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of the emperor, Syrgiannes having been cast into prison. But a few days later, the elder emperor, having convened a court, with the young emperor also judging with him and all the Roman officials being present, ordered Syrgiannes to come into their midst, to defend himself against the charges of which he was accused. He was accused of having made a conspiracy with not a few Romans with the aim of killing the elder emperor, so that he himself would be proclaimed emperor of the Romans. The prosecutors, therefore, pressed vehemently, insisting that the things of which he was accused were true. However, they were not able to provide clear proof of the accusations; and he likewise maintained that the things he was accused of were slander, but he did not provide strong proofs by which he might escape judgment. Since he and his prosecutors opposed each other for a long time, so that the cases were equally matched, the elder emperor permitted the younger one to cast a vote on the things that were said. But when he refused, for fear that it might seem he was taking revenge on him because the apostasy had provided the opportunity, the elder emperor, having accused him of many things and declaring 1.172 that the prosecutors were telling the truth, condemned him to live in prison, ordering him to be guarded in chains fastened to a single bar. It was said, however, that in the agreements of the young emperor with his grandfather this too had been agreed upon, that Syrgiannes be imprisoned by any means possible, as the young emperor had requested; it was indeed a clear and irrefutable slander. 36. While the young emperor was still staying in Byzantium, Terter, the king of the Mysians, ended his life. When he died, the cities subject to the Mysians from Mesembria to Stilbnos willingly went over to the Roman emperors. And the elder emperor sent governors to the cities that had come over, whom he himself chose. But Voesilas, the brother of the previous king of the Mysians, being a deserter among the Romans at that time, when he learned of the death of the king of the Mysians, went away and himself claimed for his own the remaining cities of Mysia from Stilbnos to Kopsis, which came over without a fight because of the kinship of his family. Having sent to the emperor and promising that he himself and the cities and the accompanying army would be under his authority, he was permitted by the emperor to be named despot of Mysia. And the young emperor, with the permission also of his grandfather and emperor, having gathered the army from Byzantium and Thrace, came to Philippopolis to besiege it. And when he got there, Voesilas joined him with the army under his command to take part in the war; and having encamped around 1.173 it they laid siege; but since there was a considerable army within, they accomplished nothing, but suffered hardships. For Terter, as soon as he had taken Philippopolis, fearing that the Romans might attack again and, on account of a scarcity of men, capture it as he himself had done, and also because it was on the borders of his and the Romans' dominion, sent a thousand picked cavalry from the Alans and Mysians, and twice as many peltast infantry, who seem to be the most warlike among them, to guard the city. Their commanders were Itiles and Temeres, Alans by race, and Inas from the Hungarians; and the general over all was Ivan the Rus, brave in combat and most experienced in generalship; who, even when their king had died, did not abandon the city, but remained and guarded it. At that time, being besieged by the emperor, they did not at all go forth outside the gates as if to array themselves for battle; but having walled up the gates, they defended themselves stoutly from the walls and inflicted much harm on the emperor's army. The emperor therefore besieged them for four months, continually fighting at the walls day by day. And when he was already despairing of taking it, a certain man from the Germans, skilled in siege engines, as the city seemed to be in a position for an easy attempt, suggested to the emperor no mean hopes of its capture, and he built the machine, as the emperor had ordered. It was of this kind: upon

