is called Drista) lingering with his whole force. But in this way Kalokyres escaped, and night coming on stopped the Romans from battle. And just on the following day, when the rest of the army arrived with the siege engines (it was the day called Maundy Thursday, on which the Savior, going to his passion, taught his disciples the saving precepts after the mystical supper), the emperor John, rising early in the morning 135 and having arranged his phalanxes into an unbroken shield-wall, and having sung the war-hymn, attacked the wall, as if to take the city by a single shout. And the Rus, for their part, being encouraged by their own general (this was Sphingelus, who held the third honor among the Scythians after Svendoslav, for that one ruled over all), took up their position on the battlements, and defended themselves as best they could against the advancing Romans, launching javelins, and arrows, and stones big enough to fill the hand from above. But the Romans, shooting more frequently from below with bows and stone-throwing engines, and with slings and javelins, kept the Scythians back, pressing them and not allowing them to peer out from the battlements without fear. And the emperor, shouting more loudly and ordering the ladders to be set against the circuit-wall, strengthened the siege with his cry, as all fought eagerly under the eyes of the emperor, expecting to carry away on the spot honors from him analogous to their labors. 6. And when the Romans pressed on and brought the ladders close to the walls, then a certain noble youth, his chin just beginning to show reddish down, hailing from the land of the Anatolics, whose name was Theodosios, surnamed Mesonyktes, having drawn his sword in one hand, and raising his shield over his head with his left, so that he might not be hit from above by the Scythians, went up the ladder; and having come near the battlement, taking aim at the Scythian who was peering out and who was defending himself 136 with a spear, he struck him on the neck; and the head, severed along with the helmet, bounced to the ground outside the walls; and the Romans shouted at the novel spectacle, and many, emulating the courage of the one who had first gone up, ran up the ladders. And Mesonyktes, when he mounted the wall and gained control of the battlement, striking many of the defending Rus in rapid succession, hurled them down from the walls. And as many men quickly went up all around the circuit-walls, and slaughtered their opponents with all their might, the Scythians, abandoning the battlements, were ingloriously pushed into the royal court, which possessed a strong little wall, in which the wealth of the Mysians was also deposited, leaving one small gate open. And while these things were being done, the host of the Romans that had set out from outside the walls, having cut and shattered the hinges and bars of the gates, entered inside the city, perpetrating an unspeakable slaughter of the Scythians. Then indeed it is said that Borys was also captured, the king of the Mysians, with his wife and two infants, his chin likewise covered in a thick red beard, and was brought before the emperor; and he, receiving him, treated him with honor, calling him ruler of the Bulgarians, and saying that he had come to avenge the Mysians, who had suffered terrible things at the hands of the Scythians. 7. And the Romans, once they had approached the city, proceeded through the narrow streets, killing their enemies and plundering their possessions. At that time they also attacked the royal court, 137 in which the fighting force of the Rus host had been pushed together. But the Scythians, stoutly resisting within, were killing them as they slipped through the small gate,

