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Then he orders all the houses and whatever else belonged to the city to be registered, and for the property of those present to be numbered separately, and separately that of those absent. For he conceived or accepted a plan to leave the properties of those present to be held by their masters—even if it did not turn out quite so cleanly—and as for the properties of the absent, both living and dead, some were to be kept for those who would come later, and others were to be given to the Turks who had chosen or been forced to inhabit the city, just as also happened. And when all the city’s properties were registered with great care, with some of our own people appearing suitable for this task—who, I think, labored at this out of a most inept and envious mind—and were numbered with great accuracy and deliberation and were divided in two according to the order, then indeed he gifted the monasteries, as many as were larger and more splendid in beauty, to his own people and those in positions of authority; and similarly also of the houses, as many as were more beautiful than the others in both beauty and size, leaving to us only the four churches, which are also called catholic, as our shepherd had made great effort on their behalf. But all the remaining houses and nearly all the churches he designated to be given both to those from other places who perhaps willingly chose the city in place of the one they inhabited, and to the Turks who had moved from Giannitsa. This place is entirely a plain, a day’s journey distant from the western part of the city, having many Turkish inhabitants either because of its suitability or through the effort of him who originally chose it for settlement; and I do not know how, but Murad, having gone there to see the sights and hunt wild animals during the time he was staying in the city, rendered it almost deserted of its inhabitants, ordering them to move out quickly and relocate to Thessaloniki. And indeed, those assigned to it appeared to have fulfilled this order with haste, not delaying at all after his departure, but going there and leading all the Turks from that place to Thessaloniki more by force than persuasion, and providing them with other houses in place of those they had, according to the order. Murad, I think, considered both these things and ordered it to be so, in order that the city might have security and a more exact guard from this, being on the coast and for this reason needing many inhabitants, and so that, having a market full of all the goods brought into it, it might draw everyone to it, providing all sorts of business and transactions to those in need and easily enriching itself.]

21 [So with these things having proceeded thus, and the Turks, numbering up to a thousand, having occupied the city, and all having taken houses and churches instead of houses and having been allotted dwellings mixed throughout the whole city, the city put on disorder like some mourning tunic, deprived of the comeliness it would have had if the evil counsel had not found a place, and having lost its adornment, which it would not have had for long, most wretchedly, and groaning, as if with wailing, that no earthquake shook it, or fire consumed it, or water, having risen up or burst from the clouds, had covered and flooded it; for this were more tolerable, since it is indeed better not to stand upon the earth at all than to be seen in such a state. The sacred houses, then, were changed into common lodgings, as we have said, and, to speak prophetically, “with axe and hammer the altars of God were cast down,” while others preserve only remnants of their former beauty and location; and some, and indeed the majority, have fallen down completely, so that it is not even recognizable where they once were; for their materials were plundered and added to other, newer buildings, and especially to the common bathhouse now seen in the middle of the city. And one can almost hear the older men saying that here was such-and-such a church,

