Thus the celebrated and great Antioch was taken and plundered by

the Romans. At the news of its capture, the emperor rejoiced and [p. 83]
offered thanks to the Almighty. It so happened that the service of commemoration
of the Archangels fell at that time,45 during which a certain
hermit monk is said to have given a letter to the emperor and to have
immediately departed; he unrolled it and read its contents. The text was as
follows:"0 emperor, it has been revealed by Providence to me, who am but
a worm,46 that you will depart from this world in the third month after the
September that has now elapsed." The emperor made many inquiries, but
did not find the monk.Then he lapsed into dejection and melancholy, and
from that time was not at all willing to sleep in a bed, but used to spread on
the floor a leopardskin47 and a scarlet felt cloth, on which he would sleep,
covering his body above with a cloak that belonged to his uncle, the monk
Michael, whose surname was Maleinos.48 It had been his custom to sleep
on these whenever one of the feast days of the Lord came round and he
wanted to partake of the immaculate sacrament of Christ.
During these days it happened that the caesar Bardas, the father of
the emperor Nikephoros, departed this life, after living more than ninety
years,49 after growing old in the military ranks [where he had served]
since his youth, and after crowning himself with many triumphs and
victories through his heroic feats in war.50 The emperor mourned him
after his death in the proper manner, and escorted his body from the
palace as far as his home (which was located on the south side of the
town, next to the steep part of the street that leads to the sea, [p. 84]
where the harbor of Sophia spreads out),51 and laid it in its coffin.
A few days later, when the emperor's mourning for his father had abated,
the augusta Theophano seized an opportunity to approach him in private.
She spoke very persuasively, petitioning without pause on behalf of the
magistros John, whose sobriquet was Tzimiskes; she entreated and implored,
and put forward a presumably justifiable pretext, saying: "O emperor, since
you manage everything with due proportion and balance, so that you yourself
are an exact standard and most upright model of prudence, why do you
overlook the fact that such a brave and vigorous man, who has distinguished
himself in battles and is invincible, is wallowing in the mire52 of pleasures
and leading a dissipated and idle existence,53 when he is bursting with
strength and in the prime of life, and moreover is your majesty's nephew,
possessed of a brilliant ancestral lineage?54 If you agree, bid him leave immedi
ately
the place where he is staying and come to us, to be married to a wife
of a noble family. For as you know, bitter and limb-relaxing death55 has
already mowed down his previous lawful wife.56 Yield then, emperor, be
persuaded by one who is advising you on the proper course, and do not let
a man of your family, who is praised by everyone for his brave deeds in war,
be exposed to the ridicule and sarcasm of unbridled tongues."
6. After beseeching the emperor with these words, and, fp. 85] in all
likelihood, beguiling him (for he granted her more favors than was fitting,
since he was absolutely overwhelmed by her beauty), she persuaded him to
summon John to come quickly to Byzantium. Upon his arrival at the imperial
city, he presented himself before the emperor and, since he received
instructions to visit the palace every day, he first went home, and subsequendy
did not fail to visit the imperial court frequently. Since he was hotheaded
by nature, more daring37 than anyone else, and most venturesome at
attempting unusual endeavors, he found a way to slip in through certain
secret passages, prepared by the augusta, in order to have conversations with
her and plan the removal of the emperor Nikephoros from the palace. From
then onwards he kept sending her58 at intervals strong men, who were
vigorous warriors, whom she received and kept near her in a secret room.
When their conspiracy, having conceived a wicked deed, had labored to
bring forth terrible wrongdoing, and was eager to give birth to the wicked
crime,59 they met again in their customary way, and decided to remove the

emperor Nikephoros by force from his rulership. Then John went home,
summoned Michael Bourtzes60 and Leo Pediasimos,61 and behind closed
doors began to plot with them the murder of the emperor Nikephoros. It
was then the tenth day of the month of December.
It is said [p. 86] that during the evening, about the time of the vesper
hymns,62 a certain priest of the imperial court handed the emperor a
note, on which this was written: "Let it be known to you, emperor,
that a terrible death is being prepared63 for you tonight. Because this is
true, order a search of the women's quarters, where armed men will be
apprehended who are planning to carry out your murder." After the
emperor read the note, he ordered the chamberlain Michael64 to make a
careful search for the men. But either out of respect for the augusta, or
because he procrastinated, or was led astray by divine madness, he left
unsearched the room in which the band of murderers65 was sitting. As
night had already fallen, the empress, as was her custom, went in to the
emperor, and spoke of the maidens who had recently arrived from Mysia,
saying, "I am leaving to give some instructions66 about their care, and
then I will come back to you. But leave the bedchamber open and don't
lock it now; for I will lock it when I come back." With these words she
left. During a whole watch of the night the emperor made his usual
prayers to God and devoted himself to study of the Holy Scriptures.
When the need for sleep came upon him, he lay down on the floor,
upon the leopardskin and scarlet felt cloth, before the holy icons of the
theandric image of Christ and of the Mother of God and of the Holy
Forerunner and Herald.67 |p. 87]
7. Meanwhile John's retainers, who had been admitted by the augusta,
had emerged from the room, armed with swords, and were awaiting his
arrival, watching closely from the terrace of the upper rooms of the
palace.The clock was just indicating the fifth hour of the night,68 a fierce
north wind filled the air, and snow was falling heavily. Then John arrived
with his fellow conspirators, sailing along the shore in a light boat and
disembarking on land where the stone Hon is seizing the bull (traditionally
the place is called Boukoleon);69 whistling to his retainers, who were
leaning out from the terrace above, he was recognized; for this was the
signal he had given to the murderers.They let down from above a basket
attached to ropes, and hauled up first all the conspirators one at a time,
and then John himself. After thus ascending without being detected,
they entered the imperial bedchamber with swords drawn. When they
reached the bed and found it empty with no one sleeping in it, they
were petrified with terror and tried to hurl themselves into the sea [from
the terrace]. But a dastardly70 fellow71 from [the staff of] the women's
quarters led them and pointed out the sleeping emperor; they surrounded
him and leapt at him and kicked him with their feet.
When Nikephoros was awakened and propped his head on his elbow,
Leo, called Balantes,72 struck him violently with his sword. And the
emperor, in severe pain [p. 88] from the wound ([for] the sword struck
his brow and eyelid, crushing the bone,73 but not injuring the brain), cried
out in a very loud voice, "Help me, Mother of God!";74 and he was
covered all over with blood and stained with red. John, sitting on the
imperial bed, ordered [them| to drag the emperor over to him.When he
was dragged over, prostrate and collapsing on the floor (for he was not
even able to rise to his knees, since his gigantic strength had been sapped
by the blow of the sword), [John] questioned him in a threatening manner,
saying, "Tell me, you most ungrateful and malicious tyrant, wasn't it
through me that you attained the Roman rule and received such power?
Why then did you disregard such a good turn, and, driven by envy and
evil frenzy, did not hesitate to remove me, your benefactor, from the
command of the troops? Instead you dismissed me to waste my time in
the countryside with peasants, like some alien without any rights,75 even
though I am more brave and vigorous than you; the armies of the enemy

fear me, and there is no one now who can save you from my hands.
Speak then, if you have any grounds of defense remaining against
these charges."
8. The emperor, who was already growing faint and did not have
anyone to defend him, kept calling on the Mother of God for assistance.
But John grabbed hold of his beard and pulled it mercilessly, while his
fellow conspirators cruelly and inhumanly smashed his jaws with their
sword handles [p. 89] so as to shake loose his teeth and knock them out
of the jawbone. When they had their fill of tormenting him, John kicked
him in the chest, raised up his sword, and drove it right through the
middle of his brain, ordering the others to strike the man, too. They
slashed at him mercilessly, and one of them hit him in the back with an
akouphion7h and thrust it right through to the breast. This is a long iron
weapon that very much resembles a heron's beak. But it differs from the
beak in its shape, inasmuch as nature bestowed a straight beak on the
bird, whereas the akouphion gradually extends in a moderate curve, ending
in a rather sharp point.
Such was the end of the life of the emperor Nikephoros, who lived
fifty-seven years, but held the imperial power for only six years and four
months.77 He was a man who unquestionably surpassed every man of
his generation in courage and physical strength, and was very experienced
and energetic in warfare; unyielding in every kind of undertaking,
not softened or spoiled by physical pleasures, a man of magnanimity
and of genius in affairs of state, a most upright judge and steadfast legislator
,
inferior to none of those who spend all their lives on these matters;
he was strict and unbending in his prayers and all-night standing vigils78
to God, and kept his mind undistracted during the singing of hymns,emperor of th
e Romans. Nikephoros's body lay outside in the snow all
day long (it was Saturday, the eleventh of December), until late in the
evening John ordered that it be carried off for the funeral service. After
placing it in a hastily improvised wooden coffin, in the middle of the night
they carried it secretly to the holy church of the Apostles, and buried it
in one of the imperial sarcophagi in the hereon,84 where the body of the
holy and celebrated Constantine85 is laid to rest.
Justice, however, did not nod at the murderous act of those wretched
men, but later pursued all of them with vengeance; everyone who was
personally involved in his murder had his property confiscated, was reduced
to the direst poverty, and departed this life in miserable circumstances.