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Having taken these, he returned. But these things were so. And when the patriarch Nicholas Chrysoberges, having distinguished himself in the high priesthood for twelve years and eight months, then departed this life, the magister Sisinnius, a man versed in letters, was appointed patriarch. And when he too had guided the church for three years and died, Sergius was ordained patriarch, who was head of the monastery of Manuel, and happened to be related by birth to the patriarch Photius. And when Samuel, the exarch of the Bulgarians, was plundering not only the lands of Thrace or Macedonia, but also Hellas and even the Peloponnese itself, the emperor sends out the magister Nicephorus Uranus, commander of the west, who, when Samuel was encamped559 by the river Spercheius, pitched his own camp on the opposite bank. Since it then rained a great deal and the river was thus uncrossable, the attack of the Romans seemed hopeless to Samuel. But Uranus, having searched during the night and having observed that the river was fordable at a certain place, crosses it quietly with his army and falls upon the unsuspecting troops around Samuel. And astounded by the unexpected attack, the barbarians fell without even raising their hands, and wounds were inflicted on both Samuel and his son Romanus, and they would have been captured, had they not mingled with the dead bodies, and thus escaping notice, they fled. Then the emperor also campaigned against the Bulgarians and, having destroyed some of the fortresses in Sardica, he returned to Mosynopolis. And he took both Great Persthlava and Little Persthlava and Pliskova through his generals. And Beroea was surrendered to him by Dobromir, who had gone over to the Romans. Servia, however, was taken by siege, and Nicholas, who had been entrusted with its defense, whom they called Nikolitza as he was 560 short in stature; who, although honored as a patrician, ran away again and went over to Samuel. Then again the emperor campaigned against Vidin and takes the city. And while the emperor was besieging it, Samuel suddenly attacked Adrianople and, as a festival was being held outside, he made the merchandise booty and, taking a multitude of captives, he returned. And the emperor, having brought Vidin under his control and returning, found Samuel encamped by the Axius river; it was so named Vardarius among the ancients. And as the river was flowing high, the barbarians were encamped carelessly; for they did not expect that the Roman regiment could ever cross the river. But when a ford was made known, through it the emperor crossed and the army, and many of the Bulgarians were destroyed, but Samuel escaped, his tent and the entire camp having been plundered. And the emperor had received the city of Skopje, given to him by Romanus, the son of Peter the ruler of the Bulgarians, to whom its defense had been entrusted by Samuel. 561 Then, having returned to the city of Constantine, he decreed that the tax payments of the ruined poor should be collected from the powerful; and this was called the allelengyon. And though many pleaded about this, including the patriarch Sergius himself, that this unjust and irrational collection should cease, the emperor was unpersuaded. For with time and with his victories over all, he showed himself contemptuous towards everyone and wished his subjects not to be well-disposed towards him, but to fear him, and he wished to conduct both military and civil affairs not according to the prevailing custom, which is decreed by lawgivers to be considered law, but according to his own judgment and his own will. Therefore he did not pay attention to learned men, but considered learning a superfluous and not a useful thing; whence, having chosen for himself men distinguished neither by birth nor certainly by learning, he entrusted to them the imperial letters and shared his counsels, and he himself dictated his writings to them artlessly, as it chanced. but also having blocked the outflows to the treasuries

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τούτων λαβὼν ἐπανέζευξεν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἶχον οὕτως. Τοῦ δὲ πατριάρχου Νικολάου τοῦ Χρυσοβέργη ἐπ' ἔτεσι δυοκαίδεκα καὶ μησὶν ὀκτὼ τῇ ἀρχιερωσύνῃ ἐνδιαπρέψαντος, εἶτα τὸν βίον ἐκλελοιπότος, ὁ μάγιστρος Σισίννιος, ἀνὴρ λόγοις ἐντεθραμμένος, προχειρίζεται πατριάρχης. καὶ τούτου δὲ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἐνιαυτοὺς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύναντος καὶ θανόντος, Σέργιος κεχειροτόνητο πατριάρχης, ὃς καθηγεῖτο μὲν τῆς τοῦ Μανουὴλ μονῆς, τῷ πατριάρχῃ δὲ Φωτίῳ κατὰ γένος προσήκων ἐτύγχανε. Τοῦ Σαμουὴλ δὲ τοῦ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἐξάρχοντος οὐ τὰ Θρᾳκῶν οὐδὲ τὰ κατὰ Μακεδονίαν μόνα ληιζομένου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ αὐτὴν δέ γε τὴν Πελοπόννησον, τὸν μάγιστρον Νικηφόρον τὸν Οὐρανὸν ἐκπέμπει ὁ βασιλεύς, τῆς δύσεως ἄρχοντα, ὃς παρὰ τῷ Σπερχειῷ ποταμῷ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ κατεσκηνω559 μένου παρὰ τῇ ἀντικρὺς ἠπείρῳ ηὐλίσατο. ὅτι δ' ὗσε τότε πολλὰ καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ἐντεῦθεν ἄπλωτος ἦν, ἀνέλπιστος ἐδόκει τῷ Σαμουὴλ ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπέλευσις. ὁ Οὐρανὸς δὲ νυκτὸς ἀνερευνήσας καὶ κατά τινα τόπον βατὸν κατανοήσας τὸν ποταμόν, διαβαίνει τοῦτον ἡσύχως μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς καὶ ἀφροντιστοῦσιν ἐμβάλλει τοῖς περὶ τὸν Σαμουήλ. καὶ τῷ ἀδοκήτῳ καταπλαγέντες οἱ βάρβαροι ἔπιπτον μηδὲ χεῖρας ἀνταίροντες, καὶ τῷ Σαμουὴλ δὲ καὶ τῷ ἐκείνου υἱῷ Ῥωμανῷ πληγαὶ ἐπηνέχθησαν, καὶ ἑάλωσαν ἄν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς νεκροῖς συνανεμίχθησαν σώμασι, καὶ οὕτω λαθόντες διέφυγον. Εἶτα καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξεστράτευσε κατὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων καὶ τῶν ἐν Σαρδικῇ φρουρίων καταστρεψάμενος ἔνια ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μοσυνούπολιν. εἷλε δὲ καὶ τὴν μεγάλην Περσθλάβαν καὶ τὴν μικρὰν καὶ τὴν Πλίσκοβαν διὰ στρατηγῶν. καὶ ἡ Βέρροια δὲ παρεδόθη αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ ∆οβρομηροῦ, προσχωρήσαντος τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις. τὰ μέντοι Σέρβια πολιορκίᾳ ἑάλω καὶ ὁ τὴν αὐτῶν φυλακὴν ἐμπεπιστευμένος Νικόλαος, ὃν Νικολιτζᾶν ὡς 560 βραχὺν τὴν ἡλικίαν ὠνόμαζον· ὃς καίτοι πατρίκιος τιμηθεὶς ἀπέδρα πάλιν καὶ πρὸς τὸν Σαμουὴλ ἀπελήλυθεν. εἶτ' αὖθις κατὰ Βιδίνης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξεστράτευσε καὶ τὴν πόλιν αἱρεῖ. ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ ταύτην ἐπολιόρκει ὁ βασιλεύς, ἔπεισιν ὁ Σαμουὴλ τῇ Ἀδριανουπόλει ἀθρόον καὶ πανηγύρεως ἐκτὸς τελουμένης τάς τε ἐμπορίας λείαν πεποίητο καὶ αἰχμαλώτων πλῆθος λαβὼν ὑπενόστησε. τὴν Βιδίνην δὲ ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ποιησάμενος καὶ ἐπανερχόμενος κατέλαβε παρὰ τῷ Ἀξιῷ ποταμῷ τὸν Σαμουὴλ αὐλιζόμενον· ὁ Βαρδάριος οὕτως παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς ὠνομάζετο. πολλοῦ δὲ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ῥέοντος ἀμελῶς οἱ βάρβαροι κατεσκήνωντο· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε δυνηθῆναι διαβῆναι τὸν ποταμὸν ἤλπιζον τὸ Ῥωμαϊκὸν σύνταγμα. πόρου δὲ γνωσθέντος δι' αὐτοῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς διέβη καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ πολλοὶ μὲν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀπώλοντο, ὁ δὲ Σαμουὴλ διέδρα, τῆς τούτου σκηνῆς καὶ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἁπάσης διαρπαγείσης. καὶ τὴν πόλιν δὲ τῶν Σκοπίων ὁ βασιλεὺς παρειλήφει, δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ παρὰ Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ Πέτρου τοῦ ἄρξαντος τῶν Βουλγάρων, ᾧ ἡ ταύτης φυλακὴ παρὰ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ἐμπεπίστευτο. 561 Εἶτα εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου ἐπανελθὼν ἐδογμάτισε τὰς τῶν ἀπολωλότων ταπεινῶν συντελείας εἰσπράττεσθαι ἐκ τῶν δυνατῶν· τοῦτο δ' ἐκλήθη ἀλληλέγγυον. πολλῶν δὲ περὶ τούτου δεηθέντων καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πατριάρχου Σεργίου, ὡς ἂν ἡ ἄδικος αὕτη σχολάσῃ καὶ παράλογος εἴσπραξις, ἦν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀμετάπειστος. τῷ χρόνῳ γὰρ καὶ ταῖς νίκαις ἁπάντων κατεπαρθεὶς ὑπεροπτικὸς πρὸς πάντας ἐδείκνυτο καὶ οὐκ εὐνοεῖν αὐτῷ, φοβεῖσθαι δ' ἐβούλετο τὸ ὑπήκοον, καὶ τό τε στρατιωτικὸν τό τε πολιτικὸν οὐ πρὸς τὸ κρατῆσαν ἔθος, ὃ καὶ νόμον δοκεῖν τοῖς νομοθέταις τεθέσπισται, διεξάγειν ἤθελεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν κρίσιν καὶ τὸ θέλημα ἑαυτοῦ. διὸ οὐδὲ τῶν λογίων ἀνδρῶν ἐπεστρέφετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς λόγους ἥγητο περιττόν τι χρῆμα καὶ οὐκ ὀνήσιμον· ὅθεν ἄνδρας ἀπολεξάμενος ἑαυτῷ οὔτε τῷ γένει οὔτε μέντοι ἐν λόγῳ τὸ ἐπίσημον ἔχοντας ἐκείνοις τάς τε βασιλείους ἐπιστολὰς ἐνεχείρισε καὶ ἐκοινώνει τῶν βουλευμάτων, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκείνοις ἀφελῶς τὰς γραφὰς ὡς ἔτυχεν ὑπηγόρευεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ταμείοις ἀποφράξας τὰς διεξόδους