History

whom he had brought from the holy city, and whom he held in the highest esteem on account of his exceptional virtues. ^A The citizens, hearing that Botaniates had been named emperor in the East, seized the palace and set guards over it. They drove the reigning Michael from the throne, and sent him away, with the Augusta Maria of the Alan race and his son Constantine Porphyrogennetos, in a humble cart to the monastery of Stoudios, and inscribed them in the register of the monks on the Saturday which is called the Saturday of Lazarus. He ruled the empire for six years.

In this manner, Nicephorus Botaniates, contrary to all expectation, attained the sovereign power on Great Tuesday in a manner involving almost no bloodshed. He was invested with the imperial diadem by the hands of the patriarch, and was joined in matrimony to Maria of the Alans (called here Alamanna), the wife of Michael. He reigned for three years. ^B Alexius Comnenus held the empire for thirty-seven years and four months, his son John for twenty-four years, his son Manuel for thirty-eight years, and Alexius, the son of the latter, an infant, for one year.

After he was murdered, his paternal uncle, Andronicus, invaded the empire for three years. When Andronicus had been killed, Isaacius Angelus, the son of his brother, obtained the empire for nine years. His own brother, Alexius, blinded Isaacius and reigned for nine years himself. ^C When Alexius had been driven from the empire and Constantinople, the son of Isaacius, Alexius, who was still a young boy, held the kingdom for six months. When his cousin, Alexius Ducas, who was also called Mourtzouphlos, had murdered him, he held the empire for two months. Alas for us, wretched as we are! especially as we are Christians who plot such things against Christians. And how could divine judgment have allowed so many crimes, and not have delivered us into captivity and slaughter? This is what has come to pass, and the most magnificent city of Constantine, because of such crimes and acts of impiety, has been handed over to the Italians. ^D

ANNO DOMINI MCCV.

NICETAS CHONIATES. NOTITIA.

(From Leo Allatius’s *Diatriba de Nicetis* in Ang. Mai’s *Bibliotheca nova Patrum*, vol. VI, p. 25.)

Petrus Morellus wrote extensively on the life of Nicetas Choniates in a letter to Joannes Sanctandreanus, deacon of the church of Carcassonne, which he had collected from the monody of Michael Choniates on his brother Nicetas, and from the *Thesaurus of Orthodox Faith*, to which he himself appended it. We, however, [shall provide] several other things.

Nicetas was of a noble family by the name of Acominatus, from Chonae, a city of Phrygia, of which he prides himself as being a native. In the work *On Baldwin*, discussing the peace established by Theodore Lascaris with the Sultan of Iconium, and concerning the cities conceded by his father-in-law, Manuel Maurozomes—among others, also counting Chomae—he writes: "He granted a portion of the rule to his son-in-law, that Manuel Maurozomes; this was the homeland of me, the author Nicetas, Chonae." And in Book VI of his work *On Manuel*, concerning the same city: "Having then departed the Queen of Cities, and having passed through Phrygia and Laodicea, he arrived at Chonae, a prosperous and great city, and the Colossae." (Abraham Ortelius in his *Geographical Thesaurus* and Hieronymus Wolfius in his notes to this passage observe that "Palassas" is a corrupt reading for "Colossae"). Having departed the city through Phrygia and Laodicea, he arrived at Chomae, formerly Colossae, a great and blessed city, my homeland. ^B That these Chonae are that Asian city which the Apostle Paul ennobled when he wrote the Epistle called "to the Colossians," is gathered from the same *Thesaurus*, Book IV, ch. 22, in which, adducing a passage from his epistle to the Colossians, he writes: "As Paul theologizes in his letter to my fellow countrymen, the Colossians." And that Colossae was later called Chonae after its name was changed, Morellus proves from a manuscript lexicon of Vascosanus, which is very ancient and described by the hand of one of Michael Psellus’s students, in which it was read: "Colossae, a city of Phrygia, now called Chonae; whence also Colossenses." Colossae, a city of Phrygia, which is now called Chonae, whence also Colossenses. And this can be proven further from Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his *Theme of the Thracesians*: "Colossae, now called Chonae, where the most celebrated temple of the Archangel Michael is visited." Nor does Theophylact dissent in his commentary on the said Epistle of Paul: "Colossae is a city of Phrygia, now called Chonae, and this is evident from the fact that Laodicea is near." It is a city of Phrygia, Colossae, which is now called Chonae, and this is evident from the fact that Laodicea is near to it. ^C And from more recent writers, Wolfius in his notes to Book VI of Choniates. Whence I suspect they were called Choniatae, who were formerly called Colossenses, to whom the epistle of divine Paul exists.

Nevertheless, difficulties could be opposed to this. For Strabo calls the people from this Phrygian city "Colossene." But "Colossenses" are, by the consensus of many, called the Rhodians, based on the vast colossus constructed in honor of the sun. Suidas: "Colossenses are Rhodians, who erected a bronze statue of the sun on the island, which, because of its size, they called a 'colossus'." And under the heading "Rhodos": "Rhodos is an island, which is also called Lindus, and its inhabitants are called Colossenses because of the colossus." Eustathius in his *Periegesis*: "Because of the aforementioned great colossus, the Rhodians were also called Colossenses, as if from a great badge of honor." Georgius Cedrenus, Joannes Zonaras, Michael Glycas, Joannes Antiochenus in his *Archaeologia*, and others have the same. Hence it is not discernible why that inscription of the Epistle should be referred to the Choniatae rather than to the Rhodians. ^D However, since Paul in it mentions Laodicea and Hierapolis as well, neighboring cities, it is far more likely that the Colossenses are none other than those very people who became the Choniatae, and that Colossae is that which, with its name changed later, was called Chonae; which Theophylact had acutely perceived when he wrote: "And this is evident from the fact that Laodicea is near to it." Nor does it stand against this that Strabo calls the Colossians "Colossene." For we see this same thing occurring in other cases with varied formations. And lest I be excessive in adducing examples, I shall offer a few. We use the common usage of writers to call those from the island of Chios "Chians": yet there have not been wanting those who also said "Chiotas," as can be seen in the excerpts of Memnon in Photius. From Byzantium, some call them "Byzantii," others "Byzantini," others "Byzantiani," or "Byzantiniani," and finally Vitruvius in Book VII writes "Byzanteas." From Gadeira [come] "Gadireus," and "Gadirites," and "Gadiraeus," and "Gadirenus," and almost countless similar ones. It is therefore no wonder that the "Colossene" of Strabo has shifted into "Colossenses."

But for what reason did Colossae, which Herodotus in his *Polymnia* called a great city of Phrygia, change its name to Chonae? The Greek *Menaea* narrate that the name was born from a miracle worked in the same city by the Archangel Michael. For when the Gentiles, out of hatred for the Christian religion, diverted the waters of the rivers flowing by there into one channel, so that by their force and volume they might submerge the place and the temple erected under the name of Michael, Michael, striking the rock with his staff, opened a chasm which absorbed that mass of waters, and saved both the temple and the man serving it from that flood, unharmed. And when the waters were transmitted through that chasm like a funnel, which in Greek is *chone*, the name Chonae was assigned to the place and the city. "Envious and wasting away because of the things which happened miraculously at the temple of the Commander-in-Chief Michael, men who were Hellenizing plotted to divert the river flowing by nearby against the temple, so as to drown the temple and kill the honorable man serving it, Archippus. But the divine Commander-in-Chief himself appeared alone, and having urged Archippus to be of good courage, he struck the rock with his staff,"

and by making a passage for the river within it, it is seen passing through from that time even until now, being funneled. ^A Because of jealousy, men addicted to the religion of the Gentiles, who were being wasted by the wonders that were happening in the temple of the prince of the heavenly hosts, Michael, proposed to turn the river flowing nearby into the temple itself, so that they might both submerge the temple and destroy the venerable Archippus, who was residing in it. But this divine commander of the armies appeared on his own, and commanding Archippus to be of good heart, he struck the stone with his staff, and opening a passage in it, he made the river flow through it, so that from that time to this present day, the river has flowed through as if poured through a funnel. And a long narrative regarding this matter is read on the fifth of September in Lipomanus, which you will find in manuscript codices written by Archippus himself. But the oration of Sisinnius, Patriarch of Constantinople, is more elegant and more accurate than all, for he commemorates both the names of the rivers and the remaining singular details. Therefore, I shall relate his as yet unpublished words. For after he had recounted the customs of Archippus, and how they were attempting to drive him from the place, lest the cult of idols—because of the many supports of the Archangel Michael toward the human race and its necessities—should diminish, and Christ’s should increase, and finally the convergence of the river Chrysa into the temple, and its division, and the sanctuary being left untouched by the flood, he adds: ^B "For a gang of men, about five thousand in number, who followed the religion of idols, having gathered together—and being at Laodicea—held a council for the destruction of their own malignant soul, as to how they might allow the other two rivers coming down from above, which were not far from the house of prayer, and which they called the Kouphos and the Lycokapros, to rush together at the mountain peak and, extending as far as the borders of Lycia, let them loose against that divine precinct and sanctuary. They said it would require no great effort for them to cause the flooding of the place, given that the rivers were descending from on high and being carried along according to their flow; for there would be nothing that would check their course, so that everything might not easily be flooded by the water. And so, starting from the ridge where the rivers flowed together, they made a deep trench, in order that they might draw the water into this and thus flood the sanctuary of God. But when they had opened up the outlets of the mountains, the water, having flowed in greater quantity, filled the gorges of the mountains; and lo, the water—O the wonder!—both whirling and twisting, and being carried along with a great sound and violently, approached the spot where the commander-in-chief stood, but restrained by his nod, it was halted faster than speech, and rising up on high for a long way, as if terrified by fear, it was thrown back as if from some height. And at that moment, the commander-in-chief showed that paradox and miracle beyond words; for with a blow of his staff and by a single command, he impelled the flood of river waters against the rock that had already been split and was acting like a funnel, to be carried away forever; and immediately, the waters having fallen into the ancient funnel, and the whole surrounding region having been shaken from that—and as is expected, all who were in it being struck with terror—the commander-in-chief placed a seal upon the chasm, and the rest." ^C

The words, however, must be considered more deeply, especially since he says, "the waters having fallen into the ancient funnel," meaning, absorbed and having slipped into an ancient conduit. Did he discharge that mass of water into a new fissure made by itself, or rather an old one? I have it from Herodotus in *Polymnia* (VII, 30) that there are old fissures, who reports that the Lycus (which Sisinnius calls the Lycokapros) near Colossae is a river that is swallowed into a chasm of the earth, and afterward, bubbling up, is merged into the Maeander. Xerxes arrived at Colossae, a large city of Phrygia, in which the Lycus, falling into a chasm of the earth, disappears; then, after about five stadia, appearing, it empties into the Maeander. He reached Colossae, a great city of Phrygia, where the Lycus river, entering a chasm in the earth, is hidden, then nearly five stadia later emerges, and itself flows into the Maeander. Maximus Tyrius (Diss. VIII, 8) declares, as an eyewitness himself, that the Maeander also and the Marsyas reach Celaenae before they are hidden by chasms of the earth and emerge again: "The Phrygians who live around Celaenae honor two rivers, the Marsyas and the Maeander; I have seen the rivers. One spring releases them, which, having approached the mountain, disappears behind the city, and again issues forth from the town, having divided both the water and the names between the rivers; one, the Maeander, flows toward Lydia, the other is consumed around the plains of the same place. The Phrygians sacrifice to the rivers, some to both, others to the Maeander, and others to the Marsyas; and they cast the thighs into the springs, having invoked the name of the river to whichever they have sacrificed; and when they have been carried to the mountain and have dived under the water, the offerings of the Maeander would not be given out to the Marsyas, nor those of the Marsyas to the Maeander; but if they are for both, the gift is divided." ^D Those Phrygians who dwell at Celaenae honor two rivers, the Marsyas and the Maeander, of which I myself was a spectator. These two rivers originate from one spring, which, when it has proceeded as far as the mountain, withdraws behind the back part of the city; but it rises again from the city, and at the same time distributes the water as well as the name between the rivers. And indeed, from these, the Maeander makes for Lydia, the other terminates there in the plains and is consumed. The Phrygians perform divine service to these rivers: to some both together, but to others separately to the Maeander or the Marsyas. The thighs of the victim that is slaughtered are thrown into the springs, with the addition of the name of the river to whichever it is slaughtered. What is carried from the river as far as the mountain, where they dive under the water, never happens, that what was done for the Maeander should seek the Marsyas, or what for the Marsyas, the Maeander. For if they are for both, they divide the victim. And that the Marsyas degenerates into the Lycus afterward, I have from Q. Curtius, book III, 1: "However, as long as it flows within the walls, it retains its own name. But when it rolls itself outside the fortifications, moving with greater force and weight, they call it the Lycus." From this I conclude that the Lycus, which is also the Marsyas, often penetrates into the viscera of the earth, rur-

surfacing again to mingle with other rivers, displaying at once the porous nature of the region and its susceptibility to earthquakes; for if any land is prone to quakes, it is Laodicea and its neighbor. ^A (And after a few words:) Almost all the land around the Maeander is prone to subsidence and is susceptible to both fire and water. Above Laodicea lies Mount Cadmus, from which the Lycus flows, as does another stream of the same name as the mountain; this one, after proceeding underground for a considerable distance, emerges again to join the remaining rivers, showing at once that the region is pierced by many holes and is susceptible to earthquakes, and likewise its vicinity. And soon after: The entire region around the Maeander is easily shaken by earthquakes and possesses subterranean passages full of fire and water as far as the Mediterranean. But whatever may be the truth of this, before our discourse proceeds further, let us visit and honor the most munificent temple of Michael itself, concerning which Nicetas, our fellow countryman, reports briefly in his fifth book on the Emperor Manuel: "And entering the archangelic temple, being most great in size, most beautiful in symmetry, and altogether a work of marvelous craftsmanship." And having entered the archangelic house, ^B greatest in magnitude, most beautiful in pulchritude, and a work of altogether admirable artifice.

Thus, born at Chonae, Nicetas Choniates was sent by his father at nine years of age to his elder brother Michael in Byzantium, to be instructed in letters and other disciplines—a task performed by his brother with such care, diligence, and labor that, just as in the course of time Michael was promoted to the presidency of Athens, so Nicetas was received into the imperial court among men of primary authority, enrolled in the number of imperial scribes under Manuel Comnenus, and became renowned among the foremost men of that age for his virtue and learning. Afterward, fleeing the tyranny of Andronicus, he devoted himself to the study of civil law, and progressed so far that four years later, after the miserable execution of Andronicus, he returned to Byzantium under Isaac Angelus and was promoted to the higher ranks of honor, offices which he held faithfully until the sack of Byzantium by the Franks. For he was sent into Thrace to oversee the restoration of fortresses and the fortification of cities, and thus held a position of selection among the military orders. ^C In the same way, sent by other emperors into the provinces and municipalities, he held the highest authority. These honors and magistracies, as Michael Choniates, his brother, writes, a continuous succession of emperors preserved for him whole, undefiled, and never interrupted; indeed, those who followed, as if vying to surpass their predecessors in benevolence toward him, added something further to his former honors, being astonished by the man's virtue and deeming that their own empire was diminished to the extent that his honors were diminished. He had a wife from the illustrious progeny of the Belissariotae, whose name, as well as that of her father, and whether Choniates had children by her, Michael Choniates awkwardly kept silent, although he commemorated the praises of the brothers Michael and John Belissariotae quite amply. But when Greek affairs were afflicted by the ruin of Byzantium, and his most beautiful and spacious house situated in the Sporacium was consumed by fire, although they had taken refuge in it—for it was covered with porticoes and therefore dark and difficult to approach, yet from there the access to the neighboring great temple was convenient—and they were unable to defend themselves against the aggression of the soldiers, who left nothing uninvestigated, by the help of a certain Venetian, to whom he himself had supplied food and a safe refuge, they stood off the predators for some time by arming themselves and using military dress in place of merchant attire, while he pretended that he was their fellow soldier and that he had taken possession of those houses, conversing with them in the native tongue, as the occasion required. But since he could not resist them as they rushed in in swarms, with their inhuman and savage natures, Nicetas was finally persuaded to leave, lest they be captured and thrown into chains, and the women be snatched away for rape and lust. ^D Therefore, with the Venetian as guide—and as one accompanying his own spoil—they were led, sad and poorly dressed, to the houses where the Venetians known to them lived. But when they arrived at the part of the city assigned to the Franks, inhumanly abandoned by their servants, with their children—who could not yet walk—placed upon their shoulders, they were forced to walk through the middle of the streets, and finally, after they had stayed in the city for five days, they departed. The calamity was worsened by the harsh weather and by the fact that Nicetas’ wife was near childbirth; and in order to escape the cruelty and lust of the pillaging soldiers, whoever among the women had gathered there were received into the middle of the troop, and they ordered the young girls to smear their faces with mud, and thus extinguish the redness of their cheeks. As they went toward the temple of the renowned martyr Mocius, a bold and truly wicked soldier snatched a beautiful girl, the daughter of a certain judge, from the midst of them like a wolf snatching a lamb. The rest being struck with terror at the spectacle, the girl's father, afflicted by age and sickness, and having fallen into the mud, prayed repeatedly to Nicetas that he might be of assistance to him, as a man, in recovering the girl. He, following the tracks of the raper, proclaiming the violence done not without tears, and imploring the help of passing soldiers with gestures, even grabbing some of them with his hands, so swayed their minds that they allowed themselves to be led to the house of that impudent man; when they had arrived there, although the raper resisted and, standing in the doorway, repelled those who were about to use force, Nicetas nevertheless persuaded them, and they extorted the girl from that lewd man with threats and restored her to her father. Thus Nicetas and his companions exited the city, the patriarch leading the way without a staff, without shoes, clothed in a single tunic. Having departed the city and set out for Selybria, they stopped their feet with their family inviolate. But while he enjoyed life on coarse bread, and was miserable—needy in clothing and resources—he who had previously been celebrated for the abundance of his wealth and the splendor of his dignities, he lived at Lake Ascanius and the metropolis of Bithynia, Nicaea, as a captive with the other inhabitants, living for himself and providing for the salvation of his soul. The Greeks, therefore, who then lived in Nicaea, and their emperor, being so generous to others, that

they looked upon him as a man in need of his own resources—as I myself believe, for they suspected him and the other public councillors of having been the cause of the city's destruction; concerning whose truly unjust judgments a very grave complaint exists in the end of his history. ^A Thus, when he was restored to himself and exempt from public cares, he devoted his mind to writing, as peacefully as he was able. His brother Michael, in order to show him favor, extolled the affair of the rescued maiden in a more magnificent and noble manner; he narrates that it was brought to pass not by supplications, tears, and the help of others, but by the own virtue and strength of Nicetas. For he writes that when the barbarian was about to commit the rape of the maiden, he, rushing upon the enemy armed and without any delay, and shouting that she was his legitimate wife, and furthermore lamenting that she was suffering in the most bitter ways, and turning him away from the crime of adultery, having seized her with the tenacity of both hands, wrestled in the style of a pancratiast with the enemy, whose libido, drunk with love, had made his spirit savage, and drew her to himself; nor did he rest until, having snatched the virgin from the hands of the violent enemy and unharmed, he restored her to her father without the slaughter of anyone. Yet these things could be tolerated when spoken by Michael, who was acting as an orator: ^B but as to the bishop of Athens and an ecclesiastical man, who could bear that Nicetas should be preferred in that deed to Abraham, Isaac, David, Daniel, Levi, and Simeon, and, what is worse, be made equal to Christ himself?

He wrote many things. There have come to us the dogmatic works of his *Panoplia*. It is indeed a singular work, most fully instructed in erudition, doctrine, faith, piety, and other matters, if you were to remove what he intermingled and compiled from the schismatics. For he contaminates an otherwise most beautiful work with those things as with stains and blemishes: since he there gathers much from the muddy pantry of Photius, Nicolas of Methone, Nicetas Stethatos, John of Jerusalem, John Phurnes, Euthymius Zygabenus, Theodore of Smyrna, and others, concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit, unleavened bread, and other matters. However, the earlier books, being in no way covered in such mud, and because of the gravity of the matter, the solid refutation of heresies, the not-so-well-known histories of their authors, and the testimonies of the holy Fathers, are worthy to be turned and returned by a Catholic man. ^C The exemplar described by Nicetas, after the death of Nicetas, as Peter Morellus narrates, passed by hereditary right to Michael Choniates, the bishop of the Athenians: which also, upon his death, came into the hands of Theodore Scutariota, a deacon of Cyzicus; and when Cyzicus was devastated by the Turks, it was deported to the most crowded monasteries of Mount Athos, and thence finally brought to Paris, and put up for sale; but since, on account of its deformity, it did not find buyers, John of Saint Andrew, having redeemed it, sent it to Morellus to be studied, by whom the title page was discovered, and not in coal but in treasure, in pages so covered in dust and squalor that they could not have been read except after many vigils, it was discovered, not the whole mass of the work, but only the first five books translated into the Latin tongue, were published solely in Latin, at Paris in 8vo, in the year 1580. The rest, left in their squalor, where they lie hid, others may have written (h). ^D Morellus adds: Soon an index or catalog also reveals itself, by which the heads of the books of the *Thesaurus* are noted, both composed and written by Nicetas himself, as are all the books of this work, except for the last two, which were written by Theodore Scutariota, who also seems to have written the monody for Michael. That they are Theodore's autographs, I gather from an appendix to the index of Book XXV. And, as can be seen from the few words of Scutariota, published in the index of Nicetas, who affirms that he had attached that appendix, which was previously missing, at the end of the twenty-fifth book, at some point discovered. In the Vatican codex the title is as follows: *Nicetas Choniates, who also held the position over judgment and tribute, and afterwards was also Logothete of the secretariats, his dogmatic Panoplia, or collection of almost all opinions, and history of the men who produced them, and also refutations against some of them, and especially of the older ones, and other things. P. What sort of worthy offering could this be to God and to men dear to God?* In the Bavarian library there are preserved from the same work, cod. 119: *Nicetas Choniates on the heresy of the Armenians, seventeenth tome.* The eighteenth of the same against the Paulicians, and the nineteenth against the Bogomils, and the twentieth against the Saracens. *The manner of receiving those who have transferred from the Saracens to the Christian sacred rites.*

No less illustrious than this treasury is his history, which he begins, as he records in the beginning, from those events which occurred after the death of Alexius, the first emperor of the Comnenan family, beyond which the historians of the former age had not progressed. He briefly touches upon the life of Emperor John, who succeeded Alexius: nor does he dwell longer on the commemoration of those things which he had not seen, but received from those who saw them and accompanied him on his expeditions: but he treats the remainder, which followed, more abundantly. *By way of a summary of the chapters, he will narrate the history of Emperor John, who was the successor of Alexius in the command; neither will he delay in the accounts concerning him, just as he will do in the subsequent discourses, which we have not had recorded by those who have seen them with their own eyes, and therefore we have not had to set them forth at length, but what we have heard by the ear from those who saw this emperor of our time, and accompanied him as he moved against the enemy and shared in his battles.* And we shall briefly touch upon the life of Emperor John, who succeeded Alexius; nor shall we dwell longer on the commemoration of those events.

(h) Regarding Nicetas' *Panoplia* and its codices, we have spoken fully in the *Spicilegium* vol. IV, p. 398, and again on p. 408; and in that volume we published the principal chapters in Greek from those which Morellus had not brought to light. Again, in this *Bibliotheca Patrum*, vol. IV, we set forth the chapters against the Manichaeans and the Mohammedans in Greek and Latin. Moreover, we also wished that two synods, and the second disputation of Theorianus with the Armenians, although they were contained in the *Panoplia* of Nicetas, should stand not in that way, but using better codices, several years ago in the fourth and sixth volumes of the *Scriptores veteres*, and in the tenth [volume] of the *Spicilegium*, in Greek and Latin. A. M.

^A of things which we ourselves have not seen, but have accepted from others who had seen them and accompanied the expeditions. In other matters, however, we shall treat everything more fully. John Cinnamus followed the same plan, and he pursued the history of the deeds of John and Manuel. “I shall relate the affairs of John in summary, and as it were in a chapter, because I was not present during the times belonging to him, as I have already said; but as for the deeds following his, I do not know if anyone has the ability to record them better than I, since, while I was not yet an adolescent, it happened that I accompanied many of the expeditions to both continents.” The deeds of John will indeed be recorded by me in summary, and set out like a digest of chapters, because I was not present in his times, as I had previously indicated. But as for the deeds of the one who followed, I do not know if anyone else will be able to hand them down in writing more accurately, since, while not yet having passed out of boyhood, I was present at many of his expeditions to both continents. Thus Nicetas ends his history with Henry, the brother of Baldwin, having embraced in twenty-one books, up to the year of Christ 1203, things worthy of being remembered that happened in the Byzantine empire over a space of about 86 years, especially in the great varieties of events and the sudden changes of fortune, which—being very many and marvelous, or rather pitiable and beyond expectation—oppressed the Greeks, while the power of the Persians and Turks in the East, and of the Bulgarians and other neighbors in the West, grew daily, and while in every place the dissensions and perversity of Christian princes occurred.

^B That he has not departed from the truth, both by his deportment of the crimes of foreigners not without deserved praise, and by his ingenuous and pained deploring of the crimes of his own people, and by a fair narration of events, is evidence. For from this you possess the piety and fortitude of the Westerners in recovering Syria and the Holy Land; and the most brilliant praises of Conrad and Frederick, not without most noble examples. Who could have expressed the virtues of Baldwin more aptly? On the other hand, who could have attacked the vices of the Greeks, which in his own times were so great and monstrous, more sharply? This would clearly be the mark of a noble spirit, narrating the matter just as it happened. ^C He followed a method of speaking that was ample, profuse, but rough, complicated, vain with an immoderate affectation of insolent elegance and erudition—not to say childish—and somewhat harsh from the mingling of poetic fables and diction, and obscure in its poorly intertwined composition; which is proper to this writer and especially intended and procured by him for his own genius; it is not, as it seems to Hieronymus Wolf, a borrowing of Metaphrastes or someone else. Concerning his style, the same Wolf says: “From an affectation of I know not what insolent elegance, and an emulation of poetic diction, he often falls into pitfalls and uses hard and inept metaphors, especially in the prologue, where he desires to seem eloquent above all.” But if he had enveloped his whole history in a similar style, I would rather have gone to the stone quarries than have struggled with the annoyances of translation. But because he begins to speak tolerably when he has come to the subject itself, I wished to give this work as well to students of history, so that the work of Zonaras might be rendered more fully by this appendix. Nor does Joannes Vossius disagree concerning the Greek historians, lib. II, cap. 29: “He was a diligent reader and imitator of Homer, to such a degree that, because of his poetic and insolent diction, he sometimes becomes rougher, especially in the preface, which is indeed thorny. In the rest he flows more softly, which he also promises of himself in the preface.” So that to me indeed it seems that he wished to show in that preface how great a craftsman of words he was; which if he had done similarly in the history, he would surely have deserved much less praise than he now has. ^D Nonetheless, he boasts most highly that he follows perspicuity in the proems of the history, as befits a historian, yet in his very boasting he is obscure and rugged: “But since others, as I have been able to gather, also observe that the obscurity of the narration is not the least of the faults of the historian—having been twisted and turned in periods—and that they do not accept things that do not harmonize with them, but love what is clear—a thing which not only according to the wise man who spoke is most befitting to them, but which one would not find falling far outside of the good in what is written—since we, for the most part, have not embraced the pompous, and obtuse, and precipitous modes of expression, even if many are yearning for this, or rather, to speak more truly, failing to grasp the matters of old and of today, and all that one has practiced as a most useful trade over a long time, and from the greater part of this have set before themselves what is fitting in history, and have taken pleasure in not stretching out a foot onto a threshold, nor entirely leaping over its axes; for beyond all else, the not making the expression simple, as I am able to say, and easy to grasp, has been turned against it; and it was loved even to an extreme, [the style] being unadorned, and relating things as they have a nature, and wondrously encompassing what is easy to grasp; for having as its most final goal the truth, and standing at a diameter from both rhetorical cleverness and poetic composition, etc.” Could anything be said more perplexingly from a tripod, or more horribly in the amenity of the Greek tongue by a Lycophron? Hence, when he had read these things, whether it was Alexander the chartophylax, a deacon of Constantinople, or someone else, he not unpleasantly noted: “I do not know what you say here, O Choniates; You say it is wise to write clearly, Yet you write enigmatically and abyssmally.” Truly: “What you say here, O Choniates, I know not, You approve the brilliant ornament of speech, Being yourself shadowy like Tartarus.” Not always, however, is he so insane that he does not sometimes return to his senses, since very often, and with the amenity of his diction and the sweetness of his figures and the ingenious richness of his sentiments, he has power, and without noise or turbulence, he flows gently.

^A Hieronymus Wolfius rendered this history into Latin, avoiding the diffuse and prolix nature of his style and contracting it into more concise limits; and, especially in those matters where he does not fully grasp the author’s meaning and the expression was not so easy, he did not find it necessary to weigh the author’s sentiments or count his words. Truly, to do as he does is not to be praised in a faithful interpreter, who, although he ought not to measure words, must nonetheless represent the mode of diction and the quality of the work in some way, and, where it can conveniently be done, place it, so to speak, before the eyes. Wolfius used two codices, one of which was provided by the library of Antonius Fugger, and the other by his own master’s library; to these was finally added a third from the Augsburg library, very ancient but mutilated at the beginning and end, and not everywhere intact in the remaining sections. He appended the more obscure passages and various readings. The history of Nicetas was published in folio at Basel by Oporinus in the year 1557, under the care of Antonius Fugger, in Greek and Latin with the interpretatio of Wolfius, and it was reprinted in quarto by the heirs of Eustathius Vignonius in the year 1593. Possevinus writes in his *Apparatus*: "Wolfius, not sufficiently skilled in Greek, is not easily to be admitted as his interpreter." It is also read in manuscript copies in the Vatican, Royal Parisian, and Royal San Lorenzo libraries, and elsewhere.

You should know further, reader, that just as someone—whoever he may have been—curtailed the histories of Anna Comnena and George Acropolita to accommodate less laborious men, and concluded them by removing the narrower limits and what seemed to him too prolix and less necessary, so he also dealt with the history of Choniates, not to say mutilated it, which he combined in one volume with the other two. Compare the Acropolita edited by us with his compendium, as well as the Anna edited by the Empress [sic] Hoeschel with another of the same work which the Royal Parisian printers promise, and you will see what the difference is between the published Nicetas and that which has been reduced to a compendium: for the compendium of these three historians was perfected by one genius and hewn with the same axe.

However, that Choniates was not content with this history alone, but wrote another which has not yet appeared, I deduce from a fragment of his which is in my possession, concerning the statues and other bronze works consigned to the fire by the Latins after they captured Constantinople, which is not read in the history now in general circulation, and the transcriber says he copied it from the history of Nicetas: *Toû autoû makarítou kyríou Nikḗta toû Chōneiátou apò tês autoû istorías perì Kōnstantinoupóleōs*. That is, "From the same of blessed memory, the Lord Nicetas Choniates, from his History of Constantinople." And it begins: *Tês dè ēm

^B etéras basileías árti diapenteutheísēs eis Phrangískous*.

Finally, the judgment of Justus Lipsius concerning Nicetas is worthy to be referred here from his notes to Book 1 of the *Politics*: "Nicetas Choniates, who wrote of the affairs of the Greek empire, starting from John Comnenus, the son of Alexius, down to the capture of the city, or to Baldwin of Flanders. He is as yet little known to the general public, I confess, but is most worthy of notice: his genius is pure and correct, if it were in another age. His style is also laborious, often smacking of the poets and Homer: yet the subject matter and the narrative itself are distinctly composed, without vanity, without foolishness, brief as much as is sufficient, and faithful. There are frequent and opportune admonitions in him; his judgments are not only free but sound. In sum, read him, you politicians; some will have gratitude to me for this judgment, or certainly should have. Angelus Politianus seemed to have attributed enough to himself if he placed Nicetas among the not entirely contemptible Greek authors," *Miscellanea*, chap. 28.

There are read besides other works of his: *Perì toû dógmatos toû Theoû toû Mōámeth*. "Concerning the dogma of the Mohametic God." ^C It is contained in the *catechetical pyction* along with other excommunications. Emperor Manuel initiated the inquiry. Nicetas dealt at length in his *Annals* with what arts and techniques he attempted to occupy the minds of the prelates and win them over to his own opinion, and we shall speak of this elsewhere. *Perì toû philosóphou Italoû*. "Concerning the philosopher Italos." *All' es tóde mèn tò perì tôn azýmōn lēxátōsan*. "Concerning the Latins on the unleavened bread," in two treatises, the beginning of one of which is: *Ei estin sýnesis, phēsì Solomōn, apokríthēti tô plēsíon, kaì mḕ kōlýsēs lógon*. The beginning of the other is: *Tò perì tôn azýmōn katà Latínōn aitíama*. Also *Katà Latínōn perì toû hagíou Pneúmatos*. "Against the Latins on the Holy Spirit." ^D *Xénē tis estì kaì allókotos, ḗn hoi Rhōmaîoi en tô hagíō symbólō poioûntai prosthḗkēn*. Unless these are also fragments and parts of his dogmatic *Panoplia* and *Treasury*. If that were the case, Petrus Morellus spoke quite unjustly about him: "What he accomplished with such diligence and labor is testified to, and will eternally be testified to, by his divine lucubrations, which he gathered into this truly golden work, and [which he] traced with such artifice from the very foundations of Adam down to his own times, that he consecrated, as it were, a *hypotyposis* of the heresies that [arose] before the birth of Christ and since the birth of Christ; from which consult, if at any time some doubt arises regarding divine matters, one can immediately see in which direction one ought to incline." For besides the errors concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit and the unleavened bread, which he defends against the Latins by profession, he latently sprinkles others against them as well. Nor should everything he affirms in the same place be accepted without the examination of a true, that is to say, Catholic, balance.

I shall conclude my discourse on Choniates with the words of Vossius regarding Greek writers, by which he refutes the suspicion of Wilhelm Xylander concerning Nicetas David and Nicetas Choniates. It is the suspicion of Wilhelm Xylander that this Nicetas is the same person as Nicetas David, who is also Nicetas the Paphlagonian, and the same man who bore the surname Acominatus. But the times appear not to agree. In certain manuscripts, those works are attributed to Nicetas David, the Paphlagonian philosopher, which others ascribe to Nicetas Serron, previously deacon of the Church of Constantinople and later archbishop of Heraclea: such as in the *Catena of the Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers*, the excerpts on the evangelists Matthew and Luke; likewise, the exposition of many of the poems and orations of Nazianzen. However, it is the opinion of Leo Allatius, in his *Diatribe on the Pselli*, that these are different Nicetases, and in this respect I prefer to agree with him. But as for the fact that in certain manuscripts they are attributed to Nicetas David, which others ascribe to Nicetas Serron, let the credit rest with the authority himself. As for the manuscript codices which I have examined, they all with one accord vindicate the exposition on the Orations of Nazianzen, which I recited above, for Nicetas Serron; but the exposition on the poems, for Nicetas David. And about this there has never been any doubt. Wherefore it remains firm and certain that the Exposition on the poems belongs to Nicetas David, and the Exposition on the Orations of Nazianzen belongs to Nicetas Serron.

THE HISTORY OF NICETAS CHONIATES

TO THE MOST EMINENT PRINCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, CARDINAL JULES MAZARIN

This new edition of Nicetas was, as is customary, seeking a patron for itself against malicious and envious men. You have appeared as the one, most eminent cardinal, to whose patronage an author of no mean standing might commit himself—seeing that we observe you ordering that literary monuments, perhaps unknown to the French world, be sought out in every part of the nations and admitted into your incomparable library, so that it is most certain that a writer who approaches you of his own accord will be received with a benign countenance. For it ought to be celebrated in all tongues and with all praises that, although that prudence which others find necessary to scrape together from the reading of books is innate in you, you still desire them to be acquired with such intensity of spirit and such lavish expense, just as if that prudence were not natural to you but had to be gained by labor. Therefore, you establish your library more for the public good than for your own, so that all might understand that the honors of both war and peace are equally your concern. With the one you will crush the enemies of the French name, and with the other you will make men more learned, so that how great an ornament you are to the prince and how prosperously you manage French affairs may be told and handed down not only by those who live today, but also to posterity. Thrice and four times happy are those whose works shall bear more manifest witness to the things brilliantly accomplished by you, whether because the subject matter is more illustrious or because no greater abundance of deeds could fall to their lot: for just as the eloquence of a writer is diminished by the insignificance of a subject, so it shines forth and spreads by the dignity of the matter. These will recount that the borders of Gaul, extended by your most prudent and most fortunate counsel, have reached into Italy, and that they are in error who set boundaries for the French empire, because the invincible valor of the Gauls is not enclosed by fixed frontiers, but by the globe itself. They will relate that the princes of Germany, terrified by the victorious arms of the Gauls, kept the peace and did not commit themselves to either side; by which act they took thought for themselves and their descendants and averted the impending ruin of their own affairs. They will proclaim that the Gauls, far inferior in numbers, defeated the hostile fleet, and that those who thought they were going to compete for glory realized immediately that it was a contest for their own survival, even though that proud nation had launched its ships as if to sink the French as a game and a joke. The Gauls are valued not for number, but for virtue. From this you may see fierce armies often defeated by them; from this also, land forces, raised in the hope of victory, wiped out and attrited by reason of superior numbers. Let those now go who extol the ministers of past times to the heavens. You, most eminent cardinal, with a bundle of arms will conquer more than others with arms deployed. You, with your vivid mind and sagacious counsel, to the most Christian king, whom

almost all peoples adore, will provide more triumphs than others do by force and hand. Just continue to benefit the republic of letters and to favor learned men, without whom the deeds of illustrious men perish the very moment they have laid down their soul, and together with the body, their great souls also are extinguished as long as they are passed over in silence.

Most devoted to your Eminence, CAROLUS ANNIBAL FABROTUS.

PREFACE OF HIERONYMUS WOLF TO THE MOST MAGNIFICENT AND GENEROUS LORD, LORD ANTONIUS FUGGER, LORD OF KIRCHBERG AND WEISSENHORN, COUNCILLOR TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, ETC., ON THE HISTORY OF NICETAS ACOMINATUS CHONIATES

^A Your Zonaras, most noble sir, is followed by Choniates, a man of his own age not only adorned with great dignities, but also outstanding in talent and manifold learning, and, as it seems to me, a student of the truth of history everywhere, with an order most fitting and most useful to readers; which order, as it joins and connects what follows with what preceded, finishes a kind of body of history and in its own genre renders men learned, that is, it distinguishes them from the common herd of mortals. You may indeed find many who, although strangers to letters, are yet preferred to most learned men through sharpness of wit, eloquence, and experience of affairs, though they may have been slower by nature or less versed in the bustle of men, even if they have spent their whole life in the study of the best arts. But if a more accurate and methodical training had been added to that natural happiness and manifold experience, what could be compared with their excellence? Now, their praises fall short by as much as a more accurate training would have added to them. For it is not said falsely that art, which is as a polishing of the talent, as if of a rough mirror, is a more certain guide than nature, and also a more fruitful one. For those who are sustained by no aids of erudition are generally carried along rashly and wander outside the limits, wherever the heat of the mind carries them; the learned, by progressing in order from certain beginnings to their goals, immediately have at hand those things that pertain to the matter. The former hold many things, the latter hold most things worth knowing: the former pursue certain fragments and as it were scattered limbs, the latter embrace a certain solid body of human knowledge, absolute and complete in its parts. For which reasons I judge those to be very blessed to whom it has fallen both that they desire this, and that the means are at hand so that they can, without impediment, from their early years up to the time apt for the handling of affairs, philosophize, and then at last combine the skill of action with the contemplation of truth, with minds intent upon the heavens and God himself, and bodies intent upon the preservation of human society. This life has always seemed to me truly human and rather divine, and to be preferred to all those pleasures which are almost common with the brute animals. In this, it is certain that the best and most prudent of men, both among the learned and the unlearned, concur with me—nay, rather, that I conform to their opinions. Nor is your own ^B excellent judgment in this matter, as in others—which the entire Fugger family follows with great consensus and which all men of sense highly approve—at all obscure; for you have taken care that your sons, standing out in the vigor of mind and body, should be steered by most learned tutors, in the most celebrated gymnasia of Europe, from near their very cradles up to the beginning of youth, to be imbued with severe discipline and the knowledge of the best arts and languages. For which reasons they profess themselves no less indebted to you, according to the piety and prudence they possess, than for the fact that they received their life and all greatest ornaments from you by a certain happy fate; for you wished to be a father not only of their bodies but also of their minds, and not content with having begotten them, you have provided both with those things in which human happiness consists. But as earthly bodies are nourished by the fruits of the earth, so the heavenly and divine soul has its food, which is erudition. That this should be despised and mocked by the dregs of the crowd, that is, by every vilest and most foolish person, is not to be wondered at, since on the one hand they can no more rightly judge of an unknown matter than a blind man can pronounce upon colors, and on the other hand they measure a most excellent thing by the vices and ineptitudes of certain half-learned or corrupt men. For what else is erudition but a most ample and well-equipped amphitheater of human talent and manifold experience? To the adorning and enriching of which not only all nations, all men, all ages have contributed their share, but even the liberality of the immortal God has added many supplements, things revealed partly by secret inspiration and partly through signal miracles, which the duller edge of human talent could not at all have perceived. But ^C since reason and speech distinguish man from the beasts much more than the form of the body, and the solid knowledge and eloquent explanation of truth is its own proper function, what else is it to philosophize than to labor in this, that words may agree with things, and that we may be those who are called human? But I embrace by the name of philosophy as much as its own signification embraces: the study and love of wisdom; which is defined as the science of things divine and human, and of the causes by which those things are contained. Which immensity, since God alone, the maker of all things, holds it, He rightly claims for Himself the name of both good and wise: but nothing prevents men from being lovers and students of wisdom and virtue; and the further one progresses in this love and study, the nearer he is to the heavenly genii, because they are held to be most blessed in this, that they contemplate God Himself, the fountain of all goodness and wisdom, continuously with ineffable joy (nor is it believed without reason that there is no other happiness for the pious after this life); for the closer one draws near, the less he d-

- ^A guards his own worth and the gifts of an excellent nature. But what arrogance is it to think one’s own talent alone is so great that, content with it, he can despise all the inventions and experiments of the ancients, sealed in the monuments of literature, rather than meticulously seeking out, from an infinite store, whatever is best, according to his own natural gifts and his way of life? For it is hardly possible, indeed it is scarcely possible, for one man to excel in all things or even to labor with moderate success in them. Most men, whether by the pinch of their household circumstances or the mediocrity of their talents, are locked away in a certain kind of study, as if in a prison or a penitentiary; but those to whom the kindness of the best and greatest God has granted such aids of mind and fortune that they are not forced to swear by the words of any master, but retain their freedom inviolable—they will surely be the happier, the more they have amassed a knowledge of many and better things, scattered as it is among various languages and authors. This, however, will not be difficult for one who, instructed in the moderate use of the Greek and Latin tongues, has accustomed himself to a method and has faithfully laid the foundations of the best arts. And there is, to be sure, no little difficulty and trouble in this matter; but once you have struggled out of those narrow straits of the arts into the very free field of any excellent writer, it will truly appear what was said by a certain very wise man, whether it was Socrates or Isocrates (for I see it attributed to both, and there is a simple error in the difference of a single letter), that the roots of learning are bitter, but the fruits are most sweet. Now, methods of languages and arts are compared to roots, and varied reading to fruits: for as fruits would be nothing without roots, so is learning very thin which does not constantly ascend by a sure reason and way from the first beginnings to the very highest pinnacle and prepare a perpetual commentary for itself. For, as I have also touched upon above, the praise of all doctrine revolves upon the methods of the arts, and upon the fact that, as much as can be done, it gathers together whatever pertains to the same subject and composes one integral body from various limbs. Once this is completed, the variety of reading adds ornaments to individual parts and procures a certain amplitude. But if this comparison is less pleasing, let the studious man be compared to a diligent father of a family; who, just as he stores the produce of his fields and his household implements in barns and certain storerooms so that, when need demands, they are immediately at hand, so he himself, whatever he may have acquired throughout his whole life by thought, or reading, or hearing (for no limit should be set upon the study of wisdom), immediately stores away in those classes of the arts, if not with style or pen, at least in mind and memory, and tests them against those rules handed down by most learned men, with a sharp judgment always interposed, lest he think whatever anyone has said or written—or even what has come into his own mind—is an oracle (for it would be most shameful for a learned man, as the Greeks elegantly say, ἀβασανίστως παραδέχεσθαι τὴν πίστιν τῆς ἀληθείας, that is, to follow opinions and lean upon bare authority), but let him assume that everything is to be believed only to the extent that it can persuade either by firm arguments or probable conjectures, and in the rest restrain and withhold his assent until time itself has removed the scruple. But lest I seem to have lapsed in memory and to have deflected from my plan not by a sure counsel but to have wandered through forgetfulness, I return to Choniates, whom I said was joined to Zonaras in a most fitting order and by your prudent counsel. For at the place where he finished his Annals, namely at the death of Alexius Comnenus, this writer begins his history, embracing things worthy of record which happened in the Byzantine empire over a space of about 86 years. And would that another Greek had existed, who with equal eloquence might have followed up what had been omitted by this author and by Chalcondyles. For greater is the abundance and diligence of Choniates, and his reading more pleasant than that of Zonaras: to whom brevity alone was necessarily proposed, because otherwise his work would have grown to an immense size; and this is apparent from the fact that the most learned heroine, Anna Porphyrogenita, daughter of Emperor Alexius, wrote 20 books on the deeds of her father, which still exist in the library of the Augusta—that is, the Augustana library—whereas Zonaras merely touched upon his life in a few pages. But even as brevity helps the memory, so more diffuse narratives possess more delight, especially in a great variety of events and sudden reversals of fortune; which, in not many years, were many—and those marvelous, or rather miserable—unexpectedly overwhelming the Greeks, whom this writer honors with the name of Romans, with the power of the Persians or Turks (for the moderns use these words indiscriminately) growing day by day; their depredations and the sloth and perversity of Christian princes Choniates so often laments with such bitterness of grief that it is of the highest importance for all who touch upon any part of public affairs in our own times to read him, if perhaps the spirits of the Germans—whose courage and piety in recovering Syria and the Holy Land are adorned in this writing with distinguished praises—might be excited by the most brilliant examples of Emperors Conrad and Frederick to defend their own fatherland, that is, the neighboring Pannonias. For even now it appears we must struggle not for praise and glory, but fight for altars and hearths; and that this may not happen, there is no cause as equal as dissensions. Dissensions—together with internal wars which usually arise from ambition—the desire for pleasures, and a sluggish monarchy have destroyed the Greeks: for us, a rash desire for war and a discordant and restless polyarchy threaten that which God forbid we should experience: and we would easily take care, unless by some fatal starry influence most men were to abhor sane counsels with their minds and ears. The ancient integrity of our own race has indeed been diminished, and is as if a bountiful crop were corrupted by sad darnel; which seems to have happened by a certain contagion of foreign nations, whose evils we have joined with our own, when the end of travels should be that, having cast off vices inborn and inured by custom, we might adopt the virtues of others, and be trained by their prudence and humanity for every kind of duty and praise. But if we look at other things, never has Germany been better instructed in men, arms, wealth, and counsels; which resources, on account of discord, we convert not to the destruction of enemies but to the ruin of the fatherland with detestable cruelty, not to say insanity; which thought, as it would strike my mind again and again during the interpretation of this history, and ^B

^A would no doubt stir more alert readers, I could not restrain myself from touching upon briefly. Now I must speak of this work, which, although translated with no less labor, was performed with far greater pleasure, owing to histories hitherto almost unknown to me and a style of oratory that is clearer and more expansive. Yet in this, I did not always think that an excessive affectation of some unfamiliar elegance should be followed, because whatever is of that kind seems to be not the author's own writing, but the addition of some paraphraser or emulator. For I have here also compared two codices with that one which your Excellency procured in Constantinople from Alexander the Chartophylax, and I have taken care that, from that collation, this work might be published as complete as possible, and that the Greek, just as was done in our Zonaras, might be conjoined with the Latin. ^B For although the purity and propriety of the Greek language has been corrupted both by the commerce of foreign nations and by the inanities of idle men—nor is it possible in this genre of writers that the speech of an interpreter, neither unlearned nor ineloquent, should be preferred to the author himself—yet I would not dare to profess myself as his interpreter; and the Greek language, such as it is even now, retains a certain genius and a richness inimitable by the Latins. All disciplines, of which there is scarcely one that does not acknowledge that it issued from the Greek school, and if you were to remove the Greek terms, it would often fall silent, are a testament to this. Therefore, those who despise the Greek language as superfluous are the less to be endured. Which, indeed, they would not do if they perceived how few faithful and learned interpreters there are. Some lack knowledge of one or the other, some of both languages; others lack fidelity and diligence; some lack all of these—not, perhaps, so much from malice and contempt of judgment (which would be extreme insanity) as from a certain calamity of our times and the neglect of outstanding intellects, to whom fortune is generally less favorable than to those of lesser industry and duller mental acuity. ^C Therefore, I concede to the opinion of those who judge that Greek ought to be joined with Latin, since Greek works, separately, are of little profitability in our age, which, because of ambition and greed and the desire for warfare, rushes with great impetus toward ancient barbarism. For since the property and purity of the Latin and Greek speech have been lost, and philosophy and more refined literature are neglected, as we see before our eyes, it is not obscure what is looming. Isocrates writes excellently—whom, in this regard, Aristotle, as it seems to me, being older in age, has emulated; and I cannot admire enough that he says the individual virtues are placed in the middle of two vices, of which one resists from this side, and the other proceeds further than is fitting. And rightly does Daedalus say to his son in Ovid, "You will go most safely in the middle." Would that this were observed as much by theologians, jurists, and physicians as by those who cultivate the humanities! Of whom the former profess that they adhere to facts, the latter that they study the elegance of diction: as if, indeed, either words were not invented for the sake of the explanation of things, or that an excellent body—that is, the distinguished matters which are treated in those sublime disciplines—should not be suited by clean and ornate clothing, that is, pure and polished speech. ^D Those who set forth the best things, if not in elegant and splendid speech, then in pure and eloquent language, truly deserve a double praise. Our age has produced more such men with notable glory than posterity seems likely to have, unless we enter upon a different method of studies. But why do I take upon myself the role of censor in the literary republic, when I myself must undergo the judgment of very different types of minds? Yet a justified grief moved me as I looked upon this confusion of schools, even if these things seem to belong neither to this time nor to this place. Wherefore I ask pardon if I have pressed in things less pertinent to the subject; and this freedom of philosophy is owed, which, because it mostly lacks the other comforts and ornaments of external things, is at least bound by looser shackles of thought and speech. By which name I do not consider Socrates to be in a better condition than the orators, who for the sake of praise—if any fault was committed either by this commemoration or by the procrastination of the translation, which indeed was longer than I myself had thought—I would desire that favor be shown to me; especially since that delay of small time, though free of any hardship, argues not my cessation but my fidelity and diligence; which, had it not been of more importance to me than my own leisure and comforts, I could have finished with this labor much sooner. But enough is said, if it is said well, as the saying goes. Since I am confident that the thing itself will testify that I have attempted even that with zeal, I will add nothing about myself, for although I might have performed something more, I would still seem to have attained scarcely an insignificant part of your liberality toward me and toward the studious men, for whose comforts you provide at your own expense. Augsburg, April 8th, in the year 1557.

FABROTI BREVIARIUM

OF THE LOGOTHETE OF THE SECRETS, AND OF THE JUDGMENTS, WHO WAS ALSO INSPECTOR AND JUDGE OF THE VĒLON, AND HEAD OF THE CUBICULUM, LORD NICETAS CHONIATES, HISTORY BEGINNING FROM THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR LORD JOHN COMNENUS, SON OF LORD ALEXIUS.

NICETAS CHONIATES, LOGOTHETE OF THE SECRETS, INSPECTOR AND JUDGE OF THE VĒLON, PREFECT OF THE CUBICULUM, HISTORY WHICH BEGINS FROM THE REIGN OF JOHN COMNENUS, SON OF ALEXIUS.

FABROTI BREVIARIUM

PREFACE. The praises of history, and the purpose of Nicetas in the weaving together of this work.

CONCERNING JOHN COMNENUS. John Comnenus is destined for the empire by his father Alexius, in the face of his mother’s opposition. How he confirmed the empire. The beginnings of his reign; his friends and counselors. His kinsmen defect to Bryennius, the husband of Comnenus’s sister. Comnenus treats the conspirators with clemency, is reconciled to his sister Anna through Axuch, and renders his mother Irene well-disposed toward him.

Hieronymus Wolf’s Notes.

^A * Nicetas Choniates. Nicetas is "Victor" or "Vincentius" to the Latins; Acominatus is his family name, Choniates his patronymic, from Chonae, a city of Phrygia, of which he frequently boasts that he was a native. The other terms are titles of rank. He himself interprets *Logothetes* as Chancellor. I cannot say for certain what *Ephoros kai kritēs tou bēlou* signifies. However, it seems that *bēlon* is the Latin *velum* [veil]; and this can be established from several passages in Constantine’s *De Administrando Imperio*: "Inside," he says, "the *bēlon* which is hanging in the vault," etc., and "they enter by the *bēlon* hanging in the holy well." Item, "through the *bēlon* which is drawn by the silentiaries." Perhaps he means by *velum* a more secret and select council, for some ritual unknown to me. It is apparent from the reading of this history that it was an office of great dignity; similar to which among us, though much lesser, is the position of an imperial assessor. The *genikos epi tōn kriseōn* and *ephoros* was perhaps a praetor.

To the Preface of this author, where he boasts of his own desire for clarity, a certain man, as it appears not without wit—perhaps Alexander Cartophylax, a deacon of Constantinople, who sold the manuscript of this work hand-written by himself to Dernschwan—noted:

I know not what you say here, Choniates. You say that profound writing is that which is clear, Yet you write in riddles and abyssal depths? What is this? What do you want, Choniates? You approve of the lucid grace of speech, Yet are yourself as dark as Tartarus?

And by Hercules, not without cause. For out of an affectation of I know not what insolent elegance and an emulation of poetic diction, he often falls into rough patches; and he uses harsh, not to say inept, metaphors, especially in the Prooemium, where he desires above all to appear eloquent. But if he had wrapped the whole history in similar language, I would have preferred to go to the quarries than to be troubled by the struggle of translation. But because, in a tolerable...

^A expedition of the Comneni against the Persians. The Scythian he defeats by stratagem (4). He soundly beats the Triballi. He pursues his sons with great affection. He attacks the Huns and forces them to seek peace. Then, having led his army into the East, he triumphs over the defeated Persarmenians (5). He takes the city of Gangra and loses it. He moves into Cilicia. He besieges Baca, a very well-fortified castle. The single combat of Constantine the Armenian and Eustratius the Macedonian (6). Buca is taken by force. The storming of Anazarba. Comnenus sets out for Coelesyria and initiates friendship with the Antiochenes. He forces Pizas to surrender and experiences the varied turn of Mars (7). He besieges the city of Sezerim, which redeems its safety with money. He repels the ambushes of the Persians (8). Isaac Comnenus is reconciled to his brother John. New expeditions against the Persians. The soldiers' indignation and the emperor's great spirit. The expedition against the tyrant of Trebizond, and illustrious deeds of war against the Persians. The egregious exploit of the son of Manuel Comnenus at Neocaesarea (9). The defection of John, son of Isaac, from his father the emperor to the sultan; from which came no small troubles. The emperor defeats certain rebellious Christians and is weighed down by domestic calamities (10). The bad counsel of the Antiochene expedition. The violated city pays the penalty. Comnenus, wounded by a poisoned arrow while hunting, from which the wound is incurable. Oracles concerning his death (11). The speech of the dying John Comnenus to his relatives, friends, and nobles. He prefers Manuel to his elder brother Isaac and names him successor. Manuel is hailed by all as emperor. The death and eulogies of John Comnenus (12).

CONCERNING MANUEL COMNENUS

Book I. Manuel, succeeding his father John Comnenus, shuts his elder brother Isaac into a monastery, and, cutting off the handle for sedition, is eagerly accepted by the Byzantines on account of his outstanding gifts of mind and body (1). Adorned with the diadem by the patriarch Michael, and reconciled with his brother, he moves against the Persians time and again. He took as his wife a certain Alemannian woman, a lady of outstanding beauty and heroic spirit, whom he neglects, being defiled by incest (2). He appointed John Hagiotheodorites as chancellor of the empire and John Puzenes (whose sordid stinginess, as well as inhumanity and avarice, is described) as grand quaestor. Hagiotheodorites is driven from his place by Theodore Stypiotes. The virtues of Manuel, which are changed a little later (3). The Jerusalem expedition of Conrad, emperor of the Germans. Manuel responds kindly to the ambassadors of the Alemanni, but secretly lays ambushes for them; and he orders the legions of the Greeks to accompany the Alemannian army, which had been led astray by the courtly eloquence of the bishop of Philippopolis (4). The dissensions between the Alemanni and the Greeks. The troubles of Conrad's army, which the Greeks pursue with sword, fraud, and poison, at the command and by the example of Manuel (5). The German army decides to attack the Turks, their most intense enemies. Conrad gives a pious and keen speech to his soldiers. A fierce battle and an illustrious victory won over the Turks (6).

Book II. Roger, king of Sicily, occupies Corfu, ravages Acarnania, Aetolia, and the seacoast, and plunders Corinth, the citadel of Acrocorinth having been received (1). Manuel's expedition against the Sicilians. The siege of Corfu and the death of the grand doux Contostephanus (2). Patriarch Cosmas is stripped of his dignity on account of a prophecy he had long ago published concerning the death of Contostephanus. A grand domestic succeeds Contostephanus (3). Manuel constructs a wooden tower-ladder for the besieged Corfiots, which Pupaces and 400 others climb. But the ladder having broken, most perish, yet Pupaces escapes miraculously (4). A bloody sedition between the Greeks and the Venetians, which having been barely quieted and the armies reconciled, Corfu is attacked again and finally recovered by surrender (5). Manuel's vain expedition into Sicily. He ravages Servia. Michael Palaeologus manages the affair easily against the Sicilians (6). Manuel's expeditions and triumphs against the Serbs and Hungarians. Calamannus fights badly against the Scythians. Alexius Bryennius, John Ducas, and Constantine Angelus are captured by the Sicilians (7). Manuel enters into peace with Roger the Sicilian, at the urging of the Roman pontiff: but shortly after, mutual enmities flare up (8).

Book III. Manuel's Hungarian expedition. The Hunnish raids (1). The incest of Andronicus and Manuel. Andronicus is thrown into prison due to the intrigues of his kinsmen but escapes through the efforts of his wife: yet, intercepted on his journey, he is led back into custody (2). Manuel institutes ludic equestrian battles at Antioch. His forces, which had been dismissed, receive a defeat from the Turks (3). Theodorus Stypiotes is blinded because of the slanders of the logothete Camaterus. The expostulation of Nicetas with divine providence. The character of the logothete Camaterus, his heavy drinking and gluttony (4). Manuel's second marriage. The expostulation of Nicetas with God concerning the raids of the Turks. The dissensions of the sultan of Iconium and the toparch of Cappadocia: the sultan fleeing to Manuel is magnificently received. An earthquake disrupts their preparations. A certain Hagarene, a new Icarus, paid the penalty for his rashness (5). Clyzasthlanes, sultan of Iconium, having been influenced by great gifts from Manuel, returns to Iconium, breaks his faith, and harasses and attacks Manuel's subjects (6). The feigned friendship of the sultan and Manuel; from which came mutual devastations and slaughters (7).

Book IV. Manuel attempts in vain to make his kinsman Stephen, brother of the king of the Huns, king of Pannonia; for Stephen is taken away by poison by the Huns, against whom Manuel declares war (1). Andronicus, having escaped his chains through wondrous arts once and again, is finally reconciled to his cousin Manuel (2). The ingenuousness of Michael Branas. Manuel's Pannonian expedition, and the recovery of the town of Zeugmin, in which there are varied faces of war (3). The sluggish despot of Servia is forced into submission. Alexius the Hungarian, husband of Maria, daughter of Manuel by his Alemannian wife, is destined for the empire. Andronicus objecting, who fights unsuccessfully with Thoros the Armenian (4). Andronicus, hateful to Manuel on account of his illicit loves with Philippa, sister of the empress, and Theodora, widow of Baldwin, and agitated by varied fortune, flees to the sultan of the Chaldeans with his three children and Theodora (5). Manuel, a solicitous and suspicious prince, forces Alexius the protostrator, an innocent man, to put on the cowl. Whence evil comes to Manuel in Alexius

The notes of Hieronymus Wolf

he begins to speak when he reaches the matter itself, I wished to give this work also to students of history, so that the work of Zonaras might be rendered more fully by this appendix, yet using that liberty that I might append the opinions of the author, not needing to account for his words. But as I did in that [work], so too here I will note more obscure places and various readings. For I have used here also two codices, one of which was supplied by D. Antonius Fugger, the other by the lord’s library. Finally, there was added, as in Zonara, beyond my expectation, a third codex of the Augustan state, very ancient, mutilated at the beginning and the end, nor everywhere intact in other parts. If it had been complete, I would have followed it alone in both transcribing and converting: for it seems to have been faithfully transcribed from the author’s own German archetype and bears that simplicity which is promised in this Proem, with even barbarous words not avoided; which seems to some to have been the reason that they undertook to write a paraphrase (I wish less affected) of this work and added not a few things of their own for the sake of embellishing the oration. In the Byzantine codex, not only were several verses missing, but in many places even whole leaves, and those more than fifteen at the end of the work; which I took care to transcribe from the lord's librarian's codex and translated, having thought it safer to add superfluous things than to omit less necessary ones, especially since the ancient codex also contained the same matters, although in a different style of oration.

^A Aaron, Sclerus, and Sicydites, notorious scoundrels, are blinded for magic, perfidy, and calumnies; and the tongue of Aaron was afterwards excised by the order of Isaac. Manuel builds new camps in Asia with the great grace and praise of all (7).

BOOK V. Manuel, one of two statues having been erected and the other cast down, appoints Andronicus Contostephanus over the war with the Hungarians, and snatches an omen of victory from the fall of the Hungarian. The Pannonians gird themselves for war (1). Andronicus, neglecting Manuel’s astrological superstition, exhorts the soldiers to battle (2). The disposition of the army on both sides. The victory in the battle belongs to Andronicus, who, terrified by his own reputation, crosses the Ister. But Manuel triumphs over the defeated Pannonians (3). An expedition of Manuel against the Serbs; likewise against the Egyptians, with Amerigo, King of Jerusalem, promising aid (4). Amerigo retreats; nevertheless, Andronicus besieges Damietta and attacks it in various ways (5). Frustrated by the treachery of Amerigo in the taking of Damietta, Andronicus exhorts his soldiers to renew the siege (6). The attempted conquest is rendered void by the wiles of Amerigo, and the Greeks, returning home from Damietta, nearly all perish in shipwrecks. The Saracens confirm peace with Manuel (7). A son is born to Manuel, Alexius, who is appointed emperor. The son-in-law of Manuel occupies the kingdom of Pannonia, and Manuel gives his daughter Maria as wife to the son of the Marquis of Montferrat (8). Disputes of Manuel with the Venetians, war and peace concluded (9).

BOOK VI. Manuel decides to attack the Persian Sultan. Having restored Dorylaeum and Sublaeum, he prepares himself for war (1). Manuel, spurning the legation of the Sultan who sought peace, pays the penalty for his arrogance, having entered upon a reckless journey in which he is dealt an illustrious defeat (2). The capital dangers of Manuel, which he barely overcomes, while many thousands of his men and all his most illustrious kinsmen are lost (3). New slaughters, from which Manuel escaped and, upon approaching the legions, is stung by most bitter reproaches, which he overwhelms with patient silence (4). Manuel’s most slothful plan for a clandestine flight is argued against by a common soldier. The Sultan of his own accord offers Manuel peace; whence the salvation of the Greek army. Nicetas’s narrative concerning Manuel’s dream and Mauropus before that most unfortunate battle (5). With peace established, the Persians nonetheless harass the Greeks. The Sultan brings war upon Manuel for not satisfying the conditions of the peace (6). Manuel, through legates, cuts to pieces and utterly destroys the army of the Sultan, which was laden with booty (7). Another expedition of Manuel against the Persians with an unhappy outcome. The Turks attack Claudiopolis in vain, though it was protected by Manuel (8).

BOOK VII. The deceitful arts of Manuel against Emperor Frederick and the Western Empire. The siege and defense of Ancona (1). Nicetas’s judgment concerning Manuel’s counsel. Manuel’s rapacity, profligacies, and imprudent benevolence toward strangers; whence the greatest ruin of the republic (2). Manuel’s buildings and luxury, and likewise his austerity toward monks, whom he recalls to a more rigid profession of their institute (3). His own negligence regarding the discipline of the soldiers, whom excessive license renders most depraved (4). When the palace and the military are in turmoil, he curiously applies his mind to theology, rashly defining the principal articles of Christian doctrine (5). He then goes mad regarding the blasphemies of Mahomet, which he confirms by edict, despite the protests of learned and pious men (6). The omen observed concerning Manuel’s death, the sign in monastic habit; he dies demented by astrologers. His successor, the time of his reign, and his burial (7).

OF ALEXIUS COMNENUS, SON OF MANUEL The childish age of Alexius, son and successor of Manuel, and the wickedness of the courtiers also weigh down the empire of the Greeks (1). Andronicus Comnenus, the greatest part of the subsequent tragedies, having been reconciled with Manuel, is sent away to Oeneum so that he might refresh himself in leisure after long errors (2). In his solitude, Andronicus weaves plans to occupy the empire (3). Maria the Caesarissa, sister of the boy-emperor Alexius. She, bearing with difficulty the power of the Protosebastos, who held the reins of affairs in the palace, initiates a conspiracy (4). Frustrated in her counsel, she stirs up sedition, aided by the favor of the Byzantine populace (5). The effects of the sedition stirred up by Maria. Attempts of the Protosebastos. A bloody battle; peace is restored by the authority of Patriarch Theodorus (6). The detestation of this ignominious war. The Patriarch is moved from his place by the wiles of the Protosebastos, and a little later is restored (7). Andronicus openly seeks the empire. The Protosebastos, relying on the favor of the Empress, conciliates to himself whom he can by whatever means he can, and renders them adversaries to Andronicus. Andronicus, however, not lacking in forces, proceeds in his undertaking (8). The fleet of the Protosebastos against Andronicus. The defection of the legates of Xiphilinus, of the Great Duke, and of almost all the courtiers to Andronicus (9). A wondrous conversion of the affairs of Constantinople. The Protosebastos is cast into chains and blinded. The Latins or Franks are driven from the city (10). Portents of the future. The meeting and conversations of the Patriarch with Andronicus (11). The meeting of Andronicus with the Emperor Alexius and his mother. A beggar is burned alive by the populace in favor of Andronicus. With what countenance and voice Andronicus approached the sepulcher of Manuel (12). Andronicus administers the republic at his own pleasure, vents his rage upon all the nobles, and blinds John Cantacuzenus. He removes the Caesarissa Maria and her husband by poison (13). The incestuous marriage of the bastards of Andronicus, Alexius and Irene. Theodosius yields the patriarchate and has Basil Camaterus as successor (14). The Sultan of Iconium ravages the East. Great Domestic John Comnenus moves arms against Andronicus, whose army he routs and puts to flight. John having died, his sons fall into the hands of Andronicus and are blinded. The boy Alexius is crowned (15). Andronicus lays snares for the Empress. The conspiracy made against Andronicus is detected and punished with blinding. The miserable death of the Empress (16). By the sloth and absolute wickedness of the councilors and courtiers, Andronicus is designated and hailed as Emperor and preferred to the boy Alexius, son of Manuel, who shortly after is cruelly despoiled by Andronicus not only of his empire but also of his life (17).

OF ANDRONICUS COMNENUS BOOK I. A eulogy of Alexius. Andronicus Comnenus succeeds him, who, now of advanced age, takes to wife the young bride of his nephew, who was not yet eleven years old. He deludes the fawning bishops and enriches them with a merited reward. Lapardas, a bellicose man, deserts from Andronicus; but, intercepted, he is cast into a monastery with his eyes gouged out (1). With his concerns eased, Andronicus sets out to besiege Nicaea. The varied events of the siege (2). The death of Theodorus Cantacuzenus. The sluggishness of Isaac Angelus. The fear of Bishop Nicholas was the slaughter in surrendering Nicaea. Andronicus rages against the townsmen and receives Isaac graciously (3). The destruction of Prusa and the cruelty of Andronicus toward the Prusenses. The blinding of Theodorus Angelus, the executions of many nobles. The danger of Andronicus in the theater (4). Isaac Comnenus occupies Cyprus and acts as a tyrant there; whence the fear of Andronicus (5). Constantine Macroducas and Andronicus Ducas, intimates and councilors of Andronicus, are visited with the supreme punishment by a wondrous manner. The reaction of the people under that tyranny, to which Andronicus preferred the authority of laws; and a little later he strangles the brothers Sebastiani with a noose (6). Alexius Comnenus, grandson of Manuel through his brother. He stirs up the King of Sicily against the Greeks. The Sicilians occupy Dyrrachium and Thessalonica. The miseries of the Thessalonians when the city was surrendered (7). The horrible outrages of the Sicilians against the Thessalonians, who kept themselves at home (8). Their immunity in

those who, having left their homes, wandered through the streets and sat in the squares. Insolence toward those who met in the churches for the sake of religion. Eustathius, Bishop of Thessalonica, relieves the citizens by his intercession (9). Andronicus’s cruelty toward his illegitimate daughter Irene and her husband; the persecution of the corrupt judges who had approved that marriage. Mamalus the scribe is subjected to the most cruel punishment by fire (10). Georgius of Disypatus, Reader of the Great Church, is thrown into chains. Constantinus Tripsychus, a most diligent minister of Andronicus’s tyranny, is overthrown by a certain rolling vicissitude of affairs and blinded (11).

Book II.

OF ISAACIUS ANGELUS.

Book I.

Book II.

Book III.

OF ALEXIUS COMNENUS, BROTHER OF ISAACIUS ANGELUS.

Book I.

^B LIB. II. Nicetas insults the deceased Amerigus, and exaggerates his cruelty toward the Sicilians. The Genoese pirate Caphures is overcome by Joannes Strion (4). Disturbances in the court of the Emperor Alexius, whose kinsmen sell everything. The Empress Euphrosyne elevates Constantine Mesopotamitanus: for this reason, he is accused of adultery by her brother and son-in-law; whence the treacherous murder of the noble youth Batatzes and the unworthy deed of Alexius (2). Alexius’s fruitless expedition against the Vlachs; Euphrosyne is shut away in a monastery, but is recalled through the work of informers (3). The wondrous arts of the priest and most cunning courtier, Constantine Mesopotamitanus, are described; he was raised on high, only to fall by a heavier misfortune (4). The rashness of Alexius in provoking the Sultan of Iconium. The Sultan unexpectedly captures certain towns. Antioch of Phrygia is wondrously liberated from greatest danger. The Sultan’s humanity toward captives. Alexius’s futile preparations for war (5). Alexius thoughtlessly rages against himself. The Empress’s deliberations concerning the successor to the empire. The most miserable state of the empire; and the incursion of the Scythians into Thrace (6).

LIB. III. Alexius’s military expedition against the Vlach Chrysus, and the fruitless siege of the most fortified castle of Prosacus. Chrysus, from an enemy, becomes a kinsman of Alexius (1). Incursion of the Scythians into Macedonia. The weddings of Alexius’s daughters. The defection of Ibancus, and the expedition against him, which was disastrous for the Protostrator Manuel Camyzes (2). Controversy among the Greeks concerning the Eucharist, and the various opinions of the theologians (3). Ibancus is captured, having been deceived by the perjury of Alexius. The Empress Euphrosyne, having suppressed Contostephanus, investigates future events through profane curiosity. The Sultan Caichosroes, brother of Rucratinus, attacks Iconium (4). The Comani are repressed by the Russians and by the Christian prince Calyza. The comedy of the wealthy merchant Calomidus. The tragedy of Joannes Lagus (5). The sedition of Joannes Comnenus Crassus. The plundering of ships and treachery of Alexius against Rucratinus. The defection of Michael. The danger to Alexius from shipwreck and ruin (6). Eudocia, the daughter of Alexius, is repudiated by Stephanus Triballus; the Mysians capture Constantia and Varna. The Protostrator defects to Chrysus. The defection of the Spyridonaces. Alexius finally restrains the seditious (7). Coming to the description of the disaster in Britain [Britannia], Nicetas sets forth the imprudence of Alexius, who felt secure regarding his brother Isaac (8). The rapacity and wastefulness of the Comnenian brothers. The Venetians, having been affected by many injuries from Alexius and the Comnenian brothers, prepare war against the Byzantines by the counsel of their Duke, Henricus Dandulus. Alexius Angelus, son of Isaac, joins himself with the Venetian fleet. The Emperor scorns the hostile fleet, which sets sail for Greece (9). The siege of Byzantium. Skirmishes of the Greeks and Latins. The burning of Byzantium. Alexius, having tried arms in vain, flees, despoiled of the empire. Eulogies of the same (10).

^C CONCERNING ISAAC ANGELUS AS EMPEROR AGAIN. Upon the flight of Alexius, Isaac, having been blinded, is hailed as emperor again; he announces his brother’s flight to his son Alexius and to the leaders of the Latin army. Sacred and profane things barely suffice for the Latins (1). The plundering of the synagogue of the Saracens is the cause of the burning of the city. A description of this most sorrowful fire (2). Alexius Comnenus tries in vain to reclaim the abandoned empire. The sloth, baseness, and stupidity of Isaac and his son are nourished by the flatteries of monks. The common people break the bronze statue of Minerva (3). The Latins rage against the Byzantines with plunder, fire, and sword. Alexius Ducas Murzuflus resists the Latins. Sedition against the Angels, Isaac and Alexius (4). The youth Nicolaus Canabus is inaugurated as emperor by the people against his will. While Isaac is breathing his last, his son Alexius seeks to save himself. Murzuflus cunningly defects, and having suppressed Canabus, strips him of life (5).

CONCERNING ALEXIUS DUCAS MURZUFLUS. The character of Alexius Ducas Murzuflus. He makes preparations for war with little success by fining the wealthy (1). Efforts at pacification are fruitless. The siege, capture, and burning of the city. A single Latin knight puts the Greeks to flight (2). The flight of Murzuflus. Theodorus Ducas and Lascaris contend in vain for the empire. The plundering of the city and lamentation for the sacrilege (3). The plunderings and other foul deeds of the Latins in the city. The pursuit of the same. The Saracens are more humane than the Latins (4). A detailed lamentation of the city described by Nicetas (5). Confession and invocation. Also, manifold consolation and exhortation to repentance (6).

CONCERNING THE EVENTS FOLLOWING THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY. Nicetas gives the reason why, after Constantinople was captured by the Latins, he did not imitate the example of Solon (1). No prodigies preceded the ruin of the Greeks. The most miserable state of the captured city. The peculiar condition of Nicetas. Nicetas is preserved by wondrous ways, as he prudently delivers a noble virgin from the hand of a raper (3). Expostulation of Nicetas with the walls of the city and an address to the city and empty vows (4). The fortune of Nicetas and other exiles, and the license of the people and soldiers is described (5). The casting of lots among the Latin leaders for provinces not yet subdued. The rite of the lot in the royal assembly. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, is created emperor through the efforts of Dandulus. Eulogy of the same (6). Baldwin strives to stabilize the empire. The Marquess Boniface defects to him, and having been reconciled, occupies Greece (7). Henricus, brother of Baldwin, and Petrus Plancius occupy the cities of the Asanians. Fruitless siege of Prusa. Theodorus of Philadelphia is routed by Henricus. The ravages of the Marquess in Greece. The tyranny of Leo Scurius at Nauplion. Michael Choniates placates Leo (8). Scurus marries Eudocia, daughter of the Emperor Alexius. The miserable death of Murzuflus. The Marquess takes possession of Greece. Scurus flees to Acrocorinth. Alexius is stripped of the insignia of empire (9). Greek soldiers, repulsed by the Latins, incite cities to defection through the help of the Vlachs. The Latins strive to recover the Western cities. The ruin of the Greeks at Arcadiopolis. The siege of Adrianopolis. The Latins, being enticed into an ambush by the Scythians, are captured and killed by the Vlachs. Dandulus escapes (10). The Greeks are harassed by the Scythians and Latins. The battle of the Mysians and Latins at Serras. The Marquess avenges the defection of the Thessalonians. The banishment of Alexius. The Marquess’s men are again conquered by the Scythians and lose cities. The Latins rage in Thrace (11). Henricus, brother of Baldwin, takes Aprus by force, and fruitlessly besieges Orestias. The fall of Petrus Plancius. Pestilence and famine end the siege. Didymotichum is defended by the flooding of the Eurus. Most miserable state of Greece (12). Mauzoromes Lascaris and Comnenus contend for the empire in the East. The Vlachs ravage Philippopolis, the Scythians devastate Thrace. The Latins are slaughtered by the Scythians at Rusi (13). The destruction of many Greek cities. The calamity of Athyra and others. Joannes fruitlessly besieges Didymotichum (14). The Latins bring aid to the people of Adrianopolis and Didymotichum. The desolation of Thrace is carried out by the Scythians and Vlachs. Augury of crows and rooks. Greece is torn apart by tyrannies. The death of the Archbishop Nicolaus of Corinth (15). The state of the East. Aldobrandinus, tyrant of Pergamum. The Genoese occupy Crete. Caichosroes fruitlessly besieges Attalia. David Comnenus, relying on the help of the Latins, resists Lascaris (16). Petrus Plancius occupies Pegas. Henricus, brother of Baldwin, is named emperor. The treachery of the Greek soldiers. The miserable death of Baldwin. The bloody death of Constantine Tornices. The fatal statues of the city are broken (17). The diligence of the Latins and the sloth of the Romans. Henricus defeats the Vlachs. The complaint of Choniates against the unjust judgments of men concerning him, with which he puts an end to his history (18).

NICETAS CHONIATES HISTORY

1. ^A Histories have been found to be of common benefit to life, if indeed from them it is possible to gather not a few things that are better for those who have chosen them. For these recount ancient things and human customs, and offer a store of experience to as many men as are noble-minded and who nourish an innate love for the good. And even vice, when mocked in them, and noble action, when exalted, reveal those who incline toward either side to be more moderate and to improve, at least as many as are not held fast, without hope of turning back, by the most shameful familiarity and most debased habit of that most precious thing, virtue; for mortal and ephemeral men, through that which history records, also seem to have become immortal and to have shot forth their life long ago. For rightly or wrongly, according to whether they have lived well or basely, they obtain a reputation. And though the soul [of the man] has departed to Hades ^B, the account of what he lived—whether holy or just, whether lawless or insolent, whether he lived happily or suffered evil—has hovered about, and history cries it out piercingly. Thus, in another way, history will be called the book of the living, and the clarity of the written word a trumpet, rousing those long dead as if from their tombs and setting them before the eyes of those who desire to see them. But such is history, as I may say in passing; yet to those who come after, it is by no means altogether delightful. May no one be so mad as to consider anything else sweeter than history! For those things which the long-lived among men and Tithonus's elders, if they were still surviving in this life, would have known and...

recounted to those eager listeners, drawing them out from the treasury of their memory and unearthing the wrinkled deeds of the past, these the historian might rightly present, even if he has not yet passed the stage of a youth. For this reason, therefore, I too have not deemed it fit to pass over in silence those events which occurred in my own times, and shortly before them, which are worthy of being remembered and recounted, and are so many in number and so great in magnitude. Accordingly, I make these known to future generations through this my writing. ^B And because I agree with the judgment of those who consider darkness and the prolixity of tangled periods to be alien to history, and perspicuity to be most welcome and appropriate, I have indeed applied myself to this virtue, avoiding affected, obscure, and rugged language—though I am not unaware that the masses avidly gape for such things—and forsaking the custom of both the elder and our own age to labor upon those matters with the utmost zeal. We, for our part, have long labored to ensure that the diction employed is suitable to this kind of writing and does not wander beyond its proper bounds. For whatever is not open and ready-at-hand, as I have said, history abhors: it gladly admits whatever is simple, natural, and obvious to the understanding. For since it aims at truth as its only target, and is as remote as possible from rhetorical artifice and poetic fables, it shrinks also from the form of speech peculiar to those faculties. Although much gravity and reverence attend history, it still judges it to be equally pleasant and fruitful. ^C For because it desires to be known even to workmen, soldiers, and women, it is delighted by more elegant formulations, and loves attire that is, to be sure, not luxurious and exotic, but simple and neat; nor does it prize anything more than perspicuity and brevity. For these reasons we desire to obtain pardon from our readers if ornamentation should be found wanting in our work, especially since this subject matter is not now being treated by us for the first time. This is much the same as if we were to tread a deserted and little-worn path; and it is far more difficult to follow in others' footsteps than to walk the royal road. We shall begin, however, with those things which occurred after the death of Alexios, the first emperor of the Komnenian family, beyond whom the historians of the previous age did not progress, so that what is said by us may cohere with their accounts, ^D like a single spring distributed into several channels or rings hanging together in a long chain. We shall briefly touch upon the life of the Emperor John, who succeeded Alexios; nor shall we…

delay with the narratives concerning him, as we shall do in the subsequent accounts, in which, since we have not seen the matters recorded with our own eyes, and therefore cannot go through them at length, we shall set forth only what we have received by ear from those who saw this emperor in our time, accompanied him when he went out against the enemy, and shared in the toils of his battles. It is better to begin from this point. ^B

II. The Emperor Alexios Komnenos had three sons and four daughters. Among the brothers, John was the first-born, and the daughter Anna was considered the first-born of all those who were born of Alexios, and she had been wedded to Nikephoros Bryennios, being titled Caesarissa. The emperor and father, Alexios, was most of all attached to John among his other children. Indeed, having judged him to be the successor to the empire, he granted him the red buskins and caused him to be proclaimed emperor. But the mother and empress, Irene, favored her daughter Anna in every way, and did not cease to disparage John to her husband Alexios, calling him rash, mocking his dissolute life, and saying that his character was unstable and that he lacked any soundness of mind; she made it her most important endeavor, above all other occupations, to change the mind which the emperor had confirmed regarding him. Sometimes, introducing the occasion of a discussion concerning Bryennios, she would crown him with every kind of praise, as being most eloquent, most capable in the conduct of affairs, and learned in the liberal arts, which shape the soul for virtue and are the greatest aid to those who must rightly manage and guard the empire. Alexios, when he heard these things—not being ignorant of this maternal affection—sometimes pretended, being occupied with more serious matters, that he did not care for those words at all; at other times, he affirmed that he would take time to deliberate and that he would not neglect her petition. Once, however, he could not restrain himself from addressing her thus: "O woman, partner of my bed and my empire, will you not finally cease persuading me to do those things which are pleasing to your daughter, and trying to overturn an order that has been laudably established? If you have been goaded by the wrath of some divine power, return to a sound mind; and consider rather with me whether any of the earlier Roman emperors, when he had a son suitable for the empire, ever neglected him to prefer a son-in-law. And even if such a thing happened once, which has rarely occurred, it is not to be taken as a law—especially by me, who have not managed the kingdom laudably, but with the slaughters of kinsmen and by means contrary to Christian institutions." ^{C D}

Therefore, it would be necessary for me to abandon a successor from my own loins and to introduce this Macedonian, saying these things thus, for he sprang from Orestias, one of the blessed and most powerful cities among the Macedonians. ^B Alexios, having spoken such things to Empress Irene with heavy gravity, and again playing the hypocrite to him who had by no means refused—for he was, if anyone else ever was, a man of hidden mind, who considered wisdom to consist in simulation and rarely revealed what he was about to do—continued to put the woman off with a perpetual show of deliberation. But when his end was instant, as he was lying in the most splendid structure of the palace of the Manganes, John, aware of both this fact and of his mother’s hatred, and knowing that she was striving to confer the empire upon her daughter, communicated the matter to his kinsmen who were favorable to him, the chief of whom was his brother Isaac. And secretly entering his father’s bedchamber, as if he simply wished to lament his illness, he prostrated himself ^C and stole the signet ring from his hand. There are some who claim that he did this with his father’s counsel, and this becomes probable from what happens shortly after. For immediately, having gathered his associates and having announced what had been done, he hastened on horseback, girded with arms, to the great palace, and was saluted as emperor in the very monastery of the Manganes and in the districts of the city by a multitude favorable to him, and by those who were active in the city, aroused by the report of the event. Irene, terrified by these things, warned her son to desist from his designs. But since he was pressing the matter with the utmost zeal and was not moved by the words of his mother, she urged Bryennios to seize the kingdom with her aid. ^D As the matter did not proceed even so, she approached her husband, who was lying on his bed, still bearing the signs of life with a frail breath, and, leaning over his body, cried out clearly, with tears gushing like a fountain, that his son, while he was yet alive, was attempting innovations and seeking the kingdom. He, however, being occupied with more serious matters—namely, his departure from life and the journey now instant—having turned his eyes toward the angels, the guides of souls, answered nothing to these things. She, however, urging more bitterly and bearing the deeds of her son with great resentment, with a slight and forced laugh, and hands lifted to heaven, either delighted by that news and giving thanks to God, or begging for the remission of sins from God, rebuked her—with a face little suited to kindness—that she should stir up a contention for the empire at the moment of the departure of his soul from his body. The woman, therefore, having no doubt supposed that her husband was delighted by what he had heard, and already frustrated in all her hope and cast down from her former designs, said with a great groan: "O husband, even while living you were equipped with all deceits, saying one thing and doing another."

and now, as you depart from life, you do not depart from this custom." ^A Meanwhile, John, having proceeded to the great palace, did not have an easy entrance; for the guards did not yield immediately upon the showing of the ring, but required another more evident proof that he was present there by his father’s order. The true gate of the palace, for its part, which was so prepared that when it was slightly lifted from the other side by means of wide bronze plates at the top, it would fall to the ground on a hinge, afforded him an easy entrance, with his guards and kinsmen accompanying him. A promiscuous crowd also burst in, who, having begun to snatch up whatever they met, were prohibited from entering once the doors were shut, and those who had burst in lived shut up with the emperor for several days. ^B It was then the fifteenth day of the month of August when the emperor Alexius departed this life at nightfall, having reigned for thirty-seven years and four and a half months. The next morning, his mother immediately summoned John to his father’s funeral rites, as his body was soon to be carried to the monastery which he himself, by the favor of Christ, had built. But she did not find him obedient to her word, not because he despised his mother’s authority or neglected the honor of his father, but because, with the kingdom not yet secured, he feared those who were still burning with greed for imperial power. Therefore, just as polyps cling to rocks, so he himself clung to the palace, though he sent off the greater part of his kinsmen to adorn the funeral of his father. ^C

Having no one to produce the ring alone to the guards, they sought still another proof that he had come there by paternal command. The gates, therefore, of the palace being lifted up a little by wide iron bars at the top, they collapse toward the ground, and from there he himself with ease entered, and with him entered his soldiers and kinsmen; and no small number of the turbulent crowd that was following him also surged inside, and they also undertook to plunder whatever they chanced upon. But the gates being closed again, those outside ceased to stream in, and those who had entered, not being allowed to leave, spent several days there with the emperor. ^D The month of August was then currently in its fifteenth day; and upon the coming night, the emperor Alexius was taken from the living, having reigned for thirty-seven years and four and a half months. At dawn, his mother straightway sent orders to John to go forth in the funeral procession of the paternal tent, as he was immediately about to be carried and led to the monastery that he had provided for himself, pleasing to Christ the philanthropist. But she did not find him compliant, but rather he was refusing the summons, not that he was neglecting the laws of his mother or rejecting the paternal honor, but that he was wary of the newly established rule and feared the rivals who were still hotly nurturing the love of the kingdom. Hence, he himself, like the polyps of the rocks, clung to the palaces, but the greater part of his kinsmen he sent off to the funeral procession of his father.

^A III. After many days had passed, he made the entrance and exit of the palace free to all who wished, and began to administer the republic according to his own judgment, as if matters were now set in safety. He bestowed honors upon those related to him by birth and association according to their dignity, pursuing his brother Isaacius with such great love that he seemed never to depart from his side and to act with the same spirit; this was both because he was dearly loved by him, and because he had occupied the kingdom with his singular, or at least his primary, support. At the very beginning, he deemed him worthy of a seat and table equal to his own, and of such a proclamation as befitted the honor of sebastocrator, which Isaacius had received from his father Alexios. He entrusted the care of public affairs to those related to him by blood, such as John Komnenos, whom he chose as accubitor, and Gregory Taronites as protovestiarios. But the former, because he could not manage everything by the mere crook of a finger, and exhibiting an intolerable haughtiness and appearing more arrogant than any other, was quickly removed from the reins of the republic; Gregory, however, intent upon the business of administration and modestly containing himself within the limits of his office, exercised power for a longer time. To him was later added as a colleague another Gregory, surnamed Kamateros, a man remarkable indeed, but born of an obscure and ignoble family. He was chosen by Alexios into the number of the scribes and traveled through the provinces, and having acquired great wealth through the assessment of tributes, he sought an affinity with the emperor, and having married a kinswoman of his, he was designated logothete of the secrets. ^B Furthermore, John Axouchos, a Persian by nation, surpassed all in authority under this emperor. He had been captured when the leading city of Bithynia, Nicaea, was liberated from Persian rule, while Bohemond was pressing on toward Palestine, and as he was an equal in age to John, he was taken as his playmate and held dearest among the domestics and cubicularii. But when he gained the kingdom, he surpassed the entire peak of dignity and was adorned with the honor of Grand Domestic, and proceeded to such a point that many most honorable men of royal stock, having met him by chance, would descend from their horses and render him honor. But to this man, his hands were trained not only for war, but were also ready and prompt for acts of kindness. Whence it happened that his noble temperament and liberality almost eclipsed the obscurity of his birth, and made Axouchos dear to all. ^{C D}

^A However, before a full year had passed for the emperor, a conspiracy was fashioned against him by his kinsfolk; the reason for this, no one can easily say, though they were burdened with heavy resentment against him and cast an envious eye upon him. Indeed, they formed a wicked league and, having pledged faith to one another, all betook themselves to Bryennios, yielding to him the empire as one who was a participant in rational studies, ^B who exhibited a form of tyranny, and who, by reason of his marriage, was more prominent in the royal family. For as we have said before, he had been joined in marriage to the emperor's sister, the Caesarissa Anna, who was devoted to philosophy, the parent of all the sciences, and was disciplined in every branch of learning. They might even have attacked the emperor by night with armed assassins while he was staying at the Philopation, an equestrian circus a little way off from the landward gates, having already corrupted the keeper of the city gates with large bribes, ^C had not the innate listlessness of Bryennios, and a spirit more relaxed than the pursuit of a kingdom requires, made their attempt vain, both because he himself remained quiet and forgot the covenant, and because the fervor of the conspirators was extinguished. At that time, it is said that the Caesarissa Anna, weary of her husband's sloth and stung by anger, complained that she was being treated unjustly, and she is reported to have blamed nature itself, and that in rather obscene terms: because it had made her the woman and Bryennios the man. When the conspirators were caught in the morning, none of them were mutilated or scourged, but all were fined their goods; ^D yet after some time, most of them received these back, the emperor having begun to show clemency, starting with the very ringleader of the conspiracy, the Caesarissa Anna. The occasion of this matter was as follows: When the emperor, seeing the riches of every kind—gold, silver, and various garments—heaped together in one house, lamented that the order of nature was inverted, in that he had kinsmen for enemies and strangers for friends, he said that wealth ought also to pass to one’s friends, and he ordered the Great Domestic to take it all. The latter, having given thanks for the emperor's supreme munificence, and having sought and received the liberty to say what he wished, said, "Even if your sister, O emperor, has dared a violent and most iniquitous deed and has in fact abjured her kinship, she has not yet lost the natural title, nor the affection attached to it. Since, therefore, she still remains the sister of a good emperor, let her recover by the aid of nature's suffrage, through repentance, the charity which she has now lost through madness. Spare, therefore, your sister, my lord, for having violated your majesty, and chasten her with that humanity which, by its own illustrious goodness..."

^A you have already confessed yourself to be overcome; and grant to her those things which are set before you, not as a just debt, but as a voluntary gift, since she might more justly possess them than I, as they are a paternal inheritance and will return again to the race." The emperor, persuaded by these words, or to speak more truly, moved by shame, readily accepted the intercession, saying that he would be "unworthy to reign if you were to be judged more humane than I regarding the race, and superior to excessive gain and easy desire." Certainly, he gives everything to the Caesarissa and is reconciled. Irene, the mother of the emperor, was in no way found guilty of complicity in the plot against her son; rather, she is said to have uttered a memorable sentiment upon learning of the machinations: that an emperor who is absent should not be sought out, nor one who is present be driven away; and that she had also said: "Alas, what tortures the slayers of my son have contrived for me, more bitter certainly than the pains I endured in giving birth to him! For those pains urged the fetus toward the light, whereas these, penetrating through the center of my bowels from the abyss of hell, were destined to bring me immortal grief."

^B IV. After these things, the emperor, seeing that the Persians had set at naught the treaties entered into with his father, and were overrunning with great forces the cities of Phrygia situated along the river Maeander, marched out at the beginning of spring; and, victorious in many battles, he took Laodicea and surrounded it with walls, having expelled Alpichara, who was in command of the garrison in the city; and having settled other matters, he returned home. Nor did he stay long in Byzantium, but having again left the palace, he betook himself to the tabernacles to guard against the incursions of the barbarians. For because he saw that losses were easily sustained by the unprepared, he preferred to linger on expeditions, from which he might reap two most beautiful fruits: the one, the safety of his provinces, which is defended most effectively by soldiers led into the field of battle; the other, the exercise of the legions and ^C delay in warfare, by which—like iron by tempering—they, having left the shade, might be strengthened by battles. He went, therefore, to reduce Sozopolis, a city of Pamphylia; and since it was thought difficult to assault due to both its military garrison and the nature of the place—fortified as it was by precipitous and inaccessible crags—he adopted a plan of divine inspiration. Having entrusted a cavalry force to a certain Pactiarius, he commanded him to ride up to the walls of Sozopolis again and again and shower them with arrows. And if the enemy should sally forth, he was to turn his back, not giving them an opportunity for battle, but ^D [to draw them into] the wooded and obstructed paths, which were but little...

remote from the city. He therefore acted in accordance with the emperor’s suggestion. But when the pursuit by the Persians became extensive and occurred frequently as they poured out of Sozopolis, Pactiarios outwitted his opponents by setting an ambush in the narrow passes. In one of these forays, the Turks, having failed to examine the ground for an ambush, pursued the Romans more intently and further than usual, so that they incautiously bypassed the difficult terrain; the Romans, lying in wait, when they saw the Persians pursuing their own forces without a care, riding with loose reins and looking to nothing other than capturing the fugitives, immediately arose and set off straight for Sozopolis. When those who were fleeing shortly turned back, the Turks were caught in the middle; being unable to approach the city because the Romans from the ambush had run ahead to seize the entrances, nor being able to flee from those who appeared in their rear, some were netted and caught, others were put to the sword, and few escaped by the swiftness of their horses. Thus, Sozopolis was captured by one wise counsel of the emperor. Then he accepted the surrender of the fortress which is called the Hawk’s Peak ^C and subdued many other towns and fortifications which had once been tributary to the Romans but had at that time joined themselves to the Persians.

Of the Fifth Year of his Reign and the Scythian War

In the fifth year of his reign, when the Scythians crossed the Ister, began to ravage the Thracian regions, and destroyed everything in their path more thoroughly than ^D a swarm of locusts, he led out the Roman forces which had been gathered from all sides and equipped as accurately as possible against them, not only because of their multitude—which was almost uncountable—but also because of the insolence and overconfidence of the barbarians. His memory recounted the labors he had begun when Alexios Komnenos was emperor, when Thrace was occupied and Macedonia was for the most part laid waste. At the beginning, he sent legates to the Scythians who were skilled in their language, making an attempt to see if he could persuade them to come to an agreement and turn everyone, or at least the majority, away from their plans for war; for they were distributed into several tribes and did not obey a single leader. By this method, he won over some of their princes with every kind of hospitality, not only by hosting luxurious banquets, but also by gifting them silk garments, silver cups, and cauldrons. With these lures he beguiled the Scythians and puffed them up with vain hope; then, thinking there was no time for delay, he led his forces into battle while their spirits were still ambiguous and suspended, and while they were considering making peace with the Romans because of those promises, yet were not averse to fighting, as they were accustomed to winning. Having led the army out of Beroe—for he had his camp there—at twilight, he attacked the Scythians. A horrible conflict ensued, and a most ferocious battle was joined. For the Scythians received our army with a cavalry charge, a hail of arrows, and a great shout raised in the encounter, but the Romans, having once cast the die of war, began to fight in such a way that they would either rout the enemies or perish. But

^A the emperor himself, flanked by his companions and those assigned to the protection of his person, was ever giving assistance to those parts of the line that were struggling. In this war, however, the Scythians devised a crafty maneuver, prompted by the necessities of the situation. They gathered all their wagons into a circular shape, placing a considerable portion of their forces on top of them to serve as a rampart for this engine, and leaving many narrow, intersecting passages through them, like streets. When they were hard-pressed by the Romans, they would turn their backs and retreat within the wagons as if into a fortified citadel, without the disorder of flight. Then, having recovered their strength, they would sally forth as if through gates and perform brave feats of arms. What was happening was, in effect, a rigorous siege fought in the middle of a plain, which the Scythians had improvised, so that the result was that the Romans were wearied by fruitless labor. ^B It was then that John gave5 a demonstration of his prudence; for he was not only powerful in counsel and the ingenuity of his mind, but was himself the first to carry out what he commanded the commanders and the legions to do. And that other event bears witness to his notable piety: for when the Roman phalanxes were struggling against the enemy pressing upon them and advancing with exceeding boldness, he, gazing at the icon of the Mother of God with groaning and piteous gestures, shed tears that were hotter than the sweat of battle—and this was not in vain. For immediately, being armed with heavenly strength, he routed the Scythian battle line, just as in olden times Moses dispersed the Amalekite hosts by the stretching forth of his hands. Therefore, taking up his shield-bearers, who were protected by oblong shields and projecting helmets like an impregnable wall, he engaged the Scythians. ^C When they came to hand-to-hand combat after that scattered line of wagons was breached, they were turned into a shameful flight, and those "wagon-dwellers" were slaughtered in great numbers by the eagerly pursuing Romans; and their camp was plundered, and an uncountable number were taken captive. And many transfuges even flocked to them out of desire for their fellow-tribesmen who had been captured, so that in a certain western Roman province, villages were founded by them, the remains of which still exist; nor were a few of them enrolled in the cohorts of the allies, while the greater crowd captured by the army was sold.

Hier. Wolf’s notes. Heterostomous axe: I find nowhere what this is. In composition it generally signifies one of two things only, as in "cyclops," or "one-eyed." I leave the understanding of the term to be interpreted by those who understand the armor and clothing of the ancients and of foreign peoples; in which type of philosophizing I have not been permitted, nor indeed have I desired, to engage, such that I can scarcely grasp even things of our own land.

^A Having won such a glorious victory over the Scythians and raised a grand trophy, John paid his vows to God, appointing what is called the festival of the Patzinaks in our time as a memorial of the deeds performed and a thank-offering. Shortly thereafter, he proclaimed an expedition against the nation of the Triballi (whom another might call Serbs), who were practicing wickedness and breaking their treaties. Having defeated these barbarians in battle, he forced them to sue for peace, though they appeared in no other way to be a match, as they were always prone to yield to the powers of their neighbors. Having driven away an immense amount of booty from there, and having filled his army with abundant gains, he transported the captive crowd to the East and, in the province of Nicomedia, assigned them fertile fields and sufficient land, mingling part of the captive people into the legions and making the other part tributary. ^B This emperor also proved to be a father of noble children; upon the eldest by birth, Alexios, he bestowed the right of the purple and red buskins, and when he was hailed as emperor by the Roman people, he allowed him to be proclaimed alongside himself. The one next to him, Andronikos, and the third, Isaacios, and the fourth in succession, Manuel, he distinguished with the dignity of sebastokrator. They say that in a dream the emperor saw his newly crowned son Alexios sitting upon a lion, which he controlled by its ears with reins, though he had nothing else suited to tame the beast. The meaning of this vision was that the boy would possess the empire in title and name only, without the reality, and would be deprived of royal power; which did indeed happen shortly thereafter when he was removed by death.

^C During the summer season, the Huns crossed the Ister and devastated Branitzoba, having razed the walls and transported the stones to Zeugminon, and they plundered Sardica, having scorned and broken their former agreements. The secret and true cause of this conflict was that the emperor had most willingly received Almuzes, the brother of Stephan, the prince of the Huns, who had fled to him for refuge. However, the pretext alleged and openly objected was that the inhabitants of Branitzoba were robbing the merchants of the Huns and treating them most wretchedly. Since this evil had descended unexpectedly, the emperor, by a prudent counsel, remained at Philippopolis, the Huns having been driven from there. But in the time that followed, for the equipping of his men and the vengeance against his enemies, he began to gather forces and prepared expendable ships; and having transported them through the Pontus into the Ister, he attacked his adversaries by land and by sea. ^D Having crossed the river in the imperial trireme and stationed his army on the opposite bank, he routed the collection of barbarians in a cavalry engagement and with a line of spears; and having lingered in the hostile territory with greater endurance than ever before, he gained control of Francochorion, the most fertile part of the Hunnic land, which slopes down into open fields between the rivers Saum and Ister. And he took Zeguminon by surrender, and having attacked Chramus itself, he secured a great amount of booty.

^A Afterward, having made a truce with this race following other engagements and having disposed matters well for peace—and having brought into friendship, even against their will, the remaining barbarians who were hostile to the Romans as far as the West, among whom he had often shown favor during the war—he thought it necessary to also subdue the tribes beyond the borders in whatever way he could, and especially those who, being attached to trade and chicanery ^B by plying their vessels, sail to the city of Constantine. He had therefore also won over coastal Italy, through which all the sails were carried to the queen of cities. Since the Western tribes were at peace in this way, he moved his army to the East and decided to attack the Persarmenians who held Castamon. Therefore, traveling through the provinces of Bithynia and Paphlagonia, he arrived there, and having employed very many ladders and placed the siege engines in a circle, he captured the city and forced the Persarmenian satrap who ruled it, despairing of his situation, to yield. Having led away a not insignificant ^C multitude of Persians as captives from there, he returned to Byzantium. He then proclaimed a triumph for their victory, and ordered a chariot inlaid with silver to be constructed, an admirable work, adorned here and there with precious stones that were not entirely flawless. When the day of the public thanksgiving arrived, tapestries of every kind, interwoven with gold and purple, decorated the streets; nor were images of Christ and the saints lacking there, expressed as if alive. There were also wooden platforms and scaffolding built on both sides for the spectators, a sight worthy of admiration. This part of the city, which extends from the Eastern gate to the great palace, was ^D adorned in this way. Moreover, the four-horse chariot was fine, and it was pulled by four horses with beautiful manes, whiter than snow. The emperor, however, did not mount the chariot, but placed the image of the Theotokos upon it; because of this, he exulted with joy and was almost beside himself in spirit, attributing the victories to her, as to an invincible colleague in the empire. He gave the reins to be guided by the most powerful men and gave the chariot into the care of his own kinsmen, while he himself, carrying a cross in his hand, preceded it on foot. Entering the temple of the Wisdom of God, and having offered thanks to God for his successes in the sight of all the people, he went into the palace.

^A VI. When he had not remained at home longer than was necessary for him to be seen by his subjects and to be delighted by the theaters, and for the soldiers after their long campaign to greet their own hearths, refresh their horses, and sharpen their spears, he moved once more against Kastamon. For the Persarmenian Tanismanius, who then held Cappadocia, had attacked the city with greater forces, taken it by storm, and slaughtered the Roman garrison. The Emperor, having set out there, found that Tanismanius had died, and that a certain Muchumetus was in charge of the city—a man between whom and Masut, the ruler of the city of Iconium, there was enmity. The Emperor, therefore, seizing the opportunity to stabilize his own affairs, made peace with Masut and, having received auxiliaries from him, invaded Muchumetus. The latter, seeing he would not be equal to facing two armies, negotiated a reconciliation with his countryman Masut, and obtained it, partly for other reasons, but most especially by arguing that this defection to the Romans would afflict the Persian cause unless they returned to friendship. Thus he persuaded Masut to repudiate the alliance with the Emperor and to join him. When this was done a short time later, the Persian auxiliaries of the Sultan departed by night, and that expedition had little success for the Romans. Therefore, moving his camp to the town he himself had built by the Rhyndacus River, he attacked Muchumetus with greater force, ^B and having recovered Kastamon, he did not abstain even from Gangra, one of the greatest and most illustrious cities of Pontus, which had not long before been subdued by the Persians. There, having subdued all the suburbs as the custom of war dictates, he encircled the city itself with siege-works. However, since the Persians who were inside, emboldened in spirit, would not yield the entry of the city to the Emperor by an agreement, the soldiers surrounded it in a ring; they struck the walls continuously with battering rams wherever they could be attacked; but since, because of the strength of the battlements and the stubbornness of the enemy, the Emperor gained little success, he abandoned the walls and ordered them to hurl stones into the houses, which could be seen from the hills where the camps were located. Those, therefore, who were in charge of the engines, hurling round and light stones as far as possible because of the open prospect—so that they seemed to fly through the air rather than be cast from engines—shattered the houses; these, with their roofs broken and collapsing, crushed those dwelling within. Thus it was safe neither to move through the streets, nor was it less dangerous to remain at home. For these reasons, therefore, the citizens, weary of the siege, ^C and especially dismayed at the death of Tanismanius and the situation of the Gangra garrison, surrendered themselves and the city to the Emperor. He entered, and after taking away many Persians and stationing two thousand Romans in the city, he returned to Byzantium. But the Romans did not hold this city for long; for the Persians, having returned with far greater and stronger forces, subdued it both with siege-works and with famine, while the Emperor was occupied and intent upon other serious matters. ^D

^A After this, he declared an expedition into Cilicia for the sake of avenging Lebunas, the king of Armenia, who, among other things, had subjugated Roman towns and was also threatening Seleucia. Therefore, having summoned the veteran soldiers and held new levies, and having prepared sufficient supplies for a long campaign, he overcame the Cilician gates without a battle, occupied Adana, and took possession of Tarsus. But not content with these successes, in his eagerness of spirit, he fought for the whole of Armenia; and having captured the most strategic fortresses, some by surrender and others by force, he took possession of the entire province. ^B Attacking, among others, a steep fortress by the name of Baca, and seeing that the enemy would neither offer up suppliant hands nor admit to any peace treaty, he surrounded it with his entire army and, having erected siege-works, declared that he would not depart from there unless the town were captured, even if he had to grow gray in the siege and be made white again and again by the tempests of snow, while in the meantime he admonished the besieged as to how many benefits they would be granted if they surrendered the fortification to him, and how wretchedly they would be treated if they were captured according to the laws of war and saw the army having forced its way inside. But these things were being chanted to asps that blocked their ears on purpose, lest they should hear the incantation of a magus; and he appeared to be doing nothing other than washing an Ethiopian. For they who were defending that place were all prepared for the struggle; and a certain Constantine, an Armenian of the highest nobility, more outstanding than the rest in the promptness of his hands, not only instructed the citizens and incited them to war against the Romans, but he himself often looking out from the castle and standing armed on a mound, which nature had fortified with a crag and art with man-made walls, cast taunts against the Emperor in the Greek tongue, and the foul-mouthed man mocked his wife and daughters with obscene words. Therefore, the Emperor desired to seize the petulant barbarian and punish him. ^C But he, relying on his strength and boasting of the vigor of his nature, mocked the Emperor’s line of battle and challenged someone chosen from the army to single combat: but the Emperor immediately commanded his tribunes to select a brave soldier who could be a match for the Armenian. Eustratius, therefore, having been chosen from the Macedonian legion, takes the man's shield and a freshly sharpened sword. Thus armed, he goes from the camp to the foot of the hill; and he urges the Armenian to descend somewhat, so that they might fight on level ground, if he truly desired a duel and was not merely blurting out such things rashly in addition to his other furious words. These words, which Constantine considered to be a reproach to himself, were like lightning flashing from the clouds or a mountain goat leaping from the brush; he attacks Eustratius, a warrior of huge stature ^D

^A and confident in spirit, protected on all sides by a white shield, in the center of which a cross was engraved. Bearing a sword in his right hand, he did not cease to strike at the Macedonian’s shield, both directly and obliquely, driven by a mad recklessness, and it was expected at any moment that he would inflict some great harm upon the man. The Emperor, however, had so little hope in the Macedonian that he declared in a clear voice that he would not escape. Although Constantine pressed Eustratius with such intensity, the Romans encouraged him with their shouts, urging him to strike back at his foe. He, however, often raised his hand as if to strike, but contrary to expectation, he would withdraw it, just as if some conjurer were turning his right hand away from the blow and restraining it even when prepared for the deed. At last, he brought down the sword he had long been brandishing ^B against Constantine’s shield—a truly huge and Homeric shield—so that he cleft it in the middle; upon this feat, the Romans shouted out with great admiration. The Armenian, stripped of his shield against his expectation, since he could no longer stand his ground in the plain, sought safety in flight, and as happens in danger to one's life, he retreated into the throng with great haste. Afterward, remaining in his place, he did not despise the Romans, nor did he hurl insults at the Emperor and his race, as if they were the arrows of his own foolishness. The Macedonian, being asked by the Emperor with what design he had often raised his hand as if to strike his adversary, but had brought down only a single blow, replied that it had been his intention with one stroke to cleave both the shield and the Armenian himself; but since he could not bring this to pass, because the shield was not held close to the body but kept some distance away, he did not wish to fight in vain, but had [merely] struck the equipment well—and he wished that he could have struck the unarmed foe in the same way. The Emperor, admiring this speech, rewarded Eustratius with the greatest of gifts. A few days later, ^C that fortress also having been taken by force, Constantine was led away as a captive in shackles, his feet secured with iron. Afterward, a trireme received him, having been brought down to the sea, which, shortly after weighing anchor, was to transport the prisoner to Byzantium. The Armenian, being a bold and hot-headed man, attacked his guards by night, slew a great number of them, and being released from his bonds by his own attendants who were with him, he slipped away in flight. But before he could busy himself with new revolts, he was seized and betrayed again to the Emperor.

^A VII. Neither was the taking of Baca the only event that caused the Emperor intense labor; he had previously endured much difficulty regarding Anabarza as well. For this city, being populous and nurturing to its youth, was encircled by robust walls; situated upon jagged cliffs, it had become secure through the efforts of those who had taken refuge there, as into an asylum, all of them armored and most valiant, having also acquired outworks and been strengthened by engines of every kind. The Emperor, therefore, sent forward a portion of his army to it—consisting of the Persian cohorts he had captured at the surrender of Gangra—in order to test the spirit of the Armenians and to discern clearly what their intentions were. But the enemies, upon the mere sight of them, were inflamed with rage, and as if the others were about to perish instantly and would not even withstand their first onset, they opened the gates ^B and burst out against them. When they had come to close quarters, they routed them, forcing them to turn their backs, and pursued them for a great distance. Yet, when the fleeing Persians had rallied a short distance away, once the Roman legions arrived to their aid, the battle changed its character, and the Armenians were, against their will, shut back within their walls.

Shortly thereafter, engines [(25)] were brought up against the walls, and spherical stones were hurled, striking the towers. However, the barbarians did not remain idle at these things; rather, they also brought out counter-engines from the ramparts, hurling heavy stones into the army and discharging sparking implements of iron; in that respect, they were generally superior to the Romans at first, inflicting many casualties. Then, with a sudden and beastly impetuosity, they sallied forth and, encouraging one another, easily burned the machines by casting fire into the storage-baskets and the scaffolding that covered them. There followed the laughter of the enemies, joyful bodily contortions, frequent derision of the Romans, stage-like mockeries of the Emperor, and long-winded foolish talk.

When the battle had rested somewhat, as though under a truce, the Romans repaired their projectile engines, and on the following day they struck the walls again, protected by coverings made of mud. ^C But when those burning iron implements, which the Armenians were hurling, caused no damage to the machines, their vain efforts resulted in their former laughter and mockery turning into mourning. For the masses hurled from the city, even if they were set in motion and struck sharply, nevertheless, when they fell into those loose, moist, mud-based coverings, became ineffective; the force being spent and the flame extinguished, they accomplished nothing of that for which they were sent. Therefore, with the wall of the city breached in many parts, an easy access into it was opened. In this manner, the enemies, who had long been impudent and raging with arms, yielded to the Emperor, and they delivered Anabarza to him more by compulsion than by their own will—though not immediately, but after the enterprise was attempted again and the battle was repeated many times, and a transition to another adjacent wall was made, from which they repulsed the Romans, not without bloodshed, just as they had from the first. ^D

and mockery. For the iron ball hurled from within, even if it were contrary and unyielding to the blows, yet because it struck against the loose, porous, earthy, and sponge-like obstruction, it was hurled without effect; for it had the quality of giving way to the thing thrown, and though extinguished, it did no damage for which it was discharged. Whence, the wall of the city having been broken in many parts, the interior became easily accessible, and in this manner, that which formerly was shameless and roared with weapons, a great enemy, succumbed to the emperor, and delivered the city of Anabarza to him by necessity rather than by will—not, however, on the instant, but after a second trial, repeated engagements, the withdrawal to the next inner wall, and again the withdrawal from this one, just as from the first, with bloodshed and shaking.

^A Likewise, having passed through the fortresses around this city, he goes into Coelesyria and enters the beautiful city of Antioch, which the river Orontes flows through and the west wind blows upon, and he is received with open hands by Prince Raimund and the whole multitude of the inhabitants. Having tarried in the city for many days and shown the prince to be his liegeman, and with him also the Count of Tripoli, he resolved to attack the Syro-Phoenician cities situated around Antioch and held by the Agarenes. Proceeding, therefore, to the river Euphrates, he arrived at a small town called Piza by the inhabitants, where the enemy, having shown great courage in the skirmish, caused the Roman forces to retreat, and for a while a pursuit occurred of a portion that had advanced and could not withstand the violent and irrational rush of the opponents. But not long after, when the emperor himself appeared with his phalanx, many of the enemy attacked [him]; but they, being disordered by the Roman incursion, were driven within the walls and no longer resolved to sally forth. This town had a double wall, which in some places a deep trench surrounded, and in others natural rock fortified. Many towers, however, having been leveled by the hail of stones, the fierce and elated spirits of the Agarenes collapsed, so that they begged the emperor for their lives, offering in exchange all their wealth. ^B From this, having dispatched a part of his forces against the cities and fortresses beyond the Euphrates, he collected much plunder; and having bestowed Piza upon the Count of Edessa, he passed by Bempetz as an easy target, since it was judged to be situated on a slope, and set out against Chapel and Pherep, urged by the prayers of the Antiochene prince, who was campaigning with him. When he had reached Chapel, which was once called Berrhoea, he saw the city to be populous and fortified with large garrisons of soldiers; these, at the first sight of the Romans, made an attack upon the emperor’s forces, and being defeated, they returned to the walls; and not once only, but again and again they made sorties, yet never won. But as the emperor was circling the city and reconnoitering, they laid a trap with catapults, but missed. ^C And when he could accomplish nothing at that time, both on account of the fortifications of the city and the cavalry and infantry forces therein, and because he began to suffer from a shortage of provisions, fuel, and water, he departed thence; and having captured Pherep at the first assault and bestowed it upon a certain count of the city of Antioch, he moved on to another city named Capharda, which ^D

^A sits over a very large territory, and boasts that not a few fortresses are subject to it in its vicinity, priding itself on the firmness of its wall.

VIII. But having subdued this also in a short time, he proceeds to more distant parts, and setting out on the march toward Sezer, he pitches camp near Istrium (this is also a city of Mesopotamia), situated a short distance from Sezer and most excellently provided with all things. Having taken this by the way and given it over to the soldiers for plunder, especially to the Scythian legions by whom it had been captured, he then advances upon Sezer. The inhabitants of this city, and the neighboring satraps who had flocked together as if to quench a common fire, had gathered a very great multitude of heavy-armed soldiers; and joining forces for a single battle array and strengthening their alliance, they came to meet him, having crossed the river that flows by there; and brandishing javelins of reeds ^B and riding on swift horses, they provoke the imperial phalanxes. Though they attacked our men many times, they are defeated; some are cast headlong into the river, others are pierced through with spears, receiving no help from the brandishing of their reeds, the assistance of which they found to be weak, thin, and merely of reed. Thereafter, having returned within their fortifications, they no longer ventured out, but showing themselves from the earthen shelters and having much advantage from that height, they opposed the Romans, disregarding the plundering and devastation of their fields and the capture of their neighboring fortresses. [P. 20] ^D When they acted thus, the emperor reviewed his phalanxes and divided them according to nations and tribes, so that each might assist his own countrymen. He assigns the Macedonians to one division, those who are called the "Select" to another, the Scythians to the third, and in the same way the Persians, who had joined the Romans in previous wars. The enemy, however, terrified by this distinction and variety of the legions and the diversity of their arms, with their stubbornness relaxed and their outer walls abandoned, retreated into the inner parts. For many days, therefore, they fought at close quarters; nothing was left untried; even singular duels of the bravest men took place: now they would flee into the city, now they would retreat into the camp, yet in such a way that the Romans were always superior. But although the enemy were falling in greater numbers by the sword, were being finished off by arrows, and were being torn apart by the stones of the siege engines, and their walls and battlements were being demolished, nevertheless, because of the slaughter they remained unmoved in such a great multitude, especially since their lives, children, wives, and great and various riches were at stake. And perhaps this city also would have been captured and stripped of all its wealth, and the Romans would have gained great glory from its destruction, had not adverse tidings drawn the emperor away from there, even against his will. For it was reported that Edessa was besieged by the Persians and was in danger of a most atrocious destruction unless the emperor should bring aid at the very first opportunity. Therefore, having accepted most ample gifts—which consisted of the most precious materials of all, and generous horses, and silk garments interwoven with gold

and a table worthy to be seen, and before these, a cross ^B taken into his hands, a truly beautiful object and marvelous to behold, carved out of lychnite stone, in which art had naturally and with competitive beauty rendered the likeness of the divine image, providing a veritable feast for the eyes—he lifted the siege and set out for Antioch. The Saracens of Sezer used to say that their ancestors had formerly possessed that radiant cross, among other gifts presented to the emperor, and the precious and admirable table, at the time when they captured the emperor Romanus Diogenes, stormed his ramparts, and plundered the imperial tent, dividing up the spoils. However, as the emperor was departing from Sezer, the soldiers of Zac and other illustrious Persians attacked the backs of the Romans, charging in an extremely insolent manner with their swiftest horses, and with the utmost contempt for the Romans and with furious and barbarian pride. Yet, frustrated in their hopes, not only did they accomplish nothing of note, but they paid the penalty to divine justice for their rashness and insolence, with two of their commanders being taken prisoner; one of these was the son of Atapaca, the other the brother of the amir Samuch. When the emperor had finally entered the celebrated city of Antioch, the entire urban population poured out to meet him, with holy icons and many ornaments set out in the streets to honor his entry. From there, with good omens and accompanied by praises, he set out for the borders of Cilicia, and thence began his journey to Byzantium. ^C Advancing in battle array in this manner, and not deviating from his own custom of warring, he sent a portion of his army against the Persians of Iconium. For they, when he was entering Syria, had seized the opportunity to plague the Romans with raids. Having therefore defeated this hostile force, he ravaged the enemy’s land, taking many captives of both men and livestock of every kind. And these were the wars that John conducted in a single expedition toward the rising sun over the course of three years—wars that turned the tongues and minds of everyone toward him.

IX. Returning of the Sebastokrator Isaac

^D IX. About this same time, the sebastokrator Isaac, brother to the emperor, returned to him; he, as we have said before, had contributed much to his attaining the empire. For, because of a small offense, he had become separated from his brother, and along with John, his firstborn son, he had departed from the Roman borders into exile. He was, moreover, a man

^A bellicose and strong, endowed with a tall stature and a sightly form; and having crossed over to other nations, and then to the satrap of the metropolis of Iconium, he was soon incited to make incursions upon the Roman provinces and disturb the affairs of John. But because he lacked money, and the Emperor John was flourishing with perpetual renown in matters of war, nothing turned out to his liking, and rather, all men fell away from him and disapproved of that initial plan of defection, loathing that endeavor, which was neither advantageous for him nor could it in any way succeed for them. Therefore, when he approached the toparchs—and those with whom he lodged, being led by reverence ^B for his form, most worthy of a king, and his most noble lineage—understanding at length late that he was enduring hardships in vain by deserting his kindred, he betook himself to his brother. The Emperor, for his part, received both him and his son eagerly, addressed them, and embraced them sweetly. For the desire for kindred counts for much; and although that bond may have been slackened somewhat, it is easily drawn tight again. And having preserved his former charity toward him inviolate, he returned to favor in good faith, otherwise than powerful men are wont to do, who cover and hide their anger until an occasion for vengeance is granted. Having therefore entered Constantinople with him, he rejoiced no more in the victory than in his brother’s return. The subjects, too, shared in his praises by instinct; and they did not glory in the trophies alone, and give thanks to God, the author of their successes, but they also rejoiced in the arrival of his brother.

^C But not having lingered long in Byzantium, when the Persians had made an incursion into the open fields near the river Sangarius, although he was ill in body, he immediately went out. Thus, with the enemies terrified by his presence and herds of all kinds of cattle driven off, he withdrew to Lopadium. Not much later, when he had also departed from the city of Gynæconitis, he restored the fortifications, having converted the leisure granted from war to the benefit of the state: in which places, when he had decided to reside, he ordered the legions to assemble. And although this was done by his command, the soldiers, however, thought themselves burdened by no other thing more than this, because he knew no limit to expeditions, or had forgotten, or did not consider, that the Romans had already spent the third year in the Oriental wars. ^D That further exasperated their hatred, that many soldiers who had followed him into Syria, not having yet looked upon their domestic affairs, but delayed on the journey by bodily sickness, the scarcity of provisions, and the loss of horses, were forced by those who diligently beset the roads and watched the ports to turn from their homeland and go to the Emperor. But he, although he could not be ignorant of the cause of their indignation, feigning ignorance—or should I say, contempt—and allowing them to pour forth empty words, kept urging his purpose. For he said that he wished to have soldiers who wanted the same things as he did, and who would not be fatigued by continuous expeditions or

^A broken down by them. Having decided to go after the barbarians who had broken into the province of the Armeniacs, and at the same time to capture Constantine Gabras, who had for a long time possessed Trebizond and acted the tyrant there, he directed his march through the mountain pass of the Paphlagonians, ^B always choosing to advance along the coastal regions of the Pontus for two reasons: that the army might obtain its provisions from its own territory, and that if it were necessary to join battle, he would have it threatening him from only one side, and not beset on both sides, which would be convenient for an encirclement. For Muchumetus, who at that time held Caesarea, whom we have spoken of before, was possessed of very great power, having subjugated a part of Iberia and brought some places of Mesopotamia into surrender. He traced his lineage back to the ancient race of the Arsacids and the more recent one of the Tanismanians; these Tanismanian men were bold and bellicose, and the most powerful and shameless of those who had captured the eastern cities of the Romans. ^C When spring had now begun to wane, the emperor departed from Lopadium, and having spent the whole of the summer season and the mild part of the autumn on that journey, he wintered near the winter solstice in the Pontic city of Kinte. Having launched an attack upon the enemy territory from there, he suffered many hardships; for he was almost entirely destitute of provisions, and the beasts of burden—as many as were for war or for carrying the baggage—had perished utterly. From this the enemy took heart again (for fame leaves nothing uninvestigated or hidden), and made many unexpected raids in the manner of brigands; sometimes they even attacked the Romans in open conflict and inflicted frequent losses upon their phalanxes. For like a thick cloud they would suddenly rush in, relying on the speed of their horses, and then withdraw into the middle, just as if they were being carried off by the gusts of winds. ^D However, the emperor, in order to make up for the disaster, scouted everywhere in the army for noble horses; and having distributed these among the Romans who were skilled in wielding the pike, and especially among the Latins who were right-handed in turning the lances, he opposed a robust battle line to the enemies, who, being unable to withstand the force of the pikes, were put to flight. By these tactics, therefore, and because very many of the foot soldiers were carrying standards to give the appearance of a larger cavalry, he drove back the Persian squadrons and proceeded to Neocaesarea, near which there was also frequent fighting between the Persians and the Romans. The emperor’s younger son, Manuel, wielding a lance, advanced far ahead without his father’s knowledge and made an impression upon the enemies; and that deed of the youth impelled nearly the whole army to fight beyond its strength, some being stirred by emulation, while all the rest feared for the youth, and thought that they would gain the greatest favor from the emperor if he were protected by their efforts from every assault of the enemies. And then the father publicly praised his son.

^A Later, however, entering the tent, he struck him briefly for having attacked the invaders more rashly than bravely, and for having done so without his orders, having embroiled himself with the enemy.

^B Perhaps the emperor would have remained master of Neocaesarea, had not an irrational, self-willed, and utterly unbridled pride and irascibility on the part of John, the emperor's nephew (son of the sebastocrator Isaac), stood in his way. For when a battle with the Persians was imminent, the emperor, having caught sight of a distinguished Italian knight, ordered his nephew John—who he knew was not used to horses—to dismount from his Arabian horse and give it to the Italian. But he, being a man of an arrogant spirit and more boastful than was appropriate, not only disobeyed the emperor’s command but—I might even say more shamelessly—made a sharp, or rather insolent, retort, and in contempt provoked the Latin to combat, claiming the right to keep the horse if he won. But when he could no longer resist his uncle the emperor, whose bile he saw beginning to boil, he gave up the horse unwillingly; and having mounted another, he rode away, sick at heart and seething with rage, leveled his spear at the enemy line, and having progressed a little further, he turned it around and rested it on his shoulders, removed his helmet from his head, and defected to the Persians. ^C By them he was received eagerly and lovingly, not only because he had become known to them while he was in exile with his father, but also because it was thought that by his presence he would strengthen their cause. Not long after, having abjured the Christian religion, he took the daughter of the Iconian Turk as his wife. The emperor, indeed, was dismayed by this event, nor did he harbor very good hopes, for he was not unaware that his nephew would accurately set forth to the enemy the various evils with which the Romans were struggling—such as the shortage of provisions, the loss of horses, and the other ruinous conditions of the camp. And although he moved away from that place little by little to conceal his departure, he could not even then entirely escape the notice of the enemy, who pursued the rear guard for a very long distance and harassed it constantly. For this reason, he turned toward the seacoast and betook himself to safer ground; when the Barbarians could no longer approach him there, they went back. ^D The emperor, having entered Byzantium on the Ides of January, weary from the Persian hardships, by the end of the spring fell by the sword—

^A or rather, he girded on his sword once more and set out for the fortress that had arrived at the Rhyndacus river. But when the summer season had passed, and winter, already encroaching, made things difficult for those living out in the open—threatening with the roaring of winds and rendering bodies more sluggish in the face of the cold—he returned to Byzantium, yielding to the chill of the season, which cast down hailstones like rocks and icicles like spears.

With the beginning of spring, however, he smiled again and departed from the palace. And so, having bid farewell to his daughters—who, like the daughters of Danaus, shed amber tears over his departure—he passed through Phrygia, and having seized the most brilliant city of Attalia, he decided to linger there so that he might improve the state of the surrounding cities and provinces. For some of these had already succumbed to the Turks, among which was the lake called Pusgusa. This lake, extending into a vast and sea-like expanse, rises in many places into small islands fortified by strong walls. At that time, throngs of Christians lived on these islands, and they, by means of skiffs and small boats, mingled with the Iconian Turks; they not only strengthened their friendship with them, but also adopted most of their customs, and being joined to them as if they were neighbors, they turned away from the Romans as enemies. Thus, custom, confirmed by time, proves stronger than both reason and religion. Therefore, some even reviled the emperor as an enemy, and obstinately rejected his edicts, relying on the boundary of the marsh; and they agitated in their minds, through recklessness, things they would never have contemplated with a sound mind. But when he ordered them to withdraw from the marsh, as it was an ancient possession of the Romans, and told them that if they wished, they could go over to the Persians (he would not, he asserted, allow the alienation of them and the marsh from the Romans for long), and when he achieved nothing with words, he turned to the equipment of war. Having built ships and joined them together, he placed siege engines upon them and thus brought them against the fortifications on the lake. ^B And although he succeeded in taking them, the Romans were not exempt from evils in that war; for sometimes the lake, churned up by winds and swollen by waves, snatched away many transport ships, causing them to capsize and sink their crews and cargoes into the depths.

At that same time, the emperor’s firstborn son, Alexius, to whom he had also granted the red buskin and the imperial purple, departed this life from an acute fever, which attacked his head as if it were a citadel. ^C Andronicus, who was next to him in age, survived no longer than to mourn the death of his brother, and he too was exempted from human affairs. ^D

Hier. Wolfii notes.

(34) The turning of the spring. Another codex had "the turning of the Aries," which I translated as the vernal equinox: that is, when the sun enters the first point of Aries in the month of March. For then the change from winter cold to spring weather takes place, although we Germans sometimes freeze not much less in the days before the Kalends of May than others do in the month of February.

^A Consternated by the lamentable loss of his children—not to say, by the death of his dearest loved ones, which he perhaps suspected to be an omen of that expedition—the Emperor nonetheless did not become any softer in spirit, nor did he remit anything of his initial impulse, nor did he return to Byzantium, despite having already spent an entire year exhausted by those labors. Instead, he set out for Isauria and, having organized the province, set his course for Syria, accompanied by his youngest son, Manuel. Now, the publicly declared purpose of this expedition was to reform Armenia for the better and to hold and fortify in duty and faith the towns and castles captured in the previous war. But the true cause, which was by no means disclosed to the army and was in fact carefully concealed, was that he fervently desired, above all else, to unite Antioch with Constantinople, to visit the holy places therein, to adorn the life-giving sepulcher of Christ with magnificent gifts, and to perpetually rout the neighboring Barbarians. ^B And so he left nothing unattempted, attempting to see if he could persuade the Latins to yield to him the lordship of the noble city of Antioch of their own accord, or, if they refused (for he was not ignorant of the arrogance of the Latins and their haughty spirit), that he might at least draw the Cilicians and Syrians to his side. Therefore, during this march and while awaiting his arrival among the Antiochenes, he never ceased writing to them, such that, even before he had set foot within the borders of Syria, he had already attracted from there an embassy that raised his hopes for future events to the highest peak. But when he approached Antioch, he found that the minds of the Italians had changed, as rumor had already spread abroad what had previously been the secret and silent machinations of the Emperor. When, therefore, he found that entry into Antioch was not easy, nor as he had expected, and that he was not permitted to enter except upon taking an oath—an condition far removed from what he had intended in his mind, namely that, having remained there for some days and having been adored and honored as was fitting, he might depart without any innovation or change in the established customs—he was deeply vexed that he had been deceived. ^C He deemed it necessary to enter by force, as he abhorred war against Christians; but he permitted the suburbs, in which he was quartered, to be ravaged by his soldiers, and allowed them to carry off everything that could be seized by hand. This proclamation, for which the scarcity of provisions served as a pretext, resulted in not even the fruit-bearing trees remaining inviolate, but even those were cut down for cooking food. By this method, he concealed his resentment at being slighted and turned his forces toward the borders of Cilicia. ^D Having pitched his camp in a very wide valley, in which two extremely high mountain peaks rise up—which they say are called the "Ravens' Nests"—he went out to hunt and drove a hunting spear into the chest of a lone wild boar. As the beast rose up from the blow and had received the entire iron head into its vitals, the hand of the Emperor was weakened, and by the impact of the beast, it was struck back, overturning the quiver which was suspended obliquely at his side and filled with poisoned arrows; and one arrow, grazing the skin between his outermost fingers, with the venom creeping in [original-script column: see facsimile]

^A and spreading further towards his vital parts, and gradually stupefying whatever it had occupied, he departed this life not long after. Yet he had treated that wound, at first neglected, by applying the peel of a removed membrane, which they call excoriation; by which hazardous method he attempted to suppress the bloody pus of the wound. Returning to the camp in the evening, he supped and passed the night without disturbance. But on the following day, as the wound swelled and grew inflamed, and the pain became urgent, he explained the incident to the physicians. They, upon seeing the swelling of the hand and enquiring into the medicine he had used, rejected it as having been applied contrary to medical practice; and they brought other applications to soothe that inflammation. But when these profited nothing, they turned to incision, nor did they bring any relief to the afflicted member even by this; for the tumor kept increasing, the malady spreading from finger to finger up to the joint of the hand, and to the elbow and the arm itself. The Emperor therefore abandoned hope of salvation: and to the perplexed physicians it seemed best to amputate his hand, which had swollen to the size of a man’s thigh, although even so the healing of the affected part was not certain. But the Emperor, who perceived that the former incision was also the cause of the entire malady, did not assent to their words, but lay ill, having spurned such hazardous treatment.

