Byzantine History

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOKS XXXVII

BOOK ONE CHAPTER I The excellent office of the historian. The praise of history. The commendation of truth. What kind of historians are worthy of censure. The invective of Andronicus the Elder against malicious and mendacious historians. The author on himself and the work undertaken.

1. Seeing that many writers regarding those of the past and down to our own times have committed the lives of men to immortality through history, and frequently reading them and hearing them confess that they were impelled by divine instinct to undertake such a labor: for a long time I condemned them as being full of foolish ambition, judging their words to be full of arrogance. ^A Afterwards, however, having sharpened my view to inspect the truth, I judged the matter itself to be the work of God, using their hand as if it were an instrument; and I judged that this work of God, to speak briefly, seemed to differ little or nothing—if one may say so—from heaven and earth, which are His greatest and primary works, insofar as it proclaims His hidden glory as much as is possible. For those things, as silent heralds of the divine magnificence, endure through all time, bearing witness to the senses alone. ^B But history, being a living and clear voice, and truly an animated and vocal herald, survives for all time, and as if on a universal tablet, it displays the things that have been done among men at any time for posterity to behold; it also explains the nature of things, insofar as they are known or unknown by the philosophers; furthermore, it shows by what difficulties others have been entangled, or with what most prosperous successes they have been divinely adorned and aided beyond all expectation, as my own opinion holds.

Nicephorus Gregoras' composition of Roman history, containing a narrative of one hundred and fifty years—that is, from the emperor

^A Theodore Lascaris ^B down to the reign of Cantacuzenus ^C, is illustrated and shines forth all the more by this kind of writing. For if history were removed, whence would mortals know that the heavens, stirred by that first and immutable motion, continuously cause the sun, the moon, and all the stars to revolve with constant and fitting variety, and unceasingly declare the glory of God by night and by day; and that the earth, likewise, from the beginning, constantly retains that immutable conversion which was granted to it from the start, and makes known to all who are born throughout the ages the same birth and corruption? Wherefore, if it is not worthy of greater admiration, it is certainly worthy of no less in the mind of any sensible man. For otherwise, the craftsmanship of this world would seem incomplete, since no one could affirm or persuade that the generations of men existed equally of old, and how many they were, and how long they lasted, and what they did in life, and what benefits they received at different times and ages, now from God, now from the heavens, now from the earth. History, however, not only provides this, but also renders its readers, in another way, like prophets, who discern what is to come from those things which have passed. Now, as for one who dwells in a small and defined part of the earth, who should come to know the ends and extremities of the world, the peculiar natures of nations and places, and the distinctions of years and seasons which exist in different parts of the earth, and countess other good things—who bestows this upon men, if not the sole unfolding of history? For these reasons, therefore, I neither greatly esteem nor value those learned men who occupy their tongues with the fables of comedy and tragedy and the blandishments of panegyrics ^D; but rather those who have either searched out the nature of things according to their ability, or who, by their own labor, have collected dispersed histories and the sayings and deeds of others that pertain to fortitude of soul and prudence, and have published them for the greatest benefit of posterity. Our admiration and emulation of them has impelled us to imitation, and has been the cause of my own efforts. Since, however, the truth of history is to it what an eye is to a living creature, it behooves us, above all, to follow it as a guide in this work, for two reasons: first, lest that which we have resolved to propose to posterity as a rule and standard appear distorted and afflicted by a pernicious disease; and second, lest we provide an opportunity to those who, from a few things, cavil at our entire composition, and...

^A convict it of possessing nothing sound—a thing that has happened to certain learned men of our own time. For those men, having lived in the greatest ignorance of affairs, and having then set themselves to write history in such a way, unwittingly made use of many falsehoods and thus dragged their history into such uselessness that they even provided a reasonable pretext to the Emperor Andronicus Palaeologus [(5)], a man with great understanding, to cavil at and expose it in its every detail—and this while those men were still alive [(6)], whom those writers had slandered with most of these falsehoods.

II. And that I may use one of the Emperor’s speeches, which he held in my presence, at an opportune time (for it may appear adapted to my present undertaking): “I have often,” he says, “marveled to myself, considering how, while it is possible for most men to lead a life free of sedition and full of peace, and to have many who will admire them and none who will hate their way of life, yet those who are eager to revile everyone go out of their way to sharpen their wicked, idle, and insulting tongues; and this often without any occasion provided that might justly inflame them to such slander. But I marveled still more at those who dare to assail emperors and patriarchs alike with false slanders and to revile them shamelessly. But these men moved me to the greatest admiration of all, who did not hesitate to commit their ^C false slanders to writing. For the reproaches which are uttered by the tongue are immediately dissipated by the breeze, but those which are committed to writing ... [a]nd just as one might say, truth is the soul of history, and the subject of truth is of necessity sacred. The threshold and gates of truth... ^B And that I may make use of another narrative, when [I recall] Cambyses, and that we may set forth in summary all that the man’s natural keenness of understanding accomplished in that time.

When one takes up the role of history, one must forget favor and hatred, and often one must adorn enemies with the greatest praise when their deeds demand this; and often one must convict those who are most necessary to one when the errors of their conduct show this to be required. For I am not led to speak these words because of any hatred or friendship (from which falsehood is frequently born), but for the sake of truth, and I make them for the sake of one who is a lover of truth.

^A They do not hesitate to use their blasphemies. For the reproaches that proceed from the tongue alone, if caught by the breezes, are scattered into the abysses of the ether. But those that are imprinted in writings and books possess a more enduring and more tyrannical power over those who are insulted, as the writing takes the lead and parades itself through the long course of time. I do not know, nor can I easily discern, why they are so eager to do these things, and for the sake of what gain they thrust themselves into such straits. For whether they are going after such false blasphemies to satisfy some peculiar wickedness of their own, they do this evilly and most shamefully, even—so to speak—to their own head. For they provide a monument to their own wickedness for time to come. [P. 125, col. 2 (126, col. 2 continues)] ^B It is possible to speak well and to honor truth, and thus to be recognized by those who hear; but they have chosen to display themselves by dumping cartloads of insults upon those who have done them no wrong, much like a person who, having the opportunity to be a landsman and to live a more profitable and secure life, should instead hurl himself into the storms and waves of the Atlantic Ocean. And to propose these examples of evils to posterity in their writings, and to make themselves voluntarily guilty of their own destruction—what precipices does this deserve, when they bind themselves with double or triple charges? For those things that they ought to have banished and abhorred from the cities as unusual and wicked, for fear of those whom it would be easy to persecute and cast out of cities—just as in Athens they once erased from the register of the judges those who were fraudulently inscribed and unworthy of their commonwealth—these they now eagerly embrace, as if they were deeds already done and approved by others, and not atoning for violating custom. For people who are guilty of any crimes are wont to refer their own imitation to the examples of the ancients, so that they may have a cause for attacking those who have set themselves to refute them. Whether, therefore, they malign and lie for this reason, they err in both respects; or even if it is for the sake of the longevity of their own writing, they still wander far from the mark, having laid weak foundations for their accusations. They themselves perhaps know that the ears of the common people are more delighted by the harassment of others than by praise, and that people more willingly read of insults than of right deeds, even if the former sell protracted lies, while the latter have the light of truth going before them. And thus they compose their histories, so that those who are to be in many centuries to come may read them for a very long time with pleasure. Nor do they look into their own minds to see the guardian of justice, nor do they revere the fair and upright judgments of good men. ^C Which thing, however, does not harm as much those whom they malign as it does the detractors themselves; for sensible men, having conceived evil suspicions against them—suspicions that teem with a thousand reproaches—will count them among the wicked forever; and God, the guardian of justice, will pursue their tongues with more severe punishments. And sometimes, through ignorance of the truth and inexperience of the matters that they have heard from anyone at all, before they weigh them to see whether they are probable and consistent with truth, or whether they are absurd and altogether abhorrent to it, they thus daub them onto pages and commit them to memory, and [bring] those crimes [against them...]

[reproach those who insult them, if indeed men of sound mind, having implanted in their souls strange suspicions against them, shall remember them forever in their own evils; but God, the guardian of justice, will store up for them a more abundant punishment of the tongue. Yet, there are times when, because of ignorance of what is better and lack of experience in the matters of which they had heard at any time [(14)], before testing whether things are even slightly probable, and whether some matters seem to dwell in the houses of truth while others stretch their tongues beyond the borders of truth, they spread these things onto their own writings ^B and in time, blaming the blameless and asserting that things which neither happened nor could happen were possible—just as we hear of Plato’s ideas, and those who transfer the tragelaphs from the monsters of India to the ears of Asia [[P. 5]], establishing non-existent things as if they were existing, so as to strike with wonder those who hear them. For this reason, therefore, I come to examine such things, insofar as it is possible, from the writers of our own time. For they are not active by nature, nor have they engaged in political affairs, so as to provide themselves from there with a practical eye and a judgment gained by experience, by which we see many, even those with very sluggish, ^C dormant natures, awakened, as it were, and rising at long last, and having been brought to a state of elegance, and already being counted among those to whom policy and judgment of affairs have been entrusted, and who have trained their tongue, through their intercourse with others, to be ready for the political questions proposed in due season; but, having given their time, even from their youth, to empty words—and that, too, incorrectly [(12)]—and having passed their long days in the study and practice of these alone, they remained deaf to the things that were truly happening, through which they measured their whole life. But if they had not even surrendered themselves to these things in such a way, it would be no great loss [(13)]; so much did these men, by attending closely to darkness and a corner, ^D not naturally or rhythmically proceed into the practice of λόγοι. For every science and art builds its own perfection upon nature as its foundation and base. Thus, if nature is healthy, it becomes a great resource for the achievement of science, just as iron and bronze easily yield to the bronze-smith. But if the foundation of nature is weak, it is a very bad helper. And in this regard many things are rumored which do not happen, and many things which do indeed happen are ignored; and everything, so to speak, is gossiped about in a way other than how it is actually performed.

^A Indeed, such is the state of affairs for those who possess a character naturally sluggish and diseased, and they have accordingly brought forward, and made manifest, a discourse as wavering and sickly in its essential points as they are. I, for my part, have heard from the wise men of old that those who set themselves to writing ought to imitate good painters. For even if they, by nature, should happen upon some slight error in their archetypes—whether in falling short of what is required, or in being carried away into something beyond it—they do not strive to fit every single one of the body’s parts precisely to the depiction of the image. Rather, they insert as much as is needed to demonstrate the likeness—and at other times they do not—so that the drawing of the figure might not be continuously deformed and ugly, nor might a reproach to nature be always evident to the eyes of time, thus becoming a pretext for both laughter and mockery for those who love to jeer. But these solemn fellows, whether knowingly or because they hate the truth, not only failed to remove even the small errors of those who were reporting the truth, casting them into the pits of silence, but they also added many things that were neither done nor said to their own composition; ^B so bitter and ruthless did they appear as enemies of the truth. For where would they not be carried by absurdity, striving to write of things of which they themselves were neither eyewitnesses, nor did they strive to become hearers from those who had done or seen the things—relying instead on whatever drunks, filling the brothels with their tongues, narrate, and whatever old wives babble and spout like portents? But that these men did not set their tongues to wage war against me, nor to confound my affairs, nor did they arm themselves entirely against my truth, their book itself will show, which in many places scatters praises of me as well. This will prove me, with clear and illustrious testimony, to be free from all suspicion; lest anyone imagine that I am writing this for the sake of vengeance, and that if there is any truth in their claims, it is being erased: for the cause which could confirm such an opinion has been removed in abundance. Yet it is love both of the truth and of those who are insulted that has brought me to this. For I am indignant that the former is, as it were, banished, and I cannot bear that injury is being done to the latter. ^C And to review and refute everything would be the task of those who, abounding in leisure, apply themselves entirely to writing orations—especially since we have not said that everything they have written is false. For even that crime could not easily be attributed to those who boast of having seen the sources of the Nile, or to those who insert into their writings the Antipodes and Antoeci, whoever they may be. But since their lies are many and varied, we shall—with the truth as our judge—evidently refute a few of them, selected from the many, for which witnesses still survive. The Emperor, therefore, when he had reached this point in his address, was exhaustive in his rebuttal, producing witnesses who had themselves performed the deeds that the writer had corrupted and depraved.

Chapter III

^D We, however, shall defer that speech until the time comes for us to explain the same matters. They shall begin their history, and we—alas!—shall commence from the capture of the imperial city by the Latins; and those events which, although they occurred before our own time, nevertheless...

have been taken up by us from those who were most advanced in years among us, must be related by us in a cursory manner: this, first, because the majority of these things have been spoken of by others; and secondly, so that we ourselves might not be caught lying in our history, by attempting to detail with subtlety and precision those things of which we were not ourselves eyewitnesses. ^A

CAPUT II.

I. For upon the capture of Constantinople by the Latins, ^B the hegemony of the Romans, like a great ship caught in wild winds and sea-waves, was torn into many pieces and fragments; and one here, another there, according to where fortune led them, reigned, until at last and with difficulty, around the metropolis of the Nicaeans, it befell that Theodorus Lascaris was proclaimed emperor, having already reached his thirtieth year.

II. At that time, while some were defeated, others, using a stance of submission, attached themselves to it—except for the man who held Colchis, Alexius Comnenus, and he who had gained possession of Thessaly in Europe, and that province which they called the ancient Epirus. ^C He was Michael Comnenus, of the family of the Angeli. For these men, being established as far as possible from the imperial city, and having obtained the very extremities of the Roman empire, as one might say, situated diametrically opposite, and relying on the fortifications of their locations, invaded the rule more arrogantly after the manner of tyrants; and they have handed it down, established even to this present day, to their children and descendants as a kind of patrimonial inheritance.

III. For when springtime had arrived, the Latins... ^D

having taken the Queen of Cities, divided the Empire into three parts among themselves: Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and Louis, Count of Blois, and the Marquis of Montferrat. And he [the Marquis] alone was declared king of Thessalonica and the adjacent regions. Baldwin, having been created Emperor of Byzantium ^A from among them, immediately set out against the Western cities, which are scattered about Thrace, and he took them all with the utmost speed by surrender. The Marquis of Montferrat, having made his expedition as far as Thessalonica and having become master of it, easily spread out from there like a fire, overrunning all the further villages and cities, until he approached the peninsula of the Peloponnese itself. In that year, the affairs of the Latins proceeded with a favorable wind. By the following year, they were dreaming of invading the East itself and bringing everything there under their own power, so that no hope of recovering the empire would remain for the Romans. Therefore, as spring was approaching, the Latin forces were preparing to cross over into the East along with Baldwin himself. And perhaps they would have crossed, and would have brought the final destruction upon the remaining Romans, had not the Bulgarian uprising, suddenly crashing down like the sound of a great peal of thunder, terrified them and held back their momentum.

IV. For the brother and successor of the first Asan, John, having held a levy of all the Bulgarians under his command and having also taken along not a few mercenary troops from the Scythians who dwell in the northern ^C parts of the Ister, judged it an opportune time to attack the Thracian villages and cities, since the Roman situation was then deeply troubled and afflicted, and the Latins were distracted by other more important matters. Thus, compelled by necessity, Baldwin and those who had shared the empire with him decided to recall all their forces and to advance rapidly as far as the plain of Orestiada. Having done so, the armies clashed in an illustrious battle and a great slaughter occurred on both sides, with everyone fighting bravely for a long space of time, until at last the Bulgarians gave way—I do not know whether because they could not withstand the heavy armor of the Latins, or because they wanted to draw them into an ambush by design; which is the more probable case. For when the Latins had pursued them for a very long distance, the Scythians rose up from their ambush, and the Bulgarians, as if by prearrangement, turned back and fiercely struck the enemy, whom they had surrounded contrary to all their expectations, with arrows and javelins; and having filled the earth with blood and corpses, they brought about a huge slaughter of the Latins, who, on account of the weight of their armor, [were unable] to withstand the incursions of the Scythians and ^D...

for they advanced as if by a signal—and the Bulgarians. There were some whom they even took alive, among whom was Baldwin. Count Blois ^B Dioclès had fallen in the battle. Henry Dandolo, the Duke of Venice, fled with very few, and not long after, he too died from the wounds he received in the war.

V. The multitude of Bulgarians and Scythians, having tasted the opulence of the Latins and having obtained their horses and splendid chariots, pushed forward eagerly, with no one left now to draw up in battle line against them; thus some of the Thracian cities surrendered voluntarily to John, while most were seized by force, were enslaved, and had their walls leveled to the foundations. And so John easily overran everything as far as Thessalonica and Macedonia, in villages, cities, and forts, having made of it, as the saying goes, almost a Scythian wilderness.

CAPUT III. Alexius Angelus, formerly emperor of Byzantium, captured by the Marquis of Montferrat, soon released; he envies his son-in-law Theodore Lascaris. He joins the Turk Iathatin to himself as an ally. Antioch besieged by the Turks. The speed of Theodore.

1. Moreover, when Emperor Alexius had fled secretly from Byzantium for fear of the Latins, while he wandered in Thrace ^C and was himself captured by the Marquis of Montferrat, and having been despoiled of the wealth he carried with him and released naked, he wandered for a long time around Achaea and the Peloponnese. At length, hearing that his son-in-law, Theodore Lascaris, was holding power in the East over the Roman domains—not only Bithynia and the seaside provinces, which did not extend over a great length, but that he had already advanced deep into the interior and possessed long stretches of land, beginning from Caria and the Maeander river in the south and reaching northward to the Galatian Pontus and Cappadocia itself—he did not give thanks for the humanity and divine beneficence which had calmed the tempests of the divided empire and brought them to a saving harbor beyond all expectation ^D.

^A. But he viewed the matter with severity, and turned his spirit toward roads of envy and jealousy; and, to speak generally, he strengthened himself for battles and the shedding of kindred blood.

II. And so, crossing through the Aegean to Asia, he secretly approached the prince of the Turks, Iathatines, ^B who was at that time residing near the city of Attaleia, and sat before him as a wretched suppliant, begging him to restore his empire to him. He recalled to memory the ancient friendships that had once existed between them, and with many tears lamented his recent misfortunes in a tragic manner; finally, he promised him heaps of money. The barbarian, easily moved by these proposals of money, and pondering also the other gains that accrue to those who campaign against foreigners—the spoils of victory—at once gathered his own forces and sent ambassadors to Emperor Theodore, who brought the most dire threats if he did not immediately cede the imperial throne to his father-in-law, Alexius. Though initially disturbed by this message, ^C he soon recovered his confidence, placed his hope in Almighty God, and sent the ambassadors away without success. Then, setting himself to the task, he gathered an army, of which he had a very small number compared to the Persian armies—if one were to look only at the count and deem it unequal for combat—but aided by divine help, it was in reality far greater.

III. Thus the barbarian, having raised his infantry and as much of his cavalry as he had, marched to Antioch on the Maeander ^D, and having besieged it, he pressed his attack, hoping that if he could gain control of it, he could easily subdue the other cities that span the Roman empire. Yet he brought with him Emperor Alexius, to facilitate his achieving what he desired. But the Emperor, judging that he ought not to remain where he was and wait for the barbarian assault, nor allow them the opportunity to heighten their own arrogance—for they would be all the more emboldened if they captured Antioch and filled themselves with the plunder therein, and at the same time used that city as an impregnable base against the Romans—hastened with all speed against them. He led a force that was no larger than two thousand cavalry, of whom they say eight hundred were mercenary Latins, choice men and most warlike. Having crossed the passes of Mount Olympus on the third day—which run in great length and separate Bithynia on the one side and Phrygia on the other, the former situated toward the north, the latter toward the south—they pushed forward.

Having arrived from there on the eleventh day, he crossed the Cayster, so that the suddenness of the attack appeared to the barbarian full of terror and quite incredible, he being unable to conjecture whether what was happening was taking place while he was dreaming or while awake. For it was as if a lion, having been stripped of its claws and teeth, then eagerly rushed upon a throng of bears and wolves. For the Persian knew that, since the Roman Empire had not long ago been torn into ten thousand pieces—with some of its parts scattered elsewhere, and others having become the work of the Latin sword—what remained was either nothing at all, or very little, scarcely enough to complete the company of one commander. From this, it happened that he struggled in his own mind, now wondering if the fame of the imperial advance was to be taken as a dream, and now attributing the speed of his daring and impulse to folly and lightness of mind. Yet the matter did not seem to be one to be neglected, because a small evil, if neglected, has sometimes brought forth enormous danger, and small forces using speed and haste have often overcome great and much more numerous armies, due to [the opponent's] sloth and neglect of duty.

CAPUT IV. The Turk draws up his battle line. Fighting occurs. The unfortunate valor of the Latin knights. Jathatines is killed by Lascaris. Peace is granted to the Turks. Alexius is captured. The victor's clemency. The wives of Theodore Lascaris.

^A Having gathered all the troops—those with slings and missiles, and those armed with spears and swords for close-quarters fighting—numbering not much fewer than twenty thousand, and having thus drawn up his battle line, he awaited the emperor's charge. The emperor, though he bore it ill that it had turned out so, in that the place for joining battle was narrow and inconvenient for horses, and as hostile to a large army as it was opportune for a small one, nevertheless waited. And indeed, the eight hundred Latins who were with the emperor, having massed together, first broke through the center of the enemy's phalanx, fighting with remarkable valor and cutting down those who resisted, until they had pushed through to the very rear of the enemy; and wheeling around again, they acted so bravely that the Persian slingers and archers were already rendered useless because the fighting was at close quarters. But the imperial soldiers did not cease; rather, they themselves also separately attacked the hostile legions and performed valiant deeds, until the enemies, by unanimous consent and with a great cry, launched an attack upon the Latins. Surrounded in the middle, and relying on their numbers, they fell, not without great slaughter of their own men. Then, having attacked our men, they killed some and put others to flight.

Variorum notae. Indeed, it is uncertain whether at that time the Latins or Gauls were serving under Lascaris, perhaps during a truce struck at that time, of the kind that Villehardouin mentions as having been entered into with the same Lascaris (no. 249), or after the alliance entered into between Robert, Emperor of Constantinople, and Lascaris, of which we have treated in the *Historia Franco-Byzantina*, book III, no. 3, when the same Lascaris took as his wife Mary, the sister of Robert—as Gregoras presently narrates in the following chapter—the daughter, namely, of Peter, Count of Auxerre and Emperor of Constantinople. See *Familiae Byzantinae*, page 219. DUCAS.

^A Having with difficulty resisted the bloodletting, they showed that the result was due to the sword, aided by their overwhelming numbers. Then, joining our forces, they turned them into fugitives.

II. But the leader of the Turks, the sultan Jathalines, ignoring and passing by everyone else, sought the Emperor himself; and, having forced his way through, he bore down upon him, proud in the size and strength of his body. And indeed, a terrifying officer of the guard, standing over him, delivered a heavy blow to his head. ^B The Emperor, unable to endure the first blow, and overcome by dizziness, fell from his horse. Yet God, who willed to restore the once-dead Roman Empire, could not delay. Wherefore He led him out of the pit of misery and from the mire of the clay, and set his feet upon a rock, so that he who had fallen from his horse like a dead man, suddenly rising, and filled with a certain frantic and inspired impulse, turned back, contrary to all expectation, the destruction onto the head of the Barbarian. For, drawing his own sword immediately, he easily cut off the front legs of the barbarian horse, and having thrown the rider sultan, he cut off his head, and raising it aloft on a spear, he made it visible to the barbarian armies. This became the first beginning and basis of the salvation and restoration of the Romans, with the help, of course, of God, the disposer of all things that surpass human strength. For the Barbarians, filled with fear and dread, fled headlong, making their retreat as quickly as possible. The Emperor, having been miraculously delivered from those great dangers, and having gained the victory by an even greater miracle, entered Antioch in triumph, rendering thanks to God from the depths of his heart.

III. The Barbarians, however, immediately sent envoys to the Emperor ^C and asked for and obtained peace, not as they themselves desired, but as was most desirable for the Emperor, who also took his father-in-law, the Emperor Alexius, who had been caught in the enemy's army and brought to Nicaea, ^D and invested him with the monastic habit; then he kindly provided him with everything necessary. Meanwhile, his wife having died, the Emperor took as his second wife the cousin of Robert, who was then reigning in Byzantium; with her he did not live for long, nor did he have children by her, either because she was sterile by nature, or because the death of the Emperor, which followed shortly after, denied her the time for childbearing. For he was with her for three years.

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINÆ HISTORIÆ LIBER SECUNDUS

CHAPTER ONE

^A 1. Lascaris having completed eighteen years in his reign, exchanged life for death, having designated as his successor John Ducas, who held his daughter Irene in marriage. For he had had no male offspring. The empress also was left behind, little favored by the empire, both on account of her childlessness and because she did not survive her husband for long. Now the emperor Lascaris was so fierce that his onset could not be withstood, and having experienced the dangers of many battles, he restored most cities with most beautiful buildings and great expense for the purpose of checking and repelling the assault of the Latins. But he used to adulterate that praise by attacking matters at the wrong time.

^B 2. Now John Ducas, his son-in-law and successor, a man of great intellect and distinguished by constancy of mind and gravity of character, administered and ordered the empire most beautifully, and in a short time he greatly increased the Roman state and the legions, as both required, neither doing anything before he had taken counsel, nor, when he had taken counsel, neglecting anything; but administering everything according to a certain law and manner and in its proper time. And truly someone might say that that time

^A sought the prompt daring of Emperor Theodore, and that it was at hand; and that the subsequent time sought the constant gravity of Emperor John, and that this too had occurred. For the Lord, who makes something out of things that are not, found such men as were required, when He wished to revive the lost and extinguished rule of the Romans.

III. Moreover, in those times Robert was reigning over the Byzantines, the nephew by a sister of Henry, who had died a little before. To him fled Alexius and Isaac, the brothers of Emperor Theodore Lascaris, seething with envy and emulation because they had not been designated as successors to the empire, being more closely related to the imperial blood than John, who had been brought in through marriage. They, having gathered a Latin army by means of distributions of money and promises—as great as the army of Robert was at that time (and it was indeed very large, and not ignoble regarding either the kind of weapons or martial bravery)—sought to attack John Ducas in war, perhaps to cast him out of the empire and transfer it to themselves. Proceeding into Asia, they left their ships at Lampsacus and advanced one day's journey into the interior, where they met the Emperor, who was preparing Roman forces against them in those regions which Henry had a little earlier subjected to the Latins. There, a fierce ^B battle being joined, the Latins were defeated, and they also lost those cities which up to that time had obeyed them in Asia. For those cities, having immediately cast off the yoke of Latin servitude, voluntarily defected to the Emperor.

CAPUT II.

I. Meanwhile, a new evil rose up from the Thessalian chasms: Theodorus, brother of Michael Angelus ^C. For having taken up the rule of his deceased brother, he showed himself a man who was energetic and clever at devising new things, and always craving more; he extended his borders far and wide. For as many western cities as had a little before served under the Latin rule, taking his start from there, he defeated all of them and most easily joined them to himself, until he subdued the most spacious city and leader of all Macedonia, Thessalonica, at the time when the Marquis had departed to his homeland of Lombardy. And he immediately assumed the name of Emperor for himself, and according to imperial custom was inaugurated by the one who was at that time archbishop of ^D Bulgaria.

^A For the Emperor Justinian had long ago honored it with many ^B privileges, as it was his own native land, and had named it "First Justiniana." He had also ordained that it should be self-governing in perpetuity, though not so as to inaugurate the Emperors of the Romans; for this is reserved for others by the laws. But due to the friendship of Angelus, who was then lording it over the others, and furthermore because of the frivolity and simplicity of the one who was guiding the archbishopric at that time, the matter degenerated into such absurdity. But I shall now proceed to explain whence the place came to be called by the name of Bulgaria.

II.

in the Lower Moesia by the Ister; and the name, like some other monument of them, has been left behind for the archbishopric. But let us return to the previous track of the narrative.

^A Γ'. For the aforementioned Theodore Angelus, having already become emperor as has been said, was ravaging the land, advancing and marauding and crossing one border after another, until he arrived even at the very gates of Byzantium, in the great emptiness of any to oppose him. For the cities of Macedonia and Thrace were utterly exhausted, having endured frequent and terrible captivities in a short time, now at the hands of the Latins, now of the Bulgarians and Scythians. For what would that bloodthirsty race of Scythians not do, having descended cruelly upon the Christians? Yet the Latins behaved no more gently than the Scythians, to the point that they even far surpassed the Scythian barbarity by a great measure. And not once did those wretches suffer the misfortunes of this terrible captivity at the hands of both nations, but twice, and thrice, and many times over. ^B And this recent raid of Angelus used up almost everything, if there was anything left. And one could see houses torn down, walls dismantled, "Lemnian evils," Trojan dirges, and in short a spectacle of every kind of sorrow.

CHAPTER III.

Δ΄. Now, at these times, the son of the first Asan, named Joannes, was ruling over the Bulgarians. He, seeing that the aforementioned Theodore Angelus was unwilling to refrain even from Bulgarian affairs, but was now extending a heavy and harmful hand against them too, having summoned allies from among the Scythians, joined a fierce battle with him, and defeated and captured him; and he put out his eyes ^C (p. 16), the penalty finally having overtaken him, both because he had scorned the lawful empire of the Romans, having thrust upon himself the name of emperor, and because he had not pitied his own countrymen, who were afflicted by the Italian and Bulgarian raids and suffering things worthy of tears, but instead heaped misfortunes upon misfortunes and slaughters upon slaughters.

Β΄. Now the Emperor Joannes had already greatly increased the strength of the Roman state, having shown himself a clever steward and an excellent governor of the sovereign Roman vessel. For having constructed not a few long ships, he sailed toward the islands of the Aegean, and captured them all in a short time—Lesbos and Chios, Samos and Icaria and Cos, and whatever is adjacent to these. And not only these, but crossing even to Rhodes, he displayed himself as master of it as well. ^D When the imperial fleet was thus holding the sea, and in Asia the Persian armies remained quiet, while the forces of the Latins were ebbing and gradually growing weak, the Emperor decided to transfer his arms from Asia also into Europe;

so that he might liberate the wretched cities there from the Bulgarian and Italian hand. Therefore, as soon as spring began, having crossed the Hellespont, he first burst into the Chersonese; then he devastated and burned the bordering region, to terrify the Latins who held the citadels of the fortresses. He took many maritime cities, Callipolis and Sestus and the city of the Cardiani ^A and as many of the neighboring ones as there were, some by force and siege engines, and others by voluntary surrender.

III. While the Emperor was occupied with these matters, ambassadors arrived from the Bulgarians, both for the sake of seeking peace and to offer the daughter of Asan, Helena, in marriage to the Emperor’s son, Theodore. The Emperor received this news gladly and eagerly. For, distracted by other more serious business, he did not want to have an adversary as powerful as him, stationed so close across the Ister—one who, having gathered those Scythians, could invade whenever he pleased, and like a torrent sweep away everything in his path. For this reason, the embassy was immediately ratified and the marriage alliance was settled at the same time. The Emperor and Asan therefore met near the Chersonese, and joined ^B Helena, the daughter of Asan, who was ten years old, to the Emperor’s son, the young Theodore Lascaris, who had not yet reached puberty. At that time, the bishop of Ternovo also obtained perpetual autonomy, whereas up to that time he had been subject to the archbishop of Justiniana Prima, because of the ancient kinship of that people.

IV. But when summer came, the Emperor toured the cities of Thrace and Macedonia, starting, so to speak, from the very gates of Byzantium, and having advanced as far as the Strymon, he recovered them all by the beginning of autumn. And so, having accomplished everything he had desired, he returned to Nicaea and sent the soldiers home to winter.

CAPUT IV.

I. Now that we have arrived at this point in the history, it seemed to me not right to pass over in silence the Scythians, who in these times have overrun Asia and Europe ^C. For as the narrative progresses, mention of them will often occur. Wherefore it is necessary, as briefly as possible, to explain their affairs, and to set forth a clearer knowledge of them for the understanding of what follows; lest those things which we ourselves know, ^D [by being passed on] to those...

^A who do not know, as if they were experts—by speaking in such a way—we should cause them to err in the application of their conceptions, and cause them to shift frequently from one reference to another, just as hunting dogs, when tracking the leavings of hares, frequently turn their noses from one trail to another.

^B II. This is a most populous nation, dwelling much further to the north than any other in our inhabited world. Although it is not located directly beneath the Arctic pole, it is situated on that parallel which, of all those that circumscribe the entire globe, stretches furthest toward the north, as the writers of the histories of old have handed down to us and as we, as far as was possible, have understood from the experience of time. Homer called these people milk-drinkers, and the most destitute, and the most just of men. For among them, neither have the enticements of cooks been devised, nor is there any sumptuous display of tables. Of planting and the tilling of the earth they have not even dreamed, nor do they know what these things are. Instead, their food is the grass that grows wild from the earth, and the blood and flesh of their beasts of burden and other cattle. And if any of the wild animals or birds can be caught by them, this too serves as an improvised meal for them. Their clothing is not made with skill, but consists of the skins of beasts. And for them, silver and gold and pearls and the lychnites stone are accounted no more than dust. There are no public festivals there, nor ambitious theaters, nor councils concerning naval stations, trierarchies, and administrative duties; ^C but, as far as these matters are concerned, all is peaceful, and their life is entirely free from sedition. For just as fevers that befall human bodies arise from their matter, and flourish as long as that matter is at hand; but when both long fasting and the potions administered by physicians to the body have consumed all the matter, the fever immediately ceases and the malady languishes: so too among that nation, since those things do not exist from which quarrels and contentions arise, and mutual ambuscades and bloodshed are conceived, there is no need of courts, nor of councils, nor of the recitation of laws; and not even the persuasiveness of tongues, or the distortions of speeches, or the labyrinths of concepts have any place there; but a certain innate justice governs them, and an ungrudging liberty. For these reasons, Homer also called them the most just of men.

^D III. As for the name of these people, the wise men of old have translated it for us in various ways. For Homer calls them Cimmerians, while Herodotus, the author of the Persian history, calls them Scythians of many kinds, and Plutarch of Chaeronea calls them Cimbri and Teutons, not indeed of his own authority,

^A but merely names them as if he were wavering and distrusting his own self. For they themselves, in their own language, would indeed know their own proper appellation. But those who call them by Greek names label them differently, as each might wish, whenever, like a torrent, they rush into the provinces of our world and occupy one place after another at different times. For just as terrors are often sent into men by God—from heaven, such as lightning, conflagrations, and heavy rains; from the earth, such as chasms and earthquakes; and from the air, such as typhoons and storms—so also are these [tribes] held in reserve by God, as it were, like certain northern and hyperborean terrors, to be sent forth as a different kind of scourge against whomsoever and whenever Providence may decree. Many of them, once having abandoned their ancestral abodes, have devastated many regions and brought the yoke of slavery upon a great number of nations; just as if a section of a great sea, pouring forth down a slope, were to flood and sweep away everything in its path. ^B

IV. Now, since they go forth from there naked and destitute, they subsequently change their way of life, participating in the customs of the places in which they settle. Yet just as rivers that burst forth from the highest mountains and discharge their flow into the sea do not immediately change their drinkable water into saltiness at the very sand of the shore, but for a long distance flow into the sea without mixing, and only later grow blended and allow themselves to be overcome by the more voluminous waters, so too do those who have settled nearest to the ancient Scythia, from which they first flowed, keep their former designation intact. For they themselves are still called Scythians, and the land that sustains them is called Scythia. Such are those who long ago dwelt beyond the sources of the Tanais and by the Tanais itself; afterwards, having crossed that river and poured forth into Europe, they occupied the sides of the great swamp of Maeotis that face the sunset. ^C

V. After a long, long period of years, others, breaking away from the first Scythia like a great spring, were divided into two parts. One party, having overthrown the Asian Sarmatians, ran as far as the Caspian Sea; these men, already oblivious to their ancestral name, were called Sauromatae and Massagetae, as well as Melanchlaeni and Amazons, and—by division—they took on the names of all the peoples they subdued, as their way of life had been transformed and essentially dyed by the customs of those tribes, as if by some deep and indelible stain. ^D The others, having moved toward Europe and traversed the entire coast of the Ocean, laid claim to the names of the Sarmatians and Germans. Finally, having made an incursion into Gaul and subjugated it, they were called Celts and Galatians; not to mention the Cimbri and Teutons, who, long after, having crossed the Alps with an innumerable multitude and even bringing their wives and children, entered Italy, where they were—with difficulty, but eventually—slaughtered by the Romans.

under the command and auspices of the consuls Gaius Marius and Lutatius Catulus.

^C VI. Why say much, when they have even penetrated into Africa itself, subdued the western Iberians, and crossed the strait of Hercules? For those against whom they bring their arms, they generally conquer and dominate in alien regions. But no one in all of history seems to have subjugated their own homeland, Scythia. The reason is that, having from the beginning rejected a delicate and luxury-loving standard of living, they neither eat grain nor drink ruby wine; wherefore they neither plow the earth, nor have they ever cultivated a vine, nor do they practice the cultivation of other crops, by which the inhabitants of the interior world are nourished. These things, which are pleasant and not in the least burdensome to the Scythians—who are accustomed to them—are extremely harmful to their enemies, who bring along more baggage than war equipment, and wherever they encamp, require a market of every kind, so that nothing may be lacking for themselves or their pack animals. But they, being always accustomed to an unencumbered and light life, easily undertake campaigns, and often traverse in one day a three-day journey like birds of the air, occupying one land after another before the report of their arrival even spreads; bringing nothing with them, yet provided with all things by which victory is easily procured. Such are their almost innumerable multitude, their agility of body, and their very swift advances; and (which is greater than these) their spirit, which is entirely prodigal of life, and their impetuous charge against the confronting enemy in the manner of wild beasts.

CAPUT V.

I. But we must return to where we left the thread of the narrative earlier. For when John Ducas was already holding the scepter of the Romans, a numerous portion of the Scythians, which consisted of many thousands of men, having been cast off from the Hyperboreans above, descended straightway to the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile, however, after their leader Sitzischan had died, his sons, Chalaus and Telepugas, divided the command of the armies. And Chalaus, with the Caspian and Jaxartes river broad—

^A—and deep, flowing down through the region of the Sogdians, makes his discharge into the Caspian, and descended through lower Asia. But let the discussion of these matters wait; for the European side draws us away from there. For the other of the sons of Sitzischan, Telepugas ^B—(70), having made the peaks of the Caucasus and subsequently the depths of the Caspian Sea the boundaries of his own rule, proceeded through the land of the Massagetae and Sauromatae, bringing under his sway both it and all the nations that dwell by the Maeotic Lake and the Tanais. Then, once he had crossed the springs of the Tanais, he flowed forth in great numbers down through the European nations. These peoples were very numerous and of all kinds; some were fragments and remnants of the ancient Scythians, insofar as they were divided into nomads and plowmen; while those who bordered on the Maeotis and filled the seacoast of the Pontus were Zichi and Abasgi, Goths and Hamaxobii ^C—(71), and Tauro-Scythians and Borysthenitae, and in addition to these, those who occupied the Mysia situated along the mouths of the Ister.

V. On the Huns and Comani

V. These were also called Huns and Comani (72); there were those, however, who named them Scythians. And they, having been struck with terror at the heavy and irresistible onrush of the Scyths who had just made an incursion, decided that it was necessary to be migrants from that place. For there was no hope for anyone to resist, but everything trembled, both cities and nations, and they were crushed and destroyed like stalks of wheat in a summer threshing floor. Whence, despairing also of the war against the Scythians, they crossed the Ister on skins filled with straw ^D—(73) instead of other rafts, together with their wives and children. And for a short time they wandered around Thrace, seeking a colony suitable for them, being not fewer than ten thousand. But before they brought their wandering to an end, the Emperor John drew them over with magnificent gifts and other marks of favor, and enrolled them among the Romans (74) and assigned them armies, and distributed to them lands—to some in Thracia and Macedonia, to others in Asia near the Maeander and about Phrygia.

^A III. But now the account must hasten to cross over to the Orient, and to come to those Hyperborean Scythians (75) who, having poured into Asia like a great swarm of locusts, troubled and oppressed almost the whole of it. For having passed the Caspian straits and left Sogdiana behind them, along with the Bactrians and the Sogdian river Oxus (76)—which is fed by very many great springs—they advanced to the roots of the high mountains and wintered there, enjoying the fertility of that region and the spoils they had previously acquired. These mountains are both very numerous and very great; and because they are joined together in one continuous series, they merge into what is, as it were, a single mountain, called by the general name of Taurus, which perfectly encircles and divides all Asia through its middle. ^B They begin in the west, very near the Aegean Sea; and starting from there, they cut the whole of Asia into two parts until they terminate near the Ocean at the east wind.

^C IV. Therefore, when spring arrived and the whole face of the earth was clothed with the greenness of the grass, the Scythians left their winter quarters at the roots of the mountains and, like herds of goats or oxen, crossed over the summits of the mountains in great numbers, and poured down upon the subject nations. Having taken them all as plunder, they penetrated into India, as far as it extends on both banks of the great river Indus. Having brought this under the yoke, they ceased to advance further toward the east, on account of the ruggedness and the heat of the place; but having turned their course toward Arachosia and Carmania, and having easily subdued those tribes, they arrived at the Chaldeans and Arabs. Then, having crossed over to the Babylonians and Assyrians and occupied Mesopotamia, they were charmed by the pleasantness of the place, and there they ended their long wanderings, finishing now their third year since they had crossed the river Jaxartes and, having separated from their own people, had laid claim to lower Asia for themselves.

^D V. But just as fire, having been cast into a deep forest, consumes not only the part it first seized but, if there is anything similar all around in its path, it also very easily devours all of that as well; so too, the leader of these Scythians, having chosen for his own dwelling-place the most suitable location in all of Asia for every human convenience, did not rest thereafter, nor did he refrain from attacking his neighbors. Instead, having sent out his tribunes and satraps in this direction and that, he first subdued the Persians, the Parthians, and the Medes; then, ascending through Great Armenia, he made an incursion toward the north as far as Colchis and the [lands] there…

- ^A in the times of [the] autumn, to wander even through the interior of Asia, and to terminate the borders of their empire at the sands of the shores, where sea and land meet: for it was not to be borne that any nation should not be subject to his rule, which inhabited the whole continent of Asia as far as the sea. But then they decided to settle there in peace, with provinces, cities, habitations, and the possessions of other things, and most pleasant and delightful estates distributed among themselves.

VI.

VII.

Chapter VI. The vicinity of the Scythians is suspected by the Turks and Arabs. A Turkish embassy to John Ducas to propose peace. The necessity of this for both sides. The peace, once initiated, proves useful to the Roman state. The emperor, through the cultivation of fields and the management of funds, provides for himself and the poor. He encourages his relatives and other nobles to do the same. By this plan, great wealth is acquired. Famine among the Turks. The Romans grow rich on their money. The empress’s crown is sold, called the "Ovala." The emperor’s edict, that no one should use garments obtained outside the borders of the empire. A penalty is added. The equity of this law.

^A 1. In the meantime, the Turks who hold Asia within the Euphrates, and the Arabs who hold Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, were not a little anxious because of the dangerous vicinity of the Scythians. Therefore, the prince of the Turks sent envoys endowed with the highest authority to the Emperor John to negotiate peace, fearing that he himself, distracted by the Scythian war, might have the Roman army as a grave enemy at his back. He knew that these were the extremity of straits and the surest ruin of his own empire if, while barely daring to resist the incursions of the Scythians, he were forced to divide his strength because of a double war. This was also the emperor’s desire, and it had been decreed for many reasons long before: both because it seemed by no means useful or easy—nay, rather grave and burdensome—for him also to be distracted by Asian and European wars; and because the Turks, being situated in the middle, would be a most firm and opportune bulwark against the Scythian war. They would receive the common danger into their own bodies, like robust defenders and as rock-like barriers, such as nature places in some coastal areas to withstand the raging waves of the sea.

^B 2. For these reasons, therefore, he willingly and eagerly made a treaty with the Turks at that time, which greatly helped the Roman state. For, being liberated from fear, they had leisure, in this intermission of long wars, to cultivate their own possessions and affairs. For the emperor took for himself as much land suitable for plowing and planting vineyards as he thought sufficient to furnish the imperial table and to provide for all those things which the beneficent and generous mind of the prince had decreed. These were food and lodging for the elderly and the poor, and likewise remedies for all kinds of diseases and wounds; over these things, he appointed administrators who knew how to cultivate fields and plant vineyards; and each year he stored up an abundant yield of crops. Nor was this all; but he also provided herds of horses and oxen, and likewise flocks of sheep and pigs, as well as various kinds of domestic birds, from which...

[index: entries preserved]

a manifold annual income was seen to be produced. He also advised others to do the same, as many as were related by blood or were otherwise of noble birth, so that by each person having a sufficiency from his own estate, he would neither lay a grasping hand upon the private citizens and the weaker classes, nor would the Roman state be utterly defiled by crimes. Indeed, in a few years’ time, everyone's granaries were seen to be full, and the streets, squares, stables, and sheepfolds could scarcely contain the multitude of livestock and flocks of birds. ^B

III. It came to pass, moreover, by a favorable fate for the Romans, that the Turks were afflicted by a troublesome famine and a very great scarcity of necessities. On this account, all the roads were full of that people—women, men, and children—returning and arriving within Roman territories. All the wealth of the Turks—gold, silver, textiles, and every kind of luxurious and costly item—was being exhausted and passing into the hands of the Romans. One could see goods of great value exchanged for a little grain. Then any bird, ox, or kid was sold at a great price. In this way, while the houses of the Romans were very quickly enriched with barbarian wealth, the emperor’s treasury also overflowed with money. To summarize the whole matter briefly, when those to whom the flocks of birds were entrusted collected and sold their eggs every year, enough money was gathered in a short time that a crown adorned with most precious gems and pearls was prepared for the empress, which the emperor named the "Egg" crown, because it had been constructed from the sale of eggs. ^C

IV. Let this stand as one example of his imperial and political foresight. Another was this: when he saw Roman wealth being squandered on foreign garments—whether those which the looms of Babylon and Assyria wove with varied silken threads, or those which the hands of the Italians elegantly wove—he decreed by edict that none of his subjects should use them, unless they, whoever they might be, wished for themselves and their whole household to be reduced to a lower rank and branded with infamy; rather, they were to be content with those things which the Roman provinces and hands provided. For the use of necessary things is immutable; non-essential matters obey the desires of princes. That stands as law and honor for them, which has seemed good to the princes. Consequently, it was then possible to see those things [the foreign goods] become of the least value; the limits of nobility defined by Roman garments; and wealth, as they say, brought home from home. ^D

visum fuerit. Proinde tum quoque cernere erat, illas res deinceps minimi fieri: nobilitatis autem limites Romanis vestimentis definitos, et divitias domo, quod aiunt, domum ferri.

CAPUT VII.

^A The mother of the Emperor Theodore, having fallen from her horse, ceased to bear children. She administered the Republic excellently with her husband. Temples were built by both. Houses were assigned for the care and nourishment of the poor. Irene dies. The Emperor, now a widower, takes as his wife Anna of Germany, the sister of Manfred, King of Sicily. He loves Marcesina, the teacher and governess of Anna, to distraction. He permits her to be adorned with imperial insignia. He prefers her to his wife. He is goaded by the stings of conscience. The monks exclude Marcesina from the temple at the order of the superior Blemmydes. The eulogy of this man. How he persistently pursued Marcesina. The woman in her anger and the court sycophants accuse Blemmydes. The Emperor condemns himself and laments his own guilt.

I. But let our discourse move on to other matters. When the Empress Irene (84) had given birth to her son Theodore, it happened that, having been thrown from her horse, she was dragged for a long distance across the plain. For she chanced to have come to watch a certain hunt with her husband, the Emperor; and from this, her womb was injured, and she ceased to bear children thereafter. Yet both were governing the empire most gravely and decorously, and took the greatest care that justice and equity might flourish in the cities, and that avarice and rapine might be absent.

^B II. Both also built very beautiful temples, erecting the largest and most varied structures at great expense. The Emperor built one, regarding Magnesia, in the name of the Mother of God, called Sosandra (85), and another, within Nicaea, in the name of Anthony the Great. The Empress built one inside the metropolis of the Prusaeans, situated by Mount Olympus, in the name of the holy prophet, the Forerunner and Baptist. Generously bestowing very many estates and annual revenues upon them, they established dwellings for monks and ascetics, full of grace and spiritual joy. And not content with these, they also lavished hospitals and poorhouses on the people at that time, and whatever else clearly demonstrated their love toward God.

^C III. Meanwhile, the Empress Irene (86) departed this life. The Emperor, her husband, bore her death very heavily for a long time. At length, weary of his solitude, he took a second wife, Anna of Germany (87), a girl of very tender age, the sister of the King of Sicily, Manfred. But from there, there followed her, in the place of a nurse and governess, along with many other women, a woman of very beautiful countenance, whose eyes were as a kind of unavoidable net, named Marcesina. She, by philtres and amatory enticements, and by the urbanity of her manners, little by little drew even the eyes of the Emperor toward herself and so inflamed him with the love of her that now, undisguisedly, the Empress Anna was neglected in comparison to her. For to such a point of madness did the loves of Marcesina (88) afterward roll him, that he even suffered her to be adorned with imperial insignia. On account of which that woman in this regard gave way to the Empress Anna in nothing; but in the love and inclination of the Emperor and the observance and reverence of the subjects, she did not merely enjoy them, but certainly far surpassed the legitimate wife and Empress Anna.

IV. ^A However, as the Emperor was a prudent man, he did not lead a life entirely free from all distress, sorrow, and just grief, but he had a conscience that pricked him like a sharp goad, and, expecting an opportunity for repentance, he sought from God the correction of that depravity; a fact which is evident from the following. They say that Marcesina once went to the church—which Blemmydes had built from his own resources and dedicated to the exercises of holy and religious men—for the sake of both worship and to see it, having arrived with much luxury, proud in imperial finery, and accompanied by a great crowd of attendants. Yet before she could set foot in the vestibule, that assembly of holy men closed the church doors from within, and by the order of their superior, ^B Blemmydes, barred her entry. This man was distinguished by many virtues and polished with diverse learning, both that which is celebrated by the ancient Greeks and that which the prelates and orators of our Church have set forth for our profit. For that divine man judged it a sacrilege for that wicked and shameless little woman to tread upon the sacred floor with profane and defiled feet. And what is strange in this, when he had never ceased to attack her bitterly with words beforehand, and to persecute her both with tongue and pen? ^C

V. She, believing that she had been most grievously wronged, especially in regard to the honor owed to the imperial dignity, not only flared up by herself, conceiving a violent and fervent anger in her soul, but was also more inflamed by her flatterers. Whence she returned to the Emperor with great indignation, and with all her might incited him to vengeance, clamoring that this ignominy redounded upon the very person of the Emperor. Nor was this all; but her sycophants, as if adding fire to fire and torches to torches, hastened to kindle the Emperor’s rage even more, in order to curry his favor. ^D But the Emperor, with tears welling up and having heaved a deep sigh, "Why," he asked, "do you urge me to punish a righteous man? For if I had wished to live without disgrace and ignominy, I would have preserved the majesty of the empire inviolate. But now, since I myself have provided the cause for my own and the empire’s disgrace, a reward is brought to my merits, so that I reap a bad harvest from bad seed."

CHAPTER VIII

^A In these times, Michael, the bastard son of the first rebel Michael the Angel, ruled over Thessaly and Aetolia and the surrounding regions. For since all the rest of his kin had perished, the entire rule of those lands had devolved upon this one bastard, Michael. He had sons: Nicephorus, John, Michael, and a fourth, also a bastard who was likewise named John; among whom he intended, shortly thereafter, to distribute his principality. Now, having first sent envoys to Emperor John, he sought to obtain as a bride for his son Nicephorus the daughter of the Emperor Theodore Lascaris, ^B named Maria; and he obtained his request. For the betrothals and agreements were then carried out, of such kind as they were, when Theodora, during her stay in the East, had come with her son Nicephorus, both for the sake of seeing the bride and for confirming the agreements. These things having been performed, the bride was left there among her own people, and Theodora, the wife of Michael, returned home with her son Nicephorus, having received a pledge that the wedding would be celebrated in the following year.

II. A short time later, Michael again looked toward the dissolution of the agreements; and, having mustered his forces, he crossed his borders and raided the western cities, which were subject to the Roman emperors, such that there was a necessity ^C either for Emperor John himself to wage war against him or for there to be a risk that all those western cities would be occupied by Michael. When spring therefore approached, the emperor, having gathered a very great army, set out against the rebel Michael. As the news spread and ran before him, the western cities of the Romans were strengthened, and they regained their spirit and courage; but the cause of Michael collapsed and began to fail. And when the emperor had reached Thessalonica and Macedonia, he easily recovered most of the western cities that the incursion of Michael the Angel had shaken and held for a short time, ^D including Castoria, Prespa, and not a few others besides. Whence, struck by extreme fear, Michael sent envoys to the emperor and recalled the previous treaties, and his wife, Theodora, taking Nicephorus with her, crossed over into the East. And the emperor, in return, granted to both Michael and his son Nicephorus the honor of Despot because of the closeness of their affinity.

[175] ^A rendering to him [Michael and his son Nicephorus] both fortresses, and the others, and Prilep, and also Veles. ^B For the emperor was concerned to strengthen both with the despotic dignity on account of the marriage alliance, so that no doubt might in the meantime arise to disturb minds and stir up turmoil in affairs. But having thus settled matters there, the emperor prepared for his return, not wishing to pass the winter season in those parts. For the time was at the rising of Arcturus.

III. ^B When he had arrived at Philippi and had remained there for several days, certain accusations arose against Michael Comnenus Palaeologus, that he was aspiring to the kingdom. Those who had first whispered these things were brought forward, as well as his friends, and others who brought various evidences against him from elsewhere. But these seemed weak and the accusations false, whether they were indeed false in reality, or whether the occasion had rashly persuaded them so. Nevertheless, it was decided that he should confirm by oath that the accusations were false, and that he would never desire to attempt the kingdom; and that thereafter he should be freed from the penalty and be restored to his former degree of dignity, as far removed from every suspicion as possible. And this was done. The emperor having then broken camp, he himself departed to cross the Hellespont, while he dismissed the army to return home to winter quarters.

IV. ^C When the emperor had crossed into the East and was staying near Nicaea, he was seized by a grievous illness, which I know not whether to call phrenitis or epilepsy. For he was afflicted with a heaviness and stupor of mind, such as usually happens to those who suffer in the brain during the conjunctions of the heavenly constellations, at which time the ambient air becomes moister and colder, and thus brings dizziness to those who are unable to bear such rotations and changes of the brain. But having lain for three full days mute and, except for breathing, like one dead, he seemed to recover and to be freed from the disease. Yet the art of the physicians could not fully banish the affliction, so that from that time it seemed to lie hidden in him and to have fixed a firm seat; so that thereafter at times he would be afflicted, and at others seem to be well. For now at longer intervals, now at shorter, the evil would approach or recede; now at home, now on the road, without any preceding sign, it would suddenly seize him, so that often, on the verge of falling from his horse, he was caught and carried in a litter to the palace. ^D This disease plagued his head for a whole year, secretly and gradually always increasing, until, every art of the physicians being overcome, it removed him from human affairs. The emperor died of this disease while he was staying near Nymphaeum; and he was buried in Sosandrium, a monastery built by himself, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.

had he intended to be. The emperor, then, passed from the world of men when this disease had overcome him, while he was at that time tarrying near Nymphaion. ^A He was buried in the monastery of the Sosandra, which he himself had built. He was in his sixtieth year when he died; and the number of years he had held the imperial scepter was twenty-seven; so that his imperial reign lasted for thirty-three years—precisely the number of years that his son and successor to the throne, Theodore, had lived. For he had been brought forth into the light from the womb of his mother at the very time the father had just received the imperial scepter.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY BOOK III

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK THREE

CHAPTER I

^B 1. Since the empire was destined to return to his son Theodore Lascaris by hereditary right, but because he had not been named emperor while his father was still alive, he was, upon the latter’s death, hailed as emperor by the common concurrence of the entire army and of all the eminent and noble men. For it was established that John would certainly leave the empire to no one else but his son.

Yet that he should designate him emperor while he was still alive, while the free will and choice of the subjects still remained uncertain, this he by no means desired. For he said that time is accustomed to bring about many changes when affairs are not found in a state that befits everyone. For youth, being by its own nature fickle and arrogant, rushes headlong without reason toward whatever it desires. And if it should also acquire the hope and reputation of empire—on account of which a great number of delicate youths flock to him, filling his ears with all manner of foolish talk—the situation becomes similar to that of a man who is drunk, and who, being delirious in judgment and mind, and indeed in his whole body from head to foot, is proposed to be chosen to take the rudder of ^B a great ship, when neither those who are electing judge rightly, nor does the one who is being elected understand where he is being carried or what he ought to do. For this single cause, therefore, he did not judge it necessary to designate his son emperor while he yet lived; both by removing that hope to curb the instability of youth, and because many people, due to small-mindedness and desire for the inheritance, have grown troubled by the longevity of their fathers; and then, not waiting for the inevitable, they have cut short the course of their father’s life in the middle and arrived at the present, having hastened to flee from life itself. Furthermore, the common people often—not having chosen by their own free will the one who has come to power—call him a tyrant; and indeed they first attack him with envy and obscure detractions, then finally break out into plots and murder.

II. The Election of the Patriarch

By these and other causes of this kind, therefore, Theodore had not been named emperor while his father was still alive. After his death, however, he was created emperor by the suffrage of the whole populace, sitting upon a shield, according to the custom used in these matters. But since he was to be crowned by the hand of the patriarch, and the see was then vacant (for Germanus, a man prudent and distinguished by doctrine and by the probity of his life, had not long before passed away), there was deliberation and dispute concerning the choosing of a successor. And many were in expectation and were on the lips of the people, and different ones were favored by different people, but Nicephorus Blemmydes, famous for his doctrine and virtue, was preferred in the talk of all. He was at that time living a quiet life in his monastery, macerating himself with a harsh manner of living and exercise. When he had refused the honor offered to him, the monk Arsenius was preferred above the rest, who was energetically exerting himself in a certain monastery near Apollonias; he was indeed illustrious in private virtue, but a man of simple spirit, and one who, by his natural sagacity, could not grasp the ^C complexities.

^A of affairs. This man, therefore, is ordained patriarch by the common decision and vote of the bishops, with the emperor most highly approving and confirming that pontifical suffrage (as is the custom). These things having been performed, the emperor, anointed by the patriarch and adorned with the diadem, prepares an expedition.

III. Regarding the Bulgarian campaign and the renewal of the treaty.

^B III. For the prince of the Bulgarians, as soon as he heard of the emperor’s death, immediately looked toward breaking the treaty he had made with him, and thereafter kept up continuous incursions against the towns of Roman jurisdiction in Thrace, so that he made himself master of no small number of those near Mount Rhodope. The traitor Michael had done the same thing in Thessaly against the regions and cities bordering him, as many as were then subject to the Romans. But the emperor first renewed and confirmed the treaty which his father had made with the Turks, so that, regarding eastern affairs, he might be free from all anxiety. Afterward, about the rising of the Pleiades, he crossed the Hellespont, bringing with him an army far greater than his father’s. For he commanded not only those who were destined for military service ^C to join the expedition, but he also ordered all those who were kept for hunting duties to serve in the military, having abandoned their dogs and birds.

IV. But when the prince of the Bulgarians had heard of the emperor’s grave advance, he began to be consumed by great terror, and shifted his thoughts frequently from one point to another. But when he saw that to commit the judgment of these matters to war was difficult and altogether impossible for him—partly because he had no army of equal strength, nor one capable of drawing up in battle line against such a multitude of enemies, who were moreover protected by heavy and splendid armor, and partly because he saw that the young emperor was flourishing in his zeal for glory and was seen to be executing his plans vigorously and decisively—he perceived at length what was in his own interest, and called for the former treaty to be renewed. He hoped, forsooth, that the emperor would be easily reconciled to him, because he had his sister in marriage. ^D He knew, besides, that the rumor had arrived from Thessaly concerning the traitor Michael, which would drag the emperor by force and compel him to set out thither most swiftly to stabilize his own affairs before Michael had subjected everything to himself; and he thought this matter would be, among other things, a help to him in obtaining peace. Therefore

^A having sent ambassadors to the emperor, he obtained peace more easily than he had hoped, restoring all the fortresses which he had seized from the Romans after the violation of the treaty.

V. But not to delay longer, near the autumn equinox, the emperor marched with the Roman legions straight for Thessaly. But before Macedonia had received the emperor’s troops, Theodora, the wife of the treaty-breaker Michael, met him, both to arrange the marriage of her son Nicephorus to Maria, the emperor's daughter, and to restore those parts of the Roman dominion which her husband, by advancing further, had stripped away through a kind of robbery. These matters being settled by the emperor a little later with ease, Theodora returned to her husband Michael, having brought with her the bride for her son, Maria.

CHAPTER II

1. While the emperor was busy with these things, letters arrived from the Nicaeans reporting the flight of Michael Palaeologus ^B to the Turks. For the emperor had entrusted the prefecture of Nicaea to him when he was departing, while he was returning from the West to the East. This matter distressed the emperor not a little, and threw him into a whirlpool of thoughts. The pretext for the flight was said to be this: he said that, seeing thick envy rising against him from many sides, and words full of malice secretly flooding his hearing, and punishments being plotted and whispered against him by the emperor—such as one would imprecate upon foreign enemies—he could not remain in peace at all; but being ^C carried up and down, hither and thither, he was full of hostile thoughts, which were driving and hauling his soul like a captive, and tormenting it indignantly. For he saw the emperor’s disposition toward punishments as sharp, cruel, and quick-moving, and he thought that nothing mild or compassionate would happen to him from the emperor; since he saw that great slanders, piled up high and long, which those who envied him had stirred up and poured into the emperor's ears, would not be easy for him to refute in a short time. Therefore, compelled by desperation, he held nothing more urgent than that he should seek safety in flight.

II. Having set out for Iconium, he found the Sultan ^D there at that time gathering his forces with the utmost zeal, so that he might receive the onrushing Scythian armies in great numbers, just as

^A a most advantageous and timely prize seemed to him. For since a great number of Romans had previously been enslaved under his rule, he had cataloged these into a military unit and ordered them to be arrayed under the command of the Palaiologos, dressed in Roman and foreign clothing or such as was customary in their own lands, so that the affair might strike terror into the Scythians, as they would surmise that an auxiliary force had just arrived from the Romans. And this actually came to pass. For they say that when the Scythians joined battle with the Turks, they were not a little shaken and alarmed at the sudden sight of a strange army advancing against them; and they might easily have been turned to flight and have shown their backs in disarray to those whom they had expected to defeat without any trouble, had not a certain kinsman of the Sultan, because of an old grudge, ^B intentionally brought his forces over to the Scythians while fighting was already breaking out, with a large contingent of troops where battle had already been joined. For this ruined the affairs of the Turks and consigned the greater part of their territory to the Scythian sword.

III. Not long after this, a period of time had elapsed when the emperor sent letters full of singular benevolence, promising much love and honor, through which Palaiologos was recalled, with the promises confirmed by oath. Thus the Roman land recovered Palaiologos, though not before he himself had provided a warrant ^C for faithfulness to the emperor, confirmed by the most fearsome oaths, promising that he would always remain within the bounds of obedience, and would never seek the kingdom for himself, nor return to those things which had previously been laid to his charge, nor henceforth do anything that might confirm the already dead suspicion, but would always maintain and propagate the same benevolence and love toward the emperor Theodore himself and his son John, and the rest of the successors of both his family and the empire. And for these things he was again honored with the rank of Grand Conostaulos, as before; and henceforth he enjoyed the brilliant patronage and benevolence of the emperor. ^D

IV. Meanwhile, it was reported that the Bulgarian situation was failing. For Asanes, the prince of the Bulgarians, whose sister was married to the Emperor Theodore, had finished the course of his life; and he had no child to succeed him in the rule, as might be expected; so it was necessary that they should resort to what is called a "second voyage," and transfer the supreme power to Mytzes, who was married to his sister. And this is what happened. But the man was sluggish and effeminate, for which reasons he began little by little to be held in contempt, and the situation devolved to such a state that whatever he decreed was held by the people to be utterly void. Now there was at that time in Bulgaria a man of distinction [index: entries preserved]

Constantine by name, surnamed Tich, who far surpassed most others in the weight of his wisdom and the strength of his body. Seeing the administration of the Bulgarians going astray, he rose up against it; and having won over the common people and all who were most illustrious and choice among the nation, and having received the acclamation of the entire empire from their willing consent, he besieged Trnovo, where the royal palaces of the Bulgarians were. ^A Mytzes, being compelled, took his wife and children even against his will and fled to a certain fortified maritime castle called Mesembria. From there, he crossed over to the Emperor, who was then residing at Nicaea in Asia. He then added the fortress of Mesembria to the sovereignty of the Romans; and having received from the Emperor estates near Troy and the Scamander for his annual income, he thereafter rested there with his wife and children.

V. Furthermore, Constantine Tich, having secured possession of the Bulgarian realm, sent legates to the Emperor, professing himself his friend and ally, if he might receive one of his daughters in marriage. He requested her, not because he was in need of a wife—for he already had a wife and children—but because he possessed no hereditary right to the Bulgarian throne, and he felt it an injustice that he should be spoken of and considered an illegitimate prince and a kind of bastard. Since he knew that the daughter of the Emperor was a niece to Asen, the ruler of the Bulgarians who had died not long before, he sought this marriage for the sake of his own honor and the strengthening of his reign, promising that he would immediately cast off his first wife. ^B This was pleasing to the Emperor himself; and having taken his daughter, Theodora, as his partner in the marriage bed and the reign, Constantine Tich sent his former wife to Nicaea, offering her as a pledge of his allegiance to the Romans regarding his affection for his second spouse.

VI. What more is there to say? A grievous and difficult disease, armed, as one might say, with the darts of death, attacked the Emperor as he was passing his thirty-sixth year. It did not cease to harass and wear down the prince’s body, assailing it with various torments, until it finally brought death upon him; yet, a little before his passing, he had eagerly donned the monastic habit, and many heaps of money with his own hands...

^A distributed, and poured forth a great flood of tears from a heart burning with fervor, by which he washed away and healed the wounds of his soul at a moment of such great need.

CHAPTER III

^B I. But it has almost escaped me to mention what should have been set forth first. For a certain man named Georgius, by surname Muzalo, not of noble birth, but one who from childhood had made his way into the imperial palace owing solely to his sharpness of wit and the elegance of his manners—that he might be, I suppose, a playmate and contemporary of the Emperor Theodore along with many others—once he had outgrown his childish years, so quickly and aptly did he accommodate his own character to the manners of the young prince that he alone became everything to him, both in speech and in action, according to his own judgment and inclination. And as they advanced in age, that affection and love between them grew ever greater, so much so that when he had attained the imperial dignity, he was still the one to whom Theodore looked for everything; he was the most certain guide in all matters that the prince desired, a dexterous administrator of affairs abroad, and a faithful participant in his secret counsels at home. For which reasons he was soon adorned with the dignity of Protovestiarius and took a wife who was related by blood to the Emperor.

II. This man, together with Patriarch Arsenius, the dying Emperor left as guardian of the empire until his son John should have reached a mature age. For he was then reaching his sixth year from birth, living under nurses, and in need of parents—if ever—most of all at that time, being bereft of both. For the Emperor had left behind four daughters who were of a more mature age, but no male child except for this John, who was still an infant. Of these ^C daughters, the eldest, namely Maria, as I have explained above, Nicephorus the Etolian had taken in lawful marriage, to whom...^D

^A the title of Despot had been added by his father-in-law, the emperor, in honor of the relationship. The second, Theodora, likewise had for her husband Constantine Techus, the prince of the Bulgarians, who, as we have already stated, held her in equal honor. Two other daughters remained, who together endured the same yoke of orphanhood, along with this youngest child, John. For their sakes, both the written wills of the emperor were issued, establishing Muzalo as guardian, and also, against the future, most dreadful oaths were exacted from all, both high and low. These were performed not once, but first when the emperor was dying, and then immediately after his death.

Chapter III

^B III. For some men, notable for their rank and the splendor of their lineage, seeing the fortune of Muzalo so suddenly changed and so novel, whispered among themselves, bearing ill-will toward the honor conferred upon him as being greater than his condition warranted; especially since there were many to whom the guardianship of the emperor’s boy and the administration of public affairs more properly pertained; both because they were related to the emperor by close kinship, and because they were far more fit to discharge such duties than Muzalo—a man whom, as they themselves claimed, they had many reasons to despise and to pursue with hatred. For the fact that he was not sprung from noble stock, and that he had often lent his services to the emperor ^C to the punishment of many, were reasons quite sufficient to generate hatred for him in the minds of the masses. And if he also coveted and dreamed of the empire, as some slandered him by alleging, what torches of wickedness would such a suspicion not light upon his head? These things did not escape Muzalo. For that man, as he had been keen in understanding such matters before, so now, with affairs in such a ferment and causing him the greatest anxiety of mind, seemed much more prudent than himself. Therefore, having most swiftly summoned all the nobles to the council chamber, he offered his right hand to them all; and, having conferred with them as an inferior, he declared not obscurely that he would willingly ^D yield both the administration of the empire and the guardianship of the emperor's boy to anyone who willed it.

IV. But since all of them, as if by agreement, refused the charge, and acknowledged that he must be preferred whom the emperor himself, the master and supreme arbiter of affairs and of the boy, had judged more worthy; and since Muzalo, on his part, would by no means yield, but resisted strongly, preferring a peaceful life and using all the powers and faculties of his mind to cast off the task on account of the envy that was creeping in, and above all on account of the danger which appeared and was being stirred up from it; therefore an oath, holier and more fearful than the former, was given. All swore, as well the nobles as those of the military classes, and each invoked total destruction upon himself and his whole family unless he should religiously observe what he had sworn, and to Muzalo the guardianship...

^A of the emperor’s son, so that the empire might be unassailed and unalterable forever, both for him and for those to be born from him. And thus they departed, and affairs were again administered by Muzalo.

V. But nine full days had not yet passed, when certain of those who were preeminent in lineage and wealth, driven by a terrible envy, stirred up a tumult in the army and armed their right hands for the slaughter of Muzalo. Indeed, that deep oblivion—alas, the origin of evils—received those horrible oaths recently performed and those most ruinous curses, and submerged them as if in the depths and floods. The ninth day from the emperor’s death was at hand. All the noble matrons had gathered at the monastery of Sosandra, where the body of the prince was buried, ^B so that they might mourn according to custom and follow his memory with prayers. All the princes were present, and all the commoners; among whom were also those who had plotted the conspiracy. The whole army was flowing in together, some mourning, others breathing slaughter. And why should I delay? While the sacred hymns were still being chanted, the soldiers, having suddenly drawn their swords, rushed into the temple, and finding Muzalo, who had sought refuge at the holy and sacred table, they cruelly slaughtered him: and also his two brothers, ^C namely Andronicus the Grand Domestic and Theodore the Master of the Hunt; and in addition to these, their scribe, deceived by the similarity of his appearance (as fortune would have it). Wherefore both the matrons and all the remaining crowd, abandoning the begun mourning and urging one another on out of fear, fled as fast as their feet could carry them, wherever each might chance to go. The entire order of priests and the assembly of monks inside the sacred precinct, being compelled willy-nilly, slipped and fell one upon another—this because they were being pushed by the force and violent rush ^D of the others, and because they could not stand with a steady footing on account of the blood that had been shed.

VI. A few days elapsed after this, and the patriarch Arsenius, who was himself also a tutor, and knowing that unless he bestirred himself now, while the Roman affairs were being thrown into such a great tumult and while the greatest danger threatened both the ward and the state, naught would hinder the situation from descending immediately into the utmost wickedness. And so, with his soul divided by ambiguous thoughts, he did not know what was best to do. For as far as virtue and the worship of God were concerned, that man was little short of the greatest; but in the experience of affairs and in public administration he was inferior even to those who leave off from the mattock at eventide. For truly, mystical contemplation and the administration of the state are rarely accustomed to be joined. Indeed, it is rather to be desired that they should not appear to be most at variance with one another.

just as ^A the body and the spirit, and all those things which are perceived by the senses compared with those which exceed the senses. For my part, I am pleased that he who aspires to leadership should be a blend of both; as we see among the skilled in musical instruments. For they do not stretch all the strings equally—since that would be discordant and out of tune—but by stretching some to a deeper tone and others to a sharper one, and some more and others less, they produce a certain varied and melodic harmony. For it is fitting that he who devotes his mind solely to the contemplation of divine things should live in mountains and caves, as one who has established a life that is for the most part outside of society, wholly solitary, and estranged from the customs of the common people. But whoever, alongside virtue, has also cultivated civility of manners, grace, and sociability, and has acquired experience in all kinds of affairs—this man is most capable of leading people ^B toward the best and most wholesome outcomes. For even our Savior and God, if He had not lowered Himself to human affections, and had not eaten with tax collectors, and had not displayed a social disposition, and had not, to the extent that it was fitting, accommodated Himself to the natures of all, would not, I believe, have easily led whole states and peoples toward embracing useful and wholesome things.

VII. But I shall return to that point. Patriarch Arsenius, therefore, surrounded by such a tumult of events, was in doubt and deliberating; yet he did not do this with himself (for how could he have done so, as has been said, being uninstructed in the usage of affairs and the intricacies of counsel?), but he consulted with the nobles as ^C to what should be done, before Johannes, the son of the Emperor, was attacked by the sword through treachery. He did not, however, in the least foresee that this counsel, which relied on no experience of affairs and no prudence, would be more easily a cause of destruction for the very person he wished to protect than all hostile swords together; as the progress of the narrative will make clear.

CHAPTER IV. Michael Palaeologus, acceptable to all because of his exceptional gifts of body and mind. He is destined for the empire by various omens. The nobility of his lineage. The honors held by his grandfather and father. He receives the keys of the treasury from the patriarch. He wins the favor of the nobles for himself through largesse. Likewise that of the soldiers and the public speakers. With these as his advocates, and with the patriarch himself acquiescing, he assumes the administration of the empire until the legitimate heir reaches maturity. He is adorned with the title of Despot.

I. This Michael Palaeologus, ^D of whom we have often made mention above, was superior to the other nobles, very cheerful in countenance, agreeable in his dealings, urbane in his manners, and, in addition to this, generous and liberal with his hand. This state of affairs ignited great love for him in the minds of all. Thus, he easily drew everyone to himself: tribunes, centurions, the army, commanders, the common people, and whoever belonged to the senate. They were also moved by a presupposed opinion of the empire, so that they joined themselves to him and burned with love for him. They were moved, however, by such an opinion, I know not gathered from where—whether from the rumors against him.

or from dreams and certain omens. For it is common for these things, which hover about this life, to persuade the majority—and not altogether unreasonably or ignorantly, nor as some might say, suffering from lack of experience. For very many testimonies of these things abound among those who have observed them more diligently.

^B II. There were, however, other greater reasons than these, by which he was already long since called to this lofty imperial position: namely, a nobility derived from an ancient stock as if from a great fountain, and descending down to him, upon which both he and his friends relied, and contributed much to such thoughts concerning him. For his maternal grandmother, Irene, was the first-born daughter of the Emperor Alexius, who, since he lacked male offspring, ordered red buskins to be placed upon her, so that she herself, and whoever might be joined to her, should succeed him in the empire. And so he joined her to Alexius Palæologus, and at once honored him with the title of Despot; and if death had not snatched him away before, he would have been emperor after his father-in-law, Alexius. But when he died, having left only one daughter, her mother, not long after, gave her in marriage to Andronicus Palæologus, whom the Emperor Theodorus subsequently honored as Grand Domestic. From them was born the Comnenus Michael, a double Palæologus, so to speak, on both the paternal and maternal sides. He had therefore from this source, as has been said, no small advantages for the matter which is now being treated; and to speak briefly, in all things and from every side the man was illustrious and worthy of respect, and his fame gradually spread about, little by little stealing into the ears of all and enchanting them, as it were.

III. Nor did the patriarch himself shrink from his love, but if he did not love him more than the others, he did not love him less than any other; and he shared with him secret counsels, and what is greater, he entrusted the keys of the imperial treasury to him alone, whenever there was need of money for military purposes and the common necessity of the state required it. This was most effective for clandestine councils, and brought a swift end to those things which had long been debated. For having received the power to handle such wealth, which he might indeed have wished for, but never would have dared to hope for, he poured it out by full measures into the hands of the nobles and the soldiers, and also those who knew how to soothe the people with eloquence. Among whom were not a few of the priestly order.

^C IV. From this, frequent councils were held by all these men, by which the patriarch was urged not to desist, but to exper-

- ^A ience the necessity of offering appropriate providence to the present affairs. For indeed, they argued, these things were not of such a nature that they could be managed with little diligence, or that, if ignored, their status would remain intact; rather, they stood in present peril of total destruction, just like a ship laden with infinite cargo without a rudder in the midst of the sea, or a great building whose foundations have been shaken. And immediately, Michael Comnenus Palaeologus ^B was on the tongue of the majority, as he was sufficiently endowed with wisdom and experience in affairs to sustain the great mass of the imperial administration until the son of the emperor should reach a mature age. The patriarch gave his assent to these views and approved this opinion; and thus Michael Comnenus presided over the state, possessed of every authority, excepting only the imperial insignia. This was for Michael the beginning and the first step toward ascending to the imperial pinnacle. From that time on, his affairs proceeded with favorable winds, and, as they say, he was carried with full sails into the harbor of the empire.

V. A few days having elapsed, his supporters convened another council, arguing that it was not fitting that he who administered the affairs of the empire and the state, and who gave audience to the embassies of many nations, should lack a dignity next to the imperial, both so that the honor of the Roman nation might be maintained, and also that those things which he would meanwhile decree might be firm. For these reasons, therefore, he was adorned with the title of Despot, both by the patriarch and by the son of the emperor.

CAPUT V

1. In these times, however, when the Despot Michael heard that his father-in-law, the emperor Theodore, had died leaving no successor of mature age, and that for this cause the Roman notables were being agitated by great disturbances, setting aside all other cares, he hoped that with easy labor he would gain possession of the great empire. For he thought that the Romans were not in such a state that they could repel him if he wished to invade Macedonia and Thrace immediately, since the great mass of domestic troubles was meanwhile weighing upon them, ^C and was drawing all their care away from external affairs and claiming it for itself alone. Therefore, he gathers a great army from his own provinces, and receives an even greater one from elsewhere through his allies. For, his embassy having been heard most favorably, those from the Peloponnese and Achaea very quickly arrive

^A, the prince being his son-in-law (for he had his daughter Anna in marriage), as does the one then ruling in Sicily, Manfred, who was also his son-in-law, having taken Helen, daughter of the same, to wife; each one leading with him forces that were, as it was reported, nearly innumerable. For they were not present so much to assist Michael as for the sake of augmenting their own dominions and occupying the cities of others. For they hoped that they would immediately seize all the Roman provinces from the Ionian Gulf as far as Byzantium without labor; and, just as if they already had sure possession of them, they were allotting them among themselves by lot before they had even begun the war.

^B II. Michael Comnenus Palaeologus, having heard of this brilliant and marvelous preparation, and having just recently girded himself with the despotic dignity—and having established his own power at the very beginning of his administration—did not delay, but sent his brother John, who was Sebastocrator, leading a substantial force. And with him, he sent not a few of the illustrious men of the Senate as partners and helpers, who were not at all lacking in military experience. Among these were the Caesar Constantine, his half-brother, and Alexius Strategopulus, who was Grand Domestic; and furthermore, Constantine Tornicius, father-in-law to the Sebastocrator, who was Grand Primicerius. The time was then ^C shortly after the summer solstice, around the very rising of Orion and the Dog Star. Having therefore crossed the Hellespont with the utmost speed, and proceeding through Thrace and Macedonia, they drew with them all the Roman legions of those regions, which were then living in leisure, scattered throughout the cities, villages, and fields. And when the autumnal equinox was just about to occur, they reached Achrida and Deabolis. These are fortifications of Macedonia, providing great security to those who hold them. Having pitched their camp between these, they heard that the enemies themselves were encamped on the plains of Aulon, so that both armies were separated by the mountain extending between them, the Romans inclining toward the north, and the enemy toward the south.

^C III. The enemies, for their part, having sat down around Bellegradum—a fortification very high and, so to speak, rising above the clouds—were besieging it, with the intention that, once they had captured it, they might from there, as if from a convenient station, sally forth into all the other western provinces of the Romans, like a great river rushing with violence from a high mountain into the valley below. They were indeed vain and demented, harboring in their minds such things as were not to succeed; for they were ignorant of the fact that all strength of body, all cavalry, and the equipment of arms, with God not assisting, is nothing ^D and is in no way superior to a swarm of ants.

^A And so, having entrusted the whole outcome to their own arrogance and pride, they advanced against the Romans. Thus, the result followed in proportion to their foolish reasoning. The Romans, however, considering themselves to be nothing without divine help, and relying solely on celestial assistance in whatever they undertook, did not hesitate to do battle with far greater numbers, and with God being propitious, they achieved a brilliant victory, as we shall presently relate.

^B IV. For when the Romans had fixed their camp closer to the enemy, they sent a man very well suited to stir up discord and throw the hostile armies into mutual confusion. For this was not something so difficult as to be impossible, since the prince of Achaia and the king of Sicily were foreigners and not of the same lineage as Michael Angelos. He, therefore, immediately arose, and under the guise of a deserter passed over to the enemy by night, and meeting secretly with Michael Angelos, the prince of Aetolia, he said, "Know, that today a great danger hangs over both you and all who are under you. For both your kinsmen and allies—the prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia, and the king of Sicily—are secretly negotiating a peace with the Romans in exchange for fixed bounties. ^C If, therefore, your safety is a care to you, look to your own interests as quickly as possible, before their treaties and agreements are brought to fruition." Michael believed him, and having quietly signaled to as many of his own men as he could and as time permitted, he fled before the sun had risen. Following him, others and yet others, upon hearing whispers of his flight, set out after him, and thus all his soldiers, scattering in all directions and each striving to outstrip the other in the flight, took to their heels.

V. But in the morning the allies, having awakened and learned of Michael’s flight (for which they could conjecture no cause), were struck dumb with amazement, and they were afraid to provoke the Romans in arms, both because they were ignorant of what was happening and because they were now fewer in number, having formerly been very numerous. ^D Therefore, they turned to flight, believing themselves betrayed by Michael. The Romans, falling upon them thus disordered with an immediate assault, slew the greatest part of them; the rest, with few exceptions, they took alive, among whom was the prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia himself. But the king of Sicily fled secretly with a very few of his own men.

BOOK FOUR OF THE BYZANTINE HISTORY OF NICEPHORUS GREGORAS

CHAPTER ONE

^A While these things were being transacted there, men eminent for their authority and nobility set Michael Palaiologos upon a shield in the vicinity of Magnesia and acclaimed him emperor. ^B When the patriarch Arsenios, who was dwelling at Nicaea at that time, heard this, he felt a sorrow in his heart sharper than any sword; nor could he find any rest at all, being anxious for the boy [the young emperor, John IV Laskaris]. Therefore, he first attempted to subject both the man who had been acclaimed and those who had acclaimed him to excommunication. Afterwards, he desisted, thinking it more moderate and better to bind them with fearful oaths that they would neither lay a treacherous hand upon the life of the boy, nor devise any loss or usurpation of his sovereignty. And this was indeed done, just as the Kalends of December were beginning to shine forth; and a full month had not yet passed ^B before that same man who had feared these things, and who had negotiated and taken safeguards for those very matters, placed the crown upon the head of Michael Palaiologos with his own hands inside the holy bema, and...

and through the royal diadem, and the will of the others, as many as were of the Senate and as many as were of the priestly order, he himself also being drawn into the agreement. Yet he does not grant to him the perpetual imperial authority, but rather, as matters for the time being made it necessary, he administered it until the legitimate heir and successor to the empire should reach maturity. Only then would he willingly yield to him both the imperial thrones and all the royal symbols at once. And upon these terms, oaths even more fearsome than the previous ones were sworn.

II. Victory in the Peloponnese and the recovery of cities

Then, as if it were a most excellent omen for his reign ^B, news of the victory of the Romans in the West was brought to him, and shortly thereafter those who had achieved this victory arrived, bringing with them as captives the prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia and very many others of the enemy. And they received the rewards and prizes suitable for their labors. For the Sebastokrator was raised by the Emperor to the dignity of Despot; the Grand Domestic to that of Caesar; and the Caesar, together with the father-in-law of the Despot, to that of Sebastokrator. He also made the distinction of his father-in-law notable, in that golden eagles were fitted onto his blue buskins. But the prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia, buying his freedom and his life, gave to the Emperor the three best of the cities in the Peloponnese: Monemvasia, ^C and the one near Leuctra, which was formerly called by the Greeks the Tainarian promontory, and a third, Sparta, which holds the primacy of Laconia. And thus, as if snatched from the jaws of the underworld, he was restored to his own people. Now, Constantine, the brother of the Emperor by the same mother—whom, as we said a little before, he had made Sebastokrator from Caesar—was sent to have authority over those Peloponnesian cities. And having gone thither, he won many victories against the Latins of the Peloponnese and acquired many other cities, using those three as great staging grounds for war. ^D

^A III. After these events, Arsenius, having abandoned the patriarchal throne, retired to the seaside monastery of Paschasius for the sake of quiet. The reason for this withdrawal was the contemptuous treatment of John Lascaris, the son of the emperor. For the emperor Michael Palaeologus had sent him a little earlier to Magnesia to be kept in custody, lest his presence stir up those who were otherwise desirous of revolution. Consequently, Nicephorus, the metropolitan of Ephesus, was elevated to the patriarchal throne in the place of Arsenius; he died after completing one year in that dignity.

IV. The emperor, however, crossed over into Thrace with large forces, with the intention of invading the suburbs of Constantinople to test the fortunes of war. And having ceased to remain outside, he advanced further and first besieged the fortress known as Galata, situated on the opposite shore, as if he would easily gain control of the City only if he first occupied that place. But these hopes were nothing other than the dreams of wakeful men. For although he surrounded that fortress with many stone-throwing engines and undertook many assaults, he was nevertheless unable to capture it. Hence, he fortified the castles in the territory surrounding Byzantium and left soldiers in them, having imposed upon them the duty to harass the Byzantine Latins with frequent raids and ambushes, so that, if possible, they might not even be permitted to look outside the walls. This situation reduced the Latins to such poverty that, due to a shortage of wood, they demolished many of the most beautiful houses of the city for necessary use as fuel. Thence he returned to Nicaea, which, after the devastation of Byzantium, had been the royal residence of the Romans, and he stayed there for some time.

^D V. Meanwhile, during these times, the Scythians, having crossed the Euphrates, subdued Syria as far as Palestine, and likewise Arabia. For human greed does not easily rest so long as fortune responds to one's efforts. And having obtained many spoils there, they returned home with full hands, having imposed annual tributes upon the Syrians, Arabs, and Phoenicians, as if they were some miserable slaves. In the following year, they also invaded Asia on this side of the Euphrates (that is, Asia Minor), and having pillaged it, they easily subdued it, with the limits of their incursion and movement directed toward

^A the north, toward Cappadocia and the river Thermodon, and toward the south, toward Cilicia and the parts of the Taurus—the greatest of the mountains in Asia—which divide into many regions a short distance from their sources.

VI. Then they seek even the kingdoms of the Turks. Wherefore the sultan Azatines, an exile with his brother Melek ^B, flees to the Roman Emperor Michael Palaeologus, bearing credible pledges—reminders of not very ancient hospitality and great protection—as he himself had once received him when he was fleeing the impending danger from Emperor [Theodore], and bore in his heart the traces of those great and most grievous terrors. Having reminded him of these things, he asks for one of two things: either an alliance against the Scythians, or that he assign him some portion of Roman land, a sort of allotment for a permanent dwelling for himself and those with him. For he was bringing with him his wife and children and a large retinue, and in addition to these, very great and costly riches. ^C To the Emperor, however, pressured by so many wars on all sides, it did not seem at all safe to fragment the Roman forces, nor to assign a portion of land to such a man, who had commanded many provinces and had been raised in the royal manner from his youth; and this was not without suspicion or fear for the future. For there was a necessity that those under his command would seek their master, and those scattered here and there, wandering like those at night, would congregate toward the one who held the torch and showed the way, and in time become an unbearable ill for the Romans; ^D whence he kept his mind, as if on a scale, suspended, and led him on, entertaining him with hopes like a parasite.

CAPUT II.

I. The second year was passing, from the time Michael had attained the imperial throne and held dominion over the western and Thessalian arms, and already the fourth year and the seventieth from his birth was passing as he neared his end.

^A Having repressed (to speak of the battle of the Acarnanians and Aetolians), the evil and thorny shoots sprouted up again from that wicked root, and once more there were violations of oaths and hostilities on the part of the rebel Michael. The Emperor therefore quickly sent the Caesar Strategopoulos against him, having given him a little over eight hundred Bithynian hoplites, and ordered him to levy as many additional soldiers as might be required from Thrace and Macedonia. He also commanded him in passing to make a detour with the Bithynian hoplites he was taking with him through the suburbs of Byzantium, in order to perturb the Latins who were in the city, so that they might not be allowed to enjoy complete leisure and remain idle, or roam beyond the walls whenever they pleased, but rather be in perpetual fear, and as it were, imprisoned in a gaol.

^B Now, after the Caesar had crossed the Propontis, he encamped near Rhegium. There he encountered certain men of the marketplace, and through the great and secret designs of the Providence that governs all things—which often does not assist the vast multitude of horses and armies, but rather associates itself with and imparts greatest victories to small forces which offer no very flattering hope—he acted. For their armor and the abundance of their other gear often corrupt the hope of the former and do not allow them to be raised upward to the Lord of life and death, but rather, by a certain heavy weight, compel them to be bowed down and for the most part to wallow on the earth. Conversely, the scarcity of necessities makes the latter more agile, compels them, as it were, to run towards the heavens, and to invoke the right hand from above with more fervent prayers. It is for this very reason that many who have hoped for great things have experienced the opposite of what they hoped for; while others, out of extreme straits, when they had despaired of themselves, have obtained the greatest triumphs. Behold, for instance, in the present matter, not fewer than three emperors, having often attacked Constantinople with many thousands of men, returned without success, not even having been able to approach the walls clearly. But the Caesar took her captive, not leading an army of even one thousand men, nor possessing any engine of war for walls, nor any multitude of siege machines, but having hung the whole matter upon divine aid alone. He took it in this manner.

^C For when the Caesar encountered those men, Romans by race and natives of Constantinople, who were living outside the city for the sake of grain and the gathering of fruits, he asked them about the strength of the Latins, how great and of what kind it was, and about other things which it is proper for a leader of armies, fully instructed in the experience of such matters, to inquire into closely. They, having for a long time ^D (the people were headless, the entire multitude was self-willed).

Chapter III

also been distressed by the yoke of the Latins, and indeed for other reasons desiring to live among their own kin rather than among foreigners, considered the meeting with the Caesar a most excellent stroke of luck. They reported everything clearly, and upon these terms they concluded agreements with the Caesar regarding treachery, and received promises of great rewards, as if the matter were already a settled deed. For they declared not only that the power of the Latins was now weak, but also that the greatest ^A part of it was far away, occupied in the siege of Daphnusia. Now this city is situated on the Euxine Sea, surrounded by much water, and is one thousand stades distant from Constantinople. They added that it was easy for them to prepare an entry for the army by night, and at the same time to assist them with their friends, both with hands and weapons and with all their might, to repel their opponents. For they possessed a house very near to the gate that looks straight toward the church of the Theotokos of the Spring, and they knew of a secret entrance, which an ancient tunnel—as if offered for this very purpose—provided clandestinely; through which fifty armed men could enter by night, kill the guards, break the gate, and ^B make an easy entry for the entire army.

Chapter IV. These things the men stated; and returning home, after a few days had passed, they brought what they had promised into reality. The Caesar enters Constantinople by night towards dawn, and having spent the day somewhere in those parts, with his forces arrayed for battle, the next day he orders fire to be set to the houses, and having set the city ablaze in four places, he intended to bring about the ruin of the Latins through a double war. Now the palace of the Latins was the monastery of the Pantokrator. The one reigning in Constantinople at that time was Baldwin, nephew by his sister of the first Baldwin. For his brother Henry succeeded that one, and to him succeeded Robert, the first ^C born son of his sister Iolenthe; and to Robert, his brother by age next, Baldwin, who was the fourth and last emperor of Constantinople descending from the first Baldwin. He, having risen at dawn and heard that the enemies were inside, and at the same time seeing that the fire had wrapped the entire city and was about to reach his own palace, driven by the wind, first looked to arms and war, having gathered such Latin soldiers as were present. But when he immediately perceived that resistance was useless ^D

he sent them away and, having put on the insignia of the empire ^D and thrown himself, naked, into a small boat, he sought his safety in flight.

V. The rumor ^A of this event reached on that same day those who were besieging Daphnusia. They, having weighed anchor at once, sailed by as quickly as they ever had, and on the following day were seen sailing past and around the city walls, gathering as many—insofar as it was possible—of the Latins who were falling out. And this they continued to do from evening until dawn. At daybreak, having spread sails, they set their course straight for Italy ^B, they too bidding a long farewell to their illegitimate fatherland. The news of what had happened reached with all speed the emperor at Nicaea. He did not at first easily believe it, reflecting that a short time before he had arrived with a myriad of spears and, having displayed a myriad of engines, had not been able to capture even the smallest hamlet of the Galatians; yet now, paradoxically, he heard that Constantinople, the great wonder of the world, had been easily captured by eight hundred men. Then, coming to himself and realizing that the providence of God is able to give growth to things that are dry, and wealth to the poor, and strength to the weak, and greatness to the small—just as the contrary occurs, when the rich man glories in his own wealth and the powerful man in his own strength—he stretched out his hands to the Lord in thanksgiving and recited many hymns adapted to the subject. The emperor thus disposed his own heart regarding what he had heard. But his diligent task, setting aside all other affairs, was from then on to advance to the queen of cities together with his wife, the Augusta ^C, and with his son, Andronicus the young emperor, who was in his second year of age.

VI. Many days passed, and the queen of cities held the emperor; but he did not enter it before the divine image of the all-holy Mother of God, the Hodegetria, had been brought into what is called the Golden Gate.

to which he offered up hymns of thanksgiving; and only then did he enter on foot and at a slow pace, with the divine image of the Mother of God preceding him. Upon arriving, he first took up residence in the palace closest to the Hippodrome. For the palace at Blachernae had long been neglected and was filled for the most part with smoke and dust. ^A Indeed, it was possible to see the queen of cities as a field of desolation, full of ruins and rubble, with some houses pulled down and others showing the small remains of a great fire. For the fury of the flames had often before marred her beauty and her finest adornments, ever since the servitude to the Latins first threatened her. Once it had been subjected, they did not care for it at all, but even by night and by day destroyed it in every way, as if they did not trust that they would hold it forever, with God, I believe, signifying to them through hidden voices what was to come. Nor did that last fire, which the Romans had recently set to the houses to strike terror into the Latins, ^B fail to deform it significantly.

VII. Therefore, the emperor’s first and most important task was to purge it at once, and to bring that manifold confusion into better order as much as possible, for instance by propping up the temples that had not yet entirely collapsed, and filling the vacant houses with inhabitants. Second, to recall the patriarch Arsenius, since the patriarchal throne was vacant at that time. Thus the patriarchal throne of Constantinople once again had Arsenius as patriarch, partly willing and partly unwilling: unwilling on account of earlier offenses, but willing because he, too, desired to behold the queen of cities, and because he was not entirely ^C exempt from the love of glory. For he too was a man; and it is nothing new if, while others were possessed by much greater ambition, he himself struggled with less—or rather, he did not love the seat so much as he judged it unjust to despise the lot that had rightfully fallen to him. Third, to pay a worthy reward to Alexius the Caesar, through whose efforts God had granted the queen of cities to the Romans. The reward was a most frequent and splendid triumph, decreed by the emperor, in which the Caesar might process with great pomp through the entire city, adorned not only with the insignia of a Caesar but also crowned with a precious crown, such that it is little short of saying it was imperial. And this was indeed done. Furthermore, the emperor commanded that the ^D name of the Caesar be celebrated throughout the entire Roman empire, together with the names of the emperors, in public proclamations and acclamations for the duration of a full year.

CHAPTER III.

^A 1 Now, such were the successes of the Caesar. But it is the custom of the author of envy to sow certain painful trials, hostile to good fortunes, just as one sows darnel in a field of wheat. And he does not allow the good of happiness in this life to remain unadulterated to the end, so that it might generally prevail for those who possess it. For this reason, Philip, the tyrant of Macedonia, when three successes once fell to him in a single day, was indeed inwardly elated in the disposition of his soul; yet he did not turn to giving a boastful tongue to those present, nor did he raise his eyebrow too high. But knowing that more excessive sorrows sprout from excessive successes, he was more moderate in his bearing toward what had occurred, and he felt a fear concerning the future that was greater in proportion to his happiness. And rising, he said, "O God, mix some moderate misfortune into these goods, lest, carried away by the pleasures of great blessings, I fall unexpectedly into great precipices of evils." For these very reasons, the Telchines—those beings trained in these arts of harming—having cast an envious eye upon the successes of the Caesar, did not allow him to spend the remaining time of his life free from trouble, as the narrative will show as it proceeds.

^B 2 For after these great trophies and triumphal celebrations, the Caesar is again sent by the emperor on the planned expedition, to wage war against Michael, the despot of Epirus and Aetolia. For this man had crossed his own boundaries and was ravaging Roman lands, as the narrative has already disclosed. The Caesar, having collected the Thracian and Macedonian armies and having made a sufficient force, proceeds against his adversary. And after many shifts of the war and many casts of the dice of fortune, the Roman armies are defeated; and the Caesar is captured alive, he who by the fame of recent trophies and triumphs had lately brought the North and the South into wonderment. Thus, nothing among humans is genuine or steadfast, but all things surge like the sea in uncertain outcome and suffer a kind of shipwreck. A certain profound error mocks and insults human skill and knowledge, pushing and disturbing all the labor of deliberations upward and downward, and like dice, overturning plans fixed by firm decrees. Cyrus, who once ruled the Persians, Medes, and Chaldeans, after having overrun the greatest part of Asia and having most easily stormed Babylon, the glory of Asia, is shamefully abandoned by fortune when he joins battle with a Massagetic woman. Hannibal the Carthaginian, who subdued Libya and all of Africa, after the Iberian ^C campaigns...

and ^A Celtic victories, after crossing the most rugged Alps, and after his marvelous victories against the Romans, was unable, after a short time, to bear the sword even within his own fatherland; but he departed stripped of everything, driving from land to land, or rather being driven cruelly by fortune. Pompeius Magnus, Roman consul and commander-in-chief, after having run as far as the Caucasian mountains and the Caspian Sea, after having crushed countless nations, and after having gifted Rome with endless heaps of wealth, finally, deserted by his small band of armed men, lost his great glory in his own territory at the hands of the least of armies. In the same way, the Caesar who is now the subject of our discourse, having achieved the greatest victories yesterday, becomes prey to more obscure struggles today. For God, in a more mystical way, achieves His purpose through such events, so that, by recognizing our own power in the defeats ^B at the hands of lesser men, we may truly ascribe the causes of great and extraordinary triumphs to God alone.

CAPUT III

CAPUT IV. Palæologus secures his power; he gives the daughters of Theodore Lascaris in marriage. Who their husbands were. He blinds their brother, John. What the opinion of Arsenius was regarding these events. How he barred Palæologus from the sacraments. Palæologus seeks forgiveness for his crime. He is not heard. A council is summoned against the patriarch. The prelates are devoid of brotherly love. The crime objected against Arsenius. Concerning the Asutine Turk. The patriarch does not present himself for judgement. He is condemned as contumacious. Germanus succeeds him. What his merits were toward Palæologus.

I. However, the emperor, having now become master of Constantinople, and seeing that ^D matters were moving with a favorable wind for him, and that the breezes of fortune were breathing kindly upon his right hand, decided that he should now assert his claim to the empire. From that time on, it was his concern to root out entirely every threatening fear, dreading lest those who now in secret cursed him with terrible oaths, and oppressed their anger as if at the point of giving birth, might rely upon no small pretext—namely, the [right of] succeeding to the empire and the paternal inheritance—

^A lest, from being in ambush, they should break out into open violence and create the utmost danger for him. Therefore, he betroths Theodora, one of the daughters of the emperor Theodore Lascaris, to a certain Latin named Velicurtus, a nobleman indeed, but not particularly illustrious, who had arrived in the imperial city from the Peloponnese regarding some business by chance, and he urges him to take her away home with him. He betroths the other, Irenē by name, to a certain man of the rank of count, named Vintimilia, a Genoese, who also happened to have come to Constantinople, and he permits him to depart home with her as well. But he sends away their brother, John, who was already in his tenth year, and sees to it that he is deprived of his eyes; and in this way he secures for himself the entire succession to the empire, free from suspicion and all fear.

^B II. But the patriarch Arsenius, having heard of the blinding of John, was troubled and bounded away, and running to and fro through the house, lamenting, he struck his breast with his hands without restraint, and tormented his heart with piercing thoughts; he announced this injury to the earth and the sun, and implored the help of the elements to avenge such an unworthy crime; he sought for a remedy for the evil, and being bereft of it, he sent forth from his mouth heavy sighs—or rather, he exhaled strong fumes from his innermost heart, kindled by the flame of his grief. But since there was no way of taking vengeance, nor any hope, he initiated another plan. And while he forbade the emperor from the sacraments, he did not remove the mention of him in the psalmodies, fearing lest, through anger, he might attempt some new innovation against the Church, or lest the patriarch, ^C fleeing the smoke (as the saying goes), might be forced against his will to fall into the fire. But he [the emperor], bearing the censure moderately, remained for several days with a suppliant gesture and demeanor, and awaited his absolution.

III. But when he was frustrated in his hopes, he turned to vengeance—not such as the license of power might altogether suggest (for he did not use his power openly)—but he gathered a council of bishops and ordered them to bring into canonical examination the crimes that were being whispered here and there by certain people against the patriarch. Those who received this command eagerly—how shall I say it?—as an example of brotherly love to others...

and as having been prescribed by the Lord, summoned a council and proclaimed that the accusers should come forward into the midst. But they, each outdoing the other in zeal, rushed in; and the accusation uttered was that the Sultan Azatinus had often been present while the holy doxology was being performed and had spoken with the patriarch inside the temple. Although it was known both to the emperor and to the high priests that he was born of Christian parents 93 and had himself been initiated into the divine baptism; and that by a turn of fortune, as often happens contrary to expectation, he had been raised to be Sultan and leader of the Turks, at that time keeping the matters of piety hidden in secret, but now in Constantinople both venerating the holy icons and openly celebrating all the customs of the Christians. But these facts, serving the patriarch as strong weapons, were rejected by his adversaries as opposed and ^B contrary to their aim of deposing him; and they maintained that these things were first doubtful and uncertain, and later clearly of no account at all.

IV. The patriarch is summoned to plead his case, but he does not appear. Instead, he objects that the council is being held by the emperor's command and that the very person who is his adversary is presiding as judge. Therefore, they condemn him for contumacy and order him to vacate the throne; and at the same time, those who were to take him into exile were present. He, however, having long desired quiet and being greatly burdened by the present state of affairs, willingly followed those by whom he was being led away. On the third day, he arrived at Proconnesus. Then, Germanus 95, bishop of Adrianopolis, is substituted in his place, being bound to the emperor by ^C an old friendship, and he was bestowed with this dignity as if it were a debt owed to him. For when Germannus had previously fled to the sultan for fear of the emperor Theodore Lascaris—as has been related—and was living a monastic life on the further borders of the Romans' lands, he had joyfully met him, received him magnificently, and sent him on his way provided with generous supplies; and later, when the emperor had obtained the empire, he had approached him, and after many other honors, had been installed on the Adrianopolitan throne. And from there, finally, he was transferred to the patriarchal seat.

CAPUT V.

I. At this time, a certain defector, Ica-

^A Icarius by name, of the one who ruled Euboea (this being a province of the Venetians), having revolted after the capture of Constantinople, and having gained over not a few others, seized a fortified stronghold of the Euboean promontory; from which he would frequently descend and plunder the neighboring fields and villages, so that in a short time he terrified all the country folk to such a degree that they dared neither to live outside the walls, nor to loiter in the villages and fields without scouts. Not much time passed before he became master of a certain small fortified town, so that from then on he also began to prepare to do battle openly against the ruler of Euboea. But fearing that he, having arrived with a large force, might overthrow him, he sent an embassy to the Emperor regarding an alliance; and having received it for the time being, he established a sufficient garrison in the small town. He himself, however, like a deserter, comes to the Emperor, promising other things, and that if he should receive a sufficient army from the Romans, nothing would prevent him from placing the whole of Euboea under the Emperor's power.

II. He departs, therefore, in haste with a large Roman army, before the Euboeans could perceive his approach. Knowing well the Latin arrogance, and that the leader of Euboea would not endure it if he should see a foreign army dashing through the city without acting suddenly, he stations many soldiers in ambush around the city by night. ^B Then, at dawn, he himself appears, raiding the surrounding areas, so that the Latins who were found within the walls, along with their leader, were immediately forced to take up arms and to meet the enemy with great speed. From where, the captains, having fallen upon them suddenly from behind and encircled them with their companies, and Icarius himself appearing from the front with the armies he had brought with him, they capture the leader of Euboea ^C alive, along with very many others with him; as for the rest, they turned them into work for their swords.

III. The leader of Euboea is, however, led as a captive by Icarius to the Emperor, and after living a short time, he died. He died in this manner. Having entered the palace and standing before the gate as a captive, since the ^D Great Lord—

^A seeing him sitting on the imperial throne, with the whole senate standing about him in splendid and seemly attire, and seeing Icarius, once a slave a few days ago, now entering and leaving in gorgeous apparel and with a grave demeanor, and whispering familiarly among those with whom the Emperor conversed, his spirit suddenly collapsed, and he fell prone to the earth ^A, unable to endure the paradox of such violent fortune.

IV. After the Latins had been driven from the city, however, a crowd of craftsmen and street-level men remained, mixed from the Venetians and Pisans. Wherefore it did not seem safe or conducive to peace to admit those from Genoa into the city as well. For this reason, the Emperor assigned them a place for habitation in the region of Galata, across from the city, granting them also the commercial immunity he had promised. For before the Queen City was captured, the Emperor had promised to grant them such immunity if they assisted him against the Latins who held the city; a promise he fulfilled just now, even though he had captured the city without their help. The magistrates sent there at fixed times are designated as follows: from Venice, the one who is called *bajulus*; from Pisa, the *consul*; from Genoa, the *potestas*. When these names are translated into the Greek tongue, they correspond respectively to: ^B for *bajulus*, *epitropos*; for *consul*, *ephoros*; for *potestas*, *exousiastes*.

V. But Baldwin, having escaped the danger of Constantinople and sailed to Italy, contracted an affinity with Charles, the king of Italy, betrothing his son to that man’s daughter, hoping that with his resources he would recover Constantinople—a vain hope and desire. For the Emperor had equipped a very large fleet and filled more than sixty triremes with other men and also with the Gasmulic race ^C. These people were nourished in the customs of both the Romans and the Latins; and thus they had acquired from the former the prudence to undertake, and from the latter the boldness to wage, war. Along with them was also an armed naval force of Laconians, whom the common tongue calls Tzacones by a corrupted name, who had recently betaken themselves from the Peloponnese to the Emperor. And so the imperial fleet, thus magnificently equipped, sailed by the Emperor’s command and cast the greatest terror and tumult into the Latins ^D. It also recovered almost all the islands of the Aegean Sea, Lemnos, Chios, Rhodes, and the rest that had served the Latins.

VI. Meanwhile, while these things were being carried on at sea, he began once again to break his word and [to ravage] the neighboring Roman territory.

^A This, when heard, moved the emperor to grief and anger, so that he was most desirous of departing thither as quickly as possible, in order to heal the maladies of the situation there himself. And while the matter was in this state, and the emperor was spending his time in Thessaly, a sign from heaven appeared, a prophet and harbinger of evils. For there was a comet clearly visible, in the vicinity of the sign of Taurus, ^B appearing by night under the dawn and twilight a little above the horizon; and as much as the sun proceeded toward the following parts, by so much did it, too, day by day, slowly recede from the horizon, until at length it even passed the meridian itself. For when the comet first began to appear, the sun at that time was traversing Cancer, bringing about the summer season. But when it faded and disappeared, the sun was passing through the autumnal equinox; thus, while the sun traversed a space of three signs from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, the comet remained fixed about Taurus and slowly spent itself. This, I say, was seen by the emperor as a prophet and harbinger of evils. Therefore, ^C he immediately bade farewell to Thessaly and, letting go the reins, hastened to Byzantium. For the report of the Scythians—who would soon invade the Roman territories—was troubling him not a little. But before the emperor could return to the City, the Scythians who dwell along the Ister poured out over almost the whole of Thrace, like a sea that has flooded and leaped over its boundaries to a great extent. For the nation of the Scythians is most rapid, so that they often accomplish in one day a [three-day] journey. The cause of their excursion, however, was as follows.

CAPUT VI.

^D I. We have said that Constantine, the ruler of the Bulgarians, was married to the daughter of the Emperor Lascaris. She, having heard of the blinding of her brother John, did not rest, but kept bothering her husband and urging him toward the vengeance of what had been done; hence he was seeking an opportunity for the redress of the injury. While, however, that plan was in suspense, Sultan Azatines provided fuel for the flame of his impulse. For when the emperor was away from home, he [Azatines] had been ordered to make his residence at the maritime town of Aenos, so that there might also be a guard stationed secretly over him, which would prevent his suspected flight. Since this seemed to him an intolerable evil, it was the cause of him warning Constantine, who was meditating making war upon the Romans, and promising him no small amount of money if he were liberated by his aid.

II. Constantine took these pretexts as no small pledge; and since he was now [meeting the emperor] returning from Thessaly...

and had learned that he was to return to Byzantium, he summoned more than twenty thousand of the Scythians living along the Ister. With these he invaded the Roman territory with all speed, trusting that he would certainly catch the emperor himself as he returned. The Scythians, having spread themselves out like a dragnet over the whole of Thrace, drove their prey as far as the sandy shores of the sea, so that neither beast, nor any man, nor the emperor himself might escape them. In all other respects, things had turned out according to their wishes, but the emperor alone, having remained caught by no one, deceived their hopes. For he had anticipated their incursion and, stealing away through the mountains near Ganos, he descended to the sea; there, by a certain divine providence, he encountered two Latin triremes which were on their way to Byzantium and were passing by that place for the purpose of taking on water. Having boarded them, he arrived at the imperial city on the second day. ^B III. For the Scythians, who had missed the occasion of capturing the emperor, there remained the task of not being defrauded of Sultan Azatine. Wherefore all their labor and course was directed straight toward Aenus, so that they might carry him off, either alone, if the citizens were willing, or, if they were unwilling, together with the small town itself and its inhabitants. But those who were holding him, fearing that they might be utterly destroyed, secured their own safety by handing him over, and thus the enemies departed in peace. In their return, one could see them driving off a nearly innumerable multitude of Thracians like beasts of burden, so that for a long time one could scarcely see even rare oxen or plowmen in Thrace; to such a degree did they despoil it of both inhabitants and beasts. But as for the account of the sultan, let it be deferred for now; for we shall speak of his affairs more fully later. His wife and children were immediately placed in custody, and his money was brought into the imperial treasury. His retinue, however, which consisted of very many and most warlike men, were regenerated by the Christian baptism and were enrolled in the Roman army. ^C

CHAPTER VII.

as to how great it was became clear. But because it had already acquired strength and an unassailable hold through custom, it could not be checked. For they would transport themselves annually, sometimes in one, sometimes in two merchant ships, to the European Scythians dwelling around the Maeotic marshes and the Tanais; and ^A from them they would receive some men who offered themselves voluntarily, and others they would buy, sold by their masters or parents; then, returning thence to Egyptian Babylon and Alexandria, they would provide Scythian legions to Egypt. They say the Egyptians are warlike not at all, but rather for the most part cowardly and effeminate; for this reason they are compelled to procure foreign soldiers, and, by means of money-bought slaves, to submit themselves almost to them as to masters, since they are free from all the anxieties of those things which human life requires. ^B Therefore, in a not very long time, through this cause, the Arabs who inhabit Egypt prepared an army of such size that they became extremely formidable not only to the Westerners, but also to those peoples who dwell more toward the East. For they enslaved all of Africa and Libya as far as Gades; then Phoenicia and Syria, and the entire coastline as far as Cilicia, having slaughtered the inhabitants—later, indeed, the Galatians, or Gauls and Celts, who for a long time had occupied the best provinces and cities of those regions, and who had crossed over there from the West in this way.

II.

Having thus crossed the Ister ^A in that place, and having advanced through Thrace, they encamped.

III. At that time, Alexius Comnenus presided over the Roman state. They sent embassies to him, seeking trade for the purchase of necessary supplies, and at the same time, transport across the Hellespont to the East. This opportunity seemed most favorable to the Emperor, and he seized it, as it greatly served his own purpose. For he, having only recently taken up the scepter of the empire ^B and seeing the Roman state attacked from all sides and cruelly torn apart by the great negligence of previous emperors (for the Turks had for a long time held all things to the East, including the celebrated city of Nicaea; moreover, a huge shortage of money had despoiled the court of its finery and disfigured it, all hope of expected revenues being cut off; and nothing but extreme and most funereal evils was expected) — seeing, therefore, the state of affairs to be such and being in distress, he considered the arrival of the Celts to be a most favorable and very timely piece of good fortune. Having ^C held discussions with them, he made a treaty: that if, having thus joined forces, they should drive out the Turks who were occupying the Roman provinces and cities, it would be permitted for them to take the wealth of those they drove out, but for the Emperor, the cities, stripped of their wealth. Having eagerly accepted this condition, they crossed the Hellespont with the Emperor himself.

IV. But just as fire, when it falls into a dense forest, consumes some things quickly like straw, and others, on account of their greenness, more slowly—yet still consumes them—so this twofold army, constituted of Celts and Romans, appeared terrible to the enemy ^D and difficult to withstand, both because of the weight of their armor and strength of body, and because of the impregnable constancy of their spirits. Consequently, some of the enemy were, so to speak, trodden down like grass and mud; others fought back, protected at times by the narrowness of the terrain, and at others by the walls of Roman cities. But not even their fortune remained entirely invincible; for some made surrender, others were overcome by force, and others departed as exiles and fugitives. In this way, they purged all of Asia that lies within the Halys, as well as that which is bounded by the Meander and Pamphylia, and having received the wealth of the liberated cities as promised, they continued on the journey they had begun. And from then on, they were not a little anxious as to how, having crossed those mountains which lie between Pamphylia and Cilicia, they should wage war against the Cilicians, Syrians, and Phoenicians, if safe passage were not granted to them by these people. But the Cilicians, terrified at the very first sight of them, consulted their own best interests and allowed them safe passage through their lands.

^A They provided a market and guides for the journey, and ^B performed every duty of friendship and hospitality. The Cilicians, indeed, so readily came to terms with these Western Galatians and Celts, fearing not only their numbers and strength, but also feeling a sense of shame, as their religion was very close to their own and not at all alien to them.

V. But when the time came for them to invade Syria and Phoenicia, things did not happen there as they had in the provinces they had left behind. For the Arabs who inhabited that region, being a race of a different kind and exceedingly proud, caused trouble for them—or rather, not for them, but for themselves. For they took up arms and forbade their passage, thinking that their own reputation would be diminished if a foreign and very distant race were to penetrate their land without bloodshed and slaughter. When the Gauls were consequently cut off from supplies and distressed by the lack of those things which neither they nor their pack animals could in any way do without, they decided to determine the outcome of the whole affair by arms. Hence, constant battles broke out, and the massacre of the Arabs, night and day, drenched the land that had reared them with their own blood; likewise, cities were sacked as the strength of the Gauls increased by the day. And to summarize the events that transpired, after the most warlike of the Arabs had been in part killed and laid low, and in part pursued to a great distance, they treated the rest as unarmed slaves and subsequently made their dwelling there. For, having conquered the men, they were themselves conquered by the charm of the places, and they decided to spend the rest of their lives there. In doing so, they rendered themselves guilty of manifest transgression. For their task and the purpose of their departure had been to occupy Palestine, if they could, and either to utterly exterminate the impious men who held the saving tomb, or, by shedding their own blood there, to redeem the salvation of their souls. And such was the love that had made them exiles from their homeland—truly divine, as it were, and praised by all who heard of it—but the love of Phoenicia and Syria ^C shamefully drove out that divine love, inasmuch as they were burdened—or, so to speak, intoxicated—by riches, and judged differently than they had hoped.

VI. But we must return to the point from which we digressed in the narrative concerning these Celtogalatians. For the Arabs in Egypt, having increased their power to a greater degree through that Scythian army, as we have said, crossed their own borders to a very great extent; toward the west, they subdued the Libyan and Mauritanian tribes; and toward the rising sun, they occupied the whole of Happy Arabia, which is bounded by the coast of the Indian Sea and enclosed on both sides by the Persian and Arabian Gulfs; likewise Coelesyria and the whole of Phoenicia, which the Orontes river contains, ^D [was held?] by the descendants of those Celtogalatians.

and in part, as the law of war dictates, putting them to death after a short lapse of time.

CHAPTER VIII.

1. Furthermore, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Germanus, ^B having heard the common people insulting him with the utmost insolence, because he was occupying the see of the legitimate patriarch Arsenius, who was still alive—having left that see to anyone else who might want it—retired to a monastery. And after him, Joseph succeeds to the patriarchate, a man venerable for his gray hair, who had lived for a long time on Mount Galesios, leading an austere life, free from worldly affairs, entirely devoid of Greek learning, and very simple in his manner. For such are the morals of those who have been estranged from civil business and the ways of the world. Emperor Michael made use of his spiritual company and confessed his sins to him. ^C Therefore, after the holy mystagogy was first celebrated by him along with the other bishops, the emperor approached and fell prone in the vestibule of the holy sanctuary, clearly accusing himself of two sins: namely, of perjury and the blinding of the emperor’s son.

And for these he asked for absolution. The patriarch, therefore, standing over him as he lay there, was the first to recite a certain written formula of absolution, and after him, each of the bishops, one by one in their order, read the same. Thus the emperor departed joyful, both for that absolution and because ^D those who were eager [to serve him] in this very thing were in agreement, and there was a kind of dexterity in fulfilling his desires. For it is founded in a deserted place, removed far from worldly tumults. He who founded and established it first was Lazarus, renowned for his asceticism and his great life according to God, who chose this place and dedicated this marvelous monastery within it to the Mother of God, having built and fastened it as a workshop of virtue, so to speak. For the place is a rugged and steep mountain, participating in nothing that contributes to psychological relief or material comfort. For it is neither shaded by trees, nor does it produce grass or any other of those things useful from the earth; nor does it bear fruit in any way at all. It is entirely dry and utterly unsuited for such growths, even if it is otherwise fertile in virtue.

^A And thus the Emperor went away rejoicing, together with such a pardon, thinking that God himself had become propitious and merciful to him.

II. At this time the moon eclipsed the sun, while it was passing the fourth degree of Gemini, around the third hour before noon on the twenty-fifth of May, in the year 6775. The entire eclipse was of approximately twelve digits or points. And at the middle of the eclipse, the darkness around the earth was so great that many stars appeared. This truly portended the greatest and most calamitous disasters for the Romans, which they were about to suffer at the hands of the Turks. For the affliction of the people did not cease from that time, but gradually increased by little and little. Now, that terrestrial evils are signified by such affections of the celestial luminaries, I believe is beyond controversy, unless perhaps someone happens to enjoy vain squabbles. And as for the person whom those things which happen at different times in the theater of this world cannot convince, if one tries to convince him with words, he would be a fool and utterly inept, trying to teach the unteachable. For what happens in the body of one man occurs likewise ^B in the body of this entire universe. For the world is indeed a coherent body, composed of parts and members just like a man; and just as in a man the affliction of the head or neck shoots a sharper pain down to the shins or the ankles, so also in the body of the world the affections of the celestial luminaries, when set in motion, imprint themselves upon the earth and manifest their energy there.

III. After a long time had elapsed following these events, the Emperor gave his son Andronicus a wife, Anna of Pannonia, and ^C at the same time adorned him with the insignia of the empire. Then Andronicus himself swore to his father: first, that he would worship the Church of God rightly, and that he would maintain its privileges in every way and preserve them inviolate; second, that he would guard the life and empire of his father himself, as much as in him lay, safe from all treachery until the very death of the latter. And upon these terms, the whole Roman people swore the customary oaths to the new Emperor Andronicus. The Patriarch and the entire gathering of the Church committed their oath ^D to writing and recorded it in the sacred books; professing that they...

would keep the empire safe for him from all deceit, both they themselves and those who should succeed them in the administration of the Church. The father also permitted him to authorize edicts by signing them in red ink, though without the month and indiction 27, but rather, "Andronicus, by the grace of Christ, Emperor of the Romans 28."

CHAPTER IX

I. ^B Such being the state of affairs, Michael the Despot, the ruler of Epirus and Thessaly, departed from among the living, leaving behind children 29: one baseborn, named John 30, and three born in wedlock, of whom the eldest by age was Nicephorus the Despot, the husband of the Emperor's niece through his sister 31. To his guardianship and wardship the father entrusted the other two, younger in age, Michael and John, who were as yet unmarried. He cut his entire dominion into two parts, of which he left one—which is even called Epirus of old—to Nicephorus the Despot. This territory comprises the Thesprotians and Acarnanians and Dolopians, and in addition to these, the Corcyraeans and Cephallenians and Ithacans. It is bounded on the west by the Adriatic and Ionian Sea, on the north by high mountains, namely Pydnus and those called the Acroceraunians, on the east by the Achelous river, and on the south by the islands of Corcyra and Cephallenia. The other part the father left to his baseborn son John; this also includes the Pelasgians and Phthiotians, and furthermore the Thessalians and the Locrians known as the Ozolae. To the north it has the mountain Olympus, and toward the south Parnassus, both of them high and stretching their peaks into the deep air. But the two, Michael and John, ^C being immediately displeased with the guardianship and oversight of their brother Nicephorus, and thinking that it would not turn out to a good end for them, fled to the Emperor.

II. But the baseborn John, being unrestrained in his impulses and devious in his understanding 32, ^D would not remain quiet, content with his own lot, even though he had recently obtained the honor of Sebastocrator from the Emperor; but by repeatedly breaking his oaths, he ravaged the Roman provinces, so that the Emperor, moved to indignation, sent his own...

brother, John the Despot, with a great host of Romans gathered from everywhere, commanding him to follow him. He, having assembled as great a force as was then available, formed of Paphlagonian and Bithynian cavalry, and adding to these the cohorts of Comans and Turcopoles, went away to recruit infantry forces himself from Thrace and Macedonia. The Sebastocrator, however, hearing of the approach of the Roman ^A forces, consumed his soul with the arrows of anxiety, seeing himself abandoned on all sides, and his own resources unequal to oppose forces of such great preparation. Wherefore, seeing that neither the mask of submission nor the seeking of pardon for his offenses was either feasible or effective, because he had frequently made treaties and never held to his agreements for long, he chose another path. Having fortified his own castles as best he could and made them secure, he went around with his own troops, looking from afar at what was being done by the enemies: perhaps contemplating the hope that he might throw the Roman camp into confusion with traps and sudden raids and injure them in some part. But when he saw that all things were excellently fortified, and that military discipline was observed by the Romans, that attempt was abandoned; and, walking up and down, he feared for his own affairs.

^B III. Thus John the Sebastocrator was in such great anxiety and fear. And perhaps he would have ceased to live at that time, and his domain would have been occupied by the Emperor, had not the immoderation and excessive license of the foreign mercenaries undermined the Roman cause beyond expectation and perverted it most shamefully. For when the Romans had made their incursion into his territories, and with no one resisting them were easily subduing everything, the Comans fighting ^C with them were doing nothing of value; instead, they were plundering and with impunity burning all the shrines and all the monasteries, and dragging away into captivity venerable virgins, and treating sacred things as profane, along with other items, even the sacred icons which they used in place of tables. And why is there a need for many words? They did everything without any fear, as is the custom of impious men. For this reason, the outcome of the war was neither good nor consistent with its beginnings, as the progress of this narrative will show.

IV. For when the Despot John had arrived, bringing with him his army, the towns for the most part made their surrender immediately; others, relying ^D on the strength of their locations, resisted for a time, but soon, unable to endure to the end the violent blows of the siege engines, they too surrendered themselves. Wherefore, the Sebastocrator John, with his affairs desperate on every side, took refuge in the most strongly fortified castle, which is called Neopatras. There the enemies encircled him, and for a long time they sat and besieged him. The fortress itself, 113 situated on a high mountain, easily [disregarded [alt-version omitted]] the siege engines.

yet, because of the crowd of people locked within, it was suffering from a shortage of necessities. For this reason, the Sebastocrator was distracted by all kinds of helplessness, and he turned his mind up and down, seeking a solution to the pressing evils. At length, after much deliberation, he hit upon a plan that was wonderful and truly divine, which he guarded religiously as something sacred and secret, and communicated to no one except the keeper of the city. For a secret entrusted to many ears rather than one breaks out in various ways; and once the name of "secret" is lost, it must be called a "widely spread rumor," permeating the entire camp—both of friends and foes. Hence he, being a prudent man and not ignorant of this, cunningly devised his plan, which was of this nature.

V. Having observed a night in which, due to the new moon, deep darkness surrounded the land, he lowered himself from the wall with a rope. Then, as no other passage was open to him, he entered the Roman camp secretly in tattered clothes; and so that he might not be recognized, he shouted in a loud voice and in words somewhat foreign, as if he were searching for a horse he had lost, and thus he passed through the entire camp and went by. ^B The military throng, however, mocked him, hissed at him, and plagued him with their most delightful taunts. Having passed through the camp with these ruses and being a long way off, he approached a certain remote little monastery and revealed to the abbot alone who he was. Having received from him five beasts of burden and as many servants, he crossed the mountain of Thermopylae at dawn, reached Boeotia the next day, and on the third day arrived in Attica. There he met with the Duke of Athens, to whom he promised money and ^C brilliant and most opulent alliances for his children. Then he requested aid from him, and for a great price he received soldiers—five hundred in all—chosen Athenians.

VI. But the Roman army, thinking the Sebastocrator John was in the fortress, persisted in the siege, and with frequent skirmishes kept harassing the walls (for there was no place from which engines could be brought up), and kept watch over all the exits round about, so that John might not secretly slip away, but be compelled either to surrender voluntarily, or, against his will, be handed over by the citizens, who were crushed by a double evil: the siege and the shortage ^D of necessities within. And they indeed sat there securely; but some even went out on excursions from the camp, some to plunder the neighboring Achaeans, others to hunt: upon these first, so scattered, the Sebastocrator John fell with those five hundred Athenians; and he captured some of them on the spot, and others even until

^A he pursued as far as the camp; so that from the unexpected and sudden nature of the event a tumult and confusion of mind arose in the Roman army, and among the other generals as well as the Despotes John himself, who suspected that either the Prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia had arrived with substantial forces, or that a very great army of Thebans, Euboeans, and Athenians had sallied forth with their own chieftain to the aid of the Sebastocrator John. Therefore, before they could arrive, the Roman army began secretly and little by little to disintegrate; one after another, in their haste to get ahead, they fled without looking back, and although many of the generals shouted and commanded them to stand fast, the soldiers did not obey, but all ran together in the same manner without looking back. So when the generals themselves, along with the Despotes John, perceived that for them to remain in place meant certain destruction, and seeing that there was no prospect of performing any noble or noteworthy deed, and that the hour did not grant any other outcome, they were compelled to retreat, stepping backward along with the remainder of the Paphlagonian army, while yet maintaining a certain order and military discipline.

VII. The disaster that befell the Romans so contrary to expectation

the son of Antigonus, who ruled over that part of Asia which the Euphrates river bounds on the inside.

CAPUT X.

1. Enimvero vix ex hac mæstitia recreatis alud malum priore haud minus nuntiatur, quod jam narrabo. Sinus est, quem Pelasgicum vocant, in mediterranea longissime excurrens, Ossamque et Pelium versus septentrionem relinquens. Sunt autem ii montes altissimi. Hujus sinus extremitatem urbs Demetrii supra dicta attingit. ^B Imperatoria vero classis insulas quæ a Latinis occupabantur præter et circum navigando infestabat. Id malum intolerabile Latinis erat, iis præsertim qui Cretam incolebant, nec minus Eubœam tenentibus. Igitur inita concordia classem instruunt, non ut adversus imperatoriam classem apertum bellum susciperent (quod perinde esset ac si in cœlum jacularentur), sed ut navalibus imperatoris copiis ingruentibus, sua promontoria custodirent, seseque defenderent, simul et terra et mari pugnam cientes.

II. Contigit autem, ut sub hoc tempus imperatoriæ triremes amplius quinquaginta sinum hunc ingressæ velut in tuto portu considerent. Ac Cretenses et Eubœi pridem occasionem captantes et illis insidiantes, tempus ad invadendum illas opportunius aliud sibi dari non posse putaverunt. Itaque ^C triremibus et quadriremibus suis quam celerrime instructis, quæ paulo plures triginta erant, et ligneis turribus in plerisque ad proram exstructis, cursum accelerant: ut priusquam imperatorii ipsorum accessum animadverterent, ipsi naves occuparent, et ex navalibus detraherent vacuas vectoribus, qui interim securi et incauti in terra versarentur. Quæ res, nisi Dominus præter exspectationem opem Romanis attulisset, hostibus e sententia successisset. Nam Romani adventum Cretensium et Eubœorum senserunt, sed angustiæ temporis eos ita ut oportebat armari non siverunt. Tamen solutis anchoris festinanter et ut se habebant in altum provehuntur: et magnam utrique alacritatem præ se ferunt, ^D minus quindecim stadiis a littore distantes.

III. Ac hostiles quidem naves mole et pondere præstabant, tam ob magnitudinem, quam ob armaturam novellam et quodammodo

cæsurae [?], and as cities moving across the sea, they were slow in preparing themselves for battle. But the Romans were as inferior to the enemy in magnitude as they were superior in number; they were, however, swift and agile for surrounding the enemy, but not at all equipped with equal arms. Nevertheless, they were drawn up against them in line of battle, not so much fighting with ships as with men. For the prows of the enemy were like city walls, surrounded with arrogance by a crown of the most robust soldiers. Furthermore, the commander of the Roman fleet, Philanthropenus, sailing around in the flagship, was encouraging his soldiers, being now on the right wing, now on the left. The Roman ships, however, could not make an assault against the prows of the enemy, as the enemy, as if from a firm and stable ground, continually threw large stones upon them from a higher position, along with other things that are conveniently thrown downwards, treating them most wretchedly. Therefore, moving toward the flank, they made an attack insofar as it was possible. Now, the left wing of the enemy was suffering while being struck, with the morning sun confounding their eyes. But the right wing, pressing the Roman ships more violently, was openly prevailing; and it was wounding the Roman soldiers and rowers heavily, so that, now despairing of success, they were rushing forth, fleeing and scattered, onto land, leaving their ships empty on the sand. And if God, who provides a way out for those in straits and gives hope to the hopeless, had not then unexpectedly extended his hand to the Romans, perhaps that would have been the final ruin of the Roman state, oppressed as it was by two great disasters simultaneously. ^C

IV. But someone might justly admire the inscrutable providence of God, by which it came about that an unexpected disaster on land brought an even more unexpected salvation to the fleet. For the brother of the emperor, John the Despotes, who was staying nearby with those who had escaped that land disaster, caught sight of that naval battle taking place; the report of which had already spread and become widely known throughout the Mediterranean. And so, having advanced to the shore of that bay, he sees a miserable spectacle: the naval forces of the Romans themselves were also brought into danger. And immediately leaping down from his horse, he casts away his despotic insignia with many tears; and, "Naked," he says, "I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall depart today." Then he sprinkled his head with dust, and sighing from the depths of his heart, he cried out to the Lord, imploring sudden help from Him, so that after the recent disaster, by this other one, the Roman Empire might not perish utterly and be overturned. Then, trusting that God would be his helper, he undertakes the work; he puts on board the ships, with all diligence, the most approved soldiers chosen from the infantry troops; likewise archers, slingers, and whatever light-armed [troops...]

frequently dispatched, and received the wounded in turn, and replaced them with other fresh and vigorous men, most of whom were armed for the most part with stones against the enemy. When he had continued this until evening, he carried off the victory over the enemies, whose ships were all captured by the Romans, with the exception of two which escaped by flight. Consequently, the entire army sang hymns of thanksgiving and rendered gratitude to God, who had granted them both salvation and victory beyond their hope. ^A Moreover, the emperor’s own brother, John, having laid aside all the insignia of his despotic dignity, as we have said, returned to Byzantium in this humble state, and for the rest of his life continued in this manner.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS

BYZANTINE HISTORY

BOOK FIVE

CHAPTER ONE

^B I. But, so that the speech may proceed in order and the context of the history may not be interrupted by ignorance of matters that ought to be known beforehand, certain things must be repeated from somewhat further back. We said above that Baldwin, having escaped the dangers of Constantinople, had come to Italy, and there had associated King Charles with himself as an ally, and had betrothed his daughter to his own son; and that, in order to compensate for the dowry, he had promised that he would give him Constantinople, which he had lost, if he were aided by his resources in the war. ^C II. He, therefore, having received this promise in his mind like a kind of seed, no longer [thought] of any small thing concerning...

matters, but, as one might say, dreamed of the entire monarchy of Julius Caesar and Augustus, if he could gain control of Constantinople. For the man was clever, not only in deliberating upon what was necessary, but also in demonstrating the execution of his deliberation in deeds; and to speak simply, by force of nature and power of intelligence, he surpassed by a long measure everyone before him. Therefore, having conceived this plan of which we have spoken, he hoped to bring it to its conclusion in a short time. ^B Yet he was provoked into such an undertaking by the weakness of Constantinople, which was torn apart and broken on many sides, and which required much time for the restoration and strengthening of those parts that had fallen away; and also by the Emperor’s cleverness in devising novel things, and his very fierce quickness concerning actions. These things indeed greatly grieved him and shattered his plans, and cast him into great fears. Because of this very thing he hurried to overthrow him, before he himself, having acquired greater power by land and sea, should drive him into the final straits.

III. ^C And first he decided, having assembled a sufficient army and sent it across the Ionian Sea, to strike at the Romans, and not to stop while making everything theirs, before he had brought the Queen of Cities herself to surrender; then, having equipped a great force by sea, to encompass the Emperor with double danger. But he was deceived in his plans, having encountered a commander in the Emperor who was more clever. For immediately the Emperor set all his zeal to anticipating and rendering his plans ineffective. Therefore, he both secured and fortified the Queen of Cities on every side, and extended a strong wall inside the coastal walls. Nor, content with this, did he stir up war against him by sending much and various wealth to the kings around him, namely the ruler of Sicily and he who ruled over the Venetians, imitating ^D that ancient Artaxerxes, who, fearing the onset of Agesilaus the Spartan, sent great sums of money and stirred up the Theban Epameinondas, Pelopidas, and all the leading men of Greece against him; and before suffering anything irreparable from him, he took care with wise plans to inflict irreparable things upon him first.

IV. But although Charles was thus outmaneuvered by the Emperor and repelled by these skirmishes, as it were, it was nevertheless clear that he was not giving up, relying on the strength of his own army and the abundance of his wealth. Therefore, the Emperor, constrained by so many difficulties and driven almost to desperation, sends legates to the Pope to settle the concord and communion of the Churches, namely the...

union of the old Rome with the new, if only this might hinder the expedition of Charles.

CAPUT II

^B

II.

Notes of various authors.

^A and considered internal dangers to be more grievous than the external wars. For there were not a few, even among the magistrates, who eagerly opposed their own opinion to the imperial edicts. Reduced, therefore, to such straits, he decided to take one of two paths, as the extreme necessity of the moment allowed no other option: for he must either have everyone agree with him, or hold them all alike as enemies.

III.

IV.

^A Scattered and vagrant, they wandered here and there, neither willing to preserve general peace nor to be at peace with one another; but having assumed different names, some claimed to be followers of the patriarch Arsenius and addicted to his teaching, while others claimed to be followers of Joseph, and others boasted of something else; and thus most of them beguiled the time, both deceiving and being deceived. For there were not wanting those who would sing oracles in the villages and cities, as if they had just returned from the sight of God. This they did, in truth, for the sake of gain and for the filling of their purses; and, for this very reason, they remained as they were forever, without changing their manner of life even after the restoration of the Church.

V. At this time ^B there was a Chartophylax of the Great Church, by name Veccus, a man of excellent talent and a student of eloquence and learning; moreover, he was adorned with such natural gifts as no one else at that time possessed. For he excelled in tallness of stature and in the majesty of his countenance, in which grace was conjoined with gravity; likewise in his faculty of speaking and his torrential eloquence, and in many other things; but most of all in the felicity of his genius and his sharpness in resolving whatever question was proposed: with all these ornaments, I say, nature had most beautifully equipped him, so that he was venerable to emperors and princes, and to all the learned, and held an illustrious reputation among them. Since he bitterly resisted the imperial decree, the emperor did not leave anything untried—both through himself and through other learned men—to induce him, by means of arguments sought from reason and the authority of laws, to assent to the decree. But he, by the force of his genius and his tongue, moved the minds of all, ^C and unraveled their arguments like the web of Penelope. For as regards the learning of Greek literature, there were those who surpassed him; but in the quality of his genius, the volubility of his tongue, and the use of ecclesiastical dogmas, all when compared with him seemed like boys.

VI. Frustrated in this hope, the emperor initiated another path, and cast him and almost his entire kin into the foulest prisons. These things having been accomplished, ^D at length it came into the emperor’s mind that the same matter had been agitated by the Latins twenty-five years before, when John Ducas held power, and that at that time there had existed a learned man, Nicephorus Blemmydes, most expert in divine letters; who, when he had betaken himself into retirement, [produced] many testimonies from holy Scripture, which—

seemed to confirm the dogma of the Latins, and wrote upon these matters—secretly, to be sure, on account of the opinion of the masses; yet he did write them. These writings the emperor eventually discovered and sent to Veccus. Having read them with great sagacity, he [Veccus] sought out the books of the holy fathers from which Blemmydes had gathered those testimonies. And since the task of examining them had been entrusted to him by the emperor with great readiness, it became his task thenceforth to diligently pursue them, to track them down, and to oversee them letter by letter; so that in a short time he had gathered such a heap of testimonies that they were sufficient to fill entire volumes. And he who had once brandished a two-edged sword against the Latins, having now turned his stern about, shifts the victory to the other side. ^B

VII. For this reason, having ascended the patriarchal throne, he was everything to the emperor: both tongue, and hand, and the pen of a swift-writing scribe, both speaking, and writing, and defining as dogma; having as associates and partners in this struggle the Meliteniote and the Metochites, both archdeacons of the imperial clergy, and furthermore George the Cypriot. Yet none of them all celebrated the liturgy with the papal Latins; not even the patriarch himself, nor any of the others, except that some of the Friars [Minors], having obtained leave, did so once in the church of the Blachernae for the sake of the ordination of one of their own. But we must return to our subject.

Notes of various authors

^C ...collection of testimonies confirmed the opinion of the Latins, and subsequently transmitted them to the emperor Theodore Lascaris and to Jacob, the elected archbishop of Bulgaria, as Allatius teaches from the person of John Veccus himself in his book, *De utriusque Ecclesiæ consensu*, lib. II, cap. XIV, n. 4—of which books indeed Pachymeres makes mention in lib. VI, cap. 23, and which are available, edited after the volume of the *Annales Ecclesiastici* of Odoricius Raynaldus with a Latin translation by the same Allatius. DUCANG.

[On the phrase "secretly... on account of the opinion of the masses"]: These words, says Allatius, the interpreter wrongly translated out of "fear of infamy," when he should have translated "on account of the envy of many," or rather "on account of avoiding suspicion," because he might appear more addicted to the Latin factions. Yet it should not be said that he wrote this in secret, since he did it by the emperor's command. DUCANG.

[On the duration of the vacancy]: Possinus gathers that six months intervened; and thus he reconciles the creation of Veccus to the year of Christ 1275. This calculation of Possinus is confirmed by the authority of handwritten Chronicles, in which Veccus is said to have held the throne for eight years. See cod. Reg. 3058, 3302, etc. In Codex 2525, fol. 282v, only seven years are attributed to him as patriarch. BOIVIN.

[On St. Louis]: ...whom he had sent previously as legate to St. Louis, king of France, so that he might divert Charles the brother [of Louis] from his counsels; as Pachymeres is the author in lib. V, cap. 9, whom indeed—to note this in passing—he calls Louis. DUCANG.

[On the archdeacons]: ...Pachymeres, lib. V, cap. 12, 23, and later made patriarch of Constantinople. Thus one of the archdeacons of the Palatine clergy read the Gospel, the other the Epistle. DUCANG.

[On the "Friars"]: Perhaps they are "brothers," that is, monks, who celebrated the Latin Mass with the emperor's permission. But these things are understood from those [matters] noted from Pachymeres concerning the Metochites. WOLFIUS. Nevertheless, none of them celebrated the liturgy according to the rite of the Pope. It is to be translated as we have edited it. BOIVIN.

[On the Friars]: ...were designated as being of the order of St. Francis and St. Dominic. These furthermore had arrived in Constantinople sent by Gregory, among whom was John Parastron. DUCANG.

[On the ordination]: We have emended [this], on account of the ordination of one of his own. DUCANG.

CHAPTER III

^A I. There was a sister to the Emperor named Eulogia. Since she had many daughters, she betrothed the one, Anna, to the man Nicephorus, lord of Aetolia; the other, Maria, to Constantine, lord of Zagora (63), as their previous wives had but recently passed away. And our narrative has already indicated that they were also the daughters of the Emperor Theodore Lascaris.

^B II. In these times, however, there rose up one of the Bulgarians, a man of pastoral lineage, but versatile in disposition and prompt to engage in revolutionary affairs, by name Lachanas (65). Having joined to himself a great band of base and wicked men, he took up a life of banditry, from which in a short time he amassed great wealth and at the same time an army of considerable size. Since Constantine could not endure his constant incursions and the damages inflicted upon him, it seemed best to him to gather his forces, to join battle with him, and—having cast the die for the whole fortune of the realm—to struggle for victory. For he thought it shameful that a man of no account, who in a short time had grown to such great power, should not only frequently inflict great calamities upon the Bulgarians, but should now threaten and menace the entire realm with huge danger. And so, equipped with military gear, he went forth; but when the battle was joined, he was defeated and lost not only his kingdom, but his life as well. Lachanas, moreover, did not only seize the principality beyond his expectation, but also came to be the second husband of Constantine’s widow. Indeed, he was even planning subsequently, upon the winter’s end, with the beginning of spring, to attack from ambush the Roman fields and townships bordering upon his territory, so that, with their strength diminished, he himself might be considered most powerful.

^C III. When the Emperor heard these things, he judged them not to be borne, nor to be neglected through oblivion or contempt; but he began to be stirred by cares and to be sick at heart. He did not, however, consider him formidable in the present; but when he observed that he was being driven with the keenest zeal toward the things he desired, he said that he was advancing little by little and progressing toward great power, so that he would eventually become difficult even for the Romans to conquer. It behooves those who wish to live without danger to anticipate and meet impending evils; and if in the present one can easily cut away the root of a growing plant, there should be no dallying, nor waiting until one must avenge an injury already received—and with danger—when one could have ^D checked the very designs and attempts themselves without danc...

danger. Therefore, when, as we have explained above, Mytzes had died while living near Troy for the reasons we have mentioned, the emperor now sends for his son, John Asan, as someone to whom the kingdom of Bulgaria was due by paternal right. Having betrothed his own daughter, Irene, to him, he sends him with a large force, both to liberate the Bulgarian realm from the tyranny of Lachanas and to assume the rule, as a rightful inheritance which had now devolved upon him. ^B

IV. However, Lachanas, since it happened that he was at that time setting out against the Scythians for the sake of confirming his tyranny, pays the penalty there, having had his blood shed by the secret plots of the emperor. Thus, Asan assumes the rule without struggle, with the Bulgarians receiving him willingly. After these things were thus accomplished, Maria, the emperor’s niece by his sister, was also driven out from there with her son Michael, whom she had borne from Constantine, and she comes to Constantinople.

But since, as is generally the case, pains frequently sprout up alongside great joys—and like some hostile swords, they disturb and confound the tranquillity of that joy—the same thing happened then as well. For at that time there emerged a certain nobleman, remarkable among the Bulgarians for singular prudence and natural readiness, by the name of Terteres. Asan, wishing to win him over and at the same time secure peace of mind for himself, joins him to himself by affinity, having betrothed his sister to him—having, that is, removed his former wife and sent her away to Nicaea with her children. He then honored him with the dignity of Despot. But he did not remain for long in faith and duty toward the one who had so honored him; rather, having perceived his great simplicity and levity, in a short time he secretly won over the minds of the entire army and of not a few of those in authority. And he was already acting to kill Asan and take possession of the principality. When Asan learned of this, he feigns that he is setting out with his wife to visit the emperor, who was also his father-in-law; he secretly collects all that was most choice among the Bulgarian heirlooms and treasures, then betakes himself to Byzantium to the emperor, his father-in-law; and he passed the remainder of his life there. Terteres, with no one to stop him, usurps the Bulgarian rule. And thus far these matters. ^C

CAPUT IV.

^D I, having heard this saying of the ancients long ago, that it is harder to bear prosperity with civility and moderation than adversity, now, instructed by the thing itself, admire it even more. For behold, the Genoese, who were living on the opposite side of Byzantium, intoxicated and puffed up by the profit of the tax exemption, behave insolently against the Romans.

^A And already one of them, having picked a quarrel with a certain man over some paltry fruit, showed himself readier with the sword of his tongue and sent the man straight down to his death. Having heard of this, the Emperor did not pass over the matter as if only one man had been killed, but [behaved] as if the entire city had been destroyed and the imperial majesty insulted; he was so inflamed and moved that he immediately surrounded all their dwellings with his army. For they did not yet have the fortifications of walls, nor a city that could withstand the Queen of Cities whenever it wished. And they would perhaps have perished in total destruction then, had they not donned a wretched guise and, imposing a fine upon themselves of their own accord, immediately run and cast themselves at the Emperor’s feet, and so obtained pardon.

^B This was the first evidence for them of the Emperor’s zeal and quickness. The second—and greater—was this: some of their people fitted out two pirate triremes and, having secretly crossed the straits of the sea around Byzantium, had sailed off into the Euxine Sea, neglecting the solemn and customary salutation to the Emperor. And he did not wish to let this go unpunished either. Therefore, having gathered not a few triremes and one large merchant ship, he stationed them at the promontory of the Shrine (71) (which is called the mouth of the Pontus, where the Greeks once said the Cyanean and Planctae rocks were), intending them to await the pirates' arrival, so that those bold and wicked men might not escape unscathed in secret. Since this had not escaped their notice, they employed a clever scheme for their own safety. All the wealth they had gathered through piracy they transferred, under the guise of trade, along with themselves into the largest merchant ship. Then they gathered and equipped it with all kinds of arms, so that when the northern winds were about to blow more violently, they might set sail and, by force, make a path through those stationed at the mouth, making their entry in safety. When, a little later, the north wind blew more violently from above, that pirate ship appeared, approaching from the middle of the sea, crowned with thousands of armed men, like an entire city walking across the waves or rather flying over the seas like a bird.

^D III. Now the Emperor’s triremes were also prepared and present. And the imperial merchant ship had not yet spread its sails, having raised its yards, but remained motionless. But as the hostile merchant ship approached, it too unfurled its sails, and taking it now from the side, now pursuing it from the stern, as if clinging to its tracks, it both struck and was struck, and it waged a kind of ethereal and winged battle. There you could see diverse and varied ranks of soldiers fighting with one another at close quarters and in the same place. For some from the decks...

Notes of Various Scholars

^A those who were on the decks were striking at those on the decks; those in the wooden towers were striking at those in the wooden towers; those from the lofty tops of the masts at those from the lofty tops of the masts. Both sides fought against one another with stones that could be held in the hand and with missile weapons; and sometimes also with axes and swords, when they happened to draw quite close to one another. The triremes, however, because they did not sail very close, used only missile weapons. And so, for a large part of the day, all fought stoutly from both sides, changing their positions. And at the beginning, indeed, the Latins appeared to have the upper hand. But afterwards, since the wind was blocked by the sails of the imperial merchant ship (for this ship was following the other continuously and evenly, both from the stern and from the starboard side, whence the wind was blowing, and could not be pulled away from it), the result was that a weaker wind fell upon the sails of the enemy, and consequently their ship moved more slowly and sluggishly. ^{B C} IV. Now, as for the greater calamity of the Latins: a certain man among them, having jumped more daringly onto the Roman ship, cut through the most vital cables with a sharp axe. Wherefore the yard, having fallen down into the middle of their ship, suddenly rendered many of the soldiers incapable of ^D fighting. And from that moment, the triremes themselves, having been brought closer, surrounded it boldly and attacked it at close quarters with more powerful blows. Then immediately someone leapt into the hostile ship. Then others and others, by twos and fours, and eventually more; until, having gained a complete victory, they led away from there those of the enemy who had not been killed, partly wounded and partly thrown into chains. This was a second and clearer token of the emperor's sharpness and zeal; this drove the Latins into extreme cowardice and fear, and compelled those who had laid aside their excessive boldness and their habitual untimely arrogance to become more moderate.

CAPUT V

^D 1. Now I will go back to that point. When the sultan Azatines, as has been said, had become a fugitive from the city of Aenus together with his son Melecus and had crossed the Ister, it was not granted to him to accomplish what he wished, for fate forestalled his plans and cut off his paths. But Melecus, after lingering there for a short time and enduring a life that was foreign and not at all to his liking, passed through the Pontus to the Scythians in Asia, from whom he received power and sought the Turkish principality as his paternal...

heritage. And of the other satraps, some gathered together and approached him as if he were their own master, while others hesitated. But one, by name Amurius, having gathered a not small, but indeed very numerous, army of brigands, waged war against him and finally, having put him to flight, pursued him as far as the sea; ^A at that time, therefore, Melecus escaped by flight to Heraclea in Pontus. But as spring approached, he decided to go to the emperor who was staying at Nymphæum. And indeed, setting out, he did not reach that place, but turning elsewhere, he went back to the Turks and again sought his paternal principality. Whence, in a short time, he too departs this life, having been set upon by certain private assassins.

II. How the Turkish power was ruined

^B The power of the Turks having thus been ruined, and those affairs having lapsed from good order and brilliant fortune into the greatest disorder, not only did the satraps and as many as were outstanding in birth and fortune divide the whole dominion into many parts, but even many of the obscure and ignoble, having associated with themselves a rabble of base men, turned to a brigand’s life, carrying nothing more than a bow and quiver. These, lurking in the mountain passes, harassed the neighboring lands and cities of the Romans with frequent and covert incursions. For it had happened a short time before that the guards who inhabited the frontier posts were removed from there on account of the lack of the annual stipends which they used to receive from the imperial treasury. This, being ignored at the beginning as a matter of little importance, later appeared to the Romans as a very great misfortune and the cause of very great calamities. But those Turks who had divided the satrapies in various ways, while they were being driven by the Scythians, drove the Romans; and as much as they were softened in the face of the Scythians, so much did they act manfully against the Romans; so that for them, the Scythian incursion was not a cause of calamity, but a provider of very great ^C good fortune.

Notes of various authors.

(73) Pachymeres, lib. x, cap. 25, relates that he was later killed with most vile treachery by Melecus, the Sultan of Iconium, together with his sons, of whom one, named Hali, saved by a certain divine providence, having collected a band of Persians, attacked Melecus in battle and killed him, and thence, with the power of Hali increased—who then added the name of Amurius to his own—plundered the Roman regions with incursions. As to how he subsequently perished, Gregoras sets it forth in his other history. But he is called simply Amur by Cantacuzenus, lib. ii, cap. 28. That is, Lord Amur. For *Beg* is Lord among the Turks, as is found in Leunclavius in the second Turkish Onomasticon, and lib. xv, Hist. Musulman, p. 196, where he observes that the name *Beg* is customarily given to an office or duty obtained from a king or Sultan. But the Greeks say *Πέγι* or *Μπέγις*, or as we keep in the *Glossarium mediae Graecitatis*. Whence we learn who he is whom Froissart, vol. i, cap. 22 and 23, calls Amorabakin, which word is formed from Amur Begis or Begin. But whether this Amur, of whom Gregoras and Cantacuzenus make mention in the cited place, is the one by whom Melecus was killed, the same Cantacuzenus casts doubt, who lib. ii, cap. 29, and lib. iii, cap. 7, says that the same Amurius was the son of Aitis the Satrap of Ionia (or Caria, as lib. ii, cap. 13 has it), and that he was the most opulent of the Satraps of Asia. That Aitis had besides two other sons, of whom one was called Chair, the other Souleimas. Furthermore, there is frequent mention of Amurius in Cantacuzenus. DUCANG.

(74) About the year 1275. DUCANG.

(75) Hence, therefore, the Turkish principality having been extinguished, when they were unequal to defending the same against the Tartars, the individual leaders of the Turks, as it pleased them, took over towns and provinces, waging war with Greeks and Tartars alike, and finally, with those same Tartars retreating, and the sultan being either driven out or not admitted, they divided the Turkish principality among themselves by provinces, and then invaded what remained of the Roman or Greek empire in Asia. And thence they flew into Europe, summoned by the very emperors of the Greeks while they were seeking help and aid with which to defend themselves against the princes of their own race, and indeed even against the Latins, whence the destruction of the entire empire subsequently arose, as Gregoras relates at greater length after these things. DUCANG.

^A They streamed in, therefore, in great multitudes from Paphlagonia and from Pamphylia, and they laid waste the land of the Romans; and now, too, constant wars were breaking out—one, indeed, the greatest, which became for the Romans the source of all their evils.

III. ^B Many Turkish forces having been gathered about Paphlagonia, it seemed good to the emperor to send a great and capable army to check their rapid incursion as much as possible, lest, having broken through like a gate, they might afterwards, with great ease, spread out over the rest of the country. He sent, therefore, an adequate army and leaders to command it, who, through their own folly and rashness, both ruined themselves and lost the entire army. For the Turks, on the day before the impending battle, having spent the whole night awake, before the day dawned, positioned no small number of ambushes along the bank of the nearby river; then, having crossed the river, they pitched their camp there. When the time for battle arrived, the armies clashed. And at first, the onset of the Romans did not appear to the Turks so vehement that it could not be withstood. They stood their ground, therefore, and fought back, not in a standing engagement, but, as is their custom, with frequent and alternating manoeuvres. For they turn their backs, pretending to flee, and immediately return, and they continue doing this repeatedly, so that they may disturb the order of the opposing battle lines and force them out of their proper position; then, falling upon them while they are thus disordered, they easily put them to flight.

^C IV. At that time, however, this ruse was of no use to them against the Romans, for the latter were excellently fortified and armed; but, having lost most of their own men, those who were fleeing ran to the river without looking back. The Romans, however, pursued them continuously (would that they had not done so!), although the more prudent leaders repeatedly protested and sought to warn them to retreat, since the flight of the enemy was suspicious and dangerous. But it was fated, as it seems, that that war should be the beginning of the destruction of the Romans, as Divine Providence was repaying to them a moderate penalty for their infinite sins. Thus, having crossed the river themselves, they followed in pursuit as the Turks crossed, and they killed those who were fleeing more slowly, until they suddenly and unexpectedly fell into the ambushes of the Turks—that is, among men who were fresh and vigorous, while they themselves were exhausted by the running and the heat. And so, hemmed in on one side by a massive army and on the other by the river, except for a few, all were cut down, having achieved scarcely anything worth mentioning or remembering.

V. The Turks, however, having started from there, as if a gate had been opened, now that there was no one to stop them, ravaged and burned the entire Roman province by their own authority, proceeding as far as the Sangarius river. Wherefore, in despair, the emperor fortified the banks of the river with many small forts, lest they should even take possession of Bithynia.

^A For he did not judge it right to draw away the other Roman forces from the wars by which they were occupied. For the Thracian forces were occupied by the Bulgarian wars; the Macedonian forces by the Thessalian and Illyrian disturbances; while the forces of Lower Asia—which Phrygia and Lycia bound and the rivers around the Maeander water—were bound to meet the predatory incursions of the Turks, who came now from one quarter, now from another. Nor did it seem at all permissible to dissolve the fleet and bring it onto land, lest the tranquility of the sea itself be immediately disturbed by greater storms and tempests than those from which Asia was suffering. Wherefore the emperor ordered his forces in their own respective places to await the coming of the enemy, judging it more prudent and safer to prefer the cautious preservation of what remained to an uncertain and dangerous outcome.

VI. But after the Turks had occupied the fortresses of our frontiers in Asia with impunity, and had divided the lands they had conquered into satrapies and encompassed the whole area from the Pontic and Galatian sea as far as the sea that is around Lycia and Caria and the river Eurymedon: ^B who could, with a narrative longer than the *Iliad*, worthily recount the miseries that were inflicted upon the Romans day and night, at a time when the strength of the Romans was diminished and depressed in proportion to the increase in the power of the Barbarians? For to bundle everything together in one package and touch upon it would be a task for a sluggish intellect and tongue; nor could one simple perception in any way grasp how lamentable were the things that were perpetrated. On the other hand, we could not succeed in narrating everything individually, ^C nor could anyone whose soul is easily moved by the spirit of commiseration and grief read it without a great flood of tears. Otherwise, I would be thought to be writing not a history, but a dirge. Wherefore, not everything is to be told, nor is everything to be passed over; but certain things must be selected from the many, and others again, as occasion arises, must be recounted.

VII. Therefore, in that first incursion, the Barbarians, having gathered a vast and innumerable spoil of men, women, and whatever things could be carried by light-armed men, divided it among themselves. Moreover, amid that booty there were also two adolescent sisters; and these, when they were about to be torn from one another because by lot they had not fallen to the same master ^D stood face to face and began to lament in such a way that they surpassed even the Trojan Hecuba in this, and Niobe herself, who bedews her cheeks with perennial tears, and all those whom tragic books celebrate. For they beat their breasts with their palms, and pressed forth streams of blood with their nails, and sent forth groans from their viscera, which were burning with grief, just as smoke that rushes from a great furnace; until, completely overcome in spirit, they ended their lives in each other’s embrace, as if nature would not suffer their bodies to be separated before their souls.

^A VIII. After these events, the emperor’s son, Andronikos, went forth by his father’s command to rebuild the city that had long ago fallen into ruin. This was Tralles, situated beyond the Meander River. He rebuilt it in such a way that it might serve as a bulwark for the neighboring region whenever enemies might make incursions. But before four full years had passed since its construction, the Turks surrounded it, and having besieged it for a sufficient time, those within—all who had not yet perished from thirst and famine—were forced to surrender themselves to the enemy, for they were no fewer than twenty thousand in number. And as they were led away as captives, they counted those who had died happy, since at once they had been delivered from slavery and from prolonged labors.

^B IX. But I had almost passed over this thing. When that city, as we have said, was being restored, a stone was found, having been buried there for a long time, on which this oracle was inscribed: The beauty of the city of Tralles shall be extinguished by time; But its small remainder shall in the last days be terrified by a leaderless people; Yet it shall not be captured. It shall be renovated by a powerful man of victorious name, Who shall live an eightfold of nine years beautifully; And thrice seven cycles he shall brighten the city of Attalus. Or the cities of the West shall submit, and the haughty shall bow down like children. This oracle did not seem to the majority to be an ancient prophecy, but the fiction of some more recent men. There were also... ^C Tralles had indeed been situated in a fair part of Asia, enjoying a size greater than other cities, and being illustrious among them. ^D Yet they had been in ancient times—before, clearly, Time, which changes all things and destroys those things that are not, had altered them, and cast them out of the number of cities, having pulled down the walls and overturned the houses, leaving nothing but ruins by which to be recognized. But until your time, O Emperor, the glory of Tralles and its pride in time—but now, through...

the things already said, they deemed them worthy of faith and truth, and from this they drew out long times for the Emperor of Life. For they did not stay only upon the eightfold ennead, which resolves into seventy-two years, but they also added the three times seven cycles, so that the whole number amounted to ninety-three years. But just as other oracles are obscure and difficult to understand, admitting of many explanations and interpretations until they are proven by the event itself, ^A so too did this oracle deceive most, and even the Emperor Andronikos himself until his very death, as will be told hereafter. But when he was removed from human affairs, it explained itself. For there passed seventy-two years of the life of the Emperor Andronikos with the imperial insignia, and nearly two more in the monastic habit. As for that phrase, "three times seven cycles," it was nothing else, as they say, but that he was in his twenty-first year ^B at that time, when he restored and adorned this city. The first founder of that city was a certain noble Trojan named Attalus, who, when ancient Troy was captured, had built this as a memorial to his homeland. Whence, if the name is resolved, it is nothing other than "another Troy," for such is the city. But the details concerning the life and death of the Emperor Andronikos will be spoken of one by one in the proper place hereafter. Now let the discourse return to its previous track.

CAPUT VI.

^C I. We previously showed that Charles, king of Italy, was intent upon achieving great things and was accustomed to using a singular power of intellect both in devising and deliberating, and in managing affairs. But the more effective and vivid virtue of the Emperor stood squarely against him, and fought back as if from a superior position. It so happened that neither his attempts against the Romans nor those which he was preparing against the Latins succeeded. But the powers of both were for a long time so equal and, as it were, in equilibrium, that it was commonly said by prudent men that if the Roman Republic had not possessed such an emperor, the Roman Empire could easily have been... ^D [The provided text ends here; the following page continues the sentence.]

^A conquered; and on the other hand, if such a king had not at that time presided over Italian affairs, the principality of Italy could easily have been occupied by the Emperor. And so, it occurs to me to marvel at the unsearchable wisdom of God, who brings the most extreme opposites to a single end. For when he wishes to establish two opposing provinces, and yet desires that neither be subjected to the other, he provides for the one by means of the other. For he either raises up and sets over both sides high-minded and diligent leaders, so that, by an equal opposition of forces, each may blunt and render ineffective the efforts of the other, and thus ensure the security of their respective regions; or he chooses for both sides men of small spirit and weakness, so that neither may dare to attempt the other or, as the saying goes, to leap over the barriers and violate the ancient boundaries of the provinces. Thus, from two extreme contradictions, he effects one and the same security. ^B

II. For behold, here too, throughout the entire time of his life, Carolus did not cease to act with treachery and war against the Romans; yet he remained ineffective, as the Emperor’s swift interventions and counter-attacks anticipated his every move and thwarted his efforts. And while we have already recounted the rest of these matters in their proper places, I now come to speak of what was done last. For Carolus was always weaving dark plots against the Emperor ^C and searching for the opportune moment to bring them to fruition. When he saw that the Emperor was being harassed by warfare—on one side by John the Sebastokrator, the ruler of Thessaly, and on the other by the Illyrians—he realized that the moment had arrived for him too to attack the Roman state, which was in such turmoil, by both land and sea, and to accomplish what he had long ago designed. And so, having equipped a great fleet, he prepared even larger land forces, to which he appointed as leader a brave man named Rosonsules. This man, leading the land army with him and having crossed the Ionian Sea, aimed at nothing more than, after capturing the fortress of Bellegra and the more strategic locations of Macedonia, to proceed unpunished as far as Byzantium. ^D For he knew there would be no one who, having dared to lift his eyes against such an army, equipped as it was with such heavy armament, would escape without disaster.

as Byzantium. For he knew there would be no one who, having dared to lift his eyes against such an army, equipped as it was with such heavy armament, would escape without disaster.

^A III. When this was announced to the Emperor, he decided that there was no room for delay, but that he must resist him with arms, with money, and with prudent counsels, and engage him in skirmishes from afar. From this it is apparent how much more powerful prudence is than arms, and the skill of the intellect than a numerous soldiery. Therefore, he first sent money of every kind to the King of Sicily, Frederick, to incite him to make war on Charles, so that if he could do nothing else, he might at least prevent his fleet from sailing forth, and recall his primary concerns from distant expeditions to affairs closer at hand. This was seen to be the greatest and most efficacious measure; and through the Emperor’s prudence, the naval forces of Charles, occupied by wars nearby, were rendered useless in this way.

^B IV. Next, having ordered supplications throughout all the churches, he sent the Roman forces that were then available against Rosonsules. When they had departed, they judged that it was neither wise nor safe for them to engage in open warfare against such a very numerous enemy, who was equipped with the strongest armor and very well fortified; rather, they judged that they should be provoked by wiles, ambushes, and skirmishes from higher ground, and that since they were proud and impatient, they should be goaded into breaking ranks and charging in a disorderly and impulsive formation when moved by indignation. For such has been the discipline of the Italians for many centuries: when they advance against an enemy in good order, they are as an immovable and impregnable wall; but if they depart even slightly from their customary order, nothing prevents them from being immediately captured and led away by the enemy. Nor did their innate pride and foolish arrogance rarely harm them, as they were easily carried away by an untimely impulse of spirit. Since these things were well known to the Romans of old, they used such wiles and machinations to circumvent them. They would kill the grain-mules from ambush, and hinder the market that followed them. Furthermore, with skirmishes from higher elevations, they would slay those who were fetching water.

^C V. Rosonsules, however, judging it unworthy of his spirit—and besides, considering it a most shameful thing to have remained for so long and then return empty-handed—immediately to withdraw his forces from the siege of Belegralis to a safer position, was inflamed with wrath. With a very few of his men, he attacked those who were making the watering hazardous. When our men saw this, they descended most readily. Having surrounded the enemy, they shot down their horses with arrows, but led all the horsemen alive into the Roman camp. This event perturbed the Latins vehemently and stirred up a great tumult among them; it immediately spurred the Romans to make an assault upon them while they were in a state of confusion. Thus the Romans, in an extraordinary ^D and...

unt. Quae res Latinos vehementer perturbavit, et maximum apud eos tumultum excitavit; Romanos autem statim impulit, ut in eos turbatos impetum facerent. Ita Romani insignem et omni ^A spe majorem victoriam de Latinis facile et minimo labore reportarunt.

VI. Charles, indeed, having been thus outmaneuvered by the Emperor, and finding that the one easy and convenient war, which he had prepared by both land and sea, had contrary to his expectations been divided into two—with one army that had crossed the Ionian Sea being utterly lost, and the other, which had fought with the Sicilians, not indeed entirely destroyed, but having lost his son in that battle—sat afflicted and distressed, with the sharp stings of grief piercing his mind, so that, broken by these evils, he grew weary of life. Not long after, he departed from among the living, overcome by that grief, which he was unable to digest, being multiple and difficult to bear at the end.

CAPUT VII. Joannes Trapezuntis imperator Byzantium venit. Eudociam Palæologi filiam uxorem ducit, unde natus Alexius Joannis successor. Joannes sebastocrator fidem rursus frangit. Palæologus legatos mittit ad Nogam Scytham affinem suum. Auxilia ab eo accipit. Thessaliæ exitio imminet. Subito morbo correptus non potest destinata exsequi. Audito locorum nomine reminiscitur oraculi. Dolet se ænigmate deceptum oculos viro insonti effodisse. Digressio de oraculis. Quis eorum auctor. Cur ambigua et obscura. Quæ cavenda. Quo anno mundi Michael Palæologus obierit. Quo ætatis. Ejus cadaver neglectum et fortuito humatum. Ejusdem dotes eximiæ. Conscientia. Charitas erga liberos nimia. Quantum cuique liceat sui ipsius et liberorum causa. Palæologus suorum amore jus omne violavit. Scelerum fructus.

^B[P. 91] Α'. Τῶν δὲ πραγμάτων τοιούτων ὄντων, μικροῦ με παρέδραμεν. Ἰωάννης γὰρ ὁ τοῦ ῥηθέντος Ἀλεξίου ἀπόγονος, τοῦ μετὰ τὴν τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἅλωσιν τῆς τῶν Κόλχων καὶ Λαζῶν τυραννήσαντος γῆς, ὅρκους ἐγγράφους παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐκεῖθεν δεξάμενος, ἐπιδημεῖ τῇ βασιλευούσῃ καὶ τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως συζεύγνυται θυγατρὶ Εὐδοκίᾳ· καὶ βραχύν τινα τῷ βασιλεῖ παρὰ τῇ βασιλευούσῃ συνδιατρίψας χρόνον, ἔπειτα ἐπανῆκεν ἅμα τῇ γυναικὶ Εὐδοκίᾳ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρχήν, ἧς τὰ βασίλεια Τραπεζοῦς. Ἔνθα δὴ καὶ μήπω τελέως ἐνιαυτοῦ πληρωθέντος παιδὶ μετὰ τῆς Εὐδοκίας οὗτος γεγέννηκεν, Ἀλέξιον τὸν νέον Κομνηνόν· ὃς δὴ καὶ διάδοχος ὕστερον γεγένηται τῆς ἐκείνου ἀρχῆς, ὡς εἰρήσεται.

Ι. Sed me illud pæne præterierat. Nam Joannes, Alexii nepos (illius qui post urbem captam Colchorum et Lazorum tyrannidem invaserat), cum jusjurandum scriptum ab imperatore accepisset, Byzantium venit, et Eudociam ejusdem filiam uxorem ducit. Ac paulisper in urbe apud imperatorem commoratus, una cum Eudocia conjuge in regnum suum revertitur; cujus regia sedes erat Trapezus. Ubi antequam annus elaberetur, filius ei ex Eudocia natus est, junior Alexius Comnenus; qui patri deinde, ut infra dicetur, in regnum ^C successit.

Β'. Τούτων δ' οὕτως ἐχόντων ἄρχεται πάλιν παρασπονδεῖν ὁ τῆς Θετταλίας ἀρχηγός Ἰωάννης ὁ Σεβαστοκράτωρ· ὃ δὴ καὶ εἰς λύπην καὶ ἀκατάσχετον θυμὸν ἀνῆψε τὸν βασιλέα. Πᾶσα γὰρ ἤδη σπουδῶν καὶ φιλίας ἐλπὶς ἔσβη καὶ ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐτεθνήκει. Τὸ γὰρ συχνὰ μὲν αὐτὴν διαῤῥήγνυσθαι, συχνὰ δ' αὖθις συνδεῖσθαι καὶ βίᾳ μὲν καὶ μόλις λαμβάνειν τὴν ἐπανόρθωσίν τε καὶ σύμπηξιν, ἐξαίφνης δὲ καὶ τὴν ταχίστην πρὸς σύγχυσιν καὶ διάλυσιν καταῤῥεῖν καὶ συμφύρεσθαι, πρὸς ἀπόγνωσιν ἤδη τὸν βασιλέα συνήλασε παντελή. Καὶ οὐκέτι σπονδῶν ἄλλων ἐμνημόνευσε τοῦ λοιποῦ, ἀλλὰ διαπρεσβεύεται πρὸς τὸν Σκύθην Νογάν, ὃς τὰς διατριβὰς καὶ τὴν δίαιταν εἶχε πέραν τοῦ Ἴστρου. Ἦν γὰρ τούτῳ φιλία βεβαία πρὸς βασιλέα διὰ τὸ κῆδος· ἠγάγετο ^D γὰρ πρὸ βραχέος ἑαυτῷ σύζυγον Εἰρήνην τὴν ἐκ νοθείας γεννηθεῖσαν τῷ βασιλεῖ θυγατέρα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φίλος αὐτῷ ἦν.

ΙΙ. Hoc rerum statu rursus fidem fregit Thessaliæ princeps Joannes sebastocrator: quæ res exacerbavit imperatoris animum et maxima iracundia inflammavit, exstincta et ut ita dicam mortua omni fœderis et amicitiæ spe. Nam quod societas et sæpe abrumperetur et sæpe resarciretur et vix redintegrata per vim coiret, facile vero turbata ac dirempta difflueret et confunderetur, id quidem nullam prorsus imperatori retinendæ ejus spem relinquebat. Quare omni deinceps pacificationis mentione sublata legatos mittit ad Nogam Scytham, qui ultra Istrum sedes et domicilium habebat. Erat enim huic cum imperatore firma amicitia ob affinitatem: quippe Irenen, filiam illius notham, paulo ante duxerat, atque idcirco ejus amicus erat.

Having therefore received from him four thousand picked Scythian soldiers, and having joined to these some Roman military forces, the Emperor was about to send them against the Thessalian Sebastocrator John, both to destroy him and to slaughter all the adults who were serving in the military, and who were in a way the flower of Thessaly, or simply all those who had passed the age of boyhood and were practicing the arts of war and were capable of appearing in Thessaly.

^B III. But before this plan could be carried into effect, death suddenly cut short its prosperous course. For while he was staying near Lysimachia, next to the village which is situated between Pachomius and Allage (for these are the names of the places), and was there reviewing the Scythian army and selecting the Roman commanders to be placed over these troops and advising them as to what should be done, he was seized with a most grievous heart disease, which quickly gave notice of death, confusing and confounding all the judgments of the physicians and rendering the help of their art entirely vain. They say that he himself, from the fear of death, asked those who were present by what name the place was called, and when he heard the names of Pachomius and Allage, he sighed deeply and said: "Here at last is the end for us, O companions, and the change (Greek, *allage*) of life is decreed." Then he accused himself severely, because he had previously injured a certain honest man named Pachomius by putting out his eyes; for an oracle was commonly circulated about the Emperor, composed in these words: "At the change of life, Pachomius shall receive thee," by which he was deceived, and being crazed with the greed for power, he had hastened to make Pachomius useless for the empire.

^C IV. Concerning the origin and discovery of the oracles, which are spread about among men here and there at different times, someone might perhaps doubt; also how it happens that, although they contain a necessary indication of future events, they obscure it in the intricate riddles of their words. For indeed, as to who composed them and transmitted them to posterity, we have never found this recorded by any writer of histories or any other accounts. But this one thing you may detect as noted by all: that at different times this or that oracle has commonly been spread about, and later had this or that outcome. But who first uttered each of these things, this is altogether unuttered and unknown to all, unless someone should wish to lie. There are some, however, who think that certain spirits—servants and ministers, some good and others, like certain instruments of punishment, evil—are inspectors of the things that happen here, and roam over the sea and the land; and that these, having received from above the knowledge of the things which are to be...

have also been granted the license to communicate it to men, sometimes through dreams, sometimes through the stars, sometimes through some Delphic tripod, sometimes through the entrails of certain sacrificed animals, and sometimes—that I may pass over much—through a voice first originating from the air from some source, and then echoing around the ears of men in their turn, which the sages of old called a divine "gossiping" (ossan). Often, too, it has happened that writings have been found on rocks or walls, with no author indicated there.

^B V. Yet all these things are proposed wrapped in ambiguities and are not entirely clear, just as the ornaments of emperors are thought to have something divine and (as is fitting) to surpass the condition of the common people. For those things which are manifest to all are easily loathed and usually neglected as useless. Nevertheless, their use is not entirely vain or null, if one examines them not perfunctorily, but with the due attention of the mind. For they are signified to some as a benefit, and to others as a punishment. For some, by restraining themselves and preparing wisely, have rendered the impression of calamities milder; or, even by turning away those things entirely by a correction of life and appeasing the Divine, have avoided them. For others, because they were small-minded, the intervening time and the very expectation of calamities was a punishment before those things which had to be endured arrived, Providence so governing that they might be punished more severely for what they had committed.

But if any seem to lie and frustrate the hopes of men (for all things signified are to some troublesome, to others pleasant: as the destruction of the kingdom that Croesus had was troublesome to Croesus and the Lydians, but appeared very pleasing to Cyrus and the Persians): if, therefore, any seem to deceive in this way, it does not happen because of the nature of the oracles themselves, but because of the over-eager desire of men, who anticipate the times and distort the meaning of the oracles to their own wishes. Meanwhile, however, it must be seen that there be none who make sport of those addicted to such oracles, and compose new forged verses in imitation of the oracles, and scatter them secretly among the populace, and by the lies of these confuse even the truth of the others: a thing which it is established that many have done even in our own age. But I return to that point.

^D VI. The emperor, in those places which I have mentioned, finished his life beyond his expectation, in the year from the creation of the world six thousand seven hundred and ninety-first, being fifty-eight years of age. But his son, the emperor Andronicus, who was then present, did not honor his father with an imperial burial to such a degree, that he did not even deign to provide a base one, such as laborers and ditchers

^A obtain; except only that he commanded a few men by night to carry the corpse far from the camp and bury it with plenty of earth, providing only for this, that the imperial body might not perhaps be torn apart by the mouths of wild beasts. The reason for this was that he had deviated while living from the right doctrine of the Church, as we have explained above; a fact which his son had tacitly loathed with his whole soul, as we shall relate more fully below. For he did not hate his father, but rather that action of his father, in the extreme. For in piety, observance, and the reverence due to parents, he surpassed all those who have ever shown themselves obedient to their fathers.

VII. And such was the end of Michael Palaeologus, to whom nature itself had given a comely appearance, joined with a certain gravity and a dignity worthy of a prince. Added to this was the strength of his body and an experience in military affairs gathered over a long time and exercised by much practice. Furthermore, since he was powerful in both prudence and eloquence, he was much more keen in the management of affairs. At the beginning of his reign, he appeared most munificent, in order, no doubt, to win over the minds of his subjects to himself. Afterwards, he set a limit on expenses, since wars were arising from every quarter, which demanded long and great—and also necessary and inevitable—expenditures. Nor are there wanting those who say that he was of an afflicted mind and of a perpetually troubled conscience because of the innovated dogma; a fault to which he had succumbed in order to propagate the empire to his children, by whom, in truth, that honor due to him was so held that he was not even graced with an imperial burial, since they preferred the sanctions of the Church far above filial piety. ^{B C}

VIII. In my own opinion, that man will be prudent and wise in the management of his affairs who chooses what is best first for himself, and then for his children and those who are bound to him by blood. But whoever gapes entirely at the burning glory of this life and is greedily intent upon the fortunate successes of present and transient things—by which the soul is as it were submerged—preferring the most pleasant things to the best things, whether he does this for his own sake or for the sake of his kinsmen, he seems to me both miserable because of his madness and vain because of his empty zeal. For besides the fact that he has God as an adversary to his will and his plans, he also experiences the outcomes of things as quite otherwise than he had hoped, and is precipitated into the extreme of miseries. For behold, he of whom we are now speaking, Michael Palaeologus, a man otherwise prudent and one who, in the management of affairs, was in all respects favored by fortune and... ^D

^A [c. 1282 AD 1328] BYZANTINE HISTORY LIB. VI. [IMP. ANDRONIC. SEN.]

he had following his actions, conquered by his love for his children, he demonstrated the truth of that saying of Plato: "Whatever loves is blind with regard to that which it loves." For whereas he ought to have cast all care for himself and his children upon divine Providence, which rightly administers and dispenses all things, he, like a blind man, while indulging in the love of his children, imprudently precipitated himself from supreme power into an abyss of calamities, and attained this result, that the common people came to execrate him. Indeed, since God had destined the empire for him from infancy, as has been declared by many and various examples, if he had also restrained the impotence of his pusillanimity [(98)] for a little while, if he had refrained his tongue from all perjury, and kept his hands pure from bloodshed, and if finally he had had the will to be a stranger to every innovation of ecclesiastical discipline, he would have surpassed by a wide margin all the emperors before him in every kind of praise. But it was necessary, surely, for the shoe to be stitched by Histiaeus but put on by Aristagoras, that we might arrive at extreme evils, whether for the expiation of old and new transgressions, or for I know not what other cause. And so much for this.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY BOOK VI

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK SIXTH

CHAPTER ONE

^C [1.] But when supreme authority and the succession of the empire had passed to his son Andronicus,

^A all things were filled with great tumult. For on one side, those who had been severed from the Church were stirring up an ecclesiastical war, having already seized upon the emperor’s death as an opportunity; and on the other, the horde of so-called Scythians—exceeding four thousand in number—threatened great danger to the state, lest, because of the death of him by whom they had been summoned, they might attempt some innovation amidst this shift in affairs. It would have been very easy for them, had they so desired, since the Roman legions were not yet present, to lay everything waste with slaughter, to plunder, and to demand money from the emperor himself and the enrolled Fathers. For these reasons, therefore, Andronicus set aside and postponed most of his other business and turned his entire focus toward that which was most pressing. Moreover, he saw that sending them home empty-handed was neither in accordance with the custom of the Scythians nor likely to lead to their departure without tumult and battle. Yet to satisfy them with Roman money was neither easy nor, as it seemed, right. For these reasons, therefore, having joined to them as a guide Michael Glabas, the Great Constable, who excelled in military experience to such a degree that the other commanders appeared as mere children compared to him, he ordered them to depart as quickly as possible against the Triballi—who were themselves most hostile enemies and daily inflicted great disasters upon the Roman Empire—so that by the same effort they might both diminish the strength of the Triballi and, having obtained great spoils from them, withdraw across the Ister to their own homes. And indeed, these things succeeded according to his plan. ^B

II. The emperor’s journey to Constantinople and the restoration of the Church.

It was necessary for the emperor to set out for Constantinople, to announce the death of his father, the Emperor Michael, to his mother, the Despoina Theodora, and to proclaim the public mourning that was fitting for emperors. Therefore, he ordered the emperor’s corpse to be carried to the city of Selymbria, fearing lest it be stolen by the Latins; he himself returned to Byzantium. Once the mourning had been concluded, his first and greatest endeavor was to give his attention to the restoration of the affairs of the Church. For while his father was alive, he had kept this intention fixed in his mind, hiding it like noble seeds ^C buried in rich furrows throughout the winter. But now, when a spring, as it were, had dawned upon the state, he showed who he was, having previously remained hidden. And indeed, heralds and imperial edicts were sent out everywhere, announcing the correction of the Church, and at the same time recalling those who had been sent into exile for the sake of the Church, or who had suffered extreme hardship. Meanwhile, Veccus left his throne in secret and withdrew, shutting himself up in the monastery of the Panachrantos, ^D fearing lest, in this sudden shift of affairs, he might be torn apart by the sudden impulse of the mob. In his place, the same person who had previously yielded to him in that position was immediately installed.

^A Patriarch Joseph, worn down by sickness and old age, and already leaning entirely toward the tomb, to which the manifest preludes of death were driving him.

III. ^B Indeed, since the devil is called in the Holy Scriptures the prince of this world and is established as the ruler of this universe of earthly things—with God, the creator of all, permitting this for mysterious reasons—it is likely that he pursues the events occurring here with diligent investigation and claims for himself whatever is utterly depraved. Yet, from those of the highest quality, he exacts whatever portion he can, after the manner of men who, having come into possession of an estate, impose a tax upon the tenants and receive a certain portion from them annually. For he thinks that he is most unjustly treated, being called the prince of the world, if he does not have some things on earth entirely subject to his command and power, and others in which he may participate as far as possible. And so, to omit other things and even the Jews themselves, who exercised their frenzy against Christ the Savior (for these were the solid inheritance of the devil), he made an attack upon the disciples and apostles of the Savior themselves and carried off one of them, as if it were a certain tribute owed to him as a prince. Then he traversed all the ranks: those who lived an austere life in mountains and caves; the bishops of the Churches; the learned defenders of dogmas; the ^C athletes of martyrdom. And although he was excluded from every side, so far as the decrees of divine Providence permitted, he did not depart entirely empty and void; rather, from every place he gathered a multi-formed people and a certain new army, who would be participants with him in the coming flame.

IV. Then, however, since he could not divert the emperor from his pious endeavor, he brought about confusion in another way and stirred up a storm against that beautiful concord and rendered that new festivity and public joy hostile, imitating that Eris who threw the apple at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, from which afterwards a great battle and hostile flames arose, as the poets, the parents of fables, relate; or rather, following the example of wolves, which, ^D after having first caused a disturbance in the flock, easily snatch away some of the sheep. For he reduced the people to being divided into two and three sects, some defending the party of the Patriarch Joseph, others that of Arsenius, who had died long before. And the former would say that Joseph had been struck by an anathema from Arsenius, whose seat he had occupied while he was still alive; the latter, however, would protest that Arsenius had been canonically deposed by the entire council of bishops who were present at that time; while others objected other crimes against both factions. For this reason, Joseph was compelled by two causes to yield his seat to anyone: first, so that those who were being harassed on his account might enjoy peace,

^A and that he, being exhausted in all the powers of his body by old age and disease, might not be unable to perform what was fitting for the throne. ^B But the leaders of the Zealots were left alone, dissenting among themselves and sharpening their tongues against one another— tongues guided not by a divine zeal, but commanded by the untimeliness of anger. For zeal according to God is kindled by power from above and is led by a divine and well-ordered conduct; but those who have trained their minds to sit as guards at the gates of vainglory have taken that zeal and reshaped it into jealousy, and instead of wheat and grapes and whatsoever fruits are good, they have cultivated thorns and thistles; such are contentions proceeding from a mind not well-schooled, and the channels of opposing arguments.

V. However, the Emperor, being by nature mild and wishing to offend neither the one side nor the other, shielding himself from the scandals on both sides, decided to walk the middle path. Now there is at the eastern side of the Hellespontine strait a place called Atramyttium. ^C The Emperor’s edicts summoned those men to this place, the Emperor himself being present there at that time. And indeed, there flocked not only those whose zeal was governed by reason, but also a promiscuous rabble, most of them devoid of reason and shame; some craving thrones—a thing far exceeding their station—others money, others vain glory and honors, which wander about in this life in many forms. But that which I almost let slip, which I ought to have mentioned first so that the narrative might proceed in order and the series of the story might not be interrupted thereafter, must be explained. For when Joseph, as we have said, had timely left the patriarchal throne and shortly afterward had departed from life, it seemed neither just nor far removed from bad discipline that, in such a confusion of times, the Church should be destitute of a shepherd. There was at that time a man of distinguished eloquence from the imperial choir of clergy, George the Cypriot, who brought back to light with the dexterity of his wit and singular study—and, as it were, recalled from the underworld—the elegant rhythms of Greek literature and that Attic tongue which had long been sunk in the abyss of oblivion. Him, since he had not long before donned the monastic habit, the Emperor had in mind and was striving [to elevate] to the patriarchal...

^A throne. Yet he did not wish him to receive the laying on of hands from any of those who were absent, or from any who had participated in the innovation of the doctrine; but from one who had kept himself separate from their communion, so that there was a risk of the matter being delayed for too long. He was, nevertheless, named by the Emperor after the due votes and testimonies, and he received the pastoral staff on the imperial dais from the hand of the Emperor himself, according to the ancient custom. He was then occupied in administering affairs which, although they pertained to the patriarchal office, did not strictly require the priesthood.

^B VI. Some time later, by a certain chance or rather by the providence of God himself, the bishop of Cozyla, legate of Nicephorus, lord of Aetolia, came to Constantinople; and after him, the bishop of Debro from Macedonia—not indeed acting as a legate, but for the sake of another matter. Since both of them had always kept their minds alienated from the communion of those who had willingly subjected themselves to doctrinal innovations, the bishop of Cozyla was preferred over the one of Debro. For the bishop of Cozyla was subject to the metropolis of Naupactus, and Naupactus ^C was subject to the throne of Constantinople; but the bishop of Debro fulfilled his office under the throne of Prima Justiniana; and for this reason, the former was considered more suitable to serve in the present need than the latter. Therefore, encouraged by Gregory Cyprius—who, as has been said, was already designated patriarch by the Emperor—this same bishop of Cozyla ordained a certain monk, Germanus, as metropolitan of Heraclea in Thrace. For this see, by an ancient privilege, has the right of consecrating the patriarch of Constantinople: whether because the Great ^D Constantine, who made from Byzantium a new and greatest Rome, did not wish to abrogate the privileges decreed by the ancient emperors, but rather confirmed them—moved, clearly, by a veneration not only for the long duration of time, but also for the Emperor Severus, by whom that law was enacted when, after much toil, he captured Byzantium and stripped it, along with other defensive strongholds, of its walls in shame, and finally granted it to these citizens of Heraclea in Thrace to possess as a dependency—or whether, I say, for this or some other reason this privilege is perpetually maintained, it was also done at that time, as we have said. And the aforementioned metropolitan of Heraclea first consecrated the aforementioned Gregory Cyprius from reader to deacon and priest, and afterward to patriarch, with those two bishops

^A of Cozylum and Debro as his co-celebrants. But we must return to where we branched off into this.

VII. The factions of the Zealots were indeed divided, as we have already said, for the reasons we have explained. They were divided also on account of the patriarch himself, the pretext being that for twenty years he had resided in Cyprus and had adopted Roman customs, and by certain Latin rites he had brought with him, he had given the common people cause for suspicion that the order of reader had been conferred upon him by the Latins; whether some malevolent person had sown this idea beforehand, or whether the wickedness of the Zealots had fabricated it at the time, or rather whether that demon who instigates and leads such contentions had dictated it, so that the spectacle of that perturbation and confusion might be manifold and various. ^B This was the pretext they had for rejecting the patriarch. But in truth, they were excessively vain and boastful about the exiles and other sufferings they had endured for their zeal; they wanted, themselves, to have control over all other things that are permitted to be done in ecclesiastical affairs, so that they might pass judgment on all matters according to imperial custom. Furthermore, they wanted to place one of their own number upon the patriarchal throne—whomsoever they might choose—so that, relying on this as a most fortified citadel, and supported by great and ^C splendid dignity, they might divide among themselves all the bishoprics and metropolises; that they might rule over all monasteries; that they might claim for themselves all ecclesiastical orders; that they might administer all the sacred provinces; and that the power of collecting, carrying out, and distributing whatever they wished might reside entirely with them, so that they might thus receive, as it were, the just rewards of their virtue and zeal.

VIII. However, when they had gathered, as it has been said, ^D near Atramyttium, it was agreed and concluded by all after many verbal contests that the arguments of both sides, from which that great dispute had sprung, should be inscribed in two books, and that the judgment should be entrusted to God through fire and miracles. Having therefore spent the entire night in vigils and many prayers to God, on the very day of the Great and Holy Sabbath, they cast the books into the fire in the middle of the temple. Each faction, indeed, hoped that its own book would remain inviolate. But those hopes and nightly vigils were vain.

^A For the fire suddenly seized upon both and most swiftly reduced them to ashes. And this was the judgment of God, and a mockery of them all, who treated a serious matter as a trifle and stirred up untimely storms for the Church. When they saw this, it pleased all of them at once to abandon the dispute, to look toward the common blessings of peace, and to come together to one table of concord; and thus, they all received together the blessing and the solemn prayers offered by Patriarch Gregory.

IX. When these things had been accomplished, the Arsenites approached the emperor and requested that the corpse of Patriarch Arsenius be brought back into the city. This request was by no means simple, but proceeded from a deeper design: that is, that the event might be openly honorable for the Arsenites, but secretly ignominious for the Josephites. It was, however, easily granted. When the body had been carried as far as the Gate of Eugenius ^B, the patriarch with all the clergy, and the emperor with the entire senate, went down, and thus with distinguished hymns and torches it was conducted into the most spacious temple of the Holy Wisdom. But afterwards Theodora, granddaughter of the Emperor Michael through his sister Eulogia—the wife first of Muzalon and then of Raul, both of whom were protovestiarii—requested that the same body be given to her, and she laid it to rest in the monastery of Saint Andrew, which she herself had renovated.

CAPUT II

Andronicus, being a widower, seeks a wife from the king of the Spaniards. Irene is given to him, and this without consulting the Pope. The old custom of the Latin princes. Eulogy of Irene. Gregory Cyprius envies Veccus. He takes care that he is relegated. Veccus’s complaint. The Synod. The eloquence of Veccus. Patriarch Gregory and Muzalon the Great Logothete refute him. The authority of Muzalon. A badge of dignity. Veccus gains nothing by disputing. He rejects the communion of his adversaries. He is sent again into exile with Meliteniotes and Metochites. The cruelty of the zealots against those who had adhered to the Latin Church. The just punishment of cruelty. Andronicus fears vengeance for his father’s crime. He visits the blind Lascaris and consoles him. He goes to the East.

I. But since the emperor at that time had no wife (for his former wife, who had come from Hungary, had died ^C leaving two sons, the Emperor Michael and the Despot Constantine), he sent legates to the king of Spain; and he willingly sent to him, not ^D

his own daughter, but another kinswoman of his, namely Irene, the granddaughter of that marquis who, after the capture of Constantinople, had obtained Thessalonica and the surrounding regions as his portion. He sent her, as we have said, the king of Spain ^A did, not according to the custom that had long prevailed among the Latins, of asking the Pope’s consent first. For it is the custom for the more illustrious among the Latins not to enter into matrimonial alliances with the Romans, until they have received the required permission from the Pope. But that king, since he had been subjected to ecclesiastical censure by the Pope on account of some scandal, used that same pretext of scandal to send her away secretly, to be the Empress of the Romans. The emperor at that time was passing his twenty-third year, while the new bride, Irene, was in her eleventh; and a charm of countenance and a harmony of composure and appearance graced her in no small measure.

Chapter II

^B II. But just as worms are born in damp wood, so too in ambitious souls do stings of rivalry and terrible envy usually lie in wait against those of the same profession, and especially against those who are most diligent in their pursuits. Thus, Patriarch Gregory was tormented by that vivid force of intellect and eloquence which was in Veccos; and it seemed unbearable to him if he, having become celebrated among the Greeks of that time and hoping to be counted among the learned patriarchs, should thereafter be deprived of such honor, surpassed by the other’s eloquence in debates. For this reason, he himself contributed not a little to his exile. Wherefore, having been sent into exile near the foothills of Olympus ^C (29), he did not cease from reporting to heaven and earth, as he claimed, the injustice and harshness which they had unsympathetically inflicted upon him, when it would have been possible to treat him with more humanity; for once the priesthood had been stripped away, they should have been content to ensure that he lacked nothing, and to provide for him as men should for a fellow man—and this all the more since he had fallen from great glory, and for that very reason was in great need of consolation, as far as all those matters are concerned by which the lack of necessary things might be alleviated. And so, from every [sort of] negotiation. ^D

helplessness, and sought to resolve the charges through a public judgment, so that he might perhaps achieve one of two things: either to render the judges more humane through his presence, his face-to-face appearance, and his speech; or, at the very least, to make their lack of sympathy and their relentlessness clearly manifest to all.

III. When the emperor heard these things, he did not consider it a matter that could be neglected henceforth. For he thought that if a suspicion were to sprout up, the common people would believe an injustice was being done to the man, and that those who appeared to be committing the injustice would be subjected to many reproaches from the populace; and these reproaches, while muttered under the breath now, would, after a few years had passed, erupt into the open light. For many slanders, and many praises as well, beyond what is fair, are spread about ^B throughout every age—the former against those who have committed no evil, the latter against those who have done nothing worthy of praise. It was therefore deemed necessary that by summoning all the high priests and clergy, as well as the senatorial order and all those of distinction to the palace, an illustrious judgment of the man should be conducted in such a theater. When this was done, and Veccus had come forward into the midst, and was strongly confounding and refuting with the mighty force of his tongue everything that the defenders of sound dogma were bringing against him, the lie might perhaps have gained the victory over the truth, and meddling over virtue, had not Gregory the patriarch and Muzalo the great logothete stood against him with their abundance of wisdom and their selections from the Holy Scriptures, and calmed that huge tempest of a pernicious tongue.

IV. Now, this Muzalo ^C at that time possessed great authority with the emperor, and acted as an arbiter in imperial and public affairs. He was held in the highest honor by Andronicus on account of his erudition and his old age, being gifted with long and varied experience in affairs and with prudence. For these reasons, this singular honor was bestowed upon him alone of all those who had once performed the same duty: to wear on his head a head-covering [calyptra] wrapped in purple and gold cloth, which, in the upper part where the surface forms a pyramid, was entirely similar to that which the emperors wear, with this one exception: that it did not have the lower and hollow surface adorned with gilded circles, but was completely smooth. But to pass over the events that intervened, when Veccus, after many ^D disputations and a great clamor of the tongue, perceived that no merciful sentence was being passed in his favor, and that no regard was being had for his own interests, he openly repudiated the union. Wherefore, he is once again sent into exile, along with those around him, to a small maritime town of Bithynia. These were Meliteniotes and Metochita.

^A V. I shall now resume the account of that which, I know not how, had escaped my memory. For after that burning of the books of discord at Atramyttium, all those who feigned a zeal for religion—having already divided among themselves the metropolitan sees and other dignities, and being about to divide the rest—decreed with great cruelty the complete deposition of all the bishops and clergy who had agreed with the Emperor Michael, using their good fortune neither moderately nor humanely. For since most of them were from the common, unrefined, and stupidly ferocious rabble—who but a short time before had not been permitted even to look upon the face of the Emperor, and who suddenly, beyond their merit, experienced his abundant goodwill toward them—they assumed airs greater than their station, and behaved no differently than drunken men. For having received power from the Emperor—who, because of the burning desire he cherished in his heart for the union of the Church, would deny them nothing—they now felt secure, and as if they were driving cattle, they gathered into the great temple of the Blachernae 54 all those against whom they were to pass that ignominious vote. And although *they* [the bishops] endeavored to elicit compassion with both words and gestures, and brought forward similar examples in which the humanity of the ancients had shone forth—especially commemorating the times of both Iconoclasms, and how those who had offended more gravely had yet experienced human defenders of the orthodox opinion, and how some had even retained their places—yet these men thought that they should in no way recede from the cruelty of their decree; instead, it seems they cast all clemency and all mercy into the depths of the Atlantic, swept away by the waves of their wickedness. Such great envy raged in the midst of that sacred college; so savage a tempest made sport of that noble concord that had scarcely begun. ^C VI. But who is so hard and has a heart of adamant that he could recount that insult and the extreme inhumanity which they used against the miserable bishops and all the ministers of the priestly order? For after their verbal abuse, the presiding officers commanded their subordinates to tear off the caps [of the bishops] and throw them to the ground, calling out three times: "He is unworthy!" Others they commanded to strip one another of their vestments, and turning them inside out from the hem, to pull them over their heads, and again to call out three times: "He is unworthy!" Then, with pushing and violence and blows to the cheeks, they drove them out of the temple as if they were cutthroats. Such were those "just" judges and priests of the Gospel! But the most humane Jesus, the Savior, even admitted the thief, and longed for and awaited the repentance of the betrayer, had he only wished it. They were indeed punished late, but they paid the just penalties nonetheless, and received their due reward. Nor...

indeed did any of these new legislators and judges die in their own dignity; but, having been most shamefully driven from their own thrones, as we shall relate further on, they departed this life through the stings of grief. ^B

VII. After these things, the emperor, having come to the remembrance of how his father had acted against the young John Lascaris, to whom the succession of the empire more properly belonged than to himself, and fearing that if vengeance were to awaken at some late hour, he himself might be treated in the same manner and lose his eyes together with his empire, determined to apply appropriate medicinal remedies to the wound. For being a man of prudence, he was not ignorant that God many times even in this life directs the outcomes of deeds to the standard of justice, whatever they may be, so that this might be an effective example to amend the life of men, and terrify with dire threats those who, in their own counsels, place the vengeance of the Divine—which watches over human affairs—below their own ends. For although he himself had not abetted his father's counsel or deed by any free motion of his soul, because at that time he was an infant and could not yet, with the still-weak faculties of his body, declare the affect and will of his soul hidden within his bosom; yet for his sake, nevertheless, his father had kindled such a fire of injustice, so that he, the son, might not be deprived of the empire while a legitimate and healthy heir survived. For these reasons, therefore, being stung by the ^C fierce goads of his conscience, he came to John Lascaris, who had been blinded by his father for his own sake and was being held in a small town of Bithynia, both to see him and to console him; and furthermore, to provide him in abundance with all things that could be of use for the remainder of his life. Having done this and commanded it to be done, he went away toward the East, intending to stay there for certain reasons: both to acquire experience in military affairs; and then, by threats prudently aimed, to strike terror into the Barbarians, so that they might not break into Roman lands with impunity, whenever and wherever they wished. ^D

CHAPTER III.

A'. Among these affairs, there were some who courted favor with the emperor in all things, [and] introduced a counsel...

^A For the masses of subjects are accustomed to accommodate themselves to the will of their rulers, and to direct their minds, their tongues, and every practical movement of their hands toward that will as if it were a single goal. For by such compliances they know how to easily purchase the goodwill of those in power. Now the counsel was of this sort: Since all the dangers on account of which the Roman fleet had been so greatly increased had been removed, and beyond other things, Charles, king of Italy—the head of all evils—had departed from human affairs, it seemed a pointless expense for the ships, which exhausted the imperial treasury more than almost everything else. Though this brought evident ruin upon the Romans, it nevertheless seemed opportunistic and most useful at the present time to minds thirsty for money, and for that reason easily despising all the safeguards that fortify the empire, just as columns, enclosures, and mounds fortify houses.

^B II. This became the beginning and the unshakable foundation of the Romans' misfortunes. This emboldened the Latins, who had previously feared the strength of the Romans as invincible, and equipped their spirits with a kind of gladiatorial audacity. For from this point, their maritime affairs began to grow and be amplified; from this, profits accrued to them, and greater and wider domains. To the Romans, however, matters gradually declined and diminished, and day by day the following day turned out worse than the preceding one, heaping calamity upon calamity. For piratical triremes, now from this direction, now from that, now from elsewhere—sometimes by two, sometimes by three or more—audaciously approached even the city itself in mockery. Whence the islands and maritime regions began to suffer, having no way to repel the passing and circling of those ships, nor the dangers that pressed upon them by night and by day—dangers which at that time threatened and prepared to bring about the ultimate ruin, and which, in fact, they later brought about.

^C III. Hence the entire Gasmul contingent was dissipated, and scattered to various parts of the world due to a lack of sustenance. For some defected of their own accord to the Latins, intending to hire out their labor to manage their cargo ships and triremes; others were hired for pay by noble and wealthy Romans; others sold their weapons and turned to farming, deeming it better to labor in this way throughout their whole life and to be vexed annually by publicans and tax collectors than to betray their own salvation willingly, compelled by famine toward an open death. But others of the triremes, left empty in various parts of the Ceratinus, perished over the passage of time. Some, indeed, were sunk to the bottom of the sea; others were broken apart; some, however, were deemed worthy of some care, though these remained few, perhaps in the hope of some future use. But as for what the nature of this counsel was...

and what evils it brought upon the Romans, the progress of the discourse will make clear.

CAPUT IV.

1. And since it was necessary ^A for Gregory also to be affected by sorrows and to pay the penalty for his lack of mercy, because when Veccus implored his aid and promised he would concede anything if only some consideration were shown him and help were not denied—and he did not hesitate to increase the calamities of the wretched man, but rather, while he was being tossed on all sides by many waves, he himself from behind broke over him even greater storms, pouring surge upon surge, acting in a way thoroughly unworthy of his own wisdom, and he who was otherwise worthy of praise in all respects except in the present instance; since, therefore, it was necessary for him too to suffer, what is ordained by Providence, which manages all things for the common good? He too is abandoned ^B by God, with a providential and disciplinary abandonment, so that he might properly wash away the stain contracted therefrom and pass pure into the life to come. For, not thinking it sufficient punishment against Veccus that he was an exile and torn away from friends and kinsmen, he struck him as well from afar with words and writings, refuting his writings and dogmatic definitions with contrary arguments and definitions. But while he was attacking him and his followers, he was imprudently wounded by others himself, and captured in the very things by which he was capturing others; just as if someone shooting arrows at an enemy were, from the side, to be struck by a more grievous blow from his own people than he had expected. ^C

II. For some of the high priests and clergy censured him as a blasphemer and advised him that by modifying certain words he might avoid danger and reproach. This admonition appeared to him not to be sincere nor free from all suspicion, but rather deemed to conceal a dark and secretly creeping envy. Accordingly, he persisted in the matter, and was sharpened to contradict, and heaped proof upon proof and dispute upon dispute, by which he thought he would stop the mouths of his accusers, while he himself might defend... (the original text from the previous page: "as far as the man was able, and add strength to his own words"). But it is clear that God, who directs all things for the sake of utility, did not wish everything for that man to turn out according to his own judgment. ^D And so the strength of his adversaries increases, and a struggle is ignited, so that from a small spark a great conflagration arises. First, no small part of the pontiffs and clergy forsook him; and he was deserted even by those whom he loved above the other pontiffs, I mean those around Chilas of Ephesus and Daniel of Cyzicus, to whom, on account of their erudition, he had bestowed honors greater than was just, who were the first of all the priests and pontiffs...

^A he had promoted; this was what grieved the patriarch all the more, since he had hoped that, while others were abusing and fighting him, these men would fight on his behalf and stand as a fortress and bulwark for him, yet he found them unexpectedly to be his enemies, and, as the proverb says, he had found coals instead of treasure. So it is said that he suffered the same thing that Julius Caesar once suffered when he was killed by Brutus and Cassius. For he had withstood and repelled the swords of the others for a time as best he could; but when he saw that even Brutus had drawn his sword, whom he had loved as a genuine son, they say that then, struck with astonishment at the unexpected turn of events, he fell lifeless to the ground.

III. In the same way, Gregorius resisted the others for a time. But when he saw that those whom he had deemed most loyal were hostile toward him, and he saw no defender present, neither the emperor nor anyone else ^B who was able to help him, he finally understood that this was God’s judgment and a punishment sanctioned and decreed against him from above. Therefore, having bade farewell to the contentions and highest honors of the Church, he withdrew into the monastery of the most chaste Lady and Mother of God of the Hodegetria, and retreated from business into leisure. But not long after, he was called from there by the foundress of the monastery of Saint Andrew. For she was a woman devoted to letters and hung upon the words of the patriarch. And so, having ^C built a monastery very close to her own home, she drew the man there, where, after a short time had passed, he departed this life.

IV. But as God is wont for the most part ^D to conclude things, I imagine you will blame me for my poverty, in that I did not choose [to send more myself]; but you will accept my readiness, and be thankful for my intention. I, for my part, confess that I am not a little grateful that you wished to receive something from me. And so I send the only book I had, Aristotle’s *Meteorologica*. There is indeed in it much of his that does not deserve to be indexed, as the book itself shows. It also contains the labors of Alexander regarding the *Meteorologica*. As for the letters in the book that are poorly written (for such is their state), and the fact that most of it is inaccurate, due to the ignorance of the scribe who transcribed the correct text, I was ashamed and thought it an insult to your cultivated eye to look upon it. Yet, because you do not seek anything external or apparent in all things, but all [the content] happens to be and is produced as it is, while for you the quest is something else—namely, that which is purely one’s own and relates to Him—for that reason I take courage and send the book. Do not, therefore, worry about the letters in it. Whatever there is of errors in the phrasing, bring your own knowledge to bear upon it, according to the correct reading. And please discuss Aristotle with me, and what Alexander labored over in the *Meteorologica*, according to their power and knowledge, so that no obstacles remain to hinder the understanding of the concepts in the book. [alt-version omitted]

^A rewarding deeds with what is consonant to them so that, reminded by the disasters of those who came before, the survivors might become educated and turn to a better life, not long afterwards, Chilas of Ephesus and Daniel of Cyzicus paid just penalties, because they had cast a bitter brow against their benefactor, being confident in their present fortune and not taking to mind at all that the shift of human affairs dances around for the most part, providing an unexpected outcome to expected things and bringing some lucky opportunity to those in despair. And it is the tendency for it, for the most part, to beguile restless souls easily and carry them off into reckless thoughts and bizarre actions, just as when a violent *Caecias* wind catches a merchant ship, stripped of its anchors, and tosses it about ill-balanced on the waves; hence one must apply one's mind securely to such matters, lest we suffer in the future things greater and more bitter than those we ourselves perform. For out of their own metropolises, their most select and faithful clergy, and those held in greatest affection, rise against them and offer letters to the Emperor and the other high priests, testifying that they had committed many nefarious things and matters demanding the certain forfeiture of their priesthood. When the Emperor and the college of high priests had eagerly received these, they summoned them to the imperial city by petitions and decrees; then, subsequently, they eluded them by delaying the examination day after day.

^B V. Then, since they themselves had to drink the bitter cup, such as they had prepared for the patriarch and benefactor, divine justice repaying them with like coin from above, they found against them a silent aversion on the part of the Emperor, which brings more pain than open anger, and which—secretly and stealthily penetrating, so to speak, to the very marrow and bones—gnaws away at all the joy of the soul and extinguishes all noble ardor. Among their brethren and fellow ministers, moreover, they perceived a hostile contempt, alienated from all consolation; and, what is greater, they were deprived of the annual revenues which the metropolises paid to them. Finally, not to make a long story of it, thus sitting in the imperial city they spent the remainder of their lives, nursing a most vehement pain in their inmost viscera, until their body, unable to bear the burden of such excess, finally collapsed under the excessive affliction.

CAPUT V.

^D I. But I return to that point. A certain monk, Athanasius by name, succeeds to the patriarchal throne, austere—

^A in his regimen and disciplines, having been trained from childhood in ascetic practices.

Notes of various authors.

