and to be associated with their procession, where they will speak ill of it. Only you too keep this, o secretary, as a secret for a time. 34.12 And having arranged the orders, I received them, and today I shall pay my respects and tomorrow likewise. And that the emir has departed from Adrianople and is coming; and let us see, lest perhaps something unwelcome meet you on the way.

35.1 Behold, on the 20th of March of the same sixtieth year, the emir came and encamped at the Strait, in order to build the fortress there; and we shall see today and tomorrow, and that by land nothing can be achieved, since it would be dangerous; behold, we will find a vessel. 35.2 In June of the same year the battle broke out and having mustered an army of those he found outside, he set out and blockaded the city. And having finished the fortress, on the 31st of August, rising up from there, he came and fell upon the moats of the city. 35.3 And on the 3rd of the month of September of the 61st year, he crossed over to Adrianople, as it seems, so that for those two days he might secretly inspect the fortress well and the things of the fortress. 35.4 And at the same time in autumn, Turahan came with his sons and a large army to the Morea, at which time also his son was captured by the Moreotes. 35.5 And on the 17th of the month of January of the same year was born also the successor and heir of the Palaiologan family, the lord Andreas Palaiologos. 35.6 And on the 4th of the month of April of the same year, the emir came again and encamped beside the City, besieging the city in all ways and with all engines both by land and by sea, having surrounded also the 18 miles of the city, with four hundred vessels, small and great, by sea, and two hundred thousand men by land, while the city, of so great a size, had for its defense 4,773 men, not counting the foreigners, who were barely 200 or a little more. 35.7 I, then, knew this to be so for such a reason. For when the emperor commanded the demarchs, each one wrote down for his own district precisely the number of those able to stand in the fortress, both laymen and monks, and what kind of arms each one of them had for defense; and bringing it, each of the demarchs gave the register of his own district to the emperor. 35.8 Then he directs me: This task concerns you and no one else, because you know how both to count well and to guard well what needs guarding and is secret; and take the registers and sitting in your house, calculate precisely, how many men there are and how many arms and how many lances and how many shields and how many bows. And having carried out his order, I brought and gave to my lord and emperor the little register with much grief and gloominess. And the number remained secret only to him and to me. 35.9 And on the 29th of May, a Tuesday, at the beginning of the hour of the day, the emir took the City, at which hour of the capture of the city my late lord and emperor, lord Constantine, was killed and died, as I was not found near him at that hour, but by his order was at the inspection, supposedly, of another part of the city, alas, alas for me, as I do not know for what occasion Providence was preserving me. 35.10 And the whole life of this late emperor and martyr was 49 years, 3 months and 20 days, of which he was emperor for 4 years, 4 months and 24 days, being the eighth emperor of his family of the Palaiologoi. For the 1st was Michael, the 2nd Andronikos, the 3rd Michael, the 4th Andronikos, the 5th John, the 6th Manuel, the 7th John and the eighth Constantine. And this family of the Palaiologoi ruled and reigned over this Constantinople for one hundred ninety-four years, ten months and 4 days. 35.11 I, therefore, having been captured and having endured all the difficult and evil things of captivity, miserable one, finally having been ransomed on the 1st of September of the 62nd year, I escaped to Mystras, of my wife and

καὶ συγγενεῖν εἰς τὴν πομπὴν ἐκεί νων, ὁποῦ νά το κακίσουν. Μόνον καὶ σὺ ἔχε τοῦτο, γραμματικέ, ὡσὰν ἀπόκρυφον μέχρι τινός. 34.12 Καὶ ἐξοικονομήσας τοὺς ὁρισμοὺς ἔλαβον αὐτοὺς καὶ σήμερον νὰ προσκυνήσω καὶ αὔριον ὁμοίως. Καὶ ὅτι ὁ ἀμηρᾶς ἐξῆλθε τῆς Ἀνδριανουπόλεως καὶ ἔρχεται· καὶ ἂς ἴδωμεν, μή ποτε καὶ καθ' ὁδὸν συναντήσῃ σοί τι ἀπευκταῖον.

