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Those who live luxuriously, after being sated, eat some honey-cakes offered as dessert; so indeed also the Fortune of the Romans, having danced upon many evils and become glutted with such false emperors, was now toying with the emperor. 10.2.3 However, the emperor utterly despised what was being said. But since the Characene did not cease spouting such nonsense at every opportunity both in the streets and in the lanes, these things came to the ears of Theodora, the sister of the reigning Alexios and bedfellow of that slain son of Diogenes. And she, not bearing that nonsense, was vexed. For upon the slaughter of her husband, she had exchanged it for the solitary life, having adopted the ascetic life most strictly and devoting herself to God alone. And the emperor, since after a second and third warning that foolish man did not keep quiet, sent him to Cherson and ordered him to be kept under guard. And having arrived there, at night climbing up through the wall and peeking out, he spoke once and twice with the Cumans who customarily frequented the place for the sake of trade and to get necessities from there, and having given and received pledges, at night he bound himself with ropes and was lowered from the wall. 10.2.4 And the Cumans, taking him with them, went away to their own country. And living with them for a considerable time, he drove matters to such a point that they were already calling him emperor. And they, desiring to gorge themselves on human blood and to be filled with human flesh and to gather much booty from our land, having found this man as a Patroclus-like pretext, planned to march with all their host against the land of the Romans, so as, forsooth, to establish him on his ancestral throne. And for a time they held this plan in suspense; these things did not escape the emperor's notice. Therefore he both armed his forces as best he could and prepared for battle with the barbarians. For the passes, which the common tongue knows how to call 'kleisourai', as we have said, he had already taken the precaution of fortifying. And when time had passed, since he had learned that the Cumans with the pretender had occupied Paristrion, he gathered the leaders of the military establishment and those related to him by blood and marriage, and deliberated whether he should march out against them. But they all tried to dissuade him from this. 10.2.5 Therefore he could not trust himself, nor did he wish to rely on his own reasoning, but entrusting the whole matter to God, he asked the decision from Him. Accordingly, having summoned everyone from the clerical and military rolls, he goes in the evening to the great church of God, with the patriarch Nicholas himself also being present. For he had already ascended the patriarchal throne during the seventh indiction, year #22φβʹ, after the resignation of Eustratios Garidas. And having written on two tablets the question of whether he should march out and attack the Cumans or not, he ordered the chief of all to place them on the holy table. And while the all-night hymnody was being celebrated, around dawn he who had placed them entered and takes up the document and, bringing it out and unsealing it, he read it aloud before all. The emperor, therefore, having received the affirmative answer from there as if from a divine oracle, became wholly devoted to the expedition and by letters recalled the army from all quarters. 10.2.6 Therefore, having prepared well, he took to the road against the Cumans. Therefore, having summoned the entire army and occupied Anchialos, he sent for his own brother-in-law, Caesar Nikephoros Melissenos, and George Palaiologos and his nephew John Taronites, and dispatches them to Beroe in order to keep watch and provide for the security of both it and the places lying near it. But the rest of the elite, having divided the armies and appointed them as their leaders, Dabatenos, the

