[56] [Finlay[n] thinks that some of these stories may be the inventions of flatterers of Michael’s assassin and successor, Basil.]
[57] [“Basil founded,” says Finlay[n], “the largest dynasty that ruled in the Byzantine empire.”]
[58] [The Saracens were driven out of various Italian strongholds which gave allegiance to Constantinople. But Sicily was lost in 878, and though Cyprus was regained, it was also lost again.]
[59] [That is, the colony of Paulician fugitives formed at Tephrike after the persecutions of Theodora.]
[60] [“The Basilica remained the law of the Byzantine empire,” says Finlay,[n] “till its conquest by the Franks, and it continued in use as the national law of the Greeks at Nicæa, Constantinople, and Trebizond and in the Morea, until they were conquered by the Ottomans.”]
[61] [Constantine was proclaimed Augustus in 868 and died in 879. He was the eighth of the name according to Eckhel and the ninth according to Humphreys.]
[62] [During the regency the Byzantines won a battle in Caria, and invaded Saracen territory with success.]
[63] [According to Finlay,[n] Romanus had sailed away without a battle, after the land-forces had been crushingly defeated by the Bulgarian king, Simeon, at Achelous, 917. In 921, and again in 923, Simeon penetrated to the walls of Constantinople. In 934 and in 943 the Hungarians had like success, being bought off on both occasions. In 963, however, they were defeated. The Italian provinces underwent similar vicissitudes.]
