other contemporaries, who are in no way superior to Cydonius in doctrine or in the polish of their eloquence, [but] who are clearly infected with errors in faith along with schism.
DEMETRIUS CYDONIUS: DELIBERATIVE ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS
Written indeed when the Emperor John Palaiologos had departed for Rome, during the patriarchate of the Lord Philotheos.
A First of all, O men, I give great thanks to God for the news concerning which we have come to deliberate. For we had long desired these things, and their delay was burdensome to us. Since, however, matters have now begun to proceed according to our hopes, what else remains but to hope for better things for the rest? It is, however, a task of caution that you should pay attention to the conduct of foolish men, and to the many evils into which they fall who do not know how to make use of opportunities. For the situation is thus: Providence, for many, provides from within the things that are advantageous, and from without, it prepares the occasions by which they might attain salvation; but it is the part of sensible men to give thanks to Providence for what has been granted, and relying upon good hope, to endeavor to add what remains. Those, however, who are in no way moved by the benefits received from her, and do not think they must contribute anything themselves, but rather imagine that their salvation will come of its own accord—they not only derive no profit from divine things, but they actually increase their subsequent miseries, receiving this [as] the fruit of their own insensibility.
This, therefore, is the first thing I desire of you: that you put into your minds that there is a God who wishes to exact from the barbarians, on our behalf, the penalty for the outrage committed against us, and that you endeavor both to do and to say those things whereby you might cooperate with Providence; and thus you will deliver yourselves, your country, and your race from this shameful fortune and from the surrounding evils. For if you tackle these matters with such a resolve, you will have deliberated for your own true benefit, and it will result that you will attain the blessings of liberty, having the praise of all in abundance. But if you prefer to follow those who seek to increase their own fortunes from the common misfortunes, not even the lot of slaves will remain for us; but it is necessary that, having died a shameful death, we leave behind our country as an immortal monument of evils. Do not, therefore, tolerate those who attempt to slander your allies among you, and do not think that these suspicions contribute anything to your desires. For these things are indeed other than those [intended] by the men who, because what is for the common interest
A should be observed, are required to be those who take counsel for all, and who prefer the common benefit to their own advantages.
It is fitting, therefore, that you should appear as such, and should deal with the matters that have occurred in that way. For if anyone had given you a choice, and it had been necessary to select what seemed best, I think all would have chosen, even before parents, and friends, and kinsmen, the destruction of the Barbarians, as nothing could be more just than this, nor more pleasing to everyone. For what wrongs have these men not inflicted upon us, or of what punishment are they not worthy at our hands? For if one must begin from God and the piety regarding Him—which is both more honorable by nature, and B uniquely the most highly prized of all things absolutely—can the impiety of these men be compared to any others? Or whose thoughts regarding the better [things] are more absurd, or more contrary to the truth and to us? And if anyone were to consider their daily way of life and other things, he would find everything full of abomination; and to such an extent, that it would seem baser even to provide proof through accusations. But in truth, it would require the entire expanse of time for one intending to speak with precision of how many evils we have suffered through their wickedness in the time past, and how many we are now enduring. For these men are almost solely responsible for our evils, and to them our calamity may be rightly attributed. I will speak not of old things, nor of what we hear C from the records of writers or the narrations of our elders, but only of those [wrongs] by which they have harmed us within these last forty years.
You were, then, in command of all Bithynia; of all Ionia, and Caria, and Pamphylia; of all Phrygia, and as much as the Paphlagonians inhabit. As a reward for their goodwill toward you, you had granted the government to the rulers of the Trapezuntiots; and there were many and beautiful cities and revenues around the Pontus for you, and as far as the Phasis, some indeed were obeying you absolutely, while others thought it not advantageous for themselves not to be friends and allies to you. I pass over Thrace and Rhodope, and all the nations that inhabit that D region, beginning from the mountains down to the sea. And are not Thessaly and Macedonia, which possess so many cities, so many armies, and so many peoples, governed by your own customs and generals? Furthermore, the Epirotes also were enclosed within these borders: and for the most part, the right side of the gulf acknowledged you alone of all men as masters. But even the Peloponnese—which alone would suffice for the glory of any master, if one were to rule it alone—served alongside the others. There was yet another empire not inferior to these, upon the sea. For from the Chelidonian [islands] as far as the Sicilian strait, not a single island escaped your power. To speak in summary: that which is the best part of the whole world, and which escapes the extremes of the seasons on both sides, is both robust for the abundance of fruits, and fitted for battle lines and armies; and that which in its pecuniary revenues appears to surpass the richness of fountains—the whole of it...
A as if it were a sort of prize of valor preserved for us by providence. From all these things, it is impossible to count the revenues annually brought into the treasury, and difficult to set forth the muster-rolls of the armies; it is a task even to speak of the envoys sent everywhere not just for necessity, but for wonder. For as I hear, you sailed the sea with one hundred and fifty great triremes, which lacked nothing of what was necessary and were well-equipped for battle. And that our empire should seem to come from heaven, and that all men, as if by a clear heavenly institution, should yield to it and conform their own laws to its laws—this indeed added even greater dignity to us.
Why, then, have I related all these things? Not, truly, that I might waste time to no purpose, or that I might grieve you by the recounting of goods that are no more; but first, so that you might not lose heart, nor deem it impossible to return to your former fortune. For it is very easy for those accustomed to rule, who have possessed such great goods, and of whose mighty deeds all are witnesses, if only they cast off this great and indescribable apathy, to extend their dominion now as they did in the past. Second, that you may hold firmly in your memory that we have been deprived of all those things by their violence, and that nothing is left to you because of their greed. B For the land we enjoyed from the Hellespont and toward the East, as far as the mountains of Armenia—they have taken it all from us, they have razed the cities to the ground, they have plundered the temples, broken open the tombs, and filled everything with blood and corpses. As for the inhabitants, they have corrupted their souls by forcing them to be ignorant of the true God and sharing with them their own impure mysteries; while as for their bodies—alas!—they have abused them with indignity, and having stripped them of all their substance and taken away their freedom, they have left behind helpless shadows of slaves, using the wretched people to increase their own wealth by the strength that remained to them. Nor were they content to stop their outrage there; but, crossing the Hellespont, they forced the cities beyond to serve them, and now these men dwell in Thrace more securely than we did in the past. And if anything of our empire has escaped them, they hope, perhaps, that they will add even this to their pile.
C However, while we are occupied in war against them, and because of them we are prevented from being able to go forth with righteous forces against those who attack us—and are found unequal to both—many wars have gathered around us on every side: so that some things we have lost to them, and others we have lost because of them. But that which surpasses all evil fortune, and to which nothing in life can be compared, is the—
A daily incursions, and the slaughters they perpetrate at the city gates against those who go out, and that they no longer refrain from the walls; while we, like trapped beasts, await the final blow. I pass over in silence the events of the previous year and those now occurring before our very eyes—how much of our land they have harvested, what tributes they have exacted for the remaining crops, and how they have left nothing undone in their insolence and wantonness. If anyone, therefore, considers these things endurable, and thinks that those who have been wronged have not enough cause to rouse anger and indignation against those who have inflicted injury, I marvel at that man’s utter lack of feeling, and I would say he possesses no human soul at all. For what reason could there ever be for anyone to seek vengeance if these things do not sting? Or, if one endures these, whom could one hate more justly? But if you care for piety, and care for souls and bodies, and for shrines, and country, and tombs, and furthermore for children and wives, and for future safety, and for the glory you will have among those who come after you, then in all things, setting God and good hope before you, you must endeavor to exact justice from those who insult you, attempting everything by which we might procure anything for the war.
