De capta thessalonica 3 a work by eustathios of thessalonica on its hopefully later capture, which had been weakened by a narrative of cachexia during

 Bearable and full of mourning and wanting springs of tears and some such things, but he who, as they say, was sown in a net and, like us, was caught u

 Most people raised their eyes as to mountains, to the acropolis, where they eagerly awaited help would be for them. but what especially accuses the gr

 Having practiced stretching out his hands like a woman to his pursuers, to slip into a fortress and to give trouble to those who ran after him, lest t

 David, who had lost his senses, whom i had previously blessed when he was in his right mind. and i thus also admired the emperor andronikos in other t

 Completely under age, not only unable to rule a very great empire by himself, but not even to be firmly disposed as boys are, of course, he had alread

 The protostrator alexios and john the eparch, and imprisonment held them and before that, things exceedingly dishonorable. but the boiling of anger on

 For should one measure things beyond measure?) a great disturbance of those of the palace, as much as was for god and the truth according to him, of

 But when the illusion proved false and the war was brought to an end in the late afternoon, having cast down many and filled the southern cemetery, th

 Thus men suffer for for the most part we multiply and magnify what we admire, as being unable to be precise because the soul is confounded by astound

 The present evils are fitting. and to recount the terrible things of that time, all that the latins saw, the fire which spread through their quarters,

 Kontostephanos, an energetic and sensible man, and countless others. but these things were unknown to the crowd and they did not know that he raged ag

 And he also sent them into exile into perpetual banishment. and after a short while, having divided those who had been imprisoned, he separated them i

 To be shamed but if not even so he should yield, being stubborn, to try even violence, and they say it is better for that one to suffer what he does

 Moreover and not enduring it if, having just found an opportunity, he would not take wing, like some demonic figure, he himself tries to surpass in ev

 Having said what seemed best, he was quiet. and for the rest, so that i may not chatter on about worldly unpleasantness, a rush of evils takes place t

 Manuel, and he curses, that he would not come to a worthy state of living in peace, that those alone would be grandeurs when his father died. and he b

 The marchese was left to remain in peace, just as neither was the kral of hungary and any other powerful neighbor. and generally, wherever there was m

 A certain boy, who appeared to be of a similar complexion and age to the emperor alexios. and that child was, they say, a peasant boy from somewhere i

 He annihilated the rest. and his knights were so boastful in their nature that each would stand against three hundred men in war, not at all unlike co

 About to happen, inferring it from many signs. we, at least, anticipating the enemy's attack, sent away those who were children of constantinople with

 For the man was truly master of his hands but he provoked the victorious one to exhaust his desire to laugh at the emperor, and drove the matter to a

 Laws of city-takers, in which, on account of their unwieldiness from size, no effect shone forth, but those around the eastern parts, and they were es

 Not to meddle further, unless they should choose to suffer evils. though he was obliged to supply sufficient grain for the city, he neglected it to su

 Having completely withdrawn his skill, lets the ship be dashed against a reef and sink to the bottom with its cargo and men. so too a guard of a fruit

 Of those seated around to release even one stone from a sling, then also to suggest to the sandal-stitchers on the walls to reproach the latins rounda

 The besiegers because the latins had entirely turned to resisting against choumnos, he, having with difficulty opened the gates and having allowed, fo

 To rebuke the general and to join in leading towards the good. and one might call these men, who had undertaken to remain in the city, no longer civil

 Stripping and running down the streets, known to those who saw them, thus giving proof that they were formerly conspirators. and there is no way that

 He wished, and as a result the enemy host was more emboldened, and even more so especially when, after choumnos had joined battle, though it was possi

 Very strongly fortified. we spoke thus, and the speech flowed away at random, itself as well. and the small stone-throwers were vexing the city, casti

 To the enemies. and with the soldiers shouting in a common cry, komnenos, halt and dismount, he, as if snorting back a final mount up and as you

 But i think this was stranger than that, that when rain poured down from what the enemies were scattering, plowing, indeed, but not sowing the beautif

 In blood, i was led about on horseback through heaps of others, the greater part of whom lay strewn before the wall, so densely packed, that my little

 Of the storm. and if it were made useless for the trees, and especially the fig trees, whose unripe fruit was unlawfully served to the savage beasts f

 But this would be judged as bordering on fighting against god. for the barbarians, rushing in even against each one of them, were committing all sorts

