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but also the rest. But Constantine the chamberlain was all-powerful. However, the Bulgarian Symeon was overrunning and plundering Thrace, and he cast up a stockade at Adrianople, hoping to take it by siege. But when he saw that the enterprise was fruitless for him, he sought the capture of the city by other means. For having corrupted some of its guards with money, he sacked it through treachery. But afterwards, the diligence of the empress brought it again under the Romans. Not bearing the frequent incursions of Symeon against the land of Thrace, she made a treaty with those of Ishmael and, having gathered together the eastern and the western regiments, she entrusted the war against Symeon to the magistros Leo Phokas, who was Domestic of the Schools. He, having joined battle, signally defeated the Bulgarians and made a great slaughter of them. But having become weary and drenched with sweat, and consequently fainting, he dismounted his horse at a certain spring and refreshed himself. Meanwhile, his horse, escaping the hands of the one holding it, galloped through the plain of the camp without a rider. And since it was a conspicuous horse, it threw the troops into a panic, who thought that the Domestic had fallen, 464 and they abstained from the war and stopped the pursuit, and confusion seized them. But Symeon, seeing from some lookout point what had happened concerning the troops, urged on his men and rushed against the Romans, and falling upon them in their confusion, he at once turned them all to flight; and the Bulgarians killed some while pursuing them, while others perished, being trampled by one another. The Domestic of the Schools was barely able to escape to Mesembria; and many of the generals and commanders of regiments perished then. John Bogas was sent to bring the Pechenegs into an alliance against the Bulgarians, and the patrician Romanos Lekapenos, being drungarius of the fleet, was appointed to sail alongside with the fleet, both to cooperate with the Domestic of the Schools, and also, if allies were brought by Bogas, to ferry them across. Bogas therefore arrived with the allies. But when a quarrel broke out between him and Lekapenos, the Pechenegs, seeing them arguing with each other 465 and being neglectful of their crossing, returned to their own lands. Some, therefore, relate these events thus, and that the defeat of the Romans resulted from this, because they did not obtain the alliance, but others have chronicled the matter differently. For they say that when Phokas had defeated the barbarians and was pursuing them, a rumor arose that the drungarius of the fleet was departing with the fleet to take over the empire; this, falling upon the Domestic's ears, disturbed him, so that he abstained from the pursuit and returned to the camp to verify the rumor, and from this the war was reversed. For the Romans fled, thinking that the Domestic's departure to the camp was a flight from battle, while the Bulgarians, turning back from their flight, pursued them. It was desire for the empire that caused the Domestic's return to the camp. For desiring it, he was hastening, if it was true that the drungarius was departing, to seize it himself first and make the rule his own. And after the defeat, when both Lekapenos and Bogas returned, the matter between them was investigated, and Romanos was condemned to be blinded in the eyes, as being the cause of the defeat either through malice or negligence, but some who were very powerful with the empress rescued him from this sentence. 466 But the Bulgarian Symeon, puffed up by the victory, advanced against the queen of cities. The Domestic of the Schools, Phokas, opposed him again; and when battle was joined at Katasyrtai, the barbarians were defeated. And while many of these illustrious men also nurtured a love for the empire, more than the others the Domestic of the Schools, Phokas, was inflamed with love for it, trusting both in himself on account of his family and his strength, and not least in the chamberlain Constantine the

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ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς. Κωνσταντῖνος δὲ ὁ παρακοιμώμενος τὰ πάντα ἠδύνατο. Ὁ μέντοι Βούλγαρος Συμεὼν τὴν Θρᾴκην κατέτρεχέ τε καὶ ἐληίζετο καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀδριανουπόλει βάλλεται χάρακα, πολιορκίᾳ ταύτην ἐλπίζων ἑλεῖν. ὡς δ' ἑώρα ἑαυτῷ κενόσπουδον τὸ ἐγχείρημα, ἑτέρως τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως μέτεισι. χρήμασι γάρ τινας τῶν φυλάκων αὐτῆς ὑποφθείρας ἐκ προδοσίας αὐτὴν ἐξεπόρθησεν. ἀλλὰ ταύτην μετέπειτα πάλιν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους ἡ τῆς βασιλίσσης σπουδὴ ἐποιήσατο. μὴ φέρουσα δὲ τὰς κατὰ τῆς Θρᾳκῴας χώρας πυκνὰς ἐπελεύσεις τοῦ Συμεὼν σπένδεται τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσμαὴλ καὶ τά τε ἑῷα τάγματα καὶ τὰ ἑσπέρια συναθροίσασα τῷ μαγίστρῳ Λέοντι τῷ Φωκᾷ τῶν σχολῶν δομεστίκῳ τυγχάνοντι τὸν κατὰ τοῦ Συμεὼν ἀνέθετο πόλεμον. ὃς καὶ μάχην συνάψας ἡττᾷ τοὺς Βουλγάρους περιφανῶς καὶ φόνον αὐτῶν ποιεῖται πολύν. κατάκοπος δὲ γεγονὼς καὶ ἱδρῶτι διάβροχος κἀντεῦθεν λειποθυμῶν, ἐπί τινι πηγῇ τοῦ ἵππου ἀποβὰς ἀνέψυχεν ἑαυτόν. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ὁ ἵππος αὐτοῦ τὰς τοῦ κατέχοντος αὐτὸν χεῖρας διαφυγὼν ἐν τῷ τοῦ στρατοπέδου πεδίῳ ἐκρόαινεν ἀναβάτου χωρίς. ἐπίσημος δὲ τυγχάνων εἰς δειλίαν ἐνέβαλε τὰ στρατεύματα οἰηθέντα πεσεῖν τὸν δομέστικον, 464 καὶ τοῦ μὲν πολέμου ἀπέσχοντο καὶ τῆς διώξεως ἔστησαν, θόρυβος δ' ἔσχεν αὐτούς. ὁ δέ γε Συμεὼν ἐκ περιωπῆς τινος ὁρῶν τὸ συμβεβηκὸς περὶ τὰ στρατεύματα τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν ἐγκελεύεται καὶ κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐξώρμησε καὶ τεθορυβημένοις αὐτοῖς ἐμβαλὼν εἰς φυγὴν ἅπαντας ἀθρόον ἐτρέψατο· καὶ τοὺς μὲν οἱ Βούλγαροι διώκοντες ἔκτεινον, οἱ δ' ὑπ' ἀλλήλων ἀπώλλυντο συμπατούμενοι. ὁ δὲ τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικος μόλις εἰς Μεσημβρίαν διαδρᾶναι δεδύνητο· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν καὶ ταγματάρχαι τότε ἐφθάρησαν. Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ Βογᾶς ἐστάλη Πατζινάκους εἰς συμμαχίαν ἀγαγεῖν κατὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων, καὶ ὁ πατρίκιος Ῥωμανὸς ὁ Λακαπηνός, δρουγγάριος ὢν τῶν πλωίμων, ὡρίσθη μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παραπλεῖν, ἅμα μὲν εἰς συνεργίαν τοῦ τῶν σχολῶν δομεστίκου, ἅμα δὲ καί, εἰ ἀχθεῖεν σύμμαχοι παρὰ τοῦ Βογᾶ, διαπεραιώσασθαι σφᾶς. ἧκεν οὖν ὁ Βογᾶς μετὰ τῶν συμμάχων. στάσεως δ' ἐμπεσούσης αὐτῷ τε καὶ τῷ Λακαπηνῷ, ὁρῶντες οἱ Πατζινάκοι αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαπληκτιζομένους 465 καὶ ἀμελῶς περὶ τὴν αὐτῶν διακειμένους διάβασιν εἰς τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἐπανήλθοσαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτω ταῦτά φασι καὶ τὴν ἧτταν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐντεῦθεν συμβῆναι, μὴ τυχόντων τῆς συμμαχίας, οἱ δὲ ἀλλοίως τὸ πρᾶγμα ἱστόρησαν· ἡττήσαντος γάρ φασι τοῦ Φωκᾶ τοὺς βαρβάρους καὶ διώκοντος, φήμην γενέσθαι ὡς ὁ δρουγγάριος τῶν πλωίμων ἄπεισι σὺν τῷ στόλῳ, τὴν βασιλείαν παραληψόμενος· τοῦτο δὲ τῷ δομεστίκῳ πεσὸν εἰς ὦτα ἐκταράξαι αὐτόν, ὡς ἀποσχέσθαι μὲν τῆς διώξεως, ἐπανελθεῖν δ' εἰς τὸν χάρακα, τὰ τῆς φήμης ἀκριβωσόμενον, κἀντεῦθεν παλίντροπον γενέσθαι τὸν πόλεμον· φυγεῖν μὲν γὰρ τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, ἀπόδρασιν τῆς μάχης οἰηθέντας τὴν εἰς τὸν χάρακα τοῦ δομεστίκου ἀπέλευσιν, τοὺς δὲ Βουλγάρους ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς ἐπαναστραφέντας διώκειν αὐτούς. τὴν δὲ πρὸς τὸν χάρακα τοῦ δομεστίκου ὑποστροφὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιθυμία πεποίηκεν. ἐρῶν γὰρ αὐτῆς ἔσπευδεν, εἰ ἀληθὲς ἦν τὸ τὸν δρουγγάριον ἀπιέναι, προκαταλαβεῖν αὐτὸς καὶ οἰκειώσασθαι τὴν ἀρχήν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἧτταν ἐπανελθόντων τοῦ τε Λακαπηνοῦ καὶ τοῦ Βογᾶ, ἐζητήθη τὰ μέσον αὐτῶν, καὶ κατεκρίθη ὁ Ῥωμανὸς πηρωθῆναι τὰ ὄμματα, ὡς αἴτιος τῆς ἥττης ἢ κακούργως ἢ ῥᾳθύμως γενόμενος, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνον μὲν τῆς ψήφου ταύτης ἐξήρπασάν τινες μέγα παρὰ τῇ βασιλίσσῃ δυνάμενοι. 466 Ὁ δὲ Βούλγαρος Συμεὼν τῇ νίκῃ ἐξογκωθεὶς ἐπῄει κατὰ τῆς βασιλευούσης τῶν πόλεων. ἀντικατέστη δὲ αὐτῷ πάλιν ὁ τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικος ὁ Φωκᾶς· καὶ μάχης συγκροτηθείσης ἐν Κατασύρταις οἱ βάρβαροι ἥττηντο. Πολλῶν δὲ καὶ τούτων περιφανῶν ἔρωτα τρεφόντων τῆς βασιλείας, μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων περὶ τὸν ταύτης ἐφλέγμαινεν ἔρωτα ὁ τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικος ὁ Φωκᾶς, πεποιθὼς μὲν καὶ ἑαυτῷ διὰ τὸ γένος καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰσχύν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ τῷ παρακοιμωμένῳ Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