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a trading post of the Boaitios, having gone there to renovate the monastery of Christopher his protovestiarios. And the messengers added that he was making his way against the queen of cities herself. Therefore the emperor sends Eustathios, who was then drungarius of the fleet, with the fleet, who, being unable to oppose the Tripolite, returned empty-handed. Following him, the Tripolite entered the straits of the Hellespont and reached as far as Parion. When this was announced to the emperor, it cast him into great despondency and confusion. He therefore entrusted the naval force to Himerios the protoasekretis and sent him against the Tripolite, who, having passed Abydos and the Aegean Sea, anchored at Strobilos, then sailed towards Imbros. And crossing over to Samothrace, he found the enemy lying in wait at Thasos. However, seeing that they were superior in number and zeal, he did not even dare to approach them. But the Tripolite, having sailed back, and having come to Thessalonica, besieged it, Leo the strategos, whose surname was Chatzilakios, also having been captured in it. There was great bloodshed and taking of captives. A certain Rodophyllos, a koubikoularios, who had been sent to Sicily on some business with one hundred litrai of gold, fell ill and entered Thessalonica to 2.263 receive care. The Tripolite seized him and, after torturing him greatly for the gold, killed him when he insisted he had nothing; for he happened to have left it on the road, which Symeon the asekretis picked up as he was passing by. And when the Tripolite wanted to destroy the city, Symeon indicated that he should take the gold and refrain from the destruction. Which also happened, and taking the gold the Tripolite withdrew. And the emperor, approving of Symeon for this deed, honored him as patrician and protoasekretis. And when the nauarchos Himerios learned of the Saracens' withdrawal, he set out in pursuit of them. But they put in at Crete, and after giving a share of the spoils to the Cretans, they returned home unharmed, leaving Himerios at Lemnos with nothing accomplished.

The emperor sends two most noble strategoi to the east, both Eustathios descended from the family of the Argyroi and Andronikos of the Doukas family, who set up many trophies against the Hagarenes. But Samonas, who had revealed the plot to the emperor, being especially honored by the emperor, on the pretext of going out to his monastery, took to flight with money and horses, hamstringing the public horses at each station. Therefore the emperor sends Basil the hetaireiarchos, Kamateros, and George Krenites to pursue him. And as 2.264 Samonas was already crossing the Halys, Nikephoros the drungarios, Kaminas, overtook him, and seized him as he was pleading profusely and promising to give gifts. But when he did not persuade him, he took refuge at the cross in Siracha, pretending to have come for the sake of a vow. Therefore Constantine, the son of Andronikos Doukas, came and, taking him, returned to the city. When they entered Constantinople, the emperor ordered that he be guarded in the house of Caesar Bardas, but to Constantine Doukas, since he had been informed that Samonas was in truth fleeing to Melitene, he instructed him not to say this before the senate, but that he was going to Siracha for the sake of a vow; for he wished him to receive a pardon. In the morning, having summoned the senate and brought Constantine into their midst, he asked under oath, saying thus: "By God and by my head, was Samonas fleeing to Syria or not?" But he, fearing the oaths (for he had first been instructed to conceal the truth without an oath), confessed before everyone that he was going to his own homeland, Melitene. The emperor dismissed Constantine with anger, but Samonas in the [house] of the Caesar

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ἐμπόριον τοῦ Βοαιτίου, ἐκεῖσε γενόμενον ἐπὶ τῷ ἀνακαινίσαι τὴν μονὴν Χριστοφόρου πρωτοβεστιαρίου αὐτοῦ. προσετίθεσαν δ' οἱ ἀγγελιαφόροι ὡς κατ' αὐτῆς ἔχει τὴν ὁρμὴν τῆς βασιλίδος. πέμ πει οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς Εὐστάθιον τὸν τηνικαῦτα δρουγγάριον τῶν πλωΐμων μετὰ τοῦ στόλου, ὃς μὴ δυνηθεὶς ἀντιτάξασθαι τῷ Τριπολίτῃ ὑπεστράφη κενός. ἑπόμενος δὲ τούτῳ ὁ Τριπολίτης εἰσῆλ θεν εἰς τὰ στενὰ τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Παρίου κατέ λαβεν. ὅπερ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀγγελθὲν εἰς μεγάλην ἐνέβαλεν ἀθυμίαν καὶ ταραχήν. Ἱμερίῳ γοῦν τῷ πρωτοασηκρῆτις τὴν ναυτικὴν ἐγ χειρίσας δύναμιν κατὰ τοῦ Τριπολίτου ἀπέστειλεν, ὃς Ἄβυδον διελθὼν καὶ τὸ Αἰγαῖον πέλαγος Στροβήλῳ προσορμίζει, εἶτα καταίρει πρὸς Ἴμβρον. Σαμοθρᾴκην δὲ διαβὰς κατέλαβε τοὺς πολεμίους ναυλοχοῦντας ἐν Θάσῳ. πλὴν πλήθει τε καὶ προθυμίᾳ ὑπερέχοντας αὐτοὺς ἰδὼν οὐδὲ πλησιάσαι τούτοις τετόλμηκεν. ὁ δὲ Τριπολίτης ὀπισθόρμητος γεγονὼς καὶ κατὰ Θεσσαλονίκην γενό μενος ταύτην ἐπολιόρκησε, κατασχεθέντος καὶ Λέοντος τοῦ στρα τηγοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ, ᾧ Χατζιλάκιος τὸ ἐπώνυμον. ἐγένετο δὲ χύσις αἱμάτων πολλὴ καὶ αἰχμαλωσία. Ῥοδόφυλλος δέ τις κουβικου λάριος κατά τινα χρείαν ἐν Σικελίᾳ πεμφθεὶς μετὰ χρυσίου λι τρῶν ἑκατόν, νόσῳ περιπεσὼν ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ εἰσῆλθεν ἐφ' ᾧ 2.263 ἐπιμελείας ἀξιωθῆναι. ὅνπερ κατασχὼν ὁ Τριπολίτης καὶ πολλὰ βασανίσας διὰ τὸ χρυσίον ἀπέκτεινε μηδὲν ἔχειν ἰσχυριζόμενον· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔτυχε καταλιπὼν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ὅπερ Συμεὼν ἀσηκρῆτις διερχόμενος ἀνείλετο. καὶ τοῦ Τριπολίτου βουληθέντος κατα στρέψαι τὴν πόλιν, ὁ Συμεὼν λαβεῖν αὐτὸν χρυσίον ἐμήνυσε καὶ τῆς καταστροφῆς ἀποσχέσθαι. ὃ καὶ γέγονε, καὶ λαβὼν τὸ χρυ σίον ὁ Τριπολίτης ὑπενόστησεν. ἀποδεξάμενος δὲ τὸν Συμεὼν τοῦ ἔργου ὁ βασιλεὺς πατρίκιον καὶ πρωτοασηκρῆτιν τοῦτον τετί μηκε. πυθόμενος δὲ τὴν τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ἀποστροφὴν ὁ ναύαρ χος Ἱμέριος πρὸς τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν διανίσταται δίωξιν. οἱ δὲ τῇ Κρήτῃ προσίσχουσι, καὶ ἀπόμοιραν δόντες τοῖς Κρησὶ τῆς λείας ἀβλαβεῖς οἴκαδε ἀπενόστησαν, ἄπρακτον ἐν Λήμνῳ καταλιπόντες τὸν Ἱμέριον.

Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὴν ἕω δύο γενναιοτάτω ἐκπέμπει στρα τηγώ, Εὐστάθιόν τε τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἀργυρῶν καταγόμενον καὶ Ἀνδρόνικον τὸν ἐκ τοῦ ∆ουκός, οἵτινες πολλὰ τρόπαια ἐστήσαντο κατὰ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν. Σαμωνᾶς δὲ ὁ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καταμηνύσας τῷ βασιλεῖ, διαφερόντως τιμώμενος τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἐξελθεῖν ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ μονῇ προφασισάμενος φυγῇ ἐχρήσατο ἅμα χρήμασι καὶ ἵπποις, τοὺς ἐν ἑκάστῳ σταθμῷ δημοσίους ἵππους ἀγκυλοκοπῶν. ἀποστέλλει οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς καταδιῶξαι αὐτὸν Βασίλειον ἑταιρειάρ χην τὸν Καματηρὸν καὶ τὸν Κρηνίτην Γεώργιον. ἤδη δὲ τὸν 2.264 Ἅλυν διαπερῶντα τὸν Σαμωνᾶν κατέλαβε Νικηφόρος δρουγγάριος ὁ Καμινᾶς, καὶ κατέσχεν ἱκετεύοντα πολλὰ καὶ ὑπισχνούμενον δώσειν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔπειθεν, εἰς τὸν ἐν τῷ Σιραχᾷ καταφεύγει σταυρὸν εὐχῆς χάριν ἐληλυθέναι προφασισάμενος. ἐλθὼν οὖν Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ τοῦ Ἀνδρονίκου τοῦ ∆ουκὸς υἱὸς καὶ τοῦτον ἀναλαβὼν ἐν τῇ πόλει ὑπέστρεψεν. εἰσελθόντων δὲ ἐν τῇ Κωνσταν τινουπόλει, τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Καίσαρος τοῦ Βάρδα οἰκίᾳ φυλάτ τεσθαι προσέταξεν ὁ βασιλεύς, Κωνσταντίνῳ δὲ τῷ ∆ουκί, ἐπεί περ ἐπληροφορήθη ὡς ταῖς ἀληθείαις προσφεύγων ἦν ἐν Μελιτηνῇ ὁ Σαμωνᾶς, παρήγγειλε μὴ τοῦτο ἐνώπιον τῆς συγκλήτου εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ὅτι τῷ Σιραχᾷ χάριν εὐχῆς ἀπῄει· ἐβούλετο γὰρ συγγνώμης τοῦτον τυχεῖν. ἕωθεν δὲ προσκαλεσάμενος τὴν σύγκλητον καὶ εἰς μέσον τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον παραγαγὼν ἠρώτα μεθ' ὅρκων, οὑτωσὶ λέγων "πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς κεφαλῆς, ἔφευγεν ἐν Συρίᾳ ὁ Σαμωνᾶς ἢ οὐ;" ὁ δὲ τοὺς ὅρκους εὐλαβηθεὶς (παρηγγέλθη γὰρ ἄνευ ὅρκων πρῶτον τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀποκρύψασθαι) ὡμολόγησε πάντων ἐνώπιον ὅτιπερ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα ἀπῄει Μελιτηνήν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὸν μὲν Κωνσταντῖνον μετ' ὀργῆς ἀπεπέμψατο, τὸν δὲ Σαμωνᾶν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Καίσαρος