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to be. The emperor, seeing them and becoming overjoyed, made peace; and they swore to each other, that neither the Bulgars should go out against Romania, nor the emperor should attempt to enter Bulgaria. And they made written agreements to this effect with each other. And the emperor, having returned, entered the city, having dispatched the taxatoi from all the themes and to the castles which he had built. And in the month of October of the 11th indiction, the emperor received a message from Bulgaria from his secret friends, that the lord of Bulgaria was sending 12,000 men and boilades to take captive the Berzitia and transfer them to Bulgaria. But he, so that it might not be known that he was moving against the Bulgars—for envoys of the lord of Bulgaria had come to him, and while they were still in the city he made a pretense of moving against the Arabs; and both the standards and the baggage train crossed over. And having dismissed the envoys and learned through spies of their departure, he raised his army in haste and set out. And having gathered the taxatoi of the themes and the Thrakesians and having united the Optimates with the tagmata, he made them 80,000. And having gone to a place called Lithosoria, he fell upon them without the sound of a trumpet and, routing them, he won a great victory. And with much booty and many captives he returned in triumph to the city, and, having achieved his purpose, he named this war noble, as no one had stood against him, nor had there been a slaughter or shedding of Christian blood. 34. 20. 5. 9. In this year 280 heads arrived from Africa and were paraded in Syria. But the emperor, having broken the peace with the Bulgars, again equipped a large fleet. And having embarked on it a cavalry force of 12,000, he dispatched all the commanders of the naval448 forces with it. But he himself, being afraid, remained with the cavalry force. But when they had reached Mesembria, and a strong north wind blew, nearly all were wrecked, and many perished; and he returned having accomplished nothing. But Telerig, the lord of Bulgaria, knowing that the emperor was learning his plans from his own people, wrote to him, saying, "I am planning to flee and come to you. But send me a pledge of my safety, and which friends you have here, so that I may trust them, and they may assist me." And he, out of foolishness, wrote to him, and that one, having learned, had them all executed. When Constantine heard this, he repeatedly tore at his gray hair. 35. 21. 2. 10. In this year, in the month of August of the 13th indiction, the emperor Constantine went out against the Bulgars. And being terribly afflicted on his legs by a divinely sent plague of carbuncles, and thereupon seized by a most violent fever, unknown to physicians because of its excessive burning, he returned by way of Arcadiopolis, carried on a pallet on the shoulders of his subjects. And coming to Selymbria and embarking, on the 14th of the month of September of the 14th indiction, having reached the Strongylon fortress, he died wretchedly in his chelandion, crying out and saying, "While still alive I have been delivered to unquenchable fire," he, her implacable enemy, begging that the holy Virgin and Theotokos be hymned. He reigned as sole emperor after the death of his father for 34 years, 2 months, and 20 days. And thus he ended his life, defiled by the copious blood of Christians and by invocations of and sacrifices to demons, by persecutions of the holy churches and of the orthodox and blameless faith, and furthermore by the slaughter of monks and the secularization of monasteries, and excelling in all sorts of evils no less than Diocletian and the tyrants of old. And in the same month Abdellas, the ruler of the Arabs, also died. These two most terrible beasts, having for a long time and at the same time devoured the human race, died by God's providence, and 449 Leo and Mahdi, their sons, rule. In the same year also the king of the Lombards, Theodotus, having come to the queen of cities, took refuge with the emperor.

