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to make. But he did not reject their counsel, but said to them that "you have well decided on what seemed better and advantageous; but if I myself with God should think of something else, would you not accept this as spoken by a prudent master and one who is providing for you as is fitting?" They all agreed that "whatever seems best to your might, we should consider it acceptable and welcome." The emperor therefore dismissed them all to go to their own tents to make use of the provisions because of the winter, but he himself, entering his own chamber with those around him, was deliberating what more should be done. Some were deliberating to put into effect the counsel of those who had advised from outside, but others, to whom it was granted by the emperor to think of what was better, spoke to the contrary. For they said, "However great the road is behind us to Adrianople, so great is it also before us to the city of Stenimachos; and just as there we are able to have a good supply of necessities, so also in Stenimachos. Thus, by acting this way, we would not seem to the enemy to have made our retreat either out of cowardice towards them or because of the hardship of the winter." This therefore seemed pleasing to the emperor, and when the winter was ending its severity and the snowfall had stopped, he ordered the recall to be sounded on the following day. Therefore, taking the formations of the armies from there, he went away to Stenimachos. And from there, having ordered the whole army to be provisioned, he proceeded straight to Tsepaina. He arrived then at a city called Batkounion, which was able to provide sufficient sustenance to a very large army for a good number of days. From there, therefore, he had sent his uncle Manuel Laskaris, who was a monk and named Maximos, and the commander of his allagion, Konstantinos Margarites, to reconnoiter the place and see if the army might have an easier march to it. But they went away and, having scouted the area around the place, reported to the emperor that the ascent happened to be easy, and especially Konstantinos Margarites, although many of those who knew better were speaking against it. Therefore, persuaded by their words, the emperor went up with the whole army. And the place was in every way a steep ascent, and a thick and smooth frost made the whole road more difficult to walk on, and there were dense and shaggy trees around the summit. The army, therefore, having lit fires, kept themselves warm that whole night; for the servants of most, with their tents, had not been able to find their masters. They wept, one might almost say, an unceasing lamentation, even if without grief; for the smoke from the fires, being contained by the density of the trees and unable to find a way out into the open air, returned downwards and bit the eyes exceedingly and forced tears to be squeezed from the eyes. The emperor also suffered this. But when the night passed and day dawned, having recognized that the city was unassailable for a siege, he had ordered the army to descend to the plain. And they went away, but the rearguard was left behind with a few soldiers, and these from among those around him and the younger men. And he himself also went down behind on foot, just as the rest; for it was not possible for a horseman to walk on the downward slope of the hill.

60 Having therefore spent two days there and having made the village of Batkounion plunder, he returned again to Adrianople and from there to Didymoteichon. There he appointed as commanders both Manuel Laskaris, whom he also named protosebastos, a most simple little man and one who knew badly how to command, and Konstantinos Margarites, whom the account has already mentioned, a rustic man and born from rustics, brought up on barley-cake and bran and knowing only how to shout—and this man had come from Neokastra, and at first served in the ... of the

