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,

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 mention of princely 58 names, there their heart's desire looked, and their feet immediately ran, and their tongue spoke and worked towards persuasion. But especially did the king or tyrant of the Sicilians have experience of such a mob, as the Dionysioi and the Phalarides are confirmed by history, and as many others for whom to rule there both was and was called tyranny. There the first to begin his rule by force and to transform that Roman county into a kingdom was Roger, a man of action and truly energetic and one about whom much history is told in those parts. The second after him, in time, hand, and fortune, was a son of his, I know not how he came to be named. The one now living, they say is that William, was grand in ambition, but small in accomplishment. For he performed a few brave deeds, but failed in most. And while frequent experience has shown that, according to the observation of Aristotle, the tyrannical line for the most part flourishes until the third generation and then withers; this man, however, from those things which he has recently successfully contrived for himself, might perhaps think not only that he would not wither, being himself the third in his line, but that he would also be fruitful; for he has been utterly successful against us. This William, therefore, nursing a grudge, I think, for the campaign Manuel once led against his land, which greatly grieved and harmed it, and at the same time also emulating a certain old paternal impulse by sea against Constantinople, which his father had carried out without success, and furthermore connecting in his mind Manuel's design by both land and sea against the Sicilians (for he had attempted both, embarking on a fine enterprise, but undone by the fortunes of war), accepts the embassy of the enemies of Andronikos, whose leader Alexios Komnenos gloried in being, himself also a great wanderer who had traveled far, if indeed, among other things, having come through the land of Tauris and Scythia, he suffered countless things because of Andronikos. And the Sicilian happens to make a promise, to fill both the land and the sea with his power, and to raise over the Great City itself, as it were, clouds of an army, by which, raining down destruction, he would overwhelm those around Andronikos, with Alexios Komnenos also blowing great boasts and driving such clouds together. For he was saying, and indeed supposed, that all the Roman land was on his side and loved him 60 genuinely and that none would hold back from him, but as soon as they either caught sight of him or were stirred by a message, they would at once give themselves up, bowing down in submission. But a thought was also hidden in these words, that being in such a position and so beloved and slipping into the hearts of each, he himself would be king, having cast down Andronikos, being led astray from the right path here too. For the Sicilian king wanted other things and had planned, as they say, to restore Sicily and the kingdom in it to others, but for himself to cross over to the Great City. And something like this also happened in these circumstances. We saw, after our greatest misfortune, a certain well-dressed man, deeply dark-complexioned, dressed very well in all respects in the Latin fashion, except for a deep beard, appearing as if also apostolic, but said to be exceedingly wicked. And rumor also had him as a skillful horseman, as the noble horse which carried him and its prancings seemed to bear witness, when he was mounted. The sword at his belt also promised that he was a soldier. Thus he belied the monk, which role he superficially affected. Bearing the name of Alexios, he called himself Sikountenos Philadelphenos, though known and called by certain other names by others. This man, whoever he is, more than the others, by a wicked method at least, fanned to the sky the fire of the war that has blackened us with soot. For the emperor Alexios, worthy of tears, lay as Andronikos had placed him, but the monk himself, I do not know clearly from where he had sailed to the nations beyond the Adriatic, was showing

