On the Capture of Thessalonica by the Latins

EUSTATHIUS' NARRATIVE CONCERNING THE CITY OF THESSALONICA CAPTURED BY THE LATINS

The same Metropolitan of Thessalonica’s narrative concerning the capture of this city—may it be the last!—which was in a wretched state under the baneful empire of Andronicus Comnenus, who by his perverse rule vexed the world with many calamities, and which was shortly restored by the noble and great emperor Isaac Angelus, who succeeded him by good fortune and for the benefit of the world through the providence and benevolence of God, employing the diligence most necessary in the execution, with God assisting, as another discourse, having found the time, will recount. ^A

Proemium of this narrative.

1. The captures of cities, whether they be recounted or written down, are for the most part managed by the same methods. A writer will not necessarily deal with all the events that occur, nor will he treat equally things that are of equal importance; but the historian and simple writer will argue in a manner befitting his own nature, or will extend his discourse according to his own genius. He will paint his phrasing with excessive grace and adorn it with colors, and will cause his speech to shine, and in a word, he will strive with all his might that, while preserving the truth, it may sweetly soothe the ears. He will do everything so that, looking to what is just, since he was not present at the calamities he narrates, he may warm to the subject and describe them vividly. Thus, indeed, will the simple writer of events act. But he who was a part of this history and this calamity will touch upon all these things out of necessity, yet lightly, since there is not such a need for passion for him, and this is according to the quality of his own person. For if he were of the people, what reproach might he have if he abandoned himself to excess? But he who is dead to the world according to the spirit, and stands between tears and giving thanks to the Almighty, seeing no insurmountable evil but a great chaos, will by no means play the tragedian. The same man will not jest, dancing in the midst of mourning, as if he were to adorn his speech artificially while narrating sad events; and he will handle other literary types wisely according to his own method, neither setting forth strange tales like the dispassionate historian, nor other things which those who have not experienced such things in their own soul contrive for an untimely ambition and a display of learning. ^{B C}

2. If, therefore, the present narrative proves me to be such a man, it will immediately be apparent. This discourse will necessarily begin from the passion itself, since it does not behove one who was involved in the midst of calamities, at the very first— ^D

^A but rather, having set aside the lamentation and having cast some reproach upon the author of the evil and his associates, he will proceed to speak of things that are great, both clearly and lucidly, and to some extent even loftily. And in part simply, as was fitting, and in part more elegantly, having begun from the head—for nothing is more timely than that—it will descend into what follows in sequence and in an order by no means totally incoherent. And it will again touch upon the matters of the conquest more broadly, by every necessity, since this same subject has been proposed as the primary object of this composition.

^B 3. But that the Divine also manifests signs in such events, which here too shone forth manifestly, of such things also the discourse will touch upon in due measure. Nor will it refrain from setting forth the sinful causes for the sake of which these terrible things occurred, which even the writers themselves reasonably place in their work. The composition will faintly unearth such causes at the end of the whole discourse, according to a pedagogical method. For it is not read and edited at another time, but when the introductory teachings of the holy days of fasting are received by the ears, so that the discourse may conclude with an ecclesiastical instruction, having begun otherwise, from the evils which the city suffered.

The beginning of the narrative of the conquest

^C 4. [α'] The time of our own day has shown, if ever any other time of the ancients did, a subject which a man free from passion and standing far from the danger pertaining to it might call great, and heavy with disaster, and altogether terrible, and detestable, and not easily borne, and deeply mournful, and demanding fountains of tears, and the like. But one who is, as they say, caught in the nets and involved in the matter itself, might perhaps not be able to name that evil appropriately, being hindered by the multitude and succession of events which, as it were, swallowed up each of the calamities, demanding many and various appellations. Yet even if he could devise a name for the evil, he would not unfairly call it the shadow of a great light—he, saying nothing to stir the souls (for other words would have been needed to show passion), yet rightly adding to the magnitude of our misfortunes.

^D [β'] For is not the fact that Thessalonica, which appeared so very brilliant among the cities under heaven, should suffer such things as it now suffers, a thing of this kind? And it suffers as even its enemies might pray it would not; for even a beautiful form, when it has been destroyed, saddens even him who did not love it before. Alas, O demon! that leaped so heavily upon the prosperity of such a city and destroyed it! It carried it away so completely that not even a trace of its ancient beauty remains. And its walls, indeed, have been made useless, and all its sacred places have been outraged, to the extent that not even places are safe for all, and its beautiful houses have been disgraced; and the wealth of the citizens, some of it drained away, some of it poured out, and some otherwise dispersed—what more need be said, where there is no opportunity, as there should be, to recount these things one by one? But the multitude in the city, not only the military but also the rest, as much of it as is in the holy polity according to the world, and as much as is lay, who could weep for them as they deserve? Indeed, and as for those who fled the tumult, when they, solitary, had arrived at the harbor,

^A all were driven headlong like locusts in a harvest set on fire, in a fiery struggle toward death. The enemies, meanwhile, running around, were casting the fire of wrath into every building of the city. But the others, some caught and everywhere surrounded by this fire, had nowhere to flee, but saw manifold danger; others, however, were suffering from afar from arrows, as if from sparks, the evil [that befell them].

3. The Sun was bringing on new fields, but it could not dispel the fatal night; rather, the darkness of the falling [dead] mocked the light. Not yet had anyone time to cast off sweet sleep; instead, bitter and sleepless [death] succeeded it, and a baleful dream stood over the head of the waking—and he who saw it shut his eyes in death. He was removed from his bed in a state of wakefulness; and the hostile iron laid him down differently than he had lain down while rejoicing. Upon many, still half-naked, this wild beast invaded, for whom it was not enough to have mangled the coverings of bodies with its own teeth. If soldiers were lacerated with sharp claws, and others [who were] robust or in the very prime of life in battle, it is no wonder [that] war delights in such bodies, since it finds in them its chief nourishment. But what glory is it to slaughter feeble old men, who already stand at the doors of the tomb, bowed to the earth, and who, before they are struck, belong to Charon, whose very presence is fear? And old women, most of them blind in their eyes and deaf from extreme old age, neither seeing the flash of weapons nor hearing the thunder of threats—this is not prudent Mars at work, but a raging spear and an insane sword.

^D

and asses carrying their burdens on their backs. ^A That hill stood there, juxtaposed to the town’s turreted wall, closely resembling the mounds erected against walls which war sometimes builds. And these things happened at the gate of the acropolis that is directly before the eyes. Those whom the one within contained—since the weak commander broke it, poorly favoring flight—encountered this new kind of tragedy for themselves. ^B

6. Just as if those who had fallen in other ways were not sufficient, that man, small in good deeds but great in wickedness, increased the evil; and, as if adding a crowning touch, he himself brought the misfortune to a head, not bearing to refrain from slaughtering with his own hand those whom he had already defeated through poor judgment, or, to tell the truth, through [poor] judgment in battle, in guard duty, and in yielding, as the narrative proceeding forward will clearly portray. For he hoped, I suppose, to appease the enemies by making them his own, if indeed he allowed such a city to fall in this way; and he became an agent of slaughter himself, having also sacrificed in turn those whom the occasion meted out to him. For he did not order others to lower that main gate, which had been raised high by a machine; but he himself released the machine and let it down immediately, and by enclosing those who had broken through, he entrapped those who had run into their own destruction by an unlucky fate, trading their lives for a death by strangulation and offering a sad spectacle, inclined with half the body inside and visible for the remainder outside, so as to be lamented.

^C 7. And he was even so brave as to destroy the whole city, to the extent that as soon as he had reached the tower that rises above the neighboring gates and had lowered himself by a rope to the enemies rushing up, he left the soldiers on the tower practicing for nothing regarding the fortification, and allowing them to track down and sing songs about his path and this rope.

8. Here, being emotionally moved, I am led to speak to the man and to ask him: "Why then, most excellent commander, having allowed the lower city to be slaughtered, did you become one of the upper section, and hastened to hide within, if you were so quickly required to leave it also as booty for the enemies? And why did you not raise the pitiable voice of one needing mercy, before you smothered those who were held in the gate and the others? How would it not provoke laughter for him to run into the acropolis as if into a stronghold, and to ascend the tower as if it were a place safe due to its height, and immediately to lower himself by a rope, and this more quickly than a bucket in the opening of a well?" ^D O what is most worthy of laughter is that the illustrious leader, having been stationed before the eastern gates as if for a brilliant battle, then seeing some single enemy who had moved lightly and appeared above the ramparts, released the rein for his horse to run, rushing ahead of the entire host of the army; and having trampled those who were present, and having run inside, and then having harmed many through the gate that we have already described—some [crushed] by the self-same gate let down from on high, others by those with whom they were shut out—quickly he went up intending to fight from the tower, but more quickly he came down to be taken prisoner, being brave in this one thing: that he was not lowered out more slowly in a basket, but in a moment he—

was let down, like some farmyard fowl to its grazing; for certainly not like some eagle to a noble prey.

9. It was not fitting for a man who had long practiced how to stretch out his hands womanishly to those pursuing him, to slip into a fortification and provide burdens for those who are rushing forward, lest they become even more furious. But he, injured in his ^A wits, fled upward as if to a place of safety; but from there he immediately came down, so that his base conduct might appear strange, and he might not be thought by some to have been captured while fighting. "You ascended on high to the heights, O you; you led captive a captivity," which you had even there betrayed to the enemy. This is the opposite of that which David sings, whose title you bear—you have made it useless.

And let no one here begrudge me, an old man of little spirit, for recounting such things about a man whose very heart and liver I would gladly have held fast, according to the old Homeric saying, for the reason that ^B he destroyed the summits of so great a city, and "slackened the knees of many men." May we not be slackened still further, O God our King, and His minister, our protector, lest the evil be drawn out to the furthest point. I, I confess, before the battle, used to approve of this man, and in the time of peace I would pray for prosperity in his affairs; when the citizens, seekers of their own profit, would stand clamoring against him—as they wished—we, on the contrary, as was fitting, were in agreement with him. He himself, in return, displayed favor toward us with his eye, his nod, and his manner of conducting business. But now what shall we do, having found that he whom one ought to praise has changed, and by no means chooses glorious paths? It is universally true, then, that "there is nothing new"; ^C just as he who formerly loved us, and then afterward did not love those who reproved him, because he himself was not wise, according to the proverb, so likewise we did not violate holiness regarding those matters, because he was not too bold, according to the judgment of severe men, in plundering common goods. Then, those who foresaw the ruin coming from him used to hate him as the cause of it, but now those who were the victims of this destruction even wish to predict some great evil regarding him, who otherwise seems to be a good man (for whatever is the truth must not be rejected), to whom a crooked canon of the emperor Andronicus was inscribed, but at that time he had slipped into an extreme perversity. For he did not love him, as we shall later establish, nor was he loved in return, nor was he receiving any reward, but was even foreseeing punishment, which seems to us a thing to be lamented. Thus, therefore, I must say that I have not set aside the truth by placing love ^D before it, but by setting forth the facts in writing, whose merit is truthfulness, I will not obscure the light of its shadow, and that in accordance with that rightly expressed saying: "The man is indeed a friend, but the truth is a greater friend." It is to be noted how they praise their heroes, so that, by changing the colors, even everything evil becomes good in beautiful language. The same is not true, however, of writings; but words must be moderated as the truth demands for each case. This is not the place for speaking in the manner of an encomium, but one must hasten to the mind of those who are sur-

- ^A vivors to preserve the memory of every individual thing which fleeting time has cast aside. But if this David of ours, having previously achieved a good portion by the lot of God, let this be heard, and let it be heard along with it that he also brought ruin; he was indeed a small comfort, but he caused most bitter pain, since by acquiring a little money, he ultimately caused damage—all of it—to all their possessions, and countless others to their very lives. And let no one now claim that I am being foolish ^B or that I am belatedly coming to my senses about what sort of person David turned out to be, once he was worthy to be sent to the Sicilian along with Maurozomes as a firstling and a primary fruit of our destruction—whom the Harpies ought to have disposed of in such a way before they utterly destroyed us. For I did not turn my mind to this just now, but for the whole time of his military command during the war. The enemy was oppressing us, and I was reproving him, rebuking him, exposing his errors as they occurred, and speaking—though in vain—of those things which he ^C would have heard from others as well, if they had been free to speak and if the calamity of the city had not locked their mouths.

11. It has been sufficiently demonstrated, I suppose, that I am not attempting anything new in criticizing the unwise David, whom I had previously praised when he was acting prudently. And it is in this way that I also admired Emperor Andronicus, whom I could not praise in all things because of his indulgence, but at other times I wondered at him when I proclaimed his best qualities. For I do not write contradictions after the manner of base sophists. But in this historical account I cannot hide whatever occurs during the present strife, as if, like the rest of rhetoric, it were destined for mere praise. ^D For the wise bee, as it seems, constructs its honey-mixture of sweetness not only from sweet flowers and other such things; for it also gathers from things that are not so pleasant, picking out what is useful, just as experts in hive-building have observed. It gathers from there as much as is needed to strengthen and connect the honeycombs. David and Andronicus provided such things to the bees of Hermes, and especially Andronicus, that mobile and versatile man, who seemed not like a chameleon or a polyp, but rather like Proteus, and especially like an Empusa, who conjured up horrible things. He was also, like the straits, inconstant, and according to the primeval, formless matter, he presented himself to be seen in all different ways, some of which were to be praised, and others not. And this must be added to him: that there was in him a certain compassion and a great spirit; furthermore, this must also be added: "All things were in him together," and there was in him a certain union of mixed and divergent sentiments; yet from this, harmony does not arise, but confusion. For the man is a various thing and offers authors material in both directions. One might be moved to compare him to a sphere, not one subject to change according to ancient fables, but by the diversity of his character. If someone were to say that there were two jars in him, one full of good things, the other of evil, which he drew out and mixed to pour forth from

^A them upon those under him, for the most part only from the jar of evils, he would hint at it most fittingly. For he was a mixture, and neither unmixed nor well-mixed for the sake of pure grace.

12. But let these things be dismissed for now, opportunely, I think, and not at all without method. I, however, quickly return to David, who at one time—(which is long ago)—was worthy of some friendship, but now is worthy of hatred from the whole human race. O most valiant one, you turned your back quickly to flee; yet you were even quicker to turn your front—not to a turned battle-line, but to captivity—and you ran as long as you could to show a cowardly retreat; so that not a single trace of bravery could be found in you, neither in the siege, which you prayed might be finished quickly (as we shall suggest in the following), nor after the conquest, at which time you deceived both the brave man and the fugitive, to whom, having turned to flight, you surrendered yourself to those who were not even pursuing you. For they had other things on their minds, things prior to the work at hand and necessary for them. But you, I think, they would not even have remembered, had you not revealed yourself. For those who are nobly brave are accustomed to despise a leader who is not such a man as I know you to be, ^B whose cowardice is quite well-known to them.

13. But why, carried away by passion and recent events, do I, coming before the eyes, lead astray the one who, at a later time, will hear from the history—in order to know the state of our affairs from the beginning even to the end, that he might understand by following along, from what kind of past have come the present things; and some he might grieve over, and others he might wonder at in a different way; and some he might learn, if he wishes, in the history I have chosen, insofar as they are useful for the present? Why do I not set a head, like a body, upon this writing, through which I might descend with my discourse and walk a prosperous path, taking from where it ends, and thence beginning?

14. It seems that it was destined, as it pleased God, that upon the death of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, whatever was upright among the Romans should collapse with him, and that it should become, as it were, a dark shade over everything of ours, just as when that sun has set. Therefore, he departed when he ought to have, leaving behind a successor from his family who ^C was not the one who should have been left. For he was a boy who had only slightly passed the age of infancy, not only incapable of ruling a vast empire by himself, but not even firmly disposed due to his youthful age; he had, in fact, already committed the boy to the care of his mother, who was of flowering age—even if she took care to hide them, spiritually clouding that sun of beauty with a black veil on all sides. Those loves, shooting forth flames, as they were accustomed to do, kindled a universal fire. There were others assigned to this guardianship, among whom was he who had obtained the patriarchate, Theodosius, exceptional in virtues and eloquence, whom the Church of Antioch had chosen as a most precious good ^D for the Great City to venerate in every way. But the woman prevailed, as both a woman and a mother, and she was the end of all things that were to be brought into the open. Some, however, according to the law of love, sighed for her, lurking, hoping that she would not always disdain their sighs, whereby in

^A Alexius Comnenus sought for others, being as he was a nephew to the Emperor Manuel and wearing the girdle of the Protosebastos. And he was favored by the mistress, the emperor’s mother, more than the others. From this, envy creeps in; and, looking askance at the man because of what they call "pottery-play," he did not cease to spin various intrigues, to see if he might devise a shifting of fortune for him. And somehow, in this way, it seemed good to those then prominent among the well-born to weave a cloak of conspiracy against him, to clothe him in it and bind him fast, not for his pleasure. Others also wove such a cloak—not a few of them—and the two sons of Andronicus, who was of the Comneni; he was a cousin to the Emperor Manuel, and, as common parlance would say, a first cousin, and he later seated himself on the imperial throne, not very happily, either for himself or for those around him. The names of these boys were, for the elder by birth, Manuel; and John for the one after him; whom the empire also came to know, just as it did the father, not long after. Both of these had conspired at that time. Among them also was Alexius, Protostrator in rank, a true nephew and exceedingly beloved by the Emperor Manuel; and furthermore, John Doukas, the Eparch, whom one would have judged, from the very sight of him, to be the best of men (and there was great cause for envy in these): and the Caesars, the Porphyrogenita Maria, whom Irene the German ^B bore as holy fruit to the Emperor Manuel, and her husband, John Marchesius, a youth in age, but a man in spirit. But, as often happens in such things, when the ambush cannot remain hidden to the end, but is revealed, all such persons are caught, one of the conspirators having informed; and a trial is assembled. The guardian mother presides, the mistress of all, already having been advanced by common vote—as, alas, she should not have been—and the son and emperor, Alexius, sits below her. And those who did not lightly hate the Protosebastos are accused; and after many things acting as intermediate causes, they are condemned, while Theodore—that most profound, all-wise, chief judge and palace official—acted as arbiter in all things with his well-known rectitude. Therefore, he who was accustomed to stand even among patriarchs brought every intrigue to nothing. For he was crafty, truly all-wise. ^C The brothers, then, Manuel and John, are chained in the great palace, and furthermore the Protostrator Alexius, and also the Eparch; as for the rest, some were dismissed, in truth to a stale dinner for those wishing to banquet at their expense, but ostensibly on account of friendship and innocence. Others perished in different ways, known to no one. Many, however, undergoing exile, punished themselves, among whom was the excellent Lapardas, most skilled in the art of war, whom the Sultan of the Turks had decided to call "the Hawk" because of the swiftness of his counsel and action. He, who at that time was happily saved, afterwards perished unhappily, having been caught in the snares of the Emperor Andronicus. ^D 15. And such was the state of these things at that time. And for a while, the four disgraced men were supposedly caught in a con 15. And so matters stood. And indeed, for a time, the four disgraced men were caught, in theory con-

conspiracy: Manuel and John, the brothers; the Protostrator Alexius; and the Eparch John. Imprisonment held them, and before that, dishonor. The heat of the judges’ wrath against the Porphyrogenita and the Caesar who lived with her was boiling over. It could not immediately boil away to clarify the evil they had foreseen; rather, it remained hidden so deep that the Patriarch himself believed the judges were on their side. Therefore, he himself quite simply revealed the optimal outcome toward evening. But they were not dealing simply with innocent men, so as to suddenly detest the evil and be caught themselves; rather, they acted so that joy might dwell in their hearts in the evening, but in the morning, mourning—a state ^A entirely opposed to the one singing their praises. Thus, indeed, did wickedness wish to hide itself.

