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to entrust to him the command of the small towns, and that when he arrived there, Syrgiannes would not fail to send for him at once and urge him to join him, having defected from the emperor; 1.453 and that he, obeying eagerly, should make friendship and an alliance with him; and when they became familiar and visited one another fearlessly, then, having waited for an opportunity when Syrgiannes would not be with many others—and that he would surely find many such opportunities—he should seize and bind him in one of the forts; and guard him securely until he could hand him over to the emperor upon his arrival; he thought that guarding him would also be easy, since the army following him was not his own, but an allied force of Albanians and Triballi, who would not wish to risk themselves for Syrgiannes by besieging the fort, but would disperse to their homes, glad to be delivered from the evils of war. Such, then, were the things that it seemed to both of them ought to be attempted; and on the next day, the emperor, having summoned Sphrantzes, both related what had been planned and inquired of him if he too considered it advantageous and possible; but he said that he himself had not even thought of such things at first, but other things far inferior to them; but what they themselves had planned, he considered not only advantageous but also very easy; therefore it was necessary not to delay, but to set to work at once. Since, therefore, the plan was confirmed, the emperor, at his request, ordered a certain Dromoras, a very great friend of Sphrantzes, that when Sphrantzes should openly defect to Syrgiannes, he was to confiscate and guard all his property and cattle and other possessions, so that they might not be seized by anyone 1.454 and be lost; in word, as belonging to the emperor, but in truth rendering the favor of their protection to his friend Sphrantzes; and giving him imperial letters, which entrusted to him the command of the forts of Sostos and Deure and Staridola and Chlerenon, he sent him out from Didymoteichon with all speed; and he himself, after waiting not many days, but as many as he thought would provide Sphrantzes time for the undertaking, set out himself and went toward Thessalonica, marching slowly. And when Sphrantzes was in control of the command entrusted to him, Syrgiannes immediately sent men to incite him to defect; and he, seeming to be carried away by anger against the emperor and to be well-disposed to him for a long time, having made agreements and oaths with him, went over to him immediately. Syrgiannes was overjoyed at the defection of Sphrantzes to him, and without any delay, taking him along, he came to the Kral, on the one hand pointing out how his affairs were proceeding for the better, since even some of the emperor's senators were now deserting to him; on the other hand, so that through him he might also induce the Kral to be present himself with his whole army and act as an ally. For he feared that, when the emperor advanced, being unable to resist him himself, he might be destroyed and perish, having been defeated in war; and he persuaded him by suggesting that if they came and encamped at Thessalonica, the western cities which had not yet joined them, despairing of aid from the emperor and seeing them already acquiring by war the things before them— 1.455 they themselves, caught in the middle, would immediately come over to them. And having taken him with them with all their army, they came and encamped by the Axius river. And the emperor, leading a part of the Roman army through Macedonia (for the greater part were still in preparations because the campaign had been swift), between Thessalonica and Rentine, a certain fort, which lies by Lake Bolbe, established on a hill, he encamped in a certain place called "of the Cretans," because a troop from Crete inhabited it, having been displaced from the island for some reason. And while he was encamped there, it was announced to him by someone who had rushed to bring the message, that near the city of Sermylion, which was inhabited long ago, but now had been destroyed, it seems, by some war, between Pallene and Athos, sixty Persian ships had put in, and having disembarked, were plundering the places there. the Grand Domestic

