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having refused. And the magistros Nikephoros Ouranos, having arrived in Antioch and having joined in two or three battles with Kistrinetes, the general of the Arabs, and having routed him, persuaded him to keep quiet, and brought matters to a deep and tranquil peace. And the emperor in the following year, the 15th indiction, campaigned against Vidin, and having persisted in the siege for eight whole months, took the city by storm. And while he was engaged in the siege, Samuel, having made a swift journey, attacked Adrianople by assault on the very day of the 2.455 Dormition of the most-pure Theotokos, and the festival, which was accustomed to be held annually for the public, he takes by suddenly attacking, and having taken much plunder, returned to his own lands. And the emperor, having fortified Vidin very well, returned unharmed to the capital city, while passing through, ravaging and destroying all the Bulgarian fortresses in his path. And approaching the city of Skopje, he found across the Axius river, which they now call the Vardar, Samuel encamped without a care; for he was confident in the flooding of the river. And as it would not be crossable for the time being, he was encamped carelessly. But when one of the soldiers found a ford and brought the emperor across through it, Samuel, astounded by the suddenness, fled without turning back, and his tent and the whole camp were taken. And Romanos, who had been appointed by Samuel to rule it, handed over the city of Skopje to the emperor, the son of Peter, the king of the Bulgarians, and brother of Boris, renamed Symeon with his grandfather's name; whom the emperor, accepting his choice, honored as both a patrician and a praepositus, and sent him out to be strategos of Abydos. From there the emperor, having crossed over, came to Pernik, whose guard was Krakras, a man most excellent in matters of war. Where he spent no little time and lost no small number of men in the siege, when he realized the stronghold was superior to siege, and Krakras was not softened by flattery or other promises and pledges, 2.456 he moved on to Philippopolis. And departing from there, he went away to Constantinople. And in the same indiction he issued a decree, that the taxes of the ruined poor be paid by the powerful. And such an arrangement was named allelengyon. And when Patriarch Sergius and many bishops and not a few ascetic men requested that this unreasonable burden be cut off, the emperor did not listen. And in the eighth indiction, in the year #22φιηʹ, the ruler of Egypt, Azizios, for small reasons and offenses worthy of no account, having broken the treaties with the Romans, both destroyed the divine church sumptuously erected in Jerusalem at the tomb of the saviour Christ, and defiled the holy monasteries, and drove into exile the ascetics in them to every part of the earth. And in the following year there was a most grievous winter, such that every river and lake and the sea itself were frozen solid. And in the month of January of the same indiction there was a most dreadful earthquake, and the earth continued shaking until the 9th of the month of March; and on this day around the tenth hour there was a dreadful upheaval and tremor both in the capital city and in the themes, and the domes of the church of the Holy Forty and of All Saints fell; which the emperor immediately restored. And these things foretold the revolt that happened afterwards in 2.457 Italy. For a certain notable of the inhabitants of Bari, named Meles, having incited the people in Longobardia, takes up arms against the Romans. And the emperor sends Basil Argyros, who was strategos of Samos, and the so-called Kontoleon, who was strategos of Kephalenia, to settle matters for the Romans; against whom Meles drew up in battle and routed them brilliantly, with many having fallen, and not a few taken alive, and the rest

