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of life. For thus my affection for them burned so strongly that I often would have given my very soul for them. But not yet about these things. But let my narrative run back again to the things that happened to me from my very birth. 6.8.3 For when all the customary rites for the newborn children of emperors had been performed more lavishly, as it is said, with acclamations, that is, and gifts and honors being provided to the notables of the senate and the army, everyone rejoiced more than ever, they leaped, they sang paeans, and especially those related by blood to the empress did not know what to do with themselves for pleasure. And when a few measured days had passed, my parents deemed me worthy of a crown and royal diadem. And since Constantine, the son of the previous emperor Michael Doukas, about whom my narrative has often made mention, was still co-emperor with the emperor my father, and co-signed grants with him in red ink, and followed him in processions with a tiara, and was acclaimed in the second place in the acclamations, and I too was about to be acclaimed, those leading the acclamations would shout "Constantine and Anna" together at the times of acclamation. And this, indeed, was done for a considerable time, as I have heard from my relatives and my own parents recounting it often in later years. And this was perhaps a foreshadowing of the things that happened to me, whether good fortune or, on the contrary, misfortune. 6.8.4 And when a second female was born to the emperors, resembling her ancestors in appearance, and showing at the same time the virtue and prudence that would shine forth in her later, they longed to bear a male child also, and this was their prayer. So, during the eleventh indiction, a male child is born to them. Immediately, then, the parents rejoiced and no trace of sorrow was left to them, their desire having been brought to fruition. And all the subjects leaped for joy, seeing their rulers so happy; they rejoiced with one another, they were glad. And one could see the palace full of joy and nowhere any sorrow or any other kind of thought, with all those who were loyal rejoicing from the bottom of their hearts, while others pretended to rejoice. For the subject people are for the most part ill-disposed to their rulers, but mostly they put on an act and win over their superiors through flattery. Nevertheless, one could see the joy was universal then, with all rejoicing together. 6.8.5 The child was dark in complexion, his forehead broad, his cheeks rather lean, his nose neither snub nor hooked, but somehow midway between the two; his eyes were rather dark and showed a deep-seated and sharp character, as far as one could judge from an infant's body. Wishing, therefore, to elevate this child to the imperial dignity and to leave the Roman empire to him as a sort of inheritance, they deem him worthy of holy baptism and the crown in the great church of God. Such then were the things that happened to us purple-born from the very starting-gates of our birth; but the things that happened later will be told in their proper place.

6.9.1 The emperor Alexios, however, having driven the Turks from the coasts of Bithynia and the Bosphorus itself and the regions further inland, had come to a peaceful treaty with Solyman, as the narrative has already shown above, and thus, having turned the reins towards Illyricum, after much toil he decisively defeated Robert and his son Bohemond and rescued the western regions from a very great disaster. And returning from there, he again found the Turks under Apelchasem not simply overrunning the east, but having come down as far as the Propontis itself and the coastal regions there. How then the Emir Solyman, departing from Nicaea, had left this Apelchasem as its guard, and how he

