this very day.

After Attila had withdrawn, many years later there came again King Pepin, who at that time held Pavia and other kingdoms. This Pepin had three brothers who ruled over all the lands of the Franks and the Slavonians. When King Pepin set out against the Venetians, leading with him a huge multitude of soldiers, he encamped upon the mainland on the other side of the passage to the islands of Venice, at a place called Aibolas ^B. The Venetians, seeing King Pepin advancing against them with his army, and that he intended to cross over with his horses to the island of Malamocco (for this island is near the mainland), cast *kerataria* (antennas) and blocked the entire passage. The people of King Pepin, therefore, coming to a stand (for it was not possible for them to cross elsewhere), encamped against them on the mainland for six months, fighting with them every day. And the Venetians would board their ships and stand behind the *kerataria* which had been cast by them. King Pepin stood with the people ^C on the shore, whom the Venetians were attacking with arrows and missiles, so that he might not cross to the island. King Pepin, therefore, in despair, addressed the Venetians thus: "You are my subjects, inasmuch as [you dwell] on my land and..." ^D

^A under my protection." But the Venetians answered him: "We wish to be subjects of the Emperor of the Romans, and not of you." Being greatly pressured by the trouble that had been caused them, the Venetians ^B made a peace agreement with King Pepin, promising him a large tribute. From that time on, the tribute was reduced every year, which continues to this day. For the Venetians pay to whoever holds the kingdom of Italy, that is, Pavia, thirty-six pounds of unminted silver each year. And in this way the war between the Franks and the Venetians ceased. When the people began to flee to Venice and to gather there, so that they became a great multitude, they proclaimed as their duke the one who excelled others in nobility. ^C And the first duke among them had already come to be before King Pepin came against them. The Duchy was at that time in a place called *Civita nova*, which is interpreted as *New City*. But because the aforementioned island was near the continent, they transferred the Duchy by common council to another island, where it still remains; this is because it is as far distant from the continent as one could see a man mounted on a horse.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(70) *Riptarion*, *Missile Spiculum*. See Du Cange, *Gloss. Græc.* (71) Concerning the outcome of this war of Pippin with the Venetians, many have written many things, and especially the Venetian ^D authors: but to pass over the others, it pleases me to set forth here the words of one of them, Andrew Dandolo, Duke of the Venetians, on this matter, especially since his chronicle is not published. Thus, therefore, he writes: In the Year of our Lord 809, and the eighth of Charles, Pippin, King of Italy, by his father's order, having broken the treaty, came with an army along the shores to subjugate the province of Venice; and when he had crossed with the greatest difficulty the gates dividing the islands, having put to flight the Brundulenses, Clugenses, and Palestrinenses, he arrived at a certain place which is called Albiola, on the bank of the port of Metamaucum, and was unable by any means to advance further; yet, thinking he could press the Venetians with the hunger of famine in a short time. The Venetians, however, hearing this, strike the army with a multitude of bread and hardtack hurled by engines, so that they might not be excluded from the opinion of famine. Then, the strength of the Franks reviving, the Venetians, having left the city of Metamaucum, came to Rivoaltum; and when King Pippin was subtly investigating how he might send them back, having followed the advice of a certain cunning old woman, he caused a bridge to be constructed of timber, vessels, and woven wicker-work upon the dry waters, thinking he could enter Rivoaltum without obstacle. At the appointed hour, therefore, the horsemen ascend the bridge with confidence. Then the Venetians, being not unaware of this plan, having prepared many ships, went out secretly to meet them in the rising water, insulting them, from whom, with the bridge submerged due to the unbinding of the timbers, nearly all who had ascended the bridge were drowned, and they obtained the desired victory. The King, however, dismayed and seeing that he could by no means fulfill his intent henceforth, laid waste the adjacent places he was able, and arrived as far as the church of St. Michael, burning everything, and as some write, he deemed the province should be left to Nicephorus, the Emperor of Constantinople, according to the treaty, and not long after, King Pippin dies at Milan: the writer of the pamphlet entitled *Squitinio della Liberta Veneta* is therefore deceived, when he says that the more recent Venetian writers only assert that the victory stood on the side of the Venetians; indeed, Andrew Dandolo, who flourished in the fourteenth century, was one of the first writers of Venetian affairs, a man upright and conspicuous in both letters and arms, as attested by Francesco Petrarca, who flourished in the same age, in his letters, both published and unpublished, which are preserved in the Royal and Colbertine library; from which Petrarca had truly written very many to this same Dandolo. (72) *Dibaria*, *Diaria*, Du Cange says in his *Glossary*, which he barely understands. For it is not likely that the Venetians paid pounds of silver in *diaria* to the Kings of Italy: although I confess I am completely ignorant of what this word sounds like. Thus the praised Du Cange. But perhaps someone will think that in this place *divalia* should be read instead of *dibaria*. (73) Concerning the institution of the first Duke of the Venetians, Dandolo, whom we praised above, has in his manuscript chronicle: In the Year of Our Lord 697, while a copious multitude of people was living among the Venetian islands in every neighborhood, the tribunes, and all the nobles, and the commoners with the patriarch, and the entire clergy gathered together in Heraclia in these days, that they might prevent the impending damages and dangers, and provide for the better state of their province, and increase it. When therefore the tribunes of the islands, disagreeing among themselves, were unwilling to yield to one another, the Lombards invaded their borders without resistance: for which reason they unanimously decided that a Duke should preside over them, who would govern the people subject to him with fair moderation, and have the force and power to convoke a general assembly in public causes; also to appoint tribunes and judges, who would distribute rights equally to both laymen and clerics in private causes, except for purely spiritual ones; so, however, that it would be lawful for the oppressed to implore the remedy of the Duke at any time, by whose command the councils of the clerics and the elections of prelates should be initiated by the clergy and the people, and the elected should receive investiture from him, and be enthroned by his mandate. These things having been healthily ordained, the name of Christ having been invoked, they unanimously appointed as Duke Paulutius, a citizen of Heraclia, endowed with wisdom and conspicuous for nobility, and they granted him the sacred [oath] of justly and equably exercising the governance of the Duchy, and placed him on the throne with Ducal insignia. (74) *Civita nova*, *Civitas Nova*. (75) In the manuscript it is thus, and it should be read.

by their counsel they moved the duchy to another island, where it is even today, because it is at such a distance from the mainland that one can see a man riding on a horse.

CAPUT XXIX. Concerning Dalmatia and the peoples adjacent to it.

^A Emperor Diocletian was very fond of the land of Dalmatia; for this reason, he brought a people from Rome with their families and settled them in this same land of Dalmatia. These also were named Romans because they had migrated from Rome, and they carry this title until this very day. This Emperor Diocletian also built the castle of Aspalathus ^B and constructed palaces therein, which were beyond all description or writing, and remains of their ancient magnificence still exist today, even though length of time has consumed them. But the same Emperor Diocletian also built the castle of Dioclea, which is now held by the Diocletians, wherefore those of that region received the name Diocletiani. The dominance of these same Romans extended as far as the Danube river; and once, wishing to cross the river and observe who dwelt beyond the river, they crossed and found Sclavinian tribes who were unarmed—these were also called Avars. Neither did these expect that anyone dwelt beyond the river, nor did those suspect anyone on this side of the river. Therefore, because the Romans found the Avars unarmed and unprepared for war, ^C they vanquished them, seized booty and captives, and withdrew. And from that time on, the Romans instituted two exchanges, from Easter to Easter, changing their people so that on the Great and Holy Sabbath they would meet one another, both those who were departing from the place of their station and those who were succeeding to this service. For near the sea, under this very city, a city—

called Salona ^A, 83, half the size of Constantinople, in which all the Romans used to gather and arm themselves, and from there they would set out, and go to the mountain pass which is four miles from the same city, which is even to this day called Klissa 84, because it shuts in those passing through it. And from there they would go on to the river. Thus, as this changing of the guard had taken place for many years, the Slavs who were beyond the river, who are also called Avars, having considered the matter, said among themselves: "These Romans, from the time they first crossed over and made plunder, will never cease crossing over from now on; therefore, let us plot against them." Thus, therefore, the Slavs, the Avars, having taken counsel, and when the Romans once crossed over 85, they made ambushes, and having fought, they defeated them. And having taken their arms, and their banners 86, and the rest of the military standards, the aforementioned Slavs crossed the river and came to the mountain pass. When the Romans who were there saw them, and observed the banners and the equipment of their own countrymen, thinking them to be their own countrymen, when the said Slavs reached the mountain pass, they allowed them to pass through. But once they had entered, they immediately drove out the Romans, and took the aforementioned city of Salona. And having settled there from that time on ^B, they began little by little to plunder, and they destroyed the Romans who were inhabiting the plains and the higher places, and seized their territories. But the remaining Romans were saved in the cities of the seacoast, and even to this day they hold them; which cities are these: Rausium, Aspalathum 87, Tetrangurium, Diadora, Arbe, Becla, and Opsara; whose inhabitants are called Romans even to this day 88.

From the empire of Heraclius, the emperor of the Romans, in the manner which will be recounted in the narrative of the Croats and Serbs, all of Dalmatia 89, and the nations around it, such as the Croats, Serbs, Zachlumians, Terbuniotes, Canalites, Diocletians, and the Arentani...

^B who are also called Pagani, withdrew themselves from the rule of the Romans; for when the Roman Empire, through the sluggishness and sloth of the rulers of that time, and especially of Michael the Amorian, the Stammerer, had almost fallen to nothing, those who inhabited the fortresses of Dalmatia became self-governing, subject neither to the Emperor of the Romans nor to anyone else. In the same way, the nations bordering on them—the Croats, Serbs, Zachlumians, Terbuniotes, Canalites, Diocletians, and Pagani—having shaken off the reins of the Roman Empire, became free and used their own laws, not those of foreigners. These nations, as they say, have no chiefs, except for the elders—the Zupans—just as the other Slavic lands also have in their custom. But the majority of these Slavs were not even baptized, but remained unbaptized for a long time. However, during the reign of the most pious Emperor Basil ^C, they sent envoys requesting and beseeching him that those among them who were not yet baptized should be baptized, and that they should be, as from the beginning, subject to the Roman Empire. Having heard their prayers, that blessed and renowned Emperor sent his Cæsarian along with priests and baptized all those of the aforementioned nations who were still unbaptized; and once they were baptized, he then appointed over them chiefs whom they themselves desired and chose, from the line that they most cherished and loved. And from that time to the present day, their chiefs have been chosen from the same line, and from no other. But the Pagani, who are also called Arentani in the Roman language, were left behind unbaptized in inaccessible and craggy places. For in the Slavic language, Pagani signifies unbaptized. ^D Subsequently, these too sent envoys to the same renowned Emperor and requested to be baptized; and so he sent [his men], and they were baptized. Then, as before...

because of the sloth and negligence of those who held power, the affairs of the Romans fell into arrears, and those dwelling in the fortresses of Dalmatia became independent, subject neither to the Emperor of the Romans nor to anyone else. Some time later, during the reign of the renowned and ever-memorable Emperor Basil, Saracens came ^A from Africa, namely Soldanus, Saba, and Calphon, with thirty-six ships, and they occupied [territory] in Dalmatia, and they sacked the fortress of Butoba, and the fortress of Rossa, and the fortress of Decatera below. And they also came to the fortress of Rausium, and besieged it for fifteen months. Then the Rausians, being hard-pressed, made it known to the ever-memorable ^B Emperor of the Romans, Basil, saying to him thus: "Have mercy on us, and do not let us perish at the hands of the deniers of Christ." The Emperor, moved by compassion, sent the patrician Nicetas, the drungarius of the fleet, nicknamed Oryphas, with one hundred chelandia. The Saracens, having learned of the arrival of the patrician drungarius of the fleet with the fleet, fled, leaving the fortress of Rausium, and crossed over to Longobardia, and having besieged the fortress of Bares, they took it. Then Soldanus, having built palaces there, held all of Longobardia up to Rome for forty years. For this reason the Emperor sent envoys to Louis, King of France, and to the Roman Pope, requesting that they bring aid to the army he had sent; and they

yielding to the Emperor's request, both the King and the Pope, came with a great force and joined the army sent by the Emperor, together with the Croats, the Serbs, the Zachlumians, the Terbuniotes, the Canalites, and the Ragusans, along with everyone from the fortresses of Dalmatia (for all of these were present at the royal command). ^A And having crossed into Longobardia, they besieged the fortress of Bari and sacked it. It should be known that the Ragusan inhabitants carried the Croats and the other Sclavarchs into Longobardia with their own ships. The Emperor of the Romans took back for himself the fortress of Bari, the region, and all the spoils; but the Soldan and the rest of the Saracens were taken away by Louis, King of France. ^B

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

At that same time the Hagarenes began to settle in Bari, devastating it to the ruins, and began to plunder the whole of Apulia, Calabria, and gradually to ravage Salerno and Benevento. For the Saracens were called by Radelgis, Prince of Benevento, to his aid against the Capuans, through Pando, the Castald of Bari, his faithful servant, as the Anonymous Casinensis (ch. 8), Leo Ostiensis (lib. 1, ch. 27), and the Chronicle of St. Vincent on the Volturno (p. 694) relate. But why Bari is called a city of the Ragusans by Symeon the Logothete, I find no reason in other writers. Thus he writes to the seventeenth year of the reign of Basil the Macedonian: “The Soldan, leader of the Hagarenes, having captured Bari, which is a great city of the Ragusans, and having lived in it, was plundering many other cities and regions.” ^C

... The name of Louis is variously related by Greek writers; in this very chapter of Porphyrogenitus he is called […], and in the book *On the Themes* (ch. 11), *Lodoichos*, which I doubt not was corrupted through the ignorance of the scribe. In the life of Basil, the same is written *Lodochos*, and in Cedrenus, *Dolochos*. But one should everywhere read *Lodochos* or *Lodochos*.

(14) This evidence is sufficiently illustrative to confirm the antiquity of the city of Ragusa, my fatherland; for in the ninth century, under the reign of Basil the Macedonian, the auxiliary forces of the Slavic princes were transported to the city of Bari in Apulia in our ships, as Porphyrogenitus notes: which without doubt the city of Ragusa would not have possessed in the ninth century, unless it had been founded for several centuries already, and was at that time great and most flourishing, the metropolis of the whole Roman people which was in Dalmatia, as we shall say below from the same Porphyrogenitus. Moreover, the origin and progress of the Ragusan republic... ^D and that the Emperor of the Romans held the entire region and all the spoils for himself, but that the Soldan with the rest of the Saracens was led away by Louis, King of France, toward Capua and Benevento, some call into doubt, because Erchempert, the author of the Chronicle of St. Vincent on the Volturno and the Protospathar, relate that the Greeks finally entered Bari after the departure of Emperor Louis, to protect themselves from the Saracens, whose forces were increasing daily. Erchempert (ch. 29) and the Chronicle of St. Vincent say: "Hearing this, those who resided at Bari brought Gregory, the *Bajulus* of the Greek Emperor, who was then living in Otranto, into Bari with many armies for fear of the Saracens; who immediately having seized the Castald and his leading men sent them to Constantinople, to whom he had sworn fidelity." Which indeed the Protospathar and the Anonymous Barensis reject to the year 875, indiction viii, thus after the departure of Emperor Louis, who died at Ravenna on the 13th day of the month of August, in the year 874.

^A and the remaining Saracens, Louis, king of Francia, took them and led them away to the castle of Capua and to the castle of Benevento 13; and no one ever saw him laughing. The king said, "If anyone in truth reports to me or shows me the Soldan laughing, I will give him much money." After this, someone saw him laughing and reported it to King Louis. He summoned the Soldan and asked him for what reason he had laughed. He replied, "I saw a chariot and the wheels turning in it, and for this reason I laughed 14, because I was once a head, and now I am beneath everyone, and God can again exalt me." And from that time, Louis invited him to his table and ate with him. And the princes of Capua and Benevento ^B came to the Soldan, asking him about medicine and the treatment of horses 15 and other matters, as from an old and experienced man. The Soldan, being crafty and crooked, said to them, "I want to tell you a thing, and I fear that it might be revealed by you to the king 16, and I will lose my own life." They swore to him, and taking confidence, he said to them, "The king intends to exile all of you to the great Francia, and if you do not believe it, wait a little while and I will give you proof." And going away, he said to Louis, "The princes of this place are wicked, and you cannot master this region unless you destroy the powerful ones who oppose you; but bind the leaders of the castle and send them to your country, and then, as you wish, the rest will submit to you." And when he had persuaded him to fulfill his counsel, and he had ordered iron chains to be made to exile them, the Soldan went away and said to the princes, "Do you still not believe that the king is making you outcasts ^C and that the memory of you is to be erased entirely from among men? However, if you wish to be fully assured, go and see what on earth all the blacksmiths are doing at the command of the king; and if you do not find them making chains and fetters, know that everything I have told you is false; but if I am speaking the truth, take thought for your own salvation and bestow a benefit upon me, who have given you useful and salutary counsel." The princes, being persuaded by the words of the Soldan, having seen the fetters and chains, believed entirely what was the case, and from that time they formed a plan to remove King Louis. But the king ^D of all these...

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

^A having deliberated. But the lords, having been persuaded by the word of the Soldan, and having seen the chains and the bonds, received complete certainty, and from then on they meditated the destruction of King Louis. And the king, knowing nothing of all this, went out to hunt; but when he turned back, his lords seized the castle, not allowing him to enter (17). And King Louis, seeing the resistance of the lords, returned to his own country. And the lords said to the Soldan: "What then do you wish us to do for you concerning the salvation that came to us from you?" And he asked that he be released in his own country; and this being done, he departed into Africa, to his own territory. But not forgetting his ancient malice, he encamped, and came with force into Capua and into Benevento to besiege and subjugate them. ^B And they who held such castles sent ambassadors to King Louis in Francia, that he might come and assist them against the Soldan and the Africans. And King Louis, having learned these things, and the manner in which the Soldan had acted by persuading the lords that "The king is planning to banish you to Francia in chains," answered them, "I repent even of the things I formerly bestowed upon you, since when I delivered you from your enemies, you repaid me with evil for good; and just as I was driven out by you, so now I rejoice at your destruction." Then, reduced to the greatest distress, they sent ambassadors from King Louis to the emperor of the Romans to ask that he might assist them, and deliver them from such danger. The emperor promised aid; but while the ambassador was returning from the city of Constantinople, and bringing glad tidings to those who had sent him concerning the aid to be sent by the emperor, before he could reach the city, he was captured by the Soldan's guards. For he had known that an embassy had been sent to the Roman emperor, and he focused all his efforts on capturing the ambassador, which indeed happened. ^C And having captured the ambassador, he understood what duty he had performed, and that in a few days the aids of the Roman emperor would arrive. And so the Soldan said to him: "If you do what I shall say, you will receive liberty and the greatest gifts...

but if not, by a wicked death you shall lose your life."

The messenger having promised to fulfill the things commanded of him, the Soldan said to him: "I command you to stand near the wall and call those who sent you, and say to them: 'I for my part have performed the service I was bound to do, and I have implored the Roman emperor on your behalf; but yet, know that my journey was in vain, and the emperor has judged your petition an unworthy thing, and you should not hope for any help from the emperor.'"

The messenger, having promised to fulfill these things with joy, they led him near the castle. ^B And setting at nothing all that had been spoken by the Soldan, neither fearing his threats, nor being persuaded by his promises, but placing the fear of God in his heart, he reasoned within himself that it was better for me alone to die than for so many souls to be ensnared by my word and betrayed to death. And indeed, having drawn near to the wall and calling all the lords, he said to those who held authority over that castle: "I, my masters, have fulfilled my ministry and will announce what the Roman emperor has ordered to be signified to you; but I adjure you by the Son of God and by the salvation of the whole city and of your own souls, that you show kindness for my sake to my children, and to my wife, who hopes to receive me back; for as you shall do with them, so shall you receive your reward from the just ^C and good God, the rewarder, who is to judge the living and the dead."

And having said these things, he encouraged them, saying: "I, for my part, shall perish by the Soldan, and I risk my life; but stay you firm and do not be faint-hearted, but wait a little while, and in a few days the safety sent to you by the Roman emperor will arrive."

When he had said these things, the soldiers of the Soldan who were holding him, the kinsmen of the Soldan, hearing what had been said by him contrary to their expectation, gnashed their teeth upon him and rushed upon one another, as to who might be the author of his slaughter. ^D Having been killed by them, the Soldan, fearing the coming power of the emperor, turned back to his own country. And from that time until today, the people of Capua and those of Benevento live under the power of the Romans in complete servitude and subjection, because of this great benefit conferred upon them.

The city of Rausium is not called Rausium in the Greek tongue, but because it stands upon precipices—which is called in Greek *kremnos*—they were called from this *Lausaioi*, that is...

those sitting upon the precipice. But common usage, which often corrupts names by the substitution of letters, has transformed the name to *Rausæos*. And these same Rausæi once held the city called Epidaurum; but afterwards, when the remaining cities were captured by the Slavs who are in this theme, this city too was taken by them: and some of the citizens were killed; others were carried off in chains. But those who were able to find safety in flight inhabited the rugged places. Where the city is now, they first built it small, and later again larger, and then for a third and a fourth time, little by little, as the multitude increased, they extended the boundaries. Among those who migrated from elsewhere to Ragusium, these are the ones: Gregory, Arsaphius, Victorinus, Vitalius, Valentinus the archdeacon, Bauentinus the father of the protospatharios Stephanus. From the time, then, that the citizens of Salona migrated to Rausium, there are 500 years until this current day, the 92nd [year of the cycle], 7th indiction, 6457th year. (Christi 949.) Furthermore, Saint Pancratius was deposited in the same city in the church of Saint Stephanus, which is in the middle of the city. ^B Aspalathus city has attained this name; for even an Laconian city situated in a rugged place is called by Lycophron *As*—whence the name was taken for *Aslapas*, the Dioscuri. And just as from the beginning that city was called Rausium or Lausium by the Greeks, because it was situated in a rugged place (which place is indeed a part of the city today, looking toward the winter sunset); so afterwards, at the beginning of the eleventh century, when many from the Slavic race came to inhabit Rausium, they extended the suburbs of the city toward the north, and built houses there. Since this place was then wooded, and a forest is called *Dubrava* among the Slavs, the city of Rausium took its name from that part of the city then built, and was called by the Slavs *Dubrounik*, which name it preserves to this very day. ^C But I have interpreted those words of Porphyrogenitus as follows: The city of Rausium is not called Rausium in the Greek tongue, but because it is situated in rugged places—a precipice is called *Lau* in Greek—whence the inhabitants were named *Lausæi*, that is, those sitting on a precipice. But perhaps someone will understand those words like this: The city of Rausium is not called Rausium in the Latin tongue, but because it is situated in rugged places—a precipice is called *Lau* in Greek—whence the inhabitants, etc.; as if you were to say: The name of the Ragusine city is not Roman, nor is it derived from the Latins, but it received a Greek name from the rugged place in which it is situated; for a precipice is called *Lau* in Greek, for later Greeks, ^D equal in the Roman dialect, understand Latin and Greek equally.

[alt-version omitted]

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

Bauentinus, father of the protospatharios Stephanus. From the time, then, that the citizens of Salona migrated to Ragusium, there are 500 years until this current day, the 7th indiction, 6457th year. (Christi 949.) Furthermore, Saint Pancratius was deposited in the same city in the church of Saint Stephanus, which is in the middle of the city. Aspalathus city has attained this name... it is, etc. How the Ragusine city was enlarged, Ludovicus Tubero recounts in book v of his *Commentarii de temporibus suis*. "Among those who migrated from elsewhere to Ragusium, these are the ones." In the published editions it reads: *ἐκ δὲ τῶν κατοικησάντων εἰς τὸ Ῥαούσιον*, etc. Namely: "From among those who inhabited Rausium, these are the ones." *Baventinus*. But I believe this word to be corrupt in both places, and I read *Valentinus*. It is also incorrectly read in the editions *τοῦ ἁγίου* instead of *τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου*. Nor do I doubt that in the manuscript which Meursius used to adorn his edition of Constantine, this word was written in a contracted, or, as is commonly said, abbreviated form, namely the letter *π* with a *σ* superscript; which indeed signifies *πρωτοσπαθάριον*, as we shall demonstrate more fully below in the Notes to chapter 42, and also in the following sections, where this same word occurs repeatedly in the same contracted manner, and was not read by Meursius. "From the time, then, that the citizens of Salona migrated to Ragusium," etc. "From the time, then, that the citizens of Salona migrated to Ragusium, there are 500 years until this current day, 7th indiction, 6457th year (Christi 949)." From this it is manifest that the men recounted by Porphyrogenitus a little above, who migrated to Ragusium, were citizens of Salona, and there I read best in the manuscript *ἐκ δὲ τῶν μετοικησάντων*, etc., and not *κατοικησάντων*, etc., as it is had in the editions, as we noted a little above. In the editions, however, it is read here *ἀφ' οὗ δὲ ἀπὸ Σαλῶνα μετώκησεν εἰς Ῥαούσιον*, etc. Which Meursius interprets: "From the time, however, that Salona-man migrated to Ragusium, there are 500 years until this current day, 7th indiction, year," etc. What follows in Meursius's version is corrupted and depraved; which fact I believe to be the fault of the copyist, and not the negligence and ignorance of the interpreter. Moreover, this number of 500 years which Porphyrogenitus puts from the year of Christ 949, in which he was writing these things, to that time when the Salonitan citizens migrated to Ragusium, [was] corrupted by the copyist, or Constantine calculated incorrectly, thinks Joannes Lucius, *de regno Dalmatiæ*; since the destruction of Salona should in no way be referred to the times of Attila, insofar as it remained standing in the time of Justinian, and provided the greatest accommodations to the generals of Justinian in the Gothic war.

^A In the same castle lies the holy Pancratius in the church of St. Stephen, which is in the middle of the same castle. As for the castle of Aspalathos, which is interpreted as "small palace," the Emperor Diocletian built it; he had it as his own house, and having built a courtyard within, and palaces, most of which have been destroyed. A few remain to this day, among which is the bishop's residence of the castle ^B and the church of St. Domnius, in which the same holy Domnius lies, which used to be the bedchamber of the same Emperor Diocletian. Beneath it there are vaulted arches, which used to be prisons, in which he mercilessly imprisoned the saints who were being tortured by him. St. Anastasius is also laid to rest in the same castle. The wall of such a castle ^C is built neither of bricks nor of rough stone, but of square stones having a length of one fathom.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(27) That this house of St. Stephen was built by King Polymirus, and that the relics of the martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, and Pancratius, as well as of the virgins Petronella and Domitilla, which were brought from Rome by the same king, were deposited there, is written by Ludovicus Tubero, book V of his *Commentarii de temporibus suis*; whose words I shall gladly transcribe here: "Almost in the middle of the town, whose district the inhabitants now call Pusterna, Polymirus raises a temple to the holy protomartyr Stephen, and deposits therein the relics of the martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, and Pancratius, and of the virgins Petronella and Domitilla, enclosed in silver, and brought with him from Rome: he entrusted the care of the temple to certain of his protégés, from a family named Crux, which, through the sloth of their descendants, is now almost extinct." This temple of St. Stephen, together with all other temples and buildings of the city of Ragusa, was destroyed in that horrific earthquake which occurred in the year of Christ 1667.

(28) It was Diocletian's palace; it began to be inhabited by the citizens of Salona after Salona was destroyed by the Slavs or Goths, as Thomas the Archdeacon of Spalato writes in his *Historia Salonitana*, chapter 10. See also the history of Mica Madius published by Lucius, chapter 15.

(29) *Episcopeion* here does not signify an episcopal house, as Ducange thought in his *Glossarium Graecum*, where he praises this passage of Porphyrogenitus; but a bishop's house, which was formerly the domicile of Severus, a citizen of Salona, who, because he possessed greater authority than the rest, was called Magnus Severus, ^D as Thomas the Archdeacon writes in *Historia Salonitana*, chapter 10. And the same writer, in chapter 11, has this to say about the bishopric: "Then the aforementioned Severus donated his domicile, which he had obtained in Spalato when they returned from the islands, to the Church along with the corner tower and the palace, deciding that the bishopric be established there." And there the venerable prelate Joannes first began to live. Concerning the holy episcopal house, the same archdeacon adds: "Seeing therefore that the people were growing in their love of divine worship, he immediately began to undertake a praiseworthy work, and cleansed the temple of Jove—which had been erected with very high structures in that very Augustan building—of the idols' phantasms, installing doors and locks in it. Then, for the solemnity of the dedication, a great multitude of people gathered from all sides. He therefore made a church out of that temple, consecrating it with great devotion, and the jubilation of all who had gathered, to the honor of God and the glorious Virgin Mary; and he established there a clergy who would perform the rites of divine worship every day."

(30) The body of the holy martyr Anastasius, of whom our writer speaks a little below, was translated from Salona to Spalato and deposited in the church sacred to the Mother of God, which had previously been the temple of Jove, as the praised archdeacon reports in chapter 12 of *Historia Salonitana*: "At the same time, the reverend bishop began to urge the citizens that the body of blessed Domnius the pontiff, which had remained at Salona, should be raised and translated into the church which had recently been dedicated; and it pleased everyone greatly. Therefore, after having examined the turn of times when they could conveniently attempt this, they went to Salona, and entering the basilica of the bishopric, they found everything confused and dissipated: for that place was filled with ruined roofs, and the ashes of the fires heaped together had already produced briars and brushwood; so that although some still survived who knew the place, yet, because the tomb itself had been hidden by subterranean vaults, it could not be easily discerned whence the body of blessed Domnius might be removed. Digging up the earth and laying bare the place, they raised the chest which first appeared, and fearing lest they might be hindered by the Slavs, they carried it with great speed to Spalato, which, when they opened it, they did not find to be the body of blessed Domnius, but the body of blessed Anastasius the martyr. Immediately, therefore, on the following day, returning to Salona, they dug up the sarcophagus of blessed Domnius from that same place, and with the greatest haste carrying him to Spalato, with excessive devotion they placed the precious relics of both martyrs in the aforementioned church of the Mother of God, where, by the grace of God, they rest to this day."

(31) *Eilēmatikos*, "Rotundus," "Volubilis," "Cameratus." See Ducange, *Glossarium Graecum*. Our writer uses this word later on in several places with the same meaning.

(32) Concerning these walls, Lucius says in chapter 10 of *De Regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae*: "The greater part of them remains intact, testifying to Roman magnificence; and from them it is known how easily the remnants of the Salonitans could defend themselves against the Slavs." Indeed, Jacobus Sponius exhibited a description of the city of Spalato in his *Itinerarium*.

(35) Native stones are those excavated from the mines of the soil itself, not foreign, as some have thought, or brick. See Ducange in his *Glossarium*.

liberties and legacies according to the force of such a testament shall be ratified. The posthumous child, however, shall enter upon the inheritance with the others and shall be a co-heir. 9. If someone having a legitimate child, performs some act to the terror of his parents, and in their old age leaves them destitute of care; but some other person whatsoever runs to them and serves them, and because they have been benefited by him, they wish to leave him as heir of their own substance, their will shall be valid and firm. 10. Every heir, whether by written or unwritten disposition, who interposes a delay up to the space of a year and does not fulfill the will, if he is a son or grandson of the deceased, receives only the legitimate portion owed to him. If the legitimate portion extends to four children, they take a fourth part of the estate: from five and upward, they receive a half. 11. If there is some other relative, he shall fall away entirely from the testator's property, and these shall accrue to the co-heirs left to him, or to the legatees, or to other relatives. 12. If the heir is a third party who does not fulfill the terms of such a disposition, he shall be removed from the entire possession. 13. If someone, having been struck in war, or while walking on a journey, approaches death, and wishes to dispose of his affairs, but in either case no legal expert or any other person is found who knows letters, he shall make his will through seven, or five, or three witnesses; and even before two, if they are found, whose credibility, of course, has been approved by the judges.

TITLE XVII. Concerning acquired property, about which one may make a testament or is likewise prohibited.

1. Military acquired goods are those which soldiers, being under the power of a father and grandfather, acquire from their own military property, about which they are able to make a testament, and when they are living in their posts, provided the aforementioned observation concerning perfect testaments is followed. But if such acquired property is spent by the will of these soldiers, his heirs are unable to demand a legitimate portion from it; but it is in their power to donate it to this person or that, or by their will to leave the acquired property in its entirety. Furthermore, after the death of his parents, these do not come into collation as paternal goods, nor are they divided; but they are acknowledged as pertaining exclusively to the person of the soldier himself alone. 2. If brothers are left at the death of their parents, and one of them serves as a soldier, while the other remains at home; if they make covenants with one another, those things which have been agreed upon between them shall be held valid. 3. If they do this without arrangement, and they live together until the tenth year after one of them has committed himself to military service, all the things that have been acquired by them, whether

through inheritance or through the fruit of their labor, remain in common. ^A And the holy martyr Chrysogonus [is there], and his holy chain. The church of Saint Anastasia is basilican, similar to the church of the Chalcoprateia, ^B with green and white columns, wholly decorated with ancient 44 wood-painting; 45 its floor is made of marvelous inlaid work. There is also another church near it, circular in shape, [dedicated to] the Holy Trinity; and above that church is another church, in the manner of a catechumens' gallery, which is also circular, to which one ascends by a spiral staircase. There are islands under the dominion of Dalmatia as far as Beneventum 46 that are numerous and very many, so that ships there never fear a storm. Among these islands is the fortress of Becla 47, and on another island is Arbe 48, and on another island is Opsara 49, and on another island is Lumbricatum 50; all these are inhabited, ^C and there are small islands belonging to Dalmatia extending as far as Beneventum, numerous and very many, so that vessels there never fear a tempest. Of these, one is the city of Becla, another is Arbe, another is Opsara, another again is Lumbricatum; all of these are inhabited even to this day; the others, however, are devoid of inhabitants and contain deserted cities, the names of which are: Catautrebeno, Pizuch, Selbo, Scerda, Aloep, Scirdacissa, Pyrotima, Meleta, Estiunez, and many others whose names are unknown. The remaining cities, however, which are in the mainland of the theme and were captured by the aforementioned Slavs, are deserted and have no inhabitants.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(43) Concerning the sacred [shrine] of the Mother of God, which was in the Chalcoprateia, we have spoken at length above in Book II, Comment. no. 76 (α). (44) Thus it is from the manuscript codex. It is read incorrectly in the editions, *ex heliographia antiqua*; where Meursius says it should be read *ex steliographia*, that is, ancient sculpture; and Salmasius, on Pliny page 1219, says *xylographia*. But both are mistaken, since it must be read, as it is in the Royal manuscript codex, *ex hylographia antiqua*. For more recent writers have called wood-painting (*hylographia*) instead of wax-painting (*cerographia*), so as to distinguish this from the mosaic work; for they establish a twofold painting: one *by means of molten wax substance* (that is, with wax and colors applied to any material), and the other *by means of tesserae*, or mosaic work. Theodosius, Bishop of Amorion, in the seventh synod, act 4, says: "The holy and venerable icons and paintings, and wood-paintings (*hylographiae*) and mosaic works, etc." Theophanes, in the 27th year of Copronymus: "In the same year, Nicetas, the false patriarch, scraped away the icons in the patriarchate of the small Secretariat, which were made of mosaic, and that of the great Secretariat, which was of wood-painting (*hylographia*)." Where also S. Nicephorus in the aforementioned place has *ex cerochyti hylae*. See what Ducange has in *Glossarium Graecum*, under the word Κηρόχυτος γραφή, where he discusses at length about the painting that is made with wax melted by fire, with a brush. ^D (45) *Sygkope* signifies opus tessellatum (inlaid work). Continuator of Theophanes, Book III, no. 7: "And from inlaid work and various colors, the entire floor." (46) Although Beneventum is near the Adriatic sea; yet it is distant from it by about a three days' journey, and 42 miles from Naples. (47) Which Porphyrogenitus calls Becla, Ptolemy calls Ouegla; but Pliny calls it Vegium; today it is called Viglia. In Italian, Veglia; in Slavonic, Kirk. (48) Arbe; in Slavonic, Rab. (49) It is called Absarus today. This island and the city of the same name were once called Absorus and Absyrtium. In Italian, it is called Osero. (50) Nowadays it is called Vergada, and it is said to be Slavonic.

(α) Where these things are read: There are various opinions among writers concerning the founder of this church. And indeed Theophanes seems to contradict himself, when on page 88 he attributes it to Theodosius the Younger: "Then he also erected the church of the Chalcoprateia to the Theotokos, which had previously been a synagogue of the Jews." Thus also Cedrenus transcribed from him; with whom Glycas and Joel agree. But the same Theophanes, page 209, at the 12th year of Justin the Younger, says in that same year Justin, having taken the synagogue from the Jews, built the church of the most holy Mother of God, near the Great Church: "In this year Emperor Justin, having torn away from them the synagogue of the Hebrews which was in the Chalcoprateia, made it into a church of our Lady, the most holy Theotokos, situated near the Great Church." In this year the synagogue that was in the Chalcoprateia was taken from the Jews, and Emperor Justin made it into a church of our Lady, the most holy Mother of God, near the Great Church. Although, I say, in the aforementioned place the same Theophanes had attributed this same church of the Mother of God in the Chalcoprateia to Theodosius the Younger. But that Anastasius the Librarian in *Hist. Eccl.* and Paulus Diaconus in Book XVI of *Hist. Misc.* recognize Justin as the founder of this church, I think they borrowed this from the aforementioned passage of Theophanes; but I judge that it was not built by Justin, but was rebuilt when it had collapsed from an earthquake, as our anonymous author and Codinus have it. The author of the *Chronicon Alexandrinum* disagrees with Theophanes and the others, who attributes it to Marcian and Pulcheria. Theodorus Lector, and Nicephorus Callistus following him in Book XIV, cap. 2 (or 49), recognizes only Pulcheria as the foundress. Finally, Justinian in *Novel* 5, cap. 1, writes that it was built by Verina, wife of Leo the Great. But Ducange reconciles these things thus: namely, that it was begun by Theodosius, completed by Pulcheria, and subsequently restored from the foundations by Verina and Justin. The same church of the Mother of God of the Chalcoprateia was also restored by Basil the Macedonian, as Constantine Porphyrogenitus is the author in the Life of Basil, cap. 62, where he deals *concerning the Holy Shroud*. That a street or square called Chalcopratia once existed in Constantinople, belonging to the coppersmiths' workshops, is attested by both Codinus and Leunclavius in *Pand. Turc.* cap. 248, who says: "There is still in the city a street of those fashioning vessels of any kind from copper; which street," he adds, "is named in the more recent histories of the Greeks, such as Cedrenus and others, *Chalcopratia*, famously, from the selling of vessels made of copper." But Cujacius thinks otherwise, in *Codex de Collegiatis Chartoprat.* Book II, where he contends that this place is wrongly called *Chalcopratia* by writers, when they should have said *Chartopratia*, where, namely, there were shops where paper was sold. But Leunclavius himself, in the aforementioned place, reports that both *Chalcopratia* and *Chartopratia* existed in Constantinople in his time, where he discusses the *Chalcopratia*, and then adds these things about the *Chartopratia*: "At one side of this area begin the shops of those who sell Persian works of excellent quality, and Turkish painted [papers], Greek, and others of snow-white and smoothed paper: and therefore these are called *Chartopratia*." Whence I do not doubt that even in Constantinople, before it was captured by the Turks, there were both *Chalcopratia* and *Chartopratia*, the places so named from the coppersmiths' workshops and also from the paper shops.

in opposition to their mighty onset by the invincible and unconquerable man-at-arms, general, commander, trophy-bearer, and triumphant first-called apostle Andrew, they were confounded and shaken; terror seized them, and they fled for refuge into his all-holy temple. When the strategos, ^A after the victory, arrived on the third day and learned of the triumph of the apostle, he reported to Emperor Nikephoros the incursion of the Slavs, the plundering, the captivity, the devastation, the pillage, and all the other terrible things they had done while raiding the regions of Achaea. He also reported the long-lasting siege, the constant assault against the inhabitants of the fortress, as well as the visitation, alliance, trophy, and total victory achieved by the apostle, and how he was seen with his own eyes pursuing the enemies from behind, routing them, so that even the barbarians themselves perceived the apostle’s visitation and alliance with us, and for this reason fled for refuge into his venerable temple. Upon learning these things, the emperor gave an order as follows: "Since both the trophy and the total victory were achieved through the apostle, it is fitting that the entire expedition of the enemies, along with the booty and spoils, be surrendered to him." And he decreed that the enemies themselves, together with their entire family, kin, and all their dependents, and even all their property, should be set apart as belonging to the temple of the apostle in the metropolis of Patras, in which the first-called disciple of Christ fulfilled the struggle of his contest, having also provided a sigillion ^B regarding them in the same metropolis. These things the elders and more ancient men announced, handing them down unwritten by time and life-experience to those who came after, so that, according to the prophet, the generation to come might know the miracle that took place through the intercessions of the apostle, and they shall arise and declare it to their sons, ^C that they may not forget the benefits which God performed through the intercessions of the apostle. From that time on, the Slavs set apart in the metropolis support the strategoi, the imperial officials, and all the ambassadors sent from the nations as hostages, having their own servers, cooks, and all those who prepare the dishes for the table, with the metropolis itself changing nothing in these matters, but the Slavs themselves gather such necessities from the distribution and pooling of their group. Leon, the ever-memorable and most famous emperor, also issued a sigillion, detailing what these very people registered to the metropolitan are obliged to provide, and that he may not extract money from them, nor injure them in any other way through an unjust device.

CHAPTER L. On the Slavs of the theme of the Peloponnese, the Milings and the Ezerites, and on the tributes paid by them. Likewise also on the inhabitants of the fortress of Maina, and of the tributes paid by them.

^A of the Avars; for the Avars were accustomed to make their encampments on the other side of the Danube river, where the Turks now are, leading a nomadic life (61). But the men of Dalmatia, seeing them year by year across the river with their cattle and people, decided at one time to cross over and learn who those were who had their residence there. Having crossed over, they found only the women and children of the Avars, as the men and those in the prime of life were on an expedition. Falling upon them, they took them captive and returned without any trouble, taking such plunder to Salona. So when the Avars returned from their expedition and learned what had happened to them, they were dismayed, but they did not know from where such a blow had come upon them; they decided, therefore, for themselves to watch for the right time, and to learn everything from it. When, therefore, the garrison troops were sent again as usual from Salona, and they were others, not the same ones, these men also formed the same plan against them. They crossed over against them; but, meeting them gathered together and not scattered as before, they not only achieved nothing (62), but suffered the most terrible things of all. For some of them were slaughtered, and the rest were taken alive, and not one of them escaped their hands. After they examined them as to who they were and where they were from, and learned that it was from them that they had suffered the aforementioned blow; and furthermore questioning them about the nature of their territory, and as if kindled by love from what they heard, they kept the living ones in chains, took their garments, ^B and having mounted their horses, and taking the banners and the other signs which they carried with them, they all set out like an army, and rushed towards Salona. When they had learned, after inquiry, the time during which the garrison troops were accustomed to return from the Danube (and it was the Great and Holy Sabbath), they came also on that very same day. And the whole multitude, when they drew near to the encampment, hid itself; but one thousand, who had taken the horses and garments of the Dalmatians, pushed on in order to deceive. The townspeople, having recognized their own banners and clothing, and furthermore the day on which it was customary for them to return, opened the gates (63) and received them with joy. But they, as soon as they had entered, seized the gates, and having made their action clear to the army by a signal, caused them to run and enter along with them. They slaughtered all the citizens, and from that time they took possession of the entire region of ^C Dalmatia, and made their home in it. They did not, however, conquer the small towns by the sea, but those were held by the Romans, because they lived off the sea. Seeing, therefore, that this land was most beautiful, the Avars placed their seats there. The Croats, however, were then living beyond Bagibarea, where the Belochroats are now. But one clan, namely the five brothers Clucas, Lobelus, Cosentzes, Muchlo, and Chrobatus, and two sisters, Tuga and Buga, separating from them, came to Dalmatia, where they found the Avars as inhabitants, and having waged war against them for some years, the Croats won; some of the Avars they killed, and others they forced to obey them, and from that time this region was possessed by the Croats, and they are even now in Chro- ^D [alt-version omitted] ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES. (61) Today the Huns or Hungarians. But concerning the Turks, see Porphyrogenitus below. (62) As in the manuscripts; printed editions have, "and not only did they achieve nothing," etc. (63) Πόρτα (Gate) is purely Latin, and occurs frequently among more recent Greek writers.

^A Migne’s Latin text: The remnants of the Avars are known to be Avars. The other Croats, however, remained towards Francia, and they are called today Belochrobati, that is, White Croats, who are subject to their own prince. They are obedient to Otto the Great, king of the Franks, that is, of Saxony; and being unbaptized, they contract matrimonial affinities and friendships with the Turks. But from the Croats who came into Dalmatia, a certain part seceded and occupied Illyricum and Pannonia: and they too had a supreme prince, who would send an embassy for the sake of friendship only to the prince of Croatia. But for some years, the Croats inhabiting Dalmatia were subject to the Franks, just as they were previously while they lived in their own land. The Franks, however, used such cruelty towards them that they would kill their infants still at the breast and throw them to the dogs. Since this matter was intolerable to the Croats, a dissension arose, and they slew the princes whom they had from among them, whence a great army moved against them from Francia, and after a seven years' war, the Croats at length with difficulty emerged victorious, and destroyed all the Franks and their prince, Cotzilis. And from then on, having become free and masters of themselves, they sought holy baptism from the Roman pontiff, and bishops were sent who baptized them, while Porinos held the principate. Their region was divided into 11 Zupanias, whose names are Chlebiana, Tzentzena, Emnota, Pleba, Pes-senta, Parathalassia, Brebera, Nona, Tzena, Sidraga, Nina; and their Ban holds Cribasum, Litzam, and Gutaecam. And indeed, the aforementioned Croatia, with the remaining Sclavinias, is situated thus: Dioclea is near the towns of Dyrrachium, Elissus, Helycynio, and Antibarum, and extends as far as Decatera; the mountains, however, are bordering on Serbia. From the Decaterians, the principality of Terbunia begins, and it extends as far as Rausium, and towards the mountains of ^B Serbia it lies adjacent. From Rausium the principality of the Zachlumians begins.

Greek text: Seeing therefore that this land was most beautiful, the Avars settled in it. The Croats, however, were dwelling at that time beyond Bagibareia [(64)], where the Belochrobati are now. And one lineage having separated from them—there were five brothers, Kloukas, and Lobelos, and Kosentzes, and Mouchlo, and Chrobatos—and two sisters, Touga and Bouga, they came with their people into Dalmatia, and found the Avars holding this land. So for some years, warring with one another, the Croats prevailed, and they slaughtered some of the Avars and forced the rest to submit. From that time on, this region was occupied by the Croats; and there are still in Croatia some of the Avars [(65)], and they are known to be Avars. But the rest of the Croats remained towards Francia and are called now Belochrobati [(66)], that is, White Croats, having their own prince; and they are subject to Otto the Great, the king of Francia and of Saxony [(67)], and they remain unbaptized, and have intermarriages and friendships with the Turks. From the Croats who came into Dalmatia, some part separated and took possession of Illyricum and Pannonia [(68)]; they also had a prince of their own, independent, and sending only for friendship to the prince of Croatia. But until certain times, the Croats who were in Dalmatia were also subject to the Franks, just as they were earlier in their own land; and the Franks acted so harshly towards them that they would slay the infants of the Croats and throw them to the dogs. Not being able to endure this from the Franks, the Croats rose up against them, having killed those of them who were their princes; whence they waged war against them from Francia with a great force, and having warred with each other for seven years, the Croats at long last with difficulty prevailed and destroyed all the Franks [(69)].