[A. C. 1282 AD 1328] BYZANTINE HISTORIÆ LIB. VI. [IMP. ANDRONIC. SEN]

living in the mountains of Ganos, ^A a man indeed unlettered in literature and civil customs, but otherwise good and admirable in all that pertains to the monastic life—I mean continence and all-night vigils, sleeping on the ground, staying unwashed, always traveling on foot, and having a manner of life highly appropriate to those living by themselves in mountains and caves. And the man might have been blessed throughout his life had he spent it by himself. But, as it seems, it was fated that he should treat harshly both the rest of the high priests and those of the clergy who were learned, and that they should pay, as an offset for their own wickedness, the penalty for that previous behavior they had shown against the patriarch Gregory. For when he had ascended the patriarchal throne, ^B immediately he cast upon those first ones a fierce eye, full of divine zeal and bitterness; so that the more prudent among them, surmising from the very threshold, as they say, what was to come, determined henceforth to live a hidden life at home, before they should suffer against their will something that pleased them not at all; while for others, a little later, it was necessary to be, as it were, in exile from the City.

II. The same things also befell the multitude of high priests. For they were very numerous, and all were distinguished in learning and most experienced in ecclesiastical ordinances, because the patriarch Gregory had labored much in that matter—I do not know whether embracing the custom handed down from of old, or complying with his own studious inclination toward better things, in order that ^C the people might have learned guides and teachers who were most steadfast defenders of religion, and, so to speak, unshakable bulwarks against the waves of hostile tongues whenever there should be need. ^D For the rest, the others, those found to be within Constantinople...

having ^A been gathered there for some necessity, he sent off, each one to his own metropolis, to spend the rest of their lives there, saying that they should not stay here, weaving plots against one another and against himself—they who ought to have been teachers of peace. But as for those coming from outside, on the pretext, supposedly, of the decrees of the holy and divine councils—which order that a synod of metropolitans be held once or twice a year before the patriarch, so that they might examine with one another matters of piety ^B and resolve ecclesiastical questions arising in the interval—he barred their entry into Constantinople, saying that it was right for each one to shepherd the territory allotted to him, just as the patriarch does the imperial city, and for them to take care of their own sheep while present, and not to linger at the imperial city, counting up the revenues therefrom. A person might reasonably blame both parties for this, in that both have fallen outside the bounds of what is proper due to the excess of their conduct.

3. On the zeal of the patriarch against those who do injury, and his efforts for the correction of monks and nuns

3. There were also many other excellent things in that man, useful to the people of that time; his indignation against those who committed ^C injustice was so great and manifest that not only1 were all those who were related through birth to the emperor, but even those who were his own sons, struck with fear... [index: entries preserved]

^D

at his surprising frankness and his rebukes, even more than by the emperor’s own commands. For the blameless life of the man and the emperor’s reverence for him caused these people much anguish and fear. Furthermore, he allowed none of those who chose to lead a monastic life to have anything that provides luxury for the belly, or that required the need of purses and anxious guardianship, or that was full of empty occupations. If he discovered that someone possessed such things, he would, even against their will and with ignominy, strip them of them. And he would severely rebuke those who, while choosing a monastic life and a simple habit and an unassuming manner, did not willingly bear to go on foot, and he would urge them to use their own feet when they were to stay in the City; he warned them not to do so whenever they pleased, and to take care not to appear in public at inappropriate times out of laziness and a luxurious, dissipated character, only to return with their minds full of empty spectacles; rather, they were to go out only when necessity pressed and the superior of the monastery urged it. This was observed by all from then on, as long as he was patriarch. For he used to say it was among the most absurd things that he himself, the patriarch, when going on a journey, should use no beast of burden at all but his own feet, while they, riding on fierce horses, should fill the squares and theaters with their unseemly leaping and clattering and noise. ^B

§4. As for those who, before they were taught the monastic way of life, would sometimes shut themselves up in small cells, feigning a more austere life, and at other times go around the houses of the illustrious and easily deceive the simplicity of women, and seduce them by means of their habit—wearing sheepskins on the outside, but being more rapacious than wolves on the inside, some of whom, harboring the seed of heretical opinions in their minds, would most easily push unwary souls into the abyss of destruction—he would gather these people together, as well as all those who, for the sake of empty glory and profit, practiced certain Bacchic rites like fanatics. By binding them with the laws of a religious life, he would subject those whom he saw to be curable in temperament to the most frequented monasteries, and he would command them, as much as they were able, to keep the vow of stripping away their own will. But as for those whom he saw to be laboring under an incurable disease of the soul, he would decide upon one of two things: either he would throw them into prison, detaining them even against their will, or he would banish them far from the City. ^C By this method, he caused all those who had donned the monastic habit, men and women alike, to lead their lives far from the markets and public squares. It would certainly have been highly beneficial if that law and that rule had remained under his successors, just as it had throughout the entire time he himself was patriarch. For if he had held that dignity for longer, the discipline of the monastic life, once established for the better, would have continued to flourish longer. But since he was soon removed from the midst, everything, as if from a shard, ^D fell back into the old ways against the sacred...

^A tokens of diabolical wickedness which broke into the religious houses.

V. But this almost escaped me. For in more ancient times, the Church abounded not only in other things, but also in teachers who, on various days and in various places in Constantinople, used to teach: one, the Psalms of the prophet David; another, the Epistles of the great Paul; another, the evangelical precepts of the Savior. Furthermore, as many as held priestly office, in their turn, would go hence through houses and tribes and curiae—that is, parishes—preaching the word of God. And that was something divine in human life; a true method of acquiring religion, and a certain path to virtue; or rather, a kind of irrigation from a great and celestial fountain, bedewing the souls of the hearers and shaping and molding them for the better.

VI. But as time went on, all those things vanished, with every honorable custom abolished in these times and, as it were, sunk into the deep sea. Thence, the pestilence creeping into other Churches, the souls of the entire Christian body wander unto this day as in a land desert, pathless, and waterless. And so the matter has reached such a pitch of insolence that, for the sake of a single obol, most horrible oaths are sworn on both sides, such as a writing pen would not dare to inscribe. For the light of reason and ^C saving doctrine being extinguished, everything is thrown into confusion, with most people sliding into a brutish stupor, and no one existing who can understand by himself what is useful, or by what mark piety is distinguished from impiety. But who could detail, part by part, the change of the Church for the worse, which the patriarch, even when he wished, could not correct?

VII. But it occurs to me to wonder how, when these things had to happen, the fickle rashness of fortune brought the outcome of this affair to that man, the foster-son of monastic tranquility. For any wise man understands that the Church had to be so desolate, and its leaders punished ^D together with the whole order of clergy, from the moment they had not admitted the repentance of those who returned from the communion of the Latins, but rather had subjected them to the greatest injuries, even dealing them blows and committing other nefarious acts against them; which we have also briefly mentioned above. Yet in the times of this patriarch, in which this best hope entered the minds of all—that truth would spring from the earth and justice from heaven—everything turned out in the greatest opposition to this hope; and the monastic life, as something useless, went into contempt, and the very fruit of virtue itself became cheap, inasmuch as it easily degenerated into the highest depravity; and how does this not excite wonder? What minds would it not move, even if they were by nature iron?

^A In these times, however, certain slanders began to sprout up against Constantine the Porphyrogenitus, the emperor’s own brother, alleging that he was affecting the kingdom, and that he was going around to all those who held office and those who were otherwise prominent in the army, using solicitations, salutations, and gifts of money, so that they might become his collaborators in his design. These things, as is the common saying, were false accusations, concocted by those whose work it is to cast an envious eye upon good men; and those people, having seized upon the occasion and the inclination of the emperor, who was nursing a base suspicion toward his own brother, pushed the matter to the last extremities of danger.

The causes of this suspicion were of the following nature. From his very infancy, Porphyrogenitus was loved by his father and the emperor more than Andronicus. For he possessed from nature many causes of affection toward his father from every quarter, both from the goods of his soul, such as become those who are destined to rule, from the urbanity of his character, and from the brightness of his eyes; so that if the fact that he was younger had not stood as a great obstacle before his feet, his father would have most gladly designated him as successor to the imperial scepters. This, therefore, was one and the first cause, which, having once intervened and sown the seeds of suspicion against his brother in the mind of Andronicus, dissolved the bonds of fraternal concord and sowed in the soul of Andronicus a disposition that was by no means unsuspecting toward his brother.

^B A second [cause] occurred according to the will of the emperor and father, specifically to take a wife for Porphyrogenitus, when the youth had grown, from among those of the Latins who excelled in nobility, [choosing] the best of all, so that his subsequent study concerning this might be in support of that [as well]. For the father wished—and had been inwardly meditating in silence for a long time—to cut off that part of the Roman empire around Thessalonica and Macedonia, and to secure it as a private principality and imperial power for him. And if death had not arrived and removed him from among the living, perhaps he would have brought the matters of his study to light. But as it seems, because God did not approve of that matter, its outcome was calamitous. This affair made the mind of Emperor Andronicus still more bitter against his brother, and, as if from a spark, it inflamed his soul with anger. But since a gravity of profound prudence ^C encompassed the soul of Emperor Andronicus, and he was clever at concealing for a long time the ill-will that resided in him and at displaying a feigned character as if it were unfeigned, he went unnoticed, remaining for a long time as if he were kindly toward his brother.

^A III. The third cause of suspicion arose from what happened even after the death of the emperor and father. Namely, gathering vast and diverse wealth—such as he garnered annually for his treasuries from the acres of land, flocks, and herds that his father and emperor had assigned to him—he dispensed it lavishly and magnificently to all those who approached him, both to those of noble birth and to the lowly; and furthermore, by exhibiting a gregarious and graceful character to all, he very easily held them bound to himself as if with adamantine chains. For it is common for skill in behavior and kindness at a higher level of dignity to easily render the minds of all subservient to oneself; just as, in the spring, splendid flowers—those which are tinted with a pleasant and as it were smiling coloring ^B of hue—easily draw the eyes of passersby toward themselves. This is that very precept of the Indian sages, given to those wishing to rule: that a person is indeed loved most of all by his subjects if, the more exalted he himself is by nature, by so much the more human and moderate he shows himself toward his inferiors.

IV. Anyone, therefore, who would attribute some guilt to the Porphyrogenitus on account of those two earlier causes would be clearly unjust, unless perhaps he were to say that the father himself, who embraced him with too much affection, was the head and fountainhead of such things. ^C But as regards the third cause of accusation, the man cannot be said to be entirely without spot. For whether he had given himself over to such ambitious pursuits—which for the most part are fitting for emperors—out of inexperience (and perhaps even against his will), still he nonetheless branded himself with no small stain of fault thereby; or whether he knew that he was not above suspicion in the eyes of his brother by behaving so ambitiously, and yet recklessly and securely squandered his time, he would rightfully bear the greatest part of the blame. Indeed, if nothing else, he ought at least to have considered what end awaited those who had committed the same things in antiquity. ^D For instance, that Cyrus of old, the son of Darius and Parysatis, by displaying a pride greater than what befitted his satrapy, aroused suspicion and hatred in his own brother and king, Artaxerxes, from which he harvested nothing other than an unhappy end. Antonius, likewise, who had shared the governance of the greater part of the inhabited world with Caesar Augustus, by spurning covenants and agreements and arrogating more to himself than was fitting, lost his life along with his power. Thus, even if this Porphyrogenitus prepared no intrigue and no treachery against his brother, yet these new things added no small weight to the earlier suspicions, which were themselves not light; and hence it happened that the emperor's ears were laid open to the reception of slanders, which are accustomed to follow upon unbridled ambition.

V. But we must return to our subject. The Porphyrogenitus was at that time living in Lydia, rejoicing in his recent marriage, and was cherishing those hopes in which human life

maxime forescit. For a short time before, he had taken to wife one of the daughters of Raoul, a woman who excelled others in the beauty of both body and soul, while he himself was now approaching his thirtieth year. At that time, he also added a splendid roof to the temple of the Studion (for that place had been desolate since the time of the Latins and for a long time only sheep had grazed there), and by enclosing it with a strong wall and expending great sums, he fitted the building for the habitation of monks, so that it differed little or nothing from its ancient form. But when he was at that time sojourning with his wife at Nymphaeum in Lydia, and had been secretly denounced to the emperor by his brother, it seemed good to the emperor to cross over into the East—under the pretext that other business called him thither, but in reality to suppress his brother, who was unwary and unsuspecting, without any stir, which is indeed what happened. For the Porphyrogenitus was seized very quickly, and his intimates were also seized, the leader of whom was Michael Strategopulus, a man celebrated for his wealth, his lineage, and his deeds. And they indeed were cast into prison, while all their wealth was gathered into the imperial treasury. ^B

CAPUT VII. Public tumult against Athanasius. The cause of the anger. Athanasius withdraws. Regarding the sentence of excommunication secretly written by his own hand. How it was found by boys. The disturbances it excited. The reputation of Athanasius diminished. How he excused himself before the emperor. He gives and asks for pardon. Concerning John Sozopolites. With him as patriarch, wicked monks take heart. Michael, son of Andronicus, is adorned with the diadem.

^C I. Not long after, as the emperor was returning from thence, Athanasius the patriarch offered his written resignation, being in the fourth year of his tenure of that priesthood. The cause of all this was the tumult of all the pontiffs, monks, and laymen, who could no longer endure his spiritual rigor, and who initially maligned him with secret and silent murmurs, but afterwards openly and without a mask; they seemed ready to tear him apart if he did not yield the throne. He indeed hoped that with the emperor’s help he might ward off his detractors; but when he found that his hopes had been disappointed I know not how, he sought and obtained guards, by whom he was saved from the assault of the populace and conveyed safely to his monastery near the Xerolophus. ^D

II. However, before he went away, he performed an act—caused by the loss of the throne—which was entirely unworthy of the dignity and seriousness that befitted such a man. For having taken a scroll, he wrote with his own hand a sentence of excommunication against everyone, whether prince or pontiff,

^A or any of those in the clerical list, or those in authority, or of the laity, who did not allow him to lay down his life along with his throne. He then enclosed this scroll in some potsherds [(66)] and cast it into a crevice of the walls of the Great Church. There, the scroll lay hidden for an entire year. Afterward, it was unexpectedly found by some boys who were searching through the holes for birds' nests, still enclosed in the potsherds. It was immediately shown to the clergy of Saint Sophia, and then exhibited to the emperor. Thence, the trumpets of rumor caught it up and filled the ears of all; everyone was set ablaze with anger, and they might soon have rushed upon and torn the man to pieces, had the emperor not forestalled them and checked their impulse.

III. This was a great stain upon Athanasius, and it silenced the tongues of those who spoke in his defense. For such penalties are generally devised by the sacred ministers as a threat, a sort of disciplinary rod against those who do not treat divine things with sufficient reverence. For this reason, wise judges impose punishment upon the sinful, that by striking fear into them, they might deter them from sinning; yet they secretly offer up ardent prayers to God for them, lest sudden death seize them while separated from God and convey them to the devil ^B and his angels. But what was done at that time by Athanasius was entirely contrary to this principle. And so, because it appeared foreign to the practice of wise men, it brought the man into great reproach. The emperor, having sent the aforementioned scroll to Athanasius, inquired into the cause of the act, mildly and kindly rebuking his rashness while at the same time reproaching him for a small-minded and inhuman spirit. But he, with his character softened by repentance, pleaded his small-mindedness and his sadness. He said that whatever is done or said in such a manner is rendered void by the judgment of truth. Therefore, he both gave and sought forgiveness; and thus, like a scene in a play, the affair that had been done contrary to expectation ^C dissolved.

IV. There was a certain man wearing the monastic habit, named John, who had formerly taken a wife and become a father of children; having lost her, he himself then assumed the cowl. He was a man already advanced in age, well-disposed by nature toward virtue because of the simplicity of his character, yet completely unversed in Hellenic learning, having recently arrived in the imperial city from Sozopolis. By the decree of the emperor and the votes of the sacred college, he occupied the patriarchal throne; under him, the monks of ill repute thought that their affairs had reached a safe harbor from the storm and shipwreck, and that things had turned for the better ^D. [index: entries preserved]

^A He also places the imperial crown upon Michael, the son of the emperor.

CHAPTER VIII

^B [P. 119] I. At this time, first the King of Italy sends envoys to the emperor, having a daughter by a wife—which daughter, as the discourse has already explained, was that of Baldwin who had been expelled from Constantinople—and he sends them concerning the betrothal of both her and the young emperor Michael. By a similar reasoning, later on, the king of that Armenia which is adjacent to Cilicia also offers his sister, who was over thirteen years of age, through his envoys. But since the embassy of the King of Italy was set aside because it requested things that ought not to have been granted, envoys were chosen who were the most outstanding of the sages at that time: Theodore Metochites and John Glycys—the former being at that time the logothete of the household affairs, and the latter the logothete of the course. And these men were chosen not only because of the experience they happened to have in affairs, but also because they excelled greatly over others in the abundance of their intelligence and wisdom, as much in divine and our own dogmas as in that which concerns Hellenic learning. ^C For it is necessary that those who are sent as envoys to foreign nations be such men, so that, having their tongue armed on every side, they might carry off the palm in whatever discussions they might engage. Thus, having boarded swift ships, they first sailed to Cyprus. For a rumor had come even from there to the emperor, a little earlier, concerning such a betrothal. But when they had spent a considerable amount of time there, and the affairs from Cyprus had not met with their design, having disembarked from there, they sailed to Aegae; this is a coastal city situated beyond the Cilician gorge, near the Issican Gulf.

II. ^D Now, whatever things—whether difficult or easy and full of pleasure—befell them both as they departed, as they sailed, as they went around the islands and entered the harbors, and as…

they brought the entire embassy to completion, the book that sets forth all the details in order will disclose most beautifully and clearly to those who wish to know, a book which the noble tongue of one of the ambassadors, John Glykys I say 73, sets forth most nobly and in such a way that every learned man would admire it. But it is not my purpose to dwell on the particulars, for I have set out to write a history of many and varied events. Therefore, I must pass on to the rest of the matter. Having departed, then, from Aegae, they finished their journey by stages and daily rest-stops, however many they may have been, until they arrived at the place where the king had his residence. There, having spent many days, they brought all things to a successful conclusion in accordance with what they had received in mandates from the emperor and what they themselves had devised out of their own ingenuity. And that I may not be too wordy, having taken Maria 74, the sister of the king, they returned and brought her to the emperor as a bride.

^B III. Since, as has been said, the Porphyrogenitus and Strategopoulos had been captured—men most warlike, who by great battles and strategic experience were easily beating back the Turks and keeping them from the Roman borders (these borders at that time were the regions to the east, adjacent to the Maeander)—the enemies now, with plenty of solitude on the part of those who would hinder them, were plundering everything beyond the Maeander; and the enemies, in a multitude beyond number, were even crossing the Maeander itself. This necessity compelled the emperor, after a selection had been made from the remaining best of the Romans, to decide to send someone to protect the cities and provinces of the Romans in Asia that were in danger. There was at that time a man of strategic ability 75, and skilled in warfare, Alexius Philanthropenus, who held the dignity of pincerna, being in the early bloom of his youth and awaiting an opportunity to display the distinguished quality of his nature. The emperor gave him as many troops as were needed and sent him off to the East; and together with him he sent Libadarius, the protovestiary, an old man skilled in command and, so to speak, enjoying a deep furrow 76 of wisdom in his mind, so that he might govern the cities around Ionia 77, while the pincerna governed all those further away. In a short time, therefore, Philanthropenus became great in the Turkish wars, his virtue having found material, like a strong flame catching hold of fuel. For he was also a most generous man and otherwise possessed a sociable character toward his subordinates—which is the best provision for commanders for victories and triumphs. Hence, everything of fortune flowed straight to his goal, and nothing occurred contrary to his will 78; so that even when the Turks were being driven away from there by the Scythians, and were being overthrown here by the pincerna...

^A, fearing him—as the Greeks say, the pincerna—and drawn as if by some yoke toward the pincerna’s right hand and generosity, by necessity the greater number of his associates left and together with their wives and children defected to the pincerna, not fearing the enemies lying in wait behind them as much as they were drawn toward the pincerna’s right hand and gifts; so that in a short time a great portion from this became added to his army.

IV. But since it was fated for sad things to be mixed with joyous ones, and for a third jar, which the children of the Greeks say, in Zeus, is never free of evils, to be present, Fortune shows the vestibule to this man as cheerful and full of joy; but she empties the whole house into him, full of evils. For as Libadarius saw his fortunes following a fair wind in the pincerna’s affairs, thoughts of fear and suspicion crept in. For he feared lest the pincerna, having thought beyond what is moderate, and then using both the occasion and fortune as his allies, might proceed to defection and tyranny, and he himself, being the first anti-strategos, might be in danger. Many of those in power also whispered the same thing; and this was a kind of envy, so to speak, still lying in swaddling clothes and milk, or like a spark hiding the embers in the ash. But this did not escape the Cretans, who were everything to the pincerna from the time they rose up with their wives and children from Crete and defected to him. For they enjoyed very great honor from him and were the first among those surrounding him, not only defending him, but as if also sharing in the power ^B. And all these things caused them to drift into an accursed mindset and persuaded them; and they did not wish to remain anymore in their established state, but thought upon things far higher than their own worth and fortune. For a stadium, so to speak, is seen, and a precise test for human souls, in how many good fortunes grow over time, raising the foolish to such a height of arrogance, whereas for the wise it brings a steady mind, and brings forth praise for steadfastness and gravity from every side. For when they themselves had heard the things whispered about the pincerna, they introduced a burden of harsh thoughts into the man’s heart, not reporting the matters as they were, but like those making an elephant out of a fly, and in these things they attempt to persuade him to move to defection most quickly, before suffering the things which those unfortunate men, I mean those around Strategopoulos and the Porphyrogennetos, had suffered a little while before ^C.

V. With these things he is moved to agitation, and they carry the man as if to the midpoint of ambiguous thoughts, from both sides wave after wave of such a storm pouring down upon him. And before he could go through with one decision, another would immediately appear in opposition, and a certain confusion and turmoil of disparate thoughts was stirred up at the same time in his mind. For those who are conscious to themselves of faults in any matter, if, as is fitting, some evil threatens them, there also hangs over them the [fear of] impending— ^D

calamities from the time they erred: to whom, if nothing else, at least the foreknowledge itself somewhat lightens the intensity of the calamity. On the other hand, those upon whom evils come unexpectedly, while they are not conscious to themselves of any of those things ^A which are reasons for their own [misfortune], are wont to be astonished and, in a way, beside themselves. But after long conflicts of thought, the instigators of the defection were victorious. At the beginning, the cupbearer decrees that the name of the emperor should not be acclaimed in the army as was the custom. Wherefore the Cretans, having been heartened by him in a small moment, applied force, and ordered that he use the imperial insignia as soon as possible to confirm the spirits of their own men. "Plans of this kind," they said, "the deed itself must immediately follow; nor is there anything [among all things] ^B that demands equal promptness of mind and hand and such ardent zeal. But if you wish to waste time, you make the minds of the soldiers suspended and ambiguous, fluctuating in the very crisis of events and trembling in expectation of an uncertain outcome. Nor can you yourself escape being betrayed by them immediately." Hearing this, he disregarded it—I know not whether terrified by the magnitude of the matter, or having pondered some secret in his mind, I believe awaiting, that he might first subdue Libadarius.

VI.

unity of the camp, this might become no small obstacle to his purpose.

VII. But he did not notice that he was pursuing a shadow ^A instead of the substance. For the Protovestiarios Libadarius, considering the Pincerna’s preoccupation with these secondary matters to be a golden opportunity, and having seized the occasion divinely offered in such a violent and sudden reversal of affairs, collected all the money he could, and gathered troops with the greatest speed from both the maritime regions of Ionia and from the interior, and, to put it briefly, from everywhere. Having converted his own wealth and that of those who happened to be wealthy around him into silver, and having furthermore summoned a great quantity of imperial funds from Philadelphia, he provided everything in abundance for the army, adding even greater promises and making them more eager with hopes. Thus it happened that before ten days had passed, ^B he had arrived with a heavy force and encamped in the middle of the Lydian territory, there to await with strong forces the Pincerna’s attack. And to the promptness of Libadarius, that seemed most efficacious which brought the whole matter to a swift conclusion. For knowing that the Cretans above all others guarded the Pincerna in battle and were those who gathered most closely around him, he dealt with them secretly, promising that he would give them a great deal of money and procure for them illustrious honors from the Emperor, if they would hand the Pincerna over to him in fetters once the armies began to clash. They, who for a long time had been vexed by the Pincerna’s ^C slowness and delay in his present design, and who also saw that the fortune of events was working against him, accepted the promises and carried out the whole drama in the midst of the battle. Thus he himself was handed over in chains, and his entire army was dispersed in a short time.

VIII. But since affairs had met with success for the Protovestiarios Libadarius according to his plan, and the outcome had been successful for him, he did not treat the defeated man with moderation, nor did he revere the misfortune of the man, nor did he conduct himself humanely regarding these events; ^D but, bearing in mind the inflexibility of the Emperor regarding punishments, and fearing lest the prisoner might obtain mercy, he went after the third day from his capture and deprived him of his eyes. So bitter and stony-hearted did he appear toward the unfortunate man. For the human mind easily tends toward extremes, unless it is guided by the intellect, which regulates the inconstant rashness of fortune.

^A For what is done in war and battle, whatever it may be, finds excuse when reason is oppressed by the weight of pressing affairs, and hands are as though intoxicated, with no mind present to govern them and preside over the actions being performed. But when the dangers have already been averted, and free will has time to take counsel, then, after weighing the matter, to arm the hand with a certain judgment of the soul and to entrust the outcome to it—that truly argues a vicious mind if anything is committed otherwise than it ought.

CAPUT IX

1. During this time there occurred an earthquake ^B of the very greatest magnitude, by which many large buildings and many great temples partly collapsed, and were partly brought to ruin by their walls splitting apart. The statue of the Archangel Michael also fell, which the Emperor Michael Palaiologos had placed upon a column before the Church of the Holy Apostles when he had recovered Constantinople; later, his son, the Emperor Andronikos, restored it to the same state and set it up again.

II. Following this, in the summer, Eudocia, the Emperor’s sister, came to the City from Trebizond, her husband John Lazos having died there. She came with her younger son, for she had left the first-born, Alexius, at home to administer the paternal empire. The Kral of Serbia was soliciting the hand of Eudocia through envoys, in order to confirm a perpetual peace with the Romans. For he was powerful, and never ceased to disturb Roman affairs, partly by seizing cities and partly by plundering fields. ^C This matter brought the Emperor into great doubt: first, because he valued the friendship of the Kral highly; second, because the Emperor’s sister, Eudocia, abhorred the marriage with him, and would not even allow the talk of those who spoke of it to reach her ears; third, because this was the fourth marriage he was seeking. For he had lived for some years with his first wife, the daughter of the Prince of Wallachia, but then, having sent her back to her homeland, he had taken as wife the sister of his brother’s wife, having first stripped her of the monastic habit. But since the Church of the Triballi long opposed those illicit ^D unions, after a long time he had sent her away too, and...

^A he brought in the sister of the ruler of Bulgaria, Sphendosthlavos, as his third wife. But he had no children by any of the three. And now, having become weary of her as well, he was seeking a more noble connection.

III. Since Eudokia would with all the purpose of her soul reject his live-in relationship, while he, on the other hand, was pressing the petition heavily from that side, adding no small threats, the emperor was forced to inform the Kral concerning his own daughter Simonis, who was in her fifth year, so that she might be taken and reared in his house until she should reach the age of marriage, and subsequently become his wife. Therefore, when spring approached, the emperor set out for Thessalonica with the empress and their daughter, taking along also the Porphyrogenitus in chains, fearing that he might escape through his mother’s assistance. For the mother, Empress Theodora, did not cease daily to lament for her son and demand his release.

IV. ^B In the same year, the Kral also came, bringing with him as hostages the sons of the leading men of the Triballi, and bringing also, for the sake of confirming the peace, the sister of Sphendosthlavos. Not long after she had been brought to the city, Michael Koutroules, who had wed the emperor’s sister and was now a widower, his wife having passed away, had secret intercourse with her. He associated with her, I say, at first in secret, but afterwards he took her as his legitimate wife in public. And to summarize the matter in few words, the Kral, having made the treaties firm and most secure, just as the emperor wished, went back home, taking with him the infant Simonis; being himself forty years of age, and older than his father-in-law by about five years. ^C

CHAPTER X

I. In the following year, when the emperor was returning to the imperial city, some of the Massagetae who dwell beyond the Ister (they are commonly called Alani) sent a secret embassy to the emperor: they, who had indeed been Christians from old, were afterwards subdued by force by the Scythians, ^D and were serving them with their bodies against their will, but in their minds they desired...[original-script column: see facsimile]

^A independence, and detested the impious as aliens. They therefore represent that they are seeking a place sufficient for the habitation of more than ten thousand of their number, who are willing to come with all their households, if it should be pleasing to the emperor, and promising at the same time to lend their strenuous efforts against the Turks, who, having already gathered strength, were with impunity overrunning and pillaging the whole of Roman Asia. This embassy was as agreeable to the emperor as if one had been sent from heaven bringing the hope of subduing all of Asia. For after that insurrection of Philanthropenus, he used to say that all the Romans were suspicious to him, and he believed that no one cherished a proper affection toward him; hence he dreamt of foreign alliances by night and by day—would that he had not! For when all the Romans were disapproved of, the Roman cause began to labor, and was brought to extreme peril, as will be explained hereafter.

II. But the embassy having been so eagerly accepted, the Massagetae arrive, more than ten thousand in number, ^B along with their wives and children. Since it was necessary to provide them with money, horses, and arms, these were given partly from the imperial treasury, partly from that of the military, and partly from public and private funds. Hence many, one after another, set forth to collect tributes from the provinces, and the publicans increased them; every weapon and every horse was demanded; villages, cities, the houses of the nobility, the residences of those enrolled in military service, monasteries, the populace, theaters, and forums were searched; and all gave horses and money, reluctant and lamenting, escorting the new army not with prayers and good omens, but with tears and curses as provisions. When they had crossed from Europe into Asia with the emperor Michael, they encamped near Magnesia. ^C The Turks, for their part, at the beginning, as is their custom, retreated into the mountains and woods, so that from there, protected by the defenses of the terrain, they might observe how great and of what sort these forces were, and might know whether they observed military discipline in their camp. For they knew that report often announces things that are not true, and exceeds all bounds in magnifying matters. Therefore they kept watch to see if it were true as reported, that these men could not be invaded, or if they were to be outflanked and put to flight by Persian guile and ambushes. ^D

III. But when they saw them frequently sallying out for booty in no order (for they were ravaging the Roman fields more than if they had been open enemies), the most warlike of the Turks descended from the mountains in their accustomed order and military discipline—at first little by little, then further, and soon with a greater and more confident impulse; nor was it hidden that they were going to surround the emperor's camp. But our men did not withstand even the first aggression of the barbarians, but gradually...

[A. D. 1328] ^A ...and having set out from there, they retreated a short distance, with the barbarians following behind and encamping very close by. For our men did not see how numerous the barbarians were; but they were affected by fear just as those who are intoxicated by wine, who do not see what things are by nature, but instead of some things, they think they see others, because the very great amount of moisture gathered around the brain causes their vision to be turbid and, as it were, to fluctuate while gazing upon the objects before them. For those armies whose injustice and audacity run ahead bring about their own innate destruction and dissolution from that very source; and before the enemies fall upon them, they are themselves overturned first by fear, becoming their own enemies, while justice from above metes out the ends of their actions as is fitting. For it was not likely that those who had taken curses and tears as their travel provisions for their departure would achieve anything. The emperor, ^B truly, seeing that the Massagetae had taken to flight, and being unable with a few men to fight against the barbarians, brought himself into the most secure fortress, Magnesia, awaiting the end of the calamity. The Massagetae descended as far as the Hellespont, plundering everything belonging to the Christians, and from there they crossed over into Europe; just as if they had been summoned from Scythia for this reason alone, so that they might lead the Turks to the sea sooner than was proper. For not many days had passed, and the emperor returned to Byzantium, and the rising barbarians had divided among themselves and taken possession of almost everything as far as the coastline of Lesbos.

CAPUT XI.

It happened at this time ^D that a war also broke out between the Genoese and the Venetians, in which the Venetians, having lost many ships and much money, were defeated by them at different times and in different places. Finally, having equipped seventy ships, they attacked those Genoese who live in the region of Constantinople; but they did not catch any of them. For they, having been forewarned of their arrival, had shut their wives, children, and wealth inside the city; and they themselves, having climbed onto their own triremes, fled the pursuing enemy, having been carried off into the Euxine Sea. And so the Venetians, since they could not capture them, were reduced to the point of burning their houses and the empty cargo ships that they encountered, and together with them all the houses of the Romans outside the walls; the latter [the Romans], defending themselves, had taken in the wives, children, and wealth of the enemies into safety. Hence it came about that the Romans residing within the city were incited against the Venetians and tore some of them to pieces, and plundered all their property.

^B II. For this reason, in the following summer, the Venetians again armed eighteen triremes and arrived, demanding that the damage which had occurred be compensated by the Emperor. For they claimed that it was not in accordance with the customary friendship for those who had been wronged to be punished with extreme severity for having defended themselves moderately against a great injury; since, they argued, the Romans had been the first to break the treaty, having provided safe refuge to the wives, children, and property of their enemies at the very height of the conflict. But since the Emperor replied that their demand was not reasonable, and yet, due to his lack of triremes with which to engage them—for they had previously been lost, as we have said—he had no way to punish their impudent audacity in a manner befitting the imperial dignity, they were carried to such a pitch of insolence, holding the cowardice of the Romans in such great contempt, that they brought such shame upon the Roman Empire as I myself would be ashamed to recount. For where the causes of misfortunes are forced upon one, it is permissible to afflict the soul with grief; but even so, it should be moderate, since there the conscience is not whipped by any goad of repentance, but believes the matter to be a divine judgment whose reasons are hidden and arcane. Here, however, with intent and, so to speak, of deliberate purpose, the Romans voluntarily cast the dignity of the Roman Empire below the condition of slaves, by removing their triremes from the sea for the hope of gain; and this, though very meager, brought forth long-lasting and greatest detriments, joined with much greater ignominy. For neither would it have been permitted to the Latins to despise the Romans so boldly, nor to the Turks to behold the expanse of the sea, if the Roman fleet had held the sea as once it did; nor would affairs ever have been brought to such a crisis that the Romans were compelled to fear, not only those nations which were their neighbors, but even those whose dwellings were as far away as possible, like some stone of Tantalus suspended from a thin thread above their heads, and were forced to pay annual tribute to all, just as the Athenians and Boeotians of old, having suffered defeat, paid the annual tax to Lysander and Dercyllidas and the Laconian prefects, whom they call Harmosts.

^{C D} III. But I return to that point. The Venetians, armed with their triremes, proceeded into the Ceratine Gulf and landed on the northern shore opposite the palace; and from there, having sent legates, they demanded the return of all the property that the Byzantines had taken from the Venetians dwelling in the city, who had done no injury to them, threatening that they would seize more from the unwilling Romans if they did not give back what was just of their own accord. But when they understood that the Emperor was unwilling to restore the goods, they immediately began to treat the Roman power with derision, and set fire to all the houses situated across from the city, which were vacant of inhabitants. For they had migrated, not waiting for their arrival. Likewise, they consumed by fire whatever bundles of grain were in the threshing floors; which was nothing other than a certain mockery and derision of the Emperor. For thus it came about that, as a small flame was fanned by a wind blowing from the north, the palace was filled with a great deal of smoke. The next day, they departed and were intent on that...

filling the city. On the following day, having departed from there, their task was to seize the merchant vessels sailing toward the imperial city from wherever they might be coming, and to sail along the islands of the Propontis ^A to conduct raids. Not content with amassing wealth, they would even hang men by their feet from the yardarms and scourge them before the walls of the imperial city, so that their relatives, upon seeing this, might pay large sums of money for their ransom. And thus, having collected more money than they had demanded, the Venetians returned home.

IV. Patriarch John, seeing that he was treated with contempt on account of his ignorance and simplicity, and that he was being openly reproached by certain bishops, was overcome by sorrow and distress of mind; he offered to the emperor a written resignation of his dignity, since the emperor would not assist him. He departed and lived in quiet for a time at the monastery of the most holy Mother of God, the Pammakaristos. Afterward, he went away to the small town that had raised him, that is, Sozopolis, where he passed the remainder of his life in solitude.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK SEVEN

CHAPTER ONE

1. About this time, the greatest floods of calamities surged from the East, just as if infinite

storms of wind suddenly collected together and drove and confounded all things both up and down. For since the eastern tracts of the Roman empire were left destitute of military forces, the satraps of the Turks, having formed an alliance, made incursions into everything as far as the entire sea, and had already begun to establish colonies right on the very shores. And the greatest part of the men, together with their wives, and infants, and whatever was in the way of beasts of burden and wealth, had now fallen under the edge of the enemy’s sword. Those who had secretly escaped, some fled to the nearest cities, while others crossed over into Thrace, unarmed and stripped of all they possessed. And having come to an agreement, the Turks divided by lot all the land that happened to belong to the Roman empire in Asia. ^A Therefore, the Carmanian Alisurius took possession of the greater part of the mediterranean Phrygia and everything as far as Philadelphia and all the nearest places from the city of Antioch, which is situated by the river Maeander. Whatever was from there as far as Smyrna and the adjacent maritime coast of Ionia fell to a certain Sarchan. For another satrap, by the name of Sasan, had already arrived and seized the regions around Magnesia, Priene, and Ephesus. From Lydia and Aeolia as far as Mysia, which is adjacent to the Hellespont, Calames and his son Carases held sway. The regions around Olympus and all the Bithynia that follows were held by another, named Atman. From the river Sangarius to Paphlagonia, the territory was divided among the children of Amurius.

^B 12. The following year, they say that Athanasius, who had held the patriarchate before John and had resigned it, secretly intimated to the emperor that he foresaw divine indignation hanging over the Romans and exhorted him to use supplications to God throughout entire nights up until the third day. ^{C D}

When on the following day an earthquake occurred, the emperor declared that this was the divine indignation previously predicted by Athanasius; and he further affirmed that no one else was more worthy of the patriarchal throne. For he believed that only one divinely enlightened could have foreseen the future; and he was persuaded that, as soon as he was restored to the patriarchal seat, the enemy would retreat as far as possible from the borders of the Roman Empire, and that just as spring follows winter and calm follows a storm, so peace would ensue, and the boundaries of Roman rule would easily expand. ^B

III. This matter disturbed, to no small degree, almost all the bishops and priests, all the superiors of monasteries, all the clergy, and I might almost say, all the administrators of public works and other state affairs, as they recalled the ancient formidable spiritual authority of the man. Consequently, when the emperor held forth to them regarding the earthquake and the prediction of Athanasius, they could not believe him; but they whispered among themselves that he was inventing these things out of a desire to magnify the man, and lending him false authority so that his own personal desire might seem to have a plausible pretext. Nevertheless, with cajolery and well-chosen words, the emperor succeeded in winning over some of the bishops and monks to his side; with them, he went on foot to the cell of Athanasius near Xerolophus. There he spoke to him of what needed to be said regarding the patriarchate and persuaded him to resume the insignia of that dignity. For he maintained that no other laying on of hands or public acclaim and celebration was necessary, since he had long ago already received that office in full measure, even if in the meantime, out of sorrow, he had seemed to put it aside. These things having been done, on the seventh day Athanasius returned to the patriarchal throne. ^C

IV. It happened that at that time there was staying in the imperial city the patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt, a grave man, whose character was adorned by the very sharpness of his intellect; for which reasons the emperor greatly respected and favored him. When he saw the emperor’s inflamed zeal for Athanasius, and heard him extolling his name with such great and miraculous praise, to the point that he likened him with his whole heart to the divine Chrysostom, he quite wittily censured his grandiloquence and untimely zeal with words to this effect: “There was, he said, a certain cobbler who owned a white cat, which was accustomed to catching one mouse every day at home.” ^D

This cat, ^A having once by carelessness fallen into the vessel in which that cobbler kept the liquid dye intended for hides, emerged from it with difficulty, entirely black. The mice, however, opined that, having assumed a monastic habit, it would no longer intend to eat flesh. Therefore, having laid aside their fear, they dispersed across the floor, sniffing about and searching for the things on which they might feed. But the cat, when it had come forth and seen such a great prey presented to its eyes, wanting to seize them all at once, was by no means able; nevertheless, it ate two that it had caught. All the rest fled for their safety, wondering how, after having assumed the monastic habit, it had become more cruel. “I fear, therefore,” he said, “lest this Athanasius also, having now obtained the patriarchal throne as the reward for his predictions, should obscure that former harshness with a much greater one, puffed up by the pride acquired because of it.”

CAPUT II

I. In these times, ^C it came to pass that both kings waged war against one another, Charles, the King of Italy, and Theodoric, the King of Sicily. Now, Sicily is a large and populous island, distant from the mainland by no more than thirty miles, if one measures the strait which flows between the Scyllæan promontory of Italy and the city of Messana in Sicily, and this, too, being an island of Sicily. Charles, therefore, who had for a long time desired to possess Sicily and was revolving this plan in his mind, secretly builds long ships and, to the best of his ability, provides all other things necessary for waging war by both sea and land. At length, when the hostilities had broken out into the open, Charles was formidable to Theodoric, who was still unprepared, and he pressed him greatly, frequently crossing over to the island from the mainland with all his infantry and cavalry; and for two years, having inflicted losses, he would return home in the winter, but in the spring he would always renew the war with greater forces.

^A A certain man named Roger, having gathered an army from lower Iberia 17 and Gaul, which lies beyond the Alps and inclines more toward the west, and from the coarser peoples beyond the Alps—men who took pleasure in naval battles as much as land wars—was able to man no fewer than four triremes from these. Through them indeed he practiced the life of a pirate most skillfully, becoming the most adept at this of any who had ever lived. For he did not only attack freight ships descending and ascending from the north and south, but by sailing alongside and circling them, he did much damage, and he was already being held as a terror to the Ionian Sea. Since Sicily was now blocked on every side by the naval and infantry forces of Charles, and Frederick was brought to a state where he was forced to seek external alliances, he summoned the aforementioned Roger and instructed him to recruit from wherever he could other very brave men, about a thousand cavalrymen, so that with equal forces they might fight bravely and vigorously against the army of Charles that was positioned against them. When he had arrived, bringing with him a thousand men—as many as were the infantry from his fleet—and as many again whom he had counted among the cavalry, immediately all the Sicilian ^B cities that Charles had captured and enslaved, as if a tally had been turned, returned to Frederick, not being accustomed to suffer under a foreign yoke.

III. When Charles heard this, he was extremely grieved and was, so to speak, beside himself with fury, because he saw his long-standing hopes, which had already reached their end and were, so to speak, being harvested within his own grasp, suddenly overturned, right in the ports themselves. Hence, as spring was ending 18, he arrived with a heavy force. But having engaged with Frederick, who was now stronger in numbers and power, he departed differently than he had desired. As that year was coming to a close 19, at the beginning of spring, Charles brought the whole of Italy, so to speak, into Sicily, so that this might be the final judgment and end of the long wars. But having lost far more men, he returned home defeated, bringing with him, so to speak, a great assembly of sorrows. Thus, being driven by his inability to act from every side ^C in his mind, he sent envoys to Frederick regarding peace and a marriage alliance between their children.

CHAPTER III

1. When these things had pleased both sides, and having laid down their arms ^D

^A the Catalans, those allies of Theodoric, considered where they might turn to find profit. For they had no homes or fixed possessions for which they would be anxious to return; but they had gathered from here and there, many from many places, empty-handed and unencumbered, for the sake of plunder, leading a nomadic, seafaring life. It therefore seemed good to their leader, Roger, to send envoys to Emperor Andronikos to signify that he would come to his aid against the Turks, if he so wished. And since this condition strongly pleased the emperor, he set out from Sicily for Byzantium, bringing two thousand men with him: of whom he called one thousand Catalans, because most of them were descended from that people; and the other thousand Almogavars. 20 For this is what the Latin tongue calls foot soldiers going to battle, and for this reason he had also enrolled these into the same order of military service and called them by that name.

^B Immediately, therefore, when he had arrived, the emperor joined him to himself by affinity, giving him in marriage Maria, the daughter of his sister and of Asan, and elevated him to the dignity of Grand Duke. But when, a little later, 21 another Catalan, Berengarius Entença, 22 arrived at the invitation of Roger, the emperor bestowed the title of Caesar upon Roger himself, and the dignity of Grand Duke upon Berengarius. The expenditure of money, however, which was lavished on their garments, gifts, and annual provisions, exceeded all measure to such an extent that in a short time it exhausted the imperial treasury. And when, these things having been provided for, it was time to cross over into Asia and fight the enemy, what need is there to mention how great were the calamities they brought in their crossing upon the Romans who had fled for refuge into the maritime small towns of Asia? For they abused the men and women as if they were slaves; they consumed all their private property for their own use: and (as is wont to happen) they gathered many curses from the inmost hearts of those wretched people and caused them to shed copious tears for the injuries they suffered at their hands. And these things were done in the first year.

^D II. But in the following spring 26 they went forth to drive out the enemies who were besieging the city of Philadelphia. For the inhabitants of Philadelphia were being oppressed by dual evils: from without by the hostile forces which had long been surrounding them; from within by a much more grievous enemy—the shortage of necessary supplies and famine. And they administered this task most beautifully and most valiantly,

^A aided by the right hand of God from above, by reason of the magnitude of the virtue of the divine man Theoleptus, who presided over the sacred matters of that city. For when the enemies saw the orderly movement of the Latins and the splendor of their arms and the immobility of their assault, they were seized with fear and fled; not only carrying themselves as far as possible from the city, but almost beyond the ancient borders of the Romans. For so great and of such a quality was that army, and so excellently constituted—both in arms and in experience of war and in number (for not only the elite Romans, but the entire army of the Alans marched there with the Latins)—that it was not without reason that the enemies were shaken at the sight of it.

Epitaph on the blessed and most holy Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Theoleptus

^A And not only the pick of the Romans, but also the army of the Alans [(26)], caused such terror among the enemies on this account, that many at that time said that, had the emperor’s orders not deterred them from advancing further out of some cowardice, nothing would have prevented them from restoring the cities and lands of the Romans, cleared of enemies, to the emperor in a short time. But these things were spoken by men who looked only at the present, and were unable to understand anything higher than what was before them. For this was truly the judgment of God, fixed long ago, that the Roman empire should be afflicted by extreme calamities. Therefore, by the secret reasons of Providence, many things seemed to hinder useful plans, while many things conspired to assist those that were harmful. But they easily brought this expedition to an end toward the close of spring. ^B

IV. But since they could not advance further, because they had no guides to point out roads that were unknown and little traveled, and to make an easy path for them (for they saw that that long expedition could not be accomplished without many slaughters if no one showed the way; nor was Roger the kind of man to rashly risk such great danger, having gained much experience through many wars), they separated and went their own ways: the Romans indeed returned home, as did the Alans; but the Latins, following Roger Caesar [(28)], went through the remaining cities of the miserable Romans and treated them most horribly, turning their hostile assault upon those by whom they had been invited, bringing the pretext that they had not received the annual stipend appointed by the emperor, and consequently, it was necessary, before they were consumed by famine, to consume the wealth of those who had invited them, since they had not stood by their agreements and covenants. ^C Thus it was possible to see all the goods of the miserable Romans being plundered, virgins and matrons being shamefully treated, old men and priests being led away in chains, and suffering other punishments which the cruelty of the Latins devised daily against the wretches—at one time seeing the sword hanging over their necks as if they were about to perish, unless they promised wealth in money. Those who brought everything out departed naked [(29)]; those who had nothing with which to redeem themselves lay in the roads, mutilated in the extremities of their bodies, a piteous spectacle, seeking someone to offer them a morsel of bread or an obol; for they had nothing left for the sustenance of life except their voice and the springs of their tears. ^D

V. When the emperor had learned these things, they seemed to him altogether intolerable; since these things afflicted the Roman provinces far more cruelly than the evils of war, and at the same time aroused God to anger against those who had been invited from abroad.

^A Nor was it otherwise easy for them to wreak vengeance for their injustices, since the imperial armies were being mocked due to their long-standing destitution. Being in a difficult position, then, and needing some helpful maneuver, Caesar Roger, who had brought the entire Latin army with him, crosses into Thrace. For there remained for the Romans in Asia neither money, nor anything else to feed those bellies. Yet it seemed better to him to leave the rest in the fortress of Callipolis, and having selected two hundred, to come before Emperor Michael, who was then passing his time at Orestias in Thrace with the army, to demand the annual allowance stipulated for them, and, if necessary, to add threats. [P. 137] This having been done and the anger which the emperor had previously harbored against him having been ignited, many of the soldiers, surrounding him with drawn swords, slaughter him there near the palace, and along with him some of those in his retinue. For the greater part of them escaped the danger by fleeing; these, observing a more intense pace, arrived and reported what had happened to the Latins at Callipolis.

CAPUT IV.

^C I. The soldiers indeed thought by this deed to have broken the spirit of the Latins and to have brought them down from their insolent pride to a better state of mind, so that of their own will and bodies they would henceforth submit to the Romans like slaves, and would choose to agree to one of two things: either to serve the Romans willingly, or, against their will, to retreat to where they had come from.

II. But such thoughts are of a low-minded intellect and savor of the mire of crasser matter which has, by its very nature, pulled human understanding down into misty abysses, so that it cannot conceive that the reasons of Providence pertain to all human actions, and that the causes themselves, which are seen beforehand, guarantee the certain outcomes of events; furthermore, that we, of our own accord, forget these things and try to avoid the trouble that arises from them through self-love; but Justice, having inscribed these same things in her ledger, waits for the time of harvest and threshing, so that she may render to those who did the work what is worthy of the seeds. For otherwise a man could truly learn from the events themselves that as many things as do not have the right hand of God assisting them, against these both land and sea and air do battle, like a fugitive from God and an avenger of Justice. ^D

^A Likewise, when he has recognized himself, he may himself decree that one must not resist a decree divinely issued, whatever it may be, and that one must not act violently, but remaining in his place, he must quietly play out the time and be content rather with the flow that brings it along, and even if it does not carry him according to his own judgment, or [the flow] that runs counter to it. For it is surely much better for one who is inactive to go along with him who is carrying him, than by acting to supply fuel, as it were, to the momentum of the time working against him. For that would be similar to someone who, fearing the onset of fire still running around the house, instead of using some machine or gathering strength to restrain its momentum or extinguish it entirely, were to pile up bundles of brushwood and pour on much oil; or as if someone, with a violent North Wind blowing from above and rolling huge waves over one another down a slope, were to attempt of his own accord to sail a small boat against the opposing waves. For such things are of a kind that offer a sight that is not in the least pleasant or agreeable; nay, they belong to the number of those things which are most harmful and immediately bring about ultimate destruction.

III. That these things are so, if no other examples are available at present, those that have occurred in these times certainly prove abundantly. For although the Romans had omitted nothing that pertained to the successful conduct of affairs, they experienced the greatest adversities of fortune. For while the commanders of the Romans had fallen under suspicion for unjust causes, some were in chains, while others were kept far from the imperial benevolence. Whence, when external aid had come, first that of the Massagetae, then that of the Latins, a much greater destruction arose for the Romans from them than from declared enemies. And we have now brought forward a few things out of many, which if one weighs rightly and without bias, they prove the manifest wrath of God, although they contain a moderate punishment for no moderate offenses. ^B A more evident proof of the same thing was the very murder of Caesar Roger. For the Romans, who repented of having summoned him, wishing to heal their own sickness, carried out the murder of that man, and hoped that in this way they would be quit of troublesome affairs. But that very deed, as we shall say in the progress of our account, became the cause of far greater and more serious evils. Thus, as often as Divine Providence does not support human councils and actions, a bad and clearly unhappy outcome results for them. For neither does a prudent man prevail with prudent councils, nor a brave man with bravery. Nay, even provident plans run into an unforeseen end, and noble and very courageous deeds are brought down to a cowardly and shameful fall. But we must return to what we had set out.

^C III. Testimony for what has been said—if we had something more to remember at the present time other than those things which happened in these days—is not lacking. For the Romans lacked nothing that they ought to have done for success, yet everything turned out most contrary to them. For the commanders of the Romans, having fallen into suspicion through no fault of their own, some were put in bonds, and others stood far from the imperial favor. Whence, when foreign alliance was obtained, first that of the Massagetae, then that of the Latins, the destruction that befell the Romans from them was many times greater than [that from] those who were enemies openly. And we have already spoken of these in moderate terms out of many, which would indeed be clear proofs of divine manifestation, if one were willing to look at them correctly and without passion, and with a moderate discipline for no moderate transgressions. A more evident proof of these was the death of Caesar Roger. For the Romans, wishing to cure the regret arising from his invitation, brought about his death, thinking that this would be a release from evil deeds. But the leader, contrary to all expectation, became the source of greater and far worse troubles, as one might conclude; so, while divine providence does not cooperate with human deliberations and deeds, a bad and very contrary end befalls them. ^D For neither is the one who brings the counsel [a true] counselor, nor the brave man [truly] brave; but 139 wise plans end in an ignoble finish, and noble and very manly deeds reap a cowardly and very shameful defeat. But we must return to where we strayed into these matters.

^A IV. The Latins, therefore, who were at Callipolis, having heard of the slaughter of the Caesar, first put to the sword all the Romans of whatever age who were living in the city, and having brilliantly fortified the walls, they possessed a very strong base and fortress. Then, having divided their own soldiers into two parts, they filled their triremes with one part, of which there were eight in all, and they appointed Berengarius Entença as admiral over these, so that from ambush he might intercept the transport ships of the Romans, whether ascending or descending, in the narrows of the Hellespont. The others, having taken up all their arms, went out for plunder and the destruction of the rest of Thrace, and they began to devastate it by raiding it night and day. And Berengarius Entença, with his entire fleet, through the providence of the Divine, soon encountered the greatest peril. For when they imprudently fell in with sixteen ships, which were at that time arriving from the city of Genoa and were brilliantly armed for fear of pirates, some were sunk and others were slain. The admiral Berengarius himself, along with many of his men, was captured and sold to his own peoples.

^B

CHAPTER V

V. But the Catalans, having suddenly lost both their fleet and a great part of their army, remained unmoved for several days, fearing an uncertain outcome, with diminished audacity and spirits greatly trembling. Fear of the Massagetae had attacked them and troubled them not a little; they had stirred up enmities with them for small reasons while they were campaigning with them in Asia, and many of them had even been killed. Furthermore, they feared the Thracian soldiers not a little, whose fields and houses they had devastated a short time before with frequent raids, and whose homes they had boldly burned. Nor had they left themselves any hope of obtaining pardon from anyone; so that even if they wished to make peace with the Emperor, they did not hope they would do so without danger. But that which struck the greatest terror into them was the report that Emperor Michael was soon to arrive and would attack them with great forces. Therefore, having dug a deep trench around the fortress and fortified it on all sides with a rampart, they prepared themselves to endure a siege, with provisions having been provided for them beforehand from the plunder and brought into the town. But when time was wearing on, and the expected arrival of the Emperor was delayed, they turned themselves to other plans. For being reduced to such straits, so that they could live nowhere securely in a foreign land, but were pressed from all sides by a diverse terror of dangers, they were driven into that necessity and devised a stratagem that would bring about a fatal and final destruction for the Romans. Having sent envoys, they accepted as allies the Turks living on the opposite shore, and although they themselves were three thousand, they received five hundred from them. Nor long after, many deserters also betook themselves to them: with whom they went out to the neighboring fields

and laid waste the entire land, and gathered together flocks of horses, and oxen, and sheep, along with those who possessed them. Since ^A neither the Romans nor the emperors of the Romans could endure this any longer, preparations for war began on both sides.

VI. The Catalans and Turks were at that time sojourning between the two small towns of Cypsella and Apros; and Emperor Michael camped his Thracian and Macedonian forces, along with those of the Massagetae and all the phalanxes of the Turcopoles, in the plain that is near Apros. There were one thousand of these Turcopoles, who had followed Sultan Azates when he crossed over to the Romans, as we have said before; but when he was led away from there by the European Scythians, as has also been told, they did not depart with him, but chose to adopt ^B the customs of the Romans, together with their religion and holy baptism, and from that time were numbered among the Roman soldiers. When not many days had passed, and some of the scouts brought word of the arrival of the enemy, the emperor arose; he ordered the army to be under arms, and commanded the leaders and tribunes to be ready themselves, and furthermore to draw up the leaders of the cohorts and the cohorts themselves. Seeing that the enemy battle line was distributed in three parts, they likewise divided their own into three parts, so that the battle might be equal. And they placed the Turcopoles with the Massagetae on the left wing, and the picked Thracian and Macedonian cavalry on the right wing; but the rest, who were the most numerous, they stationed with the infantry in the center. The emperor, for his part, rode around his ranks ^C and exhorted them to fight bravely.

VII. At sunrise, the enemy also advanced to meet them and took up their position face to face, having the Turks on both wings, while the Catalans, because of the weight of their arms, occupied the center. There the Massagetae, who had long been pregnant with rebellion because they did not find pleasure in the manners of the Romans, and were already being secretly invited by the European Scythians, revealed their treachery when they were already prepared for the fray. For when the signal for battle was given on both sides, they immediately turned to the side and stood apart, neither aiding the Romans nor ^D acting against the enemy. [alt-version omitted]

The Turcopoles ^A did the same thing, whether because a pact for this treachery had been reached by both parties, or because the occasion itself suddenly suggested this course of action. This, in the very crisis of the battle, brought the greatest ruin upon the Romans and secured an effortless victory for the enemy. For such a disaster, having befallen the army beyond all expectation, struck such terror into the souls of the soldiers and stirred up such tumult among them as their ranks were thrown into confusion, just as a north wind, when it falls with great violence upon a merchant ship sailing in the middle of the open sea, breaks its rigging and sails and finally forces it down into the lowest depths and whirlpools of the ocean.

^B VIII. But the Emperor, when he saw the ranks being suddenly thrown into disorder and the greater part of the army looking toward flight, quickly rode around to the commanders, tribunes, and centurions, and calling them by name with tears, exhorted them to stand and not so easily betray the fortunes of the Romans to the enemy. But they, caring little for what was being said, rode off in flight without looking back. But as the Emperor saw that matters had progressed to such a state of desperation, and that the greater part of the infantry was being cut down and cruelly trampled by the enemy, he decided that it was time to risk manifest danger for his subjects, neglecting his own safety, and by this argument to refute the perfidy of the soldiers. Therefore, he turned to those with him (for they were very few), saying: "Now, men, is the time when death is to be preferred to life, and life is more bitter than death." Having said this and having implored divine assistance, he charged with them against the enemy, and indeed killed some of the advanced guard, broke through the phalanx, and threw no small panic into the enemy's camp. Though he himself was covered in missiles on all sides along with his horse, he remained unwounded; but when his horse fell, he was in danger of being surrounded by the enemy. And the affair perhaps would have proceeded to such a great misfortune, had not one of his companions, moved by a benevolent affection, redeemed the Emperor’s life with his own death and given his own horse to him. Having mounted it, the Emperor escaped unharmed and fled the impending danger; but he who had dismounted from the horse was trampled and died at the hands of the enemy.

^C IX. From there the Emperor departs for Didymoteichon; and he is rebuked at length by his father and Emperor, because, being Emperor, he did not conduct himself in a manner worthy of the Empire, but had, as it were, voluntarily committed the fortune of the Romans, which rested on his safety, to a dangerous hazard. The enemy, meanwhile, turned from there to pursue those who had fled: they killed some and took others alive, until, recalled by the arrival of the night, they ceased their pursuit. In the morning, they despoiled the corpses and, having divided the plunder, they were plundering and burning the Thracian villages with impunity. Not many days had passed when those Turcopoles whom we mentioned defected to the Catalans, and being eagerly received, [they were merged] into the ranks of the Chaleli. ^D

Turks. ^B

X. Not long after, it happened that Ferrandus Ximenes and Berengarius of Entença fell into a serious dispute with their leader, Rocaforta, claiming it was unworthy for men of noble birth to be subject to a man of ignoble and sordid fortune. And so, not to make a long story of it, they committed the resolution of their quarrel to arms. Berengarius of Entença fell immediately in the fight, but Ferrandus Ximenes fled to Emperor Andronicus, by whom he was received with such unexpected splendor that the title of Grand Duke was conferred upon him, and Theodora, the emperor’s niece by his sister, who was then a widow, was given to him as his wife. ^C

XI. Furthermore, when the Massagetae, having sent clandestine agreements to the Scythians, signified that they wished to defect to them together with all their families—and having already summoned their wives and children, they were about to cross Mount Haemus (which is the mountain that currently separates the Romans from the Bulgarians)—the Turcopoles, in great numbers, along with a great many Catalans, made an assault upon them near the roots of the mountain, and with the exception of a few, slaughtered them all indiscriminately. For because they had long been fellow soldiers of the Massagetae, they had often shared in their gains, plunder, and spoils, but due to not a few disputes arising in the partition of the booty, they had always received the smaller portion. Because they were the weaker party and did not dare to fight against the stronger, they had, as it were, beguiled the time, silently nursing the anger that lay within their souls, which also [was...]

^A in due time, by opportunity offered, suddenly burst forth. And such are the things that were done in this manner.

CHAPTER V

[P. 143 B] ^{B D} 2. Therefore, when she saw the Emperor granting her a love greater than that of a husband, she thought she would have him compliant to her designs concerning her children. Hence, she did not cease, secretly by night and by day, to importune him to accomplish one of two things: either to remove the Emperor Michael

^A from the imperial dignity and divide it among her own sons, or, at the very least, to make them partners and co-sharers of the power with him. But when the Emperor replied that it was impossible to overturn the imperial laws, which had been ratified and confirmed over the course of so many years, she was inflamed with anger and exhibited various and multiform expressions to her spouse and emperor: at one time grieving and declaring herself weary of life if she did not see her sons, while yet living, adorned with imperial symbols, and at another time acting with fastidious and arrogant delicacy, as if auctioning to her husband the enjoyment of her beauty, and selling her favors on the condition that her designs regarding her sons be approved by his consent. Since these things were often done without any other person being aware, they could not be endured indefinitely by the Emperor. Thus, that fire of love gradually languished, and a sharp contention, ^B though unknown to most, took its place. Finally, he even grew to find the intimacy of the same bed loathsome, and a war was introduced, burning indeed, but still hidden from the majority. At last, he even shunned her conjugal society.

III. Empress Irene, however, having her hopes so unexpectedly frustrated, was kindled with hostile hatred toward her husband. Since she wished to avenge herself but could not do so in any other way, she went away to Thessalonica, though the Emperor did not very much desire it, for he feared that their domestic troubles might become known to the common people. But she, desiring all the more to overwhelm the Emperor with shame, began to defame his transgressions—those which were common to her with him and which were secret—being careful only not to bring them forth in public or before an assembly; but she was ^C zealous to whisper these same things, without any shame, into the ears of the men and women whom she most trusted, while at the same time she would simulate great gravity. Being indignant, of course, and raging, insulting his gentleness, and fearing neither God nor respecting men, the bold and shameless woman would reveal many secrets of the nature of her spouse and of herself, which even the most unchaste prostitute would not speak of without blushing. At one time, taking aside one monk and then another in private, she would accuse her husband as it pleased her; at another time, she recounted these things and more to the noblewomen who approached her; and at a third time, she wrote to the Kral of Serbia, her son-in-law, things that are even ^D forbidden to speak, while everywhere asserting for herself honor and the praise of modesty, and inflicting every kind of insult on her husband. For nothing is more impetuous than a woman’s mind, and nothing is more prompt at fabricating plausible criminations and calumnies and transferring one’s own evils onto the innocent. When a woman hates, she pretends that she hates; when she loves, she says she is loved; when she steals, she complains that she herself is being robbed; and she claims that she is being sought after, but is of such modesty that she loathes the lover; and by such means...

hypocrisy; if she loves, she says she is loved; if she steals, she says she is being stolen from; and she claims to be sought after, yet feigns disgust out of modesty; and she is not ashamed to adorn herself with these things and to boast, nor is she abashed when put to the proof. Rather, knowing that these things are easily slandered and are most pleasing to the ears of the wanton, she thrusts out a tongue shriller than a bell; and, perjuring herself, she waxes bold and confounds heaven and earth. But if she should also excel in birth and authority—things by which the proofs of crimes are somehow pushed far away—then there is need of a propitious God and a great sea, to wash away the quarrels and slanders from the wretch against whom the wicked woman ^A has moved her tongue.

IV. But the emperor, a man of mild disposition, and otherwise fearing her tongue, and more importantly, fearing lest she should stir up his son-in-law, the Kral of Serbia, to make war against the Romans, was appeasing her in every way, and carrying out her demands concerning both public and private matters; in short, he granted her more power than befitted an empress, so that the offenses which had occurred might remain hidden. She, however, having despaired of the help which she sought from the emperor for her sons beyond what was equitable, began henceforth to set about the matter alone, omitting nothing that was in her power. Having heard, therefore, that the Duke of Athens had a virgin daughter (47), she sent an embassy to him, promising to him, as a husband for his daughter, her second son (48), upon the condition that war should be waged on both sides against the prince of the Pelasgians and Thessalians—from her side, and from the duke’s side—and that they should not lay down their arms until they had made him disappear from their midst, and had secured his dominion for her son, Theodore, so that it might be a possession of his own ^B and perpetual. But being disappointed in these hopes, she sent him away with a great deal of money to her own homeland, Lombardy, there to take as his wife the daughter of a certain Spinola (50), a man not at all of great splendor of lineage or rank. For it is not, as a rule, a matter of great concern to the Latins to form marriage alliances with any Romans of good birth, let alone with the emperors themselves; besides, she herself was not of the number of the illustrious. For if she had been, she would not so easily have wed a Roman prince. She was, in fact, descended from the family of the marquises. Now, the dignity of a marquis is not considered highly among the Latins. But that which among the Romans is the person who bears the imperial standard, that same position is among the Latins the "marquis." ^C

V. And that we may speak more clearly regarding what we are saying by means of notes:

(47) She was Agnes, daughter of Guy, Count of Brienne, and Elisabeth de la Roche, Duchess of Athens, and thus sister of Walter, Count of Brienne, who at that time held the Duchy of Athens. See *Hist. Franco-Byzant.*, lib. vi, n. 43. DUCANG. (48) For the first-born from this second marriage of Andronicus was John, the Despot, whom he mentioned just before. DUCANG. (49) He was John Angelus Ducas Comnenus, son of John the Sebastocrator, of whom we treat in *Famil. Byzant.*, p. 210. ^D DUCANG. (51) Yet the dignity of the marquis was great and illustrious among the Latins, as those who ruled over the borders of kingdoms, whence their nomenclature flowed. See *Gloss. med. Latin.* DUCANG. (52) But they were never called "marquises" in the Latin armies, even for the bearer of the whole standard, which he also repeats below. Thus these little Greeks, the writers, often talk nonsense, being entirely ignorant and inexperienced in our affairs. DUCANG.

^A When the state of affairs had devolved upon the Romans, and the power of the City touched as if it were the very heavens, since their consuls and emperors conquered Africa and Libya, others Gaul, Iberia, and Celtic lands [(53)], and others the greater part of Asia and Europe—up to the Tanais, that is, and as far as Gades—then, by the law of servitude, leaders, satraps, kings of nations, and governors of places and cities flowed from everywhere into the presiding Rome, as into a common storehouse. Some did so to become known to the Caesars and Augusti; others to obtain some station and lot in the senate and order surrounding the Caesars. Nor was this all; for others, also, of those who were renowned and illustrious, approached, so that, for the sake of honor and reputation, they might be enrolled into the Roman people and be deemed worthy of the distinct names of Rome—just as Josephus, the Hebrew ^B from Palestine, and Ptolemy, who wrote of astronomical matters better than anyone else. For the former received the name Flavius, and the latter, Claudius. At that time, therefore, as leaders from everywhere—Parthians, Persians, and all the rest—flowed in, some were allotted certain titles at first. But in the times of the great Constantine, the *Rossicus* [(54)] was allotted the position and dignity of the table-steward; the rector of the Peloponnese, that of *princeps*; the leader of Attica and Athens, that of *grand duke*; the leader of Boeotia and Thebes, that of *grand primicerius*; and the leader of the great island of Sicily, that of *rex*; and others received other titles. For what need is there to go through each one, the memory of whom time has overwhelmed, burying some entirely and letting them be carried away by the rivers of oblivion, while permitting others to be tossed about ^C uncertainly and obscurely among men? For they were not then as they are today among us, nor were they held as they are now. But it was accepted as if by right of succession that these dignities were transmitted to the governors of each province by those who had first received them. And now, indeed, some of them, corrupted by long passage of time, only obscurely indicate their true origin. For they now call the leader of Boeotia and Thebes a "great lord" (*megas kyrios*), having fallen into error by having corrupted the first syllable. Likewise, they call the leader of Attica and Athens the "Duke of Athens" instead of *Grand Duke*. ^D

^A VI. But to return to our subject: at that same time, the person who was the leader of the province we mentioned obtained the dignity of marchioness, a status truly humble and commensurate with that very province. This region is situated between the Alps and lower Iberia. This territory, I say, fell to the marchioness, with the perpetual obligation attached that should any emperor arise from that people, he himself would fulfill the office of standard-bearer to him. But I return to that point. The Empress Irene sent her second son, Theodore, there in such a way that he and his descendants, should he remain among the Romans, might not serve as servants to the emperor. For she preferred that he should pass over to the religion and communion of the Latins, and be of lesser dignity abroad, rather than being distinguished among the Romans while serving a stepson hated by her, along with his children’s children and descendants’ descendants. She also sent along with him heaps of Roman money. And thus, she satisfied her burning desire, being opposed to her husband the emperor, by having at least one son as Marquess Theodore. ^B VII. Indeed, as for her firstborn, John, she had previously striven with the greatest zeal to send him away to a foreign marriage, and had expended great sums of money, wishing to establish him as ruler of the Aetolians and Acarnanians and all the surrounding region of Epirus. But she was in no way able to carry out her deliberate plan. For when she wished to consult differently regarding the son, the emperor anticipated and frustrated her attempt, saying that he was also his father and was no less concerned for the son than his mother; and furthermore, that paternal authority was greater than maternal ^C and, therefore, there was nothing to prevent the father’s will regarding the child from being held as more valid than the mother’s. There was at that time a *mesazon* who was a wise man, possessing great experience and intelligence in public affairs; and on this account he enjoyed the greatest favor and influence with the ruler, and for this reason also abounded in great wealth. This was Nicephorus, the one in charge of the *Kanikleion*. He, with flattering words and attendance ^D

^A upon the emperor, sought and secured as a son-in-law for his daughter the son of the emperor, John, as we have said, though the empress, his mother, was deeply aggrieved and resisted; yet he took him. But neither the one who took nor the one who was taken enjoyed that kinship for long. For before four full years had passed, John departed from life ^B in Thessalonica, leaving behind his mother, his father-in-law, and his wife, without children.

VII. But when time had also taken away this hope placed by the empress in that son, and had swallowed it up as if by some Charybdis, there remained nothing with which she might console herself, except her daughter, Cralaina, and her son, Demetrius. Therefore, she drained away so much Roman wealth to the Kral, her son-in-law and the mistress’s charge, partly by sending it thither, and partly by summoning him to Thessalonica and bestowing it upon him, that it could have equipped a hundred triremes for the perpetual defense of the Romans, and would have been of constant benefit to the Romans. And what need is there to recount the novel and previously unheard-of schemes which the intemperate ambition of this woman devised? For, wishing to adorn her daughter with imperial insignia, so that she might lack none of the precious things with which it has long been the custom of the Romans for empresses to be adorned, and being unable to achieve this object in any other way, she first placed upon the head of the Kral a veil ^C richly adorned with so many and such precious stones and pearls, that it almost equaled that which her husband, the Emperor Andronicus, wore. And, having started there, every year thereafter she sent him one still more precious. Who could enumerate the immense value and splendor of the garments which she so often bestowed both upon her son-in-law and upon her daughter, Cralaina? Who could recount every individual ornament of the imperial house, which she, plundering the Romans to give to Cralaina of Serbia, mocking the leniency of the emperor, her husband, and satisfying her own greed, conferred upon them? Her desire, moreover, was this: to drain the treasures of the imperial fisc into the bosoms of her children, especially that of her daughter, Cralaina. For she hoped that she would see children born to the Kral by her daughter. And for this reason, ^D hastening ahead and anticipating the proper time, she stored up the wealth of the Romans for them, so that, when a favorable opportunity arrived, late in time, when the Romans were weak, they themselves might descend from there and seize the empire, which they had not obtained from the Romans with their consent, from them against their will.

IX. But she did not notice that she had always revolved human counsels in her mind, but had never [directed] her mind...

^A to induce [others] to think of God, from whose hand all things depend; whom everyone finds to be an enemy if, being a man, he aspires to things beyond human measure and does not refer the conduct and outcome of his actions and counsels to God. For behold, this empress Irene, having placed great hope in her children, was managing affairs by human prudence without God; and—as we have said—was squandering the Roman wealth with both hands upon the enemies of the Romans. But things did not turn out according to her intent; rather, the outcomes themselves proved her efforts to be vain, with the judgment of God, as it seems, confounding her thoughts. For Crales, being over forty years of age, having had relations with the eight-year-old girl, injured her womb, so that she could never thereafter bear any offspring. ^B

X. Therefore, the empress, frustrated even in this hope, turns to another course; and, impatient of rest, she persuades Crales with many and countless gifts—since there remains now no hope of begetting offspring from Cralena—to institute at least one of Cralena’s brothers as heir to the Triballian principality. These were Demetrius and Theodorus the marquis; the one had not yet passed the age of adolescence, the other had already even become a father of children in the region of Lombardy, whither he had been sent by his mother, as we have said, that some remnants of the family might survive. And first, she sent Demetrius to Crales, conspicuous for great wealth, luxury, and effeminacy, in order that he ^C might be designated, as has been said, successor to the principality. Crales, indeed, received him gladly. But the harsh and untamed roughness of the places, driving and turning him away with, as it were, its full strength, forbade him to remain and dwell there for long. And so, having received Demetrius, who had returned from there not long after, his mother, seeing the hope offered from that quarter to be vain and deluded, summons her other son, Theodorus the marquis (he wore a shaved beard) from Lombardy, and in the same way she banished him, so that he might succeed to the principality of Crales’ Serbia. Crales received him also with kindness. But not even in his case did the roughness and strangeness of the places permit him to tarry longer there. Indeed, he also returned and, having greeted his mother, who had been stripped ^D of all the hopes she had cherished beyond expectation, he departed and traveled back to Lombardy to his wife.

CAPUT VI

Atque hæc iis temporibus ad hunc modum se habebant.

^A Such was the state of things. What follows shall be told in the subsequent narrative. But we must turn our speech once more to the Catalans. For they, after the battle which had taken place around Apros, being uplifted by their victory and by their alliance with the Turcopoles—who, as we have said, had deserted from the Romans and joined them—and having employed many expeditions and raids, had for two full years rendered desolate and desert all the maritime and inland territories as far as Maroneia, Rhodope, and Bizya. Thereafter, when no hope remained of obtaining necessary supplies from those parts, they resolved to push further forward, plundering everything in their path until they could find a suitable and permanent place to dwell. And so, having crossed the mountains of Rhodope which slope down to the sea, they advanced with impunity, incessantly gathering spoils for themselves. The total number of them was over two thousand regarding the Turks, including both infantry and cavalry; while the Catalans exceeded five thousand in both cavalry and infantry.

^B When autumn was already in its midst,

II. An Incursion into Macedonia and the Occupying of Cassandreia

^C III. But the emperor forestalled their plan and cut off their hope. For, first of all, he built a long wall near Christoupolis from the sea.

^A to the summit of the adjacent mountain, so that the place was rendered totally impassable to those who might wish, whether from Macedonia to cross into Thrace, or from Thrace into Macedonia. Then, when he learned that the Catalan spear was poised to strike as spring began, with an attack upon Macedonia and the cities in Macedonia, he selected generals who were not inexperienced in military matters ^B and sent them to recruit in Macedonia. They would be capable guards for the cities in Macedonia, if the enemy saw fit to sit down and besiege them, by gathering an abundant supply of food and necessities from the suburbs into these cities and arranging everything else well, so that the guards would not, during the time of a siege, suffer a greater siege from within due to famine than they did from the enemy without.

IV. But the enemy, with spring now arrived, having left Cassandra, took up quarters partly near the suburbs of Thessalonica, while some went out to forage. When they found the whole country empty of inhabitants, and that there were no flocks or herds remaining, while the cities were fortified with many weapons, they thought once again to return into Thrace; for they did not deem it permissible to loiter there and waste time as they perished in vain. For if they were deprived of provisions, leading as they were so many horses and so many captives, since they themselves were no fewer than eight thousand, it was clear that destruction by famine was imminent. But before that plan became known to the multitude of the army, they heard from one of the captives that the road to Thrace was not open to them, as that long wall, which had been recently built near Christoupolis ^C, entirely cut them off.

V. This news, heard contrary to all expectation, struck them and reduced them to a loss of judgment; they knew not what to do, pressed as they were by famine and at the same time fearing that the nations bordering on the Romans living in Macedonia—Illyrians, Triballians, Acarnanians, and Thessalians—each suspecting the incursion for their own part, might goad one another ^D and, having joined forces, surround and utterly destroy them, for they would have no place left to which they might fly and escape safely. Wherefore, in that moment of necessity, they conceived a plan more resembling madness than daring: that, without any delay, they should advance as quickly as possible and either bring under subjection the land of the Thessalians, which provides in abundance the necessities for life, or some other province on the way from there as far as the Peloponnese. [index: entries preserved]

^A And so, having established their dwelling in one of these regions, they might free themselves from their long wandering; or, if this did not succeed, having made a truce with one of the maritime nations, they might obtain an unhindered departure back to their own lands. They departed from there, therefore, and on the third day arrived at the mountains before Thessaly—Olympus, Ossa, and Pelion. Having pitched their camp near these and laid waste the surrounding land, they gathered in abundance everything necessary for the sustenance of life. But something escaped me for a moment which must be explained so that the sequence of the history may be continuous.

VI. In the Latin army, as has been said, there were also three thousand Turks—of whom we have said that one thousand one hundred were those who had remained with Melek after the flight of the Sultan Azatin to the Scythians; they had been initiated into the divine baptism, enrolled in the Roman legions, and subsequently increased by a new generation. Later, however, they deserted the Romans and went over to the Catalan army, ^B at the time when these two forces were about to clash with each other on the plains near the city of Apro. The majority, however, were those who had crossed over from Asia with Chalel, having been summoned by the Catalans for mercenary aid. Thus, as the Catalans were marching towards Thessaly, as we said, the Turks began to stir against them, suspecting their familiarity and thinking that it would not be a very safe thing for them. The leaders, therefore, of the Turkish forces, Melek and Chalel, held a discussion with the chieftain of the Catalans concerning a peaceful separation. Since he quite readily agreed to their request (for now that they were delivered from the fear of the Romans, the auxiliary force of the Turks was not necessary to them), they departed gladly, after having divided among them according to proportion ^C both the captives and all the spoils they were carrying with them. But about the affairs of the Turks, which require a fuller narration, we shall speak further on.

CHAPTER VII. The Catalans, having dismissed the Turks, break into Thessaly. The last heir of the sebastocrators is near death. His wife. No children from her. The Thessalians decide to conciliate the Catalans with friendship. The Catalans prefer the treasure and alliance of the Thessalians to uncertain hope. Having crossed Thermopylae, they pitch camp near the Cephissus. The course of the Cephissus. The Prince of Athens denies the Catalans passage. He despises them. The strength of the Catalans. A cunning stratagem. The numerous Athenian army is driven into the mud. It is destroyed by slaughter. The Catalans capture Thebes and Athens. They settle in these places.

1. The Catalans, however, with the Turks now having departed, were wintering by themselves before ^D the mountains of Olympus and Ossa, as we have said. But when springtime arrived, they moved their camp from there, crossed the peaks of the mountains and the Tempe lying between them, and before summer set in, they break into the Thessalian plains. Where, having found the soil good and rich,

^A they spent the whole year, tilling the land and destroying everything that was not within the walls, for no one opposed them. For the affairs of Thessaly at that time were weak, as the one who held the rule there [note 76] was young in age and inexperienced in the administration of great affairs, and was otherwise consumed by a long illness, and was about to die shortly, and with him there was to be extinguished the succession of the rule of his ancestors and the Sebastocrators which had been transmitted to him. For this man had recently taken as his wife Irene, the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Andronicus, but had begotten no child by her to whom he could leave the principality. Because of this, the state of affairs in that province at that time was troubled and seemed likely to produce greater turmoil and dissension in the future, ^B because it was still obscure who was to receive that rule. Therefore, since the prince was suffering from an extreme illness, and the enemies were sweeping through the province like a flame and consuming it, it seemed best to those who were prominent there by birth [note: they decided] that they should entice the enemy with money and redeem the wills of the leaders with more generous gifts, before these things were seized by them by right of war; and that they should promise guides to lead them into Achaia and Boeotia, a region that was rich and fertile and full of delights and, most of all, the most suitable of all for habitation; and if they should also require alliances, these should also be granted very readily, and they should profess that they would be their friends for all time.

^C This also seemed acceptable to the Latins, and indeed entirely to their liking. For they said, "If we test the outcome of war and the fortune of arms, the province will be devastated, resources will be worn down, and from a great abundance they will fall into extreme poverty, for the sake of which all our labor is undertaken. Then, too, no one among all men knows, except God, with whom the victory will lie; for these things are completely ambiguous and as yet in no way explored. For although most events are expected equally by men, nevertheless, there is no less hope of victory set before them than before us. And we have no certain pledge of future victory, nor, if they have any confidence of such a kind, can they not be mistaken. For the rough ridges of the mountains, by which nature has fortified the region on every side, make the inhabitants safe and bold; and the castles situated on high mountains ^D take away from us all opportunity for a siege. So that, however the affair may fall out, it will not easily succeed for us by this path, wandering as we are on foreign and alien soil, and banished so far from our fatherland. It would therefore be most absurd, when we can fill our hands with such great wealth without labor, and at the same time acquire such allies and friends, to reject the opportunity and incur great dangers for uncertain hope."

^A Having thus considered and deliberated these matters, they conclude a peace and agreement with the Thessalians on the aforesaid conditions; and at the same time, having received the funds and the guides from them at the beginning of spring, they cross the mountains lying beyond Thessaly, and having passed Thermopylae, they set up camp near Locris and the Cephissus river. This very large river bursts forth from Mount Parnassus, and flows toward the sunrise; it has the Opuntian and Epicnemidian Locrians to the north, and to the south and the sirocco wind, it has the entire inland region of Achaea and Boeotia. It remains very large and undivided until the plains around Lebadea and Haliartus; then, splitting into two streams, it changes its name into the Asopus and the Ismenus, ^B and it carves through Attica up to the sea by way of the Asopus; but through the Ismenus, it flows into the Euboean sea near the approaches of Aulis, where they say that of old the Greeks sailing to Troy first moored their ships and encamped, and where the heroes first landed.

IV. But when the prince of Thebes and Athens and lord of that entire region (who, as we have observed above, had once been called the Great Primicerius, but then the title, corrupted in speech by the people, was pronounced "Great Lord") learned of the arrival of the enemy, he was unwilling to grant the passage requested by the Catalans so that they might depart through his territory wherever they wished; ^C but, expressing excessive arrogance in his words, and pursuing them with much laughter as people of no great importance, he gathered his forces throughout the autumn and winter until spring. The Catalans also prepared themselves, either to die immediately in battle or to live with glory.

V. When the spring had come, the Catalans, having crossed the Cephissus, pitched camp in Boeotia not far from the river, awaiting the enemy, intending to join battle in those very places. There were three thousand five hundred horsemen of the Catalans, and four thousand foot soldiers, among whom many of the captives were also enrolled on account of their skill in archery. When it was announced that the enemies were already about to arrive, they plow up all that land where they had decided to join battle. Then they dig a trench around it, and by leading channels from the river, they so ^D [flood] the entire plain... [alt-version omitted]

Variorum notes. (77) Theodulus Rhetor writes that the Catalans with Chaudrenus, having been struck by many wounds, made a peace with the Thessalians, Cod. Reg. fol. 144: "So many, therefore, are the trophies he set up against them right there, and so prominent, now falling upon them in great numbers, now upon few, and now few upon many. So that the Thessalians sing of this even today, and almost all men sing of it... and why must I relate more? For if they had not desired peace as quickly as possible, even they would all have fallen and perished wretchedly. But now, having made a peace with the Thessalians, and having been delivered from such great and many other [dangers] by the Chaudrenus, as if some Hercules were coming to our aid, they delivered themselves from the danger, the battle having ceased, etc." Gregoras, however, says nothing at all about Chaudrenus. Boivin. (78) Ptolemy Geography lib. III, cap. 15: The Evenus, turning in the Callidromus mountains toward the east, flows into the Cephissus river; and he himself, flowing from the same mountains, mingles with the Asopus and the Ismenus rivers, according to the Boeotian position, at the section of degrees... This, in my opinion, Gregoras relates concerning the course of the Cephissus. But Strabo lib. IX, page 407, edit. 1620. See the Commentarium Gerbetii in Græciam, Sophia page 142. Boivin. (79) Galterus Briennensis, lord of Thebes and Athens. Ducange. (80) This fusus Narrat Montanerius cap. 240, and from him Moncada cap. 63, we also [relate] in Hist. Franc. Byzant. lib. VIII, n. 7, 8. Ducange.

^A Then, having dug trenches and opened ditches from the river, they irrigate the entire plain so copiously that it becomes a marsh, rendering the footing of the horses unstable, as their hooves become mired in the mud and cannot easily be moved.

VI. Now, in the middle of spring [(84)], the leader [(82)] of that region arrives, bringing with him a large army, assembled from the Thebans, Athenians, and Plataeans, and those elite [soldiers] furnished by the Locrians, Phocians, and Megarians. There were, therefore, six thousand four hundred cavalry, and over eight thousand infantry; yet their opinion and arrogance were far removed from sound reason. For he hoped not only to slaughter the Catalans immediately, but also to bring all the provinces and cities in succession under his control as far as Byzantium. But the outcome was entirely the opposite. ^B Since he entrusted the outcome of events to his own strength and not to the hand of God, he was in a short moment rendered a laughingstock to his enemies. For having looked out upon the plain, lush with tall grass, and suspecting nothing of what had been prepared, he shouted and urged on all the cavalry that were with him to charge against the enemy, who stood motionless outside the plain, waiting in formation for his onslaught. But before they could reach the middle of the plain, as if shackled by some solid bond, the horses—due to the earth, which had become saturated, giving way beneath the bolder planting of their feet—began to stumble; some rolled in the mud together with their riders, others, throwing their riders, wandered aimlessly across the plain, while others, having buried their feet, stood stuck in one place, ^C supporting their riders like statues. The Catalans, however, taking heart at these sights, surrounded them and slaughtered them all to a man with every kind of missile. Then, immediately mounting their horses, they pursued the fugitives all the way to Thebes and Athens, which they also unexpectedly fell upon and captured with the greatest of ease, along with their wealth, their wives, and their children. Thus, just as in a game of dice, the rule suddenly shifted; the Catalans became masters [(85)] and relieved themselves from their long wandering.

Variorum notes.

^D (81) Anonymous Greek-Barbarian poet, cod. Reg. 2569, fol. 212, v.: The war occurred on the second day of the month, On the fifteenth of the month, which they call March. In the ninth year of the cycle of the world, Six thousand eight hundred and seventeen, And it was the seventh indiction. In the middle of spring, they gained the most beautiful and wonderful victory against the neighboring Italians, despite their proud preparations for attacking them, and [their threats] not only to destroy them, but all of Thessaly and Macedonia as well. But they themselves were so destroyed, that not a torch-bearer of the account remained... and some were cut off, and they paid the penalty for their insolence, for the evil with which they had dealt others, they themselves were treated well in return by them. (82) The same, Duke of Athens. DUCANGE. (83) This account Montanerius cap. 240 narrates, and from him Moncada cap. 63, we also [relate] in Hist. Franc. Byzant. lib. VIII, n. 7, 8. DUCANGE. (85) Theodulus the Rhetor, cod. Reg. 1855, fol. 145: The most beautiful and wonderful victory they gained against the neighboring Italians, although they were attacking them with proud preparations, and [threatening] not only to destroy them, but all of Thessaly and Macedonia as well. But they being so destroyed, that not a torch-bearer of the account remained... but some were cut off, and they paid the penalty for their insolence, for the evil with which they had dealt others, [they themselves were paid back]— (84) Anonymous, who dates the occupation of the principality by them to the year 1309, agrees with Gregoras in this matter. But what if Roger's slaughter is dated to the year of Christ 1301 or 1302? It is certainly quite probable that the chronology of either Pachymeres or Montanerius was corrupted by the copyists. BOIVIN.

CAPUT VIII. The Turks, having left the Catalans, follow their own leaders. Melecus betakes himself to the Kral. Chalel remains in Macedonia and offers peace to the Romans. The terms of the peace. The Grand Stratopedarch leads the Turks to the Hellespont. The Romans violate their good faith. The Turks seize a fortress. They summon reinforcements and devastate the region. Emperor Michael is called to defeat them. The rashness of the rustic soldiers. The sloth of the Romans. The barbarians consult best for themselves and their own interests. They seize the imperial standard. The Emperor is abandoned by his soldiers. He departs weeping and unwilling. The leaders resist and are captured by the enemy. The imperial insignia are torn away and held up to derision.

I. The Turks, ^A after splitting from the Catalans, were divided into two factions; some followed Chalel, others Melecus. Melecus, since he had previously been initiated into the divine baptism with his followers, and had received a large stipend from the Emperor, but had subsequently broken the faith he pledged to him and had rejected the established customs and laws of the religion, finally deserted to the enemies of the Romans. Because he held the friendship of the Romans in complete despair, he preferred to betake himself to the Kral of Serbia, by whom he had been invited, rather than come into the sight of the Romans. Therefore, when he and his thousand horsemen and five hundred infantry set out for the Kral, they were ordered to surrender all their horses and arms and to live a private life, on the condition, however, that in time of war and when necessity so demanded, they would take up arms and follow the army of the Triballi in such numbers as he should command.

II. Chalel, however, having delayed in Macedonia with one thousand three hundred horsemen and eight hundred infantry, desired to make peace with the Romans on two conditions: first, that he be allowed to pass through the narrows of Christopolis, and second, that, having been placed with all the spoils he possessed upon Roman ships, he might be transported across the Hellespontine strait and led back to his homeland. The Emperor, having heard of this embassy, and remembering what great and terrible ruin they had brought upon the Roman provinces, wished to cast off these men as a most heavy burden as quickly as possible. Therefore, he immediately sent the distinguished leader Senacherim, who was at that time the Grand Stratopedarch, with three thousand horsemen, and saw ^C to it that they were led from Macedonia through Thrace as far as the Hellespont. There, when the Roman leaders and soldiers saw the multitude of horses, money, and spoils of every kind which the enemies were about to transport from the Roman provinces into Asia, they thought it unworthy that they should allow this to happen if they could prevent it. Whether, therefore, they were moved to pity for the Roman state, or were corrupted by the hope of gain and profit, they adopted designs that were abhorrent to the pacts and agreements, not only regarding the ships in which they were to be transported ^D and...

index: Variorum notæ. Ex hac Theoduli narratione liquet Persas, seu (quod idem est) Turcos, Baotica prælia simul cum Catalanis interfuisse: et Catalanos quidem, hostium urbibus, agris, uxoribus, et liberis potitos, sedem illic fixisse; Turcos autem, armis, equis, et reliqua omni præda auctos, inde discessisse. Alter tamen Gregoras. Vide adnotata supra ad hujus capitis sect. 1. BOIVIN. (84) Qua de re supra cap. 6, sect. 6, et cap. 7, sect. 1. BOIVIN. entries preserved

^A III. This fact did not escape the notice of the Turks. Therefore, having changed their location, they prepared themselves to withstand the Roman attack. Nay, rather, running quickly, they seized one of the neighboring fortresses, and once it was occupied, they armed themselves to conduct wars and battles from a more defensive position. This action disrupted the plans of the Romans and forced them to encamp as far away from them as possible, until they could make the emperor aware of what had happened. Furthermore, a not insignificant amount of time was wasted in these matters, for I know not what custom of the Roman leaders leads them to manage affairs requiring speed with such sluggishness. Since things were so, the Barbarians, leaving nothing to chance, sent messengers into Asia and in a short time summoned a large body of reinforcements from their fellow tribesmen. Consequently, making sorties from various places, they were laying waste to the country with sudden and unexpected raids.

^B IV. However, the commanders of the Roman armies thought it most absurd to sit idle and watch the desolation of the province. Therefore, before the audacity of the enemy could grow and before the strength of the Romans could be further worn down, they decided that the Emperor Michael must be compelled to gather the entire army together with himself, and, by besieging the fortress, to destroy the enemies. Once this had been determined, all the commanders and all the armies gathered around the emperor. And not they alone, but all those who were reeking of the field and the mattock also flocked there, each of them carrying a mattock and a spade in their hands. For they were setting off not so much to wage war as to seize the ready-made plunder—that is, to overthrow the enemies along with the fortress itself. The commanders, therefore, and the whole army set off with the emperor against the enemy, dragging with them a great multitude of transients and a rustic crowd, which still smelled of the spade and the mattock. And all these men followed not at all unwillingly, since most of them, out of inexperience, considered only the gains of victory, while they were completely oblivious to the dangers upon which it rested.

^{C D} V. Yet, to the extent that the enemies were bracing themselves to face dangers voluntarily, because they were enclosed in hostile territory and were far fewer in number than their adversaries, to that same degree the Romans were proceding against them with contempt, neglecting military discipline because they greatly surpassed the enemy in number and in arms; they were not, as it seems, reflecting on the fact that nothing in the world of human affairs is stable and secure, but that, as Plato says, human things are a plaything of God, and all things are recklessly tossed up and down and wander hither and thither by an uncertain path. Therefore, the enemies, who previously feared the Roman forces even by rumor alone, and themselves among the dead

or the living, now seeing them moving in no order, became exceedingly emboldened for the battle. Having gathered together all their wealth and wives—everything that was not useful for the impending war—within the fortifications and ditches, which they had previously prepared well for their own safety, they themselves took up their chosen cavalry, well-armed, not more than seven hundred in number, and suddenly charged toward the emperor’s standard, which was neither ^A posted in a safe place nor guarded with due force and discipline.

VI. At this sudden enemy sortie, that confused mob and crowd of rustic men was first thrown into turmoil and immediately began to flee headlong. Then others, one by one, gradually slipped away, and finally, all turned and fled in terror without even the din of battle. Although the emperor wished to rally the soldiers into formation, he could find no one who would listen; and giving up, he departed by the same path, filled with grief and tears, considering these things a clear punishment inflicted upon him by God for his old and new sins. However, the majority of the commanders, ashamed of such undisciplined flight, resisted for a time and turned the weapons of the Barbarians against themselves, as if checking them, that they might not pursue the fleeing Romans or the emperor himself. ^B Finally, surrounded by the enemy who had all joined together at once, they surrendered. The enemy then secured these men in chains and divided the imperial money, and whatever imperial regalia was in the emperor’s tent; among which was the imperial head-covering, adorned in the customary manner with the stone and strings of pearls—which it is said that Chalil placed upon his own head and mocked the emperor with ridiculous and jocular words.

CAPUT IX.

I. About this time, the patriarch Athanasius, having abdicated his dignity, ^C embraced a solitary life in his cells at the Xerolophus. The cause of this was as follows: Certain men most hostile to him, when they could not bear seeing him hold the patriarchal throne for so long (for the eighth year was passing since he had been restored for the second time to the patriarchal see), prepared most atrocious plots against him, full of impiety. For when he, still retaining the patriarchal authority, spent most of his time in his cells at the Xerolophus, they stole a footstool ^D from the patriarchal throne, drew beneath it the figure of Christ the Savior, and painted two images on either side, one of the emperor Andronicus, holding the reins...

in its mouth, and the other of the patriarch Athanasius, pulling it along just as a charioteer does a horse. ^A Then, having thus treated the footstool, they took it away and placed it where it had laid before, namely, beside the patriarchal throne. Then some people performed this drama against expectation, and decried the patriarch to the emperor as impious. The emperor, having summoned the accusers and being in no doubt that they were the ones who had concocted that impious and lawless spectacle, committed them to a most severe and perpetual prison. But the patriarch, annoyed that a much heavier punishment had not been inflicted upon them, immediately resigned the patriarchal throne. ^B

II. In the meantime, two years having elapsed, Niphon, the metropolitan of Cyzicus, occupied the vacant see, the bishops having complied with the emperor’s will, and he was transferred from the city of Cyzicus and raised to the patriarchal height. The man was, however, not merely almost entirely ignorant of Greek letters, but even of sacred ones, such that he did not know how to trace the letters of the alphabet with his own hand. For he had barely tasted learning with the tip of his finger ^C and as for teaching... ^D our bishops enjoin us to abstain from things which not even among those who are... [alt-version omitted]

Notes of various authors

content themselves with what nature has bestowed, if he had applied that intelligence and force of mind to the study of letters, he would certainly have been able to be numbered among the most learned. ^A But preoccupied by the love of riches and seized by the desire for external splendor and empty glory, he turned all his natural industry and excellence toward that end, and, as if by the flux and reflux of the tide, he allowed all his studies, both nocturnal and diurnal, to be swallowed up by those things. And thus he was a most skillful administrator of all things pertaining to the uses of life; whether it were the planting of trees, or the cultivation of vines at the proper time, or the construction of buildings of every kind. Finally, whatever fills the granaries, whatever fills the wine cellars, whatever bursts the coffers and requires larger ones every year, he provided for most skillfully. I omit the luxury in clothing, the droves of fierce and tall horses, and the delicacies of the table, which neither generate gross humors nor corrupt a good complexion. For he also assigned a part of his concerns to the women’s quarters, and that not slothfully—as if it were of little interest—but as something necessary, and something he could not refuse. These habits later impelled him to undertake the care and administration of feminine affairs and properties (I speak of the two monasteries of virgins, of which one is called Pertze and the other Crataeus), ^B both so that he might siphon off something from the revenues under the pretext of building work, and so that he might more frequently spend his time there with a certain haughty and effeminate character. Whoever he saw excelling in distinguished talent or in any of those arts that pleased either the public or the emperors privately, he pretended to be their friend openly; but in secret, he hated them, directing a malign mind and eye toward all, and did not hesitate to assail the emperor’s ears with secret slanders, accusing one now, another then. In this, he imitated the Libyan serpent. For they say that a serpent is born in Africa similar to a viper, which, so that it may not be seen by passersby, covers itself deep in the sand, and with only its mouth and tongue protruding from the sand, brings unforeseen destruction to travelers. ^D III. He seemed to give one piece of good advice to the emperor. Yet in that, he did not reveal his own will; but having realized that the emperor desired it with most ardent zeal, he himself brought it about that he might participate.

emperor. Yet in that, he did not reveal his own will; but having realized that the emperor desired it with most ardent zeal, he himself brought it about that he might participate. ^A For the emperor had decided to admit the Arseniates, who had once been torn from the Catholic Church of God on account of a love of vainglory, so that they might not themselves risk the loss of their souls by a contagion propagated through succession, nor drag others, deceived, into the same perdition. When the emperor had approved this counsel of the patriarch—which he himself had long pondered in his mind—many gathered from many places, like giants suddenly sprung from rocks and brambles, covered in tattered rags, but inwardly concealing a vast tumor of vainglory in the depths of their hearts. These men proposed difficult questions, by which ears were not a little offended, in order to prove to the common people that they had not separated themselves without cause. These things were: First, that the relics of the patriarch Arsenius be honorably translated from the monastery of Saint Andrew ^B to the great temple of Holy Sophia. Second, that the orders of priests be subjected to some expiatory punishment, namely, that they should not perform the divine service for forty days. Third, that the entire populace be cleansed by fasts and genuflections at appointed times, and other things pertaining to the same madness: all of which the emperor hastened to execute for the sake of the benefit of peace and concord.

IV. A little later, those of the schismatics who had not been decorated with the requested rewards—of that kind which are metropolitan bishoprics, the governance of monasteries, prerogatives in the palace, and the benefits of annual revenues—all immediately abandoned the concord they had formed and returned to their ancient, customary way, persevering again in schism. But the patriarch, at the urging of the very Arseniates who had gathered there, ascended the ambo ^C and, clad in priestly stole, standing before the relics of Arsenius, recited as it were a formula of absolution in the name of Arsenius, and granted pardon to the whole people.

CHAPTER X

The Turks ravage Thrace. The emperor decides to summon mercenary soldiers from abroad. The poverty of the treasury. Help is sought from Crale. Philes Palaeologus requests to wage the war against the Turks himself. His eulogy. Praised by Andronicus for the innocence of his life, he obtains what he requested. He wins over the spirits of the soldiers. Having learned the enemy's plans through scouts, he leads out his legions. He pitches camp near the river Xerogypsum. The arrival of the Turks. The preparation for battle. How Philes restored the wavering line. The slaughter of the barbarians. The Romans press upon the fugitives. They pitch camp in the Chersonese. Imperial triremes block the Hellespont. Auxiliaries sent to the Romans by Crale and by the Latins. The siege of the Turkish garrison. The engines of the Latins. The barbarians, having attempted nocturnal sorties in vain, abandon hope of salvation. They surrender themselves and all their possessions to the Latins. Many are intercepted and slaughtered by the Romans during the night. Of what was done with the rest by the Latins.

In these times, after that victory, the barbarians ^D

emboldened to the greatest degree, ravaged almost all the territory around Thrace and caused such havoc ^A that for nearly two years the Romans scarcely dared to exit their walls, either to plow or to sow. Because of this, the emperors were consumed by deep grief and the most wretched concerns; for they had now completely abandoned any hope of help from the Roman legions, understanding—albeit belatedly—that a divine scourge was pressing upon them, though they were somehow incapable of grasping the causes of this divine wrath. Their entire preoccupation was directed toward the single aim of hiring mercenary soldiers from wherever they could. A not inconsiderable time was spent in this, as they weighed the future costs, which were significant and such as the treasury could ill afford. Indeed, the treasury was more exhausted than it had ever been before, due to the devastation of the provinces. Nevertheless, since necessity allowed for no rest, Emperor Andronikos sent an embassy to his son-in-law, the Kral of Serbia, to summon aid.

II. But before that help could arrive from there, God, who accomplishes all things and turns them for the better, stirred a noble man of the senate, a kinsman of Emperor Andronikos, with a certain noble zeal. This was Philes Palaiologos, ^B who later received the protostrator’s staff from the emperor. As he was constantly in the palace and possessed great influence with the prince—having endeared himself by his sincere and ardent affection of heart and by the very honesty of his life—he was considered ignorant and unskilled in military matters, both because his body was by nature thin and prone to infirmity, and especially because he devoted himself solely to the contemplation of divine things, spending his time almost entirely in temples and observing sacred rites with the most religious devotion. When he saw Emperor Andronikos suffering under such great cares, he was distressed in spirit and, approaching him, said: “Permit me, I ask, to go to the Roman camps, so that I may choose a small band of soldiers, as well as the centurions and tribunes whom I myself may desire; further, provide me with provisions sufficient for both men and pack animals. For I have placed a firm and unshaken hope in God; encouraged by this, I am so confident that I do not hesitate to affirm that I shall return as soon as possible, having put these barbarians to flight and achieved victory.”

^C III. The emperor obeyed his words and said, “Just is God, in whose sight the strength of a man is not pleasing, nor in the multitude of his power, as He Himself says through the prophet David, but…”

nor in the multitude of his strength, as he himself says through David the prophet, but in a contrite heart and a spirit of humility. ^A It is, I suppose, because He is offended with my son, the emperor Michael, on account of his parents’ sins, that He refuses to bring aid; yet perhaps He will show favor to these others, on account of their honest life and their commendable ancient customs. For a life that is honest and blameless is held of greater account before God than the strength of arms. For I turned, it says, and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the prudent, nor favor to the learned, because time and event occur to them all. ^B And so the emperor willingly fulfilled all his requests, giving money and arms and as many horses as he desired."

IV. When Philes had obtained all these things according to his wish, he first sought to incite the ardor and impetus for war in the spirits of the soldiers through kindness and every kind of courtesy. He distributed money, horses, arms, and drinking vessels; at times he even unbuckled his own belt and gave it to a soldier, or offered another his own dagger, making use of the same food as they, sharing their thoughts and feelings. He promised them that, after the war was finished, he would pay them substantial honors and gifts corresponding to the labors of each. He then exhorted them to refrain from every base act, and distributed a great sum of money to the priests, that they might intercede with God for himself and the army. ^C In addition to this, he judged it necessary, before departing from the imperial city, to send out in secret those who would scout the enemy’s camps, so that he might not have to move blindly. And indeed, having learned that Chalil had three days earlier selected a thousand infantrymen and two hundred cavalrymen to ravage all the lands around Bizye and bring back the greatest amount of booty for him, he hastened his departure with the intention of joining battle on the road with the enemy before they had returned to their own people, while they were still returning with their plunder.

V. On the third day after he had departed from the suburbs of the imperial city, he reached a river which the inhabitants call Xerogyps. ^D That place is level and spread out with plains most suitable for pitching a camp and for engaging in battle. There, therefore, having pitched his camp, he drew up the lines: the captains of the orders, the companies, the lieutenants, the rear-guards, and the phalanxes, frequently encouraging them with kindly words and pledging them with drinks, doing everything that would greatly increase the eagerness of their spirits. Two days passed, and around midnight the scouts arrived, announcing that the enemy were near, laden with much booty, and leading away men, women, children, and livestock. At sunrise the enemy also appeared, and

^A they displayed themselves, and from a distance they also saw the enemy camps, shimmering with the radiance of their arms. Therefore, with measured pace, they prepared themselves for battle. And first, having arranged the wagons in a circle, they placed the captives inside, bound, together with the rest of the spoils. Then, having sprinkled dust upon their heads and raised their hands to heaven, they took up their arms. Now too they saw the Roman army drawn up and advancing against them, and behind it Philēs directing the forces of infantry and cavalry, and encouraging them to the battle with all manner of exhortations.

VI. The leader of the right wing, therefore, was the first to charge into the phalanx of the barbarians with the column following him; and having dealt a deadly wound to the opposing enemy, he threw him from his horse, and then immediately another. Then, his own horse having been wounded, he withdrew from the battle line. This threw the Roman phalanx into some disorder for a little while, and caused the enemy, having recovered their strength, to rush to pursue the Romans with unbridled clamor and howling. But Philēs immediately countered this trouble; passing along the line of battle, he strengthened both the cavalry and the infantry with words and exhortations. On the one hand, he himself, with tears, implored divine aid, that the entire Roman Empire might not be allowed to be utterly overthrown in a brief moment; and on the other hand, the crowds of captives, groaning and wailing, besought the present aid of God with fervent sighs and weeping. ^B Then, therefore, the infantry forces of the Romans, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the infantry of the barbarians, struck and were struck, dealt slaughter and were slaughtered; and a fierce and intense battle between the foot soldiers arose, both sides fighting with great vigor. Philēs led the majority of the cavalry around the barbarian army in a circle; and having taken those who were armed with the best equipment, he broke through the entire flank of the barbarian phalanx, and having reached its center, he so strenuously scattered and disturbed those in his way that the barbarians could not stand their ground, ^C nor did they know what was to be done, being surrounded on all sides and vilely massacred. Thus, with almost everyone there killed, only a few of the cavalry escaped; the Roman cavalry pursued them with accelerated pace as far as the entrance to the Chersonesus, so that, having trapped the remainder there as if within a net, they could easily slaughter them.

VII. When they had arrived there, they pitched their camp, ^D exulting with joy over the victory and heaped with honors and gifts from the Emperor. The Emperor also immediately sent five triremes to coast along the shore of the Hellespont and keep guard, lest the barbarians dwelling on the opposite shore might send reinforcements to Chalil. In this state of affairs, the auxiliary forces of the Triballi, having been summoned long ago, also arrived—two thousand picked horsemen. There was also present the authority of the Latin Galatians at the Hellespont, having come of his own accord to bring aid to our side, with eight triremes and wall-fighting engines. When, therefore, the forces of the Romans and Triballi from one side, and those who were in the triremes from the other, had arrived, they—pro gentium et

^A arranged their camps in a circle around the town and the trenches within which the barbarians were contained. The Romans and Latins, being skilled in siegecraft and assault, deployed firm machines of every kind against the fortress, by means of which they hurled many stones and caused great slaughter among the men and pack-animals of the barbarians; and they did not cease from doing this by day or by night.

^B VIII. To the barbarians, who already saw their destruction before their eyes and had no means of escape because they were surrounded on all sides by many armies, it seemed best to risk their lives in the following way. It was decided to attack the Roman army secretly and by night, rather than the others, both because they had been accustomed to defeating them until then, and because they supposed them to be still terrified by their past misfortunes, so that, by perhaps throwing the other armies into confusion through these actions, they might bring about a suspension of the siege. But they then first realized that they had formed false assumptions about the Romans. For not even the first onset of the barbarians escaped them; they were armed and alert, and were passing the night in frequent, rotating sentry watches. For this reason, having attacked as if against a strong tower, they were repulsed and retreated most shamefully. Yet they had no intention of stopping even at this; but being hard pressed by the siege, it seemed good to them to make a trial of the Triballi as well. But having been treated by them in the same way, they were by then dwelling in tents in the depths of despair.

^C IX. And so, on the following day, around midnight, they cast aside their arms and ran down to the triremes with their tunics and bags full. For they dared to entrust their safety only to the Latins, hoping to suffer no harm from them, as they themselves had not beforehand done any harm to them. But since that night was moonless and dark, most of them, out of ignorance, arrived at the Roman triremes; and there, while fleeing the smoke, they fell into the fire—that is, they fell into the hands of the Romans, who immediately despoiled them of all their money and slaughtered them without mercy. The Latins, however, did not kill all those who sought refuge with them, but only those who carried the most money, so that what they had received might remain unknown, lest the Romans, if they found out, ask for the money back. The others they held alive in chains for the time being; afterward, they brought some of them to the Emperor, and others they divided among themselves to keep in servitude. And these things, indeed, were done in this manner.

CAPUT XI. Niphoni ob sacrilegia expulso Joannes Glycys laicus in patriarchatum succedit. Hujus elogium. Cur habitum monasticum non induerit. Gregoras juvenis. Eloquentiæ studiosus. Glyceos auditor assiduus. Theodori Metochita auctoritas. Filia Joanni Panhypersebasto nupta. Laus Metochita. Animi et corporis dotes. Summa eruditio. Dicendi genus. Ut litterarum studium cum rei publicæ administratione conjunxerit.

^D I. In the following year, Niphon also was ejected from the patriarchal throne on account of many and various acts of sacrilege, having received as the cause

^A of his greed for money, whereby he was driven to establish an unjust gain not at all becoming to his station. Upon his departure, he chose for himself a residence in that part of the Peribleptos monastery which faces the sea. After the interval of a year, John Glykys 7, who was at that time Logothete of the Course 8 and who had a wife and sons and daughters, was raised to the patriarchal throne. He was a man of the greatest learning, and as tenacious as anyone who ever lived of the noble and ancient Athenian eloquence, observing that form and system of speech as if it were some divine archetype. He was, moreover, a man of grave judgment, of a soul inclined toward all that is best, and in the holiness of his character he surpassed all by far. For these reasons, he received the patriarchal throne as a deserved reward, as soon as his wife had donned the monastic habit 9. And although he himself also desired to don the same habit out of reverence for the see, the emperor opposed his attempt. For since a certain corrupt humor had not long before invaded his joints, he suffered the most severe pain at fixed intervals of the year, and by the judgment of the physicians he was under the necessity of eating meat; for this reason, the monastic habit was not granted to him. I myself used the company of this man, as much as I was able and permitted, being accustomed to attend his nocturnal and daily colloquies and to reap the most abundant fruits from his discourses, at a time when the love of eloquence was flourishing most strongly in me, for my age was exceeding the twentieth year.

^B II. At that time, Theodore Metochites 10, being then Logothete of the General, held the highest authority with the emperor and superintended the administration of all public affairs. The emperor embraced him with such zeal and hung upon him to such a degree that nothing, whether small or great, was kept hidden from him, but rather he did everything as Metochites wished, and conversely, nothing was done that he did not approve. And now, the emperor had also given to him as a son-in-law for his daughter his own grand-nephew, John, I mean the only son of the Porphyrogenitus; for while the father was alive, the emperor turned away from him out of hatred for the father, but once the latter had been removed by death, he received the young man and loved him greatly, just as he had recently passed out of the stage of adolescence. ^C He had immediately decreed him the dignity of the Panhypersebastos 11, rendering it far more august than it had been before through his love for him. Indeed, both in his garments and [in his footwear...]

^A and in all the accoutrements that adorned his horses, he granted (Theodore) the right to use the color yellow, that he might be the most distinguished among the nobles surrounding the emperor. The emperor, therefore, regarding him with such great imperial favor, offered him, the aforementioned Theodore, as a son-in-law to his own daughter, gratifying him with all the good and noble things in which he himself abounded. For in the stature of his body, in the symmetry of his limbs and members, and in the cheerfulness of his eyes, he drew all eyes toward himself. He had ascended to the very peak of all erudition through natural eloquence, endurance in labor, and a firm and clear memory. If you asked him about anything, whether new or ancient, he would recite it as if reading from a book; so that those who conversed with him had little or no need of books. For he was a living library, and a ready store of the things one wished to know; by such a great margin did he surpass all those who had ever engaged in studies.

III. Perhaps one might blame him for only this one thing: that he did not choose to conform his style to the imitation of any of the ancient rhetoricians, nor did he wish to temper the gravity of his thoughts with charm and a certain grace of diction, nor did he moderate the excessive fertility of his genius with any bridle. Rather, delighting in his own particular style and temperament, he casts forth a stormy sea of words, and consequently wounds and pricks the ears of his readers, ^B just as a thorn pricks the fingers of those gathering roses. But as to the faculty of eloquence with which he was endowed, it is easy for anyone to judge from the many books, full of rich and varied fruit, which he composed. Now, what one might admire most in this man is that, while such great annoyances pressed upon him, while such a tide of public business overwhelmed him, and while cares of one kind after another flooded his mind, there was nothing that ever pulled him away from reading and writing. But he was occupied with both with such dexterity that, from morning until evening, he would administer the state in the palace, and he applied himself to this single task so diligently, with such fervent zeal, as if he were entirely alien to letters. Departing late therefrom, he was so completely given over to his studies that he seemed like a scholar who had nothing to do with the state. We could say much more about this man, but these things must be deferred to another place. ^C

CAPUT XII. The death of the Empress Irene. Burial. What was done with her money. The temple of St. Sophia suffers damage. It is supported by two pyramids, which have been built. Andronicus prefers to restore old buildings rather than build new ones. His modesty is praised. Temples restored by him. Other public works of the same. Concerning the column, statue, and cross erected in the vestibule of the temple of St. Sophia. The cross that was knocked down is replaced. Other things damaged by long time are restored. The dimension of the statue. Also of the cross and the globe.

I. For this reason, Empress Irene, having spent a great deal of time in Thessalonica for the causes we have mentioned, decided at that time to travel to the small town of Drama, a thing she had been accustomed to do previously for the sake of recreation, when the tedium of a long residence in Thessalonica had overcome her. Having arrived there, not long after, a severe fever attacked her, and she quickly

^A removed her from the living. Then, when the Kralaina herself had come from the Triballians to her mother's funeral, her remains were transported to Constantinople and placed in the monastery of the Pantokrator. Her money, which was very considerable, the emperor partly gave to her children and partly contributed toward the repair of the great temple of Hagia Sophia. For he had heard from experienced architects that two of its parts, the northern and the eastern, failing through age, threatened an imminent collapse unless they were promptly attended to. Wherefore the same emperor, having given many thousands of gold coins from the empress's money—as we have said—splendidly repelled the danger that loomed by means of those pyramids which we see raised up from deep foundations.

^B II. It is worthwhile here to set forth the mindset of the emperor in such matters. For all the other emperors, as many as have raised up divine and holy houses, were prompted to undertake this task by a certain ambition; and such ambition is not far from vanity and pride. Where these vices stand out, they disgrace an honorable action, just as a worm lying in wait deforms the beauty of an apple. But the Emperor Andronikos, having judged it far better to improve and preserve those already built as was fitting, and to avert the dangers imminent from age with suitable remedies and diligent study, rather than to allow those to collapse and build others from the foundations for the sake of ostentation, directed all his care and diligence to the former. For there, it is true, the suspicion of a secret envy is not lacking, which bids the failing buildings of the ancients to be neglected, so that, together with those monuments, the memory of those who placed them might vanish and be destroyed; but the new buildings, while others are buried in deep silence, declare the name of him by whom they were built—just as new shoots announce the pleasantness of the present spring and demonstrate its grace and power. Here, however, a mind instructed by gravity and constancy sits as if a judge before a tribunal, and is corrupted by no perverse affection, but with God Himself as witness of its conscience, it holds the scales in balance. ^C

^D III. For these reasons, therefore, the emperor took care that the old shrines be restored and supported, even though this matter demanded much greater expenditures of money than if he had wished to build new ones. But we, omitting the towns in Asia and Europe which he restored and built from the foundations, will make mention only of the works in Constantinople which, through his care, stand to this very day. These are: near the gate of Eugenius, the greatest temple of Paul the Great; the house of the twelve disciples of Christ, or of all the Apostles; likewise

the walls of Constantinople, as many as he renewed and as many as he raised from their foundations; and finally, that greatest and most renowned temple of God’s Wisdom. He did indeed desire to add to these still more, but the sudden storm of imperial division and confusion that descended upon him cut off such thoughts of his—matters of which we shall speak ^A hereafter.

IV. Yet that matter almost escaped me. While John Glykys was spending his second year on the patriarchal throne, in the year six thousand eight hundred and twenty-five—that is, from the creation of the world—it happened, due to a violent north wind blowing, that the bronze cross fell which stood on the hand of the equestrian statue—I mean that which stands in the vestibule of the great temple of God’s Wisdom. The emperor, therefore, set about with the greatest haste to restore this also to its former state. Accordingly, having surrounded the entire column with frequent wooden steps from its base, he ascended as far as the statue. When those who were in charge of such works ascended by these steps, they observed that all the ^B iron by which the equestrian statue was supported on both sides had been completely consumed by rust, to such an extent that the danger was immediately imminent that, the supports having collapsed in a short time, the statue itself would fall down at once, and that most beautiful spectacle of the queen of cities would perish—the only one, out of infinite works of this same kind and of equal magnitude, that had hitherto escaped the dangers of fires and the rapacity of the Latins. Having, therefore, supported the horse with better and firmer struts, they rendered that statue safe and immovable. Afterward, they also removed the imperial insignia from the head, and the orb which the hand holds, and covered them with more solid gold and made them more resplendent. They also restored the column, which had its entire surface, from the top down to the base, perforated by the holes of the nails which the Latins had carried off together with the bronze with which it had been covered, with a smooth and firm coating.

V. Furthermore, having judged it unworthy that, after so many years, such an ascent to the statue as was possible in our time should be disregarded, and not wishing by failing to ascend with the others to be deprived of such an admirable spectacle, I myself also climbed up, and having investigated everything diligently, I enumerated each detail. And the length of the column, which anyone can easily measure from its shadow, we have deemed it redundant to recount in this place. But what no one at all can declare, that we, who have seen it ourselves, will explain accurately. Therefore, as regards the human statue, the circumference of the head is one fathom of a tall man, as far as the tip of the imperial symbol on the head. The length of each finger of his hands is three span-lengths and two-thirds, or four span-lengths less one-third of a span. The length of the cross resting upon the globe is four span-lengths, and the width is three span-lengths. The capacity of the globe is [equivalent to] three civil measures. From the chest of the horse to the tail is three fathoms. Likewise, the thickness of its neck is approximately three fathoms. From the top of the nose to its ears is one fathom. The thickness or girth of the shank, where it joins the foot, is five span-lengths. The garment, moreover, is marked with certain stars and furthermore is varied with leaves and branches, being very similar to ^{B C D}

Notes of various authors

[index: entries preserved]

^A certain works brought here from the land of the Seres.

CHAPTER XIII

^A 1. In the following year, the emperor betroths to his grandson, the emperor Andronikos, a wife, Irene, of Alemannic origin, whom antiquity was accustomed to call Western Galatians. Afterwards, Emperor Michael departs for Thessalonica with the Empress Maria, his wife; where, after one whole year had passed, he received the end of his present life. Although it had been predicted that he would die upon going there, and he had feared to go for this very reason, yet he went on account of the affairs of the Thessalians and Pelasgians, which at that time had been stirred up, about which we shall speak presently. The manner of the prophecy was as follows.

^B II. In the palace at Adrianople, before the gates, a little above the top threshold, a circle was found to be drawn, and around that circle four animals were depicted: a lion, a leopard, a fox, and a hare. And upon them was a prophecy in verse, which enigmatically signified the death of an emperor, one of the Palaiologoi, in the city of Thessalonica. This circle was a distance of two men's height above the ground; so that it became a matter of doubt, and as it were incredible, to suspect that a man had painted it, who would have had no opportunity to place a ladder, and at the same time, while ascending, to write it with the proper leisure, while the emperor was present and at the same time an infinite number of people were coming in and going out; so that, no human being having written it, one must remember what I have previously said ^C more fully concerning such matters.

III. But let the discourse turn to Thessaly and the affairs there, so that, having cleared away those matters, we may proceed to greater and more weighty subjects. We said that the principality of the Thessalians and Pelasgians had ended in John Doukas; who, being of a youthful age and also of a sickly state of body, and seeing for this reason that his strength was failing ^D

[A. M. 6791 AD 6836] ^A ...and seeing that, due to these causes, affairs there were being conducted poorly, he feared lest one of those who were most prominent among his subjects should devise innovations and tyrannically usurp supreme power. Wherefore, having sent envoys to the Emperor Andronicus, he took as his wife Irene, 279 his illegitimate daughter. But after living with her for only three years, he died leaving behind no surviving children. And so, the possession of the Thessalian empire remaining vacant and lacking a successor, the provinces and cities of that region were dispersed; some of which yielded to the Emperor along with the aforementioned daughter; others submitted themselves to certain native nobles; while others finally served the Catalans, who at that time were making incursions from Boeotia. Then, therefore, frequent letters from the holy and sacred synod were sent to the Thessalians, ^B Phthiotans, and Pelasgians, both admonishing them of their duty and threatening grave punishments against those who refused to obey the Emperor and—as had been accepted in former times—to unite themselves with the Roman Empire as the others had done. But these profited no more than those which had preceded them. And things stood in this manner.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY BOOK II

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK EIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

Michaelis imperatoris filiæ duæ. Quos maritos habuerint. Ejusdem filii duo. Avus Andronicum cæteris omnibus præfert. Eum apud se educat. Andronici junioris mores, consilia, ambitio. Meretricem amat. Rivali insidias struit. Manuel frater pro rivali occiditur. Patris tristitia, morbus, obitus. Avi mæror. De urbe Genua. Ubi sita. Guelphorum et Gibellinorum factiones. Earum propagatio. Cralæna ad maritum redire cunctatur. Cralis minæ. Mulier ad virum redire jussa cucullum induit. Constantinus frater cucullo discisso Triballis abducendam tradit.

283 I. Since, however, we are about to set forth greater and more recent events, it is necessary to resume our account from further back and to arrange the manifold context of affairs with a certain series and order, so that the speech, reaching the minds of the listeners, may not be obscure, nor deservedly unpleasant and rugged...

^A. Michael, the emperor, by his wife Maria, who had come from the Armenians, had two daughters, Anna and Theodora. Anna was given in marriage to Thomas, the ruler of Epirus and Aetolia; after he was murdered 31, he was later succeeded by his nephew, who also took his wife. Theodora married Venceslaus, the ruler of the Bulgarians. These two daughters, then, were born to the emperor Michael by his wife. He also had two sons by the same, the emperor Andronicus and the despot Manuel. The emperor Andronicus, who was also his grandfather, loved this grandson Andronicus with such affection, and was so dependent upon his company, that he placed all his other children—sons and daughters alike—and his grandchildren in the second and third rank of regard, and was ready, if need be, to sacrifice them all for the sake of this one alone. This he did for the sake of a more stable succession of the empire, which seemed destined to be firmer and more enduring through this youth, as well as because of his fine intelligence, his comeliness of face, and perhaps also because of the identity of their names. For these reasons he decided that the boy should be raised under his own eye in a royal upbringing, and intended that they should delight and rejoice in his company both by night and by day ^B.

Chapter II

^A For seeing his grandfather Andronicus holding power for a long time, and that upon his death the supreme authority would devolve upon his own father, the Emperor Michael, he thought that no hope of attaining the empire remained for him. Therefore, his mind, greedy for rule and vexed for a long time by a certain not altogether ignoble impatience, eventually lapsed into such thoughts. For since he did not wish to obey the Emperor his grandfather as if he were a tutor, nor to serve the wills of others like a child, he desired imperial authority and an abundance of resources, so that he might have enough for himself and, like an emperor, be able to grant favors to his subjects. ^B When he saw that this was impossible while his grandfather and father were residing there, he coveted the dominion of other provinces; and he dreamed now of Armenia, which pertained to him on his mother's side, now of the Peloponnese, and now of Lesbos and Lemnos and the other islands of the Aegean Sea. And when these things were reported secretly, now to his father, now to his grandfather, they were thwarted clandestinely, sometimes by one and sometimes by the other.

III. Regarding the night-time revels and the death of Manuel Despota

III. And that I may pass over most things in silence, he used to go at night to revel with a woman not indeed born of an ignoble family, but possessed of the habits of a harlot. Her lover and paramour was a certain other Adonis, conspicuous in the flower of his age and the beauty of his form. ^C Whence the Emperor Andronicus, inflamed in his mind with jealousy, compelled men armed with arrows and swords to keep watch around the harlot's house. But it happened one night by sheer chance, around midnight, that Manuel Despota, while looking for his brother the Emperor, passed by the harlot's house. When the Emperor's scouts saw him hastening toward them, and did not recognize who it was on account of the darkness, but supposed him to be the harlot's lover, they attacked him with frequent volleys of arrows. Whereupon, he, having received a lethal blow, fell from his horse. Then, a crowd having gathered around him, he was recognized and taken up by the hands of men, and carried, half-dead, into the palace. ^D When day dawned and this deed became known, it filled the Emperor, his grandfather, with great and vehement sadness, as he looked not only at the present time, but also prudently considered the future. Furthermore, when Manuel Despota died from that wound, and the report was brought to the Emperor Michael, who was then staying in Thessalonica, what shall I say? That event struck his soul more powerfully than any spear, and inflicted such a wound upon his heart that, afflicted and oppressed by the thought of that calamity continually recurring, he fell into a grave illness, which shortly thereafter removed him from life. But as for the elder Emperor Andronicus, such a tumult of mind and such a surge of cares invaded him, and such confusion and perturbation affected his affairs...

^A that we find no example among the events of previous ages that could be compared with them. We shall speak of this subject later.

IV. At this time, no small sedition and tumult arose among the inhabitants of Genoa. Genoa is a maritime city of Italy, situated westward, between the Tyrrhenians and the Alps. Two families had long inhabited it from ancient times, whom they call Guelphs and Ghibellines ^B; the latter had excelled for a very long time in glory, and they were the ones who created the magistrates of the faction. Afterward, the fortune of the Guelphs changed, and their family became superior—it transferred all the authority to itself. Furthermore, it completely exterminated the other family from the city of Genoa, so that by recovering its strength at some future point, it might not reclaim its former dignity. When this report reached the Genoese living everywhere in the world from the metropolis, it began to affect them in the same way. Hence, battles and civil wars ^C broke out among the Genoese everywhere. For those who had been expelled, hiring mercenary forces from outside, cruelly attacked those who had expelled them.

V. After the funeral of the Empress Irene, her daughter, the Kralena, wished to spend more time in Byzantium. Her husband, Crales of Serbia ^D, sent envoys to the city who threatened to bring ruin upon the Roman provinces unless his wife returned to him as quickly as possible. For, being inflamed with love for her, he had provided great security to the neighboring Roman lands and cities, but nevertheless, he was tormented by her absence and full of suspicion. The Emperor, however, fearing the threats of his son-in-law, lest he bring them into action (for that was easy for him, because he abounded in military forces), immediately sent her away. She was at that time in the twenty-second year of her age. Fearing, therefore, that upon her return to her husband she might be put to death—for he was always suspicious of her, and now, furthermore, incited by anger—she conceived of the idea of putting on the monastic habit, so that she might flee the life and society of her husband. She did not wish to do this while she was still in the city with her father, lest she implicate her father, albeit unwittingly, in a manifest crime as if he were an accomplice, and lest she provoke Crales to open war against her father. Therefore, as far as the small town of Serres, she departed with her attire as it was...

^A, bringing upon those present a moderate degree of astonishment and perturbation, to such an extent that, out of necessity and fear of their lord, they seemed ready to deliberate more harshly regarding her; for they would either have to tear the monastic habit and lead her back to her husband against her will, or, if they had to resort to that, to kill her, lest, living at the greatest possible distance from her husband, she might kindle his spirit with sharp and violent grief. But Constantine the Despot, her ^B brother (for he himself was present), outstripped them, and, thinking that Crales would take that story ill, he corrected the rash act of his sister. For he immediately ran up and forcibly tore the habit, and restored her, adorned in her customary garments, to the Triballi, so that they might lead her home as quickly as possible, however unwilling and weeping she might be. And these things happened in this way.

CHAPTER II

^C 1. But Patriarch John Glycys, when he perceived that his hopes of recovering his health were no longer with him ^D and understood that he could no longer perform the duties of that spiritual office—which required great strength and a firm constitution of body, while on the other hand, a sick body required great tranquility, and in turn the soul itself, as it sympathized with the body and was distracted by its infirmity, required great leisure from external affairs (for two very great evils resulted from this: the administration of daily business could neither be conducted smoothly and expeditiously, nor could the indignation or insults of the populace be repressed)—exhausted in the midst of his administration, he decided to consult his own leisure and to emerge from that great tide of surrounding affairs. For these reasons the emperor acceded to his wish and assigned to him the monastery of Cyriotissa, in which he might dwell; to this he betook himself in the fourth year of his patriarchate, having in some measure abdicated his dignity. There, as far as was permitted, he cared for his health, fearing death from day to day on account of his feet, which were affected by paralysis. Wherefore, since he had not been greedy for money like most others, he did not bring with him great wealth from the patriarchate; but he brought a small and countable sum of money, which he spent upon the expenses necessary for maintaining the monastery. And me he summoned and asked that I should organize his final will in a document.

For he was very pleased with my way of speaking.

^B II. All mortals, he says, ought to remember death and consider with sober eyes how vain is the shadow of present life; such that he who was here yesterday is suddenly received into the bosom of the earth, before he has been able to settle his domestic affairs as he wished and before he could foresee the approach of the insidious calamity; and likewise, he who on this very day seemed to go forth from his home at sunrise and walk about in the theater of life full of infinite hopes, at midday has thereafter entered into the shadows of darkness and oblivion, in the first bloom of youth, and often in the midst of the joy of his countenance, when the hope of the evils that were impending was, so to speak, furthest away. ^C How much more then must they remember death who are afflicted by diseases due to the vicious and perturbed matter which, in many and various ways, and at different times, consumes human bodies and dissolves the fitting connection of their elements? For these are already almost knocking at the gates of death with one hand and have for the most part cast behind them the hope of life, and are already turning their other eye toward the precipices of the tomb. To these it is entirely profitable to take thought for the soul and, since it is immortal, to provide for it immortal goods with all diligence, lest they perchance summon a double death upon themselves, both of body and of soul. And to me, most of all, this must be done, by how much more severe a disease my whole body has been consumed. For this disease, once it attacked me with its full force, ^D refused to depart from me thereafter, but persisted in dwelling in my inner parts, as if it had obtained it for its own proper home; and it never ceased to suck out the moisture of my body in the manner of a leech, and to gather my worldly goods little by little with both hands, as they say, and transfer them into the pockets of the doctors as if into their own treasuries. But since my effort against it proved vain and useless, and, as the proverb goes, I have seemed to be fighting fire, why should I recount the adversities of my life, both in imperial affairs and in private matters? For it happened to me that, having scarcely finished my studies and emerging from my books, I was received into the court, and received no small honors from the divine emperors. And to pass over in silence what intervened, when the patriarchate itself later called us to itself, and had even drawn us in, partly unwillingly and partly not unwillingly: unwillingly because of the almost intolerable burden of infirmity; not unwillingly because of the expectation of health (for the onset of this [disease]...

^A kept reminding me in an instant of all the ancient and new miracles of the heavenly Father, of which I thought perhaps one might even happen to me, if the Lord were to look kindly upon the laying on of hands and the anointing of this high priesthood). But since, nevertheless, I was thus transferred from senatorial offices to the patriarchal throne, and I was again suffering under the same torments of the disease, and no remedy whatsoever was anywhere to be seen, I realized that this was a judgment of God urging me entirely toward death, and perhaps a moderate chastisement for those [sins] for which we had not moderately sinned. From this, the hope of health completely vanished, and the expectation of approaching death, as we have said, was confirmed. For what else was I to think, when I saw that almost all the moisture of the flesh had now drained away, and the physicians, unworthy of the name, differed nothing (as far as I was concerned) from the common sort? Therefore, having cast off the great burden of affairs, and having driven away from me the confused clamor of evil tongues, I judged that it was here that I must spend the remainder of my life.

II. But whoever wishes may learn these things explained more clearly by us elsewhere. Now let us pursue the order of events. At this time, a monk-priest from the monastery of the Mangana (48) succeeds to the patriarchal throne—Gerasimus, a man grey-headed but simple in disposition, and quite deaf, his sense of hearing being for the most part diminished by old age. He had never even touched Greek literature with the very tip of his finger. ^B But because of his ignorance and the simplicity of his manners, he was most apt for imperial obedience. For this is the reason why such men are chosen by emperors for such offices: so that they may be obedient to their commands like slaves, and in nothing offer opposition to them. And so much for that man; the rest shall be related in its proper place hereafter.

CAPUT III

1. Now the Despot Constantine, the son of the Emperor Andronicus born of his first wife, who was of Hungarian descent, first had as a wife an unmarried girl, the daughter of the protovestiary Muzalon; and she, after living with her husband for a long time, died childless. She had a beautiful slave girl, named Cathara; ^D the Despot, having secretly lain with her, fathered a son, whom he named Michael Catharus. In the beginning, he himself hated and shunned this boy to such a degree that he would not deign to look at him even sidelong, but ordered him to be reared as far away as possible. The reason for this...

^A was that a much more powerful and vehement love for another woman had suddenly sprung up, which had driven away his affection for Cathara, the boy's mother.

II. Regarding the Prefectship of Thessalonica and the love for the wife of Constantine Palaiologos.

II. For when he had received from his father, the Emperor, the administration of Macedonian affairs and of Thessalonica itself (and he resided for the most part within the city of Thessalonica), he was captivated by the love of a certain illustrious woman. She was the daughter of the Neocaesarites, the chief secretary, and the wife of Constantine Palaiologos. She was so incomparable in the beauty of her appearance, the cleverness of her tongue, and the engaging sweetness of her character, that she not only cast an inescapable net of love over the souls of those who met her, but even her reputation alone inflamed many others with an equal ardor. ^B For nature had been so bountiful toward her that she displayed elegance in her whole countenance; she possessed a sharpness of mind, and on her tongue, she had an immense power of eloquence and persuasion, as well as a fluency and grace of speech. The woman was not without a share of secular wisdom. One could see her easily and opportunely bringing forth in conversation everything of every kind, both what she had read herself and what she had heard from others, such that she was called by the more learned a second Pythagorean Theano and a second Hypatia. By all these attainments, Constantine the Despot, as we have said, was utterly overcome, so that he tried her virtue and secretly sought to have intercourse with her. She, however, whether fearing her husband or shunning the illegality of the deed, resisted and turned away. ^C But the more he saw her turning away, the more vehemently he was inflamed with love for her. And one could see, in the words of Plato, the soul of the lover living in another’s body. When, after some time, her husband had departed this life, the Despot pressed the matter even more keenly, and moved, as the saying goes, every stone, wishing to take her as his legitimate wife. Having done this, he forgot all women and other loves, and even his aforementioned son Michael Catharus, whom, as we have said, he had sired by the handmaid Cathara, and he was occupied entirely with the loves of none other than this Eudocia Palaiologina.

III. Regarding the son Michael Catharus.

III. Now, when this Michael Catharus had reached his fifteenth year, the Emperor Andronicus the Elder sent for him and enrolled him among the palace pages ^D who performed domestic services: first, so that he might not perish of hunger, neglected by all; and second, perhaps so that through him, who was sprung from imperial blood, an affinity might be joined with some one of the neighboring nations, and an opportunity might be provided for procuring some treaty, and he might at last be of some benefit to the Romans and the Roman state in whatever way possible. But he, while being educated in the palace and...

constantly remaining there, soon so won over the emperor’s favor toward his own person that even the emperor's own sons looked askance at him with jealousy. Andronicus the younger ^A emperor was more angry and distressed than the others, seeing that the unparalleled love of the emperor—his grandfather—for him was fading, while for this newcomer and supposititious person it was blooming constantly and growing day and night.

IV. Now we must tell of the causes that more justly provoked his sorrow and anger and manifold anxieties, from which the rebellions against the empire and the storms and whirlwinds of evils arose. For when, as has been said, public affairs were in a bad state, and in the meantime the emperor Michael had died, the ^B emperor ordered everyone to be bound by an oath—first, to reverence and adore him as emperor and lord; and then, whomsoever he himself might choose to institute as successor to the empire. This vaguely worded command startled almost everyone, and especially the grandson Andronicus, the designated successor to the empire. For immediately, as if by a prearranged signal, everyone turned their suspicion toward this supposititious Michael. Hence, a great uproar of thoughts arose, and machinations of evil occurred in quick succession, which were bruited about in whispers. Therefore, some, from fear of the power, yielded and swore; but the majority dared openly to refuse such an oath. ^C The emperor did not deem it right to compel them by force in such a great perturbation of affairs. For he already saw that the emperor, his grandson, was contemplating flight because of that indefinite oath demanded of his subjects. Therefore, the emperor rested for a while and ceased the demand for the aforementioned oaths. He immediately began to ponder how he might prevent the grandson emperor from fleeing. For he feared that if he fled and obtained naval assistance from the Latins, he would disturb the Roman state and at the same time seize the empire for himself through tyranny. Hence, he set as an ^D secret guard over him Syrgiannes, who had just recently been brought out of prison. For he had been held a little while before in the strictest confinement for certain reasons, which it is right to relate here, starting from a little further back, so that those who do not know the history of this man may learn it from us.

CAPUT IV

1. His mother was related by blood to the emperors.

^A His father, however, was of illustrious birth from the Comans—those, that is to say, who many years before, as we have mentioned above, had transferred themselves to the Emperor John from among the Hyperborean Scythians. Syrgiannes, for his part, even before he had emerged from boyhood, was endowed with such speed of intellect that he won for himself a great reputation in his studies. Hence, having become most thoroughly trained in military affairs, he was easily held to be a leader in these too, not only because of the strength of his body, but also because of the depth of his mind and, so to speak, a divine sagacity.

II. Being now in his twenty-fifth year, he was sent by the Emperor as general and administrator of one of the provinces in the region of Macedonia, which has the Illyrians as its closest neighbors. And because he was most generous and possessed nothing privately, nor wished to have anything more than the men who were arming themselves alongside him and shielding him in the heat of combat, he so bound the spirits of all to himself that it was more pleasant for them to meet death for his sake than to look upon the light of day without him. Furthermore, in circumstances of doubt and near-despair, he possessed the most ready counsel, and would extricate himself from the greatest difficulties with marvelous adroitness; nor, when the situation demanded it, did he lack boldness, so that all who beheld him admired the noble nature of the man.

III. Only one thing, like some malignant disease creeping into his actions, corrupted them all, and, just as if one were to tear out the eyes from a beautiful, elegant, and robust body, rendered them at their very conclusion sad and fruitless. For, first of all, by breaking treaties, he made trouble for his neighbors, the Triballi, the Aetolians, and the Acarnanians. Later, having departed from there—as we shall relate—he began to disturb the emperors and the affairs of the emperors. ^C Wherefore he brought a wretched end upon himself. Having been deposed from such an office, and having shortly thereafter bribed those who had great influence with the Emperor, he recovered it once more, and at the same time was honored with the dignity of pincerna. Hence, conceiving a defection in his mind, he set out for that place, and in a short time brought to pass what he had been laboring to produce. For it was discovered that he was appropriating the province he governed for himself and was secretly withdrawing it from the authority of the emperors.

IV. Wherefore he was taken by guile by Monomachus the Mystic and sent in chains to the Emperor. ^D For at that time this Monomachus had also been sent by the Emperor to manage a part of Macedonia, and because of the proximity of the provinces, he visited Syrgiannes frequently and kept company with him. And since he was often with him, he investigated his secrets, and under the guise of friendship, he wove scheme after scheme; until, having captured him by craft while he was bound, as

^A he had said, he sent him to the emperor. Because of that crime, Syrgiannes was placed in custody and remained shut up in prison for a long time. But since his mother filled the court daily with groans and tears, and suppliantly asked for her son, offering any guarantee whatsoever, she was finally able to obtain with difficulty that he be brought out of the prison. Yet she did not obtain this until he had sworn by a written oath before the sacrosanct and most chaste image of the Mother of God, the Hodegetria, that he would never thereafter act in opposition to the commands of the emperor.

V. Thus he, having been freed from every suspicion, was believed to be well-disposed and wishing the best for his benefactor; and for this reason, such honor was accorded him that he was deemed worthy to be a participant in his secrets as well. And among other things, this also was entrusted to his fidelity: that, like a surreptitious guard, by circling around the younger Emperor Andronicus and approaching him, he should observe him, lest he contrive a secret flight, ^B just as we said above. But he, if one is to credit the opinions of the masses, being a man always ambitious, for whom there had lacked until then an occasion to make manifest the intent of his mind, finally considered that an opportune time provided by fortune had arrived: a time when the emperors were engaged in war with one another, and the affairs of the Romans were so completely confused, that he might gain control of the scepter himself; or, at the very least, by cutting off some portion from the whole empire, establish a principality for himself. Therefore, he approached the younger Emperor Andronicus and revealed to him the entire secret plan of his grandfather and emperor, saying: "The emperor has ordered me, like some keen-scented hound, to track your thoughts regarding you; and while he sits weaving chains and fetters against you, you sit in ignorance, exulting in childish designs. For what profit will it be to you to be carried off in secret and go abroad, where you will have to live on another's bread (as they say), if things go as well as possible, and that outcome does not occur where you are either killed by your hosts or fall into the snares and traps of your grandfather and emperor? But if, having cast these childish designs into the depths of oblivion, you are willing to obey me, who provides you with better and more beneficial counsel, nothing will obstruct you from seizing the supreme power at the very first opportunity without any toil. For I see there is one most effective way to attain this. Namely, that one must flee from Byzantium and make an incursion into the cities and provinces of Thrace. For since the race of men by nature rejoices in new developments, and at the same time the wretched Thracians are vexed by frequent exactions, if you were to go out and proclaim a lifting of burdens ^C and freedom, all will gladly follow you toward whatever you might wish, having cast off the long-standing servitude to your grandfather and emperor, and having shaken off, as if some Tantalic weight, the burden from their necks. If, therefore, this advice of mine is pleasing to you, I shall be the manager and administrator of this business for you; I shall undertake and finish all the labor of this contest in a short time; provided only that you are willing to promise me and bind your faith with sure pledges, that you will remunerate me in accordance with the dignity of the labor. And what indeed are these rewards? Illustrious dignities, and many lands, and the ability to provide a great yearly ^D

^A revenue; furthermore, that no one be preferred before me in authority by you, and that no decision in the management of the state be made by you without my knowledge. For you see how I willingly and gladly approach as a participant in your calamities and a partner in your perils, setting aside for love of you even the religious oath by which I am bound to the emperor. But if the rashness of fortune should bring any evil upon my head, I have commanded myself to bear it with alacrity. To these points, therefore, be well disposed, and do not be unwilling to grant my requests, if you wish to be safe. Since, however, the urgency of the moment does not admit of any delay for deliberation, but an extreme danger hangs over those who procrastinate, come, let us communicate this plan to others as well—men who, because of their hatred for the emperor, will neither betray us nor these secrets, but who might be able to help our enterprise greatly with timely assistance.”

VI. ^B To these conditions the emperor agreed, promising that he would fulfill in writing, by oath, all that he had requested. There were present also those who were to be privy to these secrets: John Cantacuzenus and Theodore Synadenus—the former then honored with the title of Great Papia, the latter with that of Domestic of the Imperial Table. With them was a third, Alexius Apocaucus, himself at that time Domestic of the Western themes and official in charge of the salt-works. This man was not very noble by birth, but he was prudent, clever, and marvelously apt at fabricating deceits. Both of the others were related to the emperor by blood. But Cantacuzenus, being also a contemporary, had been united in spirit and ^C harmony with the Emperor Andronicus from his early youth, because of the brightness of his mind, the truthfulness of his speech, and his possession of agreeable manners. Synadenus, for his part, had lived in closest association with Andronicus’s father, the Emperor Michael, while he was still alive. They, therefore, having been admitted to that secret deliberation as if to a common draft from the same cup, were like torches brought to a fire to increase a conflagration, or like cavalry sent out onto an open field. Thus they immediately joined in a fellowship bound by a chain, having offered up horrible oaths; and they received in turn promises of great recompense and rewards.

VII. ^D When these things had been concluded in this manner, they set about the business itself with the greatest diligence and alacrity. In the beginning, Syrgiannes and Cantacuzenus, having won over the court nobility with money, purchased the administration of the cities and provinces in Thrace. The former obtained the greatest part of the Mediterranean region and the entire maritime coast up to the summit of the Rhodope; Cantacuzenus, however, obtained a small part, and only that of the interior which is adjacent to Orestias. Then they gathered forces, prepared arms, and

^A they were also gathering others, certain newcomers, and those who, due to poverty, were neither soldiers nor engaged in any business, but spent their lives in forced inaction. Moreover, they set their most intimate and faithful followers as guards over the cities, while those whom they suspected of being likely to resist their designs, they expelled from the cities under various pretexts. They did these things after first raising a clamor about an incursion, now of the Scythians dwelling along the Danube, now of a naval force of Turks from Asia, so that, protected by the screen of such a rumor, they might continue to remain above suspicion, and at the same time be deemed worthy of praise by the emperor for their foresight and diligence. But Syrgiannes was secretly engineering these things, and from time to time was reporting to the younger emperor both what had been done and what was about to be done.

Chapter V

I. The emperor, however, seeing that his grandson was disregarding and scorning his admonitions and persisting in the same license of morals, ^B decided first to rebuke and convict him before the patriarch and the assembled fathers, and then to cast him into chains and prison. But this intention of his was at that time checked by the Logothete of the General Treasury, Theodore Metochita, who predicted that the execution of this affair would be undertaken in vain, on account of the dissipation of morals solemnized among them during those days. For the time of the carnival was at hand, when mortals, given over to more sumptuous feasts and stronger cups, are more easily incited to seditious impulses through the intemperance of wine. Wherefore he said it was to be feared that the undertaking would not proceed according to plan, since fortune, usually delighting in prodigies, is accustomed suddenly to produce results contrary to hope. ^C

II. The Logothete of the General Treasury had just finished completely renovating the interior of the Chora monastery ^D with every ornament. Wherefore, he would sometimes study to spend the night there with the monks during their vigils. Therefore, when the first week of Lent had arrived, and the Sabbath day had come, on the next day of which the memory of the orthodox emperors and patriarchs was to be commended by public proclamation, he had also come for the vigil of that night, as was his custom. And there, around midnight, while we were also present and were listening to the doxology with him, someone arrived from the emperor, bringing him a rather strange piece of news and seeking the judgment of his opinion. "For just now," he says, "the emperor’s ax-bearers and sword-bearing soldiers..."

^A were about to retire, when a whinny was let out, echoing through the whole palace, so that everyone within was struck with astonishment. For in the dead of night, when neither the imperial nor the senatorial horses were in the palace or before the gates, this sudden event disturbed the minds of those who heard it, and they asked one another what this could be. Before that tumult had yet subsided, a second whinny, louder than the first, was heard, the sound of which reached the emperor's own ears; consequently, he sent to find out whence that whinny had come at such an unseasonable hour. But he heard nothing else but that it was given by a horse which had been painted upon one of the palace walls before the oratory of the Mother of God, the Nicopoia (60); I mean that horse upon whose back the renowned Paul—that greatest of painters—had once depicted George, the martyr of Christ, most beautifully mounted (61)." ^B To this the Logothete, joking as he was wont to do in response to the emperor’s questions, said, "I congratulate you, O Emperor, on your future triumphs. For I believe this monstrous whinny of that horse signifies nothing other than your imperial expedition against the Hagarenes who are plundering our Asia."

III. Having heard this, the emperor sent another young man to him, saying, "You, indeed, with that response—whether given, as is your custom, for the sake of cheering me up, or for some other reason—seem to be ignorant of the truth. But I will tell you what I believe to be the truth. For as our fathers handed down to us, that horse once whinnied in the same manner when my father, the emperor, was about to take this most magnificent city from Baldwin, the ^C prince of the Latins. For he too, struck by the strangeness of the news heard, was for a long time troubled, thinking this to be a bad omen for himself; and not long after, he experienced the threats of that prophecy poured out upon his own head in the very outcome, when he saw this same glorious city being ravaged by the Romans." The Logothete, having no answer to make to this, said to the man, "Go now, and tomorrow I myself shall bring my own answer to the emperor." Indeed, the column standing before the eastern citadel, upon which, according to report, the statue of Byzas—the one who founded Byzantium—had once been placed (62), also began to shake many days before, and for several days it was manifestly shaken, with everyone running together to witness the spectacle.

IV. On the following day, when the great Logothete came to the emperor, no one ^D knew what they had discussed together in private; yet from certain indications we were later able to conjecture that they had examined certain prophetic books.

^A in which some things concerning the future were set forth obscurely and enigmatically by whomever they were composed. They had also cast a ^B thematic horoscope, by means of which men investigate the courses of the stars and gain foreknowledge of future events; from this they surmised a certain hostile invasion, a great confusion of public affairs, and no small danger to the imperial sovereignty. For they did not understand that it was the young emperor Andronicus who was to do these things, God concealing such matters in ineffable ways. Hence they reaped much fear and turmoil of mind. For the Logothete, full of these thoughts, returned home from the palace and sat for a long time in silence, speaking not a word to anyone, but turning over manifold cares in his mind, entirely absorbed in meditation on the future, appearing precisely like a mute and deaf man, one who sensed nothing of what was being done in his presence; and this while his wife, together with his daughter, the Panhypersebaste, and his sons, sat by him according to custom, awaiting some cheerful and pleasant word from him. At length, the wife, herself not naturally very eloquent, was compelled to signal to her daughter, the Panhypersebaste, to speak something opportune for the matter and the occasion. For though she was young in age, she was very clever, and she had received from nature such a power of speech as would befit not only herself, but even Plato or Pythagoras or men of such wisdom. Turning her eyes then upon her father, she began as follows:

V. ^C "Perhaps it may seem to be a matter of excessive audacity and rashness, O father, for a young daughter to speak more freely before her father, and for one whose tongue is a pupil of inexperience to dare to lift her eyes toward the highest citadel of wisdom. But since both my mother urges me and the time and the matter itself demand it, I will speak as best I can. Why, O wisest of all mortals, do you sit so silent, and torment your own soul and consume it with sorrow, and not share your mind with us, so that by receiving a portion of that sadness we might lighten the sense of grief for you? For the perturbation of your countenance and the silence of your tongue sufficiently declare how violent is the pain of your spirit, which has invaded your inmost heart like a fortress, or rather like a root and bond of the vital faculties of the soul, and, deeply fixed there, is devouring the bloom of your intellect, confusing your thoughts, and weighing down the nobler part of your mind. For just as oil and wax and stubble and hay provide fuel for a flame, so too does silence, having found the fires of sorrow gathered in the mind, provide them, as it were, with material and nourishment, and does not allow the smoke of the soul, once poured forth, to be exhaled through the tongue. Wherefore, lest that passion, by becoming strengthened over time, bring about unexpected ruin, arise, I pray you, in the name of God, and recover your spirit. For not even ^D

your nobility of philosophy ought to be dragged down into such pettiness, nor should you scatter such untimely shame upon its dignity. For the cruelty of grief is, in a way, accustomed to multiply itself through the prolongation of silence. It goes on, running back within you like a wound, and it does not desist from devouring everything secretly on the inside, until it has passed through (so to speak) the very marrow of the soul and ravaged the most vital parts of the living being. And if this is something of a secret, let it be a secret to others; but to us, your own, it is not so in the least.

VI. With these and many other words of this kind ^B, that noble daughter soothed her father’s ears, and in that way she moved his soul, and awakened him as if from a deep sleep, just as fish are drawn out of the sea by fishermen, or snakes out of a thicket by conjurers, through the power of their craft. And so, with his grief momentarily calmed, he lent his mind to his tongue, so that he uttered the words of Job, but slightly altered: "Perish," he said, "those days in which I took a wife and became a father of children; for if they were not, I could easily provide for my affairs. But now, with such a crowd of troubles bearing down upon me on their account, I do not know how I might escape the worst disaster, which — I know not whence or how — will soon be brought upon me. For a grievous incursion is imminent against us, either by sea or by land, from enemies — I know not whom — who will rise up against us and will utterly disrupt all our affairs; just as when a large merchant ship, deprived of its anchors in the middle of the sea, is caught by some bold wind, and it bursts furiously upon the sails ^C and rages with turbulent waves." Having said these things, he fell silent again, his mind having been, as it were, stolen away by those thoughts, and, forgetful of himself and his tongue, he arose and, full of despondency, went to his bed; on which he lay down, but could not sleep for a long time.

VII. I, however, came to him on the following day, as was my custom, and learned everything. For I was visiting him frequently for the sake of conversation. Indeed, from the time when he held me in higher regard and had caused me to be settled in the Chora Monastery, which he had restored, he had embraced me with great benevolence and a pleasant disposition of mind, and had almost made me equal to his own children; so much so that he would impart to me the science of astronomy, which at that time he alone knew most perfectly, and he did not begrudge me such great riches; ^D and he would often boast, both before the emperor and before the nobles, that I had been instituted by him as the heir to his learning. And he declared this more clearly in his letters to me and in the verses which he later composed in exile: of which we shall speak more clearly below. For these reasons, therefore, since I owed much to the man, I was repaying him with as much gratitude as I could.

ter composed in exile: of which we shall speak more clearly below. For these reasons, therefore, since I owed much to the man, I was repaying him with as much gratitude as I could. I frequently approached him, not only for the sake of intellectual conversation, but also to perform some pleasing service for him. For I was teaching both his son and the daughter whom I ^A mentioned; I was clarifying the enigmatic and intricate passages of both secular and our own books for them, and was turning their night into day. For the woman was endowed with both a noble nature and a desire for learning, the one being a gift of nature, the other of the will.

VIII. Upon hearing those things, although I was almost dead with fear, I nevertheless did not think I should keep silent; but approaching him in private, I said: "Perhaps it would be no wonder, I said, for others who have not fortified their minds with philosophical arguments to succumb ^B to adverse circumstances. But as for you, whom it behooved to stand like an unshaken tower in such calamities, and to provide the common people with an example of a brave spirit, I cannot praise you, divine man, for being affected in the same way as the rest. For if a philosopher ought to be brave in spirit regarding manifest and present affairs, what are we to say of those which are not yet present, but which still lie hidden in uncertain outcomes? God performs many things, and those things which were expected were not brought to fulfillment; but as for those which no one expected, God finds the means for their accomplishment. ^C For predictions of future events—whether through dreams or other means, which, as we know, are numberless—signified that something would happen, but they were shrouded in much mist and, as it were, wrapped in their own obscurity like a garment, which has driven many away from their duty and led them into error; whence some have met with a fortunate outcome beyond hope, while others have met with the opposite. For you know, among other things, how, when Alexander of Macedon was setting out for the siege of Tyre, a crow, flying over by chance and of its own accord, dropped a bone and struck him on the head: which the ^D augurs and seers interpreted as a bad omen and urged him to desist from his undertakings. He, however, went nonetheless, and after enduring great labors, besieged and captured the city. The Greeks in days of old, when they were being invaded by the Persians, hoped that they would be sunk to the bottom of the sea with their very ships before Salamis, which threatened death to the children of women. But beyond all expectation, they defeated the enemy and returned all their books with triumphs of their own."

Variorum notes. Theodore Metochites summarized almost his entire life in verses of this kind; which, if they were less discordant, could be joined to the Byzantine History of Gregoras. But no one, I suppose, would wish to read such hard and unmodulated poems, against which that indignation of Leo Allatius is quite aptly cast—namely, that if there is anything in all antiquity harder than these poems, it is Chalybs itself, and the anvil, and whatever else in the nature of things is rough and perverse; it is softer and more tractable than these poems. It is well done that we have lost them; for in reading them we would learn nothing but iron; and now I see, now I confess, that the Muses of the later Greeks possessed no graces, no charms, and that all things, except for human speech, were often missing. See what we have annotated above (col. 285) regarding the Trallian oracle. Boivin.

I, sect. 5, nescio quid pollicetur, quod nusquam ab eo praestitum constat. Vide quid promittat hujus libri cap. 2, sect. 3. Boivin. (67) Euripid. in Medea, Alcestide, etc. Boivin. ^A a great empire of Cyrus, he believed he would bring about its destruction. But he also lost his own. The Romans, in days of old, when Italy was being laid waste by the fires of Hannibal the Carthaginian, and they saw the destruction of their very city almost before their own eyes, beyond all expectation became masters of the greatest part of the world. Augustus, who was the second after Caesar to reign as monarch in Rome, when he was being attacked by Antony and Cleopatra with great forces by land and sea, and had despaired of his life, not only defeated his enemies beyond all expectation, but also took over their dominion—Libya, I mean, and Asia. And what need is there to recount the sacred ways of Providence? It is that which governs our affairs and is accustomed to bring them to an end which we do not know, now expected, now unexpected; and it mixes one thing with another, and now bestows one thing instead of another, just as if someone, having set sail from Piraeus, intended to cross the Aegean Sea, but was carried by the force of northern winds unexpectedly to Crete and Sardinia. For such inconstancy is constantly roaming both over land and sea. ^B Therefore, for you, who perchance fear even worse things, better things may come to pass; and this sad sowing will produce a rich harvest of joy. For future things must be placed in a certain equilibrium, with the mind inclining neither too much to joys nor too much to sorrows. Furthermore, as the most wise poet Euripides (68) thinks, the same speech, whether spoken by an obscure or by a noble person, does not carry the same authority. For when all men say all things, they would scarcely move one person or another. But you, as one privy to the emperor's secrets and also most learned in the science of the stars, could most easily cast the spirits of all men, now affected by extreme despair, into the depths. Therefore, if not for your own sake, yet for the sake of the republic, conform both your tongue and your whole self to a more cheerful state. Imitate the more gracious of ship captains, who, even when dangers are ^C approaching and already pressing, disguise their sorrow. For since they know that the best hope of all the passengers depends upon their own lips, they bid them, refreshed by their words, to be of good courage, and confirm them with favorable encouragement, even though often the sea boils up from its depths, and a mountain of water rises above their heads, and a violent rain breaks forth from the clouds, and the danger is before their very eyes. When we had said these things, we brought the man to a sense of shame, so that, having laid aside his grief as much as he could, he thereafter showed himself pleasant, cheerful, and affable to all as he had formerly been.

CAPUT VI

notæ.

Book VIII

^A 1. In the sixth week of the holy Quadragesima, the emperor, having summoned the patriarch Gerasimus and the archbishops who happened to be present at the time, brought in his grandson. He intended to rebuke him openly and to admonish him to put aside his plans for flight, so that, awed and shamed by the presence of so many witnesses, he might either desist from his undertaking, or, if he were punished, he would appear to have been chastised not without probable cause. Andronicus the younger therefore entered, bringing with him some men equipped not with manifest armor, but with secret arms, namely daggers; nor was he himself entirely unarmed. For they had agreed among themselves that if the grandfather and emperor used fatherly and gentle admonitions toward him, neither they nor he would attempt anything bold or brash, but would remain entirely quiet; but if, angered, he should threaten punishment, they would immediately make an assault, kill him upon the imperial throne itself, and bestow the entire authority of the empire upon the younger Andronicus alone. He entered, then, to his grandfather the emperor and took his seat upon the customary imperial throne; he had left that faction of his outside the imperial court. But since the admonition and correction seemed to proceed from fatherly care and solicitude, nothing insolent was done at that time; rather, the council was dismissed peaceably and quietly, an oath having been given mutually by the emperors. ^B The grandfather, indeed, swore that he would leave the empire to no one except the emperor Andronicus, his grandson; the grandson, for his part, swore that he would never meditate or do anything by which the authority or life of the elder emperor might be attacked.

11. But the conspirators who were standing around the younger Andronicus as he left were indignant, and they shouted at him, crying out that he had violated that most sacred oath sworn to them, and had broken the faith pledged by clear treachery. "For what," they said, "could be added to the magnitude of this injury, if you thus openly desert us—through whom you easily accomplished all things according to your own desire, when you were formidable and invincible—yielding us up to the blade and as if into the very jaws of the underworld?" ^C Broken and shamed by these and such-like emotions and words, the emperor bade the Grand Logothete come to him, and asked him to render the mind of the grandfather emperor prompt and prepared to grant immunity to his faction and to confirm it by the interposition of an oath. But he, not even enduring to listen, said: "Do you, in truth, marvel, and do you not give infinite thanks to God, and do you not think that it has gone well with you, that beyond all expectation, you have escaped the gates of the underworld, as it were, and have been brought back to safety?"

"> Or are you ignorant that you owe me and my children great gratitude for the rest of your life, since the plan conceived and prepared against you was at last thwarted and broken by my intervention, and it is by my benefit that you still look upon this sun? Yet you disregard these things and wish to become a suppliant for those most wretched men who are doomed to perish miserably? Away with you, by God! Have nothing to do with such men. For how will they keep their oaths to you, when they failed in their faith toward your grandfather, under no constraint of necessity, deterred neither by the fear of God nor by any sense of shame before men?"

^C III. Having heard these things, spoken so contrary to his expectation, the emperor remained silent for a long time. Then, saying "Go," he returned once again to his former plans and deliberations. When the great and holy week arrived, in which we celebrate the saving passion of Christ, and the emperor saw that his grandson was not living according to his admonitions (for he observed in his actions inconsistency, and in his character no gravity, but only the height of frivolity), he took it heavily and with an uneasy mind, to such a degree that, overcome two or three times by the magnitude of his grief, and as if moved by some divine ^D spirit, he said to those present: "The majesty of the empire and the reverence due to the Church have perished in our age." The young man was indeed preparing his flight with burning zeal, frequently leaving the city and making ready with that faction; but the old man, ignorant of the plans, remained in doubt and uncertainty, troubled by silent thoughts. Yet, weighing what was happening by certain signs and conjectures, he was not entirely far from suspecting what they were plotting. Therefore, he decided to apprehend him, and shared this secret intention with the Patriarch Gerasimos. But the latter immediately ran to the younger Emperor Andronicus and revealed the secret. On account of this, he began to accelerate his flight.

IV. When the bright and illustrious day of the Resurrection arrived, and it was necessary that what had been decided be carried out that evening, he asked for and received, according to custom, the keys to the gates through which one goes to Gyrolimne. For he was accustomed to do this on account of the morning hunt. And so, about midnight, while everyone was already sleeping, he went out with all those who had sworn themselves to him; and riding out, they arrived on the following day at the camp of Syrgiannes and Cantacuzenos. For they were waiting near Adrianople with great preparation for his flight. This day was the twentieth of April, in the year six thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine. It is, moreover, worthy of note that nothing in human affairs is administered without Providence, but [index: entries preserved]

all things possess a hidden reason which guides them, even if we sit in ignorance, uttering arguments concerning both Providence and truth that are far from worthy. For when God wishes to punish those whom He wills, making amends for both old and new sins, like a wise physician He applies iron and fire to wounds that are difficult to heal. And at once, while the land is thriving with rich fertility, the air becomes restless; the water of the sea grows indignant against them; winds, contrary to their desires, begin to blow back; and the course of pestilence prospers. ^B Those who have adorned themselves with virtue and learning and have refined their character to a "Dorian" harmony, so to speak, are all afflicted; and whatever they attempt finds an unfortunate outcome, most contrary to the initial purpose of their works, as the supreme Divine Will weighs such judgment from above. On the other hand, the wretched, the obscure, the senseless, and those who are the fosterlings of the Furies experience prosperous fortune; the wise are utterly defeated by the foolish; and buffoons and slaves rule over the modest and the honorable. Then, too, you might see the magistrates of cities, the heads of households, the tribunes of the people, the aediles and praetors, and indeed even the leaders of monastic discipline themselves, all appearing as if by some prearrangement to serve impudence and petulance, neither able nor willing to do anything according to their office. ^C That this is so will be confirmed by that which we are about to say.

V. For since the incursion of the Turks was burgeoning, injuring and afflicting the Roman cause from every side, and the Emperor perceived by divine revelation that whatever help or aid had been placed in strength, whether domestic or auxiliary, was altogether useless and naught, he turned to a different path—one that was indeed slippery, if you consider it truly and in the light of justice, yet not altogether unwise in such adverse and difficult times. For he decided to increase the annual tributes of his subjects; by dividing these, he would every year contribute part to other needs and part to the neighboring enemies, and by that means receive a venal peace from them. This was as if someone, desiring to purchase the friendship of wolves, would cut his own veins in several parts of his body and willingly permit them to drink and gorge themselves ^D on his blood. Whence the publicans and tax-collectors seized the opportunity, and one strove to get ahead of another, each promising to pay more if the administration of such an office were entrusted to him. And thus in a short time, although the borders of the Roman Empire were continually contracting, the annual revenues grew in such a way that millions of coins were brought in annually to the treasury by those who collected the money and tributes. Because of this, the senior Emperor had in mind to establish a permanent fleet of twenty triremes against the marine

and hostile forces; terrestrial forces of one thousand permanent cavalry in Bithynia, and two thousand likewise in Thrace and Macedon; ^A and to spend the remaining money on the expenses of ambassadors coming from elsewhere, and on the annual subsidies to surrounding nations, and for the countless other matters proper to the imperial affairs. But because it was not truly the will of God, for reasons He Himself knows, suddenly all things, by reason of this general confusion, were overturned, just as when a die is cast and falls on the opposite side.

VI. Yet it is worthy of admiration, the ineffable clemency of God who oversees all things, for when we ought to have paid many and dense penalties for our long-standing wickedness, He judged that these should be exacted sparingly and humanely. For He did not deliver us to foreign barbarians and savage enemies, but to our own countrymen and acquaintances, and to those who did not abhor our customs, and who were, in fact, ^B more merciful than those by whom we deserved to be punished; since most of those who were raging against us round about had been carried off by death, so that we, afflicted by internal strife and entirely resembling a broken reed, might not be attacked by them as well and utterly destroyed in a complete slaughter. For in this time, the Kral of Serbia died; the leader of the Bulgarians, Světoslav, also died; and the despot of the Aetolians and Acarnanians was murdered by his own nephew, the Count of Cephalonia. Moreover, the last heir of the Thessalian principality, sprung from the Angelid family, had finished his life. But I return to that point.

VII. For when the senior emperor learned of his grandson’s flight before the sun had risen, he summoned that same day the high priests who were present in the city (for the patriarch had died the day before the flight), ^C and commanded them to condemn his grandson in writing as a rebel with an anathema; and likewise those who had gone out with him, or who might thereafter flee or defend his cause. This was easily carried out by the college of high priests. From that time one could see the holy Gospel being carried everywhere in the palaces, in the streets, and in the marketplaces, and the people being forced by oath to withdraw from the society of the junior emperor in spirit, deed, and word, and to bind themselves more strictly in the bonds of obedience to the senior emperor. While these things were being carried out in this manner in the imperial city, Andronicus the younger proclaimed liberty and immunity to the villages and cities of Thrace, ^D and immediately had everyone obedient to his will and ready to do anything. Soon all the Thracians as far as Christopolis were under arms for the junior emperor, eagerly preparing to attack the senior one. And first, they foully tormented the tax collectors and publicans roving through Thrace, and divided among themselves without any restraint the money that had been seized from them. Before seven days had passed, having departed from Orestias

a multitude—not easily counted—of horsemen, footmen, archers, and slingers ^A marched toward the imperial city, thinking they would immediately capture it while it was in a state of civil strife and at war with itself, both because of the opinions of the populace and the hope of plunder, such as such innovations in affairs secure for unjust hands, with Syrgiannes stirring everything up. Having traveled for four full days, they arrived and pitched their camp before the city of Selymbria.

VIII. But when they were about to proceed further, the elder emperor, knowing that the urban crowd would not remain quiet if they saw a hostile army before the gates, but would dare some novelty out of a desire for change, forestalled their arrival by sending ahead envoys, the leader of whom was Theoleptus, Bishop of Philadelphia, ^B a man not only adorned with virtues of every kind—and accustomed to prepossess everyone he encountered with the great reverence he inspired—but also excellent in singular prudence. Syrgiannes’ mother was also sent, to bring her son most of all to a sense of shame and to persuade him not to advance to assault the walls of the imperial city; for there was a danger that, should the Byzantines thus clash with one another, a most terrible destruction of all wealth, houses, men, women, magistrates, and subjects would follow; and of such a crime, how could anyone, having committed it, ever live a life of tranquil mind? Rather, he should withdraw a little and thus eventually hold discussions and free negotiations from a distance. ^C Syrgiannes, therefore, revering the presence of the Bishop of Philadelphia and moved by the entreaties of his mother, turned back to the emperor, who was then staying near Orestias. Thence, the embassies of the elder emperor were sent, and from there the judgments concerning each of the petitions received full authority.

IX. Finally, it was agreed between the two emperors that the younger emperor should hold, with supreme authority, Thrace—which extends from Christoupolis as far as the borders and suburbs of Constantinople toward Rhegium—and together with it those estates which he had assigned to his own faction in Macedonia; these were both numerous, and for each they paid many thousands in annual revenue. The elder, however, held Constantinople, ^D as well as all the cities and provinces of Macedonia situated beyond Christoupolis; and furthermore, he was to hear the embassies of neighboring nations and devote appropriate care to them. For such concerns were not at all to the liking of the younger, who by nature was inclined toward a life of leisure, hunting, and such pursuits, and that charge seemed to him a most heavy burden and a vain annoyance. On these conditions, a treaty was entered into, such as the younger emperor desired, and not as the elder preferred.

^A Indeed, if the truth must be told, he entered into that treaty altogether against his will, and though he wished to struggle against such a calamity, which had come upon him beyond his expectation, yet, bereft of all help, he became torpid, and accepted what was returned to him by his grandson as if they were responses from the Delphic tripod.

CAPUT VII.

^A Having finished with the rhetorical and philosophical books at this time, it seemed useful to me to approach the elder emperor and to insinuate myself into his acquaintance, which was both prudent and liberal, and most worthy of the hearing of educated men; a thing which, though sought after by all the learned, was not easily accessible nor did it happen to everyone. For, since I had been a listener in astronomical matters to the great logothete (for he had already been adorned by the emperor with that dignity), I say, I was already sated with his acquaintance. Although he, too, at first discussed things with me rather sparingly, and did not share astronomy itself with me in full measure, whether because he was still ignorant of my disposition, or—which was the truth—because he was endowed with the same mindset as the most excellent Synesius and Lysis the Pythagorean. For they forbid the goods of philosophy to be shared with those whose soul has not yet been purified, at least slightly. For it is forbidden, they say, to offer things that have been acquired with great labors to any random person. Furthermore, they say that the custom of philosophizing in public has produced a great contempt for divine things among mortals.

^B When I had approached him privately and demonstrated to him my sincere character, I begged him not to judge me like the common crowd. For I said that, as they say, there is a great limit between the Phrygians and the Persians. Then, using a mild tone for the sake of persuasion, I began my discourse before him: "If nature had been able to distribute all the pleasant things of life equally, the search for them would surely have been easy and devoid of all labor, and the causes of mutual love would very easily have been cut off. But now, since it was necessary that unpleasant things be mixed with pleasant ones, and the Greeks say that the third jar in the house of Zeus is not mixed with any evils: as poverty is unpleasant, so the hope of abundance delights. And these strive among themselves and cause one to ask and another to grant, and these exchanges are perpetual, moving to and fro; which is the law of friendship and its firmest bond. And this may be called that which offers to the earth that the sea may be navigated, and to the sea that one may walk on dry land; and how the Tanais in its long course is carried into Greece, and the Ister reaches into Egypt.

^A If anyone, however, should be so tenacious as to be unwilling for good things to be distributed, he must beware lest he impose a law upon the whole world—an author of all impropriety—and destroy all assemblies and all commerce from their foundations, and inflict manifest injury upon those for the sake of whom he received those good things from the author of nature. For it cannot be obscure to anyone that no good thing comes to anyone from divine providence so that he might enjoy it alone, just as the light does not shine solely for the sun. If things were destined to live eternally and remain in the same state, perhaps someone might, for any number of reasons, avoid the sharing of virtue. But since in no way can this happen, some, pursuing immortality by a certain artifice and omitting nothing from which glory might arise, have taken up every labor of their own accord. And, that I may not stray, Pythagoras, having met with the sages of the Egyptians and having been initiated into their sacred rites, coveted to be praised in Greece; prompted by this desire, he crossed over into it, and by his own virtue, his name became famous throughout all Greece, and he attained an eternal reputation. ^B There is also he who, having set out from Asia, seeks the Delphic laurel and the Olympic olive; not ignorant that in that fading garland there dwells a glory that does not fade, and which excites the memory of posterity more than all the meadows of Asia and its fountains and the various dyes of its plants. These, therefore, and many others similar to them, were able by various means to transmit their memory to posterity. But now, not to be long, our age passes away, left sterile and destitute of wisdom for the talents of others—and it is little short of saying, I would almost call it animal-like, so that our affairs seem to be in a pitiable state. You alone, however, has our age produced—an express image of nature, most beautifully formed, like the moon among the stars, and like a fire in the chill of winter. Nor can the temples, walls, groves, and porticoes so adorn us as do you and the ornaments of your virtue. And indeed, all confess that you are most beneficial to the republic; for you provide the great emperor with that which they provide to a navigator who watch the pole and the Helice. But what may we say? ^C Phidias was once great among the Greeks for the sculpture of a bee and a cicada; yet he was not so great as he was for the Olympian Jove. Moreover, the small glory gathered from those things perishes sooner, together with the very memory and body, than the forage of the fields. But if you were to open the treasures of your genius and your erudition, your name will be vindicated from oblivion, having lived your life, as Plato says, not in a corner; and you yourself shall stand most prominently in the middle of the circle of the earth, and you will be celebrated not only by the fame of a long time, but you will also be commended to immortal memory. Come, therefore, rise up, O most learned of all men whom the sun beholds; share your ornaments with your fatherland, just as did Lycurgus and Solon; have honor for this celebrated city, just as once Athens ^D [P.200]

200] ^A philosophers like Socrates and Plato. Open the eyelids of our mind. Demonstrate more clearly who is the moderator of all things, and what is their most fitting structure. Teach me to what causes such a great gift should be attributed: whether to the necessity of the stars, as the profane maintain, or to the author of the universe? Regarding this matter, as I have been in doubt for a long time, no one has yet appeared who might remove this misgiving from my mind. Wherefore, if for no other reason, teach me for this reason alone. For what could be more wretched than that, while the heavens declare the glory of God resounding through all the earth, we, as if deaf, do not hear what they say, but instead (as is the common rumor) weigh their knowledge by the stars—which is to say, understand only by light conjecture? ^B Indeed, it would be an extreme injustice, when you do not need—as Pythagoras did—to sail from Egypt to Attica, nor—like Plato—to cross the Ionian Sea many times and journey from Attica to Sicily to tyrants, and from there return again to the Academies and walks so that you might publicly scatter virtue: but instead of the Lyceum and the Stoa, you are able to spread your virtue from your own accustomed home into the whole world; that you should let something else be of greater concern to you, and allow your incomparable tongue to grow obsolete in silence. Now, it must also be observed how inconstant and uncertain all things are: how the assaults of fortune allow nothing to be lasting; how others sooner, others later, with all things left behind, fall headlong—beyond expectation—into night, into darkness, into oblivion, into death. Furthermore, wisdom itself has also migrated frequently; its first home is said to have been Egypt. Thence it passed to the Persians and Chaldeans. Afterwards, it lodged with the Athenians; and from there, too, it finally flew away, and now, like a little bird cast out of its nest, it wanders and strays for a long time now in uncertain abodes. ^C However, it is possible that, either among us, having escaped the errors—if it seems good to you—it may establish a dwelling, or it may depart utterly into the heavens. But do not take offense at me, I pray, for exhorting you to such things. For I am constrained to say what has no resemblance to the truth, fearing the uncertain moments of the times: lest, as if erupting from within the shadows and from ambush, they snatch such a great good from us. For, if this must also be said, we are not so anxious about our own life as we are about your reputation for posterity. ^D Yet if, by simply wishing, so much could be accomplished as our ready will desires, we would want you to be immortal, so that we might be allowed to rejoice in you forever, as in an excellent treasure. Truly, it will now be yours to show whether we have knocked in vain.

^C By using these words with the great logothete, and by manifesting to him my own character as being pliable and obedient in everything, I accomplished that which I desired; and thus, next, I enjoyed his company to contentment, without any suspicion.

CAPUT VIII. Aula studiis bonarum artium floret sub Andronico seniore. Idcirco hujus familiaritas a Gregora expetitur. Ire usum cum doctrina conjungendo. Gregoras benigne ab imperatore exceptus. Orationem apud illum habet. Duas in eo virtutes, sapientiam et eloquentiam, laudat. Panegyricum voto concludit.

I. I now began to desire to attain the friendship of the emperor more perfectly. ^D For I had observed multiple times, and I had heard from all his intimates, those who had arrived at a perfect experience of him, that he made the imperial house not only a workshop of decency and of all virtue and discipline—having gathered vast experience in these matters through length of time and natural excellence—but also a most excellent gymnasium of logical education and, so to speak, a camp of eloquent tongues. For this reason, then, being a lover of such goods, I approached him. For the practice of learning in tranquility, such as books grant to those who pursue it—whether it be less or whether it be most—seems to me, in my estimation, like the structure of an organic body desiring a soul, which I say is attained through the experience of the senses; or rather, it may be compared to various kinds of food piled into the stomach, which requires heat for digestion. This heat, however, is none other than that which is supplied by the varying tempests of circumstances and the manifold experience of sensible and particular things. And so one may see how some, because they have been overly given to leisure and have lived a solitary life, unexercised by any external association, have enervated all the powers of their soul and have rendered their nature effeminate, so that they dare to neither say nor do anything in public. But since I, too, having crossed my twenty-seventh year, had approached the emperor, and had been received by him beyond all hope, I immediately delivered before him a speech in praise of his prudence and eloquence, as follows:

^B II. "If our age had seen the existence of men, most powerful emperor, who were capable of celebrating your majesty with worthy praises, I, for my part, would not have come forward to speak, nor would I have held anything more precious than silence, so that there might be room for those who were able in speech to equal your praises. But since the magnitude of your noble qualities condemns all abundance of oratory to poverty, and there is absolutely no one who has—I will not say attained, but even come near to—your ornaments in words, I judged that it should not be held against me if I myself, following in the footsteps of those who have spoken below your dignity, were to strive to fulfill a certain debt of mine. For just as it would be most inept were I alone, being unequal to such a task, to dare something, so it is consistent, together with the rest,

^A to do this very thing, in such a way that nothing be unseemly. For I would strongly contend, indeed, that one who wishes to recount your deeds as they deserve must first pray that his tongue might be enriched. Otherwise, I would not contend that it were easy for anyone. For you have surpassed others in the elegance of your tongue by a royal measure, and all good things reside in you—things of which not one nor any at all, whether among those of our own time or those who came before us, possesses an equal share, even if one wished to count them from the beginning. Arriving at this point in the discourse, I neither dare to recount all of your panegyrics, as they are for the most part, nor even a portion of them; for the causes are as brilliant and as brilliantly placed as they are. For the inability to speak and the payment of a debt—these two things, being in opposition to each other, split my mind between both, so that I, protecting myself from danger on either side, am compelled to both claim them ^B and yet claim neither, fitting each to the other. For when all those men were present whose venerable names have long been associated with wisdom, they would have been surpassed by you in the excellence of your virtues; and as for those of the present, the matter is no different. What then remains for me, if I set aside the greater part, but to speak a few small things, and to secure that which is safe for me? Lest I, like a novice in the Olympic games, through an untested danger, bring upon myself the shame of a contestant. And I am convinced that there is nothing in all the world that it is more incumbent upon me to do than to guard against the danger arising from this, and this applies much more to me than if an infant were to desire to eat solid bread before he had been weaned. For if that were to happen, there would certainly be cause for lamentation. But although the attempt is arduous, I nevertheless judge it fitting—no less than if I were entering a sanctuary adorned with images of every kind—that, having set out to approach the emperor’s praises, I should concede the rest to others, and make mention of only one or two. For it would be dangerous to touch upon more. For if someone could with difficulty accomplish two, what would happen to him who was occupied with more? Therefore, let others commemorate other things; but as for me, let there be celebrated the magnitude of your wisdom and the resonance of your tongue, both of which I have known by experience myself, and which others, with whom I associate, proclaim daily, with no one not admiring them; nor do I ever recall them without wondering and being in doubt as to which of them I should praise more, when in succession more things present themselves to be spoken of than had been said. I return, therefore, to myself, no differently than those who, in their desire to lean on smooth bodies, find themselves slipping. For even now, if it were lawful, I would not hesitate to call you the sun of the earth, O emperor. For just as all the treasures of light, issuing forth along with the orb of the sun, grant the use of light to all, ^C so in you the entire gathering of wisdom is carried—as if from heaven—to all lands, providing causes for admiring you; and as there is no one at all who has not looked upon the rays of the sun, except him whom the sun has blinded, ^D so there is no one, nor will there be, who has not heard of your wisdom, unless he be destitute of the sense of hearing. For this reason, if I should call you the sun of the earth, I think I would not be doing so ineptly; and if anyone were to say something greater, he would be saying it without any protest from me. For the same perpetual state of the celestial bodies diminishes our admiration not a little, whereas of all human things, in which some surpass others, since they are—

and at different times appear differently—sometimes surpassing one another, and then yours, being established as the best of all, would not this simply be considered an extreme of wonder? And rightly so. For it was surely necessary that by as much as you surpass others in dignity, by so much should you also surpass them in wisdom. And so it has come to pass. To a certain rhetorician, it was enough, by reciting the witticisms of Demonax, to reveal his entire wisdom, as if that were a thing of great value among men. Yet, he did not show whether he himself possessed the eloquence meant to express it; for I do not think he had any. For I do not believe it would have been unutterable by him, had he intended to praise a man who had attained to such great wisdom. But the labyrinths of your wisdom, even if one were to disclose them by putting your aphorisms on a tablet, would reveal at the same time the fluency of your tongue—not, indeed, unless he used another manner—than the overflows of the Nile, which the Egyptians measure by cubits, or surely by the various shoots of a vine. For you have the power to increase the fountains of the mind from within in terms of cubits, and like a vine springing from a fruitful root, it entwines many clusters, and heaps blossom upon blossom quite generously. For you have not been granted a tongue that makes the fountain of the mind sluggish, or brings forth fruits immature through ignorance, or confuses the arcana of a great genius; nor one untrained, or insufficiently initiated in the sacred mysteries of a preeminent mind: but one so instructed that, from full vials, as I might say, as often and whenever one wills, it is permitted to draw, yet in a certain manner and with exquisite judgment, by which the redundancy is ^B restrained, so that, as from an overflowing fountain, no more flows than is appropriate, and humble things are raised up when there is leisure to attend to such studies seriously: so that your words, when leisure for meditation is lacking, are not as useless as unworked stones which are joined to polished stones in the structure of temples. Furthermore, the discourse is seasoned with such sweetness that one might estimate that desire dwells in your tongue, which both exhilarates those present and follows the ears of those departing, resounding in them and adhering to their memory, just as the taste of tasted honey adheres to the tongue. However, ^C indeed, woods and meadows and deserts resound during the springtime with the most sweet voices of chirping birds, in certain places at certain times. But for your prudent eloquence, instead of spring, the perpetual circuit of the four seasons of the year exists: and instead of meadows and glades, it contains the entire earth—not as much as the Pillars of Hercules enclose, but as much as the orb of the lands embraces—portraying your virtues more clearly than any Attic robe. For I believe that neither in farthest Gaul, nor among any dwellers by the Ocean, is your fame unknown, nor even among the Indians themselves; but that even from there, that praise is attributed to you, because you surpass all mortals in prudence. Thus ^D your affairs, most excellent one, surpass all admiration.

^A And as if carried upon a ship of fame, it traverses every land, full of wonder. The proofs of my words are these; for there are no nations upon the earth from which some have not come, guided by the fame of your name; and all arrive with such exhilaration that they count their departure from your sight and company a grievous misfortune. For since many from all parts of the earth flow to you like a torrent of water, and stay around you for a time, just as the disciples of Pythagoras did around him, and receive your words with avid ears, as if they were divine responses, reverently and in silence: all will agree that these are signs that they ardently seek your company as something most admirable. But that you respond so aptly and prudently to such varied questions and propositions, which both differ among themselves and are foreign to our customs, and this concerning ^B the gravest and most important matters at the same time: I have no fear in saying that Nestor and Pericles are surpassed by you. For their orations were often fruitless, but yours are never without effect. And the pride of their native tongue, like a certain shoot of wickedness, deformed their speech, just as a worm spoils the elegance of an apple; but your lips, alien to all pride, adorn your tongue with solid and unsullied praise. ^C The Greeks, indeed, to amplify their own affairs, fabricated that the cithara of Orpheus had tamed certain men—stupid men, I believe—and that by his song even inanimate things were moved. But if it were also our pleasure to exchange the truth for myths and to exaggerate in such a way, no one, I think, would deny that it is difficult to devise any argument by which these present things of ours might be shown to be greater than they are in reality, since we see that most things have been rendered into myths by the poets; whether the minds of those times were duller, or whether the poets ^D invented them on purpose for the sake of greater fame. For you have demonstrated that those things which they twisted into miracles and myths were by no means greater than the human capacity for understanding, as you have accomplished them all. Indeed, when formerly I heard the Academy, or the Lyceum, or the Stoa mentioned, I used to imagine something great and most beautiful and excellent, on account of Plato, to be sure, and Socrates and Zeno and the others who flourished in discourse. But now I have cast aside all the glorious opinion of them, just as one wakes from dreams: and I do not judge their miracle to be any greater than what can be found to match it; nay, I think it is mediocre, and scarcely to be held as great, when I see you by such an interval having surpassed them, that I admire you as being above their dignity. Yet although it would be great if your affairs were similar to those things which are celebrated, it is nonetheless certain that you surpass them as much as Stentor surpassed other heralds in shouting. For behold, your palace—

which one might more appropriately call a sanctuary of universal learning—is made manifest by your words as being superior to any Academy, Lyceum, or Stoa. ^B For there is no one who has enjoyed your voice, or even just the sight of you, who has not derived therefrom the greatest benefit, not only for the cultivation of character and the increase of knowledge, but also for greater readiness in generating discourse and argumentation. These things, and others of this kind, are benefits that no one fails to receive from your mere presence; and those who have received them have all become truly excellent. Perhaps there are even some endowed with good natural talents, in whom, with your inspiration, a refined fruit of excellent education appears, just as it happens with swans, which sing brilliantly when the morning zephyr breathes upon them. And all of these people take far greater pride if anyone skillfully repeats what you have said than do the Homeridae if they should hear Homeric verses. The ^C remarkable sweetness of the voice of the Sirens was once greatly celebrated. But that sweetness could not be heard without great calamity and destruction, nor did any remain unscathed, unless they had stopped their ears with wax and deprived themselves of the sense of hearing. Yet when you are speaking, so far are people from wishing to stop their ears with wax that they consider it a death-blow that nature did not make them "all-eared" on every side, as the fables say some were full of eyes. For whom, among those who rely on the artifice and force of public speaking, have you not surpassed? Whom have you not conquered with the magnitude and gravity of your genius? Whom, indeed, have you not so bound to yourself that they wonder at you more than that Attic age wondered at Socrates? For they perceive that your address is seasoned ^D with the power of persuasion and the allurements of pleasure, just as fields are adorned by a variety of flowers. To such a degree do you make everyone lovers of your Calliope and kindle them in a marvelous way. Therefore, no one doubts that you are like Solomon; yet no one would contend that you are surpassed by him. For it cannot be said that there are many testimonies available for him, but few for you; or that there are just as many, but not of the same quality: rather, it is the opposite. For to those who admire him, no other testimony applies than that of the Queen of the South who traveled to Palestine. But those who make mention of your works seem to me able to bring forth as testimony not only the North and the South, but all the other ends of the earth to remove the suspicion of falsehood. Moreover, since by the authority of Anaxagoras a wise mind exists that governs all things and is the cause of all things, so too do you administer affairs and govern the empire with excellent wisdom, turning all things for the better through the magnitude of your genius, in a way that no one has ever surpassed; and he would seem to have spoken rightly who maintained that most things are to be weighed by counsel, prudence, and strength of soul, not by a mere multitude of things. For just as a musician, who is well-versed in the harmony of sounds, most elegantly executes a song by tightening the strings that need tightening, and conversely by loosening those that need it, where it is expedient, and by leaving moderate intervals—just so do you, who regulate all things with the rhythm of wisdom, as it were, produce the most perfect harmony, by which things are most beautifully

^A consistent in every way, so that all men clearly believe that it is God who, through you, establishes things here. Thus, all men reckon you to be a certain divine being and more than human. For with the purity of your mind you reach through the dispositions and opinions of all your subjects, and most excellently discern towards what virtues or vices they lean; and from there you arrange yourself, as has been said, toward all men as is necessary; and you govern, according to Pindar, the varied opinion of each person, and you arrange things wherever they might be best. It would be known to everyone, I suppose, that Themistocles ^B would never have reached such fame, had Xerxes not marched against the Greeks. And that Miltiades, I think, would not have attained such a name, had the Persian satraps and the arms of Asia not first crossed over into Attica and Marathon; but their virtue would have lain hidden in obscurity, like treasures buried in the earth. But while your divine genius can be discerned by other infinite examples, it is truly evident from the fact that when times were adverse, they nonetheless did not overturn your affairs; and this was the most evident sign of your preeminent wisdom. For when you received an empire full of perturbation, not unlike a cloud driven by the North Wind, and almost all nations had conspired against our destruction with such vehemence ^C as is said to be the force in the cataracts of the Nile, you alone received those impressions with a constant mind, like an immovable rock spurning violent waves, and, having calmed the tempests of all dangers, you led us into a tranquil harbor. Thus you indeed deliberate and arrange all things, so that no one of all men can think of them before they have been perfected: and this you do so easily that it is more difficult for others to recount them than it is for you to administer them. Hence, if anyone should wish to enumerate your most prudent words and deeds, he would do nothing other than one who set out to count the hours of each day, of which not one slips by bereft of your most beautiful ^D speeches or actions. For even the sound of your voice alone softens and tames even the most savage man: and this is done more easily than the lyre of David used to put to flight the demon of Saul. Now, therefore, by your kindness we are free from all fear. For when we see you seated at the helm, so to speak, of our affairs, and diligently keeping watch, we are prepared (based on those things which have preceded) for the dangers recently awaited; and before the danger of them might come upon us, we avert them, foreseeing that they would all be warded off by your wisdom. And perhaps some may have despaired for a while, until they thought of your supreme prudence: then truly they are refreshed, as if by the breath of Favonius from the heat. But why, imprudent as I am, do I gradually immerse myself into the vortex of your excellence? For that is the very thing which I resisted at the beginning of my speech, being clearly unable to proclaim all your praises.

them to feel equal [to the task]. For I thought that if I had said a few things that were sufficient to discharge my debt, it would be permitted for me to stop at the rest; but I did not notice that in doing so, my personal opinion was very much mistaken. For when I had set out to speak about a most important matter, namely your wisdom, while omitting the works that are performed through it and those that follow it, like skiffs following ^A larger ships: I noticed that I was acting just as if one were to grasp the top link of a chain with his hand and think he could carry it away in such a manner that the remaining rings would not move. This would be a matter of the utmost thoughtlessness, just as my own action was; yet it deserves pardon, unless even this is denied to one who, being ignorant of the sea, might hover on the shores but does not wish to cast himself into the deep main. To me, at least, it certainly does not seem contrary to reason to have sailed past the shores, as it were, of your virtues and to have put into the harbor of my desire. May God, who brought you forth for this empire and for these times as the most fit and opportune, likewise preserve your imperial majesty and that of yours for all eternity, so that we too may flourish in perpetual happiness.

Chapter IX. The benevolence of Andronicus the Elder toward Gregoras; whence arose the envy and indignation of certain people. The dignity of Chartophylax offered to him. Why he refused it. The oration he delivered on that matter before the emperor, and the violence offered to his inheritance.

I. Then, therefore, it came to pass that [I] delivered this oration. ^C But as time went on, I experienced a greater affection and benevolence from him day by day; to such a degree that he even thought of conferring upon me the first dignities of the Church, and immediately compelled me to accept the dignity of the chartophylax as a sort of pledge, so that he might have a plausible reason to stop the mouths of the detractors, who even —

^A in a whisper, because of such affection toward me, found fault with the fact that I was neither advanced in age, nor white-haired, nor commended by any priesthood, as most are accustomed to be, in order to enjoy that honor. But now, as if the matter were beyond doubt, he was even preparing for me garments consistent with that dignity. But I, considering my own youth ^B and the time ill-suited to such affairs, spoke to him in this manner:

II. As concerns me and my age, which is immature for the priesthood, I do not believe there is need for any great excuse. For my years are unequal to such matters, and a frenzied and furious love of leisure and literature still burns within me; nor does it affirm that it will release me before it has enjoyed them to satiety. For then, indeed, my mind would be free and fit for the ministry of God. But now, this bold handling of mysteries is a burden too heavy for me to bear easily; if no one else perceives this, I certainly do perceive it, as nothing else. For of how much experience such a matter stands in need, of that much, I may say, I am conscious of being ignorant at the present time. And for a man who is so unversed in divine and intangible things to thrust himself upon them would be nothing other than for someone who does not know how to swim to leap into the sea; nor do I consider it the act of a sane man, and I would be very surprised if any one who was steadied in his mind could endure even to think of such a thing. For what thunderbolts, what ^C whirlpools of the sea would that audacity not deserve? Furthermore, as concerns your majesty’s clemency toward me, your solicitude, and your utmost propensity to do good—if there is anything at all that I admire above all else: and in whatever direction I turn, I have no way of knowing, Emperor, by what counsel led or by what reasoning you show yourself to be such toward me; unless it is apparent that you, skillfully contending with the Lord of all, do not await any causes for beneficence, but look only to how you might be able to do good. And this, indeed, is most worthy of all empires and—most proper to them. For to do good because of a preceding cause would not be so much the act of a benefactor as of him who had earned it; and now that prolonged custom of yours has been changed into an immutable nature, ^D and just as all other things—whether they perform their natural functions spontaneously, as water moistens, as fire burns, and in the same way the others retain their natures throughout all time, and are never driven from them by any force—so you too, born for beneficence, do not cease to do good by word or deed. Wherefore, since I desire above all to declare my gratitude in words, and yet cannot do so in a manner befitting your dignity, I am less angry with the time and my speech than I am with myself, since I consider both to be equally deserving of reproach. For since my speech exceeds the subject matter and...

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^A appears to me more suited to virtues, it seemed to me that it would neither serve any change of time nor any corruption, but would adequately and always manifest the nature of things as unchanged and incorruptible. But it has escaped me that it has already changed, since it has chanced upon you, the great treasury of goods. For it has fared so weakly that none of those who have used it have praised your virtues as they deserve, though they have long tried and are still trying. Therefore, I myself have not come with a song of praise, as if I might be able to reach the worth of the subject. And yet, I would have preferred this more than if all riches had been born in me. For in this way, I would have provided the greatest nobility to my words, just as do those who touch the holy mysteries with their own hands; but since many of the impossibilities ^B of the proverb, which lie in books (90), are one of many, this also risks being and being called one of them. Having reached this point in my speech, I was reminded of the Attic fable in which Momus is introduced as being vexed with Zeus and mocking him because, along with such and so great beauty of the universe, he had not also produced a praiser worthy of the universe. In the same way, I too am now able to mock and be vexed with Time, because since it has produced a man filled with such great goods—such a one as there was none before you—if it had also given birth to those who could celebrate you according to your dignity, it would have acted entirely rightly; whereas now it displays only half of the most beautiful things. For once it brought forth a crop of learned men destitute of great deeds; but now, when it has brought forth things worthy of wonder, it has ^C forgotten to bring forth those who might worthily celebrate them, having neglected the order and following entirely its own nature. For speech is equally imperfect when the things for the sake of which it is employed are missing, and things worthy of wonder are imperfect when those who might admire them or celebrate them to posterity are not found. Therefore, one ought to thank Time only for those whose fame for wisdom or other virtues we only hear of—Time, I say, because it is accustomed to amplify things along with their fame. For when a man dies, the present evidences by which the truth could be tested vanish, and that excessive familiarity which is accustomed to accompany them turns to satiety. For as a rule, satiety accompanies things that are present and diminishes the pleasure, because they are fed ^D into the recesses of the mind through the assistance of several senses, and one is free to use or abuse them at will. Conversely, things of the past bring no satiety, because they are offered rarely and almost exclusively to the single sense of hearing. For those who are sated with honey and meat and the other delights of a rich table sometimes desire cheese and onions, not because these are better, but because they appear so on account of their rarer use. But if these things are so, and it is confessed that there is always satiety in present goods; whereas yours, how [index: entries preserved]

long they may have been seen and heard by us, never produce satiety in those of us who have experienced them, but rather kindle greater loves, just as rivers of water [do] for those burning with intense thirst? ^A Since you have indeed surpassed the proverbial sayings of Scripture, 92 having the cycles of events winding upon you, whereby it is possible to weave together even mythical enchantments that luxuriate against the truth (if the matter arising from the events is not perhaps sufficient for words), and you do these things, like sailors in difficulty, who, when the cargo does not reach the needs [of the ship], fill up the voids of the hull with harbor sand. But they are set in a theater before the eyes of all, and are proclaimed by all tongues, and are in need of no encomia, but require only a tongue nurtured in the Academy and the Stoa, and smelling of Demosthenic lamps. For the fountains of your goods have long since deserted the tongues of all the learned men of this age. For which reasons, we ourselves would not act foolishly if we were to hold our tongue, being content with the sight of you. ^B For this reason, we have been endowed with more senses for the correction of our mind, so that nothing of what is in the world might escape us, but that what is lacking in one may be compensated by another. And those goods indeed, which are received by doubtful ears, rightly demand an interpreting discourse; but those things which run into the eyes, and, as if by a mute voice sent forth, proclaim their own clarity more eloquently than any oratory, those by no means demand an interpreting discourse. If anyone should command such things to be explained to him, he would be doing just as if someone were to attempt to point out the meridian sun hanging over his head with a small coal; especially since, when things are of unusual magnitude and surpass the powers of oratory, it is more fitting to admire them in silence, lest perhaps we do not adorn them, but deform them. ^C Behold in the heavens how admirable a thing the sun is, for it so travels that it draws an ineffable splendor with it! But no one to this very day has dared to celebrate its beauty and magnitude and delightfulness according to the laws of panegyrics. For since there is nothing in the world with which it can be compared, it will be far from anyone saying anything clearly about it. Much less, or rather in no way at all, will anyone narrate your deeds, you who have embraced whatever excels in human affairs in either beauty or magnitude. But if the laws of panegyrics were sought from you, they would be not only more varied and copious and artful, but also more illustrious and sincere, nor would they seem to recoil from the belief in truth. Now, however, like a languid rose, having lost its charm where it should not have, they may perhaps seem of use to others; but to you they are so useless that they are like linen garments on brazen birds. ^D Wherefore, to me, hesitating and not knowing to what worthy model to refer my speech, it seems that I must use that which

^A is far inferior. For human affairs are such that at one time they abound in plenty, at another they labor under scarcity, and from time to time they behave in one way and then another. Hence the remedy for them is not simple, but must be applied in a variety of ways, whence that proverb arises: if this fails, the matter must be approached by another path. For there is a certain kinship and similarity between all things, because they all consist of the same elements. Behold, we use torches and pyres when we are deprived of the splendor of the sun, and at night we contrive, as it were, another sun. And even when we desire to depict the whole world, and the circles and motions of the heaven and its configurations with the earth, we adumbrate it with certain small globes. But if we transfer our speech to the arts of painters, there indeed we shall find a wealth of images and examples and, in truth, a scene replete with theatrical art, which represents, in some fashion or other, certain tokens of the truth by means of various colors. ^B For when, imitating the architect of this universe, they create other things—since they can impart neither spirit to the shadows they make, nor the vivifying sun to seeds—their colors are, in reality, mere games and trifles. And from there, they produce from the earth a germinating crop and sprouting greenery; there, however, they show it already mature, which does not wish to be contained any longer by stalk, or ears, or awns, but almost begs for the sickle; and they do these things neither at the expected time, nor by the rising or setting of the stars, but often in a single day manifest both the germinating crop and the mature grain. In the same way we, who are unable to attain the truth, do what is permitted and make use of examples—not altogether worthy, it is true, but drawn from a sincere heart. For now it was necessary that stars, illustrious in magnitude and splendor, coming together in one place of the heaven, should describe by certain signs and characters those things which are singular and most beautiful in you, so that, just as the heavens declare the glory of God, thus they might also explain your memory in all their revolutions and present you to posterity as the most illustrious archetype of imperial majesty. Now all men, gathered into one place on earth, ought to have made this one prayer to Him who gave you this power, that He might grant you an immortal life, so that you might be the master of those who might wish to reign everywhere on earth, as a trainer of every virtue and a universal Hellanodice. Now every human tongue ought to have assumed my spirit, as the profferer of what was being said, so that thence a certain common festival and solemnity and a consensus of the whole world concerning you and yours might arise. But since we have already confessed that the magnitude of your praises is greater than what can be grasped by speech, and even with many tongues

cannot be truly contained, if one were to seek their full worth, it remains for us to bring to an end here the eagerness of our mind, even if it be against our will. For it would be clear madness to undertake, of one's own volition, tasks that are utterly impossible.

Γ. ^C When I had thus refused the honors offered to me, the emperor, while he did not wish to use force against me, yet judged that it was not fitting [to leave the matter there]; nevertheless, I kept silent, having reserved the matter for another time.

CAPUT X.

^A I. Under this time, while passing through Constantinople, we saw men skilled in the art of wonderful works, no fewer than twenty in number; such as no man of advanced age had ever heard of or seen. They, having first set out from Egypt, had completed, as it were, a circuit; and turning their path towards the east and the north, they had traversed Chaldea, Arabia, Persia, Media, and the land of the Assyrians; then, having bent their journey toward the west, they had traveled through Iberia bordering on the Caucasus, Colchis, Armenia, and the other nations that dwell between there and Byzantium, and had displayed their art in all those regions and cities. The things performed by them were indeed monstrous and truly marvelous, yet they had nothing in common with diabolical sorcery; but they were the result of a certain dexterity of talent, practiced for a long time in such things. But that we may briefly recount a few of them, here is what kind of spectacles they exhibited.

^C II. They would take two or three masts of merchant ships, and fixing them upright on the ground, they would support them on this side and that with ropes, so that they would not tilt to either side. Then they would stretch another rope from the top of one mast to the top of another; and besides this, they would wind a rope from the ground to the top [of the mast], making a sort of spiral staircase, by which they would ascend; and having climbed through these, one of them would stand on the bare top of the mast, now standing on one foot, now stretching both feet towards the sky, while applying his head downward toward the top of the mast. Afterwards, performing a sudden leap, and firmly grasping the rope with one hand, he would hang from it; and thus he would frequently rotate and revolve himself, and upwards towards

heaven and downwards towards the earth he would turn his feet in a short moment, and continuously, in the manner of a wheel. Then, instead of his hand, clutching the rope with the hollow of his knee, he would hang suspended, and in the same way he would again make similar rotations and revolutions. Then, standing upright in the middle of the rope and taking a bow and arrows, he would aim at a target placed at a distance; and he would shoot so very accurately that someone standing on the ground could not do better. Then, closing his eyes and taking a boy upon his shoulders, he would walk along the rope like some aerial traveler from one mast to the other. And this, indeed, was what this man did.

III. Others, however, sitting on horseback, would spur the horse on to that course; and while it was running, he would stand now upright in the saddle, now in front on the horse’s mane, now behind on the horse’s haunches, always skillfully intertwining his feet, and fluttering like a bird. Now, descending from the running horse and leaping up by catching its tail, he was seen sitting on the saddle again; and from there, slipping down from the other side of the saddle and revolving himself around the horse’s belly, he would easily climb up on the other side and ride upon it again. While he was occupied with these things, he did not even neglect the task of urging the horse on to the course with a whip. And this did another one of those monstrous men.

IV. Another, indeed, with a cubit-long club placed on his head, and a vessel full of liquid placed on its top, would walk around in such a way that he kept the vessel unmoved for a long time. Another, he too, would set up a long spear on his head, not shorter than three fathoms, with a rope wrapped around it from bottom to top like steps, up which a boy would climb with his hands and feet, alternating them a little until he reached the top of the spear, and then descend from there again. But he who carried the spear on his head would walk about continuously. Another would throw a glass sphere high into the air and catch it, as it fell back, now with the tip of his fingernail, now with the back of his elbow, now one way and now another. I omit the various types of dances and the other exercises, whatever they exhibited for us to see. Nor did individuals know only individual skills, but all of them knew everything; and they knew not only these things which I have set forth, but six hundred other things.

V. But since these pursuits are dangerous, they themselves were not exempt from dangers; but often some, having been precipitated, perished. For, whereas more than forty had departed from their homeland, fewer than twenty reached Byzantium. We ourselves also saw one who had fallen from a mast and died. Therefore, by gathering a large sum of money from the spectators, they would set out for any part of the earth, partly for the sake of making a profit, and partly for the sake of showing off their art. But having departed from Byzantium through Thrace and Macedonia, they reached as far as Cadiz, making almost the whole world a theater for their art.

^A VI. In these times, the Turks, having noticed the afflicted and most shameful state of the Roman Empire, began to build fleets and venture upon the sea with impunity and in great numbers. They began to intercept merchant ships going up and down, to raid Macedonia and Thrace, to overrun the islands both large and small, and they did not cease to heap the greatest disasters upon the greatest—until, with the state treasury exhausted, it became necessary to sell off the ornaments of the ancient emperors under the pressure of want.

CAPUT XI.

^B I. Now the Great Duke Syrgiannes, seeing that matters were not proceeding according to his wishes (for he had thought that he would be a partner in the empire and would lead and steer affairs as he himself desired, and that nothing, whether small or great, would be done without his knowledge; but then, beyond all expectation, he saw the emperor’s will devoted entirely to the Great Domestic Kantakouzenos), burned with pain and envy. Dejected, he pondered within himself how he might take revenge upon the emperor, who now remembered nothing of what he had promised in word, but was doing exactly the opposite; seeing that he was treated like one of the many, and was shared in no consultation. He decided, therefore, to betake himself to the elder emperor and, in a short time, to overturn all the counsels and affairs of the younger. For he did not refer the causes of events to God, but believed that wherever he himself inclined, there the force of events must necessarily follow. Having therefore sent one of his intimates secretly to the elder emperor, he indicated his own state of mind and the current position of his affairs; and, so that he might be held in greater trust, he added further that he could not even bear to behold the countenance of the youth, by whom the chastity of his own wife was being assailed.

^B II. This change of heart on the part of Syrgiannes seemed so pleasant to the elder emperor as are the breezes of the West wind to those burning under the heat of the summer sun, or a draught of cool water to those parched with thirst. For neither was he himself able to bear any longer seeing himself so neglected and mocked, and at the same time seeing those around him, both high and low, despoiled by the younger of the holdings of their own lands and wandering about almost starved to death. On account of these things, having sent pledges back and forth with a most holy oath, Syrgiannes was persuaded, once his own affairs were quickly settled, to come to Byzantium; and this was done without delay, while the rest were ignorant. When fame had spread this abroad, the minds of most were exhilarated in a major way, hoping that the state of affairs would immediately return to the old man, as if a sign had been turned around, and that the ancient posses-

possessions regarding Thrace and Macedonia would be returned to those to whom they had previously belonged. But since this was not pleasing in the sight of God, it soon became apparent that this had been a vain endeavor, as shall be set forth in the progress of our discourse.

