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but three days after the first engagements, thinking he was succeeding, he did not ascribe the victory to God who gives success, but proclaimed the good fortune and good counsel of Staurakios alone and threatened the rulers who were preventing his entry. He ordered irrational animals and infants and every age to be mercilessly slain, and left the dead bodies of his countrymen unburied, caring only for the collection of the spoils, and putting locks and seals on Krum's treasuries, he secured them as his own from then on. He even cut off the ears and other limbs of Christians who had touched the spoils and burned the so-called court of Krum, while the latter was greatly humbled and declared that: "Behold, you have conquered. Take, then, whatever is pleasing to you, and depart in peace." But the enemy of peace did not accept it; at which that one, angered, sent men and secured the entrances and exits of the country, which had been fenced around with wooden fortifications. And Nikephoros, knowing this, immediately, as if thunderstruck, did not know what to do, wandering about. And he said to his companions about their destruction that: "Even if we become winged, let no one hope to escape destruction." And these were 491 for two days, Thursday and Friday, the contrivances. And on Saturday night, disturbances and the battle arrays of armed mobs heard around Nikephoros and those with him unnerved everyone, and before daybreak, the barbarians attacked the tent of Nikephoros and the magnates with him and miserably slew him, among whom was also Aetios the patrikios, and Peter the patrikios, and Sisinnios Triphyllios the patrikios, and Theodosios Salibaras the patrikios, who had caused much grief and shown evil to the blessed Irene, and the patrikios eparch, and Romanos, patrikios and strategos of the Anatolics, and many other protospatharioi and spatharioi, and the commanders of the tagmata, both the domestikos of the excubitors, and the droungarios of the imperial vigla, and the strategos of Thrace, and many commanders of the themes with countless soldiers, and the whole flower of the Christians was destroyed; and all the weapons were lost, and the imperial baggage. May Christians never again see the unlovely events of such a day, as they were beyond all lamentation. And these things happened on the 20th of the month of July, in the 4th indiction. And Krum, having cut off Nikephoros' head, hung it on a stake for several days, for a display to the nations coming to him and for our shame. And after this, taking it and stripping the bone bare and cladding it on the outside with silver, he boastfully made the chieftains of the Sklavinoi drink from it. And since many became widows and orphans in a single day, and the lamentation was uncontrollable, his slaughter became a consolation for many. But no one of those who were saved has described accurately the manner of his slaughter; for some say that Christians also wounded him after he had fallen. And his effeminate male servants, with whom he also used to lie, perished with him, some by the fire of the ditch, others by the sword. At no time did Christians have the misfortune of a more burdensome rule than his. For he surpassed all the emperors before him in avarice and intemperance and barbaric cruelty, concerning which to go into detail is both hard for 492 posterity to believe and laborious for us, except, according to the proverb, the cloth is evident from the fringe. And Staurakios, his son, was also wounded, mortally on the right side of his spine, and he barely came out of the battle alive and reached Adrianople, being terribly tormented by the wound. But Stephen, patrikios and domestikos of the scholai, with Theoktistos the magistros also present, proclaimed Staurakios emperor, and spoke to the surviving people against his own father, and they were greatly pleased. But Michael the kouropalates, having been saved unharmed, was much entreated by his friends to be proclaimed emperor, and he did not accept on account of his oaths to Nikephoros and