And on the most celebrated day of the resurrection of Christ, he partook of the divine mysteries; and at the banquet, having opened the palace doors, he permitted anyone who wished to enter and ask for what they desired; and he did the same on the following day, at the admonition of John the Great Domestic, distributing to those who stood ^B by the feasts that had been set out; and having removed the witnesses, he determined to deliberate concerning the successor to the empire. Indeed, the valley in which he had his camp having been flooded by a torrential rain, his very bed was carried away by the force of the rushing water, while he kept repeating the oracle, "He falls unexpectedly in water-filled places." But those who investigate the successions and changes of emperors claim that this too was confirmed by the event: "Alas! you shall be food for voracious crows!" They think this oracle refers partly to the black and hissing iron instruments with which his hand had been cauterized, and partly to the name ^C of the mountains where he had pitched his camp. ^D

^A 12. Then, having summoned his kin, friends, and the magnates, and having brought forward his youngest son, Manuel, he spoke in this manner: "Not, indeed, with the hope that you see, O Romans, did I enter Syria, but I thought that I would surpass the virtue of my ancestors, and would refresh myself more securely in the Euphrates, and drink its waters to my fill; and that I would see the river Tigris, and with my weapons scatter those who opposed me, as many as incline towards Cilicia and have defected to the Hagarenes; and that—though this may seem a great thing to say—I would fly like an eagle into Palestine itself, where Christ, by stretching out His hands upon the cross, raised up the ruin of our nature by His own fall, and with tiny drops united the whole world, and that I would ascend the mountain ^B of the Lord, as the Psalmist writes, and stand in His holy place; and that I would attack by right of war the enemies who are all around, who, just as the barbarians once did the Ark, have now themselves occupied the coffin of the Lord with their arms. But because my expectation has frustrated me (for what reason, God knows), it is not permitted to resist at all, nor to speak against those things which are seen before us. For who is wiser than God? Or who will fathom the mind of the Lord, and change His judgments by either adding or subtracting? For the thoughts of men are slippery, but the counsel of the Lord is not void nor mutable. But since many benefits have been conferred upon me by God, and they can be comprehended in almost no number, I will proclaim the divine beneficence towards me in your hearing, for you are ^C witness to these things, with a grateful voice. I was born of an Emperor father, I succeeded him in the empire; I have lost none of those things which I had received. But whether I have increased the talent of the kingdom divinely entrusted to me, like a prudent and faithful steward, I leave to others to consider and recount, although I myself could proclaim these things without annoyance and without any ostentation, but rather with a celebration of the miracles of God. The East and the West have seen me waging war; I have attacked the nations that live in both continents. I remained little in the palace; I have spent almost my whole life in tents; I always took care to live under the open sky. This land, in which we now have our camp, has already seen me twice. A long time had passed since the Persians and Arabs had last seen a Roman army: they feared it, with God as leader ^D and me as minister, and they yielded to us many cities, which we still hold, and which obey our commands. May God grant that I, who have taken up arms for the Christian people, may attain there the eternal inheritance which the meek and those acceptable to God will obtain; may He add strength and power to your hands against the peoples who delight in wars and who do not invoke the most holy name of our God. That, however, will happen if you determine that success depends upon the right hand of the Most High and His exalted arm, and may the leader divinely [appointed] for you...

be someone who is not a consumer of the people, nor a man false to his calling, nor erratic in his character, nor one who spends his time hunched over the table and repeatedly conveying the cup to his lips with his fingers, refusing to be pulled away from the life of the palace, as if he were one of those figures depicted on walls with mosaics and paints; for it is the way of all things to be disposed and to follow according to the disposition of the ruler. Since they were brought into existence through him, they change when he is corrupted, and they rise again to the opposite course when he is improved, as God, according to David, grants success to the good and upright, but leads those who turn aside to crooked paths along with those who work evil. ^B Since, however, I am prompted to speak somewhat regarding my successor to the throne after my passing—which is already imminent and inescapable—I must ask you to pay attention to these things. That the empire has come to me as a paternal inheritance is a thing no more necessary to state than it is to light a lamp, as the saying goes, at noonday. Moreover, since I see that you have approved the mandate passed to me by my ancestors and that you are similarly disposed toward my sons, wishing to obey one of my sons (of whom two are still living, Isaac and Manuel) and, avoiding the usurpation of such a choice for yourselves, choosing instead to defer to my judgment, I admit indeed that nature is accustomed to grant the principate to the eldest, yet I observe that God generally follows a different method in the designating of kings. Consider that Isaac was younger than Ishmael by birth, that Jacob emerged from the maternal womb after Esau, that Moses was younger than Aaron, and that David was the smallest among his brothers in stature and age, as were many others; for God does not have regard for the person in the human manner, nor does He measure the worth of things by hoary hair and age, but He looks upon the disposition of the soul, its gentleness, mildness, and the keeping of His commandments. For these reasons, I too do not submit to the corrupting influence of nature in many matters, but rejecting its customs as the counsels of a petty little woman in more serious affairs, I prefer to follow God, the author of all things, who is devoid of any perverse affection. ^C If, indeed, the empire were to be handed over to Isaac, the elder born, without any controversy, there would be no need for words to declare the nature of either son; but because it inclines toward the younger, Manuel, in order to deflect the evil suspicions of the crowd and to avoid the opinion that I am preferring the younger to the elder out of affection rather than judgment, it is fitting, and even necessary, that something be said about this matter. There is not one category and method for human desires any more than there is for physical forms, which, although we are all human beings in equal measure, possess the greatest variety. We are affected by different things, and we are not all pleased by the same things in equal measure. Otherwise, we would not be accused by God, nor by one another, since we would be necessarily captured by the same pleasures and would enter upon the same counsels. Thus, my sons also, although born of the same father, are nevertheless endowed with different characters: for while both excel in bodily strength, in dignity of countenance, and in gravity of spirit, ^D Manuel, the younger by birth, seems to me more fit for the administration of the empire. For Isaac stands before me more often aroused by anger, and for any cause whatever his bile boils over and he cannot control his temper, a state of affairs most inimical to the counsel that ruins wise men. The other, however, beyond

^A the rest of the virtues, to which Isaacius is not a stranger—nor is he averse to clemency, a most glorious quality—yet knows how to yield and comply in time, and follows the rule of reason. Since, therefore, I prefer to be ruled by men who possess such purity of soul as King and Prophet David was adorned with, rather than by a sword-bearing hand and a mind intent on the subtle investigation of the offenses of subjects, I have decided that Manuel should be made emperor. Wherefore, receive this youth as an emperor divinely designated and as one attaining the empire by my vote; and that he has been preferred and predestined to the empire by God, let the many predictions and the presages of godly men be an argument to you, all of which foretold that Manuel would be emperor of the Romans. Now, as to the fact that my sons who were destined for the empire before him have died, and that Isaacius, who by birth is called to the empire after them, is absent—where shall one place this? Do we not certainly say that these are the most evident signs that God wills that no other should hold the scepters of the ^B Romans, but Manuel? And if anyone wishes to examine it, he will not see that I, the father, am bestowing the empire as a free gift to my child and that I am driving the whole matter toward the succession of the lineage, but rather that I am offering him this appointment as a prize for virtue. For you know, you know what he distinguished himself with beyond his years at Neocaesarea, and that noble incursion against the Persians, for which, just as I, as a father, was anxious and in the greatest fear for my beloved son, so by the same event the Roman state was strengthened." These things Emperor John spoke. And the assembly, having cried out to what had been said, gladly accepted Manuel as emperor, as one chosen by lot or rather as if by divine designation. Thereafter, the father, turning his speech toward his son and giving him useful exhortations, adorns him with the imperial diadem and clothes him in the purple chlamys. When these things were done, the Roman legions, having been summoned, saluted Manuel as emperor of the Romans, each of the nobles standing apart with his own cohort, and they greeted the new emperor with a loud voice. Then, ^C with the divine oracles brought forth, everyone confirms their zeal and loyalty. The leader and author of all these things was the Grand Domestic, with the intent that he might quiet the vanity of ambitious men and the confused crowds and the gathering of most people around certain men of royal lineage—men who, putting forward the prerogative of age as something great and venerable, and exaggerating their kinship with the emperor, deemed themselves more worthy of the empire.

^A When these matters had been thus accomplished, the Emperor John departed this life after twenty-four years and eight months of reign, a man who had both administered the principate in an excellent manner and lived a godly life, with morals neither dissolute nor intemperate; he also pursued magnificence in his gifts and expenditures. This is attested to by his frequent distributions of gold coins to the urban populace and the most beautiful and great temples built from their foundations. But he was also a lover of glory, beyond everyone else, placing everything in that pursuit, that he might leave behind for posterity a most great name. He was such a diligent observer of domestic discipline and seemliness that he would even investigate the proportion of the shearing of hair and the shape of his footwear. Vain and obscene words from public gatherings, as well as luxury in clothing and table, he banished from the palace as a corruption and pestilence of life; and since he proposed himself as a most serious example of discipline, and strove to make all his household his imitators, he did not cease to cultivate every kind of virtue. ^B Yet he was not meanwhile a stranger to a graceful wit, nor was he harsh, forbidding, supercilious, or inhumane in his approach or general demeanor; but while he presented himself in public as a model of the best actions, during his leisure time, away from the public affairs and the throng—which he avoided as one avoids a noisy and garrulous drum—he even admitted honest cheerfulness, and did not shrink from urbanity, nor did he suppress laughter altogether. And so, since he deviated but little from the highest self-restraint and integrity, and strayed not much from the most exquisite manner of life, and throughout his entire reign did not deprive anyone of life nor punish any body in any way, he is celebrated to this day by the praises of all and is judged a certain ornament of the emperors of the Comnenian family; not to mention that he even equaled or surpassed many of those who came before him. ^{C D}

Hier. Wolfii notae.

(38) “Leisure time set apart”: i.e., from men, if no outsider is present.

THE REIGN OF MANUEL COMNENUS, CONSIDERED IN SEVEN BOOKS

^A 1. Manuel, having been proclaimed emperor, immediately sent the Great Domestic, whose name was John and nickname Axuch, to the imperial city, and together with him the chartulary Basil Tzitzi-lux, so that they might secure the new empire, prepare the way for his entry, and restrain the sebastokrator Isaac, his own brother. For the emperor was seized with fear that Isaac, upon hearing of his father's death and learning of his own designation, might through sedition lay claim to all power; this was because he was called to the empire by his age and was, at that time, residing in the imperial city and living within the palace, where heaps of money and the insignia of rulers are stored. John, therefore, having hastened, enters the city and captures Isaac, who was still ignorant of the events that had taken place, and shuts him up in the monastery of the Pantokrator, which the emperor John had founded. Isaac, when after his capture he learned of his father's passing and heard of his brother's proclamation, was at a loss as to what to do, complaining that he was being dealt with most unjustly. And while praising the established order, by which the whole universe is governed, he said: “Alexius is dead, the firstborn of the brothers and heir to the paternal empire. Following him in age was Andronicus, who, after he had brought his brother's corpse by sea, also died shortly thereafter. The scepters of the Romans, therefore, look to me, and I shall rightfully possess the empire.” ^B While he was shouting these things in vain and, like a futile little bird, was squawking with empty effort, the Great Domestic, intent upon the guarding of the palace and acting to ensure that Manuel would be hailed as emperor by the citizens as well, offered to the clergy of the Great Church letters secured with a red and golden seal and a silk thread, and marked with a blood-colored shell, in which silver coins up to two hundred minae were promised to them. It was reported that Axuch was also carrying other rubricated imperial letters, which designated the same sum in gold coins. For a certain not-unfounded suspicion was arising in Manuel, lest perhaps Isaac himself... ^C

(39) “the order”: Another codex had [this] from which I thought it should be read, and I had translated it thus: “and commending that deed to divine vengeance, the governess of the universe,” etc.; but Isaac intends this: that the order by which not only empires, but even the universe of this world, is governed, should be praised. The ancient codex has: *Immodestly shouting: "Oh citizens, how the order is overturned! How new things are being instituted!"*

"* ^A And the domestic of the imperial guard, having diligently ensured the guard of the emperor Manuel before the citizens' proclamation, submitted to the clergy of the great church a document, stamped with a seal of red wax and secured by a golden and silken thread, and stained with the blood of a murex, assigning to them (40) annual silver coins amounting to two hundred minae. It was said that another red-stained imperial document was also brought to Axouch, distributed in gold. For because the suspicion regarding the ruler was not unreasonable—lest perhaps Isaac himself, as supposedly more entitled to the sovereignty by birth, might disturb the state of affairs in the city, having heard of the death of his father and the proclamation of his younger blood-relative after his death, or because the zeal for innovation, which always somehow accompanies the appointments and changes of emperors, might not render the affairs of the kingdom easy and secure for the young king—for this reason, he entrusted double the generous gifts to John to meet the fluctuating state of the times. And when the mission proceeded smoothly, and as it was not possible for the one who had sent it and the one who had been sent to devise or pray for anything better, he kept the golden gifts, but brought out the silver contribution.

^B And with the imperial entrance thus prepared, the emperor, having performed the funeral rites for his father and placed the body on the ships, which held their station in the Pyramus river—which flows through Mopsuestia and empties into the sea—and having settled affairs at Antioch for the time being, departed from Cilicia and set out through what is called upper Phrygia. Then Andronikos Komnenos, who later exercised tyranny over the Romans, the cousin of Manuel, and Theodore Dasiotes, to whom Maria was married, the daughter of the sebastokrator Andronikos, the brother of Manuel, were captured by the Persians and led away to Masut, the prince of Iconium. For while they were hunting wild beasts, they strayed from the military road and fell into the hands of the enemy and encountered hunters of men. The emperor, however, because he could not attend to other matters and was pressing on with his purpose and thought any delay inconvenienced him, did not take the account of them that he should have, nor did he bring them aid as it behooved him. Afterward, however, he freed them without money, and recovered the town of Pracas, bordering on Seleucia, which had been devastated by the Persians. ^C When he reached the imperial city, he was eagerly welcomed by the inhabitants, both because he was succeeding to the paternal kingdom and because he was gracious to all. For even in his very youth, he surpassed the elderly in prudence; he was warlike, bold, undaunted in perils, and magnanimous, and prompt to engage in battles. In addition to this, a certain grace shone from the countenance of the youth, and his smiling eyes had I know not what allurements in them; he was of tall stature, although somewhat stooped; his complexion was neither white and snowy like those who are raised in the shade, nor yet too dark like those who are scorched by the sun, ^D but so in the middle between black and white that, although it tended toward darkness, he was nonetheless handsome. Wherefore, he was received with open arms, as they say, by the citizens who met him, and he was celebrated with full-throated applause as he entered the palace. While, however, on a distinguished Arabian horse...

^A the emperor was passing through the palace, and was about to enter through the gate after which an emperor alone is permitted to descend from his throne, the horse that was carrying the emperor neighed audibly, and by frequently bowing its front hooves to strike the ground, having been well trained to guide its feet, and having wheeled about proudly, it finally crossed the threshold. This incident [P. 36] seemed a good omen to those clever men who examined it—especially those among them who, gazing open-mouthed at the heavens, can scarcely see what lies before their own feet—and they augured for the emperor a very long life by the horse’s behavior and frequent turnings.

2. Having therefore performed the sacrifices of proclamation to God and the inaugural rites, he considered who should succeed to the patriarchal throne and govern the rudder of the Church, and who would adorn him in the temple of the Lord with the imperial crown; for Leo Styppiota had passed from human affairs by death. He therefore communicated his opinion to those who outranked others by ties of blood, and to those of the senatorial council, and to as many as were veterans of the forum; and among many who were being considered for the greatest high priesthood, the victorious vote—with almost everyone assenting—leaned toward Michael, a monk from the monastery of Oxeia; for this man was renowned for his virtue and was well-versed in our literature. Once Michael was named patriarch, he in turn anointed him by whom he had been anointed, having entered the sacred halls. The emperor’s brother, Isaac, also accompanied him; and so the brothers, contrary to the opinion of the common people, embraced each other with mutual goodwill. ^B Now, Isaac was not at all pleasing to the people because of his irascibility and his tendency, for trifling reasons, to inflict harsh punishments; and although he was tall, he had a certain fearful air, unworthy of a man, so that he would be terrified at almost any noise. For this reason his father, the most sagacious Emperor John, was celebrated by all for the very fact that he had preferred Manuel to him. ^C

3. When Masut was plundering and ravaging the East, Manuel went out against him; and having arrived at Melangia, he dealt with the Persians there. ^D And having taken care that Melangia should be restored and guarded, he returned to the imperial city, struggling with a disease of the pleura. But, thinking that he must also take vengeance on Raymond, the Prince of Antioch, who was harassing the cities of Cilicia that were subject to the Romans, he sent out an army, placing in command the brothers Contostephanos, namely John and Andronicus, as well as a certain Prusouch, who was not unskilled in warfare; and he also sent long ships, over which Demetrius Brana was in command, having decided that once the towns and castles that were being harassed were defended, he himself would again bring war upon the Persians. And when he reached the fortifications of Pithekanas [...]

^A they were already hastening to seize them and, making an incursion into the theme of the Thracesians, were plundering all that lay in their path. Crossing Lydia, therefore, he stood before the cities in Phrygia and along the Maeander River, delivering them from the dangers that hung over them and putting the Persians to flight in their terror. Upon arriving at Philomelium, he engaged the Turks; there, having struck down a certain Persian with his spear, he was himself wounded in the sole of his foot by an arrow shot by the man as he fell. But as he appeared to the enemy to be fierce in his deeds and bold, and even more daring in war than his father John, he refused to retreat; nor did he obey those who advised him to return home at last, lest the Persians, driven to despair for their safety, should conspire to treat his army harshly. Instead, with his energy all the more aroused, he marched upon Iconium itself. Masut, having departed from there, had pitched camp at Taxara, which was formerly called Colonia. One of his daughters, who was said to be wedded to John Comnenus, son of the sebastocrator Isaac and cousin to the emperor, who had defected to Masut following a minor slight by his uncle, the Emperor John, was looking down from the walls and delivered a not-unapt speech in defense of her father, the sultan. ^B When the emperor arrived at the walls of Iconium and surrounded them with his army, he permitted the youth to draw their bows against the ramparts, while forbidding the violation of tombs; he eventually departed from there with great difficulty. But because the enemy had occupied the narrow passes with ambushes during his withdrawal, battles broke out that were greater than the previous ones; having finished these not without danger, he returned to the Queen of Cities.

He took as wife a woman from the Alamanni, born of a noble family of princes. She, however, cared ^C less for the beauty of the body than for the beauty of the soul. Thus, having rejected every kind of cosmetic and artificial ornament, as things befitting only senseless women, she was content with her natural blush and shone with the ornaments of virtue, and was endowed with the constancy and gravity of spirit of her people. It came about, therefore, that although the emperor did not deny her the highest throne, attendants, or royal honor and splendor, he little loved her, nor did he keep faith with his wife, being a young man, libidinous, given to a dissolute and delicate life, and to those other things which that age and the enticements of love bring. He also took up intimacy with his niece, not without grave disgrace and stain, by which his reputation was deformed, like a most beautiful face with a filthy mole.

3. He took charge of the affairs of the state. He appointed as curator of public revenues and supreme quaestor John Puzenos, just as his father had done, who was formerly the protonotary of the dromos. ^D He also appointed John Hagiotheodorites as the mediator and minister of his decrees. He always stood in the presence of the emperor, and his

- ^A tu, as if he were an oracle; for the ministers of the Emperor, he used not a few learned men, with whom the imperial palace was filled, and Theodore Styppiotes in particular, of whom we shall speak in his proper place. John Puzenus was most cunning in the management of public affairs, a most sharp exactor of old taxes, and a very skillful inventor of new ones: his character was so composed to severity and rigor that a most jagged rock could more easily be softened than he could be swayed from his resolve; and, what is more wonderful, he was not only unmoved by tears, not bent by suppliant gestures, not shaken by the machineries of silver, nor ensnared by the deceits of gold, but he even shrank from meetings with an inhumanity that was hateful, and—a thing most vexatious and almost intolerable to men—he would not answer those who approached him, but would pass by most of them in silence. Such, however, was his authority and power that he would reject and tear up those imperial edicts which he wished, while others he would have entered into the public registers. ^B By the advice of this man, a matter most useful and beneficial to all the islands, and one consistently observed by former emperors, was uselessly abrogated. For the naval taxes, which were once accustomed to be contributed to the fleet, he caused to be rendered into the treasury, and the triremes, which according to ordinance were provided by the islands, he effectively sank in the sea along with their very crews, saying that triremes were not always useful to the state, while the expenses incurred for them were both annual and immense. These, therefore, he argued, should be rendered into the fisc, and when necessity demanded, the wages should be paid from the Emperor’s treasuries. When he had said this, he was considered a most excellent man and one most skilled in the conduct of affairs, when in truth he had delivered an opinion worthy of a most cruel pirate. For he deceived the Emperor with the magnitude of the expenses and then again exhilarated him with the smallness of the outlays. ^C Whether through recklessness or stubbornness, it was brought about that pirates hold the sea by a most welcome opportunity, and the maritime provinces are harassed by brigandage. But if we blame the one who sowed the grain for the ear of corn, and we also accuse him who did not cut it back, and the fire is not imputed only to him who cast the flame, but also to him who would not extinguish it when he could, and we more sharply reproach him who knew what was good and did not do it—what is to be said? John, therefore, while he directed all things according to his own caprice with unimpaired authority, busied himself in public as a meticulous quaestor, a parsimonious steward, a usurer, and a bitter exactor: but when he saw his power infringed, his authority waning, and his influence languishing—which others also, in the presence of the Emperor...

were beginning to strengthen, actively opposing and overturning him—he shifted the boundaries he had set for himself, and adapting his conduct to the time and circumstances, he proved himself ^A a master of both: for we know the sower of the grain, we blame the reaper, and we consider the burning to be the responsibility of the one who lit it, yet also of the one who could have quenched it but was not willing to do anything of the sort. Now, up to that time, John was clearly a financier popular with the people, a cunning and stingy steward, and an exactor of taxes who was, quite frankly, an obol-collector—as long as his power remained unshaken, and as long as he could act as he pleased without being called to account, and do whatever he desired and could. But when he saw his ability to act being stripped away, his freedom of speech taken from him, and his influence slowly ebbing—as others were being strengthened at the court of the Emperor, who were constantly thwarting and subverting him—he shifted his previously set boundaries and, becoming a runaway in the face of the time ^B and the situation, he latched onto both of these. Then, saying to one of his companions, "Come, let us grow rich," he completely changed his opinion, and having married a wife from among the cast-off and withered nobility, and having become a father to children, he distributed to them vast wealth, sufficient for their pleasures. But being a miser to the extreme, and a skinflint and suspicious—who would not even try to raise his eyelids, to look up and gaze upon the poor—he did not release his wealth, but kept it shackled throughout with unspoken, indissoluble bonds, and certainly beyond reach, just as Acrisius did with Danae of old. Suffering from stinginess and greed, he would often send the food sent to him, such as fish—that is to say, the largest and fattest ones—to the market; and these, having been sold three times in the forum, he would just as many times buy back from those who needed his services. Thus, the fish served him as fishermen; the size acted as the hook, and the fatness as the bait, by which ^C they attracted passersby to their own purchase.

But the schemes of John Hagiotheodorites were also flourishing. Yet, due to the sudden mutation and variety of events, a skilled colleague was added to him, Theodore Styppiotes, who, while sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing with John—prince of eloquence that he was, though second in rank—was not content with these degrees of dignity, but was carried at full sail toward the highest summit. Having therefore been offered an opportunity by the dissensions between the nobleman Michael Palaiologos and Joseph Balsamon, who had married the sister of Hagiotheodorites, he urged his own counsel, and banished Hagiotheodorites from the palace—as if from a heavenly watchtower—to the farthest corner of the jurisdiction of Greece and the Peloponnese, for the proper ordering of those provinces and the resolution of the dissensions of those men. Moreover, while John was still preparing for his journey, fortune, not waiting for his departure, passed to Styppiotes, and, embracing him greedily and familiarly, ^D promoted him to all degrees of dignity according to the times.

^A And the end of one man—him who was promoted ^B to the magnificent office of the inkstand and to the greatest intimacy possible with the emperor—she exalted with even greater successions, while the one who acted ungratefully she, hating, reduced to extreme poverty. ^C Nor did she change her decrees; but, contrary to her wont, she remained perpetually in the same state. From that time on, he administered all affairs according to his own judgment, a man of profound counsel, prudent, possessed of gentle manners and a nimble mind. Whatever the emperor commanded, he executed; but he, in turn, commanded what the emperor wished. At that time, moreover, the emperor was alien to shameful gain; a sea of munificence, an abyss of mercy, accessible to all on account of his affability, yielding to no one in royal virtues, with a mind devoid of deceit and curiosity. For, as we have received from our elders, men of that age thought the golden ages, which are celebrated in metaphorical language, were restored to them; and they who approached the imperial treasury were like swarms of bees flying out from a hollow rock with a buzz, nor were they fewer than those who gather in the forum, all expecting some benefit, to such an extent that they were squeezed against the gates, and pressed one another, some hastening to enter, others to depart. And these things we have only heard, not seen. At the same time, something from the public treasuries was also benignly spilled over to relieve the needs of the poor. For the tributes of the Emperor John, from which a portion was given to justice and to God, and the frugal distribution of money, had left Manuel with heaps of wealth; and the same divine benevolence had increased them, just as in the Gospel both the heavenly reward and manifold compensation are certainly promised. But Manuel did not remain long in this excellent practice. For, having become a man, he administered affairs for the sake of power; and those with whom he had dealings he treated not as free men, but as slaves bought with money, and he restricted the munificence of giving, and rather turned it towards the contrary, even abolishing those distributions which he himself had ordained—not so much, I think, by his own will (for doubtful matters must be interpreted in the best light) as compelled by necessity, in order to bear immense expenses; a fact which will be made clear in the progress of the oration. He gathered these like pebbles. ^D And, as it seems, the Divine also approved and multiplied them according to the unerring nature of the promise, which also promises the receiving of heavenly reward and a manifold repayment. But the intentions of the Emperor Manuel in this best of purposes were not lasting, but short-lived and ephemeral. For when he had reached manhood, he handled affairs more imperiously, and treated those under his hand not as free men, but as household slaves, and he curtailed the flow of his liberality, so as not to say that he turned it backward...

^A by force; indeed, he sometimes justified these actions—though I believe not so much for 55 reasons of "will" (for in dark matters we must look toward benevolence) as out of a need—not for a mere unit of measurement 56—but, as I shall explain as I proceed, because he had broadened the outlets of his expenditures to the size of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

^B 4. But while the emperor was thus governing the empire, a cloud of enemies from the western regions, rustling, terrible, and destructive, swooped down upon the Roman frontiers. I speak of the movement of the Alamanni, and the portion of other nations of the same stock that rose up with them. Among these, women were also included, who rode on horseback no differently than men—not with their legs joined together, but with them parted in the usual manner—and were as heavily armed as they, bearing spears, adorned in the habit of men, with a martial countenance, more daring even than the Amazons. Among them, one woman stood out, like another Penthesilea, who was called "Gold-foot" because of the gold braiding that ran along the hems and borders of her garments. ^C The stated cause for this expedition was the Lord's Sepulchre, and the preparation of a direct and non-insidious road for their fellow-countrymen who were about to ascend to Jerusalem. They affirmed that they were bringing nothing superfluous, but only what was most necessary for smoothing the road; by these things, however, they did not mean winnowing-fans, stone-cutters' chisels, or mattocks, but helmets, breastplates, swords, and whatever else is suitable for war. They swore that this was the cause of their journey, and, as was later discovered, this was not a lie. Through envoys, they petitioned the emperor to be granted a peaceful passage through his provinces, and that a market might be provided where they could purchase provisions for men and beasts. Although the emperor was, as is natural, terrified by such an unexpected and strange event, he did not fail his own interests. For he responded to the envoys with timely kindness, and feigned that he approved of their purpose and admired their pious endeavors. He promised that he would immediately prepare an abundance of goods for sale, which they would receive as if they were passing through their own homeland, provided they gave their word that their passage was truly pious and that they would depart from Roman territory without doing any harm. ^D Having done this, he dispatched edicts everywhere so that provisions might be put up for sale on the roads along which the Westerners were to pass; and this was done immediately. But because he feared that wolves might be coming in sheep's clothing, or that, contrary to the fable, a lion might be lurking beneath an ass's hide, or a fox behind a lion's skin, he convoked the Roman legions and deliberated publicly regarding the state, explaining what a great multitude of forces was about to pass through, how great a cavalry, how much heavy infantry, and what an infinite multitude of footmen, noting that they were all bronze-clad and eager for slaughter, observing that their eyes flashed and they delighted in blood.

as if in nothing else, not even sprinkles of water. ^A He declared these things not only to the senate, the magistrates, and the armies, but he also added how the tyrant of Sicily, like a sea beast, infested the coastline, calling at Roman towns and laying waste to everything he encountered, with no one to stop him. Subsequently, he repaired the towers and ramparts of the city and the entire perimeter of the walls; he provided breastplates for the army, armed the soldiers with iron-tipped spears, roused their spirits with swift horses, and confirmed them with the distribution of money, which some of the ancients most rightly called the sinews of affairs. ^B Thus, with the legions instructed to repel hostile force—God and the Mother-Virgin, guardians of the city, assisting—he retained some of them for the defense of the city and stationed them on the walls, while he ordered the others to follow the army of the Alemanni at a short distance and to check those who might wander outside the battle line for plunder and rapine, and to do this peaceably, not with hostility. And on the more remote journey, nothing memorable happened between the two armies. But when the Alemanni pitched camp at Philippopolis, not even there did any dissension occur. For the bishop of that province, Michael the Italian—a man eloquent and polished in every kind of learning, so agreeable in meetings that everyone hung upon his words—captivated the haughty king with the allurements of his speech and the sweetness of his tongue. Saying one thing while thinking another, and transforming himself like a Protean Proteus for the benefit of the Romans, he so bound the king that he had him obeying his every word, inviting him to banquets, and drinking with him. Indeed, out of favor to him, he would most cruelly treat those who brought provisions into the camp from anywhere without paying cash. ^{C D} V. But when the king proceeded from there, a dispute arose between the rear guard of the Alemanni and the Romans, because some were being mistreated. Soon, due to the importunity of the rabble, an outcry and brawl followed, until it came to blows and weapons. From this, a fierce battle would undoubtedly have arisen, had not the same bishop timely placated the king—who was already changed, breathing war, and stirred up like a ferocious beast—and, contrary to expectation, restrained him. When, however, the army gathered at Adrianopolis...

the king passed through the city and prayed, but one of his kinsmen who was sick in body, having fallen to such a plight, was lodging in Adrianopolis. Certain rogue Romans, teaching their hands not for battle but rather for plunder, attacked his lodgings by night, set them on fire, and burned the man together with those who were inside. When Conrad—for by this name the king was called—learned of this, he entrusted the defense to ^B Frederick. He, being of a haughty disposition and at that time overcome by grief, returned and consigned to the flames the sacred monastery in which the German had stayed, and condemned to death those he caught in the act, making an inquiry concerning the lost money. This became a cause of battle. But peace, a nourisher of children, once again smiled upon them, as some of the high-ranking Romans extinguished the conflict, but most especially Prusuch, who brought the whole matter to an end. For he, having abandoned the horse on which he was mounted to the rivers, crossed the three of them by the stone bridge that was there, and coming to Frederick, calmed his anger and swayed his intentions. ^C Thus, the stages of the journey were peaceful once more and the marches quiet, and the road forward easy to travel. The entire cavalry had them now for several days, pitching camp at Choerobachoi, though they did not throw up a rampart; for this, relying on the oaths and agreements with the Romans, they did throughout all the stages of their journey. There flows through those plains a river, Melas by name, not wide in its channel, nor deep in its crossing. In summer, indeed, it shrinks into a muddy hollow, for it does not flow through sandy ground but through soil entirely cloddy and furrowed into deep troughs by the plows of oxen. But in winter, when the time comes and torrents of rain have descended, it becomes very great from a small ^D beginning, and becoming a deep eddy, it swells with foul and stagnant water; and if it wishes to be compared to the sea, it also becomes a river that cannot be endured, roaring and becoming navigable from passable, and it spreads out in width. Indeed, as it is tossed by the winds, it is raised into waves, and from there, spewing foam and abusively striking the neighboring land, it causes labors...

for the farmers, halts travelers on their way, and is generally improvised into a cursed thing. Therefore, this mountain torrent, appearing suddenly ^A in great volume and flooding, and having overflowed at night—as if the cataracts of heaven had been opened upon it—swept away from the encampment of the Alamanni not only weapons, horse trappings, garments, and whatever else the pack animals were carrying for them, but also horses, mules, and hippocorystai (cavalrymen). And the spectacle was piteous and truly would move one to tears; falling without war, perishing without a pursuer. Neither the small nor the great in stature, nor the right hand skilled in battle, sufficed for them for escape at that time; but they fell like grass, and were swept away like light, harvested hay and tufts of wool. And, to speak Psalmically, this river carried away their voices as they were crying out in the barbarian tongue and ^B sounding a doleful song for the pickets and the herdsmen by whom they were being swept along, wild and untamed all at once, and not like the honeyed melodies of the shepherds. So that the bystanders concluded that the event which happened at that time was divine wrath from God, having descended directly upon the camp of the Alamanni, since they were swallowed by the water so suddenly that they were not even able to save their own bodies. Thus, on that night, some slept into death, while others met with destruction and ruin.

But the king, ^C being troubled at this event, and having cast off a little of his arrogance, and having marveled if indeed the elements also submit to the Romans and yield to their desire, and the seasons, like handmaidens, provide what is needed by them, departed from there. And when he approached the Queen of Cities, he was immediately compelled to ferry the army to the opposite shore, even if he had been disdainful at first, and though he had been sluggish in making the crossing, saying it was his intention to act or not to act in this way, encampmenting at the Pera, which is called by the name of the Pkridion. Whence every rower, every ferry-boat and all the fishing vessels and transport ships for horses were set to work on the crossing of the Alamanni. And the emperor ^D also appointed recorders of the multitude of the army, having assigned for every crossing those who would signal to him the passage of each man. But the multitude had exceeded the record, and therefore those who were stationed for this service, being unable to cope with the multitude, returned frustrated.

Thus then, the Romans gladly—as if some ominous heavenly sign—when the king had crossed to the eastern side, and when shortly thereafter all those of the race of the Franks who had associated themselves with him followed, the emperor again took care of his own territories, as he had been concerned previously. Nor did he neglect the matter of how these men would be fed, but along the road, goods for sale were once again set out. Nevertheless, in the opportune places of the regions and in the narrow passes, detachments of Romans were lying in wait, appearing thus to Manuel, and were cutting down not a few from these camps. But the city-dwellers also, barring the gates of the cities, would not provide a market to the Alamanni, but hanging ropes from the walls, they would first draw up the price offered for what was being sold; then, lowering whatever they wished, whether bread were being sold or some other necessity of life, they would allow it, committing lawless acts against them, calling down curses upon them with an all-seeing eye, as they were not using just scales, nor [E] (and the elements, and the time, are like servants, subject to the Romans; and the horn, or the Pera, whether the name Pera be appellative or proper, which once was called Pera or Galata, I cannot affirm.)

^A treat them as strangers, nor deposit anything as with fellow-citizens; rather, they snatched from their very own throats whatever was needed for the sustenance of their bodies. The worst of the inhabitants, and those who were most notoriously inhumane, did not even hold back the smallest amount, but having snatched the gold or pulled up the silver [P. 43] and hidden it in their laps, they remained unseen, not even being visible in the battlements. There were some who mixed lime with their flour and made deadly food. Whether the emperor truly ordered this, as was claimed, I do not know precisely; but it was certainly permitted and done impiously. The emperor’s plan was not an ambiguous one ^B nor screened by a veil of falsehood: he minted base silver into coinage, and offered this to those of the Italian army who wished to sell something. And, to state it briefly, nothing was missing from the evils that the emperor did not devise for them, ordering others also to watch, so that there should be, even for their descendants, indelible monuments, as it were, and seeds of fear, turning away any movement against the Romans.

VI. The Turks also follow suit and are incited by Manuel’s letters to war against the Alemanni.

The Turks were similarly moved against the Alamanni, as Manuel incited them with letters and stirred them up to war. And so, having overcome the deep [Mæander], under the leadership of a certain Paplanus, they destroyed many of their army. But when they also fell upon the detachment passing through Phrygia, they worked in vain to their own detriment, and willingly brought destruction upon their own heads, which was far off; they brought it about quite simply, and fell into a pit which they had dug with their own hands. For since they should not have been provoked to anger and slaughter by being harmed, nor should they have roused the beast of anger which was temporarily sleeping, those who had gathered into a phalanx and were standing upon the banks (this river was the Mæander) did not ^C allow the Latin armies to pass through at all. For this river, both at all times is not easily crossed everywhere due to its whirlpools and various bends, and then it was completely impassable, twisting into eddies and shifting into whirls, when even from the events themselves the Western forces showed that, while they were resisting, the Roman phalanxes did not fall into plunder, and their cities were ridden past unravaged, and the inhabitants were not slaughtered like cattle. For when the king approached the bank of the river, neither were ships present nor was a bridge built for the crossing, and the Turks, mixed, both infantry and cavalry, appearing on the opposite bank, were clearly skirmishing, and arrows reached those passing the river. Having withdrawn his line a little from the bank ^D and encamped as far as to be out of javelin range, he ordered all to eat dinner, to be armed on their horses, and to tend to their wagons, that they might fight with the Turks at daybreak. He rises, therefore, before the sun, while it is still dark, and he himself is adorned for battle and the whole army is armed. The barbarians did the same and, with the line drawn up, and archers placed on the bank, and the cavalry arranged as seemed best, as the Italians advanced on the bank, they fought from a distance. The king, reviewing the line, addressed the soldiers in this way: "You know, comrades, that this expedition was undertaken by us for the sake of Christ, and for the sake of obtaining divine, not human, glory. For this reason, spurning a pleasant life at home, separated voluntarily from our kin, we endure hardships through foreign lands, we are exposed to dangers, we waste away from hunger, we tremble from cold, we are dissolved by heat; we have the earth as a bed, the sky as a roof; although noble, illustrious...

^B and wealthy, and ruling over many nations. We always wear our armor like involuntary chains, and we endure them as the greatest of Christ’s followers, Peter, was once held fast by two chains and guarded by four quaternions of soldiers. But that the barbarians who stand in the gap between us are enemies of the cross of Christ—those whom we once eagerly wished to strike in battle, and in whose blood, as David says, we promised to wash ourselves—who is there that does not know, unless he be clearly senseless and willing neither to see with open eyes nor to hear with attentive ears? ^C But if we strive to ascend straight to heaven (for God is not so unjust as to be ignorant of the cause of this journey, or not to grant us the immortal meadows and the shady dwellings of Eden, we who left our homes and chose to meet death for His sake rather than to live), if you keep in your memory what these uncircumcised in heart inflict upon our people at any given time, and if you recall what slaps they bestow upon them, and if you are touched by any pity for the innocently shed blood, stand now bravely and fight strenuously, and let no terror move you from resisting eagerly. Let the barbarians know that by as much as Christ, our master and teacher, surpasses the seducing prophet and the high priest of that impious religion, by so much are we superior in all things. ^D Since, therefore, we are a holy camp and an army gathered by God, let us not basely love life, nor fear a memorable death for the sake of Christ’s love. For if Christ died for us, how much more justly shall we die for Him? Let an honest end be imposed upon this honest expedition: let us fight trusting in Christ, with the sure hope of a victory that will not be difficult. For we believe no one will withstand our attack, but all will yield to the first assault. But if (which God forbid) we should fall, it will be an honorable burial, wherever we may die for Christ. Let the Persian archer strike me for Christ: I shall die with good hope, and by that arrow I shall arrive as if by a vehicle at that rest; this will be better for me than if I were to be destroyed in my sins by an inglorious death. Now at last let us avenge those whom, trampled by the impure feet of these men, both our kinsmen and Christian brothers have left behind in that common holy place, in which Christ became a companion of the departed, equal to the Father and sitting with Him. We are those mighty men, we have all drawn our swords, we who stand around the life-giving and divine sepulcher as if it were Solomon’s bed. Let us, therefore, as freemen, remove from our midst these Agarenes, the sons of the handmaid, and as stones of stumbling remove them from the way of Christ: whom I know not why Romans nourish like wolves in their own [land] and feed through their own disgrace, whereas, with spirits aroused and a resolution taken worthy of a prudent man, they should be driven away from their provinces and cities like beasts from a flock. Now since this river, as is seen, can only be crossed by a novel method, I myself will be the demonstrator of this example, and I will be the first to carry out my plan. With the battle line...

^B formed into a dense mass with spears joined, we shall charge and ride through the river. I know full well that the water will be repelled and will seemingly stand still, not flowing forth in a straight line; but rather, it will be turned back, just as the current of the Jordan was once crossed on foot by the Israelites. This plan and deed will be memorable to posterity, to be obliterated by no length of time, by no oblivion, to the greatest shame of the Persians, whose corpses, stretched out around this river, will rise up into a hill and be seen like a trophy of our immortal glory.”

When he had said these things and given the signal for battle, he himself urged on his horse with whips and made an assault into the river, and the others, having finished their prayers as is the custom and raised a shout, attacked the enemy, riding through in a dense mass formed like a tower, so that the waves of the river were partly cast out onto the banks by the hooves of the horses and partly resisted, no differently than if they were flowing back to their springs against nature, while they themselves, no differently than if they were proceeding on land, fell upon the Persians unexpectedly. ^C The barbarians, who could neither seek safety in flight (for they were captured by their pursuers, not helped at all by the incredible speed of their horses) nor fight at close quarters with the Alemanni, were slaughtered in various ways, and they fell one upon another like stalks of grain. For some were pierced by lances, others were cut in two by long swords, especially the light-armed, as daggers were driven into their vitals, so that the fields were completely covered with the corpses of the Persians and the valleys overflowed with blood. Of the Italians, many were struck by arrows, but few were killed.

How great a multitude fell, even today the frequent and high piles of bones, acting like hills, bear witness; anyone who traverses that path today would marvel, as I who write these things have marvelled. And how great were the circuits of the fences which, made from the bones of the Cimbri, encircled the vineyards of the Massilians after the barbarians were slaughtered by the Roman general Marius, those who have recently observed that deed with their own ^D eyes and reported it to others would know best. But this is certainly greater than that, unless historical grandiloquence has exaggerated the Cimbrian events beyond the belief of the truth, almost degenerating into fable. From that point on, the Alemanni proceeded, with no one barring the way of the barbarians.

Dried out by the river’s crossing, which had unexpectedly been pressed upon the Persians, at a time when the barbarian had no way to steal his salvation through flight (for they were caught while being pursued, and their horses did not aid them, even though they were swift-footed and running almost on the tips of corn-ears [P. 48]) nor to engage the Alemanni in close hand-to-hand combat, they were slaughtered in various ways, and one after another they fell like stalks of corn, or as if they were grapes being pressed in a winepress for the spear-bearers. For some were run through by spears, others were split in two and departed, especially those who were light and stripped of armor, while others were struck standing by short swords and overturned, the bronze pouring out their bowels, so that they covered the plains there with the corpses of the felled Persians and filled the ravines precisely with blood; of them, the Italians were struck by many arrows, but few were killed and put to sleep in death. And the piles of bones of those who fell, still so thick and high and rising up like standing mounds, bear witness to this, so that it lies there as a wonder to others who have touched upon the route, and to me who write these things. Such were the perimeters of the fences which, with the bones of the Cimbri, encircled the vineyards of the Massilians, after the Roman Marius had destroyed the barbarians.

SECOND VOLUME OF THE REIGN OF MANUEL COMNENUS BOOK SECOND OF THE DEEDS OF MANUEL COMNENUS

^A I. And the Italians, having gained experience in such struggles, occupied Coelesyria. But as they were proceeding toward Jerusalem, and had passed beyond the boundaries of the Romans, they reached upper Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia—regions which had once been under Roman rule, but had now been surrendered to the barbarians and were being harvested by them, having been taken by the spear due to the absolute sloth and negligence of the earlier emperors, to whom it was of little concern to endure labors and dangers for the safety of those over whom they ruled. The Emperor Manuel was considering how he might avenge the injuries inhumanely inflicted by the Sicilians upon the Romans, and how he might remove their garrison from the promontory of the Corcyraeans, which is now called Korypho. For Roger, who held power in Sicily at that time—whether by an agreement with the King of the Alemanni, as it was said, or acting of his own accord—was making a simultaneous incursion with his swift-sailing ships against the maritime borders of the Romans during the movement of the Alemanni. The fleet, therefore, having set out from Brundisium, put in at Corcyra and captured it at the first onset without a fight. The cause of this event was the inhabitants of the island, especially those who, being devoid of all prudence, are called the Gymni. For, claiming that they could no longer endure a heavy and intolerable tax collector and his outrages, they devised a wicked plan. As they were unable to carry this out by their own strength, they eagerly seized the opportunity and approached the commander of the fleet; and being enticed by his smooth tongue and following in his steps, [they surrendered]. ^{B C}

***

Hier. Wolf’s Notes

(66) *The sons of the Italians (of the Alemanni).* It is the negligence of the Greeks in distinguishing the names of the nations which they call "of many seeds" that confuses the Italians, Sicilians, Latins, Alemanni, Franks, and Gauls, who are separated by such great intervals of place and character. I believe this happens either because the Germans once held a great part of Italy and Sicily, or because they acknowledged the Roman Pontiff as the supreme high priest of sacred things. Those nations, however, which obeyed the Byzantine emperor, they celebrate by the title of Romans. It is sufficient to have warned of this once in this place.

(67) *Gymni* as a name.

^A he also intended to occupy that promontory on this side of the blood-shed, just as he had shortly before attempted with Corcyra. But when he encountered men of sound mind who had experienced the sweetness of liberty, he was repulsed as if he had struck an immovable rock; and having accomplished nothing, with oars turned toward the stern to disguise his flight, he departed. Having crossed the Malian promontory—a passage beset by contrary storms of wind, regarding which the proverb is used, "When you approach Malea, forget what you have at home"—he entered the inner strait. Traversing both sides of it, he did not merely ravage the open country, but also took by surrender or reduced by force several opportune and fortified locations; and having devastated Acarnania, Aetolia (which is now called Artinia), and the entire coastline, he sailed into the Corinthian Gulf. Having put in at the port of Crissa, he dared to make an incursion into the inland territories, as he had no equal adversary. ^B Furthermore, the commander of the fleet, having drawn up his heavy and light infantry from the ships, after the manner of whales that seek food on both sides, burst into Boeotia, and capturing the towns that lay in his path, he took Thebes. He treated the citizens inhumanely, for since they were considered wealthy by ancient report, this insatiable man—who had set no limit to his greed, unless it were to sink all or at least most of his ships to the third strake under the weight of money—drained the craftsmen dry, and, a curious investigator of the sordid obol, he afflicted the powerful, those illustrious by birth, men venerable in age and outstanding in dignity, in various ways. Moved by neither shame nor mercy, a man altogether inexorable, he feared neither unavoidable vengeance nor a Cadmean victory. Finally, setting out the holy scriptures, he compelled each one to enter with loins girded and, after looking at the books, to declare under oath his family property and, having renounced it, to depart. ^C Thus, having loaded all the gold, all the silver, and all the precious clothing onto the ships, he did not even spare the bodies of those whom he had plundered; but having made a selection of the foremost among the nobles, and having chosen the most beautiful matrons, both different and most skilled in weaving, he then departed. With affairs thus succeeding prosperously, and with neither land nor sea offering any resistance, he headed for Corinth, a wealthy city situated on the Isthmus, famous for its two ports, most convenient for the export, import, and exchange of merchandise. Into the one of these they arrive from Asia, into the other from Italy. But when he found the market—which is the lower city—empty, he decided to attack even the Acrocorinthus (for everyone had carried all their edible goods and all their wealth, whether sacred or profane, into it), to see if it could be taken by force. ^D The Acrocorinthus was the citadel of the ancient city, but now it is a fortified castle, situated on a high mountain that tapers to a sharp peak; the summit itself, however, has a flat surface in the shape of a table, surrounded by firm walls. Inside there are a considerable number of wells of clear and drinkable water, and the fountain of Pirene, of which even Ho-

Homer makes mention in his rhapsodies. Acrocorinth ^A being thus secure and impregnable—for both the nature and situation of the place, and its unbroken circuit, combined to make it difficult or impossible to capture—the Sicilians entered it almost without effort, having spent little time in laying siege to the stronghold. And the event was nothing new, nor is it to be wondered at; for the fortress could not have sufficed to defend itself, even had it been insurmountable, nor could it deflect the attacking enemy without having guards and a competent garrison inside. But although it did have many in number, no man among them was a good soldier for the defense of a city; for both the emperor’s soldiers ^B who were waiting inside with their commander (this was Nicephorus Chaluphes) and the leading men of the Corinthians, as well as no small divisions from the surrounding towns, had come into Acrocorinth as a place of refuge most critical for the war. The trierarch, therefore, having arrived inside the fortress and observed that its nature was such that it was impregnable from every side, said that they should fight with God, and that God was the one who had granted such a place to him. He mocked those inside and goaded them as unwarlike, especially Chaluphes, whom he even called softer than a woman, fitter to handle the distaff and wool than to fight wars. And when he had also loaded the wealth found there onto the triremes, he enslaved the most noble of the Corinthians and abducted as captives the women who were most beautiful and fair-bosomed, ^C not even sparing the icon of the martyr Theodore, famous for his miracles and celebrated in wonders, but having snatched even this from the temple, he used the second stage of his voyage on the return trip to strengthen the citadel of the Corcyreans. Then, if anyone had seen the Sicilian triremes—laden with many beautiful things and weighted down to the very top of their oar-banks—they would have said most correctly that these were not pirate ships, but merchant carriers transporting every class of goods, being burdened with many fine treasures and sinking into the water almost to the level of their upper rowlocks.

II. Manuel's deliberations against the Sicilians.

^D II. Disturbed by this news, the Emperor Manuel, no differently than that Homeric Jupiter, or Themistocles spending sleepless nights because of the trophy of Miltiades, anxiously turned over in his mind what was to be done. Therefore, having summoned men skilled in military affairs and famous for their eloquence, he approved one of many plans: that the Sicilians should be attacked by land and sea, and with the greater preparation because that war was not relying on the best hope and seemed likely to have many obstacles, for indeed older emperors had despaired of concluding it to their satisfaction. They were summoned

^A from the East and the West, the legions; some of the triremes were repaired, others were newly built. Upon certain ones, Greek Fire was placed, which had long remained hidden for a time. Vessels of every kind, about a thousand in number, were brought together to transport men and horses as well as provisions, and were launched out to sea. There were also infantry forces recruited from the whole empire, most flourishing in arms, strength, and spirit, and deservedly formidable to their enemies. For John, the father of Manuel, an excellent and most warlike emperor, was not negligent in other matters which looked to the public utility, and he was especially intent upon the registration of soldiers; he both stirred them up with liberal donatives and strengthened them with military exercises. Thus, therefore, thinking himself best prepared for the Sicilian war, he ordered the fleet to set sail, having appointed his brother-in-law, Stephen Contostephanus, as Great Duke; he also sent off the infantry, having joined to the other leaders1 John Axuchus, the Great Domestic, concerning whom we have made mention many times before. The triremes were brought to the coast of the Phaeacians and were distributed in such a way that both the Romans and their Venetian allies had separate stations, so that contentions might not arise from a mixed assembly. A little later, the emperor himself also departed with the army; and having defeated the Scythians in the first encounter, who had crossed the Ister and were ravaging the lands near Mount Haemus, he left Philippopolis and proceeded straight to Corcyra. The promontory of this island rises to the clouds, winding with defiles and projecting into the deepest ^B sea, enclosed by steep rocks: the whole city is surrounded by most firm walls and arranged with very high towers; wherefore its storming was the more wonderful. And the naval forces, surrounding the promontory in a circle, shone with iron. But before the assault, the emperor deemed it necessary to test the minds of the enemy through those skilled in their language, to see whether they would be willing to yield the castle without a battle. But when his demands were rejected, and the gates were closed and secured with bars, and with archers and slingers and machines of every kind placed on the walls, they stirred up the fight; he then ordered his own legions to do the same and in every way to avenge themselves upon the enemies. From that point, the Romans cast missiles as if into the heavens, while the enemies shot down arrows like snow. They attempted to drive stones on high with engines by force, but they cast down stones like hail; their missiles, as being sent from a higher position without exertion, were effective, while the missiles of the Romans from a lower position harmed them either not at all or very little. Since these things, being repeated quite often, portended present destruction to the Romans, but to the besieged were desirable without any inconvenience, the Romans, provoked by their disasters, kept devising something new in the sight of the emperor, performed brave deeds, demonstrated endurance of hardships, and invented stratagems in the uncertain situation, from which it shone forth with how much cunning and military experience they were endowed. But all those things were in vain, and the efforts were futile regarding those things which could not be done. ^C Indeed, a most pleasing and desirable thing to the enemies

^A they were doing, as if they were attacking heaven itself, or aiming their arrows at birds' nests built in high lookout posts or at the clouds themselves. Then, the emperor also ordered the regiments to do the same, and to defend themselves against their opponents in every possible way. From there the Romans shot darts as far as heaven, while the others rained down their arrows like a snowstorm. Some were pushing up stones bound with cords from the artillery devices, or—to use a more appropriate term—were hurling them up, while others discharged them like hail, with the result that some, shooting from a superior position and from on high, were able to discharge their darts effortlessly and effectively, while those fighting from the ground caused little or no harm to those at the top of the rampart. But as the same things were done again and again for a long time, to the Romans they were not entirely successful, but were directed especially toward death, while to those inside, being unaffected, they were welcome. A novelty was always being discovered by the Romans who were suffering badly, as they were ambitious in the sight of the emperor to show both the works of a skilled hand and endurance in the face of dangers, as well as methods for unsolvable problems, ^B which reflected their deep wisdom and experience in tactics. But they were refuted as loving the impossible and attempting totally vain things, and looking rather to what is pleasing and desirable to the enemies, whom they were directly hitting as if toward heaven itself, or indeed competing with those who walk on air—having built their nests on some lookout post—and were stirring up the clouds. Finally, the great *doux* himself also perishes, struck by a small piece of stone detached from a rock against his flank, which a catapulting engine had launched from above.

Γ. And he indeed lay there, having little strength while shooting ^C in another direction; a little later he departed from among men. The prophecy of the patriarch Cosmas the Attic, who succeeded the Oxite Michael in the steering of the Church, was finally confirmed by the event. This Michael, of his own volition, yielded the supreme throne to whomsoever desired it and departed to the island of Oxia, where he had embraced the life of poverty and simplicity from his youth. There, prostrate at the vestibule of the temple, he offered his neck to be trodden upon by any monk, saying that he had ill-advisedly cast aside the quietude he had loved from his earliest years, which was dear to him, and had ascended to the most high throne to the profit of no one. Cosmas was then numbered among the deacons, and his fatherland was Aegina, and having partaken of all wisdom ^D from the machine, he was adorned. But they were straining to throw the stones to a height with the stone-throwing machines: But Cosmas, he was from the city of Aegina, a deacon by rank, full of all wisdom, virtuous, and was adorned with the beauty of mercy more than the other virtues. For he was so dignified in his mercy, that he would give his own tunic, both inside and out, to the poor, and the covering of his head; and he did not only give from what he had, but also directed others to provide for those in need. And to provide things for those who were not merely thirsting for them from their hearths, but also for the prosperity of others. And the ointment in the lentil soup

radiant, so it shone forth among the other virtues, to such an extent that sometimes, moved by mercy, he would distribute his pallium, his tunic, and his linen head-covering to the poor, and not only would he give from his own, but he would also urge others to relieve the poverty of the poor. For these reasons, he was a man venerable to all. ^A Isaac, brother of the Emperor Manuel, the Sebastocrator, for his part, almost worshipped him as God, judging it a thing pleasing and necessary to do what the patriarch advised, while considering what he rejected to be hateful to God and abominable. But the faction of the pontiffs, enemies of virtue and adversaries of this most holy man's conduct, denounced him to the emperor, as if he were intent on procuring the kingdom for his brother Isaac, representing the Sebastocrator's open entries into the sacred palace as clandestine, and calumniating their public conversations as though they were secret conspiracies. ^B Manuel, therefore, as an ambitious young man, who was easily persuaded by the patriarch's accusers that his brother was aspiring to the throne, was eager to depose him from it. And because there is nothing so holy that calumny does not dare to attack it, and it is known that all are more prone to doing harm, the matter of providing him a successor was set in motion, on the pretext that he thought erroneously with a certain monk, Niphon. This monk was a familiar friend of his, and often shared his table and the same house. The charge laid against him was an erroneous opinion, and his beard had been shaved to a length, and he had been cast into prison by the Patriarch Michael. Thus, Cosmas also, as his follower and supporter, was brought into the accusation. Relying on this specious calumny, his adversaries openly attacked the patriarch and strove to overcome him by force and compel him into submission with manifest votes. ^C Brought to trial, or rather condemned by prejudice, and questioned about things he did not know, and seeing himself being driven out by a sort of ostracism, he was filled with indignation, and cursed the womb of the empress, that it might not bring forth male children, and he censured some of the nobles with ecclesiastical judgment; and he denounced the council that had been summoned for the purpose of casting him out, because it frequented the palace doors and regarded the status of persons, and—wrongfully and against the institutes of the forefathers—threw him out of his see and away from his flock. ^D Contostephanus, however, one of those who stood around the emperor’s throne and conversed with him more familiarly, showed that he took the curse upon the royal womb very badly; and, feigning great indignation beyond all others, seething with anger, he attacked the patriarch as if to strike him on the cheek, although he refrained from doing so. Nor did this action appear to the emperor to be that of a prudent man: he declared his own judgment through his anger, and the emperor's kinsmen and the senate reprimanded the nefarious act of Contostephanus, who did not shudder to think that the earth might swallow up men so wicked. He himself, indeed, [index: entries preserved]

^A by means of his rebuke concerning his mistress's womb, and feigning zeal for these matters in an untimely manner before all those present, stood over the patriarch, shouting in anger and intending to strike him with his fist, though he restrained himself from the impulse. This did not seem to the emperor to be the act of a sane man, and he showed his indignation, taking what had occurred heavily. Those related to the emperor by blood, as well as the assembled senate, reproached Contostephanus as one who committed impious deeds, not even shuddering at the earth, which gapes very wide for those who commit such outrages. But the patriarch himself said with a gentle voice: "Let him be, for he shall soon receive his own stony fate," thus riddling and hinting at the way in which his death would come about. Whether the Empress did not bear male children because of this curse of her father, with God honoring His servant and bringing it about that she only gave birth to girls throughout her whole life, I do not know for certain; but the emperor, seeming to judge rightly when pricked by his own conscience regarding the man—who was just, religious, and free of crime, and who had been cast down from the throne in a way he did not deserve—believed this, and no other cause, to be the reason why he begot no sons.

^B IV. But when Contostephanus was slain, as we have said, the Grand Domestic John took charge of the fleet, though not with the title of Grand Duke, but only so far as to command the fleet and oversee what was being done, being a man distinguished in generalship, valiant in hand, and possessing a mind most fit for leadership. The emperor, taking it ill that he was wasting time in vain and not wishing to consume the days for nothing—as did the king of the Cephallenians, Odysseus, regarding the sun's cattle—boarded his flagship and, having surveyed all of Corcyra, carefully explored where it might be attacked. For the siege had already dragged on for three months, because he was unable to uproot Ossa or roll Athos, and pile mountains upon mountains, so as to make the fortress easily conquerable in the manner that poetic grandiloquence fables. But as he was destitute of every plan, it seemed best to him to cast a wooden ladder, constructed in the shape of a tower, against the walls in a ravine where there was an easy and accessible approach to the interior. Therefore, naval timbers were joined together, and the masts of great ships were fastened, and those that were not equal to the height received extensions. ^C When this tower-shaped ladder was eventually to be raised and placed against the cliff, its top approached the rugged rock and the sharp ledge where the wall of the city began, providing a base for those about to disembark from the ladder and engage those upon the wall, while its foundation rested upon ships, well-fitted and fixed to ensure it was stable and unshakable. The men who were to ascend it were chosen, the most excellent and valiant in war, and the emperor himself proclaimed: "Let him who loves the emperor and does not fear danger, ascend." No one was summoned by such a proclamation; rather, all recoiled from the ascent, fearing the magnitude of the danger, until four brothers, the Petraliphae, of Frankish descent, who dwelt in Didymoteichon, hearing the emperor's word, were the first to climb the ladder. Encouraged by their audacity, not a few others, and before them Pupaces, a guardsman of the Grand Domestic, sprang forward as if divinely inspired and followed them. The emperor commended all of them for their eagerness, and those selected for the four hundred

^A of Frankish origin, who had their dwellings against the double wall, were the first to ascend the ladder, obeying the emperor. For since they had been the first to show boldness in the ascent, and most especially before them the man Pupakes—who, serving as a spearman to the Grand Domestic, was at that moment possessed by a divine fervor for the task and springing forward—several others also followed out of zeal. The Sovereign, therefore, admired them all for their readiness and their swift onslaught, but after setting apart those whom he knew to be often battle-hardened and breathing forth Ares himself, and counting them up to four hundred, he sent them off to ascend, having first conversed with them to urge them to courage, promising them and their children generous rewards and mutual goodwill. ^B "For whether," he said, "you remain among the living, having escaped the impending danger and having struggled most excellently in the contest set before you, you shall find me not only a master and emperor beyond your expectations, but a father who cares for you; or whether you should cease from life, winning honor and glory for your fatherland, not even then shall I refrain from those things which pertain to the adorning of your end; but I shall hold such a regard for your families, wives, and children, that they shall be judged blessed and happy, and they themselves shall possess a great consolation for your death, if indeed any sensation remains for the departed and if oblivion of all things previously done does not creep upon them, and the knowledge of things after their passing is not shut off."

Pupakes, then, as I said, having first signed himself with the sign of the Cross, begins the ascent; the brothers Petraliphai follow, and then others, until the ladder held them all. There was no one among the onlookers who did not wail at this event in progress as at a heart-rending, strange spectacle, nor anyone who did not, filled with tears and beating his breast, call upon God. For indeed, the sight was truly one to strike the viewer with astonishment. ^C For they, having raised their shields above their heads for safety and drawn their swords, were advancing and struggling spiritedly against those from the fortress; the others, for their part, were using all manner of missiles against them and hurling hand-sized stones. But they accomplished nothing; for these men, like anvils under hammers, though struck by frequent missiles, were tireless, immovable, and persisted, unfrightened in their perils. And this contest would have had a most beautiful outcome and brought great glory to the Romans, had not some unpropitious misfortune, envious of excessive successes, terminated a most excellent beginning and a good hope with an unhappy end. For when Pupakes had already descended from the ladder and, having planted his feet on the rock, was struggling with the enemies, the ladder broke, and the others were miserably precipitated into the waves, and onto the deckings of the ships, and—overwhelmed from above with stones—most of them perished, and few from those many escaped unscathed. But Pupakes, having driven the enemy from the walls and discovered a small gate left open, leapt through it back into the army; and this was a cause of astonishment and admiration not only for the Romans and the emperor, but even for their opponents, who, having been reproached for their inhumanity and the savagery of their minds—in that they were overwhelming those who had been thrown from the ladder with stones—ceased, admiring their bravery. ^D Although this struggle had achieved a most beautiful end, and had been in every way glorious for the Romans, yet now the ignoble turn of events, which is wont to intrude upon the greatest of deeds and which is always somehow attendant, having provided a most excellent beginning to the work and to the intention, little by little somehow diminished the end that had been so desired. For already, with Pupakes having stepped off the ladder and firmly planted his feet on the rocks, from which he was also separated from those who were [left] at the prayers [of the others], the ladder was broken off. And all the other companions were unfortunately turned back onto their heads and shoulders—a pitiable spectacle and an unbelievable sight to compassionate eyes—and they were wretchedly lost, being carried away by the channels of the waves and dashed against the rocks and the decking of the ships, and being buried from above by stones, so that few survived the danger from those many; but Pupakes did manage to scatter those on the walls and, finding a gate standing open, emerged through it to the army. And this was not only a source of shock to the Romans and the emperor, but also a source of wonder to their very opponents, who even while being reproached for their inhumanity and the harshness of their purpose—for the way they had been pelting them with stones from above

^A regarding those who had fallen from the ladders—refrained from looking at them, feeling a sense of shame for the noble men.

V. With the mourning for this disaster scarcely finished, and the emperor's grief in some measure assuaged by time, which consumes all things, another calamity, worse than the previous one, descended, and a ruinous evil welled up. A sedition arose between the Romans and the Venetians in the middle of the marketplace, and they did not contend merely with jibes and insults, but with their hands and with weapons. Upon hearing this, armed men from both sides flocked there to bring aid to their own countrymen; many unarmed men, distinguished by noble birth and illustrious dignities, also arrived. The leading men of the Venetians likewise came to quell that disturbance and to reconcile the peace. But no one was moved by their words; no one cared for that council of the greatest men. For Mars, raging cruelly and greedy for the shedding of blood, so incited the soldiers of heavy armament—especially those of the Venetian faction—that they could be restrained by nothing. For the more the Great Domestic of the Romans repressed the attack, the more infuriated the Venetians became, bursting forth from the triremes. ^B Seeing, therefore, that he was accomplishing nothing by attempting to make peace and that it was necessary for the peoples to be separated by battle, he summoned his own retainers, whose faithful service he used in the line of battle, and sent them against the Venetians. He also brought out a portion of the troops. They, therefore, after resisting for a little while, were forced by the javelins and the slaughter, taking to flight against their will, back into the ships. But not even so was their ferocity mitigated, nor did they lay down their arms after the defeat they had received; rather, like dying wild beasts, they were indignant as they leapt and sprang about that they had not been superior to the Romans themselves. And when they could no longer fight on land, they sailed to a certain island—Asteris, I believe, which the ancients ^C record as being situated between Ithaca and the tetrapolis of the Cephallenians—and in a hostile manner they attacked the Roman ships passing by that way. After they had dealt harshly with the fleet, especially the Euboean one, they finally burned the ships themselves. Nor content with this evil, they added another, more serious one: they stole the imperial ship and first decorated the imperial chambers with golden robes and purple tapestries, then brought in a lost creature of a man, a certain black Ethiopian, and adorned him with a splendid crown so that they could celebrate him through mockery as the Emperor of the Romans with a magnificent retinue, for the purpose of deriding Manuel, who did not have blonde hair like ripe wheat, but was dark, like that bride in the Canticles who said that she was black but beautiful, as if tanned by the sun. Although the emperor could immediately inflict just punishment upon the Barbarians, nevertheless, fearing that if civil war were stirred up, more ^D inconveniences would follow, he promised forgiveness for the injuries hostilely inflicted both upon himself and the Romans to certain Venetians sent from his own household, since he perceived that vengeance was ill-timed while other matters were pressing. Nevertheless, the anger in his spirit, pressed down like fire beneath the ashes, and...

then fanned into a flame as circumstances allowed, would be spoken of in its proper time. ^B Then, when the armies had been reconciled, he led his legions out to the siege, and by sea, where opportunity permitted, he surrounded the town and spared no effort, as though competing with himself to prove more energetic, to see if he might be able to bring it to submission and capture it. From the stone-throwing engines, the heavy weights of rock were hurled more frequently, and the archers, always pulling the strings back to their chest and as far as the notches, sent arrows against those on the wall that were like winter snowflakes. There were also, in many parts of the fortifications, those who clambered through the ravines like wild goats. But nothing was achieved, except that the army was not seen to be idle. For those inside also fought back bravely, not, however, in the least approving of descending into the plain to lock in combat hand-to-hand with the Romans, but defending themselves in every way from the walls, pressing the enemy with arrows and volleys of stones.

^C When, therefore, the emperor realized that he was attempting the impossible, he decided that it was not right to depart from there and to abandon the siege incomplete; he suspected it would be a source of shame for him otherwise, if after much toil and the loss of not a few soldiers, he could not take one fortress—and that one, until not long ago, subject to the Romans—while he allowed a thousand pirates to graze within his own domain, leaving Corfu as a base and harbor for the Sicilian triremes against the Romans. He determined, therefore, to drag it out; for no other hope remained to entice him with better prospects, and he thought that by a siege of many days he would compel those in the garrison, even against their will, to betray the fortress and surrender themselves to him. Therefore, he was neither disappointed in this fair expectation, nor did he miss his mark. For after a few days had passed, the enemy sent ambassadors and asked that time be granted them to depart with their arms and other belongings. ^D For when they saw that they could not remain there through the emperor, and were being deceived by the empty hope of royal aid, with their peril gradually pressing in, they reached this decision, especially at the urging of Theodore the Chaplain, the prefect of the garrison, a man not bloodthirsty, but solicitous for the flock of Christ; to him, peace was more precious than conflict, and the Romans were dear, as he demonstrated later. The emperor, therefore, listening intently as he heard this report, at once wished also to foresee the outcome of the matter: but before giving a favorable answer, he feigned harshness and threatened them with I know not what, unless they did what the ambassadors promised. Thus, when at length they approached, and not even then in their entirety,

but rather in small groups, and those who departed provided a test for those remaining that the emperor was not disdainful nor doing anything unexpected—but rather ^A that he received them kindly, and after sufficient friendliness and greeting, encouraged them to discern what was to be done and what seemed profitable—for it was not to his liking, nor did he judge it royal or noble, to repel those desiring to stay or to hinder those wishing to leave. Many, therefore, remained with the emperor, and before all, the castellan Theodore; the others returned to their homeland, Sicily.

6. The emperor, passing inside the city, and having been struck with wonder at the citadel ^B as being completely impregnable to arms, and having stationed a most secure guard of Germans there, departed from thence with his whole army as it was, and moved his camp to Aulon. Having encamped there for several days, he decided upon the crossing to Sicily, judging that the man who fought was the only one who was really tranquil, and that war was the sequestrator of peace. He judged those cities lucky which were fortified not by walls, but by swords; for he said that those who fled from war for the love of peace did not notice that more enemies—like dust from loose earth—rose up against them, who cut down their power and did not allow them to enjoy a stable peace. But, as Solomon affirms, “Fainthearted are the plans of men and their thoughts are fickle,” but the counsel of the Lord is firm and immutable, and there is no one at all who shall frustrate it (Prov. xix, 21). When, therefore, Manuel had confirmed the journey to Sicily and had sailed toward the island which is called Aëronesion, tempests agitating the sea and winds that threatened to sink it, ^C along with the roarings of horrific thunder and monstrous flashes of lightning that shone through the whole sky, interrupted the attempt. And when he attempted the crossing a second time and hastened it, the sea did not offer itself to the ships, but leapt up and boiled from below. When, therefore, the contrary winds opposed them, scattering the ships in deep gloom, they barely managed to bring some of them to land, and the emperor himself passed through the danger slowly, while the rest were scattered here and there and became incidental to the surge. Wherefore, having pushed aside the crossing to Sicily by his own hand ^D as disadvantageous, he departed from Aulon with such of his forces as he had, and having arrived in Pelagonia and having settled matters there as he thought fit, he decided to turn his eagerness against the Serbs. For these men, as long as the affairs of the empire were calm, feigned to be friendly to the emperor,

^A but once he had invaded by land and sea, they—as much as the narrative has already related—flourished, and having improperly abused the occasion, they took up arms against the Romans and treated the lands neighboring them under Roman rule harshly. And so, having taken up the well-armed portion of his army, and having organized it for speed, he marched into Serbia. The ruler of that land was not unaware of the emperor’s advance against him, even though the emperor hurried to keep it hidden; but not having the means to act, and not seeing himself as a rival capable of contending with the Roman forces, he moved away from the plains and raised his eyes to the mountains, from where he expected help to come to him. He left the multitudes of his own people, who were grazing on the lush foliage like herds of cattle, to those who were approaching to be scattered and destroyed, having permitted each one to seek salvation through flight and to buy life with their feet, as they looked to him as an example. And the Serb prince thought and acted in this way, and this was what he proposed to those under him; but the emperor, like a lion trusting in his strength, having scattered the herds of oxen or the flocks of goats—the barbarian bands organized for war—and having consigned many possessions to the flames, and having become master of no small number of men, returned from there. And a letter with good news was immediately written, informing the inhabitants of the city of these recent successful achievements, and the messenger bringing these was the Grand Domestic; shortly thereafter the father of these noble deeds himself arrived, and having led a magnificent triumph over these accomplished events, and having been acclaimed by the people and the entire senate and exhilarated by the sublimity of the applause, he turned his mind to horse races and spectacles.

^B When spring was approaching, he occupied Pelagonia again, and because he himself had despaired of the expedition to Sicily, he sent Michael Palaiologos—a sharp man, illustrious and noble by ancient lineage—having provided him with much money and sufficient soldierly forces. He, according to the opinion of the emperor, arrived first at Venice, and having brought mercenaries from there and having recruited a large force of spearmen from the Italian regions, and being now of great power, he sailed to Lombardy. And having joined the forces there, he won victories against the king and was adorned with bright triumphs, having in all things the support and assistance of a certain Count Alexander, a relative of the king, who, because of injuries inflicted upon him by the latter, had recently defected to the Romans. And the resources of Palaiologos were constantly increasing; and since he distributed money liberally, he was very troublesome to the king and was thought to be about to inflict the greatest disasters, capturing most of the cities partly by surrender and partly by force; and having transferred stones from there and having sent some captives to the emperor, he fortified a city on the coast of the Aegean Sea, which is still named Bare and Aulonia.

^D The emperor, having learned that he [the Serb prince] was again doing harm and acting worse than before, in that he had conspired against the Romans with his neighbors, the Paeonians, attacked them as if they were not worthy of being considered [adversaries] or met with disdain. They, however, contrary to expectation, resisted and did not recoil from war, having brought in the greatest number of Hunnic auxiliaries, when John Cantacuzenus, having engaged with the barbarians and having endured until he had both dealt and received wounds, lost the fingers of his hands...

^A, being surrounded by a multitude of Serbians. And the emperor himself, in single combat, engaged with the Archizupan Bacchinus, a man of heroic stature and muscular arms. When he had struck the emperor in the face and shattered the iron visor that was flowing down from his helmet over his features, the emperor in retaliation pierced the man's hand with his sword, rendered him unable to fight, and took him prisoner.

When serenity of victory in this way shone upon the Romans, with the barbarians scattered like clouds and the beginning of the battle having met with the most auspicious conclusion, he directed his momentum from this point against the Hungarians, not yet having wiped the dust of battle from his face, but still dripping with warm sweat, using the Serbians' assistance as a pretext and seizing upon the absence of their defender. For the main body of the Hungarians was not in its own land, being entangled with the neighboring Russians. Having crossed the Sava river and descended upon Frankochorion (this is not the smallest part of Hungary, but is sufficiently populous, lying between the Ister and Sava rivers, where also a very fortified citadel has been built, which is called Zeugminon, which is now called Sirmium), he treated those parts most severely. Then a certain Paion, greatest in size and showing a courageous disposition of soul, separating himself from the others, rushed with fury at the emperor himself. But the latter, having withstood him, pierced his sword between his eyes and deprived him of life. Having taken many captives, therefore, and having become master of no small amount of wealth, he returned to the queen city ^B.

And as far as he could draw out the triumph, he held a most magnificent procession through the city’s thoroughfares as far as possible. The elegance of this procession was enhanced by the freshly captured Hungarians and Serbians, who had been adorned by the emperor himself with robes more splendid than befitted their condition, in order that the victory might be rendered more glorious and more admirable to citizens and foreigners alike, since those captured in the war were men of noble birth and worthy to be gazed upon. And that which further increased the admiration for his procession was that the captives did not all go at once, but were distributed into companies and separated by intervals, so that the eyes of the spectators were deceived into imagining the number of those passing by to be greater than it actually was.

In the meantime, as the Scythians had crossed the Ister and were plundering the Roman fortresses along the river, a certain Calamanus was sent against them. But he, not having managed the war against the Scythians skillfully, was defeated by them in open battle, and having lost many brave men, he himself also died from his wounds ^{C D}. The Scythians, according to their custom, having plundered everything in their path and loaded the spoils onto their horses, took thought of their return. For them, the crossing of the Ister is easy, and their excursion for plunder is likewise easy, while their retreat is neither difficult nor laborious. For their armament is a quiver full of arrows suspended from the waist at the side, and curved bows and shafts. There are also those who brandish spears and wheel about in battle. The same horse carries the Scythian into war and feeds him by the opening of a vein, and, as they say, if it is of the female sex, it satisfies his animal lust. They cross the river with leather filled with cork, so compacted that not even the smallest drop

of water flows within. Therefore, the Scythian, having mounted this, with the horse’s tail tied on, and having set upon it his saddle and the implements ^A of war, crosses more easily, using the horse as a boat with a sail, and swimming across the vast sea of the Ister.

Such was the state of these affairs. But Palæologus, who had been accused of having a restless spirit and of wasting money to no purpose for the Romans, from the moment he set foot in Calabria, was removed from his command, and in his stead was sent Alexius Comnenus ^B, the son of Bryennius Caesar, a cousin of Manuel on his mother's side, and recently raised to the honor of Grand Duke; along with him was also sent John Ducas, a man both martial and Mercury-favored, who had not just tasted of the liberal arts with the tips of his lips, but was of noble birth and not ignorant of the methods of warfare. These men, therefore, having set sail for Sicily, attacked the king’s forces and frequently defeated his fleet, so that his ships fell apart and Brundisium itself was nearly besieged. But fortune did not fully favor these illustrious struggles; nor did the emperor reap the fruit he ought to have from such most beautiful reports. For the king, having gathered larger forces and hired foreign soldiers, strove to make up for the losses he had sustained; attacking them, he conquered, captured, and cast them in chains, in a brief moment overturning everything that the Romans had attained with the greatest labor and expense. Manuel, indeed, having shaken off his former joy upon these rumors and news, and being turned to sorrow, did not, it is true, bear that disaster light-heartedly or moderately, but indulged not a little in mourning; yet, as a constant man, who would neither yield to adverse fortune nor be carried away by joy in prosperous circumstances, he set out to fight against that calamity, and having prepared another fleet, he designated as its leader Constantine Angelus Philadelphensis. He, though he was not born of a lineage altogether noble, yet being endowed with a tall stature and a striking appearance, had taken to wife Theodora, the daughter of Alexius, the grandfather of Manuel, with beauty acting as his bridesmaid. Since, however, it is the opinion of almost all the powerful, both of our own time and of the age before us, that the progressions and retrogressions of the stars, as well as their fixed positions, configurations, approaches, recessions, and other things which those chatterers affirm to the defraudation of divine providence, and which covertly establish a fatal necessity for all things, have great influence upon human happiness and fortune, Manuel inquires for a suitable time to set out, and announces this to Constantine. But what happens? Before the sun had yet urged toward its setting, the man is recalled by Manuel’s command due to an unfavorable outcome, because of a less auspicious position of the stars, and because it was not scrutinized subtly and accurately. ^C Furthermore, ^D [index: entries preserved]

^A the celestial configurations, the direct and retrograde motions, the positions, and such-like aspects of the planets, as well as their conjunctions, distances, and all the rest that these star-babblers prattle about—falsely accusing divine providence and secretly introducing fate and the decrees of necessity as something immutable and inevitable—rendered this departure auspicious for Angelus. He did indeed have his departure papers prepared for Angelus; but what of it? The sun had not yet reached the evening, and Constantine returned again, the Emperor having ordered it. The cause was the ill-timed departure, and the fact that Angelus had taken to the road not as the favorable aspects of the stars commanded, or as the precision of the rules of the astronomical sphere provided, but as these triflers suggested—erroneously and applying coarse methods to subtle matters, and thus erring in their discovery of the auspicious hour. Once again, therefore, a diagram was prepared and the rules were refined. And so, after much investigation, deliberation, and scrutiny of the stars, Angelus departed, having set out in concert with the movements of the benevolent stars. ^B And yet, to such an extent did this "assurance" of the hour benefit Roman affairs, or rectify the mistakes of former leaders, or adjust any adverse outcome that had occurred, that Constantine was immediately captured by the hands of the enemy. For as he was sailing imprudently to Sicily, he was seized by the Sicilian triremes that were guarding the sea and was brought as a captive before the King. The King, having praised those who captured him and calling the prey the finest of all good things, also kept him under guard as a prisoner.

8. The Emperor, even after this second blow, ^B investigated the measures proper for the struggle. Seeing that the way of war was once again difficult and unprofitable, and being deterred by the heavy and continuous expenditures—consuming his treasuries little by little like a cancer (for he had already expended some 300 centenaria of gold)—he decided that it was necessary to make peace with the King. He did not, therefore, reluctantly, but rather gladly, receive the embassy sent for this reason by the pontiff of old Rome; and having embraced the envoys as prudent counselors, he sent the protostrator Alexius (who was the eldest son of the grand domestic) to Ancona, having divided his plan in two: namely, to prepare for arms and mercenary soldiers in the Western parts, should the situation require it, and to conciliate the friendship of the King, if the pacification were to succeed. Alexius, having arrived there—a man keen and most exercised in military affairs, endowed with a tongue that emulated his mind, and conspicuous for the dignity of his appearance—was not slow in executing the Emperor’s designs; he set about enlisting soldiers immediately, so that this report might strike the King’s spirit; and he gathered a great cavalry force as if about to make an incursion into Calabria. ^C Meanwhile, however, he also took care of those things which pertained to the settlement of the war and the establishment of peace between the Emperor and the King, by sending and receiving letters to and from Maio, the commander of the royal fleet. He therefore ordered the envoys sent to him from Sicily to go to the Emperor, and requested that he hear their speech (for he understood that they were demanding nothing unfair or immoderate), and that he indicate to him, before it should become known to the public, if the peace should succeed, lest through imprudence anything be done amiss, since he was acting among men whom he himself had lured to himself from the provinces of the King of the Alemanni’s allies, with good hope and as if by some stealth, and whose minds were once most hostile to the Romans.

^A And the matters of the reconciliation were brought to an end before the news could reach the ears of many, lest there be any unpleasantness for him in having acted while among men whom he himself had, with fair hopes, enslaved to the King of the Alemanni from the friendly provinces, and whose minds, long inflamed against the Romans, he had altered as best he could toward the King of Sicily. Therefore, someone arrived from the Emperor bearing the news of the truce to Alexios, who secretly transferred the money away from those parts and sent it off with his most trusted men. He left the chests empty, but after placing his seals upon them, he left them with those who were powerful in the region, charging them that there should be complete immunity for these things, and that no one should search what was within, nor otherwise break the seals, unless he himself should return there from the Emperor.

And so Alexios departed from Ancona. But when the Emperor and the King had formed peaceful intentions and looked toward the treaties—or, to tell the truth, had not formed a genuine concord, but had merely feigned a "wolves' friendship" for the sake of the moment—the captives were released without payment and benefited from any union between them. This applied not only to those of noble birth and those honored by royal blood, but even the common soldiers were included, with the exception of those from Corinth and Thebes who were base-born, as well as those who were weavers of the fine web, and the beautiful and deep-girdled women who had practiced the same craft as the men. ^B And even today one may see the children of the Thebans and Corinthians settled in Sicily attending to the loom for hexamitae and gold-embroidered garments, just as the Eretrians once served among the Persians because they had resisted the princes who brought war upon Greece under the expedition of Darius.

But not much time had passed before both sides again, like vast ebbs and floods, with a straight wave rushing in, were stirred up and prepared for battle. The Emperor stirred up against the King those who were powerful and adjacent to him, persuading them with promises of money; and the King ordered Maios, the count of the fleet, to launch forty swift-moving ships from the dockyards, and having outfitted them in a novel way, to reach Constantinople and, in the hearing of the urban multitude, to proclaim himself master and king of Sicily, Aquileia, Capua, and Calabria, and of the regions and islands lying between them, and to treat the Emperor of the Romans with contempt, and after cursing him, to return. ^C Maios, therefore, having rounded Malea and bypassed the Aegean Gulf, made for the imperial city through the Hellespont as he had been ordered. Having crossed the strait and having come to the royal Blachernai, he shot arrows at them, the tips of which were silver and gilded. On his return, having checked his oars across from the Great Palace, he extolled his own King with praises, while his naval companions shouted with a great voice and a great tumult. Thus, having completed the voyage with the greatest speed, he escaped through the straits of Sestos and Abydos. ^D In the city, however, since the Emperor was absent, a great tumult was stirred up; and on account of this, the King of Sicily boasted not a little, thinking that he had achieved a great triumph. Manuel, however, interpreting the event as a game and a joke, and considering that the King was pursuing such honors—or rather, hunting them by a sort of brigandage—permitted him to boast vainly and to brag of a success of no moment.

VOLUME THREE OF THE REIGN OF MANUEL KOMNENOS

BOOK THREE OF THE DEEDS OF MANUEL KOMNENOS

^A 1. Such, then, was the end of the undertakings in Sicily and Calabria by Emperor Manuel; for though they were brilliant and costly, they brought no profit to the Romans nor anything worthy of imitation by subsequent emperors. But what is one to say of a man who strove with such zeal, though with unsuccessful effort, to restore the empire to its former state and to subdue the barbarians? Accordingly, he proclaimed a campaign against the Paeonians—who are also called Hungarians and Huns—and ordered the western legions to bring wagons into the camp, by which they might both transport supplies for themselves and provide for those who lacked vehicles. When the armies had gathered, he himself came to the city of Sardica, which is now called Triaditza. Having stayed there no long time, when the Paeonians had made peace through envoys, he turned his march against the satrap of the Servians. ^B Having struck him with terror in passing and persuaded him to put aside the Hunnish alliance and to acknowledge and fear only the Emperor, he dismissed a large part of his forces and set out for the province of Thessaly; there, having stayed as long as seemed opportune, he entered the imperial city.

^C After the winter solstice, he again went out to Pelagonia, judging it a sufficient base to receive the army, as it lies open upon plains for cavalry, and is well-situated for gaining information and understanding the actions of the nations against whom he was struggling and at odds. For the Sicilian war still held him back and kept him in turmoil, as it was not yet completely quieted, and the prince of the Huns, as his actions revealed, was plotting war. For after Andronikos Komnenos—who later usurped the tyranny over the Romans—had been deprived of the duchy of Branizoba and Belgrade (because it was reported that he had conspired with the Huns against the Romans and wished to claim the empire for himself by the aid of the Hunnish prince); and after he had been summoned to Pelagonia and convicted of the plots which he was devising against the Emperor, his cousin, and had been committed to a certain ward in the Great Palace, the prince of the Huns immediately launched a war against the Romans, besieged Branizoba, and laid waste all the region far and wide with incursions at his own pleasure. Wherefore the Emperor [appointed] the chartulary, Basil Zinziluces, as a commander against...

^A him. And he, having taken up the collected forces and arranged them into ranks and phalanxes, and thinking that he had an army worthy of victory, joins battle with the Hungarians. And for a short while, he defeated the enemy; but they, having turned back when they were being pursued in disorder by the Romans, acted much more bravely than they had suffered. The Emperor, therefore, having heard these things, hastened his march there, in case the Paeonians, being disturbed by his arrival, should depart from those regions; which is exactly what they did, having come to an agreement with the Emperor as the time then allowed. And he, having established matters as they were concerning Branizoba and Belgrade, returned [shifted his camp] to the Queen of Cities.

Since, then, the enemies from the West had also quieted down for a short while through treaties and friendship, and he had no one for the time being pulling against him or capable of fighting him from the West, he confirmed his ascent into Armenia. Having departed, therefore, to Tarsus and having arrived at Adana and all the places belonging to lower Armenia, and having refreshed and secured these as well—which had been suffering under Toruses—and having terrified with his presence the Armenian, who was not simple in his thinking but hidden and treacherous, he proceeds no further, nor, as his father had done, does he claim the whole of Armenia for himself, nor does he snatch the camps and provinces previously occupied by him as if from the jaws of a wolf; but, deceived by the fallacious wheedling of Toruses and snared by the enticements of a treaty, he turned his reins and arrived at Antioch, the premier and most beautiful city of all Syria.

^B 2. Now while he was at Tarsus, the escape of his cousin Andronicus from his prison is reported to the Emperor Manuel. The cause of this was what we have mentioned above, but nevertheless those things also were detrimental: that he was always free-spoken, and surpassed most men in strength, and possessed a physique worthy of imperial rule, and had an unsubmissive spirit—all of which things are naturally viewed askance by those in power and are considered vexing, and, because of the fear of losing the kingdom, strike at the heart itself. Because of these things, therefore, and indeed also because of his martial virtue and the nobility of his lineage (for from the same father, Alexis—progenitor to Manuel—the Emperor John, father of this man, and the Sebastocrator Isaac, father of Andronicus, were born), he was ^C observed with the utmost scrutiny and was held to be highly suspect. Yet another reason also occurred why he was held in custody by Manuel. This Emperor had three brothers: Alexis, Andronicus, and Isaac, who has often been mentioned. Of these, two departed this life while the father was still living. Alexis left one daughter, whom Alexis, son of the Grand Domestic John, took to himself in marriage, of whom we have also spoken above. Andronicus had three daughters, Maria, Theodora, and ^D [index: entries preserved]

Eudocia, and two sons, John and Alexius. ^A Eudocia, then, having lost her husband from her virginity, began to consort with Andronicus, not secretly, but openly. And to those who rebuked Andronicus for the illicit nature of the intimacy, he had a ready defense, [P. 69] and, jesting, he would reply that it was characteristic of subjects to imitate the customs of their rulers, and that water drawn from the same fountain bears the same flavor. By these words he was mocking his cousin, the Emperor Manuel, as being subject to the same passions, or even worse ones, if it is the case that one consorted with his brother’s daughter, while Andronicus lay with his cousin’s child. Such behavior, however, was neither pleasing to Manuel nor did it stop the relatives of the woman from raging against Andronicus and being genuinely incensed, especially her brother John, who held the dignity of Protosebastos and Protovestiarios, and John Cantacuzenus, ^B who had her sister, Maria, in marriage. Therefore, many plots were—as is to be expected—woven against Andronicus, some inwardly and in secret, and others quite openly. But Andronicus brushed them aside like a spider’s web, and scattered them like the toys of children in the sand, being confident in his own bravery and far surpassing his adversaries in intelligence—by as much as unreasoning creatures are surpassed by the rational—so that even when he was frequently beset, he turned upon them, earning the charms of Eudocia as his prize. ^C There was a time when he himself was reclining with the woman in a tent near Pelagonia; the relatives of Eudocia by blood, having learned of this, surrounded the tent with many armed men and lay in wait for his exit, ready to make away with him then and there. But this did not escape Eudocia, even though her mind was on other things; whether she had been told by some of those in her line, or had scented these treachery in some other way—for she, too, possessed a sharp mind and lived in intelligence more than is usual for a woman. She thus revealed the plot to Andronicus as he lay with her. Stirred by this news, he leapt from the bed and, girding himself with a long sword, considered what should be done. ^D She suggested to her lover that he should put on a woman’s garment and, upon her ordering one of the chamber-women to bring a lamp into the tent—calling her by name so that the ambushers would hear—that he should immediately go out unnoticed. But to the brave man this counsel was not pleasing, for he feared that he might be captured in a humiliating way and dragged by the hair to the Emperor, and he dreaded a womanish and shameful death. Therefore, taking up his long sword and cutting through the tent with an oblique stroke, he cleared the hedge that happened to be in front, and with one great leap bounded over the entire space that the poles and ropes occupied, at which his ambushers were so astonished that they stood in wonder at his escape. Disturbed by these events, and turned away from his love for Andronicus by frequent calumnies, Manuel gradually came to think those accusations were true; for indeed, a reputation that spreads such things about someone is not entirely groundless. Thus, human nature has nothing worse than a slanderous tongue, which the Psalmist not undeservedly detests in many places and desires to be freed from. Manuel, therefore, as if enmeshed in the nets of his kinsmen’s voices, willy-nilly gave Andronicus into custody, bound in the strongest iron shackles; and in this state, while he was being treated ill for a long time, the bold man, who was ingenious in the most difficult circumstances, noticed in that brick tower in which he was enclosed an ancient passage.

^A

[The flight of Andronicus from his prison]

And so, drawing his sword and handing it to his right hand, he leaps out, cutting across the tent with determination, and with one leap, right in front of the Thessalian, he vaults over both the threshold that happened to lie against the tent, and whatever space the stakes and ropes occupied, so that those lying in ambush were struck dumb and considered the escape of their prey a marvel and a strange sight. These things, when heard, troubled the Emperor Manuel, and the slanders, like constant drops, were hollowing out the soul of the one being stirred up to make room for those things poured over him against the slandered man, and little by little they led him away from the spark of friendship which he had for the man, and urged him to accept the reported things as true; for it was not possible for the rumor to vanish entirely, nor for the feathered Andronicus, proud and acting like a king, to wander about aimlessly. So true is it that there is no greater evil that springs up for men than a slanderer’s tongue. ^B With good reason, therefore, David, the song-lover and psalm-lover, in many of his inspired and sweet-worded idylls, reviles and mocks it, describing in his own way its power that springs from such a wasteland, and praying to be rescued from its coils. For this reason, Manuel, having been caught, as it were, in the nets which the kinsmen of Andronicus often used to bewitch him, puts him—willingly or rather unwillingly—into prison, and secures him in iron foot-shackles, as inescapable and unbreakable as possible. Thus he remained for a sufficient time, being maltreated in the prison.

But being a man of hot temper ^C and most resourceful, and capable of finding a way even in hopeless situations, having noticed an ancient underground passage in the small dwelling where he was confined (this was a tower built entirely of baked brick), he enters it, having first scraped away with his hands, like hoes or mattocks, the area around the entrance and exit, so that they might be unsuspected, and having also hung some furniture in front of them. When the hour for the evening meal arrived, the doors of the prison were opened by the guards and the dinner was brought in ready; but the guest was nowhere to be seen. The guards therefore searched the prison, lest the wily Andronicus might have broken or bored through some part of it and slipped away. But since absolutely nothing at all was damaged—neither shutter, nor doorpost, nor threshold, nor roof, nor the back-building, nor even the iron-bound opening, nor anything else of all the things—they wailed incessantly and tore their faces with their nails, as they held no one prisoner, and understood neither the manner nor the place by which he had escaped. These facts they made evident to the Empress, to those in authority, and to all who were busy in the imperial court. ^D Accordingly, one man was sent to guard the coastal gates, to another the guard of the land gates was entrusted, another searched the harbors, and another, having occupied a different part of the city, went looking for the runaway Andronicus. The crossroads and the streets were searched; and frequent imperial letters were sent to every province, in which it was ordered that the fugitive Andronicus be constantly sought and, once captured, be sent back to the city.

Then his wife, having been arrested as a privy to the flight, was cast into the same prison in which Andronicus had been, so that she might there pay the penalty for her devotion to her husband and her counsel regarding the flight. They did not know, however, that they did not have Andronicus as before, and that they were wasting their bile in vain upon the miserable woman, and doing a favor for Andronicus, who, having emerged from the vault and finding the woman, spoke to her, and was taken for a ghost—appearing as one who is from the underworld or a spirit of the dead—and having disturbed the woman with the unexpected sight. [P. 71] And having embraced her, he wept, though not as much as he wished

for the calamities and the vexatious encounters of that time, for fear the lamentation should reach the ears of the jailers. And having stayed for some time with his wife in the prison, and made her pregnant from their union at that time—from which the father would also hear of a male child, I mean John, to whom Andronikos later imparted the empire, as the account will tell in its proper time—he departed from there, as the guards were no longer providing the same strict supervision over the woman as they had been over him. But when he reached the lowlands, he was caught by a soldier whose surname was Nicaea; and he was again held under a greater and worse guard than the previous one, and with double iron shackles on his feet. When these things were reported to Manuel, who was still encamped in Armenia, the logothete of the drome, John Kamateros, was sent, both to announce the emperor’s presence—as he was almost arrived—and to investigate events more effectively and report to the emperor more clearly. ^B 3. At first, the people of Antioch did not willingly accept the arrival of the emperor, but took it very heavily and considered how they might send him away. But as it was not possible to obstruct nor to undo at all what he had determined, they went out through the gates not only with servile manner and mind to meet him, but they also arranged his entry in a more pompous fashion, decorating roads and intersections with tapestries and other things, and strewing the path along which he was to travel with freshly plucked tree branches and fragrant flowers. Nor was anyone absent from that honorable meeting, but all the inhabitants had flocked together. The gluttonous Syrian was there, the Isaurian robber was there, the Cilician pirate was there, and along with them the lance-bearing Italian knight, who had left his fierce horse and, putting aside his haughty spirit, accompanied the triumphal march on foot. But when [the emperor] saw the Italian soldier priding himself on the skillful handling of his spear, he instituted a mock tournament of spears without iron heads. When the day of the games arrived, he made a selection from the Roman legions and his own kindred of those most skilled in brandishing a spear. He himself also came forward, according to his custom, with a smiling face, into a spacious plain where squadrons of cavalry could easily engage, holding his spear high, wearing a rather elegant chlamys pinned at the right shoulder in a way that left his arm free, mounted on a war-horse of beautiful color and conspicuous for its golden harness, which, with neck gently arched and feet striking the ground, showed its eagerness for a run and seemed to vie with the splendor of its rider. He commanded his kinsmen and the others who were to contend with the Italians to dress in the most splendid garments possible. Prince Gerard also went out, seated on a horse whiter than snow, dressed in a tunic embroidered with needlework, reaching down to his ankles, and wearing on his head a golden cap, curved like a tiara, accompanied by all his knights, distinguished by their tall stature and warlike vigor of spirit. And as that mock battle began, many from both sides charged with great force, dealing and dodging spear thrusts in turn. There one could see some thrown on their backs with their feet lifted high in the air, others lying prone, others sliding out of their saddles, others fleeing in disorder with their backs turned, others turning pale with fear of the spears and hiding behind their shields, and others blushing when they saw they were trembling before their adversaries. The air, truly beaten by the force of the horses, shook the banners with a whistling sound: so that not [even...] [index: entries preserved]

imitate some such thing in these games, and compare Bellona with the Graces: so great was the variety and elegance. Furthermore, the zeal and boldness of the Romans, combined with a desire to excel the Latins, inflamed the eyes of the emperor and the spectators. For the Italians, always with head held high and a haughty spirit, were stirred on by indignation if the Roman horsemen were perceived to be superior in that competition. The Emperor himself threw down ^A two horsemen at once, one with a horse, and the other he struck and dismounted with his spear, having also cast down the other with the violence of the javelin.

But when he came to wrestle with the illustrious "Graces," ^B such were the varied and beautiful games of that time, and it so happened that the Romans were eager to surpass the Latins, and at the thrusting of the spears, and with the emperor himself watching the proceedings, the Italians, with stiff necks and minds unyielding—for they could not bear at all that the Romans should prevail through the fighting with spears—the Emperor himself rode against a horseman, and having struck the horse with one blow and brandished his spear, as the other fell down, he struck the one who was standing near in the side of the attendant.

Afterwards, when he ^C had filled the Antiochians with admiration for his prowess, having seen what they had previously heard, he determined to return to Constantinople; and while traveling through friendly provinces, he dismissed the greater part of the troops. In this, unmindful of his own prudence, he lost very many soldiers, and was cruelly dealt with in the rear guard; for the heated desire for travel and the unbridled and inconsiderate fervor of the homecoming did not burden the legions in that dispersion, but they were suddenly overwhelmed by a Turkish assault. Then, in the event itself, it was discovered how much is good in prudence, and how much trouble rashness and ill-considered plans bring; and how much better it is to have ^D a salutary delay, however much at first it may tempt one with the hope of good results. Perhaps, however, a more serious disaster would have been received if the emperor, having turned back and repressed the Turkish assault, had not led back the army in the same order in which it was initially fitting for that to be done. When he had scrutinized the corpses and the multitude of the slain, and had struck his thigh again and again with trembling lips from grief, he was carried, it is reported, with deep sighs and tears, as is the custom in the bitterness of the spirit. Although he was most desirous of blotting out the disgrace he had suffered, yet, since he had nothing to do in the present, he checked his intended journey.

4. Moreover, envy, which not only looks askance at the masters of provinces and cities, but also lies in wait for those nearby, does not leave even the lower-ranking people unmolested, that is, it did not leave Theodore Styppeiotes, who was in high favor with the emperor, inviolate. It did not desist from harassing him with storms until it had cast him down from his position and, having moved him from his place, finally afflicted him miserably. I insert such matters also into my history, so that readers may know what a sudden and unavoidable thing wickedness is: it is necessary, therefore, as much as possible, to observe those rivals who are ingenious.

and illiberal ^A in their character, and whose tongue is discordant with their heart, and before all else to place a guard upon the mouth and not allow the tongue to leap rashly out of the fence of the teeth and the rampart of the lips, which nature has surrounded as a double wall for it. For the then-Logothete of the Drome, unable to bear the good fortune of the Emperor toward Styppiotes and his most favorable willingness, to whom access and the power of conversing were always open, so that he could accomplish anything with a finger and a nod, whereas he himself was permitted to approach only at appointed hours, and the things which Styppiotes could obtain by a mere wish ^B he could not even see in his dreams through his imagination—burning with envy, which had settled in the very depths of his soul, being a crafty man and equipped with a double-tongue like a pestilential serpent, he circumvented the man with a simulation of friendship, and anointed the edges of a cup full of poison with the honey of friendship, saying one thing while thinking another, and honoring with his lips when he was most alienated in his soul. By these methods he deceived the historically simple and guileless Styppiotes in this one matter, and slandered him before the Emperor as a fraud and a deceiver, and accused him of Sicilian treachery. When the Emperor, still active in Cilicia, demanded that proof be given to him, he ordered him to stand behind a curtain, and taking Styppiotes aside as if to speak of something secret to him alone, he led him to where the Emperor was concealed. And starting from other matters, he finally slid fraudulently into the mention of Sicily, and having been given the occasion to criticize those actions of the Emperor, he ended the conversation. Having thus provoked his mind, he sought occasions for other slanders, inflamed even more against Styppiotes because the Emperor had commanded that he be given a golden bull with radiant gems, so that he might preside over the oath-taking in the great church of Blachernae, by which the succession of the empire to Alexios the Hungarian and the daughter of the Emperor, Maria, would be confirmed (a duty which pertained rather to the office of the Logothete); ^C he is said to have composed a most trifling document, which Styppiotes was supposedly going to send to the King of Sicily, and having secretly inserted this document into the books and letters of Styppiotes, he persuaded the Emperor to order a search for those letters of treachery to the Sicilian. Upon this being done, the Emperor blazed forth like a thunderbolt against the innocent Styppiotes, and ordered his eyes to be gouged out. O inspector of all, eye of inevitable justice, why do you often ^D connive at such injuries and even graver cases of men, and not immediately cast thunder and lightning, but delay vengeance? Your judgment is inscrutable and inaccessible to human reasoning. You are truly a wise and accurate judge of utility, even though you frustrate the weakness of our intellects. A man who sees or hears a dragon or a lion in the mountains avoids it immediately; even a thief is mitigated by tears and prayers; but against a man lying in wait for others, who speaks one thing with his tongue

and covers another in his heart, one requires of ^A much wisdom to escape, and one needs the touch of the Almighty.

Now this logothete—if I may digress a little longer from the flow of my history—was a man who had tasted the higher disciplines only with the tips of his lips, a meager lover of sacred wisdom and an indocile student, but one of most excellent native talent, a devotee of impromptu speech, who gained the greatest glory by an eloquence that gushed like a fountain. He was the most gluttonous of all mortals and a prince of drunkards; he was skilled at singing to the lyre, plucking the cithara, dancing the *kordax*, and moving his feet quickly back and forth. Although he would gulp down wine most greedily, yet no sign of drunkenness appeared in him; rather, the more he drank, the more prudently he spoke, his intellect ^B stimulated by that irrigation of wine.

Since he pursued symposia, he was most acceptable not only to the Emperor, but also very dear to the provincial governors who loved revelry. When he went to them as an envoy, he would surpass some in drinking, bringing them to such a state that they needed a long time to sleep off the wine and dispel their drunkenness; with others he would hold his own, when indeed their bellies could contain whole jars and their fingers could twirl amphorae like cups, and they would perpetually append the Heraclean goblet to their supper.

But since I have once chanced upon the mention of this man, those things also worthy of record should be related. He once bargained with Emperor Manuel that he would drain a porphyry basin filled with water, which formerly belonged to the open-air chamber of the bedchamber of Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, ^C looking down upon the Bucoleon, but now visited in that greatest hall which the Emperor whose history we are writing built. The Emperor, marveling at the suggestion, said to him: "Very well, O logothete," and promised him much fine linen clothing and significant minas of gold if he should do so; if not, he stipulated an equivalent amount from him.

Delighted by these words, the man, bent over like an ox, drained the basin filled with water, which held about two measures (*choas*), taking breath only once during the drinking, and immediately received the gifts promised by the Emperor according to the pact. He also delighted intensely in green beans, and would consume entire fields of them. Once, therefore, when he caught sight of a field sown with beans across a river in a military camp, he immediately swam across ^D with his clothes cast off; and not content with having devoured the greater part, he carried away the remains gathered into bundles upon his shoulders, and sitting in his tent he consumed the beans as pleasantly as if he had been fasting for a long time. He was a man

of tall stature and heroic body, not unwarlike but strong, and worthy of the family from which he drew his maternal lineage. When he was about to die, having a conscience wounded by the calumnies against Styppiotes, he summoned the man and, filled with tears, asked for pardon. The other, forgetting the injuries, granted it to him and prayed for the salvation of his soul. And so much for these matters; they are, in my opinion, neither unpleasant nor useless.

^A 5. But Manuel, having lost his wife from the Allemanni to death, lamented her passing no otherwise than as a limb torn from his own body, and like a lion he roared in his grief. Having rendered her funeral honors magnificently, and having performed the religious rites for her body in the ancestral monastery of the Pantokrator, and having spent the time of mourning he had set for himself like a man half-alive and incomplete, he looked toward a second marriage out of a desire for male offspring. Letters, therefore, were sent to him from many places: the daughters of kings and princes from every land were offered. But he chose the daughter of Pelebinus, the satrap of Antioch in Coele-Syria, the principal city, which the Orontes waters and the west wind breathes upon. This Pelebinus was an Italian by birth and a most excellent knight. ^B Having therefore sent men of noble rank from the senate to him, he brought the bride, endowed with incomparable beauty, and celebrated the marriage. And the woman was beautiful—utterly beautiful, and beyond all measure beautiful, and of incomparable grace, so that in comparison to her, Venus the laughter-loving and golden, Hera of the white arms and ox-eyes, and the long-necked, fair-ankled Lacedaemonian—all those whom antiquity consecrated to immortality for their beauty—and all the others whose notable loveliness books and histories have handed down, were truly but fables.

^C 52 Now, since it is necessary to return to the planned narrative, certain things mentioned above must be repeated for the sake of clarity. Masut, the emperor of the Turks, had many sons, and no fewer daughters. When he was about to depart from the world and be carried off to the punishments hereafter as an impious man, he distributed among his children the cities and lands that were once under Roman rule, and at that time were arranged under him. ^D To some he assigned one thing, to others another; he gave Iconium, the metropolis, with its subject towns to Clizasthlan, his son; to Jagupasan, his son-in-law, he gave Amasia, Ancyra, and the fertile Cappadocia with its neighboring lands; to Dadunu, the prosperous and greatest cities.

Caesarea and Sebastia. But how long, O Lord, wilt thou suffer thy inheritance to be plundered ^B and to be a mockery to a senseless people, altogether alien to the knowledge and faith of thee? How long wilt thou turn thy face from us, since thou art human, and forget the poverty of our condition, and not hear our groans and weepings, when thou art wont to run quickly to the aid of the afflicted? Nor dost thou exact punishment, though thou art the avenger? How long will these absurdities endure, that the descendants of Hagar the bondswoman should lord it over us who are free-born, and should destroy and slay thy holy nation, which is called by thy name, that holy name which is above every name, while it endures long slavery and suffers the insults and the slaps of these lost barbarians? Look down at last, most clement Lord, upon the miseries of the captives. The blood of thy servants now too, as once Abel’s, calls upon thee, the merciful Lord. Seize armor and shield, and arise to bring us aid; and having confirmed a man who shall be pleasing and approved to thee, render sevenfold to our wicked neighbors what they have committed against thy inheritance, and having bravely recovered the provinces and the cities which the barbarians snatched away, set the bounds of their territory from the rising of the sun to the setting of its first and last rays.

These things, perhaps, we have not poured forth without reason or in vain, having conversed a little with God ^C and lightened a mind oppressed by grief from an overflowing soul. But the children of Masut, having divided the principal borders of their paternal kingdom—or, to speak more precisely, the measuring-lines of the Romans—which had descended to them from their father, sacrificed little to peace and the laws of kinship, but looked for the most part toward their own quarrels and attended to their dissensions. For immediately the Sultan of Iconium cast a sinister and savage eye upon the toparch of Cappadocia, and he in turn cast a deadly look upon him. And their evil designs against each other were not done in shadow and in secret, but were known and reported to the Emperor. He, desiring the destruction of both, hoped that they would not only bicker and quarrel among themselves, but also fight with arms, so that he, remaining idle, might gloat over the evils of those barbarians and impious men; and he secretly incited each against the other through envoys. Truly, by sending gifts, he openly brought aid to Jagupasan, out of hatred for the Sultan, who was a man of dark and deceitful character, planning destruction not only for his own kin, but also constantly harassing the borders of the Romans with predatory raids. Jagupasan, therefore, relying on the Emperor, makes war on the Sultan; the latter in turn enters the field of battle. Frequent ^D struggles are committed. Finally, after many slaughters were made on both sides, the victory lay with Jagupasan. And having laid down arms for a time, he remained in his own province. But the Sultan approached the Emperor, newly returned from the West, and, having been received humanely and honorably, he exhilarated Manuel no less than he himself was exhilarated by the kindness of his host.

^B For Manuel had a good hope that, because of the sultan's presence, he would not only consult upon the affairs of the East and deceive the avaricious barbarian with the liberality of his hospitality, but that he would also hope for glory from that event. Therefore, having entered Constantinople together with him, he proclaimed a triumph. And although it was elegantly furnished, shining brightly with precious garments and a variety of ornaments, and the emperor was about to go forth with the sultan—who was brought along to render that festival more celebrated among the remaining nobles—amid the applause and acclamations of the citizens, God made the splendor of that day null and void. For by an earthquake, many most splendid houses collapsed; and the intemperance of the air, the gloom, and other terrors caused the agitated minds of men to turn away from the triumphs toward themselves. The prelates of the holy church were also saying (nor did the emperor himself interpret those omens otherwise) that God was angry and did not wish an impious man to behold that triumph, which the most sacred implements and images of the saints adorned and the sign of Christ consecrated. Thus the triumph was arranged in vain, and was so neglected by the emperor himself that it did not even satisfy the received custom.

The sultan, however, having remained with him for no small amount of time, was delighted by the circus spectacles. Then a certain Agarite, at first considered a prestidigitator, but, as he afterwards declared, the most miserable of all mortals, of his own volition climbed the tower of the Hippodrome—under which are the carceres, from where the horses are released, and above which stand four gilded horses with curved necks, turned toward one another and full of readiness for the race—and boasted that he would fly across the stadium. ^C He stood, therefore, in the tower as if in the carceres, clothed in an ample and very long white garment, which, tightened in a circle with strings, was made sinuous. For he thought that he would be prepared for flight, just like a ship with a sail, with the folds of that garment filled by the air. Therefore, the eyes of all were turned toward him; the spectators were laughing and kept shouting: “Fly, fly!” and “How long do you keep us in suspense, Saracen, and weigh the air from the tower?” Although the emperor was deterring the man from that attempt, and the sultan himself was held in suspense between hope and fear, lest anything should happen to his countryman, he, catching the air and exploring the wind, kept eluding the hope of the spectators. Often with his hands spread and balanced like wings to fly, so that he might collect more wind, when at last it seemed suitable and favorable to blow, he moved himself like a bird, and while he strove to advance through the air, he flew in the sky more miserably than Icarus. ^D For the weight of his body, tending toward the ground, did not allow him to remain on high, until, prostrated, he expired, with his hands, feet, and all his bones shattered. That flight, with the laughter and mockery of the Turks and the sultan’s companions, was the talk of the common people, to such an extent that they could not pass through the forum without being mocked, as the silversmiths struck the iron implements of their tables. The emperor, having heard this, laughed, indeed, not being ignorant of the jokes and witticisms of the trivial crowd, but for the sake of the sultan, whom those mockeries were gradually...

reaching and biting, he pretended to restrain their license. ^A Every eye was therefore turned toward him, and the theater smiled, and the spectators cried out repeatedly: "Fly, fly!" and "How long, Saracen, do you lift up our souls, balancing the wind from the tower?" But the Emperor, having sent word, prevented him from the building. The sultan himself, being a spectator of what was happening and being in doubt as to the outcome, was in high spirits and laughing, though his mind was agitated and he was fearful for his kinsman. But he, frequently gasping at the air and testing the wind, stole the hopes of the spectators. And often, having spread his hands and shaped them like wings, he drew them in for the motion of flight, longing for the wind. But when at last it seemed that there was a strong and favorable breeze, he shook himself like a bird, thinking he was walking on air. But he was a more pitiable sky-runner than Icarus. And his body, being heavy-centered, fell to the ground—not flying light—and finally, falling, he broke his soul, and his shins and hands and as much of his body as was brittle were shattered. This flight was so bruited about to the city-dwellers for the mockery and laughter of the Turks who were with the sultan, that it was not possible for them to go through the market without being laughed at, as the silversmiths in the marketplace clattered their iron wares upon the tables. As the Emperor heard these things, he was indeed amused, as is likely, knowing the talkative and playful nature of those at the crossroads, ^B but out of kindness to the sultan (for the jeers, gradually entering the soul of the barbarian, stung him), he pretended to be the one curbing their freedom of speech.

6. The sultan, after the admirable kindness and many splendid gifts exhausted from the imperial treasuries, at which he was amazed and was in doubt whether the Emperor had as much left, returned home joyful and laden with wealth. ^C For the Emperor, knowing well that every barbarian is overcome by gains, and being especially anxious to show his brilliance and to astonish Klytzastlan with the multi-talented treasures with which the empire of the Romans was adorned, had arranged in order in one of the most splendid rooms of the palace all the gifts he intended to bestow upon him. These were gold and silver, minted into coin, and luxurious clothing, and silver drinking cups and golden Thericlean vases, and linens of proud weave, and other exquisite ornaments, very easy for the Romans to acquire, but rare among the Barbarians themselves and for the most part never even seen. ^D Entering the hall, therefore, the Emperor, having sent for the sultan to come there, asked him how much of the treasure before him he wished to be gifted. When he said that whatever the Emperor gave him would be acceptable, he further asked if he were to spend that money on domestic and foreign soldiers, whether any of the enemies could withstand his attack. But when he, not without wonder, had said that if he had possessed so much money he would have long since made all his enemies subject to him: "I give you all these things," said the Emperor, "so that you may know both my munificence and may conjecture from how great wealth he originates who bestows so much upon one person." He was both pleased and beside himself at the great heap of money, blinded by the desire for gain, and he promised the Emperor to return Sebastia and its surrounding territory. Manuel, having eagerly accepted this promise, agreed to give him even more money if he should confirm his words with deeds. And to forestall the inconstancy of the Barbarians and to use the iron while it was still hot at his own discretion, he sent Gabras Constantine to him with many other gifts and every kind of weapon. But the man was deceitful and ignorant of keeping faith; as he returned to Iconium, forgetting the covenant, having devastated Sebastia and subdued its vicinity, he seized the supreme power for himself, and having ejected Dadunes and occupied Caesarea, he desired to overthrow and kill even his own remaining relative, Jagupasan. And as he in turn was gathering his own forces to equip himself against an adversary now endowed with greater power, he was extinguished in the very preparation for war.

^B Dadunes, meanwhile, having entered the satrapy of Amasia secretly, as if it were devoid of a ruler, was cast out again, and became the cause of death for the wife of Jagupasan, by whom he had been summoned. For the Amaseni, fearing that she would secretly reconcile the empire to Dadunes through sedition, killed her, and drove away to a distance Dadunes, whom they detested as a prince. But they could not resist the resources of Clizasthlan, who, just as he had previously held Cappadocia, so thereafter occupied Amasia as well, using the breeze of prosperous fortune to bring matters to a rapid conclusion, even though his body was not in good condition and was mutilated in many essential members: for the joints of his hands were displaced and his feet were lame, and he was so affected in other respects that he generally traveled by carriage. For these reasons Andronicus, a man most given to sarcasm and most skilled in mocking the defects of either mind or body, called him Cuzasthlan. ^C Although, however, he was deformed by nature with such a body, yet having attained a great empire and being protected by such forces, he disdained leisure, being possessed, as he was, of a turbulent and insatiable disposition; and wherever he could, he would harass and attack the Romans, not by declaring war, nor for any motive of violated treaties, but simply because it so pleased him. Nor did he refrain from Melitene itself; but having perceived the opportunity of overturning it, although he had received no injury from the Amera, he shamelessly concocted a pretext and expelled him also from his realm, fearing nothing of their shared religion. Then, he also drove his own brother into exile, having circumvented him by fraud. All these exiles betook themselves to the Emperor. And these things happened later. But at that time, with his power increased, he cast off his reverence for the Emperor, and with a truly barbaric inconstancy, demanded that the same respect which he had paid him when constrained by the times should now be shown him by the Emperor. For just as he had lowered himself beyond propriety when necessity pressed, so he grew insolent in prosperous circumstances, his spirit changing along with his fortune. Yet sometimes he did venerate the Emperor; and though he acted more as a beast than a son, he paid him the honor of a father and bore the title of an adopted son. In letters, indeed, the Emperor was written as father, and the sultan as son. Yet these appellations did not reconcile a sincere friendship between them, nor stabilize treaties and agreements. For he, like an overflowing torrent or a dragon swollen with poison, infected and snatched away everything in his path, devouring many of our towns by spewing out the virus of his wickedness. ^D The Emperor, however, blocked his paths, at one time with invincible armies, at other times with gold, and sought to bend the man’s incited greed toward peace. Sometimes, also, to repel the Turks poured out into the Roman borders, he would invade the Pentapolitan region; and the Persians not daring to come to blows, he would enter the city in triumph, carrying off many captives and many spoils. At that time, Solymas, the prince of the sultan's nobles, a crafty man and...

^A eloquent, spoke many words before the emperor on behalf of his master, attempting to show that the Turks had acted contrary to the sultan’s will, employing flattering words that did not correspond to his actions. But although he lied openly, because he extolled the emperor with excessive praises—as is the custom of barbarians—in a speech composed for deception, and offered him runner horses bred in his own stables, he suffered no harm. The emperor accepted the horses, and having approved Solymas for his fairness and submission (though this kindness did not proceed from the man’s nature, but was of his times), he sent him off to the sultan, so that he might explain things he already knew well, and confront him with his fickleness, perfidy, and iniquity. Nor was he, in truth, about to rest, or to allow the slaughter that had been inflicted to go unpunished for even a short time. ^B Therefore, he resorted to his habitual brigandage; and having sent picked cohorts to Laodicea in Phrygia—which was not then adorned with walls as it is seen now, but built in the manner of villages, scattered at the roots of the hills—he drove off a huge booty of livestock and people; he also killed many, and among others, the pontiff Solomon, a man who was indeed a eunuch, but a gracious man and near to God in virtue. The sultan, for his part, used to say mockingly to his own people that the more evils he inflicted upon the Romans, the greater were the benefits he expected from the emperor; for he held that to whom the victory belongs, to him also gifts are accustomed to flow, lest the victory spread further, just as dangerous diseases are treated more diligently, lest they spread.

Nor meanwhile did Manuel remain quiet; but first through Basil Zicandlas, and then through Michael Angelus, he attacked those Turks who, on account of the abundance of their flocks and herds, pursue grassy and level places, and for that reason, having left their own dwellings, occupy the borders of the Romans with their whole family. For he, ^C having ^D marked out a light part of his forces into cohorts and taken them with him, thinking that the adversaries could be attacked better by night, gave this watchword to his army in that nocturnal conflict, that they should shout: «iron,» so that their own men, recognizing the voice, might pass by unharmed, but might kill those who approached silently as if they were foreigners. That shout distinguished the peoples for the duration of the battle, and as David says, penetrated like iron into the souls of the Persians. But the Turks, after much slaughter, at length understood the watchword, and they too employed the same voice, until, the night having passed, the armies were separated. There were also many other forays of Manuel against the Turks and of the Turks against the Romans; most of which I have omitted because nothing memorable was done in them, lest the frequent repetition of similar things, without any grace of novelty, should produce boredom for the readers.

^A

The emperor will receive good things: "For to him who possesses the power to rule, gifts are wont to attach themselves, so that [P. 82] they may not exceed the winning, since even the inflamed parts of bodies draw to themselves greater medical attention, so that they may act as a counter-irritant and the spreading sores may be halted." Manuel, however, did not embrace peace because of these things, but first through Goudelios Tzykandeles, and then through Michael Angelos, he attacked the Turks, who, being breeders of many, would dig for the meadow-grasses, and because of these, deserting their own traditional manners, they would come in full force, invading the Roman borders. These men, having organized their battle-lines for agility, went out into the field with their own forces. Deciding that the night was better for an attack on the enemy, they gave a password to the army to call out "Iron" when engaging the Turks in the darkness, so that in this way they might pass by those of their own race as speakers of a common tongue, while they might strike those moving in silence as speakers of a foreign language. And this, being shouted out throughout the whole of that engagement, distinguished the tribes; and like that of David, the "Iron" pierced the souls of the Persians. But after a great slaughter, the Turks eventually understood what it was that the words in the mouths of the Romans signified, and they too began to call out the same in unison, until the night passed and the armies were separated from one another. Many, therefore, were the skirmishes at that time between this emperor and the Turks, and again between the latter and the Romans; but I have omitted those which possessed no memorable quality and were likely to produce satiety in those fond of hearing stories, as for the most part they caused the history to turn back to the same things and contained nothing changed or different for the narrative.

VOLUME FOUR. OF THE REIGN OF MANUEL COMNENUS. BOOK FOUR. RERUM A MANUELE COMNENO GESTARUM.

[P. 83] 1. I shall return again to Pannonian affairs, but for the sake of clarity I shall first premise some things concerning the narrative. The ruler of the Huns at that time, Jazas, had two brothers, Stephen and Bladisthlabus, and as many sons, Stephen and Bela. Stephen, therefore, having escaped the fraternal hands that were being prepared in slaughter against him, reached Constantinople, and having been received with affection by the Emperor Manuel, was given, in addition to many other benefits, Maria, the Emperor's niece, born of the sebastocrator Isaac, in marriage. A short while later, the third of the brothers, Bladisthlabus, following in the footsteps of Stephen, crossed over to Manuel, not so much because he judged that Jazas did not love him as much as was fitting, or because he was terrified of a plot on his life, but rather because he was enchanted by the fame of his brother Stephen's good fortune, and thus directed his journey toward him. ^B Nor did he fall short of his expectations, nor was he received by the emperor in a manner unworthy of his lineage; rather, all things turned out according to his wishes. Indeed, he could have taken to wife any woman he desired, even one of imperial blood. However, he abstained from marriage, lest, ensnared by the blandishments of a woman, he might forget his return to his homeland and take less thought for his own affairs. But what happens? When the King of the Huns, Jazas, passed away by a peaceful death, his son Stephen succeeded to the principate. But the emperor, delighted by this event, and having devised a plan—that if the satrapate of the Huns should pass to his kinsman Stephen, to whom it was owed by right—this would redound primarily to his own glory, and secondarily, the Roman Empire might perhaps acquire something...

of the tribute, and certainly come into undisputed possession of Zeugminum and Francochorium—he bent his whole zeal toward the accomplishment of these designs. The country of the Huns received his ambassadors at once, who, having arrived there, were to arrange the royal crown for Stephen, and after a short time the Emperor himself came to Sardica. The Huns, however, recoiled at the very first mention of Stephen and were deeply displeased to hear his name, claiming that they rejected him for several reasons, but chiefly because he had taken a Roman wife; for they judged it by no means in their interest to admit a man joined in affinity to the Emperor of the Romans, fearing that the Huns might be governed by him, while he himself might be governed and directed by the Roman Emperor. For these reasons, therefore, they were not inclined toward Stephen’s arrival there, and they sent away the Emperor’s ambassadors with their mission unaccomplished. ^B Consequently, the Emperor, thinking that Stephen should be assisted with greater forces, set out himself from Sardica to the banks of the Ister—I speak of the places of Braničevo and Belgrade—and sent along with Stephen his nephew, Alexius Contostephanus, with troops. When they had taken Chramum, they exerted their manly efforts in those things that pertained to obtaining the kingdom. Although they sought to corrupt the nobles of the Pannonians with bribery and flattery, and puffed them up with the greatest promises, they achieved nothing beyond having the Huns bestow the principality upon Bladisthlabus, brother of Stephen. When he died a short time later, the Huns turned again to Stephen, son of Iazas. The Emperor did not take this turn of events with equanimity, and with his support Stephen, the brother of Iazas, did everything possible to see if he might gain the kingdom. For this reason, many wars were joined; and when the Emperor had betrothed his daughter Maria to Belas, son of Iazas, whom he intended to designate as his successor to the empire, the Huns, who were opposed to Stephen, because they were rooting out the first sprouts of his hopes and cutting off the long and circuitous attempts he made through time, and were alienating themselves from affairs, determined to make away with the hated Stephen by treachery. ^C For this reason, having brought in a potion as a ready means of lulling life to sleep, they looked about for someone to hold the death-dealing cup in his fingers for Stephen. When they found a certain servant of Stephen’s named Thomas, they settled on the price. He was so sharp and most clever at ending a man’s life and separating the soul from the body, having offered his hand for wicked profit, that he discovered of his own accord another method by which Stephen might descend the sooner to Hades. Indeed, as Stephen was bleeding a vein, the bandage for the incision was smeared with poison; the poison, being poured over the whole body and coursing through it, and having reached the more vital parts, took the man from life, clearly confirming by the facts themselves that the designs of men are precarious and deceptive, and how vainly and to no purpose some attempt and labor at goals that are impossible to attain when divine aid does not support them; his corpse, treated with mockery, lacked the honor of burial. Zeugminum made its submission to the Huns. ^D Having heard these things, the Emperor declared war on the Huns.

^B 2. It was at this time that Andronikos escaped once more and, having arrived at Galiza, departed from there. Galiza is one of the toparchies of the Russians, who are also called Hyperborean Scythians. The method of his flight was as follows: He feigned illness and instructed a foreign boy, whose services he used for bodily needs and who had little knowledge of our language—but who alone of all had access to the prison—to steal the keys to the tower gates secretly whenever the guards, having indulged too freely in drink, gave themselves over to their midday sleep. He told the boy to take an impression of the keys in wax, so that the mold would be indistinguishable from the archetype and perfectly adapted to it. The slave performed what was commanded and brought the impressions of the locks to Andronikos. The latter told the boy to show these to his son Manuel, and to say that he must forge such keys with all speed; and not only this, but also to hide linen ropes, balls of thread, and thin strings inside the wine amphorae that carried his lunch drink.

When the desired objects were ready, the locks were opened by night, and the dungeon was thrown open without difficulty. The boy served the operation, having received his cue from Andronikos. Andronikos went out carrying the linen in his hands. His destination that night was a patch of tall, thick grass that grew about the inaccessible parts of the palace and had risen to a great height. For two or three days, he remained hidden in the grass and escaped his pursuers. When those searching the archives had had their fill of the investigation, Andronikos fashioned the ropes into ladders and, having lowered himself through the space between the towers, embarked upon a small boat that, according to a prearranged plan, was rocking by the shore and the breakwaters that line the sea wall of the city to break the force of the waves. The sailor who carried him had the surname Chrysopolites. But they had scarcely begun to pull out when they were hemmed in by the guards at the Bucoleon, who keep watch every night and do not allow any ships to sail that are parked near the palace. This watch had begun from the time when John Tzimiskes attacked Nicephorus Phocas by night, having been hauled up in a basket.

Andronikos was within a hair's breadth of being caught again in worse chains and more severe imprisonment, or indeed of taking his own life with a sword to cut short the many wanderings that were to follow. But now his own ingenuity saved the shrewd man; having cut from his own gardens the appropriate medicines for the occasion, just as the mimicry of derangement at Gath saved David before.

^A For impersonating a servant of the house—one who long ago ran away from his chains, and whom those who caught him were not allowed to overlook, for he had long ago suffered grievous things at the hands of his master and was now, at that time, being made to pay the penalty for his flight—he thus called out to Chrysochoupolos. He modulated his Greek dialect toward the barbarian tongue, pretending that he did not even understand the greater part of it. And Chrysochoupolos himself, having been beguiled by gifts, was able to extract Andronikos, having requested and received him as his own runaway slave. Indeed, Andronikos went unexpectedly into the house itself, which is called after Vlangas, where he greeted his dear ones, having spoken of his arrival and his departure, and was freed from the iron bands upon his feet. ^B And having reached Meliveton and mounted the horses kept there, which had been prepared for him for his escape, he rode straight to Anchialos. Having arrived there, he made himself known to Poupakes (who, as I have already related, first ascended the ladder at Corfu), and having received from him provisions and gained guides for the journey, he set off for Galitzas. But when Andronikos was far from fearing, as he had already eluded the hands of his pursuers and had gained the borders of Galitzas, toward which he had hastened as if to a secure shelter, he then fell into the snares of the hunters. For, having been seized by the Vlachs, to whom fame had already revealed his flight, he was led back again to the Emperor. Not having anyone to save or redeem him, neither friend present to comfort him, nor shield-bearer, nor servant, the shrewd man again employed his own cunning as his assistant. For, attempting to deceive his guards, he feigned a flux of the stomach: he would often dismount from his horse and turn aside to a secluded place, withdrawing and staying by himself, as if suffering from an evacuation. Doing this frequently throughout the day and night, he unobserved played a trick upon those accompanying him. For he took the staff upon which he was leaning as if he were an old man in poor health, and having risen in the dark, he planted it in the ground. He wrapped the long garment of his body around the staff and placed his hat on top, such that it appeared like a manikin in human form, bending its knee and defecating. While the guards remained outside, watching the effigy that impersonated him, he himself stole into the thicket nearby and got away, just as a gazelle might escape from nets, or a bird from snares. When they realized the trick very late, they pressed on with their journey to the front, thinking that Andronikos was again taking the same route he had taken before, but he, having turned back, went by another way to Galitzas. ^C The Emperor, having seized Poupakes, lashed him publicly with whips across his back and shoulders. Afterward, having led him forward with a rope tied around his neck, the herald cried out more clearly: "Whoever receives the enemy of the Emperor into his house and sends him away having given him provisions, is whipped and paraded in this manner." He, looking intently at the gathering crowd with a cheerful expression, said, "May this disgrace be offered to me by anyone who wishes, provided that I have not betrayed a man who has served me well, nor sent him away harshly, but rather that I have treated him as I was able, and sent him away joyful." Andronikos, then, having been welcomed with open arms by the governor of Galitzas, remained with him for a long time. Andronikos so attached that man to his own desire that he would hunt with him, sit in council with him, and would be a table-companion and house-sharer with him. 3. But the Emperor Manuel, considering his cousin's flight and his alienation from his birthplace to be a personal disgrace, and otherwise suspecting his very long absence—for it was rumored that he was gathering a vast Scythian cavalry so as to invade the Roman borders—considered it of the utmost importance that Andronikos return. Therefore, he sent for him to come from there, having given and received pledges, and at that time, as I said, when the treaties of Pannonia were broken, he brought [them] to the Roman...

provinces, with both the Michaels, ^A Gabras and Branas, defeated in battle and a vast amount of booty carried off. This Gabras had very recently celebrated his wedding feast with Eudocia Comnena, the friend of Andronicus, whom we mentioned before; her kinsmen, wishing to recommend him to the emperor, spoke of him with great applause and praise, and asserted that he had conducted himself bravely in the battle against the Huns. That this might be the more credible, they cited his colleague, Michael Branas, as a witness. When he was ordered to swear upon the emperor’s head whether he had perhaps witnessed any brave deed of Gabras, he postponed his answer, and turning to Gabras, he asked him whether he too had displayed anything brave and praiseworthy, or whether he performed the duties of a good and vigorous leader when they had met and fought with the Hungarians under the command of Dionysius. Since he found that Gabras conceded this, and confessed that he himself had truly fought bravely at that time, he replied that, since he could not, in the presence of the emperor, hide the truth when compelled to swear upon his own head, he said that Gabras had by no means withstood the charge of the enemy, but had been terrified at the first encounter ^B and had taken to flight, even though he himself had many times called him back and urged him with a loud voice to stand his ground. But the emperor, desirous of recovering Zeugmin and avenging the death of Stephen, brought his army into those regions. But the Barbarians, having drawn up their battle line on the banks of the river Ister, were preventing our men from crossing, and had cut off every approach. But in vain; for the Roman archers and the heavy infantry drove them from the banks, and the emperor placed his camp with all his legions at Zeugmin. This town, situated on a high mound and protected below by the flowing river, cannot be approached from the south. He thought, however, that he would capture it at the first assault, as the defenders would be terrified at the mere sight of him and would open the gates. But when he was excluded from every approach, and the walls were fortified with every kind of weapon and siege engine, and the enemies from the pinnacles were hurling not only lethal missiles but also obscene taunts and poisonous insults, the Romans no longer approached with empty hands, but, omitting the curses with which women are accustomed to fight, they carried the matter on with iron. And the emperor, in order to kindle his soldiers by a spirit of emulation, was the first to ride up on his horse and fix his spear in the middle of the gate. Then, because stones were available, the ditch was filled with earth and debris, and with four engines placed in a circle, he ordered the walls to be razed. When these were all in operation and hurling stones weighing a talent, they were shaking the structure of the walls, one in particular, directed by Andronicus himself in such a way that the wall between two towers was shattered and undermined by levers, threatening ruin. Now, one night, some Hungarian nobles, having entered a platform woven of beams that projected outwards, and brandishing their drawn swords in the air, were menacing the Romans with every most atrocious threat with a great clamor. But ^C vengeance followed them immediately; for Andronicus, with an engine skillfully aimed, struck the fortification on which they were standing so that, once leveled, it miserably crushed them. And not long after, the wall itself also, not

^A long after yielding ^B to ladders, allowed the Romans to ascend and enter the city. Many were struck down and killed, but not a few saved themselves by submitting to those who were already in control; some also fled and found safety in that way. One of the inhabitants of that city—and he not one of the dregs or the rabble, but one illustrious in wealth and distinguished by noble birth—prided himself on a wife of elegant appearance and very beautiful form. Seeing her being dragged off to outrage by one of the Romans, and having no power to defend her from the tyrant or to repel force with force and put an end to that unjust lust, he devised a plan—not the least noble, daring, and unlawful, and corresponding to the present state of fortune—and drove his dagger, which he was carrying, through the vitals of his beloved. And so, that lawless lover, maddened by the woman, quenched his irrational desire, there being no longer any fuel for the fire, while he left his wretched, though truly beloved, wife to taste the day of sorrow. Alas for the necessary entanglement of affairs and for the envious and treacherous Telchines who stage such tragedies in a theater of many spectators! O for the opposing loves, directed toward one single achievement, of the licentious and the chaste: the one desiring to save her for base beds, the other forestalling the disgrace and bringing death to her as something more novel and striking a blow against one passion with another! ^C Not a few of those within helped the Romans in the capture of Zeugmin, those who sided with the Romans and, as best they could, bestirred their sentiments toward them; for they were tying scrolls to shaftless arrows and shooting these into the Roman camp by night, revealing through them both what the barbarians were plotting and how great their growing strength was. At that time, a certain Pannonian was being led along, still a captive, wearing the local cap on his head and dressed in the rest of his native attire. But a certain Roman, passing by, struck and killed him with his blade and placed the cap of that man upon his own head, and was continuing his way thus. But justice, following with silent steps, caught up with him for this other evil he had committed against himself; a man more boastful than he, also armed with a sword, came up from behind this Roman, struck him a fatal blow on the tendon as if he were a Pannonian captive, and removed him from the world almost at once. In this manner, Zeugmin was captured, if I may be permitted to speak without delaying in my narratives. ^D

Hieronymus Wolf's Notes

". ^A And the emperor, having returned from there, crossed into the borders of the Romans. He left his uncle—I mean Constantine Angelos, from Philadelphia—as the governor of Zeugminon, and with him also Basil Tripsychos. Carrying out their orders, they repaired Zeugminon, restoring all the towers that were falling into ruin, and they took care of the other garrisons in like manner, and they bestowed the utmost concern upon the smaller towns at Belgrade. They also surrounded Nisus itself with walls, and rebuilt Branizoba, and having set the remaining matters in good order, they arrived where the emperor was staying. But he, intending to pursue Deses, who had become more wicked toward him, set out toward Serbia. But Deses, even from afar keeping watch on what was being done—and most of all fearing what was true, lest, if the emperor made an incursion into Serbia, something even more grievous might befall him—sent messengers to the emperor and supplicated for safe passage to him. When this was granted, he arrived with a satrapal retinue and was brought before the emperor, who reproached him for his deceitful turn of mind and refused him peace. It lacked little but that he was seized, yet he was ordered to return home, having been bound by the most sacred oaths that, his character being changed, he would commit nothing against the emperor, although it was sufficiently apparent that he would not depart from his malice. Having departed from the emperor, he was agitated by various cares. He was ashamed that he had approached him, he was angry at having been treated in such a way, and he grieved that he had been coerced by oaths as if into the ranks. Finally, rejecting all that he had sworn against the sentiment of his own soul, he resumed the fox’s skin and ^B lauded that tragic line, that barbarian man, saying: "My tongue has sworn, but my mind remains unsworn."

