John Cantacuzenus, Histories

the occasion, but having summoned both the archbishop and the other bishops, to hear what the grandson says in his defense and, having considered it himself, to do from these things what is advantageous for the Romans. But the emperor answered that it was permitted to no one to inquire how he managed his domestic affairs; for it would be his concern when and how it was necessary to manage them; and as for him, being patriarch, he ordered him to hold to ecclesiastical cares, and to abstain from public and imperial affairs. The emperor said such things, thinking that the patriarch, having been cowed by his words, would rather embrace silence. But on the next day he himself also sent such a message to the emperor: “Most mighty emperor, the duty of exhorting and advising and even compelling to do what is necessary, I myself will neither willingly betray, nor unwillingly, seized by fear. If you deem it right for me to live in such inactivity, so as not to speak nor to hear nor to see, you should have said so before appointing me as head of the church. And if these same things seemed just and advantageous to me also, it would now be necessary to accept it; but if I thought other things were fitting for a patriarch, 1.249 I would have yielded the throne to another who had chosen to live thus. But since by the grace of God I have been appointed not only for the correct doctrines of the church, but I also have the necessity to stand up for and champion the wronged, I will not cease quarreling and speaking against those who wish to do wrong and be greedy, whether they be some of the most worthless, or of the most illustrious who have reached the very pinnacle of fortune; and all the more against those, inasmuch as their wrongdoings are greater and bring harm to more people. For if we were to accuse only the small people who commit some small injustices and to reproach their injustice, but toward the greatest who do the greatest harm we were to be willingly silent on account of their high rank and not dare even to mutter, we will differ in no way from doctors who are occupied with hair and fingernails and display their skill on them, but if some disease should befall the living being, ruining the whole, they take no care for it, but think it is sufficient, if they themselves, sitting with the others, should watch it perish. And I am very much amazed, remembering how you ordered me to manage the affairs of the church and to be occupied with them alone, and to leave you to administer the affairs of the empire as it might seem best. For it is similar to as if the body would say to the soul: 'I do not need your fellowship and your connection, nor do I wish to have you as a co-worker in my actions, but I, as I am able and wish, will manage my own affairs, and you take thought for your own.' To all sinners, therefore, as a kind of common remedy, repentance for 1.250 misdeeds was given, whether the misdeed be toward God or toward men. But one would not repent, unless first, having considered himself responsible, he becomes more humble than himself and, bringing himself to the one who seems to have been wronged by him, he makes himself subject. This, then, the emperor your grandson appears to have done before, and more than was fitting, and not least now. For then, being able, if indeed he wished, to have seized no small part of the Roman empire, he was not willing, but bringing himself, he subjected himself to you, and this, having provided no cause for that war; and, what is greatest, that when peace had been made, coming to you, he was not willing to approach you on horseback, as is the custom for emperors, but on foot he both did obeisance and kissed your foot, which was a clear proof of servitude. And now, with this war being stirred up, waiting for so long a time, he begs you not to break the peace. And when the bishops and senators whom you sent to him came, first he showed himself with abundant proof to be doing no wrong, but to be wronged and falsely accused; then also, so that the peace might not be broken, he both said many things and did things worthy of mention, and he has sent many messages to you, which when you yourself have heard, to God and

