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 see me," perhaps longed at that moment to happen upon some Pegasus, by which he might take wing either to a mountain or to the wave of the loud-roaring sea, but was content nonetheless with his dear she-mule, which also then had the lot of carrying him. And fleeing in an exemplary fashion, delicate to behold, with a well-woven mantle, his hands unworn by weapons, suited for the gymnasium, unstained by blood, he had almost all of them following him as if they were rams. For in so great a multitude there were also great-hearted men, who, having resisted while the general freely pursued himself into flight, some fell blessedly and nobly, while others, having acted bravely, gave way, where indeed that battle-spear and the barbarians who went up with him at the beginning were shaken by some of our citizens, not soldiers. Indeed, the citizens held out with all their might until, being surrounded, they saw the danger, not terrified by the panic fear of David, but remembering to harm especially inside the city those whom they were eager to hurt outside, if they were allowed. But that they were encircled was not from above, but from the barbarians who rushed in from the eastern gates, which the general, opened since morning, had granted to the enemies for an effortless infiltration, when, having attempted to flee, he permitted the one encamping with him to flee up to the acropolis, leaving the gates, he himself saying, to use his very words, that he was feverish, as those who heard it report. Thus, then, when the battle-spear appeared upon the wall, already stripped of our men (I mean the eastern one; for the western one did not have such defenders, but some of those men held out as manfully as could be, among whom was especially Leo Koutalas, a man full of sense and strength and courage, who until even about the time of the full market, the city being already filled with those we did not want, resisted, then, having help from no one, gave way, and being fortunately stripped, he won himself gloriously, at that time much lamented by us, but now ranked among the first of the praised, at least by us who know) so when that spear appeared on high, as was said, with its customary inclination and dip, as if by some nod of the head or even by a gesture of the hand summoning those outside, a short interval of an hour 104 passed and the city was full of the enemy, August bringing around the twenty-fourth day since it began, first those of the navy, then in connection also those of the cavalry. And one could see the day then no longer a day, but like night and as if suffering and looking gloomy at what it saw. For a deep mist thickened it, as if from dust, which either a whirlwind raises or the feet of animals, which number measures as countless, so that one might say the sun hesitated to shine on those whose brightness of arms outshone it, and to parody from the ancient Muse, the vessel of the city "sailed the sea for eighteen days," "and on the nineteenth shadowy mountains appeared," through which the sun of our life, being walled off, was blackening a shadow that would cover us, as in the Psalms. And the war-cries of yesterday and the day before and the shouts of battle and the din from them were no more, but, reversing the Psalm, there was no war-cry among our multitudes. And you would have seen the air empty of flying birds, I know not whether because of the gloominess of the air or because the matter was dreadful even to them. At any rate, for a good number of days neither sparrows nor doves nor crows, which formerly were native to our area, nor any other bird traversed the air, but displaced they grazed, invisible to us. But this was so for a considerable time even after the capture, as fear remained even with the irrational creatures. For many days later, the streets of the city were full of all sorts of seeds, in which the seed-eating birds rejoice (for the barbarian did not cease plundering and emptying), but no bird from anywhere descended.