^C 4. However, Manuel, not yet having sired a son, but having only his daughter Maria—whom the woman from the Alemanni had borne him—and seeing the successions of his line becoming unsteady, bound everyone by oaths that after his death they would obey Maria and her betrothed, Alexios, who, as we have said, sprang from Hungary, as emperors of the Romans, with the highest regard, and that they would bow down and do homage to them as their rulers. Whereupon all the others yielded to what was commanded and rendered the oaths as the sovereign ordered; but Andronikos alone was resentful, saying that the emperor, having declined into a second marriage, would surely beget a male heir, and that if we were to give oaths to the latter child, the oaths just now given to the daughter would necessarily be rendered void. And furthermore, what kind of divine blindness was this in the emperor, to deem every Roman unworthy of the daughter, and to have chosen and set this alien and interloper over the Romans to reign as master, to the disgrace of all Romans? But the emperor had no patience for hearing these wholesome words, regarding what was said as the idle chatter of a man of opposing opinion and stubborn mind. There were, however, some who after the oaths became of one mind with Andronikos; some declared their opinion on the spot, while others, abandoning speech, turned to deeds of contention, [maintaining] that it was expedient neither for the emperor's daughter nor for the Roman state that an alien man should be in possession of affairs.

to be beneficial to the fullness [of the Church] to graft the slip of a foreign plant onto a most fertile olive tree, and to set oneself to revive the power of the whole. 5. Now, the account will add to the history another matter, which outweighs the silence [which would otherwise cover it]. To this emperor, there was great concern regarding the cities and fortresses of Cilicia, among which the brilliant and illustrious Tarsus is seated as the metropolis. When, therefore, many leaders of high honor and famous lineage arrived there, the choice fell in sequence upon Andronikos Komnenos, both as a man of noble birth and as one ^A in the eyes of men most worthy to be seen. Having arrived there, and having taken on the tax collection of Cyprus so that he might draw expenses from that place, he stood repeatedly against Thoros in battle and declared war, for he viewed Thoros as an enemy and was in turn detested by him; yet he never achieved any noble success, nor did he perform anything worthy of the varied experience in warfare and craftiness that he boasted. Finally, when Thoros defeated him shamefully and set up a trophy, he devised a most reckless plan, such as the account is about to relate. For as each had brought out his own forces against the other, Andronikos had his army arranged as if it were a living creature, with a head, a rear, and limbs corresponding to the whole; but Thoros had divided his own camp into many sections, spreading them out into squadrons and companies. When they clashed and fought, victory again fell to Thoros, and it was brilliant; for the phalanxes of Andronikos gave way to the Armenians who were always assisting at the height of the struggle and springing forth from the ambushes, and ^B they turned to a disorderly flight. Because of this, Andronikos was swallowed up by grief, and having no way to recover from the defeat or to take any noble action against the enemies who were already offering sacrifices for their victory, he attempted that which was nearly impossible. For having observed Thoros still standing somewhere on horseback with his guards, awaiting the gathering of the troops from the pursuit in which they had been engaged, he let go of the reins and, with the horse at full tilt, thrust his spear at him. Having struck his shield, he knocked him from his horse, and he slipped through the group of guards around him like a winged horseman or some slippery eel. Yet he could not cause any harm to Thoros, who was protected by an oblong shield and an iron breastplate. A few days later, ^C having put aside his military preoccupations and his helmet, and having repudiated and scorned all military duty, he deserted to his mistress dwelling in Antioch. When he had arrived there and had exchanged his martial attire for the allurements of love, he practically handled wool or wove a web and held a distaff; just as Hercules once served Omphale, so he served Philippa. She was the daughter of the Porphyrogennetos, the sister of her who not long before had married the Emperor Manuel, Andronikos’s cousin. Dwelling in Antioch, he ganted after luxuries, studious to the point of madness of ornamental displays, and he led his satellites about the squares equipped with silver bows, tall and blooming with their first down, shining with yellow hair; and by that means he hunted her by whom he himself had been captured and entrapped in love’s bonds, and he reciprocated in equal measure with interest, being both conspicuous for his admirable beauty and distinguished by his garments, which he changed one after another, especially those which are let down beyond the buttocks and thighs and are slit, and are so fitted to the body that they seem as if they were sewn ^D onto him; he was himself the author of this invention,

and he counts as secondary matters his manslaughters, battles, and wars, the trumpet sounding the Enyalian strain, Panic and Rout and Aris the slayer of men; and having pushed aside warlike deeds, he pursues the orgies of Aphrodite. He does not put forward Helen, nor does he parade her—as it were—before the eyes of Greece or house her in the midst of Argos; he displays her beauty, drives men mad with love, builds a ship, and appoints Phereclus as admiral. By proximity, he sketches the beauty of Philippa ^A and acts as a pander to the love-stricken Andronicus; for he was, by report, captive to love. Throwing down his shield, therefore, and casting off his helmet, and having shaken off the soldier entirely, he deserted to his beloved, who was in the city of Antioch. Having arrived there, and having exchanged the splendor of the Loves for the equipment of Ares, he all but combed wool and held the loom and helped with the distaff, serving Philippa as Heracles once served Omphale. She was, in fact, the sister of the daughter of Phatinus, who had been joined formerly to his cousin, the Emperor Manuel, but was not yet very well known. He, having taken Antioch, poured himself into luxuries and grew wild with finery, parading through the streets with silver-bowed guards, tall in stature, his beard first shadowing his skin and his hair turning to auburn; and from that point, he was hunting for the one who had hunted him, whom he had also bewitched with his own love-fetters. Andronicus—having done this, and having done it more ambitiously—already possessing a beauty worthy of admiration and growing like a young fir tree, was fluttering about over exotic robes, and all those that, falling down about the buttocks and thighs, are slit and seem as it were woven into the body, serving himself as a model for others in such things. Therefore, his sternness had relaxed; that state of being constantly thoughtful, the gravity of character, and the anxious look had all been laid aside, and the beast had cast off his brow. She, however, since she was utterly captured, yielded to his bed, forgot her home and country, and followed after her lover.

The Emperor, when he was thunderstruck by the reports regarding this, was almost speechless and was divided in both directions; for he hated Andronicus both as one in the grip of an unpermitted love and committing an unlawful marriage, and as one who had deceived him in his hopes regarding the Armenians, and he sought to arrest him and exact penalties from him. He therefore sends the Sebastos Constantine Calamanus, a man full of calculated daring and blessed with noble stability, to assume charge of affairs in Armenia and to attempt, if possible, to be joined to Philippa. ^B He, having first groomed himself as a bridegroom and having adorned himself as was fitting, and as far as he knew how to attract his beloved, enters Antioch. But Philippa paid such heed to him, and he had so turned her away from her previous love, that she did not deign to favor Calamanus even with a glance or a word—nay, rather, she even reproached the man for his shortness of stature and mocked the Emperor Manuel himself, if he supposed her to be so ignorant and simple-minded that she—having abandoned Andronicus the hero, whose fame is wide and whose lineage is great—would attach herself to a man whose lineage is extinguished, and who, if he is known at all, has only just recently become so. Since, therefore, Constantine saw that he was held in low esteem by Philippa’s people, ^C and because he already knew that by his very presence, being already at the point of such knowledge as he had, ^D and because he saw that they were cast down by his reputation, nearly struck dumb and torn on both sides: he hated Andronicus for his impious love and his incestuous union, and desired for that reason to seize him and punish him for failing to fulfill his hopes for Armenia. He therefore sends the Sebastos Constantine Calamanus, a man of sound judgment, magnanimous and steadfast, who was to govern Armenia and, if possible, take Philippa to wife. He, having donned the finery of a suitor and prepared himself to allure the beloved, enters Antioch. But Philippa was so far from being torn away from her love for Andronicus that she did not deign to grant Calamanus even a look or a greeting; rather, she mocked the shortness of his stature and attacked the Emperor himself, who thought it a folly that she should marry someone of obscure lineage, recently risen to notice, while spurning the renowned and noble hero, Andronicus. Cognizant of this contempt for himself and of Philippa’s love for Andronicus, he departs for Tarsus. Having joined battle with the Armenians, he was defeated and captured, and was later ransomed by the Emperor for a large sum. Andronicus, however, fearing the threats of Manuel and dreading lest he should exchange his love for Philippa for his former prison and lingering miseries, set out for Jerusalem, having fled in his customary manner. And, being a most voluptuous man, he seduced Theodora, the daughter of the Sebastocrator Isaac, the wife of Baldwin of France, who had recently ruled all Palestine.

^A Andrônicos, having been caught in the crossfire of those who were stirring up and inciting against him, departed from there. Having reached Tarsus, he engaged in war against the Armenians, the rivals of the Romans. But when his adversaries pressed him hard, he was captured and was in chains. However, the Emperor ransomed him, paying a significant price in captives. Andronicus, however, fearing the threats of Manuel and terrified that, should he be captured, he might exchange his former prison for that of Philippa’s affections and undergo long-term affliction, departed from there and headed toward Jerusalem—like the weasel in the proverb [(89)] that runs toward the fat, he returned to his old ways, and cast his gaze upon his former schemes.

Being indifferent about his life, and like a horse maddened by irrational couplings, he physically pressed himself and engaged in wantonness with the daughter of his first cousin, Theodora (I mean the daughter of the Sebastocrator Isaac, the brother of Emperor Manuel), who had recently lost to death her virginal husband—this was Baldwin, who was of Italian descent. ^B The Emperor Manuel received yet another wound from these events and did everything he could to devise a way to catch Andronicus within his nets. From this, he sent out a document marked with red ink, urging those in power in Coele-Syria to detain Andronicus as a rebel and someone who was acting wantonly against his own kin, and to deprive him of the sight of his eyes. And Andronicus would perhaps have had his eyes reddened with blood—his cheeks held and bound—or even have been plunged into a purple-dyed death, had the hands of others held that royal letter of condemnation.

But as it was, with God preserving him, as it seems, for a day of wrath and storing him up for the future evils which he committed through the tyranny he later seized, and upon which he himself later fell most pitilessly, the letter was given by the hand to Theodora. She, having read this and learned of the plots being prepared against Andronicus, handed the document to him herself. Andronicus, therefore, realizing that he must depart from there and hasten, and that he could not remain there a moment longer, was overcome with terror and prepared for flight. Being a sophist and a deceiver, he also led Theodora herself astray; and just as Zeus of old, having beguiled Europa from the chorus of maidens, brought her on his back after transforming himself into a fair-horned bull, so too did this man, separating the woman from her home and asking her to accompany him on a Sabbath day’s journey—as if she were escorting him and bidding him farewell—lured her, a willing yet reluctant fellow-traveler and companion in wandering.

Changing lands, dwelling as a wanderer with rulers and potentates, and being held in honor and treated with respect by those with whom he stayed, being deemed worthy of the greatest friendliness and sharing in bountiful gifts, at a late hour he finally stopped his wandering with the Saltuch. This man was at that time ruler over the regions adjacent to Coloneia and reaped the fruits of all that was near and neighboring to Chaldia. There, Andronicus lived in restlessness with Theodora, with whom he sired two children, Alexius and Irene, and also John, whom he had brought with him from Byzantium, born of his lawful wife, until his return to the Emperor Manuel—which the narrative will provide in its proper time and place, so that the events that followed and those to be told by us again concerning him may be clearly connected. ^C Yet in many ways and often, Manuel, binding the soul of Andronicus and seeking to take it, was exposed, attempting the impossible; for this wandering and long-suffering Andronicus easily thwarted the attacks made against him and, lightly leaping over the traps that were often laid and stretched out for him, remained uncaptured and unhunted. ^D [P. 93]

Hier. Wolfi notes

^A 7. But what is near at hand? For it is necessary not to abstain from these things either. Most of those who rule are timid and suspicious, and they rejoice in accomplishing whatever Death and Chaos and Erebos might, in cutting down the noble-born and putting out of the way everything high and lofty; and they are precisely like high-reaching and tall-topped pines. For just as these, even at the lightest breaths of wind, whisper as the needles of their branches are shaken together, so too these men eye with suspicion him who is wealthy and tremble at him who is superior in manly courage to the majority. Even if someone should be statue-like in his beauty, and his tongue sharpened like an egg-laying bird, and his character seen to be pleasant, he is not permitted to sleep, nor to be at peace, for him who is on the throne; but for that man there occurs an interruption of sleep, a subversion of luxury, a taking away of pleasure, a casting off of worries. And they reproach Nature, the creator, that she has also fashioned others to be expectant of rule, and did not plant them as the first and last of the most beautiful of men. Therefore, they also fight against Providence and become over-armed against the divine, ^B spinning out all kinds of goods to excess and slaughtering them like sacrificial victims, so that they may, forsooth, have their leisure to act with pride and to enjoy the public resources as their own ancestral estate, and to use the free-born as slaves, and sometimes to treat men of higher worth as purchased servants. They know this ill, and are intellectually robbed by their power, and mistakenly disregard those of former times (90).

And so Manuel, having no grievance to complain of against Alexios the Protostrator, nor that he had been in any way slighted or bothered or had fallen short of owed goodwill and faith—indeed, having performed actions matching the good things he had received from him, and as if on a balance he brought the other scale, yet was moved by mere suspicion alone, driven by the promptings of certain malicious men, as a human being is led, because he saw the man was beloved by the generals and soldiers and used a generous intent and a hand free with gifts toward all, and perhaps also coveting the wealth he possessed—seizes him while staying in Sardica, before the day had dawned while he was still sleeping with his own wife, and not only stripped him of all his possessions, but also, having tonsured him as a monk, casts him into one of the monasteries on the Papykion mountain. ^C But so that the deed might not be seen as unexcused and a royal crime and unseemly act, the sycophants were present, lurking nearby, the very ones by whom the accusations had been furnished; and they concocted grievances against the emperor, not yet very persuasive or daring, such as to make someone believe that a man might employ [magic] to fly and not be seen at all by those whom he would wish to attack with a drawn sword, and other buffoonish things that are not acceptable to healthy ears, such as those that the Greeks of old used to tell about Perseus. The leader of these calumniators was said to be Aaron Isaacios, who, having been taken to Sicily with the others from Corinth and having been taught the Latin language quite well there, served as an interpreter for the emperor.

But the wife of Alexios, the daughter of the first-born brother of Manuel, distinguished by her piety toward her husband and her modesty, and an illustrious ornament of the female sex, having tried in vain to lay hands upon herself, and having rolled as a suppliant at the feet of her uncle, and with the greatest grief and a most holy oath having testified to the innocence of her husband and his loyalty and observance toward the emperor, was nevertheless unable to move his soul to mercy, however miserable her condition, nor to lead him from his resolve. ^D And so, from the perpetual grief of her solitude and mourning, like a chaste turtledove, she fell into a mental wandering until [the time of her] death.

Hier. Wolf’s notes. (90) Those who are heedless of the past. It refers either to the forgetting of merits and deeds, or to the insolence of being unmindful of one’s former lot.

^A all the villages that are subject to [the enemy] by gold, and after their subjection, to encamp at Prosacus. For they said that in this way the army would be more confident, having first ravaged the easy targets and gathered booty from there, and that Chrysus himself, being strangled by the force of circumstances, would change his mind to something more sensible, yielding in his arrogance or even despairing of his situation. But as for the initial impulse to attack the unassailable [positions] immediately and contend with the steep mountains, they said it was futile, and furthermore, they foresaw bloody sweat and much added toil, and imagined the headless helmets ^B of the fighting men. And while they advised these things, the eunuchs who were set before the emperor—chief among whom was George Oianotes, and the smooth-faced youths of the service—opposed them more bravely. For they, surrounding the emperor, experienced and clever as they were, persuaded him to lead the army straight to Prosacus, and to advance with weapons and spear-arms against Chrysus himself, saying, "If this man is captured, there is no one who will stand against us hereafter. And besides, what is the point of delaying in not proceeding directly to the vital part, but rather to hunt for the enemy through detours and circles? ^C Furthermore, who would endure to live long in these barbarian and graceless lands for no or little benefit, while the season of figs and melons is already here, and the other fruits of the earth are ripening, with which the Propontis abounds like a paradise planted by the hand of God? Would that we were upon the plain of Rhegium and could see Aphamea, so that we might greet sacred Constantinople and from there sail up to the lush territories before the Euxine, where a gentle and life-giving northern breeze blows constantly, and fresh fish leap about, and dolphins jump most delightfully, and the charms of baths smile on every side, and the ^D wandering waters of streams exhilarate the spectator, and the chirping swallows and singing nightingales and every other feathered musician chirping and whistling in the thickets enchant the ears of those wandering hither and thither." Accordingly, with all zeal the emperor is carried toward Prosacus, if the account is equivalent to the sight of it. Whence some defensive works were destroyed as a side-task of the march, and heaps of crops and wheat-fields were burned, and Vlachs taken as booty were shown, whom the satrap of the city of Ancyra had sent as auxiliaries to the emperor, because the emperor, being sounder and more fervent regarding the orthodox faith, had implored him not to allow the Turks at all to carry home to their own country men who worship the same God that we worship, so that, being forced to change their faith, they might not enrage the divine against those who delivered them up; but rather that the captured Vlach people should be turned over to the servitude of the Romans, and the Persians who had captured them should be gratified with other royal gifts; but he did not yield at all. Since ^B the emperor had been persuaded, they urged him to lead the army straight to Prosacus, for when that was captured, nothing could resist further, especially since nothing prevented him from invading the fortress of the war, and there was nothing that would force him to seek the enemy through detours. Besides, there is no one who would endure to stay any longer in those barbarian and foul places, with little or no profit, during the season of figs and melons and while the other fruits were ripening, with which the Propontis abounds, as if it were a paradise of God planted by hands. "Would that," they say, "we were in the plain of Rhegium and were beholding Aphamea, so that after greeting sacred Constantinople we might navigate into the delights of the Propontis, where gentle and fruitful North winds blow constantly, where fresh fish palpitate, where dolphins jump most joyfully, where baths smile here and there, where the turnings of clear streams exhilarate the spectator, and where the chirping of swallows and the song of nightingales and other birds soothe the ears of those walking about." Therefore the emperor is carried with loose reins to Prosacus, as if he had beheld with his eyes what he had received with his ears. Meanwhile, however, some fortresses were overturned, and granaries and crops were burned, and some Vlachs were captured by the Persians, whom the satrap of Ancyra had sent to the emperor as an aid. The followers of the orthodox faith had entreated the emperor not to permit in any way that men who worship the same God whom we ourselves venerate should be led away by the Turks, lest, being compelled to abjure their religion, they might incite God against those to whom they had been surrendered: but that while the Vlachs were distributed into the service of the Romans, the Persians who had captured them should be placated with other largesses. But he flatly refused; and having positioned the camp at Prosacus, he immediately instituted an attempt at an assault. And the Romans performed deeds worthy of reward and admiration, their enthusiasm exceeding all hope. For some, protected by shields and drawn swords, others carrying bows and arrows, swarmed up the steep mounds of the castle, and having become the defenders of the walls, they attacked the closer targets. Finally, after much fatigue and slaughter, they drove the barbarians from the fortification, with the gates newly obstructed. There were also those who, pulling themselves up with ropes along the precipitous paths and clinging to the rocks like mountain goats, strove to transcend the walls and break into the fortress itself. But when, having routed them and compelled them into the castle, they thought that they had accomplished a salutary and most beautiful thing, then at last they understood the vanity of their labor. For when they had requested mattocks to demolish the walls, there was no one who could supply those instruments. Nevertheless, persisting in the work, they railed against the prefect of the craftsmen, and using their hands and swords instead of mattocks, they pulled the stones from their joints, and tore down the battlements by leaping upon them. But because the matter was proceeding too slowly and they themselves were being badly handled from the higher position, the eunuch prefect of the armory barely brought the mattocks in one bundle to the defenders ^D

^A.

Book IV (continued)

Manuel, however, having once looked with a sidelong gaze of anger at Sclerus Seth and Michael the Sicilian ^D, ordered that they should be punished with just wrath, as they had been giving their services to impostures. For Sclerus, when he saw a certain maiden, whom he despised, he desired her and importuned her openly, and sent a Persian apple to the girl; and the maiden having accepted it to her bosom, and being maddened by lust, she was corrupted by him. The girl’s family having learned this and being indignant, and striving against the demon of chastity that was afflicting the girls and being like a serpent of that evil man, 193 regarding their chastity as...

[alt-version omitted]

… but they did not consign these wise sentiments to ears that would listen. For the Emperor, having fully accepted the marriage of his granddaughter Theodora as a guarantee of loyalty, judged the situation with Alexios to be secure in all respects and free from any stumbling block, because the malevolent power that periodically brings ruin to Roman affairs was, I suspect, casting its spells here too. But when not long after the fear had materialized into action, he was struck dumb at the things he had heard; having no idea what he should think, since this evil had broken out unexpectedly, and because the gathering of armies is a difficult task, he immediately sent a certain eunuch to the rebel—one of those first among his intimates—to remind him of their agreements and that he had never suffered anything unpleasant or unworthy of his hopes since the moment he had joined him; for he had not even yet abandoned hope of a change of mind. ^B Following him, the Emperor’s new sons-in-law also set out with their whole household and family retinue and the soldiers who were at that time found in the palace. Therefore, the profane eunuch having arrived at Alexios, not only was he seen to have accomplished nothing in regard to the matter, but he even strengthened him yet more in the task at hand by his own presence, having rashly signaled the arrival of the Romans against him, which was as good as imminent, and advised him by the words he spoke to abandon the plains and take hold of the mountains, as those places maintained both his safety and the unified contingent that had defected along with him. Those around the Emperor's sons-in-law and the protostrator Manuel Kamytzes pursued the rebel for a considerable distance, and there was a certain marvelous eagerness, and all wished to be champions; but having lost the momentum of the moment because the prey had been put to flight, they abandoned the struggle. ^C To the more ardent it seemed best to pursue and search in this way, following Alexios into the mountains; but it did not at all please the more prudent to search for the tracks of an eagle flying over frozen peaks and mountains, or the creeping of a serpent upon a rock, or to enrage a tusked boar into an encounter, which frequently has offered its chest to the spear, but rather to go around the small towns that Alexios had restored and built, and place them under the Emperor’s obedience. ^D As this plan was ratified as the better one, they attacked the fortress which Alexios had built on the slope of a mountain in a place called Kritzimos, where the Romans, having labored greatly and competed zealously, lost not a few good men in bringing ladders to the wall, among whom the foremost was George Palaiologos. Having captured the stronghold from on high, they also subdued other small towns in close succession to this, prevailing over some with bloodshed, and over others by terms of surrender. But Alexios, being resourceful and very clever in the works of war, produced many other deeds against Rome…

^A disposition for one discussing these matters among the supernatural and those needing no external artifice. But he also composed catechetical discourses, proclaiming the arrival of the time for fasting days and encouraging those who were to enter into the spiritual struggle. In part, he made mention of the dogma, how it was discussed, and what sentiments were held by him; but what the opposing party claimed, he consigned to silence, I suppose, to avoid contradiction. Yet regarding the dogmas, he attacked those things that he ascribed to them, which they neither knew of at all nor had ever conceived in their minds. ^B For there being a question whether the holy body of Christ, which is received, is incorruptible, of the same kind as after the passion and the resurrection, or corruptible as it was before the passion, some affirmed it to be incorruptible. For the participating in the divine mysteries is a kind of confession and remembrance that the Lord died and came to life again for our sake, according to the great theologian Cyril. And in whatever measure one receives it, one receives the whole, him who was touched by Thomas, and that he is eaten after the resurrection, as John of the Golden Tongue says in addition to what follows: "O the wonder! He who sits at the right hand of the Father is found in our hands, the hands of sinners!" And again: "It blossomed in the Law, grew in the prophets, ripened on the cross, it is eaten after the resurrection." And besides these, that it is no other thing than that body which was shown to be superior to death and began our life. For just as a little leaven, as the Apostle says, makes the whole lump like itself and equal, so too the body of God, having been rendered immortal, when it comes into our body, changes and transfers the whole unto itself. ^C Others also proposed these things from Eutychius, the lamp of the Church: "Therefore, a person receives the whole, entire, most holy body and precious blood of the Lord, even if one receives only a part of these. For it is distributed impartibly among all because of the commingling, just as one seal imparts all its impressions and forms to those who receive it, and it remains one even after the communication, not being diminished nor altered toward those who partake of it, even if they are more numerous. Or even as a single voice, produced by someone and poured into the air, remains entirely whole in the one who uttered it, and having come into the air, is entirely conveyed to the ears of all, with no one among the hearers receiving more or less than another; but it is whole, indivisible, and complete among all, even if the number of those who hear be ten thousand or more, although it is a body; for a voice is nothing but struck air. Therefore, let no one have doubt that the incorruptible body and life-giving blood of the Lord, placed into the antitypes through the holy sacrifices after the mystical liturgy and the holy and immortal resurrection, is less capable of expressing its own powers than the aforementioned examples, but rather is it found whole in everything. ^D Those, therefore, who proposed these things and cited many other testimonies of the Church, were opposed by those who claimed that this mystery is not a confession of the resurrection, but only a sacrifice, and consequently corruptible, senseless, and inanimate; and that whoever approaches it does not receive the whole Christ, but a part, in that he receives a part. For, they say, if it were incorruptible, it would also be a participant of mind, and animated, and untouchable, and ina—

^A bility to take action and to meet imminent dangers, which by God's help they will courageously overcome so as to report an illustrious victory. He incites them, and promises that he will liberally reward them for the glory they cast upon him and for the victory they will bring him in his absence. And while these things were being said, they showed their eagerness with attention and silence, and when the speech was finished, they declared their feeling and excited spirits even more, so that, soothed by the blandishments of his words, if any trouble remained in their memory from the previous battles, it seemed to be entirely abolished. For they celebrated the emperor with joyful acclamations, and promised that they would struggle even beyond their strength, and they begged that they might be led by their commander against the enemy without delay. Thus, among the excited armies, a confused clamor immediately arises in the camp, because a certain man of the Pannonian race, while being carried at full speed on his horse, had fallen forward onto his face. Upon hearing this, the emperor himself was cheered and bade everyone be of good spirit, interpreting it as a good omen for a happy outcome of the war, and he invoked God as the savior and guide of the army. Andronicus, having departed with all his forces, after some days, having crossed the Sava and the Danube, enters Zeugminum. The Pannonians, effectively not at all terrified by this, but having arranged their own cohorts and with no small amount of auxiliary forces hired from neighboring peoples and even the Alemanni themselves, as was reported, and having entrusted the command of the whole enterprise to Dionysius, a man energetic and renowned for his victories, were burning with spirit and vainglory. This Dionysius, as soon as he heard that the Roman army had crossed the Ister, swelled with arrogance over his previous victories, boasted that, as before, so now too would he use the bones of the slain Romans, heaped into a mound, as a trophy. For he had already done this with barbarian ferocity, having defeated Gabra and Brana, as I have already mentioned.

Thus, the troops being suddenly excited, a confused shouting is raised in the camp; for one of the people of the ^B Pannonians, while driving his horse at full speed and with great force, had been thrown headlong, and had fallen upon his face in the midst of the marching column. The emperor, therefore, having heard of this, was himself dispelled of his gloom and exhorted everyone to have courage, as it were prophesying the future from this, and rejoicing as if already on the right hand of the war's conclusion. And he was occupied with these things, calling upon God as a leader before the armies. ^C But Andronicus, having girded on his commander's sword, departed from there with all his forces, and after a few days' interval, having crossed the Sava and the Danube, he arrived at Zeugminum. The Pannonians, however, were not cast down by this, but having gathered their own troops and having hired no small number of mercenary soldiers from the nations bordering on them, and from the Alemanni, as it was said, and having appointed over them as commander this Dionysius, a man brave and one who had many times turned back opposing phalanxes, they had taken courage and marched with a great clamor. And this Dionysius was the one who had first crossed the Ister to ravage. A man of military prowess, puffed up by his former victories, he used to speak against the Romans with great arrogance, saying that he would heap up the bones of the Romans who would fall in battle into a mound and use them as a trophy, just as he had done on another occasion; for there was something of the barbarian insolence in him, having already, as I have just now mentioned, vanquished Gabra and Brana.

2.

^A And the general assigned the front of the phalanx to himself, while Andronikos Lapardas held the right wing, and other chiliarchs, whom the general had brought along, held the left. He had also drawn up other phalanxes, spacing them a little apart from each flank, so that they might, as the occasion arose, wheel around to aid the beleaguered battalions. While he was thus marshaling and establishing his forces, someone arrived from the emperor bringing letters, which directed the postponement of the engagement for that day as being inauspicious for martial operations, and to defer it to another day, which the note also specified. The general, therefore, took the letter and placed it into his own robe, neither noting what was written nor revealing the orders to the magnates who were with him, but ^B shrewdly distracting them with the narration of other matters. ^C For the emperor deplored that day as an unlucky one and altogether unfavorable for a confrontation with the enemy, since he was accustomed to refer most and the greatest of his actions—not by the favor of God, but I know not how, by the rotations of the stars and their positions and movements—to the interpretations of those who chatter about the stars, and he was led to follow their dictates as if they were divine pronouncements from the tripods of God. But the general, paying no heed to the writing, but knowing how a brief prompting from a leader often greatly encourages a combatant, urged the army to the struggle at hand with the following words, whispering: "Remember," he said, "O Romans, the valor of the enemy, and think nothing unworthy of your glory and the fortune that belongs to you, well knowing that even mountain-dwelling beasts fear those who boldly march against them, and are terrified and flee; while those who stand trembling before them are devoured as if they were a ready meal. We must, therefore, stand fast against these beast-minded barbarians, so that we do not fall under them, suffering from an ignoble and slavish love of life that does not save but destroys—this, indeed, is what the vices opposing the virtues ^D are wont to do, even if they lie adjacent and are, in a way, close neighbors. And besides, it is not the case that we are vulnerable and mortal, while our enemies are fashioned of bronze; nor do they wear coats of steel and ride upon swift horses, while we stand opposite them with naked bodies; nor is the enemy dexterous while we are unfit for battle. To all, the equipment and the practice of war and the arming are the same. I pass over the fact that by as much as we surpass the barbarians in speech and education, we also surpass them in strategic arts and methods. We have already met in conflict with the Paeonians before, invading and ravaging their land. Let us, therefore, engage them now as well, having progressed to the habit of victory. Yes, men and fellow-soldiers. Thus ^D whatever even among the universal virtues one may see."

^A children and wives you have. Let this deep-eddying Ister, of those being ground down and expiring in its whirlpools, lift up the voices of the Barbarians; but also, let it drag along, as it flows blood-stained through the lands, a trail that clearly proves the Paeonians defeated and the Romans victorious, astonishing those who behold it with the strangeness of its currents. It is necessary, moreover, to consider in addition to these things that the one who sent us into this war is dependent on us all, and, warmed by good hopes for those things in which we have agreed to act with vigor beyond our strength on his behalf, he nearly brings back the captives and imagines the greatness of the victory. Let us not, therefore, bring shame upon him, and let us not dispose ourselves badly by falling into cowardice in the face of the danger now before us, which has nothing as its end but death. For the peaks of evils do not love a retreat, and to be slack even for a short time in these matters is to betray the whole. »

3. ^A

How Dionysius arrayed his army against them.

^A when they went into battle), struck the Paeones with them; and the blow was very telling, falling upon their heads and faces. Many, therefore, became dizzy and were tumbled from their horses; and there were some who even bled from their wounds. And thus, that unbreakable formation having been shattered, there was no one who was not of the Romans striking and casting down a Paeon, or despoiling the fallen, or putting on another's full armor, or mounting a horse whose rider he had slain. When the day was toward evening, the trumpet sounded the recall clearly, and that aerial signal of the Dionysian ensign was lowered, and the Ister had its ferries drawn up, and the army was brought over to the far bank. For a report was circulating through the Roman camps and striking the mind of the general, that the Paeones were not expecting a cowardly group of strangers in the aftermath. Because of this rumor, then, which was not altogether accustomed to be empty, Andronicus departed from there immediately after the favorable end of the war.

But thus having out-generaled the Paeones, the emperor, having received word of ^B this most beautiful victory, offers thanksgiving to God, and he himself was in rejoicings and gladness. Sharing these joyful achievements with the inhabitants of the queen of cities, he immediately sends letters of good news, proclaiming the victory with the blast of trumpets. After a few days he himself also, entering the great city, conducts a triumph from the eastern gate, which opens toward the acropolis. As though intending to celebrate a triumph grandly for a greatest victory and an untarnished achievement, he ordered the preparations for the procession to be made on a grand scale. Every purple and gold-flecked robe was hung out, and the city magistrates, flowing one from another towards that procession like a river channeled down a slope, emptied the marketplaces, houses, temples, workshops, and every other part of the vast city. Nor was the triumph deprived of a company of captives; but many of these led the way, embellishing the procession as they passed. Moreover, the very barriers standing on either side of the street along which the triumph was to be accomplished ^C, raised to two or three stories, inspired wonder in all, and the roofs no less held many spectators, and all hanging over. And when the time came for the emperor to pass, there preceded a silver-gilt four-horse chariot, pulled by white horses like flakes of snow, and on it was established the image of the invincible ally and unassailable fellow-commander to the emperor, the Mother of God. The axle did not groan loudly, for it was not carrying the fierce goddess Athena—who is falsely called a virgin—but the true Virgin, who in a way beyond words brought forth the Word through the word. Behind this chariot followed the emperor's kin and friends, the senate, men distinguished by magistracies and dignities, and those bright in honors and renowned for the emperor's favor. Then the emperor himself advanced, sitting on a high-necked horse, most glorious and greatest, wearing the imperial ornaments in brilliant fashion. There accompanied him also the author of the triumph, Contostephanus, heralded for the victory, and congratulated for the skillful ^D performance. And having entered the great temple and praised the Lord before all the people, he proceeded from there to the palaces. And as if unstringing a bow, he relaxed himself from that extreme tension with horse races.

4. And when the following spring had stored away comfort for the body, since the sun had passed Cancer and had moved beyond Leo, and Sirius had ceased its scorching, and the winter solstices were already threatening, he goes out

^A toward the west and encamps near the place of Philip. For he had heard that the satrap of the Serbians (Neman Stephen was at that time their leader) had become more insolent than was fitting, and, being a man of evil disposition, he considered meddlesomeness to be wisdom, and nurturing an insatiable desire, he strove to be carried toward all things in those regions, and falling heavily upon those of his own kin, he oppressed the race with the sword. Nor even knowing his own proper bounds, he was subduing Croatia and drawing to himself the lordship of the Cattari. For these reasons, therefore, wishing to make trial of Neman’s state of mind regarding these things, he sent Theodore Padiates with an army. But the toparch Neman was of such a rebellious spirit ^B that he immediately declared unannounced war and fell upon the Romans. When the Emperor decided to take vengeance upon him, he quickly abandoned the war and fled into the mountains, taking refuge in caves and crags; and then, his pride diminished slightly, he finally fell as a suppliant at his feet. For he was anxious in his mind, lest the principality of Serbia be granted to one of those whom he himself had overthrown, who might be more worthy of it. Therefore, the Emperor treated this man with such skill and converted him to keeping his faith to him, if ever he saw him swerving from the straight path and looking toward freedom, or joining himself with the king of the Alemanni, or inclining toward the Huns and sharing in the spoils, with as much diligence as a shepherd is accustomed to guard a small flock. But Neman feared him no less than ^C the other animals fear a lion. For whenever the Emperor set out with only his cavalry and his requested guards, exiting the Roman borders to move against him, he would immediately change the state of Serbia according to his own will, wavering and looking toward an easier and freer path, or attaching himself to the king of the Alemanni, or inclining toward the Huns and acquiring a common purse and pouch, so that not even a shepherd has such a easily-bounded flock. And thus Neman feared him that he did not even dare to move against the most royal of beasts, the lion—he who often would take only his cavalry and, saying to his bodyguards “Follow,” would cross the Roman borders and, launching an attack against him, would direct the affairs there toward his own desired end.

5. After these things Manuel, having heard of the fertility of Egypt ^D and the fruit-bearing inundations of the Nile, and hearing that it produced its happiness measured by cubits, devised plans to set his hand upon the sea and his right hand upon the rivers, so that he might behold with distinct eyes the Egyptian goods he had heard of and make them attainable to his hands. Yet although what was nearby was still in motion, and although it was being cut and burned, it was not being destroyed, but like the Hydra, it was reprouting and reviving. Impelled by an importunate ambition and led by the emulation and glory of ancient princes, who had ruled not only from sea to sea, but from the Orient even to the Occident, he left aside more urgent matters and undertook a distant expedition. Having communicated his plan to Americus, king of Jerusalem, and having found him not rejecting the idea, but rather promising to assist him in the undertaking, he prepared a fleet of more than two hundred long ships against Damietta, among which were ten from Epidamnus and six swift vessels from Euboea. He appointed as admiral Andronicus Contostephanus, the Grand Duke, and sent Theodore Mauro-Zomes ahead with sixty triremes to the king, so that he might bring the rest of the fleet and...

arrive there with Contostephanus; he was also to urge him forward as if he had prepared his own affairs for the departure, and at the same time to bring to him the wages for the Jerusalemite cavalry, as many as were intending to campaign with the king, since he was assisting in the war and setting his movement against the Egyptians, [P. 105] against whom the Roman fleet had been assembled. Not long after, Contostephanus himself also set out (the month was then July, the eighth day), and having anchored at Melibotum, and having been instructed in what was needed for the work by the emperor, who had arrived there to inspect the fleet, he set sail after two days, and touched at Koila—these are the places around Sestos and Abydos—and he embarked upon the triremes the army that had been selected and handed over to him from the Roman and foreign squadrons. From there, as the wind was brisk and favorable, he cast off the stern-cables, unfurled the sails, and laid his course for Cyprus. During this voyage, he chanced upon six scouting ships that the Emir of Egypt had sent out, and having captured two of them, the other four, which had not been keeping the course level, accelerated and escaped.

^D 6. Having anchored off Cyprus, he announces his arrival to the king and inquires what he has in mind, and whether he wants him to wait for him in Cyprus or if he himself should march for Jerusalem. The king, like Epimetheus, of whom it is said that he deliberates after the fact, was greatly stung at heart, for he had agreed to assist the emperor at all, or rather, had urged on the movement being planned against the Egyptians. Thus, he was prone to stalling and often deliberated about what should be done. But at length he signified to Andronicus to head for Jerusalem, so that they might meet there and both consult on what they would accomplish together. Thus, Palestine held Contostephanus, while hesitation and deep regret again possessed the soul of Amalric and burned within him. Proposing many other things as a pretext (98), he nevertheless held out the gathering of his own troops against everything else. But Andronicus was vexed at this, for the season was being squandered—a season that could not be recovered once it had passed—and he was further galled by the expense of the naval crew, which was being consumed to no purpose. For the emperor had measured out rations for the fleet for three months, beginning from the month of August; and at that time, September was drawing to a close. However, when it seemed time to sail, the king preferred the journey by land to the sea voyage, and suggested to Andronicus that they do so, saying that he knew this route to be much easier and less taxing for the one who chose it, and that in this way they would be able at once ^A to seize, in one assault and on the way, both Tunium and Tenesion. The rest...

These are small villages ^A subject to the emir of Egypt, not difficult to approach or to storm, but lying on a flat plain, and with most of the inhabitants known by the name of Christ; so that Andronikos, persuaded at any rate by the good suggestion ^B which the king preferred, turned to them. Having completed the journey in between without distress, they attacked the forts we have mentioned and, having swiftly subdued them—for they did not possess within an adequate force or a hand strong enough to march against a rival division—they pressed forward. And indeed, having joined with the fleet that had already slackened its oars at Damietta and was anchored off the city, they at once engaged with the Saracens, who had poured out before the city and appeared in armor. But the Romans so terrified and threw them into such disorder by the sheer ferocity of their counter-attack that they were pushed back with shouting and confusion inside the gates, not even having the resolve to look them straight in the face. And this was how that day was spent, on which the triremes reached the Nile and the king arrived by land; on the following day the Saracens again gathered to join battle with the Romans in the curving plain before the city and that which bent gently around the wall. Yet not even then did they stand against the Romans. For having kept a short distance from the gates and never departing from the outer wall, they conducted the battle in such a way that as soon as the Romans charged them, they, guarding only against suffering harm, would break into flight and pour through the gates, not daring to lead their phalanx straight on against the enemy; and this happened for many days. ^C But since this strategy, as has been shown, was capable of nothing more than outwitting the Romans so that they might waste time in vain, being deluded by unfulfilled hopes, Andronikos brought up siege engines for the new year. He did not, however, strike the wall without toil and danger; for the barbarians threw missiles from above at those who were operating the machines and prevented the work, sending down arrows like a snowstorm and devising counter-measures for the safety of the wall. Yet, even so, he managed to demolish a section of the wall, upon which a temple was founded and dedicated to the Mother of God. The townspeople took pleasure in the fact that the Mother of God had once rested there, together with Joseph the Betrothed, when they had set out to Egypt to escape the child-slaying Herod. The Saracens, therefore, mocked the Romans and lashed out at Andronikos with insults, as one who did not spare the temple where they gathered to perform their own mysteries, singing prayers here and thanksgivings there. Since not even in this way did Andronikos accomplish what he intended, he decided to attempt those inside by means of a stronger assault. And so, having come to the king for discussion, he urged him, insisting greatly, to lead out the army and to encompass the whole wall, and if the labor should succeed, to use ladders and let in those climbing up. The king indeed praised what was said and approved of the skillful plans,

^A but he would not agree to approach the business in any other way, and he persisted, taking the tomb of Christ as an oath, unless wooden towers were first constructed and he should set them against the walls. Saying these things, he ordered them to cut down the date palms that had grown up in the city and to scrape them into the heights of towers. The tall, tufted palm trees were cut down, the groves of trees were emptied, the entire garden was stripped bare, but the framing of the towers and their joining and completion were being accomplished nowhere; for the king kept putting off the future to long days, always somehow delaying it until tomorrow, and not fulfilling what had been decided. Seeing this, Andronikos was grieved by what was left and lamented the army, which was already lacking provisions and in danger of dying by famine. ^B Those who did not even have the means to buy the necessities of life were in distress, while those who were discontented because they had no market of their own, setting down most of their money with the king’s food-suppliers, had little left for their own sustenance. And the time agreed upon for the campaign had long since run out, causing complaints and distress, and above all, the empty and useless waiting, which had exceeded fifty days. Having no other work to look to, and because the emperor’s letters did not allow him to undertake anything at all that might not be agreeable to the king, he sat expecting some signal from the king. But since he perceived nothing good or moderate coming from the actions of the man—who neither took in, nor assisted, nor joined in counsel—and seeing that the army had fallen into many severe and impossible straits, and was in danger, as the famine was heavy and devouring them mercilessly, so that some were reaching for forbidden foods, and all were eating roots, plucking the tops of date palms, and cooking them as a meal to set before themselves, and since not even good omens were appearing; considering that foreign aid was soon to arrive for the besieged from the Sultan of Egypt and the Arabs to the east, and that a large number of Assyrian horses had been purchased and were very close, he abandoned the thought of speaking to the corpse, despised the Latin arrogance, stripped it off, and determined the struggle of war by himself. Having gathered the army, he says, "Staying here for a long time is grievous, and to return with empty hands, having done no evil to those against whom we came, is most shameful. Worse than both of these, and the height of madness, is to obey a man who is utterly averse to the interests of the Romans, and no better disposed toward us than the enemies themselves. Do you not see how the king has fortified his rampart far from ours, and does not come forth from there—our ally and confederate—no differently than if he had been invited to a festival and a spectacle, and not to join in a war alliance with us? Do not our enemies do the same, keeping themselves inside the walls while delaying the battle? Therefore, I am afraid that we may not only depart having accomplished nothing, but may not even be able to preserve our own lives. It is not my concern whether the king brings us aid, but rather how we might escape his deceits—he who does not even try to hide his perfidy—and, having avoided the impending danger, depart from here safely. Perhaps now the Egyptians have found new remedies, more effective than those ancient ones, by which not only the sadness of the soul is cast off, as in the draught given to Helen by the wife of Thon, but even brave men are rendered effeminate. Amerigus, having drunk of such a cup to the point of drunkenness, seems to have fallen into a long lethargy, and to have grown sluggish, his arms cast aside and neglected, or rather, having been corrupted by money, he has changed his mind and grown deaf, his ears stopped with gold. Now the alliance that he struck with the emperor is vain; he honors him only with words, while in his soul he is averse to him. We, however, hemmed in by such great evils, will be consumed by famine and war. The Romans boast in vain of their valor: the deeds we performed with distinction have come to naught. It would have been better had we never entered these ports across so many seas than to depart from here with the business unfinished. Now, with white sails—like those we carried to Byzantium—it will not be permitted to return, but we shall cover the ships with dark ones, because of the stain of disgrace. But as for us, fellow soldiers, whether citizens or foreigners, separated from the Palestinian knights—men raised in pride and perfidious—let us attack the barbarians, let us assault the walls, let us compete to capture this town, and let us strive as those who are about to possess the riches of the enemy. If the barbarians are protected by walls and cast weapons from a higher position, we have huge shields to place in opposition like towers, impenetrable not only to missiles and swords, but even to the blows of siege engines. But if you wish to fulfill your duty, follow me, prepared to suffer with you whatever fate may grant. For I will not permit anyone to say that Andronikos is skillful at making speeches and sharpening the spirits of the soldiers, but a cowardly leader, ignorant of how to take vengeance on an enemy. Indeed, I will stand in the front line, as is fitting, and I will close the rear guard, where it may be necessary. May God bring success to our counsels, and turn the calamities onto the heads of the enemies." Having decided to try the fortune of war even alone, ^D

not even casting a veil over our inmost thoughts, let us depart from here, escaping the danger that stares us in the face. ^A Perhaps even now the Egyptians have devised remedies mightier than those of old, which do not merely soothe pains and dissolve the bitterness of a soul with unexpected delights—as that nepenthe, the consort of Thunus, once gave to the Spartan woman, causing her to forget all evils—but also soften valiant men and make them forget their courage. And I believe the Egyptians offered a cup of such potions to Amerigus, and being bewitched, it seems, by the drink and having partaken of it to intoxication, he has long since been delivered over to a lethargic stupor. Wherefore, his shield hangs by a peg, his sword sleeps in its scabbard, and his spear is stuck in the ground-spike. Or if this is not the case, he has been poisoned with silver so that his mind is altered and his ears are stopped with gold, and scratching himself with this, he has become hard of hearing. And now the covenants which he gave to the Emperor on behalf of the Romans for an alliance are as if they never existed; he honors him only with his lips, while his heart is far removed. We are surrounded by such great misfortunes, since war and famine consume us simultaneously, and the boasts of the Romans against us are gone, and our brilliant successes have been effaced. It would have been better not to drop anchor in these roadsteads after traversing such vast and boundless seas, or to depart having cursed the outcome, so that now—as I suppose—it will not fall to us to wing our ships with white sails, as we did when we set out from Byzantium, but rather with dark ones, darkened by the very color of shame. ^B But, fellow-countrymen and fellow-soldiers, and all of you foreigners here, let us separate ourselves from these proud, haughty, and perfidious knights from Palestine—who have shown themselves as they are to the Romans—and let us launch an attack against the barbarians, let us join in the siege, let us struggle so as to capture this town, and let us vie for the treasure within as if it were already in our hands. If the wall is the barbarians' obstacle and their defense is from the height of their towers, we too have shields, which are not easily pierced by men—for they are even more substantial than that seven-fold Ajax shield—but are set up like towers, not alone unshakable by arrows and hand-flung missiles, but surely more impenetrable than anything released from engines. Having set these up as shield-towers, let us care little for the wall and those fighting from it. If you choose to do what is just, it is time for me to be obeyed, since I myself will gladly obey whatever must be done with you; for no man should be able to say that Andronicus was very clever at coaxing with words and whetting [men] for Ares, but was an incompetent commander who knew not how to repulse the enemy. But the front of my helmet shall be seen by the combatants before your own eyes. And being in the vanguard, as it behooves one to do, I shall be your rearguard if the occasion so requires; may God bring our deliberations to a successful conclusion, and may every calamity fall upon the heads of those whose land we are laying waste."

^C 7. Having said these things, he himself put on his armor, and the rest having dispersed from the meeting, donned their panoplies. And when the day had advanced to the third hour and the regiments were marching out, he rose from there and advanced in order, standing before the entire army. The Saracens, having fastened the gates with bolts and bars, and having hung certain engines to protect them, remained on the walls, warding off the attackers with every kind of weapon, and making the whole area within range of their projectiles impassable with what they slung from the battlements and what they shot from bows. But even so, [...] Andronicus aimed his spear against the gate, and the archers and every other man showed themselves active; the ^D trumpets were blown repeatedly, exhorting to the battle, and the cymbals resounded, so that those on the walls and the ships were stunned by the sudden onset and advance of the Romans and the discharges from all sorts of engines. But as the scaling ladders were already being brought up and set against many parts of the wall, the report of what was happening struck a mortal blow to the king. He, as if he himself had suffered some great and incurable evil, or had been driven mad by what he deemed a whirlwind, was speechless for a while. Recovering with difficulty from his dizziness, he asked for a horse, and leaping on, stood before the Roman army with the chosen men under his command, and suppressing the impulses of all, he gave orders not to fight with men who had long since...

^B yielded to them bloodlessly and would surrender the city to the Emperor. And this speech, like some paralyzing force, fettered the hands of the Romans and halted those who were already close to sacking the city; and the King himself, turning to negotiations, made treaties that were far more pleasing to those from Hagar than they were honoring the Romans. But the soldiers, having not at all inquired into what the terms of the peace were, but remembering only the talk of a return home upon hearing the word, demonstrated their naval ignorance in deeds more effectively than fire, and at once filled the camps with disorder. For by their own decision, without the leader’s counsel, the siege engines were burned, and having offloaded most of their armor, they took to the oars and looked to the barren sea, rushing toward the ships more like madmen, not even considering the winter weather or the fact that it was the wrong season for sailing; for it was the fourth day of the month of December. Thus, one could see that great fleet of many ships, and the one landing at the harbors, and their subsequent re-embarkation, scattered into ten thousand pieces, with some choosing a different voyage and everyone steering their ships toward their own homelands, so that scarcely any triremes remained—those which were intended to carry Andronikos back. He, having turned toward Jerusalem with the King and having been suitably sent on from there, bypassed Iconium and arrived in Byzantium. Of those many ships, some encountered contrary winds and went down with all hands, while others, scattered by the sea’s surge, were only returned to the naval shipyards of the city late and when spring appeared. Nor were there few that, having been emptied of their passengers once they had reached land, were left to be carried by the channels of the waves like Charonian ferries, so that only a few remained, having escaped the churning of the sea and the negligence of the sailors. The Saracens, fearing the Romans’ incursions and wishing to guard against their voyages in the future, sent ambassadors to the Emperor with ample gifts and confirmed the peace ^C.

8. When, however, the Empress was near her labor, the purple was brought out and made ready for receiving the child. As the labor pains pressed on, she was placed in the purple; the Emperor was present, soothing and comforting his spouse with his presence, though his mind was more intent upon the stars and the moment of the fetus’s birth. Upon the son being born, whom astronomy taught would be rich, unique, and the successor to his father’s empire, thanks were given to God, and all the subjects applauded and rejoiced. The Emperor himself, that he might render the birthday more celebrated, received the more honorable citizens at banquets, as was the custom, they carrying branches, and he named the boy Alexius. And this not rashly, nor so much to honor him with the name of his forefather as because of an oracle, by which it had been answered to him in riddles that the series of the Comnenian family would endure only as many [generations/descendants] as the letters the name Aima—that is, "blood"—contained: and by A, Alexius; by I, John; by M and A, Manuel and his son, another Alexius, were signified not obscurely. When the boy progressed in age and grew like a fruitful plant, the Emperor took up another plan and resolved to transfer the oath regarding the succession of the empire from his daughter Maria and her husband, Alexius the Pannonian, to his son. Therefore, he gathered in the most capacious temple of the Mother of God with his son and the citizens, and with the oath of imperial succession transferred to his son, as he thought, soon after he separated his daughter from Alexius

and betrothed her to one who was betrothed to another woman, one who recently arrived with Baldwin, the brother of the prince of Antioch. But when the king of Hungary died at that time, Manuel, considering his death most opportune, immediately sent Alexius with a brilliant retinue and great royal display to assume lordship over Pannonia. He, having been crowned with the diadem without effort and declared king of all the Hungarians without dispute, the emperor zealously sought another husband for his daughter; passing over the noble Romans, he inquired which princes of foreign nations were either unmarried or had sons who would succeed to their paternal kingdoms. But when William, king of Sicily, seemed to hold the first place in that class and did not shrink from that marriage, frequent embassies were sent back and forth and discussed the conditions of the marriage in vain. For the emperor, hesitant from the beginning and fluctuating, his mind distracted by diverse counsels, finally changed his opinion, judging that an alliance with the king of Sicily would not be in the public interest. Thus his daughter, although sought by many suitors, remained for a long time unmarried and mournful in the palace. But after her father's long deliberation, she at last married one of the sons of the Marquis of Montferrat, a youth most handsome and sweet, still beardless, even though she herself had exceeded her thirtieth year and was endowed with manly strength. ^A

9. It should also be inserted here. There is a certain sea gulf in the West, called the Adriatic, ^B receding from the Sicilian sea and, as it were, a projection of the Ionian current, being distinct by itself and stretching far towards the North wind. The Venetians inhabit its deepest recesses—they who might be called by an idiom of the tongue "Venticians," men nourished by the sea, gatherers like the Phoenicians, and cunning in mind. But they, being Romans ^C who had once been introduced by necessity for naval warfare, changed their own into the faction of Constantine, and thence being scattered throughout the Roman domain, and holding only the name "Roman" as a vestige of their lineage, they were in other respects kindred and friends, and they greatly increased, and were enriched. ^D Therefore, being also clothed with wealth and displaying insolence and impudence, so that they might not

^A only hold the Romans in contempt, but also show no regard for the Emperor’s threats and commands. The Emperor, therefore, having weighed the implications of their behavior, and mindful now of the reckless transgression at Corfu, and now having experienced another evil, and then again seeing his soul piqued by yet another and worse piece of villainy, boiled over with rage, much like the sea when stirred by a Caecias or a Boreas blowing gusty and wild. And because their transgressions appeared to him to be overflowing, letters were dispatched throughout every Roman province, ordering the arrest of the Venetians and marking the day on which this was to be carried out and their property confiscated for the public treasury. When the appointed day arrived, they were all rounded up, and of their goods, some were taken into the imperial treasury from wherever they had been gathered, while the greater part was appropriated by the provincial governors. But the Venetians residing in the city, especially those who were not bound by marriage, plotted their escape; and since a ship of the Triarmenii was anchored in the city’s dockyards—a vessel which, for its size and capacity, was said to have never before been seen putting in at any time—they boarded it that very night, raised the anchors, and, spreading their sails to the winds, departed. ^B Imperial fire-bearing ships and triremes, filled with men carrying battle-axes over their shoulders, pursued them, but, although they approached the vessel, they were unable to accomplish anything; for the wind urged the ship forward so that it seemed to fly rather than sail, and the pursuers, discouraged primarily by the ship’s towering height and the desperate nature of those on board, gave up the chase. At that time, their home city of Venice received them safely; but the following year, having strengthened their fleet, they began to raid the islands, and having sailed into Euboea, they besieged Euripus, and after occupying a portion of it, they set fire to the buildings. With the approach of spring, they sailed from there and put in at the island of Chios. When Emperor Manuel heard of these events, he dispatched the Great Duke Andronicus Contostephanus with about one hundred and fifty triremes, for the Venetian fleet was not inferior, and was prepared with the utmost diligence and equipment for a great war against the Roman enemy, having also recruited many auxiliary ships of the Slavs. But at the first report of the Roman expedition, they were alarmed and retreated to their ships, subsequently fleeing to other islands, ^C so that the changes were wearisome even for them, while the Romans were distressed that the business was proceeding less successfully and that the enemy gave them no opportunity for battle. Andronicus, however, having sailed as far as Malea, and seeing that he was pursuing that which he could not overtake, reversed his course and returned to the port of Byzantium. But the Venetians, seeing that their own side was making little progress in the war, made peace with the King of Sicily so that, if arms were turned against them, they would be defended by his aid against the Romans. The Emperor, moved by this report, and not unaware that often from a slight cause great upheavals and huge calamities have arisen, renewed the ancient treaty with the Venetians. And although he could not tear them away from the Sicilian peace, he nevertheless granted them pardon upon their request, and restored all things which, according to custom, they had held as Roman citizens; and whatever of their wealth had been brought into the treasury, he did not refuse to pay back. ^D Yet they, following a more convenient and useful plan, as energetic and shrewd merchants, waived the recovery of their money and stipulated that fifteen centenarii of gold should be given to them in exchange for their confiscated goods; which sum was paid out to them not all at once, but in several installments.

BOOK SIXTH

OF THE REIGN OF MANUEL KOMNENOS

^A Thus were these matters brought to an end by Emperor Manuel; but let the narrative proceed to what follows, and let it accord to the history both the time and the nature of each event. For since it was not possible to secure peace with the Sultan, as he had once determined—finding it advantageous to himself for financial gain, and altogether most conducive for the Turks—to pour forth continually against the Roman borders, the Emperor went out against him once more. Yet even he, for the most part, did not allow the Persian ruler to sleep, but like a fierce hunter he would prick [the Sultan] from his sleep, rousing him from his bed ^B and inciting him to battle. Nor did any truces or cessation of hostilities, or treaties of peace, or the exchanges of envoys, serve to prohibit or wall off their mutual attacks; but both were inclined toward fervor and disposed to conflict, and frequently, upon the slightest pretext that intervened, they attacked one another. Their most earnest work consisted in the donning of armor, the assembly of the regiments, and the chaotic skirmishes that ensued. In this, however, they differed one from another: the Sultan appeared always to be a man of foresight and deliberation, performing his deeds with calculation, and he spun out the battles through his own generals cautiously—for no one ever beheld him standing at the front of the phalanx or sharing in the toil with the soldiers; ^C but the Emperor, possessing a noble nature, proved to be impetuous in the wars, and he was energetic in the deeds of his own hand. Once the rumor had spread that the enemy had invaded somewhere and was laying waste to the territory under his authority, he was the first to mount his horse and boldly initiate the sortie. Wishing, therefore, to restore Dorylaion, he added also every—

^A necessity for its defense; it was the Emperor who, when the supplies were sought, would lead the line at the sound of the trumpet, and never leaving the foraging parties, he would return to the camp only at late evening or twilight. The Persians, finding this troublesome and being intent on war, would burn the crops and houses so that no food would be available to the Romans. It happened, however, that while the Emperor was about to take some food and was peeling a Persian apple with a knife, news was brought to him that the Persians had made an attack against those gathering supplies. Casting the fruit down at once, he took up his weapons, donned his breastplate, mounted his horse, and rode out. ^B Seeing him, the Barbarians, who had stood in battle formation, soon broke their ranks and, feigning flight, suddenly turned and struck those who were pursuing them. for they are accustomed to spurring their horses continuously; they charge with great force, shooting arrows over their backs; and thus, instantly shifting the nature of the battle, he who was fleeing now puts the pursuer to flight and kills him. Having restored Dorylaion and having put in order everything pertaining to its defense, he departed, and having also restored and fortified Subleon, he returned to the imperial city with the rest of his affairs, as he thought, most excellently arranged.

Book 6

But not long after, their misunderstandings were rekindled, and each began once again to flame with anger against the other. Wherefore, they accused and rebuked one another, the Emperor charging the sultan with being ungrateful for such great benefits and help, by which he had confirmed the kingdom to him against his own kinsmen, while the sultan accused the Emperor of being prone to breach of faith, of lightly dissolving their friendship, of rashly abrogating the conditions of peace, and of offering empty promises of great gifts; these indeed were inscribed in red-inked letters, but in fact, little was provided. For these reasons, therefore, the Emperor was both gathering his old forces and enrolling new ones; he also summoned no small number of foreign auxiliaries, ^C especially from the Latins and from those Scythians dwelling by the Ister; and having gathered a vast army, he prepared himself as if he were about to overturn the Persian nation, to seize Iconium along with its very walls, and to trample the head of the sultan under his feet. Having prepared what was necessary for the expedition, he went to the great temple of divine and ^D

ineffable Wisdom ^A and implored the help of the Divinity, and victory. He did indeed pray for it, but did not obtain it, as the outcome of the war taught, since it was granted by the inscrutable judgment of God to the Persians. Having departed from the Queen of Cities, he passed through Phrygia and Laodicea and arrived at Chonae, a happy and great city, formerly Colossae, the homeland of me, the author. Entering the temple of the Archangel, which is most great in size and most beautiful in elegance, and a work of admirable craftsmanship in every respect, he set out from there and came to Lampe and finally to Celaenae, where are the sources of the Maeander, into which flows the Marsyas river; where it is said that Apollo flayed Marsyas, who, in a certain frenzy, had dared to compete with him in the skill of singing. From there he came to Choma and stood before Myriocephalon. This is an old and deserted fort, having—I imagine—been named from the event, or the event followed the name; for often many thousands of Roman heads have been thrown there, as I am about to relate.

The emperor always advanced with order and arrangement, ^B raising ramparts and making his departures with reason, using strategic methods, even if he had a slow march because of the pack animals carrying the siege machines and the multitude of unwarlike men assigned to them, who were numerous and all unfit for battle. But the Persians also, appearing from time to time, harassed the Romans with skirmishes, and they cut down the grass along the road so there would be no fodder for the pack animals, and they defiled the waters so that the Romans might not drink pure water. The Romans themselves, moreover, were suffering badly, being afflicted with a bowel disease, and this malady was feeding heavily upon the army.

II.

^A their countenances, and who, wearing golden collars and necklaces sparkling with bright stones and pearls, adorned their necks, sent the ambassadors away without success. But the Sultan did not cease from negotiating again for peace. When, however, he saw that the agreements were not progressing, and that the Emperor himself answered him boastfully in regard to Iconium, he occupied in advance the narrow passes which are called the Tzybritzes, which the Romans were also intending to pass through after their departure from Myriokephalon, and he placed his own phalanxes there so as to draw them up in battle array against the Romans immediately upon their arrival. This place is an elongated valley, having the summits of mountains, which in the northern climate descends gently from the ascent into hills and hollows out into wide ravines, while on the other side it turns towards the projections of rocks and is broken up into steep precipices. ^B Being about to march along such a road, [the Emperor] does not appear to have provided anything useful for the army; for he neither cleared away the great number of baggage carriers, or rather the wagons which carried the siege engines, nor did he attempt with a light-armed band to push the Persians out of those dense and mountainous passages beforehand and thus smooth the way for the army. But as though he were making the march upon flat terrain, he chose to be compressed in that narrow defile, even though he had heard by rumor, and would shortly have his eyes confirming what he had heard as well, that the barbarians had occupied the heights in advance and would attack, and that they would empty every quiver and release every arrow in order to defeat the Romans and prevent them from advancing further. The Emperor therefore led his phalanxes in this manner; and it was then the month of September. Leading the army were the two sons of Angelos Constantine, ^C John and Andronikos, and after them Constantine Macroducas and Andronikos Lapardas. Behind them, the right wing was held by the Emperor’s brother-in-law Baudouin, and the left by Theodore Maurozomes. Following these were the baggage train, the servants of the army, and the wagons carrying the siege-engines; after these came the Emperor himself with his elite guard, and the rearguard was Andronikos Contostephanus. And when they reached the difficult paths, the divisions around the sons of Angelos and Macroducas and Lapardas had passed through unscathed by evils; for the infantry forces, having been deployed in front, were clearing the barbarians from the hills by driving them back, from which they had descended from the mountain to stand and fight, and were forcing them back upward. And perhaps the troops following those might have also passed the attacks of the Persians unharmed, if the Romans had made it their task to close ranks and follow the leading ^D divisions closely, and had checked the onsets of the attacking Persians by means of their archers. But now both they themselves from the

^A heights descended to the low ground and the slopes of the hills; breaking their formations and mingling in the fray, they turned against those with Baldwin, wounding many and slaying not a few. Then Baldwin, seeing that his affairs were in a ruinous state and his troops too feeble to break through the enemy and pass on, and being pressed on all sides, took up some horsemen and charged into the Persian phalanxes; but he was surrounded by the enemy and slain, and all those with him fell, having shown an example of deeds of strength and brave hands. ^B Exalted more by this, the barbarians made the mountain tracks everywhere impenetrable for the Romans, and, gathered in a throng, they blocked the passage. The Romans, huddled together as in a narrow place and colliding with one another, not only had no power to do any harm to the enemy, but even by standing in the way of those following behind, made them useless for defense. Hence they died more easily at the hands of those pressing upon them, nor was there any assistance from the rearguard or from the Emperor himself, nor any retreat or diversion to either side. For the wagons, twisting about in the middle, in no way allowed the leading ranks to fall back or regroup to advantage, but became, as it were, a barrier against the troops with the Emperor, walling off their forward advance. Therefore, an ox fell from a Persian arrow, and the herdsman perished beside it. Horse and rider were cast down together. The ravines were seen to be full of corpses. The groves were filled with the fallen. Streams of blood flowed, murmuring. Blood mingled with blood, and the gore of the animals with that of men. Thus were things terrible there, exceeding every history. Since, therefore, it was not possible to advance, and it was otherwise impossible to turn back (for the Persians were also at their backs and had made the way forward impassable), as many of the Romans as were caught in the mountain passes perished around their stations. But if any spark of noble spirit or anger against the adversaries still remained in them, this too was quenched and taken away, and their zeal departed from them entirely, from the fact that they brought before their eyes another episode of calamity: the head of Andronicus Batatzes fixed upon a spear. This man was a nephew of Emperor Manuel, and he had been sent with an army—as much as could be recruited from the Paphlagonians and from Heraclea in Pontus—to combat the Amasene Turks. The Emperor, therefore, confused in his mind by such rumors and by such loathsome sights, and seeing the head of his nephew held aloft, and foreseeing the magnitude of the danger in which he was encompassed, was seized with melancholy; and, suppressing his grief in silence and discharging his mourning with mute tears (as the saying goes), he awaited the outcome, and being destitute of counsel, he knew not whither to turn. Yet the Roman legions which had gone before, having overcome those dangerous paths, fortified a rampart on a certain hill which granted some measure of safety.

III. The Persians with all their might ^C sought to overthrow the forces that were with the Emperor, thinking that if the largest and most powerful part were routed, they would easily overcome the rest as well, just as we see happens in the case of serpents: when the head is crushed, the remaining length of the body also dies; or as with a citadel, for this being taken, the remaining city, as if captured by assault, suffers the most miserable fate. And the Emperor many times attempted to drive the barbarians from those difficult roads and was persistent in trying to level the path for those beneath him; but seeing that matters were not proceeding according to his design, and that he would perish no less if he remained in place, as the Persians were always becoming more powerful by fighting from higher ground, he charged with a few of those around him straight at the enemy. He urged the others to seek their safety, each as he was able; for he could hope for nothing good from what he saw. And so, after many wounds and lashes, by swords and iron ^D

^A maces struck by the Persians surrounding him, the Emperor slipped out from that barbarian phalanx which had then enclosed him. Indeed, he was wounded over his whole body to such an extent that his shield had about thirty blood-stained arrows fixed in it, while he himself was unable even to lift up his helmet, which had been knocked askew. Yet, even so, contrary to expectation, he escaped the grasp of the barbarians, protected by God, who had—as the Psalmist himself says—long ago covered his head in the day of battle. The other Roman regiments suffered worse, being constantly prodded from all sides by spears, pierced clean through by missiles from close range, and destroyed by one another in the crush. There were some who, unscathed, passed through this gorge and drove away the Persians stationed upon it, but having advanced and touched the tunnel after it, they perished by the hands of the enemies positioned there. For that passage was divided into seven trench-like valleys, all adjacent, broadening out a little and then narrowing again towards the constricted path; and these were strictly guarded by the Turks posted there. Nor was the remaining ground of the enemies clear of them, but it was all filled with them. Then, too, a wind having blown and raised a thick cloud of dust from the sandy ground there, it happened that both armies collided, rushing together; and, as if in a night battle and in palpable darkness, attacking one another, they slaughtered friends instead of enemies, and could not distinguish the foreigner from their own kin, but Persians and Romans, having clashed, drew their swords against their own countrymen and slew those they encountered as enemies, so that the trenches became a single grave and a mixed-up common charnel-house of Romans and barbarians, and of horses, oxen, and beasts of burden. Therefore, more Romans fell in number, and especially those of the Emperor's own kin, and among these, those who held high rank. But when the dust settled and that mist and invisibility was scattered, ^B some were seen (alas, for the abominated matter and sight!) buried up to their loins and necks in corpses, who held out their hands as supplicants and, by pitiful gestures and voices echoing forth mournfully, called upon those passing by for aid, yet they had no one able to defend them nor anyone to save them. For everyone, measuring their own disaster by the example of those men, and running for their own lives, were unwillingly pitiless, and made haste to save themselves as quickly as they could. The Emperor Manuel, having gone under the shade of a wild pear tree, was recovering himself and gathering his exhausted strength, having no shield-bearer standing by, no spearman following, nor any bodyguard attending him. But a certain soldier from the cavalry regiment, seeing him and having pity on him—he too being one of the good and many Romans—stood by him willingly in accordance with his purpose and chose to serve him with what he could, whence

he also fitted the helmet that was being cast about onto his head. ^A While the emperor was delayed at the tree which we have mentioned, a certain Persian running up pulled at his bridle, there being a great scarcity of men to stop him. The emperor, having struck him on the head with the piece of his spear that he still held in his two hands, cast him to the ground. Not long after, other Persians, eager to take him alive, rushed upon him; but the emperor easily drove them off as well, for he had snatched up the spear of the knight who had been standing with him and pierced one of the attackers, even to the point of death, while the knight himself drew his sword and decapitated another. When ten other Roman men-at-arms had gathered around the emperor, he moved on from there, eager to rejoin the divisions that had preceded him. But again, having advanced a small distance, he was blocked from his forward march by the Turks, and was held back by the corpses of the fallen, not less than by the enemy, as those who were strewn about the roads obstructed them in heaps.

VI. With difficulty having traversed the impassable terrain there and the river flowing nearby, riding in places over the corpses and trampling upon them, he gathered another band of Romans that had run together at the sight of him; just then, he looked up and saw with his own eyes his niece’s husband, John Cantacuzenus, struggling against many and bearing himself courageously toward them, while looking around to see if anyone would come to his aid; and because no one stood by to defend him, he soon fell and was being stripped. The Persians who had killed him, when they saw the emperor passing by (for he could not go unnoticed), gathered into a cohort and advanced upon the emperor as if upon a great prize, for they thought that they would immediately and very quickly capture or slay him. ^B These men were all mounted on Arabian horses and were outstanding to behold among the many, for they were distinguished by splendid armor, and they had their horses outfitted with other most brilliant adornments, and indeed with neck-ornaments constructed from horse-hair that hung down to a sufficient length and had sonorous bells attached to them. The emperor, however, having stirred up the spirits of those with him, easily repulsed the attack of the enemies, and, advancing little by little, now passing by the Persians in the manner of war and now without bloodshed—as others and still others hastened to capture him—he eventually arrived at the legions that had marched ahead, who were not so much grieving for their own condition as they were anxious for his peril. But before he reached them, he ordered water drawn from the river flowing by to be brought to him. Having tasted it with the tips of his lips and spat it out, since he recognized from its unpleasing taste that it was defiled with gore, he exclaimed with a sigh: "Unhappily have I tasted the blood of Christians!" Then a certain bold and importunate man—and one more bitter even than that most bitter time—shamelessly said, ^C «Not now, emperor, not now for the first time, but long ago and often, and even to the point of drunkenness, have you drunk the blood of Christians, while you vex and flay the poor, subject people.» Manuel bore this reviler with as calm a mind as if he were deaf; and when he saw the widows’ purses, in which their money was sealed, being plundered and emptied by the Persians, he encouraged the Romans to make an attack upon the Barbarians and seize for themselves that money which was rather owed to them. Then that same man again inveighed impudently against the emperor: «Voluntarily that should have been given to the Romans before, not now, when it must be obtained with difficulty and blood. And if he is a brave man, as he boasts and as his chlamys demands, let him make an attack upon the Persian ravishers and, having bravely slain them, recover the plunder.» ^D Manuel remained silent at these words of the importunate man, without any murmur, not otherwise than David once bore the insolence of Shimei. Finally, Andronicus Contostephanus also arrived unscathed, he who was leading the rearguard, and other men who were favored by Manuel, free from wounds, gathered together.

^A V. When night approached and the darkness put an end to the day’s fighting,243 everyone sat down in sorrow, supporting their heads with their hands. As they contemplated the immediate danger, they did not count themselves among the living, terrified especially by the fact that the Barbarians scurrying around the fence were calling out in loud voices to those of their own race—those who had previously, either out of need or through a change of religion, come over to the Romans—admonishing them to leave the camp that very night, for in the morning all those who remained inside would surely perish. The Romans, therefore, spent the night pale with fear, as tribesmen gathered with tribesmen and friends with friends. When the emperor disclosed his most dastardly plan for a clandestine flight—to abandon so many thousands to be slaughtered by the nobles—his listeners, and Contostephanus in particular, were stupefied, as if he were speaking the words of a man who was not in his right mind. Nor was it only those who had been invited to the council who took that speech grievously, but a certain obscure soldier who had been standing outside the tent, upon hearing his proposal, cried out with a deep sigh and a loud voice: "What," he said, "has come into the mind of the Emperor of the Romans?" And turning to him directly, he continued: "Are you not the one who forced us into this desolate and narrow way and plunged us into destruction? And with these crushing crags and mountains threatening to overwhelm us, have you not ground us down as if in a mortar? What business have we with this valley of weeping, this gateway to Hades, and the traversal of these uneven and rugged paths? Or what unique complaint can we have against the Barbarians, ^B who have ensnared us by catching us in these narrow, violent, and winding defiles? And now, how is it that you betray us like sheep for the slaughter to the enemy?" Softened—or rather, stung to the heart—by these words, he changed his plan and decided to choose the path that the time allowed.

^D Indeed, He who long ago left a seed to Israel so that their lot might not be totally destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah; He who chastises and heals again; who strikes and makes to live; who does not allow the rod of sinners to prevail forever against the lot of the just—He, at that time too, having taken pity on His holy people, whom He did not wish to cast off entirely, turned the heart of the sultan to an unusual clemency, so that he, who not long before...

had respected the emperor's virtue, was then also moved by his misfortunes. Just as once through Hushai ^A he overturned the counsels of Ahithophel and changed the mind of Absalom so that he would announce/follow those things which were to bring about his destruction, so too did He then turn the leader of the Persians from his purpose. For the latter, having been led astray by the suggestions of his magnates, who were draining the emperor of money during the time of peace, sent an embassy to discuss peace and demand the covenant again as before, anticipating, as it were by choice—the Superior prompting him—the king who had been forced to look toward the treaties.

But the Persians, the sultan’s purpose not yet being revealed to them, rode forward at dawn ^B as if to encircle the Romans, thinking to destroy them in one onset, or as if they were simple fare that could be seized in a single rush like wild beasts, or that they were deserted and left behind, like an empty hospital, to be led away. They were, therefore, prowling around the camp, shooting arrows at those within, riding in a circle and shrieking in a barbarian manner. The emperor therefore orders John, the son of Constantine Angelus, with the contingent accompanying him, to attack the Persians; but he, after trying to hold back the Turks in accordance with the imperial command, achieved nothing brave and turned back. Because of this, Constantine Macroducas led out the army under him, which was recruited from the eastern regiments, but he too, having appeared for a short while, retreated.

Meanwhile, the sultan sends to the emperor Gabras, the most ^C honored among his satraps; by his order the Turks cease attacking the rampart, and the Romans cease sneaking away. Gabras, being about to appear before the emperor, performs a deep and barbarian obeisance and worship, and at the same time brings forward a Nisaean horse as a gift, adorned with silver bridle, one of those nurtured for processions, and a long double-edged sword, and he introduces talk of a treaty, having first smoothed over with soft words the emperor’s annoyance, which was visible because of what had happened, and having assuaged the inflammation of his suffering with certain incantations, as it were, which he whispered into his ear. Seeing the surcoat the emperor wore over his cuirass, bile-colored, Gabras said, "This color, O Emperor, is not a favorable [omen] ^D, but is also highly contrary to good fortune at the hour of war." He himself, smiling a little constrainedly at these remarks, took off the surcoat and gave it to him, embroidered with purple and gold. Having received the horse and the sword, he draws up the treaties in writing, and bestows his hand upon them as an earnest. Included in the document were other things as the time required, without being overly precise about them, but indeed also that the fortresses of Dorylaeum and Subleum should be razed.

Thus, having found the Barbarian to be speaking truly regarding peace and not harboring deceptions out of anger, Manuel decided to travel home by another route and not to retrace the same one he had walked before, wishing to avoid the fallen. But those who were the guides of the road led him back by the same way precisely for this reason, so that he might look with his own eyes upon those miserable spectacles, which indeed no...

^A tears could sufficiently deplore. For the gullets were laid bare, the valleys were rising into hillocks, and the wooded glades were covered with corpses. Every one of those lying there had been flayed of the skin of the head, and many also had their private parts cut off. It was said that the Persians had contrived this so that, since the circumcised were not distinguished from the Christians, the victory might be undecisive and uncertain, as many had fallen from both armies. No one, therefore, passed by without tears and groans, but all lamented loudly and called out by name their lost companions and acquaintances.

But having reached this point in the narrative, I have this to say: that the future is difficult for us humans to guard against, nor can anyone easily escape perils, unless, by beseeching the divine, he is protected from above and obtains relief from evils. For when the emperor had determined to wage war against the Persians, he seemed in a dream to have embarked upon a royal ship and, with many of his close associates, to be skirting the shore of the Propontis; but suddenly the mountains of Europe and Asia seemed to fall together, and the ship being broken, all others were taken away, and he himself had barely escaped to the shore, swimming with his hands. On the day, however, that he was to enter those dangerous paths, a certain man skilled in two tongues, a Roman by birth, by the name of Mauropous, told him that he had seen in a dream himself entering the church of the Lord—named after Cyrus—and while he was propitiating the Mother of God, he heard a voice issuing from there, saying: “Now the emperor is in the greatest danger, and who will bring him aid in my name?” And when someone from the shadows said, “Let George go,” she replied, “He is slow.” And when he said again, “Let Theodore go,” she rejected him as well, and finally cried out with sorrow that no one could avert the evil pending over him. And so much for this.

^C VI. After they had emerged from the defiles, the Persians were again appearing behind the Romans; for it was said that the Persian repented that he had let the ready prey slip from his hands, and that he had allowed his men to show the Romans what they could have done even before the peace. However, they did not follow with their whole army, as when the Romans were passing through the defiles, but they followed in intermittent detachments; for the best and most numerous of them, being laden with the spoils of the prey, had set out for home. Nevertheless, those who were following still killed many, especially the wounded and those incapable of fighting, even though the emperor had ordered the warlike and sturdy commanders to form the rear guard. When they reached Chonae, they rested eagerly, as if they would no longer see the enemy. But the emperor... (3)

(3) This clarifies the Persians’ design more openly: they wished to show that no Turk, but only Christians, had perished. But because they could not add foreskins to the Turks, they cut them off from the Christians; and those whom they could not destroy while living, they transformed into Turks after death, for the sake of mockery.

^A And when they had arrived at Chonae, they gladly bent their knees there, as if they would no longer see their enemies. The Emperor, however, was concerned about this, and gave to each one who was in a sickly condition a silver stater, as temporary provision for medical care. Having descended to Philadelphia, he spent a few days there, recovering the condition of his body, which had been worn down by what he had suffered during the war. Having sent messengers ahead, he presented these occurrences to the Constantinopolitans, at one moment representing himself as someone sharing in the same sufferings as Romanos Diogenes, since this Emperor, too, having once waged war against the Turks, had both lost the greater part of his army and, having been captured himself, had been led away as a prisoner; at another moment, however, he was extolling the treaties with the Sultan, and boasting that the Sultan had sought peace, displaying a pact signed with a golden bull and subscribed to by the Sultan, as if he had done so out of fear. Nevertheless, while passing through, he destroyed Sublaeum in accordance with the Sultan’s will, but Dorylaeum by no means. Wherefore, he was admonished by the Sultan through envoys regarding the pact, the latter saying that he was surprised that Dorylaeum had not yet been leveled. But he, ^B replying that he cared little for things done out of necessity, did not at all entertain the mention of destroying Dorylaeum, following—I suppose—that part of the Delphic oracle which was delivered to Epicydes ^C, and praising it: "Swear, since death takes even those who keep their oaths;" and, setting aside what follows, as they say, in this manner: "But the son of an oath is nameless; it has neither hands nor feet, but it runs swiftly, until, having snatched up the whole race and the entire house, it destroys them. But the race of a man who swears truly is better hereafter."

But the Persian, having set apart a select force of his entire army, numbering twenty-four thousand, and having appointed Atapacus as its general, sent it to lay waste to all the cities and provinces as far as the sea, having ordered him not to spare anyone at all, and to bring back to him sea water, an oar, and sand. He, carrying out the orders, miserably ravaged the cities along the Meander, launching unannounced incursions and surprise attacks. He captured by surrender the city of Tralles and Antioch in Phrygia, and he plundered Luma, Pentachira, and other fortifications that he had taken by force, and advancing in order, he ravaged the coastal regions as well.

^D VII. Upon hearing these things, the Emperor employed many other methods, and indeed he emerged from the tent without trumpets and horns. "For there is no need," he said, "of such things now, but of bows and spears, so that we may drive out of the Roman provinces those who hate us, who (to speak with David) have acted proudly and lifted up their heads." And he himself did not deem it right to depart against the enemies, but he sends his nephew, John Vatatzes, a man cautious and energetic, and Constantine Ducas, a youth still almost beardless.

He also added Michael Aspietes, having strongly exhorted them to manage everything with prudence and order, and, before these things, not to approach the barbarians at all unless they had first learned by accurate experience how great they were in number and that they would surely defeat them in battle. The Persians, indeed, having set the sea as the boundary of their incursion, were returning with very rich spoils, and on their return they pillaged also those places which they had not reached before. Vatatzes, having taken up the forces—both those with which the Emperor had equipped them and those which were collected along the way—marched straight for the little towns of Hyelium and Limnochier, where in days of old a bridge was accustomed to lead over the Maeander River.

When the scouts, whom Vatatzes had stationed along all the roads that led in any direction, announced the return of the Turks and that they were not yet far off, he divided the army into two parts. The greater portion of it he stationed in ambush along the roads through which the enemy was to pass, and he ordered the remainder, dispersed beyond the river near the old bridge, to wait and await the crossing of some portion of the Turks along with their captives, so that their passage would not be entirely successful, but that he might courageously meet them. And he thus arranged his own army as he had decided. The Turks, as they were intent on crossing, being pelted from the higher ground, were pushed into the river and drowned, but Atapacus, with his own men, the best-armed, having rallied into a band and turned about, grapples closely with the Romans, wishing from this to cause damage and to grant his kinsmen a truce for the crossing of the river, so that because everyone was eager, the crossing would not be slow and bring about the terrible destruction of those who were failing. For a long time, therefore, he resisted and fought ^B fiercely, showing deeds of brave spirit and most generous hand. But when he learned that the Romans were standing ^C on the far bank of the river as well, and were removing the Persian army that was crossing, his eagerness is crushed, and having been transformed from that primeval spirit, he gives thought to his own safety, and, having shifted from the proposed path, he moves higher up, searching for another crossing. But as the river was impassable on all sides, fearing those pursuing him, he uses his shield, placing it in the water as a small skiff, performing the best replacement for the necessity. And so, with his left hand holding his horse as it swam alongside, and having his sword bared in his right, using it at that moment as a rudder, he was thus moving along, little by little crossing the expanse of the river. He did not, however, succeed in escaping death in the end. For having already reached the opposite side, he climbs onto a mound, praising himself as to who he is and using the boasting of a big tongue, so that other Turks might be gathered with him; but when no distinguished or known Roman approached him, but rather one of the Alan mercenaries ran up to where he was about to sheath his newly bared blade, he is slain by a double-edged sword. From this, each of the Persians kept fleeing in disorder, and the Maeander ^D [was filled with the bodies of those who were drowned].

received, so that few survived out of so many thousands. And this achievement, if any other did, invigorated the Roman cause and broke the arrogance of the Persians; for they had come on rejoicing as though the Romans would not receive them, and intending to annihilate nearly all of Phrygia and destroy everything as far as the winding Maeander, which empties into the sea. In this battle, Aspietes falls due to the following cause: A Persian, standing over against Aspietes—not being able to strike his body, for his armor was strong and his shield reached down to his feet—was carried in wrath against the horse on which Aspietes was riding. And indeed, as the horse was wounded critically in the face, it recoiled and, having raised its ^A front legs, threw its rider into the river.

VIII. Following this success, the emperor Manuel, intending to accomplish yet another task, set out in sections against the Persians who were encamped at Lacerium and Panasium. And having stirred up those at Panasium, he goes after those at Lacerium later. But before he reached the regions where the enemies were bivouacked, he sent Catides of Laodicea to scout the state of the Turks and to report back to him quickly what he saw. But he, ^B wishing to strike terror into the Turks against whom the emperor was advancing as though against easy prey, and wanting to disrupt the Persians with the mention of the emperor's name, announced the emperor's presence, causing them to flee. Consequently, the emperor, enraged, punished him by cutting off his nose; but he was unable to overtake the enemy with any haste. At another time also, he attacked the Turks through Andronicus Angelus, though he did not fight successfully then either. For to this man he had given a part of the best of the Eastern forces and had attached Manuel Cantacuzenus as legate—a man capable and brave in conducting affairs—along with other illustrious Romans, and ordered him to invade ^C the Turks at Charax; this Charax is situated between Lampis and the Graosgala. Andronicus, therefore, having taken the forces, first pitches camp at Graosgala, then, having left the baggage and other equipment there, he invades Charax with light-armed troops. But having performed no deed worthy of such an army as he was leading at that time, but having merely seized some livestock and abducted a few shepherd Turks, he flees from there in terror. For when the Turks appeared by night with shouts, he did not wait to see how great their numbers were, nor did he set his men in battle array, but spurred his horse with hands, feet, and voice ^D toward a most rapid run, and did not hasten to the camp, but to Chonae. And because he saw that his horse could run for a longer time, he did not check his speed even there, but strained his whole desire toward Laodicea in Phrygia. The army, confounded by the unexpected disappearance of its leader, broke its formation and, in utter disorder, turned to flight, abandoning the livestock and the prisoners. Perhaps the Romans might even have fought among themselves, as it was still night, had not Manuel Cantacuzenus stood his ground with drawn sword and struck the fugitives with the flat of his blade, ordering them to stand, though no one pursued. Thus, at last, that foul and headlong flight was checked somewhat. The emperor, indignant at this, was almost on the point of ordering Andronicus to be paraded through the city in female attire. But as one who loved his own kin, and with regard for their relationship, he bridled his rage, especially since very few had fallen in that battle. Nothing memorable was done in that expedition, for the army was led out suddenly and led back more swiftly; yet a certain Persian, having occupied a steep place, killed many of the passing Romans with arrows, even penetrating their breastplates.

^A Many brave men set upon him, both with missiles from a distance and by charging in close, raging with great fury. But he, dancing the Pyrrhic dance, dodged all the projectiles aimed at him, while spinning around and striking down those who confronted him, until Manuel Xeros leapt from his horse and, holding his shield out before him, brandished his sword and advanced upon the Persian, taking all the arrows on his shield and striking him a fatal blow on the head, thus slaying him. And so the Persian found that Manuel Xeros, whom he had hindered from killing him (though he begged for his life and for mercy from those he had attacked like a wild beast), was truly unyielding and implacable; for he received a second, fatal blow while he was still beseeching those he himself had so wickedly injured to have mercy upon him.

^B At that time also, a kinsman of mine, enrolled in the clergy of the city of Chonae and a Levite by rank, yet full of brave spirit, who had gone with the rest of the army to Charax with his field gear, having plundered whatever his hand could find in the Turkish tents, did not discard his spoils in that hour of danger but carried them—for they were Persian robes and sheep’s fleeces inside a bag—and walked on slowly. He turned the eyes of all upon him, some praising him as an intrepid and foremost soldier in dire straits, while others mocked him for exchanging his life for a sheep’s skin. Yet he continued his journey in this way, and wherever the occasion arose, he rebuked the others for their shameful flight, as no one was pursuing them.

^C Not long afterwards, the Turks besieged the city named after Claudius Caesar. First, they cut off the Roman garrison from any exit, and then they began to assault the walls. The besieged, unless reinforcements were sent to them promptly—for they could not endure a long famine nor in any way repulse the enemy—threatened that they would surrender the city. Manuel, therefore, not waiting for news of the final disaster, set out on the following day with all possible speed to Claudiopolis via Nicomedia, taking only his equipment for riding and garments woven of iron scales, without any royal couch, or mattress, or any other luxurious princely baggage. ^D He pushed on in his stages. His eagerness to reach the besieged before the inhabitants suffered any harm was so great that it cannot be described in words. Accordingly, he spent his nights without sleep and used the torches throughout Bithynia—which, owing to frequent valleys and dense forests, has roads impeded in many places—to travel on foot; and wherever he had to rest, the ground was his bed, and his couch consisted of straw and hay. When he stayed in a marshy place during rainy weather, the clouds and the rivulets running beneath him interrupted his sleep. This fact earned him greater goodwill and admiration from men than if he had—

been crowned with the diadem, wore the purple, and bestrode a horse adorned with gold-studded trappings. ^B As he approached Claudiopolis, those who were oppressed by the barbarians and already in despair were revived, just as sailors, after much sweat from rowing, are cheered by a favorable wind, or as people in the spring, after a most harsh winter or some other evil, emerge into a happier state. But when he approached, those in Claudiopolis, ^C learning of the barbarians' flight and seeing the brightness of the arms, were emboldened to pursue the enemy as far as they could in battle. Thus, when he stood among the Romans who were already exhausted and despondent, he was received with joy; and he did not weary the sailors at the oars, nor did he allow them to remain idle for long, but—

SEVENTH BOOK

1. Now these events must also be related. ^B This Emperor, since he could not win over the nations through the Ionian war—or rather, because he always feared their incursions into the Roman provinces, and was not ignorant that the Westerners were far superior to the Romans, especially if they were to conspire against them unanimously, which he thought would be the surest way to oppose them—was always devising ways to contain the Orientals with money and to keep them within their own borders by the force of arms. He feared the multitude of the Western nations, because such men are arrogant, indomitable, bloodthirsty, and abound not only in wealth and arms, but also pursue the Romans with irreconcilable ^C hatred. Therefore, he would win over the Venetians, Genoese, Pisans, Anconitans, and other residents of the coast to the Roman cause, binding them by oath and every kind of bond. And because he feared that someone else might be incited by the offerings of Western kings to attack the Romans, he would relieve the peoples vulnerable to the injuries of the more powerful with money, and would encourage them to resist. And since he most desired to make the king of the Germans, Frederick, subject to his own authority, he often encouraged him through legates to show himself a valiant man and beware of the king's deceits, all the while preventing the old man from entering Rome for the sake of ^D receiving the crown, as the Pope warned him by letters not to…

^A give his glory to another, nor to remove the boundaries of his fathers, lest he discover too late, through his own actions, what the nature of his thoughtlessness was, and then strike his soul with remorse for having disregarded what was reasonable, when the evil was altogether incurable.” And because of this, he was excluded from the glorious Rome, being as one unarmed, he who prided himself on myriads of troops. There was a time when the walls of Milan were torn down by the Alemanni, but the inhabitants of that city, having outwitted those who had forced an oath upon them that they would never rebuild the wall, at first built it upon a deep, excavated trench, saying that they were not breaking their oath by this, and then later they renovated the walls as before, with this emperor becoming their helper. ^B In addition to these things, he brought the Marquis of Montferrat—a man distinguished by nobility, a goodly family, and great power—into friendship with the Romans, by means of lavish gifts, and by betrothing his younger son to his own daughter, Maria, as we mentioned a little earlier; this shattered the designs of the leader of the Alemanni even more. For he, having sent the Archbishop of Mainz, his chancellor, with great forces, was subjugating the Italian cities that had been torn away from the Pope without any fear. But the Marquis of Montferrat, urged on by the emperor’s bribes, sent his son Conrad—a man handsome to behold, fair of feature, and having attained the very peak and summit of courage and prudence, and in the prime of bodily strength—with forces against the one from Mainz. A battle having ensued, the Alemanni were routed by the cavalry, and among others, the Archbishop of Mainz himself was captured; he would perhaps have been sent to Byzantium, had the emperor not passed away from among men. ^C Nor was there any city in Italy, or even one further from Italy, in which this emperor did not have an associate and a man faithful to him. Whence, whatever his adversaries discussed in secret in the chambers of the Romans, he learned of it all. At another time, some envoys of the emperor came to Ancona, as the necessity for such business arose, either to attract to the emperor’s friendship those whom they call "Lizii," or to accomplish something else useful to the Romans; when they had finished this, the king of the Alemanni, full of anger, sent troops to lay waste that city and punish the citizens, because they were making an alliance with the emperor and had received his envoys to the detriment of his own cause in alienating the cities from him. This army, having besieged Ancona in a hostile manner, demanded that the Roman envoys be handed over to them. The Anconitans, however, heard these threats and feared the surrounding rampart and armed battle-line to such a degree that they not only did not betray the envoys, ^D but, holding the Alemanni in contempt, they bravely endured that peril, and with the siege drawn out, they even tasted unaccustomed foods. The imperial envoys, having asked the people in the public assembly whether it was permissible to summon auxiliary forces for themselves, and when the people responded that it was indeed permissible, but money was not ready at hand, they themselves called God to witness and affirmed that the emperor would settle all the expenses of the war, and they urged them not to delay, otherwise they would endure the heaviest of all things from the enemies, with their wives and children taken into slavery, and their money and all their possessions plundered. Therefore, having received money at a high rate of interest from a certain Count William and a noble widow, who recently possessed the wealth of her deceased husband, and having introduced reinforcements, they were grateful that liberty had been restored to their city. Over this success the joyful emperor commended the Anconitans; and having endowed the Roman state, he announced that all things…

which were right and possible for them to request, he would grant. And he sent them gold in far greater measure. Yet here the affairs of the Anconitans ended in a way that shows how human affairs, by their nature, are ever subject to change, even when they seem to be based on firm foundations. For why should they have despised the power and edicts of a neighbor, the king of the Alemanni, and preferred the Roman emperor, separated from them by such vast reaches of land and sea, had they not been possessed of a natural nobility of spirit, ^A which stands unshaken by any adversity? But I see that very thing can be brought against the Anconitans: that, moved by greed, they deserted the one whom they had obeyed long before, and went over to him whose avarice and sordid nature they had previously detested. But even those who had been sent away ^B by the king—troops who were sent to punish the Anconitans—when they had surrounded the city and demanded the surrender of the Roman envoys, were themselves met with such brave resistance by the Anconitans that the Alemanni not only failed to press their attack, but, having been sorely harried by the defenders, left the conflict which they had stirred up. Later, as the siege dragged on and the enemy delayed, the men, who had been accustomed to a diet not altogether proper, suffered from famine. The populace of the city, having been called together by the emperor’s men, asked whether it was permissible to seek aid; and when some argued it was possible and called God and the Word to witness, and urged not to delay, since the emperor would surely cover all the expense of the war—or at least satisfy them with an unbearable price for the city being saved—they sent for a certain Count, William by name, and for his wife, a woman of noble birth, who not long before was suffering from poverty, but having inherited his power and authority, and having been provided by these people with generous funds, they compelled the enemy to withdraw without any struggle, ^C and, lifting the siege from back-to-back, they rejoiced in having secured their liberty. The emperor was pleased with these events and rewarded the Anconitans with the praise they deserved, and promised that he would provide everything for their people just as he held them equal to Romans, as far as was just and possible for them to ask. But this turned out differently for the Anconitans, as matters of fortune are changed by the judgment of events. For it is said that those who were neighbors and powerful, and who had been ignored when they ordered the Anconitans to bow to their will—being men who despised the command—were held in high regard by the Roman emperor, who for all his many lands, loved those who held their ground. And unless he himself was filled with a good conscience toward those who had been betrayed into hardship, and whose mind had not been altogether steadfast or easily swayed in these matters, ^D this would be otherwise. Yet the Anconitans, not satisfied with this, and behaving as usurers or merchants in their dealings with the leader who had been appointed for them, instead of the one they had chosen yesterday and the day before, went back to seek another, who would satisfy their desire and cater to the profit-seeking of their mind.

205 II. As the emperor managed these things, he was mocked by the Romans, who argued that he was overcome by an ambition to reach the very ends of the earth, doing many things boldly and rashly, and wandering far beyond the limits set by his predecessors, and uselessly squandering the money of his subjects. But while these efforts were criticized, it was not that the spirit of novelty was vain, but rather that the strength of the Latins was impregnable; and if they should conspire together, there was a fear that they might, like a torrent, destroy our empire. For this reason, he felt that the seeds of such troubles should be rooted out at once, as a good farmer is accustomed to pull up thorns while they are still tender and degenerating. And this was made clear by his passing, when, having lost a wise ruler of the republic, ^B the emperor was mocked by the Romans, as if he were possessed by a love for far-off lands, his eyes straining toward the ends of the earth, doing bold and daring deeds, and when he paid out funds, as one who did not collect tribute from those under his rule. But in truth, it was not altogether ill-conceived, nor was such change entirely without reason; what was being done was necessary to restrain the unconquerable strength of the Latin tribes, so that it would not, as I said, flood our lands and, like a torrent suddenly grown great from a heavy downpour, as farmers fear, grow into a great and devastating fire.

^A Alexios was united with her (for, having been dragged down from the side of the Danube and cast out from the government of the cities, he had fallen into the Thessalian Tempe), and he became the husband of his daughter, Eudokia. Having been previously joined to Stephen, the chieftain of the Triballi, she was sent away by him with severity; but having reached Byzantium, she was later taken as a wife, after the capture of the city and her return from it, by Alexios the Doukas, who was surnamed Mourtzouphlos and was the last to receive the scepter of the Romans. ^B Yet not even this Doukas lived with Eudokia until old age and his later years; for her father Alexios, by what impulse I know not, captured the man by treachery and dealt with him cruelly, blinded in the eyes, being an enemy to all wanderers and an opponent to the one who had fallen from the throne of his kingdom. Not long after his blinding, the Doukas fell into the hands of the Latins and was brought back to Byzantium; and being brought to trial for having captured and put to death by hanging his own master and emperor, he defended himself by saying that the other had been a traitor to his country and had suffered appropriately, and that these things had not been done by him alone, but also by others who by kinship and blood were joined to him. But they, having paid no heed to what he had said, nor even giving a hearing to what he was still struggling to utter, condemned the man to a death of a new and most violent kind. ^C For they brought him to the high column standing in the Taurus and cast him down from there. He descended for a time on his feet, then turned headlong and, dashing against the ground after a short while, he most pitifully yielded up his soul. Sgouros, therefore, having taken Eudokia for a wife, as I said a little before, was guarding the marshes at Thermopylae, and the shady, high-crested mountain that hangs over them, and all the rest that makes the approach to Greece difficult. But even so, with every ease those there submitted to the Marquess with a base and broken spirit, and with an intention always to side with the stronger, even though he was not leading a myriad-numbered army, nor one that was in accord with his wishes, but one that was in many things discordant, as if gathered from many captured cities. ^D Moving on then against Boeotia itself, he was welcomed as readily by the Cadmeians as anyone returning home after a long time. Advancing, he also took hold of Attica and installed a garrison in the acropolis. The presiding priest of the city, intending to repulse the Marquess just as he had Sgouros before, but judging it not the time for resistance—as the sovereign city had been captured and the western lands were coming under the shadow of the Latin spear—left the fortification without bloodshed. At last Euboea too, seeing nothing noble or free, stretched forth its hand, and...

^A this was sent along with him, so that the one might be the registrar and oversee the matters from which the taxes were to be collected, while the other might preside as a collector of profit and seal with a signet the money-bags that were to be brought in ^B to the emperor. Most things, however, turned out contrary to him, and his plans were frustrated as a result of this; for, as he avoided or viewed with suspicion the Romans as thieves, he unknowingly enriched the avaricious barbarians and did favors for wretched little men, while rendering those who naturally and by education were good and faithful to the opposite way of thinking. For since those men also recognized the emperor’s suspicious nature toward them, and since they were aligned with the foreigners, acting more as assistants and procurers of gain than as men judged trustworthy to be sent out in pairs, or rather, since they were regarded by the imperial government as mere laborers and meddlers, they did only what was commanded, reaping and binding the money like sheaves, and gathering it onto the threshing floor for that barbarian who had been set over many things and was judged to be worth more than many other Romans. The rest they overlooked—not to mention that the emperor was brought but a pittance, as it were scraps of what was left over—while they themselves embezzled the majority, the good and faithful servant of the emperor first mixing in for himself some loaves from the threshed grain, or rather gold, and later sharing it with his fellow official. ^C 3. It is also the work of this emperor that a tower standing not far from the sea, by the mainland that is washed by the waves, which was called Damalis but is now called Arcula, as well as the opposite tower, built most close to the monastery of the Mangana, were erected. For the purpose of the emperor who raised these was to catch Barbarian ships at an opportune time by stretching an iron chain from both sides, and thereby also to make inaccessible all those parts of the city near the acropolis and the passage dragged within, as far as the palaces at the Blachernae themselves. People also accuse this emperor of a love of splendor, as well as the very long porticoes and halls in both palaces which he himself raised: these, glistening with the application of gold tesserae, depict in multi-colored flowers and with marvelous technical skill all that he had accomplished against the Barbarians or had otherwise arranged for the better for the Romans. He also built up and further adorned most of the magnificent buildings along the strait of the Propontis, in which the emperors of the Romans are accustomed to spend the summer because of the temperate climate, just as the kings of the Persians of old used to do at Susa and Ecbatana. For when the occasion demanded, he was very patient of labors, cold, heat, and sleeplessness; and when he was free from wars, he gave himself to pleasantness and indulged his genius. And if anyone had observed more carefully how much he delighted in luxurious foods, the lyre, the cithara, and the harmony of songs, he would have judged that he had spent his life in these alone and had posited pleasure as the highest good. But if he had seen him despise all pleasantness in hard times and regard pleasure as a vice, he would have marveled at a temperament prepared for both. Having undertaken to restore the temple of Divine Irene, a most great and beautiful building which the emperor Marcian had founded long ago but which had been consumed by fire, he abandoned it when he had only built certain parts from the foundations; and he constructed a sacred monastery at the throat of the Pontus, in a place called Catascepe, in the name of the archduke Michael, in which he placed the most famous and excellent monks, in such a way that they were able to live a solitary and quiet life without any anxiety. For since he understood that monks who are troubled by possessions and business ^D fall away from tranquility of soul and the worship of God, he assigned them no vineyards, no fields, no possessions—which their profession does not allow—but only ordered that as much as was needed for food and worship be paid from the treasury. He seems, of course, to have an immoderate desire for building monasteries

^A called Kataskepen, in the name of the archistrategos Michael, for which he had gathered the most renowned and eminent of the monks of that time, planning that they should lead a purely monastic and untroubled life. For, knowing that it is the lot of those who have possessions and are once again occupied with many things to withdraw those who have chosen the hermit’s life from their tranquility and turn them away from living according to God—which is their very profession—he did not set aside for them any property or assign fields and vineyards to the sanctuary. Rather, he measured out the entire sustenance for the monks from the imperial treasuries and granted it to them from there, checking, I believe, the great obsession of most people for establishing monasteries, and giving an example to those who came after of how one should build temples and what kind of table one should prepare for those who are hermit-like, destitute, and have disengaged themselves from material things. He was so far from praising the current situation, ^B where men profess to be monks but are more possessed of property and more preoccupied than those who indulge in the life of this world, that he even revived, as if by a right of postliminium, the recent legislation—which had long been dead in time and stripped of its authority—of that truly sovereign emperor Nikephoros Phokas, who was heroic in strength and great in understanding, which put a stop to the expansion of monasteries through acquisitions, and he brought it back to life, splashing it with the red of the imperial dye as if with blood. Nor, indeed, did he cease to reproach his father, his grandfather, and all the rest of those related to him by blood, whenever they built monasteries and assigned to them many plethra of fertile land and lush meadows; he did not do so out of disparagement or by pouring scorn on men, because they had attributed part of their wealth to God, but because they had not performed a good deed in a good way. For it was necessary for those who have taken up the monastic life to choose for their dwelling places in trackless regions, in absolute wildernesses, in the caves of rocks, and on mountain lookouts, and to overlook this "fair city" [Constantinople] lying by the Hellespont, as Odysseus did the Lotus and the Sirenum chants that are hard to tear oneself away from. But they, hunting for the praise of men, and preferring to reveal to those who enter their temples their own whitened tombs, decorated with variegated mosaics, and wishing to be seen even as dead men wreathed and with joyful and splendid countenances, built these divine sanctuaries in the marketplace and at the crossroads, having caged up in them, with no discernment of virtue and as if in a pen, those who express the monk not by the loss of hair, the change of habits, and the let-grow beard, but rather [by] the rest. For these reasons, therefore, whether supporting the monastic dignity which was already fading and falling face-down on its mouth, or indeed fearing that he himself might be accused of enjoying the things he had reproached, he turned to another path, which those of his own blood had walked.

4. Since there is a custom among the Romans—and I believe it also prevails among the Barbarians themselves—that wages are provided to those in military service, and that frequent inspections are made as to whether they are well-armed, whether they have taken proper care of their horses, and also that recruits are examined before they are enrolled in the registers to see if they are physically robust, if they are skilled with bows, and if they have exercised in brandishing the spear, and only then inscribed in the rolls, this emperor gathered the rations given to the soldiers into the treasury as if into a cistern, and he relieved the thirst of the armies [by means of] the so-called gifts of the provincials, abusing a practice invented by former emperors and rarely used, on those who had often struck down the enemy. Therefore, it came to pass from this that both the soldiers were enervated, and a great river of money was poured out into idle bellies, and the Roman provinces

^A were grievously handled; for the good soldiers, no longer having any private incentive to display their excellence in dangers, as they had formerly, but having an easy gain set before all, cast off that spirit of emulation; and the inhabitants of the provinces, who had once paid their money to the public treasury, suffered the most piteous things at the hands of military greed, being robbed not only of their money, but also stripped of their very undergarments, and sometimes even torn away from their wives and children. ^B It followed, then, because of these things, that anyone who wished might enlist in the army. And many, bidding farewell to their needles—because they supplied them with necessities only narrowly and with great difficulty—and others who had left off the grooming of horses, and others still who had washed off the potter's clay or wiped away the soot of the smithies, stood before the recruiters and, having brought a Persian horse or laid down a small number of gold pieces, were enrolled in the military squadrons without any scrutiny; and straightway, by imperial letters, ^C they were awarded lush meadows and fertile fields, and Roman taxpayers to serve them in the guise of slaves; and sometimes they even imposed tribute upon a man of Roman birth, a man venerable in appearance, and so well-versed in warfare and so far superior to the one taxing him that he would seem an Achilles compared to that man, or rather like one armed with both hands compared to one who had neither in a healthy state—yet he would pay tribute to a half-barbarian mannikin who had never even seen a battle line drawn up. Verily, the Roman provinces paid grave penalties for this disorder, some before our very eyes being plundered and occupied by the barbarians, others being ravaged and destroyed by our own people as if they were foreign lands. But how long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget Thine inheritance, and turning away Thy face, give place to Thine anger? When wilt Thou look down from Thy holy habitation, and seeing, behold our straits and our affliction, and deliver us from the evils that press upon us, and provide a release from those that are even more grievous than these, which seem to hang over us?

5. In addition to the things mentioned, one must also grant this to history. For most of the Roman emperors, it is not enough to rule, and to wear gold, and to use public resources as their own, and to distribute these as and to whom they wish, nor yet to treat the free as slaves; but they consider it an injury to themselves if they are not thought to be wise, and godlike in form, and heroes in strength, and like Solomon, divinely instructed and teachers of Divinity and of the most upright norms, and, in short, the truest interpreters of divine and human things. ^D Hence it comes about that when they ought to be restraining the more immodest and audacious men who introduce new dogmas into the Church, or delegating that duty to those who profess the science of theology, not wishing to be inferior in this part either, they themselves exist as both the authors, and the judges, and the arbiters of dogmas, and they often even punish those who dissent. This emperor, indeed, being naturally eloquent and adorned with a rich flow of speech, did not merely write elegant epistles, but he also brought forth and publicly proclaimed religious instructions. Finally, he would even discourse on divine dogmas and on God Himself. Often he also feigned doubt, [[P. 137]]

^A introducing scriptural questions and inquiring about their solutions, gathering as much as he delighted in scholarly exercise. Yet he would have been praiseworthy even in these matters if he had extended his curiosity only so far and had not at all approached difficult dogmas, or if, when applying his mind to them, he had not been self-willed, nor dragged the sense of the writings toward his own predetermined purpose, defining and concocting explanations ^B where the Fathers had spoken for the sake of a right understanding, as if he had entirely grasped Christ Himself and been initiated by Him into the things concerning Him more clearly and divinely.

When, therefore, a question arose regarding the scriptural saying that speaks of the incarnate God as both offering and being offered at the same time, and when the learned men of that time had answered in opposite ways, the examination was prolonged for a considerable time, and arguments and counter-arguments were poured forth from both sides. When the matter in question was clearly determined, and the opinion of the Emperor—which was God-beloved and superior—was added to it, those who held the contrary view were deposed: the Hypopsephius of the City of God, Soterichus Panteugenus of Antioch, Eustathius of Dyrrachium, ^C Michael of Thessalonica, a preacher who was adorning the rhetorical throne and ascending the evangelical pulpit, and Nicephorus Basilaces, who was interpreting the Epistles of Paul in church and illuminating with the light of eloquence the apostolic passages which were obscured by their ambiguity or which inspire awe by the depth of the Spirit.

It is said that when this dogma was being stirred up and proposed for public judgment, an extraordinary thunderclap suddenly broke out, by the sound of which the ears of all who were then staying with the Emperor in Pelagonia were so struck that some fell to the ground. And a certain Elias, a learned and famous man, opened a book that discussed thunder and earthquakes, and after reading those things which pertained to that time, he found written: "The fall of the wise." Thus, not only those men whom we have mentioned, the most learned of the doctors, were cast out of the churches and forbidden from all sacred ministries, but others were also driven out and banished along with them.

Some years later, when the question concerning the saying of the God-man, "My Father is greater than I," was brought forward for examination, ^D he paid little heed to the explanations of the Fathers—though these were various and sufficient for the explanation and clarification of the matter in question—and instead brought forward his own interpretations, clinging contentiously to the things he had once imagined, and dragging the opinions of the universal doctors toward his own desire; opinions which not only did not oppose the truth but were divinely inspired. For while some say that the Father is called greater as the author of the Son, and others understand it of the human nature and attribute that saying not to the Word but to the assumed flesh—as they also do with the statements concerning the departure to the Father and the coming of the prince of this world who finds nothing in Him—and others, even if they take the word "greater" as applying to the Word, do not do so absolutely and essentially but on account of the supreme humiliation and lowliness of the incarnation; and while others explain it differently, yet piously: he, I know not how, disapproved of these as not satisfying the proposed question, brought forward another interpretation, and having proclaimed a council and called together all those who were studious of the sacred Scriptures, he exhorted each one to subscribe to his decree in this manner: "Indeed, even the voices of the holy Fathers concerning that saying, 'The Father is greater than I,'"

' ^B I admit, and I say that this was spoken also according to the created and passible flesh in Him." Now I know not how he attributes this inferiority to the Son who assumed flesh, as if by the assumption of human nature and his sojourn on earth He had lost equal dignity and forfeited His own authority, and had remained within the limits of [such] humiliation; and as if He had not deified and exalted those lowly things, and adorned them with His own glory through that union, rather than being Himself depressed by that event. This is absurd. Furthermore, he fortified this decree with red ink, as if with a flaming sword, threatening death and excommunication to anyone who would dare—I do not say to criticize or grumble at it upon first impulse—but even to peer into it. Then, by the counsel of certain supporters or rather sycophants, he had the same decree carved upon stone tablets and dedicated in the Great Church. For they feared that this sanction, which under the pretext of the flesh detracted from the Word Himself, might be abrogated, especially since they had completely overlooked [the doctrines of] the Kenosis and the rationale of the Incarnation.

^C 6. Such is the deed that this man performed toward the end of his life. Among the other sanctions of the catechetical register there exists an anathema against the God of Mohammed, concerning whom it states, "He neither begat nor was He begotten," and that He is a *holosphyros*. This man determined to strike out this anathema from all the catechetical books, beginning with the very register in the Great Church. And his pretext was quite specious; he claimed that the railing against God was a stumbling block to the Hagarenes who were transitioning to our pious faith. ^D Therefore, he summoned the most great Theodosius, who at that time governed and adorned the first see, and those high priests then present in the city who were distinguished by their eloquence and virtue, and he proposed the question to them with an inflated preamble. But when they all opposed him, and in no way would admit these things as being absurd and leading away from the true opinion concerning God—and when they piously interpreted that anathema, which was full of offense (for neither is the Creator of heaven and earth in any way to be marked by anathema, but rather that *holosphyros* God whom the delirious and furious Mohammed falsely imagined as neither begotten nor begetting; for among Christians, God the Father is celebrated, and the detestable ravings of Mohammed strictly forbid this, but since he did not sufficiently understand what that *holosphyros* means)—he, in no way softened in spirit, despised them and, by his own authority and the ministry of his erudite courtiers, whom he knew to be time-servers, proposed a decree by which [both the ravings of Mohammed...]

(for I would not call them theology) were championed ^B and the former emperors and the leaders of the sanctuary were openly censured for having, in their ignorance and lack of consideration, permitted the true God to be subjected to anathema. This decree he published for common reading in the holy archives, having sent along as heralds of the tome, as it were, and as a youth group to applaud the contents, all those who were the leaders of the senate and the aristocratic body, and those in that lineage who delighted in erudition. So great was the plausibility in the discourse ^B that it abounded, not in words weighted with the teachings of the Spirit, but decked out in the persuasiveness of human wisdom, to the point where it nearly enthralled everyone who gazed not only upon its varied adornment and the charm of its plumage, but also upon the very mind distilling those written words. And perhaps the god of Mohammed—whoever he is that is allotted the title of "wholly-forged" god—would have been lauded as the true God, had the patriarch not resisted it entirely; for he did not attend to the meaning of the written words, knowing them to be dangerous and introducing new doctrines, and he persuaded the others to view them as venomous. ^C The emperor, though, as if he had suffered some terrible injury, bespattered the high priests with insults and called them the most foolish of all mortal men, being prone to anger on account of the grievous illness that eventually brought about his end, and becoming bilious as a result. Consequently, he took what he had written more profusely in the previous decree, with rhetorical ornaments, and after having compendized it and adorned it with the allurements of the dogma, he issued another decree. And since it happened that he was then residing in the archives at Damalis—which is called Scutarium—partly to seek the mildness of the air, partly to withdraw from the crowds, and entirely to be intent on the care of his health, the college of high priests and as many as had earned distinction for their learning were transported there by royal command. But they had not yet clearly disembarked from the skiffs when one of those who had freedom of speech with the emperor and who held the greatest power among the under-secretaries appeared. This was Theodore Mazuca, who, addressing the patriarch and the company of high priests, said that access to the emperor was not possible at that moment due to some obstacle that had crept in from his illness, but that the papers he held in his hands ought to be heard. ^D One of these papers dealt with the proposed dogma, which, as we have said, the emperor was eager for the assembled high priests to sign; the other, under the name of the same Emperor Theodosius and the high priests, complained about their preposterous opposition and threatened a greater council, and testified with an oath that the controversy should be settled by the Pope of old Rome himself. "Ungrateful," it said, "to God, the creator of the universe, by whom I have been adorned with other illustrious prerogatives besides the height of imperial power, and I would be insane if I did not, according to my humble capacity, manifest my zeal for Him and exert my utmost power in this, so that He might not be marked by the anathema of the true God." However, the listeners were so far from being struck by such grandiloquence that the most learned and eloquent man, Eustathius, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was vehemently stirred by that speech, and could in no way endure that the true God should be called "wholly-forged"—the invention of an unhappy mind. "Indeed," he said, "I would be insane, and in this habit"—as he pointed to his pallium—"I would be unworthy, if I did not [defend] the true God..."

^B And the hearers were so disturbed by such boasts, as was also the metropolitan of Thessalonica, that great and excellent man in speeches, Eustathius, who, on fire with zeal for the matters read, and unable to bear it that the true God was being blasphemed by the invention of an unhappy man, said: "I myself, being trampled underfoot by the feathers of the intellect, would be as unworthy as this [form] of habit if I did not ^C defend the true God against this pederast, camel-driver, and teacher and guide of every impure act." Those who heard these and suchlike words shouted out; for he was speaking these things clearly and was visibly sketching [the image of] a zeal for piety set on fire. The author of the document, having stood for a short while in silence and closed his lips, turned back to the emperor. And he, having listened to what was said, as if struck by the noise, was manifold in his defense, having brought to bear ^D a forbearance such as never before. Indeed, he was numbering himself among the most orthodox Christians, and having come forward as a most holy teacher, he was avoiding the fault-finders and the contentious. And he was greatly tormented by the judgment [taken] with the Thessalonian. For he said that if he were acquitted on the grounds of not believing in the pederast God, and not introducing a corrupt doctrine, he would justly inflict punishment upon the one blaspheming against Christ the Lord; or, if he were condemned on the grounds of revering a god other than the one whom those called from Christ worship, he would change his mind and truth would be obtained, and he would have no small grace for the one who had extorted the error from him and explained the truth. A little later, the patriarch came into his presence, and having spoken of the matters that needed to be addressed, he caused his anger to be placated and for him to grant the Thessalonian pardon for his speech and the power to defend himself, yet with this castigation: that he ought, as a wise man, to refrain himself from the obscenity of words, and not rashly utter things that had nothing to do with the matter. Afterwards, when the document concerning that dogma was read publicly, and was praised by all as having been piously explained, with those promising they would willingly subscribe, the council was dismissed. And they departed rejoicing, because by their opposition they had overcome the emperor; he, however, rejoiced because he had bent them to his own will, and with a few words had achieved what he had previously been unable to obtain with a wordy document. The next day, at daybreak, the council gathered by order of the emperor in the patriarchal palace, so that they might do as they had promised. But having changed their opinion, they all refused the subscription, because certain reprehensible words still lurked in that document, from which, when erased, others should be substituted that would accord with the true meaning. The emperor, therefore, again censured their fickleness, inconsistency, and levity, and attacked them openly. But they finally assented with difficulty, so that the anathema against the God of Mahomet might be transferred to Mahomet himself and to his entire doctrine and sect in the catechetical books. By this decree, after many meetings, they at last grew quiet.

^B 7. I shall add another thing worth recording, now that I have progressed this far. There was a eunuch named Nicetas, the bishop of Chonae, adorned with every kind of virtue, and so prophetic and foresighted regarding future events that he was considered among the greatest of seers and was a source of wonder to all who knew him—that such a great blessing had fallen to our wicked and adulterous generation. When this emperor, having recently been crowned with the diadem, successor to his father's empire, was returning from Armenia and had entered Chonae to the shrine of the Archangel, he received a favorable prayer from this bishop, who was renowned everywhere for his virtue. Certain priests, and those very prudent ones, were doubting whether Manuel, still a young man and almost beardless, could manage such an empire, which required a man possessing the prudence of old age, and further, whether he would be able to overcome his brother Isaac, who held the queen of cities and to whom the empire was owed by better right. Then that great man, a truly divine person, answered in this way: "By all means, this youth will both govern the empire and will overcome his brother; for so it has been decreed and ordained by God. But that you may also know the things about which you did not ask, he will surpass his grandfather, the Emperor of the Romans and his ancestor Alexios, by a little in the years of his life. But when his death is near, he will become insane." This prophecy was known to me, the author Nicetas, and to many others, for this seer was my sponsor at divine baptism. But as for what this madness was, and of what kind it would be, no one among those who knew the prophecy could accurately surmise; for some referred the prediction to a mad greed for gold, others twisted it to mean an intemperance of lust. But when this controversy I mentioned had been stirred up, with the emperor rashly arguing from the beginning that the "holosphyros" (solid-hammered) God of Mahomet is the true God, who was neither begotten nor did he beget, everyone referred the oracle to this event, because that opinion, being most alien to the truth, was a genuine and most evil form of madness. ^C The emperor was seized by the illness in the night, in the month of March, in the fifteenth indiction—the same time when that dogma was being called into question—and though it was finally quieted in the month of May, he died in September; nor did he set in order anything distinguished regarding the empire, being quite sluggish in giving instructions and prescriptions for those things that needed to be done after his death. The reason was that he did not believe in any way that death was near for him, but maintained that he knew he had fourteen years of life yet to remain. And he said this to the Patriarch Theodosius himself, by whom he was admonished, out of fatherly concern, to provide for the public [welfare].

^A while there was yet time and he had the strength to think clearly, and to seek out someone who would faithfully care for his son, the heir to the throne, who had not yet reached puberty, and who would loyally serve as regent for the Empress and act, as it were, as a stepfather. But these utterly wretched astrologers, who ^B even dared to say that the Emperor would, according to them, recover from his illness in a short time, and that he would lay waste to foreign cities, went so far in their impudence as to claim that he would have leisure for amorous pursuits. More preposterously still, being ready of tongue and accustomed to lies, they even predicted the movement of the entire world, the conjunctions and gatherings of the greatest stars, and the violent eruptions of winds, foretelling a near-total transformation of the universe—appearing more like ventriloquists than stargazers. They did not only count years, months, and weeks during which these things would come to pass and inform the Emperor, but they were precise down to the days and even haggled over the very moment of the hour, as if they clearly perceived matters which the Father had placed under his own authority, and regarding which the Savior rebuked the disciples when they asked him. Indeed, not only did the Emperor himself diligently search out and prepare caves and wind-proof shelters for his residence, and have the roofs of the palaces demolished so that they would be less damaged by the force of the winds, but also all those who were enrolled in his service and kin, and those who fawned upon him, busied themselves with the same things, some digging into the ground like ants, some sewing tents in triple layers, and sharpening cubit-long stakes to serve as an unshakeable foundation for the tents. But ^C as I said, because the disease was worsening for the Emperor, he took a bath, and once he realized from this that the hopes for his life were fading—vanishing, as it were, on water—and that his inevitable end was at hand, he spoke a few words to those standing nearby about his son Alexios. He mingled his words with lamentations, for he foresaw the storms that would hang over the empire after his departure, and at the advice of the Patriarch, he signed a brief document concerning astrology, having changed his former opinion. Finally, having brought his hand to his artery and tested its pulse, he heaved a deep sigh, struck his thigh with his hand, and requested the monastic habit. When this was announced—as is bound to happen—an uproar arose. Since the spiritual garment, a black habit devoid of all adornment, was not immediately to hand, the ministers, having found one I know not where, stripped away the soft royal vestments and dressed him in that rough garment of the divine life, transforming him into a soldier of the spirit, adorning him with a more noble helmet and breastplate, and enlisting him under the heavenly Commander. The cloak, being somewhat short, did not cover the legs of that heroic body, so that no one who saw it could refrain from tears at the thought of human frailty and the insignificance of the body in death, in which the soul, as if enclosed in a vessel ^D of clay, is consolidated. Thus, therefore, he yielded both life and empire, which he had governed for thirty-eight years, less three months. To this span of his reign, that ancient oracle seems to allude: "The last part of your name shall seize you." For the last syllable of the name Manuel comprises [the numerical value of] that many years among the Greeks. He was buried on the oblique side of the Pantokrator monastery, near the doors of the temple, in an adjoining chapel where the side entrance is distinguished by the temple wall curving into an arch around the tomb. A blackish stone, bringing something mournful to perception, covers him, rising up in seven peaks. Not far from there, placed upon a base, it is venerated.

not reaching down to its feet nor the whole of that heroic body, but leaving the shins uncovered, so that there was no one among those who saw it who did not weep, reflecting on human frailty and the worthlessness of the body at the end of life, which clings to us like a shell and is fused with the soul. Thus he departed from life and the empire, having lived thirty-eight years in the empire, lacking three months. To which duration of his reign I think that most ancient oracle also refers, which relates it thus: "But the final handle of the word shall profit thee," for the last syllable of the name signifies the number thirty-eight. He is therefore buried beside the side wall on the right of one entering the church of the Pantokrator monastery, not in the temple itself, but in the heroön nearby. The wall of the church, having been arched inward, extends the entrance broadly around the sarcophagus. It is bordered by a stone that resembles blackness and for this reason seems gloomy, which is also divided into seven ridges. Lying beside it on a pedestal and awaiting veneration is a reddish stone of human height, which the church in the city of Ephesus once possessed; it is famously held to be that upon which Christ, after being taken down from the cross, was laid and anointed with myrrh. This emperor, having brought it from there and carried it on his shoulders—as though it had borne the divine body and Christ himself, who anointed it—brought it from the harbor of the Bucoleon to this church in the Pharos of the Great Palace. However, not long after, in a later period of time, when the emperor had left this life, this stone also was removed from the palace and brought to where I just mentioned, crying out, I think, and clearly declaring all that he who lies silent in the tomb had somehow achieved and struggled for.

THE REIGN OF ALEXIOS THE PORPHYROGENITOS, SON OF THE EMPEROR MANUEL

1. And so, the Emperor Manuel Komnenos departs from life, and his ^A son, Alexios, succeeds him, not yet having clearly touched upon true adulthood, but still in need of tutors and a nurse. Accordingly, the affairs of the Romans were managed incorrectly and wastefully, and fared worse than when Phaeton, having stepped onto his father's gold-spangled chariot, attempted to guide it through the stars of heaven. For the ruler himself, due to the incompleteness of his age and his lack of ability to consider what was ^B beneficial, was not concerned with any of his duties, but was nourished only by fickle spirits; and not yet knowing exactly how to rejoice or grieve, he devoted himself to hunting.

^A and to equestrian exercises, associating with playful children and having his character molded by the meanest things. Those who were his kinsmen by paternal ties and related to him by blood, however, turned their minds to other matters, neglecting his excellent education and upbringing, and overlooking the general ruin. For some were consumed with love for the Empress and courted her quite openly, curling their hair and wearing it in locks, and, having decorated themselves with women’s headbands and golden necklaces, they kept their eyes fixed on her and sought to win back her love, while they anointed themselves in a childish manner and draped themselves effeminately in jewel-encrusted garments, gazing upon her with their whole being. Others, being avaricious men and predators, plundered the public treasury, using the proceeds for inventions of luxury with unsparing extravagance and devising new schemes so that they might have their yesterday’s empty and shrunken purse full and bloated today. And those who had a desire for imperial power strained everything toward this, their personal goal. For as though some noble and influential tutor had been ^B removed, all things were filled with disorder, as everyone pursued their own desired end and all opposed one another, or as when a firm and stable pillar is torn out, all things veer off toward the opposite direction. And since equality was despised by those who were then in the greatest power and joined to the emperor by blood, all concern for the common good vanished, and the assemblies and councils were brought to nothing. And while the protosebastos and protovestiarios Alexios Komnenos, who was a cousin of the Emperor Manuel on his father’s side, had won over the mother of the young Emperor and, frequently consorting with her, surpassed every other man in power, those who shared the same blood and had been permitted by the Emperor Manuel to hold equal power, and who were adorned with the highest dignities, were either choked with silent resentment at what was taking place, or, ^C seeing a tyranny budding, looked askance at the protosebastos—less because they were deeply concerned for the safety of the Emperor Alexios than because they feared they themselves would be apprehended. And for this reason, suspended in expectation of future events, they cared little for anyone else, provided they themselves were safe. For rumor, as it is a talkative thing, was already shouting aloud that Alexios was becoming one with the Empress, the mother of the Emperor, and that he was winning over the multitude with friendship and money, and had it in mind to seize her from the empire, and was considering becoming the master of it, just as he was of her who had borne him. And thus were the affairs of the imperial court, filled with confusion and turbulence, no different than the serpent in the myths that is said to crawl along with a deaf and blind tail, not without many stumblings. This state of affairs was foreshadowed by that monster produced ^D at the time of the death of the Emperor Manuel. For a woman living by the Propontis gave birth to a male child, a creature the rest of whose body was thin and weak, but who possessed a monstrously large head; this was taken as a portent of the rule of many, which follows upon all contempt for empire and discipline, and which is the mother of anarchy.

2. Andronikos Komnenos, the cousin of the Emperor Manuel, about whom we wrote quite fully in his history—having heard at Oinaion of the death of the Emperor and the dissensions of the court—renews his old longing for tyranny. But these things shall be related more conveniently in their proper place: for now, lest the order of history be interrupted and nothing worthy of mention be omitted, a little

^A earlier we should begin. This Andronicus, in order to escape the grasp of Manuel, chose perpetual exile; and after traversing many cities and many provinces, he finally, as we have said, arrived at Saltuch. This man was a toparch to whose lot had fallen the region bordering on Chaldia, which had formerly been tributary to the Romans, but at that time was under Turkish dominion and religion. Having occupied his fortress by consent, and having added to the natural position of the place the protection of human art, he remained there, having as his companion in wandering and exile Theodora Comnena, who lived in unholy union with him, being the daughter of Isaac the sebastocrator; for Isaac and Andronicus were born of brothers. ^B Now the emperor Manuel, being unable to catch Andronicus, but like Ixion chasing Hera, set his mind on capturing—as if she were a cloud—his niece Theodora; and having achieved his purpose through Nicephorus Palaeologus, who at that time had girded himself with the authority of Trebizond, shortly thereafter he drew in Andronicus himself, who was attracted as if by bait by his love for Theodora, and by a not mediocre desire for the children whom she had borne to him. Having therefore sent envoys to the emperor, he requested a pardon for the things in which he had transgressed, and also a guarantee of safety so that he would suffer nothing harmful upon his arrival. And the emperor having sworn to both, not deceitfully, Andronicus after some time came over. Being a man of many devices and resorting to all manner of guiles, Andronicus ^C took a heavy iron chain of great weight and placed it around his neck, and having kept it inside under his garment, letting it fall as far as his feet so that it might be invisible to the emperor and to those filling his court, and having taken the opportunity to stand upright before the sovereign and be seen, once he arrived in his presence, he stretched himself out grandly and magnificently upon the floor, extending the chain, and wetting his eyes with tears, he implored more warmly and passionately for forgiveness for the offences for which he had surely caused grief. The emperor, being struck with astonishment at what was happening, was himself moved to tears and ordered him to be raised. But he refused to stand up from the ground ^D unless one of those standing by, at the command of the emperor, were to drag him by the chain to the imperial dais and he would fall prostrate. It was done as Andronicus requested, with Isaac Angelus (who later deprived Andronicus of his empire and his life) acting as his minister: a thing worthy of admiration, and which one could not see as having happened by mere chance. Then, having been received most brilliantly and magnificently and treated most kindly, as befitted so great a man returning from a long period of wandering, he was sent away to Oinaion, so that he might live there and refresh himself from his long travels and put an end to his many years of roaming. For both knew that if they lived in the same place, their old feuds would break out again. For neither would envy be quiet, nor would they have peace—those whose business it is to seek to capture the favor of rulers by slanders, and by calumniating others to secure their own wealth and ascend to a higher rank of dignity.