16. But just as burning sulfur leaves a smell, and the stench signaled the hiding of a destructive thunderbolt, and it was impossible for it to lie hidden, the Caesars recognized the conspiracy, and being unarmed and in the state they were in, they fled to the most holy temple of the Great Church of God, knowing it to be an asylum, inviolable to all people. ^B The foremost among the chief priests opened his arms to them; he assisted them as best he could, gave them rest, and soothed them with words and deeds of consolation as much as he was able. He was, indeed, like a holy father, more dutiful than can be believed. A large part of the day had not yet passed when the ministers of the Lady rushed into the most holy Great Church, like a pack of dogs seeking a prey of great importance—that it may be called nothing more. When they found them, they inquired whether they had fled for any reason of fear, and then exhorted them to return securely to their homes, mixing their words as if they were subverting an evil plan under the guise of speaking to those who had fled; by these counsels and emphases, they were feigning benevolence in their very words. For a great anger cannot remain firmly dissimulated; it always breaks through every covering, like a violent torrent from hell.

17. Therefore, the Caesars, having confirmed the fear within themselves, did not give their minds to those who were speaking as if they were well-intentioned; but detecting the bitterness mixed beneath what appeared sweet, they viewed them with suspicion, themselves hitting upon the truth. When, therefore, the obedience of the Caesars was rejected, and there was no place to lay hold of the prey, they had recourse to deceit, and violence was devised. The iron hands then took hold of the soft mouths; and the ministers of the Empress, constricting their tongues like javelins, made sure they were governed by iron. First, they reproached ^C the Chief Priest because, as the overseer of the ecclesiastical "acropolis," so to speak, he had not immediately released those who had been entrusted to it and were gathered into a very dense crowd, nor for this cowardly act. A certain writing then appeared, such as a demon could have devised.

18. O great feast of the life-giving Pascha! And the ecclesiastical order owed the Emperor the greeting, as many as had long been appointed for such a kiss. And since it was necessary for the Chief Priest to be present as the head, and to lead the way in the obligation—for it was clear that he would deliver such a kiss to him, according to a certain likeness ^D

^A of our great God and Savior, Christ), that the sacrilegious man might not return, he lingers on the way to the palace; the kiss is delayed and put off to another time, of which the emperor was informed. And that Preparation Day was of a very sad sort, being the week after the Lord’s Paschal Sunday. In that gathered multitude, with which the palace is accustomed at such times to be filled, the embrace is performed (a redundancy of invention), and at the same time the secret act is performed, the condemnation of the patriarch in his absence, in a manner which one would describe with difficulty. For the craftiness of some of the chief priests (if one must speak openly), the shame of others due to great fear, and the insane hatred of others, so easily brought about the fall of the chief priesthood, with some others of the senate adding their voices, making such a din as there was when the walls of Jericho, being besieged, fell down ^B by the sounding of trumpets.

19. In order that this too may be related briefly (for why should one lengthen a long account?), there was a great disturbance in the palace, as much as was for God and His truth, of the people of the city, and of the church herself. For even of those, few rushed into this, but the majority had God before their eyes in all things and bravely withstood the events. They are divided, therefore. Some follow the young emperor. But after they had once answered him—and would that they had not done so!—and had learned of the deposition of the chief priest, they persisted in the things in which they had sinned, and insisted on their instruction, inciting the boy to the doctrine, as they were accustomed to observe; and especially the all-powerful mother, and after her the protosebastus, who then ^C sought to become powerful through the church, and according to the proverb, had engaged in a struggle with women.

20. And thus some acted, those of the not-good. But the rest, lamenting the patriarchal transaction and the misfortune of the Caesars, end in a great and most pitiful evil. For to speak in the briefest terms, a holy war is begun, as one might aptly say. They fortify themselves inside the church as if in a siege with weapons, while the imperial soldiers outside make their attack, being many and brave. And not a few of those in the church fall, but the imperial ones are numberedless. Some of this battle spilled over into the forum. The battle of the emperor seized many, harming some in various ways, while others it snatched from life. Far and wide was the hatred of the empress fulfilled, and almost everyone experienced it. The mouths of all were filled with her name, not for blessing, and they conspired ^D for evil and for her deposition.

21. And as is wont to happen in such things, not only were remedies for the present sought, but they also extended their thoughts to the hereafter. And Andronicus Comnenus came into their minds, whom we mentioned above. For in those events he seemed likely to appear as a strong soldier, an aid and a savior, not that he might labor to claim for himself the yoke of the empire, but

as that of the mother, ^B whose guardianship he was thought to discharge poorly, and furthermore to deliver the one who was negotiating from the presumption of the protosebastos. And for the majority it was, I hesitate to say, as before God Himself; yet I venture to speak more safely, that immediately after God, expectations rested upon Andronikos. Hence, when the ecclesiastical war was at its zenith around midday, and it appeared that the tide was turning in favor of the imperial side, a fiction of words, and now also a vain fantasy of thoughts, took hold of the majority: "Behold, the Komnenos has come, and he is encamped somewhere nearby, at the Damalis which lies opposite Byzantium." And the desire of each of the citizens made him present at the battle, as if he had flown to the Great City from the area of the Sinopian Chersonese, which he then held. And they imagined that he would be the savior of each of them, and the stabilizer of the empire, which was being tossed lightly here and there by the one who wished it, provided only that he would grant his favor to the protosebastos and the empress who was taking up shields with him. For Andronikos was sending out to the majority the appearance that he was a man such as could rule the world well, and that from the things he had suffered he had learned to be good, and would certainly also respect the child of Manuel in accordance with his frequent oaths, and especially those later ones, which after many afflictions he decided to give. And having given them, he had been allotted the land of the Paphlagonians, ^C as if to encamp there and to draw profit from that place. And thus stood the hopes of those in the Great City. But they were hopes otherwise, and to use the expression of another, shadows of dreams, as the coming time showed, falsifying the beautiful portrait (which everyone had imprinted upon himself regarding Andronikos), and erasing it, but revealing the man—to speak more moderately—as novel.

22. But we shall speak of this a little later. At that time, each was calling upon Andronikos, as if he were already present, or at least about to arrive. But when the phantom proved false, and the battle was brought to an end toward late evening, having cast down many, and having filled the southern cemetery, which is situated by the sea, with imperial corpses (whence it was necessary for rot to arise), they were, in accordance with some treaty which at the time seemed fair, peacefully settled, both the imperial and the ecclesiastical parties. As to the path they took thereafter, I consider it superfluous to write. But we shall narrate the things that are worthy of memory. ^D

23. After an interval, the most holy Theodosius was necessarily restored again to his position, and at the same time the entire clergy was reunited into one body; and thus the agitated city seemed to find tranquility. Meanwhile, the day arrived on which each of the magnates was expected to appear in the church, according to the conditions of peace (for the sacred temple was still full of those who had remained, from the time when they had fled there, whose lives were no longer under suspicion, and whose minds were tranquil), and they appeared. They spoke and acted, serving the needs of the time.

24. Now the daughter of Andronikos, who had [taken] Synad...

Theodore as a husband only to lose him shortly thereafter, did not follow the course of nature, as it is said, but appeared nowhere and was sought after ^A with great care. In secret, however, she had fled from the church to her father, once she learned he was in Sinope, and she had such a journey—so prosperous—that scarcely even the most experienced man could have matched it. For nature seemed to have gifted her with the art of flight, just as it had her father, who may truly be called happy in his life for having fled and having diverted those pursuing him from his path. Therefore, after this daughter had fled with a manly spirit and joined herself to her father, and had related the things concerning the city—other things which could never be erased from his heart—she wrote, adding that after the God of heaven, he was a terrestrial god to the citizens of Constantinople. Andronikos, frequently unfolding this heart-felt ^B document and always raising up various meditations in his heart, was overcome by one line of reasoning, which threw everything into ruin. For from then on, he began to skirmish against the Empress and the Protosebastos, hurling reproaches both by letter and by word of mouth, as if they were huckstering the sanctity of the imperial dignity and behaving wantonly against the young Emperor. He used mockery, issued threats, and experienced all these things in turn. While speaking familiarly, he repressed the indignation of all. Then he offered counsel, but was not heeded, because he was ordering intolerable things. Above all, he boasted that he wanted nothing but vengeance for the King; he kept repeating that all he said were commands from the blessed Manuel, and that he himself was also bearing the weight of guardianship.

25. And so, the impulse of Andronikos toward the Great City arose from this: the Emperor—that is, the young Alexios—was the pretext for him ^C to take vengeance, though in truth the intended target was that King who had died prematurely, as should not have happened. Having gathered an army, partly by land and partly by sea, with what forces he had (which were, however, meager), he advanced, now quickly, now more slowly. Careful to delay, he appeared to be moving slowly because of the number of his soldiers, though this was not the case.

26. Having circled the land of the Thyni and Bithynians, he arrived in the region of the Bebrykes, and pitched his camp near Chalcedon, opposite the Great City; yet the man had the smallest number of troops. By distributing the army around him with artifice, and ^D setting up tents in strategic places so that it appeared that he had a dense and numerous army, and—as for the ships in which he had placed some of his soldiers—by skillfully dividing and stationing them along the sandy shore and in the remaining sea-coves so that it was not clear what kind they were or how many, he created such darkness for the people of the Great City and for his other enemies, and even for those who were hostile to him, that the opposite land and the shores worshipped by it seemed to be filled, the one with dense ranks of soldiers, and the other with frequent triremes and other ships, as many as those who devise such things at sea construct long. And thus we humans are truly wont to behave in such matters. For we generally magnify and inflate what we admire, and what we...

are unable to examine accurately, because our soul is confounded by the things that strike it with wonder. ^C 27. Andronicus, having appeared as such, and having been distinguished as so great from so small a beginning, draws everyone to himself in a short time, and, so to speak, moves the whole city with him. And not to steer the skiff of my speech into a vast sea of narratives, but to cross the strait quickly: in a moment of time, the great, the small, and those of the middle sort sail toward him. They marvel that what they thought they saw the day before is what they now see clearly, and that the long ships are now recognized as mere small boats, the mist of error having previously been dispelled; the tents, however, spaced at long intervals from one another, were like beds of cucumbers. The army was a common spectacle; most of the horses were fit for mills. ^B But they awoke and came to their senses, so that small things were recognized as small, and nothing great was any longer attributed to them by themselves. The love that had persisted for so long urged them to want the man to be only as he appeared to them, to accomplish everything just as was to their own advantage. Therefore, they embraced him, they kissed his face, the sight of which they had desired, and they greatly revered the hands in which they had placed their trust; they cried out praises of every kind, they frequently sang the glory of God; they urged him, if it were possible, to cross to the opposite shore quickly. For the swiftness of foot of the man, a gift of nature to him, instilled in the minds of many, I believe, a love of novelty. He, indeed, having rejoiced, as was surely just, and showing himself off in his own guise, and instilling not a little confidence in those watching, was almost carried on their hands, not only by the angels—of this kind of illustrious and most powerful emperor—but also by the rest of the nobility, the senate, and the other children of the city. And so, the Great City came to have him, he who had innovated in numberless ways.

28. Here it is possible to say that he who said, "God blessed you in my steps," ^C is indeed worthy of praise for the sake of goodness, since the memory of the just does not perish without praises. But the Great City ought to have accused Andronicus from the very threshold of his entry, because his feet did not bless her. For he did not act rightly, as all the subsequent events demonstrated. For as soon as the inheritance of the great Constantine had received him, straightway the Paphlagonians who were with him—a depraved race and, among the Greeks, barbaric—invited by the Latins, ran to them; they had been settled far from the ancient race that lives on the Byzantine shore facing the east, ^D numbering sixty thousand and more, and were spread out. Those people accused the Latins, claiming that they stood with the protosebastos and the empress, and through them were plotting evils against the Romans. And truly the matter was so. For the empress and the protosebastos had been brought to such a state that, falling away from the love of the Romans, they looked toward the Latins, with gifts and, above all, promises of the plundering of the city and of the Roman...

^A subjugation to them, they had already persuaded them to make preparations for battle, had not Andronicus quickly crossed over. And these men, who were indeed gathered, as has been said, to perform a holy war, finding that it would soon dissolve, were idling. For this the Latins are not unjustly accused; they had nothing to say, and certainly nothing through which they could be held innocent. ^B In these, alas! the Paphlagonians sought, in their imprudence, to cure a great evil with a greater one, in which they boldly and foolishly engaged. For having entered the Megalopolis and surrounded the Latins (as it was entirely likely that others of the faction supporting such innovations would join them), they attacked the Latins when they were not expecting it, and dealt with them most cruelly. Then, too, they sowed those seeds, from which we and many others with us have reaped, so to speak, the sheaves of Persephone’s meadow. For thence have come the present evils that have befallen us.

29. Furthermore, to recount the dreadful things that were seen then ^C among the Latins—the fire, which consumed their possessions, apart from all that was plundered, the fires at sea from the fuel ignited by the Romans against those who had rushed to flee upon their ships, the events along the shores and the crossroads—would be a long task, and not only because the soldiers of Andronicus were rushing against the armed Latins, but also because such a great multitude were treated wretchedly and wickedly. For their women, along with their little ones, were being slaughtered by the sword. But this is especially horrifying: for as the mothers' ^D bellies were ripped open, the iron performed the work of a midwife upon the fetuses, and so, for the one who had not yet seen the light of the sun, the darkness of Hades succeeded it, dead before it had truly lived. This was savage and beyond compare with other madnesses. At that time, a holy man also fell among the Latins, I know not whether he had come from Old Rome as an envoy, or from Sicily, but certainly he was either a Roman or a Sicilian. And he did not simply fall, but was wearing all his holy vestments, which he had put on as a shield against the weapons of the enemy, in case the wicked men might perchance respect him.

30. And these things also became for us the wounds of which we spoke. For the temples of God were no longer sanctuaries for us. For not even they remained undefiled, when dead bodies of all kinds covered their pavements, among which were holy persons. The walls and all the beautiful beams ^D were splattered with blood, above which the holy low roofs were raised. But these things were later. Then, however, such great evils did the Latins commit that they seemed to be absolved by us of the case of Andronicus, and their petitions seemed to be heard by God.

31. And thus, as the account has previously stated, Andronicus entered that city of wide streets. And it was his purpose for the remainder of his subsequent actions—and truly his first task—to confirm, for a little while, the empire upon the young Alexius in a commercial manner, and to remove his mother from power, after having already removed the aforementioned protosebast, offering these as the first fruits of the Erinys.

^A And he continued in this way to spur on the origins of the things to be done. And he sanctified himself here with oaths, and those of such a kind and number, of which one was that which was grounded upon the great and all-venerable platform as a foundation, which is not to be disturbed by Christians. For upon it was congealed the blood and the body of the Savior Christ, which are to all fearful and all-venerable. He gave, furthermore, a guarantee of imperial faith and the pseudonym of humility. For Andronicus threw himself upon the ground, and having raised the delicate foot of the emperor a little with his hand, he placed it quietly upon his own stiff neck, feigning that he would thus always be trodden under foot by the emperor. And not only this, but having lightened it, he seated it on his own shoulder, as a symbol also of holding him upon his head, as one holy.

32. These things were so. And those who were more keen-witted, and of such a sort as to possess a true grasp of affairs, hesitated to be with the man—those who were not very many, knowing very well of what sort he had been fashioned. But the majority were led away from the truth; and seeing his flower-strewn paths, they did not look upon the abysses—these good Christians—and being led by the reasoning that a man of good character would not dare to violate such and so great oaths, seeing the things of God otherwise turning favorably toward him, and being persuaded that it was necessary to yield to emperors, to whom nature, as if a chain, had fastened the imperial dignity, and had well interwoven the threads of authority. ^B

33. And thus fared the whole lot of them. But he, having first contrived flattery so as to lead the civil populace, and having succeeded in what he proposed, then feigned a reluctance, just as if he were encountering rapids where he had hoped for smooth flowing for the good of the city, which hold back the current for him as if toward some counter-current. So he also pretended that he wished to withdraw again to the land of the Paphlagonians. But the reality was a grudge against the noble and powerful in every way, whom he suspected, in his empty musing, would oppose him. Now there was among them a leading segment, those who, as was said, were angels upon earth, that race having both superiority of lineage, and excelling in manliness and imperial fidelity and wisdom; and the great doux, Contostephanus, a man energetic and full of intelligence, and ten thousand others like them. These things, however, were hidden from the mob, and they did not know that he was maddened against such men. Therefore, as he was demanding to sail back and withdraw to where he had come from, because he could do nothing useful due to the obstruction of the many, they held him back, pressing upon him, weeping, entreating, ^C embracing his knees for the sake of God and [his] soul and their dearest ones, and yielding, allowing him to prevail over all, to whatever he might choose. For they said that the whole world would not be destroyed for the sake of these or those. Andronicus therefore, on these conditions, lets go of that feigned reluctance. And having ascended this first step to the greatest power through the popular strength so persistently attached to him, and having increased his own personal standing a thousandfold, he contemplates a labyrinthine scheme. And for the time being, he turns against the archbishop, judging that he deserves not only prison, but not to exist at all, as one resisting him, and especially because he perceived that he was foreseeing the evils which he was about to commit against the emperor, from various signs he perceived that, one of which is known to the common people. ^D

^A 34. Andronicus once upbraided the holy elder, saying that, while holding the position of father to the emperor and exercising guardianship over the ruling boy, he was not sufficiently diligent for the child entrusted to him as a son. But he replied that it should suffice if he, distracted by so many and such great affairs, kept watch over the boy at short intervals. And having thus replied mildly to Andronicus’s reproach, he then drove in a sharp iron, adding: "Otherwise I am very restless when I find you in the midst of the people behaving as king." So said the old man. Andronicus, however (for he was shrewd, as well at speaking in riddles as at suspecting things not easily fathomed), asked the wise old man how he had ever dared to say that the emperor trembled because of him. The magnanimous elder, relying on the double meaning of the word "restlessness," said it was a clear saying: ^B "For since you have placed yourself as a firm pillar to support what concerns the boy, I have laid aside much of my anxiety, having placed the burdens upon you, as one strong." Thereupon Andronicus fell silent, pressing his anger beneath his breast, and having countered the old man with this single double-edged and sharp remark, as only an acute Armenian could. Joining insult and irony to his wrath, from this time he determined openly to manifest his care; and this most diligent man arrived at such a point that, a little later, his repeated vexations reached such an extremity of audacity that the life of the archbishop was placed in jeopardy after many reproaches, such as those with which the Jews once assailed God. Therefore, had the old man not provided for his own safety and removed himself from the midst, laying down his archiepiscopate—which he would not have wished, had he not suffered such things—he would have perished. And thus, ^C acting by God's providence, not wishing to devise safety for himself, he withdrew and hid himself, having cast off, as was necessary, the exercise of rule, for which he had no desire.

35. He indeed thus withdrew himself, leaving Andronicus to rage against others. But when he was no longer checked by any protruding rock, he vomited forth destruction against all, to such a degree that it could not be said who was guilty and who was not, but he turned it against those who were entirely innocent (which is the summit of wickedness). After he had enclosed the emperor’s mother in the shrine of the saintly physician Diomedes, and had not kept her there long, he led her out and drowned her, using ministers whom his own pride—not much later—rightly punished, while sparing them; so God teaches us that even those who command the vilest things and those who obey them are [judged] before the face of God, as David knows.