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ποιήσασθαι. ὁ δὲ τὴν μὲν βουλὴν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπέπεμψεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰρήκει ὡς «ὑμεῖς μὲν ὅπερ κρεῖττον καὶ συμφέρον ἔδοξε καλῶς ἐβουλεύσασθε· εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἕτερόν τι σὺν θεῷ νοήσαιμι, οὐκ ἂν δέξησθε τοῦτο ὡς ἀπὸ δεσπότου νουνεχοῦς εἰρημένον καὶ ὑμῶν ὡς δέον προνοουμένου;» ξυνέφησαν ἅπαντες ὡς «ὅπερ ἂν τῷ σῷ δόξειε κράτει, στερκτὸν αὐτὸ καὶ ἀσπαστὸν λογισαίμεθα.» τούτους μὲν οὖν πάντας ἀπέλυσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὰς σφε τέρας ἐπιέναι σκηνὰς ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ τροφῇ διὰ τὸν χειμῶνα χρήσασθαι, αὐτὸς δὲ εἰς τὸν αὐτοῦ κοιτῶνα εἰσιὼν μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐβουλεύετο τί μᾶλλον χρὴ ποιεῖν. τινὲς μὲν τὴν τῶν ἔξωθεν βουλευσαμένων βουλὴν εἰς ἔργον ἐβου λεύοντο θεῖναι, ἄλλοι δέ, οἷς καὶ τὸ κρεῖττον διανοηθῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ διακέκριται, τοὐναντίον εἰρήκασιν. ἔφησαν καὶ γὰρ «ὅση μὲν ὁδός ἐστιν ἡμῖν ὄπισθεν εἰς τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ, τοσαύτη καὶ ἔμπροσθεν εἰς τὸ τοῦ Στενιμάχου ἄστυ καθ έστηκε· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖ τῶν χρειωδῶν εὐμοιρῆσαι ἔχομεν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ εἰς τὸν Στενίμαχον. οὕτω γοῦν πράξαντες οὐ δόξαιμεν τοῖς πολεμίοις οὔτε δειλίᾳ τῇ πρὸς αὐτοὺς οὔτε μὴν τῇ τοῦ χειμῶνος δυσχερείᾳ τὴν ὑποστροφὴν ποι ήσασθαι.» ἀρεστὸν γοῦν ἔδοξε τοῦτο τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἐπεὶ τῆς δριμύτητος καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἔληγε καὶ ἡ τῆς χιόνος ἔστη φορά, τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν ἠχῆσαι προσέταξεν. ἐκεῖθεν οὖν τὰς συντάξεις τῶν στρατευμάτων λαβὼν ἀπῄει ἐς τὸν Στενίμαχον. κἀντεῦθεν οὖν τὸ σύμπαν ἐνσιτίσασθαι κελεύσας στράτευμα κατευθὺ τῆς Τζεπαίνης ἐχώρει. Κατηντήκει γοῦν ἐς πόλιν ἐπικεκλημένην Βατκούνιον, ἱκανὰς ἡμέρας μεγίστῃ ἐξαρκέσαι δυναμένην εἰς ζωάρκειαν στρατιᾷ. ἐκεῖθεν οὖν ἀπεστάλκει τὸν θεῖον αὐτοῦ τὸν Λάσκαριν Μανουήλ, μοναχὸν ὄντα καὶ Μάξιμον ὀνομαζόμε νον, καὶ τὸν τοῦ ἀλλαγίου αὐτοῦ ἄρχοντα τὸν Μαργαρίτην Κωνσταντῖνον, κατοπτεῦσαι τὸν τόπον καὶ εἰ εὐχερεστέραν τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πορείαν σχοίη τὸ στράτευμα. οἱ δὲ ἀπιόντες καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ τόπου κατασκοπήσαντες εὐχερῆ τὴν ἄνοδον τυγχάνειν τῷ βασιλεῖ κατήγγελλον, καὶ μάλιστα ὁ Μαργαρίτης Κωνσταντῖνος, καίτοι γε πολλῶν τῶν εἰδότων ἀντι λεγόντων. τοῖς γοῦν τούτων λόγοις πεισθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ πάσης τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀνῄει. καὶ ἦν μὲν πάντῃ ἀνάν της ὁ χῶρος τὴν ἄνοδον, καὶ παγετὸς τὴν ὁδὸν πᾶσαν παχύτερός τε καὶ λεῖος βαδίσαι δυσχερεστέραν ἐποίει, συν ηρεφῆ τε καὶ λάσια δένδρα περὶ τὴν ἀκρώρειαν ἦν. ἡ μὲν οὖν στρατιὰ τὴν νύκτα πᾶσαν ἐκείνην πυρκαϊὰς ἀνάψαντες ἐθερμαίνοντο· τῶν γὰρ πλειόνων οἱ ὑπηρέται μετὰ τῶν σκηνῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν τοὺς σφῶν κυρίους εὑρεῖν. ἔκλαιον δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν κλαυθμὸν ἄπαυστον, εἰ καὶ ἄλυπον· ὁ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν πυρκαϊῶν καπνὸς ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν δένδρων πυκνότητος συνεχόμενος καὶ διέξοδον εἰς ἐλεύθερον ἀέρα μὴ εὑρίσκειν δυνάμενος, κάτω ὑπενόστει καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλ μοὺς εἰς ἄκρον ἔδακνε καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐκπιέζειν κατηνάγκαζε δάκρυον. τοῦτο καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπεπόνθει. ὡς δὲ ἡ νὺξ παρῄει καὶ ἡμέρα ἐπέλαμψεν, ἀνεπιχείρητον εἰς πολιορκίαν εἶναι τὸ ἄστυ γνωρίσας, κατιέναι προσετετάχει ἐς τὸ πεδίον τὴν στρατιάν. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπῄεσαν, ὁ δὲ φύ λαξ ὄπισθεν μετὰ μετρίων ἐναπελείφθη στρατιωτῶν καὶ τούτων τῶν περὶ αὐτόν τε καὶ νεωτέρων. κατόπισθεν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς κατῄει πεζὸς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν δυ νατὸν ἱππότην βαδίσαι περὶ τὸ κάταντες τοῦ βουνοῦ.

60 Ἐκεῖσε γοῦν ἡμέρας διανύσας δύο καὶ λείαν τὴν κώμην πεποιηκὼς τὸ Βατκούνιον, ἐς τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ καὶ αὖθις ὑπέστρεψε κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὸ ∆ιδυμότειχον. αὐτόθι γοῦν εἰς ἡγεμόνας τάξας τόν τε Λάσκαριν Μανουήλ, ὃν καὶ πρωτοσεβαστὸν κατωνόμασεν, ἀνθρώπιον ἀφελέστατον καὶ κακῶς εἰδὸς στρατηγεῖν, καὶ τὸν Μαργαρίτην Κων σταντῖνον, ὃν προφθάσας ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσεν, ἄνδρα ἀγροῖ κον καὶ ἐξ ἀγροίκων γεγενημένον, μάζῃ καὶ πιτύροις ἀνατεθραμμένον καὶ λαρυγγίζειν μόνον εἰδότα-ἐκ Νεοκάστρων δὲ οὗτος ὥρμητο, καὶ ἐτέλει τὰ πρῶτα ἐν τῇ τοῦ