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

[(64)] Bagibareia, or Bagibareia is a Slavic word, distorted in Greek; that is, *Babeiaoreia*, that is, *Babii montes*, in Slavic *Babie Gore*, namely the Old or Old Women’s mountains, by which name the Carpathian mountains separating Poland from Hungary are called by some. From these it appears that the Croats came from Sarmatia, now called Poland, or Bohemia. But Porphyrogenitus deals more fully with the Croats and the land they dwelt in at that time in the following chapter; ^D where see what we note. [(65)] Corrupt text, unless it should be read "the nation of the Avars." [(66)] Taken from Germania, as we shall note in the following chapter. Belochrobatos, however, is aptly deduced from Albos Chrobatos from *Beli Hruati*, since *Beli* or *Bili*, or as our people say, *Bieli*, signifies "white" in Slavic. [(67)] Thus it is held in the manuscripts; that is to be read, "king of Francia and Saxony," namely the king of France and Saxony. [(68)] To be corrected. It is read wrongly in the editions, *καὶ τὴν Παπωνίαν*. But Porphyrogenitus, says Lucius, separates Illyricum from Pannonia, when above, by extending Dalmatia as far as the Danube, he included the Pannonias in Dalmatia, as was said. Therefore, Illyricum here is to be taken for Dalmatia, but Pannonia for Pannonia Savia, since the Avars possessed the remaining Pannonias then and in later times, as will be clear; and then the Croats, receding from Dalmatia, occupied that part of Pannonia which was once called Savia or Interamnia, situated between the rivers Sava and Drava, and it must be thought that they gave the name to the region from the general name of the Slavs, the particular name Slavonia, which they still serve today, and use a common language. [(69)] Porphyrogenitus, says Lucius, left writings about the Croats casting off the yoke of the Franks and receiving baptism in the time of the same Heraclius the Elder; but when historians of the Franks make no mention of the Croats, but only write certain things about the Slavs, the events of the time of Heraclius are to be referred to this. For the writer of the deeds of Dagobert, king of the Franks, records that in the 7th year of his reign he subjugated the Avars and Slavs to his rule; but just as it is agreed that the Avars inhabited the Pannonias then, so it is clear that the Slavs were borders to the Franks in Germany from the north, and in Illyricum from the east. Concerning which Slavs these things should be understood, whether about the northern or the eastern ones, it is undiscovered. Similarly, those things which...

^A and their archon, who was called Kotzel. But ^A after they had remained self-governing and independent, they requested the holy baptism from Rome; and bishops were sent, and they baptized them, in the time of Porinos, their archon. Their land was therefore divided into eleven Zupanias, namely: Hlebiana, Tzentzena, Emota, Pleba, Pesenta, Parathalassia, Brebera, Nona, Tnyna, Sidraga, and Nina; and the Boanos of these holds Kribasa, Litza, and Goutzka. And the aforementioned Croatia ^B has, and it extends as far as the river Orontios; and the maritime coast is held by the Pagani, while the mountainous regions to the north are held by the Chrobati, and the region in front is conterminous with Serbia. From the river Orontios, Pagania begins and extends as far as the river Zentina, and it has three Zupanias: Rastotza, Mocrum, and Dalen; and indeed two of these Zupanias, Rastotza and Mocrum, are situated by the sea and have fishing nets; but the Zupania of Dalen is situated far from the sea, and its inhabitants live by agriculture. The Pagani also have in the vicinity four islands, namely Meleta, Curcura, Bartzum, and Pharum, all of them most beautiful.

THE NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(70) It is read incorrectly in the published editions as “and he was baptizing them.”

(71) Zupania is derived from the Slavonic Zupa, which signifies a people or some inhabited territory. Hence comes Zupan, or Jupan, a dignity among the Serbs, the Hungarians, and the Slavonic race generally: a governor of a province, or of some territory, or city. Our writer in chapter 29 says: “These nations, as they say, have no archons, except for elder Zupans, just as the other Slavinias have.” Princes, indeed, as they say, these nations do not have, besides the elder Zupans, just as the remaining peoples of the Slavs. The pact of Boemund with Emperor Alexius in Anna Comnena, Book 1, is subscribed by Zupanos o Peras, another of the legates of the King of Hungary. The title also of Great Zupan is mentioned in the Salutatory Epistles of the Pontiff, and that of Archzupan in Nicetas in *Manuel Comnenus*, Book II, num. 7, and in John Cinnamus, Book I, num. 7. The Great Zupan is also called “Grand Zupan” in the Epistles of Pope Innocent III, Book I and II, and in the Acts of the same. So, consequently, the prince of Serbia is called. See Du Cange’s *Glossarium mediae Latinitatis* and his *Graecitas*, as well as his Notes to the *Alexiad*, p. 347.

(72) Chlebiana is today called Hliuno. (73) Tzentzena is today called Cetina. (74) Emota is now called Imota. (75) Pleba is today Plieva in Bosnia. (76) Afterwards in the diocese of Tininum, says Lucius. (77) Maritime; or Primorye. (78) Brebera is today commonly Bribir. (79) Nona is today Nin. (80) In Latin, Tininium; in Slavonic, Knin. (81) Afterwards in the diocese of Scradona. (82) If Nina is the same as Nona, and is divided into two Zupanias, says Lucius in *De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae*. (83) Latin: Ban, which is the same as Duke; Slavonic: Ban. (84) Cribasa is called in Slavonic Krbava. (85) Litza is Slavonic Lika. (86) In the manuscript it is read Goutzka. Afterwards in the diocese of Signien. Furthermore, among the Zupanias mentioned, says Lucius, those that are maritime are for the most part enumerated; and therefore either the dukes, or Bans, as named by Porphyrogenitus, possessed only maritime Croatia, or he himself, being little versed in western affairs, omitted many things.

^A But the other Sclaveni are situated as follows: Dioclea 87 is near the castles of Dyrrhachium, namely, near Elisson, and near Elcynium, and Antibaris, and it comes as far as the Decatera; and toward the mountains it approaches Servia. From the castle of the Decatera begins the principality of Terbounia, and it extends as far as Rausium, and toward its mountains it approaches Servia. From Rausium begins the principality of the Zachlumi and extends to the river Orontius; and toward the sea it is near the Pagani; but toward the mountains, to the north, it is near the Chrobati, and at the head it is near Servia. From the river Orontius begins Pagania and extends as far as the river Zentina, having three Zupanies, Rastotza 88, and Mokron 89, and Dalen 90. And these two Zupanies, that is to say, Rastotza and the one of Mokron, lie by the sea, which also have sagenae 91; but that of Dalen is far from the sea, and they live from the labor of the land. And there are four islands near them, Meleta 92, Kourkoura 93, Bratzis 94, and Pharos 95, most beautiful and fertile, having abandoned castles ^B and many marshes; and they dwell in them and have their cattle, and live from them. From the river Zentina begins the country of Chrobatia 96, and it extends toward the seacoast as far as the borders of Istria, namely, of the castle of Albunum; and toward the mountains it reaches as far as a certain place in the theme of Istria; and it approaches toward the Zentina and the Chlebena to the country of Servia. For the country of Servia is at the head of all the other lands, and to the north it is near Chrobatia, and to the south to Bulgaria. From the time the aforementioned Sclavi settled there, they took possession of all the surrounding country of Dalmatia; and they used to work the Roman castles and the islands, and lived from them; but being captured and destroyed by the Pagani every day, they left such islands wishing ^C to work the mainland. Yet they were hindered by the Chrobati; for they did not yet pay them tributes, but everything which they now pay the Sclavi, they provided to the strategos. Being unable to sustain life, they approached the memorable Emperor Basil, and explained all the aforementioned things. That memorable Emperor Basil, therefore, prompted...

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES

all gifts for the strategos are to be given by the Sclavenes themselves, and they are to live peacefully with them, and a small amount is to be given to the strategos, so that it may be evidence of their submission and servitude to the Emperor of the Romans and to their own strategos. From that time on, all such fortresses became subject to the Sclavenes, and they pay for them all: the fortress of Aspalathos 200 nomismata; the fortress of Tetrangourin 100 nomismata; the fortress of Diadora 100 nomismata; the fortress of Ovara 100 nomismata; the fortress of Arde 100 nomismata; the fortress of Vekla 100 nomismata; thus in total 700, apart from wine and other various goods. Further, they pay more than the said nomismata. The fortress of Ragusa lies between these two lands, and while the Zachloumians and the Terbounians own their vineyards in both lands, they pay 36 nomismata to the ruler of the Zachloumians, and 36 nomismata to the ruler of Terbounia.

CHAPTER XXXI. Of the Chrobati and the land which they now inhabit.

^AThat the Chrobati who now inhabit the parts of Dalmatia are descended from the unbaptized Chrobati, also called "White," who live beyond Tourkia, near Francia, and are neighbors of the unbaptized Serboi. The name "Chrobati" in the Sclavene dialect means, that is to say, "those who possess much land." These same Chrobati sought refuge with Heraclius, the Emperor of the Romans, before the ^{B C D}

Serbs sought refuge with the same Emperor Heraclius, at the time when the Avars, having made war, drove the Romans out from those parts. The Emperor Diocletian had brought them from Rome and settled them there, and for this reason they were called Romans, because they had become settlers from Rome in those regions, that is to say, in what is now called Chrobatia and Serbia. But after these same Romans were driven out by the Avars in the days of the same Emperor of the Romans, Heraclius, their lands lay desolate. Therefore, by the command of the Emperor Heraclius, the same Chrobati ^A fell upon the Avars and drove them out from those places, and by the order of the Emperor Heraclius they settled in that same land of the Avars in which they dwell today. At that time, the Chrobati had as their prince the father of Porga. The Emperor Heraclius sent for priests from Rome, and from them he appointed an archbishop, a bishop, presbyters, and deacons, and baptized the Chrobati; and at that time, the Chrobati had as their prince Porga. The region which the Chrobati inhabited was from the beginning under the authority of the Emperor of the Romans; whence even to this day the palaces and hippodromes of the Emperor Diocletian survive in the region of the Chrobati, in the city of Salona, which is close to the city of Aspalathos. ^B These baptized Chrobati are not willing to wage war against others outside the boundaries of their own land; for they received a certain oracle and decree from the Pope of Rome who, in the time of the Emperor Heraclius, sent priests and baptized them. Indeed, after they received baptism, the Chrobati made covenants and, having given their own hand-written pledges to Saint Peter the Apostle, they swore firm and secure oaths that they would never invade a foreign land with arms, but would rather live at peace with all who wished it. They received in return from the same Pope of Rome a prayer, that if any other pagan nations should invade the land of the Chrobati and bring war against them, the God of the Chrobati would fight for them and protect them, and Peter, the disciple of Christ, would obtain ^C victory for them. After many years had passed, in the days of Prince Terpemer, who was the father of Prince Crasemer, a certain man named Martin, exceeding pious but of secular habit, came from Francia, which lies between Chrobatia and Venice; whom these same Chrobati say performed many miracles. This pious man, being very infirm and mutilated in his feet, so that he was carried everywhere he wished by four bearers, also affirmed there that the command of the most holy pontiff was to be observed by the Chrobati until the end of their lives, and he likewise invoked upon them the same things that the pontiff had previously invoked. Wherefore, neither the nets of the Chrobati themselves, ^D nor their ships, [were ever...]

sent forth for war against anyone, unless someone should first attack them. But by means of such ships, those of the Chrobati who desire to conduct trade go forth, traveling from fortress to fortress, through Pagania and the Gulf of Dalmatia, and as far as Venice.

That the Prince of Chrobatia from the beginning, that is to say from the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, is servilely subject to the Emperor of the Romans, and was never subjected to the Prince of Bulgaria. Nor has a Bulgarian ever marched to war against the Chrobati, except for Michael, the Prince of Bulgaria, [son of] Boris, who took up arms and waged war upon them; but having achieved nothing, he made peace, having entertained the Chrobati and been entertained by the Chrobati. Nor have these Chrobati ever paid tribute to the Bulgarians, but they have often honored one another with gifts for the sake of friendship. ^B The baptized cities of Chrobatia are these: Nona, Belogradum, Belitzin, Scordona, Chlebena, Stolpum, Tenen, Cori, Claboca. And it possesses sixty thousand horsemen, and one hundred thousand foot soldiers; and eighty [sagenae], and one hundred [condurae]. The [sagenae], indeed, hold forty men; but the [condurae] hold twenty—that is to say, the larger ones; for the smaller ones have only ten men. And such was the power and abundance of Chrobatia; these remained [in this state] until the principate of Crasemere; upon whose death, since his son Miroslav...

after the clan had been under his rule for four years, he was killed by the Ban of Pribunia; many dissensions and factions then arose, and the number of horsemen and foot soldiers was greatly diminished, as were the *sagenae* and *condurae*. And now it has thirty *sagenae*, both large and small *condurae*, as well as cavalry and infantry. ^A Croatia herself, which is also nicknamed "White," has remained to this day unbaptized, just as the neighboring Serbs have: their cavalry and infantry are not as numerous as those of baptized Croatia, for they are plagued by frequent incursions from the Franks, Turks, and Pechenegs; nor do they possess *sagenae*, *condurae*, or trading vessels, being remote from the sea, from which they are a journey of thirty days away. The sea, moreover, from which they are a journey of thirty days distant, is that which is called "Black."

^B The Croats have never paid tribute to the Bulgarians, although both sides have frequently offered one another gifts of hospitality for the sake of friendship. The baptized Croatia contains populated cities: Nona, Belgrade, Belitzin, Scordona, Chlebena, Stolpon, Tenen, Cori, and Claboca. Baptized Croatia puts into the field up to [sixty thousand] cavalry and up to [one hundred thousand] infantry, with up to eighty *sagenae* and up to one hundred *condurae*. The *sagenae* are manned by forty men each, and the *condurae* by twenty men each, while the smaller *condurae* are manned by ten men each. Croatia held this great military strength and multitude of people until the time of the Archon Krasimer; but after his death, when his son Miroslav had ruled for four years and was killed by Pribunia Boanus, ^C and after dissentions and many divisions occurred in the land, both the cavalry and the infantry, the *sagenae*, and the *condurae* of the Croatian power were diminished. At present, it possesses thirty *sagenae*, large and small *condurae*, and cavalry and infantry. Great Croatia, the one called "White," remains unbaptized to this day, just as do the Serbs who are near it. They put into the field a smaller force of cavalry and infantry than does baptized Croatia, since they are more frequently raided by the Franks, Turks, and Pechenegs. But they possess neither *sagenae*, nor *condurae*, nor trading vessels, as the sea is not near them; for the road from their lands to the sea is a journey of thirty days. The sea to which they descend in thirty days is that which is called "Dark."

CHAPTER XXXII

Concerning the Serbs and the land which they now inhabit.

It is to be known that the Serbs are descendants of the unbaptized Serbs, who are also called "White" and dwell beyond Turkish territory in a place... ^D [alt-version omitted]

^A called by them Boiki, where it is near to Frankish territory, and they are likewise near to Great Croatia, which is unbaptized, which is also called "White." There, therefore, from the beginning, the Serbs also dwelt. Two brothers, having succeeded to the rule of Serbia from their father, took half of the people and fled to the Roman emperor Heraclius ^B, whom the same emperor Heraclius received, and he granted them a place in the theme of Thessalonica to settle in, which from that time is named Serbia. But the Serbs are called "Serbs" in the Roman language; whence the common usage has given the term "serbula" to mean lowly footwear, and we call "Serbulians" those who are thus basely and poorly shod; ^C this name the Serbs received because they became "serbuli," that is, slaves of the Roman emperor. After a time, it seemed good to the same Serbs to go away to their own lands, and the emperor sent them off; but when they had crossed the Danube river, they felt remorse, and sent word to the emperor Heraclius by the strategos of Belgrade ^D at that time, to give them another land to settle in. And since the land which is now called Serbia, and Pagania, and the land of the Zachlumians, and Terbounia, and the region of the Kanalitai, which were under the jurisdiction of the Roman emperor, were desolate on account of the Avars, who now inhabit Dalmatia and Dyrrachium, the emperor gave them these same lands to inhabit.

ANSELM BANDURI'S NOTES.

(24) From those things written above, our author can easily know that the region which from the beginning the Serbs possessed, regarding Great Chrobatia, Turkey, and Francia, is not that which is near to France, ^C as some erroneously believe, but is the region which is now called Boika, which borders on the territories of the Franks, or the Germans. It was a region unbaptized, and is also called "White." There, therefore, at the beginning, the Servii dwelt. But the Principate of Serbia devolved from the father to the two brothers, who, having taken half of the population, fled to the Roman emperor Heraclius, and, having been received by him, he gave them a place to inhabit in the theme of Thessalonica, which from that time is named Servia. But the Serblian people are called "Servi" in the Roman language: whence in common parlance "serbula" are called shoes; and those we call "Serbulians," who are thus basely and in the manner of paupers, shod. The Servii, moreover, are named from this, because they were slaves to the Roman emperor. But some time afterward, they appeared to the emperor as if they might return to their own lands ^D and he sent them off; but when they had crossed the Danube river, struck by repentance, by the praetor who at that time was administering Belgrade, they asked the emperor Heraclius if he would assign them another land to inhabit. And since that which is now called Servia, and Pagania, and the land which is called the land of the Zachlumians, also Terbounia, and the region of the Kanalitai, which was under the jurisdiction of the Roman emperor, were desolate on account of the Avars, who now inhabit Dalmatia and Dyrrachium, he gave them these lands to inhabit. [alt-version omitted]

^A Such lands became desolate on account of the Avars (for from those places they drove away the Romans who now inhabit Dalmatia and Dyrrachium), and the emperor settled the aforementioned Serbs in these lands, and they were subject to the emperor of the Romans. The emperor brought priests from Rome, baptized them, and after teaching them to perform the rituals of piety properly, he instructed them in the faith. Since, however, Bulgaria was under the jurisdiction of the Romans, when the aforementioned prince of the Serbs, who had fled to the emperor, passed away, his son began to rule by succession; and again his grandson; and thus, from his lineage, the succeeding princes. After some time, Boisesthlabus was born from them, and from him Rodosthlabus, and from him Prosegoes, and from him Blastemerus; and until the time of this Blastemerus, the Bulgarians lived peacefully with the Serbs as neighbors and borderers, loving one another, having subordination and subjection to the emperors of the Romans, and being benefited by them. ^B But during the reign of this very Blastemerus, Presiam, the prince of Bulgaria, came with an army against the Serbs, wishing to subject them to himself; but after warring for three years, not only did he achieve nothing, but he even lost a great number of his own people. After the death of the prince Blastemerus, his three sons, Muntimer, Stroemer, and Goinicus, assumed the rule of Serbia, dividing the country among themselves. During their time, the prince of Bulgaria, Michael, ^C who is called Borises, arrived, wishing to avenge the defeat of his father Presiam; and having gone to war, the Serbs frightened him to such a degree that they even captured his son Blastemerus, along with twelve great boyars. Then, moved by the distress of his son and unwillingly, Borises made peace with the Serbs. But intending to return to Bulgaria, and fearing lest the Serbs might ambush him on the road, he requested from the prince Muntimer his children, Bobena and Stephen, for his safe passage; they safely escorted him unharmed as far as the borders, up to Rase. And in return for such a favor, Michael Borises gave them great gifts, and they in return gave him the favor of ^D two serfs (xenion-wise), two falcons, two dogs, and ninety pelts; which the Bulgarians say is a tribute.

^A Not long after, the three brothers, the archons of Serbia, rose up against each other. Muntimer, becoming the strongest among them, wishing to hold the rule alone, seized the others and handed them over in Bulgaria, keeping only the child of one brother, Goinikos, by name Peter, with himself, looking after him; he eventually fled and came to Croatia, about whom we shall speak shortly. The aforementioned brother who was in Bulgaria, Strojimir, had a son, Klonimir, to whom Boris of Bulgaria gave a Bulgarian wife. From him was born in Bulgaria Tzeesthlabus. ^B Muntimer, having driven out his two brothers and received the rule, begat three sons: Pribesthlabus, Branus, and Stephan. After his death, his first-born son, Pribesthlabus, succeeded him. Then, a year later, having come out from Croatia, the aforementioned Peter, the son of Goinikos, drove his cousin Pribesthlabus with his two brothers from the rule, and he himself succeeded to the lordship; they, having fled, entered Croatia. Three years later, Branus came to fight against Peter, but he was defeated and captured by him, and was blinded. ^C Two years after that, Clonomirus, the father of Tzeesthlabus, also fleeing from Bulgaria, himself set out and entered a fortress of Serbia, Dostinica, with an army, in order to seize the rule. Peter fought him and killed him, and reigned for another twenty years, having begun during the reign of the most blessed and holy emperor Leo, towards whom he had subjection and servitude. He was also at peace with Symeon, the archon of Bulgaria, to such a degree that he even made him a compater in baptism. After the time during which the lord Leo himself reigned, the one then commanding at Dyrrachium, the protospatharius ^D Leo Rhabduchus, who was afterwards honored as magister and logothete of the drome, came to Pagania, which was at that time held by the archon of Serbia, to consult and meet with the same archon Peter regarding some business and matter. Michael, the archon of the Zachlumians, becoming jealous of this, signaled to Symeon, the archon of the Bulgarians, that the Roman emperor was courting the archon Peter with gifts in order to bring up the Turks and attack Bulgaria; for it was at that time that there was a war between the Romans and the Bulgarians at Acheloum. Therefore, Symeon, being in a sense infuriated by this matter against the Serbian archon Peter, sent with an army Theodorus Sigritzes and Marmaen, together with Paul, the son of the archon Branus, whom Peter, the archon of Serbia, had blinded. Therefore, the Bulgarians attacked the archon of Serbia with guile, and since he had been a godson in the sacred font, and after an oath had been given that he would suffer no harm from them, they persuaded him to come out by fraud, and, having immediately cast him into chains, they led him away into Bulgaria, where he exchanged life for death in prison; in his place succeeded Paul, the son of Branus, who held the principate for three years. The lord emperor Romanus, however, having with him the [son of] Pribesthlabus...

^A the son of the prince of Serbia, sent him to become prince in Serbia. But having departed and engaged in battle, he was defeated by Paul, who, having captured him, delivered him over to the Bulgarians, and he was held in chains. Then, after three years, Paul having turned against the Bulgarians, the lord emperor Romanus sent Zacharias, whom he had previously dispatched, and he, chasing away Paul, kept the principate of the Serbs for himself. As soon as he was reminded of the benefits of the emperor of the Romans, he stood against the Bulgarians, not at all wishing to be subject to them, but rather to be ruled by the emperor of the Romans. Consequently, Symeon sent an army against him through Marmaem and the Sigritze Theodore, ^B whose heads and weapons, after the battle, he sent to the emperor of the Romans as trophies of victory; for there was still war between the Romans and the Bulgarians, and he never ceased, just as the princes before him were accustomed to send to the emperors of the Romans, submitting and serving them. Again, Symeon sent another army through Cueno, Hnemeco, and Etzboclia against Prince Zacharias, having sent Tzeesthlabus with them. Then Zacharias, becoming afraid, fled into Chrobatia; ^C but the Bulgarians, signaling to the Zupans to come to them and take Tzeesthlabus as their prince, deceived them with an oath and led them out as far as the first village, and immediately binding them, they entered into Serbia and carried off the entire population, from the smallest to the greatest, and brought them as far as Bulgaria; some, however, escaping, entered into Chrobatia, and the land remained desolate. About that time, the same Bulgarians entered into Chrobatia with an armed force of Alogobotur, and all were killed by the Chrobatians. And after ^D seven years, fleeing from the Bulgarians, Tzeesthlabus with four others came to Presthlabo in Serbia. He did not find in that region, however, anyone except fifty men, without wives or children, living by hunting; holding the region with them, he sought through envoys protection and aid from the emperor of the Romans, promising to show obedience to his commands, just as the princes before him exhibited to the Roman emperor. And from that time, the emperor of the Romans overwhelmed him with many benefits, so that the Serbians, who had been dispersed by Symeon in Chrobatia, Bulgaria, and other regions, having heard the news, gathered to him from all sides in crowds; indeed, many even came from Bulgaria fleeing to the city of Constantinople, whom the emperor of the Romans, having adorned with garments and other benefits, sent to Tzeesthlabus.

^A And having established himself by the rich gifts of the emperor of the Romans and having repopulated the country as it was before, he is subject in a servile manner to the emperor of the Romans; and by the assistance of the emperor and his many benefits, he has reorganized this country and has been confirmed as its ruler.

That the ruler of Serbia has from the beginning, that is, from the reign of the emperor Heraclius, been subject in a servile manner to the emperor of the Romans, and was never subjected to the ruler of Bulgaria.

That in baptized Serbia there are inhabited cities: ^B Destinikon, Tzernavouskeē, Megyretous, Dresneēk, Lesnēk, Salynēs; and in the region of Bosona, Katera and Desnēk.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

(40) Tzeesthlabus. He is the prince of Serbia who flourished about the year 1152. Because he lived in the age of Porphyrogenitus, namely around the year 950. However, the series of these princes in Diocleas is far different, and the names and the deeds are entirely different. I think this is because Diocleas confused the princes of mainland Dalmatia, maritime Dalmatia, and sometimes even Croatia. And therefore, Porphyrogenitus deserves much greater ^C credit in this matter than Diocleas, inasmuch as he lived long before him. Now, concerning these princes of Serbia, whom Porphyrogenitus mentions in the present book, it is fitting to present here a genealogical table before one’s eyes.

THE PRINCES OF SERBIA OF CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGENITUS

He who fled to the emperor Heraclius | .... post annos aliquot 1. Boiestlavus | 2. Radoslavus | 3. Prosegoes | 4. Blastemerus | ______________________|_____________________ | | | | 5. Goinic 5. Muntimer 5. Stoimer Bela Princeps Tribunis | | | | 7. Petrus (an. 20. 6. Borena Pribislau Stephanus Clonimer Crainam uxor. tempore Leonis | | | imp. et post) 8. Paulus 9. Zacarias 10. Tzeeslau Phalimērus | a Romano | | Lecapeno imp. Tzutzeiner adjutus

(41) Thus in the ms. codex. In the printed editions, it is written: “having settled.” (42) Thus in the ms. codex. In the printed editions, however, it is written: “subjected.” (43) The same Porphyrogenitus calls this very city a little above, Dostinika. (44) Thus in the ms. codex. In the printed editions, it is read: “Tzernavouskēn.” (45) Thus in the ms. codex. In the printed editions, it is read: “Dresnēim.” (46) The same Bosona Cinnamus calls it Bosna. Ducange displays the series of princes of this kingdom or province in his *Familiæ Dalmaticæ*. ^D

[The English translation below is a seamless continuation from the preceding page of the edition of Constantine Porphyrogenitus' work in the *Patrologia Graeca*.]

...to purchase persons or households, whether imperial or pious, from the community of the villages or from each individually. Albeit that for those matters occurring before the legislation from the past first indiction, some decisions were made, and then more strictly after the legislation was promulgated, yet even so the majority of the powerful did not abstain from trade with the poor that was most ruinous for them, such that the judges, compelled rather by necessity than by choice, were led from time to time to issue different decisions regarding these matters according to the exigencies of the situation. Hence, a general decree regarding such matters has been made with our imperial judgment, namely that without doubt or delay all those who are forbidden by the aforementioned legislation from purchasing must be expelled, having no claim even for the recovery of their expenditures, all those, that is, who from the day of our imperial proclamation have dared to intrude into villages or fields or the immovable property of the poor.

2. Regarding matters from the first indiction, that is, from the time of the famine until the day of our exaltation, a single and identical decree is to be enforced here without distinction, so that every gift, and inheritance, and all those confirmatory documents and transactions devised to circumvent this law between those forbidden are to be void and considered as if they never occurred, and those who have sold are not to fear any recovery or exaction of the payments made for these. Furthermore, exchanges are to be rescinded, with each party receiving back what was his own from the beginning, unless perhaps the poor man does not wish this, as he had previously shared in the property, and not only separated his own possession for the sake of tranquility, but also received the better part in return.

3. Regarding sales, these also are to be rescinded, with the sold property immediately being returned to the sellers, and also to the co-heirs and the fellow taxpayers according to the first legislation. Regarding the prices, one must consider the persons and the matters; and if the buyer were a powerful person, or one associated with a powerful person, whether civil or ecclesiastical—perhaps an official—and the seller is of the destitute, to the point of not even possessing fifty *nomismata*, the return of the price shall be excused. But if he possesses more than fifty *nomismata*, then he shall return the price without grievance after the deadline of three years, enjoying the same privileges as the community, even if he is a *scholaris* or serves in the secretariats. But if it was a community that sold, and it is in difficulty regarding repayment, it shall have a deadline of as many years as the judge, having made a calculation from the future fruits, estimates the price can be satisfied. But if in any way it is shown that the seller or the sellers suffered violence or deceit in the sale, or were wronged and oppressed by the buyer or his household before the sale, let nothing be returned...

^A ergo, and appointed him ruler, making him independent. From him Phalimeres was born, and from him, Tzutzemeres. The rulers of Terbunia were always under the command of the ruler of Serbia. Terbunia in the language of the Slavs is interpreted as "strong place," for such a land has many fortifications.

There is also another land under this land of Terbunia, called Canale. Canale is interpreted in the language of the Slavs as "wagon-land," because, since the place is level, they perform all their tasks by wagons. Know that in the district of Terbunia and of Canale, there are inhabited fortified towns: Terbunia, Ormos, Risena, Lucabete, and Zellebe.

CHAPTER XXXV

The land of Dioclea was also formerly occupied by the Romans, whom the Emperor Diocletian had moved there from Rome, as has been said in the history of the Chrobati; and it was subject to the Emperor of the Romans. But this land, too, was conquered and laid waste by the Avars, and in the time of the Emperor Heraclius it was inhabited again, just as Chrobatia, Serbia, the land of the Zachlumi, Terbunia, and Canale. The land is called Dioclea from the fortified city in that region which the Emperor Diocletian built; but now it is a deserted fortress, even to this day. ^C

region with inhabited cities: Gradela, Nugrade, and Lontodocla.

CAPUT XXXVI.

Concerning the Pagani, who are also called Arentani, and the region they now inhabit.

^A That region which the Pagani now inhabit was also formerly held by the Romans, whom the emperor Diocletian brought from Rome and settled in Dalmatia. And these same Pagani originate from the unbaptized Serbs, from that prince who fled to the emperor Heraclius. By the Avars, this region was also captured and laid waste, and again under the emperor Heraclius it began to be settled by inhabitants. They are called Pagani because they did not accept baptism at that time when all the Serbs were baptized. For the Pagani, in the Sclavonian tongue, ^B [alt-version omitted]

ANSELMI BANDURII NOTÆ. ...received the episcopal dignity from Benedict V, supreme pontiff, as Seraphinus Razzius, a Florentine of the Order of Saint Dominic, writes in his History of the Archbishops of Ragusa, which was written in the Italian idiom and is preserved in manuscript in the library of Saint Mark in Florence. It is pleasing to adduce here the words of that text, which we have rendered into Latin: "After the noble Dalmatian city of Epidaurus was laid waste by the Goths and razed almost to its foundations around the year 404 of our salvation, John, a citizen of Epidaurus and its archbishop, seeking to save himself in flight, headed for Tribunium; having transferred his see and the title of his Church there, he remained for a long time. But after Rascia was besieged and Bosona, along with its neighbors, was conquered by the tyranny of unbelievers and schismatics, that Church remained for a long time widowed of its pastor. But in the year 863, in the times of Pope Nicholas I, when the emperor of the Bulgars had come to the Catholic faith, by the consent of the pontiff, the archbishop of Tribunium was transferred to Doclea. Finally, around the year [blank], because of the destruction of Doclea by the Bulgars and Greeks, he was compelled to return to his first see, and the promontory of Mercana, situated no more than four miles from Epidaurus; nor did he inhabit it for long. For in those times, because the Adriatic sea was infested by Saracens, the islanders and maritime peoples were in great danger. Thinking, therefore, that he would not find a safe station there, he proceeded to Ragusa, a new city fortified by walls and a citadel, where he was treated most hospitably. By the authority of the supreme pontiff Benedict V, his title and see were carried thither; and the tithes and other revenues which belonged to the bishop were assigned to him by the Fathers, and by the same pontiff, suffragans were designated for him, namely: the Catholic, the Antiburensian, the Dulcigensian, the Corcyrensian, and others; although in modern times it holds only the Stagnensian ^D and Mercanensian sees. And I do not know by what turn of events it happens that, just as the last bishop of Epidaurus was named John, so the first bishop of Ragusa was likewise dubbed 'John'. And so John, the first archbishop of Ragusa, a Doclean by birth, ruled his Church most holily for nearly thirty years; and when he had ended his final day there, he was buried in the Church of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr. Nor do those stray far from the truth who make him the author of the 'Lives of the holy martyrs Andrew, Peter, and Laurence whose bodies are preserved at Ragusa,' since it is held as certain that John II, the thirteenth archbishop, a Venetian by birth, was in reality their author."

...and that they might thoroughly understand the matters of their religion. Those who were desirous of learning of the Word make their way to Rome, and there they investigate and inquire into everything, and very curiously inspect the beauty of the holy temples, and the order of the priests and pontiffs there. Furthermore, they visit their patriarch, whom they call the Pope, and by his words and doctrine, being instructed for their own benefit, they reverently—

^A For the Pagans are interpreted in the Slavonic dialect as "the unbaptized" (62); but in the Roman tongue they are called Arentani; whence they are called Romans by their own...

...region, and hie themselves back to the great king, and diligently relate all that they had seen and heard. And they asserted absolutely that these things were great and true, and that there was no need for any other investigation or search. "And if you wish, O most illustrious and most glorious sovereign and lord of ours," they said, "to accept their faith, reveal it to them, and let yourself be well instructed in their mysteries." When the nobles who were with him heard everything—or rather, those who had previously advised him—they again spoke to him: "It does not seem right to us all that this should happen, unless they themselves also thoroughly test and learn the things of Constantinople. Since some boast that this city is a great and superior one, it is therefore fitting that they should themselves investigate and re-examine the worship and ritual of this place, and so we shall choose the better of both." The sensible and famous king of theirs heard this, too, and accepted it, and approved of it well. Wherefore he again sends the aforementioned four men again to Constantinople, so that they might also observe and test everything there. And they arrive at that city after much toil, and approach him who was then guiding the Roman scepter—Basil the Macedonian, I say—and announce the reason for their arrival. He, having received them gladly and most gladly, immediately assigns to them some of his own illustrious nobles, so that they might show them everything in the city that is most beautiful, and that they might well clarify and answer all their queries. And the men, being taken along, and having been shown many things worthy of sight in the city, entered into the famous and great divine temple of the Wisdom of God. ^B For, as the story goes, a great feast was being celebrated there at that time, whether that of Chrysostom or the Dormition of the all-holy Mother of my Lord, I cannot say exactly, but in any case a wonderful and great feast was being celebrated. And those four men who were with our nobles kept looking around the whole temple, and seeing most of the lights of the feast being celebrated, and hearing the melody of the chants, they were astonished and bewildered. Having passed the time of the evening hymn and the morning hymn there, and said and heard many things, the time of the holy and divine liturgy arrives; and again the aforementioned men, together with the emperor's nobles, enter into the venerable and greatest temple, so that they might become spectators of the bloodless and divine mystery. Arriving at this point in the discourse, I am amazed at the philanthropy of God, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ^C For when those heathen and barbarian men entered into that thrice-great temple, as has been said, and stood there observing and accurately studying all that was being done in the temple—how first the so-called little entrance took place, then the great one was prepared, and the subdeacons and deacons went out from the holy sanctuary with candles and fans—not to mention that very many priests and pontiffs, according to custom, with the fearful and divine mysteries, and the patriarch himself who then held the patriarchate, and everyone fell upon the ground ^D

^A there, and were seeking a prayer and the "Lord, have mercy," they were crying out. But those four pagan men alone stared fixedly and fearlessly, and were watching all that was being performed; wherefore our compassionate and merciful God opened the eyes of those men, and they saw certain fearful and marvelous things, which, after inquiring, they learned with accuracy. For as that divine and great entry reached its end, and all rose up immediately from the prostration, the men who had seen the strange vision, taking hold of the hands of the king's nobles who were near them, said such things to them: “Tears and great things were those which we have seen up till now, which we do not deny ^B that we see; but that which was now seen by us is beyond human nature. For we saw certain winged youths, dressed in a strange, beautiful garment, who were not stepping on the floor of the temple at all, but were being carried through the air chanting ‘Holy, holy, holy’; which thing amazed us all more than all the other things and cast us into great perplexity.” When the king's nobles heard these things, they answered them, saying: “And perhaps you are ignorant of all the mysteries of the Christians, and you do not know at all that angels from the heavens descend and minister along with our priests.” Then they, having heard this, said: “It is most true and manifest what you say, and it requires no other proof; for we ourselves have seen everything with our own eyes. Finally, send us back so that we may return to where we were sent as envoys, so that we may make our prince certain of those things which we have seen and have thoroughly learned.” Those men then sent them away with great joy and gladness. And having returned to their own region, presenting themselves to their famous and great king after having rendered the customary obeisance, they reported to him everything they had seen and heard, speaking such things: ^C “We do not deny that we have recently seen some great and splendid things at Rome; but the things seen by us in Constantinople stun every human mind”; and they recounted this to them in detail. But that great ruler of theirs, having learned the truth of the matter from them, and having been made certain of it, without any delay, immediately sends to the most pious emperor of the Romans in Constantinople, and asks for a chief priest, so that he might instruct and baptize the countless nation there. Now at that time Basil the Macedonian was holding the scepters of the Romans; who, having received with great joy those who were sent from there, sent out to them a chief priest, famous for his piety and virtue, and with him two men, Cyril and Athanasius, who were themselves also virtuous and very learned and wise, and were filled not only with the knowledge of the Divine Scripture, but were also well trained in secular letters; as the letters created by them well testify to this. And they, having gone there, used to instruct and baptize everyone, and were leading them toward the piety of the Christians; but seeing such a nation to be entirely barbarous and uncultivated, the aforementioned most learned men did not have [the means] to teach them the twenty-four letters of the Greeks, lest they might again deviate from piety. Therefore, they engraved for them thirty-five elements of letters and taught them. As also the calling of the names is this: As, Mpouke, Betd, Glaod, Dopro, Geesti, Zebet, ^D Narentani dicuntur.

But without these known causes, the union of husband and wife cannot be dissolved, according to that which is written: "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." ^A

TITLE XIV. On dowry registered but not paid, and on the law of dowry.

1. Whoever acknowledges in writing, or without writing, that he has received a dowry, if it is not paid, being more than twenty-five years of age, has the authority after the marriage, for a period of up to five years, to seek it, and to receive it in full, provided the parents of the bride have the means to pay what was promised to him.

2. If he does not do this, and neglects to have the promises fulfilled, he is held to the side of the woman, according to the force of the bond which he issued. But if he is a minor, after the completion of twenty-five years, and another five years besides, he may seek the dowry promised to him, according to his own agreement. For when that determined space of time has fully elapsed, he has no authority to take action concerning the non-payment of the dowry bond; but he is held, as has been said, to the side of the woman, according to what was agreed by him. ^B

3. When a woman brings a dowry to her husband, if it happens by some misfortune that the husband incurs losses, or contracts debts, either to the fisc or to any other person, and he dies; neither the fisc nor any other person shall have the authority to enter his house, and to seize anything, until the woman is reimbursed for her own dowry. After its payment, let the remaining assets be divided among the creditors proportionately. ^C

TITLE XV. On simple donations, that is, when the use and ownership of things, or the ownership of them alone, are immediately, or after death, left to someone: and on the causes by which such donations may be annulled.

1. A simple donation is made without a written document when someone who has reached the age of maturity, in the presence of five or three witnesses, grants you some of his property. Five witnesses should be present in well-established places, where people are found; three, however, in solitary places, and where the number of five men is not to be found. ^D

2. A simple donation is made through a written document when a subscription has been composed by one who is of legal age; and it is confirmed and executed in writing according to the aforementioned manner, in the presence of five or three witnesses called for this purpose.

3. But if someone makes a donation to another under this law, so that after his death he may take the things donated to him, and immediately grants him the ownership alone: this donation too must be made in writing, in the presence of five or three witnesses, according to the methods previously explained.

4. The donation made in expectation of death, that is, after

^A That there are inhabited fortresses in Pagania: Mokron (64), Berullia, Ostrok (65), and Zelo, Zeplea, He, Zeē, Kako, Loudia, Mē, Nas, On, Pokoē, Ritsē, Sthlobō, Nteberdō, Ek, Ferōt, Cher, T, Tē, Tzerbē, Saa, Sthia, Geor, Gerē, Ger, Geat, Giou, Geous Gea. These are the thirty-five letters of the Russians, which even to this day all study, and they understand piety well.

But some also say that such a miracle occurred in those parts. For since the archon remained in superstition, he himself, his nobles, and the whole nation, and being at pains concerning their former religion and the faith of the Christians, ^B they invited to themselves the bishop who had just come; and the archon asked him what those things were that were proclaimed by him, and what were the things destined to be taught. When he had held out the holy book of the divine Gospel, and was explaining some of the miracles performed by God in his human sojourn: the multitude of the Russians said, "Unless we also see somewhat of the like, and especially such as you say happened in the furnace of the three children, we will by no means believe you." But he, trusting in the truthful word of Him who said: "Whatever you ask in my name, you shall receive," and, "He that believes in me, the works that I do shall he also do, and greater than these shall he do," said to them: "Although it is not permitted to tempt the Lord God, yet if you have decided from your heart to come to God, ask whatever you wish, ^C and God will certainly fulfill it according to your petition, even if we are most base and unworthy." They immediately requested the book of the Gospel, that it be thrown into the fire kindled by them, and that if it should remain unharmed... the book of the holy Gospel was thrown into the furnace. And for a considerable space of time, while the furnace was burning, and then when it had completely died down, the holy volume was found to have remained unaffected and uninjured, having received no damage from the fire. Which the Barbarians seeing, and being struck by the magnitude of the miracle, without hesitation they fled to baptism, and being cleansed in their mind they glorified the Savior Lord; to whom be glory and power now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

^B It is pleasing here to offer some remarks on the aforementioned anonymous history regarding the conversion of the Russians to the faith of Christ. And first, that this anonymous writer says that the Russians adhered to the rite of the Greeks, for the reason that the legates sent to Rome and Constantinople to contemplate both rites preferred the Greek rite to the Roman; almost the same things are narrated by historians concerning the conversion of Wlodomir, duke of the Russians, who received the faith of Christ under the emperors Basil and Constantine, who gave him their sister Anna in marriage; for he also adhered to the Greek rite, because the legates, whom he had sent to Constantinople for that purpose—men who were military and still semi-barbarian—had vehemently praised them, but reported that the rites of the Latins, or other messengers of the same stamp, were not performed with sufficient religious care, and that the temples were poorly adorned; unless this was later invented by the proponents of the Greek schism, since it is established that Wlodomir and most of his sons were primarily zealous for the Catholic faith, two of whom, David and Romanus, or Boris and Gleb, are counted in the catalog of saints even by the Russians, who are united to the Roman Church. ^C But what he says about Cyril is that he is that bishop and apostle of the Slavs, the brother of Saint Methodius, bishop of Olomouc in Moravia, and also an apostle of the Slavs; whose memory is celebrated on the tenth day of March. Saint Cyril was born in Thessalonica and was formerly called Constantine, who on account of his marvelous talent was called the Philosopher; but afterwards, with the consent of the Pope, he was called Cyril, as is clear from the life of the same saints Cyril and Methodius from the Blauduran manuscript, published in the *Acta Sanctorum* on the day of March; which says thus: "In the time of the emperor Michael, there was a man noble by birth, born in the city of Thessalonica, by the name of Constantine, who on account of his marvelous talent was called the Philosopher." He, fifty days before his death, by the permission of the Supreme Pontiff, took for himself the name Cyril, etc. The same is held in another life of the same published in the same place: and also in the history of the kingdom of the Slavs by the priest of Dioclea. But it is incorrectly stated in the Breviary, which the Bohemians, Moravians, and Poles use today, that the father of ^D Cyril and Methodius was Constantine, surnamed the Philosopher; for this was indeed the name of Cyril himself, as is evident from the things said above, and from the assertion of Anastasius, an eyewitness, in a letter to Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, written in the year [blank], in which he announces that the body of the holy Pope Clement was brought to Rome by Constantine the Philosopher; yet it is established that this was done by Cyril, the brother of Methodius; whose father was Leo the Patrician, as writes the Priest of Dioclea, page [blank] of the edition of Joannes Lucius: but the things which Lucius there notes concerning Constantine the Philosopher, Cyril, and Methodius, are entirely futile. The same must also be said concerning the letter of Pope John VIII to Suetopolk the Count, written to a contemporary of the same Cyril, in which he says,

from salaries or from the labors of their common household, and the diligence of the brother or brothers who remained in the house, they shall receive in equal and fair portions.

4. After the decade, if they continue to live together for another three years, and thereafter it happens that they are separated from each other, the soldier shall take away as a special exemption his horse, with its saddle and bridle, and his chariot, and, if it is to be expected, a breastplate—but only that, if indeed he acquired it, as is reasonable to believe. All other things they shall divide among themselves fraternally in equal and fair portions.

5. If they continue to live together beyond these thirteen years, and it is found that he has at some time acquired anything thereafter from the salaries, which still remains, this too he shall possess for himself. And those things which, by the providence of God, he acquired from the very first day of his military service, whether from spoils or from the gifts of princes, and which are still in existence, he shall likewise retain as special property.

6. As concerns clerics, chartularii, and certain others who serve from their paternal estate, if their parents, upon dying, wish for the sake of love and gratitude to grant to the one who has entered military service that which was paid for his military training, their will shall be ratified. ^B

7. If they die without mentioning this, and his co-heirs initiate a claim concerning such a sum against the one who has entered military service, they must bring into the reckoning what was derived from such military service for their father, and add the remainder of the sum given for such military service to the rest of the estate, and thus have it divided together with the others. ^C

8. But if, as is to be expected, the sum given for such military service has been fully paid, the co-heirs have no license to claim anything from the person who is serving in the military on account of the expenses incurred for him, because, as has been said, an equivalent amount has been contributed from such military service.

9. Regarding the rest of those serving in the military, whatever has been allotted to these—that is, to those in official rank, and to all the rest—from the imperial salary, or from rations and customary payments, all these persons, with the exception of the soldiers, in disposing of such peculia, shall leave to their children, if they have up to the number of four, the legal portion—that is, the third part of their peculium. ^D If there are five or more, they shall leave the half part.

