Цар Самоил (Македонска Склавиниа)
Прва Македонска држава и македонске кнежевине-склавиниите 

Први македонски склавинии (кнежевине) јављају се крајем 6. века. 
Сви становници склавиниите...
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Някои средновековни извори за царството на Самуил / Some medieval sources about the Samuel's Empire:

1. Византийският автор Йоан Скилица, 11 век / The Byzantine author John Skylitzes, 11th century:

The Battle of Kleidion, 29 July 1014

Reigns of Basil and Constantine, c. 35 (ed. Thurn, pp. 348-9)

The emperor [Basil] did not relent, but every year he marched into Bulgaria and laid waste and ravaged all before him. [The Bulgarian ruler] Samuel was not able to resist openly, nor to face the emperor in open warfare, so, weakened from all sides, he came down from his lofty lair to fortify the entrance to Bulgaria with ditches and fences. Knowing that the emperor always made his incursions through so-called “Kiava Longon” 1 and [the pass known as] “Kleidion,” he undertook to fortify the difficult terrain to deny the emperor access. A very wide fence ( phragmon ) was built and worthy defenders were committed to it to stand against the emperor. When he arrived and made an attempt to enter [Bulgaria], the guards defended the wall manfully and bombarded and wounded the attackers from above. When the emperor had thus despaired of gaining passage, Nikephoros Xiphias, the strategos of Philippopolis, met with the emperor and urged him to stay put and continue to assault the wall, while, as he explained, he turned back with his men and, heading round to the south of Kleidion through rough and trackless country, crossed the very high mountain known as Belasica. On 29 July, in the twelfth indiction [1014, Xiphias and his men] descended suddenly on the Bulgarians, from behind and screaming battle cries. Panic stricken by the sudden assault [the Bulgarians] turned to flee, while the emperor broke through the abandoned wall. Many [Bulgarians] fell and many more were captured; Samuel barely escaped from danger with the aid of his son, who fought nobly against his attackers, placed him on a horse, and made for the fortress known as Prilep. The emperor blinded the Bulgarian captives -- around 15,000 they say -- and he ordered every hundred to be led back to Samuel by a one-eyed man. And when [Samuel] saw the equal and ordered detachments returning he could not bear it manfully nor with courage, but was himself struck blind and fell in a faint to the ground. His companions revived him for a short time with water and smelling salts, and somewhat recovered he asked for a sip of cold water. Taking a gulp he had a heart attack and died two days later on 6 October.

http://homepage.mac.com/paulstephenson/trans/scyl1.html

2. Български превод на хрониката на Константин Манасий, 14 век / The Bulgarian translation of the Manasses Chronicle, XIV century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kleidion

3. Летопис Попа Дукљанина:

XXXIII

Kraljevstvo naslijedi Tuđemir i, pošto se oženio, rodi sina koga nazva Hvalimir. U to vrijeme u bugarskom narodu se uzdignu neki Samuil, koji je zapovijedio da ga zovu carem, i vodio je mnogo ratova protiv Grka, koje izbači iz čitave Bugarske, tako da u njegovo vrijeme oni nijesu više smjeli da se približe toj strani.

http://www.montenegrina.net/pages/p...etopis_pop_dukljanina_latinicna_redakcija.htm

4. Византийският автор Кекавмен, 11 век / The Byzantine writer Cecaumenus, 11th century:

It was in this way that, in the gorge of Zagora, the porphyrogenitus Emperor Lord Basil captured fourteen thousand Bulgarians, headed by the excellent warrior Samuil.

http://www.promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#11

5. Грамоти на византийския император Василий II Българоубиец за създаването на Охридската и на цяла България архиепископия / Charters by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II the Bulgar Slayer about the foundation of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and whole Bulgaria:

Many and great are the favours which man-loving God has at different times conferred upon our Empire and which surpass all number; the greatest of them is that the Byzantine State has expanded and that the State of the Bulgarians has passed under one yoke /with it/.