^A Andronicus was therefore far from Jove and the thunderbolt, living in voluntary exile, but he was free from those miseries of wandering and enjoyed the emperor’s munificence. While dwelling in that place, he heard of the death of Manuel and of the dissensions in the palace, and of the equestrian exercises and games of Alexius, by which childish minds are captivated. He learned that his guardians, the patricians, were in part like bees, frequently flying off into the provinces to store up money instead of honey, in part like goats, constantly craving the government like leaves, and in part, mimicking swine, growing fat on sordid revenues, while they had absolutely no regard for praise or the public interest, but wallowed in every kind of turpitude and wickedness. ^B Seeking, therefore, a specious pretext for seizing the throne, and after various reflections and manifold attempts, he read the document of the oath which he had given to Manuel and his son Alexius. Since the words in it could not be twisted into another meaning, but were to be taken in their native sense, he fastened upon this clause like a fly to a sore: “If I see, or understand, or hear anything that may be detrimental to your honor, empire, and safety, I will both inform you of it and, to the best of my ability, I will prevent it.” This was most opportune for the tyranny he had long since been hatching. And because he was a sharp and authoritarian man, he sent frequent letters to the emperor and his nephew Alexius, and to the patriarch Theodosius and others—in whom some spark of love for the deceased Manuel still appeared—in which he magnified the infamy, and pretended to be indignant that the protosebastus had not been stripped of his power and reduced to a more moderate station. ^C He argued further that the ruin of the emperor was undoubtedly looming over him, and spoke of the shameful rumor, grievous even to the ears themselves, which was being shouted from the highest walls and, frequenting the gates of princes, was spreading through the whole world. Because he spoke and wrote these things with the greatest gravity and brilliance (for he was highly skilled in letters, and was constantly reciting the Epistles of the divine orator Paul), he drew everyone to his own opinion; and he attained this, that, as one who was most devoted to the state and refined by a long time and daily experience of affairs, he obtained the highest authority. Therefore, leaving Oeneum, he set out for Constantinople; and wherever he went, he brought forth his oath; being asked, he explained the cause of his journey. Men, however, eager for new developments, and those who believed the old rumors foretelling the kingdom for Andronicus, flocked to him like jackdaws to an eagle, pouring out idle words. ^D In this way he reached the regions of Paphlagonia, and everywhere he was received most honorably as a savior divinely sent, and, ever carrying in his mouth the epistles of the spirit-speaking Paul, he had all men adding their agreement to his opinion and inclining toward him alone, as a man who was a lover of the Romans and, by long time, [cont.]

and by more seasoned experience, having gathered together the best qualities. He himself also departed from Oinaion and proceeded toward the queen of cities, unfolding his own oath to those upon whom he might chance, and explaining to those who inquired the cause of his movement. And about him, all those whom the clouds-high-reaching and hook-taloned eagle [kept in view]—that is, the jackals who were feeding on the craving for revolutionary affairs, and those to whom current rumor was of great concern—predicted that Andronikos would presumably reign. And the faction of the Paphlagonians had him, thus having crossed over, in such regard, and received him with the highest honors as if he were both a savior and one who came by divine providence.

^A 4. Alexios the protosebastos, relying on his own power and the favor of the emperor, drew the entire administration to himself, becoming swollen with his own authority and abusing the power of the Augusta, just like a snake that has swallowed many venoms and become unbearable to look upon. ^B Consequently, there was nothing at all in these matters that was not managed through him. And if anyone else had secretly transacted something, or had begged it of the empress, or, having found the emperor playing with nuts or pebbles, had obtained it from him, none of this escaped his notice. For he devised a method by which things achieved through others would be referred back to him, like waters returning to their fountainhead: he obtained an edict which provided that those things which the hand of the emperor had signed would not be considered valid unless Alexios had first seen them and had endorsed them with green ink, [writing] "Approved."

And so he handled and transformed everything according to his own judgment; and the money which the Comnenian emperors had gathered into their treasuries by much sweat and even by flaying the poor, he diverted to himself and the empress, so that what Archilochus writes was plainly fulfilled, that goods collected with long labor and time often flow into the pudenda of a whore. ^C Hence the whole city looked toward Andronikos; his arrival was expected like a torch in the darkness or a radiant star. The nobles urged him on by letters sent in secret to hasten his journey, saying that there would be no one to oppose him or even stand against his shadow, but that all would receive him with open palms and willingly reveal the innermost recesses of their hearts.

In particular, Maria Porphyrogenita, the sister of Emperor Alexios—by the same father but not the same mother—and her husband, the Caesar of Italian origin, kept urging him on and encouraged him to approach with confidence. For she, being all but suffocated by the fact that the paternal empire was being plundered by the protosebastos, and being besides an irascible woman and a virago, incited also by a natural hatred for her stepmother, and furthermore impatient of anyone superior to her and resenting being regarded with suspicion as an adversary, incited Andronikos with letters, like a horse standing in the stalls and striving for the turning-post, ^D acting as if with whips; and this was to her own misfortune, hastening her own destruction. And because she could not hide her hatred for the protosebastos, she opposed him openly and attempted nothing that was not aimed at his ruin, having also conciliated her own kinsmen, whom she knew to be favorable to Andronikos and enemies of the protosebastos. These were Alexios Komnenos, a bastard son of Manuel from his niece Theodora; Andronikos Lapardas; the two sons of Andronikos, John and Manuel; the eparch of the city, John Kamateros; and several others. Thus, having confirmed their loyalty to the brother and emperor through a conspiracy, and having resolved upon the death of the protosebastos, they eagerly watched for the time to attack him. And regarding this matter, since he had gone out into the deep Rhyax with the emperor to celebrate the memory of the martyr Theodore, [they observed...]

the first week of the fast,] preparing the attempt and producing the assassins of her rival, baring the murderous iron, but through some accident she was thwarted in her design. And as both the counsel and the conspiracy were discovered a little later, the others of the cabal were brought before the imperial tribunal, and an examination of the crime was set forth in forms only, but not in reality; for condemnation followed immediately, and as mute fish the captured were led away, having been given absolutely no power to defend themselves, and were cast into chains.

^B 5. She herself, the Porphyrogenita, fled with her husband to the Great Church, crying out that she was fleeing from her angry stepmother and that woman’s fierce defender and paramour. She had thus moved to pity not only the patriarch and his college of priests, but the promiscuous crowd of the people who had gathered there, so that they could scarcely restrain their tears. Relying on this feeling of the people, and having incited the poor rabble to sedition with the largesse of copper staters, she scorned the custom of suppliants; and refusing to hear any mention of the pardon that was offered to her, she demanded that the conspirators be led out of prison and given a new hearing; and she would in no way tolerate that the Sebastokrator should administer the public affairs: for she sought to have him driven from the palace, and as an adulterated branch from a noble stock, uprooted and destroyed; for if he were to grow up together with the emperor, he would eventually strangle him. ^C But the woman desired things that were not to come to pass; for the man was clinging to the imperial bedchamber as a polypus clings to rocks, having expanded his suckers everywhere, and he thought that under no circumstances should he depart from there. But when the emperor threatened his sister, the Caesarissa, that if she did not voluntarily depart from the temple, she would be dragged out by force (when I say the emperor, I mean the edicts of the Protosebastos and the emperor’s mother), she stubbornly refused to leave of her own accord; and fearing that she might be seized, she stationed guards at the gates of the temple and fortified all the entrances, transforming the house of prayer into a den of thieves or a heavily fortified and impregnable castle. Thus, proceeding from bad to worse and embarking on unpraiseworthy actions, she gathered auxiliary forces and made the precincts of the temple her camp. For she collected Italian gladiators and enlisted brave Iberians from the East who were in the city for the sake of trade; and she summoned an armed phalanx of Romans, despising all who exhorted her towards peace, and fearing not even the patriarch himself, who was pressing her sharply and warning her gravely what ought to be done, and ^D

often even rebuking her with anger. It is indeed the custom of all cities for the rabble to be reckless and moved by a great impulse. But the Constantinopolitan mob, gathering from all sides, is the most turbulent of all, and it takes the less pleasure in upright counsel in that it is composed of so many disparate nations, and by the variety of its arts it in a way alters its own character. And because things that are worse are wont to prevail, and in many bunches of grapes one will scarcely find a single ripe berry, it neither undertakes anything with policy nor desists from dishonorable attempts with a settled mind; and sometimes by the mere rumor of sedition it is stirred up more than by fire, and in blind fury rushes onto swords, into precipices, and upon sea-cliffs. Conversely, when it is terrified, it grows fearful at any noise whatsoever and offers its neck for any to tread upon. Rightly, therefore, is it censured by the names of inconstancy and rashness. For that confluence of people is neither accustomed to counsel itself aright, nor to listen to others who advise them well; and contrary to the custom of fortunate cities, whatever is imported by land and sea, it pours out into foreign cities with no benefit to itself. Moreover, fickleness and perfidy towards the emperors are a nature implanted in them. For whom they extol today as a legitimate magistrate, him they traduce on the morrow as an evildoer. Hence it appears clearly enough that they act not with reason, but with a certain rashness and levity of mind. ^A

6. They began, therefore, to gather into groups and cohorts; and at first they spoke with great liberty, supposedly pitying Maria Porphyrogenita because her lot was different from what her dignity required, and shouting against the protosebastos, because he was abusing a happy fortune beyond his merit; they were also angry at the mother of the emperor. Little by little advancing, they broke out into sedition, and one of the priests brought an icon of Christ into the forum, another lifted a cross onto his back, and another, having snatched up a holy banner, drew the seditious to himself as the Caecias wind draws clouds, so that as if by some agreement they all praised the emperor, and—as is the habit of the seditious—having fallen from an honorable beginning to an evil end, they anathematized the protosebastos and the lady. They did this not only in the Milion, ^B but even in the circus itself, and though they were looking towards the palace, they did not shrink from such foulness. This, being continued for several days, excited the people to sedition. Consequently, the common people, having laid aside all fear, plundered and razed the most splendid houses of those whom they knew to be dear to the protosebastos and the lady in the first degree; among which was destroyed the notable house of Theodore Pantechnes, the prefect of the city, the domestic secretary, and the chartoularios. And he himself indeed sought safety in flight; but with all his property plundered, they did not even refrain from the public records, in which the laws of the city, written by the emperors of old, were preserved. ^C

^A The Protosebastus, therefore, seeing that the evil was steadily growing, formed a plan to suppress this tumult; and because he foresaw that Maria the Caesarissa would not withdraw from her purpose nor retreat in the least from those arrogant and immoderate demands which she put forward, he decided to settle the controversy by war and to drive her out of the sacred building as if it were a fortress. Accordingly, having collected a not insignificant army from the Eastern forces and having gathered them into the Great Palace as if into a camp, a suitable place was sought from which they might attack the temple. For the Caesarissa was already preparing herself to repel force with war, and her soldiers had torn down the houses contiguous to the great temple by the Augusteum; and having climbed the great arch which is at the Milion, they were preparing to repel the imperial troops, and they also guarded the church of the divine Alexius, which is joined to the atrium of the Augusteum. ^B But the emperor's soldiers, having gone out from the palace at the break of dawn on the seventh day of the month of May, in the fifteenth indiction, occupied the church of John the Theologian, known as the Diippion, with the Armenian Sabbatios as their leader, and having climbed it, they raised a confusing clamor. When at the third hour of the day the battle was to be initiated, in a forum full of men, the soldiers of the Caesarissa, who were fighting from the arch of the Milion and from the church of Alexius, inflicted no small injury with missiles cast from the higher ground like thunderbolts. But when other most heavily armed cohorts were led out from the palace and occupied all the lanes, all the corners, and all the alleys that lead to the temple, the gathering of the people to the Caesarissa was compressed. The Caesarian soldiers, having also left the temple and the vestibule of the Augusteum to engage with the imperial armies in the streets, ^C were seen to be tiring and gradually weakening, a few against many. Thus, it clearly came to hand-to-hand combat, and a great battle was joined, with arrows from a distance and hand-to-hand at close quarters. The groans of the falling and the exhortations of those dying were heard on both sides, with the victory remaining uncertain until midday itself. But as the day was already declining, the imperial forces quite clearly emerged the victors, as the Caesarians were driven from the crossroads into the Augusteum. Then even those who were standing in the arch of the Milion and fighting from the church of Alexius looked to flight. Once these places were occupied, the imperial army raised their banners with images upon the arches, and broke through the doors of the Augusteum with axes and hammers. The Caesarians, however, being unable to resist, as they were being hard pressed by the troop of soldiers from the arches above and at close quarters in the Augusteum, gradually slipped away, being little helped by those who were hurling stones and missiles from the upper positions of the Macron, where the catechumens are instructed, and the Thomoites. ^D At length, surrounded on all sides by arms, they rushed into the vestibule of the temple, where the prince and greatest minister of God, the Archangel Michael, holds a statue with a drawn sword, acting as the guardian of the temple, decorated with fine pebbles. From there, neither the imperial troop could proceed further

fearing the narrow passages of the temple, nor could the defenders of the Caesarissa go out from there to engage in battle.

^B 7. And the Caesar, being anxious for himself and his wife, that they might not be shamefully captured by their opponents; and the patriarch, fearing that the enemies might penetrate into the temple and tread upon the holy floor with unholy feet and seize the most sacred offerings with unclean hands still dripping with warm blood; the latter, adorned in his pontifical vestments and holding the divine oracles in his hands, descended into the vestibule of the temple, which is also called the protecdiceion, where those of the Caesarissa’s party had retreated in flight. The Caesar brought with him the gladiators who were guarding the doors of the church, as well as the Latin mercenaries who were still at full strength, and the attendants and household servants of his wife, totaling about one hundred and fifty men. Having taken up a position on a high stool near the Macron, he spoke as follows: "Although it would have been fitting not to take up arms against fellow countrymen and those initiated in the same religion, but against the enemies of the cross, yet because those who are badly managing the empire of the Romans have taken it from us, and despite our reluctance have compelled us to sharpen our spears against them, we should not timidly drive back these enemies, nor should we have regard for the nation; but first, because they are enemies of God—whose temple they enter so impudently—and then because they are our own adversaries, we should avenge ourselves. No one can blame us for this. For those whom we never offended, and against whom we never took up arms, are running impudently against us as if we were condemned criminals, with no regard for honor; and they are striving to tear us away from the house of God, where we are suppliants, against all equity, despite having been provoked by no injury from us. For it is an act of extreme madness to reproach—or to harass as though they were wrongdoers—those who have taken refuge with God and are seeking a remedy for their persecution with Him as their intercessor and defender. Therefore, no one should think it a sin to defend one’s own safety and to avert a hostile blow. Nor should one spare a fellow countryman who is brandishing a drawn sword and threatening death. Whoever harms should be considered an enemy. He who...

kills should fall. But ^A God will indeed know favor toward us, if we drive these murderers from this temple, or if we resist those who, as you see, gape at the holy things and are eager to plunder them. For if this were not so, and if they distinguished between the profane and the holy, they would have long since desisted from searching inside the vestibule, as though they were already victorious. But they are so shameless that they not only imagine they can plunder our goods, but the wretches even think they can claim as their own the things of God. But I swear by Him who was nailed to the cross and by this spear, they shall not succeed in achieving their aims, for we shall preserve these offerings to God unharmed by polluted hands, and we shall not neglect our own safety.” Having spoken in this manner, he went down into the vestibule of the temple to the statue of the Archangel Michael, with others following him as their leader; they all carried shields and long, double-edged bronze swords, appearing exactly like bronze statues. There the Caesar, having drawn up his line of battle and fortified himself with the sign of the cross, leaped out before the others. Those in the atrium of the Augusteon, perturbed by his first onset at the doors, pushed others and spilled out; and many of the imperial legion were wounded, and one was even run through with a sword. After this, the Caesar returned to where he had come from, the imperial forces not daring to advance beyond the atrium, but content to hurl weapons from afar. As the day was already declining, ^B the soldiers on both sides, exhausted, ceased fighting. The Patriarch sent his servant to the Lady, who, because he was accustomed to entering the palace, approaching the Emperor, and carrying messages back and forth, was called the Palatinus. At first, he threatened her with the divine wrath, which with its most keen eyes beholds in a twinkling of an eye whatever wicked thing is done anywhere; then he announced the words of the Caesarissa concerning ^C peace. Accordingly, the Grand Duke Andronikos Kontostephanos, the Grand Hetaireiarch John Doukas, and many others, men of noble birth and adorned with the greatest dignities, were present to compose the anger on both sides. And then, indeed, because of the night rather than because they trusted one another, they desisted from arms. The next day, spurred on to renew the fight, when the same men were present again and had pledged their word to the Caesarissa and her husband that they had nothing to fear either from the brother Emperor, or from the Lady Stepmother, or from the Protosebastos Alexios, and that their dignity would not be taken away, only then, having also been granted pardon for their allies and helpers, did they abstain from a second battle. And others, oaths having been given and a pacification concluded, departed at once; but the Caesar and Caesarissa ^D departed from the temple at night and betook themselves to the Great Palace, where the Emperors were then residing. The Patriarch sent his servant—who, as he was accustomed to frequent the archives and conduct the imperial will and the replies back and forth between the Emperors, is called the Palatinus—who first expressed the divine indignation at this, which is so sharp-sighted and perceives in an instant whatever deeds are contrary to the law anywhere, and then announced the words concerning the peace of the Caesarissa. There arrived as the mediator of the messages to both parties the Grand Duke Andronikos Kontostephanos, the Grand Hetaireiarch John Doukas, and many others, men of noble birth and conspicuous for their great dignities. And then they broke off the struggle, persuaded more by the night than confident in the reconciliations, but on the morrow were again arming themselves for battle. But when the same men appeared again, and gave their word to the Caesarissa and to her husband, and confirmed these with oaths, and provided assurance that they would suffer nothing unpleasant, nor would they be stripped of their accustomed honor by the brother and Emperor, or by the Lady Stepmother, or by the Protosebastos Alexios, but rather

as amnesty for the evil done had been granted to those who had joined them and who were registered as allies, they thus refrained from a second skirmish. And they departed immediately upon the completion of the oaths and agreements; and as night drew on, the Caesar and his consort left the temple and arrived at the great palace, where the rulers were then residing.

^A 8. Such, then, were the ends which the affairs concerning the Caesar reached, and for these reasons this inglorious war was set in motion, which provoked divine indignation against us on account of the unsanctified deeds that took place in the holy sanctuary. For I do not absolve the Caesarissa, who had appeared as a suppliant, from blame, as it was by her rashness that the state was thrown into confusion. Nor, in truth, do I consider those men free from the guilt of sin who, rejecting the words of a suppliant, descended into a quarrel that was certainly not praiseworthy and filled the house of prayer with blood from slaughter. For if Titus the commander of the Romans, who formerly cast a palisade around Jerusalem, spared the Solomonic temple to such a degree, and took such care in its defense—choosing rather that his own army should be struck with missiles and suffer harm from the Jewish troop rushing out from within than that such a sumptuous and wondrous work should be violated—and he a man ignorant of the God whose temple he revered, and a worshipper of gods who did not create the heavens; what honor, then, should not the pious and Christians have accorded to this most beautiful and truly divine temple, which, in truth, the hands of God designed, and which was the first and the last, the most beautiful and inimitable work, nor did any other exist on earth but a reflection of the celestial sphere?

^B Now, the Protosebastos, being highly incensed at Patriarch Theodosios because he openly opposed his desires and obstructed his personal designs, first set against him many of the chief priests by corrupting them with gold and banquets. Then he even ordered that legal judgment be held against him in his absence, on the ground that he had abetted the Caesarissa in her seditious uprising against the Emperor, and had impudently and rashly provided the opportunity to excite tumults with arms from the temple, as if from a fortress, and to devise innovations. Perhaps he would even have pulled him from the patriarchal throne in disgrace, had the Caesarissa not stood in the way with all her might; not only did she refuse to grant the Protosebastos the opportunity to topple the patriarch and install another, but she also guarded the most holy man most zealously, lest he should slip away and relieve himself of the troubles by living in the peace of the monastery which he had built on the island of Terebinthos, and lest she herself should appear the author of catastrophe when he was instantly snatched from the temple and made to suffer the most terrible things. Then, however, finding an opportunity to vent his anger, he banished the holy man, who had been driven from the sacred palace, to the monastery of the Pantepoptes. Having, however, tried many ways and struggled with many designs, and having associated with the then most villainous of the senate, and having employed as advisors those among the trembling members of the court who feared neither God’s retribution nor men’s, in order that this holy man might be cast out in a seemly and presentable manner, he did not find his purpose accomplished, both because nothing was found in him for which he should be driven out, and because the Lady and many others—and indeed almost all of the Emperor’s kin—venerated that man exceedingly. Unwilling, therefore, that crooked serpent, abandoning his rolls, and the poison which against the holy man...

^A he had prepared, he gave his consent likewise to the patriarch's return to his former throne. When the day appointed for the return had arrived, as many as held office, and all who felt affection for the cause of the sanctuary, and the city’s entire populace, having rushed together to the sacred monastery, organized for him a most brilliant procession, moistening the streets with perfumes and scenting the air with Indian woods and spicy aromatics. So dense with people was the escort that it was only at deepest evening that he who was being escorted could return to the great temple of the Wisdom of God, having departed from the monastery of the All-Seeing at the first light of dawn. So great was the shame that covered the faces of the hierarchs who had judged him that they not only avoided the public thoroughfares because of the sin committed against the patriarch and the mockery they would receive, but they even longed for death. And these matters stood thus.

9. ^B Andronicus, buoyant with the desire for power, and spurred on by the letters that were frequently flying to him like arrows from illustrious houses, as I have already said—and in the end Mary, his own daughter, who had come to him as a fugitive, not degenerating from him, since she too prayed to have such a father, being herself a skilled teacher of the affairs transacted in the archives—reached his goal; and having been pricked by the pleasing words which he had heard from her, he bounded forth like a racehorse. Leaving the borders of Paphlagonia, he arrived at Heraclea in the Pontus, and from there he proceeded further, with manifold shrewdness, an obscure temperament, and with the art of simulation, preparing and winning over everyone in his path. For who was born of such a hard, unsmiling rock, or had a heart forged upon an iron anvil, so as not to be moved in the least by Andronicus’s tears and the deceptions and enticements of his words, which gushed forth like a fountain? For he boasted of a concern for integrity, and professed that the liberty of the Emperor was his object. ^C But neither was the Protosebastos entirely negligent in these matters, although he was an effeminate man who spent not only the dawn in sleep, but also a great part of the day, and so that the sun’s beam—most desired by others—might not open his eyes with its rays, he used thicker curtains to darken the bedchamber where he slept; a practice which also served the purpose of hiding himself away in the darkness. But to speak more truthfully, he performed the works of nocturnal luxury by lighted torches, having dispersed the darkness with artificial light. Yet when the sun ascended into our hemisphere, seeking his bed like a wild beast, he would shut out the light with carpets and coverlets. Thus, even by cleaning his rotting teeth and filling with pitch those which had fallen out due to age, he, being an effeminate and slothful man, won over many of the noblemen of that time by a new artifice, mostly using the Emperor’s mother as an invincible champion or rather an intermediary; for by the radiance and elegance of her countenance, the evenness of her character, and the candor of her soul and the sweetness of her words, she drew all men to her as if with a rope. ^D Yet he usually placated and appeased with money and munificence those who bore with embittered spirits the fact that they were held in a subordinate position. And so, no one ordered to oppose Andronicus defected from the Protosebastos to him, already not obscurely [aiming for] the kingdom.

having spit upon the Protosebastos and having been lured by the mask of Andronicus, the hater of tyrants. Thus, Nicaea, the greatest city sitting at the head of the Bithynians, did not at all attach itself to Andronicus, and Joannes Doukas, who had been entrusted with its guardianship, remained firm against the letters of Andronicus, even though they struck at men's spirits more accurately than siege artillery and more powerfully than any wall-breaking engine. But the Great Domestic Joannes Komnenos, governing the province of the Thracesians, not only stopped his ears against the songs of Andronicus, but even pursued him as a tyrant, having observed in his letters a multiform Proteus, the tyrannical character of Andronicus shining forth as if in a clear ^B mirror. When Andronicus approached Tarsia and had joined to himself the greatest part of the Nicomedians, Andronicus Angelos—whose sons, Isaac and Alexios, later ascended to the height of the empire—was sent against him with adequate forces. He, having engaged in battle around the place called Charax, was soundly defeated, although he had not clashed with an equal army nor found his antagonist to be a worthy warrior, but had instead engaged a certain castrate who had recruited useless rustic soldiers and brought along a contingent of Paphlagonian troops. Therefore, when he entered the city immediately after the defeat, he was required to pay back the money he had received for the administration of the war. ^C Seeing, then, that his misfortune was being interpreted as though he had deliberately mismanaged the affair out of friendship for Andronicus, and urged on by his six sons—all of whom were men of sound mind and valiant of hand—he set about fortifying his own house located in the outer Kionion, having taken on some of the populace as assistants. But when he perceived that his circumstances were trending toward his being besieged by the Emperor and that he could not resist his adversaries, he changed his plan, and having loaded his six sons and his wife into a ship, he departed for Andronicus. It is said that when Andronicus saw him approaching, he remarked: “Behold, I will send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way for thee.” Having thus regained ^D confidence from the presence of his cousin, and being encouraged by the success of his plan, he abandoned roundabout journeys, despised the cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia, and the shifting to and fro; with an unswerving focus he stretched forth toward the city of Constantine, as if holding to the road of Philistiem that led thither. And having taken up quarters at the Peukia (this is a site located in the upper parts of Chalcedon and so named) [P. 160] and having kindled many fires throughout that whole night—not in proportion to the army accompanying him, but to create the impression of a larger force—he rendered the Byzantines suspenseful, so that they abandoned their immediate tasks and stretched their gaze out to the opposite shore.

Thus proceeded the affairs regarding the bald-headed and lion-maned Andronicus. ^A

10. Since Alexios the protosebastos was unable to repel the encroaching enemy with infantry forces (for others were already inclining in their hearts toward Andronicus, not having the security to travel to him on foot, while others considered it sufficient for their loyalty to the ruler to sit at home and join neither side—as the wily nature of opinion and the custom that the majority of kings seize the Roman throne through slaughter and the shedding of blood had taught the masses to think and speak), he attempted to stave off the looming danger by a naval battle. Triremes filled the Propontis, some containing Romans who manned the oars and were to fight from the decks, and others containing the most valiant and warlike contingent of the various Latin nations, to whom he paid huge sums of money, since the protosebastos trusted them to provide support more than the Romans themselves. He had intended to appoint as trierarchs those most faithful to him and to place his own kinsmen in command of the fleet. However, because the Grand Duke Contostephanos opposed this and demanded the command of the fleet for himself, he was forced to change his plan and placed Contostephanos over the entire fleet, also ^B adding his own kinsmen and retainers. Thus, with the approach of the Eastern ships blocked, a short time later a certain man from the priestly order, George Xiphilinos, was sent by the emperor to Andronicus. When he had come into the presence of the tyrant, he delivered the letters and explained the instructions he had received. These contained promises of great gifts and higher dignities, and the favor of God, who brings about peace, if he would desist from his intended purpose, from which civil wars would arise, and return to his former way of life. But Andronicus, when the envoy Xiphilinos, as they say, had performed his duty in bad faith and had warned him not to yield even slightly, rejected that petition. He dismissed the envoys haughtily and ordered them to report back to the emperor that if they wished Andronicus to return to the place whence he came, the protosebastos must first be driven out and forced to provide an accounting for his crimes; the emperor’s mother must be brought into order, her hair shorn, and she must be confined in a monastery; and the emperor must exercise imperial power according to his paternal testament, not being choked like wheat by ^C the tares of those who share his power. But not many days passed before the Grand Duke Andronicus deserted to Andronicus with all the long ships that the Roman muster contained. This event raised the seditious Andronicus above all things ^D and crushed the protosebastos to such a degree that, in his desperation, he lost all vigor of spirit. No longer did the partisans of Andronicus gather in secret; rather, mocking the protosebastos impudently, those who rejoiced in these new developments crossed over to Chalcedon, and flocking to Andronicus, they marveled at his stature, his most beautiful form, and his venerable old age. Captivated by the sweetness of his speech and the magnificence of his promises, they returned home eager and happy, as if they had just returned from the Fortunate Isles.

^A Indeed, they were like those who upon the first meeting discern the wolf hiding under a sheep’s skin, and the serpent that would immediately strike at those in whose bosom it was being warmed, having been sated with every luxury. There were, however, some who from the first glance recognized the wolf hidden in the sheepskin, and the viper that would soon, once warmed, attack and cruelly bite those carrying it under their cloak.

14. Following this, the children of Andronikos, John and Manuel, and the others whom the protosebastos had cast into chains, were released from prison; and others, whom he had favored, were shut up in their place, along with all his faction and kin. The protosebastos himself was arrested in the palace and seized by the guard of Germans—who bear on their shoulders the two-mouthed axes—and was prevented from leaving. ^B But in the middle of the night, he was secretly led out of the palace and brought to the buildings of the sacred curia, which the patriarch Michael had built, with the same, and even stronger and firmer, guard. O the shifting turn of events, sometimes encroaching more swiftly than speech! He who only yesterday had brought unproclaimed war against the Church, being of noble lineage and surpassing fortune, and having violently torn away suppliants from that place, ^C he whom many thousands were clamoring around—he today is a prisoner and homeless, having no attendant, no helper, no defender save for Him who preserves and redeems. He took this hard, but he complained even more that he was not allowed to sleep by his guards, who were always falling upon him as he turned to sleep and compelling him to keep his eyes open like horn or iron. But the patriarch, not remembering injuries but pitying the man for his change of fortune, ^D bestowed on him sufficient care and, by conversing with him, lightened his burden, exhorting him to behave with moderation toward his guards and not to speak more arrogantly than his present fortune allowed. Several days having passed, in the morning he was led away from the temple, placed upon a very small pony, with a flag fluttering on a reed carried before him, and being thus mocked, he came down to the sea. From there, having been thrown into a skiff, he was taken across to Andronikos, and then his eyes were put out. Such was the end of the power, or rather the not-yet-firmly-established tyranny and administration of the protosebastos; for if he, being a man skilled in warfare and not sluggish, had gathered greater forces and with greater vigilance…

had blocked Andronikos’s entry into the city and kept himself unassailed by the impending evil—for he could have drawn from the imperial treasuries as much as he wished, and he could have used the triremes to fight against his opponent, manned as they were by Latin soldiers, who were superior to the entire Roman fleet, being completely armored and bloodthirsty—he might have averted it. But as fate would have it ^A, Andronikos, having become more vigorous, overturned the one who had become sluggish, and obtained a brilliant victory. While he was still staying beyond the strait, he sent the triremes that followed the Great Duke, along with all the elite troops from the military regimental lists that had accompanied him, and launched a war against the Latins who were in the city. And as the city's populace took courage against them and incited one another to fight strenuously, a war was waged at once by land and by sea. The Latins, surrounded by two armies and being unable to defend themselves, sought their safety as each one could, leaving their houses open to be plundered, houses which were full of wealth of every kind and of those goods which mortals usually crave. For they did not dare to stand their ground, nor to attack the Romans, nor to withstand their onslaught. Thus, some were dispersed in the city wherever chance led them; others escaped into the houses of the magnates; others, having boarded the long ships of their own countrymen, barely escaped the sword. Those who were caught were condemned to death; all suffered the loss of their property. The triremes, filled with fugitives, having set sail from the city’s harbors and looking towards the Hellespont ^B, finished the remainder of that day anchored at the islands of the Prince (Principos) and Prote, and the others near the city—those not situated in the high sea, I mean. The following day, having burned some of their monasteries, they departed with sails and oars. As no one pursued them, wherever they chose to land, they did whatever harm they could to the Romans there.

12. In those days a comet ^D was seen in the sky, portending the most grievous disasters that ensued, and representing Andronikos himself exactly. For as it displayed the shape and coils of a winding serpent, the appearance of the apparition was at one moment stretched out, and a short while later it would coil itself into loops; at another time, opening its mouth into a vast chasm, it struck fear into those who beheld it, as if about to devour from on high those below, eager for human blood. It lasted only for the remainder of that day and the following night, and then vanished. A hawk also, accustomed to hunting, white in its plumage, bearing jesses on its feet—one that had often regrown its feathers in the nest after losing them—flew from the east toward the greatest temple of the Word, and having entered the Thomaitic hall, it attracted many to witness it. There were even those who tried to catch it; but it itself

that of a great palace, and he perches upon the chamber where it is the custom for those who have recently obtained the empire and been crowned with the diadem, to be celebrated by all the people. Shortly after, he returns to the temple; and when this circuit had been performed three times, he is finally caught by someone and brought to the emperor. ^A This omen was interpreted by some as clearly pointing to Andronicus, who, having been very often cast into prison, was already grey-haired, and whom they immediately interpreted as about to pay the most heavy penalties. But the more prudent and those gifted with more lofty minds asserted that that flight, repeated three times, signified a three-year period of time, after the completion of which Andronicus would again be in custody and shackles. And finally, that Andronicus would once again receive guard and foot-fetters after having ruled the Romans.

But as all were ferrying across to Andronicus, ^B the last of all was the patriarch Theodosius with the leading priests. And he, when he heard that the pontiff was approaching his tent, immediately goes out to meet him, clad in a split garment of violet color, of Iberian fabric, reaching down to his knees and elbows, wearing on his head a cap terminating in the likeness of a sharp pyramid, of a dark color; and, as tall as he was, he threw himself down to the hooves of the horses and lay stretched out in great, magnificent fashion. Shortly after, he rises, and kisses the soles of the patriarch's feet, calling him the savior of the emperor, a zealot for what is good, a champion of the truth, equal to John Chrysostom in his tongue of gold, and bestowing every good appellation upon him. But the patriarch, who was then seeing Andronicus for the first time, having scrutinized him rather carefully—his fierce, sharp gaze; his subdued spirit; his sophistic and subtle character; his stature reaching almost to ten feet; his arrogant gait; the eyebrow twitching with haughtiness; his being a man thoughtful and always in contemplation—pitied those who had foolishly brought in such a man to their own ruin, and said: ^C "Hitherto," he says, "I have heard of you, but now I have also seen and clearly known you." And again, he echoed the word of David and said: "As we have heard, so also have we seen," wittily rebuking the dissembled meeting of Andronicus, by which he had adorned that theatrical performance of his, prostrating himself and fawning like a dog, while at the same time reporting to the patriarch the things which the emperor Manuel had told him, painting Andronicus in his speech, and putting him under suspicion as if he were ignorant of the truth. But that duplicity of words did not escape the crafty Andronicus; hence, as if wounded in his soul by the double-edged sword of the things said, and having discovered—from the line of the patriarch's eyebrows, which was scowling and as it were ^D grown close together—the movements within and around his soul, as they are an index of the affections of the mind: "Behold," he says, "the hidden Armenian." For he was rumored to be born of an Armenian father. With the same witticism he also rebuked him at other times, when in his sorrowful discourse he would say that he alone remained as the guardian of Emperor Alexius, without any companion in his troubles and labors, not even being helped by his holiness, although Manuel...

had, as both Emperor and father to the Emperor Alexius, entrusted to him the care of his son and the governance of the state, in preference to those related to him by blood. The patriarch replied that he had long since ceased to be concerned about the Emperor—that is, he counted him among the dead ever since Andronicus had entered the city and taken over the administration of affairs. ^A Confused by this reply, and pretending not to understand, Andronicus asked what that statement meant, although he knew well enough that the holy man had pointed to the death of the boy Emperor. But the patriarch, not wishing to provoke the wild beast that was already growling against him, or to incite the camel to its customary vomit, twisted the saying in another direction; he claimed that he had long ago ceased to concern himself with the Emperor, both because the canons and his old age forbade him to be involved in worldly affairs, and because Andronicus himself was more than sufficient to educate the Emperor.

13. Now that affairs of state had been disposed of in such a way that, as Andronicus had ^B suggested, his own sons and friends were in control, and those related to the Emperor by blood had been given the opportunity to approach and accommodate themselves to his will, at last Andronicus himself departed from Damalis. Having boarded a trireme, while he was crossing the strait into the city, he joyfully sang that verse of David: “Return, O my soul, unto thy rest; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For He hath delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” ^C When Emperor Alexius and his mother Xene had departed from the palace, as Andronicus had wished, and had moved into the imperial buildings at Philopatium—the ones called the Manganes—Andronicus went there. He offered the Emperor a profound prostration, falling upon his knees, and, as was his custom, he embraced the boy's feet, shedding tears. But as for his mother, Xene, he greeted her only briefly and with contempt, without concealing his long-standing hatred for her in his soul, and, having offered her a mere token greeting of forced civility, he withdrew after a short while. ^D Having arrived at the tent that had been prepared for him there, he had around him the curtains drawn, in the way that birds gather their chicks under their own wings, all the noble and illustrious men. Then a certain man, another Homeric Irus—foul, homeless, wandering the thresholds of the rich to slake his hunger with morsels of bread—was caught in the dead of the night begging for food near the tent of Andronicus; he was a tall man and cross-eyed. At first he was accused by the ministers of Andronicus of being a sorcerer, and then he was turned over to the urban populace by common opinion. Andronicus, watching this, as if intent upon a divine spectacle, had him burned without a trial, firewood and brushwood having been piled up in the theater, to the gratification of Andronicus.

Having measured out many days with the emperor at the Philopation, Andronicus conceived a desire to enter the great city and see the tomb of the emperor’s cousin, Manuel. Arriving, therefore, at the monastery of the Pantokrator, ^A and having asked where the dead emperor was buried, he stood by the tomb meant to guard his body, wept bitterly, and lamented so passionately that many of those standing by, not knowing the duplicity of Andronicus at all, greatly admired him and said, “O prodigy! How he loved his kinsman, the sovereign, even though he was a harsh persecutor and treated him unkindly.” When some of his kinsmen pulled him away from the sarcophagus and said that enough had been given to mourning, he did not yield to their entreaties in the least, but asked that they allow ^B him to remain a little longer at the tomb, for he had something to discuss in private with the one lying there. Having arranged his hands in the manner of a suppliant and spread out his palms and lifted his eyes toward the stone that received the corpse, he moved his lips, and while emitting no voice that could reach the ears of those standing by, he carried on a secret conversation. To most, the murmuring seemed some barbarian incantation; but the wittier ones said that Andronicus was insulting Manuel and taunting his ghost with these words: “I have you, persecutor, by whom I was driven into many wanderings and made a byword ^C for almost the entire world, having traveled throughout the whole earth; and while this tomb, rising in seven peaks, holds you fast as an inescapable prison, weighed down in a sleep from which you will not be roused except by the blast of the last trumpet, I, like a lion that has caught rich prey, will avenge myself on your kin and exact heavy penalties for the injuries I suffered from you, now that I have entered this seven-hilled, splendid great city.”

14. From this point on, he went through every ^D illustrious and magnificent house, and placing lodgings in them just as travelers do, he used the common resources as he pleased; he allowed the emperor Alexios to attend to hunting and light trifles, having set over him guards who not only watched his coming and going more curiously than the mythical Argus of the many eyes, but also allowed no one at all to meet with him or speak to him about any matter. Committing himself entirely to affairs of state, he was intent not on how the Roman state might prosper, but on how he might remove from the palace every counselor who was good and every man who was brave in action, warlike, and suspect to him, and fit for rule. Rewarding the Paphlagonians and everyone else who had joined him in his apostasy for their loyalty to him, he honored them with dignities and received them with generous gifts. And the brilliant dignities and the magnificent offices, as he saw fit, he transferred—in some cases to his own...

^A sons, and in others to outsiders. Those who followed him were like those who previously abandoned the living God in favor of Baal, and who preferred the glory found in him to the praiseworthy and former honor, and to the portion granted by justice.

Thus, some of the learned men were driven far from home, country, and loved ones; others were handed over to prisons and iron shackles; others had their eyes gouged out, finding no manifest cause being brought against them, but being silently accused merely of being among the well-born, or of having often acquitted themselves well in war, or of possessing a noble physique or great beauty, or of bearing some other praiseworthy trait. This irritated Andronikos and did not encourage good hopes for him, or perhaps it fanned the sparks of ancient grievances that had until now been hidden like fire under ashes and had been smoldering. The state of affairs at that time was unbearable, and the distrust among those who were most closely related was an intolerable evil. ^B For not only did brother abandon brother and father neglect son if it so pleased Andronikos, but they even assisted his most inveterate betrayers in exterminating their families. There were even those who denounced their own kin, either for mocking the deeds of Andronikos or for being partial to Alexios, who occupied the ancestral throne, while regarding Andronikos with aversion. Many who were then accusing others were themselves accused, and while they were convicting others as conspirators against Andronikos, they were denounced by those very persons who were being accused, or by others standing by, and one guard held them all together.

John Kantakouzenos confirms my account for me: he raged with the most villainous punches against a certain eunuch named Zitas, knocking out his teeth and tearing his lips, because he had been caught talking with the Emperor Alexios about their common miseries; he was immediately arrested, had his eyes gouged out, and was cast into a dark prison, because he had sent a greeting to his brother-in-law, Constantine Angelos, through a prison guard. No one, therefore, was free from such calamities; and if never before, then certainly at this time those monsters that Empedocles speaks of regarding the "strife" that tears asunder were revealed in reality. ^C For not only were the prominent men who were enemies to Andronikos treated with the greatest cruelty, but even his own supporters were so treated. For those whom he had treated with the greatest kindness yesterday and held as his intimates, he today treated with atrocious cruelty. Thus, it was possible to see the same man on the same day—as is recorded in the memory of the commander of Xerxes’ fleet—both crowned and struck by the axe, praised and berated with insults. And so, the more prudent judged that a laudation from Andronikos was the beginning of an injury, his generosity a plundering of wealth, and his kindness a death sentence.

It was not clear, while he was aspiring to the throne, that he was an atrocious poisoner and skilled at mixing lethal cups; but a few days later, this was on everyone's lips—whether truly or not, I do not know. It was rumored that he had made the first trial of this nefarious art upon Maria the Caesarissa, daughter of the Emperor Manuel—she who, more than all others, had desired the return of Andronikos. For it was said that his father's eunuch, surnamed Pterygionites, had been corrupted by his promises and had mixed slow-acting poison into her drink. Not long after, the Caesar followed his wife in death, and he too was not considered to have died a natural death; rather, it was believed that one cup had finished off two prominent people through the machinations of Andronikos. ^D

^A 15. Since he wished to betrothe the daughter who had been born to him from his niece Theodora—Irene by name—to Alexios, whom the Komnenian Theodora had borne to the Emperor Manuel, he composed a short document addressed to the holy synod. Having signed this at the bottom with his own naming ink, he submitted it for public hearing and deliberation. The sense of what was written was whether the marriage contract, if it were allowed to proceed, would present little or, more accurately, no impropriety, and yet would contribute to the union of the East and West, to the redemption of captives, and to many other benefits for the public good. And this brief document, like some gaping cauldron or the trident of Poseidon—or, to be more precise, that cleverly fashioned apple of Eris—threw the synod into confusion. It caused a division among the senators who were to judge the case, or, to speak more truly, it armed them against one another and split them into opposing factions. For the majority of them, having been suborned by bribes and softened by promises of advancement in rank, approved the marriage as lawful (would that it had not been so!). But the bolder among the judges, who were accustomed to attend the houses of the powerful and sell their votes for feasts, and those who were greedy for gold and traffickers in divine things, maintained that the persons in question were not even related, because those born from illicit unions have nothing in common under the law of kinship and are considered completely unrelated. They claimed it was ignorance even to call into question a matter clearer than the sun. ^B Others, however, completely rejected these arguments, fought fiercely against it, and would in no way allow these nuptials, which were incestuous, to proceed. The authors of this most excellent opinion were a few from the order of bishops and priests, together with some of the senators, who remained steadfast in the right opinion, spurred on by the zeal of the patriarch—who was then by chance in the city—and confirmed by his authority, having brought this conviction with them from home. For neither the majesty of Andronikos weakened this man, nor did the power of his eloquence overturn him, nor did his threats disturb him, so that he remained an unshakeable breakwater against which the crashing wave always stands ^C and the salt spray foams; but the latter, dissolving into froth and leaving the sounding sea to lament, remains anchored upon the same base. Indeed, when he saw that nothing was being achieved, and that evils were clearly encroaching, and he observed the better part being overcome by the greater, he departed from the sacred palace to the island of Terebinthos, where he had built himself a retreat and a tomb. But Andronikos, thinking this departure, as unexpected as it was desirable, to be most convenient for his plans, completed the marriage, with the Bulgarian bishop performing the marriage rites. When he was deliberating about appointing a successor to his faction’s patriarch, Camatero ^D

^A Basilius was put forward for the ecumenical throne, or rather, it was because of his signed agreement that he was sold the office; for he had promised that he would do whatever was in Andronicus' heart, no matter how illicit, and would decline whatever displeased him, deeming the resignation of Theodosius to be an excellent turn of [P. 169] fortune as if it had happened unexpectedly yet according to his own will. Andronikos was then set upon the ecumenical throne by Basil Camateros, or, as it was rumored, he himself pulled Andronicus toward such a choice, because he was the only one of all the bishops who had agreed in writing to Andronicus to carry out during his episcopate whatever Andronicus was fond of—even if it were forbidden—and again to loathe whatever did not please Andronicus.

^B 16. Not only were conditions within the city thus ailing, but the outer provinces were suffering even worse, as I believe the demonic power was turning the Roman Empire toward every misfortune. For the Sultan of Iconium, who had always dreaded the Emperor Manuel as Tantalus feared the rock forever hanging over his head, learning that he had departed for Hades, seized Sozopolis by the laws of war, plundered the surrounding towns and brought them under his own rule, afflicted the most splendid city of Attaleia with a long siege, ravaged Cotyaeum, and brought many other regions into submission. Furthermore, the great domestic John Comnenus, by the surname Batatzes, a man not ignorant of military affairs and distinguished by many victories against the Persians, was at that time residing in Philadelphia; he opposed Andronicus fiercely, neglected his edicts, and eluded his threats with even graver ones. Since he was spoken of ill for the crime of having usurped the kingdom, he rebuked the man who had already seized it, and cursed him as an evil spirit, extirpating the imperial lineage. Whence the Asian cities were full of civil strife and wars. And the events transpiring thereafter were far more grievous than those caused by neighboring nations, or, to put it even this way: what the foreign tongue had not touched, the local hand was reaping, all having turned to war against their own kind, the fellow-tribesmen acting as barbarians and ignoring the laws of kinship. And Andronicus decided to arm Andronicus Lapardas against Batatzes—a man small in stature, to be sure, but active in war—having conscripted no small infantry for him. ^C But John Comnenus, at that time restrained by illness and encamped near the city of the Philadelphians, sent out his sons, Manuel and Alexius, against Lapardas. When the war turned back and forth with many variations, just as he himself had positioned it, and many were being killed on both sides in the civil clashes, Batatzes was overcome with grief, his spirit darkened by the cachexia that had struck him, as it had gripped and unfortunately cast him onto his bed. For he needed to be in public, to present the bravery he fostered [P. 170] in matters of war, to receive the customary acclamations for victory from the eastern cities, and, moreover, to prove by his deeds to what a leader the heavy-breathing Andronicus was opposed. But showing by his actions that zeal revives even the dead, and that not even

^A a sensitive heart is stronger, he urges him to be lifted upon a makeshift litter and to be placed by those carrying him on a hill, from where the events of the war might be visible to him. This having actually come to pass, and his sons having been ordered to draw up the army in the manner he deemed fit, victory turned clearly to his army; but the forces of Lapardas, turning their backs, were for a very long time pursued and slaughtered. A few days later, Batatzes having finished his life, the inhabitants of Philadelphia, having cried out bitterly over him and in the depths of their souls, decided to go over to Andronicus, so that there was no one among all of them who did not. They even loosened their wings of zeal toward the Queen of Cities herself, and, fawning upon Andronicus, they croaked like screeching crows against the eagle-like bird Batatzes and his fledglings, or at any rate buzzed like drones through the streets and palaces, just as is the practice of the malicious and those who feed a forked tongue upon their lips. The sons of the great domestic, fearing that they might be seized and betrayed to Andronicus, departed from there and rushed to the Sultan of Iconium; who, moreover, later clearly showed by what they suffered that it is not possible for anyone to escape the snares and nets which Divine Providence has stretched out from above. For, having become resentful at their long stay with the Sultan, as he was unwilling to provide them aid against their enemy, they decided to set off for Sicily; and having boarded a ship, and at first enjoying a favorable wind, they sailed along the shore of the Cretan sea. But when an adverse wind arose, they were forced to put in at Crete, and having been recognized by a certain man guarding there (this man was of the axe-bearing, Celtic race), they were arrested and reported to the quaestor of Crete. He, indeed, intended to set the men free and send them away from the island, having provided them with flour and drawn wine and supplied other things suitable for the voyage, but, being unable to accomplish his purpose (for they had already become obvious to everyone), he discloses the affairs of these wretched Comneni to Andronicus. And he, being a hater of light and most hostile to human eyes, deprives these wretches of sight. ^B

17. Then, indeed, Andronicus, having considered the death of Batatzes to be divine oversight, and adding yet another veil for his character to his other deceits, he decides that the Emperor Alexius should be crowned. And, verily, having lifted him upon his shoulders and with hot tears having carried him back to the resting-place of the Great Church amidst ^C myriads of the urban multitude and others, and again having brought him down in like manner from there, he seemed more affectionate than a father and a right hand steadying the young shoot of the empire. But he was pondering and carrying out that saying of David, which he says, "He lifted me up and cast me down." For this reason, having desired to put everyone out of his way, he conducted himself as if he were master of all things while he was leading the affairs of the empire. And first, indeed, wishing to remove the mother of the emperor and autocrat, he did not cease declaiming against her and feigning that he would depart, alleging that she was opposing him most clearly and was acting against the public welfare and the emperor in every deed and scheme; and he agitated the people into insults against her, so that they were often whipped up into mass gatherings at the sacred archive, and were eager to carry out the design against the Empress and her enslavement, and against the patriarch, the very holy Theodosius, and to compel ^D him to consent to the expulsion of the empress from the palace. So great was the madness of the marketplace mob that it was to be feared they would fly at his beard, having no respect for the sanctity shining forth in him, had he not agreed to the demands of Andronicus so that he might be safer from injury. The judges of the Velum—Leo Monasteriotes, Demetrius Tornicius, and Constantine Patrenus—not yet enrolled in the list of those who favored Andronicus and not yet most openly to his cupidities

^A nor having bowed the knee deeply. For the men, being asked to say what they thought regarding the charges being brought against the Empress, said that they wished first to learn whether that assembly and gathering and the examination of the matters at hand was taking place according to the opinion and decree of the Emperor. But Andronicus, as if stung by this remark like a gadfly, said, “These are the men who induce the Protosebastos to perform absurd acts; seize them.” And from that moment the guards brought down the swords they were carrying upon their shoulders, as if to strike; and the populace, grabbing them by their cloaks, dragged the men hither and thither with insults, so that they barely escaped death. Having accomplished this, Andronicus then set upon the nobles. ^B Being unable to endure such deeds and having the Cyclopean feast directly before their eyes, they gave and received pledges among themselves, strengthened their concord with a most holy oath, and covenanted that they would give no sleep to their eyes nor, if possible, rest to their heads until they had destroyed Andronicus, so that he might blush with his own blood—not the blood from that shell with which he longed to dye his garment, while attempting to uproot the entire imperial lineage and devour it like a savage beast. Those who had thus conspired were Andronicus the son of Constantine Angelus, the Grand Duke Andronicus Contostephanus, and their sixteen sons, all of them robust men and warlike, as well as the Logothete of the Drome, Basil Camaterus, and many others joined to them by family ties, all illustrious men. But the conspiracy did not remain hidden from Andronicus for long, nor did it remain an unspoken and secret affair to the end. For which reason he immediately rushed against the son of Angelus, who was then camping a little way off from the landward walls of the city, and sent him into exile along with his sons, he having joyfully escaped the net that Andronicus’s armed men had spread for him, by barely finding a small boat full of empty casks; he threw out the casks into the sea like the refuse of a fishing net, and in this way he and his children barely escaped the danger. Having captured Contostephanus and four of his sons and Basil Camaterus, he put out the eyes of them all, and of others as well, as many as, not upon examination ^C of the obscure and ambiguous rumors of the conspiracy, had suffered the same punishments. In this manner, having through opportunity brought into his power those whom he had formerly wished to apprehend—some thrown into prison, others sent into exile, others punished in various other ways—when he saw that very few remained who, having abandoned their stubbornness, like wandering stars, had changed their course in the opposite direction and were now devoted to him, he plotted the destruction of the lady. And after various accusations, having gathered an assembly of his own men and a gathering of those judges who were not there to judge but to condemn, he accused her of treason: that she had sent frequent letters to Bela, King of Hungary, her sister’s husband, and that with great promises she had urged him to devastate Branizova and Belgrade. And so she was ignominiously led off to the most august prison near the monastery of Saint Diomedes, where, afflicted by the mockery and insults of the guards and by hunger and thirst, she constantly awaited the hand of the cruelest executioner. But Andronicus, his ferocity not at all diminished, thinking only of what was atrocious and cruel and bearing heavily the fact that she was still alive, not long after summoned the judges, the ministers of his injuries, to declare what punishment

^A should be ordained by law for those who betray cities and lands. Having received into his hands the written sentence condemning such persons to death, he then felt an unrestrained impulse against the Empress. Therefore, when those lawless voters raised their voices and shouted clearly that the ill-fated woman among empresses must depart from life, a paper was immediately signed by the boy and emperor, marked as if by a drop of maternal blood, by which she was ordered to die. Those chosen to perform this hateful and impious deed were Manuel, the first-born son of Andronikos, and the *sebastos* George, the brother of Andronikos’s wife. But both of them sprang away from this choice alone, vexed by it, and they belittled the emperor’s decree, saying that they had neither consented before to the destruction of the Empress, but kept their hands pure of that pollutions, nor would they now, much less, allow an innocent body to be torn apart before their eyes. By these words, Andronikos was clearly shaken and confused; he repeatedly twisted his beard with his fingers, and with burning eyes, by frequently raising and lowering his head, he lamented his own misery, often indignant that his closest friends, ^B shrinking from cruelty, would not be driven by a mere nod to such an atrocious crime. And then, having repressed his impulse, like a fierce and stubborn horse, and with his anger suppressed—as fire is hidden when wrapped in smoke—a few days later he ordered the miserable woman to be strangled, with Constantine Trypsichos the *hetairiarch* and the eunuch Pterygionites—whose poisoning of Maria Porphyrogenita I mentioned above—as the executors of that order. Thus, that extraordinary beauty of form, deprived of the sight of the most pleasant light, was buried in the sand on the shore. Alas, is it for the sun to look upon such a great crime? O Word of God, before all beginning, is this your incredible forbearance?

18. An Analysis of the Pride of Andronikos

^D Andronikos exulted over these things—how, one might ask? He was inwardly delighted that the family of Manuel was being extirpated and the trees of the imperial garden were being cut down, as if he alone were to possess the Roman provinces and the empire without any danger.

^A Therefore, in the month of September, in the second indiction, in the year of the world six thousand six hundred, he turned his mind to his designation. That wicked flock and mercenary band, although Andronicus feigned that it was not his will, nevertheless—on account of the Bithynian sedition, the reception of Isaac Angelus and Theodore Cantacuzenus at Nicaea, the wicked attempts of the Prusians who had imitated the Nicaeans and received Theodore Angelus, and the fact that the Prusians were committing many wicked deeds, having lodged Theodore Angelus there and holding these views in common with the Nicaeans—spread the word at a council that there would be no end to the seditions unless Andronicus were to rule. They claimed that he, on account of his venerable old age, surpassed the young in prudence, and that if he sat upon the gemmed throne and were crowned with the imperial diadem, he would use equal power with the immature emperor, while setting his eyes and mind upon the administration and execution of all affairs with greater strength and authority. ^B The crowd standing around—some of them assessors to Andronicus due to the splendor of his birth and the excellence of his dignities—exclaimed with one voice that this had long been their desire, and that no room should be left for tergiversation. They threatened force if they did not obtain it with grace, and they sang this acclamation: "Long live Alexius and Andronicus Comnenus, the great emperors and princes of the Romans, for many years," with gaping mouths and full throats, so that they almost burst from their shouting. When this renowned matter reached the ears of the simple populace (for ^C that is what the Constantinopolitan mob is called), a multitude of every kind, age, and craft gathered like swarms of bees flowing from their hives. A certain judge of the *Velum*—whose name I gladly pass over, as he was a most observant servant of Andronicus, having obtained the office of petitions—along with another, a protonotary, a man of swollen tongue and a chief minister of the tyranny, upon hearing the rumor that was wandering everywhere about the designation of Andronicus, rushed in one spirit—wicked flatterers that they were—to the house of tyranny which is called the house of Michael, where these things were being discussed. Having removed the senatorial head coverings and wrapped the white linen cloths hanging from their shoulders into a circle, they gathered in the crossroads and, like leaders of a dance, began a broken and soft song, exulting and dancing in rhythm with hand-clapping. ^D Oh, the singular impudence and the levity of a mindless spirit! But when Andronicus had descended from the houses of tyranny into the Blachernian palace and had entered the lofty houses of the Polytini, even the Emperor Alexius, stirred by the acclamations and the sighs of the men (for not all were moved by such intemperance), when he saw the palace filled with men and Andronicus celebrated by all as emperor, thinking he must serve the times, he flattered the old man along with the others and invited him to a partnership in the empire, toward which he was already being carried by great momentum. 12

Hier. Wolffii note. (12) In the margin of the ancient codex in this place, the Choniates' work is criticized for an error, as if it does injury to the Byzantine people: and if they are wrongly committed, these things are to be ascribed to powerful men and sedition. For although the writing cannot be read sufficiently, it is sufficiently clear that this is the meaning.

^A And those of the more ardent party seized Andronicus, who was hanging back and feigning reluctance, and holding him on both sides, they placed him onto the gold-embroidered couch on which the emperor usually sat. Others, having removed his dark, conical hat, placed a red mitre upon his head, while others clothed him in the imperial robe. On the following day, when the emperors were to be proclaimed in the Great Church, the order was reversed, and the name of Andronicus was announced first, and that of Alexius in the second place, for a cause that was indeed seemly and decorous: they said it was not fitting that an infant of immature age, with smooth cheeks, should be proclaimed before Andronicus, a man with grey hair, venerable in his wisdom, and endowed with an excellent intellect. ^B When Andronicus himself arrived at the sacred edifice to be crowned, then for the first time he was seen by the people to be cheerful, having laid aside his fierce look; and he gave hope of better things to many who were petitioning him, through a manifest fraud and the false promise of an impostor. For that cheerfulness of countenance, offering up a very thin mask of humanity for the time being, hid the deep-seated ferocity within him. Having entered the temple and completed as many of the ceremonies as were customary for those coming to the throne, he approached to partake of the immaculate mysteries. Having received the heavenly bread, as he was drawing near to the chalice of the precious and life-giving blood to drink, he stretched out his hands as if to grasp the cup, and with his face composed into an expression of sadness, he swore before the venerable mysteries, in the presence of almost all who were standing within the sacred sanctuary, that he had not accepted power for any reason other than to assist the emperor and his cousin Alexius, and to stabilize his sovereignty—whom, a few days later, he strangled with a noose and committed to the depths of the sea. ^C Departing from the temple with as brilliant an escort as was possible, and very many bodyguards—for a most acute fear dictated such a course to him—where he passed through the church of Christ the Savior in the Chalke, he did not proceed at a walking pace nor did he linger anywhere, as is the custom for triumphant emperors, but let his horse move with a free gait. This action was a matter of question: whether it proceeded from fear, or if he had another reason. After he arrived at the Great Palace and for several days had performed divine service for the good omens of his reign, he turned his mind to other crimes. For when he was about to do away with the Emperor Alexius, he summoned his senate and gathered his band of ministers of wickedness. ^D These men immediately, with one voice, exclaimed that Homeric line: "It is a bad thing to have many masters: let there be one King and one lord," and also that the old age of an eagle is [better than] the youth of a jackdaw. And they decreed that Alexius should lead a private life. They no longer wrapped their speech in circumlocutions, omitting the mention of his upbringing and the preservation of the empire, which not long before they had bandied about in the great public assemblies and which used to be offered as a defense for those crimes to those ignorant of the situation. The degree was hardly known in the state when the Emperor Alexius was condemned to death by that wicked man, uttering almost that Solomonic saying: "Let us bind the righteous man, for he is not convenient to us, and his presence is burdensome to us." And so

Two Books of the Empire of Andronicus Comnenus

^A this matter became a subject of dispute; for some attributed the cause of the sight they beheld to cowardice, while others suspected something else. Upon arriving at the great palace and the places of proclamation, he turned his mind to other profane deeds. For desiring to put Emperor Alexius out of the way, he again gathered the Pnyx and assembled that faction which abetted his impious designs. And so, all having proclaimed the Homeric verse, which he recounts, "Bad is the rule of many; let one be lord, one be king," and [asserting that] "an eagle's old age is better than a lark's youth," they decreed that Emperor Alexius should become a private citizen, no longer mindful of the reasons previously advanced to the common people for the sake of [his] upbringing and the better preservation of the state—notions which had been put forward only yesterday and the day before in crowded assemblies, and presented as an apology to those asking for the reason behind what was happening, in case any who resided in the most brilliant city of Constantine did not yet fully know what was taking place and were utterly ignorant of the pretext for which these things were being carried out. But this reward [of death] had not yet been fully made known to the state. And a sentence of death is issued against the Emperor by that evil faction, directly praising Solomon’s words and crying out unholy things: "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and burdensome, and his very appearance is hateful."

And at night, Stephen Hagiochristophorites, Constantine Tripsychus, and a certain Theodorus the Dadibrenian, the commander of the lictors, fell upon him, and he was subjected to strangulation by a bowstring. ^B Being raised up, the corpse was carried to Andronicus, and it was struck by his foot in the side. He reproached his parents, mocking the one as a perjurer and a wrongdoer, and the other as a woman of common body. Then his ear was pierced with a spit, and a thread having been passed through it, a lock was attached and sealed with Andronicus’ signet ring. The rest of the body was condemned to be cast into the depths of the sea, while the head was to be severed and brought again to Andronicus.

When the order had been carried out, the head was secretly cast away at the place called Catabates, while the trunk, wrapped in leaden sheets, was delivered to the sea’s gulfs. The skiff that carried that wretched burden was steered by two men of high rank with songs and dances—John Camaterus, the keeper of the inkstand, who later became the primate presiding over the Bulgarians, and Theodore Chumnus, who had been honored with the rank of chartulary.

llbrackethTHE REIGN OF ANDRONICUS COMNENUS IN TWO VOLUMES

1. And thus did Emperor Alexius depart from among men, having lived not yet fifteen years in total, and having reigned for three of them. Yet he did not manage this by his own will, the public affairs being administered first by his mother, and afterwards by two tyrants; by whom the sun was obscured as if by a cloud, so that he was more like a servant than an emperor, doing and ordering those things which his tutors commanded, until he was strangled by the noose. ^C This miserable crime having been committed, Andronicus...

^A weds the daughter of the King of the French, a girl still in her tender years, and—without any shame—embraces as his own wife the maiden, young and blooming, whom his cousin the Emperor Alexios had not yet left to the world. He was not ashamed that a Cronus-like old man, already in his sixty-first year, should lie with a radiant and delicate girl, whose youth he was ruining and whose body he was despoiling of its bloom, like one who, in his old age, plucks a rose and scatters its dew.

The King, Andronicus, asks the Patriarch Basil and the synod of that time to be released from the oath he had taken to the Emperor Manuel and to his wretched child, as well as from the obligations to all the others ^B (13) who were seen as transgressors of the oaths they had sworn. The former, who were tasked with binding and loosing without distinction, immediately issued a document releasing everyone from their sworn sins. The latter, however, having received from the bishops such a wonderful favor for fulfilling his commands—they being those who, in their time, were quick to terminate a small matter, though they were guides of small things that were in fact the greatest—placed before themselves, and introduced to the imperial throne, those obstacles upon which they stumbled; and no less did they provide laughter for those who had chosen them, because having accepted the bishops not for the sake of frequent days, as if they were a fantasy of honor and a phantom of glory, they returned to their former habit, just as a piece of wood, having been bent, ^C returns to its former state when the force is removed. Rather, he even deviated much further from this; for the most fickle Andronicus does not seem to admit these priests easily to the imperial audience, sitting on a splendid throne as if he were a man suffering from the instability of his own actions, even if he had been raised to that height. These high priests, no longer finding it easy to be seated later on the bench before the imperial throne, where a little while ago they had been honored and had received this as a gift, Davidically sighed and lamented, blaming themselves, while they served the mocking Andronicus, who himself was the one who had discarded the things of God and was breaking those things that must be loosened. ^D

As the designation of Andronicus and the strangulation of the Emperor Alexios became evident, and it was announced to the commanders of the armies, Alexios Branas and Andronicus Lapardas, who were opposing the King of Hungary, Béla, at Nis and Braničevo, and laying waste to all those places with fire and sword, Lapardas decided that he must avoid the broad race of Andronicus on all sides, as he had resolved that the life of Andronicus was forever to be feared and that he was already about to be devoured by him. Branas, however, already bearing the change in the empire with a willing mind, was waiting for the light. Yet another, going by various arguments, noticed that in the track of a Laconian hound, he could discern the path he was to take, recognizing that his safety was laid out in that, and that he should go as far as possible from the sight and power of Andronicus. This intention, had it been urgent and had he not applied his mind to other things, would have saved him. But because he wished to harm Andronicus and the Emperor's

[alt-version omitted]

he attempted the revolt. Seeing that the West would not shelter him nor would it accept the assault against Andronicus on account of Branas, who was present and serving as his fellow general, he imagined the East and turned his eyes toward it, both because he had often held the greatest commands there ^B and had ruled it, and since it was no less inclined to nurture forces for resistance. Indeed, having conferred with his fellow commander Branas and persuaded him to remain in the country until he himself could arrive at the elder and newly-created Emperor, he set out immediately as he was, outstripping rumor—which often discerns things hidden under the earth and makes known future events as if they had already occurred. Having arrived at Orestias—or as someone else might say, Adrianople, whence he had started—and having lingered for a short time only as much as was needed to be seen by his sisters dwelling there and to arrange his departure, he decided to delay no further, but to hasten his passage to the East as much as possible. For the rumor was already loud-tongued; in cross-roads and squares, on the ramparts of walls and in the fields, it broadcast the man's flight with the utmost speed and scattered it everywhere. Therefore, at night, he descended to the sea and, having embarked on ships that for this very reason had been prepared at Hyelocastellium, he arrived at the opposite shore. Having breathed a little easily there, he imagined he had escaped his destruction and the bloody jaws of Andronicus. But it is evident ^C that he also, as the scales were tipping toward Hades, had been erased by Providence from the book of the living and surrendered to the cruelty of Andronicus. For, with the Divine will blowing against him, he was seized by the very hands by whose aid he had hoped not only to be safe and fortunate, but also, with the greatest zeal, to be the conqueror of Andronicus. Yet these were indeed the figments of an unhappy mind and the vain spectral dreams, as has been shown. For when he had reached Adramyttium, he was seized by a certain Cephalas, a man of great power in that region at the time, of the highest rank, and faithful to the tyrant, as he demonstrated; he was handed over into the hands of Andronicus, a victim ready for slaughter, a sacrificial animal gasping for death. His eyes were gouged out, and he was thrown into the monastery of the Pantepoptes, lamenting the course of his affairs as unjust; for he had entered the trial of ^D defection for the noblest of causes, while she—the fortune of the affair—having rejected his cautious counsel and been left completely destitute, had favored the worse side. Thus, God hides not only a life free from labor and mourning, but also the foreknowledge of impending evil and the fore-choice of a safe course of action. For this man, who had often performed the duties of a distinguished general, since after the death of the Emperor Alexius he considered it shameful to serve Andronicus and was avoiding certain death and the nature of a tyrant most prompt for slaughter, fell into the hands of the very man he was fleeing; and he whom he thought to be threatening from behind, he found face-to-face as both an adversary and a conqueror, and he died not long after. But Andronicus was so dismayed by his defection that for the whole time of his flight he thought destruction was hanging over his own head. For he feared Lapardas as both a most fierce general and a man of great spirit; and because he saw that he could not be vanquished by pursuit and arms, he turned to the skill of letters; and by a most cunning plan he wrote many letters to the primary governors of the Eastern provinces with deceit

^A regarding the content of these writings, which truly spoke of villainy. And they argued—having, so to speak, Andronicus himself speaking through them—that Lapardas had been sent by him into Asia, and that whatever he might accomplish there against the administration, in a manner unknown to the many, was intended to be done on behalf of his own sovereignty; and he urged everyone to grant him unquestioning reception. The goal for Andronicus, from this, was to blunt the zeal of the multitude, who suspected to what end Lapardas himself had raised his spirit against Andronicus and was advancing with ranks of men like an opponent; yet Andronicus bore witness to the loyalty of the deserter toward him and ordained that the fugitive be received as one having been sent by himself. And what these novel letters might have achieved, or how much power they had, the swift capture of the man did not allow us to know.

^B 2. At that time, having unexpectedly warded off this panic, Andronicus’s little soul was healed, like a meadow in the spring dew after a drought; he departed from the city, and with easy travel and short stages he reached Kypsella. Being refreshed there by hunting, he arrived at his ancestral monastery situated in Bera, and stood before the tomb of his father with royal escort and splendor—a rank for which he himself had also long since yearned but had not reached, since Andronicus had inherited his royal longing from his father as a patrimony. And having refrained during those days from some of the punishments that were harshly imposed—which caused many to call them the "Halcyon days"—shortly after, at the birth of Christ, he returned to the palace. Having refreshed himself with circus games and spectacles, as the spring approached, he gathered all the forces that had kept faith, whether in the East or in the West, and set out straight for Nicaea. ^C He sent Alexios Branas, who had returned from the parts around Branitzoba, with a proper army against the people of Lopadion, who, imitating the Nicæans and the Prusæans, had revolted. When he had brought the war to a happy conclusion, he marched to Nicaea, where Andronicus, bolstered by those troops, decided to invade the city, whose inhabitants not only did not fear him in his absence, but even despised him in his presence, and while he was besieging the walls, they took vengeance upon him with arms; they provoked him with indecent words, omitting no insult or blow. The gates of the city were indeed shut and secured with bars; but their tongues, sent forth as if the lips were open gates and the teeth were battlements, lacerated Andronicus with most foul gibes. Inflamed by these, he could not hide the pain of his spirit. The walls of Nicaea consist of baked brick, and they are of such strength that they seem either impossible to take by force or only with great difficulty. ^D At that time, however, soldiers had swarmed to Andronicus who were hostile to him, including Isaac Angelos, who, after overthrowing Andronicus, seized the empire, and Theodore Kantakouzenos; Persian auxiliaries had also been summoned. Since all these things made the assault difficult, and Andronicus had ridden about for several days in vain, no differently than if he were attacking sheer cliffs and Arbela or

^A Semiramian walls, or shooting arrows into heaven. For those inside fought with great heart, and with weapons they repelled the assaults made with weapons, while with the construction of engines they rendered utterly useless the stone-throwers which the profound Andronicus contrived, devising wall-fighting machines and arrow-crests and excavations, and whatever else might be capable of dissolving the city's circuit—priding himself before those present on how much skill he had brought to the capturing of cities. For he would set up the siege-engines, and examine the sling, the bowstring, and the turning-crane, and he fortified the wall-smashing ram with iron. But the Nicaeans, now leaping out from hidden postern gates of the city, delivered the machines to the fire and tore them down with their hands, and now, when the engines were brought to the walls, they would dissolve them with other similar instruments as if they were spider-webs, so that Andronicus, seeing his designs idling in vain, conceived something inhuman, and something which had rarely been accomplished in the past by those besieging or those under siege from without. For he brought the mother of Isaac Angelos, Euphrosyne, from Byzantium, and now he would place her as a screen for his siege-engines, and now, placing her upon the ram as if upon a carriage, he would thus bring the engine to the wall. ^B Therefore, there was reason to weep and to marvel at the same time: to weep because of the novelty of the spectacle and the fact that his rage made him do everything, putting aside no deed that was unheard of or alien to human nature; and to marvel how the lady had not died of fear, sitting atop the machines and being brought to the walls of the city, at a time when, for the first time, men saw a tender scrap of flesh—and that a woman’s—put forward as a shield of iron, and the order of things changed and leaping over into the unnatural, so that a frail and human body was set before the counter-engines to prevent bronze from clashing with bronze, and iron from being wrapped around a human body. But for those on the walls, the arrows were so well-tempered that they were shot just as before, striking and daunting those advancing, but the noble lady herself ^C was spared from evils.

Andronicus, struck by such a blow at the right moment, breathed out fire, exhaling a Typhonian breath of rage, as if unable to contain the turmoil within him. For the city of Nicaea boasted both of being impregnable—or at least difficult to capture—because of its strong walls, all built of baked brick; and at that time, because of the soldiers flowing into it, as many as loathed Andronicus—those of Isaac Angelos, who had mastered the Roman tyranny after Andronicus, having paralyzed him, and of Theodore Kantakouzenos, and the Persians who had been admitted from within by invitation—the prospect of the siege did not look good for the ravagers.

But since this crime did not benefit Andronicus at all, as the Nicaeans made a sortie by night and burned the machines, and after the woman was pulled into the city by a rope, they allowed him to weep like Phineus despoiled by the Harpies, having no way to satisfy the hunger of his rage, the Nicaeans, having gained from the enemies themselves the praise of courage, took on greater spirit and fought more boldly. They did not merely defend the walls manfully, but also heaped up insults upon Andronicus, calling him a butcher, a bloody dog, a rotten corpse, an immortal evil, a Fury of men, a woman-chaser, and more ancient than Tithonus and Saturn; in sum, they refrained from no term of abuse, however shameful, but also, leaving the ramparts, they would make sorties from the gates. ^D But the pallor of Andronicus’ face, and the distorted gaze of his eyes, and the frequent twisting of his beard—which was grown long and arranged into ringlets—clearly declared that he was incited to rage and was weaving traps for the Nicaeans. But because he could not sate the hunger of his cruelty, he would frequently encircle the city on the same day; and, like a bear robbed of her cubs, wandering here and there, he would punish the legions with sighs and the tribunes with words, because they were conducting the war too lazily, fearing the clash with the enemy.

^A His spirit remained remarkably dispassionate, as though he were moving the missiles himself with his hands and gestures, planting them into the hearts of his opponents. Andronicus therefore did not see this inhuman design of theirs come to anything useful; rather, at night, the Nicaeans went out and consigned the engines to the flames, hauled the woman up by a rope—or rather, the Harpies snatched her away—and left Andronicus, like another Phineus, to suffer from having nothing to set before his starving rage. ^B Having thus acquired great glory for bravery among their enemies, the Nicaeans became even more emboldened in their spirits and engaged in the battle with greater daring. Not only did they show off noble deeds by appearing on the walls, but they also washed Andronicus in mockery, calling him a "butcher," a "kiss-dog," "silly-gray-hair," "baneful immortal," "Fury of men," "woman-lover," and "Priapus more aged than Tithonus and Cronus"—and whatever other name and thing was most shameful. Furthermore, as the saying goes, they would leap down from the battlements and dash through the gates. Andronicus, meanwhile, because of the twitching of his face and the unnatural flickering of his eyes, and because he would often, as if weaving on a loom, wrap his flowing and curly beard around his finger, was clearly shown to be struggling with rage and weaving snares against the Nicaeans. Indeed, unable to bear the insolence of those inside, and starving—like a dog, to speak in the Davidic manner, from having nothing to feast upon—he would ride around the city many times during the day; and like a baffled bear, moving hither and thither, he would groan at the legions and rebuke the commanders for supposedly acting sluggishly regarding the war and for shirking the battle line.

^C 3. Theodore Cantacuzenus, daring and in the prime of his life—at an age as boiling as wine recently trodden in the press—having once seen the Emperor Andronicus riding around the city with his whole retinue and squadrons of fine horsemen, was filled with an enthusiastic impulse. Having opened the exterior gates, he rushed out against Andronicus with as many as he had immediately at hand, and a few others following him, and aimed his spear toward Andronicus through the areas between the barricades. Delivering a more vigorous charge, and constantly spurring his horse and forcing it to fly straight ahead—not moving as nature gave wings to its feet—he found that he had ruined himself; for the horse, stepping into a hollow and having been badly wounded by a missile and consequently falling upon its knees, threw him from the saddle. He fell headlong, and having badly bruised his back muscles, he lay there, weak and overcome by dizziness. ^D Thereupon, many of Andronicus's men ran up swords in hand and beheaded Theodore; there are some who say they hacked the rest of Theodore's body to pieces, seeing that this was what Andronicus desired. After a short time, the head of Cantacuzenus was brought to the inhabitants of Constantine's city, paraded on a high pole through the streets of the city. The Nicaeans, therefore, having lost such a brave warrior and invincible champion, lamented his fall not a little, as might be expected, and were cast into a more despondent state. They looked toward Isaac Angelos, wishing to submit to him and treat him as their leader. But he, being naturally sluggish in his judgment—and, like Aeneas, turning away from fighting, as it seems, because he knew what was to come and, like that man imagining the nobility of his lineage, anticipated the kingship that awaited him—did not value the command highly. Indeed, the military, its enthusiasm gradually slackening, desired to move toward terms, and that noble and inspired spirit was extinguished entirely. Meetings, therefore, were held according to factions, and they had before their eyes, as it were, a tragedy depicting all the most terrible things that those under siege suffer. And since they bore Andronicus's cruelty, and the manifold...

^A anxieties were tossing about in their minds—calculating how much they might have to suffer once the city had been captured by the law of war—they cowered like hares, having fared the opposite of the Caeneus of legend; for he, as the myth would have it, was transformed from a woman into a man, but they, from men, were unnerved into a womanish softness. There was no longer anyone to inspire them toward virtuous deeds through his own ardent zeal; rather, since the time of the fall of Cantacuzenus, all had been deadened, as it were, having cast off their courage and their readiness for battle. ^B Having observed all this, Nicholas, who was then the bishop of Nicaea, turned necessity toward a noble purpose; and, having called the people to an assembly, he urged them to yield to the situation and to circumstances, and, while the city was still not yet submerged by the waves of battle, to offer themselves to Andronicus—for he surmised that Andronicus would surely not chain them up again with empty hands (as they say), seeing that neither to them were any counter-currents tugging or distracting them elsewhere, and that they themselves were little by little easing away from the defense of the city and inclining toward the peaceful way of life. And when he found that all agreed that this was a good suggestion and were looking with both eyes toward the benefit to be derived from it, he put on his priestly vestments, and, taking the holy oracles into his hands, gave orders to the deacons and the rest of the city's populace to follow him—so that not even women or infants were left behind from the procession—all of them unarmed, waving suppliant branches, with heads uncovered, feet bare, and hands released from their garments, in no way faking a truly suppliant demeanor, but, with pathetic forms and humbled voices, drawing forth ^C the pitying one. They poured out of the city in this manner, and Emperor Andronicus, struck dumb by the unexpected sight, repeatedly shifted his eyes to get a precise view of what was being seen; for he truly seemed to be seeing in a dream the events unfolding. But when he had perceived that the vision was true and in no way deceptive, he pushed aside the noble and royal-worthy freedom of spirit and the unadulterated nature of his purpose, and debased his mercy; and, not having the lion's skin at that time, he donned the fox's. Furthermore, he not only feigned a glad reception, but he even almost broke into tears—this being, indeed, the age-old mask of truth for Andronicus, a dim shadow of his soul's movements. Yet, he did not act this drama for long; rather, after a time, casting aside like rags the soft words and those smoother-than-oil expressions, he openly demonstrated to the Nicaeans—and especially to those who were preeminent in rank and ancestral dignity—what a tide of wrath he had concealed in his spirit, while it offered him the opportunity for revenge. Thus, he later sent many into exile, and others he cast down from the walls to a piteous death. At that time, he also impaled the Persians [around] the city, and praised Isaac Angelus for what he had done and said—not only for not having turned his own teeth into weapons and arrows in the same way as Theodore Cantacuzenus, but even for having rebuked the latter, who was speaking insolently against Christ the Lord and drawing his tongue like a sharp sword from the scabbard of his mouth. ^D Having filled him with good expectations, [p. 185] or to speak more truly, nurturing and cherishing his own slayer and the one who would destroy his rule, for the time intended by Providence, he sent him back to Byzantium, while he himself transferred to the fortress of the Prusians along with the military ranks that followed him. 4. And indeed, having cast up a rampart at the southern part of the city, where it seemed accessible—for the wall there was level with the ground, not like the rest of the city, which was set upon a rounded and precipitous cliff—he began the assault the next day. He shot letters attached to arrows into the city.

^A The purport of these letters was to promise them forgiveness for their defection if they would open the gates and receive him, provided only that Theodore Angelus, the marketplace-haunting Lachanas, and the senseless Synesius (for it was with these titles that he adorned them), along with their fellow conspirators, were handed over to be put to death. This he repeated for many days. The war being waged at Prusa was no less intense than that which had occurred at Nicaea, both in the valor of the men who were skirmishing against the imperial regiments and in their hatred for Andronicus, which was the very cause of the war. The city of Prusa itself is entirely adorned with beautiful towers and encircled by robust walls, which are doubled on the southern side. In this section, sorties were made many times during the day, where the armies would clash and many on both sides would fall. But since it was fated that this city too should succumb to Andronicus and that most of those within it should suffer irreparable harm, a portion of the wall was worn away by the constant pounding of the siege engine. Furthermore, the embankment and masonry ^B adjoining the old perimeter wall collapsed, giving those inside the false impression that the entire wall, which the siege engine was striking, had fallen to its knees. A confused din arose at this event, and terror stirred the hearts of all. Hence, without anyone investigating the evil accurately, but rather all being nearly drained of life by fear at the mere sound of the stones being struck, the walls were left deserted by their defenders, and the ways of the city were filled with the terrified running to and fro of those who had descended from the walls. From that point, the entry into the city through the gates and over the wall, by way of ladders applied by the enemy, was open and lay bare to them. The Prusans were cruelly slaughtered as they were caught, their possessions plundered, and the livestock—whose flocks and herds had been driven into the city so that they would have food to survive during the prolonged siege—were butchered. While these things were happening, Andronicus entered the city. He did not treat the Prusans as a ^C merciful emperor ^D who preserves those who had once been his subjects and would be so again, even if they had defected for a time, nor did he regard them as men made of the same elements; rather, like a starving lion setting upon an unguarded flock, he broke the necks of some, devoured the entrails of others, and destroyed the rest in various miserable ways, driving the remainder into the mountains and precipices. Thus, Andronicus, having taken Prusa not by surrender but by force, destroyed very many with the most wretched deaths, devising multiple tortures and varied torments. He ordered Theodore Angelus, a youth still almost beardless, to have his eyes gouged out and to be set upon a donkey and cast out beyond the borders of the Romans, so that wherever the beast might bear him, he would wander alone. He would perhaps have been devoured by wild beasts, which was the intention of Andronicus, had not some traveling Turks taken pity on him and cared for him after taking him into their tents. He hung Leo Synesius and Manuel Lachanas and several others, forty in number, from the tops of the trees near the walls of Prusa, and he inflicted far more with other punishments, having the hands of some, the fingers of others, and the feet of certain ones amputated. Many were deprived of both hands and eyes; some were mutilated of the right eye and left foot, others the reverse. After those most robust, strongest, and most skilled in the art of war had been so inhumanly slaughtered, and the military strength of the empire thus diminished, Andronicus crossed to Lopadium, and in the same manner he behaved there as well, and [having blinded] the bishop...

bishops—not because he had been found to be a seditionary vexed by the agitation of his flock against the emperor, but because he had received the movement against the emperor Andronicus with such mildness and equanimity, viewing it without complaint—he returned to the palace, having been celebrated with such trophies of victory, leaving behind the vines of the Prusaeans, which entwined the trees, laden with the corpses of the hanged like clusters of grapes, and allowing none of those impaled to be buried, that they might be abandoned to the ravages of decay like wine-presses, and having been dried by the sun, they were given over to be tossed by the winds like the specters suspended by fruit-guards in orchards.

Upon returning to Constantinople and having been welcomed by the populace with favorable acclaim and by the talk of the flatterers which the courts are always wont to nourish, his pride having been yet more inflated, he was intent upon the spectacles and circensian games during the summer season. But when at one point some scaffolding near the imperial throne collapsed and crushed about six men, and the common crowd was distraught by this incident, he, utterly terrified, summoned his guards and wished to retreat to the palace; but being persuaded to remain by his friends, because if he had risen he would have perished immediately, as the mass of the people would have made an assault upon him and his guards. He therefore lingered a little while, until the equestrian and athletic contest had been completed, but he abstained entirely from the remaining spectacles, such as those of the rope-dancers and the hunts, by which the usual crowd remaining in the city and those eager for novelties are intensely captivated. And these things happened in this way.

5. There was, however, a certain man named Isaac, of most noble lineage, a different person from Isaac Angelus, the son of the daughter of the Sebastocrator Isaac, whom the course of this history in its progress has spoken of as the brother of the Emperor Manuel. Now, this Isaac, having been appointed by his paternal uncle, the Emperor Manuel Comnenus, to manage affairs in Armenia and to rule Tarsus and to command those things which had been assigned to those parts, engaged in war with the various Armenians, and having been captured in a fortress, he was held in custody (the Emperor Ma-

^Anuel), and this for many days. But when he was at length released by the Jerusalemites, who are called the Freres, he had the opportunity for a return to his homeland, with Andronicus assisting in his ransom through the secret advice of Theodora, with whom both Andronicus—as we have often said—was intimate, and this Isaac was a nephew. Now Constantine Macroducas, who lived with Isaac’s maternal aunt, and Andronicus Ducas, who had been a companion of Isaac from childhood and was related to him by blood, urged Andronicus to welcome Isaac and to take pity on his long exile. But this Isaac, not wishing to submit to the Emperor Andronicus, and imagining his homeland as though amidst the stars, and making no account of kinship or of their sweet age-mate bond, but desiring tyranny and nursing a yearning for power, and not enduring to submit to rulers, made use of the money sent to him from Byzantium as provisions and as collaborators to treacherously betroth power to himself. ^B Having therefore sailed with many troops to Cyprus, at first he represented himself as the lawful governor sent by the Emperor, showing the Cypriots imperial letters which he himself had composed, and reading out forged imperial edicts, which were supposedly setting out for him what he must do, and performing all other things which those ordered to rule by the authority of others are obliged to do. But not long after, he stripped away the tyrant’s mask and, uncovering the cruelty he had been nursing, behaved inhumanly toward those there. And he so surpassed Andronicus in the inflexibility and mercilessness of his character as the latter had surpassed all who had ever before gained a famous name for atrocity against their enemies. For he did not cease, from the moment he thought he was ruling securely, from committing ten thousand impious acts against the inhabitants of Cyprus. ^C For he was stained every hour with innocent murders, and became a scourge of human bodies, bringing upon them punishments and tortures—as if he were an instrument of calamities—that brought them to death. And with unlawful beds and the corruption of virgins, the base and polluted man acted lawlessly, and he plundered the formerly happy homes of all their substance without account, and he left those who yesterday and the day before were regarded as prominent natives—and who rivaled Job in their wealth—starving and destitute, against whom the quick-tempered man had not until then used the sword. Alas, alas, that the way of the wicked prospers! All who commit lawless acts have fared well. "Thou didst plant them, and they took root; they brought forth children and bore fruit," just as the prophet expostulates with the Lord. For that age brought forth, as it were, wolfsbane, which, once grown, availed for nothing but the destruction of men and the ruin of most cities, whose lordship they had invaded by force. When these things reached the ears of Emperor Andronicus, he could not be restrained in any way, ^D but seeing that what he had long feared was coming upon him (for he was always suspecting the letter Iota as one that would overturn his rule), he sought a method by which Isaac might be captured and that menace expected by him might be removed from the world; for he feared lest, having sailed from Cyprus, he might cast him down from his power, knowing that he would be gladly received

^A by all, since even a distant evil is less painful than one at hand, and something dreaded is lighter than the worst that is hoped for; for we men are gladly wont to profit even from the briefest relief of the sufferer.

6. But not being able to overcome the absent enemy, he turned his anger upon those near him, seeing something similar to what dogs are often wont to do; for, standing away from the one who throws, they defend themselves against him with barks, but fasten their teeth into the stone that has been thrown. Verily, he also brought into judgment the kinsman of Isaac, Constantine Macroducas, and Andronicus Ducas, who had agreed that it would not be useless to Andronicus if Isaac were ransomed, were to return to his fatherland, and were to render him faithful and useful service. A few days later, they were brought in for [the crime of] high treason, although they were the leaders of Andronicus’ faction and his highest friends. For Macroducas, apart from other duties by which he most observantly cultivated Andronicus, had as his wife a sister of Theodora, his mistress, whom the account has frequently recorded as having been defiled by Andronicus. ^B Andronicus Ducas, a man base, filthy, and shameless, pretended to be more concerned for the safety of Andronicus than he himself was. And if Andronicus wished to blind someone, this Ducas, as if taught by that wicked master, the enemy of the human race, would even decree that his hands be amputated or that he be crucified, often chiding and inhumanely rebuking Andronicus because in exacting punishments he fell short of the atrocity of the crimes. Therefore, at the celebrated feast of the day on which the return into heaven of our Lord and God and Savior, together with the body he assumed, is celebrated, all the courtiers, as it had been announced, gathered, and men of every race and nation hurried by different paths to where the emperor was staying. He was then encamped at what was called the outer Philopation; but by mistake, the gathering took place at the Manganic palace, which is in the inner Philopation, after it had been destroyed by ^C Andronicus. When there was a frequent assembly of all those who were required to be present, Macroducas and Ducas, contrary to the opinion of all, were brought out from the buildings situated on the plain and led in triumph into the vestibule, as if to be led into judgment, or to see the emperor who would look down from an upper chamber; composing their bodies for gravity and their hands in supplication, they looked up. But Stephanus Hagiochristophorites—whom the people at that time called Antichristophorites, having changed his name to correspond to his character (for he was the most impudent of all Andronicus' ministers and a sink of all crimes)—having picked up a stone that fit in the palm of his hand, and having aimed it at Macroducas, who excelled because of his kinship with the emperor, his age, and his vast wealth, exhorted everyone to imitate his example, looking around the whole council; and he reviled with taunts and insults any who refrained from the stoning, as someone unfaithful to the emperor and likely soon to undergo the same punishment. Terrified by these threats, everyone threw stones at them, so that when the punishment was finished (O miserable and incredible spectacle!), the stones rose up into a mound. And those to whom the task had been assigned, having taken them up while they were still breathing and wrapped them in the carpets with which the loads of mules are accustomed to be covered, [sent] Ducas into Ju-

- ^B daea to the place where he had been allotted for burial, and transported Macroducas to the hilly shore opposite the Monastery of the Mangana, and both were impaled. And then for the first time did the citizens of Constantine [p. 190] behold things that were difficult to accept even by hearsay, and for which they had previously stopped their ears when others told of them; at that moment, as they lay before their eyes, they lamented, and, pondering what had been done, they were gripped by helplessness and suffered a twofold punishment for what was taking place. For they were overcome both by the calamities of their fellow-tribesmen and, imagining that the danger was all but approaching them too, they endured a more protracted torment than those who were already caught in the midst of these grievous events. For the latter had ceased to fear evils, being already crushed by the evil which their spirit had long conjectured, whereas the former, because they foresaw the evil incessantly and saw the future as if it were present, could take no sleep by night nor be at rest in their minds by day, being tormented as if by the scourges of conscience. And what is most novel, not only did they suffer this, all those who had an inner judge ^C pricking them with the thought that they were not praying or plotting for the good of Andronicus, but even those whom he favored and to whom he frequently imparted some good. For, suspecting a character that was completely untrustworthy and of fickle judgment, and also fearing his readiness for punishment, not even these were turning aside from their own sharp point of danger.

But let not the account pass this over. Certain men who had the liberty of speech asked Andronicus that the bodies of those who had been hanged should be taken down. He, not receiving the request with displeasure, asked if they had long been dead. And having learned from the executioners that the wicked had perished wickedly, he said that he mourned their plight. And following this statement with tears, he added that the severity and authority of the laws were stronger than his own impulse and intent, and that the sentence of the judges outweighed his own preference. O tears, which long ago ^D and among us were poured forth in distress of soul like rain from the clouds distilling from the heart! O symbols of more grievous sadness and most certain proofs of those things which press upon one from within, although sometimes even from joy they overflow from the eyes just like drops! But yours is another nature in the case of Andronicus: you are heralds of slaughter, and you flow down toward Acherontes and the Stygian marsh, detestable even by its very name. O how many pupils of their eyes has your flood extinguished! O how many have you dragged down into Orcus! O how many have you submerged! O what men have you consigned to the tomb and washed with a final ablution, as if poured out in unholy fashion!

^A In this manner, then, did Constantine Macroducas and the Sebastocrator Andronicus ^B depart from the ranks of the living, and by such deeds did these men see Andronicus repaying the debts of goodwill they owed him. Not long after, he also hanged the two sebastoi brothers on the opposite shore of the strait, which is called Perama, on the pretext that they had been lying in wait to take his life.

7. Andronicus was constantly occupied with such punishments, and others even worse than these. But Alexios Komnenos, who had been appointed by the Emperor Manuel over the cup ^C—being born of his own lineage (for he descended from a cousin)—had been exiled by Andronicus to Scythia. Having become a fugitive from there, he flew, like a winged dragon, and landed in Sicily. He revealed his identity to William, the tyrant of the island, and appeared before his eyes. Together with him, also, was Maleinos, who hailed from the province of Philippi—a man not of illustrious lineage, nor of splendid fortune, nor famous for his achievements. The bile that both had for a long time conceived against Andronicus—perhaps not without cause for the one, and for the other, for the sake of the Komnenian regime, desiring to seem a man worthy of some rank to those who knew him not—they at last brought forth against their fatherland. They did not speak those things into the ear of the king, but openly, with many listening, almost caressing his feet and licking them dog-like with their tongues—not saying things that would harm Andronicus, but things that would excite the Sicilian tyrant to the devastation of the Roman provinces as if to ready-made plunder.

Excited by their words, and all the more because they coincided with the discourse of their own countrymen, who, ^D while they had formerly served in the Constantinopolitan court, had later dispersed in various directions due to fear of and neglect by Andronicus and had often said the same things—he assembled the forces he had, and with great pay and even greater promises, summoned many thousands of both infantry and cavalry auxiliaries. Having crossed the infantry into Dyrrachium, he took the city at the first assault. With the naval forces sent straight into the port of Thessalonica, he received the intervening regions in surrender, and having besieged the illustrious city of Thessalonica by land and sea, he took it by blockade. After a few days of siege, he brought in his army, succeeding not so much through the cowardice and military ignorance of the defenders as through the sloth of David Komnenos, who had gone forth to command the city.

He offered no aid to the Thessalonians; rather, he was most ingenious at fearing Andronicus and avoiding his cruel hands. He ought, perhaps, to have plunged into the sea waves, or cast himself headlong from high cliffs, or hidden in mountains and caves, or, following the example of that fugitive prophet, have been swallowed by a whale. But he did none of these things. Instead, having obtained the governorship of the city through the evil fate of the Thessalonians in a most dishonorable manner—a man more corrupt than a woman and more timid than a deer—he did not even summon [help] from afar to keep off those by whom both he and the city were captured; rather, he voluntarily gave his effort to the end that he might fall into their hands. For while battle was to be joined and weapons and engines of every sort were being readied against the city, he...

^A acted as a spectator of the enemy, not as a warrior. Indeed, during the entire time of the siege he certainly made no sortie, although not a few of those who were in the garrison urged him to do so. Nor did he allow them to act, but like a cowardly hunter he stifled the spirited rush of his own hounds by delaying. No one ever saw him armed or wearing a helmet; rather, he avoided a helmet, a breastplate, and greaves just as a delicate little woman might, who knows nothing beyond the shadow of her own chamber. Indeed, he was carried through the city on a mule, wearing a cloak fastened behind with a knot, and elegant slippers embroidered with gold down to his ankles. When the engines shook the walls and stones fell to the ground, he would laugh at the booming of the stones cast against them and at the roaring of the walls as they were struck and tumbled down, and, standing under the secure shelter of the wall with his own worthless hangers-on, he would say: "Listen, my friends, to the old woman’s roaring." ^B For this was how he described the great siege engine by which the stones were dislodged from their fastenings, a man himself still in need of a nurse. Thus, Thessaloniki, having been assigned such a traitor for a leader, a pirate for a governor, and a poisoner for a physician, did not long hold out against the enemy.

The surrender was followed by a vast sea of evils, and a tragedy exceeding all calamities. For every household was emptied of its inhabitants, nor was there any house that gave safety, nor any alley that offered protection from the murderers, nor any hiding-place that could conceal for long. ^C But neither was a pitiful appearance pitied, nor did any entreaty move them to compassion; rather, the sword made its way through everyone, and the end of life was the blow that took it away. In vain also was the rushing of the multitude toward the holy temples, and useless was their trust in divine images. For the barbarians, confounding divine and human things, did not know how to honor God, nor did they provide asylum to those who fled into the shrines. But what was ^D a refuge in common houses—namely, clearly to fall under the sword at once or, having been stripped of all one's possessions, to be let go—this the spoilers judged to be the greatest of favors. The same fate awaited those who fled into the temples. And a heavier evil was added to this, that by the rush of the infinite multitude many were suffocated by the crowding; and they were slaughtered by the enemy as they burst into the sacred places, and all who were encountered were cruelly sacrificed like victims. And who would have spared men who insulted divine things and openly held God in contempt? Nor indeed was the thing so new, because

they sacrilegiously snatched away the offerings dedicated to God and touched with profane hands and dog-like ^A eyes things that should not be looked upon, and that are not to be touched. But it was impious, most of all, that they dashed to the ground the all-holy icons of Christ and his servants, and trampled upon them; and if there was any ornamentation of precious material, they would rip it off and carry it out to the crossroads to be trodden upon by passersby, or cast it into the fire as fuel for cooking their food.

It is most impious and detestable to the ears of the faithful that they danced indecorously upon the table that is sacred and venerable even to the angels themselves, singing certain barbaric and most discordant songs. Then, uncovering their private parts, they urinated in a circle around the sacred floor, offering this sprinkling as a gift to demons, and preparing warm baths for those foul spirits, in which they might bathe after the weariness of the calamities they had inflicted upon men, and the incurable evils they had wrought. But when at last the end of these evils seemed to be approaching and the fighting on the point of ceasing, the leaders of the Sicilians intervened and checked the rush of the mob that was still bent on slaughter; one of them, a cataphract, mounted on his horse, entered the church of the martyr Theodore—from whose tomb the myron wells forth—and by striking some with the flat of his sword and wounding others, he was scarcely able to restrain the lawlessness of the soldiers.

Yet the condition of the Thessalonians was not even then tolerable. For although on the day after the city was taken there was a respite from the slaughter of the citizens, such were the depredations against the survivors—seeking in a thousand ways the same end of life—that it seemed better to be dead, and, as in the case of the long-suffering Job ^B, many sought death in vain.

For while almost all others in war, as the pride of victory dictates, rage against defeated enemies, the Latin is, once he has overcome his adversaries, an intolerable evil, and one that words cannot describe. And if it is a Roman who is captured—and he is ignorant of the Latin tongue, and so abhors foreign ways that he has nothing in common with them even in his clothing—he is held in hatred by God and judged worthy of any punishment. What viper, what lion, passing over its old prey and devouring flesh that is still warm, rages as the Latin brutality does toward its captives? It is not swayed by prayers, not softened by tears, not appeased by gentle words; any such plea will be considered as pleasant as the hissing of geese or the screeching of kites. Even if you were to surpass Orpheus with the cithara or dying swans in the sweetness of your song, you would achieve nothing; and though the barbaric ferocity might be lulled for a little while, it soon returns to its nature, rushes to slaughter, and is no more moved by the voices of suppliants than an anvil is by the blow of hammers. That nation knows only how to indulge its anger and obey its own impulses.

What evil, indeed, would a man who is an enemy to the Romans overlook, burning with such inveterate hatred for them that not even that ancient serpent, the insidiator of the human race, ever vomited forth so much venom of bitterness upon the earth? For the execrable Latins compare our provinces to paradise, and out of desire for our goods they are forever hostile to our race, and are constantly machinating evils; which if ever, brought by the times,

^A they feign, yet secretly nourish most bitter enmities. If they use words softer than honey and oil, darts and two-edged swords lie hidden within them. We are divided from one another by such a wall of discord, and in no way can our minds be united, even if we dwell together in the same houses in body. They usually walk with neck erect and haughty countenance, and are accustomed to mock and despise the lightness of our character and the humility derived from modesty. We, however, under the auspices of Christ, who gives the power to walk upon serpents and scorpions without harm, tread upon their superciliousness, bragging, pride, and insolence. What evil could be ^B more unaccomplished than a man who hates our customs, having stored up in himself such hatred against a Hellene as not even the ancient serpent himself, the plotter of the human race, ever brought forth when he had joined his forces? Indeed, that which we were allotted to inhabit and enjoy is likened by the most accursed Latins directly to paradise, and, being insatiable for the goods among us, they always harbor evil thoughts regarding our race, and are creators of evils throughout. Even if they pretend friendship, biding their time, they hate us as the bitterest of enemies; even if their speech is agreeable to them and flows more smoothly than oil, yet they are themselves missiles and sharper than a two-edged sword. Thus, a great chasm of difference has been fixed between us and them, and we are discordant in our intentions, and have stood at opposite poles, even if we are joined in bodies and have often occupied the same dwelling. Hence, they themselves ^C largely carry their necks high, and feigning haughtiness in their aspect, they love to keep watch over and scrutinize the smoothness of our character and that which stoops to the ground due to the moderation of our frame of mind. But we, looking down upon their arched brows, their bragging, and their haughtiness and snottiness, as it were a head reaching upward, place our path upon it, trampling (16) them hence by the power of Christ who grants the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and provides that we suffer nothing and be harmed by them.

8. But to return to the order of the history, the Sicilian army, having entered inside the city of Thessalonica, performed deeds as many and such as were not pleasing to God, on the sixth day of the month of August, of the third indiction, in the year 6693, having begun the siege of the walls and completed it—without any injury to themselves—on the fifteenth day of the same ^D month. Not only, therefore, as we were saying, while the war was in progress, did the Thessalonians suffer the worst in all respects, but even when it had ceased, fortune did not incline toward benevolence, nor did their captors look upon them with mercy. For they did not merely drive the masters from their houses, and, having usurped them, strip them of the heirlooms within, but they also snatched away their garments, not even sparing the innermost undergarments that cover what nature has commanded to be hidden, nor did they share with the masters the food from the produce which they themselves had entered to gather, but the foreigners, sitting at home, were wasting the contents and feasting daily, while they allowed those who had gathered them into the granaries to wander at the crossroads, fasting, sleeping on the ground, bare-footed and shirtless, so that those who were formerly finely clad had the floor as a bed, the sky as a roof, and manure as a warm mattress. But what is worse than these things, and bites even to the soul, it was not permitted for the former masters to enter.

was thought that they had hidden therein; and for that reason they had thoroughly searched the house, fearing that if it had been removed, or if it had been sought more accurately in that part of the dwelling where it lay concealed, it might have been found by the enemy, or that he himself might wish to hide it more carefully. It often happened that he who had surrendered what he had hidden away in anticipation of his migration was nonetheless scourged with whips and tortured with more grievous torments, so that he might reveal further hidden things. Another, who gave nothing, but asserted that he was poor now just as he had been before, and that he had been drawn away from his intended path against his will by the longing for his ancestral house, which had been built at great expense, so that he might at once behold and lament his possessions—not even he found mercy; ^B but, dragged off to torture and hung up by his foot, with burning chaff placed beneath him, he was smoked, defiled with excrement, and his sides were pricked with spits; and, harassed by six hundred other punishments, he either exhaled his spirit in the very flaying of his flesh, or, half-dead, was dragged out by the foot from the house like refuse and lay in the streets under the open sky.

9. What then? Did the Sicilians treat the former owners of the houses with kindness and care for them? But to the rest, who passed by their own houses as if they were the gates of hell, or a Cretan Labyrinth, or the Lacedaemonian Ceadas, did they show some measure of humanity? Not at all. For whence could such affection exist in them, who, more savage than wild beasts, know not what mercy is, and find delight in the disasters of men? You may find dogs, indeed, that obey those they have caught, of their own accord restraining their gaping mouths, their biting, and their barking, if those they pursue fall upon their knees. But these men were so far from pitying those whom they had spoiled of all their wealth, and whose family property they were consuming with harlots—pursuing them and valuing them above all else—that they allowed themselves to be beaten with slaps for show by those who boasted that they would occupy the whole Roman Empire like an abandoned nest and snatch it up like deserted eggs. They mocked the nakedness of men and were shaken with laughter if any man, wasted by hunger and emaciation, or with swollen belly, pale and livid in face from a diet of herbs or grapes gathered with danger from nearby vineyards, passed them by. Furthermore, they used to "pity" those who wore tattered clothes—or who covered their shameful parts with tree bark, or their heads with little caps woven from osiers—in such a way that with laughter and mocking gestures they would seize the beards and hair of those they met with both hands, and say that those shaggy and long beards were bad things, but that there was a need for their hair to be shorn for the city, after their own fashion. Sometimes, when riding through the forum on horses, they would strike the wretches down with ash-wood spears, preferably into dung or mud, if

^A any part of the main road happened to be nearby, they would shove them into it, turning away and showing disgust at the encounter as something that would not result in anything good, or because they were annoyed at traveling the same way as they were. And when they happened upon Romans eating wheat bread or any other edible sustenance that human bodies possess, they would stand over them, knocking over their dishes in mockery, overturning the table, and disturbing the meal, not allowing them to enjoy the bitter bread at the proper time, nor to drink their wine, diluted or drawn from a cistern to quench their thirst, with peace of mind. ^B And these most shameless jesters, who feared the Divine not in the least, would bend down significantly, and pulling up their garments, exposing their fundament to those who were eating, and getting as close as possible to the food, they would discharge flatulence, like the animals they were. Sometimes, too, they would project their excrement like a siphon through their backside, spraying the food, and soiling the faces of some. They would urinate into wells, and then subsequently draw water from them for themselves; using the same vessel, without any washing, now as a chamber pot and now as a cup. They held the ministers of Christ, recorded among the firstborn, in no such reverence as was fitting, nor were they moved by the miracles performed through them—by which Christ rewards those who have honored His members—to such an extent that they would pour the myrrh which bubbles up from the monument of the most celebrated martyr Demetrius into barrels and caldrons and fish-dishes, anointing their footwear with it, and misusing it rashly and wickedly for other services for which oil is used. But it flowed more copiously, as if coming from an unquenchable spring or welling up from an abyss, and overflowed in a novel manner, so that even the Barbarians themselves marveled at what was happening and were stunned by the grace divinely granted to the martyr. ^C And if the time for hymnody caused the Romans to gather in the churches, not even then were they exempt from the insolence of the soldiery. For the most importunate among them, having entered under the pretense of joining in the singing and praising of God, would shout among themselves and break into confused noise, or, with heads twisted, seizing some Romans by chance, they would disturb their caution; so that the chanters were singing as in a strange land, and not as in the temple of God. Many also, from the opposite side, disturbed the hymns with harlot-songs and dog-like barking, and drowned out those praising God with their clamor.

Such, then, to mention a few things of the many, were the sufferings of the Thessalonians when they were besieged, which some have even set down in a separate history, and have compiled into a long work. But after He who dwells in the heights ^D and looks upon the lowly looked down from heaven, and neither

^A saw any of those who had led them captive seeking or inquiring after God, but that all had become corrupt and had inclined toward lawless deeds, He saw fit to crush and trouble them with His own wrath, while yet having compassion on the affliction of His own people, and to grant them freedom, ^B granting that he would heed their spirit of despair and not despise the brokenness of their hearts. Shortened, therefore, as I suppose, for the sake of the elect, was the temporal length of those unwanted events; and whatever He had formerly threatened to the Babylonians for not showing mercy to Zion and for taking her delicate sons and daughters into exile and captivity, these same things He brought upon them in untimely fashion. And the Lord was glorified as never before for those things in which He manifested His mercy at that time, being moved, as it seems, by the prayers of the martyrs and heeding the prayer of the high priest of the Thessalonians. ^C This man was Eustathios, a person celebrated everywhere for his eloquence and virtue, who was gifted with intelligence and a marvelous and highly desirable practical experience in affairs, and who surpassed all others by far in the abundance of his learning in both secular and sacred letters, which was his most characteristic and distinguished mark. For, choosing to suffer together with his own flock rather than imitate the mercenaries who, upon the coming of wolves, desert the flock and flee, he did not consider it proper to depart from the city, even though it was permitted him to do so while the enemies were still awaited and had not yet laid siege to it; for he knew that by his presence he would surely save many. Instead, he willingly allowed himself to be enclosed in the city as in a prison, and did not cease to share in all the troubles of those who were suffering. He persuaded them by his own example, and urged them to bear the scourges of God as the chastisement of a kindly Father with an even mind, and to expect healing from the same source. “For if,” he said, “He is accustomed to strike often, He also loves to heal most often, especially if one bears the grievances gently and with thanksgiving, and does not become indignant at the sharpness of these things and their striking of the senses, nor act with hostility toward the One who brings them upon us, nor complain against Providence; nor, by rejecting the depth of divine judgments, has one learned to act good only in prosperous circumstances and in the favorable breeze of fortune.” ^D Therefore, by approaching the commanders of the army, who are called *Conti* in the Latin tongue, he obtained edicts by which their hardships were alleviated, and he omitted nothing that could contribute to the consolation of his own people. For with his speech even jagged cliffs could have been moved; and by his mere appearance he was so venerable to the foreigners that they would rise up for him as he approached, gladly listen to him as he pleaded, and be swayed by his admonitions toward humanity and fairness, just like an inflamed wound that is soothed by water and a gentle hand. And although these birds—for so they were, soaring almost in the clouds and rushing with great force upon every Roman they met, threatening them with deportation to Sicily—were savage, he nevertheless gathered the terror-stricken citizens, who feared even worse things than the pressing evils, under his own wings like a hen, and through his words he diluted the bitterness of the victors, as Moses did with the water at Marah by casting in the wood. But what the manner of their liberation was, miraculously provided by God, shall be related in its proper place.

^A 10. Now let the discourse return to where it began, and let the deeds performed by Andronicus be recounted. He had, in fact, hanged the brothers of the Sebastocrator on a cross because they were supporting Alexius Comnenus—who is the man whom Manuel had fathered out of wedlock, and whom Andronicus had ^B betrothed to his daughter Irene, who was born in the same manner—in his supposed attempt upon the throne and because they wished to see him driven from power. A short time later, having also seized Alexius himself, he handed him over to prison; then, after having mutilated his eyes, he relegated him to Chele (this is a small town on the coast, situated somewhere very near the mouth of the Pontus), where he also confined Alexius within a tower built for that very purpose. He also came to loathe his daughter Irene and cast her away from his presence, because, when he ordered her not to mourn or cut her hair for her husband, she—if she were a daughter who loved her father and felt pain for her parent—did not obey, but rather continued to loathe the man who had been matched to her and transferred the affection she had previously felt into an equal magnitude of hatred. She, however, mourned, as was natural, not having ceased to love her husband, and she appeared in dark, disheveled garments.

But in this way, suddenly, was that marvelous and boastfully acclaimed marital union—so praised by sycophants and by unjust judges who swallow the camel but strain at the gnat—severed by the most detestable flatterers. Through that union, they had predicted that things which had long ago been torn apart were to be reunited, and that the East would be joined with the West; and that, with inveterate hatreds abolished, nations as different from the Romans in their customs as they were in their languages would enter into harmony and adopt the same customs, with dissensions abolished by a new method, so that swords would be changed into plowshares and lambs would pasture with lions. They boasted, too, of the discipline of the cities and of a lasting and paradoxical abundance of the fruits of the ^C earth, as if the thorn-bush were to produce pears and the fig-tree were to bristle with stalks of wheat—or rather, as the poets claim that at the union of Zeus and Hera, the dewy lotus was spread beneath them and the crocus and hyacinth sprang up. Thus, the purveyors of such tales were most manifestly shown to be fools, since they, while glorying in the claim that they were wise and could foresee future events, did not even perceive what was before their feet; and they were subject to that prophetic curse, that seeing they did not see, and hearing they did not understand. Indeed, they saw clearly and knew well enough that they were pouring forth deadly words and sharpening their teeth as if they were javelins and swords; but because they spoke what was pleasing to the ears, and possessed venal tongues, and were desperately eager to please men—the kind of men, alas, whom courts nurture to their own destruction, praising evil and feigning ignorance of good—they assiduously promoted wickedness and gave approval to those things that were dear to the heart of the emperor.

And Andronicus treated not only Alexius with such inhumanity, but he also placed his principal ministers in custody; and not long after, having made a selection from the best of them, he blinded most of them. However, he kept one of his scribes, by the nickname of Mamalus, whom he would devour last; and he prepared for the banquet such a variety of delicacies as were fit only for that primary killer to have as a guest, and which were no different from the tables of the Furies, such as no cook had ever prepared for them. ^D

^B It was decided that the man should be burned in the Hippodrome. A pyre was lit and the flame rose high in the Sphendone of the stadium, no differently than that Chaldean furnace when it was lit with naphtha and brushwood and heated sevenfold. He was brought out bound by cords and naked, just as he had been when he first emerged from his mother’s womb and beheld the sun. The executioners pushed the youth, whose cheeks were still covered with the first down, like a sacrificial victim into the midst of the fire with the longest poles. He, however, compelled by the sharpness of the pain and the desire for life, as is human, and wishing to avoid the evil that was now inevitable, would at times expose himself to their blows, thinking that pain lighter than the torture of the flames, and at other times, having been thrown by the executioners into the middle of the blaze, he would leap out from the great pyre like a projectile. As this continued for a long time, it drew tears from the spectators, until, exhausted, he fell on his back, and the foul stench of his seared flesh infected the surrounding air and the nostrils of those watching. O cruel pyre! O sacrifice pleasing to demons! O victim of the Telchines! O insolence of the Furies! O foul odor, which the Lord does not smell, but rather malevolent powers and spirits hostile to human life! For since Andronicus had learned from the ancients that oxen should be sacrificed and the gods appeased by their savor, he did not want to follow that same method; rather, as his actions proved, being superior in brutality to all the most savage tyrants of past ages, he instituted the sacrificing of humans through this crime, spurning the laws of the Christian religion, which teach that a man should be preserved rather than destroyed, and that not even the whole world is worth as much as his soul. What insane Cambyses, or cruel Tarquin, or Echetus and Phalaris, those most savage tyrants, ever perpetrated such things? What Tauroscythians—whose laws decree the sacrificial murder of guests, and whose customs that restless old man had acquired—ever set upon their captives and butchered them in such a way? ^C And so that it would not seem that he had inflicted so atrocious a punishment without cause or just grievance, he burned a number of scrolls together with Mamalos, which dealt with future emperors, by the reading of which, it was alleged, Mamalos had incited Alexius to desire the throne.

11. But Andronicus was so far from repenting of his deed or abstaining from similar cruelty in the future that he brought the same charge again, ^D and once more arrested Disypatus George (he was of the order of lectors, who...

^A in their great temple are much busied) and had him cast into prison, only for what he had done poorly and said poorly of Andronicus, and, as he was forever practicing, intended to spit him on skewers and roast him on hot coals for his wife to partake of. And the plump Disypatus would have been, like a piglet, run through with skewers and roasted, and placed like a dish upon a tray, and brought to those in his household, and set before his bedfellow—I do not know for what reason, though he was surely a man of great capacity—had not the father of his wife ^B (17) Leo Monasteriotes held Andronicus back from his impulse, and checked and restrained the attempt, as a lion scares the beasts, through which the things pleasing to the affairs of that time were belched forth, being called the mouth of the senate to Andronicus. And rumors now coming from all sides, loosening their wings, reported that the Sicilians had reduced Dyrrachium and were besetting Thessalonica, and they were disturbing Andronicus, unsettling his mind and weakening the intensity of his punishments for a short time. Therefore, Disypatus, confined in a cell, stretched his hands toward the Divine and prayed, along with David, saying: “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may confess your name,” or uttering the words of Jonah: “Shall I again look upon your holy temple?” But what was he praying for? “Wipe me out, Lord, from the memory of Andronicus, and let me be unknown to him for all time, so that he may not remember my name until he has been wiped from the book of the living.” And for this reason, the Divine did not delay, nor did He despise his prayer, but brought him forth from the prison unharmed, Andronicus having departed this life ^C after a few days.

How Andronicus was accustomed to reward those who adhered to his service and served as burning fulfillers of his will, was shown by the way he inhumanly led forth from life Constantine Macroducas and Andronicus Ducas, of whom, as has been said, he had raised the one to the dignity of the Panhypersebastoi, and to the other, Ducas, he had granted the status of an adopted son, enrolling him among his most intimate friends. But he clearly demonstrated the savage nature of his mind and his character, which was not inclined to constant goodwill, in the instances where he chose also to blind Constantine Tripsychus, a man most beloved—a treasure—to Andronicus, and most useful in his services, and who had loved Andronicus so much and had applied himself to him so fervently that he surpassed all, or nearly all, who were in Andronicus’s interest. For by just so much as one was constrained, so much the more was Tripsychus excluded from being the sole one to carry away the prize, in that he had Stephen Hagiochristophorites fluttering alongside him and competing with him ^D for an overflow of zeal, and sharing in the prize of the competition to whom the crown of his harshness was allotted. Now the cause for the quenching of the pupils of Tripsychus was some trivial irritation, worthy of being overlooked rather than called into question and having punishment inflicted upon the perpetrator, especially one so beloved and no less diligent. But because, in the times of Andronicus, an account was rendered for an idle word, and Tripsychus, as the inquisitor of those matters, had tortured many and despoiled them of all their goods for having murmured somewhat against Andronicus or for having hidden the remnants of some evil thought in their minds, he fell harshly into the same evils, circumvented by his own iniquity, and with the measure with which he had often measured, it was gathered and overflowing.

^A For men in the times of Andronikos gave idle words, and in this regard the examiner of such things, Tripsychos, who had subjected many to tortures and stripped them of all their property, because they had spat out or left behind in themselves some murmur or remnant of an evil thought against Andronikos, fell himself mercilessly into the same state; trapped by the iniquity of his own heel, he was measured back with that same measure which he had often measured, overflowing and pressed down, and he fell gracefully (if I may praise you, in vain) into the pit which he had often dug for his neighbor, and rolled upon himself the stone which he had frequently pushed against those nearest to him. ^B And so, when one of those most genuine to Andronikos reported that Tripsychos—who was lavished with so many benefits, who was acquiring the immense weight of honors, and who in imperial letters was called "beloved son," a man of tested faith, a man such as is scarcely found in these days, the very wealthy, the well-clad—was grumbling against Andronikos just as those who had not been treated well and had not received benefit from Andronikos, Andronikos’s soul was stirred, and having condemned his faith in all things, he stood in heavy contemplation, whipped up into rage by what had been said and shivering at the surging billows of his anger. ^C But when the reporter saw that his anger was warming up and needed a further supply of sharper words, so that it might become violent and soar into the air—or at least that this vast sea of irascibility might, by wanting a storm-wind, split open and engulf as another Egyptian charioteer the wretched Tripsychos—he said to Andronikos: "Tripsychos does not cease even from slandering your son and the legitimate successor of your empire and the lawful heir to your rule, the most beautiful and most beloved to all, John, speaking mad words and declaring him a pollution about to mount the divine throne of the empire; and once, when the Emperor John was passing by and was being acclaimed by the greatest multitude of men, Tripsychos mocked him and called him in contempt 'Zinziphizes,' and with a great sigh said: 'O wretched rule of the Romans, what kind of emperor is expected for it!' Now Zinziphizes was a most hideous little man who frequented the circus, with most of his limbs distorted, small and fleshy, but a not unintelligent buffoon and an expert at inciting laughter." ^D Andronicus, heavily moved by these words, scattered the goods of Tripsychos like hail, and, having handed him over to loose custody, he finally even blinded him. Such was the end that the power of Tripsychos reached, so that that maxim of Solomon clearly seems to fit him, when it says: "There are ways that seem right to a man at the first, but the ends of them go unto death." And in this way things were carried on in the queen of cities.

VOLUME II. OF THE EMPIRE OF ANDRONICUS COMNENUS. BOOK SECOND. IMPERII ANDRONICI COMNENI LIBER SECUNDUS.

1. The Sicilian army was divided into three parts ^A, of which one remained at Thessalonica, another made an incursion into the region of Serrae to ravage and subdue all those places, while the third proceeded as if on a level road, and with no enemy appearing, pitched its tents at Mosynopolis itself and brought the surrounding regions into subjection. For Andronicus, the first care was to send a garrison to Epidamnus. But a few days after John Branas had arrived there, the Italians, flying as it were through the air, without labor and almost at their leisure, climbed over the battlements of the walls, and John Branas was carried off a prisoner to Sicily.

Then he sent letters ^B to David, who had been appointed to rule over Thessalonica, and commanded him to be vigilant in guarding the city, and not to fear the "shoemakers" [the Latins] at all, but to leap, bite, and sting—to record the very words of Andronicus. And for what reason Andronicus put his letters in this way, the author Andronicus alone knew. But the more facetious citizens mocked at these words, and twisted them toward certain vulgar and obscene common expressions, which should be passed over in silence.

After this, having gathered the Roman forces, both Western and Eastern, and divided them into legions, he gave one part to his son John, the emperor-designate, who was then staying in the province of Philippi; one to the chartulary Chumnus; one to Andronicus Palaeologus; and another to the spadoni Nicephorus, upon whom he had conferred the dignity of accubitor. He also sent away Alexius Branas with another army. ^C But his son, devoted to hunting around Philippopolis, gave no more thought to the destruction of Thessalonica than to the overturning of the gates of Gades or the pillars of Bacchus. The others, meanwhile, while the city was being besieged, did not dare in any way to approach closer and bring aid, but, camping far from the city, they learned of the situation at Thessalonica through scouts and light cavalry who had stolen into the camp of the enemies.

Alone of all the men, Theodore Chumnus ^D did not hesitate to approach closer, so that he might bring aid to the citizens if they advanced into battle against the enemies, or, if it were permitted, enter the city itself. But being frustrated in both plans, he retreated most shamefully, because his soldiers, not daring to look upon even a single enemy helmet from afar, turned their backs and fled in confusion, being in that respect only more distinguished than their fellow-countrymen, that they did not always remain cowards but [fled from] the enemies, whom the scouts

had reported to them, having looked upon them with their own eyes and been taught by deeds themselves the swiftness of those men in battle. Since, as I have already said, the famous city of Thessalonica was taken and division had occurred in the Sicilian ^B army—which one might say functioned like the mythical Chimera: first joined together, then separated—its strongest part, like a lion, marched straight toward the Queen of Cities, the middle part spread through the territory of Serres and Amphipolis, and the rear, namely the fleet, winding like a serpent in the waters, was guarding the principal city of the Thessalians. But even so, the Romans, although serving under the same auspices, did not dare to fight against any one of these parts; the enemies who had seized Mosynopolis, seeing no enemy, decided to advance further. The Romans, however, having occupied the summits of the mountains, did not dare to descend into the plain and confront the approaching enemy. Therefore, the Italians, believing that there should be no delay, decided that they must gather their forces into one, march on Constantinople, and seize it. Alexius Comnenus had also given them this hope; though he did not even accompany them in the position of a leader, yet, in his foolishness, having conceived a vain hope, he thought that the King of the Sicilians was laboring for his sake. He bore himself with no less haughtiness than if he had already been appointed emperor and were wearing the imperial insignia, and he foolishly boasted that he was desired by the foreigners and the soldiers as much as his uncle, the magnificent emperor Manuel, had been desired by the Constantinopolitans, and that he was awaited just as eagerly as the most delightful rays of the morning sun. And these things happened accordingly.

2. Andronicus himself, having gone round the walls of the city, ordered that whatever was ruinous from age should be shored up and repaired. The command was carried ^C out immediately. Those buildings outside that were contiguous to the walls, which offered easy ascent into the city, were torn down; about one hundred long ships were made to fluctuate on the shores, ready for sailing if there were need, to bring help to the cities that were being harassed by the Sicilian fleet and to aid the citizens (for they also thought the arrival of the enemy was imminent), and also to occupy for the time being the sea gulf which, like a river, washes the shore of Blachernae. Having thus attended to the public business, he rested, as if now sufficiently and firmly prepared for the defense and for the destruction of the enemies who were attacking the Romans. But when he heard of the capture of Thessalonica, he turned his anger against the kinsmen of David, whom I have already mentioned as the guardian of that city, and having arrested them, he threw them into ^D prison, and in a public address he trivialized that defeat: he said that the Sicilians had achieved nothing great, and that this was not the first time, but that often in the course of time cities had been taken, and that victory was a matter of turns. But when he other to other

people’s words, and reports were ^A constantly arriving that now the enemy had captured Amphipolis, and now, having ravaged the following regions, were encamping near Mosynopolis, he did not send away such messages as though they were as yet terrible, but kept saying that he would pursue the enemies and destroy them utterly, just in the way that hunters destroy wild boars. For as these, gradually retreating from the thicket and following the bait, are enclosed in snares and traps and either are pierced by a spear or receive a deep wound in their vitals, so would the Italians, he claimed, being likewise careless, as if no one were resisting them, and steadily advancing forward, carried away by the desire for greater spoils, fall into a final and unforeseen destruction, and pay the penalty for their crimes. These words were nothing but the empty reasonings of a man who was openly at odds with the nature of things and was struggling to appease a populace incensed against him; they did not, however, point toward his fulfilling the duty of a brave man by leaving nothing untried to put the barbarians to flight. For although so many and such great evils were ^B pressing upon them, that everyone feared the most atrocious things and was distressed as if they were already upon them, he bore the intolerable things with an even mind and philosophized over others' misfortunes—and this in the midst of the highest ambition and lust for power, by which he was driven to an inhumanity that surpassed all tyrants who had ever existed.

In addition, as he was corrupted by luxury, he used to withdraw with a troop of harlots and concubines to desert and temperate places, and like a wild beast to pursue the valleys and grassy glades. Just as a cock precedes his hens, or a he-goat leads his flock of goats, or as Bacchus used to lead the Thyiads, Sobades, Maenads, and Bacchantes, so did he go before his female companions, dressed in all but a fawn-skin and a saffron robe. And on appointed days he would be seen as if through a lattice by only a few of the royal court, and those the ones most closely acquainted with him, while he opened every access to flute-players and harlots, admitting them to conversation at any time. He took pleasure in ease after the manner of Sardanapalus, ^C who had engraved upon his tomb that he kept only what he had eaten and done for his lust. He was an Epicurean and a Chrysippean, corrupted by the disease of luxury and undone by love; he imitated Hercules in deflowering the fifty daughters of Thestius. But because he did not have enough strength for such lechery, just as that hero implored Iolaus against the reviving hydra, so did he strengthen his virility with ointments and delicacies. He also fed on the Nilotic little beast, not unlike a crocodile, which they call a skink; though most people shudder at this food, yet it excites lust and makes one ready for sexual activity. Returning to the palace from his wanderings and recreations, he used to keep not a few attendants with him, and those from barbarian cohorts and pestilential men, to whom shamelessness is dear, and who were for the most part ignorant of the Greek tongue; and those who ^D kept watch before the bedchamber and the doors were composed of such petulant crowds. Finally, he even had a savage dog, which also

was able to contend with lions and throw an armed horseman to the ground, and he kept it in his own bedchamber as a companion. For while his bodyguards and sentinels would spend the night at some distance from the imperial bedchamber, the dog was tied at the doors, being copper-voiced and becoming ^B fiercely barking at the slightest sound. Proceeding in this way, he mocked the guilelessness of the Constantinopolitans, treating them as if they were led by the nose, and he ridiculed them for being ready for every observance and cult of emperors, not knowing that by these very people he would be deposed from power and would suffer the worst of all fates. To such an extent did he do this that the antlers of the deer he hunted, which were twelve-pointed and had a certain marvelous quality, he hung on the arches of the Forum, ostensibly to demonstrate the size of the wild beasts he had captured, but in reality, he was mocking the public order and disparaging the lasciviousness of the married women.

Whenever he arrived at the great city, departing from the luxurious residences and excessive lifestyle of the Propontis, the day was considered nothing less than a day of ill omen; for he seemed to have returned for no other reason than to slaughter and destroy anyone he suspected of plotting against him. And the arrival of Andronikos portended to many harm and grief, or the loss of life, or some other extreme evil. ^C For this man, having mentally traced a line—a standard by which to measure his own cruelty—thought that any day was lost to him on which he had not either slaughtered or blinded some prominent man, or at the very least reproached him or terrified him with a Titanic countenance. For, like a cruel tutor frequently brandishing a whip over children, he reproached them in and out of season, and was incited by any word that was unpleasing to his ears. The result was that in those times people lived in sadness and anxiety, nor could they take sleep in security, but would wake up suddenly in terror, fearing that Andronikos was rushing at them, or seeing those whom that harsh, implacable, and inexorable man had slaughtered. For what God and man, Christ, said would happen in the last times, that of two lying on the same couch one would be taken and the other left, this happened entirely in those days, when one of the spouses would be suddenly snatched away to suffer bodily torments—for impunity was not granted even to women; indeed, not a few of them were blinded, imprisoned, endured hunger and scourging—a father would neglect his sons, and sons would not care for their fathers; if in the same house there were five, three would be at odds with two, and two with three. Many, also, fleeing the wrath of Andronikos as they would a Sodomitic conflagration, departed as far as possible from their homeland with ^D oars and sails; and had they extended their exile until the time of his death, they would have remained free from every evil. But now, while they wished to look after their family concerns, they were not indeed transformed into a pillar of salt, like the wife of Lot, nor did they escape death by salt, but being affected by a mental error, they perished by a wretched death.

^A 3. But although Andronicus was so irascible, harsh, and inexorable, so as to rejoice in the misfortunes of others and to think that by overturning others he could stabilize his own and his children's empire, and to derive pleasure from this, yet he administered not a few things rightly, and did not entirely degenerate from all virtue; but as it was allowable to hunt for a panacea and to obtain a salutary antidote even from the flesh of a viper, and to pluck a sweet-smelling rose from sharp thorns, and to provide a pleasant meal of fish and quails from hellebore and aconite, so too was it with him. For he fostered impoverished subjects with largesse, if only there was some hope that the one imploring aid was not hostile to Andronicus on account of his crimes. He so punished the avarice of the nobles and so compressed hands greedy for what belonged to others that, while he reigned, no province was increased in colonists, because each one, according to the prophetic dictum, would recline under the shade of his own trees, and after the vintage was finished and the crops brought in, would feast merrily, and sleep sweetly, fearing not the threats of the tax-collector, nor expecting a greedy extortioner: but if he had rendered unto Caesar the things that were Caesar's, there was no one who would demand more from him or sometimes even snatch away his tunic and violently drive him to death. ^B For the quaestors were so terrified at the mention of Andronicus that they easily kept their otherwise rapacious hands away from what was another's, and would sometimes recoil from gifts offered voluntarily by provincials as if from a plague. ^C And what is greater, when he sent magistrates into the provinces, he gave them generous stipends, and at the same time announced what penalties he would impose upon those who neglected his orders. For he did not sell public offices, nor did he bestow them by being conciliated by some trivial gift, but he ordained magistrates gratuitously and after an established selection. Therefore, many who were formerly fugitives and almost dead from public calamities, as if hearing the trumpet of an archangel, were awakened from a long-standing stupor and revived, having recovered their pristine felicity; and as the vision of Ezekiel teaches, bone was brought to bone, joint was joined to joint, and in a short time most cities received back both life and their former riches. ^D And if anything from the Davidic Psalms is to be inserted, he changed the desert into pools of water and the dry land into springs of water. He increased public revenues by repressing the extortions of the collectors; and the frequent exactions invented by greedy quaestors, who devoured the subject people as if they were bread, and who demanded them annually as if they were a debt, he recalled to a certain number.

^A It is a most unreasonable custom that prevails, as it seems, only among the Romans, in that ships tossed by storms, and weighed down by winds and the roaring of the sea, have no one to assist them when they are driven by the waves onto the shores or into ports; on the contrary, those who chance to live in those places are seen to be crueller than any tempest, plundering and seizing whatever the sea has not washed away. Against such an absurdity he breathed much in opposition, and converted the most violent impulses toward maritime plunder into a gentle breeze, so that this work alone suffices for his praise in place of many. For those who stood about the imperial throne had judged that evil to be beyond remedy or entirely immutable, as if it had become second nature and had progressed to the worst state; they thought that many even of the prior Roman emperors had wished to put an end to the irrationality of this custom, and had released bundles of imperial decrees threatening extreme penalties against those who took up arms against the ships of the shipwrecked and plundered their contents. However, these decrees had remained only in writing, being such that they vanished as the flood of evil rose aloft—wiping away the imperial red ink, so that the letters seemed plainly to be written in water, and the edicts were inscribed in vain.

