Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

(27) So as time was being wasted, a severe disease fell upon the army, in every way the very author of death for the many; for the plague laid heavy hands upon them, and they died in quick succession. Finally, the general himself, the protovestiarios, became a victim of the disease, and thereupon the survivors, having accomplished nothing noble, withdrew. But later the empress herself, together with her husband Nikephoros, by coming upon Michael with deceit and tricking him with oaths that they would take him as a son-in-law for their daughter, he not suspecting even the impediment due to kinship, they get him into their hands, and to the emperor, after taking much of his money, they send him as a prisoner; whom the emperor held under guard and with leniency and honored, and indeed betrothed to him in marriage the cousin, the daughter of Asan. But he often attempted to flee, and just as often fortune stood in his 73 way and he was caught immediately, so that he was also given over to imprisonment because of this. And I will also relate, in the course of my narrative, one later escape of his which happened after some years. The emperor, then, was away in Thessalonike, as we will soon relate at the proper time, and this man was held in prison, and with him was also his own sister, whom indeed Terter, having received from her father the sebastokrator John as a betrothed for his son Osphentisthlabos, while she was still a girl, since he himself favored the treaty with the emperor, sends her also to the emperor along with the sister of Asan. They had, then, one prison, and they had been entrusted for guarding to Herres, who was from the Englinoi, along with others and a third boy. So Michael wins over Herres by promising that he would have him as a son-in-law for this sister, if they should escape. But there are those who say that the man from the Englinoi was also having illicit relations with her, receiving from this the pledge of the marriage alliance. So Herres was also the chief of the other guards, and having many 74 men under his command, he seemed for the most part loyal to the emperor. The barbarian, therefore, is lured by promises greater than his station, and agrees to the deed. And indeed a fast-sailing fishing boat and rowers for a great wage, who were previously self-sufficient, are prepared by Michael’s kinsmen, who, living in freedom, were supplying his needs, and the time is precisely set at which they would stand by, having put in to the western sea, and Michael and his companions, having come out of the prison, would embark. And since, being two, it was not possible to overpower the rest (for the plan was not known to all), they divide them, sending them out as if on an errand, and receiving them one by one, they kill them, with the second not knowing what had happened to the first. But pity saves the boy