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they landed successfully with favorable winds, making known to those there the boy, the injustice, and because of these things the orders of Rome. For a while, therefore, there were words and battles from both sides. But when the emperor Alexios grew weary of such matters, and especially renounced those within who were looking to confusion and suffering from instability, leaving all things to their fate, he took to flight, saying this: "David fled and was saved."

3 The inhabitants send an embassy to the Italians, so that Alexios, the son of Isaac, might be brought inside and proclaimed emperor. So he is brought in on the conditions which he promised to the Italians who had elevated him, and is proclaimed emperor by all the people. From this point on, therefore, both the citizens and the Italians were seemingly at peace, with the Italians demanding the promises and the expenses, and the inhabitants of the city considering the sum beyond counting and insisting that they could not give so much to the Italians. It happened then that on this account a murmuring arose in the city. For the father of Alexios, Isaac Angelos, before the city was yet taken, had given the opinion that a collection of the sacred treasures should be made first and that the debt to the Italians should begin to be paid from there, and the remainder should be given from the imperial treasuries and from the inhabitants of the city. But while the dispute was ongoing and embassies were arriving from both sides, the boy Alexios, son of Isaac, is murdered by Alexios Doukas, whom he had honored as *protovestiarios*, but the people of the city, blaming him for some of his actions, called him Mourtzouphlos. So the said Alexios Mourtzouphlos was proclaimed emperor by the citizens. For this reason, then, the Italians became more enraged and made their enmity against the Constantinopolitans implacable. And it happened that another plan, worthy of praise, was formed by the citizens. For the leaders and those in authority decided to send away from the city the Latins whom Constantinople had as inhabitants, so that they might not have conspirators within. But many thousands of them went as deserters to the enemy, after first assuring the citizens with unbreakable oaths that they would never plot treachery against them, but would die with them if it should happen, as if they were natives and indigenous. And yet, though they offered to take their wives and children to safer places, they did not persuade them. But having gone out, they helped the enemy in many ways, being a great multitude and knowledgeable of the situation.

4 So forty days passed and Constantinople was taken by them, on the twelfth of April. For in the tenth year, it being May, they anchored at the city, and in eleven months the sack occurred. And the greatest city was taken, was taken, as they say, by one or even two men leaping onto the wall from a ladder placed against the mast of a very large hollow ship. Now, whatever happened to the city would be a matter for longer accounts and not for the present subject; but it is certainly possible for all to imagine how many sufferings have befallen captured cities, murders of men, enslavement of women, plunderings, demolitions of houses, and all the other things that are the work of the sword. When, therefore, the Italians became masters of the city, as if starting from a position of superiority they overran the entire west, but also no lesser part of the east. First, then, they subdued the western parts, with everyone fleeing before them, driven by some god-sent plague.

5 So the emperor Alexios Angelos, who the account said had fled from Constantinople, having arrived near Philippopolis and not been received by the inhabitants, arrived near Mosynopolis and made his residence there. And Alexios Doukas, who had killed the son of Isaac, wishing to make them exiles for him

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προσώκειλαν εὐτυχῶς ἐν πνεύμασι φοροῖς, γνω ρίζουσι τοῖς ἐκεῖσε τὸν παῖδα, τὴν ἀδικίαν, τὰ διὰ ταῦτα τοῦ Ῥώμης ἐντάλματα. μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινὸς λόγοι τε ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἐγεγόνεισαν καὶ μάχαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀπώκνησε πράγμασι, μάλιστα δὲ ἀπεί ρηκε τοῖς ἐντὸς εἰς σύγχυσιν ἀποβλέπουσι καὶ νοσοῦσι τὸ ἄστατον, τὰ πάντα χαίρειν ἐάσας φυγῇ ἐχρήσατο, τοῦτο προσειπὼν τό· «∆αυὶδ φυγὼν ἐσώθη.»

