and when they used an indistinct and terrible shout, and most violently charged against them, the rector immediately fled, but fighting for him Photenos, son of Platypous, was slain, and of the rest some were slain, and others perished in the sea; others were taken captive. The Argyroi, however, fled into the fort and were saved. And the Bulgars, having no one to hinder them, both set fire to the palaces of Pege and burned down all of the Stenos. 24. In the month of February, of the 10th indiction, on the 20th of the month, Theodora the wife of Romanos died, and was laid to rest in the house of the emperor Romanos that had been turned by him into a monastery; and Sophia the wife of the emperor Christopher was crowned. Then also the Iberian kouropalates arrived in the city, and a splendid procession was made for him, and he was received with honor, and Hagia Sophia was shown to him, adorned; into which temple he entered and, having marvelled, returned again to his own lands. 734 25. And again the Bulgars in the month of June came as far as the palaces of Saint Theodora, and setting these on fire they plundered the neighboring parts. And again when battle was joined the Romans were routed. But the one called Saktikes, having performed many brave deeds and killed many men, being unable to stand against the multitude, was mortally wounded and fled, and being placed in the church of Blachernae, he immediately died. 26. When a revolt broke out in Chaldia under Adrianos Chaldeos and Tatzates the Armenian, at the instigation of Bardas Boilas, who was strategos in Chaldia, the fortress of Paipert was also seized. The domestic of the schools, John Kourkouas, after defeating and capturing them, blinded the more prominent ones and confiscated their properties, but the poor and insignificant he commanded to go unharmed wherever they wished. But Tatzates, having escaped to another fortress and having asked for a promise of safe-conduct, had entered the city, and having become a magistros, he was living under guard in the Mangana; but plotting to escape, he was caught and deprived of his eyes. They tonsured Bardas Boilas, the emperor having taken pity on him. 27. When Symeon with all his people besieged Adrianople and was blockading it strongly, since a severe famine was also pressing them and they had no way to get provisions, they 735 surrendered both themselves and their strategos to the Bulgars. This was the son of Moroleon, or rather Thymoleon, to speak more appropriately, a man most excellent in other respects and renowned in warfare, who had displayed very many brave deeds against the Bulgars; and Symeon, having captured him, and having punished him with countless torments, finally killed him. And having handed over the garrison of the city to the Bulgars, he withdrew; they, having heard of an attack by the Romans against them, abandoned the city and departed, and it came under the Romans again. 28. When Leo of Tripoli with a large force had seized the island of Lemnos, John Radenos, patrikios and droungarios of the fleet, fell upon them suddenly and destroyed them all, with only Leo of Tripoli himself escaping. 29. In the month of September, of the 2nd indiction, Symeon the Bulgar again marched with his whole army against Constantinople, and he plundered Thrace and Macedonia, and burned and destroyed and cut down everything, arriving as far as Blachernae, and indeed seeking that the patriarch Nicholas and some of the magnates be sent to him, so that he might meet with them concerning peace. Both sides therefore took hostages, and there went out both the patriarch and Michael Stypiotes the patrikios and John the mystikos, the paradynasteuon; for John the rector had already been slandered 736 to the emperor and been tonsured. They, then, were discussing peace with Symeon, but he himself wished to see the emperor Romanos. When the emperor heard this, he rejoiced greatly; for he desired peace and a stop to the shedding of blood. Therefore, sending men out, he had a very secure landing-stage constructed in the sea on the shore of Kosmidion, so that the imperial trireme, sailing through, might moor at it; and having enclosed it on all sides he ordered a partition wall
