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he overran the entire west, not only Thrace and Macedonia and the lands bordering Thessalonica, but also Thessaly and Hellas and the Peloponnese; and he subdued many fortresses, of which the chief was Larissa, whose inhabitants he resettled with their entire households into the interior of Bulgaria, and having enrolled them in the lists of his own soldiers, he used them as allies against the Romans. He also transferred the relic of Saint Achilleios, who had been bishop of Larissa in the time of Constantine the Great and was present at the great and first council along with Reginus of Skopelos and Diodorus of Trikke, and deposited it in Prespa, where his royal palace was. But the emperor, eager to retaliate against him for what he had done, since he had shaken off his cares concerning Scleros, having gathered the Roman forces, decided to make an invasion into Bulgaria himself personally, not even deeming Bardas Phokas, who was still Domestic of the Schools, and the other eastern potentates worthy of mention. And entering Bulgaria by way of the Rhodope and the river Hebros, he left the *magistros* Leo Melissenus behind, ordering him to guard the difficult passes; but he himself, having passed through the narrows and the thickets between Triaditza, which was formerly called Sardica, and having arrived at a certain place called Stoponion, he pitched camp, and there he considered how he might attempt the siege of Sardica. And Samuel was heard to be occupying the peaks 2.437 of the surrounding mountains (for he dreaded an open engagement and close combat) and lying in ambush on all sides, to see if he could somehow harm the enemy. While these things were happening and such was the emperor’s plan, Stephen the Domestic of the Schools of the west, whom they nicknamed Kontostephanos on account of his short stature, being most hostile to Leo Melissenus, approached the emperor as night was already falling, and urged him to break camp as quickly as possible, considering all else secondary, and to reach the capital, saying that Melissenus was coveting the throne and was now proceeding there with great speed. The report alarmed the emperor, and he immediately proclaimed the breaking of camp. But Samuel, suspecting that the disorderly withdrawal was, as was likely, a flight, fell upon them suddenly with shouting and yelling, terrified the Romans and forced them to flee, and he captured the camp, and became master of all the baggage, and of the imperial tent itself and the imperial insignia. And the emperor, having passed through the narrows with difficulty, escaped to Philippopolis; arriving there, and finding Melissenus not having moved and diligently keeping the watch entrusted to him, he reviled Kontostephanos for having lied and for being the cause of so great a disaster. But this man, not bearing the rebuke calmly, but becoming even more harsh and insisting that he had given just counsel, forced the emperor by his shameless 2.438 insolence to leap from his throne, and seizing him by his hair and beard, to drag him to the ground. And in the 15th indiction, in the year 6494, in the month of October, there was a great earthquake, and many houses and churches fell, and a part of the dome of the great church of God; which the emperor again munificently restored, having spent on the lifting machines alone, by which the craftsmen, standing and receiving the materials being brought up, rebuilt what had fallen, ten centenaria of gold. But the magnates of the Romans, being angry with the emperor—Bardas Phokas and some with him because when he campaigned in Bulgaria he had slighted them, not counting them worth a Carian's portion; and others for other insults and drunken outrages; and the *magistros* Eustathios Maleinos because he had been dishonorably sent away from the said expedition—having gathered in Charsianon at the house of the said Maleinos, on the 15th of the month of August, of the 15th indiction, they proclaimed Bardas Phokas emperor, placing a diadem on him and

