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dwelling nearby everywhere, they plundered without restraint. The emperor, hearing these things, could not bear the Scythians to be dwelling within the Roman borders, and at the same time fearing that, having passed through the narrow passes, they might again do worse things than before. For this reason, therefore, having prepared himself and well armed the army, he occupies Adrianople and from there departs for the Lardea, which is situated between Diampolis and Goloe. And there, having appointed George Euphorbenos as commander, he sent him out across the water against Dristra. 7.2.2 But the emperor, holding out there for forty days, was summoning forces from all quarters. And having gathered a sufficient army, he was deliberating whether it was necessary, after passing through the mountain passes, to undertake battle with the Scythians, saying, "One must not give a truce to the Scythians at all," having with good reason considered this about these barbarians. For the Scythian raids did not begin in one of the four seasons and end in the next, for instance, ceasing in the harvest season after beginning in summer, or in autumn after beginning in winter. Nor did a single yearly cycle contain this evil, but for many years the Roman domains were in turmoil, even if we ourselves have mentioned only a few instances out of many. Nor were they divided in their counsels; even though the emperor often tried to win them over by all sorts of means, yet not even one secretly deserted to the emperor, their purpose for the time being remaining unchangeable. 7.2.3 So Nikephoros Bryennios and Gregory Maurokatakalon, whom the emperor had ransomed for a price of forty thousand after he had been captured by the Scythians, in no way approved of the war with the Scythians in the Paristrion region; but George Palaiologos and Nicholas Maurokatakalon and all the others who were young and vigorous, adhering to the emperor's will, were for crossing the passes of the Haemus and undertaking the battle with the Scythians in the Paristrion region. With them were also the two sons of the emperor Diogenes, Nikephoros and Leo, who were born to him in the Porphyra after he had been elevated to the imperial dignity and hence were called porphyrogennetoi. 7.2.4 Now the Porphyra is a certain room in the palace, square from its very foundation up to the spring of the roof, and from there terminating in a pyramid, looking out towards the sea to the harbor, where the stone oxen and lions are, and both the floor was paved and the walls were revetted with marble, not of the common kind, nor of those other more precious stones which are easier to obtain, but of those which the emperors of old had brought from Rome. Now this stone, to speak generally, is purple all through, and, as it were, certain white, sand-like specks run through it. From these stones, I think, the men of old named the room Porphyra. 7.2.5 But as I was saying, when therefore the trumpet sounded loudly and urged all, as it were, to the road towards the Haemus against the Scythians, Bryennios, while strongly trying to dissuade the emperor from the enterprise, when he could not persuade him, says emphatically: "Know, O emperor, if you cross the Haemus, you will have need of the swiftest of your horses." And when someone asked what this saying meant, he said, "In everyone's fleeing". For this man, even though his eyes had been put out for rebellion, was yet known to be the most formidable and resourceful of many in matters of strategic counsel and battle-array. And how the aforementioned Bryennios was deprived of his eyes for apostasy or rebellion against the emperor Botaneiates, and that having been seized by Alexios Komnenos, then Grand Domestic of the armies of both West and East, he was handed over to Borilos with his sight unharmed, those who wish

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ἀνέτως πάντη παροικοῦντες ἐλῄζοντο. Ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀκούων οὐκ ἠνείχετο τῶν ῥωμαϊκῶν ὁρίων εἴσω τοὺς Σκύθας παροικεῖν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ δεδιώς, μὴ διὰ τῶν στενωπῶν διελ θόντες αὖθις χείρονα τῶν προτέρων ἀπεργάσωνται. Ἔνθεν τοι καὶ παρεσκευασμένος καὶ καλῶς ἐξοπλίσας τὸ στρά τευμα καταλαμβάνει τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν καὶ ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς τὸν Λαρδέαν ἄπεισιν ἐν μεταιχμίῳ τῆς ∆ιαμπόλεως καὶ Γολόης διακείμενον. Κἀκεῖσε προχειρισάμενος ἡγεμόνα Γεώργιον τὸν Εὐφορβηνὸν κατὰ τῆς ∆ρίστρας διαπόντιον ἐξέπεμψεν. 7.2.2 Ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέ ραις αὐτοῦ που ἐγκαρτερῶν τὰς ἁπανταχόθεν δυνάμεις μετεπέμπετο. Ἱκανὸν δὲ συνειλοχὼς στράτευμα, ἐβουλεύετο εἰ χρὴ τὰς κλεισούρας διεληλυθότα τὴν μετὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν ἀναδέξασθαι μάχην, «Οὐ χρή» λέγων «ἐκεχειρίαν ὅλως τοῖς Σκύθαις δίδοσθαι,» εἰκότως τοῦτο περὶ τουτωνὶ τῶν βαρβάρων σκοπήσας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπό τινος καιροῦ τῶν τετ τάρων καταρξάμεναι αἱ τῶν Σκυθῶν προνομαὶ εἰς τὸν ἐφεξῆς κατέληγον, θέρους τυχὸν εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ὀπώ ρας ἢ καὶ χειμῶνος ἐν φθινοπώρῳ παυσάμεναι. Οὐδὲ κύκλος εἶς ἐνιαύσιος τουτὶ τὸ κακὸν περιέγραψεν, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἱκανοῖς ἔτεσι τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐκυμαίνετο, κἂν ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγων τινῶν αὐτοὶ ἐπεμνήσθημεν. Οὐδὲ διπλοῖς ἐμερίσθη σαν λογισμοῖς· κἂν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ πολλάκις διὰ παντοίων τούτους ἐφείλκετο, ἀλλ' οὐδέ τις λαθὼν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀπηυτομόλησεν, ἔτι ἀμετάθετον τέως τὴν γνώμην ἔχοντες. 7.2.3 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Νικηφόρος ὁ Βρυέννιος καὶ ὁ Μαυροκατα καλὼν Γρηγόριος, ὃν τιμῆς τεσσαράκοντα χιλιάδων ὁ βασι λεὺς παρὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν ἑαλωκότα ἐπρίατο, οὐδαμῶς τὸν μετὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν κατὰ τὸ Παρίστριον συνεχώρουν πόλε μον· ὁ δέ γε Παλαιολόγος Γεώργιος καὶ Νικόλαος ὁ Μαυ ροκατακαλὼν καὶ ὁπόσοι ἄλλοι νέοι καὶ ἀκμάζοντες τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως προσκείμενοι θελήματι ἐπέτρεπον τὰ τέμπη τοῦ Αἵμου διελθεῖν καὶ κατὰ τὸ Παρίστριον τὴν μετὰ τῶν Σκυ θῶν ἀναδέξασθαι μάχην. Σὺν οἷς καὶ οἱ δύο υἱεῖς ∆ιογέ νους τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, Νικηφόρος τε καὶ Λέων, οἳ μετὰ τὸ ἀνενεχθῆναι αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν τῆς βασιλείας περιωπὴν ἐν τῇ πορφύρᾳ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐτέχθησαν κἀντεῦθεν πορφυρογέν νητοι προσηγορεύθησαν. 7.2.4 Ἡ δὲ πορφύρα οἴκημά τί ἐστι κατὰ τὰ ἀνάκτορα ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς βάσεως μέχρι τῆς τοῦ ὀρόφου κινήσεως διὰ τετραγώνου συμπληρούμενον σχή ματος, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ εἰς πυραμίδα ἀποτελευτῶν, ἀφορῶν μὲν ὡς πρὸς θάλατταν πρὸς τὸν λιμένα, οὗπερ οἱ πέτρινοι βόες καὶ οἱ λέοντες, διὰ μαρμάρων δὲ τό τε ἔδαφος κατέστρωτο καὶ οἱ τοῖχοι περιεστέλλοντο, οὐ τῶν τυχόντων οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων ὁπόσοι εὐποριστότεροι τῶν τιμιωτέρων λίθων εἰσίν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν ἀπὸ Ῥώμης οἱ ἀνέκαθεν βασιλεῖς ἐπεσύροντο. Ἔστι δὲ οὗτος ὁ λίθος τὸ ὅλον εἰπεῖν πορφυροῦς δι' ὅλου καὶ οἷον στίγματά τινα ψαμμοειδῆ λευκὰ αὐτῷ περιτρέ χουσιν. Ἐκ τουτωνὶ τῶν λίθων, οἶμαι, πορφύραν τὸ οἴκημα οἱ ἀνέκαθεν ὠνόμασαν. 7.2.5 Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔλεγον, ὡς οὖν ἡ σάλπιγξ μέγα ἠχήσασα ἅπαντας τὴν πρὸς τὸν Αἷμον ὁδὸν οἱονεὶ κατὰ τῶν Σκυθῶν προὐτρέπετο, ὁ Βρυέννιος πολλὰ κωλύων τὸν αὐτοκράτορα τοῦ ἐγχειρήματος, ὡς οὐκ ἔπει θεν, ἐπιφωνηματικῶς φησιν· «Ἴσθι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, εἰ τὸν Αἷμον διέλθητε, τοὺς δρομικωτέρους τῶν ἵππων δοκιμά σεις.» Ἐρωτήσαντος δέ τινος, τί ὁ λόγος οὑτοσὶ βούλεται, «Ἐν τῷ φεύγειν» φησὶν «ἅπαντας». Οὗτος γὰρ ὁ ἀνήρ, εἰ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς δι' ἀποστασίαν ἐξεκέκοπτο, ἀλλὰ τό γε εἰς στρατηγικωτάτην βουλὴν καὶ παράταξιν δεινό τατος τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ποικιλώτατος ἐγνωρίζετο. Ὅπως δὲ τῶν ὀμμάτων ὁ προμνημονευθεὶς Βρυέννιος ἀπεστέρητο δι' ἀποστασίαν ἢ ἐπανάστασιν κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Βοτανειάτου καὶ ὅτι παρὰ τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ Ἀλεξίου τότε μεγάλου δομεστίκου τυγχάνοντος τῶν δυτικῶν τε καὶ ἀνα τολικῶν στρατευμάτων κατασχεθεὶς τῷ Βορίλῳ παρεδόθη τὰς ὄψεις ἀβλαβεῖς ἔχων, τοὺς ἐθέλοντας