36. Thus, then, he transgressed. And having gathered together a senate of chosen men of the highest lineage on a certain day—whose unspeakable horror someone else will describe—he caught them all as if they were fish in a fatal net, except for the "good angels" who, taking flight as if on wings, were scattered. And he treated them all iniquitously; for he accused each one privately of being secretly an enemy of the king—an accusation which is a "just voice" in his own eyes. And he condemned a few of them to prison. There were some who were blinded, and these were the majority. Others, however, ^D of these he sent into perpetual exile.

more numerous than these. Some he sent into exile outside the borders. A short time later, dividing those who had been imprisoned, he separated them into those blinded by iron and those who had not been, so that, as I suppose, seeing the mutilated themselves, they might always live in fear, and thus increase the evil of their captivity. Having remained there not long, he sought to move to a higher degree, judging that first step to be too lowly. ^A

37. Murmur is therefore again fabricated against him, and heaviness is put forward, and a burden of loads that is unendurable, and [it is said] that it would not be endurable for him, if he were in danger of suffering in so many ways. ^B Yet he was actually suffering nothing, but from within he was seeking to subject many to unbearable sufferings. As he persisted in grumbling at length, and showing his dissatisfaction, while in his soul he was feeding on the imperial magnificence of the Great City, but with his tongue he was embracing Paphlagonia, where he had composed many beautiful speeches—of which Constantinople was supposedly deprived—and he boasted that treasures were kept there for him, and a certain gate of Phanius, which he himself was refurbishing for those ignorant of the fate by which he was being vexed for their sake. Such were the arguments tossed about by him in dense crowds and more than once, and one day before some of the more liberal members of the populace, whom nothing had ever frightened, because there was no cause for which they should fear; and it pleased them to exclaim: “If nothing here is pleasant to you, why do you not remain in the Megalopolis for the sake of the city's happiness? For who now would care about the safety of such a man? The Guide, the Patroness of our city, will suffice for us to procure what is useful against all things.” ^C When he had thus restrained them from the things he was saying in jest, he suddenly fell silent, the comic scene finished, and he presumed to say nothing more. Since, therefore, this trickery had profited him nothing, and his “cord”—as he allegorically called it—had elicited nothing from us, and the feigned intention of departing could not be of any utility, and since he saw that all the figments and colorings which were to have helped him in his designs concerning the imperial throne had only helped him to be a second leader instead of the first, he opened up a new path. It was no longer for the crowds of every kind to have access to him directly, but those who were prominent among them, whom he was to scatter here and there in great numbers and set over the rearguard. ^D These men were the pests of the republic, factious, seditious, each one a king among his peers. For in our levity, we love to follow those who lead us toward the things to which nature impels us; for we, the many, are naturally impelled toward new things, desirous of novel events, and demanding that time occasionally renew unusual things.

38. Those, therefore, who held the foremost places among the people, and whose business it was to excite the rest, having been prompted by Andronicus as to what he wished, then themselves discovered places among the clever [who were skilled] at contriving such things, by which, having made an attempt, they presume to stir up, [acting as] defenders of Andronicus according to his will, sending forth arguments as valid as they can, by which they accomplish unusual and—if I may say so—absurd things. Even mysteries that are not holy

^A were performed with a view to that end, and they brought out into the light things worthy of darkness. Having persuaded the crowds that the city could not escape ruin unless they joined Andronicus to the young and inexperienced Alexius for the imperial office—he being well-schooled, and therefore able, in such arts, to support the royal yoke for the other; not so much to cast him down, but rather to sustain and magnify his smallness through a partnership of equal dignity, but with a preeminence of toils and labors to which Andronicus was thoroughly accustomed, being trained in many and varied ways—they stirred up not a few to be convinced, to hear them rightly, and to be inflamed toward the realization of the joint imperial rule of both Alexius and Andronicus.

At first, the scheme was whispered ^B quietly; afterward it was spoken of, and in a short while it was shouted more clearly. And it was necessary, then, that Andronicus be openly invited to the throne; and if he were not persuaded, then he was to be entreated; and if he did not yield even then, remaining inflexible, force was to be applied. And they said it was better for him to suffer what he did not want—namely, to rule—than for the world to suffer ruin. Many of the common people agreed to this. Into this torrent, however, flowed a certain dreg of a congregation of others, not numerous indeed, but harmful, and on that account to be abhorred by us. For it was not simply that they detested the childish age of the Emperor Alexius for the sake of Andronicus, but they disturbed affairs with their own fury, and were the cause of Andronicus being driven to madness. ^C

39. Among those there were to be famous men, the faithful of that day: Constantine Patrenus, an accurate image of flattery; and Michael, a man of weak hand, difficult to steer toward what is right, but easy toward depravity. But there was also a man among them, shining in such things as if he were a destructive beacon (he was in middle age at the time), born of a father skilled in judging public affairs and in immersing himself in petty crimes; named Stephen, with Hagiochristophorites added to him, who, having changed, from the life he leads before God, was nicknamed Antichristophorites by those who think rightly. Time had already erected a statue of vice to him. For since he had not joined himself in affinity, but had acted more wickedly than befitted a noble marriage, he paid a signal penalty. ^D For his nose was cut off, so that he did not breathe well, namely from that which was unseemly, and many lashes of correction for his back fell upon him. And yet, being shameless, with all modesty cast from his brow, he did not abstain from appearing in public to be turned into a laughingstock, but as if he had done no evil, he walked about as before, haughty in his audacity, showing that he was not ashamed, and thus by force persuading others that evil is nothing, whether one does it or suffers it. Since, therefore, he was despised by all, and frustrated in his hope of an illustrious marriage, and no other hope of promotion was present, but he wore out the imperial thresholds in vain, one day, having let slip a word—otherwise one that would have a wicked effect, but to himself, indeed...

^A a most solemn oath he added, that there could never be found his equal in wickedness. This he spoke while branding himself and boasting—as suited him—and at all this he groaned as if he were deeply grieved, and his face was kindled with wrath. Now the others were perturbed by this speech, and expected evils, reasoning that not only would he himself immediately suffer terrible things once the outcry was heard within and deemed an insult to the emperor, but that they themselves would be likewise blamed, because they had not been stirred to anger against such a man. And they were thus. But the sovereign of our life, because of our sins, at that time let the man remain unscathed, which even this seemed a great thing. And no long time elapsed before the man began to be raised up; and having proclaimed himself most wicked, he found by experience a reward similar to just as if someone, having proclaimed himself skilled in thieving, were caught somewhere. After he had thus begun to be raised to honors, he was appointed over the army, and having been found to be such by Andronicus, he was taken on. And the misfortune that had winged its way over us raised him to further height and ingratiated him into the soul of Andronicus, ^B so that a wicked man might completely lead a wicked man, and that good things might not be mingled with bad things, and that like might be joined to like. And having been thus emboldened to a greater degree, and not enduring—if he had just now found an opportunity—not to flutter about like a demonic creature, he attempted to surpass in wickedness all those who, as was said, led the people, and indeed himself as well. And having been seized, all those who had been swept out of the fine senate because of him, driven by waves which an evil spirit stirred up (for there was a kind of demon-possessed gathering of the senate, as set forth above, well-disposed to stray from its senses in that man’s time), [were caught]; not, however, without the wicked heads of the people, and besides these, the one who at that time was acting as patriarch, Basil Camaterus, a fervent man and one able to converse with the times, as he judged what was desired of him (he who had succeeded to great Theodosius, who had been in holy integrity—whom Andronicus wanted, and—to mend the phrase—who wanted Andronicus); these, exhaling anger and having come to one another through a certain blending of character, and identifying themselves with the choices of those whose acts ^C they were pursuing ^D

^A thus, then, having also taken this man along, the logothete who was the hound of the wicked (for he had been honored with this title and with being called *Sebastos*, though he was not otherwise such a person beforehand), they approach Andronikos, celebrating his tyranny, asserting in common, by way of accusation, that he was preparing terrible things, and that if he were to neglect those entrusted to his care by God, who would perish if they trusted in him, he would destroy not only this great city, but also all the regions which it possesses, whether towards the east, or towards the west, and all the rest besides. They were, in truth, revering the young king for his good natural gifts, but as for the present, they were saying that he was nothing sacred, and they were despising him as an orphan; and they were prostrating themselves at his feet, indulging in the greatest flatteries to testify to their loyalty and to the fact that they held the reins of the empire together with him, lest, following the fable of the young Phaethon, who, unskilled in his attempt to drive his father’s chariot, had miserably lost everything, he should do the same.

When they had returned from the feet of Andronikos, having stood up, they began to stretch their hands to God, and asked for the same things. But he, having already seen them stand up, who would not suspect what he was suffering within, and how incredibly he was rejoicing? Externally, however, he was otherwise painting a mask for himself, and he seemed neither able to prevail nor to be able to live if he heard such things, as if he had labored to destroy his own confidence. "Who am I," he would say, "and how could I be able? And how shall I flee, and how shall I change my way of life, unless I depart?" Then he would beat himself, and rage at his own hair, and retreat everywhere, appearing to choose secret places for flight, while abandoning himself elsewhere secretly to joy and laughter, changing his countenance here and there, as that most wicked man was wont to do. ^{B C} 40. But when he had artfully arranged for this tent to be pitched more securely, he pretended to have also fashioned a place in the upper story, so that if he might thus delude the many, as if he had postponed the present hour, he would flee after it, and be relieved of being mobbed. The flatterers, stretching the harmony of their folly as far as there was no longer any room, raised their voices, and ordered guards and the keeping watch of the paths which led there, and were in doubt as to what might happen. Then the patriarch, untying the knot for them in the way that we, when we heard it, laughed, and even now still laugh, each of us repeating it to himself with some comic intent: "Play, play with evil events," he said, and he said that fetters, and handcuffs, and an iron neck-collar were to be prepared for the Komnenos, ^D by which he might be restrained. This he said. And the many looked toward the invention of some work of bronze; "How shall these things be?" they said. The other, however, immediately tilting his head-covering, and straightening his right hand into an airy sign of the cross, prevails over the bonds that had pleased them; and, throwing [it] around him, he keeps Andronikos in a priestly manner, designating the place where he had found him remaining; and he insisted that he should not leave the city and turn himself to another. But he, of course, suffering things against his will, exclaims against the patriarch, for the reason that he had thus bound him who was prepared for flight. "Alas!" he says, "what are you doing, Despota?" And after he had repeated this often, he ceased to lament in a loud voice as if on account of

a great evil. Then the patriarch, having spoken words of approval, kept silent.

41. Furthermore (so as not to weary you with the common disgust) a rush of evils occurs in the most glorious temple of the Savior Christ, the Chalcitis, and Andronicus was already being reported as refusing the empire ^A due to precipitous rumors; then force was applied to him: "Let our leader or subject be unwilling." Then the imperial boots were brought, though he would not offer his feet, and the diadem; he removes the veil of the head of famous color, which Lazo for some time had worn as a sign of those things which were to be mingled with smoke; and when he had burned everything, he orders a red one to be brought in turn, signifying how many heads' blood was to be condemned. ^B Thereafter he sits and presides with the emperor Alexius. From that time on, indeed, he sat above him, and conferred honors upon those whom he judged worthy. He dismissed the magistrates, and cast the imperial chariot from the barriers. Thus a great evil is mixed with a small good.

42. A short interval of time passes, and yet, as if I were set as a leader of great lamentation for those who love Alexius or rather those who love the emperor, the same time, lessening the thick humor of sadness, drives away the co-emperor. ^C After he had cast Alexius from the yoke, whether by strangulation with a rope, as the more credited report says, or otherwise, the matter being known, he and his cohorts substituted John, the last son of Manuel, not because he was better, but because Manuel detested his father, because he also foresaw the future and felt that God would be the avenger of evil deeds, sooner or later. John, however, loved the dissolute and delighted in their association.

43. From this point on, I do not say that Andronicus sinned or committed an error (for others, more severe, would describe it differently), ^D but to narrate these things requires a younger tongue and one that examines matters before bringing them into the public view. As much as we have lost in old age, we repeat just so much, namely, just as David remembered having sinned regarding Uriah and his wife, that he had cast the man, the emperor, Alexius, down, having set an end to his life and thereafter committed him to the abyss of the sea, according to some—just as we shall not judge, abhorring this hateful circumstance forever. And he granted this burial to the boy emperor, even if later some falsely said that he lived. In this, Andronicus, mocking, said something cruel and rash. When he had heard that in some place in Sicily Alexius had been received with imperial honor, he laughed pleasantly: "Indeed," he said, "he is an excellent diver, since, having been immersed in the deep sea at Constantinople, he swam in one stretch to this harbor."

44. He [Alexius] thus takes to wife ^A the maiden, the tender daughter of that very evil man, the King of France, who—as is reported—was shuddering at this marriage. For she was already swelling with pride, and having sought after other things from a most refined lover, she detested the savage manners of this man. And they say that once, having dreamed of the youth in her sleep, she cried out, "O Alexius," though what she suffered, she herself knows.

45. And he was perhaps moderate in his wickedness, if, having reached such a level of iniquity, he had stopped and turned back into a true human being, having attacked the empire and brought upon himself great trouble. But he, having relapsed into the ferocity of his ways, plots terror for all. His father, who was mild, falls into an intolerable fury. ^B Yet he was practicing small evils, when he was neglecting the salvation of the Emperor Alexius, and troubling himself on behalf of his own interests and the boy John; and he raised the column of his madness to such a height that John himself, looking up, was one day seized with vertigo. Therefore, he himself one day revealed to his father the pain of his soul, and declared that he feared for the future, concerning matters in which the father now moved with great confidence; and he laments more softly, nor does he cease to trouble his father so that he might act manfully in evil matters and meditate upon terrible plans for himself. And therefore, exposing this "noble" plan with a prophetic voice, he addressed the women and sons, embracing also Manuel himself, then with a curse promises that later no place might be given to ambition; that they alone would be great, when their father was dead; and he boasted that he would dismiss the vine-dressers (to use his own words), the bakers, the ointment-makers, and those of this sort, whom they, the future rulers, ^C perhaps fear even now; for he greatly extolled the dignity of the emperor to the others, so that the small emperors might bear it more willingly, as if, stripping the kingdom of giants, he had wished to console them, promising them an empire of Pygmies.

46. The man therefore becomes more than inhuman, having put on the beast. And as if it were not enough for him to secure the empire, where he was bringing forward so many and such noble men, and of those so many he led away to the majority, and others he removed from the midst in another way, he casts down countless others as well, catching them in succession—not for any reason that existed, but such as a man, himself alone desiring to live because of a nature deeply rooted in suspicion, might invent against the living—suspicions to which he had always been treacherous against those who were above him; whence he judged all emperors by himself. And I do not speak of the multitude of those who suffered; I do not report concerning individuals; I do not expose what machinations he had conceived ^D against them; nor do I report the manners or the places according to which and in what way the evil was attempted—nothing of this sort any further, lest I weary you with tedium. This one thing I say, that he excelled in telling the truth concerning the promises he gave to his sons. For not long after, it wanted little but that he should have stripped the Great City of its illustrious men. And thus

^A he dispossessed Constantinople of its people. He was therefore that kind of man towards everyone; yet not all were unlike him in hatred. For those who returned hatred for hatred boasted of it, not indeed performing this according to the Gospel, but according to that imperial example. Gathering themselves together for vengeance, they wished to act against one man, and in turn to molest him who commanded. But there were many who desired vengeance because they themselves had suffered, and among them the sons of Agar. For those things which the Nicenes and Prusans endured inflamed her, and rendered that fate most disastrous for us. For Nicaea and likewise Prusa, after a most hard siege, saw many chosen men of this kind lifted up into the air, whence the descent into hell is rapid and pitiable.

^B 47. Let another write down what the Orientals suffered from this, at least into memory, if not in praise of Andronicus, holding a sufficient truce, but also pouring forth rivers of tears; for even those have failed us. I shall now proceed to tell what befell us from that quarter, and how—to express it in the same spirit—the gentleness of Andronicus did not touch us mortally, lest I drag out the discourse here longer than elsewhere; for the necessity of writing a great book does not weigh upon us, but that of demonstrating the facts in outline.

^C 48. Those who were harmed were many, varied, and of many tongues, scattered some one way and some another, whether some tribe from Pisa or from Genoa; the race of the Tuscans and also the Lombards; for we have not forgotten what we suffered from the Lombards, nor other similar things; nor indeed [have we forgotten] the other deputed nobles. Certain ones, however—Malinus, and Dalassenus, and Cladon, and some others of this second rank, and besides them also ministers of the magistracies whom Andronicus treated badly—these indeed, and whoever else were in like evils, went as legates to many of the most powerful, both to the regions of the East and to the borders of the West. Most of them provoked the Sultan, reporting the premature death of the young emperor Alexius, to whom the ruler of the Ishmaelites owed trust on account of his father, Manuel. Others went to him who presided at Antioch, both in secular and in ecclesiastical authority; others to him who campaigned in Jerusalem with the title of king for the sake of the good. ^D These kings, therefore, after Manuel, owed love and care to his son Alexius by right of justice. But the swifter embassies visited the parts of the West. They also supplicated him who presided over the great archpriesthood of Rome, and whoever else was powerful near him; for others, the leader of the Germans. The Aleman, great in power, was moved by the embassy. Nor could the Marchesius, nor the duke of Hungary, nor any prince of the vicinity remain tranquil. And everywhere, where there was a list of princely names, there they looked to them for what their souls needed; and their feet ran immediately, and their tongue spoke, and labored toward persuasion.

^A 49. He had experience of such a people, whether they were ruled by a king or a tyrant of Sicily, like those Dionysii who are documented in history, or the Phalarides, and all those others whose rule was, and was called, tyrannical. The one who first seized power there by force and changed that Roman earldom into a kingdom was Roger, a man who was prompt and truly energetic, and who provided those who lived there with much history to recount on his behalf. The second after him, in time and hand and luck—his son, I know not how he should be named; he is still living (they call him William), a man great in counsels but small in execution, inasmuch as he accomplished little and was perpetually dogged by misfortune, and as Aristotle observed, frequent experience has demonstrated that in most third generations of tyrants, the family first flourishes and then fades. But this man, since he had fared well, perhaps believed that it would happen that not only would he not fade, being himself in the third generation, but would also bear fruit. For indeed, he was very fortunate in us.

50. This William, therefore, I believe nurtured hatred because Manuel had once routed his army and had struck and vexed him greatly, and at the same time he coveted an ancient patrimony ^B situated on the seacoast near Constantinople, which his father had left unfinished. Inflamed, therefore, by the memory of how Manuel had attacked the Sicilians by land and sea (for he had attempted both, having adopted a great plan, yet had failed through the fortunes of war), he accepted the embassy of the enemies of Andronicus, whom Alexius Comnenus boasted of leading, he too a great wanderer, having traveled long and far. Besides other peoples, he had traversed the regions of the Tauric ^C and Scythian lands, having endured countless toils on account of Andronicus. The Sicilian let fall the word, and filled both land and sea with his forces, and like clouds they were now hanging over the Great City, by which, pouring down death, he was to submerge the army around Andronicus, meanwhile operating with great effect, and with Alexius Comnenus chasing on after this cloud. For he used to say and even believe that the entire Roman nation was on his side and loved him sincerely; that none would be alienated from him, but rather that as soon as they saw him or were incited by a message, they would immediately surrender themselves into submission, confident of doing so. Yet in these words this secret design lay hidden; namely, that since matters stood thus, and they so loved one another and had opened up their innermost feelings of heart to each other, he himself would become emperor, once Andronicus had been removed by force, and would take the direct road that had hitherto been bypassed. For the Sicilian king desired something different, and he decided to set out for the Great City, so as to secure Sicily and his own kingdom ^D against others, as he had planned.