Therefore on account of this we confirm the most pious monk Ioan to be Archbishop of Bulgaria and to direct affairs relating to the archbishopric.

http://www.promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#12

6. Битолски надпис на цар Иван Владислав / The Bitola Inscription of Tsar Ivan Vladislav

† Въ лѣто [...] отъ створенїа мира обнови сѧ съ градь зидаемъ и дѣлаемъ Їѡаном самодрьжъцемъ блъгарьскомь и помощїѫ и молїтвамї прѣс ҃тыѧ влад ҃чицѧ нашеѧ Б ҃чѧ ї въз()стѫпенїе I ҃В ҃ ı връховънюю ап ҃лъсъ же градь дѣлань бысть на ѹбѣжище и на сп҃сенѥ ї на жизнь бльгаромъ начѧть же бысть градь сь Битола м ҃ца окто ҃вра въ К ҃ [...] быстъ бльгарїнь родомь [...] благовѣрьнѹ сынь Арона [...] іаже ı разбїсте [...] кде же взѧто бы [...] ц҃рь [...] оть створенїѧ мира ...[...] и сходѧщѹ

http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Битољски_натпис

Цитати от основния взантийски извор за периода на цар Самуил - Йоан Скилица, 11 век / Citations from the main Byzantine source for Samuel's period - John Skylitzes, 11th century:

1. Peter, Tsar of the Bulgarians, renewed the peace immediately after his wife's death and concluded a treaty with the Emperors and gave as hostages his own sons Boris and Roman. Not long afterwards, he died. After this his sons were sent to Bulgaria to occupy their father's Kingdom and to stop the advance of the Kometopouli. Because David, Moses, Aaron and Samuil, sons of one of the powerful comites of Bulgaria, were /planning an uprising and were/ spreading unrest throughout the Bulgarian State...

http://www.promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#15

2. Immediately after the death of Emperor Ioannes1 the Bulgarians rose in revolt and four brothers were chosen to govern them: David, Moses, Aaron and Samuil, sons of one of the all-powerful comites of the Bulgarians and for this reason named Kometopouli...Of the four brothers, David was immediately killed by some Wallachian vagabonds between Castoria, Prespa and the so-called “Fair Oak Wood.” While besieging Seres, Moses was hit by a stone cast from the wall and died. Aaron was killed by his brother Samuil on July 142 in the place called Razmetanitsa, together with all his kin, because he was a sup porter, so they say, of the Byzantines, or because he was trying to seize power for himself. Only his son Vladislav Ivan was saved by Samuil's son Radomir Roman. Thus Samuil became the absolute ruler of all Bulgaria ...

http://www.promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#16

3. Samuil set out against Thessalonica and deployed the main part of his army in ambushes and traps, and he sent only a small part on an incursion to Thessalonica itself [...] Samuil camped on the opposite bank. Because of the torrential rains, the river rose and caused floods, so that no battle was expected at that moment. The magister, however, by inspecting the upper and lower reaches of the river, found a place through which he thought he could cross. In the night, having roused his troops, he crossed the river and attacked Samuil's soldiers in their carefree sleep. A very large number of them were massacred, without anybody thinking of defense. Samuil himself and his son Roman were wounded, receiving grave wounds, and would have been taken prisoners, had they not mixed with the dead, lying as though dead. When night fell, they secretly fled towards the Aetolian Mountains and from there, across the peaks of these mountains, crossed the Pindus and took refuge in Bulgaria. And the magister, after freeing the Byzantines who had been taken prisoners, and strip ping the Bulgarians who had fallen, looted the enemy camp and with very rich booty returned to Thessalonica with his troops...

In 6508, indiction 13, /= 999/ the Emperor sent a strong army against the Bulgarian fortresses beyond the Haemus Mountains ... The Byzantine troops captured Great and Little Preslav, as well as Pliska, and returned unscathed and victorious.

The following year, the Emperor again set out against the Bulgarians via Thessalonica. He was joined by the governor of Berrhoea,1 Dobromir, who sur rendered the town to the Emperor and was honoured with the dignity of anthypatus. The defender of Servia2 Nikola, who, because of his small stature was called by the diminutive name of Nikolitsa, put up valiant resistance and cheerfully endured the siege imposed on him. The Emperor, however, set himself the task of capturing the fortress and succeeded, taking Nikolitsa himself prisoner. He deported the Bulgarians from there and left a garrison of Byzantines. After all this he returned to the capital, taking Nikolitsa with him, whom he honoured with the title of patrician. But the inconstant Nikolitsa es caped from there and returning secretly to Samuil, together with him began to besiege Servia. The Emperor, however, moved swiftly and lifted the siege from the town and Nikolitsa fled with Samuil... The Emperor went to Thessaly and rebuilt the fortresses destroyed by Samuil, while those which were in the hands of Bulgarians he captured by siege and resettled the Bulgarians in the so-called Voleron.3 After posting strong garrisons in all fortresses, he returned to the place known as Voden. Voden is a small fortress situated on steep cliffs where the waters of the Ostrovo Lake fall after running unseen below the ground and coming to the surface again at this place. As the inhabitants of this town did not surrender of their own free will, the Emperor took it by siege. He deported them also to Voleron, then installed a strong guard in the town and returned to Thessalonica.

[...]

In the following year, indiction 15 /= 1003/, the Emperor set out on a campaign against Vidin and captured it by force after full eight months of siege. While he was busy with the siege, Samuil with a swift movement suddenly fell on Adrianople on the very feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. With a sudden assault he also seized the fair annually held there and attended by a great crowd and, after collecting much booty, he returned to his country. And the Emperor, after fortifying Vidin very well returned to the capital without losses, having devastated and destroyed all the Bulgarian fortresses on his way. When he ap proached the town of Skopje, he found Samuil calmly camping across the Axios river, which is now called Vardar. Relying on the river being in flood and thus impossible to ford, he had set up his camp in a negligent manner. But a soldier found a ford and led the Emperor through it. Shocked by his sudden appearance, Samuil hastily fled in confusion, and his tent and the entire camp were captured. And the town of Skopje was surrendered to the Emperor by Roman, the son of Peter, Tsar of the Bulgarians, and brother of Boris, called also Simeon after his grandfather and placed there as governor by Samuil. The Emperor received him and after honouring him for his decision with the title of patrician and prepositor, sent him as a strategus to Abydos.

Continuing from there, the Emperor set out for Pernik, whose defender was Krakra, a man excellent in military matters. He spent a considerable time there and lost no small number of soldiers in the siege. Finding the fortress im pregnable and Krakra impervious to flattery or other promises and proposals, he returned to Philippopolis, whence he returned to Constantinople.

http://www.promacedonia.org/en/ban/ma1.html#17

Цитати от основния взантийски извор за периода на цар Самуил - Йоан Скилица, 11 век / Citations from the main Byzantine source for Samuel's period - John Skylitzes, 11th century:

4 A. Every year the Emperor continued to invade Bulgaria and devastated and laid waste everything on his way. Samuil could not put up opposition in the open field, nor could he come out in an open battle against the Emperor, and he suffered defeats on all sides and began to lose his strength. For this reason he decided to dig trenches and block the Emperor's road to Bulgaria ... The Emperor was already losing hope of getting through when Nicephorus Xiphias, appointed it that time by him as strategus of Philippopolis, persuaded him to remain there and to keep up his constant assaults on the barrier, saying that he would go to see whether he could not do something advantageous and salutary. And so, having taken his soldiers ..., all of a sudden, with cries and noise, he appeared on high ground in the rear of the Bulgarians. Terrified by his sudden appearance, they fled. The Emperor destroyed the abandoned palisade and began to pursue them. Many were slain and many more were captured. Samuil was barely saved from death by his son, who valiantly warded off the attackers. He put him on a horse and led him to the fortress called Prilep. And the Emperor blinded the captive Bulgarians, about 15,000 so they say, ordering each group of one hundred to be led by a soldier with one eye, and thus sent them to Samuil. When the latter saw them coming in rows of equal numbers he could not stand this suffering courageously and in silence, but became unwell, fainted and fell to the ground. Those present tried to restore his breathing with water and perfumes and succeeded in bringing him round a little. When he had recovered consciousness, he asked for cold water, but after taking a drink, he suffered a heart attack, and two days later he died. His son Gavril, called also Roman, who surpassed his father in might and force but was far inferior to him in wisdom and reason, took power over the Bulgarians. He was Samuil's son by a slave girl from Larissa. He began to rule on September 15, indiction 13 /1014/. A year had not passed before he was murdered while out hunting by Aaron's son, Ivan Vladislav, whom he had rescued from death when he was about to perish.

Before these occurrences, at the time when Theophylactus Botaniates was sent as governor of Thessalonica, following Arianites, David Nestoritsa, a Bulgarian noble, was sent by Samuil with a large army against Thessalonica. Theophylactus met them with his son Michael, engaged in battle against them and utterly defeated them. He took much booty and many prisoners and brought them to the Emperor, who was besieging the barrier at the Gorge of Kleidion.1 Passing through the barrier, as we have already said, the Emperor advanced to Stroumitsa and captured the fortress, called Matzukion, situated near Stroumitsa. He also sent the Thessalonica duke Theophylactus Botaniates with his troops, ordering him to cross the hills at Stroumitsa, so as to burn the palisades on the roads to them and open a convenient road for him to Thessalonica. He set out, and the Bulgarians guarding these places let him pass everywhere unimpeded along the road. But when he was preparing to return to the Emperor after having fulfilled his orders, he fell into ambushes set up for this purpose and waiting in a long and narrow pass. When he entered it, sur rounded from all sides and showered from above with stones and arrows, he fell dead without anyone being able to help him and without being able to make use of his hands, owing to the narrow and impassable place. A large part of the army perished with him. When this was reported to the Emperor, he was filled with great sorrow. It was because of this that he did not dare advance but turned back and arrived in Zagoria where the extremely strong fortress of Melnik stood, built on a rock and encircled on all sides by steep and very deep precipices. The Bulgarians from the area had gathered there and were not at all interested in the Byzantines. The Emperor sent to them one of his menservants, a eunuch named Sergius, an intelligent and eloquent man, to find out what their mood was. Once there, he succeeded by dint of much persuasion in con vincing these people to lay down their arms and to surrender, together with the fortress, to the Emperor. The Emperor received them and conferred honours upon them, and leaving a sufficient garrison in the fortress, he returned to Mosynopolis.2 While he was there, they informed him also of Samuil's death on October 24. The Emperor immediately left Mosynopolis and went down towards Thessalonica, and from there he went to Pelagonia, without devastating the lands on his way, and merely burning Gavril’s palaces in Buteli.3 Having sent troops, he captured the fortresses of Prilep and Stip. From there he reached the river called Cherna, which he crossed on rafts and inflated skins and returned to Voden , whence on January 9 /1015/ he went to Thessalonica.

Цитати от основния взантийски извор за периода на цар Самуил - Йоан Скилица, 11 век / Citations from the main Byzantine source for Samuel's period - John Skylitzes, 11th century:

4 B. In the early spring the Emperor again returned to Bulgaria and set out for the fortress of Voden, because its inhabitants, betraying their loyalty to the Emperor, had taken up arms against the Byzantines. Moreover, he strongly besieged the town and compelled them to surrender, after receiving guarantees. He again deported them to Voleron, and in the middle of the pass he erected two other fortresses, one of which he named Kardia, and the other Saint Elijah, and returned to Thessalonica. There, through a Byzantine who had lost one hand, Roman Gavril sent a promise of submission and obedience. The Emperor treated the letter with suspicion and he sent an army under Nicephorus Xiphias and Constantine Diogenes, who had become strategus of Thessalonica after Botaniates, to the region of Moglena. After they devastated all this land and besieged the town, the Emperor himself arrived. He diverted the river that flowed by the city and, having undermined the foundations of the walls, he threw wood and other easily inflammable substances into the excavations and set them on fire. When the combustible substances burned out, the wall crumbled. On seeing this, the besieged began to weep and plead, and sur rendered, together with the fortress. And so Dometian Kaukhanus,4 a noble and counselor to Gavril, the governor of Moglena Ilitsa and many other noblemen and a considerable number of soldiers were captured. And so the Emperor sent those fit to bear arms to Asprakania, while the other non-combatants he ordered to be plundered and the fortress to be burned. Another fortress, called Enotia, adjacent to Moglena, also fell.

On the fifth day the handless Byzantine arrived together with officials of Ivan Vladislav, Aaron's son. He carried a letter in which Ivan Vladislav reported that he had killed Gavril in Petrisk5 and that he had assumed full power. /In the letter/ he also promised to offer the Emperor the submission and obedience due to him. Having read the letter and reaffirmed his decision with a royal decree, the Emperor sent envoys to Ivan. In a few days’ time the Greek with the severed hand again returned with a letter from Ivan and the Bulgarian notables, who declared that they were ready to become subjects and slaves of the Emperor. Kaukhanus, the brother of Dometian, who had been captured in Moglena, also joined the Emperor. The Emperor received him and held him in esteem. When he realized that Ivan had written the letter with cunning and duplicity and that he was thinking the opposite of what he promised, he again returned to Bulgaria and devastating the areas around Ostrovo, Sosk, as well as the plain of Pelagonia, he blinded all the Bulgarians whom he captured. And thus he reached the town of Ohrid, where the palaces of the Tsars of Bulgaria stood. After he had occupied the town and made all the necessary arrangements, he decided to proceed further and to go to Dyrrachium because affairs there required his presence. And indeed, as long as Vladimir,6 who was married to Samuil's daughter, a just, peace-loving and virtuous man, was in possession of Trimalia and the lands in the vicinity of Servia, peace reigned in Dyrrachium. But after Gavril had been murdered by Ivan, Vladimir trusted the oaths which Ivan passed on to him through David, the Archbishop of Bulgaria, gave himself up and was soon killed. Then great confusion and disorder set in there, because Ivan frequently tried in every way through military commanders and personally to recapture the town. The Emperor, therefore, wanted to go to help him but was stopped by a serious consideration. Because on his march to Ohrid he had left in the rear the strategus Georgius Gonitziates and the cap tured protospatharius Orestes with a large army, ordering them to devastate the plains of Pelagonia.7 The Bulgarians, however, led by the military commander Ivats, a most outstanding and well-tried man, caught them in an ambush and killed them all. Seized with sorrow for them, the Emperor returned to Pelagonia and pursuing Ivats closely, reached Thessalonica and then went to Mosynopolis. He sent against Stroumitsa a force under the patrician David Arianites, who appeared suddenly and captured the fort called Thermitsa.8 He sent another force under Xiphias against the fortresses near Triaditsa. Having taken all fortresses situated in the open, he besieged and captured the fortress called Boion /Boyana/.

[...]

That same year 6524, indiction 14 /1016/, the Emperor left the Capital and set out for Triaditsa. He encircled the fortress of Pernik and besieged it but its defenders fought valiantly and courageously and many Byzantines were killed. The Emperor maintained the siege for a full 88 days but, understanding that he had undertaken something impossible, he withdrew, without doing anything, and returned to Mosynopolis. He left his army to rest there an$, with the coming of spring, he left Mosynopolis, invaded Bulgaria, besieged the for tress named-Longon and took it by siege. Sending David Arianites and Constantine Diogenes to the plains of Pelagonia, he captured a lot of cattle and men. The Emperor, having burned the fortress, divided the prisoners into three parts: one part he gave to his Russian allies, the other to the Byzantines and the third he kept for himself. Then he moved on and, on reaching Castoria, he tried to take the fortress but realized that it was impregnable and turned back. Moreover, he had received a letter from the strategus of Dorostol, Cicikius, the son of the patrician Teudatus the Iverian, /who informed him/ that Krakra had collected a very numerous army and had joined Ivan; they had also won over the Pechenegs and intended to attack the Byzantines. Troubled by this letter, the Emperor immediately returned. On the way he captured the fortress of Bosograd and burned it, rebuilt Berrhoea, and devastated and destroyed everything around Ostrovo and Moliscus. He gave up any further advance because he had been informed that the campaign against the Byzantines planned by Krakra and Ivan had been called off, because the Pechenegs had failed to give them military assistance. That is why he returned and besieged another fortress, Setaena, where Samuil had had palaces and where a large amount of wheat was stored. The Emperor ordered the troops to seize it, and burned everything. Against Ivan, who was not very far away, he sent the detachment of the Western scholae9 and the Thessalonica detachment com manded by Constantine Diogenes. When they went, Ivan laid a trap for them. On learning this, the Emperor feared lest something bad should happen to them and, riding before the army said only: 'Let him who is a soldier follow me!' and swiftly rushed forward. On seeing this, Ivan's scouts ran terrified towards Ivan's camp and filled it with confusion and disturbance, crying only: 'Run for your lives, the Tsar!' Since everyone, including Ivan, were fleeing in disorder, the men of Diogenes took courage and began to pursue them. They killed many and captured 200 heavily armed soldiers, their horses and Ivan's baggage, as well as his nephew. Having done this, the Emperor returned to Voden, arranged everything there and set out for Constantinople on January 9, indiction 15, 6526 /1018/.

Цитати от основния взантийски извор за периода на цар Самуил - Йоан Скилица, 11 век / Citations from the main Byzantine source for Samuel's period - John Skylitzes, 11th century:

4 C. Ivan availed himself of the respite given him and went to besiege Dyrrachium with barbarian haughtiness and superciliousness. When a battle started in the course of the siege, he fell dead without any one being able to un derstand who had struck him. He had ruled over the Bulgarians for 2 years and 5 months. As soon as the Emperor was informed of his death by the patrician Nikita Pigonites, strategus of Dyrrachium, he departed immediately. On reaching Adrianople, he was met by the brother and son of the famous Krakra, who brought him the good news that they were surrendering to him the well-known fortress of Pernik and 3 5 other fortresses. The Emperor gave them high dignities and, after making Krakra a patrician, he went to Mosynopolis. En voys from Pelagonia, Morovizd10 and Lipenium11 came there and surrendered the towns to the Emperor. Setting out from there, the Emperor went to Seres, where Krakra arrived together with the commanders of the 35 fortresses that had surrendered; he was well received. Dragomuzh, who surrendered Stroumitsa and was created a patrician, also went over to the Emperor. He brought with him the patrician Ioannes the Chaldias, who was then released from long years of imprisonment (because he had been captured by Samuil and had spent 2 years in gaol). Immediately after this the Emperor approached Stroumitsa and there came to him David the Archbishop of Bulgaria, with a letter from Maria, Ivan's wife, promising to renounce Bulgaria if her wishes were fulfilled. To him there came also Bogdan, the toparchos of the fortresses in the interior and he was also made a patrician because for a long time he had favoured the Emperor and had murdered his father-in-law. From there /the Emperor/ set out for Skopje. Stationing the patrician David Arianites in the town as a strategus with full powers he moved back through the fortresses of Shtip and Prosek, greeted and honoured with prayers and hymns. But he immediately turned right and went to Ohrid where he set up camp. The entire population welcomed him with battle songs, greetings and praises. The town of Ohrid is situated on a high hill, near a very large lake, from which the Drin river rises and flows to the north, subsequently turning west and flowing into the Ionian Sea near the fortress of Eilisos. Ohrid was the principal town of all Bulgaria; there the palaces of the tsars of Bulgaria were erected and there their riches were kept. Having opened /the treasury/, the Emperor found a lot of money, crowns with pearls, garments embroidered with gold and 100 centenaria of gold pieces; all this he spent on pay for his troops. And so, leaving the patrician Eustathius Daphnomelus as governor of the town and providing him with a reliable guard, he returned to his camp. /There/ he received the wife of Ivan Vladislav whom they brought to him with her three sons and six daughters. She also brought with her an illegitimate son of Samuil, and two daughters and five sons of Samuil's son Radomir, one of whom Ivan had maimed by gouging out his eyes, when he had murdered Samuil's son Radomir together with his wife and his son-in-law Vladimir. Maria had three other sons by Ivan, but they had succeeded in escaping to Mount Tmor, the highest of the Keraunian Mountains. The Emperor received her kindly and gave instructions for her to be guarded benevolently together with the others. Other Bulgarian nobles, each one with his detachment, also came to the Emperor: Nestoritsa, Zaritsa and the young Dragomir. They were favourably received and were accorded royal honours. Then even Vladislav's sons - Prusian and his two brothers - who had fled to Tmor, as we have related earlier, tormented by the prolonged siege (because the soldiers stationed by the Emperor were guarding the ways out of the mountain), informed the Emperor that they wanted guarantees, and promised to surrender. The Emperor gave them a kind reply, and setting out from Ohrid went to the lake called Prespa and crossing the mountain between, erected a castle on its peak which he named Basilida, and another by the said lake. From Prespa he moved to the so-called Devol where, on a raised platform, he received the brothers of Prusian. He reassured them with benevolent and humane words and he created Prusian magister and the others patricians. Ivats, who was deprived of sight, was also brought there. I should, however, relate the manner in which he was blinded because this narrative contains something pleasant and marvelous.