entered thickets and were saved, but of the rest some fell, and others were taken captive. And so the phalanx of Diogenes was thus dissolved and scattered. And to Andronicus, having returned as a trophy-bearer to his tent and sacrificing thanksgiving offerings with gladness, another piece of good fortune also occurred. For a certain horseman arrived, very quickly leading one of the enemies to him, and was seeking to see the general; and he, having leaned out of the tent, saw a thing affording him much pleasure, Chatatourios being led to him as a captive. For this man, while fleeing, having slipped from his horse, as he said, entered a certain thicket and hastened to hide; and when he was discovered by his pursuers and, having been seized, was about to be killed, he begged the one who had captured him; and when this one saw the man weeping, having stripped him of his clothing and having left him naked under the thicket, he went away; then indeed another, seeing him naked hiding under the thicket, rushed to kill him, but he cried out who he was and begged to be led to the general; and that one, quickly placing him on his horse, brought him to Andronicus; whom that one, seeing from his tent being brought in naked, both went out of the tent and looked upon him with a gracious eye. Therefore, having covered his nakedness with a cloak befitting a noble general, he kept him in custody without bonds; and Chatatourios, having admired the kindness of Andronicus toward him, reveals to him a certain one of the precious stones hidden by him near the thicket in which he was captured, and asks him to send with him those who will bring it back, and indeed they are sent and they bring a sight for those who see to behold; for in size it was almost beyond all stones, and in brightness it outshone all the brilliant ones; which Andronicus later offered as a gift to the empress Maria. 1.25 But Diogenes, even with his affairs turning out badly, did not despair, but encouraged those around him and held out hopes that a Persian alliance would arrive very soon indeed. And he also sent an embassy to Crispin, trying to rouse his barbarian spirit against Andronicus; but Andronicus, learning of this, and having met with Crispin in a more flattering way, rendered his embassy fruitless. And the embassy having been rendered fruitless and the alliance from Persia still delaying, those around Diogenes, despairing, made an agreement with Andronicus and having received pledges of not suffering harm, surrender both the emperor himself and the fortress. And those around Doukas Andronicus, having seized him, stripping him of the purple, clothed him in the monastic habit, and thus leading him out of the fortress to Andronicus, they lead him away with the greatest possible joy; but he, pitying his fortune, wept and giving him his right hand, leads him into his own tent and shares his table with him. It would have been better, then, for the man's misfortunes to have stopped at this point, but it was not possible for him to escape the darts of envy. For those around the emperor Michael, as a pretext, as it were, for their own desire, feigning goodwill toward him, fearing, as they said, that Diogenes might contrive something and again become a cause of trouble for the emperor, command someone by letters, who was powerful at the time, to put out this man's eyes. And this indeed, having happened, greatly vexed Andronicus, and all the more because, having even tried to save this man, he had not been able, with those around the emperor insisting more vehemently; and he also sent a letter to his father the Caesar, urging him not to allow such an unholy deed to be accomplished, or else to expect the verdict of divine justice which would arrive before long. He then did these things, but they, having received the letters, both blind this man and send him out to the monastery which he had founded on the island of Prote; and having survived for a short time after the loss of his eyes, he died, having guided the empire of the Romans for three years. Such an end had the affairs concerning Diogenes. 2.τ Book 2 2.1 Indeed, the emperor Romanos Diogenes, having been eager to exalt the affairs of the Romans which had already begun to decline, not skillfully nor
