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Charon, recognizing him, assailed him with unseemly and improper insults, calling him base and unmanly, and ordering him to wait a little so as to receive the rewards of his apostasy. But he, hearing the insults, and not failing to know who was speaking, reined in his horse and turned toward him. "You ought, O man," he said, "having considered the instability of human fortune, not to reproach, nor to trample upon a man compelled by the outrages proceeding from it, but rather to pity and have mercy on me in my misfortune, who had a kouropalates for a father, a Caesar for a grandfather, an emperor for an uncle, and was a doux myself and counted among the highest ranks, but am now subjected to the worst evils and misfortunes." But when the other said, "These things are fine, o wicked head, to be said to children who can be deceived, but you will not deceive me with such petty words of yours," and spurred his horse and approached more boldly, Phocas, drawing the mace that was hanging from his saddle-cloth, and meeting him, strikes him on the helmet. And he rendered him dead on the spot, as the helmet was not able to withstand the force of the blow, while he, turning his rein, kept to the road. And the pursuers coming up behind, and arriving where Charon lay dead, and being struck by the irresistibility of the fall, all halted their pursuit, with no one daring to go further. And thus having found safety, Phocas goes up to the fortress. After these things Sclerus also arrived, continually sending to him, and writing with oaths to care for him as a relative by marriage (for he had his sister Sophia as a bride for his brother Constantine), and advising him to go over to the emperor and to attract his sympathy through this defection. Therefore, having received oaths that he would suffer no harm, he surrenders himself to Sclerus along with those with him. Whom the emperor exiles to the island of Chios, who suffered no other evil, but only was made a cleric. And he orders Sclerus to cross again swiftly to the west with the light-armed regiments. And John takes for himself as a wife Theodora, the sister of Romanus, the daughter of Constantine Porphyrogenitus; and by this act he greatly pleased the citizens, as one preserving the power of the empire for the family. In the second year of his reign, intending to campaign against the Rus, he both revived the armies with donatives, and appointed generals renowned for their intelligence and experience in stratagems, and took care of the other preparations, so that the army would lack nothing. He also took care of the fleet through Leo, who was later protovestiarios, but was then droungarios of the fleet, by repairing the old ships, and building other new ones, and establishing a noteworthy fleet. And since everything was well in order for him, when spring arrived, having offered departure sacrifices to God and taken leave of the citizens, he went forth from the capital. And when he was near Rhaedestus, two ambassadors of the Scythians met him, in appearance fulfilling an embassy, but in fact having come to spy on the affairs of the Romans; these men, as they were uttering reproaches and crying out that they were suffering injustice, the emperor ordered to go around the entire camp and to be observers of the formations (for he had not failed to recognize the reason for their arrival), and after they had gone around and spied out everything, he urged them to depart, and to tell their leader that the emperor of the Romans was coming, fortified with such a well-ordered and obedient people, to make war on him. And so he made the ambassadors withdraw, but he himself, taking the light-armed troops, about five thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, and having ordered the entire remaining multitude to follow at a slower pace with Basil the parakoimomenos, crossed the Haemus unexpectedly, crossed over and invaded the enemy territory, and near the great city of Persthlava,

