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pre-eminent in intelligence and speech, having been slandered as holding pro-Bulgarian sentiments, were resettled, Paul to the plain in the Thracian theme, and Malakenos to Byzantium. Fearing to suffer this, some of the illustres from Adrianople who were distinguished in military commands, because they were suspected, defected to Samuel, Batatzes with his entire household, and Basil Glabas alone; 2.452 whose son the emperor imprisoned and held for three whole years, then released him. Then the emperor also gave a legitimate wife to the ruler of Venice, the daughter of Argyros, and sister of Romanos who later became emperor, thus winning over that nation. The emperor also made an invasion into Bulgaria through Philippopolis, having appointed the patrikios Theodorokanos to garrison it. And having destroyed many of the fortresses in Triaditza, he returned to Mosynopolis. In the #22φηʹ year, the 13th indiction, the emperor sent out a heavy force against the Bulgarian castles beyond the Haemus, with the patrikios Theodorokanos and Nikephoros Xiphias the protospatharios as its commanders, and it took Great Preslav and the small one and Pliskova, and the Roman force returned unharmed and victorious. In the following year, the emperor again set out against the Bulgarians through Thessalonica, and Dobromeros, the ruler of Beroea, defected to him, handing over the city to the emperor and being honored as anthypatos. But Nikolaos, who was guarding Servia, whom they called by the diminutive Nikolitzas because of his youth, resisted fiercely and joyfully endured the siege brought against him. 2.453 But as the emperor prosecuted it with determination, the fortress was taken and Nikolitzas himself; and having resettled the Bulgarians from there, the emperor appointed Romans to guard it. And having done these things, he returned to the capital, bringing Nikolitzas with him, whom he also honored with the rank of patrikios. But he, being of an unsteady mind, escaped from there, secretly got away to Samuel, and coming with him, besieged Servia. But the emperor, appearing swiftly again, broke the siege of the city, as Nikolitzas fled with Samuel. But the faithless one did not escape completely; for, falling into a Roman ambush, he was captured, and being brought in chains to the emperor, he was thrown into prison, having been sent to Constantinople. The emperor, having gone to Thessaly, rebuilt the fortresses in it that had already been razed by Samuel, and having taken by siege those held by the Bulgarians, he resettled the Bulgarians into the so-called Boleron, and leaving a strong garrison in all of them, he returned to the place called Vodena; Vodena is a fortress situated on a steep rock, through which the water of lake Ostrovo flows down, running unseen under the earth and then plunging under again there. And since those inside did not surrender themselves willingly, he took it by siege. And having likewise settled them in Boleron, and having fortified this with a considerable garrison, he returned to Thessalonica. The commander of the fortress, Draxanos, a warrior, 2.454 asked to live in Thessalonica. When the emperor consented, he married the daughter of the first of the peribatarioi of the church of the prize-winning Demetrios, and had two children by her. Then he escaped and was caught, and through the intercession of his father-in-law he was pardoned. And having escaped a second time he was similarly released. And after having two more children, he escaped a third time, and being captured, was impaled.

And since the Noumerite and Ataphite Arabs were terribly ravaging both Coele-Syria and Antioch itself, the emperor sent out the magistros Nikephoros Ouranos as governor of Antioch, having made the patrikios David Arianites his successor in Thessalonica. In Philippopolis he appointed the protospatharios Nikephoros Xiphias to be strategos, since Theodorokanos on account of old age