^A III. Indeed, the younger emperor, who had long known that the Byzantines were most devoted to him, inasmuch as he was being summoned by them in secret, seized the opportunity of the disrupted peace and approached the city. Having brought the entire Thracian army with him, he pitched camp near the monastery of Cosmidion; from there, he could view the palace, being distant about thirty stadia. He himself remained there for two days and two nights, while a very cold north wind was blowing, at the very height of winter. The guards, however, distributed in the roads round about, kept watch, lest Syrgiannes deceive them by some stratagem, for he was at that time staying near Perinthus, trying to keep the surrounding forts in allegiance through better promises. On the third night, Syrgiannes selected three hundred elite armed men, and having ridden forth in the evening, he arrived at Byzantium before the sun had risen, capturing all those imperial pickets and stationary soldiers ^B as if they had been overcome by sleep. And had the aged emperor not prohibited it, he would have made an assault upon them, while they were still unaware of the exploit. But when day broke and they heard of the unexpected incursion of Syrgiannes, and since neither did the Byzantines assist the efforts of the younger Andronicus in any way underhandedly, nor did the emperor himself seem likely to receive those who were repentant of the deed (meaning precisely those who were with the younger one), they took to flight. ^C

IV. Afterwards, the Despot Constantine was immediately sent by sea to Thessalonica, that he might undertake the administration and governance of Macedonian affairs, and that he might send Xene, the mother of the younger emperor, to Byzantium; and furthermore, that he might levy soldiers there, so that while he himself invaded from that side with the Macedonian forces, and Syrgiannes, for his part, came up from this side with a Turkish army and all the Roman hoplites from Bithynia, the younger emperor might be surrounded in the middle with his followers and be captured. But as the Despot was already on the point of setting sail from the Byzantine harbor, he suddenly saw all those things which had been gathered to adorn his table—golden and silver vessels—slip from the hands of the servant and sink to the bottom of the sea. ^D Which event brought him great sorrow, not so much because of—

the loss of the vessels as because of that initial sign he took to be of ill omen—a meeting that boded ill for the undertaking from the start, and from which he saw little hope for his efforts. ^A Having gone to Thessalonica, he immediately seized Xene, who was there, along with all her attendants, and having embarked them upon a trireme with great lack of decorum, he sent them away to Byzantium, where she arrived against her will and was kept under guard in the eastern part of the palace. This was the first and most serious task the Despot Constantine undertook upon his arrival in Thessalonica. The second was that he gathered all the army from Macedonia and marched against the younger emperor, his nephew. ^B Having arrived at Christoupolis, he sent a request for passage from the guards who were there, using threats that if they did not yield willingly, he would force his way through against their will. When they refused, he broke through a section of the long wall that blocked the way and led his entire army across without anyone to hinder him.

^C The emperor, for his part, having turned his mind to these matters and seeing himself driven into a tight corner, placed the protostrator Synadenos in command of the Thracian forces and sent him to guard the borders of his empire that faced toward Byzantium, and to act as a counter to the incursions of Syrgiannes. He himself, meanwhile, resolved to fight his uncle, the Despot, using certain wondrous machinations and deceits. First, he ordered a great many edicts to be written in haste, in which were contained promises, confirmed by oath, of money, estates, and appropriate honors, to be distributed to those who would capture the Despot, his uncle. ^D These he gave to certain coarse, wayfaring men, commanding them to cast and scatter them on purpose both near the Despot’s camp and everywhere along the roads. Next, he ordered them to proclaim the death of the emperor, his grandfather, alleging that the Byzantines had risen in sedition and killed him. Those who were skilled in fabricating such tales spread this everywhere, and many even added oaths that they had been present and had seen with their own eyes his bitter end. And to confirm the matter, they displayed white hairs from white sheep, as if they had been torn from the head and beard of the aged emperor and scattered by the hands of the mob. When these reports were heard in the villages and cities, and especially in the Despot’s army, they distracted the minds of men with various thoughts. ^D When subsequently those scattered royal edicts were found and handed over to the Despot, they struck him with a fear and terror that was not at all ignoble, so that, persuaded by his intimates who said that treachery from the army was imminent and he would not escape it, he fled and made for Thessalonica. And these things were done as the winter was coming to an end.

VI.

^A he was ordered to send back to Byzantium as quickly as possible, in chains, twenty-five agitators who were inciting the people of Thessalonica to insurrection. But before these things could be carried out, those men, having heard of it, secretly agitated the masses, and having mounted the towers, rang the sacred bells, as a signal for the start of the sedition. Straightway the mob gathered and ran to the dwelling of the Despot. They did not find him, however, for he, having sensed what was coming, had made his escape to the citadel; but those who fell into their hands they partially seized and killed, while others they stripped of their possessions and cast into ^B prison, and having torn down the houses, they plundered all the wealth stored within. They themselves then ran straightway and set fire to the gates of the citadel. Seeing this, the Despot, despairing of the situation, mounted a horse and rode away to the monastery of Chortaitis. There, having been caught by his pursuers, he donned the monastic habit, albeit unwillingly, in order to avoid the clear danger of death that the sudden misfortune threatened. From there, he was led in chains to his uncle, the Emperor, who showed himself to be far more humane towards him than all his own courtiers and guards. For they, as if greedy for his flesh and blood, had rushed upon him as if to tear him apart immediately, but the Emperor shielded him with his own person and preserved him from every wound.

VII. On the following day, persuaded by those around him, he sent him to Didymoteichon to be shut up in a most ^C savage and cruel prison. For the promontory on which the little town of Didymoteichon is situated is a single rock, in which, because it was suited for stone-cutting, the inhabitants dug out subterranean cells and pits to serve as cisterns for rainwater. Having completely drained one of these pits of its water, they lowered the Despot and one young boy from among his attendants down into it by a ladder. They allowed no one else to look in, but having placed a lid over the top, they kept them there, suffering most miserably from the narrowness of the place. And to pass over the other evils—I speak of the darkness and the difficulty of breathing—how am I to describe that ^D greater and horrific evil? For since the place was extremely narrow, it could not be otherwise than that the pot containing the excrement and the bread with which they assuaged their hunger lay in close proximity. In what state of mind is it probable they were, when they had to eat amidst such foul stench? But this pot, when it was pulled up by the guards in the evening with a rope, was often spilled over the head of the Despot, whether the guards were intentionally mocking him, or the pot tipped over against their will. But the Emperor, having been beseeched by the prayers of many religious men, eventually had him transferred to a lighter prison.

VIII. When these things had thus come to pass, the Emperor was in doubt within himself as to what should be done, and what remedy he should seek for these evils. For whatever he began to undertake,

they all appeared to him to be turning and relapsing into themselves in an unexpected manner. ^A Therefore, he decided that it was necessary to open the psalter 6 to resolve the problem of his own doubts; and upon opening it, he immediately encountered the first verse, which says: “While the Heavenly One separates the kings, they shall be made white as snow in Selmon.” [*] Having understood from this, therefore, that all things that are accomplished in the present course of affairs are ordained by God, even though to men the methods of His secret Providence remain unknown, he once again called his grandson to reconciliation and treaties similar to the previous ones, being compelled by necessity to oppose the counsels of Syrgiannes. For he himself had for a long time desired such a situation, and he came immediately, delaying nothing. For we have said even above, that while he indeed wished to have the autonomy of the imperial power, he cast off the outward form and the anxieties thereof from himself with his whole strength; and had he not been constantly troubled by those around him and goaded toward striving for the whole empire, he would have fully acquiesced in the peace already established. ^B However, since he had been summoned at that present time and had come first to Rhegium, and there had met with his mother and the Empress, who had already been released from prison and sent there for the sake of the future pacification, he decided there with his father and through his mother all that needed to be done.

IX. Within a few days, he too went out and met with his grandfather the Emperor outside the walls of the city. While the grandfather and Emperor did not descend from his horse, the grandson leapt from his horse while still at a distance, one stade away; and although the grandfather greatly resisted and forbade it, he still approached on foot and kissed the hand and foot of the one sitting on the horse. Then, having re-mounted his horse, he embraced him, and having been kissed, he kissed him fully. ^C And immediately, having spoken a few things briefly and extemporaneously, they departed from one another. The one entered into Constantinople; the young man, having departed, made camp near the church of the all-holy Mother of God of the Spring. There he spent many days, and he would enter into Constantinople during the day and leave again. For the Empress and his mother were then residing near the church of the all-holy Mother of God, the one partly on account of some infirmity, and the other also on account of the company of her dearest son. The daughter of the Emperor, Simonis the Kralaina, was also there with the Empress, having just arrived from the Triballi after her husband had died; she was the one who, whispering this way and that, made known to her father the Emperor more clearly those things that were being said. After a short time, she returned to Orestiada and Didymoteichon 7.

Chapter XII.

^A At that time a certain monk from Mount Athos, over seventy years of age, who possessed no priestly dignity, and was so ignorant that he could not even perfectly connect the first and rudimentary elements of letters, came to the city. Because of his excessive simplicity of character, the emperor placed him upon the patriarchal throne, which was vacant at that time; although many crimes had been freely objected against him and testified to by many, on account of which he had long ago often been excluded from every degree of the sacred orders. Wherefore, in divine justice, because human greed was despised, God suffered those who had contended so zealously and unjustly for him to be cast down from their office by that most simple of men, as the course of the history itself will declare.

^B II. Moreover, this patriarch, as soon as he was installed on the patriarchal throne, trusting in the emperor's singular benevolence, brought it about that Philanthropenus the pincerna was restored to his former place of grace, whom we showed to have lost his eyes out of envy thirty-eight years before. Indeed, he immediately excelled so much in the emperor’s affairs, especially in such turmoil of events, that every most prudent man seemed to see in him the Scipios and the Theban Epaminondas. And furthermore, they wondered—since human affairs have nothing firm or proper to themselves, but fortune continually exerts its force in their mutation and destruction, and, acting out a kind of tragedy, plays with life through various vicissitudes—how his prudence had remained intact and unharmed and firmer than fortune had proven itself to be, and at length had recalled him, the evil spirit of envy having been driven away, from the precipice of condemnation. ^C III. The time when his virtue shone forth, tested as if by a Lydian stone, is a testimony to my speech. For when the neighboring and suburban Turks had recently surrounded Philadelphia with a siege and were continually attacking it with strong forces, they themselves on the outside, but within, a dire famine; the natives who remained in that city were in danger of being betrayed to the Turks along with the city itself and their altars and hearths: and this within a few days,

^A had not Alexios Philanthropenos arrived in time to deliver them from the abyss of such dangers. For the emperor, being reduced to extremities and having no plan of action—for he lacked both the necessary equipment of arms and an army sufficient to defend a city situated so many stades from the sea and surrounded by so many nations—sent this man alone, carrying nothing with him, neither army, nor supply of arms, nor abundance of money, but only his natural prudence and experience. And indeed, even before he had reached the city of Philadelphia, while he was still in the middle of his journey, the satraps and commanders of the besieging forces, having heard the report, immediately threw down their arms and retreated from the siege, fearing the virtue of the man. And with hands outstretched and peaceful hearts, they went to meet him, received him, and mindful of the benefits they had formerly received from him, they thanked him, promising they would do whatever he requested. For some among them had once had their lives preserved by his efforts and had escaped a certain and ready death; others had been educated under his tutelage and had been trained for arms and warfare. And what need is there of many words? Suddenly such happiness and abundance came to Philadelphia that they could purchase a very large medimnos of grain for a drachma.

IV. Syrgiannes, however, was not at all pleased by the concord of the emperors, and walked about with a sick soul and a sad countenance, ^B especially because, in peaceful circumstances, no use for him seemed to exist in the state. Therefore, whoever was offended in any way by the public state of affairs, whether sitting, standing, or walking along the road, he would find and approach them eagerly; and he would rail against the emperors, on the grounds that, though he had been treated with the greatest injustices by them, he had served as the greatest utility in the most adverse times, having assisted now this one, now that one. But having caught sight of Andronikos Asan walking about full of grief—for he had ruled and governed the Roman Peloponnesians while the emperors were at odds with one another; but then, having been ignominiously cast out by the younger emperor and having come to the elder, he had received no reward of such a kind as would alleviate his pain, even though he had been worthy of great honors, namely the sebastokratoric and even higher ones, both on account of his military experience, in which he surpassed others at that time, and at the same time his illustrious lineage—for these reasons, therefore, Syrgiannes approached him and became his friend, putting forward the similarity of their grief as a bond. Syrgiannes, then, as if to a like-minded soul, unfolded everything to him from then on with an open tongue, such as is natural for those who are grieving. But Asan, interacting with the man with singular prudence, used words not unlike his, and indeed he himself railed against the emperors; but he kept all the things that were said by Syrgiannes ^C in his innermost mind. For he had already loathed his ambition; then ^D

^A he also felt no less hostility toward him, as he was an enemy and related by marriage to Cantacuzenus, the great domestic, who was most powerful in the eyes of the young emperor, and who would constantly console Asan with good hopes by letters written from there. But when the whole drama had been arranged, Asan approached the uncle, the emperor, in secret and said, “Unless you immediately clap Syrgiannes in chains, as he is aiming for supreme power, you will shortly be slain by him.” Immediately, therefore, Syrgiannes was thrown into chains; the populace destroyed and pillaged his house with all his possessions; the very site of his buildings was transformed into sheep pastures. And these things took place in this manner.

CHAPTER XIII

Disputation concerning the Pascha as it first arose in the palace. Gregoras greedily embraces it, with the emperor favoring, while adversaries protest in vain. He sets forth his opinion concerning the establishing of the Paschal day. The emperor approves the counsel. He decides to approach the matter.

1. Nor must these things seem to be passed over by me in silence, which at this time were discussed concerning the Pascha. ^B For as I was entering the palace according to custom, I happened upon such a conversation. And indeed, as to other matters, although they themselves are distinguished and worthy of the ears of learned men, yet because they are many and not altogether necessary to be known by busy men, let them be passed over. But let those things which are more worthy of being known and more agreeable be set forth. The emperor made mention of astronomy and the celestial spheres and of the stars, as well the wandering ^C as the fixed, and such things, while providing me with a pretext for speaking. For you know the emperor’s kindness toward us. You know, moreover, the versatility and multifaceted nature of his wisdom, and how it is, so to speak, labyrinthine; and although he directs all the affairs of the empire, as no one else is better, nevertheless there is no sort of knowledge in which he is not experienced. And so, even then, when many and other senators and learned men were present, but none were naturally gifted toward astronomy—for at that moment there was absent that greatest leader and teacher of every science, [he] who accurately investigates the heavens and as much as is [required] of earthly and subterranean and peripheral things ^D —then, therefore, he entrusted the discourse on astronomy to me alone. And I, taking it up, began to speak at length in praise of him. For he is divine, and otherwise I am always inclined to praise. For this is to me the… [index: entries preserved]

^A intellectual eye, so to speak, that has purified my mind, and has brought all other disciplines to me as if with perfect color. For, truly, without this, all other human arts and studies are like rough and shadowed images. Moreover, among other things, the question of Easter also arose, since I myself had mentioned it, as it pertains to that discipline as well. Otherwise, indeed, I had long desired to refer the matter to the emperor, whom diligent inquiry had taught me was a hidden thing, and known only to those who had tasted of ^B astronomy. Therefore, I then brought forth what I was laboring with, as I said, when the opportunity arose; yet not without great difficulty. For there were those who, not easily conceiving in their minds the end of such a discussion, caused me much trouble. And were it not for the emperor (for he alone understood what I was saying, and, having seized this opportunity, he himself also began to open and publicly display the treasures of his own excellent knowledge)—were it not, I say, that the emperor, with remarkable benevolence, had opened a path for my speech, perhaps, condemned unjustly, I would not have departed from there honorably or well. When, therefore, as I said, the emperor had granted us full authority—to me to speak, and to those present to hear—I first set down, as if they were principles and foundations, those things which most pertained to the matter, and then I began to argue from them.

^C II. And I said that, first, it is necessary to investigate the vernal equinox with accuracy; for this, as shall be said later, is the head and cause of the whole question; then, the observation of the full moon, which exists after the equinox. Moreover, we say that it is a full moon when the hemisphere of the moon turned toward us is entirely luminous: this is what happens a little more than on the fourteenth day from when the moon and the sun have met in the same part of the zodiac, with one and the same perpendicular line touching both. But since our Easter is accommodated to the legal one, and ^D indeed to the full moon which exists after the equinox, when these have been explained, the reason for our Easter will be clear to everyone. But the equinox, properly so called, occurs on only two natural days of the year: once at the beginning of autumn, and again in the spring as it immediately commences. And as for the autumnal equinox, there is no need for us to labor over it at present; but as for the vernal equinox,

to be done. An exact equinox thus occurs in the spring, when ^A the sun reaches the first degree of Aries, in which the equinoctial circle is also described by astronomers. It does not, however, occur similarly in every year, but in the years of Nabonassar near the end of the evening of the twenty-fourth day of March; in the years of Philip Arrhidaeus near the noon of the twenty-fourth day of the same month; on those days when Christ suffered death for us, on the twenty-third day, long before sunrise, or rather around that midnight; but in our own time, on the seventeenth day. I do not scrupulously examine these parts of a day or hour, lest I waste time on a matter not necessary, or rather, in regard to the present undertaking, superfluous. Wherefore the difference in the years elapsed since that time can be calculated from this source; and it is easy to compute after how many years the time of the equinox ^B retreats by the space of one day; and after how many years, by two; and so on. This does not happen by reason of the solar motion, which is uniform and never deviates, but because of the enumeration of the days of the year, in which we err by adding an entire quarter of a day to the three hundred and sixty-five days, contrary to what was proper. For as the great Ptolemy is the authority, it is not a whole quarter that should be added, but a three-hundredth part of a day should be deducted; howbeit, as I have discovered by diligent inquiry, it is neither more nor precisely a three-hundredth part. There is no place here to explain the certainty of my calculation; let those who follow as astronomers see to this. But let it be as he says. For that ratio will not hinder our point in not very ^C many years. Therefore, this must be noted: that Ptolemy, that greatest of men, estimated that an entire natural day is formed over the course of three hundred years. Furthermore, that minute part of a day is indeed quite evident over so many years. But in three, four, five, and ten, or even thrice as many, that slight addition is not felt. This excess, having been subtracted by those before us, skilled in celestial and stellar matters, enabled them to find the day of the equinox precisely; and from that, they also established the time of Easter by a true and certain correction: and that correction held sway until nearly the year six thousand three hundred from Adam. But from that time ^D down to our own age, the matter was neglected and I know not how it remained uncorrected: and those who in our own time ought to begin the observation of Easter in the Church just before the twentieth of March, they begin it from the twenty-second, not correctly indeed. For since the equinox is from the entry of the sun into Aries, and the full moon from the diametrical distance of the sun, and the legal Easter from the full moon itself

^A it is therefore clear that when the equinox has shifted, the full moon has also shifted; and consequently, the Jewish Easter has also changed, and our own must necessarily shift along with it. For our Easter relates to that [Jewish] one, and is appointed to follow it as if upon a foundation or base. It would be easy for us, if we wished, to make the correction by subtracting a little more than two days. For thus it is that the method of astronomy claims it pertains to the many intervening years. If this is not done, the error is not small. For it happens at times—as has already occurred often—that we suppose the full moon to be on the Sunday and the first day of the coming week; but we suppose this falsely, as the full moon occurred two days earlier, that is, on the sixth day of the preceding week; and from this, we are led astray and wait for a different Sunday, thus observing the week of the Resurrection as the week of Christ’s Passion. The errors that follow from this are hidden from no one.

That these things were not set down by those who established them simply or at random ^B or in vain, but that each has a reasonable account, I shall now declare. For the full moon following the equinox is sought by the children of the Hebrews, since that was the time ^C when they sacrificed the lamb and fled from Egypt. For the equinox at that time occurred on the twenty-ninth of March; and the full moon after the equinox at that time occurred on the day immediately following, which according to them was the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, which they count as the first month of the year in the place of our March.

For the Persians, Alexandrians, Egyptians, and—besides others—the children of the Jews do not begin their months and years from one and the same day as we do, but each does so differently. For the Alexandrians begin their year three days before the first of our September; the Egyptians [begin it] now on this day, now on another, and at times differently. The Persians, Medes, and Indians agree neither with these nor among themselves. The Jews, indeed, now begin their Nissan from one day of our March, and at other times from another. For they are accustomed to count the cycle of months from conjunction to conjunction of the two luminaries, and they constitute the month that contains the vernal equinox as the beginning of the rest of the months, and call it Nissan, the beginning of which itself is uncertain. The Lord, indeed, once said to Moses: ^D “This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. On the tenth day of this month let every man of the children of Israel take a lamb for his house. And it shall be kept for you until the fourteenth day of this month. And [the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel] shall kill it in the evening. And you shall keep this day as a perpetual ordinance for your generations.” 1

1 Exod. XII, 2, 3.

^A For this reason, and in memory of that day, they celebrate the feast of Passover every year. Nor is the cause only this; it is also so that it might be a type or figure of the passage from this world to the future one, just as was the passage from Egypt. Since, therefore, the future world will have no evening, they say that the day of that solemnity ought likewise to have no evening; a thing which happens when the hemisphere of the moon turned toward us is full of light, or entirely luminous. For immediately upon the setting of the sun there follows the rising of the moon, and it allows the sky to be dark for no hour. ^B It is probable, therefore, that at that time also the moon’s hemisphere, which looks toward us, was full of light at the sixth hour of that sixth day (on which, assuredly, Christ suffered), when the moon was one hundred and eighty degrees distant from the sun. On this account, the solar eclipse which happened then appeared monstrous to astrologers and beyond reason. For it had no cause in nature. Since the two luminaries occupy the same part of the zodiac, natural eclipses of the sun occur when the moon passes under the sun. But for it to have passed under the sun when he was set one hundred and eighty degrees away, by a retrograde motion, this indeed occurred above all natural reason. Wherefore astronomers marveled at that miracle before all others, and said that it was God who was suffering. ^C For to the unlearned it did not appear as a prodigy at all, but as something customary in previous years. Therefore on that full moon the Jews sacrificed the Passover; on that day was the equinox; on that day our Savior also suffered death for us. Moreover, it is known to all that the day on which our Lord rose from the dead was the third day after that legal feast, and that it was the twenty-fifth day of the month of March. Since these two things—namely, the day of the month and the mystery of the resurrection—were conjoined, the assembly of the pious observed them as divided in twofold, threefold, and manifold ways. For some dedicated the day of the month perpetually to our festival by established custom; others first investigated the day of the Passover from the observation of the Law; then, on the third day after, they celebrated our mystery. ^D Whence a hostile festival, if I may so call it, had arisen, and no small sedition and disturbance had invaded the Church of Christ. For if the third day from the legal Passover always fell on the twenty-fifth of March, it would be better and the festival would harmonize. But because these rarely happen to coincide, and hardly within many years, while it happens perpetually and almost annually that the one is separated from the other—some have anticipated the full moon which occurs after the equinox, others have followed it; others, spurning the equinoxes, the lambs, the sacrifices, and all the legitimate rites, have broken their fast having counted only the forty days, wherever and whenever it might have fallen. Hence much confusion and perturbation and a certain division of tongues, so to speak, arose from a single matter. For it is certainly probable that others refrained from food and

notions of the Savior’s passion with sorrow; others, however, ^A indulged their own caprice and exulted in his triumph. And it was clear that neither side had acted correctly, dividing the one into many things, tearing apart the concord of the Church, and dissolving the beautiful bond of unity. When the defenders of religion and holy teachers observed it so torn and so distracted, they forbade it with canonical sanctions as if by placing certain dikes, so that no faithful person might celebrate the feast of the Resurrection before the vernal equinox, but rather on the Lord’s Day that comes after the Jewish Passover, or after the next full moon from the equinox. For these reasons, every faithful person must diligently ^B seek that full moon which is closest to the equinox, unless he wishes to violate the rites of the Church. For if this is ignored, it follows that the day which ought to be a feast for us is also unknown; and we, as it were, suffer shipwreck in an unknown sea, much like a wandering ship which, intercepted by night and storms and stripped of its anchors, is carried far away from its proper mooring.

Chapter XIV

^C III. The emperor received these things explained and demonstrated in this manner with pleasure; and perhaps he would have even set about the correction immediately, had he not feared that the unlearned might believe a greater confusion was brought in by that correction, and that the Church might be divided. And so he passed over the matter in silence and left it completely untouched. For he asserted that it was not an easy thing to traverse all the inhabitants of every region and island of the world all at once, and finally to teach them this correction. On the other hand, for there to be dissensions and for some to celebrate the feast on one day and others on another, that too did not seem very good to him. After these disadvantages were weighed against one another, it seemed better that no changes be made, but that all things should remain as they had come down to us. To me, however, the direct opposite seemed more feasible. For all the citizens of the same empire, if not in one, then certainly by the second or third year, could easily be brought to hold that correction as settled; ^D a thing which, as we have said, has often been done before our time in the past. But for those reasons which...

we have already stated, the emperor's will temporarily prevailed more than our own. But of these things, enough. ^A

CHAPTER XIV.

I. After these things, the emperor came to Byzantium and was crowned on the second day of February in the eighth indiction. It happened, however, that as both emperors were going to the great temple of the Holy Wisdom for the sake of the coronation, the senior emperor fell from his horse, which had slipped into a certain muddy pool formed on the road by rainwater; and this event, in the judgment of the more prudent, did not appear to be a good omen for him who had fallen. ^B

II. In the following year, the daughter of the Panhypersebastus departed, destined to be wedded to the King of Serbia. A little later, her mother also betook herself to the same place for the sake of visiting her. Soon after, the Panhypersebastus, not wishing to be any longer under the emperor, but to claim for himself the empire which, of course, belonged to him by hereditary right, followed them. Therefore, having abandoned the care and administration of Thessalonica, he himself went off to the King, his son-in-law, by whom he might be helped in carrying out his intended designs. Having been received by him, he marched out together with him and ravaged the entire region as far as the river Strymon and Serres. ^C Wherefore the senior emperor, for fear of greater evils, sent an embassy to him, and at the same time saw to it that the insignia of the dignity of Caesar were conferred upon him. These he received in the small town of Scupi and wore, promising to remain quiet thereafter and to seek nothing further. But already intending to return to Thessalonica, he was seized by a severe illness and within a few days received the end of his life there. The Caesarissa, his wife, desiring to be with her daughter and son-in-law, and also feeling reverence for the Romans on account of the things her husband had done, did not wish to depart from there. For which reason her father, being compelled, was the author of an embassy to be sent to the King by the emperor, both for the purpose of settling other matters of the Roman empire and for compelling the Caesarissa to return home. ^D

^A III. And I myself also, therefore, was then sent as an envoy to the King, along with others and with her brother, for the reasons we have already mentioned. We experienced no few hardships on the road, as the rumor of an impending Scythian incursion was spreading and throwing Thrace into turmoil, driving the people from the countryside into the fortresses and leaving the houses deserted, in which it would have been appropriate for us to put up in the evening and refresh our bodies, wearied from the journey. And I pass over what happened to us as far as the Strymon. But there, something happened to us more worthy than all else of being heard, such as brings together in the human soul both pain and laughter. For having used such folly—the kind that might well make even Democritus laugh—we fell into such danger as might well exhaust even the tears of Heraclitus. For everyone knows that the river Strymon is impassable for foot soldiers and horsemen, because it is the greatest of all the rivers that cut through Macedonia and Thrace and discharge into the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea. For it is born from the ^B greatest mountains that hang above it, which begin from the Euxine Sea and extend in continuous ridges as far as the Ionian Sea, bounding Thrace and Macedonia to the south and towards the midday wind, and the lands of the Mysians and the river Ister to the north; for the Ister itself, too, being the greatest of all those that flow through Scythia, breaks into the Euxine Sea with its five mouths.

Therefore, with a single, very small boat, we spent a great part of the day crossing this Strymon, which springs from such sources and is so deep-whirling—now one by one, and sometimes three at a time with our pack animals. For the number of our pack animals and ourselves exceeded one hundred and forty. And the sun had already passed our meridian and was inclining towards the west and the evening horizon. And though we ought to have made a stop at a station and put up somewhere there, we erred in our judgment and continued our journey, hoping we would certainly find suitable lodgings soon, before we had finished a journey of fifteen stadia. But our hope was not realized. ^C For the continuous incursions of the brigands had very quickly rendered that place, which had been vast and deserted just a little while before, entirely desolate. And indeed, we were wandering like some vagabonds, having entrusted our affairs to God and to uncertain hopes.

^D IV. Then night arrived. For the sun had set and all the paths were shrouded in shadow. And indeed, the moon was absent. For it had just passed its second perigee of its eccentric circle, and being established in a square aspect to the sun for the second time,

it was not providing much luster for us at the beginning of the night. Wherefore we were traveling through the thickest darkness, just as those who are said to descend into the underworld through Taenarum or to enter the subterranean oracular cave of Trophonius. For the shadow of the surrounding mountains was added to that moonless night. ^A For their towering peaks were taking the view of the sky away from us to such a degree that we could not even clearly discern that unhappy path by the observation of the stars, as they say. But for my part, [A; 44] my dear heart was broken, because it occurred to me to travel a long and difficult road. For we encountered a forest very thick and uneven, full of lairs and broken on every side by deep chasms; and in it we neglected our hoods and cloaks, which were foully torn by the bites of thorns, to such an extent that when dense and successive clusters of branches were attacking our faces in a hostile manner, we were fearful even for our eyes; and dropping the reins with which we were guiding the horses, we used the covering of our hands to protect our faces. But among the ^B servants who were following behind, some, fearing the present dangers but little, were shouting and celebrating with tragic songs the praises of ancient heroes, whose fame alone we have heard, but their deeds we have not seen. But the abrupt [steep places] and hollows, cast among the neighboring mountains on all sides, were intercepting the clamor that was sent forth, and as if they were living bodies, they were keeping it whole and intact and articulated with its own joints, and they were echoing back the accents and voices in turn; and just as is accustomed to happen in choruses, they themselves were also being heard in turn, and were singing in accordance with the measured rhythm. I, however, in the midst of these things, was urging my mind to recreate and lift itself up, and not to lie oppressed by the terrors ^C that were then encroaching upon us. But it would not obey; but it seemed to want to reproach the road undertaken at an inappropriate time, and turning to itself again and again, it was silently ruminating on ambushes and robbers, and it was imagining for itself men of blood, who were about to attack and kill us from the dark.

V. But while we were in these circumstances, suddenly certain men rise up from those rocks and caverns, clothed in black garments made of wool and fleeces, which they had stripped from whatever animals there were — indeed, it had to be so — and they were purely diabolical phantasms. But they were not equipped with heavy armor; rather, they were entirely light and unencumbered. And most of them had in their hands weapons apt for close-quarters fighting, namely spears and axes. Some also carried ^D missile weapons. And at first, it could not be otherwise than that they struck terror into us, in such a dead of night and in unknown places: especially since they were not using our language. For most of the inhabitants of that place are colonists of the Mysians, a neighboring nation, and they use a mode of life mixed with our own people. Then we recovered our courage and returned to ourselves. For they greeted us affably and cheerfully in their own tongue; and in no way…

did they show anything hostile or piratical, whether because they were few and small in number and did not judge themselves strong enough to engage as equals against us, who were many, or because God prevented it—which I am more inclined to believe, and am very far from the other opinion. For as they lived there and were accustomed to laying ambushes on those precipices, and were defended by the density of the woods as if by an impregnable rampart, they could, if they had wished, have waged such a war against us in the dark of night, we being strangers, as if they were sighted men fighting against the blind. Nevertheless, since they received a similar greeting from us (for there were some among us who were not entirely ignorant of their speech), they explained in brief the reason for their dwelling there: that they were guards of the roads, to drive away any who might wish to steal into the neighboring fields and plunder them secretly.

The third part of the night had already passed, as we conjectured from certain stars that were over our heads. Finally, the barking of dogs reached us from afar, which all but invited us and showed that the village was populous enough to offer hospitality to men worn out by much labor, if not perfectly comfortably, then at least not entirely uncomfortably. Having arrived there in haste, we scattered and entered various lodgings, like those who have escaped from a storm and shipwreck into any available port. And if it is said that any bread is sweet to the hungry, to us, too, at that time, wallowing in the ashes seemed sweet and generous. ^C

VI. We spent the whole of the following day on the road and arrived at a small town which stands almost above the clouds (called Strumitza by the inhabitants), situated on a mountain so steep and high that the men sitting on the ramparts look like small birds to those looking up from the valley below. There we celebrated the holy Easter, albeit with difficulty and contrary to our ancient custom, yet we did celebrate it. For there all learning, rhythm, and sacred hymnody are regarded as trifles; since the townspeople use a nearly barbarous language, and are of such manners as primarily to favor the plow and pickaxe. For they did not produce that sound which, even if semi-barbarous, would still be modulated and considered something in its own right, such as the Mixolydian, or, if one may say so, the Mixophrygian; but they sounded altogether beastly and mountain-like; in the manner in which the nomads themselves might sing, leading their flocks to the ridges and woods in the early spring, when the bowls overflow with milk. Since we stayed there for the entire day, partly out of reverence for the solemnity, and partly for the sake of resting and refreshing our spirits, we stood by the walls as if among the clouds, looking down into the valley below, watching both other things which are customary to do during festivals, and the dances of men, adolescents, and

those who have not yet reached the age of puberty. And this present festival provided us with a relaxation and delight far more pleasant than was ever agreeable to the Athenians and Spartans, whenever it occurred to them to celebrate, before their city, the Diasia—which they call Jovialia—or what are called the Hyacinthia. ^A For it was entirely a contributing factor to our greater enjoyment, that we were so removed from our own people, dwelling in foreign mountains, and like those who have landed on an island from a vast sea; in which case all things appear much more pleasant than they really are.

VII. On the third day from there, we turned aside to the small town of Skopje, having now entered the borders of the Triballians, ^B where we saw the river Axios flowing by; which, after the Strymon, seemed to us to be the greatest, bursting forth from the same mountains as that one. It is not so great at its very source, but as it flows downwards, being increased by many torrents, its name is changed to the Bardarios, and in some places it becomes navigable. There we met the mother-in-law of the king, whom all the Triballians obey with the greatest reverence—the noble Caesarissa—who was testifying to her grief of soul through her mourning garb. For she was distraught on account of a recent and bitter misfortune. When, at our appearance, this grief immediately surged up in her with great vehemence, she dissolved entirely into tears and lamentations, repeatedly calling upon her husband, the Caesar—kinsman to many emperors, beautiful, golden, sweet, and overflowing with every good. Her breast was a sea of calamities, her eyes fountains of tears; and she was entirely submerged in the waves of sorrow, in a land desolate and foreign, and, if I may so speak, by the rivers of Babylon, forsaken by friends, parents, kinsmen, countrymen, and by all things that console a mind oppressed by heavy sadness. “Why,” she kept saying, “is light given to those in bitterness, and life to souls in pain?” ^C Saying these things and others of this kind, she tore at her cheeks and drew forth streams of blood with her nails, all but moving inanimate things to grief and tears. We, however, by consoling and admonishing, endeavored to calm her pain and to extinguish the flame like water: here her most excellent brother, there the colleagues of the embassy, now I, now individuals, now all of us together; until at last we brought it about that she caught her breath—not, indeed, entirely and as we most wished, but nevertheless in some way. For she was otherwise a woman of the greatest prudence of all those whom our age has seen, and she possessed a most prompt genius for ^D understanding and conceiving in her mind, with all speed, whatever anyone might rightly suggest at the time. Then, therefore, whatever we also had toward the consolation of

those bringing it, ^A she checked her lamentation and weeping; her soul, however, through the excess of the calamity, would admit no consolation. But placing her head upon her hand, she recalled all her senses to the inner chambers of her mind; again and again shaping in her heart the image of her husband and ruminating on her present fortunes, she was entirely occupied with these thoughts, turning over both other matters and how, so to speak, she had once been exalted above the cedars of Lebanon and had bloomed more than the lilies of the field, and had fared better in life than all those who had been reared and born together with her, only to fall quickly and witness her own flower, piteously, being plucked and utterly withering away. For these reasons, therefore, she groaned from the depths, just as if sending up hot and fiery smoke from a great furnace of inward bitterness. Finally, ^B our own assembly having dispersed amidst these things, each went off to his own lodging.

VIII. In the meantime, ten days passed, and since the prince of the Triballi was tarrying nearby, having completed the rest of the embassy and having given his reply to one of the envoys and ordered him to leave, he came together with his wife to console his mother-in-law, intending to satisfy the remaining points of the embassy. This was to escort the Caesarissa honorably and with due reverence, partly as his mother-in-law, partly as the daughter-in-law of a great emperor, and finally as one afflicted by a notable calamity. All these things he accomplished in a short time; as he himself thought, quite well, but in reality, far beneath what was fitting. But, as the proverb says, apes behave like apes, and ants like ants, in managing their own affairs. But if they cannot act in the manner of eagles and lions, it is not in their power, having been allotted an abject nature from the beginning and having grown up destitute of the intelligence that might well and properly govern them. Wherefore, he was a wise man, whoever first conceived in his mind and expressed with his tongue—whether it was Thales the Milesian, or Plato the son of Ariston, or rather both, with one receiving it from the other—that he was blessed who was born not a Barbarian, but a Greek. For, ^C indeed, thoughts similar to theirs came also to my mind, instructed by experience itself. But not to make a long story of it, we must return to where we were. For, having started on our way home, we had progressed a day's journey when we parted. For necessity urged the Caesarissa to go to Thessalonica along with the others, that she might execute the final commands of her husband. For he, in the final breaths of his life, had commanded that his corpse be carried to that city. But as for me, when he had commended whatever he pleased, he permitted me to go to Byzantium as soon as possible, ^D with some Triballian attached to us, who would [provide safety?] through the rough...

path and caused us a grievous return.

CAPUT XV.

I. At this time, when the wife of the younger emperor, Irene of Germany, had departed this life without children, he sent for another from Lombardy, whom he renamed Anna, and by her he begot children, as we shall say in the progress of our account. ^B

II. But when the emperor was at one time engaged in hunting in the Chersonese, it happened that seventy Turks, having suffered shipwreck, were cast onto the shore in that region. They, by fighting bravely, resisted the imperial guards for a long time. And so, before they were all completely cut down and killed there, they not only wounded many Romans with volleys of arrows, but they also wounded the foot of the emperor, the pain of which wound he suffered from for a long time. At the same time, because the eastern regions were being neglected, most of the cities and provinces of Bithynia were subdued by the Turks. Prusa was also captured, the city having been taken by famine. ^C

III. In this time there also came to our orthodox Church the teacher of the Manichaeans, a man of intelligence, bringing with him those of that sect who excelled in understanding. They, having with full intent of heart abjured the rites of their fellow-tribesmen, received holy baptism. I would indeed have wished to relate the doctrines of their sect in this place, so as to provide the readers with matter for laughter. But since those very things have already been set forth by others before us and refuted by arguments published against them, and we are hastening to complete our history, let us omit these things and return to where we were. ^D

IV. Worthy of note are the predictions of impending evils. For prodigies appeared immediately at the beginning of the year, which sufficiently portended the calamity that would happen in the same year. For at the beginning of the year 6836, on the first day of September, the moon was completely eclipsed. The beginning of this eclipse occurred while the night was not yet fully past;

The remainder of the eclipse, up to the final restoration of the light, occurred after the sun had risen, while the moon itself was hidden beneath the earth. This portent signified secret plots, not entirely unforeseen, which were being contrived for the great disturbance of the public state. Further, around the fourth hour of the same day, when the holy icons ^A had been brought, according to ancient custom, by the emperor, the patriarch, and the bishops to the Porphyretic Column on which the holy cross is established, and while the sacred hymns were being sung, a pig from somewhere suddenly leaped out into the midst of the choir of chanters, befouled with much mire, and having moved about in a confused and heedless manner ^B hither and thither, it finally made its escape with difficulty. To the more prudent, this seemed to signify a certain partial confusion of the Church of God.

Six months later, the moon again suffered an eclipse. The shadow in which it was hidden was of a cloudy and black color; and, beginning from its southern parts, it covered it up to ten digits. This signified the calamity that was about to begin before long from the southern parts of the Roman Empire. Shortly after, another sign appeared in the heaven. For while the sun was at the very meridian, a cloud appeared towards the western parts of the heavens in the form of a cross, occupying a large portion of the celestial body, as if blended of white and black color. But the matters must be traced back from a higher point.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK NINE

CHAPTER ONE

The faction of the Younger determined to remove the Elder from the midst. Michael the Bulgar, having obtained the principate through the widow of Venceslas, is summoned by legates of the Younger Andronicus, the brother of his wife. He comes to Didymotichum. A secret alliance is initiated against the Elder; on what conditions. The nephew plots against the grandfather. He seizes money by force from the tax collectors. He subjects the cities of Thrace to himself. He sets out for Byzantium with many in his company; under what pretext. The grandfather, having been informed of his designs by a defector, denies him access to the city and charges him with many crimes. He commands that troops be gathered and cities be strengthened with garrisons by means of letters written to the Cral and to the Despot Demetrius. The paper letters are intercepted; the linen ones are delivered as intended. The minds of all are more inclined toward the Younger. The old man is betrayed by his own son, Theodore the Marquis. His sloth, ambition, mode of life, and religion. Despot Demetrius plunders the goods of the factious. The Younger wins many to himself with magnificent promises.

I. The faction of the Younger Andronicus, with the life

^A of the senior emperor extending into such a long space of time, and being unable to bear the partition of the principate due to weakness of spirit, but wishing to have all power transferred to themselves as soon as possible, determined by certain deceits and machinations to take away either the habit or the insignia of the empire, or, together with the habit, his life itself. And so, they began thereafter to do everything without any delay, which might lead to the accomplishment of that which they meditated, and which would be most effective.

II. And first they sent legates to Michael, who had received the principate of the Bulgarians situated within the Ister after the death of Sventislav, regarding the entering into a firm and unbreakable treaty. For when the Younger Andronicus saw the Kral of Serbia to be most attached to the aged emperor on account of the affinity which the Kral had contracted with him by taking the daughter of the Caesar as his wife, and feared lest he might stand in the way of his new attempts, he joined himself to Michael; since his own sister had recently been wedded to him—I speak of her who had previously been the wife of Sventislav. For when this man had taken possession of the Bulgarian kingdom, he straightway sought more noble nuptials: and having dismissed his former spouse, by whom he had children (for she was the sister of the Kral who then reigned in Serbia), he found the emperor’s sister a widow in the city of Ternovo and had joined her to himself in the bond of matrimony in place of the other. ^B And at this time, while the Augusta, the emperor's mother, was residing at Didymoteichon, legates were sent to Michael to summon him with his wife to the emperor and the Augusta, her mother-in-law, for many reasons. For the Augusta had for many years been most desirous to see her daughter (for it was more than three and twenty years since it had been permitted them to enjoy their mutual sight); the emperor also desired to see both his sister, whom he had never seen before, and her husband, as well because he was a kinsman, and that he might make him a participant in his secrets.

III. When these things were so, Michael set out for Didymoteichon with his wife, and for many days he was treated most splendidly and magnificently by the emperor and the Augusta, the emperor's mother, both publicly and privately. At length, it was agreed between them that Michael should bring aid to the emperor against his grandfather, and the emperor to Michael against the Kral of Serbia; and that if he should occupy the whole Roman empire having cast down the emperor his grandfather, then he would give him a great sum of money and would assign to him lands and cities of the Roman dominion, partly as a dowry for his kinsman, and partly as ^C

^A a partner in his labors. After these things were thus settled, Michael returned home with his wife, having been treated most affectionately by his mother-in-law, and having received many gifts and being encouraged with promises of greater ones for the future.

IV. Relying on this state of affairs, the younger emperor, seeing that the cities and the Byzantines themselves favored him—being secretly urged by them to hasten the expedition, for they were already weary of his grandfather’s long life and inactivity—began to meditate and deliberate by what deceits and machinations he might defeat his grandfather and rule alone over the Romans. Since he needed money for such endeavors, he violently seized the money from the tax collectors who had been sent into Thrace by the elder emperor. For he claimed that he needed money for necessary expenses, and that he too was an emperor, and that it was necessary and most equitable that public money should be spent on necessary uses. Then, pretending that he was about to send envoys to the ruler of Egypt concerning certain matters and needs, he set out for the imperial city; for a great merchant ship was to sail from there to Alexandria. He did not, however, set out simply, but having first gathered a large force, and having traveled around all the Thracian cities, he won them over, fortified them, banished ^B all suspicious persons from them, and brought into them men who were devoted to him and conspiring with him.

V. But while he was busy with these things, one of his intimates escaped in secret, came to the emperor his grandfather, and revealed one by one all the deceits of those plans, relating not only the other things, but also that his grandson had resolved either to take his very life if he resisted, or, if the business progressed easily and without difficulty, to strip him of the imperial power and insignia, and, having dressed him in a monastic cowl, to commit him to custody. "Therefore," he said, "you must take care that he does not enter the city secretly by the usual road; and you must not be slothful in meeting him. For matters have been brought into the greatest danger." Hearing these things, and weighing them against what he had heard from others—which still rang like a sound ^C in his ears—and having found that there was nothing false in them, the emperor rose up himself and cried out to the Lord: "Judge, O Lord, those who wrong me; and let those who rise up against me be put to shame. And preserve for me the imperial power which You granted me, for which he, whom I have begotten and raised up, comes to snatch from my hands." Then he proceeded to action.

VI. And first, to his grandson, while yet in the middle of his journey, ^D

he sent those who were to forbid him entry into Byzantium. "For it would be a novel thing indeed," he said, "if one who so openly breaks his oaths, and both performs and plots that by which the state might perish, should demand that his intents remain hidden." It was mandated to those who had been sent to him, to proceed to an examination of his state of mind, and to recount to him all the pretexts he had provided for the peace being broken anew, and for the agreements being dissolved, and for the scandals to find standing room. And they were, to sum them up, as follows: First, that he had intercepted all the money destined for the imperial quaestors, at a time when there had never been a greater shortage of it, and when the times were such that they demanded the greatest expenses on account of the division of the empire. Second, that he ejected the officials and procurators placed over the cities by his grandfather, after having ^B subjected them to ignominy, and substituted in their place whomever he pleased. Third, that he had forced Cralaina, his aunt—who was wearing the monastic habit—into an incestuous union, as she was indignant and reluctant. There were other causes also, on account of which his entry into the city was forbidden: those were very numerous, but not so strong.

VII. Then, by clandestine letters sent to the Crales of Serbia, he requested aid from him. He wrote also to the despot Demetrius, his son, who was then in charge of Thessalonica and the surrounding regions; and he commanded him to take with him his two nephews, who were currently in charge of the administration of Belgrade and the rest of Macedonia, the protovestiarios Andronikos and Michael Asan, and at the same time to lead the Macedonian ^C legions with him; and first to fortify the Macedonian cities with suitable garrisons, and remove all those who were in any way suspected; then, with the auxiliary forces that the Crales of Serbia would send, to march at the first opportunity against the younger emperor Andronikos. Now, the letters which we have said were written to the Crales of Serbia, to the despot, and to all the others who were administering the emperor's business in the provinces, were in part intercepted by the soldiers of the younger emperor who were guarding the roads—namely, those which were written on paper; but in part, they escaped by deceiving them and arrived where they were being sent—namely, those which had been cleverly sewn into the garments of the couriers, being written on thin, white linen. For even in the other narrow passes of the roads, as well as in those that were near ^D

^A Christopolis, they had placed guards who searched everyone passing by, to see if they were carrying any letters from Byzantium; and it was very difficult for anyone to slip past them unnoticed.

VIII. And while nothing of what was being secretly plotted and done in Byzantium escaped them, they themselves were entirely unaware of everything those others were doing and plotting outside. For all men were inclining toward them of their own accord—some openly, with both their will and their bodies; but those who could not do so with their bodies were at least joined to them in their will and with their whole heart. This was true not only of almost all the Byzantine populace, but also of the senatorial and courtly nobles, and of those who were most closely related by blood to the aged Emperor; and these men, by diligently investigating everything that occurred there, would report each detail to them. Among these was the Emperor’s son, Theodore the Marquis. Many years before, he had been sent by his mother to her own homeland, as I have said, for the purpose of taking a wife. In the course of time, through his own rashness and sloth, ^B he became burdened with debt, and after his mother’s death, he returned to the Emperor his father, leaving his wife and children behind there, and from then on, he resided in Byzantium. There, he was relieved by his father the Emperor’s care and benevolence from every side, and being sustained by expenses provided from the imperial treasury, he even had all his debts paid off with the Emperor’s money. Yet, in his madness, he chose to forget all this, and, completely neglecting the duty owed to his father, he chose to imitate Judas and become a traitor to his father the Emperor. For he himself dreamed of the Roman Empire, excluding, of course, the one to whom the succession belonged. And because his father would not grant his demands for many reasons—namely, that he was in mind, religion, habits, clean-shaven beard, and every other manner of life an out-and-out Latin—he, in order to grieve him, defected to the younger Emperor. Thus, the closer he was related to him by blood, the more bitter an enemy he proved to be to his father the Emperor.

^C IX. In the following month of November, Demetrius the Despot, having received the imperial letters at Thessaloniki, immediately summoned the Protovestiarios and Asanes. And when they had arrived, they immediately began to gather armies, and at the same time, the wealth and property of those who had joined themselves to the younger Emperor—whatever of it happened to be in the cities and regions of Macedonia—began to be distributed to the soldiers. Their granaries and wine cellars were broken open; to anyone who wished to plunder there, everything lay openly available. Moreover, those who were unwilling to agree were ^D stripped of their goods and punished with exile. Such things were being done there; and the auxiliary forces of the Kral were also just about to arrive to join them.

Variorum notæ. (63) The city which had been chosen for flight by Andronicus the younger. Cantacuzen. lib. 1, cap. 4, 7, 8. DUCANG. (64) He had come shortly before his father to Constantinople: as narrated by Cantacuzen. lib. 1, cap. 51. DUCANG. (65) See book VIII, cap. 12. DUCANG. (66) An. Chr. 1327 at the end. BAVIS.

^A X. But the younger Andronicus did not sit quietly; instead, he sent out edicts secretly to all lands and islands, to Byzantium, Thessalonica, Macedonia, and the islands, promising the commons immunity and freedom from taxes, and to the soldiers, revenue and increased pay. As soon as these were heard, they stirred everyone up, and easily corrupting their minds, impelled them both in will, and tongue, and hand, and with every effort to adhere to him, and to summon him with clandestine letters and hasten his approach.

CHAPTER II

^B I. When matters stood thus, the emperor arrived near Rhegion, and from there sent legates to the emperor his grandfather, requesting that one of two things be granted to him: either that he himself be allowed to enter the city under a truce, or that some from Byzantium come to him—the leaders of the senate and the princes of the Church, and if there are any from the people distinguished for their learning—so that they might be able to report what he intended to say to the emperor and the whole of Byzantium. But the elder emperor, judging such proposals to be full of guile, remained silent for a long time, deliberating with himself which he should choose. For the grandson's entry into the city would be ruinous and not without bloodshed; for he thought the Byzantines were ready, as soon as they saw him within the gates, to submit to him and to strip him of his life by a bitter death. On the other hand, a journey of the Byzantines to him would not be without sedition. For this was the grandson's intention: that he might speak with popular-pleasing words in public, and privately win over all the Byzantine citizens to himself with gifts and great promises, and by their agency [accomplish his end]. Since both courses were grave, he chose the lighter one, and sent two from the senate, two from the prelates, two chosen from the Church, and four from the leading citizens to him.

^C II. He, however, having summoned all those who had arrived there, and having convened a concourse, recited a certain artful speech before them. "That you, my subjects," he said, "are dearer to me than even myself, and that I did not set out against the will of the emperor my grandfather from any ambition or desire for supreme power, is hidden from no one. For you see..."

^D [alt-version omitted]

^A how I do not spare my own life, neither pampering my body and living in luxury, nor dragging about bodyguards or executioners, as is customary—not only for kings because of the odious nature of authority, but even for those whom the fortune of parents and kin has forced to be banished and led hither and thither, and to keep the expectation of sudden death perpetually before their eyes. If, then, anyone should step forward and tell me for what reason I bear these wounds which I have received on my body, having engaged the enemies of the Romans—as many as sail across from Asia into Thrace, and as many barbarians who dwell along the Ister and then rush forth from there to ravage that unhappy land of Thrace in like manner? For I, that I may speak the whole truth before you, seeing the emperor in his old age slipping into such great listlessness and stupor, and neither being aroused from his lethargy, nor grieving when Christians are being slaughtered day and night like sacrificial animals by the barbarians, and are being led away captive and into slavery, and are being driven naked out of every land and city—to say nothing of the greater calamities of Asia and those cities there which were captured by the barbarians through the negligence and sloth of the emperor—I, having seen these things, bore it with great difficulty, and not being able to endure the pain fixed in my heart, I departed for two reasons: either ^B that I might by some death simultaneously bring my life and my unbearable sorrow to an end, or that I might help the Roman state as much as I was able. For it is in no way, indeed in no way possible, for a man, especially one who has for a long time held power, not to be an object of loathing to those who are ruled, and to incite against himself their deadly hatred. For God has not made anything in the nature of things immutable or stable in this life. Because of this, we see that all earthly things rejoice and delight in transformations. But if anyone, using some violent and forced motion, should desire to stand upon one state of fortune, he leads things toward an unnatural movement. And everything that is contrary to nature, as it exceeds the appropriate limits, causes the limits of the joy and pleasure that are accustomed to follow nature to be exceeded. To this point also tend the wise maxims of the ancients, saying "Nothing in excess," and proclaiming that "Moderation is the most beautiful virtue." For you see how my grandfather, having reached extreme old age ^C and having held the imperial power for as many years as—I am almost tempted to say—no one of all those who have ever been emperors has, is loathed by the whole of the people; and he undertakes no care at all either to remove that hatred from himself, or to sustain the Roman state, nor does he grieve at seeing the successors of the empire die before him. For the emperor my father has died, having enjoyed none of those things which are permitted to kings, save the name alone. Others also have died who were most closely related to him by blood and were younger in age. I, too, shall perhaps die before I have plucked any fruit from the empire. For what happens more easily to a man, especially one who shrinks from no danger and is not in the least concerned for his life? Perhaps, however, some may ^D think that I am laboring under a desire to rule

^A seeing that I am departing from the emperor, my grandfather, and am unwilling to submit to him. I would neither entirely deny this, nor would I fully agree with it. For if I saw the Roman Empire growing and its borders expanding, I would gladly stay and remain idle for as long as possible, consoling myself with that hope by which those who see more sumptuous feasts and a greater variety of food prepared by their cooks delight themselves. But since I see the Roman state collapsing for the worse day by day, and poor Romans being constantly snatched away and slaughtered by the enemy almost before the very gates of the imperial city, what kind of heart do you think I have? And while most men lighten their present grief by the expectation of what is to come, however vain that expectation may be, for me not even a false hope remains to serve as a consolation. You marvel at Alexander of Macedon, fretting with impatience and indignantly complaining to his father because he was constantly heaping victory upon victory, in a way cutting off every path to glory for his son by leaving him few opportunities for wars and triumphs; but as for me, whom you see suffering the exact opposite—for not only is my hope of imperial power perishing, but the very faculty of living comfortably and pleasantly is being torn away—do I seem to you not to suffer justly? ^B Nevertheless, not being able to remain idle, I rose up and requested from the emperor, my grandfather, a mere thousand armed men, promising that, relying on my firm hope in divine assistance, I would go around the cities of Bithynia with those troops and make them secure from every side, driving the enemy as far away as possible before they, having captured those very cities, could cross the barriers that obstruct them and lay siege to Byzantium. But he, having refused this, judges me an enemy and invokes the most grievous curses upon me. He also alleges crimes against me, clearly such as might excuse his hatred toward me. One is that, using my supreme authority, I took public money away from one of the tax collectors. To me, however, it did not seem in the least absurd, since I was an emperor and was being crushed by great poverty, if I should grant to the soldiers, in order to provide themselves with necessary supplies, a sum of money not very large, which the emperor, my grandfather, refused to give. A second crime is alleged: that from the provinces and cities of Thrace, I strip of their wealth and cast out, poor and naked, certain men ^C who had been appointed by him. And this too I do not think I do unjustly, but for most equitable reasons. For they, claiming that the wretched Thracians have been obtained by them for a large sum of money, treat them worse than slaves. And so these, driven by necessity, being unable to consult for their own safety in any other way, run to me weeping and lamenting; and I, pitying their most iniquitous lot, attempt to deliver them. But indeed, having passed over many things today, I come down to this other request, that the three thousand gold pieces, which I owe to my soldiers who have now for a long time been wandering with me in uncertain fortune, be paid to me. By doing this, I shall no longer oppose my grandfather the emperor. ^D

[Γ] III. Having spoken thus, he rose from his throne, and drawing one after another into a different part of the room, he dismissed them, having beguiled them with gentle words and promises of greater things, as if with lures. And so, having departed from there, they became heralds of his praises throughout the whole city, and inflamed the people with a greater desire for him.

CHAPTER III.

^A I. The elder emperor, however, having seen that almost all of them had turned away, even those who were thought to be his friends, and fearing that they might rush upon him and kill him with their own hands, was thoroughly exasperated. Yet, it seemed to him better to first explore the intentions of Isaiah the patriarch and the other pontiffs at the same time.

^B II. These having therefore been summoned, having sent to them a man of the senatorial order, he said, “If I saw that, by laying aside this purple, I would be free from danger, and that at the same time the entire state would be well governed, I would be alien to the fold of Christ, unless I judged quiet and leisure to be far more pleasant and more excellent than reigning. For if one seeks the pleasure of the soul, what is more pleasant than to be most remote from cares and dangers? ^C But if, because of my sins and those of the people, and even of our forefathers, the vengeance of the Divine, like a cruel storm rising against us, strikes and overturns the republic, and I, who whilst I was still a youth composed the principate which was fluctuating due to ecclesiastical discord and the incursions of neighboring nations, and by the help of God rendered it most easily tranquil, nevertheless today, having collected the greatest experience of affairs over a long time, do not know where to turn amid such great movement and tempest; in what way can I entrust so great an empire to my grandson, who is both young and so unskilled in affairs, that he does not even know how to properly manage his own business? ^D For with his power handed over to adolescents and unlearned men, and the imperial possessions bestowed upon him, he himself lives in poverty: nor does he wish to care for anything else, except to feed dogs and birds; dogs not fewer than a thousand; as many birds; and nearly as many keepers of them. Since, therefore, he is such a one, by what reason should I entrust either my own life, or the administration of the empire divinely committed to me? But I shall never certainly commit such a thing, as to betray either my subjects or myself of my own will. For I have loved my grandson not only more than my wife and children, but even more than myself. And you all know how I have educated, instructed, and mo-

modeled him, wishing to leave ^A behind as the heir of my blessing and as successor to the empire, one who would be pleasing both to God and to men. ^B But he, setting my admonitions at naught, spent his nights in revelry and dissolute license, during which he even murdered his own brother. And finally, he rose up against me, his benefactor and his father, daring such a deed as the sun from the beginning of time has never yet beheld. Wherefore it is necessary that you also be stirred to indignation against wickedness, and rise up to restrain this man's shamelessness, and proclaim that his name be struck from ecclesiastical mention, and threaten him with an interdict, so that he may be excluded from divine communion; so that, being constrained and corrected, he may return honorably to the place from whence he shamefully departed, and become once more the heir both of the empire and of my moderation. For there is no one at all whom I would prefer for the empire, provided only that he were willing to show the respect that is fitting to my instructions and admonitions. For the peroration which he added to his public address was full of hypocrisy and contained a great deal of hidden malice. For you heard how many insults he heaped upon me throughout his entire speech, with which the peroration itself is in no way consistent. But in order to deceive his hearers and incite them against me, he attached such an ending to his speech.

III. The Patriarch’s machinations against the elder emperor.

^C III. Having heard these things, those of the high priests who were distinguished by prudence and learning agreed with what had been said and decreed that the name of the younger Andronikos should be silenced everywhere in the churches until he should repent. But this opinion did not find favor with the Patriarch and certain of the high priests and clergy. Wherefore, they stood up and departed home, saying nothing more, whether owing to an inherent dullness of speech or some other cause I do not know. Then, after spending a night or two in the patriarchal residence, they conspired against the elder emperor and joined in a faction. When this was whispered about and became known not only to the populace but also to certain of the nobility, he compelled most of these also to join their faction and conspiracy secretly, and to give a written oath in which they affirmed that they would persevere to their last breath, and endure any punishment if need be. ^D Whence, three days later, the Patriarch, having ordered the sacred bells to be rung and having gathered a great multitude of the marketplace rabble, promulgated an interdict against all who would choose to pass over the name of the younger emperor in silence, or who would deny him all the honor owed to an emperor. Upon doing this, he likewise placed an interdict against the high priests of the opposite party. This matter afflicted the emperor with no small distress, and it struck him unexpectedly as he listened. "If," said he, "the teacher of peace has thus gone mad against us because of the hope of rewards promised him by my grandson, and has cast aside all shame and gravity, and—"

^A acts as the leader of an uprising, who will restrain the unstable rush of the mob against us, if one considers human protection?" Thus, by all that lay within his power, the patriarch had become our murderer and a ready assassin.

IV. But those bishops, having condemned the great impudence of the patriarch’s mind and tongue, also assembled and pronounced an interdict against him and his most insane faction, as if he were the author of seditions and factions and had been moved by bribes to stir up the state; they brought forward both canons and laws by which he was most gravely and manifestly condemned. Among these, we consider it sufficient to cite in our present history the eighteenth canon of the Council of Chalcedon, word for word and without change. For the fourth canon of the sixth ecumenical council, held in Trullo, and the fourth chapter of the thirty-sixth title of the laws, decree similar things. It is as follows: "The crime of conspiracy ^B or faction is everywhere forbidden even by civil laws. How much more is this to be prohibited in the Church of God? If, therefore, any clerics or monks are found who conspire, or study to form factions, or plot against bishops or clerics, let them be completely deprived of their own rank." The body of bishops reasoned from this: if the canons so punish clerics and monks who conspire and form factions against bishops and clerics, how much more so should they punish bishops and patriarchs who plot such things against the Emperor? These men, who were appointed to be teachers of peace and, besides other things pertaining to tranquility and concord, are the first who ought to teach that which both the old Law and the great Apostle Paul ^C command: "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people," and "Honor the king." The elderly Emperor, however, seeing that matters had proceeded to such a point of absurdity, and fearing lest the evil should grow even worse, ordered that the patriarch be held in custody ^D, yet in such a way that he would not be in chains; and from that time he remained in the monastery of the Mangana, and did not go out.

CAPUT IV

I. The young Emperor, however, came to the walls of Constantinople two days later, wishing to know with what mind his grandfather had received those messengers. And he begged vehemently that he might be allowed to enter alone to pay respects to his grandfather. But neither he, nor his words, [...]

^A nor anything he said, were held to be at all trustworthy. Indeed, he was repelled most fiercely by missiles from those who were sitting above on the battlements of the wall; for they could not even bear to listen to his voice, but they assailed him with insults with impunity and sent him away in disgrace, asserting that both his character and his words were full of deceit. Thus, having been sent away in such a manner, he withdrew a little from the wall.

II. But night was already at hand, and certain of the factious from the common crowd, who were not few in number, having gathered secretly in one place, signaled privately to him that he should come up near the walls around midnight, at which time both all the Byzantines are asleep and the guards on the walls begin to lapse into negligence. For they said that they were ready to pull him up onto the battlements with a rope. ^B If this were to happen, they believed that it would be the end of the whole endeavor and the long journey. They were convinced, in fact, that all the Byzantines would immediately defect to him the moment he appeared in the middle of the imperial city. Now, when it was already midnight, the Emperor, seeing how the guards, alternating with one another, did not cease throughout the entire night from patrolling and exhorting one another with constant shouts to keep watch, was compelled by necessity. He entrusted himself to a small boat together with the Great Domestic, Cantacuzenus, and the Protostrator, Synadenus. ^C Through this, having skirted the southern part of Constantinople, they moved along quietly to the other bank, sailing silently around the sea wall, to see if they might find some easy entrance. But those who were keeping watch on the wall perceived them, and they used very harsh shouts and raised a din; and, as they [the Emperor's party] did not respond, they also began to throw rocks at them, so that they, becoming afraid, turned back and departed. And thus, for the time being, these things were done.

III. In the following month of December, letters were secretly brought to the young Emperor from the Thessalonians, inviting him to come with all speed. For it had been resolved by the common people, and by most of the nobles, and by the Bishop himself, that as soon as he should appear near the walls, they would run and open the gates to him. When the Emperor learned this, he gave a large body of soldiers to the Protostrator and ordered him to go around the imperial city and envelop it from a distance, as if with a camp, and not to allow the Byzantines to go out as far as Rhegium or to remain outside; and, furthermore, with secret letters and promises, ^D to win over and bring under his authority the Byzantines, each according to what was appropriate for him. He himself, having chosen a few select men, went off to Thessalonica. Now, at that time, out of suspicion of the tumults, the Despot Demetrius, the Protovestiarius Andronicus, and Michael Asan were staying outside the walls with the auxiliary forces of the Triballians, and they also had with them the Macedonian legions of the Romans. For having been occupied with private quarrels and contentions, which ambition and a blind love of self—or rather, the wrath of the Divine—had kindled, so that by their affairs being thrown into confusion they brought destruction upon themselves...

^A While they were thus occupied between Thessalonica and Serres, the emperor entered Thessalonica secretly, having covered all the imperial insignia with common clothing. ^B Once inside the city gates, he immediately cast these off, and showed himself to all as the true emperor; and the whole city, running together, worshipped him, greeted him, and received him with auspicious acclamations. There were, however, a very few who hated him and were purely devoted to the elder emperor; these ran to the acropolis, captured and fortified it, and from there they stoutly defended themselves against those besieging them—I mean the emperor and the faction of the multitude that accompanied him—and wounded many by hurling stones and missiles, so that many of the missiles from there were even lodged in the emperor’s shield. On the following day, those who followed the emperor gathered a large pile of brushwood, set fire to the gates of the acropolis, and thus took possession of it.

IV. Departing from there, the emperor proceeded to the city of Serres, where the auxiliaries of the Triballians ^C were, who were eager at the first opportunity to take up arms against the emperor. But when they saw the despot Demetrius and the others—the protovestiarios and Asan—shamefully scattered, and the soldiers who followed them having deserted to the emperor's camp, having made a compact, they too surrendered the city to the emperor and departed for their homes. Yet when the emperor saw fortune smiling upon him and, as it were, offering him her hands in welcome, he went forward with full joy and pleasure, filled with good hopes. And, not to drag this out, within a few days he had passed through all the towns there in Macedonia, and without any trouble or labor had brought them under his power, and with them he had seized the wives, children, and wealth of the despot, the protovestiarios, and Asan, and as many of the other senators who were staying there with them. ^D

CAPUT V.

I. But the elder emperor, when even that hope had fallen away and he had fallen into the utmost helplessness, was already wanting to send an embassy to his grandson regarding a treaty and peace before the other could depart from Macedonia. But immediately another hope (would that it had never happened!) intervened and overturned that plan. For Michael, the prince of the Bulgarians, elated by the hope of great gains, secretly sent word to the elder emperor...

asking if he wished for him to be his ally against his grandson. The emperor, as though he had unexpectedly reached a harbor after a great shipwreck and storm, gripped this hope tightly. Following this, envoys were sent back and forth between them to deliberate on what should be done, and to treat of promises and covenants, while no one else was aware of these deliberations, except for two or three of his most trusted men and the Cralina, who constantly filled her father and emperor with good hopes, with which the false prophets and ventriloquists ^A kept stuffing her.

II. But the Great Logothete Metochites, seeing ^B fortune turning cruelly against the aged emperor and thus dancing upon his affairs, feared for his own part more than all others, seeing that he was the one who most of all shared with the emperor every word, secret, counsel, and deed. Therefore, he was always gloomy and full of care, and burdened with thoughts of the future, for which he foresaw no very happy outcome. Thus, one night, he seemed in his dreams to see a strange figure of an unknown man standing by him as he lay, appearing for all the world like some cutpurse or savage bandit, who was laying hands on him and wishing to snatch from his pillow the keys to the chamber in which his furniture, precious stones, and all the wealth he possessed were stored. He shook off sleep with violence, and yet still trembling as he awoke, he shouted for his servants to pursue the cutpurse, lest he escape with the money. For he did not yet know that what he had seen was a dream and not reality. When they had immediately risen and found the doors locked, and had asserted that the thing was merely a fancy and the product of his daily cares, he scarcely came to himself, and heaved a very deep sigh from the bottom of his heart; he judged the sight not so much to be a product of his daily cares as a prophecy and a pre-announcing of the destruction that was to seize his own house. Wherefore, ^C when it was day, he removed most of his wealth from his house, as if all were already desperate, and distributed it among his most trusted friends to guard for him in secret. He left his wife and maidservants at home, while he himself began to dwell and reside within the palace; he did not go out from there, fearing the sedition of the people, which was boiling over against him.

III. Now, those who had previously been appointed by the aged emperor to the administration of the cities and provinces of Macedonia were captured along with their wives and children, as we have already said, and were sent—some to Thessalonica, and others to Didymoteichon—where they filled all the prisons of those cities. But the Despot Demetrios, leaving behind his wife and children, who were taken by those who were pursuing them, fled for refuge to the Cral of Serbia. The Protovestiarius Andronikos, however, who had followed the despot for a time, could not, like a parasite, continue to live off another man’s table forever, as that man did. But reflecting on how much wealth, livestock, possessions, and glory, ^D with every expectation, he had suddenly lost, and suspecting as well those dishonors through which noble women are enticed by their captors...

he surrendered himself into the depths of despair and boundless grief; and thus in a short time he bitterly finished his life, wandering in strange and desolate places. But Michael Asan, having hastened, entered into the small town of Prosiacum; and having expelled the inhabitants from there, he had secured it as a place of refuge for himself. After a short time, fearing treachery, he summoned a garrison from the Kral of Serbia, to whom, having surrendered the town, he himself also departed to the Kral.

^B IV. Now at that time, Nicephorus Basilicus was governing and administering the fortress of Melenicus and all the surrounding territory. He was indeed of noble birth, but in the opinion of some perverse judges, he was believed to be a man of simple mind and entirely unskilled in the conduct of affairs. Yet time itself proved him to be wiser than all the others in actual deed. For some, having abandoned themselves to despair through ignorance of what was advantageous, bitterly put an end to their lives; others were captured against their will and suffered infinite evils; others voluntarily betrayed themselves. But he, ^C alone, having anchored his hopes of salvation in God, withstood such a storm of events, preserving his sincere disposition and loyalty to the aged emperor until his last breath, and he yielded neither to the brilliant and great promises of the young emperor, nor did he fear his most accursed threats and his encampments against him at all; but having firmly secured that fortress, he sat still, deeming all such things a long-winded trifle, until he had heard the passing of the aged emperor. For up to that point he considered his resistance to be just; but the subsequent state [he deemed] unjust and having no reasonable excuse. Therefore, having immediately made a treaty with the new emperor and having received brilliant rewards from him, he surrendered the fortress; and ^D thenceforth, by the will of the emperor, he was again the one himself who governed and administered it, having received this also as a reward and compensation for the faith and affection he had shown toward that former master. For prudent men respect the virtue even of those whose enemies they are. Indeed, Philip used to call the Athenian Demosthenes blessed, even though he was his fiercest enemy, saying: "If any Athenian, residing in Athens, does not refuse to prefer me to his country, I would buy him with silver, but not with my friendship; but if anyone hates me for the sake of his country, him I attack as an acropolis, a wall, a naval base, and a trench, yet I admire his virtue and deem the city fortunate for such a possession." But these things are for later. Now we must return to where we digressed from these matters.

V. For at the beginning of spring, in the sixth week of Holy Lent, the armies of both kings joined battle.

near the Mauropotamos ^A. The commander of these was Constantine Asan, and of those the protostrator. The opponents therefore gained the victory there. Of our men, no more than ten soldiers fell in the battle, but most of the tribunes along with the commander Asan were captured. The others, having been stripped of their armor, unfortunately returned to Byzantium. The junior emperor, seeing that fortune favored his movements, having arranged affairs throughout all Macedonia and Thrace according to his own will, hastened toward Byzantium himself in the middle of spring, lest the army of the Bulgarians should arrive first and enter the city; then, finding it neither fortified with a regular army nor suffering [from the famine] that the Venetian fleet had caused at that very time, they might slaughter the emperor and people of every age, and establish one continuous empire for their own leader from Byzantium as far as the Ister. Or, if they could not do this, they might at least, by suddenly adding new strength to the senior emperor, close the access of Byzantium to the junior emperor himself, so that when he had almost attained the end of all his prayers, he would suffer shipwreck and, after so many courses, cast away all his hopes thus submerged. It happened, therefore, that this unhappy city of cities experienced three dangers at once, which we shall explain individually. ^B VI. Forty long ships were splendidly armed by the Venetians against the Genoese who dwelt in Galata, because those [Genoese], pirates, refused to restore in good faith the money which they had forcibly taken from a Venetian merchant vessel in the middle of the lower sea. And thirty-two of them, having sailed into the Ceratine gulf which lies before Byzantium, turned their prows forward, threatening the Genoese in Galata with siege should they delay the restitution of the money. The remaining eight proceeded further and guarded the strait which is before Hieron, which they call the neck of the Pontus. There, having found four round ships ready to set sail, they captured them, and having placed troops upon them, they armed them against the Genoese merchant vessels which were returning from the Pontus. Within a few days, therefore, you could see so many Roman and Latin merchant vessels captured that the whole strait was almost filled with them. For they were also capturing Roman ships, lest many of the Genoese hidden within them should escape secretly. Thus it happened that, with the grain supply cut off, ^C no small famine afflicted the Byzantines. For that blockade lasted for [the duration of the] forty days, during which no battle occurred. For neither

the Genoese refused to pay the demanded money; but although they promised, they kept postponing it. The Venetians, however, could by no means depart empty-handed. But there was no one to whom the military discipline of the Venetians and their magnificence ^B coupled with fairness was not a source of wonder. For none of them allowed himself to take anything from anyone without paying the price in silver, even though such a vast and promiscuous mob was with them. But they were all obedient to the authority of their leaders, just as herds to their shepherds. And during all those days they remained upon the ships, not yielding in the slightest to the intensity of the sun’s flame, which was then most vehement. A great multitude of Roman small craft went around them, bringing them whatever they happened to need in abundance, and in turn they received from them a price greater than what was due. Nor did they cause any damage at all to those things with which those captured ships were filled. For they were full, some with wheat and barley, others with salted fish, such as and in such quantity as the Copaic and Maeotian marshes ^C and the river Tanais supply. But they preserved these things completely unharmed and religiously until, having received what was owed, they restored everything. And this, indeed, was one danger that then came upon the city. But it would have been graver if the secret schemes had achieved success. For the Emperor had sent an embassy to them from outside, promising them money if they would be his secret accomplices in the capture of the city. But this did not happen, whether because the Venetians rejected such an embassy, or because they saw that the matter was by no means easy, since the walls and gates of the Byzantines were fortified with continuous garrisons.

VII. The second of the dangers that then encompassed the city was when the prince of the Bulgarians, according to the agreement, had sent three thousand ^D chosen horsemen as aid to the elder [Emperor] against the younger, to whom it was commanded, by what authors I know not, that if an opportunity were given, they should stir up a revolution in the city. But when they arrived, they were not admitted within the city gates, which it was permitted for no one to enter except for their leader. Wherefore they turned aside and pitched their camp in a place ninety-five stadia distant from the city.

VIII. But on the day before, the younger Emperor had ridden forward with very few men and had arrived unexpectedly, intending to burst into Byzantium with a sudden assault. But his attempt having been noticed, he was shut out by the guards. This event forced him to beseech his grandfather the Emperor vehemently, and to promise him that he would be obedient to whatever he commanded, as if he were a slave, rather than…

that any more serious calamity should befall either party, now that things had come to such a crisis. But the Bulgarian hope, still buoying up the elder emperor’s mind, left no room for his entreaties. Furthermore, he could not place genuine trust in him after the many things that had preceded. These three calamities, therefore, then threatened the city; yet none of them was brought to an issue.

IX. In truth, the younger emperor, grieving most grievously because his plans were thwarted and bearing ill the turn of events that had then occurred, departed from there like one in despair; and, having advanced further, he turned aside to a certain place named Logus. From there, he sent envoys to the leader of the Bulgarians, who had his camp nearby; and he arranged for gifts to be delivered to him in part immediately, and in part he promised them for the future, if he would lead his forces back home. He invited him to a banquet with his tribunes, and on the following day he sent them on their way, heading home, well-pleased. ^B

CAPUT VI

I. As matters stood in this state, two of the guards of the city of Constantinople, having deserted to the younger emperor who was encamped in the place we have mentioned, one named Camaris and the other Castellanus—men practicing a certain craft of the smiths—sought out the emperor and, having led him aside with all witnesses removed, save for the Great Domestic Cantacuzenus, they spoke of betrayal and demanded written promises of money and bountiful estates. Once these were easily obtained, and the hour and manner of the deed indicated, they themselves returned on the next day, fearing lest they be suspected by those nearby. The emperor, however, having delayed there for four days, fashioned ladders out of ropes, such as those that are suspended around the mast on the largest merchant ships. When the appointed night arrived, the traitors bought a large quantity of wine in the evening and gave it to the neighboring sentries to drink as unmixed wine, so that, all oppressed by a very heavy sleep, they differed in no way from the dead, except for their breathing. At midnight, those who carried the ladders arrived at the wall; the traitors immediately pulled them up by a rope they had lowered from above, and by this means they brought up eighteen armed men from outside. When these had descended into the city, they easily demolished the gate which is called “Romani,” so that the emperor entered with his army, with no one to stop him. ^D

II. But that point nearly escaped me. For when the sun had already set and the gates of Byzantium were closed, a certain man from the nearby... [index: entries preserved]

fields came running, panting; and having knocked at the gates by the Gyrolimne, he began to call for someone of those inside. Once someone had come, he said that he had seen a short while ago many men from the army of the young emperor hastening toward the city walls near the Roman Gate. When this was heard, it cast the emperor into a state of great fear and threw his thoughts into turmoil. It seemed best to him that the gate should be opened and as many soldiers as possible sent out to patrol the land walls from sea to sea. But the grand logothete hindered this, saying it was unworthy of a noble spirit to be shaken by such trivial rumors and ignoble reports; for either the story told was false, or the attempt was foolish, since the gates and walls were hedged about with so many arms. For he claimed the enemies would suffer the same fate if they should try to enter now as those who kick against the pricks. He said this either because he was inexperienced in military matters, or because God himself had subverted his mind so that the judgment decreed from above against the old emperor and his affairs might at last be ratified. ^B

III. Not yet had a third part of the night elapsed when again many peasants from the suburbs of Byzantium appeared at the Gyrolimne gate and reported to the guards that a great multitude of men was gathering outside at the Roman Gate. This, being reported once more to the imperial ears, induced greater fear and turmoil. Using a harsher voice, the emperor rebuked the logothete: "You seem, man, to have become made of iron, seeing that you are so unconcerned and do not perceive the dangers that now surround us. Do you not see that the matter is such that it allows me neither to sit nor to sleep? For the tumult caused by my grandson rings in my ears like some violent crash, disturbing my soul and causing a wave of terrors to surge within me, which constantly agitates my mind and overwhelms my heart, drowning it in distress." Yet he was a Maccabee, remaining fixed in his former opinion and scorning those reports like a seaside cliff. He rose to go to bed, in order to demonstrate by the reality of the situation that the enemy's labor was vain and that what they were doing outside would have no force. ^{C D}

IV. But the emperor, left alone and having no one with whom he might share his grief except his household youths, stretched himself upon his imperial bed, having undressed nothing of his garments; but at the same time, clothed also in clear despair, he lay there, with his soul divided by bitter and conflicting thoughts, tossing his whole body to and fro again and again, just as if coals were placed beneath his bed. Meanwhile

a great tumult was heard ^A outside and at the gates of the palace, announcing the entry of the younger emperor, accompanied by the great applause of arms. For more than eight hundred soldiers had entered with the emperor. At the same time, from every side, acclamations and voices were saluting the young man as emperor. Perceiving the noise and the shouting, the aged emperor leaped from his bed, seized by great alarm; and having no one to assist him, neither soldier nor general—for the palace was indeed utterly deserted, except for his young chamberlains—he fled to the sacred image of the Mother of God, the Hodegetria, which had been moved into the palace many days before and was a source of sure consolation to him. To her, I say, he fled, and prostrate upon the ground with grief and tears, he ardently implored her not to abandon him while he was in such danger and exposed to the swords of assassins. That most chaste Mother of God, who is able to do whatever she wills, heard his prayers and brought him swift aid.

V. For while he was ^B in the palace beseeching the Mother of God in this manner, the younger emperor, having gathered all his generals and military tribunes outside, strictly commanded them, under threat of grave punishment, not to lay a violent hand upon the emperor, his grandfather, nor to insult him with any abusive speech, nor indeed to harm anyone at all. "For," he said, "it was not we who prepared this victory, but God who gave it to us. The will of God moves all things, and all things serve Him: stars, air, sea, earth, men, lightning, whirlwinds, pestilences, earthquakes, rains, downpours, crop failures, and all that follows from these—some things for happiness, some for calamity, but rather for instruction and correction. Since, therefore, He uses us as ministers and executors of the present correction, He grants us ^C victories and trophies. Yet perhaps tomorrow He will use others against us; and such as we have been toward those who were delivered into our hands for correction, such will those to whom we shall be delivered surely be toward us. Wherefore, if neither kinship nor the ties of our common race move us to clemency and mercy, it is at least better, out of regard for ourselves, to treat him with humanity now, lest we ourselves experience a heavier indignation from God."

VI. Meanwhile, someone who had come out of the palace opened the gate to the younger emperor and brought him this message from his grandfather: "Since today, my son, God has taken the imperial scepter from me and granted it to you, I ask this one favor from you in return for the many things I have bestowed upon you from your very birth (for I pass over ^D this present state of my affairs, and the fact that, after God, I was the author of your birth and your arrival into this life), grant me my life; spare your grandfather’s head; and do not draw with the violent sword that blood from which you yourself first received the fountain of life."

^A For man is a spectator of heaven and earth, but heaven and earth are spectators of human actions. Do not, therefore, desire to have heaven and earth as spectators of an impious crime, such as no one from any age has ever dared. And if the blood of a brother once cried out to the Lord against Cain, how much more shall the blood of a father cry out to the Lord, and announce such a crime to the earth, to the soil, and to the stars, and cause it to be mourned before all the kings of the nations? Respect an old age full of mercy, which offers to me the ending of my life in a short time, and to you a relief from long cares. Respect the hands which, when you were often in swaddling clothes, held you and took you to their breast. Respect the lips which have often kissed you with the greatest affection and called you a second soul. Pity a reed cast down by fortune, and do not desire to bring a second crushing blow upon him yourself. Do not, being a man, trust in your present fortunes, but consider the instability and inconstancy of things, starting from my own case. Look at the end of a long life. Marvel how this one night, which found me an emperor of many years, leaves me subject to the empire of another."

By these words, the younger Andronikos, softened and yet scarcely refraining from tears, enters the palace and undertakes a diligent concern for his grandfather’s safety. And first, he offers the fitting adoration to the venerable icon of the Theotokos; then, he greets his grandfather, who was clinging to it, and having taken him, he embraces and restores him with gentle words.

VII.

VIII.

^A he who had been considered the most fortunate of all after the emperor was at once reduced to poverty together with his children. Having for many years enjoyed a kind of unmixed prosperity, in one day he drank the whole and undiluted cup of sorrow. There one might hear men complaining, among other things, that those riches were the blood and tears of the poor, extracted and supplied to him by those to whom the administration of Roman provinces and cities had been entrusted; so that, while they treated the Romans cruelly—as if they were slaves bought for money—he himself would obstruct the refugees' access to the emperor, so that those great crimes might remain unpunished on all sides. Thus, the eye of justice had not slept forever, but had awakened, albeit late, to at last inflict upon him the penalty he was owed. As these things were sung by the common people, they made his calamity even more bitter.

IX. And who could recount the seditions that all the Romans, and especially the Byzantines, suffered among themselves at that time? For when the two emperors were at odds, their subjects, as is wont to happen, also fell into discord: so that, to a certain fury, children raged against parents, and parents against children, brothers against brothers, neighbors against neighbors; and—what is greater—bishops and presbyters against bishops and presbyters, and monks against monks. ^B And if the emperor, gifted with a most humane spirit, had not repressed the onslaught of the soldiers and the mob, they would perhaps have made the temples and houses of the Byzantines a prey for the Mysians; perhaps, too, many murders would have been committed, as many wished to exact vengeance from each other if anyone had insulted them contumeliously during that dissension. “For if I,” says the emperor, “have forgiven every crime to those who have used both a brawling tongue and an insidious sword against me, much more ought you to do so toward your own fellow servants; in part because you ought to emulate my example, and in part because you are not unaware that the outcome of a murder is not the same when an emperor is killed as when a private citizen is.”

X. And if we, who were rightfully attached to the elder emperor, bore some waves of that storm, it is nothing new. ^D For it would not have been just for us to favor neither side, as Solon advised. Furthermore, it is consistent that, when the shepherd himself is struck, the entire flock should suffer evils in proportion.

CAPUT VII.

1. It was the twenty-fourth day of the month of May, in the eleventh indiction, on which all these things were done.

^A Toward evening on that day, as the emperor was returning to the palace, Niphon, who had been patriarch, met him and asked how he intended to treat his grandfather. When the emperor replied that he wished to treat him humanely and as a grandfather deserved, Niphon took this very ill and reproved him. For this man, besides being perverse and full of envy against everyone who was successful, harbored deep and long-standing hatred, in particular, against the aged emperor, because he had not helped him when he was caught red-handed in sacrilege and other crimes and had been cast out of the patriarchal throne. Therefore, first for this reason, and second because he still dreamed of his patriarchal throne and wanted to remove him [the grandfather] from the middle so that he might find an unobstructed ascent for his own glory, he said to the emperor: "If you wish," he said, "to rule without fear, do not give your glory to another; but stripping away all the symbols of power from your grandfather, force him to put on a hair shirt, and then send him off to prison or into exile." For that wicked Niphon was burning with the desire that not only he himself should be called patriarch, but that Andronikos should be called emperor. The vain man considered this a remedy for his own envy, not reflecting at all that it was precisely that man—who was of low and hidden standing when he took him up—who constantly bestowed honors upon honors and elevated him to the greatest height of glory, wealth, and prominence.

^B But by these very words, he and certain others among the emperor’s entourage persuaded him to put aside his humane opinion regarding his grandfather, or if not entirely, at least they rendered him doubtful and vacillating; and they became an obstacle to his desire to make his grandfather a partner in the empire. ^C Whence, after many deliberations, it was decreed that the grandfather should retain the imperial symbols, but should sit idle in the chambers of the palace, neither appearing in public nor engaging in any business, having as a provision for himself and for as many boys as remained with him, the annual revenue from the fishery that is practiced before Byzantium, ten...

Notes of various authors

^D ...that all these things were done, it is clear that he means the day upon which all those things which he related in the entire preceding chapter were done. It remains, therefore, for us to inquire whether it was Gregoras or Cantacuzenus who erred in assigning the day. I shall bring forward the very words of Cantacuzenus: "They waged war for six years and one month, starting in the year 6829 from the creation of the world, in the fourth indiction, on the nineteenth day of April, and continuing until the thirty-fifth year, in the ... indiction, on the ninth day of May." This chronology is almost entirely faulty. They waged war, he says, for six years; indeed, for seven years (see Gregoras, lib. XII, cap. 3), since exactly that many years passed from the month of April of the fourth indiction to the month of May of the eleventh indiction. Then he places the start of the war on April 19, whereas in Gregoras, Hist. lib. VIII, cap. 6, sect. 4, it is placed on April 20. Then he says the war was prolonged to the thirty-fifth year, though he said it was prolonged up to the eleventh indiction, which falls in the thirty-sixth year. The same author, in order to complete the sum of the years of the world, adds 6819, by a manifest error, instead of 6806. Finally, he assigns the day that we mentioned above, namely May 19, for which Gregoras set the 24th day of the same month. Let the fair reader now judge to whom the greater credit is to be given. With me, at least, Cantacuzenus deserves none in this place, for his chronology (if indeed it is to be attributed to him) contains so many errors in so few words. Bouvin.

^C of gold) while to the great logothete Metochites, he sent him off in exile to Didymoteichon.

III. Furthermore, the Patriarch Isaias, seeing the emperor of so many years cast down from his throne and, as it were, thrown into a prison, did not grieve, but exulted and sent forth a voice as a witness to his own hardness and folly, or rather to his madness: "The righteous man," he says, "shall be glad when he seeth vengeance" (Ps. LVII, 10); calling himself just, and calling the abdication of the emperor, vengeance. Then he turned his attention to punishment and to the persecution of the bishops and presbyters; some of them he ordered to desist from their priestly functions for a certain number of years, and others for life. There were also those whom he punished more leniently. But, to sum it up in a few words, he left none of those who had favored the elder emperor unpunished.

^D IV. Among these also was John, who since my infancy had been my guardian after God, my mother’s brother, who in his advanced age exchanged life for death in his own metropolis. Neither old age nor the malady of his feet could induce him to remit in the least, right up until his death, the youthful and vehement discipline of his more austere life. His metropolis was Heraclea Pontica. And the Heracleotic people first saw this man as a good father and one filled with God, not as a rustic man nor a rash teacher giving free rein to his tongue in an unseasonable manner, raving from the dais and cutting the ears of his listeners and exciting a great and foolish tumult, while never turning himself to useful things. Rather, from his youth, he had his tongue and ears and soul well trained in every sort of education, both sacred and profane, so that he was instructed in both morals and eloquence, enough to guide his listeners and to prescribe those rules which might form the elegance of morals, temper the excessive powers of the soul, moderate the impulses of the mind, and restrain every immoderate movement. How great and what kind of man he was in every kind of virtue, it is possible for anyone to learn in detail from the life we have written of him.

CHAPTER VIII.

VIII. But even before thirty days had passed, when the emperor heard that Michael the prince of the Bulgarians was overrunning the nearby cities and provinces of the Romans, and was about to advance immediately as far as Didymoteichon and Adrianople, with no small [number] of the Scythians dwelling by the Ister...

^A, he set out with all speed and reached Adrianople. From there, he sent envoys and sought to learn the cause of the breaking of the treaty. He received this answer from him: "You would have been able in no way to enter Byzantium and gird yourself with the imperial power, if I had been willing to bring aid to your grandfather, having promised to me money and a bordering territory—favors of which I have now been completely defrauded because of you and your promises. For you know yourself how many promises you burdened me with, and ones far greater than your grandfather did, not only that I might assist him, but also for the sake of the marriage of your sister and the kinship thereby established with you." But the emperor, wishing to avoid the suspicion of cowardice, although he did not possess forces equal to the task nor was equipped with means suitable for repelling the enemy's strength, nevertheless decided that he must entrust the judgment of affairs to war. For he relied upon natural daring rather than reason ^B or deliberation for all events that occurred. Hence, there was great zeal and preparation for the armies on both sides; and the affairs of the Romans were in great danger and fear. The mother, who was also empress, fearing for her son, sent envoys to both to negotiate peace and reconciled them, as she was the mother of both. Hence, she did not doubt that she held the authority to rebuke both, since she was the mother of them both and, from that position, possessed great confidence to bring to bear whatever censure she wished upon each of them. Thus, then, peace having been made, Michael, having received a great sum of money, returned home.

^B The great logothete Metochites, however, being led away into exile in a most undignified manner, fell victim to the malady of strangury; ^C and this afflicted him even more than all the other things he had suffered—I mean his imprisonment, the loss of his reputation, the confiscation of his wealth, and the accusations and insults of base men.

^C The emperor's grandfather, having contracted a more grievous bodily condition from the bitterness of his grief, first lost the use of one of his eyes, its power of sight having gradually withered away. Not long after, he lost the other also, and remained thereafter living in perpetual night; and, as the Holy Scripture says, he mingled his drink with weeping and ate the bread of sorrow ^D. For I omit to speak of the mockeries and vulgar insults of the guards and the servants, of what kind and how many they were, which they poured upon him. I omit also how permission was given to all the laundresses to enter whenever they wished to wash the clothes of whomever they liked in the water that flowed through the palace courtyard; and how the palace became a place of trampling and pasture for the beasts of the neighbors—I mean for donkeys, horses, cattle, and domestic fowl. And whatever other thing of this sort there was that pertained to mocking and showing contempt for the aged emperor, the protostrator both performed all of it himself and was the instigator for others to do so, as he was at that time the curator and administrator in charge of the city.

IV. ^A Only the Great Domestic Cantacuzenus kept his spirit, his tongue, and his behavior irreproachable, both toward the emperor and toward those who had fallen from their previous glory. The others, as if they had drunk undiluted wine during that turn of the times, utilized their status with the drunkenness of their minds; against the present fortunes. For this man, adorned with natural wisdom and a deep furrow of understanding, conducted himself according to the noble characters of the men of old, both in the magnificence of his ways and in the abundance of his generosity. For even when affairs now succeeded happily for him, he did not luxuriate in his good fortune, nor did he puff up his eyebrows beyond measure—carried away, as it were, by excessive ambition—but remained unmoved within the bounds of modesty. "Now," he said, "it is appropriate for me to be sober, when others cannot help but be drunk." For prosperous successes, like a kind of wrestling ground, test human minds with a sure sign; those who are faint-hearted they render insolent, whereas any man of sound mind they accumulate with praises of constancy, moderation, and gravity.

V. ^B At these times, Syrgiannes is led out of prison, having first given a written oath and having called down upon himself the most atrocious things, if he should plot anything against the emperor; and under this condition he was told that if in any way he were convicted of falsehood before upright judges, he would not only be subject to those curses but would also be punished with death.

VI. ^C But in that year and in the one following, as the sedition of the Romans had been settled, and as they had ceased from mutual battles and skirmishes, the Byzantines saw such an abundance of grain as not even their ancestors had enjoyed for a long time before.

CHAPTER IX

^D Now that the season had arrived in which the hands of spring, cultivating and painting the earth, grant the greatest delight to the eyes of men with the variegated dye of the meadows, the emperor ordered the Roman forces to be in readiness. For he wished to cross over into Asia and to wage war against Orchanes, the prince of Bithynia, as much for other reasons as because there was a danger that he, by a double war—namely, by famine and by force of arms—might besiege and subdue Nicaea, the capital city of Bithynia.

^A Now, when spring was already drawing to a close, the army crossed the strait from Byzantium and passed over into Asia with the Emperor. There were two thousand selected soldiers of the army, but the rest—a great multitude—consisted of some market-folk, laborers, and slaves, who, as one might easily discern, were mere pretenders to the art of war. For they brought with them the very proofs of their cowardice, namely, small boats and skiffs, as many in number as there were men, so that they might be ready for flight if need be, while they contemplated nothing at all concerning the pursuit or defeat of the enemy. The prince of the Turks in Bithynia had selected those most experienced in warfare and sent them to guard the narrow mountain passes. He himself, having taken eight thousand armed men, went forth to meet the Emperor. Thus, on the third day after the Emperor had entered Asia and had arrived at a small seaside town—Philokrene by name—having learned that Orchanes, having occupied the surrounding defiles, had encamped nearby with his barbarian army, it fell out that he too pitched his camp there and spent the night.

II. ^B When, as soon as the sun had risen, he saw some of the barbarians descending from the surrounding heights—first the light-armed, then the heavy-armed, and especially others on horseback—he took up his own arms and rode out against them. At first, there was skirmishing on the part of the barbarian archers, who stood at a distance and were not very willing to approach nearer. The Emperor, thinking that this was not the usual custom of the barbarians, but a sign of cowardice, took courage and ordered his own men to advance and deploy their ranks. ^C Although some of those around him, who were more experienced, asserted that this would not end well, they were unable to restrain his impulse. But as the skirmishing continued in this way until the sun passed the meridian—the time when it sends down its most intense heat upon the earth—Orchanes, observing from the summit of the mountain that the Romans were already exhausted from the heat, the constant running, and the maneuvering, descended himself with an army that could not be easily numbered. ^D And closing in with a discordant cry, some attacked from all sides with showers of arrows, while others, meeting them face-to-face, struck them with their swords. However, the Romans, having gallantly withstood that first onset, defended themselves vigorously for a long time and wounded and slaughtered many of the enemy. Then, perceiving that night was soon to fall, and judging it dangerous to fight in the dark on hostile ground, they retreated in haste toward their own camp. Whereupon the Turks, pressing them with greater vehemence, killed no small number of men and horses, until the intervention of night brought the battle to an end. Among others, however, he himself

^A was wounded in one of his feet by a light and not very lethal arrow.

III. That night, a miserable spectacle and a manifest sign of divine wrath occurred. For the Barbarian, who had seen the armor and the manly constancy of the Romans in battle and had been struck with admiration, thinking that they would not be quiet but would advance further the following day, left three hundred horsemen there for the sake of reconnaissance, while he himself set off with his entire army to occupy strategic paths. And thus, indeed, he departed. The emperor, however, entered the small town of Philocrene for the sake of treating his wound. When the Roman soldiers noticed this, not knowing the reason with any great certainty, they thought he was fleeing out of fear. For they believed that Orchan would be present during the night with a great army, and that no Roman would escape alive ^B or live to see the sun rise the following day. Therefore, those who had brought small boats with them fled naked in them. Others, rushing before the gates of the small town, for the most part trampled and suffocated one another. Others, linked together like a chain and hanging [from the walls], were partly climbing up onto the battlements, and partly were being pulled down by those following behind and, tumbling down, were dying. There were even some who, struck by pure fear, stood still and expired. But in the morning, as soon as the sun had risen, those three hundred Barbarians observed that incredible disaster of the Roman army; and having ridden up and seen the horses, arms, and tents empty of men lying by the camp, and in addition to these the imperial horses with their red saddles and the imperial tent, two hundred of them took all these things and departed. The remaining hundred approached closer ^C and pierced with frequent arrows those who had neither managed to cast themselves into the boats nor into the small town.

IV. The emperor, seeing these things and having no means to act, as the circumstances provided no favorable opportunity whatsoever, boarded a ship himself and returned to Byzantium. Yet he hesitated, uncertain, and debated silently with himself for what reason God was angered such that the Roman army was so devastated in a moment, when no enemy was pursuing it. Finally, after many doubts, he perceived among many other things that which was most serious: I mean the subversion of public discipline and the perverse custom of judicial ^D proceedings; a disease which, being widespread and having become inveterate through the lapse of time, brought great confusion and much detriment to the state. For diseases that arise from some evil condition of the body invade a few and do not roam about publicly. But when the air is infected, all who share in the same common air must necessarily become participants of the disease itself. He maintained that there was the same logic for all the failings of private individuals when compared with the iniquities of the courts.

V. Therefore, not many days later, he met with the patriarch Isaiah; and first he attempted to persuade him to set aside his anger against the bishops and

to release the people from the interdict. For he said it was not fitting that, while he himself forgave everyone everything—to whom publicly all common offenses looked—he, who was patriarch and ought to be the author and teacher of peace, should store up latent and residual anger against men, ^A while so many suns were setting, when not even one should have set while his anger lasted. The patriarch, therefore, obeying the emperor, clothed in his priestly vestments, at the hour of the divine liturgy recited for the people, both the living and the dead, a written absolution from the ambo. He did not, however, forgive most of the bishops and presbyters.

Then, while the same patriarch was celebrating the divine liturgy with many bishops and presbyters, the emperor selected four men whom he judged worthy ^B to serve in civil trials—one of whom was a bishop—and gave them the authority to judge in the midst of the divine temple. He handed them the holy and divine Gospel, and also the imperial sword, and at the same time demanded of them fearful oaths that they would render judgments without respect of persons and without accepting bribes. For he had made them liable to certain condemnation if they were caught in such offenses, leaving them no excuse; and he assigned them estates, from the annual revenues of which they could live splendidly. And these matters proceeded roughly in this way.

VI. At the beginning of autumn, having collected all the Roman triremes ^C that were at Byzantium, Lesbos, and other islands and maritime cities—and furthermore all the monoremes—and having summoned four additional auxiliary triremes from the islands of the Cyclades, he set sail. Ostensibly this was against the barbarian ships, but in truth it was against Martin, the prefect of Chios. He, being a Latin, from the number of those who stood out in wealth and dignity, had inherited from his father the governorship of that island and the right to collect its annual revenues, on the condition that he serve the Roman emperors as a servant ^D and fulfill with the utmost zeal whatever they ordered. For the island belonged to the Romans, and it had been given to him to govern by the emperor—who was also the grandfather of the now-ruling emperor—by reason of a certain old favor owed to him, along with the revenues granted for pecuniary profit. This then was the situation regarding Martin and his brother who had been left by their father... [index: entries preserved]

^A having succeeded to this, he deceived his brother with certain ruses. But he himself, being a vigorous man and adorned with profound wisdom, built triremes and plundered the barbarians—both those who inhabited the maritime coast of Asia there and those who, embarking in pirate ships, cruised around the islands. He terrified them to such a degree in a short time that they paid him annual tributes so that he would not harm them greatly by fighting. Hence, as he was advancing rapidly to great wealth and glory, he gave the Romans, who suspected he would not long or for much time maintain his submission to the emperors, cause for concern. And for this reason, the emperor, after finally making his departure against him not openly, seized the island with no effort, and having taken him captive, sent him to the Byzantines.

CAPUT X.

[P] 10. However, after a few days had passed, it happened that a very severe disease fell upon the emperor while he was staying at Didymoteichon. For after he had used a bath, he did not take the necessary care of himself upon leaving the bath, and as it was the height of winter, the cold caused his whole body to stiffen; and as the greater part of the affliction gathered especially in his head, he not only suffered more intense pains from this but also was quickly carried off into a state of mental delirium. When, therefore, the malady became stronger than all medical experience and the sun of the following day signaled that the emperor was at the point of death, he made those around him swear, first, to clothe him in the monastic cowl before his life should depart: then again, he made them swear to release all those in chains—Constantine the Despot, and the Great Logothete Metochites, and all who had fallen under similar condemnation. Furthermore, he commanded verbally that all Romans should swear to show reverence to his consort, the Empress (for she herself was present, pregnant, and heard the words being spoken), and to the child to be born, as they would to an emperor, if it should be a boy; and that Cantacuzenus, the Great Domestic, should be his guardian. These things alone, committed to writing, have been considered to possess the force of a testament.

^B 11. Yet, no mention of this was made for the time being, neither of the emperor and grandfather, nor of the mother and queen who at that time was spending her life in Thessalonica. This, indeed, caused great sorrow for her and filled her with thoughts full of suspicion. For she already despaired of her own safety if, after the death of the son, others were called to take up the care of the empire—

and she least of all. ^A For she said that it was not possible for her, being a lady, to be granted the right to live by the Great Domestic Cantacuzenus and his mother, who had been brought into the administration and governance of imperial affairs so unexpectedly, and who had been her enemies for a long time. Therefore, and because she was placed in a tight spot and had no time to plan otherwise for her own situation, she immediately summoned and adopted Syrgiannes, who was at that time the governor of Thessalonica and was staying there, and she entrusted her life and soul to him. At the same time, she commanded the Thessalonians to take an oath under this administrator and to promise that they would always recognize her as their mistress and lady, and fight for her until their last breath; and that if her son the emperor were to die, they would preserve the succession of the empire for the child yet to be born, undisturbed and untainted. These things having been accomplished in this way, they kindled a great fire of scandals for the time to come, as we shall say later. But now we must return to that point.

III. Regarding the Despot Constantine

III. For Constantine the Despot, with the other prisoners, as we have said, having been released and having shown himself for a short time, disappeared. For when night came, he was hidden in obscure recesses by the court nobles. ^C For they feared that if the emperor died, an uproar might arise among the people, as much for other reasons as for the letter K and the rumor which had long been rashly tossed about because of it; and so they treated him in this way. For there was a common rumor that the succession to the empire, after the old emperor had died, was fated for one whose name began with the letter K. Hence, because this man was also called Constantine, he was an object of suspicion.

IV. The Emperor is forced into a monastery

IV. Against the old emperor, they devised many ways of wickedness, all of which led to the same end. They gave him the choice of which he preferred: either to put on the monastic habit, or to undergo any other evil—and these were either slaughter, or most bitter exile, or violent abduction to the fortress of oblivion. ^D The most vehement minister of all these things was the protostrator Theodore Synadenus. The emperor, however, suddenly overwhelmed by such a storm of dangers, lay for a long time on his bed without a voice. For what else could he do—unless he were made of iron, or had obtained a heart of adamant—when many foreign and savage soldiers were swarming around him, while all his own household had been cast out, and there was no one present to guide the man, who could see neither where he stood nor where he should turn? But not to make a long story of it, whether willing or unwilling, they struck him, and [index: entries preserved]

^A they clothed him in the monastic cowl, and changing his name, they called him Anthony. And these things happened in this manner.

V. The Emperor, meanwhile, at Didymoteichon, with no sign of life appearing other than a slight and very faint respiration, with his vital organs motionless and the extremities of his body dead, lay as one plainly deceased for two whole days. But on the third day, as if awakened somewhat from a deep sleep, he asked for the divine water of the most holy Mother of God, who is called the Fountain [(14)]. When this was immediately brought and poured over his head, he was revived, took food, and within a few days, his strength having returned, he recovered his former health.

VI. To Patriarch Isaiah, however, the event that had befallen the elder Emperor was most pleasing, for there remained to him no hope of empire, nor to himself any fear. He thought it necessary, however, to deliberate as to how mention of him should be made in the Church, if, he said, it should be made at all. Having therefore sent two of the bishops to him, I suppose in mockery, and feigning sadness and ignorance of the things that had occurred, he sought from him, and not from another, the vote and judgment of his deliberation. But he, gripped by most grievous pains of soul, drew a deep and ardent sigh from the bottom of his heart, and turning to them, opened his mouth and spoke these words:

VII. "Just as," he said, "a double miracle occurred in the case of Lazarus—that he both rose while dead, and walked while bound—so too it must needs be in my case. For behold, I am truly dead, submerged by many waves of calamities; and furthermore, I am bound, not only in hands and feet, but even in my very tongue, by which, if nothing else, I could at least announce my evils and the injustices done to me both to the air and to men (if any by chance might hear) and to the bitter darkness in which I now dwell. Confusion has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to the sons of my mother; and the light of my eyes, even it is not with me. My friends and my neighbors stood against me. And all who saw me mocked me. But my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was jealous of the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners. Formerly, indeed, the empire gave these privileges to the Church, which are observed even to this day. But again, the Church granted to the empire, that it might declare as patriarch whomsoever it wished from among those designated. Him, however, I not only designated, but I myself also chose, and set ahead of many men who were conspicuous and illustrious in doctrine: a man who had grown old in private life, distinguished by neither priesthood nor any other thing. I pass over how many times I brought him aid and

an old man who had grown old in a private station, and who had attained neither priesthood nor any station of prominence. I need not say how many favors and benefits I had offered him thereafter. And now, when he ought to be helping me and even rewarding my kindness, he works in league with my tormentors, becoming more cruel to me than any other executioner ^A. Then he asks me how I wish for mention of me to be made in the Church, feigning both sorrow and ignorance of the things that have been done against me, acting in this no differently than the Egyptian crocodile which the Nile, irrigating Egypt, brings forth: for when it has killed one of the animals living there with it, it sits upon the carcass and bathes its own head in hot tears. I, however, can find no response for the questions posed to me with such pretense. For if I should say that I ought to be called Emperor, I would be killed immediately by those who hold me in chains for that very reason. But if I should say I am the monk Antonios, this would be taken as a confession by those who distort our affairs, as if I had put on the monastic habit not under constraint, but of my own free will and choice.

Ⅷ. Having spoken these things and more to them, but giving no response to the things they sought to learn, he sent them away. Then, sitting upon his bed, he said, “Return, O my soul, to thy rest, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee” (Ps. CXIV, 7). Nor did he utter any word thereafter to testify to his grief; whether he bridled his tongue with a singular wisdom, or whether, on account of the magnitude of his grief, he passed over his own calamity even against his will, without shedding tears, his soul being bound ^B by a listless stupor and a kind of numbness before the moisture gathered in his brain could dissolve into a flood of tears. For even the sun, when it sends forth moderate rays, draws up many winds and humors from there; but when they are excessively sharp, it consumes those same things before it can draw them up. In like manner also, if the passions of the soul exist among us in moderation, they do not refuse to declare with words the flame conceived in the heart. But those that exceed the measure cast the mind down, as it were, from its station in confusion, and they are wont to urge one of two things—though they appear to accomplish neither—namely, that you either say anything at all rather than what is proper, or nothing more than what is proper. To confirm this sentiment, that I might draw something from the memory of antiquity: when Cambyses the Persian, having departed from Susa, had attacked Egypt with a war, the king of the Egyptians, having been captured along with his kingdom, ^C seeing his children dragged to death without any clemency, did not utter even a word, but sat silent, his head bowed, and cast his eyes upon the ground. But when he had seen one of his own familiars—who in Egypt had flourished in safety, wealth, and the splendor of fortune, but now wandered about begging in rags, covered with tatters, in the hope that he might receive a crumb of bread from someone—then he struck his own head and, with a deep sigh, called out his companion by name, bathing his words in tears, as it were. Then, being asked by Cambyses the cause, why he had neither wept nor said anything on account of his children, yet had wept for and addressed his friend,

^A he is said to have replied that the suffering of his children was too great for tears, but that the case of his friend, who had fallen from such great dignity to such misfortune in the final threshold of his old age, was not so great that it was not right to weep for it.

IX. Furthermore, the patriarch decreed that the elder emperor should be commemorated before the grandson, with this formula: "The most religious and most Christian emperor, the monk Antonius." But before four days had passed, the Protostrator, hearing the people whispering in their houses, in the forums, at the gates, and everywhere about the elder emperor—that he had been treated unjustly, that he had been emperor, and would have been again after the grandson had died, excluding any other, for the monastic rule could not be a law to force those against their will and under tyrannical duress to don the cowl—decided to rage again, piling injury upon injury. Thus, he sent men to the elder emperor to demand a written oath from him, by which he would promise that he would never seek the imperial power, nor accept it if offered, nor promote any other person to it. "If not," he said, "this very day your life is at stake." At the same time, he ordered those foreign mercenaries to surround him again. ^B Fearing for his life, he again unwillingly did this; and because he was blind, being led by the hand by another, he applied two signs of the most holy cross, a red one above and a black one below, and thus was permitted to live.

X. At this time, in the borders of the Persians, an underground tower was discovered, full of innumerable thousands of coins of the purest gold. Latin merchants, having received not a few of these, exported them to every part of the earth and sea, knowing that they were in demand because of the purity of the gold; each one of them had become worth three common Byzantine gold coins to many of the citizens of Byzantium. ^C

CAPUT XI. Vain prophecies are brought to Byzantium from Italy and Colchis. Gregoras, at the insistence of friends, undertakes to refute them. An epistle which he wrote to a friend on this matter.

I. At that time, writings brought to Byzantium from the Italians and also from as many as live in the Colchis as offshoots of the Persians, full of arrogance and foolish pride, and filled with childish and inept predictions—the likes of which flute-players and dancing-girls in the brothels serve up to their lovers. For if there is any other thing, ignorance is certainly the most effective of all things for persuading vain and arrogant men of anything. ^D For if anything at all—and to me this seems the most effective of all, even more than raw ignorance—is capable of persuading the more frivolous…

to rush into any unconsidered temerity, or to incite them to take up any project without counsel, whatever thought may arise in their light minds, most of my friends have urged me to refute and expose them. ^A With what intent I know not; perhaps wishing to put me to the test—just as those who contend in the Olympic games are accustomed to drive horses destined for the contest through various fields—or perhaps gathering from it some pleasure for themselves. For there is nothing else among all things that follows so surely upon the soul’s delight as seeing and hearing those things for which one feels desire. It is, in fact, similar to one who offers the most pleasant water to the thirsty or, for those parched in the summer heat, provides by some art a cooling zephyr. ^B Yet different people desire different things, according to the capacity of each person’s faculty of judgment; from this judgment, as from a cause and root, arises the appetite, and from it, we are led as if by the hand to various other studies, such as the many and diverse things which heaven and earth suggest. Now, for the choice of such desires, if not all men absolutely, certainly the majority would, I think, accept; but as for its unseasonableness and its gluttony, that I do not at all. For while I would never myself willingly forbid the searching out of any one of the things that are fitting, I would very strongly forbid it at just any time or season, and for just any person who desires it. For neither does the appropriate moment exist at every time, nor does it become every person to desire everything; but there is also a time filled with unseasonableness, and a desire often full of slavery. ^C But since these things had to be granted, as it once seemed right to us, having resolved to accept the burdens of such things, such as they might be, and to show favor to them as much as was locally feasible, we closed neither our ears nor our tongue to them; but we refuted some of those things that were written, sparingly and with moderation. In which, no one who is a studious follower of opportunity and prudence, nor anyone who has heard, I believe, will blame us. As for those other things comprised in that writing, we passed over them in silence, because in most of them a vain and importunate temerity seemed to exult insolently. But as for those things which we said to a friend in the form of a letter—lest importunate detractors ^D should imagine that our own ignorance was the cause of our honest silence—we now propose these for reading for the sake of illustrating the history, if by chance any wish to have them known.

II. A Letter on Monstrosities

II. “For,” I said, “whatever of the things now being said sets forth a leader for itself and clearly allows it its proper autonomy, these things also necessarily draw the mind as an overseer and await a tongue judging with knowledge. But those things which, having rejected the laws of all harmony, travel with a fugitive foot beyond the borders of scientific definitions, these know neither how to draw the mind as an overseer, nor can they tolerate any discourse as an interpreter.”

^A They are rejected most vehemently, being clearly the diseases of nature and, as it were, the dissonant sounds of a broken lyre. Wherefore, best of friends, I am struck with great wonder at how you can compel me, your friend, toward such trifles, and force me to adapt my tongue to refute these patent inanities, which burst forth frequently from the Epizephyrian abysses—like spontaneous rivulets from the craters of Vulcan—and, moreover, those which, in number and abundance, resembling winter snows ^B from the upper continent (that is, from Colchis), come pouring down. For we would also perform an injury to the rules of science and to ourselves, if we were to apply such rules to these people. For one to voluntarily surrender oneself to corrupt habits and discourse is not far from malice, nor is it free from censure, but it carries with it an invidious reproach like a hereditary stain. For what highest degree of ignorance do they not transcend—those whose unbridled speech is wont to fabricate matters most remote from llbracket450 the truth; or those lazy and childish clamors that the inhabitants of the higher region stir up; and this, while they profess the science of the Persians and Chaldaeans? ^C For if the entire method and heaven of the Chaldaeans and Persians comes to this—that for this reason it revolves the courses of the stars well and composedly through the sphere of the aether, so as to predict to scribes the increase of profit at the beginning of spring, but to old men, diseases at the end of summer—truly, it will seem a witty thing to those who desire to disparage the utility of the art, and a pretext for insults to those who rail from the cart, and to all those who compose dramas full of stuff for the stage. I, however, would also with laughter marvel at this: that they have not predicted that many oaks would bear acorns, and that briars would prick the hands of those touching them; and that a weasel, if it gave birth, would be the mother of its own offspring; and that there would be heat in summer and cold in winter, and all other things obvious to all—if not to cattle, at least certainly to men. ^D But lest you yourself be afflicted with annoyance, and the gravity of the discipline, being plunged into such filth, become a laughingstock, come, let us walk in the middle path and refute a few of these southern triflers—or rather, to speak more correctly, these earthly planets who defame the aetherial province with many lies—so that the whole fabric may be unraveled from the hem, just like that web of Penelope. They say that winds will be stirred up, from which human bodies are to be corrupted. I, however, would like to know the causes of this corruption. For if the wind were anything other than a certain impulse and division of the air, perhaps the assertion would have some basis in reason. For what else are they, when they pass through anything, than those things which either cut through and permeate it by corporeal transit—like stone and iron and things which of their own nature are harder than the air—or by the distribution of their quality; this is what those things do that are fluid and plainly cognate to the nature of the air, such as odors, colors, [index: entries preserved]

^A lightning flashes, and whirlwinds. Yet even if the wind were to pass through such things in any manner—either by dividing the air and displacing its place, or by being mixed into it via the distribution of a dangerous quality—a manifest destruction would immediately follow upon all generation. But now, on the contrary, we see that it fills us always with a complete tempering. For the wind is nothing other than a stronger impetus and a sort of diffusion of the air, which always surrounds us in abundance; and we enjoy it insofar as it is granted to each of us, however abundantly it may follow us.

That matter, however, perhaps demands also divination, and I do not have anything to determine. Those same people ^B say that cities and trees and mountains, with all the winds stirred up at once, will be overturned and displaced. But how precisely will these things be displaced and moved, when all the winds, as they say, are blowing from opposite directions and are destined to surround them? For indeed, that a house or a tree should be overturned on one side by the impulse and violent force of a single wind would be nothing new, nor would it be abhorrent to experience. But when very many blow from opposite directions at once, they will certainly not overturn anything at all. For when the impression of one is broken and restrained by the contrary impression of another, from that equal violence on both sides, the object ^C onto which the force is applied will remain unshaken and stable in the middle. Furthermore, that winds move from opposite directions at once, neither does Aristotle grant that it is according to nature, nor does the duration of time show it to be true.

But there is something that almost escaped me: they establish the meeting of Mars and Saturn in a single sign as the cause of the battle of the winds, and before these, some eclipse of the sun. Now if these things should appear to be blatantly false, being the starting points of what follows, then all the things deduced from them would necessarily appear false as well; just as if one were to cut the root of a tree, immediately the life of the topmost branches also dies. Yet at this time, Saturn and Mars are not only not in one sign, ^D but they cannot even meet together after two continuous years have revolved. For Mars, having long since left Saturn at the fifteenth degree of Leo, is already passing into the claws of Scorpio. And as for an eclipse of the sun, neither the whole of this present summer, nor the autumn that will follow after it, will perceive one—even if all men and all birds were to affirm it. The teacher for you in this matter, for the sake of thoroughly understanding the truth, will be both time and sense. For there is nothing that can less contradict the demonstration of science than sense and experience. For, as the Philosopher says, sense breeds experience, and experience provides the principles for science. Just as, therefore, when grain is sown in the earth, an ear can be born, but without seed not even a sprout should be expected; so it is in this matter: if there will be an eclipse of the sun, or if Saturn and Mars are going to meet, perhaps then they might be able to say that there will be whirlwinds and the overturning of cities and mountains from the root.

^A But if those things do not happen, it necessarily follows that every mountain and every city is to remain in its own place. For we are not ignorant that when that which is done for the sake of something else, and which is the cause of another thing, is removed, the effects themselves and those things for whose sake that was about to happen are also necessarily removed at the same time. These men, however, have fallen into this absurdity, in that they have not considered that which is the cause to be the cause, and have considered that which is not the cause to be the cause. For some configurations of the stars signify certain events, while others signify different ones, some to exist in a short time, others after a longer interval. But these men were not even able to understand this, and they brought forward extraneous causes, wandering far from the path: no differently than if someone, because it rained while Themistocles was going from Megara to Athens, were to impute that chance event to Themistocles; or, again, to Croesus, because, when he was crossing the Halys, the sun at that time had ascended above the horizon. ^B For indeed, even in the absence of Themistocles, nature ordains that rains should be poured out; and from the time the Lydian departed, the sun continues, after every night, none the less to ascend above the horizon. There were six hundred other things by which we might convict them, which we omit because of the tedium of prolixity. For to treat a beautiful argument beautifully, however prolix it may be, is not without its own praise. But to do the same in trifles and absurd matters has nothing of praise and is little removed from the ridiculous. Therefore it is said that Philip mocked his son Alexander because he played the cithara beautifully and in tune; for he said it was disgraceful for a high-born man to show his talent in base things. ^C

Chapter XII.

1. In the approaching spring, when it was clear that the King of Serbia would not be quiet unless he had avenged himself upon Michael for the injury and insult done to his sister; because he had, for no reason, divorced her—though she was his lawful wife, by whom he had also fathered children who were to be heirs of the kingdom—and had married the sister of the Emperor: Michael sends envoys to the Emperor and urges him that, passing through the Roman provinces, he should make an incursion into the land of the Triballi. ^D For he himself would also bring arms to bear against him with great forces, so that, being unable to sustain two wars, he might become weaker, having lost much territory on every side. And so they prepared themselves for the expedition until the end of spring.

II. But when summer was now beginning, the Emperor, to whom arriving...

at the strength of the Cralis—his own forces not being sufficiently great—camped having moved to a certain plain in the region of the Pelagonians, where neighboring small towns also existed which were subject to the Romans, lying in wait there to hear from the other side into which place the stronger incursion of Michael into the Triballians might happen to turn, so that he himself might then carry out what seemed advantageous. But then, around the twelfth hour on the sixteenth day of July, a solar eclipse occurred, not less than eleven digits, observed by one living on the parallel running through Byzantium; at which time the sun was passing through the twenty-fourth degree of Cancer, and the beginning of the eclipse, as it showed, was from the middle of the Iapygius and Thrascias, while the end was nearly from the beginning of the Subsolanus.

III. Regarding the War of Michael and the Cralis

^B III. Michael, however, having assembled a very large army—twelve thousand of his own countrymen, and three thousand others of Scythian mercenaries—made an incursion through the northernmost part of Mount Haemus into the land of the Triballians, where indeed the sources of the river Strymon are. Having spent four continuous days in the enemy’s territory, he ravaged the fields with iron and fire with impunity, cut down trees, and laid waste the whole region, with no one meanwhile raising arms against him. On the fifth day, however, at the rising of the sun, the Cralis of Serbia also appeared, bringing with him a heavy force, which by the splendor of their armor obscured the sight of those who beheld them. And when both armies were arrayed and the standards raised, the Cralis, having vigorously exhorted his own ranks to fight, himself charged against Michael’s standard, having with him a thousand Gallic cavalry, distinguished for the size of their bodies and the strength of their endurance, and highly trained and equipped in the experience of war. ^C And having broken this with not much effort, he ran against the battle-line of Michael; and having trampled down much of the army around him, and having cast them down, he captured Michael alive but wounded. The rest of the Bulgarian army was for the most part cut down there; those who survived returned home with naked bodies. Michael, however, saw the sun for three days alive from that time, being so affected that he could scarcely understand his misfortune, but on the fourth day he departed, his body not being able to endure any longer against the severity of his wounds. The Emperor, having learned what had happened, returned with all speed to Byzantium, having neither done anything nor suffered anything.

IV. But since, as we have often said, no prosperity of life among men continues to the end uncorrupted and free from envy, neither did fateful necessity fail here; but a severe and beyond-measure horrific storm blew back against the bright successes of the Cralis, which overwhelmed and submerged all the joys of life for him, and took away his very life itself. And the matter stands thus.

He had a son, in his twenty-second year, born of a different wife, whom he was educating with great care for the succession to the principate. ^A But since he himself—being a man of fifty—had married the daughter of the Caesar, and had begun to beget children by her before he had betrothed a wife to his son, the boy was carried away into suspicions and fears, such as his contemporaries were likely to sow in his burgeoning soul; and he began to contemplate defection and rebellion against his father. Seeing him in this state, the grandees, generals, and commanders who were there, and all those who had received offices of authority from his father over time, approached him privately one by one and fanned in him thoughts of defection. ^B And not many days later, having taken him, they made him a warrior against his father and acclaimed him Emperor—the Cralis of Serbia. When, over the course of many days, the entire flower of the army had gradually flowed to him, they brought his father to him bound, without any struggle, and soon cast him into prison—perhaps against the son's will, for he was deeply aggrieved, yet he remained silent, not daring to oppose the fury of the populace. For he feared that something more serious might be devised against himself, even if he did not expect it. A few days later, they strangled his father in chains, those sweet successes having turned into a bitter end; and they confirmed and established the principate for the son. Immediately having gone forth with him, they ravaged the Roman province as far as the Strymon and Amphipolis, and having captured Strummitza and other small towns, they subjugated them.

CHAPTER XIII.

I. In the following year, when the Emperor heard that the Bulgarian realm was being pulled apart both by the former wife of Michael and by the kinsmen of the same Michael (for the Emperor's sister had barely escaped from there with her life), ^D there being many there contending and laying claim to the principate, the Emperor selected a sufficient army and attacked the small towns near the Haemus. He captured almost everything without effort, as the inhabitants willingly gave themselves over to him. Among other things, the fortified and populous city named Mesembria, situated by the sea, also surrendered. While the Emperor was staying there for the most part with the soldiers, he immediately began to be burdensome, both because the city lacked the necessary supplies for them, and because money had been consumed.

^A But when, after many struggles over the sovereignty, the victory went to Alexander, the nephew of Michael, and he had firmly secured the power of the principality, he gathered the Bulgarian army, and having also taken a not inconsiderable number of mercenaries from the Scythians, he invaded the neighboring land of the Romans and drove as far as Orestias; and having collected much booty, and having brought many of the small towns around the Haemus to state their submission and caused them to return again to the customs of the Bulgarians, he returned home rejoicing with much of the spoils.

^B II. During this same time, the barbarians also took Nicaea, that great and celebrated city, after it had been besieged for a long time by famine and by the army; and they brought many of the sacred icons and books from there to Byzantium, and sold them for money, along with the relics of two holy women. Now, the barbarians, having already safely established their residences on the coast of Bithynia, imposed very heavy taxes upon the few small towns that were left; and because these were paid to them, they did not entirely destroy those towns along with their inhabitants, although they could very easily have done so in a very short time. Yet they do not cease to conduct frequent raids and to capture the majority of those wretched people by both land and sea always.

^C III. The great logothete Metochites, however, upon returning from his exile, did not lodge at his own house; for long ago, as we have said, when the emperor entered Byzantium, it had been destroyed and laid completely waste by the populace. Instead, he lodged opposite and nearby, at the holy monastery of the Chora, which he himself had previously restored at great expense, seeing it being dreadfully worn down by the onsets of time. For this had originally been built by the Emperor Justinian in an oblong shape. ^D Then, when time had crushed it down to its foundations, the mother-in-law of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus built another temple, of the shape in which it is now seen. But when the injury of time once again threatened ruin, this man—save for the very middle of the temple—generously and thoroughly restored everything. And so, when everything else of his had finally perished, this became for him a saving harbor for both body and soul in his time of need. Therefore, as he looked upon the holy monastery, his mind was soothed with secret pleasure; for...

as he beheld the desolation of his house from afar, and again perceived the soul filled with fire and flame—such as such misfortunes and calamities are wont to kindle—and pondered on how much he had been subjected to the insatiable vengeance of ^A fortune, he was astonished that the very flooring of that splendid house, with all the beauty it contained, had been stripped away. But what had never before been conceived in any age, or devised by any other person, is what has now been done to him. For the entire floor was ripped up and sent as a gift to the prince of the Western Scythians, who was demanding a more splendid floor to adorn his own residence. Furthermore, Metochites had been forbidden by those who administered the empire from having any communion of speech with the elder emperor, so that he was permitted to address the sovereign neither in person nor through an intermediary. And this too was no small addition of grief to the man. ^B

CHAPTER XIV.

I. Now the time requires that we also recount the end of the elder emperor, which many portents presaged. They were of the following kind. First, an eclipse of the sun, which preceded his death by as many days as he himself had lived years. Following this obscuration of the sun, an eclipse of the moon succeeded; and to ^C this, in turn, succeeded an earthquake on the evening of the day of St. Anthony, whose name had been given to him, and whose memory was celebrated by Christians according to ancient custom. As for the twelfth day of February, the evening of which was to be followed by his sudden decease, a violent wind erupted from the abysses of the south, and the sea waves were so raised that, having exceeded their limits, they battered many parts of the eastern and maritime walls of Byzantium, and smashed many of the gates in that quarter, and rushing in like an enemy, inundated many of the houses within.

II. At that time, moreover, many iron crosses that had been placed upon the temples fell, unable to endure the violence of the wind. A column also, which had once been ^D placed before the church of the Forty Martyrs, collapsed; that which was near the base...

had its part broken off by some burning, and it presented to those present the suspicion that it would immediately collapse, and a fear from that source which was not at all unreasonable. ^A Thus, when the emperor himself was passing by at one time, some of those around him prevented him from approaching it, fearing perhaps the danger. But he, mocking their cowardice, uttered words to this effect, as they happened to come to his lips: "Would that I might live as long as this column shall stand!" And since this, as he had spoken, did indeed come to pass at that time, it was a marvel to those who remembered his words.

III. Now when the sun was already hastening toward the setting, I too, according to custom, went to the emperor. For I was accustomed to visit him for the sake of companionship every third or fourth day. And so, having gone to him on this occasion also, as was the custom, and having sat beside him, I was enjoying his familiar conversation. ^B Indeed, he was accustomed to have learned and serious discussions with me, with a certain urbanity and grace. His daughter, Simonis the Kral-daughter, was also present, as were certain others who were of the same mind and disposition toward the emperor and the Kral-daughter as I, and who enjoyed the same intimacy with them as I did. This conversation of ours was prolonged until midnight, and indeed even until the first cockcrow, with no sign of any illness appearing in him.

IV. Then, "Go," he said, "farewell; the rest of our conversation shall all be told tomorrow." ^C And he himself, when food was brought, ate. Now the things he was eating were all shellfish, on account of the solemn fast of those days. After which, when he should have drunk undiluted wine, so that his aged stomach might be strengthened to digest that harder food, he used cold water instead. For it was his custom, whenever he felt his veins affected by excessive heat, to drink cold water immoderately, so that he might never have need of bloodletting. Having therefore used such a diet on this occasion also, he immediately began to be ill and to suffer gravely in his stomach and heart. ^D When he felt his breathing passages becoming obstructed and constricted, and perceived that death was now at hand, and found no one on account of the late hour who might impart the divine mysteries to him, all the gates around the palace being closed, he arose and gave thanks to God, and prayed for the salvation of his soul with abundant tears and many genuflections. Then, carrying as an eukolpion (41) the divine image of the Mother of God, he placed it into his mouth instead of the divine mysteries; and having sat on the bed, he immediately departed before the first cockcrow, no one having discovered his condition.

^A It is to be understood that the bed meant here was not his customary one, lying in the open, but one located in the innermost chamber, lying beside the side of the urinal. For from the moment he began to feel distressed and constrained, he would go into such a chamber for necessary purposes, withdrawing himself from the customary and open place of the bedroom, as often as he would reach [for relief] for his stomach even for a fraction of an hour. At the very end, unable to reach the bed, his nerves and the joints of his body having already been seized by numbness, he sat down in the aforementioned place and departed.

V. From this, we too were able easily to understand the solution to the oracle, which had previously been obscure to everyone. For long before, the emperor had found a book whose author was completely unknown, in which, by means of perplexed letters and obscure images, indications were contained regarding everyone who would ever be destined to hold the empire. In that book, as a sign of the character and prudence of this emperor, a fox had been attributed to him among other things; but his death was signified by a seat placed in such a location, and two youths standing by in black clothing, with their heads entirely uncovered. Now, the black clothing, the uncovered heads, and the two youths alone signified to the emperor the monastic cowl and the loss of the imperial diadem, and the two-year period to be spent thereafter. For he lived for two years in such garments. And I believe that I do not miss the mark regarding the proper solution, in setting forth such things concerning the oracle.

VI. At sunrise, they carried his corpse to the monastery called Libos, which his mother, the Lady Theodora, had renovated. There, indeed, the mourning was carried out according to custom for nine days.

Book Ten. Chapter 1

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TEN

CHAPTER I

Craliena, daughter of the deceased, presides over the mourning. Gregoras, urged by her, comes forward to sing a lamentation. Funeral lamentation. That the listeners might be moved by this oration. The age, appearance, and character of the dead prince. His liberality in dire poverty declared by two examples. Debt found after his death. The year of the world. The age of the nephew.

^A I. On the second day of mourning, when the emperor’s daughter Craliena (for she presided over the mourning) had urged me to chant some extemporaneous lamentation for the occasion, I came forward into the midst and, before a crowded assembly, delivered this oration:

II. The magnitude of this misfortune, O attendees, compels us to silence and to move about as if with deadened tongue, hearing, and thought, now that the vital ray of our sun has been extinguished and buried beneath the earth. Yet, that great thunder of grief, which alarms and strikes terror into the inhabited world, thoroughly convicts such silence in this place of great absurdity. For how is it fitting that, while the heavens above proclaim the magnitude of our mourning—having extinguished their own lights, the sun and the moon—and while the earth below, as you see, is shaken, and the sea stirs up with waves, and all these things evidently announce that the awareness of this calamity pertains to the universal world, we should conceal so great a loss in silence? ^B But you, O sun of the earth, into what earth have you set, abandoning us to be rendered lifeless by the frost of these misfortunes? O common soul of the Romans, where have you been carried off to? Alas for the sickle of time, what a head of the world it has cruelly harvested! What an eye of the cities it has gouged out! O who has extinguished the great torch of the commonwealth? O who has suddenly robbed us of a man so deserving of every beautiful and noble accomplishment? He was the foundation of the imperial order; but now he lies covered by a small stone. Alas, what a furnace of bitterness he has kindled in the hearts of all! He was one who would watch through entire nights, ^C ever wakeful, so that the Roman commonwealth might suffer no detriment; but now...

he sleeps that long sleep in the tomb. He was that sharp and honey-tongued speaker, that instrument of all and every kind of wisdom; but now he lies, keeping that long silence. O terrible message, which swiftly traversing land and sea alike, strikes the souls of all more cruelly than any sword! He was the great glory of the world and the most excellent archetype of erudition; but now a little dust dances upon his body. He was that sweet recital and commemoration of all tongues; but now bitter death has violently oppressed him.

But, oh, whence has such a sea of calamities suddenly surged upon us, more bitter than any sea? Whence have such tempests and waves of evils been stirred up to disturb our minds and strike us with stupor? What is this great tumult and clamor of men? Has some intolerable blow of terrifying thunderbolts, erupting from the heavens all at once, struck down mankind, casting some to the ground and leaving others wandering half-alive? There was, alas, a plague reserved for us miserable wretches for this very time, heavier than many celestial thunderbolts: I mean the death of the Emperor. Now, all mankind ought to have borrowed the voice of mighty thunder to institute a symphony resounding through the whole world and a most great public lamentation, so that the calamity might be declared as it deserves. Now, the stars, excelling in magnitude and beauty, ought to have gathered in one place to depict and most firmly engrave the most beautiful ^B signs of our Emperor: so that, just as the heavens declare the glory of God, even so, explaining his graces in all their revolutions, they might set him forth for posterity as the most illustrious archetype of imperial majesty. For he was the rule and plumb-line of the empire. He was the reverence and dignity of the priesthood and the most splendid lamp of the Church, but now he is hidden beneath a bushel. He was one who would steady the Church, as it were, when it tossed in a great storm, and change that storm into serenity, and stood as an immovable tower of its dogmas; but now, alas, he has fallen to the earth. He was the rule of morals and the ornament of human form; his very silence was a more useful admonition than the verbose precepts of others. For nature, from his first birth, had adorned him with a royal form full of dignity, tempered with gravity and beauty, and set him forth as a statue of modesty and majesty, which cheered and graced all things with a joy and placability full of charm; but now the recesses of the earth have laid claim to all these things. ^C O iniquitous tyranny of calamities! O deep night that has covered our eyes and does not allow us to see whither we go! O what storms of winds, erupting as if from a single cavern, hostilily disturb our minds and attempt to tear them out by the roots! O who has ravaged such a paradise of blessings by night! O how many lamentations, sighs, and wailings rise from earth to heaven, like smoke ^D

^A rising from a great fire in the hearts of each one! O who is eager to seek out the fountains of the Nile to provide a flood of tears, so that in this way they might be able to wash away the lamentations caused by the calamity that has seized the inhabited world! O you who, alone, have earned the many-sided titles of all things, O Emperor! For some call you a common father; others, a guardian, a protector, and a helper of the orphaned; others, a saving harbor and a strong provider; others, a trainer and teacher of every form of good, and a universal judge of all sorts of affairs in the world. ^B A worm often destroys the nature of wood, but the persistent thought of the Emperor now wounds our hearts more bitterly. Hail and fires of heavenly origin have often harmed the vines and the crops, but the loss of the Emperor has harmed us more. That garden was teeming with fruits of every kind and was, as it were, always in the season of spring; but now, alas for the suffering, the flames of death have withered it. O builder of many cities in Asia, I say, and in Europe, and I shall not hesitate to add, even of this Queen of Cities, which long ago that great Constantine—a man of a character like your own—founded, and which you, indeed, raised up when it had fallen to its knees! For all the elegance and adornment of that former structure had perished and vanished, having changed into the yoke of slavery; and the matter had reached such a point that your royal throne had become a lodging ^C for Latin raiders and a dwelling for profane men. But you stood forth as a second founder of it. You removed the accusations against the Church and against dogmas, and you firmly stabilized it when it was threatening ruin; you renewed its former beauty with walls, temples, and houses. O great and sacred duty, by which you have bound all the faithful, as many as shall exist hereafter, unto you; unto you, I say, who have deserved well of all, and who are the supreme defender of our true faith! Alas! How is it that you, to whom nothing can be said to be equal, have passed away like a flower of the field! Behold, the very elements mourn you, and there is a danger that they might overwhelm us. Behold, because of your departure, even the walls of cities are collapsing, and columns that stood for many ages are being torn down. But give me my ark, which contains ^D our great treasure, so that I may see how it is able to swim upon rivers of tears. For the tears which all mortals are shedding in abundance will easily support that [ark], as the ark of Noah was supported by the abundance of waters. Indeed, that [ark] snatched those whom it carried from the flood; this one, on the contrary, has cast us into a thousand tempests of floods. O horrendous calamity, O unusual evening that, which showed me the opposite of that Davidic song: "For in the evening," he says, "he will lodge for evening gladness and in the morning for weeping." (Ps. XXIX, 6). Alas, what is this, and how absurd an inversion, which has tempered for me a cup more bitter than any wormwood? O that night, which was inclement even as it was hostile and inhuman toward the most clement and most humane, being rejected by all benevolence and modesty! O greatest treasure of good things, O Emperor, why do you leave us who desire you

^A as if we were your enemies? For all have enjoyed your good things as from a common storehouse. For through you, the noble have become nobler, and the body of priests more venerable, and the college of the wise wiser, and the walls of the cities stronger; and, to express it simply, we have all become better than ourselves through you. But oh, the measureless and inextricable web of disasters! The governance of the world has perished; the ornament of the cities has perished; the gymnasium of rhetors and philosophers has perished, which excelled every Academy, every Lyceum, and the Attic Stoa. Who will give water to our heads and fountains of tears to our eyes, so that we may lament new evils, graver than those of the Jerusalemites? Give me the faculty of Orpheus in tragic lamentations, so that I might move even inanimate natures to ^B commiseration for this evil. Give me those who formerly mourned Sion from the depths of their hearts by the rivers of Babylon, so that they might also worthily mourn our sorrows, which the Emperor's death has brought upon us. Alas, how our sun has looked down upon us and deceived us beyond all expectation, and instead of a morning rising has undergone a morning setting! Why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those who are afflicted with sorrows? It is more desirable to die than to continually eat the bread of sorrow and drink the cup of lamentation. For he has indeed transitioned to a divine and immortal kingdom by a just remuneration; but we, left as orphans, will never cease to sigh and weep miserably, so long as we carry the memory of his removal in our souls. ^C But it is necessary to bring this oration to an end. For lamentations for the Emperor's death exceed every discourse.

1. After I had recited these things,

most part.

IV. He was finishing his seventy-fourth year ^A from his birth when he died, and his fiftieth from the time he received the scepter of the empire. He was tall in stature, handsome and very venerable in countenance; from his very birth he bore before him something imperial and formidable; yet not merely and unmixedly so, but just as the light of the sun's ray mingles with the air and forms his color, and as native sweetness is added to honey, so also an unfeigned gentleness, tempered by a certain charming grace of his character, appeared as his color and his spontaneous quality. For nature had poured much cheerfulness upon his face, much serenity upon his eyes, and a bright harmony of sound upon his tongue. By spreading both joy and gravity over his entire demeanor, he made something pleasant and divine manifest. All these things were very clear messengers of his unspoken character and of his soul.

^C V. In order that I may also declare the disposition of his mind, I shall make mention of one or two of his deeds. A little before his death, while living in poverty and in lack of necessities, since he could not endure the intensity of the cold (for winter was then at its most severe), he ordered a night garment of fox-fur to be made for him. But when all his opulence was searched, no more than three gold pieces were found. Therefore it was necessary to buy for this much a garment that would be a ready comfort to him in the cold. But while this plan was still being considered, one of his old acquaintances lamented the present poverty that pressed upon him so cruelly that he was already in open danger of death. Led by pity for him, he gave those three coins; preferring, as far as it lay with him, to die himself rather than to be a spectator of the calamities of others. Let this, therefore, be one sign of his kindness. Take this second one: when the sons of the physicians interdicted his long-term consumption of cold water, and he himself refused the drinking of wine, he took a middle path and, with great difficulty and by means of a borrowed gold piece, he bought a small portion of the sweet liquids that are brought from Egypt and Arabia, in order that he might thereby temper and lighten the raw quality of the cold water. But before he had tasted of this, another of his old household servants approached him again, seeking a brief consolation for a long illness. And he, having nothing else with which he might console the man, ordered that the remedy, which had been prepared for the sake of his own infirmity, be given to him as well. Such was his hu- ^D

^Amanity and his compassion for those who were ill.

VI. Furthermore, upon his death, debt was found, but not even a single coin was discovered anywhere. Such was the end he met in the year from the creation of the world six thousand eight hundred and forty; at which time the Emperor Andronicus was completing his thirty-sixth year of age.

CHAPTER II.

Metochites is afflicted by three evils. He assumes the monastic habit. He dies. Gregoras undertakes the duty of lamentation. A monody, or funeral lament. The grieving of relatives. A brief eulogy of Metochites.

1. Thirty days later, the great Logothete Metochites departed this life, having been overcome by three ^Bgreatest evils affecting both body and soul. For he had long been suffering from the disease of strangury. Then, when his sons were also seized and cast into a more severe prison, the attendant grief aggravated the force of his malady. Shortly thereafter, the death of the Emperor followed, which brought him to despair regarding the state of all things and weakened his nature to the utmost, as the nerves of the principal organs were relaxed and his vital strength was failing. On this account, having assumed the monastic habit, he passed away. But because I, too, as was fitting, was of the number of those who mourned him most deeply, I delivered this funeral oration ^Cconcerning him:

II. For me, ^BO those present, the same thing has happened as with a ship suddenly surrounded by contrary winds, whose stern, while it is about to sink, is overwhelmed from the side by another wave before it can settle itself. For before I had shaken off that first and greatest calamity of the Emperor’s death, this other one which has attacked me today—like wave upon wave, like storm upon storm—has severely overwhelmed me and cast me down into the abysses and depths of disasters, alas! O soul, why did you not fly away at once? Why do you still remain in this miserable body? Alas, why has my body not been snatched away by grief, but still...

^A continues to endure such onsets of waves? Do you endure, my wretched tongue; why has time stored you up for such lamentations? Alas for the continuity of evils; alas for the reversal of affairs! For those whom we always possessed as indestructible bulwarks and brilliant consolations against calamities, these today marshal against us cohorts of disasters. And do we still subsist and not cease from lamenting? Where is the fellowship of the wise? Where are the contentions and noble skirmishes of the learned? Where are the assemblies of the orators, the applause, and the theaters, far more splendid than those Panathenaea? Everything has vanished; everything has departed into dust. O most cruel time, how did you dare, from the middle of the world, to cruelly remove the metropolis of wisdom? How did you overthrow the citadel of the Word through your snares? How do you continuously play the youth against us, neither taking any respite nor being sated by the food of disasters? Yesterday you took away from us the greatest emperor; today his most skillful minister, Nestor the counselor, he who alone was sufficient for such a great emperor. Yesterday [you took] the bride-chamber of the Graces, today the vestibule of the Graces. Yesterday the spring of good things; today the swallow ^B that heralded such a spring. Yesterday the great and incomparable mind; today the sharp-witted herald of that mind. Yesterday the ears and the great utterances of that tongue; today the Academy and the Peripatetics and the Stoa of that tongue and those utterances. Yesterday the Muses; today the living and breathing Museum. Yesterday the firmest bulwark of piety and the dogmas; today the dogmatic panoply. Yesterday the rule and plumb-line of the priesthood; today the sacred armory. But what laments, what sighs combined, could ever be equal to our evils? For I judge, I judge indeed, that if the whole sea were turned into a nature of tears, and all the rivers that irrigate the earth were changed into an abundance of tears, even so the magnitude of the calamities by which we are now oppressed could not be sufficiently shown. He was the best pilot of the Roman flagship; this one ^C was the most diligent inspector of the Great Bear and the pole. He foresaw the clearings and the clouds of the cities and the storms looming thence; this one directed the sails, the ropes, and the moorings well. He was the storehouse of prudence; this one was the skilled steward of that man’s prudence. But now death, that hostile soldier, having rapidly attacked—alas for the grief!—has buried both in earth and dust. O how ^D this evil not only raced over the earth, but now has reached even the heavens themselves and the stars, and has touched the upper reaches! But come now, every remnant of the company of the learned, if any remain, lament the fountain of the Word that has been stopped. Lament the tongue, which formerly spoke most sweetly and with such melody, now silent, and that sweet nectar poured out upon the ground.

^A Lament the one who exalted the glory of the Romans with his wisdom more than the Socratic and Platonic figures of the Athenians of old. Lament the vessels of all wisdom, emptied in a moment into the earth. But O, who has snatched away the Helicon of the Muses from the midst of the inhabited world? Who has covered with earth the Olympus of wisdom? Who has extinguished the lamp that illuminated the eyes of our souls and deftly opened the eyelids of our intellect? Who has destroyed this art of arts and science of sciences? Who has brought the heavenly man down to the foundations of Hades? Long ago, indeed, Greece lamented Athens, the hearth of eloquence, when the Lacedaemonian Lysander, having run ^B towards them treachorously, tore them down. But we today are not even able to lament worthily the whole of Greece, which has sunk down along with Athens itself. For this one man was everything. O Muses, and discourses, and virtues, and all learning, how have you imitated so quickly the wild lilies of the field, raised swiftly to high glory, but dried up and cast down even more swiftly? For your divine cell, that great and famous place of your lodging, having now descended under the earth and corruption, has also brought down your glory along with it. This was the man who surpassed with his voice all the philosophers and orators whom all ages celebrate; but alas, he lies now in dust and tomb, mute. This was the man who, with mind and tongue, measured ^C the heavens and the earth, more accurately than with any plumb line or level, but now a small stone measures him. This was the finest dioptra of the great horizons and parallels of heaven and earth, this was the excellent and naturally gifted horoscopus; but now, before the time, O misery, a small horizon of the earth embraces him. This was the man who expended great effort, lest in the future the Greeks be misled in their judgments of the ancient sages. This was the man who rendered the wisdom of star-contemplating science easy. This was the man who disentangled the labyrinths of the Aristotelian tongue, but now the dark labyrinths of the tomb are bitterly ^D entangled around him. This was the rule of the finest modesty and temperance; but now death has shamelessly cut him down. Or how has this present time in a brief moment conquered all past times in its lamentations? For though many suns have passed, it has not been able to inflict such a loss upon the whole of human nature until this day; yet in our age, it has done so most easily. For yesterday it seized the greatest and most beautiful goods; and those things that remained today, it has returned to take away as well. Yesterday it hid the sun of the earth in the depths of the earth; now it has also hidden the daystar along with it. Yesterday it took away the musical harmony; today its magadis and its strings. Oh, how he who accomplished that the heavens, which for a long time had been silent, should declare the glory of God, now himself is silent in the grave? Alas, how he himself, dead and motionless, causes living and restless grief to me in my misery; which all day long pierces my heart more sharply than any sword, and rather all the nights, if anything greater can be said? For during the day, the frequent gatherings of acquaintances, and the beauty of the heavens and the earth, and the things contained in them, perhaps avert the mind from grief and draw it away for a little while; but at night, when leisure is provided, and there is nothing to prevent it, all the pains of our calamities rush in together; and my breast and memory being occupied, as if by savage dogs, they tear and pull hither and thither and

^A stranglingly constrict me. ^B Oh, how often, when I looked upon him, did I consider him to be the advent of all wisdom among men, having assumed a soul and body and living among men, so that he might make his hearers wise and repair the shipwrecks of knowledge! Oh, how often was I even in danger of believing in some transmigration of souls, and that the souls of all—of Homer, Plato, and Ptolemy, and all others who have been enriched by an eloquent tongue—had run together and dwelt in this one body, as if using it like a ten-thousand-ton vessel! But now, such a great and illustrious man—alas for my calamity!—has departed into the grave and dust, having kindled a great torch of grief within my breast. For he could not, in truth, live without his soul and breath. And his soul and breath, and whatever else was naturally suited to give him life, was nothing other than that divine emperor, that man superior to man, who, while still living, strove to exalt him far above all others, showing clearly that so great an emperor needed as minister the most prudent of all men dwelling on the earth, the one who surpassed all in every wisdom. But now, having departed from human affairs, he did not deem it right that he should be far removed from him for long, but quickly summoned him and took him to himself. If, therefore, he could not live here after the other’s departure, like a body separated from its soul—oh, what a conspiracy and union was that, which length of time had cemented with an indissoluble bond! And if, being summoned by him, he immediately cast off his body and ran to him—oh, the singular love and affection with which he fittingly followed his master! That Hercules of old, indeed, if the authors of myths have spoken the truth regarding these things, traveled the whole world so that it might be a witness to his labors. But these men, while remaining within their own borders, surpassed even the pillars of Hercules by their reputation alone, and turned toward themselves whatever the sun beholds. Now, however, they have departed from human affairs, having first consecrated themselves to immortality and left behind a memory in the souls of posterity that will live forever. But to us, deprived of such and so great defenses and bulwarks, what hope of any good is left? For the same fear now comes upon us that comes upon vines and new plants, if one allows them to be exposed to beasts and thickets ^C after the fences and hedges have been torn down. But indeed, what I have said, listeners, is entirely below the dignity of the man; but perhaps it is not below the affection of others. For dignity required his own eloquence, while the affection of others required my own spirit. ^D

III. When these things were spoken in this manner, a great...

mourning arose among his kin. The man happened to be good in soul, and indeed most temperate; and his body was robust, possessing everything well-proportioned, as if nature had perfected his stature and each of his limbs and parts according to a rule and plumb-line. He was further adorned by a cheerful countenance, in which a certain gravity tempered the sweetness of his smile, and by a disposition calm and pleasing. He sought honor through eloquence more than through any other thing; for the quickness and fecundity of his mind spurred him on to this. In most ardent zeal for religion and in piety, he was in every way similar to the late emperor.

Chapter 3. John Palaiologos is born. Andronicus the father, having heard this, returns joyfully to Didymoteicho. He changes his attire. He celebrates games. Two contests: jousts and a tournament; both dangerous. The Emperor joins in both, despite the vain protests of the elders. The conclusion of the games.

^B I. During the following summer, the emperor's spouse, the lady Anna, while staying in Didymoteichon and being pregnant, gave birth on the 18th of June to a son, the emperor John. Upon hearing of this, the emperor returned to Didymoteichon with the greatest speed; and, exulting with joy, he cast off the mourning garments which he had been wearing on account of his grandfather's death, and donned more splendid ones. Then he celebrated two contests, preserving a certain likeness to the Olympic games, which, although he had performed them many times before, he now adorned with greater apparatus. These games were devised long ago by the Latins for the sake of bodily exercise, when they might have leisure from warlike affairs.

II. One of these, bearing the appearance ^C of a duel, is called "Justa" among the Latins. They are divided according to tribes, municipalities, and curiae. Then, from each side, those who wish arm themselves one against another, and protect themselves on all sides with armor. Then, each having taken up a jousting-spear, the extremity of which is armed with three points, they rush at one another and charge with a powerful impetus, and strike one another with their spears as strongly as possible. He who knocks his adversary from his horse is proclaimed victor. This individual contest fell to the lot of the emperor himself, and it was often a small matter that he received a lethal blow. Whence, although he was admonished by the elders to abstain from such things (for it did not befit an emperor to be struck by servants, and that not in feigned [combat], but indeed with some danger), he did not obey: ^D but having repulsed them, as those who were the authors of degenerate fear to him, he followed the counsel of his own contemporaries among the soldiers more, driving away those [elders], charging their admonitions with ignoble cowardice.

^C III. The other contest is called a Tournament. It proceeds in this manner. Here too, they are divided according to tribes, municipalities, and curiae, and all are armed together. Then, after an assembly is held, two among them are chosen by lot as leaders, one to preside over each side. In this contest, which had also been practised in earlier times, but is now held daily, the emperor himself was one of those who would obey the leader—that is, the soldier, whoever he happened to be. When, therefore, the battle lines from both sides met in equal number, the emperor both struck and was struck back without reverence, using sturdy clubs. For the law of this contest is that whoever wounds or even happens to kill another is exempt from liability. After the end of this struggle, both sides, and among them the emperor himself, not abandoning his lower standing, follow their leader in due and orderly fashion, moving in pairs separated by intervals, and escort him to his lodging. There, he offers a cup of wine to everyone and, extending his right hand to each, bids them all return home.

CAPUT IV

^D I. Now that these things were performed also at Didymoteichon, the emperor took up a sufficient army and waged an undeclared and sudden war against the Bulgarians, before they could perceive it, desiring once more to usurp the forts around the Haemus, which a short time before had gone over to Alexander. Having therefore made an incursion into enemy territory, he ravaged and burned the countryside, not even sparing the crops that happened to be on the threshing floors. Proceeding also to the forts, and threatening them with encirclement and sieges, he brought some to surrender, from which the garrisons stationed there by Alexander departed, an agreement having been made.

II. When Alexander heard these things, he was affected with great grief.

^A And, having become an ambassador to the emperor regarding peace, he declared it unworthy for Christians to attack each other so cruelly, when it was possible for them to share the same faith regarding peace and to draw up their battle lines together against the impious, who were enemies to both. The emperor, declaring it just that the fortresses formerly built by the Romans be yielded to the Romans, sent the envoys away without having achieved their objective. For the emperor’s grandfather, the emperor Andronikos, had either built from the foundations or reinforced with new works, through the ministry of the protostrator Glabas, who then administered the province of Thrace, more than fifteen fortresses upon the summits and crags of the Haemus, so that they might be a hindrance and a barrier to the constant incursions of the Scythians.

^B III. When Alexander could by no means bear these things quietly, he immediately gathered his own forces to the number of eight thousand, and summoned two thousand mercenaries from the Scythians. Thus, having set out from Ternovo, on the fifth day he arrived and encamped near the fortress called Rhusokastron. For he had heard that the emperor was also there. And the emperor, although he had been seized with terror due to the sudden arrival of the enemies—and because the circumstances by no means allowed for better counsel in the midst of hostile territory—also led out the Roman forces as best he could, though they were by no means a match for their opponents, since they scarcely amounted to three thousand in number; and, having divided them into three lines, he advanced not far from the fortress. For he had determined to have it as a place of refuge for a retreat, if it should be necessary to retreat from the conflict. But when he saw the enemies pressing forward, and their battle line so drawn up that the right and left wings were extended on both sides into a very long series, while the heavy infantry was in the center, and at the same time the rear guard was deep and like a solid foundation, fearing to be surrounded, he quickly changed his plan and gathered the Roman forces into one double-faced line, imitating the appearance of a crescent moon.

^{C D} IV. He himself, having advanced into the middle, shouted to his men and encouraged them, saying, "Consider, men, that we are fighting in a foreign and hostile land and are cut off far from our fatherland; nor do we have allied cities that can bring us aid for this sudden war that has befallen us, nor anywhere from which we might summon mercenary soldiers. Let us fight, therefore, as those who are to die today and to set with this sun. Let us leave as witnesses of our brave and noble labors this hostile land, in which we struggle today for our lives, and the eyes of the enemies who will survive. And let not the multitude of the enemies disturb your hearts. For we know that many great armies have most easily been slaughtered by small ones. Let us also rely on the same hope, looking to the ineffable clemency of God, by which it was brought about that, among other things, Themistocles the Athenian, with a small army, in the narrows at Salamis, sank almost all the forces of the Persians; and that after him, in turn, the Theban Epaminondas, twice, with the greatest

^A power of Sparta, conquered with a much smaller force around Haliartus and the areas of Leuctra; at which time, indeed, Sparta lost Lysander, and received back the great Agesilaus, who fled in disorder, and for the first time in many centuries saw an enemy's smoke by the Eurotas.

V. Concerning the bravery of the Great Domestic and the Protosebast

V. Confirmed by this speech, all began the fight as strenuously and bravely as they could, with cast-off caution inflicting most violent hands upon the enemies, knowing nothing of sparing and being poured out into slaughter. Among the first, the Great Domestic Cantacuzenus, although sought out and struck by many swords and many volleys of spears from the enemy, he himself indeed struck down very many of the enemy; yet he escaped the battle unharmed, without having lost either shield or sword, as if glued to the horse’s back and sitting immovable. The second to fight strenuously after him was the Protosebast, son of the Caesar ^B and grandson of the Porphyrogenitus. For he too, although pierced on all sides by many missiles, and seeing his horse wounded everywhere by the enemy’s swords—so that its brain, so to speak, was visible to those looking from the outside—did not consent to turn his back to the enemies. And his horse, too, as if vying for glory with its master, did not consent to fall until it had carried him out of the battle and brought him home safely. There, at last, before its master’s doors, it breathed its last.

VI. But when they saw the enemy pressing forward with all their might to occupy ^C the hill first, in order to surround them and fight from the rear, they turned and fled in a rout into the fortress. Those who lived within, seeing their defeat and at the same time fearing Alexander, shut the gates against them. They, therefore, broke them open by force and burst in; and having driven out some of the inhabitants and slaughtered others as if they were enemies, they secured the fortress. In it, they were extremely sorrowful and anxious, because the present danger was before their eyes. For there was no fodder for the pack animals inside the fortress, nor a well, nor any other supply of water; and the wounded soldiers and horses, left unattended, some were dying, and others were near death; and it was hardly possible to open the gates, as they were surrounded by ^D a multitude of enemies; and the Roman borders were far off, and there was not even a hope, should fortune be tempted, of escaping secretly to a neighboring allied and maritime city. For the city of Anchialus was hostile; and Mesembria, upon hearing of the Roman defeat, had immediately defected, and having slaughtered the Roman garrisons, had thrown all those who had not sought safety in flight from the walls. The same was done by all the fortresses around the Haemus. Nor did they dare to send envoys to Alexander regarding their freedom or the ransoming of captives, since they had conducted themselves in such a way that no pardon

could be expected for what had transpired. ^A For they had sent away his embassy concerning peace with boldness and disorder [P. 300], and had set fire to the fields of the Bulgarians along with the crops, and furthermore had not treated well those taken in the fortresses.

VII. Therefore, from every side the state of affairs for the emperor was becoming narrow and difficult. Yet his most firm hope in God did not fail him, either in previous perils or in this present crisis, although his conscience was not entirely free from stain, both on account of the grief he had caused his grandfather, the emperor, in his extreme old age, and also on account of what the license of youth, joined with power, is wont generally to perform. Nevertheless, he considered such sins as little fishes entering the great sea of God's mercy. ^B And so, in this crisis just as in other circumstances, he escaped miraculously by the hidden providence of God, who mercifully governs all things. For Alexander himself, of his own accord, moved on the following day to pity and compassion, sent his hand in friendship to the emperor, and allowed him to return home under a truce with his army, having made a settlement and exhorted him to be more moderate in the future. For, he said, one year contains four seasons, and in a slight moment of time, many changes in affairs occur. In the midst of these events, that summer also came to an end.

CAPUT V.

I. Syrgiannes, however, having been previously suspect to the leading men, even before he had imposed an oath upon the Thessalonians, and because he had been adopted by the mother of the emperor, when the emperor was laboring at Didymoteichon under that desperate illness of which we have spoken, was finally brought to trial as a defendant in a case of high treason by Zamplacon, and came to Byzantium, summoned by the emperor, to defend himself. ^C When his case had been pleaded once, twice, and a third time before all the judges, he could not be clearly proven guilty, to such an extent that he was already being acquitted by most of the judges. [P. 301] However, while the lawsuit was still pending, the emperor demanded bail of him, so that he would not flee secretly before all the judges had delivered their final sentence concerning him. This matter greatly disturbed his mind and cast him into fear of prison, as he recalled those most heavy and intolerable chains which he had previously suffered, the marks of which he still carried, recent and stamped upon his soul. ^D When he saw that those who would provide bail for him would be less than willing, more numerous and more violent terrors began to assail him. On account of which things, being compelled, he secretly took to flight; and though he was immediately sought after with much anxiety, he was nowhere to be found.

Variorum notæ.

^B II. After a year, however, he sent suppliant letters from Euboea to the emperor, in which he sought pardon and some place in Macedonia near the furthest boundaries of the Roman empire, in which he might settle with his wife and children. For he said that the courtiers were envious of him, and that he therefore wished to have a home far away from them, lest he be killed by them through treachery. He also added an oath, by which he testified that he would be forever loyal to the emperor. ^C III. But when his entreaties reached the threshold of the prince and had availed nothing, he departed from Euboea and set out to the Kral of Serbia, and by him was most eagerly received and flourished with the greatest favor and authority; a unanimous assessor, a consenting friend, an accepted counselor, most faithful at home, most occupied abroad, a second Themistocles to Artaxerxes the Persian. For since fame had long since made him known, the Kral deemed his arrival a splendid gain; and because he promised that, if he were assisted by his resources to occupy the Roman empire, he would subject the Roman territory that was in Macedonia to the Triballi, he had faith in him, and strove to assist him with a most willing mind.

Chapter 6. The Emperor's mother dies in Thessalonica. A consolatory oration which Gregoras delivered before the Emperor.

I. Meanwhile, the empress, the same who was the mother of the emperor, passed away, and was buried at Thessalonica. And I then addressed the emperor with a consolatory oration in nearly these words:

^B II. “But we, most great and most divine emperor, have often admired you as you handled arms, and especially have we admired you for your humanity and your kindness. Now the situation itself demands that we admire your constancy in this greatest calamity, which time, shaking all things, offers to your noble and brave spirit as if it were a gymnasium and an illustrious course of labors. In which case, indeed, your fortitude ought to shine forth more than it previously shone in arms. For in those, the fickleness of fortune often heaped more glory upon the hand than upon the spirit, and debased the dignity and the excellence of judgment, contrary to what was just, and caused it to appear inferior to the hand. But in this calamity, judgment and prudence clearly arm themselves against the tempests and storms which this event has stirred up, great and violent, in your mind. All men surely know that by as much as the soul excels the body, by so much greater also are its labors and agitations in those disasters which the vicissitude of time brings in like hostile troops. In war, many aids are available from every side.” ^D

^A For the scythe and the spear and the helmet often snatch away the judgment of those who sit as judges, and by confounding the evidence in the hidden depths, sometimes shroud the accusations in darkness. But here, the courage of the soul, stripping itself clearly for the contests, stands as if upon a solid foundation—that of prudence and discernment—having planted its naked and unarmed feet to resist and withstand very bravely every wave and abyss of grief, just as an unshakable promontory stands against a raging sea. Fierce indeed was the tempest of that tragedy which the death of the emperor and your father brought upon you; fierce also was that of the emperor and grandfather, or one might say even greater, because he was a living and moving remedy who remained, in some way tempering pleasure against that deeply burning and inflamed wound. ^B But the misfortune that has now befallen you regarding your mother and mistress, being managed by the excessive nature of the loss, has exceeded every bound of grief, both because of the closer kinship of nature and, much more, because she was left as the only and final anchor of the lineage and a citadel of good cheer. For it touches, so to speak, the very marrow of the soul and settles in your bones, most noble emperor. And why should it not? Since she was a mother—a mother, I say, most august—and at the same time most sweet, and bound to you by the firm and indissoluble ties of nature; and what is greater, one who had endured very many labors on your behalf. Nor did she by her death cast only you into such great sorrow, but also all of us who are subject to you; and indeed, doubly so. For the loss to us has been greatest, ^C and so great, inasmuch as she, while she lived, was for all a sort of saving harbor and a festive celebration of joy; but what is greater is that she distracts your most imperial mind—the leader and overseer of public affairs—from necessary concerns. Even if she does not draw it away completely and entirely, yet in such a surge of circumstances, even a small obstacle brings the greatest harm to the ship of the state, not unlike if a helmsman, struggling in the midst of the sea during a storm, with the waves rising from below against the ship and the winds tossing the sails from above, were meanwhile to become forgetful of his duty and fall asleep, so that nothing remains to prevent the ship from being suddenly plunged with its passengers into the depths of the sea. Wherefore, if nothing else moves you, at least for the sake of the cities subject to you, handing over the grief to others, maintain your customary and imperial magnificence. Imitate the constancy of the generous soul of her who has passed away, who, because of her burning love for God (which she had silently cherished in her heart for a long time, since she had erased the pernicious opinion of her parents), forgetting her body, forgetting glory and imperial splendor; and finally, what is far greater, forgetting you, I say, her most beloved, whom she would have preferred to the whole world, she ran to God, she ran to the emperor and her husband: not because he was her husband, but because through him she had been led to the pure fountains of the sounder dogma.

of body, but having apprehended glory and royal majesty, and having apprehended that which is above all, your most beloved self, to whom the whole world was not worthy of her, she ran to God; she ran to the king and spouse—not that he was merely a spouse, but because through him she had passed over into the unadulterated waters of Orthodoxy. And if one must not injure the truth, she ran to the father and king, who became for her the teacher of Orthodoxy; who first selected her from thence, as a radiant rose from bitter thorns, and refined her like pure gold from counterfeit ores, leaving behind whatever lead or dross [(71)] was there. But if you cannot imitate her perseverance, at least win out over most of the kings of old with ^A much greater kindness and cheerfulness toward those who stumble. Win out also in royal endurance against sorrows for two reasons: that this, too, may fittingly adorn your most beautiful and variegated mantle of long-standing good works, just as a choice flower among flowers, or a precious stone among precious stones; and so that you, who abound in all good things, may stand out in the succession of kings before you, as purple excels among colours, and the sun among the stars. Come, then, restore to the ears of your subjects the day of your speech, and the serenity of your eyes to the gloom of our countenances. Disperse the storm of our souls with the rays of your cheerfulness. Use for the feast your customary and gentle smile. Be to everyone a prototype, as you are in other good things, so also in the endurance of terrible things. And we, hearing of certain of the Greeks—for there are some—who pride themselves most in this, would be ashamed if, while we see our king excelling all those others in every virtue, we should see him in this one point coming ^B second. These things, then, and the character of that Achilles, who in sorrows was overcome and turned away, you should avoid, and rather imitate the steadfastness of the Macedonian Alexander in such matters. Imitate the Persian kings and satraps, who, in the face of opposing chances, did nothing ignoble. Imitate the consuls and Caesars of the ancient Romans, who themselves, having experienced the iniquitous turns of time, maintained their former strength of mind. And what need is there for foreign examples? Imitate yourself, and show yourself to be such as you have appeared heretofore in the various and sundry afflictions that have befallen you; how, when a great storm often surged from many sides, you kept your soul unshaken and unconquered, just as those who enjoy deep tranquility; how, when the sins of your subjects, like the first harvest, sought to raise the leaven of anger into ^C a mass of waves, you were never overcome; but, using nobility and wisdom of soul, instead of punishing those who sinned, you punished rather your own anger, and granted to those who had sinned the customary display of human kindness? Remembering these things now at the right moment, imitate yourself, so that we, ^D (not to make a long story of it), having been granted every freedom of speech, may easily cross the sea of your praises; and, having selected the most excellent from all your good works, we may weave for you an immortal crown, such as the mixing-bowls of wisdom forge for all time. Indeed, overcome by a vehement and ardent desire, I have spoken rather freely. But do you grant me pardon, most divine emperor, using here, too, your customary kindness.

CHAPTER VII.

I. At the beginning of spring, Crales assembled his forces. Syrgiannes, for his part, sent clandestine letters throughout the whole Roman empire, starting from the neighboring territory of the Triballi and advancing through every maritime and inland city and region as far as Byzantium; in these letters, he promised grants of land, gifts of money, advancements in honors, and other things of that nature. For these reasons, almost everyone longed for him and with their whole heart inclined toward him, hastening his incursion with both letters and money.

II. But the Emperor, who had long known the man's sagacity and his very sharp and keen intelligence in matters of this kind, feared greatly for himself and for the state of affairs in general; he judged his incursion to be more effective than that of the Scythians and almost all other nations. For against the phalanxes of foreign enemies, he would have been able to array his own cities, which felt a natural aversion to them because of the religious controversy. But the war of one who was a fellow-citizen and well-known utterly dashed even that hope and disturbed all his calculations, to such an extent that he saw the hostile flames all but raging upon the very gates of his palace, both by land and by sea. Wherefore he was despondent, yet he attended to what he could, having placed all his hope in God: ^B which was always habitual to him, familiar, and as it were domestic, especially in greater calamities.

III. And first, he fortified the palace halls and gates with very large towers, and brought in a great quantity of grain, which would suffice to sustain himself and his guards for a long time, if there were need. For he thought that the smoke of the enemy would penetrate as far as the palace itself. Then, being about to depart into Macedonia, so that by his presence he might terrify those in the cities who were secretly plotting things against him, he appointed John, a native of Aprus, who was then a priest of the imperial clergy, as successor to the patriarchal throne after the death of Isaias, giving him...

^A formal testimony before God, and leading him to the center of the great temple of the Holy Wisdom, he entrusted to him his empress and his children, charging him to be their steward and guardian under God, in case anything unexpectedly should befall the common weal.

IV. Having performed these tasks, he set out with great haste for Macedonia, taking no army with him. For he already held everyone in suspicion, except for his most faithful household members and the Grand Domestic Cantacuzenus, whom time had shown to be, of all men, most in accord with his own desires, sharing his very spirit, and ever gentle and cheerful toward everyone else. ^B But since necessity often proves to be the mother of invention, it also occurred to the emperor, after much anxious reflection, that plans born of prudence and skill seasoned with guile are far more effective for most tasks than the force of arms, especially in matters entangled in the various tumults of war. He turned his mind to the deeds of the men of old, considering how Darius the Mede easily captured the impregnable Babylon through Zopyrus; and how Antigonus, the mightiest of Alexander’s successors, though often outmaneuvered by Eumenes—who was himself a product of the training-ground of Alexander and had emerged as a most fierce warrior through illustrious exercise—might perhaps have been stripped not only of his strength but of his very life by him, had he not dispatched the man from afar through guile and clandestine machinations. So too, before this, the Athenian Themistocles had routed that great fleet of the Medes, otherwise insuperable, through calculated speech and guile, being unable to do so ^C otherwise.

V. While the emperor was reflecting on such matters, a certain senator, Sphrantzes Palaeologus, approached him, and taking him aside, conferred with him in private regarding the matters at hand. In exchange for the wealth and honors promised to him by the emperor, he promised in turn to slay Syrgiannes, an act he would execute under the guise of flight. Not many days passed after this, and a rumor spread around Thessalonica, where the emperor was residing at the time, that Sphrantzes Palaeologus had sold all his livestock and private property and, with his hands full of the proceeds, had defected and fled to Syrgiannes. Upon hearing this, the emperor feigned ignorance; he confiscated his property and ordered his wife to be led ignominiously through the marketplace. This, more than anything else, ^D persuaded Syrgiannes to dispose himself toward Sphrantzes without suspicion and to consider him his best advisor; so much so that, although his companions often wrote to him from Thessalonica and Berrhoea, warning him to be on his guard against Sphrantzes—who was present with a malicious intent and for the purpose of killing him—he paid no heed.

^A Indeed, he had received from him oaths in writing and of the most fearful nature before the divine and holy table, at the time when the priests were celebrating the divine mystery; and he lived with him thereafter and shared his table without any suspicion or fear. It was fitting, in fact, that he should at some time suffer in return the same things as he had perpetrated; and that, being deceived by an oath, he himself should pay the penalty for the injury which he had inflicted upon the grandfather of the emperor, the Emperor Andronikos—or rather, upon God himself; since perjury is referred to as contempt of God. For we have said above, somewhere, that he himself was the principal author of the dissension and conflict between the two emperors, and was the head and cause of all the tumults that followed after.

^B VI. When summer was already at its height, the Kral followed Syrgiannes with his own forces. He, however, was marching straight for Thessalonica. As they advanced, the cities and provinces lying between submitted to them easily, partly because some had long desired the administration of Syrgiannes, and partly because others were fearful for their ripe crops. For it was the season for the harvest. Sphrantzes, meanwhile, wishing to inform the emperor of what was being done, and at the same time not wishing to be suspected by Syrgiannes, devised a strange and abstruse plan by which he might achieve this. He went to Syrgiannes and said that he had made a pact with two men who were most constantly in attendance in the emperor’s bedchamber, and that they had affirmed that they would kill the emperor when opportunity offered. He said, therefore, that he needed to send a messenger to them to remind them of their agreement. ^C Thus, having obtained permission, he sent and informed the emperor of what was being done. The contents of the message were to the effect that the opportunity to carry out the design was lacking, and that at the same time he needed to consult for his own safety so as to be out of danger. For a great throng, he said, surrounded Syrgiannes night and day, and he was never left alone. It was necessary, therefore, for some soldiers to be stationed as scouts in the suburbs of Thessalonica, so that when they sensed the hostile forces with Syrgiannes approaching, they might receive him—as he fled from the camp toward the city—before he was discovered and perished having accomplished nothing. For a man to have waited a long time and returned empty-handed is perhaps shameful; but it is much more shameful to have waited a long time and not only to have accomplished nothing, but to have been killed at the enemies' gates.

^D VII. However, as Syrgiannes advanced together with the Kral and their military forces, subduing everything easily by his mere name, and was already thought to be about to attack Thessalonica itself, the whole populace of the Thessalonians hung in suspense and was expectant at the prospect of his arrival, and they were thinking of receiving him as he came with the gates thrown open and without any labor. But the emperor, his soul sick and distracted by heavy cares, and his thoughts continually recurring to those things which drove him to despair, was invoking divine help from the depths of his soul and with a fervent heart— and

now indeed he had good hopes, remembering the customary kindness of God toward him, for now those thoughts of despair were bitterly feeding upon his soul. Hence he sent thirty soldiers as scouts outside the walls, according to the suggestion of Sphrantzes; and before the harbor he had one fast-sailing trireme ready, into which he intended, in the event that Sphrantzes should return without success, to jump at once with those around him and sail away with all speed to the Byzantine realms. ^B

VIII. But when the enemy forces had drawn near and pitched their camp at a distance of not more than sixty stades from the city, and appeared ready to engage in the siege of the walls, Sphrantzes, despairing of his attempt, turned his mind entirely to the project of how to escape. He went and devised for himself a pretext, as was his wont, to Syrgiannes, and said he wished to go outside the camp for a little while to scout the walls of the city, to see if they were provided with armed men. Suspicioning nothing of any evil, Syrgiannes said: “Go, I will follow you myself.” Sphrantzes went ahead with two servants, who were themselves privy to his murderous design. Syrgiannes followed alone, his understanding, I believe, being clouded by God at the very moment when he thought he had everything in his grasp. And when they had traveled about twelve stades from the camp, those men turned around and, seeing that, beyond all hope, fortune had provided them with the very opportunity they so greatly desired, they surrounded him and cut him down with their swords. And immediately, before anyone in the camp could perceive it, they departed with haste, riding to the city. The next day, the Crales, finding the matter desperate, granted the peace which the emperor had requested; and after talking with him as he came out, he received certain gifts from him and departed for home. And thus that year ended in these matters. ^C

CAPUT VIII. Two Latin bishops come to discuss the concord of the Churches. The Patriarch, distrusting his own and his followers' eloquence, determines that Gregoras, though a layman, should be called in. He at first suggests silence. Then he meets with the Patriarch and selected bishops in private. He delivers an oration before them, in which he sets forth his opinion at length. Others agree, as does the Bishop of Dyrrhachium. Who the man was and what kind. Constantine the Despot dies.

I. In the following year, two bishops came from ancient Rome, sent by the Pope to discuss peace and the concord of the Churches. And one could immediately see many of the people displaying ^D zeal, but not according to knowledge.

but rather putting forward a ready and unbridled tongue, and even further, pressing the patriarch himself to enter into debates. He, however, having neither a tongue sharpened by the practice of oratory, nor at the same time observing that most of the bishops around him were living in great ignorance, kept holding back, yet could not suppress the clamor of the people. Therefore, he decided that it was necessary to summon to such a contest even us, who possessed a tongue armed by the preparation of discourse, although we were not enrolled in the sacred register. ^A I, for my part, at first strongly urged and advised him to be silent and to maintain a certain magnificent bearing, one that would display a kind of majesty and the appearance of a prudent mind, treating the demand of the Latins as being of no account, since there was no need for a dispute at the present time. But when I reflected again that silence almost never lacks suspicion, but rather stirs up and scatters various and multiple thoughts in the minds of those who move about outside, and especially in those who have not learned to control their tongue or their mind, I met privately with the patriarch and some of the notable bishops and set forth my opinion to them in roughly this manner:

II.

^A victories and trophies. For, in the first place, one ought not to consider an unstable thing to be the rule and standard of good order; and secondly, we know that an unconsidered impulse does not of itself bring the supplies of victory, but rather, because the greater folly of the opposing side has often provided unexpected fuel for action, it has shown that even base things could lead to the better outcome and favor—just as, conversely, the more intelligent counsel of opponents has often surpassed ^B those who seemed to have deliberated rightly. For since the future is uncertain, it is possible for such things to happen at times. But for us, surely, it is not right to make a list of irrational successes into a law, and especially now, when the struggles for the power of piety are at stake. For it is for this reason that I have come forward, intending to offer such counsel as I deemed profitable, and to contribute to the present matter whatever ability I might possess. Whether I am about to act rightly or otherwise, let it be considered. For we are not present for the purpose of enacting laws, nor do we wish that our decrees be held firm and unshakeable; but, just as was once done in free cities, it seemed right to us also to contribute, as it were, a voluntary offering of whatever thoughts might come to mind for the occasion. Indeed, the aim of this our speech is to exhort that no one, according to his own whim, rashly engage and dispute with those who have come from Italy; since this does not seem permissible even for prelates and men endowed with such authority, before they have considered among themselves the aim and end of the disputation; for they know that every action and every speech has a goal and an end, towards which he who acts or discourses ought to aim and direct both his action and his speech. ^C If this is not done, there is a danger that all zeal and all labor will be considered empty and vain. For instance, he who sails does not desire this—he does not set as his goal that which he is doing—but rather that for the sake of which he is doing it. It is for the sake of profit, and not so that he might risk his life at the mercy of waves and winds, that he sets sail from the harbor. In the same way, an archer does not shoot arrows to beat the air, but does so in order to strike down the enemy. Yet here, I do not see for the sake of what profit, or looking to what end, anyone would choose to enter into discussion, if we have never resolved to agree with their judgments, nor they with ours, even if all were to speak to stones and all to trees. Furthermore, it would be most absurd and far removed from reasonable conduct if, while those who compete in the Olympics and all who contend for a plot of ground, or if anyone is accused of theft, ^D are allowed to bring before them Hellanodikai and impartial judges—lest the rule of justice should secretly go astray and deceive, or the litigation proceed in vain without any rule or standard applied by which the arguments of the disputants might accurately bring the suit to an end—those, however, who are about to dispute concerning divine matters and to contend in that long race which threatens the greatest destruction to souls and bodies, should have no judge to weigh the words of each party, to pronounce these victorious and those as empty.

and ephemeral, and to reject them from the choir of truth; but rather, that we should do as those who, in a manner of speaking, fight with one another about boundaries of lands: first struggling for victory with taunts from their tongues, then entrusting the resolution to their arms and hands, so that whoever proves the stronger might strike the other’s head with a stone, or inflict a mortal wound with a piece of wood, or perhaps by thrusting a sword into his side, thus quickly deliver the antagonist to the dead. But if we are two parties who are in dispute, and we cannot find and bring forward a third as an arbiter of truth and a judge, and for this reason one of the parties must pass judgment on the points, it is we who ought to be their judges, and not they ours. For our dogma is admitted by both, us and them, to be rightly held. But the addition which they have innovated, and that wandering from the straight path, seems to them alone to be free from reproach, but to us it seems not so in the least. Since the inquiry, therefore, is suspended, as to whether we ought to share in their innovation, it pertains to us to judge and pronounce, and not to them, seeing that they are liable to charges. ^B And if, because they say they are the successors and heirs of the see of the great Peter, they brandish this weapon against us, like clouds hurling thunderbolts, and by that reasoning think that we, condemned without a hearing, ought to be the ministers and executors of their opinions, such a thing is not to be heeded in the least. For they are worthy of greater hatred and aversion for the very reason that they have acted in a manner unworthy of that holy see. For Peter did not command Clement and his successors to impose whatever dogmas they wished, but to bind what needed to be bound, and to loose what needed to be loosed. But these men, neglecting what had been established and decreed by all the holy councils, have done what was pleasing to them alone. Furthermore, it is not fitting to neglect the custom well established of old and confirmed antiquity by both the emperors and the doctors of the Church. For it is a matter of established custom that, whenever struggles over dogmas are stirred up in the Church, all the defenders of the Church should be summoned by a common edict and decree, ^C not only those who have been allotted metropolises everywhere in the world for the sake of the evangelical proclamation, but also those endowed with patriarchal authority: I mean the prelate of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, and him who governs the see of Antioch; for by their not being summoned, an opportunity will be given to stir up storms and tempests against our concord, and to change the spring of the Church into winter. For if long ago Theodoret, the bishop of Cyrus—though he was indeed but one man, and not adorned with patriarchal dignity, nor otherwise possessing an illustrious see—kindled such a fire of contention that, when very many bishops from Europe and Asia had gathered at Ephesus, they felt the annoyance of his smoke for a long time: how much more will such a multitude of absent bishops and patriarchs sharpen their hostile tongue against us few, and fan many torches of discord? ^D Moreover, they who dispute establish that a syllogism is an instrument which so conduces to accomplishing their work as a mattock to a digger and an oar to a sailor. [P. 313] Furthermore, not even the custom which long ago was well established by the emperors and by the teachers of the Church, and which was ratified of old, should be overlooked; for it is customary, whenever struggles regarding dogmas were about to be established in the Church, to call through a common ordinance and decree all the defenders of the Church, not only as many as have occupied metropolises in many parts of the earth for the sake of the evangelical proclamation, but also as many as are surrounded with patriarchal dignity—I mean the one of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, and him who governs the region of Antioch; for if these are not called, they have the power to raise up storms and swells against our concord and to turn the spring of the Church into winter. For if long ago Theodoret, the bishop of Cyrus, being one—and not even...

^A holding a prominent throne—kindled such a furnace of discord that he caused most of those from Asia and Europe who were assembled at the council at Ephesus to partake of the smoke for a long time, how much more easily could they who were not present—bishops and patriarchs, being more numerous than we—overwhelm us with their verbal abuse and kindle against us a great fire of discord? Furthermore, the syllogism is thought by those who engage in dialectic to be an instrument for the construction of a subject, just as a spade is for the digger or an oar for the sailor. And we know that this is a matter of great concern even among the Italians, if anything is (78). But here we find no place for the syllogism, neither the one based on scientific demonstration nor the one based on the dialectical art, since the inquiry concerns God and the divine and life-giving Trinity. For if scientific demonstration requires admitted and indemonstrable premises that are more knowable than the conclusion, and these become manifest through induction, or sense, or experience, then it is not possible to syllogize according to scientific demonstration in these matters. For words concerning divine things are difficult ^B to perceive and quite incomprehensible; and this is shown to be so, just as by our own theologians, so also by those outside, and not least by Plato the son of Ariston. “For God,” he says, “is difficult to conceive, and to express impossible” (79). The great Gregory in his Theology (80) considers this a small matter and corrects it, saying: “God is indeed impossible to express (81), in my opinion; but to conceive is even more impossible.” For what the mind has conceived, speech might perhaps express, even if not clearly, yet at least obscurely, to one who is not entirely deprived of hearing nor dull in intellect. But to grasp such a great matter with the intellect is altogether unfeasible and impossible, not only for those who are stupefied and grovel upon the ground, but even for those who are most exalted and God-loving, and indeed for every created ^C nature, and for those whom this darkness and this thick flesh obstruct from a true understanding of the reality. And I do not know if this is not also denied to the higher and intellectual natures. This being the case, the one who wishes to syllogize in these matters knows not what he would syllogize, nor will the one who asks know what he has heard. That therefore the syllogism based on scientific demonstration is of the least use here is manifest; and that the one based on the dialectical art is likewise useless, having as it does plausible and ambiguous premises, will be manifest from what follows. For Gregory of Nyssa says that (82) the mode of confirming our dogmas through the art of dialectic and syllogistic and analytical doctrine, since it is weak and suspect for demonstrating the truth, we must leave behind such a style of speech. For it is clear to all that dialectical quibbles have equal power on both sides, as much for the subversion of truth as for the accusation of falsehood. ^D Hence it happens that we are often suspicious of the truth itself when it is presented through such an art, as if the cleverness involved in these things dazzles the eyes of our mind and averts them from the truth. But if someone admits a simple exposition and a discourse stripped of every such cloak, having observed the sequence of the sacred Scriptures—

we shall bring forward the contemplation of these matters. If, therefore, it were necessary for us also to be armed with the writings of the holy Fathers and to war against ^B them, we ourselves would use the more clear modes of expression, and as many as provide a manifest and incontrovertible meaning to those who examine them, and not at all those that are enigmatic and that are able—due to the homonymy of the underlying things and due to the misty and ambiguous nature of the diction and the names—to be interpreted in various ways. For we find that in many places a concealment of the divine Scripture lies beneath these very names, as is natural. For just as the chambers of kings, and whatever else is holy and of great value to men, are covered by different curtains for different people, so that they may neither be defiled by being set before the profane mob, nor be held in contempt because they lie open to all without labor; so too do the majority of the places of divine Scripture, especially those in which some arcane doctrine is contained, lie hidden as if by certain veils, by such words as carry much mist with them, and place shadows as their hiding-place and a tabernacle around themselves. But we find also that the holy Fathers—I mean Basil and Chrysostom, Maximus and Cyril—counsel us not to take all words that sound the same in every context in the same way immediately, nor to fix the mind entirely upon the words, but to look toward the meanings of the underlying subject matter and to examine the goal and the intention of the Scripture being studied, as is fitting, and to adapt and apply them appropriately and suitably to the persons and the times. There is also the Theologian, Gregory ^C (83), who says that those who judge that things and their appellations belong together without being minutely divided, have conceived in their minds opinions unworthy of divine things. Since, therefore, there is such great dissension concerning words and names—because the same names can belong to different things, and must be understood one way in God, and another way in this born and perishing nature—who will explain these in accordance with their dignity? For if we see those holy Fathers, the instruments of the Holy Spirit, who surpassed all others in every human wisdom, frequently dissenting in their exegesis of the sacred Scriptures and offering almost contrary things, due to the immense obscurity by which the divine meanings and higher senses are fortified as if by firm and adamantine ^D vestibules: what should any other person say, who is not even to be compared with them in human wisdom, and who is himself subject to depraved affections, and redolent of bodily defilement? For behold (to pass over most things in silence), the saying: "The Lord created me in the beginning of his way," that divine and great Basil declares to be spoken * regarding that wisdom which appears in the world.

^B regarding that wisdom which appears in the world, almost uttering the voice through the things that are seen, that such great wisdom has come to be from God and not spontaneously as it adorns the things that have been made; just as David also says the heavens declare the glory of God with ineffable voices. But the great theologian Gregory says that this is the word of the Savior; and expounding it thereafter, he adds to the humanity whatever he finds with its cause; but whatever he considers simple and without cause, he attributes it to the Divinity. But these men, being vessels of the Spirit and looking toward one mark, guide such a disagreement, as if by different paths, toward one end, that is, a pious and saving one. But the leaders of foreign heresies, taking as a pretext the inscrutability of the meaning of the Scriptures, like temple-robbers ^C tear them apart and drag them down to the bottomless pits of blasphemies. If, therefore, it were necessary for us at present to sharpen our tongue against the adversaries, as we said, we would not use such terms in which a manifold and disparate [sense] of the mind lies hidden, but those which are indisputably confessed and agreed upon by both sides, and which of necessity would lead us to contemplate those things which are understood in a simpler sense; for very many such things flourish in the holy Scripture. But because this is not necessary for us at this time, as we rely and are grounded upon better and safer sayings—namely, the evangelical ones and the holy Symbol of the faith, long ago sanctioned by the holy Fathers, and we stand upon them as a foundation ^D (for these limits and pronouncements are truly more familiar and require no demonstration)—it seems to me more just to overturn their contentious objections and oppositions by silence rather than by arguments. But if someone were to object, bringing forward that the holy Fathers often used syllogisms in such questions, I would affirm that such a person speaks nothing to the point. For they did not do this in order to demonstrate what God is in his nature, or what the generation of the Son is, or what the procession of the Holy Spirit 513 is, but rather to restrain those who were invading theology without any modesty. Otherwise, let someone tell me with what intent that great theologian Gregory, when people were questioning him contentiously concerning the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit, approached them with this figure of speech: "Tell me," he said, "how the Father is not begotten, and I will explain the nature of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit; and let us both be mad, inserting curious eyes into the mysteries of God—especially we, who cannot even understand the things that are before our feet, nor count the sand of the sea, nor the drops of rain, nor the days of the age: so far are we from being able to descend into the depths of God and such an ineffable nature and...

nature beyond reason. » And after a little, again, when the adversary asks for a pattern and a likeness, saying, « Give me from one and the same to be the Son, and that which is not the Son, and then say they are consubstantial, and I will accept God and God, » he answers, saying: « Give me also another God and a nature of God, and I will give you the same Trinity with the same names and realities. But if there is one God, one supreme nature, whence shall I provide for you the likeness? » For it is very shameful, and not only shameful but also most absurd, to seek an image of higher things from lower things, and of things that are immutable from things that are flux and transient, and, as Isaiah says, to seek the living among the dead. Therefore he also says elsewhere: « Standing within our own boundaries we introduce the unbegotten and the begotten, and that which proceeds from the Father, as God the Word himself says. » These things, therefore, are not those of one who wishes to establish by assertion what these things are, but of one who repels and deters those who rashly flee to such assertions. For how ^B otherwise could he think, who affirms that not even words congruent to the nature of God can be found by men? For we express divine things with our own names, as is permitted. « For if, » he says, « in those things which are understood, the things which hold the lowest place, namely the soul and the word, lack proper names (for the soul is called by a feminine name, though its nature is not such, and the word by a masculine, even if its nature is not masculine); how shall we affirm that those intelligible things, which are first of all and surpass every intellect, are called by proper names? » ^C Since, therefore, such darkness of notions and appellations is poured over our mind, who could be able to reason upon these things? He who attempts this sins in two ways. For he neither knows anything of these matters, and at the same time is unaware that he does not know. But he who does not know when and where it is necessary to reason, not even then, when he ought to reason, will conclude what is necessary and in the way that is necessary by arguing. And even if he should perhaps perform this, yet his speech will be suspect to his hearers, who will beware of him as one once reproved as simple and foolish. Perhaps even those holy Fathers would have altogether repelled such absurd contentions with silence, had they not been forced to refute them against their will, ^D when they saw the people—not yet established in faith nor free from all doubt—easily adhering to one sect or another as they arose. But now, since the multitude is so confirmed and fixed in the faith that you could more easily change the nature of iron than lead them even a little away from the dogmas of their fathers, what need is there for disputes that will be of no use? For as even he, with the words of the Apostle

rightly uses, I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to lead these away from the institutions and decrees of their fathers.

Then, if the Latins were troublesome to us by putting forward these things now for the first time, perhaps even we might today, with God’s favor, gird ourselves for wordy contests. But since these matters have long ago been examined, and defined as was fitting, and have been clearly confirmed by the passage of time, and since these men have frequently come here and have been repeatedly rejected, by what right shall we today disturb those things which were once rightly decreed, and repeat the same things with vain labor? For while this is not burdensome to them, it is sought with the greatest zeal. For by inventing other and still other arguments, which they assume will flatter them and promise them better things in turn, they promise themselves that victory over us, their adversaries, will accrue to them, with their fortune reversed and their old disgrace abolished; or, when they have spoken many evils against our assembly with their accustomed arrogance, only then do they hope to scatter everywhere most impudently the fame of a victory won, while concealing the truth, which is their idle talk. Yet it does not become us to betray the magnitude of our dignity; nor ought we to do those things which are to the advantage of our adversaries, but rather those things which are expedient for us.

How great, furthermore, would be the folly, when those Greeks who follow Pythagoras or Epicurus as their founder think the dogmas and decrees of their masters to be so divine and certain, that whatever they may have said, they admit it themselves in silence, and neither receive it with doubting ears, nor stretch forth a tongue against it; ^C yet for us not to be willing to use the laws and decrees of the foremost authors of our religion and faith without demonstration, and not to stand by them as on certain boundaries, but to tolerate others debating and inquisitively inquiring and tearing the mind to pieces, as it were, and drawing it in different directions, not otherwise than as enemies are wont to plunder and most foully ^D tear apart the spoils of their enemies?

But that also is worth knowing: that the writings of the holy Fathers are not to be understood simply, nor in one way. For some of them were published in an accommodated manner for the instruction and benefit of the readers, with regard being had for persons and times, but all things done religiously; certain, I say, thus published; others dogmatically, others encomiastically, and others, finally, contentiously. Those which are contentious ought not to be transferred from one place to another. For if someone fighting with enemies and intent with his whole soul upon his sword and shield should disturb a fellow soldier standing before his feet, neither is that to be thought a law, nor is he to be accused who did it, necessity drawing his thought elsewhere and in no way allowing that what was done could have been otherwise. Therefore, that must be guarded against.

^A And this is also necessary, namely, that one ought not to understand the writings of the divine Fathers simply or in one fashion. For some of them were set forth in a more didactic and economical manner, fitted to the persons and the times which were passing in various ways, but all of them piously; the divine writings were thus set forth, some dogmatically, some encomiastically, and others polemically. Therefore, it is not right to transfer those that are polemical elsewhere. For even if a man, while fighting against enemies and having his whole mind occupied with the sword and the shield, jostled his comrade who was standing before his feet, one should neither regard what was done as a law, nor accuse the one who acted, since necessity at that moment distracted his mind and in no way allowed the act to have been done otherwise. Therefore, one must not treat these things in such a way, nor yet use the encomiastic writings as laws. For autonomy is given by technical art to those who speak encomia, to say whatever they wish. But as many things as they have set forth dogmatically and apophantically, it is blameless and safe for these to be used as rules and standards for the faith. ^B I, therefore, just as I censure and blame the Italians, who jump into theology so insolently and with great haughtiness, consider it to be of the same shameful and inconsistent sort for us to do the opposite of what we praise, and to do the same things as those we blame. For it is not because they are bold and rash in such matters that we should follow them, nor that because they deviated from the straight path, we should neglect what has been rightly established. But rather, we should stand motionless within legitimate boundaries and repel such clamor, just as an unshaken cliff repels the crashing waves. For I fear, I surely fear, lest while fleeing the smoke we fall into the fire of blasphemy. For that which was formerly rumored among the Greeks regarding Plato, that when he arrived as a guest to Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, the palace was filled with dust, as most [people] began to busy themselves with drawing lines, this now happens among us in another way. ^C For the mysteries of theology are poured out, so to speak, even to the vulgar, and all gaped at penetrating them with syllogistic reasonings, just as cattle do at grass and pastures. And those whose faith is of doubtful correctness, and those who do not even know how one must believe, nor what it is that they say they believe, have filled the marketplaces, the walkways, and the theaters with theology, and do not even revere this sun as a witness of their shamelessness. And how would it not be among the most absurd things, that while the teachings of the Greeks formerly flourished, [when] order prevailed and the mystical arcana were entrusted to the theologians of Delphi, and it was permitted to no one else either to speak or to investigate, even if it were Socrates, or Plato, or anyone else renowned for wisdom; yet among us, for whom the mystery of piety is agreed to be pure, the divine things are thus profaned, and the power to discuss them is given to anyone, or rather, everyone arrogates it to himself? Truly, Gregory, most skilled in divine matters, so recoils from applying his tongue to theological disputations as from a flame. ^D Therefore, he excuses himself with many words, and declares that he does not willingly approach the disputation about God, and he blames those who dare to do so rashly. "For neither is the desire," he says, "laudable, but even the attempt itself is formidable." And he brings forth the example of Uzzah, who long ago perished for daring only to touch the Ark; with God, he says, demanding reverence for the Ark. But if a king were to remove from the midst, as quickly as possible, one who dared impudently to place the royal crown upon his own head, how many thunderbolts, how many whirlwinds does that man deserve who does not hesitate to break into theology with a rash daring? For I wish to append a short story of old, very suitable for this business. Alexan-

Alexander, that Macedonian, after his long course of victories and his great triumphs, when he wished to relax and refresh his spirit, embarked in a trireme and was sailing on the Euphrates, looking about him; and in the middle of the river, by chance, the royal diadem slipped from his head. When a certain sailor swimming out had snatched it up, and because he could not carry it in his hand and swim at the same time, he placed it upon his own head, and finally swimming back had brought it to the king; the king gave the man a talent for having saved the royal diadem, but because he had unworthily placed the same diadem upon his own head, he took off the man's head. If then a man could not endure to see a man who had used the same cap as himself living, nor allowed him to look any longer upon the sun, the nourisher of all things, what shall we say of those who so petulantly break into theology, when they are able neither to cast out demons, nor to divide the sea, nor to cause streams of water to gush forth from rocks, that they might at least by these things lead the common people astray or draw them to their own side? I for my part have judged that those things which are useful ought to be brought into the open. And if these things have seemed to the hearers worthy of hearing, ^D I attribute it to God, who bestows everything that is beautiful. But if not, better things must be sought.”

III. That these things were said in conformity with the opinion of the more learned bishops I seemed to have said, along with others, and particularly to the one of Dyrrhachium, a man most distinguished; who excelled among the bishops both in the gravity of his age, the sharpness of his intellect, and the greatness of his spirit, and who adorned virtue with learning and learning with virtue. Those who were not able to prevail in eloquence thought that these men should be followed, having been forced to cast aside all desire for contention.

IV. At this time also the despot Constantine departed this life, and with himself buried the empty expectation of the multitude.

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINÆ HISTORIÆ LIBER UNDECIMUS

CHAPTER ONE

^A 1. In the following year, the Turks, having built very many ships, afflicted not only the islands situated in the Aegean and beyond the Aegean sea, but also captured and plundered merchant ships, and made frequent landings in the interior regions, as if they were in their own land, with no one to oppose them. These things were equally a ruin to the Latins and to the Romans, and threatened even graver dangers in the future.

^B 2. The princes of the Latins, therefore, gather together and communicate with one another and with Charles, the king of Italy, regarding this matter; and they promise that they will be prepared to drive back the enemy. They also send an embassy to the emperor, declaring to him the consensus and the zeal of the Latins, and exhorting him not to be wanting in the face of common dangers, but to take up the matter seriously and diligently. For they declared that the heavy losses which the Turks inflict upon the Romans and Latins daily, and which they intend to inflict in the future, are intolerable. Furthermore, it would be absurd and a sign of a most cowardly mind and spirit—when it is possible for us to use that loss and transfer of our wealth, by which we are unwillingly plundered every year by the barbarians, for the equipment of naval forces and the defense against them—to yield it to them voluntarily, and to plunge us ourselves, along with our resources, into a manifest and undoubted danger

To the embassy, they added this as a concluding remark: that unless he roused himself and joined them in attacking the common enemies, he himself would be treated as an enemy.

^C III. Thus the emperor, compelled to become an ally in this common war, and since the imperial treasury was suffering from a lack of funds, immediately sent tax collectors into Thrace and Macedonia; although the cities and provinces of that region had already been greatly vexed, both by constant and varied exactions and by the frequent incursions, on one side of the Turks, and on the other, of the Bulgarians. Meanwhile, old ships were being repaired, and new ones were being built from the keel up throughout this entire winter. As spring was already coming to an end, the emperor, having manned twenty ships, prepared himself to sail, and of his own accord acted as admiral of the fleet, even though his wife, the empress, and all others were trying to dissuade him, on the grounds that such deeds were unbefitting to the imperial majesty. But he, ^B as in all other matters, was ambitious to be the actual doer of what was being accomplished; so here too he possessed a great deal of ambition and was full of warlike spirit. However, he was still sitting and waiting for the arrival of the Latin forces. But they, being busy with disturbances that had recently arisen among themselves, disappointed his hope and carried out nothing of what they had promised, and indeed, regarding the promises, they appeared to be deceivers.

^D IV. The Rhodians, together with the inhabitants of maritime Phocaea—which city is situated near Smyrna—and in addition to them the ruler of the Cyclades islands, having secretly changed their design, had agreed upon a plan to attack the Roman islands and the emperor’s own naval forces by stealth; perhaps fearing that the emperor, having abandoned other concerns, might turn his arms against them. Therefore, setting out for Lesbos with fifteen ships, they were not immediately able to become masters of the rest of the island, but, having suddenly sailed into the port of Mitylene, they captured the city immediately through treachery.

V. But when the Rhodians and the ruler of the Cyclades islands wished to plunder the wealth and likewise partition the rest of the Lesbian territory, the leader of the Phocaeans, Catanes, using a certain trick and deception, introduced his own garrison into Mitylene and seized it for himself, having circumvented them. For he thought that he would easily be able to secure the whole island from that point, even without his allies, since he possessed more power than those two combined, acting alone. For he alone had brought eight triremes, which he had manned at Genoa; the Rhodians had four, and the remaining [original-script column: see facsimile]. [alt-version omitted]

three were led by the commander of the Cyclades islands. ^A He, then, immediately expelled the citizens of Mitylene from their homeland; and having summoned his wife and children from Phocaea, he chose to make his dwelling there, leaving behind a sufficient garrison in Phocaea. Phocaea had descended to him as an inheritance from his ancestors, having been given to them by the emperor—the grandfather of the present emperor—for the sake of the administration and some financial profit. For this reason, those who succeeded to the prefecture of this place at fixed times were accustomed to renew the grant perpetually with imperial letters, lest the long passage of time should cause the emperor, excluded from his authority, to lose it through negligence. ^B This Catanes, however, seeing that the Roman state was already ailing, behaved more insolently toward the emperor and neglected his rightful duties. Hence, fearing a sudden attack by the emperor, he took thought for his own safety in every possible way and plotted to seize Mitylene by treachery; and he accomplished this when the opportunity arose. But the Rhodians, and the others who had gathered together for the invasion of Mitylene, detesting the corruption of the Phocaean Catanes' intent, withdrew to their homes.

VI.

VII.

the voyage to Mitylene, they took heart and declared open war, and behaved insolently toward the Byzantines and the emperor himself. They surrounded their own walls with wooden towers; and of the large merchant vessels, some they sank to the bottom of the sea, while others they armed and stationed before the harbor in place of other ramparts and earthworks. The emperor, however, not wishing his forces, prepared with such great effort, to be distracted by that war, displayed a great spirit in these events; disregarding them entirely, he applied himself with all diligence to the voyage and sought to gain new strength for himself. ^B

VIII. But when the Latin Galatae had remained shut up within their walls for seven full days, and were on the verge of being torn to pieces by their own citizenry who could no longer endure the pressing hardships (for they were lacking both water and all comfort from herbs and fruits), the market-people and the poor, and those who sustained themselves from daily profit in trade, having suffered the greatest loss, broke out in even wilder rage against their Latin magistrates: for this reason, they became more moderate, submitted themselves to the emperor, and obtained pardon for their ill-timed arrogance. ^C

IX. After the rising of the Dog Star, as the year was now waning and the northern winds were blowing more violently in the lower sea, the emperor sailed to Mitylene with all his naval forces. The seven triremes of Cataneo, which were then coasting along the shore of Mitylene, seeing more of the emperor's ships than they had expected, saw two immediately escape into the harbor, while five, through desperation, ran aground on the shore. Those who were in them, casting aside their arms, all fled; some of them ran to Mitylene, while others, ignorant of the way, were killed by the Lesbians. The emperor’s men took the five ships, full of arms and naval provisions, and sailed off with the emperor toward the island of Chios, intending to fill those five captured triremes with rowers and as many soldiers as were to fight from the decks. But this delay at Chios was very adverse to the emperor's haste and zeal. ^D For Cataneo, now secure, fortified Mitylene, brought in a large body of troops and an abundant supply of necessities; and having sent the two swift-sailing triremes which he had to Phocaea, he used such diligence that he provided for that city in the same way. After these events, the emperor arrived at Phocaea with his forces, and having summoned the Turk who held the surrounding district (since he knew that he too had long been hostile to the Phocaean Latins on account of the frequent losses they had inflicted upon him), he besieged the fortress by land and sea, with the Turks bringing in plentiful supplies for the triremes.

CHAPTER II

^B2. When the winter solstice was already near, the Latins who held the fortress of Phocaea, seeing the emperor so persistent that neither the rigor of winter could break him (although his entire naval force was continuously pressing the siege by night and day in the open air), nor their long absence from their own people, nor the scarcity of any goods necessary for a more luxurious life, they began to despair; especially when they realized they were suffering from a shortage of grain. Therefore, having sent envoys to the Rhodians, they begged them not to forsake them in their peril. And the Rhodians, interceding for them with the emperor, lifted the siege. For the Phocaeans immediately restored the sons of the Turk who was assisting the Romans to their father, whom they had kidnapped and held in chains long before. Furthermore, they confirmed their faith to the emperor with certain pledges, with the Rhodians as witnesses, that they would restore Mitylene as soon as possible and would be obedient to the emperor, just as had been the custom previously and as had been agreed with their fathers.

^D3. And thus, taking his naval forces away from there, the emperor did indeed intend to sail to Mitylene; but because of the tumults in Byzantium stirred up by the seditious, and because the army was suffering from the effects of the bitter cold, he returned to Byzantium with his entire fleet. Shortly thereafter, having apprehended those who had secretly arrogated supreme power to themselves, he separated the associates of the conspiracy, and to each...

^A one he examined, and he gathered the truth from them all. Following this, having gathered the entire Senate and the bishops residing in Byzantium at that time, together with the patriarch, and all those of the people of Byzantium who happened to be present, he brought into the middle the faction-members themselves, and whoever happened to be witnesses. These, disputing and reproaching one another, and demonstrating through undeniable proofs the conspiracies of one against another, and those monstrous and most wicked designs that were being brought to completion, were forced by the inescapable nature of the proofs to confess their own madness. And they might easily have been torn to pieces on the spot by the entire populace, had not the great forbearance and philanthropy of the Emperor restrained that vehement impulse. For he showed then, as always, his customary mildness and his innate and age-matured cheerfulness; in the proem, as one might say, ^B and the epilogues of the speech, his discourse was of this kind:

IV. "If someone has a shepherd and a dog by the flock, O those present, by how much more eagerly he sees them keeping watch at night against the wolves, by so much the more does he love them and shares with them more liberally their daily sustenance. Yet those most closely related to me by blood, when they saw me wandering far from the homeland for the sake of the common race of the Romans [P. 327] and for the sake of themselves living delicately at home, and enduring dangers by land and by sea—and this in the midst of winter and in such frost—they did not pity me, nor did they provide me with any of those things which console a soul suffering so severely. On the contrary, every just word has flowed down against cliffs and ravines; they armed their judgment, and they armed their right hand against my head. And even now, as far as it lies in them, my blood pours out upon the ground; the blood of my children and my wife pours out; the sacred institutions of the Church have been overturned, and the affairs of the Romans have been overturned. In the face of these things, what iron, what adamant would not soften its inherent ^C hardness?"

V. The Emperor indeed used such a proem to his oration, perfectly calculated to draw forth tears. But as to the rest, who that saw it would not have been vehemently struck with wonder at his patience, tempered with a certain cheerful humanity? Especially when he checked the informers who wished to accuse the Despot Demetrios himself, moved by reverence for his aunt, Kralaina—who herself was sitting there at that time along with the Empress, and as many of the noble women who were present listening, wearing the divine and angelic habit. At that time we, too, sitting nearby, were admiring the mildness of the Emperor more than all else with eulogistic words, and we clapped and gave support to this goodness of his. For we were maintaining ^D a mind always pure, as is fitting—what iron, what adamant would not soften its inherent hardness?

^A regarding both the Cralena and her brother, the late and illustrious emperor, their father; and by all means also for their own sakes, having been brought down into such fortunes. Consequently, the emperor was softened all the more and passed over in silence the accusations lodged against the Despot Demetrius. The gist of the accusation, however, was this: that he had openly conspired with the seditious. But he had pondered a different course of action within himself, and a very prudent one at that. For, for the sake of the Cralena herself, the emperor took pains that the crimes alleged against her brother, the Despot, should be passed over in silence. Nor do these things alone demonstrate the kindness of the emperor at that time, but many other things besides. For he conducted the entire examination that followed in the same manner, and he displayed nothing harsh toward the convicted seditionaries. But he absolved the others completely; only the sons of Asan ^B he kept in a free and humane confinement, so that, if their wickedness were left entirely unpunished, all men might not rush into similar villainy. He thus brought that public address and examination to a close, for the time being, in such a graceful and mild manner.

