to happen? Well then, give him that of the great primikerios, which is after the stratopedarches. 34.5 And he orders him: He told me beforehand that he does not want any, if it is the greater, if another has it. How will he accept it? However, say this to him and let us hear. 34.6 He comes and says to me that concerning the office of the great kontostavlos, he orders that because his father-in-law is the great kontostavlos, he will benefit neither you nor another with this; but that he should benefit you with that of the great primikerios, which is even before this one. But I said to him that if it were even first of the great doux, I do not want it, since another also has it. The discussion was ended. 34.7 And when I had taken counsel with my relatives and friends and household, it seemed good that the matter concerning the offices should be, that I should depart for the Morea and Cyprus, and that I should take with me also my most excellent son, better than almost all his peers, and the greater part of my movable property, and that we should depart from the mainland and that he should see the places and be educated in anything useful in life; and so that they might teach us the things of the emir, and, if it should happen, that I should leave my son in the Morea with my property among his genuine relatives on his mother's side, or that he should return again with me. For this reason, the thought of the battle persuaded his mother, and she consented to my departure again. 34.8 When I had arranged everything necessary for the journey and only the documents were left, one day when I had gone to the palace, I entered the emperor's chamber, as was my custom. And when I did not find the emperor there, upon asking, they told me that in the tetrasaron, another house near his chamber, he was meeting with the priest Antonios of Rhodes. And after waiting a little, behold the emperor, breathing wrath, and he commands me: "Did you see him, and I omit the insult, your intermediary; you asked for the office of the great kontostavlos; and I said to him that 'I will give this neither to him nor to any other,' for the reasons I stated. And I mentioned that of the great logothetes; and he said that he would go, so that Palaiologos the great stratopedarches might hang himself, because I am making you before him. And today he sent the sheep, the priest Antonios, that, since he asked that we honor his little dandies, he asks that we make the first great logothetes and the second great kontostavlos, since he now also rules the logatoroi, which is the service of the same office. 34.9 Therefore I say to you, that to them, if he wishes, I will give other, smaller offices, which will still be even beyond their worth; but you, have that of the great logothetes. But this only I ask of you, that for many reasons of the time and of these rulers, you do not pay me homage in a festive ceremony on account of it, but that the secretary write it for you in the letters to my brothers and the queen and simply to all to whom he is about to write, that the great logothetes is coming there. And you in turn will write it here to me and to yours; and you will put it into their mouth, and if it seems harsh or bitter to them, in the end they will swallow it. 34.10 And I apologized: Many years to your holy majesty, but I beg and implore you that for my sake there be nothing that might cause sorrow, but rather even take my skin, if it can be for the peace and gladness of your holy majesty. And he orders: You speak as a good subordinate, yet you have it for nothing; for looking at their suppositions of a supposed friendship toward you and their ways, I was grieved. But call the secretary to me here; who is there? And someone, answering, went out and called him. 34.11 And when he came, he orders him: We told you, to whom and to whom you should write <letters> of credit, that he will learn; and write that he will learn from the great logothetes so-and-so. And if we live and are present, I will write him

