they came forth in a procession. 2. In the month of June, of the 8th indiction, on a Sunday, the union of the church took place under Romanos, with all being united, 891 both metropolitans and clerics, who had been divided from patriarchs Nicholas and Euthymius. 3. On the eighth of the month of February, of the 9th indiction, Romanos sent away and exiled the magistros Stephen, son of Kalomaria, to the island of Antigonos, as one accused of aspiring to the empire, having tonsured him a monk along with Theophanes Teichioites and Paul the Orphanotrophos, his men. 4. The emperor Romanos made a procession in the tribunal, with all gathered there with arms. And when the military review took place, suddenly Romanos and Constantine with great speed returned to the palace; for the plot of Arsenios himself and of Paul the manglabites had been reported by Leo, a man of Arsenios; who were blinded, had their property confiscated, and were exiled. At that time the one holding power beside the emperor was the presbyter John the rector, who made Leo, the man of Arsenios, a weekly attendant, having introduced him to the emperor. 5. There was a certain Rentakios in Hellas, a relative of Niketas the patrikios, both uneducated and a patricide, who pursued his own father to kill him; and since his father, fleeing his attack, boarded a ship and sailed away and was captured by the Cretans, this Rentakios, finding an opportunity, plundered all his father's possessions, and having come up to the City, he took refuge in the great church of God. But the emperor Romanos, learning of his disorderly acts 892 and plunderings, decided to bring him out of the church and punish him. But he, having forged false letters to the Bulgarians, decided to desert to them. Having been seized and convicted, he was deprived of his eyes. 6. And when the Bulgarians again raided as far as Katasyrtai, and after the death of the domestic Adralestos, Pothos Argyros was appointed domestic of the scholae, and having gone out with the tagmata as far as Thermopolis, he sent Michael, the son of Moroleon, who was a topoteretes, to scout the Bulgarians. But he, having unexpectedly entered their ambush, killed many of the Bulgarians, but was himself wounded, and having entered the City, he died. 7. At that time the plot against the emperor Romanos was reported through Theokletos, a notarios of the ministry: it was by Anastasios the sakellarios and archon of the goldsmiths, and Theodoretes the koitonites, and Demetrios the imperial notarios of the eidikon, and Nikolaos Koubatzes, and Theodotos the protokarabos, who were supposedly zealous on behalf of the emperor Constantine; and indeed, having been convicted, they were blinded and paraded through the Mese and were sent into exile. Theodoretes was blinded privately in the so-called Trikonchos of the palace and he too was exiled. They tonsured the sakellarios Anastasios in the monastery of Elegmoi, where he also died. 8 And taking 893 advantage of such a pretext, Romanos demoted the emperor Constantine and made him second, and advanced himself to the front. 9. Symeon again campaigned against the Romans, and having sent multitudes of Bulgarians along with Kaukanos and Menikos and others he ordered them to raid against the City as quickly as possible. So these men, having passed through the mountains, came as far as the Manglaba. But the emperor Romanos, having learned of their attack, reasoning that they might come down and burn the palaces of Pege and the Stenos, sent John the rector along with Leo and Pothos, who were called the Argyroi, having with them a sufficient multitude from both the imperial troops, the hetaireia, and the tagmata. With them was also Alexios Mosele the patrikios and droungarios of the fleet with his people. It was the 5th week of the fast. So having drawn up the army in the plain and lower places of Pege, when the Bulgarians appeared armed from above and having used a confused and terrible shout and having charged most violently against them, John the rector immediately fled, but Photinos, the son of Platypous, fighting on his behalf, was slain

