When it began, the other peoples did not come to their aid, but growing cowardly they were put to flight, first the theme of the Anatolics. And the men of Aplakes, left alone, and not being strong enough to resist, they too began to be cut down. And so, seeing this, all the themes fled, almost abandoning even the emperor, they who before boasted of fighting for the emperor and the Christians. For they said that in Bulgaria, entering impassable places, they had overcome us, but outside, on the plain, we are able to defeat them. And they were wrong in everything; for before even beginning to fight, they fled. And so, in that battle, both Aplakes and many of his people were struck down. And the rest, seeing that they had no help from anywhere, they too fled. The place where they joined battle was a hollow, and the themes were stationed on the higher ground. And when they turned, they thought that they had not fled but had fallen back and were routing them; and immediately they did not pursue them. And after a short while, looking up a little, they saw that they, fleeing at great speed, had disappeared from view, and loosening the reins of their horses they pursued after them. And they, fleeing, trampled one another, and 339 the one fleeing in front did not notice the one behind; for hearing the clatter of the horses' feet he said that he was being pursued by the enemy, and until his horse fell and died, each one did not cease fleeing. And so most fled on foot, their horses being unable from the battle array. And being strangled by hunger, and burned by thirst, going a short distance they would fall and die; for all had thrown their arms and breastplates on the road. And others, arriving, entered certain forts, but later the Bulgar laid siege and took them all. So then the enemy behind them gathered the arms of the fleeing. And indeed they did not stop fleeing until they reached the city. And the emperor, arriving, entered the city, and secured it, so that the people, being let loose, would not do some evil.

And the Bulgars, having pursued for a short distance, for the rest of the time came on at their leisure; for they too were weary from the battle array and so were their horses, and they were gathering the weapons, as has been said, and besieging the forts where the pursued had taken refuge. And the emperor, having entered with grief and weeping, went to the patriarch, and there entered with him the magistros and the grand domestic and the other patricians, and weeping the emperor said that it was certainly on account of my sins that 340 the Christians suffered this, and that God is not well pleased with the reign of my father-in-law, nor with his family, since we were more numerous than the enemy, and no one showed zeal, but all fled. And while the patriarch and the others were consoling him, and deliberating what they should do, and waiting for all the themes to be gathered together and for the emperor to give an order, the theme of the Anatolics, the first to flee the battle, made an evil plan, having as general the son of Bardas the Armenian, and having assembled they acclaimed that same Leo as emperor, and with no one resisting, they opened the gates and brought him into the city in a great crowd. And hearing these things, Michael the emperor took refuge in the church, and having received a promise he was tonsured, becoming a monk.

Concerning the reign of Leo, son of Bardas the Armenian. Leo therefore entered the palace, and taking possession of everything, he made a procession and entered the church, and ascending the ambo he was crowned by Nikephoros, who was patriarch at that time, in the month of June, on the tenth, in the seventh indiction, having first made an autograph declaration with those with him 341 that he would never be against the church or shake any of the sacred dogmas well established for it by the holy fathers, which, being a liar, he did not keep, and just as the story describes the chameleon

ἀρξαμένης οὐκ ἦλθον εἰς βοήθειαν οἱ λοιποὶ λαοί, ἀλλὰ δειλιάσαντες ἔδωκαν εἰς τροπήν, πρῶτον τὸ θέμα τῶν ἀνατολικῶν· καὶ καταλειφθέντες μόνοι οἱ τοῦ Ἀπλακίου, καὶ μὴ ἰσχύοντες ἀντιστῆναι, ἤρξαντο κόπτεσθαι καὶ αὐτοί. καὶ λοιπὸν ἰδόντες πάντα τὰ θέματα ἔφυγον, παρ' ὀλίγον καταλιμπάνοντες καὶ τὸν βασιλέα, οἱ τὸ πρὶν καυχώμενοι ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀγωνίζεσθαι. ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ Βουλγαρίᾳ εἰσελθόντες ἐν τόποις δυσβάτοις ἐκυρίευσαν ἡμᾶς, ἔξωθεν δὲ ἐπὶ κάμπου νικῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἔχομεν. καὶ πάντα ἐψεύσαντο· μήπω γὰρ ἀρξάμενοι πολεμεῖν ἔφυγον. καὶ λοιπὸν ἐπλήγη ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πολέμῳ ὅ τε Ἀπλάκης καὶ πολλοὶ ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ ἰδόντες ὅτι οὐκ ἔχουσίν ποθεν βοήθειαν, ἔφυγον καὶ αὐτοί. ἦν δὲ ὁ τόπος κοιλὸς ἐν ᾧ συνέβαλον τὴν μάχην, καὶ τὰ θέματα ἵσταντο πρὸς τὸ ὑψηλότερον μέρος. καὶ τραπέντων αὐτῶν ἐλογίζοντο ὅτι οὐκ ἔφυγον ἀλλ' ὀπισθοπόδησαν καὶ τροποῦνται αὐτούς· καὶ εὐθέως οὐ κατεδίωξαν αὐτούς. καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν ἀνακύψαντες ὀλίγον θεωροῦσιν ὅτι δρόμῳ πολλῷ φεύγοντες ἀπέκρυψαν, καὶ λύσαντες τοὺς χαλινοὺς τῶν ἵππων κατεδίωκον ὀπίσω αὐτῶν. αὐτοὶ δὲ φεύγοντες ἀλλήλους συνεπάτουν, καὶ 339 ὁ ἔμπροσθεν φεύγων τὸν ὀπίσω οὐ κατενόει· ἀκούων γὰρ τὸν κρότον τῶν ποδῶν τῶν ἵππων ἔλεγεν ὅτι ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων καταδιώκεται, καὶ ἕως οὗ ὁ ἵππος πεσὼν ἀπέθανεν, οὐκ εὐμενίδη ἕκαστος τοῦ φεύγειν. λοιπὸν δὲ καὶ οἱ πλεῖοι πεζῇ ἔφυγον, τῶν ἵππων ἐκ τῆς παραταγῆς ἀδυνάτων ὄντων. λιμαγχονηθέντες δέ, καὶ τοῦ δίψους καέντων, ὀλίγον ἀπερχόμενοι ἔπιπτον καὶ ἀπέθνησκον· πάντες γὰρ τὰ ἄρματα καὶ τὰ λωρίκια ἔρριψαν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν. ἄλλοι δὲ καταφθανόμενοι εἰσῆλθον εἰς κάστρα τινά, ὕστερον δὲ παρακαθίσαντος τοῦ Βουλγάρου καὶ παραλαβόντος πάντας. λοιπὸν οὖν οἱ πολέμιοι ὄπισθεν ἐσύναγον τὰ ἄρματα τῶν φευγόντων. καὶ δὴ ἕως τῆς πόλεως οὐκ ἔστησαν φεύγοντες. καὶ φθάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ ἠσφάλισεν, ἵνα μὴ ὁ λαὸς χαλασθεὶς ποιήσῃ κακόν.