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οἱ τρυφῶντες μετὰ τὸν κόρον ἐπιτραγηματίζονται τῶν μελιπήκτων τινὰ προσφερόμενοι, οὕτω δῆτα καὶ ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων Τύχη πολλοῖς ἐπορχησα μένη κακοῖς καὶ διακορὴς γεγονυῖα τοῖς τοιούτοις ψευδο βασιλεῦσι τὸν βασιλέα προσέπαιζεν. 10.2.3 Ὁ μέντοι αὐτο κράτωρ κατεφρόνει τῶν λεγομένων παντάπασιν. Ἐπεὶ δ' ὁ χαρακηνὸς κἀν ταῖς ἀγυιαῖς κἀν ταῖς ἀμφόδοις ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ τοιαῦτα ληρῶν οὐκ ἐπαύετο, ἦλθε ταῦτα εἰς ἀκοὰς τῆς Ἀλεξίου τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἀδελφῆς Θεοδώρας καὶ ὁμεύ νου τοῦ ἀναιρεθέντος ἐκείνου υἱοῦ τοῦ ∆ιογένους. Ἡ δὲ τοὺς λήρους ἐκείνους μὴ φέρουσα ἤχθετο. Ἐπὶ τῇ σφαγῇ γὰρ τἀνδρὸς τὸν μονήρη βίον ἠλλάξατο τὸν ἀσκητικὸν ἀκριβέστατα μετεληλυθυῖα βίον καὶ Θεῷ μόνῳ προσανέ χουσα. Ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ, ἐπεὶ μετὰ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην παραίνεσιν ὁ λῆρος ἐκεῖνος οὐχ ἡσύχαζεν, ἐς Χερσῶνα τοῦτον ἀποστείλας ἔμφρουρον εἶναι παρεκελεύσατο. Ἐκεῖσε δὲ παραγενόμενος, νυκτὸς ἀνερχόμενος διὰ τοῦ τείχους καὶ προκύπτων, τοῖς συνήθως φοιτῶσι Κομάνοις ἐμπορίας χάριν καὶ τοῦ τὰ πρὸς χρείαν ἐκεῖθεν κομίζεσθαι ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ὁμιλήσας καὶ πίστεις δοὺς καὶ λαβὼν διὰ καλῳδίων νυκτὸς ἑαυτὸν δεσμήσας ἐχαλάσθη τοῦ τείχους. 10.2.4 Συμ παραλαβόντες δὲ τοῦτον οἱ Κόμανοι πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀπῄ εσαν χώραν. Συναυλιζόμενος δὲ τούτοις ἐφ' ἱκανόν, ἐς τοσοῦτον συνήλασεν ὡς καὶ βασιλέα αὐτὸν κατονομάζειν ἤδη. Οἱ δὲ αἵμασιν ἀνθρώπων λαφύξαι ἱμειρόμενοι καὶ κρεῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἐμφορηθῆναι καὶ λείαν πολλὴν ἐκ τῆς ἡμεδαπῆς ἐπισυνάξαι, Πάτροκλον εὑρηκότες τοῦτον πρό φασιν κατὰ τῆς Ῥωμαίων πανστρατιᾷ χωρῆσαι ἐβου λεύοντο ὡς δῆθεν τῷ πατρῴῳ τοῦτον ἐγκαθιδρῦσαι θρόνῳ. Καὶ ἀπαιωρουμένην εἶχον τέως ταυτηνὶ τὴν βουλήν· οὐκ ἔλαθε ταῦτα τὸν αὐτοκράτορα. Ἔνθεν τοι καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις ὡς δυνατὸν ἐξώπλιζέ τε καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν βαρβάρων μάχην ἡτοιμάζετο. Τὰ γὰρ τέμπη, ἅπερ κλεισούρας ἡ ἰδιῶτις οἶδε γλῶττα καλεῖν, ὡς ἔφαμεν, φθάσας ἤδη κατω χυρώσατο. Καιροῦ δὲ παρεληλυθότος ἐπεὶ τὸ Παρίστριον τοὺς Κομάνους μετὰ τοῦ ψευδωνύμου καταλαβεῖν μεμα θήκοι, τοὺς τὰ πρῶτα τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ συντάγματος φέροντας καὶ αὐτοὺς δὴ τοὺς καθ' αἷμα καὶ ἐξ ἀγχιστείας αὐτῷ προσήκοντας συναγαγών, εἰ χρὴ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξιέναι ἐβουλεύετο. Πάντες δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἀπεῖργον. 10.2.5 Τοίνυν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ πιστεύειν οὐκ εἶχεν οὔτε μὴν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἤθελε λογισμοῖς χρήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸ πᾶν τῷ Θεῷ ἀναθέμενος ἐξ ἐκείνου τὴν κρίσιν ᾐτεῖτο. Τοιγαροῦν ἅπαντας μετακαλεσάμενος τοῦ ἱερατικοῦ καὶ στρατιωτικοῦ καταλόγου εἰς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν ἑσπέρας φοιτᾷ καὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ πατριάρχου Νικολάου παρόντος. Ἔφθασε γὰρ εἰς τὸν πατριαρχικὸν ἀναβεβηκέναι θρόνον ἐπινεμήσεως παριππευούσης ἑβδόμης ἔτους #22φβʹ μετὰ τὴν Εὐστρατίου τοῦ Γαριδᾶ παραίτησιν. Ἐν δυσὶ δὲ πυκ τίοις τὴν ἐπερώτησιν περὶ τοῦ εἰ δεῖ ἐξεληλυθότα τοῖς Κομάνοις ἐπιθέσθαι ἢ μή, ἐνσημηνάμενος τῷ κορυφαίῳ πάντων παρεκελεύσατο καταθέσθαι εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν τράπε ζαν. Παννύχου δὲ τῆς ὑμνῳδίας τελουμένης κατὰ τὸ περίορθρον εἴσεισιν ὁ τεθεικὼς καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεται τὸν χάρ την καὶ ἐξαγαγὼν καὶ λύσας ἐνώπιον πάντων ὑπανεγίνωσκε. Τὸ ἐνδόσιμον οὖν ἐκεῖθεν ὥσπερ ἐκ θείας ὀμφῆς ὁ αὐτο κράτωρ λαβὼν ὅλος ἐγεγόνει τῆς ἐκστρατείας καὶ διὰ γρα φῶν ἁπανταχόθεν ἀνεκαλεῖτο τὸ στράτευμα. 10.2.6 Καλῶς τοίνυν παρασκευασάμενος τῆς κατὰ τῶν Κομάνων ὁδοῦ εἴχετο. Ἅπαν οὖν τὸ στράτευμα μετακαλεσάμενος καὶ καταλαβὼν τὴν Ἀγχίαλον τὸν μὲν ἴδιον γαμβρὸν Καίσαρα Νικηφόρον τὸν Μελισσηνὸν καὶ τὸν Παλαιολόγον Γεώργιον καὶ τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννην τὸν Ταρωνίτην μετα πεμψάμενος, εἰς Βερόην ἐκπέμπει ἐφ' ᾧ ἐπαγρυπνεῖν καὶ ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς τε καὶ τῶν παρακειμένων αὐτῇ ποιεῖσθαι. Τοὺς δέ γε λοιποὺς τῶν ἐκκρίτων διελὼν τὰ στρατεύματα καὶ ἡγεμόνας τούτων αὐτοὺς καταστήσας τὸν ∆αβατηνόν, τὸν