Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

thinking he had the support of the Bulgarians against Chaka, he attacks his son-in-law, having restrained him by deceit, and having given him over to secure guards, later using Jewish servants and those whom he trusted in such matters, he strangles him while he was locked up, and he throws down Joachim, the patriarch there, as one suspected of having betrayed them to the Tochars long ago, and thus from so great a wickedness he becomes master of all. And gradually advancing, he grows strong, even though the emperor acted before he could become strong at all, when the Bulgarians sent and asked for the son of Maria by Constantine as their king because they wished to be free from the To 266 charic power which had already become tiresome, he sends Michael, who, arriving among the Bulgarians, accomplished nothing more than wandering outside of Ternovon and to spend a life not far from that of a private citizen, and at any rate least befitting royalty. But thus Svetoslav, who after many years exchanged his own father Terter for many of those from the palace. For the sebastokrator of the Bulgarians, Radoslav, having gone over to the emperor, and having been confirmed by him indeed in the dignity of sebastokrator, being of the first family among the Bulgarians (for he was of the same blood as Smilets), together with many, attacks Eltimir, honored with the despotate at Krunos, being in fact the brother of Terter, and also the wife of Smilets herself, Smilets, who a short time before had also ruled the Bulgarians by the will of Nogai, after Terter had fled, although after a short time, since Svetoslav was preferred after Chaka on account of the marriage connection, Smilets disappeared. Then, therefore, those around Radoslav, having been sent from Thessaloniki by the emperor, with the magnates of the emperor, 267 attack the Bulgarians around Eltimir, ruling as his own domain at Krunos; and having fought bravely against them, he, having blinded the sebastokrator, sends him to the emperor to his own wife, but he sends the Roman magnates to Svetoslav, whom indeed he held and did not release before he had exchanged his father Terter from the emperor. And so, at the same time Terter from here and at the same time from there the Roman magnates, numbering thirteen, were released. But his son, upon receiving his father, did not place him on the royal dignity, but having confined him to one of the cities under his control, as the trustworthy report came to us, he had prepared for him to live without business, in luxury indeed and that alone. And Svetoslav [did] these things, although in his infancy he had been imprisoned with his mother at Nicaea, and again, when she was released according to a treaty, he himself was held hostage by the Romans, but later, when Joachim, patriarch of Bulgaria, came as an ambassador to the emperor concerning some expected marriage connection, that concerning the daughter of the grand stratopedarch Synadenos, he was released to his father. But these things [happened] before. 268

27. The emperor, however, makes Toqtai his son-in-law by his illegitimate daughter Maria. To whom indeed Toqtai was betrothed, but since the affairs of the Tocharic war were still being carried on and the matters concerning Nogai lingered like the tail of a snake, he, wishing to give himself to warlike occupations and not to marriages that make the body effeminate, sends Maria back again to the emperor. And there she was for years, until he subjugated the Tocharic power by force, so that there was no opposition, all having submitted. And then sending to the emperor he demanded his wife, whom indeed the emperor sent forth again with fitting honor and a full escort. And Nogai had vanished, and Toqtai, having brought his domains under his own control, held them, having made the treaties more secure on account of the marriage alliance.

28. Then on the twenty-ninth of Poseideon, on which the sun declines from the summer solstice toward the equinox, a torrential rain came down for a whole day and night, the heights 269 of our horizon being pressed by clouds, so that