VI.

CHAPTER III.

II. At this time Basil, the son of Alexios Komnenos, reigned in Trebizond, his position having been confirmed by paternal succession ^C through many contests, and he had taken as his wife Eudokia, the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor.

III. John, the Count, leader of the Aetolians and Acarnanians, met with a violent end, justice having finally, as was fitting, overtaken him as well, just as it had his predecessors. For he had seized the principate after killing his own brother, even as that man had done to his uncle. But since vengeance is not wont to keep silent in the end in such matters, he too was removed by a violent death, poison being secretly administered to him by his wife. ^D For as domestic affairs were in a very wretched state, the woman, fearing the machinations of her husband, made away with him before she could be killed by him; and thus, with her two young children, she obtained the principate of the Aetolians and Acarnanians.

IV. ^A Since the emperor had long and often heard from many people that the judges—who had sworn to judge uprightly and not to pervert justice in any way, about whom we have already spoken ^A previously—forgetting those terrifying written oaths, and disregarding both ecclesiastical and imperial decrees, were not performing their judgments impartially, but were accepting bribes shamelessly and corrupting courtroom verdicts; and what is more serious, that they were taking bribes from both of the litigating parties, yet providing no resolution or end to the lawsuits, but rather handing over to each side separately documents that purported to contain the final judgment, and then dismissing them with the initial charges and disputes still unresolved; because, I say, the emperor had heard these and other similar things from very many people, at first he could not believe them, considering the binding nature of the oaths. But eventually, a late session was held, and the bishops and priests were gathered in the most august holy temple of God's Sophia; the emperor himself, presiding with the patriarch, gave everyone the opportunity to bring forward proofs against such men if they wished. And very many undeniable accusations were brought, more than he had heard of. And ^B to pass over the rest, one of the four was acquitted as innocent, as no one had accused him of corruption, while the others, fearing they might be torn apart by the people, did not wait, but sentenced themselves. Some returned the money they had received and resigned from the office of judge. The bishop, in addition to this, ceded his priesthood and was removed from office. By decree of the emperor, all were ordered into exile from the Queen of Cities.

CAPUT IV.

I. ^D At the beginning of summer, the Thracians ^D again began to suffer in the same way from the infestation of the Asiatic Turks. For because they were accustomed to defeating the Romans, they would cross the strait whenever they pleased without anyone to stop them, and they were devastating Thrace in the worst way. Those, therefore, who had been allotted Ionia and the further regions, because of the treaty which they had ratified a little while before with the emperor at Phocaea, as we have said, remained quiet for the present. But those who inhabited the Trojan region and the shores of the Hellespont, having crossed the strait with very many ships and horses, and having acted in a hostile manner through the Chersonese, from there even burst into the interior of Thrace, at a time when the emperor happened to be staying near Didymoteichon. As he lacked sufficient forces and did not dare to meet the enemies in open battle, he set ambushes with no sluggishness, spending the night in the open air and enduring hunger and thirst.

At length, having attacked the plundering cohort, and having seized the booty, he slew one hundred and fifty chosen men without effort. When the others learned of this, they sent ambassadors to the emperor; and thus, a settlement having been made, they immediately returned home. The emperor, however, arrived in Byzantium on the third day. For he was eager to cross into Aetolia, since matters there had been in a wretched state after the death of the count who had held the supreme power, and he was being summoned by his widow to take possession of the principality.

^B II. But at the beginning of the same summer, while the emperor was preparing his departure, another evil was reported from Asia. It was this: the Bithynian prince Orchan, son of Atuman, who for a long time now had been secretly gathering soldiers, had drawn up regular forces, and these measures were entirely sufficient for his purpose. They were now ready to cross over from Asia on the following day in two directions: one part from Hieron, and the other from the Propontis, to the suburbs of Byzantium—for this part until that time had been kept most secure from every hostile incursion. Their intention was to carry off the entire urban population, which was occupied in harvesting and storing crops, as well as those living in the country districts, and afterward to occupy two fortresses from among those that were closest to the city, and from there, as from a convenient station, to attack the Byzantines in war. For they judged that the Romans were not yet a match for them to withstand, as their affairs were worn out and completely afflicted by a lack of money and frequent enemy incursions. Moreover, as the Latin Gauls also favored them, they conceived a greater hope of occupying the imperial city.

^C III. The emperor, however, having heard of this sudden incursion of theirs, since the straitness of time precluded him from proper preparation, judged that he must set out to battle even though he was unprepared, placing unshakable and firm hope and trust in God in place of all equipment of arms and army. Having therefore selected twenty noblemen of mature age and forty of the soldiers who had happened to be at hand, and having given them as leader Cantacuzenus, the grand domestic, he sent them by land. He himself departed with three unarmed triremes against the fleet of the barbarians, who, having been carried across in twenty-four ships from the Asiatic gulf of the Propontis, had put in near Rhegium, at a place no less than one hundred and ten stadia distant from the city, at about the third hour of the night. And immediately, having disembarked, they scattered to plunder in various directions, before the country people could know of it. Then indeed one could see both the granaries burning and—

and hear the lamentations of the women and infants being dragged away in savage fashion. Around the ninth hour of the night, with the dawn already beginning to appear, the Grand Domestic arrived with seventy horsemen; encountering the Barbarians scattered, he cut them down just as harvesters reap the corn. At the same time, the Emperor, having sailed out, captured fourteen Barbarian ships, having slain the guards within them. For the remaining ten fled immediately, some of the Barbarians having perceived his approach and leapt onto them. By daybreak, the Emperor having also disembarked onto the mainland, a deed greatest of all those ever recorded was accomplished. For it appeared that, not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy, are all things. For before the sun had passed the meridian circle, nearly a thousand of the Barbarians were slaughtered, and three hundred were captured alive. Of the Romans, not one fell; but many of their horses died. For since the Barbarians were infantry, they could perform no notable feat against armed cavalry; but in their desperation, they attacked the horses more boldly.

^B IV. Hence the Romans, recovered from the abyss of extreme despair and long-standing fear, regained their courage through this victory and placed a firmer hope in God for the future. For all perceived clearly that this had not come to pass in a human way—for who could have accomplished it in such a turn of times, when the Roman cause was everywhere desperate, and the boldness of the Barbarians had increased immensely through long habit of victory?—but that the right hand of the Lord had done this, and His arm had crushed the invincible forces of the enemy without any toil. For in those battles which we admire in histories because of the ^C number of troops on either side being almost uncountable, one would find in very few of them as many killed and as many captured, as were now by only seventy men.

V. The next day, the Emperor again, with his forces splendidly armed by land and sea, arrived at the Strait of the Hieron, hoping to find the Barbarians approaching there also, as rumor had announced. But he was frustrated in his hope. For the Barbarians, having heard of the disaster of their compatriots, had retreated. The Emperor, however, returning home, left the palace at night, and having completed a journey of forty-five stadia on foot, he arrived at the divine temple of the ^D all-holy Theotokos the Hodegetria, to offer thanks with his whole heart.

CAPUT V.

1. But that point escaped me for a moment, which I shall take up again having returned to it. In this summer, when the sun had already reached the summer solstice, a comet began to appear from the northern parts of the horizon.

^A Indeed, to speak more accurately, it was not a comet, but a *Pogonias*, or bearded star, resembling a kind of sword. It seemed to have taken its origin mostly from the feet of Perseus, which are not far from the spine of Taurus; its mane extended widely toward the eastern parts of the world. Then, starting from there, it rose straight toward the arctic pole, moving about three degrees each day. After it had passed the arctic pole, and beyond that the Little Bear and the coils of the Dragon, ^B it touched also the right foot of Hercules, and after him, the crown of Ariadne. From there it traversed the left hand of Ophiuchus. And because the breadth of the Zodiac and the equator were here, and the place is hot, the comet could not endure, because it had taken its beginning of coalescence from a humid exhalation. Wherefore, its mane having been dissipated, it itself utterly vanished; for it had the appearance of a star, but was not a star. To what has been said, I shall add another story worthy of being heard.

II. On this time a woman of the Scythians

^A she provided the ransom as a dowry; but as for the wife, since she wished to do so but could not, both on account of her lack of necessities and her being in a foreign land with two infants, taking the price given for her, she said, "Let her go away with her husband; I, for my part, shall remain henceforth with the children, looking to the hands of the merciful God." Everyone, together with the patriarch, praised this judgment and admired the greatness of soul in that woman's disposition. But not log after, the judgment met the end it deserved, with God, who judges from on high, presiding with perfect justice. For the woman, having gone out to collect money for her own ransom and making the rounds of her neighbors in Thrace, where she had previously made her home, fell again into the hands of the Scythians, who had suddenly made an incursion against Thrace. She went away as a captive, and her husband remained, from that point on living with the virtuous woman from the Scythian lands. ^B

CHAPTER VI

1. Now the affairs of the Aetolians and Acarnanians were already in a poor state, and, due to the death of their lord, they were laboring and calling upon the Emperor. For the principality, being unable to be governed by a widowed woman and children of immature age, was being carried along recklessly, like a ship bereft of its anchors, tossed by waves and storms. But since the Emperor knew the ancient habit of the Illyrians, who were accustomed to violating oaths and breaking treaties to raid the Roman provinces and rob travelers—men most deceitful and wicked—and he understood that they would also now be a secret impediment to his expedition against the Acarnanians and Aetolians, he summoned two thousand mercenaries from the Turks who inhabit the regions around Smyrna and Ionia. With these, as spring began, he made an incursion into the Illyrian country and ravaged it, driving off a vast quantity of plunder, so that the Turks, becoming rich from being poor in a short time, returned home quickly with full hands. ^C Thus, with the resources of the Illyrians diminished, he crossed over securely with his army to the Acarnanians and Aetolians and took possession of that entire region along with its cities without labor, the leading men of their own accord presenting themselves to him, along with their mistress, Anna, the daughter of the protovestiarios.

III. While the Emperor was occupied with these matters, the Bithynian metropolis, Nicomedia, was also captured, having been subdued by severe famine on account of the persistent siege of the enemies. In the following year, nothing worthy of mention was done, except ^D

^A that numerous bands of Turks continuously and fearlessly overran and overran Thrace, and they still do so now. For I am weary of recounting this so many times, as it is already well-known and habitual.

III. In the year immediately following, the son of the prince of Epirus, previously Count of Cephalonia, who was then in his fourteenth year but endowed with intelligence greater than his age, when he saw his paternal inheritance submitting to the Emperor, and his mother agreeing to accompany the Emperor as far as Thessalonica—by whom he had been commanded to follow as well, without his ancestral badges of nobility—he contemplated revolt. Bringing his friend, one of the nobles of Epirus, into his counsel, he fled with him to old Patras to the wife of the deceased prince of the Peloponnese and Achaia. His mother, however, immediately arrived with the Emperor as far as Thessalonica; and there, having received sufficiently large estates from which she derived annual revenues, she decided to live out her life. The governor of Epirus, meanwhile, had been left behind by the Emperor: the Protostrator Theodorus Synadenus, who, before an entire year had passed, was suddenly captured by the provincial inhabitants and handed over in chains to the son of the Count, who had returned to his homeland and had taken up his ancestral principality with the consent of his subjects.

CHAPTER VII.

^C I. The Emperor, however, having set out for Adrianople with the Lady Empress, brought to completion the marriage long since promised, his daughter, who had completed her ninth year, being given to the son of Alexander, prince of the Mysians, who was in his fifteenth year. Whence a firm peace was established between the Mysians and the Romans.

II. At this time, a child was born in Byzantium, joined from the feet up to the navel, but divided from there at the shoulders, chest, and spine; having two heads and four hands; and he expired after one day.

III. Much earlier than him, another boy was seen near Trajanopolis, who, while in his third year, stammered indeed as an infant, but was endowed with such strength as a man of twenty years, and he ate no less than a man, and around his groin he had the hair of an adult man. But before he had completed his fifth year, he was seized by a fever and expired. For the lack of the moisture due to the infant age [brought such dryness]

^A into his body, such as one might find in a twenty-year-old. From this, it gave his limbs and members a strength equal to that, so that the growth and nourishment ^B appropriate to each age were held in check, and the nature of the child could not govern itself, as it had been ordained by the One who fashioned and bound it together. For thus did God, the architect, temper the formation of the living being, so that it required no further increase or decrease. But just as in a musical harmony, if one string is loosened and another stretched beyond what is proper, a fault in the melody is detected, so too here, when the frame of the living being is deprived or oppressed by some lack or excess of material, and the legitimate time has passed, the progression of generation and growth is interrupted. Much the same happens as what we see in newly sprouted flowers, which, having sprung up before their time, and as it were in a spirit of innovation and rashness, wither away under the onslaught of lightning and hail, and lose their excessive vigor to the frost; and an untimely rime ^C is a clear proof of the intemperance of the flower.

IV. The Disturbance of the Genoese Republic

IV. Now, as autumn was already beginning, a disturbance of the commonwealth occurred in Genoa. For those who excelled in that city in lineage and wealth inclined toward arrogance and haughtiness, so that the equality of the democracy was transformed into tyranny. The common people, therefore, being greatly vexed by this matter, rose up against them and, having driven them from the city, established one from among the people as leader of the commonwealth, in imitation of that which was once the consular dignity among the Romans, or rather, following the example sought from the Venetians.

V. But when winter had passed, and the sun was passing through Aries, a comet in the shape of a sword ^D appeared in the heavens, similar indeed to the one that had appeared three years before, but not in the same location, nor performing the same movement. For it began from the place where the Claws ended and the Spica of Virgo happened to be at that time, and it progressed at a rate of about five degrees every twenty-four hours, until it reached Leo, where it completely dissolved.

VI. Eight thousand Turks, having crossed the Hellespont, most of them with pack animals, pillaged all of Thrace as far as the Mysians—territory which the Romans had made completely desolate and inaccessible on all sides. The Turks, for their part, did not cease to pillage by night and by day, carrying all the plunder over into Asia, and they were not willing to return home even after a long time, since there was no one to oppose them.

CHAPTER VIII.

A'. In this spring, Basil ^A, who had girded himself with the power of Trebizond, departed this life after a short illness. I suspect that some divine retribution suddenly carried him out of this life. For after having lived for a short time with Irene, the daughter of the Emperor, lawfully and justly, and with the attendant harmony and temperance that was fitting, he afterwards transferred his marital affections to a certain courtesan, who was also called Irene. By living with her in an ungodly manner, he turned to hatred of his lawful wife. As time went on, seeing that the Empress could not endure the absurdity of the situation, but was crying out to heaven and earth and proclaiming the fire in her heart to everyone, he cast her out of his own royal house. He might perhaps even have brought about her violent death, had he not feared the people, who were, on account of this very thing, raising an uproar and sedition against him. Nevertheless, in the sacred hymns and the processional spectacles of the festive celebrations, the memory of Basil and Irene continued to be celebrated with ^B acclamations; and by this means, Basil was satisfying both the craving of his own passion and the desire of the people, whom the very similarity of name was apt to deceive. Whence arose the suspicion that Basil had been removed by the clandestine plots of the Empress Irene. However, when he was dead—whether in this way or otherwise—that lawful spouse, Irene, entered the palace with all imperial authority, and she immediately cast out from there the woman who, while sharing the same name, was of a different character and was an unlawful wife to Basil; and indeed, by the common vote of the Trapezuntines, she sent her into exile to Byzantium along with her children.

B'. She also sent envoys to her father, the Emperor, to bring back someone whom she might lawfully marry, and who would also take over the rule of that empire. When they had arrived in Byzantium and heard that the Emperor was staying near Thessalonica, they decided to make their journey thither ^C as well. For the Emperor had already moved from Thrace to Macedonia a year before and was intending to cross directly into Epirus against the covenant-breaking Acarnanians and Aetolians. But the usual affliction of the spleen kept him for a little while in the city of Thessalonica; for having already suffered a certain change and deviation from its proper state for many years, it had now become exceedingly swollen and had spread into the inner and adjoining structure of his entrails, so that there resulted from this, in turn, an inability to digest food, and a weakness of the limbs, and fainting spells that threatened death. However, when he had recovered a little, he [departed] for Acarnania.

had departed. Once the Trapezuntine envoys met him there, they set forth the matters they were tasked with.

III. But as the matter dragged on, and the Trapezuntine principate could not be governed well and firmly by a woman, some began to stir up tumult and incite the populace. This situation compelled Irene, the Empress of Trebizond, to dispatch other envoys on a fast trireme, together with the archbishop of Trebizond, to press her former petition to the Roman Emperor. When they arrived at Byzantium and did not find the Emperor, they sent a few horsemen of noble birth and high standing to him. These men traveled as far as Thessalonica but were unable to meet with the Emperor in person. For, as I have already said, having recently recovered from his illness, he had departed to besiege the capital city of Acarnania. Therefore, it seemed best to them to remain there and explain the reason for their arrival to the Emperor by letter.

IV. But when a feminine appetite obtains power that panders to desire, it breaks all bonds; it was whispered that the Empress Irene was engaging in clandestine relations with the Grand Domestic of the Trapezuntines. When this reached the ears of the common people, it drove the populace to sedition, and especially the nobility. Some favored Tzanychites, who at that time possessed the greatest wealth and standing; others attached themselves to the Grand Domestic. The city of Trebizond, being thus agitated and divided into factions, descended into civil war. At that time, it is said, many on both sides were cut down, and among them, Tzanychites himself.

CAPUT IX.

A. The Emperor Andronicus, while besieging the capital city of the Acarnanians, felt that everything was proceeding according to his wishes, as far as was possible. For with the Grand Domestic Cantacuzenus assisting and governing the empire alongside him in an excellent manner, none of the difficulties by which he was pressed seemed burdensome. For he managed with great prudence the long delay in that foreign expedition and the losses of horse and footmen; he likewise eased with the same skill the disease that tormented him from the spleen, dispelling every fear arising from it, and if any external affairs brought anxiety, he easily resolved them by his own administration. Furthermore, the conspiracies of his kinsmen, which were then directed against the Emperor’s life—

he suppressed most wisely, settling all things safely before they could reach the ears of the Emperor. ^A For the man was adorned with many endowments, both those which nature bestows and those which are acquired by a brilliant mind—which is the best guide of our life—prudence; he was especially popular among the soldiery, so that there was no one who did not prefer his life and safety to his own. For while he did not alter his former generosity and constancy of spirit even in the course of an expedition and in such great affairs, he did change for the better the fortune of those who were then suffering from famine and plague. Wherefore all the soldiers and commanders, the common ranks and the officers equally, acting as if from one tongue, ^B called him savior, sustainer, and bestower of wealth, and all the names that make the glory of the Roman Empire more illustrious.

II. But to review in summary what the prudent mind of this man accomplished in the management of affairs, both near and far, during that same time: while he was together with the Emperor besieging the capital city of the Acarnanians, those who had planned a tyranny and were threatening Byzantium were apprehended—and they were neither few nor obscure; of whom we shall speak more fully later. Captured together with them was Sphrantzes Palaiologos, who had killed Syrgiannes, having plotted the same things against the Emperor’s life. For he was present in the very same camps, and he had secretly enticed the Catalans from the city of Thebes, along with the neighboring Illyrian peoples, whom he had with him, to these designs. But he departed from this life before he could pay the deserved penalties here; I believe because God, whose enemy he was, reserved for him heavier, eternal punishments.

III. During the same time, the city of Phocaea was also captured by the Romans without any effort, which the Emperor had attacked with large naval forces four years earlier, though he did not take it then; but now at last the Romans living there, having watched for the moment when the city’s leader had gone out hunting as was his custom, seized it, having overpowered the Latins, who were few, and at the same time proclaimed the Emperor’s name, having climbed upon the battlements of the walls.

IV. ^C When these things were so established, the Acarnanians, ^D despairing of their safety on account of the length of the siege, also surrendered; and thus it happened that that entire province which is called ancient Epirus became subject to the Roman government.

^A While the Emperor was returning to Thessalonica, the son of the deceased Count of Cephalonia also came along, though not at all willingly, as he saw that no hope remained for him of recovering the succession of his paternal lordship. So skilled an architect of great deeds was the silence of the Great Domestic; for the words of others are but shadows of deeds, dying away as soon as they emerge from the tongue. But the silence of this man is itself the creator of great works. For the man truly abounds in the fruits of a profound depth of soul and insight.

^B V. But as spring began, the Emperor departed from Thessalonica with his wife and children and on the twelfth day arrived at the city named Didymoteichon. Having spent several days there, he entered Byzantium toward the end of spring, oppressed by a serious ailment of the spleen, the violent onset of which was driving him toward death. For his recovery was despaired of by all the physicians, both those of the Romans and those who had been summoned from Persia for this very purpose, of whom there were three. ^C When they all ordered him to use a lighter diet and to abstain with the greatest care from harmful things, he utterly disregarded them, and set his table in such a way that his own will alone acted as his guide, which was in complete opposition to the physicians' instructions. For this reason, the spleen, having quickly enlarged, extended as far as the liver and allowed him no further peace. After he had spent twenty days in the palace and had excluded all men from his presence, he decided to visit the holy temple of the Mother of God, of the monastery which is called of the Hodegetria. For he always placed in her, for all his affairs, a great and firm hope, promising better things. Therefore he approached her even now, seeking one of two things: either relief from his illness or the end of his life.

CAPUT X.

I. But that which is most necessary to be said, and without which I could not proceed further, almost escaped me. This, therefore, must be briefly recapitulated. When the Roman principate was transferred from Andronicus the grandfather to the younger Andronicus, a man came from Italy to Byzantium, clothed in Roman habit and calling himself Barlaam. He, with the dogmatics of the Latins

^A he was instructed, and he had tasted the profane letters of the Greeks; not to the degree that he himself supposed, but still moderately and, as they say, with the tip of his finger. Having found the emperor favorable, he adorned his own affairs with copious words, while criticizing and reviling the Commonwealth of the Byzantines, judging it by his own assessment to be devoid of all learning; and thus he insidiously and maliciously courted popular favor by putting others down, so as to harvest great praise for himself from vile and ignorant men.

^B II. But not long after, it was revealed that he was a monkey, so that he was condemned by almost all the Byzantines, I might say, and most resoundingly hissed off the stage. By what means this happened, however, anyone who wishes may learn from that dialogue (35) which, yielding to the requests of very many learned men, I have written, having set forth everything more broadly therein. Its title is *Florentius, or On Wisdom*; and it has this beginning: “Whence does our fine Florentius, after a long time, arrive at the Corcyrean naval station? By good fortune, my friend Critobulus, the Salaminia and the Parali, the fastest triremes of the Athenians, have brought us here from Athens ten days after we set sail from the harbor, as envoys to the Council of the Corcyreans, to announce things which, when you hear them yourself, I do not think you will be able to avoid admiring.” For in the dialogue, we have feigned and altered the names of both persons and things; and in place of Byzantines, the city of the Athenians is brought in; and instead of the Roman princes, the Heraclidae and Cecropidae (36); and instead of Nicephorus, Nicagoras (37); and the rest will be clear to those who look with understanding.

^C III. Now this Barlaam, having been frustrated in his first attempt and having fallen from his greatest hopes, attacked the matter by another path, that he might hunt for the glory from this source which he had been unable to obtain from the other. Straightaway he began, if anything had been said by some people less than conveniently, to attack it publicly, so that from there, as if sallying forth from a safe fortress, he might bring some stain and storm upon the Church, and from that point at last confirm that the dogmas of the Latins were more sound. Wherefore, he kept watch, and impudently slandered the discipline of the monks, calling them ^D Euchites and Omphalopsychi [*navel-souled*] and other names of that sort; and furthermore accusing them of the heresy of the Messalians, because, as he said, he heard them boasting in both tongue and writings that they saw the nature of God with their bodily eyes. Hearing these things, they [took them] with equanimity

^A could not endure it. And so they chose a certain Palamas, who surpassed the rest among them in the power of speech, to be their champion for that contest, and by means of his tongue, pen, and every other method they endeavored to overthrow the opponent’s theses. Since this matter had already been agitated by both sides for the second and third year, the evil continued to receive ever greater growth. Wherefore Barlaam, fearing that he might be torn to pieces by the hands of the monks—who were already gathered in great numbers both from Mount Athos and from the monasteries situated near Thessalonica and Byzantium (for they thought that the insult applied equally to them all)—approached the Patriarch of Constantinople and the assembly of bishops gathered there, accusing Palamas not only of "Omphalopsychia" and erroneous prayer, but now also of blasphemous theology. "For," he said, "he introduces novel terms into the mystical theology of the Church and invents monstrosities of visions, which he pretends to behold, full of boastfulness and arrogance."

IV. Regarding the convocation of the synod at Hagia Sophia and the postponement of the charges.

^B IV. Wherefore, a council of judges was decreed to be held in the great temple of Holy Sophia, at which the emperor himself, along with the leading men of the senate and all the most learned men, would be present. The appointed day arrived: all were present, not only those whose ministry was necessary for the business at hand, but also a popular crowd not easily numbered. The emperor himself, having recovered somewhat and become stronger than usual through his love and zeal for religion, came to the dais and to the priests. And as for those matters that pertained to the refutation of theology, it seemed right that they should be covered in silence; this was ^C partly because the sacred mysteries of theology should not be thrust upon the profane ears of the populace, and partly so that, if Barlaam were to render accounts of his inept speech and mindset, Palamas might not also appear guilty of blasphemous and untimely theology, and thus, instead of the peace and good order which the situation demanded, a tumult and indiscriminate confusion might arise. Therefore, the question of prayer was set forth. Now, the charges regarding the Massalian heresy and the other crimes brought against Palamas were postponed for a few days; and if the sudden death of the emperor had not ^D followed, that which he had threatened against the Palamite heresy would have been promptly accomplished. For he would have completely extirpated it while it was still growing and not yet fully developed.

V. And, to omit the events that intervened, Barlaam, who for the reasons we have stated was not permitted to confirm the theological crimes that had been objected to him, regarding prayer

^A regarding those for which he had been convicted by his other writings, remained entangled in malevolence and arrogance, and was in the highest degree a lover of popular glory. At that time the emperor, as if possessed by a kind of Bacchic frenzy for glory, delivered a speech that was very prudent and admired by all, and perfectly suited to the time and the need. And so, although he wished to rejoice in other things, he was affected by some distress because, owing to his ambition, he was sorry that I had not been present with the others to hear it. For the ailments familiar to us, which at that time were cruelly dancing upon my head, did not allow me to be present at that council, even though I had been invited many times on the previous day by the emperor, the patriarch, and the entire council of both the judges and those being judged. At evening, however, the spectacle came to an end. Barlaam, ^B overcome by the heavy grief caused by his shame, departed under full sail for Italy and the customs and dogmas of the Latins, in which he had been nourished.

CHAPTER XI.

^C [P. 346] ^A The emperor went back to the monastery of the Hodegetria, his body being very severely afflicted both by that discussion and by his splenic illness. And since, having sat up until about midnight, he had dined more heavily than he ought to have, the next day ^D he fell into sleep and a stupor similar to an unresponsiveness. On the third day, having opened his eyes a little, he urged the empress not to weep, and at the same time asked for some help from the physicians. And he sent to me with all speed to ask whether the celestial luminaries were at that time helping and not hindering the efforts and experiments of the medical art. But before those who had been sent could return bearing our answers, he relapsed into a greater stupor and lay there breathing his last for nearly a third day; and before the sun could rise on the fifteenth of that month of June, he departed this life, in the year 6849.

His age was about forty-five years; and of those years he spent twelve in supreme power, plus twenty-two days, from the time he had occupied the imperial city by the right of war.

^D II. On the third day of mourning, as the Empress Anna was returning from there to the palace, I was one of her large retinue, having barely recovered a little from the illness that had troubled me. And when both the patriarch and all those who were related to the emperor by blood urged me to deliver lamentations suitable to the occasion, I came forward and delivered an oration to this effect:

^B III. "We, indeed, for our part, who were hoping to sing of victories and to proclaim the festive spectacles of the most holy emperor, and to place crowns of speech upon his imperial head—as a small reward for great, long-enduring labors and the heavy struggles he bore with such hardship—to be a meager recompense for our loyalty. But, alas, time has suddenly cast another calamity upon us today, so that we are compelled to chant dirges in the place of panegyric, and instead of fair hope, to contemplate only the most difficult things. Woe is me in my misery! What Orpheus, what Homer will be able to adapt an appropriate grief and mourning to this great and immense calamity? Ye fountains of rivers, all ye lakes, and whole seas, be turned into tears, so that sun and moon and stars may be nurtured by winged tears. ^C Alas, who has snatched that heroic warrior from the midst of the world? What sepulcher, what earth, what rock has buried our treasure? O great expanse of the air, now open your arms and receive these sighs, and pour down from above suitable showers of tears. He was one who would await neither autumn nor summer for the use of arms, but rather would innovate the very nature of the seasons and the elements: for he judged the bitterness of winter to be summer, starvation to be a delicacy, sleeplessness to be sleep; and imperial delights to be the heaping of labors upon labors, and one conflict upon another, so that land battles followed sea battles, and sea battles in turn followed land battles. ^D Yet now, alas the sorrow, a little dust covers him. Oh, what fitting voice will proclaim this mourning to the earth and heaven and stars, and, filling all things with grief, will summon them to a fellowship of lamentation? He was the one who, besides other things, produced that great triumph, distributed across land and sea, and who filled both elements with wonder: I speak of those Persian and invincible forces that crossed over from Asia, which on the very same day he most powerfully...

^A defeated. But now, alas, death has fallen upon him more swiftly and defeated him. Be shaken, O earth, at this present calamity, so that every race and every age of men, having perceived such a great disaster, might become more numerous as companions and collaborators in our fervent groans. This was the man who, before he was heard, would appear by the swiftness of his course, and before he was seen, would put the enemy to flight by the terror of his report; but alas, death now appeared far swifter than him, and having anticipated him, cut short such a course. O fountain of ethereal fire, do one of two things: either cease casting your life-giving rays upon the earth, or gather up the craters of all your fire and cast them down upon it, so that every tree may shed its foliage, and the lilies of the field may wither, and every race of grass may acquire perception and knowledge of such a great calamity. He was the one who ^B filled with terror the leaders of the Triballi and Mysians, standing over them often with the suddenness of an ethereal thunderbolt, as if they were asleep. But, alas, the tomb has now revealed him sluggish and lying still once and for all. O heaven, open your gates and send forth a clap of thunder worthy of this great calamity and cause the whole of creation to tremble, so that even the nature of inanimate things may perceive it, and all the nature of created things may join in our lamentations. O how is it that such a swift and winged nature now rests unmoved? O how is it that you, who so often brought us joy from military triumphs, have changed all things today into the opposite, turning spring into winter, the beauty of the sun into deep darkness, while every age is dressed in mourning, and it is as if the brilliance of the ethereal sun-torch is hidden? O how is it that he, who often denied sleep to his own eyes for the sake of his subjects, now sleeps that long sleep in the tomb? O how is it that he, having donned a stony tunic, has in a short time caused us to be miserably stripped? ^C O how is it that he, who formerly cut down and cast to the ground the bodies of enemies, now from the tomb unsparingly shoots arrows at the souls of his subjects? And you, O divine empress, where have you left your glory? How is it that, having gone forth from the palace yesterday like a full moon, today you have returned as a half-moon? How is it that, whereas yesterday you were flourishing like a leafy tree, today you have withered like the hay of the field and the rose in the meadow? How is it that, having risen yesterday from the imperial chambers like a brilliant and radiant full moon, you are now hidden ^D by many dense clouds? Who has obscured your beauty in so short a moment? Where have you left your fallen flower? Who has dug up your verdant garden? What thief, what robber, what blast of wind and thunderbolt from heaven? How is it that you, who yesterday set sail from the harbor in splendor, have today returned as if from a shipwreck and a surge, despoiled of all the most precious goods you were carrying? Who has shorn your golden hair? Who has taken away the splendor of your purple? Who has snatched away your lamp? Who has extinguished your sun? Who has brought upon you this new eclipse?

Who has broken your brilliant union? What fierce storm has torn apart your vernal harmony? Come, O all you people of the Romans, share with me in this mourning, and let us here together raise our lament, weeping not for him, but for ourselves, who have been abandoned by him in this desolation. You who are born of imperial stock, lament the emperor, as both a kinsman and an ornament to your family. You who frequent the thresholds of the palace, seek the splendor of the palace. You soldiers, mourn for a skillful leader; you servants, lament a humane master; you who were accustomed to sleep and rest, weep for the unsleeping watchman. You judges, lament him upon whom the force of the laws depended. You sacred prelates ^B of the Church, long for a most fervent lover and defender of the dogmas; you who dwell in mountains and caves, lament the protector and bulwark of your reputation and glory; you rectors of sacred monasteries, mourn the fortress of your power. Consider his final struggles, undertaken on your behalf. Reflect how, with his body completely exhausted both by the wounds of war and by medical cauterizations, and hastening toward death, he nevertheless despised his own body and did not spare his life, but went eagerly to the platform and the prelates; nor did he depart from there before he had given hope that he would crush and utterly abolish, so far as it lay in him, your persecutors and their corrupt dogmas. Remember what words—and with what great zeal—he uttered with those sacred lips for the defense of the sacred sanctions and of truth itself. Remember what he said before he arrived at the platform and the sacred council; and what he recited once he had arrived, with the greatest ingenuity and in imitation of the ancient theologians, conforming his speech to the spirit that resonated within them and urged them on, even as ^C they were filled with divine inspiration; and how, although death threatened his very life, he did not give way, but performed what was required with great alacrity—God, as is fitting, having granted this great fervor to his soul, so that he might place a sort of crowning point upon his other illustrious struggles, and as a most excellent seal, by purifying his tongue with such words, so that he might depart from this life with such laws and decrees promulgated.

IV. Account of the Emperor's Character

IV. This emperor was of a pleasant and amiable ^D appearance, cheerful and accessible in manner, humane and most clement. Yet he would admit no one’s counsel, persisting in his own solitary judgment and opinion. Thus he rightfully hid many things, full of counsel

^A and knowledge. For this reason, he was for the most part deep-thinking and enjoyed a profound furrow of the mind; yet he remained aloof and hated seeing a multitude of men around him.

V. Hence it came about that he would neither endure to be occupied with imperial concerns and tasks, nor would he perform the customary rites of the empire during the greatest festivals—I mean the theatrical and public processions, and the courtesies, and the magnificent acts of kindness, and the distributions of money and honors. ^B Thus it is in danger of falling into such depths of oblivion that the customs of imperial decorum, the memory of which the emperors used to pass on to their successors in turn, might be lost. For since much time has passed and those who knew them have died, it would be difficult for their successors to know their duties. But it seems the zeal spent on trivial things makes one more sluggish toward the ambition for necessary things. For he kept dogs ^C and hunting birds in great numbers, and was so captivated by these things that if anyone wished to meet him, he would most easily obtain his desire by bringing a bird or a dog. After his death, Cantacuzenus distributed all these things to those who asked for them, when he calculated the magnitude of the expense and judged the matter to be not only useless to the empire, but even pernicious. For the administrators of the imperial treasury reported that fifteen thousand coins had been spent on these things beyond the ancient custom.

VI. Yet he was so trusting in God and full of confidence that he lived for the most part without a guard and even without imperial bodyguards. ^D Often, moreover, he would make those whom he knew to be setting nets and snares against him his own messmates and even table-companions. For he said that the life of man is placed in the hand of God, and when its destruction is permitted from Him, then the door is opened to all dangers.

VII. Furthermore, there was a certain singularity in his nature: he would never strive at all for the pomp of imperial majesty, but would often appear more humble than even his own subjects. This can be briefly shown by one example out of many. It is known to all that the two ends of the floor of the imperial triclinium, which stand opposite each other, are raised a third of a palm above the ground between them, especially where the imperial throne is set; this is, of course, so that the emperor may have something in this exceeding that of others, whether standing in the sacred hymns or responding now to his subjects, now to the ambassadors of foreign nations. It is indeed not permitted to anyone on earth to stand with the emperor upon that dais, except for his wife, his children, and his brothers—to whom I might add his paternal uncles. But while he was standing there and conversing with those with whom he needed to, not only did all the youth of the nobility ascend and stand with him, but

also those of the common people and of the servant class, whenever it was their pleasure. ^A And so great were the throngs that often gathered around him, that he would be compelled to yield and give way, and ceding the higher position to others, he would gradually descend to the lower level of the ground, without feeling resentment toward any man at all.

VIII. As for head coverings, under the previous emperors it was the custom for those advanced in years among the court nobility to wear pyramidal caps 55, covered in silk, according to each one’s rank; but all the juniors were to have their heads entirely bare. Under this emperor, however, this custom became so obsolete that all, both the young and the old, wore caps, no less in the palace than in the fields; and these were of many different and strange forms, such as each person preferred: some used Latin-style caps, others Mysian or Triballian ones, others those from Syria and Phoenicia, each according to his own fancy. ^B They likewise adopted the same custom with their clothing, so that the more sensible men surmised that a certain novelty and the destruction of the empire and the end of its institutions and customs were at hand. This was also inferred with greater certainty from the fact that all the imperial and most illustrious residences had been almost entirely destroyed and reduced to cesspools and dunghills, exposed to everyone passing by; and likewise from the customs and affairs of the patriarchs, and from their greatest and most illustrious houses 54, which had functioned as the firmest ornament and bulwark of the great church of Holy Sophia, being both constructed by the first architects and most beautifully augmented by those who followed, in a manner highly consistent with the initial works: all these were equally subjected to the mockery of ruin and destruction 55.

In the year 6828, in the month of December, on the 4th, the emperor Lord John, son of the emperor Lord Andronicus, came to Constantinople in peace, oaths having been previously sworn with agreements. On the 10th of the same December, our sovereign the emperor Lord Manuel went out and boarded the Venetian vessels, and departed for the Frankish lands for the sake of aid for the aforementioned Constantinople. In the year 6830, indiction 8, on the day of Great Friday in March, the late emperor Lord Manuel came to the harbor of Kenchreai, and on the 8th of April he began to cleanse and rebuild the Hexamilion, which is of 360 orguiai in length; and he raised towers upon it, in number 153. And writings were found engraved in marble, on the side toward Greece, saying as follows: LIGHT FROM LIGHT, TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD, [MAY HE] PRESERVE THE AUTOCRAT JUSTINIAN, AND HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT VICTORINUS, AND ALL THOSE DWELLING IN GREECE, WHO LIVE BY GOD. In the year 6857, indiction 7, December 20th, the late despot Lord Constantine came to Mistra, and his brother, the late despot Lord Theodore, crossed over to the city; and after this, the same despot Lord Constantine having become emperor in Constantinople, he departed in the year...

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWELVE

CHAPTER ONE

The narration of past deeds is promised in greater detail. What profit the knowledge of these things will bring to readers. The reason and supreme equity of divine justice. History, having been celebrated many a time, is praised again. It is compared to a mirror. It is most useful to princes. It excels nature itself. It informs the character of the writer. It delights the mind with variety. From where the beginning of this part is to be taken.

^A 1. The events that occurred up to this point, over the past one hundred and fifty years, we have set forth in the eleven preceding books as concisely as we were able. But the events that follow from this point, inasmuch as they have been investigated with far greater diligence, we shall now explain more extensively. For the most part, we have heard and seen these things ourselves. As for those of which we were not spectators, we have received them from those who performed them with such accuracy that we hold these to be little, if at all, less verified than the former. I certainly maintain that the things I am about to recount are of such a nature that anyone can understand from them—more so than from any other matters that transpired in subsequent times, and indeed far better than from all the precepts of the Porticus and the Platonic Academy—how great is the difference between virtue and vice, and how much the former is beneficial to those who are devoted to it, while the latter is pernicious. For if one begins from the final end and ascends to the initial beginnings, it will be possible from there—observing the course of both in the annals as if in a table that does not deceive, and exploring them as if by certain traces following the manner of the Euripus—to understand beautifully the designs of Divine Providence. ^B For in the midst of such human darkness, to which the dimmest night is equal, nothing can be detected—not even anything slighter than the smallest hair—that escapes the eyes of divine justice.

^A self-same Justice, from the very beginning, grants autonomy and virtue to those who wish to act according to their own choices and preferences, while at the same time, in the abyss of transcendent ignorance, she governs our affairs. Then, with precise scales and balances, she awards the outcomes of her deeds, so that the rewards of what has passed might become, as it were, a law for future generations. For it does not seem right that those who have spent their entire lives with an evil disposition and character should be allowed to enjoy pure joy until the end; nor, for those who have met with misfortune, that the gnawing worm should remain unpunished forever. But she gives both the opportunity to reap such fruits in the time of harvest and threshing as the furrows they have sown deserve. ^B Indeed, I would wish, from individual cases, to examine truth against falsehood, justice against injustice, gentleness against arrogance and pride, poverty against wealth, and a speaker of grand and futile words against one with modest silence, and by comparison of their deeds, to show what kind of test the sleepless eye of Divine Justice applies. For most easily in such a gymnasium of virtue, both the nature of truth would be established and clearly declared, and wickedness, once noted, would be brought low; and all the more so because no virtue is positioned far from its rival vice, and because it is impossible for virtue to be so thoroughly cast down that wickedness, in its absolute absence of virtue, remains unassailed.

Chapter I

^C III. For it is right that the earth should always compete in ambition with the heavenly bodies, and show that it is not solely the preserve of the heavens to recount the glory of God with voiceless voices; but, reciprocally, that it is also permitted for the earth to recount the ever-new glory of God to the sun and the stars. And History is constituted as the minister and dispenser of such a great prize to mankind. As for how much utility it provides in this life, this has been declared by many of the ancients, and by us as well, numbers of times, for we have never tired of proclaiming it extemporaneously, or of leaving it testified here and there in our own writings. For it is History that presents the vicissitudes and conversions of things done in every age as if they were a book being turned over. ^D This makes those who are long dead present to the living and to those who are born daily, as if they were always here, telling their own deeds, and recounting whatever of good or evil befell them while they lived. This is what always and eternally strikes down and convicts wickedness. This is what entrusts virtue to immortality, and does not let it be consumed by worms, as it does the body. This, finally, is what makes those who were once puffed up by fortune and empty pride, and who were close to madness, more moderate. For, holding above them the calamities of those who came before as a sort of axe, it creeps imperceptibly into their minds, like a hidden teacher, and by that method of instruction, gradually changes their natures, reforms their morals, and...

^A makes the imprudent prudent and the senseless wise, and thus somehow transforms entirely those who are like wild beasts toward a more human and civilized life. For by exalting the good with praises and placing the base in the category of wickedness, it becomes a most clear mirror for posterity. ^B Just as those who look into a mirror receive clearer impressions of the colors and features of their faces, and by its aid rectify them as much as possible, so too, to those who approach history, understanding is imparted, the character of the soul is set in order, their unrestrained manner of anger, speech, and way of life is changed and reshaped for the better, and many hidden defects and lapses of nature are healed. Nay, history is shown to be of much greater utility than a mirror. For ^C indeed, by setting before our eyes the infinite and diverse actions and words of men who were born and died at different times, it provides by comparison a clearer choice and learning of what is better. A mirror, however, having a one-sided impression and being combined with the lover of self who looks into it, easily deceives and departs from the declaration of the truth. For kings and rulers, then, history would be a possession of great value, admonishing them not to be puffed up, nor, relying upon their present good fortune, to allow their character to lapse [P. 556] into something more violent and tyrannical, but always to maintain the moderation that is proper for a king alone. For he who is led by the stubbornness of his own mind and governed by the mob is led rather than leading, and while appearing to rule, he is the first to be taken captive by the tyranny of the vices. But he who willingly entrusts the reins of government to the laws that rightly rule over the rulers, and stands, as it were, at the border between subjects and laws, wishes to rule and to be ruled equally in a way that is mild and proper for a human being; presenting himself to those who see him for a precise kind of zeal and imitation, plainly offering himself as a living law and a breathing image of virtue, and as the symbol of authority, by ruling himself more and first, rather than ruling others. For being taught by history that nothing in life is permanent and certain, and that the foundations of fortune do not rest upon solid ground, he fears even a slight turn of time, which can easily overturn all things, just as those who throw dice in a game. Thus, history is also clearly superior to nature itself. For the one is the mistress only of being, whereas the other adds the being well; which is as much better than the former as seeing is better than not seeing. ^D IV. These and such things, in which the utility of history is placed, have persuaded me both to commit to writing all that has happened in our own times, and to add to what has already been narrated other accounts for the sake of those who are curious—accounts truly great and worthy of serious hearing, and capable of instilling great understanding in those who always desire experience of newer events.

^A For it brings to me, no less than to them, a certain benefit regarding the tempering of character and no small pleasure, as I am frequently moved from one subject to another of the varied and manifold narratives. Just as it happens to those who sail, who now encounter the open sea, and now move from the seas to islands and harbors, and love to linger in various places for the sake of diverse trade, so that there is no region from which they do not gather great profit.

V. But since what occurred up to the death of the younger Emperor Andronicus has been sufficiently related by us, it will not be out of place now to tell more fully what happened subsequently, and to join it to the preceding events. Our account must therefore be brought back to a continuous and coherent sequence of events, which is most appropriate for the integral body of history. ^B

CAPUT II. Cantacuzenus consults for the safety of the young princes. The pernicious counsels of Alexius Apocaucus; his fine qualities, family, fortune, and evil arts. He urges Cantacuzenus to seize the symbols of empire. He slanders the Empress. On the third day of mourning, the Empress Anna receives him into the palace. At the instigation of Apocaucus, the Patriarch John produces codicils written by the late Emperor. In various ways he attempts to arrogate to himself the guardianship and administration of the empire.

I. For the Emperor had not yet breathed his last breath at the monastery of the Hodegon, sacred to the most chaste Mother of God, when the Great Domestic Cantacuzenus, having taken up his son John, who was then passing his ninth year of age, and with him his younger brother, the Despot Michael, who was four years old, moved them as quickly as possible into the palace ^C and fortified them with a suitable guard of soldiers. In short, he took thought for the security of the Emperor’s house in every respect, fearing lest any unexpected event might suddenly occur, as frequently happens in such times.

II. But Alexius Apocaucus could not neglect this... ^D

matter, for he had not been able to bring to a conclusion what he had indeed often attempted. For he had conceived a plan not once, but many times, regarding the imperial power: that once he had slain the Emperor alongside Cantacuzenus, he would transfer it to another—whether to the Despot Constantine, the uncle of the Emperor, or to Syrgiannes, a man ^B of most versatile character who was, in understanding, sound judgment, and keen intelligence, close to Apocaucus himself. For Apocaucus was, like the other, clever in most straitened circumstances at devising what was necessary and at extricating himself from where it was most difficult. He made sparing use of sleep, being a man of the greatest vigilance, resembling one meditating on noble things and deliberating on matters of the highest importance. In short, he spent more time in acting than in speaking. If he had used such truly exceptional gifts for the sake of truth and justice, he himself would have been a great ornament to the Roman state. But in truth, just as that Epidaurian Stratocles was a good flute-player, but not a good man, so with him: for being of ignoble birth from boyhood and raised in poverty, he had lived by hiring out his services now to this master, now to that; and having arrived gradually from the smallest to the greatest masters, all of whom he repaid most vilely, being clearly their betrayer, he had crept stealthily into the imperial palace itself by some craft or other, ^C to the ruin, as it seems, of the fortunes and glory of the Romans.

III. He therefore, thinking that the imperial…

Miscellaneous Notes

So indeed Hippocrates; whom Apocaucus thus countered:

I, most excellent of those who receive praise, Always articulating with your arguments the… And searching out that which is our own… From which it is possible to learn divine words. I have had the fortune to meet with the speeches of many wise men, Clearly unfolding the… From whom it was possible to take abundant starting points, To the wonder of those who have created in unassailable ways. But since a great, wonder-filled speech of yours Has come to me regarding your glorious endeavors, As one who makes clear the mystical, innate words Of the craftsmanship of God that is within us, I have had a great desire to meet these, ^D Feasting on the bright hopes residing in them. But since I have also inclined toward these labors at last, Eager to fulfill my desire most quickly, And indeed have applied myself assiduously to the books, And have given my whole attention to the craft; But who shall present the remainder of the speech?

^A regarding the assumption of royal power, thinking to adapt himself to his schemes like that Pharian Proteus. Now, therefore, he was assiduously attending upon and flattering Cantacuzenos, and was urging him to put on the red buskins. For he said that this would be no new thing, since the Emperor had so often laid upon him the necessity of putting on the purple publicly, and of ruling together with him—with himself while he lived, but immediately upon his departure from the living, with his son John, the young emperor. He argued that this was twofold and most necessary for the Emperor’s great purpose: that at once you might administer together with them the affairs of the empire, and at the same time become the most powerful defender of their lives. For no one would henceforth exist who would secretly plot against the empire if he were immediately and publicly enrolled as a partner, who was also to be the successor.

IV. And now he was saying these things, and now those; now he was shifting and becoming another man from what he had been before. And at the same time, together with the Empress, he was inciting against him those who were preeminent in lineage and splendor of fortune, asserting this: that Cantacuzenos was laboring with great care to the end that, when we had all been slaughtered on the morrow, he might establish himself as Emperor and lord of all things. When he spoke and affirmed these things, he stirred up against him even those who were related to him by blood. And he had so persuaded the Empress Anne that she did not complete the nine-day mourning at her husband's tomb, weeping, but after three days immediately returned to the palace. ^B

V. Thereupon the Patriarch John, persuaded by Apocauchos, ^C drew a document from his bosom and read it, containing the agreements which the Emperor had long since entrusted to him, the Patriarch, and to the bishops around him, regarding his wife and children, at the time when he went away to fight against Syrgiannes toward Thessaly, who, having received auxiliaries from the Kral, had already begun to invade the Roman empire. Having related these things, he attempted to thrust himself into the administrative guardianship of public affairs. For he claimed it was just, and moreover most necessary, that the Church should be joined to the empire exactly as the soul is joined to the body: for the stability and life of both depend upon this one thing. Since, he said, these letters of the Emperor clearly entrust to me the safety of both his wife and his children, what (he asked) could be more iniquitous than for us, through our own sloth, to neglect those commands, and, as it were, willingly allow unforeseen waves—such as were stirred up in a previous age by Arsenios, who ^D

by his simplicity and folly presided over the patriarchate—to overwhelm the interests of the Romans? I therefore shall take up the administration of public affairs together with the Empress; I shall oversee the safety of the young Emperor. ^B

CHAPTER III.

I. "You have heard things beyond all expectation," he said, "but to me, such words do not seem to be required at present, while I am still alive and present, I who, when the Emperor was alive, administered almost all public affairs, and with whom he shared equally all things, whether to be spoken or to be kept silent. ^C Certainly most of the Romans know, and above all the Empress here herself, that in other matters I felt entirely the same as he did, and all our affairs depended upon his will; that whatever seemed good to him, I used to carry out with alacrity, and conversely, nothing that did not seem good to him: and yet, although he greatly desired and wished that I, adorned with imperial regalia, should rule with him, my will entirely abhorred that matter. The reason for this I consider it more proper to keep hidden within the chambers of my heart at this time. But that he frequently entrusted to me the administration of imperial and public affairs after his death, and destined his son, the Emperor John, for my daughter in marriage, and other things as well, for the purpose that no danger might creep in ^D and invade the common and collective affairs—of this, Empress Anna herself is a witness above all reproach."

II. I might indeed say that, since he was such toward me, he demonstrated by the deed itself a certain singular excellence of his own noble character. Yet I would rather affirm, if one must speak the truth, that I in turn never ceased to do and say everything for his own safety, and had always put his life before my own. And, that we may omit other things and mention one or two examples: while the death of the Emperor was still recent, into what a tide of anxious thoughts he fell when he learned of the oaths which the Emperor, the grandfather, had imposed upon the Romans pertaining to the succession of the empire; how many waves of sorrow flooded his soul; and how, except for me, there was no one among all men at that time who was a ready counselor to him, who was like a support for his slipping mind, and an occult remedy for his soul in danger, and like a zephyr of refreshment—I do not think it necessary to relate this in a long speech to those of you who already know it. But since he, before Byzantium was captured, having slipped through the threatening...

^A danger, had become a fugitive into Thrace and the fortresses therein, and there was need not only of a faithful friend to him, but also of money and expenses of every kind (for before my flight, and during the flight he was utterly bereft of all things), I not only lavishly poured out for his present need, out of my own abundance, as much money as I had inherited from my fathers and ancestors—which was very great—but I was also the leader myself of the entire army and personally, from my own resources, continually supplied the cost for their wages. For if I had voluntarily offered my very soul for the sake of his soul, for which the whole world and the wealth of the world is not equivalent, how would I have spared my money, my possessions, or my cattle?

III.

IV.

V.

For our souls were so tempered to one another that all men would clearly acknowledge that even the friendship of Orestes and Pylades was far surpassed by our own concord. For if it had been possible, when the emperor set out for Thessaly, for me to remain in Byzantium, there would certainly have been no need of bishops, nor of a patriarch, nor of stipulations concerning my wife, my children, and the affairs of the empire. But as the condition of those times had driven matters to such a pass, the guardianship of that kind was restricted to that specific period of time. But he, having seized upon the death of the emperor as a windfall for his own love of power, as it seems, brings into the open and publishes old letters of the emperor that have no relevance to the present circumstances; so that there is no need for me to say much in response to these things, as the present necessity compels me toward other matters.

^B VI. For as for me, that I may bring a fitting end to my speech, it remains for me to use the words of divine Paul: I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. Since this is defined by two things—I speak of the guardianship and administration of the imperial affairs and the betrothal of my daughter to the young emperor—the guardianship and administration of imperial affairs passed to me in continuous and unbroken possession from that time, and they still rest upon me. It remains that the union of our children be ratified by the actual performance of the betrothal. And upon this, the assembly ^C ended and dispersed.

CHAPTER IV

Apocaucus and the patriarch persuade the empress to abrogate all authority from Cantacuzenus. Conjectures of prudent men concerning Apocaucus. The power and moderation of Cantacuzenus. The weak strength of Apocaucus. A perverted mind. Immoderate ambition. The fortress of the Epibatæ and other castles built by him, for what purpose.

I. But Apocaucus, along with the patriarch, approached the Augusta in private and persuaded her to listen to nothing of what had been said by Cantacuzenus, and at the same time to forbid him completely from the administration of affairs. For there was no more need of him, since the empress herself, together with her son, could handle the helm of affairs, with the patriarch as colleague and defender, to whom the guardianship had long before been delegated by the emperor. In saying and persuading these things, he did not reveal what and how many monstrous ^D schemes he nourished in his mind, as wild beasts in a thicket. Yet to those who were more intelligent, that inconsistency in his words and in the preservation of his character shadowed forth, or at least lightly indicated, what tempests he would bring upon the Roman empire once he had gained power.

II. For as much as power belonged to Cantacuzenus on every side, so much did weakness belong to Apocaucus; and as much as Apocaucus was inclined toward the worst things, so much was Cantacuzenus removed from inflicting any violence upon those who,

^A even though they might have been easily convicted of manifest wickedness and he could have usurped the insignia of imperial dignity without any labor, did not wish to do so; but, strongly admiring their ungrateful spirit, he kept himself at home, and only on the second or third day did he break his silence. Apocaucus, indeed, having tried 585 in vain to remove Cantacuzenus, whom he found to be the only and most powerful adversary opposing his fraudulent counsels, nevertheless did not cease to act according to his own custom. For there is this quality in wealth and honors alike, that for the unworthy person upon whom they have fallen, they displace his mind from its proper station no less than drunkenness. For when this man had arrived at honors and the splendor of fortune, and by the gathering of great wealth had exceeded his own lot, he immediately fell away from a becoming state of mind, and fostered in the secret chambers of his soul the hidden loves of tyranny; and from there he did and gathered everything that cultivates the sprout of such wickedness.

^B Furthermore, those very insane masses of structures, which up to this present day declare his wickedness most splendidly, all but cry out with a vocal sound: I mean the fortress of the Epibatae (or sailors), and whatever he built around the walls of the queen of cities, possessing a double nature, sharing his habitation between land and sea. For he had added gates from both sides, toward the sea and toward the land, so that the land might receive the one pursued from the sea, and conversely, his familiar trireme, having been cast out by the land and standing near his house as if in a harbor, might ferry him across the treacherous element to the Island of the Princes, ^C or wherever else the outcome of fortune was calling him. For even there, and wherever he wished to betake himself, he had founded fortresses and towers reaching toward the sky. So wicked was the man from the very beginning; to such a degree did he hide in his soul thoughts full of malice and guile—although it was not his lot to gather any fruit from these things, God evidently rendering all his plans and machinations vain, as shall be declared more fully later on.

CHAPTER V

^D As common rumor was raised up throughout the entire army, and among all those who from every city gathered with understanding, [index: entries preserved]

^A they remained at home, for Kantakouzenos abstained entirely from the administration of affairs; a huge tumult was ignited against both the patriarch and Apokaukos, and if any of the leaders supported their plans. For they said that it was impossible to abandon Kantakouzenos, the most beneficent provider and common parent, and not so much a commander as their fellow-soldier, who had learned to endure the labors of war with them in the open air and mid-winter, and to follow instead men who were furious, wasting away with envy and spite; men ignorant of all that is good, who knew neither how to benefit the cities, nor to terrify the enemies, nor to advance imperial affairs for the better. Therefore, when according to the ancient custom the divine Gospel was brought forward, by which they would swear to defend the life of the emperors and to keep their faith, they added to this the name of Kantakouzenos, the regent of the empire. And when Apokaukos attempted to contradict this, someone suddenly leapt upon him with a drawn sword, adding that Homeric line, ^B *Soon shall thy dark blood gush forth around my spear.* By this, many of the soldiers, agreeing together, filled the palace with great tumult and shouting, so that the Augusta and those who were with her, terrified, miserably supplicated Kantakouzenos. But he, taking no account of their malevolence, went forth immediately into their midst. As soon as his countenance shone forth, tranquility returned from the waves of that tumult and storm, and the darkness of that whirlwind was turned to serenity. Then he opened his mouth and spoke as follows to the Empress and all those who were present:

II.

^A For if I possessed that peculiarity, I would not be free from blame. For if one were to incline such a person by force to the opposite side, and then restore his natural liberty, he does not immediately stand erect, but is suddenly carried and tossed backward, and for some time whips the air, until at last he barely and gradually returns to that former upright posture. But as for me, whom many from here and there, having hated peace, are constantly pushing in various ways, I lean upon one place: my hope in God; and I do not wish to depart from my customary gentleness, not even for a moment. But like a rock set against the sea, and a sort of immovable breakwater, I despise the raging waves of the sea, whatever they may be, that are always dashed against me. Furthermore, I carry around with me, as if fixed to me, a great many and varied rings, which are, as it were, ready safeguards for those ships which, from the storm and winter waves, wish to tie their ropes and bind them with a knot. But if any that are torn away from thence by chance, either because their ropes have snapped or the knot has been undone, are carried into the whirlpools and surges of the sea, it is evident that not the rock, nor my judgment, is to blame, but the imprudence of the sailors. ^B Thus, through that speech which was delivered then, affairs were settled.

III. Moreover, the wisdom of that great Demosthenes says and declares that every past action should be judged by the final outcome. I, however, think that the goodness of excellent men, and the wickedness of those who have followed the opposite way of life, should not be judged by the end, but by the beginning and the original intention. For from there, as from a fountain and root, virtue and vice begin to shine forth in deeds; and from there it is possible for those who wish to judge safely to perceive clearly ^C the intent of those performing the actions, since it is given to men to have control only over the initial stages of affairs; but the ends are brought about by an unknown and hidden cause, to which we are strangers; sometimes they lead to what we chiefly aimed at, sometimes to something else; and sometimes what is wished for happens exactly according to the intention of the mind, and sometimes it does not happen as wished, but has something admixed that we least desire: just as if someone, having set sail from Sicily, had not arrived at the harbors of Sardinia or Corsica, where he wished, but had run into some fierce and cruel wind, which, having erupted from the western gulfs and poured forth from on high as if from an ambush and a hiding place, had forced his landing on Crete. ^D Therefore it seems to me that the virtue or vice of men should be estimated not so much by the outcome of affairs, as by the will and purpose. But from those things which I shall say later, the force of what I have said will be perceived more clearly. For thence anyone may better see the consistent consequences on both sides, by a certain proportion and agreement. For beginnings respond most perfectly to ends, and ends to beginnings.

^A And it is known to all, not only to Romans and Greeks, but to however many diverse and barbarian nations it has befallen, with what mildness and justice Cantacuzenus conducted himself in the management of affairs at the beginning; and, on the other hand, with what wickedness and injustice Apocaucus did so. It is known likewise—after how many repeated courses, after how many gymnastic leaps of the most wicked Telchines—to what an end matters were brought, with God as judge and as the arbiter of the prize ^B from the unseen, and with speechless and silent voices instructing everyone that they must set the beginnings and springs of their own works from good counsel, if they wish the fruit of their labors to succeed according to their own desire. For had not Cantacuzenus, somehow carried away by the new teachings of my persecutors, given them a place—as Empress Anna did—to bring the tempests of turbulence into the Church of God, he would certainly have been the most excellent of emperors, and at the same time the Roman state would have received the greatest development through him. But now, through the wickedness of others, it has come to pass that he who was most mild seemed to have lost everything.

CAPUT VI.

^{C A} (I). Apocaucus, seeing that in the very events his snares of wickedness were turning out contrary to what he had hoped, and that he was being openly convicted of being evil, did not blush to always attempt the same things; and this, hearing one of the ancients of old, not that someone had sailed, but that he had sailed twice. For the wise man did not think such boldness praiseworthy, after one had surely already drained a multitude of deaths in the naval struggles, to throw oneself into the same dangers again.

^D (II). For whereas Apocaucus, if not to perform anything more, ought at least to have remembered the benefits of Cantacuzenus, and not only to refrain from all hatred toward him, but to return the greatest thanks, and to reward the beneficent man with tongue and hand and every kind of service—he by whom he had been raised from a humble state to such a degree of fortune—he nevertheless, having violated every law, was forging and devising numberless deaths for him, not even revering the laws of the barbarian Persians, who impose legitimate punishments upon ungrateful men; and they deny that one who is such—toward God Himself, or parents, or friends—can bear a grateful mind. But indeed, it seems, it was fated that all the cities of the Romans should be afflicted.

Variorum notae. (80) Gregoras wrote this book, and the five following, while the persecution against the Acindynians was raging, not yet, however, being shut up at home; but, I think, before the Palamite synod was held. He himself testifies that he wrote the eighteenth and the nine following after the synod was held, while he was ordered to remain at home and was beset by monastic guards. The twenty-eighth, and the rest up to the thirty-eighth, he seems to have composed at various times, after his liberty had been regained. Boivin. (81) Xenophon, lib. 1, De Cyri inst. Boivin.

and the entire city and territory of the Romans, and for the Church of God to be confounded, for the paying of the penalty, I think, for the sins of the race, both older and newer. And on account of this it was permitted that such instruments and causes of wickedness should creep in, holding no other justification than ambition and vain glory. But come, let us return to the previous track of our discourse.

III. ^A For Cantacuzenus, perceiving, as we have said, that Apocaucus did not cease to devise snares and ambushes against him, and foresaw that a most deadly conspiracy would soon erupt against his own head, took the Empress and the Patriarch aside and addressed them as follows:

IV. «The most excellent of the ^B profane philosophers ^C say that it is among the impossibilities for contrary things to exist in the same subject at the same time. Since this is the case, I do not see what machine could be applied by me, whereby I might most cautiously execute what I have decided, while being divided between two most contrary things. For to provide for all common affairs, being one, and to be solicitous for all who are subject to the Empire, lest they easily receive harm from the enemies, draws all the nerves of the soul to itself, and subjects all thoughts and cares to this; but that those very people, for whom I have provided, should employ snares against my own life, this is most difficult, and compels me, having cast aside all other care, to look out for my own safety alone, and provide for my security in any way whatsoever. Yet the correction of this matter ought to have rested upon both of you, if you had wished to do what is just; upon you, I say, to whom all this care pertains, and whose entire zeal ought to be placed in this, that you should observe and prune away whatever sprout of evil may have grown up in the empire and in the Church at the same time, which, growing as time goes on, could corrupt and entirely destroy the strength of both authorities. But you, while talking secretly and frequently with wicked men, and being led by their insane persuasions, voluntarily liken yourselves to those who, with the left hand, strive to cut off the right. Now indeed, if my insidiators wished to tear the life from me alone, and their most insolent sword were not about to pass through all my friends and through my entire lineage, I would perhaps have remained quiet, or perhaps I would not have remained quiet. For it does not seem to me ^D at all permitted that we should voluntarily betray and desert our own life, of which another is the Lord, and we are but the depositors, before He who is the Lord has released it. But if this is permitted, let someone come forward and teach me why the most wise judges of old decreed that those who had armed their right hands against themselves should be cast out unburied. For that thing seems to be in a certain way similar, just as if someone, having gone out into foreign soil, should lead forth another person's slave from his bonds and order the fugitive to go away. But if both the snares of wicked men and my own danger pertain equally to all, then is not this...

^A silence at last a true state of freedom? If your purpose toward me has indeed been kept sincere up to this present time, and you promise also that its future preservation will be maintained entirely free from all malice, and from all that likewise rages against my soul, I am ready again to fulfill your present request, and at the same time to carry out the commands of the blessed emperor concerning the guardianship and administration of public affairs. Yet this could never be truly beyond doubt for all of us, unless our agreement were established by oath, as is accustomed to happen in many places and very often in disputes concerning human affairs. For this seems to me a safe refuge at present, capable of calming every suspicion of my soul and every tempest of thoughts. For physicians say that there is also an herb ^B deadly to wolves, under which it is possible for foxes to sleep without fear. If, therefore, necessity suggests certain arts for safeguarding their own lives even to irrational creatures, how much more is it right for us, who are endowed with reason and inherent intelligence, to demand that in dangerous matters we be protected by all those precautions which confirm faith by means of an oath. I would myself requite you with similar offers, if what has already been done did not seem sufficient for the securing of faith. For when the power to put on the imperial insignia was in my hands, while the emperor was already breathing his last—at the time when I was in the palace, where I remained with the two sons of the deceased, and I secured them with a military guard, with no one opposing and all prostrate with fear—I did not fall into the same state as those who, being utterly unworthy, stumble upon some treasure and with both hands hasten to satisfy the burning lust of their souls; rather, I remained ^C within the bounds of my original station. But power and riches and autonomous authority declare the mind of a person much more certainly than a life of poverty and subjection. For the characters of some, oppressed by necessity as if by a tyrannical force, deceive the opinion of other men, so that for a long time falsehood prevails over truth. Therefore, this one thing, following the death of the emperor, sufficiently commends both my integrity and delivers you from fear; for though I could have assumed imperial power with little effort, I did not admit or even think of such a thing, but remained entirely within the bounds of my customary duty, with the uncorrupted moderation of my soul. For I deemed it necessary to please not so much men as God, who perceives hidden things. For men ^D are witnesses only of those things which occur openly, and they can sometimes be deceived if someone covers his vices with the image and color of virtue. But God imprints the traces of His examination upon those very movements of the heart which precede actions, and He sets up the tribunal of justice in the very roots of one’s thoughts, where it is impossible to be hidden by shadow and appearance if anyone labors to bring forth the fruits of wickedness from there. The second matter is that which is now occurring. And this is of the utmost wickedness. For whereas you ought, having revered my clemency and fairness, to have endeavored with all your zeal, by both hand and tongue, to procure peace for me, in all...

^A your cares, you rather... but it is better to be silent and entrust everything to God. V. The course of his speech being thus broken off there, and an oath having been given and accepted both from the Augusta and from the patriarch, that they would do or meditate absolutely nothing treacherously, Cantacuzenus rose and went out.

VI. He was now wholly intent on preparing to lead out the army and to put an end to those things which had long since been well decreed. These, indeed, were: that all the goods should be distributed to the soldiery; furthermore, the donatives and largesses, and the payment in full of money long since owed from his own funds—for the imperial treasury at that time was suffering from a lack of money, and there was no source from which these expenses could be supplied—and then, expeditions against the enemies who were surrounding them, of whom some had long since attacked and were plundering with impunity the Roman cities and provinces, as many as were placed before their eyes; others, on account of the sudden death of the emperor, had now girded themselves for plunder.

VII. But letters also were being secretly brought to him from many places, from the Acarnanians, the Triballians, the Thessalians, and the Latin Peloponnesians, all of whom promised that they would be obedient to him. For, delighted by his magnificent and generous spirit, they had of their own accord decided to surrender themselves and their cities to him. And he was now planning to subject everything in turn to Roman power by going around ^B and to reconcile to himself by a legitimate treaty of friendship those who preferred to surrender themselves into his protection of their own accord; but with those who had a mind to resist, to decide the issue with war and arms.

CAPUT VII.

I. Moreover, after the rising of Arcturus, he encamped openly in the borders of the Mysians and Romans, for two reasons: either for the sake of terrifying Alexander, king of the Mysians, ^D so that ancient treaties might be renewed and confirmed, or for the sake of committing the whole matter to the judgment of arms. For it was not fitting to enter into the lands of the Thessalians or Triballians, leaving behind him the army of that man, which, like a thunderbolt hanging near, might threaten Thrace from close by. Therefore, reconciliation having been made according to his heart's desire and without any trouble, he wished from there to go around the cities and provinces of Thrace, [surveying] everything with his eyes

and territory, reconnoitering and providing them with suitable garrisons, as far as ^A Callipolis; where he had heard that a very numerous Persian naval force was expected to cross from Asia into Europe, aimed at the ruin of Thrace and the Roman lands and cities situated therein, and that the prefect and leader of this fleet was a certain man named Amur.

II. In regards to the governance of the Persians, as we have spoken more fully of these matters above, others were allotted other maritime regions of Asia. When their descendants received these from their ancestors in the course of time, some, by their own industry and knowledge of warfare, managed to expand that inheritance to a greater degree; others, through sloth, scarcely retained their own; others, finally, fell entirely out of the possession of their own affairs. Amurius surpassed all of these in power. For he, since he was the ruler of Lydia and Ionia, filled the sea with naval forces and in a short time became formidable, not only to the Aegean islands, but also to the Euboeans, the Peloponnesians, the Cretans, the Rhodians, and the entire maritime region ^B which extends from Thessaly as far as Byzantium. For he used to plunder all of these, whenever he pleased, by traveling by ship, and compelled them to pay very heavy annual tributes.

III. This man, therefore, having long since been captivated by a most ardent love for Cantacuzenus, whose fame, celebrated with much applause and the greatest praises, had traversed the entire circle of land and sea, had promised ingenuously and voluntarily that, as long as he lived, he would maintain friendship with him and with the children, should he have them as successors. And indeed, he maintained it until his very last breath, such as the whole of antiquity ^C past, I think, has shown nowhere else. This we shall accurately declare to all in its proper place below, narrating each thing in such a way that we shall never deviate from the truth. But now, having said what pertains to the present undertaking regarding him, we shall come to other matters.

IV. For when the emperor was already dead, and the rumor had spread that some of the palatine senators, tormented by envy, were attempting to overturn the authority of Cantacuzenus, he had been goaded by a certain violent, satrapal fury and anger; and straightaway he had filled the port of the Smyrnaeans with a ^D very large number of ships, intending, as I have said, to cross over as quickly as possible and to afflict the cities and fields of the Thracians as far as Byzantium. When Cantacuzenus happened to learn of this around the Chersonese, he provided, with the sending of envoys with all diligence, that the impetus of that fleet might be checked as quickly as possible. And this, indeed, was done more swiftly than it could be spoken.

^A For the barbarian spirit gave way and yielded to the prayers of Cantacuzenus more readily than a slave to his commanding master. This is indeed a great thing, and moves the minds of those who hear it to great admiration. But if one should wish to compare this with other tokens of affection which the same man later showed to Cantacuzenus, it would certainly be judged a very small and light thing.

V. I, meanwhile, turned my mind to the old power of the Roman state, and recalled those times when a single edict of the Roman people, traversing land and sea, would strike everyone with terror, and almost cause them to die of fear; and neither would Asia draw its sword against Europe, nor conversely would Europe draw its sword against Asia; but whatever had been hostile was joined in a bond of concord. Indeed, the Cilician would travel unarmed through Bithynia, and likewise the Thracian through Italy; and the Sauromatae, as though moving through allied territory, would go through Greece, being spectators of the Panathenaea, and would compete for the palm in the quadrennial chariot races ^B celebrated at Olympia. Then I silently pondered within myself that something similar might have occurred in our own age, had the seeds of all the disturbances which Apocaucus stirred up against Cantacuzenus been utterly removed from our midst. Be it so.

CHAPTER VIII

1. But when Cantacuzenus heard that the Empress Anna had been seized by illness, and that Apocaucus had returned to his own perversity of character—having been found out, he had fled in terror to the fortress of the Epibatae—and thirdly, that the Patriarch would not cease to din the ears of the Empress on his behalf and weary her with his prayers, ^C he halted the army that was advancing further, and himself returned to Byzantium as quickly as possible. He found the Augusta convalescent and already lightened of that disease by which she had been seized. He met with the Patriarch privately, rebuked his pusillanimity with mild words, and recounted those things by which he might skillfully and prudently censure the ease of his manners and the fickleness of his judgment. For he who was at contention with himself, whose deeds were contrary to his words, or who rather fought openly with his own spoken arguments, could hardly persuade others who were dissident and fighting among themselves ^D to return to concord and abstain from seditions.

2. Then he demanded of him second oaths in addition to those former ones. And he, wishing to remove all suspicion from his midst, so that he might not suffer anything grievous if he were once caught perjuring himself, swore an oath not only becoming to priests...

^A but also that which is customary for laymen, invoking against himself the greatest and most terrible curses, should he be proven in any way a liar in what he had said.

III. ^A With these matters thus arranged, Cantacuzenus departed from the city with all speed, well-equipped with a great quantity of his own funds, and with everything that had been purchased to win over with gifts all who might approach him—peoples, cities, and envoys; I refer to furniture, Italian woolen garments, and whatever other things have great power to win favor.

IV. ^B Now Apocaucus, having shut himself into his own fortress, was so far from being ashamed or blushing at his own unmanly and effeminate manner of life that, on the contrary, he was puffed up and went about with his eyebrows raised in great arrogance; he blamed Cantacuzenus for his lack of foresight in not having prepared a similar precaution for himself, so that in times of ^C necessity and fear he might have such a refuge and bulwark of safety.

V. ^C Hearing this, he mocked the man’s foolishness and gave him this answer: "I have not thought it necessary to fortify my safety with stones or bricks, nor, in matters so trivial and deceptive, have I been accustomed to use such verbal jugglery or the pomp of oratory. But rather, persevering in the stability of my character, I have as an immortal stronghold and a secure anchor, first, my firm hope in God, and then an integrity of spirit derived from that. Trusting in these, I cultivate my mind for God alone, who beholds hidden things. Hence comes that perpetual security for me, which awaits neither the sun ^D to reveal better things, nor the delicate and exquisitely Attic tongue of Plato or Demosthenes, but by the very progress of events itself, it commands the admiration of almost the whole world. For those who delight in the insane pride of temporary fortifications and towers, the flower of their delights dies quickly, having a root that is not lasting. But I have won for myself the souls of men as numerous and most secure fortresses and towers, into which I have brought and deposited my own soul. Plato indeed said that the soul of a lover lives in another’s body; but it has fallen to my lot that my soul should live not in others’ bodies, but in others’ souls. For since I was a lover not of bodies but of souls, I have also gained those who love me, and I have brought it about that the souls of many are animated in a new way. Such are the citadels I have provided for myself. Thus, with the greatest tranquility and pleasure of all, I win over77 both their affections and their wills; and so...

I have studied to achieve bloodless trophies. The succeeding age shall wisely delineate the testimony of these words and deeds. ^B But Cantacuzenus was such as this; for the time being, he continued to be of such character, and to say and do such things.

CHAPTER IX

The machinations of Apocaucus are uncovered. His lack of confidence and flight. The plan to invade the empire. The fortress of Epibatae equipped by him with all necessities. The judgment of the deceased emperor regarding that fortress and its founder. Cantacuzenus repents too late that he did not obey his commands regarding him. The treachery of the patriarch toward Cantacuzenus. His duties toward Apocaucus; whom he summons from the fortress with the offer of immunity. Apocaucus goes to meet Cantacuzenus. Imperial honors are conferred upon him during the greetings. Many urge that Apocaucus be thrown into chains, but in vain.

I. I return to that point, to narrate each detail more minutely. For that Apocaucus, ^C that man most clever and cunning in devising all things, while throwing everything into disorder so that, with the administrator of affairs removed, he might himself gain control of affairs—just as burglars and thieves do at night, who find it not easy to snatch what is in a house unless the light is first extinguished—was indeed caught and condemned; yet he suffered nothing in return from him for the atrocity of his malice. Nevertheless, being ashamed of himself and fearing that he [the Emperor], having at last cast aside his long-suffering, might use against him the legitimate penalty of the law, he had secretly fled, as we have said, to the fortress called Epibatae, which he himself had long since built at great expense on the maritime shore near the City; a fortress narrow indeed, but manifold ^D and wonderfully fortified, and not easy to take by assault. For, having been raised from an ignoble family to the highest level of fortune, he possessed the spirit of a drunken man. For he had dreamed that once the emperor was dead, he would himself invade the imperial power; and he had decided that if he should be lacking in strength, he would flee to that fortress, and wage war against whoever was to be emperor.

II. Therefore, he had gathered there not only heaps of every kind and variety of money, but also a multitude of grain and wine, and every sort of salted food, and all other abundance which men need. He had even introduced abundant water from outside through tunnels. It is said that the emperor, passing by that place before he died, said: “Behold, this fortress sounds in my ears with a voice of its own, and proclaims to us the hidden faithlessness and perverse nature of its builder.” He then commanded Cantacuzenus to demolish that fortress and to return to the treasury the money hidden there and amassed through villainy; and to place Apocaucus himself in custody and keep him in chains, lest, having seized an opportunity at last, he might incite a great storm that would erupt against the affairs of the empire. But Cantacuzenus, using his characteristic gentleness and calmness there...

^A as well, did not perceive how much evil he was storing up for himself and for the cities. Later, therefore, when he repented in vain of that imprudence of his, he then exalted the emperor to the stars on account of these two things. But I know not how, through the variety of the narrative, it has come about that we have strayed so far. Let us return, then.

III. Regarding Apocaucus’s deceit and the Patriarch’s treachery

IV. How Apocaucus met Cantacuzenus outside of Byzantium

V. How the others urged Cantacuzenus to seize Apocaucus, and his refusal

Him already rejected. ^A

CAPUT X.

I. Thus, therefore, Apocaucus came to Byzantium after being dismissed from there. When the patriarch saw him, he immediately transferred his life, language, opinion, and customs from sacred to profane things; and bidding farewell to the temple, he fixed his seat once and for all in the palace. ^B There he sat all nights and days with Apocaucus beside the Augusta, aiding the deceits they were weaving for the destruction of Cantacuzenus, and he himself was digging clear springs of public disturbances. And that man indeed possessed the appearance of a priest as far as his staff and clothing were concerned, but in his mind and deeds there was nothing moderate, nothing just.

II. Therefore, first of all, he established himself as lord of all things in place of the emperor; but he made Apocaucus administrator, and aedile, and prefect of Byzantium as well as of all the cities and islands subject to Byzantium, and finally, the dispenser of words and deeds. To these things, by law and common decree, reinforced by dreadful oaths, it was agreed between them both ^C that Cantacuzenus should never be received, no matter how much he might signify he was penitent; and not even if some angel from heaven were to intervene.

III. These appeared to be the practices of both; but in reality, these things proceeded from the cunning of Apocaucus. For he had immediately dreamed, as has been said, of imperial dignity, of which he had long ago planted certain images and as it were seeds in his mind. And since he was already very well versed in the histories of the ancients, Octavius Caesar Augustus had come to his memory, and he had silently proposed him to himself for imitation. For he, too, after removing Anthony, the plotter and rival of the empire, along with Cleopatra of Egypt, ^D did not think that he could otherwise be the unaccountable autocrat of the whole realm than if he had overturned the dignity of the senate in the Curia. Therefore, having granted the smallest part of authority to the senators, he always enjoyed the greatest himself. For that was indeed so that they, sitting in Rome, might give laws to the cities and elect magistrates as if from the throne and public authority, while he himself, 377 appointed over the land and naval forces, would be occupied with external wars; and with all the burdens taken upon himself alone, he would provide from every side, like a servant, tranquility for the senate and public affairs; while they did not understand that he who was in charge of the military forces could most easily usurp lordship over all things.

^A IV. Apocaucus entered upon this path 744 insidiously and cautiously, and he brought it about that all the nobles were free from the administration of senatorial duties, while he himself was placed in command of the armies: so that, to all appearances, like a servant exhausted by external wars on land and sea, he relieved them of all anxiety. By this method, he brought everyone under his own power when they least expected it; since he shut up those of them who were eminent in lineage and the splendor of their fortune in certain dark prisons, just as herdsmen are accustomed to shut cattle in stalls, while others he compelled to go into exile from their ancestral city. Indeed, he encompassed with vast sums of money all those who were around the Augusta, whether men or women, and already he governed and possessed like a slave not only the Augusta, but the patriarch himself, who was deceived by his flatteries not so much as he was terrified by his wicked energy. And so, nothing happened that did not depend on his will and voice.

^B V. When, therefore, the administration of the empire had reached such a state, all things were carried out with the greatest bitterness. For the patriarch, as if he held the keys of the celestial kingdom in his hands, firmly promised eternal reward and imperishable prizes of labor to anyone who took off Cantacuzenus, whether by deadly poisons, or by secret sorceries and diabolical deceptions, or in whatever other way he might be able. And he held the friends and relatives of Cantacuzenus, as many as held authority either in Byzantium or in other cities, in the greatest contempt; and he sent out letters sealed with the imperial seal, which forbade Cantacuzenus from the administration of imperial affairs and ordered him to sit idle at Didymoteichon as if in a prison; but he commanded the army which he had addicted to himself to return to Byzantium ^C as quickly as possible.

CAPUT XI. Factionis Cantacuzenianae nobiles a patriarcha et ab Apocauco petunt, ne secum durius agatur. Hi plebem in eos incitant. Nobilium fuga. Eorum domus eversa, bona direpta. Cantacuzeni maeror et anxietas. Tristes nuntii de matre in carcerem conjecta aliisque domesticis cladibus. Viri constantia. Litterae sigillo imperatorio munitae, per quas ipse in ordinem cogitur. Alia ex aliis gravia ei nuntiata. Animus super has angustias anceps et fluctuans. Mors intentata, nisi se imperatorem salutari patiatur. Ne recusante alius statim salutandus. Imperatrix per legatos officii admonita contumeliose respondet.

I. Therefore, the chosen friends and relatives of Cantacuzenus in Byzantium, and with them some of those who were related by other ties, fearing that they might be seized one by one and suffer things unworthy of their own manliness, assembled at the house of one of them. There they conferred among themselves, and having sent an embassy to the patriarch and Apocaucus, they demanded that none of the evils that rumor had already announced should be inflicted upon them: for they were not the sort to suffer anything unworthy without any reason, before they had done anything. But they answered them nothing; instead, they sent orders throughout all of Byzantium to stir up the mob through the demarchs, and to inflame ^D...

[alt-version omitted]

1. (96) Proverbium, de quo Zenobius, Suidas, Michael Apostolius, et alii paroemiographi. DUCANG. (97) Eorum malorum, quae fama jam nuntiaverit. Dubito utrum sic vertendum, an eorum quae gravia et acerba reputantur. BOIVIN.

^A to incite the tribunes; to inflame the blind and unbridled impulse of the mob with missiles, swords, and stones against those who happened to be nearby.

II. When these men saw, contrary to all expectation, the multitude already flowing in upon them like a torrent, or a swarm of bees, or the waves of the wintry sea, they ran to one of the gates of the walls that had long been closed. ^B Having immediately unbarred it, all of them escaped from there unscathed, being in number, I believe, more than sixty. Therefore, they remained that night, and the following day until late evening, in a certain suburban estate, perhaps expecting that some kindly messenger and herald of peace might be brought from the City. But after they learned of the sudden demolition of their houses, the plunder and confiscation of their property, and finally that all things were most desperate, they departed from there with loose reins and arrived at Didymoteichon, wondering greatly and lamenting the insolence of their misfortune. As soon as Cantacuzenus saw and heard these things, he suffered most bitter grief in his soul and was not far from tears; struck by the novelty of the matter, he conceived the greatest surges of anxiety from a lack of counsel.

III. The first wave had not yet subsided when another, much more violent, broke out. For a certain person came the next day, announcing that his mother had been unworthily cast into prison, her house demolished, all her wealth confiscated, and that by many of those in need she was being daily pressed and demanded through every kind of torture to reveal the monies she had possessed. It is no wonder, therefore, that upon receiving such a calamity he did not take his own life or lose his senses, but remained master of himself. But it is much more admirable that, understanding this chastisement sent by God, he descended into the struggle of patience with the most valiant, and stood firm as adamant, however adverse his affairs were. For as time went on, other waves of calamity succeeded one another day by day.

IV. Not many days had passed from then when, behold, someone coming from Byzantium brought letters secured by the imperial seal, by which he was ordered to sit at home and to abstain completely from the administration of the empire for the future, and that his army should return to Byzantium as quickly as possible. Then other messengers immediately flew in, [announcing] that his estates had been taken away and divided among laborers, men of the marketplace, and whoever else of the dregs of the plebs had sharpened a bold tongue against him most of all. For to those who had heaped more and graver insults upon him, wages and rewards were being proposed; not only...

^A to his estates, but also honors and dignities and access to public offices, even if one were a fisherman, and even if one smelled of the mere country and his very mattock, provided he were one who had a tongue well-exercised in such invective.

V. While he both saw and heard these things, ^A he now persevered in his customary gentleness, and as it was the foster-sister and companion of his life, he could not easily betray it; at another moment, he was torn in his mind, and wavered in his calculations as to what was the best course of action. For he saw that quietude was neither safe for himself, nor for the emperor’s son John Palaeologus, nor for those nobles who had come to him from Byzantium. For those nobles, already nursing a most grievous anger in their souls on account of the injury they had suffered, and still more anxious about their lives for the future, were threatening him with imminent death unless he was proclaimed emperor by them. For if he declined, someone else from among themselves would be ready for that task; and in truth, they held that no other thing or plan was more effective for the safety of the Romans than what they were contemplating.

VI. In such storms of turbulence and pressing circumstances from every side was Cantacuzenus occupied. But not even then did he think he should yield, until he had sent legates most speedily to Byzantium to remind the Empress Anna of those mandates of the emperor, and of all the covenants which, after he was dead, she herself had confirmed with terrible and fearful execrations, looking toward the establishment of a similar state of the republic. But not even by acting thus did he achieve ^C anything more than to receive wagon-loads full of insults as the rewards for his gentleness.

CAPUT XII.

I. Wherefore, he was compelled ^D to don the symbols of the empire. But he did this (as he himself used to say) not willingly, nor in order to execute a goal fixed in his mind and long meditated upon beforehand. But as those who flee a wave rushing down from the deep and hasten with all speed to bring their ships to harbor, so he too, since he could not otherwise escape the force of the danger which beset him, fled to the imperial purple as to a harbor: God, I think, bringing to completion a work long since destined and foretold to him while yet an infant by signs not blind or obscure; although he himself feared to undertake it, being unskilled, clearly, in discerning the mysteries of divine wisdom. And that we may recount some things out of many, the first, indeed, was....

^A II. It was the day, moreover, upon which he put on the symbols of the empire, the very day on which the memory of the divine martyr Demetrios was being celebrated. He orders, however, that he should not be proclaimed emperor with his consort until after acclamations had been given to the empress Anna and to the emperor John, her son. For he always remembered the friendship of the deceased emperor, and he was not easily able to forget his commands concerning the empire. Indeed, just as he gave precedence to him, so too did he value his own close associates. For he used to say that he had been built up by the emperor as a bulwark to preserve the empire for his son; therefore, the more powerful he would prove to be, the safer and more stable the empire would be for the child. ^B III. And so, on account of the grief caused by the death of the deceased emperor, he changed his robe, which was purple, to white immediately after the third day—a custom always observed by emperors in mourning—and he used white garments from that time consistently, until, having captured the Queen of Cities, he emerged as the undisputed master of the whole Roman domain. To me, when I asked the reason for this, he replied that he did it for three causes: first, indeed, to pay the just debt due to his friend, the deceased emperor; second, because of the death of his own mother, which happened shortly thereafter; and third, because he saw those who were with him suffering from a lack of necessary things and being involved in the greatest dangers, and he deemed it better to expend the magnificent cost of the imperial raiment for their needs rather than to save it for himself. But though he himself had suddenly encountered violent and adverse times and affairs, he nonetheless took thought for his own circumstances and pursued the commands of the deceased emperor with the greatest possible reverence. ^C IV. But that like-minded pair—almost twins—when they heard that he had adorned himself with the imperial insignia, leaped up for joy and, imitating the fashion of those who are raging, they turned insolently to revelry. For having seized upon an occasion and a major pretext for opposing him openly, with a very free and unrestrained tongue they forced into the ears of all their old, secret mental sickness, commending themselves for having perceived this man's wickedness long ago, even while he was in his cradle and still lurking in the womb and as if suckled by milk (for they claimed the present act was a witness and a loud-voiced herald of their previous surmises, that which had recently been done and brought forth into the light at last as a perfect birth), ^D and...

openly ^A toward an implacable and undeclared war the affairs were turning.

V. And then it was possible to see the entire Roman race, in every city and province, split into two parties: on one side stood the wiser, on the other the more foolish; on one side those eminent in wealth and dignity, on the other the needy; on one side those nurtured in liberal education, on the other those strangers to all discipline; and finally, on one side those who were sane and moderate, and on the other those who were raving and delighted in sedition and bloodshed. And all the best men indeed supported him, while all the worst supported the Byzantines. For those who in birth, wealth, and dignity surpassed the rest, leaving behind their hearths, wives, and children, flocked to him with every zeal of soul, choosing a life that would be lacking in the most pleasant things, and deeming it better to suffer hardships with him than to live luxuriously with the others; invoking, I suppose, the saying of Anacharsis, that it is better to have one friend of great worth than many of no value.

VI. Having thus found the opportunity they had long been seeking, the leaders in Byzantium sent bundles of letters to every province and city, containing anathemas and interdicts against all who were friends of Cantacuzenus, and at the same time inciting the entire common populace against the rich, and the base rabble against those who were eminent in dignity and birth, so that once those who were such were removed from their midst, they themselves might easily become masters of the government, suspecting nothing from any quarter that could be contrary to them. And indeed, from this there arose a very great and multifaceted destruction of Roman affairs everywhere in a short time, such as no speech could express in a brief compass.

VII. Cantacuzenus, for his part, did not wish to show himself daring in any matter, nor did he attempt anything that was worth the effort, as those who engage in such things and are driven into such surges of events are accustomed to do; but he remained quiet with his army. For he had of armed men—those, I mean, who were by far the strongest, and who surpassed in strength of both soul and body and in experience—up to two thousand cavalry, who deemed it much more precious ^C to die with him than to live for even one day without him. Such and so many, therefore, were his chosen soldiers. Those who held the second rank after them were twice as many.

VIII. He therefore kept sending frequent embassies to the Byzantines concerning peace, and he would remind the Augusta of the supreme will and the mandates of her husband the Emperor, which he had received while he was still alive, concerning the upbringing of the junior emperor and the guardianship to be entrusted to Cantacuzenus until such time as the ward should have reached a suitable age. For one should not, he argued, trust to foreign advisors who would eagerly undertake everything for their own caprice, especially those things that could overturn the ancient state of affairs and the entire empire itself. ^D

IX. Now, the gentleness toward the souls of the Byzantines...

^A they did not incite to an equivalent restraint, but on the contrary, they goaded them to boundless boldness and madness. For they said that he did not speak these things out of any sparing of the blood of his fellow citizens, but because he had been driven to desperation regarding his own safety. And while they openly and incessantly forged hostile weapons against him, both by sea and by land, there was hardly any respite for them; nor did they refrain from any stealthy contrivance, whether it was through poison, or sorcery, or whatever else might be waged through death.

X. But he, placing his only hope in God, still remained quiet and kept his army within the fortified camp; yet they were vehemently eager for battle and the spoils of war, and were invited by many Byzantine citizens. As a result, those ^B who accused him of desire and slothful cowardice, and at the same time, as is likely, reckoning that danger hung over both them and him, decamped from there and fled to the Byzantines. For even food was lacking for them, given the multitude of men, as they were enclosed within the sole small town of Didymoteichos with many beasts of burden. Indeed, they were beset by hostile circumstances from fortune and from the season. For the winter, if ever it had been harsh, was at that time most severe, intensifying with the greatest persistence; and furthermore, whatever letters he sent—whether to the Kral of Serbia or to Alexander, the leader of the Mysians, or to anyone else whomsoever for the sake of summoning reinforcements—were all intercepted by the Byzantines, who held everything round about by land and sea with guards and scouts.

CHAPTER XIII

^B Joannes Palaeologus, contrary to custom, is crowned by the patriarch on a non-festive day. Cantacuzenus had wanted this to be done with greater pomp immediately after the emperor's death, but the patriarch had forbidden it. The new emperor is inaugurated again in the Aetherian chapel of the palace. He is received by the people with applause and loud shouts. Reproaches are cast upon Cantacuzenus. Hearing these things, and that from prison, causes Cantacuzenus grief and a grave illness. The death of the same occurs on the twelfth day thereafter, amid similar acclamations of the populace. Nocturnal omens preceded the calamity of his wife.

I. But the patriarch, seeking to arrogate to himself greater authority over the imperial regency, with all diligence crowned ^C Joannes, the son of the deceased emperor, not waiting out of his own greed for his age, nor for any more distinguished day of the year. For it happened to be the nineteenth of November on which he placed the imperial diadem upon his head, a day which in itself is completely insignificant or unceremonious, and it was a strange and very non-festive occasion on which he arrived at it. And yet, Cantacuzenus had wished to celebrate this with more splendid pomp immediately after the death of the emperor; but this man had insidiously and by the greatest fraud prevented it.

II. But on the twenty-fourth of December, about late evening, when we were celebrating the natal feast of Christ our Savior, he...

^A inaugurated it; from whence those emperors who preceded him were also accustomed to look out on that same day. The multitude of the Byzantines assembled, along with the entire army, and they followed them from below with prayers and all kinds of acclamations, after the manner of the ancient Roman triumph. But now, the force and clamor emitted by the populace below, having no pure and unalloyed acclamation for the emperor, was instead commingled with insults against Cantacuzenus and at the same time against his mother—insults which were extremely foul and not at all worthy of sober ears, with Apocaucus fanning the embers and inflaming the rush of the crowd with more lavish gifts and promises.

III. Now, the mother of Cantacuzenus heard all these things herself, for she was living ^B at that time within the prison of the palace, where that assembled crowd of the people flowed and gathered like a torrent. And indeed her heart was pierced with the most vehement grief, and she sent forth deep groans, which, like murky and misty smoke, indicated the bitterness that was manifold within her soul to those sitting beside her. For, dividing her soul between that unbearable hearing of the insults and considering by whom these dramas were being enacted—people who just yesterday and the day before had been like slaves toward her—and at the same time recalling her fortune and the flower of her own prosperity from childhood, which had remained unblemished and flourishing until old age, and comparing all these things with those present adversarial and unexpected vicissitudes of time, she could not bear it. Her heart, therefore, being deeply wounded, her body fell into a difficult illness, which promised that the end of her life was not far off.

IV. When, therefore, the solemnity ^C of the Lights arrived twelve days later, and the emperor was in like manner again looking forth from above, while the people below were clamoring with similar acclamations and insults, the Cantacuzene lay dead before the prison, cast aside and consigned to oblivion, and driven as far as possible from her former felicity and that splendor of hers. She had departed this life a little before the sound of the trumpets. For the soul, I think, fearing lest it should fall again into a similar surge of insults, withdrew into itself, and before that could happen, erupted from the body. However, how God permitted these things to come to pass, we shall declare more fully hereafter, as far as it is allowed for us to conjecture.

V. But I nearly overlooked that. For a few days ^D

after the death of the emperor, when the disturbance of affairs had not yet erupted into the light, but was only conceived and deliberated, it seemed to the mother of Cantacuzenus, in a dream, that having taken the holy Gospel into her hands, she saw nothing at all written in it except these words: “This transformation is from the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. LXXVI, 11); and this was written in golden letters of the greatest elegance, from beginning to end, everywhere alike. She pondered within herself how that book, though it was the holy Gospel, exhibited nowhere any evangelical word, but only those few from the prophet David. When she awoke, she related this to some of her friends, and she said that it was a divine oracle, and that the glorious and excellent outcomes of her affairs were being predicted to her. But it was not such a thing. Yet, these things happened in this way.

^B VI. One omen, indeed, was that which, in a dream by night, foretold the destruction of that great and illustrious house. But the second, also by night—not, however, in a dream, but in a waking state—presented itself to be seen as a clear and manifest sign. For, as is the custom for noble and illustrious persons to keep watch until the middle of the night with those who approach them for whatever reason, this was present in the Cantacuzena more than in all others, inasmuch as she stood out above all in dignity and the splendor of fortune, and was in charge of imperial councils and secrets. While she was engaged in such a custom this time as well, and the conversation had been drawn out until late at night, it pleased her to stand before the doors and, from the high tower of the buildings, to contemplate the moon, which was then just rising above the horizon, so that she might conjecture from it what hour it was. For when it was returning from the revolution of its own circle towards its perigee, and was again in the second quadrature with the sun, it did not afford acronychal light to the earth at that time before the middle of the night had been reached. ^C

VII. When the Cantacuzena was standing there in this manner and gazing, and at the same time was greatly anxious about future events, she saw an armed horseman standing below and measuring the magnitude of the tower with his spear. Terror-stricken by the sudden and unexpected sight of this, she turned back and sent men to apprehend him—who would act in such a way at such an unseasonable time—and to inquire to what end he did these things and by whom he had been commanded. But when those who had been sent returned very quickly and affirmed that they had seen no one, and that there was no way by which access was open to strangers and horsemen (since all the doors were indeed closed), then she was struck with fear, and she interpreted that presage in another way. ^D

and was filled with sorrow, and was not far from tears.

CHAPTER XIV.

^A I. But I will return to that point. For Cantacuzene was not so overwhelmed in his soul by such deep floods of calamities, nor did those constant and ever-varied traps, which he discovered were being secretly laid against him, cause him to become despondent, but he stood unmoved within his own boundaries, and kept his hopes in God most steadfastly fixed; nor did he ever cease to ask and entreat by letter that whatever the emperor had commanded concerning him while he lived, should be confirmed. And while the Byzantine people would not even hear the words with their ears, nay rather, even treated his envoys with ignominy, and having shorn them, paraded them through the forum and confined them in chains and prisons; yet his tongue would not utter insults against any of them. Neither did he refuse to let those men, eminent in virtue and discipline, who inhabited Mount Athos, act as mediators of peace. And they indeed came; but their diligent zeal achieved nothing. Furthermore, the money and whatever equipment had been long ago stored up by both parties was expended, partly on other public matters, and partly on what were necessary for the soldiers.

^B II. But secretly, many of the Orestian leaders, having entered into a conspiracy, determined to open the gates to the approaching Cantacuzene before the commoners, who were tyrannically in power, could perceive the matter; and they had already sent him letters, urging him to arrive as quickly as possible, and he would take the city without effort. He therefore, having moved his camp immediately, drew up his army and commanded John Angelos to march as soon as possible to Orestias with about eighty horsemen, after he had fortified the small town of Pamphilus as was proper.

^C III. But when they had gathered at the banks of the river that flows past Orestias, a most violent storm arose that night as if spontaneously; and the river, as if it had some perception of the anger of the Divine, began to rage and flood much over its banks, so that the forces of Cantacuzene could not cross. And so, not a few days were spent in the vicinity of that river, with the storm not subsiding, but retaining that same violence ^D perpetually. Finally, when the matter was despaired of and Cantacuzene had departed from there, the next day the storm ceased to rage, and the river gradually let go of that insolence and ferocity.

bi violentiam perpetuo retinente. Tandem re desperata cum inde abiisset Cantacuzenus, postera die tempestas sævire desiit, et paulatim fluvius proterviam illam ac ferociam remisit. ^A At the river, subduing the insolence and ferocity of that pride—for the same trial had occurred twice, and the river currents had again broken into that same overweening arrogance—they realized, though late, that the obstruction was not due to some chance, but to a higher providence that easily directs all things wherever it wills, and that was now quite openly opposing the designs of Cantacuzenus. It was as if the very elements, immediately burning with a great surge of wrath, were indignant, perceiving the Lord to be angry, and were obeying Him as servants should, signifying their reverence for Him through their harmful surge and their truly most violent retaliation.

IV. ^B Parties therefore marching out from both sides at different times—sometimes soldiers from Didymoteichos, sometimes from Orestias and the surrounding small towns—would drive much booty from there to here, and much from here to there. But neither side was able to win and thus put an end to the contention; rather, they pressed against each other in vain. The cities, however, were constantly being worn down by one another, gradually and little by little. And it was, as it seems, a divine decree and a judgment ratified from above that the cities should be ground down and stripped of their wealth, honor, and station through this civil strife.

V. Cantacuzenus, comparing civil war with foreign war, and weighing how much one differed from and exceeded the other, used to say that civil war was like the cold and heat of those suffering from fever, while foreign war was like summer heat and winter cold. The one, he argued, far exceeded the other. For he said the cold of winter, being external, could be easily remedied by adding clothing and by the abundance of fire, and conversely, the heat of summer could be tempered by removing clothes—since the heat is external and incidental—and by the blowing of winds; but fevers, being internal and arising from the very entrails, were ^C an untameable and inescapable thing.

VI. Furthermore, those who were exiled or in chains on account of Cantacuzenus, and those who secretly favored him in the cities—all of them, I say, as spring approached, were uplifted with hopes of a kinder fortune in the future. But their hopes were vain. For his affairs, as people commonly say of Mandrabulus, went from bad to worse every day.

CHAPTER XV

The prefects of the principal cities, Theodorus Synadenus and Guido the Armenian. The migration of the latter from Armenia; his two wives. His hostile mind toward his kinsman Cantacuzenus, whose goods he plunders and whose friends he harasses. Ominous signs. Eclipses and colors of the sun and moon. Trees oppressed by snow and broken branches.

1. ^D But it is necessary to go back a little in our narration, so that the things that follow may become clearer to the listeners. For over Thessalonica and the other surrounding cities, as far as the river Strymon, the protostrator Theodorus Synadenus had been set as governor; and over the city of Serres, and…

of the villages up to Christopolis, the cousin of the deceased emperor, Guy the Armenian; who twenty-four years ago had been summoned to Byzantium by his father's sister, the Augusta and mother of the Emperor Andronicus, had married the cousin of Cantacuzenus; and for a long time that he lived with her, he remained childless. After her death, he married the daughter of Syrgiannes, by whom he became a father of children. He always continued, however, in the ancestral religion of the Armenians.

^B II. He, therefore, having found the confusion of the times and of affairs to be a windfall and an opportunity for financial gain, seized the estates and revenues that Cantacuzenus had there, as well as ten thousand yokes of oxen and herds of livestock of every other kind, and, having sold everything for cash, he reaped a vast fortune of money. Moreover, he subjected all the wealthy men under his administration to accusations, as though they were, forsooth, of the same mind as Cantacuzenus; he kept them in custody, while he gathered their own substance into his own hands with full palms. It would not be easy, therefore, to recount all the terrible things that that era produced. But we shall make mention of some of them, here and there and from time to time, so that anyone may easily surmise from them the rest.

^C III. Certain signs of these evils occurred and preceded them, among other things, and an eclipse of the sun and, at the same time, of the moon, which had been very great indeed before it, both of them, I say, in the sign of Sagittarius. And before a full six months had entirely passed, another eclipse of the moon also occurred, with the sun having clearly entered Taurus; this was smaller than that one, yet it was itself at least fourteen digits. And so this, and the colors that were seen around the eclipse of the luminaries, were considered by those who look more deeply to be portents of great calamities.

^D IV. The second sign was the destruction of the trees. For when the sun had entered Aquarius, immediately after Capricorn, at night, when every breath of wind had fallen silent, an unbearable quantity of snow poured down. Overwhelmed by this weight, all the trees of the Queen of Cities, and all those in its suburbs, suffered such a fall that, when day came and explained the nocturnal disaster, a strange spectacle was presented to the eyes; namely, the middle of the trees stripped of all their branches, resembling stakes and dead timbers.

CHAPTER XVI.

^A 1. But since we shall have frequent occasion, as we proceed, to mention Empress Irene Cantacuzena and her two brothers—for their activities stand out greatly in the present state of affairs and the proposed subject—let us return to that previous stage of our narrative where our discourse turned away. For a long time, the fortress of the monastery of Audes, near Mount Rhodope, had held them in bonds by the order of Emperor Andronikos the Younger, on a charge of high treason. But as soon as Emperor Cantacuzenus had donned the imperial purple at Didymotichum, and a hostile hand was being prepared on both sides, a dispute arose between them as to which party should first take them from the prison, to have them as most powerful allies against the other.

^B 2. Many comings and goings and much discussion therefore took place. But because they feared that they might merely trade one set of shackles for another—perhaps heavier ones for lighter—and could not safely trust either side, Empress Irene, who possessed great judgment and sagacity, and who excelled other women as much in the quickness of her mind in deliberations as she did in the power of her knowledge and the harmony of her character, arranged everything well and with the greatest speed. For possessing an innate and, so to speak, self-wrought spirit of practical action, she afforded her husband the Emperor, who was surrounded by such dangers, the greatest possible help. ^C And if she did not share the entire imperial authority with him, she certainly was granted by him the largest portion of it. For she, now encouraging the faltering spirits of those kinsmen and true friends whom the Emperor had with him with persuasive words; now providing with a generous hand the wealth that was the companion of their exile—or rather, the remnants of those great riches (all of which will be explained more clearly by us later); and now flying with all haste, and through her own person providing certain guarantees to her brothers, returned with all speed, bringing them along with her to her husband the Emperor at the most opportune moment, as sincere and perfectly secure defenders.

^A

III. Since frequent letters from Synadenus, who was at that time governing Thessalonica, were arriving for Cantacuzenus, urging him to cross over into Macedonia as soon as possible, in order to bring Thessalonica under his own power with little effort—for it had long since been prepared for him by his secret machinations—because of this, upon entrusting the prefecture of Didymoteichon to his wife the Empress Irene and her brother Manuel Asan, he set out immediately and fortified the stronghold which was formerly called Polystylon, on the seacoast, which he himself had most recently restored at his own expense, near the mouths of the Nestus, which is the greatest of the rivers in Thrace, which, bursting forth from the mountains of Haemus, discharges its stream into the edges of the Aegean Sea.

IV. But as this construction was barely coming to completion, Chreles the Triballian was also about to arrive nearby. ^B He, having formerly been subject to the king of the Triballians, for I know not what reasons had broken the bonds of submission and had set up an independent rule for himself in Strummitzan, a stronghold set up even unto the clouds, and over whatever districts lie around the river Strymon as far as Amphipolis. For, because of the civil strife of the Romans, being flattered by both parties, he became a formidable personage, and one very difficult for the King of Serbia to attack. And thus he was somehow enjoying the times, being himself prosperous in the misfortunes of others, and reaping his own happiness as if it were a fruit from the ^C calamity of his neighbors. Yet, furthermore, considering the imperial glory of Cantacuzenus, which had flourished heretofore, not at all with suspicion, he was nonetheless anxiously courting his friendship and alliance. And so, when the partisans of the Byzantines, imitating those three hundred Lacedaemonians who had once defended the pass at Thermopylae through which Xerxes was to pass, had occupied the narrow straits near Christopolis, and were keeping watch with not altogether negligent care, stationed there by night as well as by day, so that the approach that way might be inaccessible to the Emperor Cantacuzenus's army, Chreles also, having been summoned, came ^D into the vicinity of Christopolis, bringing with him not a small force of soldiers; namely, to contribute his labor...

and, to the extent of his ability, to ensure that the emperor's passage to the city of Thessalonica was easy.

^A V. And these things were indeed as stated. Those, however, who had been left behind in Didymoteichon with the empress Irene and her brother Manuel Asan, both foot soldiers and cavalry, were more than five hundred. ^B Their commanders were two: namely, Manuel Tarchaneiotes, who was joined by kinship to the emperor, and George Phachrases; and after them, two others. The testimony of individual historical events—as this history proceeds—will demonstrate most clearly the constancy of them all, as well as their bravery and experience in armed combat.

Those, however, whom the emperor had with him as companions in his further expedition—excluding those who used bows and slings and similar long-range weapons—consisted of no fewer than two thousand of the finest cavalry. The kinsmen, other nobles, and their entire retinue filled up the number of nearly five hundred. Among these, the first to stand out most prominently were the emperor's two sons, Matthew and Manuel; and after them, Irene Augusta's brother, John Asan, and the emperor's first cousin, John Angelos. The greatness and strength of soul of all these men in dangers, and the deeds performed by their hands or counsel, as well as their war trophies, we shall explain in detail ^C in their proper place as the narrative proceeds farther.

in dangers, and the deeds performed by their hands or counsel, as well as their war trophies, we shall explain in detail in their proper place as the narrative proceeds farther.

OF NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK THIRTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

How Cantacuzenus escaped the straits of Christopolis. He encamps near Philippi. Help is offered to him by Chreles: whom he receives in a friendly manner, though he suspects him; he soon dismisses him. Rhentina is accepted in surrender. He delays going to Thessalonica, according to his custom. The castle of Melenicus is surrendered to him. A digression concerning the opportunity that must not be neglected. Also, concerning the likeness of Opportunity. Synadenus and others favoring Cantacuzenus, having been driven out of Thessalonica by a sedition, betake themselves to Gynaecocastrum. Guy of Armenia assists the Thessalonians with arms. The Byzantine fleet, led by Apocaucus, arrives at Thessalonica. Cantacuzenus proceeds as far as Gynaecocastrum and speaks with Synadenus. The latter changes his mind and plots against him.

^A As spring was already ending, the Emperor Cantacuzenus set out from the mouths of the Nestos River and, leaving to his left those who were guarding the straits of Christopolis, transported his forces over the very summit of the mountain; he used a longer and more difficult route due to the unevenness of the terrain, which was rugged with rocks and broken ground and obstructed by the trees and thickets of the overhanging forest; nevertheless, he crossed over and encamped near the plain of Philippi, where long ago Brutus and Cassius had joined battle with Octavius Caesar.

^B While he was resting his army there, Chreles also came to him, promising that he would gladly carry out everything that the Emperor might order. But the latter signified that he wished indeed to have him as a friend, yet that he had no need at all of his assistance for the present. For he understood that while Chreles confessed friendship with his tongue out of fear of the impending war, his mind hung in doubt, in that he was waiting until he might behold a certain and proven outcome of the fight. Wherefore, having used words with him that promised great friendship, and having treated him kindly and generously for many days, he later dismissed him, joyful and promising that he would fulfill the duty of a good neighbor in the future.

^C He himself, having advanced not far from there, received in surrender the castle which is named Rhentina. From there, when he ought to have departed and within a few days...

have besieged the walls of Thessalonica, encircling them with both a quantity of arms and the strength of his men, and having strengthened ^A Synadenus, who was then the prefect of that city, and all those who favored him, and having struck with sudden terror those who felt otherwise—he, nevertheless, by daily procrastination, wasted time sitting there, observing not a military custom, but his own, which was deeply habitual. For, since he was entirely unwilling to see the blood of fellow-citizens shed before his own eyes, he was meditating on how to establish a bloodless trophy; and so he sat waiting for the Thessalonians to surrender themselves voluntarily and by agreement, perhaps compelled by fear. ^B Meanwhile, however, he received into surrender the strongly fortified and difficult-to-capture castle of Melenikon, which had long been attached to the Byzantines; and having left behind John, the brother of the Empress Irene, as his steward there, he was already preparing to lead his forces toward Thessalonica.

IV.

V.

^A VI. It was, moreover, then nearly the beginning of summer. And straightway Guido Armeniacus [the Armenian] also came from Serres to Thessalonica, bringing with him great forces, and he strengthened, as was fitting, the spirits of the citizens, which the dangers impending from every side had broken. While matters stood thus, the Byzantine fleet also sailed into the Thessalonian harbor, led by Alexius Apocaucus, with more than fifty triremes equipped with arms and supplies, as if things had fallen out of their own accord for the prosperity of Thessalonica.

VII. Finally, the emperor himself, having moved his camp from there, arrived at Gynaecocastrum, and joined himself to Synadenus and the soldiers who were fugitives from Thessalonica with him. After they had conferred with each other as was fitting, Synadenus realized at last that, while the emperor was carrying certain vessels of gold and silver, decorated with stones and pearls, he had none of that money which is ready at hand for distribution to soldiers and for the procurement of necessary supplies. For this reason, he straightway checked himself and changed his mind, when he saw his own soldiers falling into despair from the want of all things, and at the same time being corrupted by letters and promises of money and honors, which were being sent to them secretly and frequently by Apocaucus. He was entirely occupied from that time on in watching for an opportunity and seeking a time when he might most easily seize him and hand him over in chains to Apocaucus. So wavering and unstable was he always in his mind.

CHAPTER II

^C I. The plots of Synadenus were thus discovered; and at the same time, riots, and suspicions, and mutual plunderings, and a blind confusion of affairs arose throughout the entire army of the emperor. For the arrival of the forces of Apocaucus was now being signaled, and this might perhaps have been the ruinous and final day for the emperor, had not God rescued him beyond all hope from the manifest danger. For having called upon Him from the depths of his heart, and having at the same time exhorted himself to be confident, he ordered the trumpets to sound the retreat; and the soldiers immediately flocked to him, all of them—except those who, in such a great panic, had ^D encountered thieves, or, owing to the weakness of their strength, had been dispersed naked here and there in the chaos.

^A II. When the emperor saw the greatest and best part of his forces gathering around him, he divided them into ranks and phalanxes, and distributed them into the right and left wings. He extended the center of the phalanx not so much in depth as in length, making it thinner on account of the small number of men; and over these he placed as commanders John Angelus and all those who were close to him both in experience of war and in kinship, and he stood awaiting the onslaught of the enemy. Apocaucus, for his part, was drawn up in array opposite him, but he did not dare at all to engage in hand-to-hand combat with them, when he saw the hoplites around the emperor breathing with great martial spirit and at the same time ready to yield up their souls out of desperation.

^B III. Therefore, the emperor turned quietly and, maintaining his battle array, began to withdraw toward the Triballi, preferring the uncertain evil to the manifest one. For we know that among certain foreign nations, those who flee to them of their own accord in times of calamity often have a condition that is better able to move them to pity out of a sense of shame—perhaps because these nations fear both divine indignation and the opinion of men, which somehow has a secret power to persuade most people to take pity on those who had previously flourished, whenever their life has turned to the opposite and does not keep its delicate foundations unshaken by the envy of fortune. But among one’s own people, once the divine law has been broken, they usually become implacable, ^C prone to anger and the slaughter of fellow citizens.

IV. Having, therefore, covered the intervening space with haste, he spent the entire night near those borders which, having been taken away by adverse fortune from the Romans, had been transferred to the Triballi. He uttered to his own men a counter-version of that saying of Leonidas the Spartan at Thermopylae: “Let us eat, ^D for tonight we shall feast in Hades.” On the following day, he immediately sent messengers to the Kral of Serbia to inform him as quickly as possible of the tragedy of the fortune that had befallen him and to move him to pity, as far as was fitting, by reminding him of the instability and uncertainty of human affairs; and how the path along which one travels has unknown and by no means fixed ends; and how it is fitting for those who are prosperous to always have a gentle and kind disposition toward those who are faring ill, fearing the hidden archers of fortune and the labyrinths of the vicissitudes of life—since it is always inherent in nature for human affairs to have an unexpected outcome rather than a foreseen one, and more often an unhappy one than a happy one. But one of those Triballi who were living in the vicinity of the Romans had placed some of his own men in ambush near the road, and they seized the envoys and brought them with all speed to Apo-

Apocaneam, a most desirable gift. Having thus attained great affection and humanity from him, he renounced the dress and lifestyle of the Triballi, and immediately adopted Roman customs.

^A V. Such was the outcome of the embassy. Now there was among the Triballi a certain illustrious man, who was a governor of that region and district, named Liberius; he had a longstanding friendship with Cantacuzene. The Emperor, remembering this at that opportune time, immediately sent a man to him to offer the right hand and to speak words such as the times and circumstances required. And at the same time, having ordered him to return, he set out toward the Cral of Serbia, bringing his own armed force with him, and committing his affairs to God and uncertain hope. For a great multitude of base and rustic men ^B pressed upon him from every side, attacking him stealthily and openly, from here and there, scattered and in groups, attempting to cut off the rearguard and to plunder some of the baggage. For truly, as the saying goes, many grievous things befall those who dare,

When someone sets a hostile foot upon the land.

VI. But before a full day’s journey was completed, Liberius, making haste, came to meet him, and greeted him with his hand, his intent, and all the affection of his heart. Having received him as a guest for several continuous days, he refreshed and strengthened his spirit with very humane words, for it was being overwhelmed by the most heavy waves of deep despair. ^C The Emperor, however, vying with him in return with his own magnificence, repaid him measure for measure, and rewarded him more generously from the jewel-encrusted and silver vessels which he carried with him. Moreover, he promised that he would give his son Manuel to him as a son-in-law, if he would assist him in every way and open the approach to the Cral of Serbia, and act as a reconciler. Liberius, seeing the Emperor’s son now before him, and admiring both the grace and elegance that shone in his demeanor, and at the same time his sagacity—for he was endowed with this in much greater measure than is expected for one at the bloom of youth—was ^D vehemently delighted by the proposal and very gladly consented, and in turn promised with the greatest alacrity of spirit to do everything he might desire, even if it were necessary to undergo the most grievous and greatest dangers.

VII. Armed with his firm and certain recommendation through letters written to the Cral, as if with some kind of viaticum, and accompanied by a sufficient troop of attendants, the Emperor arrived on the fifteenth day at the town of Scopion, whose walls are skirted by the river Axios, which flows from the same mountains and which...

^A merges with the Strymon; not being so great at once from its springs, but flowing downward, and sharing its current with many other rivers and torrents, and having its name changed to Bardarius, it sometimes and in some places becomes navigable.

VIII. There, as they halted, the place seemed suitable for the army, which was much worn out by great anguish and labor, to be refreshed by hospitality, if not entirely well, yet at least not entirely ill. For if, as they say, any bread is sweet to a hungry man, then to them, at that time, being governed by the nods of foreigners—even if they were nonetheless, in some measure, gentle—was considered something sweet and humane. ^B For to be so far removed in foreign lands, and, not of their own will, exiles from their country, and yet to encounter pious men and be received in whatever lodgings there were, was just as if it had been granted to one, after a great shipwreck and wintry surge, to reach a port. For that brute and mountain-like way of living, and that which was, in both language and character, something rough and barbaric, was covered by the benevolence of a peaceful and mild social intercourse, which had shone forth when forced by necessity; at which time even the smallest joy so refreshes the soul that it seems by far the greatest.

IX. There the Emperor halted and stayed for that day. ^C The next day, having advanced into the interior, he met with the Cral of the Triballians. The salutation between the two was conducted in the royal manner. Gifts were also offered in return, and all those things were exchanged which are accustomed to be given back and forth as signs of reverence and love; though not with equal magnificence on both sides. For the Emperor bestowed upon the Cral and his wife some costly furniture from his own treasuries; but the Cral returned to the Emperor what was fitting, and at the same time provided fodder for the Emperor's army, and meals, and lodgings, and whatever was necessary for life—though sparingly and sordidly, and after his usual custom. But thus these matters stood.

CAPUT III

^A both in its diet and in all those things which are necessary for those who pass their life in a foreign land. For, pressed by a scarcity of funds, most of them endured the most grievous things. To those, therefore, whom it was fundamentally accustomed to suffer hardship, the place was barely tolerable, and that winter carried off many of its inhabitants. But those who had long since learned to make use of a frugal diet, and, like those ancient Spartans, had been content with bread and water, and to endure the labors of war by night and by day, were not so broken by those ills which the unfamiliarity of a foreign land brings to those alone. But the life that was full of troubles to others, seemed free of trouble to them. To such a degree is habit itself something prone and easy, and in no way laborious. Wherefore if anyone, induced by prudent thought, chooses the best sort of life, it will be easy for him immediately to live the rest of his life free of labor and inconvenience, and to prepare for himself immortality within a mortal body.

II. In this part of the history, I would wish to set forth individual matters in greater detail, and to report those orations which the emperor had, both when with the Cral and with his own army, as the occasion brought about; and also those which they had with him. For it is most fitting that deeds be joined to words and words to deeds throughout; not only because each of those is an image of the soul and a true messenger, as it were, of the will and thought lying hidden within it, ^B and because from this a more certain knowledge of the persons and things which are being discussed ought to exist; but also because it is the case that in words there is a certain shadowing forth of deeds. And of these, the one leads, while the others customarily follow behind. But since we see some people abusing the greater part of their writing with harangues, because there is the greatest opportunity in them for displaying one’s faculty of speech and the ambition of one's learning, whence it happens that that which is outside the matter sometimes appears greater than the matter itself, for this reason we have judged that a middle path should be held by us. Let us therefore return to that point from which we digressed.

III.

so that he might henceforth possess one continuous empire from Dalmatia and Illyricum, and all that nearer region which touches the eastern shore of the Ionian sea, as far as Philippi and Christopolis.

IV. And such indeed were the things that were transacted through the embassy and openly. But the poisons which were sent secretly, frequent and manifold, and concealing an acute and difficult pestilence—to recount them one by one would require that Mithridates of old, who, when he possessed an empire from Paphlagonia which extended through Colchis and Lazica and the Caucasian mountains, and crossing the Tanais and Maeotis, reached as far as the western Scythians, and having made an enemy of the established ^B power of the Romans, fearing lest he should be taken alive by the prowess and fortune of Pompey, had investigated all poisons and prepared the most effective and prompt of all with which he could discard his life when necessary. That which he had dared against himself, the Byzantines were zealously and strenuously contriving against the emperor, sparing neither poisons nor traps, whether those which the ancient masters of villainy had discovered, or those which men of our own age had devised for such a purpose.

V. Indeed, one might wonder how all these things were immediately detected and rendered void, God keeping the man unharmed and higher than all these. I do not know whether to attribute this to the unjust sentence with which the Byzantines had once and for all condemned him, and the fine of manifold and varied and infinite money, which God judged to be ^C enough for testing the man’s mind—concerning which the whole trial of divine justice revolves—and which he had accepted with the utmost patience; or because, although he was subjected to the greatest insults, he neither took revenge immediately, nor threatened vengeance for the future (perhaps keeping a silent sorrow, until he should complete his course), but above all he provided in every way for the salvation of those who were injuring and persecuting him with war, as much as sincere friendship could afford.

VI. And to provide a few examples here out of many, he was so forgetful of injuries that, hemmed in by so many dangers and, so to speak, ^D submerged in the very belly of Hades, he commanded the priest to remember, first, the Empress Anna in the sacred chants, second, her son, and third, himself and his wife, the Augusta Irene; and this even though he was in a foreign dominion and land, and could not even draw free breath; and not only there, but wherever else

he hoped his name might be carried with honor, there too he ordered that ^A the name of the Empress Anne and of her son be placed first with all zeal and intent. Thus, when he was sending John Angelos to the Aetolians and Thessalians, to rule over them with their consent—as we shall relate more fully as we proceed—nothing was more important to him than to command and enjoin this above all else; nor did he let him go until he had promised, before all else, to execute such instructions in deed. And anyone who secures the very written rescript will discern this most precisely, along with whatever else he added similar to these, commanding him to honor and revere the Roman empire with all reverence as long as he lives.

VII. For my part, I hold that this alone is sufficient and enough (omitting the rest, which equally attest to his noble character) to persuade everyone who is not entirely devoid of mind and prudence that all things are governed by a more divine providence, and are not rolled along at random; and that, just as nothing else happens by chance, neither did the fact that Cantacuzenus entered the imperial city without bloodshed and attained the imperial throne, having endured such great and manifold perils, and having, so to speak, triumphed over the threshold of death. Rather, it was for Cantacuzenus himself the reward of long-suffering; and for others, a confirmation of good hope—those, clearly, to whom their spirit promises a glorious outcome for bearing evils bravely. ^B

VIII. But if we were to recount one by one all the treacherous schemes that enemies and those who feigned friendship devised against him—schemes above all of which the divine right hand kept him elevated—I fear that one of those who, like us, practice the language in writing the history of our times might accuse me of excessive bias toward him. Truly, if anyone standing outside that arena of historians were to examine it, like some impartial judge or umpire of a contest, he would surely see that others are led by anger and spirit, and write in such a way that, just as I am not entirely *absent* from the truth, they too are not entirely *free* from all passion. ^C

IX. For as to me, neither of those things which are praised will I omit, nor of those things which are censured, if it is established that anything was sinned by him, inasmuch as he is a man—whether by counsel and will, or through ignorance, or due to the force of circumstances and the necessity of the times. For of all these things, only those which occur by counsel and will are rightfully to be praised or blamed. But those things which seem to happen fleetingly, at random, and outside of fixed law by fortune—which sometimes bestows happiness with a lavish hand, and other times drives those who stray from the straight path headlong toward the crags of rashness, and stirs up for them affairs full of mourning and tears, whom the decree of omnipotent providence ^D has ordained to be wretched—these things, I say, according to fortune

^A or the whim of a favorable or—in the face of those whom it attacks with hostile intent—a most fiercely raging storm of calamities, I would neither willingly commend them myself, nor entirely attribute them to those things which ought to be censured. For I would say that it is not so much the work of him who acts, as a certain reckless impulse of fortune, or of that which is said to be "irrational," or of one that is favorable, or of one that chooses—not very kindly—to deal out "measures of disaster" against those toward whom it hastens with malice. Therefore, just as I think that is not to be commended which succeeds brilliantly when it was not the intent of the purpose, so I think that is not to be condemned which turns out badly against the will.

X. And so, after we have shown that it was through that patient and deliberate endurance, and his refusal to retaliate against those who were then troubling him—not even to the extent of his outer lips—that the righteous Arbiter from above established for him a calm amidst such a storm and sea of evils, we shall—as our discourse proceeds—show in its proper place more fully, and in the right context, how all the most contrary things have subsequently befallen him ^B. We wish to preserve the truth of this history, and to persuade those who might happen upon this part of our times not to think that we, led by any affection, have exaggerated beyond measure either the things that in that man provided grounds for praise and admiration, or those things which sprang from the contrary root. Rather, we wish them to believe us as we expound the truth just as it was, and for all to reap from both sides a certain utility, seeing how it is likely and indeed most befitting the seeds that the harvest follows: that to those who have started from a good intention, good things happen; but to those, on the other hand, who have initiated worse things and have armed themselves in that part where injustice is arrayed against rectitude and truth—to them, the exact opposite occurs. Hence, our discourse must now return to its course.

XI. For the King, having stayed with the Kral for only thirty days after his arrival ^C, when that summer was now passing and autumn was setting in, and when the vines were vigorous and the vintagers were almost calling out with a clear voice, came with his troops—both his own and many more from Serbia—to the city of Serres, hoping that it would be captured by him without a battle, as there were perhaps not a few traitors conspiring within, namely those who were more fervently devoted to him, and who were promising an easy entry through letters sent in secret. But God, clearly opposing ^D his will there as well, rendered that attempt of his vain, and the entire endeavor was pointless.

For before he could encircle the city with his forces and bring the hazards of war against her, a deadly plague struck the camp of the Triballians; whether it was the unrestrained and excessive consumption of grapes, or some other cause that led to it, I cannot say. Since neither medical hands nor ingenuity availed against this malady, many dead were buried every day. And because in the space of a few days death had carried off more than a thousand men from life, and threatened to take even more, they broke camp with all speed and all returned from there, reporting to the Kral the disaster that had befallen the army without any human war. ^A

CAPUT IV

^B I. When matters stood thus, and the autumn season itself was soon ending, it was by no means easy for the emperor’s friends to learn in what state his affairs were, living as he was in a foreign land among men whose customs were barbaric and strange; Amurius that Persian, the leader of the Lydians, was the first to show how much he cherished love for the emperor in the chambers of his heart. For already in the middle of winter, when there was great turmoil and confusion both in the sea and in the air, he crossed the Hellespontine straits with a large host and anxiously sought for his friend. And because it was not easy for him either to see him with his own eyes, or to learn in what fortunes he stood at that time (for the force of the cold stood in the way, and moreover snow, which had fallen then in great abundance, made the road to him blocked and impassable), he proceeded quietly and camped around the suburbs of Didymoteichon, and having sent a subservient greeting from there to the Empress Irene, he remained day and night under the open sky, enduring the harshness of the winter season and seeking for his absent friend, weeping from the depths of his soul; and though he was called many times by the Augusta to come into her presence, he could not bear to come. ^C

II. “For with what eyes,” he would say, “shall I look upon one weeping, [one who is weeping] for the emperor, who has been away for so long a time in the hands of foreign peoples and in a land that is not at all well-known? For I myself would surely burst asunder if I were to look upon his present fortune and the tragedies and unmerited calamities that surround the imperial house on all sides. And at the same time, instead of consoling her, I would kindle ^D greater sorrow.”

^A For the present time is no time for viewing, nor for words, but for abundant tears. For the distress is heavy, and it seems to me to be bringing, not only sharp sores, but to be driving more cutting flashes of lightning into my soul; since I cannot see the most beautiful friend, whose image is impressed upon my heart, surrounded and adorned by the imperial camps.

III. Nor did his tongue speak these things in such a way that his soul remained unaffected. But his chest was burning and aflame with a far greater pain within. And I would dare confirm that this will be declared more evidently as this history proceeds. So little did this "barbarian" have a barbarian way of life, but rather one that was gentle and entirely redolent of Hellenic instruction. ^B For the similarity of manners, if nothing more, brings together even the likes of Orestes and Pylades. For they were of the same race and joined by kindred blood, and imbued with the same laws and learning. But the other, born to barbarian parents, trained from childhood in barbarian manners and laws, using a foreign speech, tongue, and way of life, and separated from Cantacuzenus by many seas and many mountains and deep gorges, lived a life entirely disjoined and unknown to him and foreign; and I would even say, ranked in the share of enemies. So that for these reasons he outstrips those by long measures in the account of friendship, and he possesses a degree of affection—an excess of warmth—greater than theirs.

IV. But if someone, flattering Cantacuzenus, were to attribute the whole of the better cause to him alone, he would manifestly wrong the truth. For if one were to grant this praise to both, he would be free from reproach. ^C But if anyone were to snatch it all away from the other because he was of barbarian race and in no way related to us, I do not believe there would be anyone at all who would not justly blame him. For the unity and kinship of souls is judged not by race, but by the identity of mind. For as in musical instruments—as many as there are in pipes, lyres, citharas, and drums—it is not the nearness of the locations that creates the harmony of the music, but the melodious agreement of the sound; even if those things which are the efficient causes of the sound happen to have their local position far from one another, they bring the sound to perfection. ^D Even so is the similar case shown in the souls of men, even if they happen to have the foundations of their race from foreign tribes, and even if they are distant from each other by countless expanses of land and sea.

V. Furthermore, the conviction in what I have said will stand firmer from those things which will be told as this work proceeds concerning that man, a barbarian by race indeed, but not by conduct; such as this fact. For when Empress Irene was sending very many things from Didymoteichon—as many things as were necessary for food, and as many as pertained to clothing, and as many as performed the service of nocturnal shelter, and were able to ward off the biting intensity of the winter’s cold at that time—he never accepted anything; he clearly...

^A maintained that it was absurd for him, while his friend was struggling in a foreign land and beyond the borders, far from his paternal home, being afflicted by the harshest fortune, to live meanwhile in comfort. “But at least,” he used to say, “if it were permitted to stain a tent with the blood of my soul, and to set it up before the eyes of all, this would be for me a noble consolation, by which I might openly display the flame that burns in my heart and the longing for my friend that lives within me. But since the soul, being incorporeal, is not stained by the defilement of blood, I do not see by what other better art I might be able to relieve those pains by which I am now oppressed.”

VI. For it troubled him, and indeed greatly disturbed him, not only the calamity of the emperor, but no less the tears of the empress. For she was mourning after the manner of the grieving turtledoves, and was suffering most bitterly over the absence of her husband and emperor, and was in a state of extreme anxiety. At the same time, she was herself caught ^B in the greatest perils, which surrounded her on every side in such a way that she had entirely abandoned hope of her own life. For the enemies from Byzantium, making frequent incursions up to the very courtyard of Didymoteichon, were almost forcing them to remain confined within the walls; and famine, joined with continuous and manifold stratagems, was by far more grievous than the external enemy, being as it was a domestic and constant companion. Furthermore, the guards and lookouts of the Byzantines, having divided among themselves all the hiding places and approaches to the roads, stood in her way, so that she was unable to learn anything secretly from anyone about the emperor, though this was what she most desired.

VII. Amurius, therefore, sought to console her in such tragedies of fortune, and promised with all the eagerness of his soul to perform whatever might seem good to her, even if it were necessary to undergo death itself. But because the violence of that winter was ever increasing with greater severity by night and by day, and was cutting off between them the hope of a clearer sky, and at the same time a frequent and continuous pestilence was consuming the Persian army, which the most severe cold was producing, along with a lack of necessary supplies; and because it was not easy for him in the present circumstances to assist himself or his friends, ^C with the divine will standing in the way for I know not what secret reasons, having crossed the Hellespont, he returned home.

VIII. When such was the outcome of that Persian expedition, the next in glory of war among the leaders left at Didymoteichon (as we have said), Manuel Tarchaniotes, ^D a kinsman of the emperor and a man of heroic mold, and in all things strenuous—eminent in hand, counsel, and stature of body; a man who, being exercised in the labors of war and having most constantly endured many wounds, had acquired the greatest experience in military affairs, and for this reason, having been placed by the emperor in command of the forces that were at Didymoteichon, seemed to those who were there at that time to be a sort of soul and a treasury of good hope—he, I say, alone then confident in his own spirit, left Didymoteichon in search of the emperor.

^A For it was not possible to remain quiet while they were ignorant as to where the affairs of the emperor’s fortune—or, to put it more tragically, his disaster—had proceeded; on account of whom they had already endured many labors and many heavy and unjust things, and were still enduring them. Therefore, leaving the straight path due to fear, he chose to travel to the left through trackless and mountainous and difficult places, until, having crossed the mountain of Haemus, he slipped secretly and unharmed into the land of the Triballians. Finding the emperor whom he sought, and having conversed with him as was appropriate, he returned most quickly to Didymoteichon, bringing news to others, and especially to the Empress Irene, that was very true and unadulterated; and he arrived as a cooling breeze of zephyr to those who were scorched by the excessive heat of the sun. And these things happened in this manner.

CAPUT V.

A second expedition of Cantacuzenus to Serres is unsuccessful. The timidness of the Triballians does not allow him to cross as far as Didymoteichon. He returns to the Kral against his will. He takes with him as a companion John Asanes, who had been ordered to surrender the fortress of Melinikos to Hrelja. Envoys from Berrhoia, because the Kral is proposing unjust terms, treat secretly with Cantacuzenus. The latter enters Berrhoia by agreement. The inconstancy of the Kral. Fortune is better for Cantacuzenus from this. The Triballian is pained that he was outwitted. Mindful of the agreements, he does not dare to declare war.

^B When the emperor began his campaign, he led his forces ^C to the city of Serres, and all the castles and fortifications that lay around it as far as Philippi. But when the undertaking was attempted with equal unhappiness, hindered, as it seems, by the divine will, it appeared to him that he should cross—if he could—as far as Didymoteichon, so that he might see those by whom he was most vehemently missed, and be seen by them in turn. But because the Triballians, whom he had with him as allies and confederates, hearing that a great force of the enemy was positioned in ambush at the passes of Christoupolis, which were opposite any who would go further, opposed his wish out of cowardice and fear—since they were otherwise rather sluggish and did not at all enjoy long-distance expeditions—for this reason he returned again to the lands of the Triballians; unwilling, indeed, and applying the torches of grief to his own heart, because things were not succeeding for him according to his judgment. Nevertheless, he retreated back as far as the city of Stroummitza, and all the open and horse-traversable places there; ^D where also, by chance, the Kral of Serbia happened to be staying for the time being.

Now among those who were following him was also John Asanes. For he had, a little while before, been in charge of the fortress of Melinikos, but having soon surrendered it to Hrelja by the emperor's command, he had betaken himself to the emperor, and remained a companion to him, living in the same tent for the time being with the ruler of the Triballians.

^A III. By chance, at that time, an embassy had arrived from the city of Berrhoea to treat with the Crales regarding the matters which were being demanded of him, and to learn diligently what he had decided. He was demanding that the city come under his power and control, and that he introduce a Triballic garrison into the acropolis before he, by force and the law of war, should reduce the city, its houses, wives, and children into slavery and plunder them. But the ambassadors, struck by the harshness and bitterness of his words, decided it was better to speak secretly with the Emperor Cantacuzenus and to bind their loyalty to him with every precaution, if he wished to slip into the city surreptitiously and with all speed, and to take the city himself with no trouble. For it is the mark of a mad heart and mind to prefer barbarism to humanity, and a foreign and illegitimate power to one’s own kin. With these arrangements made, and settled before the Triballians could become aware of them, the Berrhoean ambassadors, having suspended the Crales’ mind with certain deceptive words, returned home and announced to their fellow citizens the harsh responses of the Crales, and the pacts which they had made with the emperor on their own authority through compelling necessity, when the situation itself had immediately suggested such a plan to their minds.

^B IV. A few days had passed since then, when the emperor took his own forces with him and went out, ostensibly for hunting and walks, in a sort of royal relaxation and leisure. And not even three days had elapsed from that time, when he accelerated his march and found a very easy entry into the city of Berrhoea, with the Berrhoeans receiving him with very great zeal and, as they say, with outstretched hands. For the same matter brought both great utility and tranquility to both sides at once; since by the same path they were both escaping the hands of the Crales. And indeed, that was truly the work of God, showing as easy those things that are difficult, and bringing about the opposite whenever He pleases and in whatever ways He wills.

^C V. For the Crales, when he saw and had ascertained that the emperor was being despised and treated contumeliously by those from whom he had hoped he would be received humanely and kindly, he himself immediately changed his opinion, and allowed those good things which, as time went on, he had promised himself in the future on his account, and had decreed in the secret court of his heart, to fall voluntarily from his memory; and he began to apply his mind to preparing snares and to turning himself entirely toward the Byzantines, and gradually to be enticed by the promises that were coming from there.

^D VI. But just as in every matter human counsels are subjected to the divine will, so too at that time there prevailed those things which had been by no means foreseen by those who were in danger, nor [had they] entered into the human mind.

For while the Emperor breathed a sigh of relief, feeling most sweet and free, and deemed this the beginning and primary foundation of his success, the chieftain of the Triballi ^A, by contrast, was consumed with wrath at what had occurred, and pined away with deep remorse, because through his own imprudence he had let slip what he had held in his hands—something that would have been the cause of great gains for him, whether he had wished to increase the power of his dominion and his monetary revenues, or to secure for himself full peace for the future.

VII. Conflict begins; reasons for delay

CAPUT VI.

1. Meanwhile, the Emperor’s cousin, Joannes Angelus, came to join him ^C, bringing with him the choicest of the Thessalian cavalry, intending to congratulate him on that happy outcome and to use his most strenuous efforts if any assistance should be required of him. For he himself had already gathered forces that were by no means to be despised, ever since he had been sent into that province by the Emperor’s command while he was still staying with the Kral within the territory of the Triballi, as we have related elsewhere.

II. For as soon as he had departed thither, he brought growth to the affairs of the Thessalians, which were fractured and suffering as much through the local inhabitants themselves, who lacked a legitimate prince, as through the Catalans who had been lording it over them for a long time. For since the descendants ^D had fallen into a life of luxury and intemperance, their situation had grown very weak, as...

and were no longer able to show themselves as adversaries, even with their internal parts being gradually torn asunder and divided at home. ^A

III. When John Angelus, a man most skilled in war, had found the situation in this state, he had already gained possession of the greater part of Thessaly; then immediately advancing further, he subdued the Aetolians and the Locrians of Ozola. In the course of time he also seized the whole of Acarnania, having previously brought under his control the princess of that region, Anna, the wife of the Count of Cephalonia who had died many years before, as we mentioned when discussing this matter above. Some urged him to kill this woman at once; for they argued that her desire for power, which had been fixed in her mind for so long a time, would not be at rest, but just as fire hidden in straw goes unnoticed and secretly consumes the material until it fans the raging flame upward, so she would always be intent on the hope of ruling as long as, numbered among the living, she saw another adorned with her sceptre. But he, ^B prioritizing the right of kinship—which relies not on law but on nature—above all these considerations, refrained from using his sword against her, and ordered that she be kept in custody and bonds, lest she commit a similar act again, as she had done before when, after being transferred to Thessalonica by Emperor Andronicus, she had later fled secretly back to the principality of the Acarnanians. But we shall relate these things more extensively hereafter. Now, however, I return to that point. ^C

CHAPTER VII.

I. For the Emperor, having gathered his own forces and at the same time those recruited from Berrhoea, betook himself to Thessalonica, induced by the promises which were carried to him from there. For certain men had secretly signified to him from that place that if he were to advance to the walls before the populace became aware of what had been planned, an entry into the city would be easy through their efforts. But when he arrived there, he learned that word of this conspiracy had reached the plebeian factions, and had inflamed the minds of all with a kind of fighting fury, both against the conspirators and against Cantacuzenus himself. Wherefore, since his hope there had also proved vain, he retreated to Berrhoea with the utmost haste. ^D

II. For immediately after this, the Byzantine [index: entries preserved] fleet also sailed into the Thessalonican port, having as its admiral Alexius Apocaukus and naval fo-

forces in very great number. For there were more than fifty Roman ships, and twenty-two Persian ^A ships following in alliance. Having therefore settled the affairs of Thessalonica on that very day as he wished, and having at the same time armed and prepared on the next day both the military forces he had found in Thessalonica and the native and foreign naval forces he had brought with him, he determined to hasten the march by land toward Berrhoea, in case he might be able to intercept the Emperor's army at the crossing of the river that flows between Berrhoea and Thessalonica. For there he thought he would best achieve a feat of daring and a military trophy, with the enemies perhaps scattered in separate groups, some having already crossed, others still crossing, and others standing by the banks for the sake of passing over.

III. Nor, in truth, could the Emperor, as he hastened from thence, find a route free from labor and difficulty. For since the river does not always or everywhere present itself as easy and passable for those wishing to cross, but is such only in confined spots, and those not obvious to just anyone wishing to cross, but for the most part unknown and very hidden; and not only in the ^B winter and spring seasons, when the force of the waters is greater and is accustomed to wash away and flood the habitual parts of the land, but also in summer and autumn; about two thousand of the Triballi laid an ambush for him on the other bank of the river, at the point where they thought he would cross with his army on his return, so that by making a sudden attack upon him as he did not expect it near the crossing, they might quickly set up an illustrious trophy. The advance guard of the Emperor’s soldiers, having caught sight of these from afar, had themselves lost heart and had caused great panic among the imperial forces.

IV. And perhaps at that very hour they would have been destroyed, caught between two hostile armies as if within a net, and with the river itself hindering them from either encamping or drawing up their battle line as was proper, had not God suddenly and unexpectedly afforded them a helping hand; God, I say, who often makes the things most expected of no effect, and grants prosperous outcomes to those things which were least foreseen. For Apocaukus, indeed, restrained his own impulse out of the greatest cowardice. But a certain man ^C from among the inhabitants of that place, having recently escaped the pillaging of the Triballi, came over to the Emperor of his own accord at that moment, promising that he would show him another way across the river than that which was known, if he were given a somewhat larger reward. Upon these conditions, the Emperor's army having been conveyed across, the Triballi, struck with amazement at the miracle of the event, departed from there with the utmost speed, scattered here and there across the region. ^D

CHAPTER VIII

Apocaucus, having rightly distrusted his own strength, seeks aid from the Kral. He fortifies the river mouths, so that no embassy might be sent to Amurius from there. He inquires from Cantacuzenus what he himself intends to do. Cantacuzenus chastises him with words. He tells a fable about a bird and a fowler. He estimates the expenses, by the magnitude of which his adversary must eventually be overwhelmed and succumb. He congratulates himself on the Thessalian auxiliaries reserved for an opportune time. He predicts fatal outcomes for Apocaucus, whether he intends to depart or remain at Thessalonica. He threatens that he will bring in Persian auxiliaries by his example. He enumerates the evils, of which he claims his ambition was the cause. He reproaches his hard and pitiless spirit. He warns of divine justice, which reveals itself through manifest signs. Finally, he orders him to hasten his flight. By a small boat secretly carried out to sea, he sends envoys to Amurius.

^A Having heard that the emperor had escaped as far as Beroea with his army, Apocaucus did not immediately invade the enemy territory, as we have said, but slackened the vehemence of his attack. For he did not feel very confident in fighting in open warfare 661 and engaging in hand-to-hand combat against a martial army, although he possessed a myriad of men, the greater part of whom had been brought to land just recently from the oars. Therefore, having sent an embassy to the Kral, who at that time was already incensed against the emperor (as has been shown), he sat waiting for auxiliary troops from there; he also blocked the mouth of the river, posting triremes by the sea at the place where that river descends and pours its waters into the sea, lest by chance the emperor, having secretly dispatched a boat to the satrap Amurius, might seek aid from him. Then, having sent, he asked the emperor what he intended to do regarding himself, being thus hemmed in on all sides and likely to suffer a siege on the following day.

^B He replied: "It is not the custom for enemies to reveal the mysteries of war to enemies. However, since you—a man most unworthy—have been elevated from the salt-works to the highest office of war, and because of this it comes about that you are as far removed from military experience as possible, I will tell you first a not unpleasing fable: then, I will also answer your questions with the truth not concealed, so that you yourself may clearly understand how contemptible the arrogance of your pride has been to me, and how I wish in this matter to leave your own ways to you, but my own ways to myself. For it is your custom to rejoice in lies; mine, ^C in the truth." [P. 413] "A certain man, having once captured a bird, asked it what its thoughts were. But it said: 'It is not necessary for you, O man, to explore how my affairs are, but how your own will be. For if I possess the power of divination, I will tell you—nothing at all of myself, but most truly regarding you.' For among men, those who are augurs often gather knowledge of future events from birds; from their perch, flight, and cry, although the mind of such men can by no means always and everywhere attain the truth by conjecture. But I, bird that I am, will not give you knowledge of what is to come from my perch or confused clatter, entangling you in the laws of an obscure and uncertain necessity, ^D but I will use a vocal mouth and speech distinct in articulation. Listen, therefore. If you release me, your son shall live; but if you keep...

hold of him, you will not be able to avoid mourning your wife who will be dead. ^A The man was struck to the heart and deliberated within himself, seeing the most grievous calamity hanging over him from either side beyond his expectation. Nevertheless, having to choose one of two inevitable evils, the miserable man chose that which was lighter, and having let the bird go, he immediately lamented his son lying there.

Since the fable is thus, listen now to the reason why it has been told. Because I have long had experience in military affairs, as you yourself know, I am not ignorant of how much daily expenditure you always make regarding your naval force and your infantry phalanxes, and in addition to these, how much you spend and will always continue to spend in those embassies which you frequently send for the sake of seeking aid from the Prince of the Triballi; and being compelled not only to send rather rich gifts to him and to his queen, his wife, but furthermore to flatter him ambitiously, and to circumvent with money every individual among the dependents and clients of those nobles who have the most power among the princes of the Triballi. All these things, even if you are most ready, will immediately compel you to yield and desist from your undertaking. ^B My armies, however, consist first of the forces that always accompany me, and then of almost the whole of Thessaly. And I think you have heard how great the Thessalian cavalry is, and how much experience that army has in military matters, and how they are trained by long and varied wars.

These troops I had ordered to remain at home, as necessity pressed, so that of the two options, neither of which was expedient, the latter might not come to pass; for it is neither fitting that they, while engaged solely in foreign service, should live on my own private expenses at an inopportune time, nor that our fields should be devastated by them, and our vines, being now in a state of ripe fruit, should be destroyed by plunder; as is wont to happen ^C by armies, for the most part because of the unrestrained licentiousness of the mob. For the destruction of such things causes damage to those who own them and harms them greatly; while to those who plunder, it brings little or no utility; nay, to put it as the saying goes: *It moistens the lips, but does not moisten the roof of the mouth.*

These are the things that I, as an alumnus of military discipline, am able to foresee; you, however, are not. Since, therefore, you spend your total strength on that which is of least consequence, it remains that you will at length be brought into the greatest straits and will exhaust an infinity of money on matters that will result badly, due to your own inexperience in military affairs. To me, however, in whom the usage of command has grown with my age, the lack of money will yield to the opportunity for conducting affairs well, and will finally crown me with prosperous successes. ^D Since these things are thus, that which is in the fable will surely follow. For if you should look at the lavish but useless expenses, and at the same time at the dangers threatening from the wars, and should therefore wish to return with all speed to Byzantium.

^A For, as the Homeridae say: "Great will be the laughter against you; for it is shameful for an Homerid to have remained long, and empty-handed to return." And besides, you are going to lose the cities which I, by my arrival, expect to take without labor. But if, while taking care not to fall into those dangers and at the same time into disgrace, you should nevertheless obstinately persist, you will not be able to avoid, beyond the laughter against you, the loss of your head, and ^B by so violent a fate, you will miserably pour out your soul when the city—your present refuge—is besieged on all sides by me, as I advance with many forces by land and sea, and it turns all its wrath upon you, who have been the cause of these evils. For I shall summon not only the Thessalian cavalry and whatever forces are from that region, but also, for your sake, the Persian forces from Asia. For you have already been the first to do this, having brought a Persian force against your own kin for my sake. ^C But if you judge yourself to be free of guilt in avenging an injury with a similar act, then surely I am innocent, and I receive the testimony of conceded pardon even from those who are my detractors. But if you bring that act of mine into the account of crimes, it is time for you to consider how many and how great are the crimes to which you have voluntarily made yourself liable, when you have moved against me—an innocent man—and, indiscriminately, the arms of both infidels and citizens; when you have spared no expense; when you have devastated the whole Roman realm, overturned temples, violated sacred things with every kind of wickedness, and in many ways ^D raged most petulantly against divine things; when you have removed from our midst the venerable gray hairs of all the nobility, and have thrown everything into confusion, turning it upside down and inside out. And to what end? That you might become the sole ruler, aiming at things greater than yourself and your own station. O madness! As if there were no just arbiter by whom everything that happens is watched, and by whom all things are managed for the best, but that the universe went without a guide and without law. And not even by looking at my exiles and my calamities could you be educated into shame, considering how your madness of mind armed against me, as enemies, those who were my friends and owed me so much; while those who were enemies and ill-disposed, by whom it would have been more just for me to be harmed, the scales of divine justice proved to be my true and certain friends. Furthermore, that surge of yours which had plunged me into the depths of calamities, God has, beyond all expectation, made deeper for you. And now, as you see, for me all things proceed under a favorable breeze, and they will continue to do so with God’s help. But you, having consumed heaps of money—my own, that is, plus all that was in the imperial treasuries and whatever was stored up among all the nobles that you abandoned to be plundered by robbers—have achieved nothing more than 666 if you were weaving the web of Penelope, which the gloom of the following night would unravel, having been worked upon all day long. It is therefore evident from this to anyone that you…

^A in the least wish to have God on your side while performing an injustice; whereas to me, who has been injured, He will be present in the highest degree. And yet, though it behooves you, out of respect for divine indignation, to check your impotent fury, it no more enters your mind to be quiet at last. But if you do not immediately flee as a fugitive, if some sinister genius dwelling within you forces you to endure and remain here until the seventh day, you shall surely see deeds much graver than those which were spoken of.

III. Having said this, he dismissed the envoys. But he himself, having secretly prepared a small boat and caused it to be carried by wagon by another route to the sea, which is one hundred and sixty stades distant from Berrhoea, thus sent [the boat] to summon Amurius, the satrap of Lydia, to send an embassy. And the time was then near the rising of the Dog Star.

CAPUT IX

The response of Apocaucus; of which there are two parts: the first, concerning the crime of lying; the second, concerning the summoning of the Barbarians. The perverse character of this man. How, after Berrhoea was attacked by the army, he himself remained at Thessalonica, being both arrogant and timid. He sends a bowman to kill Cantacuzenus by night. The bowman, having three times in vain attempted the deed, asks for and is granted pardon. Apocaucus escapes the impending dangers through swift flight, unknown to the Thessalonians. The Persians, left among them, behave wickedly and with impunity.

I. Upon hearing the report brought back from Berrhoea, Apocaucus said: “I, for my part, would never admit that it is the mark of a base mind, or that it is not altogether worthy of one who commands armies, to lie at times. Nay, I would even say that it is highly necessary, and indeed for an emperor above all others. For since there are two things, truth and falsehood, from either one of these the emperor derives profit, according as he sees the necessity of the situation compelling him to incline toward one side or the other. For philosophers, and those who do not concern themselves with the social life, it would be proper to keep their tongue alien and sincere ^C from every falsehood, since they have no worldly care that would persuade them to depart from the truth. But [what of] those for whom, if they speak the truth, there is the fear that they might lose entire cities and whole armies, whereas for those who lie there is the hope of securing the complete safety of all—would they not be driven to madness if they considered the pernicious truth to be preferable to a useful lie? For I would a hundred times prefer, if possible, to save both cities and armies by lying, than by preserving the truth to ruin everything of my own accord. For since a lie is devoid of reality and substance, he who uses it must, when he uses it, be doing nothing other than contriving, through a certain silence and sparing use [of language], to suppress the substance of the truth; just as with furniture, which being most costly and precious is sometimes hidden by its owners because it is expedient to do so, and at other times is produced as an unveiling ^D to the eyes of men.

^A Since, therefore, it is permitted to look at them in a similar way, Cantacuzenus does not justly cast the charge of lying upon me—as I believe—for I hold the consideration of what is expedient to be of the utmost importance. Indeed, I would have considered myself of lesser worth if I were not of this character. And as for him, if he had wished to do what was the duty of an emperor, he ought to have reproached me at the time when he saw me not undertaking those things which were so easy and prompt to execute. But now, I am led to wonder at this most of all: that he attempts to do exactly those things which he insolently objects to me as a disgrace; namely, the alliance of arms with the barbarians and foreigners. For if he has established the stability of his own praises upon the ruins of others, and if in reality those things which I have done are hateful to him, he ought not to have affected or imitated them. To imitate, indeed, is the mark of one who loves, not of one who is adverse; and of one who admires, rather than one who vituperates. For no one is eager to look upon things he hates from his heart, with the one who is constrained by all things standing out of the way. But if he reproaches with his tongue those things which he sees me doing, while in his deeds he not only does not speed away from such imitation, but even adds to the heap, it is clear that he does not reproach because he hates, but because he is annoyed that he himself was not the first to do it. So that whichever of the two might be decreed against one of us, it must justly follow for the other, and in like manner, either the blame or the forgiveness must consistently wait upon both of us for similar deeds.

^B II. These are the things which he said, lying greatly about his own character and obscuring the truth of affairs by the plausibility of his speech. For this was his continuous custom, and often he clearly adorned himself with this, namely to utter one thing with his tongue, while hiding something else in his mind, and to show his deliberations and thoughts fighting against his tongue. Therefore, having professed much daring in his words at that time, he was refuted by his deeds. For he himself remained in Thessalonica out of fear; but he entrusted the army of the notables to one of his subordinates and sent them to Beroea, having commanded them, after they had shown themselves there for three days, to return as quickly as possible. For he had not sent them to do anything noble—for he believed it could in no way come to pass— ^D but so that his timidity might not be detected by the most part of men. For if there can be no association between arrogance and fortitude and martial magnanimity, how could he, who had so much arrogance in his tongue but in his mind much more timidity, have been present himself with drawn swords, or persuaded others to be present? Truly, he would have sooner seen his soul breaking out of his body than he would have heard the clash of arms in the conflict of war.

III. Since, therefore, he could not defeat the enemy in open battle, he returned again to those occult stratagems of his.

On the Unveiling

^A And when he had heard that the house of the emperor was situated near the walls within the city, and that he was accustomed to depart from it alone about the middle of the night, and generally unguarded, so that he might look out from the ramparts and inspect whether the enemy's forces were gathering from without, and with what vigilance those within were guarding the city—whether those who walked armed through the middle of the city and went round the streets, or those who were stationed at any tower or turret, signaling to one another with frequent shouts as they measured out the nocturnal intervals—he hired for a large reward one of those who had singular skill in drawing a bow, and sent him secretly to Berrhoea. He instructed him that when the emperor was about to exit the house at night, he should inflict a mortal wound upon him, and immediately, having slipped down the ramparts by a rope, he should betake himself to the camp unharmed and safe.

When, therefore, the hour arrived and the emperor was repeating his customary walk near the walls of the city, the archer immediately drew his bow three times; three times he sensed that he had missed by his shot, since instantly his hand had grown stiff with a kind of numbness, and he had dropped the arrow to the ground as if it were dead. They say, moreover, that when he tried for the third time, the string of the bow snapped. Then, seized with astonishment and fear, the man approached the emperor early in the morning and laid bare the treachery with great agitation of soul, and the prodigy that had happened in the drawing of the bow. And so, having obtained pardon, he went away. ^B

IV.

^A in these same Persian vessels; and he considered it to be just as if someone, hastening to keep an external fire from his house, were himself willfully to set it ablaze from within, designing this as a more immediate remedy, as it were, against the external fire. Having gathered all these thoughts into his mind, he fled secretly, as has been made clear to us.

V. Now, as to the number of depredations and enslavements that the Persians inflicted there upon the pious who were left behind, and how wantonly they dared to commit sacrilege against holy things—it would not be easy for us to recount them, as we wish to turn the course of our narrative toward other matters. Those who suffered these things certainly know, and whoever is not so ignorant of such events as to be unable to form a conjecture about them, and from the things they have seen to gather those they have not seen, can understand. ^B

CAPUT X.

*The Persian fleet, led by Amurius, having lost many ships in a storm, lands first at Euboea, then near Thessalonica. The Persians go out to plunder in the lands of the Triballians. Cantacuzenus, having entrusted the care of the city of Berrhoea to his son Manuel, a youth of exceptional character, repairs to Amurius. The situation of the Thessalonians is very straitened. The interests of the rich and poor are opposed. A third faction exists, worse than the two. The rich are accused of the crime of treason. The poor, being ambitious and zealous, rise up against them. They join the lowest rabble to themselves. They rage with violence, pillaging, and bloodshed. The condition of the rich is most miserable. Their hope is vain. Amurius thinks the city should be taken by force. Cantacuzenus, revering the martyr Demetrius, prefers to await a surrender. The siege being lifted, some Amurian soldiers return home, others follow the leader to Cantacuzenus. Whom Amurius reprehends partly in jest and partly in earnest. Both, with united forces, set out to solicit the cities of Thrace.*

^C A'. A few days passed and the Persian naval force sailed in, totaling nearly two hundred ships, together with their crews, and having the satrap of Lydia, Amurius, as its admiral. He did not let the fleet dock at the port of the Thessalonians, but prepared a naval station for himself, no less than sixty stades distant from Thessalonica. Yet he had not sailed from Asia with so many; he had departed with three hundred in total. But having suffered a shipwreck during the voyage, when harsher winds from the North blew at that time, he himself, being driven against his will, was cast ashore on Euboea with the aforementioned ships, most of which were scattered far from one another. The others were saved in different parts of Europe, as many as were not dashed upon the shores or submerged, ^D along with their men, after struggling against the waves [P. 420]. Having deliberated for many days there on Euboea about going on foot through Thessaly to Berrhoea, after first burning the ships, he was finally deterred by the intensity of the waves, and a milder breeze from the interior began to blow into the sails from the land. Hence, having set sail from there, they gathered at the station we have already described, very close to the city of Thessalonians.

II. So, having left behind a sufficient guard for the ships, the greater part of them immediately set out for plunder, and they ravaged most of the territories acknowledging the Triballians.

^A, snatching men and livestock from the fields, burning houses, and bringing the enemy's sword upon many with impunity. When the commander of the Persian fleet had halted there, the emperor soon arrived, having departed from Berrhoea and entrusted the administration of affairs there to his son Manuel. Although he was scarcely past the age of boyhood and the first down of youth had not yet flowered upon his cheeks, he nurtured a senile prudence in his mind, and having long endured with his father the hardships of military service in remote regions and in the open air, he had been exercised by this outstanding experience for the discipline of command; and on this very account the emperor, his father, had entrusted to him the governance of that city which had hitherto been the foundation and root of his fortune for its change to the better. Thus, therefore, having come from Berrhoea, the emperor, when he had fallen in with the leader of the Persian army in the fields of Thessalonica, and had greeted him as was fitting, they both deliberated together upon what needed to be done.

III. The Thessalonians, however, shut up within their walls with their flocks and herds, were suffering from a scarcity of the necessities of life, and there was a lack of fodder with which to feed the beasts. Since these were dying in large numbers every day, and a foul stench from them had corrupted the air, it came about that, as the citizens bore this with difficulty, an open rebellion arose. For those who had rural estates felt it a heavy burden that their fields were being laid waste. But even those who owned flocks of sheep, yokes of oxen, and any other draft animals were also afflicted with torment, when they saw the confused slaughter of these things lying there, and all their hopes for them dying at the same time. But those who were beset by ^B equal poverty, being goaded by the sharp pricks of narrow circumstances, raged with a desire for new disturbances and tumults; they cast the malice of their eyes upon the wealthy, and were eager to vent the fury of their own minds.

IV. While they were thus divided into two factions, a third group joined them—a colluvies of the plebs, which listens to nothing whatsoever concerning justice or injustice, but is easily drawn as an instrument by anyone who wishes it, wherever the stubbornness of its spirit leads, to the ruin of those who are envied. For such men can neither bear their own ^C lust as master, nor the laws established by the ancients, which possess a perpetual life in books and always provide for human happiness by ordering states and correcting the motions of depraved affections; but, just as the waves of the sea, easily yielding to any raging wind, sink unfortunate vessels together with their crews, so these men, utterly uprooting the homes of the wealthy, foully and impotently, without any reason, strike the hostile sword against the heads of the wretched ^D and, as it were, with a straight judgment.

^A V. When, therefore, a rumor recently concocted had spread among the populace that those who abounded in wealth, lands, and livestock, being impatient of their losses, had conspired to open the city gates secretly to the Emperor Cantacuzenus, the poor, who were desirous of wealth and glory, rose up in opposition. They proclaimed loudly and openly in the midst of the city the name of the Emperor John Palaeologus together with his mother; they also called themselves "Zealots," covering a wicked purpose with fair-sounding names, and they summoned the common people to their aid, inciting their spirits with the hope of immediate gain.

VI. Since, therefore, a sort of violent wind had thus rushed into the city, an unruly tumult roamed through the whole state, and everyone was immediately cast out from their homes in throngs, and these men raged against the wealthy more cruelly than the very enemy looming outside. For they plundered the wealth that was in the houses like brigands, and whomever of the wealthy they encountered, they slaughtered most foully, and poured out the blood of their fellow citizens copiously in the city's plazas. Certainly the most excellent of the citizens, and whoever were more conspicuous in the city, fell into these evils because they abounded in property. Some of these paid the penalty immediately by the impulse of popular insanity. As for those whose fate was still uncertain (and they were more numerous than those who had been captured), it was necessary for these to remain at home, showing sadness in their countenances, and to take care not to speak too boldly in the forum or in the theaters. ^{B C} VII. And perhaps they would have perished from fear, had not some hopes, arriving from the Emperor outside, bolstered them in their courage and recalled their judgment to sanity. For this seemed to be the only pleasant support for the suffering mind at that time: and this, like a gentle Zephyr, lightened their cares when they were nearest to despair, and breathed a certain scent of security. For even if those hopes sometimes appear to have falsehood as their companion, yet their power is always such that they offer and present images of this kind and, as comforters, are present at close hand to a mind wavering out of despair, with those appearances that naturally serve the appetite. Meanwhile, for those wretches, this was what remained, this was the surplus, that their evils should be continued as if by succession. But those providential hopes were nothing other than a shadow of pleasure and wind caught in a net; the nature of which is that they immediately flow out on every side, but cannot remain full. ^D VIII. For it pleased the leader of the Persians that the city should be besieged both by land and by sea, and that they should apply themselves to the assault immediately with all their strength, and not waste time doing nothing; because, if they were to act, it could be decided by arms in a short time; and this all the more, because an assistant was already

^A arriving from outside ^B for the siege, and the sedition of the inhabitants was burning within. But this did not at all please the Emperor, who venerated the martyr Demetrius. Moreover, he did not think it right to display the extent of his own power through the calamity of those who were being besieged, but rather that those seditious men, eventually broken by famine and the pressure of the siege, would surrender themselves and the city according to a pact.

IX. After thirty days had passed there and matters were not seen to be succeeding according to plan, the barbarian commander sent home the rest of his forces that had been put to sea, and ordered them to make their return voyage along the maritime coast of Thrace; fearing, perhaps, that as time went on some necessity might arise and he would have need of them. Having made a selection, he kept only six thousand men with him. Taking them with him, he accompanied the Emperor, who was departing with his hopes frustrated, often mocking his superstitious state of mind regarding divine matters, and often blaming him because no pity ever entered him for those who were suffering the most extreme things in the city on his account. But, he said, one pity drove out another—a pity of little value, which, while joined with utility, brought with it a certain grave necessity. "So it happens," he said, "that what is called mercy finally turns into overt cruelty, and after it brings a brief opinion of utility, it manifestly brings about greater harm."

X. Setting out from there, therefore, on the seventh day they passed through the straits of Christoupolis without any effort; and from there, again, as if traveling through allied territory, they sought to incite the cities in that region that were at odds. And the autumn passed away in these matters. But the winter began from that point to unleash the stings of its innate cold. ^C

CAPUT XI.

I. But since we do not intend to publish a simple history, nor to devote our entire effort to Roman affairs alone, but rather to range beyond at times, whenever the necessity of the matter drives us to do so, we think it appropriate in this place to defer the continuous series of the present subject until tomorrow, as we have often done elsewhere before, and for today to turn our discourse elsewhere and briefly to commemorate all those things which were accomplished among other nations during the same time; which, although on account of the distances of the regions they seem in a way foreign, are nevertheless in another way related and clearly joined to Roman history. For its own ^D

^A part, the reigning city is the common hearth, so to speak, of the whole world, and a common town hall; it lavishly provides for the needs of all and everything. To it, as to a mistress, the whole earth, the sea, and all the winds are subservient; and we see grain supplies flowing thither in abundance from everywhere, in winter and summer, in spring and in autumn; and ships of burden and triremes are always sailing into it, bringing the produce of every kind of fruit and the clever inventions of every art. For whatever things are produced in any place for any people whatsoever appear in a way unpleasing and of no noble worth to their possessors, ^B until they have displayed them as some notable spectacle in this great and universal theater of the city. For these reasons, we are compelled to make such digressions, so that, if occasionally something were to happen to the queen of cities and to affairs here due to causes from various places, the intervals of the narrative placed between them might not appear difficult and, so to speak, rugged to those who happen upon this history and need an accurate examination of judgment, because those causes were not previously known.

II

III

race may rule over them who is not a descendant of the Comneni. For this reason, dismissing her request as of no account, he sent as governor to that place Michael Comnenus, brother of the late Alexius, who was already reaching his fifty-sixth year. ^B

IV. Meanwhile, those of the senators who were most powerful there in dignity and wealth adopted a different course of action. For, so that they might hold supreme power with impunity and conduct and manage all affairs according to their own whim, they feigned that they were seeking one of the illegitimate children of Basil to confer upon him the title of emperor. So, when they saw the Comneni’s ship had arrived at the port of Trebizond, they decided it was not expedient to carry out what had been decreed openly and at once; for fear that, if they were discovered, the populace might prove an obstacle, especially since they might have the support of that band which had arrived with Michael Comnenus on the two Latin ships. But they received him immediately (as was fitting) with honor and led him into the palace. When evening came, however, they shut him up in the hall as if in a prison. As for the crowd that was escorting him, those who did not succeed in escaping to the triremes were either cut down or consigned to prison. On the following day, they placed Michael himself on a ship and sent him under the guard of a Eunuch, who had himself entered into an alliance with those senators and was at that time warden of those they call the Limnians; this place is distant about two hundred stadia from the metropolis of Trebizond. ^C With these actions accomplished, the republic was administered by two or three senators there, albeit poorly and stealthily, while the people railed against them and meditated sedition; it was administered, nonetheless.

V. But after those who had escaped this danger (they were of the house of the Scholarii) returned to Byzantium, as if from the sea and the surging of the waves to some harbor and tranquil station, they were intent on one thing: how they might by any means take vengeance on those exactors. Therefore, by all manner of words and promises, they induced the Empress Anna to grant them the son of Michael Comnenus, who was then twenty years of age, to be set over the empire of Trebizond. Having therefore hired three Latin triremes and embarked him, ten days later they arrived at the port of the city of Trebizond. ^D Then, as the authors of the new movement were taking up arms, a sedition was raised against them by the people. At the same time, the armed band of Latins arriving from outside broke through the gates of the city, and in a moment and with very little labor took possession of their opponents and even plundered some of their goods.

^A VI. Thus, the principality having devolved upon the son of the Comnenos, and the Scholarii, who had busied themselves with this, now possessing the greatest authority, the punishment for what had been dared against them previously resulted in this. For as for the leaders of the plot, the two who stood out for their glory and rank were subjected to capital punishment and stripped of their properties. As for those who held the second and third rank among them, it was decreed that they should spend their lives in perpetual exile.

VII. But before three full years had passed, the new prince was driven from his throne. For, setting at naught the counsel of those elder Scholarii, and finding pleasure only in those of his own age, he lived quite recklessly, indulging night and day with youthful abandon in luxury and drunkenness. He spent his time in debauchery with pipe-players and dancing girls, and exhausted the princely treasury of the Trapezuntines on such things. Hence it came to pass that the Scholarii, growing indignant, summoned back the father of the new prince, Michael Comnenos, from the Limnia (for it happened that the eunuch who had been holding him there had died), and they installed him upon the princely throne, while the insolent youth they sent away in chains to the guard at Byzantium.

^B VIII. But Michael Comnenos, having received power in this manner (which had long ago belonged to his father by ancestral succession, and upon his death had passed to his brother Alexios, and after him, as we have said, had devolved upon this one after two youths had intervened), fulfilled what he had sworn: I mean the agreements and the pacts sworn with the Scholarii, who had made it possible for him to rule and who possessed greater and supreme authority compared to the other senators. It had been agreed, furthermore, that while he himself would retain the insignia of power, they would be the overseers and dispensers of all things that were to be done in the future, and the arbiters and authors of matters to be conducted either openly or in secret.

IX. But as time went on, because the people hated their arrogance and the faction of those who had perished, being contrary to them, had now grown powerful, the hatred of the people toward the Scholarii grew in support; quarrels and dissensions arose between the two sides, which drove them to such a necessity that they found it expedient that the power of Michael Comnenos be supreme. ^D Thus it came about that he held the imperial authority firm and stable, and no one thereafter stood in his way, allowing him to do whatever he pleased according to his own judgment. And these things went on in this way.

CHAPTER XII.

[132. 427] I. At this same time, a shortage oppressed Byzantium and most of the...

^A Thracian cities of the Romans. For since the Romans were preoccupied with civil wars, the Turks—crossing over from Asia with impunity in single-banked ships and triremes into Thrace, and especially when the grain was at its peak—would make frequent incursions, setting the fields on fire, driving off the livestock, enslaving men and women, and committing all kinds of most cruel deeds, until the land was left deserted and uncultivated. This, then, was the first reason why the Romans were oppressed by famine. The second and more serious one was that the grain which was accustomed to come annually from the Euxine Sea had, for this reason, ceased to arrive.

II. ^B A colony was founded by the Latin Genoese, which the local inhabitants call Caffa,19 distant from the Maeotic Bosporus by 1300 stadia, situated along the left side of the Euxine Sea if one wishes to sail towards the north and have the northern pole and the Great Bear before one's eyes. For since all the Latins, and especially those from Genoa,20 spend the greater part of their lives laboring in trade and navigation, and from this gather both public and private wealth, it was already established by a long-standing common decree of their republic, and a most wholesome resolution, that they should form treaties and friendships with the rulers of those maritime cities—as many as have good harbors washed round and lapped by the currents of the sea and secure from the access of winds. For since it is necessary for them to put in at those places and to exchange goods there by giving and receiving, they had deemed it not easy to do so before they had made friends of those princes to whom these convenient stations belonged. As soon, therefore, as they promised to pay taxes—of such size and nature as might be agreed upon by both sides—and to provide for anyone the opportunity to buy freely whatever goods were needed, no matter from where they were brought, and thus received permission under fixed laws, they built inns and taverns where they could sit and dwell, and had warehouses adequate for receiving goods.

III. In this way, also, the city we mentioned was founded not many years ago by the Latin Genoese, after they had indeed met with the Scythian leader and received ^D permission from him. However, it was not immediately founded from the beginning with such walls and in such size as it now possesses. But a small... Variorum note. (19) Bizarus writes in his book of Genoese history, where he recounts that siege of Caffa; as does Cantacuzene, book IV, chapter 20. DUCANG. (20) Froissart, volume three, chapter 20: "For all the Genoese go and come trading, among the truces they pay, even as far as the great Ind, the land of Prester John, and everywhere they are welcomed for the gold and silver they carry, the merchandise they exchange in Alexandria, in Cairo, in Damascus, and elsewhere, just as they do business with the Saracens. For thus it is needful that the world be governed, that which is not in one country is in the other; and therefore all things are known, and those who go the farthest and who venture the most are the Genoese, and I tell you that they are by far more than the Venetians the masters of the ports of the sea, and they fear and dread the Saracens more than any other people by sea, and are valiant men and great." Omit the rest. DUCANG. (21) Of these Scythians, Ducange himself gives an account in part 1, book II, chapter 4. DUCANG.

^A having defined a small space with a ditch and rampart, they dwelt there without walls. Then, little by little, as time went on, bringing stones by land and sea, they built houses in breadth and length, raising the roofs high; so that secretly, in a short time, they occupied more space than had been granted them. And for the sake of constructing more and larger buildings—as if imported goods and commodities proposed for sale and purchase demanded and compelled it—they extended the circuit of the ditches and ramparts more broadly, and laid such foundations for walls as promised something greater; and thus, by adding small increments to small ones, they fortified the city with defenses, so that the safety of the inhabitants was now secure, and they could not easily be besieged by anyone.

IV. By this success the spirits of the Latins were so lifted that their arrogance—a defect they have innate—was increased to a greater degree, and they gave answers to the Scythians who approached them according to custom, as if from a superior position. Therefore, when one of the Latin traders had given an insolent answer to one of the Scythians who were in the market, the Scythian struck him with a goad. The man immediately slew with his sword him by whom he had been struck. A very great tumult then spread through the market.

V. Having heard this, the Scythian prince, stirred to anger and full of barbaric spirit—for he thought the deed to be the greatest contempt for himself, that such a crime should be committed in the middle of his own empire and central domain—sent to the Latins, ordering them to depart from that place as quickly as possible, as it was his. But they went to arms, made the city secure, and dismissed the envoys, speaking to them harshly and arrogantly. This incited the Scythian to the most extreme wrath ^C again; and so he chose a portion of the Scythians, and then immediately added another, nor did he cease to send others upon others to besiege the city.

VI. But they, having fortified the ramparts from within with men and arms and missile engines of every kind, utterly mocked the Scythian darts. Moreover, because they held the mastery of the sea and procured all their abundance of necessary things from it, they made light of the Scythian attack and the surrounding armies: and what is greater, by sailing around and passing all the Scythian coastline with very many triremes, they caused them a double and most great annoyance: first, because they allowed no merchant ship to land anywhere for the purpose of buying and selling; which greatly troubled those who had an unusable surplus of what was abundant, and were unable to acquire what they needed: and second, because jumping from their ships at times and in certain places, they performed many [actions] from the

Scythian [land] and carried off their booty into the triremes; so that the order of the siege was inverted, and the Scythians seemed more to be besieged than to be besieging.

VII. While much time was being spun out in such circumstances, the Roman cities began meanwhile to labor under a shortage of grain and those victuals which are brought in salted from the Maeotis and the nearby rivers. Yet those whose judgment remains sound might wonder how, when the supplies that had preceded them were blocked off, Providence at once took care that another way should lie open for the grain to be brought in. For Ionia and Phrygia, and furthermore Bithynia, and whatever territory beyond those provinces is cultivated by the hands of the Persians, at that time supplied much grain to the cities, and thus the divine hand once again revived them when they were all but dead. ^B

VIII. When the Trapezuntines took into their minds that stubbornness of the Latins against the Scythians, fearing lest those same Latins who lived as neighbors to them might attempt something similar against them, they suddenly surrounded them and cut down most of them with their swords. As for those who escaped from there, the Trapezuntines thereafter experienced them to be more humble. And these things, indeed, transpired in this way.

CHAPTER XIII

I. For as if it had been ordained by divine decree at that time, and established by a general word of the Divinity against all nations alike, that both empires and powers and all democracies and aristocracies should be thrown into confusion, agitated by internal seditions and stirred up, as it were, by the bellows of civil wars; no part was left anywhere that did not—if not equally, at least to a greater or lesser degree—partake of that calamity. For these are the decrees of God, which surpass all human reasoning; unless perhaps someone, led by some conjecture, might say that God wished to grant to the world, which was suffering from chronic vices and was stained to its depths by certain blemishes, a wing ^C purer and higher than all earthly weight, so that, free and exalted, and refreshed by the pleasantness of peace and obeying the precepts and rules of equity and justice, it might at long last breathe again. ^D

II. And first, indeed, the Latins of the city of Genoa [drove out] that Tuzon, whom they had raised to the dignity of doge from the very mattock itself.

two years prior, because the nobles, who had been secretly instigated against him by the circle of Spinola and Sertorius and who had been ejected from the city with the utmost ignominy, whispered that the populace saw their rule had attained too great a power and that public affairs were now being administered by them too tyrannically. Yet those same men, having been admitted back into the city on the condition that they would conduct themselves more modestly, having preserved their mediocrity for no long time, straightway chose to return to their former pride and that tyrannical arrogance of theirs. Wherefore, the populace conspiring against them again, they are now cast out of the city with even greater ignominy, and another doge is created, similar to the former one, himself also born of low origins and dragging the fortunes of his lineage, so that, always having the stain of his lineage and the fortunes of his birth as a companionable reminder in his mind, he might reflect, that he should devise nothing that is not supported by moderation and the gentleness of his spirit as by a foundation. ^B

III. Likewise, since the ruler of the Egyptians passed away and divided his dominion among his several sons, there has already been discord between them for a long time; and the result is that the affairs of the Egyptians are slipping away and in consequence are always rushing into a worse state.

IV. Nay, even those peoples of Libya who dwell around the western Atlantic, and the majority of the Moors, imitating that ancient Carthaginian Hannibal in this matter, were crossing the Gaditanian strait with large forces; and now they are fighting with the Spaniards who inhabit Europe, and, weaving war upon war, they descend into greater conflicts daily.

V. The Britons also, in like manner crossing over with naval forces into the Celtic continent, are fanning the flames of war, and these are immense.

VI. In addition to this, that race of Scythians, which long ago occupied the dominion of the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and the nations beyond them, and which holds all the power of authority among them, now having been pulled apart into many imperial fragments, is moving its arms against itself daily; and their discord threatens great slaughters and a great conflagration of war, namely one that will scatter smoke and flame far and wide.

VII. For recently, a gathering having been made, various La—

kinds of the Persian ships had set forth; of those Persians, I say, who follow a pirate and robber’s life, plundering their cargo ships and triremes, that is to say, as many as, for the sake of trade, travel throughout the sea, going and returning with all sorts of wares. Now the fleet of the Latins of whom I spoke consisted of twenty-seven ships: these were Rhodian, Cypriot, ^A of Salamis, and Venetian; besides those which had been equipped and had come from the Pope and the Genoese. And when they had all suddenly arrived together at the port of the Smyrniotes, they took by storm the Persian fortress which is located near the port. And indeed, it was their intention from there, as from a most safe base, to make frequent sorties, and little by little to drive whatever was Barbarian there back from the coast into the interior. But the events themselves did not proceed at all according to their expectation. ^B

BOOK FOURTEEN OF BYZANTINE HISTORY BY NICEPHORUS GREGORAS. CHAPTER ONE.

Cantacuzenus, having crossed the Christopolitan straits with Amurius, decides to solicit the towns. Having attacked Perithorium in vain, he departs for Didymotichum. There he refreshes himself and his men. He gives thanks to his wife, Irena, for the affairs well managed. The strenuous nature and cleverness of that woman. At Byzantium, they offer money to Amurius so that he may return home. He, having communicated the matter to Cantacuzenus, receives the money. He crosses into Asia, intending to return shortly.

I. But these matters shall be more fully expounded later in their proper places. Now, however, it is necessary ^C for us to return to the point from which we digressed to these things, and where we interrupted the course of the previous narrative. Our discourse concerned the crossing of Cantacuzenus and that Persian satrap, Amurius, through the Christopolitan straits. For once he had crossed, it seemed good to the emperor to solicit the towns; and indeed, those which would prefer to yield themselves voluntarily into his hand, he determined to treat with fitting rewards: but as for those which would act otherwise, he determined to act otherwise with them. ^D

^A II. Wherefore, after some days, he led his gathered forces to the city which is named Perithorion. He first surrounded it; then, as they prepared themselves for war, he attacked it. But because, after many days had been spent there in constant labor, he had achieved nothing, he moved his camp thence, and thereafter did nothing, nor did he wish to attack any of the other cities, but hurried with loose reins toward Didymoteichon, ^B judging it to be an ill omen in other matters that he had been repulsed from that city at the very first attempt.

III. Immediately, therefore, they were received with splendid hospitality: they exchanged that long and troublesome austerity of life for equal cheerfulness and pleasant relaxation of spirit. Cantacuzenus showed himself grateful to the guards of the city of Didymoteichon, as well as the soldiers and commanders, with such courtesy and humanity as was fitting; and above all, he rendered the greatest thanks in word and from the heart to the Empress Irene, for that she had most constantly endured in those long and manifold tribulations ^C which had occurred in the flood of those great matters; and because she had shown a brave spirit in difficult affairs, by deliberating, by bestowing gifts of every kind, and by confirming and raising up to better hope the commanders and soldiers alike with soft words; and acting now by coaxing, now by chiding; now by opposing the vivid force of her own intellect to the swift and various vicissitudes of those times; and now by wisely countering the deceitful machinations and promises ^D which had come secretly and frequently from Byzantium to test the soldiers and commanders of Didymoteichon, now one, now another: finally, by remarkably sustaining their wavering spirits. But Amurius especially stood astonished and admired her strenuousness and shrewdness, after he learned that she alone—as much as could be performed by human strength—had brought it about that both the soldiers and the city of Didymoteichon itself remained constant in their loyalty, and by that same work, all the emperor's affairs were settled in safety. And these things happened in this way; and meanwhile the winter passed.

IV. At the beginning of spring, the Byzantines, abstaining from attacking Didymoteichon through brigandage and ambushes, from fear of the Persian forces that were there, turned themselves to other plans. And this seemed best to them: to secretly circumvent Amurius, the satrap and leader of the Persian army, with a great sum of money, and to persuade him to leave Thrace, and—

having abandoned his desires for his friends—to return with all speed to Asia. ^B [V.] When he had shown these promises to Cantacuzene, it seemed good to them to elude that stratagem with a more subtle one. "For," he said, "if they count out a sum of more than ten thousand at Byzantium, that will be a very great loss to the Byzantines themselves, and they will have much less strength remaining to wage war. But if we receive it, very great strength will come to us to withstand the heat of this common war." As they had come to this thought, and had further pondered greater things besides—with the added misery of the Persian army, such as it is and as great as it is when they live in a foreign land, and possess nothing to support such a multitude—the satrap Amurius departed and crossed into Asia with his forces, having promised Cantacuzene that he would return shortly with stronger reinforcements.

CAPUT II. Violent movement of land and sea. Calamities from hail: likewise from earthquake. Concerning the flooding. Concerning the earthquake again. The head of the bronze Angel inclined. The image of the city shaken from the hand of the imperial statue. What that event was seen to portend. The Temple of St. Sophia gapes toward the east.

^B I. At that time, violent earthquakes and sea-surges erupted against Byzantium and its suburbs, and, as if from a most violent ballista, a shower of hail was cast upon the fruits of the earth; so that that passage of Scripture might aptly apply: "The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the fig tree shall not blossom, and there shall be no fruit in the vines; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls." ^C It happened, however, that these earthquakes and tremors of the earth began in the middle of autumn, as the sun was just passing by the beginning of Scorpio. And on the first day, God shook the earth twice; and with such force, that most people, through fear, despaired of life. Houses also fell, as did the greater part of the Byzantine walls. One need not even mention the vineyard fences and garden walls. For almost all of these were torn up from the foundations, so that for those passing by, all paths became difficult to access, with the debris from them lying in heaps.

^D II. Then also, at the same time, a wave of the sea poured far onto the land, especially where the soil was flat and level, up to ten stades; and it drove small vessels, which were in the harbors and on other maritime coasts, before it from elsewhere, and shattered them inland; and it submerged many fields, along with the men and flocks and beasts of burden themselves. But as the surge receded some time later...

toward the accustomed and defined channel, it was possible to see everything full of silt and dead fish.

^B III. And they say that the sense of this trembling and earthquake reached as far as Lysimachia, and a little beyond the Chersonese; but it was by no means in the same manner. Rather, having begun from Byzantium as from its seat and root, and progressing slowly and gradually, it abated, and with a corresponding proportion went on more gently, transmitting the continuity of its agitation to further regions and cities; and it lasted up to the very summer, day and night, providing a sense of itself that was now greater, now smaller.

^B IV. But when the season of the following autumn came around, similar tremors, having arisen again on the same day, shook and disturbed the earth, such that because of that continuous agitation, the bronze statue in angelical form placed upon the brick column, as well as the image of the Emperor Palaeologus who had reigned most recently, yielded to the violence; and the former had its head inclined toward one of its shoulders, while for the latter, the figure of the city which he held in his hands fell down to his feet. Many, therefore, making conjectures and drawing certain presages from this, said that the authority of the Palaeologan empire would not be destroyed long afterward.

^C V. In addition to these things, the vault of the Temple of the Holy Sophia which faces the East, laboring in the part where it was already affected, slowly gaped more and more, and frequent pebbles and bricks fell from it, until it collapsed entirely; concerning which we shall have enough to say in its proper place below. But now the discourse must be recalled, and all that had happened separately to the Byzantines during that time must be narrated.

CAPUT III

^D I. Because things were not proceeding according to his wish for Apocaucus in those matters which he was attempting against the emperor—but rather, the affairs of Cantacuzenus were emerging favorably from the deepest despair and gradually gaining strength, adding courage to him—while for the former, no sufficiently trustworthy hope shone forth from the sea, nor were things on land shaping themselves in such a way that he could take a good omen from them; he applied his mind to other machinations. For he decided to circumvent the patriarch and at the same time John Gabalas by the amplification of honors and offered revenues.

^A Having received from nature a certain artificial faculty for speaking, he seemed most eloquent to his listeners, both to others and especially to those who comprised the imperial consistory and the court.

II. ^B Since the patriarch was therefore oppressed on all sides by many kinsmen, relations, nephews, and an abundant lineage of every kind, some were promoted to various honors and, enriched with estates, attained to opulence. Soon he also devised new accessions of honor for him, by which the patriarchal pinnacle might be adorned. These were: that, insofar as subscriptions and headgear were concerned, he should not hold to the custom of his ancestors, nor continue to use the same shoes as before, but that they should be red; moreover, that he should have a miter adorned with silk and golden thread; and that he should sign letters and decrees with hyacinth-colored ink.

III. Pretending a specious reason for this innovation, and as if applying a preparation, he kept saying that formerly this right ought to have been attributed to the Church of the imperial city, inasmuch as it surpassed in magnitude and in the nobility of its government all the cities, however many there might be under the sun. «Indeed,» he said, «upon the foundation of that city by the Emperor Constantine the Great, and with the honors of Rome itself being translated there along with the empire, the privileges which he had granted to the Roman Church also passed over to this one, as is fitting, and were translated with it. ^C If these were neglected by succeeding bishops and by the successors of this pontifical seat, what is that to us today? For it is not proper that something should retain the status of law among posterity, if anything was rashly sinned by ancestors; but rather that earlier matters should be corrected by later ones, as if through certain streams, for the sake of public utility recurring to the fountain. Any person wishing to see it can certainly observe that these very times, with affairs having been brought almost of their own accord into such a state, conspire with us in a certain way and, as it were, pave a very easy road to those things which we are meditating. But if not, let someone come forward and teach us what time has seen these two coalesce into one, the empire and the Church: for the patriarch and the empress, bereft of a spouse by whom the care of the republic was sustained, to come together well into one and the same hospice, and for the same house to be for both at the same time, the imperial palace; and for that one to have the likeness of the soul, but this one that of the body; ^D and for him to perform the duty of the emperor in the republic, and to be in the place of a parent to her orphaned child, the young emperor; and for her to yield to him as a good rector and as one who alone can, without doubt, preserve the empire, like a ship’s pilot [navis gubernator] in the liquid bosom of the sea when it is tossed about rashly. If these things are so, and no falsehood has crept into my discourse, why should I not also in some way usurp the insignia and some mark of imperial dignity […to]

^A to confirm the truth?

IV. Thus Apocaukos approached the man with words more ironic than deceitful, and by gently affecting the patriarch’s heart in the way it could be moved, he persuaded him that he might easily admit those other things; but not, however, the red buskins—which he refused to accept at present due to the insolence of such a novelty. But he promised that, as time went on, and he became accustomed to the two former things, he would easily admit the third as well. For as for the indignation that pride would stir up, far from being appeased by premature haste, it would, on the contrary, be much more inflamed, easily kindling harsh and barely tolerable envy. ^B But as time slipped by, the insolence of that novelty would also gently fade and, as it were, vanish, having been insinuated into the eyes of men, naturally and little by little, through premeditation and the constant habit of life. For this reason, he said he was content for now with those two new privileges, deferring the acceptance of the third to the future. And he was unwilling to turn his mind to it before that, or, having recognized the institute of his forebears regarding this matter, to persist in such moderation of spirit and not move the boundaries established by the Fathers; but choosing ^C instead, like a prisoner, to be led by untimely glory, he preferred to be subject to anyone who might wish to mock him in the future; until, with time as the author of sounder counsel, led by the very evidence of things to understand that he should have used opportunity and fortune with moderation, he could prepare for himself not even the slightest security in the midst of danger, but would instead slide into blind and multiple chasms of calamities.

V. For when the legislators, who in times past established the most excellent commonwealths, knew that the episcopal dignity and dominion over souls—which is (to sum up everything) the best part of the world—was a thing most ^D great and illustrious, it seemed good to them to provide for the slippery and infirm nature of the human mind, and to restrain the amplitude of that condition with a lower, almost binding, shackle, lest unbridled audacity come upon anyone like drunkenness and, having progressed toward tyranny, result in a cause of great evils for public affairs. They willed that the empire of royal power should be over bodies and the fortunes of citizens; which part is more ignoble than the other, but is fortified by the strength of arms and military clamor, and by these means it makes up for what it lacks of that other magnitude. For those empires which are simple and of one kind most easily fall into the worse state, because they are destitute of foreign assistance; but those that are mixed and mutually tempered are less imperiled, as the one supports and raises the other whenever this or that is carried headlong into vice and is disturbed, having been moved by reason of certain tyrannical tumults. Therefore, that former arrangement truly tends toward the dissolution of laws and license, and gradually undermines the foundations of good order.

^A

VI. Since, therefore, it was necessary for this patriarch to remain within the limits of the ancient order and not to tear down boundaries long since well established, he nevertheless, because he employed evil counsel, unwittingly destroyed both himself and the Roman Empire, inducing a flood of manifold calamities in a short time. And yet, if he wished to be feared and respected by emperors and princes, he ought to have looked toward the Savior Christ and imitated His glorious obscurity, especially since the pontifical dignity is believed to exhibit His image. For if that Alexander the Great, who broke through almost the whole of Asia, revered and declared the meager and superfluous-free style of living which Diogenes used to be more blessed than the pride and wealth of his own empire, with much better right would emperors and princes have declared this man blessed, if he had constantly and perpetually imitated the modesty and frugality in his way of life of Him whose image he was appointed to bear. But in truth, since he had somehow warped that venerable and optimally constituted authority toward contrary regulations, he openly fell from that which he desired to attain. Indeed, he fell even more openly from that which he already possessed; for when he should have been master and father, he openly made himself a slave, and for conspicuous glory, he gained notable ignominy. So much unhappiness does excessive greed for glory drag everywhere after itself; thus does insolent power openly turn into madness. ^B

VII. Having therefore quite easily enslaved his will to himself, Apocaucus then turned all his deceits and all his engines of fraud upon John Gabalas; and he promised that he would betroth his daughter to him. Then, having kept him suspended in that expectation, he compelled him by oath to confirm and sanction his deliberations, if he wished to comply entirely with his desires. That desire was to cast all those who were conspicuous by their nobility and the splendor of their station, and who filled the hall of the senate, one by one into chains and guards, accusing them as the occasion arose with various crimes that were fabricated to appear most plausible. ^C

VIII. When these things had proceeded in this way, he at once handed over the administration of public affairs to him as well. Setting out from Byzantium himself with the patriarch and the Emperor Palaiologos, he hastened as quickly as possible to Perinthos, with the pretext indeed of leading out an army on an expedition against Cantacuzenus; but in reality, he was attempting one of two things: either, if he could, to shut the emperor up in the castle of the Epibataroi and by force give him his daughter in marriage, or, at any rate, to negotiate finally at some point with the Emperor Cantacuzenus through these means, so that by making a trade, ^D

^A of their status for a kind of perpetual possession of Chios and Lesbos, they might obtain it.

IX. When those who were more intelligent saw these things, they were struck with great astonishment, and were unable by any reasoning to conclude what it was that Empress Anna, with a furious mind, had betrayed the reins of government, and had completely cast them off from herself; blinded entirely by a feeling of jealousy, and unwilling to perceive at all what was being done; but being affected just as if that destruction existed beyond the Pillars of Hercules. For she had fallen into a hope, with desire persuading her, that she would lead her life henceforth free from disturbance and entirely exempt from all care. For a soul uneducated in discipline, and not practiced at all in chastening its eyes, was often so imprudent that when it had rashly cast itself into a kind of defenseless warfare of hidden, secret thoughts, it was secretly led away captive, and was as if it were a spoil, nor did it feel the violence of the hostile impression, unless it had received the tokens of the enticing flame.

CAPUT IV

^C I. Here I shall also commemorate that which occurred at the same time, but for the sake of greater clarity it must be taken up from a higher point. For in early spring, having already gathered his forces, the Emperor set out toward those regions which are beyond Mount Rhodope, and toward those plains which there lie open in abundance for grazing; and having agitated somewhat the cities of that region as well, he accepted two into submission, the one called Comotena, and the other Gratianopolis.

II. There that affair by Momitilas took place. This man, born in a way of parents who were double and obscure, ^D had instituted a life of banditry from his very adolescence on the border of the Patribali and the Mysians, through a society initiated with his peers, and by constructing tricks and ambushes he had brought sudden destruction upon those passing by. And when he had scarcely reached the thirtieth year of his age, he had decided to change his life from that bestial manner to a more humane kind, and having approached one of the illustrious Romans, he intended to offer his service for menial...

^A ministry. But when a short time had passed, he renounced this servitude and returned to his former habit of brigandage; and having little by little gathered a band to himself, he revealed the boldness of his soul, now falling upon the borders of the Mysians like a lightning bolt in his suddenness, now secretly attacking the forces of Cantacuzenus, and now making raids for the purpose of plunder into the territory of the Byzantines.

III. Fearing, however, that those whom he had oppressed might gather together and destroy this evil neighbor, he approached [the Emperor] and chose to be called and to be an allied soldier and voluntary servant of the Emperor Cantacuzenus—yet not so as to be his constant companion and to follow wherever he might wish to go, but as a free man and master of his own actions, to attack his enemy secretly and in his accustomed manner; for the sake of profit, naturally, both for himself and for those who, expecting the wages of brigands, served with him of their own accord.

IV. As time went on, however, as many of the poor as were bloodthirsty and ferocious—few added to many and many to few—gathered together and flocked to him by mutual agreement, both Triballians and Mysians, and whosoever else lived mixed among the barbarians; and he had more than two thousand chosen horsemen. And all of these, filled with a martial spirit, asserted that they would rather surrender their own lives than betray him; so that he now had sufficient strength to contend on equal terms in that Roman civil war, on whichever side he might wish. Because of this, [the people of] Byzantium sent him the insignia of the despotic dignity, and secretly armed him against the Emperor Cantacuzenus. From that time on, therefore, Momitilas constantly watched for an opportune moment, and nurtured treachery within the depths of his heart, and revolved it in his thoughts ^B.

Chapter V

VI. He happened to arrive at a tree that was spread very wide with its long branches; these poured forth a shadow upon the earth like some kind of roof, and in a way they set themselves against the excessive heat of the sun, making sure that it would not scorch him. Under the tree, a spring gushed forth, a reservoir of leaping water; and to such a degree did that ^D

^A water appear pellucid, that it reflected the beauty of the tree like a portrait of its own self, so that two trees seemed to spring from one single root: the one growing upwards toward us, and the other suspended beneath the earth. Reclining for a little while under this, the emperor fell into a sleep, and at the same time he seemed to hear the voice of someone, uncertain whence it came, crying out: "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon you." Suddenly waking up, he arose, tossing with silent thoughts. And a certain minstrel who was present there tuned his lyre deliberately, and striking the chords, sang in such a way that he held the attention of all. The words of his song were of this kind: "You mortals," he said, "are altogether like this tree and this shade; for as long as you seem to be in the flower of age, you are visible, but soon, when the untimely season sets in, you will wither and be brought to destruction: come, let us indulge our spirits and spend our youth in delights, before death mocks it."

^B VII. When Momitilas, who himself was staying nearby by design and feigning friendship, had learned from his scouts of the emperor’s tarrying there, he decided, before the army had gathered and before the emperor understood the drama that was being enacted, to attack him while he was completely unconcerned. Now, while matters were in this state for those people, and the sun of the day was already crossing the meridian, it was announced that Momitilas was coming, bringing an armed host and driving with loose reins ^C toward the emperor’s camp. This at once shattered and confounded the minds of all, both of the emperor himself and of all those who happened to be present with him—they being unprepared and very few in number, and fortune so openly driving and compelling matters into such a narrow strait of time, providing no escape or retreat from any side. For the horses happened then to be scattered through the grass, grazing; and at the same time, of the number of the soldiers, some were still walking carelessly through the markets in the city of the Comoteni, buying what was ^D useful; while those who had departed did not take thought to hasten their journey toward the emperor, since they had no foreknowledge of the event, but were proceeding softly and slowly.

VIII. Nevertheless, the emperor, lifting his hands toward heaven together with those who were with him, snatched up such arms as were available, and they fought as best they could, mounting whatever horse each happened to find, without trumpets or battle-array, and looking at Hades standing right before their eyes. And it was possible to see that the maneuvers and skirmishes of the battle were very unstable and established without any foresight; but was rather

mixed, with some engaging others. Thus, even a very few, surrounded from every side by a great number, were pierced by missiles and fell. [IX] And the emperor himself, when his horse had collapsed from its wounds, fought on foot against all who approached him with as much strength as he could, until one of his armigers rode up, dismounted from his horse, and gave it to the emperor so that he might ensure his safety by fleeing. He himself, however, having received many wounds all over his body, fell half-dead and almost expiring; so that, being held in contempt by the enemy, he afterward as it were revived. Meanwhile, the report, having quickly spread throughout the whole region, compelled the emperor’s soldiers, who were scattered and disorganized, to rush one after another with shouting and alarm to his aid, and at the same time forced the enemy to retreat. Having been saved from that danger and misfortune beyond all hope, the emperor, not long after moving his camp, set out for Didymoteichon. And these matters transpired in this way; and with these occurrences the spring came to an end.

CAPUT V.

^A [I] At the beginning of summer, a certain great and heavy preparation occupied Apocaucus, who was intending to attack Didymoteichon with great forces. For because Cantacuzenus had withdrawn himself and his troops into that city alone, and all hope of aid had been blocked off from every side (for the prince of the Mysians, Alexander, had long since joined himself as an ally to the Byzantines, and the approach of the Latin fleet to the city of Smyrna was drawing away the satrap Amur; and the Triballi themselves were thirsty for his blood), Apocaucus, seeing all these things, set out from Perinthus with all the Byzantine and Thracian forces and marched with a hostile army against Didymoteichon.

^B [II] But first he attempted to capture the fortress of Pythium (that is how it is generally named), situated ^C on the banks of the Hebrus river. This stood nearly eighty stades distant from the city of Didymoteichon, and having long ago fallen into ruins, the Emperor Cantacuzenus had restored it at great expense, and from it, as if from his own treasury, he had secured it with an excellent garrison. Apocaucus, having therefore surrounded this place, besieged it with all his might.

^D [III] But meanwhile, the greater part of the army at Didymoteichon,

^A seeing the very strong forces of the enemy approaching, and at the same time judging the famine which was within to be worse than the enemy, and hearing that their own grooms had suddenly defected to Apocaucus with the horses, themselves also took to flight and flowed into the camp of the enemy, it being summer and the crops now ripe. And the affairs of the emperor were reduced to such straits as were scarcely tolerable, and which excluded every human hope of safety.

IV. To those dangers in which the emperor was involved, there was added also the importunate solicitation of those who were with him, as much of the soldiers as of the commanders and relatives. For each one approaching him privately, on account of the situation of affairs and the imminent dangers, requested for themselves, some Lesbos, others Lemnos, others Chios, and others again other places, and [asked] whence they might procure wealth; and [requested] that in the interval, at least, they might be secured by a written bond, but that as soon as he should become master of affairs, the promises which had been confirmed by bond might be fulfilled. For they said that it did not seem best to them to run the risk of their lives while following uncertain hopes, with dangers now placed before their eyes; but that there should be some firm pledge, for which one might bargain for his death, so that at least it might obtain ^B a vote not altogether odious from those who were to be the survivors.

V. When they demanded such things, the emperor decided to grant them absolutely nothing, saying that he could neither promise what was the property of others at the present time, nor, after the assumption of absolute power, if it should come to pass, surrender it to those who were asking unjustly. For [he argued that] these things were at present altogether the property of others, since they were being besieged and were not yet allowed to live securely, and that then, on the other hand, it would be the property of others in a different way. For all the affairs of the empire belong not to those who rule, but to all those who are subject to the empire. Those, therefore, who might wish to share with us in the present course of dangers, we ourselves would not neglect to reward worthily, as far as lies in our power, if it should happen that we prevail. But those who do not wish to do so, I indeed would never be angry with, whichever they might choose: whether to defect, ^C induced by the promises of the enemy, or to sit at home and keep themselves far from the missiles. And these things were indeed handled in this manner.

VI. When much time had been spent in the siege, and the young men in the camp of the enemy were busying themselves with relaxing their spirits, it seemed good to Andronicus Palæologus (67), who was the son-in-law of Apocaucus, both for the sake of cooling off from the heat and from a certain desire for youthful vainglory, to strip off his clothes and swim across the whole breadth of that river. But before he had crossed the middle of the river's eddies, his limbs were fettered by a certain numbness from the cold, ^D as it seems, [and] as if someone…

^A had cast a heavy, lifeless weight into the depths of the waters. This was the first wounding of Apocaucus’s fortune, and the first omen appeared, by which it became evident that his fortune was destined to change for the worse and to be utterly overthrown.

VII. But besides this, another misfortune befell him. Joannes Gabalas, having already perceived from many arguments that Apocaucus was equivocating—he who, by trifling, showed clearly enough that he did not at all wish to give his own daughter in marriage to that man—approached the Empress Anna in secret and indicated to her that Apocaucus had in mind to transfer the Emperor, her son, to his own fortress and, through the patriarch's intervention, to give him his own daughter in marriage. "It is necessary, therefore," he said, "that you summon him from Perinthus as quickly as possible, before the prey is enclosed within the nets."

VIII. When this was immediately accomplished, Apocaucus, perceiving that his schemes had been exposed, decided at once to break off that siege and to return to Byzantium with the greatest speed, and thus to avert the impending danger. Therefore, upon his return, it seemed best to him, before seeing the Empress with eyes suffused with shame, to win over the palace women with a great sum of money, as their authority at that time was greatest, and likewise the entire retinue that filled the imperial house. When he had done this with the utmost diligence, and had promised through them to the Empress that he would bring the most beautiful and precious gifts from his own treasuries, he regained his former standing. Then, hastening, he fortified and repaired anew whatever in the great wall of the city had been damaged by earthquakes and neglected; also whatever [was damaged] in the two outer walls that had been built around it. Of these, one had been constructed long ago by the founder together with the great wall; the other, more recently, he himself had built higher, to a man's height, on the outside, out of fear of Cantacuzenus and the siege to come from him. This he had built around the lip of the largest and most marvelous moats, having made the beginning from those gates which are in front of the palace, and extended it across the land as far as the Golden Gates ^B towards the east.

CHAPTER VI. Grando, furoris divini instrumentum.

I. At that time there also occurred a continuous and violent downpour of hail, which was itself an indication of the divine wrath already weighing upon the affairs of the Romans, and it came, as it were, like fire upon fire. For that evil was widely spread, both upon the grain and other fruits, and above all upon the vines, so that they were unable thereafter even to revive.

II. For all (as I suppose) know that the nature of hail is such that, as often as and wherever it strikes, it does not only destroy and wither the crops it falls upon at that moment, nor those alone, but also the things that are round about, and for a long time

^A a wasting sickness feeds upon everything, as if even the plants were governed by some sense, and were shuddering completely at the anger of the common Master, and shrinking away in fear, and the vital soul itself were being torn away from them. For if a pear, or an apple, or a grape, or something of that kind is struck by a man’s hand, the part that is struck indeed has a wound, but it does not die at all; and the part that is neighbor to it feels no blow at all, nor does it suffer any decay for that reason, and this is so even though the stone that strikes is rough and perhaps possesses diverse and very many sharp points, while hail is altogether lacking in all these things. For hail is formed whenever the misty effusion, from the smoky vapor rising from below, is separated toward the higher regions because of a lack of heat. ^B For since that vapor is carried higher on account of its lightness, this [the vapor destined for hail] remains behind because of its weight in the middle region, where the folds of the air store up the cold more abundantly. For of the regions on either side, the one above, being swept along by the circular motion and revolution of the celestial body, is least able to cause the formation of clouds; while the one closer to the earth, being melted by the intense reflection of the sun’s rays, is also entirely unable to cause the formation of a cloud. Since the conflict from either side thus ends in inactivity, it remains that the cold, having grasped a manifest power in that place, should now cause the formation of clouds according to the proportion of the moisture. As these change, rain is formed first, when the air is compressed and can no longer in any way bear the weight of the moisture. But when the moisture from the cloud has thus dissolved into rain, because the surrounding air already possesses a more violent heat, and presses from every side, and forces it with violence into the center, hail is formed, imitating, so to speak, the compacting of a brick, and nature, as it were, constructing it from uncultivated and lofty springs and streams. Such occurrences, however, happen rarely in summer because of the shortness of the time during which the moisture persists in the air; but they are more plentiful in the season of spring and autumn, since they hold a place midway between summer and winter, and hence possess an abundance of both heat and moisture, which two things, as we have said, have the power to construct hail.

^C III. Therefore, when hail thus has its origin from water, which is a soft and fluid element, and yet brings about damage far more grievous than stones or clubs or all flames, why should that which happens from such things not be attributed clearly to the wrath of God?

CHAPTER VII.

^D 1. But whatever signs of the wrath of God against us, gathered from many sources...

^A and interwoven with this history, would—if life were granted to us—seem to those who see them now, as well as to those who shall encounter them later, great indeed, and such as have not been seen before. Yet they were in some way bearable—if not to all, at least to those whom the very experience of events had imbued with understanding, and whom piety of soul had persuaded, in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, to consider them a divine chastisement and a sort of medicine ^B for the stains that had grown up with us. Bearable, I say, they would have been, had not the shipwrecks of the Church been added to these evils, and had not the long-dormant plagues of old offenses been revived, destined to bring most deadly ruin to souls and to plunge them most easily into the abyss of destruction.

II. Some of these things shall be told here by us in summary. For it would not be easy to recount everything at once, while we are engaged in the treatment of other matters; for it is an exceeding great task, and one requiring the utmost elaboration. And first of all, let the account be placed here regarding the Massalians and Bogomils who were caught in those times about Mount Athos.

