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,

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 such a degree that for himself he managed to amass a fat fortune from such a good thing, of which what did the wretch enjoy? but to inflict a famine upon the city, so that, if the sword of the enemy had not quickly struck, they would have been in danger of devouring one another. He was also the cause of a shortage of men for this city. For having filled his hands with many things he should not have, he let those who wished to desert and flee the fatherland go wherever they wanted. And the very wealthy, securing their safety in this way, accomplished something even worse. For by hiring from among the common people as many as were skillful of hand and strong, both to bring down a club and to hurl a stone a long way and to operate a machine and to string a bow and to shoot, they departed from the fatherland and thus deprived it of defenders, and for themselves, like generals, they persuaded such an army to follow them, persuading them with gifts. And if anyone suggested to him, and especially we who were not very much afraid, that it was not good for the city for this to happen, yet in this the man was not bearable, complaining and being indignant if he were blamed for having overlooked the city becoming so empty of men. But the chief of these evils that befell us was also the failure of the most necessary water. For as the cistern of the acropolis had long been idle and it was necessary for it to be repaired, having been restored where it had been worn out by time, this was done, with difficulty, but still it was done. And a certain one of the army, not an obscure man, that was Leo Mazidas, approving of the matter and praising it, 78 urged David that some days be spent after the work, so that the vessel, having been sealed, might be able to keep the entrusted water securely, because no necessity was as yet imposed, as the enemy were not yet attacking, but were somewhere farther away. And the word pleased David, at least so it seemed. But a wind, snatching the word of Mazidas, carried it away, and having buried it in forgetfulness, caused a shoot to grow from David's mind, which ripened into the trunk of a great evil. For it was not yet late evening and the water from Chortaës, released to run freely into the vessel, announced its course with a gurgle. And Mazidas, happening to be passing by and hearing what was happening, runs in haste to David and reminds him, bringing up what he had said. And David, pretending to be indignant, alleged that he had forgotten. But having heard that the water should be held back, as it was possible for the good thing to be done again later, he refused, ordering that the water be allowed to flow. And so it flowed in, but the cistern sent out what it received, the recent repair having been dissolved by which the water, wiping it away, washed away the wet plaster. And not many days had passed and the vessel was empty. Whence all our hopes in the acropolis were emptied along with it, and no one any longer looked up to it. And so we, having packed up to go there, if indeed there was violence, and having gathered our necessities, when we learned that the water was lost, our hopefulness collapsed, and having distributed the provisions there, we were reduced only to being afraid and praying. Who then would separate such things from what is akin to treachery? For even if there was nowhere here a pact with the enemy (for so it must be put), nor gratification for gifts out of a reluctance to bring both his brother and his mother into the inescapable nets of Andronikos, but the very act of extreme negligence and considering so great a city and all the people in it of little account, and perhaps even the general's praying for the time of the capture to be shortened, if somehow escaping the emperor's presence he might fly to the crows, would be very much akin to betrayal, and perhaps even worse, as some master of speaking might contend. And one who is wise in reasoning would at least identify these things as being of the same kind. So too a helmsman of a ship, not by chance but for pay, if he should bear a grudge against the one who chartered the ship to the greatest possible extent, he sometimes remains with it when it is in danger, but he speaks things that are of no help, and he acts not idly and the

