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 horse either had nowhere on the ground to place its foot or else had two or three dead bodies lying between its forefeet and <of the hind ones> feet. But the difficulties of the exit from the gates among so many thousands of savage Latins and all that happened outside as far as the harbors, I and the Christians who saw it wept, but I will not describe them, so that I may not speak excessively in matters I wish to abbreviate. I will summarize only this, that four thousand gold pieces were strictly demanded of us who had not even a handful of sand or dust or the common spittle in our mouths, hearing that this was a small amount from a man who manages an archbishopric which brings him a hundred centenaria—O, what wealth!—in gifts each year, and that on the ship of Siphantos, resting as was possible in expectation of the thousands which the magnificent pirates had assessed for us, for this was our good fortune to be our first lodging, being full of captives like all the rest, who, though eager to lament for us, did not have the courage to do so, but they sanctified their grief by a gathering of the face to gloominess and by a shame that squeezed out tears, such as we also, the unfortunate cargo according to them, exchanged with them; for it was not even permitted to speak to one another. Having rested then in such a ship, on the next day we were brought with similar honor to Alexios Komnenos. There the place revealed to us an iconoclastic beast, a certain Gelielmos, who had fled from Nicaea from Andronikos, that savage one, who was of a kind to kill even before eating. Who like some tragic Erinys, holding torches like her, having searched for us in the darkness—for it was already night—and having found where on the ground we were lying down not for sleep, for it too had fled from us for many nights now, but because we were not able to either sit or stand, as ones worn out by many days of evils, anathema 110 he often barbarously shouted as some evil prelude against the one who had not killed us, while some good brother of his was also present, from whom we learned that the beast was raging against the holy icons. And when we asked what was the reason we should be killed, first, growing even more angry, he replied that, if he himself had met us at the beginning, we would not now have a head, then, also explaining his anger against us, he concluded his wisdom with our being unfaithful to God, as we were faithful to Andronikos. To which things we, having become somewhat suspicious and having spoken or rather babbled various things to a madman, for we loved to have our head, we barely tamed the untamable one, so that he even embraced us and, having kissed our hand, went away. And so we found a restful night, having been delivered from his torches and talkative lips, and so did the captives who were strewn together in the house of Komnenos. And having spent a few days there with our fellow captives, and having been pitied somewhat for food, yes, and by one of his men also with copper coins, the gift of which was at that time written down for us as the treasures of Croesus (and may God have mercy on that man), then we were brought to the *kontoi*, or to speak more commonly, the counts—for I hate what is purely barbarous. I will also summarize that, having struggled long there as well, with difficulty after a moderate number of other days we were restored to the house of the saint, and that, having found Latin tribes there, and having seen both the upper and the lower parts full of other kinds of men, we were by necessity in the little garden of the house, and having given ourselves over to a stone bench of the very small bath there, we lay, with uncut grass placed under us, and that having counted eight days, in which we did not even see pure bread, but with loaves baked in ashes from bran we cheated the greediness of the stomach, and not having the good fortune of even the smell of wine, after them we partook of falsely named wine, gently and truly drop by drop, and of leavened bread and some other things, and that not even the little garden could become a haven for us from the Latin

αἵμασι, διὰ σωρείας ἑτέρων ἱππότης περιηγόμην, ὧν οἱ πλείους κατεστρωμένοι πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ἔκειντο οὕτω πεπυκνωμένοι, ὡς τὸ ἱππίδιον ἢ μὴ ἔχειν ὅποι γῆς θήσει πόδα ἢ ἀλλὰ μεταξὺ τῶν τε προσθίων καὶ <τῶν ὀπισθίων> ποδῶν δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἔχειν ὑποκειμένους νεκρούς. Τὰς δὲ δυσκολίας τῆς τῶν πυλῶν ἐξόδου ἐν οὕτω μυρίοις Ἀγριολατίνοις καὶ ὅσα δὲ ἔξω ἕως καὶ εἰς τοὺς λιμένας ἐγὼ μὲν ἐδάκρυσα καὶ οἱ βλέποντες Χριστιανοί, οὐκ ἂν δὲ αὐτὰ ἐκθήσομαι, ἵνα μὴ ἐν οἷς ἐπιτέμνειν ἐθέλω περιττολογῶ. Ταῦτα καὶ μόνον κεφαλαιώσομαι, ὅτι τέσσαρας χρυσίνων χιλιάδας ἐγκρατῶς ἐζητήθημεν οἱ μηδὲ ψαμμίων ἢ χοὸς δράκα ἢ τὸ καθωμιλημένον σίελον ἐπὶ στόματος ἔχοντες, ἀκούσαντες καὶ ὀλίγα ταῦτα εἶναι ἐξ ἀνθρώπου, ὃς ἀρχιεπισκοπὴν περιέπει κεντηνάρια ἐς ἑκατόν, ὢ πλούτου, ἔτους ἑκάστου δωροφοροῦσαν αὐτῷ, καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῇ τοῦ Σιφάντου νηΐ, ὡς ἦν ἐγχωροῦν, ἀναπαυσάμενοι τῇ καραδοκίᾳ τῶν χιλιάδων, ἃς ἡμῖν ἐπέγραψαν οἱ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς πειραταί, αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡμῖν κατάλυμα πρῶτον εὐτυχήθη, αἰχμαλώτων γέμουσα κατὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ἁπάσας, οἳ καὶ γοᾶσθαι ἡμᾶς ὀργῶντες αὐτὸ μὲν ποιεῖν οὐκ εἶχον τόλμαν, ὡσίουν δὲ τὸ πένθος προσώπου συναγωγῇ πρὸς σκυθρωπότητα καὶ δυσωπίᾳ ἐκθλιβούσῃ δάκρυα, ὁποίοις καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὁ κατ' ἐκείνους δυστυχὴς φόρτος, αὐτοὺς ἠμειβόμεθα· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ προσφωνῆσαι ἑξῆν. Ἐν τοίνυν τῇ τοιαύτῃ νηῒ τότε καταπαύσαντες, τῇ ἐπαύριον μετὰ τιμῆς ὁμοίας ἀνήχθημεν εἰς τὸν Κομνηνὸν Ἀλέξιον. Ἔνθα θῆρα εἰκονομάχον, Γελίελμόν τινα, ὃς ἐκ τῆς Νικαέων διέδρα τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον, ὁ τόπος ἡμῖν ἐξέφηνεν, ἄγριον ἐκεῖνον καὶ οἷον θανατοῦν καὶ προτοῦ ἐμφαγεῖν. Ὃς οἶά τις Ἐριννὺς τραγῳδική, ἔχων κατ' ἐκείνην καὶ δᾷδας, ἐρεβοδιφήσας ἡμᾶς, ἦν γὰρ ἤδη νύξ, καὶ εὑρὼν ἔνθα γῆς ἐκοιταζόμεθα οὐ πρὸς ὕπνον, ἐπτερύξατο γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ νύκτας ἤδη πολλάς, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ εἴχομεν ἢ καθῆσθαι ἢ ἵστασθαι, οἷα πολυημέροις καταπεπονημένοι κακοῖς, ἀνάθεμα 110 πρὸς βοὴν συχνὰ ἐβαρβάριζε κατά τι κακὸν φροίμιον τῷ μὴ φονεύσαντι ἡμᾶς, παρόντος καὶ ἀγαθοῦ τινος ἀδελφοῦ αὐτῷ, ἐξ οὗ κατὰ τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων τὸν θῆρα ἐμάθομεν μαίνεσθαι. Ὡς δὲ ἡμεῖς ἠρόμεθα τί τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ φονευτέους ἡμᾶς εἶναι, πρῶτα μὲν θυμωθεὶς αὐτὸς εἰς πλέον ἐπέκρινεν ὡς, εἴπερ αὐτὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἡμῖν περιέτυχεν, οὐκ ἂν ἄρτι κεφαλὴν εἴχομεν, εἶτα καὶ αἰτιολογήσας τὸν καθ' ἡμῶν θυμόν, ἐπέραινε τὴν αὑτοῦ σοφίαν εἰς τὸ ἀπίστους ἡμᾶς εἶναι Θεῷ, οἷα τῷ Ἀνδρονίκῳ πιστούς. Πρὸς ἅπερ ἡμεῖς ὑπουλευσάμενοι καὶ ποικίλα λαλήσαντες ἢ λαλαγήσαντες πρὸς ἄνδρα μαινόμενον, ἠγαπῶμεν γὰρ ἔχειν κεφαλήν, μόλις ἐξημερώσαμεν τὸν ἀτίθασσον, ὡς καὶ ἀσπάσασθαι ἡμᾶς καὶ εἰς χεῖρα φιλήσαντα οἴχεσθαι. Καὶ οὕτως ἡμεῖς τε νύκτα καταθετικὴν εὕρομεν, τῶν ἐκείνου δᾴδων καὶ λάλων ἀπαλλαγέντες χειλέων, καὶ οἱ συγκατεστρωμένοι αἰχμάλωτοι ἐς Κομνηνοῦ. Καὶ διαγαγόντες ἐκεῖ μετὰ τῶν συναιχμαλώτων ἡμέρας ὀλίγας, καί τι καὶ ἐλεηθέντες εἰς τροφήν, ναὶ δὲ ὑπό τινος τῶν ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς χάλκεα κέρματα, ὧν ἡ δόσις ἡμῖν τηνικαῦτα εἰς θησαυροὺς ἐνεγράφη Κροίσου (καὶ ἐλεήσαι ὁ Θεὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνθρωπον), εἶτα καὶ εἰς τοὺς κόντους, εἰπεῖν δὲ συνηθέστερον κόμητας, μισῶ γὰρ τὸ ἀκράτως βάρβαρον, ἐκομίσθημεν. Ἔτι κεφαλαιώσομαι καὶ ὅτι, ἀεθλεύσαντες μακρὰ καὶ ἐκεῖ, μόλις μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρας ἡμέρας μετρίας τῷ τοῦ ἁγίου οἴκῳ ἀποκατέστημεν, καὶ ὅτι εὑρόντες ἐκεῖ φῦλα λατινικά, καὶ ἑτεροίων δὲ ἀνθρώπων γέμοντα ἰδόντες τά τε ἄνω τά τε κάτω, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐγενόμεθα τοῦ κατὰ τὸν οἶκον κηπιδίου, καὶ ἐπιδόντες ἑαυτοὺς πεσσουλίῳ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε βραχυτάτου λοετροῦ ἐκείμεθα, χόρτον ἄμικτον ὑποβεβλημένοι, καὶ ὅτι ὀκτὼ μετρήσαντες ἡμέρας, ἐν αἷς ἄρτον ἀκραιφνῆ οὐδὲ εἴδομεν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐκ πιτύρων ἐγκρυφίαις ἐχρεωκοποῦμεν τὸ τῆς γαστρὸς λίχνον, καὶ οἴνου δὲ μηδὲ μύρισμα εὐτυχήσαντες, μετ' αὐτὰς καὶ οἴνου ψευδωνύμου ἠρέμα καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς κατὰ στράγγα μετέσχομεν καὶ ἄρτου δὲ ζυμίτου καὶ ἄλλων δέ τινων, καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲ τὸ κηπίον εἶχε λιμὴν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τοῦ λατινικοῦ