πρὸς Βουλγάρους ὑπὲρ τὸν Τζακᾶν δοκῶν ἔχειν, ἐπιτίθεται τῷ γαμβρῷ ἐπισχὼν δόλῳ, καὶ φυλακαῖς ἀσφαλέσι δούς, ὕστερον Ἰουδαίοις ὑπηρέταις καὶ οἷς εἰς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐθάρ ρει χρησάμενος, ἀποπνίγει κεκλεισμένον, καὶ τὸν τῇδε πατριαρ χοῦντα Ἰωακεὶμ κατακρήμνησιν ὡς σφᾶς προδοῦναι Τοχάροις τὸ πάλαι ὑποπτευθέντα, καὶ οὕτως ἐξ ἀλαστορίας τόσης τῶν ὅλων κύριος γίνεται. καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον προβαίνων κραταιοῦται, εἰ καὶ φθάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸ τοῦ κεῖνον ὅλως κραταιωθῆναι, τῶν Βουλγάρων πεμψάντων καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου υἱὸν τῆς Μαρίας ζητούντων εἰς βασιλέα διὰ τὸ ἐξάντεις ἤδη φανείσης Το 266 χαρικῆς ἐξουσίας γίνεσθαι βούλεσθαι, ἀποστέλλει τὸν Μιχαήλ, ὃς καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ἔσχε Βουλγάροις ἐπιστὰς ἢ τὸ ἔξω Τερνόβου περιπλανᾶσθαι καὶ βίον τρίβειν ἰδιωτικοῦ μὲν οὐ πόρρω, τέως δὲ βασιλείᾳ ἥκιστα πρέποντα. ἀλλ' οὕτω μὲν Ὀσφεντίσθλαβος, ὃς καὶ μετὰ χρόνους τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς Τερτερῆ πολλοὺς τῶν τοῦ παλατίου ἀντήλλαξεν. ὁ γὰρ τῶν Βουλγάρων σεβαστοκράτωρ Ῥαδοσθλάβος βασιλεῖ προσχωρήσας, καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ δὴ εἰς τὸ τῆς σεβαστοκρατορείας βεβαιωθεὶς ἀξίωμα, γένους ὢν τοῦ πρω τίστου παρὰ Βουλγάροις (τῷ γὰρ Σμίλτζῳ καὶ ὡμαιμόνει), συν άμα πλείστοις Ἐλτιμηρῇ κατὰ τὸν Κρουνὸν δεσποτείᾳ τετιμημέ νῳ, ἀδελφῷ γε ὄντι τοῦ Τερτερῆ, καὶ αὐτῇ δὴ τῇ τοῦ Σμίλτζου συζύγῳ προσβάλλει, Σμίλτζου τοῦ πρὸ ὀλίγου καὶ αὐτοῦ Βουλ γάρων ἄρξαντος βουλήσει Νογᾶ ἀποδράντος τοῦ Τερτερῆ, εἰ καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν διὰ τὸ κῆδος καὶ τὸν Τζακᾶν προτιμηθέντος τοῦ Ὀσφεντισθλάβου μετὰ τὸν Τζακᾶν φροῦδος ὁ Σμίλτζος γίνεται. τότε τοίνυν ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης παρὰ βασιλέως ἀποσταλέντες οἱ περὶ τὸν Ῥαδοσθλάβον, σὺν τοῖς μεγιστᾶσι τοῦ βασιλέως, 267 Βουλγάροις τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἐλτιμηρῆ προσβάλλουσι κατὰ τὸν Κρουνὸν ἰδίως ἄρχοντα· καθ' ὧν αὐτὸς ἀριστεύσας, τὸν μὲν σεβαστοκράτορα ἐκτυφλώσας στέλλει παρὰ βασιλέα πρὸς τὴν οἰ κείαν αὐτοῦ σύζυγον, τοὺς δέ γε μεγιστᾶνας Ῥωμαίων Ὀσφεντισθλάβῳ πέμπει, οὓς δὴ καὶ κατέχων ἐκεῖνος οὐ πρότερον δια φῆκε πρὶν ἂν τοῦ πατρὸς Τερτερῆ παρὰ βασιλέως ἠμείψατο. καὶ οὕτως ἅμα μὲν ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Τερτερῆς ἅμα δ' ἐκεῖθεν οἱ μεγι στᾶνες Ῥωμαίων εἰς δέκα καὶ τρεῖς ποσούμενοι ἀπελύοντο. οὐ μὴν δὲ καὶ ἀπολαβὼν τὸν πατέρα ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ βασιλικῆς ἀξίας ἐπέβησεν, ἀλλὰ μιᾷ τῶν καθ' αὑτὸν πόλεων περικλείσας, ὡς ἧκεν ἡμῖν ἡ πίστις, ἀπραγμόνως ζῆν ἐν τρυφαῖς δὴ καὶ μόναις παρεσκευάκει. καὶ ὁ μὲν Ὀσφεντίσθλαβος ταῦτα, ἐπὶ νηπίᾳ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ συνειρχθεὶς τῇ μητρὶ κατὰ Νίκαιαν, καὶ αὖθις ἀπολυθείσης ἐκείνης κατὰ σπονδὰς αὐτὸς ὁμηρεύσας παρὰ Ῥω μαίοις, ὕστερον δὲ τοῦ πατριάρχου Βουλγαρίας Ἰωακεὶμ πρὸς βασιλέα πρεσβεύσαντος κατά τι προσδοκώμενον κῆδος, τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ τοῦ μεγάλου στρατοπεδάρχου Συναδηνοῦ, πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἀπολυθείς. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πρότερον. 268

27. Ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεὺς τὸν Τουκτάϊν ἐπὶ νόθῳ θυ γατρὶ τῇ Μαρίᾳ ἐπιγαμβρεύεται. ᾗ δὴ καὶ ἁρμοσάμενος ὁ Τουκτάϊς, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἔτι τὰ τοῦ Τοχαρικοῦ πολέμου συνεκεκρότητο καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Νογᾶν ὡς οὐραῖον παρέσπαιρεν ὄφεως, ἀσχο λίαις πολεμικαῖς ἐκεῖνος θέλων ἑαυτὸν διδόναι καὶ μὴ γάμοις τὸ σῶμα ἐκθηλύνουσιν, ἀνταποστέλλει καὶ πάλιν τὴν Μαρίαν πρὸς βασιλέα. κἀνταῦθα ἐπὶ χρόνοις ἦν, ἕως οὗ κατὰ κράτος ἐκεῖ νος τὸ Τοχαρικὸν ἐχειρώσατο, ὡς μηδὲν τὸ ἀντιξοοῦν εἶναι ἁπάν των ὑποκλιθέντων. καὶ τότε πέμψας πρὸς βασιλέα ἀπῄτει τὴν σύζυγον, ἣν δὴ καὶ ἐσαῦθις ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ προσηκούσῃ τῇ τι μῇ καὶ δορυφορίαις ἁπάσαις ἐκπέμπει. καὶ ὁ μὲν Νογᾶς ἠφά νιστο, ὁ δὲ Τουκτάϊς τὰ τῆς ἐπικρατείας ἐκείνου ὑφ' ἑαυτῷ ποιησάμενος ἔσχε, τὰς σπονδὰς διὰ τὸ κῆδος βεβαιοτέρας ἀποτα μόμενος.

28. Τότε καὶ Ποσειδεῶνος ἐνάτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ, καθ' ἣν ἀπὸ θερινῆς τροπῆς πρὸς τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ἀποκλίνει ὁ ἥλιος, ῥαγδαῖος ὑετὸς κάτεισι ἐφ' ἡμέρας ὅλης γε καὶ νυκτός, τῶν ἄκρων 269 τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁρίζοντος ὑπὸ νεφῶν πιεσθέντων, ὥστε