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a young man and he would not even know where on earth he would fall, for these reasons compelled the young man Alexios to return to his mother. And at that time he was left behind, even unwillingly, by his fellow soldiers, but the time that followed opened up for him a sea of heroic deeds. For in the reign of the emperor Michael Doukas, after the deposition of the emperor Diogenes, he demonstrated how great he was in courage in the affair concerning Ourselios. 1.1.2 For this man was a Celt from the beginning, enrolled in the army of the Romans, but having been puffed up to a great height of fortune and having gathered around himself a force and a considerable army, some being from where he himself had originated and others of every other sort of race, he was from that moment a troublesome tyrant. And with the Roman dominion having undergone many oscillations, and the Turks having gained the upper hand over the fortune of the Romans, who were driven back as if the sand were withdrawn from under their feet, then this man also attacked the Roman empire. And being in other respects most tyrannical in spirit, but then being even more inflamed towards outright tyranny because of the dejected state of the empire's affairs, he plundered almost all the lands of the East. And although many who were renowned for their courage and had brought to it the greatest experience of war and battle were entrusted with the war against him, this man appeared to surpass even their great experience. Sometimes attacking and routing them himself and like a hurricane falling upon those who opposed him, and at other times taking an alliance from the Turks, he was irresistible in his assaults, so that he even seized some of the very great magnates and routed their phalanxes. 1.1.3 It was at this time that my father Alexios was stationed under his brother and was serving as his lieutenant general, to whom all the armies of the eastern and western provinces had been entrusted. But since affairs were then in a desperate state for the Romans, with this barbarian assailing everything like a thunderbolt, this admirable Alexios, having been designated general-in-chief by the emperor Michael, is thought of for a worthy opposition. He indeed, having stirred up all his wisdom and great experience, both strategic and military, and this he had not gathered over a long time (but because of the man's great love of labor and his vigilance in every respect, he had arrived at the peak of strategic expertise, so that he seemed to the Roman nobles to be like that Aemilius the Roman, like Scipio, like Hannibal the Carthaginian; for he was very young and his first beard was just growing, as they say), both captured that Ourselios, who was flowing mightily against the Romans, and settled the affairs of the East, not needing many days. For he was quick to discern what was advantageous and quicker to accomplish it. In what manner he captured him, Caesar makes clear more fully in the second book of his history, but we also will make it clear, insofar as it contributes to our history. 1.2.1 For with the barbarian Toutach having just come down from the deeper parts of the East with a very heavy army in order to plunder the lands of the Romans, Ourselios, being often hard-pressed by the Stratopedarch and having one fortress after another taken from him, although he led a large army, all splendidly and bravely armed, was defeated by far by the resourcefulness of my father Alexios; therefore for the time being he decided to take refuge with him. Finally, being at a loss in every way, he joins with Toutach and makes him a friend and earnestly entreats him for an alliance. 1.2.2 But the Stratopedarch Alexios counters this with a stratagem and more quickly makes the barbarian his own and draws him to himself both with words and with gifts and with all manner of ways and devices. For he was, if anyone else, an inventor and one who contrived resources in the most desperate situations. The most effective of his methods, at any rate, was something like this, as in