III. Moreover, Mount Athos seems to me worthy of admiration; both because it enjoys a truly happy temperateness of air; and because, adorned by the power and variety of ^C its herbs, it flatters the senses of those who dwell there most ambitiously (if I may so speak), and immediately offers great and sweetest pleasure. Thither, as if from treasuries everywhere, flows a sweet breath of scents and a most delightful color of flowers. And this place is for the most part shared by purer rays of the sun: it is covered by the foliage of manifold trees, and abounds in woodlands and varied meadows, works of human hands...

Notes of various authors.

^A of human hands, and resounds with every kind of bird. There, swarms of bees hasten around the flowers, and with a gentle murmur hum through the air. And from these things a kind of tapestry of pleasure is woven, strangely commingled there, not remaining for the season of spring alone, but for every season and time, as the cycle of the four seasons always conspires to produce the same grace and pleasure for human senses; and most especially when, from the middle of the grove and from those plants, the morning music of the nightingale, sounding forth, might gather together those who dwell there in solitude and call them to sing the praises of the Lord together with her. For she also carries a certain divine lyre in her breast, an innate psaltery, and music full of harmony, which, for those by whom it is heard, blares forth to the hearers quite harmoniously and off-the-cuff. And at the same time, the place is watered and irrigated in many ways by springs of naturally-occurring waters; streams gushing from elsewhere become tens of thousands of children of the fountains, and quietly and secretly, as if stealing their path, they share their current with one another, as if of set purpose they themselves are silent, and as though they were practicing some discipline, as if there were sense within them; indeed, so that they might grant to the monks of that place, passing a life undisturbed by any tumult, the power to lift up the suppliant wings of their prayers to God in tranquility. Indeed, that mountain renders those who wish to enter upon the heavenly way of life on earth highly susceptible to solitude and quiet, and ^B provides from within, in abundance, for the supply of every kind of food suitable for them throughout all time. And at the same time, it is crowned by a great sea, which brings much beauty to it from all sides, and yet does not allow it to become an island entirely, so that one may, by means of an intervening isthmus, with little labor receive fruit even from the land, which stretches forth and spreads out in length and breadth. In a word, everything that argues for excellent virtue flows together there from every side, whether you look at the nature of the place or the institution of its inhabitants. Nowhere there are the dwellings of women, nor an intemperate, effeminate display of cosmetics, and all those things which renew that ancient association with the Serpent which once was, in a sort of inaugural festival, and fill life with great confusion and the great turmoil of crowds; nor are there public sales, nor markets, nor market-overseers, nor judicial tribunals, nor the peddling of tongues, nor arrogance from a raised seat proclaiming the laws of desire. Nor do slavery and lordship divide life there; but equality of speech, moderation of mind, and the honesty of character and the nobility of justice have their theater and dance around that place, and whoever creates this divine way of life on earth and brings about true philosophy in the soul. No wealth there, nor the spending of money, nor slothful luxury holds sway; but every institution of life is truly venerable and noble, and hastens to the shrines of Virtue, and is truly attuned to the good and the beautiful after the Dorian mode.

IV. For that place, by its very nature, in a certain way sends away and repels all wickedness, and all ^D

[IMP. I. PALÆOL. 4] ^A lutem ^A all of it, and admits it to itself, being as much a lover of what is right as it is an enemy of what is wrong. And that same mountain long ago declared and predicted this, not with lips or any other organ of the voice, but with works, as if they were animate, which were able to spread and proclaim the heraldry of the beautiful and the right throughout the whole sphere of earth and sea. For as for Xerxes, that barbarian of old, whose wild and haughty temper, while it indulged itself in wantonness and luxury against the nature of the universe, was so puffed up that it sought to innovate and change all the elements—since, having dug through the Isthmian neck of that very mountain, he had converted land into sea ^B and reshaped the place into the form of an island; and since he had transported land forces across the sea, and had made that which was a land army appear as a naval one—that Xerxes’ pride, I say, it refuted most splendidly in the most crowded theater of the whole world, and for the most part brought his arrogance to a more humane level, and through him taught all kings, and generals, and satraps to cast off their untimely brow-furrowing and to adopt a more moderate frame of mind. [P. 450] In this way, from the beginning, nature herself prepared it as a workshop of virtue, and draws everyone from above toward the love of it, not only those who have once had the good fortune to taste something of the honey of that virtue and tranquility, but also those who have happened to learn of the excellence of that place by rumor and hearsay: the nature of which is such that, of those who have lived there to this day, it renders most celebrated those who have persisted to the end in preserving the crop of virtue sincere and uncorrupted, and utterly pure and free from all tares; while, on the other hand, it commands those who are hypocrites and impious to go into exile from there, and with all its might casts them out and keeps them away from the fellowship of its hospitality. ^C

V. And those things which are more ancient are sufficiently recounted by others who have told of them. But I shall recount those things which are more recent; namely, those concerning Joseph the Cretan and George of Larissa, and all those who feasted while reclining at their most foul table, as disciples initiated by their teachers into abominable institutions and mysteries; then, furthermore, those things concerning Moses the painter, and Isaac, and David, and Job, and whoever else, being profane in tongue, in opinion, and in hand, used the names of the best men, and those famous for virtue, to veil the madness and impiety hidden within their souls, in the manner of sepulchers which, while exhaling a most foul stench from within, are adorned outwardly with gypsum and gold. ^D For they themselves also put on the appearance and name of the most holy men, and of those distinguished by the praise of virtue, just as the Orestes and Pylades and Theseus and Pelops acted upon the stages, in order that, while secretly spewing forth the poison of their own malice, they might sprinkle it upon those who are more innocent, and remain unnoticed.

VI. That their dogmas are indeed abominable and impure is testified by that Tome concerning their impiety, written and brought to the holy Byzantine synod by the most holy men who dwell upon that mountain; both on account of other things, which are not even fit for the ears to—

^A listen to for those who are sober, and because they secretly destroy and burn holy images; and because they venerate the urine of their master so as to sprinkle it even upon their own food, and do not receive the divine incarnation at all. It is better to remain silent about the rest. For why is there a need to recount more and pollute the ears of the pious, when it is possible for those who wish to learn more clearly from the Tome itself, which, in recounting everything one by one, openly brands their wickedness, being inserted into the patriarchal registers?

VII. ^B Assuredly, they could not in the end deceive the pure and sincere eyes of those men there who love God, and who live for God alone; just as one who possesses a pure sense of taste could never be deceived if wormwood were mixed into honey, nor even more so the sense of smell if something that smells foul were mixed with roses. Therefore, with their souls inflamed by divine zeal, as if by a violent fire, they began to make a more diligent inquiry into that plague, tracing it out step by step like hunters, to see if they might find the root itself among the offshoots of wickedness. And having found it, some they delivered to the lawful penalty; others, having banished them as far as possible from that place, they pursued with all their might. There were also those who, having escaped from there, fled away before their wickedness had become completely known; these indeed had migrated to the cities of Thessalonica and Beroea, and to that city which holds supreme power ^C over all the others. And I believe that once they had come there, it occurred to them that, since that city is, above all others, the common hearth of the entire world from everywhere, and because a language and a mind both polyglot and of many mingled kinds prevail there, they could both shade their own wickedness and imitate the woodpeckers among birds, which, flying around the trees and striking the bark on every side with their beaks, pass by whatever is healthy, and linger only upon the part which is defective and rotten, and feeding upon that, they hollow it out to the depths.

CHAPTER VIII.

A'. Since, upon the death of the Emperor, ^D Roman affairs were stirred up toward civil strife, and everything was a darkness, as if in a storm and at night, such that it was impossible—as the saying goes—to discern even by the stars whither one was being carried, and everything was tumbling up and down, and rendered the danger very near to each man while hope and safety were far off and despaired of (for they say that in discord the most wicked man obtains honor, while he who in any way leans toward better things suffers most sorrowful and tragic calamities); therefore, even to me—

^A it seemed better to choose a tranquil life, withdrawing from the theaters of the palace. For when the incitement to evil was removed, and those things which kindle contentious strife were taken away, I judged that the advancement of evil itself would also cease. Since, therefore, when I exhorted others, I could find no one who would listen, I did what was in my own power. For it is easy even for the most vile and lowly people to create tumult out of peace; but to create peace out of tumult is not very easy even for the most prudent. For the former is carried along by the most unbridled impulse of nature, and it is agreed that nature is something disordered and uneven; the latter, however, is steered by certain judgment of mind and by wise counsels. Thus, the former invents reasons for discord, even those which do not exist; the latter, however, tries to cut away even those which do exist, just as a physician who, before the sickness grows, applies healing to the very root.

II. It seemed better for me, therefore, to choose a tranquil life, while I was thinking of these things and at the same time recalling that of Zeno the wise; ^B who, at a celebrated banquet, while the other philosophers were disputing ambitiously before the Babylonian envoys, was himself silent alone, and when the envoys asked the reason for his silence, so that they might have something certain to report to the king, he said: “Go and report that you saw a man in Athens who could be silent at a banquet.”

III. When I had done the same, I looked out as from a watchtower upon those who were seething on both sides, with the waves of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, ^C striving most fiercely against one another as to who might emerge superior; and in the midst, like two ships, traveling with no law and no order, but swept along by a certain impetuous and rash movement, blind and unequal, such as chance produces; so that they could not, nor would they, help one another when surrounded; but equally for themselves and for each other, they openly and voluntarily contrived extreme destruction; and it was possible to see the mass of surging waves before them curved on every side into the likeness of the Olympians and Caucasians, and if any other mountain rises higher than the clouds and reaches up to the very borders of the ether.

IV. And yet, for the wise men of old who lived at Athens, it never pleased them at any other time to wrangle and institute contests of words, and to weary the ears of whoever they met with lashes of the tongue, except when they were totally finished with external tumults and adventitious wars. ^D For then the times allowed the Greeks, divided into different bands of sects, to disagree, now of Epicureans, now of Pythagoreans, and whoever else handed down to posterity an ample memory of those things which might provide material for contention. Here, however, of ten thousand

public tumults and tragic calamities flowing in from both within and without, I saw a greater war of opinions being stirred up than usual, and the majesty of theology being trampled upon in the streets and harassed by the phalanx of the Palamites ^A and the Pharisees. And if there were any Maccabees who opposed them, and as many as were "ephektikoi" (skeptics) due to the times, for them there was then place for prophecies by whatever voices and words; and if anywhere there was some ventriloquist, or Maenad, or Pythoness, for all of them there was a splendid opportunity to brazenly divine that this and that would happily come to pass, and this and that would happen.

^B V. Relying upon these things, there came forth from the Celtic and Gallic chasms a certain sage and not-so-sage Frenchman, who asserted that he could foretell many things not yet come to pass from the meteors and from all that the thread of what the Greeks call "destiny" weaves, and other things as well regarding Roman affairs—what would certainly be the outcome; and that Cantacuzenus would die the very next day, and that the whole multitude of adversaries and enemies would vanish before the entire year had elapsed. This man, as if sent from the celestial axes ^C and brought to her by the pagan Latins, the Empress having seen and heard—and wishing thereafter to investigate the reasons for the things being said—summoned me as well, though I was not at all willing, so that once I had understood what that man said, I might be an incorruptible judge of the matter. Therefore, I deem it irrelevant to recount in detail all the things that he argued to show that those things determined by the stars were unshakable. I shall, however, relate a few of the things which I openly put forward to refute him.

VI. But first, the great Ptolemy says that one ought not to think that ^D all things which happen to men come about by some necessity from above, and that those things which occur are unchangeable according to some destiny; but that the movement of the celestial bodies themselves was created and ordered by God from eternity so as to be immutable; yet that the things on earth are governed by nature, which has an inherent mutability and perpetual instability; nevertheless, that the concurrence of a higher cause also approaches these things in some way, and that it can sometimes, though not in every respect, be understood by men. For it is agreed upon by all who are not devoid of intelligence and prudence that the power of the sun and moon is indeed widely diffused through the air upon earthly things according to certain more general principles. But the observations of nativities and whatever is pronounced by some concerning the peculiar constitution of individual bodies, this is indeed a task full of vanity and infinite labor and incomprehensible in its end—not only for Ptolemy...

but even for the most divine Basil. ^A To these things the declarations of the Chaldeans also explicitly agree:

Do not turn within your breast the vast measures of the earth, For the earth lacks the tree of truth. You labor in vain to measure the sun With manifold reason: not for your sake does the eternal will Of the Father move it. The moon’s rapid axis winds without cease, And never stands still that which is moved by fatal law. Do not think the stars were born for you or are omens of your affairs. Flee from trusting in the spread wings of birds. The entrails and the art of the aruspex are mere sport: the evil guardians Of greedy fraud. Flee these, you who reach For the sacred gardens of Piety, where virtue, right, and wisdom flourish.

It would also be easy in another way, if anyone wished, to remove fate. For if robbers rob from necessity, and again, from necessity the legislator punishes the robber, it follows that fate fights against fate, and necessity against necessity; ^B but the fruit of that struggle is the destruction and dissolution of nature. Thus the immutability of fate collapses, and all things are administered by divine providence, as is fitting for each.

VII. These and such things as these, discussed by us, stopped the mouth of the man from Gaul, and he, struck dumb, withdrew from the council.

But not to the son of Atreus, Agamemnon, was this pleasing in his heart.

For certain sparks, as it were, passed through the soul of the empress, like stubble, and she kept her secret wrath, that she might satisfy it when the time arrived, ^C although at that moment she tempered her tongue, and put on a cheerful countenance for the sake of those who were present. For that man was both a compatriot of hers and spoke the same language, and the things he had said were most desirable and very pleasing to her, and she had little desire to hear things that contradicted them. Yet this was how matters turned out; and this was the first occasion which interrupted the flow of my peace, and planted the seeds of wrath against me in the soul of the empress; and the second and final [cause], which... ^D

Various Notes

(76) The Chaldean Oracles were mentioned by Synesius and Plotinus. Fragments, collected and explained by Psellus and Plethon, were brought to light by Joannes Opsopoeus, Paris, 1599, and in the Royal Library. See the epistle prefixed to that edition, where it is said that Gregoras read the commentary of Psellus, and from it inserted many things written word-for-word into his own scholia on the book of Synesius, suppressing the mention of the author. Joannes Laurentius Philadelphiensis Lydus, who is known to have flourished under the emperors Justin and Justinian from Photius, commended himself not once in those writings of which fragments exist in the Royal Codex 3367. The verses brought forward by him, since they are missing in the Opsopoean edition, it is helpful to display in this place. They are these:

He set up the venerable binder and overseer of all things. For in the bosom of this triad all things have been sown. For from this triad every spirit the Father… Nymphs of the springs, and all water-spirits. And earthly ones, and gulf-dwellers, and those of the air, and those who are Monthly, overseers and guardians of all Celestial and starry matter and of the deep.

Furthermore, this Laurentius Philadelphiensis does not call them Chaldean Oracles, but simply Oracles. Nor does Synesius in the book On Dreams write otherwise.

(77) It is read in Synesius, "Nor do I care for the sacrifices of entrails, etc.," which is a good reading, if you read *thomai* (I care). For *thoumai* is not used. Homer, Iliad 1.

Indeed, I do not care for you, Nor do I heed your raging. [alt-version omitted]

we shall mention in the proper places, having narrated the intermediate events first.

^A VIII. But I think what has been said thus far is sufficient for two reasons: first, because our discourse now draws us toward a more necessary subject, toward which the narrative itself and the original intention of the work is primarily directed as its goal; second, because, since many have said many things and have vied with one another regarding these same matters as much as they were able, I do not think they require any longer discourse from us now; but this, contributed as an accession or as a sort of judicial suffrage, even if it seems small, will nevertheless have the same power to declare the truth. Wherefore one must return to that. ^B

CAPUT IX. Gabalas, fearing Apocaucus, dons the monastic habit. The temple of St. Sophia, formerly an inviolable asylum, is profaned by Gabalas and the patriarch. Amurius, having returned to Thrace, proceeds as far as Byzantium with Cantacuzenus. He is astonished at the sight of the city. Few guards on the walls. Apocaucus’s distrust. Cantacuzenus and Amurius go to fight Momitilas, who was invading the Roman cities. They encamp near Perithorium. Momitila's audacity. The consternation of those who had surrounded him. A fierce battle. Momitilas falls. Almost all his soldiers are slain.

I. For since Apocaucus had been brought down into the depths of misfortune by Gabalas, yet had emerged and was restored to his former place of grace and honor, as we have already said, he left no stone unturned thereafter to take his revenge, until he himself, fearing he might suffer the ultimate fate, fled for refuge into the great temple of the Wisdom of God. There, having remained for some time, and hearing many and various threats cast against him, and fearing again that he might be suddenly snatched from there and cast into the Tartarus and darkness of prisons, and that he himself would have to drink the same cup which he had mixed for many others, ^C he donned the monastic habit, compelled by necessity. For he himself had long before destroyed that asylum, the ancient protection of refugees, with the patriarch himself acquiescing. For which reason they too fell into the highest ignominies and calamitous reversals, as will be told later. For it is right that those who so openly despise divine things should at length suffer such punishments, so that the human race may be instructed by these examples, which have a more effective power to restrain the ferocity of fortune.

II. But when spring had arrived in the midst of this, the satrap Amurius, having crossed the Hellespont with many Asiatic forces, came to Didymotichum; and from there he again advanced as far as Byzantium with the emperor, both out of a desire to see it and for the sake of agitating the city, if the opportunity should arise. When, therefore, he had arrived, and with a proper space intervening, he observed and surveyed it with his eyes, ^D now standing, now walking about, a great

^A astonishment seized him at the magnitude of the city, the height of the walls, their beauty, and furthermore at the admirable construction of the surrounding trenches and the positioning and arrangement of the bulwarks. He marveled, however, for another reason: that on the top of the walls there was not, as one would expect in large and populous cities, a multitude of men; rather, save for a few, the wall appeared devoid of all warlike preparation and force. But Apocaucus, fearing the internal uprising of the common people more than the attack of external enemies, did not grant leave to everyone who wished to ascend the wall, but only to those among the hoplites and cavalry in whom he had the greatest confidence. For he had appointed some of them to stand inside the gates as keepers, that they might keep watch and not sleep; and those who were patrolling the walls by night, he had commanded them to keep watch and to inspect the whole city within.

3. Chapter 3

4. Chapter 4

5. Chapter 5

^A heavily struck by the unexpected event, and his lofty and insolent spirit was crushed.

VI. And to omit those intervening events ^B and the rapid turnings of the alternating battle, most of the Persians, having dismounted from their horses, stood surrounding them in a circle on all sides with their bows. But those struggling in the middle, like certain fierce boars, were unable to break through and escape the phalanx of the Persians. For the emperor’s cavalry pressed on continuously, now meeting them face to face, now driving them from the rear with dense spears. And since the Persians had in a short time pierced with countless arrows all of Momitila’s cavalry, they made them into corpses, and from then on foot soldiers fought against foot soldiers, and the entire fortune of the war was already in hand-to-hand combat. And to speak briefly, they say that no one of Momitila’s force remained in arms, nor did any one escape secretly by flight; but rather that Momitila himself was slaughtered, and his entire army was destroyed by total slaughter, save for a very few who were captured alive.

CAPUT X.

^C I. Four days had passed, and Apocaucus in Byzantium was [slain] by those who were in chains, within the old palace that faces the sunrise; the sun having already passed its meridian, that great and powerful man suddenly entered the innermost recesses of darkness and oblivion, and none of those great guards of his—on which he had spent immense sums and to which he had devoted the greatest part of his life—were of any help to him. How this happened, I shall presently explain more clearly.

II. Since he had thrust himself into the tumults and administrations of great affairs, and had made many people hostile to him—as many, indeed, as envied his higher fortune, or, having been injured by him, were seeking an occasion for revenge—he wandered about day and night full of fear; and for this reason he had many guards around him, both foot and horse, as often as he traveled through the city streets; and his house was also fortified with ^D large garrisons, whenever necessity compelled the man to stay at home; and he had long been nursing designs of tyranny in his heart, but most especially now, since he held in chains all those who were superior in reputation and birth, and there was no one who dared to lift an eyelid against his power.

but all stood in fear of him, just as of old the Syracusans feared Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily.

III. Regarding the construction of the prison tower

IV. Regarding the desperate resolution of the prisoners

V. Regarding the arrival of Apocaucus at the prison

^A And it was this: that he should have all his guards and shield-bearers excluded at the same time, outside the gates of that palace, and enter with only one person to view the work. For he thought that in this way, neither could any betrayal be hatched against him from within by them, nor from without by strangers or commoners; considering his own shield-bearers the greatest security for the gates. Thus, He who catches the wise in their craftiness overthrew his mind, so that he might more easily bring danger upon himself, and more than any stranger.

^B VI. When therefore he had entered and begun to speak with the architects about what needed to be done, Raul, being the first to grab a club that happened to be there (for there was no sword available there to the prisoners), and adopting a certain frantic and fanatical manner out of fear and desperation, rushed toward him, shouting such things as these: “How long, O sun’s light—which feeds the earth—will you persist in looking upon your cruelty? How long will the divine thunderbolt and fiery whirlwinds, sleeping in the ether, reserve your punishment? But for you, O villain, one of two things is now necessary: either that you meet death with me in this day’s light, or, once you are dead, that I might look upon bright days with free eyes, if it be God’s will.” He said these things, and at the same time, bringing down the club with a more forceful arm, he struck his head bravely. ^C Yet a lethal wound was not immediately inflicted. But when his headgear had been knocked off, he, wandering about with his head now bare, called out to those who might deliver him from that sudden and unexpected disaster. But there was absolutely no one, except one, who, immediately grappling with Raul, was striking and being struck at the same time. And these two indeed contended with great rage, which one could kill the other first. But neither could bring danger to the other. While these things were in this state, another from the line of the Palaeologi immediately rushed upon Apocauchus, saying and doing roughly the same as the first, and immediately another, and yet another. And so, to sum up, he violently tore away his life, destitute of all aid, he who had spent all his wealth his whole life so that he would not suffer a violent end.

^D VII. For he had not noticed, it seems, that he was removing divine providence from himself, and attaching the pledges of his present way of life to human schemes and efforts. And for this reason, while accusing others and binding them in chains and despoiling their livelihoods, he was building the defenses of his own safety upon rotten foundations; acting just as if someone, seizing fires from neighbors that did not at all belong to him, were with his own hand to set his own house on fire. Wherefore, [index: entries preserved]

^A such was the end of his life for those who, by reason of poverty, had no remedy to use against the impending vicissitudes of time, and for the widows, and for those who desired to see retribution for the evils he had committed—before, through despair, they themselves might be driven to commit some transgression. And at the same time, it served as a school of instruction, drawing back the more audacious to a state of reasonableness, and those who dare the undareable without any fear. And these things happened in this manner.

VIII. But before anyone outside had perceived the tragedy, having broken all their bonds and chains, those who were in the prison—no fewer than two hundred—ran with the greatest pleasure to the spectacle of the corpse. And one of them, using a carpenter’s ax (for there was no sword at hand), cut off the head from the rest of the body ^B and placed it upon the battlements of the walls, so that the tragedy might become manifest to all the crowds outside, who were already flowing toward the walls like a torrent. Thus, those who were related to him by blood or joined to him by any association would cease to labor in vain, as their hope of saving him was utterly extinguished; while those who had been hostile toward him were encouraged in spirit and, without any fear, came to the aid from outside of those who had fought for the common liberty within. Then, they divided themselves into ranks and groups, and apportioned the guard of the gates and the battlements among themselves.

IX. Nevertheless, a very great obstacle existed for them with regard to their ability to preserve this unexpected salvation: the scarcity of the necessities of life, and the lack of weapons and defensive missiles. For they had no means to transport what was needed easily and on the spot, as the very occasion of what had been perpetrated had been spontaneous and not premeditated. ^C However, on the night that followed, while they were all in the greatest state of perturbation and in the tide of anxious deliberations, a trireme from the Galatans arrived, around midnight, bringing from the maritime wall bread and wine, and whatever food the severity of the times permitted; and likewise, they brought promises and kind words, so that they might choose whichever they preferred: if they thought it better to remain there, arms and enemy missiles would be brought to them on the following day; but if, on account of fear, they were determined to move from there, they would gladly receive them into their own fortress at Galata and guarantee them every security. Having said these things, they returned home, ^D having left good hope to those who were within the wall—hope, however, that did not reach a good outcome. For the Empress Anna, having sent men (for she had not been unaware of what had happened) and having blocked the approach, prevented the arrival and docking of that band of Latins, which was to arrive secretly on the following day.

X. This situation drove those who were besieged to despair. For they had no weapons with which to protect themselves, nor shield, [P. 462] nor bow, nor any missile to repel violence. And furthermore, the wall neglected from

^A many parts of the parapet and battlements was dilapidated. They remained therefore all that night within the wall in uncertain hope, keeping guard at the gates and patrolling the walls. But in the morning, when they saw the common rabble and the vulgar crowd assembling at the neighboring Hippodrome, not (as they had hoped) for the sake of bringing them any help—for they had assumed that, since Apocaucus had been hateful to almost everyone in Byzantium, everyone would immediately rush to sedition against the leaders and the emperor, and remove the man they feared as a tyrant—when therefore they saw that things had happened quite otherwise than they expected and the situation was not proceeding according to their wishes, they treated for reconciliation with those who had come from the Empress Anna. ^B And perhaps some good might have come to them, had not the envy of some evil spirit thwarted it. But it was fitting, as it seems, that in times of divine wrath no wickedness should be left unattempted. The matter transpired as follows.

XI. The wife of Apocaucus, having obtained permission from the Empress Anna, summoned the entire Gasmulian crowd, and by more generous outlays of money persuaded them to abandon the triremes that very day, and having taken up such arms and missiles as were there, to surround that palace fortress with a siege, and by making an irruption, to slaughter those who were inside, sparing no age; the former as murderers, the latter as supporters and companions of murderers. ^C When, with the liberal distribution of money as we have mentioned, she had armed the hands of this crowd of marketplace riffraff and foolish men, she also plied them abundantly with many cups of wine, so that, being thus cast out of their right minds, they might rush like madmen to the slaughter of men. When things had reached this point and the sun’s course was already passing the meridian zenith, they rushed and encircled the entire fortress, equipped with shields and all manner of arms, carrying in their hands every kind of missile, and all the tools that are effective for prying open the latches of gates, or for shaking walls, or for pulling stones from their foundations. ^D From these, some indeed standing outside sent a great and dense mass of missiles, like a cloud, to drive away all those who were suddenly left without arms of any kind upon the battlements, both those with which the body is protected and those with which an attacking foe is repulsed. Others, however, brought up wall-breaching engines, and approaching closer, they began to dig through the walls in many places and to wrench open the gates with levers; so that in a very brief moment of time, with many of the entrances opened in many places, the enemies rushed in all at once.

XII. It was then possible to see those wretches being slaughtered without mercy, and being transferred from the confinement of yesterday to the tomb, while these bloodthirsty men

^A exercised against them various and manifold slaughters with the sword, with a great and mad sort of cruelty and barbaric license. Destitute, therefore, of shields, those wretched men, being also unarmed, and in no way able to escape the present danger, were in part already being cut down, while others were pouring forth in flight, by twos and threes and in crowds, and, flowing through the partition walls into the adjacent house, which is the New Monastery, were distributing among themselves divine images in place of every other sacred amulet. Some were seizing the sacred vessels of the mysteries placed upon the divine table, thinking that by these things a sense of shame would be instilled in those impudent and mad robbers. Others were embracing the holy table itself and the support beneath it. Finally, some, having been stripped entirely naked, threw their garments before their feet of their own accord, thinking that if they were stripped, the cruel manner of those men would be softened by pity—perhaps they would return to a sense of common nature placed before their eyes—and also so that no further ground for suspicion might be left regarding them, as if they were hiding some imperial coin or anything else worthy of any price among themselves. For an unexpected calamity has great power to suggest to different people different counsels on the spur of the moment, by which they might defend themselves from dangers, having as their teacher necessity itself, urgent when sudden death compels them to despair of life.

XIII. But neither tears of those suffering, nor a miserable appearance, nor that sacred place to which those unfortunates had fled for the sake of preserving their safety, had any power to soften ^C the insolent and savage violence of those murderers. But like victims upon an altar, they too were then foully slaughtered, and streams of blood flowing from them stained the sacred floor. And the holy images, and the furniture, and whatever vessels were present, assigned to the sacred mysteries, were all easily and with impunity cast about and plundered. Indeed, those bold and shameless men, dripping with the abundance of blood, even placed the garments of the slain upon the divine altar. But how could I, with dry eyes, tell of the most mournful things, worthy of abundant tears, which they then, adorning that miserable tragedy on sacred ground, eagerly and barbarically committed? Oh, if it were permitted to use tears instead of ink, so that with a dipped pen I might write and recount more clearly the calamity of that day, as each thing was done! For thus, I believe, an abundant stream of tears would most easily be drawn from anyone imbued with mercy and a natural sense of humanity. But these things did indeed happen so. And as for the rest of the whole multitude, as much as occurred from the rabble of the crowd like a river, they were plundering the huts of the monks who lived there without fear, fleeing to the nearby temple called that of the Nine Orders. ^D

brothels as the price of their lust. Indeed, those inhuman men, breathing slaughter, carried about the heads, and in some cases even the hands, of the men who had been slain, displaying their abominable crime to the shock and terror of all who saw them, and filling all the streets with human blood and flesh.

XIV. Those deeds were indeed worthy of lamentations and tears, and were a sight of impiety for this queen of cities; yet no one dared to weep for those victims or to mourn for those who were dead, neither friend, nor kinsman, nor anyone else who possessed a heart in any way susceptible to pity. For watchful eyes were roaming about, and people were being snatched up and stripped of their clothing, and beaten as conspirators and opponents of the Empress Anna. For all those deeds were a brilliant joy to her, and an unspeakable pleasure, and she took the greatest delight in what was happening according to her will. Consequently, those who were bound by great fear, even though they desired to bury the dead according to the law of nations and of nature, and who were related by blood or friendship to those lying there, ^B kept aloof from them with all haste, lest they not only fail in their desire but also fall into similar disasters. For they said that such were the orders given by the Empress, and that she had ordered them to be cast into the sea, unburied, to become food for birds and fish. But this was not carried out, because some brought the outcry of the people and the resulting insults to her ears, as well as the tumultuous unrest that was arising, which was not without danger. Therefore, some who were lovers of God, having cast aside all fear, took up the bodies one by one from different parts of the monastery and buried them. What followed these events can be learned more fully from those who have recounted them.

XV. Now when the eldest son of Apocaucus by his first wife, who was then in charge of Thessalonica, heard of his father’s violent death, ^C he judged that he should immediately turn his mind toward Cantacuzenus, and he believed that it was expedient for him to put into action what he had in mind. Therefore, he began to devise a way by which he might hand over Thessalonica to him. Having associated himself with the most prominent men of Thessalonica, he imitated the Athenian Pisistratus and seized the citadel of the Thessalonians, ^D so that from there, as if from a base of operations, he might...

^A seize the whole body of the city with ease. But he reaped no fruit from this plan. For the tragic fate of his father, rather than his own, clearly repelled his present fortune. And so, within two days of a public proclamation having been made, all rushed like the tides toward the citadel; nor did they withdraw from there before they had taken the citadel by storm, enslaved those inside according to the laws of war, and, after killing the son of Apocaucus ^B along with those around him by the sword, carried their wretched heads cruelly through all the squares of the city to terrify those who might meditate similar things.

CAPUT XI.

I. But something escaped me for a moment, namely the story of John Batatzes; who, though he himself was of ignoble birth, had become wealthy from tax-farming operations, taking them on one after another in succession, and always exchanging the lesser for the greater. Having recently purchased the prefecture of Thessalonica with a large sum of money from the Empress Anna, he was sent there. But no long time having elapsed, before he had made the profitable pouch as heavy as he wished, he was ejected from there, as Apocaucus substituted his son; he whom the rush of the populace, as we said a little earlier, destroyed by the sword.

II. Batatzes considered this a disgrace to himself, and being filled with grief, he fled to Cantacuzene; and, having a castle of the Thracian district as his base of operations, he made continuous raids from there; and he was in the highest degree fearful and a manifest destruction to those he attacked, and against whom he armed himself, insofar as he had significant power from Asia, which the satrap Solyman had sent him from Troy ^C, having recently become his son-in-law through his daughter.

III. So long as Apocaucus was alive, he was ardent and most troublesome to the Byzantines, Batatzes...

being ill-disposed toward him on account of the son of Apocaucus who had been subrogated, and on account of the prefecture having been taken away from him. But when Apocaucus had been taken from the land of the living, having been slain by the sword, and the Byzantines had need of a man of sharper temper, and one whose mind was reasonably quick to venture anything, frequent letters from the Empress Anna reached him, through which great gifts and great dignities were promised to him, if he would consent to become the successor to Apocaucus in his counsels, his ways, and his deceits. These things broke his resolution and changed his intent; and as the state of affairs turned about like a die, he summoned greater auxiliary forces of the Persians, and by frequent incursions he ravaged and burned the regions and cities that had defected to Cantacuzenus, and most easily persuaded them to side with the Byzantines, should they wish to escape their pressing necessity.

IV. But he himself derived no fruit from this undertaking. For when Cantacuzenus heard of the perverted and changed intent of Batatzes, he immediately gathered all the fruits, together with the people and the flocks, into the fortresses, saying that he would find that he would pay the penalties for his perjury to the God offended by such perjuries. So Batatzes, arriving shortly with the Persian forces, found the regions empty of inhabitants and the pastures without beasts; and hence it followed that the Persians whom he led suffered from famine. ^B When the barbarians saw that they were suffering this contrary to the promises and those most heavy hopes, they bore it ill; and having slain him, they immediately transferred their mind and strength to Cantacuzenus. As soon as this was determined, it was immediately executed; and the affairs of Cantacuzenus began to proceed better and more happily from an adverse and hostile fortune, with so many enemies being finished off, as it were, of their own accord and without any labor.

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINÆ HISTORIÆ LIBER DECIMUS QUINTUS

CHAPTER ONE

Crales, at a time when the Romans were divided, grows in strength. He invades many cities. He reduces Serres itself to surrender. He proclaims himself Emperor of the Romans. He shares the empire with his son. How great, at that time, was the peril of Cantacuzenus...

Thracian part held. Thrace is devastated by frequent incursions of the Persians. Cantacuzenus’ want: likewise that of the Byzantines. Empress Anna administers affairs very poorly. She does not spare the sacred images. She harasses the wealthy. She casts into chains those seized from the very church of St. Sophia. The Galatae receive the fugitives. The most ancient right of asylum: sacred and inviolable among all peoples: neglected by the Christians. The dogmas of the Church overturned. For these reasons, the temple is defaced by a sudden ruin.

746 I. To the ruler of the Triballi, the Crales, ^A those seditions by which the Romans raged against themselves and against each other were not enough for him to abuse for his own delights. Indeed, he considered that time to be the most opportune for his own greed and the greatest gift of fortune. Therefore, like a flame, he spread and continuously ravaged and subjugated every Roman city and region he encountered, because there was no one who had the leisure to check those attacks. For to the Byzantines, both those who were silent and those who spoke out, it was much more desirable that everything be surrendered to him as far as Christopolis than that it be acquired by Cantacuzenus. And though it happened completely against the will of Cantacuzenus, being distracted by civil wars, he was not able to defend it. For this reason, all things up to the straits of Christopolis, except for Thessalonica, were subdued by him; among which there exists the great and celebrated city of Serrhae, which was compelled to surrender by famine and long siege—two truly most troublesome enemies—by a betrayal contrary to the agreement.

II. From that point, the Crales, ^B raised up above his former self and having assumed a haughtier pride (since he thought that nothing of what remained to the Romans as far as Byzantium would be able to withstand his own strength and princely authority), proclaimed himself Emperor of the Romans, and brought his manner of living over from the barbarian to the Roman custom; he publicly used the tiara and all the insignias that are proper to this great Empire, and he uses them up to this present time. Now, indeed, he even shared the entire empire with his son, yielding to him that region which extends from the Ionian gulf and the river Ister as far as the city of Scopia, that he might rule in accordance with the customs of the Triballi; this is the province past which the great river Axius flows from somewhere above; ^C for himself, however, he reserved the Roman regions and cities, to be ruled according to Roman institutions, from that point on as far as the Christopolitan straits. But all those things which occur from those defiles as far as the cities of Selybria and Dercum, those Cantacuzenus had already subdued, with the exception of the Chersonese.

III. But the Persian forces, crossing over from Asia through the Hellespont at every season, as if they were traveling from their own possessions and abodes to their own, by night and by day ^D kept attacking the cities of Thrace like wild beasts: now

^A using their own license to plunder, now pretending to be auxiliary troops to Cantacuzenus. Yet however it was, the cities were suffering, and the affairs of the Romans were in a wretched state. For there was nothing left for the miserable Thracians—no beasts of burden, no livestock, and no plow-oxen, by whose labor the farmers, breaking up the bosom of the earth, provide the daily and necessary tribute for their bellies. And because of this, with the land left unsown and entirely deserted of men—and, in a word, become altogether wild—a lack of funds harassed Emperor Cantacuzenus significantly while he traversed Thrace; and it harassed the Byzantines no less, as the Empress Anna could neither determine nor willed to arrange anything regarding the administration of affairs appropriately; but rather she detached the ornaments of the sacred icons quite licentiously, and would sell some, and send others to a goldsmith, under the pretext indeed of expending them for public needs, but for the most part, converting them to her own private gain.

IV. While she was doing these things, she did not even then refrain from vexing those who were more illustrious, or who seemed to abound in the wealth of their own estates. For this reason, ^B even those who had taken refuge in the great and celebrated temple of Holy Sophia—long adorned with the privileges of an inviolable sanctuary—they dragged away, alas! most cruelly, and with all their might thrust them into prison and into what one might call a fortress of oblivion. Compelled therefore, the miserable wretches (for they say that necessity is a shrewd inventor) fled to the fortress of Galata, the very calamity itself providing it for them as a firm garrison, a certain sacred anchor, and a truly inviolable refuge. And yet, for barbarians and Greeks alike, and indeed for every land and sea, and for all imperial authorities, it has been the custom for all time that such examples of pity and compassion should be held among them. But from us, who are Christians and who now most especially are in need of receiving similar aid from God, that is forbidden and abrogated.

V. Furthermore, as if the cables had been snapped, the very dogmas of the Church are overturned, and the sacred canons of the Fathers are confounded and trampled underfoot. ^C For this reason, even the beauty of the temple itself has been mutilated and cast to the ground; God thus openly indicating, through visible manifestations, how enormous such impiety was, and as if foreshadowing and threatening the future vengeance: whence I think it came about that this disaster occurred without an earthquake or agitation of the earth. ^D

Chapter 1

I. For it was already evening and the sky was clear, around about the middle of the night, when silence itself turned and, as it were, imprinted the deepest sleep upon the eyes of all men:

^A And just as night-roaming cocks are accustomed to flap their wings and melodiously inflate their innate trumpets, at that same moment one of the four arches—which I might almost call rivals of the sky—the one facing the rising sun, collapsed, dragging down with it and enveloping in the same ruin whatever hemisphere had been resting upon it. Thus, the beautiful things that were hidden within the bema were destroyed; the luster of the sacred images was wiped out; and that grace, diffused everywhere, vanished in an instant, like a flower in a field or a rose in a garden, when a locust or an unexpected caterpillar suddenly attacks it. The art that once adorned and distinguished the sacred columns, sculpture that surpassed even the work of Phidias in its rivalry, was entirely poured out and obliterated, leveled into tiny pebbles. ^B Meetings, assemblies, and the dialectical and theological disputations which were accustomed to be held there perpetually, day and night, turned all their industry—in astonishment—into silence. And now that universal theater, the delightful discourse of every tongue, the murmur sweetest to all ears, stands as an unseeable spectacle; it is like a living column, performing a tragedy in mid-air, drawing tears from the whole world. With a mouth, as it were, opened through the roof above, it openly proclaims this indignity to the sun and the stars. It almost summons heaven itself as a witness, and sings to God that prophecy: "The sons of my mother have fought against me: they struck me, they wounded me; and the pride of those who hate me has ascended continually."

^C II. When this had happened and the report immediately flowed forth and was disseminated throughout the entire city, a clamor and lamentation arose greater than that which stirred in times of old, when the Assyrian Nebuchadnezzar, having utterly enslaved Jerusalem, at once destroyed and took away the glory of the Solomonic temple. Therefore, all houses and marketplaces and theaters were abandoned, with everyone running together to the spectacle of that disaster; and there was no one for whom anything else was of greater concern, or who could have been turned away from that task. Having stood all around and lamented as was fitting, they then bent down and began to carry out the material and the rubble. There was no one among them all who was exempt; nor could one distinguish the rich from the poor, the famous from the obscure, the slave from the master, nor the noble from the common laborer. Rather, the will of all coalesced into the same impulse of zeal. ^D Yet the diligence of the women was much greater than that of the men in performing the work. For they, as being by sex more prone to an abundant force of tears, would bedew those bricks and stones with copious weeping, and then lay them upon their shoulders, in no way concerned at that moment about their costly garments, which that confused mass of materials both tore and covered with dust.

^A One would have said that the very matter being carried away was gushing forth from fountains of tears; so much did the tears of all the women there—the noble and the ignoble alike—flow like torrents at that time, and so greatly was their zeal and dutiful diligence mingled with immense grief; indeed, no softness could interrupt those journeys and continuous labors for nearly thirty days and nights.

III. Moreover, it was said by the majority that if it had not happened that the foundations and bulwarks toward the east, which the Emperor Andronikos had magnificently constructed long before, had been encountered, the ruin would have been many times greater, and that wound would have proven incurable. Such, then, were the circumstances of these matters, and the summer ended in them. ^B

IV. There was, however, no respite from these evils, nor was any hoped for; but constantly one affliction succeeded another, and they grew heavier and progressed for the worse. For the earth was almost entirely deprived of seeds and remained uncultivated, and the incursions of one enemy after another had brought about a great dearth of the necessities of life. Nor was there any source of money from anywhere, neither for the poor to acquire it through any kind of work, nor for those in authority, from whom they might collect some contribution or levy a tax. And it was possible to see the cities being emptied, with some departing to foreign lands, and others remaining at home in despair of their salvation. ^C

V. In ancient times, the Lacedaemonians commanded their women to stop wearing gold, and likewise those who administered the authority of old Rome did so by public and irrevocable decrees. The former did so because of the disaster they suffered at Leuctra at the hands of the Thebans, when the entire military might of Sparta was almost wiped out by the prowess of that Epaminondas, who was Boiotarch at the time; the latter did so because of Hannibal the Carthaginian, when, in the territory of Cannae, by the Aufidus river, he added this crowning achievement to those great victories he had won over the Romans, and having gathered the countless Roman forces into one place, he so devastated them that the river’s currents were stained with a great quantity of blood, so that it seemed to be fed not by fountains of water, but by fountains of blood. ^D

VI. But now, as if by some spontaneous decree that had run through all the cities of the Romans, it so happened that no man and no woman wore bright garments, but all used dark clothing, some because of a sorrow already experienced, others grieving for the common and public plight and the misfortunes of their fellow citizens; so that the Roman empire did not look like a city and a state, but rather as if they were some dark phantoms of those lacking light, which seemed to proclaim to one another from afar the inner sorrow of their soul; for indeed, a sorrow which does not cease to accumulate for each one.

^A Indeed, the wretched fortune of the Romans of our day does not cease, acting similarly to those physicians who apply to the public and private affairs of the Romans the correcting punishment, but not the most piercing and most effective cautery, instead using one that is milder and draws out the cure over a long time. This, however, seems much more troublesome than the other; yet most do not understand the divine and benign counsels of Providence, when She grants space for repentance to those who have sinned most grievously. For to men it is much easier to tear down their own buildings than to construct them; but to God, being more clement, the building and joining together of things is done most swiftly and faster than speech, whereas their destruction is completed only over a long time, and as a rule more slowly and with great difficulty; She almost openly demonstrating that each is such: the one by Her will, the other by both—both that which is involuntary... and that which, for the sake of amendment 10, has as both best counselor and ally the course of time. ^B

CAPUT III. The faults of rulers are excused, by referring the causes of events to the secret providence of God. Cantacuzene is excessively suppliant and abject in his letters. He did much harm to himself and the republic by his delay. Which men he should most have imitated. Gregoras, about to present a selected letter of his, teaches with what faith he will present it. Epistola ad patriarcham. It was written in red letters, by the hand of Cantacuzene himself. Those things which were less relevant to the matter have been cut. The rest are enunciated more elegantly.

I. Reflecting on these things, I for my part have neither the heart to condemn the Emperor Cantacuzene for sluggishness in waging war and for simplicity in that state of affairs, nor to blame the jealousy and implacable hatred of Anna; but rather to contemplate certain more hidden counsels of Providence, which, rightly administering all things, renders back to sins committed at one time an ample repayment at another, imitating the manner of agriculture which itself also, by committing seeds to the earth at one time, gathers the fruits at another.

II. Wherefore, in this part of history, it is my pleasure to bring forward one of Cantacuzene's epistles without envy, which I have therefore omitted until now (although he sent many and continuous ones to the Byzantines), because they contained a certain excessive humility and unworthy entreaties; whereas he could—if he had been vigilant, as befitted an emperor—have settled the whole controversy with greater strenuousness and diligence, and not have wasted time in such a way, and at the same time so afflicted both himself and the Roman Empire, when it was least appropriate, that now, having fallen to his knees, he should not easily hope to stand again on his former foundations. For he could have, if he had wished, proposed to himself for imitation certain more ancient deeds—namely, of Alexius Comnenus and those who preceded him (whose keen virtue easily snatched away from the Byzantines the ability to prudently guard against the designs of enemies and the speed of their assault), and infinite and diverse [P. 473] ...

^A occurrences of violent and insurmountable matters.

III. However, since we have launched the ship of such discourses into the fathomless depths of Divine Providence, come, let us fulfill our promise by making mention of one of the longer letters of Cantacuzene to the Byzantines. We shall omit most of it for the sake of brevity, and because of the burden it places upon the reader. At the same time, we shall lightly support and polish the unrefined language for the sake of the decorum of those who are to hear it, while in other places leaving it intact for the sake of a clearer manifestation of the truth of what is being said.

IV. ^B "You know," he says, "most holy master Patriarch, how zealous I have always been for you, for your dignity, and for all those who were related to you by blood; and how much effort I expended so that you might be raised to the patriarchate, even when no one—neither bishop nor presbyter—made mention of you during the patriarchal voting, nor had your nomination, which they had deemed worthy of long and deep obscurity until that day, been free of controversy. Yet you know what toils I sustained for the sake of your honor, with almost everyone resisting and calling that zeal of ours tyrannical. ^C You know again in how many predicaments you were involved after you were proclaimed Patriarch, with Apocaucus besetting the Emperor’s ears and constantly urging him to remove you from your station. I suppressed all these things, opposing machines with machines and forces with forces, and providing myself as your most fortified bulwark and unshakable foundation. Since, therefore, it was fitting that like be repaid with like, you have repaid us, who were heaped with injuries, most shamefully. It remains, therefore, that you pray to God that you do not encounter Him as a judge similar to yourself. For if—though I say this at my own risk—you had counseled me to do what you deemed best, and if I had then been impatient and not listened, you would indeed have had some colorable pretext for this ^D your iniquitous maneuvering against us. But now, I think no plausible reason is left to you, if you were to attempt to defend what you have done. For having once cast aside, without any pretext, all union with me for the future, you subsequently had no care, no accounting for those evils which have redounded to the Roman Empire from that. If, at least, even now—taught by the very outcome and the continuous spectacle of these evils—you look toward the blessings of peace, you will still save what remains of the Romans, you will save yourself, [P. 474] and the young Emperor with his mother, the Empress Anna. But if you wish to persist in the same course, it will never happen that we, of our own will, should betray our own fortune and life; as for you, in no way...

^A shall you be free from remorse, or from the shame and danger that will visit you regarding the greatest matters, together indeed with those who counsel you to these same ends. I swear to you by the holy and life-originating Trinity, the one God, that neither while the blessed Emperor was alive, nor after he had died, have I meditated or resolved to do anything at all of the affairs of the realm that was not, as is manifest, according to his will and judgment; nor yet against his consort, nor again against the young Emperor, their son. As for the royal honor which was rendered to me after the death of the Emperor—by those who would leap down from their horses when they met me—it was never by my own design, but by a certain impulse of their own that it was bestowed upon me. Verily, there is nothing I did not do at every time, even at my own expense, so that their life might be preserved and the protection of their safety might be bolstered for them. ^B Therefore, I do not believe that the divine justice will be silent forever, when your iniquity toward me and mine has broken out to such lengths; when so much blood has been shed; when so many barbaric incursions have happened, and even now are happening, because of your wickedness; when, finally, so many captives are being led away by night and by day. But it will pursue you with penalties swift and equal to your merits, just as surely as it has in the past, while I held my peace, consumed with the sword before your eyes—that you might be instructed by the calamities of others—those whom the divine power destroyed, ^C that you yourselves might be educated by the misfortunes of others. Yet if for my sake you have nurtured such savagery in your soul against all Christians universally, and have rendered your heart harder than any iron, and if all moderation and every shred of mercy have flowed entirely from your vitals, let the witness be, first, the sleepless eye of God which sees all things; and second, the lamp of the sun which nourishes all things on earth—that, as far as concerns me, I have defended myself abundantly, and have no need of further arguments. With every desire of my soul, therefore, I embrace your knees and adjure you by the Creator of all things, let it not come to pass through your negligence that this letter of ours be submerged and buried in forgetfulness or deep silence; but rather, that you communicate it to your intimates and your necessary friends, to men of understanding. For in this way one of two things will come to pass: either you will have those whom you may follow as authors of better counsel, or at least they themselves will stand as witnesses of the things that are being done and are occurring. ^D

V. Having thus extended the letter to a great length in red ink and by his own hand, and having displayed a great deal of pusillanimity in his supplication—so that he might strike a middle ground between the mean and the extreme—he concluded his discourse there. We, however, having gleaned from it those things that were most pertinent to our present undertaking, have set forth an exposition of them in this place, as was appropriate.

CHAPTER IV

^A

I. Upon hearing these things, the patriarch did not receive these letters with the same pride as the previous ones; but, persuaded by the turbulence of that time to turn the disposition of his soul toward a more sound state, he spoke to this effect:

II. “One might,” he said, “justly be angry with both of us, Cantacuzenus and myself, for having acted, as is human, in the present affair, without wishing to consider anything higher; namely, that all human diligence is entirely vain unless divine Providence also assists. Hence it is that, late and after long and bitter experience, we begin to learn what is expedient, when it is difficult to heal our errors. For he, when he brought his memory to the emperor Michael Palaiologos, blamed the injustice done to the son of the late emperor and the tyrannical seizure of the imperial power; and, wishing to have come to such an undertaking better than he did, he himself devised — albeit craftily and with certain deceitful and sophisticated pretexts — to gird himself with the imperial power, and ^B to take the son of the deceased emperor as a son-in-law for his daughter, for the succession of the empire; a thing perhaps more just and mild, and having its footing beyond all reproach. As this was not by divine will, as it seems, it happened that I also was brought to imprudent thoughts and to oppose myself as a most bitter enemy to his designs, having reflected upon the sloth of Arsenius, who was patriarch in those times; through whom, as it seems to me, various and horrible perjuries were committed, ^C and that injury which then existed progressed very far; so that, God being heavily inflamed with wrath, the greatest evils sprang up thence upon the Romans, and great calamities and violent waves have broken upon the state up to the present day. For I thought that if he, possessed of a sharp and vivid spirit, had opposed those designs and machinations of his regarding the seizing of the empire, by no means would so many evils have redounded upon the Romans. Therefore, wishing in these present times and circumstances ^D to apply a medicine which was then indeed opportune, but which was by no means applied; and having nourished thoughts that draw along much pride and arrogance, I roused myself with every effort to pursue war against Cantacuzenus, having as tools for this provocation, among other things, certain bright pretexts, and especially that he had suddenly turned his disposition toward pride, and in the signing of his own letters had discarded the customary subjection, and thus openly stripped the Empress Anna and her son of the supreme power. Wherefore both of us did nothing other than to thoroughly— [ind: entries preserved]

^A eradicate the entire strength of the Romans, and to tear it down to its very foundations, even if any spark of good hope still remained for the state. For it is not at all strange that those who imprudently attribute everything to human industry should be cast down into such calamity; indeed, it is highly consistent with Divine Providence, whose goal is to cast a firm bridle upon the arrogance of the human soul, and, through the very experience of events, clearly to transmit a manifest lesson to future generations. Thus it has clearly happened to us as the common proverb says: "The camel, seeking horns, lost even its ears." For we too, desiring greater dignity and fortune, and deeming that an opportunity had been offered to each of us to extend the Roman borders, were cast down even from what we possessed; and from wealthy we became beggars, and from illustrious we became vile and inglorious. Therefore, what we ought to have foreseen and done for the sake of public utility before we had fallen, it is right at least to foresee and do even now, after we have fallen, that we may not seem more foolish than those fishermen who only after being struck by an injury feel at last what ought to have been done.

^B III. When the patriarch had pondered these things in his soul and uttered them, he approached Anna with words more adapted to persuasion, and endeavored to persuade her to align with his opinion. He kept asserting that it was better, by making peace with Cantacuzenus of one's own accord, to enjoy the better portion, than to find that where everything has been taken away by force, one cannot hold even the smallest part as one's own without tears. But the Empress Anna, bearing these things with great annoyance, began to call her advisor a conspirator, and with all her might wished to remove the man far from her sight. And this was the origin and first foundation of the offense that occurred between Anna and the patriarch.

^C IV. For from the moment that the passion of jealousy possessed her—which she fostered exceedingly as an evil affection against the Emperor Cantacuzenus and the Empress Irene—she had not even once been able to endure to hear with her ears a single word about being reconciled with them. But it was, as it were, a burning desire and a strange delight for her to throw and to hear others throwing all manner of curses and base insults against them. This made evident and clear to all in a short time the first root of the whole evil, which had given origin to the civil war, and which had persisted to the very end to waste and undermine the Roman state. ^D For such was the jealousy and malice of the Empress Anna, as we have often said in our accounts above, that she openly preferred it to the Roman felicity, and for the sake of which she betrayed the entire empire.

^A V. Yet I think one should not be so angry with her, since she was unable to distinguish and discern the better from the worse, being a woman and one educated throughout her whole life in a foreign upbringing and manner of living, and at the same time unable to emerge from the stain of jealousy to sanity; a state to which the patriarch himself, the entire senate, and such a great body of elders—who as if they were slaves obeyed that insane power—so unthinkingly cast such a die, and of their own accord fell all together into the same danger, becoming to one another a common misfortune and shipwreck. But these matters were already reduced to this state; and that was the seed of the offenses [scandals] that arose ^B between Anna and the patriarch; and from these sparks the fire was fanned up to the heavens.

CAPUT V.

^C 1: But Cantacuzenus, having abandoned hope of peace from that quarter, began to turn his mind to other plans and deeds. And first, since he had made haste, he received Selybria into surrender; in which, for the protection of the citadel, he built a very strong tower. Then, having set out for Orestias and gathered the bishops of Thrace, and all those who had become exiles from Byzantium and were present with him, he placed the imperial diadem upon his head, according to the custom that had long ago prevailed for emperors, with the Patriarch of Jerusalem officiating at that celebration. ^D For it chanced that he too was present there at that time with the exiles from Byzantium. From that moment he applied himself more vigorously to taking Byzantium by secret schemes and snares.

II: Therefore, seeing that the satrap of Bithynia, Hyrcanus, was inclined, due to the great gifts and promises of the Empress Anna, and at the same time understanding that he could shake to the core whatever he himself attempted against Byzantium, because he was the nearest neighbor and in power already surpassed the Persian satraps of that time, he deemed it necessary to take him as a son-in-law, giving him his daughter Maria in marriage, as he had long since vehemently desired and most ardently longed for, and swore that unless he obtained the beloved maiden, he would cruelly bring about extreme dangers.

For it was not likely that a man living so far away, of mature age and a barbarian, should by mere report become a lover of a maiden who was very young, fair of face, and of noble birth. But when he saw that Cantacuzenus was descending into the arena of a life-and-death struggle, he thought the time had come to press his suit more vigorously. Therefore, sometimes wheedling her with hopes of alliance, and sometimes rendering her fearful with threats (for he had attained to deep and very great wealth, possessed a vast dominion in Asia, and was surrounded by a great store of weapons and Persian armies), he did not wait long to obtain his desire, and immediately renounced his compacts with the Empress Anna. From that time forth, Cantacuzenus was to be feared and was invincible.

^D III. But the Empress Anna, bearing what had happened with resentment and casting aside whatever hope had shone upon her from that quarter, turned to other expedients. She immediately sent more generous gifts to those satraps who were residing near Philadelphia, and summoned the Carians, the Lydians, and the Ionians, and whatever select Persian cavalry were there. And in this way the spring came to an end.

IV. But when the sun had just passed the summer solstice, that Persian force, which consisted of about six thousand men, having crossed the Hellespont, made a raid from there all the way to Byzantium, plundering the Mysian booty, making no distinction as to whose territory they were in, but considering everything for the sake of profit. After they had finished their march and were encamped before the walls of Byzantium, dragging with them a number of captives and spoils greater than any count, they were received in a most humane and kind manner by the Empress Anna. She was unwilling to grasp the meaning of what was being done, nor did she find the slightest compassion for that great disaster and for the collective cries of the captives, which rose up to the vault of heaven and struck the ears of almost all the Byzantines, forcing all eyes to gush forth fountains of tears; and this was especially true when the barbarians, dragging the wretched people to the city gates with chains around their necks as if they were necklaces, beat them with frequent lashes, struck them, and wounded them, in order to sell them for a great sum of money. In all this, she remained entirely unmerciful, and seemed to take delight in what was happening. For, being a foreigner and at the same time having received from nature a soul of a harder disposition, she was equally hostile to all Romans and treated all people, of whatever condition they might be, with cruelty.

V. But when they asked for Roman soldiers to be given to them, who would go before them against their enemies and serve as leaders of the way and of the battle, and when a great...

^A shortage and scarcity existed, and it seemed that those who were then in arms would not even be sufficient to defend Byzantium, they turned back and ravaged all the suburbs of Byzantium as far as Selymbria. And there, having made peace with Cantacuzenus and received gifts from him, as many and of such kind as was fitting, they crossed back home, having done none of the things for the sake of which they had been summoned, but having carried out entirely different actions. And these things happened in this manner.

VI. In the previous year, at the very rising of Orion, a comet in the shape of a sword began to appear in the sky ^B around the head of Helice; initially it made its course daily towards the zodiac, until it reached the hindmost part of Leo, where the sun itself was also revolving at that time, and there it vanished. And this also seemed to be a very inauspicious omen for the Roman state.

CAPUT VI.

I. Meanwhile, the Latins who had been driven out of Genoa by Tuzi the new Doge ^C on account of their tyrannical manner—as we have said—since they were far superior to the common people in wealth and dignity, thought it unbecoming and a sign of a cowardly spirit to lead such a wandering life for so long, bereft of city and home. And so, having equipped nearly thirty triremes, they unexpectedly sailed to the island of Chios, the Chians having had no foresight whatsoever of such an arrival of the fleet. For if they had, they would have stocked a more abundant supply of necessities into the city, and they would have been somehow difficult to capture, or rather, altogether impregnable to the enemy. There is no doubt of this; for as long as they had what chance had afforded them to drive away hunger, they resisted the enemy more confidently, and by making frequent sorties outside the gates, they wounded and killed many of the Latins.

II. But when the siege was prolonged by both land and sea, and every hope of external supplies and any kind of military aid was cut off from then on, ^D all necessities failed them, and hunger, creeping within, raged, consuming at once their souls and bodies by lashing them and driving them to utter destitution. Wherefore, having lost all hope, the Chians surrendered themselves to the enemies by agreement. And also the Phocaeans, who dwelt on the coast of Ionia, fell into the same calamity, the enemy fleet having sailed to them immediately after the capture of Chios. And summer ended in these events.

III. When autumn followed, Phaceolatus, having equipped the imperial triremes to avenge the Chians, sailed out into the deep...

^A sea, against those who were indeed very wealthy, yet not of distinguished fortune, though they were of the same condition as the Apocaucus mentioned before; he was, however, energetic and naturally suited for dealing with varied matters. Since, therefore, as he was sailing by the neck of the Aegean, he fell in with one enemy trireme that was putting to sea—and along with it a very large merchant ship of the same people, anchored before the harbor of Tenedos—he armed himself, joined in a naval battle, and captured both, having killed many of the enemy in the engagement, though he himself also lost some of his own men. The Galataens, considering this both a disgrace and a loss to themselves, immediately abstained from transporting grain to Byzantium, not at all unaware that such merchandise did not reach the Byzantines from anywhere else but was in their own hands, with the result that they were either providing them with easy sustenance or else the Byzantines were in danger of dying of starvation. Indeed, they further threatened other grave measures as well. Since these were too harsh for the Byzantines to bear, they promised to return the ships and make compensation for all the damage that they had suffered in the battle and after the battle. And on these conditions, such a truce was concluded.

IV. Phaceolatus, however, was ^B greatly anxious and was held in the most serious fear, as the Latins repeatedly announced the most dire things against him; so much so that he was compelled to have soldiers around him for protection whenever he wished to leave his house, and as often and wherever he walked. And these things happened in this way; and with these matters, autumn ended.

CAPUT VII.h The Augusta is implacable; she decides to strip the patriarch of his dignity, and that through the Palamites, who are hostile on account of the rescinded Tomus. She had already long since shut up Palamas in prison. For what reasons. She uses him as an assistant against the patriarch. Hence, great quarrels and dogmatic altercations. Gregoras is appointed arbiter between the patriarch and Palamas. He condemns the new opinions. He offends the Augusta. He is ordered to deliver his opinion in writing. Given that opportunity, he refutes the new teachers. He opposes the words of Gregory Nazianzen: also those of Basil the Great. He is not to be blamed for not having gained a victory over his adversaries. Rather, he is to be praised for his constancy and religion. He would perhaps have gone into exile, had not Cantacuzenus captured Byzantium in the meantime.

1. But there was no way for the anger of the Empress to be calmed, ^C nor could that flame at any time be extinguished, which the counsel given by the patriarch had kindled in her soul; for, as we said just now, he had warned and attempted to persuade her to return to favor with Cantacuzenus and to establish a firm peace, before the safety of the Roman enterprise was brought to the extreme end, he being indeed much on the rise, while we were little by little slipping away, daily wasting away more and more, and in danger of being reduced to nothing. On that account, she was constantly revolving new stratagems in her mind, and agitating one plan after another, uncertain in what way and by what method she could most easily cast the patriarch down from his pontifical seat. Furthermore, nothing of all this occurred to her as more effective than if she were to ally to herself the followers of Palamas and ^D...

^A arm them openly with greater strength against the patriarch, nurturing in the soul a long-standing and unavenged malevolence on account of the condemnation of his Tome.

II. When therefore she had for a long time held Palamas bound in a certain palace prison—for he was, as it seemed to me, a partisan of Cantacuzenus, but as letters, which were fortified with the imperial seal and sent by her and her son to the monks on Mount Athos regarding the new dogmas, clearly declared, he was one who had brought innovations into the Church of God and had filled her with tumult and greatest storms—she immediately and openly transferred her mind ^B to the completely contrary opinion. And she used him as an ally against the patriarch, bestowing upon him every favor, both confirming his opinion concerning the dogmas and being openly governed by his counsels, just as a sail on a ship when a violent and sudden gust of wind, rushing down from the northern summits, attacks from above.

Epistle of Gregory, Archbishop of Thessalonica, to the God-guarded Queen, the Lady Anna Palaiologina

Nothing is as necessary, nor as useful, and at the same time as fitting for the Christian race, which by the good pleasure of God reigns—so as to be preserved by the power of the kingdom of God—on behalf of the eternal kingdom of God, as that which is ^C crazily dragged down into creation by those presently opposing us. And having understood this, if anyone is the great and in all things admirable emperor of ours, he showed himself as having received the kingdom from God, since he was divinely dedicated on behalf of His kingdom and had brought low to the end those who had chosen to belittle its height. This also the most powerful imperial majesty, our holy lady, through the things which you are now doing, manifests clearly; and may you be enabled to bring this action to an end, and again—as that man is no longer with us—to put down completely those who shamelessly resist piety, so that ^D you may be, in this as in all other good things, zealous for God, free from discord. Since, however, you rightly wish to learn, through your God-moved zeal and your most imperial prudence, which is tempered with virtues, in what manner—briefly and as clearly as is possible—those things which are thought and said by us and by our opponents about the most divine Light are, here it is: The saints call the essence of God "divinity," and they call that Light, in which our Lord Jesus Christ shone ineffably upon the mount of the Transfiguration, radiating upon the disciples who had ascended with Him, "divinity." Therefore, Akindynos, just like Barlaam, accuses us of worshiping two uncreated divinities, since we maintain that this Light is uncreated, along with the essence that is above all manifestation, and that this same Light appears to the worthy. But he himself says that only the essence is uncreated divinity, just as that man formerly said...

^A III. And thus, as if the gate of the city had now at last been opened to the public, the waves of insane dogmas and institutions burst in, and the new fictions of opinions again had impunity; and tumult spread through the whole city, while bishops and priests cried out, as did all those who possessed wisdom more deeply fixed in their minds; and from this, battles and continuous altercations arose back and forth: but the insolence of wickedness lifted its head higher. ^B IV. While these things were in this state, my silence brought much doubt to the empress, and it was her purpose to explore what I felt. Therefore, although I was unwilling, she summoned me again, so that in these disputes which she had concerning Palamas with the patriarch, I might be a judge and as it were a certain standard: she having it in mind to do one of two things; for if I were to conspire with her against the patriarch, I would find her propitious, and would be heaped with imperial benefits in a most honorable way; but if not, then the anger conceived against me long ago because of that Gaul, and now obsolete by the passage of time, would be stirred up today; which she had long since, like an altar fixed in the inner chambers of her soul, religiously kept; and finally, she would rage against me with every kind of bitterness. ^C V. And so, having addressed me as I sat present, and having used softer words at the beginning with me, she brought forth those new opinions of Palamas. But soon, when she found us resisting, and stubbornly clinging to the prescriptions and institutions of our ancestors, and to all those precepts which had been handed down by the synods and were extant in writing, and at the same time bringing forward those words of the divine Paul, command- ^D [Other note: I think this letter was the beginning and first foundation of the life led by the Augusta with Palamas against the patriarch.]

those words of the divine Paul, command- ^A ing anathema to be upon him who preaches anything other than what he himself preached, even if he were one of the heavenly angels; for it is not within our duty to prefer anything else to God (for this would be much the same as if one wished to cut off the right hand with the left); but having relegated all things to a position below, we ought to look toward Him alone. At that time, however, she appeared to be raging against us and giving birth to much anger, and this especially because those who sat by her were echoing her and applauding with immoderate flattery. Therefore, ^B she dismissed me haughtily, and added no mild commands, demanding that I should immediately put my opinion in writing, so that those who shared her view might be able to oppose it more firmly.

VI.

VII.

ople] by acting and speaking, nor secured a complete victory. He, it seems, measures the ends of deeds and words by the present tranquility and not by the injustice of those times. Moreover, it is perfectly manifest that when the time for contention has shifted, an uncorrupted testimony regarding the outcome and a judgment appropriate to the events are likewise removed. The same man, surely (as it seems to me), would also rob those martyrs of old who bore witness to the truth of their crown, because although they had completed the whole course of patience, they neither compelled the tyrants to believe, nor—being unable to convince those unbelievers—did they cut off their heads, nor did they violently take away their lives. Since these things are so, it is not fair that I should be deemed worthy of reproach because I did not persuade him of the truths I spoke correctly, when he was of a contrary opinion; rather, he is the one to be blamed for not believing me at all when I spoke the truth. For while the power of speech is in my hands, the deeds themselves depend upon a more powerful hand. I, for my part, am far removed from all reproach, insofar as things did not turn out according to my intention, nor as I desired, with my mind inclined toward the best. For the principle of peace does not suggest that we attack the enemies of truth with our fists, but rather that we solicit them with gentle manners and mild entreaties.

^B VIII. There is, therefore, no room for blaming, but rather for admiring, the fact that although we could easily have purchased the Emperor’s benevolence with mere silence—as he was offering magnificent rewards—yet we retained our mind steadfast, and at the same time remained within the limits of customary duty with uncorrupted moderation of soul. For we thought it right to please not so much men as God, who sees what is hidden. Men, indeed, are witnesses only of those things which occur openly, and they can sometimes be deceived if someone covers the fruit of wickedness with the appearance and color of virtue. God, however, impresses the traces of His examination upon those very movements of the heart that precede actions, and He sets up the tribunal of justice in the very roots of our thoughts, where neither appearance nor pretense can hide it, if any offspring of wickedness should wish to sprout therein.

^C IX. When things had turned out in this way, we remained at home, awaiting the exile to which we had been condemned both night and day. And perhaps the plans that had been devised against us would have reached their conclusion, had it not happened in the meantime that Cantacuzenus took Byzantium; an event which I shall soon explain more clearly. ^D

CHAPTER VIII

[alt-version omitted]

suppetias ei veniunt. Repelluntur. Cantacuzenus alteram et tertiam legationem mavult mittere, quam vim facere. Eosdem legat, qui biennio ante ad eum missi venerant. Variorum notae.

Chapter VIII

^AFor, as we have already said, since it had been granted to Phacwlatus to have an armed guard—because he greatly feared the Latins on account of that previous pretext of scandal—it happened that certain men approached him, to whom letters came secretly from Cantacuzenus, to the effect that they should devise some way by which an easy entry into Byzantium might be opened for him; to them, he promised large sums of money and honors. Those who had approached him, having won him over and revealed the strength of those involved, promised to assist them with all their might and effort.

^BExceeding the previous number of the guard—for the power was his, having previously received from the empress the permission for the aforementioned reason to add to himself as many guards as would be convenient for him—he was entirely focused on the execution of this business. Being the author and leader of what the conspirators desired, he advised them not to expend effort on matters that would cause long delays, but rather to attend immediately to the head of the matter, and to cast the die as soon as possible with the hand of men present; especially since there was now a great scarcity of armed men in the city. Therefore, he informed the Emperor Cantacuzenus, who was staying not far from the city, of the whole plan of the operation; and at the same time commanded him to ride forth quickly with a few select cavalry—so that the deed might not be detected by adversaries—and to proceed diligently to the city walls and, on the appointed evening, to lie in wait with quiet steps, watching for the unbolting of the gates from within.

^CNow when the first watch of the night arrived, at which time most men, having extinguished their evening lamps, commit their eyes to the rule of sleep, and all the streets of the city are empty of crowds, he summoned the cavalrymen of Byzantium who were in the know, along with his most intimate kinsmen, and in addition to these, that troop of infantry which we said he had kept about him for the purpose of guards and sentries. With all of these—for there were more than a hundred of them—he went to the gate which is called the Golden ^D(37), and he unbolted this one, and having made a beginning from there, he likewise opened them all, proceeding until he was near the palace.

IV. The emperor, having been brought inside the city with his troops (divine Providence preserved this entry of his entirely pure and free from bloodshed), advanced slowly and in good order as far as the palace gates, while the dawn was already lighting up the sky. These gates...

he found closed, and at the same time, seeing defenders upon the battlements and hostile arms, he withdrew a step and turned back. He then chose for shelter, as an alternative to the other ramparts and camps, the lofty buildings situated opposite the palace, deciding to remain there for the time being and to consider what needed to be done. ^A That day was February 3rd, in the year 6855. And the Emperor Cantacuzenus was in those quarters.

V. The Empress Anna, however, shut up within that citadel, seeing clearly that her own efforts had come to nothing, did not even then—though late—deign to understand what was expedient. Even though she possessed no store of arms inside, nor a sufficient number of soldiers for a garrison, she sent men secretly to incite the Byzantine populace against the Emperor, pouring magnificent promises into their ears; and at the same time, she summoned from Galata cohorts of Latin soldiers, along with as many missiles and machines of war as would suffice for military use. ^B Indeed, she even gave a "Scythian" answer, as they say, to the Emperor Cantacuzenus when he requested that she hand over the citadel of her own accord and in good grace—if she wished to share the empire with him, even though defeated, and to be preceded with her son in all those things which, for the sake of imperial dignity, bring honor conjoined with reverence and respect, namely in acclamations, and as often as they had to stand or sit together, or wherever it was consonant with reason (for this, indeed, had been his intention from the very beginning)—and when he likewise urged her not to waste time fruitlessly nor to await the danger from the siege which was clearly imminent. She ordered the messengers to be washed in reproaches ^C from the wall, and would not even allow the things said to be admitted to her ears.

VI. At the first approach of evening, when men were occupied with lighting their lamps, two swift triremes from Galata, filled with Latin soldiers and arms, reached the shore; they had intended to effect one of two things: either to assist the Empress by bringing all their forces into the citadel, or to carry her off from there, having seized her along with her children and treasure. ^D But those who were with Cantacuzenus, having scented their arrival, immediately drove them away from the approach with many archers, and beginning from outside the citadel, they employed a suitable band of soldiers to begin keeping watch.

^A VII. Others, indeed, all desired to lay siege on the following day and to commit the judgment of victory to the arbitration of arms, but this did not seem particularly pleasing to the Emperor Cantacuzenus. For, wishing to maintain his custom there as well, and believing it better to accomplish what he had determined without the blood of fellow-citizens, he thought it best to send a second and third embassy, and to bring the past back to memory—whence they had begun and where they had ended, and how at last they had been brought to such an outcome as he himself had always ^B foreseen and testified, both secretly and openly, by writing and through envoys. Therefore, having summoned the bishop of Philippi and all those who, about two years before, had come as envoys from the Empress Anna to him while he was at Didymoteichon, he addressed them in this manner:

VIII. “Long ago, the Lord, being angry with the beloved people of the Jews, whom He had previously testified to while giving the law through Moses, saying: ‘Give ear, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words from my mouth,’ ^C testified to them again concerning the reproof of their later transgressions through Isaiah, saying: ‘Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: I have brought up children and exalted them, and they have rejected me,’ and so forth. In the same way, I too, today, calling you as witnesses of what was said to you by me long ago, and through you to the Empress Anna, have judged it necessary to now remind you of what was said, and I have decided to send you, who were then sent as envoys from her to me, back to her now as envoys myself. You surely remember what I commanded you to report to the Empress when you came as envoys to me: that God is just, and therefore knows how to judge justly, and that He brings about the outcomes of events with justice. Since, therefore, it is God’s custom to act in this way both for those who do wrong and for those who suffer wrong, I hope that this will also be shown in the present affairs. And what need is there for me to recount individual events to you who are not ignorant of them? ^D For you know that I, not because I was skilled in prophecy, foretold to you the miserable end of those who plotted against me and this my entry into the city, but because I looked to the surveyor and unslumbering eye of divine justice; and, committing to Him the calamities that you were unjustly inflicting upon me, I therefore had hope, and in your hearing, I foretold the future outcomes of events. For this reason, I judged it better that I should not call upon others, but should call you to witness and should send you as envoys to the Empress, so that, by comparing the past with the present and the predicted with the actual outcomes, you might exhort her to reverence the tribunal of justice, and not to fight further against God, nor to attempt to confound the just judgment of God, nor, finally, to publicly persist in those things which are greater than can be accomplished, to the destruction of her children and herself. For I remain in the same mind, and although I am able to use arms and forces against the acropolis.

^A nevertheless I shrink from taking it by my own will.

IX. Having said this, he dismissed them. They departed, assembled all that had happened, and reported it from the beginning to the Empress Anna; but they achieved nothing, and seeing her inflamed with greater fury, they withdrew in consternation. When the Emperor heard this, and learned that the Empress persisted in her same hardness of heart, and that her words maintained the same severity as her thoughts, and that none of the previous calamities had availed to make her perceive clearly what was advantageous, he at first wished to entrust the outcome of the matter to the laws of war and to a siege. ^B Soon, however, he checked himself, and returned to the better designs of clemency, leaving it to be determined what ought to be done.

X. This did not please the soldiers and commanders whom he had with him. Therefore, on the following day, they decided among themselves to attack the fortress secretly, before the Emperor could perceive it. And a little after midday, having raised their standards, they surrounded it; some engaged the enemy with missiles, while others, holding fire in their hands and bundles of brushwood, set ablaze the gate of the acropolis which faces the church of the Blachernae; and immediately an armed multitude burst in. When the maritime part of the acropolis had been captured in this manner, and the belongings of the inhabitants had been plundered, ^C the soldiers did not yet intend to halt that destructive impulse, but were already about to attack the upper parts of the acropolis as well, and to transfer the entire hostile flame thither. And perhaps that part, too, would have immediately experienced the force of the siege and the fire, had the Emperor not curbed that immoderate impulse by sending men to restrain them. And these events passed roughly thus.

XI. But the Empress Anna passed that whole night in the greatest trepidation. At dawn, however, she called together those she had with her and began to consult about what should be done; and it was decided by the common opinion of all to send men to join hands, and not only to seek pardon for the crimes committed (for she considered this unworthy ^D and by no means decorous, since hardness and pride were deeply ingrained in her mind), but even to stipulate, with great arrogance, that certain great and unheard-of things be promised under oath; and beyond other demands filled with insolence, to reclaim her authority, but to refuse to share it. And that we may not dwell too long on trivialities, when those untimely hopes had been rendered vain, and she feared that with her affairs already standing on the precipice, she might perish at the hands of others—even if Cantacuzenus were unwilling—whoever had suffered something more grievous from her were already moving toward the benign Empress-

to allow her to rule jointly and preside at the same time.

CAPUT IX.

I.

II.

III.

^A Since it [the throat] would admit neither poultices nor bandages of any kind, the Augusta, therefore, began to revolve in her mind every artifice to abrogate the patriarch’s pontificate, turning and re-turning all counsels. Finally, she found that nothing was more effective for her proposed goal than if she were to become a participant in those opinions and impious utterances which previously she had most vehemently rejected, and, by joining herself to the followers of Palamas, make them her friends and use them as most bitter allies against him.

IV. First, therefore, she ordered him to be shut up in his own house as if in a prison, such that he could be approached by no one; then, she gathered and urged against him assemblies of bishops day and night; finally, she mandated the bishops to convene on the following day to depose him from his rank. But night brought a delay to this affair, having induced a severe inflammation in her throat, which threatened a sudden death. ^B And from that time for the space of three days, the terrors of death stood round about her, and troubled her judgment. For the most persevering clemency of God still held back the missiles of His final wrath and deferred the destruction of the woman, and, having granted space for repentance to a spirit that was agitated, it only lightly sketched the reserved punishment with these troubles and difficulties. But when the fourth day had confirmed and revived the sick woman, she resumed that former mind of hers against the patriarch and returned again to her earlier plans. Six days had intervened when she again decreed that the bishops should convene on the following day to act upon the same matters. ^C

V. As soon as the sun had risen, a man addicted to a monastic and quieter life, to whom she had been accustomed to reveal the secrets of her conscience whenever he visited her, ran to her in haste. He handed her a tablet and said that he had found it by chance before her doors as he went out early in the morning; he did not know, however, by whom or for what purpose it had been cast. The things that were read in it were these: First, horrific execrations against that religious man, and threats of the most grave punishments (namely such as bring to soul and body a sharp sense of prolonged and intolerable pain), if he, through fear or for any other reason, deterred by this, should suppress and refuse to deliver that tablet to the empress. Then the address turned to the empress herself; and the force of the words was nearly this: "Unless you cease fighting and waging war against the sacred dogmas of the Church, you will not be able to avoid undermining your own authority, and yourself weaving and contriving the destruction of your own glory." ^D Having heard these things, the empress became enraged and inveighed bitterly against the man with sharper outcries, and threatened him with the gravest punishments if he were ever seen in the palace hereafter. The tablet was then torn up with great spirit, that which...

he had prepared as a strategy against the patriarch; and he summoned the bishops, and as many as belonged to the faction of Palamas, considering what had been heard a trifle.

VI. The gates of the palace were therefore barred to all those who would take up the defense of the patriarch; and there was cut off from the patriarch himself every liberty of speech, and access to the bishops of that ^B synod was forbidden. Thus, having utilized an empty judgment against him, they carried out a written deposition of him, for no other reason than that he had subjected Palamas along with his new dogmas to anathema, and had rescinded the Tome written in his favor with later Tomes. On that day, the empress, having spent the time in these matters, set out a sumptuous table toward sunset, and provided a most lavish feast for those who had worked to ensure that the patriarch be despoiled of his dignity. And certain laughs, not altogether modest, and festive stories from every quarter adorned and embellished that banquet. But on that very night, ^C around cockcrow, all that joy was turned into sorrow. For "in the evening weeping may endure, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. xxix, 6). And these things happened in this manner.

VII. To the Emperor Cantacuzenus, having entered the palace, there was no place at all suitable in which to dwell; and this, even though his wife was not yet present, but still tarried at Didymotichum. For as to the part of the house where it was fitting for the emperor to reside, from that he did not move Empress Anne, who with her son, the Emperor John, had occupied it; nor did he impede them from having their residence there as they were accustomed. But as she had given way to the imperial prerogatives in all things, both in sittings and in acclamations, so too she gave way in the very habitations; he himself betook himself to those parts which occur around the great old triclinium of Alexius, choosing to inhabit what were ruins rather than houses.

VIII. As for John the patriarch, who at that time was standing bound in the palace, ^D he did not deem him worthy of any address. For he could not wish well to one who had set himself to persecute him and had been a fierce enemy from the beginning, his heart being in no way inclined to consult kindly; nor, on the other hand, did it seem right to him to add other evils to his misfortunes, except that, yielding to the persuadings of Palamas, he took away the episcopal dignity from him a second time, and having ordered him to be transferred for the interim to the monastery of Saint Basil, he sent him into exile to Didymotichum a little later.

IX. And these things, although with a peculiar and more luxurious...

style of exposition they stood in need, we have traversed in a summary and somewhat dry fashion; leaving it to many others well-disposed, who daily from every quarter aim at the same target, to explain these same arguments more copiously: for those who wish, it is easy to have recourse to them, so that from them the abundance and variety of the subject-matter might be grasped more cumulatively. Since this is the case, it will be permitted to us now, having returned to our design, to pursue again that same sequence of history, and to begin the narration of those things that followed thereafter; in such a way, however, that we omit for the sake of brevity most of the intermediate matters, and whatever has been commemorated by others either privately or publicly. ^A

CHAPTER X.

1. For since with the followers of Palamas the goal was ever to establish and build up their own new-fangled doctrines, both from afar and from near, and they observed that the affairs of the Byzantines were falling into a worse state, while those of Cantacuzenus were rising toward the more powerful side; they flattered the Empress Anna openly and clearly, as much by themselves as through the leading men most closely joined to her, and through the entire crowd of palace women, so that both she and all those who had joined themselves to her might be gained as helpers: for it was easy for them, with the evil spirit inciting them, to outwit and corrupt the minds of men; yet secretly, by writings and various arts, they favored Cantacuzenus, so that they might draw him also, from afar, to their new dogmas and mold him. And so they expended most intense effort on the traitors, so that Cantacuzenus might enter Byzantium. And with his will thus completely mastered by them, it seemed a light thing thereafter that whatever stood in the way, and that Cantacuzenus could be carried and driven wherever they pleased; after he donned the fullest imperial authority, he was scarcely thought great by them. ^C

2. Now Palamas indeed decided thus: that it contributed greatly to his own plans for one of two things to be effected: either that he himself, if he could, should be imposed upon the patriarchal seat; or at least some one of his own followers. Because, therefore, the business was succeeding not at all according to his desire as he acted for himself, he therefore thought it best to advance Isidore. ^D

Notes of various authors.

^A he who had previously been elected bishop of Monemvasia, since he had been convicted of the new errors of Palamas, had been cast down from his dignity and separated from the sacred communion. Upon the same [Isidore] now obtaining the patriarchate, the body of the Church was immediately torn asunder (50).

III. And the majority of the bishops, having gathered first in the temple of the holy Apostles, and secondly in the monastery of divine Stephen the protomartyr (52), struck both Isidore himself and as many as were like-minded with him with a canonical anathema, and at the same time, having confirmed the decree with their own signatures, they sent it to them with boldness. The emperor, being extremely angered by these things, whetted his wrath against them; and from this it befell some to be overlooked, and to be brought from an honorable state to an inglorious one, and from opulent to destitute; and for others to be exiled from the great city, some willingly and some against their will.

IV. As to the things that were done after this, it is possible to hear them described more fully by others: how, in short, they were all dispersed this way and that, and rejected along with their freedom of speech and their accusations; and how, on the other hand, from the orthodox everywhere on sea and land, frequent letters were streaming into Byzantium, full of divine zeal, which pursued with open exclamations of anathema both Palamas and Isidore ^B and all their followers; I mean both the bishops and presbyters of the Antiochenes, Alexandrians, and Trapezuntines; and likewise from the Cypriots, the Rhodians, and the orthodox inhabitants of the neighboring regions; and also from the Mysians and Triballians, and whoever had been accustomed by long habit to remain in the definitions of the holy Fathers, and not to accept anything novel from anyone at all, even if an angel should bring it from heaven.

CAPUT XI.

[Variorum notae] Having forced [him], and having besought many things both through himself and through others, when he had no way of persuading him in this matter—and many others, along with the Monemvasiots who were present at that time, are witnesses of this—as he did not have his compliance in this matter, he insisted that he would set him over the Thessalonians, employing greater force. But the man who was truly of the Spirit, and who was in all things holy and excellent—Isidore, as all who knew the man would agree—is persuaded by many entreaties of the Monemvasiots to accept their holy pastoral care, and, having completed the hierarchal greeting customary in such matters, to reside from then on and concelebrate daily, to the one who is now from the beginning writing falsely about us regarding the reverence. For how could he have been doubtful regarding ^D the reverence, if he had a concelebrant and a teacher of piety so ready at hand? But he says he "drew the trial upon himself," even the candidate from Monemvasia. So he was a candidate; but if he was a candidate, he was not "doubtful," and that from the beginning. And for what reason did this candidate draw the trial upon himself? Because, he says, he thought the same things as Palamas. And yet he was one of those who had come together with Palamas from Thessaly, and from the beginning he was openly of the same disposition as him and openly a supporter in those synods. How then had he become a candidate for us after those synods? Or rather, how is it not clear from this that he remained in the same piety in which he was before, and for which he departed from his fatherland, and for which he struggled, and having received the vote as a prize for his struggle for piety then and there, he subsequently set at nothing both the honor of the high priesthood and its removal for the sake of this, his own piety; whereas you, having renounced the reverence which you possessed when you voted for him, and having now joined yourselves to the Barlaamites, have voted against him who did not share in the same manner of thinking as you. But he says not even a confession of his own way of thinking was obtained when he was asked for it, just as Palamas was not persuaded. Oh, the shame of this impudent and groundless false-speaking! Truly, they are "synods of those who set at nought," according to Jeremiah.

^A [A. M. 6855, IND. 13]

Book XV

I. But we have been so carried away, little by little, that things of greater importance seem to have been omitted; namely, that the one served the other as the author and architect of his dignity—Isidore served Cantacuzenus for the patriarchate, and Cantacuzenus served Isidore for the imperial office for the second time. For the prior proclamation at Didymoteichon seemed to the Palamites to have attained no completeness.

II. But these things were carried out in the Blachernae temple. For that miracle of the world, I mean the great and most celebrated temple of Holy Sophia, since that part of it had collapsed, having been brought—alas!—to a state of being of no use, it was by no means opportune for arranging such feasts and celebrations. ^B Yet this place was not able to contain such a multitude; and so the space seemed narrower and more unpleasant. For since that public platform, upon which it was necessary for the imperial thrones to be placed, required a length proportional to its height and width—upon which the imperial thrones had to be set—it was necessary for there to be sufficient open space on both sides for the deacons to sit whenever there was need, so that the remaining part of the temple was already too narrow to be able to contain a diverse multitude of men. Nevertheless, since there was no temple among all the rest that could be compared to that greatest divine sanctuary, it seemed necessary to use this second one as, so to speak, an auxiliary.

III. Now, those who at that time occupied those imperial seats ^C were the two emperors of the same name and associates, and together with them three empresses: Anna, and Irene Cantacuzena with her daughter Helena. These things being thus completed, about the tenth hour on the twenty-first day of May, they immediately mounted their horses and, just as they were, wearing those imperial insignias, went to the palace. And when they had there, according to custom, presented themselves to be viewed from the high platform, they soon descended, and a table having been set, they sat down again in the five seats.

IV. Moreover, the palace was suffering at that time from such poverty that there was nothing there, in the way of platters and drinking vessels, of gold or silver; but ^D some things were made of tin, and the rest were earthenware vessels. From which it is possible…

^A for those who are not unskilled in such matters to understand, as well as in other things that should have been otherwise, how it came to pass that they were not accomplished as expected, due to the violent pressure of the misery of the affairs, words, and undertakings that were being tyrannized at that time. For I pass over in silence the fact that even the imperial diadems and robes for that solemnity, for the most part, had the appearance of gold and supposedly precious stones, but in reality, some were made of leather, such as is sometimes gilded for the use of leatherworkers, while others were made of glass, shining with every kind of color. To be sure, there was here and there, though sparsely, the pure luster of precious stones and the sheen of pearls that would not deceive the eyes. To such an extent had the old fortune and magnificence of the Roman state fallen and been utterly extinguished and ruined, that even now we cannot narrate these things without shame.

V. The causes of such a collapse and misery were these: ^B First, the tumult and blind confusion of civil strife; by which it was very easy both to squander what financial revenues existed and to invent and devise expenses that did not exist. The second, and last, was the avarice and gold-crazed mind of the Empress Anna and Alexios Apokaukos, to whom the necessity of waging war against Cantacuzenus provided a pretext for getting rich in a wicked way, having conceived the plan to exhaust with full hands, those precious treasures that had long been stored away in the imperial treasuries. For by pretending to sell some of them to others, they would secretly appropriate them ^C for themselves; and some they sold to themselves at a very cheap price, just as they pleased. This was done intentionally, moreover, as was sometimes divulged by them: so that if it should happen that Cantacuzenus entered Byzantium and took control of the government, there would be no abundance of money available for him, by which power against enemies is acquired for princes and the ornamentation of rule is created. For money bears the same relationship to every state, and especially to sovereign powers, that the binding and harmony of nerves do to every living creature.

VI. Therefore, when Cantacuzenus arrived, the royal treasuries were found to be completely and utterly ^D emptied, and nothing was found in them except empty air, dust, and what I might call Epicurean atoms. When, therefore, it was necessary to search for and receive some from the Empress Anna for the necessary expenses of imperial functions, and some from those who had plundered the public treasury—who, having prepared for themselves a great force of wealth from there, had suddenly emerged as the richest from being very poor—he passed over everything in silence, whether, as it seems to me, he was exercising in this too his innate and ingrained gentleness; or whether, as most people kept saying, he was hindered by a timid character, out of a certain natural humility of soul, and because, with matters still turbulent and not yet brought into order

^B VII. So far, indeed, was he from being a burden to any of those who, in the time opportune for plunder, had shared among themselves both his own property and that of those who followed him—that is to say, houses and lands, and whatever is constructed or woven together with gold, pearls, or precious stones—that, whereas he ought, in the first place, to have restored all the family wealth, after reclaiming it from those who had looted it, to those who had undergone infinite dangers for his sake, and in the second place, to have paid out rewards worthy of their labors, he did not even care where each one of them was to dwell for the evening. Instead, he would even rebuke those who asked for their own, and would grow indignant at their clamoring, and would disregard those wandering at night in the open air and hanging around the doors of others. He would set himself before them as a model, as he claimed, since he himself suffered the same things—like some arbiter and weigher standing in the middle, distributing fortune, whether prosperous or adverse, equally both to himself and to others, thus cutting off at the root and blocking the tongues that would perversely misinterpret the equity of a just examination. But whether Cantacuzenus decided and acted rightly or otherwise, I leave to be judged by those who read this history in the proper way and who are able to join the beginnings of events fittingly with their ends, and to observe—as if in a single body—the coherence and order of the deeds and words performed and spoken in detail and one by one. I, however, shall return to that point.

VIII. For the seventh day after that celebration and solemn imposition of the diadem arrived; and the same divine church at Blachernae, with the same dais and seats that we have mentioned, received the emperors together with the empresses. And there, the union of the young sovereigns was duly completed, I mean of John and Helena: the former being sixteen years of age, and the latter two years his junior. ^C

CAPUT XII.

I. For since the army and the entire populace were agitated, and feared future judgments more than present ones—because everyone who intended to recognize either Cantacuzenus as emperor or Palamas and his sectaries for communion ^D had been cut off and excluded from the Christian community by John, who had held the patriarchate shortly after the outbreak of the civil war—and while the internal sedition was just being established...

^A Isidorus, who was patriarch at that time, mounted the ambo and read out a written absolution; but there was no one at all who approved of it or accepted it. Indeed, it seemed utterly hollow, more futile than any shadow, and worthy of long and short mockery alike. I would even go so far as to say that there was no one whom the things being said did not move to laughter, and they were taken as if someone who was completely blinded in both eyes were promising to heal those who were afflicted in only one. To the more serious-minded, however, these words of the Gospel were on their tongues: "First cast out, hypocrite, the beam from your eye, and then the speck that is in your brother’s eye" (Matt. VII, 3); and other things akin to these were added. For, they said, he who is himself guilty of double and multiple crimes has need of a greater absolution; he is so shameless as to undertake to heal those who have no need of him at all—not being entirely leprous himself, so to speak, while acting as a total leper—and to cleanse those who need only a small purification, while he himself is covered in filth and mud, like swine that wallow in the mire. With such jibes, and even harsher ones, the many and varied tongues of those present there shot at him; and by ones and twos and threes, gathering at intervals, they debated and conversed with one another about such things, secretly and under their breath reproaching his shamelessness.

^B II. There were also some who openly and publicly showered the man with abuse, for there was nothing healthy in what he did or said, either at that present time or for the future. For after a short time, because most of the bishops and priests had broken away and departed from his communion, he gathered a rabble of commoners into his thiasos and filled the Church with them in place of those who had defected ^C, improvising bishops and priests; just as the myths of old tell of the Sown Men and the one-day-old Giants, in the same way he armed an unlearned host of teachers against religion [P. 499].

^D III. Next, he determined to console Palamas, who was grieving 62 at having failed to attain the patriarchal throne, for he was the master of his cult and faction and the cause of his own dignities. He therefore ordained him Bishop of Thessalonica. But when he arrived there, he was not even received with hospitality by the citizens of that city, but—as they say—received a "Scythian" answer from afar; and, as if he were some Cylonian pollution, he was immediately driven away by them from the fields and suburbs of that same city, even before he had entered the gates and before he had drawn any closer to the walls, and he returned.

IV. But we must leave these things to others, namely to those who have set about writing an account at length of everything that happened then concerning ecclesiastical doctrines, which we must recount here in the history in summary fashion.

[A. M. 6855, IND. 15] It is fitting and right now to run through those matters which we previously interrupted, and to continue the chain.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY BOOK XVI

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK SIXTEENTH

CHAPTER ONE

I. Of the cities of Thrace, with the exception of ^B Medea, which is a seaside town, there was now none that did not obey Cantacuzenus, since he had entered Byzantium and had been declared emperor with the customary solemn rites. In Macedonia, however, while the rest were already subjugated by the prince of the Triballians, Berrhoea itself also soon passed into his dominion. For, being destitute of reinforcements, it could not long withstand the barbarous and persistent assault, and Manuel, the son of the emperor, who was performing the office of prefect at that time, fled from there. But Thessalonica favored neither party; it would submit neither to Cantacuzenus nor indeed to the ^C prince of the Triballians.

II. For sedition had long since seized that city, and the faction of those who were called Zealots excelled the rest; and such was its state that it could be compared to no form of government. For it was neither aristocratic, such as Lycurgus once established for the Lacedaemonians; nor was it democratic, such as the Athenians had first, and afterwards...

Clisthenes when he reorganized [the state] from four tribes into ten; nor [was it like that] which Zaleucus ordained for the Epizephyrian Locrians, or that which Charondas the Catanaean [established] for the people in Sicily; nor was it some form of republic more recent, compounded from two or more [elements] mixed together, such as existed among the Cypriots, and that which the commons in ancient Rome are said to have established when moved by sedition against the consular men. Rather, it was a certain strange kind of mob rule, carried along by chance and irrational impulse. For some more daring men, having joined together into a self-appointed confederacy of power, ran riot there for all their life, holding the commoners, whoever they were in the city, enslaved to their own caprice; but those who were wealthier they despoiled of their fortunes; and at the same time, they themselves exulted in license, and were instigators to others [to ensure] that none should submit to any foreign princes, but that all should use as law and rule just what might please them.

III. Concerning Medea

III. Furthermore, the city of Medea in Thrace, which lies further west than Byzantium and is adjacent to the extremity of the Euxine Sea, being distant from here a little over four hundred stades, having rebelled for a short while and stood alone by itself, wrought many grave [evils] against the Byzantines, and in turn suffered very many herself. At length, having been besieged, she delivered herself to Cantacuzenus by compact. And these things went ^B on in this manner.

IV. The Sebastocrators John and Manuel

IV. Following these events, two brothers of the Empress Irene, John and Manuel, were appointed ^C Sebastocrators by the Emperor, and were adorned with the insignia pertaining to such a dignity, in terms of headgear and footwear alike. One of them, namely John, shortly afterwards traveled to the fortress of the Epibatae and took as his wife the daughter of Alexius Apocaucus, who had previously been married to the Palaiologos Andronicus, whom we have said above was drowned in the river that flows past Didymoteichon and Adrianople. John remained there for a short time; soon, however, his mother-in-law, wishing him to go from there with his new bride, magnificently escorted him to the fortress nearest to Trajanopolis, I mean the monastery of the Adeloi ^D. There, the country estates and fields had long ago been assigned to him by the Emperor Cantacuzenus. For she feared that, having gained control of the fortress of the Epibatae together with the wealth, he might compel her to suffer exile from there.

V. At this same time, a grave and pestilential sickness afflicted men...

^A, having taken its beginning from the Scythians and the Maeotians and the mouths of the Tanais at the very onset of spring, and it lasted throughout that entire year, advancing and corrupting in like manner only that which was precisely the inhabited coast, cities and regions together, ours as well as all those that extend in a continuous tract as far as Gades and the Pillars of Hercules. But in the second year following, it passed also to the islands of the Aegean Sea. Then it reached the Rhodians, and likewise the Cypriots, and all those who inhabit the other islands. This wasting disease consumed men and women alike, the wealthy and the poor, the old and the young; in a word, it spared neither age nor station. Thus, most houses were thoroughly emptied of all their inhabitants in one day, or sometimes two, since no one could bring aid to anyone else, whether a neighbor or one joined by kinship and blood. Nor did this disease lash only human beings; but also whatever other animals usually lived and dwelt with men—I mean dogs, and horses, and all kinds of birds, and even the mice, if any happened to be hiding in the walls of the houses. The manifest signs of the evil, and the harbingers of sudden death, were these: a swelling arising around the extremities of the thighs and the arms, and a bloody putrefaction at the same time, which would carry off those who were seized by it from the living on that very day, while they were sitting or walking. At that time, Andronicus, the youngest of the emperor’s children, had also died. ^B

CHAPTER II

1. Such was the state of affairs when John Asanes, who was then staying in the fields surrounding Adrianople, decided to meet privately with his nephew Matthew. ^C The latter, the eldest of the emperor’s children, had been appointed at that time by his father, the emperor, to be governor of the cities of Thrace. It happened by chance that he arrived at the same place as his uncle, and both were using the same hunting grounds. It pleased Asanes, I say, to communicate the secret thoughts of his mind to him. Therefore, he began first and delivered this speech:

II. “If you believe that some fortune or a tyrannical law of fate sits in judgment to govern the affairs of men, or that they are driven by an uncertain and reckless course, having surrendered the reins to blind chance, it is certainly better to be silent and to await the unknown decree of fatal necessity. But if our affairs are for the most part administered by will and counsel, to what end do we ^D [P. 502]

^A voluntarily entangle ourselves in all manner of nets of fear? For you know how we endured countless labors in exile, along with long and manifold dangers—all of which were neighbors to death—so that we might purchase security for your father. Thus, it would truly be a lesser praise to compare our deeds to those of the sons of Jove, the Dioscuri, or to any Orestes or Pylades who ever filled the long ages of the world with examples of brotherly love. And yet Empress Anna was always conspiring against your father with such persecutions and deaths, though she could not put forward even the slightest pretext, having the very face of truth against him. ^B From her, both I and my brother Manuel received many letters in secret, in which she—interposing every kind of oath—promised us both property and revenue, and at the same time liberty for our imprisoned parents. But we chose to revere the tribunal of justice and to keep our steps fixed within immovable bounds, rather than, for the sake of base gain, to inflict everlasting stings upon our conscience. For to betray you and your father for the sake of my own safety (to say nothing here of other kin who were companions and participants in those dangers) would have been the same as if I had betrayed my own self for my own sake, and had voluntarily poured out my own blood upon the ground to prevent my own blood from being shed. Thus I regarded such a thought as a kind of riddle, ^C and yet I could find no solution that would in the least shake the firm foundations of my counsels. Yet those things which I took care not to commit at that time, I see now being committed by your father against you and against your entire kindred; and indeed, against all the soldiers and commanders who endured those great labors both abroad and at home, and against those very men who suffered the hardships of prison. For the calamity which then befell the miserable was not simple, nor did it last for a short time; but it was complex and various, and extended over a long period. Therefore, even though the evils to which we then voluntarily subjected ourselves were grave, those to which we are now unwillingly and unworthily subjected by your father are more grave still. For we who were contending for blessed liberty, ^D have—through those long labors—inadvertently exchanged it for wretched servitude. Indeed, those whom we sought to avoid as the bitterest ensnarers of our life, your father willingly and gladly appointed as our masters. It is as if we had purposely endured so many labors only so that the swords of those who pursued us might be brought to our throats sooner than they themselves desired, and that we might finally receive that reward which would be more bitter than the hardships of flight—for in those times, brilliant hopes nourished our desire; but now your father has openly extinguished even that sweet breeze of hope for us. For I think there is no one who can provide us with firm guarantees that Empress Anna will not take care that we all be punished with immediate, swift death—we who...

^A will have permission to live after your father is taken away. Come then, while we are still masters of ourselves, be eager to act in a noble manner, yielding to my counsels on your behalf and our own, so that we may be able to ward off this shameful and glorious danger. For, desiring to win for yourself a portion of the whole empire, be eager to acquire a kingdom for yourself which, while your father lives, will be subject to him, but upon his death, will be a peculiar and firm protection of safety for you. ^B For from this, one of two things will follow for us: we shall either attain a safe and salutary fortune, or we shall be delivered most swiftly from the hardships of the present life—hardships which, to endure, I consider tolerable only for those who do not regard it as ungrateful and most miserable to have the sun as a perpetual witness of their own ignominy.” Thus John Asanes spoke in this manner to Matthew, the son of his sister, taking thought for his own safety and that of his kinsmen and friends.

Chapter III

^B II. Matthew, the nephew on his sister’s side, responded to him as follows: “I, too, am surrounded by the same fears by night and by day, my good fellow. And just as those Persian naval forces once surrounded and beset Eretria and Artemisium, so too are many and varied swarms of thoughts ^C besieging my heart from all sides—like merchant ships and triremes full of terror and most grievous worries, which, having arrived as if by a piratical assault, bring us forebodings of manifest unhappiness. And so I am in labor, and I endure the pains which arise from this; yet to give birth and to shake off what causes me distress, I cannot, ^D revering the ancestral laws of nature, which do not permit sons to oppose their parents, even in matters that are manifestly near. And I have often wished to disclose that secret to you, but I have not had a tongue that would obey me. For as soon as it had begun to bring the fetus of my heart into the light, my energy was immediately relaxed, as if by some numbness that was powerfully prevailing, namely, the reverence for my father, which kept it tightly constrained. And thus, the things I had agitated in my mind fell back again to nothing, and were most easily overturned. ^D But if the matter were about any other things, and not all that danger in which we find ourselves related to life, I would have neglected it all the more, because I think I differ not at all from the rest of the multitude; but even if I had an intelligence naturally endowed in such a way that it seemed to touch the ethereal axles in its magnitude and to be received as a guest in heavenly tabernacles, I would have most easily cast it down at the feet of paternal authority. But now, that I may also use a more open discourse, as if by a door opened by you, who hold the place next to my father among me, since life is dear to all men, and many often, when sudden dangers have surrounded them, have put on supreme power, as if

^A a refuge; and if they did so, not willingly but under the compulsion of necessity, no one should rightfully blame me if I, driven by similar terrors, should take refuge in laying hold of the purple buskins. For anyone who, in this state of affairs, would refuse to do so, would be acting just as if one, having fallen into a great storm in the middle of the sea and being surrounded by waves, and his ship having been broken by some chance, while a plank was at hand which he might seize to endure the perils of the sea—while yet holding on to the hope of safety, dangling as it were by a thin thread of a spider's web—should instead, utterly oblivious of his own safety, cast himself voluntarily into the deep whirlpools of the waters; and this would seem to those who judge such matters fairly to be nothing short of madness. For those calamities which are brought on by some hidden force of necessity provide a clear excuse for those who suffer them. But whosoever, knowingly and deliberately, falls into misfortunes as if into labyrinths, against him awaits severe censure from those who have the leisure to weigh such things more carefully. For me, to say something more substantial, this does not seem to differ much from my father's own practice. For he himself chose this custom for himself, at the time when he, too, compelled by surrounding dangers, proceeded to those imperial insignia as if to a refuge of fortune. Wherefore I may hope for one of two things from my father. For either he will perhaps praise me as an imitator of his own cleverness in managing very difficult matters; or, if he attempts to reproach me, he will be, unwittingly, openly reproaching himself rather than me; nor, because I have dared this, will it be permitted for him to demand punishment from me before any just judge. ^B

IV. Having said these things, he instructed his uncle to apply himself to organizing this undertaking with him, and to converse with the soldiers, wherever they might encounter them, as was appropriate. He himself, having occupied the fortress of Orestias, fortified the whole city from there; then, by courting favor and binding the armies to himself with bland words, he prepared himself for the work. ^C

CHAPTER III

^D Having heard these things, the father could not remain calm, but occupied himself with despondency and kept consuming his own angry soul, which had long since assigned the servile condition of fortune to his sons, but to his son-in-law, Palaeologus, the succession to the imperial power. And so, although he greatly desired to depart that very day, he remained nevertheless, and persisted in deliberating with himself in the council-chamber of his own mind. And yet, it seemed to him in no way agreeable to do either of the two things immediately. For he was not bold enough to go out of Byzantium without arms [to act] according to his judgment, and to attack a soul fluctuating on the very tide of ambition; nor, on the other hand, to betake himself there with arms and armies.

For in this way he would have stirred up the motions in the youth’s soul—disturbed as they were by the two passions of ambition and fear—rather like blowing on ashes to ignite them into celestial flames.

^B II. It seemed better, then, to send forth the Empress Irene (77), a woman of profound mind, and one exceedingly capable by both nature and experience in managing affairs. She, above all others, knew how to approach her son with certain gentle and persuasive means, and, in short, to address him in a mother’s voice. As she set out and was approaching the city of Pamphylus, the youth, having great confidence in his mother, went out to meet her. He was hastening on his journey, hoping to intercept her somewhere on the road before she reached Orestias, and to inquire from afar the purpose of her arrival. But she, having cunningly frustrated his haste, slipped secretly into the city of Orestias before her son became aware.

III. Matthaeus, upon hearing what had happened on the road and recognizing clearly that he had been outwitted by the more profound schemes ^C of his mother, came himself to Orestias the following day. He offered his mother the homage that was due, and at the same time promised that he would be obedient in all things that she might command, provided only that she would cast out all fear from his mind; for she was a mother well-versed in how to heal a soul suspended in fear and trembling with the terror of things to come, and [he knew she was the best one] to steady the mind of a son who loved his mother. She, having received her son with a certain benign majesty, addressed him in a truly royal manner and delivered this speech:

IV. "I, my son," she said, "praise that proverb, 'Africa always brings forth something new' (78), though not absolutely, because its pronouncement is not expressed in absolute terms. For when it ought to have been spoken of the entire orb of earth and sea, it has declared it of Libya alone; and since that is a small part, it hardly represents the commonwealth of the whole world. ^D That abundance of new things, which is attributed to Libya, pertains only to the forms of monstrous animals and to the species of other things that rarely come to our provinces due to the great distance, having some peculiar nature in themselves, such as these things that are born unknown to us in that harsh and wild region. But the novelty of the entire world continuously distinguishes human affairs with situation, vitality, joy, sadness, glory, infamy, disease, health, life, death—and, to sum it up in a few words—with virtue, vice, and changes and all kinds of infinite variations. And it is truly a wonder that, while this same world brings forth so many new things, it is believed to contain both of these extremes, and thus it plays with the minds of men, so that to some it always blooms...

^A fixedly, and they believe that each one will plant the footsteps of fortune on a firm foundation; but to those who possess nothing firm or secure, it does the opposite. For often a brief hour, or a single moment of time, changes everything to the contrary and casts low many of those things that seemed to stand; and again, at times, it raises up what was obscure to a height of fortune that inspires pride. It is a wonder, indeed, how nothing at all that is found among all things is ever completely unmixed or independent, neither those things which men consider to be good, nor those they consider to be evil; but things that are eternally hostile and fighting against each other have, as it were, a shared root, and they produce one mother—so to speak—who brought them into the light. And those things which possess an implacable hatred toward one another strike, in the human soul, certain strange treaties. We see that there is no life among any men at all that is free from sorrow, nor any sorrow that is entirely without charm; but it happens that sorrow is the cause of joy, and again, joy is the mother of ^B sorrow. That these things are, in a way, innate and built into the nature of things, those who are more understanding know, taught by experience. But that these things themselves are increased or diminished, I believe that this resides, for the most part, with us. For he who desires to immerse himself in the great waves of affairs must necessarily undergo great surges of dangers; but for him who is satisfied to be occupied with smaller things, it is fitting to be affected by more moderate annoyances in life. Royal dignity is certainly considered in the affairs of life to be the greatest gift of fortune and, if I may say so, the highest pinnacle of happiness. But to measure all the abundance of one’s livelihood by a few obols, and to wear a threadbare garment, and to be content with that which provides only what is necessary for nature, this appears wretched, and one of those things which the greatest part of the mob detests. ^C But whoever has happened to experience both conditions of life would, I think, much more willingly choose to be ruled than to rule, and would spend a life in poverty rather than one which is thronged with infinite honors and riches. If, however, someone is not convinced, let him come forward and explain how that Alexander the Great, whose arms penetrated from Europe even to the Indians, confessed that he would more willingly choose to inhabit the lowly tub of Diogenes and be clothed in his tattered garment than to possess the empire of all Asia and Europe and be heaped with Babylonian riches; from which the overflow, when shown to Darius and the Persians, clearly demonstrated that the conditions of life which are thought to be more fortunate are a mere dream. For nothing is so full of suspicion and distrust ^D as kingship and a hand that wields power. For he who has happened to be ruled fears only one person, namely the king; or rather, I would say, not even him, if the king wishes to maintain justice, whoever he may be, and to be content with the lot of life that has fallen to him. But he to whom it is given to rule has, besides his manifest enemies, many others who secretly plot more of these treacheries. And I shall not hesitate to say that he always fears even those who hold the rank of guards around him, and it remains his lot to tremble always, and, as they say, to live the life [of Tantalus among the living].

^A of a beast. Knowing this, my dearest son, obey the counsels of a mother who wishes you well, and do not allow yourself to be swayed by the opinions of others, who, referring all things to their own advantage, use you only as a mask for their own purposes, until they have achieved for themselves what they desire, and then craftily provide you with that form of life which you may have sketched out. Nor should you reckon our affairs as equivalent to theirs; for just as there was no intermediary between them and us ^B that could draw us into harmony after the storm, so too there is nothing that should stand between you and us to sever the bonds of blood. For what reason, I pray, could suffice to persuade the bowels of nature to be torn apart by one another, the hidden compact of which is known only to Him who bound them together with certain indissoluble and adamantine bonds? Or what, under the sun and the heavens, could be sweet to us, your parents, in your absence? And this, indeed, is the main thing that drives me, while I am yet alive, down to the depths of Hades along with your father, that we ourselves have been the cause of such thoughts ^C as you have fostered in your mind. For what else could be more bitter to parents than any kind of death—the downfall of their children, and those good children, whose very memory alone provides breath and grants the soul the ability to flourish in abundance? Wait, if you will, for a little while, until you yourself become a father of children; and then, by experience, you will know well how great a flame of love parents nurture in their very bowels for their children. For me, words are now lacking with which I could fully persuade you of this, before you yourself have arrived at the experience of the things I am saying.

But do not despise a mother’s tears; nor let forgetfulness take hold of you regarding this long journey, which I, for your sake, labored to accomplish and complete more swiftly than any vigorous ^D man might have undertaken, so that you would not, perchance, entangle yourself in blind dangers, and, while fleeing the smoke, fall into the fire, and while fearing the shadow of danger—which is wont to revolve in the uncertain fear of the future—deliberately and openly cast yourself into steep precipices; a calamity of such a kind is far graver than those which befall men against their will, such as we, as you know, suffered for six years, being harassed by that very thing, lest I finally become a participant in that death which I then escaped, in some way on account of you. For those to whom calamity comes against their will, a certain pardon, joined with pity, is wont to follow. But as for those to whom it happens through their own rashness to dig for themselves fountains of evils, it is all the more just to be indignant at them, inasmuch as they do not even leave behind for themselves any who might, by right and merit, show them mercy. But if you bring forward to me many examples of the ancients, which compel you to fear similar occurrences, and among the rest that which is told of that Marcius, who once brought war upon Rome, that in fact the tears of his mother were so much to his detriment that, by those from whom he ought to have been crowned, he was most unhappily overwhelmed by a dense hail of stones; once you have heard the truth about him, you will certainly embrace a better opinion. For he had cut off for himself every defense; he had left himself no hope of pardon for the future. He was, therefore, his own accuser, and in his conscience the stings

^A of guilt were fixed deep within him. For as for the greater part of the Roman lands and cities, report had quickly snatched them away, in part granting them to the enemies, in part plundering them, and laying them waste worse than Alexander did to Thebes. For this reason, there was very little hope for Marcius; nor did his covenants possess any way to gain trust in the hearts of the Romans. Now, the enemies of the Romans had first bound him with horrific oaths, and then rendered him great, from being weak, by aiding him with their own forces. Thus, he, having been seen to have eluded them slightly on account of his mother's tears, had fallen imprudently into the ultimate evils. But you, however, have brought no detriment to the Roman cause, nor have you fettered yourself with any oaths. For the swiftness of my arrival has clearly anticipated and blocked all these things, so that there is nothing ^B at all standing in your way to prevent you from obeying your mother's exhortations. Furthermore, you see to what a narrow compass the magnitude of this empire has been contracted, and to what poverty the Roman state has been reduced. I fear, indeed, to speak, so that I may spare the shame of my hearers. Yet I will declare it to you by one example. The greater part of the Romans and Barbarians know what wealth we, your parents, possessed before the confusion of the times and that calamitous flight, in gold and silver, and in the magnificence of precious stones and pearls, and in herds and cattle, and finally in an infinite quantity of all kinds of higher livestock. Many of those who are present here also know how ^C our storehouses abounded with every kind of thing that the earth produces; and those granaries, pregnant and crowded with annual fruits and heaps, which we once possessed. Now, concerning the luxury and magnificence of our daily table, those who were once participants in it with us know that, among other things, the expenses which are incurred today for the imperial table cannot attain to a tenth part of that former magnificence, so weakened and into such deep calamity have the Roman affairs openly fallen. You can now, my sweetest, weigh what you are leaving to your father and to those who are with him and around him, and what, separately, you yourself will at last have, which may be sufficient for you and for your soldiers. For neither is it possible to establish an empire without military arms and forces, especially one born of revolution; nor is it likely that arms and military forces can be assembled ^D without money, to say the greater thing. For all know that gold, of itself, is at times stronger than great forces, and greater than any siege engine. For often, before the majority are even aware, a city is easily betrayed to the enemy for gold. You know, moreover, what a great crowd follows those who lead from the camps with dangers, when there is no war, nor are the wages given to them. For those who think to define their life by serving for pay—it is necessary for these to prefer war much more than peace, and to consider peace much worse than war. For to them war serves not only for the receiving of pay, but also for taking spoils by force

whence an abundance of effortless meals is set before them; peace, on the contrary, becomes an abundance and a consumption of one’s goods. You, however, deprived of both at this moment, would not delay in destroying yourself while trying to secure imperial power for yourself. If, therefore, you are willing to obey me, who am your mother and who love you more than you love yourself, commit your affairs to me, and wait a little while until, having returned as quickly as possible to your father, I shall both ensure that you are secure and shall take thought with the greatest care that you may thereafter emerge wealthy. ^B V. Having spoken these words, the Empress Irene softened her son’s spirit and made him entirely obedient to her command. And so, when she had also most excellently arranged all the other affairs that were pressing at the time within a few days, she returned to Byzantium as diligently as she could; where, having learned of the death of her son Andronicus, she mourned for very many days. And these things indeed proceeded more or less in this way.

CAPUT IV.

1. After the rising of Arcturus, the Emperor ^C departed from Byzantium and came to Didymoteichon to arrange and restore those things which the Empress Irene, as has been said, had already quieted of the disturbances. And first of all, he had ejected the Patriarch John from there and sent him bound to be guarded in Byzantium, that he might not, by joining in the innovations taking place there, himself become the cause of the greatest and most intolerable harm to public affairs. And he, having lived but a short time there, died, being approximately sixty-five years of age, having held the patriarchal dignity for about fourteen years, and having died in the tenth month after his deposition. He was, moreover, a man not of very tall stature; of a truly honest and liberal conformation of countenance; and his tongue was fluent in speaking. He had been very well acquainted, from his youth, with the sacred canons and with the laws that pertain to forensic cases and examine the daily instances of civil affairs. ^D Yet he was not very well instructed in Greek literature; but he had touched upon them only with the tip of his finger. But an excellent power of nature supplied this defect. For he excelled so much in disposition and memory that whatever he had read, he could recite from memory, faithfully, for a space of two or three full hours. Wherefore, since he would gather many things suitable for the instruction of the gathered multitude of the people on individual feast days, excerpting them from the sacred Scriptures, he...

^A would deliver them publicly in a continuous discourse, just as if it were read from a book, so that his tongue would never falter anywhere due to a lapse of memory, nor would his mind lag behind during the progression of what was being said; but, as if in a symphony or on a lyre, both would harmonize quite aptly and evenly.

^B II. These things being so, the emperor privately met with his son there, and by the power of reason and paternal admonitions, he raised him above those suspicions which were filling him with fear of the future. At the same time, he assigned to him a portion of the Roman empire to be governed for as long as he should live, as if it were a sort of satrapal and autonomous principality, so that, being already safer and firmer, he might live henceforth as far as possible from the dangers he feared. Moreover, that province extended in length from Didymoteichon toward the west, as far as the suburbs closest to Christoupolis; and in breadth, from the sea up to the small town of Xanthia, and a little beyond. However, he allowed him to use those insignia of majesty which were indeed inferior to the supreme power, but higher than all other dignities; and he instructed him to consider this as an image and an occasion for greater authority.

^C III. "For to you," he said, "if you rule wisely, and administer this moderate province with the prudence that is fitting, it will perhaps be permitted, once you have attained higher rule, to improve your affairs; and at the same time, you will be able to foster certain hopes in those who look to you—hopes derived, of course, from a good fountain and promising a blessed life—for those who are accustomed to congratulate themselves in some way on your honors. For that virtue which is idle and has nothing with which to contend is not gifted with magnificent rewards and illustrious palms. Indeed, no vision, nor any prophetic tripods, if they are consulted, can reveal to the people the man’s intelligence and a spirit worthy of empire as clearly as experience in words and deeds, which shines forth in use and in everyday circumstances. For in many people, because they are inexperienced, the imaginative mind conjures up great joys and happinesses, acting like the hands of painters sporting with colors at the whim of the soul. But experience in actual affairs, ^D becoming as it were a living teacher, instills great understanding and renders man more sober in bringing his life into harmony. I, however, set you as a sort of wall for our rule and dominion, so that you may be able, having been displayed like a bulwark, to give yourself opportunities for brilliant trophies against the waves of the Triballians, which rise up as if from a vast deep, while providing security for us. From this it will happen, first of all, that a great harvest of praise for you from the entire Roman race...

will be brought forth, for you are bestowing this good upon all in common. For in truth, the nobility of ^A princely deeds receives its estimation in the judgment of the subjects. For those who are well-treated grant to them honors equal to the gods; but when things go badly, they do not hesitate to act in the entirely opposite way, easily changing along with the various changes of life. I am not unaware, for my part, that one could complain of us, that we are offering to you what is by no means agreeable, and that while offering a tiny drop of pleasure we are pouring upon you entire seas of troubles. For we are making over to you those places which the hostile flame consumes daily, and which are no less subjected to the barbarians who roam by day and by night than are our own regions. For the lands which they do not cease to make pathless ^B and deserted by passing through them—by sea, the piratical forces of the Persians from Asia, and by land, the open and clandestine incursions and hostile armies of the Triballians—these we assign to you to possess; these, you would more truly say, are an eternal struggle and a danger hanging over the head, like some Tantalus’ rock, rather than a benefit of a provident mind. And your expostulations would indeed be entirely just if you wished to reproach us with these things, yet they will not be very easy to remedy. For it will not be possible for us, however much we desire it and are very anxious about it, to have anything else prepared to substitute in the place of those things which have been given. For you see how the Roman ^C empire has been led into the greatest straits, and how, in place of all, only the region of Thrace lies open to us, which is almost pathless and wild; and the cities which preserve the remnants of the Roman race are very few and stand around, bereft even of suburbs and the entryways required for the adornment of cities; and furthermore, they are distant from one another, with long boundaries and vast solitudes lying between them, just like, in a most open field and with very numerous stubble, after the harvest and the sickle, scattered and countable ears of grain. I pass over the internal tragedy which the discord of citizens hostile to one another has exhibited; by which it has come about that they now appear more like images of inhabitants than inhabitants themselves. So afflicted are our affairs ^D at present; and so those civil and implacable tumults, stirred up by my enemies, have not only given the greatest opportunity to those who were more wicked to grow accustomed to license and contumacy, but have also clearly confirmed the power of external enemies against us. For whence else, if not from that, has the Triballian grown so great against us; who, swelling like a river and having crossed his own boundaries by far, has already inundated a part of the Roman empire with his rushing waves, and threatens to inundate another part? Of course, he, being divided from us by a long interval of land, has proceeded with such boldness, and has collected such strength, that his armies perpetually run through our fields and lay them waste with sudden irruptions with impunity; and he easily delivers the din of his weapons to our ears, showing himself strong in conquering by no other thing than that he takes his counsel and strength from the calamities of the Romans. Whom [P.514]

^A And what sort of soul do you think I have, my beloved son, or by what coals of fire it is being scorched to the very marrow of my fatherly heart, when I see you so disturbed and broken in spirit by fear of the future, and yet I am entirely unable to refresh you as I would wish? Instead, myself as if surrounded by many hostile swords that pull and drag me in different directions, I know not where to turn, nor can I hit upon any good counsel to provide me a path to a safe harbor, or one adequate for repelling the turmoil of such waves. For on the one hand, looking to the commands of that blessed emperor and friend, [P. 515] I am constrained to preserve the imperial inheritance for his son; but on the other hand, looking to the solemn promises which, under the pressure of necessity, I swore to those who were in exile and danger with me at the time when that arduous struggle for life was at its height, and when I took refuge in the imperial regalia as to a necessary safeguard, I am again compelled to distribute among them whatever remains of the imperial lands, not at all with pleasure. ^B If you consider these things, my most beloved son, you must bear bravely whatever troubles arise beyond your will, which settle perpetually upon human affairs. Do not think that it is for your sake that these difficult hardships of life are arising for the first time; they always encompass all human things, and they assault every condition and every age equally. You should persuade yourself that it is impossible for life to be passed immune from all trouble, and that this is very far from the human condition; but to bear with a great spirit those evils that attack unexpectedly, and to imitate in this the art of navigation, is the mark of intelligent men—and especially of those whose whole life is occupied in the governing of states. For if sad things were tempered equally with joyful ones, and the worse did not prevail, we should rejoice in that lot. But we see that many calamitous things ^C break out against our affairs as if from an ambush, while prosperous things are very rare to see, and they do not remain, but wither quickly like a flower; and I think God applies this most effective discipline to us, so that we should not grow puffed up, aspiring to things above our mortal condition. For this reason, it seemed to the Phrygian Aesop of old that the earth from which God fashioned man was tempered not with water, but with tears.

D. Having said these things, the emperor sent his son away to take possession of the assigned estates. As for himself, having settled the affairs there as best he could, he departed for Byzantium.

CAPUT V

^A opportunity be present and friendship have preceded. Frequent conversations occurred between Cantacuzenus and Gregoras. With what zeal, with what words, the dogmas of the Fathers were defended against this. The opposing faction incites Cantacuzenus against Gregoras. He, however, rebukes the emperor with some confidence; not that the latter is angry, but is like Hadrian in his leniency. He approaches Irene, who is afflicted by the death of her son. He asserts and convinces her that this death is a punishment for corrupted dogmas. Thus he strengthens his own side with the Empress's patronage. Isidore and the other Palamites attempt to alienate Irene from Gregoras. Being poorly received, they summon Cantacuzenus. Cantacuzenus, fearing a tumult, comes immediately to Byzantium. He urges Gregoras to be silent. Isidore also urges the same. Gregoras accuses him of various errors. Isidore’s musical canons and six hymns are condemned to the fire. Freedom of speech is restored to those from whom it had been taken away. Harmony is sanctioned by a sumptuous banquet. Palamas, having been summoned to Didymotichos, renews the disputes with the help of Cantacuzenus. Gregoras denies that there is any need for a new disputation. He refutes Palamas, as well as Cantacuzenus. He rebukes a certain flatterer. He does not allow written testimonies to be brought forward by Palamas. The council is dismissed.

I. I have decided here to recapitulate those things of my history which were omitted by me through fear of envy; from which it happens that many are prone to speak ill of their neighbor when he narrates excellent things about himself. I knew, indeed, that envy, whose nature is always opposed to the truth, clings to all good things. Otherwise, however, when evil was still hidden in the cradle, as it were, and in the womb, and such was the state of affairs that it still offered a good hope, the inevitable necessity of speaking was by no means attached to those times. But now, when that which was being brought forth has burst into the light, and a great fire is being kindled against the truth by the opposing side from sparks, and there is a danger that, since the end of this terrestrial life is uncertain for all mortals (as it is for all creatures), we might reach the end of our lives before we clearly understand the causes of this evil, and posterity might be ignorant of our affairs—namely, how I conducted myself in those affairs of the troubled Church; how I approached the emperor, and how much zeal I showed—it seemed necessary to us to narrate a few things out of many, concisely.

II. There is no one, I think, who is ignorant that it is not at all dangerous for subjects to say what is most pleasing to those who rule. But when they sharpen their tongue to exasperate and offend, and to say things which are not at all pleasing, then truly it is a consequence that they make themselves heard with great difficulty; and they find the master’s tongue prone to reproaches and his hand more prone to punishments. Therefore, wishing to explain those things which were spoken by me with some freedom, and the observed ardor of that zeal of mine, I must fear lest, when I have declared scarcely the smallest part of the whole truth, I may seem to have omitted not even the smallest part of a falsehood. Wherefore, also out of respect for those who consider that the truth is sometimes grave and harsh to hear, when the exhibition of virtue has something generous and eminent in itself, and especially when someone recounts excellent things about himself, even if he has the eyes of countless spectators as witnesses, I willingly choose to pass over the greater part in silence. ^{B C}

III. For to me, who had long ago had a great friendship with the emperor before he was raised to the imperial ^D dignity—to me, I say, looking toward that mild disposition of his, and to all the other things which were truly excellent and naturally inherent in that man, certain things like flowers of good hope were greatly refreshing my soul. For I easily persuaded myself of this: that as soon as he should become master of affairs, he would liberate religion, which was oppressed by the flames of that war,

^A and this became for me a delightful respite from my troubled thoughts, and a gentle breeze, full of good cheer, for my anxieties that were slipping toward despair; imagining that just as spring provides release from wintry clouds with the rays of the sun, so, too, would I find release from the grief that held me captive concerning the divine dogmas.

IV. But after I perceived that Cantacuzenus was departing very far from my own opinion, and that those noble hopes which had presented themselves to me like flowers were withering and yielding entirely to the malice of the opposing faction, and were being utterly defeated, I thought it best to leave to others those requests which clearly concern the procuring of the supply of necessary things, and to concentrate my own care on that which might take counsel for the soul of my friend. For as it were, legions of manifold and varied thoughts, constantly gathered within me under the leadership of zeal for what is better, suggested that the silence here was full of death, perhaps for the body not at all, but certainly for the soul most of all. For it is not the least bit removed from cowardice, that most shameful disease, to keep the treasury of one's zeal entombed in long silence, nor are we ignorant that the love of the good, if it lies hidden in the shadows of timidity, can in no way recognize the truth of sincere faith. For whoever wishes to offer a fair pretext for cowardice, thinking that the unsleeping eye of God can be deceived, clearly deceives himself, ruining his own self and fighting openly against himself. ^B For I consider free speech to be so much more excellent than silence in such matters, as those things produced from the earth which raise their fruit toward the light of heaven are superior to those that are stored up in the bosom of mother earth. The former, indeed, delight the smell and the sight brilliantly even before they are tasted, and they offer pleasure to the touch, and become a joy to almost every sense; but most of the latter are not accessible, nor pleasant, nor free from bitterness, and they do not immediately present their fruit to those who desire it; rather, for the most part, they are entirely sharp and emit a very pungent odor. ^C Furthermore, as to whether or not free speech is seasonable, I think there are very few, or rather none, who would deny that for those to whom it is not granted, a certain plausible ground for excuse is left to which they may flee. For neither can free speech—the foundation of which is a firm, preceding friendship—accomplish anything perfect without an opportune time, nor can an opportune time accomplish anything without that free speech. For if free speech be present but friendship absent, it is something light and frivolous; while if the opportunity of time be present, yet deprived of that double aid, it can accomplish nothing of what is necessary. But to us, who were accustomed to deal with him confidently by right of an old friendship and intimacy, it seemed absurd that through our silence the opportunity to do what was necessary should be neglected.

V. Wherefore, ^D for the sake of conversation, both when he frequently summoned me and when I myself went to him, it was my constant habit to pass over none of the things...

me even while the emperor would summon me, I myself would frequently go to him; for no other cause compelled me to give myself to that work, if it is necessary to disclose the secrets of the heart and not to commit fraud against the truth, but because I was unwilling to yield to those who sought to move the boundaries established by the Fathers and who were striving to introduce the absurd fabrications of new opinions: and ^A I was urging him to persevere firmly in the institutes handed down to him. Therefore, I did everything, I said everything, I turned myself into every shape, and I left no stone unturned; now by dealing with him with more flattering words and letters, so that I might first soften his manner, and then have him become obedient to my wish; now by refuting him and upbraiding him for the sloth of his soul, and by foretelling whatever evils were about to fall upon the Romans on account of those shipwrecks of the Church. “For indeed,” I used to say, “in the case of those who do not dare to depart even in the slightest from the laws well established by our ancestors, the course of this life proceeds happily for them, and the hope of the future promises a better reward pledged to the just. But those who refuse to cling to the wise decrees of our parents are buffeted in the most grievous troubles of life, and such outcomes of their undertakings befall them as are least desired; and after this life, they arrive at more intolerable and desperate evils.”

VI. Most recently, I also understood that the opposing faction was pressing from the other side, and was instigating him both secretly and openly so that he might immediately punish me with exile. For they feared, I suppose, lest by the fire of our zeal—like iron—he might at length be softened and become more inclined to believe me, and by changing, might escape their ^B entire treacherous snare. Therefore, I myself from that point on turned my own method of action toward a more daring boldness, and I began to argue with him more freely for two reasons: for I thought that either, affected by shame, he would repress the violence of the war brought against the Church; or certainly, he would be forced to expel me from Byzantium as quickly as possible: for it was not tolerable for me to behold the novelties of opinions with religious eyes. But those things which I said were a vain annoyance, and I labored in vain. For he was not even determined to relax the least bit from that purpose of his; for he deemed it shameful to change his institution and to desist from that opinion which he, having confirmed it from the beginning, seemed to be the one author of all, of the entire controversy; nor, moreover, did he resolve to take more grievous notice of me, who was upbraiding and mocking him much, either privately or by yielding to others urging him; but he proceeded to dispute with me on equal and fair terms, with his accustomed gentleness, as those who cannot avenge themselves upon their adversaries; having happily imitated—as it seems to me—the Emperor Hadrian, ^C who, when he could have killed the philosopher Favorinus who was arguing with him, was not even angered, but persisted in the mildness of his character, and argued with him as with an equal. On account of this, those who were present also admired the emperor. ^D

^C VII. Now that things were thus, and the fortune of events proceeded in this manner, I could not even then sit quietly and endure it patiently; rather, I was pained and indignant, and sorrow touched my inmost heart. ^D I seized a favorable opportunity so that, before I succumbed to grief, I might accomplish something worthy of my purpose. As time went on, toward the end of autumn, when the emperor—as we have said—hastened to go to Didymotichum for the sake of his son Matthaios, intending to console him in his sadness and to fulfill the promises of the Empress Irene, I, judging that time to be a golden opportunity, and regarding it as highly suitable for those things I was meditating, met with Empress Irene in private. I declared the fervor of my zeal and revealed a mind inflamed with the love of religion. Moreover, since I saw that her soul was held by the recent and raw desire for the dead son, I affirmed that the truest cause of his death was the corruption of the dogmas; for the father of the deceased had fixed these in his own heart as a firm dwelling place, and therefore had added an enormous weight to the wicked for the increase of their villainy. Having said these things, and having inserted many similar points from the Holy Scriptures, I moved her more easily than I had hoped. For, being a prudent woman, and fearing that she might receive one grief after another from an embittered God, she understood immediately, and thereafter most keenly supported my words; nor did she cease from that time on to pursue and attack the wolves of the Church with bitter words. My name then began to be in the mouths of all, for a deed had been accomplished which was considered desperate by almost everyone, and which, before it was perfected, had seemed impossible to be done. To the souls grieving for the Church, this was like spring, breathing in a most pleasant breeze; it was held to be a sweet treasure of delight; and I was not far from some good hope, nor was it difficult afterwards to sway the emperor also, since the empress herself was already fighting on our side for the truth.

VIII. These things were not tolerable to the devil and his angels; but dread seized them, and it seemed to them more grievous than any death. Therefore, having gathered in a body, all those who had divided among themselves the leaderships of the monasteries of the Byzantines—and before them all, he who held the patriarchal throne, Isidore—went to Empress Irene. They attacked me sharply with their tongues, covered me with many reproaches, and endeavored to persuade her to refrain entirely from any association with me. But since they achieved nothing despite their great labor, and were driven from there not without many rebukes, they sent a letter to the emperor, indicating what had happened, and demanding that, abandoning the matters of state—which were many and full of civil concerns that he had in hand at the time—he should fly to Byzantium to defend their glory, which had been brought into extreme danger. To these things they added others

and indeed those very accusations, most hateful of all, which were inevitably attached to me.

^B IX. He, immediately upon hearing this, was troubled, and making little of the things that were pressing upon him at that time, he judged it necessary to come to Byzantium as quickly as possible, not so much to confirm the new opinions as to ensure that commotions might not arise from them in the great city of the empire. Upon his arrival, there was nothing more urgent for him than that he himself and the patriarch should hold a discussion with me, attempting to persuade me to vow profound silence and not, by repeatedly picking at the opinions of that insane cohort, to lend assistance to those who took great pleasure in picking them apart and attacking them with sharp tongues and free speech.

^B X. But after many discussions were held there, we clearly showed that the patriarch was speaking vain and impious things, not only because he seemed to hold, along with Palamas, the existence of a multitude of divinities—infinitely inferior to the divine substance, uncreated indeed, but visible and lacking substance—but also because he had, by his own private authority, condemned to darkness the hymns of the saints concerning the Trinity, which had been accustomed to be sung in the Church from antiquity, granting license to anyone who wished to cast them into the fire or into the sea. He had instead ordered that others be sung in their place, those which he himself had recently composed—foolish, if I may call them so, the impious offspring of his own gut. Among these, it was written by him, among other things, that God should not properly be called substance, but rather a certain energy in itself devoid of substance; nevertheless, by concession, he might also be called substance, perhaps yielding to human desire. This, he claimed, was meant analogically, just as men are called children of God and gods by grace. And the summary of his conclusion was that it was not the substance, but that energy ^C separated from the substance, that had taken flesh from the Virgin and Theotokos Mary; for he claimed that the substance itself was such that it could not be participated in, and was utterly alien to the care of earthly things, being situated somewhere in the higher realms. Therefore, after many and varied discussions had been held there, and as the whole of that night was almost entirely consumed in the matter, the Emperor, when he realized that the controversy would not be ended in any other way, ordered that the new canons of that Isidore be destroyed by fire, and that those who had previously held [the right to speak] should recover their liberty of speech. With these things thus arranged and agreed upon by the assent of all, a sumptuous table—a sign of concord—was set before us. And having thus feasted together with the emperors, we rose, hoping that on the following day these things upon which we had agreed would be confirmed by the edict of the prince, so that those things which were then concluded might not be called into doubt by the churches of God, which everywhere on sea and land defend the dogmas of the ancestral religion.

^D XI. But that agreement did not please all of those who were of the opposing faction, nor did it remain firm for long. Indeed, they brought pressure to bear upon the emperor to send for Palamas himself, in order to consult

regarding the matters that had been decreed, lest, feeling slighted, he might inflame the situation with his intervention, intending to imitate that Discord of the Attic fable, who ^A is said to have once kindled the greatest flame of strife and battle in the council of the gods by the prodigy of an apple, for the reason that she had not been invited to that common, nuptial banquet of Thetis. Therefore, Palamas was summoned from Didymotichos and ran to Byzantium. And to omit, for the sake of avoiding tedium, the things that happened in the intervening time, he also girded himself for war against me, or rather (to speak more appropriately), for an assault upon the sacred dogmas of the Church. And when he descended into the contest, showing forth a huge spirit and great arrogance, I indeed had no one to stand by me and assist me, except for God, just as in that disputation which had been held three days prior; but he, beyond all others, had the Emperor himself—in whom lay the highest power—as his most bitter champion. Therefore, the things that I and they mentioned in the preliminaries, because they do not necessarily pertain to the present narrative, I have judged should be passed over in silence. However, the events which followed were of this sort.

XII. I denied that I had need of another disputation or the clamor of a combative tongue, if those things which had been established in the previous disputation remained stable. But if they had been completely abolished and submerged by the tides of oblivion, not even then would I have need of new questions or arguments. For if the things that a little while ago pleased the Emperor and the patriarch ^C have now been dissolved like spiderwebs, how will those things which Palamas will propose regarding the same matters appear sincere or of an unambiguous faith, if by chance he should promise to grant me those things to which you previously did not agree; when he himself is in the amplitude of dignity much inferior to you; yet in honor and the gravity of character, he has shown himself, by many and frequent arguments, to be far removed from, and far surpassed by, you?

XIII. To this Palamas said: “Neither do I,” he said, “have need of other disputations or other judgments, since for the proof and confirmation of those things which I have said in any manner whatsoever, I have obtained written decrees from Patriarch John and from the bishops who were then sitting with him.” I, however, replied: “If the one who had made those decrees had ultimately held them valid, if the same had not shortly thereafter been weakened and utterly overturned by other firmer writings and decrees, there perhaps, even if not by truth, a plausible reason would have supported you. But if he who made them, after the matter had been re-examined before more bishops than had previously gathered, ^D and after the manifold defect of those decrees had been perceived, applied all his effort to this end,

. Quod si ipse qui fecerat, re coram episcopis pluribus, quam quot antea convenerant, denuo examinata, et multiplici decretorum illorum vitio perspecto, omni studio in id incubuit, ^A that he should carefully and legitimately rescind the unconsidered and by no means lawful decrees, as well as the inconsistency clearly perceived in those decrees, with the full inclination of his soul, letter for letter and decree for decree, considering matters that were far too unconsidered and never at any time lawful; and at the same time, because he did not fail to seek forgiveness for his ignorance, both from us and from all those who had not departed from the right faith—what cause is there now, why, having abandoned the light of truth, one should choose to wander in the darkness of error?

XIV. ^B "But to me," the Emperor replied, serving as a fierce and fervent defender of the wavering Palamas, "the earlier decrees seem firmer than the later ones; for, as the Apostle says, 'If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.'" Regarding this, before he could pass on to other answers, I argued against him as follows: "If anyone wishes to judge you, O Emperor, as a transgressor for that reason—because you have been violated by your own self—a probable argument, I dare to say, still pleads my cause to a great extent. For those earlier decrees are, in a way, dissolved together with the later ones by him, unless falsehood, blowing contrary to the truth, tyrannizes it; but if the fountain of justice is present, whence those who desire to estimate and fittingly define these things may easily draw a just sentence, then by this means, promptly liberated from great affairs, new judgments are today... ^{C D} [index: entries preserved]

Gregoram et ejusdem sectæ propugnatores, editus mense Augusto anni 1351. Qui quidem Tomus exstat in Auctario novissimo Bibliothecæ Græcorum Patrum, parte altera, pag. 135. Boivin. ^A For this reason, let new tribunals be convoked today among those who have been briefly relieved of affairs, concerning the many and varied innovations of Palamas from the beginning. If the many-sided nature of forgetfulness and ignorance, which is a complex kind of malady, deeply possessed of the souls of men, often draws the governing reason toward the precipices of deception from the very outset, yet as time with experience tests what has been done, the power of truth is cleansed, and the clouds of falsehood and deceit driven clearly from the midst; then it would be nothing strange, and not at all far removed from customary ways, if the patriarch—who at the beginning, when the things written were more obscure, had not seen the truth—were subsequently raised up from his fall by experience and the knowledge of things (which by the aid of time corrects what has been done) and were taught the dogmas and writings to which he ought to adhere.

Furthermore, if you grant the force of justice to all those things that were done by the former ^B bishops, take care that you do not turn the suffrage of your own laws against yourself, and immediately be caught by your own verdict. For the bishops who confirmed those first writings of Palamas, the very same ones also published written Tomes and various decrees against all the Romans, by which they consigned to everlasting fire whoever might, if there were any, find it pleasing to receive Cantacuzenus—namely, yourself—as emperor and to call him a Christian; and yet, in the end, when you had obtained the scepter and throne against their will, they proclaimed you emperor with one voice, making light of their own imprecations. If, therefore, as you have determined, the former decrees of the bishops should also prevail here, and be stronger than those that followed—well, I for one would not say so; but do you yourself, without doubt, teach us whither those interdicts openly lead. For one of two things must necessarily follow, if we render a judgment derived from the very fountain of justice. Either we shall here too hold the former things to be stronger, following your own judgment regarding those other matters; and thus the anathema pronounced against the Romans out of hatred for you will be finally confirmed, and at the same time the strength of your authority will vanish along with any reputation for true piety. Or, if the former things are made as nothing, on account of the crime of subreption and fraud, then indeed imperial authority and the reputation for piety are asserted unblemished; the inventions of Palamas, like the tower of Chalane, are overturned; and the ^C separated parts of the Church are joined in concord and peace. But if, being thus imperious, you grant the victory here to the former decrees, but there to the latter, that is truly tyrannical and contrary to all laws, both divine and human. If, therefore, you deem it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, it is time for you to consider what and how great dangers wait upon such things, for one who has children and a numerous kin, and what is most important, soul and body; of which the one fears the punishments of the hereafter, while the other is exposed to countless and various diseases.

XV.

^A and moved, and I reproached him for his flattery and his pusillanimous soul, and whatever else follows from these things. When silence ensued there, and Palamas, having nothing to object, began to demand and request that he be permitted to produce testimonies from the Scriptures for the confirmation of his own opinions. Since I refused, and brought forward the examples of Arius, Sabellius, Nestorius, and all those who had attempted to confirm their own heresies from the holy Scriptures in a perverse manner, the assembly was dismissed. But I, because I saw that the error was spreading and that a great tumult was arising from it, and that the time for bringing it to completion... could not bring any effective help to them. And these things indeed happened in this way; and winter ended in these matters.

CAPUT VI.

^B I. When the sun had reached the equinoctial turn, and the Ram was opening the doors of the year with his long horns to expand the brightness of the day, the emperor sent envoys to the Triballian [the Serbian King], to remind him of the treaties and pacts and to charge him with violated faith. But he, because constant victories had brought him the greatest spirit, immediately ordered that the mission be rendered void. Therefore, the emperor, having departed from Byzantium in the middle of spring, both to collect the forces which were in Thrace against that man, and to summon as a friend Amurius and the Persian forces with him from Asia, arrived at Didymotichum on the seventh day.

^C II. But Amurius, having assembled a vast multitude of infantry and cavalry forces, decided, before crossing into Thrace and Macedonia, to storm and utterly raze, if he could, that fortress which the Latins held at Smyrna; so that they, in his absence, would not, by devastating his fatherland left bereft of him with frequent incursions, commit the gravest outrages. For he foresaw that the Latin arrogance would not restrain itself, nor contain itself within its own borders once the opportunity for exiting and raiding was offered. Therefore, having moved his forces, he challenged them to battle. They immediately, having seized their arms, went forth to fight, relying no less on the splendor of their armor than on their strength. But with the great force of the Persian soldiers pressing in from every side, they did not dare to raise their eyes against them, but shamefully retreated and, having obstructed the gates of the fortress, began to fight with missile weapons from the wall: whence, ^D having received a lethal wound, Amurius suddenly fell down dead. His associates, having taken him up and recalled the soldiers from the fight, bore him home.

^A III. When the outcome of this war had thus occurred, the Emperor fell into grief, being deprived at once of the Persian reinforcements which he had expected from that quarter, and also of his friend, who had preserved a singular benevolence towards him throughout his whole life. This was the first thing that hindered the Emperor's expedition against the Triballi. The second was the disease that attacked him in the kidneys around the summer solstice, causing sharp pains and suppressing his freedom of movement, so that, according to the promises of the physicians, no very happy or certain hope was immediately gathered. A third impediment was added: the rebellion begun by the Latin Galatians against the Byzantines for no pretext, which had its origin immediately after the rising of Orion. Of this, we shall treat more fully later on as we progress; but now I shall resume the former topic.

CAPUT VII. Persian marauders cross into Thrace from Asia. The cavalry incurs into the lands surrounding the city of Bizye. The infantry proceeds further. Matthew Cantacuzenus encounters them with a small band. The barbarians, having caught sight of the Romans, act accordingly. A sharp battle ensues; Matthew's diligence. The danger of his own men rushing rashly against the enemy. The barbarians are destroyed by slaughter. Hopes are brightly raised by the illustrious victory. The equestrian cohort of the marauders is partly slain by the Emperor himself, and partly, having had their booty seized, put to flight and dispersed.

^A I. Immediately after the summer solstice, a Persian force, ^B which had gathered from here and there by license and marauding for food and sustenance, made its crossing from Asia into Thrace. And because it happened that all the regions near the sea appeared entirely desolate and void of inhabitants due to the continuous incursions of the enemy, they divided themselves into two parts: and indeed the cavalry cohort, which consisted of 1,200 horsemen, charged with loose reins into the fields surrounding the city of Bizye; the infantry, however, which consisted of 1,400 light-armed men, made its assault towards the west. For these men, leaving Mount Rhodope and the towns which are situated around Didymoteichon to their right, burst into the further region, that is, Chalcidice, over which, as has been stated above, ^C Matthew, the Emperor's son, presided. He, thinking it intolerable that the Persians should carry off the booty from there with all license and no effort, and since it was not easy to assemble an army capable of subduing the barbarians from Gratianopolis alone, where he happened to be staying at that time, took three hundred horsemen and a foot cohort from those who were present; and lest the host of robbers should suddenly snatch themselves away with their prey, he accelerated his course through impassable paths by a great shortcut of the journey. Having found a suitable place where the enemies were expected to return, he placed his men there in ambush: then he sent ahead some light-armed men to scout. When he had heard from them ^D that the barbarians were still occupied in gathering the booty and were far from their camp, he ordered his soldiers to eat moderately. But they, because they had no water to draw to quench their thirst—which both the weariness of the journey and the heat of that season had brought on—while preparing their arms,

^A consumed the greater part of the day without eating. Matthew, discharging the duties of commander, divided the cohort into units; he assigned the cavalry to the right and left wings, placing in command those who excelled in valor, and he arranged the infantry between both extremities, handing them over to be led by those who were the most bellicose. He himself, riding around with a few horsemen, ordered the soldiers to be confident and exhorted them to show themselves brave.

II. When the day had advanced well past noon, the barbarians appeared from afar, driving much booty with them. But soon, when they came closer and caught sight of the Roman soldiers gleaming with the splendor of their arms, they were at first struck with amazement; then, because they noticed that they were not numerous, they held them in contempt. It seemed best to them, therefore, not to leave the booty far behind, but for all to stand gathered together, and in this way stoutly sustain the Roman charge. And so, having placed their lightest archers ^B at the rear of their line, they gave orders that they should at one moment press forward, and at another turn back their feet and fight while retreating, according to their custom; then, to do this frequently, and thus by mocking the Roman line, throw it into confusion.

III. When the Romans therefore invaded with great spirit, and the trumpets gave the signal of war, immediately the Persians themselves raised a shout and engaged our men most fiercely; at first, they presented a dense line of shields, which was, as it seemed, of very difficult approach, so that at the first impact they broke through the Romans’ infantry phalanx; moreover, the cavalry of the left wing, pressed from afar by those agile archers I mentioned, were disturbed in spirit. But Matthew the commander, by riding around, boosted and confirmed the spirits of his men with words, and was always present to bring assistance to those parts that were suffering the most. ^C Perceiving that the army required greater aid, he assumed a more reckless boldness and burst into the midst of the enemy with his own troop, certainly more youthfully than cautiously. Thus, he immediately routed and scattered the entire line, vigorously casting down and trampling those who rushed against him from the front, while others were oppressed by a cowardly stupor. By this, the Romans were emboldened and now offered themselves to the perils with sharper spirit, and strenuously disrupted and slew everyone they met. Amidst these things, Matthew, while he was being carried through the battle in a manifold and intent course, and was trampling upon the very many bodies of the falling enemy, was suddenly thrown when his horse slipped to the ground, and was compelled to engage on foot with whoever encountered him. There, a sharp struggle began on both sides, the enemy ^D striving indeed to kill him, but the Romans most fiercely

^A defending him and offering up their own lives for the commander's sake, until another horse was brought, which he mounted; then he pursued the enemies who were fleeing in confusion and slaughtered them, so that not even one was left to report that disaster to Asia.

IV. To the Romans this seemed a favorable omen and a prelude to great hopes. For it is a much greater virtue to receive an onset, before one was expecting it, and to repel an enemy’s attack, than to strike out into enemy territory and set up a trophy. For those who prepare to make expeditions into foreign lands must needs be equipped in an abundantly opulent and splendid manner, and must have long ago diligently provided everything in full measure, since they must encamp under the open sky on foreign soil; and even if they are victorious, only a moderate degree of praise follows, ^B and no wonder, since nothing contrary to expectation has occurred, but only what was provided for. But those who sit at home, when a hostile fire comes upon them unexpectedly, it is a wonder if they are not deprived of their very lives. But if, by contending bravely and courageously with a very small and improvised force, they manage to repel the enemy, this is already worthy of admiration. And if they succeed in overcoming them so completely that, as the saying goes, not even a "fire-bearer" ^C is left, this is indeed far better.

V. And that infantry force of the Persians was brought to this fate and wiped out. As for the cavalry, the Emperor himself, having made a rapid pursuit from Orestias with a thousand horsemen, came upon them as they were withdrawing in disorder from the plunder; those three hundred who had boldly met him he destroyed by the sword. The others, having perceived that combat from afar, abandoned their loot and, scattered and dispersed, sought safety in flight.

Variorum notes. (90) They who carried fire before the line were called fire-bearers. See the Scholiast on those verses of Euripides’ *Phoenissae*: "When the fire-bearer was released, like the sound of a Tyrrhenian trumpet, a signal of bloody battle." Add Lucian, Tzetzes, Zenobius, and others. Boivin.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

Of the war brought by the Latins of Galata. By what arts these became rich and powerful. Why they grudgingly bore the fleet being built by Cantacuzenus. The slaughter committed by them. The Byzantines, desirous of peace and likewise weak, suffer injuries patiently. The defenses of public safety neglected by the princes. The Latins, prevailing in strength, openly violate the treaties entered into with the emperors. They seize a fishing boat by piracy. They kill men. They secretly prepare for war. They fortify the harbor. The gates of Byzantium are closed. A dissension having arisen among the Latins, envoys come to Empress Irene regarding peace. Their demands are unjust and arrogant. Irene's response. All the Byzantines demand war.

I. While the Emperor was occupied with these matters, the Latins of Galata brought war upon the Byzantines; not that they had any certain or plausible cause for complaint, but perhaps fearing that the naval affairs of the Byzantines might receive some increase, and that from this the revenues which they themselves were privately collecting from trade might be diminished. ^A II. For in the beginning they had been permitted to build only a few small and cheap dwellings about that place. But as time went on, they gradually reached a great degree of splendor and power. For it happened by chance that princes were contending with one another over the empire; and because the Roman state was disturbed and laboring most grievously on this account, they—secretly and by deceitful arts, siding now with one party and now with the other, and promising to provide aid and a great force of arms and soldiers by land and by sea—did not merely seize the wealth of the Byzantines and almost every profit from the sea, but also, little by little, transferred to themselves many categories of public business which brought a ^B great quantity of money to the princes' treasuries: so that they themselves collected annually from the taxes nearly two hundred thousand, while the Byzantines could scarcely and with difficulty scrape together thirty thousand. On that account, emboldened in spirit and insulting the weak forces of the Byzantines more every day, they constructed houses of two and three stories; then, having occupied a greater space along the opposite slope, they built towers that were tall and difficult to capture; and walls and ramparts...

^A of great breadth, they extended many others one after another. Furthermore, they dug ditches and fortifications upon them, and all that threatens an enemy with a difficult passage.

III.

IV.

^A to be unwilling to risk themselves in such dangers and to gamble with their lives in such folly.

V. What therefore ought to have been held by the Romans, to whom the principate belonged, that the Latins had seized and transferred to themselves, having obtained it by sedulous and cautious provision and clever diligence. For all things were splendidly prepared for them: grain, arms, money, and naval forces, which were always stronger than the Byzantine.

VI. They therefore, since even at this time they believed that nothing stood in their way, wishing to control the sea and to occupy the straits of the Pontus as if they were their own, and in them to collect tithes from those who wished, now break forth into more open violation and contempt of the oaths and laws by which they themselves had formerly bound themselves to the Roman emperors; and at night they fill a single-banked boat with armed pirates; then, having advanced to the Fanum and to the straits of the Pontus, they intercept a certain Roman fishing boat, in which many were using nets for the purpose of fishing; and most of them they slaughter with the sword.

VII. The sun having just risen and revealing that unworthy deed of that night to the Byzantines, it certainly seemed worthy of mourning, yet by no means of battle and war. But when they noticed that the Latins were keeping themselves enclosed within their walls, and that that habitual and perpetual crossing to Byzantium had ceased, and that for about three or four whole days they were secretly preparing for war, and were blocking their own shipyard with triremes and very large ships, with the city gates also closed, they sat anxious and expectant, looking towards the ^B uncertainty of the future.

VIII. Meanwhile, among the Latins, controversy and dissension arose in their council. For those to whom wealth came from trade and maritime business, they were unwilling—now that they had abandoned the ease and tranquility granted by peace for selling and buying, and had made an end to pouring their whole soul into such lucrative occupations—to apply themselves to arms and war; from which there was a fear that evils might follow most contrary to the previously mentioned goods, namely poverty and disgrace, and danger to life, and—if one must speak more truthfully—the destruction of the whole race; with God, clearly, perhaps being angry because of that open violation of the treaty and their ungrateful spirit toward men who had deserved well. Therefore, after a few days, legates came thence to the Empress Irene, who partly blamed their own people, and partly put forward some vague and very flimsy pretexts, struggling to clear themselves wherever they could. For the Emperor, as we have said, being absent and tarrying near Didymoteichon, the Empress Irene ^C [was] in charge of public... ^D

^A affairs and care.

IX. When the ambassadors arrived at her, they might perhaps have obtained forgiveness and the restoration and renewal of the former friendly duty, had they not also added the demands of the populace who were eager for new things. These demands were that the Byzantines should disband their naval preparations, and whatever else was born of like folly. Since the Empress Irene had heard this herself, she ordered the ambassadors to wait until, having signified the matter to the Emperor by letter, she should receive from him an answer by which those things which she was to do might be confirmed.

X. Therefore, on the following day, she summoned an assembly; and when all the senatorial men, as well as those who were thought to be the most intelligent among the Byzantine citizens, had come together, she consulted [them] and sought to learn the opinion of each, whether they wished to entrust the decision of the matter to the judgment of arms, or to lay down arms and keep the peace as before. But there was no one who did not signify a prompt impulse of the soul to fight. For they had long since been hostile to the Latins for many reasons, and were seeking an opportunity for revenge, and at the same time thinking that they would easily destroy them and shatter them like pottery, all shouted loudly, and rejected peace, so that a discordant and complex confusion of voices was heard.

CAPUT II.

I. The Latins having learned these things, since they had long ^C thought on the matter and saw that their evil counsels had now come to light, suddenly showed themselves equipped and prepared for waging war. For they immediately brought forth eight triremes and very many moneres for the expedition, and prepared arms and missiles of every kind. And indeed, within four days, with their entire force they attacked the Byzantines, who were still unprepared, with their fleet and burned the whole maritime coast, which was very full of all kinds of timber and buildings, namely those which are suitable for receiving the wares of merchants. They also burned all those Byzantine ships which had recently arrived and were still standing at anchor, swaying with their cargo; then also those which had been drawn onto the land, and before these, as many triremes as were being built at that time by order of the Emperor. For they were being built at that time, but had not yet been drawn into the sea.

II. And of the five that were the largest of those that were being newly constructed, three, with other moneres, not a few, because they happened to be finished so that nothing was lacking, were drawn [down] by the navarchs at night for fear of the enemy's fire and were led away to the mouths of the river, where the strait ends. For there, at the confluence of the twin mouths,

^A of the river and the sea bay, a great force of sand and mud is accumulated on both sides, blocking the mouth and leaving only a narrow and difficult passage for entry, such as the flowing river necessarily breaks through for itself. The entire breadth on either side remains impassable not only for great triremes, but even for whatever biremes and empty vessels might be, because of the shallowness of the water flowing on top, which, I suppose, they would for the most part find difficult to pass through. As for the other two ships, along with those that, laboring from age, were being renewed for the better, the enemy's fire consumed them on that day, along with all the other things that were burned.

III. The enemy, therefore, having no hesitation, since they enjoyed all the license they desired, crossed over without any labor and set fire to the entire opposite shore as well. Then, by chance, a wind blowing more violently from the north filled the city of the Byzantines with much rapid smoke, but filled their hearts with even more grief—as much, indeed, as disgrace and ruin combined can produce. And it was possible to see, in a single day, the entire outer adornment of the city utterly destroyed, so that tears were called forth from the eyes of the wise ^B.

IV. Nor did they do only this; but having prepared beforehand, from afar, very many stakes and planks of all kinds, they finally pushed the fortifications beyond their former boundaries at this time, and occupied much ground on the higher points. They surrounded this space with frequent and manifold stakes, extending them into a triangular shape, and they fastened boards on top, and fashioned them in the manner of battlements and aerial walkways; then, with haste and a great multitude, they dug a trench all around the whole territory, men and women together, staying awake for entire nights, and, in order to accelerate the work, making no distinction between night and day ^C.

V. Meanwhile, the gates of Byzantium were troubled by frequent attacks, and especially those ships which, as we said, the navarchs had drawn up, brought into safety, and guarded with a garrison. But as the Byzantines fought back bravely, they were repelled from all sides and withdrew having received many wounds. However, the same enemies, having gained mastery of the sea, just as they wished and as they had long plotted, not only seized all the merchant ships that were hastening to arrive at Byzantium from the Hellespont, but also kept all those that were bringing grain from the Euxine Sea from approaching the harbor, and plundered them; the result of which was that a scarcity of grain and other necessary supplies came to exist in the city ^D.

VI. The Empress Irene, to whom this sudden business had happened, since they were cut off on every side, having entrusted to her son Manuel, who was at that time the prefect of the Byzantines, the few soldiers who happened to be present, commanded him to go about and inspect Byzantium, and to repel the enemy.

He was to try to cross the strait, to place them in danger, and to attack the enemy's city unexpectedly and suddenly. ^A This he did by day and by night, burning everything that they had outside the walls—the suburbs and the buildings intended for the receipt of merchandise. She herself summoned the leading men of the Byzantines, encouraged their spirits with words and good hope, and made them more eager to undertake the war, ^B and made their resolve easier for the struggle.

VII. Now soldiers were arriving from elsewhere, scattered in small numbers, sent to Byzantium by the Emperor; likewise, messengers came to console the Byzantines and exhort them not to let their spirits sink entirely because of that unexpected disaster which had been brought upon them: for it was not possible that the eye which avenges justice should sleep forever and allow such an injustice to pass in silence. And these things happened in this way, and the summer was spent in these matters.

CHAPTER III.

^A I. At the beginning of autumn, because things were not going for the Latins as they had expected (for they had supposedly hoped that the Byzantines would not last even until the fifteenth day, shut up within their walls and cut off from the usual supplies imported from outside; but that they would despair immediately, and be the first to ask for peace and to call them back to their former friendship), once they saw that these people were not desisting from their intent, and that the Empress Irene was conspiring entirely with the Byzantines against them, and was gathering soldiers and arranging weapons around the towers to repel the enemy, and was applying every effort to prepare machines which could hurl heavy weights of stones either at close quarters or from a distance, by which both the enemy at home and the largest ships, which they had pushed forward like a bulwark before them, were being crushed; they began to enter upon a clearly different path of deliberation, judging that that war would be long-lasting. And so they sent ambassadors everywhere, wherever friendship and alliance for engaging in the work might be hoped for. ^D

^B II. Yet, since the circle of Byzantium and the circuit of the wall was at its greatest, and required the greatest guard, there was not such a number of soldiers as to match the capacity of the place. Nevertheless, so great was the ardor of all, that all arms and all horses were led into the forum. All the craftsmen, too, the cobblers, the coppersmiths, and the blacksmiths were under arms; not to mention the potters and the diggers, who, having begun then to serve for pay, were already handling oars and braving the dangers of the sea. But even slaves were armed by their masters, and their hands were taught the use of bows and arrows. Indeed, the unexpected nature of the times

^A compelled all alike to conspire in this.

III. The Latins, on the other hand, had sent for a trireme from Chios and a large body of soldiers. Their largest merchant ships, which had set out for trade, also arrived; and they were ^B already in possession of great and well-equipped forces. Finally, they were well-supplied with provisions, so that their city seemed a kind of splendid workshop of war. Being thus encouraged, they were not only able to repel easily those who attacked them from outside from a higher position with missiles; but also by sea, having selected their two largest merchant ships and mounted on them missile-throwing engines, they attacked our own catapults with stones. On the third ship, which was larger than those two, they arranged yardarms and large wooden beams—some vertical, others transverse and equal—running from the middle of the ship toward the prow, lifting them slowly upward so that the greater part of them hung suspended high in the air, in such a way that they were hoisted even above the walls of the Byzantines. They surrounded these with thick planks on all sides, and stretched a dense shield-wall in a circle; then, having put in a great number of their most select soldiers, they brought this ship, along with nine supporting triremes, up to the wall, carrying with them fire and every kind of missile, some for close quarters and some for long range, and almost every instrument of death.

IV. Although the first assault was so fierce that it seemed it could not be withstood, the Byzantines nonetheless repelled them vigorously, both from the inner wall and from the higher buildings; in a word, from within and from without, and from the battlements themselves, over which the masts and ladders of the Latins hung from above. So it came to pass that a heroic battle arose, in which they fought at close quarters, hand to hand, and with total disregard for their own safety. One could see the number of stones and missiles falling upon that Latin phalanx like a wintry snowfall, and many falling upon others, and others in turn being carried and moved to and fro, ^C the dead instead of the living, and the living instead of the dead; and those shields and bucklers were being shattered and crushed by the Byzantines time and again, just like a potter’s vessels. And whosoever of the Latins was still standing, as soon as he had seized a comrade who had fallen from somewhere and had dragged him a little way from the middle, he himself immediately fell and was in need of someone to drag him; while another, just as he was about to drag someone onto the deck, was struck down, falling headlong upon the very man he was preparing to pull. Another one, having resisted for a little while, achieved nothing of what he desired or was hastening to obtain; he did not escape anything that would bring instant death. The form of that battle was varied and manifold; they competed with great effort and courage on both sides—not in order to escape alive, but to perish for glory, having laid low as many enemies as possible before them.

V. Now as the day was declining, the enemy were cast down in their hopes, because those chosen soldiers—along with their missiles, large shields, ^D and...

all the siege-works and barricades they possessed—had been lost. ^A Fearing that the Byzantines might make a sally, seize the merchant ship with all its men, and wound most of those who were in the triremes, they cut the mooring cables and summoned their triremes to assist in towing the ship away. Utterly defeated and in tears, they departed, but they did not immediately pull into their own harbor; instead, they stayed out at sea until sunset, dropped anchor, gathered their dead, and took in and treated their wounded. ^B In the evening, when it was no longer easy for those inside the fortress suddenly to perceive the slaughter of their own men—lest a tumult arise, or some mad shouting penetrate the fortress, causing panic and fear in the hearts of the men left behind—they were brought down outside their own borders. After burying the dead there, they quietly pulled into their own harbor, their souls now held captive by great fear for the future, and deeply desiring and longing for an end to the war.

VI. But when they learned that their hopes were deceived, they sent an embassy to the emperor to sue for peace; at the same time, they nonetheless gathered auxiliary troops, both from their own people and from whatever friends and kinsmen they could find. Having failed to obtain peace, they prepared for a more protracted war, counting out and contributing money; meanwhile, they did not refrain from uttering words full of their customary arrogance.

CAPUT IV

^D I. As autumn was now in its middle stage, the emperor arrived at Byzantium, bringing with him land forces while also ordering timber for shipbuilding to be brought—some of it already cut in the mountains, and some still being felled. A great multitude of shipwrights and workmen gathered at the shipyard by the Hippodrome of Byzantium. For the Byzantines had realized too late that they had made a poor decision in deciding to build ships outside the walls; and the terror of the defeat they had suffered had made them more cautious about correcting their errors for the future.

II. The next day, having summoned the Byzantines to an assembly, he reminded them: "You yourselves are entirely the authors of these present evils, and no one else among all people. For you remember what you all promised when gathered in this same place last year, namely, that you would bring money and arms...

due to the scarcity of the imperial treasury, towards the construction ^A and establishment of a naval force, so that we might be dear to our friends and fearful to our enemies. But then ^B when you had all departed for home, no one of you cared to do any of those things which you had promised to perform for your own benefit; rather, you let your words be scattered immediately into unknown tracts of air. But now, since you can see with your own eyes what that former negligence has brought upon us, consider at this very critical moment, with dangers already pressing and hanging over our heads with a certain violent and inevitable necessity, what you ought to do. For you see that in maritime cities, and most especially in this queen of cities, if any enemy invades the rule of the sea, he immediately hangs an imminent danger of life over everyone; unless someone should clearly wish to exchange a free life for a wretched and Tantalus-like existence, and be stripped of their money and property, or indeed even their wives and children themselves. For it is necessary that one of two things should follow: that one be deprived either of his life or of those things by which one lives, and he himself mixes for himself a copious cup of bitterness by day and by night. Come then, do not be reluctant to reveal your mind to me, so that I myself may understand whether you repent of your former negligence. For just as it is clear, as with any shepherd, that if the sheep are unwilling to follow, but resist and wish to go the opposite way, they will undoubtedly soon perish, having fallen into precipices, ravines, and into the midst of wolves; in the same way, if those who are subject to emperors and leaders do not obey, but resist and fight back, ^C they will certainly not be far from destruction and the ultimate calamities.” III. Upon hearing these things, the Byzantines did not allow the emperor to add more, but rose up; with one voice they all rejected peace with the Latins; they condemned themselves for their previous negligence, and promised that they would all contribute everything they had, of their own free will, for the sake of the public good, even if it meant exchanging their own children for money if necessary. And these things happened in this way, and each departed to his own business. Then, with great and ambitious contention, the preparation for war began: and there was a keen zeal in constructing ships, in manufacturing missile engines, both large and small, and in filling up the legions, whether naval or terrestrial, with mercenary soldiers. Therefore, since there was not enough money for these expenses, some things were exacted from the Byzantines by their own will, but the greater part quite against their will. People were also sent throughout the cities and fields of Thrace to collect money for those common and necessary uses.

IV. But the Latins, when they saw some of their merchant ships, which were filling their harbor like a rampart, being sunk and smashed by the Byzantines' ballistae, ^D

^A they removed them as far away as possible; and consequently, the walls that face the harbor were left completely stripped of any help or shelter. Therefore, they sent requests to Genoa and to the island of Rhodes, looking for either auxiliary forces or ambassadors to negotiate peace. Genoa, however, being occupied with its own local troubles and neighborly wars, refused to send troops. The Rhodians immediately sent a trireme with peace envoys. These men, upon arrival, spoke much and heard much in return, but achieved nothing of what they had intended, since they would promise neither to restore the territory seized in the war beyond the previous boundaries, nor to offer compensation for the damage they had inflicted. They returned to Rhodes empty-handed, except that many of those in Galata, fearful of what the future held, placed their precious goods and treasures on the Rhodian trireme and sent them away. There were also those who embarked their wives and children, due to the uncertainty of ^B events.

V. Now when the emperor had ready the triremes which had been constructed in Byzantium and elsewhere—nine large ships, as well as many moneres and biremes—and when many of the wealthy Byzantines, stirred by a more ambitious spirit, had commissioned and armed from their own purses military cutters and smaller boats, he also summoned all those that were in other cities of the empire. Of these, some took advantage of an opportunity at night to steal into the Byzantine harbor, barely evading the Latin triremes, which were keeping constant watch and guarding from afar, and which, even during that winter season, were spending the nights under the open sky to block their entrance. For the commanders of the triremes forced those naval crews to eat their evening meal, to breakfast, and to sleep always rocking ^C on the high seas. From this it resulted that the Byzantines were besieged by the Latins from the sea, while the Latins were besieged by the Byzantines from the land, so that both sides were held bound by each other and constrained on all sides.

CAPUT V

D I. When spring arrived and those harsh winter winds had hushed their whistling, and a great calm settled upon the sea, the Byzantines, having perfected all their land and naval equipment with nothing necessary for war lacking, prepared to move their triremes into the deep from both locations: namely, from the shipyards inside Byzantium and from that station which we mentioned earlier—to which the admirals had been forced to flee unexpectedly at the start of the war—I mean from the mouths of the river and from the furthest recess of the gulf of Ceras. And those ships indeed that were carried from Byzantium into the deep near eventide were supposed, at the very least, to be a small amount of time at their own

exercise, and first to contend among themselves and attempt the danger of rowing separately. For they were not all accustomed to the sea and the oars, but most of them smelled of timber and mattocks. But those which had ^A advanced held back their oars, not being drawn up at all in a regular or military order, but for the most part rowing rashly and unequally, and wandering away from a straight course.

II. But when night was already present, and they had anchored along the shore before the eastern walls of Byzantium, winds arose from the land and caused a tumult among the ships, and seemed for a little while to disturb them. At about the second watch of the night, a swift trireme, which had been sent out a little before for reconnaissance, arrived in great haste and announced that a very large Latin merchant vessel was arriving, sailing with full sails from the Hellespont. And immediately the fleet commanders, with great confidence, gave the signal with trumpets to the sailors to row and to the passengers to take up arms. Therefore, having proceeded with more diligent navigation, they surrounded the merchant vessel as quickly as possible and ordered them to lower the sails. But they at first refused to obey, but began a fight and war. Soon, however, being overwhelmed on all sides by dense missiles, and when it was possible for the soldiers to make an irruption and slaughter them, they yielded unwillingly, and stretching out their hands, begged for mercy. But that supplication profited them nothing: since some sailors from the trireme occupied themselves in settting fire to the merchant vessel, and burned all the men who were inside, so that the flame was raised and shone forth over the sea deep into the night.

III. While they were occupied with these things, the Latins consulted among themselves, tossing in a great tempest of cares, and beholding the extreme danger of their own safety almost set before their eyes. All the others, therefore, judged it to be safer to depart from the sea and guard the fortress: for they said they could not, because of the scarcity of men, be divided into two wars, being beset by land and sea at the same time: for they judged that both battles would turn out adverse, rather than one of them successful. The fleet commander alone, with a constant and noble presence of mind, opposed the opinions of all: for he said that he had observed and disapproved of the ignorance of the Roman fleet, which on the previous day had neither set sail nor arrived at the harbor in accordance with military law; and for this reason, he said, he was not far from a better hope. Since, therefore, the greatest part of their forces, or rather all their forces, were in the sea, he said that they ought to place there, if not their entire effort, at least their greatest.

^A IV. Therefore, he filled nine large triremes, and a great number of moneres, with chosen men-at-arms and rowers, and he appointed the most excellent men as trierarchs; and having advanced a little beyond the harbor, he took his station in order, awaiting the approach of the Byzantines, intending to do one of two things: if he saw them advancing against him according to the rules of military strategy, he would turn his stern and, having sprung out of the ships, enter the nearby fort; but if not, he would proceed to battle.

CAPUT VI.

^B I. When day came, a misty wind blowing from the open sea stole away [the courage] of the Byzantines, while the commander of the Latins became more emboldened. The infantry cohorts of the Romans had gathered from outside with many large shields and all kinds of brushwood, as much as would serve as ready fuel for fire. And the fleet by now was appearing, rounding the northern promontory of Byzantium, where two towers are built of white stone, smoothed with a skill that makes for a harmonious appearance, and at the same time the temple of the martyr Demetrios is established. The rounding of this point seemed difficult to them because of the constant sea-swirls that occur there, and a kind of labyrinth, like the Scylla and Charybdis heralded by the Greeks, which they say are in that strait which lies between the Italian Rhegium and the Sicilian Messana. ^C What bothered them most at that time was that they did not have a proportionate amount of sand in the hulls of their ships, which is accustomed to be, for those always sailing the sea, a brace and most excellent foundation for the voyage.

II. The trierarchs ought, therefore, to have positioned the ships facing the enemy’s ships in line of battle, and to have struck them with terror at the very first sight; but they, having lost the required awareness, were revealing themselves one by one as they rounded that headland. The flagship was first to be seen, moving slowly and struggling with great effort to make its passage very close to the shore; and after it, another and another came up from the rear, like a string or chain, one holding the stern of another with its prow, and thus, following one after another in turn, ^D and navigating in a sort of line, they proceeded until they drew near to the beach, which is opposite and directly across from the Latin fort, being less than half a plethron distant from the land. And if, even there, they had set their prows to face the Latins, and thus...

waited for the hour of the assault, I believe it would have gone well; or at the very least, if they had not interrupted that coasting voyage of theirs by sailing on in like manner to the very extremity of the strait, where—as we have said—the other ships stood, and from there had returned with the rest to advance in orderly fashion against the enemy, in this way, too, I believe it would have gone well. But God, having struck terror into them, brought about a different purpose, and suddenly changed the course of events, giving to their vain words and threats a fortune containing the opposite outcome.

III. For those who ought to have fought heroically, as they had promised, instead became fearful; with no one opposing them, and without a sword drawn or a missile hurled at them, they all turned to flight, leaping suddenly from the decks, two and three at a time, miserably and in confusion into the sea below. Those of them who knew how to swim threw away their weapons and with difficulty escaped to land; but the greater number were dragged down by the weight of their own armor. And it was a pity to see, a truly miserable spectacle, those fierce and arrogant warriors struggling in the whirlpool, clinging to one another ^B like fish and crabs, gripped fast and unable to emerge, but being reserved by fortune for the next day, themselves destined to provide a banquet for the fish, their own guests. So greatly does malice act to render the valiant unwarlike; so greatly do heroic spirits, in the very act of raising themselves proudly against God, become the wretched sport of fortune.

IV. Truly, because before the battle, night and day, they had waged a most insulting war of words against the widows and orphans of Byzantium, committing deeds worse than any enemy, and under the pretext of procuring planks and stakes for the use of the fleet had razed whole houses and plundered entire estates—and in such crimes had already spent those martial spirits of theirs—therefore, beyond any expectation, they were swallowed up by the waves and sea-swirls, suddenly burying their brilliant hopes right there, and were translated from this terrestrial world into the moist and deep waters. For they had minds weighed down by the consciousness of their sins, and (as is fitting) they were mindful of those orphans' prayers and their miserable tears. Wherefore their hands were as though drunken when it came to handling weapons, and their feet faltered as they tried to move their bodies. Because their spirit was broken and wounded, they could in no way hope for success; taught by the outcome itself, when nothing helped them, [they learned] that one ought not to place good hope in arms unless equity is present, joined with the right reason of piety. For only those things which are done justly afford the mind firm strength.

^A For if injuries of this sort, even when committed against foreigners, are punished by the common Lord of all, God, much more is this the case if it be those of the same race who have suffered the injury.

V. ^B But the Latin admiral, observing this strange spectacle from afar, at first doubted within himself and thought it must be some pretense or theatrical performance; afterwards, he realized that it was a clear divine visitation. Then, having quietly exhorted the crew of the flagship to row, he advanced, ordering the other triremes to follow behind. When he arrived and found the Roman ships completely empty, he began to tow them all away slowly, and returned bringing them to the Latin naval base, except for those triremes, supply ships, and skiffs which, due to the crowd, had escaped the siege and were already beyond danger before they could be captured.

VI. ^C When these had fallen into that misfortune, there were seen approaching as well those triremes—three of them very large, and a great many smaller—which, as we have said, had previously been standing at the mouths of the river. When they were in the middle of their course and saw their own ships being towed by the enemy, empty of men, they stood there as if fettered by some torpedo fish, and were able neither to advance nor to sail backward, until they too fell into similar evils. For it was possible to see at once all the crew of those ships as well—triremarchs and sailors alike—falling headlong into the sea in the same manner as those who had suffered before, before they could see a naked sword or hear any threatening cry from the enemy.

VII. ^D That terror began to pervade equally all those who were standing along the shore and the towers. For everything was filled with all sorts of people; not only within the gates and outside, but the multitude upon the battlements was greater than any number; yet among them there was neither a trumpeter, nor any cymbal, nor anything else that usually in wars serves to rouse a stout heart. A great oblivion of those things which would have been useful at that time had invaded and corrupted the minds of the Romans, I know not whence nor how; and except for breathing, they all seemed to be clearly dead. They were jostling one another in their flight toward the interior, and they fell and trampled upon each other, and this too while the enemies themselves were standing by, watching intently and being greatly astonished at the miracle of the thing; so much so that some of those who should have been exulting over that great success felt pity for those miserable people, and kept telling them to stand still and imploring them, in that disaster [P. 545] brought about by some evil spirit, to have pity on their own selves and not to betray their lives so rashly to death, while no one was pursuing them. Thus was the affliction of that calamity unsurpassable, and having left nothing behind of the examples of old that had occurred in like cases, it could easily vie with anything compared to it.

CHAPTER VII.

I. When those who had been sent from afar and from a higher position to besiege the Latin castle saw the fleet ^A driven into such a state of fortune, the Byzantine soldiers and as many Thracians and Persians as had been called to their aid—amounting to no fewer than three thousand men—were also smitten by the same terror and fell into such a state of fear; they abandoned their shields, arms, and engines and fled in scattered and disorderly fashion, even though no one was crying out anything hostile or savage at them. And they did not stop before they had hurriedly crossed the river and were already able to breathe freely.

II. Even so, others were proposing and voting for other causes for this divine wrath. But I, leaving it to others to enumerate these, shall turn my discourse to other matters. I add only this much: if perhaps the Latins had been bolder at that time, and, elated by that ^B great and unexpected success, had pursued the fleeing Byzantines—who were simply trampling one another underfoot—right up to the gates, it would have lacked little for the multitude of men of all sorts and kinds to have been utterly destroyed there. But God restrained His own anger and immediately induced the Latins to use their victory with moderation, and not to consider the fruits of success—which they had achieved through the adverse circumstances of others—as if they had contributed nothing at all to that unexpected victory through military effort or ingenious machinery; but rather that they should judge it to be the work of God, who declares human diligence to be futile, and who shows that the arrogance of those who ^C do not hesitate to magnify themselves is mere mockery. Therefore they immediately sent to the Emperor to ask again for peace, just as before, yet not on the same conditions.

III. Not yet had four whole days passed from that time, when one swift trireme put in at the Galata castle, having brought from the city of Genoa legates who would willingly satisfy the wishes of the Byzantines in all things. And they would indeed restore whatever the Latins, having extended their own boundaries, had occupied of Roman territory; then they would repay in full whatever damage they had inflicted upon the Byzantines, and, paying over one hundred ^D thousand [gold pieces] besides, they would obtain the former peace; and finally, they would swear a most terrible oath that they would never be led to contrive such new troubles; but, mindful of those things that had unexpectedly befallen them, they would be more moderate in the future. But when those legates had arrived and had learned of this great and unexpected success of their own people, they also intervened and took care that this shameful peace should be brought about, such as we have heard was formerly concluded by the Peloponnesians with the Persians, under the leadership of Antalcidas, fearing the navy of the Athenians, who at that time held open sway over the sea.

IV. These things having thus come to pass, the emperor judged that he should neither yield to the inequity of fortune, nor, because affairs had been reduced to the utmost straits, should he surrender the reins of his mind and the power of his resolve to despair. For both the naval fleet—which had nearly exhausted all funds—was in the power of the enemy, and the hope of annual revenues had been, if not entirely, at least in the greatest part, cut off.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK EIGHTEENTH

CHAPTER I

^{A B} I. Another, perhaps, oppressed by such a calamity contrary to his expectation, would have immediately abandoned his spirit. But the emperor was in no way discouraged by these events; but just as a commander, in the heat of battle, when the laboring and faltering parts of the army are given the signal for retreat, does not allow them to be broken through, nor does he suffer those who yield the complete victory to the enemy of their own accord to collapse utterly in spirit; so he too did not languish through despair or shameful sloth. Rather, at one moment he would devise one plan after another; at another, he would draw into the sea those ships which had long lain in the docks, repairing them and adapting them to the urgent necessity; likewise, he constructed others, new and more numerous and greater than before, with naval timber brought down from the mountain with speed and all diligence. Since, however, money was needed for these things, the scale of the customary taxes was increased; and then new levies were instituted one after another, as ^C

necessity itself discovered most easily the means for finding the necessary funds for these things.

^B II. Such was the state of affairs when Patriarch Isidore was seized by a grave illness. It was a ceaseless and long-continued flux of the bowels, against which neither the hand nor the art of doctors could avail anything. Although at the first onset the disease had not shown itself very violent, it seemed rather to advance calmly and little by little—one might say, step by step—as if mocking the expectations of the masses. Indeed, as many used to say, it originated from the sadness which a silent shame had produced. For that man, intent upon his own dreams, used to base all his words and deeds upon them, calling them divine inspiration; he perpetually boasted of these things, and he was not ashamed to lie openly. Moreover, he reported to the Emperor, just as to any others, certain things as though they were prophecies and divinely offered visions; among these was the destruction of the Galatic fortress of the Latins, which was situated on the opposite shore, and which he asserted had been announced to him certainly and steadfastly by God. Relying on these, the Emperor hastened the battle before he had the fleet fully equipped. Since, therefore, he appeared to be the chief author of that most disastrous defeat for the Romans, with everyone reproaching him, he did not dare to look with fixed eyes upon the Emperor or anyone else endowed with intelligence; but he buried himself in the deep recesses of his own shame. For this reason, worn out by a long illness arising therefrom, after his inner ^C substance had been consumed by the disease, he departed from this life.

III. Next, when others were setting forth their votes as to who should be the successor to the throne after him, there was great and inflamed zeal among the followers of Palamas that no one should be promoted unless he were a brawler and a drunkard, and entirely lacking in all erudition, like those who, returning at evening from the mattock and the hoe, bring home a certain irascible and beastly character. This they were doing so that it would be very easy for them to pit him, more savage than any persecutor, against those who thought piously and rightly about God and utterly abhorred communion with Palamas. Therefore, while some were proposing one person and some another, at their persuasion there was summoned from Mount Athos one of the friends of Palamas, Callistus by name. Due to his stupidity and madness, his disposition was the most savage of all. For this reason, he agreed in every way with the proposal and zeal ^D of those by whom he was called.

IV. Yet before he arrived, it occurred to the Emperor and the Empress privately and frequently to have me

summoned and to court me with every kind of flattery, and even with the promise of money. And they indeed attempted to sway me and to lead me to the things they desired, with liberal generosity both in other matters and especially in those which, because they are beautiful and precious, can greatly flatter souls that are ambitious for glory. Some of these things were already being given, and others would have been given later. For they thought, clearly, that through my efforts alone, all the rest—whoever they might be and wherever they might live—who opposed the new and strange dogmas blasphemed by Palamas would immediately be joined to them. But the hopes they had conceived were not gold, but chaff. For, because I did not lack the necessities of life and was a willing professor of the truth, I was therefore easily able to persuade myself that the things they said were vain and frivolous.

^B V. But one thing most of all confirmed their mind, which was held in suspense by expectation, and offered a certain pleasure mingled with their hope: this was the patriarchal dignity, which they promised they would immediately confer upon me when a more serious necessity pressed, and when the situation itself called for someone to be placed in charge of the office without any hesitation. Yet they heard from me all things entirely to the contrary. And first, indeed, I gently rebuked them regarding those matters which they promised me, asking why they were not weary of attempting the same things over again, which, having often been said in vain, made it most evident that such things differed from mud and dust no more than nothing in my eyes; especially at this time, when an abjuration of the faith was being demanded. For truly, just as it would be the greatest unhappiness to be happy among the wicked, so it is the greatest happiness to lack honors among the same. ^C I further said that it did not befit princes to transgress voluntarily those things which had been wisely established, and to exclude them from the sacrosanct chancels of the Church of God in that manner—so that neither any moderation nor the severity of an intervening examination might restrain insolent power. Nay, rather, they ought, if they were religious, to be most ready physicians and chastisers of errors and depravities contrary to the sacred laws. For that, indeed, is worthy of long lamentations and, for the future, of a memory among descendants that is most odious and disgraceful (to say nothing of the eternal flames, which one may consider are already decreed for those who live in such a way); but this [the opposing of such things], however, demands praise and commendation by pious men who live now, or who are yet to live in the future; and it earns a pure joy of soul, such as we hear is ^D laid away for them in the immortal age.

VI. Thus, therefore, having despaired of us, since he had already seen that person who had arrived from Mount Athos, he immediately, even though the bishops of the province that was still then remaining were not at all very eager, proposed him to be elected patriarch. And indeed no other reason caused him to hasten his promotion, except that the man was by nature best suited for carrying out persecution 14 and was an instrument for inhumane punishments.

Notes of various authors.

^A This man, well-disposed by nature to be an instrument of atrocious and savage punishments, was more inhumane than any executioner. Indeed, void of all erudition, he was most prone to decreeing tortures and inflicting injury without shame; he was equally apt at striking with his hand and a staff, unrestrained in his anger, and in using language foul and quite unbecoming to the habit he wore, the mind he possessed, and the religious institute of which he boasted himself a disciple. What is more, he ordered that pious men, whom he punished and persecuted—and whom he ought to have pitied—be thrown out unburied, when they had been destroyed by hunger, thirst, and all manner of afflictions. And if anyone, moved by the similarity of their nature, had labored to cover their bodies with earth, that new crime was punished in turn with a like penalty. To such a degree had the cause against religion deteriorated at that time. For those who had remained steadfast within the boundaries of the discipline handed down by their ancestors were driven without mercy from their houses, cities, and temples, and were easily seized by anyone and dragged off into chains. To others, who feared the worst and therefore hid their sound doctrine under a chameleon-like cloak of civil conformity, threats even graver than the tortures themselves were held out.

VII.

VIII.

^A a false or calumnious claim of such crimes; or that, if it is not believed, this innovation of the faith, or at least the second point, would be less painful, since the tongues of all are not incessantly attacking him alone, but are now divided among many. But this very thing tormented Palamas, who least of all wished the refutation of his own malice to be made public, but rather desired to perpetrate secretly the kinds of persecutions—not to mention others—through those in power, by means of constant plots and silent calumnies. Therefore, finding one pretext after another, he went about fleeing, now to the island of Lemnos, and now from there to Thessalonica; concerning which things, it shall be spoken more broadly as we proceed. For the present, however, I shall resume that which I began.

IX. For not yet had three full months passed since the election of the patriarch, ^B when most of the bishops, having been torn away from his communion, withdrew—as many, that is, as had denounced him under oath, claiming that he was a Massalian in fact and one of those who had been openly detected as such on Mount Athos not many years before; concerning whom we also have spoken above in this history. But he resisted and set oaths against their oaths, and in turn objected individual crimes against each of those men: one he accused of grave-robbing, another of fornication, another of the Bogomil heresy, another of having sold the priesthood and trafficked it to the most vile men, and yet another of a different crime. And since the schism excited by this cause had lasted for a long time, the emperor placed himself in the middle and persuaded them to forgive the crimes they had objected against one another, silently dropping the lawsuits and accusations which they had openly undertaken, so that these might not also be added to the crimes that were being imputed to them by us regarding the faith. Thus, therefore, having made peace in a bad, base, and shameful manner, they were henceforth reconciled with one another, and day after day they began to contrive and compose new plots against us. ^C

CAPUT II.

I. Now, as the sun had turned its course toward the autumnal equinox and was hovering at the very threshold of the year, the Emperor Cantacuzenus, having embarked on triremes and moneres, set sail from Byzantium, taking with him the Emperor Palaiologos, who was also his son-in-law, to Thessalonica, intending to establish him as ruler of that city. At that time, thirty-three Venetian triremes arrived at Byzantium, ^D as those of the Genoese, who had been the first to declare war and destruction upon the Venetians, were...

^A emboldened by that trifling success in that inglorious naval battle with the Byzantines, and could no longer control their own minds, but went about dreaming of being masters of the entire sea. First, they laid claim to the Euxine Sea as their own lucrative preserve, and with arrogant pride and supreme audacity, they not only forbade the Byzantines to navigate around Maeotis and Tanais, Cherson, ^B or any other parts of the Scythian coast beyond the Ister, unless they received permission from them; but they also drove the Venetians themselves from their trade in those regions. They even meditated on shortly blocking the straits of the Pontus with many triremes and imposing a tyrannical and violent toll at the sanctuary of Sarapis upon those who would sail in or out of the Euxine.

II. This stirred ^C everyone to a state of turbulent calculation, especially those whose entire lives were tied to the sea, and most of all the Venetians, who were far superior in wealth and ships. Expecting therefore that they would have the Emperor as their ally and partner in this enterprise—since he was also stirred to anger against the Genoese because of that defeat and the shame that accompanied it—they came armed and equipped with triremes (as I said) to attack them. But because the Emperor was not present, ^D nor was it an opportune time for him to be of assistance to them (for these events took place around the rising of Arcturus, when the clouds pour down many rains, and the unsparing cold that was already coming on afflicted those who were passing the nights in the open air, at sea, and in armor), it seemed best to them to remain for a few days, and after having tested their strength on both sides with light skirmishes, to sail back home. This was especially because they had heard that new triremes had already set out from Genoa toward Euboea and Crete and the other islands that were subject to the Venetians at that time. For of the fourteen Genoese ships which the Venetian triremes had enclosed—when they came here—in the bays of Aulis and Oreos near Euboea, ten had been captured along with their crews; but the remaining four had escaped the danger by stealth. These four, therefore, taking advantage of the absence of the Venetians, who were occupied with another war, were harassing the islands of the Venetians with impunity. Therefore, they returned with great diligence and alacrity to punish and repel the enemy. And these things happened in this way.

III. But when the sun, having turned from the winter solstice, had departed from the vicinity of the Antarctic pole, the Emperor returned from Thessalonica, beside himself with joy. For he thought that he was now delivered from his hidden terrors,

^A and to be rid once and for all of every suspicion, now that the man who stood in the way of his safely transmitting the succession of the empire to his sons was out of the way. And believing things to be peaceful and secure, he was henceforth entirely devoted to the synod of bishops he had in mind to convene regarding the doctrines of Palamas. For Palamas had already come from Thessalonica to Byzantium, winged with every sort of hope, and confident that he would easily and without any labor achieve what he desired, even if countless waves of public affairs were pulling him in other directions.

IV.

V.

they fell upon the fighting and the war more easily against all places, ports, and cities, and wherever there was a Genovese race, rushing unrestrainedly. ^A

CHAPTER III.

The beginning of the history of dogmas. The calling of the General Council long promised. The evil arts of Palamas, who fears the public judgment. What kind of council it was decided to hold at last. How many and of what rank the bishops were ordered to be present.

^B 1. Now, since the preparation of weapons promises that this war will be great and long-lasting, but undertakings deserve praise or blame not at their beginning, yet the authority of judgment is finally firm only when things are brought to an end; come, let us interrupt the course of our narrative for a moment in this place and turn to other matters. Because we ourselves first followed these things with the diligence that was required and perceived them with accurate knowledge, for that reason we transmit their true and certain narrative easily to posterity. For if I know anything at all above all else, and I have been taught this by the very daily use of affairs, it is that everyone ought to be persuaded and to establish that the concern for truth must be the most important thing in history. Since this has already gained strength and authority from antiquity, it proposes to future men an easy discipline so that from those who preceded them, as if from certain archetypes, they might borrow what is useful; but they should altogether abstain from those things which are sinister and unlucky, if they wish to live well and happily. ^C But these matters are the things (of which I profess I shall speak) [that is, the] ecclesiastical storms and tempests which incautious princes, naive in ruling, brought upon the wretched Romans, carried away by the new opinions of Palamas and his impious doctrine; just as light vessels, seized by river whirlpools and cast down rashly and by chance to any shores, are shattered now on these and now on those shallows and rocks. Concerning this matter, indeed, many men, illustrious in virtue, wisdom, integrity of life, and the sincerity of the orthodox faith, have often consulted with me and have earnestly urged me that, for the sake of religion in peril, I should set aside all other things. For in other matters, if writers ever dissimulate something, and, to gratify friends, pass over some things in silence, that perhaps might be devoid of envy and be forgiven by those who, being subject to such friendships, are by their own nature least inclined to reproach; but where the danger ^D pertains to God, then we ought, neglecting other things, to look to this one thing alone; and that this is the dogma and precept handed down by our fathers.

II. Since the emperor for the fourth year now [has] ...

[alt-version omitted]

^A been buoying them up with promises, declaring to all whom he happened to encounter that he wished to convene a general council, at which the patriarchs and bishops from all over the world might be present according to the custom of their ancestors, the multitude hung in expectation and was raised to good hope. But Palamas, who, as we have said, had recently arrived from Thessalonica, was devising and weaving one scheme after another. For just as wool, or anything else that is light and unstable, is easily carried away by any wind, so this man, too, having once entangled the emperor in error, was driving him and carrying him about at his own will. And since he knew that just as for bats and owls the sun’s light is harmful, and easily convicts the feebleness of their eyes, so here, too, because he knew that a public trial and a great gathering of spectators would be more harmful than helpful to the depravity of his doctrines, for this reason he said it was better to suppress those who resisted with exiles and other punishments, having employed certain pretexts, such as those that were available long ago to Julian and all those who resembled Julian. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his evil deeds should be exposed. ^B

3. Chapter 3

^A accustomed to return at evening, and who had barely learned to articulate the first elements of letters; others had not long before committed sacrilege, and had repeatedly wallowed in brothels; nor, in order to be raised to that degree of dignity, had they contributed anything else, except the profession of that heresy which the impious Palamas had instituted.

CAPUT IV.

^B I. When things were in this state, I came to the emperor in private; I commemorated our old friendship in the very exordium of my speech; I reminded him with what solicitude I provided for his dignity and his soul, and for the long-term preservation both of himself and of his children: then I descended to refutation in my accustomed manner, battling for the common peace of the churches and for the orthodox faith; and I exhorted him to remain within the boundaries established by the fathers, and not to leap over the marked limits, nor in this way to reveal the mysteries of theology to men so unskilled and shameless, [giving] holy things to dogs, and casting pearls before swine.

II. And so, connecting the holy Scriptures with my own speech: “What are you doing?” (I asked). “Where is your mind? Why are you stirring up these hornets against religion? Why do you permit those to dispute about God who do not understand even the most common and widely understood things? Why are you building the tower of Chalane, while destitute of the things necessary to complete it? Why do you desire to fly into heaven, you who are a traveler on foot? Why within the span of a single day do you institute theologians who pervert simple souls, and gather together tyrannical councils of unlearned teachers? Why do you study to entangle the weak in spiders’ webs, as if that were a great deed worthy of an emperor? Why do you ^C suddenly pour out a swarm of dialectical dust, like the Giants of old in the fable? Why do you yourself kindle the flame of your own punishment? Why do you heap up a harvest of sighs and lamentations for your children? Why do you willingly make them heirs of the curse brought forth against your ^D ancestors...

and of the bitterness of such tears? Why do you choose misfortunes and sorrows, when it would be easy to choose joy and splendor? Remember that you are mortal and that you have received a nature subject to death. ^A “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Now, I would like you to tell me, what is the meaning of your promising one thing for four whole years, and then performing something else at the end? For your promise was that a general synod would be convened, to which all the patriarchs and bishops would be summoned. But what you are now hastily assembling bears not even the image of any ordinary council. Formerly, at least, the hopes adumbrated concerning the future correction of the new Palamite opinions nourished the spirits of those people; but now, as I see, you are establishing for yourself a tyrannical tribunal in a corner, as if in a den of thieves. For how could that be called a synod, which is entirely outside the bounds of the divine canons and laws of the Church? ^B For the word "canon" is derived metaphorically from the builder's common rule. Just as it is necessary for the builder's rule to have a broader application, extending over every land and sea and wherever men might dwell, while human governments have their own specific, and as one might say, seminal and diverse applications; so too it is necessary for the canons of the Church and the laws of the state to have a more universal application, and to rule over the rulers and lead the leaders. But seeing that you, on the contrary, wish to desire the opposite, I fear lest the things that come to pass might turn out contrary to you and entirely opposed to your goal. For indeed, if an architect or a craftsman does not use a plumb line, a level, and such other rules, he will see the things he has built collapse before long, because the structure of his works was not ordered according to the laws of solid binding. ^C Since, therefore, you yourself do not follow the canons of the Church, know that you will be overthrown by the Church, or rather by God who presides over the Church, and if not immediately, then not after a very long time either. For you know that you were the first to initiate protection from above for Palamas's impiety, and together with your mother you became the cause of such great disturbance to the Church. Therefore, God being angered, you were suddenly stripped of that prosperity and glory, and you became immediately an exile from your country and kinsfolk. And your mother paid the most shameful price at the end of her life, consumed by hunger and cold, and bringing upon herself the bitter funeral shroud of being deprived of you, her dearest son. You, however, having measured out many and various wanderings of life through Thrace, Macedonia, and the land of the Triballi, were then compelled by necessity to partake of Persian and satrapal customs and dogmas, ^D to such a degree that you became ungrateful toward your own race and an alien to all pity, having been abandoned by God, so that you even trampled upon the corpses of the captured Romans and the bodies of infants who were still wailing, and walked over them without feeling, and did not even revere the flame of the sun that nourishes all things, nor the ethereal, lightning-hurling tempests of God, as the story relates. Time will fail me as I narrate the...

^A summary of all the events, both what you did and what you suffered, the terrible things and the curses, on account of the myriad storms and surges of which you yourself, along with your mother, Empress Anna, became the cause for the Church of God. For what other reason was it possible for the Empire to fall than because of such things? Everyone knows that it was because of me that Palamas’s ungodliness was bolstered, and that overnight the authority [of the Church] was destroyed, because justice did not endure waiting and delaying here at all. Subsequently, when the imperial power was transferred to you as well, you yourself forgot the divine chastisement, and embracing those Palamite dogmas once more, you gave him full license to cast others unjustly and without any reason from their episcopal sees and from every rank of dignity, and to introduce in their place others who had previously been required to sign the writings of his impiety with their own hand. You know that, having performed the duty of a friend, I predicted and always warned you that you would not depart unpunished if you offended God, but that you would be struck down in those matters which were dearest to you: namely, that you would lose one of your children. And it was no wonder if I, being a sharp observer of future events based on those that had preceded them, ^B truly perceived how great the impiety was. A short time had passed, and my predictions had their outcome; for the youngest of your children, after having been ill for some time, passed away. And so that I may pass over the intervening events, which pertain to the same truth, you know again that I never ceased, both privately and publicly, from exhorting you to abstain from such impiety, so that your life might not become worse day by day. So well disposed was I towards you, and so much were you a care to me. But you were not sorry to do all things to the contrary, and to contrive one evil after another against religion; as if the lashes and punishments which God was inflicting upon you in the present had sunk and vanished beyond Gades and the Atlantic Ocean. For this, too, is a mode of God’s providence: to restrain sinners with infinite blows before they are condemned to that lot of eternal punishment which is fated for the future. ^C For sacrilege and fornication and the deeds of murderers had taken on an infamy before all men, for those who committed them as well as those who suffered them, and for all others who might happen to hear of them; and it is not given to those who have committed them to have a conscience free of stings. For indeed these crimes, for the most part, pierce like a sword, with shame supervening, which cannot bear the sight of men nor the wakeful eyes of God. And we know that many have indeed become better through repentance than those who had always been moderate and modest. But the crime of the heresy of the ungodly, being the weightiest of all sins, has somehow enclosed the color of its wickedness in secret, so that it usually escapes the eyes of the common people, and is as difficult to know as it is difficult to cure, because of the scriptural verses quoted from the opposing side, even if those who hold to piety have not remained equally firm on the foundations of the traditional faith. For this reason, ^D God leaves some of those who are caught to perish in their wickedness, whether for the chastisement of others, or because they have an unintelligent heart and are in no way able to be...

corrected; or perhaps for both reasons. For we do not know how to judge the unsearchable judgments of God. But as for those toward whom He is favorably disposed on account of the goodness of their former deeds, or on account of other things that depend on His wise providence, He hastens to turn them away from that misguided impulse, as we have said—by placing all sorts of varied obstacles in their path—doing a thing greater than any tender-hearted father. ^A I have perceived that He is doing this now in your case, while you are entirely insensible to that discipline. This, indeed, cuts my heart in two and brings upon me an intolerable pain, for I fear that, if the cups of His implacable wrath, once poured out from there, are emptied upon you and your children, you might all immediately perish completely. But do not desire to prefer the words of flatterers to mine, just because they bewitch the portals of your ears with the honey of their tongues. For they bring forth long labor and sorrows, whereas mine abound with the fruits of true delight. For the words of the wise are like ox-goads, as one of ^B the ancient sages said—and they indeed prick, but in reality they cultivate the foundation of a blessed life.

III. When I had said these things, I received from him no response worthy of a wise man, nor one consistent with what I had said, but only certain ambiguous expressions, indices of a mind that had put aside the truth and, in a certain sense, renounced every law of justice and right. Since, therefore, I seemed to me to be wasting my effort by shearing fire and hunting winds with a net, I departed from there as quickly as possible, having achieved nothing more than the sharpening of his anger against me, who had offered him salutary remedies. For behold, he has travailed with iniquity, and ^C has conceived labor, and has brought forth other and yet other plots against me. Then, fearing lest he should seem unable to restrain the heat of his anger because he did not have the means and the ways to begin to avenge himself upon me—my "Prometheus," that is, my guardian spirit (for I could never be induced to have my soul attached to fields, or vineyards, or various kinds of property, nor have I ever endured to sell my freedom for any honors or splendid fortunes that princes generously bestow, nor ^D have I ever sustained the change of my free manner of speech for any price—yet these are the very things by the removal of which any prince most easily avenges himself upon those whom he hates among private men)—he thereafter decided to refer all my affairs to the judgment of that synod which he was devising, similar to a gathering of brigands.

IV. And since the man’s wickedness had by this time broken out into total depravity, and all hope of good things for us now seemed empty, it remained for me thereafter to stay at home, having cast aside the study of debate, to remain in leisure. But then, frequent and successive surges of thought began to overwhelm me, such as are wont to bring shipwrecks upon the Church for souls inflamed with zeal, inasmuch as there is no remedy from men...

^A that could offer me a swift path to salvation. I therefore resolved to offer myself to death in defense of the faith, as the very condition of the times constrained me into such straits; so that, while there were others, many in number, who cherished a great and burning zeal conceived deep within their hearts but had not yet had the occasion to bring it into the light and profess the truth openly, they might now at least, by looking upon me as a visible and public example, strengthen themselves and likewise enter upon the same course of the true faith. At the very beginning, I summoned a certain man, a priest and a religious, who was also a friend, and shared my plan with him; at the same time, I received from him the garment of a monk, according to custom. I professed that in the future, unless this very occasion were to take me from this life, I would abandon this way of living and entirely renounce the empty association ^B and licentiousness of the imperial court. And thus far did these things proceed.

CHAPTER V

I. The day arrived on which it behooved us to enter into an open struggle for the orthodox faith. In the morning of that day, before the earth was suffused with the light of the sun, thrusting my head slightly ^C outside the cell, I saw many learned men approaching me, most of them illustrious for the discipline of the monastic life; they had long since been driven from their own homes and, scattered here and there, were dragging out a life destitute and devoid of all consolation, nor were they even liberated from fear in that state. Nay more, some of them carried about in their minds the image of those evils which they had either already borne or had been promised and threatened with, though they had not yet experienced them in reality. The ears of some were ringing with insults and threats hurled at them daily. There were also those who, having spent more than thirty years in austere exercise and having been completely enclosed within the narrow walls of their cells, after having been dead to the greater part of their life, were now about to die for the remaining part, and with a glorious end—namely, martyrdom—intended to adorn their entire past life. Seeing some of these, weak from long age and carried along on the ^D hands of others, I truly wept and admired their intense zeal.

II. Moreover, the prelate of the Ephesians was prominent; a man of advanced age indeed, for he was already exceeding the eightieth year of his life, but gifted with a vigor of mind and of all his senses that was more than youthful. An honorable appearance of countenance also shone in him, and a tongue that was both fluent and distinctly articulate; in addition to these, there was a secular and sacred philosophy with which he had grown up.

^A III. There was also present he to whom the spiritual administration of the places surrounding Mount Ganos and the pastoral care of the local clergy and the people of God had been committed with pontifical authority: a man endowed with senile white hair and equally with senile prudence; and in whom, by as much as the outer man—visible to the eyes—had mortified himself, by that much the inner and hidden man flourished. For having long since been cast out from his episcopate because he hated the councils of the wicked and the chairs of pestilence, he had spent his life gradually wasting away in every sort of self-chosen privation of necessities.

IV. As to the other bishops who had set out to follow the same zeal and manner of life, none of them has survived to this time. For since a wandering and illiberal race of men, and men who were in very deed men of blood, had crept into their churches, the result was that they were banished very far from all human providential aid. And their bodies, since they could not endure the lack of necessary things and the other miseries that accompanied them, like certain kindred fates and misfortunes, bringing with them every instrument of austerity and piling up one upon another waves of every kind of evil, migrated to those eternal and blessed seats. ^B There was present, however, one for many from the Antiochene province, the Bishop of Tyre, a man of understanding who nourished in his heart a love of justice deeply implanted by nature, and who, while standing himself unmoved upon the foundations of the true faith, was able to confirm others. He, having in his hands the ancient decrees of the Patriarchate of Antioch and letters written by him against the impiety of Palamas, and also announcing his sentiment and will by his own living voice, followed of his own accord those most holy men whom we have said gathered at our house in the morning.

V. There assembled also not a few men distinguished in doctrine and erudition, armed well with the holy Scriptures as a sort of excellent armor, who from their very appearance seemed in no way likely to permit any fraud in the defense of orthodox faith; namely Dexius, who was indeed always illustrious by the praise of letters and virtue, but ^C in these contests of religion showed his name to be true. Likewise Athanasius, a man entirely absorbed in the meditation of immortality.

VI. Then followed the chorus of my disciples, and as many others as were their disciples, to run the same race with their master. Their mind, prompt and generous in undergoing perils for religion, and their truly effective virtue, were sufficiently (as it seems to me) declared by those excellent struggles with which they exercised themselves in the arena of martyrdom, and those honorable contests of the tongue which they undertook ingenuously and boldly.

