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feigning towards the Bulgarians, he wanted to desert to them. But having been seized and convicted, he is deprived of both his property and his eyes. 400 5 When the Bulgarians again raided as far as Katasyrtai after the death of the domestic Adralestos, Pothos, the son of Argyros, a most handsome and experienced man, was appointed domestic of the schools; and having gone out with the tagmata as far as Thermopolis, he sent Michael, the son of Moroleon, who was a topoteretes, to scout the Bulgarians. But he, unexpectedly falling upon their ambush, killed many of the Bulgarians, but being wounded himself, he entered the city and died. 6 At that time, through Theokletos, a notarius of the ministry, was revealed the plot against the emperor Romanos by Anastasios the sakellarios and archon of the goldsmiths, and Theodoritos the koitonites, and Demetrios the imperial notarius of the eidikon, and Nikolaos Koubatzes and Theodotos the protokarabos, who were supposedly zealous on behalf of the emperor Constantine; and having been convicted, they were blinded and paraded through the Mese and were sent into exile. Theodoritos, having been blinded privately in the Triconch of the palace, was also exiled. They tonsured Anastasios the sakellarios in the monastery of Elegmoi, where he also died. 7 Taking this as a pretext, Romanos demoted the emperor Constantine and made him second, while he promoted himself to the first position, because he feared plots and death from them, having fallen into perjury—alas for human 401 affairs! For he had sworn an oath not to proclaim himself emperor before him. 8 Symeon again campaigned against the Romans; and sending a multitude of Bulgarians along with Chaganos and Menikos and others, he ordered them to raid against the city as quickly as possible. So, having passed through the mountains, they came as far as the Manglava. The emperor Romanos, learning of their attack and reckoning that they might come down and burn the palaces of Pege and the Stenon, sent John the rhaiktor along with Leo and Pothos, the Argyroi, having with them a sufficient multitude from the imperial troops, the hetaireia, and the tagmatic soldiers; with whom was also Alexios, patrikios and droungarios of the fleet, the Mousele, with his men. It was the fifth week of the fast. These men drew up the army in the flat and lower places of Pege, and when the Bulgarians appeared armed from above, using an indistinct and terrible shout and charging most violently against them, John the rhaiktor immediately fled, but Photenos, the son of Platypodes, fighting for him, was slain, as were many others. So the rhaiktor, barely escaping, boarded his dromon. Alexios the droungarios, the Mousele, also came fleeing under arms, and not being strong enough to get fully up the gangway of the dromon, he fell into the sea with his protomandator and drowned. But the Argyroi, both Pothos and Leo the patrikios, fleeing into 402 the small fort, were saved. The sailors and the entire host, some, fleeing the hands of the enemy, drowned in the sea, others became fodder for the sword, and others were captured by Bulgarian hands. The Bulgarians, having no one to hinder them, burned the palaces of Pege and burned down the entire Stenon. Thus is folly and inexperience so terrible when it has rashness as an ally. 9 On the twentieth of the month of February, of the tenth indiction, Theodora, the wife of Romanos, died, and her body was laid to rest in the house of the emperor Romanos himself, which had been converted by him into a monastery. In the same month Sophia, the wife of the emperor Christopher, was crowned. At that time the kouropalates of Iberia also arrived in the city, and passing through the middle of the agora, which was splendidly adorned, he was received with much glory and honor; whom they also led into the holy wisdom of God, the