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παραιτησαμένου. ὁ δὲ μάγιστρος Νικηφόρος ὁ Οὐρανὸς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ γενόμενος καὶ δυσὶ καὶ τρισὶ μάχαις συμ πλακεὶς Κιστρινήτῃ τῷ τῶν Ἀράβων στρατηγῷ καὶ τρεψάμενος ἔπεισεν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, καὶ τὰ πράγματα εἰς βαθεῖαν εἰρήνην καὶ γαληνιῶσαν μετήγαγεν. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς κατὰ τὸ ἐπιὸν ἔτος ἰνδικτιῶνος ιεʹ ἐκστρα τεύει κατὰ Βιδύνης, καὶ ἐφ' ὅλους ὀκτὼ μῆνας ἐμφιλοχωρήσας τῇ προσεδρείᾳ αἱρεῖ κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν. ἐν ᾧ δὲ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ οὗτος προσήδρευεν, ὁ Σαμουὴλ εὐζώνῳ χρησάμενος ὁδοιπορίᾳ ἐπι τίθεται ἐξ ἐφόδου τῇ Ἀδριανουπόλει κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς 2.455 κοιμήσεως τῆς ὑπεράγνου θεοτόκου, καὶ τήν τε πανήγυριν, ἥτις εἰώθει ἐτησίως τελεῖσθαι δημοτελής, αἱρεῖ ἐξαίφνης ἐπιπεσών, καὶ λείαν πολλὴν ὑπερποιησάμενος ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὴν Βιδύνην μάλα καλῶς ὀχυρωσάμενος ἐπανῆλθεν ἀσι νὴς εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα, ἐν τῷ διιέναι πάντα τὰ ἐν ποσὶ Βουλγαρικὰ φρούρια δῃῶν καὶ καταστρεφόμενος. τῇ πόλει δὲ τῶν Σκοπίων ἐγγίσας εὗρε πέραν Ἀξιοῦ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, ὃν νῦν Βαρδάριον ὀνο μάζουσι, κατεσκηνωμένον ἀμερίμνως τὸν Σαμουήλ· θαρρῶν γὰρ τῇ πλημμύρᾳ τοῦ ποταμοῦ. καὶ ὡς οὐ διαβατὸς τὸ νῦν ἔχον ἔσε ται, ηὐλίζετο ἀμελῶς. τινὸς δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν πόρον εὑρόντος καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν βασιλέα διαβιβάσαντος, ὁ μὲν Σαμουὴλ τῷ αἰφνιδίῳ καταπλαγεὶς ἔφυγεν ἀμεταστρεπτί, ἐλήφθη δ' ἡ τούτου σκηνὴ καὶ τὸ ὅλον στρατόπεδον. ἐνεχείρισε δὲ καὶ τὴν πόλιν τῶν Σκοπίων τῷ βασιλεῖ ὁ ταύτης ἄρχειν παρὰ τοῦ Σαμουὴλ τεταγμέ νος Ῥωμανός, ὁ Πέτρου μὲν τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Βουλγάρων υἱὸς τοῦ δὲ Βορίσου ἀδελφός, Συμεὼν τῷ τοῦ πάππου ὀνόματι μετο νομασθείς· ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀποδεξάμενος τῆς προαιρέσεως πατρί κιόν τε τιμᾷ καὶ πραιπόσιτον, καὶ στρατηγεῖν ἐκπέμπει Ἀβύδου. Ἐκεῖθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς διαβὰς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πέρνικον, οὗ φύλαξ ἦν ὁ Κρακρᾶς, ἀνὴρ ἄριστος τὰ πολεμικά. ἐν ᾧ χρόνον οὐκ ὀλίγον διατρίψας καὶ λαὸν ἐν τῇ πολιορκίᾳ οὐκ ὀλίγον ἀποβα λών, ὡς ἔγνω κρεῖττον ὑπάρχον πολιορκίας τὸ ἔρυμα, καὶ οὐδ' ὁ Κρακρᾶς θωπείαις ἢ ἄλλαις ὑποσχέσεσιν ἐμαλάσσετο καὶ ἐπαγγε 2.456 λίαις, μετέβη πρὸς Φιλιππούπολιν. ἐκεῖθέν τε ἀπάρας ἄπεισιν εἰς Κωνσταντινούπολιν. Καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπινεμήσει δόγμα ἐξέθετο, τὰς τῶν ἀπολωλό των ταπεινῶν συντελείας τελεῖσθαι παρὰ τῶν δυνατῶν. κατωνο μάσθη δὲ ἡ τοιαύτη σύνταξις ἀλληλέγγυον. τοῦ πατριάρχου δὲ Σεργίου καὶ πολλῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ ἀσκητῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων δεηθέντων ἐκκοπῆναι τὸ παράλογον ἄχθος τουτί, ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐχ ὑπήκουσεν. Ὀγδόῃ δὲ ἰνδικτιῶνι, ἐν ἔτει #22φιηʹ, ὁ τῆς Αἰγύπτου κατ άρχων Ἀζίζιος διὰ μικρὰς αἰτίας καὶ μηδενὸς λόγου προσκρούματα ἄξια τὰς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους λύσας σπονδάς, τόν τε ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐν τῷ τάφῳ τοῦ σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ἀνεγηγερμένον πολυτελῶς θεῖον ναὸν κατεστρέψατο, καὶ τὰ εὐαγῆ ἐλυμήνατο μοναστήρια, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τούτοις ἀσκουμένους ἁπανταχοῦ γῆς ἐφυγάδευσε. Τῷ δ' ἐπιόντι ἔτει γέγονε χειμὼν ἐπαχθέστατος, ὡς ἀπο κρυσταλλωθῆναι πάντα ποταμὸν καὶ λίμνην καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν θά λασσαν. καὶ Ἰανουαρίῳ μηνὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐπινεμήσεως γέγονε σει σμὸς φρικωδέστατος, καὶ διεκράτησε κλονουμένη ἡ γῆ μέχρι τῆς θʹ τοῦ Μαρτίου μηνός· ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ περὶ δεκάτην ὥραν τῆς ἡμέ ρας γέγονε βρασμὸς καὶ κλόνος φρικτὸς κατά τε τὴν βασιλίδα καὶ ἐν τοῖς θέμασι, καὶ πεπτώκασιν αἱ σφαῖραι τοῦ ναοῦ τῶν ἁγίων τεσσαράκοντα καὶ τῶν ἁγίων πάντων· ἃς ὁ βασιλεὺς εὐθὺς ἀνε κτήσατο. ταῦτα δὲ προεμήνυε τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα γενομένην ἐν Ἰτα 2.457 λίᾳ στάσιν. δυνάστης γάρ τις τῶν ἐποίκων τῆς Βάρεως, τοὔ νομα Μέλης, παραθήξας τὸν ἐν Λογγιβαρδίᾳ λαὸν ὅπλα κατὰ Ῥωμαίων αἴρει. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Βασίλειον ἐκπέμπει τὸν Ἀργυρὸν στρατηγὸν ὄντα τῆς Σάμου, καὶ τὸν λεγόμενον Κοντολέοντα τῆς Κεφαληνίας στρατηγοῦντα, ἐπὶ τῷ καταστῆσαι Ῥωμαίοις τὰ πράγματα· οἷς ἀντιπαραταξάμενος ὁ Μέλης τρέπει λαμπρῶς, πολλῶν πεπτωκότων, οὐκ ὀλίγων δὲ καὶ ζωγρηθέντων, τῶν δὲ λοι πῶν