VII. I omit many others whom I have had the opportunity of seeing even to this day—all of them emulators of the same virtue and the same way of life, all of them having a pious intent of morals impressed upon their souls

^A revealing themselves of their own accord to those who contemplate them with wisdom and insight as heralds of the beauty of their character. Since the hour had arrived when it was necessary for us to come into the palace, those who excelled in virtue and intelligence, having given, as it were, a military signal, began to summon the others to the struggle.

VIII. But I, looking around at all of them, said, “The ardor of those who have gathered here is certainly not sluggish, but the battle line is weak, since it must contend with the power and the will of the emperor, which are extremely hostile. ^B For in my judgment, there is nothing more grievous that can happen to subjects than to have as their enemy their own prince, armed with supreme power. For, as you see, he appoints as our judges not only himself, but also those whom we ought to accuse of the most grievous errors; and at the same time, by means of external threats, he tries to shake our constancy and to suppress early the noble spirit of our souls. For even if one has good generals and pilots well-versed in maritime affairs, if neither the opportunity of time nor the winds are favorable, and if the enemy openly opposes their arts, the diligence of both will be in vain. Indeed, I choose to make use of that saying of Leonidas the Spartan, with which he addressed those who were fighting alongside him against the Persians, when he had entered ^C the Thessalian Tempe and, having taken possession of the narrow passes and hiding places there, lay in wait, watching and waiting to thwart the arms of the Persians and stop Xerxes from crossing into Greece. For when he saw the hostile forces rushing forward like torrential rivers, he immediately began to encourage and confirm his own men, who were rushing toward certain death, saying, ‘O comrades, let us dine here, for we shall sup in the underworld.’ And on that very day, after slaughtering countless enemies, those three hundred men met a glorious death. Therefore, having changed the saying a little, I said to those present, ‘Brothers, let us bid one another a final farewell, that we may sup in the underworld; or rather, that with God’s help, after our athletic labor, we may plant our feet in paradise, where, as we have learned, the honey of pleasure is uncorrupted and unending. ^D For I do not think that we shall survive even until tomorrow.’”

IX. When we were departing, many men and women hastened out of their houses and followed us with favorable acclamations. There were also those who, having cast off all fear, followed us boldly, running frequently back and forth, in pairs and in threes; and in some places gathering in a dense column, so that the number of our people increased little by little; just as a very great river, which, bursting forth from a lofty mountain, is not that large immediately from its very springs, but, flowing downward and mingling its waters with other torrents and streams, increases in size to such an extent that in many places the [P. 564] river becomes navigable. Thus, the impiety of that nefarious dogma was manifest to all indiscriminately, to young and old, men and women alike.

ch an extent that in many places the river becomes navigable. Thus, the impiety of that nefarious dogma was manifest to all indiscriminately, to young and old, men and women alike.

Chapter VI. While the Palamites feast in the inner hall, Gregoras and his companions are excluded. They wait for a long time, dispersed throughout the atrium. After their meal, the Palamites move to the triclinium of Alexius. There they first consult among themselves; then the orthodox are introduced. The method of initiating the council is prescribed by them. Cantacuzenus swears with perplexed and ambiguous words. His iniquity toward the orthodox is manifest.

^A I. We arrived at the palace at about the second hour of the day. There, some of the lictors and attendants—those, that is, who move about in the emperor’s inner house—caught sight of us from a distance and ran to us with haste. They forbade us to proceed any further and ordered us to stand quietly there by the vestibule and wait; for the emperor, they said, was busily engaged in providing for the needs of those Nazarenes—those new dogmatists, along with their associates, bishops, presbyters, and the whole throng of that sort. Yet this "care" for their bodies consisted not of ambrosia or celestial nectar (otherwise they would have become like those bloodless beings called the immortals), but of sumptuous feasts and luxurious tables, of fragrant wines and undiluted drinks, and of contests in drinking: things, indeed, all prepared before the rising of the sun and crafted with great artifice, so that nothing would be lacking for the pleasure that was fitting to be provided by the emperor for those holy bellies. They did this so that, with the edge of their minds purified by this customary mode and reformed into a better state for receiving divinely inspired visions, they might thenceforth more confidently and securely—as if possessed of the scepter—enact laws and hurl their pronouncements from afar at us vile little men; at us, I say, who dwell only on the books of the Fathers and, clinging to them as if fixed, had not learned to utter voices from the belly, but were bound fast and held by their dogmatic decrees as if by certain adamantine chains.

^B II. And these things took place in this manner. We, for our part, dispersed here and there through the atrium of the imperial house, and divided into groups and decuries at intervals, ^C walked about calmly and with a slow pace, much like the Socratic auditors of old in the Academy; only that we had the divine dogmata of the Church upon our lips. Some indeed were sitting on seats that had been offered to them by chance and at random; they were not, to be sure, captives sitting by the rivers of Babylon, dragged far from their native land into Assyria, but they were nonetheless, in a certain sense, captives in a foreign land, having to suffer a force which compelled them to embrace and worship foreign dogmata. And so, we spent the greater part of the day waiting there, under the open sky, parched by the sun and the summer heat, while meanwhile those illustrious "contemplatives" were most holily delighting themselves within with their mystic feasting.

^D III. Finally, at the very meridian hour, when the heat of the sun is at its greatest, they moved to the triclinium which had once been built by the emperor Alexius; and there, with the benches already prepared, the pontiffs and presbyters gathered together with the emperor to deliberate among

themselves, before we were introduced, how they might now, upon a suitable occasion, at last bring to fulfillment the designs which they had long ago meditated and constructed against us—so that the listeners who were soon to arrive might not understand that the trick had been fabricated many years ago and composed with much artifice. Eventually we also, having been called by the doorkeepers, went in. Then the emperor straightway followed the Gospel set before him with a brief adoration, evidently intending to satisfy us with that action. For we had requested again and again that the acts of the most holy sixth general council be produced, according to the constitution of the prince who reigned at that time, and that the oaths be sworn even now in our presence. Then he himself sat down and urged us also to sit down together with the others.

IV. ^B And he, as he began to speak, inserted into his speech certain vague and perplexing oaths, as if calling down destruction upon himself and his children if he should in any way favor either party; and his words, as the event itself proved, were dilemmas. And what wonder indeed, when he had been in plain conspiracy with Palamas from the beginning, and valued his company so highly that he preferred it day and night to pressing public business, and wove deceits and spread nets for us together with him? And in both private and public conversations he was accustomed to fight with me in such a way that he seemed to be more violent even than Palamas himself. Therefore, if he considered only our side when he promised that he would not be favorably disposed toward the other part, he did not indeed commit perjury, but he lost his own soul, mimicking entirely that ancient Herod who, when he killed the prophet, used an oath as a pretext for his crime. But if the intent of the oath could not look toward either party, but with an ^C equal balance his affection hung suspended, determining to show itself equal to both, and then he did not stand by his oaths (which he declared by the fact itself, when in that most crowded theater he corrupted the equity of law), he will certainly never escape the charge of perjury, since he committed himself of his own accord to be a perjurer.

V. ^D For he, deciding that it was the ruin of Palamas and of himself, when he now saw that they were being utterly defeated by our arguments, contrary to what he had thought, turned the ship in mid-course; and having cast off his fox's skin, he immediately put on a bearskin, and became completely a different man from what he had been. He could no longer restrain himself from shouting and threatening us if we did not keep silent; for he claimed that we were not to be endured, since we wished to speak in his house while he would not hear us at all—just as if he had forgotten both himself and those oaths, and did not respect the conscience of the many people who had gathered there, nor the silent judgments of those before whom he was convicted of being caught in the manifest crime of lying and iniquity. For he was not at all what he was; and what he was not, that he truly was: in place of an emperor, a pure tyrant; in place of a judge, our accuser and inexcusable persecutor. So unhappy was he, abandoned by divine aid, that he declined from his true state, and...

ipsum revera erat, pro imperatore merus tyrannus, pro judice accusator noster et inexcusabilis persecutor. Adeo infelix ille, divina ope destitutus, de suo statu declinavit, et spe ^A et cetera, as well as the childish character of that person.

CHAPTER VII

I. But since most people, possessing a soul eager to learn and to listen, do not allow us to move on before we have set forth more fully what was said and done at that time—for it would surely be a useful example for humanity of a constancy worthy of athletes and martyrs, especially for those who, if the time should demand it, burn to struggle for the sacred dogmas—come then, setting aside for the second place the yearnings of men who love excellence, and the head pains we suffer, let us discuss it with whatever ability remains to us who are so afflicted. For if those who are in health cannot grasp everything by speaking all at once, much less shall we, who are consumed by such great ^C age and headaches, and furthermore by the grievous burdens which the insolence of new opinions has brought about in this age, be able to pursue everything in our speech accurately and in detail. Certainly, when the sharpest power of the senses was in me, that occasion was not present which is now at hand; for when the occasion is at hand, the vigor of the senses is not present.

II. Furthermore, that one may understand the matter itself as it really is, unless I appear to be puffed up with vain pride, one may learn from those contests which we finished long ago, when that Barlaam first arrived from Calabria and confronted me for the sake of disputation. He, with raised pride, having looked down upon the common education of the Romans, then at last felt in vain that he was praised as learned, after he had suddenly been stripped of those soaring cedars of learning; not otherwise than a pine or a cypress which the strong hand of the woodsman strips bare, despoiled of their foliage. We have consigned all these things to writing, that a monument of his wickedness might remain ^D for posterity. I say nothing of those labors which we performed in the narration of events (for those, too, we have committed to writing, that their memory might be more enduring), nor of those which we expended in writing books, whether refutatory or invective, whenever enemies of the truth emerged from elsewhere and attacked it in every way; nor, finally, of those which we placed in explaining the more obscure sentiments of the ancients through our own interpretation.

III. For through such labors the time which withers all things gnaws away, advancing gently and little by little, and mines the healthier part of my body, having at the same time the nature of the lender of harmony as a fellow-traveler and tax-collector, which now at last, as if...

^A late, demands back its loan more actively and violently. And now it dims the rays of my eyes, and now it lays in wait as an antagonist, dissolving the harmony that binds together my hands and knees. And this, moreover, at a time when, if ever, it was necessary for me to have my own strength at its peak and, at the same time, if there were any device for it, to seek to procure more from elsewhere, wherever it might be. For not “the allied arms of the Curetes and the warlike ^B Aetolians” wage a fresh war against me, an old man, and stir up my competitive spirit to the point of spilling blood; but dragons from a hidden place have attacked me, and stout ones have sought my soul, casting bloodless wounds on me in the dark of night and attempting to inflict them. This brings7 me even more severe pains. For since I myself also win bloodless victories over them, it happens that the many who look on from outside can hardly discern the truth and form such an opinion as will not be very liable to the calumnies of our persecutors. For those who do not know how to moderate their words with judgment consider every mystery of faith and sacred dogma ^C as nonsense; those, however, who do know are forced by necessity to be estranged. Yet, as much as lies in my power, I shall endeavor, as I have already said, to perform what those religious men request. My words will be heralded by hope placed in God, for whose sake we are sailing this very sea of struggles.

IV. I do not wish for any of those who may encounter these things to have a tongue ready to cast reproaches upon us, because throughout almost the entire history, whatever crimes were present in that emperor, whether by fault of nature or of will, we suppressed in silence, and we expended much effort in praising him, ^D both for the sake of friendship and in order to have him as an ally and helper in undergoing the struggles for the sake of religion (being a prince, indeed, in whose hand alone, on account of supreme power, lay the whole momentum for winning the victory). And I do not wish that they should object that we now unseal what was hidden, and dare to celebrate certain things as an *anacalypteria* (revelation) beyond what was intended. For first, on account of those who had gathered to hear and were present at our contests (and there were more than four hundred, both nobles and men of miscellaneous or different status, and likewise empresses and other women, as many as had flocked together drawn by fame, and who were themselves also of high rank, though not under the same titles), it was proper for us to speak the truth, lest we should openly become the authors of a not-the-softest judgment being brought against us.

^A For if anyone were to desire to hide anything when it is God Himself who is in peril, I think that the languages of all, sharpened as they are, would encounter him with their own reproaches; and even he who is most moderate in all other matters—unless he wished to become a chatterer in this instance and to rail against the man with his whole tongue—if he were to spare him from any form of reproach, I myself would wonder if he, whoever he might be, would not be submerged into the abysms of shame and the very depths, [P. 569] having acquired the axe of his own conscience as an ever-hostile neighbor. Since, therefore, such great terrors ^B of Olympus are threatened against us, if we were to wish to lie, it is even more necessary here, while passing over other things and looking only to God, to speak the truth. Furthermore, it is not at all strange that in matters which flow and are borne along now one way and now another, and which make an indeterminate voyage, the very same man should now enjoy the fruit of success and now be unexpectedly cast into the lot of those suffering shipwreck. Since this is the case, we would not justly be blamed if, in this work, having taken up the primary concern of retaining the truth, we now extol the same men with praises, where this cannot be a snare to the hearers, and now appear to follow the entirely contrary course.

V. It is also necessary to add this to what has been said in this place. For I think that no one among all men could justly be indignant with me because, when the matters of God and the ancestral dogmas of the truth were in danger, I conversed with the Emperor as an equal; and because, having kept every form of flattery far removed from my speech, I could never be induced to imbue my pen with any fear or trepidation, nor to slacken in the slightest from that sharp contention, even though death itself had to be endured. Indeed, I would not hesitate ^C to call him miserable who, in the dreams of this life, puts divine things behind to such an extent that he neither reverences the tribunal of the Judge of justice, nor fears God Himself, who is armed with the whirlwinds of ethereal fire. For in those contests which are instituted concerning God and divine dogmas, one must consider God alone to be Emperor, and all others to be equal to one another, fellow-servants, ^D rich and poor alike, kings and private citizens, and as many as happen to participate in that assembly and chorus in any way. [P. 570] 1. The twenty-seventh day of the month of May had therefore arrived, on which it was resolved that we should be called together to the synod which he himself...

CHAPTER VIII.

I. The twenty-seventh day of May had therefore arrived, on which the Emperor called us to the synod which he himself…

named. Taking up the matter from the beginning, he explained in detail how the devil, from the very start, has always labored to wage war against mankind ^A as if it were a glorious inheritance he had obtained—ever since he joined battle with our first ancestor and carried off the trophy of victory. God, however, assumed the nature of man precisely because through it He wished to point out to us the paths of salvation, by which anyone who so desires might easily overcome the adversary. Then, he continued, the devil turned his attention to another matter, seeking to overturn the Church of God and her dogmas, introducing idolatry along with other heresies one after another. Against these, the holy and sacred synods were assembled, bringing a remedy to these diseases of the Church. And, coming to our own times, he described how Barlaam the Latin-minded, a native of Calabria, had been ^B brought forward to the detriment of our peace by the instigation of the devil—a man indeed learned, but fond of disputation and one who from his youth had been devoted to vain glory. After he had engaged in a first conflict of a different kind and had been defeated in the struggle undertaken for the sake of showing off his erudition, he had reluctantly yielded the palm to those from whom he had hoped for the greatest praise. Thus, in a second and, as it were, subsidiary attempt, he had joined battle with Palamas over his dogmas, imputing to him the crime of maintaining two gods, and whatever else would logically be built upon such a foundation. And so that we do not dwell too long on these matters, which are very well known, it will be permitted to anyone to understand what was decided by the ^C decrees promulgated at that time in the Tomes written by the Church of God and the patriarch of that period. Furthermore, after he departed—in whatever way he may have gone—someone else named Akindynos took up his accusations against Palamas, and he too was likewise condemned and expelled by you. Finally, these people—whom I know not by what name I shall rightly seem to have called them—are now voicing the same things against the divine Palamas as did Barlaam. The cause of this, it is credible, is the clemency which I have employed up to this day. But now I shall relax my hand no further, nor let them rejoice. Indeed, I shall awaken, and I shall take up again that power and jurisdiction which was given to me by God for the benefit of peace, in accordance with my imperial authority. For ^D I believe it is clear to all that there is no one among all men to whom it better pertains to settle these controversies than to me, in my capacity as Emperor. If an emperor cannot render justice to his subjects, then what future is there for the happiness of the empire? Or in what will ruling differ from servitude, if the right of investigating matters does not belong to the one person who possesses the empire—the one who, by his supreme authority, can curb those who arrogate too much to themselves, and supply to others, on the other hand, what is lacking in equity

If they would abide by what has been decreed once for all by the Church of God against Barlaam, and if they would cease from further wrangling and, being of one mind, would for the future be with us and join with us in pronouncing a common anathema upon Barlaam, then they might be allowed to be with us. But if they plainly hold the opposite, and as like-minded with him, ^A deserve the same condemnation that he does, then it follows that he will be sent away. And if I do not say these things justly, and do not walk the middle path without deviation, and in no way leaning to either side, may God, I pray, bring manifest ruin upon me and my whole race! But if I do, let someone come forward and refute me, if he should find anything in what I have said that is not sincere, or does not look toward the earliest possible establishment of ecclesiastical concord.

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINÆ HISTORIÆ LIBER DECIMUS NONUS

CHAPTER FIRST.

^B When he had interposed this and many other things like it, tending toward the same end, he there brought his speech nearly to a close. For he desired to complete the whole matter on that very day. Indeed, both Palamas and the Emperor himself were looking to nothing so much as to finish off great affairs in a short time. Silence having therefore been made, when all my companions were looking at me and urging me to speak, I, having received permission from both sides, argued as follows:

II. Since, O Emperor, every action and every speech has an end as its goal (otherwise both would be useless), it was necessary first to inquire from us what was the goal proposed for this council; and then to bring forward those things which were directed toward that end. For we see that archers and ship captains do not set their goal—

^A merely for the sake of shooting or sailing, nor do they desire this for its own sake; but rather, they aim for that end for whose sake the archer undertook to shoot and the captain to sail; since, if this is not the case, the effort of both is vain. For what profit is there in laboring to no purpose, and in being repeatedly cast about by shipwrecks and wintry waves, if we do not propose some utility and some benefit to ourselves as our target and goal? Moreover, because we perceive from some traces of your discourse that the goal of the present business is to avert the shipwrecks of the Church, it is therefore necessary for us to fix the goal of our own oration and to steer the reins ^B toward that object. For since we have come here not of our own volition, but were brought here very much against our will, it is necessary for us to steer the course of our speech, not toward what our own will suggests to us, but toward that which the hand and tongue that possess the power compel us, and to show how far we ought to obey emperors, and how far it is not fitting to do so. For that wise Solomon, after saying that there are three things that go well, and a fourth that proceeds well, interprets this last as a king haranguing his subjects. For as many things and of such quality, at whatever time and place, to as many and to what kind of people, and in whatever ^C business a king might want to speak, he will be able to premeditate all these things conveniently before the business itself; and when the present business presses, he will say those very things which he has premeditated, and there will be no one among the listeners who can restrain him: but all will applaud with a sort of concerted praise, and they will vie with one another in their eagerness, as to who shall surpass whom in flattery. For then he will become in a certain way more torrential than himself, and if there are any who finally wish to contradict him, he will pass them by as ignorant; and even if it be Socrates who rises, or Plato, or Pythagoras, nothing at all will hinder him from being considered in the place of a miserable and most worthless slave. But if someone does not ^D approach the matter before he has premeditated, he will certainly have premeditated in vain; because the emperor will draw the course of the oration elsewhere: and he will appear to differ little or nothing from one who tries to write in water, or who catches the gusts of the winds with a net. For neither will the time of speaking be of a kind that what he previously foresaw will turn out to be opportune; nor, if he wishes to speak what he has foreseen, will he be far from shipwreck; but in a moment of time he will experience all the most adverse things. For these reasons, and also because the orthodox bishops from all parts of the world were not present, since the question was about dogmas completely unusual in the Church of God, we by no means wished to come here, but to pass our whole life peacefully sitting at home. For it was fitting in these matters, before all else, that the custom of the ancestors and the privileges should remain safe and immune.

as has been written and done; just as the great doctor of theology, Gregory, is the author: "We (he says), as we draw the accurate diligence of the Spirit down to every apex and every stroke, have never granted (for it is not right even in the least of deeds to be chronicled, and for their memory to be preserved until the present time) that those who wrote labored over them rashly; but only that we might have records and documents which, if an occasion should ever arise, we might use in the treatment of similar matters." But also the book of the acts of the holy and ^B ecumenical sixth synod, in apologizing for the slowness of the eastern bishops, sets down as the cause that the bishops of Britain and of those regions of the Ocean, and as many as were in other climates of Europe, did not assemble together: "Since," it says, "it is necessary for such things to be performed by all, convoked from the whole collectivity of the Church, and by no means by a single part; so that all, knowing those things which have been done concerning the divine and apostolic faith, might agree with one another." And the most divine Maximus likewise, in the disputation with Pyrrhus, says that a synod cannot be called such if it does not possess the marks of a synod; for it was neither convoked according to synodal laws and canons and ecclesiastical decrees, nor were letters or legates sent from the other patriarchs; and for this reason ^C it has filled the world with scandals of dissension. However, since you have given us, after we came here against our will, a place to speak—whatever that place given may be—it is necessary, just as they clear the tracks and running paths in the hippodromes of the competing horses, showing all the ground free of wood and stones and suchlike obstacles, so also now, as we begin to speak, I ask that the course of our argument be free from all violence. For the discourse is like some statue; and just as in a statue, if the work proceeds from head to foot without any impediment, the harmony of the parts is clearly perceived within, and it excites admiration, if the artisan has acted skillfully; but if not, it exposes the creator to ridicule: so also here in this beginning of the disputation, if no one plots trickery, and no one leaps out from ambush, as it were, to interrupt the continuous series of words until the end, those who stand by will be able to judge correctly whether the course of our argument has been consistent with reason, or has wandered far from the goal of truth. ^D Furthermore—if this too is permitted not to be passed over in silence, lest we seem ignorant of the duty of a just judge—since you have arrogated to yourself the power of judging those matters which the orthodox bishops of the whole world ought to have gathered to judge, and [since you maintain] that you will judge impartially...

you should have at least guarded against being ensnared by the nets of him who was to be accused—lest by openly professing yourself his champion from the very start, as they say, you might say things that favor him. Rather, you ought to have first listened to those who were bringing the charges, and then to whatever the accused himself might have said in his own defense—to refute the charges and retort to each point—and only then to have interposed your own opinion, in accordance with the canons and laws long since accepted by the Church in these matters. ^B I, for my part, consider a mind preoccupied by prejudice to be like wormwood. For just as that substance, once it touches the tongue in any way, spreads so sharp and potent a force of bitterness to the palate that it requires a long time and much consumption of sweet things to regain one's previous perception of natural goodness, so, too, we know that prejudice is generally able to affect judges. For when one of the litigants has early on preoccupied a judge's mind with preliminary narratives and plausible arguments, the stain of this evil is so deeply impressed and so difficult to erase that there is a danger that one of two things might happen: either the man who comes forward later suffers a great injustice, even being forced, contrary to expectation, to defend himself against accusations of villainy; or, after being exhausted by countless waves of contention and having produced many various testimonies of grave men—if he can find any—he reaches the truth only very late and with great difficulty.

If such a,disorder arises in a judge whom someone has once and for all prejudiced, what must be said about this Palamas and the companions of his brotherhood, who for whole years, whole days, and whole hours ^C converse with you in private, and together weave and intertwine such webs, tending to that single end, that it might be greatly accelerated? They are not even now, in such a great multitude of spectators, ashamed to act according to their custom. For they frequently rise and stealthily whisper in your ear—about those very matters, I believe, that have been settled already many times over—lest anything, through some imprudence, should slip from your memory exactly when it is necessary that the firmest strength be afforded to them. What, then, could any one of us say first or last, hemmed in by such a narrow space of time, in this light of public curia, with every opportunity for consultation among us taken away, which we so greatly needed in the present state of affairs? Therefore, let this also be added to the reasons mentioned above as to why it has not pleased us at all to enter into this untimely contest.

Closest to this is the consideration of the rules and laws; for while it is fitting that all servitude and all dominion ^D beneath the whole orb of land and sea should be subject to them, we have here heard it proclaimed in reverse order; and we have clearly recognized that Lesbian structure, which is fitted to the stones by the plumb line, and not the stones to the line; providing to those who use it a very rotten and insecure hope of remaining until the following day, unmoved. And all cities and polities bear witness to the truth of this statement—those that, by conforming themselves to older canons and laws, enjoy happiness continuously, and those that, by dancing away from them in lawlessness, are destroyed by constant and swift changes. Then, also, not to move the boundaries that the fathers established, nor to—as the Dorian proverb has it—draw the stone to the line, but rather to adapt the line to the stone.

^A For it is not the case that they were the speakers of these things, but rather the Holy Spirit. And this would be clearly manifest from the individual cases. For one can hear the prophets saying, not: "We say this and that," but: "Thus says the Lord; the Holy Spirit commands this and that." Then, the God-Word born of the Virgin, having come, says: "I speak nothing from myself, but whatever I have heard from the Father," ^B teaching us in this way not to follow our own ideas, but the dogmas and decrees of the ancestral canons. And beginning not from himself, but from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself. And again, to the devil, who was forcing him to turn stones into bread and promising to bestow the kingdoms of the earth, God said not only, "Get behind me, Satan," but he held out the sayings of the fathers, saying: "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone'"; and he puts the "It is written" twice and three times for our precise instruction, commanding us openly to follow the canons of the ancestral ^C boundaries in all things. And also, regarding the promise of the divine Spirit: "When," he says, "the Paraclete comes, he will speak nothing from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak." Then the divine apostle Paul, having come, says: "I delivered nothing of my own to you, brethren, but what I also received from Jesus." And again, writing to Timothy: "But remain," he says, "in those things which you learned and were assured of; but avoid profane novelties of words." And again: "If anyone," he says (to the Colossians), "proclaims to you a gospel other than what you have received, let him be ^D anathema, even if he be an angel from heaven, or if it be I, Paul." See how much power the boundaries established by the fathers possess, and by how many locks and bars those who are to receive them in perpetual succession were secured. Then the athletes of religion, having come, beautifully built their contests and their martyr-struggles upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. But you, unless you enslave the freedom of the canons—becoming a law unto those very canons themselves—claim that the empire is left weak and that there is nothing noble in it. For if the things which are naturally inclined to stand together are said by us to be destructive of one another, nothing of these will remain [intact], departing from its own nature; and for those who concede this, it will come to pass that the sources of rivers flow upstream. For it is not by where one wishes to rule over the ancestral canons and opinions that one bestows nobility upon the empire; but by where one is willing to submit to the ancestral canons and laws; nor, so long as one desires to be wise, could one ever choose to concede that they are otherwise.

^A For neither do those things take away the power and order of the empire, but rather they confirm it. For if these things were a destruction to states and authorities that desire to be orderly, then scarcely anything else in all the world could have stability. Furthermore, if all other things are stripped away—both those we have already spoken of and those which will be said in what follows—who would trust in such a tribunal, where in the same place both the keeping and the breaking of oaths regarding the same matters takes place, much like if someone, by cutting off his right hand with his left, were to claim that he was preserving it all the more? And indeed, I think you also know this, and still hold it in memory, green as it is, because I have often said to you that you would not be the one to heal such diseases of the Church. For how could you, you who are always the author of them? But this is not yet the time for that. Now, beginning from the head, I will narrate the matter more accurately in sequence, for the sake of those who are present here, so that all of them, observing each thing placed in its proper order, may easily grasp the narrative.

^B III. But the emperor was vexed, and he was seething with inward anger; he kept moving on the imperial throne with frequent agitation, and now he would stretch out his feet and again draw them in and tangle them. Yes, and he would sometimes command silence, for the reason that the day was failing us; yet he did so in his usual manner, and with that conspicuous gentleness of spirit. For I had already anticipated him early in the opening of my oration, so that neither he himself, nor anyone else of all those present by his permission, should interrupt my speech. And his gentleness was greatly assisted by the choir of his intimates who stood around him, who, by making little side-remarks against us every now and then and scattering them about, stirred up stealthy angers, while openly praising him for being slow to anger.

IV. ^C Since Palamas always brings forward the Calabrian as the cause of his own blasphemies, and has now persuaded you yourself to say this, listen. Just as Gregory the Theologian, ^D while attacking the Arians—who called the Son "similar" to the Father absolutely, and added craftily that they said this "according to the Scriptures"—just as, I say, Gregory the Theologian calls these words, "similar according to the Scriptures," a bait spread out for simpler men, with the hook of impiety concealed within; so too, for this Palamas, the name of Barlaam has been discovered as a bait to lure all the simpler folk—a man who, on account of the religion of the Latins, was hateful to the whole body of the Romans, as many as knew him by experience. For he, even before...

he arrived, was intent upon ^A claiming that the essence of God could be beheld by corporeal eyes; and not only he himself, but also his teacher of the same name, Gregory Drimys (45). I brought many reproaches against them, shaming their untimely and uneducated tongues from the divine Scriptures, as much as the time then permitted. And I did this openly before wise men, both the great logothete and all those who adorned their own virtue with wisdom and priestly office. To them, the matter was immediately frightening, and as soon as they heard it, they called this heresy of the Massalians, and advised me to keep away from such conversations with the whole purpose of my soul. For there was an old rumor that there was to be some very great heresy against the Church of God, mixed and manifold, drawn from all others, which a small ecumenical council would gather to correct, with nearly all the bishops and patriarchs coming together; and that this would be both the eighth and the final council.

As time flowed on, Barlaam also came to the Romans, having migrated from his native Calabria, and mingled with them. There he became known to the rulers, and was deemed worthy of no small friendship by them on account of his abundance of wisdom; and he was especially acceptable to you, above all others—both because you had chosen to pursue the humanities since your early youth, and were ambitious to acquire many books of all kinds, and were most deeply intent both upon saying and hearing something new every day.

After some time, a long and continuous rumor, spreading through the ears of the multitude, finally reached us too: that Barlaam, having obtained certain orations of Palamas at Thessalonica, had rebuked him, writing and saying clearly that he claimed to see the essence of God with corporeal ^B eyes. And everyone knows that this very thing is testified by the Tome that Palamas puts forward for his own defense.

Since, therefore, so many evidences stood thus before our eyes, manifest and plain, showing that Palamas had labored under this malady even before Barlaam had appeared within the borders of Greece, what true profit will Palamas gain from his accusations by having recourse so often to a shaky foundation—I mean, the name of Barlaam? Surely it is because that man was hated and driven out on account of his religion, and he hoped that this very thing would be a help to him against us, who were to be slandered in the same way along with him. For malice, having found a fair-seeming pretext, proceeds easily toward lying, slandering, and stirring up storms of affairs. For I think that even if Palamas—this "holy" man—had considered for a very long time how he might praise his own enemy Barlaam, he could not have so clearly rendered his own refutations ^C of the truth as he does when he makes these accusations in such a way. ^D

For surely, if one, after having struggled greatly to provide a plausible starting point for the defenses against the charges spoken against him, is then unable to do so and is forced by necessity to lean upon a flimsy falsehood—where would his tongue not have been driven in its absurdity, or what invective would he have spared against his pursuers, if he had encountered even the shadow of truth? For it was not Barlaam, as Palamas signifies in his words and writings, who introduced this impious heresy of the Massalians and the error concerning two or more Gods into the Church of God; no, Barlaam showed that this man himself was the one who was introducing it. For, he says, Barlaam, having heard such and such things from those speaking about Palamas, ^B brought this charge of ditheism against them. Do you see him bringing forward the testimony against himself better than any enemy or foe? For first, he says he was accused by Barlaam of boasting that he saw the essence of God with bodily eyes—the very crime, namely, of the Massalians; then, as he attempts to escape the force of this accusation made against him, and divides the Godhead, which is one in three persons, into essence and grace—different by nature, yet itself also uncreated—he says that the charge of ditheism was brought against him by the same man, as though he acknowledged a dual divinity. And what is greater is that, as these crimes recur and he tries to wash them away himself, he displays with ^C much greater malice his own wickedness expressed from the evil treasure of his heart, and is held captive daily by his own pens, by a certain chain, as it were, of impious words, led forth from that [evil], knotted one to another, and each always more grave and worse than the others. For to have first placed the name of a certain operation separately; then to divide that, as if it were a genus, into infinite uncreated divinities, which all subsist in some way apart and by themselves, and in some way do not subsist—what an insanity! So infirm a thing is the perversity of falsehood, which knows not how to stand forever, and falls back into itself. From these shipwrecks of the Church we flee, and in long-standing peace ^D of life we grow old, yet you drag us completely unwilling into 580 theaters and to a tribunal, and you punish us not gently, as if we were criminals; moreover, you threaten many things, and compel us into necessity from every side, so that we can have no sound sense of anything, but are forced to vow our obedience without any hesitation to those many divinities of Palamas and to offer sacrifice, as it were, with that very act. Who could endure to hear these things, he who has been trained to know how to worship one God, and has been fully imbued with this belief from boyhood? Into such straits, indeed, the light of your discourse leads us, from which it is difficult to extricate oneself. Therefore, as if by inextricable knots, the necessity of silence

^A binds us; and tighter than that Tantalus himself, whom the fables tell us stands in the midst of a marsh, burning with eternal thirst, and forever fearing the weight of that most iniquitous rock, and unable, when he bends down, to drink. But by acting in this way, you do not observe the custom of a judge, but you present the appearance of a man who lies in wait maliciously, and whets the gladiatorial cruelty of a hostile spirit against us. And yet, the concern for Barlaam is not for us as great as it ought to be for you yourself; for you, since he was a foreigner, played the hospitable host to him so kindly, and showed him such splendid and lavish favor in all things, that you need no other witness to this matter than yourself. Wherefore, it is not fair for you to pick a quarrel with me on his account, nor for that crime to be perpetually cast up to me any more than to yourself. For I am not the man by whose agency he was raised to excessive honors and began to lift his eyebrows and carry himself more insolently; nor am I the one who, by my own vote, established him as a grandiloquent teacher for you and for others through you—a profound interpreter of the secret dogmas of the Church and the mysteries of sacred theology—and for these very reasons compelled him to prefer his own native land in the second place to this foreign one; nor am I the one who, in every ^B other discipline of the Romans, persuaded him to learn from this source; but I am the one who openly shattered the very eyebrows of his pride, just as when a woodcutter’s hand, heavy with the axe, strips the oak, the cedar, and the cypress of their foliage. I am the one who, at that time, restrained and curbed him, both with the tranquility of my heart and at the same time with the mildness of secure knowledge, just as the shore-sand quietens the raging sea—which, whenever a boisterous and arrogant wind, having flowed down from somewhere above from the northern springs, stirs up its waves and is excited to an irremediable boldness and threatens the mainland with manifest war; but when it has heard the voice of the shore-sand, reading out with silent lips the laws of the Creator, it immediately retreats, fearing the manifest laws of God, and, curbing its impulse, halts its swelling roar. How, therefore, could anyone cherish such a person, who now praises and now blames the same man for the same things? For you were saying that he used to lift souls to the ether as the most excellent in theology, while now you show him to be knowing nothing. But how could anyone be angry with me, who reproach him both then and now for the same ^C things, for which he has manifestly waged war upon us? I speak, indeed, of the man who makes the Greek discourse and secular education limp at their best. And for you, indeed, the friend has become an enemy, now that he is dead; and he who was then completely good is now, at this moment, the complete opposite; but to me, just as he was an enemy then, so he is not a friend now. Thus you, by railing against him now, are railing against a friend; I, however, holding him as a stranger to my friendship, consider him a stranger who was never a friend. Whoever, therefore, keeps the foundations of theory and of experience in affairs unshaken and the same in all things, he, I suppose, anyone would judge to be speaking correctly, ^D and to be standing well, at least in all other things, and in the dogmas of the faith in which he has been reared. Furthermore, how can one, having already received the sufficient end of his judgment at that time, now force himself to inquire, when he himself is caught in so many other blasphemies?

^A For we are not acquainted with that dead man, so as to ask him what he said then or what he says now. If this is necessary for you, there is among the Greeks a certain sophist who makes dialogues of the dead, if you wish, you shall fetch by him what was said by that man and what is being said, very well. For it is impossible for us to do this at all.

^B V. Palamas, however, offended by the irony, spoke I know not what in anger. But I paid not the least attention to the man's clamor; and I continued on to the rest: "In truth, I said, if anyone who is studious of the truth were to come forward here, he would not, I believe, absolve Palamas from the crimes charged against him, simply because the person who did not fear to openly argue against his impiety was a Latin. For we are not alienated from that race, not because they are Latins, but because of certain charges; which, if they are set aside, those same men will by no means be repelled from our communion in all other things. Otherwise, it would not be permitted for us to agree with them in teaching the incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection of our God and Savior, as well as other things, because they are Latins. Away! For not even the first synod rejected Sisinnius the Novatian [(47)] because of his confession of faith; rather, it held him a most powerful helper against the madness of Arius. And as for us, although we avoid Origen, we nevertheless do not in the least reject most of his books. Witnesses to this fact are not the false ones, but his ^C combats and anti-rhetorical disputations against the accursed Celsus, and all his other commentaries on the holy Scripture, which the holy Fathers have joined to their own studies."

^D

Notes of various authors

^A To pass over most things in silence, we know that the holy and ecumenical synods, ^B the fourth and the sixth, admonish us that we ought not to flee from whatever may happen to be said by heretics. For if we were to turn away from those who confess that God is the one author of all things, we would straightway draw upon ourselves the hell of fire, and what could be worse than that? Thus, although the miners of gold and silver, being altogether uncouth, may not become intimate with princes, yet their labor is highly valued by them. So also, cloths dyed in seashells and purples are useful to kings, yet the artisans themselves are not even permitted to enjoy the sight of them, but are sometimes even hateful to them because they carry an unpleasant odor from them. ^B Therefore, the sect of Barlaam neither excluded him from speaking the truth, nor does it excuse Palamas, as long as he is clearly convicted of the crimes [P. 583] ^C caused by these men. But I would gladly ask you this: how is it that you approve of some of the things written by the patriarch John concerning Palamas and Barlaam and the troubles of the Church, and disapprove of others, shifting your votes hither and thither with the most absolute authority according to the dictates of Palamas? For one ought either to embrace everything done by him while he was patriarch—in accordance with the institutions of the Church—or else nothing of it at all. Yet (as the saying goes) the former are so valid that the latter have no place. But if we must divide into two parts the things that that same patriarch determined in the case of these two men, and attribute both sides to both, the first to this one and the latter to that one, we must now see which should be preferred to which. For until the day the middle-of-the-night watches reduced Byzantium under your power, that man persisted in being patriarch, who would ordain priests and bishops and ^D sign the decrees of judges. Indeed, I think the latter are to be preferred. For if the laws of public affairs established long ago are often abrogated on account of some two men, because, for instance, the former ones may have provided an occasion for some evil, or because the latter have appeared, through the proven experience and practice of affairs, to be better, who could forbid a single man from having his own former decrees rescinded by his later ones, if some evil had emerged from the former, and he had perhaps been deceived through surreptitious means, as is wont to happen? But if that man's later decrees seem to include the abrogation of the former, while in reality they do not, but both, if one judges without prejudice, agree in appropriate sequence, then it is an evident iniquity for these or those to be rashly rescinded or confirmed by this or that party. If this be allowed to princes, I do not see what the state of ecclesiastical doctrine and of the commonwealth itself will be, with the ruin of all things imminent, as it were, at our feet, or what the final outcome will be. For the evils of the Church are not of such a kind that they stop with one or two people; but they consume everything else that remains as they advance far and wide. This law is established in every part of the world, destined to be the head of the greatest evils. Now, neither the customs of our ancestors nor the instructions of the laws, which are convenient for both princes and private citizens, are being observed.

For if one person gives an order, another will not obey; rather, all things will be confounded, and will bring harm first of all to those who were the authors and examples for others. Since, therefore, if not for other causes, at least because of the ^A mischiefs that arise from them, it is necessary that those institutions and dogmas be preserved which have been confirmed by long time and ratified in writing; it remains now that we approve and receive the bishops and princes of other times, whatever they may determine for or against anyone. Whence it necessarily follows that the anathemas which were decreed and written against Palamas by Patriarch John on account of his other blasphemies must be approved at present, just as the ordinations made by him and his other acts, which remain firm and stable to this day, are approved. Since this is the case, and we are also strictly obliged to do what is right, we absolutely reject and turn away from the communion of Palamas. »

VI.

^A that which is malicious is evil. And the great theologian Gregory [(48)] immediately declares this to be so, when he says: "There was a time when our affairs were flourishing and were in an excellent state, when that superfluous and glossed-over and artificial method of theology had not even an entrance into the divine halls; but it was the same thing to play with pebbles, misleading the gaze of the spectators by the swiftness of their movement, or to dance with all kinds of effeminate contortions, and to speak and hear something curious about God; whereas simple and noble speech and doctrine was considered piety. But after Sextus and the Pyrrhonists and the tongue goaded by the lust for contradiction crept into our churches, like some grave and malignant disease, to our great misfortune, and brought about the opinion of trifling doctrine and erudition, and we call for nothing else, as the book of the Acts tells of the Athenians, than to say or hear something newer—O who will lament our confusion and darkness, who alone knows how to match lamentations to our calamities!" ^B Do you see how this great man considers the ancient simplicity of the dogmas blessed, and judges the superfluous and manifold questions of theology worthy of the greatest lamentations, because storms and shipwrecks are brought into the Church of God through them? For those things which were necessary, the author of nature proposed as simple and attainable by all; so that if those things which nature necessarily requires were difficult, the destruction of things would ensue as a result. And first, indeed, exercising our discourse on more corporeal matters, let us ascend, as if by some step, from those things which are better known to the senses, to the sacred dogmas of the Church, so that anyone can easily follow. For I think that God stretched out this great element, I mean the air, the abundant wealth of all nature, to everyone ^C on mountains, in caves, and on islands and continents, reaching as far as the ether and the celestial spheres, simple and uncomplex, so that nothing of those things that have need of it might in any way be defrauded of that principle of life; so that absolutely nothing in the whole world is without it, except that which is entirely devoid of the composition of created things. Next, after the necessary things, you should count for me in the second place the light of that ethereal lamp, I mean that purple of the heavenly veil, that flame of the sun which nourishes all earthly things. For this also lies open to all who desire it, publicly and privately, forever, a sacred and inviolable gift, equally for rich and poor, for rulers and the ruled; and there is nothing on earth ^D that is without a part in its benefits, except that which is absolutely nothing at all. To these, let a third thing be added, necessary to nature, the humid substance of the waters, which itself also is poured out immeasurably into the air and the earth and all places, both apparent and hidden. Rivers and lakes and fountains and whatever else is in the depths of the earth bear witness to my discourse. But, so that we do not fall into lengthy speech by dwelling on each of the most pleasant of the world's greatest elements, let us bring our discourse back to its former track.

^A Let us in the same way contemplate the faith at present. For as it has appeared that none of the things I have mentioned are varied or manifold, such that some parts are shared by each of these, while others are not, or that some are held by this one and not by that one, but rather that their solid nature is shared equally by all, according to the proper capacity and will of each; so too the doctrine of the faith is simple and free from variation, and is handed down to all alike—to rich and poor, to rulers and those ruled. For it is not the law that there is one baptism for emperors and commanders, and another for ditch-diggers and fishermen; nor that this one has that, and that one this, but one and the same is proposed to all and always. For in one Spirit, says the Apostle ^B (1 Cor. XII, 13), we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we have all been baptized into one Spirit, so that no believer may in any way or at any time be deprived of that which truly gives life to the soul. And just as in that case the legitimate portion of necessary elements is supplied abundantly and to the full, while the rest, whose use is varied and changeable and not equally necessary to all, are for the most part rarer and are distributed differently to different persons and in different places, so that they may maintain a natural conjunction and affection among themselves; ^C so too here one may observe the various species of virtues which the Creator has divided, some to some and others to others, according to whether their related or contrary vices were, perhaps, present. For just as if Divine Providence had allowed nature to distribute all the pleasures of life to everyone equally, the seeking after them would have been unlovable and listless, since no one would have needed another’s help for anything, and therefore the causes of mutual love would have most easily fallen away; but because it was necessary for man to be joined to man by means of the utility of love, ^D and for pleasant things to be finally tempered with painful ones, therefore the same Providence makes hearts sad through want, and then again refreshes them with the hope of nearby abundance and with the ready aid of wealth against that want. From this it happens that one asks and another gives, and on both sides the opposite occurs entirely; which is the law of friendship and a firm and unbroken bond of connection. And this is why the sea makes the land navigable, and the lands provide a path for the sea; and why through that [arrangement] the Tanais, having travelled far beyond its own limits, flows into Greece, and the Danube reaches Egypt, and the Nile shares its waters with the Maeotis. So too here the divine Apostle says that there is given by the Spirit to one, indeed, a word of wisdom, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another prophecy, and to another, gifts of healing. Let us return. For in the same manner...

^A even scientific knowledge and the arts sometimes hold sway; so that one, considering the archetype of the image, might not be carried away by pride, as if he lacked nothing, nor fall into the depths of despair, feeling that his nature is devoid of every good, and that he is never summoned by anyone for any useful work. Thus, from all this, it is evident that the nature of necessary goods is one, and their possession is the same among all men; but that the nature of contingent things is neither one, nor always the same for all equally, but comes to some in one way and to others in another. Therefore, the ancestral ^B faith of the pious must be referred to necessary matters, while the sublime knowledge of dogmas is to be built upon the foundation of faith, as much as, and where, and when, and for whom it may be useful. For without the simplicity of the faith that depends on holy baptism, it is impossible for anyone to be a Christian; but without sublime knowledge of dogmas, nothing stands in the way. "Otherwise," says the divine Gregory, "our faith would be most unjust if it fell only to the wise." For the crowd of heretics, creeping in like that old serpent into such labyrinths, and having put on the guise of teachers for the sake of vainglory, seduces simple minds with deceitful words, violating the truth with humble comparisons and polluting theology, ^C as the great Basil said. And I say that this is the fear for which the divine Apostle also trembled, saying: "I fear lest our thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." For, he says, "if even Satan himself is transformed, it is no great thing if his ministers also are transformed as ministers of righteousness." ^D What, therefore, it was fitting for us to say concerning faith—to show how necessary it was for us to accept it, adding nothing and subtracting nothing; then how inconstant the use of dogmatic questions is, and how it is necessary for all to know the legitimate worship of faith, but not for all likewise to have an equal knowledge of dogmas, nor to dispute about divine things; and this not always, nor without a general council of the bishops living everywhere in the world; and finally, that the tongue and hand of Palamas were the treasure-house of such innovations even before the Calabrian Barlaam appeared—all these things we have stated; though we have spoken briefly for the present, because of the prevailing crowd of our adversaries, but we shall speak more fully and clearly hereafter, if all violence from greater authority is absent. Therefore, let Palamas choose which of the two he wishes; either, casting aside his untimely and completely irrelevant excuses, let him accept along with us the simplicity of the pious faith, having first cast his own blasphemies into the fire; or, if he wishes to continue in his own errors, let him not disturb us who stand aloof from his communion.

For the law of the Church is not such that it should offer any violence to anyone who is unwilling to think piously and correctly, nor indeed to us who do think correctly; unless someone should wish to rule tyrannically. For what would empty glory avail in this matter, which fights with conscience and consigns the soul to eternal fire? Or what prudent and intelligent man, when he hears the Apostle, the vessel of the Holy Spirit himself, saying, "I am nothing," ^A and, "I do not consider that I have attained [my goal]," would not shudder and bend low, so that he might both appear to have understanding and at the same time not fall away from the true faith? For we know that ears of corn are more pleasing to farmers when they are bowed down than when they are upright and inclined in no direction; this is because different causes are attached to these different configurations; for the one has the weight of fruit, the other an unhappy and sterile lightness. So be it.

CAPUT II.

1. These were the matters in sum, which I, having turned to the Emperor and responding to those things which he had said, then disputed. He was so far from sitting as a fair arbiter, just as he had sworn, that he was again entirely bent upon defending the opinions and words of Palamas. With such zeal, indeed, did he contend for the other's sayings as I would dare to say he would not have for his own, had he himself been brought into a criminal charge and forced to render an account. Wherefore he also seemed to be greatly offended by the arguments which I employed, because I had decided to enter a different path than he, not the same one; as if it were fixed and settled that his counsels alone were derived from the surrounding fountains of justice. For I had determined to be mostly concerned with the subject which had been proposed from the beginning, namely, to say those things from which the causes of scandals could have been removed from the Church most easily and with no labor. But he, ^B as if in labor, and intent upon those things which Palamas wished, and referring all things from the beginning to that same end, was compelling me myself also to transfer the course of my oration there.

2. Therefore I, who, if Palamas himself had contradicted, could have retorted more freely, checked myself not of my own will, but serving necessity. And what else was I to do, when, on account of reverence for the Emperor, I had inveighed against him with words little sharp, and while being cautious not to say anything disagreeable, great and grave enmities were nevertheless stirred up against me, and ^C obstacles presented to me broke off the course of my speech? To me, I say, who had been accustomed to retain freedom, the enemy of servitude, and who ought to have retained it then above all, since the contest had been instituted for us concerning God and the dogmas of the Church of God? ^D

freedom, the enemy of servitude, and who ought to have retained it then above all, since the contest had been instituted for us concerning God and the dogmas of the Church of God? ^A

Chapter III

Chapter 4

Chapter V

r, ab hac ipsa distare. Absurdissimum certe hoc et idem fere sit, ac si quis Achillem ideo vituperet, quod esse Thersites nolit; aut leonem, quod pellem leoninam vulpina non mutet. ^A

VI. As for the ink of the cuttlefish, I was exceedingly surprised that, whereas he ought to have addressed the things placed before his eyes, he instead passed over these and brought forward obscure and obsolete matters, and yet did not fear to reproach us with them, even though in another place we had already dealt sufficiently with those topics. "Because, however," I said, "you always keep returning to the Taborian [light] and bring the whole question to that point—because, as it seems, you have no other or no safer refuge—I will also try to untie this knot for you, even though it did not in the least concern us. For what need have we today of the discourses of the dead, when Palamas is manifestly caught both writing and saying daily a thousand other novel things that come from that source?"

VII. Thus, having started to speak, I was interrupted by him, so that the continuous flow of the argument was broken. Naturally, he feared the invincible and inevitable force of the arguments, especially because he himself could bring forward no invincible reasoning to refute those things which had already been proposed.

CAPUT III

Preface to the disputation concerning the Taborian light. Palamas puts forward that question in vain. The error of the Iconomachi concerning the flesh of the Lord transfigured is noted under the name of Iconomachia. The words of Theodorus Graptus. Sacred images cast into the fire by the Palamites. The agreement of Palamas with Eusebius the Iconomachus. Palamas posits many uncreated things. Palamas thinks worse than Eusebius in those things which he speaks about the light, the operation, the divine substance, and the sacrament of the Eucharist. The impiety of Palamas is to be compared with the arguments of Theodorus Graptus. How absurd his opinion concerning the light is.

I. Nevertheless, because I fear to mock your zeal, and because I wish to rebuke that opinion by which he thinks he has at least a small resource against those things of which he is accused, for that reason I will now gladly set forth for you all the main points in a continuous discourse.

II. I said, to be sure, that there was no need for that question then, nor is there any need for it now. For Palamas is not ashamed to do those things which are most plainly noted and mocked in common proverbs. And that proverb "refusing a boat to one asking for tools" was once a joke, but is now treated seriously by him. For since he was reproached for saying that he beheld the uncreated light and God Himself with his bodily eyes, and having no testimony from any Father to demonstrate this clearly, he hoped that some defense would be afforded to him if he retreated into Mount Tabor as if into a fortified citadel and took refuge in that light. Yet if he had at least produced some one of the holy Fathers saying that this light is the same as that which appeared on Mount Tabor, he might perhaps have been worthy of some pardon, although that would have profited him nothing, since he would be erring in his primary hypothesis. But now, he is found to have none of the holy Fathers speaking the monstrous things that he himself claims; instead, he posits this as his own false ^C

m, and that which appeared on Mount Tabor, he might perhaps have been worthy of some pardon, although that matter would have profited him nothing, since he was erring in his primary hypothesis. Now, there is no saint to be found who would say the monstrous things that he ^A fabricates. Establishing for himself such a false and weak hypothesis, he thus ascends the mountain, with his tongue and mind not yet purified.

CHAPTER III

III. Indeed, this man having long suffered from iconoclasm (which was often testified to by many, though the Emperor, not admitting it to his ears, dissembled it), he sprinkles that disease into his books as if enigmatically. For the Iconoclasts used to repeat that in the Transfiguration the flesh of the Lord was changed into incorruptible light and into uncreated divinity. We learn this clearly from men full of God and versed in theology, who fought against that heresy at that time: which we, selecting one Theodore ^B Graptus (61), for a brief ^C… ^D

[index: entries preserved]

Discourse relative to the First Word

IV. First, he introduces him saying that the body of Christ (63) has been transformed and rendered immortal and incorruptible, and that the form of a servant has been changed in its entirety into an ineffable and unutterable light, suitable to the Word of God Himself. Then he refutes him with these words: "But Eusebius magnificently proclaims that the flesh of the Lord has been changed into an ineffable and unutterable light, suitable to the Word of God. What this light is, it is necessary to inquire. For the noble man has not yet clearly indicated what this was, but added only this: 'suitable to the Word of God.' But later he will declare it more openly." ^C

Notes of various authors

Ignatius the Deacon, who wrote his life, says that he [Nicephorus], being still a layman some time after the Synod of Nicaea, had risen up against the enemies of the faith: "Then," he says, "the great Nicephorus, bearing the symbols of victory, struck up a clear and loud melody against the adversaries of the faith, affirming that Christ is uncircumscribed according to the simplicity and intangibility of His divinity, but circumscribed and representable according to the tangibility and composite nature of His humanity." By these words of Ignatius, I think an Apology for the faith is indicated. In a synodical epistle of the Orientals to the Emperor Theophilus, a book is mentioned, edited by John Anagnosta against the image of Christ, and refuted by the same Nicephorus. Theophanes the Confessor inserted into his Chronicle the complete report concerning the death of Copronymus, translated from the third Antirrhetic against Mammon; and the author of that report is indicated as Nicephorus the Patriarch in the Joyeus MS, according to Petavius. See the fragments, subjoined to the Breviary-Chronicle of Nicephorus the Patriarch, in the Petavius edition. Michael Glycas agrees with the Joyeus MS, in Part II of his Annals, page 137, edit. Reg., where excerpts from the second Antirrhetic against Mammon are cited as words of Nicephorus. Furthermore, in the Questions of Anastasius and in the Dogmatic Panoply of Euthymius Zygabenus, various fragments are attributed to Nicephorus the Patriarch as the true author, which are excerpts from those books that the title of the Cantacuzenian codex corruptly ascribes to Theodore Graptus. Finally, those very books in many codices bear the name of Nicephorus the Patriarch. But one, by far more ancient than all the others, and written not long after the age of the author (this is the Colbert MS, no. 354), contains not only what the Cantacuzenian contains, but also two additional books, the first of which is *On the Testimonies of Macarius Magnes*; in the other, it treats of the divine image, which had been called an idol by the Iconoclasts: likewise, it is asked what "written" is; then how that is to be understood, "make no image," etc. The title of that codex, integer in all its parts and corrupted by no fraud, is as follows: ^D "A discourse by our father among the saints, Nicephorus, who became Archbishop of Constantinople, in defense of the blameless and pure and sincere faith of us Christians, and against those who imagine that they perform worship to idols." Therefore, there is no doubt that these are Works of Nicephorus the Patriarch, which Cantacuzenus, Gregoras, Philotheus, and John Cyparissiota and many others, thought to be by Theodore Graptus. Boivin.

(62) Gregoras, in a book not yet edited, the beginning of which is an account of the vision of the Lord, complains that the books of Theodore Graptus were filched from him by the fraud of his adversaries. "Although," he says, "having taken the books of others, and having previously often received them from the persecutors... to produce now for us (or for you) things far more numerous and clearer than those mentioned." Venia is therefore to be granted that, because he thought those things which were written against Eusebius of Caesarea were refuted by Eusebius, he thought it was some more recent person, namely Theodore Graptus. Similar pardon should be granted, that whatever Eusebius had said about the body of Christ translated into heaven, he thought pertained to Christ transfigured on the mount. Boivin.

(63) These and the following are excerpts from his epistle to Constantia, which the second Nicene synod also (action vi, edit. Labb. p. 494) exploded as being praised by the Iconoclasts, and Nicephorus the Patriarch (not, as Gregoras thought, Theodore Graptus) undertook to refute in a separate book. It will be helpful, I believe, to have the fragments of his epistle, previously dispersed and mostly unpublished, now finally restored to their proper place and collected. Boivin. Sequitur Eusebii epistola, quam jam edidimus inter ejus Opera. Vide tomum XX, col. 1545. Edit. Patr.

This epistle, by which the worship of images is openly disapproved, the Iconoclasts claimed was by Eusebius; and the Orthodox also admitted it. But since the same Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History, bk. VII, cap. 18, celebrates the woman of Syrophoenicia, who, having been delivered from an issue of blood, had erected a statue to Christ the Savior, for this reason it has been doubted by some whether that epistle was truly by Eusebius. But it is so far from being the case that by such an argument it is established that it was written by Eusebius; from that very mention which they object, it appears that he is the same author both of the Ecclesiastical History and of the epistle we are discussing. For what he reports in the Ecclesiastical History as done by the Syrophoenician woman, is said to have been done there by a "heathen arrangement" (*ethniki synthesei*), that is, by heathen custom, or by a usage among the Gentiles already long since received; a usage which, for its part, Eusebius by no means approved. Boivin.

um ibidem ἐθνικῇ συνήθειᾳ, hoc est, consuetudine ethnica, seu usu apud gentes jam inde antiquitus recepto, factum esse dicitur; quem scilicet usum minime probabat Eusebius. Boivin. ^A attending to the things stated by him in the present instance, let us weigh that word. What is it, then? Is it some substance and a thing subsisting by itself, which, in order to exist, stands in need of nothing else? Or is it an incorporeal and insubstantial quality, having its being in another, and not considered to exist in itself? But if it is substance, is it angelic? For an angel is also light, and a coruscation of the primary and supreme light, and a brightness emitted from it. But he would not say this. And a little later: ^B "If it is divine substance, how did it pass over into that light? If it passed over in its own subsistence and considered by itself, and was divided in such a way as to constitute another and special person, marked by the image of the Word, with no hypostasis—of those which are understood in the Trinity—subsisting and coalescing together, it is plain that he has made a quaternity out of the Trinity. See, then, how ambitiously and liberally Eusebius behaves toward the divine substance, who, by multiplying hypostases, multiplies and increases those that can neither be multiplied nor diminished, nor admit in any way any deficiency or excess. But if, as if confused and made consubstantial, it passed into ^C the hypostasis of the Word, greater is the generosity of Eusebius, who grants an accession and increase to the hypostasis of the Word itself, which by its nature is nothing other than the substance of the Father, but differs only by the characteristic property of generation. Thus, by amplifying the nature that is superabundant and alien to all indigence, he openly declares his own insanity, insomuch that he imagines a composition in a substance that is supersimple, or simpler than all simplicity; from which it would also follow that passion has a place in the blessed and impassable deity." And a little later: "It remains, therefore, for us to inquire, if he called that light an incorporeal quality, or one lacking substance, what follows: namely, that something is as it were emanating and shining forth from ^D the substance, into which that form has been changed. But nonetheless, the ultimate and most absurd disgrace will be imprinted upon the divine body. For by reason it will be deprived of its being, and thus it will be something non-existent. Nor indeed can a quality be declared as to what it is per se without a subject, even if someone calls it 'substantial,' a quality of which sort is considered a part of substance. And, to use an example, the quality of being rational cannot exist anywhere without a subject, which is animal, unless one first supposes a sentient, animate substance. It is the same if 'mortality,' or 'immortality,' or anything of that sort is proposed. For in what will it have existence?" And in another place: "For that this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and the mortal immortality, is a mystery handed down by the great Apostle. But that a body has put on incorporeity, or that the created has become uncreated, or that the circumscribed has passed into the uncircumscribed, that indeed has not been heard of even to this day." And a little later: "For that which is simple by nature is not such as to be seen, or to be localized, or to be affected in any way whatsoever. For it is impassable and incorruptible and in every way incomprehensible and uncircumscribed; and what else could this be but God?" And a little later: "For if these..."

were the same, they would not be two, but one nature. For the very composition of those things which come together proves their difference, and indicates that they are of a diverse substance."

^B V. Hence, as I think, it is easy for anyone who wishes to perceive that Palamas is refuted along with that impious Eusebius, inasmuch as he writes and thinks the same things as he. For that the holy icons were indeed at one time cast into the fire by the followers of Palamas, those who saw it know, and they have made that secret public, and confirmed it to be so by oath before many. But being caught, and fearing the onslaught of the common people, especially because another cloud of accusations burst upon them, they pretend to venerate them and enter the divine temples with the rest; and thus they have caused that matter to be covered in silence. Wherefore we also are silent for the present.

VI. But as for the agreement of both, it must be shown from those things which they themselves say everywhere, and at the same time from the refutations which that great doctor has published. For the enemy of icons, Eusebius, says that the whole body of the Lord was changed in the transfiguration into a different light, incorruptible and uncreated. But Palamas, being angry at those who preach one uncreated Divinity, and building a foundation for his light from this Taboric light, posits that this light is something other than the substance, namely an uncreated and incorruptible divinity, ^C intermediate between God and the angels. For, having corrupted the words of the saints, he says explicitly: "He, therefore, who speaks of the splendor of the divine nature, which angels ministering to God partake of, and by which the righteous shall shine as the sun, does not say that this is either the divine substance or the angelic, nor does he place between God and the angels a light which is neither God nor an angel; since even the divine Dionysius says that the causes of things which are in God, which angels and men partake of, are neither the divine nor the angelic substance." See how here, while he strives to show that this light is uncreated and incorruptible and another divinity, he also slanders the great Dionysius, misinterpreting his words, as we have explained more fully in the books which we have written against him, that is, the *Steliteutics* and more plainly in the *Antirrhetics*. He uses clearer words in that work where he treats of the light itself. ^D For there he speaks as follows: "It is not the substance of God, for that is intangible. It is not an angel, for it bears the characters of the Master."

VII. And not only does he say that the body of the Lord has existed as uncreated, but also the bodies of men who are preeminent in virtue. And specifically he posits that Melchizedek was without beginning and uncreated.

^A I shall add his own words, so that I change nothing: "Why should that grace not be uncreated, of which those who have been partakers have been called by the Fathers without beginning, uncreated, unending, everlasting, and heavenly?"

VIII. These are the things in which Palamas seems to be in agreement with the abominable Eusebius. But in what respects he himself superadded, and by heaping error upon error, surpassed his blasphemies, I shall now relate. For having bestowed the general name of energy upon the light, he then divides it into infinities of infinities of divinities, which are at once uncreated and different from one another—namely, power, wisdom, life, counsel, truth, sleep, and drunkenness, and whatever names have been invented by men for various times according to their need; so that these are special divinities, which are in themselves imperfect and in need of one another, ^B but which acquire perfection when combined.

IX. Thence that evil broke out to such an extent that in the midst of that assembly of bishops, or rather that insane phalanx (would that we had not been present!), by the common suffrage of the emperor, the patriarch, and those bishops, these blasphemies were openly proclaimed: that the divinity is one thing, namely, the substance itself; and that the operation is another, and one strongly different from it; and that it is not the substance that sanctifies the divine bread which we partake of in the holy communion. When we had heard these things (O justice and patience of God!), our tears flowed like torrents; ^C then subsequently, when we saw another evil erupt publicly, we checked our tears, because, I suppose, the humors of the brain had dried up from shock and fear. For already the bishops together with the patriarch, rising against us who could not bear to even hear such things, began to lay hands upon us. But these things were done later. Now, however, the discourse must be resumed from the point whence, unwillingly and troubled by the memory of that calamity, we turned aside to these matters.

X. Hence, furthermore, it will be allowed to those who wish to judge candidly, while collecting each detail, to compare the refutations published by that great doctor with the blasphemies that were refuted, and in turn to compare the blasphemies with the refutations, and with these placed side by side and considered, finally to estimate how this man, having adopted the heresy of the Iconoclasts from the very beginning, ^D has with his own depravity amplified and heaped upon it even more absurd accessories. For if we show that that great doctor conflicts directly with him, our argument will gradually reach its goal and arrive at the point we desire. [alt-version omitted]

^A XI. On the light itself, a few words will suffice. For that most wise and most sublime question of that holy doctor—whether he wished to reply that this light is a substance, and a thing subsisting by itself and not needing another for its existence; or whether it is some quality lacking substance and incorporeal, which has its being in another and not seen in itself—from these three absurdities one will certainly arise. For if he should say it is a substance, it will either be an angel—in which case it is neither uncreated nor divinity—or it will be a fourth hypostasis; and how absurd that is, the holy Father and doctor has shown. If he should say it is some quality lacking substance, and a flowing emanation from another substance, then divinity of this kind will be introduced which lacks existence. Nay, he says, it cannot come to be that any quality should consist of itself without a subject: just as no one would say that rationality, which is the substantial difference of man, can exist unless the animal, which is an animate and sentient substance, is first the subject for it; for substantial and natural parts of a substance and nature can be defined through science. And if these things, said in this way, have a place in composite things, they will have it much more in simple and indivisible things, and especially in the divine nature.

CAPUT IV.

^C I. Since, therefore, by these means Palamas is overthrown together with the Iconoclasts by this same most wise and holy doctor, come, let us likewise undo the addition lavished upon the impious one, using again as our ally that holy man, and using the other many and ingenious weapons which he employed against the Iconoclasts; so that from many sides he may be seen to be the measure of wickedness and to conquer the Iconoclasts, and at the same time it may be revealed that he does not act incidentally nor while intent upon something else, but with shrewdness and that most cruelly insidious design, always fleeing to Mount Tabor.

II. Therefore, we must inquire how he says the body of the Lord became uncreated, when those who once uttered this were openly rejected by the Church; and in the same way, how men, of the same school as Palamas, are becoming uncreated and without beginning. For these things pertain entirely to a similar error, namely, the heresy of the Iconoclasts, which he placed before his entire system as a beginning and a very firm foundation for his vain construction.

III. For, in the present instance, to omit those things which have been brought forward by other holy men, I shall use here only that same wise and divine doctor who, during the time the Iconoclastic war was raging, set himself against it; and, having suffered much and spoken much against them, he finally profligated their error like the Tower of Babel, so that he reduced it to nothing; and he also [overthrew] those who, with similar...

diseases, labor even today: « That this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, is a mystery, » says the great mystagogue, « handed down by the Apostle; but that the body should put on incorporeity, or that what was created should become uncreated, or that what was circumscribed should be transformed into the uncircumscribed, has certainly not been heard of even to this day. » From this we learn clearly that these things are the ramblings of the Iconoclasts, and that they belong to their evil doctrine; and now it is evident that Palamas, having feasted at the same table as them, drained the cup of that evil doctrine to the very dregs.

IV.

then nothing of it has remained. Therefore its body has been taken away and corrupted; and neither body, nor form, nor anything else whatsoever remains. Into such a pit of absurdity and atheism has the sophisticated and most ridiculous rashness of his discourse cast them ^A.

V. These things the holy man wrote, in a manner most learned and sublime, when he refuted and overthrew the champion of iconoclasm; with whom also the venerable Palamas is immediately refuted and overthrown, since he writes and thinks the same things; now hanging upon his tongue, as ivy clings to an oak; now despising the things he had learned, and neglecting to stand firm in them where something needed to be added, proposing to himself the overcoming of his master as the greatest contest for glory. For when the name of "energy" or "operation," introduced to the detriment of the Church by the impious Eunomius, had long ago encroached upon the divine Trinity, the iconoclasts afterwards took great pains so that this also might be added to their own errors. Palamas follows in their footsteps, like a vulture, which bird they say passes over healthy bodies, but eagerly approaches those that are diseased ^B.

VI. After, therefore, we have brought forward the words which the holy leader used at that time against the impious Eusebius, and immediately those same arguments by which the holy Fathers, Basil and Gregory, formerly strove to overwhelm the wicked Eunomius in their antirrhetics; these suffice for us also, I think, so that we may pierce this man too into his vitals with a single thrust of the sword, transfixing him with those very same arguments ^C.

VII. That man, therefore, as we discover, says that God Himself is present to all: "For He is not," he says, "by a simple operation, as some of the ancients imagined, who were so delirious that they said that at the time of the divine incarnation He had made the heavens empty of His own hypostasis, and had been with us substantially, but by operation and dignity alone [was He] with God and the Father." For they, as in corporeal objects, so in the divine Word, posited one thing to be the substance and another the operation, which is not permitted to the pious; for these know that in simple and incorporeal things there is no difference between them. Indeed, these ought not to be distinguished from one another, lest that which transcends all simplicity be understood as composite. For neither can the divine substance be devoid of operation, nor can the operation ever be without substance ^D. Then, a little below: "For thus the divine operation, or rather [His] eternal being, will be piously understood, because the operation is not distinguished from the substance, but is contained by the same definition, on account of the property of the simple and incorporeal nature."

Variorum note. (75) Gregoras promises to produce the arguments of the holy Basil and Gregory, which, however, he will not produce. BOIVIN. (76) Some ancients were delirious, it says, so that at the time of the divine incarnation He made the heavens empty of His own hypostasis. But I preferred otherwise, following the reading of the most ancient codex, in which it is written not *vacuous*, but *empty*. BOIVIN.

^A VIII. Do you see how he follows in the footsteps of the divine Basil and, as it were, interprets his very words? And do you see how he appears to be fighting exactly and entirely against those same persons against whom he [Basil] fought? So that he who slanders the one, necessarily slanders the other as well. Palamas, therefore, in slandering that great defender of the Church, Theodore, for fighting in this way against the Iconoclasts, is at the same time straightway slandering the great Basil himself. But he who fights against these holy Fathers must necessarily appear as a lover of the heterodox against whom they fought. Hence it is clear that Palamas perpetually and continuously follows in all things the footsteps of those who were the proponents of iconoclasm; he proceeds from the Taboric light, just as they did, as if from a base of operations. And this is the reason why Tabor is always on his tongue.

^B IX. But that point nearly escaped me. For if the definition of substance is nothing else than a thing existing by itself, not needing another for its existence—as both the logic of science teaches and this holy teacher has already said—then the definition of operation must be the same, even if they seem to differ in terms of their names. It would be, I say, an operation that is a thing existing by itself, not needing another for its existence. For in this way the principle of identity would be preserved, as he himself said again elsewhere: "If they are the same, then they are not two, but one nature. For composition indicates a difference between things that come together, and declares them to be of a different substance."

^C X. That the doctrines handed down by the teachers of the Church of God do not allow operation, power, wisdom, life, and whatever other names are commonly attributed to the Divinity by men, to be divided from the substance of God, nor the calling of any light "uncreated" other than the divine substance, nor the existence of other deities beyond the one nature in three persons, nor the possibility of Christ’s body becoming incorporeal and uncreated—this has been stated thus far. But if this cannot happen in Christ, who would be so foolish as to say that any man among all others could by natural reason become uncreated, incorporeal, and without beginning, using such free rein as allowed to the impious to babble freely and without cause? For those who progress by way of virtue ^D do not thereby become uncreated. Far from it. On the contrary, it would rather be necessary that they become created all the more, as has been held by many others and indeed by the divine Paul: "If any one is a new creation in Christ," it means to be renewed in his inclination toward better things and in his reception of good things; which creation the divine David also asks for, that a clean heart be created in him, and a right spirit be renewed in his inward parts.*

* 2 Cor. v, 17. * Ps. L, 12.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWENTIETH

CHAPTER ONE

^A I. If I should wish to bring forward the testimonies of the saints, many occur to me. But neither do my headaches now allow me to review them all one by one, nor is it altogether necessary to bring forth at once everything that has been heard or said in those other—I might call them—frenomachy councils, or rather, robberies. With God's help, however, we shall tell of everything, each in its proper place, as our discourse proceeds. But now, I return to the point.

II. For since, at that same place, the emperor brought against me a second accusation—that I forbade disputing about God—and opposed to me the same saints who, he claimed, disputed about God everywhere and explicitly, and that Palamas, following their example, was writing those new theologies, for which that just judge asserted he would most willingly shed his own blood; come, I said, let us answer this accusation as well.

^B III. That it is a dangerous matter to dispute about God, and that it is not permitted to whoever wishes to do so, is defined by the decrees and canons of the holy Fathers. This is known to those who are versed in them. Indeed, that one should not inquire too curiously into ancestral laws, and that those boundaries which they have set for the Church should not be moved, has also been cautioned and sanctioned by the same Fathers: and I suppose no one will deny this, unless he wishes to incur public ridicule for nothing, or would not shudder to be bound by the curses of those very Fathers. It would certainly be most absurd to approve the dogmas of one’s master by means of a five-year silence of the tongue in the manner of the Pythagoreans, followed by a much longer obedience of the soul: whereas we...

[4. c. 1331] BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK XX. 1225

^A ...A true, holy discipline of the Gospel, instituted by the Fathers, not to wish to stand without any curiosity against the decrees and prescriptions. I would gladly ask you of this, whether you think that they established these things before they had experienced the matter themselves, or after they had experienced it. If you judge that they had disputed about God before they forbade it to be disputed—since they considered the matter to be higher than human strength, and that for those who thus rushed into the undertaking on their own accord, it would bring a danger to the immortal soul heavier than death itself—then, since they order it after their experience, it is all the more reason to obey them now. But if we act before having experienced it, it is all the more necessary for us, who are unlearned and very senseless, to fear the experience of those things which surpass the intellect, taking as an example those who, being far wiser than we are even before the danger occurred, were careful not to rush into theology so rashly, like cattle into a pasture. For it would be just as if ten men, blind from birth, having gathered an assembly, were to dispute about the colors of the thread in their hands, each one thinking he is speaking the truth more than all the others. I believe that anyone who saw them would have his soul seized by both weeping and laughter, and that Democritus and Heraclitus would seem to have converged there in one person. For who would not weep for those who have been deprived of the light of their eyes for their whole life? And who, in turn, would not ^B suppress a Sardonic laugh, who saw them now wrestling among themselves about things of which they are ignorant?

We, however, if it seems good, being a little less stunned, let us consider both what the holy Fathers teach us about avoiding theological disputes, and what, where, and how those same men disputed about God, so that here too there may be some formula and foundation of good discipline, upon which the reason of a moderated tongue may rest; and that it may not turn out, on the contrary, that the rule of good counsel is ambition unbound by any rules, and the norm of opportunity is an irregular importunity. For wherever ambition, the foster-child of imprudence, through the greatest neglect of opportunity, insolently oversteps the boundary of good order, there it is also very consistent that the outcomes follow contrary to the initial undertaking.

The First [Theologian], Gregory, that man ^C remarkably outstanding among theologians, shrinks so much from moving his tongue toward theological disputes that he fears it as much as one would move a hand toward the flame of a fire; so that he also puts forward many arguments for declining, in which he does not readily allow himself to attempt matters concerning God, nor does he accept the person who would attempt it rashly. "For neither," he says, "is the desire commendable; but even the attempt itself is to be feared." And he brings in that Uzzah who perished of old for having dared merely to touch the Ark, God, he says, guarding the reverence owed to the Ark; and at the same time, because it was not safe for the many to touch even the walls of the temple, he says there was a need for other walls, those on the outside. And again: "You hear of a birth; do not be curious ^D about the how. You hear that the Spirit proceeds from the Father; do not be curious about the how. But if you are curious about the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit, I in turn will be curious about the mixture of your soul and body."

^A How is it that dust is also an image of God? What is it that moves you, or what is it that is moved? How does the same thing both move and is moved? How does sense remain in the same place and yet draw in what is outside? How does the mind remain in you and beget a word in another? How is a thought imparted through speech? If you do not know yourself, whoever you are that disputes about these things, and if you have not yet comprehended these things—of which even sense is a witness—how do you imagine that you know God accurately, [both with regard to what he is and how great he is]? This is a sign of great folly. Then again: "Be prompt up to the confession of faith, if at any time it is required of you. As to what exceeds that, you ought to be more fearful. For there, hesitation is dangerous; here, haste is dangerous." ^B If anyone wishes to press the point, let him come forward and tell me why this great doctor so often uses a similar figure of speech against those who raise opposing arguments, and who perversely argue that now he who exists was begotten, now the Son is a creature, now he is a Son of the will. For against the most insolent inquiries that exceed the nature of things, he himself opposes responses that are clearly insolent, and says: "Again, bodily things to bodily [affairs]." For these things refer to me and to you. Also, "Your father, he says, did he beget you willingly or unwillingly?" Also these: "Is time in time, or not?" I omit the rest, which he supplies to us like armor, with which we may resolve the questions of insolent and brawling adversaries. ^C Furthermore, these are not the words of one who wishes to dispute about God, but of one who strongly avoids it and warns us, not by mere words or mere works alone, but also by reasonable actions and eloquent and effective words.

IV. Now, although I could bring forward many testimonies of that great Father and doctor of the Church for the confirmation of my own statements, nevertheless, I believe that what I have brought forward there, to show that one ought not to dispute about God, nor to inquire too curiously either into those who forbid it or for what reason they forbid it, is certainly sufficient both for declaring the truth of my opinion and for refuting the error of the adversaries. ^D For we are not now speaking to those who understand nothing, such that there is need of many words. Furthermore, to whom that which is sufficient is not sufficient, to him nothing will be sufficient. But to him for whom a little is sufficient, I think that anything will be sufficient. Let us proceed, therefore, to others, so that by plucking a few things from each, we may easily shut the mouths of those for whom it is neither easy to desist from the fight nor to understand. The great Basil, [who is] much versed in divine things, says: "Be content to speak as you have been taught, and do not tell me these subtle things, that he is unbegotten or begotten."

But if he is unbegotten, [he is] Father; if begotten, Son; if neither of these, [he is] a creature. For I know the Spirit is with the Father, but I do not say he is the Father; and I have received [him] as being with the Son, but I have not learned that he is named Son." ^A And again: "It would have been more logical, because the Son was begotten, to be called 'Begotten' and not 'Son'; but it is not so said." Therefore, whoever has the judgment seat of Christ before his eyes, and knows how dangerous it is to take away anything or to add anything to what has been passed down by the Spirit, must not ambition to innovate anything of his own; but he must find rest in those things that have been announced beforehand by the saints. ^B And again: "We neither accept a faith written for us by others of more recent times, nor do we dare to pass on the products of our own minds, lest we make the words of piety human; but what we have learned from the holy Fathers, these we declare to those who ask." And again: "Since the mystery of theology requires assent from an unexamined faith, one must believe (he says) that God exists, and not seek nor dispute contentiously about what it is." Do you see what great reverence this excellent teacher pays to these matters, and [how] he himself confesses that he does not dare either to investigate divine things too curiously, nor to accept anything new from others, nor to introduce anything himself; but [how] he declares that he himself abides simply by the dogmas concerning faith and theology passed down by the teachers of the Church before him, and urges us to do likewise? Who, then, will be so senseless that, when he sees a man of such great learning using such modesty as a rule and standard of the Church, he should then set it at naught, and prefer to sink down into servile habits, ^C and, apart from the philosophy of gluttony and drunkenness, and of being distracted entirely by the imagination of money, knowing nothing else but men, and making injustice the rule of justice? But that, passing over most of this, I may come to another great trumpet of the Church, the divine Chrysostom, who was humble of heart, says: "I accept what is written; I do not inquire into what is not written. I embrace what is delivered; I do not curiously investigate what is not delivered." And again: "A wise word cautions (he says), 'Seek not things higher than yourself, and do not examine things stronger than you. Reflect upon those things which have been commanded you.'" And again: "For true piety it is enough to know that God exists, and to seek nothing more." And again: "If a Manichaean should come to you (he says), saying that matter preexisted, or Marcion, or if any of the Greeks, say to them: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' But if he does not believe the Scripture? Then turn away from him, as if he were a madman and deranged." And again: "Will you not cease, O man, seeking superfluous things? For it is superfluous to investigate such things rashly. ^D There is nothing more learned than this sort of ignorance." In these matters, whoever [remains]...

^A professes to know nothing is the most learned of all. But time would utterly fail me if I wished to bring forward the testimonies of this great luminary of the Church as well, which deter everyone from theological disputations and instruct them to embrace only the simplicity of dogma and faith.

But look, the great champion and doctor of the Church, Athanasius, also asserts that he cannot endure those who attempt to introduce anything new ^B against the faith, even if they utter expressions taken from the Scriptures. For they do not use those words in the right sense, but they put them on like sheep’s clothing, while within they think the same as Arius: just like the devil, the prince of heresies. For he, too, used the words of the Scriptures, but the Savior forced him to be silent. Do you hear this from those who teach the same things as those mentioned before?

But let us not overlook the most ascetic Isaac, who says: "Cease to argue about God, not only with those who are alien to the Faith, but also with the worshipers of the Faith." Let us not omit him who founded the Ascetic Ladder, the most celebrated John, ^C who, as if in a continuous discourse, gives the reason for what was said by him: "For we shall not be accused," he says, "at the departure of the soul, because we have not engaged in theology, but because we have not mourned unceasingly." And what need is there to bring you whole wagonloads of books of the saints, by which one can know the lion from the claw? I pass on to other things. These holy doctors not only said these things, but they also fortified them with suitable bars and bolts; nor did they merely fortify them, but they also bound them fast with inevitable curses and anathemas, ^D as if with towers and ramparts. For the divine Apostle, after he subjected to a heavy anathema those who preach differently, in order that the testimony might be more firm, joining old things with the new, says: "It is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." I refrain from adding to these the ecumenical acts of the holy synods, which one by one strike with anathema those who are of such a kind. Yet, in order to sum it up in a few words: "Everything," they say, "introduced as an innovation beyond the ecclesiastical tradition and the formula prescribed by the holy Fathers, whether done or to be done, let it be anathema."

CHAPTER II

1 With these things I had spoken, the emperor broke off the course of my speech, being himself eager to speak, but he was torn in multiple directions by a twofold and threefold opinion. For he wished to carry out what he had promised to Palamas, in such a way that he might indeed sit quietly with the others; but he himself, both in words and in the deed itself, might perform his role...

^A and at the same time and with matters; he wished, moreover, to provide to the assembly a certain display of ambition, complex in its nature, fashioning for himself a memorial, as it were, eternal and full of heavy boasting. Then, seeing that the state of the struggle had not turned out according to his intentions (for he lacked the experience to have the power to respond to the proposed testimonies of the holy Fathers, nor did he possess that inherent and personal wisdom to be fully in command of his own soul, so as not to allow his judgment to be easily overturned by the sudden and unexpected attacks of passions coming upon him from without), he immediately began to withdraw and shrink back. Having, therefore, in a short time gathered together labyrinths of thoughts, and having given to his countenance, as it happened, colors of many uncertain and rashly arisen emotions, and having uttered a few things—as much as seemed sufficient to serve as an introduction and to impose a beginning upon his speech—he ceded to Palamas the duty of responding to the points I had proposed.

^B II. He, however, having also been brought into such a necessity contrary to his expectation—for he had not even foreseen that any little speech would be needed for a reply (since he thought he would successfully accomplish everything at once by the power and authority of the emperor, and by silence alone, such that he hoped he would have no remaining concern for us on the following day)—was anxiously deliberating with himself. For he was ashamed to abandon the whole matter to silence, and to be caught lacking the resources to devise arguments for the occasion.

III. For, being a man of little learning, whenever he converses in private with those who happen to be there, and who either out of ignorance have nothing to say in opposition, or out of friendship are afraid to refute him, or—what is more serious—who have feared that they might be attacked by his calumnies before the emperor (for truthfully, to contradict Palamas and to openly insult the emperor is one and the same thing), he has seemed to some, in some places, to be praised. But in open ^C contests of discourse, where there is sharp contention and one is disputed before others, when he is brought out into the public and, as it were, onto the stage, this man is not at all bold, and is easily terrified by even the slightest noise. ^D Moreover, he always confuses and perverts the order of what he says or writes through ignorance, so that he appears to weave together the sentiments of his speech with half-finished and halved members and clauses of periods. Therefore his words are like riddles and are ambiguous and suspended in an uncertain meaning, such as those which have been called "bull-born" and "man-faced" by the secular philosophers. And he not only makes the sense of his words obscure and difficult to understand for those who hear him by breaking up the continuous sequence of his speech, but he is for the most part seen to do this intentionally, using words that have double meanings and obscure the mind with ambiguity, so that, being a thief, he might snatch away the net of truth, moving the mind now here, now there. [alt-version omitted]

And just as the dialogues of Plato (as someone once said) are ^A crowded with boyish loves up and down, so too are the speeches of this man polluted by a swarm of strange ambiguities, sometimes inadvertently mixed with ignorance due to the incompetence of a bad mind, and sometimes willfully, for the sake of deceiving his hearers, hiding the wickedness of his words, and doing even greater harm through the ambivalence and double-faced nature of his expressions, to those who cannot go through them with knowledge. For those who are thus caught by the ambiguity of the words are easily pierced by the hook of error, running in their ignorance to an improper signification rather than a proper one; just like little birds and fishes that are easily caught in the snares of hunters, for while they see the bait, they do not see the hook hidden inside, and so, having seized the bait, they are held by the hook beneath. ^B For this reason, when he is mocked, he himself also smiles with his countenance, but in his heart he is silently furious, and considers it worse than any death; convinced by the truth itself, he is torn apart by anger; and desiring to take revenge, but unable to do so, he carries his insolent and slanderous tongue with him to the prince, taking refuge as if in a shield or a rampart. Thus, he thinks that by abusing the imperial authority as a kind of armor, he can, conversely, turn his defeat into a victory; just like infants who, lifted up by the hands of their parents and tossed about in jest toward everyone they meet, rejoice and exult as if they had won a victory and ^C clap their hands. For he, too, in the same way, as if declared a victor by the confession of all, exults, and is not ashamed to ambitiously affect the ornaments of childish glory, such as even a young lad might be ashamed to buy for a drachma or an obol in the orchestra. Being, indeed, almost entirely ignorant of letters, he then fabricates other calumnies and easily terrifies that man with the argument that the empire would be in danger if the arguments of his adversaries were to prevail in any way. Thus, while he endlessly enchants and deceives his ears, he easily draws him to be obedient to whatever he wishes. Fierce and walking proudly, and elated in spirit, he thinks he carries all of Pieria on his eyebrow.

^D IV. Here, therefore, in such a large assembly of spectators, being sent away for a little while by the emperor and ordered to answer for himself, he was brought into such straits that he forgot at once those things he had magnificently boasted of in the streets and squares; and he began to put forth a stammering and hindered tongue. Since, however, he could not very easily find a more prompt and prepared beginning for his speech, he therefore seemed to him to be walking...

^A along the customary path and to be drawing over his own lack of resources a veil, just as snails do with their shells and the small houses they always carry about them. But that was Mount Thabor, to which he purposely and always digresses in his speeches everywhere, and in which place he usually lingers for the longest time.

V. "I, for my part," he says, "when I hear the Fathers saying that the light which was on Mount Thabor was the Savior's uncreated light, and that it was a divinity and operation distinct ^B from the essence of God, I would never say that this operation and the essence of God are one and the same, nor would I call it the Son and Word of God, wisdom, power, sanctification, life, truth, and counsel. For it would be the same as saying that God is without operation, unwise, powerless, without will, without life, and simply deprived of all things. For if we were not to say that the operation is distinct from the essence of God there, and that this ^C is another divinity in itself—that which is wisdom, light, life, power, sanctification, and whatever other names the divine Scripture attributes to God—it remains that we must judge that we worship a God without operation, and truly such as we have described above. Otherwise, how could a divinity that is common to the three hypostases be distinct from the nature and from those very hypostases, unless it has a subsistence of its own? Or by what other reasoning could an operation that is uncreated, substantial, and natural be common to God and to men? For it is not permitted to believe that the substance of God descends to terrestrial things ^D and makes them wise, sanctifies, and vivifies them (away with such a thought! for this is blasphemy and a dark invention of the demons); rather, that each of these things comes about from each of those uncreated operations. Those who participate in these become themselves uncreated, as do the things that were shown to the prophets in the past as wonders: among which were the bush, which burned yet was not consumed; the fiery chariot of Elias; that pillar of fire which went before the Israelites; and the angel who in a moment slew the one hundred and eighty thousand of the Assyrians. I shall add, moreover, the ass of Balaam, which uttered a human voice, and as many similar miracles as have occurred at various times. For throughout all the world there is no created thing that participates in the substance of God. Indeed, all things would immediately perish before they could become partakers of it; for such is its power that it destroys and consumes those who desire to approach it. Therefore, since I both speak and write in agreement with the sayings of the holy Fathers, I have no mind to care about those by whom I am accused; since this is once and for all established and decreed, that all such should be placed with Barlaam, and should be cast out just as he is, who do not hesitate to accuse me and hold me guilty of the error of establishing many gods, along with other crimes which they themselves have enumerated and gathered together in their arguments against me. Are they ignorant that when they condemn me as one who establishes many divinities, they at the same time condemn themselves as those who establish but one? This charge is brought against them more heavily.

^A VI. These things he said; and at the same time, he brought forward an excerpt of those things which he never intended to approve, and against those whom by his very deeds he wages war and whose words he strongly opposes everywhere. For he makes it his primary business to attack and infringe upon the acts of the holy and ecumenical Sixth Council, as will be shown later. Their meaning, which he is in no way able to understand because of his inherent faults—I mean malice and ignorance—he distorts. He does this, indeed, in the manner of the Epicureans. For just as they, measuring the sun as it appears by their own ability, claimed it was but a foot wide, so too he attributes the dullness of his own mind to the writings of the saints; and just as he composes his own discourses with words that do not at all correspond to the meaning, so he thinks the writings of the saints are of the same kind, and he interprets them accordingly in an evil way. Now, what he brought forward from the holy Sixth Synod was this: that the uncreated substance is marked by a certain character through the uncreated operation; ^B and likewise that from the writings of the divine Basil: "We know God from his operations; for his substance remains unparticipated."

CHAPTER III.

I. Furthermore, he did not say these things because he could follow their meaning, as we shall show later. For whatever blasphemies of his you have heard, do not think that we would leave them passed over in silence in such a way that we would not refute them. Some of them have already been refuted a little above by our disputations and testimonies from Scripture; others, with God’s help, we shall unravel further, like the webs of spiders. Therefore, he did not bring them forward because he understood them; but when he saw ^C us armed with the holy Scriptures and most amply instructed, fearing lest he meet an unhappy outcome—as they say—from the very starting gates, before he had reached a greater and more perfect examination, he judged it profitable for himself, while the ears of the crowd were pricked up and hanging in suspense, to show that he himself also had the holy synods and the holy Fathers as patrons of his blasphemies, offering this as a bait cast around his error like a hook, to be presented to every simpler person.

II. For whenever he adds "frequently," saying "according to the divine Fathers," he adds this in a dark and uncertain way, neither making clear who they are, nor what they say, for I think he has no other Fathers in mind but himself and all those who long ago fell into the same errors as he. Indeed, except for him, no one else from all those who have lived to this day has been found by him or by us who has written or thought in this way. Otherwise, he would have brought it forward, and, being more talkative than himself, all...

^B surrounding ears with noise and din, he would have surpassed even the roar of the sea as it rages around the coastal rocks.

III. That the same thing is both substance and divine operations has been demonstrated a little earlier, which is clear to everyone; that is to say, where we brought forward the most wise father, Theodore Graptos, interpreting the words of the great luminary of the Church, Basil, and saying that the same definition applies to operation and substance in the simple and incorporeal nature. For he said that each is to be defined as a thing subsisting through itself, not requiring another thing for its constitution. But it will also be evident to everyone that this is most clearly demonstrated by that testimony of the Sixth General Council. For one who says that an uncreated substance is marked by a certain character through an uncreated operation, and who indicates neither any difference between the uncreated and the uncreated (for how could he, against the authority of all the Fathers together, who explicitly confess that there is nothing uncreated other than the divine nature in three hypostases?), nor says that one is different from the other, he certainly declares the natural conjunction and identity of those things. For reason does not allow the saints to disagree in matters that are so necessary. Indeed, just as the definitions are the same there, so here the very act of marking by a certain character makes one that which, if you look at the name, appears to be two. For *charakterizein* is the same as to denote. It is, therefore, just as if he had said: the uncreated operation, since it is said to be of the simple and incorporeal nature, denotes, designates, and represents the uncreated substance itself. And ^C that which I say is confirmed by the fact that the Son is the character and the unchanging image of the Father.

IV. But I would willingly bring forward infinite testimonies, which various Fathers wrote long ago against men who think similarly to these—and indeed they did so rightly—if you wish. Therefore, let us look to the great Athanasius: “There is no doubt,” he says, “that He himself is the living counsel of the Father, and His substantial operation, and true Word.” And again: “Since the Son is the one living Word, there must be one perfect and full sanctifying and illuminating life, which is His operation and gift, which proceeds from the Father.” And again: “But the impious do not want the Son to be the living Word and counsel, but rather a will, prudence, and wisdom that is with God, as a habit that comes and goes.”

V. And likewise the divine Cyril says: “If,” he says, “the Son is the living and substantial operation, and power, and wisdom of the Father, then truly the Holy Spirit also is the operation of the Son.” And again: “The Holy Spirit is not alien ^D to the divine substance, but is a natural and substantial operation, and subsisting through itself.”

VI. You see testimonies that are entirely clear and distinct,

containing nothing like a riddle, nothing obscure, but openly and explicitly declaring to us that in the simple and divine nature this operation is the same as the substance, and that the substance is as it were a self-operation, as it has been demonstrated ^B more fully above. Do you see how the holy Fathers openly call those who do not wish to hold these views impious, and what else they add besides? And furthermore, when the same holy ones say that the Son and the Spirit are the operation of the Father, what else are they implying but that substance and operation are the same thing?

VII. For if we were to grant that the meanings follow the pronunciation of the words, in the case of God just as in the case of composite things, then that which is simple would not only be double, composed of substance and operation, but even excessively manifold. For what would someone think upon hearing the ^C saints say: “One God, one eternal, uncreated, unbegotten principle, one substance, one divinity, one virtue, one will, one operation, one power, one domination, one empire, to be acknowledged in three perfect hypostases with one adoration”? Do they therefore call God manifold and varied and composed of many things? Far from it! For how could they say that—they who in every hour and at every time took care that they should always be in harmony both with themselves and with one another, so as to never pronounce anything at all regarding these things that would sound in any way dissonant? For they say that the Divine is simple and devoid of composition; but that which consists of many and varied things is composite. For they say: if we were to call the uncreated, and the beginningless, and the incorporeal, and the immortal, and the eternal, and the good, and the creative power, and other things of this kind, “substantial differences” in God, that which consists of so many things would not be simple, but composite—which is the utmost impiety. Do you see? ^D

VIII. But if things are thus in this case, why should not a certain duality and difference likewise be understood in those things which are two, namely, of the underlying substance and the operation, which in that case, according to Palamas, is a different thing? For that which is double is neither one, nor simple, nor beginningless, nor an infinite thing, but composite and finite.

IX. And apart from others, the divine Maximus speaks thus regarding this matter: “That which is double is neither infinite, nor beginningless, nor immobile, nor could it be the beginning of anything.” Again: “No one, even partially endowed with reason, would say that that is infinite, to which something different in substance is understood to coexist or exist within.” And a little later: “For if by any reasoning, or in any way whatsoever, we were to say that something different in substance could be compared to it, by that very fact we would simultaneously abolish the entire concept of the whole infinity. But if that cannot be infinite to which something different in substance coexists from eternity, then much less [can it be infinite—]” [index: entries preserved]

^A And elsewhere: “Nothing that exists is without a beginning, ^B or to which something else is co-understood, nor is it uncircumscribed, to which something else can be conceived as prior.” ^C But if anyone has not been too slothful regarding such matters, let him read the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the hundred theological chapters which this man wrote, for they greatly preserve the harmony with what has been said.

X. If then nothing different ^D can be conceived as prior or co-understood with the divine substance, how can the operation—which Palamas says is something else and different—be an uncreated divinity, since whatever is subsequent to that substance is in the number of creatures?

CAPUT IV

I. Although I desired to say more, the usual headache ^A did not permit it. Indeed, the severity of my internal organs, which the anxieties of those struggles, the excessive heat of that storm, and at the same time the fasting endured for the whole day had greatly increased, forced me, however unwilling, into silence. For we had not, like the impious Palamites, ^B spent our time since dawn at those Sybaritic tables, nor had we thought that time should be spent in those things which the chorus of Bacchus haunts; rather, perpetual anxieties by day and night, and the study of the sacred dogmas brought into danger, occupied our soul throughout that time. Therefore those choice men who were with me—whom we mentioned earlier as adorned with both virtue and learning—having taken up the task of speaking, disputed excellently ^C and most eloquently, and set forth a noble example of bravely defending the truth. But it will be easy for anyone who wishes to learn those things from the commentaries which they themselves also made. For neither did they suppress them in silence, nor did they hand them over to be overwhelmed by oblivion; but as far as the time of persecution permitted them also, they committed them to writing, and each one lamented the evils of the Church, ^D as much as was permitted, in tragic fashion, lest perhaps for posterity the calumnies of the adversaries, once the superiors had in a certain way passed on, might infect the minds of the uneducated common folk, and bring not an immortal death to the immortal soul by iron, or fire, or barbaric weapons, but by the stain of that miscellany of heresy.

II. But now the returning night was little by little consuming the rays of the sun, and folding up the edges of the day, and depriving human eyes of seeing clearly indoors; now, fire-bearing lamps were brought in, carrying created lights; and at the same time those things were read again which long before that time had been [written] against that Barlaam.

This indeed is their perpetual custom. They have nowhere else to turn, no other veil to draw over their own defeat; and so they are compelled to circle around that mountain ^A forever, and to retreat thither—by fraud—from time to time, lest what they foster and nourish in their bosom, the orgies of iconoclasm, like something cast into the waves of the sea, should be quietly drowned in deep silence.

III. Since, then, we were condemned to silence, and those who were there interpreted most of what had been said according to their own will; and while they were demonstrating that which John of Damascus calls a supreme and preeminent glory to be a lower divinity, one other than the divine substance, and in itself indeed uncreated, but infinitely and endlessly different from that [divine substance] and utterly alien to it, and lacking in substance; someone of our number, with a soul vehemently moved, dared to exclaim: “O heaven! What then must be said regarding the incarnate Word of God? For when this can have nothing above it (how indeed could it, since it is above all things and perfect before all things? For that which is supremely perfect has nothing more perfect than itself), it appears that he is subject to a greater [being], and is of an inferior divinity, and exists as one creature among many. And so, at a stroke, the great mystery of the incarnation is destroyed; all things, taken together as if collected into one, the dogmas of the Church, are destroyed; and it is no longer possible to acknowledge any other creator of the totality of these things, save this divinity, established by new decrees, by a new doctrine, lacking substance, and subject to another. Hence the religion of the orthodox, in which they have flourished until now, is empty: the very army of the saints, who did not understand what Palamas preaches, is in a way blotted out. Oh, thy patience, Christ!” At these words he was most severely rebuked and, terrified, fell silent. For this voice was returned to him: that it is not permitted for one who wishes to see the sun unharmed on the following day to gainsay the will and the decrees of the princes in the middle of the palaces. But when many other things had been said there by them, as it pleased the prince, the council was dismissed on the condition that we should be summoned again to a similar assembly three days later. But that has almost escaped my notice.

^D IV. Before the setting of the sun, slowly and gradually the common people, and then after them, and together with them, men of the highest standing in the whole city, slipped away by twos and threes and returned home. As they passed along and went about, they proclaimed in a clear voice what they had seen and heard. Thus, in a short time, it reached the ears of the whole city, and it was a public spectacle, the shame of the defeated Palamas and his followers: then the reasons for which he had been defeated and was confused with shame were spread abroad. And so, rushing from their houses as chance had it, one by one in confused order, men, women, and children, thronging the streets and the intersections, scattered and promiscuous, among themselves

^A, ^B occupying different parts of the lanes, observing and investigating who this Palamas might be. And in their unhappiness, because he dared to rescind the ancestral dogmas of God's holy Church, they longed to sink their teeth into the wretch, and all together, as if by preconcerted signal, they were subjecting him to frequent anathemas. Wherefore he, fearing that he might be torn to pieces so openly, withdrew and hid himself with all speed. As for the others, whoever was clearly known to be of his faction, no one escaped without blows, except for him who, having assumed the pretense of another persona, had himself likewise cursed and anathematized Palamas in accordance with the example of the others. But as for us, who followed behind, they were honoring and crowning us as athletes and champions of ancestral dogma and faith, and as those most ready to pour out our very lives for the doctrines of God's Church laid down from of old.

Chapter V.

appearance, and in the end they vanish. For indeed, that which flows as from a fountain from a well-disposed soul and from the justice of zeal, if it lacks legitimate success, is itself in no way harmed by the injury; but the man who has been allotted the task of balancing the scales of justice, if he is tossed about by sound reasoning and does not persevere in the things he had approved, he is the one who truly suffers injury.

CHAPTER V

I. Now Palamas, having spent that whole night in great fear and the most grievous anxieties, as soon as day broke, went to the palace, indignant and full of fury; he approached the emperor, displayed his raging soul with impudent words, and recounted with great bitterness the things that had happened to him the day before; and as the north wind, violent and insane, rushes in and stirs up the face of the sea, so this man, while exciting all his wrath, fanned ^B the soul of the emperor, for this reason to be sure: that the Byzantines, at our instigation, had made that incursion upon him.

II. And, "Unless," he said, "you rise up and gird yourself for vengeance, expect that danger will immediately invade the imperial majesty itself. For you know, you know for certain, what my opinion is regarding the faith and dogmas, and that your own is exactly the same. For I pass over in silence the insults and the mock-filled quibbles, which many and various adversaries indulge in intemperately throughout the very lanes and streets, accusing us of great impiety and open violation of the entire faith. For it cannot be, it simply cannot be, that those who fight against me wish you well, nor that those who contradict my dogmas ^C should join themselves as allies to you. But if you have not done so before, at least now at last you will correctly recall those counsels of mine. Did I not warn you, that one ought not to grant them even a small opportunity for speaking or for expressing themselves too freely? From whence, indeed, unless from there, have a great many risen up against us, or instigated by whom have so many and such furies so quickly conceived—not only those of the plebeian class, but also as many as are more conspicuous in dignity and the glory of their lineage? Certainly they were moved by no other thing, save that long oration of Gregoras, which had nothing gentle or equitable ^D in it; but which exhibited a multiplex and varied and, as it were, rugged quality, whatever was thought more subtly lay hidden beneath the very words and, as it were, crept in; otherwise, however, it was accommodated to deluding the mob and capturing the favor of the people, and gradually conformed to the will of all, except ours. And why should he not have been exalted with open boldness, who saw that you were saying or doing nothing contrary, nothing harsh, against that license of speech, and those refutations, and all the false things he intermixed?

^A professing, but extending the whole discourse into a long race, without fear, and frequently introducing upon his tongue from the greater things the ancestral reverence for the faith, and that one should not move the boundaries of the fathers, nor preach other things than those which have been ratified and received, but that one should remain by those alone and cherish them for the whole of time, which each person learned and was certified of by the apostolic canons and decrees. ^B And what need is there to mention all those things in detail? For everyone knows, as many as were full of that theater, how he consumed almost that entire day, in simplicity of words, while appearing to preamble and intermix deep-thought, and exalt his own things, as if not departing in any way from the existing limits, and yet appearing to consider all my writings to be of every sort of absurd blasphemy; so that altogether the multitudes were brilliantly demagogued, and all were incited against us, as many as were among the nobles and as many as were otherwise disposed. ^C But come now, having summoned all the market-officials at once and the tribunes, command them to demonstrate those scourgings quickly to those people, naked of their garments, and at the same time shut up in all sorts of prisons, and to punish those who, having fallen into the riffraff mob, are not ashamed to attempt things beyond their power, so that a singular fear may become for all; so that, having quickly refrained from the market and theatrical boldness, they each hasten toward the appointed end of life in this way. And then let it be decreed by you, and most essential of all especially, that a council of all the bishops be held here today with the patriarch. For the danger of condemnation hangs equally over all, since they are our fellow-liturgists and like-minded with us; and it is necessary for all to care equally for their own selves. ^D And if some, under the pretext of piety, dare to break away from our concord, they would very quickly, if you were willing, perceive their own perverse counsel. For neither will they have those whom they chose as friends, and at the same time they will have to have lost those that they have; or rather, they will be deprived of the bishoprics they have, and at the same time they will in the least attain the gains expected from you; and as for those from whom they fail, seeing others possessing them, they will be choked by the strange clouds of their thoughts; and either, having repented, they will be an example to others for the better, or, having remained in the perverse counsel which they chose, they will perish together with it, [P. 618] having become exiles into impassable wildernesses. This path alone I see, sufficient to strengthen our own affairs, and equal to crushing the parties of the adversaries. For if, being made so weak by us today, they accuse us, if they have room to drive us from our thrones and honors by means of the charges laid against us, where would our disgrace not reach? How would not their own pride and arrogance increase? It would certainly be a heavy lethargy and one close to death, if, sitting so idly and lazily, and making the greatest things of the least importance, we despise our own affairs, and not, before anything whatever [be lost]

do we turn back with all our might upon those very men the accusations and the dangers arising thence; that we ourselves might sit as judges and masters over them, and that whatever we should deem right, that should be for them a law and a decree; and that whatever fate and fortune should allot to us ourselves, that should be for them the firm foundation of their affairs and an unchangeable provision for their whole life.

III. And these things were spoken in this manner by that illustrious Palamas: nor indeed were they spoken in such a way that they were not immediately fulfilled; nor, in fact, were they fulfilled immediately, but in a way other than had been agreed: for both on that very day, and more abundantly than anything that had been agreed upon, they were brought to pass. To such a degree does the Emperor, as often as he desires to honor Palamas, find that very desire making him prompt to action; to such a degree does he think that whatever Palamas has decreed in his mind must take precedence over all other matters to be performed. For some things he put into effect immediately, and for others, he promised that he would put them into effect immediately. ^B

IV. And it was then possible to see men of every sort divided into different states of mind; some, perhaps, more confident at that time, and placing a firmer hope in God, conjoined with a firmer faith, and arming their souls for athletic struggles and the combats of martyrdom; others whispering and accusing the savagery of the persecutors; others terrified by the fear and dread of evils—both those present and before their eyes, and those whose expectation, though uncertain, nevertheless signaled a greater anxiety to the soul than those that were placed before their eyes; and now indeed hiding themselves and lying low; now emerging, as if from the gates of the underworld, and coming forth into the sight of those in whom they trusted, and signaling their hidden heartache through silent sighs and ^C through furtive tears. So be it.

CHAPTER VI.

1. When these things were so, and the whole city had become a theater of celebration, the third day of the allotted time arrived, on which we were required to come together again and hold a second assembly. And once again, as on that first day, those who were of our faction flocked together to my house in the manner I have described. But I, as I had abandoned all good hope for the reasons I have declared, and knew for certain that nothing remained for me that was sufficient to withstand the wickedness that had broken forth from the opposite side, and at the same time seeing the pains that were wont to assail my head ^D being aggravated in greater measure by the present struggles and cares, I thought it better, having bidden farewell to councils and those most free-spoken discourses, to sit at home, and if anything had to be endured, to endure it at home; so that my house, if it could not—

to suffer this; so that if the [previous] house of my entire life was not seen well-disposed to virtue, at least, steeped in my blood at the end, it might acknowledge, however late, that I was instructed in that virtue which, while it made no great account of life, deserved in itself to be greatly prized. ^B

II. Wherefore I began vehemently to contend with the others, that they should not delay, but should go off eagerly to assist my infirmities—not to investigate the truth through arguments and disputations, for it had already yielded and, wrapped in dense fog, had flown away to heavenly chambers; but to slaughter, to the struggles of martyrdom, and to bonds heavier than any death. For such was the sentence pronounced against us yesterday and the day before, confirmed by certain adamantine and unbreakable bonds, by the adversaries and those in power. For of the more moderate punishments, which were decreed for the laity—and for the most part, the common people—some have already been carried out, some are currently being carried out, and others will be carried out later. And I think none of you is ignorant of any of these things, such a tumult has resounded throughout the entire city. It behooves you, therefore, not to be desirous of preserving your life, but, instructed with a strong spirit, to cast yourselves into these struggles. You have obtained a mortal nature. And so, even if it is permitted for you to escape death now, the debt of nature is such that, as you advance in age, it will be absolutely necessary for you to die. And it does not befit you, neglecting a glorious death, to await one that will be devoid of praise.

^C III. But they, with one voice, renounce it, saying they do not wish to attend such barbarous councils at the emperor’s call without me. Wherefore, fearing lest those who leave no stone unturned against us might, seizing this opportunity, easily pronounce sentence against us, as if we were defendants who had deserted our bail, I rose from my seat with great difficulty, intending to die together with them all, and to dismiss my long-standing infirmities of the head simultaneously with my life.

IV. Now we were almost in the middle of the palace court when one of the emperor’s intimates came running up. He took me alone from all the rest and led me to the emperor. He said that he wished to communicate to me certain things that were his own secrets. When I approached closer, I found a certain man very closely bound to me by old friendship, who himself was also present there at the emperor’s call for my sake. As this happened to me unexpectedly, so it happened to them entirely by design. I sat down among them. Then they began to address me by turns and alternately, the one providing the other with mutual arguments for speaking. ^D First, they tried to sway me with promises of vast sums of money and anything else I might have wished for. Then, because this did not succeed, since not even the first things said were found to be even slightly acceptable to my ears,

they attempted to engage in discussion a second time. ^A

V. It seemed best to start the discussion from the point that the name of divinity is secondary to the divine substance and belongs more properly to the uncreated energies; and that there is a great and infinite difference between such uncreated energies and the divine substance; and that we know God from the energies; and as the great Basil says: “We say that we know our God from the energies, but we do not promise to approach His substance. For His energies descend to us, but His substance remains inaccessible.” Saying these things and similar ones, they added their own perverted interpretations and absurd, impious, and insane syllogisms; for [they maintained that] since the energies descend to us, and we know God from them, therefore the divinities are uncreated; and those who do not agree with them, they openly declare to be guilty of blasphemy. ^B

VI. But I, as I was ill and alone, trapped unexpectedly within the treacherous nets while the other companions were excluded, what else was I to do but to extricate myself from there as quickly as possible, using, if I could, a brief discourse? For it was not right immediately to decline the struggle, even though there was a sufficient reason for avoiding it, namely the sickness combined with my isolation. For those pressing from behind would have charged me with cowardice and held me culpable for having deserted my post. Therefore, to the argument drawn from the fact that the name of divinity belongs more directly ^C and primarily to the energies rather than to the substance, I made my initial response; and to refute it, the statement of the divine doctor, which then happened to be ready on my lips, sufficed: “When I say God, I mean Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. The divinity is not poured out beyond these, lest we introduce a crowd of gods, nor does it remain within narrower bounds, lest we be condemned for the poverty of the divinity.” And again: “When I speak of God, be illuminated by one light and by three; by one light, according to the principle of substance or divinity; by three, according to the properties or hypostases (if one prefers to call them so) or persons. For there shall be no quarrel over names between us, as long as the syllables lead to the same notion. For it is divided indivisibly, so to speak, and connected divisibly: ^D for the divinity is one in three, and those three are one, those in which the divinity exists, or, to speak more accurately, which the divinity is; but let us omit excesses and defects.” And Gregory of Nyssa similarly says: “If this name, God, signifies substance, by confessing one substance of the holy Trinity, it is clear that we posit one God, since the name God corresponds to one substance,” and again: “There is, therefore, a property of the eternal substance, in which the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are, with all things...

one name denoting it, which is more in conformity with the reason of that substance itself, namely God; and therefore there will be properly one God: and that is ^A even more in accordance with the reason of the substance.”

Ⅶ. We have produced these, and whatever other sayings of the holy Fathers were then at hand and came to mind, preserving a consistent sequence as far as possible, and we applied them to that debate regarding the name of Divinity at the time. Then I simultaneously reproached them for this: that although the holy Fathers expressly attributed the name of Divinity to the divine substance, these men, by interpreting it wrongly, openly slandered them. For they claim that a proper name either does not exist at all for the divine substance, or does not exist for us; and therefore, that we ought necessarily to be content with what has been handed down to us regarding these matters from those who are more esteemed among us, and not to proceed any further or inquire more curiously. But if in some place and at some time, by virtue of some economy, anyone has uttered something dissonant, which might appear to have been said contrarily, such a thing, as being rare and obscure, is not to be a law. ^B

Ⅷ. Now, insofar as they brought forward Basil the Great, saying that God is known to us from his operations; but those operations, I said, he least of all calls increate divinities. Therefore, I asserted, either they do not read for themselves at all, or, reading, they do not understand what they are reading. For the divine Father, after he said that God is known to us from his operations, in the same letter proceeds to interpret his own meaning with these words: “When did the disciples worship him? Was it not when they saw the creation made subject to him? For it was from the sea and the winds obeying him that they acknowledged his divinity. Thus, from the operations arises ^C knowledge, and from knowledge, worship.” And at the same time you see, I said, that the divine teacher calls the miracles operations. How then can you call the sea and the winds and such like increate divinities, and yet not tremble at these fiery blasts of God? Furthermore, we do not know the Author of beings themselves; but from the variety of beings we learn the wisdom of the One who is, namely the Son; and from the natural movement of beings we learn the life of the One who is, existing of itself, namely the life-giving power of beings, the Holy Spirit. ^D

Ⅸ. There the emperor, full of wrath and indignation, rose up and, having gone a little outside the chamber, began to consult privately with Palamas and the bishops regarding what was to be done; for words at the present juncture had no power of persuasion. And he found that all other...

^A methods were less convenient than the one which Palamas had designated in his instructions to him, and which he himself had already thoroughly proven by experience. This was that such a disputation, which drew its arguments from the Scriptures, should be abrogated entirely; for he saw that from such a course, results would follow which were by no means to his advantage: for the very things they intended to inflict upon us, they would suffer at our hands sooner than they could inflict them upon us. Furthermore, they resolved to expel from the council the bishop of Tyros, who was defending the rights of the patriarch of Antioch; and if he were to persist and object, by citing the judgment of that patriarch—by which Palamas had been deposed and condemned—they would then immediately depose him as well along with the patriarch, and cut him off from the communion of our Church.

X. And so they first decided to remove us, struck by sharper insults and calumnies, in order that they might then tranquilly ordain and decree all those things according to their own will, with no one left who would dare to oppose them. For they frequently said that what is done with greater audacity is, for the most part, much more effective than that which is done with restraint. This instilled in the minds of the bishops a great craving to attack us publicly and insolently with reproaches, as if from a cart. For what is more prone to happen to inferior minds, in which the ignorance of all that is good is ingrained, than to slip and be driven into insane passions? Indeed, fearing that they might be refuted as impious by the holy Scriptures, they declared their impiety with great pomp and pageantry, as if displayed in a theater; acting just as one might, who, while swimming in the deep sea, upon seeing a few light drops of rain, should dive into the ocean depths, so as not to be splashed by those aerial droplets. ^{B C}

XI. For Palamas, departing therefrom by degrees, went off to summon auxiliary troops, and gathered all those whom he found capable of creating a clamor, of shouting down others, and of speaking out of turn. These sharpened their insolent tongues against us.

CAPUT VII. Gregoras and other orthodox are called in. Cantacuzenus threatens them with the gravest consequences. His comparison with Xerxes, king of the Persians. The ignorance of the Palamite bishops. The orthodox attempt to contradict in vain. The countenance and words of Cantacuzenus. The more timid of the disciples desert Gregoras; others remain silent. The withdrawal of Gregoras and the orthodox bishops; whom the emperor first forbids to leave, but then, at the suggestion of Palamas, allows to depart. The Palamites, once the orthodox have left, fawn upon the emperor. They decree whatever they please.

1. And so, when we were eventually called in, they rose up against us, violent and entirely ready for any wickedness; and the prelates of God's Church, that is to say those to whom the office of shepherds fell, were wasting the vineyard of the Lord. I omit the rest, which the holy Scripture once tragically declaimed against such men. ^D

II. And first of all, the emperor, driven by that fear which Palamas had deeply impressed upon his mind three days earlier, began to discharge insults and the most dire threats against us, as if—

^A he were threatening us not with the possession of the Atlantic Sea, nor with seeking exile beyond the inhabited world (for these things belonged to Xerxes and to his barbaric madness and wantonness), but with other things far worse and quite alien to those, as shall be told as the discourse proceeds. For it is reasonable that from unequal and dissimilar principles and intentions, the ends of the deeds on either side should also be entirely unequal and dissimilar. For he did not abjure his ancestral reverence, nor did he exchange one religion for another, nor did he change the customs and dogmas of his fathers for ones newer and of recent making; nor did he trample underfoot the oaths sworn to the God whom he worshipped.

III. But if anyone should object, admiring that Xerxes for ruling over a very vast extent of land and sea and for leading a myriad-numbered army—things in which we are entirely deficient—the answer is that he did not have with him in his camp infinite and uncreated divinities; rather, all things with him were created and mortal, and like himself. He himself was a witness to this, now laughing and now weeping. He laughed because he held sway over a vast expanse of land and sea and very numerous armies; he wept because, as they were mortal and fleeting and destined to last for a fixed time, no man would be seen anywhere after a hundred years, neither he himself nor any of those following him. ^B For Palamas did not yet exist at that time, nor was there anyone in that great army with the most powerful king comparable to this Palamas, who could create immortality and uncreatedness by his art, just as the Cyclopes of old, according to the myths, once fashioned thunderbolts and lightning for Zeus out of the earth. But here, such fears are far removed, buried as it were in the lowest depths of oblivion, because both the leaders and those who obey the leaders are uncreated and immortal.

IV. When the bishops in turn began to speak, one could hear words that ^C sometimes smelled of nets and the sea, at other times savored of the mattock and the spade, and at other times seemed stained with the soot of a furnace, owing to the obscure, harsh, and inarticulate nature of their speech. To say it in a few words, besides the episcopal garments, there was nothing wholesome to see or hear there.

V. When we, too, wished to open our mouths a little in reply, they deliberately drowned out our voices with indistinct and confused shouting and with the incessant clapping of hands, compelling us to silence, just as the mad waves of a raging sea compel those who are conversing peacefully on the shore to stop. For I pass over in silence the fact that they came very close to tearing us limb from limb, just as the Bacchantes of old did to Pentheus, according to the Attic myths. ^D And although we remained waiting for some time, and demanded that at least a small space for speaking be granted to us, no one either listened or paid any attention.

^A VI. Finally, the emperor, fixing a grim and savage gaze upon us, said: "This is a fine thing indeed, that men who are most hostile to my will—men whom I do not even know how to name—should wish to have prayers, which they have carefully prepared, within my house against my will." These were the words uttered by that upright judge, who had often sworn that he would be impartial and unswerving, and would never lean towards either side.

VII. For me, therefore, who had already for a long time been suffering from a most severe headache, a new pain was added, because my adversaries had not left me even a third part of my choir of disciples. For once they had seen, on the previous day, many of them standing around me and many sitting very close to me, they were affected by a heavy jealousy and fanned into flame a much more intense envy against us; and, as if blowing upon a fire, they stirred it up, threatening the confiscation of their goods, and proclaiming the penalty that whoever should be caught attending another session with me would be led away to prison. Hence it happened that as many as were not of a strong enough heart to undergo such struggles and dangers gradually departed from my side; others, however, persisted in their former silence, according to each one's own will and opinion.

^B VIII. I, therefore, seeing these things, and at the same time realizing that the emperor was publicly opposing us in many ways, and furthermore perceiving the bishops raging against us and breathing slaughter, I rose and left the court; and I saw all those who were of our party coming out with me. A great clamor arose there, as the emperor ordered the lictors not to let us leave but to seize us, while we would have preferred death rather than to behold with our own eyes that assembly which resembled a den of thieves. At length, that venerable Palamas, who felt that our absence was agreeable to him, became the emperor's advisor, suggesting that he should let us go. He said that it would be easier for him to accuse us of refusing the trial, and thus to put an end to the decrees being issued against us, than if we were present and contradicting them.

^C IX. Wherefore the Palamites, as we were leaving, rewarded the emperor with profuse praises, because he had blown a favorable and desired breeze into their ship’s sails, and by such adulations they soothed his mind, which had been tickled by them. For just as the open plains offer a level course to competing horses, so he himself was always completely accustomed to offer his ears, empty and open, to flatterers. And so they, now being alone with him, proceeded to execute in both word and deed whatever the lust of his mind had dictated. ^D

OF NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER I

^A 998 I. And these things indeed happened in this way, and this was the end of the second session. But the emperor, having considered privately on the next day that the things which they had plotted against us would not succeed happily unless they themselves should impose upon us, while we were present, the law which they had brought forward, and two days having passed, he summoned me; and he attempted to subvert me again with his customary flatteries and the promises of those royal gifts—I know not whether he was voluntarily forgetful, or whether he was deceived against his will and deluded by a desire to take me by surprise. For he thought that what he had said and expounded—by which he had accomplished nothing, not only twice or thrice, but even seven times over—he could repeat forever, and by constantly returning to the same things, keep telling different and diverse things to different men, but not the same things to me alone.

^B II. Nevertheless, he spoke these things in such a way that he even accused us for what had been done by us three days before, and rebuked us with his words, as if we had not understood that zeal and counsel of his, by which he was cautiously and providently composing his discourses towards the concord of peace, varying them, and leading them around through certain circuits unknown to the common people, and thus holding the minds of many in suspense. I, however, opposed to him, as he said these and such like things, my usual replies, even stronger than customary. Having spent a great part of the day in these private conversations, we departed again with our hope unfulfilled. But he declared and promised that he wished once more, when we should meet again, to grant complete liberty of speech, as was proper; and that he would not, as before, act as an advocate for Palamas or accord all his favor to his party.

^A III. Six days passed meanwhile, while the nets which were being stretched against us were perfectly prepared and set up. For having had no success in those two prior sessions, they believed that they would improve their situation, and now they returned to the arena of the contest with even greater audacity, thinking that this would be better for them. And once again, that council and that imperial court had us present.

CHAPTER II

I. Furthermore, it seemed better to us to foil the deceits of those lying in wait, right at the threshold, as they say, by reading out clearly and with a loud voice the sacred symbol of the catholic faith, according to the common and customary profession of the orthodox.

II. ^B When this had been done, the impious dogmas of Palamas—those, specifically, that were better known to the many, which we had excerpted—began to be read out clearly by our side, with his own writings placed alongside them, which testified brilliantly that there was absolutely no difference at all. Thus, no charge was brought against him from which he could extricate himself by fleeing or slipping away, for although he tried often, he was just as often held fast, clearly obstructed by his own writings ^C and forced to fall completely silent. And most parts, because they were somewhat lengthy, were omitted for the sake of avoiding weariness. For they were all of the same nature. Just as the sea is so bitter that it does not repel the taste in some parts and admit it in others, but presents the same flavor everywhere to those who taste it; so too, it is evident that all the writings of this man belong to the same blasphemies. In these, although one might perhaps find nuances of greater or lesser impiety, nevertheless, no part can be discovered that is located anywhere outside the stain of evil.

^D III. The matters, however, that were brought forward were of such a kind and stood as follows.

IV. Some of these, brought forward by me on the day of the first session, were refuted openly and plainly, as I wrote above. As for the others, even he himself confessed that some had been stated by him incorrectly, and he promised to correct them; yet he contended that the sentiment itself in all of them was sound. When he began to attempt to demonstrate this, he had no saint to support him, unless he confounded and corrupted their words; indeed, he interpreted them badly and seemed to be fighting against himself. For whoever cannot reconcile and harmonize his own words with his own mind is an unwilling combatant against himself; and he who is at war with himself could by no means agree with anyone else, nor could he ever act without differing from all the writings of the saints, partly through ignorance, partly...

because of bad intention. For although reason is given to all men, a good practice is not given to all, nor is a sharp intelligence that regulates reason rightly. Wherefore, ^A being repulsed from every side, and since his mouth was closed and he had no place of refuge anywhere in which he could take a stand, he retreated back again to the Taborian path, using Barlaam and his character as a cloak, along with other things akin to spiderwebs. As these were easily and clearly refuted by reason, the emperor alone openly defended him, and this in an unseemly manner, such that he could not mask the iniquity before so many men who were present.

V. I therefore added a few words. Then, because of the aforementioned iniquity as well as for some pains in my head, I allowed those learned allies of mine to do the struggling. Yet, since I had determined to rebuke the arrogance of Palamas in this way as well, it pleased me to bring forward one of my disciples, who might serve as a surrogate to engage in a struggle with him, so that his disgrace might be even greater. For that I should dispute directly with him myself, and wrangle with an importunate man, would have been honorable for him, but not for me in the least. ^B And so, how great a sense of shame Palamas was perceived by all those then present to have incurred, and with what comic derision he was met, being utterly defeated—as it were—by that youth, may be gathered from the talk of all. For Palamas became a common story to everyone, and therefore a ridiculous laughingstock and object of mockery to all.

VI. But night coming on compelled everyone, and especially our people, to remember those at home; hungry, naturally, and obliged to go one in one direction and another in another through the city, utterly neglected and uncared for, seeing that through this persecution they had become equal to vagabonds destitute of city and home. For those most equitable ^C judges, who had sworn to keep their conscience whole, were pleased to constitute judgments and tribunals for the sake of investigation only when they had already coerced them with abdications, final condemnation, and punishments. Therefore, since out of these twenty heads only three had been examined, and that with difficulty and most laboriously, and since Palamas had been publicly defeated in those three, the subsequent matters were reserved for the votes of the coming session. Things having been brought to this conclusion, an end was made to refuting that man, and the assembly was dismissed. ^D

CHAPTER III.

The proceedings after the third session. The fourth, and final, session. The Orthodox are present, some willingly, others unwillingly. Gregoras cautiously meets the emperor’s anger, which is about to erupt. Certain heads are read, excerpted from the books of Palamas. Some bishops, his friends, offended by the insolence of the new dogmas, stir up disturbances. The violence of Palamas. The iniquity of Cantacuzenus. Testimonies brought forward by the Palamites are examined. Gregoras promises that he will publish a more extended account and accurate refutations, if he should escape the imminent dangers of death. He returns to his proposal. Tumult and confusion. What at length was decreed. The Orthodox are beaten. Two bishops are deprived of the insignia of their dignity; their beards are plucked. What happened to the disciples of Gregoras. Why the Bishop of Tyre did not attend the final session. How Gregoras and others were dismissed.

I. But Palamas, having met with an outcome so sudden and so far from what he had expected, could not rest in any way, nor put a limit to his arrogance. For a desire for vainglory, when it misses what it was aiming for, becomes the mother of a certain furious impudence; and it deprives the soul of all freedom...

and uproots the total foundations of love. Yet such things did not seem good even to the emperor himself, who had promised that he would be an extremely strong bulwark and a wall not easily broken through, throughout the whole contest. Wherefore all those things, like the Euripus, were immediately turned backward; the treaty ratified by oath was disturbed and brought into confusion; and the laws of peaceful promises and the covenants made were trampled underfoot. Then again, deliberations and counsels were tossed about for the whole night in every direction and thrown like dice. Thus those leaders, when they had consulted regarding the sessions to come, and had prepared machines and contrivances against us—such and so many as they judged to be sufficient for dispelling their own fear, and for destroying us utterly and bringing us to ruin—they summoned an assembly, bestowing the specious name of justice upon unjust and impious opinions.

II. But we attended, partly unwilling, and partly even willing: unwilling indeed, because we were not ignorant of the traps set for us, whether those whose contrivance had been brought to fruition, or those which—waiting, as it were, at the threshold—still reserved themselves intact and were causing it to be openly evident that our being introduced was useless; but willing, for the reason that, looking toward God and running that stadium of martyrdom with Him as the rewarder, we did not shrink from good hopes regarding the future; although the present time did not admit the authority of religion, fortified though it was by many years and many books of the saints, but, with the very freedom of speech being entirely taken away from us and granted to those who easily perpetrated whatever absurdities they pleased, it hastened to demolish and overturn the sacred bulwarks of truth, with no ears, no minds accepting either the fear of divine indignation or the reverence of men.

III. ^C When the tribunal had been composed in this manner, and I knew and saw that the emperor wished to preface his remarks against us in such a way that great anger dominated in his words, I myself repressed the first onslaught, as much as it was in my power: "Let us return," I said, "to the proposed argument and the instituted discussion, insisting upon the former footsteps, so that this disputation may proceed in order and thus reach a good outcome. Otherwise, we cannot do other than rush headlong, and, as if carried into whirlpools or dashed against rocks, we will fall into absurdities and be tossed by more grievous errors than those which Ulysses himself encountered: and this present day will promise us no end, but the beginning of other turmoils and persecutions out of one after another." Having heard these things beyond his expectation, the emperor lessened his vehemence; not indeed willingly, nor in the manner of one who would not be burdened, he nevertheless lessened it a little, just as much as was necessary to remove the suspicion and indignation of those who were present.

IV. And so the reader, having entered, began from the fourth chapter. For on the previous day three had been completed and condemned; and no one could heal the man by whom they had been written and

blasphemed, no more than one could provide the faculty of sight to stones. Since, therefore, with great reluctance and only after a very long time, it was permitted that one or two chapters of what the soul had reluctantly spoken be read aloud, ^A Palamas, again affected by shame, could no longer endure to act with moderation, especially when he saw that some of his beloved bishops were also being more vehemently disturbed by the excessive insolence of those blasphemies, and were attempting to stir up the tribunal and were openly and bluntly mocking that platform [P. 632] with their tongues; and when they declared they could not bear the insults of those in power or those ruled by them, and that they were trying to hide such great treasures of blasphemy, and from the evils of others to reap the destruction of their own souls. So it lacked very little for them to be set against one another in enmity ^B, as they divided among themselves in strife, intensifying it always toward the greater, and, had we remained silent, it would have been sufficient on its own to quiet the storms of the Church without pain and turn them into serenity.

V.

VI.

- versary to the force of his arguments. For indeed, he had constrained those bishops who had caused the disturbance, threatening them with the utmost evils, so that they shrank in fear and, trembling, lost the power of speech. ^A

VII. When, therefore, excerpts from the testimonies of the Scriptures were read, those among them who were more intelligent demonstrated that some of these pointed in a different direction and were not to be received as those people perversely interpreted them; while other excerpts were shown to have been adulterated and inverted in every way. For those things which were necessary for sounder doctrine seemed in no way to serve their purpose; but those things which were necessary for them were harmful and destructive to sound doctrine. And so, those things which they claimed as their own and ostentatiously displayed, they corrupted, along with their healthy use. ^B

VIII. We, however, shall later declare in a more expansive discourse what was done at that time beyond law and right, and how many things were confirmed by those abominable dogmas. For once we have obtained leisure, and have gained by divine gift the liberty we require, it will be easy to set forth the facts one by one; then, in turn, to refute those same things with appropriate rebuttals, which, linked to one another in succession and joined in alternating order, shall proceed with continuous logic, supported by testimonies and rules that are beyond all exception, by the very voices of the saints; so that these may be ready weapons for posterity against their impiety, and so that religion might be protected by these ramparts, as if by shields, against the assault. For to me, by night equally as by day, continuous headaches strike the fear of death; but those tempests, which attack the Church of God with greater violence every day, bring a grief far more bitter than any death. ^C I say nothing of the machinations and ambushes of the Palamites, which themselves threaten me in many ways with murderous hands, thirsting night and day for our blood; so that there is a danger that we, who have seen, heard, and suffered these things in person, and have thus cognized them through investigation, might pass on to the other life before we have handed them down to posterity; and hence, the power of truth being obscured, great difficulties might arise for those who shall at some time seek to trace the straight path of divine dogmas, covered as it is by a troublesome and manifold crop of briers, thorns, and weeds that have grown up, so that it may perhaps be most difficult to recognize the monuments of its former splendor by conjecture. For they do not arm their murderous hands against us alone; but they also cut and remove many pages from the sacred books themselves, ^D tearing away entire pairs and sets of four sheets [(15)] with sharp knives, and ripping them from the divine Scriptures, so that—lest—

^A they should be unable to distort to their own sense and will the strength of the opponents that is firm and difficult to assault, when they interpret them wickedly. For those who do not shudder to take off the heads of men, it can never seem a great thing to take off the heads of the orthodox Scriptures.

IX. But I return to that point. I shall mention one or two of the crimes committed there against the law on that very day, as an example. ^B Thus, it will be possible to recognize the lion from his claw, and the whole fabric from its fringe. For since it was not permitted for us to speak anymore, but we were to be silent—being thus decreed against—while on the contrary, it was permitted to them not only to speak, but to speak licentiously and immodestly whatever they pleased; a great agitation and most turbulent movements arose in that tribunal, such as a ship might experience when the sea is disturbed by raging winds and the sky is thundering with ethereal crashes, absorbing every sense of hearing and the understanding of any voice, thundering on every side. ^C For not only that dissonant clamor of the many and the stormy murmur and the unrefined voices of the speakers, but even the clatter of hands being clapped together made a greater tumult arise in that assembly; not one stirred casually and rashly, as happens in those cases which occur fortuitously and unexpectedly in any way, but deliberately and with clearly applied effort: so that, to be sure, nothing of the dogmas which were being established there against the law and being introduced as new and unheard-of into the Church of God, might reach our ears, and so that we might not capture even the slightest space for contradicting more audaciously there. However, even if not everything was heard by us distinctly and clearly, still most things were heard, so that we might easily conjecture from them even the sense of those things which we had not clearly heard. For in that continuous shouting of individuals, the last remaining voices, echoing from the spheres and hemispheres of that imperial dwelling and bringing back the image of certain traces from there, received us as if in a friendly manner and brought us in, and in that way they gently consoled the sickness of our soul.

X. Furthermore, the matter itself erupted into such wickedness, and an opportune place for blasphemies fell to that insane and unlearned crowd of bishops, ^D that even the emperor and the patriarch, and all those bishops—most of them out of fear of supreme authority—decreed by a common mandate that the substance itself [of God] be called divinity in a certain sense; but that properly, the uncreated divinity—and that which is far different from the divine substance—be called operation; which indeed, in itself, would be devoid of substance, and yet would be divided into diverse and special uncreated operations: namely power, wisdom, life, truth, light, judgment, drunkenness, sleep, and whatever names have been devised by men as the need for them arose. Then it was also immediately confirmed by decree that it is not the substance which sanctifies that bread which we receive in communion,

^A but a certain uncreated grace and operation, in all respects altogether different from the divine substance. Thus did the demon shamelessly seize control of the council and the tribunal.

XI. We, therefore, seeing and hearing these things (alas for the justice and patience of God!), wept as if lamenting, tears pouring down like rivers; but we remained silent, our faces cast down to the ground. For when those who are supposed to listen conspire to approve of worse things, every word that might admonish them as to what they ought to do is superfluous. Now the night was already far advanced, shortly after the torches had been lit and brought in, when, moved by deep wrath, the patriarch and the bishops leapt up and laid hands upon us, who could not even bear to hear such things, but were breathing out the pain of our souls only in silent sighs, like a kind of smoke. Indeed, we could neither alleviate the burning of our zeal nor bare the agony of our vitals at that time, given, to be sure, the state of our affairs, having suddenly fallen in with these wild beasts, and there being no one ^B gentle or humane by whom we might expect to be treated with kindness, either then or in the future. Was it possible for men so untrained and imprudent, who had proceeded to judge divine dogmas, most of them having been raised on the same day from the oar or the cooking-pot to the episcopal throne—men who would certainly have needed to be reformed and shaped by manifold and long discipline, so that they might appear to possess at least the empty shadow of doctrine, not to mention a perfect knowledge of the elegance of refined literature—to behave otherwise? Truly, it is very difficult for a vicious disposition, having put on a habit of virtue contrary to nature, to remain hidden for very long. For whatever is done contrary to nature, since it is violent, is constantly sought after by nature, which cannot for long be defrauded of its congenital freedom, but instead suffers and chafes at being ^C kept away from its own, and keeps feeding and stirring up its own custom, until it returns to its innate habit, that is, to its own depravity.

XII. And at first, having made an assault upon those two prelates of ours, like savage beasts, they tore their garments with unbridled, furious cries, and stripped off the insignia of their pontifical dignity; and together with these, they tore out the hairs ^D of those wretched men; yet, because they were carried away by the impulse of unbridled violence, they had no time for deliberation, or for noting in the darkness what they were perpetrating, or what might follow from these deeds. For even those who were carrying the torches, while they were concealing under the shadows of their own bodies those who were being punished, and thus, through their ignorance, were hiding the men they were attacking to commit these crimes, were in fact imitating the manner of brigands. But every savage and unlearned man, alas, is overcome by wrath, and, as they say, wherever he is driven, he is carried away by a flame even faster; he consumes all that he meets more swiftly than any hope, and devours and ruins all things as he descends.

^A XIII. Then these same men dragged away my disciples by force ^B from my hands; they who had remained with me to the end, who fought as my companions in that stadium and had struggled alongside me in those disputations like noble hounds. Indeed, the great Chrysostom praises the timely barking of these animals, owing to the kindness of beasts, and declares that men who bark for the sake of piety in the manner of dogs are acceptable to God Himself. Some of these they committed to the harshest of prisons; to others, unless they should voluntarily renounce all familiar intercourse with me, they threatened the ultimate punishments. And soon, most of them, as has been said, fearing those penalties which had just been denounced against them, made haste to renounce my fellowship immediately, and others dispersed, having gone into hiding in the dark recesses of obscurity—this, indeed, included the man who was held to be the Bishop of Tyre, one of the bishops of the province of Antioch, who, having been driven out from there more insolently at that time, bade farewell to those councils for the future, and, wrapping himself up in isolation at home, began to live a life that was thereafter quiet and solitary, albeit against his will. But enough of these matters.

XIV. As for me, having said nothing ignoble or unseemly during these events, they permitted me to depart for home along with those two bishops, as well as those men of excellent learning whom we have called our perpetual companions in the struggle.

CHAPTER IV

^C I. A few days having passed from that time, they also sent orders to confine me at home and imposed upon me a silence—not a five-year one, like that of the Pythagoreans, but a perpetual and altogether unpleasant one; not only because it was violent and involuntary, but also because of the additional law by which it was permitted to us to neither write, nor see, nor hear anything at all. For they deprived us not only of known men and friends, nor merely of relatives and neighbors, but even of every servant and attendant, upon whom old age is for the most part accustomed to lean as upon staves. So cruelly and wickedly did they insult our souls; with such ferocity did they abuse our calamities—nay, they themselves were in truth a sort of storehouse of calamities for us; those, that is, who then boasted of being the shepherds of the Church. But in the meantime, the thunderbolts by which the wicked are chastised seemed to be languishing in sloth and sleep. Otherwise, surely, having experienced the celestial rod, and having understood the madness and impudence of their own words and deeds, they would have, if only late, turned to a better way of life. And these things happened in this manner.

^B But for me, I should count it a virtue to grieve and to weep, seeing the rapid onrush of wickedness always running a smooth course, and finding no satiety, remembering the impulse that harms the Church of God at critical moments, were it not that the words of the sages of old revived the emotion of my soul, putting before us the unstable ebb and flow of affairs. For it is not the canons of things and the measures of laws that govern them, but fortunes and dominant hands; and these also have a course that is uneven and continuous, resembling the ebbs and the flood-tides of the sea, and all the revolutions such as those of the Euripus, which are permitted neither to keep joy tearless [(17)] for any length of time, nor to have that which is joyful entirely unmixed with sadness forever; rather, all things are mixed. And from such wandering and such a gamble, which runs through various lives, it is possible for those who are more discerning to withdraw their intellect and learn, as if from elements and syllables, parts of the mysteries hidden within events; and not to be troubled or struck with wonder at the strangeness of visible things, but even in the midst of calamities, and especially those that are according to God, to persevere with a mind established in steadiness. For the lives of men are like a riddle; they accomplish and serve one another through others, hiding our understanding from the Providence that manages all things wisely. And at one time they appear hostile and warring against one another, and at another time they seem to be intertwined toward some union and kindred harmony, even if they are separated by many long intervals of time.

^C But these things have been spoken in a general way. Nevertheless, they also apply to the events that are happening to us in like manner today. For we do not suffer things that are entirely foreign to human nature, but things that refer back to similar and related examples of actions performed in antiquity. And so that we may omit the bright contests of the martyrs and that storm which existed then, that is, in the times of the martyrs, Basil, Gregory, and many others—as many lights of the Church as fell into such calamities—continually and everywhere narrate in their books the tragic history of those times, and those surges of persecutions which they suffered, aimed at themselves and at religion at the same time, by the wicked tetrarchs and the masters of that age and of those matters. And they are narrated by them in such a way that, if anyone has no distaste for comparing these things with those that are happening now, they would seem very similar and almost like twins. ^D One of these it has seemed good to me to produce in this place for consolation, for the emulation of a brave spirit, and finally for the imitation of a better conduct.

IV.

and gathered up as if from a collection, ^A and have now set forth here. "For this storm of the Churches," he says, "what sea-born tempest is more savage? In it, every boundary of the Fathers has been moved; every foundation and, if there were any fortification of dogmas, has been shaken; all things are rolling and being cast down. Do not the disturbances arising from the princes of this world overturn the peoples more cruelly than any storm or hurricane? A truly mournful and dark gloom hangs over the Churches. Therefore, all men alike, in whatever manner each is able, lift their murderous hands against one another. A certain harsh clamor of those contending with one another through disagreement, and an indistinct cry and a confused sound from ^B the unceasing riots, has already almost filled every Church, while those who through excess and defect overturn the upright dogma of piety [do so]. There is now but a single goal of friendship, to speak to please, and a sufficient cause for enmity is to dissent in opinions. Moreover, the likeness of error is a thing more faithful than any conspiracy for the sake of the fellowship of sedition. And every man is a theologian, even if he has his conscience marked with countless stains. Therefore, those who choose themselves by their own votes, and those who affect leadership, obtain the prefectures of the Churches, having pushed aside the administration of the Holy Spirit; and with the evangelical rules now utterly confused by disorder, the irruption toward the chairs of office is ineffable. ^C But I am restrained by that prophetic saying, that 'the prudent man shall keep silence in that time, for the time is evil,' in which some are now being tripped up, while others leap upon the fallen, and others applaud; but he who stretches out a hand from sympathy to one who has stumbled does not exist. For because love has grown cold, the breathing together of brothers is abolished; the very name of concord is ignored; friendly admonitions are taken away; nowhere is there a kindly feeling, nowhere a sympathetic tear. Hence, the examiners of those who fail sit implacable and bitter, while they are unjust and malevolent judges of those who act rightly. And elsewhere: 'Our tribulations, even if we were silent, are known to you, as they have been spread throughout the whole world. The dogmas of the Fathers are held in contempt; ^D apostolic traditions are held in no account; the inventions of recent men are current in the churches. Men, then, practice technical logic, they do not theologize. Shepherds are driven away; grievous wolves are introduced, rending the flock of Christ. Houses of prayer are deserted by those who belong to the Church; the solitudes are full of those who are lamenting.' And elsewhere: 'Those who rendered me evil for good and hatred for my love which I extended toward them, now slander me on account of those things which they themselves are found to have approved by written confessions.' And again: 'Some have opened their mouths against their fellow-servants without restraint; falsehood is spoken fearlessly; the truth has been hidden.' And [what follows.]

^A ii indeed who are accused are forthwith condemned without trial; but they who accuse are believed without investigation. When I heard, therefore, that many letters were being circulated against me, stinging and pillorying us and accusing us on matters for which we had our defense ready before the tribunal of truth, I was urged to be silent, and I did so. For this is now the third year since I, having been noted by calumniators, began to endure the scourges of accusation, remaining content with this alone, that I have the Lord, the knower of secrets, as a witness to this calumny. But since I see that many have now mistaken our silence as confirmation of the calumnies, and have supposed us silent not for the sake of lenity and patience, but because we dared not open our mouth to state the truth; for this cause I have endeavored to write to you, entreating your charity in Christ, that you do not at once admit as true the calumnies which one party objects; because, as it is written, the law judges no man unless it first hears him and knows what he does. ^B And elsewhere: 'For even if the rest of our life is worthy of our lamenting, yet on this one thing I dare to glory in the Lord, that I never held false opinions about God, nor did I change my judgment of mind by thinking otherwise later; but the sentiment about God which I received from a child from my blessed mother, and then from my grandmother Macrina, this I have preserved in myself, having increased and matured it.' And again: 'I, indeed, looking at the frequent and various attempts of our enemies against us, thought that one ought to be silent, and that what was brought against us should be borne with a quiet mind, and not to resist those who are armed with falsehood, a most wicked armor indeed. For those who have conceived this inexcusable hatred against us seem to me to do what is not unlike that which the Aesopic fable holds. For as that fable causes the wolf to produce certain charges against the lamb, as if he deemed it base and shameful for himself if, beyond just reason, he were to destroy a lamb by whom he had been in no way harmed, and yet, although the lamb placidly dissolves every accusation brought against him from the contrived calumny, ^C the wolf does not any the more temper himself from his rush, but even if he is defeated by just reasons, he nevertheless overcomes the victor with his teeth: so also those who study hatred toward us no less than a virtuous action, perhaps thinking it base if they should appear to be pursuing us with hatred without reason, contrive causes of hatred and crimes against us. But they do not constantly maintain any of those things which are brought against us; but now they assign one cause of enmity, a little later another, and again also another.' And again: 'And so they also charge us with this, that we state the names applied to the divine nature in the singular. But a ready and clear argument exists for us in this. For he who condemns those who speak of one deity will of necessity agree with him who says there are many, or him who says there is none. For it is not possible to conceive of anything else besides what has been stated. Therefore, if [the tendency] to extend the number of deities to a multitude ^D [is to be avoided] for those who have thought the polytheistic error...' [alt-version omitted]

like a disease—is a malady to be labored under, and to deny the divinity of them in its entirety is the mark of those who, as impious, agree that there is no God at all—how is it then that we are condemned for the fact that we confess one divinity?" ^A And a little later: "All thoughts and names that are worthy of God hold an equal honor with respect to one another, because they in no way differ regarding the meaning of the underlying subject. For the title of 'Good' does not lead the mind to one underlying subject, and the title of 'Wise,' 'Powerful,' and 'Just' to another; but whatever names you may speak, there is one meaning in all of them. And even if you say 'God,' you will be indicating the same [Being] that you understood through the rest of the names. For when they are examined and compared to one another, the names—by means of the significance contemplated in each—will be found to have nothing less than the title of 'God.' And the proof of this is that by this name many even of the lower things are named, and it is spoken of even in cases that are unseemly. But the name of 'Holy' and 'Incorruptible' and 'Just' and 'Good' are never communicated to those to whom they should not be, as we have been taught by Scripture."

^B V. Palamite victors boast impudently. Rewards given to them. Punishments imposed on the orthodox. The impious dogma of the Palamites. Satire. The Synodal Tome. Many of his friends desert Gregoras; and Cabasilas also. His genius and studies. How Gregory Nazianzen addressed men of such a kind. Gregoras laments his own fate. Solomon’s words. The apophthegm of Darius when dying.

^C E. Concerning me, although it was my intention to bring forward many saints for the proof of what is being said, it seemed easier to me first to clarify the affinity of the events of long ago with the present ones, and then to bring in also the testimonies of others for the sake of the wavering and the faint-hearted. And from this very thing, certain modest points have been gathered and collected by me, in such a way, clearly, that I have lightly sipped only those things that pertained to the question and to the present undertaking. For it will be easy for anyone who wishes, by comparing our [experiences] with those things that have been said—one with one, and many with many—to understand the most perfect similarity between the persecution of today and that which raged in the past; and to learn more clearly that those things which time separates, time also, upon ^D returning, brings back together and reconstitutes; and that those things which the stormy tide of events, so to speak, confuses, are again set in order by the reciprocal tide of events; and that those things which the labyrinths of complex lives disperse into the gulfs and hidden vaults of oblivion, and which vanish, dissipated, are later, as the labyrinths of the ages revolve, brought back to the kindred and related vestiges of things that happened of old, and their conjunction and similarity are, after long spaces of time, as it were, revealed.

[P. 642] Δ'. For after we had suffered our persecution 1.

^A The persecutors, having cast aside all fear, as if they had been saved beyond all hope from a shipwreck and a storm, began to breathe juncundly and to be refreshed by a certain breath of lost liberty. Thenceforth, more frequently by day and by night, with the emperor presiding, they held meetings privately and without us, neglecting nothing by which they might attack us, violated as we were by their deeds and words. And first, they contended among themselves in those councils, recounting with applause and laughter who had poured forth the most insults upon us; and again, who had poured out fewer, but fiercer ones; then, who had done so late and after the others, but more opportunely. And this they did with the greatest impudence of soul and with the scurrilous insolence of a tongue; nor did those sacrilegious men fear or blush to boast of those things the shame of which should have made them hide their heads wrapped in shrouds. Moreover, they acted in this according to the manner of Dioscorus, that impious prelate of Alexandria, who, in the council of bishops once gathered at Ephesus, after the patriarch Flavian ^B (28) had been murdered among many others, boasted ambitiously of that murder, as if it were some splendid victory, imitating the ancient Nero, who would take pride in the playing of pipes and in dances, which he would practice by night upon the very platform of the imperial throne, while the patricians and senatorial men of ancient Rome sat by, though by no means willingly.

II. In a similar way, that venerable college of bishops, having as it were danced at our calamities, forgave Palamas and themselves in turn ^C for the crimes of violated piety—nay, they even called those things excellent deeds and dogmas of true religion. And immediately were salaries and rewards, according to the dignity of each, established for them by responses from the imperial tripod: namely, largesses of money and the taking of revenues from landed estates; and the properties of the most frequented monasteries were leased to men who were, for the most part, most ignorant and learned in nothing but the making of money—in a manner similar to how criminal proscriptions were made against the noble and senatorial order of Roman citizens in days of old, first by Cornelius Sulla, and then by Antony, who had ^D tyrannically usurped supreme power. Save that they became the murderers of bodies in order to plunder and distribute their goods, whereas these men contrive destruction for both souls and bodies—for their own souls, which they ought to benefit, and for the bodies of others, which they strive to harm.

III. Then they decreed for us distributions of punishments, one after another, continuously, just as was done among the ancient Romans in the comitia; save that in their comitia, honors and rewards were decreed for every most excellent man; but for these men, causes and reasons for assaulting not only the living, but even those who were now dead, were established. For they even cast them down from their rank and anathematize [those by whom they themselves...]

Variorum notæ. (28) Flavianus sent into exile after the synod was held. Therefore Dioscorus could not boast in that same synod of the murder of Flavian. BOIVIN.

^A were deposed on account of the impiety of the dogmas newly introduced, and by doing so they thought they might escape the proofs of their impiety, claiming that they were not deposed by bishops, but rather by those who had themselves been deposed—and this, even though the majority of them were the very same men who, together with the patriarch and those bishops at that time, had deposed and anathematized Palamas himself and his followers. For this reason, they anathematize themselves today by championing Palamas. For they preferred to sin without blame rather than to practice piety by yielding to penance, and for the sake of the body, they wilfully lost their souls. ^B IV. And yet they did not believe that the things which were being done were pernicious to the soul. How indeed could they believe it, who, having tyrannically subjected to themselves the authority and will of God, as far as lay within them, shrouded God Himself by confining Him within the recesses of the heavenly chambers, and deified a kind of non-subsistent and non-substantial energy—the same is to say, atheism itself—so that they might sin with impunity, and might both grant and receive from one another the forgiveness of sins by their own private authority, just as those who sell and buy provisions in the marketplaces? For I believe that what Palamas ^C otherwise impiously teaches and proclaims tends toward this: namely, that men become devoid of origin and uncreated; or, to say the same thing, that they become self-subsistent gods, possessing substance infinitely infinite, ^D of the infinitely infinite (for one must use this language here as he does) energies and divinities, which are uncreated and non-substantial gods—the same is to say, gods that are nothing. For that which is uncreated and non-substantial is considered and believed by all men, and even by infants themselves, to be the same as that which is nothing and which has no existence. For, he says, "No nature exists in that which is not something, but specifically this." The affirmation of that which is, does not mean the negation of that which is not.

V. Thus they behaved with youthful insolence against the saner doctrine, and thus they acted and plotted against us with mad counsels, feeding their own savagery upon our calamities; and they conspired by inventing every evil word against us, as their angry soul dictated, and they filled all the marketplaces and theaters through hired heralds, having devised our exclusion with grand display for the sake of an incontrovertible demonstration to those who were listening. They did this so that, by fabricating and decreeing against us whatever and as much as they pleased, they might at the same time draw to their own impiety a greater number of those who are slow to learn, once those who could have easily refuted them were removed as far away as possible—not fearing God, nor respecting men, nor believing that there will be any judgment in the future for the deeds done here, nor that a reward for good and evil has been established, as the sacred oracles teach.

^A VI. These things and others like them were written down in long scrolls and documents, and once gathered into a Tome, they were confirmed by the emperor, the patriarch, and all the bishops and presbyters with their own signatures, some approving them willingly both by hand and by judgment, others by hand but not by judgment, and others the contrary. For there were those who publicly professed the agreement with both their judgment and their tongue, but not by hand, fearing the reproach that would follow. For those who considered it impious to consent, the shame of punishment was set before them, while those who gave easy consent were rewarded with money and every kind of honor. By these lures many of my own friends were also caught, and they stood against me. Indeed, they raged even more fiercely, betraying and seeking my soul, meditating deceptions all day long, and perpetually letting their tongues loose upon me.

^B VII. One of these for me was Cabasilas himself, the best of friends—a matter which, before it happened, had not even entered my mind. And I was greatly amazed, and I do not cease to wonder, when I look both to the extreme old age of the man and to the profound self-control and poverty he has professed throughout his life. But indeed he was that wise man who first conceived in his mind and spread by his tongue that "time, the long duration, brings forth hidden things and conceals what has appeared." For otherwise, being and appearing to be an honest and good man, he did not seem to be what he actually was, one who was appetent of human glory and very easily overcome by flattery. ^C Yet, one must grant him pardon for not having been able to withstand the difficult battle against a tyrannical passion. And yet, it was his duty to obey the words of the wise Diogenes, who, when asked by someone how a person might become famous most quickly and easily, answered: "If he could despise fame."

But if it seems to anyone, in wishing to remedy the malady and lessen the reproach somewhat, that one should not condemn a friend as if he had fallen through a love of glory, but rather because he had neither an education grounded in secular knowledge as a firm foundation, nor had acquired for himself a practice of the sacred dogmas, for my part I make no objection. For I would much prefer this to that ^D other; since this, being involuntary, absolves the friend of the charge of greater wickedness and provides him with some shadow of excuse; whereas that other destroys all hope of pardon, as it is a voluntary act, of one's own judgment, and merely cloaked by the appearance of vanity. For, by nature and with the eloquence of a rich tongue...

wholly ^A from this initial impulse of the mind, and repelling those who encounter him. For this man, confident in his natural ability and flow of speech from the very beginning, flooded those he met with it as if by a deluge, forgetting even to take food. Since he narrowed all his love of learning to this one goal, and considered it sufficient to gather for himself a golden harvest of every praise, he took the least care to adorn that fluency of tongue with the use of knowledge and sacred dogmas. Had he done otherwise, it would never have gone ill with him at any time; but he would have escaped the abundance of words which usually errs, and would not have now fallen headlong into the abyss of impiety.

^B VIII. I believe that the great theologian Gregory, having encountered such men who had fallen into the heresy of the Pneumatomachians, said, "I so embrace and kiss you, I so revere this seemly and ordered garment of yours, and this coloring of continence, and these sacred assemblies, and your venerable virginity and purity, and your nights which you pass sleepless in the singing of psalms, and your inclination of study and love toward the poor, toward brothers, and toward guests, that I would not refuse to be anathema from Christ and to suffer something as one condemned, provided that you might stand with us, and we might glorify the Trinity together. For what need is there to speak of the others, who are clearly dead (whom only Christ has the power to raise, ^C He who by His own power makes the dead live)? They are separated badly and wickedly by place, although they are bound together by the bond of doctrine, and they contend with one another as much as distorted eyes, seeing one and the same thing, and dissenting not in their gaze, but only in their position; if, indeed, distortion and perversity are to be charged to them, and not blindness."

[P. 646] IX. I, myself, while finding these things well and aptly accommodated to the present subject, say even more. For all charity has been taken away, as well as consolation and the pleasant conversation of friends. Nowhere is there brotherly affection; nowhere are there tears of sympathy. Hence, I was reminded of that saying of Solomon: "I looked," he says, "and I saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, ^D nor is the battle to the strong, nor indeed is wisdom to the wise, nor indeed is good hope to friends; but time and event shall occur to them all, unexpected from God, surpassing all human wisdom and virtue, and humbling all human swelling and pride." Wherefore I judged it necessary to remain silent, and to marvel at the frequent vicissitudes of the lives of those who exercise this life, and that no man should be called happy before his death. And that Darius, having received wounds and injuries through treachery, and with death thus imminent, when he thirsted and asked for water, and there was no one present to him as he fled through deserts and trackless regions, save for one man, and he in a

^A lowly condition, who brought a little water and refreshed him before he died, he sighed from the depths of his being and said with tears, "This is the final misfortune to befall me, that I am unable to repay the kindness of someone who has served me." As for me, with all my acquaintances, friends, kinsmen, and neighbors absent, sits alone in this confinement, where no consolation is granted, I reckon this to be the greatest and final of my misfortunes: not only that I am unable to repay the one who gave me a cup of cool water, but that I do not even have someone present to provide such a cup. I bear it patiently, therefore, content with the fact that I have the Lord, who knows secrets, as a witness to this injustice. But I return to that point.

CAPUT VI.

I. The barbaric and bloodthirsty spirit of those wicked men did not cease to rage: but catching a favorable breeze from the emperor, and having his will filling their sails, they navigated with an easy and swift course through any Scylla of the sea and any Charybdis, with no one standing in their way ^B. And so, after they had publicly read their blasphemous dogmas and impious books, scattering insults against us and against religion, they immediately persuaded the emperor—by means of fortune-telling derived from their own dreams—that, girded and adorned with the insignia of the empire, he should perform the divine office with the patriarch and the Palamite bishops, and with his own hands place those books upon the holy and immaculate table, as a new votive offering of a new religion, offered to new gods and infinite, bottomless divinities. Furthermore, those prophetic tripods, from which the greatest empire of earth and sea was promised to him in his dreams if he would confirm their dogmas with these rites, especially impelled his will, which was otherwise prone to yield, to carry this out.

II. This, as they themselves thought, was a disgrace to us devout men ^C, but it was a matter of the utmost contempt for the greater part of this great city who stood around. For when the most powerful emperor was listening to the reading from the holy upper galleries, and the senate was standing around him, as were the military and, indeed, an uncounted multitude of citizens and others. We who read that volume in succession were three: Galasautes, I say, and Maximus the Wise, and third, after them and last, the one from Heraclea; who also, after the reading, spoke briefly from his own mouth regarding the matters at hand. Then from there, the holy tome—or rather, the tomes, for there were three, written and subscribed in the same manner, set and joined together at the same time—set out as if from a starting line; two of them together, and shortly after, the third in like manner; for a little while that tome had been hidden by us in darkness and in a corner, and from there, therefore, it set out, etc.

^A For in truth, there resided in those writings an image of their spirit, and a kind of statue, as it were, of impiety. For just as words are now the images of things, at the time when they are still practiced before their execution in the inner chambers of the mind, and there in some way sketch out their ends; now, in another way, they also become images of the soul, whenever, after that secret consultation, they begin to become deeds and facts, redolent (so to speak) of the soul, and expressing its habit and affection to those who are outside: so also do these writings publicly display the images of an evil sense and beastly custom lying within to those who are outside, so that it might appear more clearly than the midday sun that this is truly the abomination of the final desolation. ^B Truly, God did not deign to favor with His approval the gift hateful to Him that was placed upon the holy altar; but He immediately repaid a punishment equal to the audacity.

III. But the bishops and presbyters who were standing around all clamored; yet not indeed with these words, as was fitting, rebuking him: "Hark, you man, how have you dared to offer a multitude of diverse divinities to the one Author of all, God, and have not feared to provoke against yourself, against us, and against all the Romans that unbearable sword and the heavenly thunderbolts by which the wicked are chastised?" None of these things was spoken by them, nay, not even thought: things which, however, were closer to the truth. But each one, having premeditated words of flattery, promised and proposed those things which, as is the nature of justice, ought not to be fulfilled. ^C "It was a common and ancestral custom of the ancient emperors," they said, "to endeavor to bring here vessels and furnishings adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones, and other treasures of that kind. But you have offered an adventitious gift, and a thing by no means native to the Church of God; but such as no prince from every age had ever brought in. And we promise you the extension of your empire and dominion throughout Europe and Asia, such as no one of the ancient emperors ever found, nor has a greater reward ever been given to anyone by God; who indeed, according to the nature of the gift offered, is accustomed to pay a worthy reward thereafter, and through an evident prize to produce and declare the hidden condition and nature of the accepted gift, insofar as it be either the best or the worst."

^D IV. These things, having been heard by the Byzantines, for whose sake that oracle was being proclaimed; and having been heard by God, to whom the gift was offered and the judgment of future things was entrusted, had a swift outcome; not such as they had predicted according to their own will, but such as the unchanging scales of divine justice awarded, with those who understood as witnesses. For a few days from then, and having consumed them all with fire

^A houses—to put it briefly—which of old the Romans had built at great expense on both sides of the strait, both along the wall of Byzantium and on the continent opposite, the Genoese, who inhabit that very small fort, drove the Roman affairs into such straits that they caused the Byzantines to secure every seaside gate, fearing even for the city itself, that the enemy might suddenly rush up, set fire to the gates, and break in with a force that could not be withstood, or by using a few ladders, leap over the walls themselves. Therefore, they surrounded the maritime wall of Byzantium, which faces the north, with deep trenches dug from the outside, and quickly flooded them by letting in the sea, so that immediately that part became inaccessible to the Latin enemy at close quarters.

V. Thus, in return for the offered Tome, God rendered a reward that was indeed swift, but entirely contrary to the yearning and intention of the Emperor. And witnesses to this fact were not only those fawning bishops who had proclaimed such things as only provided pleasure for the ears for a single day, but yielded no fruit at all, nay rather, things entirely and in every way opposite to those promises and prophecies; but also any of the people living around; so that our affairs were exposed to the laughter and mockery of all, and that very outcome of events provided the most certain proof to everyone that the Tome was most iniquitous and full of impiety: for from the final outcome all prior occurrences are judged. For those bishops, imagining that the outcome of that petition and that impious ^B decree—the Tome, that is to say—would foretell and proclaim their best hopes, had dared to prophesy and proclaim better events for the Emperor’s reign: namely, that he would extend the borders of his empire as far as the Euphrates and the Tigris. But since those offerings were of such a kind that God altogether turned His face from them, it happened contrary to what was hoped; and instead of those greatest rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, the Emperor Cantacuzenus dug and constructed trenches filled with sea water ^C to wash the walls of Byzantium, and by the necessity of the circumstances, he fortified this meager defense against the enemy with artifice; so that this conclusion presents itself to anyone as easy and evident: that because the Tome, having been written by them, was an evil and impious offering, it had followed an unhappy outcome; for it had brought about an end that was most contradictory, and removed by the greatest possible distance from their predictions, and had spelled the ruin of the Romans.

VI. Furthermore, from this ^D too, if times are compared and set alongside one another, one can perceive the kinship of present affairs with those that were done of old. For even in these times, a commotion, more violent than any swelling of the sea, has invaded the citadel of the churches. The boundaries set and handed down by the Fathers have been shifted. The stability of the rulers has been shaken.

^A Beliefs are undermined. Everything is disturbed like a storm, joined with the pride of those in power, who by adding superfluous things and subtracting what is necessary, pervert the doctrine of the faith. To some of those who resist, murderous hands are applied; others are divided—driven into exile and all kinds of persecutions; others, finally, are covered by an underground prison, like a sudden tomb prepared for men still alive. The most base craftsmen dispute about divine things with impunity, filling marketplaces and theaters entirely with such talk. Pastors are driven out. Cruel wolves are introduced into their place against the flocks. The number of uncreated deities is extended to an infinite multitude. There is no fear of lying. The truth is covered over. They blame us for the very crimes in which they themselves are caught. The prescriptions of the Fathers are trampled underfoot.

VII. And what need is there to want to recount everything point by point, which those who read can easily compare with the facts themselves, so that the similarity of ancient times with the present might be gathered from the comparison? Nay, I would dare to say that a greater evil is found to be rampant today than were those old and famous ones; for in those times, when the Roman empire extended more broadly by land and sea, and learned men flourished everywhere in the world—and almost all the patriarchs and most of the bishops possessed, along with wisdom, an equivalent experience in doctrines—there lay open to those fleeing great expanses of territory, so that those driven from this city could flee into another, and from there into another, and from there again elsewhere; and thus, if one part were struggling, while others were still strong and resisting, that which had fallen could be raised up. ^C But at this time, when almost all authority consists in Byzantium alone, and patriarchal and episcopal churches—I would almost say all of them—are subjected to barbarian leaders; and therefore persecutors at the same time and those who suffer persecution—or, what is the same thing, wolves and lambs indiscriminately—are enclosed in one, the same fold, I mean the city of Byzantium, at this time, I say, the sheep of Christ are destroyed with great license, because no one has a safe refuge anywhere, nor can they in any way conceive a good hope. Thus it happens that the violence now rages much more fiercely than in that Aesopic fable which the great Basil used at the time to illustrate the inhuman savagery of the then-persecutors. ^D

VIII. But since we are compelled by them to make mention of that faculty of divination by dreams which they possess, by which they especially struck the credulous mind of the emperor and subdued it as if it were tamed, come, let a few things be said by us also about these, namely, those things which we might be able to gather from the holy Basil, whom we have proposed to ourselves as the one to be imitated in recounting these matters. For, for the sake of brevity, we have passed over others.

^A For he speaks more or less in this way: "Because of the habit I have had with this place from childhood, having obtained a brief respite from the tasks that occupied me, I came with joy to this extreme seclusion. What need is there, then, to flee to dreams, and to hire dream-interpreters, and to make ourselves a subject of chatter among the cups of the drunken in public feasts? For these men are attempting to revive the plague of Sabellius, which was once set in motion but stifled by the Fathers; and, so that they may not be caught and refuted, they have fabricated these dreams against us. But you, saying farewell to these drunken heads—in whom that vapor of gluttony, welling up from within, generates phantasms—learn your own harm from us, who both keep watch and, because of the fear of God, cannot keep silent."

^B IX. Do you see how, in the error which dreams bring forth, this example is manifestly similar to that one? It is because one and the same being always presides over the management of these things—I mean the devil—who also teaches them. Since these men too, indulging their appetite and establishing a brilliant contest of drinking upon the level field of a sumptuous table, fabricate for themselves appearances of the Divine, weaving a narrative suitable for drunken men. The same men easily belch forth prognostications of future events, as if they were a belly-bound spirit; that is to say, their tongue, struck as if by some shipwreck because of the vapor of wine collected in the brain, stammers shamefully. Then they themselves begin to dispute about divine matters, having already presumed boldness from the divination of their own dreams, and with whatever arguments are raised and solved, they immediately respond to the questions put to them. "For they propose," he says, "questions, not that they may gain any fruit from them, but so that, if the answers do not accord with their wishes, they may seem to have a just occasion to attack and slander men who think well and piously." But enough of these things.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY, BOOK XXII

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWENTY-SECOND

CHAPTER FIRST.

^A 1. Yet while these things were so, and we, as has been said, had long been kept under the strictest guard, there was heard one day a knocking at our doors; a sound which, because it was unexpected, caused some fear and trepidation in our soul. For we had already completely forgotten that continuous and perpetual influx of a great many men coming to us. But when those outside signified who they were, we opened the doors and they were admitted. Now the messengers were, on the part of the Emperor, senators and patricians; on the part of the Patriarch, bishops and some other learned men besides. Having offered the customary greetings and seated themselves, they set forth their mandates, saying: "With those novel utterances, by which disturbances were stirred up in the Church, having been removed from the midst, all of us who are with the Emperor and the Patriarch, both bishops and men of the senate, have composed new Tomes and new decrees, adjusted with the most precise accuracy; so that nothing now hinders you from admitting us hereafter as joined to you in communion and of the same mind."

^B 2. Many words and counter-arguments having been exchanged between us then, they were finally requested to exhibit those new decrees and, at the same time, the libellus of Palamas which must be joined to them, according to the publication and legislation of the holy canons. For the decree issued by the holy and ecumenical sixth synod speaks thus to those whose cause was similar to theirs: "You who say that you are turning to the truth, do not satisfy us in any other way, unless you produce written libelli of your faith before another synod, being bound to lay them down before us upon the holy and immaculate oracles of God." If, therefore, I said, you [are following] the sacrosanct and general council of the Fathers, you yourselves also ^C

^A have acted toward Palamas in the same way, and have received him on the same conditions; reveal your mind by your deeds, and by openly producing those writings; and I shall be of one mind with you. But if the distribution of gifts, and the luxury of the imperial table, and the abundance of money flowing continually into your purses and ^B beguiling the mind—in that part where it feels pleasure—and if, finally (to add this also), ignorance of your duty and lack of learning have persuaded you to easily abjure the dogmas of the Fathers and to make little of the nobility of the established laws, know this: that it is in no way possible that there should ever be any common ground between us; no more, indeed, than between light and darkness, or between serenity and the waves of a raging sea.

III. But they said that there was no need for written documents ^C at present, nor that such things should be demanded of them now. For what had been approved and decreed by them, that, they claimed, was a law more firm than any written document. As for the new decrees that they had written, and whatever pertained to the constitutions of the synodical Tome, since they had not brought them, they accused themselves, and attributed the fault for this to forgetfulness, whose power is supreme and tyrannical; and they promised to correct that error on the following day.

IV. But I indeed denied that it was consistent with reason, or becoming to anyone other than them, to utter words of such a kind that, having struck the air, would immediately vanish; nay, ^D rather, those decrees ought to have been exhibited before us before they themselves appeared. For, I said, neither were the divine Gospels written by the apostles, nor the precepts of the wise prelates of the Church, nor the sacred dogmas, in such a way that they were not published to the light; nor indeed were they published in such a way that they remained silent. Rather, they are preached throughout the entire inhabited world without end, and, though those who wrote them are dead, the writings remain immortal, more enduring than any tombstone or any image. And they not only bring forth a living and, as it were, breathing fruit to those who use them, but they also perpetually represent the will and attentive providence of those by whom they were written, and bestow upon them true immortality. For such is the nature of sensible things, that because they are akin to the senses and, as it were, familiar to them, they therefore easily draw them, always acting as their masters, toward their own perception; and thus, from the union of both, a sagacious experience of usage and of acting opportunely is gathered. For the mind, being the judge of the things that are in the world, exercises its power now toward heaven, now toward the earth, and recognizes the qualities of things by the aid of the senses; and sometimes it explores and understands, through the sense of touch, the roughnesses and smoothnesses of bodies, and whatever by nature is subject to that sense; and again through the sense of smell, what things are fragrant and the opposite; and sometimes it perceives modulated voices through the sense of hearing; at other times it is concerned with the various tints of colors through the eyes; and furthermore, it attains to the customs of men—sometimes by means of speech, sometimes by means of writing—and learns what they are like. Among these senses, two are the most authoritative, in as much as they serve

^A the better part of the soul. Among the philosophers of old, some assign the first place to the one, others to the other. Now sight, even though it can perceive only things that are present and directly before it, nevertheless generally produces a more effective knowledge of the objects; but hearing, while somewhat duller, is yet more diffuse; for it easily grasps both what is present and what is absent as if it were present, miraculously joining together spatial distances. And if the account ^B is not burdensome, this same faculty is seen to be an interpreter of future things to those now living, if some Moses or David, caught up by the divine Spirit, foretells their preconception. If, therefore, in such matters, where the nature of things is different, this is how affairs stand; and if judgments concerning money and lands seek many personal inquiries ^C and often require a longer time, and demand for the sake of certainty both the judgment of the eyes and the ears together, how is it that one would not, in this place, where the dogmas of God's Church are at stake, reckon that this must be fulfilled with much greater right by that which is far superior? Therefore, we too must examine and investigate with much and very intense research these new writings over long days and nights. For the wise declare that those who introduce new ^D words and new judgments must be held liable to undergo new trials, unless he who introduces the novelties is full of the divine power, such as was that Moses, the spectator of God, who brought the innumerable hosts of the Hebrews through the liquid deeps of the sea as though over dry land, and again, in turn, prepared the water of the seas to flow through the dry rock. For when God commands and assists, even the laws of nature are loosened. But if one should be of those who rise from luxury and nocturnal dissipation, there must certainly arise harmful diseases of every kind, and the introduction of various heresies against the order established from of old, and the dissolution of dogmatic harmony and of every well-regulated standard. For this reason, the search for truth should not be considered a light, effortless, or cheap thing. For we know that useful things do not grow spontaneously, like brambles in the woods, but it has intermingled them with the greatest labors and has guarded them round about with much sweat, whatever is the capital among the goods of the soul. For what other good is more precious to the soul than the accurate security of faith toward God? For while people call for physicians to heal the diseases of the body, even if the effort does not seem to hit the mark, the damage is not very grave, nor does it last longer than the present life; but the ailments of divine dogmas do not break channels of blood, but they inflict the injury directly upon faith itself—a bloodless wound, indeed, but one that is most deadly, for it brings eternal and immortal death to the soul, to which the whole world is not equivalent. Wherefore, such things must be spoken of with freedom, and before these, those libels that bring the repentance of the erring, lest the schism in the Church become worse. But if you are not willing, what further need is there of witnesses? They themselves

^A by being caught in a manifest crime, stand against you like a thousand accusers, inasmuch as you hate an honest confession and turn away from the light of truth. “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come,” says Christ, “to the light, lest his evil deeds should be manifest.”

V. These things I said. But they promised that they would bring the decrees recently born and brought to light, and the Tome that had been written. But to give the libels, and to confess the repentance of the erring, as the holy and ecumenical councils of the Fathers command, pleased them not in the least. Indeed, with one accord they all denied that Palamas would ever commit such things to writing, or that he would show even without writing to any of us that he was repentant for the things he had sinned. And how could this have pleased them, since they were in agreement with him and suspected that we would demand similar things from ourselves as well? Therefore, when these things were concluded, they rose and departed, to report what had been said to the emperor and the patriarch and the rest of the bishops. We, however, remained at home in that solitude which had been enjoined upon us some time before. ^B

CAPUT II. Palamas refuses to give the libels. The new decrees are shown to all, except to Gregoras. The savagery of the keepers of the monks; the merits of Gregoras regarding them. The words of the prophet David in similar straits of affairs. The force of experience.

I. Those others, hearing the response, were convinced and judged that those very writings ought to be given to us. But to Palamas, what was proposed seemed unfair and a burden heavier than any Olympus, and entirely alien to his intention. Wherefore, ^C breathing forth anger with both his face and his heart, he approached the emperor; he professed that he would rather suffer anything than concede to this, and affirmed that he would rather die than give those writings to Gregoras. “For he,” he said, “will not refrain from immediately setting out to overturn them with both written and unwritten refutations. Then our labors will come to nothing, and (as the proverb says) in fleeing smoke, we will run into fire; and having appeared for a little while to have breathed again, with him somehow removed, we will ourselves willingly stir up greater waves of contentions and greater storms against us.” ^D

II. By shouting and lamenting these and such like things, he persuaded all of them, and at the same time he ensured that these new edicts and decrees, having been issued sporadically and through secret ways, should be made known to others; specifically to those who are everywhere

^A on land and sea. In their dense stupidity, they were so simple-minded that there was hope they would be most easily ensnared by the traps of superstition. But as for me, it was strictly forbidden not only to see them with my own eyes, but even to allow the slightest rumor of them to reach my ears, or for even the smallest trace of those things from out there to ever come near me.

III

IV

departed from this life; those who are here today are such as have, by my will, entered this monastery in one way or another.

^B V. For these and other such reasons, when the reverend Fathers and Brothers ought to have rendered signs of Christian friendship and charity, they, on the contrary, beset me like bulls, having found the opportunity they were seeking; and like wild beasts dwelling in hidden places, they gnashed their teeth against me, rendering evil for good. They opened their mouths against me, like a lion ravening and roaring. They confirmed for themselves the evil report. They sharpened their tongues like a sword. They said, "Who shall see it?" "Come, let us destroy him, and may no one remember his name any longer." For at that time the words of the Prophet currently occurred to me—which, though I had recited them throughout my whole life hitherto, I had never so profoundly understood as I now understood them, taught by actual experience, and [understood] what kind of and how great a bitterness of inconsolable grief he fostered and cherished in his soul. For no one seems to be able to know the nature of things that are or happen accurately, unless one has been occupied in all things as is fitting and has acquired for himself the appropriate notion by actual experience. And it is from these principles (as I think) that the argument was drawn that the ancients said that like is known by like. If someone has not lost parents by death, he, seeing a neighbor afflicted by such a case, will not have the sense appropriate to this calamity, nor will he attain true knowledge; but he will remain devoid of sorrow in that grief, just as we see those who are blind by nature to be unaffected by any sense of them if one were to call upon them to judge colors. In the same way, unless one has endured the pain of teeth, he will not grieve when another is in pain, nor will he sense another's cold unless he himself has been exposed naked to the sharpest cold of winter and has become frozen. For it is necessary for each person to call to mind what they have suffered before and to refer their mind to that, as to some primary exemplar. And so I, too, who have fallen into similar shipwrecks of circumstances, since I find no words more convenient for this present time, bring forward these very words which he used; and equally calling upon God, I ask that He deliver me from the wicked, and from the deceitful tongue, and from the calumnies of men—of men, I say, not of wild beasts. For wild beasts feed on blood and flesh, ^D but these men consume the very marrow of souls.

CHAPTER III

L. As these things were so, many days passed, and the Patriarch came to us—whether of his own accord or by the emperor's command, I know not; but come he did; he exhibited no writing of the sort we had asked for, but he brought with him a certain gentle and urbanity...

^A in his disposition, as he thought, and one possessing the greatest reverence toward us, contrary to his own inherent nature. With these he was weaving some sort of argument and was proposing—partly because of the urgency of his will, and partly because of the long and difficult journey from home—that the body, which at that time was troubled by some ailment, needed rest. ^B Thereafter he promised many good things to me if I should choose to accept communion with Palamas, apart from any controversy. “For such controversies,” he would say, “I hear are of Homer and Plato, your teachers; who were indeed wise, but because they did not receive Christ, they were proscribed as heretics. Just as, therefore, the councils of the holy Fathers and apostles and prophets that followed, although they were unlettered men, refuted them, so too I, an unlettered man, will today refute your wisdom; and that saying spoken through the prophet is fulfilled: ‘Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?’ (1 Cor. 1, 20).”

^B II. Since words like the others were spent here too, we departed with nothing accomplished—nothing of what he had desired, nor anything for which he had labored, came to pass. For indeed we had no need of many words with a man of illiberal character, one who was both irascible and more prone to striking with his tongue and hand than to speaking. Wherefore, having borrowed those words from the holy Father Basil, I too replied briefly: “I can at least glory in this one thing in the Lord, that I have never held false opinions about God; but the notion of God which I received long ago as a boy from my blessed parents ^C and those who raised me, this I have kept increased within myself; and I neither accept a faith written down by other, more recent men, nor do I dare to hand down to others what our own mind might beget, lest we make the words of true religion human through our own doing; but what we have learned from the holy Fathers, these we declare to everyone who asks.” And matters indeed stood in this way.

III. On the day after that, there arrived again from there many prelates of the Church sent to this place; and with them was one of my own disciples, though another was clearly very different from a disciple. For to this latter man, from the time he put on the monastic habit, the same thing had happened as to the one who, from the Supper, took the saving bread in his hands. ^D For just as the devil immediately entered into that one, so in like manner did the same devil clearly leap into this man, immediately upon his changing his habit. For in a soul skilled in evil arts, they say there is no room for the grace of God. And so much did this man strive, in addition to other snares set against us, to surpass that one altogether, that he did not even wish for Judas to be held solely guilty of betrayal in this matter. For when these men also, just like the others, had poured forth many words...

and had heaped up the most numerous threats upon what had been said, they too went away having accomplished nothing.

IV. Then, however, commands came to those neighboring guards of ours more frequently than before and more intense than the previous ones; to those, I say, who were set over us as most bitter explorers, or (that I might speak more congruously) "all-seeing" watchers, such as the Attic fable records—unless one were to say that these men were far more terrible than those, because the fable attributed many eyes to one man, whereas here there are many men, and these endowed with diverse and manifold ingenuity, vying with one another as to who shall surpass whom in the power of seeing and in the perspicacity of, as it were, many eyes. ^B

V. Again, after many days, the patriarch betook himself to this holy hospice of ours, for some other business brought him here. Even then, he did not converse with us in person himself; but through intermediaries he signified those things for which he had already been concerned previously, and not even then did he bring any of the writings I had requested. Thus, our affairs remained once more in the same state. And he, when he understood that his hopes of this sort were merely the dreams of those awake, finally went away. ^C

CAPUT IV

A disputation with Cabasilas and an anonymous person concerning the errors of Palamas.

1. Fifteen days thereafter, that best of our friends, Cabasilas, came, burdened with the secret and varied counsels both of the patriarch and of the emperor, and instructed, as it were, with every kind of device, like certain mural engines: for he was an intelligent man, eager to do many things, experienced in various matters, and no unpolished orator in civil affairs. He was accompanied by one of the prefects of the patriarchal churches, who commanded our guards (those, moreover, who were all eyes and so terrible) to grant free entrance to this Cabasilas. He, however, when he had greeted me according to his custom, then sat down with his face cast to the ground; and because he beheld the calamity and new tragedy of my house, he seemed to be more moved than usual, and therefore, having withdrawn into himself, he sat in this bearing of the body, having turned his external senses to the secrets of the soul, and when he had considered our misfortunes and the vicissitudes of fortune with a tranquil mind, he seemed to break forth into these words: "How has the house, which once resounded with so many voices, suddenly become silent? And how have those gatherings, to which others were always arriving one after another, the wise, how have those rational assemblies and those venerable contests suddenly vanished? How have the fountains of the disciplines, which poured forth so many rivulets of the sciences to everyone, now changed the wasteland so that they are silent and withheld, and how have those..." ^D

recurring exercises of astronomical questions and solutions now been erased by oblivion? These things, and many more besides, the demeanor of our friend presented to my mind for contemplation.

^B II. And so, beginning to speak: “You ought not,” I said, “to take our misfortunes ill, best of friends, since there is no benefit in this life which brings pure and completely sincere joy; rather, God has mixed all things, and thus restrains us with a kind of bridle, so that we may not desire anything in excess, but always be wise with moderation. For if anyone uses the favorable winds of fortune in any way, it is most difficult for him to preserve the constancy of his spirit and character. But this seems most astonishing to me: that ^C when such a great storm has disturbed the dogmas of the Church, you have not yet made us—your friends, in whom you seemed to place the greatest trust—certain of your position, but have allowed us to be led astray by various rumors here and there, and to doubt whether you—like us—remain in those definitions; or if, as a certain violent hurricane has fallen upon the dogmas of the Church, and others are carried this way and that, like ships lacking a helm, you have thrown yourself onto the side of the adversaries, and unsparingly sharpen your tongue against us, just as they have hitherto sharpened theirs. Yet we know of no necessity that compels friendship itself to be set aside at the same time as religion; ^D since, indeed, it was possible for Libanius, although he was a pagan in religion, to have a friendship with the great Basil; and human life is filled with examples of this kind. Add to this that you could not, even if you wished, agree with Palamas. For, as you know, you often approached John the Patriarch while he was alive with great reverence, and with the whole intention of your soul counted him among the saints; but you kept heaping every sort of abuse, day and night, upon Palamas and the Emperor Cantacuzenus, and called them the most impious of all impious men; you even predicted that they would immediately be removed from the midst: so that it no longer becomes you to switch to the other side, since you have attained such great prudence and old age, and can easily perceive how much disgrace would redound upon you in consequence. For who, having reached that age, expects what time that might admonish him of his duty? For when death is to be feared by men of every age and fortune, because God has shrouded the boundaries of our life in a certain mystical ignorance, it is to be feared most of all by those who present the end of life and their final act as if upon a stage: especially when that festive vigor of age is being extinguished, and the theater of1053 those great expectations which have long beguiled us is almost passing by. When I always revolve this in my mind, it comes to my mind to admire those image-makers and painters who, wishing to imitate the swiftness of the passing period of time through their art, make a man who is for the most part bald at the back of the head, yet not hairless; but a forehead

hirsute, from which longer locks of hair hang down. For although in other respects they may display a great specimen of their skill, here they fail only in achieving the voice itself; and because they cannot express this with the pigments of colors, they therefore propose, as it were, a silent image of the law, and provide a mute herald perpetually to all those who are not ashamed to lead a slothful life: to whom they all but cry aloud that Opportunity, to those who pass by, will not offer locks of hair to be gripped, but is slippery, and leads to a long straying from one's vow, once the handle of the preceding time has already slipped away, and has altogether forbidden that for which one was contending. ^B

III. With these things said, I for my part made an end of speaking. But when Cabasilas began to speak, I conjectured that what would be said by him would be the things that our old friendship demanded: but no trace of these appeared in his words; nay, he brought forth the exact opposites. For whatever he said, it indicated most deeply the bitterness dwelling within his soul; not that which is sprinkled by the changes of human affairs occurring from without, or the sad outcomes of civil business, from which pain creeps through the whole soul; but such as is produced by degenerate souls, which have long kept within themselves ancient and more long-standing diseases: of which the father and artificer is the light and inconsiderate love of glory. For by that desire for glory, as if by a kind of bellows for an extinguished fire, the soul is vehemently kindled toward noble things, when it produces a pure and very sincere fruit of judgment: but when baneful diseases, which lie hidden in the soul, elicit vain glory, then it is quite another matter, if one should consider it from the outside, as a spectator, without any perturbation of mind: and he who previously excited great admiration for himself, in that he did not admire riches, delights, and the nobility of fortune, is despised all the more, in that he does not despise vain glory, nor place vice in the position of disgrace, but on the contrary considers disgrace as vice: nor indeed does he notice that he is being oppressed by a domestic and internal fire; which sometimes, through a lack of fuel and bellows, is dormant for a long time, but when at last late chance has brought it on and occasion has offered itself, finding a wind as it were, it shines forth. For the loss of praises is often accustomed to stir up a lover and emulator of glory to an insane temperament; who thus in the passage of time is more manifestly convicted of having pursued not virtue itself, but its empty phantom: such as are the things which the ancients recount of the cloud and Ixion. But these things let them be buried in silence; now, however, let us return to that from which we turned aside. ^D

IV. For when Cabasilas had set out to institute his discourse, having removed all the wrappings in which he had previously hidden himself, he was entirely occupied in praising Palamas, and everything that was written in his books. For in everything, he says, that he saw...

^A he examined with precision and investigated most perfectly; and, in a word, there is absolutely nothing in any way to be found fault with by anyone whatsoever, even if he should wish to move every stone. And along with such professions he prayed that he might die, and was ready to suffer a thousand evils for them. ^B

V. To this I replied: "I would indeed wish that you might explain certain things more clearly for a greater demonstration of these, so that I myself might be able to know more fully whether you have truly read those books of his, and whether, having read them, you understood them, and what is the sum of those things which you praise in them. For a soldier does not ask whether his horse was born of a horse, but whether it is noble and praiseworthy, and simultaneously useful and fit for the necessary tasks." And at the same time I brought forward to him certain passages taken from the blasphemous books of the man. "These," he says, "suffice to persuade one that the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit, which is received and given to those to whom God wills to give it, is not created (for this is the Holy Spirit itself), nor is it the essence of the Holy Spirit." And a little later: "For if this divine nature, being participated in and received by itself, should suffer mixture, it would consume the passible nature before it was received." Do you see ^C how he clearly overturns the mystery of the Incarnation, as we have also shown above? And again: "What are you still afraid of, lest composition be admitted in God, if divine operations are and are called uncreated? Much more should you fear lest you make God a creature, deeming his natural operations to be created, as distinct from the essence." And again: "No speech will ever persuade us to rank among created things the operations of the divine Spirit, which the prophet summarized as seven ^D with the creatures. But there is one judgment for the divine and natural operations of God. Is, then, this also one of the creatures, as Abraham said: 'He who judges all the earth, will you not execute judgment?'" And again: "How is the grace not uncreated, through which also... judiciaries...?" [index: entries preserved]

^A those who become participants of it turn out to be without beginning, uncreated, unending, and eternal?"

VI. When I wanted to insert still more of his many blasphemies, my friend Cabasilas—who recited great praises for Palamas—interrupted me. Then, first, he openly confessed a multitude of uncreated operations, and agreed that they were entirely distinct from the substance. Second, he asserted that the Holy and uncreated Spirit was not one, nor were there only seven such Spirits (as Isaiah predicted would rest upon Christ), but seventy times seven, and as many besides these as one could comprehend with the mind, even infinite times infinite; and he said that the twelve fiery tongues that appeared over the Apostles should be enumerated among these, as well as that dove which was seen over Christ while he was being baptized. For the Holy Scripture is accustomed at one time to call all these spirits, at another time uncreated operations, and graces, and virtues. And Cabasilas added that creatures could become participants of these, and that by them men could furthermore become uncreated, and all things that are sanctified are sanctified, and besides the rest, that bread which is sacrificed in the celebration of the divine mysteries and is participated in by us: but that the divine substance can in no way be participated in.

VII. Following this, social war was brought upon us by an assistant of Cabasilas who fought against us with examples; I mean him who had been sent to us from the patriarchal senate, and was said to be of the number of the learned. ^B When he had equipped himself to say the things that were lacking, he opposed me even more fiercely in spirit and in eyes. For it was already permitted for all to trample upon and look down upon my fortunes, both because I was living in solitude, and because guards of every kind were hemming me in on all sides; and this is what is said in the trite adage: "When the oak has fallen, anyone can gather wood." But every sense of shame, it seems, had been cast into the sea, and the tide had taken it and drowned it. And so, when this assistant of Cabasilas had taken up this struggle more fiercely, he attempted to discourse concerning the participable and the imparticipable by bringing forward examples. "And certainly," he said, "just as we are accustomed to judge concerning the sun—the substance of which, remaining immovable in the heavens, we cannot participate in, but we are participants of its illuminative virtue which descends to us—so we must think concerning God. For we are not able to participate in His substance, which dwells ^C in heaven (the throne of which Scripture says is God), but we do participate in His energy and His will and His life and His power and strength, while His substance descends not at all to us and performs no action ^D of its own that is not mediated by these."

As he went through these points, his spirit surged and tossed like the sea; then he pressed me much more, seeking whether I would choose one of the two alternatives—that is, whether I would contradict or concede.

^B VIII. I therefore replied in this manner: “Not even Hercules could fight against two with equal strength, as I have learned from the ancient proverb. But I am here alone, and in chains, and I have not the slightest confidence for this occasion; yet I am compelled to wage the contest against two, who have armed both their tongues and their minds equally, and who can say and declare whatever they please in this stadium bereft of witnesses. When they have departed, it will be easy for them to slander me before those who are absent, while neither I nor anyone else who might testify to the truth in my place will be there; hence I see myself reduced to great straits and difficulties. For since both are very troublesome and burdensome—whether to endure with silence the decuman waves of the arguments we have heard, or to bring to you an extemporaneous refutation of these absurdities, during which nothing at all will prevent you in this solitude from disparaging my affairs—it seems to me difficult and very arduous to undertake either of these courses. For since this battle is bloodless, and the incorporeal soul receives the clashes and wounds of dialectical swords, the victories will seem easily liable to slander on account of their obscurity; ^C and, on the other hand, the arrangement of the tongue is versatile at the will of the mind, and corrupts the judgment of the judge. Furthermore, I do not know by what name I should call the array of such a war. For it is not a duel, since two tongues are armed against one; nor is there a vast multitude of soldiers and spectators standing outside, so that the stadium of those competing might be manifest, as when warlike trumpets run around and resound, playing the call to arms and inciting to open battle. But today my battle line must necessarily be constructed as double-faced and two-headed, as it were, so that I may be able to approach the speech of each adversary in some way. And now, indeed, I have as the moderator and incorrupt judge of this struggle of ours the sleepless eye of God, for whose sake I undergo these so great toils in this battle; but in the future, not a few of those who are present now will be judges of this same controversy, to whose tribunal my books will lead me; ^D and these, if God grant me the time of a life that is brief indeed, but free, I shall write down.”

IX. Having prefaced this, I began my response with these words: “Whoever assumes the matter in controversy as though it were conceded, he provides a great proof of his own ignorance; and he is worthy of much disgrace and most shameful ignominy, more conspicuous than the light of noonday.”

^A Indeed, furthermore, you, while placing the substance of the sun in the celestial soil, concede that its virtue or operation, which does not subsist by itself at all, descends even to us. You declare that the solar orb is the substance; but you define its light as a virtue or operation that does not at all subsist by itself, a power and an accident that exerts its force upon us separately, so that the underlying substance does not descend to us with it. Secondly, it was incumbent upon you to declare whether the wise doctors of the Church, who say nothing that is not joined with knowledge, think in this way also; namely, that the substance of the sun is the orb itself, but the solar light is an unsubstantial operation and power and an accident acting upon us separately, and reaching down to us without an underlying substance. Then you were to demonstrate, if it is possible, whether we can draw accurate knowledge of incorporeal and insensible substances from material and sensible substances, and at the same time of that divine substance which surpasses all of them, and which we have heard is above every name and every intellect; so that whatever miracles are perceived in this universe of things might provide the matter for theologic names, by which we name God wise, powerful, good, holy, blessed, eternal, judge, savior, etc. Indeed, every creature, by means of the visible miracles of the world, like a perfumer’s vessel, has expressed in itself all these things (by which the slight quality of the divine ointment is demonstrated). ^B And to Him who is above every name, we attribute many names according to the variety of His benefits. When He dispels the darkness of our ignorance, He is called Light; but when He bestows immortality, Life. But you, however, can neither understand the demonstration you bring from the visible creatures, nor do you know that those things whose vision provides us knowledge are placed above all sense. Nay, more, since being unable to know these sensible things, you much less can know those insensible, invisible things. For how could that happen, *since* you attempt to deceive us through both ignorance and fraud?

But I would gladly ask you why you have not understood these things which the holy Fathers clearly affirm and everywhere teach. And indeed, one of two things must necessarily follow. For either you are speaking words today brought in from the wind, and things which you have not read; and thus we will despise you as one playing like a child: or finally, if you have read, one of two things again will follow. Either you did not understand what you read, which argues a defect of perspicacity: or you understood indeed, yet you blaspheme willfully. You seem to assent to and obey your teacher Palamas, and no matter has you troubled; therefore you repel from yourself every suspicion of impiety, and pour it back upon Palamas, and thus you sleep the sleep of Endymion, thinking that for this reason you will be noted with less infamy among men as long as you live, and *will find* ^C softer *judges* in the future. ^D As if it were fated that human affairs depend upon his will, and that it is possible to remain immortal *while* doing evil; not understanding that it is easier to take back the piety that has been wronged than to possess the impiety that has done wrong. You, therefore, I do not know which you judge to be better and easier for yourself in your malice, whether *to feign* the ignorance of evils, or the outward appearance of things done unintentionally. I, for my part, do not know again to whom I shall assign the worse judgment, as the distribution of evil is similarly split in either case. For if, being ignorant, you were somehow to abstain from theology, the word of truth would perhaps pass a verdict of acquittal for you from the charge of impiety. But...

if, due to your shamelessness, this vice also creeps into the place of the other, you must be held guilty of a greater impiety. And certainly, so that I may pass over in silence many things which might be said here, as they are too prolix, I shall cite the testimony of only one or two of the holy Fathers. ^A First, therefore, St. John Damascene speaks thus: "Just as the sun is one, yet it has two substances: one of light, which was made before, and the other of the solar body, which was made only after creation. And the light is indivisibly united through the whole solar body, and while it remains in itself, the light is extended to the ends of the whole earth: so also Christ, light from light, without beginning and inaccessible, having been made in a temporal and created body, is the one Sun of righteousness." You see how he asserts that two substances are subject to one name, one corporeal and the other incorporeal, inasmuch as he also, by this image, expresses as far as possible Christ, the Sun of righteousness, and separately calls both those former substances and this one—namely, Christ—the sun, after the manner of equivocal terms; ^B declaring, moreover, that there are two substances both in Christ and in the sun. He does not say that one is a true substance and the other not; he does not say that one is an operation void of subsistence, and the other exists of itself and is by its nature not at all operative, as if that operation were placed apart and separated from the substance by infinite spaces of distance. I would also have you consider the words of that great Gregory, who made for himself a great name in theology: "For eternal things," he says, "there is no light other than God himself. For what need was there of a second light for those who had the greatest? But for inferior and human things, he brought forth the first power of this light. For it was fitting for the great light of creation to begin from light, by which he resolves the darkness ^C and the disorder and confusion that had hitherto prevailed; and he revealed this not as instrumental from the beginning, nor solar, as is my discourse, but incorporeal and sunless; and afterward, given also to the sun, it illuminates the whole inhabited world. For since, having pre-established the matter for other things, he later gave it form, having invested each with arrangement and shape and magnitude, so that he might work some greater wonder, he placed the form of the matter there." For the sun's form is light. But after this, he brings in the matter, having created this sun as the eye of the day. Behold, he also calls the light of the sun something different, and existing in itself before the solar vessel, and then also given to the sun; ^D calling the vessel the sun, but the light the self-subsistent form of the sun, or indeed its incorporeal substance and the soul of that body. For it would not act of itself if it were not a self-subsisting thing; nor would it be a self-subsisting thing if it were not a substance. For just as they define every self-subsistent thing as a substance, so also they define every self-subsistent thing as essence. Since, therefore, the saint shows that the form here of the sun, or indeed the light, even before the matter (that is, the vessel), has an active...

^A illuminating hypostasis and existence from itself, not needing this matter, while the matter was about to require the illuminating form in order, so to speak, to be in-essenced and ensouled; this illuminating form would rather be the essence than that solar vessel, which he calls matter, as it were, formless and non-subsistent. Therefore, by these reasons, the Divine must be an essence self-subsistent and altogether wanting nothing. For that which needs another is naturally posterior to that which it needs, and of necessity serves that of which it is in need. And henceforth one thing will need another. But for the core Principle, it is a genuine property to be wanting nothing, and it is of necessity to be core being, and prior to the needy. For the Principle must be this very thing alone, a Principle, and not in need of anything. ^B For the divine Maximus also says: "The essence of the holy Trinity is purely simple and uniform (59), and wanting nothing, and unchangeable, and the creator of all things. But every creature is composite, made of essence and accident, and is always in need of divine providence, as it is not free from change." Therefore, one must not speak of an accident in God, nor of a quality. For of compound things [it is so]. But all that God has, He has by nature, and not as something added. If, therefore, we were to call the energy in God an essence, different from that essence, or a quality added or occurring essentially—the error is incurable. For no one among the pious is able to name two essences, and two creative principles (as we already showed above, having already proven this in many holy Scriptures), nor can a quality ever be conceived of as different from the divine essence, and called essential. ^C For the essential part is of the essence, as the wise teachers of the Church have proven above, and also the seekers of the science of the Word from outside are the canons and standard-measures. For, if those things which are taken away are mutilated, the whole is necessarily a part of the whole. If, therefore, this energy is a part of the essence according to you, as being essential, tell me how it is something other than the essence, or how it is a part of the indivisible? If it is a different quality, how can it be conceived or appear without a substrate? For not even without a substrate could it ever have existence; and that which does not exist, how is it God? See how, through this energy, Palamas drives the current ignorant subverters of the Church toward atheism! Furthermore, how is it "different" (60)? "For nothing," he says, "of those things called 'to be' has strictly the 'being.' Therefore, nothing is added to God at all essentially by way of difference, neither aeon, nor time, nor anything that dwells in these. ^D For the strictly 'being' and the 'not strictly' do not happen together." And again: "The 'good,' and the 'God,' and the 'creator,' and the 'super-essential,' and the 'infinite,' and the 'immortal,' and things such as these we do not call 'essential differences,' so that we might not dogmatize Him as composite out of these, but rather as indicative of certain things observed about Him, but of nothing of those things which are according to His essence and...

denote [the divine] nature. For they indicate certain things that are appropriate to the divine nature, but they do not reveal the nature itself, which is proper to essential and constitutive differences. ^A And again: “Every essence, introducing its own definition to itself—that is, being bounded—is naturally the beginning of the motion viewed in it according to power, but every essential motion toward energy is a mean, thought of after the essence but thought of before the energy.” And every energy, naturally delimited by its own proper reason, is the end of the essential motion viewed before it by way of conceptualization. But God is neither a beginning (61), nor a mean, nor an end. For these are marks of things divisible by time; and one might also say, of things viewed within an age. For time, having measurable motion, is delimited by number; but an age, having the category of “when” conceived along with its existence, undergoes separation, as having received a beginning of being. [P. 671] If time and age are not without beginning, then all the more so are the things contained within them. Therefore, God, being neither an essence, lest he be considered a beginning; nor a power, lest he be a mean; nor an energy, lest he be an end; is an essence-making and super-essential entity, and a power-making and super-powerful all-strength, and the active and endless habit ^B of every energy, and, to speak briefly, the maker of every essence and power and energy, and of every beginning, mean, and end. Do you see how the divine Fathers do not permit the definition of quality—either as to essence or in any other way—to be applied to that divine essence? “For just as the monad,” he says, “would not be divided into two monads (for that which is divided into these would not be a monad, but a dyad), so the henas, according to the ultimate union, could not be divided into two natures. For the God of all will not be simple,” he says, “if his life is distinct from him or in him. And it would be greater than him, and incomparably better in improvements, if he gave life as one who did not possess it, if it were at all possible for him to receive it.” But your teacher Palamas (for it is necessary to describe the causes of such evils, not only to reproach those of you who have been discipled ^C by him), not with some commission, nor enigmatically, but shamelessly and explicitly, dogmatizes the energy as divinity, and at the same time life, and wisdom, and will, and prudence, and power, and such like, and each of them incomparably better than the essence, and differences from the essence and from one another. Concerning which the divine Athanasius (63) also previously spoke: as “The impious do not wish the Son to be living reason and wisdom and counsel, but consider prudence and will and wisdom in God as a habit occurring and recurring.” And again the great Maximus said (63): “Do not seek habits and aptitudes in the simple and infinite essence of the holy Trinity, ^D lest you think it composite. Deus neque principium est... neither as an accident, nor as a quality, must it be said [to be present] in God: for these things belong to composite beings: but whatever things God has, they are natural to him, and not adventitious.” Therefore, whether we say this operation of God is distinct in him from his substance, or (as you suppose) a quality that is substantially an accident, we shall fall into an incurable error. For no pious person can name two substances of God, and two effective principles; as we have already demonstrated by many testimonies of the holy doctors. Nor can a quality ever be conceived in God that is distinct from the divine substance, or that is substantial. For that which is substantial is a part of the substance, as both the wise doctors of the Church teach, and profane writers who have discovered the science of words; according to whose canons and rules this must be weighed. And certainly that, by the removal of which the whole is mutilated, must necessarily be a part of the whole. If therefore the operation itself, as being substantial, is according to your opinion a part of the substance, tell us by what reasoning it is different from the substance, or is a part of it, which has no parts? But if this operation is a quality distinct from the substance, how can it be understood or observed without a subject? For it can never have existence without a subject. But if it does not exist, how will it be God? Do you see by what reasoning Palamas impels the unskilled bishops of the Church toward atheism through this opinion about divine operations? But then, how could it be that this divine operation was distinct from the substance of God? For as holy Maximus says, “Nothing of those things which are said to be has truly its own being. Therefore, nothing whatsoever can be understood from eternity with God, which differs substantially from him, not an age, not time, nor any of those things which exist in an age or in time. For these two, to be properly, and not to be properly, will never coincide with one another.” And again: “When we speak of God, that he is being, good, God, maker, supersubstantial, infinite, immortal, and other things of this sort, we do not signify substantial differences (lest we preach that he is composed of them), but certain of those things which are considered around God himself, yet signify nothing of his substance and nature. For some things signify what is appropriate to the divine nature, but do not designate the nature itself: which is proper to constitutive and substantial differences.” And again: “Every substance, when it carries with it its own definition, is by its nature a principle of that motion, which is understood to be in it at least potentially.”

^A For God has everything by nature, not by acquisition. And again: “God is not the maker of qualities, but of substances.” ^B Indeed, they alienate all habits, dispositions, and qualities from the divine substance entirely, because it has no composition in itself without them. But your Palamas does not wish for this, nor is he able to understand that these habits and qualities are graspable by those who possess them, and are not at all receptive to things coming from without. And if one does not receive [them], one will not have [them]. “For what do you have,” he says, “that you did not receive?” So what one has is something else and adventitious; just as these concepts that come from the outside become templates and even feelings for the recipient souls, which are by nature passible. But in regard to God, the “having” of the things that are called precious and good in relation to us is spoken of in a catachrestic sense, not properly. For He is impassible. Or let someone come forward and tell me: whence and from whom did He acquire these things, being of a higher and more perfect nature? For He was always by nature everything good; but He was named later by men, from the time when they arrived at an understanding of the goods and precious things here, and discerned them from the worse portion. For even the heaven, being spherical and ever-moving and existing before humans, was nevertheless known and named by humans later, though it was there before them. “For the Lord is compassionate,” he says, “and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy.” What then? Do these words signify a power, or a nature? One could not say anything other than that they signify an operation. When, then, did God operate these compassions, and did He get the name from the operation? Was it before human life? And who was the recipient of the mercy? But it was certainly after sin, and sin is after man. Consequently, both the operation of showing mercy and the name of mercy are after man. And likewise the great Athanasius says: “Words do not strip nature of being; but rather nature is what changes words to itself. For words are not prior to substances; but substances are first, and words are second to them. For God, being simple and incomposite by nature, is simply and in a single way naturally everything that is good, beyond and superior to human discourse. But the goods in the world are so called not properly, but are dim images of His goods. We, however, being born later, learn that the goods that exist are also born later through experience; and from there we transfer such things to God and name Him from all of them, which is what He is by nature, and not as if He were composed of them just as we are. For these are names and concepts of our own psychic pains, when we dare to inquisitively examine God, dwelling in the forecourts of the inaccessible, and having nothing of His to declare, but revealing only our own passions, perplexities, and failures ^D clearly, but...

^A for those who are able to understand these things as well. But your teacher Palamas regards all the God-befitting names and concepts as uncreated divinities, divided from one another and distinct; and he joins to these, by himself, ^B the judgment of God and His majesty, and countless others—as we shall show, having brought them forward (just as we have also done above, slightly and moderately)—not understanding the holy men who say: "We believe in one God, one beginning, unbegotten, uncreated, and the rest; one authority, one lordship, one kingdom, known and worshiped in three perfect hypostases with one worship." For see, ^C the great John has enclosed the many appellations brought by us to God into one singular conclusion. For if the multitude of the Palamite uncreated divinities shares the same nature and uncreatedness, then the multitude would not be a multitude, but a unity; and he would be unaware that he is saying they are the same in essence, and not understanding healthily what he says healthily. For that which is the same is not another, nor a multitude in nature and essence. But if it is by grace, just as he also legislates for men, he is unaware that he is saying that the multitude of these uncreated divinities is the same as men; ^D and the uncreated becomes not uncreated, but created. For many things are forced into the same [category] by the identity of their existence, having a nature that is always meant to be together with those that are not different, according to their connatural and equal honor, if otherness is not present. For how could things that have obtained opposition from opposite directions be mixed, and always remain in this very part of otherness? For the one would not reach the other, faster than any word, mixing the bright cup of death.