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γενέσθαι. οὓς ἰδὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ περιχαρὴς γενόμενος ἐποίησεν εἰρήνην· καὶ ὤμοσαν ἀλλήλοις, μήτε Βουλγάρους ἐξελθεῖν κατὰ Ῥωμανίας, μήτε τὸν βασιλέα ἐπιτηδεῦσαι εἰσελθεῖν εἰς Βουλγαρίαν. καὶ ἐποίησαν ἔγγραφα ἐπὶ τούτῳ πρὸς ἀλλήλους. καὶ ὑποστρέψας ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰσῆλθεν ἐν τῇ πόλει ταξάτους ἀφεὶς ἐκ πάντων τῶν θεμάτων καὶ εἰς τὰ κάστρα ἅπερ ἔκτισεν. τῷ δὲ Ὀκτωβρίῳ μηνὶ τῆς ιαʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος ἐδέξατο μανδάτον ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπὸ Βουλγαρίας ἐκ τῶν κρυπτῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἀποστέλλει ὁ κῦρις Βουλγαρίας ιβʹ χιλιάδας λαὸν καὶ βοϊλάδας πρὸς τὸ αἰχμαλωτίσαι τὴν Βερζιτίαν καὶ μεταστῆσαι αὐτοὺς εἰς Βουλγαρίαν. ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὸ μὴ γνωσθῆναι αὐτόν, ὅτι κατὰ Βουλγάρων κινεῖ· ἦσαν γὰρ ἐλθόντες πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποκρισιάριοι τοῦ κυροῦ Βουλγαρίας, καὶ ἔτι τούτων ὄντων ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐσχηματίσατο κατὰ Ἀράβων κινεῖν· καὶ ἐπέρασαν τά τε φλάμουλα καὶ ἡ ὑπηρεσία. ἀπολύσας δὲ τοὺς ἀποκρισιαρίους καὶ μαθὼν διὰ κατασκόπων τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτῶν, ἐπάρας τὸν στρατὸν ἐν σπουδῇ ἀπεκίνησεν. καὶ ἐπισωρεύσας τοὺς ταξάτους τῶν θεμάτων καὶ τοὺς Θρᾳκησιάνους καὶ ἑνώσας τοῖς τάγμασι τοὺς ὀπτιμάτους ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς πʹ χιλιάδας. καὶ ἀπελθὼν ἐν τόπῳ λεγομένῳ τὰ Λιθοσώρια ἐπέπεσεν αὐτοῖς ἀπερισαλπίγκτως καὶ τρέψας αὐτοὺς ἐποίησε νῖκος μέγα. καὶ μετὰ πολλῶν λαφύρων καὶ αἰχμαλώτων ὑπέστρεψε θριαμβεύσας ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ ἔμπρακτος εἰσελθὼν τὸν πόλεμον τοῦτον ἐπωνόμασεν εὐγενῆ, ὡς μηδενὸς αὐτῷ ἀντιστάντος, μηδὲ σφαγῆς ἢ ἐκχύσεως Χριστιανῶν αἱμάτων γενομένης. λδʹ. κʹ. εʹ. θʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει εἰσῆλθον κεφαλαὶ σπʹ ἀπὸ Ἀφρικῆς καὶ ἐπόμπευσαν ἐν Συρίᾳ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὡς λύσας τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Βουλγάρους εἰρήνην ἐξώπλισε πάλιν στόλον πολύν. καὶ εἰσαγαγὼν εἰς αὐτὸν καβαλλαρικὸν χιλιάδας ιβʹ ἀπέλυσε τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν πλωϊ448 μάτων πάντας σὺν αὐτῷ. αὐτὸς δὲ φοβηθεὶς ἔμεινεν εἰς τὸ καβαλλαρικόν. εἰσελθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἕως τῆς Μεσημβρίας, καὶ ἀνέμου σφοδροῦ βορρᾶ πνεύσαντος, πάντα μικροῦ δεῖν συνετρίβησαν, καὶ πολλοὶ ἀπώλοντο· καὶ ὑπέστρεψε μηδὲν ποιήσας. ὁ δὲ Τελέριγος, ὁ κῦρις Βουλγαρίας, γνοὺς ὅτι ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων αὐτοῦ τὰς βουλὰς αὐτοῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς μανθάνει, γράφει αὐτῷ, ὅτι "βουλῆς εἰμι τοῦ ἐκφυγεῖν καὶ ἐλθεῖν πρός σε. ἀλλὰ πέμψον μοι λόγον ἀπαθείας μου, καὶ τίνας φίλους ἔχεις ἐνταῦθα, ἵνα θαρρήσω αὐτοῖς, καὶ συνδράμωσί μοι." ὁ δὲ κουφότητι ἔγραψεν αὐτῷ, κἀκεῖνος μαθὼν ἐκούρασε πάντας. ὅπερ ἀκούσας Κωνσταντῖνος πολλὰ τὰς πολιὰς αὐτοῦ ἔτιλλεν. λεʹ. καʹ. ʹ. ιʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει τῆς ιγʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος μηνὶ Αὐγούστῳ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος κατὰ Βουλγάρων. καὶ δεινῶς κατὰ τῶν σκελῶν θεηλάτῳ πληγῇ ἀνθρακωθεὶς κἀντεῦθεν πυρετῷ σφοδροτάτῳ καὶ ἰατροῖς ἀγνώστῳ δι' ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἔκκαυσιν συσχεθεὶς κατὰ τὴν Ἀρκαδιούπολιν ὑπέστρεψεν, ἐπ' ὤμων ἐν κραββάτῳ φερόμενος κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων. καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐν Σηλυμβρίᾳ καὶ ἐμπλωίσας τῇ ιδʹ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς τῆς ιδʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος φθάσας ἐν τῷ Στρογγύλῳ καστελλίῳ οἰκτρῶς ἐν τῷ χελανδίῳ θνήσκει βοῶν καὶ λέγων, ὅτι "ζῶν ἔτι πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ παρεδόθην," τήν τε ἁγίαν παρθένον καὶ θεοτόκον ὑμνεῖσθαι ἐξαιτῶν ὁ ἄσπονδος αὐτῆς ἐχθρός. ἐβασίλευσε δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ τελευτὴν ἔτη λδʹ, μῆνας βʹ, ἡμέρας κʹ. καὶ οὕτω κατέλυσε τὸν βίον αἵμασι πολλοῖς Χριστιανῶν μεμολυσμένος καὶ δαιμόνων ἐπικλήσεσι καὶ θυσίαις διωγμοῖς τε τῶν ἁγίων ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῆς ὀρθῆς τε καὶ ἀμωμήτου πίστεως ἔτι τε μοναχῶν ἀναιρέσεσι καὶ κοινώσεσι μοναστηρίων καὶ παντοίοις ὑπερακμάσας κακοῖς οὐχ ἧττον ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ καὶ τῶν πάλαι τυράννων. ἐν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ μηνὶ θνήσκει καὶ Ἀβδελᾶς, ὁ τῶν Ἀράβων ἀρχηγός. οὗτοι οἱ δύο δεινότατοι θῆρες χρονίως καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὸ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον φῦλον κατανεμόμενοι τεθνήκασι θεοῦ προνοίᾳ, καὶ 449 κρατοῦσι Λέων καὶ Μαδί, οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτῶν. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει καὶ ὁ τῶν Λογγιβάρδων ῥὴξ Θεόδοτος ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι ἐληλυθὼς πόλει τῷ βασιλεῖ προσέφυγεν.