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And others, also on horseback, just as each one wished, ran toward the city as if they would take it by a single shout. But when they came to be within the roads in the midst of the vineyards and reached as far as the city, then indeed Aplesphares, having given the signal with the trumpet, ordered them to set to work, and rising up from their hiding-places, the infantry shot, some with bows and others with stones, while others wounded them from the walls, with the Romans being prevented by these from defending themselves against the enemy. Thus a great rout occurred, and an infinite number of Romans were slaughtered, as their horses were unable to flee, but fell into the mud and the swamps. Therefore, Iasites, having barely been saved along with Constantine in Anion, became the very messengers of the disaster to Nicholas. And when the misfortune that had occurred was reported to the emperor, Nicholas and Iasites were stripped of their commands, and in place of Iasites, Kekaumenos was appointed douk of Iberia, and in place of Nicholas, Constantine, the commander of the great Hetaireia, was appointed strategos autokrator, a eunuch, drawing his lineage from the Saracens and who had served the emperor before his reign and kept faith 2.561 with him; who indeed, having arrived in the region and gathered the forces, set to work. And they were unwilling to attack the city of Tibion, which was the metropolis of the whole nation, but they made an attempt on the remaining forts, all those which are subject to Anion. And they took Hagia Maria and the so-called Ampier and Hagios Gregorios, very strong and precipitous fortresses, although Aplesphares often attempted to aid them while they were being besieged, and was defeated as many times. And they also came to the fortress called Chelidonion, established on a precipitous hill and not lying far from Tibion; and having encircled it with ditches and palisades, they hastened to make it surrender by means of siege; for indeed those inside the walls were running short of necessities, not having managed to bring in provisions because of the swiftness of the attack. And they would have made this one surrender too, if the rebellion of the patrikios Leo Tornikios had not suddenly been kindled from the west. For he, being strategos in Iberia and having been accused of aspiring to tyranny, is both deprived of his command and tonsured a monk and, having been brought to the city, is ordered to stay at home in Adrianople. But not bearing well the grievous things that had happened to him, secretly and little by little he first won over the strategoi in Adrianople, as many as happened to be overlooked and inactive; and through these and his own relatives, having corrupted both those who commanded the Macedonian 2.562 and Thracian tagmata, and those soldiers who were at leisure, and those who rejoiced in plundering and pillaging, and having gathered a sufficient force, he is proclaimed emperor, and having gathered all the people under him, he appears swiftly at the capital, as the emperor had neither a sufficient force for battle formation, nor did he trust the citizens that they would maintain good-will and faith toward him. And for this reason a messenger is sent to Constantine in Iberia, riding on public horses, with imperial letters ordering him to abandon the tasks at hand and come as quickly as possible with his forces to the capital. And he, having received the letters, although he had the fortress in his hands, both lifts the siege, and makes a truce with Aplesphares, having bound him with curses and oaths that he would maintain goodwill to the emperor and would never plot evil against the Romans. And having acted thus and taken up his forces, he hastened eagerly toward the capital. And so Chelidonion in this way escaped capture; but Constantine, having come down with the eastern tagmata and the entire army, himself entered the capital, while the whole host was transported by order of the emperor into Thrace, some by way of Chrysopolis opposite the capital, and some by way of Abydos on the Hellespont. But this later; but before the

