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,

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 church, but just as in the other Catholic churches, so too in this one, in no small measure, suffocation claimed the living, 118 whose number would rival those who suffocated on the acropolis, as the beginning of the account has recorded. What should I say of those leaping down from the roofs of houses in practice for death, when the great evil surrounded them too? They, unable to take wing into the air, as they would have wished, suffered the fate of heavy bodies and were hurled to their death, hurtling down from on high. And what of the men and women submerged in wells as if in some water of Cocytus and Acheron, the men for fear of falling by another death, and the women also for modesty? Nor was such a fall and downfall anything new among men, who would have prayed not only for rocks to split open to receive them and hills to roll down to hide them and heaven itself to fall upon them, but also imagined Chaos and Tartarus for their descent and the dissolution of life. For the pit of history and the cliffs were themselves small things for those wishing to disappear. Woe is me for the stones, too, which, being thrown upon such people by the barbarians, did not allow them to come up for air, but covering them like a lid, buried the pitiful ones. Woe then also to as many as were with child, whom, as they were fleeing, the dear natural burden, weighing them down, cast down out of weakness, tripping them into Hades, anticipating the destruction by swords. And no less pitiful than these were the mothers, with whom tender children were running as they fled. And for a time they were together, but as the evil pressed on, the mothers won the race, most unfortunately so indeed. For turning back, they either no longer saw their longed-for competitors, having fallen victim to some decree of Herod, or they themselves also fell to those who overtook them, being hated because they did not turn back for love of them, but wept for the final long race that their children had run. Fathers also fled, leaving behind newborn infants orphaned of their mothers. And they cried out as if for salvation, but the men ran without turning back, and nature cried out in vain. And if they did run out to flee with them, they did what they could, but the father was the same on his feet, as the fear of death overcame natural affection. And if the one who begot them would preserve his life, they, being trampled and struggling violently, were destroyed, adding to the heap of the men's corpses. So also a wild beast, when wolves attack, leaves its own young and flees, and the wolf knows not to spare anyone. 