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governing with certain private wishes together with the natives, not even caring for him who was at the head, Nostoggos Doukas, nor yielding entry to the city, such a man, therefore, having gone out and immediately placated the great duke with words and submissions, and having received him with a marriage alliance, at once through him he seemed loyal to the emperor, and 429 at the same time he was entirely subject to him and obedient in whatever he might command. For Nostoggos Doukas, whom the emperor appointed as great hetaireiarch, writing that he was primikerios of the court, the things commanded to him by the great duke, or indeed also done, were not pleasing and agreeable. Whether, then, he suffered insolence from the way the commander of all treated him, not in a manner worthy of his own greatness, or whether indeed he suspected some terrible things from him regarding certain demands for money, which it was reported he had collected, or whether for both these reasons he considered the future disgrace to be a terrible thing, he resolved to contrive an escape to the emperor, and fortune quickly provided the pretext. And it was this: a man, Kannabourios, related to his mother-in-law, is sent by the great duke to Constantinople for other reasons, and also because he requested that his wife be sent; and since it was necessary to provide for the man's safety on the road, he sends to Nostoggos, ordering him to provide the man being sent with sufficient escorts from the army. But he, having received the orders and seeming to want to fulfill the commands more than abundantly, as if 430 he himself, more than another, would gain favor by escorting him with his own men, contrived an escape. Meanwhile, one of his secretaries, since he too seemed to be estranged from his master, the one from here and the other from there, they reach the city. But the one, since he saw nothing safe for himself because of the remission of his guilt and his flight to the emperor, takes refuge with the patriarch; but the secretary, having arrived before him, and expecting to have guarantees from a certain letter from the great duke, supposedly declaring to the kanikleios that his dismissal was voluntary, was buoyed up by good hopes. And the story was that both, having come together to the patriarch, were justifying through him to the emperor their withdrawal from the great duke, attacking many of his actions with unrestrained frankness. When these things were reported, not only did the speakers not persuade, but they also made the emperor hostile to them; for the emperor judged what was said to be malice, not truth, and rather the kindlings of envy 431 than forethought out of goodwill for him, he was angry and enraged at them. And to take action on these matters, he renounced the usefulness of the one in no small measure, and the dignity of the other prevented his neglect by the emperor. Moreover, an obstacle to this was also the flight of Nostoggos to the patriarch, whence he thought he had complete asylum, being for the time confined in the monastery of the Peribleptos. Wherefore the emperor, often provoked by his sister (for what had been said had naturally become known to her too, and she felt the greatest insult, that if those who denounced him did not pay a worthy penalty, she would pay no further heed to the general, unless those fugitives submitted to justice) but he judged that being confined in a monastery and being out of the emperor's sight was sufficient punishment, that being condemned by himself to that which the emperor would have judged he should suffer as a penalty, the monastery being at once a substitute for a prison, where indeed he had been confined, sent by the patriarch. But as for the scribe, he treated him with aversion as not being his own man at all and as having been taken up 432 by them from some service; for it was necessary that the punishments of rulers for offenses, being no less chastisements than purges, should be applied to their own men, if those who chastise were to profit, and those who suffer terribly were to be benefited, providing what is useful for future need. But since Nostoggos was released from the monastery in some hope of sympathy, but the reputation of neglect was still boiling, and some terrible things the

