Georgius Pachymeres, Chronicle II

25. For on the twenty-seventh of the month of Anthesterion, somewhere around Bapheus (this is a place near the wonderful Nicomedia), Atman suddenly appeared with his followers, numbering very many thousands; but rather, the story must be taken up from the beginning. For Hales Amourios, together with his brother Nastratius who had been a hostage among the Romans for some time, having won over the Persians around Kastamon as allies, was doing harm to the Romans. And for a time, displaying his wicked deeds somewhere around Pontus and further inland, beyond the Sangarius, he kept away from these parts for his own safety; but he grew much more arrogant and looked down on our people ever since he had killed Melik Masour, the son of the sultan Azatines, while fighting as a vanguard. This man [Melik Masour], having shared his father's wandering in the north for a considerable time, from the moment he [Azatines] was released from Ainos, as we have already said, crossed the Euxine when his father arrived here; and putting in at Thymaina, winning over from afar with gifts the khan of the Tochars, Argoun as they would call him, from there he dominated the regions as his paternal inheritance, and he subdued the leading men of the Persians there, whom they call satraps. And they, willingly or unwillingly, were enslaved, but Amourios, the father of Hales, having won over the Tochars and taken a squadron from them, opposed Melik with all his might. But not only that, but he also waged wars against him and was routed, so that, having given up all hope, he decided to go over to the emperor together with his wife and his own people. Whence he also occupied Heraclea in Pontus. And from there, having come to the city of Constantine, since the emperor was away at Nymphaion, he left his wife behind here, while he himself, with his followers, after resting for some days from the toils of the journey, set out for Nymphaion under a royal guide, the emperor's command having been heard. But having arrived somewhere near Atramyttion, whether learning it from another or suspecting it himself that his arrival before the sovereign would not turn out well for him, he immediately changed his mind, and seizing the opportunity, having circumvented the many watches of his guide (who was Abrambax the protohierakarios), he fled from there by night, yet not in the manner of a nocturnal marauder, supposedly without the knowledge of those who met him, but openly and boldly, as if he would sally forth at once against anyone who came upon him. He came again to the Persians, and having gathered a people by the surviving fame of his former power, he achieved even greater. And he was strengthened, growing so mighty that Amourios himself, judging that resistance against him was no longer advantageous to his own affairs, decided to come to him as a suppliant along with seven sons, and having appeased him with gifts, then to be content with serving him. Having decided this and judged it expedient for him, taking his sons along with very many others, he deserted in the guise of a suppliant. But he, still enraged by former events and not yielding at all in his wrath, accepted the gifts, but owed him unenviable suffering. For when, having been admitted with difficulty with the gifts, he was groveling at his feet and supplicating, the other brought up old grievances and bitterly reproached and rebuked him, and finally, taking a cup of wine as if to drink, he showed his followers a prearranged signal (which was, as if he were yawning and stretching out his hands) for them, having drawn their swords, to cut down the suppliants; and when he gave the signal, they rushed in at once and made a wretched feast of him and his sons. This was a grief to Hales and the ultimate misfortune, since he was the son of the one who was butchered and had been saved by some providence, and he considered avenging these things to be more important than any other occupation. And on this account, he made allies of a sufficient number of Persians, and he roamed about in the manner of a robber, making it clear that he would either avenge or fall. And as he ran through and desolated the lands and hastened the confrontation, he provoked the fatal courage of Melik, and pitted this man against that one in war. When this battle broke out, fortune failed Melik, and his horse, carried along at full rein