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συνέσει καὶ λόγῳ ἐμπρέπων, διαβληθέντες ὡς τὰ Βουλγάρων φρο νοῦντες μετῳκίσθησαν, ὁ μὲν Παῦλος εἰς τὴν ἐν Θρᾳκησίῳ πε διάδα, ὁ δὲ Μαλακηνὸς εἰς Βυζάντιον. τοῦτο παθεῖν φοβηθέν τες καί τινες τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀδριανουπόλεως ἰλλούστριοι καὶ στρατη 2.452 γικαῖς ἀρχαῖς διαπρέψαντες διὰ τὸ ὑποπτεύεσθαι τῷ Σαμουὴλ προσερρύησαν, ὁ μὲν Βατάτζης πανοικί, μόνος δὲ Βασίλειος ὁ Γλαβᾶς· οὗ τὸν υἱὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς καθεῖρξε καὶ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ὅλους ἐνιαυτοὺς κατεῖχεν, εἶτα ἀπέλυσε. τότε καὶ τῷ ἄρχοντι Βενετίας γυναῖκα νόμιμον ἔδωκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Ἀργυροῦ, ἀδελφὴν δὲ Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα βασιλεύσαντος, τὸ ἔθνος οὕτως ὑποποιούμενος. ἐποιήσατο δὲ καὶ εἰσβολὴν ἐν Βουλγαρίᾳ διὰ Φιλιππουπόλεως ὁ βασιλεύς, ταύτην φρουρεῖν τάξας τὸν πα τρίκιον Θεοδωροκάνον. καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἐν Τριαδίτζῃ φρουρίων καταστρεψάμενος ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Μοσυνόπολιν. Τῷ δὲ #22φηʹ ἔτει, ἰνδικτιῶνος ιγʹ, δύναμιν βαρεῖαν ἐκπέμ ψας ὁ βασιλεὺς κατὰ τῶν πέραν τοῦ Αἵμου Βουλγαρικῶν κάστρων, ἀρχηγοὺς ἔχουσαν τὸν πατρίκιον Θεοδωροκάνον καὶ Νικηφόρον πρωτοσπαθάριον τὸν Ξιφίαν, τήν τε μεγάλην εἷλε Περσθλάβαν καὶ τὴν μικρὰν καὶ τὴν Πλίσκοβαν, καὶ ἀσινὴς καὶ τροπαιοῦχος ἡ Ῥωμαϊκὴ ὑπενόστησε δύναμις. Τῷ δ' ἐπιόντι πάλιν ἔτει ἄπεισι κατὰ Βουλγάρων ὁ βασι λεὺς διὰ Θεσσαλονίκης, καὶ προσερρύη αὐτῷ ∆οβρομηρὸς ὁ τῆς Βερροίας κατάρχων, παραδοὺς καὶ τὴν πόλιν τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ ἀνθύ πατος τιμηθείς. ὁ δὲ τὰ Σέρβια φυλάττων Νικόλαος, ὃν Νι κολιτζᾶν ὑποκοριζόμενοι διὰ τὸ βραχὺ τῆς ἡλικίας ἐκάλουν, ἐκθύ μως ἀντεῖχε καὶ τὴν ἐπενηνεγμένην αὐτῷ γεγηθότως ὑπέφερε πο 2.453 λιορκίαν. φιλοτίμως δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως χρησαμένου αὐτῇ ἑάλω τὸ φρούριον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Νικολιτζᾶς· καὶ μετοικίσας ἐκεῖθεν τοὺς Βουλγάρους ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίους φυλάττειν ἐπέστησε. καὶ ταῦτα δράσας ἐπάνεισι πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα, ἐπαγόμενος μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὸν Νικολιτζᾶν, ὃν καὶ πατρικιότητι ἐτίμησεν. ἀλλ' ἀβεβαίου γνώμης οὗτος τυχών, ἐκεῖθεν ἀποδράς, ἔλαθεν ἀνασωθεὶς πρὸς τὸν Σαμουήλ, καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐλθὼν ἐπολιόρκει τὰ Σέρβια. ἀλλὰ πάλιν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὀξὺς ἐπιφανεὶς τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἔλυσε πολιορκίαν, δρασμῷ χρησαμένου τοῦ Νικολιτζᾶ σὺν τῷ Σαμουήλ. ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς τέλος διέδρα ὁ ἄπιστος· λόχῳ γάρ τινι Ῥωμαϊκῷ περιπεσὼν συνελήφθη, καὶ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα δέσμιος ἀχθεὶς εἰς φυλακὴν ἐνεβλήθη ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει πεμφθείς. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐλθὼν εἰς Θετταλίαν τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ φρούρια ἤδη παρὰ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ κατα σκαφέντα ἀνωρθώσατο, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τῶν Βουλγάρων κατεχόμενα ἐκπολιορκήσας τοὺς μὲν Βουλγάρους ἐς τὸν λεγόμενον μετῴκισε Βολερόν, φρουρὰν δὲ ἐν πᾶσι καταλιπὼν ἀξιόμαχον ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὰ λεγόμενα Βοδηνά· φρούριον δὲ τὰ Βοδηνὰ ἐπὶ πέτρας ἀποτό μου κείμενον, δι' ἧς καταρρεῖ τὸ τῆς λίμνης τοῦ Ὀστροβοῦ ὕδωρ, ὑπὸ γῆς κάτωθεν ῥέον ἀφανῶς κἀκεῖσε πάλιν ὑποδυόμενον. καὶ ἐπεὶ μὴ ἑκουσίως παρεδίδοσαν ἑαυτοὺς οἱ ἔνδον, πολιορκίᾳ τοῦτο κατέσχε. καὶ τούτους ὁμοίως εἰς τὸν Βολερὸν ἀποικίσας, φρουρᾷ δὲ τοῦτο ὀχυρωσάμενος ἀξιολόγῳ, ἐπάνεισιν εἰς Θεσσα λονίκην. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ φρουρίου κατάρχων ∆ραξάνος, ἀνὴρ πολεμιστής, 2.454 ᾐτήσατο κατὰ τὴν Θεσσαλονίκην οἰκῆσαι. ἐπινεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως ἡρμόσατο γυναῖκα τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ πρώτου τῶν περι βαταρίων τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἀθλοφόρου ∆ημητρίου, καὶ παῖδας ἐξ αὐτῆς ἔσχε δύο. εἶτα ἀποδρὰς ἑάλω, καὶ ἐντεύξει τοῦ κηδεστοῦ συνεχωρήθη. καὶ δεύτερον ἀποδρὰς ὁμοίως ἀφείθη. καὶ ἕτερα δὲ τέκνα δύο ποιήσας τὸ τρίτον ἀπέδρα, καὶ συλληφθεὶς ἀνεσκο λοπίσθη.

Τῶν δὲ Νουμεριτῶν καὶ Ἀταφιτῶν Ἀράβων δεινῶς τήν τε κοίλην Συρίαν καὶ αὐτὴν κατατρεχόντων τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν, τὸν μά γιστρον Νικηφόρον τὸν Οὐρανὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄρχοντα Ἀντιοχείας ἐκπέμπει, διάδοχον αὐτοῦ τῆς Θεσσαλονίκης πεποιηκὼς τὸν πα τρίκιον ∆αβὶδ τὸν Ἀριανίτην. ἐν δὲ Φιλιππουπόλει τὸν πρωτο σπαθάριον Νικηφόρον τὸν Ξιφίαν στρατηγεῖν ἔταξε, τοῦ Θεοδω ροκάνου διὰ γῆρας