καὶ βοῇ χρησαμένων ἀσήμῳ καὶ φοβερᾷ, καὶ σφοδροτάτως ἐπελασάντων κατ' αὐτῶν εὐθὺς φεύγει ὁ ῥαίκτωρ, σφάττεται δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀγωνιζόμενος Φωτεινὸς ὁ τοῦ Πλατύποδος, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὲν ἐσφάγησαν, οἱ δὲ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἀπώλοντο· ἄλλοι αἰχμάλωτοι γεγόνασιν. οἱ Ἀργυροὶ δὲ ἐν τῷ καστελλίῳ φυγόντες διεσώθησαν. οἱ δὲ Βούλγαροι μηδένα τὸν κωλύοντα ἔχοντες τά τε παλάτια τῶν Πηγῶν ἐπυρπόλησαν καὶ τὸ Στενὸν ἅπαν κατέκαυσαν. 24. Τῷ δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνί, τῆς ιʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος, τῇ κʹ τοῦ μηνός, Θεοδώρα ἡ σύμβιος Ῥωμανοῦ τελευτᾷ, καὶ κατατίθεται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ βασιλέως Ῥωμανοῦ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ εἰς μοναστήριον γενόμενον· καὶ στέφεται Σοφία ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοφόρου γυνή. τότε καὶ Ἴβηρ κουροπαλάτης ἐν τῇ πόλει παρεγένετο, καὶ πρόοδος αὐτῷ λαμπρὰ γέγονε, καὶ μετὰ τιμῆς ὑπεδέχθη, καὶ ἡ ἁγία Σοφία τούτῳ κεκοσμημένη ὑπεδείχθη· εἰς ὃν ναὸν εἰσελθὼν καὶ θαυμάσας πάλιν εἰς τὰ ἴδια ὑπέστρεψεν. 734 25. Καὶ πάλιν οἱ Βούλγαροι ἐν τῷ Ἰουνίῳ μηνὶ μέχρι τῶν τῆς ἁγίας Θεοδώρας παλατίων ἦλθον, καὶ ταῦτα πυρὶ δόντες τὰ ἑξῆς ἐληΐζοντο. καὶ πάλιν πολέμου γενομένου τρέπονται Ῥωμαῖοι. ὁ δὲ λεγόμενος Σακτήκης πολλὰ ἀνδραγαθήσας πολλούς τε ἀνελών, καὶ πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος ἀντιστῆναι μὴ δυνάμενος, καιρίαν πληγεὶς φεύγει, καὶ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν Βλαχερνῶν τεθεὶς εὐθὺς ἀποθνήσκει. 26. Ἀνταρσίας δὲ γενομένης ἐν Χαλδίᾳ ὑπὸ Ἀδριανοῦ Χαλδέος καὶ Τατζάτου Ἀρμενίου τῇ ὑποθήκῃ Βάρδα τοῦ Βοΐλα στρατηγοῦντος ἐν Χαλδίᾳ, καὶ τὸ Παΐπερ ὀχύρωμα ἐκρατήθη. ὁ τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικος Ἰωάννης ὁ Κουρκούας καταπολεμήσας καὶ κατασχὼν τοὺς μὲν περιφανεστέρους ἀποτυφλοῖ καὶ τὰς οὐσίας δημεύει, τοὺς δὲ πενιχροὺς καὶ ἀσήμους ἀθῴους κελεύσας ὅποι βούλοιντο ἀπιέναι. ὁ δὲ Τατζάτης ἐν ἑτέρῳ ὀχυρώματι διαφυγὼν καὶ λόγον αἰτήσας ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσεληλύθει, καὶ μάγιστρος γενόμενος ἐν τοῖς Μαγγάνοις τηρούμενος διῃτᾶτο· δρᾶσαι δὲ βουλευσάμενος ἁλίσκεται καὶ τῶν ὀμμάτων στερίσκεται. Βάρδαν δὲ τὸν Βοΐλαν ἀπέκειραν, τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτὸν κατοικτείραντος. 27. Συμεὼν δὲ σὺν παντὶ τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν παρακαθίσαντος καὶ ἰσχυρῶς πολιορκοῦντος, ἐπεὶ καὶ λιμὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπίεζε κραταιὸς καὶ οὐδαμόθεν εἶχον ἐπισιτίσασθαι, προ 735 δεδώκασιν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν τοῖς Βουλγάροις. οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ τοῦ Μωρολέοντος υἱὸς ἢ μᾶλλον Θυμολέοντος, εἰπεῖν οἰκειοτέρως, ἀνὴρ τὰ ἄλλα κράτιστος καὶ τὰ πολεμικὰ περιβόητος, ὃς πλείστας ἀνδραγαθίας κατὰ Βουλγάρων ἐπεδείξατο· ὃν καὶ χειρωσάμενος ὁ Συμεών, μυρίαις τε αἰκίαις τοῦτον τιμωρησάμενος, τελευταῖον ἀπέκτεινεν. καὶ Βουλγάροις τὴν τῆς πόλεως φυλακὴν παραδοὺς ὑπεχώρησεν· οἳ τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἔφοδον ἀκηκοότες, τὴν πόλιν καταλιπόντες ἀπῆλθον, καὶ πάλιν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ἐγένετο. 28. Τοῦ δὲ Τριπολίτου Λέοντος μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς τῇ νήσῳ Λήμνῳ καταλαβόντος, Ἰωάννης ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ δρουγγάριος τῶν πλωΐμων ὁ Ῥαδινὸς αἰφνίδιον ἐπιπεσὼν αὐτοῖς πάντας ἀπώλεσε, μόνου αὐτοῦ τοῦ Τριπολίτου διαφυγόντος. 29. Τῷ δὲ Σεπτεμβρίῳ μηνί, τῆς βʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος, πάλιν Συμεὼν ὁ Βούλγαρος πανστρατὶ κατὰ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἐκστρατεύει, καὶ ληΐζεται μὲν Θρᾴκην καὶ Μακεδονίαν, ἐμπυρίζει δὲ πάντα καὶ καταστρέφει καὶ δενδροτομεῖ, μέχρι τῶν Βλαχερνῶν παραγενόμενος, καὶ δὴ ἐπιζητῶν ἀποσταλῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν πατριάρχην Νικόλαον καί τινας τῶν μεγιστάνων, ὥστε περὶ εἰρήνης αὐτοῖς συντυχεῖν. ἔλαβον οὖν ὁμήρους ἀμφότεροι, καὶ ἐξῆλθον, ὅ τε πατριάρχης καὶ Μιχαὴλ πατρίκιος ὁ Στυπιώτης καὶ Ἰωάννης μυστικὸς ὁ παραδυναστεύων· ἤδη γὰρ Ἰωάννης ὁ ῥαίκτωρ διαβλη 736 θεὶς τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀπεκάρη. οἱ μὲν οὖν τῷ Συμεὼν περὶ εἰρήνης διελέγοντο, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν βασιλέα Ῥωμανὸν θεάσασθαι ἤθελεν. ὅπερ ἀκούσας ὁ βασιλεὺς σφόδρα ἠγαλλιάσατο· ἐπόθει γὰρ τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ τὸ στῆναι τὴν τῶν αἱμάτων χύσιν. ἀποστείλας οὖν ἐν τῷ τοῦ Κοσμιδίου αἰγιαλῷ ὀχυρωτάτην κατεσκεύασεν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἀπόβασιν, ὥστε τὴν βασιλικὴν τριήρην διεκπλέουσαν ἐν αὐτῷ προσορμίζεσθαι· καὶ περιφράξας αὐτὴν πάντοθεν προσέταξε διατείχισμα