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ἄλλοι δὲ καὶ ἔφιπποι, ὥς πῃ ἕκαστος ἐβούλετο, πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἔτρεχον ὡς αὐτοβοεὶ ταύτην αἱρήσοντες. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔνδον ἐγένοντο τῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀμπελώνων ὁδῶν καὶ ἄχρι τῆς πόλεως ἔφθασαν, τότε δὴ τῇ σάλπιγγι σημήνας ὁ Ἀπλησφάρης ἔργου ἐκέλευσεν ἔχεσθαι, καὶ ἐξαναστάντες ἀπὸ τῶν λόχων οἱ πεζοὶ οἱ μὲν τόξοις οἱ δὲ λίθοις ἔβαλλον, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐτίτρωσκον ἀπὸ τῶν θριγγῶν, τῶν Ῥωμαίων κωλυομένων ὑπὸ τούτων τοὺς πολεμίους ἀμύνασθαι. γίνεται οὖν τροπὴ μεγάλη, καὶ σφάζεται Ῥωμαίων ἀπείρων πλῆθος, φυγεῖν μὴ δυναμένων τῶν ἵππων, ἀλλ' ἐμπιπτόντων εἰς τὸν πηλὸν καὶ τὰ τέλματα. μόλις οὖν σωθεὶς ὁ Ἰασίτης σὺν τῷ Κωνσταντίνῳ ἐν τῷ Ἀνίῳ αὐτάγγελοι τῆς συμφορᾶς τῷ Νικολάῳ γεγόνασιν. ἀγγελθέντος δὲ τοῦ συμβάντος ἀτυχήματος τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὁ μὲν Νικόλαος καὶ ὁ Ἰασίτης ἀφαιροῦνται τὰς ἀρχάς, προχειρίζονται δὲ ἀντὶ μὲν τοῦ Ἰασίτου δοὺξ Ἰβηρίας ὁ Κεκαυμένος, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ Νικολάου στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ τῆς μεγάλης ἑταιρείας ἄρχων, εὐνοῦχος ἄνθρωπος, ἐκ Σαρακηνῶν ἕλκων τὸ γένος καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑπηρετήσας πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ πίστιν 2.561 τηρῶν ἐς αὐτόν· οἳ δὴ καὶ κατὰ χώραν γενόμενοι καὶ τὰς δυνά μεις συνηθροικότες ἔργου εἴχοντο. καὶ τῇ μὲν πόλει τοῦ Τιβίου, ἥτις ἦν τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους μητρόπολις, προσβαλεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησαν, ἀποπειρῶνται δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν φρουρίων τῶν ὅσα τῷ Ἀνίῳ ὑπό κειται. καὶ αἱροῦσι μὲν τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον Ἀμπίερ καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Γρηγόριον, λίαν ἐρυμνὰ καὶ ἀπόκρημνα ὀχυρώματι, τοῦ Ἀπλησφάρη πολλάκις ἐπιχειρήσαντος βοηθῆσαι αὐτοῖς πολιορκουμένοις, καὶ τοσαυτάκις ἡττηθέντος. ἔρχονται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ φρούριον τὸ καλούμενον Χελιδόνιον, ἐπὶ βουνοῦ τε ἀποκρήμνου ἱδρυμένον καὶ οὐ πόρρω κείμενον τοῦ Τιβίου· καὶ κυκλωσάμενοι τοῦτο τάφροις καὶ χάραξι διὰ προσεδρείας ἠπείγοντο παραστήσασθαι· καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐσπάνιζον τῶν ἀναγκαίων οἱ εἴσω τοῦ τείχους, μὴ φθάσαντες εἰσκομίσασθαι τὰ ἐπιτήδεια διὰ τὸ τῆς προσβολῆς ὀξύρροπον. καὶ παρεστήσαντο ἂν καὶ τοῦτο, εἰ μὴ αἰφνιδίως ἡ τοῦ πατρικίου Λέοντος τοῦ Τορνικίου ἐξ ἑσπέρας ἀνήφθη ἀποστασία. οὗτος γὰρ στρατηγῶν ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ καὶ δια βληθεὶς ὡς τυραννιῶν τῆς τε ἀρχῆς παραστέλλεται καὶ μοναχὸς ἀποκείρεται καὶ εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἀχθεὶς οἴκοι μένειν ἐν Ἀδριανου πόλει προστάττεται. μὴ ἐνεγκὼν δὲ εὐφόρως τὰ εἰς αὐτὸν γεγο νότα ἀνιαρά, λάθρᾳ καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν τοὺς ἐν Ἀδριανουπόλει πρότερον ὑποποιεῖται στρατηγούς, ὁπόσοι ἔτυχον ὄντες παρεωρα μένοι καὶ ἄπρακτοι· διὰ δὲ τούτων καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ συγγενῶν ὑπο φθείρας καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι τῶν Μακεδονικῶν ἦρχον ταγμάτων καὶ 2.562 Θρᾳκικῶν, καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι ἐσχόλαζον στρατιώτας καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι ταῖς λεηλασίαις καὶ ταῖς διαρπαγαῖς ἔχαιρον, καὶ χεῖρα ἱκανὴν συστησάμενος, ἀναγορεύεται βασιλεύς, καὶ ἅπαντα τὸν ὑπ' αὐ τὸν ἀγείρας λαὸν ὀξὺς ἐπιφαίνεται τῇ βασιλίδι, τοῦ βασιλέως μήτε ἱκανὸν λαὸν ἔχοντος πρὸς ἀντιπαράταξιν μήτε πιστεύοντος τοῖς πολίταις ὡς εὔνοιαν καὶ πίστιν φυλάξουσιν ἐς αὐτόν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἄγγελος ἐς τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ πέμπεται δημο σίοις ἔποχος ἵπποις μετὰ γραμμάτων βασιλικῶν κελευόντων τῶν ἐν χερσὶν ἀφέμενον ἔργων ἀφικέσθαι ὡς τάχος μετὰ τῶν δυνάμεων ἐς τὴν βασιλίδα. δεξάμενος δ' οὗτος τὰ γράμματα, καίτοι ἐν χερσὶν ἔχων τὸ φρούριον, λύει μὲν τὴν πολιορκίαν, σπένδεται δὲ τῷ Ἀπλησφάρῃ, ἀσφαλισάμενος αὐτὸν ἀραῖς καὶ ὅρκοις ὡς εὔ νοιαν διαφυλάξει τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ οὐδέποτε μελετήσει φαῦλον κατὰ Ῥωμαίων. οὕτω δὲ πράξας καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ἀναλαβὼν σπου δαίως ἠπείγετο πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα. καὶ τὸ μὲν Χελιδόνιον τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον διαδιδράσκει τὴν ἅλωσιν· ὁ δὲ Κωνσταντῖνος μετὰ τῶν ἑῴων ταγμάτων καὶ παντὸς τοῦ στρατοῦ κατελθὼν αὐτὸς μὲν εἴσεισιν εἰς τὴν βασιλίδα, τὸ δὲ πλῆθος ἅπαν περαιοῦται προστά ξει τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς Θρᾴκην, τὸ μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἀντίπορθμον τῇ βασιλίδι Χρυσόπολιν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἑλλησπόντῳ Ἄβυδον. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ὕστερον· πρὶν ἢ δὲ τὰς