πλέον δέ τι μὴ περιεργάζεσθαι, εἰ μὴ κακὰ αἱροῖντο πείσεσθαι. Σῖτον ἐπαρκέσειν τῇ πόλει ὀφείλων, ὁ δ' ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀπημέλησεν, ὡς ἑαυτῷ μὲν λαβῇ τοῦ τοιούτου καλοῦ πλοῦτον παχὺν περιθέσθαι, οὗ τί ὁ ἄθλιος ἀπώνατο; τῇ δὲ πόλει ἐγκαταστῆσαι λιμόν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ ταχὺ κατέσπασεν ὁ τῶν πολεμίων σίδηρος, ἀλλήλους ἂν κινδυνεῦσαι καταφαγεῖν. Γέγονε καὶ λειπανδρίας τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ αἴτιος. Πληρώσας γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖς τὰς χεῖρας ὧν οὐκ ἐχρῆν, ἀφίει τοὺς ἐθέλοντας λειποτακτεῖν καὶ φεύγειν τὴν πατρίδα, ὅποι βούλοιντο. Καὶ οἱ βαρύπλουτοι περιποιούμενοι οὕτω τὸ σῴζεσθαι ἀπετέλουν καί τι χεῖρον. Μισθαρνοῦντες γὰρ τῶν δημοτικῶν, ὅσοι δεξιοὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ βριαροὶ ῥάβδον τε κατενεγκεῖν καὶ λίθον μακρὰν ἀφεῖναι καὶ μηχανὴν διαχειρίσασθαι καὶ τόξου νευρὰν ἐντεῖναι καὶ βαλεῖν, ἐξεχώρουν τῆς πατρίδος καὶ αὐτὴν μὲν ἀπεστέρουν οὕτως ἀμυντήρων, ἑαυτοῖς δὲ ὅσα καὶ στρατηγοῖς ἔπειθον τοιοῦτον ἀκολουθεῖν στρατόν, δώροις πείθοντες. Κἄν τις αὐτῷ ὑπηγόρευσε, καὶ μάλιστά γε ἡμεῖς οἱ μὴ πάνυ τι δεδιότες, ὡς οὐκ ἀγαθὸν τῇ πόλει τὸ οὕτω γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα οὐκ ἦν φορητὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, σχετλιάζων καὶ δυσανασχετῶν εἰ μεμφθείη ὡς περιιδὼν γενομένην οὕτω τὴν πόλιν κένανδρον. Τὸ δὲ δὴ κορυφαῖον ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς τούτοις κακοῖς καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀναγκαιοτάτου ὕδατος ἔκλειψις ἦν. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως δεξαμενὴ ἀργῶς ἐκ μακροῦ εἶχε καὶ ἐχρῆν ἀναποιηθῆναι αὐτὴν ἐκθεραπευθεῖσαν ἔνθα χρόνῳ καταπεπόνητο, ἐγίνετο τοῦτο μόλις μέν, ἀλλ' οὖν. Καί τις τῶν τῆς στρατιᾶς, οὐκ ἀφανής, Λέων ἦν ἐκεῖνος ὁ Μαζιδᾶς, ἀποδεξάμενος τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ ἐπαινέσας, 78 παρεκάλεσε τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἡμέρας τριβῆναί τινας μετὰ τὸ ἔργον, ἵνα στεγανωθὲν τὸ ἀγγεῖον ἔχῃ φυλάττειν τὸ πιστευθὲν ὕδωρ ἀσφαλῶς διὰ τὸ μηδὲ ἀνάγκην τέως ἐπιτεθεῖσθαί τινα, οἶα τῶν πολεμίων οὔπω ἐπικειμένων, ἀλλὰ πορρωτέρω που διεστώτων. Καὶ ἤρεσεν ὁ λόγος τῷ δαυΐδ, ὅσα γε δόξαι. Ἄνεμος δὲ ἀφαρπάσας τὸν τοῦ Μαζιδᾶ λόγον ἀπήγαγε καὶ λήθῃ καταχώσας τὸ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ φρονοῦν ἀνέφυσε βλάστην, ἁδρυνθεῖσαν εἰς πρέμνον μεγάλου κακοῦ. Οὔπω γὰρ ἦν ὀψία δείλη καὶ τὸ Χορταῆθεν ὕδωρ, ἀπολυθὲν θέειν κατὰ τοῦ σκεύους ἐλεύθερον, κατηγόρει τὸν δρόμον τῷ κελαρισμῷ. Καὶ ὁ Μαζιδᾶς παροδεύειν τυχὼν καὶ ἀκούσας ὃ ἐγίνετο, τρέχει σπεύδων ἐπὶ τὸν ∆αυῒδ καὶ ἀναμιμνήσκει προενεγκὼν ἃ εἶπε. Καὶ ὁ ∆αυΐδ, ἀγανακτῆσαι σκηψάμενος, προυβάλετο λαθέσθαι. Ἀκούσας δὲ δεῖν ἐπισχεθῆναι τὸ ὕδωρ, ὡς ἐγχωροῦν γενέσθαι καὶ εἰσαῦθις τὸ καλόν, ἀπηνήνατο, ἐπιτάξας ἀφίεσθαι ῥέειν τὸ ὕδωρ. Καὶ τοίνυν αὐτὸ μὲν εἰσέρρεεν, ἡ δεξαμενὴ δὲ ἐξέπεμπεν ὃ ἐδέχετο, ἀναλυθείσης τῆς προσφάτου ἐπιποιήσεως οἷς τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπαλεῖψαν τὴν ὑγρὰν παρέσυρε τίτανον. Καὶ οὐ πολλαὶ ἡμέραι ᾤχοντο καὶ ἦν τὸ ἀγγεῖον κενόν. Ὅθεν συνεξεκενώθησαν ἡμῖν ἅπασαι αἱ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀκροπόλει ἐλπίδες καὶ οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς ἀνέβλεπεν εἰς αὐτήν. Καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν συσκευασάμενοι ἐκεῖσε καταντήσειν, εἴπερ βία, καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα συγκομισάμενοι, ἐπεὶ μάθοιμεν ἀπολωλέναι τὸ ὕδωρ, συγκατερρύημεν τὸ εὔελπι καὶ διανείμαντες ἐκεῖ τὴν συγκομιδὴν μόνου τοῦ δειλιᾶν καὶ εὔχεσθαι κατέστημεν. Τίς ἂν δὴ ἀπαγάγοι τὰ τοιαῦτα τοῦ κατὰ προδοσίαν συγγενικοῦ; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μηδαμοῦ ἐνταῦθα συνθήκη πρὸς πολεμίους, θετέον γὰρ οὕτω, οὐδὲ ἀρέσκεια ἐπὶ δώροις φειδοῖ τοῦ ἐμπελάσαι τόν τε ἀδελφὸν τήν τε μητέρα τοῖς τοῦ Ἀνδρονίκου ἀφύκτοις λίνοις, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ δὴ τὸ ἄκρως ἀμελεῖν καὶ παρὰ φαῦλον τὴν τοσαύτην πόλιν τίθεσθαι καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ πάντα λαὸν καί που καὶ εὔχεσθαι τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐπιτμηθῆναι τὸν τῆς ἁλώσεως χρόνον, εἴ πως ἐκφυγὼν τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως πρόσωπον ἐς κόρακας πτερύξεται, συγγενὲς ἂν εἴη μάλα τῷ προδιδόναι, καί που καὶ χεῖρον, ὡς ἄν τις τοῦ λαλεῖν τεχνίτης ἐπαγωνίσαιτο. Καὶ ὁ λογίζεσθαι συνετὸς ταυτίζοι γοῦν ταῦτ' ἂν κατὰ τὸ σύστοιχον. Οὕτω καὶ οἰακοστρόφος νεὼς οὐ κατὰ κυρείαν ἀλλὰ μισθοῦ εἰ τῷ κεφαλαιωσαμένῳ τὴν ναῦν ἐγκοτοίη ἐς ὅσον οὐκ ἔστι πλέον ἐπιτεῖναι, παραμένει μέν ποτε κινδυνευούσῃ, λαλεῖ δὲ ἀσυντελῆ καὶ πράττει οὐκ ἀρρᾳθύμως καὶ τὴν