Therefore, he who legislates other uncreated divinities and energies beyond the divine essence has corrupted the unity of the divinity that is the creator of all; for there is not even [the ability for those who are able] to understand the otherness of the divinities into a natural identity. Thus, there is no uncreated divinity other than the divine and only tri-hypostatic essence, nor will there be, even if all the Palamites shout until they burst; nor is there a ^A Hellenic multitude of gods. For the great John, concerning divine things, says: "If we say 'many gods,' there is necessarily a difference among them." One who is perfect in all things, this would be the only God in all things; but anyone who falls short of the perfect, either in goodness, or in wisdom, or in power, or altogether in some respect, would not be God. And how will the "incomprehensible" be maintained if there are many? For where one would be, the other would not be. But God must be incomprehensible and fill all things. One must therefore consider from this as well, how ^B Palamas has remained constantly ignorant and entirely senseless regarding the divine Scripture of the one God, dogmatizing that a different essence and energy are manifest, and showing not only one otherness, but infinite ones; and not only infinite, but also uncreated; and not only uncreated, but also greater and lesser. And [concerning] the greater and lesser...

of these uncreated deities, he surely devises a certain interval between them. But the formal nature of a medium, or interval, does not allow this interval to be infinite. For such is the nature of infinity, that it is not measured by degrees, whether higher or lower. ^D

X. I could indeed have brought forward many other testimonies of the Holy Fathers, by which it would be established that neither an operation, nor any quality, nor anything else at all, is coeternal and distinct from the divine substance—even if those who desire to oppose the sayings of the saints to the empty sophistries previously proposed, should wish to put an end...

to this by promising that they would listen to their refutation quite gladly a little later. ^A He himself, however, with the greatest haste, first made it his business to bring forward their customary and common refuge out of season—I mean the light on Tabor, which the holy fathers call an uncreated operation and deity. "For as for that light," he said, "the holy Gregory says that the deity was shown on the mountain." And again, the Melodist writes that such operations are emanations of the deity. Therefore, since the divine substance is uncreated, those emanations are likewise uncreated, and something other than the substance. For that which is other than the substance is not the substance itself, but pertains to the substance. For if it were identical with the substance, it would be as participateable as the operations, and no distinction whatever could be admitted between them. But this is impossible. For it is the nature of the substance to be unparticipated by all creatures; and it is an invention of darkness-loving demons to say and to believe those who say otherwise. For this reason we say that the substance is distinct from the operation, with all identity being removed from the midst. ^B And at the same time he brought forward some of Palamas's dogmas from mouth and memory; sporadically, to be sure, he brought them forth, yet preserving the entire thought and as they were accurately worded. "For it is a common dogma," he says, "of the philosophers, both those outside and those among us, that in a simple and incorporeal nature, the operation and the substance are of the same essence. But those things that admit of the same essence are two, and not one. And if they are two, how could they have no difference between them? Does, then, to behold not differ from to deify? Or does God deify everything that He beholds? But since it does differ, is any of these things created?" Then he went over, one by one, the precognitive power, the creative [power], the readiness to act, and the rest. "For as the mind," he says, "when it acquires sciences, does not become composite, ^C just so, and by a much greater reason, the divine nature, possessing by nature the precognitive, the pre-intellective, and all such faculties and operations simply, is not composite." And he claimed clearly to be saying what the saints said, but he did not bring forward from them any scriptural testimonies into sight or into hearing. And again: "For if, being God from God the Father, the Son is not one [God] in that He is uncreated God, and another in that He is Son; and in that He is uncreated God, He is equal in all things to the Father; but in that He is Son, having the Father as cause, He is second to the Father—not a second God, God forbid, but second in order, as the great Basil says: so also from the uncreated deity, that is, the substance of God, proceeds the uncreated deity, that is, the operation; and this indeed is not other than the deity, in that the deity is uncreated; ^D in that it is uncreated [it is not other than the substance, nor divided at all], as having [it] as its cause and itself [the operation] subsisting after it. Enough of this."

XI. To which I, stepping forward, replied: ^A "How pleasant you are, my best friend," I said, "and now more than ever, and you, even more than anyone at all, are more pleasant to me today, and by far, than if you were to offer me the gold of Lydians and Medes. For what happened by way of an accession—as if in passing—even if it were not so to anyone else, to me at least it appears to have been done most brilliantly. For you have solved for me, my excellent friend, a question which has long vexed me, and with no effort at all. And the charm of the matter is that you did so while both unwilling and yet most willing; and it has fallen out for both of us that you, while unwilling, have become a benefactor ^B to the very person against whom you were bearing arms, while I have received a benefit from my enemies, from whom I would never have expected to receive anything of the sort. For my task, in the present work, was to show both what other blasphemies had been put forth by you, and [how you have] entirely denied the incarnation of the Word of God: which truly places a crown, as it were, upon your blasphemies and heresies, since [you] manifestly argue that all the prophets, apostles, martyrs, and doctors, together with all the holy synods, have been deceived by error. 1076 Whether you did this intentionally, for the sake of something else, or in passing and not by design—of the sort which often occurs by chance, through certain arcane reasons ^C placed above all reason; however that may be, you have provided me with a much more appropriate cause to oppose you than I could have prepared for myself with all my own care, study, and providence. For it has long been my most important and ancient ambition to catch that Palamas in the very act, confessing in public utterances those things which elsewhere he is convicted of preaching differently in hidden rumors: I mean, namely, this thing which he vaunts everywhere, that all the wise, both Christians and pagans, stand with him in a numerous throng. But this you have now willingly and freely set before our eyes today, beyond all our expectations: and this is what is meant by the oft-repeated adage: 'Bellerophon against yourself.' ^D For there were three things which he has always used to deceive the masses most of all. First, he is always taking refuge in Mount Tabor, corrupting and slandering with his own perverse explanation the brightness and divine grace that were shown there in a great miracle: acting in the same way as murderers, who seek out places suitable for ambushes and thoughtlessly luxuriate in the blood of passers-by; or rather, like the Barbarians who, defeated in battle, flee to our temples and shrines and use the holy icons as shields and ramparts. And if someone, having read what we have said above, were not to consider this a side issue, he would find it to be the work of the Iconoclasts—I mean, taking refuge in the transfiguration of the Savior as a ready-made [defense] for the absurdity.

^A Since we have now gone through everything, and have set it out for them in detail—as has been written somewhere above—it is open to those who so wish to examine it.

A second engine of wickedness against the unlearned, or rather against his own soul, has been devised by him: ^B in the manner of barbers, he gathers every year into his shop a great number of those who are naturally fit to shave and to cut—to transpose letters with letters and pages with pages—who, when arguments are brought against them, [do so] as if they were slandering through base and easy means their opponents; just as those who, out of cowardice, flee from battle shoot arrows at the men [who are attacking them], and are not able to stand for even a small fraction of an hour at any one point.

The great Athanasius, in his letter to the bishops of Egypt and Libya, discusses those who act in this heretical manner, saying: “For they come together every year like men who are drawing up a contract, and they pretend to write concerning the faith, so that they might rather bring ridicule upon themselves and be marked with ignominy in this very act, since their decrees are not rescinded by others, but by themselves. For if they were confident in what they had previously written, they would not seek to write for a second time, nor would they be writing again now, abandoning what they had written. For they were surely meditating on the fact that they would change them again after a little time had passed, should they obtain a pretext to plot against some, as is their habit. For then, when they plot, they mostly pretend to write about the faith ^C so that, just as Pilate washed his hands, so too, by writing, they might slay those who worship Christ piously, and so that, as I have often said, by defining the faith, they might appear to escape the charge of heresy. But they will be able neither to hide nor to escape. For as long as they provide a defense only to themselves, they are always their own accusers; and deservedly so. For they do not answer those who convict them, but persuade themselves of whatever they wish. When, therefore, will the acquittal of the charge come to an accused person who acts as his own judge? For this reason, then, they are always writing, and by always changing their own words they keep the faith uncertain; or rather, they make their unbelief and their perverted mind manifest.”

You see how the great champion of truth, Athanasius, has shown us most clearly that what is being done now by Palamas is a far-reaching imitation of the images and archetypes of evil that happened of old. ^D I pass over in silence, for now, the heaps of evil men—mountains like Olympus—that he has piled up to increase the evil. Therefore, I rejoice now, if ever, more than ever, and you as well, if at any time, seem to me to have captured, as if it were a long-sought prey, that which was previously hard to catch, so that there is no longer any need for me to have witnesses, nor for him to have anything left to deny, nor for us to have to bring his past actions to mind; rather, we have become irrefutable witnesses of his blasphemies, so that it is possible even for me—having ceased now from the struggle against [a man who relies on] unmoving and unstable signs—to spend my archery and my arrows, and not [shoot] blindly…

I am now affected with greater joy than ever before, and if at any time you have done me a favor, you certainly make this one far more acceptable, since you offer me that which I formerly sought as prey, so that it can no longer escape, nor have I any need for witnesses in any way, nor can he himself deny what is ascribed to him; ^A just as neither can you, who hold his opinions in memory, and are yourselves witnesses of his blasphemies, above any exception. Hence it will be permitted to me, no longer to hurl our refutations like so many arrows with the skill of an archer at signs of inconstancy and unstable things, nor to inflict blind wounds upon the enemy, but rather manifest ones, which carry evident truth before them. Thirdly, he inserts and proclaims throughout his books that men who are, as has been said, admirable in wisdom, both Christians and pagans, agree with him; the names of all of whom he either passes over in deep silence, explaining neither what kind of men they are nor what they say; or he gathers the names of some in a heap, ^B but does not set forth or append anything—at least that I know of—as to what they say or what kind of things they are, in order that he may hold the ears of his listeners in suspense and agitation with their names, and thus most easily persuade them of whatever he wishes (for he who seems to introduce new terms is clearly rejected by the crowd), but that by keeping their dicta quiet, he may escape censure, as if he were putting forward nothing dissonant to them. This man, however, for a single and simple evil, commits a double one: for he both blasphemes with impunity himself and at the same time slanders those philosophers, and brings them into the midst as if they were guilty of the same blasphemy as himself.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS ROMAN HISTORY BOOK XXIII

NICEPHORI GREGORAE BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWENTY-THIRD

Gregoras continues to dispute with Cabasilas.

—

CAPUT PRIMUM.

I. But we will not imitate him, nor will we emulate the schemes and frauds of his wickedness, at least as long as the right hand of God alone shall preserve a sound mind for us. For it is evident to all that it stands to reason that contrary principles should have contrary effects. And indeed, Palamas is ignorant of all Greek literature, and far removed from any [learning] that

^A discipline begets knowledge. The profane sages had provided this before; but the patrons of the divine dogmas of the Church, having received it from them, turned it to their own uses: by it, they securely armed their own language; and, making a selection, they accepted whatever could contribute to contemplation and the investigation of truth; but whatever led to the worship of demons and the abyss of perdition, they rejected. Hence, learning to distinguish better things from worse, they corroborated the pious and catholic doctrine by the very weakness of the profane. Since, therefore, as I was saying, Palamas is ignorant of the profane sciences, he has had, for the rest, an unstable support for his language, and ruinous and poorly compacted foundations of speech. Then, as it were by an immature birth, the ^B fetus of the first elements of speech was brought forth by him; and for this reason, in understanding he does not understand, and in seeing he does not see; and when he wished to adapt a meaning congruent with his words, but could not, he clearly experienced that which once befell Icarus. For, among other fables that have long since rung in our ears for a long time, and which tell long stories, we know that this one about Icarus has also been handed down in the records of literature. That vain man, as is well known, because he did not wish to tread the earth any longer, sought wings, and because of his excessive rashness, he desired to cross the limits prescribed by nature. But such aid was very destructive to the man, inasmuch as it carried Icarus further than the reason of prudence seemed to require. It seems to me that that unhappy Palamas has made use of equally imprudent and ^C evil counsel, for he does not perceive that he has entangled himself in matters that far exceed his own strength. I speak, however, of the meaning that is found in the writings of the philosophers, both Christian and Gentile. Then, on account of the insolent applause of unlearned ears, he has begged for certain Greek terms which they used for the exposition of their own dogmas, and he shamelessly mixes them into our own divine dogmas and secretly inserts them. Nor does he notice what perturbation and what a vehement tumult he has stirred up in the Church of God. When, however, he ought eventually to have repented of the sins which he did not realize had been committed by him, he rages against us who endeavor to correct his errors, ^D and is so out of his mind that he almost surpasses everyone in his fury, although he has not yet satisfied his will to rage. He courts the princes, indeed, with obedience and adulation, so that he may acquire strength for himself; but he injures piety. And he wins over the benevolence of princes by courting it, but he expels the grace of God. And [this] he avoids in a marvelous way, where he perceives himself to be inferior to others; but he flees to that where he thinks he surpasses others. For when he is vanquished by the truth, which wishes to bear free judgment, he flees it; but since he possesses a depravity of mind notable for calumniating, he willingly embraces this. For by the judgment of justice and truth, where he has sustained the person of the defendant, he has been condemned many times; where, however, he has played the part of the plaintiff, he has not gained his suit at all.

II. Therefore, I — for I will say what is the case — at first feared that your Palamas, perverting everything, might calumniate me when I wished to make use of those weapons which were opportune and familiar to me, that is, the knowledge of the Gentile [disciplines].

^A sciences, whose use is in disputations. For I judge that from their arts and testimonies a great force of demonstration is supplied to us. Since, however, the man ^B who is destitute of his own weapons attempts to arm himself from these against the truth, we shall arm ourselves with much better reason on behalf of the truth, we who are accustomed to them and have devoted our entire life’s work to this combat. For we shall recognize the affinity and genius of our own tongue better than the bastard Palamas himself, who uses the adulterated testimonies of the profane. And so, both for this single reason and because of the exhortation of our theologians and the Doctors of the Church, it will not grieve us to be armed with these weapons against such wall-breakers and sacrilegious buffoons, who, because of their ignorance, lead others astray into monstrous and insolent opinions and errors. Wherefore, if it seems right to you, once we have first considered a few things here and there that pertain to our undertaking, let us immediately enter upon the proposed contest. For if we have established firm and suitable principles for the matter in controversy, it will be far easier for us to progress further than if we had laid down only weak and feeble ones.

III. First, therefore, I shall make mention of the great and illustrious Dionysius, who asserts that the tradition of the theologians is twofold: one indeed secret and mystical, the other philosophical and demonstrative; and, "The secret," he says, "is connected with the open and declared. The one persuades ^C and binds fast the truth of what is said; the other is effective, and establishes and places us in God by secret instructions, by which we are taught by no one." Furthermore, the great Athanasius, disputing against the Arians regarding the signification of the term "unbegotten" (‹non factus›), says: "Let the Gentiles be questioned, so that when they hear from them how many significations this term 'unbegotten' has, they may understand that they do not even know how to question rightly regarding the things they discuss." That divine man has much more to say thereafter, which any who wish to read it may learn more accurately. For since, at present, having to hasten toward further matters, we have no leisure, it has seemed good to propose here at least a few words from those divine men, as much, that is, as the logic of the undertaken work requires from us; but we leave the rest to those who wish to read them, since a wide opportunity is always given to all to do so. Great Basil also chimes in with them, where he says that the power of dialectical discipline is like a wall, not allowing dogmas to be torn apart or easily stormed by those who wish to do so. ^D Nearly similar things are put forward by the divine Chrysostom, where he speaks thus: "As regards the best ordering of life, another’s life might lead us to the emulation of a similar life. But whenever the soul is diseased regarding dogmas with spurious opinions, there is great need of the word, not only for the safety of one's own people, but also against outside wars. For if one has the sword

^A of the Spirit and such a shield of faith, as to be able to work wonders and, by those wonders performed, to close the mouths of the shameless, he would have no need of the help of the word; nay more, even then its nature would not be useless. » But the admirable Maximus also discoursed on these things. ^B «Without rational faculty,» he says, «there is no scientific knowledge; and without knowledge, faith does not consist, from which the noble offspring, that is, hope, is born. » And in addition to these, the divine John of Damascus says that if we can reap any utility from profane writers, it is by no means forbidden to do so. Let us be proven money-changers, gathering the genuine and pure gold, but rejecting the adulterated. Let us take the most excellent discourses, but let us cast the ridiculous gods and alien fables to the dogs. For we could derive from them much strength against them. ^C And why is there a need to endeavor to enclose with arithmetical measures the laws which almost reject arithmetical measurement themselves? I mean those which we have set forth and mentioned, and others besides, and as many as we have not set forth at all. For if the gathered testimonies do not suffice for these men, why even if one should bring up whole wagon-loads of books, will he prepare anyone to acquire understanding? Or rather, to whom understanding has not sufficed to instill this in his reasoning, that it is an inescapable necessity for those who use the Greek tongue to refer back the imitation to those who invented the elements and syllables of this language, and to refer their own judgments and solutions of disputed questions, just as builders and stone-cutters do to levels and rules—to whom, I ask, would such a person ever be persuaded by anyone else? I think to no one at all. For no one could ever persuade a man ^D who does not follow the discourses of these lights of the Church, not by the words of barbarians, not of Greeks, not of angels, not of humans, neither of the unwise, nor of any of the wise that exist. It is permitted, therefore, to those who examine matters rightly, to those whom no passion like a mist least of all troubles the soul, nor does the slowness of intellect dull the confidence of the judgment, to cast an impartial vote.

IV. And first, indeed, let this question be proposed for current needs: whether it is permitted to dogmatize any difference of essence and operation in the simple and incorporeal nature (I speak, of course, of God); in such a way that the essence is altogether unparticipated by all creatures («For the divine nature,» he says, «if it were participated in and received by itself, would either suffer mixture, or would consume the passible nature before it could be received: for no one, he says, will see the face

of my ^A face, and live (70) »), the operation, they say, alone can be participated in by all creatures; yet, insofar as it is uncreated precisely and formally, it differs in nothing from the substance; but insofar as it acknowledges that substance as its own cause and superior to itself, it differs from it only to that extent, and is divided into many species; namely, into wisdom, power, life, truth, will, sanctification, and six hundred things of this kind; which they shall be able to grasp more clearly who read its divisions, and have created for themselves a full conviction by their own eyes.

V. Since, therefore, your teacher Palamas does not wish to be persuaded by our holy teachers, nor do you, who are compliant to him, who even, as it seems, accuse the holy Fathers of having erred in their ^B own words: come now, let us imitate both the other holy Fathers, as it has been said, and in particular Justin, that divine and most wise man, and great martyr and champion of piety. For among his other books and treatises, we have the one *On Monarchy*, in which he brings forward very many testimonies from the Greek philosophers, poets, and orators, with which they confess that there are not two, nor many, but one God. For he thought it probable that the testimonies of enemies, of course, merit greater faith among most people. By the same reasoning today, we shall ^C bring forward testimonies gathered from the sciences of the profane, according to our promise, having rejected, however, their religion. For science does not pertain to religion; nor ought we to suspect that it will be more harmful to us than the provisions that we bring from barbarians and foreigners. Moreover, we judge that the sayings of the holy Fathers, which we have stored up and intentionally reserved as if for a richly furnished table, ought to be joined to the testimonies of the profane. And we shall show that the profane writers, as if by an equal effect of harmony, bring forward things entirely consonant with the holy Fathers, even ^D as to the meanings of their words: but that your Palamas agrees with neither these nor those, but acts as if someone who is invalid by his nature, and inept for any work whatever through weakness, were to seize the sword of another, which exceeds his own strength; and then, since he cannot [from elsewhere], he sets before himself a raw table from his own flesh, feeding himself ill, and out of these his own labors becoming, in a benevolent and friendly manner, at once the host and the guest to himself, as has now been said, and will even yet be said. For he fell away from those things for which he was contending with so much zeal and effort; but he did not notice that he had been made an open laughingstock by those against whom he was expending so much labor and zeal: which two losses his arrogant high estimation of himself and his own ignorance brought upon him.

VI. Let us therefore first hear Plotinus, as he discourse thus concerning the substance and operation of God: « If

anyone, he says, were to suppose that God wishes to change his own nature, he would neither wish for anything else to come to pass, nor would he blame himself, as though this were by necessity. For the nature of the Good is truly the will of God; because there would be nothing else, by consideration of which God might be said to will. If, therefore, there were some operation in him, and we were to posit him by that operation, he would not on account of this be other than himself, nor would he not be his own master, from whom the operation proceeds; because the operation and he himself are not different things. For since substance and operation were spoken of there as being in some way two, from the operation he gave the concept of Lord; but this was the same as the substance. For this reason, the being Lord did not come to be apart from itself, but it was called its own master. For ^A they are not two as one, but one. For it is either operation only, or it is not operation at all. But if someone says there is a substance without operation, the principle is deficient and imperfect, and it will be the most perfect of all. And if he were to add an operation, he would not preserve, but would diminish [it] by the addition. If, therefore, operation is more perfect than substance, and that which is first is more perfect, then operation would be that which is first. But operation, not being a subservient substance, is purely free. And thus God is from himself, whether you call it substance or operation. For they are not two, but one thing. For how would volition proceed from a substance that lacked act and efficacy? Therefore, operation is nothing else beyond substance. And so, a simple nature and a unique operation, in which it is not one thing to be in potency and another to be in act, how will it not be free? For God would not be said to exist in act by his nature, if his substance were one thing ^B and his operation or act another. »

VII. Aristotle also speaks thus: « That which is of necessity is in act and is eternal and without potentiality, or rather is by its own nature and by itself act or operation, and first substance. » And elsewhere: « Each of the beings, whose work or operation is something, exists for the sake of its own work. But the operation of God is immortality, which is the same as to say eternal life; so that it is necessary that God be eternal motion, or rather operation. » You see the testimonies, brought forward here with easy and ready knowledge. You perceive how in reality they are consonant with those things which our wise teachers and luminaries of the Church discourse concerning God; namely, that in God, substance and act, or operation, are manifestly one thing, and in no way differ from each other; just as we have explained more fully above. Furthermore, when I say our wise teachers, I speak of the saints Athanasius, Basil, Cyril, and Theodore, who ^C drove the iconoclasm from our midst with most sage arguments, as the Athenians of old did with the Cylonian pollution ^D

^A And indeed, when I had the books of those saints in my hands, I brought their sayings plainly before my eyes; but here I have not set them forth, thinking it superfluous to exhibit the same things everywhere in like manner. For it will be easy for those who wish, by retracing a little the interval of this present work of ours, to happen upon them—if I have already spoken of them at length—where both what was said and what was done at that robber-synod of ours is laid out. But, I repeat, time will fail me if I wish to bring forward as many [quotations] and similar ones here.

VIII. Since, however, the holy Fathers assert that the human mind is the image of God, and in many places call God Himself Mind; and furthermore, we have learned that "the One," "the Being," "Mind," and "Will" have a place among the divine names, let us examine what the skilled directors and masters of our language also discuss regarding these things according to the precepts of their art. For these will lead us into the same scientific method of art and knowledge as those [arguments] which we previously set forth concerning substance and operation, and likewise concerning the singularity and unity of that simple substance. ^B Straightway, therefore, Plotinus speaks again thus: "If anyone calls the arrangement of this universe providence, let him understand it so: that before this universe of things there existed Mind, from which and through which this universe was made. If, then, Mind existed before all things, and is the principle of all things, then surely all things will not be fortuitous." And again he says this: "The substance of the mind or intellect is simple, and intellection is not one thing and intellect another. For those who speak otherwise add something to the substance, just as vision is added to the eyes. This addition must therefore be omitted in a simple nature, which is in need of no help from elsewhere. For whatever you add [to it] will diminish by this addition that which is in need of nothing." And when Plotinus had ^C discussed many things regarding this matter in many places, he adds the testimony of Plato, who confirms this opinion with his own calculation, and says that intellection is intellect or mind. "For a mind," he says, "without intellection would be mindless." Likewise Aristotle: "Perfect mind," he says, "is also of itself and by its own nature an act or operation, and in it substance and act are the same. Nor does it suffer any change, since its substance is not one thing and its operation another." And these things, indeed, those profane writers said.

IX. Let us see, moreover, how much the wise and holy doctors of the Church harmonize with them: "God," says holy Maximus, "is neither properly called thinking, nor the object thought, lest He be considered composite ^D (74). For the thinking faculty has the power of thinking as something viewed in conjunction with it, and so it is not composite."

Likewise, an understood object has the power or capacity to be understood. But intellect itself is not God; for intellect by its nature has an underlying substance capable of that very act of intellection. It remains, therefore, that God is above all things: unless by chance we say that He is intellection by essence, that He is altogether intellection, that He is only intellection, and intellection above intellection. And elsewhere: «Essential goodness, superior to all goodness, since it is mind and total operation, turned back toward itself, is ^A in act and not in potency; as if there were first a state of potentiality, and then mind should become actual. Whence mind is purely and simply so, and has no adventitious wisdom; but it understands all things from itself. For if its substance were one thing, and the things which it understands were different from it, the mind itself, or its substance, would not be intelligible.»

X. And these things indeed have been said by us up to this point, extemporaneously and without much premeditation. But when I have obtained some leisure, in accordance with the judgment of the wise and divine teachers of the Church, I shall expound these and similar matters more fully. Nevertheless, from what has been said above, one may notice in what ^B point the most wise men, both among the doctors of the Church and among the pagan philosophers, principally agree. Naturally, with unanimous consent, they all testify that in a simple and divine substance, substance and operation are the same. Since, therefore, we have sufficiently demonstrated that the substance is indivisible and indistinct from the operation in the divine and in every way simple nature, so that no one can doubt or contradict this matter, let us proceed, starting from singularity, unity, and goodness, to demonstrate again by the same reasoning the identity of substance and operation: «All beings,» he says, «are beings through unity, both those that exist primarily and those that are ^C said to exist in any way in what is existent. For what would there be, if there were not a one? Since, once unity is removed, those things would no longer exist. For neither an army nor a chorus would exist unless there were unity. Nay more, the bodies of plants and animals, if they should escape unity and be broken into a multitude, would lose the substance which they had, and they would not be what they were before. Whoever thinks that this universe of things is governed fortuitously and rashly and is contained by corporeal causes, he is very far removed from God and from the idea of unity. Since it is fitting for something to be ^D most sufficient to itself by itself, it is necessary that this be the One. Of this, truly, there is no place. For it is not in need of a position, as if it could not support itself; just as an inanimate object, which must be placed in a definite seat; and a mass which would fall, if it were not placed in a firm seat. For it is in need of the place which it seeks. But the Principle does not need the things which are after it. Does the Principle of all things need nothing at all? For whatever is in

need, is in need thus, in so far as it seeks to be no longer a single thing; and thus it will be in need of that which is going to corrupt it. Therefore, to unity, nothing is a good. Consequently, there is no will for any thing in it; but it is placed above all goodness, nor is it good to itself, but to others, if indeed anything can be a participant of it. Furthermore, there is no intellection, lest diversity occur in it; nor motion, since it is before motion and intellection, otherwise it would be in need of intellection so as to know itself, [it] who is sufficient to itself. For intellection does not understand, but is the cause why another understands. But a cause is not the same thing as its effect, and the universal cause of all things is none of those things of which it is the cause. Therefore, that which provides good to others is not to be called good: but it must be called by another name, namely, the Good beyond other goods. ^B

XI. The Platonist Proclus discourses on the One and the Good in the same way, and he who reads his Theological Institutions will manifesty perceive the consensus with what has been said before. For my headaches do not permit me to linger on these points any longer. But as for what Plato himself thought on this matter, he who has unrolled his writings will learn from this same Proclus. For he uses the words of Plato for the most part. Yet many of those things which Proclus wrote must be demonstrated, at least in part. Thus, furthermore, he has: "Whatever becomes one, becomes one through participation in the One. For it is not one in itself; but in so far as it becomes a participant of the One, it is one. For if those things which are not of themselves one become one, they become one in so far as they come together with one another and come into mutual communion, and also receive the presence of unity; although they are not that very thing which is one. Therefore, they participate in unity in so far as they become [one] through a quality that is accidental and adventitious to them. For if they were already one before, they would not become one. For that which is, does not become the very thing which it already is. But if they become one, by the fact that they were not one before, they will have unity, in so far as some one thing is newly present in them."

CAPUT II.

I. When I had said these things, I thought I had fulfilled the duty of speaking in abundance. For I did not think that there was need of many and more evident testimonies, so that that one singular and divine simplicity might be shown, as well as all other things whatsoever that are demonstrated concerning God from the tenets of the ancient philosophers, who call Him the Good above all goodness, Place above all place, Intellect above all intellect, motion above all motion. In which matter they agree ^C with the Holy Fathers, inasmuch as those men fashioned their discourses to the one and same rule of artificial doctrine and science, which God has bestowed in common upon all who use the same tongue.

II. But they did not depart from me, but demanded that I should place before their eyes testimonies drawn from the books of the Holy Fathers, which might seem to be consonant with the tenets of the philosophers. For neither the Holy Fathers nor the pagan philosophers

^A had hitherto read these books (whatever the subject on which they were written) more diligently than we had, when we were in conversation with those skilled in the matters under dispute; yet the labor for us would have been lighter. But those things which they had heard with the outermost ears from their master Palamas, they approved without any difficulty, and they had faith in them, exchanging their sluggish and idle disbelief for faith, importunate on account of their own disposition, or rather on account of the exceeding malice of their minds, the ignorant receiving impiety from the ignorant. Therefore, it was immediately in my mind to bring forward these words of Dionysius the Areopagite: ^B “The true Being is one, and beautiful, and good, and wise, for which all who participate in the divine unity are held by desire. Moreover, this Being, although one and the same, they do not participate in in a single way, but as the divine balance distributes to each according to the ability of each.” And again: “Just as unity is something before all numbers, and is the cause of every number, and yet is not itself a number, but the principle of numbers,” and so on; “so also God is said to be something one, not only in that He is alone and altogether separated from all beings, and in that He is simple, devoid of parts, ^C indivisible, and impassible; but also in that He exists before all beings and is the cause of all things (for there is one cause of all beings, one uniquely or specially and eximiously: He exists before all, and all things exist from Him and after Him), and likewise in that He is participated in by all beings, according to the ability of each. For whatever does not participate in God at all, does not exist at all. And all beings exist, in that the One exists. Also, the one cause of all things is not some one thing from among all things, but is above every one, and is ^D the principle, as the productive cause, and as the end, of all unity and of all multitude. And just as unity is before every multiplied number, so the one Being, namely the divine, has anticipated even all contraries in itself uniformly and inconfusedly.” And again the same Dionysius has it: “In God, the beautiful and the good are the same. For all things desire the beautiful and the good. But the beautiful and beauty are not to be separated in that Cause which comprehends all things in one. For these we divide in all created things into participations and participating beings; and thus we call that beautiful, which

is a participant of beauty; but we call that the cause of all beautiful things, which bestows participation. God, however, is said to be these things, insofar as He is the cause of them. For from God and in God exist Being itself, the principles of all beings, all beings, and those things which appear contrary to one another; and this without any proportion, exceptionally, comprehensively, and ^A singularly. For in unity every number uniformly pre-exists; and unity, as the cause of every number, singularly contains within itself every number. And every number is united in unity; but in proportion as it proceeds from unity, in that same proportion it is divided and multiplied; just as all the circular lines exist together in the center in a unified manner, and the center possesses all straight lines in a singular form. But even in the whole nature of the universe, all the forms of each individual nature are gathered together in one unconfused union; and in the soul, the powers that provide for the whole body ^B exist in an intellectual manner. It is not, therefore, absurd—ascending from obscure images to the universal cause of all things—to behold all things uniformly and unitively in the Cause of all things with super-cosmic eyes. If indeed our sun, which is one, by shedding a uniform light, vivifies and nourishes the many and diverse substances and qualities of sensible things, it must be granted by a much stronger reason that in the Cause of the sun itself and of all beings, through a single supersubstantial union, the paradigms of all things pre-existed: just as a voice, though it be one and the same, is participated in by many ears as one. ^C

III. But since here the opportunity has presented itself for me to discourse upon place, inasmuch as it continuously and uniformly embraces whatever things are within it, even those which appear to be contrary to one another, it is necessary that I also fulfill the harmony of the divine teachers of the Church in this matter, and pay back as if it were a necessary debt. God, since He is immaterial and uncircumscribed, is not in a place. For He is His own place, He who fills all things and is above all things, yet He himself contains all things. It must be known, moreover, that the Divinity is devoid of parts; that it is wholly and totally everywhere; not that a part of it is in a part, as if divided corporally, but that it is ^D totally in all things, and totally above all things. However, an angel is not contained in a place corporally, so as to be conformed to bodily figures; yet it is said to be in a place, because it is present in place in a certain spiritual and intelligible manner, and there operates according to its own nature, and is not elsewhere.

IV. But I, though I could connect here many testimonies from many holy Fathers, have decided that the words of Dionysius the Areopagite alone suffice for me, for the reason that they would abundantly satisfy learned men. For I have no regard at all for unlearned men. For to them all reasoning is a delirium, and all the doctrine by which we are instructed [index: entries preserved]

^A in the harmony of the mind, and not even a little less, I might add, all piety and the well-ordered canons of the Church. However, I have already discussed at full length, for the sake of those others, the topics of will, power, life, wisdom, and other such things. To set them forth here for you seems to me both burdensome and troublesome, and not at all necessary from any other source. For the necessity that arises in these matters demands hostile and warlike occasions, when, so to speak, the dust of battle is stirred up in the midst, and the very hot fervor of the soul possesses an indomitable impetus from within, because the situation has been brought to the highest and most imminent danger. But when that sharper heat of contention has cooled, and the coat of mail together with those arms has been cast aside, then the intense zeal for battle turns to the contrary, because the very stimulus for it has been extinguished, and the warlike impetus, as soon as the arms are cast aside, gradually passes into forgetfulness. And so, not undeservedly, you will grant this indulgence if, after that storm, I apply myself to narrating these things to you with a somewhat more relaxed mind. For you will be able to understand, even from what has been said, the unanimous opinion of wise men, both Christians and Gentiles; namely, by what reasoning they hold the same thoughts and make the same pronouncements concerning the divine simplicity, it being very difficult, nay, most impossible, for one to conceive of any composition or difference, other than of names alone, between substance and will, power, life, wisdom, and, to sum it up, every ^B operation. For just as God gives equally to the pious and the impious, to Greeks and to Barbarians, and, to include all nations in one word, to all peoples, the heaven and the earth, the air and the rain, the sun and the moon, and all necessary things; so too does He provide the rules of the necessary arts equally to all, both to those of the same race and to those of a different one. For the carpenter’s rule and level is not one thing among the Greeks and another among the Scythians; nor is it different among the Medes and likewise the Persians. Nor is there any difference in farming or hunting and other such things. But though they differ in religion, they are in agreement in the arts. You may see the same thing in the science which deals with words and diction. For whoever use the same dialect must necessarily use the knowledge and art of the first of those who were preeminent among their own people and the authors of their native language—I mean the Phoenicians, the Persians, and the Assyrians. And, to pass over the others, as many as use the Greek tongue must necessarily use the method and art of those who were the originators of its discovery, as a kind of standard, unless one should wish to commit more solecisms than speak words. And when this notion, ^C occurring to Julian the impious apostate, persuaded him to stand in the way of the pious, he forbade them to be steeped in Greek letters. I would only wish to note this one thing here, that the selection of profane letters should be made correctly, according to the harmonious and most pious concord of the holy Fathers: otherwise, even now, everyone might easily...

^A be led astray, both from the invisible and from the demonstrated uncreated second divinity, according to your view; of which you say the one is in no way participable by all, but the other is participable; so that we are forced again to refute the absurdity of these positions.

^B V. And first, let us initiate this discussion concerning participation and bring it into the middle. Let us consider how your Palamas makes a selection from the writings, both of the holy Fathers and from those outside. For as he says, "many are called, but few are chosen," so too, while many make a selection of writers, few do so safely. For he has taken certain things from pagan writers, partly having said things similar to our holy Fathers (some of which, to be compared with the holy Fathers, we bring forward), but partly things dissimilar and contrary; from which Palamas and his flock have chosen what favored their own opinion, by a kind of fate, after the manner of dung-beetles, which are by nature so constituted that they turn away from whatever smells sweet, but gladly embrace whatever breathes a heavy and foul odor.

^C VI. And so, the Platonist Proclus in his theological institutions has it thus: "Everything that participates is less noble than that which is participated; and that which is participated is less noble than that which cannot be participated. For that which participates, since it is imperfect before participation, and becomes perfect by its participation, is certainly posterior to that which is participated, insofar as it is perfect after it has participated. For inasmuch as it was imperfect, it is by so much less noble than that which is participated, and which makes it itself perfect. But that which is participated by some, not by all, has obtained a substance inferior to that which is participated by all, and not by some only. For this approaches more, and that less, to the nature of the most universal cause of all things. Therefore, that which cannot be participated excels those things which are participated, and in turn, those which are participated are more excellent than those which participate. For, to embrace all things in one word, that which cannot be participated is one before many; but that which is participated is one in many, at once both one and not one; finally, whatever participates is not one, at once both one and not one." I beseech you by God, consider in this place how, although this pagan Proclus handed down many dogmas about God, ^D most of which are free and pure from every vice of error, Palamas has embraced the most vicious of those dogmas; which indeed would give the pagan writer himself room for repentance, if he were present to see this absurdity of yours being propagated.

^A For he said the One is the principle of all things and is participated in by the multitude, that is, by all things. For how could it be above all things and the cause of all beings, if it possessed the property of being unrelated and unparticipated with regard to them? For how should all things not participate in that which fills all things and exists in all things? But it seems he was afraid lest the Divine, like bodies, should be divided by those that undergo it. For he had not yet learned that God, being simple, is everywhere totally, and nowhere [(87)]; and is participated in indeed by all, but is unparticipated [(88)]; and is divided indeed, but indivisibly; according to the image of our own soul, which is also, in a way, a simple substance. For indeed, even it, existing everywhere in the body totally and as a whole, is participated in indeed by each of the parts of the body, but is unparticipated. For no part of the soul is naturally disposed to become, in any way, ^B any one of these parts, except that each of the parts of the body, as it has its nature and position, is energized by the soul that simultaneously moves and makes it live; so that if there were a configuration of a mouth in the neck or in the hand, the hand and the neck would be talkative, I suppose. If this is so, then with much greater reason would God be participated in by all, who is present everywhere and fills all things. For in each of all things He exists as a whole; and as a whole He remains by Himself and in all things and before all things; and the same One is both totally participable and totally unparticipable.

VII.

^A He has defined them as unoriginate and uncreated, having made this addition with great authority. Thus, this noble man becomes a supplier of things that neither are nor will be, attributing to them unoriginateness and uncreatedness, and scattering these gifts with a lavish hand to creatures, pouring some out like water, and scattering others like sand. And one would marvel how he who neither has, nor will have, knowledge—as if spontaneously generating the production of things that neither are nor will be—he accumulates some treasures like sand, pilfering the divine images insolently, and others he gathers without labor at the command of the imperial tripod, where he neither sowed nor scattered. But shamelessness ^B is unlearned, and it usually loves to force the deficiency of nature to be sustained by audacity, just as those who are lame sometimes sustain the deficiency of their foot with a wooden one. But let our discourse concerning the uncreated be reserved for another table; let us hear what the Saints say regarding the unparticipable.

VIII. Therefore, Dionysius the Areopagite discourses on these things: "God is participable according to his communications; but he is unparticipable in that nothing participates in his essence, or his life, or his wisdom, or anything of this sort, all of which God possesses eminently and exceptionally." And again: "The true being is one, beautiful, good, and wise, whose desire is held by all who participate in the divine humanity." Moreover, this being, although one and the same, they do not participate in by a single mode: but as to each one, according to the ability of each, the divine scale distributes; just as we said that all the lines of a circle are contained uniformly by the center. ^C Here, however, it is worth noting how the great Dionysius with so few words dissolves, like a spider’s web, the entire perverse and wicked mind of Palamas. For Palamas, dividing from the divine essence wisdom, power, goodness, life, and whatever he calls operations and uncreated deities, defines the essence as being in no way participable; but he establishes those others as properly and specially participable, and he affirms that each of them in its own proper and special nature is of such power that it can make men themselves uncreated gods and without origin. Dionysius, most skilled in divine things, joining the operations of God with his essence, asserts that they can no more be participated in than the essence itself; and again, ^D that the same are participated in equally with the essence. Therefore, there is a necessity of one of two things: either this madman does not accept Dionysius, remaining ignorant of his wise thought, or the wretch is guilty of both, and is subject to the Palamite error.

^A Since he neither understands nor accepts, he does not blush to slander others, transferring his own scurrilities onto those who are completely and firmly attached to [Dionysius's] words. For the madman has become shameless; his face has become that of a harlot and an adulteress, who, as Solomon says, when she has done evil, washes herself and says that she has done nothing wrong.

IX. “But,” says Palamas, “as long as I live and breathe this air, I could never admit that the divine essence is at all participated in. For the divine nature, if it is shared in, would immediately consume the nature that wished to share in it, before it could ever partake. For no one shall see my face and live, says Holy Scripture.” ^B Oh, the simplicity! Oh, the serious and decorous fables—or rather, the fables of scurrility! And we were unaware that Palamas was stuffed with trifles and Grecian myths—and not even wise ones at that, but such as old women tell by the workshops in the heat. For the wretch transferred his own narrow-mindedness regarding communion and the visitation of divine light to the false and mythical stories of Zeus and Semele ^C—an event which, since the mortal woman was unable to bear the radiance of the heavenly Zeus or the visitation of ethereal thunderbolts, resulted in the wretch being consumed. Thus, Palamas, out of ignorance, misunderstood and distorted the noble thoughts and words of the holy Fathers in such a lowly and base manner, contaminating the divine dogmas of the Church, just as if the knowledge of them were pushing away the wickedness of his own spirit; just as fragrant and blooming roses reject the hand of one who makes them wither before their time. Such is the man whom the venerable shepherds of the present Church have set before themselves as a new teacher of divine dogmas—a blind man leading the blind. ^D That he does not employ a simple line of reasoning in this, but that his intention is quick and highly zealous, and that he acts always like vultures and dung beetles—passing over what is wholesome and fragrant, and clinging to words and thoughts that are diseased and reek of long-standing stench, all the while not at all being ashamed to distort the majority of things (this truly being the characteristic of vultures and dung beetles)—is clear from what follows. For Plato, in the Timaeus, choosing to philosophize about God, places the transcendent God first, locked within His own powers and

are attached to the gods of the demons worshipped among the Greeks, ^A nor is he ashamed to pervert that which exists; in which matter he far surpasses the vultures and the beetles themselves: of which saying an evident proof is now available to us. For when Plato, in the Timaeus, wished to discourse on divine things, he posited a first and supreme God, and commanded the inferior powers and deities of the demons whom the pagans worship, to create all beings according to the species of each, and to fill with all creatures both heaven and earth, and whatever is mixed and exists between them. These are Plato’s words: "O gods, offspring of gods, of whom I am the creator and father of the works which have been made by me, turn yourselves according to the laws of nature to the creation of animals, and imitate the power which I exerted in procreating you: effect and generate animals; and by giving them nourishment, feed and increase them: and when they have been consumed and corrupted, receive them again."

B 1. You see whose disciple Palamas has become, and what dogmas he has embraced, and from whence he has drawn that turbulent slime of his, which he has spewed out against the Church of God, while he says that as many as are the beings according to their species, so many are the inferior and uncreated divinities, which, like Platonical ideas, are co-eternal with the creator God and equally lacking a beginning; yet they have a nature different from Him, and some are the effective causes of others, both of things uncreated and created (which Palamas, after his own custom, has added to the dogmas of Plato), so that, for example, life is the effective cause of life, wisdom of wisdom, power of power, and so for the rest. For what did not even come into Plato’s mind to add himself, this Palamas discovered by his own ingenuity, namely that multitude of uncreated deities. Thus, to hold the first place in wickedness, he considers a great honor to himself; so that of all the wicked, he may most evidently be the most wicked. ^C For not one of the Greeks has ever dared to devise a second uncreated power, besides that one alone which created all things. Although I could produce many as witnesses to this matter, I refrain from enumerating them here, for the sake of brevity. I shall, however, praise Plutarch of Chaeronea. He wrote the Life of Numa Pompilius, who established the best laws for the ancient Romans, just as Lycurgus did for the Spartans, Zaleucus for the Epizephyrian Locrians, and Charondas the Catanaean for the Sicilians. Furthermore, when Plutarch relates that the republic of that age was established by Numa Pompilius with laws that were the most equitable and the best from every quarter, he then reports these things regarding him: ^D "The laws of this man regarding statues are altogether in agreement with the tenets of Pythagoras. For that Pythagoras did not consider the divine to be sensible or passible, but believed the first principle of all things to be invisible, uncreated, and intelligible." This man forbade the Romans to imagine the image of God as man-like or animal-like, as it is not fitting to liken the better to the worse, nor to touch

^A His deity in any other way, or by thought. You have heard of three wondrous men at the same time from an alien religion, how much reverence they assign to the one and only uncreated God, and how they declare nothing at all to be uncreated without Him—I mean Pythagoras, and Numa Pompilius, and thirdly him who praised such doctrines of theirs, Plutarch of Chaeronea. But Palamas, having established himself as without beginning and without a king, and without a legislator, ^B brought forth power into that which is under the heavens, that all things—the heavenly, the earth-trodden, and the water-dwelling families—should be uncreated. O the insensibility of those who follow!

XI. You have recognized from everywhere and in manifold ways how he decides to follow neither the dogmas of the holy Fathers, nor even the sane opinions of the Greeks—with which many of our holy Fathers have agreed—but rather to follow the utterly corrupted and pernicious opinions of the pagans. And truly it is a marvel how, in that realm, with greedy eyes he feeds upon the diseased and rotting things, like the vultures, while toward the writings of our holy Fathers he has become blinded, neither wishing nor being able to look upon them rightly. ^C And it seems to me that he suffers the thing of that mythical Lamia, who they say, while at home, lives in blindness, possessing no eyes; but when she departs from the house, she suddenly acquires eyes in such a way that she sees all the affairs of others accurately. If, therefore, someone would come forward and tell me, how—hearing the saints saying expressively and in many places that the operation in God does not exist as distinct from the essence, and especially hearing the divine Dionysius, who passed through other matters concerning such [P. 696] things, as he has spoken, and saying that the Good is not one thing, and the Being another, and the Life, or the Wisdom another, ^D nor yet the supra-celestial—how then?

[alt-version omitted]

^A And yet, being deaf and blind to all these things, he [Palamas] has clung gladly to those who are contrary, and above all to the impious Eunomius, who used to say that one should not yield to the opinions of others by believing that the energy in God is one with the essence, but rather that it is entirely different and, at the same time, non-essential and non-existent. Against these, the divine Gregory of Nyssa (3) resists, saying, "What, then, he says, would one describe the energy to be—as something that is neither essence, nor character, nor hypostasis? Therefore, he speaks of it as an image of a non-existent thing (4). But that which is similar to a non-existent thing, absolutely and in every way is not. This is the monstrosity of common dogmas, to believe in that which is not. For that which is similar to a non-being is absolutely not." Who, therefore, could provide a more effective refutation of this new and impious Eunomius, who compels so great a Church to believe, at one moment in that which is not, ^B and at another into polytheism, by the addition of his customary ambition, so that his master might here be surpassed in wickedness?

XII

excursions of those speeches, the sudden shifts of that battle, and the face-to-face encounters with the objections; and how, like rabid dogs in the wilderness, having encircled me while I was alone, they pressed upon me from the same side: one was hastening to drive the sword of impiety into my breast, while the other was most insidiously tearing and mangling the fringes of the garment I wore on my back; and how both of them, with their tongues, were dragging my whole mind in different directions toward themselves. To speak in a word, it was my intention to enumerate one by one those frequent and successive sweats which the eye of God alone, who sees all hidden things, beheld without passion; but my headaches did not permit me to continue the narrative. ^B Therefore, wanting to be excused for this very reason, and furthermore for the sake of that ancient friendship which existed between me and Cabasilas, I was not at all willing to parade publicly whatever blasphemies he had uttered against the ancestral and ancient institutions and dogmas of the Church out of ignorance (for I would never say out of malice), yet my friends strongly opposed me, so that I would not interrupt the narrative I had begun. Hence, when it was given to me to catch my breath a little, I immediately recovered myself; and then I recalled my speech to the first traces of the narrative, omitting for the meantime whatever minutiae we published the previous year ^C more subtly and more in accordance with the common rules of disputation in our Antirrhetics, or rather, those things which more accurately proscribe the wickedness of Palamas.

II. First, therefore, I took up and set forth those Palamite dogmas which Cabasilas had at that time brought forward for his own defense, so that, like archers aiming at a mark, we might also shoot safely. Now his words and thoughts here are, without any alteration, entirely as follows. The prophet, explaining and distinguishing what this Spirit of God is, says: "A spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and fortitude, a spirit of knowledge and piety, a spirit of the fear of God" (Isa. xi, 1); so that all these things are the Spirit of God. You may see, moreover, how even Gregory, who made for himself a great name ^D on account of his theology, declares that these seven spirits are the Holy Spirit himself, as in his discourse on...

the holy Pentecost he indicates to us in these words: "This holy Spirit was preached," etc. And a little later: "And certainly, in the Gospel according to Luke, the Lord calls one of the operations of the holy Spirit the 'finger of God,' whereas in the Gospel according to Matthew he calls it the 'Spirit of God.' By what spirit, moreover, did the Lord say that he cast out demons, if not by the holy Spirit? Therefore, among the gratuitous graces which God distributes in various ways, one is the holy Spirit. But if it is said of one, it will be able to be said of the others as well." ^B And again: "These," he says, "are sufficient to persuade that the grace and operation of the holy Spirit, which is accepted and given to those to whom God wills to grant it (for this is the holy Spirit), is neither created nor is it the substance of the holy Spirit. For God to no one grants his own substance." And after a few words: "Therefore, he who asserts that the radiance of the divine nature, of which angels serving God become partakers, and through whom the righteous will shine like the sun, is neither a divine nor an angelic substance, he by no means establishes a certain light between God and the angels that is neither God nor an angel. But the great Dionysius denies that the eternal participations, principles, and the reasons and predefinitions of all things which are in God, and which angels and men alike partake of, are either divine or angelic substance. But when he mentions this radiance, he sets forth 'radiances' in the plural number, and shows that they are not a divine substance. For this is never expressed in the plural number. But because he calls these same divine radiances destitute of beginning and end, he demonstrated that they are uncreated." ^C And again: "What then? Do you fear that composition might be introduced into God if divine operations are and are called uncreated? Much rather fear lest you make God a creature, while you have judged his natural operations to be created. What then? Are not the hypostases of the supreme Trinity many and uncreated? How then are there not many gods, or how is God not on that account a composite one? Do you assert that those hypostases are also one and the same as the substance of God and a thing altogether indistinct from it, as you also assert of the operation?" And again: "No argument will ever persuade us to place the operations of the divine Spirit, which the prophet summarily called 'seven,' among created things. Moreover, one of the divine and natural operations of God is judgment itself, as Abraham says: 'You who judge all the earth, will you not do justice?' Is then the judgment of God of the number of created things? ^D Therefore, will God also bring his own judgment into judgment?" And again: "How is the grace not uncreated, by which also those who have partaken [P. 699] of it are uncreated and without beginning and without end and eternal and heavenly according to it through the

^A number of the Fathers? And again: "But since God has many and diverse hypostases and powers and energies, if there were not one principle in them, there would be many and diverse principles of the Godhead." And a little later: "The Son and the Spirit proceed from the Father, but the powers and energies proceed from the one tri-hypostatic nature. For indeed substance does not proceed from wisdom, but wisdom from substance." And again: "But how is that which is said to be 'prepared from the foundation of the world' created, not having been created?" And again: "What envious demon has dared to introduce into the Church of God the dogma that the substance of God, dwelling in creatures, cleanses those who are being cleansed and sanctifies those who are being sanctified?" And beyond these, concerning the divine participation [(11, 14)] and divine Baptism, as much as we have explained elsewhere above.

III. ^B But we have here set forth in summary, just as they were and without any alteration, the most significant of the absurdities which those two men, having culled them from only two of Palamas's books, happened to bring forward against us in their counter-argument at that time. For to hear and to go through all of them one by one is a most laborious task; and I do not think that it is far from being considered a wicked thing, and one that brings a certain vertigo to ears nurtured in piety, which are not accustomed to hear anything alien to the traditional and ancient dogmas. Furthermore (as those who possess the sound judgment requisite for this will easily perceive from the aforesaid), if a small portion of two of Palamas’s books, ^C brought forward casually by his own adherents, contains so many absurdities, how many and what sort of things would one reckon to be contained in the rest of his books, which he wrote in excess of sixty (12)? For since in the

Various Notes.

(10) Palamas alludes to Matt. xxv: *Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world*. CAPPERONN.

(11) The Greeks call the sacred Eucharist... the participation of the blood, and the impartation of the Lord’s body. Whence in the images that are accustomed to be painted in the apses of the sacred altar, Christ is depicted sitting at the sacred table, his hands crossed in the shape of a cross: with his right hand, to which the word *participation* is inscribed, he offers the chalice; with his left, where another word is read, he offers the sacred bread. Hence in the liturgy inscribed with the name of Chrysostom, *Lord, impart to me the honorable and holy body of the Lord*. And afterward, at the participation [of the sacred blood] he wipes the holy chalice with a veil. Participation is taken into account also concerning the perception of the *antidoron*, or blessed bread. *Eucholog.*, lib. 5, cap. 8: *In the participation of the divine bread, which they call antidoron*. PERCEPTION OF THE BREAD WHICH THEY CALL ANTIDORON, that is, a supplement of the Eucharist; finally, concerning the participation of blessed water, *Eucholog.* Allatian. *Since all partook of the blessed water and were sanctified.* CAPPERONN.

(12) Palamas wrote many more than sixty. There exist in one Royal codex (this is codex 2404) ^D homilies and various other works of his, more than seventy. There exist also in other codices not a few others. Gregoras in this place seems to speak only of those orations of Palamas which were written about the disputed matters. The Royal codex 2409 contains many of them. In them are: I. Ten continuous books against Acindynus; all of which, except for three, are inscribed. II. Two apologetic books: the first concerning divine energies and the participation in them; the second concerning the divine and deifying participation, or concerning the divine and surpassing simplicity. III. A solitary book, that Barlaam and Acindynus are those who truly and impiously divide the one Godhead into two unequal ones.

^A If this man be indeed so abundantly rich in these matters, and has so far transcended the rules of art, he can vomit forth entire legions of little books, which flow from him of their own accord. Yet, for those who nurture a sincere and incorrupt conscience, these things are sufficient to demonstrate:

IV. First, how he teaches that the Holy Spirit is not one, nor even seven, but posits that there are more than seventy times seven spirits, of which the Holy Spirit is one. Second, by what reasoning he, without any horror, slanders the great theologian Gregory, and at the same time the divine evangelists Luke and Matthew, as if they called not the Holy Spirit the finger of God, but something else ^B distinct from the divine substance, and one operation among the infinite and diverse operations which Palamas introduces. Third, how he posits between God and the angels a new and peculiar genus of uncreated operations, which he names the splendor of God and ineffable light. In this matter he slanders the great Dionysius, whom he brings forward as agreeing with himself, at least insofar as he asserts this genus to be uncreated. Fourth, how he teaches that it is easy and, if I may so speak, plain for any man whatsoever, if he but wishes, to suddenly become uncreated and without beginning; since from abundant and secret fountains, a stream of such great munificence flows forth without any noise. Fifth, that he decrees that which is prepared to be also uncreated; so that it necessarily follows from this that the fire which God prepared for the devil is also uncreated. Sixth, how he asserts not only that these uncreated operations are many and distinct from the divine substance, but also decrees that the three hypostases of the divine nature are many and distinct from the divine substance; and in a somewhat muddled and disturbed discourse, he calls those many and infinite operations hypostases, ^C and conversely calls those very hypostases, which until this day it has been permitted for all orthodox believers to hear of and worship as three and only three according to the ancestral and ancient doctrine, many. Seventh, how these Palamites have spoken impious and unspeakable things concerning the holy participation of the Eucharist and divine baptism.

V. These things shall be recounted by us, one by one, if not all,

Notes on various matters

First, the words of Palamas are proposed in the little work; then those things which Acindynus objected against him; then finally those things which Palamas replied in turn. VI. Various dogmatic, apologetic, and antithetical epistles, or rather Orations, to various persons. The same codex also contains a Selection of testimonies excerpted from the Holy Scriptures and from the books of the Fathers, and distributed into sixteen chapters or hypotheses; also a Narrative of the disputation held in the Palace before the Emperor between Palamas and Gregoras; as also an iambic poem against Acindynus. All of which Palamas himself, or some prominent Palamite, labored upon. In codex 2404 there are two homilies concerning the matter in controversy, namely concerning the Taboric light, which Palamas posits as both uncreated and distinct from the divine substance. In codex 2452, there are attributed to Gregory Palamas, as author, CL chapters—physical, theological, moral, and practical—against the Barlaamite errors; also Interrogations and responses, for those who strive to perceive their own mind within their heart, whether they act rightly. See the *Historia Litteraria* of Guil. Cave, part II, p. 507 and 508. I omit those which are scattered and can be found disjected in other royal codices. Three volumes of the Works of Gregory Palamas are preserved in the Seguierian library. But access to that library is not available.

^A A few, at least, are set forth; to which, appending fitting refutations, I do not recount how many and what manner of arguments we opposed to them at that time, when we made, as it were, a hundred of the many oracles of the sacred Scriptures, having also enumerated all that the choir of the holy doctors of the Church once sang: but I only set forth whatever came to my mind at the time, easily and in the tongue of the speaker. And this is not because we are in need of opposing arguments (for I believe that not even those on the opposing side would ever dare to claim that), for how could that be? Since we have a vast supply of arguments at our disposal, as much as the books of the holy Fathers abundantly provide for me. For while it is the case for some others, when they descend into the arena of dispute, that they must sometimes draw difficulties from difficulties, because they can in no wise find what is primary and suitable to bring forward; I, on the contrary, am cast by a new and unexpected state of affairs from a great difficulty into a great difficulty by the multitude of weapons ^B—spears, bows, and missiles, so to speak—of every kind, which I have for the defense against the enemies of the truth. For one might perhaps say that I am now in a state of perplexity, not as to which resources I might have available for the preparation of my speech; but rather, considering how many and which ones of the holy and auxiliary scriptures I should omit, taking only a very small part—which is sufficient to demonstrate the weakness of the enemies—so that I might finish the whole dispute upon which I have entered in a short time.

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS BYZANTINE HISTORY BOOK TWENTY-FOURTH.

CHAPTER FIRST.

^A their soul having been kindled—have now ceased to be. Moreover, since we have already touched upon most of these matters above, quite sufficiently, as it seems to me, it appears superfluous and redundant to me—and not far removed from being useless—to harp on the same words and weary the ears of others. For not even as they then poured forth many blind and barren things, which all rush headlong into the same follies, does there need to be any such alliance for me in this struggle. But just as at the time of that contest ^B I, in a few words, pushed those men into their own precipice and so finished with it, so now, for a much stronger reason, since the heat of the dispute has cooled, it will be permitted to me to bring forward fewer things than the necessity of that time required; and no one at all will be able to say with justice that I was not sufficiently ready in eager zeal and will, although I have convinced those who read these things to perceive them clearly in the very facts. And certainly it would be very foolish to repeat in the same manner what has already been said by us and is available for anyone to see. For as much as it is necessary for those adversaries of ours to incessantly change their statements because of the weakness of what they present, ^C so much do we find it necessary, because of the firmness and strength of our own statements, to pass over the rest in silence; in much the same way that those who do what they do in the light and openly under the shining sun have no need of witnesses, since the things themselves, so to speak, of their own accord bear witness to the truth; whereas those who cast the foundations of their study headlong in darkness and the gloom of deep night cannot rightly perceive either where it begins or where the support of their undertaking, upon which it rests, ends.

II. And first of all we must discourse regarding the seven spirits ^D upon which the prophet affirmed that our Lord and Savior Christ would rest; since that best of our friends, Cabasilas, had first countered us with this as a sort of strong bulwark for his argument. Palamas and his followers have dogmatically decreed that all these seven spirits are entirely uncreated and holy. We could, therefore, immediately—without needing any other thing to persuade our hearers—if at the very first onset we brought forward these words of our Savior which He spoke to the apostles: "Go, he says, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."* For He did not permit the use of the plural number for "spirit" here; otherwise, how would the Trinity of persons be preserved in the divine nature, if the Spirit were not one, but many? But because it has long prevailed that the Laconians for the most part claim the highest brevity as if it were their own proper right, while those who are more learned require more testimonies in this place by which the adversaries may be more accurately refuted; come, let us also return to what our friends desire, forgetting all else. Maximus, therefore, the divine

* Matt. xxviii, 19, 20.

^A treats these seven spirits, or (which is the same) these virtues: "And there shall rest," he says, "upon him, Christ, seven spirits: the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of cognition, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of the fear of God." These are the properties of these spiritual gifts: The property of fear is abstinence from evils. Of strength, the operation of good things. Of counsel, the discernment of opposing things. Of knowledge, the unadulterated awareness of what is fitting. Of cognition, the comprehensive grasp of divine words in their action upon the virtues. Of understanding, the overall disposition of the soul toward the things known. Of wisdom, the unknown union with God, in accordance with which the desire of those judged worthy becomes enjoyment, making the participant a god by participation, and constituting him an interpreter of the divine blessedness, in accordance with the eternal, unceasing projection and diffusion of divine mysteries to those in need. ^B Explaining these same things himself, he says: "The first good thing in terms of action for us, which is fear, was numbered last by the word of Scripture, and was called the beginning of wisdom; moved from which toward the end of wisdom—that is, understanding—we ascend: after which, becoming close to God Himself, and possessing only wisdom as the mediator of union with Him; for it is not possible for one to attain wisdom who has not first, through fear and the other intermediate gifts of the Holy Spirit, shaken off from himself the dimness of ignorance and the dust of wickedness. For this reason, the order of Scripture has disposed wisdom as being close to God, and fear as being close to us, so that we might learn the limit and law of proper order." Do you see how he maintains that these are virtues, and not holy spirits?

^C Similarly, the great Chrysostom also ^D long ago spoke thus concerning such things, among other matters: "When someone has the gift of charity, he is said to have the spirit of charity; when he has received the gift of martrydom, he is said to have the spirit of power—that is, the gift of virtue and fortitude. For since the One who gives is the Holy Spirit, the gift is [also] called...

by the same name as the Giver, if someone is meek and humble of heart; he has received the gift of meekness, and it is a grace of God. And again: “Where it is necessary to learn the deep things, it is called the spirit of revelation. Where love must necessarily be had, it is then called the spirit of love. When it is necessary for the doctor to speak clearly and succinctly, it is called the spirit of wisdom. When the hearer must speak intelligently, it is named the spirit of understanding.” And indeed, what need is there for me to recount ^A one by one the words of this holy Father, since in that whole sermon Saint Chrysostom explains the same things, as will be clear to those eager to read him? For I adjure anyone in God’s name to come and tell me whether, in this question of ours, there is need of greater evidence, so that we may learn that the Holy Spirit is one indeed, the uncreated and single nature of God; but the graces that God bestows on creatures are virtues, various gifts, and His own works—which, while they share the name of “spirit” with Him who bestows them, are never called “holy spirits.” ^B Consistent with these are the things Great Basil discourses upon: “Some,” he says, “have said that those seven women (of whom Isaiah the prophet speaks thus: 'Seven women shall take hold of one man, and shall say, Let your name be called upon us') are the seven spirits which the prophet is about to enumerate a little later, as if resting upon Him who was to blossom forth from the root of Jesse; namely, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of God. These spirits, because all men had declined from uprightness and had together become useless—having now no place where they might pleasantly rest—take hold of Him ^C who was the man in the Lord Jesus, and thus fulfill whatever has been written. For then the spirit of knowledge and piety is idle when there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God; and it is, as it were, a reproach to the virtues that there is no one to take hold of them, but they are, as it were, left to wander, for lack of a soul to receive them. For that they should be unable to capture anyone with their own beauty, but remain in their solitude, this seems to reproach the virtues. But he who is to show forth every species of virtue in himself in the highest perfection, he takes away this reproach from them.” Behold, here too the holy doctor calls these spirits not “holy spirits,” but human virtues, which rest in Christ insofar as He is man.

IV. Likewise, the great Athanasius, in his first epistle to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis, writing about the Holy Spirit and refuting the Pneumatomachians, in that ^D...

^A passage where he speaks of those who boasted among the prophet Amos that they hear God saying: "For behold, I am he that establishes thunder and creates spirit," says: "Tell me, if in any place of the divine Scripture the Holy Spirit is found called simply 'spirit' without the addition of being called 'of God,' or 'of the Father,' or 'of me,' or 'of Him, Christ and the Son,' or 'from me' (that is, from God), or without the article; so that it is not said simply 'spirit,' but 'the Spirit,' or, in specific terms, 'the Holy Spirit,' or 'the Advocate,' or 'of Truth'—which is of the Son, who says: 'I am the Truth'—lest you, hearing 'spirit' simply, might think it to be the Holy Spirit?" ^B But that great doctor, after having said these things in the beginning of his epistle, and as it were laid the foundation for the future discourse, is throughout the whole of the rest of the epistle copious in bringing forward and more fully expounding the testimonies of the divine Scripture, so that those who wished to read it could learn enough from it, by which it is proved that the Holy Spirit is one, and not manifold, nor one out of many, as Palamas asserts, surpassing all the Pneumatomachians in this matter, and adding to their wickedness a new-found wickedness of his own invention, as if with great liberality. ^C Nevertheless, for the sake of the weaker ones, we have inserted into this present work some things which we have gathered from that same epistle: "Just as the Son is the only-begotten offspring of the eternal Father, so the Spirit, who is given and sent by the Son, is himself one, and not many, nor one out of many, but is alone the same Spirit. For since the Son, the living Word, is one, there must also be one perfect and full life that sanctifies and illumines, which is his own efficacy and gift, which is said to proceed from the Father." From these things, I believe everyone will be able to see without any difficulty how the perverse and wicked dogmas of Palamas are refuted, nor will there be need of more words so that a sincere and incorrupt testimony may be borne to the truth. ^D Yet, since, although the Holy Spirit is one entirely, the context of Holy Scripture has bestowed many and diverse names upon Him, this also must be discussed in a few words. "If the Son," he says, "because He is from God the Father, is therefore proper to the substance of God the Father Himself, likewise the Holy Spirit, who is said to be from God, must necessarily be proper to the Son according to substance. Clearly, just as our Lord Jesus is the Son; so the Spirit himself is called the spirit of adoption of sons." And again: "As the Son is wisdom and truth, so it is written that the Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and of truth." Again: "The Son is the power of God and the Lord of glory, but the Spirit is called the spirit of power and the spirit of glory." V. But I, in the midst of this discourse, remembered also Gregory, that great luminary of the Church, who...

went through similar things. Whence it appeared to me that I ought to introduce a testimony of his here. For he speaks thus: "I tremble when I consider the wealth of the invocations and against what kind of names those who oppose the Holy Spirit brazenly struggle. He is called Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of adoption, of truth, of freedom, Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of strength, of knowledge, of piety, of the fear of God. For as the efficient cause of all these, and as He who fulfills all things by His essence, He is participated in but does not participate; He contains but is not contained; He is called the finger of God, fire—as God is—most wise, and manifold in His operations." What need is there to explain here as it were more squadrons of words, after we have excerpted these few things from thence, at least for the sake of remembrance? Since it is lawful for whosoever deems these to be a less than sufficient demonstration ^B to draw hence not only the seven names of the divine Spirit without difficulty, but even many times fifteen more, and, to use the words of the new doctor Palamas, infinitely infinite; which things he taught are as so many uncreated and holy spirits: a matter which has not come into the mere and simple mental thought of any man since the memory of mankind, not to mention of those who profess piety, but not even of any of the Gentiles or barbarians, or of those who are led by the laws of nature. Therefore, it is worth the effort to point out, according to the unanimous consent of the holy Fathers, that the Holy Spirit is one, not multiple, nor [composed] of many, as we have shown from the passages of the holy and wise doctors of the Church, and shall show still more evidently in the progress of our dispute. ^C VI. After these things, it must be noted in the second place, both that the things which are attributed to the divine Spirit—for he says that the holy Spirit is the efficient cause of all these—are called effects by the great Gregory, and that these very properties, which Palamas calls uncreated deities, are what he—as we have said—manifestly and by name slanders Gregory for; and also that among these many things which that divine man attributed to the divine Spirit, he asserted that He is also called the finger of God. Although I would wish to dwell longer upon the things said above, yet this calumny which Palamas has fastened upon holy Gregory ^D draws me toward it with a certain force and manifestly attracts me. It is necessary, therefore, that I bring forth into the midst again those same blasphemous words of Palamas, lest the memory of them should escape us. For it nearly happened that they escaped me, while, having forgotten Palamas, I was called away to other matters which occupied me. It stands, therefore, as follows: "The Lord calls one of the operations of the Spirit 'the finger of God' in the Gospel according to Luke; but in the Gospel according to Matthew..."

he calls it the Spirit of God. And if in the Spirit which the Lord said he casts out demons, does he not say so in the Holy Spirit? Therefore, among the gratuitous graces which God distributes in divers ways, one is the Holy Spirit. But if it is said of one, it will be possible for it to be said of the others as well." You see now what that impious man, similar to a fog, Palamas, thinks; what kind of interpretation he subjoins to divine words; and how this impious man, while he attempts to construct syllogisms, deduces a false and impious conclusion from false and impious premises. For, setting at naught the interpretation of all the saints which you have just heard, he himself posits that the "finger of God" is one of those many operations which he has today invented to be uncreated; where he calumniates the holy disciples of Christ, Luke and Matthew, and indeed Christ himself, whose that voice is: "the finger of God." ^B Then, this vain man collects the following absurdity: "Therefore," he says, "among the gifts of grace, which God distributes in divers ways, one is the Holy Spirit himself. But if this is truly said of one, the other gifts of God will also be, just as much, holy Spirits." Yet, if it were permitted to use artificial syllogisms in things which surpass all art, one should have argued thus: since the Holy Spirit is called the "finger of God" by metaphor, and a finger is elsewhere consubstantial to the remaining and whole body by its own nature; therefore, the Holy Spirit is necessarily consubstantial to Him of whom He is called the finger, namely, God. But although Palamas is unskilled, and does not know the art of constructing syllogisms, nevertheless, by deducing these blasphemous conclusions among the unskilled, he seemed worthy to obtain far greater faith from the learned and the erudite. Up to this point, as it appears, neither he nor his followers have heard that which was said in the Gospel: "He who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit shall be subject to inevitable punishment, worthy of no pardon." Is not, therefore, that which the impious man is possessed and vexed by, clearly the operation of an opposing and diabolical spirit? Does he not surpass the Jews themselves in impiety? For that which they previously brought forward as the height of insult against Christ, when they said that He cast out demons in Beelzebub, and not by the finger of God or in the Spirit of God, Palamas bestows upon your Church today as a most welcome gift. O the stupidity of his followers! Rather, I should say, O how great is Thy patience, Christ!

VII

^A You hear the babbling of old wives, to state it plainly, and their nonsense. For someone who is clearly a Pneumatomachian, when he tries to escape the name, becomes worse than those others by long measure; and by making himself a creature of changing shape, so that he may perchance lie hidden and escape the reproofs of his wickedness, he has in fact failed to notice that he is being caught out everywhere. For the fathers of his wickedness, the Pneumatomachians, in saying that the Spirit is a poem, just as Arius said the Son was a poem, consequently and of necessity also claimed that He was a creature; inasmuch as it is impossible for human knowledge, either through an artificial method or through natural perception, ever to call a poem uncreated. But he, feeling no shame at all, has dared in these last days to legislate that a poem is uncreated. ^B It would have been right, then, for us here to have hated such things silently, and stopping our ears, to have turned away from hearing evil. But since (from the fact that that nefarious man is allowed to lie with impunity, and Palamas, just in his own estimation, is supported by his own vote) princes and powers—inasmuch as they hold dominion over this temporal world—provide for him out of ignorance, whence he raises and sets up this trophy against the truth to deceive the simpler-minded, it is necessary for us to be watchful here also, and to wield the sword of truth freely against his lie, and to drive it, as much as lies in us, against the falsehood. We must provide to the orthodox both weapons and a bronze wall for the citadel, namely our own written works, or rather the testimonies of the holy Scriptures, so that others may not follow a dark and gloomy hearing, and so cast themselves into the whirlpool of perdition. For since I have previously addressed to Palamas himself so many, such, and such great testimonies, both in our invectives and Antirrhetics, and now in the discourse which you have heard, and yet I have not fully persuaded him to understand that that which is made can in no wise be uncreated, come, let us henceforth use words that are clearer and known even to those, if I may say so, who dig in the earth. For it is surely known to all that the holy Symbol of our faith is sung ^C day and night in the common confession of all the orthodox, everywhere and unceasingly, in villages and cities and caves and mountains, and, to sum everything up in one word, in the whole earth and wherever the nature of water easily pervades. Now, that Symbol runs thus: "We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; by whom all things were made." Do you see how, from the very beginning, the divine Nicene Fathers explicitly deny that He by whom all things were made is a creature? For they say "begotten, not made."

VIII. But the great Athanasius also discusses this in the first epistle which he wrote to Serapion. "In Him," he says (meaning the Spirit), "the Word...

^A glorifies, deifying and adopting them as sons, and brings them to the Father. But he who glorifies created things together with the Word, he himself could by no means be a created thing." And after a few words: "For the Father does all things through the Word in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved." And again: "If created things subsist by the will and good pleasure of God, and every creature has come to be by an act of will, then this Word is outside the number of those things which have come to be by an act of will; rather, He is the living will and counsel of the Father, in whom all things have been made." And again: "If the works were fashioned by the hand of God (for it is written that all things were made through the Word, and without Him was made not even one thing), ^B it is clear that the Son would not be a work, but is the hand of God and His wisdom."

And what is the need to wear out your ears by going over the same things continually? It is sufficiently demonstrated from what has been said that in the Holy Scriptures, that which creates is distinguished from the things created, and there is no difference between what is "created" and what is "made." It is also sufficiently demonstrated how Palamas calumniates the holy Fathers, passing over their words in silence so that he himself might not be refuted; yet, in some places, he obscurely inserts the mere, bare names of certain ones, so that through them he may capture the ears of the simpler-minded. This will be more evident from those holy Fathers whom he has cited by name, and whose words he has brought forward in such a way as to mutilate their sincerity and integrity, exhibiting and disseminating different fragments in different places. Hence, he ^C employs a base and unrefined impudence everywhere, provided he can fulfill the intention of his own mind, wherever and however he thinks he might more easily achieve it. Hence he also clearly calumniates those holy Fathers: and I do not know whether he has done and continues to do this more out of ignorance than out of wickedness; or whether the matter indeed does not stand so, but he has perpetrated it especially out of the sheer malignity of his soul. But if, as a pervasive rumor among the masses holds, he has conducted himself in this way through both ignorance and wickedness, I shall by no means dispute it. For he has been caught, for the most part, in many places, and is even now caught in having lapsed into both vices; to such a degree that anyone who might wish to bring either charge against him will find the person and the evidence ^D extremely suitable. And this is all the more probable. For one who, through the unseasonableness of conceit, having entrusted the leadership of his mind to the thresholds of divine dogmas without lexicographical knowledge, as has been shown, has arrived there on his own, having persuaded himself that he understands well, has himself tripped himself up.

^A

IX. Since these things are so, it remains for us to teach the meaning of these words (to prepare and to judge) according to Palamas. For he, just as he imagined that which was in truth made and created to be unmade and uncreated, so he thinks that by these words (preparation and judgment) uncreated things are designated, whatever they may be that are prepared and judged. The great Athanasius, therefore, speaks thus (29): “The impious do not want the Son to be the Word and living counsel, but contend that He is instead the will, prudence, and wisdom in God, which come to Him as a sort of habit; let them be persuaded, therefore, by Solomon who says: ‘God founded the earth with wisdom, and prepared the heavens in prudence’ (Prov. iii, 19). Thus in the Psalms it is said: ‘He hath done all things whatsoever He would’ (Ps. cxiii, 9). But if the wisdom and prudence of God be His will, and the Son is Himself that wisdom, one must beware lest he who asserts that the Son was made by the will should be saying precisely the same thing as if he were to affirm that wisdom was made in wisdom, that the Son was made in the Son, and that the Word was created by the Word.” You see how he brings the meaning of to found, to make, and to create to the same meaning as that of to prepare. But David also, that living lyre and harmonic muse of the Divine Spirit, says: “He ^B prepares the mountains in his strength” (Ps. lxiv, 7). And again: “Thou preparedst directions; Thou hast wrought judgment and justice in Jacob” (Ps. xciii, 4). Behold, here too the Prophet shows that the meaning of “to make” and “to prepare” is one and the same. For the Lord did not create uncreated heavens, nor did He create uncreated mountains of the earth. And certainly no one would say—nor will anyone ever say, unless he be insane—that direction, or judgment, or any of those things which God made and prepared is uncreated. We also hear in the divine Gospels that fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. If, therefore, according to Palamas, that fire is uncreated, the same will also be uncreated God and without beginning; and for this reason, the devil will be uncreated and without beginning, having been deified by that uncreated lot of his, the fire; and the punishment owed to him for the evils which he has brought from the beginning upon the entire human race will be converted into a prize of this kind. ^C For this very thing seems to be what Palamas is always laboring with such great effort to achieve, that when he has raised the devil to the condition of God, he might simultaneously become with him the heir of that uncreated fire, and no longer fear the judgment of the Creator of all and God, which is the cause of so many evils according to him. But we have strayed, speaking of the pottery in a jar (30-31), another way ^D

of ^A instructing and training a man in the meaning and technique of words, which he ought to have learned at fifteen; and there is fear, lest ^B those who delight in mockery might notice that we are occupied with such things and might not easily refrain from laughing at us. Therefore, it is necessary to be rid of such matters as soon as possible, lest our zeal for more serious business become somehow weaker for the future, being alloyed many times over with the childish schooling of that man, and losing as much from our own store as it receives of worthlessness from his.

^B X. And it remains for us, having returned to our intention, to declare what concerns the divine participation of the Eucharist and the divine baptism at the same time. "For," I said to them, "you remember that you have said whatever your friend Palamas, and moreover the Bishop of Heraclea, most ardent follower of his, ordained; namely, that it is an invention of the murky demons, the opinion by which anyone thinks that the operation is not distinguished from the divine substance, but that these things, the Eucharist and baptism, are sanctified by the divine substance itself. For they say that the divine substance is not of such a nature that it descends to whatever is beneath the sun; nor, again, is it right to believe that wine and bread ever become the blood and body of Christ. For they say these things are a figure of Him, and not Christ in reality." ^C It would be a long time, then, to lengthen the speech concerning the things they said themselves and consigned to their own writings; furthermore, it is impious for the ears of the pious to be filled with such great impiety, when, these being omitted, it is permitted by one and the same method to run through the things that, when I bring them forward, I think I shall do a very pleasing service to those who desire holy and pious matters.

^D XI. Therefore, Saint John Damascene says straightway: "Just as in baptism, since it is the custom for men to wash with water and to be anointed with oil, God joined to the oil and the water the grace of the Spirit, and made them a laver of regeneration; so, since it is the custom for men to eat bread and to drink water and wine, He joined to them His own divinity, and made them His body and blood, so that through the customary and natural we might attain to the supernatural." Truly, the body that was taken from the holy Virgin is a body united to divinity; not that the body itself which was taken [descends from heaven, but that the bread itself and the wine are transformed into the body of God and His blood].

and blood of Christ. If, however, you search for the manner in which these things happen, it is enough for you to hear that they are brought about through the Holy Spirit.

XII. You hear how the great luminary of the Church does not call this an operation devoid of substance and distinct from the divine substance, but the very divine substance of the Holy Spirit; and he asserts that the eucharistic bread is not the figure of that saving body, but that very body itself, and nothing other than it. Furthermore, what is greater, he did not simply or in passing set forth these things in a few words; but with great diligence he elaborated this matter in a solid and entire chapter of his fourth book, and drew forth very prolix demonstrations, both from the store of natural things and from the sacred Scriptures. For the Church was then being tossed by a grave war like a storm at sea, and the mass of those waves, which the Iconoclasts most vehemently stirred up, was swelling greatly, debating both about the aforementioned matters and about the Taboric light ^B—from which [Light], concocting impious pretexts, they stirred up an uproar of the iconoclastic heresy and maligned the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, as we have explained above, where we did not regret instituting a more prolix discourse on this matter. At that time, certainly, all the magistrates and the rest of the dignities of the empire were distributed by the ministers of this heresy, which had infected everyone like a disease, and all were competing with maximum contentiousness to run toward a similar impropriety; nay, even those men of that age, because of the delights and luxury of life, inclined their minds almost to the point of flattering the imperial edicts. Very few remained whose generous and freer spirit, and the most ardent fire in their hearts, fought bravely against that enemy fire; and in this war, each according to their own ability, they assisted with the sermons of this wise man, Saint John of Damascus—some by word, some by deed, and others by both. One of these was Theodore Graptus, ^C who demonstrated much wisdom in his written sermons, and much patience of body in enduring the blows of those enemies. Whence he preserved the dogmas which we received from our ancestors firm and unshaken, and stifled the malice spreading everywhere. Moreover, this great doctor wrote many books and left them to the Church of God, which contain abundant wisdom joined with knowledge, and piety celebrated with august splendor; out of which some indeed have brought us the greatest and necessary aid for the aforementioned controversy: nevertheless, with a very willing mind, and not without a certain pleasure, I shall again draw forth a sword from his books, as from a sacred armory, now opportune for the necessity of the present disputation. For there he immediately proposes the words which the leaders of the iconoclastic heresy were putting forth as if sounding a classicum [trumpet signal]. They are as follows:

XIII. « Christ, » they say, « taking His body ^D

desired to deliver it to His holy disciples and apostles, as the thing which he greatly longed for, as a type of His body: so that, through the priestly elevation, we might receive it as properly and truly His body. » Then this doctor subjoins the refutation of those words as follows: « We, however, say that these holy mysteries of the Eucharist are neither an image nor a type of that body, even though they are performed symbolically, but are the very deified body of Christ. This He also delivered to His disciples, saying: 'Take, eat, this is my body,' and not 'the image of my body.' For just as He, by the Holy Spirit, produced for Himself flesh from the Virgin; or, if it is necessary that this be explained by an example from our perspective, just as bread, wine, and water are naturally transmuted into the body and blood of him who eats and drinks, and we would not say that another body is formed different from the former, so too these symbols of the Eucharist, by the invocation of the priest and the coming of the Holy Spirit, are supernaturally transmuted into the body and blood of Christ. » Behold, this great teacher also utters the same things as that holy Father John Damascene, and much more so than Palamas utters the same things with those most absurd Iconoclasts. ^B For he is caught here also as one who exceeds them in a similar wickedness, if one should look at the accusations placed side-by-side that could be reproached against both. Nor indeed is this undeserved. For the divine dogmas of the Catholic faith, since they strictly conform to the rules of the holy Fathers, and maintain the harmony which they once established among themselves or with other similar things, can by no means dissolve it: whereas evil, since it is suited to no rules, conforms to none; and those things whose harmony it rejoiced in a little while before, it has always and absurdly found to be evil, to the point that it is repugnant to that which is good by its nature, and indeed it wars even against itself. So insanely ^C and absurdly has it always possessed its disposition toward evil.

XIV. But it is worth the effort for me to bring before you also what was said earlier by Gregory, Bishop of the Nyssenes, so that you may know the harmony of the good, just as it possesses it from everywhere and via many paths alike. « The bread, » he says, « is for a time common bread: but when the mystery has consecrated it, it is called and becomes the body of Christ. » Truly, they would be enjoying a very untimely leisure who, ^D not content with such things as have been said, would seek more for the choice of the...

^A better or worse. For you yourselves see how effortlessly, and of its own accord, so to speak, the revelations of this man’s wicked festival burst forth from every side, and the impious mysteries are unmasked; it is clearly demonstrated that he is guilty of all heresies, that he surpasses them all, and that he joins them all together for the destruction of the divine economy of the Incarnation, as we have often shown above and many times before in our Antirrhetics. The source and foundation of all these evils is his ignorance and the arrogant opinion he has conceived of himself, for which no remedy can be found, nor is there any art that can heal these things in any way. Otherwise Palamas himself would have known the art, he who has heard from the sacred and wise doctors of the Church that in the simple and incorporeal nature, and especially in that divine nature which surpasses all intellect, there is ^B no distinction between essence and operation, nor do they differ from each other to such a degree that, while the essence can in no way be participated in by any creature and is in a certain sense circumscribed by heavenly places, the operation or efficacy—not subsisting by itself—descends to earthly things and gladly and freely wears flesh, and while remaining itself uncreated and unconsumed, preserves the humanity with which it shares its own property of an uncreated condition, which Palamas denies can fit into the divine substance. "For the flesh," he says, "would be consumed before it could become a participant in the divine substance." Since, therefore, the holy Virgin was neither burned nor consumed by the fire of the divine substance, it is concluded, according to his opinion, that the divine substance of the Word was not incarnated from the blessed Virgin herself, but merely some operation or efficacy—uncreated indeed, but not subsisting by itself—which did not possess a lower or remiss fire ^C that was fully consuming. For he has never heard any of the holy Fathers, especially the holy Athanasius, crying out to the Manichaeans: "Tell me, you authors of a new Evangel according to yourselves, from where has it been preached to you that the flesh is to be called uncreated, so that you imagine either that the divinity of the Word has collapsed and been changed into flesh, or that the economy of the Passion, the death, and the resurrection is merely an appearance and a phantasy? For only the holy Trinity of the Godhead is uncreated and eternal, immutable and invariable." And after a few words: "For that which is uncreated is said to be uncreated by its nature, and it admits of no addition or diminution." And again: "For who, hearing that the Lord's body ^D is uncreated, while knowing himself to be made and created, will not think that the divine Scriptures are false, and that he himself has no communion with Christ?" And after a few words: "For only the existence of the Godhead is understood as uncreated; so it is impious to call the created thing passible, and the passible thing uncreated." And again: "Altogether in these matters, that which is called uncreated is called so because it has not come-to-be." And elsewhere: "Not as if to embrace the sentiment of the Manichaeans according to Apollinaris, as is manifest in the oration of St. Athanasius on the incarnation of Christ, where he inveighs entirely against the Apollinarists. And indeed that oration is inscribed and afterward St. Athanasius says that the Apollinarists..."

say ^A that some energy from the Spirit came to pass in the Virgin, for the incarnation to be fulfilled. »

XV. The same things regarding the uncreated, St. Gregory of Nyssa also says against Eunomius: « Only the divine and uncreated nature of God is above all creation, » and again: « Nothing is uncreated, except the divine nature. » You see how Manichaeans and Apollinarius, Arius and Eunomius are clearly refuted by the holy Fathers, all of whom speak the same things as Palamas; just as now, too, he himself, uttering the same things as them ^B, is destroyed by one and the same sword with them. That he is detected as an Iconoclast, [P. 715] ^C as well, has been shown before by many things, as we have demonstrated; nor is it any less possible to be detected from these facts. Therefore, in order that this may be clear, I would wish you to hear that great and wise herald of the Church, Theodore, who was present at that time and fought frequently against the Iconoclasts, in as much as the battle was then being joined and the struggle was raging. « That this corruptible must put on incorruption, » he says, « and this mortal immortality, the great Apostle instructs us; but that a body should put on incorporeality, or that that which is created should become uncreated, or that that which is circumscribed should be changed into the uncircumscribed, has not been heard of until this day. » And again: « Into the nature of the Godhead, nothing of those things which are generated and dwell among created things could ever be changed, even though the Iconoclasts may appear to be raving with their blasphemies thousands of times over. » And again: « What then, does incorruption corrupt, and does immortality bring upon itself death? But this is not at all reasonable. » You hear how Palamas, the teacher of the present Church, by uttering the same things for the Iconoclasts, is pierced by the same shafts from the holy Father and doctor of the Church, who proved himself a noble leader of the war undertaken for the Catholic faith. And these things have occurred in this manner; and thus, God willing, we have completed these arguments, both those which we have now proposed to present to you, and those which, because of the heat of the battle and the necessity that pressed upon us then, we have passed over for the sake of their excessive length.

CHAPTER II

^D I. These speeches then seemed very hateful and troublesome to them, and as there burst forth from their souls

a sort of fire, they were seized with a kind of madness and affirmed that one of two things must necessarily follow: "Either," they said, "the saints are holy, and therefore did not say such things; or, if they did say them, then they are not holy." But far be it from us ever to say that the gifts of the holy Spirit, which God distributes in various ways, are not beyond all doubt uncreated, as are also the graces and operations which He has bestowed upon creatures from all eternity, as if they were not beyond contradiction uncreated. For if we should concede that God knows created things, what would be the excellence and distinction of the divine majesty? For this is what men themselves can always do, namely, to grant to whomsoever they wish as many of the temporal and created things as anyone might desire. God therefore, since He is uncreated, it is fitting that He should grant uncreated things as well, according to His being. If anyone should wish to speak otherwise, we would reject him in every possible way, even if the thunder of heaven were to roar, and all the elements were to become vocal and declare these things.

^B II. But when I began to bring forward the books of the holy Fathers, they did not endure it even for a little; but they immediately stood up, mocking me greatly, and among many other things they said to me: "Truly," they said, "you are acting imprudently and foolishly against yourself by opposing the imperial decrees, when it is permitted to you (if you were a little more yielding) to obtain far greater favor than before from emperors and empresses, and at the same time from all of those who have senatorial rank, or who shine with some other dignity and honor. But," they said, "let the sum of our discourse be this: if you remain so obstinate, you will suffer the loss of many good things, but you will indeed have no sad or evil things. Furthermore, all your sermons, which are read in the church during the feast days of the saints, the enemy and hostile fire will shortly consume at the command of the emperor; and you, after your death, will be cast out ^C somewhere outside the city unburied."

III. Replying to their speech, I said: "These words are fitting for Diocletian and his times. And surely, while you offer me such great goods by way of kindness, do not confound this grace under the pretext of threats. For while you promise that you will bestow upon me the crowns of the martyrs, you seem to confound the best things with the worst names. And you, indeed, threaten me with those things that are in the power of the emperor; but I, which—God helping me—it is in my power to keep constantly, will strive and will stand even until death, preserving my mind subject to no one. For there is the highest necessity ^D of practicing piety, but no necessity for living: and it is necessary to die for piety, not, however, to be buried." Meanwhile, they departed.

IV. But that I might be guarded more tightly again, bolts were moved to the doors, latches were fastened, and guards more bitter than the former were set. Yet I would most of all have wished it to have been permitted me to pursue the other part of their threatening in their presence with appropriate mockery, and there to show more clearly how great was the madness and stupidity of these insane men. But they, as it seems, condemning themselves by their own shame, and...

...they went away to the matters to be discussed, and departed. For the Palamites propose this as their primary goal: first, to abolish the feast days of God, since they in no way admit the mystery of His incarnation; and second, to prevent my name and my piety from appearing any longer in these homilies and sermons ^A. If anyone were to grant this, he could not help but immediately blot out the books of Moses, of David, and all those of the Jews, seeing as the Jewish nation has long since been condemned and proscribed by us. And it is a source of wonder to me how they emulate Nestorius and the Iconoclasts in other things, yet have not emulated them in this—especially ^B in a matter wherein one who possessed even the slightest self-love should have emulated them. For although the Iconoclasts overthrew the incarnation of the Word of God and removed the divine images from our midst, they did not abolish any of the hymns, homilies, or canticles that the writers of such works had left to the Church; rather, they sang them and honored them with anniversary solemnities. But since the Palamites, according to their custom, are not in the least ashamed to perpetrate this as well, they strive to surpass even the Iconoclasts in wickedness. For it seems shameful and utterly repulsive to Palamas ^C if he is content to possess the seeds of impiety discovered by the leaders of heresies, unless he also contributes and adds his own impropriety to their impropriety. For Palamas always displays an active ambition, and in malice he surpasses all evil men everywhere.

V.

^A and at the same time joy, and while he was enfolding and embracing me, he could not restrain his tears, nor could he easily hold back those things which custom is wont to suggest and cast into us, when the soul is conflicted by grief and joy mingled together, and is in a certain way undergoing a change in the very dye and color of its temperament. Then, having raised his hands on high—I give thanks to you, O all-powerful God, he said, because before my death you have permitted me to enjoy the sight of a man most desired by me, whom I have always held to be sweeter than all things that are in life, so that now, because of this excessive and immoderate pleasure, I seem almost to have forgotten myself, and I do not know with sufficient certainty whether I am dreaming or awake as I am suffused with this immense pleasure. For such a vehement and truly unusual commotion has invaded my soul, that it seems to me much better, setting aside all those long journeys by land and sea and the uncertain wanderings of life, by which ^B I have been overwhelmed with perpetual troubles for a long time, here and now, O my venerable master, to end my miserable life at your feet.

As he was saying many things of this sort, and at the same time springs of tears were bursting from his eyes, I too, fixing my eyes on him more intently, was gradually and little by little silently gathering in my mind the signs by which I might recognize him, and after I clearly knew who he was, I myself also shed tears, affected by a pleasure tempered with grief. For often a tear is wont to burst forth even from pleasure, when the contrary force of the soul’s affection, dissipating and driving away the sickness, as if through the channels of the eyes, drains out the saltiness of grief from the nature, and casts off this heavy burden like strange and pernicious plagues that have crept in—that adventitious and alien disease of the soul. ^C Agathangelus, the eldest of Callistratus’s sons, was also present. When both had finally recovered their composure, each was exchanging stories with the other, as much concerning other matters as especially concerning the calamities which fortune, by uncertain chances, had inflicted upon the Church of God and public affairs, God allowing them on account of the overturning of the ancestral dogmas of religion, which I believe is not unknown even to you. For I remember that you were present at that time and knew Palamas accurately, when he was bringing forth the dogmas of polytheism and at the same time atheism, and sometimes was dragging forth not only these, but also various kinds of wickedness which have been found and recorded ^D here and there and at different times by the ancient heretics. Not long after, he brought these forth and produced them into the light, with the compliance of those who were then able to manage all things according to their own will. Therefore, the greatest and most celebrated temple was overturned, and that sacred altar was overturned, God sketching out His wrath in these matters just as He conceived it on account of this nefarious impiety. But when, as time went on, it was no longer permitted to them to act honestly, and they could not avoid committing wicked crimes, it came to pass that the Roman state was perpetually plundered and thrown into confusion, nor could the anger of God ever be idle. From this we...

are also prisoners today, having resisted the fermentation of impiety as much as was possible. ^A

VI. When we had discussed these and similar things, I then sought to inquire from him about the manner of his long absence—which had lasted for nearly twenty years—as well as how he had fared, what kind of life he had led, where he had stayed, and where his residence had been during that time. “For you know,” I said, “that as I am writing books of history, it is a matter of the greatest concern and dear to my heart to collect the experience of various matters, which is supplied to us both by time, as we examine things more accurately, and by the zeal of those who come to us from all places at various times for the sake of conversation, since everyone recounts what they have heard or seen and have impressed upon their memory and mind. For it seems to me that Diogenes the Cynic spoke brilliantly when he said that the loves of idle men are studies placed in those things which one most desires. For when little or nothing of external tumult can distract us, the movement of the mind will seem to rest in leisure. ^B But as for me, insofar as my Prometheus of words has granted me leisure from external spectacles, it was possible to deploy my study in satisfying a double or triple love, as time permitted; namely, to converse at length and copiously with those who approached me at various times regarding things that seemed to suit the occasion and the matter, to embrace in a similar manner my friends, who were also burning with love for me, through letters, and thirdly, to collect what pertains to history. For the mind is delighted when it perceives an effective narration from the outside, which leads it as if by the hand to all the most beautiful things in history, unless it is held fast, oppressed by an immoderate satiety of things, which, although it is entirely contrary to the song of those Sirens, nonetheless brings about almost the same penalty in secret. For that song, soothing and caressing the ears with a harmonious concert of voices, leads whoever is enchanted by its sweetness—captured in chains—to the gates of death, although no other benefit redounds to the soul from it except a brief delight of the ears, which is followed by the greatest punishment. ^C But a narration is beneficial if it indeed has a youthful and flourishing, so to speak, incitement of all parts in a fitting harmony and limits its course within brief boundaries. But if it opens the gates to too great an abundance and satiety, it immediately becomes its own enemy and fills the joy of the mind with great weariness, and of its own accord overturns all that pleasure. ^D I, for my part, living now in the greatest possible leisure, free from all business and tumults, would gladly hear from you whatever you might wish to report to me regarding those matters, the knowledge of which that long pilgrimage of yours by land and sea has supplied to you. For nothing can affect the mind with such delight as those things which, of their own accord and by their own nature, incline toward the desire of our soul.

For it is as if a public test were set before the world for all to see, where things, like raw material without a fixed form, seek their own ordering from the authority of man, so that, as if from an artificer and maker, they may take on a figure and shape, and, receiving a name for better or for worse, may announce the disposition of men with voices louder than any thunder, as if they were heralds. If, therefore, there be others who hold the same opinion as we do, they will recognize such matters, whoever they may be; but if not, at any rate, for me, those things which pertain to such knowledge are entirely in accordance with my own view.

^B VII. When I had said this, he began his discourse in this way. It is difficult, he said, to recount to you the whole story of my life; but to touch upon a few things briefly, that indeed I would not deny, as it is not very laborious. For you, if anyone, know well with what ardor of mind I had long ago desired to depart from this my fatherland, in order to see cities and ports of every kind, and to understand the position of each of these in relation to one another and to the whole face of the earth, since this contributes greatly to the perfecting of astronomical science. ^C But what especially urged me to hasten my departure was the shipwreck of the Church and the diseases that were then being born from it for the public affairs. For that which at that time could best have preserved the state of the republic, was being most violently harassed and lay in a wretched condition, namely, religion. For when it exchanged the dogmas of Palamas with those that have been handed down to us by the fathers, the body of the state was ill-affected and held out no good hope for itself. For the men who then presided over affairs, having a base and unrefined disposition of mind, most impudently put truth up for sale and were inexorable detractors of the hope which alone could then have saved the race. In this matter, when I saw the divine wrath adumbrated, as it were, in types and hiding and suckling as if in cradles, I decided that I must exchange one land for another before I saw it attacking the wicked with open arms. ^D For a sensible man, gifted with a prudent mind, ought never to lack a calculation of time, nor commit himself to a condition of affairs and fortune that lacks a firm foundation, especially when eternal death threatens the immortal soul; he ought not to catch at present pleasure, but to care for those things which are useful for the future time; not to indulge in lies out of fear, but to repress the cause of wickedness with the bulwark of truth; not to desire detestable and odious things, but to prefer the possession of salutary things to harmful ones.

VIII. Immediately, therefore, after the vernal equinox, having found a ship destined for Egypt, I willingly

embarked and weighed anchor. And indeed, once we had set sail, on the seventh day from the harbors of Byzantium we came to the ports of the Rhodians; there, having lingered for many days due to a lack of favorable winds, we wandered about the island and inspected things that were worthy of sight. Of that Colossus, however, there remained not a single trace, nor did it even permit one to conjecture if it had ever existed—for there was no particle of bronze, nor indeed any foundation of stones, if perhaps it had been built upon such, that remained of it at all. As for the ancient cities, some had been consumed and submerged by earthquakes, of which the most beautiful was ^A Rhodes, which bears the name of the island itself, and the inhabitants showed us the signs of these; others, however, are still preserved and remain, and are splendidly standing. Among these, I surmised from certain signs that Lindos, Ialysos, and the splendid Kamiros—which the Calliope of Homer, born of Melesigenes, mentions—were counted. The inhabitants of the island were, for the most part, our own countrymen and of the orthodox faith, and they use this very Greek language of ours. For they are the sons of those men who died not so long ago, who indeed fought many battles, struggling against the Latins who were making an assault upon them with many triremes and weapons, yet they were defeated on account of their fewness and surrendered against their will. Some of them, ^B even now of great age, are still alive, ever mindful of their former happiness, and they charmingly relate these things to the strangers who pass through. These men said that they were indeed unhappy that they had exchanged the yoke of freedom for servitude, yet, on the other hand, that they enjoyed good fortune in other respects, because external enemies, since the masters of the island were accustomed to live in arms and with pursuits pertaining to war, could no longer infest the island, and because good laws governed the marketplaces and the courts of the island, while avarice was almost entirely absent. To this was added the fact that they had been allotted an island that enjoyed a good temperateness of climate and possessed an excellent site for ports and naval shipyards, so that they could easily receive all who might arrive from anywhere for the sake of conducting trade. Hence it came about ^C that a greater abundance of goods was available to both the rich and the poor, and the inhabitants led an untroubled life from this. Whether for this reason the story arose, which is embedded in the mysteries of Greek myths, that gold once rained upon the Rhodians from the clouds, I for my part would not know, having gained from above an opinion better than such conjectures; but let him say who might know better than I.

IX. However, as spring was already advancing, at which time the Pleiades also begin to be the heralds and precursors of the day, we used favorable winds and were carried out into the deep, so that on the fifth day we arrived at Alexandria, a city both most great and most wealthy, which is distant five thousand stadia from Rhodes, situated on the right if one wishes to sail into ^D the Heracleotic mouth of the Nile. For the Nile, the greatest of rivers, which alone irrigates the whole of Egypt from the middle, descends in its entirety, encircling it...

until it reaches Babylon, which is situated near the so-called Delta. Thence it is divided into nine mouths and flows into the Egyptian sea; of these mouths, others are navigated differently, but the one situated toward the west and the zephyr wind is called the Heracleotic. ^A Near this, then, a little to the south, lies that celebrated and most magnificent city of the Alexandrians. When I had seen it, and had been delighted—as was appropriate for us—by the sight of things most worthy to be seen, as much as was permitted, I departed after the rising of Orion and the Dog Star, in order to see those celebrated pyramids and Thebes of the hundred gates, as they are called, if by chance such a city still existed in Egypt; moreover, I greatly desired to converse with the sacred scribes of the Egyptians, whom, as you know, ancient books have handed down to us as being men of great wisdom. But these were indeed mere dreams of the waking, preserved for us only by name, which always roam through life and excite and nourish desires injected through the ears into weak minds. ^B

X. In the middle of autumn I set out to visit the places and cities of Palestine that were trodden by the feet of the Savior. There, when I had satisfied the desire of my soul as much as was possible, I departed after the winter solstice. Then, finally, having left the mountains of Happy Arabia to the right and toward the east, I entered the inland cities of Celesyria, and after traversing many of them, I arrived at Damascus, which, in other respects, far surpasses the cities of that region, as well as in the frequency of its people, the equity of its markets, and the excellent organization of its public institutions; furthermore, in a certain profound intelligence of the inhabitants, and one admirably disposed toward all that is best, so that it is not far from equaling that great city of the Alexandrians. For if not for any other reason, at least for this one—that religion has attained greater freedom there—one may piously admit, if it possesses anything less than that city, it surpasses it in the more beautiful form and amplitude of its layout. ^C For any man would easily grant that Alexandria is superior in arms and military studies, in the administration of the empire, and in the description of the duties of public works and courts; but that in prudence and the rest of learning they approach the Greeks more than do the Alexandrians, and that, moreover, in the sincerity of their religion, all would concede that Damascus is superior to Alexandria. For these reasons I decided to dwell there and in the surrounding cities for three whole years, especially since that land offered security from foreign wars and disturbances of that kind. ^D

XI. Thence I arrived at the maritime cities of Phoenicia, and when I had spent a whole year in coming to know them, I departed for Antioch, the greatest city of Syria, which was founded by Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, who ruled after Alexander not only over that Syria, but also over Babylon, which was founded by Semiramis, and furthermore...

over the Assyrians, Persians, Medes, and all the lands lying beyond Susa and Ecbatana. When I heard of old that this city was the first to receive the saving Gospel from the holy apostles themselves, I saw most gladly that the signs of souls burning with even more fervent piety still endured there. Therefore, I admired the city more for this reason than for the other goods and adornments that it possessed. For since a foreign religion was spreading everywhere and indiscriminately and prevailing in all places—as the empire of the Arabs extends from Egypt, or rather from Cyrene and the Pentapolis and regions even more remote, as far as Antioch and beyond, it happens that traces of the Arab religion are found everywhere in that land—when I saw the Antiochians, who indeed felt piously and rightly about religion, resisting firmly for the ancestral dogmas of piety even if they had to suffer death, I held their situation in the greatest admiration and at once referred such a way of thinking back to ancient memory.

^B

XII. But a little later, having departed from there, I went on as far as Issus, where you would say the valleys of Cilicia were almost joined by nature to the Taurus mountains. The space that lies between the sea and those mountains is so narrow that the gates were called by the ancients both the Issic and the Syrian gates. A city is situated there, older than Antioch, as are very many others called Alexandria. For Alexander built this city as the first trophy of the victory that he there first won over Darius the Persian, who had brought a myriad of cavalry from Babylonia and even higher regions, and had gathered all the arms of Asia to himself. For, rushing to block the passage of the aforementioned narrows before Alexander could pass through, with the multitude of that army he failed to understand that he was contriving destruction for himself rather than for Alexander. For ^C since he was leading with him an innumerable multitude of troops and should have drawn up his battle line in flat and open plains, and especially since, according to some paternal custom, he was also carrying along with him his wives and children and his entire royal household, he did exactly the opposite. Thus it happened that, as a vast throng of cavalry rushed with excited force upon the enemy, in those narrows, being unable to advance or retreat easily, or to turn or contract, or to make swift movements, circles, and sorties, they got entangled among themselves, were impeded by one another, and, having made a bad plan, rushed into one another. But let these things suffice. ^D

INDEX OF MATTERS, NAMES, AND WORDS MOST WORTHY OF NOTE, BOTH IN THE HISTORY OF NICEPHORUS AND IN THE ANNOTATIONS.

(The reader is referred to the larger numbers inserted into the text.)

**A**

Abasgi, 36. Abdera, Dydyra, Dydeira, Adela, Bera, 624 n. Abii, 31. Abraham, 1114. Absolution, bond of, 108. Abyss (ἄβυσσος), adjective, 475 n. Academy, 326, 334, 344, 471, 476, 897. Acarnania, 658. Acarnanes, 110. Acarnanian metropolis, 551. Besieged by Andronicus the Younger, ibid. Acclamations, 896, 611. Achaia, 128, 250, 251. Achaia and the Morea, the noble widow of the prince of, 546. Achæi, 714. Achelous, 110. Achilles, 958. Impatient of grief, 491. Achris (Ohrid), 73. Native land of Justinian, 27 n. Acindynus, 906. Acroceraunia, 110. Acronychal light, 619. Acropolita. See notes to pages 13, 14, 55, 62, 85, 86, 87. Acts of the Apostles, 930. Actuarius (the physician), 568 n. Adam, 367. Adelon Monastery. See Monastery. Adonis, 285. Adrianopolis, 315, 430, 516, 797, 798. See Orestias. Adrian, emperor, 824. Ægæ, 194, 195. Ægean Sea, 37, 311. Its straits, 766. Islands, 98, 283, 534, 597, 797. Egypt, 323, 348. First home of wisdom, 326. The Egyptian empire divided, and its prince, 592. The migration of the Israelites from Egypt, 369. The Egyptian and Arab empire extending very widely, 102, 106. Egyptians, effeminate and unwarlike, having enlisted soldiers from Scythia, subdue Africa and Libya; they exterminate the Gauls of Phoenicia and Syria, 101. Navigation through the Bosphorus allowed to Egyptian merchants, 101. Egyptian mountebanks arrive in Constantinople, 548. Marvelous spectacles exhibited by them, 549, 550. Departing from Byzantium, they rove through Europe: they penetrate as far as Cadiz, 550. The Sultan of Egypt and Arabia. See Sultan. Ænus, a small maritime town, 100, 101. Æolia, 214. Equinox, true and properly so called, 365, 366, 368. At the time of the death of Christ, 366. Air, 930. Aërarium (treasury), shortage of, 834. Æschylus in *Prometheus*, 383. Æsopic, Phrygian saying, 813. Fable of the wolf and the lamb, 918, 1034. Midsummer (aestas media), for late spring, 728 n. Ethereal palatial chamber, 616. Ætolian affairs, 538, 541. Africa subdued by the Egyptians, 102. Agamemnon, 725. Agareni, ravaging Asia, 301. Agathangelus, visits Nicephorus Gregoras detained in the monastery secretly by night, during the feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Mother of God, 1146. Mutual lamentations concerning the affairs of the Church and Empire ruined by Palamite impiety, 1146a. Agathangelus recounts his travels, 1146c. Agathias, 27, 431, in n. Agesilaus the Spartan, 124. Fleeing, 486. Alani, 422. See Massagetæ. Alemanni, who are also the Western Galatians, 277. Alemannus (Nicolaus), 26, 27, in n. Alexander the Great, 810, 401, 494, 519, 701, 807, 818. Diadem of Alexander the Great, 519. Alexander, king of the Mysians or Bulgarians, having obtained the principality, he ravages Roman territories: he captures, routs, and puts to flight the cities, 487. Moved to mercy, he voluntarily grants peace; having admonished the emperor with kind advice, he dismisses him, 488. He joins himself as an ally to the Byzantines against Cantacuzenus, 708. See 596, 616. The wife of the son of Alexander, prince of the Mysians, is given as a wife to the son of Andronicus the Younger, 516. Alexandria in Egypt, 102, 216, 592, 1146d. Alexandrian Patriarch. See Athanasius. Alexius. See Angelus, Apocaucus, Comnenus, Lascaris, Palæologus, Philanthropenus, Strategopulus. Allage, name of a place, 150 and ibid. n. Allatius (Leo). See notes to pages 26, 46, 55, 61, 117, 128, 129, 168, 171, 180, 265, 379, 620, 786, 850. He confuses the seasons, 520 n. Allatius' indignation at the poetry of later Greeks, 309 n. Allatius' *Euchologium*, 1115 n. Allusion to the name Palamas, 1101 and n. Almansurus (Nuraddinus), 101 and n. Almugaveri, 220 and ibid. n. Alps, 102, 210, 286. Crossed by Hannibal, 91. Amagabari. See Almogavari. Amazons, 54. Ἀμηθεῖν, 576 in n. Amourabak, Amourabakin, Amourabaquin, etc., 157, 708 in n. Amos, 1125. Amphipolis, 437, 626. Amurius, satrap of the Meles, defeats the son of Azatines, 157. Amurius' children rule from the Sangarius to Paphlagonia, 214. Amurius, prince of Lydia and Ionia, more powerful than the remaining satraps: master of the sea, 597. Most faithful friend of Cantacuzenus, ibid. Preparing to defend the mighty fleet, he remains at home at the latter's command, 598. In mid-winter he crosses the Hellespont to seek him: he does not approach the Empress Irene, lest he cause grief by his appearance; such great humanity in a barbarian man, 619. Which praise is first to be attributed, to Cantacuzenus or to Amurius, 630. Concerning the gift of friendship, he rejects the food and clothing offered by Irene, 651. He consoles her, having been brought into the greatest straits, 651. During the winter, as the army is oppressive, he returns home, 651. He intends to take Thessalonica by storm, 676. He chides Cantacuzenus, 677. Receives money from the Byzantines: he crosses into Asia, intending to return shortly, 691. The Latin fleet, having put in at Smyrna, detains him, 708. He returns into Thrace and proceeds to Byzantium with Cantacuzenus: astonished at the sight of the city, 726. About to transmit the fleet across the sea, he goes to take the Latin stronghold of Smyrna: he falls, struck by a missile, 834. See 661, 666, 673. Some of Amurius' soldiers return home, others follow Cantacuzenus, 667. Anacharsis' apothegm, 613. Anagnosta (Joannes), 1110 n. Anakalyptêria, to offer, 1209, 1291, 667 and n., 903 and n. Anathematized by the bishops of the Cantacuzenians, 932. Anathematisms against Palamas, pronounced by Patriarch John, ought to be valid, 923.

^A Andronicus the Emperor (who is called the Elder) enters the city at two years of age, having been received from the Latins, 87. He marries Anna (a Hungarian), 167. He is adorned with the imperial insignia; he takes and gives an oath; his name is subscribed to the edicts, 109. He restores the foundations, 142. He sees to the shameful burial of his father's corpse, 153. He succeeds his father: the beginnings of his reign are turbulent, 158. Justice, 162. A widower, he seeks a wife from the king of the Spaniards: Irene is given to him, and that without the Pope's counsel, 167. Fearing vengeance for the crime against his father, he visits the blinded Lascaris: he goes to the East, 173. Who were the authors of his plan not to expend money on the fleet, 174. He holds his brother Constantine Porphyrogenitus as a suspect; for what reasons, 187. He crosses into Asia: he casts Porphyrogenitus into prison; likewise his friends, 190. Distrusting the Romans, he turns to external aid; to how great a detriment to the Roman state, 205. He decides that Athanasius should be restored to the patriarchal see, 215. Many resist; some obey, 216. He compares him to Chrysostom, 216. He had two wives, six children, 231. He resists his wife Irene's petition, ibid. Of a gentle and mild disposition, 257. He fortifies the narrow passages of Politapolis: he sees to the conscription of soldiers to oppose the Catalans, 246. He decides to summon mercenaries from abroad: he seeks aid from his son-in-law Crale, 263. He receives it from him and from the Latins, 263, 268. By blocking the Hellespont with triremes, he guards against aid being sent to the Barbarians from Asia, ibid. ^B He prefers to restore old buildings rather than construct new ones: his modesty is praised, 273. Temples restored by him: and other public works, 274. He prefers his grandson Andronicus to all others: he educates him at his side, 283. He mourns most grievously for the slain Manuel, 286. He decides to prosecute his grandson as a defendant in a public trial, 302. His deliberation on this matter with Metochites, 303. He convokes the bishops; he summons his grandson: he rebukes him with paternal words: he gives and receives an oath, 312. An exclamation of indignation: anxiety: deliberation about arresting the grandson, 315. He sends legates to him, 320. He reaches an agreement with him, 321. The palace flourishes with the study of the liberal arts, 327. The Emperor's wisdom; eloquence, 328. Benevolence toward Gregoras, 339. By consulting the Psalter, he looks toward peace, 358. He speaks with his grandson; he is reconciled, 359. He approves the plan of Gregoras for determining the day of Easter: he fears to commit to the deed, 372. He is thrown from his horse, 373. Having been informed of his grandson's plans through a deserter, 393. He forbids him entry to the city: he levies many charges against him, ibid. By letters written to Crale and to the Despot Demetrius, he orders troops to be gathered and cities to be fortified with garrisons: he is betrayed by his own ally, Theodore the Marquess, 394. Provoked by the perfidy of his own men, he decides to sound out the mind of Patriarch Isaiah; likewise that of other bishops, 399, 402. In a speech delivered in their presence, he brings forward the reason why he should not abdicate the empire; he censures his grandson; he decides he must be coerced with ecclesiastical penalties, 405. He complains to the city about the patriarch, who favors the grandson, 405. Weary of war, having entered into an alliance with the Bulgarian, he lifts his spirits, 411. The army having been defeated at Mauropotamos (416). He cannot be entreated by his grandson, 418. Twice forewarned, he decides he must be on guard, 420. Very anxious; having learned of his grandson's arrival, he flees to the image of the Mother of God, 422. ^C He supplicates his grandson miserably: he is treated kindly by him, 425. He retains the rank of emperor alone: an annual income is assigned to him, 428. Blind in one eye, he is a laughingstock to all, 431. At the insistence of Synadenos, unwillingly he changes his habit and name, 441. Called Antony the Monk, 442, 444, 446. He laments his own lot: he inveighs against the patriarch, 443. To his questions he replies nothing, 444. What the patriarch decreed concerning the commemoration of his name in church, 442; as to how he signed the formula, ibid. Having drunk cold water, he is suddenly seized by ailment: he expiates his sins with prayers and tears: deprived of the holy mysteries, he presses the image of the Mother of God to his mouth: he expires, 462. Portents which preceded his death, 460. Whither his body was carried: funeral rites performed according to custom, 463. Age, form, character, 472. His liberality in extreme destitution, declared by two examples, 475. Debt discovered after his death, 474. Years of life, reign, monasticism, 413, 472 note. Clemency, 201. Love toward his grandson, 232. Invective against malicious and lying historians, 1. He restored the statue of Michael the Archstrategos which had been thrown down, 292. He acquired part of the Thessalian principality, 274. Founder of many cities both in Europe and in Asia, 469. Andronicus the Elder's first wife, of Hungarian origin. See Anna. Andronicus the Younger receives his wife Irene the German, 284. His ambition for council. He loves a mistress: he prepares snares for a rival: Manue the brother is killed instead of the rival, 285. Andronicus ^D the younger, being a bastard among the Cathari, is offended by his grandfather, 291. His cause is juster, 295. He meditates defection: he confers with Syrgiannes, 298. Armed, he leads armed men with him, about to plead his case before his grandfather: he is rebuked by his grandfather: he gives and receives an oath, 313. He intercedes with the logothete for his fellow conspirators and traitors who are complaining; he is gravely rebuked, 313. He returns to his former plans, 313. He flees, 315. Legates sent to him by his grandfather, 320. He parleys with his grandfather, 321. Most closely united with Cantacuzenus, 351. He sets up camp near the city, terrifled by the report of Syrgiannes' excursion, he flees, 353. He opposes Synadenos to Syrgiannes: he terrifies the despot with edicts: he spreads rumors about the killing of the grandfather; he protects the captive despot with his own body, 356. Desirous of peace, he deliberates with his mother, 359. He speaks and is reconciled with his grandfather, 359. He is crowned, 373. Irene the German having died, he marries Anna, wife of the Lombard, 381. Fighting with the Turks and shipwrecked in the Chersonese, he is wounded, 381. He decides to remove the Elder from the middle, 390. He lays an ambush for his grandfather: he takes money by force from publicans: he claims the cities of Thrace for himself: he sets out for Byzantium accompanied by many; under what pretext, 392. He is excluded: he is accused of various crimes by his grandfather: among which an attempt on the chastity of the friend Cralane, 394. Men's spirits are more inclined toward him, 393. By magnificent promises he wins many to himself: he asks that it be allowed for him to enter Byzantium; or that suitable intermediaries be sent to him: those chosen from all the orders are sent, 397. By an artful speech he commends himself to them: he attacks his grandfather: he offers a probable cause for his rebellion: he dilutes the charges brought against him: he sets forth his demands, 398. Corrupted by his flatteries, the intermediaries returning to Byzantium openly take his part before all, 402. He approaches the city walls: he is insultingly barred from entry, 407. Certain of the populace promise him their services: having boarded a skiff, he inspects all the approaches: he leaves with his business unfinished, 407. Secretly summoned by the Thessalonians, he orders the praepositor to lie in wait for Byzantium: he captures Thessalonica by craft, the adversaries being divided, 409. Having dispersed Demetrius and the other leaders in flight, he receives Serhres into surrender: he gains possession of the rest of the Macedonian cities, likewise of the children, wives, and other possessions of his adversaries, 410. He captures the prefects of the Macedonian cities; he casts them into prison, 415. He is rewarded for the loyalty of the Basilike Nicephorus, ibid. He hastens to go to Byzantium, 415. He obtains no aid from the Venetians, 416. He attempts in vain to enter the city; he cannot entreat his grandfather, 418. He is reconciled with the Bulgarian, 419. He is let in at night by two guards of the city, 419. He denies that an injury is being done to his grandfather: he warns his men not to abuse the victory, 422. He suppresses civil discords by his prudence, 422. He decides to meet Michael the Bulgarian as he brings war: he is reconciled with him through the intervention of his mother, 430. He crosses into Asia, about to liberate Nicæa, which was under siege: he sets up camp at Philocrene, 433. He clashes with Orchanes: the Romans are slaughtered: the Emperor is wounded, 434. He enters Philocrene: the Romans, struck with terror, flee in disorder, 433. (See the rest under Orchanes.) He returns to Byzantium: he thinks God is offended: for what crimes, 436. He constructs a fleet: he captures Martinus Chai the commander, and sends him in chains to Constantinople, 438. He falls ill, near death he seeks the cowl: he orders the guilty to be led out of prison: he dictates his final will: he leaves the empire to his wife and his unborn child, the guardianship to Cantacuzenus, 439. He asks for water from the sacred fountain of the Mother of God: having been sprinkled with it, he regains his health, 441. At the exhortation of Michael the Bulgarian, he brings war upon Crale, 454. The Bulgarian having been defeated by the Triballi, he himself, having accomplished nothing, returns to Byzantium, 454. He invades Mesembria and other (Bulgarian) towns, 457. Born 36 years when he died, 474. He brings war upon Alexander the prince of the Bulgarians: he ravages the fields of the Bulgarians: he recovers the remaining castles, 483. He meets the enemy in unequal fight, 484. He exhorts his men to the fight, 485. A bloody battle, 486. The Romans flee in disorder: they burst into the nearest castle: there is labor on every side, yet with a doubtful conscience, 488. Chastised by a benign admonition from Alexander, he is dismissed, ibid. Having had a son born, joyful he returns to Didymotichum; he changes his attire; he celebrates the rites, very anxious regarding Syrgiannes, 495. He fortifies Paratio; he creates John Aprus patriarch; he commends his wife and children to him, 496. He sets out for Macedonia without an army: he distrusts all the Romans, except Cantacuzenus and a few household members: he decides to attack the enemy by strategem, after the example of the illustrious men, 496. He uses the services of Sphrantzes for that matter, 497. Affairs being desperate, the subsidies for flight

^A are frustrated, 521. He burns the fortifications of the Galatians: he neglects to fight openly against those who are provoking the same war, intent upon greater things, 527. He grants peace to those who ask for it, 528. He sets out for Mitylene: he captures five hostile ships, and brings them to Chios: with the Turks joined to him, he besieges Phocaea, 528. Peace is made through the intervention of the Rhodians: conditions of peace, 529. He returns to Byzantium with the whole fleet: he holds an inquiry concerning the conspirators: he convicts them before the assembly: his clemency, 531. At the beginning of his speech he elicits tears, 531. He forbids an inquiry into Demetrius the Despot, moved by a friendly reverence for the Kratzaoí; he is also placated by the acclamations and applause of the people: he includes only the sons of Asan in custody, and that not at all harsh, 553. He recovers Mitylene, through the cunning of Alexius Philanthropenos, 534. He slaughters the Turks pillaging in the Chersonese: he prepares to go into Aetolia, intending to accept the offered princedom, 539. He attacks the Turkish fleet with three ships: fourteen ships captured ^B, he enters the temple of the Hodigitria to offer thanks, he sends away those laden with booty: he is deprived of the princedom of Epirus, 541. He comes to Byzantium; in very weak health; having summoned physicians from everywhere, he visits them at his own discretion: as the disease of the spleen worsens, he makes for the temple of the Mother of God Hodigitria, 554. He holds a noble speech in the synod against Barlaam: he longs for Gregoras, who is absent, 558. As the disease worsens again, he enters the monastery of the Hodigitria: he falls into a lethargy: awakened with difficulty, he summons the physicians: he sends to Gregoras, who inquire to see if he is among friends: he dies: the time of his life and reign, 558, 474 note. The character and disposition of the deceased prince, 563. He neglected the customs of the Roman Emperors: he kept birds and dogs at great expense, 565. Trusting in God, he despised dangers, 566. He did not provide sufficiently for his own dignity, ibid. He abolished the distinctions of caps and garments: these and other things were believed to portend the imminent ruin of the empire: he terrified the leaders of the Triballi and Mysians, 562. Setting out into Thessaly against Syrgiannes [or Iannes], ^C he entrusted his wife and children to the Patriarch John, 579. Disease: departure into Epirus, 583. Mandates concerning the guardianship and administration of the empire, 593, 611, 612, 614, 818. Benevolence toward Cantacuzenus, and a grateful spirit, 581. Judgment concerning the fortress of the Epibatae and the founder of that fortress, Apocaucus. The error corrected later, ibid.

Andronicus. See Asanes, Cantacuzenus, Mazalo, Palaeologus, Protovestiarius. *Ανδρόπρωρα. 963. Anecdota judged. See Excerpta. Angelus, the killer of the Assyrians, 968.

ANGELUS: Alexius, Emperor of Constantinople, is seized by the Marquis of Montferrat: released by the same, he envies his son-in-law Theodore Lascaris, 16. He joins Jathatines the Turk to himself as an ally, 17. Michael invades Thessaly and Epirus, 13. Michael the bastard. See Michael. Michael, another son of Michael the bastard. See Michael. Theodorus succeeds his brother Michael, promotes the ends of his own empire; he takes possession of Thessalonica itself while the Marquis of Montferrat is absent: he is inaugurated emperor by the Archbishop of Bulgaria, contrary to legitimate custom, 2. He pillages with impunity the provinces desolate of Latins, Bulgarians, and Scythians: he lays waste everything up to Byzantium: plague rages, 27. Joannes, ^D a cousin of the Emperor Cantacuzenus, 68, 657. He is ordered to fortify the fortress of Pamphyli, 621. He is made count of the expedition by Cantacuzenus, 656. Prefect of Molis and Thessaly: he is ordered to pay first honors to Anna and John Palaeologus, 644. He recovers a great part of the princedom of Thessaly; he subdues the Aetolians, Locrians, and Acarnanians: he captures the rebel Anna: when some suggested he kill her, he prefers to give her into custody, 627. He comes to Cantacuzenus at Berrhoea, 687. *Αγγελώνυμοι, 519. Soul, how it is participated in by the individual members of the body, 1103. Anna Alemanna, sister of Manfred, King of Sicily, the second wife of John Ducas, 45. Anna Comnena. See note on pp. 7, 36, 714. Anna, daughter of Michael Angelus, betrothed to a prince of the Peloponnese, 71. Anna, niece of Michael I Palaeologus the Emperor through his sister Eulogia, marries Nicephorus, 92, 130. Anna, daughter of Michael II, marries Andronicus the Elder, 109. Originating from the Hungarians, the mother of the Emperor Michael and the Despot Constantine, 271. Anna, daughter of Michael Palaeologus II, married to Thomas, Prince of Epirus and Aetolia, 283. Later also countess of Cephalonia, 283. Anna, daughter of the Protovestiarius, 543. The [second] wife of the Count of Cephalonia, she survives her husband: with two young sons, she retains the princedom of Aetolia and Acarnania, 535. She encouraged Andronicus the Younger to occupy the princedom, 540. She gave herself to the emperor, 545. Thessalonica remains still, 541. She rebels; she is captured; she is handed over into custody, 636. Anna Longobardica, the other wife of Andronicus the Younger, upon the death of her husband, repairs to the palace on the third day of mourning, 540, 545. She troubled the peace of the Church, 590. She gives her oath to Cantacuzenus and receives it from him, 598. She is ill, 599. Blind of heart; empty hopes, 702. Anna commits the astrologers to Gregoras, 722. Anna's inhumanity, 739. Admonished for her insolent behavior, she replies: she manages affairs very badly: she does not obey the holy images, 748. Taken from the very temple of St. Sophia, she is thrown into chains, 748. She is enraged at the Patriarch, who is counseling peace, 760. Anna's hatred against Cantacuzenus and Irene, born of jealousy; the source of all evils, 761. Anna attacks the Persians, 763. It is a hard and cruel spirit, 764. She decides to strip the Patriarch of his dignity, 767. She had enclosed Palamas in prison: she uses the same as a helper against the Patriarch, 768. She conspires with the Pal[aeologi] against the Patriarch, 768. She incites the bishops, 781. She tears up letters through which she is admonished of her duties by a rustic, and drives him from the house, 781. With these forces she is fierce and contumacious; she calls the leaders against Cantacuzenus, who is now approaching the city: she obstinately rejects the fair conditions of peace, 778. She sends a proud legation to Cantacuzenus: in extreme peril, she barely and at last accepts the offered peace, 779. Anna's madness, 789. Iniquity, 799. The reason why she fell from power, 808. Annales Turcici, 711 note. See Leunclav. Annibal, 91, 311, 688, 732. Annus (Year), the beginning of the year among other peoples, 569. What it had been among the Alexandrians, ibid. Years of Philippus Aridaeus, 366. Supply of grain among the Byzantines, 453. Anonymous Greek-Barbarous poet concerning the wars of the Transmarini, 83, 116, 253, in note. See cod. Reg. 1569. Antaicidas, 866. Antigonus, 116, 197. Antioch, a province, 1012. Decrees of the Patriarch of Antioch and letters against Palamas, 823. Antioch on the Maeander, 214. Besieged by the Turks, 10. Its praise, 1116 c. Antipodes, 12, 16. Antirrhetic books of Gregoras, 1112, 1131, 1140. Antoeci, 12, 14. Feast (D.) of Antonius, 460. Antonina (S.), martyr at Nicaea, 448 note. Antonius (the triumvir), 189, 311, 606, 1025. Antonius (S.). See Templum. *Ανύσασθαι, in Gregoras, what it signifies, 83 note. Αφειδής. See Ἀφειδής. Apocaucus (Alexius), domestic of the themes, prefect of the Occident and the salt works: he conspires with Andronicus against the Elder, 501. His pernicious counsels; character, family, fortune, evil arts, 577. He urges Cantacuzenus to take up the insignia of the empire, 578. The same slanders him, ibid. He himself and the Patriarch persuade Anna to remove all authority from Cantacuzenus, 581. The same, weak in forces, spirit, ambition, ibid. A soldier, directed by hatred, rushes against him, 586. Apocaucus complains that Cantacuzenus, who has deserved most well of him, is to be destroyed, 591. He repairs to the fortress of the Epibatae, 599. He is insolent toward Cantacuzenus, 644. The machinations of Apocaucus are detected; flight; counsel concerning dividing the empire, 602. He betrays the side of Cantacuzenus, 604. He is appointed Prefect of the City and is adorned with other dignities, 685. He imitates the Eastern Caesar, 686. With Cantacuzenus having professed himself emperor, he rushes forth as a victor with the Patriarch, 687. Prefect of the fleet, he calls Thessalonica, 651. He destroys the battle line; he does not dare to engage, 657. Leader of both fleets, the Byzantine and the Persian: he follows Cantacuzenus as he goes away, 678. He is timid and slothful, 680. He seeks help from the Kral: he fortifies the mouth of the Ovi: he asks Cantacuzenus what he himself might decide, 681. Apocaucus seeks Berrhoea through the army: he himself at Thessalonica: he lies, arrogant and timid, 685. A certain beneficiary, who had been sent to bring the keys of the city to Cantacuzenus, 685. The end of the life of the same, in the palace, 686.

^A Apocaucus, 670. He decides to win the patriarch and John Gabalas over to his side, 696. He promises to betroth his daughter to John Gabalas; what he pledges in return from him, 701. He goes to Perithorium with the patriarch and the emperor Palaeologus; he plans to shut them up in the castle of Epibatos, 702. He prepares for war: he attacks Didymoteichon with an infested army, 708. He besieges the castle of Pythion, ibid. Accused before Anna by John Gabalas, 710. He returns to Byzantium; he placates the Augusta; he repairs the walls of the city, 711. He fears internal movements of the populace, 727. When, where, and by whom he was killed, 729. Anxieties, bodyguards, moderate ambition, ibid. A prison built by him, 730. Apocaucus, imprudent, having left his guards in the atrium, enters the citadel, 731. He is killed by Raoul and other nobles, 731. The severed head of the murdered man is placed on the highest pinnacle of the wall, 735. The avarice of Apocaucus, 789. His children, 1278. Image, 577, in note. Study of medicine, ibid. The son of Apocaucus is placed in charge of Thessalonica, having been substituted in place of Batatzes, 741. Upon his father's death, he decides to hand over Thessalonica to Cantacuzenus: he occupies the citadel: he is suppressed by an attack of the populace, 740. The daughter of Apocaucus, married first to Andronikos Palaeologus, marries John Asan, 797. Ἀπόγονος, 152 and in note. Ἀπογραφικαὶ ἐμπορίας, 751 and in note. Royal copy, 753 in note. Ἀπολύσασθαι, 563 and in note. Ἀπόκρεως. See Geniales dies. Apollinarius, 1142. Apollonius, 55. Apophthegms of an ancient wise man concerning the one who sails twice, 591; concerning a friend reduced to extreme poverty, 445. See also Anacharsis, Darius, Zeno. Apostles (SS). See Temple. Apostolius, 27 in note. Vatican Appendix, 16 in note. The small town of Apri, 239, 244. City, 248. Battle at Aproi, 299, 215. Arabs, 38, 41, 81, 105. They stand against the Gauls, who are about to enter Syria and Thrace, 105. Arabs of Egypt, 106. Arabic Gulf, 107. Arabia, 81; Felix, 107. Arachosia, 38. Area Nom, 470. Ark (of the Covenant), 518. Archistrategos. See Michael and Monastery. Archive of the Chamber of accounts, 93 in note. Rising of Arcturus, 49, 596 and in note, 813. First rise in the middle of autumn, 245. Argyrolimne, which is also Gyrolimne, 1127. Ariadne’s Crown (Corona), star 548. Quibbling of the Arians, 1056 in note. Aridaeus (Philippus), 366. Aries, 518. It opens the gates of the year, 831. Aristagoras, 155. Aristotle on the substance and operation of God, 1089. On the perfect mind, 1091. Labyrinths of the Aristotelian language, 478. Arius, 1143. He thought the Son was a ποίημα (creature), 1130. The Arians claimed they spoke according to the Scriptures, 918. Armenia, 285, 318. Cilician border, 193. Greater, 38. The Armenian cause of the son-in-law, who seeks the empire, Michael, son of Andronikos the Elder, 193. Religion of the Armenians, 633. Arsenal, 128. They request that the body of Arsenios be brought back to the city, 167. Because of a desire for empty glory, having been cut off from the Church, they are admitted to communion by Patriarch Niphon: ^B their petitions, 261. Who among them revived the schism, 261. Arsenios is chosen patriarch: his eulogy, 55. He is given by will as tutor to John Laskaris, 62. A simple and holy man, not at all suited for the administration of the republic, 66. He poorly consults for the safety of his ward, 67. He hands over the keys of the treasury to Palaeologus, 69. He bears ill the fact that Michael Palaeologus was hailed as emperor, 78. He withdraws: the cause of the secession, 80. He returns, 88. He interdicts Palaeologus from the sacraments, 93. He denies pardon to him who petitions for it, 93. Accused, he does not present himself for judgment: he is condemned as contumacious: he is deported to Prokonnesos, 94. His body is deposited in the church of St. Sophia: whither it was afterwards translated, 167. Relics, 262. Simplicity, 579. Remissness, 759. Artaxerxes, son of Xerxes, 190. Artaxerxes Mnemon, son of Darius and Parysatis, brother of Cyrus, 124, 189. Stratagem of Artaxerxes, 191. Artemisium, 808. Asian. Andronikos the protovestiarios, during the dissensions of the emperors, grandfather and grandson, was in command of the Roman Peloponnesians: by ^B the Syrian temptor: by whom he is accused, 262. See 391, 396, 409, 410, 411. Constantine defeated at Mauropotamos and captured by the Prostrator Synadenos, 415. John I, prince of the Bulgarians, routs the Latins; captures Baldwin, 1. He lays waste to Thrace and Macedonia. 60. John II, prince of the Bulgarians, son of Mytza; he is betrothed to Irene, daughter of Michael Palaeologus; he himself is sent into Bulgaria with large troops, 131. Lachanas reigns briefly: he betroths his sister (to) Pertei: who plots his destruction; despoiled of the kingdom, he flees to Byzantium, 132. John, brother of Irene Augusta, is included in custody with his brother Manuel, 534. He is led out of prison, 624, 626. He is a companion of the distant expedition undertaken by Cantacuzenus, Sebastocrator: he takes as his wife the daughter of Apocaucus: suspected by his father-in-law, he is dismissed with his wife, 797. He urges Matthew, son of Emperor Cantacuzenus, to defection, 798. Manuel, the other brother of Irene Augusta, is given into custody, 534. He is brought out, 624. He is placed in charge of Didymoteichon with his sister the Augusta, 627. He is created Sebastocrator, 797. Michael, 391, 536, 409, 411. He occupies Prosiacum: he retreats to the Kral, 413. ^C Both Johns and Manuel, often solicited to defection by Anna Augusta, 799. Ἀσχέτως, 1315. Asia on this side of the Euphrates, 81, 116. Within the Euphrates, 41. Inferior, 58, 140. Within the Halys, 105. Asian meadows, 324. Asian princes, originating from the Scythians, fight among themselves, 689. Occasion for recovering Asia, why it was missed, 221. Asopus, 251. Assyrians, 38, 40, etc. A French astrologer predicts from the pleasure of Anna Augusta. The right of asylum is very ancient; sacred among all nations; neglected by Christians, 718. Athanasius, patriarch, successor of Gregory of Cyprus, illiterate, but of austere morals: he punishes the clergy, 181. He does not spare the bishops: he imposes on them the necessity of residing, 181. He holds the princes themselves in fear of censure: what things he interdicted for the monks: what he decided concerning horsemanship. ^D Concerning fanatics; penalties imposed: his constitutions did not last long, 183. It is a wonder that the desolation of the Greek church fell in the times of Athanasius, 186. A public tumult against him: Athanasius withdraws, 191. The sentence of excommunication, written by his hand, as if it had been found by boys: what commotions it stirred up, 191. The fame of Athanasius diminished: so that he excused himself before the Emperor: he gives and seeks pardon, 192. He predicts the imminent wrath of God: he is judged by the emperor as worthy of the patriarchate above others, 215. He is again placed in charge of the Church of Constantinople, 216. His second secession, 258. His letters and other minor works, 180 and following in note. Life, by an uncertain author, ibid. Letter to the Augusta, 298 in note. Two letters, ibid. Letter of censure against John Drimys, 919 in note. (Athanasius) Patriarch of Alexandria touches upon Patriarch Athanasius of Constantinople with a fable, 216 with note. Athanasius (St.), 962, 972, 1068, 1069, 1077, 1078, 1083, 1099, 1132, 1134, 1141. His spurious oration, 1112 and in note. Athanasius, ally of Gregoras against Palamas: his eulogy, 891. Atheism itself deified, 1023. Athens, 525, 1089. Home of eloquence: destroyed by Lysander the Lacedaemonian, 477. Who among those at Athens were once erased from the list of judges, 8. John, leader of the Athenians, aids the Sebastocrator, 114. He rejects the condition offered by Irene Augusta, 237. Distinct from the aforementioned rector of Athens, called the Great Dux. Athenian, 209, 252, 1089. Wise men, 723. The Athenian army strikes upon an island: destroyed in a slaughter, 177. Socrates and Plato, 177. Triremes, most expeditious, Paralus and Salaminia, 556. Democratic state, 796. A fleet to be feared by the Peloponnesians, 866. Mount Athos, praised, 714. Where live, annot. 717, 500, 620. Ἄθυρον μέγα, 397 in note. Ἄθυρον μικρόν, ibid. Atlantic Sea. See Sea. Atman, satrap of Bithynia, 214. Atramyttium, 162, 168. Atrides Agamemnon, 725.

^A Attalus, Trojan, founder of Tarsus (so stated), 14. Attalia, city, 17. Attica, 11, 231, 323, 337. Attica age, 336. Atticus peplus, 332. Atuman, Atman, Otman, 539 with note. See Orchanes. Author of the Divine Names, 1103 note. Author of the Perpetuity of the Faith, praised, 1139 note. Auderorum Monastery. See Monastery. Audimus, or the sense of hearing. See Sight. Aufidus, cf. Ἀφείδιος, 752. Auguries, ^B sinister, 303, 304, 305, 373, 460, 695. See also 98, 310, 618, 619, 621, 765. Augusteon, paraphrase by Pachymeres. See Pachymeres. Augusti, 238. Augustus, Αὐγούστου μοναρχία, 125. Octavius Caesar, 696. Defeated Antony and Cleopatra beyond expection, 311. Aula Dei, after the fashion of the Persian hall, 1519. Aula, flourishing in the study of the liberal arts under Andronicus the Elder, 327. Autix, wind-trap, 837. Axius, 21. Gulf near Euboea, 878. Aulonis, plains, 73. Αὐλὼν Κιλίκιος, 191 with note. Aurei, gates of the palace, 711. Auria (Paganus), who is also Doria, 688 with note. ^C Αὐτενέργεια, 931. Αὐτοενέργεια, 975. Αὐτοῦ περαγαθότης, 1091 with note. Axius, river, 580. Called Bardarius after the name was changed, 650. See also 747. Azatines, Sultan, approaches Michael Palaeologus as a suppliant, 82. Attends the sacred doxology, 94. Solicits Constantine of the Bulgarians with promises, 100. Is set free, 101. His wife and children given into custody: his companions baptized, ibid. His death, 157. See also 229, 238. B Babylon, 582. Captured by Cyrus, 91. Captured by Darius, 497. Babylon, Egyptian, 102, 1166. d. Rivers of Babylon, 581, 471. Wealth of Babylon, 807. Ταλασοῦργίαι, 45. Babylonians, 38, 40. Envoys, 721. Bactrians, 57. Bajulus, ^D epitropos, magistrate of the Venetians at Galata, 97. Βάκα, Manas, 729. Βάξα, 184. Balaam’s ass created, 968. Baldwin, Count of Flanders, created Emperor of Byzantium, 14. Captured by the Bulgarians, 15. Baldwin, brother of Emperor Robert, fourth and last Latin Emperor of Byzantium, 86. Baldwin, nephew of the first Baldwin by his sister, flees after his horse is seized, 85. About to lose Byzantium, hears his painted horse neigh, 304. Baldwin I, takes to wife the daughter of King Charles, 98. Baldwin I, daughter, 193. Baptism, 932, 1136. Barba rasa, insignia of the Latins, 244, 396. Manners of the barbarians noted, 583. Barbissa, river, 847 note. Barbysa, Barbyssus; who is also Ctar-taricus, 858 note. Bardarius, 580. See Axius. Barlaam, an Italian arrival; learned no less in Greek than in Latin; contemns the Byzantines; seeks glory for himself by disparaging others, 535. Is traduced and whistled down, ibid. Attacks Greek monks, to confirm the doctrine of the Latins; accuses them of blasphemies, ibid. Condemned in a synod, he returns to his own people and to the customs of his homeland, 558. Defeated by Gregoras, 901, 918. Censured by Cantacuzenus, 903. By the same sentence under which he is condemned, all the adversaries of Palamas are said to be condemned, 907. The name of Barlaam is always cast against Palamas, 918. The arrival, doctrine, and grace of Barlaam among the princes, 919. Especially among Cantacuzenus, 919, 922. Barlaam accuses Palamas, 920. Is imprudently praised by him, 921. Ancient decrees against Barlaam are read again, 976. Barlaam, a Calabrian arrival, 901. Met with Palamas, 911, 918. Activity, 903. Decrees against him from the Church and the Patriarch, 907. Contained in the Tomus, 908. Master of the doctrine of St. Dionysius and interpreter of St. Theology, 923. See his indicated works in the note at p. 516. Βάῤῥους ὄμμα, 181 note. Βασιλικός, 413 and note. Basil the Great, 770, 951, 960, 970, 987, 1018, 1019, 1115, 1121, 1134, 934, 960, 987, 990, 1034, 1083, 1132, 1123, 1032. See annotations at pp. 511, 915 and 987. Basil (Nicephorus) fortifies and protects the castle of Melenicus, not to be returned to Andronicus the Younger until after the death of the senior: reward of fidelity, 113. Basil Bulgaroctonus, 27. Basil Alexius, Emperor of Trebizond. See Comnenus. Basil, Emperor, wife of. See Eudocia. Batatzes, of ignoble birth; how he achieved wealth, 711. Is put in charge of Thessalonica: having been ejected from there by the son of Apocaucus, he defects to Cantacuzenus: is aided by the arms of Solyman's son, 741. After Apocaucus is dead, he is reconciled with Anna Augusta: summons greater forces from Asia, to rage against the Cantacuzenists, 743. Having been defrauded of Persian spoils and provisions, they are killed, 762. Beus. See Veccus. Bederina, Cederiana, 27 in note. Beelzebub, 1129. See annot. Belesus, 88. Belicurto (or Velicurto), Latin, is betrothed to Theodora, daughter of Theodorus Lascaris the Younger, 92. Wars almost throughout the whole world, 65. Civil wars compared with foreign, 632. Bellegrada, castle, [περπλέον] is besieged by Michael Angelus and his associates, 73. See also p. 116 and 394. Bellerophon against himself, 1076 with note. Bema, 749, 787. Βήμας μονή (Abbey of Vérois, see Villehardouin), 61 with note. See Ἀξόρκα. Berengarius Entença, Catalan, becomes Grand Duke, 220. Captured by the Genoese; then redeemed, 227. Fights with Rocafort, is killed, 238. Bernard's (St.) dogma on charity, 1035 in note. Bernard (D.) of Montefalconus, 374 in note. Berrhoea, 198, 631, 679, 680, 686, 689. Subjugated by the Cral, 689. Berrhoean envoys, acting secretly with Cantacuzenus concerning the Cral's unjust conditions, 654. Bezeleel, 1111. Billius, 508 note. Binary number, 974. Bithynian soldiers, 83. Cavalry, 111. Romans, 334. Bithynia, 171, 174, 215, etc. Fortified with garrisons against the Turks, 10. Bithynia, maritime coast, 458. Cities, 401. Subjugated by the Turks, 381. Bizarus (Petrus). See annot. at pp. 286, 548, 687, 688, 689, 763. Bizya, 263. Bizyna, city, 856. Blachernae palace, 87. Temple, 130, 171, 778, 787, 791. Blachus, daughter of the prince, first wife of the Cral, 203. Blemmydes (Nicephorus), orders Marcesina to be excluded from the temple, having always badgered her, 46. An angry woman and court sycophants falsely accuse Blemmydes, 46. His eulogy, ibid. Most worthy of the Patriarchate; declines the offered honor, 55. Books written for the Latin dogma on that point, 129. See annot. at pp. 46 and 129. Blondus, 1167. Blondus (Mich. Angelus), 81 in note. Bogomils captured on Mount Athos, 714. Bogomilian heresy, 876. Boeoti, 209, 752. Boeotia, 113, 250, 251. Boeotia and ruler of Thebes, called Grand Primicerius, 259. Afterwards Μέγας Κύριος, ibid. Bollandus, 460 in note. Bona contingentia, 953. Bondemontius, 275 in notes. Borysthenitae, 36. Bosporus, 101. Maeotic, 683. Βουγῆ, 965. Brielius, 380 note, 626 note. Britons invade Gaul, 689. Bishops of Britain, 911. Bromptonus, 169 in note. Brutus, 178. Conflict of Brutus and Cassius with Octavius Caesar, 638. Bryennius (Nicephorus). See annot. at pp. 35, 37, 41. Bulga, river, 26. Bulgarians, 116. Dissident through the interregnum, 457. Ἐντὸς τοῦ, 390. Origin of the Bulgarians, migration and various fates, 26. Affairs, 60. Army, threatening Byzantium, 418. Bulgarians invade Thrace, 53. Equal in strength to the Romans, restores what was taken, and obtains peace, 56. Bulgaria, city, which is also Prima Justiniana, 26. Whence it received its name, 27. Its archbishop inaugurates Theodorus Angelus as emperor, 26. Bulgaroctonus. See Basilius. Bullialdus (Ismael), 85 note. Byzantium, naval care neglected, exposed to injuries,

^A despiciuntur a Venetis, Andronico juniori favent, 85. Aperte et clam exitium Cantacuzeno moliuntur, 613. Amurio pecuniam offerunt, ut donium redeat, 693. Inopia laborant, 748. Fullis vestibus passim utuntur, 752. Viribus bello civili attritis infirmi, 841. Injurias patienter ferunt, 843. Coactis undique navibus, classem instruunt; obsident et obsidentur, 857. Portas claudunt, ibid. Bellum deposcunt, 838. In altum provehuntur, rudes plerique et inexercitati, ibid. Hostium navem onerariam incendunt, tum trepidatio, 884. Byzantinæ rei status miserrimus, 751. Byzantium rei frumentariæ inopia laborat, 683. Byzantii celebritas, 678. Ingens circuitus: militum paucitas: civium ardor, 850. Suburbia a Genuitis Galatæis incendantur, 1031. Byzas Byzantii conditor: ejus columna dies complures agitatur, 303.

C Cabasilas ipse Gregoram deserit: illius ingenium et studia, 1025. Gregoram adit, 1050. J. patriarcham vivum venerabatur: Palamam et Cantacuzenum exsecrabatur: admodum senex idem animum mutat, 1052. Inanis gloriæ appetens, 1055. Palamæ libros commendat, 1055. Palamam ipsum laudat, 1056. Operationes increatas multas in Deo statuit a substantia distinctas, ibid. Sanctum Spiritum non unum, nec septem solum, sed septuagies septem, imo infinities infinitos agnoscit, ibid. Negat substantiam divinam participari posse, 1057. Operationum increatarum participatione homines ait fieri increatos, et mysticum Eucharistiæ panem sanctificari, ibid. Thaborii luminis quæstionem obtrudit, 1073. Verba ex scriptis Palamæ excerpta profert, 1112. Ejus opera exstant in Cod. Reg., 1128. Cabasilæ, et ejus socii, violentia ne proracitas, 1112, 1143. Discedentium monita et minæ, 1144. Cabasilas auctor de participabili et imparticipabili disserit, 1037. ^B Cæcias ventus, 179. Cæsarissa (quæ antea Panhypersebasta, Metochita filia) vidua convenitur a Gregora et ab aliis legatis: ejus mulieris mæror et habitus miserabilis, 380. Crales audita legatione, eam dimittit: abeuntem prosequitur non satis splendide, 382. Illa Thessalonicam abit, ut viro justa persolvat. Cæsarissæ frater, 374. Cain, 421. Calames satrapa imperat a Lydia et Æolia usque ad Mysiam, 214. Callinicus legatus, 395 in not. Calliope, 536. Callistus ex Atho monte arcessitur, 871. Cur promotus ad patriarchatus dignitatem: ejus inhumanitas, in ipsos mortuos sævientis, 873. Massalianismi accusatur ab episcopis, quos ipse variorum criminum accusat; veniam dat et accipit, 876. Gregoram inclusum visit, amice alloquitur, omne contentionis studium abjiciat, stolide admonet, 1047. Tentatores ad illum submittit, 1050. Callipolis capta a J. Duca, 29. Munitur a Catalanis, 227. Vide 222 et 224. Calyptra imperatoris, 358. Vide Chatel. Camaris, Byzantii proditor, 419. Cambyses Persa, Susis profectus in Ægyptum, 415; regem Ægypti capit; flendi causam negat, ibid. Camelus cornua appetens, Vide Proverb. Camerino (de) (Franciscus) Vosprensis, seu Bospori archiepiscopus, 501 in not. Canicleum, 281. Canicula exortus, 528, 666. Cannensis pugna: aurum post illam interdictum mulieribus, 752. Cannensis ager, 732. Canones et constitutiones apostolorum, 983. Canonum editiones vulgatæ, 407 not. Cantacuzena, mater Cantacuzeni, factiosos comprimit, 617. Dolor et morbus, ibid. Obitus, 618. Consiliis et arcanis imperatoriis præfuit, 619. Palamæ erroribus patrocinata fedissimo vitæ exitu pœnas dedit, 886. Fame et frigore absumpta, ibid. Cantacuzenus (Joannes) solus fortuna moderate utitur: ejus elogium: apophthegma, 122. Turcos prædatores profligat, 579. Egregiam Andronico juniori operam navat in Acarnania: vir magnæ indolis, apud milites gratiosissimus, 581. Conjurati oppressi: deprehensa Sphrantzæ et Palæologi perfidia; alia res diversis locis prudenter administrata, 583. Ipso silentio magnas res gerit, 584. Asium et canum curam negligit, 585. Juniorum principi- ^C pum saluti consulit, 576. Postulat ut filiæ suæ et junioris imp. nuptiæ perficiantur, 513. Potens idem et moderatus, statim sedatus, 586. Cantacuzenus una re damnandus, gratus, 596. In Mysos exercitum educit: Thraciam lustrat, 596. Byzantium redit: patriarchæ inconstantiam mollibus verbis castigat, 599. Jusjurandum duplex ab eo accipit, omnis generis vasa exportat, 600. Imperatorii honores ei delati in salutationibus, 604. Multi ut Apocaucum in vincula conjiciat hortantur, sed frustra, 604. Mæror, anxietas, 609. Mater in carcerem conjecta: constantia in adversis, 609. Mors intentata a nobilibus, nisi se imperatorem salutari patiatur, 610. Imperii insignia coactus induit, jam pridem ei variis auguriis promissa, 611. Sibi et conjugi acclamari non sinit, nisi postquam Annæ et Joanni imp. acclamatum sit. defuncti imp. mandata observat, 611. Cur albis vestibus toto exsilii tempore usus sit, 612. Cunctatio: copiæ militares, 614. Legationes subinde Byzantium missæ: postulata æquitatis plena, 614. Multi ut desider et ignavum deserunt: res valde afflicta: litteræ interceptæ, 615. Jacta in eum probra, 617. Non frangitur rebus adversis: ejus nuntiis contumeliose illuditur a Byzantiis: per monachos montis Atho de pace agit, 620. Ab Orestiadis primoribus evocatus, 620. Fluvii interjecti repentino auctu bis repulsus, re infecta discedit, 621. Apophthegmata de bello civili, 622. Didymotichum uxori et Manueli Asani committit: Polystylum instaurat et munit, 626. Christopolitanas angustias ut evaserit: circa Philippos castrametatur, 631. Threlem suspectum amice excipit; dimittit, 632. Rhentinam in deditionem accipit: Thessalonicam ire cunctatur: Melenici castellum in deditionem accipit, 632. Gynæcocastrum usque progressus cum Synadeno colloquitur, 634. Structas sibi a Synadeno insidias deprehendit: dispersos milites cogit, 635. Acie instructa Apocaucum exspectat, suos quoque instruentem, at congredi non audentem, exteris magis quam popularibus suis confisus, 636. Ubinam pernoctarit: legatos ad Cralem præmittit, qui ab homine Triballo comprehensi ad Apocaucum deducuntur, 636. A Liberio Triballo benigne excipitur: vasa et pretiosa dono dat: generum eidem pollicetur Manuelem filium, 638. Crali per litteras commendatus, Scopiam venit, ad Axium flumen, 639. Tolerabili hospitio contentus, illic cum exercitu subsistit, 639. Cralem postridie convenit: Cantacuzeni et Cralis dispar magnificentia, 640. Altera a Serriis expeditio irrita: ad Cralem invitus redit, 653. Berrhæam ex pacto ingreditur, 655. Melior ex eo fortuna, 655. Thessalonicam dolo aggressus, irrito conatu discedit, 658. In magnas angustias adductus, 659. Indicato fluvii transitu salvos evadit, 660. Ab Apocauco interrogatus respondet, 661. Legatos ad Amurium mittit, 666. Sagittario ignoscit, confert se ad Amurium, 670. Demetrium martyrem reveritus, Thessalonicensium voluntariam deditionem exspectat, 676. Amurio comite, urbes Thraciæ it sollicitatum, 676. Christopolitanas fauces transgreditur, 677, 692. Perithorium frustra oppugnat: Didymotichum abit, ibid. Ibi se et suos reficit, ibid. Comotenam et Gratianopolim in deditionem accipit, 703. Apud Mosinopolin castrametatur, 705. Obdormiscit amnissimo in loco: res visu et auditu mirabiles ei oblatæ, ibid. Subito Momitilæ adventu pæne opprimitur, 706. Tumultuariam et iniquam pugnam committit, 707. Armigeri beneficio salvus evadit: hostibus coactis retrocedere, Didymotichum abit, ibid. Multi ^D et suis ipsum deserunt, 708. Intempestiva postulata ducum et militum, 709. Illius responsa, ibid. Momitilam it debellatum, 727. Juxta Perithorium castrametatur, 728. Laborat pecuniæ inopia, 748. Nimium supplex et abjectus in epistolis: multum sibi et reipublicæ obfuit cunctando, 754. In Joannem patriarcham officia ad eum epistola, scripta rubris litteris, 755. Selybriam in deditionem accipit: Orestiade coronatur ab Hierosolymitano patriarcha: Byzantium clandestinis molitionibus invadere conatur, 762. Hyrcanum Bithyniæ satrapam, generum adsumit, 762. Byzantium noctu ingreditur Phaceolati opera, 771. Alteram et tertiam legationem ad Annam mavult mittere quam vim facere, 776. Mira clementia, 778. Verba apud legatos ad Annam iturus, 776. Palatio cedit, ne aut Annæ aut Palæologo incommodet: domicilium sibi constituit circa Alexii triclinium, 785. Qualem se erga patriarcham gesserit: cum monasterio includit; Didymotichum ablegat, 784. Iterum inauguratur quam ob causam, 787. Cur in Blachernensi non in S. Sophia templo, 787. Pecunias non repetit ab iis qui ærarium exhauserant, 790. Suorum postulata et querelas ut elidat, 790. Audita Matthæi filii defectione, anxius.

And is destitute of counsel, 801. He bequeaths his wife Irene to his son, 805. He departs for Didymoteichon, so that he might compose the movements caused by his wife, 813. He assigns the province to Matthew, 814. He holds an oration before him, 814. He goes into the city, 819. He has frequent conversations with Gregoras, 823. In gentleness, he is like Hadrian, 824. Fearing a tumult, he comes to Byzantium: he urges Gregoras to sit, 827. He admonishes the head of the office: he is not heard: he prepares for war, 831. He labors under a disease of the kidneys: on account of this and other causes, he desists from the war undertaken, 833. A cavalry troop of plunderers yields, is routed, and flees, 839. He constructs a fleet, 842. Having sent for aids and ships, he encourages the spirits of the Byzantines, 849. He returns from Orestias, he prepares for war by land and sea, 851. He reproaches the Byzantines for negligence: he orders money to be contributed for the fleet, 853. Money is promised: an immense fervor of all: examinations, 855. Cantacuzenus, after having lost his fleet, is brave and invincible of spirit, 866. He restores the fleet: he increases the imperial revenues: he imposes new ones, 869. His political prudence, 871. A council concerning the synod, 875. He departs for Thessalonica, intending to appoint Palaiologos, his son-in-law, prefect of that city, 876. He returns to Byzantium remarkably joyful: he contemplates convening a council, 878. Exacerbated by the words of Gregoras: he decides to punish him at the convening of the synod, 890. He is noted for iniquity, 891. He swears with perplexed and ambiguous words, 896. Manifest iniquity, 901. He promises under oath to both parties that it will be so, 907. Impatient; gentle, 917. He interrupts Gregoras, and admonishes him to be briefer, 928. Addicted to Palamas, 929. A patron of Barlaam formerly and his friend, 935. Usually accustomed to speak, he suppresses him out of reverence for majesty, 936. He objects three things to Gregoras, 957. Palamas speaks, he grants the duty of responding to Palamas, 961. He is averse and hard-hearted toward the orthodox, 978. He executes the commands of Palamas, 984. He deliberates with Palamas about a new way of disputing: they decide to exclude the bishop of Tyre from the council, 990. Likewise to terrify the orthodox with insults and calumnies, 991. He threatens most grave things: he is compared with Xerxes, 993. His gestures and words, 994. Palamas speaks, he grants the duty of responding to Palamas: he approaches Gregoras: he tests his mind with crafty arts, 996. He affirms that he has said what he said in the council thus far for the sake of peace and concord: he promises that his equity will be greater in the future, 998. He is noted for iniquity, 1006.

John, emperor (the same as above), Magnus, or great: joins a conspiracy against Andronikos the Elder, initiated by the younger, 319. With him, from the beginning of his age, he is conjoined, 501. They explore the harbors and approaches of the city together, 408. They deliberate with traitors, 419. Cantacuzenus alone is not suspected by Andronikos the younger, 406. By what merits he was reconciled to him, 580. Even while he was alive, he administered the empire: he always lived with him most conjoinedly, 579. He repudiates the co-consortium of the empire while he is still alive, 582. He is assimilated to a rogue, 588. He wishes John Palaiologos to be crowned: the patriarch forbids it, 616. Soldiers and leaders, 687. How long he remained among the Triballoi, 610. Delivered from all dangers, 615. Forgetful of injuries, 613. He consulted for the dignity of the exile and the orphans everywhere, ibid. The long death-throes of patience, 641. He takes possession of Byzantium, 772. How great his riches were at first, 811. He flees to the insignia of the empire as to a necessary refuge, 818. He hastens to go to Didymoteichon for the sake of his son Matthew, 825. A bitter and strong defender of Palamas, 830. He was the first to patronize the impiety of Palamas with the mitre, 886. Forced to participate in the dogmas of the Persians, ibid. An accuser and persecutor on account of prejudice, 900. An ambitious displayer of himself, 963. Matthew (son of John), a companion of the long expedition undertaken by his father, 687. The eldest of the children of Emperor Cantacuzenus: prefect of the cities of Thrace: he is solicited by Asanes, his uncle, to defect, 798. He holds an oration before him, 801. He occupies the citadel of Orestias: he conciliates spirits to himself, 804. He proceeds to meet his mother, 805. He promises obedience; he asks that he might free himself from fear, ibid. He is assigned a principality by his father, 815. How he defeated the Persian plunderers, 837. Hope from an illustrious victory, 838. When he subscribed to the Palamitic tome, 1095, in note.

Manuel (another son of John), a companion of the long expedition undertaken by his father, 638. He is promised as a son-in-law to Liberius the Triballian: he is adorned with great praises, 638. An adolescent of extraordinary character; appointed prefect of the city of Berrhoea by his father, 673. He builds suburban buildings for the Galatians, 819. Andronikos, son of John, the youngest of the children: he dies from the plague, 815, 768. His death is foretold by Gregoras to Cantacuzenus, 887. Cantacuzenus and Syrgiannes, having corrupted the leading men of the court, obtain the provinces of Thrace to be administered: by various arts they prepare a way for defection, 301. Cantacuzenus and Apokaukos, having set out on different paths, have disparate outcomes, 590. ^B Cantacuzenus and Isidore render mutual aid to each other, 787. You have an index of the orations of Cantacuzenus below. See Oration. Whether Cantacuzenus was unlettered, 986 in note. Deceived by the inscription of an ancient codex, 910, note. He praises Theodorus Graptus in his Antirrhetic against Prochoros, 468, note. Gregoras disagrees in narrating events, 859, note. Likewise in chronological calculations, 472, 474, 496, 859, 977, 780, 788, in the notes to those pages. The chronology of Cantacuzenus, 831 in note. Flawed or suspected, 727, 743, 496 note. Where to be preferred, 791 note. Cantacuzenus the emperor’s daughter, Helena and Maria. See H and M. Mother. See Cantacuzena. Cousin Ph. of the Guito of Armenia. Song of Songs, 750. Capha, or Caphas, a colony of the Genoese, 886. The pride of the inhabitants, 685. War with the prince of the Scythians, ibid. Cappadocia, 81. Carases, a satrap, the son of Calaman, Wulfio Cerasus, 211. The city of the Cardiani taken by John Doukas, 29. Cormania, 58. Carmenus, an Alisurian, satrap of Phrygia, 211. Carnivale. See Ἀπόκρεως. Charles, king of Italy, betroths his daughter to Baldwin, 98. He makes a peace with Baldwin, 125. The ambition of Charles, military virtues: what impelled him to carry war against the Palaiologos, ibid. The apparatus of war: land forces: a fleet, 128. He does not desist from his endeavor, ibid. Charles and Palaiologos, equal in various arts, obstruct each other; Charles is a perpetual enemy to the Palaiologos, but always in the same endeavor: he attacks the Byzantines by land and sea: he manages the war against them poorly, likewise against the Sicilians: he loses his son, he dies consumed by grief: the greatest head of the things, 174. Charles, king of Italy (different from the above), attacks the king of the Goths, Theodoric (Federico), prepared and armed by various calamities for two years, 217. He loses the captured cities at the arrival of Roger, he seeks to repeat the same: he departs with the affair poorly managed; he repairs the war; he is conquered; he seeks peace and affinity from the king of Sicily, 219. Charles, king of Italy (namely Robert), 525. Caspian straits, 80. Caspian sea. See Sea. Cassandria, 215, 266, 1209. Cassius, 178. The governor of Byzantium, a traitor, 419. Cistoria, 48. Catalans, ibid. They cross into Asia: they harass hosts and allies, 230. They liberate Philadelphia when it was besieged, 221. Defrauded of pay, they traverse Roman cities with a hostile wall: their cruelty, 223. Having killed the townspeople of Callipolis, they prepare for war on land and sea: they are conquered at sea by the Genoese, 227. Their consternation: they enclose themselves for a long siege: they go to the Turks for help: they commit plunder, 237. They defeat Michael the younger emperor at Apros, 230. Having devastated Thrace, they seek a place in which to settle: how great their number was, 231. They winter in Macedonia at Cassandria: the cities of the Macedonians are in danger, especially Thessalonica, 245. Deprived of supplies, they prepare a return into Thrace: they hear the way is blocked to them, 246. They remain in great fear: they seek Thessaly, 248. They encamp near Olympus, they plunder the neighboring fields, ibid. Who and how many Turks were in their army, ibid. The Turks having been dismissed, they invade Thessaly, 249. They prefer the money and alliance of the Thessalians to uncertain hope, ibid. Having overcome Thermopylae, they encamp near the Cephissus, ibid. They defeat the Athenian army with a crafty stratagem: they capture Thebes and Athens: they dwell in those places, 251. They subdue a part of Thessaly, after John Doukas the Sebastokrator died, 279. They conspire with Sphrantzes Palaiologos against Andronikos the younger, 555. They join themselves as allies to the Venetians, 880. The powers of the Catalans in Thessaly, weakened, 887. Catanes, duke of the Phocaeans, claims Mitylene for himself; superior in number of allies to the allies: he summons his wife and children to Phocaea; by what right he had been prefect of this city, 525. Vide annot. Mitylene, ibid. Cathara, a handmaid, secretly cohabited with by Constantine the despot, from whom Michael Catharus was born, 295, 191. Catharus (Michael), the illegitimate son of Constantine the despot, hateful to the father himself, neglected by him, 293. Powerful and graceful with the older Andronikos, 291, 19. Vide ibid. 233. Catulus (Lactatius), 34. Caucasus, 36, 91.

^A Caysler, 18. Cecropidae, name of a people, 556. Cedrus Libani, 382. Celtae, 51, 101. Very warlike. Vide Gauls. Celtica, 238. Vide Gaul. Celtogalatae, 106, 107. Cephallenians, 110. Cephallenia, 110. The Count of Cephallenia, 318; returns against his will to Thessalonica with the Emperor, 383. Cephisus, 252. Its river course, 251. Ceras, or the Ceratine Gulf, 176, 209, 416, 858. Cerasus of Turkey. Vide Carases. Chalanes Tower, 852, 884. Chalaus and Telepugas (sons of Sitzischanis) divide the army, 55. Chalaus winters at Mount Taurus, 37. Eighteenth canon of the Council of Chalcedon, 105. Chiconedyles, 434 note. Vide Laonicus. Chaldaeans, 58, 40, 91. Chaldean Empire, 582. Oracles, 724. Wisdom, 426, 450. Chalel, leader of the Turks, remains in Macedonia: offers peace to the Romans; conditions of peace, 254. Places the emperor’s crown upon his own head, 258. Vide also 231, 248, 265. Chandrenus, 219 note. χαρακτηρίζειν, 973. Χαρίτων θάλαμος. χαρίτων προπύλαια, 476. Charondas of Catana: state constitution established by him in Sicily, 796; legislator of the Sicilians, 1108. Collection of Charters, appended to the Franco-Byzantine History, 116 in note. Two species of charters, 893 in note. Χάρτης χόρτινος, ibid. Dignity of the Chartophylax, 540. Charybdis, 241, 860, 1029. Chasan and Mahomet, sons of Amuri, 215 with note. Chelae (scorpions), 548. Cherson, 877. And note there, 880. Chersonesus, 267, 381, 538, 598, 605, 747. Occupied by John Doukas, 29. Chetir, son of Altinus, 187 note. Chilas of Ephesus and Daniel of Cyzicus, accusers of Gregory of Cyprus, 177. Ungrateful minds suffer punishment: they themselves are also accused by their dearest companions, 179. The Emperor turns away from them: they are despised by their colleagues; they end their lives in the city, consumed by grief, 180. Chingis, Chingischam, 55 with note. Chius, 98, 458, 529, 702, 842, 851. Captured by John Doukas, 495. Χολοβάφινον, 495. Chora Monastery, by whom founded, by whom restored. The Metochitae return from exile to their home, 458. Adorned and renovated by Metochita, 303. Gregoras’ Danielium, 309, 1045. Chortaites, see Chartaites. Vide Monastery. Chreles the Triballian rebel, 626. Gains possession of the principality of Strummitza: feared by Kral; flattered by the Byzantines, 626. Comes to the aid of Cantacuzene, 627. Meets him, 628. On the body of Christ transfigured, whether it was uncreated, 947, 1043. Christopolis, 246, 319, 321, 354, 595, 625, 627, 642. Its walls, 814. Anguish of the Christopolitans, 254, 627, 631, 653, 677, 746. Faures, 617, 692. Chronicon Orientale, 101 in note. Chronicon Paschale, 27, 52, in note. Chronicon breve, edited by Boulliau, 85 note. Chronology corrupted by copyists, 252 in note. Chronological series of emperors from MS codices, vide note at pp. 13, 21, 53, 61. Chrysostom, 961, 216, 1012, 1084, 1123. Chumnus (Nicephorus, who is also Nathanael), 107, 162, in note. Prefect of the Canicleion, 211 in note. Chumnus’ Chrysobulls, 107, 162, in note. Epistles, 178 in note. Oration on the death of Theoleptus, 221 note. Other short works, 211, 259, 269, in note. Chytraeus, 85 in note. Cilicia, 82, 102. The Cilician Gates, Κιλίσιος αὐλών, 194. Cilicians, 103, 599. They grant passage to the Christian army, 103. Cimbri, 52, defeated by C. Marius and Lutatius Catulus, 34. Cimmerii, 87. Cinnamus (Leo) the bibliographer, 167 note. Caulzustra. Vide Justa. Claudius. Vide Ptolemy. Cleidus, dicrophylax and archdeacon, 457 note. Clement, successor of Peter, 506. Cleopatra, 511. Egyptian, 606. Imperial clergy, 496. Climacus (John), 962.

^B Clisthenes made ten tribes out of four among the Athenians, 796. Clopa, 672 note. Emperors seated on a shield, 55, 78. Royal codex of the works of Theodorus Graptus (or rather Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople), a very ancient parchment, 952 note. Paper, 940 note. Of the works of Hippocrates, 568 note. Of the works of Cabasilas, 1025 note. Royal codex (formerly Tellerianus) of the works of Manuel Philes, 159 note. Of the works of Athanasius, patriarch of Constantinople, 180, 253 and 29 in note. Codex of Cantacuzene, 462 note. Procopius Vaticanus, 27 in note. Manuscripts sold by the Turks after capturing Nicaea, 458. Codinus. Vide note at pp. 578, 612, 701, 797. Coelesyria, 41, 107. Colchi, 148. Colchis, 39, 128, 548. Colossus of Rhodes, no trace of it existed in the time of Gregoras, 1146. Dove, which appeared over Christ when baptized, 1037. Pillar of fire, which went before the Israelites, 968. Column, placed before the church of the Forty Martyrs, collapsed, 460. Porphyry column, on which a cross was placed, 383. Column and statue (Justinianic) in the vestibule of St. Sophia, 275. Comani, 36, 111. From Hyperborean Scythia, they transfer themselves to John (Doukas) the emperor, 36, 296. Sacrileges of the Comani grain, 112. Comets, 98, 512, 548, 765. Commemoration of emperors and patriarchs, 303.

COMNENI

Constantinus Bulgarus, prince of Zagora. See Tkach.

Constantinus Caesar, uterine brother of Michael Palaeologus, 72. Becomes Sebastocrator, 79. Appointed prefect of Monemvasia, Mene, and Sparta: inflicts many disasters upon the Peloponnesian Latins, 80.

Constantinus, the despot, cuts the cowl of Simonis the sister; hands her over to be taken away by the Triballians, 288. Mother: first wife: son born of a maidservant, no one else being Katharos(?), 293. Second wife Eudocia Palaeologina. Prefect of Thessalonica, ibid. Sets out thither under ill omens: being sent by the mother of the junior emperor to Byzantium, leads an army through the Christopolitan straits, 554. Recovers Thessalonica, 556. Ordered to arrest factious citizens: due to a sedition stirred up by them, is compelled to put on the cowl; handed over to Andronicus the junior, he barely escapes death, then is finally moved to another, more tolerable [prison], 367. Receives freedom and loses it again: the first letter of his name is thought to have portended the empire to him, 441. Dies, ibid. See also 577.

Constantinus, etc. See also Asan, Palaeologus, Porphyrogenitus, Tornicius.

Consul, in Greek *hyparchos*, a magistrate of the Pisans among the Galatae, 97.

Consuls, Roman, 258.

Coutares, 1171.

Copaic marshes, 417.

Corcyra, 110.

Corcyraean navy: Senate, 576.

Coriolanus. See Martius.

Cornu, or the Ceratine gulf, 858, in note.

Corona ovata, why so called, 43.

Cos taken by Joannes Duca, 29.

[Cosmas] Melodus, 1170, 1110.

Cosmidium. See Monastery.

Cralæna, 241, 242. See Simonis.

CRALES, three: First, son-in-law of Andronicus the senior: a fickle husband, 202. Simonis, daughter of the Emperor Andronicus, is betrothed to him: they arrive at Thessalonica, 203. Gives hostages to the Crales: carries off Simonis his bride, who is five years old, while he himself is over forty, 205. With Irene (his mother-in-law) urging it, he designates as his successor first Demetrius, then Theodorus the marchioness(?), the brothers of his wife, 213. Unless his wife returns, he threatens the extreme, 287. Dies, 269. See 202, 255, and 237.

Second, son-in-law of the Caesar, most devoted to Andronicus the senior due to affinity, 590. Married the Caesar’s daughter, who was twelve years old; he himself was fifty; aided by valor, he defeats and captures the same, 455. Had two wives: a son by the first rebelled: is deprived of the principate: the Crales himself is suffocated by factious men in prison, 457. See Caesarissa.

Third (son of the second), eagerly receives Syrgiannes to himself, gathers an army, 495. Wakes war upon Andronicus the junior, 498. After Syrgiannes is removed by the fraud of Sphrantzes Palaeologus, he makes peace and returns home, 501. Receives Cantacuzenus and his army, 655. Terms offered to him by the Byzantines to betray Cantacuzenus, 641. Changes his mind, 641. Grieves that he was deceived, ibid. Mindful of the pacts, he does not dare to declare war, 656. As the Romans are dissenting, he grows strong, 746. Invades many cities: reduces the Serrhae themselves to surrender: proclaims himself Roman emperor: shares the empire with his son, 746. Possesses almost all of Macedonia: captures Berrhoea, 795. Admonished of his office, he bids the legates of Cantacuzenus to be gone, 931. See also 616, 637.

Crales' wife, 640.

Crataei monastery. See Monastery.

Crateres of Vulcan, 44.

Crete, 311. Under the Venetians, 878.

Cretan and Euboean fleet, 117. Occupies Roman ships standing in the Pelasgic gulf, 118.

Cretans, 117, 118. Urged by the defector Philanthropenus to revolt, 197. With corrupt money, they hand the same [Philanthropenus] over in chains to Libadarius, 201.

Critobulus, 556.

Crocodiles: he sprinkles the head of the corpse with tears, 414.

Croesus, 152, 310, 453.

Crucis image in a cloud, 386.

Cutrules (Michael), married the sister of Andronicus the senior: with the sister of Sphendoslavus (Wenceslaus) he had clandestine relations after she was dismissed by the Crales: then he took the same woman as his wife openly, 201.

Cyanea, 134.

Cyclades, 525. Rector or prince of the Cyclades, 438, 525, 526. See Rhodians.

Cyclopes, 993.

Cyeni (swans), singing beautifully as the morning Zephyr breathes, 355.

Cyloneum, a fish-pond, 793, 1089.

Cyparissiotes (Joannes). See note on pp. 793, 801, 910, 875.

Cypriots and Rhodians, the orthodox, give letters against Palamas, 787.

Cyprus, 194.

Cypsella, a small town, 299.

Cyrillus (S.), 1089.

Cyriotissa. See Monastery.

Cyrus, 91, 152, 310.

Cyrus the junior, son of Darius and Parysatis, why he armed his brother against himself, 189.

Cyzicus, 259.

^D

*Dasyturon* and *hestiator*, what the difference is, 862 in note.

Damascenus (Joannes), 976, 1062, 1071, 1072, 1081, 1136.

Dandulus (Andreas), 95 in note. — (Henricus), Duke of the Venetians: dies from wounds, 16.

Damascus city. Its description, 1146.

Daniel Cyzicenus. See Chilas Ephesius.

Daphnusia, a city near the Euxine Sea; besieged by the Latins, 85.

Dardanians, European, 27 note.

Darius, 189, 808. Took Babylon through Zopyrus, 808. Dying apothegm, 1028.

David, 184, 953. Prophet, 261. David’s cithara, 338. Books, 1146. Words, 511, 1016.

Davi, the Bogomil, 718.

Deabolis, a very fortified Macedonian fortress, 73.

Debrorum (alias Debrarum), bishop of, 161.

Decrees of the Palamites are not displayed to Gregoras, 1311.

Deipara, Hodegetria, 298. Nicopeia. Pammakaristos. Temple.

Delphic laurel, 524.

Delphic tripod, 151.

Delphian theologians, 518.

Demetrias. See Sicyon.

Demetrius, son of Andronicus the senior and Irene, 251. Successor designated by the Crales; does not become accustomed to the Triballian, 213. Despot: prefect of Thessalonica, 591. Plunders the goods of the factious, 596. Flees, 113. Accused of treason, 533. See also 409, 410.

Demetrius Martyr, 596. His festival, 611. See Temple.

Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, 116.

Democritus, 373, 957.

Demonax, 351.

*Demos ton hagion* (People of the saints), 977. *Demos*, 205 note.

Demosthenes, 355. Was called the blessed by Philip of Macedon, 414. Demosthenes’ saying, corrected by Gregoras, 589. Lamps, 314.

*Dendrotomia* (tree-cutting), 626.

Dercus, 747.

Dercylidas, 209.

Dernschwan (Joannes), praised, 80 note.

*Despoina* (Mistress), mother of the emperor, 140. *Syzygos* (spouse), 516.

Deus (God), the author of victory, 51. Relieves human beings of diseases, 753. Builds more easily than he destroys, 905. How he is called Light; when Life, 1061. That he is a *hyperousios ontotes* (super-substantial entity). *Dynamopoios kai hyperdynamos* (Power-making and super-powerful), 1067. Is not in a place, 1097. God’s just judgment, 544, 863. And fatherly kindness, 889. Simple nature, in which there is no distinction of substance and operation, 1061, 1105, 1111, etc. Names, 1090. A watchful eye, 822. Severe yet indulgent, 818. To what extent it is permitted to dispute about God, 955, 957. Where God is concerned, it is a sin to lie or to dissemble, 943.

Deuteronomium, 776.

Dexius, companion of Gregoras against Palamas: his eulogy, 891.

Devil’s principality and tributes, 160.

*Diamenyesthei*, for *metapempsein* (to send for), 100 note.

Diasis of the Athenians, 380.

Dictators, Roman, 238.

Didymotichum, 32, 579, 130, 159, 112, 180, 538, 594, 607, 609, etc. Small town, 618. To whom its prefecture was entrusted, 618. Ibid. note, suburbs, 618. Situation, 618.

Didymotichan army, 708.

Dignities, titles of, 238.

Engastrimythus, 411, 732. Diogenes the Cynic, his modesty praised by Alexander the Great, 701. Dionysius the Syracusan tyrant, 730. His palace filled with dust for the arrival of Plato, 517. St. Dionysius (the Areopagite), 941, 1083, 1095, 1096, 1104, 1107, 1109, 1113. Dioscorus, the impious bishop of Alexandria, 1021. Divinity, divided into substance and grace by Palamas, 921. Dogmas of the Church overturned, 749. Dogmatic altercations, 768. In dogmatic contentions God is the only Emperor; all others are fellow-servants by equal right, 905. Dolis, two in the court of Zeus, 196, 523. Doloicus. See Ludovicus. Metathesis, 14 note. Dolopes, 110. Dorian harmony, 316, 717. Dorotheus of Monemvasia, 85 note, 560 note. Doxology, sacred, 94. Davonis (a star), spiral, 542. Drama, a small town, 273. Drimys (Gregorius), master of Palamas; censured by Gregoras, 919. And note there. Drusius, praised, 1125 and 1129 in note. Ducange’s Glossaries, Historia Franco-Byzantina, Constantinopolis Christiana, and other works, passim. Ducas (Joannes) succeeds his father-in-law Theodore, 24. Comparison of the son-in-law with the father-in-law, 24. He equips a fleet; occupies the islands of the Aegean Sea and Rhodes: crosses into Europe: gains possession of many cities, 28. Makes peace with the Bulgarians: joins his daughter in marriage to another, 29. After receiving all the cities from Byzantium to the Strymon, he returns to Nicaea, 70. Grants asylum to the Scythian Comani, 37. (See Comani.) Makes peace with the Turks, very useful for the Roman state: provides for himself and the poor through the cultivation of fields and care of livestock: is the author of the same for his relatives and the nobility: what great wealth resulted from this, 41. Issues an edict that no one should use garments obtained outside the borders of the empire, 43. Builds temples, establishes monasteries, also hospices for the caring of the sick and the feeding of the poor, 44. Takes a second wife, Anna of Germany, 45. Loves Marcesina, the tutor and educator of his wife Anna, desperately; allows her to be adorned with imperial insignia; prefers her to his wife, 45. Is goaded by the stings of conscience, 47. Condemns himself and deplores the guilt of his soul, 47. Raises an army against Michael Nothus: confirms some cities by his arrival and recovers others: renews the treaty with Michael: grants him the dignity of despot: leaves his station to his son on account of their relationship, 48. Having returned to Asia, falls ill: languishes for a whole year: dies, is buried, ibid. Ducas, emperor’s second wife, sister of Manfred. See Anna of Germany. Ducas (Joannes), the last of the Sebastokrator princes, married Irene, the illegitimate daughter of Andronicus the Elder: dies in Iberia: his provinces and cities are torn apart, 107. Ducis Magni, the name changed to the title Ἀδουκᾶς Ἀθηνῶν, 239. Dyrrhachium, the bishop assents to Gregoras: who he is and what kind of man, 520.

E

Ebriety, divine activity according to Palamas, 945. Ἐγκόλπιον (Enkolpion), 462. Church, Greek: two sects in it, 127. Three factions, 870. Its status changed for the worse: the light of reason and doctrine extinguished, 185. The causes of this change: why it was proper for it to be desolated, 186. Evils of the Church, of all things the most serious, 714, 826; circumstances, 159. Tempestuous, 881. Patriarchal and episcopal churches almost all subject to barbarian princes, 1034. Mutual concessions of Church and empire, 813. Ecclesiastes, 889, 1027. Ecclesiasticus, 961. Eclipse of the sun, 131, 160, 536. Portends future evils from the Turks, 108. At the death of Christ it was seen as monstrous by astronomers, 370. Eclipse of the moon, 383, 460, 536, 624. Two eclipses, one of the sun, one of the moon, precede the Scythian incursion, 536. Elijah’s chariot, unconsumed, 958. Ἑλληνοδίκας (Hellanodicas). See Hellanodicas. Ἐπαξίως (Epaxios), later, 59, 627. Enallage, or antiptosis, 169 note. Energia, 716. Endymion’s sleep, 1061. 'Eveργεῖν (Energein), what the verb signifies, 1130. Energia, a name introduced by Eunomius; accepted by the Acindynists; recalled into the light by Palamas, 950. Ἐνουσίως (Enousios), 1098, 1104 in note. Entença. See Berengarius. 'Ἐξουσιαστής (Exousiastes) (Power), magistrate of the Genoese among the Galatians, 97. Epaminondas, 360, 752. Having accepted money from Artaxerxes, he waged war with Agesilaus, 124. Victor at Haliartus and at Leuctra, 486. Ephectici, 732. And note there. Ephesus, 21. Ephesus, metropolitan of: his eulogy, 802. Ephremius, poet, 35, 89, in note. Epibatarum, castle, 385, 797. Furnished with all things by Apocaucus: Andronicus the Younger’s judgment concerning that fortress and its founder, 602. Epicurus, atoms of, 790. Epicureans, 722. They do not dare to call the decrees of their masters into doubt, 516. They said the sun was a foot in diameter, 969. Epigram concerning the books of Barlaam, noted, 556 note. Epirus, 110. Recovered, 546. Old, added to the empire, 573. Epirus, prince of, son of the count of Cephalonia, escapes by flight, 545. Is brought to Thessalonica, 353. Epizephyrian abysses, 449. Epizephyrii. See Locri. Bishops, accused of various crimes by the patriarch Callistus: they ask for and receive forgiveness, 876. Bishops, Palamites: their ignorance, 993. Some, offended by the novelty of the dogmas, stir up riots in the council, 1004. Sycophants, 1032. Two orthodox bishops deprived of the insignia of their dignity; beards plucked, 1011. Epistle of Cantacuzenus to the patriarch John, 753. Of Gregoras to a friend concerning vain predictions, 419. Epistle to Constantia, 940 note. Synodical epistle of the Orientals to the Emperor Theophilus, 910 note. Ἐπίσκαλον (Episcalon), naval, 854 note. Horses of wondrous constancy, 487. A horse’s piteous whinnying, 303. Virtue of a faithful knight, 231. Eretria, 802. Ἐριννύων θρέμματα (Erinnyon thremmata), 316. Iris, 161, 829. "Ἔφην (Ephen), Henricus, 16 note. Esaias, a simple and unlearned man; accused of many crimes; through the emperor’s favor, is created patriarch: the reward of unjust favor, 360. By his patriarchal work, Philanthropenus is restored to his former place of grace, 360. Esaias conspires against Andronicus the Elder: forbids the name of the Younger to be uttered in the churches: interdicts the opposing faction from sacred rites, 405. Being himself condemned by canonical sentence, he is relegated to the monastery of the Mangana, 406. He is led back into the city in triumph, and that immodestly, 424. Insults Andronicus the Elder, inflicts penalties on bishops and priests, 428. What he decreed concerning the commemoration of his name in the church, 429. Absolves the people; but not the bishops; nor the priests, except for a few, 431. Struck by the calamity of the emperor, he asks him what kind of mention he wishes to be made of himself in the church, 422. Dies, 496. See also 402. ἑτοιμάζειν (hetoimazein), the significance of that verb, 1134. Gospel, spread everywhere, to which the people were urged by sacrament, 319. Euboea, 489, 490, 672. In the hands of the Venetians, 878. Euboea, prince of, having fallen into an ambush, is captured by Licario, 96. Brought to the Emperor Michael Palaeologus: suddenly expires, 96. Euboeans, 115, 117, 118, 597. Euboic Sea. See Sea. Eucharistic communion, 1136, 1139. Eucharistic bread, whether it sanctifies by substance, or by divine operation, or by some uncreated grace, 1010. Eudocia, daughter of Emperor Michael Palaeologus, married to the Emperor of Trebizond John, 145. Mother of Alexius the Younger, 149. Comes to Byzantium a widow, 202. Refuses to marry Cralis, 203. Eudocia (who is also Irene), illegitimate daughter of Andronicus the Younger: given as wife to Basil, prince of Trebizond, 536. See Irene. Eudocia Palaeologina, daughter of the Protosecretarius of Neocaesarea, wife of Constantinus Palaeologus: eulogy of this woman: how she married the despot Constantine, 293. Eugenius. See Port Byzant. Eulogia, sister of the Emperor Michael Palaeologus, 130, 167. Eumenes, circumvented by the wiles of Antigonus, 497. Eunomius, 1142. Introduced the name Energia, 950. Affirmed that operation is distinguished from substance in God, 1109. Eunuch, prefect of Lemnos, 680. Dies, 683. Euphrates, 81, 1032. Euripides, 311. Eurotas river, 486. Eurymedon river, 511.

Eusebius Iconomachus, 940, 941, 943, 945, 950. Euxinus, 131, 207, 375, 683, 796, 819, 877, 880. Clausus per Genuitas, 877. Its mouth besieged by the Venetians, 850. Exactions, 855. Excerpta anecdota. See note to pp. 13, 16, 87, 107, 162, 167, 178, 191, 221, 229, 232, 235, 241, 246, 251, 252, 259, 275, 309, 320, 342, 561, 573, 615, 658, 1019, 1044. Exodus, 369, 1087, 1105. Exiles, driven out for reasons of religion, return home, 160. Exundatio, 695, ἕως μὲν ἢ καὶ ἥτοι, 143 note.

F Fable of the monk and the mice, 216. Bird and fowler, 614. Attic fable, i.e., Greek, 321, 994, 1070. Factions, two among the Byzantines, 613. Famine at Byzantium, 416. Of the Turks, 12. Familia delle Carceri, 95 note; of Chisi, ibid.; de la Roche, 95 note. Fate, 721. Favorinus the philosopher, 825. Faith, necessary for Christians, 934. Humble faith to be preferred to empty glory: matters of controversy in the general council, 512. Symbol of faith, 512. Faith’s poverty, 263, 581. Wealthy, in whose use it is reserved, 517. Flavianus the patriarch, killed in the Ephesian synod, 1021. And annotation there. Flavius, see Josephus. Florentius, dialogue against Barlaam, by Gregoras, 556. Fondus, begun at Babylon with Charles, King of Italy: regarding the recovery of Constantinople, 123. Female princes in the Palamite Synod, 903. Persons, 130. Fretum Gaditanum, 688. Hellespont, 161, 254. Ilieri, 416. Siralium, 217. Fredericus, King of Sicily, armed by Palæologus against Charles, 146. Froissart, see note to pp. 137, 633, 708. Funambuli, see Egyptians and their circus performers.

G Galatas (Joannes) is put in charge of the administration of affairs by Apocaucus, 701. Who also promises he will betroth his daughter to him, 721; he assumes the monastic habit, 726. Gades, 102, 28, 551. Beyond Gades, 888. Gaditanum, see Strait. Galactophagi, 31. Galata (also Pera), 281, 718, 776. Town, 87. Assigned to the Genoese and other Latins, 97. Small castle, 1031. Garrison, 731, 748, 870. Besieged by Mich. Palæologus, 80. Also by the son of Manuel Cantacuzenus, 809. Siege lifted: flight and terror of the besiegers, 860. Galatæ (Gauls), 34, 102. Most warlike, 103. Galatæ killed, 177. See Gauls. Galatæ-Genoese become insolent; they obtain pardon from the Emperor Mich. Palæologus, 133. They pass by Constantinople with two pirate triremes, without saluting the Emperor, 156. Granted immunity, 526. Waging war on the Venetians, how they consulted for themselves and their affairs, 526. Whence their wealth grew: they fortify their castle with various arts, 526. They favor the Turks, 539. They openly prepare for war, ibid. Reduced to extreme straits by Andronicus the Younger, they cast off their ferocity; they obtain peace, 755. They abstain from Byzantium’s grain: having received their own property back, they return to favor with the Byzantines, 766. Anna Augusta comes with two triremes to bring them reinforcements; they are repelled, 775. Rebels, 833. They escape as powerful men, 841. They are said to have built a fleet against Cantacuzenus, slaughter having been perpetrated by them, 812. Powerful in strength, 814. Having begun open war against the Emperors, they seize a fishing boat by piracy; they kill men, 841. They secretly prepare for war; they equip a naval force, 843. They send an envoy of peace to the Emperor, Treben, 844. They demand unjust and proud terms, 844. Premeditatedly, they attack the unprepared Byzantines: they burn and ravage the seacoast, 848. They enlarge and fortify their castle, 848. They attack Byzantium: they are repelled: they intercept shipments of grain and workmen, 848. Their hope deceived: new councils, 850. Domestic forces and others gathered from elsewhere are most instructed; they easily repel the Byzantines: they place a huge machine on a ship, 851. The machine moved against the city wall, they join the sharpest battle, 852. Having lost their own men, they fall back disturbed: before they return home, they secretly bury their dead, 855. They seek peace through legates in vain: they prepare for a more lasting war, 855. Ships come to them: they summon auxiliaries and arbiters of peace, 856. Peace having been obtained, some entrust valuable furniture and even wives and children to the Rhodian legates for export, ibid. The Galatæ’s anxious deliberation: all decide they must surrender, only the navarch resists, 859. Having instructed his own fleet, he waits for the Byzantine fleet, intending to take counsel from events, 860. He takes possession of the empty Byzantine ships, 863. The Galatæ’s equity and clemency, 864. Having used their victory with moderation, they seek peace, 865. They submit to unjust laws of peace. Galesius mountain, 107. And note there. Gauls, about to vindicate the Holy Sepulchre, proceed into Syria: they coast along the Danube: they camp in Thrace, 103. They make an agreement with the same to expel the Turks from Roman soil; they take possession of all the plunder: the Cilicians give them passage, 104. The Arabs oppose those entering Syria and Phoenicia: the Gauls, with supplies intercepted, wage war: after their enemies were defeated, they establish a home for themselves in Syria: they forget, 105. Phoenicia and Syria are exterminated by the Egyptians, 102. Strength of the Gallic cavalry, 455. The astrologer predicts the plerophory to Empress Anna, 787. See also 769. Gallia, 238. Both, 103. Extreme, 351. Transalpina, 218. Limits of Gaul, 109. Gani, metropolitan region: his eulogy, 892. Ganos: mountains near Aenus, 100. Of Aenus, 118. Gasmuli are armed by the wife of Apocaucus: they storm the fortress: they cut down all who run in their way, 736. Gasmulica race, 98. Crowd dispersed due to poverty, 910. Genesis, book, 961, 1056, 1114. Generis, 305. Genoa, city: where it is located, 286. It labors under its own internal and neighboring wars, 853. Nobles driven out of Genoa, 707. The Genoese defeat the Catalans at sea, 227. The optimates having been driven out of the city, they appoint one leader for themselves in the manner of the Venetians, 518. Devoted to trade; they establish colonies in coastal cities, 683. Capha founded by them, 684. They create leaders from the common people, 687. See Tuzas. The Genoese are transferred from Byzantium to Galata, 97. Genoese-Galatæ. See Galata. Genoese pirates, 416. Dignity of the Genoese Duke similar to a consular one, 518. Gentiles concurring with the Holy Fathers, 1087. Georgius Cyprius, 180. See Gregorius. Georgius Larissæus, 718. Georgius Martyr: his image, 308. Gerasimus the monk, a simple and unlearned man; patriarch after Glycyn, 292. Deposed by Andronicus the Elder, 313. He reveals the secret entrusted to him by the monk, 313. He dies. Germani, 34. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, via intrigue of Arsenius, 58. Germanus, Bishop of Adrianople; Patriarch of Constantinople after Arsenius: his merits toward Mich. Palæologus, 95. Germanus, metropolitan of Heraclea in Thrace, 161. Gibelline faction, 286. Giants, 885. πραεῖ et καθημερινοί, 793. Girardo (Franciscus), Tricamus, an excellent sculptor, 277 in note. Giustandil, 27 note. Gisbas (Michael), Grand Conostaulo. The remaining leaders with him were 150. Protostrator; prefect of Thrace, whom he fortifies partially on Mount Haemus, and partially rebuilds from the foundations, 484. Glycys (Joannes), Logothete of the Dromos or private affairs: sent as legate regarding the union with Theodorus Metochita to the island of Cyprus and to Armenia, 193. He himself described that journey of his, 191. Layman; logothete of the Dromos; with Niphon expelled, he becomes patriarch, 269. Why he put on the monastic habit; he had Gregoras as an assiduous auditor, 270. Falling ill, he withdraws into a monastery; not at all greedy, and thus he is rich: he sends for Gregoras, to whom he dictates his final will: reason for his secession, 289. See also 275. ἑτοιμασία, preparations, 485 note.

^A Gotthi, 56.

Græci Persarum adventu consternati, 310. Græcum dogma quibus fundamentis nitatur, 502. Grando, 6. Clades per eam illata: natura grandinis: grando furoris divini instrumentum, 711, 712, 713. Graptus (Theodorus), 1089. Ejus verba, 940, 918. Cum 85. Gregorio et Basilio consensus, 950. Item, 971. Elogium, 1138. Libri, 1138. Testimonium de Eucharistiæ mysterio, 1139. Verba ex quibus arguitur Palamam esse iconomachum, 1142. Graptus (Theodorus) parvi factus a Palamitis, 910 not. Ab iisdem celebratus, ibid. Grapti nomen præfixum operibus Nicephori patriarchæ, ibid. Gratis gratuita (χαρίσματα), 1317. Gratianopolis, 703, 836. Gregoras (Nicephorus) de seipso et de opere suscepto, 6, 24. Juvenis, eloquentiæ studiosus; G., Lycaens auditor assiduus, 270. Testamentum huic scribit, 289. Gregoreæ officia erga Theodorum Metochitam, 308. Oratio, qua eum afflictum solatur, 309. Andronici senioris familiaritatem expetit: philosophiam et astronomiam jam tum a magno logotheta edoctus: qualem hunc initio expertus fuerit, 521. Oratio, qua hortatus est, ut philosophiæ et astronomiæ præcepta plenius sibi traderet, 319. Quantum ea oratio apud logothetam valuerit, 327. Benigne exceptus ab Andronico juniore, 327. Orationem apud illum habet, 328. Chartophylacis dignitatem oblatam repudiat, 310. Oratio, quam ea de re coram imperatore habuit, ibid. Repudianti vis pæne illata, 318. De Paschate disputat, jubente imperatore, refragantibus frustra adversariis, 564. Legatus in Serviam ad Cralem et Cæsarissam viduam missus: quæ sibi ac sociis in itinere acciderint narrat, 374. Acceptis a Cæsarissa mandatis, Byzantium revertitur, 385. Andronico seniori addictus; calamitatis particeps, 427. Vitam Joannis, Heracleæ metropolitani, avunculi sui, scripsit, 429. Amicis fastidientibus, vanas prædictiones refellendas suscipit, 447. Andronicum seniorem invisere solitus: cum eo ultimum colloquitur, 461. Cralæna hortante, monodiam canit in obitum Andronici senioris, 465. Th. Metochitæ mortem lamentatur monodia recitata, 474. Orationem consolatoriam apud Andronicum juniorem habet de obitu matris ejus, 490. Quanquam laicus, a Joanne patriarcha advocatur ad disputandum cum episcopis Latinis: silentium primo suadet: deinde patriarcham et selectos episcopos privatim convenit, 501. Orationem, coram iis habet, qua sententiam suam fusius exponit, 503. Acclamationibus et applausu efficit, ne Andronicus junior inquirat in Demetrium despotam, 533. Dialogum scribit, cui titulus Florentius seu de Sapientia, 585. Cur synodo contra Barlaamum habitæ haud interfuerit, ab imperatore invitatus; item a patriarcha et toto concilio, 558. Jubetur astra consulere super morbo Andronici junioris, 559. Eo mortuo, lamentandi munus suscipit, 560. Monodiam recitat, ibid. Non simplicem historiam scribit, 677. Ab aula secedit, 720. Ab Anna arcessitur, ut cum astrologo disputet, 723. Astrologorum prædictiones vanas esse arguit ex Ptolemæo, D. Basilio, et ex oraculis Chaldæorum: fatum tollit: providentiam agnoscit, 725. Hariolo refutato, Annæ odium in se movet, 728. Patriarcham inter et Palamam arbiter constitutus, 769. Novas opiniones damnat: Annam offendit: sententiam scripto tradere jubetur, 769. Ex occasione data, novos doctores refellit, 770. Non ideo reprehendendus, quod victoriam de adversariis non reportarit, 771. Imo constantiæ et religionis ergo laudandus, 772. Multa aliis relinquit accuratius narranda, 781, 786, 793. Præclaras spes de Cantacuzeno conceperat, antequam is rerum potiretur, 820. Eundem, sua spe deceptus, errore liberare statuit, studiose defendit, 821. Imperatorem confidentius arguit, 821. Quum morte afflictam: eam mortem corruptorum dogmatum pœnam esse affirmat: ita partes suas Augusto patrocinio roborat: Isidorum variorum errorum accusat, 827. Negat nova disputatione opus esse, 829. Palamam redarguit, 850. Item Cantacuzenum, ibid. Assentatorem objurgat, 855. Blanditiis, largitionibus, promissis frustra tentatus, 871. Etiam patriarchalem dignitatem oblatam repudiat: imperatorem et Augustam ultieæ admonet, 872. Oratio apud Cantacuzenum, 891. Cui mortem illi prænuntiat, 887. Pro religione pugnaturus, habitum monachicum induit: vitæ aulicæ renuntiat, 891. Gregoræ discipuli, 891. Oratio apud hos ipsos orthodoxos, ibid. Ipse et socii excluduntur aditu aulæ interioris, 896. Per atrium dispersi, diu exspectant, 897. Introducuntur, 897. Statu debilis: captis morbo et aliis incommodis afflictus, 900. Barlaamii victor: variorum librorum auctor, 901. Senio fractus, ibid., Cantacuzenum antea laudatum ^B cur demum vituperet, 902. Orationem habet apud synodum Palamiticam, 909. Barlaami victi et repressi constans inimicus, 917. A Cantacuzeno interpellatur: libere loqui solitus, majestatis reverentia comprimitur, 956. Suam dicendi libertatem defendit exemplis et rationibus, 958. Objecta sibi a Cantacuzeno refellit, 958. De Thaboreo lumine dicturum se promittit, 939. Subinde interpellatur, ibid. Capitis doloribus affligitur, 955. Æger et jejunus, disputandi munus sociis tradit, 975. Sese in concilio iterum sistere recusat, 985. Socios hortatur ad veritatem fortiter defendendam, ibid. Illi, ut secum veniat, ægre tandem persuadent, 988. Ab imperatore scorsum seductus, promissis et aliis artibus tentatur, ibid. Ad Palamitarum argumenta respondet, 987. Cum sociis introvocatur, 991. Discipuli timidiores eum deserunt; alii silent. Imperator primum exire vetat; deinde, suadente Palama, abire patitur, 993. Unum ex discipulis producit, qui disputandi munus excipiat, 1001. Caute occurrit imperatoris iracundiæ, 1003. Fusiorem narrationem et accuratas refutationes promittit, 1007. Ejus discipulis quid acciderit, 1013. Ut e concilio ipse dimissus sit, ibid. Domo includitur: silentium ei perpetuum indicitur, 1013. Consolatur se melioris fortunæ spe, ibid. Cum illustrium sanctorum casibus suam calamitatem comparat, 1015. S. Basilii verba ad præsens tempus accommodat, 1015. Alia SS. Patrum dicta subjuncturum se promittit; quæ tamen haud profert, 1020. Multi ex amicis illum deserunt, 1025. Atque etiam Cabasilas: Gregoras sortem suam deplorat, ibid. Ab internuntiis ad se missis nova decreta et Palamæ libellum exigit, 1038, 1039. De custodum monachorum sævitia queritur: sua in eos et chora monasterium merita commemorat, 1044. A Callisto patriarcha commonefactus, perstat in proposito: D. Basilii verba iterum sibi accommodat, 1048. Tentatur a discipulo et ab aliis; sed frustra, 1049. Duriori custodia premitur, ibid. A Cabasila convenitur, 1050. Unus contra duos, 1058. Ad argumenta petita ex substantia et virtute solis respondet, 1060. Gaudet oblatam sibi a Cabasila facultatem argumentandi ex gentilium scriptis, 1075. In profanorum libris versatus; libenter iis armis contra Palamitas utitur, 1083. Atque id Justini martyris exemplo facit, 1086. Sanctorum libris destitutum se innuit, 1089. Jubetur ipsa Patrum testimonia exhibere, 1094. Plura narrare capitis dolores non sinunt: amicis rogantibus pergit, 1112. Veteris cum Cabasila amicitiæ memor, famæ ejus parcere voluit, ibid. Laborat in seligendis Patrum testimoniis, 1117. E multis pauca seligit, 1119. Adversariorum minas refellit, 1145. Mori paratus pro fide defendenda, sepulturam non curat, ibid. Arctiori custodia premitur, ibid. Gregoras (idem) in Chora monasterio collocatus a Th. Metochita; astronomicam disciplinam ex eo didicit, 309. Hæres doctrinæ ab eo institutus, 509. Metochitæ filium et filiam erudit, ibid. Alienus ab omni affectu, studium veritatis profitetur, 615. Qualia seu laudare seu vituperare decreverit, ibid. Quid ostendere, quid persuadere lectoribus cupiat, 646. Gregoras cum Cantacuzeno familiaritas, 611. Amicitia, 820, 823. Capitis dolores, 975, 1112. Domus celebritas in solitudinem, fortuna in calamitatem versa, 1050. Libri antirrhetici et steliteutici, 901, 941. Sermones, per ecclesias in sanctorum commemorationibus legebantur, 1116. Socii commentarios ipsi quoque scripserunt de suis cum Palama concertationibus, 975. Gregoras, Cantacuzeno diligentior in Chronologia, 427, 496, in not. Gregoræ scite dictum de tomis Palamiticis, 1030 not. Gregoras defensus, 621, 797, 940, in not. Temere reprehensus, 501 not. Libros SS. Patrum non habuit præ manibus, 1091 not. Theodori Grapti libros surreptos sibi queritur, 910 not. Platonis imitator, 1098 not. Gregoræ epistola ad Pepagonienum, 277 not. Dialogus Florentius, 90 not., 224 not., 458 not. Paræneticus de obitu Theolepti, 320 not. Quando singulas Historiæ partes scripserit, 590, 831, in not. Quando libros Antirrheticos, 1007, 1111, in not. Gregoræ opuscula indicata, 364, 573, not. Gregoras geographus, 251 not. Poeta, 475 not. Gregoræ domus quo in loco sita fuerit, 1045 not. Gregoras notatus, 152, 688 in not. A Ducangio, 523, 621, 762 in not. A Pontano, 801 not. Satyrros κατὰ τῶν Γρηγορᾶ διηγημάτων, 10 not. Gregoras chronologus parum diligens, 360, 560, 568 in not. Ut anni tempora digesserit, 728 in not. Totam ætatem diebus triginta concludit, 617 in

not. Antiptoses (or cases of varying endings) in his work are not few, 961 in note. Unusual phrasing, 91 note. He had common topics prepared, 221, 302, 931 in note. He repeats sayings, 869 in note. He compiles his own writings, 374, 633, 805 in note. A displayer of astronomical learning, 376 note. Inattentive, 55 note. A trifler, 258 note. A narrator of ancient fables, 239 note. A lapse of memory, 193 note. He trusts his memory too much, 916 note. He does not agree with himself, 714 note. He fights with himself, 87 note. He is mistaken, 16, 944 note. Deceived by ambiguity, 883 note. He does not fulfill his promises, 10, 309, 453, 658, 931 in note. He seems to flatter Cantacuzenus everywhere, 554 note. How much credence is to be given to those things he narrates about him, 902 note. Fearing the rod, 706 note. Broken by old age before the year of his life 60, 901 note. A man in his sixties, 1045 note. Gregorius Cyprius, 142, 883 in note. His eloquence: how he was designated patriarch: why the consecration was delayed, 163. By whom he was ordained and inaugurated, 164. Suspected of a zeal for Latinism, 165. His authority is established, 166. Beccus envies him: he ensures he is banished, 168. He refutes him before the synod, is betrayed: the same thing happens as once to Julius Caesar, 177. Destitute of all protection, he withdraws to the monastery of the Hodegetria, then moves to another, summoned by a noble lady: he dies, 178. He placed learned and erudite men in charge of churches, 181. Gregorius Nazianzenus (Theologus), 508, 770, 911, 918, 937, 1027, 513, 999, 934, 1013, 1063, 1073, 1126, Add., 750, 862, 902 in note. Gregorius Nyssenus, 509, 988, 1109, 1110, 1112. Guelph faction, 286. Guido Armenius, summoned to Byzantium by his father's sister Maria, ^A appointed in charge of Christopolis and other towns: left the niece of Cantacuzenus as his wife: as well as Syrgiannes' daughter: he persisted in his ancestral religion, 623. He rages against Cantacuzenus, *ibid*. He assists the Thessalonians with arms, 631. His relationship to Cantacuzenus (*Zupyiavvɛioς* and *Zupyiavvɛiov*), 123 note. Gynæcocastron, how many stades it is distant from the city of Thessalonica, 631. Gyrolimne, 315, etc. See ^B Byzantine Gates.

H Hadrianopolis. See Adrianopolis. Hadrianus imp. See Adrianus. Hæmus mountain, 435, 485, 484, 483, 626, 635. Fortresses built on this mountain by Andronicus the Elder, 181. Neighboring small towns, 457, 458. Greatest heresy foretold. See Prediction. Heretics, 506. Most difficult to correct, 888. One should not reject whatever is said by them, 928. Their arguments are obscure and perplexing, 929. How they seduce the unskilled, *ibid*. Haliartus, 251, 486. Halys river, 310, 453. Hamaxobii, 36. Hario-ations (ravings) of the fanatics, 128. Italian soothsayers, soothsayers originating from the Persians, dwelling in Colchis: their predictions, 417. Faith placed in soothsayers, 722. Harmostæ (Lacedaemonians), 209. Hebrews, that they observe the fullness of the moon which exists after the equinox in their Passover, 568. Transmitted through the sea as if over dry ground, 1041. Hebrus river, 706. Hecuba the Trojan, 112. Helena, daughter of Michael Angelus, betrothed to Manfred, king of Sicily, 72. Helena, daughter of Asanes, ten years old, betrothed to Theodorus Lascaris, son of Joannes Ducas, who is not yet of age, 29. Helena, daughter of Cantacuzenus, 788. She marries Joannes Palæologus, 791. Helice, 321, 476, 683, 765. Helicon, 477. Hellanodicæ (incorruptible judges), 347, 503, 804, and annot. there. Hellespont, 167, 268, 578, 849, 850. See Strait. Henricus Dandulus. See Dandulus. Henricus, brother of Baldwin I and successor in the empire, 16. Heraclea Pontica, 137. Metropolis, 429. The bishop of that city, Joannes, uncle of Gregoras, *see under Joannes*. Heraclea Thracica, 164. The bishop of that city imposes hands on the Constantinopolitan patriarch, 163. Heracleus (Thracian) bishop (Philotheus), a fervent follower of Palamas, 1030. Heraclidæ and Cecropidæ, fictional names, 556. And annot. there. Heraclitus, 575, 957. Herb poisonous to mice, harmless to foxes, 597. ^C He traversed the world, 480. Pillars of Hercules, 481, 706, 797. Strait, 84. Star, 542. Hercules statue crafted by Lysimachus, 1221. Herodes, 899. Herodotus, the one who wrote the Persian history, 52. Heroes of the Greeks, 250. Herricus, Byzantine emperor. See Henricus. Hesiodus, 1314. Hesychius, 1269. Hierosolyma, 750. Patriarch of Jerusalem, 507, 762. Hierum, or The Shrine, 339, 841. Hierum promontory, 134. Opening of the Pontus, *ibid*. Hierum (the double), 616 note. Hippocrates' image, 1256. Hippodromus, 335, 851, 912. King of Spain, condemned by the Pope on the occasion of some scandal, 168. Beginning of the history, the city captured by the Latins, 12, 15. Histories of the Latins, 571. Beginning of the Dogmatic History, 881. The excellent duty of historians, 1. Which historians are deserving of censure, *ibid*. Invective against cursing and lying historians, 6. Hodegetria Mother of God. Hodegi (Guides). See Image, Monastery, Temple. Homeridæ, 385. Homerus, 31, 32, 480, 560, 586, 661, 725, 1018. Hunni, 36. Hyacinthia of the Spartans, 380. Periphrasis of winter, 878. Hymns of the Saints regarding the Trinity, 827. Anciently sung in the church; abolished by patriarch Isidoros, *ibid*. Hypatia, 294. Hyperborei, 35. Hyrcanus (or Orchanes), satrap of Bithynia, son-in-law of Cantacuzenus, 153. He increased his power over the Persian satraps of his time, *ibid*. See Orchanes.