^B 4. When they had spoken thus, Andronicus looked sharply at the assembled senate, and sighing deeply from the bottom of his heart, he said: “There is nothing that cannot be corrected by the emperors, nor is there any sin that exceeds their power. The previous emperors were therefore slothful, as it seems, or pretended to be grieved by the worst offenses. For if they had truly wished to put an end at last to life-destroying practices and to speak freely on those things that establish justice, they would have overlooked the red ink used in these writings and despised the useless papers; they would have thought to weep blood, not shed tears, over those men who, among people where their shattered ships are cast up, find them harder than the hidden rocks and reefs of the sea. They would have used the sword, which is not carried in vain, and would have condemned the wicked ^C to death. Now, as I am convinced, they wrote of wickedness as a matter of course, and by not correcting, but rather confirming, these reprehensible customs, they themselves—showing no praiseworthy forbearance—attacked the suffering, and willingly stood aside from the correction of these things.” Having said this, he added: “Men who are joined to me by blood or who have gained my favor by your loyalty, and the rest of the surrounding circle—whether inscribed in the senate or appointed to other duties of the empire—hear me, hear me. For I shall speak not of things which the air will scatter in vain, but of those things which, unless they appear in reality in their own time, will reveal me, the author of the edict, to be subject to grave anger

and which will be visited as a heavy and intractable burden upon those who act contrary to my decrees and disregard the commands of their superiors. It is fitting, therefore, that other things harmful to the commonwealth and detrimental to the Romans be brought to an end; and let those who pursue a life of greed know that if they do not voluntarily cease their lust for the possessions of others, they shall lose their own property as well and be cast out by the sighs of the poor, just as dust is swept from the face of the earth by a violent storm; and this applies especially to those who lie in wait for ships, plunder their cargoes, and sometimes even break apart and dismantle the ships themselves. If any of you, therefore, exercises authority by our power, or if any is lord of coastal lands, let him fix himself first, and then direct his subjects toward fear of God and toward subjection and reverence for my empire; or else the wrongdoing of the official in charge of the province, or of the one holding the land, shall be demanded back from him manifold, even if he himself be innocent in his hands and pure in his heart, provided that those who serve him carry out this illicit deed. For the mind under the hand will follow the master if he is being scourged; and just as the subject is wont to be assimilated to the ruler who is first in committing reprehensible acts, so too, when he is being scourged and is forced to learn what is beneficial to the common good, the subjects will follow closely at his heels, even as a child follows its mother. ^C And so that you may know the manner of the punishment to which one who disobeys my command shall be subjected: he shall be hung from the mast of the ship. But if a sea wave has swept this away, he shall be impaled upon a high watchtower, or upon a beam of great size and straightness cut from the mountains there, so that those who sail the vast seas may see him from a distance as a sail prominent on a yardarm, and as a shipwrecked man displayed on land, taken as a symbol not to proceed any further with the breaking of ships and the plunder of things within them, just as God set His own bow in the clouds as a sign that there would no longer be water for a flood.

5. And the man who said these things had his mind fixed upon other matters, for he was characterizing the one who was suffering and was surmising that he would not at all admit any transformation of his opinions or show humane favor regarding what he had decreed. But his listeners, having become petrified with fear (for they knew by experience that Andronicus did not know how to jest, nor to speak one thing in matters of this kind while hiding something else in his mind), when they had belatedly and with difficulty recovered their spirits, wrote letters and sent them by couriers to the overseers of their properties and to those acting in their stead in public offices, strictly enjoining them and bringing to bear every form of exhortation to pay heed and remain vigilant, lest a ship—if it should meet with a shipwreck—be destroyed in any terrible way; and, if possible, to even rebuke the winds themselves or, as they tell in the myth of Aeolus, to capture the spirits in leather bags, so that they might not raise gales and disturb the salt water. Indeed, from that time, no ship tossed by the waves suffered any loss of cargo, nor was it stripped of any part of its planking, nor did it lose a mast, an anchor, or even the smallest rope, let alone any rigging. Nay,

^A driven by the winds onto the land or shattered against hidden rocks, they were seen no differently than the bark of Charon, by which souls are ferried from the jaws of Hell; or rather, they were tended to by the people and the magistrates with great submissiveness, lest they lose on land anything that the sea had not snatched away.

Thus, out of the tempest, a sudden tranquility arose, such that this change seemed to have been divinely ordained. This man ^B renovated, at great expense, the huge subterranean aqueduct which, in the middle of the forum, used to pour out not stagnant and unhealthy water, but water that was spring-fed, potable, and ever-flowing. For he diverted the river Hydralis into this water-conduit, and near its primary sources he built a tower and raised buildings suitable for summer residence. And even now, those who live near the Blachernae and further within the city are supplied with water from this source. For the work was interrupted by his death, so that the water could not also gush forth in the middle of the forum. However, the emperors who followed him down to this very day have cared for this work, so that Isaac, who wrested the life from Andronicus along with the empire, destroyed both the tower and the most delightful buildings, surely out of envy for this most beautiful achievement. ^C In refilling the praetorian magistracies, he chose excellent men, the best of the senatorial order, and sent them forth endowed with most ample gifts, so that, adorned with such benefits, they might be less burdensome to the cities and ever intent on protecting and assisting the poor. These men, since they had an abundance of means to live on (for they carried with them forty and eighty minas of silver), abstained as if from sacrilege from those things which were offered to them voluntarily by the provincials, because they had been rescued from the hand of a powerful oppressor or had been affected by other benefits. Whence in a short time the cities grew, the earth brought forth a hundredfold crop, and the price of grain was low. Moreover, Andronicus allowed himself to be easily approached by those who complained about the violence of the powerful, having no regard for worldly status; he did not remove justice from the just, but heard with equal impartiality those who were brought to law, whether they were men illustrious in birth and wealth or of humble station. The insolent, who were ashamed to litigate fairly with obscure men, if they were convicted of injuries—that is, of oppressing the poor or striking them with their fists—he would punish severely, instead of with a trifling fine. Once, some ^D farmers brought charges against Theodorus the Dadibrenus (whom we have shown above to have assisted in the administration of the Emperor Alexius), claiming that he had stayed with them while traveling, and after taking all that he and his servants and his pack animals needed, had departed without paying anything. When he discovered this to be true, he had him struck with twelve blows of a cudgel and ordered that from the imperial treasury the farmers be paid far more than the value of the damage. He also wrote to

certain of those who administered public affairs a letter which read thus: ^A “True prince of falsehood, imprudent to my prudent judgment, and you, Dachanās, vendor of garden produce, it has been heard by my imperial majesty that you wrong many; therefore, either cease from wronging or from living. For that you should be both injurious and alive is neither acceptable to God nor endurable to me, His servant.” ^B

Such was he, that he was far from approving of the condition then and now prevailing concerning divine dogmas, nor did he wish to speak or hear anything always newer about God—and this, even though he had not merely tasted of our wisdom with the tips of his lips. So much so that he not only rebuked Euthymius, Bishop of Neai Patrai (this man was great in learning), and John Cinnamus, when they were holding a discussion in his imperial tent near Lopadium concerning the voice of the God-man, “The Father is greater than I,” but he even threatened them with harshness, that he would throw them into the Rhyndacus River if they did not cease from holding a discussion about God. And let not that, at least, be a sign to me that Andronicus had not become entirely savage; for he who held the word in estimation set the masters of the Word not far from the purple, but brought them near the throne and favored them with frequent gifts; and by sharing with them no small honor, he showed himself to be one who considered heaven-ascending philosophy a great thing and of the highest value, and also one who lauded the eloquent sophist and held men skilled in the law in very high esteem.

^C Wishing to build the church of the Holy Forty Martyrs as beautiful as possible and as great as possible, and having it raised in a timely and central part of the city, he zealously subjected all the damaged parts of the sanctuary to restoration and restored its faded beauty. The image of Christ our Savior, through which it is said that He once conversed with Emperor Maurice, he adorned with great expense; and that huge porphyry throne, whose rims two horrendous serpents, curved into coils—a wonder to behold—embrace, he moved from the orchard of the Great Palace into the vestibule of that church, and there he deposited the remains of his first wife, brought from the monastery of Ancyra, where she had previously been buried. ^D Outside, near the northern gates of that church of the Forty Martyrs, he set up his own statue on a large panel, not in imperial or kingly attire, nor in golden ornament, but as a wretched laborer, dressed in a black tunic, slit up to the calves, with white leggings reaching to the knees; and holding a heavy and large scythe in his hand, a most beautiful youth appearing up to the shoulders and throat, he stood as if bent over, grasp-

grasping a net ^A within. By means of this image, he was clearly exhibiting his own wicked deeds to passersby, and instructing his people how, after the heir to the empire had been murdered, he had joined that man’s bride to himself in marriage. He also intended to erect a bronze statue of himself upon a high, four-sided bronze column, a place where naked Cupids pelt one another with apples, which they call the Anemodulion.

He transformed the images of the Empress Xene, the mother of the Emperor Alexius—whom he had killed by strangulation—previously depicted there, into the wrinkled face of an old woman. Fearing the pity of passersby if they beheld that illustrious and most beautiful form, so worthy of all admiration, he allowed most of them to be wiped away, and ordered his own image to be placed there, either in imperial attire standing beside the bride of Alexius or else depicted separately.

After all this, he constructed magnificent buildings near the church of the Forty Martyrs, in which he would stay whenever he wished to enter the church. And because he could not decorate the walls with colors or the insertion of white stones for his recent deeds, he turned his mind to those things with which he had been occupied before his reign. These were chariot racing, hunting, the chirping of birds, the barking of dogs, the chasing of deer and hares, the spearing of boars and *zumbrorum* (for the *zumbrus* is a wild beast that is born chiefly among the Tauroscythians, and is larger than a bear and a leopard), and a rustic life in tents, and simple feasts from his hunting, and Andronicus himself cutting deer or boar meat into pieces with his own hands ^B and roasting it carefully, and other things of that kind which represent the life of a man relying on bow, sword, and swift horses, and living in exile from his fatherland either on account of his simplicity or his prowess.

Andronicus, however, compared his own fortune to that of David, and claimed that he, just like David, had avoided the nets of envy and had been driven into many exiles. Sometimes, in expanding upon his own affairs, he would say that the other had come little further than Palestine to Ziklag, and had slain the Amalekite with the sword, and had lived so sordidly that he would even have killed Nabal because he had not immediately agreed to his demands; but that he himself had wandered through almost the entire East, had carried the name of Christ to all peoples in the manner of an apostle, and had preached, and wherever he passed, he had been treated with the highest honors, and had departed with an honorable retinue. These things he recounted not without eloquence, especially if he were speaking with learned and eloquent men, while affairs were still whole and tranquil.

^C 7. But the things he then devised, which were already beginning to come to pass, were the fruit of the most extreme madness and surpassed every enormity of cruelty. For he saw that his empire was waning, and that the multitude of his enemies was like...

torrents swollen by winter snows, overflowing their banks, laying waste and inundating all that lay in their path. Furthermore, he saw that the state was little by little finding freedom of speech and was being provoked toward rebellion by those who felt no care was taken for their welfare. ^A Yet, as if he had been overcome by a stupor of sleep, he neither saw nor heard the lawless acts being committed by the nations that had risen against him; he labored with pain and brought forth iniquity, prompted to these enormities not so much by his own will as by the counsels of others. ^B The intent was not only to adjudge to death as many as he held in prisons—some to be dispatched by the sword, some to be cast into the depths of the sea, others to have their bellies ripped open by daggers, and still others to be removed from life in other ways—but also to whet the sword against those bound to these people by ties of kinship. “For,” he said, “what gain is it if, when one head is cut off, more sprout up, and one does not apply the searing iron to them? In this, the hero and demigod Hercules is especially to be praised, for he took Iolaus with him, who burned away the hydra that kept regrowing.” ^C Hence, having assembled the faction friendly to him, and as many of the judges as were greedy for money and who hovered over the imperial table like vultures over carcasses, he declaimed with tragic gravity how great was the wickedness of the Italians, with what disasters they were afflicting the Western provinces, and how many cities they had taken by force of war. And he attributed the cause of these things to none other than those who were opposed to him, and as many as were connected to these by blood and affection. For these, he claimed, were thirsting for Andronikos’ destruction and were moving every stone to see Andronikos cast from the throne and brought to a most miserable fall. Lacking, however, the means to bring their longing to an end through the combined strength of their own kin, they brought in a foreign, trans-oceanic army, acting squarely like the tribe of the locusts, which, in fleeing the fire, are drowned in the waters. “But, by this old age of mine,” he said, “my enemies and those who delight in war against Andronikos will not rejoice, but the very things they are plotting against Andronikos will be suffered by them at the hand of Andronikos. And if the fates drag even Andronikos down to the halls of Hades, they themselves will go before and prepare the way; Andronikos will follow.” ^D Having said these things, and adding that Pauline sentiment, “So, the good that I wish to do, I do not, but the evil that I do not wish to do, I perform, as those opposed to me war against me and take me captive into things I abhor,” he sought a remedy for the evil. But when all those from his faction raised their voices and cried mightily that they should be removed from the earth and that no one should be spared, the total annihilation was decreed, both of those whom he already had held in prisons and those who had been sentenced to exile, and the supporters and kin of these people. And a scroll immediately received the decrees, with the protosecretary dictating, the master of petitions laboring, and the protonotary of the dromos shouting his approval. Let the names of these men be omitted for the present, as well as the names of those who, for the sake of vain glory or out of fear of Andronikos, lent their services in these matters, the leader and author of whom was Stephen Hagiochristophorites, whose voice resounded in the palace like thunder, and like a torrent swept away those whom Andronikos held to be suspect.

^B

8. This, then, was the beginning of the decree: "Moved by God, and not by the command of our mighty and holy master and emperor, we decree and declare that it is in the public interest, and personally advantageous to Andronikos, the savior of the Romans, that those who have been arrested as stubborn and seditious persons and are held in prisons, or who have been banished to live in a foreign land, should be completely destroyed; and that those who are related to them by blood should also be seized and all be subjected to the ultimate punishment. For in this way, Andronikos, who by the grace of God holds the scepter of the empire for the Romans, will be able to breathe a little, relieved of public anxieties and the fear of the treachery of those plotting against him, and the foreign-born Sicilians themselves will one day retract their ways, having no one left to instruct them as to how they ought to act against the Romans. For all these men, even if they have been seized and their eyes put out, remain fixed in their malice, and there is no method left that will bring them back to their senses; the only thing remaining is the deprivation of life, which we must use as a final and saving anchor for these wicked men, who are so demented and abominable that they kick against the pricks and do not at all understand that they are sharpening the sword against themselves." ^C Such and so many things, to mention but a few out of many, did that nefarious decree contain; and following it was the list of those who were to be seized and promptly put to death. The manner in which each was to be done away with was also specified.

For my part, while I marvel at the other deeds of these men and judge them to be altogether sacrilegious, this present declaration leaves me utterly astounded, and I am bewildered as to what end they were hoping to achieve by ratifying it, or how they could possibly have dared to ascribe their own murderous behavior to God, and shamelessly label as a "divine movement" that which the first murderer of the human race had undoubtedly whispered into their hearts. They might have chosen a more modest and plausible beginning, and refrained from insulting God, who does not take pleasure in slaughter, nor did He create death, but created man for life; in whose sight the voice of the blood of Abel cries out, and who explicitly declares that He does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and live. ^D Those men, having thus condemned everyone to destruction, dissolved that assembly. Andronikos, however, kept the nefarious sentences of the judges, I know not with what intent, diligently in his own archives, perhaps foreseeing his own impending destruction. For if he had been seized and commanded by a gathering of the people to render an account of his crimes, he would have shifted the blame onto the judges and the senate, who had decreed punishments for those against whom he had been affronted both before his reign and during it. He would have claimed he was merely serving their sentences (for he had not worn the sword in vain) and had lent his hand to their votes. However, when he was about to carry out the sentences that had been passed, his son, the sebastokrator Manuel, resisted and refused to agree to acts which were not done by the emperor's authority, even as the judges themselves had, in the beginning, with

^A a declaration that they would in no way approve such measures, which would condemn almost all the Romans to death and destroy not a few of the provincials as well: for that slaughter would have raged infinitely, with one person after another being seized and killed for some other crime, as if no one were an exile, or born of an oak, but rather had parents, relatives, kinsmen, and friends. Moreover, that decree of the judges, issued by the emperor’s command, gathered all those who were scattered in various provinces and were anywhere in prisons into one place, as if they were sheep destined for the slaughterhouse, to be gathered into one butchery; and each would have paid their penalty, had not God, as the prophet says, drawn His sword against the fugitive dragon, that crooked one, who flees into the waters ^B of this dissolute life, as he showed, and who imagined nothing beyond the things that are seen and a life of pleasure.

9. ^C Another event also occurred which drove him into such savagery. For when he saw that his affairs were hemmed in on all sides, and that the Sicilians were already close upon his head and ready to crush him like a hundred-headed Typhon, while the citizens within thirsted for his death and considered his own demise to be a divine benefit and a remedy for their evils; and furthermore, when he judged himself to be abandoned by God on account of the multiple slaughters of the nobles, although he affirmed that he belonged to Christ’s fold and was composed of the same elements as those he was extirpating—he turned to the knowledge of future events through the worship of noxious demons, just as that ancient Saul once looked to the ventriloquists, whom he had previously driven away in order to propitiate the Divine. And since he saw that divination—the reading of entrails—had long ago faded and was utterly abolished, and that augural superstition, as well as the interpretation of dreams and omens, had long since flown from Roman borders, and he perceived that only those impostors remained who divine by the basin, and those who peer at the positions of the stars (who are no less deceived than they deceive others), he set aside astrology for the time being as something more familiar and which gave only obscure hints of the future, and gave himself over entirely to those who conjecture the future as if through a mist from waters, ^D and who pursue the images of future things as if from the shadow of the sun’s rays. And while he himself did not wish to be present at these nocturnal rites, due to a fear of public rumor, which, I suppose, discerns those things done in secret and proclaims them to all, he entrusted that forbidden and secret mystery to Stephen Hagiochristophorites, of whom we have often made mention. And he, having brought in Seth, who from his early youth had been addicted to such oracles, because of this, the eyes of the Emperor Manuel

^A having had put out—as we have mentioned in the accounts concerning him—poses a question by means of the things he did (things which it is not pleasant for me either to know or to recount, though it is possible for those who wish to learn them from elsewhere) in order to know who is to rule after the Emperor Andronikos, or who will remove him from power. The evil spirit answers, or rather, as if in waters, and those muddy ones, it vaguely traces some of the letters, suggesting ^B Isaacios, not composing the whole name, but proposing a sigma, like the half-moon, and after this forming an iota. It led the oracle into obscurity from that point and made it like a prick against the one who was to be, or more truthfully said, it darkened with ambiguity that which it did not accurately know—the nocturnal demon of manifold wickedness, the one who avoids the exposure of falsehood. Thus Andronikos also suspected an Isaurian from what he heard, signifying the things he had seen, and he insisted that this was Isaacios Komnenos, who had acted the tyrant in Cyprus and whom he kept under constant suspicion as his successor to the throne, since he had also departed from Isauria and arrived in Cyprus, as a criminal, another destructive Telkine, and a sea swelling with calumnies, and a fierce Fury cruelly raging against the inhabitants of this island, formerly fortunate. For I pity those recorded as having experienced that public misfortune by the events themselves.

But Andronikos, having marveled at the oracle, said, “Do not ask only about the one who will succeed me, but add the time as well.” And when the question concerning the time was also posed, that aerial and earth-bound spirit, having been summoned by sorceries which it is wrong to utter, and having fallen with a noise into the water, ^C answered that it would be within the days of the Exaltation of the Cross; and the month of September was beginning when these things happened. But when Andronikos had heard of the second inquiry as well, he smiled in an unpleasant and falsely, and indeed, Sardonic way, and saying that this oracle was nonsense (for how would Isaacios be able to sail from Cyprus within these very few days and remove him from power?), he paid no attention at all to what had been said. And when John of Tyra (he was one appointed as judge of the Beloi by Andronikos, and for this reason a fervent minister of his wills) said that Isaacios Angelos must be seized and removed from among men, lest perhaps they imagine that the contents of the oracle referred to him, while neglecting the things that were before their feet, not even then did he give assent to the divination. Rather, he mocked the man because he suspected such a thing of Isaacios Angelos, whom he despised as soft and cowardly, and maintained that he was fit for nothing of merit; for the fate was pressing on, and God was surely wiser than he.

10. However, Stephanos Hagiochristophorites, being an active man ^D and one who sought in every way to provide for the safety of his lord and emperor, decided to seize Isaacios Angelos, and first to commit him to prison, and then to bring him to death whenever Andronikos might deem it fitting. Therefore

^A coming to the house of Isaacios, which was near the Peribleptos monastery, on the evening of the eleventh of September in the year 6794, and entering the courtyard, he ordered Isaacios to come down and follow him wherever he might lead. When Isaacios, as was to be expected, hesitated—for he considered even the mere sight of that man to be the ultimate evil—the other used force, rebuking his attendants because they did not immediately seize the procrastinator by his hair and beard, and drag him headlong and with indignity to the prison he had designated. As they were about to execute these orders, Isaacios, seeing that the hunt was inescapable and the net which the fisherman who had arrived there had spread was already holding him fast, did not act cowardly, nor did he cling to his life. Instead, as one who was about to die, he determined to fight, if by any means he might not die, or rather, not having room to run freely—like the Homeric horse ^B that has been grazing and longs to gallop over the plains with free-foot (for the sickle was already stretched out and the capture was not difficult)—he mimicked the warrior, and pricking up his ears as if at an echoing trumpet, bristling his mane, and snorting, he rushed into the fray, a despiser of swords, an arrogant man toward Ares, not caring even in the least for threats. And indeed, having drawn his sword—for he had it uncovered upon his head, and his body was gathered in a two-colored tunic descending to his loins and then split in two—he mounted his horse and raised his sword-bearing hand against the head of the Hagiochristophorites. The latter, terrified by the onset of Isaacios—who clearly was rushing to slaughter and death—turned back the mule upon which he was mounted, and repeatedly spurring it, became all haste to leave. But he had not yet fully passed through the gate before Isaacios landed a fatal blow and struck the wretch straight through the middle of his skull. Having split him in two, he left him there to lie as a carcass for the dogs, like a beast gasping and wallowing in its own ^C blood, while he himself, having routed one of the man’s attendants with his bare sword alone, having cut off another’s ear, and having scattered others in various directions so that each might flee for his own life, rode with all speed toward the great church, passing through the middle of the highway and the market, and crying out to everyone in a piercing voice that he had dispatched him with this very sword (for he still carried the Hagiochristophorites, Stephanos, bare in his hand). Entering the holy church in this manner, he ascended the pulpit, from which those who have committed murder openly declare their own transgression, begging for forgiveness from those entering and leaving the holy precinct. The populace of the city, some having seen Isaacios with their own eyes riding toward the great church, others having heard of what had been done, immediately came flowing together by the thousands, both to see Isaacios himself and to witness with their own eyes what would happen to him. For everyone thought that before the setting of the sun, he would be seized by Andronikos and killed with new and exquisite ^D tortures, for he was a veteran most ingenious in such matters. Duke Joannes, the uncle of Isaacios, and his son Isaacios also betook themselves there and fostered this same sedition, not because they had conspired in the slaughter of the Hagiochristophorites and entangled themselves in that crime, but because they knew that the penalty of suretyship was its companion; for others, forced to stand surety for others, had promised their fidelity to Andronikos in writing. At this, others, seeing that they were about to be seized and killed, were gnashing their teeth with fear and, with great contention, were begging the mixed crowd that had flocked into the church and kept on arriving, that they might remain with them and bring whatever help they could to those standing in supreme peril. Nor were there wanting those who, moved to pity by these entreaties and the chance event of adverse fortune, gave their assent. But when no one from the emperor was present to resent these things—neither the illustrious by birth, nor the friends of Andronikos, nor the axe-bearing Barbarians, nor the purple-clad lictors, in short, no one at all—the audacity of the faction grew, so that in that impunity they could most freely

speak and promise the swiftest aid. Thus Isaac spent the whole night, not thinking of the kingdom, but begging to avoid exile. For he knew that Andronikos would slaughter him like an ox and, in Cyclopean fashion, devour his flesh while it was still dripping with warm blood. By diligent supplication, however, he succeeded in having some of the assembly close the temple doors and, by bringing in lights, persuade many by their example not to return home. When dawn broke, all the inhabitants of the city were present, and all prayed to God that Isaac might obtain the empire, and that Andronikos, once driven out and captured, might pay penalties worthy of his cruelty, for he had laid snares for the lives of almost everyone. ^B 11. It happened that God, it seems, ordained that Andronikos was not at the offices, but was staying at the palaces called Meludion in the eastern part of the Propontis, which was used for sailing. ^C When he heard of the death of Hagiochristophorites at the first watch of the night, he remained where he was for that time, without ordering anything else; but he sent a brief letter to the citizens, exhorting them to cease from engaging in revolutionary matters, which began as follows: "He who has, has; the penalty is removed." In the morning, however, the followers of Andronikos tried to restrain the surging crowd, and Andronikos himself traveled to the Great Palace by imperial trireme. But neither by those words nor by the report of Andronikos’s return was the people at all moved to desist from their undertakings; all the things that were brought forward to suppress the disturbance were received with deaf ears. Many even put their lives in danger because they had suggested that the affair was a small war. For everyone, as if by a single sign, rushed together; and as if divinely inspired or driven by frenzy, they streamed into the great temple of the divine Word, inciting one another, and mocking those who stood by as idle spectators and were not arming themselves with any weapon whatever. Those who were learned in letters called them "putrid members" for not being affected by the public grief. Then, having broken the bars and bolts of the prisons, they opened a free exit for those who were confined; and these were not all criminals, but some were born of distinguished families, having been brought to this state through a fortuitous error, or a word spoken too inconsiderately, or the transgression of a friend against Andronikos. This, most of all, increased the concourse of the people.

[...] caused it to increase, and brought it about that those who previously murmured and wavered from fear of danger, now joined the faction without concealment. In that crowd one could see not a few girded with swords, wearing shields and breastplates, yet more were armed with clubs and timbers which they had snatched from the workshops. ^B By such a highly agitated gathering of the Roman multitude, Isaac was hailed as emperor, for one of the vergers of the great church of Constantine had reached the crown, which hung above the mystical table, down by means of a ladder and placed it upon the head of Isaac. So that this, too, might not remain unrecorded and unheard of by those who would come after, Isaac bore that coronation with reluctance—not that he shrank from the desire for imperial power, but because he feared the supreme difficulty of the situation, and supposed that what was then happening was a waking dream. Added to this was the fear that he might, by that act, irritate the bitterness of Andronicus even more. ^C However, Ducas, whom we mentioned before, standing by him, took the cap from his head and begged that the diadem be placed upon him, revealing his bald pate, which shone like the full moon. The mob responded that they did not wish to obey an old man any longer, because they had received very many disasters from the hoariness of Andronicus, and for that reason loathed every Acherontic and grave-bound old man, especially if he had a forked beard, shorter on one side. With Isaac thus inaugurated, another event happened worthy of mention. For when the imperial horses, adorned with golden trappings, were being transported across by the ferry of the Cionii, one was snatched by force from the groom and, running through the public streets, was caught and brought to Isaac. He, having mounted it, departed from the great church, also accompanied by Patriarch Basil Kamateros, whom the people, however unwilling he might be, had compelled to approve those acts. ^D As for Andronicus, when he reached the great court, he was at first disturbed by the confused clamor and then even more by the sight of the event itself; he prepared to set his guards to fight against the people. But when he saw that few were prepared for his counsel, he himself took up a bow and, like a common soldier, prepared for battle, and from the battlements of the very great tower which is called the Centenarium, he shot arrows at those approaching. Since he saw that this attempt was in vain, he undertook to address the people; and by declaring that he would hand over the empire to his son Manuel, he strove to soothe the tumult and to drive away the most pressing danger. But the people, more exasperated by these words, heaped every most atrocious abuse upon him and upon the one whom he said he would leave as his successor to the empire. But after the gate which is called Carea was broken down and they penetrated into the palace, Andronicus turned to flight, and having cast aside his purple shoe and his old amulet—the cross which he wore hanging from his neck—as if he were being goaded by the wrath of the divine, and having placed a pointed barbarian cap upon his head, he once again boarded the imperial trireme in which he had come from Meludio to the great palace, and having returned by that same vessel with two women—Anna, whom he had taken after Alexius was removed, and Maraptica, a little harlot and flute-player of no small merit, for whose love he was no less insane than once was Demetrius Poliorcetes for Lamia, whom he had captured when Ptolemy was defeated—he did not sluggishly

navigate toward the Tauroscythians, having spurned all Roman provinces and the dominions of other nations as insufficiently trustworthy.

^B 12. And in this manner was Andronikos stripped of Roman rule. Isaac, having entered within the royal archives and once again been acclaimed independent Emperor of the Romans by the assembled crowds, dispatched men to pursue Andronikos. The great mass of the populace, finding the palace doors open and no one left to prevent them from doing whatever their minds desired, plundered not only the money accustomed to be stored in the Chyrsioplysia (which amounted, excluding the bullion, to twelve centenaria of gold, thirty of silver, and two hundred of copper), but everything else that could be easily carried off by the hand of one man or by the combined efforts of many. They entered the armories and carried off tens of thousands of weapons. The rapine also spread to the palace chapels, so that the ornaments of the holy images were torn off, and that most sacred vessel was stolen away, in which, as we have received from our ancestors, the letter written with the very hands of Christ to Abgar was kept.

^C Emperor Isaac, having spent several days in the palace, moved to the residence at Blachernae, where he received the news of Andronikos’s capture. The circumstances of his capture were as follows: As he was fleeing, he reached Chele with a few attendants whom he had possessed before his reign, and the two ladies with him. The inhabitants of that place, seeing no insignia of empire upon him, but regarding him as an exile hurrying to set sail for the Tauroscythians and fleeing when no one was even pursuing him, neither dared nor judged it right to seize him—for they feared the beast even though he was unarmed, and trembled at the very sight of him—but they prepared a ship for him, and Andronicus boarded it along with his followers. But the sea itself, as if indignant that he had often polluted its gulfs with the corpses of the innocent, rose up into deep swells and a vast chasm, as if it were about to devour him, and dashed the ship back onto the shore. This happened many times, preventing Andronikos from crossing before those pursuing him arrived. Thus, the wretched man was seized together with the two ladies and cast in chains into a small boat. But even then, that ingenious and crafty Andronikos, having neither feet for flight nor hands or weapons for fighting, played the tragedian and, beginning a mournful song, brought forth the weapons of his eloquence. ^D

^A And he lamented his noble birth and how far he surpassed the common crowd, describing his former state as happy and his past life—even though it had been one of wandering and homelessness—as by no means unliveable, and the calamity that had then overtaken him as most pitiable. The women, with ingenious art, seconded these laments not ineptly, and, as if for a choir leader, they sang in harmony. But all this was in vain, for the deep-plotting and versatile Andronikos was crafting this to no purpose. Because he had committed impious deeds, these acted like wax in the ears of those who held him, so that no mercy toward him could enter them; nor was there any resonance to what he sang with a woman-like, or rather, to speak more appropriately, a treacherous and deceitful Siren-like melody; and he was deprived of Hermes’ *moly*, God having been angered.

^A [(21)] He was subsequently held in the prison called Anemas, his proud neck weighed down by two heavy chains with iron locks—of the sort with which lions fed in prisons are restrained—and his feet bound in iron fetters. When he was shown in this state and brought before the Emperor Isakios, he was pelted with insults; he was struck on the cheek, his buttocks were beaten, his beard was plucked, his teeth were knocked out, his head was shorn of hair, and he was delivered as a public spectacle to all who had gathered. He was mocked, and even beaten with fists by women, especially those whose husbands he had killed or blinded. ^B Afterward, his right hand was cut off with an axe, and he was returned to the same prison, without food, without drink, and without any service from anyone at all.

After some days had passed, his other eye was gouged out, and he was set upon a mangy camel and led through the marketplace in a show of triumph. His head was as bare as a withered oak and shiny as an egg, and he was covered only by a short tunic—a pitiable sight that could draw rivers of tears from eyes not altogether inhuman. But the most foolish and petulant of the city's inhabitants—especially the sausage-makers, tanners, artisans, and the vile crowd that hangs about the marketplace, swarming like flies in springtime to milking-pails and greasy bowls—having no regard for the fact that only two days before he had been emperor, adorned with a royal diadem, praised, celebrated, and worshipped by all, and that they had sworn an oath of faithfulness and goodwill toward him, rushed at him with wild, unreasoning malice. They left behind no evil with which they did not shamefully afflict Andronikos. Some struck his head with clubs; others fouled his nostrils with dung; others squeezed sponges soaked in the excrement of humans and animals onto his face; still others abused his parents with obscene words. There were even those who pricked his sides with spits. ^C Some, more impudent, threw stones at him, calling him a rabid dog. A certain shameless harlot snatched a pot full of boiling water from a kitchen and poured it over his face. In short, there was no one who did not do evil to Andronikos.

Thus, after he had been led in a ridiculous triumph through the theater in such an ignominious manner, and wretchedly pulled down from that camel near two columns upon which a stone rests above, close to the bronze she-wolf and the hyena, which stand with bent necks as if one were about to make an attack upon the other, they hung him by his feet, tying them with a rope. ^D Having suffered these many evils, and six hundred others which we have omitted, he nonetheless [maintained a noble]

spirit. Turning his mind entirely toward the seething mob that was assaulting him, he said nothing other than, "Lord, have mercy," and, "Why do you crush a bruised reed?" But the utterly demented crowd of the people did not spare the most afflicted Andronikos even then; for after he had been suspended by his feet, they tore off his tunic and violated his genitals. A certain wicked man drove a long sword through his throat down into his entrails. Two men of the Latin race, leaning on their swords with both hands, drove them into his buttocks, glorying in the dexterity of their blows as they vied to see whose was the sharper. After ^B so many hardships and calamities, he yielded up his life with difficulty, his right hand having been moved to his mouth with pain, so that many thought he was sucking the warm blood still dripping from it due to the freshness of the cut.

13. He ruled for two years, and for one of those he was lord of affairs without the purple or the royal diadem. He was of excellent physical form, venerable in appearance, upright, of heroic stature, and even in extreme old age he possessed a youthful face; his body was the healthiest of all men's, because he was neither delicate, nor gluttonous, ^C nor a drunkard, but like the Homeric heroes, he fed for the most part on roasted meat. Hence, no one ever heard him belch. If ever he suffered from his stomach, he would drive away even the slightest malaise with a full day of labor and fasting. As the day was declining, he would refresh his body with a piece of bread and a little wine. Throughout his life he never used an antidote, except once when he was emperor, and even then reluctantly, urged by the physicians, because although his physical condition was still sound, they argued that the remedy would be beneficial for preventing future illnesses. ^D Having exhausted himself with a purgative late toward the setting of the sun, he drained away some of the humor redundant in his veins. And so, when his friends said that the ancient oracle applied to him: "A four-month time awaits you, sickle-bearer," he answered with a smile that they were entirely mistaken (for he believed he could resist all kinds of diseases for a whole year), relying on the strength of his body and having conceived a false hope, as it appears, that he would meet his end by a gentle and tranquil death, or by a violent one of his own choosing.

Yet a report nonetheless reached our ears that, while the horse-races were being conducted, Andronikos reached out his hand and pointed with his finger to his cousin, ^A the Emperor Manuel, and to the columns between which he himself was later suspended, saying that one day the Emperor of the Romans would be suspended there, having suffered much at the hands of the multitude of the state. It is said that the Emperor replied to this story of Andronikos that he, for his part, would not be the one to suffer such a fate. And such was the end of death that overtook Andronikos, happening suddenly into desolation, as if one were waking from a dream; and his own image within the city was brought to nothing—whether one wishes to understand this as the features of his face, or as the likenesses upon the walls and panels, for the common people had destroyed even these, scattering them towards the ground and grinding them as fine as the golden calf, which those around Moses had previously crushed in their ^B folly. After some days, having been taken down from that most pitiful height, he was cast aside like the carcass of a beast into one of the vaults of the hippodrome. But later, some who gave a portion to mercy and did not yield everything to their anger, took up the dead body of Andronikos from there and placed it in a certain very low place near the Ephoros monastery, which is established by the Zeuxippos, and which, its structure not yet entirely dissolved, one may still see if one wishes. For the "blameless" and "just" Isaac, as he thought himself to be, did not consent for it to be taken up and given burial, or for his corpse to be conveyed to the church of the Holy Forty Martyrs, which Andronikos had built with great zeal, adorned with brilliant ornaments, and enriched with lavish offerings, and in which he had previously intended to store the dust of his body.

He used to occupy his soul with the Epistles of Paul, the preacher of God, and was continually refreshed by the honey dripping from them, and in his own letters he provided an excellent clothing of persuasion drawn from their necessity. Indeed, an image of that heavenly orator, the work of an ancient hand, which he had adorned with gold and dedicated in the aforementioned church, shed a tear as Andronikos' ruin grew near. Having heard of this, Andronikos sent ^C those who would ascertain the truth of the report. Among others chosen for this task was Stephen the Hagiochristophorites, who, having climbed up a ladder (for the image hung on high), wiped the eyes of Paul with a pure cloth. But the tears poured forth from the flowing fountains even more than before. Having marveled at what he saw, he went and reported it to Andronikos. The latter groaned greatly and, shaking his head from side to side, frowned and said that Paul must indeed be accustomed to weep for him, and that the news portended for him the most extreme evil; for he loved Paul intensely and held his words in the highest regard, and was, surely, loved in return by Paul.

In order to summarize the whole matter, if Andronikos had relaxed somewhat of the intensity of his savagery, and had not immediately hastened to ^D amputations and cauterizations, and had not repeatedly defiled the imperial vestments with his inexorable cruelty (as if with a contagion of brutality

ex multiplicibus erroribus apud barbaras gentes infertus est), non minimus inter Comnenos imperatores fuisset, ne dicam eum nemini quidquam de palma fuisse concessurum. Nam ex eo quoque maxima bona colligi poterant. Neque enim penitus hominem exuerat, sed, ut Centauri, partem belluæ habebat et humano vultu ornatus erat.

De Andronici exitu cum alii iambici versus et in libris reperiuntur et multis in ore sunt, tum hi: ^A

Finoses impiger profectus ex locis Vir lividusque et insolentis ingenii, Canus, severus, multiplex Chamæleon, Ruet et recurva culmos falce demetet. Sed tempus ipsum denique haud minus metet, ^B Miserque scelerum pœnas haud leves dabit. Non vitat ensem namque dirus ensifer.

Vinosa vero loca Oenæum designant: unde Andronicus, ut jam dictum est, CPolim venit.

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ ΙΣΑΑΚΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΥ.

REIGN OF ISAAC ANGELUS.

1. Imperium hoc modo, fere citra negotium, Hagiochristophoritæ sanguine quodammodo partum, ^C consecutus Isaacius Angelus ex magno palatio in Blacherniam regiam transit, versibus illis, quod subinde in ore habebat, haud recte ad se accommodatis, qui de tauriformi imperatore sic loquuntur: ^D

Figura mores nec minus locum notat, Unde advenisti. Conspectu ut lætor tuo? Virtute multo cæteris præstantior, Moleste leniterque castigas tuos. Hinc consecutus exitum prosperrimum, Decusque solus ductus ex palatio, Relicto mortuo potentia brevi : Te namque regni prosperi manet decus.

Nam justitiam quidem optime assimulavit, ac imperio potitus omnibus egentibus benefecit, et in abdita cella solus adoravit Patrem et Deum qui in occulto videt. Erga eos etiam qui in exsilio affligebantur aut ab Andronico bonis spoliati aut mutilati erant, benignitate usus est, non iis tan-

- ^A tum restitutis quæ adhuc vel in ærario vel aliis donata supererant, sed ex thesauris etiam liberaliter adjecta pecunia. Quæ res effecit ut cum Latinis felicius bellum gereretur, qui Thessaliam jam tenebant et Amphipolim subegerant et insolenter ipsam Cpolim affectabant, quam se terra marique obsessam, facile ut vacuum nidum occupaturos et citra laborem perexiguo tempore spoliaturos gloriabantur. Nam homines Isaacii imperio quasi vero post hiemem et tranquillitate post tempestatem exhilarati, ex omnibus provinciis confluebant, nec ii tantum qui tum militabant, sed homines etiam bello desueti pridem et adolescentes, alii ut liberatorem Mosem et Zorobabelem captivitatis Sioniæ reductorem tantum viderent (talis enim habebatur Isaacius), alii ut stipendia militaria de more acciperent, quidam ut nomina militiæ darent et Siculos fortiter propulsarent. Ut autem ii qui cum imperatore Joanne Andronici filio in Philippicam provinciam abierant, interitum Andronici cognoverunt, etiam Joannes effossis oculis magno cum dolore interit, sine ulla cujusquam commiseratione et consolatione. Eodemque modo frater ejus Manuel excæcatur, quanquam paternis injuriis nequaquam assensus; idque non circumforanei modo homines sciebant, sed et ipse Isaacius omnium maxime, qui eum lumine privavit.

[230] ^C Is eos qui ex Oriente concurrebant, cum ad Siculos propulsandos satis esse multos cerneret, et cupide suscepit et pro virili muneribus et armis ornatos in Branæ castra misit. Ac cæteras etiam Romanas legiones, quæ contra hostes in procinctu erant, stipendiis missis, quæ ad XL centenarios auri conficiebant, ad instans discrimen alacriores fecit. Cæterum hostes Siculi nondum audito casu Andronici confidenter pergebant, præstituto fine laborum itineris ipsa Cpoli. Classis quoque ad insulas urbi proximas appulit. Sed is qui gigantes ingentibus viribus curribus, et equis salvos esse non sinit et humilibus gratiam instillat, homines elatos labefecit; et ut olim contra turris ædificatores, ^D ita contra hos etiam descendit, ac linguas eorum haud sane confudit, sed exercitum in tres partes divisit, quarum una ad Thessalonicæ custodiam cum expeditis navibus relicta est, altera Serranum agrum impune vastavit: tertia quæ ulterius pergebat, ne ipsa quidem plane indivulsa, partim juxta Strymonem versabatur et Amphipolitanum agrum vastabat, partim alacriter antecedens et urbis ingressum anticipans juxta Mosynopolim castra habebat. Et quia perpetuo victores neminem habebant qui resisteret, temere excurrebant; et turmatim divisi alius alio pro sua quisque libidine vagabantur, si

tande ^A but while one drank and bathed in the Strymon, ravaging the region around Amphipolis, the other advanced in high spirits and, as if seizing in advance the entry into the imperial city, encamped near Mosynopolis. ^B Always victorious, and having no one to meet them hand-to-hand, they made their expeditions carelessly and dispersed into squadrons, scattering here and there, just as each pleased, whenever it was necessary to leave Mosynopolis for plundering and bringing in provisions.

2. General Branas, therefore, having observed how things were going on the part of the barbarians, brought forward the army, having with difficulty persuaded the soldiers to leave the mountains for a short time and tread upon the level plain. And when they had achieved something good in their first onset and had routed a portion of their opponents, they confirmed in reality the fable of the Myrmidons, suddenly transformed into brave men and always slaying those who turned their backs. It happened that the pursuit of the enemy was intensified even as far as Mosynopolis itself. Fortunately, having grappled with those who followed, they attacked even those within the town. ^C Indeed, they set fire to the gates—which the enemy, already filled with a trembling fear, were guarding—and having leaped inside, they feasted upon the slaughter, having long been fasting from such Ares-like dishes. And when they had eaten the wealth of the nations, were filled, and had grown fat on the spoils, they became disdainful of those around Amphipolis, treating their victory of the day before like stale food. They set forth then, like a camp of God or a legion of lions, fortified by the enemy’s horses and armor, against the remaining portion of their opponents still encamped around the Strymon. ^D When, therefore, the die was cast, those who had previously been haughty and proud, boasting that they would nearly topple mountains with their spears and move them, struck as if by a thunderbolt or crazed by the sound of thunder at the terrible news concerning their kin at Mosynopolis, delayed the battle and drew up their lines sluggishly. The Romans, however, casting off their low-spiritedness, flew up like eagles seeking low-flying birds in the high clouds, and were eager with winged speed to engage those by whom they had previously been treated with scornful words. But when both armies had come together in one place (this was the spot called Demetritza), then indeed the Sicilians displayed their cowardly fear all the more; for they remembered the negotiations and on this account sent heralds to Branas. Their requests were at first pleasing to the Romans, but shortly thereafter, no longer being the same men and suspecting instead that there was treachery in the proposals of their opponents—or, if not that, then a fear evident from the lack of dispute—they did not wait for the signal of war, the sound of the trumpet, or any other command of the sort that generals are accustomed to give before an engagement; but, drawing their swords, they rushed upon the enemy.

^A For a time, they received the Roman charge with courage and bravery, and the battle took some turns and evolutions; but in the end, yielding before the excessively fervent Roman campaign, they turned to flight and fled in disorder. Hence, being caught, they were slaughtered, taken captive, driven into the Strymon River, plundered, and despoiled. The seventh day of the month of November was passing and it was near dusk when these things occurred. The two generals of the army were also captured: Richard, the brother of the wife of Tancred [note 24], who was admiral of the Sicilian fleet, and Alduin Conto, a man not born of noble and brilliant lineage, but revered by the king for his skill in warfare; and at that time, having assumed a dignity of command above all the others, he was also boasting, while pridefully exulting in his previous victories against the Romans and equating himself to Alexander the Great of Macedon—not quite showing, like that man, the feathers of beaks and wings on his breast, yet boasting that he had accomplished greater deeds than he in an instant and without bloodshed.

Those who had escaped the extended net of war—both from these companies and those who were ravaging the region in Serres—fled immediately to Thessalonica, and having embarked there on long ships just as they were from the flight, they did not find a favorable voyage; for storms that had risen up for their destruction completed their fate, which had been ordained from God to be on land, and shortly thereafter they were transferred to the sea. Many who encountered triremes and were still wandering about Thessalonica were destroyed in various ways, and especially by the auxiliary Alans. ^B For these men, seeing [retaliations for] what they themselves had suffered when Thessalonica was captured, spared none of the enemy, and they filled the crossroads and the forecourts of the holy shrines with corpses; for they would ask the captured Sicilians where their brother, meaning their fellow tribesman—the Alan whom they knew had been killed during the capture—was, and they would draw their swords at the same time as the question. But they also slaughtered those who had taken refuge in the sanctuaries, saying, "Where is the *papas*?"—that is, the priests whom they had killed as they had fled into the holy places.

At that time, something strange also occurred: they say that after the capture of the city, dogs did not touch or tear with their teeth any corpse of the slaughtered Romans, but that they then devoured the corpses of the fallen Latins with a kind of insatiable madness, and even tore up those that had been committed to the grave, treating them as plunder. Along with the two generals we mentioned, that mindless and pestilential man, the author of all these evils, Alexius Comnenus, was also captured and blinded, a man worthy of the seat of the infernal powers. Some of the Latins fled to Epidamnus, which the king of Sicily, after the destruction of his own legions, did not return to the Romans, even though it was equipped with weapons of every kind, but, foolishly covetous of glory, he held onto it tenaciously after that illustrious defeat and celebrated disgrace. However, shortly thereafter, deterred by the expenses, he voluntarily abandoned it.

^C And so the land war was brought to such a successful conclusion, which would never have entered the mind of any of us. But God, who cares for all, because He is Lord of all, and who manages human affairs with great mercy and has compassion on all, because He is all-powerful, is He who [balances] our affairs... ^D

and, having brought [us] into the scale of the balance and bestowed all good hope, after disciplining us briefly, He scourged our enemies in multitudes—not by the elements being altered, nor by the earth bringing forth a multitude of gnats, nor by the river vomiting forth water-creatures as frogs, nor by wasps being sent as precursors of the army or any other of the ancient portents, but by the slayers themselves being slain, through their being suddenly transformed by God into cowards ^B—for wickedness is a cowardly thing, convicted by its own witness and, with a judging conscience, always taking [into itself] grievous things, being held fast by its own awareness. For what terrible thing could the Sicilians have against the Romans, whom both shadowy mountains and the resounding sea have removed far from us? But if it is permitted to pry into the deeper and unblamable judgments of God, the Lord has struck us because He knew our sins. But because those who had received from God the task of chastising us were headstrong and pitiless, nor did they themselves escape the just indignation of Him who wishes for mercy and provides the bread of tears and gives drink in measure, but—leaping forward like lions from a forest, and devastating like wolves, and springing like leopards—the captors were taken and the oppressors were oppressed, and the Lord has mixed for them a cup of error, showing that they too possessed stains needing to be washed away by lye. They therefore overstepped their own borders to be scourged with greater [blows].

A few things they brought upon us, their way of life turning to a blood-red color, and they rushed into our territory, scourging us briefly; but they themselves suffered much more.

3. And the cavalry thus paid these penalties. But the long ships, being more than two hundred, did not return home without experiencing evils either. For having descended upon the Astacenian Gulf, many were slaughtered by the Roman forces, which were checking them everywhere on the shores so that they might not land, and were not allowing them anywhere to touch the mainland. For if ever the Sicilians looked toward the land or brought out gangplanks, they were immediately overwhelmed from all sides by missiles as if by water, and they retreated under the decking of the ships as if under a tortoise shell. And although they had such a great number of ships, our men, being at most one hundred, were eager to fight them. And it was not only the naval forces that were fired with zeal, but many also of the city-dwellers, embarking in small boats and arming themselves with whatever they happened to find, were prepared to launch an attack against the enemies; however, this was not permitted by the Emperor and the Senate, who were not looking only at the eagerness of the citizens, but were also considering the multitude of the enemy ships; and for this reason our ^C ships, standing at anchor by the shore of Kion, did not advance further. But the enemy fleet, when it had sat for seventeen days among the islands and had not seen any of the locals approaching by land, judging that this delay portended nothing good, thought of returning; and having burned the island of Calonymos and whatever lay on the coast along the Hellespontine Gulf, they proceeded towards home. They say that many of these also sank to the bottom without their crews, having encountered opposing winds and having had dealings with stormy gales. And hunger and plague, too, are things that emptied them out. ^D

Thus, no fewer than ten thousand fighting men perished in these wars; and those who were captured during both wars, numbering over four thousand, were cast into the public prisons. ^A Since they were not fed from the imperial treasuries, nor did they receive a share of anything that supports life from anywhere else, but lived only on bread provided to them by those who piously visited those in prison, they were miserably perishing. So much so that the ruler who governed Sicily and who had set in motion the move against the Romans at that time, having learned of this through letters, mocked the Emperor [P. 234] for inhumanely allowing such a great and numerous host of men to perish of hunger and nakedness—men who had clearly taken up arms against the Romans by the law of war, yet were nonetheless Christians and had been delivered into his hands by God. He said that a victor ought either to condemn his captives to total destruction immediately, having been transformed by the long-standing irrationality into the nature of a beast and having ignored human law, or, if he did not decide upon that, but had seized and imprisoned them, then he ought at least to break them a crust of bread if he was being tight-fisted about their daily rations, and not inflict a death far more protracted than that of the sword—wasting away from hunger, ^B and having their souls miserably torn apart by the cold and frost—and bring upon himself the guilt of murder, even if he does not pierce their chests with a spear or show them a weapon snatched into their vitals and bathed in blood; for it makes no difference whether one kills or provides the cause for the slaughter. But the Emperor, having received the contents of the letter, let the wretches of Sicily perish as before, as though it were in his power to do whatever he wished concerning them. Therefore, often two or three at a time were carried out each day, deprived of funeral rites and the final washing, and were shaken out or cast into the mass graves and underground pits.

^C The Emperor, however, having sat upon a gold-studded chair and wearing purple embroidered with jewels, and having gathered a very great multitude of people so that he might be most formidable not only to foreigners but also to the Romans themselves, ordered the leaders of the Sicilian army, namely Baldwin and Richard, to be brought in. They, having removed their woolly headgear and having rendered a more servile obeisance, were asked by the Emperor why, in their letters, they had defamed him, the Lord’s anointed, though they had no just complaint and were merely puffed up with pride due to the successes of fortune and their victory against their duty. For Isaac, having recently assumed the empire, while the Latin army was still intact, had sent envoys and spoken nothing to the commanders of the opposing army that pertained to reconciliation, neither rejoicing them with gifts nor being led by simulated goodwill, but having sent letters in a rather arrogant manner, and assailing them with all sorts of accusations and charges, he had behaved haughtily toward men who were still winning and laying all the Roman world at their own feet; and, praising his own sword and magnifying it as being most sharp, he threatened them—matters on which he was still deliberating—with their destruction and ruin unless they changed their plans and returned from whence they had come. ^D But Baldwin, being otherwise fierce, as the events declared, and puffed up with success, was so irritated by those letters that in an insolent reply he mocked the Emperor’s sword as being sharp against effeminate bodies (by which words he alluded to the slaughter of the Hagiochristophoritai), and he mocked Isaac himself as unwarlike, who had never slept in the open under a shield, never had endured a helmet, and had not tolerated the filth of a breastplate, but

had attended to the smoke of letters, frequenting a schoolmaster from his earliest youth, having a frame, a tablet, and a stylus in his hands, and often eyeing with fear the rod being brought down upon his hands and his buttocks, knowing and fearing that alone, and not at all the threats of Ares, nor had the sound of javelins ever reached his ears. He did not only write these mockeries, but he also introduced a consolation, and being an enemy, he became a counselor, and urged him to lay aside the imperial crown and to cast off the other insignia of authority, and to store them carefully for the more powerful and victorious (in which words he was hinting at his own master), and to labor much earlier as a suppliant to obtain his life. For these reasons the emperor brought his leaders to judgment, not enduring that Davidic saying: “Our tongue is with us; who is our lord?” and he punished those writings with the ultimate penalty. But Baldwin, just as he was prepared to rebuke in prosperous circumstances, so, when fortune had changed, he was also a supreme artist at flattery—a thing which overcomes all weapons and almost every machine—and he dispelled the emperor’s wrath and mitigated his indignation, by extolling his sword as truly worthy of the supreme empire and endowed with an exquisite edge, and by affirming that what he had written were not light and empty words, but had been supported by truth and entirely signed by the hand of God. Nor, indeed, did he beg to be judged worthy of contempt because he had written more sharply; for hostile hatred is by the law of nature free from any crime. ^C But to what the emperor had passed over in silence, adding nothing further—I know not whether softened by flattery or persuaded by defense—they themselves went out from there and again became prisoners; but the emperor, applying himself to other matters, decided to declare to those present and to all the rest, both citizens and strangers, that from that day, even if a man were the most hostile of all mortals and were plotting against his empire and his life, he would kill or mutilate no one. And those who were then filling the imperial tribunal applauded these utterances and were carried along as if they had heard a voice of God from above, and everyone who heard this word called the emperor a perfect gift of God, looking toward the fulfillment of what had been promised and being greatly astonished at the magnitude of his gentleness. For it is not permitted to anyone, and especially to one reigning, to bear a depravity of nature that is immovable toward better things or difficult to change, or to tolerate a man who is an apostate and a predator of the authority, even if he were to make the greatest claims to virtue and, following David, did not render evil for evil to his enemies, or were singing with him at the time [P. 236] regarding the dangerous times: “They surrounded me like bees about a honeycomb, but in the name of the Lord I warded them off.” As for the emperor himself, shortly thereafter he did those things which with his

words he had clearly indicated he would not do; and just as he had lacked restraint in his speech, so too did he lack restraint in his actions. Indeed, he very nearly became an imitator of Andronikos in wreaking vengeance upon his enemies, neglecting ^A that saying of Solomon: “It is better not to make a vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.”

Meanwhile, the Sultan of Iconium (at that time Klytzastlan was still alive, enjoying a vigorous old age, being over seventy years old), having heard of the death of Andronikos and the ascension of Isaac, and having very sagaciously divined what usually happens during a change of emperors—especially when a most grave war from the West threatens—conducted an incursion into the region of Thrace with a most select cavalry and well-armed force, under the command of the emir Samēs. Discovering that the territory of Kelbianon was ^B devoid of men capable of bearing arms (for all had rushed, like a torrent, to Isaac, who had recently gained the purple), he captured many people, drove off herds and flocks of every kind, and enriched his army with much plunder.

When with other temporary tribute, as well as with annual taxes, the Eastern tribes had been pacified (for this is how the Roman emperors of our age are accustomed to deal with the barbarians, idly sitting at home like weaving-maids), since his wife had died, he decided to take a foreign bride, and approached the King of Hungary, Béla, through envoys, seeking his daughter, who had not yet reached her tenth year. But because he was too stingy to celebrate the wedding using the public treasury, he exacted those expenses in abundance from the cities and provinces. Not only did he afflict other cities, especially those ^C bordering on Anchialos, but he also rendered the barbarians who dwelt on Mount Haemus, and who were most hostile to him and the Roman Empire—who used to be called Moesians, but are now called Vlachs—even more hostile. Relying on their narrow passes and the many fortresses they had built upon rugged rocks, they had previously cared little for the Romans, but then, using the pretext of some stolen livestock and the vexations they had suffered, they openly revolted. The leaders and authors of this defection were two brothers of that tribe, Peter and Asan. So that they might not appear to be instigating a revolution without cause, they approached the emperor while he was staying at Kypsella, ^D asking to be enrolled in the Roman legions and to be assigned a small, low-revenue property on Mount Haemus. When they did not obtain this request (for the force of fate was overcoming human prudence), they grumbled at being treated with such contempt, having failed in their desire; they even uttered a rather bold word, hinting at the defection and the things they would do upon returning home—especially Asan, a man more bold and cruel, who because of his impudence had been struck in the face by command of the sebastokrator John. Thus, not only were they sent away with their business unaccomplished, but, provoked also by insults, those wicked and villainous men—who could express in words how they campaigned against the Romans? What discourse could encompass such a sea of evils? But we shall not speak of these things yet, lest the sequence of history be interrupted.

5. Isaac Comnenus holds Cyprus; the expedition against him; his victory and the cruel treatment of his captives.

As Isaac the Comnenian continued his tyranny over Cyprus, neither distracted by promises of money nor by reverence for the Emperor, and while he did not slacken in his cruelty toward the islanders but kept contriving ever-new torments, the Emperor determined to send a fleet against him. Seventy long ships were prepared, and for commanders he appointed John Contostephanus, an old man, and Alexius Comnenus—who, although he was in the flower of his youth and brave, and a cousin of the ruling Emperor, yet because his eyes had been gouged out by Andronicus, was not only useless for that office, but was also judged by all to be an ill omen; nor was he deemed a favorable sign. The voyage to Cyprus was indeed safe, with the wind blowing fair and falling gently upon the sails. But once they had put into the harbors, they experienced a most terrible tempest. For Isaac, the tyrant of Cyprus, defeated and captured them; and the most powerful pirate of those times, named Megarites, who was bringing aid to Isaac, secretly seized the ships—which were empty of men as they had disembarked for land warfare. The triearchs not only achieved no illustrious deed, but finally fell easily into the hands of the enemy. Isaac surrendered them to Megarites to do with as he pleased; and shortly thereafter, the latter sent them to the tyrant of Sicily, to whom he referred his own actions as a master. After this victory, Isaac enrolled many Romans into his own companies, while subjecting many others to cruel punishments—being as he was an inexorable tormentor—and among others, he seized Basil Rentacenus and with an axe severed one of his feet from the knee. This man was truly a most excellent warrior; as Phoenix had once been to Achilles, so had he been to this Isaac, schooling him in eloquence and in the arts of war. Yet with such a reward did Isaac, most irascible of all mortals, who in his rage would seethe like a cauldron, speaking absurdly with a trembling chin, repay his own tutor. As for the nautical throng, he let them depart wherever each wished. They returned home late, like men from a long shipwreck, those who had not perished from one of the three evils: the sea, famine, or death.

When the Mysians had openly revolted, driven by those men I have mentioned, the Emperor launched a war against them. But this also must not be passed over in silence. When, at the beginning, the Vlachs recoiled from the attempt to which they were being incited by Peter and Asan, terrified by the difficulty of the undertaking, the brothers, so that…

^A they might lead their kin away from this cowardice, built a house of prayer in the name of Demetrius, the glorious martyr. Into this they gathered many who were possessed by demons, of both sexes, with bloodshot and rolling eyes, disheveled hair, and exactly mimicking all other things that those who are possessed by demons usually do. And these they coached to speak while in their frenzies, saying that God had been pleased to grant the Bulgarian and Vlach people freedom and had consented to the casting off of their long-standing yoke; and that for this reason, Christ’s martyr Demetrius had left the metropolis of the Thessalonians, and his temple there, and his customary residence among the Romans, and had arrived to them to be their assistant and ally in the work. ^B Being quiet for a short while, these madmen, and suddenly gathering more of the spirit, became deranged again; they were agitated and cried out with a clear and piercing voice that there was no longer any room for idleness, but that arms must be taken in hand and they must advance against the Romans. They cried that those who were captured in war were not to be taken alive, but slaughtered and cut down mercilessly, and that they should not be released for ransom, nor should the captors be swayed by entreaties, nor softened by prayers or genuflections, but should be like adamant, yielding to no supplication, and destroying absolutely all who were taken. By such god-like prophecies, therefore, the whole race was goaded into taking up arms. And as their initial acts of rebellion were successful, ^C they believed all the more that God favored their freedom. Not content with this, they spread out into the towns and estates far from the Haemus. One of the brothers, Peter, placed a golden crown upon his head and put on crimson-dyed footwear upon his feet. Attacking Pristhlabos (for this city is ancient, built entirely of burnt brick, and encompassing a vast area around the Haemus), because they saw that the siege was not safe, they bypassed it and descended from the Haemus; and falling unexpectedly upon other Roman towns, they plundered many free Roman people, as well as many oxen and beasts of burden and a not inconsiderable quantity of other livestock. ^D When Isaac came against them, the rebels, having again seized the difficult and inaccessible places, held out for a long time. But when a mist, beyond all expectation, was sent by God—whose hiding-place is in the darkness—covering the mountains, which the barbarians were guarding by obstructing the narrow passes, the Romans fell upon them by surprise. They scattered them, struck with such terror, that the authors and leaders of that evil—namely Peter and Asan—with their band of friends, rushed into the Ister as if they were that herd of swine in the Gospel into the sea; having swum across it, they joined the neighboring Scythians. The Emperor, however, although with no one to stop him it was permitted for him to roam the whole of Mysia and to install garrisons in the cities—which are for the most part on the Haemus, but many, or rather almost all, are built on jagged rocks and very high mounds—did neither, but, deceived by the fabricated words of the suppliant Vlachs, having burned the grain heaps, he immediately retreated, leaving those matters still entirely festering. Whence it happened that the barbarians insulted the Romans all the more boldly.

^C 6. For truly, having returned to the city, the emperor boasted of his achievements, in such a way that one of the judges (this was Leo of Monasteriotes) jokingly said that the soul of Basil Bulgaroctonus was grieving. For he, having utterly destroyed the Bulgarians, had decreed that if ever the Vlachs should strive for revolution again, his own example ought to be imitated, and the provinces should be traversed with camps established within them—a decree which had been affixed in the monastery of Sosthenion. He remarked that this was now rendered void, because the emperor had completed in such a short moment what Basil had ordered to be accomplished over many years, as if the latter had nothing of the sort in mind.

As for Asan, having returned with the greatest auxiliaries of the Scythian forces, chosen at his own discretion, and having found his fatherland, Mysia, purged and empty of any Roman army, he became more insolent and boastful. He was not satisfied with the safety and mastery of Mysia, but determined with all his might to inflict the greatest detriments upon the Romans, and to join into one the dominion of the Mysians and the Bulgarians, as it had been in former times. And if the emperor himself had gone out to war again, as before, perhaps things would have turned out well; but he, through his own alacrity, postponed it to another time and sent off his uncle, the sebastocrator John, with the command. And he, having governed the army not rashly but quite laudably, and having inflicted no small slaughters upon the enemy when they had gathered their forces into one and descended into the plain, was ordered to lay down his command, out of suspicion that he aspired to the kingdom; and in his place John Cantacuzenus Caesar, his brother-in-law by the emperor’s sister, was substituted. He was a man ^B of tall stature, of a brave spirit, with a great voice, and warlike, but on account of his boldness and arrogance he fought almost perpetually with adverse fortune; among others, he too was blinded by Andronicus. Hearing, however, that the barbarians were keeping themselves in the mountains and avoiding the plain, he did not consider that they were remaining there for the sake of recuperating their strength and in order to be safer, but interpreted this act as timidity, and pitched his camp in the middle of the field, using neither sentries nor more careful watches, nor having fortified his camp with a rampart. And so, attacked by the barbarians at night, he scarcely escaped.

^D (27) For he, having reached the queen of cities, was puffing himself up over the things he had accomplished, so that he even chided one of the judges (this was Leo of Monasteriotes), saying that he had grieved the soul of the emperor Basil Bulgaroctonus. For he, when he was utterly destroying them, had commanded that if ever the Vlachs should turn again to apostasy, he who was to wage war upon them ought to mark out his regions and enter into them, and he had placed such an ordinance in the monastery of Sosthenion. Such an ordinance, therefore, surely played the liar, inasmuch as you, O King, have run through in such a short time things which he had ordered to be fulfilled over many years, so that it did not even enter his mind—laughing, as it were, and mocking the things decreed by him.

(28) This man was a person of notable appearance; he was long in stature, brave in soul, and loud-voiced, and proved in wars; yet he was always unfortunate in battle because of the rashness and arrogance he possessed; he was also blinded by Andronicus, among the others. Whence, the Caesar, hearing that the barbarians were staying in the mountains and not coming down into the plain, and not taking into account that for their own rest and safety...

he was making his own encampments in the midst of the plain, having neither careful guards or watchmen, nor even casting up a rampart. ^B Consequently, the barbarians attacked him by night, and he himself barely escaped with his life, and the army was harmed in many ways; for some of them, while lying in their tents, were seized by the enemies and slaughtered, and others who were unarmed and fleeing were taken alive. But those who were able to flee and reach the Caesar's tent found him more bitter than their enemies, insulting and slandering them as traitors. The Caesar, therefore, wishing to recall his own victory, armed himself and mounted an Arabian horse, and took a spear in his hands, and rushed into the midst of the enemies shouting and saying, "Follow me," not seeing or knowing where he was going or what was happening in the army. Thus, the Romans having been defeated and fleeing, all the tents were seized by the barbarians, as well as the gold-embroidered robes of the Caesar, which were marked with heron colors, and the standards, which Peter and Asan themselves donned, proceeding in front of their army. And having thereupon descended to the plain, they set up their tents there and encamped.

The Cantacuzene Caesar having been removed from such a command, Branas Alexius was proclaimed general of the entire army, a man who was short in stature, but deep in judgment and varied in his prudence, and the most strategic of the men to be found at that time. But he, having taken over the army, did not act rashly, but with safety and guarding of his own encampments, advancing tactically with those in front, and showing eagerness to press the enemies, while also taking care that the whole army passed through without danger. Having passed through many difficult places, he reached a place called the Black Mound, and there he encamped and dug a rampart, and he appeared as if he would act more nobly. ^C But since he was always burning with the desire for the height of the kingdom, he then revealed his whole purpose. For the same Branas, even before, when he was appointed general by the Emperor for the war against Sicily and took on the auxiliary force of the Germans (having determined that it was sufficient to assist him toward his purpose—for he did not trust the military regiment so much as to reveal his counsel), he also resolved to tread the path that the Emperor Isaac had trodden and reigned. For having gone out by night and entered the great church of Saint Sophia, and having stood in the middle of the temple, he entreated those who were entering to assist him against the unjust and irrational wrath of the Emperor, saying that he had faulted in nothing nor had he in any way acted outside his ordinance and will. And he began to boast of his own strategic deeds. "Do you not know, O men, how many valiant deeds I performed in the wars, and how a second and third time I defeated the enemies through strategic methods?" And he was stirring the people toward sedition. But as he saw that nothing was coming of his purpose, having received oaths from the Emperor, he dissolved the sedition; yet he nevertheless kept within himself such a purpose of abandoning him. And when he then found a suitable time and received authority to be general of the entire army, having the whole army with him, he proclaimed at last into the open those things which had been pondered in secret.

^A And with his kinsmen as counselors—who, like himself, had Adrianople as their fatherland—and with many other powerful men, he donned the red buskin. Departing thence to his homeland, and having been hailed as emperor by the entire army, he hastened toward the imperial city. Having pitched his camp at the outlying Philopatium, he approached the walls at evening with very well-equipped forces, riding a horse that was entirely black except for a white spot on its forehead, shaped like the disc of the moon. He both exhorted the imperial soldiers and citizens who were watching this from the walls, and at the same time threatened them. For if they should of their own accord open the gates and go over to his side, they would find him a savior and benefactor; but if they resisted him in his desire to enter through the gate—and in no other way—then if he should enter by stealth and snatch the empire through a kind of brigandage, he would have cause to deal with them as wild beasts do, which, having driven off the shepherds, break through the sheepfolds. Having boasted such things, and having drawn up his line of battle as if for a fight, he withdrew to his camp.

The next day, as the sun rose, he again approached the city walls; and having drawn up his army at the land-gate which is called the Gate of Charsius, into a right and a left wing, with himself holding the center of the phalanx, he released his forces against those who were pouring out of the city to join battle. ^B For the emperor had not only stationed his own soldiers within the city gates, but he had also ordered a portion of them to run out as far as possible beyond the ditches, and to engage the enemy, and when exhausted by the pressing enemy, to flee back to the walls so that they might be aided by those standing on top of the towers. And so, until high noon, there was archery and skirmishing from both sides; and for a while the men of Branas had some advantage on account of their experience in war, and especially those who were composed of the Latin infantry. For the emperor, having released from custody and chains those who were still alive from the Sicilian army and having provided them with arms, had sent them to Branas as he was setting out for the Haemus; and they formed an excellent infantry phalanx, armed with an equestrian shield, a very long sword, and a spear for thrusting. ^C But when the squadrons of cavalry had also brought them aid, the townsmen were driven back by force and, though against their will, having crossed the ditch, they retreated to the walls, while their defenders assisted them.

And so the affairs of that day ended in this manner. But the tyrant, having rested his own forces for five days, engaged in the same labors again, taking his stand by the city's circuit walls. ^D Yet, wishing to make himself feared by the city dwellers and attempting to cause factional strife within, he took a portion of his own army and sent it toward the northern side of the city across the strait, which is called the Ox-passage; from there, the sea-inlet that extends as far as the palaces at Blachernae—and all those parts of the city that face the North Wind—is clearly visible. And those who were assigned to this task, having arrived, ascended the nearby high hills and made their banners wave. And the sun, striking the breastplates and shining upon the soldiers' armor, which was freshly polished and

smooth, made the reflected rays gleam like fire. Thus, the city's populace gathered in crowds upon the rising hillocks of the city to witness the events, and held them in greatest wonder. ^B After this, they also drew in the inhabitants of the Propontis, men not all experienced in war, but exceptionally skilled in rowing. Wherefore, they converted the boats built by them for fishing into warships, fastening thick planks to either side, and armed some with slings, others with bows and quivers. And thus, transformed from fishermen into men of Mars, they fought bravely against the imperial triremes. These, circling the city, were keeping watch over the nocturnal assaults of Branas's troops and were carefully guarding the strait, lest the tyrant, despairing of entry through the land gates, might secretly slip in along the shore. At first, those on the long ships thought the fishers were simply mad to dare an attack on the long ships while barely afloat in such unsteady skiffs. But when the time came for striking and being struck, they moved out with horns and trumpets, while the fishing boats moved in silence. Those upon them, breathing fury, struck the sea with their oars, and, having engaged, they overcame the opponents' massive ships and drove them to the city's shores. For the latter, because they were very long and slow to turn, could not immediately harm the boats; but the fishermen, because they attacked in a swarm and many surrounded a single trireme, fighting from the stern, the bow, and both sides, gained the victory in the narrow strait and raised an illustrious trophy. But the imperial sailors, not tolerating such disgrace for long, put the small boats to flight in return; and they would perhaps have consumed the boats with Greek fire, had not Branas's soldiers, having descended from the hills to the shore, brought them aid.

^C 7. But when the rebel saw that he could neither infiltrate by stealth nor execute his plan by open force, he decided to approach the matter via another path, and to compel the queen of cities to surrender either by famine—the strongest and cruelest engine of war he had brought to bear (for the Eastern and Western provinces had already defected to him, to whom he had given orders that no grain ship should arrive at Byzantium)—or by making an assault with a stronger and larger fleet. Yet he was pondering in his mind those things which God was not about to grant. For when the emperor, ^D seeing the city's populace clinging to him, and not only refusing to succumb...

to Branas, but even more subjecting that man to anathema, ^B brought up onto the walls—as though an impregnable fortification and an invincible bulwark—the image of the Mother of God, which is named the "Hodegetria" from the Hodegon Monastery where it is enshrined. He was stirred by this even from within to fight back, having judged that a prolonged confinement within the city was unprofitable and would cause some detestable innovation against him; and he yielded the more to the urgings of Caesar Conrad. This man was Italian by birth, the son of the lord of Montferrat, and he so excelled in prudence and stoutheartedness that he was not merely famous among the Romans—and especially dear to Emperor Manuel, as one blessed by nature with brilliance of mind and dexterity of hand—but he was renowned even among his own countrymen. This is he who, spurred on by the largest of gifts from Emperor Manuel, resisted the king of the Alemanni and overcame the Bishop of Mainz, who was the king's chancellor; he had made an incursion into Italy with very great forces, but Conrad had apprehended him, cast him into chains, and refused to release him unless the Roman emperor should so command. Now, when Emperor Isaac had sent emissaries to his brother Boniface concerning the betrothal of his sister Theodora, and Boniface ^C had already celebrated nuptials with another, the emissaries considered it a matter of great good fortune that he had lost his spouse, judging it a far greater good than that for which they had come, and they brought Conrad back with them, impelled by the greatest promises. But when, not long after these nuptials, Branas revolted, Conrad did not cease to encourage the emperor's spirit and to confirm him with good hope when he was already wavering and growing soft. For while the emperor was gathering into the palace those barefoot monks, who lived on the ground and, like pillars, rose above the earth, supplicating God that He might ward off the civil war and not deliver the empire to another, he was utterly neglecting military affairs, placing all his hope in the armaments of the spirit. But Conrad, like a crab with a mussel, kept pinching and stirring him up, warning him not to place all his confidence in these beggars, but to have regard also for military matters and to meet the seditious one with armed phalanxes, and to avenge himself upon his enemies not only with his "right-hand arms"—that is, the intercessions of holy men—but also with his "left-hand arms," which consisted of sword and breastplate. Moreover, he said that money should not be spared, but spent upon the enlistment of soldiers. For, apart from the kinsmen of the emperor and those who dwelt in the city, all others had submitted themselves to Branas, nor could forces be prepared from abroad. By these words of the Caesar, as if by constant goads, he was shaken out of that torpor and slackness, and he began to assemble auxiliaries. And because he complained that money was lacking to him, he [began to collect] vessels from the imperial ^D

treasuries which were silver, and pledged them to sacred shrines which possessed an abundance of gold, and the money obtained from thence he distributed for the collection of an army; even if, later, after the victory, he neither returned the gold nor recovered the items that had been pledged. ^A Indeed, in a short time, Conrad assembled from the Latins in the city about two hundred and fifty knights, all of them fierce in war, and five hundred infantry. Not a few were also recruited from the Ishmaelites and the eastern Iberians, who had sailed to the Queen of Cities for the sake of trade. Those about the emperor, illustrious by birth and otherwise accustomed to frequent the imperial palace, were numbered at about a thousand. Conrad put forth so much zeal on behalf of the reigning emperor that he was considered by all to be a heaven-sent blessing, appearing at the most necessary time for the emperor. Once, when he entered while the emperor was eating, he said with a sigh: “Would that you were as diligent in the conduct of war as you are quick to run to the luxuries of dinner and set your heart upon dishes.” Upon this statement, the emperor blushed and, grasping his cloak, said with a forced laugh: ^B “My good man, in its own time we shall both dine and wage war.” At that time, also, signs appeared; for stars were seen during the day, the air appeared turbulent, and circles, which they call halos, surrounded the sun, from which its light shone forth not clear but paler. The emperor, having collected as great an army as circumstances would allow, thought that he should no longer delay and sit idle under a roof, but that he himself should in turn appear in armor to the insurgent. Standing, therefore, wearing a breastplate inside the enclosure of the city, which the emperor Manuel had built as a fortification for the archives at Blachernae, he encouraged his kin and the soldiery standing nearby with these words, exhorting them: ^C “It is surely better, and indeed acceptable to God, for those under one’s authority to risk themselves for the lawful emperor, rather than to join with a seditious man and author of civil war. But if there are those whose minds waver and fluctuate, or who are carried away by a great impulse of devotion to the rebel, and who, having worshipped him yesterday as slaves their master, today reject him, I would wish to obtain from them a request most equitable: that they sit at home and help neither side until the controversy has been resolved by battle, and then let the rest join themselves to the victor; or else let them depart immediately ^D before the battle to the enemy and fight for his safety, so that they may gain greater favor from him once he has attained victory. For that one should honor me with their lips, but in their hearts be devoted to another and transfer all their zeal, I do not know if that can be approved by anyone, or be pleasing to God, who is a lover of justice and searches the recesses of the soul. For my heart recoils from that which is worse than this and the most shameless of all things, namely, that some should defect to the tyrant during the time of battle and corrupt even tested men by their example. This is seen in birds that fly in flocks. For where one takes flight, all the rest fly off together; where one settles, the rest also settle.” He said these things because he suspected his uncle, the sebastocrator John, of being linked to Branas both by an old association and a recent marriage alliance, for he had not long before betrothed his daughter to his son. By which

^A act all who filled the assembly at that time were not a little saddened; but the sebastocrator, wishing to remove all suspicion from himself, subjected the entire household of his family and himself to the most terrible curses if he had ever intended to defect to Branas. For he was not so ignorant of his duty, nor so senile and utterly foolish, as to set aside the emperor, the son of his brother, from whom he had been promoted from one dignity to another, in favor of a stranger living in the open air, whose mind toward him he had not yet explored, for the sake of his son’s marriage—he who was to the emperor both a kinsman and a supporter, having been raised by him from one degree of glory to another. ^B Or how indeed is it better to be attached in words and to honor with one's lips, while in heart one leans toward another and devotes to him the entirety of one's zeal? I do not know if anyone would praise this, or how it would be weighed by God, who examines the thoughts of the breast with justice. For to consider something even worse and more shameless than this does not cross my mind, namely, during a time of war to commit an act of desertion to a tyrant, and to set forth a wicked example for chosen men to follow, shifting their allegiance and moving to another, which we see happen even among birds flying in flocks; for when one flies up, the rest follow with a whirring sound, and at the stopping of the other they all pull in their wings.

8. ^B When it was time for the battle formation and the usurper was reported to be drawing up his forces, the gates of the city were opened and the armies poured out. The left wing was held by the protostrator Manuel Camytzes, who had supplied no small amount of money to the emperor during the hiring of his soldiers at that time; for being the bitterest enemy of Branas, and harboring no high hopes if he were to prevail, he had laid open all his wealth to the emperor and permitted him to take as much as he wished from it, thinking it better to pour out all his goods for the sake of an emperor who was his friend and kinsman, and, if he were victorious, to receive them back with gratitude and interest, than to keep them at home only for them to be ^C kept for an alien, hostile, and ungrateful man, to his own ridicule and for that man's immense advantage. The right wing was commanded by Emperor Isaac himself, where all that was most excellent and distinguished in arms was gathered, while the center was occupied by Conrad the Caesar with the Latin cavalry and infantry hired for pay. Branas himself held the center of the opposing phalanx, where his kinsmen and friends and all the most noble and brave of those who had followed him were gathered, while other experienced commanders, including the Scythian Elpames, commanded the wings on either side. Before midday, light skirmishes and lunges against one another took place between both armies, and the infantry forces began the battle in earnest from their established positions. ^D When the sun was blazing directly overhead, the signals for battle were raised, and first

^A they raised their spears for combat in a tower-like formation (for shield pressed against shield, helmet against helmet, and their bucklers were locked together), the cavalry leveled their lances and dug their spurs into their horses; and since the emperor’s own battalion was now following up, the men around Branas, failing to withstand the initial shock of Conrad’s unarmored infantry and the rushing onset of his horsemen, turned their backs and scattered. Following this, the rest of the battalions, having fallen into disarray, also turned to flight. Branas himself, crying out at the top of his voice, “Stand, Romans! For we shall fight against fewer than ourselves, and I will be the first to strike out against the approaching enemy,” and acting immediately on these words, while he did not succeed in turning anyone back, he did aim his spear at Conrad, who was fighting without a helmet. He did not hit him fatally, however, but merely grazed the Caesar’s shoulder and let the weapon slip from his hands. But the other, gripping his own spear with both hands, struck Branas in the jaw with such force that, seized with vertigo, he was thrown from his horse and run through by the Caesar’s guards. They say that when he received the first wound and begged for his life, Conrad told him to be of good heart, for he had nothing more to fear than the cutting off of his head—which indeed happened to him immediately. In that mass flight, everyone killed whoever was nearest to him; yet this happened only at the beginning of the rout and proceeded no further. For the Romans spared those of their own blood, and those who were being pursued, as it was a matter of life and death, fled with all possible speed. The camp was sacked by the victors, and it became prey not only for the soldiers of the emperor but also for the townspeople who poured out. In this battle, Constantine ^C Stethatus also perished, wounded in the groin by a spear—a good and gentle man, who, while governing the province of Anchialus, had followed Branas not of his own free will, nor did he provide the assistance to him that was expected, nor did he preserve himself from perishing by the steel, although he was the foremost of the astrologers of his time. He had been misled, no doubt, by some trifling scruple, and had remained in his tent, fearing nothing from the encroaching enemy. It was said that he had predicted to Branas, based on the observations of his art, that he would enter the city on that day and celebrate a magnificent triumph. Whether he said this or not, I cannot confirm, for I know that one should not always place faith in fame regarding rumors of this sort. But if he did say what is reported, the prophet was undoubtedly deceived, as the event itself proved, unless someone perhaps, devoted to astrology, might contend that he did not go entirely astray and that the art is not altogether vain, in that his head and his right foot were fixed upon spears on that day and carried through the forum—along with the head of a certain man about town, who was called “the Poet,” who had not been killed in the war, but was executed by order of the emperor after that illustrious victory, for what purpose I do not know. ^D A As they were about to begin the battle, they raised their lances like a tower

And so the struggle of that time reached its end, and the emperor himself turned to feasting. He threw open all the gates of the palace and the portico windows, so that those who wished might enter and see him as the conqueror. But while he was eating greedily and moving his hands to the battle of the viands set before him, he ordered an unseemly and quite tasteless after-dinner diversion—the head of Branas—to be brought in. When it was brought, it was thrown upon the floor, bared teeth and eyes glazed, and it was toyed with, being rolled this way and that like a ball, and struck with spears. Later, it was also carried into the palace where his wife was confined, and she was asked if she recognized whose head it was. She, casting her eyes upon that miserable and unexpected spectacle, said, "I know it, and I judge myself to be miserable." For she was a modest woman, and she highly valued the silence that is becoming to matrons. For this reason, she was called by her uncle, the emperor Manuel, the ornament of matronly grace and of her family.

As for the armies that had defected with Branas, they let their reins go slack and turned wherever their course might lead. Those who had stood behind the front lines at the time of the engagement, as soon as they perceived the rout, took to flight; fearing those who were following behind as if they were enemies, they increased their speed so they would not be captured. Those who were in pursuit, imitating the urgent flight of those in front as a life-saving action, and fearing the pursuit of the enemy, prayed outright that their horses might not strike the ground with their hooves, but fly like Pegasus, and that they themselves might be covered in invisibility, as if wearing the helmet of Hades. Such great terror had seized them that it made them both say and pray for anything. And many would have perished by slipping at the bridge of Daphnoution, had not a certain man, with hands stretched toward heaven, testified to God that no enemy was ^B pressing from behind, and cautioned those who had already ceased their pursuit that they should moderate the intensity of their flight and pass through that arch in an orderly and cautious manner.

Indeed, men of humble and obscure fortune returned home without molestation or accusation, profitably protected by their own obscurity, and fearing not that they would be inquired after by anyone. But those who were illustrious by blood or distinguished by the offices they had held gathered in large numbers and sought pardon from the emperor through envoys for having followed the seditious man and defected. They promised that if they were exempted by the emperor from punishment, they would henceforth be good and faithful servants, and would demonstrate their repentance by their deeds, having taken up arms against their master and emperor. But if he were to blaze with inexpiable wrath and wish to preserve the memory of injuries forever and rekindle the sparks of anger, they would also flee from his sight and seek a final refuge among peoples hostile to the Romans, and commit against the Romans whatever they owed to those to whom they had fled. For it is not new, if someone experiences his own people as hostile, that he should seek the friendship of enemies. ^{C D}

^A These things the envoys muttered; but the emperor granted them all amnesty, and receiving those who approached him kindly, he urged them to show repentance for the violation of the oaths made to him, and to appear before the great Patriarch and seek from him absolution from the anathema to which the inhabitants of the city had subjected them, as they stood above on the towers and observed what was being done by them. And many went to the Patriarch, as many as still possessed any sense of piety; but the ^B others, merely nodding their heads in agreement with that admonition, considered the arrival at the great church and the confession of sins as trifles. For I will not even mention that there were some petulant ones who, upon leaving, mocked and derided him, saying that it was nothing new if one who had once been a sacrificer—for that was also leveled against him as a charge—should prescribe to them the very things that he himself had learned from boyhood. Many also who had betaken themselves to Asan and Peter were recalled a little later by imperial letters.

10. Following these events, another most unreasonable act ^C occurred. For the emperor gave leave to absolutely everyone, both city-dwellers and foreigners, to treat harshly those who had defected to Branas, whether they were suburban dwellers, farmers, or those who had chosen to live along the Propontis. And on the night following that day on which Branas had been defeated, Greek fire—which is concealed in vessels, and suddenly flashing like lightning, consumes everything it touches—was cast against the buildings situated by the strait. And when it fell upon the wooden structures, it set fire to every building, whether it was a holy temple, a sacred chapel, or a private dwelling; and since this calamity happened ^D beyond all expectation, the flame, rising high, consumed not only the roofs but also the goods of the miserable people, as they were able to snatch away or remove nothing but a few small things. On the following morning, the Latin cohort that had been stationed with Conrad Caesar, along with the indiscriminate and impoverished multitude of the city, went out and ran through the surrounding areas; and whether still carrying their weapons or using whatever missiles came to hand, what did they not plunder, what evil did they not commit? They tore down dwellings, seized the wealth within, ransacked holy monasteries, carried off sacred furniture, profaned precious vessels, and felt no reverence for the venerable old age of monks; they neglected virtue, which even an enemy is accustomed to honor; and, to be brief, they demonstrated every kind of cruelty against those they attacked. Many...

^A of those whose houses were being plundered groaned, finding death to be the penalty. And the evil, having become more long-standing and more painful, would have grown even worse, had not some, reporting what was happening to the Emperor and being deeply troubled, as is natural, urged him toward a correction. And, having immediately sent some men of rank and illustrious birth, he restrained the impulses of the disorderly, and thus, late though it was, he brought to an end in great measure the things being dared therein.

But these matters had not yet been sufficiently mourned by those of mankind whose soul is domestic and for whom tears gush forth more warmly at the misfortunes of those who are suffering, while the artisan class of the city—which had not, so to speak, consented with the others to the events already described by ^B me—considering it a terrible thing that the Latins were not only speaking freely and boasting of their having defeated Branas, but had also perpetrated unbearable things against their own Roman neighbors, gathered in bands and, like a winter torrent, crashed into the houses of the Latin family. Indistinct cries filled the air, no differently than if flocks of cranes or jackdaws were fluttering and squawking clangorously, or if huntsmen were goading or howling at their dogs; and they were exhorting one another, grabbing each other by their tunics. And there was no one there who would listen to those suggesting peace, but, like asps, they stopped their ears, passing by every wise antidote. For the concourse of commoners was then directed not only by unbridled anger, but also by an appetite for the silver of others. For they thought that, with little effort, they would expel the Latins from their homes ^C and plunder everything stored within, just as they had done during the times of Emperor Andronikos. But their hopes were turned in the opposite direction. For when the opponents saw the wild mob rushing upon them, they fenced off the public streets leading to their houses with massive timbers, and, clad in breastplates, they took a dense stand within those fortifications. But the gathered crowd, attempting many times to climb over that rampart, not only achieved nothing, but was also badly handled by the Latins. For since they were fighting without iron and naked, and most were also drunk, then at last they realized what they had done and understood that Epimetheus was less foolish than Prometheus, falling to the ground when struck by arrows or wounded in close combat. And that evil continued throughout the entire twilight ^D of that day until deep into the evening; but at the sunrise of the next day, the Romans gathered for a second struggle with greater impetus, having brought forward most of their arms. But the learned men sent by the Emperor checked them, and those of the Latin race, having employed a clever ruse against the simple-minded, quenched most of their fervor; for they gathered up the Romans who had perished in the battle, and after removing their coverings and revealing them shaven and shorn, they laid them out in their own courtyards and, feigning grief over them as if they were their own kin, pointed them out to those coming from the Emperor, and begged them not to permit war to be joined again, lest they suffer twice over the same disasters they were witnessing. And when those men reported these things to the artisans and warned them to fix their eyes upon the dead—and they themselves denied having anything to do with those events—they were at last barely able to soften the rabble of the people so that each might return to his own workshop. Nevertheless, it was more easily obtained that, in compliance with the most grave peacemakers, they departed from arms, as the leader had not customarily armed them in the morning, nor had he any more sharpened their iron.

^A For if those who manage the gall and the needle had been occupied with wine, what speech or what torrent of eloquence could have extinguished that ardor for fighting, or compelled them to a quiet or other honorable action? For when others rebuked the Byzantines as drunkards, Menander also rebuked them thus: "Byzantium makes its guests drunk; they are accustomed to squander entire nights in drinking." And these things happened in this way.

VOLUME II OF THE REIGN OF ISAAC ANGELUS

BOOK SECOND

^C 1. The Emperor, grieving that he had not managed the war properly during his first incursion into Mysia, but had departed from there no differently than if he were being pressed by enemy missiles, and had neither occupied the fortresses with Roman garrisons nor taken the most beloved children of the Barbarians as hostages, determined to carry arms against the Vlachs once again. And then he himself went out with the few who were found there by chance; for he had heard that the enemies were no longer lingering in the mountains and hills, but, having invited Scythian auxiliaries, had pitched camp in the territory of Agathopolis, and were wastefully ravaging those places and inflicting great losses. The remaining legions, meanwhile, were being summoned. For the emperor himself was compelled to adapt that expedition to the sudden and unexpected tumult of the enemies; ^D and in this, he was also watching to see that he might suppress the enemy's attack and make his own men more obedient to his command for that second Vlach war, if he himself were seen first, armed upon a war-horse. When he arrived at Taurocomum (a farm which is inhabited in the manner of a village, situated not far from Adrianople), he waited while the forces gathered. And to Conrad Caesar also

he sent instructions that he should make his departure without any delay. But Conrad, who quite plainly felt resentment at the nature of the kindness he had received from the Emperor—regarding it as inconsistent with an imperial marriage and repugnant to his own lineage—and seeing that this magnificent hope led to nothing more than the wearing of imperial footwear, distinguished from that of the common people (this being the insignia of the Caesars; furthermore, he had long ago taken up the cross at home and had intended to travel to Palestine, which had already been seized by the Saracens of Egypt, and had only incidentally concluded his marriage to the Emperor’s sister), he did indeed agree that he would meet the Emperor and conduct the war alongside him. But when God had decreed that many disasters should be inflicted upon the Romans by the Mysians, he changed his mind and, boarding a very sturdy and newly-outfitted ship, set sail for Palestine. When he arrived at Tyre, he was welcomed by his own countrymen as if he were a deity; he resisted the Saracens and recovered Joppa, which is now called Acre, and other cities for his fellow countrymen. But because a fatal calamity impended over those places as well, many illustrious and brave leaders—who had undertaken that Christian pilgrimage of their own volition and at their own expense—perished; and Conrad himself, not long afterward, though he had barely given a specimen of his valor and prudence such as to be an object of admiration to the Hagarenes, was killed by a certain Hassassin. Now, the race of the Hassassins is said to revere and observe their chiefs to such a degree, and to be so eager in the execution of their commands, that if only a magistrate but knits his brow, they immediately cast themselves from cliffs, rush upon swords, leap into the waves, throw themselves into fire. Those who are sent by them to murder whomsoever their princes wish approach as guests and friends, or, pretending they have something to say to them, or feigning to arrive as heralds from distant nations, they often strike with a dagger and kill the enemies of their masters, taking no account of the difficulty or of their own certain execution, even if they do not succeed in killing their target. ^B The Hassassin-rulers send out those who will kill their victims; and they, approaching as if they were friends, or presenting themselves as strangers, or claiming to have some official business to discuss, or pretending to be envoys arriving from foreign nations, often strike with a concealed dagger and put to death those who are opposed to their masters, without having the least thought for the difficulty of the action, nor considering that they themselves will surely be destroyed by the very deed, even if they have not managed to bring about the death of the other.

^C But the Emperor, having selected about two thousand choice men, to whom he had given weapons and swift horses, hastened from Taurocomum toward the enemy, having ordered all the baggage, the camp followers, and the servants to go to Adrianople. ^D Meanwhile, scouts reported that the Blachi were ravaging the regions neighboring Lardea, and that, having killed many and captured no fewer, they had decided to depart with vast spoils. Therefore, at night, when the trumpets sounded, he mounted his horse, and when he had arrived at Basternas (which is the name of a place), since no enemy appeared, he refreshed the army with rest. Three days later, having departed from there, he began his march in the morning towards Berroea. When he had not yet traveled four parasangs, a messenger of evil tidings arrived, a certain unencumbered man who, with a breath that was repeatedly interrupted by his haste, narrated that the enemy was returning not far from there with the booty, and that they were moving almost at a snail’s pace because they had encountered no enemy and were laden with spoils. Wherefore, having immediately distributed the army among the commanders and drawn up the line of battle, he proceeded on the road by which they were moving.

^A And when we were seen, and we in turn saw them (for I myself was accompanying the emperor as his secretary), the Scythians and Vlachs, having handed over the booty to certain detachments of their own men, ordered them to take the shorter paths and accelerate their march until they should reach the mountains; but the others, gathering themselves together, received the Romans who were charging them with the composure of their native manner of fighting. For as they advanced, they shot arrows and closed in with spears; yet, a short while later, having turned their impetus into flight to provoke the opposing force into pursuing those who were fleeing, they suddenly turned back again, quicker than birds cutting through the air, and engaging the oncoming troops face to face, they clashed with much greater bravery. And having done this many times, as they were now prevailing over the Romans, they no longer cared for maneuvers, but, drawing their swords and erupting in a terrifying shout, they fell upon the Romans more quickly than a thought, and slaughtering both those who were fighting and those who were cowed alike, they mowed them down. ^B And perhaps on that day the Scythians, having gained great glory, might have boasted against us, and we would have been handed over as a reproach to a foolish people, had not the emperor himself come to the rescue, still having the pristine phalanx around him, and had not the trumpets sounded a blaring blast and the bronze-mouthed horns echoed, and did not the visible effigies of dragons—which are carried upon spears and agitated by the winds—terrify the enemies, providing the appearance of a larger army. At that time, then, the emperor, having snatched a small portion of the captives as if from the jaws of beasts, reached Adrianople, at which he intended to winter in peace; but as the barbarians would not rest, he decided to turn back to the road he had abandoned. And having reached Berroea, he repressed the incursions of the Scythians and Mysians, both through commanders skilled in military affairs and not least through himself. ^C But although they feared the Romans and dreaded the presence of the emperor, they nonetheless lay in ambush secretly again, carrying out their raids in such a way that they appeared eager for battle and waiting to be expected; and they crossed from one place to another, nor were opportunities ever wanting to them. When the emperor hastened to Agathopolis to repress them, they ravaged the villages nearest to Philippopolis; when he went to aid the afflicted part, they rushed into the place from which he had departed. This was the work of the other brother, Asan, a man most ingenious and most skilled in expedient stratagems in doubtful situations. The emperor had therefore decided to enter Zagora again, and to test as far as possible whether he could compel the Mysians to surrender. And having set out from ^D Philippopolis, he arrived at Triaditza. For he had heard that from there the Haemus could be easily approached, and that in some places level paths existed, and likewise that there was water in abundance and fodder for the baggage animals, if one were to set out there at the proper time. But because winter was pressing and the rivers (in that cold northern climate especially) were freezing, and the densest snows not only covered the ground and filled the valleys, but also obstructed the very doors of the houses, he postponed that attempt until the spring. Having ordered the army to winter in that province, he returned with a light force to the city and refreshed his spirit with Circensian games and public spectacles. At the beginning of spring, he set out again against the Mysians, and having spent three full months in the siege of the castle of Lobizo to no avail and with the greatest labor, he returned at last with the matter unfinished. For the pleasantness of the Propontis, the most agreeable resting places, the hunting, and

the riding which are wont to bind the emperors of our age like chains, did not permit him to remain long under the sky, but compelled him to flee as if he had cast away his shield. Even though he had captured the wife of Asan and had received his brother John as a hostage, nevertheless, matters were ^A proceeding for the worse.

2. At this time, Theodore Mangaphas, of Philadelphia, laid claim to the tyranny. At first, he won over for himself the rabble of that city, which was densely populated, bold, and most shameless, binding them to himself by oaths of loyalty. Advancing gradually, he caused all the Lydians to defect and usurped the royal title. Then, having tempted the neighboring provinces as well, he minted silver coinage, stamping his own image upon it. As the defection grew, and as it—which at first had been mocked—now began to strike the emperor's soul with serious pain, he decided that there should be no delay but that he should take up arms against him. And so, having arrived at Philadelphia, he forced Mangaphas—who later acquired the nickname "Morotheodorus" (Foolish Theodore) because of the plans that went awry for him there—to remain confined within the city. But after having persisted with the siege for a considerable time, he was unable to force the Philadelphians to surrender; wherefore, he turned to parley and conditions, so that Theodore might lay aside the tokens of royalty and live a private life as before, and the populace of that city might again obey those whom they had previously obeyed. Having received hostages from there as he had demanded, he returned to the great city. In this uprising, too, many brave and noble men perished. ^B Not long after, Basil Vatatzes, who was of obscure birth but, because he was joined in marriage to a niece of the emperor on his father's side, had been honored as Domestic of the East and had girded himself with the ducal authority of the Thracesians, corrupted most of Mangaphas’ confederates with bribes. And although he could not seize the man himself and cast him into chains, he did succeed in having him driven from the city. Having done this, and appearing to have achieved something great and most gratifying to the emperor, he was nonetheless outdone, for Mangaphas, having fled to the sultan of Iconium, whose name was Caichosroes, did not indeed obtain allied forces against the Romans, but he was granted permission to recruit as many as he wished of those Turks who were covetous of gain and, with quiver and bow, were accustomed to plunder the Romans. By this means, having gathered no small forces, he carried off the slaves and beasts of burden of his own fellow citizens and afflicted the Phrygians of Laodicea with countless disasters, such that he even burned the crops of my fellow countrymen, the Choniatae, in the summer season, and treated all whom he happened upon in a hostile manner. For, not to mention that the Turks were rebuked by him for their clemency toward the neighboring Christians, and that after an incursion into Caria, he handed over many captives ^D to the Turks.

^A Moreover, this lawless man allowed the church of the archistrategos Michael to be burned—a work most great and celebrated, and one that excelled in beauty and length even the sanctuary of the glorious martyr Mocius in the imperial city. When he finally returned to the sultan, full of such lawless deeds, and the emperor learned that he was inciting the Iconiarch Caichosroes—who had recently received the rule of Iconium upon his father’s death—to thoughts and actions that were not good, he sent envoys ^B and, providing bribes to the sultan, secured the betrayal and handover of Mangaphas to him, though on condition that he would not pay for his apostasy with his life, nor suffer any mutilation or wounding of his members. For this reason, he was condemned to long-term imprisonment, free from any other harm. This action so displeased the rest of the sultan’s brothers, who had shared the ancestral rule with him, that they were prepared to take up arms against him because he had handed over a man who had come to him as a fugitive and suppliant to the Roman emperor for the sake of money, had he not appeased their anger with a specious response. For he claimed that he had released him for the sake of peace, and by no means had he betrayed him; and that he had restored a nomad to his own country so that neither he nor others would pursue him further. And so much for this.

3. No year could pass without bringing some public calamity, as if the divine ^C will had decreed that the lives of our contemporaries should pass without peace. For as if the Barbarian conflicts surrounding our necks were not sufficient to chastise us, we were also oppressed by a disaster from afar. For Frederick, the king of the Alamanni, sent envoys to the emperor Isaac, requesting that he and all his troops journeying to Palestine might pass through Roman territory in peace, and that they be allowed to purchase provisions, and that he signify his assent through his own envoys. Therefore, the logothete of the drome, John Ducas, was sent to him, and ^D having given and received pledges that the king would pass through without evil—that he would violate no city, town, fortress, or village, and that the Romans would abundantly provide him with provisions so that his army would lack no necessary thing, but would have everything in readiness and in great abundance for both beasts of burden and men—he returned after a time and announced to the emperor the things that had been agreed upon. The emperor then took care of the collection of the commodities, and by order, they were immediately transported by the provincials to the locations where the king was destined to pass. And as he himself

was receiving letters that had come to the emperor with men who were illustrious by blood ^A and dignity, indicating his [the king's] presence, the same man was again sent as logothete to arrange the passage of the king, and with him also Andronikos Kantakouzenos. But these men, through an ignorance of what was incumbent upon them and a certain native softness (for it is necessary, even if the men are our friends, to prefer the truth as being older and dearer), exasperated the king himself against the Romans and persuaded him to suspect the emperor as an enemy. Hence the oaths were disrupted, the collection of supplies failed, and we ourselves, who are writing these things, were entangled in very many troubles, having been appointed at that time both to the governorship and the tax-registration of the province of Philippopolis, being commanded by the emperor now to rebuild the wall and moat of Philippopolis in such narrow and dangerous times, ^B and then, by other letters, being ordered to demolish the same, lest it be a refuge for the king. For while he was preparing supplies through foraging expeditions, the emperor was detaining his envoys and preventing them from returning to the one who sent them, and was blocking the narrow passes, as seemed best to him, by felling with axes the tall and deep-rooted trees, and he heaped these up as an impassable barrier for those traveling. But he also ordered his cousin, Manuel Kamytzes, being protostrator, and the Domestic of the West, Alexios Gidos, to follow him with armies and to attack the foraging Alemanni secretly and ambush those seeking food. But the king was so little hindered by that rampart of trees that he escaped from the narrow places without any trouble. Indeed, what is more, he penetrated to Philippopolis by another way; and there, having fortified himself with a rampart, he took over the locations from the Romans, who were caught unawares, those very locations from which he was being barred and for whose sake the passes were being blocked. ^C Upon entering Philippopolis, he found the city empty of most of its more prominent inhabitants; for if anyone had remained there, he was either so poor that his wealth consisted only in the clothes he wore, or he was from the number of the Armenians. For these alone, of all, considered the passage of the Alemanni not an incursion of foreigners, but the arrival of friends, since the Alemanni also have dealings with the Armenians and agree with one another in most of the dogmas of religion. For among both the Alemanni and the Armenians the veneration of holy images is equally forbidden, and both use unleavened bread in their sacred rites, and they observe as lawful other things which are rejected as errors of opinion by orthodox Christians. Nevertheless, even after Philippopolis was occupied, the king did not cease to write to the protostrator and to signify that the Romans were in vain blocking his path and hindering him as he hastened on his duty. For he maintained that neither before nor now did he have any intention of causing any harm or annoyance to the Romans, and that he was preserving the pacts and agreements still inviolate. ^D When he had reported these letters to the emperor and was awaiting his orders, he never received a peaceful response from him, as he was constantly inciting him to join battle and reproaching him for his idleness, because he had not yet reported the slaughter and total destruction of the Alemanni who were going out rashly and scattered to forage.

^A in squares and here and there with the greatest possible confidence.

4. He wrote these things under the influence of some who whispered to him, speaking more from the belly than from a prophetic spirit, affirming that the king never contemplated occupying Palestine, but that his only thought was to capture the Queen of Cities, and that he would undoubtedly enter through the so-called Xylokerkos gate to perform acts that were an abomination, and then, by the just judgment of God, suffer no less in return. Preoccupied with such notions, the emperor blocked up that very gate with bricks and mortar, and, constantly carrying sharp arrows in his hands, said he would plant them in the hearts of the Alemanni; pointing to the window in the Blachernae palace in that place which is known for its height, from which the open fields beyond the ramparts in the Philopation are visible, he threatened that he would shoot his missiles from there and strike down and destroy the Alemanni, so that his words seemed ridiculous to those who heard them.

There was a certain Dositheos who led a monastic life at the Monastery of Stoudios; he was said to be of Venetian origin and born to a father named Viticlinus. Having become intimate with Isaac before his accession, he had predicted the empire for him. Because the prediction was fulfilled, he flourished with the highest honor and authority before this emperor and was appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem after the death of Leontios, a man of learning and renowned for his virtue, who had ended his life while then governing the throne of Jerusalem. ^B But since the impulse and power of emperors is wont not to rest unless they have altered divine and human affairs to their own liking, the Emperor Isaac, having attained the principate, deposed Basil Kamateros from the patriarchal throne, even though he had greatly assisted him in his ascent to power. The cause alleged for his deposition was that the noble ladies whom Andronikos had forced into monasteries against their will, he himself had permitted to lay aside their black robes and return to their former dress and way of life. In his place, he appointed as patriarch Niketas Mountanes, who was the great sacellarius of the Great Church. But he did not even allow this man, already very old, to breathe his last in the holy see; ^C he expelled him against his will, alleging as causes his advanced age, delirium, and instability. As he thought more carefully about a governor for the Church, he appointed a certain monk, Leontios, as great shepherd, having testified in the presence of the gathered public before the tribunal, under oath, that this man—previously unknown to him—had been revealed to him by the Mother of God at night, with not only his form and virtue described to him, but also the very place where he lived being shown. But when this man too was repudiated by the Mother of God before a year had passed, ^D the emperor, without any sense of shame—though he had sworn it in the presence of so many—...

decreed that the patriarchate should fall, and he planned to stage a change, raising Dositheus of Jerusalem to the ecumenical chair. But knowing that the canons would not permit this, he craftily approached Theodore Balsamon, who directed the throne of the great city of God, Antioch, a man who was then more learned in the law than all others. And having met with him in private, he feigned that he was grieving that the Church was so destitute of pious and learned men, and that monastic virtue had so decayed and vanished that there was no one who could illuminate the universal see—just as the restless course of the sun illuminates the whole world—and govern the body of the faithful as well as possible. Having prefaced these and other such things with a display of grief, he added that it had once been in his mind to transfer him from the Antiochene see to the ecumenical one, as a lamp of legal purity shining far and wide, but that he was deterred from that change by the prohibition of the ancient canons and ecclesiastical decrees. But if the man himself, as an expert in laws and canons, could demonstrate and convince the public that the translation was permissible, as it had been at one time, he would consider it a great gain and, ^B if it were permitted, would appoint him without hesitation. Trapped in this way, Theodore affirmed that all things would be valid. The next day, in a council of bishops summoned in the holy place, that question was raised, and the translation was immediately granted and confirmed by imperial letters. And the Antiochene remained, as he had been before, bishop of Antioch. Dositheus, however, was translated from the Jerusalem see to that of Constantinople, with a retinue so numerous and splendid that it undoubtedly equaled a royal triumph. But the leading priests and others distinguished by their eloquence, who saw that they had been deceived by the canons being rashly violated, were struck dumb; and, finding themselves unable to suffer the scorn any longer, they convened extraordinary councils and street gatherings. Dositheus was decried as an occupier of another's church; ^C his second honor was revoked, and he was led out from the seat. The emperor, however, unable to bear that indignity, opposed it by all means and stopped at nothing to make that approved translation stand. Not long after, the revocation was lifted, and he led Dositheus, now confirmed again, into the holy church, surrounded by his axe-bearing satellites and palace nobles, for he feared an uprising of the people. For Dositheus was hateful to all on account of his ambition and the emperor’s untimely stubbornness and his own little-praised zeal for the office. But he was again cast out from the see, in the same way as the dog in Aesop’s fable, and he lost the high priesthood he had held (for another had been elected in Jerusalem) and fell from the greater see, with George Xiphilinos, the Grand Sakellarios, designated as ^D patriarch.

^A 5. Then indeed, as was universally bruited, Dositheus, by depicting images and certain phantasms of future events from the books of Solomon, after the manner of demons who send dreams, won over the emperor, not by his nose, but by his ears. The Protostrator, compliant with his commands, neglected the letters of the king and was entirely intent upon harming the Alemanni as they went out to forage. And one night, having selected about two thousand distinguished horsemen, he determined to set out for Philippopolis and, having laid an ambush in those hills, to attack the foragers in the morning. And intent upon this business, he ordered the baggage, the servants of the soldiers, and the rest of the army to depart from there with us, as if inspired by a divine impulse. For day had not yet broken, and the Alemanni, having learned from the Armenians of the fortress of Prusenus—for there the emperor's army was encamped—what was in the mind of the Protostrator, set out during that same night, more than five thousand in number, all clad in iron armor, and hastened to attack us, having deceived the scouts and guards we had posted, and not having met up with those who were with the Protostrator. For he was traversing the parts near the mountains, where the lands were still full of supplies, and was keeping to the hillocks, so as not to be seen by those whom he was hunting. The Alemanni, however, proceeded confidently across the plain toward the Roman camp. ^B But when they found no one there, and learned that our men had departed on the previous day at the time of supper, and that the pick of the force had gone off to intercept their own foragers, without even waiting for a messenger they turned their horses, seeking to be found by those by whom they were being sought. Therefore, when they were descending from that hill which rises near the fortress of Prusenus, and our men were ascending, they collided unexpectedly. As it came to a clash of arms, the Alani, under the leadership of Theodore, the son of Alexius Branas, all but perished, for they were the first and the only ones fighting against the Alemanni. The Romans, however, betook themselves to a headlong and shameful flight, barely enduring the sight of the enemy; and the Protostrator himself, having escaped by another path, was not seen by us until the third day. Having most avidly avoided the hands of the enemy, and barely—as if still spewing out salt water from a long sea voyage—having reached the port, he returned, with the confused voices of the Alemanni seeking to capture him still ringing in his ears. Many also returned to the camp without arms and without horses, having been exhausted by that contention of the journey. From that, so far were the Ale- ^{C D}

^Bmanni and Romans separated, that they stood apart more than sixty stades. For they were still waiting at Philippopolis, while we, having reached the far ends of Achris, were resting, concerned only for our survival; indeed, we were ravaging our own province so that supplies might be available. When these things were brought to the emperor, they barely moved him to relax his stubbornness at all. A little later, we ourselves set out to him and explained the individual details more diligently, adding that the Alamanni said there was no other reason that had impelled the emperor to neglect the pacts of the Western Christians, except that he had made peace with the prince of the Saracens, and, as was the custom among them for establishing friendship, each had incised a vein in his chest and offered his own blood to the other to drink. ^A Thus at length we broke his stubbornness, so that, changing his counsel to the contrary, he sought the transit of the Alamanni into the East. But when he saw the king deferring the crossing until springtime due to the approaching winter (for these things were done in the month of November), he returned again to his natural disposition, and by letters, contrary to imperial dignity, he prophesied to the king that he would die before the Paschal days. And to pass over other things that occurred (for they contain more things to be blamed in the words and deeds of the author than are to be praised), he was with difficulty induced to permit the legates to return to him. When the king learned from them that the emperor had considered them worthy of neither a seat nor any other singular honor, but had allowed them to stand servilely just as the Romans, even though they were bishops and his kin, he could not conceal his indignation and wrath. However, when our legates came to him, he ordered them to sit with him, nor did he allow their ministers, cooks, and grooms to stand; and when they denied that it was proper for ministers to sit with a most great king, and that it was enough that this honor was held for their masters, he did not desist, but compelled them to sit with them even against their will. By that act he mocked the Romans; and he indicated that they had no regard for virtue or noble birth, but just as swineherds drive all pigs, whether fat and of greater value or lean, into the same sty, so too it was proper for any of the Romans to stand indiscriminately. Not long after, forced by a scarcity of provisions, he divided his army and departed for Orestias, having left his son with the bishops and sufficient forces at Philippopolis, to whom he said: "It is necessary for you to rest here, while you refresh your weary shins and failing knees from that station at the Greek king's court."

^A 6. When winter had passed and the flowers gave forth their scent, the treaty between the King and the Emperor was renewed; and the King’s princes and magnates swore that the King would travel through the Roman provinces by the royal road, and would stray neither to the left nor to the right into vineyards or fields until he had passed the borders of the Romans. The Emperor gave as hostages some of his own kinsmen. And inside the great temple, five hundred of the local and palace nobility were bound by oath that the Emperor would keep the agreements inviolate and provide the Alemanni with guides for the road and provisions. At that time, certain of the judges of Béla, who were being sent to the King in the capacity of hostages, did not comply; and since they could not openly oppose the Emperor and could not safely remain at home, they hid themselves in the corners of others' houses until the King had crossed into the East. The Emperor, however, being angered, sent officials in place of the judges of Béla as hostages, and granted the possessions and dwellings of those who had not complied to whomever he chose, and appointed other judges. But later, having learned that it was not insubordination but a not unreasonable fear that had caused what was done, he restored both the possessions and the former dignity to them.

Once the agreement was concluded, the Emperor sent to the King four centenaria of silver coin and exquisite garments woven with gold, and received other gifts from him in return. From there, after a great many horse-transport ships had been brought to Callipolis—for it had also been agreed that the whole army would cross in two transport operations, as the King feared that the Romans, violating the pacts, might kill those carried in small numbers while they were crossing—the King arrived in the East in no more than four days. ^B When he approached Philadelphia, he did not pass through the city, and its inhabitants, with simulated friendship, broke out into hostility upon the King’s departure and attacked a portion of his army by marauding. But as the affair had little success, and they seemed to be fighting against iron statues or giants, they turned their backs. The Alemanni, however, having traveled through the region called the Eagle, set up camp at Laodicea in Phrygia; and having been received there with the greatest humanity and treated more hospitably than anywhere else, they all prayed for every blessing from God for the Laodiceans, and the King especially. For lifting his hands to heaven and raising his eyes upward, while bending his knees to the earth, he prayed that everything that is useful for life and everything that brings salvation to souls might be granted to them by God the Father, the Governor of the universe, with this clause added: that if the Roman province were flourishing with such Christians, and if they received the soldiers of Christ so kindly, he would have willingly given them the riches he had brought, and having received provisions peacefully, would have long since crossed the borders of the Romans with their spears uncontaminated by the blood of any Christian. ^D

As they ascended higher, they did not find the Turks kindly disposed toward them either; but they too, avoiding open battle, harassed them with banditry wherever they could, although they had made an agreement on equal terms with the Romans to allow them to pass through their territory without fighting and to supply everything that the travelers needed. And it would have been to their own advantage had they kept the pact; but now, puffed up by empty hopes, they rushed headlong into ^A open war. Thus it was that the king, having joined battle at the castle called Philomelium with the sons of the Iconian sultan—who had deprived him of his kingdom, driven him from Iconium, and changed his former royal prosperity into a wretched old age—not only easily routed them, but also overturned and burned Philomelium. He defeated them also at the place called Cingularium. For when they were watching the passage of the Alemanni, having occupied the narrow defiles, he, having understood the enemy’s scheme, pitched camp in the plain; and having divided his own forces into two parts by night, he ordered one ^B part to remain in the tents, and the other, at daybreak, to pretend to flee and take a different route. The Persians, however, thinking the ruse to be the real state of affairs, joyfully poured out from the narrow passages into the open plain and charged the Alemanni’s rampart, at once confident and glad, as if about to plunder ready booty and great wealth. For every Barbarian is greedy, and for the sake of money he says and does most things, not to say everything. But when those who had fled turned back, and those who were in the camp sallied forth with confidence, the Persians were surrounded and slaughtered.

7. Now the king had become formidable and famous among the Eastern nations not only because of these two battles, but also because he visited the same disasters upon the Turks at Iconium itself. For the sultan himself, having fled to Taxara, excused himself, claiming to know nothing of what his sons had done, since he had been driven from his rule by one of them, Copatinus. But the Turks, having entered the garden trenches and ditches, which are numerous around Iconium, and having used dry-stone walls as a defensive screen, thought they would easily prevent the passage of the Alemanni into Iconium, since they were all excellent archers huddled in one place, and since they were light-armed troops about to fight against heavy-armed cavalry in narrow, difficult terrain. But this plan of theirs was also rendered void. For the Alemanni, seeing the Turks entering the garden enclosures ^C and shooting from there as if from ramparts, did the following: each man took an armed foot soldier onto the back of his horse, so that from it, as if by a ladder, they might climb the wall and engage the enemy at close quarters; and they themselves assisted them wherever the path allowed for the horses. Thus, on that occasion too, most of the Turks miserably perished; some also, scattered, sought safety in flight. But that we may confirm the multitude of the slain by the testimony of the enemies, a certain Ishmaelite who had been present at that battle, fleeing to the emperor, swore by his own religion that he had promised two hundred silver staters... ^D

for the removal of the corpses that had been slaughtered in his garden. The Alemanni, having taken Iconium, did not enter the city itself, but pitched their tents among the houses of the suburb, and taking nothing from there other than the necessities of life, they continued their journey. During this ascent, it is said that a certain Alemannus, of gigantic body and incomparable strength, had been left behind by his countrymen for a great distance; he was traveling slowly on foot, leading his horse which was exhausted by the journey. About fifty Ishmaelites, valiant men, having wandered from their stations, attacked him from all sides with arrows. But he, sheltered by his broad shield and trusting in the sturdiness of his breastplate, went on his way cheerful, and was no more moved by the missiles of those barbarians than if he had been a rock. One of them, more boastful than the rest, threw away his useless bow, drew his long sword, and galloping his horse forward, struck at him at close range as if he were a promontory or a bronze pillar. But the Alemannus, with a sword that would have graced the right hand of a hero, ^B cut off both front feet of the enemy's horse just like grass. When the horse fell to its knees, even though it still held its rider in the saddle, he drove his sword into the middle of the Persian’s head, so that having cleaved the rider in two, he also wounded the back of the beast and its saddle. The Persians were astonished at this spectacle and dared no longer provoke that one man, who, without hurrying his pace, arrived slowly at the camp of his people in the evening. It is said that the Ishmaelites, fearing that the king might linger in their territory because he had defeated them, wished to appease him through a simulation of kindness. He, having received as hostages the sons of their nobles and having taken on many guides for the journey, thus crossed their borders, and shortly thereafter, having reached the borders of Armenia, he slew not a few of them and sent the others back home.

8.

dominion over many nations, but also because, burning with the desire for Christ above all the Christian emperors of that time, he despised his fatherland, royal luxuries, tranquility, and the happy and proud life at home with his dearest ones. He preferred to endure sufferings, and for the sake of Christ’s name and the veneration of the life-giving sepulcher, he placed foreign lands before his fatherland; nor was he deterred from that resolve by so many parasangs, by a journey so long and difficult everywhere, nor by the dangers that threatened from the peoples through whose provinces he had to pass. Neither the scarcity of water nor the limited—and sometimes even treacherous—ration of bread turned him from his purpose. The embraces and tears of his children and their final farewells did not stir or soften his soul; but rather, like the apostle Paul, counting his life as little, he departed, not only to be bound, but also to die for the name of Christ. So apostolic was that man’s fervor and religious resolve, and in nothing inferior to the sanctity of those who, placed outside the common lot, strive with all the tension of their souls toward a way of life responding to the evangelical height, and in the course of their entire life have looked down upon human affairs as dung, having aimed them directly at that goal. And he indeed, as I am persuaded, died happily. ^B His son, however, having assumed the paternal principate, came to Antioch. From there he set out into the further Coelesyria, and pacified Laodicea, which was laboring under sedition and inclining toward the Ishmaelites. He also subdued Berytus without any labor; and having proceeded to Acre, which the Ishmaelites had occupied, he besieged it alongside many other Syrian cities that had formerly belonged to the Latins but had then defected to the Saracens. Having exhausted many labors there for the name of Christ, he himself also closed his final day. The remaining army, however, did not think it advisable to return home by land, for fear of the treachery of those nations through which they would have to pass; but having boarded the round ships of their countrymen that had put into Tyre, they returned home unharmed. ^C At this time, not only did the Alemanni take up arms against the Saracens who had occupied Palestine and ravaged Jerusalem, but also the king of France and the prince of the axe-bearing Britons, whom they now call the English, having gathered a great many ships from Sicily and the maritime coast of Italy and loaded them with provisions, sailed for Tyre. For that city was their refuge and, as it were, a citadel of war against the Saracens; being unable to expel them from the holy city themselves, they returned home with their goal unaccomplished. Furthermore, the king of the English during that voyage occupied Cyprus, and threw its lord—or rather, that inhuman and implacable tyrant Isaac Comnenus—into chains at the beginning, and shortly thereafter, having abducted the wicked man from there, he gave him to one of his own countrymen as a slave to

^A keep. He himself sailed to Palestine, ^B but having left an army in Cyprus, he asserted ownership over the island as if it were already his own, and by sending cargo ships to the island, he levied taxes on the necessities of life from it. Upon departing from Palestine, he gifted the island of Cyprus to the ruler of Jerusalem, so that he might take up his residence there, spend his time in a truce from wars as one having lost his own kingdom, and rule over the Cypriots, as the island had been assigned to the Lord's tomb by him and joined to the territories of Palestine. But enough of these matters.

BOOK III

OF THE REIGN OF ISAAC ANGELOS

THIRD BOOK OF THE REIGN OF ISAAC ANGELUS

1. ^B The Emperor Isaac, having shaken the succession of his lineage by three children who had been born to him from his former marriage—two daughters and one son—appointed the elder one at that time to be a nun. Having converted the house called of Joannitzes into a women’s monastery at great expense (a task which the Empress Xene also undertook after the death of her husband, the Emperor Manuel Comnenus), he consecrated her there to God like a lamb. The other daughter he sent as a wedded wife to the son of the King of Sicily, Tancred, who had reigned after William, who had taken up war against the Romans by land and sea, as we have previously recorded. He raised his son Alexios as the heir to the empire, and although he did not yet imagine the end of his life nor fear the loss of his dynasty, he predicted with certainty that he would reign for thirty-two years, ^C as if he knew the divine will or could set for himself the limits of the life which God has kept in His own power.

Not only did Alexios Branas and Theodore the Lydian celebrate their schemes against this emperor, but others also took upon themselves the title of the empire. For immediately, a certain Alexios, claiming to be the son of the Roman sovereign Manuel Comnenus, played the part of the contender in this drama—the masquerade of the Emperor Alexios—so skillfully and portrayed the role with such dexterity that he even arranged his hair to be golden like his, and assumed the stammering of the boy-emperor’s tongue. This youth had his origins in Constantinople, and, first seen in the cities of the Maeander, he went off

^A to a small town called Armala, where he took up residence with a Latin; and after he had reported who he was (saying, as we mentioned a little earlier, that although he had been surrendered by Andronicus to be tossed into the depths of the sea, he had been pitied by those tasked with this duty as they were people of his own father’s race), he proceeded together with him to Iconium. Appearing before the aged Sultan (for the latter’s son, the Copatin, had not yet deposed him from his rule) as the true son of the emperor Manuel, and not as an impostor and vagabond, he spoke to him. He often even rebuked him, and by reminding him of the benefits that had come to him from that supposed father of his, Manuel, he called him ungrateful toward his benefactor and reproached his inhumanity in that he was unmoved by the distress of the son of his friend. The Sultan, overcome by the man’s impudence and also by the features of his body, which seemed to show the likeness of his father, was moved to pity, ^B and he cheered him with no few gifts and nourished him with good hopes. But at one time when a Roman legate stood by and listened, as he was boasting of his excellent nobility, the Sultan asked the legate if he knew him to be the son of the emperor Manuel. When he replied that he knew nothing other than that the person in question had truly perished, having appeared drowned, and that this individual was weaving together incredible tales under the false name of the deceased, the youth Alexius, incensed with anger and seething with bile, was on the verge of flying at the legate’s beard, had not the legate himself, moved, powerfully pushed back the assault of the Pseudo-Alexius, and the Sultan rebuked his intemperance with words. Yet although he was nonetheless overcome by the frequent importunings of the youth, he did not even then grant his immense requests; rather, he merely conceded through a sultanic letter—which the Turks call a *musorium*—that he might, with impunity, reconcile to himself as many Turks as he could.

Having left there and shown those letters to the Turks, he attracted the emir Arsanes and not a few others who were accustomed to plundering the Roman provinces, so that in a short time he managed to have eight thousand troops following him. Hence, traveling through the cities along the Maeander, he subdued some by negotiation, while others that resisted he devastated in every way. Above all, however, he ruined the threshing floors, ^C whence he earned the nickname *Kausalones*. Many other commanders were sent to suppress this youth, but none was able to achieve anything heroic; instead, they returned without success, fearing that they might be betrayed by their own soldiers, who were more inclined toward the one now presenting himself as a son of the emperor and an emperor, or choosing to serve the reigning Isaac.

For he was not only beloved by the general public and the uneducated masses—who had him in their mouths and eyes, and thought him lovely—but even by the courtiers, who had established knowledge that Alexius, son of Manuel, had long since been ^D removed from human affairs, he was a source of wonder; not because they were ignorant of the truth, but because they gladly embraced what they desired. Finally, even the emperor’s brother Alexius—who later obtained the empire—did not engage in battle with him, but having pitched his camp at a great distance, he did nothing other than keep in submission the places not yet occupied by him, lest they go over to that "revived" Alexius. But while matters were still in doubt, and while the insurgents’ resources were growing and the Sebastokrator was occupied with gathering an army, God dissolved the civil war in a new way, which He alone knows, in a single moment. For when the Pseudo-

- Alexius had returned to Harmala, and while he was sleeping after a rather heavy drinking bout, he was slaughtered by one of his own priests with his own sword. The Sebastokrator, contemplating his head and brushing aside the blond hair with his horseman’s whip, remarked, "It is not altogether without cause that the cities followed this man." And he truly paid the penalty for his crimes, both because he had incited the Persians against the Romans and—among those of his own people who had flocked to him—had stained himself with the blood of his fellow countrymen, and because he, the detestable man, violated the celebrated temple of Michael, the archduke of the celestial hosts, in my Chonae; for he introduced Persians into the most holy tabernacle of God, and did not hesitate to look on as the effigies of Christ and the saints, depicted in multicolored tesserae, were destroyed, as the holy doorposts were torn down with axes and chisels, and as the most holy and precious altar was profaned and cast to the ground. ^B

2. Not many days later, another man appeared in Paphlagonia assuming the same name and falsely claiming the same emperor as his father, and he attracted certain provinces to himself. But the Sebastos Theodorus Chomnus, chartularius of the cavalry, defeated him in battle and killed him upon his capture. Following this, Basilius Chozas seized the tyranny in Tarsia, which is near Nicomedia; after he had held it for some time, he was captured, his eyes were gouged out, and he was committed to ward. Finally, others one after another—almost numberless, not unlike those earth-born brothers—vanished as empty bubbles after aspiring to the throne. For Isaac Comnenus, the nephew of the Emperor Andronicus through his brother, escaped from custody and, entering the great church, attempted to incite the populace; but having been seized, subjected to severe torture so that he might give the names of his accomplices, he died the next day from ruptured internal organs. There was also Constantinus Tatticius, a factious man, who had long secretly maintained five hundred assassins in the city; being denounced and shortly thereafter captured, he lost his eyes. ^C For the same crime, a certain Racendyta of the Comnenian lineage was immediately seized and suffered the same punishment. The cause of those frequent seditions was both that Isaac was administering the empire sluggishly, being fully persuaded that he had received it by divine right and was protected by God alone, and that ambitious men saw with what ease he had gained power. Whence many, with an insane plan, thought that if they only wished it, they would seize the empire without the clash of arms, having entered upon the path which Isaac had demonstrated by his own example; for he, having taken refuge as a suppliant in the temple on the day after Hagiochristophoritēs was killed, had begun to reign the next day—by a perverse

^A judgment and, consequently, an adverse outcome. For they were attaining not the purple but a twofold ignominy, and some were even being killed. For God is not accustomed to govern human affairs by the same method ever again, but, in order to manifest the variety of the administration of the universe, He transfers kingdoms and principalities in one way or another, with not even the most minute affairs excluded from His care. He sinks Pharaoh with his cavalry into the depths of the sea; another He slaughters through a beautiful woman, another He allows to be killed by enemies. There is also one who, through some mental confusion, is considered dead and, consigned to oblivion, is carried out of the palace with mockery and buried; whence, crying out with a faint voice and desiring the light, not seeking the empire, nevertheless he is allowed to perish and be ^B destroyed as a very wicked man. Many, extinguished by a gentle death, depart hence as if closed in slumber. There are those who have ascended to the kingdom through the neighing of a horse. Another is called from the plow and the furrow to the purple, another, a young shepherd, is divinely anointed as king. But to what purpose does it serve to recount individual cases which Providence alters and transfers in various ways in the conduct of human life for the utility of each?

^C Moreover, this emperor, being prone to anger and imbued with a high opinion of himself, ill-treated many, not just for a trivial cause but also from idle suspicion, and sometimes by the instigation of others. For he immediately decreed that Andronikos Komnenos should be arrested—he who was the son of Alexios, born of Bryennios the Caesar and Anna, the daughter of Alexios, the first of the Komnenian family to be emperor—who was governor of Thessalonica, after someone had denounced him for allegedly coveting the kingdom and for holding discussions about this matter with Alexios, the illegitimate son of Manuel, who had formerly been sebastokrator and was then living at Drama. Those, however, to whom this mandate had been given, when they encountered Andronikos on his way up to the emperor, neglected their instructions, judging that it was not necessary to frighten away the wild beast that was voluntarily entering Constantinople as if into a trap, and was coming to him by whom it was to be ensnared. When he had come into the sight of Isaac, he was immediately accused of treachery. Upon his denying that crime, a certain appearance of a trial was instituted; but then, without the case being pleaded, the arrested Andronikos was cast into prison and shortly thereafter blinded. As for Alexios, who was said to be his accomplice, he was shut away in a certain monastery on Mount Papykion—we ourselves carrying out this duty. Concerning him, although I could say much, I shall touch upon only a few things. He was not only tall and strong and ^D

full of understanding, looking exactly like his father, ^A vigorous in his hands, and having broad shoulders like his father’s, but he was also generally gentle and approachable. Seeing these traits, the much-suffering Andronikos betrothed his own daughter, Eirene, to the man, not recoiling from the incestuous marriage if only he might register Alexios among those closer to him by birth; thus, he valued him more than his own sons and had it in mind to make him his successor to the empire. ^B Later, however, having changed his mind, he chose his son Ioannes instead, having said to those to whom he unfolded the secrets of his counsels that it was not fitting for the empire to pass from A to A, but that it should rather incline toward I, and be gathered toward that end by God. Yet with this change in the judgment that Andronikos held regarding Alexios, the intensity of his affection also waned. For Alexios was no longer sought after as one of the same nature and likeminded, but as the husband of ^C his most beloved daughter, he was treated with respect and honor only. After some time, he even deprived him of sight, the cause of which punishment we have already stated.

Later, having been recalled by the emperor Isaakios and designated Caesar in place of Sebastokrator, he avoided the palace as much as he could and dedicated himself to a private life. But not even then did he escape troubles. When affairs were falling into a worse state, and he was about to have his hair shorn, he did not ask for bread, a sponge, and a lyre, as a certain man once did who experienced the iniquity of fortune: bread to refresh his body exhausted by long famine; a lyre to lament his evils; a sponge to wipe away his tears. Rather, he bore those occurrences with an even mind, ^D complaining nothing of Providence, nor inveighing against the lightness and variability of Fortune in mixing up human affairs. Indeed, he esteemed the plundering of his own goods just as another would esteem a possession.

But when we had departed from Drama, where we had taken him, and had arrived at Mosynopolis and were about to ascend Mount Papykion so that we might initiate him into the monastic ceremonies, then, as human nature dictates, he appeared sadder than usual, nor could he hide that by which his soul was distressed. When I pressed him and asked the cause of this sudden change, "It is not the habit, most dear friend," he said, "that I dread (for what danger can a change of clothing contain?), but the promises that the habit carries with it; and that saying, that he is in no way fit for the kingdom of heaven who, having once put his hand to the plow, looks back in madness." With these and other sayings of that kind, as he was a man eloquent and well-versed in the holy Scriptures, he unwillingly put on the Christian pallium; and as for the prayers that were performed over him, he did not even admit them to his ears, but merely suffered himself to be shorn and to be called Athanasios. Truly you might wonder, nor would you say it happened by chance, that out of all the cells on Mount Papykion he chose that one in which the Protostrator Alexios had cast aside his worldly hair under Manuel for no probable cause, as we have said elsewhere, but caught only on account of his most ample wealth, his singular prudence, and his dexterity in managing affairs. For it was fated, indeed, that the father’s sins should redound upon the son, and that, as the proverb goes, the dullness of teeth should seize him because of the sour grapes tasted by the father. But a three-month period not yet having elapsed, the emperor

having summoned him back thence, showed—by the things he did—that he did not act without reason in his own affairs; and for this reason, he delighted in abrupt changes, ^A much like the turbulent strait of Aulis. For, taking the Alexius to share his table, he would honor him with continuous servings of meat, just as Agamemnon formerly honored Ajax, and urging him on toward an unhesitating consumption of the dishes set before him, he would often say to him, “Eat, O leader.”

Isaac did not treat only Alexius and Andronicus in this way, but also Constantine Aspietes. ^B Having spoken in defense of the army which he led in the war against the Vlachs, and having said only that the soldiers were unable to contend with two most grievous evils—hunger and the Vlachs—but that their annual stipends ought to be paid to them, he was unable to curb the anger of the emperor; for he was immediately stripped of his rank and blinded, as the emperor suspected that the man, under the pretext of defense, was inciting the army.

