Is adeo gentem nostram diloxit, ut preeoa exposceret ac beneditiones: cujus rei causa patriarcham quoque ad aulam accersivit. Atque utinam ad Christiana sacra moresque transisset! » Imperii ejus sedes Aspahana fuit, quae metropolis Persarum est, ibidemque vitam conclusit.
Romani per Thraciam in Asiam transmittunt, ut Scytharnm, Persarum atque Saracenorum adversus Christianos injurias ultum eant. Plurimis autem incommodis afficiuntur a filio Satanae Alexio Græcorum in urbe Constantinopolitana rege. Hie partim arcanis, partim manifestis insidiis, mortifero etiam cibo grassabatur: tum iidem mari suorumque ducatui pessimo artifteio commissi significabat astute barbaris qua ratione caperentur. Haec Dominus aliquando ulciscatur I siquidem hic homo itemque mater ejus, uti ex multis audivimus, Christiano ritu alieni erant. Id etiam Sarcavacus doctor commemorat.
He so loved our people that he sought prayers and blessings; for this reason he also summoned the patriarch to court. And would that he had passed over to the Christian sacraments and customs! The seat of his empire was Aspahana, which is the metropolis of the Persians, and there he ended his life.
The Romans pass through Thrace into Asia, to avenge the injuries of the Scythians, Persians, and Saracens against the Christians. But they are afflicted by very many hardships by the son of Satan, Alexius, king of the Greeks in the city of Constantinople. He raged partly by secret, partly by open plots, and even by deadly food; then, when the same men had been entrusted to the sea and to their own command by a most wicked device, he cunningly indicated to the barbarians by what means they might be captured. May the Lord one day avenge these things! For this man, as also his mother, as we have heard from many, were estranged from the Christian rite. The teacher Sarcavacus also records this.
Romani Hierosolyma vi Saracenis eripiunt caesis hostium sexaginta quinque millibus in templo, et pluribus adhuc in urbe. Dominus Vahramus versabatur Hierosolymis dum urbs capiebatur.
Oblit dominus Basillus patriarcha Armeniorum, ejusque dignitatem excepit dominus Gregorius, ingenti gloria residens In throno diœceseos S. Gregorli Armeniorum Illuminatoris, cujus eum quoque genere ortum esse constabat. Hic Dei gratia affluenter ornatus, propter morum integritatem ac sanctimoniam non solum a nostratibus viris, verum etiam ab exteris regibus et principibus, imo etiam a regibus et pontificibus Romanorum summi honoris testimonia adeptus est. Idem ad sanctam Hierosolymorum urbem iter instituit, ibique sacra loca venerabundus aspexit, In quibus Deus ad humanam naturam demissus particeps fuit passionis Christi ut etiam gloriae ejus consors fleret. Ibi enimvero Romana gens. eorumdem locorum domina, quam Francorum nomine indigitant, quanta esset in patriarcha nostra divinae gratiae copia cognovit: namque ct ex ejus corporis forma eximia ac majestate venustas facil' spiritus intelligebatur, germanaque fidei orthodoxla, quam is perspicue et secundum verissimos canones nec sine decora eloquentia significabat. Quibus rebus Romani mirifice delectati summi amoris necessitudine cum patriarcha nostro cumque gente Armeniaca copulati sunt.
The Romans wrest Jerusalem by force from the Saracens, with sixty-five thousand of the enemy slain in the temple and more still in the city. Lord Vahram was staying at Jerusalem when the city was captured.
Lord Basillus, patriarch of the Armenians, died, and Lord Gregory succeeded to his dignity, seated with immense glory on the throne of the diocese of Saint Gregory the Illuminator of the Armenians, from whose lineage it was established that he too was descended. He, abundantly adorned with the grace of God, on account of the integrity of his morals and his sanctity obtained testimonies of the highest honor not only from our own men but also from foreign kings and princes, and indeed even from the kings and pontiffs of the Romans. The same man undertook a journey to the holy city of Jerusalem, and there reverently beheld the sacred places, in which God, having stooped down to human nature, was made a partaker of the passion of Christ so that he might also become a partaker of his glory. There indeed the Roman people, the mistress of those same places, whom they call by the name of the Franks, recognized how great was the abundance of divine grace in our patriarch; for even from the excellent form of his body and the charm of his majesty the grace of the spirit was easily understood, and the orthodox faith, genuine, which he set forth clearly and according to the truest canons, and not without becoming eloquence. Marvelously delighted by these things, the Romans were joined to our patriarch and to the Armenian people by the bond of the highest love.
Sic Dei providentia res omnes administrantur: neque enim repulit Dominus populum suum, ut Psalmographi verba testantur.
Quo æræ anno Basilius patriarcba obiit, eodem ad Dominum morte translatus cst Georgius doctor cognomento Melricius.