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βασιλέως τὸν Συργιάννην εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἐμβληθέντα. ὕστερον δὲ ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὁ πρεσβύτερος βασιλεὺς δικαστήριον καθίσας, συνδικάζοντος αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦ νέου βασιλέως καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει πάντων Ῥωμαίων παρόντων, ἐκέλευσε τὸν Συργιάννην εἰς μέσους ἐλθεῖν, ὡς ὧν κατηγορεῖτο τὰς αἰτίας ἀπολυσόμενον. κατηγορεῖτο δὲ αὐτοῦ, ὡς εἴη συνωμοσίας ἅμα Ῥωμαίων οὐ πολλοῖς πεποιημένος ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν πρεσβύτερον βασιλέα ἀποκτείναντας, αὐτὸν ἀποδειχθῆναι βασιλεύοντα Ῥωμαίων. οἱ μὲν οὖν διώκοντες ἐπέκειντο σφοδρῶς ἀληθῆ ἃ αὐτοῦ κατηγοροῦντο διϊσχυριζόμενοι εἶναι. ἔλεγχον μέντοι ἐναργῆ τῶν κατηγορουμένων οὐκ ἠδύναντο παρέχειν· αὐτός τε ἐκ τοῦ ὁμοίου, ἃ μὲν κατηγορεῖτο συκοφαντίας διετείνετο εἶναι, οὐ μέντοι καὶ ἀποδείξεις παρεῖχεν ἰσχυρὰς, ἐξ ὧν ἂν τὴν δίκην διαφύγοι. ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν διωκόντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀντικαθισταμένων, ὡς ἰσοπαλεῖς ἦσαν αἱ δίκαι, ὁ πρεσβύτερος βασιλεὺς ἐπέτρεπε τῷ νέῳ ψῆφον ἐπὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐξενεγκεῖν. τοῦ δὲ ἀπαγορεύσαντος δέει τοῦ μὴ διὰ τὴν ἀποστασίαν καιροῦ παρασχόντος δοκεῖν ἀμύνεσθαι αὐτὸν, ὁ πρεσβύτερος βασιλεὺς πολλὰ αὐτοῦ κατηγορήσας, καὶ τοὺς διώκοντας ἀποφηνά 1.172 μενος ἀληθεύειν, τὸ δεσμωτήριον κατέκρινεν οἰκεῖν ὑπὸ κλοιοῖς ἑνὶ κανόνι συνηρμοσμένοις φρουρεῖσθαι κελεύσας. ἐλέγετο μέντοι ὡς ἐπὶ ταῖς τοῦ νέου βασιλέως πρὸς τὸν αὐτοῦ συμβάσεσι πάππον καὶ τοῦτο εἴη συντεθειμένον, τὸ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου τὸν Συργιάννην εἱρχθῆναι τοῦ νέου βασιλέως ᾐτηκότος· ἦν δὴ σαφὴς καὶ ἀναντίῤῥητος συκοφαντία. λϛʹ. Ἔτι δὲ βασιλέως τοῦ νέου διατρίβοντος ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, Τερτερὴς ὁ τῶν Μυσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτησε τὸν βίον. τελευτήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ, αἱ ἀπὸ Μεσημβρίας ἄχρι Στίλβνου τοῖς Μυσοῖς ὑπήκοοι πόλεις ἑκοντὶ τοῖς Ῥωμαίων προσεχώρησαν βασιλεῦσι. καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτερος βασιλεὺς ταῖς προσχωρησάσαις πόλεσιν ἀπέστειλεν ἐπιτρόπους, οὓς ἔκρινεν αὐτός. Βοησίλας δὲ ὁ τοῦ προβεβασιλευκότος Μυσῶν ἀδελφὸς αὐτόμολος ὢν ἐν Ῥωμαίοις τότε, ὡς ἐπύθετο τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ βασιλέως Μυσῶν, ἀπελθὼν καὶ αὐτὸς προσεποιήσατο ἑαυτῷ τὰς ἀπὸ Στίλβνου μέχρι Κόψεως ἐπιλοίπους τῆς Μυσίας πόλεις προσχωρησάσας ἀμαχεὶ διὰ τὴν οἰκειότητα τοῦ γένους. πέμψας δὲ ὡς βασιλέα καὶ ἐπαγγειλάμενος ὑπ' αὐτὸν τελεῖν αὐτόν τε καὶ πόλεις καὶ τὴν συνεπομένην στρατιὰν, δεσπότης Μυσίας ὑπὸ βασιλέως ἐπιτέτραπται ὀνομάζεσθαι. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος, ἅμα καὶ τοῦ πάππου καὶ βασιλέως ἐπιτετραφότος, τὴν ἐκ Βυζαντίου καὶ τὴν Θρᾳκίαν στρατιὰν ἀθροίσας, εἰς Φιλιππούπολιν ὡς ἐκπολιορκήσων ἦλθε. γενομένῳ δὲ ἐκεῖ ὁ Βοησίλας ἅμα τῇ ὑπ' αὐτὸν στρατιᾷ τοῦ πολέμου συνεφαψόμενος συνῆλθε· καὶ περιστρατοπεδευ 1.173 σάμενοι ἐπολιόρκουν· οὔσης δὲ ἐντὸς ἀξιομάχου στρατιᾶς, ἤνυον οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ ἐκακοπάθουν. ὁ γὰρ Τερτερὴς ἅμα τῷ τὴν Φιλιππούπολιν κατασχεῖν, δείσας μὴ αὖθις οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι ἐπελθόντες, διὰ τὴν ὀλιγανδρίαν, ὥσπερ καὶ αὐτὸς, ἕλωσιν αὐτὴν, ἅμα δ' ὅτι καὶ ἐν ὁρίοις ἦν τῆς ἐκείνου καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας, χιλίους μὲν ἱππέας λογάδας ἐξ Ἀλανῶν καὶ Μυσῶν, καὶ δὶς τοσούτους πεζοὺς πελταστὰς, οἳ δοκοῦσι μαχιμώτατοι εἶναι παρ' αὐτοῖς, τὴν πόλιν ἔπεμψε φρουρεῖν. ἄρχοντες δὲ ἦσαν αὐτῶν ὅ, τε Ἰτίλης καὶ ὁ Τεμήρης, τὸ γένος Ἀλανοὶ, καὶ Ἰνᾶς ὁ ἐξ Οὔγκρων· στρατηγὸς δὲ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν Ἰβάνης ὁ Ῥὼς κατά τε χεῖρα γενναῖος καὶ ἐμπειρότατος στρατηγεῖν· οἳ καὶ τετελευτηκότος τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν, οὐ κατέλιπον τὴν πόλιν, ἀλλ' ἐφρούρουν μένοντες. τότε δὲ πολιορκούμενοι ὑπὸ βασιλέως, ἔξω μὲν πυλῶν ὡς ἐς μάχην παραταξόμενοι προῄεσαν οὐδαμῶς· τὰς πύλας δὲ ἀποικοδομήσαντες, ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἠμύνοντο καρτερῶς καὶ ἐκάκουν πολλὰ τὴν βασιλέως στρατιάν. ἐπολιόρκησε μὲν οὖν αὐτοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ τέσσαρσι μησὶ συνεχῶς ὁσημέραι τειχομαχῶν. ἀπαγορεύοντος δὲ τὴν παράληψιν ἤδη, ἐκ Γερμανῶν τις περὶ τειχομαχικὰς μηχανὰς ἐξησκημένος, ὡς ἐν ῥᾳδίῳ τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως ἐδόκει ἡ πόλις κεῖσθαι, ἐλπίδας τῆς ἁλώσεως οὐ φαύλας ὑπετίθει τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἐδημιούργει τὸ μηχάνημα, προστάξαντος βασιλέως. ἦν δὲ τοιόνδε· ἐπὶ