B If it were possible to find some end to these evils, whether by giving money, or by promising marriage alliances, or by swearing an oath that there will be no remembrance of past injuries, even so it would not be fitting to yield our goods to the most wicked of men, and, accepting injury from them, to consign it to oblivion, content if they would only permit us to remember our calamities in silence. For I see no other benefit that could come to us from such folly. But if it is not even possible to respond to this—to suggest that those who have already taken so much, and have left us nothing by which we might recover ourselves, will, in exchange for not taking what remains, finally halt here, as if their power had failed them, or as if all their previous actions had not been directed to this one end, as to a goal, to strip us of our dominion and empire—a fact clearly acknowledged by all, both the wise and the counselors and the prophets; how, then, with every other care cast aside, is it not the case that we should C have concern for one thing alone, namely freedom? For the evils that await others who have fallen into slavery do not expect us in the same way. For them, the greatest damage is the loss of freedom; as for other things, it is possible to live even without honor, enjoying what the war did not take away. But for us, the first day we profess slavery will be the beginning of all evils at once. For when they take away our freedom, they will strip us of all our substance down to our undergarments, and everyone knows what injury they will inflict upon our bodies after the blows, hardships, and labors. But as for the soul, what greater destruction could there be in store? For it is not permitted even for the soul itself to remain free from the dominion of such wicked masters. Nay, rather, its death is not to be compared to any other destruction; if D
A it seems hardly equitable to be severed alike from all external goods and from God, without whom it is not permitted to hope for any good.
Since, therefore, retaliation is necessary from every quarter, if we ourselves had enough among us for the war, that would indeed be the best course, both for the sake of glory and so that we might not have the trouble of gathering auxiliary forces from afar. But since daily sloth, and the absolute unpredictability of present fortunes, have gradually brought us to this precipice, we have no other voice to expect—not even from prophets—than that others must be called upon to avenge our injury, since that power has been taken from us by the incursion and unjust vexation of these Barbarians. It must therefore be considered whom it is fitting to have as allies B to fight in this war, that it may become clear to us whom we ought to choose.
Necessity, then, requires first that they share with us the same opinion regarding the Divine. For it is impossible that those who are divided in their minds concerning this matter should ever expect from one another what belongs to friends. Then, in other respects, they must be familiar and accustomed to us—I mean, that we should have previously taken part together in wars and administrations, and have had other dealings; and, in general, it is necessary that there be something that has already bound our souls together. For who could induce himself to believe that friendship would grow so great at the first meeting between men hitherto unknown to each other, such that they would not shrink from risking dangers for one another—a thing which one would C hardly expect easily even for the sake of those most closely related? Furthermore, they must also excel the Barbarians in numbers, boldness, courage, and experience in battle, if they are to defeat in their own territory—though they themselves are foreigners—those who are accustomed to being victorious and to putting others to flight. And besides this, it must not be the first time they engage in battle against the enemy; but they must have already undergone such dangers, and their previous achievements must be a pledge of the future victory. I do not know if anyone considers any quality more necessary for the completion of the war than constancy, and not departing from what was originally agreed upon. For, in truth, to despair of the task before the end is nothing else than to betray ourselves and to provoke the enemies all the more against us. And yet, there is nothing for which we can use any of these things if money is lacking; D or rather, if an abundance of it is not available. For this is that of which we have the greatest need, and if it does not flow in abundance, we must necessarily retreat in shame. We need, therefore, wealthy and high-minded allies who will not only provide weapons but also set their own home treasures before us; and this, while you are neither able nor perhaps willing to spend even an obol for the sake of public affairs—so far are you from being able to pay wages and provide the rest of the equipment for the war.
These, then, are the qualities with which it is fitting that those who are to join us be adorned, and with which, both in terms of fortune and the goods of virtue, they will risk dangers on our behalf,
those things are almost all there is. A Yet there are other matters one might declare, if one were to pay closer attention to the situation. Whom, then, shall we call for our own cause? Whom shall we deem worthy antagonists for all or even most cases? On whom, relying, shall we entrust ourselves? For if we, struck by calamities, have simply given up in our spirits, time surely awaits others and calls them to the place that is suitable for us. Perhaps someone will name the Scythians—those who no longer exist, and who, no less, if they could, would not wish to, or if they wished to, would not have the strength, and for whom I would not consider even our own stones, if they were turned into silver, sufficient payment for their aid. But I hear first of all that our land has been laid waste by them. B For the annual incursions of their myriarchs, having emptied our cities of men and brought upon them the desolation of the Scythians, have given the Turks free opportunity to hunt down the survivors, just as great fevers and consumption precede death. Besides, who will reconcile them and persuade them, while they afflict one another with mutual evils, to forget these and gather to deliberate on our behalf? Either, divided by factions, they will not even be able to help themselves, or, before they come to a complete concord, we must expect they will move against us. Apart from these, I do not see that our calamities will await their C aid. For even now, though we compel the chosen envoys to depart on this very day, we shall barely begin to expect aid by the following year. But if God does not send aid on this coming autumn, you all know in what a storm of troubles we stand. I pass over the fact that they could never be brought to wish to undertake war against the Turks—impious men on behalf of pious ones, against those who share in the same evils as themselves.
But if someone should happen to say: "What could you have to complain of regarding the Mysians and Triballians, people like us, and devoted to God, and who have shared business with us on many occasions, and are D not far removed, so that much time need be spent on mutual responses by envoys?" I, for my part, would offer no opposition, and would willingly agree myself, if, along with piety and our being well-acquainted with them, the other things were present in these men which we said must be possessed by those who are to struggle on our behalf. For it is truly required that those who are to take the field with us be pious; and without this, I say that their presence will cause greater harm than if they were openly fighting as enemies. Yet I would never say that this virtue alone is sufficient for the business at hand, unless someone wishes that God might save us by an unusual method and a miracle; but I affirm it is necessary, if they are to be of any benefit to their allies, to possess many other advantages for the war. But now you see the poverty of these nations, and how it is not even sufficient for them while they sit quietly at home, and how for a slight pretext they do not hesitate to dissolve what has been decided, or rather, what has been sworn. As for distant expeditions, who has ever known them to have undertaken one? Or rather, has anyone even mentioned them in this regard?
