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the Muslims made with the Romans. From there, the emperor obtained a truce from the battle there, and he was occupied with the wars of the Italians. And he took his father-in-law, having found him in the battle, and having honored him as was fitting, he led him away to Nicaea and having stripped him of the imperial insignia he ordered him to live in the monastery of Hyacinth. There he also dies. For his wife Euphrosyne died in the region of Arta, where her body was also laid to rest.

11 And the emperor Theodore also overcame David, who ruled Paphlagonia, and he subdued Heraclea and Amastris and all the surrounding country and the small towns. Again my history wishes to relate the events that occurred in the west. But in order that my history may be easily understood by all, it is necessary to say a few things beforehand. When the emperor Isaac was ruling Constantinople and his wife had died, he took to wife the one whom I mentioned before, who came from Hungary, being the daughter of the ruler of the Hungarians. And since he was about to hold the wedding, and this was an imperial one, the expenses for it had to be considerable. Therefore, from every province of the Romans sheep and pigs and cattle were collected; and since the land of the Bulgarians rears more of these than others, more were demanded from it. The Bulgarian race, which at first was irreconcilable towards the Romans and had become for them the cause of many wars, enslavements and captures of cities and countless other terrible things, and these over many years, were at last subdued by the emperor Basil, whom on account of these things fame called the Bulgar-slayer. At any rate, until the emperor Isaac, the race paid tribute to the Romans, but because of such a pretext, it plotted rebellion. And someone named Asan rose up and became king of the country, having brought under his control all the lands within the Haemus as far as the Ister. From this, not a few troubles befell the Romans; for the Bulgarians, having the Scythians as allies, inflicted many terrible things on the Romans. Then the emperor Isaac, becoming indignant, gathered the entire army of the Romans and advanced against them. So, passing along the coast and making his way through the city of Mesembria, he got inside the Haemus. And Asan with the army under him entered the small town whose name is Strinavos, where the emperor Isaac, having pitched his tents, besieged the Bulgarians. But he was outmaneuvered by them; for one of the Bulgarians, putting on the mask of a fugitive, came to the emperor and informed him of a Scythian attack, and the emperor, alarmed by the report, and this when he was about to capture the small town on the following day, departed from the place. So he did not go out by the road he had come in, but, deceived by the Bulgarian, he decided to pass through what was perhaps the quicker one. So the Bulgarians fell upon him as he was passing through a certain narrow pass, and they destroyed his entire army under him, and they plundered all the baggage of the army, and indeed also that of the emperor himself. And many of the Romans fell, and those who escaped with the emperor were naked and very few. From this the race of the Bulgarians was puffed up, having taken much booty from the Romans, and indeed also the more valuable of the imperial insignia. For they took the emperor’s tents and the ceremonial bowls and money in abundance and indeed the imperial cross itself. For after one of the priests had thrown it, they found it a little later in the river, made of gold, and bearing in the middle a piece from the holy wood fashioned into the shape of a cross, and it had very many small reliquaries, in which were relics of holy martyrs and the milk of the Mother of God and a part of her girdle. So the emperor Isaac departed for Constantinople.

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οἱ Μουσουλμάνοι μετὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐποίησαν. ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἐκεῖσε μάχης ἐκεχειρίαν ἔσχεν ὁ βασιλεύς, τοῖς δ' Ἰταλῶν πολέμοις ἐσχόλαζε. προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ τὸν πενθερὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ μάχῃ εὑρών, καὶ τὰ εἰ κότα τιμήσας ἀπήγαγέ τε εἰς Νίκαιαν καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν παρασήμων ἐκδύσας ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ὑακίνθου μονῇ διάγειν ἐκέλευσεν. ἔνθα καὶ θνήσκει. ἡ γὰρ σύζυγος αὐτοῦ Εὐ φροσύνη ἐν τῇ τῆς Ἄρτης ἐτελεύτησε χώρᾳ, ἔνθα καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς αὐτῆς κατετέθη.