35.1 Ἰδοὺ τῇ κ-ῃ Μαρτίου τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἑξηκοστοῦ ἔτους ἦλθεν ὁ ἀμηρᾶς καὶ ἔπεσεν εἰς τὸ Στενόν, ἵνα ἐκεῖσε κτήσῃ τὸ κάστρον· καὶ σήμερον νὰ ἴδωμεν καὶ αὔριον καὶ ὅτι διὰ τῆς στερεᾶς οὐδὲν τυχένει, ἐπεὶ ἐπικίνδυνον θέλει εἶσθεν· ἰδοὺ εὑρεῖν θέλομεν πλεύσιμον. 35.2 Τὸν Ἰούνιον τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους ἀπεσκεπάσθη ἡ μάχη καὶ πηλαλή σαντος φωσάτου, οὓς ἔξωθεν εὗρεν, ἀπῆρε καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀπέκλεισε. Καὶ τελέσας τὸ κάστρον, τῇ λα-ῃ τοῦ Αὐγούστου ἐγερθεὶς ἀπ' ἐκεῖ, ἐλθὼν ἔπεσεν εἰς τὰς σούδας τῆς πόλεως. 35.3 Καὶ τῇ γ-ῃ τοῦ Σεπτεβρίου μηνὸς τοῦ ξα-ου ἔτους διέβη εἰς τὴν Ἀνδριανούπολιν, ὡς φαίνεται, ὅτι τὰς δύο ἡμέρας αὐτὰς ἵνα κρυφίως ἴδῃ τὸ κάστρον καλῶς καὶ τὰ τοῦ κάστρου. 35.4 Καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ φθινοπώρῳ ἦλθεν ὁ Τουραχάνης μετὰ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ πολλοῦ φωσάτου εἰς τὸν Μορέαν, ἐν ᾧ καιρῷ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἑάλω ὑπὸ τῶν Μοραϊτῶν. 35.5 Καὶ τῇ ιζ-ῃ τοῦ Ἰαννουαρίου μηνὸς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους ἐγεννήθη καὶ ὁ τῶν Παλαιολόγων γένους διάδοχος καὶ κληρονόμος ὁ κὺρ Ἀνδρέας ὁ Παλαιολόγος. 35.6 Καὶ τῇ δ-ῃ τοῦ Ἀπριλλίου μηνὸς τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔτους ἦλθε πάλιν ὁ ἀμηρᾶς καὶ παρέπεσε τὴν Πόλιν πολιορκῶν τὴν πόλιν πᾶσι τρόποις καὶ πάσαις μηχαναῖς διά τε γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης, περικυκλώσας καὶ τὰ ιηʹ μίλια τῆς πόλεως, τετρακοσίων πλευσίμων ὄντων ἀπὸ τὴν θάλασσαν μικρῶν καὶ μεγάλων, διακοσίων δὲ χιλιάδων ἀνδρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς στερεᾶς, ἐχούσης τῆς πόλεως, τῆς τοσαύτης εἰς μέγεθος, ἄνδρας πρὸς ἀντιπαρά ταξιν ʹδψογʹ ἄνευ τῶν ξένων μόλις ὄντων σ-ων ἢ μικρόν τι πρός. 35.7 Ἔγνων οὖν ἐγὼ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχον ἀπὸ αἰτίας τοιαύτης. Τοῦ γὰρ βασιλέως προστάξαντος τοῖς δημάρχοις ἔγραψεν εἷς ἕκαστος τὴν δημαρ χίαν αὑτοῦ ἀκριβῶς τοῦ δυναμένου σταθῆν ἐν τῷ καστρῷ κοσμικοῦ καὶ καλογέρου καὶ τὶ καὶ τὶ ἅρμα πρὸς ἄμυναν νὰ ἔχῃ εἷς ἕκαστος αὐτῶν· καὶ φέροντες, εἷς ἕκαστος τῶν δημάρχων δέδωκε τὸ κατάστιχον τῆς αὑτοῦ δημαρχίας τῷ βασιλεῖ. 