15

Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ καταγραφῆναι πάσας οἰκίας καὶ εἴ τι προσῆν ἕτερον τῇ πόλει προστάττει, καὶ χωρὶς μὲν τὰ τῶν παρόντων, χωρὶς δὲ τὰ τῶν ἀπόντων ἀριθμηθῆναι. Βουλὴν γὰρ ἐνενόησεν ἢ ἐδέξατο τὰς μὲν τῶν παρόντων καταλιπεῖν ἔχειν τοὺς τούτων δεσπόσαντας, εἰ καὶ μὴ καθαρῶς οὕτως ἐξέβη, τὰ δέ γε τῶν ἀπόντων, ζώντων καὶ τεθνηκότων, τὰ μὲν τηρεῖσθαι τοῖς εἰσέπειτ' ἐλευσομένοις, τὰ δὲ Τούρκοις δοθῆναι τοῖς ᾑρημένοις ἢ βιασθεῖσιν ἐνοικῆσαι τῇ πόλει, καθάπερ καὶ γέγονεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κατεγράφησαν μὲν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἐπιμελείας ἅπαντα τὰ τῆς πόλεως, ἐνίων ἐκ τῶν ἡμετέρων πρὸς τοῦτ' ἐπιτηδείων ὀφθέντων, οἳ καὶ τουτ' ὤδινον ἐκ σκαιοτάτης, οἶμαι, γνώμης καὶ φθονερᾶς, ἠρίθμηντο δὲ μετὰ πολλῆς ἀκριβείας καὶ διασκέψεως καὶ διχῇ κατὰ τοὐπίταγμα διῃρέθησαν, τότε δὴ τὰς μὲν τῶν μονῶν, ὅσαι δὴ μείζους καὶ πρὸς κάλλος φαιδρότεραι, τοῖς οἰκείοις αὐτῷ καὶ οὖσιν ἐν ἀξιώμασιν ἐδωρήσατο, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν οἰκιῶν, ὅσαι δὴ καλλίους ἦσαν τῶν ἄλλων εἴς τε κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος, μόνους ἡμῖν τοὺς τέσσαρας νεώς, οἳ καὶ καθολικοὶ λέγονται, καταλελοιπώς, πολλὴν τὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ τούτων τοῦ ποιμένος εἰσενεγκόντος. Τὰς δέ γε λοιπὰς ἁπάσας οἰκίας καὶ τοὺς νεὼς σχεδὸν πάντας διωρίσατο τοῖς τ' ἀπ' ἄλλων τόπων ἐθελήσασιν ἴσως τὴν πόλιν, ἀνθ' ἦς οἰκοῦσιν, ἑλέσθαι παρασχεθῆναι καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν Γενητζῶν ἀπαναστάσι Τούρκοις. Τόπος δ' οὗτός ἐστι πεδιὰς ὅλος, ἡμέρας ὁδὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ δύσιν μέρους ἀπέχων τῆς πόλεως, εἴτε τῇ τούτου ἐπιτηδειότητι εἴτε σπουδῇ τοῦ τοῦτον ἀρχῆθεν ἐκλεξαμένου πρὸς οἴκησιν πολλοὺς ἐσχηκὼς οἰκήτορας Τούρκους, ὃν δὴ τόπον καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἐπὶ θέαν καὶ ζώων ἀγρίων θήραν ὁ Μουράτης ἐκεῖσε, καθ' ὃν καιρὸν ἐνεδήμει τῇ πόλει, γενόμενος, σχεδὸν τῶν ἐνοικούντων καθίστησιν ἔρημον, ἀπανίστασθαι τούτους τὸ τάχος κελεύσας καὶ μετοικεῖν εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην. Ὃ δὴ πρόσταγμα καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς οἱ πρὸς αὐτὸ τεταγμένοι πεπληρωκότες ἐφάνησαν μηδὲν μελλήσαντες μετὰ τὴν τούτου ἀποδημίαν, πάντας δὲ τοὺς αὐτόθι Τούρκους, ἐκεῖσε γενόμενοι καὶ βίᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ πειθοῖ εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην ἀγηοχότες καὶ οἰκίας ἑτέρας, ἀνθ' ὧν εἶχον, παρεσχηκότες κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα. Ἄμφω γοῦν, οἶμαι, ταῦθ' ὁ Μουράτης ἐσκέψατο καὶ τοῦθ' οὕτω γενέσθαι προσέταξεν, ἵν' ἀσφάλειαν ἡ πόλις ἔχῃ καὶ φυλακὴν ἀκριβεστέραν ἐκ τούτου, παράλιος οὖσα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δεομένη πολλῶν ἐνοικούντων καὶ ἵνα τὴν ἀγορὰν πλήθουσαν ἔχουσα τῶν ὠνίων ἁπάντων εἰς αὐτὴν εἰσκομιζομένων πάντας ἕλκῃ παρ' ἑαυτῇ, πραγματειῶν καὶ συναλλαγμάτων ἁπάντων μεταδιδοῦσα τοῖς χρῄζουσι καὶ ἑαυτὴν ῥᾳδίως πλουτίζουσα.]

21 [Τούτων οὖν οὕτω προβάντων καὶ τῶν Τούρκων εἰς χιλίους ἀριθμουμένων τὴν πόλιν κατειληφότων καὶ πάντων οἰκίας καὶ ναοὺς ἀντὶ οἰκιῶν εἰληφότων καὶ ἀναμεὶξ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν λαχόντων τὴν οἴκησιν, ἡ πόλις ὥσπερ τινὰ πενθήρη χιτῶνα τὴν ἀκοσμίαν περιεβάλετο, τῆς εὐπρεπείας, ἧς ἂν ἔτυχε τῆς κακῆς συμβουλῆς μὴ χώραν εὑρούσης, ἀφῃρημένη καὶ τὸν στολισμόν, ὃν οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἔσχεν ἄν, δυστυχῶς ἄγαν ἀποβαλοῦσα καὶ στένουσα, οἷον μετ' οἰμωγῆς, ὅτι μὴ σεισμὸς ταύτην συνέχωσεν ἢ πῦρ παρανάλωσεν ἢ ὕδωρ ἀναδοθὲν ἢ νεφελόθεν ῥαγὲν συνεκάλυψε καὶ κατέκλυσε· τοῦτο γὰρ ἀνεκτότερον, ἐπεὶ τοί γε βέλτιον τοῦ τοιαύτην ὁρᾶσθαι τὸ μηδ' ὁπωστοιοῦν ἐπὶ γῆς ἑστάναι. Οἱ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἱερῶν οἴκων εἰς κοινὰ καταγώγια μετημείφθησαν, ὥσπερ εἰρήκειμεν, καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν εἰπεῖν, «ἐν πελέκει καὶ λαξευτηρίῳ τὰ θυσιαστήρια τοῦ θεοῦ καταβέβληντο», οἱ δὲ λείψανα μόνον τοῦ πρώτου κάλλους αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς θέσεως ἀποσώζουσιν, ἔνιοι δέ, καὶ μᾶλλον οἱ πλείους, καταπεπτώκεσαν τέλειον, ὡς μηδὲ ποῦ ποτ' ἦσαν γνωρίζεσθαι· διηρπάγησαν γὰρ αἱ τούτων ὕλαι καὶ κτίσμασιν ἄλλοις προσετέθησαν καινοτέροις καὶ μάλιστά γε τῷ νῦν ἐπὶ μέσης τῆς πόλεως ὁρωμένῳ καὶ κοινῷ βαλανείῳ. Καὶ μονονουχὶ τῶν γηραιοτέρων ἔξεστιν ἀκούειν ἀνδρῶν ὡς ὧδε μὲν ἦν ὁ νεὼς ὁ δεῖνα,