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with forces gathered from the Scythians, they went out and all that land of the Mysians, as it is said, they made plunder, until little by little—for it was not possible for the Italians to make a truce with them, since they were enemies and called so of the precious cross—and having driven them out of the greatest cities indeed, they razed them to the ground. And now lies the illustrious Antioch, and lies Apamea, and Tyre and Berytus have been demolished, and Sidon suffers the same. On the other side Laodicea mourns, and Tripolis and Ptolemais, the great cities of the Italians, are considered as if they had never been. And indeed the most beautiful Damascus, once the eastern borders of Romania, has completely vanished; and in general, except for what belongs to the Armenians, nothing remains. And their numerous people was scattered throughout the land apart from those who fell, some by the law of war, and others also by the law of martyrdom, not accepting apostasy. And 243 the Christian Ethiopians reaped these things from our lack of counsel or malice or autonomous impulses and appetites. And we still endure the insolence of the Tochars, not with any courageous forces, but by friendly or rather servile submissions, making marriage alliances and frequently bringing the most beautiful and greatest gifts, so that another, a second one, was arranged after this and at a later time with the western Tochars, who had appeared from some obscure place and occupied the northern regions, a pact with their ruler Nogai, the emperor giving him in marriage another child born of an obscure union, Euphrosyne by name, from which it came to pass that they had with friendship what they would have hardly acquired by toiling beforehand in war.

2. How the three princesses were married to men and of what sort. Therefore, after this it was decided by the emperor to be rid of the princesses as well, who were also the sisters of his son John, since they seemed to have their share of the inheritance of the kingdom from their father; and for this reason, considering something profound, he did not arrange for them to marry Romans. For one he joined in marriage to a noble Latin from the Morea, called Maio de Belicourt, who was residing there; the second to a Latin magnate, whom they would call, aggrandizing him, a count, named Vintimilia, who at that time had come to the emperor from Genoa by reputation, giving her in marriage and treating him kindly with appropriate gifts, he sends him away together with her as his wife; the third he gives to the Bulgarian Sventislav, ruler of the mountainous regions around Haemus in Mysia. And thus, having been rid of them and eased of the cares concerning them, he turns to other affairs. 245

7. Concerning the lady Anna the German. He comes then to Anna the German, whom John, the father of Lascaris, had as his wife for a short time in his extreme old age, the child of Frederick the ruler of Sicily, and sister of Manfred, whom indeed the aforementioned emperor John, having crowned her when she came from an embassy, showed to be augusta and had her as his wife and loved her... At any rate, the emperor Michael, seized by love for her, kept her in a safe place, so that she might not perhaps flee to her own people, yet providing royally for her needs, he tried in every way to overcome her chastity. But as he could not persuade her, doing many things and trying to win her over—for it would not be fine or seemly, having been called the wife of so great and formidable an emperor, afterwards to dishonor the marriage bed and with his slave, even if he now reigns, to be a concubine, being the greatest and from the greatest—he decided to minister to his tyrannical, manic love in some other way. And indeed he promised to join her to himself in marriage, having put away his own wife, but on seemingly reasonable pretexts, which he also put forward before many; that Theodora—for so the augusta was named—was beautiful and of a lineage worthy of this imperial station, and that he had nothing to censure either of her lineage or her chastity, of corrupted character, or of her not being a loving wife and worthy to reign with him; but that it was entirely necessary to be more cautious and

