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Nicetas, who traced his lineage not from free men, but from slaves, and was unable even to read; for he had been occupied in the women's quarters. Then the tyrant ordered Constantine, brought from exile and most cruelly tortured, so that he could not even walk, to be transferred to the great church, carried like some burden. And as someone was reading the accusations against him, in the presence of a great crowd gathered for this purpose, and while the new patriarch Nicetas was sitting on the throne and listening to them, he was struck on the face and so having been greatly insulted for a long time, he was finally anathematized and shaved on the head and beard, and indeed also his eyebrows, and mounted on a donkey, he was brought into the theater while the hippodrome races were being held, paraded in dishonor and spat upon and sprinkled with dust. After these things, the tyrant, sending some of the magistrates, asked 278 him what he thought about his faith and about the synod. But he, trying to appease his cruelty, replied that he believed rightly and that the synod had decreed accurately; and having said these things, the thrice-wretched man was led away to the Kynegion and beheaded. And every day the profane one added to his madness against the churches and the monasteries. Being licentious, he also took three wives, and from the first he had a son, Leo, whom he also deemed worthy of the title of emperor, and from the others, Christopher, Nicephorus, and Nicetas. And he crowned the two as Caesars, and honored Nicetas as nobilissimus. And for his first son and emperor he brought a wife from Athens and betrothed her to him, crowning her Augusta and calling her Irene, from whom was born to Leo a son named Constantine. Again Copronymus set out against the Bulgars with a great many triremes and dromons, wishing to invade Bulgaria by way of 279 the Ister. Then, having grown fearful, he considered withdrawing. But the Bulgars, being afraid, sent to him and sought to make a truce for peace, and they made a treaty on the terms that neither should the Bulgars plunder the lands of the Romans, nor indeed should the Romans attack the Bulgars. And on these terms he returned. But some of the Bulgars, seduced by gifts from this emperor, secretly revealed to him the plans of their ruler; they informed Constantine that their leader intended to send out a force against one of the Roman lands, in order to take plunder from there. And he, having sent spies, when the plunderers set out from Bulgaria, being ready, made a sudden sally against them and destroyed some, and took others captive, and returned with many prisoners and triumphed again under arms. Then having prepared many triremes he sent them out against the Bulgars, and when they were off Mesembria a surge from violent winds fell upon them and sank almost all of them. But the ruler 280 of the Bulgars, Telerich, suspecting that his plans were being reported to the emperor by his own men, but not knowing who they were, outsmarted the foolishness of Copronymus and learned from him what was unknown. For he wrote in secret that he wished to come over to him and asked him to reveal if he had any friends among the Bulgar notables, so that he might entrust the secret to them and come to him with them. But he, being dense, as it seems, did not understand the barbarian's plot, but foolishly revealed at once those who were attached to him. And the barbarian arrested them all and cruelly and harshly put them to death. And again this emperor marched out for the last time against the Bulgars, and while he was encamped at Arcadiopolis in Thrace, his feet developed carbuncles, from which fierce and burning fevers consumed him, so that no remedy for these could be devised even by doctors. From there, being carried on a litter, he reached Selymbria, from where by trireme

