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392 most grievous. Nevertheless, he sends immediately both doctors, and he sends also the best of his own people. But for the most part, or rather, to speak the truth, entirely, he took courage in the mercy from God and the All-Praised One, as he himself was accustomed in such things, so that he also trusted in her steadfastly and promised that thanksgiving hymns to her would be sung, even if it were the day of the Resurrection itself. Then indeed he prayed even more, and with the oil from the light-giving lamp, sending also a monk from the monastery, he generously gifted the one lying sick. And so the monk, having disembarked from the ship, was a recovery for the one lying sick, and before he had yet appeared, the one who was already like a dead man asked, from some good dreams he had just had, in which a certain well-dressed woman seemed to be pulling a nail from the aching part, saying, "Look, if a monk, having disembarked on the shore, is standing there, bringing gifts from the Mother of God." And those standing by immediately saw what was spoken of, and the arrival of the monk with the holy oil was a restoration for the sick man, having occurred with the greatest possible inspiration and with a miracle.

11. A little before these things happened, on the eighth of the month of Poseideon, an earthquake struck, in the parts here, it was unknown to many, so that they did not even notice the tremor, but in the region of Rhodes and beyond it was manifest and the most grievous of any ever remem 393 bered. Whence all of Rhodes itself was completely overturned, and indeed most dreadful things were heard concerning Alexandria and the places equal to it. And Korone and Methone and most of the Peloponnese, and no small part of Crete, became a casualty of the earthquake.

12. During the month of Gamelion following this, of the second indiction, the city of Constantine saw the Latin Roger, as it should not have, together with his own seven ships and a very large allied fleet of Catalans and Almogavars, amounting to eight thousand, Ferran Ximenis having preceded him and counting the army together. But Ximenis was a nobleman, and those whom he led were his own, and he had arrived uninvited, to fight as an ally against the Persians, if the emperor wished, except for a specified wage; But Roger came by invitation, a man young in age, fierce of aspect, quick in whatever he inclined to, and hot in his actions. Concerning whom I wish to say a few things beforehand, as I have heard; but if my account should deviate from the truth, let not the writer but rumor bear the blame. This man, in Ptolemais in Syria, when it was still in existence and held its renown among cities, served in the Temple as one of the friars. But when that city was captured by the Ethiopians, as we said in the accounts above, and the things there were destroyed, having embezzled 394 money from the monastery and having equipped long ships he attacked the Hagarenes, and as a most violent pirate and having many partisans he engaged in revolutionary activities. Being arrogant with wealth and luxury, along with those around him, from the spoils of the sea, he bade farewell to that order of the friars and their habit, and having grown strong with more ships, to Theuderich, descended from Mafre, who was holding Sicily, who was in apostasy from the church through some ancestral apostasy and for this reason was engaged in wars and battles against Charles, he approached to help with his own people for regular wages. And for a time as an ally, being with Theuderich, he helped with his own people. But when the war came to a stop and those who were formerly at war made peace with marriage treaties (for the king's brother takes Catherine in marriage, whom the pope, having crowned him king and, without an omen, or rather land, having proclaimed him ruler, fastened his hopes for the city on him because the bride was the granddaughter of Baldwin), thereupon, as the church was becoming reconciled, the pope sent for Roger. Theuderich, however, thinking it neither proper nor otherwise just to betray the man who had appeared useful in times of need (for terrible things were attached to him right away for having trampled on his habit), [showed] sufficient friendliness to him, but to the pope regarding his requests

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392 χαλεπώτατον. ὅμως πέμπει μὲν αὐτίκα καὶ ἰατρούς, πέμπει δὲ καὶ τῶν οἰκείων τὰ κράτιστα. τὸ πλέον δὲ ἢ μᾶλλον, εἰπεῖν τἀληθές, τὸ ὅλον, ἐθάρρει τῷ ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς πανυμνήτου ἐλέει, οἷος αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐῴκει, ὥστε καὶ ἀραρότως ἐπ' αὐτῇ πεποιθέναι καὶ τὰ εὐχαριστήρια ταύτης ἐπαγγέλλειν ψάλλεσθαι, κἂν αὐτὴ ἐφιστῷτο ἡ ἀναστάσιμος. τότε γοῦν καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ἐποτνιᾶτο, καὶ τῷ ἐκ τῆς φωταγωγοῦ ἐλαίῳ, πέμπων καὶ μοναχὸν ἐκ τῆς μονῆς, φιλοτίμως ἐδωρεῖτο τὸν κείμενον. ἦν δὲ ἄρα ὁ μοναχὸς ἀποβὰς τῆς νεὸς ἀνάνηψις τῷ κειμένῳ, καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ μήπω φανέντος ὁ ἤδη νεκρὸς ἐπυνθάνετο ἐξ ὀνείρων αὐτίκα χρηστῶν, καθ' οὓς εὐσταλής τις γυνὴ ἧλον τοῦ πονοῦν τος μέρους ἀποσπᾶν ἐῴκει, "ἴδετε" λέγων, εἰ μοναχὸς ἐπ' αἰ γιαλοῦ ἀποβὰς ἵσταται φέρων καὶ δῶρα τῆς θεομήτορος." οἱ δ' ἐπιστάντες εὐθέως τὸ ἀκουόμενον καθεώρων, καὶ ἡ ἐπιδημία τοῦ μοναχοῦ σὺν ἁγίῳ ἐλαίῳ ἐπανάκλησις ἦν τῷ νοσοῦντι, ἐν ὅτι πλείστῳ τῷ θειασμῷ γενομένη μετὰ θαύματος.

