of the detachments fell, and so many that the place was flooded with blood pouring down like a river. And Gregoras the son of the Doux was also killed, and Michael his cousin, and that Kourtikes of the Armenians. 4 When Constantine the Doux learned these things, as the greatest confusion had arisen, he rode his horse away. But it, slipping on the paving stones laid there, threw its rider to the ground. And when someone found him thrown on the ground—for all the others had been scattered—he cut off his head with a sword. 5. When these things were thus accomplished, Gregoras the magistros, his father-in-law, with Leo, whom they called Choirosphaktes, took refuge in the great, holy church of God; and dragging them out from there by force, they tonsured them as monks in the monastery of Stoudios. And Constantine the Helladic, having beaten him with ox-whips, clothed him in rags and set him on a donkey, they paraded through the middle of the city, and leading him away to the monastery of Dalmatios, they made him an inmate in the so-called Katadike. As for Leo Katakalitzes and Abessalon, son of Arotres, having blinded them, they sent them into exile. As for Constantine, the son of Eulamios, and others with him, Theophilos the eparch, son of Lampydos, cut them down with the sword in the Sphendone of the Hippodrome. And having investigated not a little 877 concerning Niketas the asekretis and Constantine Libos, they did not find them, as they had taken to flight. And as for that Aigydenos and those with him, who were brave and many, they impaled them all on twin stakes from the Heifer in Chrysopolis all the way to Leukates. And many of those then in office these so-called regents would have killed mercilessly and without cause, had not some of the judges restrained them from their unjust impulse, saying to them, "Since the emperor is a child, how do you dare to do such things without his command?" 6 So they tonsured the wife of the Doux and sent her away to her own house in Paphlagonia, having also castrated her son Stephen. 7. And in the month of August, Symeon the archon of Bulgaria, marching out against the Romans with a large and heavy host, reached Constantinople, and indeed laying siege to it he surrounded it with a palisade from Blachernae as far as the so-called Golden Gate, being buoyed by the hopes of taking it altogether without a struggle. But when he learned of both the strength of the walls and the security from the multitude and the stone-throwers, disappointed in his hopes he returned to the so-called Hebdomon, having requested a peace treaty. And the regents accepting the peace most gladly, Symeon sent Theodore the magistros to discuss the terms of peace. And taking the emperor, both the patriarch Nicholas and Stephen and 878 John the magistroi came as far as Blachernae, and they brought in the two sons of Symeon, and they dined with the emperor in the palace. And Nicholas the patriarch went out to Symeon, to whom Symeon bowed his head. So the patriarch, having said a prayer, instead of a crown, as they say, placed his own epirrhiptarion upon his head. So having been treated kindly with immense and very great gifts, both Symeon and his sons returned to their own country, having departed without agreement on the aforesaid peace. 8. So, as the emperor Constantine was a child and was asking for his own mother—for the emperor Alexander had already removed her from the palace, as has been said—whom they also bring back up again. She therefore, having become mistress of the empire, brings up into the palace Constantine the parakoimomenos and Constantine and Anastasios the so-called Gongylioi, and by the counsel of John Eladas she brings down the associates of the emperor Alexander, John the rhaiktor and the so-called Gabrielopoulos and Basilitzes and the rest. And Zoe Augusta appoints Theophylact Domenikos hetaireiarches. And John Eladas the magistros, having fallen ill and having been given up by the physicians, went down from the palace and arriving at Blachernae and being weighed down by the illness, died. by the counsel of Do