25. Μηνὸς γὰρ Ἀνθεστηριῶνος εἰκοστῇ καὶ ἑβδόμῃ περί που τὸν Βαφέα (χῶρος δ' οὗτος περὶ τὴν θαυμαστὴν Νικομή δειαν) Ἀτμὰν συνάμα τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν εἰς χιλιάδας πλείστας ποσουμένοις ἐπιστὰς αἴφνης, μᾶλλον μὲν οὖνἀλλ' ἀναλη πτέον τὸν λόγον ἀρχῆθεν. Ἁλῆς γὰρ Ἀμούριος σὺν ἀδελφῷ Ναστρατίῳ τῷ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἐπὶ χρόνοις ὁμηρεύσαντι, τοὺς περὶ τὴν Καστάμονα Πέρσας προσεταιρισάμενος, Ῥωμαίους κακῶς ἐποίει. καὶ τέως περί που τὸν Πόντον καὶ ἐνδοτέρω, πέραν Σαγγάρεως, τὰ τῆς ἀλαστορίας ἐπιδεικνύμενος τῇ καθ' αὑτὸν ἀσφαλείᾳ ἀπείχετο τῶν ἐπίταδε, ὠγκώθη δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα ἐκ πλείο νος καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων καθυπερηφανεύετο ἐξ ὅτου τὸν τοῦ Ἀζα τίνη σουλτὰν υἱὸν τὸν Μελὴκ Μασοὺρ ἀπεκτόνει προπολεμῶν, ὃς δὴ τῷ πατρὶ συμπροφέρων ἐφ' ἱκανὸν τὴν πλάνην κατὰ τὰ βόρεια, ἐξ ὅτουπερ ἐκεῖνος Αἴνοθεν ἀπελύετο, καθὼς καὶ φθά σαντες εἴπομεν, ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐκείνου τῇδε γεγονότος περαιοῦται τὸν Εὔξεινον, καὶ Θυμαίνῃ προσσχών, μακρόθεν τὸν Τοχάρων Κάνιν, ὡς αὐτοὶ φαῖεν, Ἀργάνην δώροις ὑποποιούμενος, ἐν 328 τεῦθεν δεσπόζει τῶν τόπων ὡς πατρικῶν κλήρων, καὶ καθυπο κλίνει τοὺς προύχοντας τῶν τῇδε Περσῶν, οὓς δὴ σατράπας ἐκεῖ νοι καλοῦσι. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἑκόντες ἄκοντες ἐδουλοῦντο, Ἀμούριος δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ἁλῆ πατὴρ ὑπελθὼν Τοχάρους καὶ οὐλαμὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν προσλαβόμενος ὅλαις ὁρμαῖς ἀντέπραττε τῷ Μελήκ. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ πολέμους πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκφέρων κατετροποῦτο, ὥστε καὶ ἀπηυδηκότα τοῖς ὅλοις συνάμα γυναικὶ καὶ ἰδίοις γνῶναι βασιλεῖ προσχωρεῖν. ὅθεν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Πόντου καταλαβεῖν Ἡράκλειαν. κἀκεῖθεν τῇ Κωνσταντίνου ἐπιδημήσας, ἐπεὶ βασιλεὺς ἐς Νύμφαιον ἀπεδήμει, τὴν μὲν σύζυγον τῇδε καταλιμπάνει, αὐτὸς δὲ σὺν τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἐφ' ἡμέραις ἀνεθεὶς τῶν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ κό πων, ὑπὸ βασιλικῷ ποδηγέτῃ, βασιλέως προστάξαντος ἀκουσθέν, τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ Νύμφαιον ἵετο. ἀλλά που περὶ τὸ Ἀτραμύτιον γεγο νώς, εἴτε παρ' ἄλλου μαθὼν εἴτε μὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑποτοπήσας ὡς οὐκ εἰς καλὸν ἐσεῖταί οἱ ἡ πρὸς τὸν ἄνακτα ἄφιξις, γνωσιμαχεῖ τε αὐτίκα, καὶ καιροῦ λαβόμενος, τοῦ ποδηγέτου (ὁ δ' ἦν ὁ Ἀβράμπαξ πρωθιερακάριος) τὰς πολυωρίας παρενεγκών, αὐτό θεν ἐκφεύγει νυκτός, πλὴν οὐ νυκτιλόχου τρόπον, παρὰ γνῶσιν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων δῆθεν, ἀλλ' ἐμφανῶς καὶ θαρρούντως, ὡς ἤν τις ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἴοι, αὐτόθεν ἐπεξελευσόμενος. Πέρσαις τε αὖ θις παραγίνεται, καὶ λαὸν συναγηοχὼς τῷ περιόντι τῆς φήμης 329 τοῦ προτέρου κράτους καὶ μείζονος ἔχεται. καὶ τοσοῦτον κρα ταιούμενος ἐνισχύετο ὥστε καὶ αὐτὸν Ἀμούριον μὴ συνοίσουσαν ἔτι τοῖς καθ' αὑτὸν πράγμασι τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνου ἀφηνίασιν δοκι μάσαντα γνῶναί οἱ ἑπτὰ συνάμα παισὶ καθ' ἱκετείαν παραγε νέσθαι, καὶ δώροις ἐκμειλιξάμενον, εἶτα δουλεύοντα ἀγαπᾶν. ταῦτα γνοὺς καὶ δοκιμάσας ξυμφέροντά οἱ, λαβὼν τοὺς παῖδας συνάμα πλείστοις, ἱκέτου αὐτομολεῖ σχήματι. ὁ δὲ τοῖς προ τέροις ἀπομηνίων καὶ μηδὲν καθυφεὶς τοῦ κότου δέκτο μὲν δῶρα, πόνον δ' ἀμέγαρτον ὄφελλεν. ὡς γὰρ μόλις εἰσαχθεὶς μετὰ τῶν δώρων πρὸ ποδῶν ἐκαλινδεῖτο καὶ καθικέτευεν, ἐκεῖνος τὰ πάλαι προύφερε καὶ πικρῶς ὠνείδιζε καὶ ἀπήλεγχε, καὶ τέλος σκύφον οἴνου λαβὼν ὡς πιόμενος, τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν συγκείμενον ὂν αὐτοῦ τὸ ξύμβολον δείξαντος (τὸ δ' ἦν ὡς δῆθεν σκορδινιῶντος καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐκτείναντος) αὐτοὺς τὰς σπάθας γυμνώσαντας κατακό πτειν τοὺς ἱκέτας, ἐκείνου τὸ σύμβολον δόντος εἰσπηδῶσιν αὐτίκα καὶ ἀθλίαν θοίνην ἐκεῖνόν τε καὶ παῖδας δεικνῦσι. τοῦτο τῷ Ἁλῇ πόνος ἦν καὶ τῶν συμφορῶν ἡ ἐσχάτη, παιδί γε ὄντι τοῦ κρεουρ γηθέντος καὶ ἔκ τινος προνοίας περισωθέντι, καὶ τὸ τοῖς ὁμοίοις ἀμύνεσθαι πάσης ἀσχολίας ὑπέρτερον ἐλογίζετο. ἱκανοὺς δὲ διὰ 330 ταῦτα προσεταιρίζεται τῶν Περσῶν, καὶ τρόπον ληΐστορος περι θέει, ἐμφανὴς ὢν ἢ ἀμυνούμενος ἢ πεσούμενος. ὡς δὲ κατα τρέχων ἠρήμου τὰς χώρας καὶ τὴν ἀνταγώνισιν ἔσπευδε, τὸ τοῦ Μελὴκ λῆμα τὸ μόρσιμον ἐρεθίζει, καὶ τοῦτον ἐκείνῳ συνίστησι κατὰ πόλεμον. οὗ δὴ συρραγέντος σφάλλει τὸν Μελὴκ ἡ τύχη, καὶ ὁ ἵππος ὅλῳ ῥυτῆρι φερόμενος