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Νικήταν, οὐδ' ἐξ ἐλευθέρων, ἀλλ' ἐκ δούλων ἕλκοντα τὴν τοῦ γένους σειρὰν οὐδ' ἀναγνῶναι δυνάμενον· ἦν γὰρ περὶ τὴν γυναικωνῖτιν ἐσχολακώς. εἶτα ἐκ τῆς ὑπερορίας ἀχθέντα τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ ἀπηνέστατα αἰκισθέντα, ὡς μηδὲ βαδίζειν δύνασθαι, εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν ὡς ἄχθος τι βασταζόμενον ὁ τύραννος μετακομισθῆναι κεκέλευκε. καί τινος τὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀναγινώσκοντος αἰτιάματα, παρουσίᾳ πλήθους πολλοῦ ἐπὶ τούτῳ συναθροισθέντος, καὶ τοῦ νέου πατριάρχου Νικήτα ἐν τῷ συνθρόνῳ καθημένου καὶ ἀκροωμένου αὐτῶν, ἐκεῖνος κατὰ κόρρης ἐπαίετο καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐμπαροινηθεὶς τέλος ἀναθεματίζεται καὶ ψιλωθεὶς τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὸν πώγωνα, ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ τὰς ὀφρύας, καὶ ὄνῳ ἐποχηθείς, ἱπποδρομίας τελουμένης εἰσάγεται εἰς τὸ θέατρον, ἀτίμως θριαμβευόμενος καὶ ἐμπτυόμενος καὶ κόνει παττόμενος. ἐπὶ τούτοις τινὰς τῶν ἀρχόντων στείλας ὁ τύραννος ἠρώτησεν 278 αὐτὸν τί δοκεῖ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ πίστεως καὶ περὶ τῆς συνόδου. ὁ δὲ ἐκμειλισσόμενος τὴν ἐκείνου ὠμότητα ἀπεκρίθη καὶ καλῶς πιστεύειν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀκριβῶς δογματίσαι τὴν σύνοδον· καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ τρισάθλιος εἰς τὸ Κυνήγιον ἀπαχθεὶς ἀπετμήθη τὴν κεφαλήν. Καθ' ἑκάστην δὲ τῇ κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν μοναστηρίων μανίᾳ προσετίθει ὁ βέβηλος. ἀκόλαστος δὲ ὢν καὶ τρεῖς γυναῖκας ἠγάγετο, καὶ ἐκ μὲν τῆς πρώτης ἔσχε παῖδα τὸν Λέοντα, ὃν καὶ τοῦ τῆς βασιλείας ὀνόματος κατηξίωσεν, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων Χριστοφόρον, Νικηφόρον τε καὶ Νικήταν. καὶ τοὺς μὲν δύο Καίσαρας ἔστεψε, τὸν δὲ Νικήταν ἐτίμησε νωβελίσιμον. καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ βασιλεῖ ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν καὶ ἐμνηστεύσατο ταύτην αὐτῷ, στέψας αὐτὴν Αὐγούσταν καὶ καλέσας Εἰρήνην, ἐξ ἧς ἐτέχθη τῷ Λέοντι παῖς Κωνσταντῖνος ὀνομασθείς. Αὖθις δὲ ὁ Κοπρώνυμος μετὰ σφόδρα πολλῶν τριηρῶν καὶ δρομώνων κατὰ Βουλγάρων ἐξώρμησε, βουλόμενος διὰ 279 τοῦ Ἴστρου εἰς Βουλγαρίαν ἐμβαλεῖν. εἶτα δεδειλιακὼς ἀναζεῦξαι διεμελέτα. οἱ Βούλγαροι δὲ δείσαντες πέμψαντες πρὸς αὐτὸν σπονδὰς θέσθαι πρὸς εἰρήνην ἐζήτησαν καὶ ἐσπείσαντο ἐπὶ συνθήκαις τοῦ μήτε Βουλγάρους τὰ Ῥωμαίων ληίζεσθαι μήτε μὴν Ῥωμαίους ἐπιέναι κατὰ Βουλγάρων. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐπανελήλυθε. τινὲς δὲ τῶν Βουλγάρων δώροις ὑποσυρέντες παρὰ τούτου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ἐδήλουν αὐτῷ τὰ τῷ ἄρχοντι σφῶν βουλευόμενα· οἳ μεμηνύκασι τῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ ὅτι βούλεται ὁ σφέτερος ἀρχηγὸς λαὸν ἐκπέμψαι κατά τινος τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν χωρῶν, ἵν' ἐκεῖθεν λείαν κομίσαιτο. καὶ ὃς κατασκόπους στείλας, ὅτε ὥρμησαν ἐκ Βουλγαρίας οἱ ληισόμενοι, ἕτοιμος ὢν αἰφνίδιον ἐπεκδραμὼν κατ' αὐτῶν τοὺς μὲν διέφθειρε, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐζώγρησε, καὶ μετ' αἰχμαλωσίας πολλῆς ἐπανέστρεψε καὶ πάλιν ἔνοπλος ἐθριάμβευσεν. εἶτα πολλὰς τριήρεις ἑτοιμασάμενος κατὰ Βουλγάρων ἐκπέπομφε, καὶ κατὰ Μεσημβρίαν γενομέναις αὐταῖς κλύδων ἐκ πνευμάτων βιαίων ἐμπεσὼν σχεδὸν ἁπάσας κατέδυσεν. ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων 280 δὲ ἀρχηγὸς Τελέριχος ὑποπτεύσας ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων μεμηνύσθαι τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ αὐτῷ βουλευόμενα, μὴ εἰδὼς δὲ τίνες οὗτοι, κατασοφίζεται τὴν τοῦ Κοπρωνύμου κουφότητα καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ μανθάνει τὸ ἀγνοούμενον. γράφει γὰρ δι' ἀπορρήτων βούλεσθαι προσελθεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ ἠξίου δηλῶσαί οἱ εἴ τινας ἔχει φίλους ἐκ τῶν παρὰ Βουλγάροις ἐξόχων, ἵν' ἐκείνοις θαρρήσειε τὸ ἀπόρρητον καὶ σὺν ἐκείνοις ἀφίκοιτο πρὸς αὐτόν. ὁ δὲ παχύς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὢν οὐ συνῆκε τὸ σκέμμα τὸ βάρβαρον, ἀλλ' ἀνοήτως τοὺς αὐτῷ προσκειμένους εὐθὺς ἐξεκάλυψε. καὶ ὁ βάρβαρος συλλαβὼν αὐτοὺς ὠμῶς ἁπαξάπαντας καὶ ἀπηνῶς διεχρήσατο. καὶ αὖθις δὲ κατὰ Βουλγάρων ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ οὗτος τὸ λοίσθιον ἐξεστράτευσε, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ Ἀρκαδιούπολιν στρατοπεδευομένου οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ἀπηνθράκωντο, ὅθεν αὐτὸν λαῦροι πυρετοὶ καὶ φλογώδεις ἐξέκαιον, ὡς μηδὲν τούτων μηδὲ παρὰ ἰατρῶν ἐπινοεῖσθαι ἀλέξημα. ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ κλίνης φερόμενος μέχρι Σηλυβρίας κατήντησεν, ὅθεν διὰ τριήρους