ἔπεσον τῶν μερῶν, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε τὸν τόπον ἐκλιμνασθῆναι τῷ αἵματι ποταμηδὸν καταρρέοντι. ἀνῃρέθη δὲ καὶ Γρηγορᾶς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ∆ουκὸς καὶ Μιχαὴλ ἐξάδελ φος αὐτοῦ καὶ Κουρτίκης ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἐξ Ἀρμενίων. 4 ταῦτα ὁ ∆οὺξ Κωνσταντῖνος μαθών, ταραχῆς ὅτι πλείστης γενομένης, τὸν ἵππον ἐξήλαυνεν. ὁ δὲ ταῖς ἐκεῖσε ὑπεστρωμέναις ἐνολισθήσας πλαξὶν εἰς γῆν τὸν ἐπιβάτην κατέβαλεν. ἐπεὶ δέ τις αὐτὸν κατὰ γῆς ἐρριμμένον κατέλαβεν οἱ γὰρ ἄλλοι διεσκεδάσθησαν ἅπαν τες, ξίφει τὴν τούτου ἀπέτεμε κεφαλήν. 5. Τούτων οὕτως τελεσθέντων Γρηγορᾶς μάγιστρος ὁ τού του πενθερός, μετὰ Λέοντος ὃν Χοιροσφάκτην ὠνόμαζον, τῇ ἁγίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ προσέφυγον, οὓς καὶ βίᾳ ἐκεῖθεν ἀποσπάσαντες ἀπέκειραν μοναχοὺς ἐν τῇ τῶν Στουδίου μονῇ. Κωνσταντῖνον δὲ τὸν Ἐλαδικὸν βουνεύροις τύψαντες, ῥάκη τε περιβαλόντες καὶ ὄνῳ ἐπικαθίσαντες, διὰ μέσης τῆς πόλεως ἐθριάμβευσαν, καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ∆αλμάτου ἀπαγαγόντες μονῇ ἐγκα τάκλειστον τῇ λεγομένῃ Καταδίκῃ πεποιήκασι. Λέοντα δὲ τὸν Κατακαλίτζην καὶ Ἀβεσαλὼν τὸν τοῦ Ἀρωτρᾶ ἐκτυφλώσαντεςἐξορίᾳ παρέπεμψαν. Κωνσταντῖνον δὲ τοῦ Εὐλαμπίου υἱὸν καὶ ἑτέρους σὺν αὐτῷ Θεόφιλος ὁ ὕπαρχος ὁ τοῦ Λαμπύδου ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ σφενδόνῃ ξίφει ἀπέτεμεν. οὐ μικρῶς δὲ διερευνησάμενοι 877 περὶ Νικήτα ἀσηκρήτου καὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ Λιβὸς οὐχ εὗρον αὐτοὺς ὡς χρησαμένους φυγῇ. τὸν δὲ Αἰγίδην ἐκεῖνον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ, ἀνδρείους ὄντας καὶ πολλούς, ἀπό τε τῆς ἐν Χρυσο πόλει δαμάλεως καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Λευκάτου διδύμοις ξύλοις πάντας ἐνεσκολόπισαν. καὶ πολλοὺς ἂν τῶν ἐν τέλει τότε ἀνηλεῶς καὶ ἀναιτίως οἱ λεγόμενοι οὗτοι ἐπίτροποι ἀπέκτειναν, εἰ μή τινες τῶν δικαστῶν τούτους τῆς ἀδίκου ὁρμῆς ἀνεχαίτισαν, εἰπόντες αὐτοῖς ὡς παιδὸς ὄντος τοῦ βασιλέως, πῶς ἄνευ τῆς κελεύσεως αὐτοῦ τολμᾶτε τοιαῦτα διαπράττεσθαι; 6 τὴν τοῦ ∆ουκὸς οὖν γυ ναῖκα ἀποκείροντες εἰς τὸν ἐν Παφλαγονίᾳ οἶκον ἑαυτῆς ἐξαπέστει λαν, εὐνουχίσαντες καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς Στέφανον. 7. Αὐγούστῳ δὲ μηνὶ Συμεὼν ὁ Βούλγαρος ἄρχων, ἐκ στρατεύσας κατὰ Ῥωμαίων σὺν ὄχλῳ πολλῷ καὶ βαρεῖ, κατέλα βεν τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν, καὶ δὴ περικαθίσας αὐτὴν χάρακα περιέβαλεν ἀπὸ Βλαχερνῶν καὶ μέχρι τῆς λεγομένης Χρυσῆς πόρ της, ἐλπίσι μετέωρος ὢν ἀπονητὶ ταύτην πάντως ἑλεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τήν τε τῶν τοίχων κατέμαθεν ὀχυρότητα τήν τε ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ τῶν πετροβόλων ἀσφάλειαν, τῶν ἐλπίδων σφαλεὶς ἐν τῷ λεγο μένῳ Ἑβδόμῳ ὑπέστρεψεν, εἰρηνικὰς σπονδὰς αἰτησάμενος. τῶν δὲ ἐπιτρόπων τὴν εἰρήνην ἀσμενέστατα ἀποδεξαμένων, ἀποστέλλει Συμεὼν Θεόδωρον μάγιστρον τοῦ συλλαλῆσαι τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης. ἀναλαβόμενοι δὲ ὅ τε πατριάρχης Νικόλαος καὶ Στέφανος καὶ 878 Ἰωάννης οἱ μάγιστροι τὸν βασιλέα ἦλθον μέχρι τῶν Βλαχερνῶν, καὶ εἰσήγαγον τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς Συμεών, καὶ συνεστιάθησαν τῷ βα σιλεῖ ἐν τοῖς παλατίοις. Νικόλαος δὲ ὁ πατριάρχης ἐξῆλθε πρὸς Συμεών· ᾧ τινὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑπέκλινε Συμεών. εὐχὴν οὖν ὁ πα τριάρχης ποιήσας ἀντὶ στέμματος, ὥς φασι, τὸ ἴδιον ἐπιρριπτά ριον τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐπέθηκε κεφαλῇ. δώροις οὖν ἀμέτροις τε καὶ μεγί στοις φιλοφρονηθέντες ὅ τε Συμεὼν καὶ οἱ τούτου υἱοὶ εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν ὑπέστρεψαν, ἀσύμφωνοι ἐπὶ τῇ εἰρημένῃ εἰρήνῃ δια λυθέντες. 8. Τοῦ βασιλέως οὖν Κωνσταντίνου, ἅτε παιδὸς ὄντος καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν μητέρα ἐπιζητοῦντος· ἤδη γὰρ αὐτὴν κατήγαγε τοῦ παλατίου, ὡς εἴρηται, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ βασιλεύς· ἣν καὶ ἀναβιβά ζουσιν πάλιν. αὕτη οὖν περικρατὴς γενομένη τῆς βασιλείας ἀνα βιβάζει εἰς τὸ παλάτιον Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν παρακοιμώμενον καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ Ἀναστάσιον τοὺς Γογγυλίους λεγομένους, καὶ τῇ βουλῇ Ἰωάννου Ἐλαδᾶ καταβιβάζει τοὺς οἰκείους Ἀλεξάνδρουτοῦ βασιλέως, Ἰωάννην τὸν ῥαίκτωρα καὶ τὸν λεγόμενον Γαβριη λόπουλον καὶ Βασιλίτζην καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς. προχειρίζεται δὲ Ζωὴ Αὐγοῦστα Θεοφύλακτον ∆ομήνικον ἑταιρειάρχην. Ἰωάννης δὲ μάγιστρος ὁ Ἐλαδᾶς νόσῳ περιπεσὼν καὶ ἀπαγορευθεὶς παρὰ τῶν ἰατρῶν, κατελθὼν ἐκ τοῦ παλατίου καὶ ἐν ταῖς Βλαχέρναις παρα γενόμενος καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου βαρηθεὶς τελευτᾷ. συμβουλῇ ∆ο