124

he received the acclamation, but he himself was not content with receiving this, but after a short while 470 he also crowned his wife Theodora, and then also his son Christopher, seemingly by the choice of Constantine, but in truth while the latter was being forced and was vexed among those he trusted and considered what was happening a misfortune, but not daring to object. And when a plot was made against Romanos, of which the sacellarius Anastasius was the instigator, supposedly to aid Constantine, its details became known, and the conspirators were punished as it seemed best to Romanos, but the sacellarius was tonsured. This was the pretext Romanos had to demote Constantine below himself, who until then had been acclaimed first in the proclamations. And Symeon sent an army against the city; so that they might not come and destroy the splendors before the city, Romanos also sent men to oppose them. And when the Bulgarians attacked them, many of the commanders fell, and of the soldiers, some, rushing to board the triremes sailing alongside, slipped into the sea and were carried off by the waves, others were destroyed by the enemy, and still others were captured alive. With the Roman army thus disposed at Pege, the Bulgarians burned down the palace that was there and everything else that was on the shore 471 of the strait situated opposite the city. And when the wife of Romanos, the Augusta Theodora, died, the wife of the emperor Christopher, Sophia, was deemed worthy of the title of Augusta. But the ruler of the Bulgarians, Symeon, attacked Adrianople and besieged it. And he would have accomplished nothing, if the provisions had not run out for those inside; for compelled by famine, they surrendered both themselves and the city to the enemy. At that time, however, Leo of Tripoli also proceeded against the Romans with a naval force; but near the island of Lemnos Roman triremes attacked him and destroyed almost all the Agarenes, and sank their ships, with the Tripolitan barely managing to escape. And the Bulgarian Symeon plundered both the regions of Macedonia and Thrace with a heavy army and, coming near the city, made his encampment near Blachernae and sought to meet with the emperor Romanos. And the emperor welcomed the meeting and on the shore of Cosmidion the emperor arrived with 472 the fleet, while Symeon came with his own army, and they spoke; and the emperor gave magnificent gifts to Symeon. But they parted from each other without an agreement, which a pair of eagles seemed to signify. For they say that these flew above them and met each other with a cry, then immediately parted from each other, one flying away towards the city, the other moving its wing towards Thrace. But the emperor Romanos, being insatiable for imperial rule and as if forgetting the oaths which he had sworn on holy things, and not being content that he had deemed himself and the eldest of his sons worthy of the diadem, also crowned his other two sons as emperors, and then also his grandson, born of Christopher, and changed the rule of the Romans from a monarchy into a polyarchy. And for his youngest son Theophylact, seeking the patriarchal throne of the queen of cities, he had him tonsured as a cleric, who was ordained by the patriarch and made syncellus. And when the patriarch Nicholas, having held the see of the church for a second time for thirteen years, departed this life, the metropolitan 473 Stephen of Amaseia was transferred to the throne of Constantinople. However, the ruler of the Bulgarians, Symeon, being a man of blood, never chose to keep the peace at all; whence he marched against the nation of the Croats, but was defeated by them, and lost his army in the difficult terrain of the mountains. And at this time someone approached the emperor Romanos, saying that the one situated above the arch in the Xerolophos

124

ἀναρρήσεως ἔτυχεν, οὐκ ἠγάπα δὲ ταύτης τυχὼν αὐτός, ἀλλὰ μετὰ βραχὺ 470 καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ὁμευνέτιν τὴν Θεοδώραν ταινιοῖ, εἶτα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Χριστοφόρον, προαιρέσει μὲν τῷ δοκεῖν τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ βιαζομένου ἀσχάλλοντός τε πρὸς οὓς ἐθάρρει καὶ ἐν συμφορᾷ τιθεμένου τὰ πραττόμενα, μὴ θαρροῦντος δὲ ἀντερεῖν. ἐπιβουλῆς δὲ κατὰ τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ γενομένης, ἧς ὁ σακελλάριος πρωτουργὸς ἦν Ἀναστάσιος, ὡς τῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ δῆθεν ἀμύνων, ἐγνώσθη τὰ κατ' αὐτήν, καὶ οἱ μὲν συνίστορες, ὡς ἔδοξε τῷ Ῥωμανῷ, ἐκολάσθησαν, ὁ δὲ σακελλάριος ἀπεκάρη. ἣν δὲ πρόφασιν ἔσχεν ὁ Ῥωμανὸς τοῦ ὑποβιβάσαι τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον ἑαυτοῦ, μέχρι τότε πρῶτον εὐφημούμενον ἐν ταῖς ἀναρρήσεσιν. Ὁ Συμεὼν δὲ κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐκπέμπει στρατόν· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐλθόντες τὰς πρὸ τῆς πόλεως διαφθείρωσιν ἀγλαΐας, ἔπεμψε καὶ ὁ Ῥωμανὸς τοὺς ἀντιταξομένους αὐτοῖς. καὶ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἐπελθόντων αὐτοῖς πίπτουσι μὲν καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων πολλοί, τῶν δέ γε στρατιωτῶν οἱ μὲν εἰς τὰς τριήρεις σπεύδοντες ἐμβῆναι παραπλεούσας εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἐξωλίσθαινον καὶ ὑπὸ κυμάτων ἐφέροντο, οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων διώλλυντο, οἱ δὲ καὶ ζῶντες συνελαμβάνοντο. οὕτω δὲ διατεθείσης τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς στρατιᾶς κατὰ τὰς Πηγάς, τά τε ἐκεῖ ὄντα ἀνάκτορα οἱ Βούλγαροι ἐπυρπόλησαν καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα ἐν τῷ αἰγιαλῷ 471 τοῦ κατ' ἀντικρὺ τῆς πόλεως ἦσαν διακειμένου πορθμοῦ. θανούσης δὲ τῆς τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ συμβίου τῆς Αὐγούστης Θεοδώρας ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοφόρου γυνὴ Σοφία τοῦ τῆς Αὐγούστης ἠξιώθη ὀνόματος. Ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων δ' ἐξηγούμενος Συμεὼν τῇ Ἀδριανουπόλει προσέβαλε καὶ ταύτην ἐπολιόρκει. ἤνυσε δ' ἂν οὐδέν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἔνδον ἐπιλελοίπει τὰ ἐπιτήδεια· βιαζόμενοι γὰρ τῷ λιμῷ καὶ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πολεμίοις παρέδωκαν. τότε μέντοι καὶ ὁ ἐκ Τριπόλεως Λέων μετὰ δυνάμεως ναυτικῆς κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐχώρησεν· ἀλλὰ τούτῳ περὶ τὴν νῆσον Λῆμνον τριήρεις ἐπελθοῦσαι Ῥωμαϊκαὶ τοὺς μὲν Ἀγαρηνοὺς σχεδόν τι ξύμπαντας διεφθάρκασι, τὰς δὲ νῆας αὐτῶν ὑποβρυχίους ἐποίησαν, μόλις τοῦ Τριπολίτου φυγεῖν ἐξισχύσαντος. καὶ ὁ Βούλγαρος δὲ Συμεὼν τά τε κατὰ Μακεδονίαν καὶ τἀπὶ Θρᾴκης σὺν βαρεῖ στρατεύματι ἐληίζετο καὶ παρὰ τὴν πόλιν ἐλθὼν ἀγχοῦ τῶν Βλαχερνῶν πεποίητο τὴν παρεμβολὴν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμανῷ ἐζήτησεν ἐντυχεῖν. καὶ τὴν ἔντευξιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ᾑρετίσατο καὶ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ Κοσμιδίου αἰγιαλὸν ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς σὺν 472 τῷ στόλῳ ἀφίκετο, ὁ δέ γε Συμεὼν μετὰ τῆς οἰκείας παρεγένετο στρατιᾶς, καὶ ὡμίλησαν· καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς μεγαλοπρεπῶς τῷ Συμεὼν ἐδωρήσατο. ἀσύμβατοι δὲ ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διέστησαν, ὃ καὶ δυὰς ἔδοξε δηλῶσαι ἀετῶν. φασὶ γὰρ ἄνωθεν αὐτῶν διαπτῆναι τούτους καὶ ἀλλήλοις συμμίξαι μετὰ κλαγγῆς, εἶτ' εὐθὺς διαστῆναι ἀλλήλων, τοῦ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀποπτάντος, τοῦ δ' ἐπὶ Θρᾴκην κινήσαντος τὸ πτερόν. Ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ Ῥωμανὸς ἀπληστευσάμενος ἐπὶ τῇ τῆς βασιλείας ἀρχῇ καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπιλελησμένος τῶν ὅρκων, οὓς ὠμωμόκει καθ' ἱερῶν, καὶ μὴ ἀρκούμενος ὅτι ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὸν τῶν υἱέων πρεσβύτερον ἠξίωσε διαδήματος, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς δύο τῶν παίδων αὐτοῦ βασιλικῶς τεταινίωκεν, εἶτα καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Χριστοφόρου γενόμενον αὐτῷ υἱωνόν, καὶ τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἀντὶ βασιλείας εἰς πολυαρχίαν μετήνεγκε. τῷ τελευταίῳ δὲ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ Θεοφυλάκτῳ τὸν θρόνον τὸν ἀρχιερατικὸν τῆς βασιλίδος τῶν πόλεων μνηστευόμενος ἀπέκειρε κληρικόν, διὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου προχειρισθέντα καὶ σύγκελλον. τοῦ πατριάρχου δὲ Νικολάου ἔτη τρισκαίδεκα τὸ δεύτερον τῆς ἐκκλησίας κρατήσαντος καὶ μεταθεμένου τὴν βιοτήν, ὁ μητροπολίτης 473 Ἀμασείας Στέφανος εἰς τὸν θρόνον τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως μετήνεκτο. Ὁ μέντοι τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχων ὁ Συμεών, ἀνὴρ ὢν αἱμάτων, ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν οὔποτε ὅλως προῄρητο· ὅθεν κατὰ τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν Χροβάτων ἐστράτευσεν, ἀλλ' ἥττητο ὑπ' ἐκείνων, κἀν ταῖς τῶν ὀρῶν δυσχωρίαις τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀπέβαλε στράτευμα. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ πρόσεισί τις τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμανῷ, λέγων τὴν ἄνωθεν τῆς ἐν τῷ Ξηρολόφῳ ἁψῖδος καθιδρυμένην