51. In these matters, something of this sort also occurred. We saw, after our greatest calamity, a certain man of decent appearance, of a rather dark complexion, dressed perfectly in the Latin manner except for a long beard; who appeared as if sent by the higher ecclesiastical authorities,

^A and who claimed that he was extremely fatigued. As for his being a skilled horseman, the noble horse that carried him seemed to bear witness, as did his movements whenever he was mounted. The sword at his belt promised that he was also a soldier. In this way, he simulated the monk, whose habit he was seen to wear. Bearing the name Alexius, he called himself a Sicuntine Philadelphian, by which other names he was also identified and called by others. This man, whoever he is or may have been, more than any other through his fatal arts blew into the air the fire of the war by which we have been scorched. For the tearful Emperor Alexius was indeed dead when Andronicus established himself; but this monk, having sailed, I know not from where, to the nations beyond the Adriatic, displayed a certain boy, who appeared in both complexion and age to be similar to the Emperor Alexius. And they say that this boy was a rustic, brought from the region of Bagentia; and this man, having been taught such a device for our sins, would stand in a servile manner before this low-born boy, wash his feet, and perform all other duties for the sake of reverence as if to an emperor, acting with the greatest sorrow. And when he had made it known that he had chosen him as king, he dared both to encourage him and even to threaten him harshly. And after he had pitched the imperial tent for him, he led him from nation to nation, especially to those that were ill-disposed toward Andronicus. He cried out in a tragic manner, and publicly condemned the great iniquity, as if regarding this imperial boy, to whom due faith was owed by good Christians, he were inciting them to vengeance, ^B showing signs such as: his blond hair; a gap in his teeth, which had indeed happened to this true Alexius; the gravity of his aspect, as if imperial; and finally the well-proportioned form of his body, which a rustic has in the first place, and certain other things. Men were readily disposed to grief, and felt pity, because they could not discern with sufficient certainty, although the signs were presented to them as suitable for recalling their anger against Andronicus. Whence, simply believing that they saw the boy Alexius in this child who had come from the midst of rustics to be recognized, they would fall down in worship, embrace him, extol him on high, and heap gifts upon him; and the monk, taking these, would depart a very wealthy man, and from them he reaped a profit by peddling the boy. And truth, thus obscured, remained hidden, but the lie, surviving, stirred the nations to vengeance; some had already bound themselves by oaths to fidelity toward Manuel and him who had succeeded him, Alexius, his son. This pseudo-emperor was led to the king of Sicily. But Alexius Comnenus, who had already aroused the king of Sicily, exposed this rustic boy, and those who were with him; ^C but those who were from other nations, because they had supposedly recognized him accurately, asserted that he was the son of Manuel and that they would die for his sake. Finally, the king of Sicily, even if they say he recognized the truth, nevertheless had his own conviction, and was desirous of the throne of Constantinople. As for the nations, they carried the idol reflecting the Emperor Alexius as if it were an image (for, offered ^D

^A by clear evidence, Sicily possesses proof that he is a foster-child of the field), and, driven by conceit against the Megalopolitans, they set their fancy upon him as Emperor, and stirred themselves against us with great boldness—and this even though a prohibition was appearing, not at all unstable, as was permitted, from the better counselors, the Bishop of Panormus in Sicily, they say, and the bishop of Messina there, and others who saw what was necessary, by the standard of their own prudence correcting themselves toward a foresight that it was not permitted for the Sicilian Count to be enrolled as a worldly Emperor, he who was once subject as a Duke to Constantinople, and that the pretext for the battle did not even have the merit of argument. For what, if he who governs Constantinople were to sin, whether by murder or tyranny, what cause would be given to the king who is restricted within Sicily? Otherwise, every princedom, when an undertaking has turned out poorly, would be in danger of being directed by another auxiliary princedom, whether for the sake of discipline or servitude.

52. And yet, although Alexius Comnenus struggled against surrendering Constantinople to the King of Sicily with all his might, as if the unskilled man ^B were clutching it in his own hands, a movement of many nations arises, choosing the Sicilian and proclaiming him supreme leader. The public treasury is then opened to him, which was not particularly wealthy, and he entrusts to the sea long ships and others, more than two hundred, to carry horses. The earth resounded under the hooves of selected cavalry, and furthermore it carried soldiers from everywhere who were federated. They say that about one hundred men were gathered, and others many more; but when he had chosen a few from these and those, he neglected the rest. Those horsemen also, being three hundred in number, were such as to boast, according to their nature, that each of them was able to conduct the war, being in no way unlike Comnenus himself; ^C who alone imagined that he would quickly capture such a great empire, having spurred his horse slightly against it, and having managed to seize it as if it were a sparrow's nest, in word indeed for the Sicilian king, but in soul for himself. For he appeared (we know not how), just as we exposed before, to be spread everywhere at once, and for all the eyes of the Romans to turn toward him as to the sun, and for them to submit to him alone.

53. The Latin land therefore poured forth a multitude of soldiers so great that it truly terrified us. They all come from the region of the Illyrians, which is the boundary of the Roman empire ^D at the Adriatic Gulf; and having surrounded the metropolis situated there, Dyrrachium, they occupy it easily, and so to speak, at the sound of a voice; according to Andronicus, as others say, it was betrayed (for thus did he care for his own affairs, not for himself, but assigning to others the things which, to be sure, befell the Roman land from that), but in truth it was betrayed by that man himself. For indeed, having sent a certain Roman a short time before—whom the beautiful Ister, sending forth as a sad effluvium against Constantinople, had preserved for these times that he might be his son-in-law—the inhabitants

of Dyrrachium, flourishing in the love of riches, were brought to decay, just like that exceedingly wealthy man who is never satisfied. Consequently, the city having grown soft, resisted the enemies weakly and thus, being captured, miserably suffered fires and the other evils which usually accompany war; not one that would stand firm, but one that would pass on, and by its terror strike down the bold. Having been captured in this way, such a city greatly alarmed us, and all others who learned of the happy outcome ^A of its calamity grieved at the capture of the distinguished general, John Branas. He, not surrounded by a large army, but still ordered to guard the citadel for fear of the Emperor Andronicus, lest he be called a traitor and, having fallen into his hands, be taken from life, was, after the capture of the city, led away as a captive to Sicily.

54. Thus the neighboring peoples were terrified even as far as Thessalonica by such a rapid capture of that city; and because, as one might say, demonstrating the speed of the time, each of the enemies stepped with one foot upon the land of the Illyrians, and with the other leapt into that most fortified city. And because from that place even to our Macedonian territory no obstacle of the road stood in their way as a hindrance, but this rendered the souls of all ready to depart from the bodies which had troubled them. For there is no reason why fear should occur to them, either great, or small, or middling: but as a river traversing flat plains, so that army flowed down until it mingled with us unharmed. The fleet, for its part, was sailing to participate ^B at an opportune time and to consummate our great ruin. It followed the land army for three days, ^C to demonstrate, I think, something of its own weakness to us, and something of our fortitude against them; of the latter, indeed, when they came upon us, we did not resist even for a single day; of the former, however, when, having only the one infantry army, we were so feared under an idle general that there was no need for further excursion, but they were only kept for the King—his possessions for an intact plunder—and no theft was allowed to be suffered.

55. The infantry force besieged our city at the hour of lunch, on the sixth day of the month of August, on which day the falling asleep of the all-pure Mother of God is celebrated. There was nothing then for us that could be avoided; but the more prudent foresaw what they were going to suffer, where even a few foresaw what was to come, testifying to it everywhere. We, therefore, anticipating the arrival of the enemies, sent back as many as were with us from Constantinople, young boys to their own people, not only providing for ^D the necessity of the journey, but also, in the interest of a deeper understanding, as if they were going to meet their death. Some of the Thessalonians, however, who had no task but only fear, and who sought counsel, we did not hide what was to be feared as it had befallen us; and we urged them to be on their guard.

^B And they were kept on their guard. The matter was indeed desirable to us, as to those who were willing to preserve their souls; but we were delayed for two reasons, as it seemed. For the general was not eager to save us for a reason which it was granted to that wise man alone to know; and the people of God here, saying that they would not be left behind if we also fled, shut the gates to us when we wished to be saved. And this was the apparent cause. But what God willed in this, was something else: first, to discipline us for those things in which we had offended Him; and second, to show His love for mankind by casting us into the hands of Andronicus. For it appeared that if we had anticipated even for a short while, we would not have survived, but the dregs of his wrath would have been poured out upon us. But if there was a third divine intent here, that by remaining we should be of some benefit to our surviving brethren, this was made known by those who were tested with God's help. And this remaining of ours was not like that previous time, when certain rebel Latin ships from Byzantium, the authors of our evils, sailed against us, having also conspired against Andronicus, while we remained. But while that former event showed, by what followed, the things we were recently testing—how the Latins would ride over us—it carried no great fear: but the present things, alas, as they turned out for us, are exceedingly distressing and fearsome.

56. But these things have been written as if in an incidental account. ^C But the city was held as in an embrace by the army, both of cavalry and of ships. And the general's stupidity was most evident here—though it was not unknown even before, as the narrative will show in very little space. For at first, when the enemies were not far off, and he had ordered some soldiers to act manfully (for the general was skilled at sleeping), they sallied forth and captured one man. Having adorned him splendidly with military attire, not of his own (for he was lowly), but of theirs, they led him in triumph through the middle of the city, and praised him as if they had captured some great man. And a letter was immediately sent from the governor and the general to the emperor, affirming that we were waging war well. On the day after this, others were sent, and they captured no man, but two wretched pack-animals and a representation of a soldier's head. For he who had possessed this had fled, and had cast it, as it were, as a ransom to his pursuers. ^D And immediately there were triumphs again in the city, and the captured pack-animals were gazed upon as if they were something great, because they had captured them. And the head-covering was raised on a standard like some chief trophy. And another letter from the unskilled [general] to the emperor, as to how we were succeeding in the war. But when the enemies on land moved from there, like certain wasps, they quickly flew against us (for they had delayed prior to this, awaiting the fleet to give the signal according to a certain agreement), and they suddenly rushed from the great western gates and surrounded the city to the entire citadel. There occurred a sortie of two Latin horsemen of the Prebentzon family, which adhered to the Sicilian army with the greatest daring, and of many of ours—to wit, ten and more. No one

^A indeed falls; but the Latins, being excellent combatants, escape without falling. And again, a third report is sent to the emperor, as though by the imperial prayer and good fortune we had won even the first war, having overcome I know not whom. And the commander wished to include these his three victories in one dispatch, to spare the expense of courier horses. For the man was truly parsimonious. But he challenged Callinicus to be the one to pay, to the emperor’s amusement. And he made the matter a necessity for him. For ^B the [commander] hated him, just as he did others in whom high birth shone; and the former turned his hatred toward him in nearly the same way. He used to say daily that he feared lest someone might fly at him from Megalopolis and gouge out his eyes. And once he even said that he had been born of such a mother, speaking ill in his rage of that honorable woman, should he return to Constantinople. Whence he also indicated that he would choose to take some other path, and to prefer a lesser evil to a greater one—indeed, to be prepared for death itself, which was not right.

57. And so he was managing such things. And not worrying with a deep soul about the affairs of the city, he persuaded Andronicus very skillfully that all was well with our affairs, and that the city was maintained perfectly, and that it lacked nothing of what was necessary—neither the security of towers, nor stone-throwing engines, nor the finishing of the walls, nor the strength of the circumvallation, nor the number and beauty of the chariots, nor anything else. ^C He wrote falsehoods regarding things that pertained to him alone, and which were irrefutable, since there was no one who knew what he was writing, or who would speak, or dare to speak; and thus he unhappily persuaded him [to go] against us. For he had schemed to cast confidence into the emperor regarding us, as though we would suffer no evil from any quarter, so that he alone might stand at the head of those here, and that the administration of these things should not be entrusted to anyone else, in order to save them; and thus, that the other might be relieved of his office, and he himself might fall into the hands of Andronicus—by whom he would have long ago been crushed, had not the Sebastokrator Manuel, speaking well of him and interceding ^D against the women’s entreaties, saved him, not for peace for the city, but to stir up all things into a storm. And this duke came around the emperor with such evil arts, and so deceitfully, that a letter of thanks was even written to him by that inexorable [emperor], who, I think, did not know what gratitude was. Wherefore, also, a burning brand was smoldering within the thanks. For the imperial letter, following the expression of gratitude, prayed as follows: "May it be that for the future also such thanks may be rendered to you"—implying that it would be for a small while, and would not last. And that is what happened. For as if to his death, his mother and brother were seized through him, though they themselves were guilty of nothing.

58. And this, then, not long after [happened] to them. But he, meanwhile, being powerful for our destruction, and therefore

having hardened his heart ^A as if he alone could save the city, his plans ruined us. For the emperor had indeed provided an army for our defense. But believing those by whom he was being deceived by David, he entrusted them not to shut themselves up in the city nor to rush against the enemy as if arrayed in battle line; while we, who did not know of this aid, were waiting anxiously and hanging our hope upon them, they were preparing for us an aid that was, as it were, feigned, without any fighting. Those who were there were many: the great domestic of the Easterners ^B Gidos, Andronikos Palaiologos, Manuel Kamytzes, Chumnos, and others. And later, there flowed to them also one very close to the emperor, the παρακοιμώμενος (parakoimomenos) Nikephoros; having sent a letter to the duke David, he set his lips in another fashion against heaven, and let his tongue go about the earth. For he said that neither could heaven be furnished with so many stars, nor the earth be filled with so much sand, as the army which followed him; and he added that he was also afraid that if the Latins learned how great a force he had gathered, they would flee, and he himself would be deprived of such prey. He wrote such things, and we believed them. For he who desires to be saved is always ready to believe.

59. And thus were we deceived by the messengers of the emperor. Then, however, the enemy gathered on land and sea, and had skillfully prepared themselves for battle. The Western ^C forces had discovered other new types of siege engines, whose utility was almost zero because of their size. The Easterners, however (who particularly made up the naval multitude), acted according to their own custom. Having therefore disposed engines suitable for casting stones, most of them of moderate size in order that our soldiers might be suddenly overwhelmed from the walls by them, and two larger ones, of which one could be called the daughter of an earthquake; and having disposed those who with branches were to fill the trenches, and those who could shake the walls, they attempted to attack the walls and shake them incessantly and in every way. Before all these rushed the slingers. For towards evening they held back the ships until morning, but in the morning they began a sharp struggle. Indeed, the Western ^D part, encompassing the entire circuit of the citadel (for the work of the towers was extended in the shape of a sickle from the sea to the gates situated here), caused us no anxiety and remained safe; but the Eastern part sustained the entire onslaught. The battle raged on the seashore, first because, due to the summer season, the sea waters had left the places against the walls dry, and the sea was not full up to the fortifications, so that a large space had been left to them for battle between the shore walls and the water; then, because the Latins, on account of the skill in which they excelled in war, had seen that they should press harder here. For from that I realized that they could have harmed us much, because first they could stay for a long time, since this shore

^A is deep and therefore a convenient harbor; then because the wall had not, from the beginning, been constructed according to the art of war, neither skillfully nor solidly, and it lacked a vigorous defender.

60. For it is similar to a physician treating an ill body and therefore, without flatteries, so that it may be restored to health, one who is no longer anxious about curing the disease. According to us, as anyone who has known the matter might conclude, David seems to differ but slightly in reality from a traitor, unless someone, arguing more ardently, might weigh him against the traitor in the scales. For excepted for the meetings and the established, certain signs, he did all other things for which many accuse him perfidiously. That which is common to him and the traitor, who openly negotiates otherwise, is to neglect the common good and to provide only for himself, to dismiss everyone else and to diligently care only for his own affairs. The soldiers complained that our engines were not suitable for repelling the blows of the enemy. But he, not correcting what was found fault with, would say, "What shall I do?" And as a foolish Pythagorean he would only add that it seemed to him a temple ^B of silence, because most things ought to be kept silent, while for some he would stifle words against the attackers, and for others he would restrain them to hide evils and to bury secrets most profoundly. When he had heard that the walls were being occupied by the enemies because they were not solid enough, he used an obscene voice and alluded to the mothers of the enemies. When arrows were failing, weapons were sought by those defending the walls. But if anyone found them anywhere, he would murmur, and give none, and the city suffered. When an engine was broken and required repair, wood was sought; then he would point to places full of materials; when someone said that some other necessity was lacking, he himself would stir up arguments; then he was, according to the proverb, "a taciturn hero Euryboas"; for he threatened punishment of stripes, of the head, and of the eyes, and of impalement, if such people did not cease to speak, swearing by the head of the emperor that his threats were certain. ^C But a certain man, not entirely a commoner, was injured in his head and struck on his forehead with a rod, because he had complained of the general’s bad conduct of the soldiers' affairs; and none of those standing by dared even to whisper. The soldiers who are accustomed to speak freely and rightly heard only one thing beyond the foolish man: that because they were called only to endure foolish things and to suffer hard things, they would do so lest they suffer worse things. When he ought to have supplied corn to the city, his negligence became so great that from that circumstance he took an opportunity ^D to acquire great wealth for himself (what fruit did the wretch gain from this?) and was the cause of famine for the city; to such a degree that, had not the iron of the enemies devoured them, they would have been brought into the danger of devouring one another.

^A For by filling the hands of many, where he should not have, he allowed those who wished to desert to do so and to flee the homeland wheresoever they might desire. And the very wealthy, providing for their own safety in this way, achieved something even worse. For mercenary soldiers from the common folk—whoever had hands fit for carrying beams, for casting stones from afar, for operating machines, for stretching the string of a bow and firing—were forsaking their homeland. And thus they were depriving it of defenders; yet with gifts they persuaded this sort of army to follow them, indeed, as if they were generals. And if anyone cautioned him—especially we, who feared not a little that such a state of affairs would harm the city—he would not hold back his temper, lamenting and complaining and reproaching that the city appeared to him, in this way, stripped of men.

^B 62. The crowning point, however, among these evils of ours, was the failure of the most necessary thing: water. For since the reservoir of the acropolis had been lying idle for a long time, it needed to be restored and repaired, as it had been worn down by time; and this was achieved, with difficulty indeed, but it was achieved. A certain member of the army, not an undistinguished man (this was Leo Mazidas), having accepted this task and congratulating himself on it, exhorted David that three days should be spent on the work, so that the vessel, having been made watertight, might be able to securely hold the entrusted water, as there was no immediate necessity for doing otherwise, since the enemies were not yet present, but were, on the contrary, staying somewhere far off. And this speech pleased David, to the extent that it seemed good to him. ^C But a wind seized the words of Mazidas and carried them away; and, burying the intelligence of David in oblivion, it brought forth a sprout that grew into a great trunk of great evil. For not yet was it late evening, and the abundant water, capable of flowing freely into its container, signaled its course with a great sound. Then, by chance, Mazidas, happening to pass by and hearing what had happened, ran in haste to David, and, reporting what he had heard, refreshed his memory. But David, who might have taken revenge, preferred to forget. However, after he heard that the water was to be retained, as it would be useful for the future, he refused [to stop it], and ordered the water to be allowed to flow. The water therefore flowed into the container, which in turn leaked it out, rendering the aforementioned care useless, since the water, after the mud, had carried away the gypsum. ^D Not many days had passed, and the container was empty; whence all the hopes that we had reposed in the acropolis vanished at the same time, and no one any longer looked up toward it. We ourselves, though unwilling, had embarked upon the road, carrying necessities, when we learned that the water had perished; and with it, all hope vanished at the same time. There, having divided what remained, we resolved only to fear and to pray that someone might avert these things which so strongly smacked of treachery. For at that time there was no covenant made with the enemies (though this was what should have been done), nor were there gifts so that a brother and mother might more surely approach the inevitable fate under Andronicus, but instead there was the highest negligence, and that city

with all his people submerged in evils, when, with the single force of prayer, [he should have entreated] the leader to shorten the time of the siege, when, if he were to flee the face of the emperor and fly off to the crows, he would have been most like a traitor, and several times worse, as one who had fought only with words like a comedian. ^A A wise mind would place a person of this sort in the same category. Just as the pilot of a ship, of which he is not the master but the hired operator, if he is angry at the one who harmed it, does not merely grow angrier, but although he is present at the danger, his counsels are not effective and he acts sluggishly; and with all his expertise intent on a single purpose, he allows the keel to dash against the rocks and to sink into the deep along with the cargo and the men. In the same way, the guardian of a vineyard planted with ripe grapes, holding ^B towards his master a perfect hatred, perhaps binds the grapes to nothing, yet he often descends to the lower parts, then stands as if on display, looking here and there, pretending care; but seeing the joints of the hedge and the ditch beside it, he does not remove those who lie in wait there, but lies down and sleeps, thus completing the damage to the possessor of the vineyard, immediately swearing to those who inquire that he never abandoned the vine, nor stole from it, nor eventually betrayed it, [while] shouting. Yet he was not negligent in hindering those things which might have harmed the vineyard. These things were fulfilled in David, since from them not only could Andronicus be blamed for having placed over the administration of such affairs a man hostile to himself and teeming with evil arts, ^C but also David could be convicted of the charge of treason. For to summarize the undertaking, the pilot was not expectant, when he was underway, to be put in danger of his life, like the unfortunate savior of Xerxes, hesitating whether, after he had dashed the keel against the rocks, abandoning it to the waves, he might eventually be saved alone by swimming: I would not hesitate to assert that the keeper of the vineyard also betrayed the vine, not being ignorant of the fruit from his charge, but out of anger against the possessor, allowing it to be plundered and harmed by wild beasts.

^D O what an evil, O Andronicus, you have brought upon yourself and your great works, and what a most terrible danger you have dragged along with them—if they were indeed neglected—in having placed one single head in charge as Emperor, and that a man who was neither very knowledgeable in what he had to do, nor beyond suspicion! O royal Epimetheus, what an evil you have brought upon us! O useless, late-counseling! O search after goods at a time when they are difficult to recall! O that vain repentance! For the affairs of David could not, in the end, remain hidden from the Emperor. Therefore, he sent the chamberlain, who has already been mentioned in the history, not only for the defense of the city, but also, as they say, to defend [the Emperor] against the vagabond David unto his [David’s] destruction. For the Emperor had already recognized the man, though too late, as one who was plotting in the depths. Yet he was playing the Cretan against a Cretan...

but he could not, through this swift Mercury, strike and destroy that wily Argus—I mean David—who with eyes sharp for evil always saw it coming. For David, sensing this beforehand, forestalled him, intending to shorten the time of our calamity for the sake of his own advantage; and, plunging himself into the deep like a coot which, fearing an eagle, plunges into the depths, he escaped the hook-beaked Andronicus, while Andronicus himself, having descended upon him with curved talons, was parried. For in the evening the chamberlain came, and the next morning we were lost, everything having been arranged by David so that neither might he see within what he feared, nor indeed might any aid come to us from without—for the safety of others, to be sure, but to the ruin of his own soul, which would have suffered harm, had the city been saved. Thus David, hunted by Andronicus, contrived not to fall prey to him, holding as of no account not only the fair Thessalonica, if only he himself might be saved, but not even the whole world. ^B

64. Many days have passed, some before the fierce war, and some during its height, and no one saw him either wearing formidable armor or mounted on a noble steed. A mule carried him, and he wore no breeches or youthful greaves; a strange, reddish, Iberian-style hat covered his head. The barbarians call it and shape it according to their fancy: it is many-folded and thus tapered below in the rest of its covering, but widened and drooping about the face in a manner sufficient against the sun, so that even thus he might reject the soldier, living softly in the shade. Festivals delight men of this sort; an assembly knows such dandies. A bridegroom would be thus pampered and adorned. And if ever he took up a bow, you would have said he was testing it at a merchant’s to see how it might be drawn. It is said that he once shot one arrow against those stationed at the acropolis, and one stone from a sling; and then he suggested to those on the walls that they mock the Latins round about, those whom he had repelled so valiantly—the ones who were sewing evils for us, and laughing as they heard them. Yet his own men, mocking him, said that he used to sit inside the walls down in the shade, and seeing arrows flying from outside, he was accustomed to say: “Yes, my good fellow, things are bad here,” and immediately, hastening, he would move to another sheltered and safe spot, thus seeking a portion of the walls where he might fare better, according to the saying, living deliberately outside the reach of the arrow. ^{C D}

65. And when those fond of delicacies saw him as such, they spoke what was pleasing to him; and in order that this might appear more generous, those who were given to adulation approached him with flatteries. Among them, the scale, having the Fates, tilted toward them according to the poets, inclining into Tartarus. The flatterers, indeed, devoted to sycophancy, displayed in themselves a hatred toward the city, so that they might criminally agree with him who hated it. And there was among them a poem by the orator of Paeania, which he, in delivering judgment concerning theft, circulated everywhere, thus:

^A ...to scheme. ^B To you, O David, this was friendly, if it were like you. But was he, being so peace-loving, allowing others to do what was necessary for the battle? Not at all; rather, he completely shackled Ares even among us, I know not by whom of those from Aloeus, perhaps an Ephialtes, or an Epialtes, who among the Asclepiadae was burdensome to those lying down, like a nightmare himself. For he would not be called an owl who did not lend his ears to those offering good counsel, but to vulgar and foolish witticisms. For the proverb has rightly tested [the truth of] owls and birds. Therefore, he was not willing to act himself, and he prevented others, restraining them by force. He so dreaded that any sortie should be made against the enemies when opportunity offered, so that, I suppose, the Sicilian, if he had any sense of urbanity, would have regarded him as a benefactor; since, just as the pupil of the eye protects its army, so he guarded it, in such a way that not one of them perished, at least as far as concerned him—even though certain soldiers, and not least the children of Thessalonica, the remnant after the fugitives, dying in a manner of speaking with a heart for their fatherland, performed terrible deeds daily against the enemies, operating with a vigor one would not have expected.

^B 66. Then one could behold the malice of this base man and his profound sophistry. For when invited to open the city gates in a time of war, he does not obey; and then, learning of greater dangers, he nevertheless persists. When he had inquired from which quarter the enemies were to be spared, he first declares that the order of the Emperor must be kept, ^C which commanded him to guard the fortress. But when he had learned that it is not enough for someone to be called a "fortress guard" by being shut inside the walls, but that it meant doing everything by which one might harm the enemies and thus guard the fortress (unless one calls a man a guardian of a house, or a vine, or a ship, who is safe inside and sits at home, and if any treachery happens outside, permits this to occur until the evil penetrates within), he, forgoing all legal justification, alleged that he feared that some, after having stirred up the mire, might turn to flight, and thus the city would be even further depleted of men. Now, the brave generals and the soldiers with them were aggrieved to hear this, that a foul head should be placed upon the fair body of the city. Yet they did not venture to undertake the dissolution of the harmony imposed upon them, obeying not for the good. But when he was certain of their obedience, he acted fraudulently in this manner: when Comnenus had dared, with a part of the army which he had under his hand, to rush upon the enemies from the eastern gates, and had thus attacked, even though the end resulted unfortunately due to the worthlessness of those who had arranged the battle line, and the meddlesomeness of the foreign soldiers and the children of the city who had been left behind after the fugitives, because they had rushed in haste against the besiegers, ^D and because all the Latins had run together against Chumnus—he, after he had scarcely opened the gates and had let this long-desired excursion rush out, then immediately shut the doors behind them.

Thus, those who had gone out could with difficulty make it back inside the city, and from this, they were forced ^A to pay a penalty as terrible for their daring as it was for their attempting what was impossible when God willed otherwise.

67. It will not be superfluous to record here to the shame of the commander that, when the war against Chumnus had broken out externally at that time, and the matter had been heard and brought to his attention, he refused to increase the danger to the barbarians by fighting against Chumnus, so that the barbarians might not be vexed and slaughtered from both sides. Therefore, he desisted from fighting and sought a triumph elsewhere. For at the highest point of the eastern hill of the Zabarius [Zabareiou] that overlooked us, he was holding a festival, contemplatively judging the arrangement of that battle, which the dust raised by those running and counter-running indicated. And what he might have been praying for or wishing for at that moment, no one could know; but this was evident, that he wished to harass the Latins there and distract them from the war against us, as though he feared that they might invoke ^B or accuse him of having brought the Roman army down upon them. And at that time he suffered the mockery of the women, as he had ordered them to descend from that place above, to take their place himself in an unseemly manner. But this mockery from the women did not move him in the least. For how could he have known that such feminine cavils often suffice to help faltering men, both barbarians and Greeks, to recover their spirit? And we have experienced this great and manifest evil from him, since we learned from the Latins themselves that, if at the hour when Chumnus attacked them, those who were in the city had proceeded toward the harbor, they would have carried off all the engines and ravaged the camp, having burned whatever ships remained to them.

68. But this we came to learn later. In the meantime, the commander was managing his own affairs without trouble and was luxuriating in his position. And when he was exhorted to laborious works, he would hold a holiday, ^C enjoying his idleness, relaxing, and neglecting our affairs out of hatred for the Emperor. It is a very bad thing, though human, to have exchanged our common good for one's own private evil, and to have preferred the utility of the Sicilian [the Norman] to that of the great Constantine, and, as one might say, to have chosen one rock of Charybdis over another. Now, the Sebastos John Maurozomes did indeed urge him toward good works while he was staying here after having come up from the Peloponnese with his army—not for the sake of our benefit, as many suspected, but as a pretext, while in truth he was also himself longing to see what danger he was in (I mean, regarding his very life), in which matter, as the report went, he feared Andronicus. Nevertheless, his words were good, and he rebuked the commander for his disposition. Yet he was not a partner in his counsels, nor was anyone else, for he was occupied with that one thing, that ^D

he might ^A settle in Thessalonica for fear of Andronicus. Indeed, he could have devised a guarantee, as if he had saved the city, to appease the wild beast, since he was trusted to be worthy of life. But he had no hope that the inconstancy of the emperor could be kept in any good way, and our own sins had turned such a thought away from him.

69. Thus then was the head of the city. But the entire remainder of the body was everywhere different, being changed for the better. As for those who were serving as soldiers from without, no one could say how greatly they concealed their cowardice, among whom were especially the Alani and Iberes. But those who were natives of the city, maintaining a genuine love of country, were not many; for the greater part, giving themselves over to the winds, had departed, and especially those who were strong in power, as was said, and capable of rebuking the leader and leading him back to what is better.

One might have called these men who had determined to remain in the city ^B no longer citizens living according to our customs and domestic life, but thieves, wild beasts, and bears of heavy savagery. For they were truly burning with zeal for the fatherland, men of great deeds, filled with manhood, breathing might, fashioned for strength, thirsting for battle, hungering for barbarian flesh—in a word, Ares-minded; they had so forgotten all others that they alone were brought to wage war, and preferred the danger upon the walls to the turmoil of the home.

70. Therefore, not only men, but women too were maddened for Ares. And some carried stones to the other engines and the slings, and those in the flower of youth and young maidens carried water, and even those whom old age had already rendered idle from work, stooping low where we shall eventually ^C fall; such might seem to do nothing great, even if they worked, being forced, and laboring throughout the day. But others adjusted themselves for military equipment, fastening rags and mats as if they were breastplates, and binding their heads with strips of wool, trying to pass themselves off as soldiers, and loading their hands with stones to cast, they went upon the walls and threw them at the enemy as best they could. But they were reenacting ^D the Amazonian history, and they do not allow that to be refuted; and they even surpass the ancient ones, whom we know to have aided their compatriots by shearing their heads, braiding ropes in the necessity of war from such hair. For they were not sacrificing hair, but lives. Had Solomon seen them, he would have counted them among the women of whom he wrote.

71. And one could have said then of those who looked upon David and those around him, the Davidics (for there were those who conspired with him in evil, after the manner of crows and flatterers, whose praises, in which he insanely rejoiced, breathed height).

As if our women had become men for us, and the men who acted like David had become women. What then? The laity of the city was indeed laboring in this way, and even beyond their nature; but the rest of the body imitated the general, being content if only they could see and hear. Yet their hands were not idle; but, as if oblivious that it was never permitted for them to be men of blood, they were transformed, hiding the deep apostolic character and becoming more worldly.

^B 72. Furthermore, there were also disturbances to the enemies from among them, which they, perhaps learning of it with difficulty during the capture, brought against such people. The citizens maintained such a tension of battle, neither being interrupted by day nor resting at night. For they fought all day long, and all night they were in a state of wakefulness, keeping watch. This did not harm the city little. For these same people, struggling without change throughout the entire period of the siege, were finally exhausted, debilitated in both sinew and soul. And on that very last night, after which the sun shone unhappily upon us, the eastern wall lacked guards, not only because their limbs were exhausted by labor, but because everyone anticipated that the city would be captured the next day; concerning which no one now doubted, since all had come to know that the fate of the leader hung in the hand of the inexorable Clotho, and since the enemies themselves, on the preceding day, had shouted out with a Stentorian voice that the following day would be calamitous for us—not without suspicion of treachery, I think, and perhaps of the heathens. A certain Latin said that a directive was sent from the tower near the Burgisi to those who were outside the city, and a warning to those within, ^C and he provides us with evidence. Among the guards there were some who were so wicked, adolescent brothers from Chonabitae, a brood of vipers to this city, who at the very moment of the assault were devouring it, and with drawn swords, known to those who saw them, were running through the streets in attestation that they had already laid traps long before. Indeed, I have no doubt that they will one day receive a punishment worthy of their deeds.

73. And such a Latin is thus constructed toward the truth, being otherwise unable to lie. But Abudimus Manuel, a man concerned with the price of fish, now an old man still vigorous, formerly renowned for the strength of his hands with which he used to subdue his adversaries, and whose body designated him as a robust man—this man declared that Thessalonica, famous throughout all the earth, had been captured. For the fatal day had not yet dawned, but it was still the dead of night, during which the eastern wall was still inaccessible to the enemies. He, however, waking from sleep and having left his house to attend to his work, encountered five armed Alamannic horsemen ^D conversing together about the present state of affairs; and when he wished to pass them by, they called him. When he had approached them, he

they fatally severed his right arm. For one of them, having drawn his sword and struck downwards, lopped it off. He could not, however, inflict further harm upon the man, as he had turned to flee.

74. Such also was the treachery of the Alamannic regiment, whose precursors, on the previous day, had leaped out from the western gates ^B and in the sight of all joined in friendship with the Barbarians. Two days before the storming, on the fifth day of the week, near the end of the evening there appeared inside the city Theophanes, the son of Probatas, who had arrived trailing the Latins from Dyrrachium, a fact which rendered him suspect of treachery. A certain Leo Agioeuphemites, a horse-groom, upon learning of this, was moved in his mind, yet being uncertain what he should do, he resolved to defend his country, threatening those who did not dare to speak with the dire common danger from David.

75. These things we have indeed narrated by anticipating the order in which they occurred. But the enemy proceeded against the eastern parts of the city along the coast as far as the gates, and on the fifteenth of August they brought their ships into the harbor, and on the next day in the morning they obtained what they wanted and quickly performed their work of war. There, as I may speak with the Muse of Herodotus, one could see a cloud of missiles and stones by which the air was obscured. Missiles were projected from the walls also (for Mars is common) against us, and by our men against the walls, whence it came to pass that few of our men were harmed, but very many of the enemy. For God most excellently strengthened not only the soldiers, but the rest of the youth of the city ^C as well, who were able to slay the enemy and cast missiles from afar, so that they, retreating, cast their missiles in vain against us from a great distance. Therefore, the missiles projected from the western Golden Gate were carried high through the air as far as the once-distinguished sanctuary ^D over which the great myrrh-streaming Saint Nicholas presided, and they fell into the tents of the Barbarians, which were immediately shifted. Similar things occurred on the other side, where the anchorage was, and the mariners, letting go the ships that were being harassed, quickly set sail.

76. It was to be seen that our men would run out, leaping down from the walls—such as the peaceful commander had never seen, the most of them unarmed; and then they achieved great things, among whom were also the sons of Beatus, and the Serbs, despising the enemy; add to this that they carried away cattle snatched from the Barbarian tents, and drove back their adversaries with missiles and javelins from afar; and this ardor and alacrity of spirit filled the soldiers, so that the commander himself would with difficulty endure their onset, and though he had established after the ruin of the city that he would never change his mind, he did so most especially when Chumnus incited the war.

^A And just as he had once and for all imprinted the destruction of the city upon his soul, he no longer wished to erase what had been done; and as for that ^B man—most especially after Chumnus had provoked the war—the latter held back, as if protecting them, since it was possible for them to be harmed by those in the city, just as... why is it necessary to extend the narrative further into a composition (for one might become burdened), and why did David neglect the wall as it was being undermined, to the extent that it even became a subject for anathema from the more zealous?

77. For the sappers of the fortification—if one must put it so—having approached the wall and prepared themselves to carve, and shielding themselves from those shooting down at them from above, set to work firmly, as if hurrying the excavation so that, having crept beneath it, they might deepen it and at their leisure quickly break the continuity of the fortification through and through. And they were accomplishing their goal. Their heads and a part of their backs were hidden; but the rest of their body was slightly visible to each of those outside. This, however, escaped the notice of the majority, until Basil the Tzuscus, who was in Thessalonica, having dared and managed to look down from above, saw the matter. He, having taken it to heart, ran with all speed to the commander's chief attendant; and having lamented the matter, he called upon him to prevent the evil. And he—o, what a good disciple, having cleverly absorbed the instructions of the good commander—declared that one ought to delay until the next day, until the enemies, cornered within the hole, could then be more easily stifled within by the smoke from brushwood, just as if a hunter, having easy prey of a beast in the plains, let it go to seek out its den, so that he might capture it better there; just as those who tend to bees work around the hive within.

Such was the assistant general in mechanics. ^C But his architect, David, played at mechanics in another way; and hearing that the wall was being pierced from the outside, "You must pierce it from the inside, too," he said. And having gaped to such an extent, he sat there for the rest of the time listless, like a living statue, blocking like dried figs himself, according to the comic poet. And having moved his tongue in this way fruitlessly, he seemed, if he should hear the wall being pelted by stones from the outside, to say, "Pelt it yourselves from the inside, too." O the mockeries by which we were slaughtered, while he himself escaped the enmity of the emperor! He was a man who, where it was necessary to be vigilant, would fall asleep, and who used the old simplicity of words; and yet, if you look at it justly, he keeps his watch. For what he proposed, he accomplished by watching, and did not cease until all things were duly completed.

79. ^D And thus the ruin of the wall was brought upon the enemies, and our loss was the undermining of the stones of the wall below; but the stones cast from the great machine pulled down the battlements and stripped the wall of its guards; and many, having been cast into the interior places, also did much harm. Therefore, when those on our side attempted to build another wall opposite, and had already set their hand to it, they were repelled. For the wall-builders feared the overhanging stones, not dreaming of this Tantalus-like vision, but because they had the true evil before their eyes. Then a ridiculous thing occurred if it is mingled with bitter...

^A sweetness in the course of history, so that the learner might not suffer excessively from our circumstances.

80. For when the construction of this opposing wall was a mysterious thing, a certain man of frivolous nature, standing above, said to the enemies in a loud voice that they were laboring in vain around this wall, since another was being built inside against it; which remark offended us not a little. For the outsiders rarely cast stones into the wall, thus harming us by day; but by night they could not cast projectiles at us from the great machine. Concerning which, if we have spoken as if of a horrible engine of war, and if we inquire whether much danger threatens us from it, know that we have learned from a serious witness that the city could not be harmed by it. What then? Is it advantageous, O philosopher, to despise machines? But he persists.—Altogether? On the contrary, since in this way the strongest fortifications are torn down. Thus we were discoursing, and the speech, as happens, flowed out.

81. But smaller stones also cast ^C at the city were doing harm. For they were thrown with such dexterity that even the measures [modii], which were tied to boats and contained men within who were accustomed to attack the enemy with projectiles, never failed to hit the mark and harassed the adversaries not a little. But these things are like children’s toys compared to the great machine, and when the leader’s temperament was taken into account—who, when the stones fell with a crash, remained unmoved as he was—he said, "Listen to the old woman"; he was so naturally intrepid and moderate that he would have accused the nurse, if she were troubled on his account, of stupidity. He replied laconically that the old woman was tired of making repairs. This speech reeked of the Pythian, just as the ancient Thessalonica approaches the idols of the dead, as we long ago learned from history. Moreover, the stones had the weight of a man, similar to those which the Laestrygonians hurled against the companions of Ulysses.