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ἐκ τῶν Σκυθῶν συστάσαις δυνάμεσιν, ἐξελθόντες πᾶσαν ἐκείνην τὴν γῆν Μυσῶν, τὸ λεγό μενον, λείαν ἐποίουν, ἕως οὗ κατ' ὀλίγονοὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς πρὸς αὐτοὺς σπένδεσθαι, ἐχθρούς γε ὄντας καὶ λεγομένους τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ, καὶ αὐτῶν δὴ τῶν μεγίστων πόλεων ἐξώσαντες, αὐτὰς εἰς ἕδος κατήρειψαν. Καὶ νῦν κεῖται μὲν ἡ περιφανὴς Ἀντιόχεια, κεῖται δὲ ἡ Ἀπάμεια, κατέσκαπταί τε Τύρος καὶ Βηρυτός, καὶ Σιδὼν τὰ ὅμοια πάσχει. Ἑτέρωθεν δὲ θρηνεῖ Λαοδίκεια, Τρίπολίς τε καὶ Πτολεμαΐς, τὰ μεγάλα τῶν Ἰταλῶν ἄστεα, ὡς οὐδ' ἂν ἦσαν λογίζονται. Καὶ δὴ ∆αμασκὸς ἡ καλλίστη, τά ποτε τῆς Ῥωμαΐδος ὅρια καθ' ἑῴαν, ἠφάνισται παντελῶς· καὶ ὅλως πλὴν τῶν εἰς Ἀρμενίους τελούντων οὐδὲν ὅ τι συνίσταται. Ὁ δὲ παμπληθὴς ἐκείνων λαὸς πανταχοῦ γῆς διεσπάρη ἄνευθεν τῶν πεσόντων, τῶν μὲν πολέμου νόμῳ, τῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως νόμῳ μαρτυρικῷ, μὴ καταδεχομένων τὴν ἄρνησιν. Καὶ 243 ταῦτα μὲν Αἰθιόπων τὸ χριστιανικὸν ἀπώναντο ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἀβουλίαις ἢ κακονοίαις ἢ αὐτονόμοις ὁρμαῖς καὶ ὀρέξεσι. Τοχάρων δὲ τοῦ θράσους καὶ ἔτι ἀνέχομεν, οὐ δυνάμεσιν οὐμενοῦν θαρσα λέαις, ἀλλὰ φιλικαῖς εἴτ' οὖν δουλικαῖς ὑπελεύσεσι, κήδη ποιοῦντες καὶ δωροφοροῦντες συχνάκις τὰ κάλλιστά τε καὶ μέγιστα, ὡς καὶ δεύτερον ἄλλο μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ χρόνοις ὑστέροις συνέστη πρὸς τοὺς δυτικοὺς Τοχάρους, ἔκπο θεν ἀφανῶν ἐπιστάντας καὶ τὰ βόρεια κατασχόντας, συνάλλαγμα τῷ ἄρχοντι τούτων Νογᾷ, ἐκδόντος τοῦ βασιλέως ἑτέραν παῖδά οἱ ἐκ σκοτίων σπερμάτων γεγεννημένην, Εὐφροσύνην τοὔνομα, ἐξ ὧν συνέβαινε μετὰ φιλίας ἐκείνους ἔχειν ἃ δὴ προσταλαιπωροῦντες πολέμῳ μόλις ἂν ἐκτῶντο.

ʹ. Ὅπως αἱ τρεῖς βασιλίδες ἀνδράσιν ἡρμόσθησαν καὶ ὁποίοις. Τῷ μὲν οὖν βασιλεῖ μετὰ ταῦτα διέγνωστο ἀπαλλαγῆναι καὶ τῶν βασιλίδων τῶν καὶ αὐταδέλφων τοῦ παιδὸς Ἰωάννου, δοκουσῶν ἔχειν καὶ τούτων τὸ μέρος κλῆρον βασιλείας ἀπὸ πατρός· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο βαθύ τι σκοπῶν, ἐκεῖνος Ῥωμαίους αὐταῖς οὐ συνήρμοττε. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ τῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ Μορέου εὐγενεῖ Λατίνῳ, Μαΐῳ ∆εβελικούρτῳ λεγομένῳ, συνῆγεν εἰς λέχος, ἐνταῦθ' ἐνδημή σαντι· τὴν δὲ δευτέραν Λατίνῳ μεγιστᾶνι, ὃν ἂν ἐκεῖνοι φαῖεν σεμνύνοντες κόντον, ὄνομα Βιντιμίλια, ἀπὸ Γεννούας τότε προσελθόντι κατὰ φήμην τῷ βασιλεῖ, εἰς γάμον ἐκδοὺς καὶ δώροις τὰ εἰκότα φιλοφρονησάμενος, ἀπο πέμπει συνάμ' ἐκείνῃ συζύγῳ· τὴν δὲ τρίτην Βουλγάρῳ τῷ Ὀσφεντισθλάβῳ, κατὰ Μυσίαν τῶν κατὰ τὸν Αἷμον ὀρεινῶν ἄρχοντι, δίδωσι. Καὶ οὕτως ἐκεί νων ἀπαλλαγεὶς καὶ τῶν φροντίδων τῶν ἐπὶ ταύταις ῥαΐσας, ἑτέραις πράξεσιν ἐπιβάλλεται. 245

ζʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τὴν δέσποιναν Ἀλαμάναν Ἄνναν. Φθάνει μὲν οὖν τῷ πρὸς τὴν Ἀλαμάναν Ἄνναν, ἣν συνοικοῦσαν ἐπ' ὀλίγον εἶχεν ὁ τοῦ Λάσκαρι πατὴρ Ἰωάννης ἐν ἐσχάτῳ γήρᾳ, Φερδερίχου τοῦ τῆς Σικελίας ἄρχοντος παῖδα, τοῦ Μαφρὲ δ' ἀδελφήν, ἣν δὴ καὶ ἐκ πρεσβείας ἐλθοῦσαν ταινιώσας ὁ δηλωθεὶς βασιλεὺς Ἰωάννης αὐγούσταν δεικνὺς σύνοικον εἶχε καὶ ἔστεργε ... Τῷ γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔρωτι ὁ βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ ἁλοὺς ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ μὲν εἶχεν, ἐφ' ᾧ τάχα μὴ ἀποδρᾶναι πρὸς τοὺς οἰκείους, ὅμως δ' ἐκείνῃ προνοῶν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων βασιλικῶς, πάντα τρόπον ἐπείρα τῆς σωφροσύνης ἐκείνης περιγενέσθαι. Ὡς δ' οὐκ ἔπειθε, πολλὰ πράττων καὶ δεξιούμενοςμηδὲ γὰρ ἂν καλὸν εἶναι καὶ εὐπρεπές, βασιλέως ἀκούσασαν δάμαρτα οὕτω μεγίστου καὶ φοβεροῦ, ἐν ὑστέρῳ τὸ λέχος αἰσχῦναι καὶ τῷ δούλῳ, εἰ καὶ βασιλεύοι νῦν, παλλακεύεσθαι, μεγίστην οὖσαν καὶ ἐκ μεγίστων, ἄλλον τινὰ τρόπον ἔγνω θεραπεύειν τὸν τυραν νοῦντα μανικὸν ἔρωτα. Καὶ δὴ αὐτῇ μὲν ὑπέσχετο ἑαυτῷ συνοικίζειν εἰς γάμον, ἀφέντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, πλὴν ἐπὶ δοκούσαις εὐλόγοις προφάσεσιν, ἃς καὶ προὔτεινεν ἐπὶ πολλῶν· καλὴν μὲν εἶναι τὴν Θεοδώρανοὕτω γὰρ ὠνομά ζετο ἡ αὐγούστακαὶ γένους ἀξίου τούτου βασιλικοῦ, καὶ μηδὲν ἔχειν ἐπαιτιᾶσθαι ἢ γένους ἢ σωφροσύνης, τρόπων παραβεβασμένων, ἢ τοῦ μὴ φίλανδρον εἶναι καί οἱ ἀξίαν συμβασιλεύειν· ἀλλ' ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι πάντως εὐφυλακτότερον καὶ