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of the themes. Constantine Lips, the patrician, also followed along, supposedly as an adviser to Leo, the domestic of the schools. On the 20th of the month of August 2.286 of the fifth indiction, when war broke out between the Romans and the Bulgarians near the fortress of Achelous, the Bulgarians were utterly routed, and there was a great slaughter of them. But when the domestic, drenched in much sweat and feeling faint, dismounted from his horse at a certain spring, both to wash off the sweat and to cool himself, the horse, having by chance broken its tether, ran through the camp without a rider; when the soldiers saw it, recognizing it, and supposing that the domestic had fallen, they fell into fear, and were disheartened in their spirits and stopped the pursuit, and some even turned back. But Symeon, watching these things from a commanding height (for he had not happened to make his flight in a disorderly fashion), let loose the Bulgarians against the Romans. And they, who before, as we have said, were broken in spirit and astonished, when they saw the Bulgarians attacking them suddenly, turned in a general rout, and there was a most dreadful flight, some being trampled by each other and others being slain by the enemy.

And Leo the domestic was saved by fleeing to Mesembria. And there fell people not of the common soldiers, but also generals and commanders of tagmata, more than could be numbered. Constantine Lips was also slain, and the exarch of the excubitors, John Grapson the magistros. The patrician Romanos Lekapenos, being at that time drungarius of the fleet, had been sent with the whole fleet, having been ordered to sail along the coasts and to be of assistance to Leo, and also to ferry across the Pechenegs brought by Bogas into 2.287 an alliance with the Romans. But when a quarrel arose between Romanos and Bogas, the Pechenegs, seeing them at odds with each other, returned to their own lands, and the help from them became ineffective and useless. But others say that the rout of the Romans did not happen in this way, but in another. For when Phokas had routed Symeon and was pursuing him, a rumor suddenly reached him, announcing that the drungarius of the fleet was departing with the entire fleet to seize the empire. And he, thunderstruck by the report (for he was usurping the power of the empire for himself), abandoning the pursuit, returned to the camp as if to find out the truth. And when the word spread to the army that the domestic had fled, the rest, forgetting their valor, did likewise. Symeon, seeing them fleeing (for he was standing, as has been said, in an opportune place watching the end of the contest), poured out his whole army and made the flight a rout. This, then, is the second account; but whether the truth is this way or that way, nevertheless the Romans were routed and the things said above took place. After the rout, when those who had been saved from the war arrived, the matter concerning Romanos and Bogas was brought up. And affairs came to such a point of danger for the drungarius that a sentence was brought against him by the judges condemning him to have his eyes put out, for having, through neglect or rather malpractice, not ferried across the Pechenegs, and again, for not 2.288 receiving those who returned from the rout. And he would have suffered this, if Stephen the magistros, one of the regents, and Constantine Gongyles the patrician, who had great influence with the empress, had not rescued him. But Symeon, elated and exulting in his victory, taking up his whole army, hurried against the queen city. So Leo Phokas the domestic went out again, and John the hetaireiarch, and Nicholas the son of Constantine Doukas, with some of the soldiers who were present, to meet him. And at the place called Katasyrtai, having encountered a certain detachment of Bulgarians sent for plunder, they attack them and

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τῶν θεμάτων. παρείπετο δὲ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος πατρίκιος ὁ Λὶψ ὡς τάχα σύμβουλος Λέον τος τοῦ δομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν. κατὰ δὲ τὴν ʹ τοῦ Αὐγούστου 2.286 μηνὸς τῆς πέμπτης ἰνδικτιῶνος πολέμου συρραγέντος Ῥωμαίοις τε καὶ Βουλγάροις πρὸς τῷ Ἀχελώῳ φρουρίῳ τρέπονται κατὰ κράτος οἱ Βούλγαροι, καὶ φόνος αὐτῶν ἐγένετο πολύς. ἱδρῶτι δὲ τοῦ δομεστίκου περιρρανθέντος πολλῷ καὶ λειποθυμήσαντος καὶ τοῦ ἵππου ἀποβάντος ἐπί τινι πηγῇ καὶ τὸν ἱδρῶτα ἀποπλύνοντος καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἀποψύχοντος, τὸν δεσμὸν ἀπορρήξας ὁ ἵππος τυχαίως ἔθει διὰ τοῦ στρατοπέδου κενὸς ἐπιβάτου· ὃν οἱ στρατιῶται θεώ μενοι γνώριμον ὄντα, καὶ τὸν δομέστικον πεσεῖν ὑποτοπάσαντες, εἰς φόβον ἐνέπεσον καὶ κατεβλήθησαν τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τῆς διώξεως ἔστησαν, ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ παλίντροποι γεγόνασιν. ἐξ ὑπερδεξιῶν δὲ ταῦτα θεώμενος ὁ Συμεὼν (οὐ γὰρ ἔτυχεν ἀσύντακτον τὴν φυγὴν ποιησάμενος) ἐπαφῆκε τοὺς Βουλγάρους κατὰ Ῥωμαίων. οἱ δὲ καὶ πρότερον, ὡς εἴπομεν, τὰς γνώμας θλασθέντες καὶ τεθηπότες, ὡς καὶ αἰφνίδιον ἐπιόντας ἐθεάσαντο τοὺς Βουλγάρους, τρέπον ται πανστρατί, καὶ γέγονε φυγὴ φρικωδεστάτη, τῶν μὲν ὑπ' ἀλ λήλων συμπατουμένων τῶν δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀναιρουμένων.

