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to have against the enemies, being at the city, for which the zeal is great, but the danger necessary, with not a few having to infiltrate, and these Italians, who previously possessed it, being exasperated and otherwise in a rage because having possessed it, they were deprived of it; and now, having been incited, a fearsome fleet was heard to be fitting out, but they did not have the means to oppose such assaults; for they did not have so many ships to withstand them, nor indeed were they able 247 to fight with armies on land; and the Bulgarians on their part from another side threatened to invade through Thrace, and especially because Irene, who was married to Constantine, the ruler of the Bulgarians, did not allow her husband to be at peace due to her hatred for the reigning emperor; with the enemies therefore being stirred up on all sides, it was necessary to guard against attacks as much as possible, and particularly to fear the relatives of the Empress Anna, as they, on her account, would readily join the others in an attack; but if we should provide for something better, having the opportunity, for them to become not only enemies, but also friends, respecting the connection by marriage, if we marry their woman to one of ourselves, having them feel kindly towards us. While the emperor was deliberating and speaking sophistically on these matters—for his burning love was persuading him, and all the more so being scorned by the lady Anna—the empress Theodora, having learned of it, found it difficult to bear, if she, being a crowned lady and legitimate wife, who had borne children to her husband the emperor—first the one, Manuel, who had died, then also the surviving Andronikos, whom the father was raising as a prince, and a third, born in the city, the porphyrogennetos Constantine—should suffer such things, being abandoned, deprived of her husband, deprived also of the empire, and cast off from all honor, seeing her rival on the throne of the empire, ruling as co-empress with her husband. Wherefore, sending to the patriarch, she begs him to avert such a calamity from her and deems him worthy to champion the divine laws. who indeed, having learned and being amazed if the emperor were to attempt such things and shamelessly touch the untouchable, so as to be willing to trample on the established laws, he who was not thought to be such a man before, he considered it terrible and sent word, partly reproaching, and partly threatening him with indignation from God. But the pretexts he dissolved like a spider's web; for to fear a human fear and to count divine fear as nothing is the mark of one who knows how to judge poorly what is to be feared; but to fear the divine laws is the greatest fearlessness for the one who fears, whatever one might put forward to cause fear. As the patriarch was both saying and reporting these things, and was still ready to cut him off, if he should do otherwise, from the whole body of Christ as 249 a member already putrefied and not admitting of a cure, when the reigning emperor realized he had struck against one stronger than his own forces and that he was, so to speak, "playing the Cretan against a Cretan" who had already learned of his attempts—for the overlooking of his son John for the empire did not allow his thoughts to rest even for a moment—he backs water, as the saying goes, and, having provided for the lady Anna as he was able, he chooses to send her to her own lands, except in exchange for the Caesar being held by her brother Manfred; for there his father-in-law, Michael the Despot, having seized him, sent him away, as has been said before. That what was put forward by him was a pretext, and only a cure for love and not a provision for the common good, one who knew the careful study of affairs would conclude.

8. The affairs concerning Manfred, the brother of the lady Anna, and Charles. For Anna was the daughter of Frederick, and the full sister of Manfred, as the account has already shown, having apostatized from the pope and the pope's followers and, as they themselves would say, from their church; for they themselves did not wish, like the others, to be obedient and to submit to whatever he who was in charge of the church might say and do, but to delight in autonomous impulses and thus the rule over Sicily and the lands beyond