Rursus eodem anno fortis Tancredus Romanus qui Antiochiam multasque præterea civitates provinciasquc tenebat, vir egregius et probus, veneno exstinctus est a suo patriarcha in eadem urbe Antiochia.
Eodem denique anno per sancti PaschaLis quadragenarium jejunium quintæ hebdomadæ fcria quarta, qua die sidera olim creata sunt, solis defectus fuit. GREGORIUS annis LIII.
Incursionum, rapinarum, exitiorum et cladium, quibus Ibcri certatim Saracenique provinciam Aniæ velabant, pertesi denique Aniae urbis Siraciaeque regionis incolæ, ut hanc a se procellam depellerent, ad Davidis lberorum regis clientelam confugere decreverunt. Igitur conjuratum est adversus Apelsuarum amiram, Manuciei filium, qui exstincto patri in Aniæ dominatum successerat; David autem rex patentibus portis in urbem receptus: quo sic repente inlrogresso, nemo vitae detrimentum passus est. Is captum cum filiis Apelsuarum in Iberiam secum avexit, locoque adeo pestilenti deposuit, ut brevi pater cum liberis duobus perierit. Interim cum fortis quoque David naturæ concessisset, Iberiae regnum adiit Demetrius ejusdem filius, omni laude juvenilis disciptinae cumulatissimus.
Thus by God's providence all things are administered; for the Lord has not cast off his people, as the words of the Psalmist testify.
In the year of the era in which Basilius the patriarch died, in the same year George the doctor, surnamed Melricius, was translated to the Lord by death.
Again in the same year the strong Tancred the Roman, who held Antioch and many other cities and provinces besides, a distinguished and upright man, was killed by poison by his own patriarch in that same city of Antioch.
Finally in the same year, during the forty-day fast of holy Pascha, on the fourth day of the fifth week, the day on which the stars were once created, there was an eclipse of the sun. Gregory, fifty-three years.
At length the inhabitants of the city of Ania and of the region of Siracene, wearied by the incursions, plunderings, slaughters, and disasters with which the Iberians and Saracens vied in ravaging the province of Ania, resolved to flee for protection to David, king of the Iberians, so as to drive this storm away from themselves. Accordingly a conspiracy was formed against Apelsuarus the emir, son of Manucius, who after his father's death had succeeded to the lordship of Ania; and King David was received into the city with open gates. When he had thus suddenly entered, no one suffered loss of life. He carried off Apelsuarus, captured with his sons, with him into Iberia, and settled him in a place so pestilential that within a short time the father perished with his two children. Meanwhile, when the strong David also had yielded to nature, Demetrius, his son, most abundantly endowed with every praise of youthful discipline, succeeded to the kingdom of Iberia.
Tum vero Phatlunus filiorum Apelsuari natu maximus, qui tandiu apud maguum amiram in Chorasania diversabatur, cognita parentis calamitate stationisque noxia natura, in regiones nostras maturavit incurrere, praefectisque suburbanis devictis, metropolim obsidione vallavit. Sæva dehinc fames annum integrum occupavit: cumque cives ad comparandam escam noctu egrederentur, structis insidiis hostis viros quidem jugulabat, ita ut cruore et ossibus terra squaleret, feminas autem pucrosque veudebat. Sed tamen identidem ex Iberia duces aderant viri egregii, ut ille clarus ac slrenuus Ivanes Abulethi filius qui forti animo incursores cadebat: cumque Phatlunus magna vi urbem aggrederetur, ipse paucis stipatus, adjuvantibus civibus, urbem periculo expedivi!. Neque vero reticendum est feminæ cujusdam in eo certamine virile facinus, quae satis audacter moenibus insistens lapidum ictibus hostes pellebat, sagittis quibus extrinsecus petebatur contemptis. Feminae nomen Caprea, quod ejus erat pernicitati consentaneum. Verumtamen regno Iberorum nondum in ea urbe satis confirmato, Caine ac cædibus in dies sævientibus, coguntur cives urbem denuo ad Phatluni potestatem transferre, fide jurata ab eodem accepta, nequid contra patris fraLrumque proditores statueret. Id ille lœdus etsi in praesenti non delrecLavit, nihilominus pacatis rebus, eos vario criminationum genere aggressus est atque muitavit.
