57

During the night, those of our men who held contrary opinions wished to attack us, both to kill us and to seize our possessions. But since I myself had recognized these things, at that time we protected ourselves as best we could, but when day dawned I entered into agreements with the apostate Michael. And he gave us oaths that we would be saved from harm and pass through his territory with our own property into the land of the emperor, and we, in turn, released that small fortress to him. But his oaths were false; for he had sworn a false oath. Therefore he held us in bonds and, transferring us from place to place, in fetters. The emperor Theodore, therefore, having heard about these things, suspected me unfavorably, but he suspected following human reasoning. For when he learned that the better of the generals in the west, in whom he had great confidence, had come under the apostate Michael—some even before the seizures of the fortresses, namely the skouterios Xyleas, Manuel Ramatas, Poulachas and certain others with them, and then again after the seizures, that is Isaac Nestongos epi tes trapezes, whom I myself had appointed to the command of Ochrid, as I had previously related, and not a few other well-known and famous men had willingly submitted to the apostate—he was afraid about me too, lest I myself might suffer the same things; for what had recently happened to me from him also troubled his reasoning. But those who knew my situation more accurately insisted that I would never appear to be such a person. But when considerable time had passed and he learned from those who arrived that I was a prisoner and was shut up in a jail, bound with foot-shackles and handcuffs, he was pleased with my conduct and was more favorably disposed toward me, and he made decrees concerning my properties, that no one should ever dare set foot on them or inflict any damage. And so these things were, but for the emperor Theodore matters came about thus.

73 The ruler of the Bulgarians, then, his brother-in-law Michael, who was nurturing much hostility against both his brother-in-law the emperor and the Romans, was struck a fatal blow by his first cousin Kaliman with the knowledge of some inhabitants of Trnovo, while staying somewhere outside of that city, and died immediately. And Kaliman, his murderer, took his wife and was seen to have usurped the rule of the Bulgarians. But the Russian Uroš, attacking Trnovo with troops, took his daughter, the wife of Michael; for some had already killed Kaliman as he was fleeing from place to place. Since the rule of the Bulgarians was left bereft of a legitimate heir, the leading men, coming together in council, resolved to accept Constantine, the son of Tich, to rule them. And so that his rule might be reputable and seem as if he held it by inheritance, they sent an embassy to the emperor Theodore, that he might send out his first daughter, who was named Irene, for marriage to Constantine, son of Tich, and that she might be legally joined to him, being the granddaughter of John Asan who had previously ruled the Bulgarians and thus belonging to such a rule. And since it happened that Constantine, son of Tich, had a lawful wife, they effected a separation from her husband and sent the wife to the emperor Theodore. Thus, therefore, were the affairs of the Bulgarians, and thus also did the emperor Theodore have peace from them, and matters were quiet on both sides.

74 After these things the emperor Theodore 74 fell into a terrible illness. The hands of physicians, therefore, grew weary in this, and every other treatment failed. Having been worn down by the disease for no little time and his whole body having become emaciated, in the end, having adopted a word of repentance in himself, he entered into the monastic habit.

57

νυκτὸς οἱ τὰ ἐναντία φρονήσαντες ἡμέτεροι ἐφορμῆσαι καθ' ἡμῶν ἠβου λήθησαν ὡς ἡμᾶς τε ἀποκτενεῖν καὶ τὰ ἡμῶν ξυλλαβεῖν. ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτὸς ταυτὶ ἐπεγνώκειν, τότε μὲν ἑαυτοὺς ἐφυλα ξάμεθα καθὼς ἦν ἡμῖν δυνατόν, ἐπιλαμψάσης δὲ ἡμέρας τῷ ἀποστάτῃ Μιχαὴλ εἰς ξυμφωνίας συνῆλθον. κἀκεῖνος μὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς δέδωκεν ὅρκους ἐλευθέρους μὲν κακῶν καὶ μετὰ τῶν σφετέρων πραγμάτων παρὰ τοῦ μέρους αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν χώραν διασωθῆναι τοῦ βασιλέως, ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸ μικρὸν ἐκεῖνο πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπολελύκαμεν φρούριον. ἀλλ' ἦσαν οἱ ὅρκοι τούτου ψευδεῖς· ἐπίορκον γὰρ ὠμωμόκει. ἔσχεν οὖν ἡμᾶς ἐν δεσμοῖς καὶ ἀπὸ χώρας εἰς χώραν μεταβιβαζομένους πεδήτας. Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς Θεόδωρος περὶ τούτων ἀκηκοὼς ὑπετόπασε μὲν περὶ ἐμοῦ οὐ καλῶς, ἀνθρωπίνοις δὲ λο γισμοῖς ἑπόμενος ὑπετόπασεν. ὡς γὰρ ἐμεμαθήκει τοὺς κρείττους τῶν στρατηγούντων ἐν τῇ δυσμῇ, ἐν οἷς ἐθάρρει καὶ τὰ πολλά, ὑπὸ τὸν ἀποστάτην Μιχαὴλ γεγενῆσθαι, τοὺς μὲν καὶ πρὸ τῶν κατασχέσεων τῶν φρουρίων, ἤγουν τὸν σκουτέριον Ξυλέαν, τὸν Ῥαματᾶν Μανουήλ, τὸν Πουλάχαν καὶ ἄλλους ἐνίους τῶν σὺν αὐτοῖς, αὖθις δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὰς κατασχέσεις, εἴτουν τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης Ἰσαάκιον τὸν Νεστόγγον, ὃν αὐτὸς εἰς ἀρχήν, καθὰ προϊστορήκειν, ἀπο κατέστησα τῆς Ἀχρίδος, καὶ ἄλλους οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν γνω ρίμων τε καὶ ὀνομαστῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ἀποστάτην ἑκόντας τελέ σαι, ἐδεδίει καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ, μή ποτε καὶ αὐτὸς πάθω τὰ ὅμοια· ἔθραττε καὶ γὰρ τὸν αὐτοῦ λογισμὸν τὸ ἐξ ὑπογυίου συμβὰν ἐμοὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ. οἱ δὲ τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ ἀκριβέστερον ἐπιγνόντες διισχυρίζοντο μὴ ἄν ποτε τοιοῦτον φανῆναί με. ἐπεὶ δὲ χρόνος παρερρύη συχνὸς κἀκ τῶν ἐπερχομένων δεσμώτην ἐμάνθανεν εἶναί με καὶ εἱρκτῇ περικλείεσθαι ποδοκάκαις τε καὶ χειροπέδαις ξυνέχεσθαι, ἠγάπα τε τὴν πρᾶξιν καί μοι προσφιλέστερον διετίθετο, ὁρισμοὺς δὲ ἐπε ποιήκει κτημάτων πέρι τῶν ἐμῶν, μηδένα τολμῆσαί ποτε πόδα τε βαλεῖν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ζημίαν ἐπεμβαλεῖν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως ἔσχε, τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ Θεοδώρῳ ξυνέβη οὕτω τὰ πράγματα.