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νεανίσκῳ καὶ οὐδ' οἷ γῆς πεσεῖται ἐπιγνώσεται, διὰ ταῦτα ὑποστρέψαι πρὸς τὴν μητέρα τὸ μειράκιον Ἀλέξιον κατηνάγκασε. Καὶ τότε μὲν ἀπελείφθη καὶ ἄκων τῶν συστρατευομένων, ἀλλ' ὅ γε ἐφεξῆς καιρὸς πέλαγος ὑπανέῳξεν αὐτῷ ἀνδραγαθη μάτων. Ἐπὶ γάρ τοι τοῦ βασιλέως Μιχαὴλ τοῦ ∆ούκα μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ∆ιογένους βασιλέως καθαίρεσιν, ὅσος ἦν εἰς ἀνδρείαν, παρέδειξε τὰ κατὰ τὸν Οὐρσέλιον πράγματα. 1.1.2 Ἧν μὲν γὰρ οὗτος Κελτὸς ἀνέκαθεν τῇ στρατιᾷ Ῥωμαίων κατειλεγμένος, εἰς δὲ μέγα τύχης ἐξογκωθεὶς καὶ δύναμιν συναθροίσας ἀμφ' αὐτὸν καὶ στρατιὰν ἀξιόλογον τῶν μὲν ἐκεῖθεν ὄντων ὅθεν καὶ αὐτὸς ὥρμητο, τῶν δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἄλλου γένους παντοδαποῦ βαρὺς ἦν αὐτόθεν τύραννος. Πολλὰς δὲ ταλαντεύσεις λαβούσης τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας καὶ τῶν Τούρκων καθυπερτερησάντων τῆς τύχης Ῥωμαίων, τῶν δὲ εἰς τὸ κατόπιν ὑπαχθέντων ὥσπερ ψάμμου ποδῶν ὑποσπασθείσης, τηνικαῦτα καὶ οὗτος τῇ βασιλείᾳ Ῥωμαίων ἐπέθετο. Καὶ ἄλλως μὲν ὢν τυραννικώτατος τὴν ψυχήν, τότε δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐξαφθεὶς πρὸς καθαρὰν τυραννίδα διὰ τὸ κατηφὲς τῶν τῆς βασιλείας πραγμάτων τὰ τῆς ἑῴας πάντα σχεδὸν ἐλῄσατο. Πολλῶν δὲ πιστευθέντων τὸν μετ' αὐτοῦ πόλεμον ἐπ' ἀνδρείᾳ διαβεβοημένων καὶ πεῖραν εἰσε νεγκαμένων πλείστην πολέμου καὶ μάχης, οὗτος ὑπερπαίων ἐφαίνετο καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων πολυπειρίαν. Πὴ μὲν αὐτὸς προσ βάλλων καὶ τρέπων καὶ καθάπερ πρηστὴρ ἐμπίπτων τοῖς ἀντικαθισταμένοις αὐτῷ, πὴ δὲ καὶ συμμαχίαν λαμβάνων ἀπὸ τῶν Τούρκων ἀνυπόστατος ἦν ταῖς ὁρμαῖς, ὥστε καὶ τῶν πάνυ μεγιστάνων τινὰς κατασχεῖν καὶ τὰς ἐκείνων κλονῆσαι φάλαγγας. 1.1.3 Ὅτε δὴ καὶ ὑπὸ τἀδελφῷ ἐτάττετο ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ Ἀλέξιος καὶ ἄντικρυς ὑπεστρατήγει τούτῳ, τὰ στρατεύματα πάντα ἑῴας καὶ ἑσπερίου λήξεως ἐγκεχει ρισμένῳ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐν ἀμηχάνοις ἦν τὰ πράγματα τηνικαῦτα Ῥωμαίοις, τοῦ βαρβάρου τούτου δίκην κεραυνοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐπερχομένου, εἰς ἀξιόμαχον ἀντικατάστασιν ἐπινοεῖται ὁ ἀξιάγαστος οὗτος Ἀλέξιος στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Μιχαὴλ ἀναδεδειγμένος. Ὃς δὴ καὶ πᾶσαν ἀνακινήσας φρόνησίν τε καὶ πολυπειρίαν στρατηγικήν τε καὶ στρατιωτικήν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ ταύτην συλλεξάμενος (ἀλλὰ γὰρ διὰ τὸ πάνυ φιλόπονον τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ πανταχόθεν ἐγρηγορὸς εἰς ἄκρον ἐληλυθέναι στρατηγικῆς ἐμπειρίας τοῖς τῶν Ῥωμαίων λογάσιν ἔδοξεν, οἷος Αἰμί λιος ἐκεῖνος ὁ Ῥωμαῖος, ὁποῖος ὁ Σκηπίων, οἷος Ἀννίβας ὁ Καρχηδόνιος· νεώτατος γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἄρτι πρώτως ὑπηνή της, ὅ φασι) τόν τε Οὐρσέλιον ἐκεῖνον εἷλε τὸν πολὺν κατὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ῥέοντα καὶ τὰ πράγματα τῆς ἕω κατέστησεν οὐ πολλῶν δεηθεὶς ἡμερῶν. Ἦν γὰρ καὶ ὀξὺς φωρᾶσαι τὸ ξυμφέρον καὶ ὀξύτερος καταπράξασθαι· τίνα δὲ τὸν τρόπον εἷλεν ἐκεῖνον, δηλοῖ μὲν καὶ ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν ἱστορίας βίβλῳ πλατύτερον, δηλώσομεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἐφ' ὅσον εἰς τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱστορίαν συνήνεγκεν. 1.2.1 Ἄρτι γὰρ τοῦ βαρβάρου Τουτὰχ ἐκ τῶν βαθυτέρων τῆς ἀνατολῆς μερῶν κατεληλυθότος μετὰ βαρυτάτου στρα τεύματος, ἐφ' ᾧ τὰ τῶν Ῥωμαίων λῄζεσθαι, ὁ Οὐρσέλιος πολλάκις ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατοπεδάρχου στενοχωρούμενος καὶ ἄλλα ἐπ' ἄλλοις φρούρια ἀφαιρούμενος, καίτοι στρατιὰν πολλὴν ἐπαγόμενος καὶ πάντας λαμπρῶς καὶ γενναίως καθωπλισμένους, εὐμηχανίᾳ παρὰ πολὺ ἡττᾶτο τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς Ἀλεξίου· τέως δ' οὖν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνο καταφυγεῖν ἔδοξε. Τελευταῖον τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐξαπορούμενος ξυμμίγνυσι τῷ Του τὰχ καὶ φίλον ποιεῖται καὶ εἰς συμμαχίαν αὐτὸν καταλιπα ρεῖ. 1.2.2 Ἀλλ' ὁ στρατοπεδάρχης Ἀλέξιος ἀντιστρατηγεῖται πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ ὀξύτερον οἰκειοῦται τὸν βάρβαρον καὶ ἐπισπᾶται πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ λόγοις καὶ δώροις καὶ πᾶσι τρόποις καὶ μηχανήμασιν. Ἦν γὰρ εἴπερ τις ἄλλος ἐφευ ρετὴς καὶ πόρους ἐν τοῖς ἀπορωτάτοις ξυμμηχανώμενος. Ὁ γοῦν δυνατώτατος αὐτῷ τῶν τρόπων τοιοῦτός τις ἦν, ὡς ἐν