But the son of the Comnenian Andronicus, of whom we have lately spoken, I know not whether wishing to fill up the measure of his father’s apostasy or intending to bring aid to him who had begotten him, ^C presented himself, not long after his father’s blinding, at the Great Church, desiring to be snatched up from the gathered crowd to imperial power—and it was a feast day. But before the purpose for which he had run in to the temple was known to those who had gathered there, he was apprehended as a rebel and blinded. And because he had not become more cautious, as was fitting, by the examples of those who had attempted this thing in vain, he deterred all others from a similar attempt by his own example. And whereas another ought to have been the last one to be punished for desiring the empire and entering the temple, this man became a sort of seal and end to the rebels; for from that time forth, no one proposed to follow the same path.

3. As the affairs of the West were always in a worse state, and the Vlachs, plundering together with the Cumans, were constantly attacking the Roman provinces, the emperor went out against them again. ^D And indeed, having passed by Anchialus, he entered the Haemus mountains by a circuitous path. But since he could accomplish nothing worthy of the emperor’s presence, he limited that expedition to two months. For he found the forts and small towns there adorned with new walls and towers and fortified far more strongly than before, and their defenders, like deer seeking the heights and in no other way than goats leaping upon the cliffs, declined a set battle. And because he was also apprehensive of an incursion of the Scythians (for the season was not inappropriate for their crossing), it was not permitted him to linger there for long. But when he was not about to return by the way he had come, but was seeking another, shorter path which led through pleasant valleys to Beroea, he lost the greater part of his army, and he himself would have perished, had he not been preserved by divine aid. For when, on that road, which opened out in some places and was suitable for cavalry, he—

^A should have made his way toward Beroea through the defiles there, he inserted both himself and his army into the narrow, precipitous gullies and the mountain passes where a small stream flowed. Manuel Camytzes the protostrator and Isaac Comnenus, son-in-law of Alexius who later reigned, were leading the vanguard; the sebastocrator John Ducas, paternal uncle of the emperor, brought up the rear. The emperor Isaac himself and his brother, the sebastocrator Alexius, occupied the center of the phalanx, which was preceded by the baggage train and the non-combatant camp followers who were outside the order of march. ^B The Barbarians, appearing on both sides of that narrow passage, clearly intended from the beginning to carry out some grievous deed. Now those who had preceded the others passed through without a fight, for the Vlachs had not yet gathered at the narrow parts of the road, and they had, moreover, judged it reasonable to let the first pass through unscathed, so that they might stand against the center of the phalanx where the emperor was, along with his retinue and all the ranks of nobility attending him. And they were not deceived in their designs. For when the emperor had advanced deep into that difficult place, which afforded no escape, the Barbarians attacked with a very large crowd. ^C Nor were the infantry of the Roman army idle in the face of this, but they too, hastening not to be surrounded, rushed upward against the slope of the terrain, repelling the Barbarians descending from the peaks, even if they did so with great difficulty and danger. But since they were pressed by the heavy number of weapons and the rocks rolled down upon them, the Romans fared poorly and gave way to flight, though only in a qualified manner and never excessively; and this did not last long, for the superiority of the foreigners—who pressed down on them and attacked with superior numbers—cast them into disorder within the army. From then on confusion ensued, and as everyone set his mind on saving himself, the enemy slaughtered those getting cut off like sheep shut in a pen, ^D and they continually slew those within their reach. There was no one to defend them, nor could anyone have done so. The emperor himself, caught as if in a net in the midst of the fray, often tried to push back the Barbarian attacking him; but while achieving nothing, he even lost his headgear, which they call a *cassin*. But since many valiant men had gathered around him, and many had slain the pack animals and—so it is said—some Roman soldiers as well who stood in the way of their passage due to the bottleneck, he managed to scramble out and was saved alone, among many who had perished. And joining the units that had passed through before him, he gave thanks to God, in the manner of David, for having overshadowed his head during that battle. As for the sebastocrator Ducas, when he saw that he could not advance, having found a good guide whom a soldier of his had lured away from a barbarian cohort, he slipped away by another route without any harm. When the emperor had reached Beroea, he found the army which had preceded him safe, though they had expected nothing good concerning him. It was even rumored that he had perished along with his troops. To abolish this adverse rumor, he remained for a few days in those regions and returned to the imperial city, the ill-omened report having been destroyed by another message, which he himself had seen to be spread about in the cities regarding his victory, following the example of Hanno the Carthaginian. However, neither did Hanno derive any lasting fruit from the singing of the Libyan birds, which he had taught from the time they were chicks to chirp that "Hanno is a god," letting them go in different places so that the singing of the birds might be heard everywhere; for when they had flown away, they ceased singing that "Hanno is a god" and returned to their old song; and the emperor, of his victorious fame

for, as the fall was widely mourned, the cities showed great lamentation and the fields held a wild revelry of mourning. ^B Entering the capital city, he lowered his brow somewhat, and was stung by these events. Formerly, he was not in such a state, but setting out against the Barbarians, and drawing to himself those prophetic words, he thought that he would go forth in joy and return with mirth, and that the mountains and hills would leap to meet him in joy, and all the trees of the forest would applaud with their branches, and in the place of the thorn bush shall come up the cypress, and in the place of the brier shall come up the myrtle; for he was puffed up with strange conceits concerning himself, and often, bringing forth things that were hidden in the recesses of his heart, he would say that it was not because of our sins committed in common and because the judgment of God had forsaken us all that the ear of the Lord was stopped from hearing us, and we were delivered to be scourged by a foolish and unwise nation, but that we had paid the penalties for our defection, because those who had become prey to the enemy had followed Branas. Oh, the thoughts and promptings of the evil one! If some princes have been persuaded that God delivers myriads of pious ^C people to the heathens, like sheep for the slaughter and destruction, on account of any transgression of theirs! For what tearful Jeremiah would sufficiently lament those who are taken captive, those who are slain, those who are sold into far-off lands, and particularly those where the name of Christ is not invoked? Nor was he content with that insolence, but he boasted of his monarchy, and of the wealth of the nations, and of the liberation of Palestine, and of the attainment of the glory of Lebanon, and of the defeat of the Ishmaelites beyond the Euphrates, and of the repelling of the barbarian tribes from every side. He added that the leaders he would then have would not be like ours, but would possess supreme power and would devour the riches of the nations and drain their marrow of fatness, being like kings and toparchs in authority and splendor. He was driven to such inanities by vain men, who flourish even in our own age, and who, like moths, crept into and eroded his spirit, which was avid for new things; or rather, as nurses place an infant in a cradle, so did they impel him to sloth and idleness with their fables and inventions, as if, while he dozed, when the fatal hour was at hand, kingdoms would fall into his power of their own accord, just as the ancients depicted ^D Timotheus sleeping, while Fortune circled around him and handed over cities gathered into a single net. And what is more to be wondered at, he asserted that Andronikos Komnenos, whom he himself had driven from the empire and caused to be miserably slaughtered, was to have ruled for nine years, had not the years been contracted to three by God on account of his wickedness, and those six years of his added as a patch of purple to his empire; and that he would not have been entirely merciful and moderate, nor would he have had regard for beneficence in all things, since he was drawn by force to that nature by the evil years of Andronikos. Whether by these words he excused Andronikos as having possessed the empire during evil times, and by the necessity of fate, as some of the Greeks have argued, I leave to others to judge. But after the six years

had passed, he demonstrated by his own example that the period referred not to a chronological duration, but to a moral disposition, and he set before them what he wished; for while promising greater benefits to his subjects for the years that followed, he did nothing better than the previous ones.

^B 4. The Vlachs, however, ever elated by their victories over the Romans, and having gained great wealth and arms of every kind from the spoils of the Romans, could no longer be restrained in their impulses, and they no longer ravaged only the villages and fields as they invaded, but armed themselves even against the well-fortified cities. They sacked Anchialos, took Varna, and having arrived at Triaditza—which was formerly called Sardica—they destroyed the greater part of it, and they emptied Stumpios of its inhabitants. They also arrived at Nish and drove off from there no small plunder of men and cattle. The emperor, being unable to choose whom he should rescue first from those suffering evils, or whom he should at last benefit—being surrounded on all sides like a honeycomb by bees—divided his army among his commanders. ^C Indeed, he restored Varna, fortified Anchialos with towers and a garrison. And although these things did not seem to be lacking in imperial foresight, nevertheless the enemies were again superior. But he himself, having set out after the autumn equinox into the Philippic province, and having brought his womenfolk along, checked as much as possible the incursions of the Vlachs and Scythians. He also attacked the Zupan of the Serbs, who would not desist from his wrongdoing and was destroying Skopia; and when their battle lines clashed along the river called the Morava, the barbarians turned their backs, and in the ensuing pursuit not a few of them were given over to destruction, being drowned in the waters and pierced by spears. Having also passed by Nish, and having arrived at the Sava river, he joined his own kinsman by marriage, Bela, the king of Hungary. And having spent many days there, he returned again to Philippopolis, and from there he entered the great city, having avoided the crossing over the Haemus.

^A And turning his attention in another direction to the government of the regions belonging to Philippopolis, as they were the ones most constantly suffering from the ravages of the enemy, he sent his cousin Constantine, whom he had also appointed commander of the fleet, to be their general. Although he was still a youth, he nevertheless displayed his spirited nature—just as lion cubs from their very birth show their brow, the shagginess of their neck-mane, and the sharpness of their claws—and thus he disciplined the army that accompanied him to such fear and obedience that they readily complied with his commands at his mere nod and thought. He exercised command, therefore, with his natural sharp-sightedness; and if his youth ever rashly caused him to stray from his duty, the experience of the sub-commanders joined to him would pull him back, advising him not to overstep the tactical lines. The Vlach rebels, therefore, feared him as much as they stood in awe of the emperor himself; and often when Peter and Asan purposed to ravage the territory of Philippopolis and Berrhoea, they did not escape the notice of Constantine as they set out, but found him pursuing them and shaking their phalanxes, so that they did not conduct their incursions as frequently as before. ^B But though Constantine should have chosen what was profitable for the fatherland and the cities there, he turned to the opposite course. For, elated by these small skirmishes and being mentally unstable on account of his youth, he began to win over for himself the generals serving with him, as well as those among the local soldiers whom he knew to be respected by lineage and skilled in the works of war. Having in this way gained a slight advantage toward the accomplishment of his desires, he exchanged his general’s cloak for the imperial [purple], and to prepare for the usurpation of the tyranny, he put on the purple buskin. He gave secret notice of the things done to him by letters to his sister’s husband, the Great Domestic of the West, Basil Vatatzes. The latter, however, not only did not applaud his daring deeds, nor did he pay heed to what he was doing in his childishness, or to what he was writing in his insolence—he was at that time residing in Adrianople—but he even mocked his untimely and senseless ambition, and lamented for him as one who was on the verge of ruin. ^C And this followed immediately. For when he had left Philippopolis with the intention of traveling to Adrianople and drawing his brother-in-law Vatatzes, even against his will, to his side, when he arrived at the place called Neutzikon (this is a spot forming the boundary of both provinces, I mean that of Adrian and that of Philippopolis), he was captured and betrayed to the emperor by those very same men who had incited him to revolt and had proclaimed him emperor. They themselves, trying to reshape their own defense for what they had done into something seemly, informed the emperor that their inclination and appeal to the rebel was done in no other way than to accommodate themselves unwillingly to the circumstances of the time and to the reality of the situation; for they saw ^D that it was not safe for them at that time to oppose the will of Constantine, who surpassed all the generals in his irascibility and would immediately unsheath his sword against those who did not obey his commands. And this, they argued, which they had done now when the opportunity arose, was a proof of their inviolate loyalty toward the emperor. The emperor, although he was not ignorant of the tricks and painted excuses of such fickle men, nevertheless, because the outcome was to his advantage, approved of it, blinded Constantine, and punished none of his accomplices openly. The Vlachs, however, were so exhilarated by the fall of Constantine, and the brothers Peter and Asan so exulted, as if

^A they had succeeded in making him king of their own nation, saying that he could not have conferred a greater benefit upon the Vlachs than by putting out Constantine’s eyes—indulging thus in a bitter wisdom and mocking the Roman state, which was always declining and yielding to the worse elements. The same men also prayed for a long-lasting reign for those of the Angelos family who were in charge of the Roman power; they besought the Divine, if it were possible, that they should never see death nor happen to be deprived of the empire. And the wretches, prophesying as they added the reason, claimed that as long as they reigned, the Vlachs’ kingdom would increase and grow ever greater, and they would acquire foreign lands and cities, and rulers and leaders would arise from their own loins—not knowing, I suppose, from where or how they came to utter these studied declarations. ^B Hence, they would advance with a Scythian phalanx as if to sack some fortress, or to carry off villages, or to leave cities desolate, and they ravaged everything they encountered; at one time pressing into Philippopolis, at another lying in wait at Sardica, and at other times attacking near Adrianople. The Romans, for their part, marched out against them rather sluggishly, and if they ever did draw up in battle array or clash, they harmed their adversaries only in measured, trivial ways.

5. This emperor, having resembled a long-distance runner—or rather a runner in the stadium—immediately at the starting line ceased the running of his most excellent race; for he did not even complete many laps of virtue, but as if exhausted, he relaxed from the intensity of his impulse and became enervated in that purpose which was altogether praiseworthy. ^C Accordingly, having exchanged the reins and bridles of the common administration with many—as if he himself were ill-suited for the earnest management of the empire—he finally entrusted the conduct and governance of these to his maternal uncle, Theodore Castamonites. This man was most capable in the handling of affairs, and especially in the collection of public revenues, and a participant in wiser discourses; the emperor, having appointed him Logothete of the Secreta, was led and carried by him just as if he were the one being reigned over. Hence, like someone sitting in the station of a servant, he performed everything that was ordered by him, having judged almost nothing for himself. ^D Being afflicted with gout in the joints of his feet, Castamonites was for the most part carried in to the ruler, being lifted by two carriers on a litter like wine jars; and having discussed with the emperor the things that were necessary—or rather, trafficking in Roman affairs and selling them for a small price—he was carried back out, with the people following, and the nobles and kinsmen of the emperor accompanying that bier, lamenting not him, but their own fortunes. For nothing was decided without him, and none of the nobles would sit in the presence of Castamonites, but all stood with a servile gesture. The emperor did not take these things ill; nor, when he saw his own glory passing to another and the empire being ravaged, did he [endeavor to correct anything of this absurdity].

He was instead approving of the proceedings for no manifest or reasonable purpose. As he proceeded, he even granted him purple trappings, although he belonged to the sacred order, and allowed him to possess such a surcingle while riding, and to signify by the same color the scrolls of public discourses and state papers. And indeed, affairs had shifted toward the unconventional and were acting against their own nature, until a merciful disease ^B relieved humanity by striking his joints with an influx of noxious humors and invading the very citadel of his reason. On the fifteenth day of the month of August, as he was proceeding with pomp and a very crowded retinue through the forum to the church of the Pantanassa to celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, he was for the first time hailed as Lord and Emperor (for flatterers and those who fawn upon the powerful were usurping even this title for him), and it was then for the first time that, in the judgment of the sensible, he seemed to be inclining toward epilepsy on account of the insolence of such an appellation. And a certain judge of the Bali, whose name I shall intentionally pass over, having loosened his garment, was binding the logothete’s calves with his own belt, attempting thereby to prevent the humors from rising upward. Yet even so, he was not freed from his delirium; and he was mocked by all, both for his loose garment and for the pliability of his mind. Although he did at that time recover somewhat ^C from the severity of the pain, he nonetheless fell back into the same affliction, and after a few days he expired, being already in a sickly state of body, and having been hollowed out by fistula around the seat from his disease. For truly, ugliness shines forth more brightly when compared with beauty. For when Castamonita died, the emperor’s benevolence was transferred to a certain youth who still had need of a tutor and a writing tablet. Even after he died, a small boy, who but a short time before had departed from the pen and inkpot, was administering the highest affairs. And he would lead about and carry the emperor wherever he pleased, just as the tiniest fish, which is called the *propompus*, leads and carries about a huge whale; but he also managed the military rolls, just as if he had been raised from the cradle for the administration of the greatest matters, or had possessed the knowledge of human affairs before his birth, just as they say of the Sibyl that, as soon as she emerged from the maternal womb, she discoursed ^D on the creation of the universe. Therefore, he also, having attained authority far greater than Castamonita’s, being sharp in most matters and dexterous in handling affairs, would approve whatever the emperor desired, and was judged to be the greatest and incomparable good, not unlike a little bee or a gnat buzzing around a lion's ear, or a dark-skinned dwarf governing an elephant, the greatest weight on earth, or leading a camel by a thin cord through its nose, or rather, like thick filth obstructing the emperor’s ears so that they might hear nothing else, or like a narrow gate and a cramped path leading to the palace. For the broad entrances of old, through which those who tried to enter were accustomed to pass, were completely obstructed, [making them] exactly like those foolish virgins.

If anyone was seen through the chinks of the doors by those who did not cease from knocking, they received no other response than that they should go to the small and narrow side-door; and even there, entry was not possible unless it were opened by gifts, even if one had to sell one's clothes. ^B But that this old child was greatly beloved by the emperor and stood alone for him in place of all others, he achieved this both by his sophisticated, witty, and ready wit, and by a hidden and dark character, which his hirsute eyebrows, joined without any gap above the nose, signaled. But what especially served him was the fact that he would return to the emperor the gifts offered to him by others. For he was of such a mercantile disposition, and burned with such an insatiable hunger for receiving, that he would accept not only gold and garments, but also other trivial things, even down to melons and other edible fruits and apples of every kind.

6. But we must return our discourse, which has strayed from the path on which it set out from the beginning. [The things] which were done by this emperor during the time he resided in the queen of cities, to speak a few things out of many, were manifested in this way. ^C This emperor was most extravagant in his living, and distributive of his dishes to those standing at the table. He had a table that was truly Solomonic or Sybaritic, and he daily wore new garments, as did that king; nor was his banquet anything other than a hill of bread, a forest of beasts, a sea of fish, and an ocean of wine. Every other day he would restore himself with baths. ^D Anointed with pastilles and perfumes of every kind, he would show himself off like a proud peacock; and as a bridegroom from his bridal chamber or as the sun from the East, so he would issue forth daily from the palace. He rejoiced in witticisms and soft songs. The doors were open to fools, buffoons, stage-players, parasites, mimes, and palace singers; and with these things and these men is joined the intemperance of Bacchus and Venus, and the other things accustomed to corrupt the good state of a sound empire. When at one time he had ordered other things to be brought to him at supper, the most festive of the mimes of that age, nicknamed Calibures, having caught sight of the gathering of women which consisted of the handmaids and kinswomen of the emperor:

[...], nor was there any place for Cercops and mimics and parasites and singers in the palace. For with such men is a drunken [world] ^A always joined, and lewdness in the bedchambers is intertwined, and everything that destroys the state of a virtuous and sound reign. Furthermore, he once said at dinner: “Bring me salt (40).” The wittiest of the mimics of that time, who was nicknamed Chalibouris, looking around at the choir of women, which was composed of some serving-maids and relatives of the emperor, said: “We shall know these first, O emperor; then later order others to be brought in.” And at this remark, all the men and women burst into laughter. But his complexion changed, and with difficulty restraining his anger, he punished the buffoon’s free-speaking with a scowl and checked him.

In directing his course, he sought out places pleasant in situation and temperate in climate, returning to the capital at intervals and appearing at various times like the phoenix bird. ^B Above all else, he was obsessed with the erection of massive structures, rushing toward what he desired with a kind of frenzy, while in most matters neglecting his duty. In both palaces he built bathing establishments and most splendid chambers, and in the Propontis he erected sumptuous houses, and by filling in the sea, he fashioned small islands. When he had decided to build a tower in the Blachernae palace for the sake, as he said, of its defense as well as his own habitation, he demolished old shrines that stood neglected on the shore, and he leveled many illustrious houses of the city, the foundations of which even now can scarcely be viewed without tears. He razed to the ground the most splendid general building—which was entirely of baked brick—and, among many other things, destroyed the famous house of the Mangana, fearing ^C neither the elegance and magnitude of the work nor revering the victorious martyr to whom it was dedicated.

Intending to restore the church of the divine Michael, arch-general of the heavenly hosts, which is situated in the harbor, if there was any marble slab in the palace that was illustrious for its splendor and variety of colors, whether it paved the floor or adorned the walls, he saw to it that it was transferred there. Furthermore, he gathered into the same temple the painted and sculpted images of the archangel, which were dedicated in the city or elsewhere for protection—works of ancient and admirable hands. He also applied the greatest effort to transfer from what is now called Monembasia the [image of] Christ being dragged onto the cross, a work of admirable art and elegance, which most vividly represents ^D the torture of our Lord and Savior; nor did he rest until he had taken that image by guile, for he could not have attempted it openly without danger. The bronze gates, broad and very high, which formerly closed the great palace—in our age they guard the prison which is called Chalce—he moved to the same place. He despoiled the famous church of the court, which is called the New Monastery, of all its sacred decoration and of all its vessels. And he gloried in these things and was carried away by them more than anyone else would consider marvelous works for his own praise. For since he preferred the shadow to the image, he considered subtraction to be addition and transposition to be apposition, although it had no semblance of beneficence, nor the small nor any pretense of religion; nor did he believe that God was angry, but rather that He rejoiced, if one temple, deprived of its former splendor, provided nests for birds and dens for hedgehogs, while another was restored.

^A by means of alien gifts and foreign adornments, and thus began to sparkle.

7. He also possessed such audacity—if I may say so with restraint—that he profaned sacred vessels, tearing them from the holy temples and bringing them to his own banquet tables. At his drinking parties, he would handle with his own hands those offerings made in the form of chalices, fashioned of precious stones and pure gold, which were suspended over the monuments of the emperors; and he used for washing his hands those basins of insurmountable elegance, which the Levites and priests are accustomed to use to purify themselves when they perform the holy mysteries. He would take off pieces from the venerable crosses, as well as ornaments of the greatest value from the immortal oracles of Christ, and he used them as necklaces and torques; he would wrap the sacred codices themselves in other imperial vestments that possessed no wonder. He was gravely angered at those by whom he was warned that such deeds were not fitting for a religious emperor who had received his piety from his ancestors, and that this was nothing other than sacrilege; he argued that they were clearly fools and ignorant of what is honorable, maintaining that everything is permitted to emperors, and that between God and a king, so far as the governance of earthly affairs is concerned, there is no such repugnance as exists between a negation and an affirmation. And to prove, forsooth, that he was not to be blamed on this account, he would bring forward the example of Constantine, the first and greatest among Christian emperors, who had inserted into the bit of his horse one of the nails by which the glorious Lord was fixed to the execrable cross, and fixed the other ^B to his helmet. Yet he purposely concealed the reason why the prince of the Christian religion adorned himself with such things—namely, to show the Gentiles that the preaching of the Cross was a divine ^C power, which they despised as madness.

He debased the silver coinage and minted base money, and he did not collect funds in a manner altogether beyond censure; he increased the exactions of public taxes, which he abused for luxury. He held the magistracies to be for sale, like fruit sold by street peddlers; and at times he would send men into the provinces in the apostolic manner, without scrip or purse, whom he knew to have some regard for equity, men who could not be led astray by gold, would not hide away at home whatever they had collected, but would in good faith pay into the public treasury the debt that was due. Yet in his liberality toward temples and monasteries, he surpassed all previous emperors; for he shored up those falling into ruin and restored the incrustations deformed by age ^D.

^A with mosaics and colors. Furthermore, he directed such piety toward the Theotokos that he poured out his soul [P. 285] before her icons. For this reason, he dedicated to the churches very many of them, adorned with gold and precious stones for veneration, where the gatherings of the pious often take place. And moreover, having converted the residence of the sebastokrator Isaac, situated in the steep part of the Sophian harbor, into an inn, he provided a table for one hundred men and beds, and set up stables for as many beasts of burden, so that those arriving there ^B were fed for many days without any payment of silver. He also changed into a hospital the royal dwellings that the emperor Andronikos had built near the church of the Forty Martyrs. He even redeemed the house called the Great Drungary's from its owner, and likewise designated this as a resting place for the infirm, sparing nothing that might aid in the restoration of the sick. And when the northern region of the city was consumed by fire, he succored those who had suffered the loss of houses or goods by the distribution of money. Having obtained the empire, he distributed five hundred centenarians of gold to the citizens. In the Great Week, in which is celebrated the memory of the suffering that God and man endured for us, he helped widows with alms and poor maidens with dowries and the expenses of their weddings. Nor did he revive only individual men, households, and families with his munificence, but he sometimes exempted entire cities from tribute. To embrace it in few words, he was so inclined toward mercy, beneficence, and the relief of the needy that whatever he had received from any source through violence ^C and injustice, he would pour it out again with both hands. For that reason, although money was exacted from the poor, he labored under the delusion that he was not sinning, being persuaded that in this way it was being restored to them. For the immense expenses caused him to send corrupt men into the provinces, who would auction off magistracies. This was the cause of the state's going to ruin. For money sought through violence and fraud corrupts and consumes even that which was well-gotten. Although he was prone to wrath, he was nevertheless not alien to clemency, and he would moderate his severity from time to time, alleviating the miseries of men with his placability. When doing these things, and others omitted by us, he thought he would flourish like a palm tree planted by a river ^D and be more firmly fixed in his empire than the sun in the celestial sphere, and would endure for long ages like a towering cedar of Lebanon. Anyone else would have judged the same, who had chosen and loved the best part, and had not cared only for worldly things but had also kept the future age daily before his eyes. For good and evil are situated in the power and judgment of each person, that he might choose and do what is pleasing to God. Whoever does this shall endure for many years, just as we say on the contrary that the life of the wicked will be short, following the authority of the Prophet, who says that bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not reach half of their days. But God has not ordained it so. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?

Indeed, the Divine Providence, having prepared beforehand to remove the man ^A from the scene, showed to the many, by the most excellent action and most noble eagerness with which it incited him—as if it were refreshing him—that he was beloved even after the laying down of his authority.

8. For having to bear the incursions of the Scythians and the robberies of the Vlachs, and being struck by the fact that Alexios Gidos and Basileios Batatzes—of whom the former led the eastern regiments and the latter presided over the western ones—had engaged the enemy somewhere very close to the town whose founder was Arkadios, and not only had achieved nothing good, but Gidos had fled in disorder having lost the better part of the army, while the other had perished with the ranks under him, he decided to wage war against his opponents once again under his own guidance. Collections and enrollments of the Roman armies were therefore made, and the mercenary forces were also gathered, not without utility. Having also sent to his father-in-law, the King of the Huns, he asked for help through auxiliaries. The latter gladly consented to aid him, and agreed to send cavalry squadrons through Vidin.

Having therefore completed the sufficient gathering of supplies for the camp, and having prepared fifteen centenaries of gold and more than sixty of silver, and having equipped other things useful for the army, in the days of March he went out from the Queen of Cities, committing himself to God, and having set his own face hard as flint against the barbarians, and having set as the limit of his return the finishing of the works for which he campaigned against the rebels; if this should be favorable, he would attribute it to God; if it should be adverse—which he prayed against—even this was to be left to the judgment of Him who would have the lot of the just chastised for a time by the rod of sinners. And he, while setting out, nurtured such zeal and went to meet the peak of danger; but the hand and influence that is above all was still high, nor was the anger of the Divine turned away, as the outcome showed, with the Vlachs having secured victory against us.

But while the eyes of the Emperor looked at the fierce enemies and his thought pursued those far away, he did not see him by whom he was to be expelled from the empire ^B, who was standing near and was joined to him by the greatest consensus of mind in all things; and he leaped over this domestic obstacle as if it were entirely harmless. Nor is this to be wondered at, since we are either unwilling or unable to discern that vices in mortals sprout up near to virtues and almost from the same root. Not to mention that nature has, in a way, implanted in us an affection for our own affairs, by which, being bound and softened, we resist more sluggishly the evil affections and actions both of ourselves and of our dearest ones. From which it comes about that we pass by, as if with deaf ears, the words of those who recount the wicked deeds of our own people.

Thus Isaac, too, when he heard from very many that his brother Alexios was plotting against both his life and his empire, and that he was masking his clandestine hatred with a pretext of benevolence, and that there were more lovers of Alexios than of Isaac, he spurned those words as trifles, not applying judgment—as if it were a touchstone—to detect the adulterated acts of his brother. Nay, he was harsh toward the informers,

^A viewing them as people who—driven by desire—were attempting to dissolve the indelible affection for his kinsman that was, as it were, burned deeply into his soul; an affection which Andronicus, the destroyer, was alone among all others unable to injure. Having therefore arrived at the seaside city of Rhaedestus, he celebrated the great and eponymously named feast of the Resurrection, and he sacrificed and ate the mystical Pascha. There he met with Basilacius, a man leading a life of a strange sort, who had brought upon himself the reputation among everyone of prophesying and foreseeing the future, whence the multitudes thronged to him as if to an anthill, like the industrious ants going in and out, or like those who once arrived at the oracles of Ammon or Amphiaraus. But this man spoke nothing true or clear regarding future events; rather, he poured forth jumbled, self-contradictory, and cryptic words. In many things he was ^B ridiculous, yet he still attracted to himself a crowd of shepherds, farmers, and rowers. For, having felt the breasts and handled the privates of the women who came to him, he brought forth obscure oracles, and as for most questions, he would not reply at all, but rather performed his divinations through running about and insane gestures. There stood by him also some old, demented, and mad women—his kin—who would explain to the consultants what those gestures of Basilacius portended regarding future events, interpreting his silence as wise speech. This man, then, as I said, was held by the vulgar to be a prophet and was thought to foretell the future, especially by the foolish women, to whom his shameful questions and the ^C ugly disarray of his garments were, as a kind of game, dear for their amusement and laughter. But to men of sound mind, he appeared a foolish actor and a mad dotard. There were also those—to whose judgment I particularly adhere—who not unreasonably conjectured that he was possessed by a Pythonic spirit. At any rate, when the emperor stood before him, he neither paid any attention to him as one endowed with such great power, nor did he answer his greeting (which was, “Hail, Father Basilacius!”) nor did he offer thanks with a silent nod of the head. Instead, leaping hither and thither like a young foal or a raving madman, he cursed those who approached—especially Constantine the Mesopotamian, who was at that time very familiar with the emperor—not even sparing the ruler himself. Finally, and with difficulty, having ceased those ^D frantic movements

he extended his hand to spoil ^A the small shield he carried in his hands, defacing the eyes of the emperor's image, which was fixed on the wall according to the small shrine intended for his prayers. He even rushed to snatch the imperial bonnet from the emperor's head and bring it to the ground. This, then, he had accomplished; but the emperor, judging the little man to be foolish, withdrew from that place. To those who were gathered, however, and who had taken in the events with their eyes, this was reasoned to be no unclear omen of future things. And as they saw that the outcomes did not at all fail to match the signs, each one strengthened still more the opinion previously held concerning Basilacius—an opinion that was, as I have already said, wavering and, for most, a matter of dispute. When the ruler arrived at Cypsella, he began to form the troops into phalanxes and squadrons, and awaited the arrival of those for whom he watched. Many of the well-born, ^B feigning to be long vexed by the emperor's lack of care and that public affairs were not managed according to reason—or, to speak more truly, having observed that the changes in affairs contributed greatly to their own enrichment—at that time brought to light what had been hidden and smoldering in their hearts. Now, the emperor, having set out for a hunt and preparing to be seen on horseback, sent for his brother Alexius to come out with him and enjoy himself on the grassy and flowery plains of that place. But he, having prepared himself for the task at hand, refused to follow, saying that he had to be ready for the bloodletting of a vein, and feigning bodily weakness. And so, the one went out alone and attended to the business at hand, while those who shared the plot with Alexius—plagues, dice, whirlpools ^C and men full of the tent—seeing the emperor having advanced about three stades from the tent with his entourage and friends with whom he had consorted, and those who chased after him according to his desire, sardonically seize Alexius, bring him into the imperial tent, and proclaim him emperor. These were Theodore Branas, George Palaeologus, John Petraliphas, Constantine Raoul, Michael Cantacuzenus, and many other rebellious and fickle men, related by blood to the emperor, and another swarming crowd that had long wandered around the sebastocratic and imperial table, gaping and rejoicing at the changes in affairs. And there joined him, at only the rumor of the new events, the entire army, and however many of the curatives and household members who inclined toward Isaac, and those who had been raised to the dignity of the council. The emperor, having at first received the indistinct voices into his ear, then witnessing the assembly of most of the people along the initial curtain and hearing the proclamation of his brother, and not long after having those who announced these daring deeds, took fright at the face of danger, and the sign of the cross ^D which he had long concealed in his soul, he then brought into the open.

When the emperor, having mounted his horse, had ordered his brother Alexius to be summoned to go out hunting with him and to take his pleasure together in those grassy and flowery places, he, intent on carrying out what had been set, feigned illness and bloodletting, and refused to accompany him. So the former proceeded on his journey alone. But the conspirators of Alexius—men fickle, wicked, more changeable than the Euripus, and full of deceits and guiles—when they saw that the emperor had withdrawn about three stades from the tent with his attendants and friends, whose services he used in administering the state and fulfilling his desires, they seized Alexius, who was, of course, unwilling, and led him into the imperial tent, and saluted him as emperor. These were Theodore Branas, George Palaeologus, Constantine Raoul, Michael Cantacuzenus, and many other dishonest and fickle men, joined to the emperor by blood, and the band of those who followed the sebastocratic table, rejoicing in the new events. The whole army also, upon merely hearing of that movement, defected squadron by squadron to Alexius, as did all the domestic staff and ministers of Isaac, and those who had been adorned by him with senatorial rank. But the emperor, having at first received vague rumors, and then seeing the gathering of many people toward his tent and having heard of his brother's declaration—and not long after, when these crimes were reported to him—checked his course, fortified himself with the sign of the cross, and having implored the peace of Christ, prayed to God more often to be delivered from that crisis; and frequently embracing the image of the Mother of God which he had produced from his bosom, he partly praised her, and partly, as a suppliant, begged desperately that he might be permitted to escape the imminent danger. And when he saw some rushing with loose reins for the sake of capturing him, and breathing and looking at nothing other than his capture, he took to flight; and crossing the swirling river which flowed by there, he proceeded not without danger. For although he saw no safe refuge, yet that he might avoid the death imminent from the fury of the people pursuing at great speed, he arrived at Stagira, which is now called Macra, where, having been captured by a certain Panteugenes and betrayed to his pursuers, he was seen for the last time by the sun, and shortly after was blinded at the monastery of Pera, founded by Isaac, the father of the Emperor Andronicus. Whether in truth the vengeance of the Divinity inflicted those punishments there, I leave for others to consider. For Providence, which governs all things most excellently, wills that moderation be employed even in the punishments of even one's greatest enemies, and that the instability of power and the loss of empire be always in sight, so that, as there is a vicissitude of all things, just as each person has treated others, so he himself may be treated by divine judgment by others. After this calamity, on account of the immense torture, having tasted no food for several days, he was confined to a palace prison. But shortly after, he was transferred to another part of the city to the Diplocionium, and received nothing except a ration of wine and bread, like a plebeian living in the country. His brother, in truth, [held] the empire

with tranquility and an undisturbed state, as if they, like the Dioscuri, had agreed to set and rise on alternate days in the firmament of the empire. Isaac reigned over the Romans for nine years and seven months; he was fiery in appearance, red-haired, of medium stature, of robust body, and had not yet reached his fortieth year when he was deposed from the empire.

REIGN OF ALEXIOS ANGELOS

^A 1. In this way, then, the Angel Isaac was brought down from power and easily stripped of his rule, suffering the loss of light from those whom, as it were, he had imagined would be guides to his own eyes. For what is closer and more genuine than a brother, and one beloved at that? But if water chokes, what then shall we men drink? And if the limbs arm themselves against one another, by what structure, pray, shall our bodies hold together?

^B Yet Isaac did not fall by the will of his own brother so much as by force, as was bruited about, and by the gathering of the whole army, with most of them drawing their swords against him and threatening him with death if he did not accept the rule. Alexios, however, having obtained the empire, did not immediately enter the great city, ^C but rather, as the rumor went, he did so by violence.

^D [alt-version omitted]

^A Indeed, art fashions a healing antidote out of contrary things. Yet some, forgetting the noble gifts of nature, harass one another, and, through the wickedness of their intent and a desire for greater glory, do not remember that they are human. This deed also brought contempt upon the Romans among foreign nations, being more shameful and disgraceful than all other things that usually happen in the changing of emperors. There were even those who, having broken the bonds of friendship, severed their old intimacy. "A brother," they said, "does not redeem; shall a man redeem?" Those to whom they had previously entrusted their secrets, they now avoided even speaking with, for fear of treachery, looking upon that example of fraternal wickedness.

The usurper of the empire himself, Alexios, not considering that in overthrowing his brother he had overthrown himself, ^B immediately ascended the imperial throne while that crime was still fresh. Adorned in the robes and crown of his brother, and hailed as Emperor Augustus by the entire military host and as many of the senate as were present, he informed his wife and relatives living in the city of the matter. And in order to reward those whose help and zeal had enabled him to obtain the empire, and to keep the rest of the common people—who had submitted gladly and without sedition—in his service, he began to distribute—without any reason or order, but according to the petition and whim of each—the money that Isaac had brought with him on his campaign. ^C When this had been squandered in an immoderate and unequal distribution, he donated fertile estates and public revenues to those who asked for them. When these also ran out, he adorned not a few men, even those who were not prominent, with illustrious dignities, or raised them to the next and appropriate rank; but he placed any random person—who valued that honor little and had not yet ascended the first step—at the highest pinnacle, so that the frequency of the dignities carried ignominy and lacked all grace, and some even thought their own honor diminished by that increase of status. They felt that if at last, and by right, they had obtained that which others had obtained before the proper time without merit, they were rendered equal in dignity to those who, however much they had been increased in honor, were themselves judged—neglected as they were—to surpass them in rank. ^D Yet, the attainment of honor was not difficult. For whatever document one offered to the emperor was signed on the spot, whether it consisted of inept language, or whether you asked, like plowing the sea, sailing on land, or transferring mountains into the middle of the sea, or (as in the fables) to place Athos upon Olympus.

With all these things thus finished, or rather ruined—as if compelled to serve the condition of the times and affairs—he allowed the legions to depart for home, caring nothing that the Vlachs and Scythians were ravaging everything in their path. Nor did he himself hurry at once into the city, but with his brother captured and blinded, fearing no danger, he proceeded step by step and at his leisure, lingering in various lodgings. For he had already been declared emperor by the citizens, and his entry had been prepared for him by his wife Euphrosyne; the senate, though not in its entirety, rejoiced at his success, nor was the populace stirred by the news of that change, nor did they [desire] new things

^A show signs of sedition, but all were satisfied and consented to what they had heard, without stammering or flaring up in righteous anger over the fact that the right to elect the emperor, which once belonged to them, had been wrested away by the soldiers. But when the duchess Euphrosyne was driving towards the great palace, some of the base, gathered rabble, people who loved turmoil, formed a faction and, having made a conspiracy around a man named Alexius Contostephanus, gathered at the great temple and proclaimed him emperor—a man who was a star-gazer and had long been hovering about the empire—saying that they no longer wished to be ruled by the Comneni, as they had had their fill of them. As the empress Euphrosyne was entering the great palace at such risk, some of the noble-born who were following her attacked Contostephanus, having acted more boldly than prudently, and the vulgar crowd of the city was at once dispersed, and Contostephanus was arrested and handed over to be held in custody.

2. Since the common people had been quieted in this way, the body of the Church also ^B immediately concurred with the new tyranny, and one of the temple-attendants, bribed with a few coins (this was also the case with the tumultuous street-dwellers and a few from the judicial order, whose names I refrain from mentioning), began to proclaim Alexius, entering the holy house of the resurrection without waiting for the signal from the chief priest. But even he [the patriarch], after offering slight resistance, and that only to avoid appearing to act under compulsion, shifted his opinion toward the one who had seized power. For after the patriarch had thus grown lax, no one else from that time on remained in opposition; rather, all flocked to the great palace and deserted in effect to the empress as if they were slaves. Even before seeing the usurper or knowing for certain what had happened to the previous ruler, they submitted to the wife of the man who was said to be emperor, and offered their heads like footstools, and kissing her sandal like ^C fawning little dogs, they stood in a fearful posture with feet brought together and hands folded. The empress, a shrewd woman who had learned to serve the times, soothed the foolish Byzantines with the allurement of her words; they, like swine that lie on their backs when their bellies are rubbed, charmed by her blandishments, approved everything that had been done. Having made a preparation of this kind without bloodshed or the confiscation of anyone's property, Alexius himself entered the city ^D some days later; freshly bathed, he sat upon a gold-embroidered couch in the outer Philopation, allowing himself to be approached gladly and cheerfully, his mind not at all dismayed by the crime committed against his brother. Certain of the judges of Beli, however, exposed themselves to mockery through untimely jests suggested by their flattery. There were also those who followed that spectacle with sighs when they saw him wearing the garments which Isaacius, his brother, had fashioned for himself, and deeming that deed unworthy,

and regarding such a change of rule as the beginning of fresh calamities, they called to mind the tale of Osiris and Typhon, by whom Egypt was afflicted. ^B Having entered the most famous and great temple of the Wisdom of God, in order to be crowned emperor according to custom and to be invested with the symbols of power, he first, rather tardily, writes out the Symbol of the Faith in the imperial purple ink. Then, having approached the so-called Beautiful Gates of the temple, he lingered there for a considerable time, awaiting the signal to enter from those who were observing the appropriate hour in that place where the catechumens are instructed.

Upon leaving the temple, and being about to mount his horse—the horse, which was a magnificent Arabian, was brought forward by the protostrator led by the bridle—a thing happened that was unusual and worthy of wonder. The horse would not accept its rider, but with eyes suffused with blood, ears pricked, frequently striking the ground, and raising its front hooves with a snorting sound, it most ferociously shied away from him, as if it disdained to receive him upon its back. And thus, rising up on its hind legs many times and turning its eyes away, it repelled Alexius. However, as it seemed, after many clicking sounds and stroking of its neck, that the horse was calmed and about to cease those haughty wheelings and the pawing of its feet, the emperor leapt upon it and took hold of the reins. But as if the horse felt deceived by having received a rider it did not want, it became as ferocious as before; with a loud neighing it lifted its feet, and it did not cease its insolent leaping until the jewelled crown, having been struck from his head and partially broken, threw him down as well. Another horse having been brought, the broken crown appeared as an unpropitious omen of the imperial calamities for those who were not yet experienced in the imminent ruin and hostile harm. ^C Escorting him on horseback were his two sons-in-law, Andronicus Contostephanus and Isaacius Comnenus, and his paternal uncle Joannes Ducas, a man of advanced age, to whom a strange thing happened during that procession. For although his mule had been startled by no one, the sebastocratorian crown fell of its own accord from his head to the ground. Whereupon the people, seeing his bald head uncovered which shone like the full moon, cried out with laughter. But Ducas, who even otherwise was not easily moved by adverse circumstances, seeing the necessity turned into a joke and festive play, took the hilarity of the people so little amiss that he seemed to rejoice together with them.

The emperor, having set aside the name of Angelus, or as [P. 295]

^A he was called, Comnenus — whether because he thought the surname inglorious, as if it were sinking beneath the Comnenian reputation, or because he wished to join his own name with that of his kinsman — wished to be called Comnenus. But when everyone expected that, after his proclamation and the settling of affairs, he would immediately appear in arms and stay at the door of the palace—not only to ward off the present evils, but also, as if having obtained the highest of his desires and having reached the goal toward which he had long been striving with all his might, he relaxed and gave himself over to sloth, as if he thought that the empire were not a lawful charge of men, but a provision of luxury and ease. Therefore, having abandoned the care of the commonwealth, like a helmsman exhausted by the waves, he displayed himself in golden attire; and with open ears he gave assent to the petitions of all those whom he had used as helpers in obtaining the empire, and with both hands he squandered the money gathered by Isaac, without considering with what difficulty it would later have to be collected, or how rashly it was now being dissipated. When, therefore, having been scattered like straw or summer dust and consumed by lazy bellies—which he did not even know—the recklessly munificent emperor at last began to condemn his own profusion when he stood in need of money.

His wife, a woman of masculine spirit and adorned by nature herself with the sweetness and charm of speech, most clever not only at managing the present but also at providing for the future, was in other matters a most terrible pestilence. Nor do I speak here of her exquisite attire and royal luxury, nor of the fact that she surpassed her husband in the felicity of her wit in changing established custom and innovating in affairs—for these things, though not becoming to women, and especially to queens, I nevertheless think should be passed over—but of the reproach and infamy of unchastity with which she dishonored her husband. Although in the beginning he was thought by all to know of this disgrace and to be hiding it, yet he later declared, when these deeds had become public, that he had been ignorant of them, as we shall narrate in its proper time.

When, therefore, the empress crossed the boundaries and contemned the institutions of the earlier Augustae, the empire was plainly divided into two principalities. For the emperor did not merely command whatever he pleased; but she also, with equal authority, carried out what seemed good to her, and indeed sometimes, according to her own caprice, intervened in his orders. And when ^D the greatest embassies were to be heard, two precious thrones were placed together, and she sat by her husband with great splendor, wearing a cap adorned with gems and clear pearls, and suspended most precious necklaces from her neck. Sometimes also, in other palaces, they were worshipped separately in turn, while the subjects passed from the emperor to greet her and bent their knees more submissively. Some even among the kinsmen of the emperor, who held the highest magistracies,

^A bore the imperial litter upon their shoulders as if they were servants, carrying the empress on that bright and elevated seat.

But three months had not yet passed when a report, which proved to be not false, arrived that a certain man from Cilicia, assuming the name of Alexios, the son of Manuel, had betaken himself to the satrap of the city of Ancyra. He was accepted by him as the true son of the Emperor Manuel—not that he might comply with his requests (for he himself knew well that the Emperor Alexios had been strangled by Andronikos), but that the emperor might be kept busy with wars while he resisted the seditious ones, and that he himself might derive some profit from it, selling his friendship to the Romans. ^B After this Pseudo-Alexios, reinforced and strengthened by the resources of the Persians, began to ravage the Roman towns neighboring Ancyra, a certain eunuch named Eonopolites, recently honored by the emperor with the dignity of cubicularius, was sent to repress him. When he managed the matter ill, the emperor judged that he should go himself, and at the same time treat of the Persian alliance, not unaware that that impostor could be most easily defeated by this method. But the Persian, seizing his opportunity, affirmed that he would not accept peace on any other condition than if ^C five centenaria of coined silver were given to him immediately, and thereafter three annually, along with forty silken garments, which were customarily paid to the emperor from seven-gated Thebes. When he arrived at the town of Melangia, the Emperor Augustus was saluted by the inhabitants of that place, but was supported with little alacrity against the seditious pretender; for although they honored him as the Roman emperor, yet they did not entirely despise the Pseudo-Alexios; and while they paid honor to both, they did not in the least show to which they were entirely addicted. Whence anyone could conjecture that they were sitting on two stools, and in the present would bring help to neither, but would, as occasion arose, proceed to the side of the victor. Indeed, as often as they approached the emperor, they did not cease to extol Alexios, ^D suddenly adding that it would be a miracle even to him, if he saw how he was adorned with red and flowing hair, being just as if it were gold leaf, how he was tall, how he was a robust horseman, as if attached to the saddle with clasps. When the emperor had sometimes replied to these things that the son of Manuel had already long since been removed by Andronikos, and that he who now usurped his name was a vagabond and a stranger to the Komnenian family, and that even if he were alive and he himself were the one who bore arms, he himself reigned by a better right, as he now held the scepter, they interrupted his speech and refuted him on the spot, answering: "Do you see, therefore, emperor, that you also doubt about him, and consider his death uncertain? Wherefore do not be angry with those who ado-

pity the young man who by right of descent has the reign descending to him, but is unjustly deprived of both his authority and his fatherland." Seeing, therefore, that he was achieving nothing, and considering that his own presence was resulting in no gain, the emperor bypassed the fortresses, and having detached some of them from you, Alexios, and consigned others to the fire as inciting rebellion, he remembered his return, having limited the expedition to two months and entrusted matters concerning the Kilikian Alexios to Manuel Kantakouzenos. But not even he launched an open war against him, although he was always expanding through the support of the Persian and was exacting tribute from all or at least the majority of the fortresses around Ankyra. And this man would have been a long-lasting and insoluble evil for the Romans, had not God, appearing there as a wonder-worker, taken pity on the Romans' affairs; for while entering the fortress which is called Zungra, he was slaughtered by someone with a knife at night. Thus, indeed, this one also vanished, having flashed like lightning ^B and vanished again, or, as a violent wind bursting forth from the Corycian cave might have blown out and stirred up part of the Roman empire, shortly after having puffed out, he ceased his vehemence.

Upon this misfortune, another worse one followed immediately at its heels, or rather, one that seemed to have subsided for a time blossomed again like a deadly aconite. This Komnenos, Isaac, who was mentioned by me in the previous books as having become the master and destroyer of the island of the Cypriots, had indeed been captured by the King of England ^C as he was sailing to Palestine, and had been gifted to a certain commoner of his as a whipped slave; and fame was spread everywhere that the wicked man had perished wickedly. But as events subsequently demonstrated, he died only by report and came back to life, and having been freed from bonds and prison (which I wish had not occurred), he renewed his old lust for empire. Although he was being summoned back by the Emperor Alexios through frequent letters, at the urging of Empress Euphrosyne—who was related to Isaac by proximity of kinship—he was indignant and felt resentment at the mere hearing of what was being commanded, declaring that he knew how to rule, not be ruled, and knew how to act as a leader, not as a soldier. Accordingly, he would compose frequent letters to the leading men of the Asian land, inciting them to everything forbidden, ^D overturning everything established by the ancestors, and promising everything to those who obeyed, if only he might attain the title of empire. But just as formerly he was pursuing things that he could not attain, and was laboring in vain at things that were not in the cards, so then too did the outcome refute his futile efforts. For neither did the Persian assent to his demands (he desired, however, that while he was waging war against the Romans he should follow with all his forces and obey all his commands), nor did any of those to whom he wrote secretly lend him a favorable ear. For who would follow a beast that would soon after invade and tear at one's face? Or who would strike up a friendship with a poisonous snake that, whether you embraced it, would vomit forth lethal venom, or if you warmed it in your bosom...

would bite with deadly fangs? ^A Yet even this man—by divine decree—soon after his wretched life was extinguished and he was added to the other tyrants whom the hand of the Lord has consumed, although it is not His custom to act immediately to bring about the deliverances which He often effects. It is said, however, that the wicked man did not die a natural death, but perished by a poison administered in a cup by someone whom the emperor himself had emboldened for the task with great gifts.

4. ^B Above all the attempts Alexios made as emperor to find a way to make terms with the Vlachs, he sent envoys to Peter and Asan. But he achieved no peace or truce at all, since those men made extravagant responses and added demands that were, for the Romans, obviously impossible and insulting. Indeed, while the emperor was occupied in the East, they attacked the Bulgarian themes near Serres, and after defeating the Roman regiment stationed there, they treated many others harshly, and furthermore captured Alexios Aspietes himself, whom the emperor had appointed as commander of the Romans. They also took many of the fortresses there, and having secured them, they returned home with an uncounted mass of booty.

The emperor, fearful lest something similar should happen in the future, sent out his son-in-law, Isaac the Sebastokrator, with a sufficient army. ^C When, for this reason, they were warned by certain Vlachs not to rush rashly and confidently against the Romans, but to keep in mind also their military guile and craft (for they heard that he was a man of war, and far superior to his brother), Asan insolently replied that one’s ears should not always be surrendered to rumor, nor should one fear a man just because it celebrates him as brave, nor despise and reject one who is decried as timid and cowardly if one has not put him to the test. Rather, though rumor is not entirely empty—especially when so famous—it should not be flatly despised, but tested against the actual deeds of those who are well-spoken of, just as if by a Lydian stone; often one must also entrust judgment to the eye, so as to prove it either true or reject it as false.

"The ears," he said, "do not see the event itself, but become guardians of the clamor of tongues, and often of conflicting reports; yet the eye is a secure arbiter of events, and an unassailable witness to what it has seen, not having its belief introduced from elsewhere like the ear, which receives hearsay into its dwelling place." [He continued:] ^D "Do not, therefore, be alarmed that the current emperor of the Romans is proclaimed brave by rumor; rather, it is worth considering whether he is such as he is sung to be. Let your previous life be a guide for you in this, and let it be established as an accurate instructor regarding the man. But if you would more carefully inspect [his deeds], nothing worthy of praise has ever been accomplished by him. For neither has he taken part in any wars or battles for the Roman commonwealth, nor has he shared in the labors and dangers with his brother, as he himself would know, who has perpetually ravaged the hostile territory and heaped victory upon victory, and triumphs upon triumphs. Nor were the purple and the diadem given to him as a reward for labors, but fell to him by the mockery of fortune. He, therefore, who has never been seen in battle, who has never weakened the affairs of the Mysians with his voice, nor his hand, nor his counsel, by what reason should he suddenly be changed...

^A into the exact opposite? I myself have no way of knowing. But in order to explain the situation concerning this man and the rest of his family by means of an example, in so far as it is permitted, look at the threads of different colors hanging from my spear and waving in the wind, even if they are not of the same weave. These indeed come from the same material, and one weaver gathered them; yet, because they differ in colors, they might be thought to be made from a different material and by another craftsman, and that there is a poetic cause for their being. But this is not so, it is not so. Isaac and Alexius, therefore, the brothers—one of whom has already been deposed from the empire, while the other wears the purple cloth and is crowned with an imperial diadem—had the same father, were born of the same womb, were born in the same land, and obtained all the same things, even if Alexius is seen to be older in age. Therefore, in my opinion, there will be no difference between them regarding military affairs either; and we shall soon know this by experience itself. And so, I affirm that we must maintain our former method of warfare, since we must bear arms against the same people whom we attacked before, lest I say against people who are even worse. ^B For the spirits of the Romans have been broken and enervated by frequent disasters, and, having been put to flight by us repeatedly, they have not even once been able to recover their strength. Nor should that other fact be passed over, that they have provoked the wrath of God against themselves by having driven out their legitimate emperor, Isaac, by whose efforts they were liberated from the grievous tyranny of Andronicus. For those who treated their own saviors in such a manner will surely be slaughtered, as treacherous men, by their enemies at the very first opportunity." ^C By such sentiments, the barbarian excited the spirits of his own men and invaded the provinces near the Strymon and Amphipolis with greater ferocity. But when the sebastocrator, a young man elated by a recent rout of the Vlachs, heard that the enemy had invaded the territory of Serres, without first scouting their strength, and having immediately given the signal with the trumpet, he was the first to mount his horse in armor and brandished his spear against the enemy, as if he were setting out for a prepared hunt for stags or some amusement. So, when he had proceeded about thirty stades with loose reins, he so fatigued both the cavalry and the infantry that they were useless at the time of battle. When they came closer to the enemy’s camp, the largest and most significant part of the forces of Asan had been distributed into an ambush. Isaac, not having noticed this stratagem and trick, attacked them with an insane impulse, having conceived a certain hope of victory. But when they rose up from their ambush, he was caught in the middle of their snares and, many of his men having been lost, he himself was at last captured by the Scythians. ^D Hence, the barbarians became more emboldened to make incursions and raids, in the manner of lions charging into herds, since no one of the Romans dared to confront them, but all, being terrified, fled into the city of Serres with loose reins, those who had not perished in that disaster. The Scythian, indeed, tried to hide the captured sebastocrator in every way possible, lest Asan discover it, having conceived hope especially of receiving money for his ransom if it were permitted to abduct the man into Scythia. But when rumors had spread abroad that the leader of the enemy had been captured, through diligent inquiry he was discovered and led away to Asan.

^A 5. Such was the end of that expedition. At that time, a captive priest, skilled in the Vlach language, while being led away a prisoner to the Haemus, besought Asan to release him, invoking pity because he was well-versed in the Vlach tongue. But he, refusing, said that he never intended to release Romans, but to destroy them, for this, he claimed, was also pleasing to God. It is said that the priest replied to the sacrificer, heaving a deep sigh and moistening his eyes with tears, that not even for him would a merciful God remain, since he had not had pity on a poor man who, by reason of his priesthood, was close to God, and that his cruel end of life was at hand, such as men of blood are usually wont to perish by. Nor did that divination of the priest deceive him; for, a short time later, having returned to Mysia, he was killed by one of his own household. And this occurred in the following manner. A certain man, similar to him in nature and character and whom he regarded with great familiarity, Ibancus by name (thus is John termed in the Vlach language), had been secretly sleeping with his wife's sister. When this debauchery was discovered, he initially accused his wife and, on account of her concealment of that crime, condemned her to death. But having been deterred from that cruel intent by other words of his wife, and also by her affirmation that he himself was well aware of the matter, he transferred his anger from the woman to Ibancus, and sent for the man at an unseasonable hour of the night, without delay. Yet he, thinking that he was being summoned at an unsuitable time not without serious cause and offense, postponed his arrival until the next day. But as he again insisted and interpreted his procrastination as contempt, Ibancus, having scarcely understood the reason why he was being summoned, deliberated with his friends and kinsmen. They advised him to enter girded with a long sword hidden under his garment. Should Asan rebuke him mildly and limit his outburst of anger to insults without physical torture, he should bear it bravely and beg forgiveness for his fault. But if he should demand the sword, then he too should prove himself a man and take care to forestall that impudent and bloodthirsty man, and inflict no blow upon him except a lethal one. Ibancus immediately followed this advice. For when the Barbarian, having no moderate intention toward him, became enraged at his very first sight and sought his sword, he forestalled the atrocity and, with his sword plunged into his groin, killed Asan. Having escaped thence, he immediately betook himself to his associates, and upon revealing the murder, initiated with them a plan of desertion; for neither the brothers, kinsmen, nor friends of the slain man would remain quiet. And if things should succeed according to their wish, they would rule that region and all of Mysia more justly and equitably.

that they would rule as Asan had, nor that they would rage against everyone with the sword and perpetrate whatever their wrath might suggest; but if matters fell out otherwise, and the result did not answer to their plans, they would adopt another course and entrust their safety to the Roman Emperor. These things they not only determined while it was still night, but they also drew many others over to their side; and once Ternovo—which is the most fortified and excellent of all the cities of the Haemus, situated on the summit of a mountain, surrounded by strong walls, and flowed around by a river—was occupied, they resisted Peter. For as soon as day had dawned, the rumor of Asan’s murder spread not only in Ternovo but even in more remote places. But when Peter saw that he could not easily overcome Ibancus, nor Ibancus that he could resist Peter, the former thought to subdue him by the delay of a siege, while the latter thought to take refuge with the Roman Emperor and resist his enemies with his aid. It was rumored, moreover, that Ibancus had killed Asan also at the instigation of the Sebastokrator Isaac, having been led to this by many other promises, and especially by the prospect of marriage with his daughter Theodora. Isaac, however, had expired in chains before the murder of Asan. ^{B C}

6. Ibancus, having made known to the Emperor what had happened, urged him to send someone with troops who would take over Ternovo and with his aid recover the whole of Mysia. And perhaps something ^D salutary would have been achieved for the Romans, if the Emperor had immediately and eagerly applied his mind to the task; for once Ternovo was occupied, he would easily and effortlessly have gained all of Mysia. But he, through stupidity, like a snail returning into its shell, remained hidden in the palace and sent the Protostrator Manuel Camytzes with command. He, setting out from Philippopolis with the forces following him, and having barely touched the frontier of Mysia, unexpectedly turned back. For the soldiers, having started a sedition, kept asking where he was leading them and with whom they were to fight: "Have we not often," they said, "crossed these mountains and accomplished nothing, so that we almost all perished? Return, therefore, return, and lead us home." Furthermore, struck by an unexpected fear, as if enemies were pressing upon them from the rear and casting missiles of every kind, they fled in disorder. And so, although the Emperor tried the same task again with a larger army, the matter subsequently met with no success. Wherefore, since no Roman was willing to engage with the Barbarians, and as Peter’s power grew and greater forces flocked to him, Ibancus, despairing of his affairs...

and finding the situation at Ternovo difficult, as the partisans of Peter were constantly growing stronger and increasing their forces with reinforcements, secretly departed from there and approached the Emperor. In this way, the leadership of the Mysians returned purely into the hands of Peter ^A again. But neither did he reach the end of his life by a natural death; rather, having been run through a short time later by the sword of one of his own race, he wretchedly ended his life. The hegemony of the Vlachs then looked to John, the third of the brothers. At that time, Peter took this blood brother as a partner in his labors and a sharer in his dominion—a man who had for a considerable time been a hostage among the Romans while the Emperor Isaacius had ^B waged war against the Mysians; but having fled, he returned home, and did not, like the late Asan, temper his plundering of the Roman territories; for his nature, like that one’s, did not incline him to any moderation regarding our affairs. No one among us met Peter; nor could they. And because the enemies had achieved so much and such great success over a great many years, and because this evil was perpetually buffeting the affairs of the Romans, no semblance of victory ever smiled upon our people, nor was any shadow of a triumph offered [to them]. No one among the high-throned ^C prelates and those who enjoyed the first honors, nor among the monks—those who shaved their hair from the crown to the beard of their long-bearded heads—considered this abandonment by God, nor even a complete forsaking, nor did anyone instruct how to counter it in the slightest, nor devise, in exercising candor before the Emperor, what might be the salvation of the Romans. Rather, it was as if all had at once gone astray and become useless, they did not perceive what was happening, and in a way, stood contrary to the scourges sent by God. The Greeks, ^D however, asked the reason for the plague, and having inquired of the seer Calchas, did not leave the evil unhealed, holding of no account whether a heavy weight was threatening the very first and most powerful man of the army. Ibancus, having taken refuge with the Emperor, was gladly received and proved himself in many things useful to the Romans, a man of tall stature, of excellent intellect, and of a very robust body. But the irascibility and contumacy of his spirit, shining out from his countenance, rendered his cruelty abundantly detestable. Wherefore, although he lived among the Romans, he did not in the least conform his character to their ease and equability. Nevertheless, the Emperor, deeming him unworthy of the betrothal promised by the Sebastokrator, delayed the wedding until the lawful time on account of the girl’s tender years, though he did receive him into the number of his most powerful kinsmen, endowing him with great power and very great wealth. But he, considering the immature age of his betrothed, and having curiously inspected the elegance of her mother Anna, who was still in widowhood, was panting for a more advantageous marriage. “What business have I,” he said, “with a lamb still at the milk, when I am in need of a ewe fit for mating?” And that man labored much in the parts near Philippopolis, and was set as a rampart against his own countrymen and the auxiliary Scythians who were laying waste to everything in their path. Sometimes, too, following the Emperor on expeditions, he seemed to contribute strenuous work above the others. But who could enumerate the incursions and nefarious deeds of the Scythians and Vlachs? The desolation of the regions near Haemus, the plundering of Macedonia and Thrace, show more clearly than all statues and tablets, and more lucidly than any history, what has been done. Having fled Ternovo secretly, he nourished the Emperor. Thus [P. 304]

^A.

7. Nor were the Romans constantly pressed only by the barbarians who had been rendered hostile to us from the northern winds, but in the East, the Persians also lay in wait for their destruction. For the emperor, having failed to make peace with the Persian who ruled over Galatian Ancyra—partly because he rejected his friendship, as one unable to harm the Romans, and partly because he was parsimonious regarding the money demanded for peace—waged war against him continuously for one year and six months. For this reason, the Cilician Alexius, aided by his resources, accomplished the things we have recounted, and the city of Dadibra was occupied by the Persians. For since the Persian, having removed all his own forces, gave assurance that he would not withdraw from there unless he had taken it by force, the siege lasted for four months, with no one bringing aid to the Dadibrenes. For the emperor, although he urged them through messengers to resist bravely and promised to assist them, was always somehow procrastinating and delaying, and the neighboring Paphlagonians did not dare to approach closer or bring them aid. Nor was the enemy unaware that they were deprived of all help, being pressed by famine and most grievously afflicted by siege engines. For since stones, lime, and whatever else is treacherous to human life were being thrown from the hills into the middle of the city, houses were being demolished and wells were being contaminated.

Not long after, when imperial reinforcements had arrived and were encamped at Mount Baba, led by three young men—this Theodore Branas, Andronicus Catacalon, and Theodore Cazanes—the Persians, having learned of this, set ambushes and attacked them before the dawn; and, pursuing the backs of those fleeing, they killed some and captured others alive, among whom were the two generals. Having shackled their hands behind their backs, the Persian led them round in a circle to show them to those on the walls, and he warned them that, before the city was overwhelmed by the waves of war, they should hand over the helm of the city to him; for no hope of safety remained for them, and he would never withdraw from there unless he had become master of the city. By such sights and words, the Dadibrenes, their morale broken, turned to agreements—ones that were unfair indeed, but such as the straits of the time and the harsh weapon of necessity demanded. They agreed to abandon the city entirely, provided that each man be permitted to depart safely with his loved ones and belongings wherever he wished; for the Barbarian would not permit them to remain in their homeland and pay tribute. These conditions having been confirmed by oath, the Persian gave the city to his own people to inhabit, and the citizens were dispersed into various other regions and cities. Some, even with the permission of the Persian, having built small huts nearby, submitted to the yoke of servitude for the love of their homeland. And in this manner, it went with the city of Dadibra. The Emperor, however, a little later, having made peace with the Persian, willingly gave him, wiping away any shame, what he had demanded prior to the surrender of that city.

^A But the Roman Empire had not yet exhaled the salt of this bitterness—nor had it breathed freely and cleanly—when it was struck by reports of other, more terrible things, and the expected events proved more grievous than the present ones. For although the latter had caused annoyance to some extent, they still flattered them with remnants of liberty. But the things looming from the Western nations threatened total and perpetual servitude. For the king of the Alemanni, Henry [Amerigus], son of Frederick—who, as we have related in the history of the reign of Isaac Angelos, had met his end by drowning in a river during the expedition to Palestine—having assumed his paternal principality and having subjugated Sicily and subdued Italy, was now harassing the Romans themselves, being an untimely lover of revolution and a persistent doer of evil.

^B He did not, however, attack the Romans immediately, being deterred by the difficulty of the task, with the valiant deeds of our men against the Sicilians still fresh in his eyes—since they had previously made an incursion into our provinces—and he was also being held back from his set purpose by the Pope of Elder Rome. He therefore sent envoys to Emperor Isaac (for he had not yet been ousted from his throne), seeking out a groundless cause for dissension, and laying claim to all the Roman provinces from Epidamnos as far as the glorious city of Thessalonica, as if they belonged to him as King of Sicily, asserting that they had been captured by the Sicilian army by right of war. For he claimed that the defeat and rout of those men had occurred through the deception of the Romans meeting them, being no mean fabricator of tales when it served his interests.

^C He also reckoned up the grievances of his father, and weighed them in an unfair balance; not the recent ones alone, but also the old ones, when the Pope of Elder Rome had been stirred up against him by the shrewdness of Emperor Manuel, by whose efforts the king’s father had also been driven out of Italy. Thus, with a brazen face, he revived obsolete accusations, and judged that the Romans must either buy peace with an enormous sum of money, or immediately endure war. Moreover, as if he had been established as lord of lords and emperor of emperors, he demanded that the Romans send naval auxiliary forces to his own kin in Palestine.

^D When the Emperor had written back to these demands and had sent a man of no little distinction as an envoy, there arrived from him ambassadors, one of whom was a haughty man, exceedingly proud for the reason that he had been in charge of the king’s upbringing during his childhood. The sum of his mission was a demand for many talents, words of arrogance and insolence, and a glorious catalog of the deeds of the Alemanni, by which those who are not on their guard are wont to be deceived.

^A The emperor, then (the one whose history we are currently relating was in power), being unable to dismiss the envoys without achieving his goal, agreed to purchase peace with money—a thing that had not been done up to that time. And in order to display and exaggerate the wealth of the Roman Empire, he set about a matter that was by no means appropriate for the times, but indeed most alien to duty and decorum, and almost ridiculous to the Romans. For on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, he himself put on a garment encrusted with gems, and ordered all the rest [of his court] to put on gold-woven and broad-bordered robes. The Alemanni were so far from being dazzled by this display that their greed was, rather, only the more inflamed by that splendor of the Romans, and they desired all the more quickly to attack the Greeks as cowardly men given over to servile indulgences. When the Romans standing by urged them to behold the splendor of the gems with which the emperor shone like a meadow, and to perceive with their eyes the sweetness of spring in the midst of winter, they replied that the Alemanni did not crave such spectacles, nor were they accustomed to admire feminine ornaments, which, radiant with fiery stones and golden earrings, studiously strive to please men. And, in order to strike terror into the Romans, they said the time was now at hand when, putting aside feminine ornaments, they should exchange gold for iron. ^B For if the embassy should be fruitless, and the emperor should not grant the demands of their king and master, they would necessarily have to fight against men who do not shine with gems like meadows, nor swell with rounded pearls or amethysts interwoven with purple and gold and boast like peacocks, but who, as nurslings of Mars, have eyes inflamed with wrath, radiating no less than gems, and who spend their whole days shedding sweat more brilliant than pearls. They were also calculating the money demanded for peace, which was fifty centenaria of gold to be paid annually. As the emperor doubted that he could pay this sum, he sent Eumathius Philocales, the prefect of the city, as an envoy to the king. Since he surpassed the others in wealth, he willingly undertook this task, having persuaded the emperor to allow him to discharge the embassy while retaining the insignia of his prefecture. The emperor, however, having gladly given him as much travel money as he had asked for, allowed him to complete the intended journey at his own expense. ^C Thus, this unaccustomed and indeed arrogant envoy was not only not treated with greater honor than the others, but was even ridiculed on account of the novelty of his unusual attire. But as for the money which was to be given for the sake of peace, it having been reduced to sixteen talents of gold, Philocales was waiting in Sicily, where he had met with the king, until it should be sent. The emperor, however, pleading a lack of money, demanded from the provinces a tribute which is called the "Alemannic" [tax], instituted at that time for the first time, and having summoned the urban populace, the senate, the ecclesiastical order, and laborers and artisans of every kind, he asked that each person contribute a portion from his own means. ^D

^A Since he saw that he was accomplishing nothing and struggling in vain with such measures, that he was merely wasting empty words, and since he found the majority crying out and rioting because they considered these burdensome and unusual demands by no means tolerable—with some also calculating that he was squandering the common wealth and distributing the provinces among his kinsmen, who were all useless and had extinguished the lights of their bodies (meaning their eyes, even if he himself was barely involved in the scheme he had proposed at the time)—he abandoned this project with all his intensity and turned to another path. He demanded the gold and silver votive offerings that were outside the sanctuary and were not prepared for the reception of the divine body and blood of Christ. When many recoiled from this and said that he wished to desecrate the holy things, he decided he ought to attack the silent and mute tombs of the emperors, which had no one to defend them. ^B And so the tombs were dug up; and to none of the Roman emperors, however famous for their deeds, was anything left except their stone tunics, that cold and final covering, having been despoiled of every valuable ornament. And not even the sarcophagus of the great Constantine would have remained untouched and inviolate, had not thieves forestalled the emperor’s decree and stolen its golden ornaments. Consequently, having scraped together from this source over seventy centenaria of silver and a certain amount of gold, he ordered it to be melted down as if it were profane material. The two ministers of this task died shortly thereafter, one carried off by a burning fever, the other by dropsy, ending his life bloated like a skin.

THE REIGN OF ALEXIOS ANGELOS

THE REIGN OF ALEXIOS KOMNENOS

^C 1. But who can worthily proclaim the power of the Lord or publish his praises? Before the money could be sent, the king of Alamannia died, a death which was most welcome not only to the Romans but also most pleasing to the Western nations, being constantly anxious and a contemner of all pleasures, ^D both toward those he had joined to himself by force rather than benevolence, and toward those he had decided to invade,

^A he dreamt endlessly of being an Antony or an Augustus Caesar, extending his desires toward their high station and exclaiming, almost in the manner of Alexander, "All these and those things are mine," wearing a pale and gloomy countenance. When he took food late in the day, and was warned to be careful lest he injure his health thereby, he replied that for a private man any time was suitable for eating, especially that to which he was accustomed; but for a King, distracted by so many cares, it was enough if he could care for his body in the evening, provided he wished his name to be fitting. But as I was saying, the death of the King of Germany, while it was desired by all peoples, was greeted with the greatest joy by the Sicilians in particular, since, having had their island captured, they had been afflicted by him with the most grievous evils, which are not easily described. For they had been subjected not only to slaughters, rapines, exiles, and intolerable tortures worse than death, but many cities also had been razed and many useful fortresses demolished. For he feared a rebellion from them, and so, to suppress their desire for liberty, he deprived them of every hope ^B of better fortune, such as might be provided by money, or chariots and horses, or fortified cities, or noble men, or safe strongholds.

However, fearing future danger as if it were already present, and seeking to repel what had not yet arrived, he was assailed by the plots of certain men; and when he had anticipated their attempts, he did not punish the conspirators with the sword, but killed them after they had been miserably tortured in various ways. For one man, boiled in boiling water, he sent back in a basket to his own people as if [it were food] to be eaten; another he threw upon a pyre lit seven times over; and another he sewed into a leather sack and cast into the depths of the sea. He destined the leader and chosen king of the faction for a more severe punishment. For he ordered a bronze crown to be made with four holes, which he affixed to the man's head with as many large nails, and thus ordered the man to depart with these words: "You have, man, the crown you hunted for. No one envies you; enjoy the thing you so desired." He, overcome by vertigo, collapsed to the ground and shortly after expired in that miserable diadem.

Upon the capture of Sicily, along with the others, Irene, the daughter of the Emperor Isaac, was led away captive and betrothed to Philip, the bastard brother of the King of Germany, having lost her former spouse, who had ruled over Sicily after the death of his father Tancred. ^C But this greatest of evils, from which all the Roman provinces feared the worst outcomes, having been removed by divine providence, another misfortune arose from the sea. For a certain Genoese named Caphures, ^D

^A having constructed biremes and triremes, and having fortified them with round ships, he pillaged the coastal cities and islands, and beset those that rise in the Aegean sea. But having also attacked Adramyttium, he drove away booty from there and collected wealth beyond measure. But when those whose concern it was to oversee such things finally awoke as if from a deep sleep, and recovered their senses somewhat late, Joannes Stiriones was sent against Caphures with thirty ships. This Stiriones had once been a most savage pirate, coming from Calabria, but having been joined to the emperor Isaacius with the greatest honors, he had very often assisted the Romans in their naval struggles. While setting out against Caphures, he fared ill beyond expectation; for while he contended, being inferior in strength to his adversary, to overcome him by craft, he was conquered by him, suffering precisely what he himself had always intended to do. For Caphures, having stolen upon the Roman ships while they were anchored near Sestus, and finding them at noon near the river Sigo empty of sailors, captured all of them, along with their armaments and the provisions they had on board. From this, he went about the islands and maritime places with impunity, plundering them at will, imposing tributes and collecting them as he wished. ^B Therefore the emperor, being at a loss because of these events, decided that he must make peace with the pirate. And so, having sent certain Genoese familiar to him—for he had often put in at Byzantium for the sake of trade; and what he had done, he did for the reason that he had been fined money by the then-prefect of the fleet, Michael Stryphnus—he initiated talks about a truce, but nonetheless continued to prepare for war, having fitted out other triremes and given them over, once again, to Stiriones. But as they came to an agreement—that the emperor would send six centenaria of gold to Caphures and assign him a Roman territory capable of supporting seven times as many soldiers as he himself had, and that he in turn would promise to be obedient to the emperor—Stiriones, with his own and the Pisan forces, while the peace was still uncertain, attacked Caphures unexpectedly, and having joined battle, captured and killed him, and took possession of his ships, except for four, in which his cousin was being carried.

^C 2. But even with these evils removed, the turmoil in the archives arose, which brought disgrace to the emperor in the greatest matters and caused long-standing disturbance. And being about to recount these matters, I shall try to lead the narrative back to the beginning for the sake of clarity of what is to be said. Emperor Alexius, as I have hinted already, before he held power, was considered by most to be not peace-loving but extremely bellicose. Wherefore all predicted that he would not only attack the enemies of the Romans with war, but would not be at all merciful even to his own subjects. But the exact opposite happened, deceiving everyone’s opinion; and to omit most things, lest I seem to be writing invective rather than history, at the beginning of his reign he ordered it to be proclaimed that he would not sell offices, but would bestow them for free by selection from the best men. And this plan was liberal and noble, and the firmest foundation of the best government. Nor is there anyone in our time who [would] that example or

^A even come near to it. But all those who were related to the emperor, being money-gatherers, and having been taught by the frequent changes of the rulers to care for nothing else but to steal, to plunder, to embezzle the public revenues, and to heap up profound wealth, whoever approached them, hoping as if they had power with the emperor, were despoiled, and the money [so] gathered was converted to their own affairs; and this amount was so great that it surpassed the condition of private men. When, therefore, in other matters there was such sin as in no other empire, at that time the Roman state perished utterly, and the magistracies became more venal than before. It was permitted to anyone to obtain the governorship of a province and the highest degree of dignity among the Romans. Thus it happened that not only trivial and itinerant men, money-changers and peddlers, but even Scythians and Syrians, having cast off the yoke of their ancient masters, were created Augusti ^B. Of all these things, as has been said, the primary cause was the emperor’s easy-going looseness—not to say levity—and a character inept for empire. To this was added the gluttony of his intimates and the inexhaustible avarice of some; and so the state was a sport for his women and kin. Indeed, he knew no more of what was happening than those who dwell in furthest Thule. Hence he himself, the governor, was ill spoken of by all, and the prowsmen and sailors, all chosen by him, were devoted to the most atrocious curses. The empress, however, considering that these things could not be endured (for his diligence and avarice could not be concealed from her), thinking that she should not long be at rest, decided that either the magistracies should not be auctioned by the emperor’s edict, or the money collected should be brought into the treasury. At the beginning of her undertaking, she selected as her minister Constantine the Mesopotamite, who, as we have said in our account of him, had the greatest authority with Isaac Angelus. Then she reconciles [him] with her husband, to whom—both before the principate and ^C even after it—he was little pleasing, because he had unsettled and undermined many things in the Roman state and never ceased to disturb everything. Therefore, the control of affairs having flowed back to him, the authority of the others languished, and the light of the power of the emperor’s kin was obscured. But he, who for some time had been reckoned for nothing by the emperor, then could do all things, and one man was worth all; he alone was thought to be able to settle all things rightly, one man [was seen as] adapting himself to the characters of all, and able to bestow all things upon everyone according to their dignity, and he never departed from the emperor’s side. And when others, who had fallen from their previous power and, like fireflies after the rising of the sun, had ceased to shine, bore this unexpected change with difficulty—especially the empress’s kin, Andronikos Contostephanos, to whom her daughter Irene was married, and his brother ^D Basil Kamateros—the threads were broken [for them]. Therefore, having neglected Constantine, who had been thrown against them like a pebble, they bent their whole course against the lady who had cast him, and vented their bile, seeking an opportunity for vengeance. And after long deliberation and the highest caution, they [plan to] kill the emperor in the West.

^A Since he knew how to act appropriately, [treating the emperor as] a light spread before [his] eyes, [(46)] a vital air poured into [his] nostrils, [and] the pearl of Perozes [hanging] directly before the emperor's ears, and thought worthy of the entire sovereignty—or indeed, Artemon the frequently-carried, and Argos the all-seeing, and Hundred-handed Briareus. But the unexpected event took place in such a way that others also bore it heavily—all who had fallen from their former power or indeed had been darkened like fireflies during the day. Yet those of the blood of the empress, Andronikos Kontostephanos, who was sleeping with her daughter Eirene, and her own brother, Basil Kamateros, were almost suffocated by what had happened. Leaving aside, therefore, for the moment the stone that had been cast against them and lay as an obstacle—I refer to Constantine Mesopotamites—they directed all their impetus toward the empress who had let [these things] go, and spewed out their bile, seeking in due time the appetite for counter-grief. ^B After, therefore, a most sufficient consideration of what was to be done, and after much forethought and deliberation regarding the plot, they approach the emperor, who was setting out toward the Western regions. Meeting him in private, they said: "Even if nature knows that family is more precious and more suitable for affection, nevertheless, we are not among those who love the emperor and Alexios more than Euphrosyne. For if he remains untouched by human hand, [we believe] the empire is safe, being publicly salutary to all and privately profitable to us. But if some unexpected misfortune were to strike you, we would likewise perish privately in the common shipwreck of all, having lost all the things we enjoy while you are emperor." Having thus offered a prologue, and having skillfully tuned the lyre of their speech, they added the finishing stroke to the argument, something [that would act] like an incitement, unsettling the emperor's mind and carrying it off into a frenzied transformation, such that not even Alexander of old [was so moved] by the sounds of Timothy [playing] for battle. For they say: "The consort, master, proceeds to most polluted deeds with gaze unveiled, and—making you, her spouse, a cuckold in your own bed—we fear that, a little later, you might attempt [to embark] on [even] more recent affairs. For as she rejoices in chatting with and shamelessly lying [with another], it is likely that she [might] also choose for him to rule [following you], and that she directs her entire purpose toward this. It is necessary, therefore, that she herself be checked from being able to do everything and from overflowing with much wealth; but her lover, whom you yourself enrolled among your children, but who has lawlessly made himself a ravisher of her own, must be removed from the way without delay ^C and very quickly, so that no such pollution may be accomplished any further. As for the things to be done concerning the unjust spouse, it is necessary that they be deferred until the time when, with God's help, having finished the business at hand, you might return again to Constantinople." ^D Having said these things and counseled him, they were heard by the best of men, and [their words were] both rare and welcome. The emperor, having been greatly vexed that he had received this return for the benefits he had bestowed upon Vatatzes, immediately sent off his agent named Bastralitas to kill him, while he was still spending time in the parts of Bithynia, as Alexios Kalos was still rebelling. Bastralitas, having set out for that place as if to announce some secret matter from the emperor, led him further away from the camp, and drawing his sword, he himself attacked him; then those of his ministers who had been suborned to the same [task] dismembered the youth like a beast. The whole army bore this deed and cruel spectacle with difficulty. Bastralitas, however, having placed his head into a chest, quickly carried it to the emperor. When he had kicked it after it was thrown down before his feet, and had contemplated it for a long time, he held a conversation which it is not decent to insert into history.

^A 3. Following this, the emperor departed for Cypsella to bring aid to the Thracian cities, which the Vlachs and Scythians were grievously afflicting, and also with the intention of capturing Chrysus, or at least preventing the incursions he was surreptitiously making, ravaging the districts around Serres. This Chrysus was a Vlach by birth, a man of slight stature, who had not agreed with the defection of Peter and Asan from the Romans; rather, having struck a pact with the Romans, he had borne arms against them with his five hundred kinsmen. But not long after, having been captured as one appearing to lean toward his own kin, because he was always advancing and striving to acquire for himself a principality, he was committed to custody. Later released and sent to defend Strummitsa, he deceived the emperor’s expectation and, having laid claim to that town for himself, he cruelly harassed the neighboring Romans. The emperor therefore set out against him and, having convened a proper army at Cypsella, shortly after desired to return home. Thus, both the army gathered there in vain, and he himself undertook that expedition in vain; and having left the condition of the West as it had been before, he returned to Byzantium, not having stayed abroad even for two months, and dwelt in the Aphamian palace, from which he crossed over to the ^B Philopatium.

The Empress Euphrosyne, meanwhile, revolving in her mind that she had been denounced to her husband, and fearing him, stretched out her hands to everyone with a miserable gesture, imploring those in whom the emperor placed his trust to take up her defense and uphold her cause as best they could. For the danger was not only that she might be ignominiously ejected from the palace, but even that she might be put to death. Therefore, most of them, taking pity on her, partly advised the emperor to disregard the crimes imputed to his wife and to denounce her accusers as churlish, lying, and slanderous men; while others warned him to carry out with the utmost zeal what he had once decided, lest he be accused later of having taken back the woman whom today he had repudiated as an adulteress, and thus spreading his own disgrace throughout the whole world, like those animals that brandish their horns but do not strike those by whom they see their own females mounted. After these events, having entered the Blachernae palace, he did not immediately declare his anger, but had his wife dine at the table, although even then he displayed the disturbance of his mind with a sullen countenance and averted gaze; and, seething with anger, which he yet suppressed for the moment, he ^C no longer [regarded her as he had before].

She, however, pressed him to grant a trial concerning the accusations brought against her, declaring that she was ready to suffer anything that the verdict rendered against her should demand; and she entreated the emperor to pay heed not to the eloquence and kinship of those appearing as her accusers, but to the truth and accuracy of the facts. He, however, directing himself to no such thing, but having subjected some of the chambermaid women to torture and having thoroughly examined the matter with the chamberlain eunuchs, ordered her to be removed from the palace after some days, stripped of every imperial garment and magnificent protection. She was, therefore, led out of the palace by a way unknown to the many, wearing a common, cheap tunic such as those worn by mercenary women, accompanied by two foreign maidservants not well-versed in our language, and having been cast into a boat with two oars, she was taken away to a certain women's monastery situated near the mouth of the Pontus and named Nematarea. But thus, the lady being removed from the way, those who had reported her did not bear the event altogether without pain; for they had reported her for the purpose of diminishing her authority, not of casting her out of the empire or overturning her from her foundations. And they had never believed that the emperor would commit such an act, for they knew well his softness and his spirit, which was accustomed to be driven by any breeze. They were, therefore, repentant, though not as much as was fitting; but they were greatly stung by the mocking taunts and insults of the common ^B people. Euphrosyne was absent from the palace for six months; and she would have been altogether cast aside and perpetually neglected had not those who had wounded her healed her (not, indeed, with the same intent with which Achilles healed Telephus, but driven by the public hatred of the people, because they had subjected her to ignominy, not being compelled by any necessity, whereas they themselves had been favored by her with honors) and had not found a panacea for her return. For when all the emperor's relatives had reached a consensus, and Constantine the Mesopotamian had moved every stone, as they say, she was recalled by the emperor and obtained even greater power than before. Nor did she nevertheless manifest her heavy-handedness in any obvious way toward her accusers, whether by open force or hidden fraud, but with an outstanding example of moderation. Her husband, who had long since been alienated from her and was at that time altogether abstaining from her intimacy, she reconciled with wondrous arts and flatteries, so that everything came under her power; and she administered almost all the affairs of the empire according to her own will. And thus far these things.

4. Constantine the Mesopotamian (for it must be granted that one should say more concerning this Proteus of our age, a man both most versatile and most cunning) ^C elato

^A raised his eyebrow and walked with a sluggish gait because of the return of the mistress. For this reason, I think, he did not consider it sufficient for his own honor to be able to do everything in the presence of the emperor; he refused the office of the Canicleius, which he had held during the reign of Isaac and which was being offered again, as being beneath his station, but wished instead to be created a deacon from a reader, thinking it unendurable if he did not also handle sacred dignities. He immediately obtained what he desired: he was sent by the emperor to the renowned temple in Blachernae, and was created a deacon from a reader by the patriarch immediately, obtaining a rank and degree of primary standing. Having achieved this, he feigned that he would leave the palace and no longer ply his services to the emperor. For, he said, the canons did not permit the same person to perform sacred rites to God and to be involved in civil affairs in any way. Those things were separated from each other, nor could they be joined together, just as serving God and serving mammon clash across a diameter. The emperor, however, having embraced him like ivy upon a vine, immediately compelled Patriarch Xiphilinus ^B to grant the privilege so that it would be permissible for the Mesopotamian to serve both God and the emperor, both the temple and the palace, without fear of the canons, which set harsh penalties for those who are double-handed in this way. This also having been accomplished, not long after he was designated bishop of Thessalonica. Had the man been content with such glory, perhaps he would not have been contemptible, nor would he have brought upon himself in part the evils into which he later fell, if he had clearly departed the palace and finally set some limit to his greed, or had relaxed somewhat his curiosity of mind and his passion for managing affairs. But now, through an insane and infinite craving for many and very great honors—and such as are mutually incompatible—he has been cast out even from a humbler station, so that the divine ^C providence might set in him an example of immoderate height and immense humility, and might cast down from the heavens one who had been raised high, through a remarkable vicissitude of circumstances. For since he thought his life to be bitter unless his left hand held the temple and his right held the palace, and unless he like a cornerstone embraced both sides of the two-part edifice, he did not recede from his original purpose. And so that nothing might be done without his authority, he inserted his brothers like nails and bars, or rather hung them like earrings from both the emperor’s ears, so that if he were ever present at ecclesiastical gatherings, he would be ignorant of no word or deed, nor would anyone occupy his place incautiously. Having set out for Thessalonica ^D and having tarried there briefly, he returned to Byzantium with great haste while he was being installed on the throne. And he became a scorner of all things for this very reason, because he ruled everything with one finger, especially when the emperor had set out again against Chrysos, and he had gained great praise for his ingenuity, having managed all affairs against the seditious remarkably well through his own counsel, industry, and work. Whence, just as Hippocrates affirms that excellent physical health is dangerous because it cannot remain in the same state for long, so it happened to the Mesopotamian, who, while he always strove to grow, while he set no limit to his vanity, like

the mythical gnat in the fable, which, after fighting the lion, became entangled in a thin spider’s web and lost all its glory; and while he exercised his power over the poor, he bowed and fell, as it is written in the Psalms of David. For those upon whose heads that comic flea had leapt, and to whom he had all but dealt blows as though they were slaves, approached the emperor with a small, darkened cloud of charges—hardly sound, but artfully concocted—and abusing his facility and levity (for he was swayed by any word), they bitterly attacked the man. Thus, not only was he cast from the palace as easily as a small ball by a powerful machine, but he was also stripped of his pontificate, by the choice of a single gluttonous accuser, Michael Stryphnus, the commander of the fleet, I mean—a man who, as the most avaricious embezzler of all and one who devoured public money with gaping jaws, had been ^B primarily opposed by the Mesopotamian. But although this is grave, it is not so grave as that someone should be deposed, without a proven crime, from another office, and truly from the priesthood, the most important of all, on account of the whispers of a wicked tongue; yet the latter has absolutely no excuse and argues a remarkable stupidity. For when another pontiff was to be created for Thessalonica, the deliberation concerning the removal of the absent Mesopotamian was called into question; and when some of the articles in that indictment appeared to limp and were not firm enough to justify removal from the pontificate, the patriarch—whether by the order of the emperor, or out of hatred for the Mesopotamian, or for some other reason unknown to me—rashly and contrary to his duty, having brought with him some of the principal priests and having enrolled among the judges certain ill-disposed men who sought the emperor’s favor by any means, right or wrong, decreed his removal; and, having omitted certain previous charges which might indeed have driven a convicted man from all holy ministry, he inserted others and deposited that decree in the archive, having given a copy to Chrysanthus, to whom the government of Thessalonica had been committed. These deeds, though they brought the highest disgrace, were still regarded by some as if they had defeated enemies or captured a fierce wild beast. In this way, with the Mesopotamian Constantine and his two brothers removed ^C from the administration of public affairs, another succeeded him, a man careful and of mild manners, fluent, or rather eloquent, Theodore Irenicus, who showed himself courteous to all. A colleague was joined to him, a man not foreign to avarice and suffering from a persistent cough. Occupied with public duties, both of them did not mock the fall of the Mesopotamian, but had it constantly before their eyes; and fearing the facility of the emperor, they were not carried over mountains and valleys, upright and immovable like skilled horsemen, but held their authority in check as if their bundles had been struck down, and they passed over many necessary things for fear of change.

^A Thus a third year of the reign of Alexis Comnenus passed by. What followed in no way deviated from the previous state of affairs; the manner of life remained the same, soft and perpetually listless. At that time, the treaty with Iconium was violated. For Caichosroes, the sultan of that city, had seized two horses which were being sent to the emperor by the sultan of Alexandria in Egypt. One of them having dislocated its knee while running, he sent envoys to the emperor to ask pardon for having intercepted his horses, and to explain that he had not dared to send the other because of the injury to the first; moreover, he promised to see to it that he would not be troublesome to his friend, nor would the emperor be long deprived of the horses. The emperor did not receive this plausible defense with equanimity, as became a magnanimous man; neither did he adapt his will to necessity nor take into account the times, by whose difficulties he was besieged on all sides, but immediately, his bile boiling over, he launched his thunderbolts. Yet he did nothing to avenge himself upon the Persian, but rather brought war upon himself and drew his sword against his own person. He ordered all merchants, both Romans and Turks, who had come from Iconium to Byzantium, to be thrown into prison and stripped of all their goods; but their wares and beasts of burden he did not claim for himself as he should have, nor did he leave them to the merchants: hence, some were scattered here and some there, and they were lost.

^B When the barbarian heard this, he did not wish to send envoys again, but swiftly taking up arms, he ravaged the towns of Caria and Tantalus, situated on the Maeander, in an unexpected incursion. Then he hastened to Antioch in Phrygia, and perhaps would have taken it just as he had Caria and Tantalus the day before, had not some providential occurrence, rather of divine than human design, checked his assault ^C just as he was prepared to strike. For on the very night he was hurrying to surprise the city, a certain powerful man was celebrating his daughter’s wedding. There was, therefore, as is usual in such festivities, a great din of men feasting. Cymbals, drums, dancers, and a throng of women singing the epithalamium were making a clamor throughout the night. As Caichosroes approached the city, he heard the harmony of the instruments and the concert of voices; not guessing the true situation, but thinking that these were the signals of soldiers who had foreseen his arrival, he withdrew to Lampe. There he saw to the registering of the captives; he inquired into the country and name of each, by whom they had been captured, and also whether they had lost any of their belongings, and whether a son ^D [of his had been among them].

hidden by any of the Persians. ^A Having made such an arrangement, and having given everything back to the Romans and divided everyone by tribes and families, he set out on his way forward. The multitude of those enslaved had been summed up to five thousand people. ^B In this abduction, the barbarian also took care that the captives would not lack food; he distributed grain to them, and he did not even overlook the coldness of the weather: for, holding an axe in his hand and working it himself, he would split into logs an old, perhaps fallen, tree. But he also instructed the Persians who had gathered to watch that they should likewise do the same, explaining the reason for his labor and the benefit they would derive from it, and adding that whereas it was permitted for the Persians to go out from the camp whenever they wished to gather wood because no one would stand in their way, this was not so for the Romans, who were guarded lest they seem to be escaping and, being suspected of such, be burdened with chains in consequence. But after he reached Philomelium, he assigned them dwellings and portions of fertile land for cultivation, and again distributed grain and seeds of the crops of the day. ^C More than that, he filled them with good hopes, finally saying that when he and the emperor were once again reconciled and the treaty renewed, he would send them home for free; but if the emperor should decide otherwise, they would be exempt from taxes for five whole years, with no tax collector demanding anything from them; after that, they would pay the tribute he had ordained for them, which would not be excessive, as is the custom among the Romans, nor would it be multiplied. Having so ordered these things, he returned to Iconium. ^D Yet this magnanimous announcement of his did not allow anyone to remember their fatherland, but even drew many who had not been captured by the Persians to Philomelium, when they heard how their kin and fellow countrymen were being treated by the Sultan. Thus, from the rise of the Romans to our own times, not only have the saints failed and truth diminished, but even because of the multiplication of iniquity, love has grown cold among the masses, so that intact Greek cities, greedily abandoning their fatherland, have gone off into colonies among the barbarians. For frequent tyrannies have extorted from them a temperate way of life; and most emperors, accustomed to plunder, have neither thought nor done anything restrained towards their own people. Now let us see what the emperor has done. He sent Andronikos Doukas, while still a youth, to wage war against the Persian. He, marching late with his men, finally approached the Persians and at night attacked the shepherds and herds of a certain Amera Arsanes, and withdrew not long after. But even the emperor himself, with difficulty, as if from the lotus or the song of the sirens, turned away from the pleasant regions of the Propontis, not to avenge himself upon the Persians, but so that they, having moved from Bathys where a great number of them were encamped, might not ravage the neighboring cities and fields. And with no more than one month spent there, he returned to Byzantium. With the start of spring, they were forced to gather their armies again with the greatest haste. For the soldiers, exhausted by the frequent expeditions that same year, desired to be free from that trouble and to remain at home for a longer time. They gather, therefore, so that...

^A of those who were about to fight, and were either to overcome the barbarians or fall for their fatherland. Thus the forces gathered at Cypsella as into a single camp.

5. The emperor, acting on his own judgment, ^B dared to do what this account is about to relate. He suffered from an arthritic disease of the body at certain intervals, and was afflicted primarily with a pain in the feet, as worse matter descended there and excited intolerable torments, which both robbed him of movement and inflamed fierce fevers. Therefore, one day, having closed the doors of his bedchamber, he revealed his secret to no one except his chamberlains; and having applied white-hot irons deeply into his shins, at first, in a philosophical spirit, he endured the pains against the burnings of his feet, and with insulting words sent away the physicians, saying that they busied themselves only with purgatives and knew nothing beyond evacuations, nor how to apply a remedy to the sick. But what followed? The inflammations from the cauterizations and the pains were more severe than before. Physicians were called in for this, not one by one, but all together, as his relatives feared that the flow of humors, blocked at the legs, might settle in some vital member and bring sudden death upon him, and that the empire might unexpectedly be transferred to another. The physicians determined to administer drugs to him, so that the churning and redundancy of the humors might be checked by evacuations. Thus, medicines were prepared almost every day, and were not in vain. But the Empress Euphrosyne, although she was anxious, as was proper, for her husband's health, nevertheless deliberated more with those to whom she entrusted her secrets regarding the successor to the empire, lest he be unfriendly and hostile to her, but rather a friend. For the emperor had no son, but only two daughters, and they were widows: for Irene's husband, Andronicus Contostephanus, had died, and Anna, though younger by birth, was more outstanding in beauty, and had been married to Isaac Comnenus. ^D

^A Since he died in chains in Mysia, as we have mentioned in the preceding books, various candidates for the leadership were proposed by one another, and all were suggested to suit the interests of those who put them forward. However, it occurred to no one to select a man who could govern the Roman state well and in a manner worthy of it; indeed, in their folly, they even designated infants still crying in the cradle for the position of authority.

Among those distinguished by birth and wealth, Manuel Camizes, the protostrator, stood against his maternal uncle, the sebastocrator John, and he, in turn, hindered him. The three brothers of the Emperor, who had been blinded by Andronicus, along with their sister’s husband, John Cantacuzenus—who was himself also deprived of sight—favored their own children for the rule. ^B There were even some who, with the remains of Pontic nuts and swine’s flesh still between their teeth, openly loved and sought after the empire, casting eager eyes upon it, while employing as matchmakers and procuress-agents those common men of the marketplace who served only their own bellies and were easily corrupted by money. How much worse is the suffrage of the many than that of the one! O celebrated Roman Empire, a majesty to be wondered at and worshiped by all nations, what tyrants you have endured, by what insults you have been harassed, what lovers have raved for you, what men you have embraced, to what sort have you submitted yourself and granted your favors! You have adorned them with the crown, the diadem, and the purple buskin! ^C In truth, you have suffered things more grievous than those endured by Penelope from the throng of her suitors. You are indeed, in every respect, like a most happy royal matron of venerable form, of proper stature, and of lovely countenance, yet you have been seized by the hands of impudent lovers—men whom sensible people would hardly value at a hundred asses, who cannot estimate your magnificence, who do not revere your high station, who are unmoved by your nobility, and who sometimes even drag you through insult into an unholy bed. Alas, the shame! Alas, the disgrace! What you have endured and how you have been seen! The face of a harlot, O illustrious and famous majesty, has fallen to you. That natural beauty of yours has vanished, as has the modesty of your face and that formerly sober and temperate way of life. Now your countenance is corrupted by luxury and paint; you have wandered into pleasures and shifted toward dissolute morals. ^D For those who once did you violence, regardless of your beauty—you who were endowed with an admirable and lovable face—have reduced you to the habits of a prostitute. When will you cast off this deformed shape? When will you change this affected look and gait? Who shall deliver you by force from these tyrannical embraces and bring you back to your old chastity and liberty? For at present, we are barely far from laughing at you rather than pitying you, as you adopt the customs of those who befit you not; and as we look upon this disgrace, we fear that you might be utterly destroyed and perish in the end.

But let that be.

^A The Emperor, not yet having fully recovered his health, and being unable to stand on his feet, set out for Kypsella, having equipped himself with everything necessary for war. While he was still in this sickly state, the Scythians—together with a contingent of Vlachs—crossed the Ister and, in a sudden raid, ravaged the Thracian towns bordering on Mesene and Tzouroulon, and those still remaining under their control, on the very day of the annual feast of Great Martyr George. For it was, as it was said, a plan and a signal arranged by the Barbarians and given by their leaders to arrive at Kuperion (this is situated in the vicinity of Tzouroulon, where at that time the feast and a crowded fair were being held for the martyr). But when a low-lying mist arose in the morning, the greatest part of the Barbarians was carried off to other places, extending even as far as maritime Rhaidestos, though a certain portion of them did break into Kuperion. ^B However, the multitude that had gathered for the feast, thinking it better to repel the violence than to endure it, surrounded the temple with wagons and easily blocked the entrance against the first onslaught of the Barbarians; since the Scythians were not accustomed to laying siege to villages, and were currently avoiding the fortifications of cities, being such that, like a whirlwind, they only devastated in the first rush whatever they met and then withdrew to their own territories. They did, however, intercept all those who, having abandoned the temple, made for Tzouroulon. But all of them would have been free from the evil of captivity, had not the most wretched rag-wearer—who had arrived there from the monastery of Antigonus to collect taxes on the festival—ignored all the instructions that Theodore Branas, who governed those territories, had sent out, having both forbidden the gathering of the multitude at Kuperion and having announced the incursion of the Scythians, ^C and having offered the choice: either to be spared from the evils by listening to the commands of those who gathered the people, or to die by disregarding them. Now, he who had completely renounced the world and had been entirely uprooted from earthly concerns, having voluntarily put on the Christian cloak—fearing that the bronze stater might slip away from him while the people were dispersed—hid those letters in his bosom and obscured them in his black garment as if in darkness; and he predicted to the people, as if he were a prophet—he who was a man more skilled in scraping together coins and in commerce—that they would suffer nothing unpleasant, and that rumors often suppress the truth and do not bring anything certain. ^D Now, when the Scythians were withdrawing with much plunder, the Roman army that was guarding Byzia attacked them, beat them, and put them to flight, recovering the greatest part of the booty, though it did not hold it for long. For the natural and insane avarice of the Romans, stubborn in affairs of little convenience, corrupted the victory; for since they were entirely intent on extorting from the Scythians the plunder taken from Roman soil, they turned those who were fleeing back upon themselves, and were in turn put to flight. And so, while the Scythians, having driven off much spoil, were withdrawing, the Roman army that was guarding Byzia, having learned that the Scythians were returning, turned against them. And when both sides clashed

ours prevailed; there was slaughter and the rout of the Scythians, and most of the captives were released—though this only for a short while. For the innate and frenzied greed of the Romans, which cannot be diverted even from matters that are in no way appropriate, destroyed the victory. For they were completely occupied with plundering and carrying off what the Scythians had been bringing away after having ravaged the Roman territories, and thus they turned the departing and fleeing enemy back upon themselves, and from this caused a counter-pursuit.

VOLUME III OF THE REIGN OF ALEXIOS KOMNENOS BOOK THREE

1. When these things had thus come to pass, the emperor departed from Kypsella and took up his station at Thessalonica; rising from there, he hastened against Chrysos. For this man, a Vlach by birth, had appropriated Stroumitza and, taking possession of a fortress called Prosakos, had turned it into a tyranny for himself, strengthening the redoubt in every way—a work which nature had from the beginning ambitiously discovered and bestowed. For there are cloven, broken-off crags, folded against one another, with only one narrow, violent, and precipitous approach into them; the rest of the perimeter of the rocks is entirely inaccessible even to mountain goats, and the deep-eddying river Axius flows around them, which is a wonder. Later, art, rivaling nature, made them almost impregnable, and by constructing massive walls at the approach, it completed a marvelous stronghold. The Romans had long ago left this fortress neglected and deserted, caring nothing for the Bulgarians, but Chrysos, having renovated it, held it as a place of refuge unassailable by the Romans; having gathered there everything necessary for use in war, having set up artillery, and having stored away abundant provisions for living, he allowed flocks and herds to wander and graze in herds upon the summits of the mountains. For the perimeter of this fortress is not easily grasped, but it stretches and extends for a very great distance, and it flourishes with woods and thicketed glades. Yet the fortress lacks one good thing—that most necessary and excellent of comforts—for not even a single drop of water springs up there, nor are there any dug wells, but one must go down to the river and draw the drink in water-jars. Chrysos, therefore, having become master of such a redoubt, was not in the least terrified by the emperor's expedition against him, but prepared himself as if to offer battle. As for those Romans who still had experience of war, if any had perhaps survived, and those who were by no means ignorant of the location of the places there, it was judged necessary, and they advised the emperor to bypass Prosakos and to march against the remaining towns and villages of Chrysos, and once those were captured, to approach that fortress at last. Thus, they argued, the army would be more confident of victory, and having obtained booty from the less formidable forts, it would also compel Chrysos himself by the force of war either to change his mind through a slackening of his stubbornness or to despair of his affairs; whereas at the start to launch an attack against an impregnable fortress and to do battle with precipitous rocks was not only vain, but also full of bloody sweats, many hardships, and slaughter. To this, the eunuchs, Georgios Oenaoles in particular, and beardless young men, vehemently ad-

- ^B vised the emperor, as men who were both long-familiar and all-capable, to lead the army straight to Prosacos, and to turn their arms directly against Chrysos himself and to engage in spear-fighting, for "if this man is captured, there is no one who will oppose us hereafter." Furthermore, they asked, what was the use of not immediately advancing against the decisive point, but rather trying to circumvent the enemy in circuits and rounds? Moreover, who could endure to spend so much time in these barbarian and graceless lands for no or little benefit, just as the season of figs and melons and other ripening fruits of the earth, in which the Propontis abounds like a paradise planted by the hand of God, was upon them? "Would that we were on the plain of Rhegium and could look upon Apamea, that we might greet holy Constantinople, and from there sail to the tender lands before the Pontus, where a mild and life-giving northern breeze always blows, where fresh fish leap about, where dolphins jump most pleasantly, where the grace of baths smiles everywhere, and silver-wandering waters delight the spectator, and the chirping of swallows and the singing of nightingales and every other musical wing rustling in the thickets and twittering from here and there feast the ears of those wandering about." With the emperor thus carried away by the total account, his reason became equal to his sight. Wherefore, ^C certain fortifications were destroyed as a side-task of the road, and heaps of grain and wheat fields were burned, and some Vlachs, who had been taken by the sword and whom the satrap of the city of Ancyra had sent as auxiliaries to the emperor, were taken captive by the Persians. Cultivators of the orthodox faith implored the emperor not to permit in any way that men who worshipped the same God whom we worship should be carried away by the Turks, lest they be forced to abjure their religion and provoke God against those to whom they had been surrendered; but rather that the Vlachs should be distributed into Roman service, and the Persians who had captured them should be mollified with other imperial gifts. But he would not consent at all. Now that camp had been pitched at Prosacos, he immediately decided to attempt an assault. And the Romans performed deeds worthy of reward and admiration, surpassing all hope with their alacrity. For some, protected by shields and with drawn swords, others carrying bows and arrows, climbed the steep mounds of the castle, and having become defenders of the walls, attacked those nearest them. Finally, after fatigue and much slaughter, ^D they drove the barbarians back with a barricade newly erected at the gates. There were also those who, pulling themselves up along steep paths with ropes, and clinging to the rocks like goats, struggled to cross the walls and escape into the citadel itself. But when they thought they had achieved a safe and most beautiful task, having routed them and compelled them into the castle, only then did they understand the vanity of their labor. For when they asked for mattocks to demolish the walls, there was no one who would supply these implements. Nevertheless, persisting in the work, they scolded the master of the arsenal, and instead of mattocks using their hands and swords, they pried stones from the joints and, by leaping, tore away the battlements. But as the matter proceeded rather slowly and they themselves were being badly treated from the higher ground, the eunuch in charge of the arsenal finally bundled up the mattocks for the defenders

^A in a heap with a rope. It was necessary, therefore, that this detestable man be immediately drowned, or at least that the emperor, with difficulty and indignation, should have endured the task accomplished for the slight refreshment of those distressed in the battle by thirst and suffocated by the heat of the sun. But he, with only a rebuke—and that one held back with affectation—and with a twitching of his lips, feigning indignation, so dashed the spirits of those brave men. ^B Following this, even when they requested ladders, so that by their means they might reach the upper part of the walls, they were not immediately granted these either. Whence, no longer enduring to toil in vain, they moved away from there, not willingly. It is beyond dispute, as the besieged Vlachs later claimed, that the fortress would have been taken and Chrysos himself captured, and this deed would have resulted in glory for the Romans and the avoidance of many subsequent toils, had the instruments for the demolition of the wall been prepared in advance and provided when requested in time. Now, however, whether through the neglect of those in charge or God himself—but may God be merciful to us if we are recklessly censuring his judgments—he was not well-disposed toward the men of that time and stood against their efforts. And on that day the Romans disputed and broke off, but on the following day they went out again for a second engagement, and they found that the opposing side was fighting with spirit and arrogance because of the events of yesterday. ^C But even the stone-throwing machines which the Barbarians were using were destroying not a few of ours, as they successfully hurled stones from a height. For the man who was managing those engines, a most skillful craftsman, had first served the Romans for pay, but then, because his stipend had not been paid, had defected to Chrysos. Nor were our men merely afflicted by the round missiles of the machines, but also by stones rolled down from above. Those stones that did not strike bodies in their first impact would crash against prominent crags and break into many fragments, becoming a lethal evil as they were scattered here and there. And the Barbarians, sneaking out of the fortress by night, threw down the machines which the Romans had set up on the mounds, and surprised the sentries, who, terrified, fled to the tent of the protovestiarios John; so that he, also startled from sleep, immediately rose from his bed and fled in fear. They divided the plunder found in his tent, among which were green shoes, the badge of his dignity, and throughout that whole night they ^D mocked and jeered at the Roman cause. Furthermore, by rolling down empty barrels, they terrified the army with the noise, ignorant as it was of what was happening in the darkness. Wherefore, when the emperor saw that his undertaking was not succeeding, and having decided not to linger any longer there, he ceded Strummiza and Prosakon and the neighboring regions to Chrysos by pacts; and although he already had a wife, he promised to betroth to him a certain woman from his own kin. Having returned to Byzantium, he sent to Chrysos the daughter of the protostrator, who had been separated from her husband, through Sebastus Constantine Rhadanus. The betrothal having been performed and the wedding feast set out, Chrysos was drinking and eating stoutly. His wife, however, observing the custom of brides, would touch nothing; and when she did not immediately obey his command to eat, he, inflamed with anger and having muttered many words in the Barbarian tongue out of indignation, finally said with contempt in Greek: "I neither eat nor drink."

^B For he who managed the hurling of stones and the construction of the siege engines was a man most skilled in engineering; he had at first served the Romans for pay, but then he deserted to the enemy because his salary was not being paid. [P. 328] And not only did the spherical stones hurled from the siege engines cause grievous harm to the army, but so did those that rolled down the slopes. Also, many of the stones from the machines, even if they did not strike the bodies directly, brought about death to those nearby; for when they struck against the rocks that stood in their way, they would shatter into a vast number of fragments, and scattering here and there, they became a deadly bane. By night, too, the barbarians would slip out of the fortifications and dismantle the machines that the Romans had set up on the nearby hillocks; they would also disturb the night guard and arrive at the tent of the protovestiarios John, causing him to be so startled that he leapt from his bed in his pajamas and fled with his heart pounding, trembling with terror. They audaciously looted the contents of the tent, including the protovestiarios’ own frog-colored boots, and spent that whole night mocking and laughing at the Roman affairs. Furthermore, they would empty out wine casks made of withies, letting them drum loudly from above to distract the army, which did not know what was happening in the dark. For this reason, the emperor, seeing that things were not going according to his intent and being unwilling to waste time there, turned to negotiations. He surrendered Prosakos, Stroumitza, and the surrounding regions to Chrysos, and agreed to take one of his kin as his wife, having no shortage of women. He then entered Byzantium, divorced the daughter of the protostrator whom he had been living with, and sent her to Chrysos, appointing the *sebastos* Constantine Radeinos as the bringer of the bride. Once the marriage was performed and the wedding feast set, Chrysos drank his fill and ate with gusto, but his wife, respecting the custom of newlyweds, strictly abstained from what was placed before her. Being ordered by her husband to share in the meal, and failing to do so immediately, he was driven to rage against her. Having in fact muttered many things to himself and fretted in anger for a long time, he later said with contempt, "Neither eat nor drink," in the Greek tongue.

[Latin Column: 2. Sub id tempus Scythae in quatuor exercitus divisi, majori cum terrore quam unquam prius per totam Macedoniam sunt grassati...]

^B [GREEK COLUMN]: B. Then, too, occurred a raid of the Scythians, the greatest and more terrifying than those before it; for, having divided into four armies, they went over the whole of Macedonia, testing even the well-fortified cities and climbing the peaks of the mountains, so that they even searched Mount Ganos, looted many monasteries, and killed the monks, with no one daring to go to meet them because of fear, for they knew that even with fewer men they were about to clash with greater numbers, and for this reason they had no desire to save their own lives.

The emperor, seeing his own daughters at an age for a second marriage due to their youth and bloom of body, was discerning about who would be joined to them, and he would choose powerful men of the nations who were acting as ambassadors, whom he had previously feared as enemies. [P. 329] Eventually, having reconsidered such schemes, he gave them in marriage to Romans: he joined Irene to Alexios Palaiologos, who had previously divorced his beautiful wife, a marriage that was known to be lawful and well-timed, and he united Anna with Theodore Laskaris, a young man who was daring and impetuous in the work of war. The season in which these marriages took place was approaching the meat-fare, and since the emperor—the father-in-law—intended not to idle away the time, the newlyweds demanded spectacles of horse-racing. The emperor, therefore, neither went to the great palace nor entered the stadium for himself or his sons-in-law, but ordering the equestrian barriers to be moved to the administrative building in Blachernae, he improvised a theater. Indeed, those playing the many-toned instruments were arranged at the courtyard there toward the turning-posts, and some eunuch, who was most wealthy and endowed with the highest offices, a man of senatorial rank—whose name I gladly omit—was disguised as the Eparch of the Queen of Cities.

^A Then, donning a woven wicker structure—which the common parlance calls a "wooden donkey"—covered throughout with a gilded, animal-patterned saddle-cloth, he enters that theatrical show; and one could see the same man at once grandiosely posing as a rider and as a prancing, neighing horse with a fine bridle. A short while later, he also mimics the actors of ancient dramas, putting aside the equestrian prefect’s persona to act as a foot-soldier ^B or as a cloth-bearer. Those who undertook this gymnastic contest were not men of the marketplace or crossroads, but young patricians just beginning to grow a beard. The Emperor and the Empress watched these theatrical and ridiculous games, along with those of their kin and the more honorable officials, all others being excluded. When the time arrived for those entering the gymnastic race to run the double-course, the eunuch who had taken on the role of cloth-bearer, occupying the middle ground, bared his arms to the elbows, and with an silver covering placed upon his head, called the youths to race for the third time. A certain noble youth of illustrious rank, standing behind him, struck his buttocks and thighs so clearly with the sole of his foot as often as he, by crouching down, gave that signal for the race.

But these childish trifles had not yet been fully acted out when a sorrowful ^B message arrived concerning the defection of Ibatzes at Philippopolis. For, as we mentioned above, having changed his name to Alexius and having been betrothed to the Emperor’s granddaughter, he had acquired greater authority than was fitting, and having been appointed commander of the cohorts that were resisting the Vlachs near Philippopolis, he had effectively become the master of those regions. He conducted all things according to his own will: being a cunning and energetic man, he easily carried out whatever he had purposed in his mind; he trained his own countrymen in warfare, fattening them with lavish gifts and outfitting them with arms, and he fortified the places bordering on Mount Haemus with such strong castles that the enemy scarcely dared to invade them. ^C For this reason, he was praised by the Emperor and held in high esteem, was treated with many most generous gifts, and was heard gladly; whatever he asked for, he obtained. The courtiers, indeed, admitted that the man’s deeds were excellent and useful, but they denied that they were directed toward the Roman interest, and they urged the Emperor to strip him of his command. For they argued that a barbarian, who only a short while before had been most hostile to the Romans, could not have so suddenly changed or conceived such goodwill as to build new castles and towns in strategic locations. Nor, they contended, would he have increased the Vlach cohorts while diminishing the Roman ones—and sometimes even removing the latter from battle as if they were useless—unless he were nursing an ambition for the throne. ^D For not everyone, they said, speaks with their mouth what they harbor in their breast, but deeds themselves often reveal the recesses of the soul more clearly than any speech. But the story was being told, as they say, to a deaf man. For the Emperor, thinking the betrothal of his granddaughter Theodora was a sufficiently firm hostage, doubted nothing of the integrity and loyalty of Alexius, with some evil power also, I suppose, blinding the eyes of his mind, under the impulse of which Roman affairs immediately began to decline for the worse. And as, not long after this, it came

to pass that his fear was realized, appearing stunned at the news and not knowing what he should think, as if this evil had broken out unexpectedly; and because the mustering of the armies was difficult, he sent at ^A that very moment to the insurgent a certain eunuch—one of those most familiar to him—to remind him of the covenants and that he had never, since the time he had crossed over to the Romans, suffered anything unpleasant or unworthy of his hopes, ever since he had gone over to him; for he did not even then despair of changing his mind. Following after him, not long after, came the emperor's sons-in-law with their whole retinue of attendants and relatives, and the soldiers who were at that time found in the palace. But when the wicked eunuch arrived ^B at Alexios, he was seen not only to have accomplished nothing for the business at hand, but rather, by his own presence, to have encouraged the man further in the work he had begun, having rashly signaled that the Romans were about to attack him at any moment, and advising him, once he had left the plains, to commit his own safety and that of his followers to mountainous regions. The emperor's sons-in-law, however, and the protostrator Manuel Kamytzes, followed the insurgent with astonishing alacrity and rivalry; but because they had missed the favorable moment for the chase due to the [pursuit of] spoils, they relaxed their efforts. For the more fervent, it seemed ^C best to continue the pursuit and seek out Alexios in the mountains. The more prudent, however, did not think it wise to pursue the tracks of an eagle flying over mountains and crags, or to seek out the coils of a serpent on a rock, or to provoke to battle a tusked boar that often offers its breast to javelins; but [they thought] that the towns built and restored by Alexios should be recovered. Acting on this counsel, they attacked the fortress built by Alexios in a place called Kritzimos; there, the Romans, fighting most promptly and bravely, lost many strong men—of whom the foremost was George Palaiologos—in bringing up the ladders to the walls. Finally, having taken that, they captured other ^D towns one after another, some with much bloodshed, others by surrender. Alexios, however, being a cunning man and a skillful warrior, gave many other proofs of military discipline, and among them captured the protostrator himself by one remarkable stratagem. For, having ordered that a great number of cattle be driven from the watch-towers into the plains and that they be led—together with a portion of his Roman captives—to John, the prince of Zagora at the Haemus, with whom he had entered into an alliance against the Romans, as a gift and in token of gratitude, he laid an ambush for the Romans, not being ignorant of their rapacity and avarice and their affection for their own, on account of which they would even neglect their own safety. Nor did his expectation deceive him. For a little later the protostrator, having received that intelligence, set out for Bactunium from Batrachocastron, where he had his encampment, deceived by the appearance of the matter; and having failed to notice the trick of Alexios, he ordered his army to plunder what was in sight, while he himself rode around on a non-war horse, acting as a spectator. Then indeed Alexios rose up from his ambush, and captured the protostrator, having surrounded him and, once his battle line was drawn out, caught him as if in a net. By this device of the deserter, the remnants of the Roman army were completely enervated, while those who had defected were emboldened. And the Romans no longer dared to harass or attack him, but near

Philippopolis, they thought themselves fortunate if they could even defend the city. ^A But Alexius, having established in his own judgment the towns and fortresses which are situated on the highest mountains in the region of the Haemus and are secure due to the no less impassable paths, did not even allow the others to be tranquil; but he drove the places that slope toward Mosynopolis, as far as Xanthia itself, the mountain of Pangaeum, and Abdera, to defection. And he subdued the province of the Smolena, and, consuming everything nearby like a contagious disease, he partly captured, partly destroyed, and partly released the Romans for a price, while he permitted his own countrymen who voluntarily surrendered to keep their former homes. As he thus constantly grew stronger, he became far worse and more cruel than his previous enemies, ^B progressing to such an extent of savagery—which most Barbarians consider bravery—that he would dismember captive Romans while at his drinking bouts. The Emperor, for his part, showing by his actions that he considered the capture of the protostrator a singular benefit of fortune, plundered his vast and clearly royal wealth, left nothing uninvestigated, and, having cast his wife and son into chains for I know not what reason, he set out for Cypsela. At the same time, a doctrine regarding the divine mysteries, having become public, divided the Christians into factions. Whence, in the forum and at street corners, matters worthy of veneration and silence were openly reviled. ^C

3. Now, after George Xiphilinus, who had governed the Church for seven years, John Camaterus succeeded to the patriarchal throne. And although the opinion which had sprouted under Xiphilinus ought to have been extirpated root and branch, and its author, the worthless monk Sicidites, ought to have been condemned as an arch-heretic and a seditious man, and silence ought to have been imposed upon others by his example, so that the mystery might once again be a mystery, he [Camaterus] used the art of dialectic and demonstrations that might convict an adversary, employing them in matters that exceed the grasp of human intelligence and reject artifice. He also composed a catechetical discourse

^A announcing that the fast days were approaching, and exhorting the priests to that struggle. In it, he mentioned the origin of that dogma and explained his own view, but he passed over the statements of his adversaries in absolute silence, fearing, as I think, their refutation; and he attributed to his adversaries things that they neither knew nor ever imagined. For when the question was whether Christ’s body, after it is received, is incorruptible, of the same kind as it was after His passion and resurrection, or corruptible as it was before the passion, some said it was incorruptible; ^B for they held that the reception of the divine mysteries is a certain confession and remembrance of the Lord who died and rose again for our sake, according to Cyril, the great theologian. And they maintained that, whichever part a person receives, he receives the whole Christ whom Thomas touched, and who is eaten after the resurrection, as John of the golden tongue says, among other things: “O miracle! He who sits at the right hand of the Father is found in our hands as sinners.” And again: “He flourished in the law, grew in the prophets, ripened on the cross, is eaten after the resurrection.” And furthermore, that it is nothing other than that body which, having conquered death, was shown to be superior to it and the beginning of our life. For just as a little leaven, as the Apostle says, ferments the whole lump, makes it like itself, and brings it to equality, so too the body of God, having been made immortal, when it has entered our body, entirely changes and transforms it into itself. ^C Others also brought forward those words from Eutychius, the lamp of the Church: “A man therefore receives the whole holy body and the precious blood of the Lord, even if he receives only a small part of them. For it is distributed indivisibly among all because of this commingling, just as one seal leaves its print and shape upon all matter, and yet remains one even after the communication, not diminished or altered in those things upon which it is stamped, even if they be many in number. In the same way, one voice uttered by someone and diffused into the air remains whole in the one who uttered it, and is carried whole through the air to the ears, with no one among the hearers perceiving more or less; but it is whole, indivisible, and complete among all, ^D even if the number of those hearing it should exceed ten thousand, though it is a body; for a voice is nothing but struck air. Let no one, therefore, have any doubt that the incorruptible and immortal, holy and life-giving body and blood of the Lord, placed in the solid offerings after the mystical ritual and the holy resurrection, is expressed as being in any way less in its own powers than the examples mentioned, but is found whole in all.” [alt-version omitted] As those who brought these things forward, and cited many other testimonies of the Church, argued, the others held that this mystery is not a confession of the resurrection, but merely a sacrifice, and consequently that it is corruptible and inanimate and empty; and that he who approaches it does not receive the whole Christ but a part, as one who receives a part. For if, they say, it were incorruptible, it would also be participant in mind, and animate, and intangible, and in-

intangible—not being crushed or ground by the teeth, and in the act of being divided, feeling no distress or pain whatever—especially since the Priest says: "He that eateth me, shall live; even as the Father hath sent me, and I live because of the Father." ^A As if they were confessing that they had joined such ignorance and folly to their evil intention and will! For baptism is, by the likeness of Christ’s death, a burial and a rising again. "For as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and are baptized into his death," and the efficacy of the divine mysteries is brought to perfection through the adoration of God, and invocation, and the descent of heavenly grace. These, and other expressions of this sort from wicked men, we have passed over as impious and useless. For, as if they also disapproved of the resurrection of bodies, they said: "Let them look to it, how they rely upon reasoning about how they affirm that we, after the resurrection, shall in no way be subject to touch, sight, and human figure, ^B but shall fly about like incorporeal shadows, and how they assert that the entry of Christ through the closed doors was not a miracle, but something innate and natural to those who rise from the dead." Yet nothing of this kind is found in the writings at all; but they were merely uttering shameless and unevidenced abuse, as if they were saying that from the very union and communion, the Lord’s humanity was made incorruptible, and dissolved into divinity, and for this reason they believed that what is received is also incorruptible.

^C 4. The Emperor, however, having attached himself to the better opinion, proceeded, as I said, to Cypsella, and having taken up the army gathered there, he went up to Orestias. There he spent many days and was seized with helplessness, seeing the deserter to be most difficult to fight, and the army accompanying him to be of the contrary disposition, and dying away at the mere sound of the enemies’ shout. Furthermore, the imperial arrival was ridiculed by the common people there, a name without any successes, and he saw the Barbarian’s audacity increasing all the more by his own retreat. Yet, mollifying the difficulties of the times as best he could, he invited Alexius to agreements through his most faithful couriers; sometimes he also plotted his death through treachery, nor did he entirely refrain from war. Therefore, having taken up the army and occupied the province of Philippopolis, he pitched camp near the fortress of Stenimachus, ^D to which many of the Barbarians had fled, and having surrounded it with his legions and taken it by force, he reduced the captives to servitude. The deserter, however, would neither agree to come to the Emperor, nor would he consent to hear anything else about peace, unless the Emperor yielded to him, in writing, the cities and fields which he had previously occupied, and sent him his betrothed, Theodora, together with the imperial insignia. When the agreements and oaths were at last completed just as Alexius demanded, the Emperor later conceived a plan—I know not whether it be worthy of leaders and emperors, to whom it behooves that the religion of an oath be held more precious than all else—for having sent the sacred Gospel to Alexius by his eldest son-in-law, Alexius, and having enticed him to himself, and given, as I said, vows on both sides, he cast him into chains, abusing that Davidic sentence: "With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with the perverse thou shalt be perverse." Having thus gained the cities and castles without labor, he sent his brother, Mitus, into exile.

And having done such things, he returned to Byzantium. ^A He found his consort, Euphrosyne, not having spent her time at home in idleness, but having manfully avenged herself upon factious men and informers, and having suppressed, it seems, the attempts of a certain Contostephanus—a deed certainly not to be despised, but (as being a woman’s) rather worthy of admiration, if that sex knew how to keep itself within certain quasi-limits of duty. But now her immoderate pride and headlong curiosity, and the opinion of a deed well done, obscured her right actions as clouds obscure the sun. For since she wished to know future events, she applied herself to nefarious divinations and performed many illicit acts. And so, she cut off the snout of the bronze Calydonian boar, which, with bristling bristles and jutting teeth, attacks a lion in the Hippodrome; and the famous Hercules, the most beautiful work of Lysimachus, who, reclining upon the lion’s skin with his head bowed into his hand, deplores his own fortunes, she determined to afflict with many blows. ^B O absurd thing! O crime! Illustrious and magnanimous hero, what Eurystheus ever commanded such a contest against thee? What Omphale, that practiced prostitute and wicked little woman, ever treated thee so proudly? Nor, content with this impudence, did she stop there, but she mutilated certain parts of other statues as well, and crushed the heads of some with mallets. And the urban populace—what obscene words did they withhold, with what reproaches did they not tear her to pieces? Some of the market-folk even diligently taught birds, imitators of human speech, so that they might sing in the crossroads and alleys with a common voice: "Political justice." The same woman would hold a hawk upon a gilded glove and call out to dogs in the hunt, with a great retinue of huntsmen and bird-catchers. Not long after, ^C Caichosroes, the satrap of Iconium, approached the Emperor, wearing a tiara upon his head and clad in a garment shot through with gold. But when I have said a few things about the family of this Persian, I shall take up the sequence of the history again. Clyzastblan of Iconium, who in former times was most powerful and waged many wars with the Emperor Manuel and was crowned with many victories, had many sons. To Masut he assigned Amasia, Ancyra, Dorylaeum, and other prosperous Pontic cities. Coppatinus governed Melitene, Caesarea, and Calonia, which is now called Taxara. Rucratinus had taken into his dominion Aminso, Docea, and other maritime cities. ^D As for this Caichosroes, whom I mentioned briefly just now, he ruled Iconium, Lycaonia, and Pamphylia, and the regions that extend as far as Cottyaeum. Upon the death of Coppatinus, the prince Rucratinus and Masut of Ancyra contended for his satrapy. But Rucratinus, in temperament and

^A in military skill superior, and having increased his means through that victory, took away a portion of the toparchy from Masut, who was yielding and offering friendship, and granted that he should hold the rest of the land as before. Against Caichosroes, however, he was possessed by great fury, as if he were fostering an old love for Iconium, his ancestral home, and as if he detested this man because he was born of a Christian mother. Sending a message, therefore, he urged him to withdraw from Iconium and to vacate the entire principality, if he wished to secure both his own safety and the welfare of the subject cities. Such was the pride, such the monstrous arrogance of the Barbarian, and his brow raised above the clouds; so widely was this deadly venom spreading. Wherefore Caichosroes, having secured a truce, imitated his father and approached the Emperor. For he too, struggling with mutual injuries against his own brothers after the death of his father Masut, had looked to the Emperor ^B Manuel as to a sacred anchor and a salutary refuge, nor did he perceive that the aid would be bloodless. On that account, Caichosroes went once more to the Emperor, having conceived the hope of recovering his principality through his aid. But frustrated once again, he lived among the Romans with less splendor than befitted his noble birth. Yet his hope for him was not so frustrated that he did not even obtain greater things. Caichosroes, indeed, having experienced little kindness and finding it at an infinite distance from his expectation, and having not obtained aid against his brother, returned home. But he had scarcely entered Iconium when he was oppressed by Rucratinus; and driven from his homeland, he fled to Lebunes in Armenia, where he was received humanely and splendidly. For although many wars had been waged between them, yet men are accustomed to treat kindly not only kinsfolk and countrymen who are afflicted, but even supplicant enemies. However, Lebunes utterly refused to restore him to his former state, affirming that a treaty existed between himself and Rucratinus ^C and that he could not see even a bloodless alliance. For these reasons, therefore, Caichosroes migrated again to the Emperor, imagining that he might somehow help him toward the recovery of his rule. Having failed in his purpose again, he remained with the Romans, not greatly participating in the hospitality befitting his lineage.

5. In the following year, the Vlachs once again made an incursion with the Comans, and having ravaged the best parts of the province, they returned unharmed. And perhaps they might have even approached the land gates of the imperial city, turning toward it, had not the most Christian nation of the Ross and their princes—moved partly by their own impulse, and partly yielding to the prayers of their high priest—shown an admirable zeal in support of Roman affairs, pitying the Christian people, who were being treated badly by the Barbarians and were being led off ^D and sold by them to nations alien to the Christian religion many times throughout the year, an act at which they were indignant. Whereupon Calize, the Roman prince, with a great and strong army suddenly gathered, burst into the land of the Comans, and without any

^A great difficulty, as he traveled through, he laid it waste and vanished their power. He performed this act many times, to the glory and magnification of the blameless faith of the Christians, whose smallest part, even as a grain of mustard seed, moves mountains and carries away the lofty; he halted the incursions of the Comans and bestowed a respite from evil upon the Romans who were suffering irremediable things, appearing to a co-believing nation as an unsuspected aid, an uncalculated alliance, and, so to speak, a phalanx gathered by God. Yet the time then present did not pass without disturbances regarding these Tauroscythians; rather, both this Roman and Ruricas, the prince who governed Kiaba, stained their swords with the slaughter of their own people. But Romanus, who was a robust and energetic man, slew many of the Comans even then—those who had brought aid to Ruricas with an excellent and most brave phalanx, appearing around him.

But this matter must not be passed over in silence either. There was a certain money-changer, Calomodius by name, who had grown very wealthy through distant and difficult commercial ventures. He was a greedy and sordid man, almost sleeping upon his purse and placing all things below his money. Because he was celebrated as being ^B very wealthy, and because it was said that he did not—like the garden of Alcinous—produce fig upon fig and pear upon pear, but rather gold upon gold and silver upon silver, he was often sought after by the conspiracies of the greedy ruling class. Yet he was altogether like the tree of knowledge, planted in the forum and the narrow alleys of the city as if it were in Eden. For just as the beauty of that fruit once reduced our first parents to servitude, so too did the splendor of his gold invite the courtiers to plunder. But as soon as they laid hands upon Calomodius, they stirred up a sedition in the city, suffering a calamity greater than our ancestors. For they, not content with the sight alone, but having picked and tasted the fruit, justly paid the penalty; these others, however, ^C having not yet seen the gold, gaped in vain, and suffering a Tantalizing thirst, though they had the fountain, they could not drink; but as they repeatedly attempted to draw from it, they saw the gold vanish from their hands. For the market-traders, having learned of the seizure of Calomodius and having understood the cause of it toward evening, gathered together in their guilds at dawn; and entering the temple of God, they surrounded the high priest who first appeared to them (this was John Camaterus), and they threatened to tear him apart and cast him down from his house, had he not, as he did, used a letter to the emperor to call back Calomodius to them as a lost sheep or one gone astray from the flock. He, having with difficulty quieted the uproar of the people with the clamor of his own lips and by brilliantly playing the part of one suffering for this cause, restored to them the one they sought as a lamb, ^D whose gold skin had not been stripped away by the wolves, nor had his fleece been snatched. And so this movement ceased without bloodshed, and from a sad and tragic beginning it changed into a comic game and a festive tale, turning tears into laughter.