I Iapyx, the wind, 455. Ithatines the sultan assists Alexius with arms, 17. Killed by a treachery, 20. Iaxartes river, 55, 38. Western Iberians, conquered by the Scythians, 34. Iberia (Spain), 238. Lower, 218, 219. Iberia bordering on the Caucasus, 346, the Colchian, 39. Island of Icaria captured by Joannes Ducas, 29. Icarus flees from the prince of Euboea: having confirmed his forces, he enters an alliance with Palæologus: he promises himself to be subject, 95. Sultan of Iconium, makes Michael Palæologus a Roman commander; he opposes the Scythians; the sultan's kinsman goes over to the Scythians, 38. Iconomachy, 940, 932. The disease of Iconomachy, 26. Times of both, 172. The Iconomachi spared (themselves) neither in homilies, nor hymns, nor canticles, 1116. Their error concerning the Lord's transfigured flesh, 914. How many disturbances the heresy stirred up in the Church, 1157. Words regarding the mystery of the Eucharist, 1138. And annot. there. ^D Idolatry (928, 21) and heresies were introduced by the devil, 903. Ignatius the deacon, author of the Life of patriarch Nicephorus, 910 note. Ignatius patriarch of Antioch, indicated text, 186 note. Atramyttenum fire, 166, 171. Illyria is occupied by Bulgaria, 27. It is devastated by Andronicus the younger, 515. Illyrians, 116, 176. They wage war on Palæologus, 116. Through the sea and shipwreck, 311. Image of the Mother of God, 461. Of the Hodegetria, 87, 295, 493. Sacred images cast into the fire by the Palamites, 92. He relates how he brought them after the usual custom to the Porphyrogenitus column, 585. Various books on behalf of images, 930 note. Faults of those ruling are excused, 753. Imperial prerogative, 783. Parts and duty, 901. Greatest disturbance of the Empire and the Church, 721. The boundaries of the Byzantine Empire are narrowest, 885, 1131. Incarnation of the Word of God completely denied by Palamas, 1146. Uncreated men, 918, 968. Indi (Indians), 332. Precept of the Indian sages, 148. Indus, 807. Indian monsters, 9, 21. Greatest of the Indian rivers, 58. Huge poverty in the Byzantine court, 788. Dual cause, 789. Golden and fragile vessels: skin gilded: transparent gems, 498. Lack of necessary things among the Byzantines, 819.

Instrument from the Treasury of Charters, 1167, 11, 1180, 1181. Envoys sent to the younger Andronicus by the elder; their message is explained, 1038. He is ordered to produce new decrees and the treatise of Palamas, 1058. He denies the need for war: he promises that he will bring the decrees himself, 1059. They depart with the matter unfinished, 1043. Iolenta, sister of emperors Baldwin I and Henry, and mother of the emperor Robert, 88. Maritime places of Ionia, 200. Ionian cities, 196. Ionian Gulf, 747. Irene, daughter of Theodore Lascaris; wife of John Ducas, 24. Mother of Theodore: having fallen from a horse, she ceases to bear children: she administers the republic excellently with her husband, 44. She builds the temple of John the Baptist in the city of Prusa, 44. She dies, 45. See also 92. Irene, maternal grandmother of Michael Palaeologus; firstborn daughter of the emperor Alexius Comnenus; wife of Alexius Palaeologus, 69. Irene, daughter of Theodore Lascaris the younger, betrothed to the Genoese Count of Vigintimiglia, 93. Irene, daughter of Michael Palaeologus, betrothed to John Asan, 132. Irene, illegitimate daughter of the same Palaeologus, married to Noga the Scythian, 149. Irene (the Lombard), niece of the Marquis of Montferrat, King of Thessalonica: she marries Andronicus the elder, at eleven years old; a eulogy of this woman, 168. Hating the privilege of Michael, she attempts to equalize her children, 233. She avenges herself on her husband, who resists her petition, with disdain: whence the dissension, 234. She withdraws to Thessalonica: she slanders her husband, 235. She seeks a wife for her son Theodore: having been rejected by the Duke of Athens on account of the condition, she turns to Spinula; she herself is not very illustrious by birth, 237. The excessive liberality of Irene toward her son-in-law Cralis, 241. She demands that he designate a successor for her, first Demetrius then Theodore, brothers of Simonis, 243. She attempts in vain to make her son the prince of the Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and of Epirus, 246. She dies: regarding her burial and what became of her money, 273. See also 245. Irene, illegitimate daughter of Andronicus the elder, married to John Ducas the Sebastocrator, 219, 278. Irene Alemanna, married to Andronicus the younger, dies without children, 383. Irene (who is also Eudocia), illegitimate daughter of Andronicus the younger; wife of Basil, emperor of Trebizond, 678. Suspicion of her having removed her husband through clandestine plots: upon his death, she casts out the concubine, ibid. and 536. Because embassies were sent once and again to her father Andronicus, she seeks another husband for herself: the manner of both embassies, 679. A rumor concerning a connection between Irene and the Grand Domestic of Trebizond; she excites a civil war among the Trapezuntines, 531. See Eudocia. Irene (Cantacuzena, 788), wife of the emperor Cantacuzenus: her praise, 625, 629. She puts forth extraordinary effort for her husband: she reconciles his brothers to him, 623. She is placed in charge of Didymotichum, 626. She offers provisions and clothing to Amurius, 630. He consoles her while her husband is away, sad and weeping, 631. Irene visits her son Matthew, who is plotting new things: she enters Orestiada secretly: she returns to Byzantium: she mourns the death of the sons of Andronicus, 813. She supports Gregoras: she answers the demands of the Galatae, 846. She entrusts the management of the war abroad to her son Manuel, 849. She herself prepares for war within, 850. The brothers of Irene (Cantacuzena) cast into prison by Andronicus the younger, 624. See John Asan, and Manuel Asan. Isaac Asceta, 963. Isaac Bogomilus, 718. Isaias, 513, 777, 437, 1056, 1124, 1310, 1313. Isidorus, elected bishop of Monemvasia, becomes patriarch, by the zeal and work of Palamas: his deserts toward Palamas, 786. Anathematisms written against him from everywhere by the orthodox, 786. He punishes the bishop, 786. He annuls the anathema pronounced by his predecessor John against the Cantacuzenists: he provokes laughter, as he is guilty for whom he absolves others, 792. He elects rude and ignorant bishops, 795. He ordains Palamas bishop of Thessalonica, attempts to alienate Irene Augusta from Gregoras, persuades Gregoras to be silent. The canons of Isidorus are condemned by fire, 793. A false prediction, sadness, death, obituary, 870. The commemoration sent to the sacred services by mistake: the error was afterwards corrected, 879. The doctrine concerning the divine substance and operation, 827. Ismenus river, 251. Israel, 569. Issicus Gulf, 191. Ister river, 157, 159, 747, 877. Crossed by the Scythians, 26. Maximus river, 103. Bursting forth from the Alps, it flows into the Euxine Pontus through five mouths, 103. Crossed by the Gauls, ibid. In order to reach Egypt, 323, 953. The greatest rivers that flow through Scythia, 375. The northern parts of the Ister, 15. Istiaeus, 155. Italians: it is not permitted for everyone to dispute with the Italians, 304. They dispute armed with syllogisms, 507. They are less circumspect in theology than the pagans, 517. The military discipline of the Italians, so that they might harm themselves with their own pride: they are harassed by ruses and light skirmishes, 147. Italy: the king seeks Michael, the son of Andronicus the elder, as a son-in-law for himself: he is not heard, 193. Italic garments made of wool, 600. Ithacenses, 110. Ixion, 1051.

J Joachimus Abbas, 1317. John the apostle and evangelist, 883, 915, 1125, 1126, 1132. John XXII, pope, 285 note. His letter indicated, 501. John, son of Andronicus the elder and Irene, 231. He takes the daughter of Nicephorus (Chumnus) as wife: his mother, father-in-law, and wife surviving, he dies at Thessalonica without children, 211. John Aprenus, priest of the imperial clergy; created patriarch after Esaias: to his faith Andronicus the younger commends his wife and children, 496. John, having spread his own eloquence and that of his bishops, advocates for Gregoras against the Latin bishops, 501. At the persuasion of Apocaucus, he produces documents written by the deceased emperor: he attempts to arrogate the tutelage and the administration of affairs to himself, 579. He gives an oath to Cantacuzenus, and receives one from him, 695. When Cantacuzenus was saluted as emperor by his own, he exults, 612. He acts on behalf of Apocaucus before the empress, 599. Treacherous toward Cantacuzenus: dutiful toward Apocaucus; whom he calls forth from the citadel with offered impunity, 603. With that same man having returned to the city, he changes his way of life: he himself plots against Cantacuzenus as well, 605. He installs himself as procurator of the empire: he confers the prefecture of the city and other dignities upon Apocaucus, 606. Things designated by that same patriarch against Cantacuzenus, 605. The family of John, numerous, adorned and enriched by Apocaucus, 697. John refuses the red buskins; he admits other ornaments; ambitious and imprudent, ungrateful, 755. He excuses himself before Cantacuzenus, and partly accuses himself, 758. By persuading peace, he offends Anna, 760. He flourished with the utmost authority before her, 780. How he alienated her from himself, 781. Absent and unheard, he is condemned, 785. He is first enclosed in a monastery; then banished to Didymotichum, 784. He is transferred to Byzantium: he dies not long after: his eulogy, 813. He was patriarch until the night in which Cantacuzenus captured Byzantium: which of his acts are to be preferred, 996. The earlier decrees annulled by the later ones, 827. John (Count of Cephalonia), prince of Aetolia and Acarnania, having killed his brother Thomas, he gained power: he is taken away by poison by his wife, 836. John, despot, sets out to Thessaly with a great army against John the Nothus, the Sebastocrator: with the Romans fleeing, he institutes naval battle: he puts the enemies to flight: why he never wore the despotic insignia afterwards, 119. John, son of Michael the Nothus (legitimate), 47. He flees to Michael Palaeologus, 110. John, illegitimate son of Michael the Nothus, 47. Prince of Thessaly, 110. Adorned with the dignity of Sebastocrator: he pillages the Roman provinces, 110. He destroys many towns: he defends himself with the walls of Neopatras: worn down by a long siege, he decides to go out; he trusts his plan to one man, 112. Having slipped down by a rope at night, he penetrates the Roman camp; he goes to the Duke of Athens; from whom he receives five hundred chosen soldiers, 113. He makes an attack on the unsuspecting Romans, 114. He plunders the Roman camp, 116. John, brother of Michael Palaeologus, Sebastocrator, sent with great forces against Michael Angelus and his sons-in-law, whom he leads with him as princes: he adds to his own the legions of Thrace and Macedonia, 72. Son of a despot, 79. John, son of the Porphyrogenitus. See Panhyperslebastos. John Patrologus (emperor) is born: the birthdays celebrated with merry contests by the joy of his father Andronicus, 482. A nine-year-old boy, his father having died, he is transferred into the palace with his brother by Cantacuzenus, 576. He is crowned on a non-festival day, 616. He is placed in charge of Thessalonica, 876. See also 550, 510.

^A Joannes Sozopolitanus, becomes patriarch: he adorns Michael, son of Andronicus the Elder, with the diadem, 195. He is despised as simple and gullible: he withdraws: he returns to his homeland, 210. Joannes Heracles, bishop, uncle of Gregoras, 429. See also Angelus, Asan, Veccus, CANTACUZENUS, Comnenus, Damascenus, Ducas, Glycys, Lascaris, etc. Job, book of, 308, 718. Jobus the Bogomil, 718. Josephus becomes patriarch after Germanus: he absolves Michael Palaeologus of perjury and cruelty, 107. He disapproves of the concord: he withdraws, 125. He becomes patriarch a second time, 160. He resigns the patriarchate again, 161. Followers of Josephus, see Josephia, 128, 167. Josephus Cretensis, 718. Josephus Hebraeus, originating from Palestine, 258. Whence he received the surname Flavius, 258. Jews, 161. They begin their Nisan sometimes on a different day from our March, 360. Μονοθέται, 969. The chosen people, 776. A condemned and proscribed race, 1146. Judas the traitor, 896. Judges (sworn), four are placed in charge of administering justice: annual revenues are assigned to them, 457. Crimes are later charged against them: one is acquitted. Punishments are imposed on the others: the episcopal sacerdotal dignity is taken away, 856. The duty of a just judge, 913. Julian (the Apostate) restores the worship of idols, 928. Why he forbade Christians from the study of Greek literature, 1099. Julius Caesar, betrayed by his friends, 178. Jupiter, 342. Olympicus, work of Phidias, 324. His thunderbolts forged by the Cyclopes, 993. Intercourse with Semele, 15, 1103. License to swear, 185. Oath sworn by the emperor, 189. By the people, ibid. Justa, a theatrical contest, 483. Justinian the First, 165. See Bulgaria. Justinian, emperor, [restores] the city of Bulgaria, his homeland, with what privileges he endowed it, 27. He built the Chora monastery, 459. Justin Martyr, in his book *On Monarchy*, brought forward many testimonies from the writings of the Gentiles, 1086. Divine justice, 253. Reason for divine justice, 532. Eye, tribunal of the avenger, 904.

K Καταπετάζειν τὴν ὀθόνην, to lower the curtain, 859 not. Καθολικοὶ κριταί, 437 not. Κατὰ Ἰησοῦν ἄνθρωπος, 1125 not. οἱ κατὰ Παλαμᾶν, 911 not. Κατάλυσις, destruction, 88 not. Κιντζούστρα, 482 not. Κνήμη τοῦ ποδός, 277 not. Komotini, Cantacuzenus, Koumoutzinon, 703 not. Κρηπίς, crepido, 491 not. Κρίνειν. The meaning of this verb, 1151. Κτίσματα and ποιήματα are the same, 1182. Κωπάϊδες λίμναι, 417 not.

L Lacedaemonians, defeated by Epaminondas, 488. After the battle of Leuctra, they forbade gold to women, 732. Three hundred Lacedaemonians at Thermopylae, 627. Aristocracy of the Lacedaemonians, 796. Lachanas the Bulgarian grows rich from robberies: he defeats and kills Constantine Tuch: he receives his kingdom and wife: he threatens Roman towns, 130. He is killed by the treachery of Michael Palaeologus, 132. Laconian naval exercise, 98. Rhetorical lamentation, 11. Lamia; blind at home, sharp-sighted abroad, 1109, and note there. Lamps, bringing created lights, 976. Lampsacus, 25. Lanizareus, 1274. Laonicus (Chalcocondyles). See notes at pp. 211, 335, 381, 481, 597, 741, 747, 762.

LASCARIS: Theodorus I is saluted as emperor in Nicaea, 13. How widely his empire extended: his father-in-law Alexius tries to invade, 16. Theodorus's swiftness, 18. He kills the Turk Jathatin, 19. Pacifies the defeated Turks; his clemency; two wives, 21. Death, epitaph, 24. Comparison with Joannes Ducas, 24. Theodorus II, son of Joannes Ducas: he takes Helena Asanis, daughter of Asan, as his underage bride, 19. Born at the time his father began to reign, 51. He succeeds his father: why he was not designated emperor while his father lived, 83. He is created [emperor] by the suffrages of the people: he confirms Arsenius's election: he is anointed by him, 55. He renews the treaty with the Turks: he crosses the Hellespont with a great army, 56. He grants the Bulgarian's request for peace: transfers the war to Thessaly, 57. He falls ill: he assumes the monastic habit before death: he atones for his sins: he dies, 61. His four daughters, whom they took as husbands, 63. Joannes, only son of Theodorus II, 63. He is despised: sent to Magnesia by Michael Palaeologus, 80. He is blinded, 83. Alexius and Isaacius, brothers of Theodorus I, bear ill the preference for Joannes Ducas: they rebel with the aid of Latin arms: they are defeated, 25. Isaacius. See Alexius, immediately above.

Latins vainly boast that they are successors of St. Peter, 509. Why they strive to renew questions long since agitated, 515. They act concerning the councils of the churches, 501. The Latins, after the capture of Constantinople, divide the empire into three parts: they prepare an expedition into Asia, 14. They are routed by Joannes Asan, prince of the Bulgarians, 15. They aid the Lascarises, Alexius and Isaacius, in arms against Joannes Ducas: they are defeated: they lose the Asian cities, 25. They besiege Daphnundam with a fleet: they receive the refugees: they set sail for Italy, 86. Four Latin princes ruled Byzantium, 85. Their carelessness, 87. Latin princes do not join in affinity with the Greeks, without the pope, 118. The custom of succeeding, accepted among them, 233. With the younger Emperor Andronicus, they deliberate about an alliance against the Turks, 525. They dissent among themselves, 515. Latins, federated, arm [themselves] against the pirate ships of the Persians: they capture the fortress of Smyrna: they accomplish very little thereafter, 689. Latins shave their beards, 396. Latins, inventors of jousts and tournaments, 481. Merchants who were surrendered, especially the Genoese, 683. Latins disdain the affinity of the Byzantine emperors, 257. Latin pirates, having seized the imperial throne, 469. Latins more cruel than the Scythians, 27. Greedy and rapacious; they spared not even the monuments of the ancients, 276. The worth of two hundred Latin knights, 19. The heavy armor of the Latins, 32. Arrogance, 834. Internecine war, 848. The power of the Latins (Galatae), 268. Their forces are meager due to the neglect of naval affairs by the Byzantines, 173. machines, 268. See Galatae.

Laurentius (Joannes) Lydus Philadelphiensis, 721 not. Lazarus: a double miracle in Lazarus, 445. Lazi, 148. Lebadia, 251. Legates sent to Didymoteichon by Anna to Cantacuzenus, 776. Legates sent to Byzantium, 1217. Legation concerning the concord of both churches, 129. [The legation] is heard by the Roman pontiff: concord is restored, 125. Legates to Charles of Serbia, 205. See Charles. Laws and the majesty of the empire mutually support one another, 916. Lemnian evils. See Proverbs. Lemnos, 98, 285, 709. Leonidas of Sparta, apophthegm, 636, 835. Oracles of Emperor Leo, 305 not. Lesbian construction. See Proverbs. Lesbos, 207, 438, 526, 535, 702, 709. Λέσχη, 1011. Leuctra, 186. Leuctra battle, 782. Law of Severus, 164. Limpidarius Probestiarites is sent into Asia: his eulogy, 193. He holds Philanthropenus in suspicion, 196. Having heard of his defection, (199). He gathers money and soldiers: he camps in Lydia: he receives Philanthropenus, who was betrayed by the Cretans, 200. He insults the captive: he is blinded; he is cursed as insolent and cruel, 201. See Philanthropenus. Libanius the pagan, a friend of Basil the Great, 1052. A book in which the fates of emperors were discovered in riddles, 463. False books, 305. Liberius Triballus receives Cantacuzenus in his hospitality, 638. See CANTACUZENUS. Libs. See Monastery. Libya, 808 etc., subjugated by the Egyptians, 102. Limni, distant from Trapezus by two hundred stades, 125. Liturgies, 125. Lingua Attica, 108.

1481 INDEX ANALYTICUS 1482 Sweet liquors accustomed to be carried from Egypt and Arabia, 437. Paper letters; linen, 595. A letter of the Byzantines brought: written to Palamas and to Isidorus, 786. Letters of the Acarnanians, Triballians, Thessalians, and Latin Peloponnesians to Cantacuzenus, 596. Liturgy celebrated once with the Latins after peace had been restored, 130. Locri, 251. Epicnemidian, 231. Epizephyrian, 796. Ozolian, 110, 657. Locri, 251. Logothete of the Dromos. See Glycys. Logothete of the Genikon. See Th. Metochites. Λόγος, used as a proper name, 514. Λόγων, name of a place, 419. Lombardy, 26. Province of the Lombard marchiones, 259. [Lucian] the Greek sophist, author of the Dialogues of the Dead, 924. Indicted mourning, 189. The holy expedition of Louis (D.), passed over in silence, 107 note. Louis, Count of Blois, receives a part of the Byzantine empire, 14. He falls while fighting against the Bulgarians, 15. The solemnity of the lights, the twelfth day after the Nativity of Christ, 617. The moon in second quadrature to the sun, 619. Lyceum, 326, 234, 471. Lycia, 110. Lychnites stone, 31, 958. Lycurgus, 326. Legislator of the Spartans, 1106. He established an aristocracy among the Lacedaemonians, 796. Lydians, 153. Riches of the Lydians and Medes, 1075. Lydia, 190, 199, 200, 214. Lydian stone, 361. Lysander the Lacedaemonian, 209, 477, 486. Lysimachia, 695. Lysis the Pythagorean, 522.

M Macedonia and Illyria occupied by the Bulgarians, 27. Macedonia and Thrace vexed by the incursions of Turks and Bulgarians, 521. Maccabees, 421, 723. Macrina, grandmother of St. Basil, 1018. Maeander, 18, 140, 142, 195. Mane, a city of the Peloponnese, situated at Leuctra; formerly the promontory of Tainaron, 80. Maeotis, 686, 797, 877, 880. The greatest marsh, 55, 56. Magnesia, 78, 80, 205, 207, 214. The crime of lese-majesty (καθοσιώσεως), 625. Maudrabolas. See Proverbs. Manfred, king of Sicily, son-in-law of Michael Angelus: enters upon the Romans with his father-in-law, 71. Escapes by flight, 75. See Anna Alemanna. Sister of Manfred, bride of John Ducas: exchanged with Caesar Alexius Strategopulus, 91. Mangana. See Monastery. Manichaean, what should be said if he claims matter pre-exists, 961. The Manichaeans said the same things as Palamas, 1142. A doctor of the Manichaeans, with others of the same sect, after abjuring his errors, is baptized, 384. Manuel Asan. See Asan. Manuel the Despot, younger brother of Andronicus, murdered, 283. Manuel Cantacuzenus. See Cantacuzenus. Marathon, 337. Marbascianus, 1274. Marcesius, a favorite of John Ducas, 45. Excluded from the temple by the monks by order of Blemmydes, 46. He accuses Blemmydes, ibid. The dignity of marchioness, 218. And note there. Marcion, 961. `Sea', the Adriatic, 110. The Aegean. See `Atlantic', 8, 172, 888, 992. The Caspian, 133, 25, 18, 13. The Euboean, 110, 124, 326. The `Sarian', Lycian, and Pontic seas, 141. Maria, daughter of Theodore Lascaris, 57, 63. She is affianced to Nicephorus, a bastard son of Michael, 17. Maria, niece of Michael Palaeologus through his sister Eulogia, wedded to Constantine (Taschos), prince of Zagora, 150. Mother of Michael, 132. Maria the Armenian (also called Xene), sister of the king of Armenia, brought to Byzantium, to be married to Michael, 195. Mother of the younger Andronicus, captured at Thessalonica, sent to Byzantium by Constantine the Despot, 354. Andronicus the younger deliberates with her; she fears for her son; she reconciles him with Michael the Bulgarian, 410. She grieves that her son's testament is ignored: she adopts Syrganes: she binds the Thessalonians to herself by an oath, 410. He dies at Thessalonica, 490. Orations on her death, 490. Maria passed from the religion of her homeland to the Greek dogma, 493. Mother of Anna and Theodora, 283. Enemy of Cantacuzenus and his mother, 440. Mother-in-law of Wenceslas and Michael the Bulgarian, 390, 391. See also 277, 283, 554, 623. Maria, granddaughter of Andronicus the senior through his sister, and also daughter of Asan, 220. She marries Roger, ibid. Maria (also called Theodora), daughter of Cantacuzenus, marries an Ilyrcan satrap of Bithynia, 762. Marius (Caius) conquered the Cimbri and Teutons, 54. Maronea, 244. Martinus, rector of Chios; having obtained the prefecture of his island: famous for many deeds, and therefore suspected: he is captured and sent in chains to Byzantium, 438. Martin's brother, deceived by Martinus, 438. Martius (Coriolanus), 10. Struggles of the martyrs, 1013. Massagetae (or Alani), 34, 36. Anciently Christians; subdued by the Scythians, they send envoys to Andronicus the senior; their demands and promises, 201. Admitted with their wives and children, they provide an occasion through harsh exactions; they cross into Asia, the quest of emperor Michael: they camp around Magnesia, 205. They are routed by the Turks: they ravage the fields of the Christians, 207. Massagetae and Turcopuli follow emperor Michael in battle, 230. Massagetae about to pass into Scythia, are defeated by the Turcopuli and Catalans, 252. See also 226, 228, 249, 250. Massalians and Bogomils, caught on Mount Athos, 714. Names of those caught, 718. Impure dogmas, 718. Coerced by various punishments: some escaped by flight, they are received into great cities; they imitate the "Martian" monks, 719. See also 876, 919, 931. Matthew Cantacuzenus. See Cantacuzenus. Matthew the Evangelist, 792, 1113, 1128, 1116, 1129. Moors invade Spain, 688. Mauritani (Μαυρούσιοι), 107. Mauritius David, of Dijon. See note at pp. 13, 53, 61, 78, 125, 210, 1164. Mauropolanum, 415. Note there. Maximus (the Confessor, St.), 912, 971, 1061, 1065, 1068, 1084, 1091, 1131, and note at pp. 1065, 1083, 1091, 1095, 1096, 1102, 1104, 1121. Medea, a maritime city, 796, 795; besieged by Cantacuzenus and compelled to surrender, 796. Medes, 38, 91. The fleet of the Medes routed by Themistocles, 497. Physicians summoned from Persia, 354. Complaint about physicians, 291. Μεγαλόσχημοι, 61 note. Megarenses, 252. Melanchlaeni, 34. Melchizedek, 941. Melecus (Malik), flees with his brother Azatines to Michael Palaeologus, 82. Melecus, son of Azatines, seeks the ancestral empire: is defeated by the satrap Amurius: having returned home, he is killed, 137. Melecus, leader of the Turks, 251. He betakes himself to Cralem, 251. Melenici castle, 413. Most strongly fortified: ceded to Cantacuzenus. Entrusted to be guarded by John, brother of Irene, 635. Meliteniotes, archidiaconus of the imperial clergy, 130. Sent into exile, 171. Meliteniotes, an envoy sent with Veccus to St. Louis, 130 note. Μηλόβοτος, 524 note. Melodus. See Cosmas. Menas, 460 note. Menander the Comic poet, 1057 note. The crime of lying excused, 666. Meridional buffoons (μεσημβρινοὶ λῆροι), 410. Mesembria city, 60. Fortified and populous, 197. It defects and kills the Roman garrison, 487. Mesopotamia, 58. Messana, a maritime city of Sicily, 217. Excels Messene, 860. On the difference between Transubstantiation (μετάδοσις) and Communion (μετάληψις), 1115 note. METOCHITES. [George] archidiaconus of the imperial clergy, 130. Sent into exile, 171. Note there. Theodore, logothete of the Dromos; sent as envoy concerning affinity with John Glycys: a panegyric of both, 197. They go to the island of Cyprus: the mission unfulfilled, they proceed to Armenia, 194. The authority of Theodore Metochites, logothete of the Genikon: his daughter married to John Panhypersebastos: praise of Metochites: gifts of soul and body: supreme erudition, 271. His style of speaking: how he combined the study of literature with the administration of the republic, 272. He is the author of Andronicus the senior not throwing his son into prison until the appointed days had passed, 503. In the Chora monastery he is consulted.

1483 INDEX ANALYTICUS. of the neighing of his own horse, and how he answered, 505. Arcane conversation with Andronikos the Elder, 303. Stupor and silence: his own distress and that of his children, 506. His daughter, the Hypersebaste, addresses him and chides him in a friendly manner, 306. Exited by his daughter’s speech, he laments: ^A he recounts the great calamity: he falls silent again: he lies down, 307. His merits toward Gregoras: he was the only one to know astronomical science most perfectly in his own age, 308. He gravely rebukes Andronikos the Younger, who was speaking on behalf of the conspirators, 514. Greatly anxious for himself: he is terrified by a dream: he takes counsel for his own affairs: he retreats into the palace, 411. He does not approve of the foresight of Andronikos the Elder, 420. The house of Metochites is plundered: all his goods either pillaged or confiscated for the treasury: he himself is plagued with curses and tormented by pains, 431. He returns from exile: he lives in the Chora monastery: the dwellings of Metochites are demolished: the pavement torn up, ^B given as a gift to the Scythian prince of the west, his liberty to speak to the Elder is taken away, 458. Afflicted by three evils, he assumes the monastic habit: he dies, 571. Mourning for his kinsmen: a brief eulogy of Metochites, 481. Monody on his death, 475. Metochites’ library and his ready supply of things sought after, 27. He explained the labyrinths of the Aristotelian tongue, 478. What he thought of Palamas and the errors of Gregorius Drimeos, very bad, 475 not. His verses, 143, 309 not. Epitaph, by Gregoras, 475 not. Metrodorus, a fictitious name, 538 not. Michael the Archistrategos; his statue thrown down: who first erected it: who restored it after its fall, 202. Michael (the bastard) son of Michael Angelos, prince of Thessaly and Aetolia: father of four sons: he seeks the granddaughter of Joannes Ducas as a bride for his son Nicephorus, 47. He had a wife named Theodora, ibid. He puts to flight the Rapio, and is safe from the cities of Thrace: a treaty is renewed with him: he becomes despot, he himself and his son, 48. He decides to invade Macedonia and Thrace: he gathers as his allies his own sons-in-law, the prince of the Peloponnese and Manfred, king of Sicily, and is snatched away: he thinks he is betrayed by his allies: he deserts them by night, 74. He breaks the peace, 83. He ravages the Roman borders: defeats the Caesar and takes him prisoner, 90. He joins in citizenship with the emperor, 92. He breaks his faith again, 98. His death: ^C four children: inheritance divided between two: it is resolved that the youngest should flee to Michael Palaiologos, 109. Michael, son of Michael the Bastard, 47. He takes refuge with Michael Palaiologos, 110. Michael, son of Constantinus Tarchaneiotas, having been driven from Byzantium, he arrives with his mother Maria, 132. Michael the Bulgarian (son of Stranzimeros) having obtained the widow of Wenceslaus and the principate: he is summoned by envoys from Andronikos the Younger, his wife’s brother, 390. He arrives at Didymoteichos: enters into alliance with him against the Elder, 391. A treaty is made with the Elder, 411. Reconciled with the Younger; he leads his forces home, 419. He wages war upon him: they prepare on both sides for battle; they are reconciled by the Augusta, he joins in the alliance of the war, 451. He ravages the lands of the Triballians: defeated by Crateas and captured, he dies from his wounds, 495. Michael (Palaiologos) is accused of aspiring to the throne: he clears himself by an oath, 49. Prefect of the city of Nicaea, he flees to the Turks, 57. The cause of his flight: ibid. He is appointed over the Roman legion to the Iconian sultan: he is opposed to the Scythian, 58. By the request of Emperor Theodorus, he returns to the court: he offers an oath: he receives the dignity of Constable, 59. On account of his extraordinary bodily and mental gifts he is pleasing to all: he is destined for the empire by various omens, 68. Twice Palaiologos: the dignities of his grandfather and father: he receives the keys from the patriarch: he gains minds with largesse until the rightful heir grows up, 70. He is adorned with the title of Despot, 71. He sends his brother with an army into Macedonia, 72. He is proclaimed emperor: renders a new oath: receives the diadem from Arsenios: by which things he is established, 79. He besieges Galata to no avail: he encircles Byzantium with his own forces: he returns to Nicaea, 81. How he is affected by the news of the recaptured city, 85. How he entered through the Golden Gate, he sets up a column, 202. He establishes his power: he gives the daughter of Theodorus Lascaris in marriage: he blinds Joannes, her brother, 92. He is excommunicated from the sacraments by Arsenios: he seeks remedies, 93. He is not heard: he calls a council against the patriarch, 93. He instructs a great fleet against the Latins ^D and recovers the islands, 98. He wages war against Michael the Aetolian; he is held by fear; he fears an imminent incursion of the Scythians: he returns home, 98. Having obtained two ends, he flees, 100. He is absolved from perfidy and cruelty, 108. He harasses the lands of the Latins with a fleet, 117. He fortifies Byzantium:

1484 he incites the king of Sicily and the Venetians against Charles, 121. He sends envoys to the Pope, through whom he treats regarding Charles and regarding concord, 125. The seductive and artificial speech of Palaiologos persuading the concord of the Churches, 126. Severity toward the contumacious, 127. Palaiologos decides to forestall Lachanas the Bulgarian, who was threatening the Roman towns: he betroths his daughter Irene to Joannes Asanes, the legitimate heir of the Bulgarian kingdom: he sends the same with great forces into Bulgaria, 128. He gives pardon to the Genoese Galatrans, 129. He diminishes his own pomp, he opposes a great army to the Turks: he appoints reckless leaders, 139. The Romans are led into ambushes and slaughtered, his land and naval forces are distracted by other wars, 140. He is compared with King Charles, 141. He arms Federicus, king of Sicily, against Charles: he diverts the fleet of Charles from the Sicilians [to his own use], 146. Public prayers being indicted, he leads the army, receives auxiliaries from him: he threatens the destruction of Thessaly, 149. Seized by sudden illness, he cannot execute his plans: having heard the name of the Latins, he remembers the oracle: he grieves that he was deceived by the oracle, but that he has truly plucked out the eyes of the innocent, 150. He dies: his body is neglected, 152. His conduct toward the end: charity toward his children was excessive, 153. For love of his children he violated justice: the fruits of his crimes, 154. The body of the deceased was translated to Selybria: mourning was proclaimed, 159. He invaded the supreme power tyrannically, 501. Michael (II) emperor, son of Andronikos the Elder: leads the Massagetae against the Turks: defeated by the Turks, he retreats into the city of Magnesia, 205. Roger is slaughtered before him, 221. He moves the Catalans: leads the Turcopoles and Massagetae, encamps near Aprus, 229. He is deserted by the Massagetae and Turcopoles, 230. He tries in vain to restore the broken forces: having rushed recklessly into the enemies, he barely escapes, his life is prodigal: the flight and slaughter of the Romans, 232. Michael moves against the Turks, 256. He is deserted by his soldiers: he departs in tears and unhonored: his insignia are torn away and held in mockery, 293. Michael Despota, brother of Emperor Joannes Palaiologos: quadrimus, 576. Michael Monachos, author of the Life of S. Theodorus Studites, 5 not. Michael Asanes, Catharus, Cutrules, Glabas, Strategopoulos. See the names. Miltiades, 357. Mixolydian, mixophrygians, 579. Mithridates’ empire, how far it extended: he possessed secrets explored by him, 612. Mitylene, 325, 328, 528, 529, 531. Recovered by Philanthropenos, 530. Momitzilas: various fortune; how he escaped the formidable [foes] by robbery, 703. He entered into alliance with Cantacuzenus, 704. He receives the insignia of despotic dignity from the Byzantines: he plots against Cantacuzenus, 704. He ravaged the Roman cities, 704. His audacity, 728. The consternation of those circumvented: the battles and slaughters of the soldiers, 728. Momitzilas, Cantacuzenus (m, 704), Nomitzilas. Nomus, angry at Zeus, 313. Monks, severely rebuked and punished by Patriarch Athanasios, 182, 183. They breathe again under Patriarch Joannes Sozopolites, 193. Monks, the Euchites and Omphalopsychi, 532. The diligence and zeal of the monks of Mount Athos against the heretics, 719. Letters to them regarding Anna and Joannes Palaiologos, 709. The savagery of the monks of the Chora against Gregoras, 1011. Monastery of the Adelon, 891. Near the Trojan castle, ibid. — S. Andrew, 171, 302. — Archistrategos, at the Bosporus, 123. — Anderorum, near Mount Rhodope, 624. — S. Basil, 781. — Chora, 303, 309, 1015, founded by whom, and by whom restored, 439. Chortaites, 316. — Cosmidion, 353. — Crauei (monastery of the virgins), 260. — Cyriotissa, 288. — Hodegitria, or of the Mother of God, 553, 559, 576. — Libis, 193. — of the Manganon, 481. — Nea, 757, and ibid. [other notes]. — Decima, 816. — Peribleptos, 270. — Perize, 20. — Monastery of the virgins, ibid. — Philanthropos, 60, 63. — Studion, restored by Constantinus Porphyrogenitus: devastated by the Latins, 190. — Xerolophos, 131, 246, 253. Moncada, 259, 262 in not. Monembasia, formerly Epidaurus, today Malvasia, 80, and ibid. annot., 786. Moneres, 847, 857, 863, 876. Monody, on the death of Andronikos the Elder, 465. On the death of Theodorus Metochites, 475. On the death of Andronikos the Younger, 569.

^A Noviodunum, 1061 and note. Monadics, Monothelites, 909. Monomachos Mystikos captures Syrgiannes by ruse, 298. Montanerius (Raymund). See notes to pp. 218, 224, 235, 248, 252. Mountains between Cilicia and Pamphylia, 105. Mountains continuous from the Euxine Sea to the Ionian Sea, 375. Marquis of Montferrat becomes king of Thessalonica, 14, 168. He enters the Peloponnese, 14. Takes Emperor Alexius: releases him, 16. Sets out for his homeland, Lombardy: in his absence Thessalonica is captured by Theodore Angelos, 26. Contemplation of death is necessary for all, 289. Conversations of the dead, 959. Depravity of morals, 185. Custom of the Franks, 79 note. Of princes, 253, 254 in note. Custom of the ancient emperors, 1030. Ancient custom of interpreting Holy Scripture: also of preaching the divine word, 184. Both customs recently abrogated, 185. Ancient custom of bringing holy icons to the Porphyry Column, 385. Moses, 1111. Beheld the present God, 1011. His books, 1116. Moses the Painter, 718. Mosinopolis, 703. Bulgarian, Thessalian, and Illyrian movements, 140. Moving Museum (μουσεῖον κινούμενον), 476. Mozyles, bishop, legate of Nicephorus, prince of Aetolia, 164. Berengarius (see the Greek), 220 note. Impudence of women, 235. Helicon of the Muses, 477.

MUZALO: Georgius; a new man, as he crept into the court: very pleasing to Theodore the Younger: decorated with the rank of protovestiarios: marries a kinswoman of the emperor, 62. By will is given as tutor to John Lascaris, ibid. Since the nobles bore badly that he was preferred over them, he summons the magnates: wishes to resign from the management of the state and of affairs, 63. He is prevented: demands a new oath, 65. Is killed in a temple along with his two brothers, ibid. Andronikos, grand domestic, fell in the temple, 65. Theodorus, chief of the huntsmen, fell in the temple, 66. Great logothete: refutes Beccus in synod, 170. Muzalon’s authority: *kalup̄ra*, a badge of rank, ibid. See Theodora. Daughter of Muzalo the protovestiarios, married to Constantine the Despot, died without children, 293. Mysi, 575, 578, 703, 704. Orthodox, 787. See Proverbs. Mysia, 548. At the mouths of the Ister, 76. At the Hellespont, 214. Both *my-stai*, 27. See Bulgars. Mystical contemplation and the administration of the republic are usually joined together, 66. Mystikos. See Monomachos. Myrtzes, *gam-ebgonos* (husband of the sister) of Asan, 132. Father of John Asan, ibid. Flees into Asia. Hands over Mesembria to Theodore Lascaris the Younger: obtains annual revenues and estates from him, 60.

N Nabonassar, 586. Era of Nabonassar, ibid. Nabuchodonosor the Assyrian, 750. Care of naval affairs neglected by the Byzantines, 171. Metropolitan of Naupaktos, 164. Naziraeus, 896 and note accordingly. Nea. See Monastery. Neda, which is Dominica, 391 note. Neocaesarita, protosecretary, father of Eudocia Palaiologina, 293. Nere, dancing to the flute, 1022. Nestor, 533, 476. Nestus, largest river of Thrace, 626 and note accordingly, 631. Nicaea, seat of the empire, 13. Primary city of Bithynia: besieged by Orchan, 435. Captured by the Turks, 458. See also 101. Nicagoras, a fictitious name of Gregoras, 836 note. Nicephorus Basilicus. See Basilicus. Nicephorus Blemmydes. See Blemmydes. Nicephorus (Chumnos), prefect of the Canicleus: a wise man: of great authority: had a daughter (Eulogia) married to John, son of Andronikos the Elder and Irene, 211. Nicephorus the Despot, eldest son of Michael Nothus: left as prince of Epirus by his father, 110. To him is betrothed ^B Maria, granddaughter of John Doukas through his son Theodore, 47, 63. Being a widower, he takes as wife Anna, granddaughter of Michael Palaiologos through his sister Eulogia, 92, 130. Nicephorus, metropolitan of Ephesus: succeeds to the patriarchate after Arsenius, 80. Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople, true author of the works ascribed to Theodore Graptos, 910, 1139 in note. Nicephorus Gregoras. See Gregoras. Nicetas (Choniates). See notes to pp. 15, 21, 621. On the statues of Constantinople, 276 note. Nicomedia, metropolis of Bithynia, captured by the Turks, 80. Nile river: how it communicates its waters with the Meroe, 325. Cataracts of the Nile, 358. Sources, 12, 469. Floods, which the Egyptians measure in cubits, 331. Niobe, 142. Niphon, metropolitan of Cyzicus, becomes patriarch after Athanasius: an illiterate man: his studies and evil arts, 259. To be praised in one respect, that he admitted the Arseniates to communion, 261. Because of sacrilege he is cast out of the patriarchal seat, 269. Why he was intense toward Andronikos the Elder: author of his mistreatment, envious, ungrateful, 427. Nisan (April), first month of the Jews, 369. Abundance of snow, 624. Crowd of nobles, 608. Noah. See Ark. Noga, Scythian from Trans-Istria, husband of Irene, the illegitimate daughter of Michael Palaiologos, 149. Nomads, 379. They change their name who don the cowl, 919 note. Concepts (*ennoiai*) do not correspond to names in divine matters, 973. Notitia Thronorum, 164 note. Nine-day sacred office, 65. Nine-day mourning, 378. *Ntzoustra*. See Justa. Numa Pompilius, Roman legislator, 1107. Forbade the image of God to be fashioned in the likeness of man or beast, 1108. Political coins (*nomismata politika*), 447. Ancient gold coins, found in the borders of the Persians: many transmitted by Latin merchants to various regions: what value they were estimated at among the Byzantines, 446. Nymphaeum, 50, 137. In Lydia, 190.

O Oblivion, citadel of, 730. Figure of Opportunity, 653, 1055. British Ocean, 103. Inhabitants of the Ocean, 352. Octavius Caesar. See Augustus. Olympic athletes, 447, 505. Games, 482. Olympic contests, 329. Olympic wild olive, 324. Olympus, mountain of Thessaly, 110, 218, 219, 722. Heavier than Olympus, 1043. Olympus, mountain of Asia, 169, 214. The straits of this mountain separate Bithynia and Phrygia, 19. Omer-oglios, 215 note. Omphalopsychia, blamed on the monks by Barlaam, 557. Onomasticon of cities indicated. See not. to pp. 379, 620, 623, 626. Operation and substance are the same in God, 971, 1092. Opinion of Palamas on divine operations, 967. Various names of divine operations, 945, 1009. Ophiuchus, 512. Oracle concerning the death of Michael Palaiologos I, 150. Concerning Trallians to be restored by Andronikos the Elder, 143 and note there. Concerning the death of Emperor Michael II, 278. Concerning Andronikos the Elder, 463. Chaldean Oracles, 721 and note there. Origin and discovery of oracles: why they are ambiguous and obscure: what must be shunned, 150. Oration: of Andronikos the Elder against malicious and lying historians, 6. To his grandson, before Patriarch Esaias and the pontiffs, 405. Of Andronikos the Younger, to the envoys sent by his grandfather, 398. To the soldiers, 410. Against the conspirators, 523. Of Cantacuzenos, against Patriarch John, 879. Against his adversaries, before Augusta Anna, 587. Against the same, before Augusta Anna and Patriarch John, 591. Against Apokaukos, 630. Item, 661. To his son Matthew, 814. To the Byzantines, 851. Before the Palamite synod, 903. Of Asan, to Matthew Cantacuzenos, son of his sister, 799. Of Matthew Cantacuzenos, to his uncle Asan, 801. Of Augusta Irene, to her son Matthew, 803. Syrgiannes, 299. Of Apokaukos, against Cantacuzenos, 666. Gregoras to the Logothete, 821. To Andronikos the Elder, 521. Before the patriarch and select pontiffs, 502. To Andronikos the Younger concerning the death of his mother, 430. Before Cantacuzenos, 881. Before his orthodox companions, 891. In the Palamite synod, 909, 918, 923, 928. Before Cabasilas, 1051, etc. Palamas, on Gregoras, 980. I omit the disputations. Concerning the Monodies, see under Monody.

^A Orchanes, prince of Bithynia, besieges Nicaea: he meets the approaching emperor, 433. He kills a Roman, 434. Having left three hundred horsemen, he withdraws: some of these plunder the Roman camp, others press upon the fugitives, 435. Orchanes, and the *Aroupa*, send a not inconsiderable force of Turks into Thrace, in the hope of seizing Byzantium, 559 and note there. The Turks are cut down by Cantacuzenus, 559. See *Byzantium*. Orchestra: *ἐξ ὀρχήστρας πρίασθαι*, 966, 1005. Orestes. Orestes and Pylades, 583, 619, 718, 799. Orestias, 15, 231, 502, 519, 520, 559, 658, 699, 691, 762, 803, 859. See *Adrianopolis*. Oreum, a gulf near Euboea, 878. Origen, his books against Celsus and other commentaries are praised by the Holy Fathers, 925. Orion’s rising, 610 and note there, 768, 855. Joined with the rising of the Dog Star, 72. *Ὀμωμοτικά*, 137 note. Orontes river, 107. Orpheus, 60. Orpheus’s lyre, 355. Tragedies, 471 and note there. The Orthodox gather in crowds to Gregoras, [they are moved] to tears and grief, 984. The mind of the prince [is turned] away from them, 979. They strive to contradict the Palamites, 994. They begin the third session of the synod with a profession of faith, 999. In the fourth session they take part, partly willingly, partly unwillingly, 1003. They are beaten, 1010. Harassed, they have nowhere to flee, 1034. Os Ponti, 184. Ossa, Mount, 117, 248, 249. Portents and prodigies foreshadowing the future calamity of the empire, 584. See *Sinister omens*. *Ὅστρακον*, shell, potsherd, 191 note. Oraia, crown. See *Corona*. *Οὕτω in οὖτω* changed, 483 note. Oxus Sogdus, 37. Uzzah, his temerity punished, 518, 957.

P Pachomius, or Pachomium, a place, 150. Pachomius, an honest man: accused by Michael Palaeologus, 150. Pachymeres. See note to pp. 61, 69, 115, 128, 146, 148, 180, 191, 193, 202, 221, 227, 252, 253. Equating to Andronicus the Elder, 6 note. Pachymeres's letter indicated, 91 note. Place in his History, different from the published editions, 233 note. *Epitome* of the *Augusteom*, 275, 276 note. *Παιδομάζωμα*, 102 note. PALAEOLOGUS: Alexius Despota, maternal grandfather of Michael Palaeologus, 69. Andronicus, Grand Domestic under Theodore Lascaris, father of the Emperor Michael Palaeologus, 69. Andronicus, son-in-law of Apocaucus, drowned, 710. Constantinus Porphyrogenitus. See *Porphyrogenitus*, 293. Constantinus, first husband of Eudocia Palaeologina, 240. Joannes, son of Andronicus the Elder, son-in-law of Nicephorus Chum- ^B nus, 240. Philes, protostrator, a relative of Andronicus the Elder, requests the Turkish war for himself: an eulogy of that man, 263. Praised by the Emperor Andronicus for the innocence of his life, he obtains what he requested, 264. He wins the hearts of the soldiers to himself: having learned the enemies’ plans through scouts, he leads out his legions, restores the line of battle when it was buckling: he routs and puts the Barbarians to flight: he presses upon the fugitives, 266. He camps in the Chersonese, 267. Sphranzes, feigning flight, passes over to the enemy: he rages against the absent: as a perjurer, he deceives the perjured Syrgiannes, he pretends that he is going to explore the walls of Thessalonica: goes out with two servants: cuts down Syrgiannes: retreats into the city, 500. He plots against the emperor himself, with Catalans and Illyrians as accomplices: the plots are discovered: see *Sphranzes*, 532. You will find the other Palaeologi under their respective first names. They are: Andronicus, Constantinus, Demetrius, Joannes, Manuel, Michael, Theodorus. The chain of the shackled Palaeologi, 733. Palestine, 81, 106, 238. Palamas (Gregorius) is accused by Barlaam, 557. Imprisoned, for what reasons, 704. Cast into chains, not because Cantacuzenus favoured him, 780. Anne Augusta [as his] helper against John the patriarch, ibid. Since he could not [do it] himself, he made Isidore patriarch, a man well-deserving of him, 786. Ordained bishop of Thessalonica, he is prevented from entering that city, with [the patriarch’s] assistance, 825. Reproved by Gregoras, 830. He is not permitted to bring forward written evidence, 833. Palamas’s evasions, anticipating the synod, 876. Confidence [or audacity], 879. Authorities: evil arts fearing public judgment, 882. The doctrine, what calamities it brought upon those who were the first to defend it, namely Cantacuzenus and his mother, 886. Anne Augusta, 887. What Palamas, offended by a remark, murmured against Cantacuzenus, Palamas’s name always [associated with] office/harassment, 918. With *Drimys*, long since reproved by Gregoras, 919. Accused by Gregoras, 931. Convicted of new errors, 934. He is not to be absolved for this reason, that he is accused by a Latin, 935. Palamas’s *Bible* [or book] is burned, 929. Writings, how much they are valued by the Palamites, 937. Palamas poses the question concerning the Thaborite light in vain, 940. Iconoclast, ibid., 945. His cause is equated with [the cause of] Eusebius the Iconoclast, ibid. Palamas establishes many things incorrectly, 946. He feels [the same] as Eusebius in those things which he speaks concerning the light, concerning operation, concerning the divine substance, and the sacrament of the Eucharist, 948. Implicated with the arguments of Theodorus Graptus, 916. His opinion concerning the Light [of Thabor], which is his own, 946. Refuted along with Eusebius the Iconoclast, 950. He follows in the footsteps of the iconoclasts, 951. He recalls the *Energia* to the light, 960. Unprepared to speak, he preaches, 964. His anxiety, ibid. Doctrine, style, talent, ibid. Brought into greatest straits, he begins his oration from the Thaborite Light, 967. He says that operation and substance differ in God: he establishes that [the operation] is uncreated: he holds his adversaries in contempt, 969. He praises the Holy Fathers but does not name them, 970. He visits Cantacuzenus, 940. He inveighs against Gregoras and other orthodox men in a bitter oration, 980. The emperor executes his commands, 981. Palamas leaves his associates to act as advocate, 984. His struggle in defending himself is in vain, ibid. Palamas, conquered by an adolescent, Gregoras’s disciple, is a laughingstock to all, 1025. Palamas’s violence, 1035. He denies that he will give out [his] libels [tracts], 1035. Palamas establishes many things, 879. Author of new dogmas, 780. Anathemas pronounced against Palamas: [under] John the patriarch, they ought to prevail, 928. Palamas is similar to [heretics] who say that *ἄκτιστοι* and *ἐνέργειαι* are [the same], 941, 947. Palamas’s words *ἐκ τοῦ λόγου*, 944. *Ex TOU λóyou*, ibid. *Ἐκ τοῦ λόγου, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή, οἱ φιλονεικοῦσι μὲν οὖν ἀλλήλους*, 945. Oration before the synod, 957. Victimized by ignominy, 1005. Palamas ruined the mystery of the incarnation, 1055. Even if [things] are properly predicated of God, they are described as increated and distinct, 1070. Palamas’s dogma concerning the distinction of the divine substance and operation, 1088. Words excerpted from his various books, and brought forward by Cabasilas, 1071. Three subsidies [or fallacies] which he uses to deceive the common people, 1076, etc. *Tonstrina* (*κουρεῖον*), 1077. Palamas is ignorant of all Greek literature (*Μοῦσαν Ἑλληνικήν*), 1080. Compared with Leo, 1081. He corrupted the words of Proclus, 1105. He establishes many things as uncreated, ibid. *Ἀναρχία καὶ ἄκτιστα ἐπωνυμίζει*, ibid. He accumulates riches, he despoils the divine images, 1104. Asserts that the divine substance cannot be participated in, but that [its] operations can, 1104. A disgraceful face was made for him, 1103. Palamas’s words, denying that the divine substance is communicable, ibid. Palamas [is full of] *παραδοξολογία*, ibid. He transfers old wives’ fables into theology, 1106. He heaps up Plato’s error, concerning inferior deities, with his own error, 1107. Eunomian, 1109. An innovator, 1110. He misinterprets the word *παραδοξολογίαν*, ibid. Excerpts from his writings, 1112. A few things from many are referred to, 1115. Excerpts from two of his books, ibid. and 1115. Palamas asserts that the Spirit is not only sanctifying, and does not establish [only] seven [gifts], but more than seventy-seven, 1116. He wrote more than sixty books, 1115. Palamas’s seven errors, 1116. Palamas calumniates Gregory the Theologian: likewise the evangelists Matthew and Luke, ibid. Likewise St. Dionysius, ibid. He posits something in God [that is] between the angels, ibid. Palamas’s dogma *περὶ τοῦ ἡνωμένου*, ibid. Palamas asserts that the Godhead can be seen, ibid. He multiplies the number of divine hypostases, 1115. He feels impiously concerning the eucharistic communion and concerning holy baptism, 1115, 1117. He twists the words of Gregory Nazianzen into an evil meaning, 1128. He calumniates Luke and Matthew, 1129. Worse than the Pneumatomachians, 1129, 1130. Palamas’s words concerning the Holy Spirit, 1128. They are refuted, 1129. Palamas [asserts that that] which has come to pass is uncreated, 1130. ^D

^A Δίκαιος, ibid. Palamas and Philotheus do not acknowledge the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but a type or figure, 1136. Palamas says that humanity would be consumed if it were made a partaker of the divine nature, 1141. Iconomachus, 1142. He is transfixed with the same weapons as the Iconomachs, 1143. Worse than the Iconomachs, 1116. The Iconomachs feel more correctly about the Eucharist, 1139. Guilty of all heresies, 1140. Item, 1143. Πάντα κακὸς ἐκ κακῶν ὑπερβάλλει, 1116. The persecution of Palamas, 1080, 1106, 1107, 1129, 1130, 1134, 1159, and passim. What and how many he wrote, 1115 note. Notes on the indication of his works in the notes to p. 557 and 718. Epistola ad Gabram, 722 note. Ad Annam Augustam, 768 note. Oratio adversus Joannem Calecam patriarcham CP., 830 note, 911 note. Words from a manuscript codex, 830 note. The dogma regarding the Greek Church remained, 116 note. A chronology of the affairs managed by Palamas over four years, 768 note. ^B Palamas and the Palamites separated from communion: indeed those who admitted them to communion [are likewise separated], 792. Compared to beetles, 1100. And to vultures, 1106. With a Lamia, ibid. The Palamites, hostile to Patriarch John because of the rescinded tomus, 767. By what arts they made both Anna and Cantacuzenus captive to themselves, 783. They incite Cantacuzenus against Gregoras, 824. They attempt to alienate Irene from him: having been poorly received by her, they summon Cantacuzenus, 826. What sort of patriarch they wanted, 871. Called to a synod, they feast in the inner hall, 896. After the feast they pass into the triclinium of Alexius; there they consult among themselves for the first time, 898. They constantly recur to the light of Tabor, 1073. They explain their impious dogma regarding the divine glory before the synod, the people rage against them, while he [the Emperor] is absent, they are defended by the orthodox, they are flattered by the Emperor: they decree whatever they pleased, 977. The Palamites’ craft, counsel, confidence, 999. The testimonies brought forward by them are examined, 1006. The Palamite victors exult impudently, 1021. Rewards given to them, 1022. Their impious dogma, 1023. Cruelty, 1024. The synodical tomus, 1025. Great and magnificent promises made to the Emperor, 1030. The promise refuted by the actual outcome, 1051. The Palamites mutilate sacred books, 1008. They deny that the divine substance can be partaken of, 1086. In the transfigured Christ they admit three natures, 1100. They do not emulate Nestorius and the Iconomachs in being one, 1146. Παλαμναῖοι, that is, Palamites, 722. Παλαμναία κακότυχα, 1116. Palatium Adrianopolitanum, 278. Near the Hippodrome, 87. Oriental, 354. Vetera, 729, 730. Pamphylum, a city, 805. A small town, 621. Pamphylia, 108, 138. Πανάχραντος. See Monasterium. Παναθήναια, 475, 599. Celebrated every four years, and at the end of the Olympiad, 599. Panhypersebaste, daughter of Theodore Metochites, 306. She rebukes her quiet father in a friendly way, ibid. The eulogy of that woman, ibid. and 309. See Cæsarissa. Panhypersebastus (Joannes), the only son of the Porphyrogenitus, son-in-law of Theodore Metochites, 271. Brother of the Cralis: aided by the arms of his father-in-law, he rebels; content with the dignity of Caesar offered to him, he lays down his arms, he dies: a legation for bringing back his wife to Byzantium, 370. The daughter of the Panhypersebastus marries the Cralis, 373. Πανόπται φύλακες, 1049, 1080. Pantocrator. See Monasterium. The Pope, without consultation, the affinity joined with the Greeks, 168. Bishops delegated by the Pope, 501. Paphlagonian horsemen, 111. Paphlagonia, 158, 215. Papyrus Aegyptiaca (ξυλοχάρτιον), 595 note. Παραπύρη: the meaning of that word, 1110. In Cosmas Melodus, ibid. In Gregory the Theologian, ibid. Πάραλος, a ship, 556. Παρακαλώ, in St. Chrysostom, 1111. Parnassus, a mountain, 110, 251. Parthi, 8. Parthican princes, 259. Monstrous childbirth, 516. Parysatis, wife of Darius, mother of Cyrus the Younger, 189. Pascha: the disputation regarding Pascha, as it was first held in the palace, 564. Pascha legale, 565, 567, 371. Judaicum, 571. Pascha celebrated by a barbarous rite in the city of Strummitza, 379. Paschali, a small monastery, 80. Patrae Nova, besieged by John the Despot, 112. The Romans troops with the Sebastocrator plunder the town: they plunder the fugitives; content with spoils, they abstain from slaughter, 115. Patrae Vetera, 516. ^C Patriarchal vestments, shoes, the custom of subscribing, 697. Authority, ibid. Patriarchs who were unlearned and simple are most pleasing to the Emperors, 292. Πατριαρχικοί ἄρχοντες, 1030. Fathers, instruments of the Holy Spirit, 811. In explaining the Scriptures they do not agree among themselves; yet they tend toward the same [goal] in different ways: heretics do not do so, 506. The Holy Fathers, insofar as they have argued in theology, 867. Why they refuted heretics, 509. Things defined by the Fathers are not to be called into doubt: not all of their writings are of the same kind and authority, 516. The prescripts of the Fathers are to be observed, 916. How much force the terms constituted by the Fathers have, ibid. Patribali, 703. Paulus (the Apostle), 513, 583, 703, 769, 831, 916, 932, 934, 935, 953. Magnus, 184, 943. A vessel of the Holy Spirit himself, 955. See Templum. Paulus (read Petrus), 407. Paulus, a most excellent painter, 501. Pausanias, author of the Trallian oracle, 1180. The use of money in peace and in war, 803. Πηγή. See Deipara. Pelagonian region, 454. Pelasgi, 110. The prince of the Pelasgi and the Thessalians, 237. Pelasgicus sinus, 117. The nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, 161. Pelius, a mountain, 117, 218. Pelopes, 718. Pelopidas, having accepted money from Artaxerxes, waged war against Agesilaus, 121. Peloponnensis, etc., 128, 217, 283. Prince of the Peloponnesus, son-in-law of Michael Angelus; he invades Roman territories with his father-in-law, 71. He is captured, 75. He redeems himself as a captive, three cities having been given, 79. The prince of the Peloponnesus and Achaia, they made peace with the Persians, 86. Penelope. See Proverbia. Pentheus torn apart by the Bacchantes, 994. Πεπρωμένη, 723. Pera, the opposite bank, 1163. Περιαγωγαί, 796 note. Περίπατος. See Monasterium. Pericles, 333. Perinthus, 702, 708, 710. Περίπατος, 476. Περιστίτζα, 781. Perithorium, besieged in vain, 693 and note there, 738. Persians (ancient), 91, 152, 808. The forces of the Persians were routed at Salamis by Themistocles, 486. The fleet at Eretria and Artemisium, 802. Wisdom and science, 526, 450. The law against the ungrateful, 591. Persians (Turks) left at Thessalonica, they run wild there and in the surrounding areas, 671. The Persian fleet, led by Amurius, suffered shipwreck; it was driven first to Euboea, then near Thessalonica, 671. An excursion into the borders of the Triballi, 672. The Persians, after Batatzes was killed, cross over to Cantacuzenus, 742. The Persians, summoned by Anna, commit plunder; they collect a huge number of captives, 765. Peace having been made with Cantacuzenus, they return home, 763. Persian raiders cross over from Asia into Thrace: the foot soldiers are destroyed by Mattheus Cantacuzenus, the horsemen by the Emperor himself, 855, 857. See Turci. Persian horsemen, 763. The Persian naval army, 596. Fleet, 693. Auxiliary troops, 865. Pirate troops, 816. The empire divided into satrapies, 397. The constancy of the Persian kings and satraps, Persian Gulf, 107. Pertze. See Monasterium. Pestilence, 797. Petavius, 569 note. Deceived by the reading of a poorly punctuated codex, 536 note. He did not grasp the meaning of Gregoras, 296, and 552 in note. He put Phocenses for Phocaeis, 553 note. Petrus. The see of the Great Peter, 506. Phaceolatus, he arms imperial triremes: catches two Latin ships, 766. For fear of the Galatians, he is compelled to have bodyguards around him, 767. He discusses introducing Cantacuzenus into the city, 773. With the number of his bodyguards increased, he attempts the deed, ibid. He opens the city gates at night, 774. Phraces (Gregorius), leader of the troops left behind at Didymotichus, 627. Pharenza Tzymes. See Ximenes. Phavorinus the philosopher. See Favorinus. Phidias, great among the Greeks for the sculpture of the Cicada, ^D Phylie sculptura (λαξυτική), 729. Philadelphia besieged by the Turks: saved by the arms of the Catalans and the virtue of Theolentus the bishop, 561. The same arrival

^A of Philanthropenus brings relief: max¬imum grain supply brought into the city, 361. See also 200, 214, and 763. Phile (Manuel), Poem on the history of animals, 263 note. On Michael Glabas, 759 note. Philanthropenus (Alexius), prefect of the Roman fleet, urges his men, 118. Pincerna; he is sent into ^B Asia; his eulogy: all things succeed for him prosperously; many attach themselves to him, 193. When the Cretans incite the deserter to rebellion, 197; he hesitates: he consents: he does not admit the imperial insignia, 197. Imprudently he neglects the unprepared Libadarius: he attacks Theodore, the brother of the emperor: he is blinded, 201. By the efforts of the patriarch Esaias he is restored to his former rank, 360. Philanthropenus’ eulogy: upon his arrival through the historian, Philadelphia is saved from the Turkish siege, 534. See also 205. Philes. See Palaeologus. Philippi, city, 19, 642, 635. Bishop of the Philippians, legate of Cantacuzenus to Anna, 776. Philipporum plain, 632. Philippus Aridaeus. See Aridaeus. Philippus the Macedonian mocked his son Alexander because he played the lyre well, 454. Apophthegms of Philip of Macedon, 411, 454. Philocrene, 43, 433. Battle at Philocrene, ibid. Philosophers, axiom of the profane, 591. Philotheus, bishop of Heraclea, equates Palamas’ writings with the Gospel, 938. His impious dogma concerning the Eucharist, 1136. Philotheus, patriarch of CP. See note on pp. 883, 891, 1029, 1034, 1044, 1045. He praises Theodorus Graptus throughout, 932 note. Praise of Mount Athos, excerpts from there, 714 note. Phocaea, maritime city, situated near Smyrna, 525. It is recovered by the Romans, 525. It is taken by the Genoese nobles after being driven out, 763. Phocaeenses, 525. They return the sons to the Turk, 531. Broken by a long siege, they obtain peace through the intervention of the Rhodians; conditions of peace, 531. They are subjugated by the Latins, 760. Phocaei, not faith and Phocenses, 1252. Phocenses, 253. Phoenices, 81, 1099. Phoenicia, 41, 102, 108, 109. Θεοβόληπτος, 722. Phrantzes, 1160, 1161, 1163, 1165, 1164, 1165, and passim; noted, 1189. Φρέριοι (Friars Minor, commonly Φρεμενούριοι), 130 and note there. Phryges. See Proverbs. Phrygia, 140. Phthiotae, 110. Pici Martii, 720. Pilate, with washed hands, kills Christ, 1078. Pilei (i.e. xαλύπτραι) pyramid-shaped, 567. Latins, Mysians, Triballians, Syrians, Phoenicians, 568. Pindar, 337 and note there. Piraeus harbor, 511. Pirate ships, audacity of, 175. Piringerius. See Berengarius. Pisan laborers are transferred from the city of Galata, 97. See Consul. Fishing, annual revenue from, 428. Pisistratus the Athenian, 740. Planets, 131. Planudes (Maximus) 143, 167, 178, in note. His three epigrams corrected, 167 note. Platiaenses, 252. Plato, 306, 323, 334, 335, 477, 480, 518, 910. Son of Ariston, 508, 383. Proscribed as a heretic, 1018. Having gone to Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, 317, 933. Sayings of Plato, 134, 257, 264. On God, 508. On Mind, or God, 1090. On the soul of a lover, 601. Words from the Timaeus, 1106. Plato’s dialogue παιδικοὶ καθυβρίζουσιν ἔρωτες, 905. The same of Plato, 9. Plectra, power of, over fish and snakes, 308. Πλέθρον πηχέων ρλγ', 861. Schol. Pleiad rising, 56. Full moon observation, 565, 568, 571, 572. Plotinus, on the substance and operation of God, 1089. On Mind, the parent of all things, 1090. On unity, 1092. Plutarch of Chaeronea, 32, 1107, and in note on pp. 915 and 1109. Pneumatomachi, they said that the Holy Spirit was a poem (creation) and consequently mere ^C creature, 1130. Heresy of the Pneumatomachi, 1027. The factious, indicted by the Church, 319. Irrigated by the orthodox, 1022. Poetry of the recent Greeks, 133 note. Poets, parents of fables, 161. Pogonias, 542. Ποιεῖν, the verb, what it signifies, 1129 and 1036 in note. Πολυλενία, 959. Polystylum, a castle near Abdera, 626 and note there. Pompa equestris, 788. Pompeius, 91. Virtue and fortune of Pompey, 612. Pontanus, translator of Cantacuzenus, 817 note. Praised, 818 note. Noted, 501 note. He derives seven from four days, 560 note. Pontiff ought to imitate Christ, 701. Pontiffs, devoid of brotherly charity, 91. Ponti αὐχήν, or gorges, 416, 841, 877, 880. More maritime, 36. People raged against the Palamites: they favor and rejoice for the orthodox, 977. Porphyrogenitus (Constantine) dearer to his father than his brother Andronicus (the elder, of course) becomes an object of suspicion to his brother, 186, 187, 188, 189. He takes as wife one of the daughters of Raoul: he restores the monastery of Stoudios: he is thrown into prison, 190. He follows his brother in chains, 195. Gates of Byzantium: Golden Gate, 771. At Gyrolimne, 315, 420, 421. Eugenius, 167, 275. Roman gate, 420. Porta, i.e. the Palace, 458. Possinus (Peter). See note on pp. 53, 61, 78, 93, 108, 125, 130, 131, 191, 203, 204, 210, 218, 252, 460. Noted, 16 note, 220 note. Potestas, a Genoese magistrate among the Galatians (Gr. ἐξουσιαστής), 97. Prediction concerning a future great heresy, and concerning a general council to correct it, 919. Vain predictions, brought to Byzantium from Italy and Colchis, 447. Rewards given to Palamites, 1021. Prestigiatores (conjurers). See Egyptian circulators. Vicious prayer condemned in the monks by Barlaam, 536. Question concerning prayer agitated in the synod, 537. Naval battle, 117, 118. Prespa, 48. Priene, 214. Prillapis, 48. The name of Great Primicerius changed to μέγας Κύριος, 239. The name of Prince given to the ruler of the Peloponnese, 239. Prince’s Island, 585. Princes incautious and unskilled in ruling, 881. Best condition of debating princes: worst of private disputants, 932. The safeguards of public salvation neglected by princes, 845. Proclus the Platonist, on the One and Unity: he usurps a very large part of Plato’s words, 1092. On participation, 1100. He fights against himself, 1101. He is refuted, 1102. Proclus’ ^D theology, or theological institutions, 1095. Prodigies. See Sinister omens. Traitors of the city of Byzantium, 419. Proconnesus, 93. What use profane sciences might have in theology, 1082. It is evident from the testimonies of the holy Fathers, 1083. Profession of faith of the holy Fathers, 1071. Πρόκυψις, 616. Prometheus. Gregoras is the Prometheus of Cantacuzenus, 890. Northern promontory of Byzantium, 869. Words of the prophets, 915. Propontis, 83, 539. Propontis, the Asiatic gulf, 540. Island, 210. Proscriptions of the nobility under Cornelius Sulla and under Antony, 1022. Prosiacus, a small town, 413. Solemn view from the palace, 788. Προτέλειος δόξα, 176. Προταραία, is it the day immediately preceding? Πρότερον ἔτος, 1112 note. Proteus Pharius, 578. Πρωτεξάδελφος, 636 note. Πρωτοαποστολάρχος, 1177, 1185, 130, 163 in note. Πρῶτος, a title of dignity, 429 and note there. Protosebastus (son of Caesar, nephew of the Porphyrogenitus) fights most bravely against the Bulgarians, 436. Protostratoric staff, 263. Proverbs of Solomon, 511, 910, 1103, 1131. Greek Proverbs, (a). 'Αεί τι Λιβύη φέρει καινὸν, 805.

＞ ^A *Amas*, a requirement, to deny the rack, 230. A net hunting ^B the breaths of the winds, 190, 911. If an oak has fallen, it is free for all to gather wood, 1057. To card into fire, 231, 190. Out of the strong, the sweetness, 1008. From the cup of the potters, 1135. Out of the claws, the lion, 1008. A tale longer than the Iliad, 141. As if a potsherd had turned, 219. To walk upon the waters, 911. Bellerophon against himself, 1075. Monkeys ape-ing, and ants acting like ants, they do their own things, 345. Saying of the Scythians, 175, 795. As in the case of Mandrabulus, 692. As an upper decipher, 859. *Calreus* as consul, to be clothed by Aristagoras, 153. *Camel*, though horns are desired, it is even deprived of ears, 760. Fleeing from the fires, it falls into the fire, 93. There is much difference between the borders of the Phrygians and Persians, 323. *Lernian evils*, 28. *Lesbian structure*, 859. *Loot*, 47, 426, 765. Not even Hercules can handle two, 1078. *Penelope’s web*, 129, 430, 666. *Trojan trifles*, 28. Proverbs concerning an impossible thing, 342 not. *Providence*, 152. Divine, 63, 125, 176, 222, 511, 572. One must not resist divine decrees, 221. Counsels of divine Providence, 687. Reason, 932. *Province of Asia* occupied by the Turks: their partition: names of the satraps, 211. *Prusa* captured by the Turks, 581. Metropolis of the Prusæans, situated near Mount Olympus, 41. *Psalms of David*, 1121, 113, 1018, 170, 1019, 955, 126, 1131, 750, 1069. Psalms, 393. *Psalter* consulted by Andronicus the Elder, 355. *Psellus*, 721 not. *Pseudo-synod of Palamas*, Tome, edited by Combefis, 843 not. *Breath* (psyche), lacks a proper name, 514. *Ptolemy*, 480. Astronomer, 721. Magnus (the Great), 767. Whence he received the surname of Claudius, 238. *Publicans*. One rages against the publicans, 317. Cruelty of the publicans, 402. Greed, 517. *Child* three years old, of masculine strength, dies in the fifth year of his age: the cause of death physically explained, 317. *Battle* of the Acarnanians and Aetolians, 83. Battle at Mauropotamos, 415. *Pydna* mountain, 110. *Pylades*, 583. See Orestes. *Pyrrhonists*, 930. *Pythagoras*, 306, 333, 910. He goes to the Egyptian sages, 523. He desires to be praised in Greece, ibid. Item, 525. He posited God as invisible and intelligible, 1108. Pythagoras, Numa, and Plutarch posit God as uncreated, 1108. *Pythagoreans*, 723, 956. They do not dare to call the decrees of their masters into doubt, 516. The Pythagorean silence of five years, 936, 1013. *Pythium castle* besieged by Apocaucus, 708 and note there. *Flame-bearing priests*, 839 not. *Ra-* (Rachos), 555 not. *Raoul*, one of the nobles included in prison, rushes upon Apocaucus: he fights with him, 732. Raoul *Protovestiarius*, another husband of Theodora Protovestiaria, 167. Daughter of Raoul, married to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, 190. Whence the family of the Raouls arose, 733 not. *Rocafort*. See Rocafort. *Rule, carpenter’s*, 883. The same among the Greeks, Scythians, Medes, and Persians, 1099. Rules of necessary arts, the same among all, 1099. *Ecclesiastical rules*, so called by metaphor, 835. *Sacred relics* sold by the Turks, 451. *Rhegium in Thrace*, 83, 321, 358, 397 and note there. Rhegium *Italicum*, 860. *Rheutina castle* surrendered to Cantacuzenus, 632. *Rhesus*, 103. 'At Rhoe*, 83 not. *Rhodians*, 797. They attack the island of Lesbos, 523. By the intervention of the Rhodians, peace is granted to the Latin Phocaeans, 531. Ambassadors of the Rhodians return home concerning peace, the embassy being in vain: they carry off the precious furniture of the Galatians, and even the wives and children of some, 836. *Rhodes*, 98, 836. Captured by John Ducas, 29. Inhabitants of Rhodes, their city and political status in the time of Gregoras, 1116 d. *Rhodope mountain*, 56, 214, 302, 524, 703, 727, 836. *Rhusucastra castle*, 484.

1494 *Richard*, Bishop of Cherson, 1317. *Robert*, Emperor of Byzantium, 21. Nephew of Henry ^C (ex sorore, not from a brother, as Wolfius translates), 25. Firstborn son of Iolentae, 86. *Rocafort*, Duke of the Catalans, ignoble by birth: fights with Ximenes and Entenza, 232. *De la Roche* (John), 114, 257. *Roger*, Duke of the Catalans, a terror to the sea and the islands: what forces he had with him: summoned by the King of Sicily: upon his arrival, the cities return to their legitimate lord, and the Almogavars likewise, 220. Marries Maria, niece of Andronicus the Elder by his sister: becomes Great Duke first; then Caesar, ibid. Returns from Asia to Thrace: demands that the Emperor Michael pay the stipends: he is beheaded, 221 and 226. After he was killed, the Romans think that the Catalans are defeated, 224. *New Rome* privileges, 697. *Romans*, after the greatest disasters received from Hannibal, emerge more powerful, 310. Constancy of the Roman Caesars and the council, 494. Ancient power of the Romans, 538. Consulars, 791. *Romans* (Byzantines) grow rich on Turkish money, 42. Causes of Roman disasters, 226. Roman forces weak against the Turks, 317. Roman Empire circumscribed by the borders of Thrace, 816. The state of the Roman Empire is shameful and afflicted, 351. Raman, that is, Byzantine, 332 not. *Rontzerius*. See Rogerius. *Rososules* (Wolfius Rufus of Souli, to us Rufus of Soliaco), commander of the land forces of Charles, crosses the Ionian (Sea), 146. Proceeds to besiege Belgrade: advances with a few men to defend the water-supply: is surrounded by the Byzantines: his army is destroyed, 147. *Rossicus*, a prince, called Dapifer, 239. *Red letters*, 758. *Rashness* of the rustic soldiers, 256. *Sabellius* the heretic, 1035. *Small chapel* of the Mother of God, Nicopoeia, 303. *Priesthood and empire* have different functions: their attire is different, as far as one may be supported by the other, 699. *Sacramentarian* error, 1136 not. *Sacrament*, unusual, is demanded by the people, 295, 515, 558. *Wise* (Sapientes mos), 957. *Salaminia and Paralus*, 536. *Salamis*, 310. *Solomon*, 1027, 336, 910. *Wisdom* (book), 1112, 1127. *Samos* captured by John Ducas, 29. *Sangarius River*, 140, 213. *Sanutus* (Nicholas), Duke of Naxos, 525 not. *Temple of Serapis*, 877 and note there. *Sarchanes*, Satrap of Ionia, 211. *Sardinia*, 311. *Sardonic laughter*, 957. *Sarmatian* Asians, 54. *Sasan*, Satrap of Magnesia, Priene and Ephesus, 214. *Persian Satrap*, 537. *Names of the Turkish Satraps*, 211. Various fortune, 597. *Conjunction of Saturn and Mars in one sign*, what it portends, 452, 453. *Saul’s* demon, 554. *Ladder of Ascetics* (Scala ascetica), 962. *Scamander*, 60. *Schism* in the Greek Church, 876. *Scholiast* of Aristophanes, 1109 not. Of Euripides, 839 not. Of Homer, 862 not. *Scholarii* introduce the young prince, son of Michael, to Trebizond, 681. They punish the adversaries, ibid. They cast the same younger prince into prison: they take his father Michael out of prison and set him on the throne, 683. Their pacts with Michael: the greatest authority, ibid. *Science* not necessary for a Christian, 931. *Scipios*, 360. *Scopis*, 619. A small town, 380 and note there. City, 747. The site of that city, 580. *Scriptures*, words are often obscure or ambiguous, 510. What kind should be brought forward, 512. *Scylla*, 360, 1029. *Scyllaeum*, a promontory of Italy, 217. *Scythians*, joined with the Bulgarians, defeat the Latins, 15. Scythian region: way of life: moderation, justice, and other things.

^A Mutes, 30. Various names: the Scythians as ministers of divine wrath: they ravaged many provinces at different times, the Europeans, close to ancient Scythia, 33. The migrations of the Scythians into Asia, into Europe, ibid. They overrun the nearer provinces down to Africa: finally, they fix their seat in Mesopotamia, 38. At first they neglect gold and luxuries: then they degenerate into the common vice of human nature: they impose tributes on the conquered, 39. They grow soft from the custom of the Assyrians and Persians: they embrace the habits, religion, and all the rites of those, 40. The emperor of the Scythians conquers the Persians, Parthians, and Medes through satraps: he decides to limit his empire to the shores of the sea, 38. The nearness of the Scythians is suspect to the Turks and Arabs, 41. The Scythians occupy Syria and Arabia: they break into Asia on this side of the Euphrates, 81. They obtain the seat of the Turkish empire, 82. Scythian incursion, 99. The Scythians save the Turk Azatine: they depart laden with booty, 101. They subdue and oppress the Massagetes or Alans: for fifty continuous days they ravage the Roman borders: a huge number of captives: the cause of the incursion, for those living in Capha, 685, 686. Scythians, Hyperborean terrors, 52. Mercenaries in the Bulgarian army, 155, 481. The sudden incursion of the Scythians into Thrace, 544. Maritime coasts, 877.

Scythians of Asia, 137. The Comans, for fear of the Hyperborean Scythians, cross the Ister: kindly received by John Ducas, they are enrolled into the Roman legions: seats are assigned to them in Europe and in Asia, 36. Europeans, 229. Inhabitants of the Palus Maeotis and the Tanais, 102. Hyperboreans, 296. They descend to the Caspian Sea, 35. Istrians (χιοστριοὶ), 93. Incited by Constantine of Bulgaria, they burst into Thrace, 100, 302, 450. Western, 439. Inhabitants across the Ister, 542.

Scythia, 132. Why it was never subdued by anyone: why it is easily the victor of other nations, 34. Ancient Scythia, 83. Scythian auxiliaries, summoned by Michael Palaeologus, 149. Dismissed by his son Andronicus, 158, 159. The fame of a Scythian incursion, 374.

The Scythians' supreme fairness toward the Thracian and Threissans, whom they had ransomed as captives, 512.

The last heir of the Sebastocrator princes, his wife dies without children: no children from her, 278. See Ducas. Sebastocratoric honors, 383.

Selybria (or Selymbria), 159, 320, 604, 747, 762, 765. Semele, consumed by the fires of Jupiter, 1105. Senate, Caesarean, 258. Sennacherib, a great stratopedarch, leads the Turks to the Hellespont: the Romans violate their pledge, 255. Nature of sensible things, 1040. Whether insensible substances can be known from sensible substances, 1060. Sepulcher (of the Savior), 103, 106. See note. Serapis. See Sarapis. Seres, 43. Silk textiles, 697. Libyan serpent, like a viper, 261. Of the old serpent, 934. Serrha, 574. A small town, 288. A great and wondrous city, 746. Formerly Pherae, 1263, 1267. Given to Andronicus the Younger, 410. Attempted in vain by Cantacuzenus, 647, 655. Subdued by the Kral, 746. Prefecture of Serrhae, 623. Sertorius (Messer Doria, Sire Dorie), driven out of Genoa, 688 and note there. Servia, 617, etc. Sestus, captured by John Ducas, 29. Lex of the Emperor Severus, 164. Sextus Empiricus, 930. Sicily, a great and populous island, occupied by Charles, king of Italy; restored to Theodoric, 217, 218. Prince of Sicily, 121. Called *Rhêx*, 259. As fire vents (χασμήματα), 1005. Sicyon, a city; why it is called Demetrias, 116. Σιγνόχριστα, 460 note. Simonis (daughter of the Kral), daughter of Andronicus the Elder, at five years old is betrothed to the Kral, 204. Why she is sterile, 243. Comes to her mother's funeral, 273. Hesitates to return to her husband: her brother Constantine puts on the cowl, and with the cowl torn, hands her over to be taken away by the Triballi, 257. Deceived by soothsayers, she fills her father Andronicus with vain hope, 411. Presides at the mourning for the funeral of Andronicus the Elder: she encourages Gregoras to compose a monody, 465. Clad in the holy and angelic habit; assists the Despot Demetrius in judgment, 533. A widow, 359. Solicited for incest by Andronicus the Younger, 391. See also 234, 461. Sion, 471. Sire, the Grand Sire, 96, 259 in note. Voices of the Sirens, 335. ^B Sisinnius, a Novatian, helper of the first synod against Arius, 925. Sitzischan, dux of the Hyperborean Scythians; dies, 834. Smyrna, besieged by Amurius, 834. Maritime base of the Smyrnians, 598. Socrates, 325, 334, 336, 477, 518, 910. Socratic listeners, 897. Sogdiana, 35, 37. Sogdus. See Oxus. Sun, 931. We cannot participate in the substance of the sun, 1057. Defection of the sun. See Eclipse. Solisco (Rufus de), 146, 148 in note. (Henry), 146 note. Solou, 323. At the court of Croesus the Lydian, 938. He gives advice concerning those (the people divided into factions) who belong to neither party, 827. Solyma, razed to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar the Assyrian, 750. Solymanous, satrap, son-in-law of Batatzes, 761. Prophetic dreams of the Palamites, 1034. Somnus, divine operation among the Palamites, 945. Sophia (St.), temple. See Temple. Two sisters, captured by the Turks, expire in mutual embrace, 141. Lots, 503. Sosandra, temple sacred to the Mother of God at Magnesia, 834. Souleimasas, 157 note. Sozopolis, 193, 210. Sparta, chief city of Laconia, 80. Loses Lysander, 486. Spartae's rod excised, 752. Ancient Spartans, content with bread and water, 610. Spheres and hemispheres of the emperor's house, 1009. Spendostlavi, sister of the prince of Bulgaria, married to the Kral, 201. Spinula (or Spinola), affinity sought by Irene Augusta, 137. Spinula, driven from Genoa, 688 and note there. Holy Spirit is one; and concerning the seven spirits, 1121. See also 1124, 1125, 1127. Σφράντζης, François, 497 note. Statue of the Angel, 695. Equestrian statue of Justinian: dimensions of the man and the horse, 276. Imperial statue, holding the image of the city in its hand, 695. Dimensions of the five most beautiful statues, 277 note. Steliteutic books of Gregoras, 1131. Stentor, 354. Stephen (St.). See Temple. Stoa (Portico), 326, 334, 335, 471, 476, 571. Strabo, 251, 417 in note. Strascimirus (Michael), king of Bulgaria, 590 note. Stratagem, 74. Strategopulus (Alexius), after the victory over Michael Nothos, after that had been reported concerning Manfred and the prince of the Peloponnese (72, 73, 74), from Grand Domestic becomes Caesar, 79. Sent again against Michael: leads few soldiers with him: he is ordered to cross to Byzantium: he initiates a plan for recovering Byzantium with the traitors, 85. Is introduced into the city by night, 85. Triumphs, 89. Defeated and captured by Michael Nothos, 90. Exchanged for the sister of Manfred, king of Sicily: returns to Byzantium, 91. Strategopulus (Michael), thrown into prison, 190, 195, 197. Stratocles the Epidaurian; a good piper, but on the other hand not a good man, 577. Strummitza, 579 and note there, 457, 654. A fortress very fortified by position, 696. Small town, 379. Easter celebrated by the townspeople in the barbarian rite, ibid. Strymon, river, 574, 575, 457, 625, 626, 639. As Gregoras and others, envoys to the Kral, crossed it, 573. Sources of the Strymon, 455. Imperial subscription, 109. Whether the divine substance can be participated in, 968. Question concerning the divine substance and operations, 988. The same definition applies to the substance and the operation, 951. Sultan of Egypt and Arabia sends envoys to Michael Palaeologus, 101. Susa, 445. Sybaritic meal, 978. Sylla (Cornelius), 1023. Syllogism, where there is discussion about God, it has no place, 507. Symbol of the Catholic faith, 999. Teaches that the Son is begotten, not made, 1131. Appendix added to the Symbol, 125. Synadenus (Theodorus), domestic of the imperial bread: associate of the conspiracy entered into against Andronicus the Elder: joins forces with the Emperor Michael, 301. Protostrator, opposes Syrgiannes: a small boat

for passage, 61 note.

[T] Taenarum promontory. See Maene. Taeperus, 576. Tanais, 238, 877. Concerning its flowing into Greece, 315, 955. Sources of the Tanais, 33. Mouths, 797. Tanais rivers, 417. Tantalus, life of, 808, 855. Stone of Tantalus, 29, 30, 816, 922. Tantalus, 922. Tarchaniotes (Manuel), captain of the forces left at Didymoteichon, 617. His tribute: how, having searched for and found Cantacuzenus and returned to Didymoteichon, he came most welcome to Irene, 652 and note there. Taoresium, 37 note. Tauro-Scythians, 56. Taurus, the greatest of all Asian mountains, 82. Description of Mount Taurus, 37. Sign of Taurus, 98, 542. Telchines, 90, 361, 590, 821, 979. Telepugas, son of Sitzischan, crosses into Europe: subdues very many peoples, 35. Tellerius (Charles Maurice), Archbishop and Duke of Reims, how many manuscript codices he donated to the Royal Library, 180 note. Tempe, 249. Thessalian, 895. Temples: of St. Andrew, restored by Theodora the Protovestiaria, 167 note. — Of St. Anthony, in the city of Nicaea, 44. — Blachernae, 787. See Blachernae. — Of the Holy Apostles, 750. — Of the Mother of God Hodegetria, 512. See Monastery. — Of the Mother of God of the Source (*tes Peges*), 65, 339. — Of St. Demetrius in Constantinople, 860. — Of the twelve disciples of Christ, 275. — Of St. John the Baptist in the city of Prusa, 44. — Of the Forty Martyrs, 460. — Of St. Paul the Great (a very great temple) near the Gate of Eugenius, 275. — Of Solomon, 750. — St. Sophia, "the great shrine of the Wisdom of God," 375. "The great and renowned sacred place," 748. "Great temple," 167, 191, 262, 496, 537, 726. "Great and divine temple," etc., 787. It threatens ruin: it is supported by two pyramids built for it, 273. It splits on the eastern side, 696. Once an inviolable asylum: violated by Gabalas and the patriarch, 726. Deformed by ruins, and for what causes, ibid. The gathering and lamentation of the citizens: the pious diligence of the nobles themselves, and especially of the women, 750. The foundations built up by Emperor Andronicus stop the ruin, 751. — St. Stephen the Protomartyr, 786. Tenedos harbor, 766. Teotza. See Entença. Teristasis, 741 note. For Cantacuzenus *Tyristasis*. Terms established by the Fathers, how much force they have, 916. Ternovum, a city of Bulgaria, 591, 484. Besieged, 60. The bishop of Ternovum ceases to be subject to the metropolitan, 30. Earthquake, 202, 215, 460, 694, 695. Terteres the Bulgarian, having sent his first wife with the children to Nicaea, takes the daughter of Asanes as his betrothed bride, 133. He plots the destruction of his father-in-law Asanes: strips him of his kingdom, 155. Testimonies from the Old and New Testaments are clear, 509. Teutons, 32. Defeated by C. Marius and Lutatius the consuls, 51. Mount Tabor, 967. Light of Tabor, 944, 967, 957, 939, 940, 1001, 1073, 1137. Thales of Miletus, 585. Theano the Pythagorean, 294. Thebes, devastated by Alexander the Great, 810. Prince of Thebes and Athens, formerly Great Primicerius; now *megas kyrios*, 151. Thebans, 115, 252, 752. Themistocles, 337, 455, 488, 490. He defeated the fleet of the Medes by strategy, 487. Theocritus, 1150, 1305. Theodora, wife of Michael Nothos, 48. She meets the Emperor (Theodore Lascaris junior): grace being reconciled, she takes away with her Maria, daughter of the former, as her own betrothed bride, 87. Theodora, daughter of Theodore Lascaris junior, betrothed to Belicurto, or Velicurto, 92. Theodora (Irene Acropolita), daughter of Theodore Lascaris junior, marries Constantine Techos, 61, 65. She stirs up her husband against Michael Palaeologus, 99. Theodora *Despoina*, wife of Michael Palaeologus; mother of Andronicus the Elder, 159. Theodora (Protovestiaria), wife, first of Muzalon, then of Raoul, both Protovestiaria, 167. Niece of Michael Palaeologus through his sister Eulogia, ibid. Foundress of the monastery of St. Arsenius: a woman who loved eloquence; she holds the eloquence of Gregory of Cyprus in high regard: she receives him into her household, 178 and note there. Theodora, granddaughter of Andronicus the Elder through his sister, marries as a widow to Ferrando Ximenez, 232 and note there. Theodora, daughter of the Emperor Michael the Younger and Maria the Armenian, married to Venceslaus the Bulgarian, 283, 590. Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrrhus: he stirred up great disturbances in the Church, 507. Theodoric (meaning Frederick), King of Sicily, father of Manfred, 92, 217. See Charles, King of Italy. Theodore Angelus. See Angelus. Theodore, brother of Andronicus the Elder, is apprehended by Philanthropenus, 199.

^A Theodore (Marquis), son of Andronicus the Elder and Irene, 234. Sent to Lombardy: he transfers much wealth with him, 240. He is summoned from there, and returns with a shaven beard, 244. Designated successor to Cral; he does not become accustomed to Triballia, 243. He returns to Lombardy to his wife, 244. He betrays his father Andronicus, sycophantic, ambitious: his manner of life; religion, 396. Theodore etc. See Angelus, Lascaris, Metochites, Muzalo, Synadenus. Theodus the rhetorician’s oration for Chandrenus. See note on pp. 229, 245, 247, 248, 251, 253. (It is published in full in Volume CXLV.) Theoleptus, a man holy among the Greeks; bishop of Philadelphia: savior of that city when besieged by the Turks, 221 and note. Legate to Syrgiannes from Andronicus the senior, 320. Panegyric on him, by Nicephorus Chumnus, 221 note. Byzantine theologians do not cease to bicker even in the very heat of civil war, 722. Mystical theology, 57. Many rush into theology, like cattle into pasture, 956. Θεομηνία, 804. This word, whether it signifies substance: etymology of this name, 988. See God. Θεότης name, 987, 988, 989. Θεραπευτικὸν τάγμα, 788 and note. Thermodon river, 82. Thermopylae, 251, 627, 636. Mount Thermopylae, 114. Thersites, 938. Treasure discovered. See Coinage. Theseus, 718. Thesprotians, 110. Thessalians, 110, 116. They resolve to win the friendship of the Catalans, 249. Tumults of the Thessalians and Pelasgians, 277. Principality, 278. Thessaly, 128, 247, 248. Thessaly in a most perturbed state, 657. Thessalian plain, 249. Thessalian affairs, 278. Thessalian cavalry, 663, 664. Thessalonica, 203, 235, 241, 245, 246, 247, and passim. ^B "A city fair to look upon and populous," 635. Seat of the kingdom, ruled by Giannes and Crale, 498. It expels by force the prefect Synadenus, who favors Cantacuzenus, 653. It is besieged by Cantacuzenus and by Amurius, 676. It labors under factions and internal strife of its citizens, 673, 674, 675. It obeys neither Cantacuzenus nor Cral, 795. The state of that city is greatly perturbed, 795. Prefects of Thessalonica. See Apocaucus, Batatzes, Synadenus. The Thessalonians call the younger Andronicus to them, 755; they obstruct the prefect Apocaucus and his associates, 741. They prohibit their archbishop, Palamas, from entering the city, 795. The wedding banquet of Thetis, 829. The nuptials of Thetis and Peleus, 161. Thomas, Count of Cephalonia, kills Thomas, prince of Epirus and Aetolia, 283. He is killed by his brother John, 318. Thomas, prince of Epirus and Aetolia, is killed by the brother of the count of Cephalonia, 283, 318. Δεσπότης of the Aetolians and Acarnanians, ibid. Thracians, vexed by the frequent exactions of Andronicus the Elder, 300. Enticed by the promise of immunity, they follow Andronicus the Younger: they rage against the publicans: they go to besiege Constantinople, 519. Thrace is devastated and vexed by barbarian incursions: of the Scythians, 101, of the Persians, or Turks, 545, 717. Of the Bulgarians, 524. Almost all of it obeys Cantacuzenus, 795. Miserable state of Thrace, 399. The entire Roman empire is circumscribed within the borders of Thrace alone, 883. Thrascian wind, 455. Θρόνος, 697 and note. Tigris, 1052. Titles. See Titles of dignity. ^C Trachus (Constantine) obtains the seat of the Bulgarian kingdom, 60. He courts Theodora, daughter of Theodore Lascaris the Younger, as his wife: having achieved his desire, he repudiates his former wife, and gives her as a pledge of faith, 61. Provoked by his wife, and urged on by Azanus, he rouses the Scythians against Palæologus, 99. Prince of Zagora; which wives he had, 63, 293. Tullius, 714 note. Various Tomes, issued for and against Palamas, 850 note. Hagioritic Tome, ibid. Synodic Tome against the Messalians and Bogomils, 719. Tome against Barlaam, 920. Palamite Tome, 1052 and note there; consecrated with unusual ceremonies, 1029. Authors defend it, ibid.

Tornicius (Constantine), father-in-law of the Sebastocrator; great primicerius, 72. After the Macedonian victory, he becomes Sebastocrator, 79. Tournament, a playful combat, 485 and note. Τορνευμέν, ibid. Tragelaphi, 9. Trajanopolis, 517, 797. Tralles, a city founded by Attalus Trojanus, so called as if "another Troy," 112. Restored by Andronicus: surrendered to the Turks four years later, ibid., and note there. Oracle concerning that city, 143. Trapezus, 119, 556, 518. It labors in civil war, 518. It rages against the Latin inhabitants, 687. Movements of Trebizond; some emperors, 678. Pontiff, 590. Great Domestic, 678. Triballi, 116, 269, 288, 559, and passim. Most bitter enemies of the Romans, 159; plotting against Cantacuzenus, 679. Clandestine incursions of the Triballi, 816. Forces increased beyond what is right, 817. Disease, 617. Cowardice, 653. Church of the Triballi, 203. Triballian auxiliaries, 268, 409, 410. A certain Triballian seizes the legates of Cantacuzenus, and leads them to Apocaucus, 657. Unfaithful tribunal, 917. ^D Taxes increased, 517. Tax-collectors, 524. Triclinium of Alexius, 784, 898. Imperial triclinium dais, during the reign of Andronicus the Younger, open to all, 567. Fault of the Byzantine trierarchs, 861. Τρίπους βασιλικός, 1105. Delphic Tripod, 321. Troy, 60, 251, 711. Trojan region, 538. Trojan trifles. See Proverbs. Cave of Trophonius, 376. Trullan Council. See Council. Tyrrhenian Trumpet, 105. The Turks, having been defeated, obtain peace from Theodore Lascaris, 21. They send legates concerning peace to John Ducas, 41. They suffer from famine, 43. They are defeated by the Scythians, 59. And having begun to act as robbers: they ravage Roman provinces: weak against the Scythians; most powerful against the Romans, 157. Having prepared ambushes, they join battle with the Romans in their own manner, 158. They turn their backs: they surround and overwhelm the Romans being led into ambushes, 133. They run out plundering as far as the Sangarius, 160. Having occupied the Asian provinces, they run wild, 151. They share the booty, ibid. They receive Tralles in surrender, 142. They ravage Roman borders, 193. They put the Massagetae to flight: they proceed as far as the coast of Lesbos, 206. They besiege Philadelphia, 221 (361). Who and how many Turks were in an army of the Palæologi, 245. What leaders they had: how upon the Thessalian journey they parted ways having shared the booty with the Catalans, 248. Where, having abandoned their own, they follow them, 251. By the Great Stratopedarch they are led to the Hellespont, 253. While violating faith with the Romans (ibid.) they occupy a fortress: they summon auxiliaries: they devastate the region, 255. Michael the Emperor moving against them, they look to their own safety and affairs most excellently: they attack the imperial banner, 256. The emperor departs in debt: the leaders are captured: the imperial ensigns are seized and treated with mockery, 257. The Turks devastate Thrace, 258. Having in vain attempted eruptions, they throw away the hope of safety: intercepted and slaughtered by the Romans: what was done about the rest, 269. When the Turks first began to infest the seas and lands, 351. They subdue a great part of Bithynia; they sell images, books, and sacred relics to the Byzantines; they occupy the maritime coast of Bithynia: they vex the subjects in many ways, 458. They afflict the Latins and Romans by land and sea, 523. Turkish marauders are oppressed by the Scythians while plundering in Thrace, 353. The Turks make incursions into Chersonesus and Thrace: the select ones were slain; the survivors, having obtained peace, return home, 538. Laden with Illyrian booty, they are sent home by Andronicus the Younger, 545. They devastate Thrace: they linger for a long time, with no one resisting, 615. See Persia. Turks, during the reign of Alexius Comnenus, held the city of Nicaea, 104. They are put to flight by the Scythians, 196. The Turks inhabiting Ionia abide in a treaty with the Romans, 108. Turks inhabiting Smyrna and Ionia, 214. Frequent incursions of the Turks, 317, 625. Fleet, 202. See Persia. Turcopuli, companions of Sultan Azatines, 219, 270. They desert Michael the Younger, the emperor, in battle, 230. They pass over to the Catalans, 232. Joined with them, they defeat the Massagetae, 232. See also page 244.

Tuzus (Simon Boccanegra) raised from a commoner to the dignity of Doge; likewise ejected two years later, 688 and note there. By his edict, the nobles were expelled from Genoa, ibid. and 708. Tyrrheni, 286. ^A Tyrus, besieged by Alexander the Great, 510. Taken, ibid. Bishop of Tyre: what his role was in the Palamite synod, 893. Why he did not take part in the final action, 991, 1012. Typhōnes (subterranean, Τυφῶνες ὑποχθόνιοι), 1006. Tzacones (barbarous, for Lacones), 98. Tzanychites killed, 551. Tzetzes. See note on pp. 276, 795, 859. Tzymes. See Ximenes.

U Ulysses, 1004. Urosius, surnamed Saint and Milutin, 287, 318 note. Ursa minor, 542.

V Valaincourt (Mahieu de), 92 and note. Valachia, today Wallachia (Ifliakia), 203 note. Varangians, 303, 398. ^B Vassal, (δοῦλος), 438 and note. Veccus, chartophylax: his eulogy: he also renounces concord: he easily refutes the emperor and other learned men, excels all by far in talent and eloquence, 128. He is thrown into prison with almost all his kin: he carefully reads the books of Blemmydes written in support of Latin dogma: compares them with the writings of the Holy Fathers: changes his opinion, 129. He is created patriarch: renders singular service to the emperor: whom he had as assistants, 150. After the death of Emperor Michael, he secretly departs, 160. Banished: his complaint, 169. Eloquence in the synod, 170. Veccus is refuted by Gregory of Cyprus, the patriarch, and by Muzalon, grand logothete: he accomplishes nothing by debating: he repudiates the communion of his adversaries: he is again sent into exile with Meliteniotes and Metochites, 170. Taxes increased so that peace might be bought with gold, 317. Velicurtus. See Belicurtus. Officials of the hunt enrolled in the number of soldiers, 56. Venceslaus (Gr. Σφεντοσθλάβος), Prince of the Bulgarians, he had two wives; of whom one was the sister of the younger Andronicus, Theodora, 590. Venetians, having been frequently defeated by the Genoese, build a great fleet: they burn the houses of the Galatians and empty ships; the Byzantines behave cruelly toward the Venetians on account of the burnt suburbs, 207. The Venetians demand satisfaction from the emperor: they are not heard: they despise the Byzantines, 208. They mock them proudly: laden with booty, they return home, 209. ^C Venetian fleet, intent against the Genoese Galatians; it blockades the mouth of the Pontus: it intercepts many merchant ships: Venetian equity and moderation: aid denied by them to Andronicus the younger, 416. Another fleet of the same, likewise hostile to the Genoese, arrives at Byzantium, 877. Why the Venetians abandoned the siege of Galata, ibid. Fourteen Venetian triremes blockade the mouth of the Euxine Pontus, 880. Venetian artisans are removed from the city of Galata, 97. Prince of Venice, 121. Doge, 548. Wind, what it is, 450, 451. On the power of winds, ibid. and 451. Poetic paraphrase of Spring, 433, 834, 880. Recommendation of Truth, 6. It ought to be the primary principle in history, 881. Sumptuary law, 43. Garments which are brought from the region of the Seres (China), 277. White garment, mourning garment of the emperors, 612. Messenger of the Macedonian victory, 79. Villani (Giovanni). See note on pp. 146, 219, 286, 353, 569, 748, 688, 69, 708, 835. Villehardouin, 14, 15 note. Vincent of Beauvais. See note on pp. 15, 26, 50, 56, 41. Count of Ventimiglia; Irene, daughter of the younger Theodorus Lascaris, is betrothed to him, 93 and note. Virgin's Spica (the star), 548. Sight and hearing hold the primacy among the senses: whether one excels the other, 1040. Vulcan's craters. See Craters. ^D

W Wenceslaus. See Venceslaus. William of Tyre, 41 note.

X Xanthia (Ξάνθεια) a small town, 727, 814. Xanthopulus (Nicephorus), 475 note. Xene. See Maria of Armenia. Xerogypsus river, 265. Xerolophus. See Monastery. Xerophagia (Ξηροφαγία), 182 note. Xerxes, 337. About to cross through Thermopylae, 627. Xiphilinus, 9 note. Xylokerkos, Hippodrome, 735 and note. Xylokartion (Ξυλοχάρτιον). See Papyrus.

Z Zacharias (family), or Jaquerias, Genoese family, 95 note. Zenobius, 16, 27, 839 in note. Zephyrium promontory, 1108 note. Zonaras, 45, 407 in note.

ORDER OF SUBJECTS CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS. BYZANTINE HISTORY, BOOKS XXXVII. PROLEGOMENA. Dedication of Giovanni Boivin to Louis XIV, 9 Preface of the same, 9 Life of Nicephorus Gregoras, works, and elegies, written by the same Giovanni Boivin, 19 I. — Life, 19 II. — Works, 43 III. — Elegies, 57 Preface of Hieronymus Wolf, 93 Notice from the Bibliotheca Graeca of Fabricius, 99 Preface of Immanuel Bekker to the final books of Nicephorus Gregoras, prefixed to the Bonn edition of the year 1855, 115

NICEPHORUS GREGORAS' BYZANTINE HISTORY, BOOK ONE. Cap. I. — The historian’s office is excellent. The praise of history. The recommendation of truth. Which writers of history are worthy of censure. The invective of Andronicus the senior against malicious and mendacious historians. The author on himself and the work undertaken, 119 Cap. II. — Beginning of the narrative: Constantinople taken by the Latins. Theodorus Lascaris is saluted as emperor in the city of Nicaea. Alexius Comnenus invades Trebizond, Michael Angelus Comnenus invades Thessaly and Epirus. The Latins divide the remaining provinces among themselves. They prepare an expedition into Asia. They are defeated by John Asen, prince of the Bulgarians. Baldwin captured. The exits of other leaders. Thrace and Macedonia are devastated, 131 Cap. III. — Alexius Angelus, formerly emperor of Byzantium, captured by the Marquis of Montferrat; soon released; he envies his son-in-law Theodorus Lascaris. He joins Jathatin (Ghiyath al-Din) the Turk as his ally. Antioch besieged by the Turks. The speed of Theodorus, 135 Cap. IV. — The Turk draws up his battle line. A fight takes place. The unhappy valor of the Latin knights. Jathatines killed by Lascaris. Peace granted to the defeated Turks. Alexius captured. The clemency of the victor. The wives of Theodorus Lascaris, 139

SECOND BOOK. – TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAP. I. – Upon the death of Lascaris, Joannes Ducas succeeds, the Emperor's son-in-law. The widowed Empress, who did not long survive her husband. A panegyric on Theodorus Lascaris. The praise of Joannes Ducas compared with Theodorus. Robert, the Byzantine Emperor. Alexius and Isaacius Lascaris resent having Ducas preferred over them. Assisted by the arms of the Latins, they are defeated by Joannes Ducas. The Latins lose their Asiatic cities. 143

CAP. II. – Theodorus Angelus succeeds his brother Michael. He pushes forward the borders of the empire. He takes Thessalonica itself, in the absence of the Marquis of Montferrat. The Emperor is inaugurated by the Archbishop of Bulgaria, contrary to legitimate custom. Why Bulgaria was first called Justiniana. The origin, migration, and varied fortune of the Bulgarians. Theodorus Angelus traverses with impunity the provinces devastated by the Latins, Bulgarians, and Scythians. He lays waste everything as far as Byzantium. A miserable state of affairs. 145

CAP. III. – Joannes Asan the Bulgarian defeats Theodorus Angelus in battle, captures and blinds him. Joannes Ducas equips a fleet. He occupies the islands of the Aegean Sea and Rhodes. He crosses into Europe. He takes possession of many cities. He initiates peace with the Bulgarians. He joins Asan's daughter to his own son in marriage. The bishop of Ternobi ceases to be subject to the metropolitan jurisdiction. The Emperor, having recovered all the cities from Byzantium to the Strymon, returns to Nicaea. 149

CAP. IV. – Concerning Scythian affairs. A knowledge of these is necessary. The Scythian region. Their way of life. Moderation, justice, and other virtues. Their various names. The Scythians, ministers of divine indignation. They devastated many provinces at various times. Their customs: they adopt the ways of those among whom they settle. Concerning the European Scythians, who are near the ancient Scythia. The migrations of the Scythians into Asia. Into Europe. Into Africa itself. Why Scythia was never subdued by anyone. Why they were easily victorious over other nations. 151

CAP. V. – Hyperborean Scythians descend to the Caspian Sea. The death of Sitzischanis, their leader. His sons Chalaus and Telepogas divide the army. Telepogas leads his people into Europe. He subdues very many nations. The Comani Scythians cross the Ister in fear of the Hyperborean Scythians. They are kindly received by Joannes Ducas. They are enrolled into the Roman legions. Seats are assigned to them in Europe and Asia. The other part of the Hyperborean Scythians, following the leader Chalaus, winters near the Taurus mountain. A description of that mountain. The Scythians penetrate as far as India. Turning back from there, they traverse the nearer provinces. Finally, they choose a seat in Mesopotamia. Their emperor, impatient of quiet, subdues the Persians, Parthians, and Medes through his satraps. He decides to terminate his empire at the shores of the sea. The Scythians at first neglect gold and delights; then, by the vice of human nature, they degenerate. They impose tribute on the conquered. They become accustomed to the ways of the Assyrians and Persians. They embrace all their religion, dress, and rites. 157

CAP. VI. – The neighborhood of the Scythians is suspect to the Turks and Arabs. A Turkish embassy for peace to Joannes Ducas. The necessity of doing this on both sides. The peace initiated was useful to the Roman state. By caring for the cultivation of fields and for pecuniary matters, the Emperor takes care of himself and the poor. He is the author of this, and urges his relatives and other nobles to do the same. With what result. How much wealth. Famine among the Turks. The Romans grow rich on their money. From the necklaces sold, the crown of the Empress is defeated [sic: read *dicta*] Ovata. An edict of the Emperor, that no one should use clothing sought outside the borders of the empire. Penalty added. The wisdom of his law. 165

CAP. VII. – The Empress, mother of Theodorus, ceases to bear children after a fall from a horse. She administers the Republic excellently with her husband. Temples built by both. Houses assigned for the care and feeding of the poor. Irene dies. The widowed Emperor takes Anna Alemana, sister of Manfred, King of Sicily, as his wife. He loves Marcesina, her governess and educator, ruinously. He allows her to be adorned with imperial insignia. He prefers her to his wife. He is urged by the pricks of conscience. Monks exclude Marcesina from the temple by order of the superior Blemmydes. A panegyric of him. How he always pursued Marcesina. The angry woman and court sycophants accuse Blemmydes. The Emperor condemns himself and deplores his guilt. 169

CAP. VIII. – Michael the bastard. Prince of Thessaly and Aetolia. Father of four sons. He seeks Maria, the Emperor's niece, as a bride for his son Nicephorus. Celebration of the betrothal. He immediately breaks the treaty and threatens the cities of Thrace. The Emperor gathers an army. By his arrival, he partly confirms and partly recovers the cities. The treaty with Michael is renewed. The dignity of Despot is granted to him; likewise to his son because of the affinity. Michael Palaeologus is accused of aspiring to the empire. He purges himself by oath. Soldiers are dismissed to winter quarters. The Emperor, having returned to Asia, is seized by sickness. He is ill for a whole year. He dies. He is buried. Where. At what age. In what year of his reign. The age of his son Theodorus. 173

THIRD BOOK.

CAP. I. – Theodorus Lascaris succeeds his father. Why he was not designated emperor while his father was alive. He is made creator by the votes of the whole people. Upon the death of Germanus, there is deliberation about electing a patriarch. Nicephorus Blemmydes is judged the most worthy of all. He refuses the offered honor. Arsenius is elected. His panegyric. The Prince holds the election valid. He is anointed by the patriarch. The Bulgarian and the Thessalian invade Thrace. The Emperor renews the war with the Turks, and crosses the Hellespont with a great army. He enrolls Venetian mercenaries into the number of the soldiers. The Bulgarian, unequal to the Roman forces, restores what he had taken and obtains peace. The war is transferred to Thessaly. Theodora, the wife of Michael, meets the Emperor. Grace having been reconciled, she takes away with her Maria, the betrothed of her son. 177

CAP. II. – Michael Palaeologus, prefect of Nicaea, flees to the Turks. The cause of his flight. The Sultan of Iconium places him over a Roman legion. He opposes the Scythians. The Sultan's kinsman goes over to the enemy. The Turks are defeated. Palaeologus returns to court at the request of the Emperor. He takes an oath. He receives the rank of Constable. Affairs of Bulgaria, the death of Asan. His successor Myizes, soft and slothful. Constantine Techus rules and besieges the seat. Myizes flees to Asia; he hands Mesembria over to the Emperor. He obtains annual revenues and estates from him. Techus, through ambassadors, seeks Theodora, the Emperor's daughter, in marriage. Having obtained his wish, he repudiates his former wife and gives her as a hostage. The Emperor is ill. He puts on the monastic habit a short time before his death. He expiates his sins. He dies. 185

CAP. III. – Georgius Muzalon, a new man, comes to court. He is very dear to the younger Theodorus. He is adorned with the dignity of Protovestiarius. He takes the Emperor's relative as a wife. With the patriarch Arsenius, he is given as guardian by testament to Joannes Lascaris. The Emperor had four daughters. One son. An oath was twice taken to the pupil and the guardian. The nobles resent that Muzalon is preferred over them. He convenes the leaders. He wishes to abdicate the guardianship and the administration of affairs. He is prevented. He demands a new oath. The envy of the nobles. Tumult in the army. The murder of the nine-day funeral rites of [Theodorus] and his two brothers is perpetrated in the temple. The panic of women, priests, and others. Patriarch Arsenius is anxious and helpless in counsel. A simple and holy man, he is not at all able to administer the commonwealth. Having entered into deliberation with the nobles, he consults very badly for the safety of his pupil. 189

CAP. IV. – Michael Palaeologus is pleasing to everyone because of his outstanding qualities of body and mind. He is destined for the empire by various omens. The nobility of his family. The dignities of his grandfather and father. He receives the keys of the treasury from the patriarch. He enslaves the minds of the nobles to himself with largesse; likewise [those] of the soldiers and the public speakers. With these as his supporters, and with the patriarch himself assenting, he undertakes the administration of the empire until the legitimate heir reaches adolescence. He is adorned with the title of Despot. 193

CAP. V. – Michael Angelus decides to invade Macedonia and Thrace. He gathers an army. He recruits companions for himself: his sons-in-law, the princes of the Peloponnese and Manfred, King of Sicily. They divide by lot the provinces not yet subdued. Joannes Sebastocrator, brother of Michael Palaeologus, is opposed to them. He takes with him the leading men. He joins the legions of Thrace and Macedonia to his own. He camps near the enemy. The enemies besiege Belgrade. They trust too much in their own forces. They despise the Roman army, inferior in number of soldiers, but supported by divine help. Michael Angelus is deceived by a turncoat. He thinks he has been betrayed by his companions. He leaves the camp by night. The companions, learning of Michael's departure, think that they themselves have been betrayed. Terrified and trembling, they are slaughtered by the Romans. The Prince of the Peloponnese is captured. The King of Sicily escapes with a few in flight. 199

FOURTH BOOK.

CAP. I. – Michael Palaeologus is hailed as emperor. Arsenius takes it ill. He demands a new oath from him. He places the diadem on him. Under what conditions. The Macedonian victory follows. He bestows honors on the victors. The Prince of the Peloponnese redeems his own capture. Life is given to him, to which Constantinus Sebastocrator is appointed. The slaughter of the Peloponnesians in the Liburnia. Arsenius withdraws. Nicephorus is substituted for him. Palaeologus in vain besieges Byzantium, which he had surrounded with garrisons, whence the starvation of the Latins. He returns to Nicaea. The Scythians occupy Syria and Arabia and invade Asia which is on this side of the Euphrates. The Turks get hold of the seat of the empire; Sultan Azatimes approaches Palaeologus as a suppliant. 205

CAP. II. – Michael Aitolus breaks the peace. Caesar Strategopulus is sent against him. He takes a few soldiers with him.

^A He is ordered to harass the Byzantines by crossing over. Where he first camps. What men he encounters. Concerning Divine Providence. The meager forces of the Latins. Daphnusia is besieged by them. The method of recovering Byzantium with the aid of traitors. The Caesar is brought into the city by night. The burning of houses. An enumeration of the Latins who ruled in Byzantium. Baldwin's attempt is futile. Flight. The fleet that was besieging Daphnusia. He returns to Byzantium. He receives the fleeing Latins. He sets sail for Italy. How Michael Palaeologus was affected by the news of the recovered city. How he entered through the Golden Gate. How the image of the Mother of God, the Hodegetria, was brought back. The appearance of the city deformed by ruins. The neglect of the Latins. The Emperor restores the city. Arsenius is patriarch again. The triumph of Alexius the Caesar. 211 CAP. III. – On human happiness, how fleeting and transitory it is. A saying of Philip of Macedon. Fortune envies the Caesar. Michael Aitolus ravages the Roman borders. He defeats the Caesar and takes him prisoner. The vicissitudes of human affairs. Cyrus. Hannibal. Pompey. Caesar is exchanged for the sister of Manfred, King of Sicily. He returns to Byzantium. Michael Aitolus forms an alliance with the Emperor. 219 CAP. IV. – Palaeologus secures his power. He gives the daughters of Theodore Lascaris in marriage. To whom they were wed. He has his brother John blinded. What the sentiment toward Arsenius was during these events. How he interdicted Palaeologus from the sacred rites. Palaeologus seeks pardon for the crime. He is not heard. He calls a council against the patriarch. The bishops are devoid of brotherly love. The charge brought against Arsenius. Concerning the Turk Azatines. The patriarch does not present himself for trial. He is condemned as contumacious. Germanus succeeds him. What his merits were toward Palaeologus. 223 CAP. V. – Vicarius defects from the prince of Euboea. With reinforced strength he forms an alliance with Palaeologus. He promises that he will subdue Euboea. The prince of Euboea falls into a trap and is captured. He is led to the Emperor. How he suddenly expired. Venetian and Pisan workmen are transferred to Galata. Likewise the Genoese. Immunity is granted to them. Their magistrates. Baldwin's son marries the daughter of King Charles. Palaeologus, having equipped a great fleet, thwarts his hopes. He recovers the islands. Michael Aitolus breaks his faith again. Palaeologus makes war upon him. He is terrified by the sight of a comet. He fears the imminent invasion of the Scythians. He returns home. 227 CAP. VI. – The sister of the blinded John incites her husband, Constantine the Bulgarian, against Palaeologus. The Turk Azatines encourages him with promises. A Scythian army crosses the Danube and bursts into Thrace. Palaeologus finds two triremes and escapes by flight. The Scythians liberate Azatines. They depart laden with booty. The desolation of Thrace. What was done regarding the wife, children, money, and companions of Azatines. 235 CAP. VII. – An embassy from the Sultan of Egypt and Arabia to Palaeologus. Navigation through the Bosphorus is rashly granted to Egyptian merchants. The Egyptians are effeminate and cowardly. With thousands recruited from Scythia, they tame Africa and Libya. They exterminate the Gauls from Phoenicia and Syria. A digression. The borders of Gaul. The Gauls go to Syria to avenge the Holy Sepulchre. They follow the coast of the Danube. They camp in Thrace. Their embassy to Alexius Comnenus concerning provisions and crossing the Hellespont. A pact with him to expel the Turks from Roman soil. The Gauls, joined with the Romans, subdue a great part of Asia. Alexius is captured by the Latins, the Gauls obtain the spoils. The Cilicians give passage to the Christian army. The Arabs, about to enter Syria and Phoenicia. The Gauls, cut off from supplies, wage war. Having defeated the enemies, they establish a home in Syria. They forget their vow. The end of the digression. The empire of the Egyptians and Arabs extends very widely. 239 CAP. VIII. – Why Germanus resigned the patriarchate. Who Joseph, his successor, was, whence he came, what his disposition and doctrine were. How he absolved Michael Palaeologus of perjury and cruelty. An eclipse of the sun portends future evils from the Turks. What and how great is the power of the stars. Andronicus marries Anna. He is adorned with the insignia of the empire. To whom he swore the oath and from whom he received it. In what formula his name was subscribed to the edicts. 243 CAP. IX. – The death of Michael Aitolus. Four children. The inheritance divided between two. The flight of the youngest to the Emperor as planned. John the sebastocrator, prince of Thessaly, ravages the Roman provinces. John the despot enters Thessaly with a great army. The panic of the sebastocrator. The sacrilege of the Roman soldiers. The sebastocrator loses many towns. He defends himself with the walls of Nea Patrae. Worn out by a long siege, he decides to go out at night. He reveals the plan to only one man. He is let down by a rope at night and passes through the Roman camp. He goes to the Duke of Athens, from whom he receives five hundred defecting soldiers, and makes an attack on the unsuspecting Romans. 1506 John the despot abandons the siege. The townspeople plunder the Roman camp with the sebastocrator. They press upon the fugitives. Content with the spoils, they abstain from slaughter. An ancient custom. Whither the Roman soldiers retreated after the flight. The city of Sicyon, which is called Demetrias. 247 CAP. X. – Concerning the Pelasgic Gulf. The imperial fleet harasses the islands occupied by the Latins. The fleet of the Cretans and Euboeans. It almost crushes the Roman ships floating in the Pelasgic Gulf. A naval battle. The mass, form, and equipment of the ships. Philanthropenus, the commander of the Roman fleet, exhorts his men. The outcome of the battle. The Romans flee. John the despot, recently rescued from the slaughter on land, renews the battle. He puts the enemies to flight. Why he never wore the despotic insignia thereafter. 255 LIBER QUINTUS. CAP. I. – A pact made by Baldwin with Charles, King of Italy. The agreement concerning the recovery of Constantinople. The ambition, prudence, and martial virtues of Charles. What impelled him to wage war against Palaeologus. The preparations for war. Land forces. The fleet. Palaeologus fortifies Byzantium. He incites the King of Sicily and the Venetians against Charles. An Artaxerxan stratagem. Charles does not desist from his intent. Palaeologus sends legates to the Pope, through whom he treats regarding the averting of Charles and the concord of the Churches. 259 CAP. II. – The embassy of Palaeologus is kindly heard by the Roman Pontiff. A concord is entered into. Upon what conditions. Joseph the patriarch disapproves of the concord. He withdraws. Not a few priests and magistrates oppose the Emperor. The Emperor's bland and artful speech. His severity against the contumacious. The zeal and constancy of the common people. The ignorant masses dispersed everywhere. Factions. The prophecies of the Phanariots. An eulogy of Verchi the chartophylax. He himself also rejects the concord. He easily refutes the Emperor and the other learned men. He surpasses all by far in talent and eloquence. He is cast into prison with almost all his kin. Blemmyda reads with care the books written on Latin dogma. He compares them with the writings of the Holy Fathers. He changes his opinion. He is created patriarch. He renders excellent service to the Emperor. What helpers he had. The liturgy celebrated once with the Latins. Where. By whom. In what case. 263 CAP. III. – Anna and Maria, nieces of the Emperor, to whom they were married. Lachanas the Bulgarian grows rich from robbery. He gathers an army. He defeats and kills Constantine Tychus. He receives his kingdom and wife. He threatens the Roman towns. Palaeologus decides to forestall him. He betroths his own daughter Irene to John Asan, the legitimate heir of the Bulgarian kingdom. He sends him into Bulgaria with great forces. Lachanas is killed by the treachery of Palaeologus. Asan reigns, the wife and son of Constantine Tychus are expelled. The Terteres Bulgarian plots the destruction of Asan's father-in-law. He despoils him of his kingdom. Asan flees to Byzantium. 271 CAP. IV. – The Genoese of Galata become insolent. Palaeologus threatens them with destruction for the murder of a single Byzantine citizen. How they obtained pardon. Two of their piratical triremes pass by Constantinople without saluting the Emperor. The imperial fleet awaits their return. The Genoese try to escape. They clash with the imperial ships. They are defeated. The pride of the Latins is diminished. 273 CAP. V. – The death of the Sultan Azatines. Melecus his son seeks his ancestral empire. He is defeated by the Satrap Amurius. Having returned home, he is killed. How the Turks act like marauders. They ravage the Roman provinces. Weak against the Scythians; very powerful against the Romans. Palaeologus opposes them with a great army. He sets incompetent leaders over it. The Turks, having prepared ambushes, enter the battle in their own fashion. They turn their backs. They draw the Romans into ambushes, surround and crush them. They run as far as the Sangarius, seizing booty. Palaeologus ravages Bithynia at the fortified bank of the Sangarius. His land and naval forces are distracted by other wars. The Turks, having occupied the Asian provinces, rage. A rhetorical lament. The partition of the booty. As two sisters expire in a mutual embrace. Andronicus, by his father's command, restores Tralles. The same city is surrendered to the Turks four years later. The oracle concerning Tralles and Andronicus is suspected by many. It is confirmed by the outcome. Attalus, a Trojan, was the founder of Tralles; whence the city's name. 277 CAP. VI. – King Charles and the Emperor Palaeologus are peers in diverse arts. They hinder each other. Divine Providence. Charles is the perpetual enemy of Palaeologus, but always futile in his attempts. He attacks the Byzantines by land and sea. Rosonsules, placed in command of the land forces, crosses the Ionian Sea; with what intent; with what hope. Palaeologus arms Frederick, King of Sicily, against Charles. By that artifice he diverts Charles's fleet toward the Sicilians. He gathers an army by public prayers.

they are harassed by craft and light skirmishes. Ronsules proceeds to besiege Belgrade. He advances with a few men to protect the water-drawers. The Byzantines surround him. They crush the rest of his forces. Charles manages his affairs poorly against the Sicilians. He loses his son. Consumed by grief, he dies. 287

^B CAP. VII. — John, Emperor of Trebizond, comes to Byzantium. He marries Eudocia, daughter of Palaeologus, from whom Alexius, John's successor, is born. The Sebastocrator John breaks his word again. Palaeologus sends envoys to the Scythian Noga, his kinsman. He receives auxiliary forces from him. Thessaly is threatened with destruction. Stricken by a sudden illness, he cannot execute his plans. Having heard the name of the place, he learns of the oracle. He laments that, deceived by an enigma, he has gouged out his own eyes. A digression on oracles. Who is their author. Why they are ambiguous and obscure. What things should be avoided. In what year of the world Michael Palaeologus died. At what age. His corpse was neglected and buried by chance. His outstanding gifts. Conscience. Excessive charity toward his children. How much is permitted to each person for the sake of himself and his children. Palaeologus violated every law for the love of his own. The fruits of his crimes. 293

BOOK SIXTH

^C CAP. I. — Andronicus succeeds his father. The beginnings of his reign are turbulent. The Scythian auxiliaries are dismissed. Michael Glabas. The translation of the Emperor's body. The mourning is prohibited. Ecclesiastical affairs. The exiles return home. Veccus secretly makes way. Joseph is patriarch again. The principate of the Devil and taxes. Three factions in the Greek Church. Joseph cedes the patriarchate a second time. The equity of the Emperor. The factious ones gather at Atramyttium. Joseph dies. Of the eloquent Gregory Cyprius. How he was designated patriarch. Why the consecration was accelerated. The prelate Cozylenus is preferred to Debrenus. He inaugurates the one for Heraclea. This man lays hands upon the new patriarch. The law of the Emperor Severus. Constantine the Great did not abrogate the privileges granted to cities. Why the Zealots hold Gregory Cyprius in suspicion. Their cruelty, ambition, and avarice. The Synod of Atramyttium. The judgment concerning books consigned to the fire. The fire favors neither side. Concord is restored. The authority of the patriarch is established. The petition of the Arsenites. The body of Arsenius is deposited in the Sophia. Where it was translated from there. Concerning Theodora, daughter of Eulogia. 301

^D CAP. II. — Andronicus, a widower, seeks a wife from the King of Spain. Irene is given to him, and this without consulting the Pope. The ancient custom of Latin princes. An encomium of Irene. Gregory Cyprius avoids Veccus. He causes him to be relegated. The complaints of Veccus. A Synod. The eloquence of Veccus. The Patriarch and the Great Logothete Muzalo refute him. The authority of Muzalo. A badge of dignity. Veccus gains nothing by disputing. He repudiates the communion of his adversaries. He is sent into exile again with Meliteniotes and Metochita. The cruelty of the Zealots against those who had favored the Latin Church. A just punishment for cruelty. Andronicus fears vengeance for his father's crimes. He visits the blind Lascaris and consoles him. He departs for the East. 313

CAP. III. — Who were the authors for Andronicus not to make expenditure on a fleet. How disastrous that counsel was for the Roman state. The forces of the Latins were increased by it. The audacity of the pirate ships. The Gasmulian rabble dispersed due to poverty. Neglected triremes perish in great numbers. Few are kept safe. 321

CAP. IV. — Gregory Cyprius denies help to the suppliant Veccus; he is punished by the just judgment of God. He is accused by his own people as a blasphemer. He is betrayed by ungrateful friends. The same thing happens to him that once happened to Julius Caesar. Destitute of all protection, he withdraws to the monastery of the Hodegetria. Thence he passes to another, summoned by a noble lady. He dies. Chilas and Daniel, his accusers, pay the penalty, being ungrateful in spirit. They themselves are also accused by their dearest ones. The Emperor turns away from them. They are held in contempt by their colleagues. They live out their lives in the city, overcome with sorrow. 325

CAP. V. — Athanasius succeeds Gregory Cyprius, a man illiterate and of austere manners. He chastises the clergy. He does not even spare the bishops. Gregory Cyprius had placed learned and erudite men over the churches; Athanasius imposes upon them the necessity of residing. He constrains the princes themselves with the fear of censure. What things he forbade the monks. What he decreed regarding riding on horseback. He treats hypocritical monks with severity. Similarly regarding the fanatical. A penalty is imposed. The constitutions of Athanasius did not last long. The ancient custom of interpreting the Holy Scriptures publicly; likewise of preaching the divine word. Both customs were recently abrogated. The state of the Church changed for the worse. The depravity of morals. The license of swearing. The light of reason and doctrine extinguished. The causes of this change are examined. Why it was fitting that the Greek Church be laid waste. It is remarkable that this slaughter occurred in the times of Athanasius. 329

CAP. VI. — Andronicus holds Constantine Porphyrogenitus, his brother, suspected. The first cause of resentment. The second. The third. The first two [are] utterly unjust. The third [is] a little more just. Why the younger Cyrus armed himself against his brother. Why Antony [against] Augustus. Porphyrogenitus takes a wife. He restores the monastery of Studium. Andronicus crosses into Asia. He casts Porphyrogenitus into prison, and his friends as well. 331

CAP. VII. — A public tumult against Athanasius. The cause of the anger. Athanasius withdraws. Concerning the sentence of excommunication written by his hand in secret. How it was found by boys. What disturbances it excited. The reputation of Athanasius diminished. How he excused himself before the Emperor. He grants and seeks pardon. Concerning John of Sozopolis. With him as patriarch, the wicked monks breathe again. Michael, son of Andronicus, is adorned with the diadem. 345

CAP. VIII. — An Italian and an Armenian seek the alliance of the Emperor through envoys. Why the Italian is not heard. Metochites and Glycys, who and what sort of men they are. The envoys go to the island of Cyprus concerning the alliance. The matter finished, they proceed to Armenia. Glycys described that journey of his. Maria, sister of the King of Armenia, is brought to Byzantium. The Turks ravage the borders of the Romans. Philanthropenus and Libadarius are sent into Asia. A panegyric of them. All things proceeds prosperously for Philanthropenus. Many join themselves to him. Libadarius holds him suspected. Cretan deserters urge him to defection. Philanthropenus hesitates. He consents. He does not permit the imperial insignia. His defection is blamed on Libadarius and the Emperor. Philanthropenus, imprudently, leaves Libadarius unprepared. He attacks Theodore, the Emperor's brother. Libadarius collects money and military forces. He camps in Lydia. The Cretans, corrupted by money, hand over Philanthropenus in bonds. Libadarius insults the captive. He removes his sight. He is branded as insolent and cruel. 349

CAP. IX. — An earthquake. Many houses are shaken. The statue of the Archangel Michael is thrown down. Who had first erected it. Who restored it after its fall. John, Emperor of Trebizond, dies. Alexius, his son, succeeds him. Eudocia, a widow, comes to Byzantium. She refuses to marry Crail. The inconstancy of the Crails toward their wives. The Emperor betroths his own daughter Simonis to him. They gather at Thessalonica. Porphyrogenitus follows his brother in bonds. Hostages given by Crail. Concerning the sister of Sphendostlavus and Cutrale, Simonis is abducted by her forty-year-old spouse. 359

CAP. X. — The Alans, subdued by the Scythians, send envoys to the Emperor. Their demands and promises. Andronicus, distrusting the Romans, turns to foreign auxiliaries; with how much damage to the Roman state. The Alans are admitted with their wives and children. They provide an occasion for bitter exactions. They cross into Asia under the leadership of the Emperor Michael. They camp near Magnesia. The Turks watch them. They attack them while disordered. They put them to flight. The Emperor takes himself into the city of Magnesia. The Alans ravage the fields of the Christians. The Turks advance as far as the bay of Lesbos. 361

CAP. XI. — The Venetians, having been defeated several times by the Genoese, prepare a great fleet. The Genoese Galatrae to have consulted for themselves and their interests. Their houses and ships are burned empty. The Byzantines rage against the Venetians on account of the burned suburbs. The Venetians demand satisfaction from the Emperor. They are not heard. They despise the Byzantines as exposed to injury on account of the neglected care of naval matters. They mock them proudly. Laden with booty, they return home. Patriarch John is held in contempt as simple and unlearned. He withdraws. He returns to his homeland. 365

BOOK SEVENTH

CAP. I. — The Asian provinces are occupied by the Turks. Their partition. The names of the Satraps. Athanasius predicts the impending wrath of God. An earthquake. The Emperor judges Athanasius deserved of the patriarchate above others. He thinks he should be restored. Many resist. Some obey. Athanasius is again predicted for the Church of Constantinople. The Patriarch of Alexandria relates a fable to the Emperor and notes Athanasius. 369

CAP. II. — The King of Italy, the King of Sicily, attacks the Emperor by land and sea. He is affected by various disasters over two years. Roger the Catalan, the terror of the sea and the islands. What forces he had with him. He is summoned by the King of Sicily. At his arrival, the cities return to their legitimate lord. The King of Italy repeatedly demands them by arms. Не departs after managing matters poorly. He renews the war. He is conquered. He seeks peace and alliance. 373

CAP. III. — The Rogerian soldiers, with the affairs of Sicily tranquil, [wonder] where to turn themselves. They are invited to Byzantium by Andronicus; one thousand Catalans; as many Almugavars. Honors are bestowed upon Roger; likewise upon Berengarius Entenza. The Catalans in

^A Asia sent; they harass hosts and allies. They liberate the besieged Philadelphia. The virtue of Bishop Theoleptus. Occasion for their return from Asia having been missed, the Romans and Alans return home. The Catalans, defrauded of their pay, invade Roman cities in a hostile manner. Their cruelty. The Emperor endures these things. Roger returns from Asia to Thrace. He approaches the young emperor. He demands that his pay be settled. He is beheaded. 577

Cap. IV. — The Roman soldiers, after Roger is killed, think that they have subdued the Catalans. One must not resist divine providence. The evil outcome of malicious plans. The causes of the Roman disasters. The Catalans, having slain the local people, fortify Callipolis. They prepare for war by land and sea. They are defeated at sea by the Genoese. Berengarius, the admiral, is captured; then ransomed. The despair of the Catalans. Everything is hostile to them. They prepare themselves to endure a siege. They summon the Turks to their aid. They plunder. The Emperor Michael moves against them. He leads Turcopoles and Massagetae with him. He camps near Apros. He draws up his army. He is deserted by the Massagetae and Turcopoles. He tries in vain to restore the broken battle line. He rushes rashly against the enemies and suffers defeat. The virtue of the cavalry is of no avail. Andronicus reproaches his son for being a spendthrift of his life. The flight and slaughter of the Romans. The defection of the Turcopoles to the Catalans. Disagreement among the Catalan leaders. Berengarius is killed. Ximenes flees to Byzantium. He is adorned with the title of great duke and with marriage alliance to the Emperor. The Massagetae, about to pass into Scythia, are defeated by the Turcopoles and Catalans. 583

Cap. V. — The Empress, loathing her stepson, strives to make his children equal to him. The custom of succession adopted among Latin princes. Andronicus had two wives: six children. Andronicus resists his wife’s request. She provokes her husband with insults. Hence the discord, and Irene withdraws to Thessalonica. She slanders her husband, and describes the impudence of Andronicus to her son. Irene seeks a husband for her son Theodore; rejected by the leader of the Alans, she turns to Spinula. Latin nobles scarcely deem a marriage alliance with the Byzantine Emperors worthy. The lineage of Irene. The dignity of marquises. A digression on titles of dignity. The province of the Marquis of Lombardy. Theodore is sent there. He takes great wealth with him. John, another son of Irene, takes as his wife the daughter of Nicephorus Chummus. He dies without children. Irene’s lavish generosity toward her son-in-law, Cral. Hope is frustrated. Why Cral’s wife is sterile. Cral, urged by Irene, designates a successor for himself, first Demetrius; then Theodore the Marquis, his wife’s brothers. Neither becomes accustomed to Triballia. 507

Cap. VI. — The Catalans devastate Thrace. They seek a place in which to settle. How great their forces were. They winter in Macedonia near Cassandria. They threaten the Macedonian cities: especially Thessalonica. Andronicus fortifies the straits of Christopolis. He sees to it that soldiers are recruited to defend the cities. The enemies, deprived of supplies, prepare to move their foot soldiers into Thrace. They hear that the road has been blocked to them. They are in great fear. They head for Thessaly. They camp near Olympus. They plunder the surrounding fields. How many and who the Turks were in the Catalan army. Which leaders they had. How they separated from the Catalans on the Thessalian journey. 409

Cap. VII. — The Catalans, having dismissed the Turks, burst into Thessaly. The last heir of the Sebastocrator princes dies. His wife. Children born of her. The Thessalians decide to conciliate the Catalans through friendship. The Catalans prefer the money and alliance of the Thessalians to uncertain hope. Having crossed Thermopylae, they set up camp near the Cephissus. The course of the Cephissus. The Prince of Athens denies passage to the Catalans. He despises them, and their Catalan strength. A Catalan stratagem. The Athenian army engages them in a huge battle. It is destroyed by slaughter. The Catalans capture Thebes and Athens. They reside in those places. 415

Cap. VIII. — The Turks, having left the Catalans, follow their own leaders. Melecis retreats to Cral. Chatel lingers in Macedonia. He offers peace to the Romans. The conditions of peace. The Great Stratopedarch leads the Turks to the Hellespont. The Romans violate their faith. The Turks occupy a fortress. They summon reinforcements. They devastate the region. The Emperor Michael is summoned to defeat them. The rashness of the rustic soldiers, the apathy of the Romans. The barbarians plan perfectly for themselves and their affairs. They attack the imperial standard. The Emperor is abandoned by the soldiers. He leaves sorrowful and against his will. The leaders resist. They are captured by the enemies. The imperial insignia are torn away and held up to mockery. 423

Cap. IX. — The second withdrawal of Patriarch Athanasius. The cause of the withdrawal. Nipho succeeds him, an arrogant man. His studies and evil arts. He is to be praised for one thing: that he admitted the Arsenites to communion. The petitions of the Arsenites. Which of them renewed the schism. 427

Cap. X. — The Turks devastate Thrace. The Emperor decides to summon mercenary soldiers from abroad. The poverty of the treasury. He petitions Cral for help. Philes Palaeologus sets aside the Turkish war. His eulogy. Praised by Andronicus for his innocence of life, he obtains his requests. He wins the soldiers’ hearts to himself. Having learned the enemies’ plans through scouts, he leads out his legions. He camps near the Xerogypsum river. The arrival of the Turks. Preparations for battle. How Philes restores the wavering battle line. The slaughter of the barbarians. The Romans press upon the fugitives. They camp in the Chersonese. The imperial triremes block the Hellespont. Reinforcements for the Romans sent by Cral and by the Latins. The Turks are besieged. The Latins’ siege engines. The barbarians, having attempted nocturnal sorties in vain, abandon hope of safety. They surrender themselves and all they have to the Latins. Many are intercepted and slaughtered by the Romans during the night. What was done by the Latins concerning the rest. 455

Cap. XI. — John Glykys succeeds to the patriarchate upon the expulsion of Nipho for sacrilege. His eulogy. Why he did not don the monastic habit. Gregoras inveighs. A student of eloquence. A constant listener to Glykys. The authority of Theodorus Metochita. His daughter wed to John the Panhypersebastos. Praise of Metochita. The gifts of his mind and body. Supreme erudition. His style of speaking. How he combined the study of literature with the administration of public affairs. 419

Cap. XII. — The death of the Empress Irene. Her burial. What was done with her money. The temple of St. Sophia threatens ruin. Andronicus supports it by building two pyramids. He prefers to restore old buildings rather than to build new ones. His modesty is praised. Temples restored by him. Other public works of his. Concerning the column, statue, and cross erected in the vestibule of the temple of St. Sophia. The overturned cross is replaced. Other things decayed by long time are renovated. The dimension of the statue. Likewise of the cross and the globe. 445

Cap. XIII. — Irene of Germany is given as a wife to the younger Andronicus. The Emperor Michael goes to Thessalonica. The cause of his journey. He dies there. An oracle concerning his death. Let those things which have already been said about Thessalian affairs be repeated. The provinces and cities of John Ducas, who died without children, are distracted. Some are added to the Roman Empire. Punishments are indicted in vain against the rest by the synod. 453

LIBER OCTAVUS.

Cap. I. — The two daughters of the Emperor Michael. Whom they had as husbands. His two sons. The grandfather prefers Andronicus to all others. He educates him with himself. The character, plans, and ambition of the younger Andronicus. He loves a harlot. He lays traps for his rival. His brother Manuel is killed in place of the rival. His father’s grief, illness, and death. The grandfather’s sorrow. Concerning the city of Genoa. Where it is situated. The factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Their propagation. Cral delays returning to her husband. Cral’s threats. The woman, ordered to return to her husband, yields to coercion. Constantine, her brother, with his cowl torn, delivers his brother to the Triballians. 435

Cap. II. — Patriarch Glykys, his illness worsening, withdraws to a monastery; he is not at all greedy, and thus little wealthy. He summons Gregoras and dictates his last will and testament to him. The patriarch’s testament. A more lucid narrative indicated by the author. The monk Gerasimus, a simple and unlearned man, follows Glykys. What kind of patriarchs are pleasing to the emperors. 463

Cap. III. — The mother of the Despot Constantine. His first wife. A son conceived from a maid, named Catharus. Why he was neglected by his father. The eulogy of Eudocia Palaeologina. How she was married to the Despot Constantine. The bastard Catharus is powerful and favor-seeking with the older emperor. The younger Andronicus’s indignation. The cause of his anger is more just, the people are forced by an unusual oath. Syrgiannes is added to the grandson as a guardian by the grandfather. 467

Cap. IV. — The lineage, education, and virtues of Syrgiannes. He wins the minds of all the inhabitants of the province to himself. The man’s wonderful cleverness. He harasses perfidious and treaty-breaking neighboring peoples. He recovers the province that had been taken away. He is adorned with the dignity of the province. He rebels. He is apprehended. Thrown into prison, he is restored through his mother’s prayers. He swears that he will be faithful. He is ordered to explore the younger emperor’s plans. He reveals the senior’s plans to the junior. The speech by which he exhorts the latter to defection. Factions and oaths. The associates of the conspiracies. Three men. Syrgiannes and Cantacuzenus, having corrupted the leading men, obtain the administration of the provinces of Thrace. 471

Cap. V. — The grandfather decides to set the grandson before a public judgment. Metochita thinks it should be deferred until the festive days have passed. The neighing of the horses. Metochita is consulted on this matter in the Chora monastery. His answer. A truer interpretation. Byzantium is agitated for several days.

^A CAP. VI. The Emperor convenes the bishops. He sends for his grandson. The grandson brings armed men with him. A paternal rebuke, a mutual oath taken. The complaint of the conspirators. Andronicus the Younger intercedes for them with the logothete. He is severely rebuked. He returns to his former plans. The outcry of the indignant grandfather. Anxiety. Deliberation about arresting the grandson. The patriarch discloses a secret entrusted to him. The flight of the grandson. The providence of God. The forces of the Romans against the Turks are weak. Taxes are increased, so that peace might be bought with gold. The greed of the tax collectors. The wealth of the fisc, and the uses for which it was reserved. The indulgent severity of God. The deaths of neighboring princes. The death of the patriarch. Punishment inflicted on the factious by the Church. The people are bound by a new oath. The Thracians, enticed by the promised immunity, follow the younger man. They rage against the tax collectors. Constantinople is stormed. Legates are sent from the grandfather to the grandson. Syrgiannes is softened by his mother's prayers. Covenants between the grandfather and the grandson. 449

^B CAP. VII. Gregoras seeks the familiarity of Andronicus the Elder: having been educated in philosophy and astronomy by the logothete already at that time. What sort of man he found him to be at the beginning. An oration in which he was exhorted to transmit the precepts of philosophy and astronomy to him more fully. How much that oration weighed with the logothete. 501

CAP. VIII. The court flourishes with the study of the liberal arts under Andronicus the Elder. Therefore, his familiarity is sought by Gregoras. Concerning the joining of practice with doctrine. Gregoras is kindly received by the Emperor. He delivers an oration before him. He praises two virtues in him, wisdom and eloquence. He concludes with a panegyric. 507

^C CAP. IX. The benevolence of the elder Andronicus toward Gregoras; the envy and indignation of certain people. The dignity of the *theophylax* offered to him. Why he refused it. An oration which he delivered before the Emperor concerning that matter. Force was almost applied to him as he refused. 519

CAP. X. Rope-walkers and other performers from Egypt, having wandered through many regions, come to Byzantium. Wonderful spectacles are exhibited by them. Arts that are, as it were, amusing, but also destructive to men. They wander out from Byzantium through Europe. They penetrate as far as the Pillars of Hercules. The Turks, having built fleets then for the first time, infest the seas and the lands. Scarcity of the fisc. 529

CAP. XI. Syrgiannes, neglected by Andronicus the Younger, acts secretly against his grandfather. He offers a specious cause for his changed opinion. Most welcome to the Elder, he enters Byzantium, rights given and accepted. Who knew of the news of this matter. The Younger places his camp near the city. Terrified by the report of Syrgiannes' excursion, he flees. Constantine, the despot, sets out for Thessalonica with evil omens. The mother of the younger emperor is sent to Byzantium, and leads the army through the Christopolitan straits. The Younger opposes Synadenus to Syrgiannes. He terrifies the Despot with edicts. He spreads rumors about the death of the grandfather. The Despot retreats to Thessalonica. He is ordered to arrest the factious citizens. Driven by the sedition stirred up by them, he is compelled to flee secretly. Delivered to Andronicus the Younger, he barely escapes death. He is cast into a most filthy prison in Didymoteichon. From there, finally, he is transferred to a higher, more tolerable one. The Elder, having consulted the Psalter, seeks peace; the Younger, himself desiring peace, deliberates with his mother. The colloquy and reconciliation of the emperors; where the Younger's mother and aunt might have been amidst these varied events. 533

^D CAP. XII. Esaias, a simple and unlearned man, accused of many crimes, is created patriarch with the Emperor's favor; the reward for unjust passion. The works of Esaias. Philanthropenus is restored to his former position and favor. His eulogy. The Turks besiege Philadelphia. Having heard of the arrival of Philanthropenus, they cast away their arms of their own accord. Why they revered him. A huge supply of grain brought into the liberated city. Syrgiannes is not at all happy about the peace between the emperors. He tests the loyalty of Asan to Andronicus. Exposed by him before the Emperor, he is cast into prison. He is stripped of all his goods. 541

CAP. XIII. A disputation concerning Easter, as it was first held in the palace. Gregoras, having eagerly embraced it, with the Emperor favoring and the adversaries struggling in vain. He sets forth his opinion concerning the establishing of the day of Easter. The Emperor approves the proposal. He refused to undertake the matter. 547

CAP. XIV. Andronicus the Younger is crowned. The Elder thrown from his horse; an ominous sign. Cralis, his father-in-law, is *panhypersebastos*. Assisted by his father-in-law's arms, he rebels. Content with the dignity of Caesar, he lays down his arms. He dies. An embassy concerning the bringing back of his wife to Byzantium. Gregoras is sent as a legate with others. He narrates what happened to him and his companions on the road. The rumor of a Scythian incursion. Concerning the river Strymon, which the legates crossed. Errors, dangers, and other accidents. At the small town of Strummitza, Easter was celebrated by the townspeople with a barbarian rite. Observations on the sites. Concerning the river Axios. Consulted by the legates, the Caesarissa refuses. Her husband's death and miserable condition. Crales, having heard the embassy, dismisses the Caesarissa. He follows the one leaving, not affectionately enough. The customs of the barbarians are noted. The Caesarissa goes to Thessalonica, so that she might render what is just to her husband. Gregoras, having received the order from her, returns to Byzantium. 559

CAP. XV. Andronicus the Younger, after the death of Irene the German, takes Anna the Lombard as his wife. He is wounded while fighting shipwrecked Turks in the Chersonese. A great part of Bithynia is conquered by the Turks. Several notable Manichaeans, having abjured their errors, are baptized. Portents and prodigies, portending the future calamity of the empire. 571

LIBER NONUS.

CAP. I. The faction of the Younger decides to remove the Elder from the middle [of affairs]. Michael the Bulgarian, having been widowed of Venceslaus' wife and having obtained her, is summoned by the Younger Andronicus, the brother of his wife, through legates. He comes to Didymoteichon. A society is initiated against the Elder; on what conditions. The grandson sets a trap for the grandfather. He carries off money by force from the tax collectors. He takes possession of the cities of Thrace for himself. He sets out for Byzantium with many accompanying him; under what pretext. The grandfather, having been made aware of his plans through a defector, forbids the entrance of the city. He piles up many threats against him. By letters written to Crales and to Demetrius the Despot, he orders forces to be gathered and cities to be armed with garrisons. The letters are intercepted by the *Chartophylax*. The traps he was planning are revealed. The minds of all are more inclined toward the Younger. The Elder is betrayed by Theodore the Marquis himself. His lack of faith, ambition, way of life, and religion. Demetrius the Despot plunders the goods of the factious. The Younger wins many over to himself with magnificent promises. 573

CAP. II. The grandson seeks one of the two [options]: that either it might be permitted to him to enter Byzantium; or that legates might be sent to him, whom he might use as messengers. Selected men from all orders are sent. By an artificial oration he commends himself to them. He attacks his grandfather. He brings forward probable causes for the rebellion. He washes away the crimes objected to him. He explains his demands. The legates, corrupted by his blandishments, return to Byzantium, and openly advocate for him before everyone. 583

CAP. III. The Elder, irritated by the perfidy of his own men, determines to explore the mind of the patriarch: he does the same with other bishops. In the oration which was held before them, he brings forward the reason why he should not abdicate the empire. He points out the grandson. He judges that he should be coerced by ecclesiastical penalties. He ruins the peroration of his speech. All the wisest men side with him. The patriarch differs from the rest. He conspires against the Elder. He forbids the name of the Younger to be mentioned in the churches. He interdicts the adverse faction from holy things. The Elder's sorrow and bitter complaint. The patriarch himself is condemned by a canonical sentence and is delegated to the monastery of the Manganon. 589

CAP. IV. The Younger approaches the walls of the city of Andronicus. He is warded off from the entrance by insults. Certain men from the people promise their help to him. He investigates every approach with a small boat. He departs with the task unaccomplished. He orders the *protostrator* to be secretly summoned by the Thessalonians to plot against Byzantium. By the disagreement of the adversaries, he secretly creeps into Thessalonica. He takes the citadel by force. Having dissipated Demetrius and the other leaders in rout, he receives Serres into surrender. He suffers the others of the Macedonian cities, as well as the children, wives, and other things of the adversaries. 593

CAP. V. The Elder, weary of the war; having initiated a society with the Bulgarian, he restores his spirit. Cralina, his daughter, deceived by augurs, fills him with the same empty hope. The logothete is extremely anxious about himself. He is terrified by a dream. He consults his own affairs. He retreats into the palace. The prefects of the Macedonian cities are cast into prison by the Younger. The flight of Demetrius the Despot. The miserable end of the *protovestiarios*. He blames Asan for his losses. He retreats to Crales. The Basilic Nicephorus remains at Melenikon and protects it, not about to give it up to the younger man except after the death of the elder. The Younger desires to reward his loyalty. The apophthegm of Philip the Macedonian. The battle at Manropotamus. The Elder's forces are defeated. The Younger hastens to go to Byzantium lest the Bulgarian forestall him. Three dangers of the city. The Venetian fleet, hostile to the Genoese in Galata. It besieges the Pera gates. A great many work-ships are intercepted. A terrible famine in Byzantium. The equity and moderation of the Venetians; help was denied to the younger man by them. The Bulgarian forces. Another danger to the city. The Younger attempts in vain to enter the city. The Elder cannot be softened by him. The Bulgarian, reconciled to the younger man, refreshes his forces at home. 597

CAP. VI. God warns the guards of the city against the treason of the younger men along with. He thinks the Elder, having been warned twice by other guards, should be saved. The Great Logothete does not approve of his providence. The Emperor is very anxious. At the arrival of the grandson

^A he forbids it. That they might not abuse their victory, he warns them. The pitiful supplication of the grandfather. The humanity of the grandson. The Patriarch is brought back in triumph. The immodest pomp of the triumph. The most opulent houses are plundered: first and foremost the house of the logothete. All his goods are either stolen or confiscated. He himself is harassed with insults. Civil discords of the younger emperor are suppressed by prudence. Gregoras is attached to the senior; a partaker of his calamity. 607

CAP. VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAP. IX.

CAP. X.

CAP. XI.

CAP. XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CAP. XIV.

BOOK TENTH

CAP. I.

CAP. II.

CAP. III.

CAP. IV.

CAP. V.

CAP. VI.

CAP. VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

BOOK ELEVENTH

CAP. I.

^A is captured by treachery. Calanes Genuita, duke of the Phocaeans, claims it for himself; in the number of ships he is superior to his associates. He summons the wife and children from Phocaea. By what right he governed this city. The Genoese of Galata become insolent. Whence the wealth of the forum grew. By various arts they enlarge and fortify the castle. The emperor burns their fortifications. He neglects to attack them as they are openly plotting war, intent on greater matters. The Galatians, reduced to extreme straits, cast off their ferocity. They sue for peace. The emperor sets out for Mitylene. He captures five enemy ships and leads them to Chios. Meanwhile Catanes fortifies Mitylene. The Romans, having joined the Turks to themselves, besiege Phocaea. 723

CAP. II. — With the emperor absent, certain factious men stir up new troubles in the City. Their attempts are suppressed by the prudence of Cantacuzenus and the emperor. The Latin Phocaeans, broken by a long siege, obtain peace through the intervention of the Rhodians. Conditions of peace. The emperor returns to Byzantium with his entire fleet. He holds an inquiry concerning the conspirators. He convicts them before the assembly. His clemency. The beginning of his oration draws tears. He forbids an inquiry into Demetrius the Despot, induced by reverence for his aunt Cralaena, and likewise he is softened by the acclamations and applause for Gregoras. He includes only the Asanes brothers in custody, and that not a harsh one. Alexius Phylanthropenus, sent to Lesbos, recovers Mitylene by craft. Elogium of this man. 731

CAP. III. — Scythian plunderers invade Thrace. They overwhelm the Turkish marauders. For fifty continuous days they devastate the Roman borders. A huge number of captives. The cause of the incursion. Eclipses had preceded this slaughter twice; Eudocia, the daughter of the emperor, is given in marriage to Basilius, the prince of Trebizond. Joannes, prince of Aetolia and Acarnania, after his brother was killed, having seized power, is carried off by poison from his wife. Crimes charged to sworn judges. One is acquitted. Penalties imposed on the rest. 737

CAP. IV. — The Turks invade the Chersonese and Thrace. The choicest are killed. The rest, having obtained peace, return home. The emperor, having returned to Byzantium, prepares to go into Aetolia, intending to accept the offered principality. A messenger is brought regarding a grave impending Turkish incursion into Thrace on the following day. Orchanes the Turk’s hopes and counsels. Sixty Romans, with Cantacuzenus as leader, encounter the plunderers. The emperor himself attacks the hostile fleet with three ships. Huge slaughter of the barbarians. Not one was missed from the Romans. Fourteen enemy ships captured. God is the author of such a great victory. The emperor, having proceeded to the strait of Hieron on the following day, finds the enemies carried away. Having traversed a journey of forty-five stadia on foot by night, he enters the temple of the Mother of God, the Hodegetria, to offer thanks. 739

CAP. V. — A comet appears; what its form; its rising; progress; its ruin. His supreme equity toward the Scythians regarding Thrace and Threissa, whom he had redeemed from captivity. The just judgment of God. 743

CAP. VI. — The emperor, intending to invade Epirus, devastates Illyria. He dismisses the auxiliary Turks laden with plunder. He gains control of the principality of Epirus. Nicomedia is lost. Thrace is vexed by Turkish incursions. The prince of Epirus escapes by flight. His mother remains at Thessalonica. Theodorus Synadenus, prefect of Epirus, is handed over in chains to the returning prince. 747

CAP. VII. — The emperor's underage daughter is given in marriage to the son of Alexander of Mysia. Peace is confirmed by this pledge. A monstrous birth. A three-year-old child with masculine strength; he dies in the fifth year of his age. The cause of death explained physically. The Genoese, after the nobles were driven from the City, appoint one leader for themselves in the manner of the Venetians. The comet, similar in appearance to the one that appeared three years before, but different in motion. The Turks devastate Thrace. They linger there a long time with no one obstructing them. 719

CAP. VIII. — Basilius, prince of the Trapezuntines, dies. His wife Irene, indignant that a harlot of the same name was preferred to her, and thus suspicious of a clandestine crime, throws out the concubine when her husband is dead. Having sent envoys to her father Andronicus once and again, she asks for another husband for herself. The absence of the emperor; his illness; his departure into Epirus, and the manner of both legations. A rumor of the intimacy of Irene with the great domestic of Trebizond stirs up civil war among the Trapezuntines. Zanychites and many others are slain. 753

CAP. IX. — The primary city of Acarnania is besieged by the emperor, to whom Cantacuzenus provides excellent naval service, a man of great character, most pleasing to the soldiers. At this time business is managed in diverse places by his prudence. The conspirators are suppressed. The death of the perfidious Sphrantzes Palaeologus. The Romans recover Phocaea. Epirus is added to the empire. The prince of Epirus is abducted to Thessalonica. Cantacuzenus performs great deeds in silence. The emperor comes to Byzantium, in a very infirm state of health, with physicians summoned from everywhere, he does not live at his own will. As the disease worsens, he seeks the temple of the Mother of God, the Hodegetria. 755

^B

CAP. X. — Barlaam, an Italian immigrant, not so much learned in Greek as in Latin; he despises the Byzantines. He seeks glory for himself by disparaging others. He is refuted and hissed at. Gregoras wrote a dialogue on this matter. The title and beginning of the dialogue. Explanation of the fictitious names. The same Barlaam opposes the Greek monks. He accuses Palamas, who defends them, of heresy and blasphemy. A synod having been convened, they dispute concerning prayer alone. The treatment of other questions is either deliberately omitted or deferred. The emperor gives an excellent oration. He misses the absent Gregoras. The cause of the absence. Barlaam, defeated, returns to his own people and to the institutions of his fatherland. 759

CAP. XI. — The emperor, with his disease worsening, again enters the monastery of the Hodegetria. He falls into a lethargy, then, having awakened, summons physicians. He sends to Gregoras to inquire whether the stars are favorable. He dies. In what year of the world; on what day. The time of his life and his reign. A lamentation [monody] placed by Gregoras. The monody recited by him. The morals and character of the deceased prince. He neglected the institutions of the Roman emperors. He spent most lavishly on birds and dogs: which custom Cantacuzenus abolished after his death. Relying on God, he despised dangers. He did not consult sufficiently for his own dignity. During his reign, the couch of the Imperial triclinium was open to all. He abolished the distinctions of hats and garments. These and other things were believed to portend the imminent ruin of the empire. 763

LIBER DUODECIMUS.

CAP. I. — A fuller account of the things done is promised. What fruit their knowledge will bring to readers. The reason for divine justice and supreme equity. History, celebrated by many, is praised again. It is compared with a mirror. It is most useful to princes. It excels nature itself. It informs the character of the writer. It delights the mind with variety. The beginning of this part is to be repeated from the start. 777

CAP. II. — Cantacuzenus consults for the safety of the junior princes. The pernicious counsels of Alexius Apocaucus, his gifts, his lineage, his fortune, his evil arts. He urges Cantacuzenus to take up the insignia of the empire. He slanders him. The Empress Anna returns to the palace on the third day of mourning. At the urging of Apocaucus, Joannes the patriarch produces codicils written by the deceased emperor. He attempts by various reasons to arrogate to himself the guardianship and administration of the empire. 783

CAP. III. — Cantacuzenus answers: that the state was administered by him even while the emperor was alive, with whom he had always lived most closely. He recounts his merits toward him. He proclaims his benevolence toward him and his grateful spirit. Why he refused the partnership of the empire while he was alive. That the codicils produced by the patriarch belonged to another time. That the guardianship and administration of the empire resided by law with him. It remained for the nuptials of his daughter and the junior emperor to be performed. 789

CAP. IV. — Apocaucus and the patriarch persuade the empress to abrogate all authority from Cantacuzenus. The conjectures of prudent men concerning Apocaucus, the power and moderation of Cantacuzenus. The forces of Apocaucus are weak. A perverse mind. Immoderate ambition. The fortress of Epibatae and other castles built by him, for what uses. 795

CAP. V. — The soldiers openly favor Cantacuzenus. They make mention of him in the solemn oath. He rushes at Apocaucus with a drawn sword. The empress with her people implores Cantacuzenus. By this sight, the tumult is quieted. An oration, in which he points out the wickedness of his adversaries, commends his own clemency and constancy. The dictum of Demosthenes, corrected by Gregoras. The diverse institutions of Cantacuzenus and Apocaucus, diverse exits, and fitting results. Cantacuzenus is to be condemned on one point, because he permitted the peace of the Church to be disturbed. 795

CAP. VI. — Apocaucus does not desist from his endeavor. He attempts to destroy Cantacuzenus, who has deserved best of him. The law of the Persians against the ungrateful, the reason for the Roman sword. Cantacuzenus meets the empress and the patriarch privately. An oration, which he delivered before them. The empress and the patriarch give and take an oath. Cantacuzenus meditates on many and excellent things. Plans for peace and war are begun by him. The will of the neighboring people is inclined toward him. 801

CAP. VII. — Cantacuzenus leads an army against the Mysians. Having reconciled them to himself, he patrols Thrace and fortifies the garrisons. The future advent of Amurius is announced. The varying fortune of the Persian satraps. Amurius, prince of Lydia and Ionia, is more powerful than the rest. He possesses the mastery of the sea. He is a most loyal friend to Cantacuzenus. He prepares a great fleet to defend his authority. By his command, he remains. The old power of the Romans. A certain image of his destroyed under Cantacuzenus. Hope of civil war suppressed. 807

CAP. VIII. — The empress is sick. Apocaucus...

^A with fear betakes himself to the castle of Epibatae. The Patriarch acts on his behalf before the empress, Cantacuzenus returns to Byzantium. He rebukes the Patriarch’s fickleness with soft words. He receives from him a double oath, confirmed by horrendous execrations. Again he leaves the city. He exports a great amount of money and vessels of every kind. The use of these things. Apocaucus, enclosed in his own castle, insults Cantacuzenus. The latter’s response. 811

CAP. IX. — The machinations of Apocaucus are detected. Discovered by his lack of confidence, he plans to seize the empire. The fortress of Epibatae is furnished by him with all things. The judgment of the deceased emperor concerning that fortress and its builder. Cantacuzenus repents too late that he did not obey its mandates regarding him. The Patriarch’s perfidy towards Cantacuzenus. His services to Apocaucus; whom he summons from his fortress by offering impunity. Apocaucus appears before Cantacuzenus, and imperial honors are bestowed upon him in salutations. Many urge Cantacuzenus to throw Apocaucus into chains, but in vain. 815

CAP. X. — Apocaucus having returned, the Patriarch changes his way of life. He himself also conspires against Cantacuzenus. He appoints himself the administrator of the empire. He confers the prefectship of the city and other dignities upon Apocaucus. A pact is confirmed with dire oaths that Cantacuzenus may never be received back. Apocaucus, following the example of Octavius Caesar, entrusts civil matters to the curia and takes upon himself the administration of the war. Matters against Cantacuzenus are plotted by the Patriarch. 819

CAP. XI. — The nobles of the Cantacuzenian faction ask the Patriarch and Apocaucus that they not be treated too harshly. These incite the populace against them. The flight of the nobles. Their houses are demolished, their goods plundered. Cantacuzenus’s grief and anxiety. Sad news arrives concerning ^B his mother cast into prison and other domestic disasters. The constancy of the man. Letters fortified with the imperial seal, through which he is ordered to submit. Other grave matters are reported to him one after another. His mind, amidst these straits, is wavering and anxious. Death is threatened unless he allows himself to be hailed as emperor. Upon his refusal, he is to be hailed immediately by another. The empress is warned by envoys to reject the insult. 821

CAP. XII. — Cantacuzenus is forced to put on the imperial insignia, which had long since been promised to him by various omens. It was done on the feast day of St. Demetrius. He orders acclamations to be made for Anne and John before himself. Nevertheless, he observes the mandates of the deceased emperor. On the third day he puts off the purple. Thenceforth, until the city is captured, he uses white garments. Three reasons for this brought forward by him. How the Patriarch and Apocaucus behaved when they heard of Cantacuzenus’s new dignity. While the Byzantines are divided by various factions, the Cantacuzenians are struck with anathema. The audacity of the populace is aroused. Cantacuzenus’s hesitation. His military forces. Embassies are sent one after another by him to Byzantium. His demands are full of equity. The Byzantines are implacable; they plot his exile openly and secretly. Many of his own men desert him, branding him as lazy and cowardly. A famine of provisions. A very harsh winter. Letters are intercepted by the Byzantines. 825

CAP. XIII. — John Palaeologus is crowned by the Patriarch on an unappointed day, contrary to custom. He had wanted it done with greater pomp immediately after the death of the emperor, but the Patriarch had forbidden it. The new emperor is inaugurated anew in the ethereal chapel of the palace through the solemn *apoproche*. He is received by the people with applause and joyful shouts. Reproaches are cast at ^C Cantacuzenus. The grief and serious illness of the wife of Cantacuzenus, who hears these things from prison. Her death on the twelfth day thereafter, amid similar acclamations of the populace. Nocturnal omens which preceded the calamity of that woman. 831

CAP. XIV. — Adverse circumstances do not break Cantacuzenus. He is insulted by the Byzantines through his envoys. Through the intervention of monks, he seeks peace, but in vain. At the summons of the nobles of Orestias, he comes to occupy that city. After a short interval, having been repulsed by a sudden uprising, he departs with his objective unfulfilled. The reason for this prodigy is examined. Hostile incursions on both sides. The evils of civil war. A comparison of his wars with external wars is made by Cantacuzenus. His supporters are revived by a vain hope. 837

CAP. XV. — The prefects of the principal cities, Theodore Synadenus and Guido the Armenian. The latter’s departure from Armenia; his wives. A hostile mind towards Cantacuzenus, his kinsman, whose goods he plunders and whose friends he harasses. Ominous signs. The defect and colors of the sun and moon. Trees oppressed by snow and stripped of leaves. 839

CAP. XVI. — The Byzantines and the Cantacuzenians contend over the release of the two brothers of the empress Irene from prison. The prudence and other virtues of Irene. She renders outstanding service to Cantacuzenus in conciliating the brothers to him. Cantacuzenus, having been offered the hope of invading Thessalonica through the letters of Synadenus, entrusts Didymoteichon to his wife and Manuel Asanes to guard. He restores and fortifies Polystylon. Chreles the Triballian is his adversary; having gained possession of the principality of Strumitza; ^D he is feared even by Cral himself. He is flattered by the Romans. He comes to the aid of Cantacuzenus as he is about to pass through the Christopolitan passes. An enumeration of the leaders and soldiers. 843

BOOK THIRTEEN

CAP. I. — How Cantacuzenus escaped the Christopolitan straits. He encamps near Philippi. Supplies are offered to him by Chreles, whom he receives in a friendly manner, though suspicious; he soon dismisses him. Rhentina is accepted in surrender; he hesitates to go to Thessalonica, according to his custom. The fortress of Melenikos is surrendered to him. A *parergon* concerning an opportunity which should not be neglected. Also concerning the image of the opportunity. Synadenus and others favor Cantacuzenus. Thessalonica is taken by sedition, they betake themselves to Gynaecocastrum. Guido the Armenian aids the Thessalonians with arms. The Byzantine fleet, under the command of Apocaucus, puts in at Thessalonica. Cantacuzenus, having progressed as far as Gynaecocastrum, speaks with Synadenus. The latter changes his mind and plots against him. 849

CAP. II. — The treachery of Synadenus is discovered. Tumult in the camp. Cantacuzenus gathers his dispersed soldiers. With his battle line drawn up, he awaits Apocaucus, who is also drawing up his own but does not dare to engage. Slowly and composedly he retreats to the Triballians, trusting more in foreigners than in his own countrymen. Where he spent the night. A Triballian man captures the envoys sent ahead by him to Cral and leads them to Apocaucus. Concerning Liberius the Triballian; why a messenger was sent to him. Peasants harass the passing army. Liberius receives Cantacuzenus into his hospitality. He gives him precious vessels as a gift. He promises to him his son-in-law, Manuel. Having commended himself to Cral through letters, he desires [to proceed to] Scopia, to the Axius river. Content with tolerable hospitality, he remains there with his army. On the following day he meets Cral; mutual greetings. The disparity of the magnificence of each. 853

CAP. III. — How long Cantacuzenus remained among the Triballians. What sufferings the soldiers endured and how great they were. Who bore the evils more easily. Why the orations held in those places are omitted. The conditions offered to Cral by the Byzantines to betray Cantacuzenus. Poisons sent by them. A *parergon* concerning Mithridates. Various treacherous plots. All result in nothing. For what reason God averted so many dangers. Cantacuzenus, unmindful of injuries, looks everywhere to the dignity of the Augusta and the ward. The law imposed by him on John Angelus, sent to rule the Aetolians and Thessalians. The reward of long-suffering. Gregoras declares that he is a student of the truth, indifferent to all feelings. What sort of things he has decided to praise or blame. What he wishes to show, and what he desires to persuade his readers. An expedition undertaken against Serrai. The troubles of the Triballians. With the matter unfulfilled, he returns home. 859

CAP. IV. — Amurius crosses the Hellespont in midwinter, seeking Cantacuzenus. He proceeds as far as Didymoteichon. He does not meet the empress Irene, so as not to stir up her grief at the sight of him. He declares his wonderful and vehement longing for his friend in words. A wonderful humanity in a barbarian man. To whom the first praise should be attributed, to Cantacuzenus or to Amurius. What reconciles friendship. A comparison of it with musical concord. Amurius, solicitous for his friend, rejects the food and clothing offered by Irene. He consoles her while she is brought into the greatest straits. He returns home as winter plagues his army. The eulogy of Manuel Tarchaniota. How, having sought and found Cantacuzenus, he returned to Didymoteichon and became most welcome to the anxious empress. 869

CAP. V. — The second expedition of Cantacuzenus to Serrai is in vain. The timidity of the Triballians does not allow him to cross as far as Didymoteichon. He returns to Cral against his will. He takes back with him John Asanes, who had been ordered to surrender the fortress of Melenikos to Chreles. The envoys of Berrhoia treat secretly with Cantacuzenus when Cral proposes inequitable conditions. He enters Berrhoia according to the pact. The inconstancy of Cral. A better fortune for Cantacuzenus from this. The Triballian grieves that he was eluded. Mindful of pacts, he does not dare to declare war. 875

CAP. VI. — John Angelus comes to Cantacuzenus at Berrhoia, having administered the affairs of Thessaly excellently. The state of his province before the arrival of Angelus was most disturbed; the power of the Catalans dominating there is weakened by luxury. Angelus, having recovered the greatest part of the Thessalian principality, subdued the Aetolians, Locri, and Acarnanians. He captured the rebellious Anna. Preferring to give her into custody when some advised him to kill her. 879

CAP. VII. — Cantacuzenus, having attacked Thessalonica by guile: with an ineffective attempt, he departs. A numerous fleet of Byzantines and Persians puts in at the Thessalonian harbor. The leader of the fleet is Apocaucus: he pursues Cantacuzenus as he is leaving. The river is difficult to cross. Two thousand Triballians are placed in ambush. The emperor is led into great straits. How the

^A emperor decides what to do about himself. Cantacuzenus reproves him with words. He tells a fable about a bird and a fowler. He simply estimates that his adversary, overwhelmed by his own greatness, must eventually succumb. He congratulates himself that the Thessalian reinforcements were reserved for a favorable time. He predicts fatal ends for Apocaucus, whether he intends to depart or to remain in Thessalonica. He threatens that he will call upon Persian reinforcements by his example. He enumerates the evils, the cause of which he says was his own ambition. He reproaches his hard and pitiless spirit. He warns of divine justice, which reveals its presence through manifest tokens. Finally, he orders him to hasten his flight. A small boat is secretly taken to the sea, and envoys are sent to Amurius. 883

CAP. IX. — The response of Apocaucus; its two parts: the first, concerning the charge of lying; the second, concerning the invited barbarians. The perverse habit of this man. How, when the city of Berrhoea had been tempted by the army, he himself remained in Thessalonica: arrogant and at the same time fearful. He sends a bowman to kill Cantacuzenus by night. The bowman attacks the matter three times in vain and asks for pardon and is dismissed. Apocaucus anticipates the impending dangers by a swift flight, without the knowledge of the Thessalonians; the Persians left among them run riot with impunity. 831

CAP. X. — The Persian fleet, under the command of Amurius, having lost many ships in a storm, is driven first to Euboea, then near Thessalonica. The Persians go out into the territories of the Triballians to plunder. Cantacuzenus, having entrusted the care of the city of Berrhoea to Manuel Glio, a young man of excellent character, sets out for Amurius. The affairs of the Thessalonians are in great straits. The interests of the rich and poor are contrary. A third faction exists, worse than the two. The rich are called to the crime of treason. The ambitious poor, who are also Zealots, rise up against them. They attach the lowest common people to themselves. They run riot with violence, pillage, and slaughter. The miserable condition of the rich. Their hopes are fruitless. Amurius believes the city should be taken by force. Cantacuzenus, having reverence for the martyr Demetrius, prefers to await a surrender. After the customary siege, the soldiers of Amurius partly return home, and some follow Cantacuzenus. Amurius rebukes them partly in jest and partly in earnest. Both, with joined forces, go to solicit the cities of Thrace. 897

Cap. XI. — Gregoras does not write a simple history. Events occur throughout the whole world insofar as they pertain to Byzantine affairs. The fame of the city of Byzantium. Concerning Basil, the emperor of Trebizond. How his widow relegated a concubine to Byzantium. How she sought a new spouse for herself from her father, Andronicus the Younger. In the manner of an embassy. Andronicus having died meanwhile, Cantacuzenus neglected the woman’s request. The Comnenian family held the primary right among the Trapezuntines. Michael Comnenus is sent from Byzantium to govern them. The Trapezuntine senators claim the supreme power for themselves on a vain pretext. They receive the arriving Comnenian honorably. Soon, having taken him away, they enclose him in custody. Because the people do not approve, they administer the republic. The Scholarii, having escaped from their hands, return with the young man, the son of Michael. They invade Trebizond. They punish their adversary. The junior prince, given over to luxury, scorns the Scholarii. They place the son of Michael, who had been brought up without him, on the throne. The young man is put into custody. The pacts of the Scholarii with Michael. Their authority is supreme; that of the prince is none. Which, however, he recovers intact later. 905

CAP. XII. — Byzantium and other cities suffer from a shortage of grain. The causes of this evil are twofold. Concerning Capha, a colony of the Genoese. The Latins are devoted to trade, especially the Genoese. How they are accustomed to establish a colony on the maritime coasts. The small beginnings of the city of Capha. Its growth and strength. The pride of the Genoese inhabitants. Someone kills a native Scythian with a sword. The prince of the Scythians becomes angry. He orders the Latins to be excluded from the city. He besieges the stubborn ones. He is scorned by the besieged and is afflicted by various disasters. Roman cities, meanwhile, cut off from their customary supplies, are sustained by grain imported from Asia. The Trapezuntines rage against the Latin residents. 909

CAP. XIII. — Wars and civil disturbances nearly throughout the world. The counsels of divine providence. Spinula and Sertorius (i.e., Doria) are driven out of Genoa. Leaders are created from the common people. The Egyptian empire is divided and weakened by fraternal discord. The Moors invade Spain; the Britons invade Gaul. The princes of Aris, originating from the Scythians, fight among themselves. The Latins, allied, arm a fleet against the pirate ships of the Persians. They land at the port of the Smyrnaeans. They take the citadel. They advance the siege further. 915

LIBER DECIMUS QUARTUS.

CAP. I. — Cantacuzenus, having crossed the passes of Christopolis with Amurius, decides to solicit the towns. Perithorium having been besieged in vain, he goes to Didymotichum. There he refreshes himself and his men. He gives thanks to his wife, Irene, because of the successfully managed affairs. The tenacity and skill of that woman. They offer money to Amurius at Byzantium so that he might return home. He, having conferred with Cantacuzenus, accepts the money. He crosses into Asia, intending to return shortly. 919

CAP. II. — The violent agitation of earth and sea. Disasters from an earthquake. Concerning the flood. Concerning the earthquake again. The head of the brazen angel is bent. The city's image is plucked from the hand of the imperial statue. What that event was seen to portend. The church of Saint Sophia splits towards the east. 923

CAP. III. — Apocaucus, lacking confidence in his own affairs, decides to enslave the patriarch and John Gabalas. He adorns and enriches the family of the patriarch. He urges him, as if for the sake of his dignity, to alter his shoes and the manner of subscribing. He discoursed on the privileges of New Rome: also on the authority of the patriarch, which he says is the greatest now. The patriarch refuses the red shoes. He admits other things; he is ambitious and imprudent. Different functions for the priesthood and the empire. The habit of either power is different. Let one help the other to an extent. The patriarch John ruined himself and the empire. The pontiff ought to imitate Christ. The modesty of Diogenes praised by Alexander the Great. The fruits of ambition. Apocaucus promises that he will betroth his own daughter to John Gabalas; that which he bargained for in return from him. He entrusts the administration of affairs to the same. He himself goes with the patriarch and the junior emperor to Perinthus. The blind mind of the Empress Anna plots a great crime. Vain hopes. 925

CAP. IV. — Cantacuzenus receives Comoterium and Gratianopolis in surrender. The Momitzas lineage and various fortune. How he had become feared through robbery. The association entered into with Cantacuzenus. Having increased his forces in a great manner, he seizes the insignia of the despotic dignity offered by the Byzantines. He plots against Cantacuzenus. This man truly, having departed from the new Comoterium city, pitches camp near Mosynopolis. He engages in a battle in a place on the river: where things wonderful to see and hear are offered to him. Momitzas hastens to overwhelm him unprepared. Cantacuzenus with his men is led into great straits. He commits a chaotic and unequal fight. By the aid of his armor-bearers, he escapes safely. The enemies having been finally repelled, he returns; he goes off to Didymotichum. 953

CAP. V. — Apocaucus, having found an opportune occasion for suppressing Cantacuzenus, prepares for war. He seeks Didymotichum with a hostile army. He besieges the fort of Pythium. Many of his men desert Cantacuzenus. The untimely demands of those remaining. His own responses. Andronicus Palaeologus, the son-in-law of Apocaucus, is drowned while crossing a river. Apocaucus is rescued by John Gabalas near the Empress Anna. He returns to Byzantium. He appeases the empress. He leaves the city’s walls. 959

CAP. VI. — Disaster from hail. On the nature of hail. The hail is an instrument of divine wrath. 936

CAP. VII. — The evils of the Church are the most grievous of all. Concerning the Massalians and Bogomils caught on Mount Athos. The pleasantness of that mountain. Athos tamed the ferocity of Xerxes. It favors virtue alone. The names of the heretics caught there. Their impure dogmas were included in a synodal tome. The diligence and zeal of the pious monks. The heretics, punished with various penalties. Some, having escaped flight, take themselves to the great cities. They imitate the Martian peaks. 915

CAP. VIII. — When and why Gregoras retired from the court. The apophthegm of the philosopher Zeno. Extreme disturbance of the empire and the Church. Ancient philosophers did not quarrel among themselves, except in times of peace. Byzantine theologians do not cease from arguing even in the heat of war. Belief is held in Ariolus and men of that sort. A Gallic astrologer predicts things pleasing to the empress. Gregoras is summoned to dispute with him. He argues that the predictions of astrologers are vain from Ptolemy and Saint Basil: also from the verses of the Chaldeans. He removes the delusion. He recognizes providence. Ariolus having been refuted, the Augusta moves hatred against him. He returns to the subject. 853

CAP. IX. — Gabalas, through fear of Apocaucus, puts on the monastic habit. The temple of St. Sophia, once an inviolable asylum; it was profaned by Gabalas and the patriarch. Amurius, having returned to Tyraclum, proceeds as far as Byzantium with Cantacuzenus. He is stunned by the sight of the city. Few guards on the walls. The diffidence of Apocaucus. Cantacuzenus and Amurius go to defeat Momitzas. Invading the Roman cities. They pitch camp near Perithorium. Momitzas is disquieted. The consternation of the same when surrounded. A fierce fight; the Latins. Momitzas. His soldiers are almost all slaughtered. 961

CAP. X. — When, where, and by whom the murder of Apocaucus was perpetrated. His anxiety; bodyguards; immoderate ambition. The prison built by him; for what purpose. General despair. A bold plan. Apocaucus, imprudently, having left his bodyguards in the atrium, enters the citadel. He is killed by Raule and other nobles. The proofs to be taken from that event. The head of the murdered man is cut off: it is placed on the highest pinnacle of the wall.

^A They are destitute of necessary provisions. They receive food from the Galatians, who also confirm them with promises. The Empress prohibits the Galatians from entering the citadel. The besieged, driven to the greatest straits, negotiate for peace. The widow of Apocaucus arms the Gasmules at the Empress's request. They storm the citadel. They slaughter all whom they find. A miserable spectacle. The altar is stained with blood. The monastery is plundered. The heads of the Caesareans are carried around through the city. The inhumanity of the assassins and of the Empress herself. The bodies are scarcely permitted to be buried. The son of the dead Apocaucus decides to surrender Thessalonica to Cantacuzenus. He occupies the citadel. He is suppressed by an assault of the populace. 965

Chap. XI. — Hatatzes, of ignoble birth; how he reached opulence. He is appointed over Thessalonica: afterwards, when Apocaucus substitutes his own son for him, he is expelled. He defects to Cantacuzenus. He is assisted by the arms of the son-in-law, Suleiman. After the death of Apocaucus, having been reconciled with the Empress Anna, he summons greater forces from Asia. He rages against the Cantacuzenians. The Persians, defrauded of their booty and travel expenses, kill him. They go over to Cantacuzenus. 979

BOOK FIFTEEN

CAP. I. — Crates, while the Romans are in discord, grows strong. He invades many cities. He forces the Serbs themselves to surrender. He declares himself Emperor of the Romans. He shares the empire with his son. How much of Thrace Cantacuzenus held at that time. Thrace is devastated by frequent Persian incursions. The poverty of Cantacuzenus: likewise of the Byzantines. Anna the Empress manages affairs very poorly. She does not spare the sacred images. She vexes the wealthy. She casts those taken from the temple of St. Sophia itself into chains. The Galatians take in the fugitives. The ancient right of asylum: holy and inviolable among all nations: neglected by the Christians. The dogmas of the Church overturned. For these reasons the temple is suddenly deformed by ruin. 983

CAP. II. — The temple of St. Sophia, in the part looking toward the east, collapses as the hemisphere falls, and gaps open. The magnitude of its ruin is described in words. The gathering of the citizens and the commiseration. The pious diligence of the nobles, and especially of the women, in removing the rubble. The foundations laid by the Emperor Andronicus arrest the collapse. The status of the Byzantine state is most wretched. As the Lacedaemonians after Leuctra, the Romans after the battle of Pandes, forbade gold to women. Why the Byzantines began to use purple garments everywhere. God heals the diseases of men slowly. He builds more easily than he destroys. 985

^B CAP. III. — The emperors are excused for their faults, by referring the causes of events to the secret providence of God. Cantacuzenus is too suppliant and abject in his letters. He harmed himself and the republic much by delaying. What men he should have imitated most. Gregoras, about to present a select letter of his, explains with what fidelity he will present it. The letter to the patriarch. It was written in red letters, by the hand of Cantacuzenus himself. Things which pertained less to the matter were removed. The rest are expressed more ornamentally. 991

CAP. IV. — The patriarch finally responds with less arrogance. He excuses himself partly and partly condemns Cantacuzenus. He judges that the fallen state of affairs must be succored. By advocating peace he offends Anna. Her hatred of Cantacuzenus and of Irene, born of jealousy; the source of all evils. Yet the guilt of the patriarch and the entire Byzantine court is greater than that of Anna. 995

CAP. V. — Cantacuzenus receives Selybria into surrender. He is crowned at Orestiades by the patriarch of Jerusalem. He tries to invade Byzantium by clandestine machinations. He takes Hyrcanus, the satrap of Bithynia, as his son-in-law. Anna also summons Persian auxiliaries. The barbarians, once invited, commit plunder. A huge number of captives. The mind of the Empress is hard and cruel. The Persians ask in vain for the Romans to be given to them as traveling companions and guides. Having made peace with Cantacuzenus, they return home. Concerning the comet which appeared the previous year. 1001

Cap. VI. — The Genoese nobles, having been expelled, with a fleet prepared, attack Chios by surprise. The Chians stoutly defend themselves and their walls. Cut off from provisions, they surrender to the enemy. The Phocaeans do the same. Phaceolatus arms the imperial triremes. He captures two Latin ships. The Galatians, offended by this matter, immediately abstain from conveying grain. With their affairs restored, they return to favor with the Byzantines. They terrify Phaceolatus with threats, who is therefore forced to have bodyguards around him. 1005

^C Cap. VII. — The Empress, implacable, decides to strip the patriarch of his dignity, and that through the Palamites, who were hostile to him on account of the rescinded Tome. She had long since imprisoned Palamas. For what causes? She uses him as an assistant against the patriarch. Great quarrels and dogmatic altercations arise from this. Gregoras is constituted judge between the patriarch and Palamas. He condemns the new opinions. He offends the Empress. 1007

CAP. VIII. — Negociations are held secretly with Phaceolatus regarding the introduction of Cantacuzenus into the city. Phaceolatus, with the number of his guards increased, undertakes the affair. He urges Cantacuzenus. He sets the day. He opens the gates of the city by night. The bloodless entry of Cantacuzenus. Excluded from the palace, he stays nearby. The year and day of the city's capture by him. The Empress, of infirm strength, is ferocious and stubborn: she calls the Galatians to her aid. She arrogantly rejects the most equitable conditions of peace. Two triremes of Galatians come to her aid. They are repulsed. Cantacuzenus prefers to send a second and third legation rather than use force. He sends the same men who had been sent to him two years before. He orders them to be mindful of what he had predicted then. The envoys return with their mission unaccomplished. The natural clemency of Cantacuzenus. Soldiers, without his knowledge, attack the palace. They seize the maritime part. They are recalled. Anna's anxiety. The haughty legation. At the extreme of danger, she finally accepts the offered peace. 1017

CAP. IX. — Whoever were held bound in the palace are all released, with the sole exception of the patriarch, whose affairs are reviewed more deeply. His authority with Anna is supreme. Palamas, on account of his new opinions, not because he favored Cantacuzenus, is thrown into chains. How the patriarch alienated the Empress from himself. How she conspired against him with the Palamites. A day is appointed for the bishops to abrogate the patriarch's dignity. Meanwhile Anna falls ill. She recovers. She appoints the day for the bishops again. She tears up the documents through which she is admonished of her duty, which had been offered by her confessor. Having rebuked him with threatening words, she expels him from the house. The patriarch is condemned while absent and unheard. Sumptuous and immodest laughter pervades the synod. That very night Byzantium is captured. Cantacuzenus, so as not to inconvenience either Anna or her son, yields the palace. He establishes a dwelling for himself around the triclinium of Alexius. How he conducted himself toward the patriarch. He first shuts him up in a monastery; then he relegates him to Didymoteichon. Gregoras leaves all those things for others to relate more accurately. He returns to his proposal. 1025

^D CAP. X. — By what arts the Palamites made both Anna and Cantacuzenus their own. Palamas, since he could not be patriarch himself, made Isidore, who had been elected bishop of Monemvasia, patriarch. His merits toward Palamas. Most bishops order the new patriarch to be anathema, not without impunity. How from everywhere writings and anathematisms against him sent by the orthodox arrived in Byzantium. 1031

CAP. XI. — Cantacuzenus and Isidore provide mutual assistance to each other to obtain the highest honors. Why he was inaugurated a second time. Why that affair was celebrated not in the temple of St. Sophia, but in the Blachernae. The thrones of two emperors and three Empresses. The equestrian procession. The solemn viewing from the palace. The feasts. Tin and earthen vessels. Gilded leather and glass gems in diadems and garments. The double cause of such poverty. Cantacuzenus does not demand funds from those who had exhausted the treasury; it is uncertain whether through leniency or timidity. How he eluded the demands and complaints of his own men. His daughter Helena is given to John Palaiologos. 1036

Cap. XII. — Isidore the patriarch annuls the anathema pronounced by his predecessor against the Cantacuzenians. He moves laughter and indignation, that one who is a culprit should absolve others. Palamas elects crude and unlearned bishops. Thessalonica, ordained bishop by him, is prohibited from entering that city. Gregoras leaves a more extensive exposition of ecclesiastical affairs for others. 1039

BOOK SIXTEEN

CAP. I. — Cantacuzenus, having captured Medea, possessed all of Thrace and almost all of Macedonia; shortly thereafter he captured Berrhoea itself. Thessalonica obeyed neither. The state of this city was most perturbed. The location of the city of Medea. How it was besieged by Cantacuzenus and compelled to surrender. John and Manuel Asanes are created sebastocrators. The former marries the daughter of Alexius Apocaucus, previously married to Andronicus Palaiologos. Suspected by his mother-in-law, he is sent away from the house with his wife. A grave pestilence. Andronicus, the youngest of Cantacuzenus’s children, dies. 1043

CAP. II. — Matthew, the eldest son of Cantacuzenus, appointed by his father over the cities of Thrace, is met privately by his uncle Asanes. Asanes boasts of his own and his brother's merits toward Cantacuzenus: he complains that he does not provide for the safety of his own. He urges Matthew to defect. Matthew replies that he desires that very thing himself. Fearing the danger of imminent events, he excuses the future defection by his father's example.

ORDER OF SUBJECTS

they load onto the ship. They approach the city walls and join in the fiercest of battles. Many of their own men having been lost, and struck with panic, they withdraw. Before they return home, they bury their dead in secret. Having sought peace through envoys, and not having obtained it, they prepare for a longer war. 1115

CAP. III. — Cantacuzenus, anxious and destitute of counsel, sends his wife Irene to their son. He goes to meet his mother. Irene, frustrated in this, enters Orestiada in secret. Matthew, having returned there, greets his mother. He promises obedience. He asks that he be freed from fear. The mother's speech. How much influence she had over her son. Irene returns to Byzantium. She laments the death of Andronicus's son. 1051

CAP. IV. — Cantacuzenus sets out for Didymoteichon to settle the disturbances already stilled by his wife. Patriarch John, lest he favor the new cause, is removed from Byzantium. He dies not long after. His eulogy. The provinces assigned to Matthew Cantacuzenus by his father. The speech of the Emperor Cantacuzenus to his son. The return to the city. 1063

CAP. V. — Gregoras, about to speak of himself, explains why he does so now. It is dangerous to say things that do not please the powerful. The ears of some are offended by the truth. On this account, he says he will pass over many things. He had conceived great hopes concerning Cantacuzenus before he attained power. Having been deceived in his expectation, he decides to free him of this error. The liberty of speech, how much and in what matters silentium provides for it. This is worth much, if opportunity is present and friendship has preceded it. The frequent conversations between Cantacuzenus and Gregoras. With what zeal and with what words the dogmas of the Fathers were defended here. A contrary faction instigates Cantacuzenus against Gregoras. He reproves the Emperor more confidently, not that he is angry, but [treating him] with a mildness similar to Hadrian’s. He approaches Irene, who is afflicted by her son's death. He affirms and persuades her that this death is a punishment for corrupted dogmas. Thus, he strengthens the party through the patronage of the Augusta. Isidorus and other Palamites attempt to alienate Irene from Gregoras. Having been badly received by her, they summon Cantacuzenus. Cantacuzenus, fearing a riot, comes to Byzantium immediately. He urges Gregoras to be silent. Isidorus also urges the same. Gregoras accuses him of various errors. Isidorus’s musical canons or hymns are condemned to the fire. Freedom of speech is restored to those from whom it had been taken away. Concord is sanctioned by a lavish banquet. Palamas, summoned to Didymoteichon, renews the disputes with the help of Cantacuzenus. Gregoras denies that there is need for a new disputation. He refutes Palamas. Likewise Cantacuzenus. He rebukes a certain sycophant. He does not allow written testimonies to be brought forward by Palamas. The council is dismissed. 1069

CAP. VI. — Cantacuzenus admonishes Cralis regarding his duty. He is not heard. He prepares for war. Amurius, when he is about to cross the sea with his forces, goes to storm the Latin fortress of Smyrna. Struck by a missile, he falls. Fears of the war they had undertaken deter Cantacuzenus: namely, the death of Amurius, the plague, and the rebellion of the Galatae. 1087

CAP. VII. — Persian plunderers cross from Asia into Thrace. The horsemen raid the areas surrounding the city of Bizye. The foot soldiers proceed further. Matthew Cantacuzenus encounters them with a small band. The barbarians, having conspired as to what the Romans might do, [there follows] a fierce battle. Matthew’s strenuousness. The danger he himself ran by charging rashly into the enemy. The barbarians wiped out in a slaughter. Great hope from the illustrious victory. The cavalry contingent of plunderers is partly slain by the Emperor himself, and partly, having been robbed of their booty, put to flight and dispersed. 1089

LIBER DECIMUS SEPTIMUS.

CAP. I. — Regarding the war waged by the Latin Galatae. By what arts they had become wealthy and powerful. Why they resent the fact that a fleet is being built by Cantacuzenus. The slaughters perpetrated by them. The Byzantines, desirous of peace and at the same time weak, bear the injuries patiently. The safeguards of the public welfare are neglected by the princes; the Latins are prevailing in strength. They openly violate the treaties entered into with the Emperors. They capture a fishing vessel by piracy. They kill the men. They secretly prepare for war. They fortify their naval forces. The gates of Byzantium are closed. A schism having arisen among the Latins, envoys for peace come to the Empress Irene. Their demands are iniquitous and arrogant. At Irene’s response, all of Byzantium demands war. 1095

CAP. II. — The Galatae, having premeditated, attack the Byzantine territories. They devastate the seacoast with fires. Some ships, having been led down to the river mouths by Byzantine ship-captains at night, escape to safety. The rest are consumed by fire. The Latins burn the other shore in the same way. They amplify and fortify their own castle. They attack Byzantium and the ships. They are repelled. They intercept grain ships and cargo ships: because of the lack of necessities among the Byzantines, Empress Irene commissions Manuel to conduct the war abroad. He burns the enemy's suburban buildings. Soldiers and messengers sent by Cantacuzenus confirm the spirits of the Byzantines. 1101

CAP. III. — The hopes of the Galatae are disappointed. New consultations. The huge circuit of the city of Byzantium. The paucity of soldiers. The ardor of the citizens. The Galatae, very well equipped with domestic and hired forces. They easily repel the Byzantines. A siege engine...

CAP. IV. — Cantacuzenus (at Orestiada) having returned, prepares for war by land and sea. Having summoned an assembly, he reproaches the Byzantines for their negligence: he orders that money be contributed for the fleet. Money is promised. There is great ardor among all. Extractions. The Latins secretly steal their own ships. They summon auxiliaries and arbiters of peace. Envoys of the Rhodians return home regarding peace, the embassy having been in vain. The Galatae carry off their precious household goods, and even the wives and children of certain men, as requested. The Byzantines, having gathered ships from everywhere, equip a fleet. They besiege and are besieged. 1109

CAP. V. — The Byzantines sail from the port into the open sea: most of them are raw and untrained. They burn an enemy transport ship. Anxious deliberation of the Latins. All decide that they must withdraw. The ship-captain alone resists. With his fleet drawn up, he awaits the Byzantine [fleet], intending to capture a plan from the situation. 1113

CAP. VI. — They go to battle by land and by sea. What befell the Byzantine fleet. In what order the ships proceeded. The fault of the trierarchs is noted. All the Byzantines, suddenly struck with fear, leap into the sea. A great disaster. A just judgment of God. The Latin ship-captain is struck dumb by the miracle of the event. He takes possession of the empty ships. The second part of the Byzantine fleet falls into the same calamity. The shattering of the land forces is no less [great]. The equity and clemency of the Latins. 1117

CAP. VII. — The siege of the Latin castle is lifted. The flight and terror of the besieged. The Latins used their victory moderately; they seek peace. The envoys sent to the city of Genoa arrive. Through the intervention of the Genoese, the Galatae, though victors, submit to iniquitous terms of peace. The spirit of the Emperor, [having been] driven into the greatest straits, is strong and invincible. 1123

LIBER DECIMUS OCTAVUS.

CAP. I. — Affairs do not break Cantacuzenus. He repairs the fleet. He increases the imposed taxes; he demands them harshly. The false predictions, sadness, sickness, and death of Patriarch Isidorus. It is deliberated concerning choosing his successor. What kind of patriarch the Palamites wanted. Callistus is summoned from Mount Athos. Gregoras tries in vain with flatteries, largesse, and promises. He even rejects the patriarchal dignity offered to him. He admonishes the Emperor and the Augusta regarding their duty. Why Callistus was promoted. The inhumanity of this man, raging even against the dead. The political prudence of Cantacuzenus’s council on convening a synod. Palamas’s tergiversations. The bishops accuse the new patriarch of Messalianism. He is accused in turn of various crimes. They give and receive pardon. 1135

CAP. II. — Cantacuzenus goes to Thessalonica, intending to place his son-in-law Palaeologus in charge of the city. A Venetian fleet, hostile to the Genoese, arrives at Byzantium. The arrogance of the Genoese. The Euxine Sea is closed to the Byzantines and Venetians by them. What cause compelled the Venetians to quickly desert the siege of the Galatae. Cantacuzenus returns to Byzantium very happy. He thinks of convening a council. The confidence of Palamas. The commemoration of the younger Andronicus and Patriarch Isidorus [was] omitted in the sacred rites by mistake. People's talk about that matter. The error is later corrected. Fourteen Venetian triremes besiege the mouth of the Euxine Sea. The war of the Latins is internecine. The Catalans join themselves to the Venetians as allies. 1153

CAP. III. — The beginning of the dogmatic history. The calling of a general council, long promised. The authority of Palamas. His evil arts, fearing a public judgment. What kind of council it was decided to hold. How many and of what rank the bishops ordered to be present. 1139

CAP. IV. — Gregoras’s speech before Cantacuzenus. The heads of the speech: Expostulation and severe reproach. A synod should not be called that is held beyond ecclesiastical rules. What disasters Palamas’s doctrine has brought upon those who first defended it, namely Cantacuzenus and his mother. What to the Augusta. What to Cantacuzenus again; to whom the death of his son had been foretold by Gregoras. The vain exhortations of this [emperor?], the heretic is corrected with the greatest difficulty. The just judgment of God. Paternal kindness. The anxious emotion of the orator. Friendly entreaty. Cantacuzenus responds ambiguously. Gregoras is exacerbated by the words. He decides to refute him in the collected synod. Gregoras, about to fight for religion, assumes the monastic habit. He renounces the life [of the world]. 1143

CAP. V. — At daybreak, with the day set for holding the council, the orthodox crowd gathers to Gregoras. The eulogies of the more illustrious [men]; and first of the metropolitans of Ephesus and Ganos. Why only one bishop was present besides them, namely the Tyrian. What his roles were. Praise of the Dexios. Athanasius. Praise of the disciples of Gregoras.

^A

BOOK NINETEENTH

Cap. I. — The Emperor and Palamas wish to settle the whole matter in one day. An address is delivered at the synod by Gregoras. The impatience and lenity of Cantacuzenus. Palamas, offended by an ironic remark, clamors. Cantacuzenus interrupts Gregoras and warns him to be briefer. 1169

Cap. II. — The Emperor favors Palamas alone. He abstracts Gregoras from the established course of the oration. The reverence for royal majesty suppresses his accustomed freedom of speech. There is a dispute on both sides regarding the established argument for the debate: Cantacuzenus directs three charges against Gregoras. Palamas’ writings are held in high esteem by the Palamites. Gregoras defends his freedom of speech with examples and reasons: thus he responds to the third head of the accusation. He refutes that which had been objected to in the first place. He promises that he will speak about the Thaborian light. Having started to speak, he is repeatedly interrupted. 1199

Cap. III. — Proemium of the debate on the Thaborian light. Palamas proposes that question in vain. The error of the Iconomachoi concerning the flesh of the transfigured Lord is noted under the name of Iconomachia. The words of Theodorus Graptus. Sacred images are cast into the fire by the Palamites. Palamas’ consensus with Eusebius the Iconomachos. Palamas posits many uncreated things. He thinks worse than Eusebius in those things he says about the light, the operation, the divine substance, and the sacrament of the Eucharist. Palamas’ impiety is to be compared with the arguments of Theodorus Graptus. How absurd his opinion on the light is. 1203

Cap. IV. — Concerning the body of the Lord, whether it was uncreated; and concerning the men whom Palamas had called created-uncreated. The words of Theodorus Graptus. Palamas, together with Eusebius the Iconomachos, is refuted. The name "energy" was introduced by Eunomius, received by the Iconomachoi, and brought back to light by Palamas. The consensus of Theodorus Graptus with SS. Basil and Gregory. Conclusion: ^B Palamas insists upon the footsteps of the Iconomachoi. The same definition fits substance and operation. If the body of Christ cannot be incorporeal and uncreated, much less can the body of a man. Those who progress in virtue are said to be created anew. 1215

BOOK TWENTIETH

Cap. I. — The question of the Thaborian light being resolved, Gregoras proceeds to refute the other accusation. It is dangerous to dispute about God. What the holy Fathers have commanded concerning that matter, and to what extent they themselves disputed about God. Gregory Nazianzen. Basil the Great. Chrysostom. Athanasius. Isaac the monk. John Climacus. St. Paul. The acts of the general councils. 1223

Cap. II. — Cantacuzenus, having spoken little, grants Palamas the duty of responding. The anxiety of the latter, who was unprepared and had premeditated nothing of the sort. Judgment on the doctrine, style, and genius of Palamas. His authority with Cantacuzenus is excessive. Being brought into the greatest straits, he starts his oration from the Thaborian light. He says that operation and substance differ in God. He affirms that those who participate in operations become uncreated. He posits many uncreated things. He denies that the divine substance can be participated in. He contemns his adversaries. He interprets the acts of the sixth general council falsely; likewise the words of St. Basil. 1251

Cap. III. — With what intent Palamas produced the words of St. Basil and of the sixth œcumenical council. He praises the holy Fathers, but does not nominate them. That operation and substance are the same in God is evident from those very testimonies brought forward by him. Also from the words of the saints Athanasius and Cyril, in divine things notions do not at all correspond to the names. Things which consist of two things (substance and operation) are not simple, but double. St. Maximus concerning the binary number. Conclusion. 1259

Cap. IV. — Gregoras, ill and fasting, hands over the duty of debating to his associates, who also themselves wrote commentaries on their contests with Palamas. The old decrees against Barlaam are read again. The Palamites perpetually recur to the Thaborian light. They explain the impious dogma concerning divine glory before the synod. One of the orthodox exclaims indignantly. He is terrified by threats and falls silent. The council is dismissed. The people rage against the Palamites. They favor and congratulate the orthodox. These, although they were the superior party, nevertheless could not get their opinion approved by their adversaries. The mind of the prince is averse and hard. Who truly suffer injury. 1245

Cap. V. — Palamas approaches Cantacuzenus. He inveighs against Gregoras and the other orthodox with a sharp speech. How the Emperor executed Palamas' commands. The diverse affects of the orthodox: anxiety, timidity, murmuring. 1251

Cap. VI. — Gregoras refuses to present himself in the council again. He encourages his associates to defend the truth bravely. They eventually persuade him with difficulty to come with them. Being led aside by the emperor, he is tempted with promises and other arts. The question of divine substance and operations is also proposed. Testimonies of St. Basil. Gregoras responds. Cantacuzenus deliberates with Palamas about a new way of debating. They decide to exclude the Bishop of Tyre. ^C Also to terrify the orthodox with insults and calumnies. Palamas approaches his associates for an advocate. 1253

Cap. VII. — Gregoras and the other orthodox are called in. Cantacuzenus threatens very grave things. His comparison with Xerxes, King of the Persians. The incompetence of the Palamite bishops. The orthodox try in vain to contradict. The countenance and words of Cantacuzenus. Disciples desert Gregoras, terrified; others are silent. The withdrawal of Gregoras and the orthodox bishops; whom the Emperor first forbids to leave; then, at Palamas’ persuasion, allows to depart. The Palamites, once the orthodox have left, flatter the Emperor. They decree whatever pleased them. 1263

BOOK TWENTY-FIRST

Cap. I. — Cantacuzenus sends for Gregoras. He tests his mind with accustomed arts; but with no success. He affirms that what he had said in the council thus far, he had said out of a zeal for peace and concord. He promises that his equity will be greater in the future. The wiles, counsel, and loyalty of the Palamites. 1269

Cap. II. — The orthodox begin the third session with the profession of faith. Excerpts from the books of Palamas are read and weighed. His labor in defending himself is fruitless. Gregoras brings forward one of his disciples to take up the duty of disputing. Palamas, defeated by a youth, is a laughingstock to all. Of twenty chapters, only three were excused. The outcome of the third session. 1271

Cap. III. — Acts after the third session. The fourth, and also the last, session. The orthodox are present, partly willingly, partly even unwillingly. Gregoras cautiously anticipates the Emperor's rage, which was about to erupt immediately. Some chapters, excerpted from the books of Palamas, are recited. A few bishops, from his friends, offended by the insolence of the new dogmas, stir up a tumult. Palamas' violence. Cantacuzenus' iniquity. Testimonies brought forward by the Palamites are examined. Gregoras promises that he will publish a fuller narration and accurate refutations, if he escapes the imminent perils of death. He returns to the subject. Tumult and confusion. What was finally decreed. The orthodox are beaten. Two bishops are stripped of the insignia of their dignity; their beards are plucked. What happened to Gregoras’ disciples. Why the Bishop of Tyre did not attend the final session. That Gregoras and others might be dismissed. 1275

Cap. IV. — Gregoras is shut up in his house. A perpetual silence is enjoined upon him. He consoles himself with the hope of better fortune, which the mutability of human affairs itself promises him. He compares his own calamity with the cases of illustrious saints. He adapts the words of St. Basil to the present time. He promises to subjoin other sayings of the holy Fathers, which, however, he does not bring forth. 1285 ^D

Cap. V. — The victors of Palamas exult impudently.

Rewards are given to them. Punishments are inflicted upon the orthodox. The dogma of the Palamites is impious. Cruelty. The synodal Tome. Many of his friends desert Gregoras; and Cabasilas as well. His character and studies. How Gregory of Nazianzus addressed men of this sort. Gregoras laments his own fate. The words of Solomon. The apophthegm of Darius as he was dying. 1295

CAP. VI.

BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.

CAP. I.

CAP. II.

CAP. III.

CAP. IV.

BOOK TWENTY-THIRD.

BOOK TWENTY-FOURTH.

INDEX to the prior volume. 1451

THE END OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH VOLUME.