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neither exaggerating my father's affairs nor clothing them with emotion. For would that I were free and released from this paternal suffering, so that, having laid hold of my haughty tongue as if of abundant material, I might have shown how much affinity it has for noble subjects. But my natural affection casts a shadow over my enthusiasm, lest I might seem to the multitude, from my eagerness to speak of my own affairs, to give the impression of telling tales. For I would have often, remembering my father's achievements, poured out my very soul both in writing and narrating in how many evils he was involved, and I would not have passed over the passage without a monody and a lament. But lest there be some elegant rhetoric in that part of the history, like some impassive adamant and stone I pass over my father's misfortunes, which I too ought to have brought forward in an oath, just like that Homeric youth (for I am no worse than he who said, "No, by Zeus, Agelaus, and by the sorrows of my father") in order to be and to be called a lover of her father. But let my father's suffering be left for me alone to admire and to lament, and let the history proceed. 4.8.2 After this, the Celts took the road leading to Robert. But he, seeing them empty-handed and learning what had happened to them, greatly blamed them all, but one, their chosen leader, he even threatened to whip, calling him both unmanly and unskilled in war. And because he had not himself leapt up onto the rock with his horse and either struck and killed the emperor Alexios or seized him and brought him back alive, he thought he was suffering the most terrible things. For this Robert was in other respects most courageous and very fond of danger, but a man full of bitterness, with his anger sitting on his nostrils and his heart full of wrath and filled with rage, and was so disposed towards his enemies as either to pierce his opponent with his spear or to do away with himself, departing, as they say, contrary to the thread of Fate. 4.8.3 However, that soldier whom Robert was blaming very clearly described the unscaleable and steep nature of the rock, and that the place was raised to a great height, and how the rock was sharp and precipitous, and how it was possible for no one, neither on foot nor on horseback, to mount it without some divine contrivance, not only someone who was being warred against and fighting, but it was not even possible for anyone without a war to attempt the rock. "But if you disbelieve me," he said, "let either you yourself or some other of the most daring horsemen try, he will perceive the impossible. If, then, anyone appears who has overcome the rock, not only without wings, but even being winged, I myself am ready to undergo anything terrible and to be condemned for cowardice." Having said these things with wonder and astonishment, the barbarian both calmed the bilious Robert and moved him to amazement, so that he stopped being angry. 4.8.4 And the emperor, having passed through the windings of the adjacent mountains and every difficult path in two days and nights, reaches Achrida. And in the meantime, having passed through Charzanes and having endured for a short while around the so-called Babagora (this is a difficult pass), with his mind neither confused by the defeat nor by the other evils of the toil, nor giving way to the pain of the wound on his forehead, even though his inner being was inflamed by grief for those who had fallen in battle, and especially for the men who had fought nobly. But nevertheless he was wholly concerned with the city of Dyrrachium and remembered it, being vexed that it had been left without a leader, as Palaiologos had not been able to return on account of the sudden clash of the war. And as far as was possible he secured the people in it and entrusted the guard of the acropolis to the chosen Venetians from the colonists there, and committed the entire remaining city to Comiscortes, who came from the Arbanon, suggesting what was expedient by means of letters.

