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13 This John, then, named king of the Bulgarians, had become the cause of many evils for the Romans, and successfully also for the Italians themselves. For this man was king of the Bulgarians when Constantinople was captured. So when the Italians had brought the whole country of Macedonia under their control, with Baldwin, the first to rule in Constantinople, directing their affairs as king, they also sent word to the city of Adrianople that it should come under them; for John, the king of the Bulgarians, had already managed to subdue Philippopolis and to carry off a great enslavement of the Romans from there. But when the Adrianopolitans were unwilling to come under the hands of the Italians, the Italians marched out against them, with king Baldwin himself being with them, and also the one holding the place of the duke of Venice in Constantinople. So, having come into no small difficulty, the inhabitants of Adrianople sent to John, the king of the Bulgarians, so that he might help them and rescue them from the impending danger. And he gladly accepted this, and taking Scythians with him, since he was not able to fight the Latins openly, he wished to overcome them by stratagems. And while he himself lay somewhere far from Adrianople, he sent out the Scythians against the Italians to employ the Scythian mode of warfare against them. Now it is the custom for the Italians to ride on high-necked horses and to be completely clad in the armor of the body, and from this they charge against their enemies with difficulty of movement; but the Scythians, being more lightly armed, attack their enemies more freely. Not understanding this, the Italians were out-generaled by the Scythians and were defeated, so that even king Baldwin himself was captured by them and led away as a prisoner to John, king of the Bulgarians; whose head, as they say, after the slaughter served as a cup for the barbarian, having been cleaned of everything within it and closely adorned with an ornament all around. The Adrianopolitans, then, did not realize what had happened at the time; for if they had known, they would have gone out of the city and made the Italian tents their booty. So the remaining Italians, having lit bright lights in their own tents and given the citizens the suspicion that they were present, proceeded as fugitives towards Constantinople in the middle of the night. In the morning, therefore, the inhabitants of Adrianople, realizing this, plundered what had been left behind in the tents. The king of the Bulgarians, then, according to what had been promised to the Adrianopolitans, set out to become master of their city, but they refused this. Therefore, being annoyed at the deceit, the king of the Bulgarians wished to besiege them. But the Bulgarians are altogether unskilled in siegecraft; for they know neither how to set up city-takers nor to devise anything else that is able to sack a city. So departing from there, the king of the Bulgarians, having no obstacle since the Italians there had been utterly destroyed, and there being no one else to resist him, overran all Macedonia. Therefore he took very great booty, enslaving the cities with their inhabitants and razing them completely. And his intention was that the Romans should never have a recall to seize their own cities. So he razed from their foundations Philippopolis, which was exceedingly marvelous, which lies beside the Hebrus, then all the other cities, Heraclea, Panion, Rhaedestus, Charioupolis, Trajanopolis, Makre, Claudiopolis, Mosynopolis, Peritheorion and many others, which it is not necessary to enumerate. And taking the people away from there, he settled them near the banks of the Ister, giving to the settlements the names of their own enslaved villages and cities. Therefore, as he asserted, he was taking revenge for the evils which the emperor Basil had wrought against the Bulgarians, and he said that the latter was called Bulgar-slayer, but named himself Roman-slayer