Λέων δὲ ὁ δομέστικος ἐν Μεσημβρίᾳ διεσώθη φυγών. ἔπεσε δὲ λαὸς οὐ τῶν κοινῶν στρατιωτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ στρατηγοὶ καὶ ταγματάρχαι ἀριθμοῦ κρείττους. ἐσφάγη δὲ καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Λὶψ καὶ ὁ τῶν ἐξκουβίτων ἔξαρχος Ἰωάννης μάγιστρος ὁ Γράψων. ἦν δὲ ἀποσταλεὶς ὁ πατρίκιος Ῥωμανὸς ὁ Λακαπηνός, δρουγγάριος τηνικαῦτα τῶν πλωΐμων ὤν, μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ στόλου παραπλεῖν τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς προσταχθεὶς καὶ εἰς βοήθειαν τυγχάνειν τῷ Λέοντι, διαπερᾶσαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τοῦ Βογᾶ ἀχθέντας Πατζινάκους εἰς 2.287 συμμαχίαν Ῥωμαίων. διενέξεως δὲ γενομένης μέσον τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ καὶ τοῦ Βογᾶ, ἰδόντες αὐτοὺς οἱ Πατζινάκαι στασιάζοντας πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς τὰ ἴδια, καὶ γέγονεν ἡ ἐξ αὐτῶν βοήθεια ἄπρακτος καὶ ἀνόνητος. Ἄλλοι δὲ οὐχ οὕτω φασὶ γενέσθαι τὴν τροπὴν Ῥωμαίων, τρόπον δὲ ἕτερον. τρεψαμένου γὰρ τοῦ Φωκᾶ τὸν Συμεὼν καὶ διώκοντος, φήμη τις ἐξαίφνης ἔφθασε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπαγγέλλουσα ὡς ὁ δρουγγάριος τῶν πλωΐμων ἄπεισι μετὰ τοῦ στόλου παντός, παραληψόμενος τὴν βασιλείαν. ὁ δὲ τῇ ἀκοῇ καταβροντηθεὶς (ἐσφετερίζετο γὰρ εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὸ τῆς βασιλείας κράτος) καταλιπὼν τὸ διώκειν ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὴν παρεμβολὴν ὡς τάχα τὸ ὂν μαθη σόμενος. διαδοθέντος δὲ λόγου πρὸς τὸν στρατὸν ὡς ὁ δομέστι κος πέφευγεν, ἀλκῆς ἐπιλησθέντες οἱ λοιποὶ ἐποίουν ὁμοίως. οὓς ἰδὼν ὁ Συμεὼν φεύγοντας (ἵστατο γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, ἐν εὐκαίρῳ τόπῳ τὸ τέλος ἀφορῶν τοῦ ἀγῶνος) ἐξεχύθη πανστρατὶ καὶ παλίν τροπον τὴν φυγὴν ἐποιήσατο. οὗτος μὲν δὴ καὶ ὁ δεύτερος λόγος· εἴτε δὲ οὕτως εἴτε ἐκείνως ἡ ἀλήθεια ἔχει, ὅμως ἐτράπησαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τὰ λεχθέντα ἄνωθεν διεπράχθη. Μετὰ τὴν τροπὴν δὲ τῶν σωθέντων ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου πα ραγενομένων, τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ῥωμανὸν καὶ τὸν Βογᾶν ἐκινήθη. καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον κινδύνου περιέστη τῷ δρουγγαρίῳ τὰ πρά γματα ὡς ψῆφον κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐξενεχθῆναι παρὰ τῶν δικαστῶν καταδικάζουσαν αὐτὸν ἐκκοπῆναι τὰς ὄψεις, ὡς ἀμελείᾳ ἢ μᾶλ λον κακουργίᾳ μὴ διαπεράσαντα τοὺς Πατζινάκας, πάλιν δὲ μηδὲ 2.288 τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς τροπῆς δεχόμενον ὑποστρέψαντας. τοῦτο δ' ἂν ἐπεπόνθει, εἰ μὴ Στέφανος μάγιστρος ὁ τῶν ἐπιτρόπων εἷς καὶ Κωνσταντῖνος πατρίκιος ὁ Γογγύλης, πολλὰ δυνάμενοι παρὰ τῇ δεσποίνῃ, αὐτὸν ἐξερρύσαντο. Συμεὼν δὲ ἐπαρθεὶς τῇ νίκῃ καὶ γαυριῶν, ἄρας ἅπαν αὐτοῦ τὸ στράτευμα, κατὰ τῆς βασιλίδος ἠπείγετο. ἐξῆλθεν οὖν πάλιν ὁ δομέστικος Λέων ὁ Φωκᾶς καὶ ὁ ἑταιρειάρχης Ἰωάννης καὶ Νικόλαος ὁ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ ∆οῦκα υἱός, μετά τινων στρατιωτῶν τῶν παρευρεθέντων, εἰς συνάντη σιν αὐτοῦ. καὶ κατὰ τόπον τὸν λεγόμενον Κατασύρτας ἀπομοίρᾳ τινὶ Βουλγάρων εἰς προνομὴν πεμφθείσῃ συνηντηκότες προσρή γνυνται τούτοις καὶ