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(18) Then, having gathered the people, the most prominent from each country, and standing openly somewhere outside the fortress of Gallipoli, he harangued them with a solemn demeanor about many bold things, presenting his own affairs from the very beginning and attributing the causes of their difficulties to the emperor, relating how he was born and raised, and how he had spent his time with many, allying with some and warring against others, and how by a turn of fortune and continuous engagement, those whom he came to assist as an ally, he gave them no cause to blame his summons, while from those from whom he deserted, he seemed to take away no small measure of assistance. He also related the events concerning Sicily, and how after a long war peace had been made with those there, he himself, being accustomed to occupy himself with military exercises, 511 had requested to be sent to the emperor and to defend his country which was in danger, if he himself also wished it, and indeed he was immediately received, and was deemed worthy of imperial letters bestowing a marriage alliance with one of his blood relatives and the rank of Grand Duke, and from there he would bring a few or as many as the emperor summoned in writing, and he suffered many things in the East, if not from the Persians who drew back in fear, then at least fighting against Attaleiotes, and he lost many noble men, whom he was eager to set upon as an adversary, and as one formerly counted among the emperor’s subjects who had now rebelled, he would not spare any struggles against him. and finally, having come to subdue the city, he received imperial letters purposely hindering the surrender, urging the crossing of the Hellespont, as horses and all expenses and wages were immediately ready, on the condition that they would proceed to Mysia to the Emperor Michael without any delay. And they, having arrived, did cross over, and with their wages being deferred 512 they did such and such things. And saying these things, the barbarian attributed the blame to the emperor, as if they had suffered everything from that source, being pompous and putting on airs about these things, and if anything unpleasant had happened, he attributed it to a plausible cause, and for what the Italians had taken the blame due to their usual wickedness, he transferred it to a pretext from the emperor, acquitting the perpetrators of just blame. Finally he added that they themselves were doing nothing wrong, but being deprived of their pay they plundered out of necessity, harming the country. However, he said he heard that the Emperor Michael, having Roman forces with him, intended to march against them as wrongdoers. To whom, he affirmed, because of the oaths he had sworn to the emperor, he would retreat on foot and knee for up to forty paces, but from that point on he would take care of his own safety and that of his men; and if he himself should fall, he would fall, and if the other, it was fate. And for the future, they should not care about a lord, since it was necessary to defend themselves against their attackers, and not, by relaxing their efforts for their safety, be shipwrecked in harbor. Having pompously uttered these and other such things full of 513 Italian drivel, glossing over the evils of the Italians and transferring them to plausible causes, as he supposed, while shamelessly belittling the emperors' actions, he seemed more persuasive to himself and his own men than to his listeners. Not more than ten days passed after that, and realizing in what words he ought not to have erred, or perhaps fearing the expedition from the Emperor Michael (for this too was reported, that the emperor was levying an army, even though he was restrained by his father and emperor writing to him), he backed water again and sent letters full of servility to the emperor, apologizing to him, if anything bitter and otherwise unseemly had been said by him, who was suspecting compulsion from the Italians and the danger from that quarter, and asking him to consider how great the devastation of the land was, and to withhold on account of this as much as he wished, besides which to give only the remainder of the thousands they were demanding, and if not all of it now, then at least the greater part of the whole for the time being, and to defer what was left to a set time.

