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For a thirty-year treaty with them made by the emperor Leo was already almost completing its first decade. But the emperor, judging their proposal worthy of great acceptance, replied that it was not right for those who had for so long a time agreed to abstain from Christian blood to break their sound agreements on account of the war with the rebels; and having treated them kindly, as their zeal deserved, he sent them back to their own land. But they, paying no heed to the emperor's words, marched against the tyrant and, invading the Roman territories, encamped at the place called Cedoctus. And when the apostate learned of the Bulgarians' attack against him, he took no account of the navy that had been left to him, whence indeed it all went over to the emperor; and putting all his force into the infantry, he departed from besieging the city, and attacking the Bulgarians at the aforesaid place, was utterly defeated. And very many of his men were both slain and burned by them; and the survivors were scattered somewhere as best they could. And the Bulgarians, having gathered much booty from the enemy, returned to their own land. 2.8 And even having fared so badly, the tyrant did not cease from his folly, but having gathered the scattered men and at the so-called Diabasis <assembling them>, since it was in every way suitable for an encampment, both because of the pasture for the horses and for the other needs of the men being more abundant, he encamped there, taking courage from the marshy ground of the place, and from there as from a citadel, being truly a tyrant, he made frequent raids and burned the nearby villages. When the emperor Michael learned this, with what power he had, he hastily assembled an army <not> easily numbered and went against the tyrant to the aforesaid place with all the panoply of command, encouraging those with him with words and other promises. But the tyrant went to meet the emperor with a very great multitude, and he feigned flight, so that the battle line of the emperor's army might be broken; but he missed his aim, neither breaking the formation of the imperial army, nor being able to rejoin his own men, but, not withstanding the attack of the enemy, as quickly as he could, he resorted to flight and escaped to Arcadiopolis with some of his men. And having accepted the surrender of most of the rebels, the emperor advanced against the city itself, in which the tyrant had taken refuge, and surrounded it with a strong palisade. And the apostate, having very few horsemen inside the city, often, when he saw the enemy in disarray, sent them against them; but yet in this way the wretches suffered more than they inflicted. But the emperor did not bring a siege engine against the city, out of consideration, that none of the remaining co-religionists should be slain by the sword, nor indeed that it should be shown to the Scythians that it was possible for cities under Roman rule to be captured by siege engines; but he decided to overcome the tyrant by famine and siege. And indeed, after a long time had passed, the tyrant was so lacking in the necessities for life that first he emptied the city of every useless age and sex, then, when the horses themselves had perished from the famine, he persuaded them to taste their meat, and that stinking; and they proceeded to eating fleeces and other hides. And finally some of them, slipping out through the gates, others lowering ropes down the walls, and still others throwing themselves to the ground and crushing their limbs, surrendered to the emperor, and receiving pardon and safe conduct, they joined Anastasius, the falsely-named son of the tyrant, who had seized the fortress of Bizye and had chosen to make war on the emperor from there among them, in order that he might provide the apostate an easy means of escape in the fighting. But the emperor, having entered into negotiations with those in the city and having promised with oaths that he would grant oblivion of their offenses against him, they rose up against the tyrant and, having seized him, brought him to the emperor; and he with joyful foot