^A Not many days later, another evil erupted which progressed even to the shedding of blood. For a certain John, nicknamed "the Hare" (Lagus), having been appointed by the Emperor to be in charge of the praetorian guard, began to acquire money for himself and his associates from that office. O base mind! For the law of history does not permit me to say more. Diverting the spiritual offerings of the pious, at night he would release from prison and shackles those famous for theft; they, having secretly searched houses, would bring the stolen goods to him. And he, after distributing a reward to the thieves, would wickedly put away the rest, pretending to be a faithful servant while being in all things faithless to God. Many denounced this "Hare" to the Emperor for sacrilege. The Emperor, having promised correction, put the matter off from time to time, as if he lacked the power. Hence the Hare, not at all trembling at his crimes but acting as if he held a free magistracy, openly perpetrated deeds hateful to God.

Once, indeed, after he had beaten a foreigner with many stripes and shaved his head, he incited a bolder crowd of the people, of the same craft as the sufferer, to sedition. A tumult immediately arose, and no small number of craftsmen rushed to the praetorium for the purpose of capturing Lagus. But since he had escaped with the agility of a hare, the people none the less flowed together and attempted to enter the great church, and to proclaim another emperor. ^B But the temple having been occupied beforehand by the axe-bearers sent to guard it, not departing from the praetorium, they cast improper insults against the ruler. The Emperor, who was not in the city but was staying near Chrysopolis, sent a detachment of his bodyguards to occupy the praetorium. There, too, arrived the Eparch of the city, Constantine Tornikes; but the crowd, provoked solely by the sight of him, drove the Eparch away with stoning and repelled the guards. When they had broken down the gates of the praetorium and given release to those within, they despoiled the Christian church there, and razed the mosque of the Saracens from its very foundations. And having done these things without any reason, they set upon the guard-house known as the Chalke, intending to do the same there. ^C But when the Emperor's son-in-law, Alexius Palaeologus, brought the army back into the city, though their fury was somewhat repressed, they did not entirely cease from their attempts; but, at first with naked bodies, and then with a few armed men, they engaged with the legions glittering everywhere with iron, determined to die with no success or glory. There were also those who, climbing onto the roofs, threw down tiles, and others, hurling stones the size of a fist and shooting arrows, fought against the imperial phalanx. Thus, for the whole of that day, having not in the least abated their anger, they withdrew toward evening. The next day, they neither murmured at all nor renewed the battle.

6.

...[he was] similar, he bore the surname Crassus. He suddenly ^A fled into the great church; and having placed upon his head one of the garlands that hang around the holy table, he went out again, and, having been taken up by the conspirators (who were very numerous, and for the most part distinguished by nobility) and by the concurrence of a great crowd, he was easily led into the Great Palace and sat upon a gilded throne, and he entrusted certain people with the highest offices, while meanwhile the mob and a portion of the seditious were proclaiming him Emperor of the Romans through the forums, streets, and shores, and tearing down magnificent houses. As night approached, John did not attend to the guard of the palace, as was fitting, nor did he restore the broken gates; but, as if he were safe and sound, having removed all his adversaries, he remained—panting like a dolphin and, on account of his most intense thirst, draining entire jars of water, he wiped away the sweat that was running down from his vast body and steaming. His soldiers, meanwhile, were wandering aimlessly around the hippodrome. ^B For the populace, after sunset, like a flock of birds dispersed, hoped that dawn would arise all the more quickly, so that they might plunder the opulent houses. But the Emperor sent his kinsmen, and whatever warlike men he had with him, to oppress John in the darkness. For if it had dawned, the urban crowd would not have stayed quiet, but far more and more importunate people would have rushed to aid and defend the tyrant. Wherefore they crossed by small boats to the monastery of the Hodegon, and from there joined themselves with the Emperor’s axe-bearing bodyguards (for it was not permitted for armed men to pass through the forum), and they suddenly attacked the faction of John around the theater. ^C This having been easily routed, they burst in upon John himself while he was at the height of his ease, and, joining their whole bodies together, they slaughtered him like cattle, and offered his head to the Emperor. It was suspended in the arch of the forum for a public spectacle, with blood still dripping from it, with a foul gaping of the mouth and closed eyes. The rest of his cadaver was laid upon a couch and exposed in the open air at the southern gate of the Blachernai palace. The Emperor, from an upper chamber, was enjoying both that scene and the sight of the cadaver, which was swollen like a vast bull, and at the same time he was exulting with insolence over such a success. After the cadaver was removed from there and cast out for the dogs and birds—which seemed to all an almost monstrous and inhuman crime—his conspirators who were seized and subjected to ^D interrogations so that they might name their accomplices, were cast into chains and dungeons.

The Emperor also did another thing, I know not what. He sent a certain Constantine Francopulus towards the Euxine Sea with six triremes, under the pretext of inquiring about a certain merchant ship which, sailing from Phasis to Byzantium, had been wrecked near Cerasus, but in reality [he sent him] in order to [seize] the cargo ships which were sailing into Amisus...

and to plunder their goods. He, however, having sailed up into the Euxine in accordance with the imperial command, spared no ship but plundered all of them, both those that were coming down into Byzantium full of merchandise and those that were sailing back again, having sold their own [goods] and taken on others. After two months he returned, having put some of the merchants to the sword and sent them to the depths, whose money he appropriated for himself, while the others he sent away stripped naked. These, as they entered the city, often begged for the injustices they had suffered against justice, approaching the public offices and visiting holy shrines with lamps, but they found the emperor not at all prone to pity, as he had already converted their wares into money and deposited them in his own treasury. The merchants from Iconium, therefore, approached Rucratinus, who, through envoys, began to demand their property from the emperor, mentioning peace as well. The emperor, however, calling Francopulus a defector from himself, disavowed his nefarious deeds, placing his hope in a lie and fighting against the reality of the facts. Once the agreement was concluded, Rucratinus, beyond the pact of the annual tribute, had also received fifty minae of silver to restore to the plundered merchants, but the emperor was caught a few days later plotting against his life. For, having persuaded a certain Chasisius with great promises, he—a man of fickle friendship—sent him off with letters written in vermilion to do away with him. But when Chasisius was captured and the letter and the plot revealed, the treaty was broken; and for this reason, the Turks infested many of the eastern cities. Furthermore, a certain Michael, a bastard son of John the Sebastokrator, who had been sent to collect the taxes of the province of Mylassa, being a young and defiant man, defected; but having been defeated in battle and having fled, he betook himself to Rucratinus. By him he was most eagerly received out of hatred for the emperor, and having received an army, he afflicted the cities of the Maeander in various ways, showing himself a murderer crueler than the barbarians themselves. And if there was any one most grievous cause for the Roman empire to be brought to its knees and to suffer the capture of lands and cities, and finally to perish itself, it was that the Komnenoi, rebelling and reigning out of a desire for the kingdom, provided it. For whenever they fled to nations hostile to the Romans, they were a plague to their fatherland, ^B although in dealing with our internal affairs and in administering the empire they were most inept, most thoroughly stupid, and most foolish. ^C Because of this insurrection of Michael, Alexius set out for the East in the month of November, and on his return he encamped at Pythia to bathe in the warm waters. But when he had his fill of the baths and pools, he desired a longer voyage. For in his soul the desire for terrestrial and maritime pleasures contended on equal terms, now these and now those prevailing. Having therefore boarded an imperial ship, he made straight for the small islands scattered near the city, having bypassed sailing around the Gulf of Astacus. But a gust of wind having arisen, and the wave being ^D suddenly raised high, the ship was lifted from prow to stern

^A and was nearly submerged, being washed over on both sides. The sailors were in an uproar and dripping with sweat; there were shouts from those on board and prayers to God, and wailing and loud lamentations were heard. All the emperor's associates of both sexes were sailing with him, for whom the sight of land and the ability to reach it were their most fervent desire. After many hardships and dangers, they arrived with difficulty at the much-desired island of the prince. From there, the storm having settled, they crossed over to Chalcedon. There, having cast off their dizziness and rid themselves of the brine, and having consigned the cruel and fearful dangers to the abyss of forgetfulness, they crossed over to the Great Palace to conduct horse races and to gladden the people with spectacles. When these were finished, the emperor wished to betake himself at once to the Blachernae; but because the timing was unfavorable (for the emperors of our time do not institute even the slightest change without consulting the stars), he remained in the Great Palace, though not at all willingly, for the first week of the fasts. But as the sixth day was not inconvenient for moving, especially if it were done at the crack of dawn, he resolved to cross to the Blachernae before the sun had shed its rays. A trireme was therefore riding at anchor by the shore of the royal courts, and all the emperor's retinue had gathered with torches, ready to sail with him. But God, showing that He is the Lord of hours and times, and that by Him the journeys of men are either prospered or hindered, caused the floor before the emperor’s bedchamber to give way of its own accord and open into a sizable chasm. And the emperor, through a miracle, escaped the danger, but another of his sons-in-law, Alexius Palaeologus, and several others were caught in the gap and suffered grievous injuries to the base of their bodies; one of the eunuchs fell into the deepest part of the chasm and died. As to what thoughts or repentance the sovereign conceived regarding these events, I am in no way able to report; but what followed immediately after, this I do commit to history.

7. This emperor also had a third daughter, Eudocia by name. While her father Andronicus was still fleeing and wandering ^C among the Ishmaelites and in Palestine, his uncle Isaacius betrothed her to Stephen, the son of Neeman, who was the ruler of the Triballi. But he, having spent a short time in the principality, went up to the Mount of Papicius and adopted the monastic life. His son, Stephen, of the same name, having declared Eudocia mistress of the paternal satrapy, lived with her for some time and fathered children by her. But time, which is accustomed to renew all things and to foster, in its perpetual state of flux, differences ^D, disjoined both of them from their former union and harmony, nor did it allow them to remain in that number whom the lyric poet celebrates with these verses: "Thrice happy and more are those whom an unbroken bond holds, and whom love, not torn asunder by evil quarrels, does not loose before the final day." For he accused his wife of the itch of lust, and she, in turn, reproached her husband for his heavy drinking from the very dawn and for his association with other women. As the dissension grew apace, Stephen conceived a barbaric plan and set out to execute it. For whether upon a feigned or a true accusation of adultery

he stripped Eudocia of all female apparel, leaving only a thin undergarment, which was so cut away all around that it scarcely covered her shame, and he sent her away so ignominiously to go whithersoever she pleased. ^A His brother, Volcus, intervened against this truly obscene, harsh, and excessive act of vengeance; he reproached him for his inhumanity, and begged him to lay aside his anger and act more leniently, having regard for the noble lineage of Eudocia and for his own reputation, so that he might avoid such a great stain of infamy. But when he could not move his stubborn and implacable disposition, he himself took up Eudocia, as her dignity required, and saw to it that she was brought to Dyrrachium. When her father learned of what had happened, he sent a litter and women's finery, and received his daughter into his own home. ^B Yet not even these sons of Neeman remained in concord for long, but, having taken up enmities, they passed into the train of others, whom we mentioned above as having forgotten their nature through ambition and folly; and Volcus, having gained the victory, drove Stephen out of both his principality and his country. For when the example of fratricide had flowed forth from the queen of cities—as if from a pattern and an archetype and a common legal precedent—and had spread to the ends of the earth, not only the Persians and Tauroscythians, and these Dalmatians, and later the Pannonians, but also many other princes of the remaining nations, having drawn their swords against their own kinsmen, filled their fatherlands with seditions and slaughters.

At this time, John emerged from Mysia with a very large and well-equipped army, ^C and, having occupied Constantia, he captured this city with the greatest of ease, it being a place renowned among the districts of Rhodope. Having torn down its walls, he departed from there and encamped around Varna, which he besieged bravely on the sixth day of the Passion of Christ. As those within offered every kind of resistance—most of them being very brave men of the Latin race—they resisted with all their might, having constructed a four-sided machine that corresponded in length to the width of the trench and in height to the top of the walls. Having placed rollers under it, they positioned it right by the trench and then overturned it, so that it spanned the two lines. Using this same machine both to fill the trench and as a ladder to reach the height of the city's walls, he took Varna in three days. The barbarian, neither fearing the power of the day (for it was the most holy Sabbath, on which the Lord slept in the sepulchre), nor revering the Christian name, which he bandied about only with his lips, but rather being driven by the excesses of some bloodthirsty demon, ^D pushed all those whom he had taken alive into the trench; and having thrown earth upon them and filled it, he made that place a tomb. And not long afterward, he razed the walls and returned to Mysia, having honored that one Sabbath of the Sabbath-days and [the Lord's] day with such sacrifices and most abominable offerings. And these things were done in this way. Manuel Camyses the protostrator, having for a long time...

^B been detained in Mysia, besought his cousin and emperor to release him from his own property, and that he not be left for a long time in the power of the barbarians like a criminal. But he achieved nothing by the letters he sent. Having then despaired, he turned to the wedding guest Chrysos and begged to be released by him, and as he had his requests fulfilled, he moved from Mysia to Prosakos. But not even when he had arrived there did he relax in imploring the emperor, to see if he might pay the ransom to Chrysos, at somewhere near two hundred centenaria of gold, claiming that he had been plundered of far more than this, besides the gold and silver vessels, the silk threads, and the magnificent garments, the abundance of which had rendered him the wealthiest of men. But he [the emperor], having weighed the relationship of the protostrator in one pan of his mind's balance, and his money in the other, and having pondered both, found the latter to outweigh the former by a great margin, and therefore did not even admit the petitions to the tips of his ears. Camyses, then, having despaired, decided with Chrysos to attack the Roman territories adjacent to Prosakos. They therefore easily subdued Pelagonia, and easily took Prilapos, and continued to overrun the rest, forced those far off to surrender, penetrated through the Thessalian Tempe, occupied the plains, stirred up Greece, and incited the Peloponnese to rebellion. Just then, a second rebel sprouted up like the giants of the earth. For a certain John, Cypriot by race, Spyridonaces by surname, wretched in form, even more wretched in age, squinteyed, a manual laborer by trade, ^C and lowly in fortune, while serving this emperor, was advanced—by wondrous successes and shifts in the so-called inner treasuries—as a guardian, and then, having been allotted to administer the region of the Smolena, he looked down upon the one who had sent him as being possessed of a vile and simple mind; and relying on the difficult access to the province, he resisted him in two ways—an unexpected and terrible misfortune. But the emperor, suffering at that time from a third evil, the familiar gout with which he was afflicted, which preyed upon the joints of his body, was tormented beyond measure by a double grief: that he had not ransomed his cousin, and that he had set such a worthless man as Spyridonaces, to his own disgrace, as governor over so many most fortified cities. Having therefore divided the gathered army in two, he delivered one part to his son-in-law, Alexius Paleologus, to pursue the little man Spyridonaces, and the other he sent to Oenopolites John, who was resisting the protostrator. The emperor's son-in-law Alexius, having shown prudence and boldness, defeated the puny Spyridonaces with little effort and put the pygmy-like creature to flight into Mysia. The rebellion of the protostrator, though it had lasted for a long time, was brought to a happy conclusion. For the emperor, having circumvented Chrysos with other ruses and guiles, gave him as wife his niece Theodora, previously betrothed to Ivanko, having summoned her to Byzantium. And in this manner, having recovered Pelagonia and Prilapos, he also drove Camyses out of Thessaly, having defeated him by battle or seeing him flee of his own accord. Finally, he even cast him out of Stanon, where he had taken refuge as an impregnable asylum. Having performed such excellent deeds after long idleness and sloth, he returned to Byzantium. At that time he also gained possession of Stromniza, having there also circumvented Chrysos, and he made peace with John.

8. Concerning Alexius, the brother of Isaacius Angelus. Book III

^A Thus far the course of our narrative has been unobstructed and progressed by a smooth path. Henceforth, however, I know not what to say; for with what frame of mind is it fitting that he who recounts the public calamities with which the queen of cities—in these earthly times—was afflicted by those ruling angels, should be? I would indeed wish to be able to set forth the most grave and tragic evils of all in a manner worthy of the subject. But because that is impossible, I shall pursue history in summary, which will be more useful to posterity on account of the moderate commemoration of sad events and the diminution of sorrow.

^B King Alexius had deposed his brother Isaacius from the empire and blinded him; but since his custody was not entirely to be neglected, he—forgetting that for most men calamities are branded on and cannot be erased, and that vengeance does not sleep forever but delights in late changes, and that it swiftly and silently follows on foot those who perpetrate wicked deeds—permitted his brother to live freely near the two columns which stand on the shore of the strait, and forbade no one to cross over to him. It was therefore in anyone's power to approach Isaacius, and especially the Latins, with whom he conferred secret counsels concerning avenging his injuries and overthrowing his brother Alexius. He sent letters to his daughter Irene, the spouse of Philip, king of the Alemanni, through which he urged her to bring him aid and assistance, and from there he received letters in which he was advised as to what should be done. Then, his son Alexius also, having been brought out of confinement, walked about freely and was even taken by the emperor as a companion on his journey when he set out against the protostrator. ^C But he, in accordance with the intent of his father, having taken counsel with a certain Pisan, the master of a very large round ship, began to wait for an opportunity for flight. When the time arrived, the larger ship was carried with full sails to the Aulonia of the Hellespont, while the smaller one docked at Atyra for the sake of receiving Alexius; and so that this plan might remain hidden, the sailors brought in sand, ostensibly for the purpose of ballasting the empty ship. Alexius, having traveled there from Damocrania, boarded the vessel and was carried out to the great ship. When his flight became known, men were sent by the emperor to search the ship, but they were unable to apprehend Alexius; for having shorn his hair in a circle and having dressed in Latin garments, while moving about in a great crowd, he escaped the notice of the inquisitors. Brought into Sicily, he was pointed out to his sister, who, having sent a proper escort, embraced her brother and begged her husband Philip to bring aid, to the best of his ability, to her father, both for his empire and for his lost sight, and to help her brother, who was also an exile and a wanderer, traveling like the errant stars, and carrying with him nothing save his body. ^D For he had shorn his hair in a circle and...

^A wearing the same garb as the Latins, he passed unnoticed in the great throng; thus, once he was brought to Sicily, he became known to his sister. She sent a sufficient guard to embrace her brother, and she entreated her husband, Philip, to assist her father as far as he could, who had been stripped of his light and power by those of his own blood, and to aid her brother, who was homeless and stateless, wandering like the stars, and bringing nothing with him but his own person.

But other matters besides these now flow into my mind, and these ought not to be passed over. The brothers of the name of Angelos managed the empire amiss in other respects, as we have already said; but they were especially driven by a lust for money, neither content to enrich themselves through just sources, nor preserving what they had collected. Instead, they squandered it with both hands, not so much on excessive retinues and precious personal adornment, as by largesse to harlots and kinsmen thoroughly useless to the commonweal. Therefore, by establishing new taxes, they exhausted not only the Roman cities and provinces, but also, as much as they were able, harassed the nations of the Latin name with tributes. They frequently fined the Venetians, violating treaties and agreements, and demanded duties from their ships; and they set the Pisans against them, so that sometimes within the city itself and sometimes at sea they would clash, with victory favoring now these and now those, and they would mutually put each other to flight and despoil one another.

^B 9. Furthermore, the Venetians, mindful of their ancient alliance with the Romans, and grieved that their own standing had been transferred to the Pisans, became gradually alienated from the Romans and showed that they themselves would, given the opportunity, retaliate against ours, especially since Alexios, through avarice, would not pay the two hundred minas of gold still lacking from the total debt of fifteen centenaries, which Manuel had pledged to pay when he had confiscated the property of the Venetians. Nor was the least among these evils the Duke of the Venetians, Enrico Dandolo, a man who was blind and hoary with age, but most hostile and treacherous to the Romans; a man of singular cunning and immense arrogance, who called himself the wisest of the wise and excelled all in his lust for glory. ^C He deemed life more bitter than death unless he could avenge the insults inflicted upon his people by the Romans, mentally revolving and recounting how many evils his countrymen had suffered while the brothers of the name of Angelos were reigning, and before them Andronikos, and before him Manuel, who governed the Roman scepter. Knowing that it would recoil upon his own head if he attempted any plot against the Romans with his own people alone, he considered taking up other allies and communicating his secrets to those whom he knew to harbor irreconcilable hatred toward the Romans and to look with envious and greedy eyes upon their prosperity. But since the time itself had spontaneously offered some noble toparchs who wished to visit Palestine, he entered into a society and alliance with them against the Romans. These were Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, and Baldwin, Count of Flanders ^D.

^A Louis, Count of Saint-Pol, and the Count of Blois, along with many other bold warriors, who by their height seemed to match the very length of their spears. When, in the course of three full years at Venice, there had been built one hundred and ten horse-transport ships, sixty long ships, and more than seventy large round ships—one of which, owing to its remarkable size, they called the "World"—there embarked according to orders one thousand iron-clad horsemen, and thirty thousand foot soldiers, equipped with many kinds of arms, but mostly with those called "cross-bowmen."

As the fleet was ready to set sail, evils were added to evils, and billow pressed upon billow, as the saying goes, for the Romans. ^B For Alexios, the son of Isaacios Angelos, having been furnished with letters from the Pope of Senior Rome and from Philip, King of Germany—who professed that they would be greatly indebted to these piratical guilds if they restored the youth to his ancestral throne—arrived a short time later and was received by the fleet with great eagerness; for not only was he capable of advancing that brigandage instituted against the Romans and concealing it under an honorable pretext, but he could also satisfy their avarice with heaps of money. He, a boy in years no less than in mind, being taken in by men who were cunning and wily, bargained and confirmed by oath that he would provide things that could by no means be brought to completion. For he promised them not only mountains of money, as they demanded, but also aid against the Saracens with Roman soldiers and fifty triremes. And what is greater and by far more absurd, he embraced the corrupted religion of the Latins and promised the innovation of papal privileges and the alteration of the ancient customs of the Romans.

^C And so the fleet, having cast off its moorings, was brought down to Zara, and he was besieging it, for it so pleased the Venetian doge, Dandolo, under the pretext that they had violated an ancient treaty with his own lineage. But the Roman Emperor Alexios, having long since heard of the movement of the Latins, had prepared nothing that was to his own advantage either privately or publicly; for excessive softness is no more fit for conducting affairs than is insanity. And the eunuchs, the guards of the wooded mountains, which were set aside for the emperors for hunting, as if they were sacred groves and even divinely planted paradises, spared these trees ^D and threatened those who sought to take wood from them for ship-building with the ultimate penalty. Furthermore, the praetor of the fleet, Michael Stryphnos, who was married to the sister of the Empress, being most clever at selling not only nails and anchors for gold, but also accustomed to selling sails and rigging, had completely stripped the Roman navy depots of all their long ships. Yet the Emperor did not punish these foolish men, who were committing the worst of crimes; rather, he seemed to be especially favorable toward them. And since he preferred to remain idle at home, now he would level hills and flatten valleys and construct strongboxes, and now...

he would mock the departure of the Latin fleet as if it were a dining-room jest, and he would dissolve into a myth the terrible dangers that were ringing in men’s ears and ^A lying before the eyes of many. But when the Latins had brought things to a standoff at Iadera and had arrived at Epidamnus, and the Roman emperor Alexios, who was with them, had been proclaimed by the people of Epidamnus, and the emperor had [P. 349] irrefutable news of these matters, he became like the proverbial fisherman who, after being struck, begins to acquire sense. He began, therefore, to repair his skiffs, which were rotting and worm-eaten, numbering with difficulty up to twenty, and he went around the city walls and ordered the houses adjacent to the exterior to be torn down. The fleet, having weighed anchor from Epidamnus, arrived at the land of the Corcyraeans, and after delaying its voyage from there for about twenty days, when it realized that the headland was difficult to attack, it spread its sails straight toward the city of Constantine; for those from the West had long known that the Roman Empire was nothing other than gluttony and drunkenness, and that Constantinople was nothing but that Sybaris famed for its luxury. ^B And having attained a wonderfully prosperous voyage (for calm and favorable winds breathed upon their ships throughout), and with the city occupied by an almost entirely unsuspecting population, when they had arrived at Chalcedon, the ships reached the Peraea—which is opposite the city toward the East—a little below the Double Columns, some by rowing and others by sailing, a short time later, and they hovered at anchor at a distance from the shore so as not to be within range of weapons. As for the dromons, they put in at Scutarium. The Romans were indeed skirmishing against the ships, appearing from the hills there and standing on the shores; but what was launched was not at all effective, and most of it was not even reaching the length required to be thrown at the sea. Another phalanx was also keeping watch from above near Damatrys, ^C intending to hold back the cavalry excursions. But even this was of no use; for they not only did not approach the enemy even for a moment, but by turning their backs on those who wished to pursue them, some fell, others were on the verge of falling, and others fled at full speed, and especially the commanders, who were more cowardly than harts. And how could they ever have joined battle with men whom they did not hesitate to call "soul-snatching angels" and "brazen statues," and at the sight of whom they were nearly dying from fear?

10. But not many suns had passed before the Latins, realizing that there was no one on the land to oppose them, drew near to the shores. ^D From there, the cavalry army moved along, keeping a short distance from the sea, while the ships and the dromons, and the transports in addition to these, moved toward the bay that juts inward. And when the land forces and those at sea had stood before the fortress where it is customary for the Romans to fasten a heavy iron chain whenever the arrival of a hostile fleet is imminent, they immediately began to assault the fortification. And one could see some of the Roman guards, after a brief counter-attack, being seen fleeing from there, while others were being slain or taken prisoner, and others were descending into our triremes as if that chain were a rope, while many who did not reach the chain were cast into the waves. Then, after that was broken, the entire hostile fleet entered. Soon our triremes were partly captured, while others were driven to the city's shore and pulled apart, their crews having been routed. This disaster was so varied that it could not be grasped in its entirety by the mind of any man.

^A Then, the whole hostile fleet sailed inside. Among our own triremes, some were captured immediately, while others, having been driven against the shore of the city, were shattered after their crews had emptied out of them.

The month of July was then pressing, in the year six thousand seven hundred and eleven. After the Latins had rested for a short while from this, as much as was necessary to consider what must be done, they made their move; the horsemen, together with the infantry that had been deployed, took their position at the Cosmidion, having encountered little resistance from the Romans at the bridge there and the place called the Perforated Stone. And the vessels and the ships and the dromons put in there, while the general pitched a camp, marked out in part by trenches dug into the ground and by wooden palisades, ^B around the hill from which the palace in Blachernae could be seen, insofar as it turned toward the west. Near the base of this hill, there lies open a kind of courtyard, ending toward the south at the wall which the Emperor Manuel had erected as a bastion for the archives, and reaching toward the north wind, it drew near to the sea.

Those who were on the walls could see the tents raised up, and could almost converse with those moving about the Gyrolimne. They were kept apart from us not by ramparts and arms, but by the walls of the city. But the Emperor Alexius, who had long since intended flight in his mind and was entirely preoccupied with this ^C at no time bore arms nor appeared in battle against the enemy; instead, he sat as a spectator of the events, going up into the very high buildings which are called after the lady from the Alemanni. Yet his household and kin, having brought with them whatever cavalry force they had and a small division of infantry, would sally forth at intervals, not so much for any other reason than to show that the city was not completely empty of men.

Often, therefore, on the same day, cohorts from both sides would engage in light cavalry skirmishes out of an emulation of bravery, and in this our men did not behave sluggishly, especially when the emperor’s son-in-law, Theodore Lascaris, led the forces. For he, being accustomed to charge with great force, would demonstrate by his deeds ^D that even among the Romans there were found men of valor. But cohorts of infantry also sallied forth into the courtyard we have mentioned and attacked the enemy. The imperial buildings were being destroyed by stone-throwing engines, and here and there huge weights of stone hurled from the walls of the city terrified the enemy.

When the seventeenth day of the month of July had arrived, the combatants on land and sea decided to fight more bravely, so that they would either be successful in their vows or, if they were thwarted in these, turn to agreements. For the rumor of both possibilities was spreading not obscurely. Now, some brought their ships and stationed them opposite the Petria, having shielded them with ox-hides, so as to

^A be safe from fire, and having constructed ladders upon the yardarms, which had steps made of rope, lowered by cables and again raised to a height, fastened to the masts. Others, having secured a ram capable of striking the walls, and having stationed the crossbowmen on all sides, like a single signal, they make the breach. And the battle was something terrible and woeful from every side. For the Latins who were armed around the ram broke through the wall and reached a passage inside, which stretches toward the sea near a place known as the Emperor’s Pier, even if they were driven back more bravely by the Roman allies, the Pisans, and the axe-bearing barbarians, and they withdrew for the most part wounded. Those who were on the ships approached the walls near the Petria ^B and throwing the anchors of the ships to the ground from the ladders, they then joined battle with the Romans on the towers, and easily routed them, as they were fighting from a superior position, and standing and hurling missiles not only from a height but also upon [their] heads; for the ladders on the ships were higher than the city walls, being suspended by ropes. From there, having gained a hold on the ramparts, the enemies set fire to the houses, as many as were hanging over the walls, having scattered in many directions. And it became a pitiful spectacle that day, and one causing rivers of tears to flow, commensurate with the magnitude of the conflagration; for everything stretching from the hill of the Blachernae to the monastery of the Evergetes was consumed, and the fire extended even further to what is called the Deuteron. ^C Seeing this wretched disaster of the Queen of Cities, and fearing for the congestion of the people, the Emperor with difficulty becomes an armed soldier, and especially because he saw most [of them] shuddering with anger and hurling heavy words and insults against him, by which he was moved even to a greater degree to hold the opinions of his opponents, with no assistance being provided to the city, which was being betrayed, but having abandoned the war to approach the walls—a thing not yet done until then, as if none of those present knew how to fight, nor did they know that it was better to anticipate the opponent rather than be anticipated by him, just as a body with a severe ailment that defies a cure. Going out, therefore, from the palace, he drew to himself a great number of knights, and a not ignoble infantry phalanx was assembled from the flower of the city, so that even to the enemy army on land, a shuddering of the body occurred upon suddenly seeing the greatest array. And perhaps a saving deed would have been accomplished, had he closed with the foes or permitted the engagement to his son-in-law Lascaris, who was eager to join battle with the Latins. But now, the constant preoccupation with flight and the faintheartedness of those around him concerning what needed to be done discouraged Alexios. And having only drawn up lines—from where he had gone out wishing to be seen by the Romans as if he were going to oppose the Latins—he returned most shamefully and covered in insults, having conducted himself with greater haughtiness ^D and boldness.

and the adversary, since, having been emboldened, [the Romans] followed after them as they turned to retreat, and brandished their spears. Alexius, therefore, entering the palace, prepared for flight, as if he were busying himself to cast the city into a wretched fall and to destroy it beyond expectation, and to cut off that ruin which awaited it. Having shared his intention with some of his chamberlains and kinsmen, and putting away among them his daughter Irene, and ten centenaria of gold, and other imperial ornaments composed of precious stones and transparent pearls, at the first watch of the night he drove towards Develtos, where he had prepared his own arrival—a wretch among men, not softened by the love of his children, not overcome by the love of his wife, not mollified by so great a city, and taking nothing else to heart, but by the love of life and cowardice, he exchanged for his own safety—and that uncertain—so many lands and cities and a whole race. ^A He had reigned for eight years, three months, and ten days; and as to war, he was as has been said, and he was not altogether unrefined in public administration, lest I should say that he inclined entirely toward neglect. In other respects, he was not someone to be cast aside; he was gracious in character, handsome, and upright. But above all, he was distinguished by the mildness of his character; he was not difficult of access, nor did he repel anyone with a scowling face and arrogant gaze, nor [did he prevent] a person from muttering something under his breath; but he was ready for anyone who wished to approach him and to entreat him, and in some instances even to proceed to contradictions with an unshrinking voice. And he stood brilliantly against the constant slanderers and sycophants. ^B Having his conscience smitten over those things in which he sinned against his brother, he feared justice, and he was constantly looking down upon the judgment that observes all the affairs of mortals, whence he was consumed by compunction of heart, and manifesting a spirit of dejection, he was distressed and vexed and grieved. But if it is a great and difficult thing for kings not to cut down the protruding ears of grain, nor to leap like a beast upon those who have annoyed them, one would also see this abundance of grace in Alexius; for he did not cast his eyes toward the sowing of darkness, nor were the limbs of the body like branches to be vines, becoming a butcher of men. ^C Nor, for as long as he wore the gloomy-colored purple, did any woman clothe herself in black for lack of a husband whom black death had covered. Nor did he look upon fire with his eyes as with the rays of stones, nor did he grow into anyone for the sake of insult, as if to shed drops of tears like the spheres of pearls.

THE SECOND REIGN OF ISAAC ANGELUS AND HIS SON ALEXIUS

[ISAACII ANGELI UNA CUM ALEXIO FILIO ITERATUM IMPERIUM.]

[P. 353] 1. So Alexius drove thus to Develtos, pursued by no one. But ^D is a woman indeed not only a burdensome thing, and does the love of cohabitation harm more than it helps, as one of the ancients argued, having suffered evil for the empire at the promptings of an eminent woman? But also a soft and effeminate man is a most grievous and worst thing; and what misfortune, what extreme danger will those who obey him not suffer? Which is exactly what happened to the Romans themselves, when by some adverse fate they had fallen into the hands of soft, cowardly, and voluptuous emperors, who judged labors unendurable and the dangers of life intolerable. As he continued his journey, the people who had gathered in the Palace took the departure of Alexius most grievously,

^A judging the whole affair. But he, ^B having found himself within the Blachernae palace and having discovered the state of the city at that time, bore the flight of Alexius most insufferably, his soul being thrown into confusion and anxiety at the expectations of the evils that were clearly appearing; for they supposed that the Latins, who were encamped nearby and were not being hindered by anyone, would immediately, without any delay, flow into the city with arms and enter within the walls, as they were neither encamped far away nor did they have anyone to restrain them. Consequently, they did not summon to power those who were related by family to Alexius, nor those who were otherwise on friendly terms with him, nor the Empress Euphrosyne, since they had acquired the reputation of being traitors. But because of the irresistible violence of the sudden crisis, they looked toward Isaac, the brother of Alexius, as the last “sacred anchor,” to use the metaphor, for those surrounded by unsettled waves, as he was being held prisoner inside the palace archives. And indeed, when Constantine the eunuch, who had been appointed over the imperial treasuries, had gathered the axe-bearers and addressed them with appropriate words, and when a faction of those who had long desired to see Isaac reign again had also joined in, Empress Euphrosyne was seized, along with her relatives, and Isaac was hailed as Emperor; and, being led by the hand because of the blindness he had suffered, he who was set to oversee everything was raised onto the imperial throne. He immediately sent messengers to his son Alexius and to the leaders of the Latin army and announced the flight of the Emperor and his brother. The latter, however, did not slacken in any of the expected actions against the city, ^C nor did they send Alexius back to his father before Isaac himself agreed to fulfill whatever his son had promised them. These conditions, as we have explained above, were of such a nature that nothing more could possibly be added to the glory and profit of the Latins. For Alexius, a thoughtless and inexperienced youth, intent only on recovering his father's empire, considered no condition, nor did he ponder how hostile the Latins were to the Roman name. Thus, by such humiliations of the imperial majesty, he bought his way into the city, took his seat beside his father, and was accepted as a colleague in the empire; and the entire populace of the city ran to the palace to see and to offer adoration to both son and father. Not many days later, the leaders of the Latins and men distinguished by their nobility also entered the palace; and, benches having been brought, they sat with the Emperors, celebrated as well-deserving men and saviors, and adorned with all other honorable titles, as those who had chastised the ambitious Alexius by depriving him of the power he so greatly craved, and who had lent aid to the destitute. Besides these, they were treated with all other civilities and exquisite honors and were entertained most lavishly. For Isaac, if the imperial treasury held anything, or if anything had been acquired by the Empress Euphrosyne herself and her relatives, poured it all into their hands with both hands. Since these things were received by that most avaricious and luxurious of all peoples as a mere drop of water—desiring effectively the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea—they even profaned things most holy; whence, I believe, the Roman state was utterly overturned and destroyed. For when they were destitute of money, they plundered the temples as well. Neither were the sacred images of Christ only hacked away with axes and cast upon the ground without any reverence, being stripped of their adornment and thrown into the fire; but even the most holy vessels, without fear of ^D Hier. Wolfi note. (51) *The following is not clearly understood: whether they did the things that were expected or did not do them. In this place, the old codex is mutilated, with two pages cut out.*

^A to them, and defended them. Nor did they merely share in every kind of kindness and hospitality; treatment and facilities for indulgence were also devised for them. For Isaac, if he possessed any royal treasure inside, having also sought to secure the Empress Euphrosyne and those who traced their descent to her, was carrying it out and transferring it to both, quite fearlessly. Since these things were judged by the recipients as merely a drop (for no race is greedier for money than theirs, nor more gluttonous, nor more expensive), and they were always thirsting for the discharges of the Tyrrhenian Sea, he laid hands even upon things unspeakable, which, I believe, is why the Roman state has been completely overturned and vanished. For as he ran short of funds, he fastened upon the divine temples for this cause. For it was possible to see not only holy icons of Christ being cut down with axes and cast to the ground, and their ornaments not spared but torn away as chance would have it and consigned to the fire, but even the venerable and most holy vessels being seized from the temples and burned, and being offered to the enemy armies as common gold and silver. And in this madness against the holy things, no sense of it entered into the ruler himself at all, nor was there anyone else among the rest who spoke out for piety, but because of silence—or it is more appropriate to call it insensitivity—we were all indifferent to nothing of the things that were done in madness, whence, as those liable, we have suffered and seen as many misfortunes as were more grievous than the evils themselves.

^B 2. For it being the case that the rabble of the city, neither attaching itself to those who were praiseworthy, nor obeying anyone else who suggested better things, began to raze and dissolve groundlessly into dust the houses by the sea belonging to the western nations, now that the enemies had already poured into the Roman territories, not distinguishing the friend from the enemy. This foolishness and absurdity distressed not only those of the citizens of Rome who were reared in Roman customs, but also those who had come from Pisa to the city of Constantine. The Emperor Alexius, before he fled, had enticed the men of these races with good hopes and mitigated their pain. But when he had taken to flight, Isaac, having recovered the empire, reconciled the Pisans with the Venetians against us, fabricating this in a way that lacked foresight. They, crossing over to Pera, where their adversaries were staying, made use of the hospitality and common table of their former enemies, having entered into the greatest familiarity with them, on the nineteenth day of the month of August, in the sixth indiction, in the year 6711. Certain of the Franks—who were in former times called Flamini—having joined a company of Pisans and Venetians, crossed over to plunder the property of the Saracens, as if it were a ready and easily available meal. And that wicked band, having approached the city by boats (for there was no one at all to oppose them in their approach to the city and their returning again), fell upon the assembly of the descendants of Hagar by stealth—which the common vernacular calls a *Mitaton*—and plundered their goods at sword-point. ^C When these things were committed so groundlessly and contrary to every expectation, the Saracens defended themselves by arming their hands against those who happened to be there, and the Romans, stirred by the report of the evil, assisted them from that place: yet they did not achieve as much as they ought, as that troop of soldiers only withdrew for a little while, and having abandoned their defense, hastened to a second fire, while the former one was barely yet extinguished, having learned by experience that there was nothing more effective for punishing and overturning the city than fire. Therefore, having dispersed into various places, they set fire to the houses. And the flame, raised on high beyond thought, ranged over everything throughout that whole night, and the next day, and on the day that followed until evening. It was an unusual sight, and such

^A as to surpass every power of speech; for, though many other fires had occurred in the city previously—one cannot say how many or of what kind—the one that occurred at that time made all ^B others appear as but slight kindlings. For it would divide and split apart in many places, only to join together again, becoming as a single dragging river of fire. Colonnades were overturned, the beauties of the forums were ruined, and the magnitude of the columns was consumed like brushwood. There was nothing existing that was stronger than that fire. And the truly paradoxical thing was that, as if clods of fire were being torn away from that roaring and iron-like conflagration, they were carried through the air and burned down buildings far away, being shot forth as it were over distances and extending themselves like shooting stars in the ether; and the space in the middle, which it had left untouched and unburnt for the time being, it would return to after a short while, seize upon it, and consume it. In many places, too, the fire advanced in a straight line, driven by the north wind, but after a short while it would veer, as if the south wind were fanning it, and it would be seen moving obliquely, obscuring and turning in its course, until even those things were consumed which one would have supposed to be altogether safe from such a mishap.

The terrible disaster also laid hold of the ^C Great Church. And indeed, all those parts that inclined toward the arch of the Milion, and were joined to the men’s apartments of Macron, and to what are called the Synods, crashed to the ground, with neither the baked brickwork nor the deep foundations proving sufficient to resist, but all giving way and being destroyed like lamp-wicks. The first ignition of the fire began from the synagogue of the Saracens (this is situated in the northern part of the city, sloping toward the sea, and near the mosque which is founded in the name of the holy Irene), and, subsiding toward the east and the sunrise, it reached the great church, while toward the west it extended as far as the place called Perama; from there it flowed out, taking hold of the breadth of the city, or rather, which is most strange, even making its way across, as though leaping over the houses outside the city, and spreading through them [P. 357], and it even burned a ship that was sailing by when live coals were cast out into it. The porticoes ^D called those of Domninus were also consumed, as well as the covered double-porticoes beginning from the Milion, of which one extends to the Philadelphion itself, and along with them the Forum of Constantine and all the land between, as far as it stretches toward the north and south winds. Nor even did the Hippodrome remain unharmed, but its entire western part was scorched, as was all that descends toward the Sophies and extends alongside [the baths of] Baccanus, and, in succession, as much as reached the areas bordering the district of Eleutherius.

As the fire had thus girdled the city from sea to sea, and had passed through like a great chasm or a river of fire drawing [all things] into its midst, it was not safe to approach one’s friends unless one made the crossing by boat. At that time, also, the majority of the city’s inhabitants were stripped of their possessions, as the fire fell upon some unexpectedly, while others, having moved their goods elsewhere, lost them just the same through the many twists and back-turnings of the fire. Alas for the most splendid and elegant houses, filled with every grace and the greatest wealth, which are celebrated among all!

^A To these terrible occurrences, Emperor Isaacius was indeed grieved, though not to the extent that was fitting. But his son Alexius was so far from being troubled by them that he actually prayed for the total destruction of the city. He was a firebrand for his country, a man with a flaming face, manifesting that evil, incendiary angel of whom the Holy Scriptures make mention. Before the fire had even clearly subsided, the collection and melting down of sacred treasures was intensified beyond what it had been before. The Latin army, for its part, took the gold and silver thus provided and, as if it were profane material for bodily use, converted it and sold it publicly. They testified to their own innocence—for they were not ignorant of the source from which the wealth bestowed upon them had been collected—claiming that they were merely taking what was owed to them, while prophesying that the wrath of God hung over the Romans because they were hoarding private property while profaning what was sacred. ^B

3. Now, since Alexius needed to find support from the Latin forces (for his paternal uncle, the former emperor Alexius, having abandoned Debeltos, had occupied Adrianople, and he was not ashamed to seek and embrace again the empire he had renounced, now that it had been bestowed upon doting lovers), he could not drag the Marquis Boniface into a partnership for war unless he had promised to pay out sixteen centenaries of gold. Having departed, therefore, he shows Alexius how he had fled far more rapidly and to a much greater distance than before, and he arranged, or rather devoured, the cities of Thrace. For the army that followed him, burning with an unquenchable thirst like those bitten by dipsades, often desired to drink from the golden river. Having advanced as far as Cypsella, he returns to the palace, ^C entirely given over to the faction of those who had been the assistants to his uncle Alexius in blinding and overthrowing his father. When Isaacius could no longer bear this, and having for a long time been considering vengeance against them, he did not cease to curse his son, especially when he observed his own authority being diminished and gradually fading away as it passed to his son. He was also most indignant at the change in the proclamation: for the son was hailed in the first position with sustained voices, so that the palace resounded, with he himself following more submissively, like an echo. But because he could not prevent these things, he would mutter to himself, and to those to whom he confided the secrets of his heart, he would speak ill of his son; for he claimed that the lad possessed no virtue, that he was not educated in good morals, but was occupied with the worst pursuits ^D and was corrupted by the company of the most depraved men. And these things were neither false nor empty; for Alexius was defiling the magnificent and illustrious name of the Roman Empire with many and more serious sins, in that he would slip away with a few companions into the tents of the Barbarians and indulge in drunkenness and dicing with them for whole days on end. And his fellow gamblers would rob him of his golden, jeweled diadem.

^A themselves donning it, while they wrapped Alexios in some shaggy, woolen garment, a product of Latin weaving. Not only was Alexios held in abomination by the more honorable Latins and the more moderate Romans for deeds of this sort, but his father, Isaac, was no less detested, since he was once again being driven by the excesses of absurd opinions and was giving himself over to divinations and oracles more foul than before. For even before he attained the monarchy, he imagined and shamelessly boasted that he was the one who would unite the West with the East and would gain mastery over the empire of the whole world. He even dreamt that he would recover his sight, and that his arthritic malady would cast off its slough like a snake, and that he would be transformed into a man like unto God.

Consequently, certain utterly execrable monks—men with promised beards, hateful to God, conspicuous in their religious habit along with their own ignominy—who hounded the imperial table and, lusting after fresh and fat fish, would dine with Isaac, would, after drinking wine quite liberally, confirm the monarchy to him in words. ^B Sometimes, too, they would take his knotted hands, press them to their eyes, and immediately prophesy that he would be renewed and restored. And he, beyond measure, was gladdened by these flatteries, and put as much faith in these scurrilous jests as if they were the most certain of oracles.

Acting on the opinion of astrologers, among other things, he transferred the Calydonian boar—which is carried in the Hippodrome with the bristles on its back bristling in high-mettled force—to the Great Palace, thinking that by this means he would restrain the swinish and reckless rage of the city’s populace.

But some drunken men ^C from among the idlers in the marketplace smashed into many pieces the statue of Athena which stood on a column in the Forum of Constantine, because the demented mob believed that it had been fashioned for the Western armies. It rose to a height of thirty feet, clothed in a bronze garment, of which material the whole was composed, reaching to the feet and folded in many parts, so that nothing would appear which nature willed to be covered. A belt tightly constricted the loins. On its chest, beneath breasts that stood straight, it wore an aegis-like covering, adorned with a Gorgon’s head, hanging down from the shoulders. The neck was bare and long, a most delightful spectacle. For the bronze represented it in such a way that, were one to expect it, the lips would seem about to utter a sweet voice. Veins were visible, and the whole body was cast more softly than was appropriate; and although lifeless, it recalled the vigor of a living body. A horse’s tail ^D placed upon the head carried with it a certain terror. The hair falling from the forehead, twisted into a knot and bound at the back, was a delight to the eyes. The helmet did not fully cover it, but projected from one side. The left hand held the folds of the garment, while the other supported the head, which was inclined a little toward the south. The gaze of the eyes was directed toward the same quarter, so that those who did not sufficiently understand the positioning of the angles would affirm that the statue was looking toward the west and, as it were, beckoning the Western armies with its hand, deceived by their own unsound judgment of the eyes.

^A They, driven by this opinion, shattered the statue of Athena—or rather, by always proceeding toward worse things and becoming armed against themselves, they could not endure even the image of the guardian of courage and wisdom among them. The emperors, for their part, had no other task but the collection of money, because there was no satiety in receiving; but as much as the donatives increased, so much did the greed for gold grow. They even undertook to exact tribute from the citizens. But when this matter did not proceed expeditiously (for the people, irritated by the hated demand, like a vast sea stirred by the wind, looked toward defection), they abandoned that proposal and plundered those who were rumored to be very rich, so that the immense greed of the Latins might be satisfied. Furthermore, the golden ornaments of the great temple, which were of many talents, and the silver lamps together with them were carried off and melted down, and were plainly thrown to the dogs, involving things that were nefariously and unmixably mixed.

4. But even though these things were happening and were manifestly lawless, nothing was accomplished. For the tax collectors, mocking the simplicity of the Romans and ridiculing the folly of those who held power, demanded that some deposit their precious materials, others stand by bearing burdens, others approach as gold-bearers, and others prepare themselves for payment, and that this be done continuously. Wherefore, the commanders of the enemy, standing over the most delightful suburban estates and the sacred temples on the Propontis ^B and the most splendid palaces of the emperors, inciting one another, plundered in turns the things that were within and set them on fire, sparing no seaside building, being barbaric men, alien to all elegance and born for the ruin of men. Many also, sailing along the shores of the city, stirred up battle, victory not being permanently attached to them, but occasionally favoring the Romans in turn. And the urban populace, having taken confidence, demanded of the emperor that he bring aid to them, who were faithful to him and his own fellow-countrymen, with an army to resist the enemies, unless perhaps he favored the Romans only with his lips, while in his heart he leaned toward the Latins. But those demands were in vain. For Alexius shied away from taking up arms against the Latins and thought it would be of no avail; and his father gave the same counsel, disregarding the empty clamors of the common crowd. ^{C D}

^A Likewise, the remnants of the imperial lineage agreed with this opinion in favor of Alexios, their peer. Some, having become familiar with the Latins, even rejected the conversations of the citizens as old wives' tales, fearing the Latin war more than a herd of deer fears a roaring lion. Alexios Doukas alone, of all, who had been nicknamed "Mourtzouphlos" by his peers because of his joined eyebrows that seemed to hang over his eyes, and who was burning with a desire for the throne, in order to win the favor of the citizens, dared to fight the Latins and produced an illustrious specimen of valor at the so-called Perforated Stone and the arch adjacent to it. But he would have been captured—for his horse collapsed to its knees, and all were asking for a single leader—had not a band of archers defended him, as no leader of the people came to his aid (for the emperor had forbidden it).

Consequently, the plebeian multitude, finding no one who would bring aid against the Latins, began to stir up plans for revolt and to rail against the emperors with insults, their hidden thoughts finally erupting. ^B It was then the twenty-fifth day of the month of January, in the seventh indiction, in the year 6712. A great crowd having gathered in the great church, the senate also, and the college of priests and the leaders of the clergy, came together there, and they were compelled to deliberate together on choosing an emperor. But when our opinions were sought, we could in no way be the authors of a proposal to eject the emperors immediately and create another, not being ignorant that whoever was designated would suffer a worse fate, both for other reasons and because the Latin commanders would again defend Alexios with all their might.

But the common people, as is their nature—simple, fickle, and taking counsel only from their own desires—declared that they would no longer tolerate the empire of the Angeloi and that they would not depart until they had secured an emperor after their own hearts. ^C Therefore, having experienced the stubbornness of men in the matter itself, and pitying our own fortunes and weeping abundantly, we remained silent, foreseeing long before what was to come. While they were diligently searching for an emperor and designating now one and now another from the noble families, in the end, having rejected them all, they seized plebeian magistrates and certain men of our own order by the hands and urged them, with drawn swords, to accept the crown. Alas! Alas! What could be more grievous and bitter than that danger? What could be more demented or ridiculous than the madness of that assembly? The reason for this designation was put forward as follows: "You have the garment: be our emperor." ^D At last, after three days had passed, they inaugurated a certain youth, Nicholas Kanabos, as emperor against his will. When Alexios heard of this (for Isaac was breathing his last, those predictions of a long reign having been refuted by the very outcome, and vanishing no differently than the dreams of those suffering from fever), he summoned Boniface the Marquis; and having entered into council, it seemed good to both that Latin cohorts should be admitted into the palace, by whom this new emperor, and the people who had designated him, [would be subdued].

But as these designs were detected, Ducas, nicknamed Mursuphlus, seizing an opportunity suitable to the rebellion he was nursing, together with many of his kinsmen, suborned the man set over the imperial gold-stores, a man easily captured by the promise of advancement and largesse, a person of little worth and easily swayed. Having gathered the axe-bearers, and communicated to them the emperor's intention, he put forward those things which he wished to be decreed and which were welcome to the Romans. Hence, the emperor's deposition is engineered in this way. Ducas approached the emperor at an unseasonable hour of the night (for he was favored by him above all others, having been honored with the rank of protovestiarius and being allowed to wear those shoes which were of a different color than those of the commoners) and says with feigned sympathy that his kinsmen, and a great many obscure men, and above all the axe-bearing barbarians, were at the doors in a state of frenzied rage, ready to tear him to pieces on account of his alliance and friendship with the Latins. Terrified and stupefied by this report, the emperor begged him to advise him on what should be done. Then he, wrapping his arms around the emperor, who was clad in a wide garment that flowed down to his feet, led him through a gate unknown to most into a tent that he had within the palace, as if he were about to deliver him. For this deed the emperor almost offered him thanks, and proclaimed against him that Davidic ^C verse: "He hid me in his tent in the day of my troubles; he covered me in the secret place of his tent." But he, in turn, answered with other psalms of David, saying: "Lips of deceit in the heart, and in the heart he spoke evil; and peaceably they spoke with me, and in anger they devised guiles." And immediately, the one [the emperor], having had his feet secured with iron and been tossed into the most terrible prison of all, thus made darkness his hiding place; while the other [Ducas] was adorned with imperial symbols.

Following this, some flocked to Ducas and offered the usual salutations to the emperor; others turned to Canabus, who was sitting in the temple, a man of gentle character, prudent, and not unskilled in warfare. But because the baser sort prevails among the Constantinopolitans, and especially (for truth is less dear than the favor of my countrymen), the power of Ducas grew and strengthened, while the splendor of Canabus waned like a failing moon. Not long after, he was seized by the guards of Ducas and delivered into custody, with the people offering no assistance, all having been dispersed after his proclamation. Moreover, Ducas twice administered poison to the Emperor Alexius; and when the young man had overcome it both by the strength of his age and by antidotes which he used secretly, he strangled him with a noose, in the sixth month of his reign, on the eighth day. ^D

[as they were] scattered immediately after the rise. ^A Ducas, however, twice offered the cup of life-quelling draught to the emperor Alexius; but since the youth was too wary of the poison, resorting secretly to antidotes, he cuts the thread of his life for him by strangulation, or, to put it even so, he squeezed out his soul by this narrow and constricted path, and sent him rushing off to the precipice of Hades, after he had reigned for six months and eight days.

THE REIGN OF ALEXIUS DUCAS, ALSO CALLED MURZUPHLUS

^B 1. Having thus without dispute obtained the empire, Ducas was harboring changes of affairs and intended to stir up everything, a man cunning and arrogant who placed prudence in dissimulation and delay, and who habitually deferred benefiting others to the ages of Meteon. For he denied that it was proper for royalty to do anything suddenly and rashly, but [only] with delay and deliberation. He was inclined toward these notions of his own accord, inasmuch as he laid claim to being ignorant of nothing that was necessary to know, but to be fit for the conducting of all matters; and he was strengthened in this opinion by his father-in-law Philocales, [his] shadowy helper. Because he could not otherwise place [him] in the highest rank of the council, he removed us from the office of Logothete of the Drome for no probable cause, and substituted him in our place. But this man, being most alien to self-knowledge while he sought with danger those things that exceeded his dignity out of excessive ambition, in order that he might not have certain honored men as assessors, feigned that he suffered from gout, as if he had lost his brain along with his feet, and as if with a disordered mind he neglected what was becoming. Moreover, this Ducas, having found upon accepting the empire the imperial treasuries not full, nor even half-full, but entirely exhausted, was reaping where he had not sown, and gathering where he had not scattered. Having held a grave inquiry against those who under the Angeli had managed the greatest offices and had been elevated to the rank of Sebastocrator and Caesar, he referred the money collected thence to the public needs. ^C And when he desired to resist the Latins, having poorly estimated the strengths of the enemies—and in this respect he was the first of all—he raised higher the maritime wall of the city with beams, and he shored up the land gates with timber; and by his own example, since he was seen girded with a sword and handling an iron mace with his hands, he stirred the legions to courage, partly [by repelling] the enemies' [attacks/efforts].

enemy, and partly by appearing of his own volition and acting on his own initiative when others were wandering off in search of food. For this reason he was cherished by the citizens, although he was highly suspected and avoided by his own kin; for they, having been raised in idleness and nurtured in luxuries, abhorred him just as diseased bodies turn away from temperance, and they endured his castigations and reproofs (for he was naturally deep-voiced, harsh, and hoarse of throat) with the utmost gravity and resentment, hoping for his destruction as if it were a divine blessing. But when the emperor went out against Baldwin, Count of Flanders, who was plundering the regions around Phileas and exacting tribute, and on that journey they encountered one another, the Romans were seized with panic and took to flight; the emperor was left alone and nearly perished, and the icon of the Mother of God, which the Roman emperors take as a companion in war, was captured by the enemies. Nor were these troubles the only grave ones, but things much more dreadful were feared; for on the larger ships, fearsome scaling ladders were being constructed again and machines of every kind were being prepared, with banners fluttering above them, and immense rewards were proposed by the Latins to those who would board them for the sake of fighting.

^B 2. These were the alarming events that were taking place, while others were happening or were expected to happen; and the talks about peace were already being ignored and thoroughly neglected. Or rather, certain wicked Telchines often confounded these talks as well. For Henry Dandolo, the Duke of Venice, wishing to converse with the emperor about an armistice, arrived on a new trireme and moored near the shores of Cosmidion. When the emperor also arrived there on horseback, they conferred with each other about steps toward peace, not granting any haste to any of the others. The demands made by the Duke of Venice and the rest of the commanders were for fifty centenaria of gold to be paid over immediately, with the addition of some very harsh conditions, which were in no way acceptable to those who had experienced the sweetness of liberty and had learned to command, not to obey, and which surpassed the bitterness of the Laconian lash. But for those ^C to whom the danger of captivity and public ruin was looming—both already begun and recently exacerbated—these terms were evidently tolerable and not the most difficult of all. However, while they were debating about peace, Latin cavalry forces suddenly burst forth from the higher ground and charged the emperor with loose reins, so that he only with difficulty escaped the danger by turning his horse, though some of his companions were captured. For the height of their hatred toward us and the immense nature of our discord with them prevented any fair conditions from being reached by either side. From there, the great enemy ships, on which had been prepared the scaling ladders and other instruments necessary for the assault, were withdrawn from the shores and moved straight toward the walls, and, separated by accurate intervals, they occupied the space which, from the monastery of Evergetes, corresponds exactly to the palace of Blachernae. ^D

having been burned and its inner ground plots excavated, and stripped of every pleasant sight. Seeing this, the Doukas, acting as a countermove against the enemy, ordered the imperial pavilion to be set up upon the hill at the monastery of the Pantepoptes, from where the hostile ships could be seen, and what was being done by them aboard could be clearly observed. ^A And as the ninth day of the month of April dawned, in the seventh indiction of the year 6712, the vessels and the transports approached the walls, and certain bold warriors mounted the ladders, and missiles of every kind were launched against those who were defending the battlements. The battle raged fiercely all that day, yet the victory inclined toward the Romans, for the ships equipped with ladders and the horse-transports were driven back from the walls without success, and the stone-throwing engines from within the city destroyed a great number of the enemy. The attackers rested on the following day and on the Lord's day which ensued; on the day after that, they approached the city again and moored at the shore, which was the twelfth day of the month of April, and the second of the sixth week of the fasts. At midday, our situation was actually getting stronger, and the intensity of the evil was even more powerful and sharper than it had been three days earlier; but when it was decreed that the mistress of all cities must be subjected to the yoke of servitude, and since God had decided to bridle our jaws with bit and rein, because we had all turned away—priest and people alike, like a horse headstrong and refractory—two men, entrusting their lives to fortune, leaped from one of the ladders, which was closest to the Petriou and was operating opposite the emperor, ahead of their other companions into the tower and overthrew the Roman guard. Then, by waving their hands, which was a sign of eagerness and confidence, they emboldened their peers. ^B At that same time, a certain horseman named Peter entered through the gate there; he was considered capable of putting entire phalanxes to flight, a man of almost giant stature, wearing a helmet upon his head like a turreted city. At the sight of this one horseman’s grim expression and remarkable height, the emperor's attendants, noble men, and the rest of the army, unable to endure him, judged flight—their customary refuge—the excellent means of safety, as if they had all been forged into one cowardly soul. ^C Abandoning the fortifications (for they were standing on elevated mounds), thousands were put to flight by one man. They poured out through the terrestrial Golden Gate of the city, and, having torn down the recently constructed bulwark, they scattered wherever fear drove them (would that they had truly fallen into an abyss and destruction!). Then the enemy, with no one resisting, ran about in all directions and drew their swords against every age and sex, with no formation preserved and no cohort left intact, but scattered, so that they were now frightful to all. ^D In the evening, having set fire to those things that stretched toward the East (a conflagration which consumed everything from the monastery of Evergetes to the mansion of the Drungarios, leaning toward the sea), they returned to set up camp at the monastery of the Pantepoptes, having despoiled the emperor's tent and the palace of Blachernae easily at the first...

^A assault. The emperor, meanwhile, wandering through the narrow streets of the city this way and that, made an attempt to organize and drill into a formation the people who were aimlessly roaming about; but they neither listened to his encouragements nor heeded his rebukes, for a veil of despair had been cast over everyone. And to carry my account forward, the day waned and night advanced, and every one of the city's inhabitants was [P. 367] laboring at moving and burying their possessions. There were some who even chose to depart from the city, seeking safety by whatever means each could.

3. Ducas, therefore, seeing that he was accomplishing nothing, ^B and fearing at the same time that he might be captured and become a ready morsel for the jaws of the Latins, enters the great palace. And having put the empress Euphrosyne, the wife of the Emperor Alexius, and her daughter Eudocia—with whose love he had been prepossessed and whom he appeared to court from the first as if from a bloom of youth, having wrongfully repudiated two young wives—on board a small boat, he departed from the city, having reigned for two months and sixteen days. After his departure, two young men, most modest and warlike, Ducas and Lascaris—both named Theodore, and both sharing the name with the leader of the Faith, the King—contended over the empire as over a ship buffeted by storms, seeing the greatest and most celebrated thing, the Roman Empire, laid out as a plaything of fortune and the rashness of uncertain chance. ^C They entered the great temple and contended with one another, nor was there anyone who could be said to outweigh the other in comparison, both being established as it were in equilibrium; nor was there anyone to exercise censorship or judgment. Lascaris, however, having been preferred by the clergy, though he rejected the insignia of power, went out with the patriarch to the Milion and did not cease to encourage the gathering crowd with pleas and exhortations to resist, and he stirred up the guards to battle. For he said that the destruction to be feared by them was no less than that of the Romans, if the empire were to pass to a different nation; and that they would retain neither ample pay nor the honor of serving the emperor, but would instead be in the place of mercenary soldiers. And as no one from the people was moved by these words, nor would the axe-bearers promise their aid unless their pay was guaranteed—cunningly bartering for that urgent danger—even the ^D

^A Latins' mail-clad cohorts appeared, he departed from there and sought safety in flight.

4. But the enemies, seeing no one resisting or taking up arms against them contrary to their expectations, but finding everything flat and unobstructed, the alleys passable, the crossways open, safety from war, and advantage from the enemy—as if some propitious fortune were leading them and helping them, while everyone went out to meet them with crosses and holy icons of Christ, as is the custom in processions and festivals—they did not let this sight change their spirits in the least, nor did they smile even a little, nor did that unexpected spectacle mitigate their sad and furious impetus, so that they might refrain from impudently plundering not only the wealth of private citizens, starting with their beasts of burden, but also things sacred to God, holding their drawn swords and keeping their horses, which were accustomed to be roused at the sound of the trumpet, in arms. But what ^B should I recount as first, what as second, and what as third among the things those wicked men perpetrated then? Alas for the ignominious trampling of the adorable icons! Alas for the casting of the relics of the holy martyrs into foul places! But what was even a thing horrible to hear, it was then to behold: namely, the divine blood and body of Christ being poured upon the ground and cast away. And those who were snatching up their precious caskets gathered the ornaments contained within them into their bosoms, and used the containers themselves as platters and goblets—forerunners of the Antichrist, and heralds and precursors of those impious deeds of his which are in expectation. Truly, by that race, Christ was then despoiled and mocked, just as He was of old, and His garments were cast lots for and distributed: only this much was lacking, that no one pierced His side with a spear to pour forth streams of divine blood upon the ground. Furthermore, the violation of the great temple cannot even be received by impartial ears. For the sacred table, fashioned from every kind of precious material into a variety of excellent beauty, admirable to all nations, was hacked into pieces and distributed among the soldiers, just as was all the sacred wealth, so immense and of infinite splendor. And when the most holy vessels and furnishings, of unsurpassable art and rare material, and the pure silver which surrounded the chancel of the tribunal and the ambo ^C (57) of admirable art and the doors, and many other ornaments overlaid with gold, were to be carried off as spoils, mules and beasts of burden laden with saddles were led right up to the inner sanctuaries of the temple; some of which, unable to keep their footing on the splendid and slippery floor, slipped and were pierced, so that the sacred pavement was defiled with poured-out gore and dung. Nay, even a certain base woman, covered in sins, a minister of the Furies, a handmaid of demons, of incantations and poi- ^D sons,

[index: entries preserved]

a laboratory of unspeakable sorceries and scandalous charms, having grown wanton against Christ, let forth a broken melody while seated upon the synthronos, and often whirled herself about in a dance, agitating her feet. Nor were these things occurring thus while others did not, or some things to a greater degree ^A and others less, but with one accord all things that are utterly accursed were being committed by all against all. [P. 369] Indeed, would those who were so maddened against divine things have spared pious women and ladies of marriageable age, or those who were dedicated to God and had chosen to live in virginity? Above all, it was a laborious and difficult thing to appease the barbarians with entreaties or piteous words, or to render them in any way favorable; for they were so easily provoked, and vomited forth bile so readily at any unwelcome word, that there was nothing which did not inflame their fury. Whoever attempted this was mocked as a madman and a person of ungovernable tongue. Often, too, a dagger was drawn against one who struggled even a little or refused their demands. Therefore, no one was free from mourning. In the narrow alleys, in the thoroughfares, in the temples, there were complaints, weeping, lamentations, wailing, the groaning of men, the shrieking of women, drag- ^B gings, enslavements, dismemberings, and violations of bodies previously united. Those noble by birth wandered about in ignominy; those venerable for their old age were full of tears; the wealthy were stripped of their goods. Thus it happened in the squares, thus in the corners, thus in the temples, thus in the hiding-places; for there was no place left unsearched, nor one that afforded sanctuary to those who fled to it, but everywhere and in every way things were replete with all evils. O Christ, our King, what a time of affliction and distress for humanity! The roaring of the sea, the darkening of the sun, the obscuration, the changing of the moon into blood, the wandering of the stars—where and how did these not foretell these final events? Yet we have seen the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, uttering harlot's discourse with a rounded mouth, and other things—if not entirely similar, yet turned to the opposite ^C of what are judged to be honorable and consistent with religion among Christians.

Such were the outrages, to speak briefly of many things for the sake of history, which the armies from the West perpetrated against the inheritance of Christ. Exhibiting humanity toward no one, they stripped all of money and possessions, of dwellings and garments, and shared nothing of these things with those who owned them. Is this, then, that brazen neck, that proud mind, that raised eyebrow, that cheek always shaved and youthfully groomed, that blood-stained right hand, that irascible nostril, that haughty eye, that insatiable jaw, that unfeeling heart, that sharp and voluble speech that almost danced upon the lips? Or rather, are you—who in your own estimation are learned, wise, faithful, truthful, upright, more religious ^D and more just than we Greeks, and more strict observers of the precepts of Christ (though I would never say these things in mockery or jest; for what commerce has light with darkness?)—and what is greater, you who [bear] the cross...

on your shoulders, and have often sworn by the divine oracles 370 that you would pass through the lands of the Christians without blood, neither turning to the left nor swerving to the right, but rather arming your hands against the Saracens and staining your swords with the blood of those who sacked Jerusalem, and that you would not act with unmanliness toward women, nor associate with them for as long as you bore the cross on your shoulders, as those who have been purified for God and are setting out on His journey. Truly they proved to be liars; and, seeking vengeance for the divine tomb, they behaved with evident madness against Christ, and along with the cross, committed impiety against the cross itself, which they bore upon their backs; they did not shrink from casting it at their feet for the sake of a little gold and silver. And while gathering pearls, they cast away the precious pearl, Christ, spreading the most holy thing among the most filthy of beasts. The descendants of Ishmael did not act thus when they gained power over Sion; on the contrary, they dealt with their own kind most humanely and gently. For they did not violate Latin matrons, nor did they fill Christ’s cenotaph with the dead, nor did they turn the descent into Hades into an entrance to a life-giving tomb, nor life into death, nor the Resurrection into a ruin; rather, being content with a few pieces of gold from each head, they allowed everyone free will and left the rest to the owners, even if they were as numerous as the sand. And this is how the adversaries of Christ dealt with the Latins, who professed a different religion; as befits a great spirit, they did not attack them with sword, or fire, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or cold, or major oppressions. But those lovers of Christ, of the same religion, who had been provoked by no injury, dealt with us in the way we have briefly run through.

5. O city, city, eye of all cities, a wonder to the whole world, a spectacle beyond this world, nurse of churches, leader of the faith, guide of orthodoxy, object of discourse, dwelling of every beauty! O you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury, O you who have become a portion of fire far more active than the heaven-sent fire that once consumed the Pentapolis, what eulogy shall I bestow upon you? To whom shall I compare you? That your people of contrition have been increased, as the tearful Jeremiah says, mourning the ancient Sion? What evil spirits sought you out to sift you? What avenging spirits, jealous and implacable demons, have poured out the intemperance of their own drunkenness upon you? What hostile and insane suitors have not prepared a bridal chamber for you, nor lit a wedding torch for you, but instead have kindled destructive embers? O you who were once a fertile mother, clothed in royal fine linen and purple, now sordid and squalid, and bereft of your own children! O you who were once set upon a high throne, walking with long and lofty strides, of majestic countenance and magnificent stature, now humble and cast down! Your delicate garments are torn; you have been despoiled of elegant and imperial adornments. The light of your graceful eyes has been extinguished, and you are like an old woman from the furnace, 371 from the soot [of the fire].

^A And your previously splendid and delightful face is furrowed with loose wrinkles. For I do not speak of those who pull at the lyre and chant your misfortunes, or who turn your tragedy into a comedy, and use the art of living to recount your ills in a ridiculous fashion—the cuffs, the kicks, and furthermore, the betrayals and slaps that you are subjected to at every hour. ^B Being provoked by God against nations that have no understanding, or, to speak truly, not even nations, but obscure and scattered tribes—most of whom you did not beget, but did elevate and nourish with the fat of wheat—who will save you? Or who will console you? Who will spare you? Or who will grieve for you? Or who will turn back to ask about things that make for your peace? (These are the words of the tearful Jeremiah.) Or who will clothe you again in your former robe? When will you hear from God: "Arise, stand up, you who have drunk the cup of my wrath and drained the chalice of ruin. ^C Put on your strength, put on your glory; shake off the dust and arise! Unbind the chain from your neck; stretch out the place of your tabernacle and your curtains. Do not fear that you have been put to shame, nor be ashamed because you have been disgraced, and because all who pass by the way have clapped their hands at you, hissed, and shook their heads, and said: 'Is this the city, the crown of glory and the delight of the whole earth?' And how has she sat as a widow, she who was full of peoples, and how has she who ruled over provinces become a tributary?" For your God said: "For a small moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercy I will show you compassion. In small wrath I turned my face from you, but with everlasting mercy I will cherish you." Surely with David you will sing to God: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul." ^D Who will stand by you as a second Moses, or who will appear as a returning Zerubbabel? When will it be granted to you to gather your children from the four winds, into which we have been scattered, in the way that artistic hens gather their own brood under their wings? As it is, we cannot even look you in the face clearly, or appear before you joyfully as a mother, or precisely shed for you as many tears as the eye desires or can, but timidly, like sparrows whose nurse has been snatched away and whose nest has been plundered, we chirp piteously and mournfully, [P. 372] hiding far away from your vaulted chambers, hungry and thirsty, filthy and shivering, often suffering from vermin, and our souls melting in calamities, finding no longer a path to the city where we may dwell, but carried along as wanderers, like unsteady birds and wandering stars. Or, to put it this way, we are joined to you while divided, and we embrace you while separated, like those who are united in soul but distanced in body; and we feel toward you, quite simply, as some animals do toward others of their own kind that are caught by hunters and locked inside transparent glass vessels, which they can see but cannot reach and embrace, and so they hover around the frame in vain with sorrow, stunned by the changed appearance, which is contrary to their previous form. In the same way we too can cast our eyes upon you and approach nearer, but we can in no way come to you and embrace you freely and confidently, as we did in the past.

for we are separated by the barbarian formation, which is as solid as a wall and far more impenetrable than glass.

"Why have you struck us, Lord, and there is no healing for us? We have acknowledged, Lord, our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers. Cease through your mercy, do not destroy the throne of your glory. Chastise us, Lord, so that our soul may not depart from you, save in judgment and not in fury, lest you make us few. Pour out your fury upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the peoples who have not called upon your name, Lord. You are our Father, Lord; we are the clay, and you are our maker, and we are all the work of your hands. ^B Look, and see our reproach." For I must use these Scriptural words appropriately for these similar occurrences.

For the power of speech has already failed me, along with you, O city, the nurse of eloquence, now lost, just as the structure of the body dissolves when the soul departs. Therefore, the magnitude of grief must be concluded with mute tears and ineffable groanings, and the series of the history must now be broken off. For who could celebrate with a calm mind the sacred things of the Muses on land now alienated from the Muses and oppressed by barbarism? Far be it from me to sing of the deeds of the Barbarians, or to hand down to the memory of posterity those wars in which the Greeks do not win. For if the Coan Hippocrates, summoned ^C by the then-king of the Persians with a large sum of money so that he might heal his cities suffering from pestilence, rejected those magnificent promises and scorned the barbarians, why should I bestow the best thing—history, the most beautiful invention of the Greeks—on the deeds performed by Barbarians against the Greeks? Nay, let those men perish unknown and obscure, like him who burned the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and let no one among us deem them worthy of even a word, until iniquity passes and God looks mercifully upon his servants. For our God is not one who forgets us forever, or who does not embrace mercy in his wrath, or who denies all beneficence for the future, but when he strikes, he heals; when he kills, he brings back to life; when he sends in the teeth of wild beasts ^D that afflict the earth with their madness, he also breaks the jaws of the lions and crushes the head of the dragon. If he breaks a reed, he also rebukes the beasts on account of the reed. If these men trust in chariots and horses, yet there is no certain salvation in a horse, nor does God delight in the strength of a man. If he treats his people harshly and gives them the wine of compunction,

Hier. Wolf's Notes

^A but a false horse for salvation, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of a man. If He shows hard things to His own people and tempers a cup of contrition, yet He prepares a table before them against those who afflict them, and offers a cup of philanthropy full and glad, and intoxicating in the best way. If He leads those who scourge from the ends of the earth and from far off on the sea, and cries out through the great herald, the Prophet: “Giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing at once and playing, they are sanctified, and I lead them,” yet He also inflicts upon them more severe blows and scourges them with worse evils, granting them no gratitude whatsoever if He uses them as instruments for the destruction of cities and as public plagues and merciless executioners of men. Or rather, they are employed as medications and remedies by Him, who is the physician of souls in the highest degree, and whose nature is manifest to those who have set their minds upon it. For the bad humors, once the sufferer has recovered, have either withered away and ceased from their operation, or they perish together with the sufferer. But remedial medicines, once they have cured the bad habit, are cast out along with the inferior substances and are no longer of any use.

Therefore I say that we should not consider the evils by which we are oppressed to be a bill of divorce given to us by God, nor the complete grafting of the wild olive of the barbarians into our own olive tree, but rather a slight chastisement, such as God knows how to impose while maintaining moderation, not granting everything to the tempters, ^B but accustomed to sparing those who are tempted, especially if the one acting sets no limit to his crimes but, through impiety, rises up against Him from whom he received the power to scourge—as did Nabuzardan, the chief of the cooks, who burnt the city of God and looted the liturgical vessels, and as did Balthasar, who used them for luxury, mocking the altars and dancing about the divine mysteries. For the one who suffers, having become self-accusing in the beginning, calls more fervently upon God, the author of the blows, for comfort. Therefore, we who await the philanthropy of God ought to sing with David: “Remember us, O Lord, in the good pleasure of Thy people; visit us with Thy salvation, that we may see the prosperity of Thy chosen ones, that we may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that we may be praised with Thy inheritance,” ^C knowing well that while the final surrender and scourging of the impious is certain, for those who have hoped in the Lord, consolation and restoration are joined to chastisement.

BY THE SAME CHONIATES: ON THE EVENTS THAT FOLLOWED THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY

NICETAS CHONIATES: BOOK ON THE EVENTS AFTER THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY

^A 1. Solon, born of Codrus, a man of most outstanding standing in the Athenian republic, when he saw the tyranny of Pisistratus gradually taking root, frequently exhorted his fellow citizens to suppress it. For he knew well enough that it is much easier to oppose the beginnings of evils and to prohibit their growth than to restrain and eradicate them once they have progressed further and become established. But since no one followed his advice, he placed arms at the doors of the council-chamber, in hopes that in some way he might draw some from the populace to imitate him. When, however, he had driven no one by his own example to the expulsion of the tyrant, he is said to have declared that he had brought aid to his fatherland as far as he was able, and afterward, during his leisure, he censured the rashness and recklessness of the Athenians in verses, some of which, not having been abolished by time, are as follows:

If by your own fault you at last suffer many evils, Reason permits no complaint against the gods on high. For while it pleased you to strengthen tyrants with your aid, The heavy burden of servitude justly binds you. You carry a cunning fox beneath your swift heart, And in your souls there dwells no weight of judgment. You do not see the snares, as the reality itself teaches: But flatteries and feigned words hold you fast.

^C If that Solon, descended from Codrus, famous almost throughout the whole world for the excellence of his wisdom, said and did everything in vain among a people accustomed to being ruled by words, what was a man of our own time supposed to do for the sake of helping the republic, when our emperors, having been raised from their earliest age in shadow and leisure, snored more than Endymion; men accustomed to dining earlier, and so averse to the opportunity for action? Indeed, being thoroughly corrupted by a bad upbringing, they were like men who would seek flowers in winter and fruit in spring; while the citizens, endowed with the dispositions of merchants and tavern-keepers, were not only accustomed not to rise at the sound of the trumpet, but were not even accustomed to be awakened by the chirping of birds, sleeping sweetly

^A and having never known war? But to compose poems and to rebuke those who have erred was indeed the way of the great Solon, and it was also, it seems, the way of the Athenian populace of that time, which would itch its ear with useful suggestions and slowly yield to the exhortations of the best of men. And besides, there is in songs that sing the truth, even when they sting, a certain sweetness that appears together with the bitterness; and memory, like a fan, by reviving the good that remains and is buried in the soul—as fire hidden under ash—stirs one to take care to avoid similar faults in the future. But for those of us living in the city of Constantine, and also for those who hail from other lands, such rebukes were precisely like lashes. Most people, however, do not have ears bored through to the mind, nor have they yet grasped the nature of freedom, just as the sweetness of honey is unknown to those who have never tasted it. ^B Since, therefore, our times are discordant with those of Solon, come, let us abandon the goads of rebuke, which would irritate nothing other than the hatreds of the many (for there are, indeed there are, those who carry hay on their horns), and let us follow the thread of history. For although we had refused to write of the deeds of the Barbarians, yet, since He who confounds the wisdom of the wise has cast those proud men into many misfortunes, and has filled their faces with ignominy and surrendered them to be destroyed by nations more barbarous than themselves, we must not choose silence in the end, but rather use our speech to acknowledge the wondrous works of God, who says: "As I live forever, so shall I take vengeance on my enemies, and I shall uproot those who hate me," and again in another place to Abraham: "But the nation whom they shall serve, I will judge."

2. The City of Constantine, the common delight of all and renowned everywhere, has been consumed by fire, destroyed, captured, and emptied of all wealth, as much as was public and settled upon the people as what was consecrated to God, by a rabble of Western peoples, scattered, for the most part obscure and ignoble, who, having embarked upon a piratical voyage, on the contrary, were masking their expedition against us with the specious cause of the restitution of Isaac Angelos; and they were bringing along as a most beautiful and desirable commodity the son whom he [Isaac], by an evil fate, had begotten to the ruin of the fatherland. ^C For the sloth and cowardice of those who were in charge of affairs caused these robbers to sit in judgment over us and to inflict punishment upon us. And those disasters of the city were not signaled by any portent, either celestial or terrestrial, as was usually the case in the past when the slaughter of men and the destruction of cities were imminent; nor did blood-red drops fall from the sky, nor did a bloody harvest appear, nor did flaming stones fall from the ether, nor did anything else unusual occur in any way. But with a noiseless tread and with nimble hands, vengeance—like an octopus with many feet and many hands—fell upon the city and upon us, making us, most miserable of all mortals, suffer justly for our pleasures. ^D Furthermore, on the very day that the city was captured, the predators were plundering the houses into which they had turned; and in addition to the things they were searching for themselves, the masters

were questioned with blows, and some with threats, while to others they behaved in a mild manner. As for the things they possessed, some they kept concealed, others they revealed, some being laid out before their eyes and brought forward by their owners, while others were rummaged for by the soldiers themselves. There was no pity among them, nor any sharing of their goods with those who possessed them, nor were they allowed to share a hearth or a meal; on the contrary, there was only arrogance, aloofness, and removal and dismissal accompanied by insults. For these reasons, the leaders decided to allow those who wished to depart from the city. ^A They went forth, therefore, gathered into groups, clothed in rags, wasted away by fasting, their complexions changed, their faces death-like, and their eyes bloodshot, weeping more with blood than with tears. For some had the loss of their property as the subject of their lamentations; others, neglecting this as a trifle, bewailed the abduction of a nubile daughter or the loss of a wife, and others mourned some other evil as they went along. ^B

3. Now, in order to weave my own experiences into the history, many of my acquaintances flocked to my house on that grim and truly ill-omened day, for it was situated in the colonnades, and because of its obscurity it was difficult to approach (for our most beautiful and spacious house, located in the Sphorakion, had perished in the second fire), and besides, it was otherwise convenient for receiving access to the Great Church, to which it was near. But the soldiers left nothing unsearched, and no sacred place or one fortified by its position protected the suppliants. Wherever you might run, you were snatched away by the enemies and led off wherever it pleased them. When we saw these lawless acts, we took thought for our safety as the times allowed. I had a certain friend and household member, a Venetian by birth, who had his food and safe refuge in my house together with his wife and his belongings; at that time he was useful to us. For, having taken up arms and military equipment instead of his merchant's attire, he for a while bravely kept the plunderers from entering the house, pretending that he was their comrade-in-arms and that he had already occupied those houses, and speaking to them in his native tongue about whatever the situation required. But when he could no longer resist them as they rushed in in swarms—especially the Franks, who, being unlike the others in both character and physique, boast that they fear only that the sky might fall upon them—he advised us to depart from there, lest, being caught by the Barbarians, we men be thrown into chains, and the women be carried off for rape and lust. When that good man, formerly my servant and client, but then our helper and in that most necessary time our defender, led us into other houses where Venetians known to us were living, we went out a few together, he dragging us by the hands and accompanying us as if we were his own booty, sad and ill-clad. But when we arrived again at that part of the city assigned to the Franks, we fled from there, having been inhumanely deserted by all our servants, who were scattered one here and one there, and by our children, who not

yet being able to walk, were carried on our shoulders, while we ourselves were compelled to bear a suckling boy under our arm, and in this manner proceed through the middle of the streets. Having remained in the city for five days after the capture, we also departed. ^B It was then a Saturday—by divine, I believe, and not fortuitous providence—a coincidence that happened in such an irrational way, and it was winter, and our wife was then near giving birth; so that the prediction of Christ, which warns that one should pray that our flight not happen in winter or on a Sabbath, and, "Woe to those who are pregnant in those days," took its outcome, strictly speaking, as if it had been spoken for our sake.

As many friends and relatives and another crowd had gathered to watch us, we made our way like an assembly of ants traveling the crossroads, while armies met us, not armed with precision, but with long swords hanging at the side of their horses and daggers fastened to their belts; some were laden with spoils, others were searching the captives passing by to see if they were wearing splendid clothing concealed under a tattered tunic, or hiding silver and gold in their bosoms. Others were staring at the women who were outstanding in beauty with fixed eyes, as if they were about to seize them for lewdness immediately. ^C We, therefore, fearing for the chastity of the women, brought them into the middle of our company as if into a sheepfold, and ordered the young maidens to smear mud on their faces instead of their former cosmetics, and to extinguish in that way the blush of their cheeks, lest the charm of their beauty should at first attract spectators, then lovers, and finally ravishers, like a fire lit at night, when they saw that everything was permitted to them. Meanwhile, we ourselves, as suppliants, were stretching our hands to God, beating our breasts with afflicted souls and bathing our eyes with tears, if by any way we might all escape those savage beasts safe and with our chastity inviolate. ^D When we had to go out through the Golden Gate, and we arrived at the church of the illustrious martyr Mocius, an insolent and impious barbarian snatched from the midst of us, like a wolf a lamb, a fair maiden, the daughter of a certain judge. At this most miserable spectacle, our whole group was struck with dismay and cried out; the girl's father, however, afflicted by old age and disease, and having also fallen into the mud and been defiled, lying there, was frequently looking at me as a fig-wood bulwark, and was praying by name that I might be of aid to him with all my might to recover the girl. Therefore, I immediately turned and pursued the traces of the ravisher, proclaiming with tears that force had been used, and imploring the help of the passing soldiers with suppliant gestures, who were not entirely ignorant of our language, even grasping the hands of some. And with difficulty I moved some to pity, so that desiring to punish that impudent and libidinous goat, they were led by me to those houses. When we reached that place, that goat-like man stood at the doors after having brought in the virgin, so that if anyone should try to use force, he might repel them. I, however, pointing him out with my finger, said: "That man," I said, "in the light of day has contemptuously violated the edicts of your nobility. For you indeed decreed that as regards a married woman, or a virgin, or a maiden dedicated to God, or an impu-

no one, if it be possible, should suffer so much as a lustful glance; and you have bound these things with fearsome oaths. But this man, holding your commands in contempt, and in the sight of many witnesses, is ^A not afraid to threaten the virgins with insolent violence. Take vengeance on him, therefore, using your own laws and the weapons that are in your hands, made soft by these tears, which God accepts, and which nature has caused to flow before our eyes as the greatest aid to mutual compassion. And if you yourselves are fathers of children, I implore you by your wives and your most beloved offspring to reach out a hand to us suppliants; I implore you by the divine tomb and the precepts of Christ, which command all Christians to do for others what they wish to be done for themselves.» By using these words on the spur of the moment, I stirred up the spirits of those men to demand the girl in earnest. At first, he disregarded their words, being gripped by the two most violent passions: love and anger. But when the angry men pressed him, threatening him with hanging as a man both injurious and lewd, and when finally he perceived that those words were flowing not from their lips but from their hearts, he was finally overcome by their threats and restored the girl. Her father, gladdened by the sight of his daughter, and having offered tears to God because those vile nuptials had been warded off, arose and set out once more with us.

^B 4. After we had departed from the city, others gave thanks to God in various ways, and lamented their misfortunes with wailing. But I, throwing myself upon the ground just as I was, all but reproached the walls themselves, because they alone were unharmed and did not weep, nor had they collapsed into a mound, but still stood in an upright position. «For if,» I said, «those for whom you were built have now utterly perished, consumed by fire and war, why do you still stand? Whom hereafter will you shelter and guard? Unless, perhaps, you are planning to bring destruction upon the enemy in the day of wrath, when the Lord shall arise to crush those who have so treated us, having perhaps advanced from the west, according to the prophecy of David? And you too, O city,» I said, «imperial city, city of the region, city of the great King, tabernacle of the Most High, praise and hymn of His servants, ^C and beloved host, you who are the empress of imperial cities, the song of songs, the...»

^D Hier. Wolfi note. (0) That "lest you pay" is more correctly read than the ancient code declares, which has these words: *lest you pay*. Whence it also appears that *ab* is formed for *quod*, that it should be read *ab quod*, which means the same as *to pay back*.

^A O queen of queens, city, song of songs, and splendor of splendors, and more rare a sight than the rare sights seen everywhere, who has torn us away from you as dear children from a dear mother? What shall we become? Whither shall we turn? What consolation shall we find, being stripped, as it were, torn from the womb and bosom of a mother, and appearing before the nations like a harp and a byword, O brothers of the Sirens? Companions of sparrows, fed on necessities, yet given water of gall to drink? When shall we behold you, not as now, a field of desolation and a valley of mourning and trampled by armies, or even despised and cast aside? But rather chosen out and saved, and worshipped by those who humbled and provoked you, and sucking the milk of the nations and eating the wealth of kings as of old? And when shall we cast away, as if they were fig leaves and skins of beasts, these tattered ^B rags that do not even cover the whole body, which our enemies—they who are to us like alien serpents, those who dwell with us yet are both treacherous and intensely jealous—have put upon us, and instead clothe ourselves again in those robes of more lustrous weaving and luxury, which we formerly wore? But be propitious, O God, ^C to the holiest of cities; set forth the temples, the remains of the martyrs, those very calamities, the magnitude of the perils of which you have had your fill, having been given over to unholy men for burning. For He says: "Call upon me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." But shall I add, will God ever look upon you again, O most great and most divine, O earthly heaven, throne of the glory of God, cherubic chariot, second firmament, announcing the handiwork of God, a sight and work unparalleled and the joy of the whole earth? And who is he that promises this, if not He alone who, having been tempted in the things He suffered, has learned to aid those who are tempted, and who rescues the poor from the hand of those stronger than he, and the poor and needy from those who plunder him, and who does all things and ever changes them for the better?

5. When we had poured out these things from a soul overflowing with grief, we went on our way, weeping and casting our laments like seeds. But if we should return in the coming, reaping with joy the sheaves of a more prosperous change, this will be the gift of God, who strengthens the faint-hearted, and clothes them with a garment of salvation and a robe of gladness. Our ecumenical high priest went before us, bearing no wallet, no gold in his girdle, without a staff and without shoes, clad in a single tunic, a perfect evangelical apostle, or rather an imitator of Christ, in that he was being carried on a poor ass ^D as he departed from the new Zion, and was not portraying upon it a triumph. Then, therefore, having set Selybria as the end of our journey, we ceased from the rest of our wandering, with my whole family unharmed—which is a great bounty of God and an everlasting and perfect gift—not bound in iron manacles, not bound with ropes, not beaten with fists, as many of our people were for the sake of extorting money; and nourished by God alone, who

[index: entries preserved]

^A provides food at the opportune time for all, and who feeds the fledglings of the ravens that call upon Him in such abundance, and who even clothes with splendor the lilies of the field that neither spin nor sow. But the rustic and brutish folk mocked us of Byzantium all the more, and foolishly called the misery of beggary and nakedness equality, not becoming any wiser from the misfortunes of their neighbors. Many wicked men even praised God, saying, "Blessed is the Lord, because we have grown rich," as they bought up the possessions of their fellow men for meager prices. For they had not yet taken the ox-devouring Latins into their own houses, nor did they know how they recklessly pour out undiluted and bitter wine at the same time, or how they behave proudly and contemptuously toward the Romans.

^B Such was our state, and that of those who were of the same condition and educated in letters. But the wicked gang and the market-crowd grew rich by profanely selling sacred objects again, trafficking in them as if they were common wares, as if they had ceased to be items plundered from the temples of God. Furthermore, the enemy gave themselves over to luxury and pleasure, especially those things that pertained to the mockery and derision of the Romans. For they walked through the streets wearing broad-striped garments, not out of necessity but for the sake of laughter, and they placed linen miters upon the heads of their horses; and they tied the white fascias which hang from the shoulders onto the jaws of the beasts, and in this manner they rode at will through the city. Others carried reed pens, inkpots, and booklets, mocking us thereby as if we were scribes. The greatest part, however, carried off women they had ravished, dressed in long robes and with hair braided into a single knot and thrown back, riding upon horses. Indeed, they adorned their horses with women's caps and with curled white hair hanging from their temples, and all day long they feasted and drank, ^C some intent on delicacies and luxuries, others eating their ancestral food—which consisted of cows' backs cast into cooking pots, or salted pig-flesh boiled with ground beans, as well as sauces made of garlic and juices from other pungent humors. After the partitioning of the spoils, there was no distinction made by them between sacred and profane, but both were used equally for the needs of the body, without any regard for the Divine or for religion, to such an extent that they used the divine images of Christ and the saints as benches and footstools.

6. After they began to cast lots for provinces and cities, one could see and marvel—or rather, it would be more appropriate to call it madness—at the incomparable arrogance, not to say insanity, of these men swelling with pride. For as if they had already become kings of kings and encompassed the whole world in their own hands, they sent out their census-takers into the Roman provinces so that ^D

they might first know the annual revenues, and then distribute them by lot, while the command and authorities of the nations and kings ^A held by others they partitioned immediately. Thus, the blessed, wealthy city situated by the Nile, Alexandria, fell to the lot, as did Libya—and those parts of Libya which extend to Numidia and Gades—likewise the Parthians and Persians, the eastern Iberians, Assyria, Hyrcania, and whatever regions are separated by the greatest rivers to the East. Nor were the northern regions overlooked, but those too were distributed by lot. One man would praise the cities he had received by lot as being rich in horse-breeding and heavy with tribute, and would call himself blessed by the lot; another would not cease to marvel at those cities as being flourishing in other good things. Others ^B quarreled over the allotment of the cities, while others exchanged cities and borders with one another. Some also contended eagerly for the honor of having received Iconium by lot. And they sent the gates of the city and a piece of the chain which, once stretched out, held the harbor, to their fellow-countrymen in Syria with many ships, and they dispatched messengers everywhere to make known the capture of the city.

They also deemed it necessary to elect an emperor, and so they came to the great church of the Apostles of Christ; for it was there that they gathered to deliberate on what was to be done. And at first, according to a certain ancestral custom, they determined to place four chalices in a row, of which one was to hold the bloodless sacrifice, with the others empty; and they were to hand these to an equal number of priests, so that at the name of each candidate they might take one and return them to the men. The empire was to belong to him who had received the chalice in which the divine body and blood of Christ were. Then, when it seemed good to the Venetian Duke Dandalo to commit the selection to a vote, five electors were chosen from the race of the Franks and Lombards, the best among them, and likewise five others from the Venetians. And when the vote of the majority prevailed, the lot ^C of the empire fell to Baldwin, the Count of Flanders, though, as was whispered by all, through the guile and cunning of the Venetian Duke Dandalo. For since he was blind and was excluded from the number of candidates ^D, he wanted the empire to be held by someone who was of a most cheerful character and of a less ambitious spirit, although he looked rather to this: that the principate of the designated emperor might be as far removed as possible from the dominion of the Venetians, so that if any controversy should arise with him, he would not be able to summon many forces suddenly from his own territory, nor easily invade the Venetian borders or harass them with incursions. He knew that all these things were readily available to Boniface, the marquis, who drew his origin from Lombardy—for his territory was maritime, from whence one could easily cross into the Roman provinces, and because of the proximity, great disasters could be inflicted upon the Venetians as well. Moved, therefore, by these reasons, which were not at all absurd, and seeing with the light of his intellect things that were dark even to those who could see, that blind man rejected the marquis Boniface and preferred Baldwin, by the judgment of the Franks and the Venetians—whom he knew to have originated in the lower Gauls, and he knew that the borders of the Gauls and the Venetians were separated by as much as the Venetian lands are distant from the Roman provinces. To this was added the fact that Baldwin favored him with all his heart and revered him as a father, nor did he allow him any long

training in affairs, such as he knew the marquis possessed; for Baldwin had not yet reached his thirty-second year. Moreover, this man was pious ^B towards God, as it was said, and temperate in his lifestyle, and he did not even cast a glance at a woman as long as he was away from his own wedded wife. But he also devoted himself to the hymns of God, relieved those struggling with necessities, and was willing to listen to those who spoke against him. And what was most important, twice every week he ordered it to be proclaimed in the evening that no one should sleep in his palace who had touched a woman not his lawful wife.

7. Baldwin, the Emperor-elect, departed for the western regions, not to subdue them (for he thought that nothing could resist him, and he boasted—nay, almost blustered and spoke with extreme arrogance, saying, "Where I go, I shall shake the earth with my spear") but to travel through friendly provinces and be hailed by everyone as the Emperor of the Romans. For this reason, he did not account for the Romans of either the military or the civil order, but rejected them all, which was approved by the other counts and leaders of the army as well. For, since they claimed for themselves—as if it were innate and confirmed by practice—a courage separated from all related virtues, they did not tolerate that any other nations be joined or compared to them in martial affairs. Nor was there any place among these barbarians for the Muses or the Graces; and because of this, I believe, they were savage by nature and had their bile more ready than their reason. ^C Baldwin, therefore, having traveled through the Thracian cities, placed garrisons at Orestias, and likewise at Didymoteichon and the city named after Philip. When he reached Xanthia, those who had lain in wait there and who were led by a certain Sennacherib set a trap for his army; but after showing themselves for a little while, they again hid, returning timidly to where they had come from haughtily. He then proceeded without a fight toward the metropolis of Thessalonica. Boniface the marquis followed him, bringing with him Mary of Pannonia, who had formerly been wedded to Isaac Angelos, but after his death and the capture of the city, had been joined to him in lawful matrimony. But when they had come to Mosynopolis, and [Boniface] had heard from many that Baldwin had never intended ^D to yield the renowned Thessalonica to him as had been agreed, but had undertaken that journey and was traveling more quickly specifically to occupy that city, he stood as if thunderstruck for a long time. Then, driven by the anguish of his soul, he turned his journey and called Baldwin more deceitful than the Greeks, perfidious, fickle, and more changeable than a token.

^A Indeed, having reached Didymoteichon and secured it by all means, he devastated the Thracian cities, with the exception of Orestias (for he bypassed this, since it held a garrison from Baldwin in great measure), and he arranged the tributes, gathered the Romans, and—if there is any name most holy and fearful to men, he bore it upon his tongue—calling God to witness that he had abandoned the company of his own people and had openly defected to the Romans. By saying these things and swearing oaths, he also devised another maneuver to make his words acceptable; for he had proclaimed the firstborn son of Maria, who was married to him (his name was Manuel), as Emperor of the Romans, yielding to him both the habit and the title, and by this mask and pretext he drew the Romans in troops to himself. And the Marquis carried on with such sophistries, which were not at all directed toward the truth, as subsequent events made clear. ^B But when Baldwin drew near to Thessalonica, all the people went out to meet him, and with clear shouts they joyfully surrendered themselves and the city. They begged, however, that neither Baldwin himself should set foot in the city nor allow his army to enter; for they feared that, disregarding his orders, they would plunder the city, given that it was not subject to a single commander but was drawn from many tribes and subject to numerous leaders. Baldwin, therefore, partly swayed by the reasonableness of their request, and partly having a presentiment that the angry withdrawal of the Marquis portended no good, and being anxious because of his actions which rumor was reporting, consented to the Thessalonians and handed them a letter in red ink, confirming to the city all its established customs and practices. ^C Indeed, having camped outside for some days and been treated with appropriate hospitality, he returned again to Byzantium; for he had already received a message urging this very thing from the Doge of Venice, Dandolo, and all the counts who remained in Constantinople. When Baldwin returned, the Marquis was also summoned through a certain Iofredus, a man of great authority among the Latin troops (the man’s rank was "Marshal," which in the Greek tongue signifies "Protostrator"), and after he gave assurances that he would suffer nothing untoward if he came, he met with Baldwin, made peace, withdrew from Didymoteichon, and descended to Thessalonica. Having been received by everyone without a fight, he entered the city, instantly subduing the moment and concealing his natural malice and double-tongued ^D disposition. Yet he could not maintain this posture for long; but just as the weasel reveals the grease, so he himself, once he had learned of the Thessalonians' wealth, mulcted them of their money. Then he snatched the most beautiful houses from their owners and handed them over to his knights to dwell in; and having left his wife Maria and a portion of his army there, and having unexpectedly gained possession of the cities that are adjacent to Serres and Berrhoea and pertain to the Thessalonian territory, always considering what he held to be meager, and desiring to advance further because of the Romioi’s simplicity, he decided to invade even Larissa and, by crossing through Greece, to occupy the Peloponnese. Some Romans also followed him, and these, especially the nobles, were the ones who enticed the provinces and smoothed the way. By the fraud and deceit of Maria’s firstborn son (for they led this boy out in imperial habit and with auspicious acclamations, and just as the Thracians before, so then the Macedonians and the Thessalians and the neighboring parts of Greece eagerly received them), the traitors to their fatherland were in reality showing the way to the Latins and prescribing what ought to be done. Thus the Marquis, to the tribes—

and most powerful cities ^A far more numerous than his own troops—if one were to compare the number of cities and men—became master without a battle. Baldwin also, when he had come to Byzantium, judged that he himself ought not to remain idle nor keep his army in inaction, but rather should cross over into Asia and lay siege to those cities; this he decided especially because of the Latins who inhabit the city of Pegae on the Hellespont, and the urging of the Trojan Armenians, who never ceased to incite him and the other counts to set out for the eastern cities, as if they were a prepared prey to be seized. ^B 8. Therefore, in the month of October, Henry, the brother of Baldwin, and Peter of Plancius, a man of heroic strength, crossed over into the Orient at Callipolis. Henry, reinforced by the auxiliary Armenian troops in Troas, treated the cities that refused to acknowledge his rule harshly and ravaged them, and as a victor made his way through the defiles of Mount Ida as far as Adramyttium. But as Peter of Plancius was proceeding from Pegae toward Lopadium, Theodore Lascaris encountered him near Poemanenum with very large Roman forces. Since these could not withstand the assault of the Latins, they betook themselves to flight; and he, because there was no one to resist him, but rather he was received by all with crosses and holy Gospels, went on to Lopadium ^C and spared the suppliants. The other cities also, which abstained from arms, experienced the same clemency, although it is difficult to appease by submissiveness a Latin—a person diverse from the Greeks in speech, of avaricious nature, of shameless eye, insatiable belly, irascible and bitter mind, and a hand perpetually seeking the sword. The Latins were also about to make an attempt upon the Prusians, who, having prepared provisions to withstand a long siege and relying on the position of the place (for Prusa is situated on a hill and surrounded by firm walls) and thinking themselves to be impregnable, did not yield. Having left Lopadium, they besieged that city near its walls, where Mount Olympus bends slightly away from it and the rocky hill which surrounds it is broken. ^D

^A They pressed the inhabitants, asking that they be admitted into the city, claiming they would obtain there what they could not find later when they themselves might surround the city as for a siege and beat the walls with siege engines. When those inside indicated no compliance, and some even dared to sally forth and struck down many of the notables with their missiles, the Latins, seeing straightway that the wall could not be taken, especially by a first assault, withdrew from that place. The people of Prusa, however, being further emboldened by the departure of the enemy, pursued the Latins from the rear with greater forces. Others did the same, occupying the mountain passes through which the enemy had to pass. Not a few, having defected from the Latins, armed themselves against them, just as those who had not received them, and killed many. Nevertheless, the Latin cause remained superior, and many slaughters occurred, both elsewhere and at the city of Caesarea. For when a certain Roman, who was leading the Latin army, was killed and his banner planted upon a hill, the cohorts that followed it, seeing this, were lured toward it; but when they realized they were Romans, they were defeated and severely punished with the utmost ease and swiftness. ^B Theodore of Philadelphia, imitating the same procedure, brought arms against Erricus, who was stationed near Adramyttium, and struck terror into him at the beginning by an unexpected arrival and a large number of troops. But when it seemed to Erricus that the fortune of war must be tested, he drew up his line of cavalry; they waited for the Roman encounter holding their spears aloft. And as the Romans shrank from provoking the fight, and went winding through the turns of their forces like a flame-breathing serpent, bristling with the scales of their armor, and holding a sort of giant shield before them by the extension of both their wings, yet attacking more sluggishly and feebly, the Latins, as if at a given signal, pointed their spears forward and raised the customary war cry. Erricus himself breaking forth before the others and galloping through the middle of the enemy’s line, dispersed the Romans, and pressing upon them as they fled, killed a great many. For the Roman horsemen, at the first charge of the Latins and the leveling of their spears, spurred their horses and fled, leaving the infantry ranks to be slaughtered and plundered by the enemy. ^C And while affairs in Asia were being thus carried on, the Marquess, having traversed the Thessalian Tempe, ^D led his forces under Roman commanders so swiftly through the non-mountainous country that he arrived in the plains of Larissa, unknown to the Romans who were guarding the mountain peaks with careful watch. Here the Peneus river, confined everywhere into a very narrow channel, rises into great waves, its banks resound-

- [ing] in sympathy to the roar, and at the foothills of the mountains they reveal one path, and that too narrowed and difficult for those walking, so that it cannot be expanded even to the width of four shields [(66)], constricted entirely into a narrow pass by jagged rocks and the river’s current. Having departed from Larissa, he proceeded forward, with no one daring to come to blows with him. But late, and with difficulty, at Thermopylae, Sgurus Leo set an ambush; yet having performed no brave deed, but rather having lost his wits at the mere sight of the Latin horsemen, he fled from there to Acrocorinth. This Sgurus, born of Nauplia, for some time held the principality—which he had received from his father—more by force than by the consent of the people, ruling not without bloodshed, after the example of his father. But, magnified by the confusion of affairs and the turbulent times, he swelled like the torrents from rain and violent gusts of wind, and from small became great. He took Argos by guile and Corinth by robbery; then, continuously advancing in his raiding, he attacked Athens itself with warships and an army ferried across the Isthmus, hoping to easily ^B seize the acropolis, or, by bringing up siege engines, to easily terrify the unwarlike garrison. But he was agitating and attempting in his mind things that could not be brought to fulfillment. For the supreme pastor of Athens, Michael Choniates (this man is my brother—I say mine, for I count his kinship as a praise to myself, and I rejoice to be blood-related to such a man, even if I am most distant from his virtue and eloquence), when he understood that it was his duty to assist the public cause with counsel and prayers, having seen Sgurus’s camp, set out to treat with him piously, wondering if he could move a man not unknown, but one with whom he had often conversed. Thus, from the city as from a superior position, he shoots the arrows of his exhortations and casts divine words from his pastoral sling. Sometimes he even attempts to crush the man’s spirit with spiritual threats, as ^C if with battering rams. For it does not befit one who is a Christian and professes his name among the Romans to attack the Romans in war, unless perhaps he acts the Christian with his lips alone, being a Roman only in dress and tongue, but in heart most distant from Christians. Yet what cause could he have to attack Athens? For against the Argives, because of their proximity, he might perhaps have something to charge them with, by which their conquest could be excused—just as he recently charged their archbishop with frequent conspiracies, whence he saw the Roman army run to Nauplia and drive away the hostile ships. But between the Athenians and himself, as they are distant in location, so too they have no business with one another, and are removed from all rivalry. Moreover, as nothing passes between the priest of the city and himself except pious and spiritual commerce—since he himself never ^D refused to call him father and pastor, and he is more affected by the sweetness of his speech than by the taste of honey, and he always desires to enjoy it—this man [admits him] into the number of his spiritual children.

^B And using such weapons, he urged the man to depart from there. But he, putting forward the necessity of force as an inexorable and manifest excuse, and driving the time further to a point where he could see everything through the lens of power, as if the pride of all cities were suffering the worst of things, further insisted heavily on the surrender of a certain youth for death, a youth whom someone else would have gladly surrendered even without being asked, judging him to be an unrighteous and lawless seed, the cause of destruction for many, and a man who had perpetrated every worst deed against his own fatherland, Attica, both in deed and in thought. But he [the metropolitan] ignored Sgouros, inscribing him among those whom he loved according to the Gospel and treating him like a refugee, even though he was the brilliant persecutor of the city that gave him birth and an abuser and conspirator against the Church, our spiritual nurse, and one who had often armed his hand against him. But when he was unable to persuade that beast-named man with these wise admonitions—or rather, he saw him deliberately blocking his ears like an asp against them ^C and hurling all kinds of weapons at those on the acropolis—he propitiated God to divert all the evil onto that impious man and author of the burgeoning evils, and he himself set up engines in his hands; and he stationed archers and slingers there. For what would he, a man polished in every doctrine of sacred and profane letters and adorned with the greatest eloquence, not have accomplished for the repulsion of the enemies? Had he wished, he could have rained fire upon the reckless ones, or sent wasps into the army, or obtained from God something else pernicious to them. For God would not have hesitated, had those hands been lifted up or those lips opened in invocation of the Divinity. But He who restrained the sons of thunder from bringing down fire from above diverted him from even thinking of, let alone committing, such an act, when He said, “You do not know of what spirit you are.”

9. Scurus, therefore, having failed against such an adversary—so learned in tactics, so eloquent in speech, so incomparable in virtue—and having understood that he was battling in vain against the crags of the acropolis, ^D stirs up his wrath against the city whose acropolis he could not capture; and he sets fire to the estates and seizes herds of livestock fit for yoke and sustenance. And after a few days, having abandoned the siege there, he attacks the seven-gated Thebes. Having taken these by a swift assault, he pushes forward his eagerness. Accordingly, passing through Thermopylae and crossing over Mount Oeta, he comes out into Larissa and joins himself to the emperor Alexis. For he, having been torn away from the northern sides and driven out from the imperial city, had arrived at the Thessalian Tempe, and Eudocia, his daughter—

becomes his wife. This woman had previously been joined to Stephen, the leader of the Triballi, but was sent away by him in a haughty manner; having arrived in Byzantium, she was later, after the capture of the city and her return from it, taken as a wife by Alexis Doukas, who was surnamed Mourtzouphlos and was the last to take the scepter of the Romans into his hands. Yet not even this Doukas lived with Eudocia until old age and his later years; for her father Alexis, I know not for what reason, having seized him by treachery, deprived him of his sight, being most hostile to error, and most inimical to the one who had been cast down from the empire and was afflicted with a similar calamity. ^B Not long after his blinding, Doukas was captured by the Latins and brought back to Byzantium; when he was brought to judgment on the charge of having seized and murdered his own lord and emperor by strangulation, he defended himself by alleging that that man had been a traitor to his country and had duly paid the penalty for his crime, and that he had not done this alone, but with the rest of his kinsmen. But they, scorning his defense and flatly rejecting all he sought to add, condemned the man to death by a new and most violent form of execution. Taking him to the high column standing in the Taurus, they cast him down from there. He, for a time descending on his feet, then turned headlong and struck the ground, and perished miserably. Sgouros, however, having taken Eudocia as his wife, while the marquis was about to cross into Greece, as I said a little before, was guarding the straits of Thermopylae, the high mountain hanging over them, and the other places that block the entrance to Greece. ^C But nevertheless, he gained possession of those places most easily, because of our sloth and our degenerate and abject spirits, which were constantly inclined to honor the more powerful; and this, even though he was not leading a great army nor one that was in agreement with itself, but one that was dissident in many respects, as it was gathered from many cities. And when he invaded Boeotia itself, he was received as eagerly as anyone who returns home from a long and protracted wandering. Advancing, he also takes possession of Attica and places a garrison in the acropolis. But when the archbishop, who was presiding over the city in a priestly manner, was able to drive away the marquis just as he had earlier done with Sgouros, he nevertheless judged the time to be unsuitable for resistance—since the queen of all cities had been taken, and the western portion of the Roman lands was passing into the shadow of the Latin spear—and he surrendered the fortress without a struggle. Finally, Euboea too, having omitted defense, extends suppliant hands to the marquis, ^D and spreads a bridge for the army at the swirling Euripus; he sees the fortress built in that very strait, and the army sitting there, by which the fickle spirits of the islanders and their cunning plans might be restrained from rebellion. But why do the barbarians outstrip my discourse and occupy the course of history, and are held back by no adversary? For it still relates how, after Thebes was plundered and Athens occupied, they crossed into Euboea; but they, not as foot soldiers but as birds of the air, carried on wings above history, to [P. 393] Hier. Wolfii notes. I do not sufficiently grasp what he means. The ancient codex is mutilated here, as it is elsewhere, where his help is greatly needed.

^A And with greater swiftness than the returning tide, he shifts his plan, and provides a bridge for the Euripus army. He sees a fort built on that very strait, and an army coming out from within, ready to rebuild and surely to restrain the ill-judged counsels and the wavering mind of the Euboeans. But someone is faster than my words, and is carried along more swiftly than the winged speed of history, nor does anything check it as an obstacle. For it, while still plundering Thebes and subduing Athens, passes through Euboea; and, because it is not walking but winged and aerial, it flies over history to the Isthmus, puts to flight the Roman force positioned before the Isthmus, proceeds to the city situated at the Isthmus, Corinth, wealthy of old, moves on to Argos, glances toward the Spartans, from there attacks Achaia, from there moves on to Methone, and rushes towards Pylos, the native land of Nestor. I think that upon standing by the Alpheus it will drink of its stream and bathe, and will be reminded of the old charming tale, and having learned that the river, melting with love for Arethusa and watering fields and children of Italy, fears lest the water itself, having become a tyrant, write on the surface of the waves and through the Alpheus reveal to those kin there the deeds performed against the Greeks. But, O Greek river Alpheus, stream flowing with potable water through the salt, a strange rumor, a cargo of love, do not surely make clear the Greek calamities to the Barbarians in Sicily, nor make known how great things those who attacked the Greeks from your own people have performed ^B against the Greeks, so that choruses might not stand and paeans be sung, and the hostile might not call more enemies. Wait a little while; the battle is fickle, human affairs are like dice, and victory alternates between men. They say that even for Alexander things did not always go well, nor was Caesar’s fortune entirely without setbacks. Yes, by the very amorous tokens of Arethusa, salt-free in its flow, and by its loving water! But let that be. Sguros, perplexed by these events, seeing Argos occupied and the surrounding cities captured, like a shaggy beast in a lair or a creeping serpent into its hole, coils himself into the Acrocorinth — which is the citadel of the ancient city of Corinth, lying on steep mountains and difficult for those attacking. The Marquis, therefore, having been repulsed from the Acrocorinth, and seeing that the passage into Nauplion was not easy because of the strength of its fortifications and the power of its defenders, proposed to delay before both, and built a fort opposite the Acrocorinth, ^C where the area seemed most vulnerable to attack.

18. The Flight of the Emperor

18. Thus, all the Asian and Western borders of the Romans would have yielded in servile fashion to the arms of the Latin nations, before even a full year had passed (for the already appointed Emperor Baldwin had even begun to prepare to besiege Nicaea and Prusa), had not the Lord, who makes counsels vain and scatters the nations eager for war, undertaken the defense of us who were already utterly failing. For the fugitive Emperor, having come into the sight of the Marquis, exchanged the insignia of empire for a ration of bread and wine, and with his wife Euphrosyne was sent to live in a place named Halmyrus (which means "salsuginous"), a place befitting his fortune. The Romans, however, who had fled with the Emperor — most of whom were of noble birth, not obscure in war, and had originated from Thracian cities — wished to live with the Marquis and to lend him their service ^D as best they could. From him

[...]. ^A Since they were dismissed (for he denied that he had any need of Roman soldiers), ^B they made supplication about the same matter to the Emperor Baldwin. There, too, having met with a refusal, they betook themselves to Joannes, who, born and bred in the Haemus mountains, was ravaging and destroying nearly the entire Roman dominion that looks toward the West, desolating it with Scythian incursions and wearing it down with manifold vexations. Since he suspected the ferocity of the Latins and dreaded their lances like a flame, he gladly received them. For this reason, when he had sent envoys to the Latins to enter into friendship, he was ordered in letters to converse with them not as a king with friends, but as a servant with masters; otherwise, they would easily devastate Mysia with arms, which he had occupied contrary to duty and through sedition, and would reduce him to his former fortune.

Accordingly, Joannes ordered the Romans who had fled to him each to depart to his own country, and to harm the Latins with cunning raids as much as they could, until he himself should look to their fortunes. Therefore, having returned in unity, they urged the cities of the Macedonians and Thracians to revolt, with the Blachians assisting. Whence very many of the Latins, from whichever cities they had come, were slaughtered, and others returned as exiles to Byzantium. Those also who were at Didymotichum were slain, and those who held Orestias were cast out. This deed liberated the East unexpectedly from the Latin war, as they returned to the West; ^C and it also made those who had occupied Greece and the Peloponnese somewhat more modest, having repressed their arrogance.

And so that we may relate the things which happened from this point in order: the Romans who held Adrianople and Didymotichum remained there with no small assistance from their brothers, the Blachians. Joannes, however, who was bringing his own forces and aids of Scythians in numbers perhaps greater, took pains to stay hidden from the Latins. But when Baldwin and the remaining commanders heard of the movement of the Romans (for the Count of Saint Paul had died and been buried in the monastery of Mangana, in the monument of Scleræna Augusta), they immediately sent an army against the cities that had defected. And Byzia and Zerulus immediately returned under the yoke. But the Romans, to whom the city was native, entered Arcadiopolis by night—which was void of wealthy and noble citizens—and held it, having brought in aids also to guard it and distributed them upon the walls.

When it had dawned, ^D the Latins, seeing that the Romans had neither a military battle line nor used any martial discipline, and that they were not sufficiently armed, prepared themselves for battle, having moved some distance from the walls. The Romans, attributing this caution of the Latins to cowardice, poured out of the gates and charged rashly, only to be turned to flight a little later. And on that day, a miserable and atrocious spectacle was produced. No one was spared; all were cut down and cast out unburied, and the ground grew fat with blood. These were the precursors of the army [...]

[index: entries preserved]

the pride of the people. But the Romans having attacked them by night, ^A for whom this city is their fatherland, and the auxiliaries who have gathered to them, first remained quiet, having taken up arms and distributed themselves along the walls to guard them. When the dawn appeared, having observed that the Romans were using neither battle formations nor strategic methods, and were not even armed with precision, they decided to lead their forces out as if for battle. But when the Romans met them with courage, pressing close to the walls (for they thought the Latins' safety was cowardice), they poured forth from the gates and engaged with them; and after resisting for a little while, the Romans were turned back, and that day became a pitiful and wretched spectacle. For the Latins, showing no pity to anyone, and using the sword against all, soaked the earth with blood, and none of those who fell obtained burial rites.

This is what the army that had sallied forth did; for it did not dare to go further, since the Romans and Vlachs were patrolling with a portion of the Scythians, while the rest had flocked to Hadrianopolis as if to a safe refuge. During the month of March, however, Emperor Baldwin went out, and Count Louis of Blois, and after them Henry Dandolo, the Doge of Venice, each with their own troops. And having taken Hadrianopolis, and having pitched a camp there beyond the reach of arrows, on the next day they led their forces to the wall and set up their machines. As those inside defended themselves vigorously, they accomplished nothing more for several days than being hit and hitting back, due to the strength of the walls. Therefore, they undermined the foundations of the walls, attempting to secretly loosen the walls by digging as deep a trench as possible, and removing the dirt unnoticed, and placing props of combustible wood in the trenches, finishing the work with a large labor force. The Romans were also devising in response those things which would be the salvation of the city.

But not many days had passed, when John let loose a portion of the Scythian army and commanded them to attack the animals used for food and the pack animals that were grazing on the green pastures near the Latin camp, by means of a ruse; wishing to know what the enemies' plans were and how they were deploying for battle. The latter, at the first sight of the Scythians, filled with a frantic impulse, turned to their horses and spears. ^B And they indeed [the Latins] engaged with them. But when I am exhausted from writing down the calamities of my people, and am now entirely occupied with the departure to the East, having ended my discourse here, I shall lay down the vertigo of calamities. At this point, the Byzantine codex bought in Constantinople by John Dernschwam in the name of D. Antonius Fugger breaks off the history, and the name of the scribe is appended in these words:

The surviving chronicle of the Lord Nicetas Choniates was completed by me, the least among the Hierodeacons, Alexander, the Great Chartophylax of the Great Church of Christ, in the year 6763 [1255 A.D.], in the month of March, on the fourth day.

^A they were held fast, and the Latins, turning their backs ^B and rashly setting out on horseback and touching the regions where the traps and ambushes and snares had been prepared. Indeed, having fallen into the Scythian armies, being exhausted by the intensity of the journey and with their horses already splendidly worn out, they were caught in the middle; for the Scythians kept circling around them as if for an encirclement. They, as the struggle was at hand, being hard-pressed by the multitude of the Scythians, were thrown from their horses, many falling upon one, and the stiff-necked men were caught by hooks and nooses about their necks, and the property of the horses was maltreated. For as a black and continuous cloud of Scythians fell upon them, they had neither the ability to use the turnings of their horses nor to see means of escape. Thus there fell as much of the Latin [P. 397] elite force as was renowned for the bracing of their spears. And Doloicus, the Count of Pleia, also fell. And Baldwin was captured alive and led into Mysia, and having been brought from there to Trnovo, he was handed over to prison and burdened with chains up to his neck. But the most ancient and most treacherous evil, and the primary cause of all the disasters for the Romans, the Doge of Venice, Dandolo, who was closing the rear of the army, having realized the slaughter of the army from the fugitives, immediately turned his reins and hurried to the camp; and as night fell (for the battle was joined towards evening), he ordered lights to be brought into the tents and many pyres to be lit, so that the Romans might think that the entire army had not perished or that they were not refusing to fight. Around the first watch of the night, he went from there to the coastal town of Rhaedestus, and joining Henry, the brother of Baldwin, who had just returned from Adramyttion with the Trojan Armenians who were campaigning under him, he returned to Byzantium, having had the web of his intestines burst from the many parasangs which he rode in his flight, and his scrotum swollen to a great size.

11 ^C The Romans, however, who were still in the city of Constantine, gnashed their teeth in fear, having still set before their eyes the plundering of the Latins against them and the looting of their possessions—things which, by no just reason, they suffered after the departure of Baldwin from the city, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of March, of the then-current eighth indiction, in the year 6713. But we too, still residing in Selybria, expected that we would suffer the extremes of evils, having the slaughter of the Daonitae, who were our neighbors, as it were before our eyes, and seeing at our very feet the slayers entering Selybria with drawn swords and plundering our bundles and our clothes. The twelfth of the month of April had arrived, of the seventh indiction, of the year 6712, and the Queen of Cities, towards ^D

the fifteenth of the same month, of the eighth indiction, was overcome by the Scythians, being subdued by the Latins ^A. But what happened next? Another scourge was being whetted for the Romans, one grave and bringing many disasters. For John the Mysian, acting as both an enemy and an avenger to the Romans, gave over to the Scythians for plunder all the towns near to Byzantium that were inflicting slaughter upon the Latins. And it was possible to see an unusual and unaccustomed evil, a scourge that surpassed all others sent by God. For two races were ravaging the same land and the same people, sometimes both together, and sometimes one falling upon them after the other. For the Scythians cut down everything that fell in their path and, after scourging certain captives who were distinguished for their beauty, hung them up and sacrificed them to their own demons. And the Latins, exasperated by the uprising of the Romans against them and by their own defeat by the Scythians ^B, were ravaging the Romans no less. Therefore, there was no place left safe or offering refuge: the mainland was teeming with countless evils and was more destructive than destruction itself, and the Latin pirate ships, roaming the sea, mistreated whatever set sail from any port. Now John, not lingering in the cities of Thrace, hastened to Thessalonica, so that he might settle that province according to his own judgment and claim for himself the cities torn away from the Latins. Therefore, having arrived at Serres, he engaged in battle with the Latins who were there and overcame them too, though it was a bloody victory; for the Latins, relying on their military discipline and having gone out bravely to meet John, slew many of his soldiers. But not long after, when they were defeated and had turned back toward the city of Serres, before they could close the gates, the Vlachs and Romans, who were pressing upon the fugitives, broke in with them. Thus the city was captured and set on fire, and the walls were razed; those who were caught were led away in chains. As for the part of the Latin army that did not perish in the battle, some saved themselves as best they could, while others took possession of the citadel ^C. On the following day, John circled the citadel and sent a herald to the Latins who had fled into it, promising them safety if they surrendered the place to him. But they were not in the least inclined to yield, waiting for the arrival of the Marquis. Meanwhile, John prepared ladders and, having set up a giant siege engine on a mound opposite the citadel, struck the walls. The Latins, for their part, brought out all the implements they had for defense and fought back, until they saw that John had surrounded the entire citadel with his whole army as if with a wall of fire and had blocked every path for them, so that not even a foot-soldier could secretly get through to the Marquis. Then, indeed, they wished to make a surrender on the condition that they be allowed to depart in safety with their arms and horses. When he completely refused this, their leaders asked that an escort be assigned to them to accompany them home as far as the frontiers of Pannonia. And when they had proceeded on these terms, he held the citadel, and they departed without peril. But what was the situation of their leader, the Marquis? For this must not be passed over in silence. While he was still occupied with the efforts to stabilize affairs in the Peloponnese and was battling with Sgouros, by means of his wife’s letters, he was planning fresh developments in Thessalo-

- ^A nicenses, he was informed that his wife had been driven out of the city and had fled to the acropolis, where she had already been besieged for many days, and that a certain Vlach, named Ezyismenus, who defended Prosacus and the lands thereabouts, had entered the city and was holding it for John. Having heard this, the marquis determined to bring her aid as quickly as possible and hastened his return. But before he could approach Thessalonica, those who brought news of the defeat and rout of the enemy, and of the quiet restored to the city, met his men. Delighted by the rumor of these events, and having shown it to his own men, he turned his reins and marched straight for Scopia, intending to avenge the injuries he had suffered at the hands of John. But scarcely had he attempted the things he was laboring over, when another messenger arrived to report the loss of Count Plea ^B and the captivity of Emperor Baldwin. Therefore, retracing his former route, he entered Thessalonica. And having verified the truth of what he had learned earlier through letters, he set about gathering the harvest of the city that had not yet been fully reaped in that harvest of war which had come to pass before his arrival. Some of the citizens he punished with financial ruin, casting them out of the city poorer than a pestle; others he executed, and others he hanged, chosen as much from the laity as from the order consecrated to God. And he sent the most miserable Emperor Alexius ^C together with his wife Euphrosyne by sea to the prince of Alemannia. Alas, alas for this new and unheard-of event among the Romans, and—it must be said—a spectacle never seen until now! Having then heard of John’s incursion against Serres, he sent auxiliary troops to his countrymen who were in that city. Although they learned of the outcome of the affair while on the march, they did not refrain from war, as they were already in the very midst of danger, even though they understood they were to engage with an enemy far superior. Battle was joined, and they were defeated and routed by a vast multitude of Scythians swarming in from every side, ^D just like swarms of bees pouring out of hives, or like hornets bursting out of caves next to the roads. Vanquished in these two battles, the marquis shut himself inside Thessalonica, while John, with full license, marched on Berrhoe and occupied the other cities that had been subject to the marquis.

Hearing of this disaster as well, the Latins who were in Byzantium held counsel on what was to be done, the council being proclaimed by Henry, Baldwin’s brother, and Marinus, the Duke of Venice—for Dandolo had died. It pleased everyone to take up war and lead forces against the cities of Thrace that had defected from the Latins, while the spirits of the people were still burning, and while John, occupied with other wars and intent upon them alone, was far from the Romans. Therefore, they dispatched a part of the army, which for its own advantage was willing to follow of its own accord (which they call a "rout"); they were given the authority to treat the cities that had defected at their own discretion. This cohort, having gone forth, shrank from no wickedness, from no impiety. The Venetians also, with their long ships, along the eastern coast

^A committed piracy, and landing at Panion and Callipolis, they perpetrated the most heinous deeds, abhorrent to the customs of Christians, so that the calamities were multiple, atrocious, and intolerable.

12. Erricus himself, having bypassed Arcadiopolis as a place habitable only by the winds, forced his entry into Aprus and behaved towards those there with no trace of humanity, abandoning the inhabitants to slaughter as though they were a flock or herd and not Christians, and they were slaughtered by the Blachs—for having submitted to them by force rather than by persuasion, and not having defected at their own discretion. ^B Many also were led about in chains through towns and villages so that they might redeem themselves from their captors with begged money. In this escort, if any, oppressed by disease or exhausted by the length of the journey, grew faint, they were not, after their neck-fetters were loosened, allowed to expire as Christians and die a natural death, but were hewn down with swords or run through. Erricus, having pitched camp at Orestias, fortified a deep rampart. For the Latins, considering that city to be the sole struggle, the prize, and the end of their labors, declared to the besieged that they would not depart ^C from there unless it were given up, either voluntarily or taken by force. But they, incensed at the mere mention of surrender, replied that no treaty could ever exist between the Romans and the Latins, because they were known to the Romans to be fickle in faith, beastly to those who submitted, and most pitiless to those overcome by war. Hearing this, Erricus set to work. He found the city surrounded by two impassable moats, wide and deep, and the towers of the city topped with wooden scaffoldings rising high into the air, and covered with hides and bulls’ skins so as not to be set ablaze by fire-bearing missiles, and at the same time to provide protection for those intending to fight from them. Moreover, masts were fixed atop the wooden towers, having ^D everything needed to ignite a great flame and scatter it widely. In some places, artisan-made seats for the warriors were seen upon them, such as those used by men who from planks explore the bottom of the sea and catch fish. In others, heavy stones suspended by chains were let down and raised up again, and moved as the necessity of the moment required. Furthermore, fourteen siege engines were observed in the towers. Wherefore it seemed best to Erricus and the army to occupy the first moat by force, and once the second was filled, to move the machines against the walls. And the second moat, once the first was taken, was filled with difficulty, and the heads and trunks of the corpses of those falling on both sides filled its gaps in many places. When at length it was leveled, not without blood, they brought tower-ladders up to the walls; one of these, detained in the moat due to the freshly piled earth—which was still hollow and loose in some places—sank; the other, while moved straight toward the wall, was crushed by stones from the engines before the bridge could be joined, and was rendered useless, and those who were fighting upon it were very badly received. Then the skull of Peter Plancios, a man of great strength and most celebrated for his bravery, was shattered by a stone. Thus, the attempts of the Latins that day were in vain. The next day, the towers were again moved to the walls at another part of the city, and they

brought into them the most warlike of the army. In the meantime, the defenders of the city, seeing the whole engine with its weights brought near and a bridge being spanned by those stationed upon it and touching the walls, threw open the gates and rushed out with arms and with all materials that nourish fire, and raised the flame to a great height, and a most severe battle ensued, surpassing the former. Having retired at that time also without success, they watched their own machines being burned before their eyes. But furthermore, the armies of the Vlachs and Scythians, roaming around the camp outside, did not allow provisions to be brought into the encampment. ^A Being helpless and having surrendered to despondency, they sent to Byzantium to ask for reinforcements by means of another fresh force. And these set out more by necessity than by their own wish, being liable to be subjected to excommunication and anathema if they did not do so, by the cardinal Martin and Thomas, who had lately arrived from Venice as patriarch of Constantinople. This man wore his native dress, which constrained his body in such a way that it seemed sewn onto him with needles, leaving only his hands and chest open; and his cheeks were shaved so cleanly that, just as in an beardless boy, not a trace of hair was to be seen. ^B But before the auxiliaries arrived, a pestilence invaded the army, both from the stench of the corpses lying in the tents and because most, or rather all, had tasted unusual foods. Wherefore they withdrew by night and refreshed themselves from their long and vain labors in the lodging at Pamphilus. Nor were they alone afflicted by these evils, but also those who had dared to approach them from the city; and these were almost all killed by the Scythians and Vlachs on the journey. Whence, to build other machines, they collected masts of biremes from the seaside cities, and whatever was lacking, they cut down from the mountains of the Propontis, having sent Conon, the count of Petuna, to hurry the work there. When a sufficient number of siege engines was prepared, which they had fortified in many places with iron against fire, they tried the fortune of war anew; and having left aside Orestias, which, warned by their own disasters, they believed to be impregnable, they decided to attack Didymotichum, and for this purpose they encamped there and readied themselves by bringing up battering rams. ^C But before the sun had set upon this effort of the Latins, the air was filled with clouds, and the river Eurus, swollen by a most vehement downpour and changed from small to great, filled the fields with water and suddenly swept away both arms and machines and war-horses and men from the camp of the Latins; and if the sun had set and this evil had come on by night, the greater part of the army would have perished. Warned by this unusual event, the Latins, becoming more prudent and not entirely bloodthirsty, decided that they should depart from there, and they were the advocates of this opinion to the others. And all the rest of the army, astounded by this miracle, retreated thence rapidly, some returning with Henry to Byzantium, and others being ordered to guard the inland and maritime cities which obeyed the Latins. ^D When the first capture of the city was being confirmed, and heads and headless bodies of those falling on both sides were filling up the emptiness of the trench in many places. When at last it had been filled up even with blood, they brought the tower-like ladders to the walls. One of these stuck in the trench and slackened from its upright position because of the still loose and hollow and newly poured earth of the mound; the other, not yet having reached the part of the walls, did not yet throw a gangway, and being pressed from above by the weight of the stones hanging from the masts of the towers, and crushed by the stones thrown from the machines, it became useless for anything. ^A Many, therefore, of those fighting from it even suffered badly, among whom was Peter of Plantza, the most powerful and most renowned for his courage of all, whose skull was shattered by a stone. And thus the Latin designs failed for that time; but on the following day the towers were again brought up to the walls at another part of the city, and they put the most fighting men of the army into them. But meanwhile those defending the city, seeing almost the whole machine approach with the weights, and a bridge being moved by those stationed upon it and touching the walls, threw open the gates and rushed out with arms and with all things that feed fire, and raised the flame to a great height, and a most severe battle, stronger than the former, was joined. Having therefore retired again without success, they had their machines burning before their eyes. But also the armies of the Vlachs and Scythians outside, patrolling the stockade, did not allow provisions to be brought into the camp. Being caught in helplessness and having sunk into despondency, ^B they sent to Byzantium and asked for relief by another fresh force. And there were those who set out more by necessity than by will, being liable to be subjected to excommunication and anathema if they did not do so, by the cardinal Martin and Thomas who had recently arrived from Venice as patriarch of Constantinople. This man went about wearing his native dress, which was tightly woven to his small body and joined with stitches, leaving the parts at the wrists and chest loose, and shaven of beard more carefully than a razor, so that the surface of his cheeks was not even showing through at all with the first sprouts of hair, but as if it were completely plucked and smooth. And before the reinforcements had arrived, a cachexia ^C had seized the army, both from the dead lying in the tents and from most or all of them having touched, for food, things to which they were unaccustomed. Having therefore risen from there by night, they returned, and encamped in the places around Pamphilus and refreshed themselves from their untiring and long labors. Nor did they alone suffer these evils, but also those who had dared to mix and come together, leaving the city, encountered the Vlach and Scythian squadrons along the road and were almost all destroyed. Whence, looking towards the construction of other machines, they gathered masts of ships that were being unrigged from the coastal cities, and whatever they were short of, they cut down from the trees of the Propontis, having sent there the count of Petuna, Conon, as a worker of the task. But when they had sufficient siege engines, having girded them in many places with iron so that they might be stronger than fire, against the wars and again

they stood ready to push them up, that they might take the fortress. ^A Yet the sun did not set on this fury of the Latins before the air became filled with clouds, and a torrential rain coming from God in the regions behind Didymoteichon caused the Hebros, which flowed by the fortress, to swell with the rain and appear huge from a small stream, flooding the plains and suddenly overflowing to the Latin camp, sweeping away weapons and engines, carrying off horses and soldiers, and showing men swimming across what became an Acheron. If the sun had not yet been shining, but the disaster had occurred at night, the greater part of the army would have perished. Terrified by the monstrosity of the event, those of the Latins who were capable of reflection—since they were not completely bloodthirsty—chose to migrate from there, and they advised the others to do the same. But the rest of the army, too, considering what had happened a miracle, quickly decamped. And some with the Hebros itself occupied Constantinople, while others were entrusted to guard the cities, as many—both inland and on the coast—as were subject to the Latins.