10. If they have no children, but their parents are living, they shall leave them the aforementioned third part, and dispose of the remaining portion of their peculium as they see fit. Paganica peculia are those of persons under authority, which were given to them by their parents for adornment and honor, or [any others] they have acquired; these are recognized as belonging to the parents, and after death...

city: another, which is Meleta, or Malozeala; of which the holy Luke makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles, calling it Melite: where also a viper, biting the finger of the divine Paul, fell off and was burnt in the fire. A third great island, which is called Phara: a fourth, which is Bratzes. But there are besides other islands which do not belong to the Pagans, such as Choara, Ies, and Lastobon. ^B

CAPUT XXXVII. De Patzinacitarum gente.

It is to be known that the Patzinacites from the beginning had their habitation by the rivers Atel and Geech, and that the peoples known as the Mazari and Uzi were their neighbors. ^C

[Notes section] ...says that Constantine the Philosopher was the inventor of the Slavonic letters: "The Slavonic letters," he says, "discovered by a certain philosopher Constantine, by which due praises to God resound, we rightly praise." Assuredly this our anonymous writer, the Dioclean, the Acts of Saint Cyril, and the remaining writers attribute this—following Cyril, who was also named Constantine, as we have shown above—to him; and indeed there is a perpetual tradition among our people that one of the two Slavonic alphabets, called Kiuriliza, is the very one of Cyril, named from the Slav name Kiurul, which in Latin sounds "Cyril": while the other, called Bukuiza, belongs to the divine Jerome.

But what I myself think concerning the alphabet of S. Jerome and the version of the Holy Scriptures made by him, as they say, into the Slavonic language, I will willingly confess. In the works of the divine Jerome I have nowhere found even a trace of the Slavonic language: which, if he had known it, he would undoubtedly have used in explaining the Scriptures, and frequently when dealing with Hebrew names. Where, however, the divine Jerome calls it his "native speech" or "the language of our people," no learned man is ignorant that it is to be understood of the Latin language, which at that time was in use throughout the whole Roman world. Moreover, as to what this anonymous writer says, that the Russians were converted to the faith of Christ by the miracle of the book of the Gospels, which, when it was cast into the fire, was found there unhurt and whole, this agrees well enough with those things which Porphyrogenitus has regarding the same matter in the *Life of Cyril* in the royal edition; which, as they are somewhat long, I do not transcribe here.

...called Corcira, or Cicer in Latin, Kar in Slave. ^D ...Melita in Pliny. Hence "Melitæan whelps," with Callimachus as authority in Pliny. But the supreme dominion of this island today resides with the Republic of Ragusa, but the beneficial ownership, as they say, resides with our monastery of Saint Mary. But because we will speak of this island, and of our monastery, elsewhere at greater length.

...chap. 28. But whether that shipwreck of Paul happened near the island of Melita, of the African sea, cannot easily be known from the Acts of the Apostles; and in my own judgment that question seems insoluble.

...Lestrina in Latin, Lastovo in Slave; and it belongs to the Republic of Ragusa. "These four great Eastern islands," says Lucius, "being closer to the continent of the Pagans, or Narentanes, occupied by them, passed over into the name of the same, together with their possession, and ceased to be numbered among the Dalmatian ones." But Porphyrogenitus says that Issa and Lastre- ^C dina, with Choara, did not belong to the Pagans or Narentanes, and therefore retained the Dalmatian name; and together with the dominion of the Adriatic, he says that the Romans retained these islands also, situated in the open sea; and by the convenience of these islands, they continued the navigation of the Adriatic and the dominion of the rest of Dalmatia.

...inhabited the ancient and great Bulgaria around the river called Atel, which is called Atalis by Theophanes, and Edel in Tartar; by the Ruthenians it is called Volga or Wolga, formerly Rha by Ptolemy; but afterwards the same Patzinacites inhabited the plains across the Ister, extended as far as the river Borysthenes to Pannonia. Our author deals at greater length with the Patzinacites who were the inhabitants of this region, and with the nations conterminous with them, in the beginning of this work, and below in Chapter 42, where he assigns the boundaries of those nations. But the Patzinacites waged very many wars with varying fortune, both with the Romans and with other nations; at last they were defeated by John Comnenus, who instituted a feast day in memory of this victory: which indeed he named, as Choniates writes in his *Life*: *Polydoros*? [sic] Having achieved this victory over the Scythians, and with this illustrious exploit, John paid his debt to God: which feast is called the "Patzinacarum" in our time, as a monument of the achieved feat and a testimony of a grateful mind. But Allatius writes that the name of the Patzinacites was derived from the Russian or Polish "Pyeczinig," and from him Lucius in his *Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia*, book VI, chapter 5, where he says that the Patzinæ or Patzinacites were afterwards called Vlachs. ^D

^A Uzi, as they are called, conspired with the Chazars, and joining their arms, attacked the Patzinacites. Having gained the upper hand, they drove them out of their own country, and the so-called Uzi hold that land to this very day. The Patzinacites, having fled, wandered about, seeking a place where they might settle; and coming to the land which they now inhabit, they found the Turks dwelling there. They defeated and drove them out by war, and settled therein, and have dominated that country, as has been said, for fifty-five years to the present day.

It is to be noted that all of Patzinacia is divided into eight provinces (76), and it has just as many great princes. These provinces are as follows: the name of the first province is Ertem ^B (77); of the second, Tzur; of the third, Gyla; of the fourth, Culpee; of the fifth, Charoboe; of the sixth, Talmat; of the seventh, Chopon; of the eighth, Tzopon.

At the time when the Patzinacites were driven from their own lands (78), they had as princes: in the province of Ertem, Maitzan; in Tzur, Cuel; in Gyla, Curcur; in Culpee, Ipaon; in Charoboe, Caidum; in the province of Talmat, Costan; in Chopon, Giaze (79); and in the province of Tzopon, Batan. After their death, their cousins succeeded to the offices; for an ancient law and model has prevailed among them, not to transmit the dignities to their own children or brothers, but for the princes to be content with holding ^C the principate only as long as they live; but after their death, either their cousins or their cousins' children are appointed, so that the dignity should not always remain in one part of the family, but should descend to the collaterals by way of inheritance; but no one of a different family succeeds to the principate. These eight provinces are divided into forty parts, and they have lesser princes.

On the Nation of the Patzinacites

agreed upon. When, therefore, the price of the object has been given to the buyer, it is not permitted for those who repent of the transaction to rescind such a sale.

2. For the buyer must, before the contract, examine the object and make accurate inquiry, and only then proceed with the contract.

3. But if afterwards, as is wont to happen, the sold object ^A is found to be free, or possessed by a demon, it is returned to the seller.

4. If an earnest money deposit is given in any contract whatever, as the contract is incomplete, if the fault lies with the one who gave the earnest, let the one who received it keep the earnest. But if through the negligence of the one who received the earnest the transaction is not brought to completion, let it be returned to the one who gave it, along with an equal amount in addition.

5. If a sold slave should die, or some part of his body be injured, such as a foot, or a hand, or an eye; or if a house that has been sold, or a part of it, or the whole be consumed by fire; or if a field be wholly or in part destroyed by the force of a river, or a tree be cast down by the wind: in all these cases the loss falls upon the buyer.

6. If my slave, having been ordered to point out the boundaries of a sold field, signifies more, either through fraud or through ignorance, I am not condemned. The same applies also in the case of delivery, when possession begins.

7. If, before delivery, a sold slave runs away, or is stolen by someone in such a way that no fraud or negligence can be proven regarding these matters, it must be sought in the following way whether this loss should fall upon the seller. If the seller has taken upon himself the custody of the sold slave, he himself shall acknowledge the loss arising ^B from this; but if he has not taken it upon himself, he shall be free of care. The same applies also to other animals, such as a horse, and a camel, and whatever else is of such a kind. In any case, the seller owes the buyer clearance and protection against eviction.

8. If some people who hold property in common agree between them that it is not permitted for either of them to sell that property without the other: when one wishes to sell his part, and makes a formal declaration to the other regarding the sale or purchase, he may thereafter sell to whomever he chooses without hindrance.

9. For you should know in general ^D that if the event happens without fraud or negligence on the part of the seller, or something of that sort, the seller shall be free of care.

10. For just as a fortuitous loss, or the destruction of a sold object, pertains to the buyer, so also if any gain has accrued, it shall benefit the buyer.

11. Hence, if due to the alluvion of a river or the accumulation of earth the field has grown larger after the sale, the buyer shall enjoy the gain.

12. If gold deposited by someone should, through an error, remain in a house that has been sold, and it is found therein, it remains the property of him who was its owner of old.

^A Be it known that the four tribes of the Patzinaks, namely the theme of Kourtzitzoúr, and the theme of Syroukalpéē, and the theme of Borotálmat, and the theme of Boulatzospón, lie beyond the Dnieper river, facing towards the eastern and more northerly parts, looking toward Ouzia, and Chazaria, and Alania, and Cherson, and the remaining climates. The other four tribes lie on this side of the Dnieper river, towards the western and more northerly parts; that is to say, the theme of Giazichopón approaches Bulgaria, the theme of the lower Gyla approaches Tourkia, the theme of Charodóē approaches Russia, and the theme of Iabdiertím approaches the tributary regions of the land of Russia, namely the Oultinoi, and the Derbleninoi, and the Lenzeninoi, and the remaining Sklavinoi. Patzinakia is distant from Ouzia and Chazaria five days’ journey, from Alania six days, from Mordia ten days, from Russia one day’s journey, from Tourkia four days’ journey, and from Bulgaria half a day’s journey; and it is nearest to Cherson, but even closer to the Bosporus.

^B Be it known that at the time when the Patzinaks were driven out from their own land, some of them remained there by their own choice and will, and dwelt together with the so-called Ouzoi; and they are among them until the present day, having such characteristics that they can be distinguished and recognized as to who they were, and how it came to pass that they were separated from their own people. For their garments are short, reaching only to the knees, and their sleeves are cut off at the arms, as if demonstrating by this that they were cut off from their own kin and tribe. Be it known that on this side of the Dnieper river, on the side facing towards Bulgaria, at the crossings of the same river, there are abandoned fortresses. The first fortress, named by the Patzinaks "Aspron" [White], because its stones appear white; the second fortress, Toungátai; the third fortress, Kraknakátai; the fourth fortress, Salmakátai; the fifth fortress, Sakakátai; the sixth, Giaioukátai. In these very structures of the ancient fortresses are found also some traces of churches, and crosses carved into tuff stones; whence some possess a tradition that the Romans once had seats there. Furthermore, the Patzinaks are also called Kangar, though not all of them, but only the inhabitants of three themes, namely of the themes of Iabdierti, Cuartzitzour, and Chabuxingyla: as those who are superior to the other...

15. Whoever denies his own syngraph, or the payment made to him, shall pay double once proofs have been brought forward. But he who immediately upon denying, by the offering of an oath, reveals the truth, shall escape the condemnation of the double payment. But he who confesses late, shall pay the court costs by the oath of the adversary. ^A

16. Neither the creditor, nor the heir of the creditor, can bring forward a plea of time-barring against the debtor regarding a pledge after the payment of the debt.

17. The debtor who denies his debt cannot afterwards offer proofs of payment. To a debtor denying the debt, proofs of payment which he offers afterwards shall not be admitted; rather, the whole amount is exacted. ^B

18. A creditor who has denied his own proofs, after convictions have followed, shall return to the debtor double the sum contained in them, with calculations made.

19. [Concerning partnership.] Partnership is constituted in writing and without writing, between two or more, when each of them brings into the contribution an equal or lesser share of his own, or some contribute money, others their own labors and services. The profit acquired by them, after the deduction of the capital, of course, is to be divided according to what was stipulated between them in the middle of their agreement. ^C

20. If, however, in such a partnership it should happen that damage comes to the contribution, each partner shall acknowledge this according to his share of the profit.

21. A partnership is constituted either as long as the partners live, or for a time, or from a time, or under a condition.

22. The partner does not acknowledge fortuitous events. Whence it is that given appraised livestock, if they are carried off by robbers, the loss is common; but if they should be stolen, only he who had them suffers the loss. For he who receives appraised things owes the most precise security; and an action for partnership is appropriate if they were given for grazing as a common enterprise, even if they were specifically appraised.

23. [Concerning pledges.] If anyone, for any reason or fear, entrusts a deposit to someone, and it happens that the one who received it denies it, when the case is inquired into, if that person is proven a liar, let him restore the deposit double to the one who entrusted it. ^D

24. But if by some calamity from fire, or from theft, it should befall him that his own things and those also are lost, let those hearing the case observe this, and let them hold the one who had such a deposit blameless, as having lost them involuntarily.

TITLE XXIII. Of deposit.

25. In a deposit, the fruits, and the offspring, and the whole matter are claimed.

26. Your slave deposited money with me, in order that

formerly had their dwellings there. Note that the Patzinakites are called Kangar, though not all of them, but only the people ^A of the three themes of Iabdiertzi, Kouartzitzour, and Chabouxingoula, as being more courageous and noble than the rest; for this is what the title Kangar signifies.

CAPUT XXXVIII. On the genealogy of the nation of the Turks and from where they originate.

The nation of the Turks formerly dwelt near Chazaria, in the place named Lebedia after the name of their first voivode, who was called Lebedias by his personal name, and by the title of his office, as were all his successors after him, he was called voivode. In this aforementioned place, Lebedia, there flows a river called Chidmas, which is also named Chingylus. At that time they were not called Turks, but were for some reason called Sabartoiasphaloi. They consisted of seven clans, and they never had a prince, either native or foreign, but there were among them certain voivodes, of whom the first was the aforementioned Lebedias. They lived with the Chazars for three years, and were allies to the Chazars in all their wars. The Chagan, the ruler of Chazaria, because of their courage and alliance, gave to the first voivode of the Turks, named Lebedias, a noble Chazar woman in marriage, both on account of his renowned courage and the splendor of his birth, so that he might produce offspring by her; but it so happened by some fortune that Lebedias did not have children from this Chazar woman. But the Patzinakites, who were formerly called Kangar (for this name Kangar was used among them to signify nobility and courage), having made war against the Chazars and been defeated, were forced to leave their own land and inhabit that of the Turks. A war having subsequently broken out between the Turks and the Patzinakites, who were at that time called Kangar, the army of the Turks was defeated and divided into two parts: one part settled towards the east in the region of Persia, who even to this day are called by the ancient name of the Turks, Sabartoiasphaloi; the other part settled in the western region, together with their voivode and leader Lebedias, in the places named Atelkuzu, in which places the nation of the Patzinakites now dwells. After a short time had passed, that Chagan, the ruler of Chazaria, sent word to the Turks that they should send to him, by ^D ship, their first voivode. And so Lebedias, having set out to the Chagan of Chazaria, asked what was the reason for his summons; to whom the Chagan replied that he had summoned him for this reason: that, since he was noble, wise, and courageous, and the first among the Turks, he might make him the prince of his own nation, on the condition that he be subject to him.

tation, if he has imposed a burden heavier than is equitable, by which the beast of burden is injured, he is liable on that account. 11. Similarly, he who has contracted for a defined place, and proceeds beyond it. 12. He who has hired an ox for the purpose of work, if it dies in the labor for which he sought it, let him be exempt from damages; but if it has perished in another work, he shall restore it in full. 13. He who has hired a field, and before the completion of the time has abandoned it ^A without cause, pays the wages for the whole time. 14. He who has received wages for the purpose of guarding a thing takes the risk of its guardianship upon himself. 15. He who, after the completion of the time of the hiring, does not restore the thing, must restore both the thing itself and its valuation. 16. Every contractor or artisan who has undertaken work and does not complete it shall pay the entire loss, provided, of course, that he receives his pay. 17. But if he is a pauper and is unable to make restitution for the loss, let him be beaten with rods and exiled. 18. If I have hired a lodging for a year, I pay the full rent. But if it collapses, even around the sixth month, I receive back the remainder of the rent. 19. If the work that is being done has been shaken by an earthquake, the risk pertains to the hirer. 20. He who steals a slave hired out by himself is liable as a thief. 21. If, before the examination, ^B the structure collapses: if it is from a fault of the ground or from an earthquake, the hirer suffers the loss; but if from a defect in the work, [the contractor] who hired it out [is liable]. 22. If anyone has asked for a beast of burden from a neighbor, and it is crushed, or becomes a captive, or dies, if the owner is not with it, he shall pay; but if the owner is with it, he shall not pay; and if it was hired, let it be for him in place of his wages.

TITULUS XXVI. Of witnesses.

1. In witnesses, integrity, trustworthiness, character, and gravity are required. Let witnesses be trustworthy; not some sort of sedentary and sordid people, nor humble, nor altogether obscure; but they ought to be of good reputation ^D on account of their rank, or military service, or wealth, or profession. 2. But if they are unknown and strolling persons, let the judges examine their testimonies, and let them approach them through questionings, so that they may arrive at a grasp of the truth. 3. Parents and children testifying against one another are not to be admitted; and neither for a master nor against a master shall a slave or a freedman testify. 4. A father and a son under paternal authority, and two brothers under paternal authority, can be witnesses in the same matter. 5. When witnesses are produced before judges against other witnesses, first let them present what they know without an oath in two or three examinations; and if concerning...

^A Levedias, then, having arrived at the Chagan of the Chazars, asked the reason for which he had sent for him. The Chagan said to him, "We have invited you for this reason: because you are noble and wise and courageous [(99)] and the first among the Turks, that we might appoint you prince of your nation, and that you might yield to our word and our command." He, answering the Chagan, replied that he greatly accepted his regard and favorable disposition toward him, and that he confessed the gratitude properly due to him; "But since I am not capable of such a principality, I cannot obey; however, there is another of us, a voivode called Salmutzes [(1)], who also has a son named Arpadis. Of these two, it is better that either he, Salmutzes, or his son Arpadis, become prince, and he shall be under your command." Being pleased with this proposal, the Chagan gave his own men to go with him and sent them to the Turks, and they, having conferred about this with the Turks, the Turks themselves preferred Arpadis to be prince, rather than Salmutzes [(2)] his father, as he was more worthy and highly esteemed for his wisdom and counsel and courage, and capable for such a principality; and they made him prince according to the custom of the Chazars and [the] *zakanon* [(3)], raising him up upon a shield [(4)]. Before this Arpadis, the Turks had never had any other prince; hence, from his generation, a prince of [the] ^B Turkey is established until this day. After some years, the Patzinacitae, invading the Turks, pursued them along with their prince Arpadis. The Turks, therefore, having been routed and fleeing, and seeking a land in which to place their settlements, entered Great Moravia, expelled its inhabitants, and placed their settlements there, and they hold them until this very day; and from that time, the Turks have not had war with the Patzinacitae. But as for those Turks who live toward the east in the parts of Persia, of whom we made mention above, they send their merchants even now to those of the previously mentioned Turks who dwell in the West, and visit them, and often receive answers from them. Furthermore, the place of the Patzinacitae, which the Turks inhabited at that time, is named according to the ^C names of the rivers that are there; these rivers are: the first river is called Baruch; the second, Cube; the third, Trullus; the fourth, Brutus; and the fifth is called Seretus. After some time, the Patzinacitae attacked the Turks and pursued them with their prince Arpadis. The Turks, then, having turned and seeking a land for their dwelling, came and drove out those who were inhabiting Great Moravia, and settled in their land, in which the Turks live until this very day; and since that time, the Turks have not made war with the Patzinacitae [(5)]. But since the aforementioned nation of the Turks settled toward the East, into the parts of Persia, these previously mentioned Turks who dwell in the West still send merchants to them even now, and they see them, and often carry back answers from them to them. For the place of the Patzinacitae, in which the Turks dwelt at that time, is called after the name of the rivers that exist there. And the rivers are these: the first river is called Baruch; the second is called ^D [the]

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI.

(99) This is read in the mss. In the printed editions, it is erroneously read *idriomenos*. (1) In the editions a little further down, he is called *Almutzes*, where Meursius says that *Almutzes* should be written in both places; but in the ms. codex, *Salmutzes* is read in both. (2) It is read erroneously in the editions and in the mss. as *etper*, etc. (3) Truly, even the word *zakanon* is an Illyrian or Slavic word written corruptly, namely *Sakon* or *Sacon*, and in the plural *Sakona*, signifying law and custom, as we have warned in several places above at cap. 8 of this book, where our author uses the word itself here. Furthermore, it is read erroneously in the editions, *ethnos* for *ethos*. (4) *Sykonein*, *hickonein* and *sykonein* signifies to lift and to raise; *skoutarion* however is the term designated for lifting a prince placed upon a shield; which, indeed, was common to both Romans and Barbarians. Ammianus Marcellinus lib. xx, concerning Julian declared prince by the Gallic soldiers: "Placed upon a pedestrian shield, and standing higher, he was declared Augustus in the silence of the people"; Zonaras in *Justinian*, where concerning Hypatius elected emperor by the seditious: "having raised him aloft upon a shield, they proclaim him king," and praised as emperor raised on high upon a shield. Furthermore, about this custom of electing a prince, Pitheus treated it at length in lib. 1 Advers. cap. vi; Lipsius on Tacitus, Dempster on Corippus, Valesius on Ammianus, and many others. (5) In the mss. it is read: *para ton Chatzinakiton ouk edexanto*.

^A 28. He who wittingly has carnal intercourse with a strange woman and her daughter, let his nose be cut off; the same penalty is to be applied to her who, knowing of it, committed this offense with him. 29. He who has two wives, let him be beaten; the strange woman is to be cast out, along with the children born of her. 30. A cattle-thief, who drives away any herd whatsoever belonging to another, if he does this for the first time, let him be beaten; if a second time, let him be sent into exile; if a third time, let his hands be cut off; with the proviso, naturally, that the things lost by his act be restored to their master. 31. He who commits robbery, and lays traps, and murders, let him be hanged on a gallows in the place where he is caught. 32. He who has a matter of business with another and does not invoke the magistrate, but of his own will, or relying on his own power or some influence, encroaches with his own hand and carries off the thing in dispute: if indeed he did this truly seeking what was his own, let him forfeit his own property and give it over to the other. But if he also carried off something belonging to another, let him be whipped by the ruler of the place, as one who did not act under authority but became his own avenger, and thus let him make restitution of that which he took. 33. He who attacks a priest, either in a church or in a procession, let him be beaten and exiled. 34. He who enters the sanctuary, by day or by night, and carries off any of the sacred things, let him be blinded. But he who carries off something from the temple outside the sanctuary, let him be whipped as an impious person and, having his hair shorn, let him be exiled. ^C 35. Those who, because of some enmity or plundering of property, cause a fire in a city, let them be delivered to the fire. But if they willfully burn land, or fields, or country houses outside the city, let them be punished by the sword. If, however, anyone wishing to burn the stubble of his own field, or thorns, casts fire upon them, and the fire goes further and burns the fields of another, or another's vineyard: the examiner must carefully inquire, and if this happened through the inexperience or sloth of the one who set the fire, let him make restitution to the one suffering damage. For if he set the fire on a day having a strong wind, or did not take precautions that the fire should not proceed further, he is condemned as having been negligent and slothful. But if he took every precaution, yet a sudden violent wind rushed in, and for that reason the fire proceeded further, he is not condemned. If from an accidental fire a house is set ablaze, and some of his own property is burned up, and the fire spreads and burns some of the buildings adjacent to it, let him be held blameless, as such a fire occurred involuntarily. 36. Those who strip the dead in the tombs, let their hands be cut off. 37. He who steals and sells a freeman, let his hands be cut off. 38. He who entices, and hides, and causes to disappear another's slave, in addition to the restitution of that slave—

Koudou; the third river is called Troullos; the fourth river is called Broutos; the fifth river is called Seretos.

Chapter XXXIX. Concerning the nation of the Cabari.

^AIt should be known that the so-called Cabari are descended from the race of the Chazars. Now, since a certain rebellion happened among them against their own government, and a civil war ensued, their original regime prevailed. Some of them were slaughtered, while others fled and came and settled with the Turks in the land of the Patzinakits, and having made peace with one another, they were called Cabari. Hence they taught the Turks the Chazar language, and to this day they retain that same dialect; they also have another, the language of the Turks. But because they proved themselves to be stronger and more courageous in the wars than the eight other tribes, they were chosen to be the first tribes, and they have one ruler among them, that is, over the three tribes of the Cabari, who exists even to this day. ^B

Chapter XL. Concerning the tribes of the Cabari and the Turks.

The first is this aforementioned tribe which broke away from the Chazars, the Cabari; the second is the Nece; the third the Megere; the fourth the Curtugermati; the fifth the Tariani; the sixth the Genach; the seventh the Care; the eighth the Case. And so, having joined one another, the Cabari settled with the Turks in the land of the Patzinakits. But after this, having been summoned by Leo, that Christ-loving and glorious emperor, they crossed over, and waging war against Symeon, they defeated him soundly, and driving him out, they advanced as far as Presthlabos, and having shut him up in the fortress called Moundraga, ^C they returned to their own land. At that time they had as their ruler Liuntikas, the son of Arpades. But after Symeon had once again made peace with the emperor of the Romans and had obtained leave, he sent ambassadors to the Patzinakits, and entered into an agreement with them to wage war upon the Turks and utterly destroy them. And when the Turks had gone away on an expedition, the Patzinakits came with Symeon against the Turks, and utterly destroyed their families, and chased away those Turks who had been left behind for the defense of their country. ^D

Tit. 60. When creditors ought to take action against the heirs of those who have died. ^A Tit. 61. That the remains of Christians should not be subjected to indignities by creditors. Tit. 62. Concerning new works. Tit. 63. Concerning penalties. Tit. 64. Concerning the division of spoils. Tit. 65. Concerning violence, the seizure of property, fields, arson, and tombs. Tit. 66. Concerning the property of those that is confiscated for the treasury, and concerning those who are sought and deported. Tit. 67. Concerning injuries. Tit. 68. Concerning the offenses of free men and servants. Tit. 69. Concerning calumniators, accusers, informers, and concerning forgery and treasure. Tit. 70. Concerning thieves, receivers, sacrilegious persons, and kidnappers. Tit. 71. Concerning military punishments, from Rufus and the tactical manuals. Tit. 72. Concerning the contracting and dissolution of partnership. Tit. 73. Concerning pacts, agreements, transactions, and concerning those things given in the name of patronage.

TITLE...

Concerning the division of spoils.

Those who go out against enemies for the sake of war must guard themselves from every evil word and deed, and keep their mind and their prayer directed to God alone, and engage in battle after having taken counsel. For help is given by God with a heart full of counsel. For victory in war does not rest in the multitude of forces, but proceeds from God, who grants victory.

2. A sixth part of the spoils ought to be consecrated to the public treasury, and as for everything that remains, the whole people should receive an equal share, distributing it equally, whether one be great or small. For the increase of their own pay is sufficient for the commanders. But if any commanders be found who behave themselves bravely against the enemy, the general in command should grant them something from the aforementioned sixth part of the treasury, and support them according to what is fitting. Moreover, according to the proportion of the share of those who take part in the battle, so shall also be the share of those who betake themselves to the keeping of the baggage or supplies.

TITLE...

Concerning soldiers who are sons-in-law, and enter the homes of their fathers-in-law, and bring in their pay, and perform labors.

Our pious and justice-loving emperors have decreed, in accordance with the pious laws, that everything—all the items and property that anyone has brought into such a house—he may take away in full measure, and if it appear that he acquired anything from imperial gifts, and from his own sword,

Differunt haec quidem ab iis, quæ titulo LVI libri, cujus et alios hic titulos dedimus, leguntur.

The Turks ^A returned, and finding their land thus deserted and utterly laid waste, they settled in the land in which they dwell even today, named—as has been stated—according to the aforementioned rivers. The place where the Turks formerly resided is named after the river that flows through it, the Etel and Cuzu, ^B where the Patzinakits now dwell; and the Turks, having been driven out by the Patzinakits, came and settled in the land where they live now. In this same place there are certain ancient landmarks: first, the bridge of the Emperor Trajan, at the beginning of Tourkia; and then, three days’ journey from this same bridge, is Belegrada, where there is also a tower of the holy and great Emperor Constantine; and again, along the course of the river, is that place called Sirmium, two days’ journey from Belegrada; and from those parts is Great Moravia, the unbaptized, which the Turks devastated, and whose prince was formerly ^C Sphendoplokos. These, then, are the landmarks and names along the Ister river. As for the lands beyond these, where the whole of Tourkia is settled, they are now named according to the names of the rivers flowing through them. These rivers are as follows: the first river is the Timeses; the second river is the Tutes; the third river is the Moreses; the fourth is the Crisus; and again, another river is the Titza. Bordering the Turks ^D toward the east are the Bulgarians, where the Ister—which is also called the Danube—separates them; toward the north are the Patzinakits; toward the west are the Franks; and toward the south are the Chrobati. These eight clans of the Turks are not subject to their own princes, but they have pledged a mutual agreement among themselves that toward whichever of the rivers—by which they are divided—war might happen to threaten, they shall all bring aid to it with every effort and diligence. They have as their first leader of the army a prince from the lineage of Arpade, along with two others, the Gylas and the Carchan, who hold the office of judge; and every clan has a prince. It must be known that the Gylas and the Carchan are not proper names, but dignities. It must be known that the great prince of Tourkia, Arpade, produced four sons: first, Tarcatzus; second, Jelech; third, Jutotzas; and fourth, Zaltas. Again, the firstborn of Arpade, Tarcatzus, had a son, Tebele; the second, Jelech, begat a son, Ezelech; the third, Jutotzas, took a son, Phalitzin, who now holds the principality; the fourth, Zaltas, had a son, Taxis. All of the sons of Arpade are indeed dead, with only their grandsons surviving: Phale and Tase, along with their cousin Taxi; and Tebeles, dying, left a son, Termatzus, who recently, in favor...

^A Or whether by common purchase or other such acquisition, or if some from kinship and others from additional acquisition have a house or field or vineyard or any other immovable thing in common, or otherwise, and not from common ownership, are mixed or lie adjacent to those approaching them by some portion, or are of the same fiscal classification, or simply are neighbors, and they wish to alienate their own property by sale, or emphyteusis, or lease, let them not alienate these to any other person before they have protested to those whom we call in order for the right of pre-emption; so that those kinsmen who are mixed together may be called first; then the partners thus entangled; after whom those who are merely mixed, even if they should be entirely strangers to the one alienating; then also the adjacent persons of the same fiscal classification; and ^B afterwards those simply united in some part in a joining manner. We call those of the same fiscal classification all who are registered under the same assessor, even if they pay their own taxes in different places. But if there are many neighboring the alienated property, let the pre-emption be completed for each one by testimony in the same order, so that if those who are perhaps preferred refuse, those called next in order may transact if they wish. If, however, all come from equal privileges, so that they are not preferred over each other in such a challenge, let the same notification be made to all equally, that within thirty days they may pay proportionately the just price, or that which the true buyer offers without guile, either from their own resources or from some source which they may distribute. Whoever, indeed, should not provide the assessment due from them in time, they shall no longer have the right of pre-emption, unless one of them is a prisoner, or restricted, or an exile, or is away in public or private business without guile, or has not yet completed the twenty-fifth year of his own age. For the managers having undertaken the administration of the property of these persons shall enter within four months with the adjacent new buyers, contributing the due price together with lawful interest and necessary expenses; and they shall push away the foreign buyers completely, paying back to them the price together with those same interests and expenses. ^C But if the managers of the aforementioned persons are suspicious that those (principals) might not consider what has been done by them acceptable, let them reject or accept the contract with written legal authorization. And if they should be sluggish even towards this, let them provide to them from their own resources all the profit and all the benefit which those were going to have, had these hastened to the transaction. And these things are concerning kinsmen, and partners, and those of the same fiscal classification, and the others lying nearby. But let it prevail much more even in the group of those called villages or small fields, so that their owners also may have the pre-emption among each other. But if all those to whom the pre-emption is given refuse, or are shown to be the cause of financial loss or bodily attack and disgraceful

tarter to Zaltas. Know that the first son of Arpad, Tarcatzous, fathered a son, Tebele; the second son, Ielech, fathered a son, Ezelech; the third son, Ioutotzus, fathered a son, Phaltzios, the present prince; and the fourth son, Zaltas, fathered a son, Taxis. Know that all the sons of Arpad have died, but his grandsons, Phales and Tases, and their cousin, Taxis, are alive. Know that Tebele has died, and his son is Termatzous, who recently came as a friend along with Bultzous, the third prince and *carcha* of Tourkia. Know that Bultzous the *carcha* is the son of Cale the *carcha*; and that Cale is a proper name, while *carcha* is a title, just as is *gylas*, which is greater than a *carcha*. ^A

CHAPTER XLI. Of the region of Moravia.

Know that the prince of Moravia, Sphendoplocus, was brave and fearsome to the nations neighboring him. This same Sphendoplocus had three sons, and at his death he divided his country into three parts and left one portion to each of his three sons, making the eldest the great prince and establishing the other two under the authority of the first son. He exhorted them not to fall into discord or to act against one another, showing them such an example: he brought three rods and, having bound them together, gave them to the first son to break; and when he was unable to do so, he gave them in turn to the second, and then to the third. Then, ^B having separated the three rods, he gave them to the three of them one by one, and they, having received them and been ordered to break them, immediately broke them. by such an example he exhorted them, saying: “If you remain united in concord and love, you will be invincible by your enemies and indestructible; but if strife and rivalry arise among you, and you divide into three principalities, not being subject to the first brother, you will be destroyed by one another and utterly exterminated by the enemies neighboring you.” After the death of this Sphendoplocus, having passed one year in peace, ^C when strife and sedition fell upon them and they waged civil war against each other, the Turks came and utterly exterminated them, and they seized their country, in which they dwell still today. The multitude that survived was scattered and fled to the neighboring nations, namely to the Bulgarians, the Turks, the Croatians, and to the other nations. ^D

CHAPTER XLII.

Geography from Thessalonica to the river Danube, and to the fortress of Belegrada, and of Tourkia and Patzinakia, as far as the Chazarian fortress of Sarkel, of the...

OF THEODOSIUS THE DEACON

Air, speak now, testify, do not hesitate 44. Of your tunic, the woven woof 45, In which, adorned, you repelled the harm Woven from those hidden calamities, By which those rapacious dogs, 49 Who lift up their eyebrows, fell down from the ramparts. 50 But since for the rest, for up to eight days The rain of the ravine had not ceased, But the quiver and the arrow held wax, 52 He released rams and tortoise-engines 53, And stone-throwing slings, and terrible 54 Structures of unjoined ladders against them 55. As therefore the town’s inhabitants, Not bearing those new punishments, were at a loss 57, Your beloved servant Nicephorus 59 Marshals the crowd and weaves penalties again. For he ordered the heads of the fallen enemies 60 To be sent by slings like arrows 61, So that the thin-stretched expanse of the aether 62 Might rejoice, stained by the disaster of the barbarians, 63 And the multitude of the sinful might know 64 That they have their own limbs for punishment. 65 They were casting heads inside instead of stones; They were throwing even their fathers many times,

^A region of the river Danapris, and of Cherson, and of Bosporus, where the cities of the climates, or regions, are; thence as far as the Maeotian marsh, which because of its magnitude is called a sea, and to the city called Matarcha; furthermore also of Zichia, Papagia, Kazachia, Alania, and Abasgia, as far as the fortress of Soterioupolis.

Be it known that from Thessalonica to the river Danube, in which is the fortress named Belegrada, is a journey of eight days, if one does not travel with haste, but goes with rest. And the Turks dwell beyond the river Danube in the land of Moravia, and also further on between the rivers Danube and Sabas; but from below the parts of the river Danube, opposite Distra, Patzinakia extends, and their habitation reaches as far as Sarkel, the fortress of the Chazars, in which garrisons are stationed, alternating every year. Now Sarkel is interpreted among them as "white house" ^B, which was built by the spatharocandidatus Petronas, surnamed Kamateros, when the Chazars requested the Emperor Theophilus that this fortress be built for them. For that Chagan, and the Pech of Chazaria, having sent envoys to the same Emperor Theophilus, requested that the fortress of Sarkel be built for them; to whom the Emperor, yielding to their request, sent the aforementioned spatharocandidatus Petronas with imperial warships, the chelandia, and also the chelandia of the captain of Paphlagonia. And so, this same Petronas, having arrived at Cherson, found the chelandia there, and having embarked the people onto the transport ships, he departed to the place of the river Tanais, where he was to build the fortress; and because the place did not have stones suitable for the building of the fortress, he made some kilns, and having baked brick in them, he built the city with them, ^C making lime from certain small pebbles from the river. Thus, after the city of Sarkel was built, this spatharocandidatus Petronas went to the Emperor Theophilus and said: "If you desire to rule fully over the city of Cherson and the surrounding places, and to hold them under your power, appoint your own praetor there, and do not trust their local chiefs or princes." For he went to the Emperor Theophilus and… ^D

own fortune, making those of their neighbors who are less fortunate victims of their plunder. For this is a most fitting charge against those who pride themselves in the height and glory of worldly splendor in their dealings with the more lowly; for the difference between the persons makes the transaction neither common nor mutually beneficial and harmonious, not only by the presumption of calculations, but also because, as is manifested and clearly shown day by day in many matters, it follows the nature of the things themselves. Wherefore, it behooves those who have considered more deeply the divine favor towards them to be more benevolently disposed toward their neighbors, and to take into account ^B the uncertainty of fortune and the inevitability of judgment, and not to seize upon the possessions of their neighbors, if they do not wish even themselves to be judged by the judgment that is to come.

5. We permit those who have been in possession of such lands before the appointed times to remain, if they are seen to continue in the same state, with the same prohibition imposed upon them as upon the others, so that they may be kept away from the lands of their neighbors. But if it is discovered that they are grievous and burdensome to their neighbors, for instance, by causing heavy and continuous damages to the poor, let them be expelled and driven out, and let them receive as the reward for their troublesome and insatiable disposition the loss of their own goods.

6. The repayment of prices mentioned above, requiring a more melodious and subtle investigation, has received no paltry or thoughtless evaluation. For since the sale had been conducted freely ^C and without distortion, and the payment of the price is seen to be just, the plan for restitution shall also be justly observed, with a small addition to the decree relieving the distress of the poor: namely, that the places be immediately returned and restored to those who sold them, or to their heirs or relatives; or, if these do not exist, to those who pay tribute under the same title. If these are indeed wealthy, let them provide in return the price paid from the beginning; but if they are unable to pay, let them not be forced by violence to a rapid refunding of the price, so that the collection of that for which they are then burdened does not seem to them more ^D onerous and troublesome than the benefit and security they hope for in the future. Moreover, the meddlesome and ungenerous nature of the opinion of the many will not blush to contrive, through rapid collection, that the outcome of what has been decreed should not remain intact, and might be frustrated, so that something might be innovated in a sale once completed. For to those who are consumed by the passion of insatiability and poverty of soul for such gain, and who count nothing shameful that contributes to the amassing of money, and who burden their freedom—the provision for such labor and toil—nothing will be left undared or unattempted that might bring some assistance to the fulfillment of their own purpose. But in order that new inventions may be restrained and what has been ordained may be fulfilled, let a period of three years be set aside for waiting, which is able to bring prosperity to the needy and the repayment.

^A said to him, "If you wish in any way to have sovereign control over the fortress of Cherson and the places therein, and not to have them slip out of your hands, appoint your own strategos, and do not entrust them to their own chiefs and rulers." For up until the time of the Emperor Theophilus, no strategos was sent from these parts, but the man who was called the Proteuon ^B administered everything, together with those who were termed the fathers of the city. The Emperor Theophilus, therefore, having deliberated on this matter—whether to send this man or that man as strategos—subsequently decided to send the aforementioned Spatharocandidatus Petronas, as he had become experienced in the region and was not ignorant of its affairs. He honored him with the rank of protospatharios, appointed him strategos, and sent him out to Cherson, ordering the Proteuon of that time and all the others to submit to him. From that point on, it has prevailed even until today that strategoi are appointed from these parts to Cherson. ^C And this is how the building of the fortress of Sarkel came about. From the Danube river to the aforementioned fortress of Sarkel, the journey is sixty days. In the midst of this land, there are many rivers; two of them are the greatest, namely the Danastris and the Danapris. There are other rivers as well, the one called Syngul, and the Hybul, the Almatæ, the Cuphis, and the Bogu, and many others. On the higher regions of the Danapris river live the Russi; by this river they sail down and make their arrival toward the Romans. The Patzinacia holds all the land of Russia and Bosporus, and reaches as far as Cherson, and as far as the Sarat, the Burat, and the thirty parts. ^D The distance along the sea coast from the Danube river to the Danapris river is one hundred and twenty miles. From the mouth of the river Danapris, the Adara occurs, and there is a great gulf there, which is called Necropyla; which no one can pass. From the Danapris to Cherson the distance is three hundred miles, and in between there are marshes and harbors, in which the Chersonites refine salt. From Cherson to the Bosporus there are cities of the climata, and they are distant three hundred miles; and from the Bosporus is the mouth of the Maeotian marsh, which is called a sea by all because of its size; and many large rivers flow into it. To the north it has the Danapris river, from which the Russi set out for the Black Bulgaria, the Chazars and Syria. And that very Maeotian gulf...

or into the possession of villages or fields. For we order that those who, after this present decree, shall have dared to do such a thing shall be driven out from there without compensation, and be deprived of their own improvements and cultivations; and, if they are illustrious men, that the value of the acquired property be paid to the public treasury (not for the benefit or contribution of the state—for how could we, who strive to restrain the insatiable greed of others, shamelessly decree such a thing for our own gain, and show ourselves to be seeking not the public good but our own private advantage?—but for the sake of providing for the poor); while those of the humbler sort shall be driven out without payment, and shall be corrected by the appropriate punishment. ^B We wish these things to remain in force for the salvation of our subjects, for whom we feel a great and constant care. For if we have felt such care for those under our hand that we have spared none of those things that lead to their freedom, through which, with God working with us, villages, towns, and cities have been added to us from our adversaries—some having become the work of war, others having come over to us by their example and by the fear of capture even before the martial trumpet sounded—and if, with God working with us, we have struggled to grant to our subjects such freedom from the incursions of war, setting before ourselves a work of prayer and zeal; how then could we not, with the resolve of freedom, with the pruning sword of this present law and of freedom, drive away those who, having achieved so much against the incursions of foreign enemies, are nevertheless our internal enemies, enemies of nature, of creation, and of good order, ^C as we look with displeasure and are burdened by that insatiable greed, pruning away their rapacious choice, and shaking off from our subjects the yoke of tyrannical and heavy hand and intent? Let each of those who have been appointed to judge prepare these things to remain in force permanently, for the service of God and of our empire granted by Him, for the common advantage and benefit.

V. Novel of the Lord Constantine the Porphyrogenitus, Emperor, concerning the powerful who enter into the holdings of the poor.

^D Our God-constituted Majesty has learned from many that the powerful and the more affluent in the province of the Thracesians, having spurned the imperial legislation, the natural law itself, and our own command, do not cease to enter into villages for the sake of purchases, gifts, and inheritances, and under such pretexts tyrannize the pitiful poor and make them exiles from their own possessions; for this reason, after a common deliberation, we issue and set forth a law and common decree throughout all our provinces as follows:

^A reaches the region of the Necropylae, which are about four miles from the Danapris, and there it is joined, where the ancients used to cross the sea by a trench dug through the middle of the Cherson, the regions, and the land of Bosporus, which covered a thousand or more miles: but in the passage of time this was silted up and turned into a dense forest, and has only two paths, through which they go to Cherson, Bosporus, and the regions of the Patzinacitae.

Toward the more eastern part of the Maeotian marsh, very many rivers enter it, such as the Tanais, which comes from Sarcel, and the Choracul, in which the oxiani fish are caught: and other rivers too, that is to say the Bal, the Burlic, the Chader, and many others. But there is also an outlet of the Maeotian marsh, which is called Burlic, and it flows down into the Pontus; where Bosporus is, opposite to which is the city called Tamatarcha; ^B now the aforementioned outlet is a crossing of eighteen miles, and in the middle of the eighteen miles there is a large and low island, which is called Atech. From Tamatarcha, at a distance of eighteen or twenty miles, is a river called Ucruch, which separates Zichia and Tamatarcha. From the Ucruch as far as the river Nicopsis, in which there is also a city of the same name, is Zichia, at a distance of three hundred miles: above Zichia lies the region of Papagia; above Papagia is Casachia; above Casachia is the Caucasus mountain; above the Caucasus mountain is the region of Alania. ^C The maritime coast of Zichia has islands, one large and three small; within which there are other islands, inhabited and cultivated by the Zichians, 114 [by name] Turganerch and Tzarbagani, and moreover certain others, and another at the port of the river, and another at the Pteleae, to which the Zichians flee when the Alani invade.

The region which lies by the sea, from the completion of Zichia, or the river Nicopsis, as far as the city of Sotericopolis, is Abasgia: and it is three hundred miles [in length]. ^D There are also other islands, those invented and built by the Zichians, Turganerch and Tzarbagani, and another island, and in the harbor of the river another island, and at the Pteleae another, to which the Zichians flee during the raids of the Alani. The...

or to cede entirely. They shall have a deadline of four months for the collection of the price, as much as another would offer, or rather at how much it is valued, if the needy who are purchasing it choose this.

These things having been thus decreed and legislated by our Majesty, we command you to read out this our proclamation and legislation to all who are in the province, from the powerful persons down to the last and lowest; and according to the extent and force of this, to inquire into and manage matters concerning both the poor and the powerful. Given in the month of March, in the fifth indiction.

VI.

A Novel Constitution of the same, which Theophilus the patrician and quaestor dictated. Concerning court fees, the opening of wills, and that a fixed and determined measure of customs should exist in every court.

Since the authority of custom and usage does not prevail to such an extent that it can overcome reason or the law; for this reason, curbing every greedy and superfluous exaction, even if it has prevailed through long-standing custom, we decree as follows:

1. ^A That the provincial judges may receive no more than three solidi for each libra of gold, that is to say from those who are wealthy (for in the past, also, those who were called ^B pedanei judges used to receive two solidi at the start of the trial, and two solidi again at the end of the same, apart from the public stipends, from either party); which three solidi they shall receive for their own needs and those of their men, but also of those who serve them in an official capacity, as they are able to demand nothing else specifically from those being judged. ^C But never shall more than one hundred solidi be demanded under the heading of court fees, even if the goods that are sought exceed one hundred librae; except for what the executor expends for provisions and travel while away from home. The rustic populace, however, and other poor people, whether they are litigating against each other regarding matters that pertain to them in common, or privately each against another, or against more powerful and wealthy men; for each libra, they shall provide only one solidus instead of three. But if the case had no ambiguity and controversy of law, and the matter was not worthy of a trial, ^D but perhaps shameless lawlessness or plunder or rapine or something of the sort was committed; the perpetrators of these crimes, if they are of the more illustrious sort, for those matters which are brought to judgment shall provide the three solidi fixed for each libra; the humbler sort, however, one solidus each; besides the fact that they shall also pay the pecuniary or corporal punishment established by the laws. Likewise, interest or fruits, where permitted, shall be exacted from them. Moreover, if possession is given in payment, if it is to the poor, nothing; but if to the more illustrious, half a solidus per libra. When...

from the completion of Zachia, that is, the river Nikopsis, is the land of Abasgia, as far as the fortress of Soterioupolis; being 500 miles.

CHAPTER XLIII. Of the region of Taron.

^A But enough has been said to you, beloved child, concerning the northern Scythians, the knowledge of which will be of great use and benefit to you in due time. However, you must not remain ignorant of those things toward the rising sun, whence they came once again under the sovereignty of the Romans, after having first fallen away from their dominion.

For the first of these, that Cricoricius the archon of Taron, bowed and submitted himself to the emperor of the Romans; but from the beginning he appeared to be of two minds. In word, indeed, he pretended to honor the friendship of the emperor, but in deed he performed whatever was pleasing to the prince of the Saracens, and in various ways he acted as a leader for the forces coming out of Syria against the themes subject to the emperor of the Romans. And he used to signify to the Saracens in secret everything that was being plotted by the Romans against their opponents, and he would always inform the Ameroumne by letter of the events happening among you. And though he wished to appear as thinking the thoughts of the Romans, he was found to be preferring and favoring the things of the Saracens. Nevertheless, he always sent gifts—such as are held precious by the barbarians in those parts—to the ^B celebrated among emperors, Leo, and he would receive in return more and better things from the pious reigning emperor. And he, having often exhorted him by letter to come to the imperial city and behold the emperor, and to participate in the kindnesses and honors from him, he, fearing lest this should result in the grief and scandal of the Ameroumne, fabricated vain excuses: that he was unable to leave his own land destitute of his own aid, lest it be plundered by the Saracens, he reasoned in vain.

The same archon of Taron, having once captured in war the sons of Arcaïkas—that is to say, the cousins of the protospatharios Asotios, the son of the patrician Cricoricicius—held them with himself as prisoners. Concerning whom also Symbatius, then the Prince of Princes, petitioned the same most blessed emperor by letter to send to the Taronite and endeavor to recover the kinsmen, who were the sons of the aforesaid Arcaïkas, that they might not be sent to the Ameroumne; for Gregory the patrician was a kinsman of Symbatius, the Prince of Princes. And that most blessed emperor ^C Leo, yielding to this request of Symbatius, sent that Sinutes the eunuch, who at that time was chartulary of the public course, both to the prince of Taron, on account of this affair, and to Adranaser, the curopalates of Iberia, on account of another affair, having given to him gifts to be brought to both. And when the aforementioned Sinutes had, through the slanders of Theodore the interpreter of the Armenians, been brought into disrepute before the same illustrious emperor, the protospatharios Constantianus was substituted in his place, who was also domestic of the lower ministers of the imperial court of Constantinople, the son of Libis, now proconsul. ^D

^A of the army, and since these things are in such or such a state, it is necessary that all things change with them; and whoever does not look after these things with great care puts his own safety in peril, if indeed it is right to consider the common good as one’s own. And since the affairs of the soldiers, by which they had the opportunity both to exist and to live, have weakened over time and have inclined toward a harsher and more difficult condition, our God-ordained Majesty has brought these affairs to a properly constituted and better state, bestowing a common benefit upon the entire [commonwealth].

1.

^C He was invested with the authority to receive the gifts and letters sent to the prince of Taron, Cricoricius, and he himself was to enter into Taron ^D and to escort Sinutes to the curopalate of Iberia, Adranaseres, according to the instructions given to him. When the aforementioned protospatharios reached Taron and delivered to Cricoricius the gifts and letters sent to him by the emperor, he took the natural son of the Taronite, who was named Asotios, and brought him to the Queen of Cities. The emperor honored him with the rank of protospatharios, entertained him generously, and sent him back to his own father through the same protospatharios. ^A Therefore, the same Constantine took Apoganes, the brother of the Taron prince Cricoricius, and brought him before the blessed emperor, along with the two sons of Arcaicas. The emperor also honored him with the rank of protospatharios ^B and, having graciously welcomed him many times, sent him back again by the same Constantine to his own country and to his own brother. After these things, the aforementioned Constantine spent a considerable time in Chaldia, and he was permitted by imperial command to enter into Taron and to take up ^C the prince of Taron for the sake of that business, and to proceed to Adranaseres, the curopalate of Iberia, for some other errands, having given him gifts suitable for both. Now, since the aforementioned Sinutes had been slandered by Theodore, the interpreter of the Armenians (44), to the aforementioned illustrious emperor, the protospatharios Constantine, domestic of the service (45)—who is now proconsul, patrician, and great hetaeriarch—was sent in his place, with orders that he himself should go to the prince of Taron, Cricoricius, with the gifts, and that he should order Sinutes to go to the curopalate of Iberia, ^D Adranaseres, according to the things commanded to him. When the said protospatharios reached Taron and delivered to Cricoricius the gifts and letters sent to him by the emperor, he took the natural son of the Taronite, who was named Asotios, and brought him to the Queen of Cities. The emperor honored him with the rank of protospatharios, and having entertained him sufficiently, sent him back to his own father through the same protospatharios. Therefore, the same Constantine took Apoganes, the brother of Cricoricius, the prince of Taron, and led him before the blessed emperor, together with the two sons of Arcaicas; whom, having also honored with the rank of protospatharios (49), the emperor graciously welcomed many times and sent back again through the same Constantine to his own country, and to his own brother. After these things, the aforementioned Constantine spent a sufficient time in Chaldia, and was permitted by command to enter into Taron, and to take—

How much effort we have expended in the suppression of these things, many good and moderate men will proclaim. Or rather, the multitude of those who have returned to their ancestral soil, newly liberated from servitude, will cry out. And, I think, the transformations of other affairs for the better will also be announced, for which we labor in constant anxiety, doing battle even during sleep, lest the correction we have devised for matters that are poorly dealt with be something deaf and dispersed; a correction which, in the present edict, we have arranged as accurately as possible, and, handing it down to future time for eternal duration, we decree as follows: if anyone is found detaining a soldier in the capacity of a dependent, ^A if he himself has seized the lands from which military duties are provided, he shall pay thirty-six gold solidi as a fine, half of which the soldier shall receive for the recovery of his complete restoration, and the other half the public treasury, on account of the servitude of which he was despoiled. But if it is found that he did not seize the military estates, but bought them, he shall pay twenty-four gold solidi to the public treasury, and he shall have no claim against the soldier for the price. If, however, others have pityingly received those who were driven out of their own properties by others, or who used their own cession, whether they serve as dependents or as hirelings, they shall be exempt from blame. But as many as have dared to have soldiers fit for rendering their own services, having stolen them from the frontier garrisons, for each one of them in each year six solidi shall be exacted by the investigator or public examiner, which the public treasury shall claim for itself: ^B unless, perchance, they received them from the generals themselves or other magistrates, and these soldiers are of the number of those who are assigned to the service of the general or magistrates. For if they are strangers and private soldiers, he who detains them will not be acquitted, even if he can easily prove that he was given authority by a general or magistrate to use them. ^C

VIII. A new constitution of the same, which Theodosius the patrician and quaestor of the Decapolis dictated, concerning court fees. With the promulgation of this, the prior constitution was abrogated, because it allowed provincial judges and clerks to accept court fees, or, as some copies have it, to adjudicate.

We have believed that the unjust assessment recently devised against our taxpayers must be amended by this present law, for we think that it has escaped no one what confusion and complication the affair of the so-called court fees has introduced. For, caught in the act, as should not have been done, of making profit for one of the judges from the loss of another, they so evade the proofs that very often the parties are unable to present themselves. ^D For before the necessary proof and hearing, transferring the possession, they anticipate them; meanwhile, it often happens from the travel expenses of frequent judges and the constant ambition of shifting [of property] that the money given for corrupting the judges exceeds the value of the things about which the litigation is held. Therefore our Serenity, considering those things which occur, and

^A Cricoricus the prince of Taron, and to enter the Queen of Cities, which he also did. Having entered the God-guarded city, and having been honored with the dignity of magister and strategos of Taron, there was given to him for a residence also the house called that of Barbarus, which is now the house of Basil the parakoimomenos [(50)]. He was also honored with an annual salary of ten pounds of gold and another ten pounds of miliaresia, so that the total was twenty pounds. Having spent some time in the Queen of Cities, he returned safely through the same protospatharios Constantine to his own country. After this, Apoganem also came to the blessed emperor and was promoted by him to the rank of patrikios; he was also permitted to take the daughter of the aforementioned Constantine as his wife, and on this pretext he also requested a house, and he himself received the house of Bardarus without a golden bull [(51)]. Having been treated kindly by the emperor, he returned to his own country at that time, intending to return again and to complete the marriage; but as soon as he reached his own land, after a few days he ended his life. His brother Cricoricus requested by his letters to be allowed to enter the Queen of Cities, and to receive from the hands of the holy emperor the salary given to him, and to spend some time in the God-guarded city, and he requested to take for his residence the house that had been separated from his own brother, which the blessed emperor also gave him, both because he had recently submitted, and in order to call other princes of the East to a similar zeal of submission to the Romans; however, he did not issue a written golden bull for the gift of such a house to him. But after many years, when Romanus, the blessed emperor, had taken up the scepters of the Roman empire [(52)], the same Cricoricus complained that he was unable to maintain the house of Barbarus, but requested instead to receive a suburban estate in Celtzene, either that of Patzatus or another one that the emperor might command, so that when a raid by the Agareni might occur against his country, he would have a place to send his own kin and property. The emperor, not having precise knowledge of the matters, but hoping that the Taronite held the house of Barbarus from the golden bull of the blessed Leo, gave him the suburban estate of Gregoras in Celtzene, and supposedly took back the house, but even he did not issue a golden bull to him for the estate. After these things, Tornikes, the nephew of the Taronite—the son of that aforementioned Apoganem—wrote to the same emperor saying, "The blessed Emperor Leo gave the house of Barbarus to my father as a gift; after his death, while I was an orphan and an infant, my uncle held it by authority, always promising me that I would receive my paternal house when I reached mature age; but now, as I understand, he has given it to His Majesty, having received in exchange for it the suburban estate of Gregoras in Celtzene." But because of this imperial munificence, Cacicius, the prince of Basparacania, Adranaser the curopalates of Iberia, and Asoticias, the prince of princes, were kindled with envy against the Taronite; and murmuring, they wrote to the emperor: "What is the reason that the Taronite alone should enjoy an imperial salary, while all of us receive nothing? For," they said, "in what respects does he perform more service, or is he more useful to the Romans than we are? Whence it is fitting that either we also should receive a salary, just as he does, or that he should not enjoy such a house." But the blessed Romanus wrote back that that salary for the Taronite was not from himself, but from the deceased emperor, and therefore it was not in his power to rescind it, nor was it just for the acts of earlier emperors to be abolished by their successors. Nevertheless, he signified by letter to the Taronite the grief and offense of the aforementioned men: he, however, replied that neither gold, nor silver, ^{B C D}

reserved for the murdered man, as a small consolation for their distress. If there should be no children for the murdered man, then let this third part be divided equally between the wife and the ascendants. If the wife has already departed this life, and there are children, let these be preferred to the ascendants. But if there are neither children, nor wife, nor ascendants for the one who was killed, let the other relatives called by law—provided they have not been slothful in disclosing the perpetrator—receive the third. If, however, the murderer does not enter upon the monastic life, let not a third, but two-thirds of his free estate be granted, according to the aforementioned ordinance, to the side of the person murdered.

^B 3. Furthermore, let no one ever who has been convicted of such a crime hold or perform any civil or any other office or activity whatsoever, nor even if they should obtain an imperial rescript; but let them be entirely infamous, as men to whom only their life has been kindly granted. Yet those who have set about the practice of malice in their abundance, and have premeditated the slaughter of a neighbor, and have been trained and prepared for this very thing for the death of a brother, to the detriment and ruin of their own souls—these, without exception, shall be tonsured and aggregated into companies of monks, and shall be governed in a monastery not only for the time of penance prescribed, but throughout their entire life. But those who have committed murder otherwise—willingly indeed, but through rashness and the incursion of an unreasoning temper, and who have not perpetrated the homicide having premeditated, having been previously instructed, or having had prior deliberations—shall indeed be subjected to perpetual exile besides other penalties, but they shall not be compelled to embrace a solitary life.

^C 4. Let the places of military service, that is, the provisions for serving as a soldier, be transmitted to his heirs. But if the murderer has no heirs, let others receiving the places of military service also perform the duties of the military.

XI. Novella of the Emperor Lord Constantine Porphyrogenitus, concerning those who die intestate without children, so that the whole of their estate does not accrue to the relatives called by law, or, when these are lacking, to the public treasury, but that two parts be for these, and the third be consecrated to God; in which are also included the slaves, who are granted freedom through the present Novella.

I have often admired the founders of cities and the institutors of laws according to which it is fitting to live, because to the relatives of the departed—even when they have sometimes contributed nothing to the utility of those who were living, nor can now provide anything to those who have departed from here, and especially to kings, to whom perchance the person deceased left not [even] in his final will

^C he was able to provide. He promised, however, beyond the gifts usually sent in the customary manner in the form of clothing and bronze vessels, to give up to ten pounds in estimated value, which he indeed gave for three or four years. But after this, he reported that he could not provide that regular payment, and he demanded the salary or dowry, just as it had been under the most blessed Emperor Leo, or else that this too should be abolished. For this reason, that it might not be a source of offense to Cacicius, and the Curopalates, and the rest, the aforementioned most blessed Emperor Romanus abolished this as well. And for that reason, as if by way of consolation, when his son Asotios later came to the city, he created him a patrician, and after holding him in great honor for some time, he sent him back to his own land. And when the Magister Cricoricios had died, Tornikios, the son of Apoganem, showed a great desire to see the city and the emperor. Therefore, the emperor sent the Protospatharios Crinites and an interpreter to that place, who brought him to the city, and once brought there, the emperor advanced him to the rank of patrician. He pretended to have a right to the house of Barbaros, and understanding that his uncle had traded this away in exchange for receiving the suburb in Celtzene, he denied that his uncle had possessed the power to exchange his own paternal inheritance, and wanted either to receive the house or the suburb: unless both were surrendered to the emperor, so that his cousins would not obtain them. And so the emperor accepted the suburb as well, since the old Taronite was already dead; nor did he give a substitute house for it, since, as was said above, no golden bull had been drawn up regarding these matters. ^D Later, indeed, Pancratios, the eldest of the sons of that Magister Cricoricios the Taronite, came to the royal city and was elevated by the emperor to the dignity of patricians, and was created Praetor of Taron. And since he wished to take a wife from the imperial blood, the sister of the Magister Theophylaktos was given to him. And when the marriage was consummated, he made a testament in which he established that if children were born from that marriage, they should hold his entire region as a paternal inheritance; and on that account, he requested from the emperor that the suburb of Gregora be given to him, so that his wife, the patrician lady, might dwell in it, and upon her death it should return again to His Majesty. And to this request also the emperor consented, and receiving him with great munificence, he sent him back to his own land with his wife. But the sons of the Magister Cricoricios, both Pancratios the patrician himself and Asotios the patrician, were causing trouble and inflicting no small violence upon their cousin Tornikios the patrician, who, not bearing the matter, wrote to the emperor to send a faithful man who would receive his land, and bring him, his wife, and his son to him. And the emperor sent the Protospatharios Crinites and an interpreter, who, as he had requested, should receive him and bring him to the city guarded by God. When Crinites arrived there, he found him already dead, but he had provided in his will before his death that all his land should be subject to the Emperor of the Romans, and his wife and son too.

...very profitable for the State [and] consecrated by our God-given royalty to our Lord the King.

XII. Constantinian Novella Fifth, which is kept in the vestry. Concerning the runaway of slaves, and lost beasts.

1. For a lost slave found in the same province, the master provides one solidus [and] four milia. If he is found in a further province, two solidi [and] four milia. But if he has traveled through two or three provinces and is captured, three solidi [and] four milia. And indeed, before twelve months have passed, it is not lawful for the slave to be sold elsewhere; but he ought to be kept and guarded in the meantime, having applied caution. If, however, after the twelve months have passed, the lost slave has not been sought by his master, it is permitted to him who found him to sell him to a known person for six solidi and four milia. But for this reason [he is] to be sold at so cheap a price, because his possessor is not a perpetual [owner]; but it is in the power of the master, when it is discovered, to provide the same [amount of] solidi with the four milia, and to receive back his slave.

2. Concerning lost beasts, if they are larger or greater—for instance, oxen, horses, and mules—the master shall provide four milia and receive them. But for smaller ones, that is, sheep and pigs, let it be left to the judgment of the masters alone to provide what they wish. ^B

3. Concerning wounds upon the head, or injuries, or fornication, or adultery, or theft, absolutely nothing at all shall be demanded. Stolen goods, when found, shall be saved for their own masters. If there are no masters, they shall be brought into the public treasury. ^C

4. Similarly, if any die intestate, and do not even have relatives of the sixth degree, their faculties and goods shall be brought into the treasury. But if someone has made a will, even if no relatives or necessary heirs are found up to the indicated degree, the tablets of the will shall be guarded.

5. Likewise, if someone has died intestate and relatives are found, the goods of the estate shall be transmitted to those same persons. But if the deceased has neither expressed his will nor has relatives, then the third part of his estate shall be given for the redemption of his sins to the brothers in Christ; and whatever remains shall be brought into the treasury. ^D

XIII. Rescript of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus concerning the restitution of estates purchased by the powerful.

^A And he requested either to receive the house or the estate, or else that both should pass to the Emperor, so that his cousins might not possess them. On this account the Emperor, since the elder Taronites had also happened to die, took over the estate; and he did not even return the house, since no golden bull—as has been stated above—had been issued for any of these. After this, that Pankratios, the first-born son of that magistros Krikorikios the Taronite, came to the queen of cities and was elevated by the Emperor to the rank of patrikios (54), and he also became strategos of Taron. He requested to take a wife from the imperial relatives, and the Emperor gave him the sister of the magistros Theophylaktos as his wife. After the marriage, he drew up a will in which he stipulated: "If children are born to me from this wife, they are to have my entire land as their hereditary lot." And for this purpose he requested the Emperor to give him the estate of Gregoras, so that his wife might reside there with her patrician rank (55); and after the death of the same, this estate was to be the Emperor's again. The Emperor gave his consent to this too, and after honoring him with many gifts, he sent him back to his land with his own wife.

But the sons of the magistros Krikorikios—the aforementioned Pankratios the patrikios and Asotios the patrikios—greatly harassed and oppressed their own cousin, Tornikios the patrikios. Being unable to endure the attack from them, he wrote to the Emperor to send a trustworthy man to take over his land, and to bring him, his wife, and their child (56) to the Emperor. The Emperor sent the protospatharios Krinites and an interpreter to receive him in accordance with his request and to bring him (57) to the God-guarded city. ^B But when Krinites arrived at that land, (58) he found him already having departed this life, after having provided in his will before his death that his entire land should be subject to the Emperor of the Romans, and that his wife and his child should go to the Emperor. To her the Emperor gave for her residence, after the protospatharios Michael, who was formerly the commerciarios of Chaldia (59), had entered in, the monastery of Psamathea (60).

Again, the aforementioned Krinites was sent by the Emperor to receive the land of Apoganem, that is, the portion of Tornikios the patrikios. But the sons of Taronites, the cousins of the deceased, sent back from there, requesting to give Ulnutes and to keep the land of their cousin; for they said they could not live at all if the Emperor held the land of their cousin as his own. Yielding to their request out of his own kindness, the Emperor fulfilled it and gave them the land of Apoganem, their cousin, while he himself took over Ulnutes with all its surrounding territory. The whole land of Taron (61) happened to be divided into two; the sons of the magistros Krikorikios held one half, and the sons of Apoganem the patrikios, their cousins, held the other half.

^A argument, and provided it with an index at my request by Franc. Ritter, Ph.D., who has very recently decided to offer his services in this university to teach philological disciplines. I have repeated almost entirely the editor's annotations, which contribute so much to explaining the matters of Anastasius that they might be sufficient in some way even to interpret the Latin Panegyric: by this plan, honor is paid to the labors of Villoison; nor was there any other reason standing in the way, since both the author and the booksellers at whose expense the *Anecdota* were published have long been dead. On the other hand, it seemed by no means permitted to convert to the ornament of my edition those things which the illustrious Mai added to the eclogues, or which v.c. Endlicher added to the panegyric of Priscian—a work long sought by philologists, which, upon it becoming known that a copy existed in the Imperial Library at Vienna, he published last year, annotating it in such a way that he left nothing to be added by others. The poem of the grammarian itself, written learnedly and diligently on Bobbio parchments, has been so accurately expressed by the editor that there is scarcely any room for emendations in it. The Parisian edition concerning the printers' errors was handled with the same scandalous negligence as the rest of the works after Cantacuzenus, before Cangius undertook the care of the work; they are adorned with useless and deceptive typographical splendor. ^B By the aid of Hoeschel's work we have removed most errors of this kind; I have restored, to say nothing of minor ones, an entire verse that had fallen out; but Bekker forbade me to give notice of these individually. Wherever, therefore, mention of such a kind is found, it was done for a certain particular reason which, however, perhaps will not always be apparent. Bekker did not touch what Suidas preserved; in these I have also corrected some things. I have presented Photius as it was edited by Bekker, except that in matters which depend upon history, I have accepted the readings of Labbe, and once or twice my own emendations: I would perhaps have attempted more places if I were not certain that Photius had often erred in the spelling of names; the editor should refrain from correcting these. I have not often corrected the versions of Portus, and never those of Schottus. From the known work of the editors, there is scarcely any need to explain that whatever is distinguished in the critical scholia by the letters B. and N. are emendations which have Bekker and myself as authors: those to which the two letters Cl. are added belong to Classen. I have called "Vulgata" (vulg.) that reading which has been propagated from the Hoeschelian edition through the Parisian and Venetian ones. Whenever nothing besides that "vulg." is written ^C regarding a rejected reading, we signify this: an emendation, whether Bekker had found it proposed by me, or I had forgotten to conceive it—as often happens—such that it seemed manifest enough that it ought to be found by anyone not excessively careless or unlearned. I have placed the sign ‡, with the ancient custom restored, to indicate a corrupt place for whose healing I saw no probable conjecture, and that it did not suffer from the printer's fault, but was clearly published by Hoeschel in that way. And there are indeed more places than I would like, even in these eclogues, which the editor—strange to the liberty of changing—is forced to leave as faulty; yet I can truly claim that through this edition it has been achieved that the remains of most useful and, for the most part, excellent writers, which heretofore hindered readers on every page by the sheer multitude of errors, have now in the greatest part become easy and open to understanding. Since therefore things which until now lay neglected will without doubt become known to many more than before, an opportunity has been offered, not unworthy of excellent minds, where the power of divination may exercise itself and carry on well-begun works further. Of the emendations which we have received, many have Hoeschel as their author, proposed in the margin of his edition: these, whether they pleased us or not, I have designated with the mark H. The same Hoeschel, ^D where he used a twin codex, both the Schottus and the Bavarian, as often as they varied between themselves, indicated the diversity likewise in the margin, prefixed with the mark *al*. These variations I have designated as *mg. H.*: for which it would certainly have been better to write *var. H.*; yet in such a light matter I scarcely fear reproach. It is more serious that sometimes, when I had been hindered by domestic duties from inspecting the proofs, *mg. H.* is placed, even though it should have been designated as a conjecture. Written at Bonn, the day after the Nones of October, MDCCCXXIX.

CONCERNING THE HISTORIANS WHOSE REMAINS APPEAR HERE

PUBLIUS HERENNIUS DEXIPPUS, son of Ptolemaeus, Athenian, of the deme of the Hermi, and of the Ceryces clan, attained the highest honors in the city, created king and archon eponymus; he served in the splendid office of agonothetes at the Panathenaia; he was a famous orator and writer of histories; on account of which gifts of fortune and industry he was honored with a statue, the base of which, with an inscription, still exists. But he gained for himself a far more glorious honor, worthy of the memory of the ages, at the time when, the Heruli having poured into Greece through the straits of the Propontis, and Athens having been captured, he strengthened the citizens who had fled with him into the pathless forests from the destruction of the city; and having been appointed their leader in the war, he joined the fleet, over which Cleodamus presided, and took some vengeance upon the Barbarians, three thousand of their number being slain upon the occasion. By which deed this excellent man, after five hundred years, recalled the Athenians, unaccustomed to arms, to military glory: for the unhappy city had not moved its arms in the Mithridatic war either of its own design or volition. Since, therefore, the inscription on the statue is silent about this glory of Dexippus, it has been believed that it was placed before he obtained that glory—to which opinion I would easily accede, if the history of that age, "which he drew partly from books, partly from life," as the epigram proclaims, could be different from that of the whole age, of which we have knowledge from Eunapius and Photius. We are now finally permitted to establish the series of deeds in the first year of Claudius Gothicus, which Gibbon, who must never be mentioned without a preface of honor, devised—now that excerpts concerning his opinions have been published by the illustrious Mai.

CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGENITUS CAPUT XLIV.

Of the land of Apachunes, and the fortress of Mantziciert, and of Percri, and of Chliat, and of Chalial, and of Arzes, and of Tibe, and of Chert, and of Salamas, and of Tzermatzu.

^A Before Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius the prince of princes—whom the Amera of Persia, Aposalas, punished with death—and who had two sons, Asotius namely, who after him was prince of princes, and Apasacius, who was later honored with the dignity of magister: these three fortresses, Percri, and Chalial, and Arzes, were under the dominion of Persia. The prince of princes resided in Greater Armenia, in the city of Cars, and he held the three cities which I mentioned, Percri, Chalial, Arzes, and Tibe, and Chert, and Salamas. Apelcart held Mantziciert, and he was subject to the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius. But the same Asotius, the prince of princes, gave to this Apelbart also the cities of Chliat, Arzes, and Percri; for the aforementioned Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius the prince of princes, possessed all the lands of the East. ^B But when Apelbart had fulfilled his fate, his son Abelchamit succeeded him, and to him succeeded his firstborn son, Aposebatas. But when Symbatius the prince of princes was killed by Aposalas, the amera of Persia, he held Mantziciert as if he were the sole supreme lord and independent master, as well as the remaining cities and lands: and both he and his two brothers, Apolesphuet and Aposelme, were subject to the Emperor of the Romans, because their cities and lands were frequently infested by war and devastated by the domestic of the schools, and they also paid tributes on account of these. But from the aforementioned Asotius, the prince of princes, the father of Symbatius, and grandfather of the second Asotius ^C and of Apasacius the magister, down to the second Asotius, the prince of princes, those three cities were under the power of the prince of princes, and he used to receive tribute from them. Similarly, Mantziciert, with the land of Apachunes, and Charca, and Core, was under the power of the same prince of princes, up until the time when—

^A Being impious in his religion (for he honored the beliefs of the Greeks), he denigrates those who adorned the empire with piety in every way and quite openly, and most especially the great Constantine; but he extols the impious, and more than the others, Julian the Apostate; and his history was almost entirely composed for the purpose of praising him. He ^B is elegant in his phrasing, if one were to strip away from his discourse that which is cock-like, deer-like, and — adding to these — that which is hawk-like, crow-like, monkey-like, his watery tear, and things of that sort; for with such things he ruins and embellishes the nobility of the rest of his vocabulary. And he makes use of metaphors in an excessive way, which the law of history does not desire, but the emphasis and wit of his diction mostly remove the offense. With regard to structure and clarity for the purposes of history, and in his periods, he is proportionate and appropriate. However, in some places, he is more forensic than historical, and he overburdens his discourse. He innovates not a little, also, regarding his syntax, though not in a way that is ungraceful or that gives handle to the methods of criticism.

He composed two treatises containing the same history, a first and a second. And in the first, he sows much blasphemy against our pure Christian faith and dignifies the Greek superstition, attacking many of the pious emperors; but in the second, which he also inscribes "New Edition," he cuts away the great insult and licentiousness ^C which he had scattered against the faith; and having bound together the remaining body of the work, he inscribes it "New Edition," as we said, which still shows forth much of the madness that was there. We have come across both editions in old books, with each being contained specially in a different volume and arranged differently; and from them we have collected and understood the difference. It happens, then, in the new edition, that many of the passages are set forth unclearly because of the cutting up of the statements that occurred, even though he is a careful student of clarity; but I cannot say in what manner, unless it be that by not fitting the discourses well to the passages in the second edition, he corrupts the meaning of what is being read. In all of which is the end.

Petrus, to whom the titles of Magister and Patrician were attached, was born in Thessalonica and is called an Illyrian by Procopius ^D (17): not because he belonged to the Illyrian nation by birth (for who would have distinguished the ancient Illyrians from the other peoples who inhabited those regions?), but because the diocese of Macedonia was under the authority of the Praetorian Prefect for Illyricum. Being occupied with legal matters in Constantinople, and because he was celebrated for his singular eloquence and power of persuasion (18), he was sent as an envoy to Amalasuntha by the Emperor Justinian in the year 534. Because Theodahad had in the meantime seized the kingdom, he replaced her with Aulona, and in the following year finally arrived in Ravenna with the Emperor’s mandates: then, however, cunningly taking advantage of the sloth and fear of the man, he persuaded Theodahad to entrust himself to the honor of the Augustus and to concede all of Italy (19). When he himself had reported these things to Constantinople, he was sent again to Ravenna with Athanasius, so that through their agency what the Goth king had promised might be brought to its conclusion. But he, with Mundus having meanwhile been killed with his army in Dalmatia, spurned what had been agreed upon, and with the sanctity of the embassies violated, he gave them into custody (20), nor was the opportunity to return granted to them until Vitiges, nearly three years later, around the end of the year 538. But this misfortune was compensated for to Peter by a distinguished honor, with the dignity of Magister Officiorum being conferred upon him (21). Later, in about the year 550, having already been raised to the rank of Patrician (22), he was sent as an envoy to the East to arrange a truce with Chosroes (23), whence, however, he returned with the matter unfinished: soon, in the year 552 (24), he was chosen to deal with the affair of the Three Chapters with Pope Vigilius, who was being detained at Chalcedon. Vigilius, where he narrates what was done at that time, calls Peter an ex-consul, patrician, and Magister, and soon after a magnificent man and Referendarius; he who was then called ex-consul was he whom the Emperor had honored with the codicils of the consulship; later in the Byzantine empire, with the dignity of the office gradually diminished, they called him consul and hypatos. Then, ten years later, in 562, he undertook the negotiation of peace with the Persians again, and with a happier result indeed, albeit an ignominious one, yet necessary for the exhausted strength of the empire, with peace composed for fifty years (25). When, with the Persian envoy having proposed a fallacious hope concerning Suania, which Peter was demanding, he had been rejected by King Chosroes, he approached him the following year: but in vain. Returning to Byzantium from that embassy, not long after he died (26), nearly 28 years after his first Italian embassy; leaving behind a son, Theodorus, who already in the year 565...

Aposebatas, the amira of Mantziciert, together with his two brothers, ^B Apolesphuet and Aposelmes, submitted themselves to the emperor, giving also everything for their castles and their villages. For the prince of princes happens to be a servant of the emperor of the Romans, as he is promoted by him and receives such a dignity; clearly, the castles, states, and villages ruled by him also belong to the emperor of the Romans.

After Symbatios, the prince of princes of Great Armenia, was captured by Aposatas, the amira of Persia, and beheaded by him, Aposebatas, who had established his royal seat in the castle of Mantziciert, took control of the castle of Chliat, and the castle of Percri, and the state of Arzes.

The second brother of Aposebatas, Apolesphuet, and his cousin and stepson Achmet, took control of the castle of Chliat, and the castle of Arzes, and the castle of Altzice; and they themselves submitted to the emperor of the Romans, and came under his power, and were providing everything just as their brother Aposebatas ^C was doing for their castles and their villages.

The third brother of Aposebatas and Apolesphuet, Aposelmes, was holding the castle of Tzermatzu together with its villages, and he too submitted to the emperor of the Romans, and was giving everything just as his brother Aposebatas and his second brother Apolesphuet.

After Aposebatas died, Abderachim, the son of Aposebatas, took control of Mantziciert together with its villages and all his dominion; but after Abderachim died, Apolesphuet, the second brother of Aposebatas and uncle of Abderachim, took control of the castle of Mantziciert and all the aforementioned lands; and after he died, the third brother, that is to say of Aposebatas and Apolesphuet, Aposelmes, took control of both Mantziciert and all the aforementioned lands.

That Aposebatas had a son... ^D

has none, as we have said, he left this Achmet as heir to all the cities and regions of his dominion, both as nephew and stepson. After the death of Aposelmes, his son Apelbart possessed Mantziciert with all its territory. Achmet, however, held those three cities, Chliat, Artzes, and Altzice; and he himself was also subject to the emperor, as has been said above, providing him with tribute both for himself and for his uncle Apolesphuet. ^B Apelbart was killed by the fraud and treachery of the one who also seized his three cities, namely Chliat, Artzes, and Altzice, which the emperor ought to reclaim as his own. And indeed, all these cities and territories, of which we have made mention, were never under the power of Persia or the Amermumni; but while the lord Leo was emperor, they obeyed Symbatius the prince of princes, as has been said above; from there they came to the three aforesaid brothers, the amirads, namely Apocebata, Apolesphuet, and Aposelmes; and in their times they became subject and tributary to the Roman emperors. Moreover, these three cities, Chliat, Arzes, and Percri, if they obey the emperor, the Persian army cannot make excursions into Romania, since they lie between it and Armenia, and are like a hedge and camp for armies.

CHAPTER XLV.

Concerning the Iberians.

One must know that the Iberians, that is to say those of the curopalate, glorying in themselves, say that they are descended from the wife of Uriah, whom the king and prophet David seduced; since they trace their descent from the children born of that union ^C.

^A He had devoted himself in his youth to the study of the laws; but since his mind recoiled from the duties of a pleader, he fell into sloth and squandered his patrimony in the circus and the madness of the factions. At length, however, compelled by necessity toward better things, when he saw that men of letters were being adorned with splendid rewards by the Emperor Maurice, he decided to try his hand in this field. Accordingly, he proposed to himself to continue the history of Agathias: a work he completed from the arrival of the Kotrigur Huns into Thrace, whom Belisarius repressed, in the year 558, down to the decease of the Emperor Tiberius in the year 582. He treated of the affairs of the year 575 [(48)] in the eighth book. The surname "Protector," by which he is distinguished from the illustrious Attic poet, indicates that he had served with the praetorian cohorts of the emperor [(49)]; though even at that age, these men exercised a military service that was merely nominal, just as the scholarii did [(50)]. In his style of writing he is a thorough ape of Agathias; he is to be laughed at whenever he desires to show off his acumen of thought or elegance of words: yet in narrating historical events he is a good author; he is extremely curious and worthy of belief regarding the customs of peoples, the location of distant lands, and the journeys of travelers. In imitation of the same Agathias, he even attempted to compose epigrams. All that I have said above concerning his origin and youth, he had himself related in the proem to his history, which Suidas has preserved.

It will not be foreign to the proem of this volume—of which the far greater part consists of these—to explain the reason why it has pleased me to inscribe the Excerpts on Embassies, the care of which was entrusted to Constantine Porphyrogenitus by the grammarians, "Peri presbeon" [On Embassies], not "Peri presbeion" [On Honors]; nor will it be idle, since, by what fortune I know not, it has not, as far as I am aware, been fully understood by anyone.

Høschel published these excerpts from two codices: the Schottian, which I stated above can now be found nowhere; and the Bavarian (which he calls the Boic), which exists in the royal library at Munich, and was used by the very learned Schweighäuser for Appian and Polybius. Yet this was their relationship to one another: the Schottian contained everything, while the preface and those things which the editor admits in the list he placed after the dedication that he presents only from the Schottian codex were absent from the Bavarian. Moreover, those things are not there in place of additions—so that you might believe the Bavarian codex was mutilated by the laziness of scribes into so many chapters—but are separated from those which it does have, and they proceed in the same order from the beginning of the book to its end; and they differ from each other in that those which exist in the Bavarian deal with embassies sent to the Romans, while those absent from it deal with those which the Romans sent to the barbarians. Wherefore that codex is inscribed *Peri presbeon ethnon* (or *ethnikon*) *pros Romaious* [(51)], while the preface—which concerns those matters that the Schottian codex alone provided—exhibits Title XXVII and its rubric, *Peri presbeon Romaion pros ethnikous*. And in the list which is subjoined to it, concerning the writers from whose books Høschel published the eclogues on embassies, he omits Dexippus and Eunapius. Clearly, from these, nothing had been carried over into the volume of eclogues concerning the embassies of the Romans to the nations [gentes].

These things being set forth, there will be no need for more words to prove that there was a double title of the eclogues on embassies, of which one—XXVII in the order of the numbers—exists entire with its preface, while the preface of the other is missing, and its number is unknown due to that loss; though reason dictates it was either XXVI or XXVIII. Finally, what survives from both seems to have existed conjoined in the Schottian codex. Now it is perceived by what reason it happened that even in the Polybian section many eclogues, from those which Ursinus published, are absent from the Bavarian [(52)]: for it is a question there of embassies which the Romans had sent; and the same must necessarily be found by anyone who inquires concerning the eclogues of Dio and Appian. Therefore, the great Casaubon is cleared of reproach; he was not in the least mistaken when he wrote that the first volume of these eclogues existed in the library of De Thou, even though it contained only a part of those taken from Polybius [(53)]. And it may be that while others have handed down that Theodosius the Younger [the small] compiled this collection, while Ursinus handed down that John of Constantinople did so, the embassies to the Romans were attributed to the labor of the former, and Title XXVI to the latter in the codices. I fear, however, lest there be an error concerning that Theodosius, since *Theodosios ho mikros* signifies to the Byzantine Greeks the Emperor Theodosius the Younger.

In order that all occasion for erring may be removed for the future, I have distinguished both collections, divided by the individual authors, with its own duly inscribed title.

Therefore, we have not three, but four titles from the collectanea of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, after Mai, having brought to light the greatest part of the title on sentiments, has added a crowning achievement to his immortal services to the public literary sphere.

^A to David, the prophet and king, and as a result of this, also from the most holy Theotokos, because she too is descended from the seed of David. For this reason, the nobles of the Iberians marry their own kinswomen without hindrance, imagining that they are observing the ancient law; and they say that their birth was from Jerusalem, and that they moved from there, having been warned in a dream, and settled in the parts of Persia, that is to say, in the land which they inhabit today. Those who emigrated and came out from Jerusalem were the aforementioned David and his brother Spandiates; which Spandiates, as they themselves say, had received from God the grace that no sword could touch any part of his body in battle, except for his heart, which he also guarded in battle with a certain covering. For this reason he was feared and dreaded by the Persians; yet he conquered them and overcame them, and settled his kinsmen, the Iberians, in the difficult ^B regions which are held by them even now. From them, they gradually expanded and multiplied, and became a great nation. And thus, when the Emperor Heraclius set out on an expedition against Persia, they united and campaigned with him, and from that time on they subjected many cities and lands of the Persians to the fear of Heraclius, the Emperor of the Romans, more than to their own strength and power. For once the Emperor Heraclius had put the Persians to flight and had brought about the end of their rule, the Persians became vulnerable and easily conquered, not only by the Iberians but also by the Saracens. But because they trace their descent, as they themselves say, from Jerusalem, they have great faith in them, and in the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, and at certain times they generously send money to the patriarch of the Holy City and to the Christians living there. The aforementioned David, the brother of Spandiates, fathered a son, Pancratius, and Pancratius fathered a son, Asotius, and Asotius fathered a son, Adranase, who was also honored with the dignity of curopalate by Leo, the Christ-loving Emperor of the Romans. Now Spandiates, the brother of the aforementioned David, died without children. From the time of their migration from Jerusalem to the land now inhabited by them, there are four hundred or even five hundred years, up to the present day; which is the tenth indiction, in the year from the creation of the world 6460, during the reign of Constantine and Romanus, the Christ-loving and Porphyrogenitus Emperors of the Romans. It is to be known that the Christ-loving and Porphyrogenitus and illustrious Emperor Leo, hearing that the Saracens had come to the place called Phasianē ^C and had turned the churches there into camps, sent the patrician Lalacon, the praetor of the Armeniacs, along with the praetors of Colonia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldea, who demolished these camps, liberated the churches, and devastated the whole of Phasianē, which at that time the Saracens were holding. Afterwards, he sent again the Magister and Domestic of the Schools, Catacalus, who, having invaded the city of Theodosiopolis, ravaged the entire surrounding region, and similarly destroyed the land of Phasianē and the neighboring cities.

^A and among all posterity, shall endure more lasting than any marble or bronze. For we shall never permit the name of anyone to be consigned to oblivion who has even slightly attempted to promote our praiseworthy efforts, which are both highly honorable and beneficial to the entire republic of letters. Farewell.

Paris, from the Collège de Clermont of the Society of Jesus, the Calends of January, in the year of the Christian era 1648.

The most obedient servant of all in Christ, PHILIPPUS LABBE, S.J.

DEDICATION OF THE VENETIAN EDITION

To Philip V, King of the Spains, Defender of the Catholic Religion.

If there is any literary work, Philip, great King, that may seem worthy of royal patronage, it is the Byzantine ^B history, which, in the magnitude of its bulk and the excellence of its contents, can be called not a book, but a library. Therefore, no one will wonder that I—who am undertaking a matter so great that not even the wealthiest printing societies to this day have dared to attempt it—have sought an auspicious patron equal to the endeavor. I do, in truth, sense the loftiness of royal majesty, but that does not deter me as much as the indulgence, which has always accompanied great kings, lures me. Whoever I may be, you should look not to me, but to this great company of most noble writers; which once, when it first appeared, happily enjoyed the protection of Louis the Great, your grandfather; and now that he has been taken away, ^C he who seemed set above mortality, it turns its vows toward his grandson, the heir of such great virtues. It passes, moreover, from the Gaul to the Spaniard, to amplify fortune, not to change it. For you are the one who, with a某些 incredible and almost divine prudence, has reconciled these two most flourishing nations, which had long been competing in a struggle for glory and, consequently, were disparate in their talents and studies; and who, in the many and long-lasting vicissitudes of a most dangerous war, brought it about that the Gauls were concerned only with the Spaniards, and the Spaniards only with the Gauls. Now that things are settled, or nearly settled, and secured by an immutable peace, what remains but that you promote arts and disciplines for the happiness of your peoples? A kingdom spread so far and wide will never lack resources: but that which can govern these very resources and adapt them to the use of the human race—a right judgment about all things—must proceed from the study of letters, and the study of letters from the protection of books and booksellers. ^D You owe this to Divine Providence, which has willed to bless your house above the other princes of Europe with beautiful offspring; so that it now seems sufficient to provide not only for the Spanish kingdom to distant posterity, but also to stir the hope and expectation of other provinces as well. You cannot respond more fittingly to this huge benefit of God, the best and greatest, than if you, too, by his example, do good to mortals; and do good most especially in that which shows how far royal greatness excels the tenuity of private individuals. This art of ours, the handmaid of philosophy, theology, sacred and civil law, and all wisdom, cannot stand by private resources and counsels: nor would I have dared to set in motion such a huge work, had I thought only of myself. I cast my eyes and my mind upon the heights of human affairs; and what seemed to shine brightest before me, as a star that would be auspicious and fortunate, that I began to cultivate. Be present, therefore, to a man (to speak in the manner of the ancient Spaniards) devoted to your divinity and majesty; and protect my industry, occupied in a matter so grave, with your royal name, cherish it with your patronage, and sustain it with your guard.

BARTHOLOMEW JAVARINA, Venetian Printer.

^C When the lord Romanus was emperor, the magister John Curcuas, proceeding against the fortress of Tibium, at its pass, laid waste the entire land of Phasianē, as it was held by the Saracens. But also the patricius Theophilus, brother of the aforementioned magister John, when he first held the command in Chaldia, also raided this same land of Phasianē, as it was then under the dominion of the Saracens. For until the dialogue took place with the citizens of Theodosiopolis, no village stood in the land of Phasianē, nor in the fortress of Abnicus; and the Iberians always had love and friendship with the Theodosiopolitans, the Abniciotae, the Mantzicirtae, and indeed with all of Persia, but in Phasianē they never acquired villages. ^C For frequently the lord Leo the emperor, and the lord Romanus, and our empress herself, sought to take the fortress of Cetzeon and introduce troops, so that Theodosiopolis might not be provisioned from there, assuring the curopalates and his brothers that as soon as Theodosiopolis was captured, they would return it to them. But the Iberians did not endure to do this because of their love for the Theodosiopolitans, and so that the fortress of Theodosiopolis would not be despoiled; but they sent word back to the lord Romanus and our empress, saying: “If we do this, we shall be dishonored before our neighbors, such as the magister and the ruler of Abasgia, the Basparacanites, and the supreme rulers of the Armenians; and they will be able to say that the Iberians are treacherous toward the emperor, namely the curopalates and his brothers, and that he does not trust them, and for that reason he has seized this city from them. Rather, let the emperor send a turmarch or some Caesar-man who might reside in the city of Cetzeon and observe.” But they received a rescript in the form of a mandate: “What good will it do if a turmarch or a Caesar-man be sent? If he comes, they will be able to enter, ten or twelve men at most, and reside in the lodging which you assign to them. And since there are many roads by which one may enter Theodosiopolis, it is not possible for caravans entering Theodosiopolis to be seen from the city, for they can enter at night, with the others suspecting nothing.” The Iberians, therefore, because they did not wish Theodosiopolis to be despoiled, but rather for it to be provisioned, did not obey, nor did they hand over the city of Cetzeon, even though they had received a written oath that, once Theodosiopolis was captured, they would receive this city back.

^A first of all marked by piety, and not have been once condemned publicly by the charge of any crimes, and that they be prudent by nature, well-disposed toward the common good, so as to endanger even their own interests for it, just as Regulus, and eager for their mission, but not forced, just as the Egyptian physician. The former, being a prisoner among the Carthaginians, and having been sent to the Romans to negotiate peace, swore to return to them if the Romans should not accept the peace; but when he reached the Romans, he dissuaded the Romans from the peace as being disadvantageous to them, and, keeping his oath, persuaded them to send him back to the Carthaginians. The other, however, by inciting the Persian against the king of Egypt, ruined the affairs of the Egyptians. Envoys, when they have arrived at those to whom they are sent, must appear pleasant, magnanimous, and beneficent within their power; they should praise things that are their own and those of the enemy equally, and not disparage the affairs of those among whom they are sent. Envoys must handle matters strategically and adapt to the times, and not execute orders by force, unless they have been commanded to accomplish the end by any means whatsoever. For instance, if someone is sent as to friends, conveying gifts to neighbors, and he happens upon them while they are doing hostile deeds: he should withhold the gifts with the letter, but offer words of friendship in place of the gifts. For someone will say, and with reason, that the envoy ought rather to have given the gifts, smoothing over the wildness of the enemy; or to have kept back the more precious items and given the others, but not to have kept everything in his own control, so as ^C to neither leave the enemies wanting in wealth, nor to prune away much of the hostility of the enemies. A candidate for envoy is tested even before his mission, by having the main points set before him, and being questioned on how he would handle each of them—if in such a way or otherwise—as things might turn out for him.

