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of Thessalonica was organizing the forces and preparing to wage war against 285 Michael. And arriving before he was fully heard of, he was heard of and at the same time he attacked the lands, and having gathered much booty, he returned. And he kept his forces wintering around the Vardar, so as to attack again with the spring. But Michael, seized by no small fear—for he dreaded the Despot even by hearsay—having previously been very boastful of the Italian army; for because of his marriage alliance with the son of Frederick, Manfred, over his daughter, he had the military from there ready to help, letting go of his confidence in them, he resorted to treaties and sending an embassy, he supplicated John, bewailing his former treacheries and giving secure pledges by oaths concerning the future; and he sought to meet with him and wished that firm trust would be established from the sight of one another. So the Despot, having received the embassy, as if having received permission from the emperor, ordered the oaths to be taken; and indeed meeting with him on the appointed day and embracing him with a sincere disposition, even if that man again concealed his deceit, he sends him away to his own lands.

21. How the despot John, freed from the western affairs, attacks the enemies in the east, and a partial praise of him. The emperor, however, having recalled the despot John from Thessalonica, after he had spent a little time with him, sends him with the forces to the east, to engage with the Persians. And for him it was a delight to confront them and to accomplish something worthy of his own glory. For in truth the man was very swift, so as to be heard of here now, and now to be present where one would never have expected. And leaving behind baggage and a multitude of pack-animals and attendants, preparing himself in the evening, he used swift horses and fell upon those who did not even have his arrival in mind. And so that his body might not be loosened by being moved on horseback and continually shaken, his body was bound up and fastened tightly with bands. For these reasons he performed the greatest deeds of valor, being fearsome to all, being heard of and at the same time arriving. Moreover, he both encouraged the military with words and courted it with gifts and, most importantly, he did not treat them despotically but as a brother, a man 287 beloved of God and gentle and sincerely good. And in generosity he surpassed all. His temperance also flourished, so that nothing was heard of any woman subdued to him for the theft of illegitimate pleasure except one besides his wife; and she, from an illegitimate union, alone bore to him a natural daughter, but not a legitimate one, who was given in marriage to the mepe of Iberia, David. In other things he was moderate and steadfast in all matters, but in domestic order exceedingly ambitious and altogether illustrious. And precise signs of his love of goodness and love of beauty concerning his household, from which it happened that they were educated to precision and became true servants, were that, after he died, his attendants were considered worthy of serving the emperor in the highest offices; and of his lack of avarice, or rather hatred of money, to speak more properly, and his giving everything to his soldiers, when it was possible for him to have jars of money and be exceedingly rich, as one who had waged many great wars and subjugated whole countries by his military experiences, and moreover to acquire more from existing resources for his own household, most moderately, because to many it seems a sign of the highest virtue to profit from one's own, acquiring nothing from outside. But he, when fortune offered such opportunities for becoming rich, utterly detested and hated becoming rich in this way from greed, delighting only in glory, than which he had nothing else to prefer; for glory alone of the things of life is wont to accompany those who have passed away. And the law of the lawgiver of the Christians, Christ, not of Solon nor of Lycurgus, but of the creator and maker and God himself, from existing things

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Θεσσαλονίκης συνέταττέ τε τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ πόλεμον ἐξάγειν κατὰ 285 Μιχαὴλ ηὐτρεπίζετο. Καὶ μηδὲ τελέως ἀκουσθεὶς ἐπιστάς, ἅμ' ἠκούετο καὶ ἅμα ταῖς χώραις προσέβαλλε, λείαν τε πλείστην περιβαλλόμενος ὑποστρέφει. Καὶ ὁ μὲν τὰς δυνάμεις κατεῖχε διαχειμεριούσας περὶ τὸν Βαρδάριον, ὡς ἅμα ἦρι προσβαλῶν αὖθις. Ὁ δὲ Μιχαήλ, φόβῳ ληφθεὶς οὐ μετρίῳτὸν γὰρ δεσπότην καὶ ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἐδεδίττετο, τὰ πολλὰ πρὸ τοῦ τῷ Ἰταλικῷ στρατεύματι φρυαττόμενος· διὰ γὰρ τὸ πρὸς τὸν τοῦ Φερδερίχου παῖδα τὸν Μαφρὲ κῆδος ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ ἕτοιμον βοηθῆσον εἶχε τὸ ἐκεῖθεν στρατιωτικόν, ἀφεὶς τὸ ἐπ' ἐκείνοις θαρρεῖν, ἐπὶ σπονδὰς καταφεύγει καὶ πέμψας ἱκετεύει τὸν Ἰωάννην, κατα κλαιόμενός τε τὰς προτέρας παλιμβολίας καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐχέγγυον ἀσφαλὲς τοὺς ὅρκους ἐδίδου· ἐζήτει τε καὶ συνελθεῖν ἅμ' ἐκείνῳ καὶ πίστιν γενέσθαι βεβαίαν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους θέας ἠβούλετο. Ὁ γοῦν δεσπότης, τὴν πρεσβείαν δεξάμενος, ὡς λαβὼν παρὰ βασιλέως ἐκχώρησιν, ἐκέλευε τοὺς ὅρκους γενέσθαι· καὶ δὴ συνελθὼν αὐτῷ ἐφ' ὁρισθείσης ἡμέρας καὶ κατασπα σάμενος ἀπλάστῳ ἤθει, εἰ κἀκεῖνος καὶ πάλιν τὸν δόλον ἔκρυπτεν, πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐκπέμπει.

