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Alexios Philes, the megas domestikos, was formerly married to her. And indeed, when the oaths had been taken, that Mesembria and Anchialos should be included in these agreements—for the emperor had seized them, although they had belonged to him—and that it was right for the one who previously possessed them to receive them again as a dowry for the future marriage, the emperor, for his part, fulfilled the obligations of the marriage alliance very generously and royally; for the emperor himself and the patriarch went out with the bride-to-be, and arriving in Selymbria, they dressed her, who was being sent in marriage to Constantine, in imperial fashion there, and then sent her to him under a very large escort, while they themselves returned. And so the emperor fulfilled the obligations of the marriage alliance in this way; but he kept postponing the matter of the cities, in truth knowing that the Roman empire would be deprived of its strongest possessions, while to Constantine he fabricated plausible excuses, among others that he was not able to give them immediately, since the inhabitants of the cities would not accept it; for those cities were part of Romania and they themselves were Romans, and it was not reasonable for Romans to be subject to Bulgarians. However, the emperor did not refuse the gift completely, but attached to it a time, supposedly that of childbearing, so that when an heir of Roman stock appeared for him, the transfer might also have a good appearance. But these things were an outright joke and a coherent lie of one who was concealing the truth by playing for time. Nevertheless, although unwillingly, Constantine endured and made a truce, even if she who had been given to him was not so much a help to him as to the Roman empire. But when she saw that she had a child by him, Michael, she created a terrible scene and compelled her husband both to break the treaty and to go to war, demanding the cities in addition. And from this not a few terrible things happened, and many more would have happened, if the emperor had not managed to make a marriage alliance with Nogai with his illegitimate daughter Euphrosyne, and checked his impulses with the friendly reception of 445 Nogai and dissolved his plans, since the Tochars would immediately attack from behind if he himself should march against the emperor's territory.

4. Concerning Nogai and the Tochars, how things were previously, and concerning their first king and lawgiver. This Nogai was a most powerful man among the Tochars, intelligent in strategy and experienced in affairs, who, having been sent out by the rulers of the race around the Caspian, whom they call khans, with very many forces of his fellow Tochars, whom they themselves call Mongols, invaded the northern nations around the Euxine, which in the past had been subject to the Romans, but after the city was captured and affairs became difficult for the Romans, having been abandoned by their masters, they were autonomous. Therefore, appearing there, he took them over and subjugated them without a struggle. And seeing that the lands were excellent and the nations sufficient in themselves for an empire, he rebelled against those who had sent him and acquired the nations for himself. As time went on, the peoples settled around the interior—I mean the Alans, Zichoi, Goths, and