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ζωῆς. Οὕτω γὰρ τὸ πρὸς αὐτούς με φίλτρον ἐξέκαεν ὡς καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν δι' αὐτοὺς προέσθαι πολλάκις. Ἀλλὰ μήπω περὶ τούτων. Ἀνατρεχέτω δ' αὖθις ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς μοι ξυμ πεσόντα γενέσεως. 6.8.3 Πάντων γὰρ τῶν συνήθων ἐπὶ τοῖς νεογνοῖς τῶν βασιλέων παισὶ δαψιλέστερον τελεσθέντων, ὡς λέγεται, εὐφημιῶν δηλαδὴ καὶ δωρεῶν καὶ φιλοτιμη μάτων παρεχομένων τοῖς λογάσι τῆς συγκλήτου καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ, πλέον ἤπερ ποτὲ ἔχαιρον, ἐσκίρτων, ἐπαιάνιζον ἅπαντες καὶ μᾶλλον οἱ τῇ βασιλίδι καθ' αἷμα προσήκοντες οὐκ εἶχον ὑφ' ἡδονῆς ὅ τι καὶ γένοιντο. Μετρητῶν δέ τινων παρελθουσῶν ἡμερῶν στέφους κἀμὲ ἀξιοῦσιν οἱ γονεῖς καὶ βασιλικοῦ διαδήματος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ προβεβασιλευκότος Μιχαὴλ τοῦ ∆ούκα, περὶ οὗ πολλάκις ὁ λόγος ἐμνήσθη, συμβασιλεύοντος ἔτι τῷ αὐτοκράτορι καὶ ἐμῷ πατρί, κἀν ταῖς δωρεαῖς δι' ἐρυθρῶν συνυπογράφον τος τούτῳ, κἀν ταῖς προπομπαῖς μετὰ τιάρας αὐτῷ συνε πομένου, κἀν ταῖς εὐφημίαις δευτέρου εὐφημουμένου κἀγὼ εὐφημεῖσθαι ἔμελλον, Κωνσταντῖνον καὶ Ἄνναν ἐν ταύτῳ ἐξεφώνουν ἐν τοῖς τῆς εὐφημίας καιροῖς οἱ τῆς εὐφημίας προεξάρχοντες. Καὶ τοῦτο δὴ μέχρι καιρῶν ἱκανῶν ἐτελεῖτο, ὥς γέ μοι τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ ἐμῶν γεννητόρων ἐν ὑστέροις πολλάκις διηγουμένων ἀκήκοα. Προμάντευμα δὲ ἴσως τοῦτο τῶν ἐμοὶ ξυμπεσόντων ἦν εἴτε εὐτυχημάτων εἴτε τοὔμ παλιν δυστυχημάτων. 6.8.4 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι καὶ δεύτερον ἐτέχθη θῆλυ, ἀναφέρον μὲν κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν ἐς τοὺς προγόνους, ἐμφαῖνον δ' ἅμα καὶ τὴν ἐς ὕστερον ἐπι λάμψουσαν αὐτῷ ἀρετήν τε καὶ φρόνησιν, ἐπεπόθουν καὶ ἄρρεν τεκεῖν καὶ δι' εὐχῆς αὐτοῖς τοῦτ' ἦν. Ἐπινεμήσεως οὖν ἑνδεκάτης τρεχούσης τίκτεται τούτοις καὶ ἄρρεν· Εὐθὺς οὖν οἱ μὲν γονεῖς ἐγεγήθεσαν καὶ πένθους οὐκέτι ἴχνος αὐτοῖς ἐπιλέλειπτο τῆς σφῶν ἐπιθυμίας εἰς ἔργον προαχθείσης. Τὸ δὲ ὑπήκοον ἅπαν ἐσκίρτων τοὺς κρατοῦν τας οὕτω χαίροντας ὁρῶν, συνέχαιρον ἀλλήλοις, ἐγεγήθε σαν. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν τὰ βασίλεια χαρμονῆς ἀνάπλεω καὶ πένθους οὐδαμοῦ οὐδ' ἑτέρας οἱασδηποτοῦν ἐννοίας, τῶν μὲν ἐκ μέσης θαλάμης καρδίας χαιρόντων ὁπόσοι εὖνοι, τῶν δὲ συσχηματιζομένων χαίρειν. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ τὸ ὑπή κοον ὡς ἐπίπαν δύσνουν τοῖς κρατοῦσι, σχηματιζόμενον δὲ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ διὰ κολακείας ἐπισπώμενον τοὺς ὑπερέχον τας. Ὅμως δ' οὖν κοινὴν ἦν ἰδεῖν τότε τὴν χαρμονὴν συν ηδομένων ἁπάντων. 6.8.5 Τὸ δὲ παιδίον μέλαν ἦν τὴν χροιάν, μέτωπον τούτῳ εὐρύ, παρειαὶ ὑπόξηροι, ῥὶς οὔτε σιμὴ οὔτε κάμπτουσα πρὸς τὸ γρυπόν, ἀλλὰ μέση πως ἀμφοῖν· ὀφθαλ μοὶ μελάντεροι καὶ τὸ ὑποκαθήμενον ἦθος καὶ ὀξύ, ὅσον ἐκ βρεφυλλίου σώματος εἰκάσαι, ἐμφαίνοντες. Ἐθέλοντες τοιγαροῦν τουτὶ τὸ παιδίον εἰς τὴν αὐτοκράτορος περιω πὴν ἀναβιβάσαι καὶ κλῆρον οἷον αὐτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν Ῥωμαίων καταλιπεῖν, εἰς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος καὶ τοῦ στέφους αὐτὸ ἀξιοῦσι. Τοιαῦτα τοίνυν τὰ τοῖς πορφυρογεννήτοις ἡμῖν ἐξ αὐτῶν βαλβίδων τῆς ἡμῶν γενέσεως ξυμβάντα· τὰ δέ γε ἐς ὕστε ρον συμπεσόντα κατὰ τὸν προσήκοντα ῥηθήσεται τόπον.

6.9.1 Ὁ μέντοι αὐτοκράτωρ Ἀλέξιος τῶν παραλίων τῆς Βιθυνίας καὶ αὐτῆς Βοσπόρου καὶ τῶν ἀνωτέρω χωρῶν τοὺς Τούρκους ἀπελάσας μετὰ τοῦ Σολυμᾶ εἰς εἰρηνικὰς ἐληλύθει σπονδάς, καθὼς ὁ λόγος ἀνωτέρω φθάσας ἐδή λωσε, καὶ οὕτως πρὸς τὸ Ἰλλυρικὸν τὰς ἡνίας στρέψας τόν τε Ῥομπέρτον καὶ τὸν αὐτοῦ υἱὸν Βαϊμοῦντον πολλὰ μογήσας κατὰ κράτος ἥττησε καὶ μεγίστης συμφορᾶς τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐρρύσατο. Κἀκεῖθεν ἐπανελθὼν αὖθις τοὺς ὑπὸ τὸν Ἀπελχασὴμ Τούρκους οὐ τὴν ἕω ἁπλῶς κατατρέχοντας εὗρεν, ἀλλὰ μέχρις αὐτῆς Προπον τίδος καὶ τῶν παραλίων ταύτῃ χωρίων κατεληλυθότας. Ὅπως μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀμὴρ Σολυμᾶς τῆς Νικαίας ἐξελθὼν τουτονὶ τὸν Ἀπελχασὴμ φρουρὸν αὐτῆς καταλέλοιπεν, ὁ δὲ