82. ^D Therefore, while the evil below was opening into a significant chasm, the integrity of the wall on top was struggling against being brought to trembling by such stones, and the knees were giving way, and the parts above were suffering. And how it subsided onto its knees, having first been skillfully constructed, until those who were under-mining it, having finished the work appointed to them, withdrew to the tents of the Barbarians; what had been thrown against the rampart into the trench was consumed by fire, so that the empty space of the wall might be widened. Thus, with the wall inclined, it happened that the summit was split from top to bottom, so that the angle formed became very harmful to us. For after the joints had been loosened, a fissure followed, because one side could not be fitted to the other, drawn as it was in the opposite direction by its weight, but with some part of it relaxed; it ceased to adhere to the adjacent inclined part, and thus a huge opening

of Tartarus expanded against us into a chasm of misery. ^B

83. Now this place was a tower called Chammydracon, to whose keeper the charge had been given together with the sturdy soldiers around him—a man who was at that time a tactician, and who later became our companion in hardship. He alone among the others was held fast in the city, partly through sickness and partly by prudence; and later, as a fellow-soldier and associate in danger, he would have met his death had not God’s wisdom warned us and allowed us to defer the time by removing the danger, whereby the barbarian’s spirit was softened, so that we were the saviors of our man, and he enjoys the life he has to this day.

84. When that wall, therefore, had suffered as it did, as soon as day dawned and both the enemy and our own people saw the Charonian chasm there, the former gaped against us like wild beasts, while for us, with our eyes closed, every hope had perished. Previously, however, the commander had been full of confidence, boasting to those who yielded easily that nothing would happen to the wall, or that if it did fall, he himself, having chosen the finest men from the picked troops, promised to set up a wall of iron, compacted of arms, which would be a guardian for the city for forty days. But in the end, this braggart of a man, by speaking at the breach in the wall, put an end to his own boasting; he himself, however, did not remain, but hurried headlong away. ^C

85. For as soon as he saw a war-spear on the breach, up which one of the sailors had climbed—whom Siphantus’s ship had brought, as being brave and fit for such matters (for Siphantus was a pirate who had willingly joined the Sicilians by some treaty of mutual renown; he who, having captured us, entertained us—for one must relate it thus—on his own ship, as we shall also briefly set forth in our account)—as soon, I say, as the timid David saw this, he immediately cast behind him his manly promises and, having reduced the forty days to a few hours, showed his back to the enemy. And while the soldiers were crying out before everyone, "Comnenus, stand and fight," and he had added the terminal word, "As you see me," he desired to find a Pegasus with which he might have flown away into the mountains or into the waves of the deep sea. ^D In the end, however, he was content with his mule that was carrying him at that time. He fled, therefore, in a manner hitherto unseen, delicate to look upon, clad in fine clothes, with hands unpracticed—like a gymnast—and unstained by blood, just as he had had all the others as his attendants like a ram. In that multitude, however, there were magnanimous men who had reproached the commander for his cowardice, some of whom fell with blessed honor, while others, after performing noble deeds, followed the hostile spear. But in the beginning, the Barbarians who were ascending were driven back by our own citizens, and not by the soldiers. For these resisted to the best of their ability until they saw the danger of being surrounded, not being terrified by David’s panic; but they were thinking of the slaughter of those who had brought so much evil upon them by their incursions. Those who

were ringed around in this way had not been hemmed in by those above, but by the barbarians who had rushed in through the eastern gates, which the commander had left open to the enemies in the morning, granting them easy access, when, as he attempted to flee, he allowed those who were steering him toward the citadel to flee with him, leaving the gates—to use his own words, as those who heard him report—to "fever," while the city was left behind.

^B 86. When in this way, therefore, the hostile spear had appeared upon the wall, which was already stripped of our own men (I mean the eastern one; for the western wall did not have such defenders; yet some even among those were resisting, as much as they were able, with the utmost manly courage; among whom was, above all, Leo Cutalas, a man full of spirit, fortitude, and heart; who, after having resisted as far as the forum, which was already over-crowded with the rabble we abhorred, and then receiving help from no one, gave way, and through the fortunate abandonment of himself, he gained himself gloriously—at that time indeed much mourned by us, but now held by us, who knew him, among those most worthy of praise). When the arms, therefore, as it was said, were seen in the upper part according to the customary invitation and inspection, as if he who was outside had beckoned with his head or hand, scarcely half an hour later, the city was filled with enemies, on the twenty-fourth day of August, counting from the time when the fleet first appeared, and subsequently the cavalry that had joined it.

^C 87. To see the day then was to see not a day, but something like night, and as it were suffering and looking gloomy at everything it saw. For a thick mist thickened it, as if from dust, which either a whirlwind raises or the feet of beasts, which an infinite number measures; so that one might say it was dangerous for the sun to shine, by which the splendors of the armor outshone it. One would have to adapt from the old Muse: "Eighteen days it [the ship of the city] sailed the sea, and on the nineteenth, shadowy mountains appeared," through which the sun of our life, being walled off from us, darkened the shadow which covered us, as the Psalmist says. ^D Now the shouts of joy and the war cries and the hubbub from there, which had resounded yesterday and the day before, were no more; but, reversing the Psalm, there was no shout of jubilation in our throngs. You would have seen the air empty also of birds flying, I do not know whether because of the thickness of the air, or because the event was horrible even to them; for there were many days when neither sparrows, nor doves, nor crows lived among us any longer, nor did any other bird traverse the air, but they were elsewhere, and invisible to us. But this, even after the capture, lasted for a long time, such as is the terror that remains even for irrational creatures. For many days afterward, and the thoroughfares of the city were...

filled with seeds of every kind, in which certain grain-eating birds delight (for the barbarian does not cease from plundering and laying waste); yet no bird would descend from anywhere. And this, I think, was even more strange: that when rain fell heavily, and the enemies had scattered them—ploughing them up, indeed, but not sowing the whole noble city—as if crops had sprung up in abundance and grown to a great height, no grazing animal gained anything from them; but it had to choose whether to feed on dust or eat of the things that had sprouted, as though they were poisoned, with which the surrounding area had been contaminated; or perhaps because, according to those who dwelt there, just as the tale tells of ancient Diomedes, they themselves hated the barbarian, as being unaccustomed to them.

88. ^B These things, and others of this kind, are not to be rejected as superfluous to the history. The city therefore, thus trampled by the adversaries, suffered everything that is inherent in war. As for our own people, not one or another, but all fled without looking back, escaping in the small numbers we have mentioned; among whom was one Boleas, of the ecclesiastical order, who, having cleft nearly thirty with an axe, while others had been deprived of life in other ways, kissed his mother earth under the great exertion of the enemies. This is indeed a source of shame for David, who, having sworn that he would never flee, but rather perish by his own sword, then consulted his safety by flight, [remaining] unstained by blood.

89. Our flight was not then unorganized; but it was under the political authority of the first leader, as we have already said; he who, if he had shown his face to the enemies, as the noblest men fleeing with him urged him to do, would have quickly healed the wound of the city. For the soldiers of the enemy line were weary from capturing those fleeing and carrying off booty. In these circumstances, there was a need for some man, safe and sound, who could have looked on from above and given signals, while God blunted the violence of the weapons. For a man entangled in such calamities, and thinking primarily for himself, could not accurately record everything, except those things which are most essential among what he learned, and in which he was personally involved in many ways.

90. We, therefore, having despaired of the citadel due to the lack of water there—of which the commander had become the guide—and having distributed the necessary provisions, as we had provided for our own sake and for those around us, as has already been declared, we by no means concerned ourselves with fleeing ^D into the holy sepulcher of the Myroblytes or into other holy places (for it was not hidden from us how many, of all those who had fled into them, had had their lives taken away by wounds and suffocation); and remaining at home, we whom the Psalmist addresses when he sings, “The living shall serve the Holy One,” moved by the sight and sound of countless evils, which overcome us with astonishment, as to how we endured, pulling, as they say, at the last extremity of our beards—we proceeded among a thousand drawn and clashing swords as through a field thick with grain; pushed, struck with fists, and subjected to insults such as the custom of men knows not—we judged this a saving passion.

praying that we might be in such a state. But when the blade grew haughty against us, and the side-sword slanted as if to plunge into our vitals, and spears were leveled threateningly from this side and that against our flanks—there, only deep, silent prayers could resist. For how was it possible to utter them aloud?

21. And thus far did such a state of affairs direct us even to our city’s Hippodrome. But finding there the aforementioned Siphantos—who has already been recalled to memory—standing without his horse alongside Maurozomes, and considering what he should do, we were dragged off by him. In word, this was so that the archbishop might suffer no further fatigue, but in truth, it was so that we might experience evils worse than the first. For after pausing briefly there to bend our knees in a small hut and bite into some dry bread, so that we might drink some water (for our heart was burning within us, as were all our inner parts), then, invited by the respect due to his status to mount (for was this not that very same nag?), we obeyed the one who commanded us and, having been set upon it, were led to where the harbor was, along with the quiver and arrows that the saddle happened to be carrying.

22. ^B Woe is me for the evils that followed! As if the dead—over whom I had walked on foot, steaming with their warm blood—had not been enough, I was being led about as a horseman through heaps of others, most of whom lay stretched out before the wall, so densely packed that the little horse had nowhere on the ground to set its foot, being forced to have two or three corpses lying between its front legs. As for the difficulty of exiting through the gates among so many thousands of ferocious Latins, and all that was outside even as far as the harbors, I wept, as did the Christians who witnessed it. But I will not set these things forth, so that I may not spin out to greater length what I wish to shorten.

23. I shall summarize only this: we were stubbornly demanded to provide four thousand gold pieces, we who had not even a handful of sand or dust, or what is commonly called spittle, in our mouths; and when they heard that even this was little for a man who held an archbishopric, which yielded him one hundred centenaria (oh, the wealth!) each year, and that we might rest for a while in Siphantos’s ship as best we could, in expectation of the thousands that the magnificent pirates had assessed for us—for this ship was the first shelter we chanced upon, though filled with captives in every other part—they longed to lament as we did, but lacked the courage to do so; they bore witness to their grief, however, by the contraction of their faces into a look of gloom, and by the lowering of their eyes to veil their tears, which we, their companions in misfortune, the miserable cargo in their eyes, returned in kind. For it was not permitted to speak openly.

24. ^D Having rested, then, in such a ship, the following day we were brought with similar honor to Alexios Komnenos. There, the place revealed to us an iconoclast, a certain William, a savage man who had deserted Andronikos from Nicaea, a man who, like some tragic Fury, was already contemplating how he might devour us, being ready to kill even before he had eaten; he was like...

a tragic Fury holding torches to investigate us (for it was already night), and having found us where we were lying on the ground, not for sleep (for sleep itself had fled from us for many nights already), but because we had nowhere to sit or stand, being long since exhausted by evils, he kept barking in a barbaric tone with frequent imprecations, threatening the punishment prepared for anyone who did not kill us; there was also present some good brother of his, from whom we learned that this beast was raging against sacred images. When we asked him what the cause of our death was, he was at first angrier and confirmed the verdict, saying that if he had chanced upon us at the beginning, we would not have our heads now; then, trying to justify his anger against us, he exhausted his wisdom by accusing us of infidelity towards God, ^B since we were faithful to Andronikos; to these things we, pretending otherwise and saying various things and crying out to this madman (for our head is dear to us), nevertheless soothed the savage so much that, after he had embraced us and kissed our hand, he departed.

95. Thus we spent the night, now by his torches, now by his clamors; but now among the prostrate captives of the Comnenian [house], when we had spent a few days there, receiving food out of pity, and some bronze coins from one of his men, the gift of which was then comparable to the treasures of Croesus (may God have mercy upon the donor!); then to the counts, as is more customary to call the counts (for I cannot bear barbaric tongues), we were brought.

96. To summarize what we have gone through, after we had suffered much there, with difficulty after some days we were restored to the house of the Saint; and seeing there Latin tribes and the places filled with other men, with the upper and lower parts already occupied, we withdrew to the garden; at first, surrendering ourselves to the delight of having lain on the lowest level of the bath, with pure grass laid underneath; we spent eight days in which we saw no pure bread, but satisfied the greed of our stomachs with ash-cakes made of bran; after these days we were not used to wine, or we drank a little bit of wine stained and as though drop by drop, and we ate fermented bread and some other things; nor was the garden a gate for us against the Latin tumults. If trees delighted anyone, especially fig trees, the fruit of which was immature and unwholesome to those who eat them raw, if also the garden plots from which every delight springs, it is another matter for those who are most delighted by such things. If they walked on a carpet of feet, there was nothing to say, as if he who was supporting it had been intolerable. For we were sitting together and [were] poor messmates, taking bread made from bran for food. Ill-bred, prepared to pull from the ground things that always delight those who enjoy the garden, they were about to do the same to us; approaching, then turning back, stripping themselves around the seat, and for the cause of defilement letting themselves down, approaching us nothing but

that which is to be cast out from the belly, having been made liquid by water because of the laxative grapes. And they did so. And those who were with us, loathing, as was fitting, this defilement, were bursting with anger, and were being goaded to cast out ignominiously these (if it must be spoken in Greek) Ozolæ (stinkards). But we restrained the action, judging that those ^B who wallow in the mire of sins also turn out to be worthy of such dwellings.

97. I shall add to these summaries that even as the dry cistern, remaining dry for a long time, was later at some point healed by holy men; just as also the nakedness, of which not only we had an abundance, but all who were with us; and that we also derived some gain from the enemies, speaking subtilely and profoundly—things which no one will regret remembering for the sake of the luxury of speech, and even, if time allows, to relate them. As for those things which could be taken from us (a mule ought to be added, or one book, or a garment, or something else of ours), we had nothing of significant value. We had bestowed fifty gold pieces, nor had we moved our faith altogether in vain; and for the relief of poverty, the re-reviving spring of the Myroblete ^C luckily occurred, flowing as if from some ocean, whence we and what remained of the city were sustained. For who would not have fallen into vanity and into Judaic hardness of heart, if he had dared to say with his lips that he departed from the Myroblete without fruit regarding food and other things? ^D

98. This is indeed mentioned for a reason, though not altogether undeservedly. But when the Barbarians had filled the whole city, beginning from the very Eastern gates, they mowed down our people, and throwing many such sheaves, they built piles, which Hades loves to eat. And those who were fleeing in the crossroads fell about them, and were at the same time stripped as they were plundered; and thus the streets were turned into wretched cemeteries, which the sun had never beheld. But those who remained in the houses were unable to go out from them; nor could any house be found whose inhabitant had been spared, unless a multitude had not been there. For of that household, some perished inside, for whom their own homes became their sepulchers, as in the Psalms; but those who had been dispersed in flight were handed over to the fortune of war. And for a while those who were thrown lay simply prostrate; but a few of the enemies, tempering their excessive heat, mocked them more cruelly, and on the ground, what is indeed said, mute corpses of another kind lay. One dead man was joined to a prostrate donkey; another had a dog as a companion. And most of these had been made in jest as if in a posture of embrace and a kiss. Another was with his pet cat. For the Barbarian did not spare such things either, and especially little dogs as they were barking and running up, from which our city was deprived. If anyone remained anywhere, he would run up to the Roman man barking; before the La-

^Atin he would give way, whimpering. For he recognized that such were the evils of the time. One might have applied to them the proverb about the silent frogs in Seriphos, and some such Italian cicadas, and so too the silent dogs among us.

99. ^B That the roads and houses were overrun, that no good treatment was endured, one would not count as a new development of war; but that sacred temples were tyrannized—this one might judge to be close to fighting against God. For the barbarians, running into these very places as well, committed every atrocious act, and such as provoke God to vengeance. And as for those holy men, clad in their most sacred vestments as if in a breastplate, they cut down the majority to death—some on the very divine altar, others outside the temples, wherever the murderers happened to find those standing before God; and as for the laity, whose mouths were full of the cry "Lord, have mercy," they struck their heads, asking ironically what "Lord, have mercy" meant, and laughing. Venerable women, depicted in the temples as objects of lust and tormented because of their chastity—behold them, let them be summoned to give an account: some bound by marriage, others dedicated to God for their virginity, others brides of God. If only one of them had been depicted, perhaps the evil would be less. But as they are common in such things, as one might say, common household pots, they could not find a lament worthy of them.

100. I have something of good to say here of the barbarians, namely, that some who had been sent into sacred places to kill, at least dragged those people outside, and thus killed them, moderating the evil in this way.

101. ^C But those who insulted divine things, and tore apart the sacred images—all those that did not contain any precious material, but stripped the others of their adornment with blows—neither did they see these things as having been determined [as holy], and they marched on, in our famous memory; and even now, when they come to mind, they are abhorred. For how could anyone, having learned that men were stripped in church and having been grieved by it, not burst with bile, knowing the despoiling of sacred treasures? How great is the forbearance of God, if He allowed the barbarian, who trampled upon the sacred and fearsome treasury, uncovered his genitals, and deliberately urinated, to live unharmed? Venerable crosses, our strength, which your violators also mocked! But divine power is not such that it will not eventually awaken.

102. ^D How, indeed, could anyone here describe this sloth as well, when the unrestrained would rush into the temple and, as tragedy would say, use the shining crystal lamps as chamber pots, and use vessels of urine as if they were cups for drinking? For when they had allowed the urine of their bladders to flow into the wells, they would then draw it out and drink this filth; and this again and again, forever turning this shameful circle.

103. But this might perhaps be a laughable thing, cast into the narrative in such a way. But those things which have been written above, those summon forth countless tears, such as...

^A as regards that which concerns the Myroblete, for when they had struck his tomb with axes—those who deserved such a punishment themselves—they cut away the silver ornament that surrounded it, and the golden crown that encircled his head they tore away, and likewise also the other [ornaments] bordering his feet; perhaps so that they might escape the prompt vengeance of the saint. Thus they would have acted everywhere, had not Providence intervened and, by quickly bringing better men from among the Barbarians, been ready to prevent the evil. For an eunuch of the king, adorned with the dignity of an emir, prompt and fervent in action, and able to strike great terror by reason of his savage appearance, had ridden in on horseback, when no one was expecting it, as far as the inmost part of the divine temple, according to what many believed, out of contempt (riding through the cathedral of the metropolis, he had sent his horse as fast as possible, nor did he rein it in, indeed for the sake of prudence, so that he might pass more easily through the density of the people, with everyone fleeing lest they be trampled by the horse, and he, invisible, could see the plunderers and punish them thus); running therefore, the eunuch, sitting thus on a spirited horse, and holding an iron mace in his hand, while at the same time his accompanying attendants—who ^B were themselves fierce in action—gave assistance, he prevented many slaughters and the stripping of both men and women; things which he could not prevent elsewhere, however. He drove away the thieves of the holy tomb in a way that did not please them, carrying away only (and indeed many things which they had stolen before his arrival). He did indeed restrain the slaughter of men there; but there was no one who could prevent the suffocation of those fleeing in the temple; but just as in other congregations, so too in this one, the crowd condemned not a few who were alive to death, the number of whom vied with the number of those who had been suffocated in the citadel, as the beginning of this book has related.

104. What shall I say about those leaping from the roofs of houses from above in the fear of death, because the great evil was surrounding them as well? Those who had no power to fly into the air, whither they would have liked, suffered [the fate] of heavy things, and gave out the sound of death, falling from on high. And what of those men and women who were immersing themselves in wells, as in the water of some lamentable and Acherontian stream; the former out of fear of the death that would befall them from above, the latter for the sake of modesty? And no such falling or precipitation was anything new among men, who would not only pray for rocks to be rent asunder for their reception, and for the hills to be rolled away for their concealment, and for the heaven itself to fall upon them; but they were imagining also chaos and Tartarus for their descent and the ending of their life. For the chasm of history and the precipices were small things to those wishing to be made invisible.

