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the ruler was moving to Constantinople. And they had, in the rank of servants, those who had come from all sides, as one might say, rowers to the front of the ships, whom the ruler stationed everywhere in the coastal regions, both skilled and very numerous; for it was not possible for the Romans to hold the city securely, as he himself said, without ruling the entire sea.

27. How and with what sort of forces, while the despot was campaigning and frequently tarrying in the western parts, the eastern parts were lost. And leading the land forces, the despot John had many and great generals under him; and the army was composed of very many *allagia*, as those in common parlance in charge of the regiments would say. For there was the Paphlagonian contingent, both large and very great; and there was a very large and good-for-war contingent from the Halizones, whom common speech would also call Mesothynians. There were Thracians from here, and Phrygians from there, Macedonians from here, and Mysians from there, and other Carians, and a great contingent from Magnesia and also a Scythian one was present, and another very large foreign Italian one. And to speak simply, the whole was organized with an irresistible force, and moving them the despot was formidable wherever he might appear, and especially to the westerners. For which reason the eastern parts also grew weak, as the Persians grew bold and invaded the lands, due to the complete absence of anyone to prevent them. Whence the Meander was depopulated, not only of men in its very many and very great regions, but also of the monks themselves; for the region around the Meander was another Palestine, good not only for raising herds of cattle and flocks, nor for producing a crop of men, but also excellent for gathering multitudes of earthly, heaven-dwelling monks, bearing the palm over Palestine in other respects by as much as it was inferior in one and the greatest respect, that the sojourns of my Christ and God had taken place there. And so little by little the Meander was deserted, as those there moved further inland because of the attack of the nations, and that whole Zygos of the 405 Neokastra, and the regions of Abala and Cayster and Magnesia and all the famous Caria were overrun by the enemies; I forbear to mention Tracheia and Stadia, and Strobilus and the parts opposite Rhodes; which yesterday and the day before had been subject to the Romans, in a short time became the bases of enemies. And the tribes toward the other sea, not to mention those in the middle, all that were among the Mariandynians and Mossynians and all that were among the great-souled Heneti that were subject to the Romans, with those yet further inland as far as the Sangarius, had vanished to such an extent as to require a Mariandynian lamenter to worthily bewail the things there. For as the forces, which were many and wonderful, were being worn down along with the western parts and gradually expended, the danger in the east became so great that it was not even possible for those setting out from the city to travel on foot to Heraclea Pontica itself, since the borders there were enclosed by the Sangarius and everything beyond had become the booty not of the Mysians, but of the Persians. Only the fortresses by the sea were left, those around Cromna and Amastris and Tium and Heraclea, preserving only the names of the places; which indeed, if they had not had use of the sea, with the lands being held by the Persians, would have long since perished along with the lands. And one thing that contributed most to their destruction and that of the others, as the emperor himself later said, when, shortly before his death, treading the place, he saw, and that with no small army, and pitied most of it, was the avarice and stinginess of the taxiarches sent there and their zeal for taking, not limited by measure or satiety, and the false report from there to the ruler, who was not campaigning, that a very small thing was lost, that the damage was minor, that the whole affair stands at 407 heads and that what was taken away could be recalled with little effort, and other things with which they continually, though potable in appearance, but briny in truth, drenched the imperial ears and

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Κωνσταντινούπολιν μετῴκιζεν ὁ κρατῶν. Ἦσαν δ' αὐτοῖς καὶ εἰς ὑπηρετῶν τάξιν οἱ πανταχόθεν προσελῶντες, ὡς εἴ τις εἴποι νηῶν εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἐλάται, οὓς πανταχοῦ τῶν κατ' αἰγιαλοὺς χωρῶν, καλούς τε καὶ πλείστους, ἀπέταξεν ὁ κρατῶν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἀσφαλῶς κατέχειν τὴν πόλιν τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔλεγε, μὴ τὸ πᾶν θαλασσο κρατοῦντας.

