492

A Herculean labor. And all men were for a long time subject to this heavy tyranny, crying out to God and begging for deliverance. And God sent continuous earthquakes, and terrors and dread gripped the inhabited world: in the sky the rising of comets, in the air winds and torrential rains, 2.526 and on the earth tremors and convulsions. These things foretold, I think, the destruction of the tyrants that was about to happen. In the month of May of the #22φμηʹ year, the 8th indiction, the emperor's sister Maria, mother of the Caesar, went away to Ephesus to venerate the beloved one. And on her journey, having learned of many of the outrageous things being done, she returned to Byzantium and reported everything to her brother John, and begged that some check be put to the wickedness. But he sent her away with a laugh, saying that she thought like a woman and was ignorant of what the Roman state requires. While the emperor was staying in Thessalonica, as we have said, John sent ten centenaria of gold, but the ship, seized by whirlwinds, was dashed against the Illyrian shores and wrecked. The gold was taken by Stephen, also called Voisthlavos, the ruler of the Serbs, who had shortly before fled from the city and seized the land of the Serbs, having driven Theophilos Erotikos from there. And John, putting offices up for sale and giving a free rein for injustice to all, filled the inhabited world with countless misfortunes, as the judges taxed the provincials without fear and no one paid any attention at all to what was happening. But the emperor in Thessalonica, learning of the loss of the gold, wrote to Stephen to send him his property and not to start a war of his own accord. When he paid no heed, the emperor sent an army against 2.527 him, with the eunuch George Provatas as commander. But he, upon reaching the place and recklessly falling into difficult terrain, ravines, and impassable places, lost the entire army and he himself escaped with difficulty. In this year the revolt of Bulgaria also happened in this way. A certain Bulgarian, Peter, surnamed Deleanos, a slave of a certain man of Byzantium, ran away from the city and was wandering in Bulgaria, and he reached as far as Morava and Belgrade (these are fortresses of Pannonia situated on the far side of the Ister and bordering on the kral of Tourkia), and he proclaimed himself the son of Romanos, the son of Samuel, and he stirred up the race of the Bulgarians, who had a short time before submitted their neck to slavery and were greatly yearning for freedom. Therefore, believing what was said by him, they acclaimed him emperor of Bulgaria, and setting out from there, they rushed through Naissus and Skopia, the metropolis of Bulgaria, proclaiming and hailing him, and killing every Roman they found mercilessly and inhumanly. When Basil Synadenos, who was strategos of Dyrrachium, learned this, he took the local forces and hastened to meet Deleanos before the evil became great and a conflagration was kindled. But when he was near the place called Debre, and had some conflict with one of the hypostrategoi, Michael Dermokaites, he was slandered to the emperor as plotting 2.528 a tyranny. And so he was immediately relieved of his command and, being brought to Thessalonica, was thrown into prison; and Dermokaites was appointed strategos in his place, who, administering the office unskillfully and poorly, overturned everything in a short time. For his subordinates, being defrauded and wronged, and deprived of their horses and their equipment and everything else of value they had, rose up against the strategos. But he, when he perceived he was being plotted against, escaped by stealth at night; but they, stricken with fear of the emperor, both planned a revolt and appointed as emperor one of the soldiers with them, Tihomir by name, who was renowned for his courage and intelligence.