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πολιχνίων ἐγχειρίζειν τὴν ἀρχὴν, καὶ ἐπειδὰν γένηται ἐκεῖ, Συργιάννην μὲν οὐκ ἀνέξεσθαι εὐθὺς μὴ προσπέμψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ παρακαλεῖν αὐτῷ προσθέσθαι ἀποστάντα βασιλέως· 1.453 τὸν δὲ ὑπακούσαντα προθύμως, φιλίαν θέσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ συμμαχίαν· καὶ ἐπειδὰν γένωνται ἐν συνηθείᾳ καὶ φοιτῶσι παρ' ἀλλήλους ἀδεῶς, τότ' ἤδη φυλάξαντα καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ μὴ μεθ' ἑτέρων ἂν εἴη πολλῶν ὁ Συργιάννης, πάντως δὲ τοιούτους πολλοὺς εὑρήσειν, εἰς ἓν τῶν φρουρίων κατασχόντα δῆσαι· φρουρεῖν τε ἀσφαλῶς ἄχρις ἂν ἐλθόντι ἐγχειρίσῃ βασιλεῖ· οἴεσθαι δὲ ἔσεσθαι αὐτοῦ ῥᾳδίαν καὶ τὴν φυλακὴν ἅτε τῆς ἑπομένης στρατιᾶς οὐκ οἰκείας, ἀλλ' ἐξ Ἀλβανῶν καὶ Τριβαλῶν οὔσης συμμαχίδος, οἳ οὐ βουλήσονται ὑπὲρ Συργιάννη διακινδυνεύειν, τὸ φρούριον πολιορκοῦντες, ἀλλὰ διαλυθήσονται ἐπ' οἴκου, ἄσμενοι τῶν ἐκ τῶν πολέμων κακῶν ἀπηλλαγμένοι. τοιαῦτα μὲν ἐδόκει ἀμφοτέροις ἐπιχειρητέα εἶναι· καὶ ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίαν τὸν Σφραντζὴν μεταπεμψάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς, τὰ βεβουλευμένα τε διηγεῖτο, καὶ ἐπυνθάνετο αὐτοῦ, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς λυσιτελῆ τε καὶ δυνατὰ ἡγοῖτο· ὁ δ' ἔφασκε τοιαῦτα μὲν αὐτὸς οὐδὲ ἐνθυμηθῆναι τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἀλλ' ἕτερ' ἄττα πολλῷ ἀποδέοντα αὐτῶν· ἃ δὲ ἐβουλεύσαντο αὐτοὶ οὐ λυσιτελοῦντα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ῥᾷστα καὶ αὐτὸς νομίζειν· διὸ μηδὲ μέλλειν, ἀλλ' ἔργου ἅπτεσθαι ἤδη ἀναγκαῖον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐκεκύρωτο ἡ βουλὴ, ∆ρομορᾶν μέν τινα ἐς τὰ μάλιστα φίλον τῷ Σφραντζῇ, αὐτοῦ δεηθέντος, προσέταξεν ὁ βασιλεὺς, ὡς ἐπειδὰν ἐμφανῶς ὁ Σφραντζὴς εἰς Συργιάννην ἀποστῇ, κτήματά τε ὅσα πρόσεστι καὶ βοσκήματα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην περιουσίαν δημοσιώσαντα φυλάττειν, ἵνα μὴ ὑπό τινων ἁρπασθέντα 1.454 διαφθαρῇ· λόγῳ μὲν ὡς διαφέροντα βασιλεῖ, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ τῷ φίλῳ Σφραντζῇ τὴν χάριν κατατιθέμενον τῆς φυλακῆς· αὐτῷ δὲ γράμματα παρασχόμενος βασιλικὰ, ἃ τῶν φρουρίων Σωσκοῦ τε καὶ ∆εύρης καὶ Σταριδόλων καὶ Χλερηνοῦ ἐπέτρεπε τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἐξέπεμπεν ἐκ ∆ιδυμοτείχου κατὰ τάχος· αὐτὸς δὲ περιμείνας οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας, ἀλλ' ὅσας ᾤετο Σφραντζῇ ἀνακωχὴν πρὸς τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν παρέξειν, ἄρας καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν πρὸς Θεσσαλονίκην ᾔει σχολῇ βαδίζων. Σφραντζῇ δὲ ἐπεὶ τῆς ἐγκεχειρισμένης ἀρχῆς ἐγκρατὴς ἦν, προσέπεμπεν εὐθὺς τοὺς ἀποστήσοντας ὁ Συργιάννης· ὁ δὲ ὀργῇ τε φέρεσθαι δοκῶν πρὸς βασιλέα καὶ αὐτῷ εὔνους εἶναι ἐκ πολλοῦ συνθήκας θέμενος καὶ ὅρκους πρὸς αὐτὸν, προσεχώρησεν εὐθέως. Συργιάννης δὲ ὑπερήσθη τε τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποστασίᾳ τοῦ Σφραντζῆ, καὶ μηδὲν μελλήσας, παραλαβὼν αὐτὸν, ἀφίκετο πρὸς Κράλην, ἅμα μὲν ἐνδεικνύμενος ὡς τὰ πράγματα αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον χωροίη, ὡς καὶ τῶν συγκλητικῶν ἤδη βασιλέως πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀφισταμένων· ἅμα δ' ἵν' ἐφελκύσηται καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸ παρεῖναι καὶ αὐτὸν πανστρατιᾷ καὶ συμμαχεῖν. ἐδεδίει γὰρ μὴ, βασιλέως ἐπελθόντος, ἀδύνατος ὢν ἀνθίστασθαι αὐτὸς, διαφθαρῇ καὶ ἀπόληται καταπολεμηθείς· καὶ ἔπεισέ γε ὑποτιθέμενος· ὡς ἂν ἐλθόντες αὐτοὶ στρατοπεδεύσωνται ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ, αἱ μήπω προσκεχωρηκυῖαι τῶν ἑσπερίων πόλεων ἀπογνοῦσαι τὴν ἐκ βασιλέως ἐπικουρίαν, ὁρῶσαί τε ἤδη αὐτοὺς τὰ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν πολέμῳ κτωμέ 1.455 νους, αὐτοὶ ἐναπειλημμένοι μέσοι προσχωρήσουσιν εὐθέως. καὶ παραλαβόντες αὐτὸν πανστρατιᾷ ἐλθόντες, ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο παρὰ τὸν Ἄξιον ποταμόν. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ Μακεδονίας μέρος τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπαγόμενος στρατιᾶς, οἱ πλείους γὰρ ἔτι ἐν παρασκευαῖς ἦσαν διὰ τὸ ταχεῖαν γεγενῆσθαι τὴν στρατείαν, μεταξὺ Θεσσαλονίκης καὶ Ῥεντίνης φρουρίου τινὸς, ὃ παρὰ τῇ Βόλβῃ λίμνῃ κεῖται ἐπὶ λόφου ἱδρυμένον, ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐν χωρίῳ τινὶ τῶν Κρητῶν προσαγορευομένῳ, ὅτι στρατιὰ ἐκ Κρήτης αὐτὸ κατῴκουν δι' αἰτίαν τινὰ ἐκ τῆς νήσου ἀναστάντες. ἐκεῖσε δὲ ἐστρατοπεδευμένῳ ἠγγέλλετο ὑπό τινος δρόμῳ πρὸς τὴν ἀγγελίαν ὡρμημένου, ὡς περὶ τὴν Σερμυλίων πόλιν, πάλαι μὲν ᾠκισμένην, νυνὶ δὲ ὑπό τινος ὡς ἔοικε πολέμου κατεσκαμμένην, μεταξὺ Παλλήνης καὶ Ἄθω, ἑξήκοντα προσέσχον νῆες Περσικαὶ, καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖσε χωρία πορθοῦσιν ἀποβάντες. τὸν μέγαν δὲ δομέστικον