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lingering fearlessly everywhere in the little towns and sacred precincts situated along the coasts, with no one driving them from there, they, being constantly terrified, were at a loss as to what must be done. 3.11.2 Seeing these things, the emperor, tossed by many thoughts and undergoing many changes and turns, came to a prevailing thought and, as far as was possible, set to work. From the Roman men whom he had hastily collected, and some of those who hailed from Chomatos, appointing commanders of ten and putting them in light boats—some light-armed carrying only a bow and shield, and others who also knew how to arm themselves with helmets and shields and spears—he ordered them to go to the headlands and the shores by night, to leap out secretly and fall upon the godless, if indeed they perceived that the enemy were not many times their own number, and for each man to return immediately from where he had come. And knowing that they were entirely inexperienced in war, he instructed them to order the rowers to do their rowing noiselessly, while at the same time being on guard against the barbarians lurking in the crevices of the rocks. 3.11.3 When these things had been done in this way for some days, the barbarians gradually withdrew further from the regions by the sea. When the emperor learned this, he urged those who had been sent out to occupy the little towns and buildings which the enemy had previously held, and to spend the night inside them. And around sunrise, whenever it happened that the enemy went out for the sake of foraging or some other need, to attack them all at once, and if they should accomplish anything against them, to be content with that, even if it were small, and not to run risks by seeking more and thereby give courage to the enemy, but to turn back immediately and get inside the forts. 3.11.4 Not much time passed, and the barbarians again withdrew further away, so that the emperor grew bold and ordered the men who were previously on foot to mount horses and to brandish the spear and to make many cavalry charges against the enemy, falling upon them no longer at night or secretly, but as day was just dawning. And the former commanders of ten became commanders of fifty, and those who had fought the enemy on foot and at night with great fear now attacked them at dawn, and when the sun reached mid-heaven, they joined in brilliant battles with courage. Thus, for the one side matters proceeded backwards, while for the Roman rule it happened that the smouldering spark of its authority began to rekindle little by little. For Komnenos drove them very far away not only from the Bosporos and the regions lying along the sea, but also drove them out of the area of Bithynia and all of Thynia and from the borders of Nicomedia, and he persuaded the sultan to ask very earnestly for terms of peace. 3.11.5 But when he was assured by many sources of the irresistible impulse of Robert, and that having gathered innumerable forces he was already hastening to approach the shore of Lombardy, he gladly accepted the proposal for peace. For if it was not possible even for Heracles to fight against two, as the proverbial saying hints, how much more so for a new ruler who had recently taken hold of an already corrupted rule, which had been decaying little by little for a long time before, and had now reached the last extremity, possessing neither forces nor money; for it had all been drunk away, spent on nothing useful. Therefore, after driving the Turks by every method from Damalis and the coastal places around it, and at the same time greeting them with gifts, he compelled them to incline towards a peace treaty; and having given them the river called Drakon as a border, he persuaded them not to cross it at all, nor ever to sally forth towards the borders of the Bithynians.

3.12.1 In this way, then, matters in the east were settled. And Palaiologos, having occupied Dyrrachium, sending a courier, the news concerning Monomachatos