492

ἆθλος Ἡράκλειος. καὶ διέκειντο πάντες ἄν θρωποι ὑπὸ τῆς βαρείας ταύτης τυραννίδος ἀγόμενοι ἐπὶ πολὺ θεοκλυτοῦντες καὶ ἀπαλλαγὴν ἐξαιτούμενοι. ἔσειε δὲ καὶ συνεχῶς ὁ θεός, καὶ δείματα καὶ φόβητρα κατεῖχε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἐν οὐρανῷ κομητῶν ἐπιτολαί, ἐν ἀέρι ἄνεμοι καὶ ὄμβροι ῥαγδαῖοι, 2.526 ἐν γῇ δὲ βρασμοὶ καὶ κλόνοι. ταῦτα δὲ προεμήνυον, οἶμαι, τὴν μέλλουσαν ὅσον οὐδέπω γενέσθαι καταστροφὴν τῶν τυράννων. Μαΐῳ δὲ μηνὶ τοῦ #22φμηʹ ἔτους, ἰνδικτιῶνος ηʹ, ἡ ἀδελφὴ τοῦ βασιλέως Μαρία, μήτηρ δὲ τοῦ Καίσαρος, ἄπεισιν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ εἰς προσκύνησιν τοῦ ἠγαπημένου. καὶ ἐν τῷ διιέναι πολλὰ τῶν παραλόγως πραττομένων μαθοῦσα, ὑποστρέψασα εἰς τὸ Βυζάν τιον ἀπήγγειλε πάντα τῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἰωάννῃ, καὶ παρεκάλει ἀναστο λήν τινα γενέσθαι τῆς πονηρίας· ὁ δὲ μετὰ γέλωτος αὐτὴν ἀπ επέμψατο, γυναικεῖα φρονεῖν εἰπών, καὶ ἀγνοεῖν ὅσων ἡ πολιτεία δεῖται Ῥωμαίων. ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ δέ, ὡς εἴπομεν, τῷ βασιλεῖ διατρίβοντι χρυσίου ὁ Ἰωάννης ἔπεμψε κεντηνάρια δέκα, ὑπὸ στροβίλων δὲ πνευμάτων ἁρπασθὲν τὸ πλοῖον τοῖς Ἰλλυρικοῖς προσερράγη αἰγιαλοῖς καὶ συνετρίβη· τὸ δὲ χρυσίον ἀφείλετο Στέ φανος ὁ καὶ Βοϊσθλάβος, ὁ τῶν Σέρβων ἄρχων, πρὸ μικροῦ τῆς πόλεως ἀποδρὰς καὶ τὸν τόπον τῶν Σέρβων κατεσχηκώς, Θεόφιλον ἐκεῖθεν τὸν Ἐρωτικὸν ἀπελάσας. ὁ δ' Ἰωάννης ὤνιον προτιθέμενος τὰς ἀρχάς, καὶ πᾶσι χαλινὸν ἐνδιδοὺς ἀδικίας, μυρίων συμφορῶν ἐνέπλησε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἀδεῶς τῶν κριτῶν φορολο γούντων τοὺς ἐγχωρίους, καὶ μηδενὸς ἐπιστροφὴν ὅλως τιθεμένου τῶν γινομένων. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ μαθὼν τὴν τοῦ χρυσίου ἀπώλειαν, γράφει τῷ Στεφάνῳ ἐκπέμψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸ ἴδιον καὶ μὴ θελῆσαι αὐθαίρετον ἀνελέσθαι πόλεμον. τοῦ δὲ μηδεμίαν ποιησαμένου ἐπιστροφήν, στρατὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκπέμπει κατ' αὐ 2.527 τοῦ, ἄρχοντα ἐκτομίαν Γεώργιον ἔχοντα τὸν Προβατᾶν. ὁ δὲ τὸν τόπον καταλαβών, καὶ δυσχωρίαις καὶ φάραγξι καὶ δυσβάτοις ἀπερισκέπτως ἐμπεσὼν τόποις, τό τε στράτευμα ὅλον ἀπώλεσε καὶ αὐτὸς δυσχερῶς διεσώθη. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει καὶ ἡ ἀποστασία γέγονε Βουλγαρίας τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. Πέτρος τις Βούλγαρος, ∆ελεάνος τὴν προσηγορίαν, δοῦλος Βυζαντίου τινὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀποδρὰς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐπλανᾶτο ἐν Βουλγαρίᾳ, καὶ κατήντησεν ἄχρι Μωράβου καὶ Βελεγράδων (φρούρια δὲ ταῦτα τῆς Παννονίας κατὰ τὴν περαίαν τοῦ Ἴστρου διακείμενα καὶ γειτονοῦντα τῷ κράλῃ Τουρκίας), καὶ υἱὸν ἑαυτὸν ἐφήμιζε Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Σαμουήλ, καὶ τὸ γένος ἀνέσειε τῶν Βουλγάρων, πρὸ ὀλίγου τὸν τράχηλον ὑποβαλὸν τῇ δουλείᾳ καὶ λίαν ὀριγνώμενον ἐλευθερίας. διὸ καὶ πιστεύσαντες τοῖς παρ' αὐτοῦ λεγομένοις βασιλέα τε αὐτὸν ἀναγορεύουσι Βουλγαρίας, καὶ ἄραντες ἐκεῖθεν διά τε Ναϊσσοῦ καὶ τῶν Σκουπίων, τῆς μητροπό λεως Βουλγαρίας, ἵεντο ἀνακηρύττοντες καὶ ἀνευφημοῦντες τοῦ τον, καὶ πάντα τὸν παρευρεθέντα Ῥωμαῖον ἀνηλεῶς καὶ ἀπαν θρώπως ἀναιροῦντες. ὅπερ μαθὼν Βασίλειος ὁ Συναδηνός, στρατηγὸς ∆υρραχίου τυγχάνων, ἄρας τὰς ἐγχωρίους δυνάμεις ἔσπευδεν ἀπαντῆσαι τῷ ∆ελεάνῳ πρὶν ἢ ἐπὶ μέγα ἀρθῆναι τὸ κα κὸν καὶ πυρκαϊὰν ἀναφθῆναι. γενόμενος δὲ κατὰ τὴν λεγομένην ∆έβρην, καὶ προσκρούσας κατά τι μετά τινος τῶν ὑποστρατήγων Μιχαὴλ τοῦ ∆ερμοκαΐτου, διαβάλλεται ἐς βασιλέα ὡς μελετῶν 2.528 τυραννίδα. καὶ ὁ μὲν εὐθὺς παραλύεται τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐν Θεσσα λονίκῃ ἀχθεὶς ἐν φυλακῇ βάλλεται, στρατηγεῖν δ' ἀντ' αὐτοῦ προχειρίζεται ὁ ∆ερμοκαΐτης, ὃς ἀπείρως καὶ φαύλως διοικῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν βραχεῖ χρόνῳ τὰ πάντα ἀνέτρεψε. πλεονεκτούμενοι γὰρ οἱ ὑπ' αὐτὸν καὶ ἀδικούμενοι, καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἵππους καὶ τὰ ἅρματα ἀφαιρούμενοι καὶ ἄλλο πᾶν ὅπερ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἄξιον λόγου, κατεξανίστανται τοῦ στρατηγοῦ. ἀλλ' ὁ μέν, ὡς ᾔσθετο ἐπι βουλευόμενος, νυκτὸς διαλαθὼν ἔφυγεν· οἱ δὲ τῷ ἐκ βασιλέως δέει βαλλόμενοι ἀποστασίαν τε μελετῶσι καί τινα τῶν συνόντων αὐτοῖς στρατιωτῶν, Τειχομηρὸν τοὔνομα, ἐπ' ἀνδρίᾳ καὶ συνέσει μεμαρτυρημένον, βασιλέα προχειρίζονται