105. Woe also to those stones, which when cast by the Barbarians at such people, did not allow them to recover, but by covering them over, buried the miserable ones. Woe then also to those who were with child, whom fate detained in flight.

^A Because the natural burden [in flight], pressing down upon them from weakness, suddenly cast them down into Hades, forestalling the destruction by the sword. No less sad, however, was the lot of the mothers whom their little children accompanied in flight; for they were often separated from each other—for as the danger pressed, the mothers would run ahead, but this was certainly unhappy and unfortunate. For when they noticed that the dear ones were no longer keeping pace with them, but were being dashed against the rocks by those emulators of Herod, or when they themselves fell into the hands of those who were seizing them—cursing that they might not fall into their affection—they would wail, conversely, along the entire path where the children had traveled. Fathers also fled, leaving behind children orphaned of their mothers. But they would cry out for the sake of salvation, while the others would run on without looking back, and nature would cry out in vain. Even if those ones ran out to flee together, they themselves did what they could; but the father remained the same, his natural affection for those he was about to lose being overcome by the fear of death at his heels. But if a father took thought for his own life, they, prostrated and trampled, perished in heaps of corpses. Thus, domestic animals, when wolves rush upon them, quickly abandon their little ones and flee; and the wolf does not know how to spare anyone.

106. Here I groan, recalling to mind how we too were all fleeing in this way, like sheep for the slaughter, with no shepherd protecting us, nor even a hireling. ^B And blessed are those whose flight was not delayed at all. But as things are, indeed, most of us fell for a little while into the mouths of the wolves. These countless slaughters have depopulated this city, which was flourishing and inhabited by citizens of good fruit. Those who perished in this varied manner exceeded seven thousand, as those who went about estimated with possible precision, along with the foot soldiers from among the Bulgarians and as many of the regular army as fell. The barbarians themselves, having investigated otherwise, counted five thousand of the dead, neither including those who had been suffocated, nor those who had perished in their homes, but only counting those whom the sun revealed, exposed to their blows.

107. ^C Here, the heart of a compassionate man would be bitten, because the barbarians were burning those who lay in the streets and on the acropolis, mixing them with brute animals, adding this final touch to their inhumanity. When we first exhorted them to bury the corpses, lest this sad spectacle remain and exhale pestilential vapors, they said that they were accustomed to such things, and that they delighted in such spectacles and odors.

108. Indeed, the many murders and severe plunderings and the greater part of the evils seemed to end by the command of the counts at the midday of the day on which the city was stormed. It was, indeed, a Sabbath, which provided no place for flight—a flight which one would pray against in the evangelical sense—but rather the destruction of such a great city. ^D What happened subsequently no one could describe accurately. As for those things which we have been able to select, and which we have been able to record, we shall glory. All

^A the cavalry who were outside the walls, and the naval commanders, and those who followed them, now being secure from all danger and unwilling to remain any longer in the open air, confidently filled the houses of the city; the higher-ranking among them into the number of the soldiers, the lower-ranking into the rest of the troops, in such a way that accommodation was provided for the guests; they then took up residence inside the houses. Every administration of the city was dissolved, to which we belonged. The barbarians had imposed a tribute upon the houses; the owners, however, had been driven out and were wandering here and there, tortured by hunger, thirst, and cold, because they were also naked. And would that they had been naked, so that perhaps those who stripped them might have been moved to pity! But now, inventing a garment of a new kind, which is otherwise shameful to behold, they were not moved to leave behind a certain tunic, which necessity had granted to each one, even if it was their only one. Whoever saw it, far from mourning, laughed at it because it was more like a theatrical costume; but one who had been a participant in the suffering did not hesitate, for fear of death. Someone would pierce a mat and, wrapping it around himself, barely covered his front shame. And once thus covered, one might have thought himself blessed compared to others, who, offering their palms and fingers as a kind of veil, were content to hide what needed to be hidden, having nothing more that they might do. And this was, indeed, not worth seeing. But if women also suffered this condition, why did the sun shine, so that it should have to look upon such things? ^B

^C 109. But he had another way of demonstrating something good, by turning away those who were insulting them. The following evening brought the heaviest of evils, casting shadows so that all things might be hidden and all shame might disappear. For the day imposed some discretion out of fear of the masters, while the night gave license to things that were unholy. There was one then who, having found a torn cloth or something similar—such as is to be seen on the public roads—and having pieced together such torn parts with great care, changed it into the form of a towel and was thus wearing an unusual garment even against his will. Others, finding damp, tattered rags, would sew them together and covered their belly, loins, and lower parts, girding themselves with a cheap and weak rope, made from linden bark or something of the sort, while leaving the rest of their body naked and exposed to the air. Whoever had an intact garment was held to be like a king or some other distinguished man. Harlots alone shone with the splendor of their garments, glowing in sacred veils; they were united to impure lovers and dared to commit sin and lead dances before our very eyes. O, how great is the patience of God at that time! Indeed, the heads of most were bared, with the Latins acting to ensure that we should be dressed in the same way.

110. And those who were able endured this. But as for those whom the [affair of the] head did not leave unharmed, but who needed to keep them covered because of poor health, if anyone witnessed this, he was affected by the greatest sorrow and because of their invalid status...

^A moving among them was a spectacle. Those who were most fortunate, whenever they were given the opportunity to place a suitable cap upon their heads, thought themselves most blessed; while the majority of the rest were forced to fashion such coverings for themselves out of reeds, canes, or straw, most of them full of holes at the top like a chimney. Some had been eaten away by having been worn while eating, others were like barbaric toys, and not a few were crafted so that the cap, through its hole, might serve as a funnel for the thirsty, as a symbolic sign.

111. And all of them were adorned with such raiment, upon which shone in many places, as if they were purple gems, stains purpled by the blood they had shed; a spectacle miserable to behold; firstly because they seemed like shadows rushing forth from the underworld; and secondly, because they no longer possessed their natural characteristics, whether because they had been rubbed raw inside and out, or because they had shed that precious fluid which causes the complexion to bloom. ^B It was, therefore, a task to recognize even one’s most beloved among them; and everyone kept asking everyone else who they might be, given that everyone was of the same color and differed in nothing.

112. One must go to the churches, and observe those who were in them, and ask who among them was rich, or poor, and such things. But who acts as priest? Who is the reader? Who has been chosen from the people? For all were of one image and one form, and if one had not answered for others, had entered the holy sanctuary to pour forth prayers, and if someone else had entered the temple for the sake of chanting, there was no distinction between them and the people. All of them did indeed ^C exhibit something solemn, even if otherwise quite sad. For with their shoes removed, they all became like the very paving stones of the holy house.

113. One must also look at the food of each and know that they received nothing from their compatriots, as all were afflicted by the same hunger. A few of the Latins had some obols on them, from which they lived sparingly. But the majority of them called the beggar a devil (this used to be a common expression among them), and would give insults as if it were bread, and for seasoning, a blow of the fist into the bargain. ^D Mercy was thus very difficult to find, except for the Myrobletes, who, as has been written above, fed all the citizens of the city as much as was necessary. But if someone, as is the custom, would offer a price for food—alas, what barbaric inhumanity! For they would measure out to the Jew and the Armenian, whom the nearby Kranea and Zemenikos nourish, as much as was fitting, and even something in excess; but to an enslaved citizen, they gave the bare minimum, if ever they deigned to turn to him. For a small piece of bread curved into the shape of a ring, as large as the thumb and index finger could encompass, they would sell to a miserable citizen for three bronze staters, though it was barely worth one obol.

114. Speaking of the Armenians, I recoiled, and a heat seized my heart, when I considered what evils…

^A they, too, were adding to our burdens—those whom the envious demon had attached to us. Before the conquest, while they were living outside among the enemies, they showed themselves even more fervent than them in demonstrating evils against us: in forays, in ambushes, in raids to seize plunder, in siege engines, and in revealing hidden things. But even inside the city, they acted in a tyrannical manner against us: threatening, commanding, plundering, striking, and strangling us in commerce. For a small mass the size of a palm, which would be priced at one obol, they valued at a great price, and in the Latin fashion, they too strangled us. ^B And we would have perished then, had not God, by bringing to fruit the autumn—at which time there were abundant grapes, for which others had labored, but we were entering into their labors—nourished us. For let no one think that we were provided with any other food or luxury for our first and second meals. From these grapes that we had pressed, we indeed had wine, though it was windy and produced foul stenches, and was unwholesome for health, but it was yet more agreeable than water. And we had some other food, and clothing from the marketplace, and whatever else was easy and ready to be obtained. But those wretched Armenians were also said to defile our bread. And this was not enough to deter the poor from purchasing the goods for sale—for the necessity was terrible, to be driven from one’s duty and compelled to act only under duress. Rumor also spread of a certain impurity that we suffered from the Latins as well. For by mixing lard and suet with their oil, they became the cause of good Christians breaking the fasts of Great Lent and of the Preparation [Friday], so that they not only did not allow us to be free in the choice of our servitude but also insulted our holy worship. Who, finally, could endure these things?

^C 115. And when we were performing holy hymns in the church of the Great Myroblyte, surrounding the famous merciful one, they were performing their own rites on the steps of the holy sanctuary, opposing their voices to ours, wishing to sing profane chants more loudly with harsh and dissonant cries, often even interrupting the reading of our holy Gospels, and these most graceless men provoked us out of contention into quarrels, thus disturbing the proper order and dissolving the holy harmony. I spoke prudently about this to Count Baldwin, to see if some order could be established, and so that the sacred things would not be mocked by the license of the priests among them. But I accomplished nothing, even though he otherwise seemed willing in not a few matters to restore Roman customs, so that they would not be dissolved. ^D For he was even seen to act justly, whether by pretense or by a true desire for truth, in judging and punishing the guilty, and distributing equality of punishments for stripes and other violent blows, and even condemning some evildoers to the stake. He also provided as much silver and gold for the Holy Sepulcher as sufficed to make up what was lacking. He also prided himself on giving books—though they were not ones that had been taken away, nor were they entirely useful, yet they could be pleasing—and he also donated silver symbolic wax figures, which were placed in the holy atria, worthy of mention...

and he distributed to us some means of life, together with books which we did not greatly desire, and divine images, portions of which, at the request of his companions, we again distributed, not being able to refuse. Furthermore, he gave us holy vessels (for the truth must not be hidden), from which we distributed some finery to many of the holy churches. ^A

116. But regarding this count, here is the greatest good, even if otherwise it held something mixed with evil—for nature had placed evil next to good, mixing in him a crater of this kind. For he acted craftily in the Latin way toward our people, and often said to them through his teeth that it was an abomination to them that on the day of the conquest they had not slaughtered the whole city: "For what purpose are heads placed upon such bodies? That their blood should not be mixed with ours; that they were not about to summon a king, and that they would subjugate all these, while the Latins alone would be the ones to restore things, and thus would all things turn out well." These threats followed against us, and every hour the count was inspired by the devil with anger, and those who calumniated us shouted: "Tomorrow, tomorrow!" and all the people of God immediately [were] in fear for us. Therefore, it was necessary to act and to speak; and we did this often, laboring in various ways. By the grace of God, we very often persuaded him because the leader inclined in that direction; and we did not recently give up, until finally, by becoming all things to all (I do not say in a homily, but in a harangue), and pleading our case, and not refraining from flattery and pleasantries, and yet speaking also with some gravity, and having blamed the ferocity of the rabble of Latins, and having offered a timely praise of the Thessalonians, and having in general arranged and adapted our words in various ways toward wild men—according to some dim echo of scriptural rebuke, and reprimand, and exhortation—we, who even in time of peace were timid about fulfilling the evangelical precepts fully among our own people, so that we might not suffer unwillingly, we strengthened the man, and having established him firmly, we led him to swear that he would no longer disturb those who had been captured with the fear of slaughter or any other evil. And from then on we were at rest, as far as was possible. Indeed, it was not entirely possible with the Latins, who were haterers of the Romans. ^C

117. But we must return again from the affairs of the count to the preceding matters, our daily life having been divided into daytime and nighttime activities. The days belied their civility due to the savagery in the Latins, which was faintly muttered about; for those who judged that the world could not contain them and us, upon meeting us, would spit upon us, push us, trip us, and shower us with insults. This was often on their lips as an intercalary verse: "Come, good John." This mockery arose from the fact that during the time of the siege we had boasted that King John would soon come to our aid. And if any of our fellow captives walked the highway on foot (for who...

at that time did not walk so? since we ourselves were enduring this, weary, our legs unsteady, troubled, and staggering like drunkards), and if, therefore, someone was traveling along a narrow path and chanced to meet a Latin riding on horseback, he would not hesitate to trample him and crush the man, spurring his horse to leap upon him. ^A Such was the love those men had for us, that in word or deed, as an excuse for their wrongdoing, they would claim we had struck them with a dagger—not speaking as men do, but like a lion that has caught its prey and wishes to tear it apart, not because it is hungry or craves flesh, but so that it may hold it fast with its talons. In these circumstances we could neither groan nor appear sorrowful, which in the torment of events is usually a relief to an oppressed soul. For then they would repeat: "Devil, why do you groan?" They wanted us to be unfeeling and senseless, and even to rejoice at the evils we were suffering. If it happened to anyone, upon seeing someone fall, to laugh or smile, the Latin who saw it would be moved to fierce anger. For he thought, it seems, either that we were mocking the actions of the Latins, or that we were expecting something good and were rejoicing over evil, or finally that we were glad because the enemy was in hiding. Therefore, they would bend their fingers into a fist in the manner of a flute-player, and rounding their hand in a rhythm, they would move it to strike a blow, muttering, "Why do you laugh, O devil?" And thus they would turn the serenity of a gentle smile into a cloud of tears, or, to put it another way, they would change the laughing Democritus into a weeping Heraclitus. ^B

118.

119.

and had uprooted from the city of the Lord those who perform iniquity, bringing our evil to a head even to our very hairs, so that we were totally shivering, stripped of the hair of our heads. And if anywhere the beard had escaped someone, and it was hanging properly, as it was by nature, those vile barbers touching this with one hand, and with the other hand the hairs of the head, declared these to be good, but those—that is, the ones of the beard—to be bad, jesting in matters that are not for jesting.

120. [120 A] Wishing thus to be like us in such matters, they nevertheless hated common life with us; therefore they did not deign to live with us. But when one of the masters, wandering here and there, would call his house to mind, and imagine his own possessions, and desire to approach there, and draw near, and peer inside, and be asked who he was to do so, and he would reply that he was at one time the master of the house, he would be received gladly, and being yielded to as if out of respect, he would walk inside delicately, and have a greeting and a front seat and food and drink; yet for this man, the gifts from the barbarians upon these things were death-bearing. For there were tortures by hanging, and physical torments, and smoke from straw, and other strange evils, for the disclosure and giving of wealth; and when these had been given, the cycle was again in the same things. For there were hangings of the wretched man and heavy rainings of blows, until the executioners were satiated with what was desired, or took pity. For it [120 B] happened once also to be in such a way, as if a lion, hungry and biting, should afterward take pity, or release the one being tortured from life. Some of those who were suffering in this way and otherwise were removed from life by the torturers, who feared lest, having found a great treasure from the one being punished, it might be extorted from them by the counts, as was agreed upon. A certain Constantine (so named only), a good man and generous with his hands, imagining his own affairs, to which his heart was bound, and thus ensnared by longing for his house, and suspended, and having suffered thousands of blows, and at each suspension having cast forth money, and having heaped it up to much, and then having suffered a lightness of mind, and having been deceived in seeking to receive something from there, and having threatened to report the matter to the counts, he no longer had a head, but it was buried somewhere, having been cut off; and the remaining Constantine was cast out as a corpse, destitute of aid.

121. This evil also had another intensification. [120 C] For the barbarians, having been sweetened by the gain from the masters of houses, lay in ambush inside the gates. And if they saw anyone passing by who appeared to be a man who was once wealthy, they would snatch him inside, like certain terrible beasts rushing from a lair; and holding him, they would torture him until they achieved their target. And if some were also willing to live with the captives, this also had some burden, as those who seemed to be faring well were led around; yet it was somehow more brotherly and more humane. It was not then possible to sing hymns in the holy temples at will; but this good...

work also had its own persecution. And in the beginning there were many days when they were neither closed, nor was the customary gathering held to sing the praises of God, unless someone was a refugee and fleeing from captivity, even in houses. But when at some time freedom appeared, the holy gates were closed, the mystical light was kindled, the psalms were sung, the priest performed the rite, and our people had leisure as much as they were able; then the demon ^A opposed it, the wicked Latins rushing in, lying in wait for the sacred voices, shouting, and stammering in their accustomed way, to see if they might interrupt the continuity of the good.

122. They also wished to prevent the wood, which is suitable for signaling the gathering at church to the people in the manner of a herald. When, therefore, it was struck at the beginning of the evening for the service, the barbarians stood armed against the messenger, quicker than the blink of an eye or a flash of lightning; using the devil's words according to their custom, reviling us, they said, "What is this?" and they forbade the work at that time. And their will went forth through fear of us to the rest who were chanting at that time. But not many days later, on the day after the feast of the exaltation of the most venerable cross which was to be celebrated among us, the heralds ascended to the top of our Catholic church to perform the customary office; for it was not permitted to delay any longer, lest the good point be neglected. When they signaled the feast more clearly on the wood, ^B lo, again the barbarians: naked swords, their strides swift, questions, inquiries of those standing around, as if tracking footsteps, lest some trick be hidden. But when, after many useless searches, insults, and threats, they found suitable interpreters of the matter, who were among us, they were placated and became calm, no longer trembling in any way, because the doubt had turned into truth. Then we could not know what they might finally not suspect—the large bells which are above the temple of the Myroblyte, calling to divine service, but they felt bitter about the wood which signals the holy gathering in the metropolis? We thought, as was likely, not that any Latin disapproved of it, but that some of the Megalopolitans who had been present at the holy war, of which mention is made first in history, when they learned that woods were then resounding in the great temple, thought they were calling upon Andronicus as if for the aid of those who were in the church, and therefore [imagined] us to be contriving something of the sort. ^C

123. And such were our troubles by day, moderate when compared to the infinite [things] that have been recorded; but the nocturnal ones are not even to be compared [to these] if one were to strive against them. And for a time [as soon as] the sun had rolled down to the west, a prudent man had to be inside a hut, having secured the doors with bolts; for if he did not do so, no one would guarantee that the man would be kept safe. But when even hidden at home, he was not in darkness, but the house was illuminated by the usual fire or light, this was another danger, with the Saracens passing by, or anyone who was like those ^D nefarious men (and there are many such), asking—

what the master of the house was doing that he had not gone to sleep? And they would break down the doors, rush inside, and do whatever they pleased. We have to say that it was not only these men who were maltreated through this pretext of fire and light, but also those who were without fire and light. For these nefarious men would slip in unnoticed, the night serving them like the helmet of Hades for concealment, and they would lead women away from the side of their husbands, profanely violating the bond of marriage with violent abduction; whom they had observed when the sun was shining, they snatched away by night, as well as maidens from their mothers, not yet having, as they say, completed the supplications these mothers offered up on their behalf. If they snatched away goods, they reckoned this evil practice to be a kind of alms, and the rich like a source of wealth. There were indeed some who were slaughtered in their own houses at that time, suffering an evil that went unpunished in the absence of the sun. The reason was the madness of these nocturnal thefts and the groans of the wretched. Those among the Barbarians who were more refined and playful loved to rush at the doors, break them with staves, pull them asunder, and carry them off for mockery, or at least deprive the masters of the house of sleep. ^B 124. These things and many others, and especially nakedness and famine, which greatly troubled many of the captives and disturbed their souls even to the point of death, compelled them by necessity (for what else could they have devised?) to reconcile to themselves the Latins—by forestalling them, by fawning, by flattering, by complying, by serving, and by doing everything so that they might live and have no fear. And from this there are some who unwillingly stumbled in their own proper haste. For simpletons spoke out of season, revealed the hiding places of treasures, and robbed and despoiled them. They pursued those fleeing, and handed over many of their own blood to be caught by the evil hunters, and committed many other sins, not in all things acting of their own volition but, as the common saying goes, willy-nilly. 125. These are grave matters, and matters of shame regarding our own people, the things committed within our own race (for some are proved to have descended even to such a point), may God never remember them through His lips. ^C Hence there were illicit marriages; hence there were repudiations by women of those men whom the law considers husbands. Hence there were deflorations of virgins, for which some of the leaders were not guiltless, while others let them go; hence there were places of fornication, regarding which I spoke much with boldness but perceived no fruit, not being able to deter those who had committed sin, because they had already tasted of the bitter-sweet, and somehow muttered against me—as one burdensome to look upon—that I had "tasted of an abortive dog." 126. Hence there were the shaking and splitting of floors, through which all the houses were dug out, the Barbarians undermining them like rabbits or moles or pigs, ^D or some other root-eating creature living under the earth, or to speak otherwise, like ploughmen. For it seems as if with

^A ploughs they would have upturned the very foundations of the houses, had the surface area permitted it. For lately, having reaped—so to speak—an "unsown and unploughed" golden harvest, according to the proverb, they then proceeded to carry out this sort of ploughing, from which they gathered self-grown and handsome spoil. And not content with wealth found on the surface, they also investigated the subterranean. I may be allowed to call them "gold-diggers," just as we call ants those creatures which, driven by a love for that metal, overturn the soil; but they are a thousand times more like tomb-robbers. For neither did they leave the dead unmolested, but, treating them as guardians of treasure, they harmed them, despoiling both the underworld and Pluto—that is, the god of riches—claiming that they were one and the same.

