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he appointed sebastocrators, megas domestikoi and protovestiarioi and the rest of the entire imperial order. But being awkward concerning the institutions of the empire, he treated them more in the Bulgarian manner. This man greatly resisted the emperor John. For the one demanded that he share in the second honors of the empire and be in control of the country, but the other resisted more firmly.

22 So the emperor John, having just taken up the scepters and having seen that the empire of the Romans was in very dire straits, makes war with the Italians. And a formidable Latin army is gathered, in which the brothers of the emperor Theodore, the sebastocrators Alexios and Isaac, were fighting as champions. For these men, as soon as their brother the emperor died, taking his daughter Eudokia, planned to flee to Constantinople. But they missed their mark, and they went away as fugitives. So when the battle broke out in the region of Poimanenon, where the church of Michael, the arch-commander of the powers above, is established, the emperor wins decisively. For the emperor took up a spear and struck the enemy and showed a courageous spirit in that war, not unknown even to those before. Such a victory became a very great increase for the empire of the Romans, but for the Italians a check and a downfall. For the emperor captured their best men as prisoners in such a war, and indeed also the Laskaris brothers, whom he blinds, having found them guilty. And others became the work of the sword; and a part of the Italians besieging the castle of Serres, which was ruled by Theodore Komnenos, when it learned of this defeat, fled. From this point, the affairs of the Italians were straitened. And the emperor John besieged the fortresses of the Romans held by them, and he was capturing them. He made the sieges longer; for he made his attacks not in spring or summer and autumn, but in the middle of winter, he set up siege engines and cast down the battlements. Those inside, growing weary, on the one hand surrendered, purchasing their life with oaths, while on the other hand some fell in battle and were imprisoned. So were captured Poimanenon, Lentiana, Charioros, Berbeniakon. So the emperor John both built triremes and stationed them around the Hellespont, and was causing much trouble for the Latins, setting out towards the west and taking their possessions as booty, sacking the city of Madytos and Kallipolis and all the coastal areas that were subject to the Italians.

23 While the emperor John was engaged in these things and fighting irresistibly against the Italians both on land and sea, a plot is contrived against him. The one who organized this was the first cousin of the emperor, Andronikos Nestongos, having as a collaborator in this his brother Isaac and not a few others of the notable men. And the plot was of many days. While staying in Lampsacus, the emperor learns this. So, having consumed the triremes with fire, so that they would not fall into the hands of the Italians, and judging the war within to be more urgent than the one without, departing from there he arrived near Achyraous, and there he made the investigation of the plot. And all the conspirators were liable to justice. But the emperor used the laws more humanely, and Isaac Nestongos he condemns to blinding and the cutting off of his hands, likewise also Makrenos; for he had been convicted of having often rushed, when he was behind the emperor's back, to draw his sword and strike a fatal blow. And he subjected some others to minor punishments, but he released the majority, having enclosed them in prisons for a time. And the very instigator of the plot and the one aspiring to the throne he shut up in the fortress of Magnesia; who also later escaped to the Muslims and was there until his death. From then on the emperor managed affairs more carefully and guards around him

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προυβάλλετο καὶ σεβαστοκράτορας, μεγάλους δομεστίκους καὶ πρωτοβεστιαρίους καὶ τὴν λοιπὴν πᾶσιν τάξιν βασι λικήν. ἀφυῶς δὲ ἔχων περὶ τοὺς τῆς βασιλείας θεσμοὺς Βουλγαρικώτερον αὐτοῖς προσεφέρετο. οὗτος οὐ μικρῶς τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀντεφέρετο Ἰωάννῃ. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἠξίου αὐτὸν τῶν δευτερείων μετέχειν τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τῆς χώρας ἐγκρατῆ εἶναι, ὁ δὲ ἀντέβαινε στερεώτερον.