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ἰδίαις τισὶ θελήσεσι συνάμα τοῖς αὐτό χθοσι διοικῶν, μηδ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ εἰς κεφαλὴν ὄντος τοῦ Νοστόγ γου καὶ ∆ούκα φροντίζων, μηδὲ τῆς πρὸς τὴν πόλιν εἰσόδου παραχωρῶν, ὁ γοῦν τοιοῦτος ἐξελθὼν καὶ λόγοις καὶ ὑποπτώσεσι παραυτίκα τὸν μέγαν δούκα ἐκμειλιξάμενος καὶ γαμικῷ κήδει δεξιωσάμενος, ἅμα τε δι' ἐκείνου πιστὸς ἔδοξε βασιλεῖ, καὶ 429 ἅμα ὅλως ἦν ἐκείνῳ ὑποταττόμενος καὶ ὑπείκων ἐς ὃ καὶ προστά ξειε. τῷ γοῦν Νοστόγγῳ ∆ούκᾳ, ὃν καὶ ἐς μέγαν ἑταιρειάρχην κρατῶν ἔταττε γράφων πριμικήριον τῆς αὐλῆς ὄντα, οὐκ ἦσαν θυμήρη καὶ ἀρεστὰ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου δουκὸς προσταττόμενά οἱ, εἴτε μὴν καὶ πραττόμενα. εἴτε οὖν ὑβριοπαθῶν ἐκεῖνος ἐξ ὧν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἀξίως τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν μεγαλείου ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἐξη γούμενος προσεφέρετο, εἴτε μὴν καὶ ὑποπτεύσας ἐξ ἐκείνου δείν' ἄττα εἴς τινας ἀπαιτήσεις χρημάτων ἐξ ὧν συλλέξας καὶ προσηγ γέλλετο, εἴτε καὶ δι' ἀμφότερα ταῦτα τὴν εἰς τοὐπιὸν ἀδοξίαν ἐν δεινῷ ποιούμενος, ἔγνω μὲν τὴν ὡς βασιλέα τεχνιτεῦσαι ἀπόδρα σιν, ταχὺ δὲ παρέσχε καὶ ἡ τύχη τὴν πρόφασιν. ἡ δ' ἦν, πέμ πεται μὲν παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου δουκὸς ἀνὴρ οἰκεῖος τῇ πενθερᾷ οἱ ὁ Κανναβούριος πρὸς Κωνσταντινούπολιν διά τ' ἄλλα, καὶ ἀξιοῦντος ἀποσταλῆναι τὴν γαμετήν· ἐπεὶ δ' ἔδει τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀσφαλείας τῷ ἀνδρὶ προμηθεύσασθαι, πέμπει πρὸς τὸν Νοστόγγον παρεγγυῶν ἱκανῶσαι διασωσταῖς ἐκ τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ τὸν ἀποστελλόμενον. αὐτὸς δὲ τὰς παρεγγυήσεις δεξάμενος τῷ δοκεῖν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐκ περισσοῦ τὰ ἐπεσταλμένα θέλειν πληροῦν, ὡς 430 αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ ἄλλον εἰς χάριν ἅμα τοῖς ἰδίοις διασωσάμενος, ἐτε χνίτευεν ἀποφυγήν. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καί τις τῶν ἐς γραμματέας ἐκείνῳ τελούντων, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτῷ ἐδόκει τοῦ κεκτημένου ἀλλο τριοῦσθαι, ἔνθεν μὲν οὗτος ἔνθεν δ' ἐκεῖνος τὴν πόλιν καταλαμ βάνουσι. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν ἑώρα ἀκίνδυνα ἑαυτῷ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἐνοχῆς παράλυσιν καὶ τὴν ἐς βασιλέα προσφυγήν, πατριάρ χου προσφεύγει· ὁ δὲ γραμματεὺς ἐπιστὰς πρὸ τούτου, καὶ τὰ πιστὰ προσδοκῶν ἔχειν ἔκ τινος γράμματος τοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου δουκός, ὡς δῆθεν πρὸς τὸν κανικλείου δηλοῦντος τὴν ἀπόλυσιν ὡς ἑκούσιος, ἐλπίσι χρησταῖς ᾐωρεῖτο. λόγος δ' ἦν ἀμφοτέρους συνελθόντας πρὸς πατριάρχην ἀπολογεῖσθαι διὰ τούτου τῷ βα σιλεῖ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μεγάλου δουκὸς ἀναχώρησιν, τὰ πολλὰ τῶν ἐκείνῳ πραττομένων ἀταμιεύτοις παρρησίαις καθαπτομένους. ἃ καὶ ἀγγελθέντα, οὐχ ὅπως οἱ λέγοντες ἔπειθον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δυσμεναίνειν ἑαυτοῖς τὸν κρατοῦντα ἐποίουν· βασιλεὺς γὰρ κα κίας, οὐκ ἀληθείας τὰ λεγόμενα κρίνων, καὶ ὑπεκκαύματα φθό 431 νου μᾶλλον ἢ προνοήσεις ἐξ εὐνοίας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ἐκείνοις ἐχόλα καὶ ἐξωργίζετο. τοῦ δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ μετελθεῖν τοῦ μὲν τὸ οὐκ εἰς ὀλίγα χρήσιμον παρῃτεῖτο, τοῦ δὲ τὸ ἀξιοπρεπὲς εἰς τὴν ἀπὸ βασιλέως παρόρασιν διεκώλυεν. ἦν δ' ἄλλως ἐμποδὼν πρὸς τοῦτο καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸν πατριάρχην καταφυγὴ τοῦ Νοστόγγου, ὅθεν ᾤετο ἔχειν τὴν ἐς ἅπαν ἀσυλίαν τῇ τῆς Περιβλέπτου τέως ἐγκεκλεισμένον μονῇ. ὅθεν καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ὁ κρατῶν πολλάκις παρωξυμμένος (ἀνάπυστα γὰρ κἀκείνῃ τὰ λεχθέντα κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἐγεγόνει, καὶ ὑβριοπάθει τὰ μέγιστα, εἰ μή γε οἱ κα τειπόντες ἀξίας τὰς δίκας τίσαιεν, μηδὲ προσέξειν ἄλλον τῷ στρα τηγῷ, μὴ τῶν φυγάδων ἐκείνων ὑποσχόντων τὰς δίκας) ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν μονῇ ἐγκεκλεῖσθαι καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου εἶναι τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀρκε τὸν εἰς τιμωρίαν ἔκρινεν, ἐκεῖνο παρ' ἑαυτοῦ καταδικασθέντος ὅπερ ἂν βασιλεὺς παθεῖν ἐκεῖνον ὡς πρόστιμον ἐδικαίου, τῆς μονῆς ἀντὶ φυλακῆς οὔσης αὐτίκα, ᾗ δὴ καὶ παρὰ πατριάρχου ἀποσταλεὶς ἐγκέκλειστο. τῷ δέ γε γραμματιστῇ ἀπεπροσπάθει ὡς μὴ ἰδίῳ τὸ σύνολον ὄντι καὶ ὡς ἔκ τινος λατρείας ἐκείνοις 432 ἀναληφθέντι· δεῖν γὰρ τοῖς τῆς τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι τιμωρίας οὐχ ἧττον κολάσεις ἢ καθάρσεις οὔσας ἰδίοις προσήκειν, εἰ μέλλοιεν οἱ μὲν κολάζοντες κερδαίνειν, οἱ δὲ δεινὰ πάσχοντες ὠφελεῖσθαι, κατὰ τὴν εἰς τοὐπιὸν χρείαν τὸ χρήσιμον παρεξόμε νοι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ μὲν Νοστόγγος κατά τινα ἐλπισμὸν συμπαθείας τῆς μονῆς ἀπελύετο, ἡ δὲ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας δόξα καὶ ἔτι ἀναζέουσα ἦν, καὶ δείν' ἄττα τοὺς