13. ^B Yet even so, the disasters did not subside, nor did the situation appear better for the Romans because of this. For the arrogance of the Latins, their suspicion regarding the Romans, and their implacable spirits maintained their former purpose; those things which they could not inflict upon the deserters—against whom they had often sharpened their spears—they inflicted upon those close at hand, and they gnashed their teeth against them. And the Romans of the East, for their part, showed an unremitting state of mind regarding their afflicted kin, and their total neglect and forgetfulness caused almost intolerable pain; for they assisted the Western cities with neither money nor troops. ^C But when the Latins withdrew from Asia and were ravaging Thrace, which alone was fighting for the freedom of the Romans, our generals, unexpectedly liberated from the danger they had faced, never remembered their duty, nor did they attempt anything salutary for the defense of themselves or their own people. Being endowed with corrupt characters, and as men abandoned by God and impious, they were affected by a sort of stupor; divided into factions, they stirred up cities, attacked one another in violation of the laws of kinship, and were separated into tribute-paying groups; "Israel became Judah," as that ancient prophet laments, with some attached to this man as king, and others flocking to another. This state of affairs, especially to the more prudent, seemed like a curse, and one that destroyed relationships and brought about alienation. Even when they finally came together for friendship, they did not even then truly agree, nor did they urge one another to an alliance for war or decide in any way to bring aid to the Western cities; ^D but, regarding the creation of emperors, they were like a flock of birds flying about in confusion, taking flight here and there; others even offered the empire amidst thorny brambles. Hence, the rule of many devoured the East, a three-headed beast woven together by the senseless. For Manuel Maurozomes, relying on the aid of Caichosroes—to whom, not long before, he had betrothed his daughter upon the recovery of Iconium—was attempting everything to gain the imperial title, and he was ravaging and shear-cropping the entire region watered by the Meander along with the Turks. Theodore Lascaris, born of most noble kin and famous for his marriage to the emperor, having put to flight that man and put on the red buskin, was saluted as emperor by all the Eastern cities. David Komnenos, moreover, having assembled an army from Paphlagonia and Pontic Heraclea, and the Iberian who [lived/was] near the Phasis...

was bringing villages and cities into subjection. He was also promoting his own brother, whose name was Alexios, acting as his precursor and herald. He, however, was always lingering in the regions of Trebizond, appearing like the proverbial Hylas, talked about but never seen. But when David had sent a certain youth, Synadenos by name, as a commander to Nicomedia, Laskaris set out against him with an army, pretending to advance by a beaten and level path; but by another rough and difficult way, he attacked Synadenos unexpectedly and captured him, dispersed his soldiers, and restrained David from advancing further than Pontic Heraclea. Not long after, he also routed Maurozomes with the Turks by force, killing some and capturing others, especially those who were distinguished by birth and held the front rank.

^B §29 In this state of Eastern affairs, John the Mysian campaigned against Philippopolis, captured it, plundered it, and overturned it, slaughtering most of the citizens. He had long before sought an opportunity to take this city by treachery, being most hostile to its inhabitants because they had not surrendered to him and had refused to obey him as king, but had turned away from him as a bloodthirsty man. But what truly exacerbated his anger and increased his barbarian ferocity was that they had received Alexios Aspietes and had obeyed him as their leader, while they had frequently repelled John himself as he invaded with his army. That city might have remained inviolate had it been governed under its own auspices, both because it treated the Latins kindly and because it was not entirely averse to John the Mysian. Now, the daughter following the mother—after that queen and [most] sovereign of all cities was shaken and easily captured—this one also underwent more grievous things, oppressed by plunderings and slaughters, and furthermore razed to its foundations. ^C Its ruin had one thing that was a spectacle of grim satisfaction: the fact that they displayed Aspietes with a rope passed through his ankles, hanging high on a beam by his feet. Those who had been his aiders and abettors in attempting to seize the kingdom, since they could not be hidden from John and feared that they might pay the penalty for their inconstancy, openly defected. Some betook themselves to Theodore Laskaris, who was ruling the Eastern cities, others gathered at Orestias, and others entered Didymoteichon and made peace with the Latins, requesting through envoys that Theodore Branas be sent to them as a commander. Not much time passed before John, having settled the affairs of Mysia and having punished ^D the deserters with grievous tortures and a new kind of death, resolved in his anger, with countenances breathing nothing but slaughter, to wage war on the Romans, whose deceits, frauds, perfidy, and utter levity he declared he could no longer endure. Therefore, incited by wrath, he sent forth numberless Scythian hordes, some of which besieged Adrianople, while others attacked Rusium and the Latin...

^A garrison stationed in that city. The finest of these, surpassing the others, tall of stature and wondrous in their training for war, was led by the general Teres, a man of great knowledge and noble birth. Having armed themselves, they marched quickly to the spot where they had learned through scouts that the Scythians were encamped. The latter, however, having learned of the Latin approach toward them, stole into the place situated near Rusium unnoticed. And indeed, appearing suddenly before the Latins—who were stunned by the unexpectedness of the sight and fancying that it did not bode well for the multitude—after a fierce melee had occurred and both sides were evenly matched in their deeds of valor, the Latins were eventually all but destroyed. After this battle had so transpired, other myriads of Scythian fighting men captured the aforementioned Aprus with ease and took the whole city, pulling down the leader and binding the hands of the remaining multitude—whom the Scythians had not killed—to lead them off as spoils, and handing others over to the fire; ^B they were victors, but they did not act with humanity in their victories.

14. Turning then effectively from this battle toward the seaside Rhedestum, they put to flight with their following army Branas Theodorus, who was the leader of the Latins' Orestiada, before they even arrived there; they took the city by force, reduced the citizens to servitude, and razed it to the ground, having learned from the Vlachs to nurse immortal enmities against us and to propagate them to all posterity. Nor did they pass by Perinthus with diminished alacrity, and from there they went to Daonium, where no one stood in their way because of their wondrous audacity; they captured the walls of every sex and age and destroyed them. And it was not only the seaboard that was treated in this manner by the most expeditious and strongest Scythians and the Vlach cohort that accompanied them, attacking the city walls with bars and mattocks; ^C but the inland regions too were oppressed by the same and even worse evils, with no hope of safety shining forth. For those who had attained unaccustomed liberty from servitude through propitious fortune, and who were constantly affecting the greatest things, and who did not imagine themselves liable to any disaster in the future, gave themselves over lavishly to successes and victories, forgetting their former state and becoming joyful and insolent in their present one. Consequently, Arcadiopolis, Mesena, and Zurulus, along with the fields, villas, and everything that once pertained to those cities, suffered extreme calamities; and all that pertains as far as the queen of cities was oppressed by the Scythians. After all this, the town of Athyra was destroyed to the last man. For the citizens at first, with the Scythians, money

^A nor did these barbarians, who hate all that is beautiful, neglect to destroy the statues and other marvelous works standing in the Hippodrome. They even consigned these to the mint, exchanging the great for the small, and giving away for paltry coins things that had been produced with immense labor and cost. Thus was overthrown Hercules the Three-Night one, the great one, magnificently wrought, erected in a basket, with his lion-skin spread over him above, looking terrible even in bronze, and almost letting out a roar, disturbing the multitude that stood there in their helplessness. He was sitting there not wearing a quiver, nor holding a bow in his hands, nor brandishing his club, but extending his right leg together with his right hand as far as possible, while bending his left foot back to the knee, and resting his left hand upon his elbow; then, extending the rest of his hand, full of despondency, he leaned his head down gently, mourning his own fortunes and distressed by the labors which Eurystheus had ordained for him—not from need, but rather out of envy, puffed up by the excess of his fortune. His chest was broad, his shoulders wide, his hair curly, his haunches thick, his arms robust; he surpassed in size—to the extent, I believe, that Lysimachus, who wrought this first and last of his own hand’s masterpieces in bronze, imagined the archetypal Hercules himself to have been. He was so immense that the cord encircling his thumb would have made an honest man’s belt, and his shin would equal the height of a man. Such a Hercules did they by no means leave inviolate, those who isolate courage from the other virtues, claiming it for themselves and holding it in the highest regard. ^B

Concerning the statues in the Hippodrome.

^A The Latins, then, having been brought down by these things to a low-spirited frame of mind, withdrew into the enclosure of Constantine, and they took care of whatever was useful to the besieged, dividing up the walls that faced toward the land; and they gave way to the Romans where they desired to withdraw. But the enemy, lingering for some time in the districts close to the city and frequently approaching the walls to engage in battle, would sometimes—and particularly through the so-called gate of Saint Romanos—advance in very small numbers to demonstrate their courage, or rather their luck, which at that time accompanied their deeds. And after a clamor at the gates, they would immediately return, retreating back to their homes in full array, driving the captives in herds of cattle and the beasts of burden and those brought under the yoke like animals.

^A Soon after, John, having set out with the greatest and most excellent forces, deemed the taking of Adrianople and Didymoteichon to be of prior importance to all other tasks, both because these cities were the reward of the entire war and because in this way he would, by driving out the Romans, hand over Thrace to be inhabited only by wild beasts. ^B Having therefore pitched his camp at Didymoteichon, as he saw that the town, being situated on high ground, could be taken with difficulty, he decided to divert the river Evros, which surrounds it and provided water through channels known to few of the citizens, and he struck the wall with siege engines placed in a circle, at the part where he thought it could be shaken and that the force of the heavy stones would not be blunted by the distance of the interval. But the townspeople, to appease John, put forward excuses, fair-sounding words, and even flattering entreaties; standing on the ramparts, they celebrated their king, and they promised to pay tribute and to perform cheerfully all that he commanded, provided they were not forced to surrender the city. ^C But he, incited by anger, rejected these conditions entirely and declared that he would make peace on no other terms than that they should yield the citadel to him. Without relaxing anything in the assault, by force, by momentum, and by the size of the stones, he tore down the battlements and the corners of the towers, and crushed their buttresses. The townspeople, however, with planks and wattles constructed inside, covered the walls with newly stripped skins, so that the stones of the engines might slide off them when they struck. And while John relaxed the fighting, they craftily feigned submission with a suppliant posture and smooth words. But when he ordered the bravest of them to dismount their horses and placed them, armored on all sides, next to the breached parts of the wall, or prepared ladders and extended the rest of his army in all directions, then they too threw off the mask of suppliants and defended themselves in open warfare as the situation demanded, well aware that their safety lay in the ramparts and judging nothing more urgent than necessity. And in their desperation and anger, they inflicted no fewer casualties upon the leaders than they received, fighting bravely and boldly. The barbarian, therefore, having wasted a long time in this siege, returns to Mysia with his efforts frustrated, as his supply of material for the fires ran low.

He was, moreover, pelted by rumor after rumor, stating that a Latin force was moving across the land from various quarters to provide support. Then, Patriarch John Kamateros, who after his exile was living at Didymoteichon, yielded his life to a gentle death, leaving behind his wanderings and settling in Didymoteichon.

^B 15. The Latins from Italy, meanwhile, not unpleasantly but with attentive ears received the invitation from the Romans to Orestias and Didymoteichon, as if it were something that would smooth over their affairs—some even believing that since these cities were the first to collapse beyond all expectations, they were the ones that should be defended. Setting out from Constantinople, they pitched their first camp near Apyra, and the next day they passed inside Selymbria. After spending a few days there and gathering provisions, they took Adrianople.

Such were the deeds perpetrated by the Scythians and Vlachs during those incursions, ^C of such a kind that no eye had ever seen them nor had they ever entered into anyone’s mind. Cities that were previously most great, famous, and populous; towns worthy of being seen; fields and meadows most pleasant; gardens most beautiful and fertile from perennial streams—lofty houses and conspicuous dwellings, constructed with the highest art and adorned with various colors; most charming baths; vines heavy with grapes; fields pregnant with grain; and six hundred other things that time produces, which adorn our life and render the earth pleasant, overflowing with graces and desirable—all these were left empty of men, offering harbor only to hedgehogs and beasts. Whoever saw this, with greatest wailing and weeping, his head sprinkled with dust, would say that he was witnessing the destruction of the universe, or that new nature of things ^D which God commanded, when grass and herbs [first] brought forth their prolific seed according to their kind and likeness from the bowels of the earth, while there was not yet a man who might make use of them. Whence would my tongue suffice for a just and copious enumeration of so many evils? Or the magnitude of a voice that could transmit these things in writing to those far away? O miserable chronicler that I am, what disasters am I left to describe? How great are the evils of myself and my countrymen that I recount? Who at least could endure to look upon such trophies erected by the enemy? For in the past, those who had won in battle, mindful of the human condition and thinking that immortal hatreds should not be maintained, used to set up trophies from small pieces of wood and stones so that they would be destroyed within a small interval of time, seeing that they were not monuments of friendship, but incentives to enmity and slaughter. But now, the overturning of cities and of all things...

marks the victory of the Barbarians, by whom we were scourged from above. ^A Not content with this, as if they must needs cap their outrages and add to them the most ancient of evils—for some of the Romans joined them, destroying those of their own race who were still alive, whether by way of natural death or by the law of war, burying them together with the swift horses upon which they rode, their horn bows, and their double-edged swords—the Barbarians were deterred by nothing natural, having no reverence and no fear. When these miserable spectacles, which surpass every horror that words can express, were being carried out, it was the days of Easter, in the ninth indiction of the year 6714; and every place through which the Scythians roamed was filled with hymns and sighing. Lamentations and wails drowned out the sound of the festive services. ^B While the emptying of graves, the destruction of Hades, and the resurrection from the dead were being celebrated by the pious, at the same time entire cities were being cast down into the recesses of the earth and into the dark and horrible tabernacles of hell. Who among all mortals has such a capacity for tears and mourning that he could sufficiently lament and bewail the abductions, the plunderings, the throwing out of immature youth onto the public streets, and the dismemberment of the bodies of the elderly? Before this Scythian incursion, legions of crows and rooks gathered around the fields of Thrace, some from the northern regions and others from the south, and by a kind of fate—not by mere chance—they engaged in battle in a single place when they had assembled there. But the size of the bodies of the crows put the phalanxes of the southern rooks to flight.

Neither did fortune cast Thrace alone into such disasters, into a sea of affliction, a flood of the most extreme evils, and a whirlwind of calamities, but the condition of the Western regions was no better. ^C For a band of Campanians and Latins, though not large, divided up Athens, Thebes, Euboea, Methone, and Patras as if they were an inheritance. Those who formerly ruled these places preferred to yield to them with mockery and disgrace rather than to rouse their spirits and fight for themselves and their children; nor did they immediately conceive a free spirit, nor even late at length return to a saner mind. There were even those who, inflamed by ambition against their motherland—men of servile character, corrupted by delights and luxury—having seized hold of fortifications and steep castles or fortified cities, established unhappy tyrannies. And when they should have sought the enmity of the Latins, they instead laid snares for one another, colluding with them and entering into new pacts. For Leo Scurus governed Corinth and Nauplia, as I said before; Leo Chameretus, who was called the Lacedaemonian, was the tyrant of the Laconians ^D and of... [alt-version omitted]

Michael took for himself Aetolia and those regions bordering on Nicopolis, and everything extending towards Epidamnus—he, whom the sebastocrator Joannes had planted from the seeds of his own house. Boniface, ^B sitting at Thessalonica, had subjected to himself all the region about Almyros [410], and was governor of the plains of Larissa, and claimed a share of all the taxes that flowed into Hellas and the island of Pelops. In addition to these, some other person held the highlands of Thessaly, which is now called Great Vlachia, and was the toparch of that place. Into such tyrannies was the West divided, and what good thing was absent, or what bad thing was not present? There were seizures of property, the deportation of those who had nurtured them (80), slaughter, flight, and ten thousand other evils besides these. Most of all, this was done by the aforementioned Leo Scurus, who, having reconciled with the archbishop of Corinth, Nicolaus—who had even done him good—and having settled their former discord, and having taken the man to his table, was his companion at meals in body, but in mind was as hostile as he had been before, just as if he had bloodied his own eyes and then cast himself over the precipices.

16. In the East, the people of Prusa, the Nicaeans, the Lydians, ^C and the Philomelites, along with Smyrna, Ephesus, and the intervening towns, were subject to Theodorus Lascaris, who had taken possession of most of the islands with long ships, and after concluding peace with the sultan Caichesroe, had granted a part of his empire to Manuel Maurozomes, his father-in-law. Chonae, the fatherland of the present writer ^D Nicetas, and the nearby Laodicea of Phrygia, and other locations which the river Maeander encompasses with its windings until it empties into the sea, were held by this man. But David and Alexius, the brothers—the former, sons of the Roman tyrant Andronicus (that was his name)—the one guarded Heraclea and Paphlagonia, while Alexius governed the cities of Oenia and Sinope, and they held the power of Trebizond itself. The other, a certain Aldebrandinus, an Italian by nation but well educated in Roman customs, held sway over Rhodus and other places. He had in common with the rest the opinion and determination that, while the parts of the fatherland not yet afflicted were to be preserved and the cities already captured to be restored, they were headlong in their ambition and blinded by the affectation of the title of tyrant, and they fought among themselves ^D with dissensions and quarrels: through which, and the variety of circumstances, they provided the Romans with the first occasion for overthrowing them. Regarding the multitude of the Latin nations, so many of whom were going to attack the Romans, it was permissible to use the saying from the Sacred Scriptures: "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoils, I will satisfy my soul, I will draw my sword, my hand shall dominate."

Hier. Wolfii notae. [Note: 81] Sobriety (nēpsis) is meant; what this has to do with the matter, I do not see. Nor does the correction (skēpsis) please me. I do not deny that sobriety is a useful thing, but it is not what is being discussed here.

^A *manus mea.* In this way, many, having collected a mediocre force and hired a small number of cavalry, insinuated themselves into the Roman islands, naturally destitute as they were of any common aid. And the Genoese pirates, men most vile and abject, though now primary in one affair and secondary in another, yet from every side most wretched and unhappy, having procured five round ships and twenty-four triremes, sailed over to Crete under the guise of trade, and then, attacking the islanders in a hostile manner, they quite easily mastered the whole island. ^B Then also Caichosroes, ruler of Iconium, brought arms against Attalia, with the vain hope of capturing the city at the first assault, as if it were unable to defend itself. But his design being known, Aldobrandinus, the lord of the city, and his associates in the administration of the republic, obtained through legates the help of Latin infantry from the Cypriots. When it came to combat and the Persian army surrounded the city, the Latins, massed into a phalanx and advancing unexpectedly into the sight of the Persians, brought aid to those of Attalia. Thus the barbarians were terrified and lost many of their own men, and Caichosroes, sixteen days having elapsed, broke off the siege and departed. But Theodore Lascaris also, having gathered an army against David the Pontic, brought over to his side Plusiades, which was abounding in archers and warlike men. He would have also taken Heraclea and destroyed David himself, had not the Latins, with whom David had an established treaty, by pitching their camp at Nicomedia for the sake of bringing aid, rendered him wavering in his resolve; ^C on the one hand, his alacrity and boldness were goading him against them, but on the other hand, the work he had begun was drawing him back, since he seemed in a manner to be within Heraclea and to be mastering that city, and he often pondered both in his anxious mind as if on a scale. But when he decided that it was more useful to invade the defenders of David than to be daring, he turned back to them, abandoning his planned journey. When they heard this, they judged that they should not descend into the battle line, but departing by night, they returned to Byzantium. David, however, reflecting that the danger now impending—and which was not much further from him than the knee is from the shin—had passed by beyond his expectation, again clung firmly to Heraclea, and rewarded the Latins staying in Byzantium for the aid they had provided with grain ships and provisions; ^D and he sought aid from them anew, and prayed that they would include him as his subject in the Lascarine treaty, and count the entire province he held among the Latin provinces. When they had agreed to this, and he heard that Lascaris had gone from Nicaea to Prusa, he himself also went forth from Heraclea, and, puffed up by the help recently sent from Byzantium, intending to test the danger both to his own men and theirs, he crossed the Sangarius river and ravaged the towns of the Lascarine domain; and after a few days he departed from there, having taken hostages from Plusiades, and having thrown some men even into chains because they had defected to Lascaris. The Italians, however, were preparing to proceed some three hundred paces further, and were ascending from the valleys into the mountains. But

Hier. Wollii notae.

(82) *ὡς οὐκοῦν ἐβάλετο κατὰ νοῦν.* Negationem, quod redundare existimo, omisi.

^A Around the Trachia of Nicomedia, they are suddenly overcome by the unexpected arrival of Andronicus Gidos; and after the shifting fortunes of battle, some, having fallen into ambushes set in the mountains, are captured, so that almost no one remained to report that disaster to David. But Peter Branas—whom I have mentioned before, a man remarkable for the extraordinary size of his body and illustrious for his indomitable spirit—demanded that the city of Pegai be received by him as if by right, because he had been the first to land there when the Latins brought war upon the Romans of the East. And having attempted to break in openly on other occasions, but having been repulsed by the citizens who favored Laskaris, it was thought that he had changed his plan. But because he had made little progress through open warfare, he turned to trickery; and having intercepted and killed some of the Pegasenes, he introduced a few of his own men secretly into the Pegai with the help of a certain Stablianos Varenes and his fellow conspirators. Then, having found his opportunity, he himself entered as well, and having driven back the adversaries by night without any struggle, he became master of the whole city.

^C While these things were taking place, the Latins initially pitched their camp near Adrianople, having established a marketplace outside the city. Then, having initiated an alliance for war with the Romans, they went around certain cities that had been maltreated by the Scythians; and having set these in order as the time allowed, they entered the borders of Rhodope. When no enemy provoked them or even appeared, they entered the fortress of Stenimachos, and having led away their own people (these were the remains of those who had formerly guarded Philippopolis), they returned to Orestias; and they left behind Theodore Branas there with a few cohorts. They themselves returned to Byzantium and declared Henry, the brother of Baldwin—the first of the Latins to rule in Byzantium—as emperor. For when they had administered the public affairs without an emperor for one year and four months, they did not wish to grant the inauguration of the kingdom to any of their own people unless Baldwin’s death should first be confirmed. Let the Romans hear this, who at the same time inaugurate an emperor, and who conceive of the one inaugurated as they wish. Wherefore, in the judgment of all peoples, the soldiers of our age are justly ill-spoken of as parricidal vipers, as a race of no counsel, as children to be rebuked, and as wicked sons. ^D Moreover, the death of Baldwin came to pass in this way. As I have said, he was captured in the Scythian war and, weighed down by chains, was for a long time at Trnovo. But when Aspietes [P. 413]

...and the lawless sons who had arms against us among the Latins, it turned out thus. Joannes, having been captured in the Scythian war and subjected to bonds, as he told me, had for a long time been confined in Tver. But when the Tsar had defected to the Latins, Joannes, burning with rage and his suffering continually increasing, ^A was driven almost to a state of madness. Therefore, he ordered the man to be brought out, his feet to be cut off at the knees, and his hands to be severed from the arms at Tenedos, and then to throw him down a precipice, head foremost. And so, after lying for three days, exposed as food for the birds, he piteously ended his life. Nor did he remove only this man from life in such an inhuman manner, but also the Romans whom he held captive he destroyed piteously, not deigning to listen to any voice or entreaty from them at all. ^B Among these was the Logothete of the Dromos, Constantinus Tornikes, who had for the most part—even reluctantly—served King Baldwin after the fall of the city, and having escaped the danger of the war—in which he had been caught by the Scythians—he was subsequently dragged back by Joannes. And although he had great fantasies about himself, imagining that he could gain the greatest things from him, he was often seen [by others] being struck by the Romans with blades over his entire body, and he did not even find grace after his execution.

17. The Latins, moreover, determined to tear down those long-renowned fortifications of the city, which are called Stoechiodes in a certain series of parts, having been devised in place of walls and earthen ramparts against enemies attacking either ^C by open force or by treachery (whether it is true or not, I cannot say), especially those which operated against their own people. Whence, along with other bronze statues, which were removed from their bases and cast into the fire, they did not leave untouched the left, forward hoof of the bronze horse, which stands on a white, quadrangular marble base in the Taurus, bearing on its back a man of heroic strength and with a remarkable countenance—he himself being worthy of admiration for the exquisite craftsmanship of all his limbs—clad on all sides in harness, neighing, and with ears pricked up as if at the sound of a trumpet. Some say this is Pegasus and his rider Bellerophon, others say ^D that it is Joshua, son of Nun, sitting on the horse (whoever it may be); and that this is clear from the posture of the statue, because his right hand is extended toward the chariot of the sun and moon, halting their course, and the palm of his left hand holds a bronze globe. Therefore, having torn away the horse’s hoof with hammers, they found beneath it a human image, which for the most part represented a Bulgarian, pierced by a nail and encased all around in lead, and it did not represent a Latin, as had long been reported by many. That image was given by the Latins to be melted down by a silversmith, certainly not entirely out of fear, as one might interpret it through their contempt, but because they were attempting everything and were undertaking everything, so that they might not lose the city they were occupying, they did not think that even rumors of this kind, which were celebrated by all not without cause but had a plausible conjecture, should be neglected, being negligent in no matter. For who does not know that they, whenever they have invaded a province or city—

lay hold of it as if it were their own and cling to it, and are at a loss to be released from it, as if they had forgotten those houses ^A from which they came? Contrariwise, we see those who, for those who wish it, yield even their utmost garments, and, departing from their fatherlands, joyfully shake off the very dust from their feet, not as evangelical disciples, but as useless and most degenerate warriors, and in battle more cowardly than women, and in confronting the sight of the enemies they suffer exactly those Homeric things:

But the complexion of the coward changes, now this way, now that. His heart in his breast does not remain still, But shifts about, and his knees tremble beneath him. Within his heart it drums loudly in his breast, And his teeth chatter, as he anticipates his fate. ^B

It would surely be a wonder if you looked more accurately at these men, were they not, as time went on, to exhaust themselves without labor, since they thus yield and become effeminate toward the enemy, but toward their own people and fellow citizens they show themselves so shameless, bold, and persistent—those who, while they attribute the destruction of the city to us, the fathers of the senate, do not fear the eye of Vengeance that sees all things, though they themselves have betrayed both the city and us, and do not blush at such a signal lie. For that delirium or misfortune of stupid men demands tears, in that they not only pray against the restoration of the fatherland, but even accuse God of slowness, because He has not treated us and it worse long ago, but has hitherto postponed the destruction through a clement and human judgment. Now, when they should weep for our plight—we who have no city, no home, no means of sustenance, we whom they once knew as famous for the abundance of things and illustrious for the splendor of our dignity—they provoke us with gibes and strike us with reproaches as if with lashes, otherwise than we had hoped: for we would never have reached the East, even intending to avoid the footprints of such men, and like Bellerophon of old, we would have sought deserted fields or the remotest boundary of Jeremiah. ^C Certainly we have been a burden to no one, our confidence placed in a liberal God, the Giver of every good, who once through Elisha fed a hundred men with a few cakes of figs and barley loaves. Later, He himself satisfied many thousands of the hungry with fewer [loaves], and gave more leftovers to be gathered by the mystagogues presiding over the feast than had been served to the guests, having added one miracle to another greater one. Hence, connected with them only by the trade of the place, while to the Lake of Ascanius and the metropolis of Bithynia, Nicaea, as ^D

^A captives we lived; and as for the rest, entirely alien to them we were. But I am interrupting the sequence of history—lest, having the cup full and the dregs, I should require the whole Roman Empire. Therefore, I, speeding toward the goal, shall add but a few things yet to the discourse.

Then, having gone there, Erricus, who had taken possession of the empire, although he heard from his own people who had been left behind in Orestiade, that the army of the Scythians and Blachians had again sallied forth and had ruined Didymotichus, and that he himself from Adrian [Adrianople] was being solicited to defect, he was not terrified by the multitude of the enemy, nor, struck by the disasters of the previous wars, did he hesitate to go out again. And even less—having not at all weighed the former events of war in his mind—did he fear them, but he was eager to succor his fellow-countrymen, the survivors of the Romans, who had fled to the villages near the city ^B in the sight of the Blachians, even if they were not many in number, nor more spirited than before, nor had they acquired more courageous souls. But, having the usual boldness and the ferocity which is not lost in wars, he drove them as far as Crinus and Boreas. And having passed through those [places] and having encamped at Agathopolis, and having done many things there—from which he took both money and bodies and herds of animals—and having suffered nothing terrible, he returned unhurt and reached Constantinople. ^{C D}

NOTES OF HIERONYMUS WOLF

(86) *And to the metropolis of Bithynia, Nicaea*. He seems to suggest it should be read "and presiding over the metropolis of Bithynia, Nicaea," by adding the article "the," just as a little before, "presiding over..." For "city" means the same thing, unless I am mistaken. But if someone subordinates the metropolis to another city, let him read: "And Nicaea presiding over the metropolis of Bithynia."

(87) *And showing from this*. Some things seem to be missing.

NICETAS CHONIATES

That no one of those skilled in the fine arts is ignorant that the narration of Nicetas Choniates concerning those magnificent monuments of ancient art, which were destroyed by the Franks after the capture of Constantinople in the year 1204, has been preserved in its entirety in only one codex of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Besides this codex, fragments of this narration exist in Vatican parchments, and the first to bring them forth in his notes on the book of Codinus concerning the origins of Constantinople—and to present a copy of this Vatican fragment, written by some Greek, which is preserved in the Göttingen Library—was Lambecius.

^A When I had to speak in the fifth volume of the history of the Crusades, written in the German language, which I edited last year, concerning the cruel plundering of the city of Constantinople, which Nicetas bewails in his history, I could not neglect that very noble fragment concerning the statues that were collected, which Banduri (in the first volume of his *Imperium Orientale*) and Fabricius (in the fifth book of his *Bibliotheca Graeca*) edited; each of them from copies of the Bodleian codex indeed, but neither of them presenting the genuine reading of the codex, a fact that all who are not entirely unlearned in Greek literature will easily understand. Therefore, when a journey to England undertaken in the month of May of last year gave me the opportunity of visiting the famous city of Oxford, I deemed it worthwhile to examine the Bodleian parchments of Nicetas as diligently as possible; and the most distinguished generosity of that highly reverend man, Dr. Bandinel, who holds the primary position at the Bodleian Library, as well as the other custodians of this library, willingly granted me their use. Nor was my hope disappointed, which I had conceived, that by the aid of the codex the inherent integrity of the fragment—which Banduri and Fabricius edited in a shamefully corrupted and depraved state—could be restored, save for a few corruptions which the codex shares with the editions. ^B After my return from England, therefore, I edited our fragment with a German interpretation and brief annotation, in, I believe, a more emended state, in the appendix to the fifth volume of the *History of the Crusades* which I mentioned above, assisted both by the advice and counsel of friends and by the use of the Göttingen copy, which was most kindly shared with me by J. D. Reuss, the principal prefect of the Göttingen Library, an illustrious man and one joined to me by long-standing friendship. Nor did it seem useless to me to repeat the text which I edited in that place separately, corrected here and there with second thoughts, as it were; although it is highly to be desired that the entire little work of Nicetas concerning the destruction of his native city, at the end of which our fragment is read—even if it does not differ much from the larger work which has been edited in print more often—might soon be brought to light. The Latin interpretation which I have added is that of Banduri, accommodated here and there to our text, except that I myself translated into Latin the narrative concerning the Patriarch Thomas of Constantinople, which Heyne (in *Commentationes Societatis Regiae Gottingensis* for the years 1793, 1794, vol. XII, Class. hist. et philol. p. 307) was the first to edit in Greek from the Göttingen copy.

The Bodleian codex, in which our fragment is contained, among those codices that came into the Bodleian collections by the donation of Thomas Roe in the year 1628, is marked with the number XXII and is written, I believe, in the fourteenth century by an elegant hand and on parchment that is slightly thick, with leaves that are, as to their form, whole and not very large. ^C Contained in this codex, besides other theological and juridical little works, is the *Thesaurus Orthodoxae Fidei* of Nicetas Choniata, at the end of which (cod. fol. 423 recto) there begins, without a title, the first book of the narrative concerning the destruction of Constantinople, distributed into two books, from the words: Ἀλλὰ μέχρι μὲν ἐν τούτων εἴδομος (-μεν) ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, which are read in the Paris edition of Nicetas, p. 345. This book contains not only those things which remain of the third book of the histories of Alexius III Comnenus in the printed versions, but also the second reign of Isaac Angelus together with his son Alexius, and furthermore the deeds of Alexius Ducas Mourtzouphlos. The later book, marked with the inscription: τόμος δεύτερος, begins from the words: Ἐγχε μὲν οὕτω ταῦτα καὶ ἡ Κωνσταντίνου Καλλιπολίτη, which are found in the Paris edition, p. 377 A.; and this book contains a narrative of those things which happened after the city was captured under Emperor Baldwin. At the end of the same book, on folio 447 recto, after the words: Ἵνα ἐν μὴ μακροτέρα τῇ ἱστορίᾳ χρώμενοι πολυπλωκωτέρας ἐντεύθεν τὰς λύπας κτώμεθα, ταυτὶ μὲν παρήσομεν, ἐκεῖνα δ’ ἐν ἐπιτομῇ τῷ λόγῳ δώσομεν, begins the fragment edited by us with the narrative concerning the arrival of Patriarch Thomas, which is contained on folios 447–450. ^D For the rest, a fairly diligent description of this codex was composed by Gerard Langbaine in a catalogue of the Bodleian codices not yet edited, which the highly reverend man, Dr. Bandinel, kindly handed to me for inspection. What remains is that in the critical notes which I have placed under the Greek text, the Bodleian codex is indicated by the letters C. B., the fragments of the Vatican codex which Lambecius brought forth I have distinguished by the letters C. V., the Göttingen copy by the letters A. G., the Bandurian text by the letter B., and the Fabrician by the letter F.

OF THE SAME BLESSED LORD NICETAS CHONIATES, FROM HIS HISTORY CONCERNING CONSTANTINOPLE

^A 1. Now that our empire had recently been committed to the Franks, and in like fashion the priesthood had been allotted to the Venetians—to whom it is known that the Creator and Governor of this worldly vessel is accustomed to grant authority—a certain man named Thomas was appointed Patriarch of Constantinople. He was of middle height, his body was not uncomely, he was of middle age, and his face was smooth-shaven with a razor in the customary fashion. He was as hairless as the rest of that race, having his breast more meticulously cleared of hair than could have been done with an ointment. He was dressed in a robe tightly-fitting to his small frame, tailored and turned up at the wrists. He wore a ring on his hand, which he would turn at times, and at others, he would use a hide from the animals to cover his fingers, which was stitched together at the skin. ^B There was also to be seen around him a system of order consecrated to God, and the doorkeepers were wearing a garment and lifestyle that were entirely similar to the ministers of the holy altar.

2. From the very beginning, as they say, the race, showing itself greedy for gold, devised a way of stealing, a new and entirely strange way, not only for them, but for those who had hitherto plundered the imperial city. For having opened the tombs of the emperors, as many as are in the Great Church of the holy Apostles, they stripped them of their ornaments...

^A and, in their impious daring, if there was any golden decoration there, or any spheres of pearls, or any pellucid and precious stones that had remained uncorrupted until that time, they cast all of them into their bosoms. When they found the corpse of the emperor Justinian, which had remained inviolate for many centuries, they indeed marveled, but they did not refrain in the least from its sepulchral ornaments. And it may truly be said that those Westerners spared neither the living nor the dead, but beginning with God and His servants, without any distinction, they displayed every form of impiety. Nor long after this, they shredded the veil of the Great Church, which had been valued at many thousands of silver minae and of the purest kind, for much gold had been woven into it.

3. But even being in need of money—for the greed of the barbarians can never be satisfied—they added the statues to the burning fire. That great bronze Hera, which stood in the forum of Constantinople, was condemned to be broken into pieces to be cast into coins, and its head could scarcely be carried to the Great Palace by ^B a team of four oxen. Furthermore, the Paris—Alexander—was pulled down from its base, standing as he was and extending to the crowd the golden apple of Strife.

4. And the four-sided bronze machine, rising high and towering almost to the height of the taller columns—as many as stand in various places in the city—who, casting an eye upon that complexity, would not have marveled? Every musical bird was depicted there in the spring plumage of its labors; and flutes and *gauloi*, and the bleating of sheep, and the leaping of lambs were all set forth ^C and a marine sea, and herds of fish; some being caught, while others were lords of the nets and, carried freely through the depths, and the Cupids, two or three together, contending with one another, naked and bereft of covering, were pelted with apples and were pelting, laughing—

^A as they poured forth in sweet laughter; and upon the peak of this four-sided structure, terminating in the form of a pyramid, there was erected what seemed to be a woman’s statue, which, by the impulse of the first winds, could be seen revolving; whence it was called the Anemodulion (servant of the winds). Yet this most beautiful work, I say, they surrendered to the melters, just as they did the man standing in the [Hippodrome] upon a base made in the form of a table, who was of heroic appearance, of stupendous stature, and unapproachable. Some said this man was Joshua, the son of Nun, making conjecture from the fact that the man appeared to be stretching out his hand toward the sun, as though it were already on the path toward the west, and standing as though at Gibeon; but most people thought he was Bellerophon, reared in the Peloponnese and mounted upon Pegasus. ^B For that horse, as it is handed down, was unbridled, inasmuch as, running through the fields, it was not restrained by bits, and, as one who was borne by wings, it spurned all riders, being at once a winged and pedestrian creature. But there was also an ancient rumor to this effect which reached even to us, that he carried on his left fore-hoof a hidden figure, which some of the Venetian race, others of the nations not allied with the Romans, and some even of the Bulgarians, said was a sign ^C sealed firmly beneath his hoof, which, they said, was kept hidden within, so that it could not be stolen; but when the horse and its rider were chopped into pieces and delivered to the fire, there was found a bronze mark within the hoof, and a garment wrapped around it, such as one is accustomed to weave from the wool of cattle. And the Latins, paying little heed to the things inscribed upon it, cast this also into the fire. ^D

^A 5. But these barbarians, who were devoid of any appreciation for beauty and were the enemies of all things excellent, did not even spare the statues and other marvelous works standing in the Hippodrome. They reduced these also into coinage, exchanging the great for the small and giving in return for works upon which immense sums had been lavished, only the most worthless of small change. Thus, the Hercules of the Three Nights ^B was cast down, that great figure magnificently fashioned and set upon a basket (the [i]Cophinus[/i]), with the lion's skin spread over it from above, appearing terrifying even in bronze, and emitting a faint roar and creating a sense of dread in the crowd that happened to be standing there. He was sitting there without his quiver slung on him, not bearing a bow in his hands, nor brandishing his club, but extending his right foot just as he did his right hand as far as he could, while bending his left foot at the knee and resting his left hand upon his elbow; then, holding the rest of his hand upward, and with his palm open, he was leaning his head down ^C gently, full of despondency, thus lamenting his own fortunes and distressed by the labors which Eurystheus, not out of necessity, but rather out of envy—puffed up by his own superiority—had imposed upon him. He was broad-chested, wide-shouldered, with curly hair, fat buttocks/thighs, and robust arms, possessing such magnitude that, I suppose, Lysippus—the first and last to craft so excellent a work of art with his own hands—imagined the archetypal Hercules would appear. He was so tall that a cord ^D encircling his thumb would make a belt of the right size for a man, and his shin would equal in length the full stature of a man. Having been made in such a way, Hercules did not escape the notice of those who divorce courage from the other virtues, and who claim it for themselves and value it above all else, as they broke him into pieces.

^A Likewise, they hauled away the ass and the driver being carried, whom Caesar Augustus set up at Actium — that is, Nicopolis in Greece — when, going out by night to reconnoiter the camp of Antonius, he met a man leading an ass, and having asked who he was and where he was going, he received the reply: "I am called Nicon, and my ass is Nicander," and he was arriving at Caesar's army.

^B Furthermore, they did not keep their hands off the sow and the she-wolf ^C that suckled Remus and Romulus; but those men, for the sake of base metal currency, gave over to the melting furnace the ancient tokens of the race, along with the man wrestling the lion, and the Nile horse, which trailed off into scales in its hinder parts, and the elephant brandishing its trunk, and the Sphinxes, which were beautiful as women in the front, and fearsome as beasts in the rear, and more novel in that they were walking on foot and moving with light motion of their wings, and competing with birds having the largest wings; and the unbridled horse, pricking up its ears and snorting, proud and stepping briskly, and that ancient evil, Scylla, which for the most part presented a woman's form, and was preeminent and teeming with savagery, but from that point on was divided into wild beasts leaping upon the ship of Odysseus and devouring many of his companions.

^D There was also in the Hippodrome a bronze eagle set up, a novel invention and grand artifice of the sorcery of Apollonius of Tyana. For once upon a time, when he was invited by the Byzantines to silence the beasts of the mountains, which were causing them harm — and indeed, having employed dæmonic arts as his allies, both as signs and whatever others serve these — he set up an eagle upon a pillar, ^D a vision instilling pleasure in the souls and persuading those enjoying the sight to while away the time, just as those who avoid hearing the difficult-to-escape melodies of the Sirens. For it would endure as if for bird-catching; but a snake underneath, coiled and arching its back into loops, would prevent it from flying up, as it kept throwing its body toward the wings as if to bite. The venomous creature accomplished nothing; for, with its fangs fixed to the creature's talons, it would restrain its impulse and seemed much more to be nodding off than to be struggling to pull it down.

^A And the snake, breathing out its poisonous breath in this way, was holding its own extinguished venom within itself; while meanwhile the eagle, with a joyful aspect, almost crying out for victory, was attempting to fly off as if to carry the snake away with it: a thing which one could conjecture from the hilarity of its expression and the death of the snake. Anyone who had seen that snake would have said, surely, that it, forgetting its coils and deadly bites, was restraining the remaining Byzantine snakes by its example, and warning them to try and hide themselves in fissures. Now, not only was that eagle figure worthy of admiration for the things we have spoken of, but also because it clearly indicated the daylight hours by means of twelve lines carved into its wings to those who approached it with expertise in this matter, whenever the rays of the sun were not obscured by clouds.

9. What shall I say of that Helen, ^B white-armed, beautiful-ankled, and long-necked, who gathered all the Panhellenes to Troy and brought about the destruction of Troy, and who after a long time arrived at the Nile, and then after a long time returned to the customs and region of the Laconians? Did the barbarians soften them? Did she soften those iron-hearted men? No, not at all, for she was not endowed with anything of that sort, nor did she lead everyone captive by her beauty; even though she was dressed in theatrical attire, and appeared fresh, and was moistened for love by her tunic, by her wimple, by her crown, and by the plait of her hair. For the former was thinner than a spider's web, and the latter glittered with gold and precious stones. ^C And the hair, flowing and stirred by the breezes, was bound with a circlet at the back of the head, but from there it flowed down to the legs. And her lips were also slightly open, as if to seem to be letting out a voice; and that graceful smile immediately meeting the beholder and filling him with joy, and the bright spark of her gaze, and the arches of her eyebrows, and the rest of the natural beauty of her body, were not such as could be described in words and presented to posterity. But O Tyndarid Helen, beauty in yourself, most beautiful, sprout of the first-born, gift of Aphrodite, the prize of the Trojans and Greeks, where is that remedy of yours for all sorrows and evils, which the spouse of Thon ^D bestowed upon you? And where are the invincible charms? How did you not use them then as you do now? But I think it is fated for you by the Fates to fall under the fire, nor even in image to stop inflaming those who see you.

^A May I say that the Aeneadae condemned you to fire ^B as an act of retaliation for your having been cruelly scorched by the fires of love for the sake of Troy? But the insane thirst for gold in men does not allow me to say or think anything of the sort, for it is through this that rare and most beautiful works of art, whatever they may be, have been dragged everywhere toward destruction. It must also be mentioned that they generally sell their own wives for the price of a few obols and send them away, grasping greedily for loot, spending their days at dicing, and rushing into mutual warfare with insane and frenzied impulsiveness rather than with prudent fortitude. They are so equipped for the martial apparatus of Mars that they stake their own property as the reward of victory, their legitimate wives, from whom they have fathered children; and furthermore, that great possession which others are reluctant to cast aside, their very soul—for the sake of which men take every possible care. And besides, how could these verses, composed in your honor, be known ^C to illiterate Barbarians, to those who are completely ignorant of letters and to whom the very forms of the characters are entirely unknown?

"No blame for the Trojans and the strong-greaved Achaeans To have endured for such a woman for a long time Griefs; she is dreadfully like the immortal goddesses in countenance."

10. I must contribute this to the account. There stood on a column a woman ^D of youthful appearance, bearing the most charming bloom of that age, with her hair bound back, drawn together from both sides of her forehead; it was not raised up high, but was so positioned that it could easily be touched by an extended hand. The right hand of this statue, moreover, supported—with no pillar to rest upon—a horseman by just one of the horse's hooves upon its palm, with as much ease as if another were holding a cup of wine. The rider was robust of body, covered in a breastplate, his legs protected by greaves, breathing plain war. The horse stood with ears pricked as if at the sound of a trumpet, with a high neck, a keen gaze, and eyes revealing the anger and ardor of its charge; its feet were carried aloft in the air, showing the martial motion.

11. After this depiction, very near to the turning-post of the four-horse chariots, which was called that of the "Rusius" (Red), men who were charioteers were set up.

^A They were not merely displaying the techniques of the art of driving by the positions of their hands, ^B as if giving explicit instructions to the charioteers that, when approaching the turning-post, they should not slacken the reins, but rather turn the horses by pulling back, and more frequently and vigorously apply the spur, so that, wheeling close to the turning-post, they might force the pressing adversary to run a wider circuit, and so arrive last, even if he were conveyed by swifter horses and understood the art of charioteering well.

12. The account will also add something else to what has been said, for it was not proposed to write down everything. A graceful spectacle, and almost the most wonderful of all in its artistry, was a stone base, and upon it a bronze animal, which at first sight you would have judged with some hesitation to represent an ox, insofar as it was short-tailed, and was not furnished with such ample dewlaps as the Egyptian oxen, nor was its hoof cloven. ^C But applied to its jaws and firmly gripped it held another animal, which was armored all over its body with scales, so rough that it could scarcely be touched without injury. The one was thought to be a basilisk, and the other, which was applied to its mouth and held tightly, was considered an asp. Yet there were not lacking those who conjectured that one was a Nile ox, and the other a crocodile. ^D I, however, care nothing for the variety of opinions. I shall say only that a certain new kind of struggle was envisioned in both, such that both inflicted and received evil, and each destroyed and was in turn destroyed, overcame and was overcome; thus both conquered and were conquered. For the one, indeed, which was taken for a basilisk, was swollen from its head to the very soles of its feet, and its whole body was covered with verdigris and was greener than the color of a frog, because the poison had occupied all the limbs of the animal and had brought on the color of death; and so it was bent at the knees, the luster of its eyes extinguished, its vital strength withering away; nay, it left it for the spectators to judge that it would long since have fallen dead had not the bases of its feet supported it and held it upright in a standing position. But the other animal likewise, which was gripped by the jaws, was moving its tail more sluggishly now, with a gaping mouth, which, because it was pressed by the molars, seemed to be struggling to free itself from the fence of teeth and from the bite. Yet it could not do so, because the parts of the body adjacent to the shoulders and the forefeet, and all those parts of the body that were joined to the tail, were held within the gap and were fixed by the jaws. And thus they were destroying each other in that mutual slaughter.

were thus being destroyed by one another; and common to both was the struggle, common also their defense, ^A equal was the victory, and their companion was death. But it comes to my mind to say that this mutual slaughter, and the deadly evils tending toward destruction, might be represented not only in statues, nor occur only among the most robust animals, but frequently happen—as they did among the nations that waged war against us Romans—among any people that pursues mutual slaughter against themselves; they perished by the power of Christ, who scatters the nations that desire war, and does not delight in blood, who also shows the just man walking upon the asp and basilisk, and treading upon the lion and the dragon. ^B

CHRONOLOGY OF NICETAS

OF THE YEARS DESCRIBED BY HIM

| Year of Christ | Deeds | Years of Emperors | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | | East: John Comnenus. West: Henry Quintus. | | 1117 | Emperor Alexius Comnenus, in the 37th year of his reign, in the fourth month and a half, died on the [15th] day of August. Nicet. pag. 6. | | | 1118 | To him succeeded John Comnenus, his son, against whom the nobles and kin conspire. He treats the conspirators with clemency. 7, 8. | 1 11 | | 1119 | Expeditions against the Persians. 9. | 2 12 | | 1120 | He defeats the Scythians by strategy. 10. | 3 13 | | 1121 | He begins an expedition against the Triballi, whom others call Serbians. He raises his four sons, especially the youngest, Manuel, to public dignities. 11, 12. | 4 14 | | 1122 | The Hunnic war. 12. | 5 15 | | 1123 | Having led his army into the East, he triumphs over the conquered Persarmenians. 13. | 6 16 | | 1124 | He attacks the Persarmenians again, and forces those exhausted by war to seek peace. He captures Gangra, which the Persians take back a little later. 14. | 7 17 | | 1125 | He moves into Cilicia. He captures the very fortified castle of Baca and Anabarza. 15. | 8 18 | | 1126 | Having set out into Coelesyria, he enters into friendship with Raymond and the Antiochenes. He receives the Pisans by surrender, captures Pherepos, and experiences the varying hazard of war. 18. | 9 19 | | 1127 | He conquers Istrium and Sezerim, and having eluded the ambushes of the Iconian Persians, he returns to Byzantium. 19. | 10 [Moritur Henric.] | | 1128 | With his brother Isaac Comnenus readmitted into favor, he undertakes new expeditions against the Persians. 21, 22. | 11 Lothar Saxo 1. 2 | | 1129 | He invades the tyrant of Trebizond. 22. | 12 3 | | 1130 | He wears out the Persians with war. 23. | 13 4 | | 1131 | While he is besieging Neocaesarea, John Comnenus, his nephew, defects to the Iconian Sultan. 24. | 14 5 | | 1132 | He moves against the Persians again. 24. | 15 6 | | 1133 | Having passed by Phrygia, he studies how to organize the provinces and neighboring towns more rightly, and breaks certain rebels by war. 25. | 16 7 | | 1134 | Alexius and Andronicus, sons of John Comnenus, die of a disease while their father is occupied with foreign wars. 25. | 17 8 | | 1135 | He sets out into Isauria and puts the province in order. 26. | 18 9 | | 1136 | He directs his journey into Syria, so that he might drive the Latins from Antioch. 26. | 19 10 | | 1137 | Delaying on the journey so that he might draw the Syrians and Cilicians to his own side, he announces his arrival to the Antiochenes. 26. | 20 11 | | 1138 | 21 [Moritur Loth.] 12 Conradus Tertius 1. |

| ^A Disappointed in his hope, he plunders and lays waste the suburbs of Antioch. From there he diverts to the borders of Cilicia. 26. 1140 Having gone out to hunt, his hand is grazed by a finger of a poisoned arrow; the poison quickly advancing to his vitals, not long after he departs from life, leaving his younger son Manuel as heir to the empire. 27, 28. 1141 Manuel Comnenus, succeeding his father, shuts up his elder brother Isaac in a monastery. By the efforts of Joannes Axuch, he is requested by the Byzantines and accepted. 34. 1142 Crowned by the patriarch Michael, he is reconciled with his brother Isaac and moves against the Persians. 36. 1143 He undertakes another Persian expedition and conducts the matter with varied success. 37. 1144 He takes an Alemannic heroine as his wife. He assumes the care of the republic, having appointed a Chancellor and a supreme Quaestor. He brings maritime revenues into the treasury. 37, 38. 1145 In the court of Manuel, vicissitudes of affairs and the wonderful prosperity of a certain Styppiota. 39, 40. 1146 The administration and virtues of Manuel are praised as truly worthy of a prince. 40. 1147 He does not remain long in this illustrious resolve, but from being liberal and clement, he becomes greedy and austere. 40. 1148 The Alemannic expedition to Jerusalem. Manuel lays various snares for this Alemannic army, which the army of Conrad overcomes. 41, 42. 1149 The mournful slaughter of the Christian army. The Greeks pursue the remnants with fraud, iron, and poison. Lime mixed into the soldiers' flour, and currency debased by the order of Manuel to the ruin of the Alemanni. 43, 44, 45. 1150 A fierce battle and an illustrious victory reported by Conrad over the Turks. 47, 48. 1151 Roger, king of Sicily, brings war upon the Greeks with great success. 49. 1152 Manuel's expedition against the Sicilians, the siege of Corfu, and its eventual surrender. A bloody sedition between Greeks and Venetians. 51, 52. ^B [By the surname Enobarbus 1153 Manuel's attempt on Sicily is frustrated. He ravages Servia. Michael Palaeologus conducts matters successfully against the Sicilians. 60, 61. 1154 Expeditions of Manuel against the Servians and Hungarians and his triumph. His commanders fight unhappily against the Scythians and Sicilians. 61, 62. 1155 He enters into peace with Roger of Sicily: but a little later, enmities break out again between them. 64, 65. 1156 The Hungarian war. Incursions of the Huns. The incestuous life of Manuel and Andronicus. 67, 68. 1157 The forces of the Greeks receive a slaughter from the Turks. Styppiota, oppressed by slanders, is blinded. 72, 73. 1158 Turkish incursions. The Sultan of Iconium, fleeing to Manuel, is magnificently received. The arts of both. 76, 77. 1159 The Sultan of Iconium, or of the Turks, laden with the liberality of Manuel, returns home and breaks his faith; hence mutual devastations and slaughters. 79, 80. 1160 Manuel declares war on the Huns. A new tragedy of Andronicus. He is at length reconciled to Manuel. 83, 84, 85, etc. 1161 The Pannonian war. The recovery of Zeugmin. The varied face of war. 87, 88. 1162 War against the despot of Servia. The evil mind of Andronicus. He conducts affairs unhappily with Thoros the Armenian. 89, 90, 91. 92. 1163 Perils and errors of Andronicus, the wicked prince, due to his wandering lusts. 91, 1164 In the house of Manuel, tragedies whose primary actors are Alexius the protostrator and some magi. Manuel founds new camps in Asia. 93, 94, 95, 1165 The Hungarian war, to which Andronicus is appointed. Manuel triumphs over the defeated Pannonians. 98, 99, etc. ^C 1166 War against the Servians, whose state he alters at his own will. 103, 104. 1167 The Egyptian expedition with a fleet of two hundred ships, with Amerigo, king of Jerusalem, promising auxiliary forces. The siege of Damietta. The matter being left unfinished, the Greek fleet returns home and is scattered. 105, etc. 1168 The Saracens establish peace with Manuel. Alexius is born to Manuel, designated as emperor. Manuel's son-in-law seizes the kingdom of Pannonia. 110. 1169 He gives his daughter Maria in marriage to the son of the Marquis of Montferrat. He vexes the Venetians in Greece. 111. 1170 The Venetians weary the Greeks with war. Manuel renovates the treaty with the Venetians, things taken being restored. 112, etc. 1171 Manuel contemplates bringing war upon the Persians, and by fortifying Dorylaeum and Sublaeum, he openly girds himself for war. 114, 115. 1172 The embassy of the Sultan seeking peace being spurned, Manuel, having entered the journey, is afflicted with a signal slaughter, after many thousands of his men and certain most illustrious kinsmen are lost. The Sultan of his own accord offers peace to Manuel, whence safety for the remnants of the Greeks. 116, 117, etc. 1173 On the return, the Persians infest the Greeks. The Sultan makes war upon Manuel, who is in no way satisfying the conditions of peace. 124, 125. 1174 Through envoys, Manuel slaughters the Sultan's army, laden with booty, and destroys it completely. 125, 126. 1175 Another expedition of Manuel against the Persians, with unhappy result; the Turks try in vain to protect Claudiopolis from the Greeks. 126, 127. ^D

1176 Manuel incites the Pope and the Italians against Emperor Frederick. Ancona, which favors Manuel, and the rebels are besieged by Frederick. 129, 130, etc. 1177 After wars are finished with varying results, and political and domestic discipline weakened in many ways, Manuel treats of theology with unwashed hands, rashly defining the primary articles of the Christian faith. 135, 136, 137, etc. 1178 While he continues to act out of curiosity and rages about the blasphemies of Muhammad, which he even confirms by edict, he falls into illness, and maddened by astrology, resists as much as he can; at length, having put on the monk’s cowl, he departs this life, in the 38th year of his reign, not yet fully complete. 142, 143, 144, etc. 1179 Under the boy Alexius, public disturbances and a bloody sedition occur in Constantinople. 146, 147. 1180 Andronicus Comnenus aspires to the empire and attacks all the nobles with horrific treachery; he kills the leading courtiers by sword and poison. 158, 159, etc. 1181 Incursions of the Persians in the East. Joannes Comnenus moves his army against Andronicus, who, by wicked arts, sees to the killing of the Empress, the mother of Alexius Comnenus. Due to the cowardice and extreme wickedness of the courtiers, he is saluted as a partner in the empire; then he is preferred over the legitimate prince Alexius, whom, a little later, he cruelly despoils of both empire and life. 169, 170, 181, etc. 1182 Spurred on by lust and frenzy, Andronicus rages against the Nicaeans and Prusaeans. Isaacius Comnenus occupies Cyprus. Domestic tragedies of Andronicus. The Sicilians prepare an expedition against the Greeks. Trypsychus, a minister of Andronicus’s tyranny, overturned by a certain volatile reversal of fortune, is blinded. 178, 179, 180, etc. 1183 The Sicilians, having captured and plundered Thessalonica, head for Constantinople. Andronicus resists with little success. His multiple errors in the preparations for war and new tragedies, the primary one of which is the study of magic. A certain satellite of his tyranny having been killed, the people of Constantinople rise up against Andronicus and designate Isaacius Angelus as emperor. Dragged from his flight, Andronicus is miserably tormented by the populace and killed with the most atrocious tortures, after having reigned for two years. 203, 204, 205, etc. 1184 The favorable beginnings of Isaacius Angelus. Expedition against the Sicilians, who are routed and their leaders captured. The sons of Andronicus, along with Alexius Comnenus, the torch of war, are blinded. Calamities of the Sicilian fleet. Isaacius appears inconstant. 228, 229, etc. 1185 The Sultan of Iconium renews the war. Defection of the Vlachs. A calamitous expedition to Cyprus. Isaacius confirms the Vlachs through indulgence. The war against the Vlachs is waged unsuccessfully. 236, 237, etc. 1186 Branas attempts to invade the empire of Alexius and is finally killed in battle. Isaacius pardons the seditious. The Byzantine suburbs are plundered and burned; from which conflict arises between Greeks and Latins. 240, 241, etc. 1187 An unhappy expedition of Isaacius against the Vlachs. Theodorus Mangaphas aspires to the empire but, betrayed by the Sultan, is thrown into prison. 252, 253, 254, etc. 1188 Expedition of Frederick Barbarossa to Palestine. Foolish envoys pit Frederick and Isaacius against each other. Isaacius disturbs the ecclesiastical state. The Greeks are routed by the Germans. Slaughter of the Turks at Iconium. The drowning of Frederick. After the death of his son, the Germans return home. The expedition of the Franks and English to Palestine. 257, 258, etc. 1189 Isaacius’s family and his projection of a long-lasting empire. The bloody seditions of the Pseudo-Alexi and Basilius Choza. Executions of some nobles. 268, 269, etc. 1190 The Vlach war is unfortunate for Isaacius, who nevertheless boasts of a false victory and entertains empty imaginings of great things. 274, 275, etc. 1191 Incursions of the Scythians and Vlachs. The Serbs are defeated. After the Vlachs were repressed, Constantinus Angelus aspires to the empire, but, mocked by Batazes and betrayed by the military, is blinded. 277, 278, 279, etc. 1192 The madness of Isaacius. The power and downfall of Theodorus Castamonites. Isaacius corrupts the state and the court in various ways. 280, 281, etc. 1193 He strives to renew the Vlach war. He is warned in vain about the brother's treachery. A little later, he is deprived of his eyes and his empire by his brother Alexius. 286, 287, etc. 1194 Alexius Angelus Comnenus, neglecting the care of the state, indulges in pleasure. Agitated by various seditions, he suppresses the seditious. 291, 292, etc. 1195 The Vlachs reject terms of peace and act successfully against the Greeks. 299, 300, etc. 1196 The Persians infest the Greeks with war. Ammerigus, the son of Frederick Barbarossa, demands tribute from Alexius, who violates the tombs. 304, 305, etc. 1197 Disturbances in the court of Alexius, whose kinsmen sell everything. The Empress is accused of adultery, becomes a nun, then is recalled. A certain primary courtier, Constantinus, is demoted. 311, 312, etc. 1198 The Sultan of Iconium brings losses upon the Greeks. Alexius’s futile preparations for war. The most miserable state of the empire and the irruption of the Scythians into Thrace. 319, 320, etc. 1199 Alexius’s fruitless expedition against the Vlachs. Incursion of the Scythians into Macedonia. Controversies among the Greeks concerning the Eucharist. The Empress investigates future events through profane curiosity. 325, 326, etc. 1200 The East is shaken by various seditions and disturbances. Tragedies in Constantinople.

Leo Chamaretos, holding the hollow of Lacedaemon, was tyrant of the Laconians. As for Aetolia and the lands bordering on Nicopolis and all that extends to Epidamnos, these Michael appropriated for himself—he whom the sebastokrator John Doukas had planted from dark seeds. The marquis Boniface, residing in Thessalonica, had subject to himself the entire coast extending to Almyros and ruled the plains of the Larissaeans, and he shared in the taxes that were collected from Hellas and the island of Pelops. In addition to these, another man held the highlands of Thessaly, which are now called Great Vlachia, and was the toparch of those parts.

Into so many tyrannies was the West divided—what of good things was absent, and what of bad things was not present? Confiscations of property, displacements of those who had nurtured them, slaughters and exiles, and ten thousand other evils besides, of which the majority were perpetrated by the tyrants from among the Romans, above all others Leo Sgouros. He did not even spare his own mother in his good deeds; instead, having made terms with Nicholas, the chief shepherd of the metropolis of Corinth, and having resolved their former discords, and having thus taken the man as his table companion, he was indeed his messmate in body, but his mind remained as hostile as it was previously. Therefore, after staining the pupils of his eyes with blood, he cast him down from the cliffs.

In the East, the people of Prousa and the Nicaeans, the Lydians—those lovers of song—and Smyrna and Ephesus and the lands lying between these all looked toward Theodore Laskaris as King. And having built long ships, he brought the majority of the islands under his authority. Having also made terms with Kaikhosrow, the Sultan of Iconium, he granted a portion of his dominion to his son-in-law, Manuel Maurozomes. This territory was Chonae, the fatherland of me, the author Nicetas, and the Phrygian Laodicea that borders upon it, and all that the Maeander encircles as it disgorges its waters into the sea.

Agorasthē* (was bought), just as an irrational [animal]. Paulus in L. *si quis* 17 D. *inst. act.* if anyone is placed in charge of buying or selling slaves or irrational beasts. Basilica, lib. XVIII, tit. I, cap. 17: "He who has appointed some one to sell and buy slaves or irrational animals." And lib. XX, tit. I, cap. 30 § 2: "He who has hired an irrational animal." Leo Tactic. cap. 10 § 15: "to have the foddering of irrational animals." See the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Ambon* (ambo), a raised stand, a pulpit, p. 293 c: *eis ton hieron anastathmon aniōn* (ascending to the holy place of rising): cod. GB *eis ton ambōna* (to the ambo). Joannes Cantacuzenus lib. I, cap. 41: "The patriarch ascends to the ambo, going out from the holy of holies." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad* V: "The emperor ordered the Italian to be anathematized on the ambo in the Great Church." See Theophylact Simocatta, *Hist. Mauric.* lib. VIII, cap. 10. Manuscript glossary: *okribas, ho ambōn* (the ambo). Grisonius, *Breviarii Canonum* cap. 166: "Of those who ought to sing in the ambo, that is in the pulpit." See the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Amēras* (emir). Page 21 a, author GB: "where they have [a place] in their faith, and for the emir." See to Cedrenus.

*Ambar*. p. 21 a, amber. A kind of aromatic. See Meursius.

*Anakara*. p. 243 a, *meta bukanōn kai salpigōn* (with trumpets and war-horns): codex GB *anakaradōn*. Author GB: "playing *troumpetes* (trumpets), *toumpaki*, *anakarades* (kettledrums)." ^A

*Antinaulon*. p. 312 c, a tax imposed on sailors. See Meursius.

*Apelatikion*, a club. Pag. 102 c, *ek sidērou korynēs* (from an iron club), codex GB *apelatikia*. See Meursius.

*Apenteuthen* (from then/thence), immediately. Pag. 115 b. Anna Comnena *Alex.* V: "And the dogmas, from that point on, are anathematized." It occurs often in the *Basilica*, such as when the Greeks render freedom given directly as *apenteuthen dotheisan* (given from then on), because it takes effect immediately and without the intervention of an heir.

*Apokreōs* (carnival/Shrovetide), *carnisprivium*, pag. 329 a. Anna Comnena, *Alexiad* lib. VII: "On the Friday of *Apokreōs*." I have spoken to this in Cedrenus.

*Apokrisiarios*, a legate, pag. 41 c; idem p. 41: *tois te gar presbesi* (for to the ambassadors), codex GB *apokrisiariois*. Joannes Moschus, *Limonarium* cap. 88: "that he was the *apokrisiarios* of the monastery of the regions of Apamea." Manuel Moschopoulos, *peri sched.*: "An ambassador is the *apokrisiarios*." Papias: *apocrisiarius* is a legate. See to Cedrenus.

*Arklai*, p. 88 b, machines protruding outside the walls of a city. See Meursius. The *Basilica*, however, translate *arklan* as a chest, lib. VIII, tit. 2, cap. 101, and Cyrillus to I. 19 § 1 D. *loc.* *Basil.* tit. 1 c. 19. Leo Grammaticus: "And he caused the so-called *arklai* to be constructed in all the arcades, and silver was given monthly to the poor who were lying there."

*Armata*, weapons, pag. 42, 122, 246. Leo Grammaticus: "for they all threw away their weapons and breastplates onto the road." Author GB: "and Christ, who suffered for us men, gave us the cross as a weapon and a great protection to overcome our enemies, visible and invisible." Manuscript glossary: *entea ta hopla ē ta harmata* (gear, the weapons or the armor). *Etymologicum Ma*... ^B

*Signum*: *harma* (chariot/armor), among the Romans weapons or a spear, a shield and a breastplate. See to Cedrenus and the Glossary of Nomocanon.

*Archizouponos*, p. 61 d, which among those of Constantinople is a *protovestiarios*. See Meursius.

*Asemon*, silver, p. 344. Theophanes in *Heraclius*: "Both unminted silver and all-silk garments." Manuscript glossary: *asēmion, argyros* (silver). They said, therefore, *asēmon*, *asēmion*, and *asēmin*. Author GB: "pearls, *asēmin*, and gold." Usually, however, it is [used] for silver not marked [with a seal]. Moschopoulos, *Peri sched.*: *asēmon argyrion*, silver not marked.

*Aspron*, white, pag. 223. *Chronicum Alexandrinum*: "Having worn the crown of the Romans and a white chlamys." Anastasius Bibliothecarius in *Hist. Eccl.*: "he wore the crown and the imperial white chlamys." Theophanes had said: "a white imperial chlamys." Scholium on the margin of Timaeus Locrus, *peri psychas kosmou kai physios* (on the soul of the cosmos and nature), in a royal manuscript: "A drop is what is called *oreichalkos* (mountain-bronze), that is, the white bronze." Author GB: "white as milk." Hence *asprizein* (to become white) in the codex of Nicetas GB, which is *leukainesthai* (to be whitened). It is also a kind of coin. Nicetas p. 265 c, "two hundred etc.": codex GB *aspra*. Astrampsychus in *Pythagorikō laxetēriō*: "It signifies also concerning whites (aspra) that these be in a box or a purse or a sack." *Rationale imperii* under Emperor Alexius Comnenus: "The coinage is to be demanded in tokens of 'white' (aspron) coins." Cyrillus, patriarch of Constantinople, *contra Jud.*: "he sent letters and decrees and both *mazi* and *aspra*." ^C

*Authentēs*, *authenteia*, *authentein*, power, Lord, dominion, to rule. P. 110 d: "the Paeonian dominion that he was about to receive," cod. GB *authenteian*. St. Maximus, *epistola ad Zygomalam*: "the name of your lordship." Author anonymous in the book which is entitled *Diēgēsis exairetos Belthandrou tou Rhōmaiou* (A notable narrative of Belthandros the Roman): "he tyrannically exercised lordship as a natural lord." Joannes Cantacuzenus p. 756: "Lord of the seas." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad* VI: "It is a bad thing to return to one's own lord." Phrynichus: "Never use *authentēs* as you would for a master, as do the orators in the courts." See to Cedrenus under *authentēs*. ^D

*Baioulos*, a tutor, p. 306 d, *bajulus*. See to Cedrenus.

*Balka, barka*. P. 346 b, "and its small boat," codex GB *balka*. Constantinus Harmenopulus, *Breviarii* lib. III, tit. 11, § 9: "the commonly called *balkan*." A learned man thought it ought to be read *barkan*: the royal codices, however, change nothing. Author GB: "The count, in a boat (*barka*), threw a large [stone] into the sea." It is, however, *balka* or *barka* (a barque), a skiff. It exists in the glosses collected from the Arabic-Latin Glossary. Paulinus, in a poem to Cytherius: "That it might be a salutary refuge of a boat / Against the drowned stern."

*Barangos*. P. 362 a, "not having an armor-bearer," codex GB *barangon*. And p. 362 a, "and he, [having] the axe-bearers..."

^A *Bardarios*, *Axeios*. *Il*. IV, regarding whether it is *Axios* or *Bardarios*. *Axeios*. *Bardariotai*, those who carry the stiffly-dyed rods; *bardariotai*, stationarii milites (garrison soldiers). See Meursius. *Basmouloi*, light infantry. P. 50 b, "and the light-armed [men] of the army"; *basmouloi*. *Vestiarium*. P. 98 a, "to the imperial treasury"; *vestiarium*. Here, therefore, it is treasuries: see the Index. Otherwise *vestiarium* is taken for the place in which clothes are stored. MS Glossary. *Vestiaron*, among the Romans, the place where the necessary clothing is stored. Having taken this down, they placed it in the *vestiarium*. The chief-officer of the *vestiary* (?) was called the *abestiaris*. The same Leo; he sent Pentakios his *abestiaris*. Prokopios his *abestiaris*. The first captain of the *vestiary* was called the *protovestiarios*, or, as I suppose, the *primikerios* of the imperial *vestiary*, as in the same Leo Grammaticus. ^B *Vigla*, watch, guards. P. 85, "bound by chains and confinements"; codex GB *viglais*. *Vigla*, beacon-watch. Konstantinos Porphyrogenitus in the *Tactics*: "The viglai ought to be held with great security at night." And the *vigla*, having perceived [it], clarified it to him. *Blattion*, *blattion*, silk threads; *blattia*, "the palliums, the vestments, but chiefly the *blattia* hung in the churches." *Blattia*. "The one hundred forty-five thousand pieces of gold and the one hundred *blattia* were sent through the *protoproedros* Konstantinos." *Boleront*, bulwark, *boulevart*. See Meursius. *Boukinon* (trumpet). Joannes Curopalates: "Of *boukina* or trumpets or some other signal not being clearly given." "As much as one can hear the sound of a *boukinon* or a trumpet." *Boukinatores*; *bukinon*. "With *bukina* and trumpets." *Boukla* (buckle), *bouglidion*. *Thesaurophylakas*, thieves (?); *bouglidia*, *sacculos* (small bags). *Boulla* (bulla/seal), *bouleuein* (to seal), *apobouleuein* (to unseal), "having placed seals upon them." ^C *Boullas*. "The Emperor ordered by letter... to be confirmed by all [the] seals." "Having a seal by means of a golden *boulla*." *Bouleuein*, "and the *phaskolia* (purses) are marked with a seal"; *bouleuei*. "Besides these, [he brought] the authentic synodical documents [sealed/bullated], and the same most reverend Polychronios brought a document sealed by a *boulla* depicting the monogram of Polychronios the Confessor." *Apobouleuein* (to unseal): "Such a document having been unsealed." *Boutzion*, *bouttion*, *bouttis*, jars for wine; *boutzia*. *Bouttia* (barrels) perfect. "We speak of *oinema* vessels regarding the wine-press." "And the *pithoi* and the *boutteis*." *Boutis*, "of which the upper diameter [is] 7 feet, and the lower 8 feet." *Bouttopois* (cooper), *bouttopois*. *Byzanont*, *byzomachairont* (dagger). ^D *Gematos* (full), full; "a *takoula*." *Stefanos Sachlikes*: "full of evil designs and malice." Hence *gematizein*, *emplere* (to fill). The same *Stefanos*: "It has filled the salt [sea] of death." *Genikon*. *Geuma* (meal/breakfast): "therefore [at the time] of breakfast hour"; *geumatos*. "They both wept, then they set the table, they ate." *Gniphon*. *Gourgouros* (gurgulio). *Gubentizein*. P. 384 c, codex GB interprets as "to proclaim." *Gureuein* (to search), *anazetein* (to seek), *circuire* (to go around). P. 70 b, the author GB in the historical narrative about Belisarios: "He traveled around many lands and districts and castles," "He did not like the place, [the one] which to wait out the parts of the East," he searches for it and Turkey. "He traveled around, he chased the places and the castles." "At night where he walks, he wanders about armed." "Many searched in the dark and came [back] wounded." *Gureuein*: "he returned with thanks," in *gratiarum actione reversus est*. ^A *Deiseis* (petitions): "And [the one] concerning the *deiseis* (petitions)," *libellorum magister*. See Cedrenus. *Delition*. Gloss. MSS. D. Cancel., *delition*, *dilear* (bait). *Despoina* (Mistress/Empress) *basilissa*.

^A *Flandro*: [alt-version omitted] *mutabiliorem tessera*: Codex GB. *Contra*: Auctor GB in his historical narrative of Belisarius: ^A "The gaming tiles and the gambler and the board he plays in a group." Another author GB: "Both the gaming boards and the papers and the dice, let them burn them." Hence *zariastes* (gambler), an aleator. Item: "The gambler sitting for gain has courage." Item: "The proto-gambler." *Azaria* (dice). Second: "I advise you to hate the *azaria*." They were playing the *azaria*. *Zapetia*, p. 182. See Meursius in *tzefton*. *Zoupanos*: prefect of the prince's wardrobe. See Gloss. Meurs. and on Constantine *De administr. imp.* c. 29.

^B *Hemerai* (days) simply and *kat' exochen* were called the days of the week on which Christ suffered. Meursius.

*Egklinoi*, p. 267, the English, otherwise *Agglezoi* or *Egklezoi*, *Egklitera*, in author GB. *Imphas*: *infans* (child). Glossarium Nomicum *imphas* (infant). *Indiktion* (indiction), p. 194 d and 142 c of the third *epinemesis*: *indiktionos*. See Gloss. ad Cedrenum.

^C *Kaballarios* (cavalier), *eques* (horseman). Constantine in his *Tactica*: "And all these *kaballarioi*, the cataphracts and the non-cataphracts." *Kaballarikon strateuma* (cavalry army), *kaballarikē parataxis* (cavalry formation), for *kaballalikeuein* (to ride), *keletizō*, *kaballikeuō* (I ride). But having ridden (*kaballikeusas*), with two hundred of his men. For "these things often deliver them from great dangers, the little horses, and through them those who ride (*kaballikeuontas*) them." *Ochoumenos* and *epochoumenos* (mounted), the one who boards and rides, *apokaballikeuein* (to dismount). But having dismounted (*apokaballikeusas*), Krumos sat upon the ground, and his son held his horse. See the index and Glossarium ad Cedrenum.

*Kangkellarios* (chancellor), *logothetēs*, *cancellarius*, *quaestor*. See Cujacius on the law "2 cod. de petit. honor." erased, and on the last law "de discuss. lib. x, C." and the *Paratitla* in lib. I, cod. tit. 30. "He who sits next to the royal majesty, second after the king," as Petrus Cellensis says of the Chancellor of the King of England (epist. ult. lib. 1): "For what, he says, is the proportional relationship between the Abbot of Celles and the Chancellor of the King of England? There is almost no comparison where there is no proportionality of estimation. Who is ignorant that he is second after the king in the four kingdoms?" There were also ecclesiastical chancellors. Sixth Synod of Constantinople, act. 8: Sigebert of Gembloux mentions John, chancellor of the Roman Church, who [was under] Paschalis [the Pope].

Calamarium*: an inkstand. P. 382. ^B or "the writers' reeds." Codex GB: *calamaria*. See Meursius.

*Kalaphatizein* (to caulk): P. 349, to repair the rotten parts of small boats. Codex GB: *kalaphatizein*. Provincials say *galafatar*, to solidify the seams of ships. See Meursius.

*Kalogeros* (monk): a monk, p. 328 d. John Moschus, *Limonarium*, ch...: "Kalogere, why do you do thus?" Then the monk, weeping [said]... See the Index.

*Kamalauka* (a headpiece): [a covering] of the head, p. 303 d. See the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Kamara* (an arch): an arch, p. 361 a. See the Glossary to the *Antiquaria* on "Kamara."

*Kamera* (a chamber): A vaulted ceiling, p. 70 b. In purer Greek, a sewer.

*Kampanizein*: to weigh, p. 344 d.

*Kampos* (a field): a plain, p. 31 a. Idem p. 51: to a trapezoidal field. Codex GB: *kampon*. Also p. 101, on a plain. Idem, codex *kampou*. Author GC: "The whole plain was filled with arms and bows." *Dozaria* are bows. See the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Kanikleiou time* (prefecture of the kanikleion): the highest dignity. ^B *Kanikleion* or [office of] the *kanikleiou*, p. 176. Caniclei prefect. Leo Grammaticus: "Serving before as Master and Kanikleios." Idem: "Symeon, he who is of the *kanikleion*." See the Glossary to Cedrenus and later notes.

*Kanigeion*: a gift, or *kaniskion*, p. 331 c. Author GB in *Hist.*, narrating on Belisarius: "They sent *kaniskia* and gifts." Also: "How much *kaniskin* they brought." John Moschus, *Limonarium*, c. 160. Meursius on Constantine, *De admin. imp.*, ch. 46.

*Kappasion*: a cap. P. 86 b. Codex GB *kappasion*. In the Index you may also read *kappouzion*, a cap. Author GB: "...and a tribute of old fur-garments from many *kaipoutzia*."

*Karabion* (a type of ship): a type of ship, p. 15 d. Isidore in his *Glossae*: *Carabus*, a small boat made of wicker and leather. Other *Glossae*: *Carabus*, a small boat. Author GB: "They built a hundred *karabia* and triremes," [and] "He filled the wet [sea] with *katerga* and *karabia*." *Anermatisto* (unballasted): a ship, a *karabin* without ballast. "They went out of the *karabion*." Hence *karabopoia*, *protokarabos* (chief officer of a ship).

*Kardinarios* or *kardinalis* (cardinal): p. 401, c. Pope John VIII to Basil and Alexander, epist.: "That after the death of this patriarch, no one of the laity or ^C of the curials should be elected or consecrated to the dignity of the patriarchate, unless he be from among the cardinal presbyters, etc." Photius the patriarch translates it thus into Greek: "from among the elders of the cardinals." See VIII Synod, CP, p. 466.

[Regarding] *Katallaktai* (money-changers): ^D *Kollybistai* (money-changers). Codex GB: *katallaktai*. The manuscript Glossary: *argyramoibos* is the *katallaktēs* or the goldsmith. *Katallattō*, which is to exchange, changeurs.

*Katergon* (a galley): p. 38 c, idem p. 40 a, by swift-sailing ships. Codex GB *katergōn*. V. *eumden* p. 239 b, and the Index under *gorga katerga*. Author GB: "*Katerga* from Venice, the city of much gold."

*Katechoumeneia*: places in which catechumens stood, p. 294 c. Collation of St. Maximus the Martyr with Theodosius the Bishop, Caesar, among the *Collectanea* of Anastasius: "They ascend to him into the *catechumenium* of the church of that monastery." Anastasius Bibliothecarius in *Historia ecclesiastica*: "And to those ascending through the ascent of the brazen gate into the *catechumenia* of the church." Others have *catechumena*. Simeon of Thessalonica against heresies, in Leo Allatius, *De Narthece veteris Ecclesiae*, p. 91, edit. Paris. It is also written thus in the *Chronographia* of Leo Grammaticus. See Meursius's Glossary GB.

*Katounai* (baggage): baggage, p. 253 d. Idem page 253 near the end, *tēn de aposkeuēn pasan* (the entire baggage). Codex GB, Author GB, see the Index.

*Katounotopion*: a tent, tabernacle, p. 240 b. See Meursius.

*Kaukalon*: a likeness of a tortoise, p. 95 d. *kaukalon*. See however Salmasius's Notes on Spartianus p. 152, collat. 2.

*Kaukos*: P. 313 d [regarding] her lover. Codex GD: *kaukos* and *philos*. We should read *kaukos* and *philos*, *kaukos* and *philos* (friend), *kaukos* and *kauka* (female friend, concubine). Astrampsychus [mentions] in the Pythagorean *lazeutērion* because of the boys and the *kauka*. ...

^A *Kellion* (Κελλίον). p. 326: those things on the treatment of "leio-geneia" (smooth-skinned) boys. Codex GB: "his chamber boys." And p. 342: "Before the kingly bed." Codex GB has: "the chamber of his bed-chamber." Moschopoulos on the *Schedography*: *Kellion* is commonly what the Attics call a *dōmation* (room); item, *koitōn* (bedroom), used interchangeably for what is commonly called *kellion*, *cubiculum*, or *lectus* (bed).

*Kentenarion* (Κεντηνάριον), *centenarium*. Theophanes: "For they say that he spent a thousand *kentenaria* of gold in this fleet." Gregorius Turonensis, Hist. V, ch. 19: "Possessing a treasury of over a thousand *centenaria* of gold." Appendix: "They received three *centenaria* of gold in each year." See Isidorus, XVI, 24; Procopius, *Persian War*, I.

*Kephaladai* (Κεφαλάδαι). p. 209: those who gird themselves for public offices. Codex GB: *kephaladai*. Auctor GB: "And he captured even the lords of all the castles and the *kephaladai* whom the whole Englitera (England) possessed." Who are also *kapetanoi* (captains) or *kapitanioi*. Auctor GB, in *Historical Narration of Belisarius*: "And I will make you captain over the entire armada." Council of Florence, sess. 25: "For I sent at that time a captain to Venice to prepare galleys." *Capitanei*. Council of Ephesus, act 7: "The most magnificent captain wrote to the prince and the clergy." See Glossary to Cedrenus under *kapetanoi* and the Index under *kephaladai*.

*Kephalaria* (Κεφαλάρια): armor for the heads of horses. See Meursius.

*Kephalatikeuein* (Κεφαλατικεύειν): to lead a cohort. See the Index under *kephaladai*.

*Kephalatikion* (Κεφαλατίκιον). Joan. Cantac. I, 48: "He was sent to the *kephalatikion* in that same place." See *Capitaneatus*.

^C *Kleisourai* (Κλεισοῦραι): *dyschōriai* (difficult passes), *clusurae*, narrow entrances. Procopius, *On Buildings*, III: "Beyond this place, for about eight *sēmeia* (milestones), there are steep and altogether impassable mountains, which, running together, create two narrow passes very close to one another, which they have been accustomed to call *kleisourai*." Glossary ms: "Incursion (*embolē*), *kleisoura*, a very narrow entrance." Theophylact. Simoc. *Hist. Mauric.* VIII, ch. 14. Anna Comn. lib. V. Gloss. to Cedrenus.

*Klibanon* (Κλίβανον) or *klibanion*: *lorica* (breastplate). Constantinus Porphyrog. in *Tactica*: "They equipped the cavalryman with breastplates (*lōrikia*) and *klibania*, either of iron or woven from rings." Hence *klibanarioi*, regarding whom see in the *Nomical Glossary*.

*Komēs* (Κόμης): *comes* (count), p. 243. "Those of the king's fleet." Another codex: "The counts of the royal fleet," *imperatoriae classis comites*. See Meursius under the word *komēs*, and Codin. *On Offices*.

*Kommerkeusai* (Κομμερκεῦσαι): to collect customs. For *kommercion* is tribute. Nicetas, p. 247: "And their ships were collecting money." Codex GB: *ekomereuon*. Anna Comn. *Alexiad*, VI: "He made the trade for them duty-free in all lands under the power of the Romans, so that they might trade freely and as they pleased, and not provide to the treasury, in the name of tribute, for *kommercion* or any other exaction, even up to a single obol." In a diploma of Andronicus Junior: "And they give for the sake of *kommercion* two *nomismata* for every hundred *nomismata*." See Glossary to Cedrenus.

^D *Kontarion* (Κοντάριον): *contus*, spear, p. 23c; "to whirl spears." Codex GB: *kontaria*. Glossary ms: "Spears are *kontaria*, lances; also *xystoi* (polished spears) are *kontaria*." Eustathius on *Odyssey*, I: "It is evident that he distinguished the aforementioned Homeric *kontos* (pole) from our *kontarion*." Astrampsychus: "And something long similar to a *kontarion*." Menologium, month of April, day 23. Leo Tactic. ch. 12, § 50. Constantin. in *Tactica*, p. 6. Moschopoulos on *Schedography*: "A spear is a *kontarion*; item, a lance is a *kontarion*." Scholiast on Oppian, p. 70 and 90. Hence *kontaratos*, armed with a pole. Leo, ibid. § 50 and § 41, and ch. 18, § 27.

*Kontarexipharon* (Κονταρεξίφαρον), p. 259a; in Codex GB it is explained as *belos* (missile), *sagitta* (arrow).

*Kontos* (Κόντος): duke of the army, or *comes*, count, p. 198b. Nicephorus Gregoras, lib. II: "*Kontos* of Cephalonia." Auctor GB: "Of the West, the lords, kings, counts, princes, dukes, knights."

*Koukouron* (Κούκουρον): *gorytos* (quiver), *theca* (case). Constantinus in *Tactica*: "Such as quivers, with their cases, arrows with *koukoura*." See notes to Joannes Cantacuzenus, p. 998.

*Koula* (Κούλα). In Codex GB, as Wolf reports in *Varia*: "Acropolis in purer Greek." See Meursius.

*Koumpania* (Κουμπανία). p. 293b: "Having made a brotherhood and association." Codex GB: "Becoming one *koumpania*."

*Kounia* (Κουνία): *spargana* (swaddling clothes), *cunabula*.

*Kountouros* (Κούντουρος): horse. p. 69, "With *kountouroi* and Arabian horses." Thus reads Meursius. Fragment ms: "On the size of measures; and the change invented among us for the service of the royal commands by means of *kountouroi*, 40 miles, that is, 40 stadia." Exists in the Royal Library. Glossary ms: "*Bēredon* (post-horse) is the *kountouron*." It should read *kountouron*. Item, *bēridis*, horses, *kountouroi*. Hence *apokountourizein*. Auctor GB ms: "And if he asks for food and *glypsei* you, at that time he *apokountourizei*, i.e., *kountouriarios*, who uses a public horse." Theodorus Hermopolites, lib. VIII, tit. 8, explaining law 3 D. *de in jus voc.*, there: "But not him who is transported on a public horse in a public cause: 'Neither,' he says, 'the one riding on public horses for public need, that is, the *kountouriarios*.'"

*Koursarios* (Κουρσάριος): pirate, *praedo* (robber). Glossary: "Pirates, *katapontistai* (sea-robbers), *koursarioi*, corsairs."

*Koursorn* (Κοῦρσον), *kourseuein* (to raid). Cedrenus, p. 477c. Constantinus Porphyrog. in *Tactica*: "So that they might hold... in time of war or in time of a raid." Theophanes: "And we are not raiding." Anastasius: "We do not make incursions." Item: "We are raiding and destroying their lands." Anastasius: "We will rush and exterminate their region." See Index under *koursa*, *kourseuein*, etc., and the Glossary to Cedrenus under the same word. In *koursōres*, line 8 from the end, read *procursor* (scout).

*Koustōdia* (Κουστωδία): *custodia* (guard). Theophylact on ch. 27 of Matthew: "*Koustōdia* is called by the Romans the guard. Therefore he calls the soldiers assigned to guard a *koustōdia*." And on Acts of the Apostles, ch. X: "It is to be known that the cohort is divided..."

into six hundred soldiers, and the *koustōdia* is sixty. He has also *manganarioi* and craftsmen and smiths. Vide ad Cedrenum.

*Magkladion*, a thong, a scourge, a staff. P. 212 c. By changes he trained twelve. Codex GB, By *magkladia*. Constantine De adm. imp. cap. 51: He treated this one severely with *magkladia*. Leo Grammaticus: "Having led them, and having stripped them, he struck them with *magkladia*." Thus in the Royal codex; read *magkladiois*. Also, he disciplined the *stratēlatēs* with the appropriate *magkladiois*. Hence *magkladitēs*. Also: "The conspiracy of Arsenius and Paul of the *magkladitai*." Also: "Honored with the rank of *magkladitēs*, he lived in the house of the *mangana*, being kept." Unknown author regarding castrametation in the Royal library: "Let them stand with the *magkladitai*." Vide Cedrenum, p. 622 B, and there the subsequent notes of the most learned man, Jacob Goar.

*Magoulon*, a cheek. Cyrillus patriarcha CP. Adversus Judaeos cap. 2, quaest. 1: "Whoever gives you a blow on the one cheek, turn to him the other." *Magoula* rose-red, self-dyed lips. ^A Gloss. ms. *gnathoi*, *magoula*, item *pareai*, the *gnathoi* that is, the *magoula*. *Katomagoulon*. Nicetas p. 238 exhibits the lower jaw as fearful. Codex GB, *Katomagoula* of the jaws. Hodie they say *magoulo*.

*Makellarios*, a butcher, a slaughterer. Astrampsychus: Denotes a man who is a *makellarēs* and a butcher. Hodie *makellarēs*.

*Malion*, a hair. Pag. 382 d, And (with) hair matted. Codex GB, *malia*. Ammianus Anthol. lib. II, cap. 52, epigr. 5: And fine clothing, *malion*, beard, shoulder (adornment) externally, from these the wisdom now favored. Auctor GB, "She has golden hair ^B equal to her age." Hodie *mali*.

*Manara*, a battle-axe, p. 227. They use it even today.

*Mandreuein*. P. 263 a. *Mandra* is a monastery. Epiphanius, haeresi 80: "Being in monasteries or *mandrai*." Hence *mandreuein*. Nicetas: "He made her a nun there." *Mandreu-ein* however he said, as the Latins *monachare*. Goffridus Vindocinensis iv, epist. 13: "Sudenly pressed by infirmity, you have become a monk." And epist. 50: "Those whom he sent to be made monks in our monastery."

*Manoualion*, a candelabra, hodie *kandiliēri*, chandelier. Vide Meursium.

*Mappa*. *Mappa* round. Vide Indicem.

*Mapparios*, a mapparius, who used to throw the *mappa* in the circus. Vide Meursium and the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Markesios*, a marquis, ^C as in the Synod of Florence, the marquis of Ferrara. Vide Gregoram VII.

*Matzoukane, matzoukion, matzouka*. Constantine Tactic. p. 19: *Tzikouria, bardoukia, matzouka*. Leo Tact. cap. 14 § 84: "Or of *sikouria* or *matzoukia*." Stephanus Sachlices: *Matzouka* I fight the wind to strike.

*Mauros*, black. P. 35 d, With black color. Theophanes: and putting on a black *sagion*. Hodie also it is in use. Vide Meursium ad cap. 12 Constant. De admin. imp. ^D

Melingos*. *Mesazon*. P. 38, Overseer of public tributes. *Mesazonta*. *Mitaton*. *Mitys*, nose. *Mnēmai* (memories), *Mnēmeia* (monuments). *Monazōn* (monk). P. 111 b: *Living by himself*; a monk. Those who have withdrawn to the solitary and private life. ^B Gregory on those going to Jerusalem: Since, therefore, there are some who have undertaken the solitary and private life, for whom it is considered a matter of piety to see the places in Jerusalem. *Monazōn*, singular recluses, or simply monks.

*Monastērion* (monastery), *phrontistērion* (place of study). *Phrontistēria* are the schools of philosophers. Such, then, might be called the monasteries among us, since true philosophy is practiced there. On *schedē*: *Partheneia* are the monasteries, and *semneion* is the monastery.

*Monachikē politeia* (monastic rule). *Moschos* (calf). *Moula*. P. 1077, A mule. *Moulan*. "It shall fall if you fumigate with the hairs of an ass and a mule." *Moula kolostolistē*. *Mouliōn*.

*Mousourion*, of the Muslim letters. That is, to profess the Muslim religion. Vide Meursium in this word.

*Mourtzouphlos*, supercilious. Vide Meursium.

**N**

*Neron*. In the Index, *antlon*, *neron*, water. Maximus, Bishop of Margunius, homily 1: "It must be rendered both to the water and to the fire." Another author (Codex GB): "I have found a small river, and into the water the middle flame of the fire went out."

*Nosokomeion*, a hospital. A venerable place in which sick people are cared for. Julianus Antecessor, Nov. 7, cap. 1.

^A *Nyx* (night), *nyktos*. *Nyktas*: "At night harlots walk about, and thieves, and murderers."

*Xenōn*, a hospital. *Xenōna*. *Xenōsi*. "For he was experienced in the medical art, and cured the king Justinian who had fallen into an incurable disease. From this, the king, greatly admiring the virtue of the man and bestowing honor upon him, built a very large and celebrated hospital through him, and appointed him steward of the Great Church of God." He gifted the best lands that he had there to his own hospitals. On *schedē*: *Koitōn* is properly the house containing many beds, like the *xenōnes* (hospitals/guesthouses).

*Omphikion*, as in the previous edition, for *ophr ikion*, an office. Vide to Cedrenus.

*Ospition* (guest-house), a place of reception not easy to approach. *Ospition*. "And this *ospition* is fortunate for every undertaking." "His *ospition* was destroyed, situated near the Hippodrome." *Petavra* and the boards in which we shelter the *ospitia*. *Spitē*, *spiti*. "You bring disgrace upon the houses among the families."

*Ounnarchēs*. P. 1078, King of the Huns. *Ounnoi*, the Hungarians.

*Opsis*. But the king has given some of those of the lineage as hostages. *Opsidas*. "Saying that we give our own children as hostages."

*Opsōnion*, a stipend. Theodoret on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, cap. 6: "He has rightly called the salary an *opsōnion* (ration); for he is accustomed to name the military provision in this way." "...that they themselves be obliged, for the sake of catering or of a salary or of some other matter, to demand something from them."

**H**

*Paktōnein*, to bargain. Vide Meursium ad Constan. De admin. imp. c. 44.

^A *Palatinos*. Palatinus, p. 156 b. Nicetas explains who a Palatinus is. Otherwise, Palatinus is a general name, and it contains all those who serve in the sacred Palace. Concerning whom see Cod. lib. XII, tit. 23 and 28, and Cujacius there; Julian the Antecessor in the Scholia to Novel 22, chap. 82, and the Glossary of Isidorus in *Basilides*. Concerning the Palatines, see also the *Glossarium Nomicum*, and what we have observed there.

*Panion*, cloth, linen, p. 213 and 365. Basilica lib. XXXV, tit. 1, cap. 22, § 6: "It is called ‘sealing’ a testament even if the cloth in which it is placed is sealed." See Dig. lib. XXII, *qui testamentum facere possunt*, for they also used to call it *panion*, as in Codinus, *De officiis*; *panion kitrinon* (yellow cloth). The author of GB in a historical narrative concerning Belisarius: "They hung gold-woven cloths (*pania*) on the walls." Andronicus the Younger in a diploma for the Monembasiotes: "Of cloth or of flax." The same Nicetas, p. 312, *prata ton othonon* (weavings of linen). Codex GB, *panopratai*.

*Papas*, priest (*sacerdos*). Cedrenus, p. 342 c: "He made his tutor (*baioulon*) a priest (*papan*)." The author of GB: "They ring the bells powerfully, the priests (*papades*) gather, and they chant up to heaven." *Papas*, however, or *papa* is taken for the Pontiff, p. 130 b.

*Parakoimōmenos*. John Cantacuzenus, lib. I, and Constantine, *De admin. imp.*, chap. 43: "The house of Basil, the *parakoimōmenos*." Codinus, *De officiis*: "The *parakoimōmenos* of the bedchamber is found to be the head of the page-boys and the chamberlains in the bedchamber." Leo Grammaticus: "As the emperor was passing by in the procession, Basil walked behind, wearing a *skaramangion* with a sword, as is the custom for the *parakoimōmenoi*." The *parakoimōmenos*, therefore, carried the sword and *scaramangium* of the emperor. See Meursius and our Glossary to Cedrenus, *peri tou koitōnos prokathemenou* (concerning the one presiding over the bedchamber). See Cantacuzenus, I, 48.

*Paramonē*. P. 364, *Pelekyphoros barbaros* (axe-bearing barbarian). Codex GB, *paramonē*. *Paramonē* is, however, a custody, a station. Stephanus in a commentary on Aristotle's *Rhetoric*, hitherto unedited: "The end of tyranny is a guard, which is called *paramonai*."

*Paraportion*, a small door (*portella*). Anastasius the Librarian, *De vitis Pontif.*; Constantine in the *Tactics*: "Small *paraportia* and more." See to [Constantine Porphyrogenitus] *De Ceremoniis*.

*Paraskeuē*, p. 342, "The sixth of the days." Another codex, *paraskeuē*. The sixth day, Friday. See to Cedrenus and the *Glossarium Arabico-Latinum*.

*Pasias*, Bassa among the Turks. "The Bassa (*Pasiatēn*) Theodore." See Meursius in the entry *pasias*.

*Patos*, riches, a rich man. See Meursius.

*Patroklon*, an excuse, a pretext. See Meursius.

*Podaroullion*, *bella*. P. 383, *eis edras* (to the seats). Codex GB, *podaroullia*; Eustathius on the *Odyssey*, γ', p. 1571, n. 20: "It denotes (an *andrachlē*) the private feminine *podaroullion*."

*Porta*, p. 108 and 368. The same, p. 44, "The gates of the cities." Codex GB, *portas*. Leo Tact., chap. 11, § 48: "Before the gates." Leo Grammaticus: "And when no one resisted, they opened the doors and led him into the city." The author of GB: "He came and seized the gates of the fortress, and he found a door bright with adamant stone." See Nicetas ad Cedrenum.

^B *Porphyrogennētos*, born in the purple. Born in the purple, Christodulus or John Cantacuzenus, in his epistle to Nilus: "Born in the purple." Idatius the Bishop, in the *Fastis Consularibus*: "In that same year Honorius was born to us in the purples." They are called Porphyrogeniti either because they were born as they were received in purple, when their father was already emperor (to which Proclus alludes, orat. 4, speaking of Christ: "The King of Glory, wrapped in royal purple swaddling clothes"), or from the house in which the Augustae gave birth. Constantine Manasses: "They call that chamber the *Porphyra*." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, book VI: "Having found the chamber appointed of old for the queens when in labor. They call this the *Porphyra* from of old, from which also the name of the *Porphyrogennetoi* spread throughout the inhabited world." Add book VIII, not long after the beginning. The same Manasses calls him *porphyropais* (purple-child) who was born in the purple, in the verses which are at the end of the book, written by hand.

*Porphyropais*, offspring of the purple-ruler, stout-hearted, Andronicus the great-souled, well-poised warrior, Who first bestowed rewards of the *sebastokratōria* on the one who begat him.

*Prigkips*, prince. Nicephorus Gregoras, IV: "Prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia." *Menologion*, month of May, day 24: "Of whom some were counts, others tribunes, others princes." Add Cantacuzenus, p. 753, Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, lib. III, and what I shall say in the *Glossarium Nomicum* in the entry *prigkips*.

*Probea*, a pelt, a membrane, p. 281. The same, p. 235, "and a hide (*derin*) attached." Codex GB, *probian*. Today, *probia*.

*Proedros*, pontiff, antistes, presiding officer, p. 140, c. and p. 393, "presiding in a priestly manner over the city." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, VI: "She sees Leon, the *proedros* of Chalcedon, dressed in the priestly vestment." Theophylactus Simocatta, *Hist. Mauriciana*, lib. III, chap. 2: "Not long after, the general sent as an ambassador to the camp the *proedros* of Constantinople." There were other *proedroi* who were Palatines, concerning whom Meursius [writes] in this entry. Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, II: "Having honored with the dignity of *proedroi*." There were many in number, and among them the first was called *prōtoproedros*. The same, Anna, lib. III: "They were sent through the *prōtoproedros* Constantine."

*Prokoitos*. See the Glossary to Cedrenus in the entry *parakoimōmenos*.

*Prokypsis*, a prospect (view). See to Codinus, *De officiis*.

*Prosōpsion*, a facial covering. See Meursius.

*Prōtekdikeion*. See the Glossary to Cedrenus in the entry *ekdikos*, and Meursius in the same entry.

*Prōtoasēkrētis*. The Glossary to Cedrenus teaches who was called an *asēkrētis*. Suidas in an *Etymologicum* manuscript in the possession of the most illustrious man, M. Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France: "*Asēkrētis*, a scribe who [serves] the mysteries of those who rule..."

Thus in the Ausonian dialect it is desired that *asēkrētis* be interpreted in relation to the mysteries. ^A *Protosasēkrētis*. *Protonotarios*. *Protostrator*. *Protostrator* is Michael, *protostrator* of the emperor the *doukas*.

**P** *Pasa rasa*, monastic clothing. P. 175 c. And […] of the change of garments. Codex GB has *basa*. Hence *rasophorein*. Balsamon on can. 5 of the synod of CP. p. 560 b: "Having entered into monasteries and putting on the *rasa*." Even if one is not tonsured, provided he puts on the *rasa*. *Rasophoroi*.

*Rhēx*, *rhēgas*, king, p. 109 s. Anna Comnena, Alex. VIII: "Of kings and *doukes* and counts." Theophanes: "Having called himself king of land and sea." Also, "To Zilitvis, the king of the Huns." Author GB: "The *Belthandros* goes on foot, doing obeisance to the king. The king, seeing him kneeling much." See the Index, and the Glossary to Cedrenus.

*Rhētōr*, who interpreted the scriptures like an ecclesiastical orator. See Meursius on that dictionary.

*Riktárion*, p. 109, and guided the spear. Codex GB, *biktárion*, bastile, javelin. I said it should be read *riptárion*, which is said of a javelin; Gloss of Cyrillus: *riptō*, I cast, hurl, throw. Manuscript Glossary: *bērouttai* the *riptária*. But others threw the *riptária* from a distance, as has been said. P. 42: "For throwing ^B *riptária* and *ménaula*." *Riptarizein*, such as either shooting arrows or hurling. P. 14: "So that where it is fitting he may hurl easily against the enemies." And *riptaratoi*, "But the *riptaratoi* are also useful from outside the battle line." And *riptaristēs*.

*Riktárion*. But those called light-armed, *skoutária*, small javelins, *tzikoúria*. *Skoutária, richtária, akóntia, small tzikhoúria*, *richtária, tzikhoúria, riptária*. *Akinákis*, a sword, *richtárin*, a spear or Persian javelin. ^C *Riktō*.

*Rhóga*, the usual distribution of the armies. "Not having received the accustomed *rhóga* of the fleet." *Stómia*. "To receive their *rhóga*," "He deemed their patriarch worthy along with the irrational *rhóga*." *Rhogeuein*. "And having gathered the remaining people from the various cities, he gave them *rhóga*."

*Rhouta*, *roûkhon* (garment), red. To the fifth [entry]. *Ospítion* signifies for boys and entry and good fortune and a cup and many garments. "In order to receive your garments, give him also your undershirt." *Bússina roûkha* kanaxamytou.

**Σ** *Sábanon* (linen cloth). Hierocles, Artis veterinariae lib. III, cap. 98: "Wash the horse and wipe it dry with *sabana*." And on the sixth day, having led [it] out of the manger, wash [it] and wipe [it] dry with *sabana*.

*Ságisma* (horse-blanket/trapping). Leo Grammaticus: "The horses of both sides going past with golden *sagísmata*." "He found him wrapped in the *ságisma* of the right horse."

*Sagítta* (arrow). P. "Within an arrow-[shot]." *Sagíttas*. N. *áblēta*. "They remained at a distance of two arrows from each other." "From which he took arrows." "From one archer." *Sagittátōr*, *sagittopoioí*.

*Samária*, the beasts of burden. *Sagmária*. "To have a *sagmárion*."

^A *Sa-pōnis*, soap. "See whether soap cleans without water." *Sápōna*. *Sebastokrátōr*. For the *sebastokrátōr* derives his dignity from the lordship of the emperor, the grand domestic from the Caesar’s, while the Caesar, together with the father-in-law of the despot, derives his from the *sebastokrátōr’s*. Being thus proclaimed, Theodore used the title royally, and he addressed the masters and the *sebastokrátōres*. *Sekreton*, the privy council of my empire. *Seléntia*, exhortatory discourses. ^B On the holy and great Friday; lords and *ságma* (pack-saddle). "He rode it with the pack-saddle." *Sássei ó-non* (loads an ass). *Setagménos* (arranged). *Ságma*. "They seated him on a donkey being loaded." "Through pack-animals." *Sagrá-rion* (this seems a corruption). *Astrá-bē*, which signifies a saddle and a pack-saddle. *Sélla* (saddle), *sagmárion*. *Astrábē*, the pack-saddle. *Sa-g-márion*. *Sakellários*. Nicephorus Callistus, book 18, chapter 44: "One established as *sakellários* of the church." *Sakellários* of the patriarch. "From the *sakellēs* (purse) or *sakkoullíou* (little sack) or *sak-kellíou* (little pouch), which he governs." *Sélla*, *astrábē*. *Sentzoúkia* (chests), *arkai* (chests), *skrīnia* (rep- ^C ositories). See Meursius. *Skála* (staircase). Page 55c, "to put a wooden ladder." *Skálan*, about rafts. *Klīmax* (ladder), commonly *skála*. "He shattered the staircase of the acropolis." "And wooden ladders." *Skalī*, *skaloūni*. *Skalōnein* (to build stairs). *Sklávoi* (slaves), bought slaves. "Of those which he has from us as slaves." *Sklaboūn* (to enslave). "And then the prophet Ezekiel was enslaved, and these two servitudes were not so heavy." "But the others they enslaved." "When the king, the lord of Persia, heard how he had lost the flower of his army completely, and how many they had enslaved and how many they had killed, he did not know what to do." *Sthlá-bous* (slaves). "And weakness of heart, and loss from a wife, from slaves, and from servants." "The *sakéllion* (little pouch) shall be produced." ^D *Sakellízein* (to serve as purse-bearer). "It is filtered, winnowed, purified." *Sakkoúlion* (little sack). P. 133c, "The wrappers are marked by a seal." *Sakkoúlia*. *Marsýpion* (pouch), the *sakkoúlion*. *Sakkoúli*. *Sáltza* (sauce), dip. P. 382d. In Italian, *salsa*. *Sandálion* (sandal), *akátion* (little boat), p. 85. See also p. 242. *Sapōnis*, *nítron* (nitre), *ní-ptron* (wash-basin), *sapōnion*, *sapoúnion*. Corruption was previously read as *nítron* in the Index. Others say *sapōnion* or *sapoúnion*. Alexias Rhartarus doctrine, for those of slave-descent, "And more than the aforementioned two barbarians of slave-descent, I mean Boril and Germanus." *Skoutárion*, shield, p. 56d. *Glossarium ms.*: "The *artétomos* (strap-cutter) is the belt, that is, the thong from which the purse or the *skoutárion* or some other thing is hung." *Aspís* (shield), *skoutárion*. *Skoutéllion* (little dish). See Meursius. *Soūda* (ditch). Constantinus in *Tacticis*: "Make a deep *soūda* all around, to dig a *soūda*." "In which the ancients also made a *soūda*." "Having also cut the wide *soūda*."

^A *Souppedion* (σουππέδιον), *suppedium*, *suppedaneum*, a footstool (ὑποπόδιον), a stool placed under the feet. *Spartzamia* (σπαρτζάμια) neck-pieces, ornaments composed of horsehair, p. 120 c. *Stoudion* (στούδιον), a monastery named after its founder, Stoudios, mentioned by Justinian, Nov. 59, c. 6. Cedrenus: "The abbot (hegoumenos) of the Stoudion." Theophanes: "Plato and Theodore, abbots of the monastery of the Stoudion." Anastasius translates it thus: *Plato ac Theodorus hegumeni Studii*. *Strata* (στράτα), a road, p. 26. Glossarium ms.: "The *strata* is a street (ὁδός)." Author of GB: "You have held the *strata* of your pilgrimage." In Italian *strada*, and compounded *distraton*, a crossroads. *Scholarikion* (σχολαρίκιον), an earring. Glossarium ms.: "An *enōtion* is a *scholarikion*."

T *Tabellion* (ταβελλίων), a notary (*tabellio*). Procopius, *Anecdota*, p. 124: "Which the Romans call a *tabellion*." See the *Glossarium Nomicum*. *Tablion* (ταβλίον), a die, a board (*tabula*), p. 358. Author of GB: "And may they burn the tables (taulia), the papers, and the dice." Glossarium ms.: "The *pettoi* (pawns) and the balls (*bolia*) on which they play *tablion*." Read *talia*. They also used to say *talēn*, as in Agathias Scholasticus, epigram, *Anthologia*, lib. 1, cap. 61: "Flee from *taulēn* (the game), all of you." *Tablismos* (ταβλισμός), debauchery (*stuprum*). See Meursius. *Taxidion* (ταξίδιον) or *taxeidion*, a journey. Leo Grammaticus: "To go forth together with them, without fear, on the journey (*taxeidion*)." See the *Glossarium Cedreni*. *Tarides* (ταρίδες), dromons. P. 347 d, "of the *tarides* (i.e., horse-transports)." Codex GB has *taridōn*. *Tenda* (τένδα) or *tenta*, a tent (*tentorium*), a tabernacle, a pavilion. P. 240 b, "entering the tent (*skēnēn*)." Codex GB has *tentan*. Leo *Tacticus*, cap. 5, § 9: "Care and preparations, and the so-called *tendas* and *ategias*." *Ategia* are huts or tents (*skēnai*). Josephus, *Antiq.*, book 8, c. 31: "Since it is a custom for all to be provided with tents (*skēnopoieisthai*) for God." Rufinus Aquileiensis translates it thus, lib. 7, cap. 12: "Since it is a custom for all to construct *ategias* in honor of God in the temple." This is how it should be read. Constantinus *Tacticus*, p. 12 and 44; Theophanes in *Theodosio*; Leo Grammaticus: "And having descended into Caesar's tent (*tentan*)." *Glossarium Juris*: "*Tenda* is a spherical piece of stretched fabric, for from *tendō* (I stretch) comes that which I extend." Therefore, *tenda* or *tenta* are used indiscriminately. Thus the French *tente*, the Italians *tenda*. *Tetrareiai* (τετραρείαι), p. 119; but Meursius reads *petrareiai*. These are, however, *petrariae*, siege engines. *Tetras* (τετράς), Wednesday (the day of Mercury). Petrus Alexandrinus, cap. 15: "For one must fast on Wednesday and Friday (*tetradi gar kai paraskeuē nēsteuteon*), i.e., one must fast on the day of Mercury and the day of Venus." *Tzangatores* (τζαγγάτορες), archers, for *tzangra* is a bow, p. 53 a. The same, p. 87: "The Roman long-range shooters (*ekēboloi*)." Codex GB, "with *tzangroi*." Joannes Cantacuzenus, *Hist.*, lib. 1, cap. 3, p. 108: "Of those shooting arrows from Latin bows called *tzangroi*." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, VIII: "The arrow from the *tzangra* (crossbow) having struck the edge of the helmet, etc." Author of GB, in his *Historical Narrative on Belisarius*: ^B *Tzaggrotoxatas* (crossbowmen), as Nicetas calls them, p. 348 s and 361 a. *Tzakisthēnai* (τζακισθῆναι), to be broken, to be wounded, to be injured, p. 123 d. *Tzepheton* (τζεφέτον), a kind of spice. See Meursius. *Tzouchourion* (τζουχούριον), an axe. See Meursius. *Toubloi* (τούβλοι), baked bricks (*lateres cocti*), tiles. See Meursius under *touboula*. *Toupha* (τούφα), a tiara. Zonaras in *Basilio Porphyrogennito*. *Trenaition* (τρεναίτιον), a buckle, p. 69. See under *boukla*. *Tympanion* (τυμπάνιον), head-coverings of the women of Constantinople, resembling the shape of a drum (*tympanum*). See Meursius.

Γ *Hypokamison* (ὑποκάμισον), p. 343 b, the innermost tunic. Codex GB, *hypokamison*. Codinus in *Parerbolai*: "And having taken his outer garment (*himation*), his *hypokamison*, his *brachion*, his *striktourion*, and his *phakeōlion*." Glossarium ms.: "*Ependytēs* is the innermost garment, which is called an *hypokamison*." See above under *rouchon*.

Φ *Phlamoulon* (φλάμουλον), *flamulum*, a vexillum (banner), p. 300. Constantinus in *Tacticis*: "That the *phlamoula* of each turma or droungos be of their own color." Basilius in *Naumachicis*: "To these must be added a *triēraulēs* (boatswain) and a *keleustēs* (commanding officer); the one is the *boukinatōr* (trumpeter), the other is he who holds the *phlamoulon*." The reading in the Royal exemplar is *phlamouliskia* according to the same Constantinus. They say *phlammoura* or *phlamoura*. Manuel Moschopoulos, *Peri Schedōn*: "A *phlamouron* is a standard (*sēmaia*), although in another codex it is read *phlamoulon*, as noted in the variants." Author of GB: "And they set the *phlammoura* upon the wall." Unless perhaps it should be read *phlampoura*. The same: "Therefore they, the Christians, endure to see the great *phlampouron*, the standard of the Lord’s Cross." Hence *phlampouriarēs*. Author of GB, in his *Historical Narrative on Belisarius*: "And he who was the *phlampouriarēs* (standard-bearer), *flammularius*." But nothing should be changed. The same author: "He tore the ship, they set up many *phlammoura*." See the *Glossarium ad Cedrenum*. *Pheggarion* (φεγγάριον), the moon. See Meursius. *Phorema* (φόρεμα), attire, a garment. Council of Florence, sess. 16: "All wearing *sacred* attire (*phoremenoi pantes*)." Translators: "all with sacred vestments." *Phoros* (φόρος), a market, a forum. In a diploma of Andronicus Junior: "of the rare item being sold in the *phoros*." It occurs everywhere. *Phourkizein* (φουρκίζειν), to hang on a stake. See Harmenopulus and the Gloss. to Cedrenus under *phoulkizein*. *Phossaton* (φωσσάτον), a foreign contingent. A purer text has *xenologia* (mercenary troops). Foreign soldiers. That *phossaton* is used for the camp of an army has long been observed. Idatius the Bishop in *Fastis consularibus*: "And in that same year, Valentinian Augustus set out from the city to the *fossatum* (camp)." Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, V: "He ordered to proclaim throughout the entire *phossaton* the war for the morrow." Moschopoulos, *Peri Schedōn*: "*Phossaton* is the army." See the *Glossarium ad Cedrenum*. Today they say *phoustato*. *Phrērios* (φρέριος), a brother, from the French *frère*.

frontistērion. Joan. Cantac. I, 22: *eis hen tōn frontistēriōn*. See Suidas, and above under *monastērion*.

**X**

*Chamaizikion*: a type of musical instrument. Meursius. *Chamykladēs*: a type of bird. Meursius. *Chantakia*: ditches. Code GB *chantakia*. *Chartularion*: In purer Greek *chartularion*, a chartulary, archives, or record office. *Chartularios*: a chartulary. See our Glossary Nominicum on that term. *Cherniboxyston* [583]. *Choiromandrion*: a sty, pigpen, stye. *Chrysinos*: a *solidus*, a gold coin. Theodoret, *Hist. Eccl.* II, cap. 13: "He sent five hundred *chrysinous* to him." Epiphan. Schol. translates it thus: *Quingentos solidos destinavit* (He destined five hundred solidi). Trip. v, cap. 17. Josephus, bishop of Methone, in his response to the letter of Marius, Metropolitan of Ephesus: "Having informed the Florentines that he owed forty thousand gold pieces, he sent them his mitre as a pledge." Nicephorus Callistus, XI, 48: "Having ordered that eighty gold pieces be demanded." *Chrysoboullon*: Golden bull. Pap. 34 c. A document with a red seal. Code GB, *chrysoboullon*. For the Emperor used to subscribe to it in cinnabar. Anna Comnena, *Alexiad*, lib. VIII: "Having received from the Emperor a *chrysoboullon* document sealed with cinnabar, as is the custom, by the royal right hand." Constant. *De admin. imp.* *chrysoboullion* without. Niceph. Call. lib. XIV, cap. 43. See the Glossary to Cedrenus.

NICETAE CHONIATAE, MAGNI LOGOTHETAE SECRETORUM, INSPECTORIS ET JUDICIS VELI, PRAEFECTI SACRI CUBICULI, THESAURUS ORTHODOXAE FIDEI. AD CLARISSIMUM VIRUM D. JOANNEM A S. ANDREA, CARCASSONENSIS ECCLESIAE DECANUM, P. MORELLII LETTER.

I have at last prevailed, most distinguished sir, in that which I had long desired with every prayer, and I have brought to a conclusion that monody of Michael Choniates, prelate of Athens, with which he honors the funeral rites of his brother Nicetas. That work certainly, to speak the truth, held me in suspense for a long time, on account of those almost continuous difficulties, and it has hitherto delayed the course in which I was proceeding quite successfully with Nicetas’ *Thesaurus*, although in that work too I found a number of books, especially the earlier and later ones, teeming with no fewer difficulties. This cause moved me to transcribe them at the earliest opportunity, and to gift them with the Latin tongue, lest, if I were to delay any longer, they should be devoured by moths *anexetōs* (inscrutably). It seemed best to send them to you, most distinguished sir, as the first fruits of the work which, at your instigation, I undertook in the year of Christ 1560; and if these should find favor, I shall strive to have the rest follow one by one, and to complete the proper number of books of the *Thesaurus*, namely twenty-seven; and thus that Nicetas, whom you may easily recognize—as one recognizes a lion from its claws—even from the Annals which were not long ago published by Oporinus, may at last, under your patronage and at your expense, be rescued from darkness. For which benefit, a grateful posterity will bear you immortal thanks when it learns that the most ancient exemplar of the *Thesaurus Orthodoxiæ* of the blessed Nicetas Choniates (as being that which was written by Nicetas himself) passed on after the author’s death to Michael Choniates, prelate of Athens, by right of inheritance, and upon his death came into the hands of Theodore Soutariotes, the deacon of Cyzicus; and when Cyzicus was devastated by the Turks, it was deported to those most crowded *kalogeron agioreiton* monasteries which are on Mount Athos; and thence it was at last brought to Paris, and having been put up for sale by a certain Greek, it found no or very few buyers (on account of its deformity, to be sure, like that fabulist Aesop of old), except for one John a Sancto Andrea, from whose library good authors, especially Greek ones today, can no more depart—so it is said—than good soldiers from the Trojan Horse, or orators from the school of Isocrates. Certainly you, having suspected the same thing regarding that most ancient exemplar that Xanthus of old did regarding Aesop, paid the price to the Greek, and took care that the exemplar entrusted to me should be unfolded, and at last the *epigraphe* (title) was discovered, not holding a bad thing, as the proverb goes, but the *Thesaurus* of the Orthodox faith, in those pages so covered in filth and neglect.

^A It shows that they have lain hidden as if they could not be read except after many vigils. Soon the index or table of contents also reveals itself, by which the chief heads of the books of the *Thesaurus* are noted; it was both composed and written by Nicetas himself, just as were all the books of this work, with the exception of the last two, which were written by Theodore Scutariota, who also seems to have written a monody for Michael. I gather that the autograph of Theodore belongs at the end of the 25th book of the index. As for various other small works—such as those of Alexius, Michael, and Joseph, patriarchs of Constantinople; Eustathius and Germanus, prelates of Nicaea; Eustathius of Rome; *On two brothers marrying two sisters*; the *Chrysobull*, or Golden Bull, of Emperor Alexius Comnenus; the letter of a certain priest to Elias of Crete *On the Oblation*, etc. (to which the exemplar is like a certain treasure house of perfumes)—I cannot by any conjecture at all discern who might have transcribed them. I am of the same opinion regarding a certain philosophical work *On the infusion of souls* and the ecclesiastical commentary on the heresy of the Armenians, and indeed of that appendix which adheres to the second book; although it pertains to the 25th, as is clear from the few words added by Scutariota to the index of Nicetas, where he affirms that he attached that appendix, which was previously missing, somewhere at the end of the 25th book.

Now, to add a few things briefly about his life, which I have been able to gather both from the monody of Michael and from the *Thesaurus* itself: Colossae, that Asiatic city which the Epistle of the Blessed Paul ennobled, seems to have brought forth this pair of Choniates brothers, Michael and Nicetas, as I gather from chapter 22 of the fourth book, where, intending to cite the passage of Paul from the Epistle to the Colossians in the antithesis of the 14th heresy, he writes thus: "As Paul theologizes in the epistle to my fellow citizens, the Colossians." To say nothing of the fact that Choniates seems to signify the Colossian, for the city which was once Colossae was later, with the change of name, called Chonae, as I read in a certain manuscript lexicon which D. Vascosanus, a printer who deserved very well of letters and literary studies, possesses among many other oldest exemplars, copied by the hands of one of the students of Michael Psellus. In it, it is stated word for word: "Kolossai, a city of Phrygia, now called Chonae, whence also come the Kolossaeans."

Michael Choniates, the elder by birth, was brought from his father in Asia to Byzantium, where, when after his first literary rudiments he had so cultivated his mind with higher disciplines that he was already counted among the professors, he received his younger brother Nicetas, who was then nine years old and also brought by his father, to be instructed in letters and morals. This he achieved with such care, study, and labor that Nicetas, having been moderately taught all the arts which are in the discipline, in the course of time ascended to such a pinnacle of dignity that neither did Michael repent of his brother and disciple, nor did the father repent of Nicetas as a citizen. But at length, when the Athenians had chosen Michael as their pontiff, Nicetas was enrolled in the number of the imperial scribes, Manuel Comnenus being emperor at that time.

But, alas! events occurred in those times which seemed to stand much in the way of the virtue of these men from emerging—times in which the Constantinopolitan empire had begun to lean toward collapse due to the more than tragic crimes of its princes, especially through the tyranny of Andronicus Comnenus, who had secretly killed his grandson Alexius, then in his 13th year, and seized the empire. Fleeing this tyranny, Nicetas withdrew to the study of civil law, in which he progressed to such a degree that four years later, when Isaacius Angelus had exposed the patricidal Andronicus—once he was cast down in battle—to the mockery of the people, and had ordered him, placed upon a mangy camel and led about ignominiously, to be killed, he returned to Constantinople as if by a return from exile. Shortly thereafter, he was raised to higher ranks of honors, in which he served through a continuous series of emperors, right up to the times when the Constantinopolitan empire fell into the hands of the Latins and Venetians.

For it is established (if I may recount the history in a continuous series of events) that Isaacius Angelus, a most just prince, was deprived of his sight by Alexius the younger, his brother (blinding him for a supreme crime, having redeemed him from the hands of the Turks for a great sum of money), and was held in prisons until Alexius, son of Isaacius, implored the aid of Baldwin of Flanders, prince of the Gauls and Venetians, having pledged 3000 marks of gold and a supply of provisions if he were to recover the empire, either alone or with his father Isaacius, then held in prison.

The French princes, moved by such a remarkable event, then attacked Byzantium, having broken the chain which extends from the city to Pera, and, with the fratricide Alexius fleeing, they liberated Isaacius and declared Alexius emperor after the sudden death of his father (for, covered with the filth of the prison, he could not bear the pure and free air). A short time later, a certain Mursuphlus (or, as others say, Myrtilus), a man of low birth, killed this innocent man by fraud. After this tyrant had tried in vain to oppose his enemies, finally, with the city of Constantinople lost, he fled secretly at midnight with his wife, his concubines, and his treasury, and shortly thereafter, having been captured in the Peloponnese and dragged back to the city, he was put to death. Thus, the city in the year of Christ 1202 conceded by that law to the Franks and Venetians, that the Gauls would provide a Gallic Caesar, and the Venetians a Venetian patriarch. The former provided Baldwin of Flanders, and the latter Thomas Morosini, in accordance with the pact. The remnants of the Greeks, out of hatred for the Latin name, withdrew to Adrianople, and there The-

Lascaris, the son-in-law of Alexius, who had received that city by way of a dowry, was elected emperor, at a time when the Gauls were attempting to take it; Baldwin was captured, and died after one year of empire.

And this is that disaster, which Michael Choniates so often laments in his monody as having been suffered by Greece at the hands of the Latins, at the time when Athens too had been stormed and the temple of the blessed Mary desecrated, and he himself was chosen for the island of Cos, for the monastery of the Forerunner. Nicetas, having previously had Constantinople stormed by the Latins, snatched that virgin of the house of Belissariotides from the hands of the enemy—whom he later took as his wife (for which deed Michael prefers him to Abraham, Isaac, David, Levi, and Simeon, and indeed, in an overly hyperbolic manner, makes him equal to Christ himself)—had betaken himself to Nicaea, the metropolis of Bithynia, where he spent the remainder of his life in literary leisure. To the diligence and labor with which he accomplished this, his divine nightly studies bear witness, and shall eternally bear witness, which he gathered into this truly golden work, and brought forth with such art from the very foundations of Adam down to his own times, that he has essentially consecrated a kind of summary for posterity, regarding the heresies which flared up among Jews and Greek philosophers before the birth of Christ, and after the birth of Christ among those who were diametrically opposed to the dogmas of Christ, yet contended that they were Christians, no differently than those ancient Socratic [schools] were held to be. By consulting this, if any doubt should ever arise regarding divine matters, one can immediately see to which side one ought to lean. Many, I confess, have written on this subject before Nicetas, but none more successfully than Nicetas, if you remove the error concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit (which he defends tooth and nail against the Latins). For say, aside from the fact that he gathered the heresies of the Greeks from profane authors, those of the Jews from the Holy Scriptures, and those of the Christians from ecclesiastical writers—Dionysius the Areopagite, Athanasius, Eusebius, Tertullian, Epiphanius, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, Basil, Philostorgius, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, the Gregories, Photius, Damascenus, Cyril, Euthymius, Eustathius, Nicolaus of Methone, Maximus, Amphilochius, Thomas Indicopleustes, Leo, etc.—as a bee gathers from various flowers into this most flourishing anthology, he also subjected them to antitheses, by which the leaden daggers of the heretics are blunted without any effort. It remains, most distinguished sir, that in returning from this digression to the path, I should again and again entreat and implore you to take these firstfruits of your Treasury, and my first experience in translating Greek, in good part; for by the proverb, *sungnome protoperi* [forgiveness for a beginner], I shall advance with greater alacrity to consecrate the remaining books of Nicetas to you, and through you, to all pious people.

Farewell, most illustrious sir. Paris, from the printing house of the most learned and most kind Mr. Michael Vascosanus, on the Ides of October, 1561.

MONITUM OF CARDINAL ANGELO MAI

The *Thesaurus of the Orthodox Faith* of Nicetas Choniates, who flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries of Christ, composed by him in exile after Constantinople had been occupied by the Latins, was sufficiently known to philologists. For Montfaucon in his *Greek Palaeography*, and Fabricius in the old edition of *Bibliotheca Graeca* vol. VI, and likewise in the new vol. VII; as well as Bandinius in the *Catalogus Codicum Graecorum Bibliothecae Laurentianae* vol. I, and in the *Monumenta Ecclesiastica Graeca* vol. III; and furthermore Cave and others, have mentioned this learned and long-desired work of Nicetas. However, Montfaucon, who brought forth the arguments of the XXII books (that is, of the entire work), and Fabricius, who repeated them from him, have deserved better of it than the others; and much more so Peter Morell, by whom the first five books were published in Latin; and finally Bandinius, who in his *Monumenta* constructed an index of the authors and works that Nicetas uses in the *Thesaurus*.

Since matters stood thus, I indeed grieved that such a useful work was hardly begun, and only in Latin at that; and yet neither my own strength nor my time encouraged me to undertake such a burden and labor; although I saw, mirabile dictu, the very autograph of Morell, in Greek and Latin, having been brought to us from France long ago, of which he, as I said, published only a very small part; yet I chanced upon a much older copy of the same work on cotton paper, written shortly after the age of the author, but much more concise and in the manner of excerpts. Another codex of this kind is held by the Bodleian Library, according to Fabricius. I therefore decided to at least bring forth the more notable excerpts from the Vatican codices in Greek, taking my beginning from the end of the Morellian edition, namely from the sixth book, which, as we know from the summaries of Montfaucon, dealt especially with the heresy of Macedonius.

INDEX OF THE XIV BOOKS WHICH CONSTITUTE THE THESAURUS OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH BY NICETAS CHONIATES

^A Volume One. In the first book, the proemium. Then, concerning Adam and certain ancient men who invented the making of idols. Concerning the mysteries of the Greeks. Concerning Pythagoras and Plato, and other philosophers, and their opinions. Concerning the four elements. Concerning heaven and earth, the zodiacal circle, the fixed stars and the wandering stars. Concerning comets, the rainbow, frost, parhelia, earthquakes, winds, and whirlwinds. And thereafter, concerning Judaism. Concerning the golden calves of Jeroboam. Concerning the Samaritans. Concerning the Essenes and certain other heresiarchs; concerning the Sadducees, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Hemerobaptists, and the Herodians.

Volume Two. In the second volume, concerning the Holy Trinity, passages from various [authorities]. Then, concerning angels. Concerning men. Various opinions concerning the intellect and the soul, and thereafter concerning the virtues.

Volume Three. Concerning the utterances of the prophets, declaring the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, the passion on the cross, and the resurrection. Concerning the conception and the two natures of Christ. Concerning the Enhypostata, concerning the Consubstantial, concerning the Homohypostata, concerning ^C the hypostatic union and the difference. Concerning the Persons. Concerning nature. Concerning corruption; concerning the corruptible and the incorruptible. Thereafter, passages from the saints concerning the economy in the flesh, or the incarnation. Concerning the manner of the interchange. Concerning the fact that the whole divine nature was united in one of its subsistences to the human nature, and not part to part, and other various matters following concerning the incarnation of the Son of God.

Volume Four. In this are contained all the ancient heresies which appeared up to the time of the heresy of Arius. The first described is the heresy of Simon, with its refutation. Second, that of the Nicolaitans. Third, the Carpocratians. Fourth, ^D that of Valentinus. Fifth, that of Ptolemy; sixth, that of Marcus. Seventh, the Ascodrugitae. Eighth, that of Colorbasus. Ninth, the Ophites; tenth, that of Prodicus. Eleventh, the Cainites. Twelfth, the Sethians. Thirteenth, the Archontics. Fourteenth, that of Cerdo and Marcion. Fifteenth, the Lucianists. Sixteenth, the Apelleans.

^A Seventeenth, the Severians. Eighteenth, the Tatianists. Nineteenth, the Encratites. Twentieth, the Montanists. Twenty-first, the Quintillians and Priscillianists, and Pepuzites, and Artotyrites. Twenty-second, the Tessarescaidecatites, or Quartodecimans. Twenty-third, the Alogi, as they are called. Twenty-fourth, the Adamiani. Twenty-fifth, the Sampsaeans and Elcesaeans. Twenty-sixth, the Theodotians. Twenty-seventh, the Noetians and Novatians. Twenty-eighth, the followers of Sabellius. Twenty-ninth, the followers of Marcellus. Thirtieth, the Valesians, or Valentians. Thirty-first, the Origenists, where there are some points concerning the soul, and an exposition of the saying: *Each one's work, of what sort it is, the fire shall test* (1 Cor. iii, 13). ^B Thirty-second, Paul of Samosata. Thirty-third, the Manichaeans and Cubricores. Thirty-fourth, the Hieracites. Thirty-fifth, the Collyridians. Thirty-sixth, the Massalians, or Euchites, in which there is also an enumeration of the impious dogmas of that same heresy. Thirty-seventh, the Corinthians. Thirty-eighth, the Icetici. Thirty-ninth, the Gnosimachi. Fortieth, the Thnetopsychitae. Forty-first, the Chrystolytes. Forty-second, the Ethnophronians, or those who side with the heathens. Forty-third, the Parermeneutae, or those who interpret the Scriptures mistakenly. Forty-fourth, the Meletians.

Volume Five

Volume Six

^A Holy Spirit. And next, a narrative of how the second synod was convened, and concerning the decrees ratified by it; and concerning the resignation of Saint Gregory the Theologian from the throne of Constantinople. And after these things, the testimonies of the holy Fathers, which were proclaimed concerning the equality of honor of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Word.

Volume Seven

Tomus Octavus

Volume Nine

Volume Ten

Volume Eleven

Tomus Duodecimus