λόχμαις εἰσέδυσαν διεσώθησαν, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν οἱ μὲν ἔπεσον, οἱ δὲ ἐζωγρήθησαν. Καὶ ἡ μὲν τοῦ ∆ιογένους φάλαγξ οὕτως διελέλυτο καὶ διεσκέδαστο. Τροπαιοφόρῳ δ' ἐπανελθόντι τῷ Ἀνδρονίκῳ πρὸς τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ μετ' εὐφροσύνης τὰ χαριστήρια θύοντι καὶ ἕτερον ἐπῆλθεν εὐτύχημα. Ἱππεὺς γάρ τις ἧκεν, ὡς τάχιστα πρὸς αὐτὸν τῶν πολεμίων ἄγων τινὰ καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐζήτει θεάσασθαι· ὁ δὲ τῆς σκηνῆς προκύψας ἑώρα πρᾶγμα πολλὴν αὐτῷ θυμηδίαν παρέχον, τὸν Χατατούριον πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγόμενον δέσμιον. Οὗτος γὰρ ἐν τῷ φεύγειν τοῦ ἵππου διωλισθηκώς, ὡς ἔλεγε, λόχμην τε εἰσέδυ τινὰ καὶ λανθάνειν ἔσπευδεν· ὡς δ' ὑπὸ τῶν διωκόντων καταφανὴς γέγονε καὶ συλληφθεὶς ἔμελλεν ἀναιρεῖσθαι, ἐλιπάρει τὸν ζωγρήσαντα· ὡς δὲ δακρύοντα οὗτος τὸν ἄνδρα τεθέαται, τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἀποδυσάμενος καὶ γυμνὸν ὑπὸ τὴν λόχμην ἀφεὶς ἀπῄει· εἶτα δὴ ἄλλος αὐτὸν γυμνὸν κατιδὼν ὑπὸ τὴν λόχμην κρυπτόμενον ὥρμησεν ἀναιρεῖν, ὁ δὲ ὅστις εἴη ἐφθέγγετο καὶ πρὸς τὸν στρατηγὸν ἀπαχθῆναι παρεκάλει· κἀκεῖνος ταχέως τοῦτον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἵππου θεὶς πρὸς τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον ἀπεκόμιζεν· ὃν ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τῆς σκηνῆς ἰδὼν γυμνὸν ἐπαγόμενον ἐξῄει τε τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ ἱλέῳ τῷ ὄμματι τοῦτον καθυπεβλέπετο. Περιστείλας οὖν τὴν αὐτοῦ γύμνωσιν περιβολῇ στρατηγῷ πρεπούσῃ γενναίῳ, ἐν ἀδέσμῳ ἐτήρει φυλακῇ· ἀγασθεὶς δὲ ὁ Χατατούριος τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν φιλοφροσύνης τοῦ Ἀνδρονίκου, λίθον τινὰ τῶν πολυτίμων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κρυβέντα περὶ τὴν λόχμην ἐν ᾗ ἑάλω αὐτῷ φανεροῖ καὶ πέμψαι ξὺν αὐτῷ ἀξιοῖ τοὺς ἀποκομίσοντας, καὶ δὴ πέμπονται καὶ κομίζουσι θέαμα τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ἰδεῖν· μεγέθει γὰρ ἦν σχεδὸν ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας λίθους, λαμπρότητι δὲ τοὺς διαυγεῖς ἅπαντας ὑπερέλαμπεν· ὃν ὁ Ἀνδρόνικος τῇ βασιλίδι Μαρίᾳ δῶρον προσήνεγκεν ὕστερον. 1.25 Ὁ δὲ ∆ιογένης καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῷ κατόπιν ἐρχομένων οὐ κατεγίνωσκεν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν ἐπερρώννυε καὶ ἐλπίδας ὑπέτεινεν ὡς ἀφιξομένης αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα Περσικῆς συμμαχίας. ∆ιεπρεσβεύετο δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Κρισπῖνον, πειρώμενος αὐτοῦ τὸ βάρβαρον φρόνημα διεγεῖραι κατὰ τοῦ Ἀνδρονίκου· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γνοὺς Ἀνδρόνικος καὶ θωπευτικώτερον ἐντετυχηκὼς τῷ Κρισπίνῳ τὴν ἐκείνου πρεσβείαν ἀπέδειξεν ἄπρακτον. Ἀπράκτου δὲ τῆς πρεσβείας ἀποδειχθείσης καὶ τοῦ ἐκ Περσίδος συμμαχικοῦ ἔτι μέλλοντος, οἱ περὶ τὸν ∆ιογένην ἀπογνόντες τῷ Ἀνδρονίκῳ συνθέμενοι καὶ πίστεις τοῦ μὴ παθεῖν εἰληφότες αὐτόν τε τὸν βασιλέα παραδιδόασι καὶ τὸ φρούριον. Οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν ∆ούκα Ἀνδρόνικον αὐτὸν συλλαβόντες τὴν ἁλουργίδα αὐτὸν ἀποδύσαντες, τὸ μοναδικὸν ἐπενδύουσι σχῆμα, καὶ οὕτω τοῦ φρουρίου ἐξαγαγόντες πρὸς τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον μετὰ πλείστης ὅτι τῆς περιχαρείας ἀπάγουσιν· ὁ δὲ τῆς τύχης αὐτὸν οἰκτείρας ἐδάκρυσε καὶ δεξιὰν ἐμβαλὼν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπάγει σκηνὴν καὶ τραπέζης αὐτῷ κοινωνεῖ. Ἦν οὖν ἄμεινον μέχρι τούτου στῆναι τῷ ἀνδρὶ τὰ τῆς δυστυχίας, ἀλλ' οὖκ ἦν αὐτῷ διαδρᾶναι τοῦ φθόνου τὰ βέλεμνα. Οἱ γὰρ περὶ τὸν βασιλέα Μιχαὴλ πρόφασιν ὥσπερ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον πλασάμενοι εὔνοιαν, δείσαντες, ὡς ἔφησαν, μή τι καὶ διαμηχανήσαιτο ὁ ∆ιογένης καὶ πάλιν ἀφορμὴ πραγμάτων τῷ βασιλεῖ γένοιτο, ἐντέλλονταί τινι διὰ γραμμάτων ἐπὶ τοῦ καιροῦ δυναστεύοντι ἐκκόψαι τούτῳ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. Ὃ δὴ καὶ γενόμενον μεγάλως ἠνίασε τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτι καὶ πειρασθεὶς διασώσασθαι τοῦτον οὐ δεδύνητο, τῶν περὶ τὸν βασιλέα σφοδρότερον ἐγκειμένων· ἐπέστειλε δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα τὸν καίσαρα, παρακαλῶν αὐτὸν μὴ συγχωρῆσαι τελεσθῆναι τοιοῦτον ἀνοσιούργημα ἢ μὴν τῆς θείας ἐκδέχεσθαι δίκης τὴν ψῆφον οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἀπαντήσουσαν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα, οἱ δὲ τὰ γράμματα δεξάμενοι ἐκτυφλοῦσί τε τοῦτον καὶ εἰς ὃ ἱδρύ σατο φροντιστήριον ἐν τῇ νήσῳ Πρώτῃ ἐκπέμπουσι· βραχὺ δέ τι ἐπιβιοὺς μετὰ τὴν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν στέρησιν ἐτελεύτησεν, ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἔτεσι τὴν βασιλείαν Ῥωμαίων ἰθύνας. Τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τέλος τὰ κατὰ τὸν ∆ιογένην. 2.τ Βιβλίον βʹ 2.1 Ὁ μὲν δὴ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς ὁ ∆ιογένης προθυμηθεὶς τὰ Ῥωμαίων ὑψῶσαι ἀρξάμενα ἤδη κλίνειν οὐκ εὐφυῶς οὐδ'