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τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς μήτε αὐξάνουσα μήτε πάθος περιτιθεῖσα. Εἴθε γὰρ ἐλευθέρα ἦν τοῦ πάθους τούτου τοῦ πατρικοῦ καὶ ἀπόλυτος, ἵνα καθάπερ ὕλης ἀμφιλαφοῦς δραξαμένη τὴν σοβάδα γλῶσσαν ἐνεδειξάμην, ὁπόσην ἔχοι περὶ τὰ καλὰ τὴν οἰκείωσιν. Ἐπηλυγάζει δέ μου τὸ πρόθυμον ἡ φυσικὴ στοργή, μή πως δόξαιμι τοῖς πολλοῖς ὑπὸ προθυμίας τοῦ λέγειν περὶ τῶν κατ' ἐμαυτὴν τερατολογίας παρέχειν ὑπόληψιν. Καὶ γὰρ ἂν πολλαχοῦ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῶν πατρικῶν μεμνημένη καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν ἀπεστάλαξα ξυγγράφουσά τε καὶ διηγουμένη, ἐν ὁπόσοις κακοῖς περιπέπτωκε, καὶ οὐδ' ἄνευ μονῳδίας καὶ θρήνου τὸν τόπον παρῆλθον. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ ῥητορεία κομψή τις ᾖ κατὰ τὸ μέρος ἐκεῖνο τῆς ἱστορίας, ὥσπερ τις ἀπαθὴς ἀδάμας καὶ λίθος παρατρέχω τὰς τοῦ πατρὸς ξυμφοράς, ἅσπερ ἔδει κἀμὲ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνον τὸν Ὁμηρικὸν νεανίσκον εἰς ὅρκον προφέρειν (οὐδὲ γάρ εἰμι χείρων ἐκείνου τοῦ λέγοντος «οὐ μὰ Ζῆν', Ἀγέλαε, καὶ ἄλγεα πατρὸς ἐμοῖο») πρὸς τὸ εἶναι καὶ λέγεσθαι φιλοπάτωρ. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πάθος τὸ πατρικὸν ἐμοὶ μόνῃ καταλελείφθω καὶ θαυμάζειν καὶ ὀλοφύρεσθαι, τὰ δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐχέσθω. 4.8.2 Μετὰ ταῦτα οἱ μὲν Κελτοὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Ῥομπέρτον φερούσης εἴχοντο. Ὁ δὲ κενοὺς τούτους θεασάμενος πυθόμενός τε τὰ τούτοις συμπεσόντα πάντας μὲν μεγάλως κατῃτιᾶτο, ἕνα δὲ τὸν τούτων ἔκκριτον καὶ μαστίζειν ἠπείλει ἄνανδρόν τε ἀποκαλῶν καὶ ἀπειροπόλεμον. Καὶ ὅτι μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας μετὰ τοῦ ἵππου ἀνέθορε καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ἀλέξιον ἢ κρού σας ἀνεῖλεν ἢ δραξάμενος ζῶντα ἤγαγε, τὰ πάνδεινα πάσχειν ᾤετο. Ἦν γὰρ ὁ Ῥομπέρτος οὗτος τἆλλα μὲν εὐψυχότατός τε καὶ φιλοκινδυνότατος, πικρίας δὲ ὅλος ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἐν ῥισὶν ἐπικαθήμενον ἔχων τὸν χόλον καὶ τὴν καρδίαν μεστὴν θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς ἔμπλεων καὶ οὕτως ἔχων περὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, ὡς ἢ τὸν ἀντικαθιστάμενον διαπεῖραι τῷ δόρατι ἢ ἑαυτὸν διαχρήσασθαι παρὰ τὸν Μοι ραῖόν φησι κλωστῆρα ἀπαλλαττόμενος. 4.8.3 Ὁ μέντοι στρατιώτης ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ὑπ' αἰτίασιν ὁ Ῥομπέρτος εἶχε, τό τε ἀνεπίβατον καὶ ὀξὺ τῆς πέτρας μάλα σαφῶς διη γεῖτο, καὶ ὅτι εἰς τὸ μετεωρότατον ὁ τόπος ἐπῆρτο καὶ ὡς ὀξεῖα ἡ πέτρα ἦν καὶ ἀκροσφαλὴς καὶ ὡς οὐδένα οὐ πεζόν, οὐχ ἱππότην ἐπιβῆναι ταύτης δυνατὸν ἄνευ θείας τινὸς μηχανῆς, μὴ ὅτι γέ τινα πολεμούμενον καὶ μαχόμενον, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἄνευ πολέμου τινὸς εἶναι δυνατὸν ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τῆς πέτρας. «Εἰ δ' ἐμοί» φησι «καὶ διαπι στοίης, ἐπιχειρήσας ἢ αὐτὸς σὺ ἢ ἄλλος τις ἱπποτῶν ὁ θαρραλεώτατος, τῶν ἀμηχάνων αἰσθήσεται. Εἰ δ' οὖν, ἀλλ' εἴ τις ἀναφανεῖται τῆς πέτρας περιγενόμενος, μὴ ὅτι γε ἄπτερος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπόπτερος ὤν, ἕτοιμος αὐτὸς πᾶν εἴ τι δεινὸν ὑποστῆναι καὶ ἀνανδρίαν κατακριθῆναι.» Ταῦτα εἰπὼν μετὰ θαύματος καὶ ἐκπλήξεως ὁ βάρβαρος τὸν ἐπίχολον Ῥομπέρτον κατέστειλέ τε καὶ εἰς θαῦμα ἐκίνησεν ἀφέμενον τοῦ ὀργίζεσθαι. 4.8.4 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τοὺς ἑλιγ μοὺς τῶν παρακειμένων ὀρῶν καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύσβατον ἀτραπὸν ἐν δυσὶ νυχθημέροις διεξελθὼν καταλαμβάνει τὴν Ἀχρίδα. Ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταξὺ τὸν Χαρζάνην διελθὼν καὶ μικρὸν περὶ τὴν καλουμένην Βαβαγορὰν ἐγκαρτερήσας (τέμπος δ' αὕτη δύσβατόν ἐστι), μήθ' ὑπὸ τῆς ἥττης μήθ' ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων τοῦ μόθου κακῶν τὸν νοῦν συγχυθεὶς μήθ' ὑπὸ τῆς κατὰ τὸ μέτωπον τοῦ τραύματος ὀδύνης ὑποχα λάσας, κἂν τὰ ἐντὸς ὑπὸ τῆς λύπης τῶν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ πε πτωκότων καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν γενναίως ἀγωνισαμένων ἀνδρῶν ἐξεφλέγετο. Ἀλλ' ὅμως τῆς πόλεως ὅλος ἦν ∆υρραχίου καὶ ταύτης ἐμέμνητο ἀχθόμενος ὅτι ἄτερ ἡγεμόνος κατα λέλειπτο τοῦ Παλαιολόγου διὰ τὴν ὀξεῖαν συμβολὴν τοῦ πολέμου μὴ δυνηθέντος ἐπαναστρέψαι. Καὶ ὡς ἐνὸν τοὺς κατ' αὐτὴν ἠσφαλίσατο καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως φρουρὰν τοῖς ἐκκρίτοις Βενετίκοις τῶν ἐκεῖσε ἀποίκων ἀνέθετο, τὴν δέ γε ἐπίλοιπον πᾶσαν πόλιν τῷ ἐξ Ἀρβάνων ὁρμω μένῳ Κομισκόρτῃ τὰ συνοίσοντα, διὰ γραμμάτων ὑποθέμενος.