γενεῖν; Ἀμὴ δὸς αὐτῷ τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου πριμι κηρίου, ὁποῦ ἔνι μετὰ τὸν στρατοπεδάρχην. 34.5 Καὶ ὁρίζει πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐκεῖνος προεῖπε μοι, ὅτι οὐ δὲν θέλει κανένα, ἂν ἔνι τὸ μεγαλώτερον, ἂν ἔχῃ αὐτὸ ἄλλος. Πῶς θέλει καταδέ ξεσθεν αὐτό; Ὅμως εἰπὲ τοῦτο πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἂς ἀκούσωμεν. 34.6 Ἔρχεται καὶ λέγει πρὸς ἐμέ, ὅτι περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου κοντοσταύ λου τὸ ὀφφίκιον ὁρίζει, ὅτι διὰ τὸ εἶναι τὸν πενθερὸν αὑτοῦ μέγαν κον τόσταυλον οὔτε σὲ οὔτε ἄλλον θέλει εὐεργετήσει τοῦτο· ἀμὴ νά σε εὐερ γετήσῃ τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου πριμικηρίου, ὅπερ ἔνι καὶ πρὸ τούτου. Εἶπον δ' ἐγὼ πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐὰν ἦν καὶ πρῶτον τοῦ μεγάλου δουκός, οὐδὲν τὸ θέλω, ἐπεὶ τὸ ἔχει καὶ ἄλλος. ∆ιελύθη ὁ λόγος. 34.7 Βουλευθέντος δέ μου μετὰ τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ φίλων καὶ οἰκείων, ἐφάνη καλόν, ὅτι τὸ περὶ τῶν ὀφφικίων ἂς γένηται, νὰ ἀπέλθω δὲ εἰς τὸν Μορέαν καὶ τὴν Κύπρον, καὶ ὅτι νὰ ἐπάρω καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ καὶ τὸν ἄριστόν μου υἱὸν καὶ κρείττονα σχεδὸν πάντων τῶν συνηλικιωτῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κινητοῦ μου βίου τὸ πλέον μεριδικὸν καὶ νὰ ἀπέλθωμεν τῆς στερεᾶς καὶ νὰ ἴδῃ καὶ τοὺς τόπους καὶ νὰ παιδευθῇ εἰς πᾶν εἴ τι χρή σιμον ἐν τῷ βίῳ· καὶ πρὸς οὗ ἀναδιδάξουσιν ἡμῖν τὰ τοῦ ἀμηρᾶ καί, ἂν τυχένῃ, νὰ ἀφήσω τὸν υἱόν μου εἰς τὸν Μορέαν μὲ τὸν βίον μου εἰς τοὺς ἀπὸ μητρὸς γνησίους αὐτοῦ συγγενεῖς, ἢ πάλιν μετ' ἐμοῦ νὰ ἐπανα στρέψῃ. Ὅπερ αἴτιον καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ ἐδυσώπησεν, ὁ λογισμὸς δη λονότι τῆς μάχης καὶ συνεχώρησε τὴν πάλιν ἐξέλευσίν μου. 34.8 Ὡς δὲ πάντα τὰ χρειώδη τῆς ὁδοῦ οἰκονόμησα καὶ ἔλιπον μόνον αἱ γραφαί, μίαν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀπελθόντος μου εἰς τὸ παλάτιον, ἐσέβηκα εἰς τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως κελλίον, ὡς σύνηθές μοι. Καὶ ὡς οὐχ εὗρον ἐκεῖσε τὸν βασιλέα, ἐρωτήσας, εἶπόν μοι, ὅτι εἰς τὸ τετράσαρον, ἕτερον τοῦ κελ λίου αὐτοῦ πλησίον ὁσπίτιον, συντυχένει μετὰ τοῦ παπᾶ Ἀντωνίου τοῦ Ῥοδαίου. Καὶ προσμείνας μικρόν, ἰδοὺ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς θυμοῦ πνέων καὶ ὁρίζει πρός με· Εἰδές τον, καὶ παραλείπω τὴν ὕβριν, τὸν μεσάζον τά σου· σὺ ἐζήτησας τὸ ὀφφίκιον τοῦ μεγάλου κοντοσταύλου· καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτόν, ὅτι «τοῦτο οὔτε αὐτὸν οὔτε ἄλλον τινὰ τὸ θέλω δώ σειν», δι' ἃς αἰτίας εἶπον. Εἶπον δὲ ἐγὼ τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου λογοθέτου· καὶ εἶπεν ἐκεῖνος, ὅτι θέλει ὑπάγειν, ἵνα κρεμνήσῃ ὁ Παλαιολόγος μέγας στρατοπεδάρχης, ὅτι ποιῶ καὶ σὲ πρὸ ἐκείνου. Καὶ σήμερον ἔστειλε τὴν προβατίναν τὸν παπᾶν Ἀντώνιον, ὅτι, ἐπεὶ ἐζήτησεν, ἵνα τιμήσωμεν τὰ μουσκαράκιά του, ζητεῖ, ἵνα ποιήσωμεν τὸν πρῶτον μέγαν λογοθέτην καὶ τὸν δεύτερον μέγαν κοντόσταυλον, ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὺς λογατόρους νῦν ἐκεῖνος ἄρχει, ὅπερ ἔνι ὑπηρεσία τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὀφφικίου. 34.9 Λοιπὸν λέγω σοι, ὅτι ἐκείνους, ἂν θέλῃ, θέλω τοὺς δώσειν ἄλλα μικρότερα ὀφφίκια, ἃ ἀκόμη θέλουν εἶσθεν καὶ παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τους· σὺ δὲ ἔχε τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου λογοθέτου. Τοῦτο δὲ μόνον σὲ ζητῶ, ὅτι διὰ πολλὰ τοῦ καιροῦ καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτῶν αἴτια νὰ μηδέν με προσκυνή σῃς εἰς παράστασιν ἑορτῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ἀμὴ νά σε τὸ γράψῃ ὁ γραμματι κὸς ἐν τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφούς μου καὶ τὴν ῥήγεναν καὶ ἁπλῶς πρὸς πάντας, οὓς μέλλει γράψειν, ὅτι ἔρχεται αὐτοῦ ὁ μέγας λογοθέτης. Καὶ σὺ πάλιν θέλεις τὸ γράψειν ἐδῶ πρὸς ἐμὲ καὶ τοὺς σούς· καὶ θέλεις τὸ βάλλειν εἰς τὸ στόμα τους καί, ἂν τοὺς φανῇ δριμὺ ἢ πικρόν, τέλος θέ λουν τὸ καταπιεῖν. 34.10 Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπελογησάμην· Πολλὰ τὰ ἔτη τῆς ἁγίας βασιλείας σου, ἀμὴ δέομαί του καὶ παρακαλῶ, ὅτι δι' ἐμὲ μηδὲν ἔνι τίποτε, ὁποῦ νὰ προξενήσῃ λύπην, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ δέρμα μου ἀφαίρεσε, ἂν ἠμπο ρῇ νὰ ἔνι πρὸς εἰρήνην καὶ εὐφροσύνην τῆς ἁγίας βασιλείας σου. Κἀ κεῖνος ὁρίζει· Ὡς καλὸς ὑποχείριος λέγεις, πλὴν μηδὲν τὸ ἔχεις τίποτε· πρὸς γὰρ τὰς ὑπολήψεις αὐτῶν τῆς πρός σε τάχα φιλίας καὶ τοὺς τρό πους των ἀπιδὼν ἐλυπήθηκα. Ἀμὴ λάλησόν μοι ἐδῶ τὸν γραμματικόν· τὶς ἔνι αὐτοῦ; Καὶ ἀποκριθείς τις ἀπῆλθε καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτόν. 34.11 Καὶ ὡς ἦλθεν, ὁρίζει πρὸς αὐτόν· Εἴπομεν πρός σε, πρὸς τίνα καὶ τίνα νὰ γράψῃς <γραφὰς> πιστώσεως, ὅτι θέλει μαθεῖν· καὶ γράψε, ὅτι θέλει μαθεῖν παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου λογοθέτου τοῦ δεῖνος. Καὶ ἐὰν ζῶμεν καὶ παρέμπροσθεν, θέλω τὸν γράψειν