alone, and having bound his feet and arms behind his back and put a gag in his mouth, they leave him. And they, as they were, having sealed the prison under lock, so that the child, should he roll out, might not make the deed apparent before the right time, go out during the first watch of the night. For to Herres, just as the prison cells, so also the keys of the gate there had been entrusted. And so that what was being done might not seem to be a trick, he calls out from below to the guards, pretending to wake them for the guarding of the prisoners, as if he himself were perhaps busy with secret duties; and 75 for some who saw them suspected nothing else then than that he himself was carrying out in secret what had been commanded by the emperor and was taking the designated persons out by night to wherever he might be ordered. But they, having run from the prison, board the ship. And their mind was, as if it were known to all, in undoubted hopes that nothing would stand in the way of putting in at Euripos in two or even three days and being relieved of the fears of their flight, with his sister ruling the island. But justice turned back upon them, and the blood of the murdered men was a bond preventing their forward progress, both unbreakable and indissoluble. For suddenly a violent south wind blows against them, so that even the ships in the harbor were driven ashore by force, and the wind stood in the way of the transgressors. For not for one or even a second day did it sail with violent

(27) τοῦ γοῦν καιροῦ τριβομένου νόσος ἐμπίπτει τῷ στρατιωτικῷ βαρεῖα πάντῃ καὶ αὐτουργὸς τοῖς πολλοῖς θανάτου· βαρείας γὰρ χεῖρας ὁ λοιμὸς ἐκείνοις ἐφῆκε, καὶ ἐπασσύτεροι ἔθνησκον. τέλος δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ στρατηγὸς πρωτοβεστιάριος νόσου γέγονε παρανάλωμα, κἀν τεῦθεν οἱ περιληφθέντες μηδὲν τῶν γεναίνων πράξαντες ὑπανε ζεύγνυον. ὕστερον δὲ αὐτὴ καθ' αὑτὴν ἡ βασίλισσα συνάμα τῷ ἀνδρὶ Νικηφόρῳ, δόλοις ὑπελθόντες καὶ ὅρκοις ἐξαπατήσαντες τὸν Μιχαὴλ ὡς γαμβρὸν ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ ἀξόμενοι, μηδ' αὐτὸ τὸ κεκωλυμένον ἐκ γένους ὑπονοήσαντα ὑπὸ χεῖρας ποιοῦνται, καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ, συχνὰ τῶν χρημάτων λαβόντες, πέμπουσι δέσμιον· ὃν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ φρουροῖς καὶ ἀνέσεσιν ἔχων ἐτίμα, καὶ τὴν ἀνεψιὰν τὴν τοῦ Ἀσὰν θυγατέρα εἰς γάμον δὴ κατηγγύα. ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος πολλάκις μὲν ἐπεχείρησε φεύγειν, τοσαυτάκις δέ οἱ ἐμπο 73 δὼν ἔστη ἡ τύχη καὶ ἡλίσκετο παραυτίκα, ὥστε καὶ φυλακαῖς δίδοσθαι διὰ ταῦτα. οὗ δὴ καὶ μίαν φυγὴν τὴν ὑστέραν μετὰ χρόνους συμβᾶσαν καθ' εἱρμὸν τοῦ λόγου καὶ διηγήσομαι. ἀπε δήμει μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην, ὡς αὐτίκα κατὰ καιρὸν ἐροῦμεν, κατείχετο δὲ οὗτος ἐν φυλακαῖς, σὺν αὐτῷ δὲ ἦν καὶ ἡ αὐταδέλφη τούτου, ἣν δὴ παρὰ πατρὸς τοῦ Ἰωάννου σεβαστοκρατοῦντος δεξάμενος Τερτερῆς ὡς