22 Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης ἄρτι τῶν σκήπτρων ἐπειλημμένος καὶ ἐν στενῷ κομιδῆ οὖσαν τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων τεθεαμένος ἀρχήν, μάχην ποιεῖται μετὰ τῶν Ἰταλῶν. καὶ συνάγεται στράτευμα Λατινικὸν ἀξιόμαχον, οὗ καὶ πρου μάχοντο οἱ τοῦ βασιλέως Θεοδώρου αὐτάδελφοι, οἱ σεβαστο κράτορες Ἀλέξιός τε καὶ Ἰσαάκιος. οὗτοι γὰρ ἅμα τῷ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτῶν βασιλέα θανεῖν τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ Εὐδο κίαν λαβόντες ἀποδρᾶναι πρὸς τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν ἐβουλεύσαντο. ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν σκοποῦ ἥμαρτον, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ δραπέται ᾤχοντο. τῆς μάχης οὖν συρραγείσης ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι τοῦ Ποιμανηνοῦ, ὅπου καὶ ὁ ναὸς τοῦ ἀρχιστρατή γου τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων ἐγκαθίδρυται Μιχαήλ, νικᾷ κατὰ κράτος ὁ βασιλεύς. ὁ γὰρ βασιλεὺς δόρατος ἥψατο καὶ πολέμιον ἔβαλλε καὶ ἀνδρεῖον ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ πολέμῳ τὸ φρόνημα ἐνεδείξατο, οὐδὲ τοῖς πρὸ τοῦ ἀγνοούμενον. ἡ τοιαύτη νίκη εἰς μεγίστην αὔξησιν ἐγεγόνει τῆς τῶν Ῥω μαίων ἀρχῆς, τῶν Ἰταλῶν δὲ συστολὴν καὶ κατάπτωσιν. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ζωγρίας τοὺς κρείττους αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ πολέμῳ ὁ βασιλεὺς κατέσχεν, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τοὺς αὐταδέλ φους Λασκαρίους, οὓς ἀποτυφλοῖ ἐν αἰτίαις εὑρών. ἄλλοι δὲ ξίφους ἔργον ἐγένοντο· μέρος δὲ Ἰταλῶν τὸ Σερρῶν κάστρον πολιορκοῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ Θεοδώρου δεσπο ζόμενον, ὡς ἔγνω τὴν ἥτταν ταύτην, ἀπέδρα. ἐντεῦθεν τὰ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ἐστενοῦντο. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης τὰ ὑπὸ ἐκείνων κρατούμενα τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπολιόρκει φρούρια, καὶ ἥλισκε ταῦτα. ὃς χρονιωτέρας ἐποίει τὰς πολιορκίας· οὐ γὰρ ἔαρι ἢ θέρει τε καὶ μετοπώρῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ χειμῶνος τὰς ἐφόδους ἐποιεῖτο, ἑλεπόλεις συνίστα καὶ τὰς ἐπάλξεις κατέβαλεν. ἀποκάμνοντες οἱ ἐντὸς τὰ μὲν προυδίδουν, ὅρ κοις τὴν ζωὴν ἐξωνούμενοι, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἔπιπτον μάχῃ καὶ καθείργνυντο. ἑάλω γοῦν Ποιμανηνὸν Λεντιανὰ Χαρίορος Βερβενίακον. ὁ γοῦν βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης τριήρεις τε κατεσκεύασε καὶ περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ταύτας ἔστησε, καὶ ἦν πολλὰ παρέχων Λατίνοις πράγματα, κατὰ δύσιν ὁρμώμενος καὶ λείαν τὰ ἐκείνων ποιούμενος, πορθῶν τε τὸ τῶν Μαδύτων ἄστυ καὶ τὴν Καλλιούπολιν καὶ τὰ παραιγιάλια πάντα τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς ὑπόφορα ὄντα.

23 Ἐν τουτοισὶ δὲ ὄντος τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰωάννου καὶ ἀκρατῶς μαχομένου τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς κατά τε χέρσον καὶ θάλατ ταν, σκευωρεῖται τούτῳ ἐπιβουλή. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα συστησάμε νος πρωτεξάδελφος τοῦ βασιλέως ὁ Νεστόγγος Ἀνδρόνικος, ἔχων συνεργὸν εἰς τοῦτο τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰσαάκιον καὶ ἑτέρους τῶν ἐπιφανῶν οὐκ ὀλίγους. ἐγένετο δὲ ἡ ἐπιβουλὴ πολυή μερος. ἐν τῇ Λαμψάκῳ δὲ διάγων ὁ βασιλεὺς μανθάνει τοῦτο. πυρὶ γοῦν τὰς τριήρεις καταναλώσας, ἵνα μὴ τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς ὑπὸ χεῖρα γένοιντο, καὶ προυργιαίτερον τὸν ἔσωθεν πόλεμον κρίνας τοῦ ἔξωθεν, ἀπάρας ἐκεῖθεν περὶ τὴν Ἀχυ ράους ἀφίκετο, κἀκεῖσε τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς ἐποιή σατο. καὶ ἦσαν οἱ συνωμόται πάντες ταῖς δίκαις ὑπεύ θυνοι. ἀλλ' ὁ βασιλεὺς φιλανθρωπότερον τοῖς νόμοις ἐχρήσατο, καὶ τὸν μὲν Νεστόγγον Ἰσαάκιον τυφλώσει κατα δικάζει καὶ χειροκοπήσει, ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸν Μακρηνόν· ἐξελέλεγκτο γὰρ ὡς πολλάκις ἐφώρμησε κατὰ νώτου τυγχά νων τοῦ βασιλέως ἐφελκύσαι τὴν σπάθην καὶ καταρράξαι καιρίαν. καὶ ἄλλους δέ τινας μικραῖς ποιναῖς καθυπέβαλεν, τοὺς δὲ πλείους ἀφῆκεν, εἱρκταῖς μέχρι τινὸς περικλείσας. καὶ αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν πρωτουργὸν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ τῆς βασι λείας ἐφιέμενον ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ τῆς Μαγνησίας συνέκλεισεν· ὃς καὶ ὕστερον ἀπέδρα περὶ Μουσουλμάνους καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ μέχρι τῆς αὐτοῦ τελευτῆς. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ βασιλεὺς προσεκτικώ τερον ἐχρᾶτο τοῖς πράγμασι φύλακάς τε περὶ αὐτὸν