For if they had not exploited our calamities, and, by considering our preoccupation with these barbarians as an opportunity for greed, seized many of our possessions, they would even now, as before, be living under our yoke; and they themselves would have acknowledged us as their masters, along with the others. It is because they fear this more than anything that I say they will never be of any benefit to us. For they know, if they are willing to judge impartially, that they have occupied many of our belongings when there was no one to stop them—possessions which they imagine they will be masters of while our attention is directed elsewhere. But if we ever happen to get a breather, it is absolutely necessary that they either return them or, if they are unwilling, face difficulties and accept war, confronting the same danger as from the beginning. They would not, therefore, wish to tempt the uncertainty of fortune, and when an opportunity for gain is at hand, be forced at some point to abandon what they have acquired. Instead, they consider our misfortunes to be a wall for themselves, so that they might not suffer any harm, should we ever have the opportunity to rise again. How then would they offer us relief in our present state, they who would always pray for these conditions to increase continuously? B
That this is not merely a matter of conjecture, but that the facts themselves point to it, one can confirm from what has been said. Do you remember how many embassies you sent to both parties to discuss this alliance, and how many times you reminded them of piety, of our common sacred rites, and of our other social bonds? Were they moved in the least, or did they hold back from doing whatever harm they could by force to our interests? Indeed, while we were being overwhelmed by the war against the barbarians, and with such a tragedy surrounding us, the Triballians were going around to the cities in Macedonia, some of which they tried to incite to revolt, while others they occupied by moving up their armies and siege engines, and still others they reduced to submission through famine. As for the cruelty of the Mysians, it would be difficult to compare it to that of any other; they were so far from being a protection to our cities in the midst of this storm that they actually sold some so that they might be easily captured. For it was ready at hand for them not to share necessary provisions with those suffering from hunger, since they themselves were abounding in them; and they laid claim to other cities for themselves by sending their own armies and generals; they held the walls themselves and established their own garrisons, while they led away the miserable inhabitants—once they had been shackled to a life of perpetual servitude—to their own lands. And now, they have even founded in their own territories new settlements with the same names as our cities, and they collect such immense taxes that the inhumanity of the barbarians does not even approach their level in many respects. Yet, in doing these things, they were not acting merely to injure us while serving their own interests; rather, such was the excess of their hatred for us that they chose to ruin even their own affairs in order to harm ours. For the cities of ours which they destroyed served as a wall for them, and by providing an occupation for the barbarians, they caused the evil to be delayed for themselves rather than to be present. For it is clear: once those were destroyed,
they A are already fortifying Trinabum, and bringing in the other things that are necessary for the besieged; thus, the intervening territory is clearly booty for the Mysians. But the barbarians attack their own lands more freely than they cultivate them, and even now seek another land to inhabit, as they believe their own differs not at all from the enemy’s territory.
Shall we, then, I ask you, call those our allies, to whom any misfortune of ours becomes a windfall, and whom everyone knows to have prospered from our calamities? And yet, why did I say this? For our excellent emperor, after many embassies and discussions by which he hoped to lead them into an alliance, even compelled his own son, the future successor to the empire, to take to wife the daughter of the Mysian prince, thinking that by this means he would draw him in. Yet everyone knows how much shame and abasement this marriage B brought to the emperor, while to the other it brought glory and splendor. Seeing, then, that they were gifted with such favor by the emperor, did they show respect for the benefit, or did they even conceive of providing some token of recompense? Not at all. And yet, before the marriage, they promised everything; and all who witnessed their oaths confirming these matters said that the emperor had hit upon a wise plan. But when necessity called, they offered neither a ship, nor a horseman, nor a common soldier, nor a single obol. Nay, they thought it right to be so wicked to the end that when the emperor had decided to set out for Illyricum and Pannonia, and tried through emissaries to induce them to give aid for his defense, they first of all moved heaven and earth, by which they hoped to C dissuade him from such a well-considered plan. But when they had by no means persuaded him, they agreed and professed that the plan was sound; yet they urged him to return as quickly as possible, bringing with him whatever forces he could gather from there, promising that they would add the rest to them, and would be eager to help, and would do everything on his behalf. These were the things they engaged to do in their promises. But if one wishes to know whether their deeds matched their words, it is possible to take the proof from what actually happened. For long ago the barbarians would have paid the penalty upon the emperor’s arrival, had these people not barred the paths to our allies and sent the barbarians upon us in the summer, no longer fearing anything at all. Wherefore, if anyone is vexed by the present state of affairs, let him attribute the cause of these evils to them. For if they had only consented to stand by their D promises, and had not sought in every way to confound and ruin matters, we would long ago have been delivered from the insolence of the barbarians and would be living in our cities with every tranquility.
Who, then, unless he is insane, would hope for even a trifling thing from those to whom our evils are dearer and more eagerly sought than their own salvation? If, therefore, it is vain to hope that the Scythians will help us; if the alliance of the Triballi is ridiculous; if the Mysians are of no use for our expectations; and if our own people, whose virtue has long since failed, are not to be taken into account—whom, then, shall we call as an ally for the present situation? For we shall not, I suppose, deem the Massagetae worthy to come here, sharing in
A the war; or shall we send ambassadors to those who inhabit the sea beyond the Pillars? But a counselor should not be one who finds fault with what is said by others, while himself saying nothing that is relevant to the matter or conducive to the end; but rather one who, having refuted what seems not to have been said well, subsequently prevails with his own opinion. And yet, there will be those who will contradict him, who aim at nothing else in the city than to speak against those who say things that do not please them. B For my part, gentlemen, I would first ask them to state if they find fault with what has been said, and to demonstrate either that there is no need for every one of those things I have enumerated to be present in our future allies in the war, or else that I am slandering those whom they mention and am branding as wicked those who would be useful to the city. But if they are unwilling to do either, they will themselves fall short of their case, as they do in what they blame in us, and they will appear to be contradicting us while offering no opinion of their own. If, however, both have been said well by us, it remains to consider in common who those are who will be useful to the city for the present state of affairs. C But, so that I may not seem merely to be uttering empty talk while, through lack of ability, I shrink back from the matters themselves, I shall say what seems best; asking only this much: that if the counsel I offer contains anything contrary to what you suppose, do not create a clamor, but bear with the rest, and then either give your assent or attempt to find something else more appropriate for the times. It is not through a lack of allies for war, gentlemen, that we have been reduced to this state: not at all; but other causes have existed that have made us fall into these evils, which, as they occupied the commonwealth—though we were such as could assist others as allies in war—have driven us to the point where we are compelled to look for auxiliaries from every quarter. D Yet we have allies for war, and they are many and good, and they grieve for our misfortunes to such a degree that I myself would wish you to grieve for your own in the same way. Shall I name them? Command me, and do not be angry. I speak of the Romans who have come—the ones now present—and their arms and their valor; and it is a marvel if the very name is not sufficient to reconcile the men to you. Consider, therefore, if anything of what we mentioned is lacking in our allies in the war; or rather, whether they are not abundantly endowed with all that one who is being assisted could require. Therefore, I shall take my beginning from where I started: from the common appellation, I mean. Who could be more necessary allies to the Romans than Romans? Or who are more trustworthy than those who hold the same fatherland? For their city has become the mother-city of ours; and having shared the common name with its colony, it remained as a bulwark in the West, while it sent forth those of us who were to preside over Asia, so that, in truth, we appear to be one and the same people, and both cities to be the same city, arranged in the manner of colony and mother-city, with nothing dividing them save that Romulus founded the one, and he who succeeded to that empire, Constantine, established the other. And indeed, concerning Constantine himself, upon whom all our affairs depend, all men know
A that he honored this city with the name of his own fatherland. For he desired to blend both cities, so to speak, through everything, so that he deemed it insufficient that he alone, being one person, should rule over both and establish the imperial throne in each place, but if the cities were not also to be designated by the same names, he thought that they would fall not a little short of being one city. As soon, therefore, as he founded this one, along with the name, the dignity of Rome also entered into the city. The Roman senate migrated here, gracing the new Rome, and those who moved became the parents of our ancestors.