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κατέδραμε πᾶσαν τὴν ἑσπέραν, οὐ μόνον Θρᾴκην καὶ Μακεδονίαν καὶ τὰ τῇ Θεσσαλονίκῃ πρόσχωρα, ἀλλὰ καὶ Θετταλίαν καὶ Ἑλλάδα καὶ Πελοπόννησον· καὶ πολλὰ φρούρια παρεστήσατο, ὧν ἦν τὸ κορυφαῖον ἡ Λάρισσα, ἧς τοὺς ἐποίκους μετῴκισεν εἰς τὰ τῆς Βουλγαρίας ἐνδότερα πανεστίους, καὶ τοῖς καταλόγοις τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κατατάξας στρατιωτῶν συμμάχοις ἐχρῆτο κατὰ Ῥωμαίων. μετήγαγε δὲ καὶ τὸ λείψανον τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀχιλλείου, ἐπισκόπου Λαρίσσης χρηματίσαντος ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου κἀν τῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ πρώτῃ συνόδῳ παρόντος σὺν Ῥη γίνῳ Σκοπέλων καὶ ∆ιοδώρῳ Τρίκκης, καὶ εἰς τὴν Πρέσπαν ἀπέ θετο, ἔνθα ἦσαν αὐτῷ τὰ βασίλεια. Ἀμύνασθαι δὲ τοῦτον ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν εἰργασμένων γλιχόμε νος, ἐπείπερ ἀπετινάξατο τὰς περὶ τοῦ Σκληροῦ φροντίδας, τὰς Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἀθροίσας δυνάμεις αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ εἰσβολὴν ἐν Βουλ γαρίᾳ ἐδόκει ποιήσασθαι, Βάρδαν τὸν Φωκᾶν ἔτι τῶν σχολῶν δομέστικον ὄντα καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑῴους δυνάστας μηδ' ἀξιώσας λόγου. εἰσερχόμενος δὲ ἐν Βουλγαρίᾳ διὰ τῆς παρὰ τῇ Ῥοδόπῃ καὶ τῷ ποταμῷ Ἕβρῳ, τὸν μάγιστρον Λέοντα τὸν Μελισσηνὸν κατόπιν εἴασε, τὰς δυσχωρίας φυλάττειν προστάξας· αὐτὸς δὲ τὰ μεταξὺ Τριαδίτζης, ἥτις πάλαι Σαρδικὴ ἐπωνόμαστο, στενὰ διελθὼν καὶ τὰς λόχμας, καὶ ἔν τινι τόπῳ Στοπωνίῳ λεγομένῳ γενόμενος, ἔθετο χάρακα, ἐκεῖσέ τε διενοεῖτο πῶς ἂν ἐπιχειρήσῃ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ τῆς Σαρδικῆς. ἠκούετο δὲ καὶ ὁ Σαμουὴλ τὰς κορυ 2.437 φὰς τῶν κύκλωθεν ὀρέων κατέχων (πρὸς φανερὰν γὰρ συμπλοκὴν καὶ ἀγχέμαχον ἐδειλία) καὶ πάντοθεν ἐνεδρεύων, εἴ πως δυνηθείη βλάψαι τοὺς ἐναντίους. ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐγίνετο καὶ τοιοῦτος ἦν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὁ σκοπός, Στέφανος ὁ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν τῆς δύσεως, ὃν διὰ τὸ βραχὺ τῆς ἡλικίας Κοντοστέφανον ἐπωνόμαζον, ἀπεχθέστατος ὢν Λέοντι τῷ Μελισσηνῷ πρόσεισι νυκτὸς ἤδη καταλαβούσης τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἀναζευγνύειν ὡς τάχιστα παρεκά λει, τὰ ἄλλα λογιζόμενον δεύτερα, καὶ τὴν βασιλίδα καταλαβεῖν, ὡς τοῦ Μελισσηνοῦ ἐποφθαλμιῶντος τῇ βασιλείᾳ κἀκεῖσε ἀπιόν τος ἄρτι σὺν τάχει πολλῷ. ἐθρόησεν ὁ λόγος τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ἀναζυγὴν εὐθέως ἐκήρυξεν. ὁ δὲ Σαμουὴλ τὴν ἀσύντακτον ἀνα χώρησιν φυγὴν ὡς εἰκὸς εἶναι ὑποτοπάσας, ἐπεισπεσὼν ἀθρόως μετ' ἀλαλαγμοῦ καὶ βοῆς τούς τε Ῥωμαίους κατέπληξε καὶ φυγεῖν ἠνάγκασε, καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον κατέσχε, καὶ τῆς ἀποσκευῆς ἁπά σης ἐγένετο κύριος καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς βασιλικῆς σκηνῆς καὶ τῶν βασι λικῶν παρασήμων. μόλις δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ στενὰ διελθὼν εἰς Φιλιππούπολιν διασώζεται· ἐν ᾗ γενόμενος, καὶ τὸν Μελισσηνὸν ἀμετακίνητον εὑρὼν καὶ τὴν ἐμπιστευθεῖσαν αὐτῷ φυλακὴν ἐπιμε λῶς τηροῦντα, τῷ Κοντοστεφάνῳ ἐλοιδορεῖτο ὡς ψευσαμένῳ καὶ παραιτίῳ γεγονότι τοσούτου κακοῦ. οὗτος δὲ μὴ ἐνεγκὼν πράως τὴν ἐπιτίμησιν, ἀλλ' ἔτι μᾶλλον τραχυνόμενος καὶ δίκαια συμ βουλεῦσαι ἰσχυριζόμενος, ἠνάγκασε τὸν βασιλέα διὰ τὴν ἀναίσχυν 2.438 τον ἰταμότητα ἀναπηδῆσαί τε τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ τῶν τριχῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς γενειάδος λαβόμενον κατασπάσαι εἰς γῆν. Ἰνδικτιῶνος δὲ ιεʹ, ἔτους #22υδʹ, Ὀκτωβρίῳ μηνὶ ἐγένετο κλόνος μέγας, καὶ κατέπεσον οἰκίαι πολλαὶ καὶ ναοὶ καὶ μέρος τῆς σφαίρας τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας· ὅπερ πάλιν ὁ βασιλεὺς φιλοτίμως ἐπηνωρθώσατο, δαπανήσας εἰς μόνας τὰς μηχανὰς τῆς ἀνόδου, δι' ὧν οἱ τεχνῖται ἱστάμενοι καὶ τὰς ὕλας ἀναγομένας δεχόμενοι ᾠκοδόμουν τὸ πεπτωκός, χρυσίου κεντηνάρια δέκα. Οἱ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων μεγιστᾶνες μηνιῶντες τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὁ μὲν Φωκᾶς Βάρδας καί τινες σὺν αὐτῷ ὅτι περ εἰς Βουλγαρίαν ἐκστρατεύσας ὑπερεῖδεν αὐτούς, μηδ' ἐν Καρὸς λογισάμενος μοίρᾳ, ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι δι' ἄλλους προπηλακισμούς τε καὶ παροινίας, ὁ δὲ μάγιστρος Εὐστάθιος ὁ Μαλεῗνος διὰ τὸ ἀτίμως ἀπὸ τῆς εἰρη μένης ἐκστρατείας ἀποπεμφθῆναι, συναθροισθέντες ἐν τῷ Χαρ σιανῷ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ῥηθέντος Μαλεΐνου, ιεʹ τοῦ Αὐγούστου μηνός, τῆς ιεʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος, Βάρδαν τὸν Φωκᾶν ἀνεῖπον βασιλέα, διάδημά τε περιθέντες αὐτῷ καὶ