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δὲ τρισὶν ἡμέραις μετὰ τὰς πρώτας συμβολὰς δόξας κατευοδοῦσθαι οὐ τῷ κατευοδοῦντι θεῷ τὰ τῆς νίκης ἐπέγραφεν, ἀλλὰ Σταυρακίου μόνου τὴν εὐτυχίαν καὶ εὐβουλίαν ἐκήρυττε καὶ τοῖς κωλύουσι τὴν εἴσοδον ἄρχουσιν ἠπείλει. ἄλογα δὲ ζῶα καὶ βρέφη καὶ πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν ἀνηλεῶς φονεύεσθαι προσέταξε καὶ τὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων νεκρὰ σώματα ἄταφα εἴασε μόνης ἐπιμελούμενος τῆς τῶν σκύλων συλλογῆς, κλεῖθρα δὲ καὶ σφραγῖδας τοῖς ταμείοις Κρούμμου ἐπιθεὶς ὡς ἴδια λοιπὸν ἠσφαλίσατο. ὦτα γοῦν καὶ ἕτερα μέλη Χριστιανῶν ἁψαμένων τῶν σκύλων ἀπέτεμε καὶ τὴν λεγομένην αὐλὴν τοῦ Κρούμμου ἐνέπρησεν, ἐκείνου σφόδρα ταπεινουμένου καὶ δηλοῦντος, ὅτι "ἰδού, νενίκηκας. λάβε οὖν, εἴ τί σοι ἀρεστόν ἐστιν, καὶ ἔξελθε ἐν εἰρήνῃ." ὁ δὲ τῆς εἰρήνης ἐχθρὸς ταύτην οὐ προσήκατο· ἐφ' οἷς [καὶ] χαλεπήνας ἐκεῖνος τὰς τῆς χώρας εἰσόδους καὶ ἐξόδους· περιπεφραγμένας ξυλίνοις ὀχυρώμασι πέμψας κατησφαλίσατο. Νικηφόρος δὲ τοῦτο γνούς, εὐθέως ὡς ἐμβρόντητος, ὅ τι πράξοι, ἠγνόει περιάγων. καὶ τοῖς συνοῦσι τὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας ἔλεγεν, ὅτι "κἂν πτερωτοὶ γενώμεθα, μηδεὶς ἐλπίσοι διαφυγεῖν τὸν ὄλεθρον." ταῦτα δὲ ἦν 491 ἐφ' ἡμέρας δύο, πέμπτην καὶ παρασκευήν, τὰ μηχανήματα. καὶ τῇ νυκτὶ τοῦ σαββάτου τάραχοι καὶ ὄχλων ἐνόπλων περὶ Νικηφόρον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἀκουόμεναι παρατάξεις πάντας ἐξενεύρωσαν, πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπελθόντες οἱ βάρβαροι κατὰ τῆς Νικηφόρου σκηνῆς καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ μεγιστάνων ἀναιροῦσι τοῦτον οἰκτρῶς, ἐν οἷς ἦν καὶ Ἀέτιος πατρίκιος, καὶ Πέτρος πατρίκιος, καὶ Σισίννιος πατρίκιος ὁ Τριφύλλης, καὶ Θεοδόσιος πατρίκιος ὁ Σαλιβαρᾶς, ὁ πολλὰ λυπήσας καὶ κακὰ ἐνδειξάμενος τῇ μακαρίᾳ Εἰρήνῃ, καὶ ὁ ἔπαρχος πατρίκιος, καὶ Ῥωμανός, πατρίκιος καὶ στρατηγὸς τῶν ἀνατολικῶν, καὶ ἕτεροι πολλοὶ πρωτοσπαθάριοι καὶ σπαθάριοι, καὶ τῶν ταγμάτων οἱ ἄρχοντες, ὅ τε τοῦ ἐκσκουβίτου δομέστικος, καὶ ὁ δρουγγάριος τῆς βασιλικῆς βίγλας, καὶ ὁ τῆς Θρᾴκης στρατηγός, καὶ πολλοὶ ἄρχοντες τῶν θεμάτων σὺν ἀπείροις λαοῖς, πᾶσά τε ἡ τῶν Χριστιανῶν καλλονὴ διεφθάρη· τά τε ὅπλα πάντα ἀπώλοντο, καὶ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας σκεύη. τὰ δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης ἡμέρας ἀκαλλῆ ῥήματα μὴ γένοιτο Χριστιανοὺς ἰδεῖν ἔτι, ὡς παντὸς θρήνου ἐπέκεινα. γέγονε δὲ ταῦτα τῇ κʹ τοῦ Ἰουλίου μηνός, ἰνδικτιῶνος δʹ. τὴν δὲ Νικηφόρου κεφαλὴν ἐκκόψας ὁ Κροῦμμος ἐκρέμασεν ἐπὶ ξύλου ἡμέρας ἱκανάς, εἰς ἐπίδειξιν τῶν ἐρχομένων εἰς αὐτὸν ἐθνῶν καὶ αἰσχύνην ἡμῶν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λαβὼν ταύτην καὶ γυμνώσας τὸ ὀστοῦν ἄργυρόν τε ἐνδύσας ἔξωθεν πίνειν εἰς αὐτὴν τοὺς τῶν Σκλαυινῶν ἄρχοντας ἐποίησεν ἐγκαυχώμενος. πολλῶν δὲ χηρῶν καὶ ὀρφανῶν ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ γενομένων, καὶ θρήνου ἀκατασχέτου ὄντος, ἡ τούτου σφαγὴ πολλῶν παραμυθία γέγονεν. τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς τούτου σφαγῆς οὐδεὶς τῶν περισωθέντων ἀκριβῶς διηγήσατο· φασὶ γάρ τινες, ὅτι καὶ Χριστιανοὶ πεσόντα τοῦτον ἐπέτρωσαν. οἱ δὲ γυναικώδεις τῶν ἀνδρῶν οἰκέται αὐτοῦ, οἷς καὶ συνευνάζετο, οἱ μὲν τῷ τῆς σούδας πυρί, οἱ δὲ τοῖς ξίφεσιν ὤλοντο σὺν αὐτῷ. τούτου τῆς ἀρχῆς Χριστιανοὶ βαρυτέραν οὐδενὶ χρόνῳ ἠτύχησαν. πάντας γὰρ ἐν πλεονεξίαις καὶ ἀκολασίαις καὶ βαρβαρικαῖς ὠμότησιν ὑπερηκόντισε τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ βασιλεύσαντας, περὶ ὧν κατὰ μέρος διεξιέναι καὶ τοῖς 492 μετέπειτα δύσπιστον καὶ ἡμῖν ἐργῶδες, πλὴν ἐκ τοῦ κρασπέδου τὸ ὕφασμα πρόδηλον, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν. τιτρώσκεται δὲ καὶ Σταυράκιος, παῖς αὐτοῦ, καιρίως κατὰ τοῦ σπονδύλου τὸ δεξιὸν μέρος, καὶ μόλις τῆς μάχης ἐξῆλθε ζῶν καὶ κατέλαβε τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν δεινῶς ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς κολαφιζόμενος. Στέφανος δέ, πατρίκιος καὶ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, συμπαρόντος καὶ Θεοκτίστου μαγίστρου, ἀνηγόρευσε Σταυράκιον αὐτοκράτορα, καὶ διελέχθη τῷ περισωθέντι λαῷ κατὰ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρός, καὶ σφόδρα ἡδύνθησαν. Μιχαὴλ δὲ κουροπαλάτης ἀβλαβὴς περισωθεὶς πολλὰ παρεκλήθη ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων ἀναγορευθῆναι βασιλεύς, καὶ οὐ κατεδέξατο διὰ τοὺς πρὸς Νικηφόρον ὅρκους καὶ