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and he provoked the barbarians to war. But when they did not come out, having returned to the camp, he kept quiet. And ambassadors came to him from Constantia and the other forts established beyond the Ister, asking for amnesty for their misdeeds and surrendering themselves along with their strongholds; whom, having received them graciously, he sent men to take possession of the forts and a sufficient army for their garrison. But when evening had already arrived, the 2.402 Rus, being much more numerous than before, threw open all the gates of the city and fell upon the Romans unexpectedly as they were spending the night; and in the first engagement they seemed to have the upper hand, but after a short time the Romans prevailed. For when Sphaggelos happened to fall while fighting heroically, they were thrown into confusion by the loss of the fallen man and their assaults were weakened. Nevertheless they remained unyielding through the whole night and the following day until steady noon. Then indeed, when the emperor had sent a force in order to block the barbarians' entrance into the city, the Rus, realizing this, turned to flight, and finding the entrances to the city fortified, they fled through the plain and were overtaken and slain. And when night came on, Svyatoslav surrounded the city wall with a deep trench, so that the Romans might not easily approach the city wall with an assault. And thus having secured the city, he determined it was necessary to await the siege most courageously. But since the greater part of the army were in a bad state from their wounds, and famine also took hold, as their necessaries had already been consumed, and they were not allowed by the Romans to bring in supplies from outside, Svyatoslav, having watched for a deep and moonless night, during which a torrential rain fell from the sky and a terrible hail burst forth and most dreadful thunders and lightnings, embarked in monoxyla with two thousand men and went out for provisions. And having collected from wherever each could find it 2.403 grain and millet and other kinds of things that sustain life, they went up the river in the monoxyla to Dorostolon. And while sailing up, seeing along the river bank not a few servants of the soldiers, some watering horses, others gathering fodder, and still others cutting wood, disembarking from their boats and walking noiselessly through the forest, they fell upon them unexpectedly from out of sight, and killed many of them, and forced the rest to scatter into the nearby thickets. Then embarking again in their boats and carried by a favorable wind, they were borne towards Dorostolon. And when this became known, it cast the emperor into great distress, and he held the commanders of the fleet in great blame, because they had not perceived the departure of the barbarians from Dorostolon; and he threatened them with death, if such a thing should ever again happen unnoticed. And so they guarded the banks on both sides of the river carefully, but the emperor, having engaged in the siege for sixty-five whole days, and fighting every day without letting up, thought it necessary to try the city by blockade and famine. Therefore, having blocked the roads on all sides with trenches and having posted guards over them, so that no one might go out to bring provisions, he sat quietly. And so things at Dorostolon proceeded in this way.

But Leo the kouropalates and Nikephoros his son, having been blinded in appearance, as we said before, but still having their 2.404 sight unharmed, were preparing again for tyranny, having corrupted many of those in the city and of the guards in the palace. And when their plans had been completed according to their wishes, having hired a ship and embarked in it, they sailed away from the island where they had been condemned to live, and they came to the mainland opposite the city at the suburb which they call Pelamydion, and from there around the first cockcrows

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καὶ πρὸς πόλεμον ἠρέθιζε τοὺς βαρβάρους. ἐπεὶ δὲ μὴ ἐξῄεσαν, εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ὑποστρέψας ἡσυχίαν ἦγε. καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ πρέσβεις ἐκ Κωνσταντείας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φρουρίων τῶν πέραν ἱδρυμένων τοῦ Ἴστρου, ἀμνηστίαν κακῶν αἰτούμενοι καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἐγχειρίζοντες σὺν τοῖς ὀχυρώμασιν· οὓς προσηνῶς δεξάμενος ἀπέστειλε τοὺς παραληψομένους τὰ φρούρια καὶ στρατιὰν ἀποχρῶσαν εἰς τὴν αὐτῶν φυλακήν. ἤδη δὲ ἑσπέ ρας καταλαβούσης τὰς πάσας πύλας τῆς πόλεως ἀναπετάσαντες οἱ 2.402 Ῥώς, πολλῷ τῶν προτέρων πλείονες ὄντες, ἐπιπίπτουσι τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ἀνελπίστως διὰ τὴν νύκτα διάγουσι· καὶ κατὰ μὲν τὴν πρώτην συμβολὴν ἔδοξαν προτερῆσαι, μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ ὑπερέσχον Ῥωμαῖοι. ὡς γὰρ συνέβη πεσεῖν τὸν Σφάγελλον ἡρωϊκῶς ἀγωνι ζόμενον, συνεχύθησαν τῇ τοῦ πεσόντος στερήσει καὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς ἐχαυνώθησαν. ὅμως ἀνένδοτοι παρ' ὅλην τὴν νύκτα διέμειναν καὶ τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν μέχρι σταθηρᾶς μεσημβρίας. τότε δὴ τοῦ βασιλέως δύναμιν πεπομφότος ἐφ' ᾧ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἀποκλεῖ σαι τὴν εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἴσοδον, γνόντες οἱ Ῥὼς ἔκλιναν εἰς φυγήν, καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδους ἐπιτετειχισμένας εὑρόντες ἔφευγον διὰ τοῦ πεδίου καὶ καταλαμβανόμενοι ἀνῃροῦντο. ὁ δὲ Σφεν δοσθλάβος νυκτὸς ἐπιγενομένης διώρυγι βαθείᾳ τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐστεφάνωσε τεῖχος, ἵνα μὴ εὐχερῶς ἔχοιεν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι μεθ' ὁρμῆς τῷ τῆς πόλεως τείχει προσπελάζειν. καὶ οὕτω τὴν πόλιν ἀσφα λισάμενος ἔγνω δεῖν εὐψυχότατα τὴν πολιορκίαν προσδέχεσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ πλέον τῆς στρατιᾶς διέκειντο κακῶς ἀπὸ τῶν τραυμά των, συνεπελάμβανε δὲ καὶ λιμὸς ἤδη τῶν ἀναγκαίων δαπανη θέντων αὐτοῖς, καὶ μηδ' ἔξωθεν τὰ πρὸς χρείαν συνεχωροῦντο αὐτοῖς εἰσκομίζεσθαι παρὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων, νύκτα βαθεῖαν καὶ ἀσέληνον ἐπιτηρήσας ὁ Σφενδοσθλάβος, καθ' ἣν ὑετός τε ῥαγδαῖος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατηνέχθη καὶ χάλαζα φοβερὰ ἐπερράγη καὶ βρονταὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ φρικωδέσταται, μονοξύλοις ἐμβὰς μετὰ δισχιλίων ἀνδρῶν ἔξεισιν εἰς ἐπισιτισμόν. συλλεξάμενοι δὲ ὅθεν εὐπόρηκεν 2.403 ἕκαστος σῖτον καὶ κέγχρον καὶ εἴδη ἄλλα συνεκτικὰ τῆς ζωῆς, ἀνή γοντο διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῖς μονοξύλοις εἰς τὸ ∆ορόστολον. ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀναπλεῖν θεασάμενοι κατὰ τὸ χεῖλος τοῦ ποταμοῦ θεράποντας οὐκ ὀλίγους τῶν στρατιωτῶν τοὺς μὲν ἵππους ποτίζοντας τοὺς δὲ χορτολογοῦντας, ἄλλους δὲ καὶ ξυλεύοντας, ἀποβάντες τῶν πλοίων διὰ τῆς ὕλης ἀψοφητὶ βαδίζοντες ἀδοκήτως ἐκ τοῦ ἀφα νοῦς ἐμπίπτουσιν αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν τούτων ἀπέκτειναν, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐπὶ τὰς πλησίον λόχμας σκεδασθῆναι ἠνάγκασαν. αὖθις δ' εἰς τὰς σκάφας ἐμβάντες καὶ οὐρίῳ φερόμενοι πνεύματι πρὸς τὸ ∆ορόστολον φέρονται. τοῦτο δὲ γνωσθὲν εἰς μεγάλην ἀνίαν ἐμβάλλει τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ τοὺς ἀρχηγοὺς τοῦ στόλου ἐν αἰτίᾳ μεγάλῃ ἔσχεν, ὅτι μὴ ἐπῄσθοντο τοῦ ἐκ ∆οροστόλου τῶν βαρβάρων ἀπόπλου· ἐπηπείλησε δὲ καὶ θάνατον αὐτοῖς, εἰ ἔτι ἅπαξ λάθῃ τοιοῦτόν τι γενέσθαι. καὶ οἱ μὲν τὰς παρ' ἑκάτερα ὄχθας τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐτήρουν ἐπιμελῶς, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐφ' ὅλας πέντε καὶ ἑξήκοντα ἡμέρας τῇ πολιορκίᾳ χρησάμενος, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην πολεμῶν καὶ μὴ ἀνιείς, δέον ἐνόμισε διὰ προσεδρείας καὶ λιμοῦ ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τῆς πόλεως. διὸ καὶ πάντοθεν τάφροις τὰς ὁδοὺς ἀποκλείσας καὶ φύλακας ἐπιστήσας αὐταῖς, ὡς μή τις ἐξίοι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια κομίσων, ἐκάθητο ἠρεμῶν. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν ∆ορο στόλῳ ἐφέρετο τῇδε.

Λέων δὲ ὁ κουροπαλάτης καὶ Νικηφόρος ὁ τούτου παῖς, δοκήσει μέν, ὡς εἴπομεν ἔμπροσθεν, πηρωθέντες, ἔτι δ' ἀσινεῖς 2.404 τὰς ὁράσεις ἔχοντες, εἰς τυραννίδα καὶ αὖθις παρεσκευάζοντο, πολλοὺς τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις φρουρῶν ὑπο φθείραντες. καὶ ἐπεὶ τὰ κατὰ γνώμην αὐτοῖς ἀπηρτίσθη, πλοῖον μισθωσάμενοι καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐμβάντες ἀπαίρουσι τῆς νήσου ἣν οἰκεῖν κατεκρίθησαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀντίπορθμον τῆς πόλεως ἤπειρον γίνονται κατὰ τὸ προάστειον ὃ κατονομάζουσι Πηλαμύδιον, ἐκεῖ θεν δὲ περὶ πρώτας ἀλεκτρυόνων