3 Πρεσβεύουσι πρὸς τοὺς Ἰταλοὺς οἱ οἰκήτορες, ὡς ἂν ὁ τοῦ Ἰσαακίου υἱὸς Ἀλέξιος ἐντὸς εἰσαχθείη καὶ βασιλεὺς ἀναγορευθείη. εἰσάγεται γοῦν ἐπὶ ταῖς συνθήκαις, αἷς ὑπέσχετο τοῖς ἀναβιβάσασιν αὐτὸν Ἰταλοῖς, καὶ βασιλεὺς παρὰ παντὸς ἀναγορεύεται τοῦ λαοῦ. ἦσαν οὖν τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε οἵ τε πολῖ ται καὶ οἱ Ἰταλοὶ τῷ δοκεῖν εἰρηνεύοντες, τῶν μὲν Ἰταλῶν τὰς ὑποσχέσεις ἀπαιτούντων καὶ τὰ ἀναλώματα, τῶν δὲ οἰκη τόρων τῆς πόλεως ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν ἡγουμένων τὸ χρῆμα καὶ διισχυριζομένων, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιεν τοσαῦτα τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς ἐπιδοῦναι. συνέβη δὲ τῷ τότε καὶ τούτου χάριν γογγυσμὸν ἐν τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι. ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ Ἀλεξίου ὁ Ἄγγελος Ἰσαάκιος, μήπω ἁλούσης τῆς πόλεως, γνώμην δέδωκεν, ὡς τῶν ἱερῶν κειμηλίων συνάθροισιν γεγονέναι τὰ πρῶτα ἐκεῖθέν τε ἄρξασθαι τοῦ πρὸς Ἰταλοὺς χρέους, τὸ δ' ἐλλεῖ πον ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν ταμιείων δοθῆναι καὶ τῶν οἰκητόρων τῆς πόλεως. ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ δὲ τῆς ἀμφισβητήσεως οὔσης καὶ ἐξ ἑκατέρων τῶν μερῶν ἀφικνουμένων τῶν πρέσβεων, φονεύεται ὁ παῖς τοῦ Ἰσαακίου Ἀλέξιος παρὰ Ἀλεξίου τοῦ ∆ούκα, ὃν πρωτοβεστιάριον οὗτος τετίμηκεν, οἱ δὲ τῆς πόλεως εἴς τι τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιμεμφόμενοι Μούρτζουφλον ἐκάλουν. ἀνηγορεύθη γοῦν παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν ὁ ῥηθεὶς Ἀλέξιος Μούρτζουφλος βασιλέυς. τούτου γοῦν χάριν ἐπὶ πλέον μανέντες οἱ Ἰταλοὶ ἄσπονδον τὴν ἔχθραν κατὰ τῶν Κωνσταντινουπολιτῶν πεποιήκασι. συνέβη δὲ καὶ ἕτερόν τι γενέσθαι τοῖς πολίταις βούλευμα ἐπαίνου ἄξιον. τοὺς γὰρ Λατίνους, οὓς οἰκήτορας εἶχεν ἡ Κωνσταντίνου, οἱ προύχοντες καὶ τῶν ἐν τέλει συνεβουλεύσαντο ἀποπέμψαι τῆς πόλεως, ὡς μὴ ἐπιβούλους αὐτοὺς ἐντὸς ἔχοιεν. οἱ δὲ αὐτόμολοι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους χωροῦσι χιλιοστύες πολ λαί, ὅρκοις ἀρρήκτοις τὸ πρῶτον τοὺς πολίτας πληροφο ροῦντες μὴ ἄν ποτε μελετῆσαι κατ' αὐτῶν προδοσίαν, συν αποθανεῖν δὲ εἰ συμβαίη αὐτοῖς ὡς ἰθαγενεῖς καὶ αὐ τόχθονας. καίτοι καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ παιδία διδόντες ἐν ἀσφαλεστέροις τόποις ἀπαγαγεῖν οὐκ ἔπεισαν. ἐξελθόντες δὲ πολλὰ τοῖς ἐναντίοις συνήραντο ἅτε πλῆθος πολὺ ὄντες καὶ εἰδήμονες τῶν πραγμάτων.

4 Τεσσαράκοντα παρῆλθον γοῦν ἡμέραι καὶ ἑάλω παρὰ τούτων ἡ Κωνσταντίνου, δωδεκάτην τοῦ Ἀπριλλίου ἄγοντος. τῷ γὰρ δεκάτῳ ἔτει Μαΐου ὄντος τῇ πόλει προσώρμισαν, ἐν ἕνδεκα δὲ μησὶ συνέβη γενέσθαι τὴν πόρθησιν. καὶ ἡ μεγίστη πόλις ἑάλω, ἑάλω, ἑνὸς ὥς φασιν ἢ καὶ δύο ἐπιπηδησάν των τῷ τείχει ἀπὸ κλίμακος εἰς ἱστὸν κειμένης μεγίστης κοίλης νηός. ὅσα μὲν οὖν συνέβη τῇ πόλει μακροτέρων ἂν εἴη λόγων καὶ οὐ πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν· πάν τως δὲ νοεῖν ἔξεστι πᾶσιν, ὁπόσα ταῖς αἰχμαλωτιζομέναις πόλεσιν ἐπιπέπτωκε πάθη, φόνοι ἀνδρῶν, γυναικῶν ἀνδρα ποδισμοί, σκυλεύσεις, οἰκιῶν κατασκάψεις, τἆλλά τε πάντα ὁπόσα μαχαίρας ἔργον καθέστηκεν. ἐπεὶ γοῦν ἐγκρατεῖς τῆς πόλεως γεγόνασιν Ἰταλοί, ὡς ἐξ ὑπερδεξίων ὁρμώμενοι τήν τε δυσμὴν πᾶσαν κατέδραμον, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τῆς ἑῴας μέρος οὐκ ἔλαττον. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν χειροῦνται τὰ τῆς δυσμῆς, πάντων ὑποφευγόντων αὐτοὺς ὑπό τινος θεηλάτου ἐλαυνομένων πληγῆς.

5 Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος ὁ Ἄγγελος, ὃν ἀποδρᾶναι λόγος εἰρήκει τῆς Κωνσταντίνου, περὶ τὴν Φιλιππού πολιν ἀφικόμενος καὶ μὴ πρὸς τῶν οἰκητόρων δεχθεὶς περὶ τὴν Μοσυνούπολιν ἀφικνεῖται κἀκεῖσε τὰς διατριβὰς ἐποιεῖτο. Ἀλέξιος δὲ ὁ ∆ούκας, ὃς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Ἰσαακίου ἀπέκτεινε, βουλόμενος ἐκδήμους αὐτῷ