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,

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 for food, and also for the garden-beds, which indeed grew most dear to us, this was another grief to those who love such things; but when they also made useless our footstool-table, that, I cannot say how one might bear it with indifference. For we the poor were sitting together in a group as messmates, having set out our bran loaves for food, but the uneducated, having stopped cutting the things from the earth, in which they always delighted to busy themselves in the garden, were preparing themselves against 112 us; and having approached, then having turned and bared their posteriors and having squatted down for excretion, they took aim opposite us to shoot out the excesses of the belly, which flowed down with water through the draining pipes. And so they did. And those with us, disgusted, as was right, at the abomination, were bursting with anger and were shamefully spurred on to lead away those, if it is necessary to call them by their Greek name, Ozolians, but we held back from the act, judging that those who wallow in the mire of sins are also worthy of such odors. I will add to these summaries also that the dry bed, having remained for a longer time, was at last taken care of by God-loving men, just as also the nakedness, which not only we had in abundance, but also all those with us, and that also from the enemies we derived some profit, having prattled cunning and deep things, which one would not hesitate to remember because of their subtlety, if there were occasion here to relate them as well. And we were not able to snatch any removal of our things, one must say a mule or at least one book or a mattress or anything else of ours, from the chaos concerning them, but we procured fifty gold pieces, not having in every way played the lyre without reward; from which a quiet resurrection from the fall of complete poverty happened for us, with the Myrrh-gusher also flooding another manifold influx, as if from some ocean, from which both we lived and also all that remained of the city. For no one would be made foolish and roll into Jewish ingratitude, so as to dare to bring forth from his lips that he came away from the Myrrh-gusher without profit in matters of both food and certain other things. And let these things have been a moderate digression for us, and not at all outside of what is necessary; but the barbarians, having filled the whole city, beginning from the eastern gates themselves, were reaping those among us, and throwing these frequent sheaves they piled up heaps, from which Hades loves to be fed. And some, fleeing in the streets, were falling in them and at the same time were stripped bare as they were plundered; and so the streets were improvised into pitiful mass graves, with the sun looking upon things it ought not. And others in the houses remained in them to an impasse; and it was not possible to find a house in which a man living there was pitied, unless perhaps the house had a multitude. For some of them were falling inside, for whom their own houses were also their tombs, to quote the psalm, while others, scattered in flight, were given over to the fortune of war. And for a while those who were thrown down lay simply, but when the enemy had slackened a little 114 from their excessive haste and were playing more bitterly upon the deaf earth, as it is said, other sorts of corpses were laid upon them. And one dead man was paired with a fallen donkey, while another had a dog lying beside him. And most of these were arranged in jest as if in an embrace and a kiss. Another was together with a house cat; for the barbarians did not even spare such as these, and especially little dogs, since they barked at and ran after them; for which reason our city became scarce of them. And if any, perhaps, was left over, it would bark at and run down a Roman man, but would withdraw whining before a Latin. For even such creatures recognized where the evil was. And one could then make a proverb about the silent frogs in Seriphos and certain such Italian cicadas, so also were the dogs speechless among us. And that streets were overrun and houses fared ill one would not count as a novelty of battle, but that divine temples were tyrannized,

κλύδωνος. Καὶ εἰ μὲν δένδροις ἠχρειοῦτο, καὶ μάλιστα συκαῖς, ὧν καὶ ἄωρος ὁ καρπὸς παρηνομεῖτο τοῖς ὠμησταῖς εἰς ἔμβρωμα, ἔτι δὲ καὶ πρασιαῖς, ἃ δὴ φίλτατα ἡμῖν ἔφυσαν, ἄλλη τοῦτο λύπη τοῖς γε φιλοτοιούτοις· ὅτε δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑποποδιαίαν ἡμῖν ἠχρείουν τράπεζαν, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο οὐκ ἔχω φράσαι ὅπως ἂν φέροι τις ἀπαθῶς. Ἐκαθήμεθα μὲν γὰρ ὁμιλαδὸν οἱ πτωχοὶ σύσσιτοι, τοὺς πιτυρίας προβεβλημένοι πρὸς τροφήν, οἱ δὲ ἀπαίδευτοι, ἀφέντες κείρειν τὰ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, οἷς ἔχαιρον ἐμφιλοχωροῦντες ἀεὶ τῷ κήπῳ, ἐσκευάζοντο καθ' ἡ 112 μῶν· καὶ ἐγγίσαντες, εἶτα στραφέντες καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἕδραν γυμνώσαντες καὶ εἰς ἔκκρισιν ὑφιζήσαντες κατεστοχάζοντο ἐξ ἐναντίας ἡμῶν ἀποκοντοῦν τὰ περιττὰ τῆς γαστρός, ῥυϊσκόμενα καθ' ὕδωρ διὰ τὰς ὀχετηγοὺς σταφυλάς. Καὶ ἐποίουν οὕτω. Καὶ οἱ μὲν μεθ' ἡμῶν βδελυττόμενοι, ὡς ἔδει, τὸ μυσαρόν, διερρήγνυντο θυμῷ καὶ κατηκονῶντο ἀτίμως ἀπαγαγεῖν τούς, εἰ χρὴ ἑλληνικῶς προσρηθῆναι, Ὀζόλας, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπείχομεν τοῦ ἔργου, κρίνοντες ὡς οἱ ἁμαρτιῶν βορβόροις ἐγκαλινδούμενοι καὶ τοιούτων ἀποβαίνουσιν ὀδμῶν ἄξιοι. Προσθήσω ταῖς κεφαλαιώσεσι ταύταις καὶ ὡς ἡ ξηρὰ κοίτη, ἐπὶ πλέον παραμείνασα, ὀψέ ποτε ὑπὸ θεοφιλῶν ἐξεθεραπεύθη ἀνδρῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ γυμνιτεία, ὧν οὐχ ἡμεῖς δαψιλῶς εἴχομεν μόνοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ μεθ' ἡμῶν, καὶ ὅτι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν παρηγάγομέν τι κέρδους, αἱμύλα κωτίλαντες καὶ βαθέα, ὧν οὐκ ἂν ὤκνησέ τις μεμνῆσθαι διὰ τὸ ὑπογλάφυρον, εἴπερ ἦν καιρὸς ἐνταῦθα περιηγηθῆναι καὶ αὐτά. Καὶ ἀφαίρεμα μέν τι τῶν ἐξ ἡμῶν, ἡμίονον θετέον εἰπεῖν ἢ βίβλον μίαν γοῦν ἢ στρῶμα ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἡμετέρων, ἐκσπάσαι τοῦ κατ' αὐτοὺς χάους οὐκ ἔσχομεν, χρυσίνους δὲ πεντήκοντα ἐπορισάμεθα, οὐ πάντῃ φορμίσαντες ἀδώρητα· ὅθεν ἡμῖν ἡσυχαία τις ἀνάστασις τοῦ κατὰ παντελῆ πτωχείαν γέγονε πτώματος, τοῦ Μυροβλύτου καὶ ἀλλοίαν ἐπίρροιαν παντοίαν πλημμύροντος, καθὰ καὶ ἐξ ὠκεανοῦ τινος, ἀφ' οὗ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐζήσαμεν καὶ τὸ τῆς πόλεως δὲ ἅπαν περιλειπόμενον. Οὐκ ἂν γάρ τις ματαιωθείη καὶ εἰς ἰουδαϊκὴν ἐκκυλισθείη ἀχαριστίαν, ὡς τολμῆσαι προενεγκεῖν τῶν χειλέων ἀκερδὴς ἐκ τοῦ Μυροβλύτου ἀπεκβαίνειν τά τε εἰς τροφὴν καὶ λοιπὰ δέ τινα. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἡμῖν παρεκβεβάσθω συμμέτρως καὶ οὐδὲ πάνυ ἔξω τοῦ δέοντος· οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι πληρώσαντες τὴν πόλιν ὅλην, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἑῴων πυλῶν ἀρξάμενοι, ἐθέριζον τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ συχνὰ ταῦτα δράγματα ῥίπτοντες σωροὺς ἐστοίβαζον, ἐξ ὧν Ἅιδης φιλεῖ σιτούμενος. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀμφόδων φεύγοντες ἔπιπτον περὶ αὐτὰς καὶ ἅμα ἐγυμνοῦντο σκυλευόμενοι· καὶ οὕτως αἱ ἀγυιαὶ εἰς οἰκτρὰ ἐσχεδιάζοντο πολυάνδρια, ἡλίου ἐφορῶντος ἃ μὴ ἔπρεπεν. Οἱ δὲ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις παρέμενον αὐταῖς εἰς ἀδιεξόδευτον· καὶ οὐκ ἦν εὑρέσθαι οἰκίαν, ἣν οἰκῶν ἄνθρωπος ἠλεήθη, πλὴν εἰ μὴ ἄρα πλῆθος εἶχεν ὁ οἶκος. Ἐκείνου γὰρ οἱ μέν τινες ἔπιπτον ἔσω, οἷς καὶ ἦσαν αἱ οἰκίαι αὐτῶν τάφοι αὐτῶν, παραθεῖναι τὸ ψαλλόμενον, οἱ δὲ διεκχυθέντες εἰς φυγὴν τῇ τοῦ πολέμου τύχῃ ἐπεδίδοντο. Καὶ τέως μὲν ἁπλοῖ ἔκειντο οἱ ῥιπτόμενοι, μικρὸν δὲ ὅσον τῶν πολεμίων ῥαϊσάντων 114 τῆς ἄγαν ἐντρεχείας καὶ ὑποπαιζόντων πικρότερον κατὰ γαίας, ὃ δὴ λέγεται, κωφῆς καὶ ἑτεροῖα νεκριμαῖα ἐπέκειντο. Καὶ ὁ μέν τις νεκρὸς ἄνθρωπος ὄνῳ κειμένῳ συνεδυάζετο, ἕτερος δὲ κύνα εἶχε συμπαρακείμενον. Καὶ τούτων τὰ πλείω καταπεπαιγμένα ἦσαν ὡς εἰς διάθεσιν συμπλοκῆς καὶ φιλήματος. Ἄλλος ὁμοῦ ἦν αἰλούρῳ κατοικιδίῳ· οὐδὲ τοιούτων γὰρ τὸ βάρβαρον ἐφείδοντο, καὶ μάλιστα κυναρίων, ὡς καθυλακτούντων καὶ ἐπιτρεχόντων· διὸ καὶ αὐτῶν ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς πόλις ἐσπάνισεν. Εἴ τι δέ που καὶ περιλέλειπτο, ἀνδρὸς μὲν Ῥωμαίου κατεβάϋσεν ἂν καὶ κατέδραμε, Λατίνῳ δὲ ὑπεξεχώρει κνυζώμενον. Κατέγνω γὰρ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα οἷ κακοῦ ἦσαν. Καὶ εἶχε παροιμιάσασθαί τις τότε κατὰ τοὺς ἐν Σερίφῳ σιγῶντας βατράχους καί τινας τοιούτους Ἰταλοὺς τέττιγας, οὕτω καὶ κύνας ἀφώνους τοὺς παρ' ἡμῖν. Καὶ ἀμφόδους μὲν κατατρέχεσθαι καὶ οἰκίας οὐκ εὖ πάσχειν οὐκ ἂν εἰς μάχης καινοπράγημα θείη τις, θείους δὲ ναοὺς τυραννεῖσθαι,