 They tore down when they arrived. and the ruler restrained the murders there, but there was no stopping the suffocation of those who fled into the chu

 By the command of the counts. and it was a sabbath, not having a flight, which one might evangelically pray to avert, but the destruction of so great

 Redness. it was therefore a task to recognize even one's dearest friend among them and each man would ask each other who on earth he might be, becaus

 Thus confounding good order and dissolving the sacred harmony. and i spoke reverently about this also to count alduin, if somehow order might be estab

 To crush the man, goading the horse to kick. thus did these men love us, frequently for every word and every deed putting forward as a justification f

 Of the longed for ones the executioners, or may they have pity. for something like this did indeed happen at times, as if a hungry and biting lion, th

 To relate moderate things out of countless ones but the events of the nights, not even they fail to rival these in contention. and for a time, with t

 They grieved those who kept treasure-houses by ransacking them for the sake of wealth, thus themselves implying that they understood hades as plouton.

 Through all of us and most provident. for it is reported to us that he ordered all-night vigils around the great churches, he jesting even then. for w

 They busied their swords upon them, and afterwards they left completely empty what it contained within, both things for healing and with which the suf

 They cast our people in, and declaring blessed not them but the disease, and now perhaps even death according to the people of gades, among whom hades

 Is fitting, but only by thanksgivings and glory to the most high, from whom and through whom are our affairs. what then prevents me from ceasing after

 Mercilessness towards those who offend in some small way, from which came the merciless thing that just now cast us down, a most just thing, since we,

Thus men suffer; for for the most part we multiply and magnify what we admire, as being unable to be precise because the soul is confounded by astounding things. Such, then, Andronikos appeared, and he who was so small was judged to be myriad, in a short time he attracts everyone and moves the whole city, so to speak, towards himself. And so that we may not launch the little boat of our discourse upon a long sea of tales, but rather make a short passage as through a strait, in an instant of time the great, the small, the middling sail to him. And they marvel, at what they thought they were seeing before, and what they now clearly see, and how the long ships are now recognized as fishing boats, the former darkness of delusion having been enlightened, and the tents are marked off by long distances from one another. befitting cupping-glass makers, and the army is as large as a festival not of noble sort, and the horses, the kind that most millstones would accept. And they were waking up and sobering up, so as to recognize the small things as just that, small, and no longer to ascribe any grandeur to them, but the long-standing desire that remained persuaded them to want the man, who alone appeared to be everything, to accomplish what was for their good. Therefore they greeted him, they kissed his face, the sight of which they prayed for, and his hands, in which they had trusted, over them they were enraptured, they poured forth praises of all kinds, they cried out often "glory to God," they challenged him, if it were possible to leap across to the opposite shore quickly. For the swiftness of foot of the man, being a natural characteristic of his, also suggested, I think, such a novel turn of thought to the many. But he, partly rejoicing in return, as was likely, and very much so, partly making a friendly show in his own vain boasts, and also encouraging not a little those who were looking to him, is lifted up almost on their hands, not only by the Angeloi, this royal family, brilliant and very powerful, but also by the rest of the nobility and the chosen of the senate and the other children of the city. And so the Great City henceforth had him, destined to contrive myriad innovations. Here it is possible to say that he who said "God blessed you at my foot" is celebrated for good, since the memory of the just man does not know how to fall outside of encomiums, but the Great City would have cause to blame Andronikos from the very starting-gates of his entry that his foot did not bless it. For it did not stand in uprightness, as everything that followed showed. For as soon as the inheritance of the Great Constantine held him, immediately the Paphlagonians around him, a reckless race and barbarian among the Greeks, having been ordered, rushed upon the tribe of the Latins, 34 who, set apart according to ancient custom around the shore of the Byzantine horn, which is next to the Phosphorion, were poured out to a number of over sixty thousand. And they accused the Latins that they were with the Protosebastos and the lady Xene and because of them were plotting evil things against the Romans. And the matter was truly so. For having fallen out of favor with the Romans, both the lady and the Protosebastos looked to the Latins and having incited them with gifts and especially with promises both to plunder the city and to place the Romans under slavery to them, they persuaded them now also to arm for battle, if Andronikos had not crossed over quickly; who indeed were then taken on to join in the, as was said, sacred war, but were inactive because it was quickly dissolved. Therefore this accusation against the Latins was not false, nor could they say, nor indeed could they have, that they were blameless; but, alas, the Paphlagonians were about to cure a great evil with a great evil, by which they senselessly grew bold. For having entered the Great City and turned aside against the Latins (and it is likely that others who liked to stir up such troubles certainly joined with them) they come upon the Latins who were not expecting it and inflict the most pitiful things and sow those seeds beforehand, from which we and many others with us have reaped sheaves, so to speak, from the meadow of Persephone. For from there for us