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ἀφόβως πάντη ἐνδιατρίβοντας ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὰς ἀκτὰς διακειμένοις πολιχνίοις καὶ ἱεροῖς τεμένεσι μή τινος ἐκεῖθεν αὐτοὺς ἀπελαύνοντος ἔντρομοι διὰ παντὸς ὄντες διηποροῦντο ὅ τι δεῖ διαπράξασθαι. 3.11.2 Ταῦτα ὁρῶν ὁ βασιλεύς, πολλοῖς κυμαινόμενος λογισμοῖς καὶ πολλὰς λαμ βάνων μεταβολὰς καὶ τροπὰς τοῦ κρατήσαντος γίνεται λογισμοῦ καί, ὡς ἐνόν, ἔργου εἴχετο. Ἀφ' ὧν οὖν ἐξ ὑπο γύου συνειλοχὼς ἦν Ῥωμαίων ἀνδρῶν καί τινων τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ Χώματος ὡρμημένων δεκάρχας προχειρισάμενος καὶ ἐν ἀκατίοις ἐνθέμενος τοὺς μὲν ψιλοὺς τόξα καὶ ἀσπίδα φέροντας μόνον, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλως θωρήξασθαι εἰδότας κόρυσί τε καὶ ἀσπίσι καὶ δόρυσι, νυξὶ περὶ τὰς ἀκτὰς καὶ τοὺς αἰγιαλοὺς ἐρχομένους λάθρᾳ ἐξάλλεσθαί τε καὶ τοῖς ἀθέοις εἰσπίπτειν ἐκέλευεν, εἴ γε κατανοοῖεν μὴ πολλα πλοῦς τῆς αὐτῶν ποσότητος ἐκείνους εἶναι, καὶ εὐθὺς παλινοστεῖν ἕκαστος ὅθεν ἐξῄει. Ἀπειροπολέμους δὲ πάντη γινώσκων αὐτοὺς ἐπέσκηπτεν ἀψοφητὶ τὴν εἰρεσίαν τοῖς ἐρέταις παραγγέλλειν ποιεῖσθαι φυλαττομένους ἅμα καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ῥωχμαῖς τῶν πετρῶν λοχώντων βαρβάρων. 3.11.3 Τούτων γοῦν ἐπί τισιν ἡμέραις οὕτω τελουμένων κατ' ὀλίγον τῶν περὶ τὴν θάλατταν χωρίων ἀνωτέρω ἐχώρουν οἱ βάρβαροι. Ὅπερ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ μεμαθηκὼς τοῖς ἀπο σταλεῖσι παρεκελεύετο καταλαβεῖν, ἅπερ ἐκεῖνοι πρῴην κατεῖχον πολίχνια καὶ οἰκοδομήματα, καὶ εἴσω τούτων διανυκτερεύειν. Περὶ δὲ τὰς ἡλιακὰς αὐγάς, ὁπηνίκα χορταγωγίας χάριν ἤ τινος ἑτέρας χρείας τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις ξυμβαίνει ἐξιέναι, ἀθρόον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτίθεσθαι, καὶ εἴ τι κατ' αὐτῶν δυνηθεῖεν, ἀρκεῖσθαι τούτῳ, κἂν μικρὸν ᾖ, καὶ μὴ πλεῖον ζητοῦντας παρακινδυνεύειν καὶ θάρσος τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐντεῦθεν διδόναι, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ὑποστρέφειν καὶ εἴσω τῶν φρουρίων γίνεσθαι. 3.11.4 Οὐ πολὺ τὸ ἐν μέσῳ, καὶ πορρωτέρω αὖθις οἱ βάρβαροι ἐγίνοντο, ὥστε ἀποθαρρῆσαι τὸν αὐτοκράτορα τοῖς τέως πεζοῖς καὶ ἱππάσασθαι κελεῦσαι καὶ δόρυ κινεῖν καὶ πολλοὺς διαύλους ἱππασίας κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ποιεῖν οὐκέτι ἐν νυκτὶ οὐδὲ λάθρᾳ ἐμπίπτουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμέρας ἄρτι αὐγαζούσης. Καὶ οἱ τέως δεκάρχαι πεντηκοντάρχαι γεγόνασι καὶ οἱ πεζῇ καὶ νυκτὸς μετὰ δέους πολλοῦ τοῖς ἐναντίοις μαχόμενοι ἑωθινοὶ αὐτοῖς ἐπετίθεντο καὶ ἡλίου ἐς μεσουράνημα φθάνοντος μετὰ θάρσους λαμπροὺς ξυνίστων πολέμους. Οὕτως οὖν τοῖς μὲν εἰς τοὐπίσω προὐχώρει τὰ πράγματα, τῇ δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ ἀναλάμπειν κατὰ μικρὸν τὸν ὑποτυφόμενον τῆς ἐξουσίας σπινθῆρα ξυνέβαινεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς Βοσπόρου μόνον καὶ τῶν τῇ θαλάττῃ παρακειμένων χωρίων ὁ Κομνηνὸς αὐτοὺς πόρρω που μάλα ἀπήλασεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν Βιθυνίαν καὶ Θυνίαν ἅπασαν καὶ τῶν τῆς Νικομήδους ὁρίων ἐκδιώξας τὰ περὶ εἰρήνης ἀνέπεισε τὸν σουλτάνον μάλα θερμῶς ἐξαιτεῖσθαι. 3.11.5 Ὡς δὲ τὴν ἀκατάσχετον τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου ὁρμὴν ἐκ πολλῶν ἐβεβαιοῦτο καὶ ὡς ἀπειροπληθεῖς συναγηοχὼς δυνάμεις ἤδη πρὸς τὴν ἠϊόνα τῆς Λογγιβαρδίας ἐγγίζειν ἐπείγεται, ἄσμενος τὸν περὶ εἰρήνης δέχεται λόγον. Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲ τὸν Ἡρακλέα πρὸς δύο μάχεσθαι ἐνῆν, ὡς ὁ παροιμιώδης αἰνίττεται λόγος, πολλῷ μᾶλλον νέον ἀρχηγὸν νεωστὶ διεφθορυίας ἤδη ἐπιδραξάμενον ἀρχῆς, κατὰ μικρὸν μὲν πρὸ πολλοῦ φθι νούσης, εἰς τοὔσχατον δὲ ἤδη ἐληλακυίας, μὴ δυνάμεις, μὴ χρήματα κεκτημένον· προπέποτο γὰρ ἅπαντα ἐν μηδενὶ χρησίμῳ καταναλωθέντα. Ἔνθεν τοι καὶ τοὺς Τούρκους διὰ παντοίας μεθόδου τῆς τε ∆αμάλεως καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν παραλίων τόπων ἐκδιώξας, ἅμα καὶ δώροις δεξιωσάμενος ἐξεβιάσατο εἰς εἰρηνικὰς ἀπονεῦσαι σπονδάς· καὶ ὅρον αὐτοῖς τὸν καλούμενον ∆ράκοντα ποταμὸν δεδωκὼς μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν ὅλως αὐτοῦ μήτε ποτὲ πρὸς τὰ ὅρια Βιθυνῶν ἐξορμᾶν ἔπεισεν.

3.12.1 Οὕτω μὲν οὖν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἕω κατηύναστο. Κατα λαβὼν δὲ τὸ ∆υρράχιον ὁ Παλαιολόγος ταχυδρόμον ἀπο στείλας τὰ περὶ τοῦ Μονομαχάτου