11 Περιεγένετο δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Θεόδωρος καὶ τοῦ τῆς Παφλαγονίας κρατοῦντος ∆αυίδ, καὶ Ἡράκλειαν παρεστήσατο καὶ Ἄμαστριν καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν πέριξ χώραν καὶ τὰ πολίχνια. πάλιν δέ μοι τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας βούλεται τὰ ἐν τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ συμβάντα ξυγγράψασθαι. ἵνα δέ μοι ἡ ἱστορία τοῖς πᾶσιν εὔγνωστος εἴη, δέον ὀλίγα ἄττα προεξειπεῖν. τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰσαακίου τῆς Κωνσταντίνου κατάρχοντος καὶ τῆς γαμετῆς θανούσης αὐτοῦ, ἠγάγετο εἰς γυναῖκα τὴν ἣν προειρήκειν ἐξ Οὐγγρίας ὡρμημένην, θυγατέρα οὖσαν τοῦ τῶν Οὔγγρων ἄρχοντος. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔμελλε τὸν γάμον ποιεῖν, καὶ ὑπῆρχεν οὗτος βασιλικός, ἀξιόλογα ἔδει γενέσθαι τούτου τὰ ἀναλώ ματα. ἐντεῦθεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπαρχίας πρό βατά τε καὶ χοῖροι καὶ βόες συνήγοντο· ἐπεὶ δὲ πλείω τῶν ἄλλων ἡ Βουλγάρων τρέφει ταῦτα, καὶ πλείω παρὰ ταύτης· ἀπῃτοῦντο. τὸ δὲ Βουλγάρων φῦλον ἔκσπονδον μὲν τὰ πρῶτα Ῥωμαίοις τελοῦν καὶ πολέμων πολλῶν πρόξενον γε γονὸς αὐτοῖς ἀνδραποδισμῶν τε καὶ ἁλώσεων πόλεων καὶ μυρίων ἄλλων δεινῶν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν, ὕστατα παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Βασιλείου χειροῦνται, ὃν διὰ ταῦτα Βουλγαροκτόνον ἡ φήμη ἐκάλεσε. μέχρι γοῦν τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰσαακίου ὑπόφορον τὸ γένος ἐτέλει Ῥωμαίοις, διὰ δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην πρόφασιν μεμελέτηκεν ἀνταρσίαν. καὶ ἀνίσταταί τις Ἀσὰν τοὔνομα καὶ βασιλεύει τῆς χώρας, ἅπαντα τὰ ἐν τὸς τοῦ Αἵμου μέχρι καὶ τοῦ Ἴστρου ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ποιησά μενος. ἐκ τούτου οὐκ ὀλίγα πράγματα Ῥωμαίοις συνέβη· ἔχοντες γὰρ οἱ Βούλγαροι τὸ Σκυθικὸν σύμμαχον, πολλὰ ἐποίουν τῇ Ῥωμαίων δεινά. τότε καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀγανα κτήσας Ἰσαάκιος τὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἅπαν συναγαγὼν στράτευμα, κατ' αὐτῶν ἐχώρει. τὴν γοῦν παράλιον παριὼν καὶ διὰ τῆς Μεσημβρίας πόλεως τὴν δίοδον ποιούμενος, ἔσω τοῦ Αἵμου γίνεται. ὁ δὲ Ἀσὰν μετὰ τοῦ ὑπ' αὐτὸν στρα τεύματος ἐντὸς τοῦ πολιχνίου οὗ δὴ τὸ ὄνομα Στρίναβος εἰσέρχεται, ἔνθα καὶ τὰς σκηνὰς ποιησάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰσαάκιος τοὺς Βουλγάρους ἐπολιόρκει. καταστρατηγεῖται δὲ παρ' αὐτῶν· τῶν γὰρ Βουλγάρων τις, προσωπεῖον ὑπενδὺς φυγάδος, ἀφικνεῖται παρὰ τὸν βασιλέα καὶ μηνύει αὐτῷ Σκυθῶν ἔφοδον, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τῷ λόγῳ θροηθείς, καὶ ταῦτα τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν τὸ πολίχνιον χειρώσασθαι μέλλων, ἀπ ανίσταται τοῦ τόπου. οὐκ ἐξῆλθεν οὖν τὴν ἣν εἰσῆλθεν ὁδόν, ἀλλ' ἀπατηθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Βουλγάρου τὴν ταχυτέραν τάχα διεξιέναι βεβούλευται. ἐπεισπίπτουσιν οὖν αὐτῷ διερ χομένῳ οἱ Βούλγαροι ἐπί τινι στενωπῷ γενομένῳ, καὶ κατα λύουσι τὸ ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἅπαν στράτευμα, καὶ σκυλεύουσι πᾶσαν τὴν τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀποσκευήν, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτοῦ. πίπτουσι δὲ πολλοὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων, οἱ δὲ διασωθέντες μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως γυμνοί τε ἦσαν καὶ ὀλίγοι πάνυ. ἐντεῦθεν ἐφυσιώθη τὸ τῶν Βουλγάρων φῦλον, λείαν πολλὴν ἐκ τῶν Ῥωμαίων εἰληφός, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν παρασήμων τὰ τιμιώτερα. τάς τε γὰρ τοῦ βασι λέως πυραμίδας ἀνελάβοντο καὶ φιάλας τῶν ἐπισήμων καὶ χρῆμα εἰς πλῆθος καὶ αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν βασιλικὸν σταυρόν. τῶν τινος γὰρ αὐτὸν ἱερέων ῥίψαντος μετὰ μικρὸν ἐφεῦρον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ, ἐκ χρυσοῦ μὲν κατεσκευασμένον, φέ ροντα δὲ μέσον ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου ξύλου εἰς σταυροῦ σχῆμα τετυπωμένον, θήκας δὲ μικρὰς παμπόλλας ἔχοντα, ἐν οἷς προσῆσαν λείψανα ἁγίων μαρτύρων τὸ γάλα τε τῆς θεο μήτορος καὶ μέρος τι τῆς ζώνης αὐτῆς. ὁ μὲν οὖν βασι λεὺς Ἰσαάκιος εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου ᾤχετο.