οὕτω πάσχειν οἱ ἄνθρωποι· πληθύνομεν γὰρ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ μεγεθύνομεν ἃ θαυμάζομεν, οἷα μὴ ἀκριβοῦν δυνάμενοι διὰ τὸ τὴν ψυχὴν συγκεχύσθαι τοῖς ἐκπλήττουσι. Τοιοῦτος οὖν ὁ Ἀνδρόνικος φανεὶς καὶ ὁ οὕτως ὀλίγος μυρίος διακριθείς, ἐφέλκεται διὰ βραχέος καιροῦ πάντας καὶ τὴν ὅλην πόλιν μετάγει, ὡς οὕτως εἰπεῖν, πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ μακρᾷ θαλάσσῃ διηγημάτων ἐπαφῶμεν τὸ τοῦ λόγου ἀκάτιον, ἀλλ' ὡς διὰ πορθμοῦ βραχυπορήσωμεν, ἐν ἀκαρεῖ χρόνῳ πλωΐζονται εἰς ἐκεῖνον οἱ μεγάλοι, οἱ μικροί, οἱ μέσοι. Καὶ θαυμάζουσι μέν, ὁποῖα πρῴην δοκοῦντες βλέπειν, οἷα νῦν ἐμφανῶς βλέπουσι, καὶ ὡς αἱ μὲν μακραὶ νῆες ἁλιάδες ἄρτι γνωρίζονται, τῆς πρὶν κατὰ ἀπάτην σκοτώσεως διαφωτισθείσης, αἱ δὲ σκηναὶ μακροῖς ἀλλήλων διαστήμασιν ἀφορίζονται. σικυηλάτοις πρέπουσαι, ὁ δὲ στρατὸς ὅσος πανήγυρις οὐκ εὐγενής, οἱ δὲ ἵπποι, ὁποίους τοὺς πλείους μύλωνες ἂν καταδέχοιντο. Καὶ ἀφυπνίζοντο μὲν καὶ ἀνένηφον, ὡς τὰ μικρὰ γνωρίζειν αὐτὸ τοῦτο μικρὰ καὶ μηκέτι μεγαλεῖόν τι αὐτοῖς ἐπιψηφίζεσθαι, τὸ δὲ πάλαι ποθοῦν παραμένον ἔπειθεν ἐθέλειν τὸν ἄνδρα, μόνον αὐτὸν φαινόμενον τὸ πᾶν, καθὰ πρὸς ἀγαθοῦ σφίσιν ἦν, καταπράξεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν ἠσπάζοντο ἐκεῖνον, ἐφίλουν πρόσωπόν τε, οὗ τὴν θέαν εὔχοντο, καὶ χεῖρας, ἐφ' αἷς ἐπεποίθεισαν, ἐπ' αὐταῖς ἐνεθουσίων, ἐξηρεύγοντο ἐπαίνους παντοδαπούς, ἀνεβόων συχνὰ δόξαν τῷ θεῷ, προεκαλοῦντο, εἰ οἷόν τε διαπηδῆσαι εἰς τὴν ἀντίπορθμον ταχύ. Τὸ γὰρ ποδῶκες τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἐπίσημον αὐτῷ τυγχάνον πρὸς φύσεως, καὶ τοιαύτην, οἶμαι, καινοτροπίαν ἐνθυμήσεως ὑπέβαλλε τοῖς πολλοῖς. Ὁ δέ, τὰ μὲν ἀντιχαρείς, ὡς εἰκός, καὶ μάλα, τὰ δὲ καὶ φιλενδεικτήσας ἐν οἰκείοις κενεαυχήμασιν, οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ καὶ θαρρύνας τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀφεωρακότας, αἴρεται μικροῦ δεῖν ἐπὶ χειρῶν, οὐ μόνον πρὸς Ἀγγέλων, γένους τούτου βασιλικοῦ, λαμπροῦ τε καὶ πολυδυνάμου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ λοιπῆς εὐγενείας καὶ συγκλήτου λογάδος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τέκνων τῆς πόλεως. Καὶ εἶχε λοιπὸν αὐτὸν οὕτως ἡ Μεγαλόπολις, μυρία καινοπραγήσοντα. Ἐνταῦθα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὡς ὁ μὲν εἰπὼν «εὐλόγησέ σε ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τῷ ποδί μου» ἀοίδιμός ἐστιν εἰς ἀγαθόν, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ ἔξω ἐγκωμίων ἡ τοῦ δικαίου μνήμη πίπτειν οἶδε, τὸν δὲ Ἀνδρόνικον ἐξ αὐτῶν βαλβίδων εἰσόδου ἔχοι ἂν ἡ Μεγαλόπολις μέμφεσθαι ὅτι οὐκ εὐλόγησεν αὐτὴν ὁ ποὺς αὐτοῦ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἵστατο ἐν εὐθύτητι, ὡς τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἅπαντα ἔδειξαν. Ἅμα γὰρ ἡ τοῦ Μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου κληρονομία εἶχεν αὐτὸν καὶ αὐτίκα οἱ ἀμφ' αὐτὸν Παφλαγόνες, ἔθνος ἀτάσθαλον καὶ ἐν Ἕλλησι βάρβαρον, κελευσθέν, ἐνεπήδησε τῷ τῶν Λατίνων 34 φύλῳ, οἳ ἀφωρισμένοι κατ' ἔθος ἀρχαῖον περὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν τοῦ Βυζαντίου κέρατος, τὸν τοῦ Φωσφορίου ἐχόμενον, ὑπὲρ ἑξήκοντα χιλιοστύας ἐχέοντο εἰς ἀριθμόν. Ἐπεκάλουν δὲ τοῖς Λατίνοις ἐκεῖνοι ὅτι πρὸς τοῦ Πρωτοσεβαστοῦ καὶ τῆς δεσποίνης Ξένης ἦσαν καὶ δι' ἐκείνους ἐβούλευον κατὰ Ῥωμαίων κακά. Καὶ ἦν ἀληθῶς οὕτως ἔχον τὸ πρᾶγμα. ∆ιεκπεσόντες γὰρ καὶ ἡ δέσποινα καὶ ὁ Πρωτοσεβαστὸς τοῦ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων στέργεσθαι, ἀπέβλεψαν εἰς τοὺς Λατίνους καὶ δώροις ἐπάραντες καὶ μάλιστα ὑποσχέσεσι τοῦ τὴν πόλιν τε προνομεῦσαι καὶ ὑπὸ δουλείαν αὐτοῖς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους θέσθαι ἀνέπεισαν ἤδη καὶ πρὸς μάχην ἐξαρτύεσθαι, εἰ μὴ ταχὺ ὁ Ἀνδρόνικος ἐπεραιώσατο· οἵ γε καὶ τοῦ, ὡς ἐρρέθη, ἱεροῦ πολέμου συνεφάψασθαι τότε προσελήφθησαν μέν, ἤργησαν δὲ διὰ τὸ ταχὺ ἐκεῖνον λυθῆναι. Ἐπεκλᾶτο μὲν οὖν τοῖς Λατίνοις αὕτη αἰτίασις οὐ ψευδής, οὐδ' εἶχον εἰπεῖν, οὔτε μὴν ἔχοιεν ἄν, ὡς ἦσαν ἄμεμπτοι· ἔμελλον δὲ οἴμοι κακῷ μεγάλῳ μέγα κακὸν ἐκθεραπεῦσαι οἱ Παφλαγόνες, οἷς ἀλογίστως ἐθρασύναντο. Εἰσελθόντες γὰρ τὴν Μεγαλόπολιν καὶ πλαγιάσαντες ἐπὶ τοὺς Λατίνους (εἰκὸς δὲ πάντως καὶ ἄλλους τῶν τοιαῦτα νεωτερίζεσθαι φιλούντων συναίρεσθαι αὐτοῖς) ἐπέρχονται τοῖς Λατίνοις οὐκ ἂν ἐλπίζουσι καὶ διατίθενται τὰ ἐλεεινότατα καὶ σπέρματα ἐκεῖνα προκαταβάλλονται, ἀφ' ὧν ἡμεῖς καὶ πολλοὶ ἕτεροι σὺν ἡμῖν τεθερίκαμεν λειμῶνος Περσεφόνης, οὕτω φάναι, δράγματα. Ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἡμῖν