after the reconciliation with his stepfather, bagrat was finally able to receive fealty from rati who abandoned his duchy at swordpoint and retired to his minor patrimony in argveti, western georgia. david was murdered by his nobles in 1000, and his possessions, according to the previous agreement, passed to the byzantine emperor basil ii. bagrat and gurgen, this latter now reigning as "king of kings of the georgians" in parts of the southwestern kartlian lands (994–1008), met with basil but, unable to prevent the annexation of david’s realm, were forced to recognize the new borders. on this occasion, bagrat was bestowed with the byzantine title of "kouropalates", and gurgen with that of "magistros", actually the competing titles since the dignity conferred upon the son was more esteemed than that granted to the father. this was done by the emperor, as the georgian chronicles relate, to turn gurgen against bagrat, but he seriously miscalculated:""as gurgen was honest and veracious, and [basil] could not incite the envy in his heart and [gurgen] did not succumb to his [basil’s] ploy"."