Μαρκέσιος ἡσυχῇ μένειν ἀφίετο, καθάπερ οὐδὲ ὁ τῆς Οὐγγρίας κράλης καὶ ὃς δὲ ἄλλος ἰσχυρὸς περίοικος. Καὶ ὅλως ἔνθα περιήγησις ἀρχι 58 κῶν ὀνομάτων, ἐκεῖ ἀπέβλεπεν αὐτοῖς τὸ δεόμενον τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτίκα ἔτρεχον καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα ἐλάλει καὶ ἐνήργει πρὸς πειθώ. Μάλιστα δὲ τοιούτου ἐπειράθη ὄχλου ὁ τῶν Σικελῶν εἴτε ῥὴξ εἴτε τύραννος, ὡς οἱ ∆ιονύσιοι καθ' ἱστορίαν βεβαιοῦνται καὶ οἱ Φαλάριδες, καὶ ὅσοις δὲ ἄλλοις τὸ ἐκεῖ ἄρχειν τυραννεῖν καὶ ἦν καὶ ἐλέγετο. Ἔνθα ὁ πρῶτος πρὸς βίαν κατάρξας καὶ τὸ ῥωμαϊκὸν ἐκεῖνο κομητᾶτον εἰς ῥηγᾶτον μεταγράψας Ῥογέριος ἦν, ῥέκτης ἀνὴρ καὶ τῷ ὄντι δραστήριος καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐκεῖσε πολλὴν ἱστορίαν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ περικείμενος. ∆εύτερος δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον καὶ χρόνῳ καὶ χειρὶ καὶ τύχῃ παῖς ἐξ ἐκείνου, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἥκων τοῦ ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ὁ δὲ ἄρτι ζῶν, Γελίελμον ἐκεῖνόν φασιν, μεγαλεπήβολος μὲν τὴν ἔφεσιν, μικροτελεστὴς δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἐπιβολαῖς. Ὀλίγα μὲν γάρ τινα ἠνδραγαθίσατο, τὰ πλείω δὲ ἔπταισε. Καὶ ὡς μὲν κατὰ τὴν σκέψιν Ἀριστοτέλους εἰς τριγονίαν τὰ πολλὰ τὸ τυραννικὸν φῦλον ἀνθοῦν εἶτα μαραίνεται συχνὴ πεῖρα παρέδειξεν· οὗτος δέ, οἷς ἄρτι εὐτυχῶς ἑαυτῷ ἐπέττευσεν, οἴοιτο ἂν τάχα οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἀπανθήσειν, τρίτος ὢν αὐτὸς τῷ γένει, ἀλλὰ καὶ κάρπιμος ἔσεσθαι· πάνυ γὰρ ἡμῶν κατευτύχησεν. Ὁ δὴ οὖν Γελίελμος οὗτος, κότον τε οἶμαι τρέφων οἷς ποτε ὁ Μανουὴλ κατεστράτευσε τῆς αὑτοῦ καὶ πολλὰ καὶ ἐλύπησε καὶ ἔβλαψε καὶ ἅμα καὶ ζηλῶν πατρικὴν διὰ θαλάσσης ὁρμήν ποτε παλαιὰν κατὰ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, ἣν ὁ πατὴρ ἀνήνυτον ἐξετέλεσεν, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ συνάψας εἰς νοῦν τὴν καὶ διὰ γῆς καὶ διὰ θαλάττης μελέτην τοῦ Μανουὴλ κατὰ τῆς τῶν Σικελῶν (κατ' ἄμφω γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἐπεχείρησε, καλῷ μὲν ἐπιβαλὼν πράγματι, κατακυβευθεὶς δὲ τύχαις πολέμου), προσίεται τὴν πρεσβείαν τῶν τοῦ Ἀνδρονίκου ἐχθρῶν, ὧν κατάρχειν ὁ Κομνηνὸς Ἀλέξιος ἠγλαΐζετο, πολυπλάνητος καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ μακρὰ περιοδεύσας, εἴγε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ διὰ Ταυρικῆς καὶ Σκυθίδος γῆς ἐλθὼν διὰ τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον μυρία ἔκαμε. Καὶ τυγχάνει βαλὼν ἔπος ὁ Σικελός, τήν τε ξηρὰν τήν τε ὑγρὰν ἐμπλῆσαι τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν δυνάμεως, καὶ οἷόν τινα νέφη στρατοῦ ὑπερστῆσαι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς Μεγαλοπόλεως, δι' ὧν ἐπιβρέξας ὄλεθρον κατακλύσει τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον, φυσῶντος ἐνταῦθα μεγάλα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα νέφη συνελαύνοντος καὶ τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ Ἀλεξίου. Ἔλεγε γάρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐδόξαζε, πρὸς αὐτοῦ εἶναι τὴν πᾶσαν Ῥωμαΐδα καὶ φιλεῖν αὐτὸν 60 εἰς τὸ γνήσιον καὶ μὴ ἂν ἀφέξεσθαί τινας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἅμα ἢ κατιδεῖν ἢ μηνύματι ἐρεθισθῆναι καὶ αὐτίκα ἐπιδιδόναι κατακύπτοντας ἑαυτοὺς εἰς ὑποταγήν. Ἐνεκρύπτετο δὲ τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις καὶ νοῦς, ὡς οὕτως ἔχων καὶ οὕτω φιλούμενος καὶ εἰς τὰ ἑκάστων παραδυόμενος σπλάγχνα βασιλεύσει αὐτός, ῥίψας τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον, παραγόμενος κἀνταῦθα τῆς ὀρθῆς. Ὁ γὰρ Σικελὸς ῥὴξ ἄλλα ἤθελε καὶ Σικελίαν μὲν καὶ τὸ κατ' αὐτὴν ῥηγᾶτον ἑτέροις, ὥς φασιν, ἀποκαταστῆσαι, αὐτὸς δὲ μετεμβῆναι εἰς τὴν Μεγαλόπολιν μεμελέτηκε. Συνέπεσε δέ τι ἐν τούτοις καὶ τοιοῦτον. Εἴδομεν ἡμεῖς μετὰ τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν μεγίστην δυσπραγίαν ἄνδρα τινὰ εὐσταλῆ, μελαγχρῆ πρὸς βάθος, ἐσταλμένον εὖ μάλα τὰ πάντα κατὰ Λατίνους, πλὴν ὅσον βαθυγένειον, ἐσχηματισμένον μὲν ὡσεὶ καὶ ἀποστολικῶς, λεγόμενον δὲ ὑπερπόνηρον εἶναι. Ἡ δὲ φήμη καὶ ἱππότην δεξιὸν αὐτὸν εἶχεν, ὡς καὶ ὁ εὐγενὴς ἵππος ὑπομαρτυρεῖν ἐῴκει, ὃς αὐτὸν ἔφερε, καὶ οἱ ἐκείνου ἐξελιγμοί, ὅτε ᾔρετο ἔφιππος. Ὑπισχνεῖτο δὲ τὸ κατὰ ζώνην αὐτῷ ξίφος καὶ ὁπλίτην αὐτὸν εἶναι. Οὕτω τὸν μοναχὸν ἐψεύδετο, εἰς ὃν ἐπιπολῆς ἐχρωμάτιστο. Ἀλεξίου δὲ κλῆσιν φέρων, Σικουντηνὸν ἑαυτὸν ἐπεκάλει Φιλαδελφηνόν, ἄλλα τινὰ πρὸς ἑτέρων καὶ γνωριζόμενος καὶ λεγόμενος. Οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὅστις ποτὲ καί ἐστι, πλέον τῶν ἄλλων κατά γε πονηρὰν μέθοδον τὸ πῦρ τοῦ καταιθαλώσαντος ἡμᾶς πολέμου ἐξηνέμωσεν εἰς αἰθέριον. Ἦν μὲν γὰρ ὁ δακρύων ἄξιος βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξιος κείμενος ὡς ὁ Ἀνδρόνικος ἔθετο, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ μοναχός, οὐκ οἶδα σαφῶς ὅθεν πλεύσας εἰς τὰ ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἀδρίαν ἔθνη, ἐπεδείκνυέ