Rus, and the various neighboring tribes—mingled with them, and they learn their customs and adopt their language, custom, and dress, and become their allies. And not long after, the invading people of the Tochars gives way to a superior multitude in number, and they become irresistible in their forces wherever they went, so that even some of the lords from the interior, who came against them as rebels according to the law of war, not only failed to overcome them, but were even defeated, with most of them falling. The nation is one that delights in simplicity and mutual affection, but it is wicked and sharp in war, self-sufficient in life, and indeed in matters of living both artless and improvident. For from the beginning they have had for a lawgiver not Solon or Lycurgus or Draco—for these were wise lawgivers for the wise and learned men for the intelligent among the Athenians and Lacedaemonians and certain others, but a man unknown and altogether wicked, a blacksmith at first, and then having become a 447 khan—one might say a ruler—who also, rousing the nation from the Caspian Gates, encouraged it to go forth, and always promised them victory, if they would adhere to his laws. And these were to detest luxuries, with what is at hand

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συνῴκει πρότερον ὁ Φιλῆς Ἀλέξιος καὶ μέγας δομέστικος. Καὶ δὴ τῶν ὅρκων προβάντων, ὡς συλλαμβάνεσθαι τούτοις καὶ Μεσέμβρειαν καὶ Ἀγχίαλον ἐκείνου γὰρ οὔσας κατασχεῖν βασιλέα, καὶ αὖθις ἄξιον εἶναι τὸν πρὶν ἔχοντα λαμβάνειν αὐτὰς ἐπὶ τῷ γενησομένῳ ὡς προῖκα κήδει, ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς τὰ μὲν τοῦ κήδους ἐπλήρου ὡς λίαν φιλοτίμως καὶ βασιλικῶς· συνεξῄει γὰρ τῇ νυμφευθησομένῃ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς καὶ ὁ πατριάρχης κἀν Σηλυβρίᾳ γενόμενοι, ἐκεῖσε δεσποινικῶς μετασκευασάμενοι τὴν εἰς γάμον πεμπομένην τῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ, ἐκείνην μὲν ὑπὸ πλείστῃ δορυφορίᾳ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπέλυον, αὐτοὶ δ' ὑπέστρεφον. Καὶ τὰ μὲν τοῦ κήδους οὕτως ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐξεπλήρου· τὰ δὲ περὶ τὰς πόλεις ἀνεβάλλετο, ταῖς μὲν ἀληθείαις εἰδὼς ἐντεῦθεν παραιρεθησομένην τὴν Ῥωμαΐδα τὰ κράτιστα, τῷ δὲ Κωνσταντίνῳ προφάσεις ἐπλάττετο πιθανάς, ἄλλας τε καὶ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν εὐθέως δοῦναι, μὴ τῶν ἐποίκων καταδεχομένων τῶν πόλεων· Ῥωμανίας γὰρ εἶναι μέρος ἐκείνας καὶ Ῥωμαίους αὐτούς, μὴ εἶναι δ' εὔλογον Ῥωμαίους ὑπὸ Βουλγάρους τελεῖν. Οὐ μὴν δ' εἰς τέλος ἀπέλεγε τὴν δόσιν ὁ βασιλεύς, ἀλλὰ προσανήρτα καιρόν, τὸν τῆς τεκνογονίας δῆθεν, ὡς ἂν καὶ κληρονόμου τούτῳ φανέντος ἐκ γένους Ῥωμαϊκοῦ, εὐπροσωποῖτο καὶ ἡ ἀπόδοσις. Τὰ δ' ἦσαν γέλως ἄντικρυς καὶ συνειρόμενον ψεῦδος τῷ χρόνῳ συγκρύπτοντος. Ὅμως δέ γε καὶ ἄκων ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος ὑπέμενε καὶ ἐσπένδετο, εἰ καὶ ἡ δοθεῖσά οἱ οὐ τοσοῦτον βοηθὸς ἐκείνῳ ὅσον τῇ Ῥωμαΐδι. Ἐπεὶ δ' ἐξ ἐκείνου παιδίον ἑώρα τὸν Μιχαὴλ ἑαυτῇ, δεινὰ ἐποίει καὶ τὸν σύζυγον κατηνάγκαζε τὰς σπονδάς τε διαλύειν καὶ πολεμεῖν, τὰς πόλεις προσαπαιτοῦντα. Κἀντεῦθεν καὶ δεινὰ οὐκ ὀλίγα ξυνέβαινε, καὶ ξυμβεβήκει ἂν πλεῖστα, εἰ μή γε ὁ βασιλεύς, κῆδος πρὸς τὸν Νογᾶν ἐπὶ νόθῳ τῇ Εὐφροσύνῃ φθάσας ποιῆσαι, ἀνεῖχέ τε τὰς ὁρμὰς ἐκείνου τῇ πρὸς τὸν 445 Νογᾶν δεξιώσει καὶ διέλυε τὰ βουλεύματα, ὡς αὐτίκα κατόπιν ἐπιδρα μουμένων τῶν Τοχάρων, ἢν αὐτὸς ἐπίῃ τοῖς βασιλέως.

δʹ. Τὰ περὶ τοῦ Νογᾶ καὶ Τοχάρων, ὅπως εἶχον τὸ πρίν, καὶ περὶ τοῦ πρώτου βασιλέως καὶ νομοθέτου αὐτῶν. Ὁ δὲ Νογᾶς οὗτος κράτιστος ἦν ἀνὴρ τῶν Τοχάρων, εἰς στρατηγίαν τε ξυνετὸς καὶ τρίβων τοῖς πράγμασιν, ὃς ἅμα πλείσταις δυνάμεσιν ἐξ ὁμογενῶν Τοχάρων, οὓς αὐτοὶ Μουγουλίους λέγουσιν, ἐξαποσταλεὶς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὰς Κασπίας ἀρχόντων τοῦ γένους, οὓς κάνιδας ὀνομάζουσιν, εἰσβάλλει τοῖς ἀνὰ τὸν Εὔξεινον βορείοις ἔθνεσιν, ἃ δὴ τὸ πάλαι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπήκουε, τῆς πόλεως δ' ἁλούσης καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων εἰς στενὸν καταστάντων Ῥωμαίοις, τῶν κυρίων ἀπολειφθέντα, αὐτόνομα ἦν. Ταῦτ' ἄρα καὶ ἀκονιτὶ φανεὶς προσελάμβανε καὶ κατεδουλοῦτο. Ἰδὼν δὲ χώρας ἀρετώσας καὶ ἔθνη εἰς ἀρχὴν κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτάρκη, ἀφηνιάζει μὲν τῶν πεμψάντων καὶ ἑαυτῷ τὰ ἔθνη προσκτᾶται. Ὡς δὲ χρόνου τριβομένου, ἐπιμιγνύντες σφίσιν οἱ περὶ τὴν μεσόγαιον κατῳκημένοι, Ἀλανοὶ λέγω, Ζίκχοι, Γότθοι καὶ Ῥὼς καὶ τὰ προσοικοῦντα τούτοις διάφορα γένη, ἔθη τε τὰ ἐκείνων μανθάνουσι καὶ γλῶτταν τῷ ἔθει μεταλαμβάνουσι καὶ στολήν, καὶ εἰς συμμάχους αὐτοῖς γίνονται. Καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ εἰς πλῆθος ἀριθμοῦ κρεῖττον ὁ ἐπελθὼν τῶν Τοχάρων λαὸς ἐνδίδωσι, καὶ ἀνυπόστατοι, ὅπου ἴοιεν, γίνονται ταῖς δυνάμεσιν, ὡς καί τινας τῶν ἄνω κυρίων, πολέμου νόμῳ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὡς ἀποστάντας ἰόντας, οὐχ ὅπως περιγενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφαλῆναι, τὰ πλεῖστα πεσόντας. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ ἔθνος ἁπλότητι μὲν χαῖρον καὶ φιλαλληλίᾳ, πονηρόν τε καὶ ὀξὺ πρὸς πολέμους καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὔταρκες καί γε τὰ κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀνεπι νόητόν τε καὶ ἀπρομήθευτον. Ἐχρήσαντο γὰρ ἀνέκαθεν νομοθέτῃ οὐ Σόλωνι ἢ Λυκούργῳ ἢ ∆ράκοντιοὗτοι γὰρ Ἀθηναίοις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις καί τισιν ἄλλοις οἱ νομοθέται σοφοὶ σοφοῖς καὶ συνετοῖς τὰ ἐς λόγον λόγιοι, ἀλλ' ἀνδρὶ ἀγνῶτι καὶ τὸ πᾶν πονηρῷ, χαλκεῖ μὲν τὸ πρῶτον, εἶτα δὲ καὶ εἰς 447 κάνινἄρχοντά τις εἴποικαταστάντι, ὃς καὶ ἐκ Κασπίων πυλώνων ἀνιστῶν τὸ ἔθνος ἐξελθεῖν θαρρῆσαν, καὶ σφίσιν ἀεὶ τὸ νικᾶν ὑπετίθει, εἰ τοῖς ἰδίοις νόμοις προσέχοιεν. Οἱ δ' ἦσαν τοῖς ἁβροῖς ἀπέχθεσθαι, τοῖς τυχοῦσιν