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he instilled; for the city was full of noble and good men and of the most distinguished among the soldiers; but the emperor's management in such matters and most skillful strategy then shook off the cowardice of the Romans and rather instilled terror into the Latins and checked both their natural inclination and the impulse that had come to them from the capture of the places they had seized. And they returned to the city of Constantine, having accomplished little, as we said, or nothing.

31 So then, the emperor John, being skilled at devising methods in difficult circumstances both to save his own, for which he needed greater planning, and also to check the opposition, so that by both means he might strengthen his own position, found a way to accomplish both. For a son was born to him by the empress Irene, upon whom was bestowed the name of his grandfather and emperor, Theodore Laskaris; he was then completing his eleventh year. And Asan also had a little daughter—Helen was her name—by his Hungarian wife; she was in her ninth year. The emperor accordingly sends an embassy to the ruler of the Bulgarians, Asan, and mentions the betrothal of the children and the marriage-alliance of both and their mutual defense and support of each other. And Asan receives the embassy, and agreements are also fulfilled, and in addition to these, oaths were also sworn.

32 At that time, then, I myself, seized by a love of learning and of the higher education of letters, bidding farewell to all else, by the will of the ruler along with other youths, I presented myself at the doors of logical studies. Our teacher was Theodore Hexapterygos. When we came together before the emperor, the emperor, directing his words to me, had said, "These I have taken from Nicaea and handed over to the school, but you I have cast out of my house and joined to these to be taught. Show, therefore, that you truly came from my household, and in this way lay claim to learning. For had you become a soldier by profession, whatever rations you would have received from my majesty, would perhaps be as much or a little more on account of the distinction of your family; but appearing full of philosophy, you will be deemed worthy of great honors and rewards; for of all men, only the emperor and the philosopher are most renowned." Thus, withdrawing from the palace, I threw myself into the hands of a teacher, being in my seventeenth year. This was, as I said, Hexapterygos, a man not very knowledgeable in the sciences, but good at speaking, since he was thoroughly versed in rhetorical speeches and had practiced reciting with natural talent and on account of this was deemed worthy of a great name. When he died, after the clarification of the poets for us and the teaching of the art of logic, to Nikephoros Blemmydes, whom we all knew at that time to be more perfect than others in the philosophical sciences, I went, as well as all those who were being initiated into logic with me. And the account concerning us is for now up to this point; but hereafter it will be inserted wherever it may suit the history.

33 But when, as I had said before, the treaties of reconciliation of both emperors had been made, I mean both for the emperor John Doukas and for the ruler of the Bulgarians, John Asan, the emperor first seized Lampsakos and crosses over with his own forces to Kallipolis, and he besieges the city, having set up siege engines, and in no long time he captures it, having rescued it from the hand of the Venetians. After this, Asan also reaches Kallipolis with his wife Maria of Hungary and his daughter Helen, and he meets the emperor in Kallipolis, and both arrange matters for their friendship. He, then, did not cross the Hellespont, but remained in the region of Kallipolis; but the emperor John, taking his wife along with his daughter Helen

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ἐνέβαλε· πλήρης γὰρ ἦν ἡ πόλις ἀνδρῶν καλῶν τε καὶ ἀγαθῶν κἀκ τῶν περι φανεστέρων ἐν στρατιώταις· ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα οἰκονομία καὶ στρατηγικωτάτη δεινότης τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων δειλίαν τότε ἀπετινάξατο καὶ εἰς πτοίαν μᾶλλον τοὺς Λατίνους ἐνέβαλε καὶ τῆς τε φυσικῆς ῥοπῆς καὶ τῆς ἐκ τῆς ἁλώσεως τῶν κατασχεθέντων γεγενημένης σφίσιν ὁρμῆς ἀνέστειλε. καὶ ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς τὴν Κωνσταντίνου, μικρόν, ὡς ἔφημεν, ἢ οὐδὲν εἰργασμένοι.

31 Ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης, οἷα ἐκεῖνος δεινὸς ἐφευρεῖν μεθόδους ἐν περιστάσεσι σῶσαί τε τὸ οἰκεῖον, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ πλείονος ἐδεῖτο λόγου, ἀναχαιτίσαι δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπεναντίον, ὡς ἂν δι' ἀμφοῖν τὰ οἰκεῖα κρατύνοιτο, εὑρίσκει τρόπον ἀποπληρωτικὸν τοῖν δυοῖν. ἐγεννήθη γὰρ αὐτῷ υἱὸς ἐκ τῆς βασιλίδος Εἰρήνης, ᾧ καὶ κλῆσις τοῦ πάππου καὶ βασιλέως Θεοδώρου τοῦ Λασκάριος ἐπετέθειτο· ἑνδέκα τον δέ οἱ ἔτος τότε ἠνύετο. καὶ ὁ Ἀσὰν δὲ θυγάτριον ἔσχεν-Ἑλένη αὐτῇ τοὔνομα-παρὰ τῆς ἐξ Οὔγγρων γαμηθείσης αὐτῷ· ἔννατον καὶ ταύτῃ ἔτος ἦν. πρεσβείαν γοῦν στέλλει ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὸν τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχοντα τὸν Ἀσάν, καὶ μνηστείας τῶν παίδων μνημονεύει καὶ τῆς ἀμφοῖν ἀγχιστείας καὶ τοῦ δι' ἀλλήλων εἰς ἀλλήλους συν ασπισμοῦ τε καὶ συγκροτήσεως. καὶ δέχεται ὁ Ἀσὰν τὴν πρεσβείαν, καὶ πληροῦνται καὶ συμφωνίαι, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ ὅρκοι προύβησαν.

32 Τότε γοῦν καὶ αὐτὸς ἔρωτι τῶν μαθημάτων ἁλοὺς καὶ τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας τῶν λόγων παιδεύσεως, τοῖς πᾶσι χαί ρειν εἰπὼν θελήματι τοῦ κρατοῦντος μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων μει ράκων εἰς τὰς τῶν λογικῶν παιδευμάτων θύρας παρήγγειλα. παιδευτὴς δὲ ἦν ἡμῖν ὁ Ἑξαπτέρυγος Θεόδωρος. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βασιλέως συνήλθομεν, πρός με τείνας τὸν λόγον ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰρήκει, ὡς «τούτους μὲν ἐκ Νικαίας λα βὼν τῷ διδασκαλείῳ παρέδωκα, σὲ δὲ τοῦ ἐμοῦ ἐκβαλὼν οἴκου τουτοισὶ συναφῆκα διδάσκεσθαι. δεῖξον οὖν, ὡς ἀληθῶς τῆς ἐμῆς οἰκίας ἐξῄεις, καὶ οὑτωσὶ τῶν μαθημάτων ἀντιποιήθητι. στρατιώτης μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα γεγονὼς ὁπόσα ἂν ἔσχες τὰ τοῦ σιτηρεσίου παρὰ τῆς βασιλείας μου, τοσαῦτα ἂν ἴσως ἢ καὶ ὀλίγον πλείω διά τοι τὸ τοῦ γένους περιφανές· ἔμπλεως δὲ φιλοσοφίας φανεὶς μεγάλων ἀξιωθήσῃ τῶν τιμῶν τε καὶ τῶν γερῶν· μόνοι γὰρ τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων ὀνομαστότατοι βασιλεὺς καὶ φιλόσοφος.» οὕτω μὲν τῶν ἀνακτόρων ὑποχωρήσας εἰς διδασκάλου φέ ρων ἐνέβαλον ἐμαυτόν, ἑπτακαιδέκατον ἔτος ἄγων. ἦν δὲ οὗτος, ὡς ἔφην, ὁ Ἑξαπτέρυγος, ἀνὴρ οὐ πάνυ μὲν ἐπιστή μων ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασιν, ἀγαθὸς δὲ φράζειν, οἷα ῥητορικοῖς λόγοις κατάκρως ἐνδιατρίψας καὶ τὸ ἐξαγγέλλειν εὐφυῶς μεμελετηκὼς καὶ πολλοῦ διὰ τοῦτο ἠξιωμένος ὀνόματος. ἐκείνου δὲ τελευτήσαντος μετὰ τὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς τῶν ποιημάτων σαφήνειαν καὶ τὴν τῆς τῶν λόγων τέχνης διδασκαλίαν, παρὰ τὸν Βλεμμύδην Νικηφόρον, ὃν τότε πάντες οἴδαμεν τῶν ἄλλων τελεώτερον ἐν ταῖς κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν ἐπιστήμαις, ἐφοί τησά τε αὐτὸς καὶ ὅσοι σὺν ἐμοὶ ἐτελοῦντο τὰ λογικά. καὶ ὁ μὲν περὶ ἡμῶν λόγος μέχρι τοσούτου νυνί· ἐσαῦθις δὲ ὅπῃ παρείκοι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ παρεμβληθήσεται.

33 Ἐπεὶ δέ, ὡς προειρήκειν, καὶ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν βασιλέοιν αἱ σπονδαὶ τῆς συμβιβάσεως γένοιντο, τῷ τε βασιλεῖ φημι Ἰωάννῃ τῷ ∆ούκᾳ καὶ τῷ κρατοῦντι τῶν Βουλγάρων Ἀσὰν Ἰωάννῃ, προκατέλαβε μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν Λάμψακον καὶ διαπεραιοῦται μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων εἰς Καλλιούπολιν, καὶ πολεμεῖ τὸ ἄστυ ἑλεπόλεις στήσας, καὶ ἐν οὐ πολλῷ τῷ χρόνῳ χειροῦται τοῦτο, τῆς τῶν Βενετικῶν ἀνασώσας τοῦτο χειρός. μετὰ τοῦτο καταλαμβάνει τὴν Καλλιούπολιν καὶ ὁ Ἀσὰν σὺν τῇ οἰκείᾳ γαμετῇ τῇ ἐξ Οὔγγρων Μαρίᾳ καὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ Ἑλένῃ, καὶ συνέρχεται εἰς Καλλιούπολιν τῷ βασι λεῖ, καὶ τὰ εἰς φιλίαν ἀμφότεροι διαπράττονται. οὗτος μὲν οὖν οὐ διεπέρασε τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, ἀλλ' ἔμεινεν ἐν τοῖς τῆς Καλλιουπόλεως μέρεσιν· ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης τὴν αὐτοῦ σύζυγον σὺν τῇ θυγατρὶ Ἑλένῃ λαβὼν