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hope, he looked towards a treaty. Therefore, he sends ambassadors to the emperor, asking for guarantees, on the condition that, having been enrolled among the allies and friends of the Romans, he be permitted to withdraw unharmed to his home with those around him, and that any Scythian who wished might travel for the sake of trade without fear. And the emperor, having received the embassy, and adding the famous saying, that it is the custom for Romans to conquer their enemies more by kindness than by arms, confirmed all that was asked. And when the treaty was made, Sviatoslav requested to come into the emperor's sight and conversation. And when he assented to this also, he arrived. And having met with each other, and having conversed about what they wished, they departed. And the emperor, when Sviatoslav requested this also, sent an embassy to the Patzinaks, asking to have them as friends and allies, if they wished, and that they not cross the Ister and plunder the lands of the Bulgars, and that they should allow the Rus to pass unhindered through their land and return home. And Theophilos, the archbishop of Euchaita, carried out the embassy. And they, having received the embassy, forbade only the passage of the Rus, and made a treaty concerning the other matters. And when the Rus had sailed away, the emperor, having taken care of the forts and cities along the banks of the river and having left a sufficient garrison, departed for the Roman territories. Whom the archbishop of the city with the synod; and all the officials, wearing crowns, received with paeans and shouts of victory, having prepared a four-horse chariot of white horses 2.413 very splendidly, and they deemed the emperor worthy to mount this and celebrate a triumph. But he, wishing nothing ostentatious, but showing himself to be modest, took up the crowns that were brought to him and completed the triumph on a white horse, and in the chariot he placed the Bulgarian royal robes and above them an icon of the Mother of God as guardian of the city, and ordered it to go before him. And having come to the so-called forum and been sufficiently acclaimed, and having offered thanks for the victory to the Mother of God and to her son, he divested Boris of the insignia of the Bulgarian kingdom in the sight of the citizens; and these were a crown of gold and a tiara woven of fine linen and red sandals. From there, having gone to the great church and in it having given the Bulgarian crown as an offering to God, and having raised Boris to the dignity of magistros, he proceeded to the palace. But Sviatoslav, returning to his own territories, while passing through the land of the Patzinaks, falls into ambushes already prepared and awaiting him, and he himself and the multitude with him are utterly destroyed, the Patzinaks being angry with him on account of his treaty with the Romans. And the emperor, giving thanks for the victories to Christ the savior, rebuilt from its foundations the church above the bronze arch, sparing nothing that contributed to magnificence and ornament. And he remitted for all the taxpayers of all the themes the so-called kapnikon. And he ordered that on the nomisma 2.414 and on the obol an image of the savior be inscribed, this not having been done before. And letters were also written in Latin on the other side, running something like this: "Jesus Christ, King of Kings." And the succeeding emperors also observed this.

And when Basil the patriarch had been accused on certain charges and synodically deposed, Antony the Studite was appointed patriarch. And in the month of August, of the 3rd indiction, a comet called the bearded one appeared, and it was seen until the month of October of the fourth indiction. And this foretold the death of the emperor and the inconsolable misfortunes from civil wars that were destined to seize the land of the Romans. Of the cities acquired by the emperor Nikephoros and of those that became tributaries to the Romans, as before...

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ἐλπίδα, πρὸς συνθήκας ἀπέβλεψε. πέμπει οὖν πρὸς βασιλέα πρεσβευτὰς πίστεις ἐξαιτούμενος, ἐφ' ᾧ συμμάχοις καὶ φίλοις Ῥωμαίων καταλεγεὶς ἀσινὴς συγχωρηθῇ ἐπ' οἴκου ἀναχωρῆσαι μετὰ τῶν ἀμφ' αὐτόν, ἀδεῶς τε τὸν βουλόμενον Σκύθην ἐμπο ρείας χάριν φοιτᾶν. δεξάμενος δὲ τὴν πρεσβείαν ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ τὸ ᾀδόμενον λόγιον ἐπειπών, ὡς ἔθος Ῥωμαίοις τοὺς πολεμίους πλέον εὐεργεσίαις ἢ ὅπλοις νικᾶν, πάντα τὰ αἰτούμενα ἐβεβαίωσε. γενομένων δὲ τῶν σπονδῶν ὁ Σφενδοσθλάβος καὶ εἰς ὄψιν ἐλθεῖν καὶ ὁμιλίαν τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐδεήθη. ἐπινεύσαντος δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀφίκετο. καὶ συμμίξαντες ἀλλήλοις, καὶ διαλεχθέντες περὶ ὧν ἂν ἐβούλοντο, ἀπηλλάγησαν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, αἰτήσαντος καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ Σφενδοσθλάβου, καὶ πρὸς Πατζινάκας διαπρεσβεύεται, εἰ βούλονται, φίλους αὐτοὺς καὶ συμμάχους ἀξιῶν ἔχειν, καὶ μὴ διαπερᾶν τὸν Ἴστρον καὶ τὰ Βουλγάρων ληΐζεσθαι, παραχωρῆσαι δὲ καὶ τοῖς Ῥὼς ἀκωλύτως διελθεῖν τὴν αὐτῶν γῆν καὶ οἴκαδε ἀπελθεῖν. ἀπεπλήρου δὲ τὴν πρεσβείαν Θεόφιλος ὁ τῶν Εὐχαΐ των ἀρχιερεύς. οἱ δὲ τὴν πρεσβείαν δεξάμενοι, τὴν διάβασιν μόνην ἀπαγορεύσαντες τῶν Ῥώς, πρὸς τἆλλα σπονδὰς ἔθεντο. τῶν δὲ Ῥὼς ἀποπλευσάντων, τῶν παρὰ ταῖς ὄχθαις τοῦ ποταμοῦ φρουρίων καὶ πόλεων πρόνοιαν θέμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ φρουρὰν καταλιπὼν τὴν ἀρκοῦσαν ἐς ἤθη τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀνέζευξεν. ὃν ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἀρχιερεὺς μετὰ τῆς συνόδου· καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐν τέλει μετὰ παιάνων καὶ ἐπινικίων εὐφημιῶν ὑπεδέξαντο στεφανηφο ροῦντες, τέθριππον ὄχημα λευκοπώλων ἔχοντες ἡτοιμασμένον 2.413 πάνυ διαπρεπῶς, καὶ τούτου ἐπιβάντα ἀξιοῦντες θριαμβεῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ μηδὲν σοβαρὸν ἐθέλων, ἀλλὰ μέτριον ἑαυ τὸν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, τοὺς μὲν προσενεχθέντας ἀνειλήφει στεφά νους καὶ ἵππῳ λευκῷ τὸν θρίαμβον ἐξεπλήρωσεν, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἅρ ματι τὰς Βουλγαρικὰς θεὶς τῶν βασιλέων στολὰς καὶ ἄνωθεν τού των εἰκόνα τῆς θεομήτορος ὡς πολιούχου, προπορεύεσθαι ἑαυτοῦ διετάξατο. ἐν δὲ τῷ λεγομένῳ φόρῳ γενόμενος καὶ ἀποχρώντως εὐφημηθείς, καὶ τῇ θεομήτορι καὶ τῷ ταύτης υἱῷ τὰς ἐπινικίους εὐχαριστίας παρεσχηκώς, τὰ παράσημα τῆς Βουλγαρικῆς βασι λείας ἐπ' ὄψει τῶν πολιτῶν τὸν Βορίσην ἀποδιδύσκει· τὰ δὲ ἦν στέφανος ἐκ χρυσοῦ καὶ τιάρα νενησμένη ἐκ βύσσου καὶ πέδιλα ἐρυθρά. ἐκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν μεγάλην φοιτήσας ἐκκλησίαν καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τὸν Βουλγαρικὸν στέφανον ἀνάθημα τῷ θεῷ δεδωκώς, ἀναγαγὼν δὲ καὶ τὸν Βορίσην εἰς τὸ τῶν μαγίστρων ἀξίωμα, ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὰ βασίλεια. ὁ δὲ Σφενδοσθλάβος εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη ὑποστρέφων ἐν τῷ διιέναι τὴν τῶν Πατζινάκων γῆν περιπίπτει ἐνέδραις ἤδη προευτρεπισθείσαις καὶ ὑποδεχομέναις αὐτόν, καὶ ἄρδην αὐτός τε καὶ τὸ συνὸν αὐτῷ ἀπόλλυται πλῆθος, μηνιώντων αὐτῷ τῶν Πατζινάκων διὰ τὰς εἰς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους σπονδάς. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς χαριστήρια τῶν τροπαίων ἀποδιδοὺς τῷ σω τῆρι Χριστῷ ναὸν ἄνωθεν τῆς ἁψῖδος τῆς χαλκῆς ἀνῳκοδόμησεν ἐκ καινῆς, μηδενὸς φεισάμενος τῶν εἰς πολυτέλειαν συντεινόντων καὶ κόσμον. ἀφῆκε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑποφόροις πᾶσι τῶν ὅλων θεμά των τὸ λεγόμενον καπνικόν. προσέταξε δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ νομίσματι 2.414 καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀβολῷ εἰκόνα ἐγγράφεσθαι τοῦ σωτῆρος, μὴ πρότερον τούτου γινομένου. ἐγράφοντο δὲ καὶ γράμματα ῥωμαϊστὶ ἐν θα τέρῳ μέρει ᾧδέ πῃ διεξιόντα "Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς βασιλεὺς βασι λέων." τοῦτο δὲ καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς ἐτήρησαν βασιλεῖς.

Βασιλείου δὲ τοῦ πατριάρχου ἐπ' αἰτίαις διαβληθέντος καὶ συνοδικῶς καθαι ρεθέντος προεβλήθη πατριάρχης Ἀντώνιος ὁ Στουδίτης. Αὐγούστῳ δὲ μηνί, ἰνδικτιῶνος γʹ, ἐφάνη καὶ κομήτης ὁ λεγόμενος πωγωνίας, καὶ ἐφαίνετο ἕως Ὀκτωβρίου μηνὸς τῆς τετάρτης ἰνδικτιῶνος. προεμήνυε δ' οὗτος τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως θάνατον καὶ τὰς μελλούσας κατασχεῖν τὴν Ῥωμαίων γῆν ἐκ τῶν ἐμφυλίων πολέμων ἀπαραμυθήτους τύχας. Τῶν δ' ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Νικηφόρου προσκτηθεισῶν πό λεων καὶ τῶν ὑποφόρων γενομένων Ῥωμαίοις, ὡς ἔμπροσθεν εἴ