κζʹ. Ὅπως καὶ ὁπόσαις δυνάμεσι στρατηγοῦντος τοῦ δεσπότου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς δυτικοῖς συχνάκις ἐπιχωριάζοντος, τὰ ἀνατολικὰ ἀπώλοντο. Τῶν δὲ κατὰ γῆν ὁ δεσπότης Ἰωάννης ἐξηγούμενος πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους εἶχεν ὑφ' αὑτῷ στρατηγούς· τὸ δὲ στρατιωτικὸν ἐν ἀλλαγίοις, ὡς αὐτοὶ φαῖεν ἂν οἱ ἐπὶ τῶν ταγμάτων κοινολογούμενοι, πλείστοις συνίστατο. Ἦν γὰρ τὸ Παφλαγονικόν, πολύ τε καὶ μέγιστον· ἦν δ' ἐξ Ἁλιζώνων πλεῖστον καὶ τὰ ἐς πόλεμον ἀγαθόν, οὓς καὶ Μεσοθινίτας ὁ κοινὸς εἴποι λόγος. Ἦσαν ἔνθεν μὲν Θρᾷκες, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Φρύγες, ἔνθεν μὲν Μακεδόνες, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Μυσοί, καὶ Κᾶρες ἄλλοι, καὶ πολὺ τὸ ἐκ Μαγεδῶνος καί γε τὸ Σκυθικὸν προσῆν, καὶ τὸ ξενικὸν Ἰταλικὸν πλεῖστον ἄλλο. Καὶ ἁπλῶς φάναι, τὸ ὅλον ἐν ἀνυποστάτῳ δυνάμει συνεκροτεῖτο, οὓς κινῶν ὁ δεσπότης φοβερὸς ἦν, ὅπῃπερ ἐπισταίη, καὶ μᾶλλον τοῖς δυτικοῖς. Παρ' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀνατολῆς ἐξησθένουν, τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιθαρρούν των καὶ εἰσβαλλόντων ταῖς χώραις παρὰ πᾶσαν τοῦ κωλύσοντος ἐρημίαν. Ὅθεν καὶ Μαίανδρος μὲν ἐξῳκεῖτο, οὐκ ἀνδρῶν μόνων τῶν ἐν πλείσταις τε καὶ μεγίσταις χώραις, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν μοναχῶν· ἄλλη γὰρ Παλαιστίνη ὁ χῶρος ὁ περὶ Μαίανδρον ἦν, οὐ βοσκημάτων καὶ μόνον ἀγέλας αὐξῆσαι καὶ ποίμνια, οὐδ' ἀνδρῶν φορὰν ἐνεγκεῖν ἀγαθός, ἀλλὰ καὶ μοναχῶν οὐρανοπολιτῶν ἐπιγείων συστῆσαι πληθύας ἄριστος, παρὰ τοσοῦτον ἐπ' ἄλλοις τὰ πρωτεῖα φέρων πρὸς Παλαιστίνην παρ' ὅσον ἑνὶ καὶ μεγίστῳ ἡττᾶτο, τῷ τὰς διατριβὰς ἐκεῖσε γενέσθαι τοῦ ἐμοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ. Καὶ οὕτω μὲν κατ' ὀλίγον Μαίανδρος ἠρημοῦτο, εἰσχωρούντων ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ἐκεῖσε διὰ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπίθεσιν, ἅπας δὲ Ζυγὸς ἐκεῖνος τῶν 405 Νεοκάστρων, Ἄβαλά τε καὶ Καΰστρου χῶραι καὶ Μαγεδὼν καὶ ἡ περί πυστος Καρία πᾶσα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς κατετρέχοντο· ἐῶ λέγειν Τραχεῖαν καὶ Στάδια, Στρόβιλόν τε καὶ τὰ ἀντίπεραν Ῥόδου· ἃ χθὲς καὶ πρώην ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους τελοῦντα ἐχθρῶν ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ ἐγένοντο ὁρμητήρια. Τὰ δὲ πρὸς θατέρᾳ θαλάσσῃ φῦλα, ἵνα μὴ τὰ μέσα λέγω, ὅσα τε ἐν Μαρυανδηνοῖς τε καὶ Μόσυσι καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς μεγαθύμοις Ἑνετοῖς ὄντα τῇ Ῥωμαίων ὑπήκουον, σὺν οἷς καὶ ἔτι τὰ ἔνδον μέχρι Σαγγάρεως, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἠφάνιστο ὥστε καὶ Μαρυανδηνοῦ θρηνητῆρος χρῄζειν ἀξίως τἀκεῖ θρηνήσοντος. Τῶν γὰρ δυνάμεων, πολλῶν τε καὶ θαυμαστῶν οὐσῶν, συγκα τατριβομένων τοῖς δυτικοῖς καὶ κατ' ὀλίγον δαπανωμένων, τοῖς κατ' ἀνατολὴν τοσοῦτον ὁ κίνδυνος περιέστη ὥστε μηδ' εἰς αὐτὴν Ἡράκλειαν τὴν τοῦ Πόντου βαδίζειν εἶναι πεζῇ τοὺς ὁρμωμένους ἐκ πόλεως, τῶν ἐκεῖσε ὁρίων τῷ Σαγγάρει περικλεισθέντων καὶ τῶν πέραν πάντων λείας γεγονότων οὐ Μυσῶν, ἀλλά γε Περσῶν. Μόνα δὲ τὰ πρὸς θάλασσαν φρούρια κατε λείφθησαν, τὰ περί τε Κρῶμναν καὶ Ἄμαστριν καὶ Τῖον καὶ Ἡράκλειαν, τόπων ὀνόματα μόνα σῴζοντα· ἃ δή, εἰ μὴ τῇ θαλάσσῃ προσεχρῶντο, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν χωρῶν κατεχομένων τοῖς Πέρσαις, πάλαι ἂν ταῖς χώραις καὶ αὐτὰ συναπώλοντο. Ἓν δὲ τὸ συντελέσαν τῇ τούτων ἀπωλείᾳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μέγιστον, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς ὕστερον ἔλεγεν, ὅτε, μικρὸν πρὸ θανάτου πατῶν τὸν τόπον, ἑώρα, σὺν οὐκ ὀλίγῳ καὶ ταῦτα στρατῷ, καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα κατῳκτίζετο, ἡ τῶν πεμπομένων ἐκεῖσε ταξιαρχῶν γλισχρότης τε καὶ φειδωλία καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ λαμβάνειν σπουδή, οὐ περιοριζομένη μέτρῳ καὶ κόρῳ, καὶ ἡ ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς τὸν κρατοῦντα ψευδολογία, μηδὲν ἐκστρατεύ οντα, ὡς ὀλίγιστόν τι ἀπώλετο, ὡς ἐπὶ μικροῖς ἡ ζημία, ὡς τὸ πᾶν ἐπὶ 407 κεφαλαίοις ἵσταται καὶ τὸ ἀφαιρεθὲν σπουδῆς ὀλίγης ἀνακαλεῖσθαι, καὶ τἆλλα οἷς συνεχέσι, ποτίμοις μὲν τῷ φαινομένῳ, ἁλμυροῖς δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, τὰς βασιλικὰς ἀκοὰς περιήντλουν καὶ