The same rule was observed regarding the offspring of the emperors; our city’s founder B used to beget children; he would establish here those who were to succeed to his empire, and along with the city, he would hand over the authority to them, with the Romans holding the scepters of the Romans for all time; these, favorable time has brought down even to us, and may it keep the lineage immortal! Nor, indeed, did we seek other teachers of divine things at that time; but the same men were our guides in matters of state and religion, as long as those clever and guileful things had not yet prevailed among all men, but there was still some limit to contention. C Since, therefore, manifold communion makes those who share in it grieve for one another’s plight, and induces the stronger to defend the weaker, to whom shall we flee more justly, if we pass over these? It is similar to the case of someone who is insulted and suffers wrong, and wishes to call upon another, while his own mother is present and able to defend him. That a metropolis takes the place of a mother toward the colonies derived from it, no one is ignorant, unless one does not wish to understand the word itself; this is shown and proven by the wars which the metropolises have waged against all who wished to inflict injury, just as if they were being D attacked themselves. From these, they possess the fullest proof and provide much material for writers, which they have carried through on our behalf against those barbarians. And indeed, I wonder if not even a similar necessity reminds us of similar allies. For who else, chasing the barbarians on our behalf as far as Syria and Palestine, covered the plain around the Orontes with one hundred thousand corpses, and restored to us the cities which we had lost and had been taken away? They themselves bore the labors, but gave the rewards to our people to enjoy, bringing back liberty alike and piety to all the Greeks inhabiting Asia, as if they were a fugitive, through restitution; and this, when those who had been benefited did not even offer thanks for the benefit, but were not afraid to wage war and to vex in every way those who were ready to do everything so that we would not suffer such things from the enemy. Who indeed could blame others for our current state, except for those eight hundred men who, attaching themselves to one of our emperors—a man, as it seems, prudent and sound in all things—they themselves
A met death, having gained from the choice they made a glory that is immortal; but us they delivered from shameful slavery, and from all those things that are bound up with this same fortune. One would not be wrong to call them the towers of our country: for had they not stood against the barbarians themselves at that time, there would not even be a subject worth deliberating about now. But as to this: those who, a little while ago, took Smyrna and occupied the harbor where the fleet of the barbarians, which had ravaged our whole land, was gathered, and who killed the barbarian fighting there by the walls—he upon whose survival no kind of evil failed to threaten—from where did they set sail, and for whose sake were they doing this? For neither did any Scythians or Mysians dare such things, nor did they come to help anyone but us. For those who came sailed from the Alps. B And all of you know what waves the harbor of the Smyrnaeans stirred up for us all. And how great a multitude of men and how much wealth do you think was spent on this account both before and continues to be spent each year? It would certainly have come to a stop, even if it had had springs as its source. Those men, then, bore the dangers and the costs; but for us, who are sitting idle, the gains resulting from these things accrue. What are these things I am speaking of? The captives received and saved daily, whom those who took the trouble to record them were not even capable of counting; the free navigation for merchants; [the fact] that we are not shut out from the sea; that the islands have not been snatched away—all those things we formerly endured. And those deeds of theirs at Imbros, by the truth itself, for whose sake would one think they were performed? Were they also demonstrating such things C defending the barbarians for their own sake? But they never did descend into the Adriatic, for they do not even know it, nor would one find an Italian slave in Ephesus or Magnesia; rather, we are the ones who are slaves everywhere, for whose sake they, having been provoked, sailed up with a few triremes and caught the barbarians, who were enslaving Imbros with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships. And when they exacted justice from them there on our behalf, those who still remember those shipwrecks know it. For it is said that almost none of the barbarians escaped then. And I pass over in silence the pirate ships in the Peloponnese, and the barbarians who were destroyed there, and again the deeds in Thessaly, on the Holy Mountain, in the Hellespont, and on all the islands. For there hardly passes a day that does not bring some report of something done by them against the barbarians. Thus, indeed, it is provided that for them it is to conquer, but for the barbarians to be conquered. D
A And there is no time when they have met them without erecting trophies. But indeed from the very beginning, having started to bear hatred toward the barbarians, they have continued until now, never once mentioning truces; so that this will bring them glory not only here, but also holds a promise of great blessings for the future. And yet, who would ask for some other, more certain proof that these men do not easily change their minds, as if they were changing their clothes, than that for so long a time they have fought against the barbarians, neither asking for truces themselves nor wishing to grant them to the enemy? But rather, as if they had undertaken the war against them by nature itself, they hold their destruction in the place of the greatest profit.
But that they could not have designated such things without great resources, I would be ridiculous to try to prove. Even those who equip naval forces know how many things a single ship prepared for war requires for provisions, and how much a whole city requires. But they continuously equip so many fleets that what the Greeks sent to capture Troy might seem a game; thus [money] flows to them as if from fountains, and the quantity of men is no less than that of the money. For they cross over by nations, by associations, and by tribes, so that it seems they are migrating elsewhere, having abandoned their fatherland. B And if someone were to say that the moving force behind this is their sympathy for us, and their considering our sufferings as their own calamity, what more could parents show of their inward affection for us? But if they are seeking the glory that arises from this as the prize for such great magnanimity, when would they ever be induced to desert their allies for the sake of some trivial causes; and how would they not help those by saving whom they intend to bring home such great glory?
But if someone were to say what is greater and more true, that seeing piety in danger among their own people and those whom they care for as their own members; and seeing those who were ruling over the world with them and through them, now forced to serve those who were previously their slaves, they themselves undertook the danger for the sake of all, keeping this one thing in view, how they might snatch the most holy religion from the insolence of the impious; how is what is done by them not extraordinary, or what greater proof of piety could anyone bring forward? Since they, alone against all and set in battle array, opposed those who blaspheme Christ and set their own iniquity against His divine laws, and who place such great necessities upon those called by Him, that it is not possible to live otherwise than by praising that corruption. And there is no city, no island, no continent, where they do not constantly show this zeal for piety, forcing those who mock piety to weep. C For these are they who, in Africa and Carthage, restrain the insolence of the barbarians with a numerous fleet of triremes and with infantry forces; and who, moving into Egypt, have filled their metropolis with fire, corpses, and ruins; and have so struck and terrified Asia that they deem it a great prize if they do not suffer something more, and they force those in the Hellespont and the Propontis, and even at the very rumor of their power, to shudder. And others, beyond the Caucasus, [are] mad...
in a fit of mad error, were offering to fire the honors due to God, as if there were no one else upon whom the necessity for indignation on behalf of God’s glory should fall, they took up arms, invaded them, and extinguished that superstition so foreign to reason; sending a colony, establishing laws, and in every way softening the barbarians: thus did God implant in their souls a certain immense care for piety and religion, so that this is their life and this their goal, that by striking and crushing the barbarians, they might shield the worshipers of piety from their injury.
These men, then, even if they were unwilling and refused the alliance, we should have had to compel, by entreaties and promises of money, doing everything whereby we might have persuaded them to stand with us, since from what has been said we can trust in no others so much. B But now that it has been announced that they are already present, and that they have come to offer us an alliance—notwithstanding that they have come to those who can no longer stand against the barbarians—and, being reminded of what they have often shown on our behalf against the barbarians, have come to offer to God the necessary contribution which they deem they owe him most, and at the same time to strike a blow on our behalf against those whom we are unable to punish; does anyone here dare to mention deliberation, and to gather those who will debate whether we ought to be free? I say that this is clearly to wish for this untimely caution, or rather, insensibility. For if we had no need of allies for the war, or if it were possible to procure better ones than these, or if perchance it were possible to find any others at all, this entire plan would have some trace of reason to those who are insane; C but since the affairs of the city are failing, and it has long been judged impossible for us to rise up by our own strength, and those whom we might have called upon as allies have all taken the side of the enemy; and the state of things is now such, by fortune, that if someone were to ask us, "Of what are you masters?" we would not even be able to answer that the very ground is still ours—what is this strife, by whose fault, having lost everything, we are now also in danger of being deprived of hope itself?
Shall we, I ask, send envoys to some uncertain persons, and give money, and promise marriages, and incite those bred at home to expeditions abroad and outside the province? And shall we turn away those who offer themselves as allies in the war for free, D having, I suppose, only this to bring against them as a charge, that they have no need of us? And those who are unwilling we shall attempt to persuade; but if anyone comes of his own accord, we shall despise him? And will we long for allies when they are nowhere to be seen, but neglect them when they appear and we see them? And when dangers are imminent, will we deem ourselves to be like gods, and think that our happiness is fixed and immortal? Yet if there is nothing bad to be expected from them, how is it not untimely for us to deliberate? But if a suspicion of evils leads us to this, let someone state the fear that makes him not fear to suffer,
A when those whom he fears are inferior. They say that those who come as allies ought to be strong, and their nobility and virtue should be known to all; as if it were a deliberate choice to select the weakest, or as if those who are to struggle on our behalf ought to be cowards. For if this is sufficient, and it is necessary that cowardice and weakness be present in our allies, why did you not gather these quail-breeders, and those from the bathhouses and barbershops, and enroll them as an army, and prepare to wage war with these against those most experienced in action, and think that by these means you could liberate your fatherland? But if these things are contrary to all reason, then let not even the hope of allies be suspected by us. And it is a graceful remark from someone I heard saying that it is not safe to use allies who are stronger than we are, unless we intend to exchange enemies for enemies—those who are currently attacking for others. I say that to quibble over these things is the mark of those who still expect something good, and not of those who have arrived at total destitution, such as any of us would describe; for to those who have come to this point of fortune, there remains only to cast the final lot.
B Indeed, who would not call this counsel like a riddle? For if we are to use those who are, as it were, weaker than we are, against those whose weight of war presses upon us, and who so greatly surpass us in strength, how does that which I mentioned not happen? It is indeed exactly like if someone were to want things that are smaller to appear smaller than those that are less, and things that are greater at the beginning to appear greater. C But this is the view neither of those who have examined the power of the Barbarians, against whom we need the help of allies, nor of those who have examined our own exhaustion, if one must call it that, which we must recover. Nevertheless, if someone were willing to use the facts themselves as counselors, he would cease fearing things that do not hold fear, and clinging to what is outside of safety. For if, by promising them money and exciting their spirits with the desire for gain, we had drawn them into an alliance of war, it could be said that they would not be content with lesser things when they could gain more; but if they are so far removed from those who strive to augment their wealth through shameful gains that they do not even fear immense expenses, and clearly accuse their senselessness, D since there is no limit to their excessive expenditures for them, how is it not contrary to sense to abandon greater things without a struggle, in order to obtain lesser things conjoined with dangers? For it is clear that even if they had sold us out, they would not have had a part of what was spent on this expedition. Therefore, it would not be the work of sensible men—I do not know whose work it would be—if, while they could possess more with quiet and ease, they then busied themselves with things that needed to be acquired with toil. But if someone thinks that to rule is more honorable than to be rich, and cites this as the cause for them—that they submit to no expense—I would myself admit his reasoning as that of a man acting with prudence. For nothing has been more honorable in our empire. And indeed, one would by no means err in saying that the entire zeal of these men is for ambition. But let him also consider that the majority of them are not private citizens, but each...
A possesses his own home, subject cities, a court of law, and revenues; nor would any one of them easily abandon the distinguished things he has at home. Furthermore, among them there is no one who commands others and uses them for whatever he pleases; but there is indeed one to whom all defer for the sake of order and decorum, and to avoid chaos; yet this person, once the struggles are resolved, would cede to many of those now subject to him in nobility of birth, wealth, and general distinction; and if he wished to be greedy, he would not keep the others praising his judgment. Thus, neither would he, by acting unjustly, want to have everyone opposing him, nor would they themselves, for the sake of a few small gains, choose to appear wicked. B Indeed, even the crews of the triremes, whom they use for transport, are from those same cities from which we have our colonies and merchants. They know that if we are defeated, their ports will be closed to them, and there will be another master of the grain shipments; they will lose the tax exemptions we have granted them. Thus, at the same time the city is captured and they too fall into servitude, they would not have—as they do with us—the ability to grow rich from all sources, both by coercion and by persuasion, methods they always use with us. Therefore, they would not want to fall into such straits; rather, they will join with us against invading Barbarians C and assist us; but if they were to attempt to cause injury, they would sooner join us and wreak vengeance upon them along with us. For by providing triremes and sharing in the war, they wish for this: that the city may be freed from dangers, that we may hold its rule securely, and that affairs may retain their ancient form—as this would provide them the open opportunity to sail safely wherever they wish and to increase their wealth. Wherefore, if there were any suspicion that they were moving against us, they would openly fight against us and warn us to be on our guard. What, then, could be more soft and effeminate than to fear a power the greater part of which is with us?
But if someone were to say that their pretext is assistance, while in truth they come D longing for dominion and to possess the city, they ought first to have consulted among themselves, and to have concealed their treachery as much as possible, and only then to have set about the attempt. Yet now we know how many embassies the Emperor has initiated for these purposes, and how many times they in turn have sent back envoys, signaling that they were preparing themselves and would wait no longer. Indeed, when the force was already moving from Italy, they sent ahead a man to announce that they were to be expected momentarily, and to take care of the necessary supplies and the provision of provisions for the army. This man was no commoner, but was familiar even to them, had spent much time among us, and had given evidence of his goodwill toward the Emperor; it was by his efforts, above all, that the Emperor called them. If, therefore, they intended to attack us with deception, what reason would they have had to announce their approach to us?
For it is not safer to arm oneself for war once the enemy has been forewarned. But if someone should say that even though we might have sensed it, nothing further would come of it, what then shall we say was their intent in playing out this farcical story and deceiving us? Unless one were to say they were acting without any purpose at all. Indeed, it might seem said with greater probability regarding these arguments of ours, that we cast them forth rashly and make no end to our contending, A we who sit there thinking it a gain to accuse those who wish to do us good. Furthermore, these are not ancestral customs of the Romans, nor are they natural or inherent to them, says that most learned jurist. For whom among those who came before us have they deceived, thus giving us reason to suspect them? And yet, they have certainly saved the fatherlands and the freedom of many who begged for it; but as for someone who turned out worse off because of them than he had hoped, no one has been able to point to such a one to this day. And so great is the excellence in these matters among them, that someone might even accuse them of simplicity in this regard.