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γνωρίσας ὁ Χάρων ὕβρεσιν ἀσέμνοις καὶ ἀπρεπέσιν ἔβαλλεν, ἀγεννῆ καὶ ἄνανδρον ἀποκαλῶν, καὶ προσ μένειν κελεύων μικρὸν ὥστε τὰ γέρα τῆς ἀποστασίας λαβεῖν. ὁ δὲ τῶν ὕβρεων ἐπακούων, καὶ ὅστις ὁ λέγων μὴ ἀγνοήσας, ἐπισχὼν τὸν χαλινὸν καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐπιστραφεὶς "ἔδει σε ὦ ἄνθρωπε" ἔφη, "τὸ ἀστάθμητον λογισάμενον τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τύχης μὴ προσονειδίζειν, μηδ' ἐπεμβαίνειν ἀνθρώπῳ ταῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐπη ρείαις ἠναγκασμένῳ, ἀλλ' οἰκτείρειν μᾶλλον καὶ ἐλεεῖν τὸν δυστυ χοῦντά με, πατέρα μὲν ἐσχηκότα κουροπαλάτην, πάππον δὲ Καί σαρα, θεῖον βασιλέα, δοῦκα δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν γεγονότα καὶ τοῖς ἀνω τέρω συναριθμηθέντα, νυνὶ δὲ ἐσχάτοις κακοῖς ὑποβεβλημένον καὶ ἀκληρήμασι." τοῦ δὲ "καλὰ ταῦτα, ὦ κακὴ κεφαλή, λέγεσθαι πρὸς παῖδας τοὺς δυναμένους ἀπατηθῆναι" εἰπόντος, "ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ φενακίσεις τοῖς τοιούτοις σου λογυδρίοις," καὶ τὸν ἵππον μυω πίζοντος καὶ θρασύτερον προσιόντος, σπασάμενος ὁ Φωκᾶς τὴν ἐν τῇ ἐφεστρίδι παρῃωρημένην κορύνην καὶ ὑπαντιάσας παίει τοῦ τον κατὰ τοῦ κράνους. καὶ αὐτὸν μὲν ἀποδείκνυσι νεκρὸν παραυ 2.392 τίκα, ἐμποδίσαι μὴ δυνηθείσης τῆς κόρυθος τῇ βίᾳ τῆς πληγῆς, ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἀποστρέψας τὸν χαλινὸν εἴχετο τῆς ὁδοῦ. οἱ δὲ διώ κοντες κατόπιν ἐρχόμενοι, καὶ ἔνθα ὁ Χάρων τεθνηκὼς ἔκειτο γενόμενοι, καὶ τῷ ἀνυποστάτῳ τοῦ πτώματος ἐκπληττόμενοι πάν τες ἵστων τὴν δίωξιν, μηδενὸς τολμῶντος προσωτέρω ἰέναι. καὶ οὕτως ἀδείας λαβόμενος ὁ Φωκᾶς ἄνεισιν εἰς τὸ φρούριον. παρε γένετο μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Σκληρός, συνεχῶς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον πέμπων, καὶ κήδεσθαι μεθ' ὅρκων γράφων ὡς κηδεστοῦ (νύμφην γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ τὴν ἐκείνου εἶχεν ἀδελφὴν Σοφίαν), καὶ συμβουλεύων προσχωρῆσαι τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διὰ τῆς αὐτομολίας συμπάθειαν ἐπισπάσασθαι. ὅρκους οὖν λαβὼν ὡς οὐδέν τι πείσεται φλαῦρον, παραδίδωσιν ἑαυτὸν τῷ Σκληρῷ σὺν τοῖς συνοῦσιν αὐτῷ. ὃν μηδὲν ἄλλο παθόντα κακόν, μόνον δὲ γενόμενον κληρικὸν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ Χίῳ ὑπερορίζει ὁ βασιλεύς. τὸν δὲ Σκληρὸν εὐζώνως μετὰ τῶν κούφων ταγμάτων διαβῆναι πάλιν κελεύει πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν. Ἄγεται δὲ ἑαυτῷ γυναῖκα ὁ Ἰωάννης Θεοδώραν τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ῥωμανοῦ, θυγατέρα δὲ τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου Κωνσταντίνου· καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πράξει μεγάλως εὔφρανε τοὺς πολίτας ὡς τὸ τῆς βασι λείας κράτος περιφυλάττων τῷ γένει. ∆ευτέρῳ δὲ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ μέλλων ἐκστρατεύειν κατὰ τῶν Ῥὼς τά τε στρατεύματα φιλοτιμίαις ἀνελάμβανε, καὶ 2.393 στρατηγοὺς ἐφίστα ἐπὶ συνέσει καὶ ἐμπειρίᾳ στρατηγημάτων βε βοημένους, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπεμελεῖτο παρασκευῶν, ἵνα μηδενὸς σπανίζοι τὸ στράτευμα. ἐπεμελήθη δὲ καὶ τοῦ στόλου διὰ Λέον τος τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα πρωτοβεστιαρίου, δρουγγαρίου τότε τῶν πλωΐ μων τυγχάνοντος, τὰ μὲν παλαιὰ ἐπισκευάσας, κατασκευάσας δὲ καὶ ἄλλα καινὰ καὶ στόλον ἀξιόλογον καταστησάμενος. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα καλῶς εἶχεν αὐτῷ ἔαρος ἐπιστάντος, τῷ θεῷ τὰ ἐξιτήρια θύσας καὶ συνταξάμενος τοῖς πολίταις ἔξεισι τῆς βασιλίδος. γενο μένῳ δ' αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν Ῥαιδεστὸν δύο συναντῶσι πρεσβευταὶ τῶν Σκυθῶν, τῷ δοκεῖν μὲν πρεσβείαν ἀποπληροῦντες, ἔργῳ δὲ τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐλθόντες κατασκοπῆσαι πράγματα· οὓς ὀνειδίζοντας καὶ ἄδικα πάσχειν ἐπιβοωμένους προσέταξεν ὁ βασιλεὺς περιελθεῖν ἅπαν τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ θεωροὺς γενέσθαι τῶν τάξεων (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠγνόησε τῆς ἀφίξεως τὴν αἰτίαν), περιελθόντας δὲ καὶ πάντα κατασκοπήσαντας ἀπαλλάττεσθαι παρεκελεύετο, καὶ τῷ σφῶν ἡγουμένῳ λέγειν ὡς μετὰ τοιαύτης εὐκοσμίας καὶ πειθηνίου λαοῦ ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς ἔρχεται ὠχυρωμένος πολεμήσων αὐτῷ. καὶ τοὺς μὲν πρεσβευτὰς ὑποχωρῆσαι πεποίηκεν οὕτως, αὐτὸς δὲ κατό πιν εὐζώνους λαβών, πεζοὺς μὲν ἀμφὶ τὰς πέντε χιλιάδας ἱππεῖς δὲ εἰς τετρακισχιλίους, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἅπαν πλῆθος σχολαίως ἕπε σθαι κελεύσας μετὰ Βασιλείου τοῦ παρακοιμωμένου, τὸν Αἷμον διαβὰς ἀπρόοπτος εἰς τὴν πολεμίαν διαβαίνει καὶ ἐσβάλλει, καὶ ἐγγὺς τῆς πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης Περσθλάβας,