καʹ. Ὅπως ὁ δεσπότης Ἰωάννης, ἀπαλλαγεὶς τῶν δυτικῶν, τοῖς κατ' ἀνατολὴν ἐχθροῖς προσβάλλει, καὶ μερικὸς ἔπαινος τούτου. Τὸν μέντοι γε δεσπότην Ἰωάννην μετακαλεσάμενος ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης ὁ βασιλεύς, μικρὸν ὅσον συνδιατρίψαντά οἱ, ἅμα ταῖς δυνάμεσι πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἐκπέμπει, τοῖς Πέρσαις ὡς ἦν συμμίξοντα. Ἦν δὲ κἀκείνῳ τρυφὴ τὸ ἐκείνοις ἐφιστάναι καί τι τῆς αὐτοῦ δόξης ἄξιον διαπράξασθαι. Ἦν γὰρ ταῖς ἀληθείαις ὁ ἀνὴρ ὀξύτατος, ὡς νῦν μὲν ἐνταῦθα ἀκούεσθαι, νῦν δὲ παρεῖναι ὅπου τις μηδὲ προσεδόκησεν ἂν πώποτε. Σκευὰς δ' ἐκείνας καὶ σαγμάτων πλήθη καὶ θεραπείας ἀφείς, ἑσπέρας ἐνσκευαζόμενος, ἵπποις ἐχρᾶτο ταχυδρομοῦσι καὶ τοῖς μηδ' εἰς νοῦν τὴν ἐκείνου ἔχουσι παρουσίαν ἐφίστατο. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ καταχαλῷτο τὸ σῶμα κινούμενον ἐφ' ἵππων καὶ ἀναβρασσόμενον συνεχῶς, κειρίαις τὸ σῶμα διείληπτό τε καὶ συνεσφίγγετο. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἠνδραγάθει τὰ μέγιστα, φοβερὸς ἅπασιν ὤν, ἅμ' ἀκουόμενος καὶ ἅμ' ἐφιστάμενος. Τὸ μέντοι γε στρατιωτικὸν καὶ λόγοις ἔθαλπε καὶ δώροις ἐθεράπευε καί, τὸ μέγιστον, οὐ δεσποτικῶς ἐκείνοις, ἀλλ' ἀδελφικῶς προσεφέρετο, ἀνὴρ 287 θεοφιλὴς καὶ πρᾶος καὶ χρηστὸς ἀνυπόκριτος. Εἰς δὲ φιλοδωρίαν καὶ πάντας ἐνίκα. Ἐπήνθει δὲ καὶ τὸ σῶφρον ἐκείνῳ, ὡς μηδὲν παρὰ μίαν ἀκουσθῆναι ὑποταγεῖσαν αὐτῷ πλὴν τὴν σύζυγον εἰς ἡδονῆς νόθου κλωπείαν· ἐκείνη δ' ἐκ νοθείας καὶ μόνη τούτῳ θυγάτριον φυσικόν, ἀλλ' οὐ νόμιμον, ἀπεγέννησεν, ὃ καὶ τῷ μέπε Ἰβηρίας ∆αυῒδ εἰς γάμον ἐδίδοτο. Τὰ δ' ἄλλα μέτριος ἦν καὶ καρτερικὸς ἐφ' ἅπασιν, εἰς δ' οἰκειακὴν τάξιν καὶ λίαν φιλότιμος καὶ τὸ σύμπαν περιφανής. Καὶ ἀκριβῆ σημεῖα τῆς μὲν φιλαγαθίας αὐτοῦ καὶ φιλοκαλίας περὶ τοὺς οἰκείους, ἐξ ὧν ἐκείνους παιδεύεσθαι συνέβαινεν ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς καὶ εἰς ἀληθι νοὺς ὑπηρέτας ἀποβαίνειν, τό, θανόντος ἐκείνου, τοὺς ἐκείνου θεραπευτὰς ἐπ' ἀξιώμασι μεγίστοις ἀξίους λογισθῆναι δουλεύειν τῷ βασιλεῖ· τῆς δέ γ' ἀφιλοχρηματίας ἢ μᾶλλον μισοχρηματίας, εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, καὶ τὸ πάντα στρατιώταις προΐεσθαι, ἐξὸν πιθάκνας ἔχειν χρημάτων καὶ ὑπερπλου τεῖν, ὡς πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους διενεγκόντα πολέμους καὶ χώρας πάσας ταῖς στρατιωτικαῖς ἐμπειρίαις παραστησάμενον, ἔτι δὲ κἀκ τῶν ἐνόντων εἰς ἰδίας οἰκονομίας προσκτᾶσθαι πλείονα, τὸ μετριώτατον, ὅτι καὶ πολλοῖς δοκεῖ ἀρετῆς ἄκρας σημεῖον τὸ τὰ οἰκεῖα καρπίζεσθαι, μηδὲν ἔξωθεν προσκτωμέ νους. Ὁ δέ, τοιαύτας εἰς τὸ πλουτεῖν ἀφορμὰς προβαλλομένης τῆς τύχης, τὸ οὕτω πλουτεῖν ἐκ πλεονεξίας ἐκτόπως ἀπέστυγε καὶ ἐμίσει, μόνῃ τῇ δόξῃ ἐνασμενίζων, ἧς οὐδὲν εἶχε προτιμᾶν ἄλλο· μόνη γὰρ τῶν κατὰ βίον πραγμάτων δόξα τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσι παρέπεσθαι πέφυκε. Καὶ ὁ μὲν νόμος τοῦ τῶν χριστιανῶν νομοθέτου Χριστοῦ, οὐ Σόλωνος οὐδὲ Λυκούργου, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ πλάστου καὶ ποιητοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ, ἐκ τῶν προσόντων