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πρὸς Βουλ- γάρους πλασάμενος πρὸς αὐτοὺς αὐτομολῆσαι ἐβούλετο. κρατη- θεὶς δὲ καὶ ἐλεγχθεὶς τῆς τε οὐσίας καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν στερεῖται. 400 5 Τῶν δὲ Βουλγάρων πάλιν ἐξελασάντων μέχρι Κατα- σύρτων μετὰ τὴν τοῦ δομεστίκου ̓Αδραλέστου τελευτήν, προε- βλήθη Πόθος ὁ τοῦ ̓Αργυροῦ, ἀνὴρ κάλλιστος καὶ ἐμπειρότατος, δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν· καὶ μέχρι Θερμοπόλεως μετὰ τῶν ταγμά- των ἐξελθὼν ἀπέστειλε Μιχαὴλ τὸν τοῦ Μωρολέοντος υἱόν, το- ποτηρητὴν οντα, τοὺς Βουλγάρους κατασκοπῆσαι. ὁ δὲ ἀπροό- πτως τῷ λόχῳ αὐτῶν ἐμπεσὼν πολλοὺς μὲν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἀνεῖ- λεν, πληγεὶς δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσελθὼν ἐτελεύτησεν. 6 ̓Εμηνύθη δὲ τότε διὰ Θεοκλήτου νοταρίου τῆς ὑπουρ- γίας ἡ κατὰ ̔Ρωμανοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιβουλὴ ̓Αναστασίου σακελλα-ρίου καὶ αρχοντος τοῦ χρυσοχέστου, καὶ Θεοδωρήτου κοιτωνίτου, καὶ ∆ημητρίου βασιλικοῦ νοταρίου τοῦ εἰδικοῦ, καὶ Νικολάου τοῦ Κουβάτζη καὶ Θεοδότου πρωτοκαράβου, οι ὑπὲρ Κωνσταν- τίνου βασιλέως δῆθεν ἐσπούδαζον· καὶ διελεγχθέντες ἐτύφθησαν καὶ ἐν τῇ μέσῃ διῆλθον καὶ ὑπερόριοι κατέστησαν. ὁ δὲ Θεοδώ- ρητος ἰδίᾳ ἐν τῷ Τρικόγχῳ τοῦ παλατίου τυφθεὶς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξω- ρίσθη. τὸν δὲ ̓Αναστάσιον σακελλάριον ἀπέκειραν ἐν τῇ μονῇ τῶν ̓Ελεγμῶν, ενθα καὶ τελευτᾷ. 7 Τῆς τοιαύτης δὲ προφάσεως λαβόμενος ̔Ρωμανὸς τὸν βασιλέα Κωνσταντῖνον ὑποβιβάζει καὶ δεύτερον καθίστησιν, ἑαυ- τὸν δὲ προάγει εἰς τουμπροσθεν, τῷ τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ τὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν θάνατον δεδοικέναι, τῇ ἐπιορκίᾳ, φεῦ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων 401 πραγμάτων! περιπεσών· προησφαλίσατο καὶ γὰρ μὴ ἑαυτὸν ἀνα- γορεῦσαι τούτου εμπροσθεν αὐτοκράτορα. 8 ̓Εκστρατεύει δὲ πάλιν Συμεὼν κατὰ ̔Ρωμαίων· καὶ πλῆθος Βουλγάρων ἀποστείλας αμα καὶ Χαγάνῳ καὶ Μηνικῷ καὶ ἑτέροις ἐκέλευσεν κατὰ τῆς πόλεως οτι τάχιστα ἐξελαύνειν. διελ- θόντες ουν διὰ τῶν ὀρῶν ηλθον μέχρι τῶν Μαγγλαβᾶ. τὴν αὐ- τῶν δὲ εφοδον μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς ̔Ρωμανός, λογισάμενος μὴ τὰ τῶν Πηγῶν παλάτια καὶ τὸ Στενὸν κατελθόντες ἐμπρήσωσιν, ̓Ιωάννην ῥαίκτωρα ἀποστέλλει αμα Λέοντι καὶ Πόθῳ τοῖς ̓Αργυ-ροῖς, εχοντας μεθ' ἑαυτῶν πλῆθος ἱκανὸν εκ τε τῶν βασιλικῶν καὶ τῆς ἑταιρείας καὶ τῶν ταγματικῶν· οις συνῆν καὶ ̓Αλέξιος πατρίκιος δρουγγάριος τῶν πλωΐμων ὁ Μουσελὲ μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. ην δὲ πέμπτη τῶν νηστειῶν ἑβδομάς. διατάξαντες ου- τοι τὸν λαὸν ἐν τοῖς πεδινοῖς καὶ χθαμαλωτέροις τόποις τῶν Πη- γῶν, τῶν Βουλγάρων ανωθεν ἀναφανέντων ἐνόπλων, βοῇ χρη- σαμένων ἀσήμῳ καὶ φοβερᾷ καὶ σφοδροτάτως παρελασάντων κατ' αὐτῶν, παρευθὺ μὲν φεύγει ̓Ιωάννης ὁ ῥαίκτωρ, σφάττεται δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀγωνιζόμενος Φωτεινὸς ὁ τοῦ Πλατυπόδη υἱὸς καὶ πολλοὶ ετεροι. μόλις ουν ὁ ῥαίκτωρ διασωθεὶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν δρόμωνα. ηλθεν δὲ φεύγων ενοπλος καὶ ̓Αλέξιος δρουγγάριος ὁ Μουσελέ, καὶ μὴ ἰσχύσας τέλεον ἀνελθεῖν ἐν τῇ τοῦ δρόμωνος ἀποβάθρᾳ, πεσὼν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ σὺν τῷ αὐτοῦ πρωτομανδάτορι ἀπεπνίγη. ̓Αργυροὶ δέ, ο τε Πόθος καὶ Λέων πατρίκιος, ἐν 402 τῷ καστελλίῳ φυγόντες διεσώθησαν. πλώϊμοι δὲ καὶ τὸ απαν πλῆθος, οἱ μὲν τὰς τῶν πολεμίων χεῖρας φεύγοντες ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἀπεπνίγησαν, οἱ δὲ σιδήρου γεγόνασι παρανάλωμα, οἱ δὲ χερσὶ Βουλγαρικαῖς συνελήφθησαν. οἱ δὲ Βούλγαροι μηδένα τὸν δια- κωλύοντα εχοντες τά τε τῶν Πηγῶν παλάτια ἐπυρπόλησαν καὶ τὸ Στενὸν απαν κατέκαυσαν. ουτως αρα δεινὸν ἀβουλία καὶ ἀπειρία θρασύτητα σύμμαχον εχουσα. 9 Εἰκάδι δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνί, ἰνδικτιῶνος δεκάτης, Θεοδώρα σύμβιος ̔Ρωμανοῦ τελευτᾷ, καὶ κατετέθη τὸ σῶμα αὐ-τῆς ἐν τῷ οικῳ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ̔Ρωμανοῦ τῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μο- ναστήριον ἀμειφθέντι. τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ μηνὶ στέφεται Σοφία ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοφόρου γυνή. τηνικαῦτα δὲ καὶ ὁ κουροπαλάτης Ιβηρ ἐν τῇ πόλει παρεγένετο, καὶ διὰ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς διελθών, κεκοσμημένης λαμπρῶς, μετὰ δόξης πολλῆς καὶ τιμῆς ὑπεδέχθη· ον καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίᾳ ἀπήγαγον, τὸ