73 Ὁ μὲν οὖν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχων, ὁ γυναικά δελφος αὐτοῦ Μιχαήλ, ὃς πολλὴν τὴν ἔχθραν κατά τε αὐ τοῦ τοῦ γαμβροῦ καὶ βασιλέως καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐξέτρεφε, πρὸς τοῦ πρωτεξαδέλφου αὐτοῦ Καλιμάνου καιρίαν πλη γεὶς εἰδήσει καί τινων οἰκητόρων Τρινόβου, ἔξω που τοῦ τοιούτου διάγων ἄστεος, εὐθὺς ἐτεθνήκει. ὁ δὲ φονεύσας αὐτὸν Καλιμᾶνος τὴν ἐκείνου λαβὼν γαμετὴν ἔδοξε τὴν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀρχὴν σφετερίσασθαι. ἀλλ' ὁ Ῥῶσος Οὖρος μετὰ στρατευμάτων ἐπελθὼν τῷ Τρινόβῳ τὴν θυγατέρα τούτου τὴν τοῦ Μιχαὴλ σύζυγον εἴληφε· τὸν γὰρ Καλι μᾶνον προύλαβόν τινες πεφονευκέναι ἐκ τόπου εἰς τόπον φεύγοντα. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔρημος ἐναπελείφθη κληρονόμου γνησίου ἡ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀρχή, ξυνιόντες οἱ προύχοντες εἰς βου λὴν τὸν τοῦ Τοίχου υἱὸν Κωνσταντῖνον εἰς τὸ ἄρχειν αὐ τῶν ἀναδέξασθαι ἐβουλεύσαντο. ἵνα δὲ καὶ εὐπρόσωπος αὐτῷ ἡ ἀρχὴ γένοιτο καὶ ὡς ἄν γε δόξειεν ἀπὸ κληρονο μίας κρατεῖν, πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Θεόδωρον πρεσβείαν πε πόμφασιν, ἵνα τὴν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα τὴν πρώτην, ἥτις καὶ Εἰρήνη κατωνομάζετο, εἰς συζυγίαν τῷ τοῦ Τοίχου Κων σταντίνῳ ἐκπέμψειε, καὶ συζευχθῇ νομίμως αὐτῷ, ἐγγόνη οὖσα τοῦ προκατάρξαντος Βουλγάρων τοῦ Ἀσὰν Ἰωάννου καὶ προσήκουσα τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀρχῇ. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔτυχε τὸν τοῦ Τοίχου Κωνσταντῖνον γυναῖκα νόμιμον ἔχειν, χωρισμὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς πεποιήκασι καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸν βα σιλέα Θεόδωρον ἔστειλαν. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἔσχε τὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων, οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Θεόδωρος τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἔσχεν εἰρήνην, καὶ ἠρέμησαν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις τὰ πράγματα.

74 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα νόσῳ δεινῇ ὁ βασιλεὺς Θεόδω 74 ρος περιπέπτωκεν. ἀπέκαμον οὖν ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ ἰατρῶν χεῖρες, καὶ πᾶσά τις ἄλλη θεραπεία ἀπείρηκεν. ἐν οὐκ ὀλίγῳ γοῦν χρόνῳ τῇ νόσῳ κατεξετασθεὶς καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἅπαν κατασκελετευθεὶς ἐν τῷ τέλει τε λόγον μετανοίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ προσλαβὼν τὸ μοναδικὸν ὑπεισῄει σχῆμα.