Then indeed Phatlunus, the eldest of the sons of Apelsuar, who had for so long been staying with the great amir in Khorasan, having learned of his father's calamity and the harmful nature of his position, hastened to invade our regions; and after defeating the suburban prefects, he enclosed the metropolis in a siege. From then on a savage famine occupied a whole year; and when the citizens went out by night to procure food, the enemy, having set ambushes, slaughtered the men, so that the ground was foul with blood and bones, while the women and boys he sold. But nevertheless, from time to time, leaders from Iberia were present, excellent men, such as that renowned and vigorous Ivanes, son of Abuleth, who with a brave spirit struck down the raiders; and when Phatlunus attacked the city with great force, he himself, accompanied by few, with the citizens assisting, freed the city from danger. Nor indeed must the manly deed of a certain woman in that struggle be passed over in silence, who quite boldly, standing on the walls, drove off the enemy with blows of stones, despising the arrows with which she was attacked from outside. The woman's name was Caprea, which was fitting to her swiftness. However, since the kingdom of the Iberians was not yet sufficiently established in that city, with slaughters and killings raging daily, the citizens were compelled to transfer the city again to the power of Phatlunus, after receiving from him an oath sworn that he would do nothing against the betrayers of his father and brothers. Although that foul man did not reject this at present, nevertheless, once matters were pacified, he attacked them with various kinds of accusations and punished them.
Eo regnante a consuetis quidem incursionibus quies in Armenia fuit, sed tum præterita damna. tum vectigalium rapinarumque vis summam apud nos egestatem rerumque omnium penuriam effecerunt, quae quidem ab ea usque aetate incrementis aucta nostris adhuc temporibus perseverat,
At enim sanctus patriarcha fideique antistes dominus Gregorius, quia fœdus amicabile cum Apelsuaro fecerat, quo sedes ab eo proteseretur, audita in hunc Aniensium conspiratione, criminis auctoribus vehementer succeusuit.
Hoc anno Romanorum natio cum innumero exercitu mare tirca eamdem Thraciam transmisit, per quam prior quoque transitus fuerat quem superius ad annum DXLVI commemoravimus. lidem nullam prae se memoriam tulerunt earum molestiarum, quas olim a filio Belial Alexio perpessi fuerant: neque enim callidas dolosasque Græcorum fallacias senserunt, cum Alexium fidei socium Christique famulum existimarent. Ea propter hoc etiam tempore praetcritorum malorum immemorcs gravius adhuc decepti illusique sunt ab ejusdem nepote, cujus nomen ad Antichristum alludit: quippe hic ab Emmanuelis factis et religione magnopere abhorrens, vocitatus est Manuel.
While he reigned, there was indeed quiet in Armenia from the customary incursions, but then the past damages, then the force of taxes and plunderings produced the greatest poverty among us and a scarcity of all things, which indeed from that age onward, increased by our own growth, persists even in our times.
But indeed the holy patriarch and champion of the faith, lord Gregory, because he had made a friendly covenant with Apelsuar, by which his see might be protected by him, when he heard of the conspiracy against this man by the Anienses, was vehemently enraged at the authors of the crime.
In this year the nation of the Romans crossed the sea with a countless army around the same Thrace, through which the earlier crossing also had been, which we mentioned above under the year 546. The same men bore before them no memory of those troubles which they had once suffered from Alexius, son of Belial: for they did not perceive the cunning and deceitful tricks of the Greeks, since they considered Alexius a partner in faith and a servant of Christ. For this reason also at this time, forgetful of past evils, they were still more grievously deceived and mocked by the grandson of the same man, whose name alludes to the Antichrist: for he, greatly abhorring the deeds and religion of Emmanuel, was called Manuel.
Anno æræ DCX rex Iberorum Georgius Aniarn die Junii tertia decima cepit: mox Augusto exordiente octoginta militum millia Saharmeni septem millibus profligavit: quam rem nostris oculis vidimus, relata scilicet in commentarios viginti tria millia, praeter reliquam multitudinem quae agrum nostrum cadaveribus suis operiebat. Consecuto autem æræ anno DCXI die Augusti XXI Devinam urbem occupavit Georgius, indidemque sexaginta hominum millia capliva deduxit, quorum eliam superstitiosa sacella delevit. Exin anno æræ DCXII Chorasaniae Sultanus cum innumeris armatorum copiis ad Aniæ nostrae portas progressus pavore incolas consternavit: post trigesimum autem diem clam abiit vir callidissimus magnaque clade Georgio ejusque copiis imposita in regnum se recepit.
In the year of the era 610, George, king of the Iberians, captured Ani on the thirteenth day of June; then, at the beginning of August, with seven thousand men he routed eighty thousand of the Saharmenians. This matter we saw with our own eyes, though only twenty-three thousand were reported in the records, besides the rest of the multitude that covered our field with their corpses. In the following year of the era, 611, on the twenty-first day of August, George occupied the city of Devin, and from there led away sixty thousand captives, whose superstitious shrines he also destroyed. Then in the year of the era 612, the Sultan of Khorasan, advancing with countless armed forces to the gates of our Ani, struck the inhabitants with terror; but after the thirtieth day he withdrew secretly, a most cunning man, and after inflicting great disaster on George and his troops, he returned to his kingdom.