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(18) εἶτα λαὸν ἀθροίσας τοὺς ἐξ ἑκάστης χώρας ἐμφανεστέρους, καὶ σταθεὶς προφανῶς ἔξω που φρουρίου Καλλιουπόλεως, πόλλ' ἄττα καὶ τολμηρὰ μετ' ἐμβριθοῦς ἐδημηγόρει τοῦ σχήματος, ἀρχῆς ἀπ' ἄκρης τὰ καθ' αὑτὸν συνιστῶν καὶ τὰς αἰτίας τῶν δυσχερῶν σφίσιν ἐπά γων τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὅπως τε γένοιτο τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ὅπως τραφείη διεξερχόμενος, καὶ ὡς πολλοῖς διαγέγονε τοῖς μὲν συμμαχῶν τοῖς δ' αὖ πολεμῶν, καὶ ὅπως τύχης ῥοπῇ καὶ διηνεκεῖ ἀσχολίᾳ οἷς μὲν συμμαχήσων ἐπισταίη, οὐ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς παρεῖχε τῆς μετα κλήσεως μέμψασθαι, ὧν δ' ἀποσταίη, μοῖραν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν βοηθείας ἐδόκει προσαφαιρεῖσθαι. διεξῄει δὲ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Σικελίαν, καὶ ὅτι μετὰ χρόνιον πόλεμον εἰρήνης τοῖς ἐκεῖ ξυμ βάσης αὐτὸς εἰθισμένον ἔχων μελέταις ἀσχολεῖσθαι πολεμικαῖς 511 πέμψαι τε πρὸς βασιλέα, καὶ προσαμῦναι τῇ χώρᾳ τούτου κινδυ νευούσῃ, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς βούλοιτο, ἀξιοίη, καὶ μέντοι γε καὶ δε χθείη αὐτίκα, καὶ γραμμάτων ἀξιοῖτο βασιλικῶν κῆδος βρα βευόντων ἐκ τῶν πρὸς αἵματος καὶ τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου δουκὸς ἀξίω μα, κἀντεῦθεν ἄξοι ὀλίγους ἢ ὅσους μετεκαλεῖτο γράφων ὁ βα σιλεύς, καὶ πολλὰ μὲν πάθοι κατ' ἀνατολήν, εἰ καὶ μὴ Πέρσαις συσταλεῖσιν ἐκ δέους, ἀλλ' οὖν τῷ Ἀτταλειώτῃ μαχόμενος, καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβάλοι γενναίους ἄνδρας, ᾧ καὶ ὡς ἀντιπάλῳ ἐπέχειν ὁρμῴη, καὶ ὡς ἐν ὑπηκόοις βασιλέως λογιζομένου τὸ πάλαι καὶ ἀφηνιάσαντος ἤδη, τῶν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον μὴ ἀφειδοίη ἀγώνων. καὶ τέλος ἐλθὼν τὸ πόλισμα παραστήσασθαι, βασιλικὰς ἐξεπίτηδες διακωλύοντος τὴν παράστασιν δέξαιτο συλλαβάς, ἐπισπευδούσας τὴν τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου διαπεραίωσιν, ὡς αὐτίκα ἑτοίμων ὄντων καὶ ἵππων καὶ πάσης δαπάνης καὶ μισθωμάτων, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐπὶ Μυ σίας πρὸς βασιλέα Μιχαὴλ παραγένοιντο μηδὲν προσαργήσαντες. οἱ δὲ καὶ περαιωθεῖεν ἐπιστάντες, καὶ τῶν μισθωμάτων ὑπερτι 512 θεμένων τὰ καὶ τὰ πράξειαν. καὶ ταῦτα λέγων ὁ βάρβαρος προσῆπτε τὰς αἰτίας τῷ βασιλεῖ ὡς ἐκεῖθεν τὸ πᾶν παθόντων ἐκείνων, σοβαρευόμενος ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ σεμνοποιούμενος, εἴ τί που καὶ γέγονε δυσχερές, εἰς αἰτίαν ἀνάγων εὐσχήμονα, καὶ ὧν τὴν αἰτίαν εἰλήφεσαν Ἰταλοὶ ἐξ ἀλαστορίας συνήθους, εἰς τὴν ἀπὸ βασιλέως πρόφασιν μεταφέρων, καὶ δικαίας τοὺς εἰργασμέ νους ἀπολύων μέμψεως. τέλος προσετίθει καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν μὲν αὐ τοὶ ἀδικοῖεν, ἀποστερούμενοι δὲ τῶν μισθῶν ἀφαρπάζοιεν κατ' ἀνάγκην τὴν χώραν κακοῦντες. τὸν μέντοι γε βασιλέα Μιχαὴλ δυνάμεις περὶ αὐτὸν ἔχοντα Ῥωμαϊκὰς ἀκούειν κατ' αὐτῶν ἰέναι ὡς ἀδικούντων βούλεσθαι. ᾧ δὴ καὶ διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους οἷς πρὸς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐπώμοτος ἦν, ἐπὶ πόδα καὶ γόνυ χωρήσειν μέχρι καὶ ἐς τεσσαράκοντα ἴχνη διεβεβαίου, τοὐντεῦθεν δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ με λήσειν τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ἰδίων· κἂν αὐτὸς πίπτοι, πεσεῖται, κἂν ἐκεῖνος, τὸ μόρσιμον. καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ μὴ χρῆναι σφᾶς φροντίζειν περὶ κυρίου, ὡς ἀναγκαῖον ὂν ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς ὑπάρξαντας, καὶ μὴ καθυφεικότα τῆς ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας σπου δῆς ναυαγεῖν ἐν λιμένι. ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦθ' ἕτερα κορύζης 513 Ἰταλικῆς πλέα σοβαρευσάμενος, τὰ μὲν τῶν Ἰταλῶν κακὰ παρατρέχων καὶ εἰς αἰτίας μεταφέρων εὐλόγους, ὡς ὑπελάμβανε, τὰ δὲ τῶν βασιλέων ὑποκοριζόμενος ἀναισχύντως, μᾶλλον ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις πιθανὸς ἢ τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἔδοξεν. Οὐ πλείους ἐξ ἐκείνου τῶν δέκα παρῆλθον ἡμέραι, καὶ γνοὺς οἷς οὐκ ἐχρῆν λόγοις ἐξαμαρτών, ἢ καὶ τὴν παρὰ τοῦ βα σιλέως Μιχαὴλ δεδιὼς ἐπεξέλευσιν (ἠγγέλλετο γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα, ὡς στρατολογοίη ὁ βασιλεύς, κἂν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ βασιλέως ἐπείχετο γράφοντος), πρύμναν κρουσάμενος αὖθις γράμματα πλήρη δουλείας πεπόμφει πρὸς βασιλέα, ἀπολογούμενος μὲν αὐ τῷ, εἴ τί που ἄρα καὶ παρεξελέχθη πικρὸν καὶ ἄλλως ἀπρε πὲς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ἀνάγκην καὶ τὸν ἐκεῖθεν κίνδυνον ὑπο νοουμένῳ, ἀξιῶν δὲ λογίσασθαι μὲν καὶ τὴν καινοτομίαν τῆς χώρας ὁπόση, παρακατασχεῖν δ' ὑπὲρ ταύτης ὁπόσον καὶ βού λοιτο, παρ' ὃ καὶ μόνον τὸ λοιπὸν ἐξ ὧν χιλιάδων ἀπῄτουν δι δόναι, κἂν οὐ νῦν τὰς πάσας, ἀλλ' οὖν τὰς πλείους τῶν ὅλων τέως, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ λείποντι εἰς διωρίαν προσαναρτᾶν.