∆ρίστα καλεῖται) πανσυδὶ διατρίβοντα. ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν ὁ Καλοκύρης ἀπέδρασε, Ῥωμαίους δὲ ἡ νὺξ ἐπελθοῦσα τῆς μάχης ἐπέσχεν. ἄρτι δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὑστεραίαν καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς στρατιᾶς μετὰ τῶν ἑλεπόλεων ἀφιγμένης (ἡμέρα δὲ ἦν ἡ καλουμένη μεγάλη πέμπτη, καθ' ἣν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος μολῶν ὁ Σωτὴρ τὰ σωτήρια τοῖς μαθηταῖς μετὰ τὸν μυστικὸν δεῖπνον διδάγματα ἐξεπαίδευσε), πρωΐθεν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ Ἰωάννης ἐξαναστὰς 135 καὶ εἰς ἀῤῥαγῆ συνασπισμὸν διατάξας τὰς φάλαγγας, παιωνίσας τε τὸ ἐνυάλιον, τῷ τείχει προσέβαλεν, ὡς αὐτοβοεὶ αἱρήσων τὴν πόλιν. Ῥῶς δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ πρὸς τοῦ σφῶν παρακροτούμενοι στρατηγοῦ (Σφέγκελος δὲ ἦν οὗτος, ὁ τρίτην ἔχων τιμὴν παρὰ Σκύθαις μετά γε Σφενδοσθλάβον· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἁπάντων κατῆρχεν), ἐκ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἀντετάξαντο, καὶ Ῥωμαίους ἐπιόντας κατὰ τὸ ἐνὸν ἠμύνοντο, ἀκόντια, καὶ βέλη, καὶ λίθους χειροπλήθεις ἐπαφιέντες ἄνωθεν. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ, τοῖς τε τόξοις καὶ πετροβόλοις ὀργάνοις , σφενδόναις τε καὶ ἀκοντίοις θαμινώτερον κάτωθεν βάλλοντες, ἀνεῖργον τοὺς Σκύθας, βιαζόμενοι, καὶ μὴ ἐῶντες ἀδεῶς προκύπτειν ἐκ τῶν ἐπάλξεων. ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ, γεγωνότερον ἐμβοήσας καὶ τῷ περιβόλῳ τὰς κλίμακας προσερείδειν ἐγκελευσάμενος, ἐπέῤῥωσε τῇ βοῇ τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἐκθύμως ἐπ' ὄψεσι βασιλέως ἁπάντων διαγωνιζομένων, καὶ τιμὰς ἀναλόγους τοῖς πόνοις τοπαραυτίκα πρὸς αὐτοῦ προσδοκώντων ἀποίσεσθαι. ϛʹ. Ῥωμαίων δὲ ἐπιβρισάντων καὶ τοῖς τείχεσι προσπελασάντων τὰς κλίμακας, ἐνταῦθά τις γενναῖος νεανίσκος, ἄρτι πυρσαῖς θριξὶν ἐπιχνοάζων τὴν γένυν, ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἀνατολικῶν ὁρμώμενος γῆς, ᾧ Θεοδόσιος ὄνομα , Μεσονύκτης ἐπίκλησις, θατέρᾳ μὲν τὸ ξίφος σπασάμενος, τῇ λαιᾷ δὲ τὴν ἀσπίδα ὑπὲρ κεφαλὴν ἀνατείνας, ὡς μὴ βάλλοιτο ἄνωθεν παρὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν, διὰ τῆς κλίμακος ἄνεισιν· ἀγχοῦ δὲ γενόμενος τῆς ἐπάλξεως, καταστοχήσας τοῦ προκύπτοντος Σκύθου καὶ τοῦτον 136 ἀμυνομένου τῷ δόρατι, παίει κατὰ τοῦ τένοντος· ἀπαραχθεῖσα δὲ ἡ κεφαλὴ σὺν τῇ κόρυθι ἔξω τειχῶν πρὸς ἔδαφος ἐσφαιρίζετο· Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τῷ καινῷ τοῦ δράματος ἐπηλάλαξαν, καὶ συχνοὶ τοῦ πρώτως ἀνελθόντος τόλμαν ζηλώσαντες, διὰ τῶν κλιμάκων ἀνέθεον. ὁ δὲ Μεσονύκτης, ἐπεὶ τοῦ τείχους ἐπέβη, καὶ τῆς ἐπάλξεως ἐγκρατὴς ἐξεγένετο, πλείστους τῶν ἀμυνομένων Ῥῶς ἐπιστροφάδην πλήττων τῶν τειχῶν κατεκρήμνιζε. θᾶττον δὲ συχνῶν ἑκασταχοῦ τῶν περιβόλων ἀνελθόντων, καὶ παντὶ σθένει τοὺς ἐναντίους ἀποσφαττόντων, τὰς ἐπάλξεις καταλιπόντες οἱ Σκύθαι, ἐς τὴν βασίλειον αὐλὴν, τειχίον ἐχυρὸν κεκτημένην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος Μυσοῖς ἐναπέκειτο, ἀκλεῶς συνώσθησαν, πυλίδα μίαν ἠνεῳγμένην παραλιπόντες. ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐδρᾶτο, ἡ ἔξω τειχῶν ὁρμωμένη τῶν Ῥωμαίων πληθὺς, τοὺς θαιροὺς τῶν πυλῶν καὶ μοχλοὺς διακόψασα καὶ συντρίψασα, ἔνδον εἰσῄει τοῦ ἄστεος, ἀμύθητον φόνον αὐτουργήσασα τῶν Σκυθῶν. τότε δὴ καὶ Βορὴν συλληφθῆναι λέγεται, τῶν Μυσῶν βασιλέα, σὺν γυναικὶ καὶ δυσὶ νηπίοις, οὕτω πυρσοῖς τὴν γένυν περιπυκάζοντα, καὶ προσαχθῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ· ὁ δὲ, τοῦτον δεξάμενος, διὰ τιμῆς ἦγε, κοίρανον Βουλγάρων ἀποκαλῶν, φάσκων τε, ἥκειν Μυσοῖς τιμωρήσων, δεινὰ πεπονθόσι πρὸς τῶν Σκυθῶν. ζʹ. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ, ἅπαξ ἐμπελασθέντες τῷ ἄστει, ἐχώρουν διὰ τῶν στενωπῶν, τοὺς μὲν δυσμενεῖς ἀποκτείνοντες, τὰ δὲ χρήματα διαρπάζοντες. τηνικαῦτα καὶ τῇ βασιλείῳ αὐλῇ 137 προσέβαλλον, ἐν ᾗ τῆς Ῥωσικῆς πληθύος συνώσθη τὸ μάχιμον. ἀλλ' εὐσθενῶς ἔνδον ἀντικαταστάντες οἱ Σκύθαι τούτους ἀνῄρουν, διὰ τῆς πυλίδος ἐξολισθαίνοντας,