τοῖς ἐχθροῖς. Καὶ τῶν στρατιωτικῶν φωνούντων λεωφορουμένῃ βοῇ τὸ «Κομνηνέ, στάμα καὶ πέζευμα», ὁ δ' ἐπιτελεύτιον οἷον ἀντιμύξας τὸ «καβαλλίκευμα» καὶ τὸ «καθά με βλέπετε», ἐπόθει μὲν ἴσως παρατυχεῖν που τὸ τηνικαῦτα Πήγασόν τινα, δι' οὗ πτερύξεται εἰς ὄρος εἴθε ἢ εἰς κῦμα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης, ἠρκέσθη δὲ ὅμως τῇ φίλῃ ἡμιόνῳ, ἣ καὶ τότε φέρειν αὐτὸν ἔλαχε. Καὶ παραδειγματικῶς προφεύγων, τρυφερὸς ἰδεῖν, εὔυφος τὴν ἀναβολήν, ἄτριπτος ὅπλοις τὰς χεῖρας, γυμνασίῳ πρέπων, ἀμίαντος αἵματι, εἶχεν ὡσεὶ καὶ κτίλος ἐφεπομένους τοὺς ἅπαντας παρά τι ὀλίγον. Ἦσαν γὰρ ἐν τοσούτῳ πλήθει καὶ μεγάθυμοι ἄνδρες, οἳ καὶ ἀντισταθέντες ἐν τῷ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἄνετα διώκειν ἑαυτὸν εἰς φυγήν, οἱ μὲν ἔπεσον μακαρίως καὶ εὐγενῶς, οἱ δὲ γενναῖα δράσαντες ἐνδεδώκασιν, ὅπου γε καὶ τὸ πολεμικὸν ἐκεῖνο δόρυ καὶ οἱ συναναβάντες τὴν ἀρχὴν βάρβαροι κατεσείσθησαν ὑπό τινων ἡμετέρων πολιτῶν, οὔκουν γε στρατιωτῶν. Οἱ δὴ πολῖται καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἀντέσχον, ἕως κυκλωθέντες εἶδον κίνδυνον, οὐ πτυρέντες δείματι πανικῷ τῷ τοῦ ∆αυΐδ, ἀλλὰ μεμνημένοι βλάπτειν ἔσω μάλιστα πόλεως οὓς καὶ ἐκτὸς ὥρμαινον σίνεσθαι, εἴπερ ἀφίεντο. Ὃ δὲ ἐτροχαλώθησαν οὗτοι κύκλωμα, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν ἦν, ἀλλὰ τῶν εἰσδραμόντων βαρβάρων ἐκ τῶν ἑῴων πυλῶν, ἃς ὁ στρατηγὸς ἀνεῳγμένας ἕωθεν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐχαρίσατο εἰς παρείσδυσιν ἄπονον, ἐπειδὰν ἐγχειρήσας φυγεῖν ἐπέτρεψε τῷ κατεπανεύοντι συναναφεύγειν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ἐάσαντα τὰς πύλας, αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν ἐκείνου φάναι λόγον, πυρέσσειν, ὡς οἱ ἀκηκοότες διδάσκουσιν. Οὕτω δὴ οὖν τοῦ πολεμικοῦ δόρατος ἀναφανέντος ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους, ἤδη ἐψιλωμένου τῶν ἡμετέρων (λέγω δὴ τοῦ ἑῴου· τὸ γὰρ δυσμικὸν οὐ τοιούτους εἶχε προμάχους, ἀλλὰ τῶν τινες ἐκείνων ἀντεῖχον ὡς οὐκ ἂν εἴη ἀνδρικώτερον, ὧν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα Λέων ὁ Κουταλᾶς, καὶ φρενῶν καὶ ῥώμης καὶ ἀνδρίας πλήρης ἀνήρ, ὃς ἕως καὶ περὶ πλήθουσαν ἀγοράν, τῆς πόλεως ἤδη μεμεστωμένης ὧν οὐκ ἠθέλομεν, ἀντιστάς, εἶτα, πρὸς οὐδενὸς ἔχων ἐπικουρίαν, καθυφῆκε, καὶ εὐτυχῶς γυμνωθείς, ἐκέρδανεν ἑαυτὸν εὐκλεῶς, τότε μὲν πολλὰ κεκλαυμένος ὑφ' ἡμῶν, ἄρτι δὲ ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἐπαινουμένων πρώτοις ταττόμενος παρά γε ἡμῖν, οἵπερ οἴδαμεν) τοῦ τοίνυν ὑψοῦ, ὡς ἐρρέθη, φανέντος δόρατος ἐκείνου τῇ συνήθει μετακλίσει καὶ κατακύψει, ὡσεὶ καί τινι κατανεύσει κεφαλῆς ἢ καὶ χειρὸς νεύματι μετακαλουμένου τοὺς ἔξω, βραχύ τι ὥρας μέσον 104 ἦν καὶ ἡ πόλις πλήρης ἦν τῶν πολεμίων, περιάγοντος Αὐγούστου τετάρτην καὶ εἰκοστὴν ἡμέραν ἐξ ὅτου ἐνέστη, πρῶτα μὲν τῶν τοῦ ναυτικοῦ, εἶτα κατὰ συνάφειαν καὶ τοῦ ἱππικοῦ. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν τότε οὐκέθ' ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ νυκτὶ ἐοικυῖαν καὶ οἷον παθαινομένην καὶ σκυθρωπάζουσαν ἐφ' οἷς ἑώρα. Ὁμίχλη γὰρ αὐτὴν βαθεῖα ἐπάχυνεν, ὡσεὶ καὶ ἐκ κονιορτοῦ, ὃν ἢ τυφὼς αἴρει ἢ πόδες ζῴων, ἅπερ ἀριθμὸς μετρεῖ ἀπειροπληθής, ὡς εἶναι εἰπεῖν ὀκνεῖν λάμπειν τὸν ἥλιον οἷς αἱ τῶν ὅπλων ὑπερηύγαζον αὐτὸν λαμπρότητες, παρῳδῆσαι δὲ καὶ ἐκ παλαιᾶς Μούσης «ὀκτωκαίδεκα μὲν πλέεν ἤματα ποντοπορεῦον» τὸ τῆς πόλεως σκάφος, «ἐννεακαιδεκάτῃ δ' ἐφάνη οὔρεα σκιόεντα», δι' ὧν ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῖν ἥλιος ἀποτειχιζόμενος ἐμέλαινε σκιὰν ἐπικαλύψουσαν ἡμᾶς ψαλμικῶς. Οἱ δὲ χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἀλαλαγμοὶ καὶ αἱ κατὰ πόλεμον βοαὶ καὶ ὁ ἐντεῦθεν θροῦς οὐκέτ' ἦσαν, ἀλλ' ἀντιστρέψαντα τὸ ψαλμικόν, οὐκ ἦν ἀλαλαγμὸς ἐν τοῖς ἡμῶν πλήθεσιν. Εἶδες δ' ἂν καὶ ὀρνέων πετομένων κενὸν τὸν ἀέρα, οὐκ οἶδ' εἴτε διὰ τὸ τοῦ ἀέρος στυγνὸν εἴτε καὶ ὅτι φρικτὸν ἦν καὶ ἐκείνοις τὸ πρᾶγμα. Ἡμέραι γοῦν ἱκαναὶ καὶ οὐδαμοῦ οὔτε στρουθοὶ οὔτε πέλειαι οὔτε κόρακες, οἳ τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς πρῴην ἐπεχωρίαζον, οὔτε ἄλλος τις ὄρνις τὸν ἀέρα διενήχοντο, ἀλλ' ἐκτετοπισμένα ἐνέμοντο καὶ ἡμῖν ἄφαντα. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν ἐφ' ἱκανόν, οἷα τοῦ δέους καὶ τοῖς ἀλόγοις παραμένοντος. Ἡμέραι γὰρ ὕστερον συχναί, καὶ αἱ μὲν ἄμφοδοι τῆς πόλεως ἔπληθον σπορίμων παντοδαπῶν, οἷς χαίρουσιν οἱ τῶν ὀρνίθων σπερμοφάγοι (τὸ βάρβαρον γὰρ οὐκ ἀνίει ἁρπάζον καὶ κατακενοῦν), ὄρνις δέ ποθεν οὐ κατέβαινε.