Οἱ δὲ Βούλγαροι ἕως ὀλίγου τόπου καταδιώξαντες τὸ λοιπὸν μετὰ ἀνέσεως ἤρχοντο· ἦσαν γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ κεκοπιακότες ἀπὸ τῆς παρατάξεως καὶ οἱ ἵπποι αὐτῶν, συνάγοντές τε τὰ ὅπλα, ὡς εἴρηται, καὶ τὰ κάστρα παρακαθήμενοι ἔνθα προσέφυγον οἱ διωκόμενοι. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰσελθὼν μετὰ λύπης καὶ κλαυθμοῦ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν πατριάρχην, καὶ συνεισῆλθον ὅ τε μάγιστρος καὶ ὁ μέγας δομέστικος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πατρίκιοι, καὶ κλαίων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔλεγεν ὅτι πάντως διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου τοῦτο ἔπαθον 340 οἱ Χριστιανοί, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ εὐδοκιμεῖ ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ πενθεροῦ μου, οὐδὲ εἰς τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ, ἐπεὶ πλείους ἤμεθα ἡμεῖς τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ προθυμίαν οὐδεὶς ἔσχεν, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἔφυγον. καὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν παραμυθουμένων αὐτῷ, καὶ βουλευομένων τί ἂν ποιήσωσιν, καὶ ἐκδεχομένων ἵνα σωρευθῶσιν πάντα τὰ θέματα καὶ δώσῃ ὁ βασιλεὺς διαταγήν, τὸ θέμα τῶν ἀνατολικῶν πρῶτοι φυγόντες τοῦ πολέμου ἐποίησαν βουλὴν πονηράν, ἔχοντες στρατηγὸν υἱὸν Βάρδα τοῦ Ἀρμενίου, καὶ μουλτεύσαντες ἐξευφήμησαν τὸν αὐτὸν Λέοντα εἰς βασιλέα, καὶ μηδενὸς ἀνθισταμένου ἀνοίξαντες τὰς πόρτας εἰσήγαγον αὐτὸν παμπληθεὶ εἰς τὴν πόλιν. ἀκούσας δὲ ταῦτα Μιχαὴλ ὁ βασιλεὺς προσέφυγεν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ λαβὼν λόγον ἀπεκείρατο γενόμενος μοναχός.

Περὶ τῆς βασιλείας Λέοντος υἱοῦ Βάρδα τοῦ Ἀρμενίου. Λέων οὖν εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ παλάτιον, καὶ παραλαβὼν πάντα, ποιήσας προέλευσιν εἰσῆλθεν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ ἀνελθὼν εἰς τὸν ἄμβωνα ἐστέφθη ὑπὸ Νικηφόρου τοῦ τηνικαῦτα πατριάρχου ὄντος, μηνὶ Ἰουνίῳ, δεκάτῃ, ἰνδικτιῶνι ἑβδόμῃ, πρότερον ποιήσας ἰδιόχειρον μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ 341 μηδέποτε κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας γενέσθαι ἢ παρασαλεῦσαι τῶν καλῶς εἰς αὐτὴν ὁρισθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἱερῶν δογμάτων, ὅπερ οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν ψεύστης ὤν, καὶ καθάπερ ὁ λόγος ὑπογράφει τὸν χαμαιλέοντα