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πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἔχειν, ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως ὄντας, ἧς πολὺς μὲν ὁ ζῆλος, ἀναγκαῖος δ' ὁ κίνδυνος, οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐπεισφρεῖν ἐχόντων, καὶ ταῦτ' Ἰταλῶν τῶν ἐχόντων πρότερον παρακεκνισμένων καὶ ἄλλως εἰς μῆνιν, ὅτι ἔχοντες ἀφῃρέθησαν· καὶ νῦν παρακινηθέντας στόλον ἀκούεσθαι φοβερὸν ἐξαρτύεσθαι, αὐτοὺς δ' ἀντωπεῖν ὁρμαῖς τοιαύταις μὴ ἔχειν· οὔτε γὰρ ναυσὶ τοσαύταις εἶναι πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀντέχειν, οὔτε μὴν οἵους τ' εἶναι 247 στρατεύμασι πολεμεῖν κατὰ γῆν· τοὺς δέ γε Βουλγάρους καὶ αὐτοὺς ἑτέρωθεν ἀπειλεῖν εἰσβάλλειν διὰ Θρᾴκης, καὶ μᾶλλον τῆς τῷ τῶν Βουλγάρων ἄρχοντι Κωνσταντίνῳ συνοικούσης Εἰρήνης μὴ ἠρεμεῖν ἐώσης τὸν σύζυγον τῇ πρὸς τὸν βασιλεύοντα ἀπεχθείᾳ· κύκλῳ γοῦν τῶν ἐχθρῶν παρακινου μένων, χρῆναι φυλάσσεσθαι τὰς ἐπιθέσεις ἐς ὅσον δυνατόν, ἰδίως δὲ δεδιέναι καὶ τοὺς τῆς βασιλίδος Ἄννης οἰκείους, ὡς ἑτοίμως διὰ ταύτην κἀκείνους τοῖς ἄλλοις συνεξορμήσοντας· εἰ δέ τι προμηθευσαίμεθα κρεῖττον, καιρὸν ἔχοντες, μὴ μόνον ἐχθροὺς ἐκείνους, ἀλλὰ καὶ φίλους γίνεσθαι, αἰδουμένους τὸ κῆδος καὶ κατ' ἀγχιστείαν, εἰ συνοικίσομεν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἐκείνων, οἰκείως πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχοντας. Ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως βουλευομένου καὶ σοφιστικῶς λέγοντοςἔπειθε γὰρ ὁ ἐκκαίων ἔρως, καὶ μᾶλλον παρὰ τῆς δεσποίνης Ἄννης περιφρονούμενος, ἡ βασιλὶς Θεοδώρα πυθομένη χαλεπῶς εἶχεν ἐνέγκαι, εἰ, δέσποινα ἐστεμμένη οὖσα καὶ γνησία γυνή, ὑπ' ἀνδρί τε τῷ βασιλεῖ τεκοῦσα παῖδας, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἀποιχόμενον ἄλλον τὸν Μανουήλ, εἶτα δὲ καὶ τὸν περιόντα Ἀνδρόνικον, ὃν βασιλικῶς ὁ πατὴρ τρέφοι, καὶ τρίτον τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς πόλεως γεννηθέντα τὸν πορφυρογέννητον Κωνσταντῖνον, τοιαῦτα πάθοι ἀπολειφθεῖσα, στερηθεῖσα μὲν τοῦ ἀνδρός, στερηθεῖσα δὲ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ πάσης ἀπερριμμένη τιμῆς, τὴν δ' ἀντίζηλον ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου τῆς βασιλείας ὁρῶσα συμβασιλεύουσαν τῷ ἀνδρί. Ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην πέμψασα ἱκετεύει τοιαύτην συμφορὰν ἀμῦναι ταύτῃ καὶ νόμων θείων ὑπερμαχεῖν ἀξιοῖ· ὃς δὴ μαθὼν καὶ ἀγάμενος, εἰ τοιούτοις ἐπιχειροίη ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἀνέδην τῶν ἀθίκτων ἅπτεται, ὡς καὶ τοὺς κειμένους νόμους ἐθέλειν καταπατεῖν, αὐτὸς τοιοῦτος μὴ νομιζόμενος πρότερον, δεινὰ ἐποίει καὶ διεμήνυε, τὸ μὲν ὀνειδίζων, τὸ δ' ἐπισείων ἐκείνῳ καὶ τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀγανάκτησιν. Τὰς δέ γε προφάσεις ὡς ἱστὸν ἀράχνης διέλυε· τὸ γὰρ φόβον ἀνθρώπινον δεδιότα φόβον θεῖον παρ' οὐδὲν τίθεσθαι κακῶς κρίνειν εἰδότος εἶναι τὸ φοβερόν· τὸ μέντοι γε τοὺς θείους νόμους φοβεῖσθαι ἀφοβίαν εἶναι μεγίστην τῷ φοβουμένῳ, κἂν ὅ τι προτείνοι τις ἐπὶ τῷ φοβεῖν. Ταῦτα τοῦ πατριάρχου καὶ λέγοντος καὶ μηνύοντος, ἔτι δ' ἑτοίμου ὄντος ἀποκόπτειν ἐκεῖνον, εἰ ἄλλο τι πράττοι, τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁλομελείας ὡς 249 μέλος σεσηπὸς ἤδη καὶ θεραπείαν μὴ προσιέμενον, ἐπεὶ ἔγνω προσκρούσας ὁ βασιλεύων ἰσχυροτέρῳ τῶν αὐτοῦ δυνάμεων καὶ ὡς πρὸς Κρῆτα κρητίζει δῆθεν τὸν ἤδη μαθόντα τὰς ἐκείνου ἐπιχειρήσειςοὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ μικρὸν οὐδ' ἐκείνου ἠρεμεῖν εἴα τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἡ τοῦ παιδὸς Ἰωάννου ἐπὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ παρόρασις, πρύμναν τε κρούεται, τὸ τοῦ λόγου, καί, ὡς εἶχεν ἐφοδιάσας τὴν δέσποιναν Ἄνναν, ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα πέμπειν αἱρεῖται, πλὴν ἐπ' ἀνταμοιβῇ τοῦ παρὰ τἀδελφῷ ταύτης Μαφρὲ κατεχομένου καίσαρος· ἐκεῖ γάρ οἱ ὁ πενθερὸς ἐκείνου Μιχαὴλ ὁ δεσπότης, τοῦτον κρατήσας, ἐξέπεμψεν, ὡς προείρηται. Ὅτι δὲ σκῆψις ἦν ἐκείνῳ τὸ προβαλλόμενον, καὶ μόνον ἔρωτος θεραπεία καὶ οὐ τοῦ κοινοῦ προμήθεια, ὁ τῶν πραγμάτων εἰδὼς ἀκριβῶς τὴν μελέτην συνελογίζετο.

ηʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἄννης τῆς δεσποίνης Μαφρὲ καὶ τὸν Κάρουλον. Ἡ γὰρ Ἄννα Φερδερίχου μὲν ἦν θυγάτηρ, Μαφρὲ δ' αὐταδέλφη, ὡς ὁ λόγος φθάσας ἐδήλωσεν, ἀποστατῶν τοῦ πάπα καὶ τῶν τοῦ πάπα καί, ὡς αὐτοὶ φαῖεν ἄν, τῆς αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίας· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἠβούλοντο κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους καὶ αὐτοὶ εὐπειθεῖν τε καὶ ὑποκατακλίνεσθαι καθ' ὅ τι καὶ λέξοι καὶ πράξοι ὁ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπειλημμένος, ἀλλ' αὐτονόμοις χαίρειν ὁρμαῖς καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ Σικελίας καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν