History of Aristakes Lastivertts'i

And in the same place, the king of the Abkhaz, Bagrat, and his father, Gurgen, came to meet him, and the autocrat king honored them greatly. And he gave to Bagrat the honor of kouropalates and to his father that of magistros Byzantine title, and sent them away in peace. And he himself 5 traveled, passed through Hark a region and Manazkert, and having taken... he turned toward Bagrevand and came to the city of Ukhtikʻ, and took control of many provinces, fortresses, and cities. And he placed agents, judges, and overseers over them; and he himself returned on his way in peace and reached his imperial city, 10 Constantinople. This happened in the year 450, and the land having rested, it was quiet for fourteen years.

And the king himself went to settle the concerns of the western side; for he took control of the world of the Bulgarians, their provinces and cities, which for a long time since the beginning of his reign he could not bring under his hand with 15 unceasing wars; but now the opportunities turned out to his advantage. For he who held the world—the victor in battles—died his own death; but his sons, because they did not obey one another, surrendered and went to the king; for:

"Every kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." Mark 3:24

20 This is the example of the taking of the Bulgarian land. And the king, having removed the sons of the Bulgarian tyrant from their inheritance with gifts and rank, gave them places in the land of the Romans; and the troops of the country he gathered into one place by deception, as if to give them gifts, and having taken a count of them by document, he sent them to the east never to return...