For there was a man who brought a suit against another over the boundaries of their lands, and was locked in combat with him over them. But when he was about to die, the man himself, as he was passing away, wrote the name of his enemy, with whom he had struggled while living, as the guardian of his children and wife in his will. And that man trusted him at his death, with whom he had contended in war while he lived; and the other confirmed that judgment by the reality of his actions, deeming it most shameful and base to have better opinions held of him by his enemies than he held of himself, and that they should bear witness to his humanity while he felt himself conscious of cruelty. B Therefore, having praised the counsel of those who had been the architects of that intention for him, he proved by the course of events that his enemy had not hoped in vain. For he not only raised the boy magnificently, but also took care of his principate and of those matters concerning him in the interim, until he, through his education and care, was rendered more suited for rule than his father had been; and then he placed him over his own house, now being capable of protecting his domestic affairs. C But what follows next: which boundaries of virtue and faith does it not surpass? For when the youth, having a mind typical of that youthful age, and being so far from seeking to return thanks for the benefits he had received that he already seized arms and marched against the one who by the vote of all deserved the name of father more justly than that of guardian, that man neither called to mind the injuries he had suffered from the father, nor was he, as might be expected, provoked into a rage by the ravings of the youth, nor finally did he give thanks to fortune because it offered an opportunity through his folly to recover his own property and that for which he had previously fought; nay, rather, he showed a wondrous increase in his authority, gaining the property of those who seemed to have committed the injustice. D And so he contended to surpass even the father's deeds for the young man, such that he bore even greater things than the father, and as if he himself were blushing for the petulance of the boy, lest anyone should think he had done such wickedness of his own volition, he said that others were inciting the young man’s spirit; but he advised him to hate those evil counselors and to [be mindful of] his father's testaments and...
to remember the education he had from him, having learned to advise rather than to make war. And one could recount many such stories of these men. If, then, they think fit to lay aside their anger even against their enemies for the sole reason that they had placed their trust in them, how is it not ridiculous A to deem that these men will be faithless to their friends? And if they bear with those who seem to wrong them and treat them with contempt, what would they not do for the sake of those who offer gifts and entreat their help? And if they deem it right to fulfill their promised expectations even to their enemies, how will they not demonstrate something even greater toward their own kin?
Indeed, the one who is appointed commander of that army is cousin to our emperor, B and the grandfather of both was he who bequeathed to history that admirable account of his life. How, therefore, could he bear to fall short of his ancestors' virtue and imitate the corrupt greed of others, when it is in his power to manifest his own justice; and will he then hold his kinsman in suspicion, when the bond of lineage causes our misfortunes to be accounted his own calamity? In general, the Romans cherish justice more than any other virtue; this is clear both from their laws and from the penalties they exact from those who have resolved to do wrong. Moreover, to violate a given pledge and to use deceit in the conduct of affairs, what kind of noose do they consider more shameful than this? C For not even in wars, in which the supreme outcome is at stake, and where it is established by law for commanders to use deception and stratagems, even there do they desire to conquer by means of falsehood; but rather, by proclaiming in advance that they are coming—stating openly the places and the times—they thus join battle; thinking it more befitting for men to be defeated with virtue than to grasp a victory ignobly and in a manner unworthy of men. When, therefore, will they deceive those whom they have joined as allies, when they do not deem falsehood useful even against their enemies? D I, for my part, am at a loss as to this as well: if the emperor himself happened to be present at the deliberations, what would these who are now haranguing against this have to say? For if they were to urge even him to close the city gates to those whom he had invited as allies, I know not on what basis they think he ought to do such a thing. For it is plain that they would be advising him to keep none of the things he had promised to those who came, and that, too, not out of necessity, but by deliberately practicing deceit. But if they were to advise him to receive them, how do they not recognize that the present circumstances require it? For surely they will not claim that it is right for the emperor to do what is necessary, while reserving for themselves a lack of good sense, and thinking it proper to cherish the truth at that time, but to lie now—and this when they are not going to gain anything at all from such cleverness.
A However, if it pleases you, let us grant the other points to these admirable counselors; and let it be assumed that the allies have indeed prepared everything to deceive us, but that they themselves foresee the future and, by the wisdom they possess, foretell the secret designs of those people. We shall ask these men only this one thing: If, having sent a messenger, they had announced beforehand that they were coming, with no other purpose in mind than to station themselves against the enemies of the Cross and to exact punishment on our behalf—assuming the emperor’s envoys had indeed requested this of them, and that they, having spurned kinsmen, friends, their homeland, and the dearest pledges at home, had come to avenge the barbarians who had treated us poorly, and to restore the empire to the emperor at their own expense—if, upon coming, they were to ask us to join our efforts to theirs for the sake of which they had come, what would we say, or what would we do? Would it suffice to say that we fear the alliance and are timid, and that it is absolutely necessary for them to disregard this and return without having achieved anything? And by what words will you be able to prove these suspicions, or to convict these men, as if, having decided to do injury, they are only pretending to be our allies? B For as long as you use none of the manifest proofs, you will be talking nonsense. But if you send them away without proof, I fear that, having left the barbarians against whom their anger was directed, they might turn that anger upon us. For they will consider themselves openly insulted: both because, having been summoned as if they were able to be of some use, they are subsequently expelled like men of no account and cowards; and also because they will be thought to be evildoers who had planned to commit wrong, when they had come as friends to assist. Consequently, it would be necessary for us to prepare for battle and to commit ourselves to the fortunes of war; or, rather, whatever the outcome might be, the blame would appear inevitable to all. For if we are victorious, we shall confirm against ourselves what we now charge against them by our own victory, and we shall seem to have invited the men there to destroy them. C For this will be the conviction of everyone, as long as we have nothing else to accuse them of. But if, on the other hand, we fare badly, we shall inherit all the very worst and most shameful outcomes. That such things are what await us, if we choose to compete, is clear from the fact that we cannot even remember them without horror, nor what will come after. For no one is so contentious as to hope that something tolerable will befall those attempting the risks of war. For it is madness, while thinking of the Genoese triremes and how we were not overwhelmed at that time, to hope now for a restoration—not considering at the same time the soldiers of the Venetians D and the valor of the Aragonese; and
A how, despite the fact that so many were supporting us, we were nevertheless worn down in that battle. You remember the calamities by which the fatherland was afflicted at that time, the captives of Sozopolis, the destruction of Perinthus, and other things, of which we cannot even bear the memory with equanimity. But I pass over the fact that neither we, being so few, nor our allies, were able to stand against that valor of the enemy. I say, therefore, what I hear being bandied about by everyone’s mouth. If it is true, then, that they are plotting against us, and that their designs look to nothing other than that they might enslave us all to the last man, and it is impossible for us to prevent the injury, in what way could anyone expect them to be more humane and slower to harm—by accusing them, by waging war, by attacking them with insults, or by holding out the appearance of friends, receiving them B kindly, and hoping for better things? I, for my part, think it is the latter. And I do not say that we should endure slavery. God forbid! May I not be so deprived of sense and so insane as to prefer anything else to liberty. But because there is nothing certain in those things which we suspect, but rather it is clear from all arguments that they are well-disposed toward us all, what need is there for such ill-timed fear, since even if we were to fear, nothing greater will happen? For when defeated, we shall be forced to undergo those things which the conquered undergo, or, even if we are victors, we shall sit as if enclosed in a dragnet by the walls, so that it is not permitted to look either to the land or to the sea, having previously been wiped out by the Barbarians; but this, we ourselves suffer now merely by entertaining such dreams. But if, yielding to all things, and... C if they were to request the most moderate things from us after the offense, asking only that, once they have recovered the money they spent, they lead the fleet home—you yourselves, having been chosen as arbitrators against us, would decree this: what veins of metal would be sufficient for us for such a payment? I think that not even if the bodies of the citizens were added to their possessions would it be enough to pay the expenses justly. If, finally, wishing to surpass everyone in magnanimity and putting aside all concern for their own rights, they signify that they are returning, intending to be more useful to domestic than to our own affairs, no one will deny that we will scarcely be free from the hands of the Barbarians. If, therefore, it is necessary to be enslaved to them, why not rather to these? For if liberty cannot be maintained, then surely being subject to the better ones makes the D calamity lighter.