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13 Οὗτος οὖν ὁ Ἰωάννης βασιλεὺς Βουλγάρων ὀνο μασθεὶς πολλῶν τε τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις αἴτιος ἐγεγόνει κακῶν, εὐ τυχῶς δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς αὐτοῖς. ἦν γὰρ οὗτος βασιλεὺς Βουλγάρων, ὁπότε ἡ Κωνσταντίνου ἑάλω. ὡς γοῦν οἱ Ἰταλοὶ πᾶσαν τὴν τῆς Μακεδονίας χώραν ὑφ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐποιήσαντο, βασιλικῶς τοῦ πρώτως ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντινουπόλει κατάρξαντος Βαλδουΐνου τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς διευθύνοντος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν Ἀδριανοῦ διεμηνύσαντο ὅπως ὑπ' αὐτοὺς γένηται· ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς Βουλγάρων Ἰωάννης προύλαβε χει ρώσασθαι τὴν Φιλιππούπολιν καὶ ἀνδραποδισμὸν μέγαν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐκεῖθεν ποιήσασθαι. μὴ βουληθέντων δὲ τῶν Ἀδριανουπολιτῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρας γενέσθαι τῶν Ἰταλῶν, ἐκστρατεύουσιν οἱ Ἰταλοὶ κατ' αὐτῶν, αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ βασιλέως Βαλδουΐνου συνόντος αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῦ τὸν τόπον τοῦ δουκὸς ὑπέχοντος Βενετίας ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντινουπόλει. εἰς στενο χωρίαν γοῦν οὐ μικρὰν ἐλθόντες οἱ τῆς Ἀδριανοῦ οἰκήτορες ἀποστέλλουσι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Βουλγάρων Ἰωάννην, ἵνα συναίρηται τούτοις καὶ τοῦ ἐπηρτημένου κινδύνου ῥύση ται. ὁ δὲ ἀσμένως δέχεται τοῦτο, καὶ Σκύθας μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ προσλαβόμενος, ἐπεὶ φανερῶς οὐκ εἶχε τοῖς Λατίνοις μαχέ σασθαι, περιγενέσθαι βεβούληται μηχαναῖς. καὶ ὁ μὲν ἔκειτο μακράν που τῆς Ἀδριανουπόλεως, ἐκπέμπει δὲ κατὰ τῶν Ἰταλῶν τοὺς Σκύθας τῇ Σκυθικῇ στρατείᾳ κατ' αὐτῶν χρήσασθαι. Ἰταλοῖς μὲν οὖν ἔθος ἐφ' ἵπποις ὑψαύχεσιν ἐποχεῖσθαι καταφράκτοις τε δι' ὅλου εἶναι τοῖς ὅπλοις τοῦ σώματος, κἀντεῦθεν δυσκινήτως κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ὁρμῶσι· Σκύθαι δὲ κουφότερον ὡπλισμένοι ἐλευθερώτερον ἐπιπηδῶσι τοῖς ἐναντίοις. οὗ μὴ ξυνιέντες οἱ Ἰταλοὶ παρὰ τῶν Σκυ θῶν καταστρατηγοῦνται καὶ νικῶνται, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν βασιλέα Βαλδουῖνον ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἁλῶναι καὶ δέσμιον ἀπα χθῆναι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Βουλγάρων Ἰωάννην· οὗπερ, ὥς φασι, καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν μετὰ τὴν σφαγὴν εἰς κύπελλον χρη ματίσαι τῷ βαρβάρῳ, τῶν ἐντὸς ταύτης πάντων κεκαθαρ μένην καὶ κόσμῳ περιπυκασθεῖσαν κύκλωθεν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἀδριανουπολῖται ἐκ τοῦ παραυτίκα τὸ γεγονὸς οὐκ ἐγνώρισαν· εἰ γὰρ ᾔδεισαν, ἐξῄεσαν ἂν τῆς πόλεως καὶ λείαν αὐτῶν ἐπεποιήκεισαν τὰς Ἰταλικὰς σκηνάς. οἱ γοῦν ἀπολειφθέντες Ἰταλοὶ φῶτα λαμπρὰ ἐν ταῖς σφετέραις ἀνάψαντες σκηναῖς καὶ ὑποψίαν δόντες τοῖς πολίταις ὡς πάρεισι, μέσων νυκτῶν φυγάδες περὶ τὴν Κωνσταντίνου χωροῦσι. πρωΐας γοῦν γνόντες τοῦτο οἱ τῆς Ἀδριανοῦ οἰκήτορες τὰ ἐλλελειμμένα ταῖς σκηναῖς ἐληΐσαντο. ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς Βουλγάρων κατὰ τὰ ὑπεσχημένα τοῖς Ἀδριανουπολίταις ἐγκρατὴς γενέ σθαι τῆς σφῶν πόλεως ὥρμησεν, οἱ δὲ ἀπηνήναντο τοῦτο. δυσανασχετήσας οὖν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπάτῃ ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων βασι λεὺς πολιορκῆσαι τούτους ἠθέλησεν. ἀλλ' ἀφυεῖς παντελῶς εἰς πολιορκίαν οἱ Βουλγάροι· οὔτε γὰρ ἑλεπόλεις οἴδασι στῆ σαι οὔτε τι ἄλλο τῶν δυναμένων πορθῆσαι διανοήσασθαι. ἀπάρας γοῦν ἐκεῖθεν ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων βασιλεύς, μὴ ἔχων τὸ ἐμποδὼν ὡς τῶν Ἰταλῶν αὐτοῦ καταπορθηθέντων τὸ ἔσχατον, ἑτέρου δὲ μὴ ὄντος τοῦ ἀνθισταμένου, πᾶσαν κατατρέχει Μακεδονίαν. λείαν οὖν παμπόλλην ἐποιήσατο, αὐτάνδρους τὰς πόλεις ἀνδραποδισάμενος καὶ τέλεον κατα σκάψας αὐτάς. τὸ δέ οἱ διανόημα ἦν, ὡς μήποτε Ῥωμαίους ἀνάκλησιν σχεῖν τῶν σφετέρων ἐπιδράξεσθαι πόλεων. κατ έσκαψε γοῦν ἐκ βάθρων αὐτῶν τὴν Φιλιππούπολιν, θαυ μαστὴν ἄγαν οὖσαν, ἥτις παρὰ τῷ Ἕβρῳ κεῖται, εἶτα τὰς ἄλλας πάσας πόλεις, τὴν Ἡράκλειαν, τὸ Πάνιον, τὴν Ῥαιδεστόν, Χαριούπολιν, Τραϊανούπολιν, Μάκρην, Κλαυδιούπο λιν, Μοσυνούπολιν, Περιθεώριον καὶ ἄλλας πολλάς, ἃς ἀριθμεῖν οὐ χρεών. τὸν δὲ λαὸν ἀπάρας ἐκεῖθεν περὶ τὰς παραρροίας καθίζει τοῦ Ἴστρου, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων τῶν ἠνδρα ποδισμένων κωμῶν καὶ πόλεων τὰς κλήσεις ἐπιθεὶς ταῖς οἰκήσεσιν. ἀντάμυναν οὖν, ὡς ἔφασκεν, ἐποιεῖτο τῶν ὧν εἰργάσατο πρὸς Βουλγάρους κακῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς Βασίλειος, καὶ καλεῖσθαι μὲν ἔλεγεν ἐκεῖνον Βουλγαροκτόνον, Ῥωμαι οκτόνον δὲ ὠνόμαζεν