35.8 Εἶτα ὁρίζει πρὸς ἐμέ· Αὕτη ἡ δουλεία πρὸς σὲ ἀφορᾷ καὶ οὐ πρὸς ἄλλον τινὰ διὰ τὸ ἐπίστασθαί σε καὶ καλῶς ἀριθμεῖν καὶ καλῶς φυ λάσσειν τὰ φυλακῆς δεόμενα καὶ ἀπόκρυφα· καὶ λαβὲ τὰ κατάστιχα καὶ καθίσας εἰς τὸ ὁσπίτιόν σου, λογαρίασε ἀκριβῶς, πόσοι εἰσὶν ἄν θρωποι καὶ πόσα ἅρματα καὶ πόσα κοντάρια καὶ πόσα σκουτάρια καὶ πόσα τοξάρια. Καὶ ἐκτελέσας τὸν ὁρισμὸν αὐτοῦ φέρων δέδωκα τῷ αὐ θέντῃ μου καὶ βασιλεῖ τὸ καταστιχόπουλον μετὰ λύπης καὶ σκυθρωπό τητος ὅτι πολλῆς. Καὶ ἔμεινεν μόνον ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ ἡ ποσότης εἰς ἐκεῖ νον καὶ ἐμέ. 35.9 Καὶ τῇ κθ-ῃ Μαΐου, ἡμέρᾳ γ-ῃ, ὥρᾳ τῆς ἡμέρας ἀρχῇ ἀπῆρε τὴν Πόλιν ὁ ἀμηρᾶς, ἐν ᾗ ὥρᾳ καὶ ἁλώσει τῆς πόλεως καὶ ὁ μακαρίτης αὐ θέντης μου καὶ βασιλεὺς κὺρ Κωνσταντῖνος σκοτωθεὶς ἀπέθανεν, ἐμοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ οὐχ εὑρεθέντος τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, ἀλλὰ προστάξει ἐκείνου εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν δῆθεν ἄλλου μέρους τῆς πόλεως, ἰού, ἰοὺ κἀμοί, τῆς προ νοίας οὐκ εἶδ' εἰς τίνα με καιρὸν φυλαττούσης. 35.10 Ἦν δὲ ἡ πᾶσα ζωὴ αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ μακαρίτου βασιλέως καὶ μάρ τυρος χρόνοι μθʹ καὶ μῆνες γʹ καὶ ἡμέραι κʹ, ὧν ἦν βασιλεὺς χρόνους δʹ, μῆνας δʹ καὶ ἡμέρας κδʹ, ὄγδοος βασιλεὺς τοῦ γένους αὐτοῦ τῶν Πα λαιολόγων ὑπάρχων. Ὁ γὰρ α-ος ἦν Μιχαήλ, ὁ β-ος Ἀνδρόνικος, ὁ γ-ος Μιχαήλ, ὁ δ-ος Ἀνδρόνικος, ὁ ε-ος Ἰωάννης, ὁ -ος Μανουήλ, ὁ ζ- οςἸωάννης καὶ ὁ ὄγδοος Κωνσταντῖνος. Ἦρχον δὲ καὶ ἐβασίλευον ταύτην δὴ τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν τὸ τούτων γένος τῶν Παλαιολόγων χρόνους ἑκατὸν ἐνενήκοντα τέσσαρας καὶ μῆνας δέκα καὶ ἡμέρας δʹ. 35.11 Ἁλοὺς οὖν ἐγὼ καὶ πάντα τὰ δυσχερῆ καὶ κακὰ τῆς αἰχμαλω σίας ὑπενεγκὼν ὁ ἄθλιος, τέλος ἐξαγορασθεὶς τῇ α-ῃ Σεπτεβρίου τοῦ ξβ-ου ἔτους εἰς τὸν Μυζηθρᾶν ἀπέσωσα, τῆς γυναικός μου καὶ