11. Ὀλίγον δὲ πρὶν ἢ ταῦτα γενέσθαι, Ποσειδεῶνος μη νὸς ὀγδόῃ, σεισμὸς ἐνσκήπτει, κατὰ μὲν τὰ ἐνταῦθα μέρη ἄγνω στος τοῖς πολλοῖς, ὥστε μηδὲ σημῆναι τὸν κλόνον, κατὰ δὲ τὸ διὰ Ῥόδου κλίμα καὶ πρόσω λαμπρὸς καὶ τῶν πώποτε μνημο 393 νευομένων ὁ χαλεπώτατος. ὅθεν καὶ Ῥόδος μὲν αὐτὴ πᾶσα ἐς τὸ παντελὲς ἀνατέτραπται, ἤκουστο δέ γε καὶ περὶ Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἴσου ταύτῃ τὰ πάνδεινα. Κορώνη δὲ καὶ Μεθώνη καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῆς Πελοποννήσου, οὐκ ἐλάχιστον δὲ μέρος καὶ Κρήτης, σεισμοῦ γεγόνασι παρανάλωμα.

12. Κατὰ τὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ Γαμηλιῶνα τῆς δευτέρας ἐπινε μήσεως εἶδεν ἡ Κωνσταντίνου καὶ τὸν Λατῖνον Ῥοντζέριον, ὡς μὴ ὄφελεν, ἅμα ναυσὶν ἰδίαις ἑπτὰ καὶ συμμαχικῷ στόλῳ ἐκ Κα τελάνων καὶ Ἀμογαβάρων πλείστῳ, εἰς χιλιοστύας ὀκτὼ ποσου μένῳ, προλαβόντος ἐκεῖνον καὶ τοῦ Φαρέντα Τζιμῆ καὶ συμπο σοῦντος τὸ στράτευμα. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Τζιμῆ εὐγενὴς ἦν, καὶ οὓς ἦγεν ἰδίους εἶχε, καὶ ἀκλητὶ παραγέγονε, συμμαχήσων ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας, εἰ βούλοιτο βασιλεύς, πλὴν ἐπὶ ῥητῷ τῷ μισθῷ· ὁ δέ γε Ῥοντζέριος ἐκ προσκλήσεως ἄνεισιν, ἀνὴρ νέος τὴν ἡλικίαν, γοργωπός, ταχὺς εἰς ὃ ῥέψοι, καὶ τὰς πράξεις θερμός. περὶ οὗ βραχέα βούλομαι προειπεῖν ὡς πέπυσμαι· εἰ δέ γε τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος ἐκκλίνειεν, οὐχ ὁ γράφων ἀλλ' ἡ φήμη τὴν μέμψιν φε ρέτω. οὗτος τῇ κατὰ Συρίαν Πτολεμαΐδι, ὅτ' ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἦν καὶ τὸ περίπυστον ἐν πόλεσιν εἶχε, τῷ Τέμπλῳ κατὰ φρερίους ἐνήσκητο. ὡς δ' ἐκείνη παρ' Αἰθιόπων ἡλίσκετο, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἄνωθι λόγοις ἐλέγομεν, καὶ τἀκεῖ κατέστραπτο, χρήματα νοσφι 394 σάμενος τῆς μονῆς καὶ μακρὰς συσκευασάμενος νῆας ἐπεῖχεν Ἀγα ρηνοῖς, καὶ πειρατὴς βιαιότατος πολλούς τ' ἔχων αἱρετιστὰς νεω τέρων πραγμάτων ἀντείχετο. πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ τρυφῇ σὺν τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ὑπερηφανῶν ἐκ τῶν σκυλευμάτων τῶν κατὰ θάλασ σαν τάξιν ἐκείνην τῶν φρερίων καὶ σχῆμα χαίρειν ἐᾷ, καὶ ἐπὶ ναυσὶ κραταιωθεὶς πλείοσι τῷ ἐκ τοῦ Μαφρὲ ἀνέκαθεν Θευδερίχῳ Σικελίαν κατέχοντι, κατά τινα γονικὴν ἀποστασίαν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀποστατοῦντι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς πολέμους καὶ μάχας πρὸς τὸν Κάρουλον καταστάντι, πρόσεισι ῥόγαις τακταῖς βοηθήσων σὺν οἰκείῳ λαῷ. καὶ ἐπὶ χρόνῳ κατά γε συμμαχίαν συνὼν Θευδερίχῳ μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων προσεβοήθει. ἐπεὶ δ' ὁ πόλεμος παῦλαν ἔσχε καὶ σπονδαῖς ἐπιγαμίοις οἱ τέως πολεμοῦντες εἰρήνευον (τὴν γὰρ Ἐκατερίναν ὁ τοῦ ῥηγὸς ἀδελφὸς εἰς γάμον λαμβάνει, ὃν καὶ εἰς βασιλέα στέψας ὁ πάπας, καὶ δίχα τέρας, εἴτ' οὖν γῆς, ἐπικη ρύξας κράτορα, περὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνῳ τὰς ἐλπίδας ἀνήρτα διὰ τὴν νύμφην οὖσαν τοῦ Βαλδουΐνου ἐγγόνην), ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἱλεουμένης πέμψας ὁ πάπας ζητεῖ τὸν Ῥοντζέριον. ὁ μέντοι Θευδέριχος οὐ πρέπον γνοὺς οὐδ' ἄλλως δίκαιον προδι δόναι τὸν ἐπὶ καιροῖς ἀναγκαίοις φανέντα χρήσιμον (ἐφῆπται γὰρ αὐτόθεν οἱ καὶ τὰ δεινὰ ὡς τὸ σχῆμα καταπατήσαντι), ἱκα νὴν μὲν αὐτῷ φιλοφροσύνην τῷ πάπᾳ δὲ πρὸς τὰ ζητούμενα