But shall we call for allies? Shall we call for the weak or the powerful? If we call for those who are not sufficient, we shall certainly be looking for people to perish along with us; but if we call for the strong, we ourselves will again be weak, and their valor will be formidable, and everything will be suspect once more, and there will be no end to the evil. I truly do not understand at all what our lamentations will profit us henceforth, and why we should seek allies, if we are to fear the strong and can obtain no benefit from the weak.
A For will those who are called to help us obey, when they expect no reward, and see those heroes of ours treated with insult by us? Men whom, if there were no other title, just for the name of having come of their own accord and having erected an immortal column of virtue, it would be necessary to honor and worship. For whatever we might attempt to say against them—things of which all are aware—will prove to be nothing and mere trifles. And we shall be found liable to the penalties for all manner of scourges: folly, falsehood, deceit, cowardice, treason; and it will be necessary to fall prone and beg our enemies.
B How then is it not most shameful, when we could have such men—with all things going well for us—to choose instead to be caught in every evil, having sent them away; and being able to gain profit with gratitude, to consider a loss coupled with ingratitude more advantageous; and, in short, to contend deliberately that we might turn our prayers into a lack of counsel? As if we were afraid that, without knowing it, we might receive some benefit; although not long ago we were compelled to receive those whom we should more justly have suspected. For after the Emperor has returned—and O Savior, would that it were granted to see that head, beloved by all, more quickly!—and after the army of the Paeonians, which he brings to our aid having persuaded them with many words, much wealth, and yet more labors, has come with him; and having sent some ahead, he has announced his return and dispatched the joyful news of the arrival of our allies—what then will those too-secure ones, who fear even shadows, have to say? C Truly, wishing for the very same things that they now wish for, they will order that the Emperor not even be received within the walls. And how shall we not fare worse than what happened at Athens under the Thirty, with so many tyrants springing up against us? For what else but a manifest tyranny should one call these things? I do not see. And how will they persuade the people to share in their ingratitude? For it is evident that all would endure anything just to see him returned. And as for the present, what seems to them more burdensome than the dangers themselves is this: that he lingers, far from their sight. For they are convinced that his presence will be a remedy for the present evils.
D Furthermore, for what crimes will they punish him with such a great penalty? Because, in the middle of winter, overcoming the hopes of all with his endeavor, he set sail into the Pontus and navigated the Ister, not sailing above it as if he were a superior vessel, but coasting along the banks as if they were hidden rocks under the water? And he came with a few, and with such a retinue that they seemed not even to have enough for the service of preparing a meal, about to ask beasts rather than men—and having persuaded them, for our sake, to take up arms and encounter dangers, though they were strangers, for the sake of our freedom? To such an extent, then, even if he did not happen to be our lord, but a wicked man and an enemy before, having changed his counsel, he pledged himself for our sake: he ought to be crowned and honored with every gift, both while living and when dead. But if
A that which is greatest and most divine, and he holding the paternal empire by right, did not hesitate even for our sake to beseech the Barbarians—for there is no passion more burdensome to a man wont to command so many than this, and this alone—how shall we not surpass the cruelty of the Barbarians, if he hoped for better things from them than we are about to show? For he deemed that he would have them as friends, so that they might even bear arms with us; but the things now being done will bear witness to us of a certain terrible hostility. But if we considered those who would have dared then to counsel these things as impious and wicked, and with praises and applause, as is justly due, we were to receive the returning emperor, shall we also permit his allies to enter with him? Or shall we treat him with humanity, but leave it to them to have the field and the misery, and set those over them who will exclude them from the gates? For if, before they come, we are of one mind, but once they have arrived here, we divide them, and we shall have one as our own in the ways to which we are accustomed, but suspect others as enemies, and share neither roof nor goods from the market with them—I know not who would begin such inhumanity, but we will appear to be imitating them. Besides, not even the emperor B will deem that the gratitude which all would have kept belongs to him; and those whom he led hither having raised to marvelous hopes, he will suddenly abandon, as if to proclaim to all that the emperor’s affairs were nothing but a deceit.
Indeed, one could not find even the reason for which we would behave so shamelessly. For if, once the war and all for which we brought them here were concluded, we wished to mock the allies, such a stain of ingratitude would not have so much danger. But if, while the same evils persist, we hold to a policy of calling and receiving friends in one way and then another, I do not see what such innovation has of hope. For is it only so that we may appear to be clever at wrongdoing and deceiving that we busy ourselves with these things? C And apart from these things, what do you think they, having been deceived and having become a laughingstock to all, will do? Will they sit down and hold their hands, and beg to have forgiveness from us for the things in which they have been deceived? They have not learned to philosophize in this way and to master their anger. It remains, therefore, for them to attempt the walls and to bring machines against them, and for us to endure the evils of the siege. For I do not think that you are capable of anything else, apart from these things. But if this seems tolerable to you, why do you trouble to send ambassadors to those who are powerful everywhere on behalf of an alliance, when it is possible to be shut up and besieged by the Barbarians? For I do not see from what evil D the allies, having come, will deliver us, when you willingly choose the worst of things. Thus it is not possible to find for what reason you will not receive those who are to come with the emperor. But if, considering what is human and just, you should wish to crown the emperor on account of the labors he has undertaken for our sake,
will you then open the gates to the allies coming with him? What prevents you from deciding this as well? For I do not suppose it is necessary to preserve the clemency of the Romans A while not even suspecting the cruelty of the Paeonians; nor to suppose that those who lavish their own resources for the sake of glory will desire ours, while those who live by robbery and theft will suddenly cease from their craft. If it is terrifying to be mixed with those one thousand, why is the evil not more manifest in twenty thousand? And since we decree that those who come of their own free will are not to be trusted, what confidence should we have in those invited by way of an embassy?
But this thought itself is also ridiculous. B It would be the mark of wise men, of such a city as ours, to think that those who say such things are in need of hellebore; and to wish that whatever enemy we have would rather be persuaded by such counsels. Your own duty, however, is to take up the thoughts that are fitting, and not to remain quiet, nor rashly to give license to those who contradict you—men who, I know not by whose favor, capture people with that empty garrulity; but rather to reckon even the time of deliberation itself as a loss, and to receive these men as if they were those who had been absent for a long time—from parents, children, and others altogether most necessary—and to render thanks to Providence for the alacrity of their spirit, openly attributing their arrival to Her; and not, on account of certain trifles which perhaps might happen or might not, to suffer the loss of liberty itself; not to mention everything else that is feared by all, as if already prepared, even by those who are indignant at these things. Consider to what fortune we have been reduced, and what we can hope for if we dismiss these men. Those who were once the lords of the empire, and the world itself, we now sit down, counting it happiness if anyone allows us to serve.
The city, C indeed, far the most blessed of all cities under heaven, to which all once resorted for the sake of graces and refreshment and the splendor of every magnificence, has now become a prison for its inhabitants. It has its gates closed on every side, and no one now has a safe station in the ports; and those who land, bringing evil reports from without, experience much worse things within. As for us, within the walls there is clamor, destitution, poverty, wailing; but to those looking down from the towers, there are outside D the armies of the barbarians; the devastation of the fields, slaughter upon the ramparts, and savage fire, invading houses, temples, every beautiful public building, and absolutely everything. Moreover, there are blasphemies against God and (what heart would not shudder?) insults to the cross, mockery of the faith, the shameful dragging about of sacred images, and terrible threats, which not even Christ himself, whom we worship, can prevent from coming to pass.
But famine also holds everything, since there is neither land left for us to cultivate, nor do the plunderers allow a safe passage to the merchants; and so that they might bring grain: the result is that the art of those who hire out their labor seems useless, having nothing from which to make a pact; the soldiers...
A their courage is checked by fear; and the masters, as their slaves run away from them, find themselves suffering the fate of those slaves. The entire appearance of the city is seen to be altered in every part, as if in mourning; and all, struck with terror at the gathering of these evils, have become sluggish. And what shakes the minds of the wise is that many of the citizens have become so servile in spirit that they speak of there being some good in the servitude of these Barbarians, and say that the Romans impose burdens that are heavier. Wherefore they even openly travel to them, and spend certain appointed times with them; and they accept sheep, and oxen, and horses, and silver as the price of our betrayal; and drinking with them, they sing of our ruin; and they pledge to them this house or that, or the beauty of someone’s wife, or even their children; and they pray to see them worshipped by all as masters in their own homes. B Having said and done these things, they return, demonstrating to the citizens that if they do not remain silent, they will report them to their masters—never hesitating to call those devils and plagues by that name. The others are seized with horror, and pray that long years may be granted to those upon whom they should have rightly taken action; begging that, while at their cups, they might please remember them; and those who serve for pay among the enemy have assumed such boldness that they do not hesitate to speak shamelessly on their behalf, and to do everything by which they might curry favor with them—which is to betray the city, and to make those men clearly the masters of all; so that there are now even those who pray that the city be taken under treaty, fearing that they might be anticipated by these vile traitors. C Thus have the common affairs been driven into a certain state of hopelessness, and thus does living in freedom hereafter seem impossible; into which straits it has brought you, both because you have considered it a superfluous effort to correct and restore the daily failings, and because you have deemed it fitting for men to pass the day in ease rather than in industry; and you have driven those who would advise what is necessary to be called babblers, while you have offered wondrous rewards to those who cooperate with our pleasures. And besides this, that you should endure those who are openly making war, and put faith in deceivers, while being suspicious of those who approach us and promise to be our allies in war, seeking out excuses by which we might dissolve friendships. D But if, repenting of our earlier dealings, we make use of those now offered by God’s providence, and, casting off these resisters and sending back those who have been spinning these tales to the old women, you are willing to struggle in this final contest for our common salvation—I believe, and may this be said with God, that not only will our affairs at home be well, but also those most far-removed; and not only shall we save for our fatherland the balance of all things—freedom—but we shall rule over even more than before; and all those who were formerly under us will return to us, and all will fall under our laws, and everywhere we shall take heart and attack the Barbarians. For now, seeing us terrified, they naturally shrink back themselves, and endure our servitude, seeing their masters have withdrawn from affairs; but if they see us daring to look up, they too will bring things
A that are their own. Nor is it a small thing that the Barbarians, damaged from without, should also not have peace from those within their own ranks.
But furthermore, if one must give some credence to rumors and to common report, there was a certain oracle that those who would avenge the city and us would come from the sea and the Alps; and everyone saw that these would lay low the insolence of the Barbarians and would later force them to serve those whom they had previously ruled. And so, this fear was always blooming in the minds of the Barbarians, such that whenever they met to deliberate, this principle would prevail: that they should not abuse their excessive power against us beyond measure, but should consume us little by little and not drive us to desperation, B lest, having become utterly desperate, we might take refuge with those who now arrive of their own accord—a course of action which, in that event, would bring no advantage or profit to them. Let us therefore welcome the omen, to which even our enemies lend their vote; and let us not make their prayers come true. For it would surely seem absurd that, while they are afraid and on account of that fear pray for their men to remain at home, we should prevent them when they come, and thus appear to be cooperating with the desire of our enemies.
NOTICE REGARDING THE FOLLOWING ORATION
(Combefis, ibid.)Many things does Laonicus say concerning Gallipoli, which he calls a fortunate city. The Catalans had held it for some time; the Turks, crossing into Europe, had made it almost the first of the cities under their dominion, and having gained possession of it, had subsequently afflicted the Greek commonwealth with immense disasters. The remnants of these [Greeks] would already have been destroyed under Bajazet, and Constantinople captured, had not Temeres the Scythian C destroyed him and allowed the state to breathe for a little while under Machmet, his son. Upon his death and Amurates entering into power, the Greeks opposed him with Mustapha, with whom they also took Gallipoli, which was making its surrender to him; and this alone the Greeks seemed to demand from Mustapha by way of reward, that Gallipoli should become their property. Yet the Turks who inhabited it bore this very ill; and Laonicus relates that Mustapha did not acquiesce when he wished to surrender it. The present deliberation, however, seems to signify a city subject to the Greeks by full right, and not captured in the way Laonicus posits, but rather by the Latins and the Count, who had come to the assistance of the Greeks, moved solely by piety and pity toward them, because they had heard that Christian men were being dealt with so evilly by the Barbarians and the impious. Who that author is—whether the Prince of Smyrna, whom Laonicus relates to have joined the Greek forces as an ally, to defend the cause of Mustapha and to capture Gallipoli—D is unclear. Be that as it may, you have, Christian-politic reader, a record by which you may recognize the cunning of the Turks, and how they have thus increased their affairs, with cities convenient for their dominion sought out and added to their own, however much one single city may bring moment to affairs. See in Leunclavius the lamentable tale of the destruction of the Greeks, first with the capture of that city by the Turks—as if it were a light injury that had been inflicted—and subsequently, through our losses, the destruction of entire kingdoms, with Cyprus and others involved in the sport. And do you, with true Christian piety and feeling, lament it in the way it is lamented in Crete; and do not think that the flame can be stopped at its mountains, so that it might not consume the remaining Christian world, unless we awaken and begin to feel, or rather, unless God in His vengeance, upon our hardened hearts, consumes us.