προελεύσει προῆλθον. 2. Ἰουνίῳ δὲ μηνί, ἰνδικτιῶνος ηʹ, ἡμέρᾳ κυριακῇ, ἡ τῆς ἐκκλησίας γέγονεν ἕνωσις παρὰ Ῥωμανοῦ, ἁπάντων ἑνωθέν 891 των, μητροπολιτῶν τε καὶ κληρικῶν, τῶν ἀπὸ Νικολάου πα τριάρχου καὶ Εὐθυμίου διεσχισμένων. 3. Ὀγδόῃ δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνί, ἰνδικτιῶνος θʹ, ἀποστεί λας Ῥωμανὸς ὑπερορίζει τὸν μάγιστρον Στέφανον τὸν τῆς Καλο μαρίας εἰς τὴν Ἀντιγόνου νῆσον ὡς τῆς βασιλείας ἐφίεσθαι κατη γορηθέντα, μοναχὸν αὐτὸν ἀποκείρας ἅμα Θεοφάνει Τειχιώτῃ καὶ Παύλῳ Ὀρφανοτρόφῳ, ἀνθρώποις αὐτοῦ. 4. Ἐποίησε δὲ Ῥωμανὸς βασιλεὺς ἐν τῷ τριβουναλίῳ πρόκενσον, συνηγμένων ἁπάντων ἐκεῖσε μεθ' ὅπλων. τοῦ ἀδνου μίου δὲ γενομένου αἰφνίδιον Ῥωμανὸς καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος τάχει πολλῷ εἰς τὸ παλάτιον ὑποστρέφουσιν· ἐμηνύθη γὰρ παρὰ Λέον τος ἀνθρώπου τοῦ Ἀρσενίου ἡ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἀρσενίου ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ Παύλου μαγκλαβίτου, οἳ καὶ τυφθέντες καὶ δημευθέντες ἐξωρί σθησαν. ἦν δὲ τότε παραδυναστεύων ὁ πρεσβύτερος Ἰωάννης ὁ ῥαίκτωρ, ὃς Λέοντα τὸν τοῦ Ἀρσενίου ἐποίησεν ἑβδομαδάριον, τῷ βασιλεῖ τοῦτον προσοικειώσας. 5. Ἐγένετο δέ τις Ῥεντάκιος ἐν Ἑλλάδι, συγγενὴς ὢν Νικήτα πατρικίου, ἀπαίδευτός τε καὶ πατραλοίας, ὃς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα καταδιώκων φονεῦσαι, ἐπειδήπερ ἐκεῖνος φεύγων αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐν πλοίῳ εἰσελθὼν ἐξέπλει καὶ παρὰ τῶν Κρητῶν κατεσχέθη, οὗτος ὁ Ῥεντάκιος ἄδειαν εὑρὼν πάντα τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐληΐσατο, καὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει ἀνελθὼν τῇ μεγάλῃ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκ κλησίᾳ προσέφυγεν. Ῥωμανὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰς αὐτοῦ ἀταξίας 892 καὶ λεηλασίας καταμαθὼν τοῦτον τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐβου λεύσατο καὶ παιδεῦσαι. ὁ δὲ ψευδεῖς ἐπιστολὰς πρὸς Βουλγάρους πλασάμενος πρὸς αὐτοὺς αὐτομολῆσαι ἐβουλεύσατο. κρατηθεὶς δὲ καὶ ἐλεγχθεὶς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀποστερεῖται. 6. Τῶν δὲ Βουλγάρων πάλιν ἐξελασάντων μέχρι Κατα συρτῶν, μετὰ δὲ τὴν δομεστίκου Ἀδρελαστοῦ τελευτήν, προε βλήθη Πόθος ὁ τοῦ Ἀργυροῦ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, καὶ μέχρι Θερμοπόλεως μετὰ τῶν ταγμάτων ἐξελθὼν ἀπέστειλε Μιχαὴλ τὸν Μωρολέοντος υἱὸν τοποτηρητὴν ὄντα τοὺς Βουλγάρους κατασκο πήσοντα. ὁ δὲ ἀπροόπτως τῷ λόχῳ αὐτῶν εἰσελθὼν ἔσω πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀνεῖλεν, πληγεὶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς εἰσελθὼν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐτελεύτησεν. 7. Ἐμηνύθη δὲ τότε διὰ Θεοκλήτου νοταρίου τῆς ὑπουρ γίας ἡ κατὰ Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιβουλὴ Ἀναστασίου σακελλαρίου καὶ ἄρχοντος τοῦ χρυσοχοείου, καὶ Θεοδωρήτου κοιτωνί του, καὶ ∆ημητρίου βασιλικοῦ νοταρίου τοῦ εἰδικοῦ, καὶ Νικο λάου τοῦ Κουβάτζη, καὶ Θεοδότου πρωτοκαράβου, οἳ καὶ ὑπὲρ Κωνσταντίνου βασιλέως δῆθεν ἐσπούδαζον· καὶ δὴ ἐλεγχθέντες ἐτύφθησαν καὶ ἐν τῇ μέσῃ διῆλθον καὶ ὑπερόριοι κατέστησαν. ὁ δὲ Θεοδώρητος ἰδίᾳ ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Τρικόγχῳ τοῦ παλατίου τυφθεὶς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξωρίσθη. τὸν δὲ σακελλάριον Ἀναστάσιον ἀπέκειραν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν Ἐλεγμῶν, ἔνθα καὶ τελευτᾷ. 8 τῆς 893 τοιαύτης δὲ προφάσεως λαβόμενος Ῥωμανὸς τὸν βασιλέα Κων σταντῖνον ὑποβιβάζει καὶ δεύτερον καθίστησιν, αὑτὸν δὲ προάγει εἰς τὸ ἔμπροσθεν. 9. Ἐκστρατεύει δὲ πάλιν Συμεὼν κατὰ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ πλήθη Βουλγάρων ἀποστείλας ἅμα Καυκάνῳ καὶ Μηνικῷ καὶ ἑτέροις ἐκέλευσε κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ὅτι τάχιστα ἐξελαύνειν. διελ θόντες οὖν οὗτοι διὰ τῶν ὀρῶν ἦλθον μέχρι τῶν Μαγγλαβᾶ. τὴν αὐτῶν δὲ ἔφοδον μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανός, λογισάμενος μὴ τὰ τῶν Πηγῶν παλάτια καὶ τὸ Στενὸν κατελθόντες ἐμπρήσω σιν, Ἰωάννην ῥαίκτωρα ἀποστέλλει ἅμα Λέοντι καὶ Πόθῳ τοῖς Ἀργυροῖς λεγομένοις, ἔχοντας μεθ' ἑαυτῶν πλῆθος ἱκανὸν ἔκ τε τῶν βασιλικῶν καὶ τῆς ἑταιρείας καὶ τῶν ταγμάτων. οἷς συνῆν καὶ Ἀλέξιος ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ δρουγγάριος τῶν πλωΐμων ὁ Μωσηλὲ μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. ἦν δὲ εʹ τῶν νηστειῶν ἑβδομάς. διατά ξαντες οὖν τὸν λαὸν ἐν τοῖς πεδινοῖς καὶ χθαμαλωτέροις τόποις τῶν Πηγῶν, τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄνωθεν ἀναφανέντων ἐνόπλων καὶ βοῇ χρησαμένων ἀσήμῳ καὶ φοβερᾷ καὶ σφοδροτάτως ἐπελασάν των κατ' αὐτῶν φεύγει μὲν παρευθὺ Ἰωάννης ὁ ῥαίκτωρ, σφάτ τεται δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀγωνιζόμενος ὁ τοῦ Πλατύποδος υἱὸς Φωτει νὸς