^B 127. To what purpose should I write more, since whole long books would not suffice to describe for those eager to hear such things as happened to us? Through which our refined men of intellect eventually learned, to their own misfortune, that one must scrutinize the signs given by God, keep one’s mind fixed on their accurate interpretation, and perform what is indicated. But if anyone here should appear desirous of learning further, and of knowing what signs were manifested beforehand regarding the future, let him listen briefly to what we set forth for history.

128. In the first place, dreams of virtuous men, such as the Holy Scripture knows to be indicative of future events, spoke beforehand of what we would suffer. And we laughed, ^C disdaining the revelations of dreams, and unwilling to find the distinction between a vision and the other things that sleep manifests. And the fact that the Myroblyte was absent from our city and would return at the very time of its capture, they themselves foresaw, yet we did not believe it. For just as the trusting ones were pressing importunately for help, he himself prophetically declared that they must tremble before the tyrant, who would come only after three days. And the fourth day was the day of the city’s destruction. And we often prayed as suppliants: "Come to save us, lest the nations say, 'Where is their protector?'" But he, not listening, departed for foreign parts.

129. The saints in their icons were weeping; and those led by empty hope were rejoicing, ^D saying that those saints were sorrowing on our behalf. We said: "Be it so, but they are not heard; that is why they continue to weep." And they did not believe us. And they were indeed full of hope, while we, knowing the destruction well from what we saw and logically inferred, did not know what we should do; saying ourselves that there is no advantage in knowing the future, when such knowledge brings no benefit to the prudent person. And like Cassandra (for I will not speak further of her prophecies, but what we said was spoken to deaf ears).

130. A sign, not auspicious, was then shown by the All-Holy Mother of God, who among us is called the Hodegetria, or "Guide," indicating that she hated our plight and would not remain with us. For on a certain feast day, after the holy Mother had walked through the whole city with the brethren leading the way, and was on the point of returning to her own temple,

^A and approaching the entrances, she so resisted the entering that she forced the one who was carrying her to step backward, while she, gradually growing heavy with an unaccustomed weight, was pressed down almost to the ground. And not only he, but others too, as many as tried to lend a hand. At first, the one who was carrying her fell under suspicion, as if he had contrived such things at home, as often happens. But when holy men, of upright character and incapable of committing such a crime, had stretched out their hands in vain to move the image, and yet not one of them, as many as there were, had the strength to move it from its place, a great fear seized everyone, even the most stouthearted, until with shed tears and groans they lifted up their voices to the Son of the all-pure Mother, and did not cease until, the miracle having been confirmed, the one carrying her was released and without great effort brought the holy image to its own seat. To grave men this seemed a trifle; but we, wretched ones who were burdened with that weight, well know what the matter portended.

131. The holy oracles, being consulted concerning future events, foretold the day of the city’s capture and our extermination. O certain prophecy! O revelation of the matter, indubitable and not in the least ambiguous! O our deafness!

132. It was then the time of the siege, I say, ^B when the evangelical words by which the calamities of Sion had been prefigured were required to be read in church. For there were grave men who interpreted them as concerning that city. Then the leader, who despaired of the outcome, began to arrange our affairs and to rouse us, who were indifferent, so that it might appear to those who were ignorant of these matters that our fate was dear to his heart. For as if in jest, he commanded us to keep watch around the great temples. For why should he command prayers for the safety of the city? In his mind, however, he had it to cultivate religion—which he did not do without some semblance—so that by commanding prayers for the city he might appear to take the greatest care of it. I truly believe that the state of the city was such that, in any case, it stood in need of supplications above all else. Just as a physician who, through his own incompetence, has placed the life of a sick man in danger, then summons a priest to strengthen the salvation of the dying man with the Viaticum. ^C For he possessed a character more serious than one who would jest, such as is the nature of those who have known the characters of men from experience. Therefore, he did this thing under the guise of piety. However that may be, they obeyed him who gave the order, and when it was necessary that the sweet songs of David be chanted, something untimely occurred (it was the very early dawn, after which, when the sun had risen, we were captured), in that they chose that psalm which begins, "O God, the nations have come into your inheritance," and then, "They have defiled your holy temple; they have laid the dead bodies of your servants," and the rest. For the divine Prophet, inspired by the revelation of those who had convened for the sake of offering prayers, had said: ^D

"What further need have we of intercessions to God, where everything regarding us is already pronounced upon by Him?"

135. These and many other things conspired to bring about our distresses, the frequency of which caused us to become sensible and, having cast aside our rashness, to examine all things with a sound mind. For that audacity was unaccompanied by reason, and we thought there was nothing from which we should flee. Thus, therefore, while they were seeking consolation in the ecclesiastical assemblies, the war—even while the psalms were being chanted by the suppliants—suggested lamentations, turned them into groans and infernal sighs, and, having dispersed the congregation, so affected the souls of those who were survivors of this calamity that they would preserve the mournful memory of it, since not only pleasant things, but also fearful ones touch the imagination of those asleep.

134. And thus out of private hatred, both that against the emperor Andronikos and that against the doux David, a common evil fell upon them—contrary to those who had ^B imagined that many common affairs could receive redress through certain private enmities. And no beautiful day broke for us, but rather one that was destructive to us all, which I would have wished to be cut off immediately from the span of the year, just as the patient Job prayed in his affliction and sorrow. But He who from the beginning of the ages prescribed the course of the year according to order will surely reject that prayer, as it is incongruous for human nature. For to pray with bent knees is not the mark of a soul that bears evils patiently; therefore, our speech must be pardoned. For even stones would not be torn apart in this state. For how could a man not be moved, where even among the enemies those who are considered to have a notion of God and to be moved by mercy were weeping and groaning as they looked upon such a city, ^C overwhelmed by such great distresses and robbed of so many goods, which, had they been distributed, would have blessed a great part of the earth? For it was not a common city, but a seat of the fortunate, which he who had known it could not forget; it, which always abounded in earthly goods, then teemed with corpses, which even now lie in obscure places, of men, women, children, infants, young people, those of middle age, and elders, most miserably abandoned, or if they had been afflicted by some other natural failing, who nonetheless had neither been seen by the wall nor struck by the weapons. At any rate, when the cruel ones rushed into the ecclesiastical hospital, ^D being valiant in fighting with shadows, they first turned their swords upon them; afterwards, they left the entire place to be occupied by the physicians and the keepers of the sick. Yet this magnificent house has not yet received anyone into hospitality. But those who came for the healing of the sick, having seen the empty place, shuddering at that sort of assistance that leads to death, beating their heads and groaning as if in their final moments, returned home to commend themselves to death. There, neither a drop nor a life-giving scrap or anything similar

^A could be found anywhere in our deserted city, as everything had been swept away by those who were both uncouth and most cruel; men who, apart from possessing no grace, do not even know what it is, I believe. They were the most ungrateful of all men one could name, and, in another sense, quite boorish, inasmuch as they were entirely unacquainted with the common amenities of civilized life. They left our city orphaned of all such goods, so that one no longer wonders why they turned out to be death itself for men, since they were merciless not only toward such things but even, in their madness against us, toward inanimate objects, behaving wantonly even toward jars and oil-flasks and anything even baser. They were also so utterly rustic in other ways that they did not seem to be able to discern even the more important things with their eyes.

135. Thus, they gathered up good and many precious items in woven baskets, sacks, and rags, choosing them for the sake of plunder; some things they would throw out from within, opening the mouths of the vessels and trampling them underfoot, while they would tuck away the useless containers, which were for the most part worth only an obol. And such were most of them during the height of the pillaging. But those who came after them, and those who came after them still, were loaded down with the beautiful things that had been poured out, and they amassed wealth. They too, however, were low-born rustics, uneducated in anything sophisticated. At any rate, when they happened upon those engaged in trade—whether they were able to acquire items for sale cheaply or at a higher price—they would take a small amount and exchange it for things precious to life. And one might learn that gold was twice its value, while silver was exchanged for bronze coins at many times its weight and worth. ^B Indeed, neither books, the loss of which would utterly afflict a lettered man, nor garments in which the Seres delight above all others, nor textile works comparable to spider webs—those which are fashioned from a thin thread by the worm, that artificer—could move those barbarian men, ignorant as they were of all delicacies; wherefore all these things were sold at a cheap price.

136. There were those who, because the wine was far from sweet and indicated an odor of medicine or bitters, would reject it, even despite the health-giving properties it brought to humans, especially to the wounded. Therefore, this excellent liquor was poured out insultingly, and it was of no use for healing diseases. For this reason, there was no one to be found digging graves in the circuit of the walls; add to this that the countless wounded were anticipating death and required much of the arms of those burying them. How many houses did those wounded ones empty out! Thus, the aged wine also underwent a funeral, so to speak, inasmuch as it too died along with those who were ailing for want of it. But the newly produced wine would leap up, agitated and bubbling; and this effervescence in the drinkers served as a kind of threat against a life condemned. For those who were filled with that wine and afterwards drank the draught of Lethe offered by Death—Death acting as cupbearer, not only to our own people (it is worth mentioning), but especially to the Latins, when they would squeeze the grapes with their hands and gulp down the must, lest the first fruits in the bitter

^A press be hidden. We, for our part, owe thanks to this boiling wine, because it gave death to the Latins, together with the pork with which they stuffed their bellies, as well as the beef and garlic by which our clergy were sustained while chanting and seeking food, and thus punishing the homicides with which they raged against our people—calling blessed, not themselves, but the diseases, or rather the death brought in from Gades, among whom hell was honored, even if death in tragedy knows no gratitude.

[137.] Alduin himself clearly described this frequent Latin death, saying with a sorrowful spirit that more than three thousand of their leading men had perished from the disease. This heap is sweet to us, even if it does not equal our own loss. And when those who fell in war are also counted, we had even more consolation. For the same man, blaming our irrational resistance and the loss to the king resulting from it, tragically related that more than three thousand fell by the missiles launched from the wall, apart from those who fell in foraging parties or otherwise, as the fortune of war cast them and the wheel of justice rolled on, turning swiftly. Many were also carried off by famine, for even ^B their own necessities were constrained.

[138.] And so, nectar of consolation was distilled for us by the descent of the enemy army, which the Latins who had become kindly disposed toward us (for we had won over many, laboring at those things that are from God) revealed: that more than eighty thousand infantry had advanced, of whom five thousand were attested to be valiant knights, set to run against fifty thousand Romans, according to their own account. The rest were partly horse-archers and partly light-armed troops, and were otherwise useful for arms. This great number among them was also filled out by the men, so they say, of Rhizikos, who neither received pay nor any donative from the king, but followed the army, hoping that by contributing to the deeds, they might find the goods of fortune. And that was the number of the infantry. The naval forces, moreover, were clearly over two hundred ships, including the pirates, who, receiving nothing from the king, committed themselves to the vicissitudes of fortune; by them, pressed on land and sea, we were driven to the very brink of life. Some were carried off, having finished their lives in death, while we ourselves, because hell was already full and had closed its mouth, lay ^D half-dead.

[139.] But having digressed here as the necessity of the history required, we shall go back a little again, to explain the poverty and the relative thickness of those who, like a flood, swept away the public affairs; who foolishly, and in the manner of children, gave away precious things to whoever first occupied them, while they counted other things as of no value, especially those that provide arms to the warrior multitude. For the fragrant oils, sweet lye, and dry materials useful against diseases or for—

luxury, for dyeing, and other things by which a refined life is maintained—it was a sight to see them hewing even fragrant wood. They imagined dried grapes to be pieces of burnt charcoal; rose-water was cast away as useless liquid; and they were insane in other respects as well, such that anyone who wished to examine these matters more closely would find the nature of man confused with that of beasts. It was astonishing, moreover, that while they took great care of iron rings, daggers, censers, and needles as if they were objects of great value, they trampled larger things underfoot. But if we consider their ignorance and effeminacy regarding life and public institutions, we cease to wonder.

^B 140. Hence, one might shamefully apply the Corcyrean proverb to our city as well: that it is permissible for anyone who wishes to relieve himself wherever he pleases, as if it were a place of unconstrained license. Nor would anyone speak ineptly if he were to call Megalopolis a great desert—a desert not of Scythians, nor even of the Latins who conquered it, but of ourselves. For we, dried up by a most heavy tempest of sins, have left such a city deserted and have brought upon ourselves the Sicilian Scylla—though I would that it were only Scylla, who would deprive us of but a few heads. But now, it is Charybdis that has dragged us into her whirlpool, having sucked us down to destruction.

141. Now, it would be appropriate for me to begin lamentations and to groan over our calamities. But such things are neither profitable for an old man nor ^C worthy of a bishop of God; rather, they should be consistent with supplications and the glory of the Most High, from whom and through whom all our affairs derive. Yet, what prevents me from ceasing after uttering this one word, such that, as someone might deservedly say, the sun has surely never seen greater miseries elsewhere? If I encounter an adversary, I will fear neither extreme old age nor my episcopal dignity, but I will resist, and in the joined battle, I shall not cast the arrows of my rhetoric far from the mark.

142. Thus the matter has turned out, if one must finish this account tragically, where the suffering is worthy of tragedy, and it is impossible to set it forth ^D either by word in its entirety or to endure it in deed. May it bring rest to all until this point, lest we hear ourselves that the wrath of God for us has not yet turned back, but his hand is still stretched out and ready to strike a lethal wound, and that God will not remain with us unless we are corrected. Correction, however, will come for us if we amend the perverse life because of which all these evils have rushed upon us. For he is greatly mistaken who believes that we suffer without being guilty.

143. First, therefore, I place the proofs of my own evils before my eyes, invoking the divine mercy and appealing from justice to charity, I who am not able to subsist if God should wish to punish my sins. A most prompt conversion is therefore needed. For, as I see it, the conversion of most is not sincere. Perhaps we also dare to exclaim rashly: Who is Lord...?

our master? And this is because no one offers us a word of reproach. O our dullness! But far be it from me to accuse our dullness, unless I examine and reject the sins ^A on account of which dire thunderbolts have fallen upon us, by which we have been scorched, and from which we have received wounds that many years will not heal.

144. And these are they (for I will not shrink, even again, from taking in hand the plow of the word, to plow this spiritual field of mine, and to sow the divine seed as is my custom): envy, that most ancient evil, the great shame of the most beautiful animal, the dire sulfur of the Lucifer who was cast down from heaven, which ignited the deadly thunderbolt within us; the companions of envy are the lofty spirits into which the prideful demon thrust us; then, worshipped by us in kingly fashion, he drove many headlong into hell. ^B There are also the calumnies that inflicted mortal wounds upon us; the deceitful lie, because of which God averted his eyes from us; avarice, through which we were not justified, but deservedly stripped of all good things, except for those who dwell in hiding-places, and from there rashly act against those who have no dens where they may lay their heads (let them see to it that the formidable serpent does not burst forth and overturn their dens, so that they may not be able to nest there); false accusations, for which the great Judge has cursed and judged us; the immoderate and usurious interest on borrowed ^C money, by which simple people, vexed by the straits of their circumstances, were oppressed—the God who is their protector, taking pity on them, invites the laboring and burdened to rest, sharpening at the same time a sword on both sides so as to deprive the father of such offspring; they who from the beginning ought not have been begotten by the father; and that they fear concerning pecuniary matters, is known by all.

145. Our sins must now be recounted, including the contempt of friendship and the brevity of life, in which the inhumanity that must always be deplored is ingrained in us. Add to this the ingratitude of the soul and the absence of all grace, so that one dies more quickly than his neighbor can pity him, because, as the proverb says, grace is dead. Therefore, ^D God snatched from us the choir of graces that had been associated with our lot. You will further count the hardness of heart against those who have slightly offended us, where lack of mercy is held up as justice; for we are not only punished, though we have offended not a little, but we are weighed down grievously. Especially to be added is the contempt and mockery of divine things, the worst thing of all; for we ourselves shall also suffer contempt, but it will be ended not by mockery, but by destruction. For we do not know those who define sacred things and drag them to their own inheritance, and who boast of the privilege of fasting given by God, while feigning sleep when they are actually sober and active.

^A 146. I delay for now in undertaking to recount specifically the matters concerning our patron, the Myroblete, and those shameless acts, which were committed even in affairs that should have remained hidden—matters of which the gates themselves are unimpeachable witnesses, once struck and carved deep by axes, and showing the highest audacity; and furthermore, the meddlesome gatherings and forays which this past summer witnessed, to no good purpose.

147. ^B Hence, it is not easy to prove that a just man is useless to the peevish, to such an extent that the earth wishes to hide him, he [the unjust] who is to be blamed for most grievous crimes; add to this the false accusations that gave rise to cries of war; monetary gains from deposits, from which we were enriched, even though all those who are rich might laugh; the absence of documents in whose place the holy cross was set, where mention of the holy Trinity is made, with the title of the one and great God inscribed upon each one by those making the treaty and swearing the oath; for indeed, the guilt of false swearing has manifestly armed God against us.

148. Why should I count out the many reasons, when there is little time? It shall suffice to say only that God is just and loves justice. Therefore, He has no part with those who are not such, and he will never cease, pursuing with frequent methods those who are numbered with the unjust.

149. ^C It seems to me, O citizens and companions in labor throughout, and you too, O newcomers, that I have accurately and methodically described what pertains to us, and have set up among us this didactic image of what we have suffered. And there is surely profit in passing from this just now to one who will represent these things more clearly in his own painting, and will do so gladly; just as he who hates an accurate painting, they say, no less hates the truth. I think, indeed, that we must be careful, lest by the contempt of the paintings here, the images of what we have suffered be wiped away, and it become necessary to replace them with another painting of the same sufferings, by another temporal master of painters. For you know perfectly well that God is not accustomed to inflict only one plague upon the stubbornly wicked, nor only once; but His terrible quiver hides many arrows, from which they are always marked out and struck by Him, as the prayers of the Myroblete work together with Him in this struggle. ^D “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.” But deliver us who are oppressed, and thus be glorified, according to that word: “And in the day of your tribulation you shall call upon me, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me,” who am truly superexalted unto all ages.