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on account of his avarice, and then after he had accused that man of lack of foresight, he was most fiercely beaten. Out of desperation, therefore, he had gone over to the Bulgarians, and through him the barbarians have learned to make use of every siege engine. Thus, having been well-supplied with city-takers, they did not delay in the sack of the city near Mesembria. When the emperor summoned the patriarch and some of the archbishops and proposed a council concerning the treaties with the Bulgarians and whether it was right to hand over to Krum those who had fled from there to the Romans (for the barbarian also sought this in addition to the other terms of the treaties), the patriarch and the archbishops advised that the refugees be handed over, judging 316 it better for a few to suffer than for countless multitudes to suffer. But those around the emperor and Theodore the Studite forbade the treaties, saying that it was not right to hand over the refugees. The treaties with the Bulgarians, therefore, were prevented on this account. For this emperor was good in character and orthodox in faith, but sluggish in the administration of affairs and easily followed wherever the chief of his magistrates led him. A comet appeared at that time, formed into different shapes, one of which is said to have been the shape of a man without a head. The Bulgarians, however, having taken control of Mesembria, found many things in it, and among the other things, no small amount of liquid fire. When some of the prisoners of war returned, the emperor, learning from them that Krum wished to plunder Thrace, went forth from the city. Wherefore the barbarian, having done none of the things he planned, but even having lost many of his own men, returned 317 home; and the emperor, having gathered the Roman forces from all sides, went forth again into Thrace, with the Augusta also accompanying him as far as Kidoktos. Wherefore the soldiery, being displeased, reviled the emperor. Then the Augusta returned, but Michael went about Thrace, doing nothing of a strategic nature nor planning anything against the enemy; and the armies were no less a source of plunder for the inhabitants of the country than the barbarians. And Krum, setting out from his own lands, encamped near the imperial battle lines. Therefore, when the battle was joined, the Romans were defeated, with Leo, the general of the Anatolics, of Armenian descent, having been the cause of the defeat. For this man, desiring the empire and slandering Michael to the army as unmanly and lacking in generalship, as soon as the war was joined, commanding the regiments under him to follow him, deserted and went away as a fugitive. This also turned the others to flight, so that Krum did not even believe what was happening because it was so unexpected, but thought 318 this was an ambush and restrained those around him. But when he saw the Romans fleeing in a disorderly and uncontrolled manner, then commanding his own men to pursue, he wrought a very great slaughter of both soldiers and generals. And the emperor was scarcely saved by flight to the city of Constantine with a few men, with the camp and the imperial tent having become plunder for the barbarians. Thenceforth Leo, seizing his immunity and having dispersed his fellow conspirators to the remaining parts of the armies, saying that the Romans were defeated on account of the simplicity of their rulers and that affairs required a noble man, such as is Leo, the general of the Anatolics, stirred the soldiers to rebellion; and they spoke ill of the emperor, but they deemed Leo worthy of the imperial acclamation, surrounding his tent. But as he was feigning reluctance and pretending to refuse the supreme power, Michael the Stammerer, a commander of a regiment, drawing his sword, and suggesting that others who participated in the conspiracy do this also, they persuaded Leo to accept the proclamation, perhaps even against his will. When these things were therefore reported to Michael, he immediately neither rushed to oppose him nor tried 319 to lay claim to the empire, but sent the imperial insignia to Leo. And when that man came to the palace, Michael, together with his wife and children, to the in the

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διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου γλισχρότητα, εἶτα καὶ ἐπεγκαλέσας ἐκείνῳ διὰ τὸ ἀπρονόητον, ἐτύφθη σφοδρότατα. ἐξ ἀπονοίας οὖν τοῖς Βουλγάροις προσκεχωρήκει, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν οἱ βάρβαροι μηχανὴν ἐργάζεσθαι μεμαθήκασιν. οὕτως οὖν εὐπορήσαντες ἑλεπόλεων, οὐκ ἐχρόνισαν εἰς τὴν τοῦ κατὰ Μεσημβρίαν ἄστεος πόρθησιν. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως τὸν πατριάρχην μετακαλεσαμένου καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων τινὰς καὶ προθεμένου βουλὴν περὶ τῶν μετὰ Βουλγάρων σπονδῶν καὶ εἰ χρὴ ἐκδοῦναι τῷ Κρούμῳ τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν Ῥωμαίοις προσπεφευγότας (καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπὶ ταῖς σπονδαῖς ἐζήτει ὁ βάρβαρος), ὁ μὲν πατριάρχης καὶ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς συνεβούλευον ἐκδοθῆναι τοὺς πρόσφυγας, κρεῖσσον 316 κρίνοντες εἶναι παθεῖν μετρίους τινὰς ἢ πλήθη πάσχειν ἀνάριθμα. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν βασιλέα καὶ ὁ Στουδίτης Θεόδωρος τὰς σπονδὰς ἀπηγόρευον, λέγοντες μὴ δεῖν ἐκδιδόναι τοὺς πρόσφυγας. αἱ μὲν οὖν πρὸς τοὺς Βουλγάρους σπονδαὶ ἐντεῦθεν κεκώλυντο. ἦν γὰρ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ οὗτος τὸν μὲν τρόπον χρηστὸς καὶ τὴν πίστιν ὀρθός, περὶ δὲ πραγμάτων οἰκονομίαν νωθὴς καὶ τοῖς ὑπερέχουσι τῶν ἀρχόντων ὅπῃ ἂν ἄγοιτο ῥᾳδίως ἑπόμενος. Κομήτης δ' ἀστὴρ ἐφάνη τότε σχηματισθεὶς εἰς εἴδη διάφορα, ὧν λέγεται εἶναι καὶ ἀνθρώπου σχῆμα χωρὶς κεφαλῆς. Οἱ Βούλγαροι μέντοι τῆς Μεσημβρίας κρατήσαντες πολλὰ ἐν ταύτῃ εὑρήκασι, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ καὶ τοῦ ὑγροῦ πυρὸς οὐκ ἐλάχιστον. αἰχμαλώτων δ' ἐπανελθόντων τινῶν, μαθὼν ἐκ τούτων ὁ βασιλεὺς βούλεσθαι τὸν Κροῦμον τὴν Θρᾴκην ληίσασθαι, ἐξῆλθε τῆς πόλεως. ὅθεν οὐδὲν ὧν ἐμελέτα δράσας ὁ βάρβαρος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν οἰκείων ἀποβαλὼν ὑπενό317 στησε· καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς δυνάμεις πάντοθεν συναθροίσας εἰς Θρᾴκην αὖθις ἐξῆλθε, συνεπομένης αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς Αὐγούστας ἄχρι τῶν Κιδόκτου. ὅθεν δυσχερᾶναν τὸ στρατιωτικὸν ἐλοιδορεῖτο τῷ αὐτοκράτορι. εἶτα ἡ μὲν Αὐγούστα ἐπανελήλυθεν, ὁ δὲ Μιχαὴλ περιεπόλει τὴν Θρᾴκην, μηδέν τι πράττων στρατηγικὸν ἤ τι κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων οἰκονομούμενος· καὶ ἦσαν τοῖς τῆς χώρα οἰκήτορσι τὰ στρατεύματα οὐχ ἧττον τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς προνομήν. καὶ ὁ Κροῦμος δὲ τῶν οἰκείων ἀπάρας ἠθῶν ταῖς βασιλικαῖς παρεστρατοπεδεύσατο παρατάξεσι. μάχης οὖν συγκροτηθείσης ἡττῶνται Ῥωμαῖοι, τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τῶν ἀνατολικῶν Λέοντος τοῦ ἐξ Ἀρμενίων αἰτίου τῆς ἥττης γεγενημένου. οὗτος γὰρ τῆς βασιλείας ἐρῶν καὶ πρὸς τὴν στρατιὰν διαβάλλων τὸν Μιχαὴλ ὡς ἄνανδρόν τε καὶ ἀστρατήγητον, ἄρτι τοῦ πολέμου συγκροτηθέντος, τὰ ὑπ' αὐτὸν τάγματα ἕπεσθαί οἱ ἐγκελευσάμενος λειποτακτήσας ἀπῄει φυγάς. τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἔτρεψεν εἰς φυγήν, ὥστε τὸν Κροῦμον μηδὲ πιστεύειν τῷ γινομένῳ διὰ τὸ λίαν παράλογον, ἀλλὰ λόχον 318 ἡγεῖσθαι τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἐπισχεῖν. ὡς δ' ἑώρα τοὺς Ῥωμαίους φεύγοντας ἀκόσμως καὶ ἀκρατῶς, τότε τοῖς οἰκείοις διώκειν ἐγκελευσάμενος φόνον πλεῖστον εἰργάσατο στρατιωτῶν τε καὶ στρατηγῶν. μόλις δ' ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου μετ' ὀλίγων τινῶν φυγῇ διασώζεται, τοῦ χάρακος καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τῆς βασιλικῆς γεγονότων τοῖς βαρβάροις διάρπαγμα. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Λέων ἀδείας δραξάμενος καὶ τοὺς κοινωνοὺς τῶν βουλευμάτων αὐτῷ διασπείρας εἰς τὰ περιλειφθέντα τῶν στρατευμάτων λέγοντας ἐξ ἀφελείας τῶν κρατούντων ἡττᾶσθαι Ῥωμαίους καὶ δεῖσθαι τὰ πράγματα γενναίου ἀνδρός, οἷος ὁ τῶν ἀνατολικῶν στρατηγὸς Λέων ἐστίν, εἰς στάσιν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἠρέθισε· καὶ τὸν μὲν βασιλέα κακῶς ἔλεγον, τὸν Λέοντα δὲ βασιλικῆς εὐφημίας ἠξίουν, τὴν ἐκείνου περιστάντες σκηνήν. ἀκκιζομένου δ' αὐτοῦ καὶ παραιτουμένου δῆθεν τὴν αὐταρχίαν, ὁ τραυλὸς Μιχαὴλ τάγματος ἄρχων τὸ ξίφος σπασάμενος, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἄλλοις ποιεῖν ὑποθέμενος τῆς συνωμοσίας μετέχουσι, πείθουσι τάχα καὶ ἄκοντα τὴν ἀνάρρησιν τὸν Λέοντα δέξασθαι. ὡς οὖν ἠγγέλη ταῦτα τῷ Μιχαήλ, εὐθὺς οὔτε πρὸς ἀντικατάστασιν ὥρμησεν οὔτε τῆς βασιλείας ἀντιποιήσασθαι ἐδο319 κίμασεν, ἀλλὰ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας παράσημα τῷ Λέοντι ἐξαπέστειλεν. ἐλθόντος δ' ἐκείνου εἰς τὰ βασίλεια ὁ Μιχαὴλ ἅμα τῇ συζύγῳ καὶ τοῖς παισὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐν τῷ