τὸν καιρὸν, ἀλλὰ τόν τε ἀρχιεπίσκοπον μετακαλεσάμενον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀρχιερεῖς, ὅ,τι τε ὁ ἔγγονος ἀπολογεῖται ἀκοῦσαι καὶ αὐτὸν σκεψάμενον ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ λυσιτελοῦντα Ῥωμαίοις ποιεῖν. ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ ἀπεκρίνατο, μηδενὶ αὐτὸν ἐξεῖναι ἀνερευνᾷν, ὅπως τὰ κατ' οἶκον πράγματα διεξάγει· αὐτῷ γὰρ μελήσειν ὁπότε καὶ ὅπως αὐτὰ δέοι οἰκονομεῖν· αὐτὸν δὲ, πατριάρχην ὄντα, τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἐκέλευεν ἔχεσθαι φροντίδων, τῶν κοινῶν δὲ καὶ τῶν βασιλικῶν ἀπέχεσθαι πραγμάτων. τοιαῦτα μὲν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἴρηκεν, οἰόμενος τὸν πατριάρχην καταπτήξαντα τοὺς λόγους, μᾶλλον ἂν ἀσπάσασθαι τὴν σιωπήν. ὁ δὲ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν τοιαῦτα καὶ αὐτὸς μεμήνυκε πρὸς βασιλέα· «κράτιστε βασιλεῦ, τὸ τὰ δέοντα παραινεῖν καὶ συμβουλεύειν καὶ ἔτι προσαναγκάζειν πράττειν, οὔθ' ἑκὼν προήσομαι αὐτὸς, οὔτ' ἄκων δέει ληφθείς. εἰ δ' αὐτὸς τοιαύτῃ συζῇν ἐμὲ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ ἀξιοῖς, ὥστε μὴ φθέγγεσθαι μήτ' ἀκούειν μήτε ὁρᾷν, ἐχρῆν πρὶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας προστάτην προβαλέσθαι εἰπεῖν. κἂν μὲν καὶ αὐτῷ μοι καὶ δίκαια ταὐτὰ καὶ λυσιτελοῦντα ἐδόκει, στέργειν ἦν ἀνάγκη νῦν· ἂν δ' ἕτερα ἐνόμιζον 1.249 προσήκειν πατριάρχῃ, παρεχώρουν ἂν ἑτέρῳ τῶν θρόνων οὕτω ζῇν προῃρημένῳ. ἐπεὶ δὲ θεοῦ χάριτι οὐ τῶν ὀρθῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας δογμάτων προβέβλημαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀδικουμένων προΐστασθαι καὶ ὑπερμαχεῖν ἀνάγκην ἔχω, τοῖς ἀδικεῖν ἐθέλουσι καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν οὐ παύσομαι διαφερόμενος καὶ ἀντιλέγων, ἄν τε τῶν φαυλοτάτων τινὲς ὦσιν, ἄν τε τῶν ὑπερλάμπρων καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ ἀκρότατον ἀφιγμένων τῆς εὐτυχίας· καὶ μᾶλλον πρὸς ἐκείνους, ὅσῳ καὶ τὰ ἀδικήματα μείζω καὶ πρὸς πλείονας ἐξάγοντα τὴν βλάβην. εἰ γὰρ μέλλοιμεν τοῖς μὲν μικροῖς μικρά τινα ἀδικοῦσι μόνον ἐγκαλεῖν καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν ὀνειδίζειν, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς μεγίστους καὶ τὰ μέγιστα βλάπτοντας ἑκόντες ὄντες διὰ τὸ ἀξίωμα σιωπᾷν καὶ μηδὲ γρύζειν τολμᾷν, οὐδὲν διοίσομεν ἰατρῶν τῶν περὶ τρίχας μὲν καὶ ὄνυχας ἠσχολημένων καὶ τὴν τέχνην ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπιδεικνυμένων, ἐὰν δέ τι νόσημα παρεμπέσῃ τῷ ζώῳ λυμαινόμενον ὅλῳ, τούτου δὲ μηδεμίαν πρόνοιαν ποιουμένων, ἀλλ' ἡγουμένων ἀρκεῖν, εἴγε καὶ αὐτοὶ καθήμενοι μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων, ἀπολλύμενον ὁρῷεν. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ πάνυ θαυμάζω μεμνημένος, ὡς ἐκέλευσας ἐμὲ μὲν τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πράττειν καὶ περὶ αὐτὰ ἠσχολῆσθαι μόνα, σὲ δὲ ἐᾷν ὅπως ἂν δοκῇ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας διοικεῖν. παραπλήσιον γάρ ἐστιν ὥσπερ ἂν πρὸς τὴν ψυχὴν εἴποι τὸ σῶμα· οὐ δέομαι τῆς κοινωνίας καὶ τῆς συναφείας τῆς σῆς, οὐδὲ συνεργὸν πρὸς τὰ πραττόμενα βούλομαι ἔχειν, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ μὲν ὡς οἷόν τε ᾖ καὶ βούλωμαι, διοικήσω τἀμὰ, σὺ δὲ φρόντιζε περὶ τῶν ἰδίων. πᾶσι μὲν οὖν ἁμαρτάνουσι ὥσπερ τι κοινὸν φάρμακον τὸ μετανοεῖν ἐπὶ 1.250 τοῖς πεπλημμελημένοις ἐδόθη, ἄν τε πρὸς θεὸν, ἄν τε πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἡ πλημμέλεια ᾖ. οὐκ ἂν δὲ μεταγνοίη τις, ἂν μὴ πρότερον ὑπεύθυνον νομίσας ἑαυτὸν, μετριώτερός τε γένηται ἑαυτοῦ καὶ φέρων ἑαυτὸν τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ δοκοῦντι ἠδικῆσθαι, ὑποχείριον ποιήσῃ. τοῦτο τοίνυν βασιλεὺς ὁ σὸς ἔγγονος πρότερόν τε φαίνεται ποιήσας, καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ προσῆκε καὶ νῦν οὐχ ἥκιστα. καὶ γὰρ τότε δυνάμενος, εἴπερ ἠβούλετο, τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας οὐκ ἔλαττον μέρος παρασπάσας ἔχειν, οὐκ ἠθέλησεν, ἀλλὰ φέρων ἑαυτὸν ὑπέταξέ σοι, καὶ ταῦτα μηδεμίαν αἰτίαν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐκεῖνον παρασχών· καὶ, τὸ μέγιστον, ὅτι, τῆς εἰρήνης γενομένης, πρός σε ἐλθὼν, οὐκ ἠθέλησεν ἔφιππός σοι προσελθεῖν, ὥσπερ νόμος τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν, ἀλλὰ πεζῇ τε προσεκύνησε καὶ ἠσπάσατό σου τὸν πόδα, ὅπερ δουλείας ἀκριβοῦς τεκμήριον ἦν. καὶ νῦν τοῦ πολέμου κινουμένου τουτουῒ, τοσοῦτον χρόνον καθήμενος, δεῖταί σου μὴ τὴν εἰρήνην καταλῦσαι. ἐλθόντων δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀρχιερέων καὶ συγκλητικῶν, οὓς ἔπεμψας πρὸς αὐτὸν, πρῶτον μὲν ἀπέδειξεν ἑαυτὸν μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντα μετὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιόντος, ἀλλ' ἀδικούμενον καὶ συκοφαντούμενον· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοῦ μὴ λυθῆναι τὴν εἰρήνην εἶπέ τε πολλὰ καὶ ἔπραξεν ἄξια λόγου, καὶ πρὸς σὲ μεμήνυκε πολλὰ, ἅπερ αὐτός τε ἀκούσας θεῷ τε