μνηστὴν τῷ υἱῷ Ὀσφεντισθλάβῳ, ἔτι ἐν ἀνηβότητι οὖσαν, ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς τὰς πρὸς βασιλέα σπονδὰς ἠγάπησε, συνάμα τῇ τοῦ Ἀσὰν ἀδελφῇ καὶ αὐτὴν ἐς βασιλέα πέμπει. ἦν οὖν σφίσι μία ἡ φυλακή, οἳ δὴ καὶ τῷ Ἐρρῆ ἐξ Ἐγκλίνων ὄντι συνάμ' ἑτέροις καὶ τρίτῳ παιδὶ εἰς φυλακὴν ἐπιτετράφατο. ὑπέρχεται γοῦν ὁ Μιχαὴλ τὸν Ἐρ ρῆν ὑπισχνούμενος γαμβρὸν ἕξειν ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ ταύτῃ, ἢν δραπε τεύσειαν. εἰσὶ δ' οἳ λέγουσιν ὅτι καὶ πορνικῶς ἐκείνῃ ὁ ἐξ Ἐγκλί νων συνήρχετο, τὰ πιστὰ τῆς ἐπιγαμβρίας ἐντεῦθεν λαμβάνων. ἦν γοῦν ὁ Ἐρρῆς καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν φυλάκων ἐπιστάτης, καὶ πολ 74 λοὺς ἀνὰ χεῖρας ἔχων, πιστὸς τὰ πολλὰ δοκῶν βασιλεῖ. δελεά ζεται τοίνυν ὁ βάρβαρος μείζοσιν ἢ καθ' αὑτὸν ὑποσχέσεσι, καὶ κατανεύει τὴν πρᾶξιν. καὶ δὴ εὐτρεπίζεται μὲν παρὰ τῶν οἰ κείων τῷ Μιχαήλ, οἳ δὴ καὶ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ διάγοντες ὑπούργουν ἐκείνῳ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα, ἁλιὰς ταχυναυτοῦσα καὶ ἄνδρες ἐρέται μι σθοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου οἱ τέως αὐτάρκεις, καὶ ὁ καιρὸς καθ' ὃν ἐκεῖ νοι μὲν τῇ κατὰ δύσιν θαλάσσῃ προσχόντες σταθήσονται, αὐτοὶ δὲ τῆς φυλακῆς ἐκβάντες ἐπιβήσονται, ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τάττεται. κἀπειδὴ δύ' ὄντας οὐκ ἦν καταγωνίσασθαι τοὺς λοιποὺς (οὐδὲ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἔκπυστος ἦν ἡ βουλὴ) μερίζουσιν ἐκείνους ὡς ἐπὶ πράξει πέμποντες, καὶ καθ' ἕνα ὑποδεχόμενοι κτείνουσι, τοῦ δευτέρου μὴ εἰδότος τὸ τῷ προτέρῳ συμβάν. οἶκτος δὲ σώζει τὸν παῖδα καὶ μόνος, συμποδίσαντές τε καὶ ἐπαγκωνισάμενοι καί γε δεσμὸν ἐμβαλόντες τῷ στόματι ἀφιᾶσιν. ἐκεῖνοι δ' ὡς εἶχον ὑπὸ κλεισὶ τὴν φυλακὴν σφραγίσαντες, ὡς μὴ ἐκκυλισθὲν τὸ παι δίον ἐμφανὲς πρὸ καιροῦ τὸ δρᾶμα ποιήσειεν, ὑπὸ πρώτας φυ λακὰς τῆς νυκτὸς ἐξίασι. τῷ γὰρ Ἐρρῇ, ὥσπερ αἱ φυλακαί, οὕτω καὶ αἱ τῆς πύλης τῆς ἐκεῖ κλεῖδες ἐπιτετράφατο. ὡς ἂν δὲ μὴ δόξῃ δόλος τὸ δρώμενον, ἐκεῖνος κάτωθεν τοῖς φύλαξιν ἐκφωνεῖ, διυπνίζων δῆθεν πρὸς τὴν τῶν κατεχομένων φυλακήν, ὡς αὐτοῦ γε τάχα ἐν ἀπορρήτοις δουλείαις σχολάζοντος· καὶ 75 γάρ τινες ἰδόντες οὐδὲν ἄλλο ὑπενόουν τότε ἢ ὅτι ὁρισθὲν πρὸς βασιλέως δι' ἀπορρήτων αὐτὸς οἰκονομοίη τὰ προσταττόμενα καὶ τοὺς ὁρισθέντας ἐκφέρει νυκτὸς ὅπου ἂν καὶ προστάσσοιτο. ἐκεῖ νοι δὲ τὰς φυλακὰς ὑποδραμοῦντες ἐπιβαίνουσι τῆς νηός. καὶ ἦν αὐτοῖς ὡς καὶ πᾶσι γνωσθέντος ὁ νοῦς ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἀναμφιβό λοις, ὡς οὐδὲν ἐμποδὼν ἐσεῖται δυοῖν ἢ καὶ τριῶν ἡμερῶν τῇ Εὐρίπῳ προσσχεῖν καὶ τῶν τῆς φυγῆς ἀνεθῆναι φόβων, τῆς ἀδελ φῆς κυριευούσης τῆς νήσου. ἀλλ' ἡ παλίμπους περιίστατο δίκη, καὶ τὰ τῶν φονευθέντων αἵματα δεσμὸς ἦν τὴν πρόσω πορείαν κωλύων ἄρρηκτός τε καὶ ἄλυτος. ἀντιπνεῖ γὰρ ἐξαίφνης πνεῦμα βίαιον νότου, ὡς καὶ τὰς ἐλλιμενιζούσας ἐξοκέλλειν ἐκ βίας, καὶ ἄνεμος ἐμποδὼν ἔστη παρανομήσασιν. οὐ γὰρ μίαν ἢ καὶ δευ τέραν ἡμέραν ἠπλόει ἐκ βιαίων