^A For the Iberians never wished that the regions adjacent to Theodosiopolis should be devastated or plundered, such as the cities of Abnicum and Mantziciert, and their territories. The curopalates was also pressing hard regarding the region of Phasianes, demanding that entire region along with the city of Abnicum, and pretending that he possessed golden bulls from the blessed emperor, the lord Romanus, and from our Majesty; copies of which he also sent to us through Zurbanelen, his protospatharios and *azatus* ^B — upon considering which, we found that they were of no help to him. For the golden bull of my father-in-law contains this: it pledges to the curopalates, as he himself confirmed in writing under his own hand with an oath, that he would remain faithful to our empire, that he would hold the same people as friends and enemies, that he would make the Orient subject to us, that he would besiege cities, and that he would perform great deeds on our behalf. My father-in-law, for his part, replied that if he maintained his faith, and performed these services and duties, he and his descendants would hold this principality and authority forever, provided that he never transfers the boundaries of his dominion, but remains satisfied with the covenants of the former emperors, and does not transgress them, nor hinder the destruction of Theodosiopolis or other hostile cities, whether they be besieged by him alone or by our army. And this was the sum of what was contained in the golden bulls; which can be of no benefit to the curopalates. For what my father-in-law ordained is that we should not remove him from the ancient limits of his dominion; and that he should besiege and subjugate Theodosiopolis and the other hostile cities, either alone, if he be able, or with our soldiers, but he does not retain dominion ^C and ownership. Our own decree, however, is that as for any lands of the Agarenes, whatever he himself or his kinsman, the magister Adranase, could subject to themselves with their own forces, or had subjected up to this day, they should have both the dominion and ownership of them. And since he neither took Theodosiopolis with his own forces, nor Abnicum, nor Mastatum, he ought not to possess them, inasmuch as they are east of the river Erax, or Phasides; and furthermore, because Abnicum has remained under its own jurisdiction to this day, obeying its own lord and having its own ameran, while our troops were frequently plundering it. Moreover, the protospatharios Joannes, the praetor ^D Arrhabonites, and Theophilus the patricius, who was praetor of Theodosiopolis a little before, and the other praetors, brought back from there a great multitude of captives.

^A for the sake of the benefits of concord and to arrange the matters of war with us, and having been strengthened by our alliance, to have the upper hand over those who attack you. If you should decide to act in this way, it is just for us, as it was in the past, that whatever gold, unminted or minted, and silver used to come from you for the confirmation of friendship, should be provided by you. For if you refuse, we shall defend ourselves against the enemy ^B as best we can and wage war. » To these things, the Roman emperor spoke as follows: « If you had made your intention clear and transparent, explaining the things for which you have come as ambassadors, you would not have caused to us who have received your speech a difficult or awkward reply: but since the things which have been said are composed for decency’s sake, but in deed are contrary—for at one time you mention peace, but at another time you again threaten war, and you seem to confound and entwine each with the other—it becomes ambiguous and difficult for us to know to what we ought to reply first so as not to err. Something remains, however, from the present state of things to consider: for it is necessary to divide these twofold words and respond to both. For if you are sincerely announcing peace, what need is there to mention the request for money? ^C And yet, even in this, the choice for those who have conquered is not easily directed toward either denial or consent. But if you consider your own advantage and judge the covenant by the gains of war, and having been defeated, you come to demand from us as it were tributes, while believing that we pursue by all means the pleasure and ease which peace provides, you are holding to the same behavior as before; and you are so far from considering the cessation of war an act of grace, that you even demand a reward for peace, and you make this invitation to friendship ^D—which you now propose—venal and not voluntary. For you will not terrify us, who are not inexperienced in wars, by the multitude of a force which you have boasted so much about; nor will you return home safely laden with the spoils of Italian wealth; but both your infantry preparations are clear, and those of the cavalry are not unknown, against which we shall stand in such a way as is possible. For we dare to act with safety, and we withdraw with foresight, as we use reason as our guide in all things, by which power is most secure, and we possess an experience of military deeds that is superior. You, on the other hand, ^A advance with rashness, and missing the mark in your deeds because you have not observed beforehand where you ought to go, you realize your error through the experience of the harm caused by your recklessness. For those who are carried away by heat into actions must necessarily fail to achieve what is best. Your undertakings are indeed swift, but your regrets come quickly thereafter. And in sum, according to what is likely, it is devoid of wonder,

When their villages were destroyed by our empire, the Iberians entered and seized them, attempting from this position to hold the fortress. But the emir, having been warned many times by the patricius Theophilus the ^C praetor, and seeing that he had no hope of life, surrendered and consented to become a servant of our empire, giving his son as a hostage. As for Mastaton, it belonged to the people of Theodosiopolis; and when the magister Joannes besieged Theodosiopolis for seven months and could not capture it, he sent his men and took the said fortress of Mastaton, and he introduced into it the protospatharios Petronas Bolas, who was then the katepano of Nicopolis. The magister Pancratius, having traveled with the said magister to Theodosiopolis, when he was about to depart, asked that he be given this fortress, making a written oath to him that he would hold it, and never surrender it to the Saracens. And because he was both a Christian and a servant of our empire, placing faith in his oath, he ^D gave it to the aforementioned Pancratius; but he, in turn, gifted it to the people of Theodosiopolis. And when Theodosiopolis was taken, the Iberians entered and held it; for they have no authority to seek after such a fortress as Mastaton, nor Abnikum. But because the curopalates is a faithful and upright servant and friend of ours, through his request, that the river Erax, or Phasis, should become the boundary of Phasiane; and that the Iberians should hold the parts on the left toward Illyria, while those on the right, which are toward Theodosiopolis, whether they be fortresses or villages, should be under the imperial

^A by convention, but from the war itself, content that I have conquered; and he, indeed, shall lack no great bounty while he enjoys my company. But if you attempt to depart from the treaty, you shall suffer the loss of everything. I say this, not because I am cruel to the hostage whom I have with me—not as a pledge of peace, but as a proof of my virtue towards you. For it is impious and in no way pleasing to God to bite and tear at those who have done no wrong on account of those who have transgressed, even as wild beasts do to whatever they meet when they are chased by others. ^B But primarily because, if you are the first to begin unjust acts—a plague than which there is no greater mortal ruin, even if men seem for a brief time and for the present to attain their desires—and second, because your account will be with the Romans and with me, their emperor, whom you have never conquered, either while waging war or when suing for peace." All prostrated themselves at these words and acclaimed him, considering him some god in his speech. Having thus made a truce and requested only the mother of Nebisgast—they consenting and giving her at once—he set out on such deeds, for autumn was drawing to a close and winter was already setting in and turning cold.

2. That Badomarius ^C was a man who stood out among the Germans for his power and daring, and he was puffed up with such arrogance that, although he had given his own son as a hostage until he should restore the captives he had seized in his raids, he nevertheless demanded the return of his hostage while not returning the captives, threatening many evils if he did not receive him back. But Julian sent the man back to him, adding this: that it was not fitting for a single youth to be held as a hostage by him in place of many more noble ones; but that he must either return the captives, who were over three thousand in his power, to the ambassadors who would come to him immediately, or know that he would pay the penalty for his injustice. He wrote these things and sent an embassy. And he himself followed the embassy, departing from the Nemetes toward the Rhine. He was already near the Rauraci, ^D which is a Roman colony.

3. That after the proclamation of Julian’s empire, embassies came from every side, and many golden crowns were brought to him from the nations. There, those who inhabit Ionia also obtained whatever they asked for, both great and small. The Lydians, too, achieved even more than they had prayed for, as Eunapius the rhetorician was the ambassador on their behalf, and was so successful in his embassy that the emperor even ordered him to plead a certain highly intricate case. In this litigation he also emerged victorious, and a certain Piso of Clazomenae spoke with great praise.

VARIAE LECTIONES.

of our own, the river serving as a boundary for both, as even the blessed John Kourkouas, when questioned about this while he was alive, declared it to be advantageous for the river to be the boundary. For, in strict fairness, no authority is granted to the kouropalates to hold sway over that which lies on this side or that side of the river; for the armies of our empire took captive and burned all those places of the Theodosiopolitans, and the Iberians never marched out without our people and plundered Theodosiopolis, but rather always held them as friends and traded with them; and with their mouths they wished for Theodosiopolis to be sacked, but in their hearts they by no means wanted it to be taken. Nevertheless, our empire, as has been said, because of its affection for the kouropalates, wished the river Jerax, or Phasis, ^A to be the boundary for both, and they ought to be content with such a boundary and ask for nothing more.

Chapter XLVI. Concerning the genealogy of the Iberians, and of the fortress of Adranoutzion.

It must be known that Pancratios, and David, and Mampalis—which is translated as "most holy"—were sons of the great Symbatios the Iberian. And Adranoutzion fell as an inheritance to Pancratios, while another region fell to David. Now Pancratios begot three sons: Adranaser, Kourkenios, and the patrician Asotios, who is also called Kiskases; and he divided his land among them. And Adranoutzion fell to his son Kourkenios, and when he died without children, he left it to his brother Asotios, who is also called Kiskases. Now the patrician Asotios, who is also called Kiskases, took as a son-in-law to his daughter that Kourkenios the magistros, who, having gained power, took Adranoutzion away from his father-in-law Asotios by tyranny, ^B and gave him in compensation both Tyrokastron and the river-land of Atzara, which is the border of Romania at Kolorin. Now the patrician Asotios, who is also called Kiskases, had as his wife the sister of George, the magistros and the [exousiastes] of Abasgia. And when there was strife between the magistros Kourkenios and the magistros George, the [exousiastes] of Abasgia, because the [exousiastes] of Abasgia was supporting the party of the patrician Asotios, Kourkenios, being more powerful and superior in strength, took away also the compensation which he had given him for Adranoutzion, and drove him out, and he departed to Abasgia. But upon the death of the magistros Kourkenios, Adranoutzion was left to his wife, the daughter of the patrician Asotios, who is also called Kiskases, as her ancestral property. ^C But when Asotios the kouropalates, and the magistros George the [exousiastes] of Abasgia, and the magistros Pancratios, the brother of the aforementioned kouropalates, were dividing the land of the magistros Kourkenios by force of arms, they came to a settlement, and each took what was near to him. Now Adranoutzion was near to Symbatios, the son of the aforementioned David; then they all seized the wife of the magistros Kourkenios, that is to say, the daughter of the patrician Asotios, who is also called Kiskases, saying: "Since you are a woman, you cannot hold the fortress." Then Symbatios gave some villages to the woman in exchange for the fortress, and he took over the fortress of Adranoutzion. It must be known that the kinship ^D of these Iberians is as follows: The mother of David and the mother of Adranaser the kouropalates, the father of the former kouropalates Asotios, were sisters or nieces of the two brothers. Symbatios, the son of David, had as his wife the daughter of the magistros Pancratios, who was the father of the former magistros Adranaser; and after she died, he took the sister of Adranaser, the son of Symbatios, the son of David. Adranoutzion is very well fortified and has a great wall like a large city; and the affairs of Trapezous, Iberia, and Abasgia...

and they grew in an immense multitude, and the host of the enemy increased. Ancient fables tell that in Boeotia and Colchis, men sprang up at the same time as the seed from dragons' teeth. Our own age has declared this fable true in event and fact, having brought it before our eyes. For it fell out otherwise, and the children of the Scythian race, dispersed throughout the lands of the Roman dominion, just like teeth, and having grown beyond the wonted time, progressed ^B and filled everything with wrath, fury, and slaughter. Therefore, those Scythian expellers were not opposed by strength and nobility; rather, they turned against those who had expelled them, and they dared things far graver and more atrocious than they themselves had suffered. For all Thrace and the region of Thessaly is so great and so celebrated by many songs, that no speech could express their excellence. Yet, being so populated, blessed, and full of men, it was suddenly and unexpectedly laid waste and reduced by the unbelievable and irrational uprising of the Scythians—and broken down and worn away by misfortunes to such an extent that it was proven as smooth as the proverbial millstone. Disagreement seemed to have fallen upon them, for with no power present to offer defense, and the people being defenseless and weaponless, they were appeared to be most wretched, and they enriched every man with the most murderous grasp. Then, ^C indeed, the speech did not even grant the Scythians or the Romans the name of Scythians. For the cities were few in number and some were even saved, either by walls or by buildings; but the land was consumed by the majority, and it is uninhabitable and inaccessible because of the war. The Emperor, when he heard of these miserable evils, having concluded a necessary peace with the Persians, but having himself waged war against them, suffered remorse for his reception of them; and being bent against the war in his fury, he sent forth the Saracen cavalry to withstand the Barbarians. For they were already overrunning the city of Constantinople, and sitting around the walls, they did nothing at all in the way of a counter-battle against the enemy, and having been in their designs completely corrupted by insolence, ^D they were most unsuited to command at that time.

7. (A. D. 392, ind. 5, Theodos. imp. 14.) Under Theodosius, in the first years of his reign, the Scythian race, stirred from its own seats and expelled by the Huns, along with the leaders of their tribes and others, who by birth and family were eminent.

and of the whole land of Armenia and Syria, are transacted there; and it also receives immense customs 93 from such affairs. The land of the castle of Adranoutzion, that is to say, Arzen, is both vast and fertile, and it serves as a key to Iberia, Abasgia, and the Mischians 94.

^B The blessed emperor, the lord Romanos, sent the patrician Constans, then also drungarios of the fleet—at that time serving as protospatharios and manglabita—having also bestowed upon him the vestment of a magister, so that he might create Curcenius the Iberian a magister. But after Constans, the patrician and drungarios of the fleet, had proceeded as far as Nicomedia, the monk Agapios, son of Kymenas, who at that time had been in the Holy City for the sake of prayer, arrived; and as he was passing through Iberia, he reached the castle of Adranoutzion. The patrician Asotios, who was also called Ciscases, had a hatred toward his son-in-law Curcenius; and he spoke to the monk Agapios, saying: "I adjure you by God and by the power of the honorable and life-giving cross, that you go to the City and tell the emperor to send someone to me, and to receive this castle of mine, and hold it under his authority." The monk Agapios, having entered the City, told the emperor everything that the patrician Asotios, who was also Ciscases, had said to him.

^C Now, as the aforementioned patrician Constans and drungarios of the fleet was in Nicomedia on account of the aforementioned business concerning the promotion of Curcenius the Iberian to the rank of magister, he received by the order of the emperor a *pittakion* from the patrician Symeon, the *asecretis*, the essence of which was: "Our holy emperor commands you to lay aside all your duties, and to depart with haste to the patrician Asotios, called Ciscases, and to take over his castle, Adranoutzion, since through the monk Agapios he has signified to our holy emperor that he should send a faithful and trusted man to take over his castle, Adranoutzion; and as you proceed into Chaldia, take with you leaders..." ^D and after the death of their father, contentions arose between the sons of Adranaser Curopalates and their cousin; and because Curcenius had first sent a servant with a great gift to the emperor, seeking the honor of curopalates or magister, the four brothers, sons of Adranaser Curopalates, suspected that he [Constans] was coming there for that reason, to make Curcenius a Curopalates. But the patrician Constans excused himself, saying: Curcenius...

his embassy in mockery, saying that if each of the Romans chose to pay two obols a year to Decebalus, he would establish peace toward him; but if he did not choose this, he would wage war and inflict great evils upon them.

^A 4. That Decebalus sent to Trajan ^B ambassadors who wore caps; for these are held in greater honor among them. For previously he had sent "long-haired ones," who are considered of lesser value among them. Those, having come to Trajan, threw down their arms, and with their hands bound behind their backs, in the manner of prisoners, they begged Trajan to come to a parley with Decebalus.

5. That Decebalus again sent an embassy to Trajan, bringing a truce for those present. He promised both to surrender all his arms and machines to Trajan, and to give up the Roman machine-makers and deserters who were with him, and to raze all the fortifications that he had constructed, and to withdraw from the land which Trajan had conquered, and to consider his enemies to be the enemies of the Romans, and not to receive deserters, nor to have any Roman soldier near to himself. Trajan, therefore, accepted the embassy on these conditions. And Decebalus threw his arms down before him, and falling to the ground did obeisance, and sent ambassadors to Rome, and they similarly bound their hands in the manner of prisoners.

^C 6. That six thousand Longobardi and Obii having crossed the Ister, and the cavalry under Vindex having charged them, and the infantry with Candidus having fallen upon them, the Barbarians were turned to total flight. Upon these things being done, the Barbarians, having been struck with fear from the first attempt, sent ambassadors to Aelius Bassus, who was governing Pannonia, Ballomarius the king of the Marcomanni and ten others, having chosen one from each nation. And the ambassadors, having confirmed the peace with oaths, return home.

7. That the Quadi sent ambassadors to Marcus seeking peace, and obtained it. And they gave many horses, and many oxen, and subsequently they released thirteen thousand captives, and many others besides.

8. That the Astingi and the Lacringi also came to the aid of Marcus. ^D

9. That the nation of the Carpi, envying the [payment] given to the Goths each year, sent an embassy to Tullius Menophilus, demanding money with arrogance. This man was the dux of Moesia, and he was training the army every day; and having anticipated their arrogance, for many days he did not receive them, [instead] giving them permission to watch the soldiers training. And in order that he might break their spirit by the delay, having seated himself upon a high tribunal and having caused the

is coming to be made a magistros, and that is the reason why I come with so great a retinue. And having bidden him farewell, as he was going ^A to David the magistros—for the same patrician Constans also possessed an order from the emperor for David, and gifts—the aforementioned patrician Constans went off to the land of Curcenius and honored him with the rank of magistros. He then entered the castle of the patrician Asotius, also known as Ciscases, at Adranutzium, and gave him the instructions he had from the emperor, which contained nothing about the castle of Adranutzium, but concerned certain other matters. But the patrician Constans said to him: "Although this order contains nothing regarding the castle of Adranutzium, yet because the monk Agapius, upon meeting the emperor, reported what you had instructed him concerning the castle of Adranutzium, for this reason he sent me so that I might take over the castle and bring into it the troops I have brought with me." And since, as has been said before, the patrician Asotius (also known as Ciscases) had a feud with his son-in-law Curcenius, he was eager to give his castle to the emperor rather than to him. The patrician Constans had a flammula (banner) at hand, ^B and he gave it to the patrician Asotius, also known as Ciscases, who, upon receiving it, attached it to a lance and gave it back to the patrician Constans, saying that he should set it up on the wall so that all might know that from this day forward the castle belonged to the emperor. When the patrician Constans had done this, and had placed the flammula upon the wall, and had offered up the customary acclamations for the emperors of the Romans, it became known to all that the patrician Asotius, or Ciscases, had bestowed the castle of Adranutzium upon the emperor. The great David, however, would not grant his land to the emperor, even though it was adjacent to the region of Acampsis and Murgule. Accordingly, the patrician Constans sent two letters to the emperors reporting the outcome of his affairs: one was about Curcenius, whom he had created magistros, and how he had accepted this honor and had offered up ^C acclamations for the emperor; the other told of Adranutzium, and how he had received it from the patrician Asotius, or Ciscases; it also mentioned the great discord and immense hatred existing between the patrician Asotius and his son-in-law, the magistros Curcenius; it further requested that the emperor send auxiliary forces to serve as a garrison for the city, and that, if possible, the Domestic of the Schools should come with them. When the Iberians saw these things, the magistros Curcenius and the magistros David, brother of Asotius the Curopalates, wrote to the emperor in this manner: "If your Majesty allows this, and comes into our land, we shall abandon all our duties and join ourselves with the Saracens, since we are compelled to wage war with the Romans, and we are forced by violence to lead an army against Adranutzium, its territory, and ^D even against Romania itself." Upon learning these things, both through the letters of the aforesaid princes and through the men they had sent, the emperor, fearing that they might, by joining their forces with those of the Saracens, lead the Persian armies against Romania, [ordered] Constans the Protospatharios and Manclabites [to withdraw] from this city and its territory.

in fact, negotiating for peace to be resolved between each emperor, said that it was not fitting for him, who had brought back victory over his own fellow-citizens, to be angry with them. For whatever might be destroyed, this belonged to the victor to lose, and not to those who had been defeated; and that he who denied peace to one becomes the cause and author of many civil wars. But the emperor, showing the intensity of his anger by his countenance and the movement of his body, and only with difficulty uttering a word, said: “We have not lived up to this time in such a way, nor have we come this far, warring and winning from the Ocean, in order that we might be unwilling ^B to have our own son-in-law as a partner, due to his defilements, and to forbid the kinship, while admitting a worthless slave with him into the palace.” He ordered Mestrianus, therefore, to leave aside this part of the embassy and to speak if he wished to request anything else. And it seemed good to cast Valens out from the empire.

14. (A.D. 350, Const. 14.) Magnentius and Vetranio send ambassadors to Constantius. Rufinus and Marcellinus are sent, the one being the praetorian prefect, the other a commander of the army, and Nunechius, a senator and prefect, and Maximus along with them, to remind Constantius to abstain from arms and to hold the first rank of honor in the empire; and Magnentius promised ^C through them to give his own daughter as a wife to Constantius, with the condition that he himself also receive Constantia, the sister of Constantius. The emperor therefore received the ambassadors of Vetranio and Magnentius, among whom Nunechius immediately said in his opening that Magnentius sought peace, and he reminded Constantius many times of the current state of affairs, saying that it was not fitting for him, rashly and already exhausted by wars, to provoke two emperors against him, men experienced in military science and in harmony with each other and still fresh in strength; men who—if they should not agree regarding peace—whether as one alone, or both together, should one have to face them in civil war, he should not want to learn from any other source than from the accomplishments ^D they had already achieved, that triumphs were secured for him and for his race through their battle lines. Hearing this embassy, the emperor was in great anxiety and concern. And having turned to sleep, he saw a vision that his father, as if descending from on high, and holding in his hand Constans, whom Magnentius had killed, presented him to him, and seemed to speak these words to him: “Constantius, behold Constans, the descendant of many kings, my son and your brother, tyrannically destroyed. Do not, therefore, let the empire be fractured, nor the state overturned, nor

^A Having praised the emperors of the Romans as was customary, it became known to all that the patrician Ashot, also called Kiskases, had given the fortress of Adranoutzin to the emperor. Now, David the Great would not give his own territory to the emperor, even though he perhaps viewed the 99 *tourma* of Akampsis and Mourgouli with concern. Consequently, the patrician Constans sent two reports to the emperor: the first containing how he had honored the *magistros* Gourgen, how Gourgen had accepted the *magistrateia*, and how he had praised the emperor; the second concerning the fortress of Adranoutzin, how he had received it from the patrician Ashot, also called Kiskases, and that there was great disagreement and enmity between them, the patrician Ashot and his son-in-law the *magistros* Gourgen; and [requesting] that the emperor send aid to settle such a fortress, and [ suggesting] that if it were possible, the *domestikos* of the *scholai* should also come. Having seen this, the Iberians—the *magistros* Gourgen, the *magistros* David, and the brother of the *kouropalates* Ashot—wrote to the emperor: "If your majesty agrees to this, and if [a force] enters the midst of our country, we renounce servitude to your majesty and go over to the Saracens; since we have 1 battles and wars with the Romans, and being forced, we have to move an army against both the fortress of Adranoutzin and their country, and Romania itself."

Having learned this both from the letters of the aforesaid lords and having heard it from the men sent by them, and having become alarmed lest they join the Saracens and lead the Persian armies against Romania, he denied it, saying: "I did not write to the *protospatharios* Constans the Manclabites concerning such a fortress and its territory to take it; rather, he did this out of his own, so to speak, folly." And this the emperor said, wishing to appease them entirely. And the same *protospatharios* Constans the Manclabites received an order containing abuse and threats: "Who commanded you to do this? But rather, leave the fortress, and take with you Ashot, the son of the deceased *kouropalates* Adarnase, and bring him here, so that we may honor him with the rank of *kouropalates* of his father." Having received this, the patrician Constans left the patrician Ashot, also called Kiskases, in his own fortress of Adranoutzin, and he himself went out and traveled to David the Great, delivered to him the order he held for him, and turned back and entered Iberia. There he found gathered together the *magistros* Gourgen and the *magistros* David, the brother of the *kouropalates* Ashot; and they began to contend and reproach the patrician Constans, saying that "you are a secretive and wicked man, because you did not reveal to us concerning the fortress of Adranoutzin that you intended to take it, and that it is advantageous for it to be held by the emperor; for we too reported to the emperor concerning such a matter and received word that the emperor knew nothing about this affair, but that you did this out of affection for the patrician Ashot, also called Kiskases." The patrician Constans, having afterwards defended himself to them with reasonable arguments, took with him Ashot, the son of the *kouropalates* Adarnase, and brought him into the City, and he was honored by the emperor with the title of *kouropalates*.

ANSELMI BANDURII NOTES

(99) *Tourma* here [stands] for "province"; since provincial prefectures were distinguished into *tourmai*, into *banda*, [and] into *topoteresiai*. They are so called for this reason, because military *tourmai* of this kind were in garrisons in fixed regions of the provinces. And indeed this word occurs more than once in the same meaning in our writer.

(1) [Regarding the phrase "since we have battles"], we are forced to wage war. But Meursius interprets these things thus: "Seeing that we are equal to waging wars with the Romans."

^A having become further emboldened, dismissed the ambassadors without achieving anything and immediately followed them.

2. That Odenathus greatly cultivated and respected Sapores, as someone who had far surpassed the Romans. Wishing to win him over, he sent magnificent gifts and other merchandise, of which Persia was not productive, loading them onto camels. He also sent letters having the force of a plea, and stating that he personally had done nothing contrary to the interests of the Persians. But he commanded his servants, after they had received the gifts, to throw them into the river flowing nearby, and to tear up and crush his letters, and he declared: "Who is this person, and from where is he, who has dared to write to his own master? And now, if he wishes to receive a lighter punishment, let him come and fall down before me with his hands bound behind his back. If he does not do this, let him know that I shall destroy ^B and extinguish both him and his entire race."

3. That Galerius and Diocletian met at Nisibis. Having there consulted together, they sent as ambassador to Persia Sicorius Probus, master of the memory. Narsaeus received him kindly and affably, in the hope of obtaining the things that had been promised. But Narsaeus also employed a certain delay. For, wishing to feign that he was refreshing the ambassadors around Sicorius, as if they were exhausted, he drew Sicorius—who was not, however, ignorant of what was happening—as far as the river Asprudus in Media, until the soldiers who had been scattered here and there on account of the war had gathered. And then, having been admitted into the inner chamber of the palace ^C and having dismissed all others, and being content with the presence of Appharbas, Archapetus, and Barsaborsus—of whom the one was prefect of the praetorium, and the other held the dignity of Sumius—he permitted Probus to set forth his embassy. The heads of the embassy were these: that the Romans should have in the East Intilene with Sophene, Arzanene with the Cardueni and Zabdicene, and that the Tigris river should be the boundary of both empires; that the fortress of Zintha, situated in the borders of Media, should define Armenia; that the king of Iberia should receive the insignia of his kingdom from the Romans; and that the place for trade should be Nisibis, situated at the Tigris river. When Narsaeus heard these things, since his current fortune ^D did not permit him to refuse anything of these, he consented and approved, except that, lest he seem to do everything compelled by necessity, he alone refused the place of trade to be Nisibis. But Sicorius said that this too must be conceded by him; for neither were the ambassadors equipped with free authority, nor had the emperors commanded anything concerning this matter. These conditions therefore being accepted, his wives and children were restored to Narsaeus, with the due restraint observed toward them with the utmost fidelity of the emperors.

Know also regarding the events that have occurred at various times between the Romans and diverse nations: it is worthy, my dearest son, that the memory of these things not escape you, so that in similar times, should the same things happen, the correction might be easy for you through foresight. ^A

CAPUT XLVII. Regarding the migration of the Cypriots, the History is as follows:

After the island was captured by the Saracens and remained for seven years without inhabitants, and Archbishop John with his people retired to the imperial city, a dispensation was made by the Emperor Justinian [(2)] at the holy Sixth Synod, that he should take up [residence] in Cyzicus with his bishops and with the people of the island, and should hold ordinations whenever an office of a bishop should become vacant, so that the authority and rights of Cyprus might not fall away—for the Emperor Justinian himself was a Cypriot [(3)], as the tradition has prevailed among the ancient Cypriots to this day—so that it was decreed at the holy Sixth Synod that the Archbishop of Cyprus should be ordained by the prelate of Cyzicus, as it is written in the 39th canon of the same holy Sixth Synod [(4)]. Seven years later, by the will of God, the emperor was moved to have Cyprus inhabited again, and he sent to the Amermumnes of Baghdad three of the notable Cypriots, who were natives of that same island, the ones called Phagoumis, along with a certain prudent and noble man of the palace, writing to the Amermumnes that he should dismiss the people of the island of Cyprus who were in Syria back to their own place. And the Amermumnes, obeying the emperor’s letter, sent notable Saracens across all of Syria and gathered together all the Cypriots and had them transported to their own place. The emperor also sent a royal official, and had those who had taken up residence in Romania transported back, namely those in Cyzicus, those in the Cibyrrhaeote [theme], and those in the Thracesian [theme], and the island was inhabited. ^B

CAPUT XLVIII. The 39th canon of the holy Sixth Synod, which was held in the Trullus of the great palace.

Since our brother and fellow-minister, John, the prelate of the island of Cyprus, together with his own people, has migrated from the aforementioned island to the province of the Hellespont [(5)], both on account of the barbarian incursions [(6)], and in order that they might be liberated from the servitude of the Gentiles and be brought to be subject purely to the sceptre of the most Christian empire, by the providence of the most philanthropic God and through the labor of our Christ-loving and pious emperor; we decree that the privileges [(7)] which were formerly bestowed upon the throne by the God-bearing Fathers who were gathered at Ephesus should be preserved without innovation: and that the new Justinia... ^C

^A Indeed, those who were entered in the roll of the Senate also contributed the prescribed gold 48 beyond what their means could sustain, and for many, this brought a change from a splendid and illustrious life to poverty. For the money that was demanded from each person was collected with bitterness and insults by those to whom this task had been delegated by the emperor. Consequently, those who possessed wealth inherited from their ancestors were putting up the ornaments of their wives and their precious furniture for sale in the marketplace. From this state of affairs, so cruel and harsh a calamity befell the Romans that many ended their lives either by starvation ^B or by fitting a noose around their necks.

Then, therefore, with the treasuries exhausted in a short moment of time, the gold and the exiles—for Scotta had arrived to receive them—were sent to the Scythians. The Romans, however, slaughtered many of those fugitives who resisted being handed over, among whom were some of the royal Scythians who had refused to serve under Attila and had joined themselves to the Romans.

To these demands, Attila added a command that the Asimuntii should also hand over such captives as they had in their possession, whether Romans or barbarians. Asimus is a strong fortress, not far distant from Illyricum, but adjoining the part of Thrace; those who dwelt there had inflicted many terrible things upon the enemies, not by defending themselves from the walls, but ^C by sustaining battles outside the trenches against an infinite multitude 49 and against leaders of the greatest fame and reputation among the Scythians. So much so that the Huns, being at a loss, retreated from the siege of the fortress, while those inhabitants, when scouts reported to them that the enemy was off raiding and driving away Roman booty, would sally out and fall upon them unexpectedly, making the spoils of those others their own booty, being inferior in number to their adversaries but superior in strength and valor.

Very many Scythians, therefore, did the Asimuntii kill in this war, and they liberated many Romans, and also received those from among the enemy who had fled to them. ^D Attila, therefore, declared that he would not move his army, nor would he consider the conditions of the peace treaty to be ratified, unless the Romans who had fled to the Asimuntii were surrendered, or the assessed price was paid for them, and the barbarian captives taken by the Asimuntii were released. Since Anatolius, the ambassador, and Theodulus, the commander 50 of the Thracian military units, had nothing to say in opposition to him—for the barbarian was not moved by their arguments, being elated by his recent victory and ready to resort to arms, while they themselves were disheartened by their recently accepted defeat—they sent letters to the Asimuntii, either to hand over the Roman captives who had fled to them, or to pay twelve gold coins 51 for each of them, and for the captive Huns to be released. And they, having read what had been sent to them, said that those...

Justinianopolis ^A should have the right of the City of the Constantinopolitans, and that the most God-beloved bishop who is established over it should preside over all the bishops of the Hellespontine province, and be ordained by his own bishops, according to the ancient custom. For the Fathers who were God-bearers have determined that the customs existing in each Church should also be preserved, with the bishop of the city of the Cyzicenians being subject to the prelate of the aforementioned Justinianopolis, in imitation of all the other ^B bishops who are subject to the aforementioned most God-beloved prelate John, by whom, when need shall call, even the bishop of the city of the Cyzicenians himself shall be ordained. And since we have thus accurately set in order for you those things which pertain to the nations, and have previously set them forth, it is just that you should have definite knowledge not only of those things which have been changed at various times in our own commonwealth, but also in the entire Roman empire: so that, having a clearer understanding of affairs that are closer and more domestic to you, you might show yourself more ^C amiable to your subjects.

ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES

(8) Cyprus, the new Justinianopolis, was called the second Justinianopolis. There were, however, three Justinianopolises or Justinianas. The first is Achris, the second is Cyprus, the third is Chalcedon. Codinus: "But surely also the archbishop of the first Justiniana, of Achris, and of all Bulgaria; since the second Justiniana is Cyprus, and the third is Carthage."

(9) *Nimium, utque nova Justinianopolis jus habeat Constantiensium civitatis sive Constantiæ*. It is so in the ms. Codex; but it is wrong in the editions, *τὸ δίκαιον ἔχειν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως*. It is read so also in the same canon. But Beveridge also found it written in the Amerbachian codex, *τὸ δίκαιον ἔχειν τῆς τῶν Κωνσταντινέων πόλεως*; and he demonstrates by these words that this is the true and genuine reading: "Indeed," says Beveridge, "(the right of having that of the City of the Constantinopolitans) is read not only in our Bodleian ms., but also in most other codices, both manuscript and printed." It is also evident that Zonaras read it thus from the interpretation of these words themselves. But the Amerbachian codex reads, *τὸ δίκαιον ἔχειν τῆς τῶν Κωνσταντινέων πόλεως*. Moreover, Constantinople is called the city of Constantine (*τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου*), but it is never, in my opinion, called "the city of the Constantinopolitans" (*τῶν Κωνσταντινέων πόλις*). And it would not seem likely to any sensible person that the privileges of Constantinople itself would be granted to the new Justinianopolis. For even if, by the prescription of this canon, the bishop of the new Justinianopolis is asserted to be *autokephalos* (autocephalous), he is not a patriarch, nor does he therefore enjoy the same privileges as the Constantinopolitan. From the other reading, however, a clearer sense may easily be elicited. Indeed, the Ephesine synod had previously decreed that neither the Antiochene, nor any other bishop, should exercise any episcopal or metropolitan power on the island of Cyprus: but that all ecclesiastical business arising there should be defined by the Metropolitan of Constantia and the synod of the province. That metropolis of Cyprus, which was formerly called Constantia, was named Justinianopolis by the Emperor Justinian after his own name. Therefore, from the Amerbachian reading of this passage, the Fathers in this canon have ordained that the prelate of this new Justinianopolis should enjoy the same privileges which had been confirmed to it by the Ephesine synod, when it was called *τῶν Κωνσταντινέων πόλις*, the city of the Constantians, or Constantia. Or, if the other reading pleases anyone more, the words should be explained in this way. When the Saracens invaded the island of Cyprus, ^D John, the prelate of the metropolitan city of the new Justinianopolis, or Constantia, was forced to migrate with the majority of the inhabitants of that island into the Hellespontine province. Since, therefore, John had his bishops and sacerdotes, as well as the laity, with him there at the time when this synod was held, the Fathers, for his sake, with the consent of the emperor, decree that he should retain the privileges anciently granted to his throne even in the province of the Hellespontians, so that no one besides himself should have authority over his bishops and peoples: and moreover, that the very province of the Hellespontians itself, and the Cyzicenian bishop also, the metropolitan of that province, should be subjected to the said John. Now the Hellespontine province was at that time subject to the Constantinopolitan throne. The Fathers therefore decide in this place that John, the prelate of the new Justinianopolis, should have that Hellespontine province so subjected to him in the future, that *τὸ δίκαιον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως* (the right of Constantinople) should be transferred entirely into it; so that whatever privilege the bishop of Constantinople had previously claimed there, the Constantian or Justinianopolitan prelate might afterwards exercise. And the Fathers seem to have granted this to the said John for this reason, because he had already lost his own province, as it had been occupied by the Saracens or Barbarians. Nor did it seem reasonable that one who had been a metropolitan, and an *autokephalos* at that, should afterwards be subject to another metropolitan, and be deprived of all ecclesiastical power on account of the incursions of the Barbarians. It was therefore provided by this canon that John should retain in the Hellespont the same rights which he had previously had in Cyprus. And one might suspect that this is truly a more accurate exposition of this canon, because this extraordinary privilege granted to John of Constantia was extinguished with his own person, or at least with his restoration to the Cyprian province, as it is manifest that it was granted in his favor alone. Furthermore, this sense clearly fits both readings. For John, residing in the Hellespont, could have *τὸ δίκαιον τῆς τῶν Κωνσταντινέων πόλεως* in relation to the Cypriot bishops, and *τὸ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως δίκαιον* in relation to the Hellespontians. Thus Beveridge, but the reading of the ms. codex pleases us more. See Zonaras and Balsamon, etc., and what the oft-cited Beveridge notes there on page 154. In the editions and in the mss. it is read, *ἔθνη* instead of *ἔθη*.

^A For he said that Attila, just like the others, would be inquisitive about what gifts and how much money had been given by the Romans; and it would not be possible to conceal these things because of his companions. The eunuch thought the Barbarian spoke well, and accepting the opinion of the Barbarian, he dismissed him after the dinner and carried the counsel to the emperor. He summoned Martialius, who was performing the office of master of the offices, and explained the agreements made with the Barbarian. He felt confident in his office of necessity, for the master of the offices is privy to all the emperor’s counsels, as those who are under his charge include the couriers, interpreters, and the soldiers who are assigned to the guard of the palace. When the emperor and Martialius had consulted about the whole matter, they decided to send not only Bigilas, but also Maximinus as an envoy to Attila.

^B 6. (A.D. 449, Ind. 2, Theod. v. 42.) Attila, having found Bigilas clearly conspiring against him, took from him the one hundred pounds of gold which he had received from the eunuch Chrysaphius, and sent Orestes and Eslam to Constantinople. He ordered Orestes to put the purse, in which Bigilas had placed the gold meant to be given to Edeco, upon his neck, to come into the sight of the emperor, and to ask the eunuch if he recognized this purse. He ordered Eslam to say by word of mouth that, while Theodosius was the son of a noble father, Attila was also the scion of a noble parent, and that his father Mundiuch had preserved the nobility received from his father intact, but that Theodosius had fallen away from the nobility handed down by his father, by becoming his servant upon paying him tribute. Therefore, he was not acting justly as a servant who, like a wicked slave, prepared clandestine intrigues against one who was superior and whom fortune had set as his master. He was not to be appeased on this charge until the eunuch was delivered up for punishment. And these men arrived in Constantinople with these instructions. At the same time, it also happened that Chrysaphius was being demanded for punishment by Zeno. For Maximinus had reported that Attila said the emperor ought to stand by his promises and give to Constantius the woman whom he had promised, for it was not possible for her to be pledged to another against his will. ^C Either he who had dared to give her away should pay the penalty, or the affairs of the emperor were such that he could not even control his own servants, against whom he, if he so wished, was ready to provide assistance. Theodosius was stung by his anger, and he made the property of the maiden public.

7. (A.D. 450, Ind. 3, Marcian 1.) When it was announced to Attila that Marcian had come to the empire in the East after the death of Theodosius, and when word was also brought to him concerning what had happened with Honoria, he sent to the ruler of the Western Romans, who argued that Honoria…

knowledge remaining in you more than in others, will make you more desired by your subjects. Know that under Constantine, the son of Constantine, also called Pogonatus, a certain Callinicus, a refugee from the city of Heliopolis to the Romans, prepared the liquid fire discharged through siphons, by which the Romans burned the fleet of the Saracens at Cyzicus, and obtained the victory.

CHAPTER XLIX

Nicephorus held the scepters of the Romans, and these people, being in the theme of the Peloponnese, considering a revolt, first began to plunder the dwellings of the neighboring Greeks, and exposed them to robbery and destruction; then, rushing against the inhabitants of the city of Patras, they destroyed the fields before the wall, and besieged it, having with them also Africans and Saracens. When a considerable time had passed, and a shortage of necessities began to be felt by those within the walls, namely of water and food, they held a council to come to terms, and to receive assurances of safety, and at that point to submit the city to them. Since, therefore, the *strategos* of the time was at the extremity of the theme, in the fortress of Corinth, and there was an expectation of his arriving and fighting against the nation of the Sclavinians, as he had been previously informed of their incursion by the archons, the inhabitants of the fortress decided first to send a scout to the more eastern parts of the mountains to reconnoiter and learn whether the *strategos* was coming, having commanded him and given a sign to the one sent: that if he should see the *strategos* coming, upon his return he should lower the *flammulum* [flag], so that they might know of the arrival of the *strategos*; but if not, he should keep the *flammulum* upright, so that they might have no expectation of the *strategos* arriving thereafter. ^C When the scout had gone, and learned that the *strategos* was not coming, he returned holding the *flammulum* upright. And indeed, God willing, through the intercession of the holy Apostle Andrew, the horse stumbled, and the rider having been thrown, he lowered the *flammulum*. The inhabitants of the fortress, seeing the event as a sign, and thinking that the *strategos* was absolutely arriving, opened the gates of the fortress and went out boldly against the Sclavinians; and they saw the first-called apostle clearly sitting on a horse, and moving at a run against the Barbarians. And having put them to flight with great force, and scattered them, he drove them away far from the fortress. The barbarians, seeing this and struck with terror, and having become astonished at ^D the sight of the invincible warrior rushing against them, the barbarians were struck by such a violent onslaught of the insuperable leader and victor, the first-called Apostle Andrew, and, being terrified beyond measure by him, they fled trembling to his venerable temple. When the *strategos* arrived three days later and learned of the victory of the apostle, he signified to the Emperor Nicephorus the incursion of the Sclavinians, likewise the plundering, the number of captives, the devastation, the spoil, and whatever other evils they had brought upon the parts of Achaia; also the long

^A He did not deny his arrival, but requested that Dionysius, who had long ago been sent to Colchis on account of the dispute with Gobazes himself, should come to him to provide a guarantee, so that he would suffer nothing harmful. Therefore, Dionysius was sent to Colchis, and they came to an agreement concerning the matters in dispute.

13. ^B That Majorian, the Emperor of the Western Romans, when the Goths in Gaul had become his allies, subdued the tribes dwelling around his own empire partly by weapons and partly by words, and attempted to cross into Libya with a great force, about three hundred ships having been collected for him; the leader of the Vandals sent envoys before him, wishing to resolve the disputes through words. But as he could not be persuaded, he ravaged the entire land of the Maurusians, where the forces of Majorian were required to disembark from Iberia, ^C and he defiled even the waters.

14. That the Western Romans, having come into fear concerning Marcellinus, lest his power should grow and he lead a war against them, as their affairs were being troubled in various ways, on the one hand by the Vandals, and on the other by Aegidius, a man originating from the Gauls toward the west, but who had campaigned with Majorian and possessed a very great force around him, and who was enraged because of the murder of the Emperor; whom the dispute with the Goths in Gaul had hitherto diverted from war against the Italians. ^D For, contending for the bordering land against them, he fought stoutly, and displayed the deeds of a very great and magnanimous man in that war. For these reasons the Western Romans sent envoys to the Easterners, so that they might reconcile Marcellinus and the Vandals with them. A Phylarch sent to Marcellinus persuaded him not to take up arms against the Romans. But he who crossed over to the Vandals returned unsuccessful, Gaiseric threatening that he would not otherwise lay down the war, unless the property of Valentinian and Aetius were surrendered to him. For he had also obtained from the Eastern Romans a portion of the property of Valentinian in the name of Eudocia, who had been married to Honorichus, his son. And he used this as a pretext for renewing the war every year: therefore, immediately at the beginning of spring, he would make an expedition with a fleet against Sicily and the Italies. And as for the cities, in which it happened that there was a combatant force of the Italians, he did not treat them easily; but capturing the places in which there happened to be no opposing force, he plundered and enslaved them. For the Italians were not able to guard all the places accessible to the Vandals, being oppressed by the multitude of the enemy and by the fact that no naval force was present for them—which, when they asked for it from the Easterners, they did not obtain, because they had made a treaty with Gaiseric. This matter divided [index: entries preserved]

...siege, and the continuous oppression of the townspeople, then the Apostle’s visitation, aid, trophy, and total victory, and how it was visible under the eyes of men that he was attacking the enemies, pursuing them, and putting them to flight, so much so that even the barbarians themselves perceived his forces and the succor provided to us, and therefore fled to his holy temple. ^A Having learned these things, the Emperor commanded, after the victory had been wrought by the Apostle and the expedition against the enemies should be credited to him, that all the spoils be given to him: and he ordained that the enemies themselves, together with all their family and kin, and all their relatives and possessions, should be assigned to the temple of the Apostle which is in the metropolis of Patras, where the first-called disciple of Christ had fought this battle; and he issued a sigillion regarding this matter in that metropolis. And these things indeed the ancients handed down to their posterity without writing, so that, according to the prophet, the generation to come might know the miracle wrought through the intercession of the Apostle, and might tell it to their children, so that they might not forget the benefits which God had brought about through his intercession. From that time forth, however, the Sclavinians, who were assigned to the metropolis—the praetors, the Caesarians, and whatever envoys from the nations were maintained as hostages—having their own stewards, cooks, and whoever prepares food, the metropolis innovating nothing in this, but the Sclavinians themselves, from the distribution and contribution of their own group, collecting such necessary items. And the emperor Leo, ever-memorable ^C and illustrious, also gave a sigillion, detailing what these adscriptitii must provide to the Metropolitan; which, indeed, neither he himself may overvalue, nor by any other unjust pretext may cause them damage.

CHAPTER L

Concerning the Sclaves of the Peloponnese theme, the Milengi, and the Ezeritae, and the tributes paid by them. Likewise concerning the inhabitants of the castle of Maina, and the tributes paid by them.

It should be known that the Sclaves of the Peloponnese theme ^D

^A 20. When Dengisich brought war upon the Romans and was pressing upon the Ister, the son of Ornigesclus (for he himself held the watch on the Thracian side of the river), having learned of this, sent out from those around him and inquired what their intentions were as they prepared for battle. Dengisich, however, holding Anagastus in contempt, dismissed those sent by him without result, and through ambassadors announced to the Emperor that he would declare war unless he provided him and the army following him with land and money. When the ambassadors had been introduced into the palace and explained their instructions, the Emperor replied that he was ready to do everything provided they would obey his authority; for it was very pleasing and agreeable to him if at any time enemies crossed over into an alliance and pact.

^B 21. When Anagastus, Basiliscus, Ostrys, and certain other Roman commanders shut the Goths into a precipitous and hollow place and besieged them, the Scythians, laboring under a lack of provisions, sent ambassadors to inform the Romans that they would submit to terms and obey whatever the Romans decided, provided they were granted land to inhabit. When those who had brought their embassy to the Emperor replied, and the Barbarians said that they wished to make terms because of the famine and were unable to endure longer delays, the commanders of the Roman ranks, having held a council, promised to provide them with food until the Emperor could decide otherwise, if only the Scythians would divide themselves into separate units just as the Roman throng was divided. For in this way they would more easily be cared for by the commanders, as the individual units would not all need to be watched at once, and the commanders, looking to their own reputation, would vie with one another in providing for them properly. When the Scythians accepted the terms brought back by the ambassadors and arrayed themselves into as many units as the Romans were divided into, Chelchal, a man of the Hunnic race and a sub-commander of those leading the cohorts under Aspar, came to the barbarian division that had fallen to them—and among whom the Goths were more numerous than the others—and having summoned their leaders, he began his speech: He said that the Emperor would provide land for them to inhabit, not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of the Huns among them. For these Huns, ^C neglecting the cultivation of the land, would like wolves attack and plunder the property of the Goths, who would be forced to work like slaves to provide food for them; even though no treaty had ever been ratified between either nation, and their ancestors had bound them by oath to flee the society of the Huns. Therefore, not only would they be deprived of their own, but they would even be violating their ancestral oaths. He himself said that, although he boasted of the Hunnic race, he was moved by a desire for justice to say these things to them, so that they might see what must be done. The Goths were disturbed by these words, and, with goodwill toward them, Chelchal...

^A from the days of the Emperor Theophilus and his son Michael, apostatized and lived as they pleased, committing plunder, enslavements, raids, burnings, and thefts. But in the reign of Michael, the son of Theophilus, the Protospatharios Theoctistus, surnamed Bryennios, was sent as Strategos into the theme of the Peloponnese with a great force and power, namely of Thracians, Macedonians, and the rest of the Western themes, to war against them and to subjugate them. And he conquered and subjugated all the Sclaves and the other unruly elements of the Peloponnese theme; only the Ezeritai and the Milengi were left under Lacedaemonia and Helos. And since there is a great and very high mountain there, called Pentadactylos, and it enters like a neck into the sea for a great distance, and because the place is difficult, they settled on the sides of this same mountain—on one part the Milengi, and on the other the Ezeritai. And the aforementioned Protospatharios Theoctistus, having been able as Strategos of the Peloponnese to subjugate them as well, imposed upon the Milengi 60 nomismata, and upon the Ezeritai 300, which they also paid while he was Strategos, just as ^B this reputation is preserved by the locals until this day. But in the reign of the Lord Romanos, the Emperor, John, who was the leading man holding the office of Strategos in that same theme, reported to the same Lord Romanos concerning the Milengi and the Ezeritai, that having apostatized, they do not obey the Strategos, nor do they submit to imperial command, but are as if autonomous and self-governing; and they neither accept a magistrate from the Strategos, nor do they consent to travel with him, nor do they agree to perform any other public service. And before his report arrived, it happened that the Protospatharios Crinites, nicknamed Arotras, was appointed Strategos in the Peloponnese. And when the report of the Protospatharios John, the leading man and Strategos of the Peloponnese, arrived and was read before the Emperor, the Lord Romanos, and contained the apostasy of the aforementioned Sclaves and their disobedience, or ^C rather their defiance toward imperial commands, the same Protospatharios Crinites received the order that, since they were driven to such apostasy and defiance, he should take up arms against them, fight, subjugate, and eradicate them. Having therefore begun the war in the month of March, and having burned their crops and laid waste to all their fields, he held them in check until the month of November; but seeing their own destruction in this, they wished to come to terms, and asked for forgiveness for their past transgressions. And so, the aforementioned Protospatharios ^D and Strategos Crinites, since they had been driven to such apostasy and defiance...

^A sickness. Proceeding a little further from the river, we turned aside into empty spaces (for all the land around the bank was full of the bones of those who had fallen in battle), and the next day we arrived at Agintheus, the commander of the forces in Illyricum, who lived not far from Naissus, in order to hand over the emperor’s mandates and receive from him five of the fugitives, so that they might complete the number of seventeen about whom he had written to Attila. We met with the man therefore, and gave orders to hand over the five Hunnish fugitives; having consoled them with words, he sent them away with us. After spending the night, and setting out from the borders of Naissus toward the Ister river, we entered a certain place overgrown with trees, and having many bends and windings and deviations. At this place, as it was becoming day, the sun, which we supposed was setting, appeared to us rising directly in front, so that those who were ignorant of the lie of the land exclaimed that the sun was moving contrary to its accustomed course and signaling things contrary to the established order of nature; but because of the unevenness of the terrain, the road in that part faced the East. After this difficult and arduous place, we arrived at a level and marshy area. From there, barbarian ferrymen in boats made of single logs—which they fashion by cutting and hollowing out trees—received us and ferried us across the river, not having prepared for us, but because they had ferried over a multitude of barbarians who had encountered us on the road, as if Attila, desiring ^B as if for a hunt, were wishing to cross into the Roman territories. This, however, was the royal Scythian making preparations for war, taking as a pretext the fact that not all the fugitives had been returned to him. Having crossed the Ister and traveled about seventy stades with the barbarians, we were forced to remain in a certain field until Edecon and his party could inform Attila of our arrival. While those who had guided us also remained with us, about late evening, as we were taking our supper, the sound of horses coming toward us was heard. And indeed two Scythians arrived, ordered us to come to Attila. But when we asked them to come to supper first, they dismounted from their horses and joined us in the feast, and the next day they guided us on the road. When we arrived at the tents of ^{D C} Attila about the ninth hour of the day (and he happened to have many), and we wanted to pitch our own tents on a certain hill, the barbarians who met us forbade it, because Attila’s tent was situated on the plain. Wherefore we took the place for pitching our tent according to the barbarians’ discretion. Edecon, Orestes, Scotta, and others of the leading men among them soon arrived and asked us for the sake of what business we had undertaken this embassy. We, in turn

by the governor, imposed upon them heavier tributes: upon the Milengi, in addition to the sixty nomismata which they previously paid, another five hundred and forty, so that their total tribute amounted to six hundred nomismata; and upon the Ezeritae, in addition to the three hundred nomismata they previously paid, another three hundred, so that their total tribute amounted to six hundred nomismata. These the same Protospatharios Crinites exacted and deposited in the sacred treasury. ^B However, when Protospatharios Crinites was transferred to the Theme of Greece, and Protospatharios Bardas Platypus had been appointed Strategos in the Peloponnese, and a rebellion and factional strife arose between the Protospatharios Bardas Platypus himself and the other protospatharioi and nobles of his party, who had driven the Protospatharios Leo Agelastos out of the theme, and immediately thereafter the Sclabesianoi invaded the same theme, those very Sclavi—both the Milengi and the Ezeritae—sent envoys to the Lord Emperor Romanos, begging and pleading that the additional tributes be remitted, and that they be allowed to pay what they had paid in the past. The Emperor, fearing on account of the arrival of the Sclabesianoi that, if they joined forces with the Sclavi, they might strip him completely of the Theme of the Peloponnese, granted them a golden bull that they should pay only such tributes as they were accustomed to pay at the beginning—namely, sixty nomismata from the Milengi and three hundred from the Ezeritae. And this was the cause of the increase, and subsequent reduction, of the tribute of the Milengi and the Ezeritae.

It should be known that the inhabitants of the fortified town of Maines do not trace their origin from the aforementioned Sclavi, but from the more ancient Romans; and even to this day they are called Hellenes by the local inhabitants, because in ancient times they were idolaters and worshippers of idols, according to the rites of the ancient Hellenes. They embraced the Christian faith through baptism during the reign of THE illustrious Emperor Basil. ^C The place in which they live is arid and inaccessible, but it is olive-bearing, which is their consolation. Now this place lies upon the promontory of Malea, beyond Ezeros, towards the seacoast. And since they are completely subject [to the Empire], and receive a governor from the Strategos, and obey and submit to the orders of the Strategos, they have paid a tribute of four hundred nomismata since the most ancient time.

The Praetura of Cappadocia was formerly a turma of the Praetura of the Anatolikoi; the Praetura of Cephalonia, or the island, was formerly a turma of the Praetura of Longobardia, but it was raised to a praetura under Christ-loving Emperor Leo. The Praetura of Calabria was formerly a duchy of the Praetura of Sicily. The Praetura of Charsianon was anciently a turma of the Praetura of the Armeniakoi. However, under the Christ-loving Emperor Leo, these bandai were transferred from the Theme of the Buccellarioi to the Theme of Cappadocia: the vicariatus of Barelas, Bulbadonos, Asponas, and Acarcus; and from the Theme of the Anatolikoi to the Theme of Cappadocia, these bandai were transferred: namely, the vicariatus of the Eudocias, of Saint Agapetus, and of Aphrazia. These seven bandai—namely, four of the Buccellarioi and three of the Anatolikoi—were made into one turma, which is now called Commata.

^A Then, turning his discourse ^B immediately to Vigilas, calling him a shameless beast, he asked why he had come to him, knowing well what had been decided between himself and Anatolius regarding the peace, which was that no envoys should come to him before all the fugitives had been handed over to the Barbarians. When he claimed that there was no fugitive of Scythian origin among the Romans (for those who had been there had already been given up), Attila grew still more angry, and after heaping many insults upon him, he declared with a shout that he would have impaled him and given him to the birds to devour had he not feared that he would thereby violate the law of embassies and bring punishment upon himself for such shamelessness and forwardness of speech; for there were many fugitives of his own nation among the Romans, and he ordered his scribes to read out their names, as they were written on a scroll. When they had finished reading them all, he commanded him to depart without any delay, and told him that he would send Esla with him to the Romans to claim all the Barbarians who had sought refuge with them since the time of Carpillio, the son of Aetius, the general of the Western Romans, who had been a hostage with him when he was a boy. For he said he would not allow his own servants to take up arms against him, even though they were unable to assist those who had entrusted the protection of their own land to them. For what city, he asked, or what fortress, had they ever saved—the very things he himself had set out to ruin? After they had reported to him what had been decreed concerning the fugitives, they were to return and announce whether they wished to hand over the fugitives or accept war on their behalf. Having instructed Maximinus to wait a little while, he demanded the gifts that he had asked for, in order to give a reply himself to what the Emperor had written. Once we had given them, we withdrew to our tent and discussed among ourselves each of the things that had been said. When Vigilas wondered how it happened that Attila, who had seemed gentle and very kind to him when he had come as an envoy in the past, had now treated him with such harsh insults, I said that I feared that some of the Barbarians who had feasted with us in Serdica had made Attila hostile toward us and had reported that he called the Roman Emperor a god and Attila a man. Maximinus embraced this statement as plausible, as he was not a party to the conspiracy the eunuch had initiated against the Barbarian. But Vigilas was of uncertain mind and did not seem able to suspect the reason why Attila had assailed him with such harsh insults; for he could not persuade his own mind ^D of the truth of the matter, nor did he think, as he related to us later, that those things said in Serdica, or the matters of the plot, had been told to Attila, since no one else from the multitude dared to speak to him because of the fear that reigned over all, except Edeco, who would certainly be silent because of both his oaths and the uncertainty of the situation, lest he himself, as one of those...

^A Be it known that the command of Cephalonia, that is to say the islands, was in the old days a turma of the command of Longobardia; but under Leo, the Christ-loving emperor, it became a command. Be it known that the command of Calabria was in the old days a duchy of the command of Sicily. Be it known that the command of Charsianon was in the old days a turma of the command of the Armeniakoi. Be it known that under Leo, the Christ-loving emperor, these bandai—that is to say, the vicariate of Baretas, the vicariate of Balbadon, the vicariate of Asponas, and the vicariate of Akar kous—were transferred from the theme of the Buccellarioi to the theme of the Cappadocians; and from the theme of the Anatolikoi these bandai were transferred to the theme of the Cappadocians—that is to say, the vicariate of Eudocias, the vicariate of Saint Agapetus, and the vicariate of Aphrazia; and these seven bandai—that is, the four of the Buccellarioi and the three of the Anatolikoi—became one turma, which is now called the Commata. Be it known that under Leo, the Christ-loving emperor, these bandai were transferred from the theme of the Buccellarioi to the theme of Charsianon—that is to say, the vicariate of Myriokephalon, the vicariate of the Holy Cross, and the vicariate of Berinopolis; and they became the turma which is now called Saniana. And from the theme of the Armeniakoi, these bandai were transferred to the theme of Charsianon—that is to say, the vicariate of Komodromos and the vicariate of Tabia; and they were added to the aforementioned turma of Charsianon. And from ^B the theme of the Cappadocians, these bandai were transferred to the theme of Charsianon—that is to say, the turma of Kases in its entirety, and the vicariate of Nyssa with Caesarea. Be it known that in past times the theme of Chozanon was under the Saracens, and likewise the theme of Asmosaton was also under the Saracens. Chanzit and Romanopolis were clisurae of the Melitiniotes. And from Mount Phatilanon, all lands beyond were under the Saracens. Tekes belonged to Manuel. Kamacha was the turma and frontier of Koloneia; the turma of Keltzine was under Chaldia. Mesopotamia was not a theme at that time; but Leo, the Christ-loving and illustrious emperor, brought that Manuel forth from Tekes with a guarantee, brought him into the City, and made him a protospatharios. This same Manuel had four sons: Pancratoukas, Iachnoukas, Moudaphar, and Ioannes; and the emperor made Pancratoukas ^C an hikanatos, and after that a strategos over the Buccellarioi; and he made Iachnoukas strategos of Nikopolis; and [he assigned] Moudaphar and Ioannes ^D at Trapezous, honoring all of them with dignities and many benefits. And he organized Mesopotamia into a theme, and appointed that Orestes, a Charsianite, as its pretor, and placed the turmai of Kamacha and Keltzine at that time under the theme of Mesopotamia. Now, since these lands were recently under the dominion of the Romans, Romanopolis and Chanzit were also added to the theme of Mesopotamia during the reign of Romanos. Under Leo, the Christ-loving emperor, Larissa was a turma of Sebasteia, as was Cymbalaeos of Charsianon; but Symposium was a desert located towards the regions of Lykandos. During the reign of the same Christ-loving emperor Leo, Eustathios Argyros was recalled from exile and made pretor of Charsianon; but Melias was still living in exile in Melitene. And Baasakios, with his two brothers Cricorices and Pazunes, as well as that Ismael the Armenian, wrote to him and to the aforementioned Argyros so that they might come out with the security of a golden bull granted them; and Baasakios indeed settled at Larissa, and Baasakios was called the Clisuriarch of Larissa; which came to pass; Ismael became the Clisuriarch of Symposium; but Melias was to be the turmarch of Euphratia, the Trypia, and the desert; which also came to pass. And as the Melitiniotes were making an excursion, and Ismael having been killed, Symposium... [alt-version omitted]

^A part by the edge of the marsh, and part in the marsh itself, and some by the bank of the lake, and some in the water itself. We spent that day in the village drying everything out, since the storm had ceased and the sun was brilliant. Having also attended to our horses and the rest of our pack animals, we came to the queen and, after greeting her and exchanging gifts—three silver bowls, red skins, Indian pepper, palm fruit, and other dried fruits, which—because they are not native to the Barbarians—are considered ^B precious—we departed, having prayed for good things for her regarding our stay. Having completed a journey of seven days, we remained in a certain village, at the command of the Scythians who were guiding us, because Attila, who was traveling by this road, was going to enter it, and we were obliged to travel behind him. There we chanced upon men of the Western Romans who were themselves on an embassy to Attila. Among them was Romulus, a man honored with the rank of comes; and Primulus, the governor of the region of Noricum; and Romanus, a commander of a military unit. Accompanying them was Constantius, whom Aetius had sent to Attila to serve as a secretary; and Tatullus, the father of that Orestes ^C who was with Edeco—not for the sake of the embassy, but for the sake of acquaintance, they were making the journey together with them: Constantius because of his prior acquaintance with the men in Italy, and Tatullus because of kinship. For his son Orestes had married the daughter of Romulus, from the city of Patavio in Noricum. ... They were acting as envoys, seeking to appease Attila, who wished for Sylvanus, the steward of the table of the great house at Rome, to be handed over to him, ^D because he had received golden bowls from a certain Constantius. This Constantius, who hailed from the Western Gauls, had been sent, like the other Constantius after him, to Attila and Bleda to serve as a secretary. At the time when Sirmium, a town situated in Pannonia, was being besieged by the Scythians, he had received the golden vessels from the bishop of the city, on the condition that he should use them to ransom himself if the city were to be captured while he was still alive, or, if he were to perish, to buy back the citizens who were being led away into captivity. But Constantius, after the destruction of the city, being little concerned with that agreement, set out for Rome for some business, brought the vessels to Sylvanus, and received gold from him; and it was agreed that if he paid back the gold he had borrowed within a set time, he would recover the vessels, but if he did not, Sylvanus would keep the vessels and use them as he wished. Attila and Bleda kept this same Constantius under suspicion of treason and crucified him. But some time later, when word of the matter concerning the bowls reached Attila, he demanded that Sylvanus be handed over to him. Therefore, envoys had come from Aetius and the emperor of the Western Romans to say that Sylvanus, as the creditor of Constantius, had taken the golden vessels in exchange for the debt.

remained deserted. But when Baasacius was accused of plotting treason and exiled, Larissa again became a turma of Sebasteia, and Leo, son of Eustathius—who later became magister and Domestic of the Schools—was appointed there as strategos.

As for Melias, while he was residing in Euphratia, when Constantine the Doux was appointed to ^A the Charsianon, this Melias went down and seized the ancient fortress, Lycandus, and he built and fortified it, and he took up his seat there; and it was named a "clisura" by the Christ-loving Emperor Leo. After this, he crossed over from Lycandus to the mountain of Tzamandos, and built there the fortress which exists to this day; and this likewise was called a clisura. He also seized Symposium and made it a turmarchate. Under the Christ-loving Emperor Constantine, for the first time, while his mother Zoe was associated with him, Lycandus became a strategis, and the patrician Melias was named the first strategos of Lycandus, clearly because he was serving as clisuriarch of Lycandus at that time. This same Melias was later honored with the rank of magister because of both the loyalty he showed to the Emperor of the Romans and the many infinite feats of valor he performed against the Saracens.

As for the Abara turma, it was under the theme of Sebasteia; but under the Emperor Romanos, it became a ^B clisura. It is to be noted that an ancient custom prevailed, that the captain of the Mardaites of Attalia should be appointed by the Emperor; wherefore also Stauracius, surnamed the Flat, was appointed captain by the most blessed Emperor Leo, who spent a considerable time there, but did not manage the taxes well. For when the protospatharios Eustathius and asecretis was sent as a vicar (ecprosopos) into the theme of the Cibyrrhaeots, a certain rivalry and contention arose between them; since Stauracius ^{C D}

^A Platys, trusting in the patrician and logothete of the drome Hemerius, as one who had mediated for him with the emperor, opposed Eustathius the vicar and behaved in a manner entirely contrary to him whenever he saw him doing or ordering anything beyond what was proper. In turn, Eustathius the vicar, being ill-disposed toward Stauracius, devised many frauds and complaints against him, alleging that it was impossible for two commanders to exist in the theme of the Cibyrrhaeots, namely himself and Stauracius, the captain of the Mardaites; for he claimed that he himself would order and wish to administer one thing, while the captain of the Mardaites would wish to do another, and, as if being his own master, would madly execute whatever he saw fit. He also brought forward other falsehoods and wove many machinations against him, some composed plausibly, others concocted madly and slanderously. ^B And clearly, trusting in the patrician and logothete of the drome Hemerius, he used to write these things. At that particular time, the patrician Hemerius was more of a friend to Eustathius than to Stauracius, although later both became filled with enmity and madness toward each other. Having received such a report from Eustathius, and being persuaded by the request of the patrician Hemerius, the emperor granted the authority of said captain to the protospatharios Eustathius, the vicar. But when that blessed emperor had departed from the below to the above (31) to his life, Alexander, the brother of the emperor, having gained control of the rule, just as he demoted all those who had been promoted to certain offices by the blessed emperor his brother, persuaded by the evil counsels of malicious men, so too did he depose the aforementioned Eustathius and appointed another in his place. ^C For that Hase, he who derived his lineage from the Saracens, but in reality remained a Saracen in mind, in customs, and in worship, the slave of the patrician Damianus, since he had much boldness at the time, this protospatharios Hase approached the lord Alexander the emperor, as did likewise the protospatharios Nicetas, the brother of Hase, who also had been made strategist of the Cibyrrhaeots by the same lord Alexander the emperor. This Nicetas, then, the brother of the aforementioned Hase, asked the emperor, saying that it was fitting to benefit him as an old friend, and that he had a request to make regarding his majesty, in which it was right for him to be heard. And when the emperor was hesitant and asked what this request might be, and promised that whatever it was, he would obtain it, he answered: ^D That my son be created captain of the Mardaites of Attalia; and satisfying his petition, the emperor designated Abercius, the spatharocandidatus, the son of Nicetas the protospatharios, who was brought in procedure into the Golden Triclinium, as captain of the Mardaites of Attalia; just as previously the blessed emperor Leo had named Stauracius Platys. And by such rite, as I said at the beginning, the captain of the Mardaites was anciently designated by the emperor. Be it known—

And indeed, not much time having elapsed, as I saw him coming out, I approached and said that the ambassador of the Romans salutes him, and that I bring gifts from him along with the gold sent by the Emperor. And when he was very eager to meet him, I asked where and when he wished to converse. And he ordered those of his own who were present to receive the gold and the gifts, and told me to report to Maximinus that he would come to him immediately. Returning, therefore, I announced that Onegesius was arriving; and he came at once to the tent. Greeting Maximinus, he said that he returned thanks for the gifts, both to him and to the Emperor, and asked what he wished to say in having summoned him. He [Maximinus] said that ^B the time had come for Onegesius to attain greater renown among men, if, by going to the Emperor, he should clarify the unclear matters through his own wisdom and establish concord for the Romans and the Huns. For there will result from this not only what is advantageous to both nations, but also he will provide many good things for his own household, being himself and his children always useful to the Emperor and to his house. But Onegesius said: "And by doing what, would I be pleasing to the Emperor, or how might the ambiguous matters be resolved by him?" When he replied that by crossing over to the Romans he would store up favor with the Emperor, and would clarify the ambiguous matters by investigating the causes and resolving them according to the law of peace, he said that he would tell the Emperor and those around him whatever Attila wishes. "Or do you think," he said, "that the Romans would so entreat him, that he would betray his master and neglect the nurture among the Scythians and his own wives and children, and not consider the slavery under Attila better than the great wealth among the Romans? It would be more advantageous to remain at home (for he would appease the wrath of his master, in cases where he happens to be angry at the Romans) than by going to them to be subjected to charges, having performed things other than what seems right to him." Having said these things, and having thought that I should make the meeting with him concerning the things we desired to learn from him (for to Maximinus, as one who is held in standing, continuous access was not seemly), he departed. On the following day, I arrived at the enclosure of Attila, carrying gifts for his wife, whose name was Creca; from her he had three children, of whom the eldest ruled over the Acatziri and the rest of the nations inhabiting the Scythian territory toward the Pontus. Inside the enclosure were very many dwellings, some made of carved boards joined together for beauty, others of beams ^D cleaned and planed to straightness, and set into wooden circles. The circles rose from the ground to a moderate height. There, where Attila was living...

that during the reign of Emperor Theophilus, the *parakoimomenos* ^A was Scholastikius the *ostiarios*; under Michael, son of Theophilus, the *parakoimomenos* was Damian the patrician; and after him, under the same emperor, the Christ-loving Emperor Basil became *parakoimomenos*. During the reign of the Christ-loving lord Basil, there was no *parakoimomenos* throughout the whole of his reign. Under the Christ-loving lord Leo, the *parakoimomenos* was Samonas the patrician; and after him, under the same emperor, Constantine the patrician became *parakoimomenos*. Under Emperor Alexander, Barbatos the patrician became *parakoimomenos*. Under the Christ-loving lord Constantine, the aforementioned Constantine the patrician, who served under lord Leo, again became *parakoimomenos*. Under lord Romanus, Theophanes the patrician ^B held the office; and under Constantine for the second time, Basil the patrician became *parakoimomenos*.

Be it known that under the Christ-loving and ever-memorable Emperor Leo, there lived a certain Ctenas, a cleric advanced in years and very wealthy, who was also a domesticus in the Nea Ekklesia; he was an artisan of song, like whom there was no other at that time. This same Ctenas importuned the patrician Samonas, who was at that time the *parakoimomenos*, to intercede on his behalf with the emperor so that he might become a *protospatharios*, wear the *epikoutzoulon* ^C, process to the Lausiakos, sit as a *protospatharios*, and receive a *roga* of one pound; and he offered to give the emperor forty pounds for this favor. But the emperor refused to do this, saying that it was impossible and a great disgrace to his empire for a cleric to become a *protospatharios*. When the same Ctenas heard this from the patrician Samonas, he added to the forty pounds an *epikoutzoulon* set of garments valued at ten pounds, and an engraved silver ^D table, gilded, also valued at ten pounds. Being moved by the entreaties of the patrician Samonas and the *parakoimomenos*, the emperor accepted the forty pounds of gold, the *epikoutzoulon* set of garments, and the engraved gilded silver table, bringing the total gift of the same Ctenas to sixty pounds. Then the emperor made him a *protospatharios*, and he was granted a *roga* of one pound at that time. The same Ctenas lived for two years after receiving the dignity of *protospatharius*, and then he died, having received the *roga* of one pound for each of those years.

While we were discussing the present state of affairs, ^A Onegesius came out, and we approached him to learn from him those things that had been entrusted to our care. He, having first spoken with some barbarians or other, ordered me to ask Maximinus which of the consular men the Romans were intending to send as an ambassador to Attila. When I went back into the tent and told Maximinus what Onegesius had said to me, we consulted together on what answer should be given to the Barbarians; then I returned and said to Onegesius that the Romans especially desired him to come to them as arbiter of his controversies with Attila. If they were disappointed in this hope, the Emperor would send whichever ambassador he pleased. He immediately ordered me to bring Maximinus, and when he arrived, he led him to Attila. Not long after, Maximinus returned and reported that the Barbarian wanted the Emperor to send to him as ambassadors either Nomus, or Anatolius, or Senator; he would admit no others than these. When Maximinus ^B objected that it was highly improper for ambassadors sent to him to be designated by him, thus rendering them suspect to the Emperor, Attila replied that if they refused to do this, he would settle the controversies by force of arms.

When we had returned to our tent, the father of Orestes came to us, saying, "Attila invites both of you to a banquet; it will take place at the ninth hour of the day." When we had observed the appointed time, we and the envoys of the Western Romans arrived and were standing on the threshold facing Attila. The cupbearers gave us a goblet according to the native custom, so that we might offer a prayer before sitting down. This having been done, and having tasted of the cup, we went up to the seats where we were to sit and dine. All the chairs were arranged around the walls of the room on either side. ^C In the middle, on a couch, sat Attila, and behind him was another couch; behind that stood some steps leading to his bed, which was covered with white linens and flowered curtains for the sake of decoration, just as Greeks and Romans are accustomed to prepare for those who are marrying.

I considered the first place of the diners to be that on the right of Attila, and the second on the left, where we happened to be seated, with Berichus, a noble man among the Scythians, having sat down before us; Berichus was in the higher place. For Onegesius sat on a chair to the right of the king’s couch. Opposite Onegesius sat two of Attila's sons on chairs; the elder sat on his father's couch, ^D not close, but far down, with his eyes always cast on the ground out of respect for his father's presence. When everyone was seated in an orderly fashion, the cupbearer approached Attila and presented a cup of wine. He took it and saluted, in order, the man who was first. The man honored by the salutation stood up, and it was not permitted for him to sit down before he had tasted, or even finished drinking, the cup and returned it to the cupbearer. Attila’s guests, in the same manner, showed him honor by receiving the cups, tasting them after the salutation, and then returning them. Each person had his own cupbearer.

at that time, one litra. The same Ktenas lived for two years after he was honored as protospatharios, and died; he was paid for the two years at the rate of one litra each.

CAPUT LI. Concerning the imperial dromon, how it was made; and concerning its protocarabis; and all that relates to the protospatharios of the phiala.

Be it known that up to the time of Leo, the glorious and most wise emperor, there was no imperial dromon in which the emperor would embark, but he would embark on the red agrarium ^B, except under Basil, the Christ-loving sovereign; for when that same emperor went to the warm baths of Prusa, and again when he went to view the bridge of Rhegion—which he himself had ordered to be built by his command and foresight—he boarded a dromon, and another dromon followed behind. The rowers who were in it were from the imperial agrarium and from the Stenite sailors. For anciently, the Stenos had ten imperial chelandia equipped for navigation. But since the blessed emperor was making most of his "metastashima" (that is, his formal processions) to the Pegae—because those palaces had been built by him—and likewise to the Hebdomon, to Hieria, and to Bryas, he used to embark in the agrarium according to the ancient custom. But when he was setting out on a longer journey, such as to the warm baths of Prusa or to supervise the bridge of Rhegion, he would embark, as has been said before, in a dromon, and another dromon would follow, for the reason that more officials also had to enter with the emperor, and the rest into the second dromon. But the glorious and most wise Emperor Leo, being somewhat more inclined to bestow honors upon the magistroi, patricians, and his own senators, and wishing always to share this with them, calculating that the agrarium was not sufficient for the reception of many officials, had a dromon made; and he would constantly embark in it whenever he wished to depart. And there would assemble with him as many of the officials as he desired, from among the magistroi and patricians; for according to the custom, no one else used to enter the agrarium with the emperor, except for the Drungarios of the Watch, the Drungarios of the fleet, the Logothete of the Dromos, the Hetaireiarch, the Mystikos, and the...

Domestic of the Schools, and the Parakoimomenos, and the Protovestiarios, and those from the bedchamber whom the emperor might order. ^A For this reason, then, Leo, that most renowned and wisest emperor, made a dromon, and after some time he also made a second dromon, which was also called the second, and was named accordingly. For this blessed emperor used to go out on long excursions; for instance, to Nicomedia, to Olympus, and to the Pythia; and for this reason he saw fit to utilize the two dromons for his own service and rest, and for that of his officials. For often when he would set out for nearby excursions, he would leave one boat at the hippodrome for the guard of the palace, because the regiment of the Schools was accustomed, according to the prevailing ancient custom, to travel with the Domestic of the Schools, and remaining in the hippodrome, they would go out accompanying the emperors according to the custom to the excursions. ^B That from the beginning and from of old there was an imperial office for the Protospatharios of the Phiale—this Protospatharios of the Phiale held sway and had under him all the rowers of the imperial agraria, both the red and the black, except for those which belonged to the Augusta; for the agraria of the Augusta, both red and black, were under the control and authority of the table-steward of the Augusta. But during the reign of the most renowned and wisest emperor Leo, when the dromons were newly fashioned by imperial command, the same Protospatharios of the Phiale held [them] and the rowers of such dromons under his authority. ^C The aforementioned Protospatharios of the Phiale, therefore, every day at dusk would descend, according to ancient custom, and sit in the Phiale—for this reason he was called the Protospatharios of the Phiale—and he would judge the disputes between the rowers, both of the agraria and of the dromons that were under his authority, and he would judge and administer according to justice; and whenever he found anyone working improperly, or acting unjustly, or idling in his own service, he would have him subjected to severe beatings with the manglabia. And in the manner stated, all the rowers of the dromons and those of the emperor's agraria, the red and the black, were under the hand and supervision of the Protospatharios of the Phiale. ^D The agraria of the Augusta, both red and black, were under the hand and supervision of the table-steward of the Augusta, it being understood that he rendered an account of these agraria, not to the Augusta, but to the emperor.

NOTES OF ANSELM BANDURI

^A Under Leo, the most renowned and wisest emperor, the *protospatharios* of the *phiale* was John, surnamed the Sea-man, and after him came the *protospatharios* Podaron, and after him the *protospatharios* Leo the Armenian, father of the *protospatharios* Arsenios and the *manglabites*. These men, both the *protospatharios* Podaron and Leo the Armenian, were *protelatae* for the *patrikios* Nasar, the *drungarios* of the fleet; and under Basil, the Christ-loving sovereign, they rose from the fleet and became *protelatae* of the emperor’s *agrarium*. But during the reign of Leo, the most renowned and wisest emperor, when he also built the *dromonia*, because of their bravery and experience of the sea, he made them *protocaraboi*.

When a need arose, the emperor brought the rowers of the two *dromonia* along with the two *protocaraboi* of the first *dromonium* into the *chelandia* fitted for sea, giving them much necessary equipment, such as shields, deerskin hides, excellent *klibania*, and all other things that naval soldiers need to carry. The *patrikios* Eustathios, who was also *drungarios* of the fleet, took them and the imperial fleet and set out against the enemies. The emperor did this whole thing because the *patrikios* and *drungarios* of the fleet was contemplating war against the enemies, and instead of them, Michael, that old and sensible man, was steering the imperial *dromonium*, they being at that time *protelatae*. Those who rowed in the *dromonia* until the arrival of the imperial rowers were *Stenitai* from the properties of the *Stenon*. When they returned from the expedition, they were again in their own service as they had been before.

Then the emperor, as if wishing to do honor to the *protospatharios* Podaron because he had acted valiantly and distinguished himself above all in the war, and had been testified to by the *patrikios* Eustathios and *drungarios* of the fleet as having no equal in the whole fleet in bravery, vigilance, and other virtues, and especially in affection and sincere faith toward the emperor, granted him the office of *protospatharios* of the *phiale*. And because he was illiterate, by order of the emperor a judge from the *hippodrome* would come down and sit with him in the *phiale* and judge the rowers. The *Augustiaka agraria*, as has been said before, were controlled by the steward of the *Augusta’s* table. ^B After this, the emperor appointed both Podaron and Leo the Armenian as *topotéretaí* of the imperial fleet, and appointed as *protocaraboi* of his own *dromonium* the aforementioned Michael—that old man who at that time was *protelates* of the *dromonium* and previously *deuteroelates* in the *agrarium* of the Christ-loving emperor Basil—and another Michael, nicknamed Barcalas, who before was a *protelates* in the fleet under the *patrikios* and *drungarios* Eustathios, when he was setting out against the Turks and to subdue Symeon, prince of Bulgaria.

This Symeon, prince of Bulgaria, learning that the fleet had been led into the river and that it would ferry the Turks against him, made ropes, or rather, firm and very hard chains, with which he intended to prevent the Turks from being able to disembark on the further bank; and so the Turks were at first hindered from disembarking. ^C When this was the situation, Michael, whom I called Barcalas, and two other naval sailors with him, having taken shields and swords, leaped out in a truly manly and brave manner onto the *chelandion*, and cut the ropes or chains, opening the passage for the Turks. When the Turks saw this extraordinary deed of Barcalas—that he, being the only one among the two naval sailors to lead the way, had been the first to cut the chains—they were filled with the greatest admiration. ^D

^A and fell into more arrogant words. He said that it would not turn out well for him if, elated by his present prosperity, he were to prepare to rise up in war against the emperor of the Romans in the East, without releasing the royal women. But neither the gentleness of the words previously used in the embassy, nor the fear of threats, could force Geiserich to take a moderate view; for he sent Bleda away without result, and, having sent an entire force into Sicily and the neighboring parts of Italy, he ravaged the whole region. Avitus, the emperor of the Western Romans, also sent envoys to him, who warned him to remember the treaties formerly made with him; otherwise, he himself, relying on his domestic army and the aid of allies, would prepare for war. He indeed sent the patrician Recimer with an army into Sicily.

^B § 8. Concerning the fact that, when the Romans came to Colchis and fought a battle against the Lazi, the Roman army returned to its own lands, and those around the palace prepared for the other war, deliberating whether to advance along the same route or to bring the war via Armenia, which is adjacent to the realm of the Persians, after having first obtained a pledge from the monarch of the Parthians—for they considered the sea everywhere impassable for them to coast along, since the coast of Colchis lacks harbors. Gobazes also sent envoys to the Parthians and to the Roman emperor. The king of the Parthians, because he was in a war with the Huns known as the Kidarites, rejected the Lazi who were fleeing to him.

§ 9. Concerning the fact that, when Balamer the Scythian violated the treaties and bestowed many Roman cities and territories, the Romans sent envoys to him who reproached him for the rebellion, and, so that he would not ravage the country again, they arranged for three hundred pounds of gold to be paid to him each year; for he declared that due to a lack of necessities, his own multitude had been stirred up to make war.

^C § 10. Concerning the fact that Geiserich, no longer abiding by the treaties made with Majorian, sent a multitude of Vandals and Moors for the destruction of Italy and Sicily. Marcellinus had already left the island beforehand because Recimer, who desired to capture his command for himself, had distributed money to the Scythians following him (they were in the majority) to persuade them to abandon him and arrive—having feared the conspiracy (for he could not compete in wealth with Recimer)—to retreat from Sicily. An embassy was therefore sent to Geiserich: both from Recimer, that he must not neglect the treaties; and also from those who were among the Romans.

^A At that time he was a *protelates*, having been honored at different times as *candidatus*, *strator*, *spatharios*, *spatharocandidatos*, and after that as *protospatharios* and *protospatharios* of the Phiale; he was the son-in-law of the aforementioned Michael the Elder. For never according to any ancient custom had a *protocarabos* of the Emperor been honored as *protospatharios*, nor even as *spatharocandidatos*, but only as *candidatus*, or *strator*, or at most *spatharios*. But in the time of the memorable and most wise Emperor Leo, this Michael alone was honored as *spatharios*, and after that as *spatharocandidatos*. But because the Emperor was a child, as has been said, and because of the lack of discernment of the *patrikios* and *parakoimomenos* Constantine, the *protocaraboi* became *spatharocandidati*, and this Michael became *protospatharios*. ^B But when the Emperor, the lord Romanos, had ascended to the palace and, I know not how to say it, had become master of the empire, he not only replaced Theodotos because of his goodwill toward the Christ-loving master and Emperor Constantine, but he also bypassed the punishment of mutilation and tonsure, and sent him into perpetual exile, where he also ended his life, having left behind the *protocarabos* who was with him, that Constantine the Dorikatos, because he was favorably disposed toward him out of fear, and had denied—with an oath under his own hand—his goodwill and love toward the Emperor Constantine; whom he first honored as *spatharocandidatos*, and having made him *protocarabos* first, and having advanced him to *protospatharios* of the Phiale, after a little while he also honored him as *protospatharios*. This man, therefore, by the petition of the cleric John—who had been made *raiktor* 52 by the permission of God—suggested to the late Emperor, the lord Romanos, that because the *protospatharios* Theophylaktos, who was also of the table of the Augusta, was a protégé and beneficiary of the mother of the Emperor and of the Emperor himself, it was necessary for him to be devoted to his own masters and benefactors. And what need is there for the people of the *agrarioi* of the Phiale to be divided under two authorities? For the man of the table of the Augusta, being held by goodwill toward the Emperor and the Augusta, can deceive the *Augustiatikoi agrariotai* under his control, and often also the rowers of the *dromonia*, and they might plot some insurrection against your empire. Having said these things, he persuades that wicked and slippery *raiktor*, and through him the Emperor; for lightness of mind and an undiscerning judgment are easily led astray and dragged into everything that is wickedly spoken and suggested. And having spoken, he persuades, and having persuaded, the authority over the *Augustiatikoi agrarioi* is given to him; and from that time it prevailed that the *protocarabos* 53 of the imperial *dromonion* should hold and exercise power over all the rowers of the imperial *dromonia* and the *Augustiatikoi agrarioi*, and that he should also be a *protospatharios*.

^C ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES. (51) The manuscript codex says this. The printed version, however, "not only did he not replace, but even the *darmou*," etc., where Meursius says it should be read, etc., but he is mistaken, as anyone can see. (52) John here is the monk and presbyter, surnamed Lazares, whom the Emperor Alexander gave to Constantine Porphyrogenitus as a tutor from among his brother’s relatives; Leo Grammaticus makes mention of him in *Alexander*, and the same writer in *Constantine*, p. 497 and 505. Furthermore, the anonymous Combelisianus in *Alexander* no. 2, in *Porphyrogenitus* no. 3, in *Lecapenus* no. 28, Scylitzes p. 607 and 625, and Zonaras p. 148 make mention of this John. *Raiktor* is a kind of dignity—what it was, however, the text does not state; yet, since it is read that only clerics were gifted with this, I do not doubt that it was an ecclesiastical dignity; and that this dignity preceded others seems to be suggested by Liutprand, lib. 6, cap. 5, where he discusses the distribution of coins, which was accustomed to be done by the Emperor to palace princes before Palm Sunday: the first of whom is called *rector* of the house, etc. The same Liutprand also makes mention of a *rector* in lib. 3, cap. 2: he places his parents on his side; *rector*, *magistri*, *patricii*, *logothete*, etc. (53) It is incorrectly written in the printed editions as *pro-carabōn*, etc., but Meursius corrects it perfectly.

of the imperial and Augustian dromons, and to be a *protospatharios* of the phiala. Let it be known that under the ever-memorable and Christ-loving Emperor Leo, a requisition of accounts was made from the *themata* of the West by the *protospatharios* Leo, who had been strategos of Tzikanes, from those who were exempted from campaigning. Let it also be known that, again under the same Christ-loving and ever-memorable Leo, a requisition of accounts was made from the *themata* of the West by the *magistros* John, who was at that time his *patrikios*. Let it also be known that, again under the Emperor Romanos, when he wished to send the Peloponnesians to Longobardia, while the *protospatharios* John, who was then strategos, was in charge in the Peloponnese, the same Peloponnesians asked not to campaign, but to provide one thousand saddled and bridled horses, and one *centenarium* of gold, which they provided with great readiness.

CAPUT LII. The requisition of horses in the theme of the Peloponnese under the Emperor Romanos, as mentioned above.

The metropolitan of Corinth provided four horses; the metropolitan of Patras, four horses; all the bishops of the theme, two horses each; the *protospatharioi*, three horses each; the *spatharocandidatoi*, two horses each; the *spatharioi* and *stratores*, one horse each; the imperial and patriarchal monasteries, two horses each; the monasteries of the archbishops, metropolitans, and bishops, two horses each; the destitute monasteries, one horse for every two. Those holding imperial offices—mariners, shell-fishers, and those who manufacture paper—did not provide horses. ^B Furthermore, all the soldiers of the Peloponnese were required to pay five *nomismata* for this expedition; but those amongst them who were utterly destitute, two *nomismata* for every five. From these contributions was formed the previously mentioned one *centenarium* of minted gold.

CAPUT LIII. History of the fortress of Cherson.

When Diocletian was reigning in Rome, and Themistos was at that time the protector and chief magistrate of the Chersonites—Themistos being the son of Sauromates—Criscon the Bosporian, son of Or, having assembled a force of Sarmatians inhabiting the Maeotic marsh, took up arms against the Romans. And when he had reached the land of the Lazi, he harassed the inhabitants with war and advanced as far as the Halys River. When the Emperor Diocletian learned that Lazica ^C and the Pontic region were being laid waste, he sent an army against the Sarmatians under the command of the tribune Constans. When he arrived with the army at the Halys River, he halted there and prevented the Sarmatians from crossing the Halys. But since Constans was unable to engage them in battle, he considered within himself that there was no other way to drive out the Sarmatians unless some of the neighboring peoples—those of the Bosporians and of the Maeotic marsh—were sent against them to make war and destroy their families, ^D so that, hearing of this, the Sauromatae would be compelled to return home. And he communicated this to the Emperor, that he should send to the Chersonites, and that they, as neighbors, should take up the war against the Sarmatians.

and ravage their families, so that the Sauromatas, hearing this with speed, might return from the war.

When the Emperor Diocletian heard these things, ^A he immediately sent to the Chersonites, urging them to become his allies, and to go forth and ravage the land of the Bosporians and Sarmatians, and to take their families captive. Now, as Chrestus, son of Papias, was at that time the *stephanephoros* and chief of the Chersonite territory, the Chersonites, gladly obeying the decrees of the Emperor, fell to contemplating by what means they could capture the city of Bosporus, which belonged to the Sauromata, and the fortresses of the Maeotis. Having gathered a force from the neighboring fortresses, and having constructed war-chariots, and having placed therein those weapons called *cheirobalistrai*, they arrived at the city of the Bosporians. ^B And having set an ambush, a very small number [of them] joined battle with the city during the night, and fought at the wall from daybreak until the third hour; then they gave a signal of flight, leaving behind the *cheirobalistrai* that were installed in the chariots. The Bosporians, therefore, thinking that the Chersonites were defeated because of their small numbers, became overconfident and went out in pursuit of them. But the Chersonites, retreating slowly, as it is said, were destroying the pursuing Bosporians with the *cheirobalistrai*, while those Chersonites who had been in ambush rose up and, surrounding the Bosporians, slaughtered them all to a man. And returning, they took possession of Bosporus, and likewise the fortresses towards the Maeotian swamp, and all the families of the Sauromatae; and they sat down in Bosporus, slaughtering no one else thereafter except those who had fought; and holding Bosporus, they guarded it.

After some days had passed, Chrestus son of Papias said to the wives of the Sauromatae: "There is no need for us to wage war against you, but since the Sauromata has gone away ^C to ravage the land of the Romans, for this reason we, being his subjects, were urged by the Emperor of the Romans to take up arms against you and to war upon you. If, therefore, you wish to live in your city, come, let us send ambassadors to your lord, the Sauromata, so that he may make peace with the Romans in the presence of our ambassadors, and withdraw from those parts; and we shall release you and depart to our own city. In this way, when the Sauromata sends back our ambassadors here, and through his own men notifies us of the peace, we shall release you and withdraw. But if the Sauromata should decide to come with some guile, thinking to trap us here ^D and to make war, and we should learn of this, we shall slaughter you all, from the greatest to the least, and so depart from here; and it will avail the Sauromata nothing to have lost his entire family and city." Having heard these things, the wives of the Sauromata took care for the matter to be done in earnest, and the Chersonites sent with the Bosporians also five ambassadors of their own, to explain the whole matter to him. And when they had arrived at the Halys River to meet the Sauromata, whatever had been done against the Bosporians by the Cherso...

Chersonites. And he, having fallen into great distress, and wishing, as he pretended, to let the envoys of the Chersonites rest from their journey, says to them: "Since you are weary, I wish you to rest for a few days, and then I shall do everything that you have said; from here, go to the Romans and learn from them, and be persuaded that I am telling you the truth and not lying." After the Chersonites had gone to Constans, together with the envoys of the Sauromata, and had inquired about what had passed between them, they reported to Constans everything that had been done by them against the Bosporians and at the Lake Maeotis, and how they had seized the families of the Sauromata, and that it was because of this necessity that the Sauromata had come to terms of peace. ^B Hearing this, Constans was very distressed and says to the Chersonites: "And what profit is there for me from your alliance, from which I have spent so much gold to give to them?" The Chersonites say to him: "Do not be distressed, master, and if you wish, we can dissolve the agreement regarding the payment." And when he asked how that could be done, the Chersonites say to him that he should signify to the Sauromata that agreements also existed between them, since he had incurred expenses for their sake and suffered many losses by leading the army from Rome to that place, and therefore he should pay those things, and he himself would receive back all the families and his city. Constans, overjoyed at this, followed the advice and sent word of this to the Sauromata. ^C Hearing this, the Sauromata was distressed in spirit and replied that he neither wished to give anything nor to receive anything either; he only wanted him to send back the Chersonites, so that he might depart from there. The Chersonites say to Constans: "Do not release us until you have received all the captives." Then Constans sends word to the Sauromata, saying: "Send me all the captives you have, and I will release the Chersonites." Hearing this, the Sauromata, unwillingly and against his will, released every one of the captives he had, down to the last one. Having recovered all those who had been captured, Constans kept two of the Chersonite envoys with him and sent the others to the Sauromata; and the Sauromata, having received them, sent them ahead from the land of the Lazi, along with his own men, in order to hand over to them the...

^A Bosporus and their families; and he himself made his journey with his people in an orderly fashion, so that he might hand over the families to the Chersonites in a body and depart.

The Chersonites, having received their own envoys in the city of Bosporus and having learned everything that had been done by Constans and the Sauromata, handed over to the man of the Sauromata both the Bosporus and the fortresses of the Maeotis, and all the families unharmed, and they regained the land of the Chersonites in peace. Constans, when the Sauromata had departed from the Roman territories, himself also marched on to Rome and reported to the Emperor everything that had been done by the Chersonites, bringing along also their two envoys; whom, when the Emperor saw and received them kindly, and having given them the greatest thanks, he said to them: "What do you wish that I should provide for you and for your city in return for such good will and alliance?" They said to the Emperor: "We, Master, wish for nothing else, except that we ask for this alone, that pledges of freedom and immunity be granted to us by your government." The Emperor gladly acceded to their request and generously provided them with such pledges of freedom and immunity, having sent them back with many gifts to the land of the Chersonites, as they were loyal subjects of the Roman Empire. Constans himself was also greatly received by the Emperor Diocletian as one who had fought bravely in the war against the Sauromata, and having become illustrious and glorious, after a short time he succeeded to the Roman Empire, when Diocletian retired to Nicomedia. When Constans died in Rome, his son Constantine became Emperor. And when he was coming to Byzantium, and some resistance to him had occurred in Scythia, he was reminded of what had been said by his father Constans concerning the good will and alliance of the Chersonites, and he sent envoys to the ^B Chersonites, so that they might come against the land of the Scythians and fight those who had resisted him. Diogenes son of Diogenes being at that time stephanephoros and leader of the Chersonites, the Chersonites gladly obeyed the command and, having made preparations with all speed for both the war chariots and the ballistae, they reached the Ister river, and having crossed it, they drew up in battle array against those who had resisted, and put them to flight. When the Emperor learned of the rout brought about by them, he ordered them to return to their homeland; and having summoned those who were their leaders to Byzantium, and having thanked them most greatly, he said to them: "Since you have also now acted with good will on our behalf, just as you did in the time of the pious ancestors of ^C our majesty, behold, we also confirm the liberty and immunity from tribute granted to you through the regions of the Roman Empire; furthermore, we also give a golden statue with imperial chlamys, fibula, and golden crown, for the adornment of your city; likewise our written contract concerning the liberty and immunity both of you and of your sailors; furthermore, because of the sincerity of your good will, we grant also golden rings, in which the image of our majesty is expressed, so that by these your reports and supplications ^D may be…

sealed, and you may make your envoys known to us.

Furthermore, we grant to you each year sinew, hemp, iron, and oil, for the construction of your ballistae; and we grant to you for your sustenance one thousand annonae, on condition that you be called ballistarii, so that all such provisions and customs we intend to send to you each year henceforth on behalf of the Chersonites. The Chersonites, having received such annonae, having made a division among themselves and their children, established a number; because of which even to the present day their children are enrolled in the number to complete the military service of their parents. ^B Being thus honored with provisions and many gifts by the God-beloved Emperor Constantine, Diogenes and those with him returned to the Chersonites, bringing with them the divine bounties.

After some time had passed since these things occurred, Sauromatus, the grandson of that Sauromatus Criscoronus who had waged war against Lazica, having gathered an army from the Maeotic Lake, rose up against the Chersonites, wishing, as he said, to avenge the insult of his grandfather’s captivity, which had taken place under the Emperor Diocletian. When the Chersonites learned of this, with Byscus, son of Supolichus, then reigning and acting as *proteuon* of Cherson, they also arrayed themselves against him and met Sauromatus outside in the regions called Capha; and having fought with him, with God aiding the Chersonites, they defeated Sauromatus and drove him away, setting ^C boundary markers in the same place called Capha, where they had fought and defeated Sauromatus. In that place, the same Sauromatus and those remaining with him took an oath that they would no longer cross the boundary markers placed between them for the sake of war, but that each of them would hold their own territories according to the established boundaries. And thus Sauromatus and the Chersonites departed to their own lands.

And these things having come to pass, again after some time another Sauromatus, having risen up with a multitude of men from the Maeotic Lake, arrayed a war against the Chersonites, and crossing the boundary markers which had been established with an oath in Capha by the first Sauromatus—[that no one of the Bosporians should ever attempt, for the sake of war, to cross these]—this Sauromatus ^D crossed them, as if

^A wishing to avenge himself and recover the land taken from him by force. And indeed, at that time, Pharnaces, son of Pharnaces, was crowning himself and serving as the leader of the Chersonites. The Chersonites also drew up in battle array against Sauromatus, and having met one another in the aforementioned regions of Capha, both sides took their stand upon the mountains. Sauromatus, being of great stature, grew confident in himself and boasted, behaving haughtily toward the Chersonites, while at the same time he was heartened by the infinite host that was with him. Pharnaces, however, was small in stature compared to Sauromatus, and having seen the host of Sauromatus, he deliberated with his own army, intending to engage in single combat with Sauromatus, so that an infinite host might not be destroyed. And indeed, once such a deliberation had been made, Pharnaces declares to the host of Sauromatus, saying, "What need is there for the destruction of so great a multitude? For you did not turn to war by your own choice, but Sauromatus incited you. Be willing, therefore, to persuade him to engage in single combat with me; and if, by the grace of God, I am able to overcome him, you shall depart in safety to your own lands, and both he and his city shall fall to me; but if he is able to overcome me, similarly you shall depart to your own lands, and he shall take possession of my territory." ^B The host of the Sauromatae, having gladly accepted this, urged Sauromatus to engage in single combat with Pharnaces. Sauromatus therefore, learning that Pharnaces was very small in stature and that he himself was of immense size, rejoiced at this, trusting in his own strength and being encased in the armor he was using. And these things having been decided, Pharnaces says to his own army, "When I descend, by the grace of God, to the single combat, and you see that Sauromatus has his back toward you, and his face toward his own men—while I have my face toward you, and my back toward the enemy—you shall all raise a single shout, and say only 'Aa, aa,' and do not repeat the shout." And so, both of them having descended into the plain for the single combat, and having maneuvered themselves, and Pharnaces having gone to the side of Sauromatus, and Sauromatus to the side of Pharnaces, the army of Pharnaces gave a single shout, "Aa, aa." And Sauromatus, ^C having heard such a shout, turned around to see in his anxiety what the cause of the shout was, which had been arranged for the contest and raised in the army of Pharnaces: and as he was turning, the lamina of his helmet being slightly parted, Pharnaces struck him immediately with a spear and slew him. And when Sauromatus had fallen, Pharnaces, descending from his horse, cut off his head. And becoming the victor, he dismissed the people of the Maeotian marsh, but held the Bosporians in chains, and having captured their land, he established the borders of their territory in Cybernicus above the Chersonites, leaving for them land of only forty miles, and these borders remain to this day. ^D

the first-mentioned borders are laid up in Capha. ^B

Pharnacus kept a few of the Bosporiani for himself for agricultural purposes, but moved by mercy, he allowed all the others to return to their own lands. Having returned, they, in recognition of such a benefit and kindness shown to them, erected a statue to him in Bosporus. From that time on, the rule of the Sauromatae in Bosporus was dissolved.

When these things had been managed in this way, while Lamachus was holding the chief magistracy and leadership over the Chersonites, and Asander was reigning over the Bosporiani, the Bosporiani, filled with great malice against the Chersonites and in no way able to remain tranquil in their wickedness, were always striving in some way to render retaliation to the Chersonites for the captivity. Having learned that he had an only daughter, Gycia, and that Asander also had sons, they plotted to effect a marriage alliance, so that by this means they might freely enter the land of the Chersonites and take revenge. ^C Accordingly, they sent envoys to the Chersonites to urge them, since a true friendship existed between them and they cultivated it without guile, to enter into an affinity with them, and either to give them the daughter of their prince Lamachus as a wife for the son of their own lord Asander, or to receive him among them; for in this way it would be known that the faith established between them was secure, when their lord's son was dwelling among them. The Chersonites answered them that they could not give their own daughter to them; but that if they wished to give one of the sons of their king Asander as a son-in-law, they would accept him, indeed upon the condition that the one who came might never attempt to return to the Bosporiani for the sake of visiting and speaking with his own father; and if he should nevertheless attempt it, he would die that very hour. ^D The envoys having been dismissed on these terms and having returned home and reported what had been transacted, Asander sent envoys again to the Chersonites, saying: "If you speak truly and act in good faith, and if Lamachus is willing to unite his daughter to my eldest son, I will send him there to you to be son-in-law."

Now, Lamachus was in those times, as it is said, very wealthy in gold and silver, in menservants and maidservants, in horses and very many estates, and he had a house that spanned four regions in breadth and length, extending down to what was called Susa, where he even had his own gate in the wall and four large portals for entry and exit, along with other splendid smaller gates; so that as his livestock came into the city, the individual herds of cattle, of horses and mares, of oxen and heifers, of sheep and donkeys, would each enter through their own portals and go off to their own stable.

The Chersonites, therefore, urged Lamachus to take the son of Asander as his son-in-law. When Lamachus agreed to their request, the son of Asander came to Cherson and married the woman, and after a short time of two years had passed, Lamachus died; for the mother of Gycia had died before him. Now Gycia, after the year had passed since her father's burial and the anniversary day was at hand, wishing to brighten the memory of her own father, while Zethus, son of Zethus, was at that time holding the chief position and leading in Cherson, urged the leading men of the city not to consider it an insult to them if they and the whole populace were to receive from her wine, loaves, oil, meat, birds, fish, and whatever else was necessary for the banquet, so that all the citizens, with their wives and children and their whole family, might celebrate the day sacred to the memory of Lamachus with public joy, ^B together with dances in their own district, and keep it a holiday. And she promised the citizens with an oath that, as long as she lived, she would provide all these things annually to celebrate the day in memory of Lamachus. When these things had been thus confirmed by her oath, her husband, the son of Asander, concealing the treachery in his heart and seeking a time for betrayal, upon hearing these things which Gycia said and had established by oath, admired and praised Gycia for her solemn pledge, as if she were genuinely disposed toward her parents, adding that he too rejoiced and wished to offer a libation for this pledge. And when the memorial day and the banquet had passed, he informed those in Bosporus through a servant of his own, saying to them: "I have found a method by which we can capture Cherson without difficulty. You therefore, at intervals, send me ten or twelve useful young men, beyond those rowing in the boat, as if sending ^C gifts to me; and they shall remain anchored in the bay where the arriving boats wait; and I will send [them] and bring the arriving young men into the city by horses along with the items being sent." And in this way, for a two-year period, with the Bosporians coming piece by piece with the gifts, so that the treachery might not be discovered by the city, the son of Asander would bring them in on foot from the rendezvous, and after a few days he would again dismiss them in the presence of everyone toward evening to the open country, as if it were getting too late. But they, having gone out of the region for three miles, would return when it was already pitch dark and enter the place called Limen, from where they were carried by boat to Susa, where they were received into his house through a smaller gate which he had in the wall, with no one else knowing, except for only three trusted Bosporian servants; of whom one went to the appointed place and announced that the boats were departing, the other led the Bosporians back into Limen, and the third finally transported them by boat from Limen to Susa and led them into the house of Lamachus. He used them, moreover, for the...

to supply food to those who were in these hidden places, by way of the small postern gate which he had in the wall, bringing them into his own house without anyone knowing, except for three of his servants—Bosporians—who alone were faithful to him: one of whom would go out with the signal and notify them to withdraw the ships; another who would return the Bosporians and carry them into the meadow; and the third who, from the meadow, would transport them by boat into Susa and settle them in the house of Lamachus. And by these means he fed them in his storerooms, without Gycia even knowing of the deceit; expecting, as has been said, that on the annual day of the commemoration of Lamachus, when the whole city was reveling ^B and falling asleep, he would rise up at night with the Bosporians and his own household, and set fire to the city, and slaughter everyone.

When, in the course of two years, the Bosporians had gathered to the number of two hundred in the house of Gycia, and the commemoration of Lamachus was now approaching, it happened that a maidservant of Gycia—a chambermaid, who was very dear to her—stumbled and, because of this, was excluded from her sight and locked away. And in the room where the maid was locked, the Bosporians were being fed underneath. As the maid sat spinning flax, it happened that the whorl ^C of her spindle fell and, rolling away, entered into a very deep hole by the wall. Rising to retrieve it, she saw it lying in the very deep hole; and being unable to pull it out because of the depth, she was forced to remove a brick from the floor next to the wall. Upon doing so, through the hole, she saw in the lower part of the house a multitude of men hidden there. Seeing them, she skillfully replaced the brick in its place, so as not to be discovered by those who were below, and secretly sent one of the other servants to her mistress, urging her to come to her, as she had something necessary to hear and to see. Gycia, moved by God, went to the maid. Having entered ^D alone into the room and closed the door, the maid fell at her feet and said: "Mistress, you have the power to treat your useless servant as you wish, yet I desire to show you, my mistress, something strange and extraordinary." Gycia said to her: "Speak without fear; show me what this is." The maid led her to the wall, skillfully lifted the brick, and said to her: "Look through the hole, mistress, at the crowd of Bosporians hidden below." Gycia saw them and, struck with amazement at the matter, said: "This plot is not an idle one." And she said to the maid: "How did you find this out?" The maid said: "Certainly, mistress, by the will of God, my spindle's whorl fell and, rolling, entered into the hole."

and because I was unable to lift it ^A I was forced to remove the floorboard, and then I saw them." And she ordered the maid to replace the floorboard neatly in its place; and she took hold of her, embraced her, and kissed her sincerely, and said to her: "Do not be afraid, child, your mistake is forgiven; for God willed that you should make a mistake, so that He might reveal the treachery to us. See to it, therefore, that you keep the matter safe with all your power, and do not dare to tell this to anyone at all." And from then on she kept her with her more than before, as she was a faithful servant.

And having called two of her kinsmen, who were very faithful to her, Gycia says to them in private: "Go ^A and gather among yourselves in secret the leading men and nobles of the city, and let them choose three faithful men who are able to keep a secret and carry out a task; and let all of them confirm to them under oath that they will also give me assurance regarding those things which I am going to ask them; and let them be sent to me in secret, for I have something necessary and useful to the city to entrust to them; only do quickly what I tell you." ^B And when her kinsmen had departed and had told these things to the leading men in secret, they immediately chose three men whom they knew to be faithful. And having all confirmed them with an oath—that if they should agree with Gycia to do or to give anything, they would not invalidate their words, but carry out to the end whatever was tasked to them by her—these men went to Gycia in secret. She received them and said to them: "Can you give me assurance under oath regarding the things I am about to ask you, that you will do them?" They said to her: "Yes, mistress, we are ready to assure you regarding what you are about to require of us, that your words will be brought to an end." Then Gycia says to them: ^C "Give me assurance, that if I die, you will bury me in the middle of the city, and I will tell you my secret; see, I am not asking for anything heavy for you." And the men, having heard this, with all eagerness gave her assurance under oath, saying: "If you die, we will bury you in the middle of the city, and we shall not take you outside the walls." And Gycia, being convinced by their oaths, says to them: "On the condition for which you have given me assurance, I now reveal my secret to you; for I wish you to know that my husband, having the innate evil of his city, that of treachery and envy against us, has secretly brought in a crowd of Bosporians, up to two hundred armed men, and is nursing them in my house without my knowing the matter; but God has now made it known to me through a pretext. He himself, therefore, has this plan, that, as he says, when I hold a feast for the city in memory of my father, and when you have feasted and have gone to sleep, he will rise ^D at night with the Bosporians and household servants who are with him, and set fire to your houses, and slaughter you all. See, therefore, the anniversary of my father's memory is now approaching, and it is necessary for me, according to my oath, to provide for you the things for the feast, and I am ready to provide everything prepared. I wish you, therefore, all to run and ask and receive everything gladly, so that he may not in any way perceive that we have discovered the matter, and some internal war arise. Therefore, celebrate the feast publicly, as is the custom, but with moderation; and carry on with dances in the squares, while each of you appears to be preparing in your houses wood, supplies, and solid torches, so that, seeing me decline the feast and the dances, he may think you are going away to rest."

My memory of my father, and indeed it is necessary to give you an oath, according to my custom, concerning the festivities; for I have everything ready. Be ready, then, all of you, to run forth rejoicing, and to seek and to receive everything eagerly, so that he may not yet discern that we have discovered the matter, and a civil war suddenly arise. Desire, therefore, to rejoice publicly according to custom, but with moderation, and to dance in the squares; and let each of you prepare in your houses wood, and supplies, and dry torches, to honor those who hate our festivities, and to depart for your rest; ^B and as I for my part shall have finished more quickly, and command my gates to be secured, you, immediately and in great silence, with your servants and your 84 maidservants, bringing all your household, place the wood, and supplies, and torches at my gates and in the gate-houses, and around the whole house, pouring oil upon the wood so that it may catch more quickly; and when I come out and speak to you, immediately take the fire; and you, stand by in arms around the house, so that wherever you see any jumping out of the house through a window, you may slaughter them. Go, therefore, and recount this mystery and prepare everything that I have ordered." Having heard this from these three men, the citizens did everything in short order according to the word of Gycia. ^C When the day of the memorial had dawned, Gycia, as if rejoicing, sent for the men of the city, urging them to receive the provisions for the festivities; her husband also ran to this, and exhorted that more wine be given to them for the festivity. The citizens, gladly accepting everything, rejoiced as they had been instructed, and danced throughout the entire day. But when evening came, the citizens began to loathe the festivities and to depart to their houses to rest, and they rejoiced with all their households. And Gycia in her house, urging all her own to drink fearlessly, so that they might get drunk and fall asleep more quickly, ordered only her chambermaids to remain sober, and she herself kept from the wine. For having found a purple cup, she gave it to her chambermaid who knew the matter, and ordered her to mix wine in it with water; but her husband, seeing the purple cup, did not suspect that she was drinking it with water. ^D When the evening had arrived, and the citizens, as I have just said, had loathed the festivities, Gycia says to her husband, "Since we have rejoiced, come, let us now go and rest." And her husband, having heard this, was all the more glad, and fell to sleeping; for he could not have said this on his own, lest he give his wife the suspicion of the plot he was planning.

Gycia therefore commands the gates and small doors to be secured, and for the keys to be brought to her according to custom; and this having been done, she says secretly to her faithful chambermaid who knew the plot: "Be willing, together with the other chambermaids, to cleverly take up all my ornaments and the gold, and whatever useful things you are able to take into your bosoms 85, and prepare yourselves, so that when I tell you, you may follow me." And they, having done according to her command, were ready. And the husband—

having ^A been laid to rest, delayed sleeping until the whole household had fallen asleep; and when she saw her husband overcome by much wine and sleeping, she quietly locked the bedchamber with the key, shutting the man inside, and having gone down from the house with her handmaidens, and having gone out of the postern gates quietly, and closed them, she immediately commanded the people of the city to cast fire around the house with all speed. And the fire having been cast, and the house set ablaze, if any of those who were inside were able to leap out, or to throw themselves out, they were slaughtered by the citizens. And the whole house and everything in it having been burned to the ground, God saved the city of the Chersonites from the plotting Bosporians. But Gycia, when the citizens wished to rebuild her house which had been burned down, and to clear the place for construction, did not allow it; but rather she permitted the whole city, each of those among them, to bring and pour out there all their filth, so that her entire home—which had become a place for a plot against the city—might be buried in it; wherefore the place is called “Lamachos’ Lookout” to this day. ^B All these things having come to pass, the Chersonites, seeing such an infinite service rendered to them by Gycia after God, and that she spared none of her own possessions at all, but preferred the salvation of the city, in return for such a recompense they erected two bronze statues in honor of her in the plaza of the city, representing her as a young woman in her prime, at the time when these things were happening, thereby showing her unspeakable kindness and affection toward the citizens, that even in her youth she had the prudence to save her own fatherland after God. For on the one hand, on one column they placed her adorned modestly, and showing the plot of her own husband to the citizens; on the other hand, in the second they represented her in a competitive stance, defending against the plotters of the city; on which they also inscribed on the base of her statue all the service rendered by her to the citizens after God. If anyone happens to be a lover of beauty, he constantly cleans the base of it from time to time, for the reading and reminder of what was done by her, and as a reproach to the plotting Bosporians. After some years, with Stratophilos, son of Philomousos, holding the principate and presiding over the Chersonites, Gycia, being very wise, and wishing to test the Chersonites, and to know if they were truly going to fulfill the promise of the oath, and to bury her in the midst of the city, having deliberated with her handmaidens, made herself out to be ailing and dying; and the handmaidens having prepared her for burial, informed the citizens, saying: “Our mistress has died, and you must show us in what place she is to be buried.” The Chersonites, having heard that Gycia was dead, having deliberated among themselves, no longer hastened to fulfill what was sufficient for the oath, so that she should be buried in the midst of the city, but taking her up, they carried her out of the city ^D to bury her there. And when the bier had already been lowered at the monument, rising up, and looking about at all the citizens, she said, “Is this the faith you gave with an oath? Are you such truth-tellers in all things? Alas for what follows—

for they did not possess it natively, having fallen away from divine glory and become darkness instead of light. Or it is clear that just as the divine power used Balaam as a minister for the prophecy of that time, and at other times used others who were often unworthy of the matter, according to a certain wise and resourceful dispensation; so too now, the power present in the divine icon made use of the demon. And for this reason, it manifested beforehand the things that would come to pass shortly after. But since this event occurred in the meantime, it is perhaps not unseasonable to make mention of it. But let us proceed to the matters that follow in the narrative.

XXVIII.

[The text begins, continuing from the preceding page]:

^A all the Chersonite ships, and they shall seize the cargo and the ships, and bind the men and imprison them in public dungeons, and bring them to trial for these matters, even as they may think fit. In addition to these things, the royal commanders shall also forbid the Paphlagonian and Buccellarian ships and those sailing along the coast of the Euxine from crossing over to Cherson with grain, or wine, or any necessity or goods whatever. After this, the governor must also cut off the ten pounds given from the public treasury to the fortress of Cherson, and the two pounds [due] by pact, and at that point the governor shall depart from Cherson, and go away to another fortress, and take up his residence there. For if the Chersonites do not travel into Romania, and sell their hides and the wax which they trade from the Pechenegs, they cannot survive. For if grain is not carried over from Amisus and from Paphlagonia, and from the Buccellarians, and from those located in the Armeniac regions, the Chersonites cannot survive.

ANSELM BANDURI’S NOTES

(93) As in the printed editions. The manuscript code has "as they think fit." (94) Wax; in more recent Greek, *cera*. See Du Cange’s *Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Graecitatis*.

The *Life of Basil the Macedonian and Leo the Wise* by Constantine Porphyrogenitus exists in volume CIX of our *Patrologia*, col. 226 sqq.; his liturgical prayers, among the works of Leo, volume CVII, col. 299.

ON THE SUBSEQUENT NARRATION

OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE IMAGE OF EDESSA TO CONSTANTINOPLE

PROLOGUE

Various writings are attributed to Constantine, which bibliographers enumerate. We have decided to present his Narration concerning the image of Christ of Edessa, which Combefis edited in his *Origines Rerum Constantinopolitanarum*, page 75. However, there is not one opinion among the learned concerning its author and parentage. Lipomannus and Baronius (a) attribute it to Constantine the son of Romanus: yet Combefis in his preface to that work, Hanckius (b), and Pagi (c) refute them. Almost all others ascribe it to Constantine the father. What I myself think will become clear from my following observations.

The author in section 22 writes that in the year 6452 [944 A.D.], the Emir of Edessa had finally decided to transmit that image to the Emperor at Constantinople under certain conditions. This was the year of Christ 944, in which Porphyrogenitus had already been reigning by rights of history for a long time. But at section 27 we read that, as the image was already approaching, a certain demoniac cried out: "Receive, city of Constantine, brightness and joy; and you, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, your empire." These words sufficiently show that this happened before the year 919, nor can they be understood as if the sense were that Lecapenus should be removed from the scene and that Constantine alone ought to reign. For in section 31, the author says that that image raised the emperor to his ancestral and paternal throne. Furthermore, in section 28, he asserts that only the younger emperors went out to meet the image: for the senior [emperor], because he...

lacked the strength, had remained at home. He also says in number 27 that the prophecies of the possessed man were fulfilled shortly after the event. These things abundantly show that an inextricable contradiction is found in that narrative, unless we say that there is a mistake in the year. But if we assert that the translation occurred not under Constantine himself administering the empire in person, but under his uncle Alexander—although the author certainly wrote while the Porphyrogenitus was reigning, as is clear from the fact that he asserts in number 27 that many witnesses of the possessed man's words exist, and that they were fulfilled shortly after the event—from this it is also inferred that another person, not the emperor himself, is the author of the narrative: which appears more clearly from the end of the narrative: "Guard him who piously and gently rules over us, and celebrates the memory of your arrival."

OF CONSTANTINE IN CHRIST, KING OF THE ROMANS, THE PORPHYROGENITUS

NARRATIVE collected from various histories concerning the divine image of Christ our God, not made by hands, sent to Abgar; and how it was transferred from Edessa to this most blessed and imperial city, Constantinople.

1. Not only was the Word, God, coeternal with the Father, beyond all comprehension, but also almost all, or indeed all, of his works are covered by the same fog of incomprehensibility. Nor only those which he established in the creation of this universe, but also those which, in the assumption of the performance of the dispensation of the mass of our nature, he performed by that primary and singular power of his deity, while associating with us. Therefore, it is entirely worth the effort, that he who does not ignore himself, and knows that he does not know the things that are above his capacity, should not boast immeasurably, nor walk foolishly through the void, nor contend that he knows all things, or that there are no things which escape the power of his comprehension. Therefore, regarding this imprinted form of the God-Man, which was imprinted without a painter by the beyond-nature will of the one being seen, the cloth of which received it, and was then sent to Abgar for his healing, but now, by the absolute providence of God, has been transferred from Edessa to this reigning city of cities, for its salvation and protection, so that it may not seem to lack any of the good things, in

which it is fitting that it should hold the primacy and dominate all others. I consider it worthwhile that the religious and justice-loving auditor and spectator should diligently learn the history of each individual event, and strive to receive the knowledge of that ancient narrative, pure and devoid of any falsification. But let him leave to the wisdom of God—which no one can sufficiently attain—the reason for how, exactly, out of a moist drop, without pigments or the art of painting, the form of the face was impressed upon the linen cloth, and by what manner a substance so fragile was nonetheless for so long a time insusceptible to any corruption or decay; as well as whatever other matters one who naturally searches into things is accustomed to investigate with diligence. For let him know that if anyone struggles to grasp all things perfectly with the blade of the mind, he will fall into the abyss of complete ignorance and be overwhelmed by the gulf of incomprehension and stupor, losing the principal things so as not to seem to concede anything in those which are lesser. As many of you, therefore, as are more fervent in the right faith and in zeal have gathered here, come, listen, and I shall relate to you those things which, having investigated each point with the necessary examination and having not spent my time idly in the search for truth, I have finally succeeded in obtaining and learning, both from those who have written historical accounts and from those who have come to us from there and the parts of Syria, professing that these secret memories are preserved among them.

^B II. When our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ came to us for the restoration of our race, there was, according to the prophetic voice, an abundance of peace on earth, and the rule of many had been scattered, since the Roman empire bound the whole world like a single girdle, and all was ordered under one ruler. For this reason, there was an unhindered intercourse between all men and towards all others, and it did not appear that men inhabited the earth in a divided manner, but as the possession of one Master, and as though they were cultivating the property and realm of one Lord—all the more so since it had been founded by that One Himself. And by bowing their necks to the first Master, they lived in peace with one another. Therefore, even Augarus, the toparch of Edessa at that time, was a friend and acquaintance of the governor of Egypt; for the ministers of both sides were in the habit of traveling between them. Whence it also happened, at that time when our Lord and God, fulfilling the Father’s will, was setting forth the saving doctrine to men and, through supernatural and miraculous wonders, compelling ^D the hearts of men to faith in Him, that one of Augarus’s servants, named Ananias, while traveling to Egypt through Palestine, encountered Christ and beheld from afar Him who was drawing the crowds away from the words of error and performing wonders that exceeded every belief. When, therefore, he had completed his journey to Egypt and had discussed the matters with which he had been entrusted, he turned back to the Lord. As he was being consumed by a long-standing wasting away of an articular disease.

^A and by a black leprosy, he was suffering a double, or rather a manifold, calamity; for he was afflicted by the pains in his joints and distressed by the evils of the leprosy. Furthermore, there was the shame of his deformity, because of which he was almost never seen by anyone. He did not merely spend most of his time bedridden, but he even hid himself from those friends who came to visit him, out of shame. For this reason, on his return journey, he was anxious to gain a more accurate understanding of these same things, so that he might be able to report them with certainty to his master, in the hope that he too might be deemed worthy of healing through Him. And so he found the Lord again doing the same things: raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, ^B showing those who were lame to be sound, and strengthening all who were suffering from any infirmity whatsoever.

III. Having gained certainty, therefore, and having perceived clearly that these were the works of the Lord’s power, when he returned to his home and his country, he reported to Abgar, and set forth in detail everything he had seen and heard. Wherefore, as one who had performed a greater task as an incidental work, and as a harbinger of good news to him, he was deemed worthy of the appropriate reception and was recognized as one of the most benevolent of his servants. And since a person afflicted with illness always seizes upon a promise of relief as a treasure, as his narration and the hope it offered excited the man, he eagerly urged him to set out to hunt down the person mentioned. And Abgar, in addition to sending for him by letter, ^C bestirred himself to set out toward him who was said to be able to heal such things. And immediately he wrote to the Lord the letter that is everywhere circulated, containing these words:

IV. Abgar, the toparch of Edessa, to Jesus, the good Savior who has appeared in the city of Jerusalem, greeting. It has reached my ears concerning you and your healings, how they are performed by you without medicines or herbs. For the report says that you make the blind to see, the lame to walk, that you cleanse lepers, cast out unclean spirits and demons, heal those who are tormented by long-standing diseases, and raise the dead. ^D Having heard all these things about you, I concluded one of two things: either that you are God, having descended from heaven to do these things, or that you are the Son of God performing these things. Therefore, I write to you, requesting that you take the trouble to come to me, and heal the affliction from which I suffer. For I have also heard that the Jews murmur against you and wish to do you harm. My city is very small, but noble, and it shall be sufficient for both of us to live in it in peace.

V. Since, therefore, Ananias had provided clear proofs of his goodwill toward his master, and was experienced in the journey, and possessed the art of painting, [E] through him he sent this letter to Jesus, charging him that if he were unable to persuade Him by the letter to come to him, he should at least...

^A bring to him an accurate likeness of His form depicted on a tablet, so that he might be instructed, if only as by a shadow, not by hearing alone, but also by sight, who He is who is the author of such great and mighty wonders. And when the messenger had arrived in Judea, he found the Lord in the open air, discoursing with the crowd that had flocked together, and performing most extraordinary miracles. And because of the multitude of those who had come for various other needs, ^B Ananias was not able to approach Jesus, so he went up on a rock a little elevated from the ground, not far from the place where the Lord was staying, and sat down. And as the Savior was visible to him, separated from the crowd and standing above the many, he immediately fixed his eyes upon Him, and his hand upon the parchment, and began to draw the likeness of what he saw with his brush.

VI. Jesus, therefore, knowing this in His spirit, called Thomas and said, "Go to that place, and bring to me the man sitting on the rock and painting my form, along with the letter which he brought from home, so that I may fulfill the command which he received from the one who sent him." Thomas went, and recognizing Ananias from what he had heard he was doing, he brought him to Jesus. And before he received the letter from him, Christ spoke to him of the reason for his coming to Him, and of the power of the letter. Then, taking it and reading it, He sent back another letter to Abgar reading word for word as follows:

VII. "Blessed are you, Abgar, who have believed in me, though you have not seen me. For it is written concerning me, that those who have seen me will not believe in me, so that those who have not seen me may believe and live. As for what you have written to me, asking me to come to you, it is necessary for me to fulfill all things here for which I have been sent, and after fulfilling them, to be taken up to the Father who sent me. And when I have been taken up, I will send you one of my disciples, who will heal your suffering, and will grant eternal life and peace to you and to those with you, and will make your city sufficient, so that no enemy may prevail against it."

VIII. Christ, therefore, having given such a letter to Ananias, since He knew that he was anxious and concerned about fulfilling the other command ^D of his master—that is, to bring to him the likeness of His form—the Savior washed His face with water, and then, wiping the moisture from it with the towel handed to Him, by a divine plan beyond reason, He caused His own character to be imprinted upon it. Having given this to Ananias, He commanded that it be delivered to Abgar, so that it might be a comfort for his longing and a remedy for his disease. Laden with these, Ananias arrived at the city of Hierapolis, which by the Saracens—

is called Memmich, and in that of the Syrians Mabuc—he broke his journey outside that town, where a pile of recently fired tiles lay, and there Ananias hid that sacred cloth. Around midnight, a great fire appeared, enveloping the place in such a way that those in the city thought everything around was being consumed by flames; and fearing for themselves, they rushed out to investigate the fire, the terrifying sight of which had been set before them. Finding Ananias there, they detained him as the author of this daring act, and interrogated him as to what this was about, who he was, where he was going, and from where he had set out.

^B When Ananias was perplexed by the strangeness of their demand, he finally disclosed where he was from, where he was going, and what he was carrying; and he revealed that he had deposited his burden among the tiles, from which the fire had seemed to ignite. Immediately, those who wished to ascertain the truth of what was said searched the place, and they found not only what had been stored there by Ananias, but also, on a nearby tile, another impression of the divine image, which had miraculously and beyond understanding been transferred onto the shard from the unpainted image on the cloth. Seeing this, they were filled with both awe and amazement; and for this reason, and because no fire was found burning anywhere, but the flame had seemed to be emitted from the radiance of the image, they kept the tile which had taken the divine impression unto itself, as a kind of sacred heirloom and precious treasure, conjecturing the divine power surrounding it from what they had seen. But fearing to detain the original and its messenger, they sent them on to Abgar. ^C And even now, the image on the tile is preserved and honored by the inhabitants of that city—the image of the unpainted image, and the uncreated of the uncreated. Having completed the journey set before him, Ananias explained to his lord the events that had occurred in the interim, and delivered the saving symbols he was carrying.

^D X. This, then, is the account told by the majority concerning that unpainted image of our Savior on the cloth. There is, however, another story told about this, which neither lacks plausibility nor is wanting in reputable witnesses. I shall set this forth, so that no one might suppose that, in being ignorant of it, I am reinforcing the other. And indeed, it is not at all surprising that in such a length of time history should often go astray. On the essence of the matter, all agree alike and confess that the image was miraculously impressed on the cloth from the face of the Lord. But as to the circumstances of the event, or rather the 8 time, they differ.

^A

XI. When Christ was about to go to suffer death voluntarily, showing forth the human nature within Him, accompanied by the anguish of death, and was poured out in prayer—at the time when the Gospel narrative notes that His sweat trickled down like drops of blood—they say that He took a piece of the cloth which we now see, ^B having received it from one of the disciples, and wiped away the drops of sweat upon it. And immediately this divine-seeming impression, which is seen today, was miraculously engraved upon it. Entrusting this to Thomas, He gave orders that after His ascent into heaven, he should send it to Abgar by the hand of Thaddaeus, that the promise made through the letters might be fulfilled. After, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ was taken up into the heavens, Thomas gave Thaddaeus the non-manufactured image of the Lord’s face and sent him off to Abgar.

XII. Thaddaeus, therefore, arrived at Edessa and first stayed with one of the Jews there, by the name of Tobias. ^C And before he spoke any words, desiring to make himself known to Abgar by his deeds, the disciple of Christ healed those of the city who were ill by the mere invocation of Christ’s name. Wherefore, Christ’s fame having been spread abroad (as is the wont to happen in such cases; for wondrous and unheard-of things have many to report them), the rumor of the arrival of Christ’s apostle even reached Abgar through one of his own nobles, named Amdus. Reasoning, therefore, immediately owing to the hope that lay within him, that this was he whom Jesus had promised in the letter He would send to him, and having learned more perfectly from him concerning Thaddaeus, he gave orders for him to be brought to him. Tobias, therefore, came and made these things known to the Apostle; and he, having said that he had been sent to him in power, arrived the next day before Abgar. ^D As he was about to appear before him in person, having raised the image up upon his own forehead as a sign, in this manner he entered in to Abgar. Seeing him from afar as he approached, Abgar seemed to see a light more excellent than sight flashing forth from his face, which the image placed upon him emitted. Wherefore, struck with awe by the greatness of the flashing radiance, and as if having fallen into forgetfulness of the circumstances surrounding him and of the long-standing weakness of his limbs, he jumped suddenly from his couch and was impelled to run. He suffered the same passion upon meeting him as that which those had suffered in another manner who beheld the flashing form on Mount Tabor.

XIII. Having, therefore, received such an image from the apostle, and having reverently placed it upon his head, and upon his eyes and lips, and indeed leaving no other part of his body deprived of such a contact, he knew immediately the members

^A all miraculously recovering and receiving a change for the better. The leprosy was being cleansed and fleeing, although a small remnant of it still remained upon his forehead. Instructed, therefore, by the Apostle more clearly at that time in the doctrine of the truth, and concerning the strange miracles of Christ, and His divine sufferings, and burial, and resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into the heavens; and having confessed Christ to be the true God, he inquired about the impression of His form upon the linen, since, after he had examined it more accurately, he knew that it did not have its constitution through material pigments, and he was amazed at the power within it, by which he had miraculously leapt up from his bed and was numbered among those in health. To these things Thaddeus explained the time of the agony, and the colorless formation from the sweat, and the story of the Lord's arrival to him, and all other ^B things that the preceding history has declared.

XIV. When, therefore, from these things likewise, and from the laying on of the hands of the Apostle in the name of Jesus Christ, the force and feeling of the pains had fled, and the relaxed members were as if braced, and the deformity of his face was vanishing, and all things were proceeding toward health, Abgarus, being stunned by the admiration of so great a thing from every side, said: "In truth, you are a disciple of Jesus, the Son of God, who healed without medicines and herbs. And I am bound to Him with such affection and faith that, if it were permitted by the eminent power of the Roman empire, by which it is forbidden for subjects to challenge one another to war, to move ^C war, perchance I would have taken up arms against the Jews who placed the cross upon the Lord, and would have subdued them to myself. But now, since I have also been taught that His passion was voluntary, and I am certain that, had He not willed it, the wicked mob would never have subjected Him to themselves, I seek and dispute no further. I only ask to be purified by divine baptism, and to enter, with my whole family, into the rights of Christ’s kin, and to dedicate myself to Him." And so, after many miracles had been performed first by the Apostle of the Lord, and all had been healed of the sicknesses with which they were laboring—among whom was also the one who first brought the report about Him to Abgarus, whom he had liberated from the affliction of gout, and who was the herald of the gift—the Apostle of Christ, when he had taken care of these things, brought Abgarus to the ^D divine font. And having performed the customary rites upon him, he baptized him and his wife and his children, and all who were in his house. And he came forth from this divine water of purification entirely clean and healthy, the small remnant of the leprosy that had remained upon his forehead having been suddenly wiped away.

XV. From this it came about that the ruler, who existed as a venerator and worshiper of such an image of the Lord’s form in all ways, added this also to his other devotion. For a statue of one of the Greek gods of the ancient citizens and settlers of Edessa had been erected before the public gate of the city, to which it was necessary [to pay] cult.

^A And so, Augarus at that time took it down and delivered it to destruction; and in the place of its station, he affixed to a board this image of our Lord Jesus Christ, not made by hands, and having adorned it with the gold that is now visible, he raised it up, having inscribed upon the gold these words: "Christ God, he who hopes in Thee shall never be disappointed." And he decreed that everyone intending to pass through that gate should, instead of that old, useless, and profitless statue, render the proper reverence and the owed adoration and honor to the much-admired, wonder-working image of Christ, and thus enter into the city of Edessa. And such a precedent and offering of the man's piety was preserved as long as Augarus himself and his son remained alive; for he who was the successor to the kingdom and the piety of his father survived. But their son and grandson, ^B while he became the successor to the governance of his father and grandfather, did not become the heir to their piety; but rather he kicked out, so to speak, at piety and deserted to the demons and the idols. Wherefore, as if to pay back the demons in turn, he desired, since his grandfather had delivered that idolatrous statue to destruction, to visit the same doom upon the image of the Lord. Yet the guileful man did not succeed in his hunt. For the bishop of the place, having foreseen this, took the necessary precautions; and because the place where the image was placed retained the form of a cylindrical hemisphere, having lit a lamp before the image and placed a tile in front, and then having blocked the circumference of the location from the outside with lime and fired bricks, he rendered that part into a flat surface, and the form being snatched away from sight, the impious man desisted from his plan and molestation. And I suspect that the tile was placed by the priest before the image so that, from the mold of the building and the dampness of the lime, no decay might occur in the receptacle of the image, and it might not receive damage through the passage of time. ^{C D} XVI. Much time had meanwhile flowed by in a long series of years, and the memory of men had slipped away, both as to when this sacred image was erected and when it was hidden. When therefore in his own times Chosroes, King of the Persians, while plundering the cities of Asia, arrived also at Edessa, and having pitched a rampart before it, he set every engine in motion, and every tool suitable for the capture of a city he made ready; he fashioned everything for the hurling of missiles, the shaking of walls, and the breaching of gates. The Edessenes, having been brought into such great danger, were thinking seriously about how they might defend themselves and deploy their battle-line, and they sent envoys to the Roman commanders, by whom they were allied

^A with the Roman troops at that time. But Heliodorus, the commander of the Roman troops then present, being himself also hard-pressed by the enemy, was unable to send reinforcements to the citizens of Edessa. Yet by his letters he encouraged them, reminding them of the Lord's epistle and of the unerring promise therein, by which the city is both said—and believed—to remain unsacked. The Persians, meanwhile, alongside their open assault, were also devising secret schemes. Having begun digging from afar, they plotted to penetrate inside the city by means of underground tunnels. And as they were, so to speak, underwater swimmers and divers beneath the wall, they were nonetheless detected by the residents inside the wall for the following reason... there was a coppersmith who had a house within the walls, where the bronze vessels hanging in his home made a sound as the Persians below ground were digging ^B and hauling out the earth. The citizens, therefore, finding themselves in helplessness and utter despair, take refuge in God, and with heartfelt pain and tears sought Him. Then, during the night, a woman of dignified and venerable appearance, more than human in greatness, appears to the bishop (this was Eulalius), suggesting that he take the icon of Christ made without hands, and perform a supplication with it, that the Lord might surely demonstrate His wonders. The bishop said that he was completely ignorant as to whether such an icon existed at all, either among them or elsewhere. Then the figure, appearing in the guise of a woman, says to him that such an icon is hidden ^C in that place above the city gate in such a way.

XVII. In the morning, therefore, the bishop, trusting in the clarity of the vision, came with a procession to the place, and upon searching, he found this divine icon intact, and the wick that had not been extinguished in so many years. And upon the tile set for protection in front of the lamp, another likeness of the likeness had been imprinted, which ^D remains in Edessa to this day. Having taken into his hands this divine image of Christ the God-man, and becoming bold with hope, he heads to the place where the Persians, digging from the sound of the copper vessels, had been caught. And as the citizens themselves moved against them from the inside and they collided with one another, having dripped oil from that lamp into the fire that had been prepared for the enemy, and having sent it down upon the Persians in the tunnel, they destroyed them all. And being delivered from this treachery, they applied a like attempt to the engines placed outside the walls, and suddenly burned these down as well. And they consumed many of the enemy who were in them. Now having taken heart, they made frequent castings of stones from the walls, by which it came to pass that the commander of the wicked army fell and

^A many others with him. And not only this, but the virtue of the allied divine image kindly assisted those who were being set aflame from without by the Persians against the fire within, which was being fed by an infinite mass of oil and many trees that had fallen; for as Eulalius, unfolding it from above with his own hands from the wall, made the circuit of the city, when he arrived at that place, a violent wind suddenly arose, and turned the flame back against those who were lighting such a conflagration; and it pursued and burned them, just as it had the Chaldeans of old.

XVIII.

XIX.

he turned his mind toward negotiations; and having struck a treaty of peace, he returned to his own lands.

^A XX. But even he was soon to receive a benefit from this sacred image, which was the benefactress of his enemies and the destroyer of his own [soldiers]. For his

promise to give them in exchange for the sacred image—which the Lord had written with His own hand—two hundred Saracens and two myriads of coined silver, was countered by the people of Edessa, who said that it was not profitable for them to exchange the guardian and protector of their own city for silver and mortal men.

^B XXII. The petitions were often repeated and as often repulsed, until at last, in the year 6452 from the creation of the world, the Emir of Edessa sent messengers, demanding that the Emperor guarantee by a written security, confirmed with a golden seal, that the Roman forces would not henceforth invade these four cities—namely Rochan (which is what the barbarian tongue calls Edessa), Charan, Sarate, and Samosata—nor plunder their fields, nor carry off captives from their inhabitants. He also demanded that the two hundred Saracens of the same tribe be released, that the previously promised quantity of silver be paid, and that the Emperor then return the sought-after image and the letter of Christ.

XXIII. The Emperor, in his desire for so great a good, readily agreed to all these proposals, and bestowing munificently what was requested, he sent the most religious Abramius, the bishop of Samosata—who was at that time staying in Byzantium—to receive the divine image and the letter of Christ our God. Both the sender and the one who served in this ministry took care that no fraud might be introduced in the delivering of the sacred pledge, and that instead of the true, unmanufactured image, they might not be given one that had been copied from it at that time on account of the pressing Persian necessity. Therefore, he sought and received both these, as well as a third one which was venerated in the Nestorian church (which itself, as is probable, had been copied from that first exemplar), in order to confirm the truth of the matter; these were afterwards returned, with only the one that was authentic and true being retained.

^C XXIV. But this is later. At that time, a sedition was stirred up by the faithful in Edessa, and a frequent clamor occupied the city, as they could not bear to have the most precious pledges removed—those upon which the salvation and safety of their homeland depended—until the leader of the Saracens, by persuading some, compelling others by force, and frightening others with threats of slaughter, managed to have it delivered to him. ^D When, however, thunders and lightnings with an immense intensity of rain suddenly broke forth by some skill or providence, at the very moment when the sacred image and the letter of Christ were to be taken out of Edessa, those who had previously been resisting rose up again, and claimed that the Divinity was signaling through that portent that it was not by the divine will that these most holy pledges were moving away from there. But the Saracen...

leader, under whose authority everything lay, judged it necessary to abide by the agreements and fulfill the promise. Thus, the most precious likeness and the letter written by Christ’s hand departed the city and were transported to these parts.

XXV. When those bearing these objects had finished their journey and reached the banks of the Euphrates, another disturbance arose, no less than the previous ones; for the people of Edessa cried out that unless some sign were shown from heaven, they would not let go of the keepers of their safety, come what may. And so, a sign was given to them, as they were faithless and testing [the situation]. For the ship in which they were to cross the Euphrates, while it still stood on the shore toward the parts of Syria, as soon as the bishops carrying the divine image and the letter had stepped into it while the storm of sedition still gripped the agitators, it immediately, without a rower, without a helmsman, and without being towed, set off and reached the opposite bank, steered solely by the divine will. This event filled all who were present and saw it with astonishment and wonder, and persuaded them willingly to allow the departure of the sacred pledges.