120 And here I weep, recalling to mind how we all fled thus, like sheep to the slaughter, with neither a shepherd nor indeed a hireling to defend us. And blessed if we had escaped completely. But now, on the contrary, most of us nearly fell into the mouths of the wolves. These were countless casualties, and such as to empty a city that was once flourishing with good inhabitants. And those who fell in so many ways would be counted at over seven thousand, as those who went around estimated with possible accuracy, along with the foot-soldiers from the Bulgarians and as many of the military as fell with them. But the barbarians, having investigated otherwise, numbered the disaster at five thousand, having neither included in this total those who were suffocated nor, of course, those who fell in their homes, but having given in number only as many as the sun revealed to them lying exposed. At this, it would bite the heart of a compassionate man that the enemies, mixing those lying both in the streets and on the acropolis with irrational animals, burned them, doing this misanthropic act late in the day. For at first, being urged by us to bury the dead, lest they lie exposed as an unsightly spectacle and give off noxious vapors, they themselves said they were accustomed to such things and rejoiced in such sights and smells. Indeed, the many murders and the violent plunder and the greater evils would seem to have ceased after noon of the day on which the capture took place, from

κατέσπασαν φθάσαντες. Καὶ φόνους μὲν τοὺς ἐκεῖ κατέσχεν ὁ ἄρχων, τοῦ δὲ πνιγμοῦ τῶν φυγόντων ἐν τῷ ναῷ οὐκ ἦν ἐπίσχεσις, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις καθολικαῖς, οὕτω καὶ ταύτῃ οὐκ ὀλίγῃ μοίρᾳ τοὺς ζῶντας 118 ὁ πνιγμὸς ἐδικαίωσεν, ὧν ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἐρίζοι ἂν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπ' ἀκροπόλεως πεπνιγότας, ὡς ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ λόγου συνέγραψε. Τί ἂν λέγοιμι τοὺς τῶν τεγέων οἴκων ἄνωθεν καθαλλομένους ἐπὶ μελέτῃ θανάτου, ὅτε τὸ μέγα κακὸν καὶ αὐτοὺς περιεστοίχιζεν; Οἳ πτερύξασθαι εἰς αἰθέρα μὴ ἔχοντες, οὗπερ ἐφίεντο ἄν, τὸ τῶν βαρέων ἔπασχον καὶ ἐλάκουν εἰς θάνατον ἐκ μετεώρου κατασκήπτοντες. Τί δὲ τοὺς κατὰ φρεάτων ὡσεὶ καί τινος Κωκυτοῦ καὶ Ἀχεροντίου ὕδατος βυθιζομένους ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας, τοὺς μὲν φόβῳ τοῦ μὴ ἄλλῳ πεσεῖν θανάτῳ, τὰς δὲ καὶ κατὰ σεμνότητα; Καινὸν δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἡ τοιαύτη ἔμπτωσίς τε καὶ κατάπτωσις παρ' ἀνθρώποις, οἳ μὴ μόνον πέτρας εὔχοντο ἂν ῥαγῆναι εἰς ὑποδοχὴν αὐτοῖς καὶ βουνοὺς εἰς κρύψιν κατακυλισθῆναι καὶ οὐρανὸν δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπικαταπεσεῖν, ἀλλά που καὶ χάος καὶ τάρταρον ἐφαντάζοντο εἰς κατάδυσιν καὶ βίου κατάλυσιν. Τὸ γὰρ καθ' ἱστορίαν βάραθρον καὶ οἱ κρημνοὶ μικρὰ καὶ αὐτὰ ἦσαν τοῖς ἀφαντωθῆναι θέλουσιν. Ὤ μοι καὶ τῶν λίθων, οἵπερ ἐπαφιέμενοι τοῖς τοιούτοις πρὸς τῶν βαρβάρων ἀνανεύειν οὐκ ἀφίεσαν, ἀλλ' ἐπιπωμάζοντες κατεχώννυον τοὺς ἐλεεινούς. Οὐαὶ τότε καὶ ὅσαι κατὰ γαστέρων εἶχον, ἃς ἐν τῷ φεύγειν βαρύνων ὁ κατὰ φύσιν φίλιος φόρτος ἐξ ὀλιγηπελίης κατέρριπτε συμποδίζων εἰς Ἅδην, φθανούσας τὸν διὰ ξιφῶν ὄλεθρον. Οἰκτρὸν δὲ τούτων οὐκ ἔλαττον καὶ μητέρες, αἷς φευγούσαις καὶ ἁπαλοὶ παῖδες συνέτρεχον. Καὶ τέως μὲν ὁμοῦ ἦσαν, ἐπισπέρχοντος δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ, ἐνίκων τὸν δρόμον αἱ μητέρες, δυστυχῶς γε τοῦτο καὶ μάλα. Ἐπιστραφεῖσαι γὰρ ἢ οὐκέτ' ἔβλεπον τοὺς ποθουμένους ἀνθαμίλλους, Ἡρώδου δή τινι ψήφῳ περιπεπτωκότας, ἢ ἔπιπτον καὶ αὐταὶ πρὸς τῶν ἐπικαταλαβόντων, μισούμεναι, ὅτι μὴ ἐκείνων πρὸς ἔρωτα ἐπεστρέφοντο, ἀλλ' ἔκλαιον τὸν ὕστατον δόλιχον, ὃν οἱ παῖδες ἐστείλαντο. Ἔφευγον καὶ πατέρες, νεογνὰ μητέρων ὀρφανὰ ὀπίσω ἀφιέντες. Καὶ αὐτὰ μὲν ὡς ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ ἐγοῶντο, οἱ δὲ μὴ ἐπιστρεφόμενοι ἔθεον, καὶ ἡ φύσις ἐβόα κενά. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐξέδραμον ἐκεῖνα συμφεύγειν, αὐτὰ μὲν ἐποίουν τὸ δυνατόν, ὁ δὲ γενέτωρ ἦν ὁ αὐτὸς τοὺς πόδας, τοῦ κατὰ θάνατον φόβου τὴν φυσικὴν ἐκνικῶντος στοργήν. Καὶ εἴπερ ὁ τεκνωσάμενος περιποιήσεται ζωήν, ἀλλ' αὐτὰ συμπατούμενα καὶ πρὸς βίαν σκαρίζοντα ἐξώλλυντο εἰς ἐπιθήκην τῶν κατ' ἄνδρας νεκρῶν. Οὕτω καὶ θρέμμα τραχύ, λύκων ἐπιτρεχόντων, ἀφίησι τὰ οἰκεῖα νεογιλὰ καὶ φεύγει, καὶ ὁ λύκος οὐκ οἶδεν οὐδενὸς φείδεσθαι. 120 Κλαίω δ' ἐνταῦθα ἐγώ, ἀναπολήσας εἰς νοῦν ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἅπαντες οὔτως ἐφεύγομεν, οἷα σφαγῆς πρόβατα, οὔτε ποιμένος προμαχοῦντος οὔτε μὴν μισθωτοῦ. Καὶ μακάριον εἴπερ ἐφεύγομεν διὰ τέλους. Νῦν δὲ ἀλλὰ μικροῦ δέον οἱ πλείους τοῖς τῶν λύκων περιεπίπτομεν στόμασι. Μυρία δὴ ταῦτα πτώματα, καὶ οἷα πόλιν ἀποκενοῦν εὐφοροῦσαν ἦν ὅτε οἰκητόρων ἀγαθῶν. Καὶ μετροῖντο ἂν οἱ οὕτω πολυτρόπως πεσόντες ὑπὲρ χιλιάδας ἑπτά, ὡς οἱ περιελθόντες ἐστοχάσαντο πρὸς δυνατὴν ἀκρίβειαν, σύν γε τοῖς ἐκ Βουλγάρων πεζοῖς καὶ ὅσοι τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ συνέπεσον. Οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι περιεργασάμενοι ἄλλως εἰς πέντε χιλιάδας ἠρίθμησαν τὸ κακόν, μήτε τοὺς πεπνιγμένους συγκεφαλαιωσάμενοι τούτοις μήτε δηλαδὴ τοὺς ἐπ' οἴκων πεσόντας, ἀλλὰ μόνους ἀριθμῷ δεδωκότες ὅσους αὐτοῖς ἐκθέτους κειμένους ἥλιος ἔφηνεν. Ἐνταῦθα δάκοι ἂν καρδίαν ἀνδρὸς φιλοίκτου καὶ ὅτι τοὺς κειμένους ἔν τε ταῖς ἀμφόδοις καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει ἀλόγοις ζῴοις ἀναμιγνύντες κατέκαιον οἱ ἐχθροί, τὸ μισάνθρωπον ὀψὲ καὶ τοῦτο δράσαντες. Τὰ πρῶτα γὰρ ὑφ' ἡμῶν παρακαλούμενοι καταχῶσαι τοὺς νεκρούς, μὴ καὶ θέα δυσπρόσωπος ἔκκεινται καὶ ἀποφορὰς δὲ νοσερὰς ἀτμίσωσιν, ἐθάδες τοιούτων αὐτοὶ ἔφασαν εἶναι καὶ χαίρειν τοιαύταις θέαις τε καὶ ὀδμαῖς. Οἱ μὲν δὴ πολλοὶ φόνοι καὶ αἱ σφοδραὶ ἁρπαγαὶ καὶ τὰ πλείω κακὰ δοκοῖεν ἂν λῆξαι μετὰ μεσημβρίαν τῆς ἡμέρας, καθ' ἣν ἡ ἅλωσις, ἐξ