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γὰρ ὑπὸ Λέοντος τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς αὐτοὺς τριακοντούτεις σπονδαὶ ἤδη τὴν πρώτην δεκαετηρίδα συνεπλήρουν σχεδόν. ἀποδοχῆς δὲ μεγάλης ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν γνώμην αὐτῶν ἀξίαν κρίνας ἀπολογεῖται μὴ χρῆναι τοὺς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον χρόνον ὡμολογηκότας Χριστιανικῶν αἱμάτων ἀφέξεσθαι ἐπὶ τῷ τῶν στασιωτῶν πολέμῳ τὰ καλῶς δόξαντα καταλύειν· φιλοφρονησάμενος δὲ αὐτοὺς τῆς προθυμίας ἀξίως πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀποστέλλει. ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν κατ' οὐδὲν τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως φροντίσαντες λόγων κατά τε τοῦ τυράννου στρατεύουσι καὶ εἰς τὰ Ῥωμαίων εἰσβαλόντες ἤθη κατὰ τὸν Κηδούκτου καλούμενον στρατοπεδεύονται χῶρον. μαθὼν δὲ ὁ ἀποστάτης τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἔφοδον, τοῦ καταλειφθέντος αὐτῷ ναυτικοῦ λόγον οὐδένα ποιεῖται, ὅθεν δὴ τοῦτο πᾶν τῷ βασιλεῖ προσχωρεῖ· ὅλος δὲ τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατοῦ γεγονὼς ἀπαίρει μὲν τοῦ προσεδρεύειν τῇ πόλει, κατὰ δὲ τὸ εἰρημένον χωρίον προσβαλὼν τοῖς Βουλγάροις κατὰ κράτος ἡττᾶται. καὶ πλεῖστοι μὲν τῶν αὐτοῦ κτείνονταί τε καὶ πυρπολοῦνται πρὸς τούτων· οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες ὡς εἶχον σθένους σκεδάννυνταί που. λείαν δὲ πολλὴν τῶν πολεμίων οἱ Βούλγαροι συμφορήσαντες πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὑποστρέφουσιν. 2.8 Οὐκ ἀπολήγει δὲ καὶ οὕτως πράξας κακῶς τῆς ἀπονοίας ὁ τύραννος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς σκεδασθέντας συλλέξας καὶ πρὸς τὴν καλουμένην ∆ιάβασιν <συναθροίσας>, ἅτε δὴ πρὸς τὸ στρατοπεδεῦσαι πάντα οὖσαν ἐπιτηδείαν, διά τε τὴν τῶν ἵππων νομὴν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄλλην χρείαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀφθονωτέραν τυγχάνουσαν, ἐκεῖσε σκηνοῦται τῷ τέλματι τοῦ χωρίου θαρρήσας, ἐκεῖθέν τε ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀκροπόλεως, ὄντως τύραννος ὤν, συχνὰς ποιεῖται καταδρομὰς καὶ τὰς πλησιαζούσας πυρπολεῖ κώμας. ὅπερ δὴ μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς Μιχαήλ, ὡς εἶχεν δυνάμεως, <οὐκ> εὐαρίθμητον σχεδιάζει στρατὸν καὶ κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου πρὸς τὸν εἰρημένον ἔρχεται χῶρον σὺν κόσμῳ στρατηγεσίας παντί, λόγοις καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ὑποσχέσεσι τοὺς συνόντας ἐπιρρωννύς. ὁ δὲ τύραννος πλήθει πολλῷ δὴ μάλα ὑπαντιάζει τῷ βασιλεῖ, σχηματίζεταί τε φυγήν, ὥστε τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως στρατοῦ διαλυθῆναι συνασπισμόν· διαμαρτάνει δὲ τοῦ σκοποῦ, μήτε τὴν τάξιν τοῦ βασιλικοῦ διαλύσας στρατοῦ, μήτε τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ συναφθῆναι οἷός τε γεγονώς, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐναντίων μὴ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν ὁρμήν, ὡς εἶχε τάχους, χρῆται φυγῇ καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ἀρκαδιούπολιν σύν τισι τῶν ἑαυτοῦ διασῴζεται. ὁμολογήσαντας δὲ αὐτῷ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν στασιωτῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰληφὼς ἐπέρχεται τῇ πόλει αὐτῇ, καθ' ἣν ὁ τύραννος διεσῴζετο, χάρακά τε περιβάλλει αὐτῇ καρτερὸν κύκλῳ. ὀλιγίστους δὲ ὁ ἀποστάτης ἔχων ἔνδον τῆς πόλεως ἱππότας, πολλάκις, ὅτε δὴ πεφυρμένους διήθρει τοὺς ἐναντίους, ἠφίει κατ' αὐτῶν τούτους· ἀλλ' οὖν γε καὶ ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ἐπάνθανον ἢ ἔδρων οἱ δείλαιοι. ὁ δέ γε βασιλεὺς ἑλέπολιν μὲν οὐ προσῆγε τῇ πόλει, φειδοῖ, μήτε τινὰ τοῦ λοιποῦ τῶν ὁμοδόξων ξίφεσιν ἀναιρεῖσθαι, μήτε μὴν δειχθῆναι τοῖς Σκύθαις ὡς δυνατὸν μηχαναῖς τὰς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ἁλῶναι πόλεις· λιμῷ δὲ καὶ προσεδρείᾳ περιγενέσθαι τοῦ τυράννου διέγνω. καὶ δῆτα πολλοῦ χρόνου διαδραμόντος τοσοῦτον ἐνδεῖται τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ὁ τύραννος ἀναγκαίων, ὥστε πρῶτον μὲν πᾶσαν ἄχρηστον ἡλικίαν καὶ φύσιν ἐκκενοῖ τῆς πόλεως, εἶτα τῶν ἵππων αὐτῶν διὰ τὴν λιμὸν ἀποφθαρέντων, τῶν κρεῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ ταῦτα ὀδωδότων, γεύσασθαι πείθει· προῆλθον δὲ εἰς τὸ κώδιά τε καὶ τἆλλα σκύτη φαγεῖν. καὶ τέλος οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν πυλῶν λανθάνοντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν τειχῶν καθάπτοντες κάλους, ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ῥιπτοῦντες κατὰ τὸ ἔδαφος καὶ τὰ μέλη συνθλώμενοι, ἀνωμολόγουν τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ συγγνώμης τυγχάνοντες καὶ ἀδείας Ἀναστασίῳ τῷ ψευδωνύμῳ τοῦ τυράννου συνήπτοντο υἱῷ, τοῦ Βύζης ἐπειλημμένῳ πολίσματος, ἐκ τούτου ἐν αὐτοῖς διαπολεμεῖν τῷ βασιλεῖ ᾑρημένῳ, ἵνα δὴ παράσχοι τῷ ἀποστάτῃ ἐν τῷ μάχεσθαι ῥᾳστώνην φυγῆς. εἰς δὲ λόγους ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐλθὼν καὶ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτημάτων λήθην μεθ' ὅρκων ὑποσχόμενος ἕξειν, κατὰ τοῦ τυράννου συνίστανται καὶ συσχόντες αὐτὸν προσάγουσι βασιλεῖ· ὁ δὲ γηθομένῳ ποδὶ