^B XXVI. From there, those who were the ministers of the holy burden arrived at Samosata. There were the bishop of Samosata and of Edessa, the first of his presbyters, and other pious Christians, and with them also came the emir’s minister, who was called "the Roman." After they had spent a few days there, having performed many miracles at the site of the sacred pledges, they continued their journey. During the course of the journey, again, countless miracles were wrought by the holy image and the letter of Christ: the blind were suddenly gifted with sight, the lame were shown to be sound, those long bedridden leaped up, and those whose hands were withered went forth with vigorous strength. To sum it up, every disease and infirmity was put to flight; and those who were healed glorified God and praised His wonders.

XXVII. Now, having nearly completed the journey, they arrived at the monastery of the Holy Theotokos, which is also called the house of Eusebius, situated in the theme called that of the Optimates. In the temple of this monastery, the chest containing the wonder-working image was piously and religiously deposited. Many who approached with sincere hearts were healed of their diseases. There also came one possessed by a demon, which the wicked spirit used as an instrument, uttering many things in praise of the image and the letter; just as spirits of the same kind once said to the Lord: "We know who you are, the holy one of Israel." Finally, he delivered this prophecy: "Receive, city of Constantine, brightness and joy; and you, Constantine Porphyrogennetos, your empire." ^D When he had said this, the man was healed and immediately released from the vexation of the demon. Many, however, of these words...

For since the emperor had sent the first men of the council of state to honor and meet the object of their desire, and many of the imperial guard had gone out with them, it came to pass that the magistri and patricians, along with those of lower rank, heard these things and were witnesses to them. And since the things that were spoken received their fulfillment so quickly, it is worth asking whence the demon obtained this foreknowledge. For they are not believed to possess this by themselves, having slipped away from the divine glory and become darkness instead of light. Or is it plain that, just as the divine power made use of Balaam as a minister for the prophecy of that time—and often used others on other occasions who were not worthy of the matter—for some wise and ingenious dispensation, so too [now] the power in the divine image made use of the demon? And for this reason it revealed what was to come to pass shortly thereafter. But perhaps it is not untimely to have mentioned this, since it happened in the meanwhile. Let us now move on to the next parts of the narrative. ^B

XXVIII. On the fifteenth day of the month of August, when the emperors were, as usual, celebrating the feast of the Translation of the Ever-Virgin and Mother of God, Mary, in her most venerable temple which is in the Blachernae, the ministers of these holy relics arrived there at high dusk, and they placed the chest containing the image and the letter in the upper oratory of that same holy temple. And the emperors, approaching, reverently venerated it, fixing their gaze upon it from without. Then, with honor and imperial guard and many lamps, they carried it to the imperial trireme, and with it they reached the palace. And in the holy temple that is there, which is called the Pharos (perhaps because it is adorned in an extraordinary way, like a shining garment), they deposited it. ^C

On the following day, which was the sixteenth of the month, having again performed their greeting and veneration with awe and piety, the priests and the younger emperors (for the elder, because his strength was failing, had been left at home) took it from there. With psalms and hymns, and a profusion of light, they made their way down to the sea, and, having again placed it on the imperial trireme, they navigated along the very edge of the city, so that by this sea journey it might in some way protect the city. They anchored outside the city wall that lies to the west, where, having disembarked from the ship, the emperors themselves, all the senate, and the chief of the sacred rites, together with the whole assembly of the Church, proceeded on foot. With the appropriate imperial escort, they conveyed that vessel containing the most holy and venerable relics, as if it were another ark—or rather, something even greater than an ark. Having traveled outside the walls as far as the Golden Gate, and then entering into the city from there, with the loud sound of psalms and canticles and spiritual songs, and with dancing, and the infinite light of lamps, ^D and the gathering of the whole populace, [they performed] the procession.

They pursued their journey through the middle of the city, believing that for this reason the city would partake of sanctification and superior strength, and would be kept unharmed and impregnable for ever. ^A As the idle crowd hurried to the sight, and the people, like long waves, surged and streamed from every side, a certain man, long since paralyzed and infirm, leaning on his own servants, stood up to see the divine image passing by. And upon seeing it, he was miraculously healed, and recognizing that the joints of his feet had been strengthened, he ran up walking on his own feet, and kissed the chest of the image, and glorified God, relating the miracle that had happened to him. All who were present, having seen and heard his words, sent up glory to the God who is above all, who always does marvelous and extraordinary things.

XXIX. Moreover, such a shedding of tears for joy, such prayers and entreaties to God and acts of thanksgiving took place from the whole city as the divine image and the venerable letter passed through the middle of the city, that it cannot be expressed in words, for hearing is far inferior to sight itself. For it is better to see excellent things than to hear of them, since speech is usually less than the dignity of the events. When, therefore, those who were the leaders of this procession had reached the forum which is before the Augusteum, and had turned a little to the left from the straight path, they came to the most celebrated sacred temple of the Wisdom of God, ^B and placed the venerable image and the letter within the adyta of the propitiatory.

XXX. Here, when the whole assembly of the church had worshipped and paid the honor and reverence that was fitting, those who were carrying the sacred burden went out from there again and, having arrived at the royal palace, they placed the divine image for a time in the golden triclinium, as they call it, upon the royal throne where they are accustomed to deliberate on the most important matters. They did this believing, not without reason, that the imperial throne itself must be entirely imbued with that holiness, and that it would thus provide abundantly both justice and gentleness to those sitting upon it. ^D When an intense and long prayer had been offered according to custom, and it was completed, the divine image was then again taken up and was dedicated and deposited in the aforementioned temple of the Pharos, on the right side facing the east, for the glory of the faithful, for the protection of the emperors, and for the security and safety of the whole city and the estate of the Christians.

XXXI. But, O divine likeness of the unchangeable likeness of the Father! O figure of Him who is the figure of the Paternal substance! O venerable and entirely honorable seal of the archetype of the beauty of Christ our God! (for as with a living being I faithfully converse with you), save

and guard ever the one who rules us piously and gently, and who celebrates the memory of your arrival brilliantly; whom by your presence you have elevated to his ancestral and paternal throne. Preserve his offspring unharmed for the succession of his lineage, and for the perpetuity of his scepter. Grant to the state a peaceful condition. Keep this queen of cities unconquered. And grant that we, being pleasing to your archetype, Christ our God, may be received into his heavenly kingdom, singing glory to him and praising him, for to him is due glory and adoration unto the ages of ages. Amen.

OF LEO AND CONSTANTINE, EMPERORS OF THE ROMANS, COMPENDIOUS SELECTION OF LAWS.

EDITOR'S NOTE.

SELECTION OF LAWS IN COMPENDIUM

PREFACE.

^A For God, who foretold both, whose decree in power possesses irrevocability, and who measures out rewards to each person’s work according to the Gospel saying, shall not pass away. Since, therefore, he entrusted to us the power of the empire, as he was pleased to do, he made this a token of our fear and love toward him; and as Peter, the supreme pinnacle of the apostles, commanded us to shepherd his most faithful flock, we recognize that there is no return more fitting or greater we can offer him than the government, in judgment and justice, of those whom he has entrusted to us. From this, every bond of injustice is loosened, the knots of violent contracts are untied, and the impulses of those who offend are curbed, and thus we are crowned by his omnipotent hand with victories over our enemies—a crown more precious and honorable than the diadem encircling our head—and our empire is restored to peace, and the state to stability.

^B Whence, being occupied with such concerns, and having set our mind to being sleepless in the discovery of what is pleasing to God and beneficial to the common good, preferring justice to all earthly things as the procurer of heavenly ones, and—by the power of Him who is worshiped through it—sharper than any sword against enemies; and knowing that the laws enacted by the emperors who reigned before us were recorded in many books; and knowing that to some the meaning contained within them was difficult to discern, and to others entirely undiscernible (especially to those who are outside this God-guarded and royal city of ours), we summoned Nicetas, our most glorious patrician and quaestor, as well as our most glorious patricians Nicetas and Marinus, our most glorious consuls and referendaries, and the rest who possess the fear of God. We commanded that all their books be gathered together; and having examined everything with diligent scrutiny, through what was aptly contained in those very books and through what has been freshly decreed by us, regarding the frequent cases and contracts, we deemed it appropriate that the judgments and the fitting penalties for criminal offenses be recorded in this book more clearly and more minutely, so that the power of such pious laws might be grasped with easier understanding, that the matters themselves might be decided with greater clarity, and that offenders might be punished with just execution, and those inclined to sin might be both curbed and corrected. ^C We admonish and exhort those who have been appointed to handle the legitimate trials of cases to refrain from all human passions, and to bring forth the judgments of true justice from a sound and sincere mind, and ^D neither to despise the poor, nor to leave the powerful one who acts unjustly unrebuked, nor, indeed, to wonder at justice and equality in outward form and word, while in reality preferring injustice and the desire for more, as if that were fruitful. But when the case of two men is being heard before them, of whom one is wealthy...

and the other has less, they should bring them to an equal status, and take away from the one who is superior as much as they then find the inferior—who is suffering the wrong—to be losing. For those who do not have true justice already settled in their own souls, but are either corrupted by money, or are taking revenge for enmity, or are awed by power, cannot make judgments straight, showing in themselves that the Psalmist speaks the truth: “If indeed you speak righteousness, judge uprightly, O you sons of men! For in your heart you work wickedness on the earth; your hands weave injustice” (Ps. LVII, 2-4). Just so, the wise Solomon also, likening the inequality in judging to the weighing of balances, said enigmatically: ^B “A large and a small weight, they are abominable before the Lord” (Prov. XX, 23). And these things have been ordained by us both by way of admonition and as a prior testimony, both for those who understand justice and for those who pervert the truth. But as for those for whom this—due to a lack of understanding and prudence—is difficult to discover and to investigate, and who are altogether unable to attain to it, so as to grant equal things to each, they, according to what is put forward by Jesus the son of Sirach (Eccli. VII, 6), should neither seek leadership from the Lord, nor claim a throne of glory from the king, nor desire to become judges, since they are in no way able to remove unjust deeds from the midst. But those who are partakers of intelligence and prudence, and who are clearly expert in true justice, should look upon judgments properly, and without passion grant to each what is fitting according to their merits. For so, too, our Lord Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God, grants to such persons a knowledge of justice with much greater abundance, and reveals matters that are difficult to discover; He who also, when Solomon sought after justice, made him truly wise, and granted him the grace to deliver a judgment to the women regarding the child, ^C correctly and with a true aim. For since the things related by each of them lacked witnesses, He commanded him to proceed to their very nature and, through this, caused him to discover what was unknown: at that time, the woman to whom the boy did not belong heartlessly accepted Solomon's command to kill the child, but she who was the true mother, because of her natural affection, could not even endure to hear the command.

Let those who have been appointed by our piety to judge matters, and to whom the just scales of our pious laws have been entrusted, consider these things, let them be minded of these things, and let them be occupied with these things. ^D For in these things we strive to serve God, who has entrusted into our hand the scepters of the kingdom. With these weapons, and by His power, we wish to resist our enemies valiantly; by these things, we believe that the flock marked for Christ and subject to our gentleness by His authority will increase in what is good and will make progress. By these things, we hope that the ancient jurisdiction of the state can be restored to us, as our Lord and Savior [continues...]

as we hope, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has said: "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." ^A It is just and equitable to abstain from every solicitation of gifts, since it is written: "Woe to those who justify the ungodly for the sake of bribes, and turn aside the path of the lowly, and take away the just cause of the just man from him. Their root shall be as dust, and their flower shall go up as ashes, because they would not fulfill the law of the Lord." And "Gifts and presents blind the eyes of the wise." Therefore, striving to put an end entirely to such shameful greed, we have determined that from our pious purse salaries should be provided to the most illustrious quaestor, the referendaries, and to all who serve in judicial matters, to the end that they take nothing at all from any person whatsoever before whom their cause is being heard; so that what is said by the prophet might not also be fulfilled in us: "He sold justice for silver," and that we might not thus incur divine wrath, having become transgressors of His commandments.

TITLE I.

On law and justice.

1. Law is a common precept, the decree of prudent men, a correction of offenses committed voluntarily or involuntarily, a common covenant of the state; it is also a divine discovery.

2. Laws ought to be introduced from things that happen for the most part, not from those that happen rarely, nor from those that can happen in a single instance; for legislators overlook what happens only once or twice.

3. The virtue of law is: to command, to forbid, to permit, to punish.

4. Laws are not laid down for individual cases, but generally.

5. Justice is a steady and perpetual will, awarding to each his own right.

6. The properties of justice: to live decorously, and to award to each his own right.

7. The wisdom of justice: to know things divine and human, and the just and the unjust. ^D

TITLE II.

On the prince.

1. The prince is a lawful authority, a common good for all subjects, punishing none out of hostility, nor benefiting any out of favoritism: but as a certain impartial judge of a contest, awarding to each his prizes equally.

2. The purpose proposed to the prince: the preservation and security of the powers that exist and are possessed, through goodness, and the recovery of those that have been lost through sleepless care,

and the acquisition of those things that are absent through wisdom and just victories and expeditions. ^A 3. The end proposed to the prince is to benefit all, wherefore he is also called a benefactor, so that if ever he should fall short in any way regarding beneficence, according to the opinion of the ancients, the mark and character of the prince seems to be adulterated.

4. It is the duty of the prince to judge and to preserve, first of all, whatever has been inscribed in the divine Scriptures, then those things which have been established by the seven holy synods, and furthermore, the laws laid down by the Romans.

^B 5. It convenes the prince to be most conspicuous in orthodoxy and piety, and to be renowned for divine zeal, both in those things which have been decreed concerning the Trinity, and in those things which have been most clearly and securely defined concerning the economy according to the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ—that is, to preserve untrimmed and undivided the consubstantiality of the triadic divinity, and likewise to preserve the hypostatic union of the two natures in the one Christ as unconfused and indivisible, confessing him to be perfect God and perfect man, and those things which follow from these, such as impassible and subject to passion, incorruptible and prone to corruption, invisible and visible, intangible and subject to touch, uncircumscribed and circumscribed; and likewise the duality of wills and ^C powers without contrariety.

6. (D. IX, XI, and XII. C. de legib.) It behooves the prince to interpret those things ordained by the ancients, and to derive from similar cases those things for which no law exists.

7. (L. XXXVII.) In interpreting laws, one must also pay attention to the custom of the city; but that which is introduced against the reason of the law is not to be taken as a precedent.

8. (L. XVIII and IX. C. eod.) The prince must interpret the laws with love of goodness; for in ambiguous cases, we accept the interpretation that is more gracious and humane.

9. Things which have a manifest interpretation must not be altered.

10. (L. XXIII. ff. De legib.) Regarding matters for which no written law exists, it is necessary to observe custom and usage; but if this also ^D fails, one must follow those things which are closest and consequent to the matter in question; but if not even this is found, the opinion of those who are at once the wisest and the most numerous should prevail; for this is most in harmony with the nature of the law.

11. Just as the position of a law is either written or unwritten, so also its abrogation is brought about either by a written or an unwritten law—that is to say, by desuetude. Desuetude, however, is not simply not using the law; but rather, when the time calls on him who presides over jurisdiction, not to use that law, to neglect it gradually, and for a contrary opinion to be brought forth.

12. (L. xxxiv.) Then we make use of the custom of a certain city or province, when the matter has been examined and confirmed in a court of law; but those things that have been approved by long custom and observed for many years, are observed as no less valid than those which are written in law.

TITLE III.

On the Patriarch.

1. The patriarch is the living and animate image of Christ, expressing the truth in all his words and deeds.

^A 2. The aim proposed for the patriarch is, first of all, to maintain in piety and gravity of life those whom he has received from God to protect, and then, as far as he is able, to turn all heretics toward orthodoxy and the union of the Church. Heretics, according to the laws and the canons, are so called, as are those who are cut off from the communion of the Catholic Church; furthermore, through the brightness, clarity, and marvel of his own conduct, he is to strike the unbelievers with wonder, and make them imitators of the faith.

3. The end proposed for the patriarch is the salvation of the souls committed to him: to live for Christ, but to be crucified to the world.

4. It is proper for the patriarch to be apt at teaching, to show himself equal to all, both exalted and humble in station; to be mild in judging, yet harsh toward the disobedient; furthermore, to speak for the truth and the defense of sacred dogmas before emperors, and not to feel shame.

5. It is for the patriarch alone to interpret the things ordained by the ancients, defined by the holy Fathers, and set forth by the holy synods.

6. It is for the patriarch to settle and distinguish the things that have been performed and managed by the ancient Fathers in synods, or in provinces, whether specially or universally.

7. Earlier canons are wont to be extended to later ones; likewise, earlier actions and dispensations are extended to later ones and hold force, provided the persons and matters are similar.

8. Since the commonwealth is constituted from parts and members analogously to a human being, its greatest and most necessary parts are the emperor and the patriarch; wherefore the peace and happiness of the subjects, both in soul and in body, consists in the consensus and concord of the kingdom with the supreme pontificate.

9. The see of Constantinople, adorned by the empire, obtained precedence by the votes of the synods; following these, the divine laws order that controversies arising under other sees also be referred to its consideration and judgment.

10. The care and judgment of all the metropolitanates, and bishoprics, and monasteries, and churches... ^C

and judgment, and condemnation, and acquittal, pertains to one’s own patriarch; yet to the prelate of Constantinople it is permitted, even in the territories of other sees where this prerogative does not exist, to grant the fixation of crosses ^A in temples: and not only this, but also to resolve and adjudicate controversies that have arisen in other sees.

11. The care of all things pertaining to the salvation of the soul pertains to the patriarch, [but] it is transferred also to others to whom he himself may have delegated it: likewise also [the care] of penance, and of conversion from sins and heresies. He himself alone is constituted the decider and judge, and those also to whom he himself may have delegated [authority]: but also throughout the metropolises and ^B bishoprics, the same power and prerogative is preserved for the metropolitans and bishops.

TITLE IV

Concerning the office of the Prefect of the City

1. The Prefect of the City inquires into all crimes whatsoever, and hears those which are committed within the city.

2. The Prefect of the City shall hear those slaves who take refuge [with him] and those who say they were purchased with their own money so that they might be liberated, but also the patrons, especially if they are needy and have requests of their ^C freedmen.

3. The Prefect of the City also has the authority to exile and to restrict, provided that the Emperor has designated the island or simply the place.

4. The Prefect of the City inquires also into those things that are committed within the hundredth mile of the city, but not into those that are further away.

5. To the Prefect of the City are sent also those who are poor guardians (tutors), and who are in need of more severe chastisement; either those who have given money to gain the guardianship, or those who have accepted money—that an unsuitable [person] might be given as guardian—or those who have deliberately diminished the quantity of the estate when publishing it, or have openly alienated the goods of the ward through fraud.

6. The Prefect of the City takes care that slaves are not presented for public prostitution, and that money-changers conduct themselves honestly in all their business, and refrain from prohibited [practices].

7. The Prefect of the City also disciplines ^D those freedmen who despise or insult their patrons, or the wives or children thereof, by threatening and whipping, or otherwise proceeding according to the gravity of the offense; but if they should falsely accuse them, or conspire with their enemies, [they are] struck with sticks and shorn, and reduced again into slavery, [and] are delivered to those whom they falsely accused.

8. The Prefect of the City also takes care that meat is sold at just prices; and [cares] for the peace and the good order of the public spectacles, and has soldiers posted for the sake of peace, and to report to him those things that are happening everywhere.

9. The Prefect of the City has the power to forbid

...to speak, and in some part of the city, and in business, and in spectacles, and in legal proceedings, and in the forum, both temporarily and in perpetuity; and if anyone banishes another, he must contain him, and remove him even from his own province.

10. ^A Among the prefect of the city, both silver-dealers and merchants are summoned, and are summoned against.

11. ^A The prefect of the city holds the greatest power in the city after the emperor; but when he has gone outside the boundaries of the city, he has no authority regarding the prefecture, except that he may order and judge.

TITLE V. Of the Quaestor

1. ^B The quaestor has authority over those who are staying in this great city, from whatever region they may be, and of whatever sex, whether they are clerics or monks, or ascetics, or comers from other cities, or of whatever fortune or dignity they may be; for he must inquire carefully, who they are, and from where, and on what pretext they have come; and to look after them if anyone does them an injury; he must then provide that he may dispatch them from the difficulties on account of which they are staying here as quickly as possible, so that they may be sent back at the earliest opportunity to the place from whence they have come, enjoying what is due to them.

2. ^C The quaestor is able to protect the tax-paying farmers who have masters and who seek from them what is due to them from their own property, when they have come to this royal city, and he is able to compel the masters to pay them as soon as possible those things for which they came, so that as soon as they have obtained their rights, they may be sent back: but if they should enter into a dispute with their masters, and raise a controversy themselves, if indeed they are many, he must immediately send most of them back to their fields, with two or three left behind who may alone pursue the common lawsuit. But the quaestor must also take care that an end be put to it at the earliest opportunity, especially since they are farmers, whose presence in this city is superfluous, and their leisure from agriculture is a detriment both to them and to their masters.

3. ^D The quaestor must not permit the incoming multitude, if it be not of farmers, but perhaps some others who are litigating against others, to linger for long in this city; but with as much speed as he can, he must finish the controversies, and send them back, once their business is concluded, to their own regions or cities to cultivate them.

4. ^D If the quaestor finds the masters of the tenants often using delays, and the masters are not willing to be freed by a timely judgment, let him personally bring the masters before the petitioners, let him punish them more severely, and let him immediately settle those matters on account of which the tenants are lingering here, and send each one back to his own fatherland, or to that region from whence they came, with all privilege and prescription of forum removed in this matter.

5. ^A (L. 1, c. De valid. mendicant.) Questor, if he finds in this our city any who have neither an occupation by which to sustain themselves, nor are detained here for the sake of a lawsuit, so that their livelihood must be sought through begging, let him examine them whatever they may be; and if they be fit and capable of labor, even if they be unwilling, let him return them to their masters if they are slaves; but if they are freemen, let him remit them to their own provinces; but if they are indigenous, let him hand them over with speed to the works of public craftsmen, or to the bread-making shops, or to those who work in the gardens, or simply to various different arts and labors, depending on what each one's body is inclined toward, at once to keep them from idleness, and to lead the idle and dissolute toward useful and better ways. But if any of them should refuse to apply themselves to the works to which they have been assigned, let the questor expel them from this royal city. For in sparing them we ordain these things for this purpose, that idleness and sloth may not drive them into any sort of crimes, as it is necessary for them to undergo the penalties of the law at the hands of the magistrates, and to be handed over, even if, apart from this, neglect of the weak by the strong, who are able perhaps to provide for others through their labor, is surely not to be overlooked, how could it be anything but mindless?

6. ^C The Questor should not cause distress to those who are mutilated in body or by old age are burdened; let him leave these unmolested to be fed in this royal city, and allow them to be cared for by everyone in a human manner, if they wish to perform the duties of piety until they choose; but if they prefer to depart from the city, let him inquire of them for whose sake they came, and having known this, let him act according to what is just in their personal condition, so that they do not die here in deprivation and labor. But if any one from the aforementioned or from outsiders coming from elsewhere is accused by some whom they say were affected by injury, let him subject the accused to a diligent investigation of whatever estate they may be, and especially if they have committed anything beyond the stated customs, or against other primary edicts, in which disregard for our laws is clearly seen; and let him not only apprehend these individuals, but after the incorruptible examinations, should they be found to have incurred penalties in accordance with our laws, let him compel no one to take the part of the offenders, and let him restore what is due to the injured, or if some other penalty beyond the laws has been imposed upon those who have been injured, let him refer the public treasury to the damage after the restitution of the offense, and entrust the pecuniary fine to the imperial authority.

7. ^D The Questor shall take all complaints regarding adulteration, or what is called forgery, in whatever category these maybe searched for, and let him hold those who are reported to have committed such deeds, and punish them upon conviction. For we grant also to him the power of such hearings.

8. Let the Quaestor keep this, above all things, as his constant and perpetual care: to execute all things with clean hands and to have subordinates who are neither filthy nor given to base gain. For it behooves him both to rule sincerely and freely, and if he finds any such offense committed by his subordinates, to punish it, that by their example he may show the firmness and moderation of his own ^A spirit.

9. We grant the Quaestor the authority to rebuke officials and to report matters to us, and to manage the necessary business from within his own office, lest, by alleging infirmity or any other impediment whatsoever, he should appear inferior in our judgment to his own self.

10. We grant the Quaestor the liberty to use public dispatch-letters to the governors of the provinces, so that those sent by him into their regions may reside there without trouble, and if they require any legal assistance, that it not be denied ^B to them. He shall provide, above all, that the same individuals are not bothered twice, nor afford them cause for a second suit. For if he catches those who had already been dismissed and sent back to their own regions lurking about this splendid and happy city to no purpose, let him impose upon them a fitting correction, and send them away again, even with a heavier penalty.

TITLE VI. On governors in general.

1. The name of "governor" is general, and signifies a general, a proconsul, and all who rule provinces, even if they be senators; but the title of "proconsul" ^C is specific.

2. A governor has authority only within his own province; for outside of it, he is a private citizen.

3. A governor in his province has greater authority than any others, after the Emperor.

4. A governor cannot appoint a deputy or a special judge for himself.

5. A governor shall prohibit illicit and violent exactions, and sales made through fear or without payment of a price, as well as unjust gains and injuries; but let him pursue the truth, for truth is not vitiated by things done through error or fear.

6. A governor shall punish the transgressions committed ^D by military men against others, and shall prevent illicit exactions from being made under the pretext of public taxes, nor shall he allow the poor to be harmed under the pretext of the arrival of official staff or soldiers; but he shall permit lawful commerce and forbid what is prohibited.

7. Whatever matters the officials in the [Imperial] City examine, the governor examines those same things. For all matters appertain to his office.

8. A governor shall take concern for the peace, seeking out temple-robbers, kidnappers, thieves, and their receivers, and punishing them according to the offense.

9. ^A The governor shall cast furious persons into prison [if they cannot be restrained by their relatives], or he shall bind them with chains; but if they have killed a man, it must be investigated whether they committed the crime with feigned madness, or if they did it during intervals in which they possessed a sounder mind, for in this case they must be punished. Moreover, the guards must be diligent in their duty; for they are appointed not only so that they themselves may not be harmed, but also so that they may not harm others. 10. The governor shall not depart from the province, unless for the sake of a vow, and then only for the night. 11. ^B The governor shall show himself accessible to those who approach him, yet he shall not permit himself to be despised; he shall not mix on equal terms with those he governs, nor shall he reveal either mercy or anger in his countenance.

TITULUS VII.

That governors shall not allow themselves to be corrupted by gifts, nor shall anyone accept money for rendering judgment, nor allow it to be given to him by the accused.

1. Governors must not allow judges from any court whatsoever to receive money, nor, under the pretext of custom, allow themselves to be corrupted by gifts; they should know that if they neglect this, they themselves will have to pay the fine established for our subjects. Let them inquire into the crimes of these men, and those whom they find guilty of the fault, let them strip of their official belt: for we wish the governors to hold our place in the provinces; and just as we restrain them ^C from all base gain, so do we decree that those who conduct themselves incorruptibly in their commands are to be treated with all honor and reverence.

2. We decree that the governors, in the presence of the city prefect, and the most glorious count of our divine largesses, and the most glorious quaestor of our divine palace, and the most glorious count of our divine private affairs wheresoever they may be, and also in the presence of the magnificent chartulary of our sacred bedchamber of the time, shall subscribe with their own hand that they will not grant anything to anyone, nor make promises, nor announce patronage, nor pledge to send anything outside the province either to other governors, or to those who are around them, or to anyone else; but as they have received their command for free, and receive their provisions from the public (for we permit them to receive only these), so they must administer it with pure hands and account for it ^D before God and before us, to whom they are bound to render an account. Let all those know, therefore, whosoever shall dare to accept anything from the said provincial governors beyond the custom received and defined by us, that the penalty for them will not be small, but the greater governors who have dared to accept something from the governors or to allow it to be done

or who have not rectified it when reported, shall not only repay fourfold everything they have received, but shall also undergo our great indignation and fear the risk to their position ^A of authority. And furthermore, if those who are around them, or the train that obeys them, should attempt to take anything beyond what has been granted by us, they too shall be subject to those who have been injured, and shall restore it fourfold; they shall also be stripped of their substance ^B and their belts, in addition to being subjected to the punishments appropriate to the offenses.

3. We command that those governors who receive their offices without payment should, first of all, be eager to watch vigilantly over the public interest, and should exact with all severity from those who are insubordinate and negligent in necessary matters, not inclining in any way, nor thinking at all of any profit for themselves from this, but treating those who are well-disposed as a father treats his children.

4. We command the governors to protect our subjects from injuries and insults of every kind and to show themselves fair in public disturbances, restraining transgressions, completely defending the innocent from harm, but inflicting upon those who are guilty the penalty handed down by law. And let them rule the subjects in this way, just as parents rule their children; that is, loving the innocent, ^C but restraining and punishing those who have deserved blame, maintaining every justice for them in both public and private contracts. And let them not only do this themselves, but let them also choose such an assessor and counselor for themselves, and others who are around them, so that they do not appear to be themselves without blame while stealing and committing wrongs through others, which is even more shameful. If anyone acts against these things, let him know that he will undergo confiscation of goods and exile, and torture and punishment upon his body: for we require that the hands of the governors be clean, so that we may keep the subjects unharmed.

5. We command that the provincials, that is, the most God-beloved bishop and the leading men in the region, if the governor of the region should do anything unjust against the province, ^D should make petitions and send them to us, detailing the transgressions of the one holding the office. For we, upon learning of these things, will send someone to investigate them, so that in the region where he committed the wrong, there he may also undergo the penalties for his transgression, so that no one else may dare to do the same, looking to his example.

6. We command that the governors of the provinces, in every way, after laying down their office, should remain for fifty days in the provinces, to answer those wishing to accuse them. If it happens that any of them leaves the province before the fifty days are completed, we command that all those who have suffered damage from him shall assemble

to appear before the most holy bishop of the metropolis of that same province, and let each one of them, upon touching the holy Gospels, manifest the damages brought upon him, and let every damage be restored to those who have been injured from the assets of the person against whom such memorials have been established. If any of the provincial governors should be summoned to another office, or to another place, we command that he appoint a legitimate authorized agent to answer those who bring an action against him regarding the damages caused; and if he should not do this, we decree that—as was mentioned above—memorial acts be prepared before the most holy bishop, and that by those who have sworn regarding the damage brought upon them, the property taken away be restored, with no prescription of time being admitted regarding the prosecution of the crimes, so long as the governor has been permitted to administer his province.

7. We command all governors, both military and civil, to investigate on their own behalf those who commit robbery or violence, or the abduction of goods or women, or any other misdeeds whatsoever, in the provinces, and to inflict upon them legal punishments, and to receive nothing for these causes under the pretext of custom, so that our subjects may be kept immune from injuries everywhere. If any of the governors does not observe these things, let him know that he shall not only be deprived of the office entrusted to him, but shall also pay a penalty of ten pounds of gold.

8. We command that it be not permitted for any of the governors, without necessary cause, to make departures from the province, or to perform the so-called "tours". If any necessity calls for such a thing to be done, let them do it at their own expense, both the governors and their attendants and the official staff who obey them, and we do not permit them to burden our subjects with forced labor, or with what are called "visiting fees," or with any other damage whatsoever, nor to invoke or seek "customs," as perchance some of their predecessors had unjustly devised for their own gain; for we do not wish that things which have been poorly introduced be aided even by long-standing custom.

TITULUS VIII. Concerning bishops, and their creation, and every ecclesiastical

1. A bishop is the overseer and curator of all souls who gather in the church, having in his own province absolute power over presbyters, deacons, readers, chanters, and monks.

2. It is proper for a bishop to consort with the humble, but to despise those who are high-minded, and by deed and word to bring down the arrogance of the proud to humility, and to face danger on behalf of his flock, and to deem its distress as his own suffering.

3. We command that if a bishop is to be ordained, the clergy and the prominent men of the city must assemble, and make a decision regarding three persons, and each one

^A must sign with his own hand that they have been led to this decision neither by payment, nor by promise, nor by friendship, nor by favor, nor by any other affection whatsoever, but that they have ascertained that they are of the right and catholic faith and of irreproachable life, and that they have exceeded their thirtieth year; and that they know them to have neither wife nor children, nor concubine nor illegitimate children; but if any of them previously had a wife, she was his only one, and she was neither a widow, nor dismissed by her husband, nor prohibited by the holy canons; and that from the three persons concerning whom the decree has been made, the best shall be ordained, by the choice and judgment of the ordainer, a written document being made by him with his own signature, containing testimony regarding his right faith, and declaring before his divine approach in holy communion, and the prayer in holy baptism, and the remaining prayers, and the one being ordained himself shall provide a signature in his own hand, that he has neither given nor promised through himself or through another person, nor will he give hereafter, either to him who designed him, or to those who assisted him with their vote, or in short to anyone at all, for the designation made regarding him. ^B

4. We command that if those who are voting deem any layman worthy of the aforementioned choice, they shall select such a one together with three other clerics or monks; provided, however, that the layman selected in this way for bishop shall not be ordained bishop immediately, but shall first be numbered among the clerics for a space of not less than three months, and thus, having been taught the holy canons and the sacred liturgy of the Church, he shall be ordained bishop; for it is not fitting that he who is to teach others should be learning from others after his ordination. But if indeed, even while he was still counted among the lay order, he had already been sufficiently taught in all things, for the instruction of others, experience has shown that in such a case the preordained time need not be kept without danger. ^C

5. If the one about to be ordained is accused of being unsuitable, the ordination shall be deferred for the time being, and the examination shall proceed in the presence or absence of the accuser, within three months, and the ordination shall be hindered; and if the one to be ordained is found guilty according to the laws or the canons, he shall be hindered; but if he is found innocent, he shall be ordained. But if he is ordained contrary to what has been said, both he himself and he who ordained him shall be cast out of the Church. But if the accuser, being present, does not demonstrate what he asserted, or if he absents himself, if he is a cleric, he is cast out of the Church; if he is a layman, he is duly chastised. ^D

6. If any of the bishops, either before or after his designation, wishes to add his own goods or a part of them to the Church whose episcopate he is receiving, we not only do not forbid it, and command him to be free from every accusation and penalty of the present law, but we even judge him worthy of all praise; since this is not trafficking, but an offering.

^A 7. Let a presbyter be ordained, not less than thirty years of age, of proven virginity, or who is or has been the husband of one wife, and she most modest, and having been delivered from other forbidden works, and secured by a canonical and incorruptible testimony.

8. Let a deacon be ordained, not less than twenty-five years of age, and he too of proven virginity, or who is or has been the husband of one wife, and she most modest, and having been delivered from other forbidden works, and secured by a canonical and incorruptible testimony.

9. Let a subdeacon be ordained, not less than twenty years of age, according to the aforesaid constitutions. We forbid, however, for the future, ordinations within this limit; for it is absurd, after ordination, to enter into nuptial relations.

10. Let a reader be ordained from such time as he knows and is able to read.

11. Let a singer be ordained from such time as he too is able to sing.

12. If a reader takes a second wife, or the first one but she is a widow, or divorced from a husband, or one whose marriage is forbidden by the laws or the sacred canons, let him nevermore be promoted to another ecclesiastical rank.

13. As we do not suffer a cleric of any rank to be appointed for money, so neither a hospitaller, nor a poor-house keeper, nor an infirmary keeper, nor the administrator of any other holy house whatsoever, nor one who holds any ecclesiastical office. If this should ever happen, both the giver, and the receiver, and the mediator of the priesthood, or of any other administration entrusted to him, shall be stripped of it, and the things given shall be claimed by the holy place for which such person received the ordination, or care, or administration. If he who received it or became the mediator is a layman, the double of what was given shall be demanded, and it shall be restored to the holy place for which such person received the ordination or the care.

14. If any cleric of any rank, or an administrator of a holy place, before the ordination entrusted to him, or the trust of any administration or care, or after this, should wish to contribute from his own property to the church in which he is ordained, or to the place whose administration or care ^D he undertakes, we not only do not forbid this to be done, but we even encourage it.

15. We decree that if a bishop be ordained through the payment of gold by some mediators, both he who gives, and he who receives, and the mediator of the priesthood or of the clerical dignity, are to be removed according to the sacred canons. And that which was given for this cause shall be claimed by that Church whose priesthood he wished to buy; but if he who received anything for this cause be a layman, or a mediator in the

determined that the money given be restored in double.

TITLE IX.

Regarding the office of bishops, presbyters, deacons, and in general all ecclesiastics and monks.

1. We do not permit the most God-beloved bishops to become tutors or curators for any person whatsoever.

2. We permit presbyters, deacons, and subdeacons, who are called to tutelage or curatorship by right of kinship, to undertake that service.

3. We do not permit a bishop, or an oikonomos, or any other cleric of any rank whatsoever, or a monk, to become a collector or exactor of public taxes, or a hirer of revenues, or a curator of another's property and household, or an agent in a lawsuit, or a guarantor.

4. We forbid the most God-beloved bishops from abandoning their own churches and going into the provinces of others. But if some necessity requires this, they shall not do so otherwise than with letters from their most blessed patriarch or metropolitan, or by a royal mandate, provided, however, that it shall not be permitted even for those bishops who are under the most blessed bishop of Constantinople and patriarch to come to the imperial city without his permission or our command; for if any bishop whatsoever shall exceed [this rule] in this manner, he shall not leave his church for more than one year. But those bishops who have come to the imperial city (as has been said), from whatever diocese they may be, we command to go before all else to the most blessed archbishop of Constantinople and patriarch, and thus to come to our serenity. Whoever shall violate this our constitution, or shall spend any time beyond the defined space of a year outside their own Church, we desire, first, that expenses not be supplied to them by the oikonomoi of their own Church, and next, that it be signified to them through letters of the priests to whom they are subject that they should return to their own Churches; and they themselves shall be removed from the episcopacy by the sentence and judgment of their own archbishop. Others indeed shall be created in their place by the force and power of the present law: this same law prevailing also for clerics of whatever rank or ministry they may be.

5. We forbid bishops and presbyters from excluding anyone ^D from holy communion without a proven cause for which the ecclesiastical canons command this to be done. But if any person should exclude someone from holy communion contrary to these [rules], he who has been unjustly excluded from communion shall be released from excommunication by the higher priest and shall be judged worthy of communion; but he who dared to exclude him shall in every way be excluded from communion by the priest to whom he is subject, for as long a time as it shall seem fit to him, so that what he did unjustly, he may justly endure against himself. We also decree...

that clerks who are placed under another jurisdiction shall by no means, against the desire of their own bishop or metropolitan, remove to another jurisdiction, or be enrolled in a church, or receive ordination. For because such things were not observed, many churches were filled with great disorder and error. But if anyone be caught violating this present ordinance, if, having abandoned his own jurisdiction, he has only been enrolled in another church without having received any degree of ordination, he shall be expelled from the church into which he was initially taken and shall be obliged to return to his own bishop. But if he has also received ordination, we decree that he shall remain suspended from his ministry for three years, and for the rest, he shall wait for the mercy of his own bishop. ^B

6. Whatever property a bishop possessed before his episcopacy, he may donate, alienate, and dispose of as he wishes. But whatever he acquired after his episcopacy belongs to his church, and he may not dispose of it, unless it has devolved to him from his parents, or from his father, or from his brothers.

7. Regarding priests, deacons, readers, and cantors, whom we all call clerks, we decree that they may hold property that has come into their ownership in any way whatsoever under their own authority, similar to private peculiums; and they may donate them according to the laws and dispose of them, even if they are under the authority of their parents, in such a way, however, that their children, or if these are not extant, their parents, may receive their legitimate portion. ^C

8. He who is about to enter a monastery should dispose of his personal affairs before his entry, because when he is dedicated to the monastery, he brings with him all his possessions, even if this was not expressly stated in words, and he shall no longer in any way remain the owner of them.

9. A man who has become a monk, even after he has become a monk, has the power to divide his property among his own children, reserving for himself one part which also belongs to the monastery. But if he dies intestate, then his children shall receive what is due from an intestate estate, that is, the Falcidian portion, and the remainder shall be given to the monastery.

10. If a monk leaves his own monastery and goes to another, if it is discovered that he had any property at the time he left the monastery, we order that these be handed over to the first monastery into which he went at the beginning. ^D

11. Regarding the most reverend priests and deacons, if they be found to have given false testimony in a pecuniary case, yet not confirming the lie by an oath, it shall be sufficient for them, in lieu of lashes, to be separated from divine service for three years and to be confined to a monastery. But if they have added an oath to the lie, the canon deprives them of the priesthood; and this shall hold if the case brought forward was pecuniary. But if in criminal cases they have given false testimony

it is manifest that, as is defined by the divine canons, they are stripped of their clergy.

12. Gentiles, Jews, and heretics may neither serve as soldiers nor hold public office, but are visited with extreme infamy.

13. Those enrolled in the clergy who have attained the monastic habit, but subsequently desert their own order and reform themselves into laymen, may neither serve as soldiers nor hold public office, but are visited with a similar ignominy to those previously mentioned.

14. Those who have embraced the solitary and monastic life may neither act as guardians nor plead the causes of others, not even if they are their kin; they may only plead their own cause, and that one alone, and even then, only by the consent of the abbot to whom they are subject.

15. Monasteries and churches, and furthermore, metropolises and bishoprics, are not subject to any private or public service; for they are chosen from all things for God, just as the Levitical tribe according to the Mosaic law was exempt from every ministerial labor. If, however, an unavoidable and publicly beneficial necessity should compel the calling of them to some ministry for the sake of their own salvation, they shall perform such service only through the bishops of that place, and not at all through laymen.

16. If any person, while the divine mysteries or other holy ^B ministrations are being celebrated, enters a holy church and inflicts any injury upon the bishop or the clerics or the other ministers of the church, we command that he be subjected to torments and sent into exile. But if he disturbs the divine mysteries themselves and their worship, or prohibits them from being celebrated, let him be punished with death. The same applies also in the case of litanies in which bishops or clerics are found: for if he has only committed an injury, he shall be scourged and sent into exile; but if he has broken up the litanies, he shall be punished with death.

17. We forbid all laymen to hold litanies without the most holy bishops and the most devout clerics under them. For what sort of litany ^C is it in which priests are not found and do not perform the customary prayers? We also will that the venerable crosses with which they go forth in litanies be deposited nowhere else but in venerable places; and if necessity should ever require that litanies be performed, then only those who are accustomed to carry those venerable crosses shall take them, and we command that the litanies be performed with the bishop and the clerics.

18. We command that the stewards, and the hospitallers, and the infirmarians, and the poor-wardens, and the administrators of other pious houses, and all other clerics, shall answer for the administrations ^D entrusted to them before the bishop to whom they are subject, and shall render the accounts of their own administration according to the dictates of their conscience, as they are required to do.

TITULUS X. On the Order of Judgments and Tribunals.

1. ^A We decree that tribunals be recognized according to order and be established through order. For just as nothing among sensible and worldly things exists without quantity and quality, so neither does a tribunal exist without these two kinds. For to quantity is attributed the order of persons, while quality reveals the power of justice. Whenever justice is joined with order, and truth is brought to completion from both, it is justly said that justice has been rendered. But whenever it happens without order, even if it happens to attain the truth, the justice is not said to have been rendered justly.

2. Every tribunal is composed of those presiding and those sitting with them, and of those in charge, and of the litigants, either in person or through representatives to whom the law gives the authority.

3. The differences of jurisdiction are two: for one proceeds through the laws alone, the other through the canons; and there is also a third difference, that which is constituted and defined from both, that is, from both the law and the canon.

4. ^B An appeal (ἐκκλητός) is an objection by one of those judged against one of those judging, on the grounds that he did not judge well. And every appeal is an objection, but not every objection is an appeal. For the word "objection" is divided both into that which is called an appeal, and into that which has the principle of an objection.

5. The imperial and royal tribunal is not subject to appeal, nor is it reviewed by another, but is always reviewed by itself, just as the God-seeing Moses set that the reviewing of judgments be a law.

6. ^C The patriarchal tribunal is not subject to appeal, nor is it reviewed by another, as it is the very beginning of ecclesiastical tribunals. For from it all ecclesiastical tribunals proceed, and into it they are dissolved and return; whereas it itself is neither from anyone, nor directed to another; for such is a beginning, but it is reviewed spiritually by itself.

7. The vote of the Eparch is not subject to appeal, except to the Emperor alone.

8. ^D The vote of the Quaestor is not subject to appeal, but is also examined by the Emperor alone; for although in order the tribunal of the Eparch comes first, it is in no way absurd that those things which proceed from one source should, in order, take precedence one over another, without the one requiring the other for its correction.

9. For administrative tribunals are subject to appeal, and are reviewed by the Emperor, and by the Patriarch, but also by the Eparch and the Quaestor; for the further they stand from the beginning, the more they require both assistance and the correction and review of more people.

10. We decree that our most illustrious patricians, and indeed also the magnificent protospatharioi, may contest monetary cases through a representative, but not...

criminal proceedings, whether they wish to move such actions against others or others against them. And we further decree that it is not permitted for them to sit with the presiding judges when their own case is being examined, nor even to stand by; for the matter is perilous on both sides: on the one hand, the sublimity of their dignity is subjected to insult, and on the other, the court is defiled by an unseemly inequality, whether the person whose case is being heard stands by or sits in the assembly of the judges, so that he might appear to have the upper hand. After the most magnificent protospatharios, let there be license for all, if they wish, to conduct their own case either through themselves or through proctors.

11. We do not permit any of those in ecclesiastical orders, whether bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or simply anyone from the priestly register, to ^B be brought before secular courts, whether against their will or willingly. For if anyone drags any of the clergy to a secular court against his will, he shall undergo appropriate discipline from our serenity. But if a priest should present himself to a secular court willingly, or even prefers the judgment delivered there to the ecclesiastical auditory, even if he thinks that justice is being done to him thereby, he is condemned by the sacred canons; for how is he worthy to obtain what he seeks, who from the beginning of the dispute is judged worthy of injury by the divine decrees?

12. No magistrate shall compel the God-beloved bishops to come to court to bear witness; but the judge shall send to them some of the persons who are in his service, so that, as befits priests, they may speak before God what ^C they know.

13. We do not permit that the God-beloved bishops be compelled to come to a civil or military magistrate for any financial cause, whether against their will or to stand by, without a royal command; but we order that the magistrate who has dared to command this, whether in writing or without writing, after the deprivation of his belt or dignity, be fined twenty pounds of gold, to be given to the Church whose bishop was compelled to be brought or to stand by.

14. No magistrate among those counted in the laity shall judge an accusation against a priest, unless the accusation contains a crime ^D of high treason.

TITLE XI

Concerning the contracting and dissolving of betrothals, and concerning wards contracting betrothals, and those who repent thereafter.

1. Betrothals of Christians are contracted by those who are of the first age, after the seventh year and thereafter; both by the will of the contracting parties and by the consent of their parents and kin: provided that they contract lawfully, and are not among the number of those persons who are prohibited: that is to say, they are contracted by means of earnest money—or as they are called, hypobola—or by written documents.