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stood in the way of their flight, and it was much easier to be saved inside the houses than going out, except that even those were saved only in part; for there was no house that survived entirely intact. For one fell upon another, and he who, when one fell, escaped the danger by some chance, was caught when another fell upon him. And the calamity was sudden, and it was difficult for anyone to be saved by fleeing. And it came upon many in their sleep, who perished before they could even learn what had happened; and little children and infants, unable even to know the disaster, were smothered together in the ruins. And so great was the sudden crash and noise that, with the sea boiling up from without, the survivors supposed that these were not the beginning of birth pangs, but that the very end of the world had come; for since that city was by the sea, and a terrible earthquake suddenly struck, with so much noise of people, and so great a crash of the buildings falling upon one another, those who were found outside, their hearing more violently shaken, could suppose nothing other than the annihilation of the whole world. As the earthquake prevailed for no short time, so that nothing was left standing, but everything within fell and buried the people together, except for the acropolis itself—for it both held out and did not yield to the earthquake—when day appeared, the neighbors immediately ran together, using mattocks and pickaxes and every tool at hand for digging, and falling to it they began to dig, in order that they might at least rescue some miserable souls still living from the danger, but for the most part so that they might carry out all kinds of wealth that had been dragged down with the ruins, and take it for themselves; for at that time the heirs also went down with the property of the fallen, and there was no one to bring lawsuits for plunder against them. For days, then, having dug down to the ground all that had been and having reaped a golden harvest, both the Albanians and the neighbors, using their pickaxes like reaping-hooks, finally left that once-great city deserted, recognizable by some faint signs, numbered among existing things not by being, but only by being named. And its high priest Niketas, he too having been found at that time and saved, but bearing in many of his limbs the marks of the peril, having seen a bitter calamity and one which no one would ever have expected, flees in great fear, having left the metropolis desolate 461 not only of himself, but also of its inhabitants and of the beauty of its buildings and of its very affairs.

8. Concerning King Charles and how he equipped a fleet. At that time, then, Charles, king of Apulia, having long ago defeated Manfred, was at the height of his own affairs and was making himself great by the preparations of very many ships, and being without a treaty with the emperor mostly on account of the agreements of Baldwin, so that he thought himself justified in moving against the City. He was preparing a very large fleet and was assembling it with men and arms and money; and not only that, but he was also importuning the pope and fervently begging him to permit the expedition against the City, as it was otherwise just for him to seek the rights of his children, concerning which the church also agreed with them and promised to cooperate in the greatest degree. And he was engaged in these things, preparing for a long time; but the emperor, perceiving that matters with him were indisputable and the whole affair was beyond contest, because he was being equipped with very many ships, and with a large infantry force on land, which was to cross over through Brentesion to the port of Dyrrachium, which was deserted or rather was held by him to be rebuilt, and, as was said, he was powerful, and from there was organizing a twofold army, he decided to handle the battle against him in another way. And indeed, often sending not his own men to the pope—for he could not, since that man met them at the doors—but otherwise secretly sending letter-bearers and indeed as many prominent Italians as he knew to be friendly and known to be of their party, and sometimes also those whom

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τῇ ἐκείνων φυγῇ προσίστατο, καὶ πολλῷ ἦν ῥᾷον ἐντὸς οἰκιῶν ἢ ἐξιόντας σῴζεσθαι, πλὴν κἀκείνων σωθεισῶν ἐκ μέρους· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν ἥτις καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀκέραιον διεγένετο. Ἄλλη γὰρ ἐπ' ἄλλῃ συνέπιπτε, καὶ ὁ, ταύτης πεσού σης, τὸν κίνδυνον ἀποδρὰς κατά τινα τύχην, ἐπιπεσούσης ἄλλης, συνελαμβά νετο. Καὶ ἦν ἀθρόον μὲν τὸ δεινόν, δυσχερὲς δὲ ἢ ὥστε τινὰ φυγόντα σῴζεσθαι. Πολλοῖς δὲ καὶ ὄναρ ἐπέστη, οἳ καὶ πρὶν μαθεῖν τὸ συμβὰν οὐκ ἔφθανον ἀπολλύμενοι· παιδάρια δὲ καὶ βρέφη, μηδ' ἔχοντ' εἰδέναι τὸ χαλεπόν, τοῖς ἐρειπίοις συγκατεπνίγοντο. Τοσοῦτος δ' ἦν ὁ ἐξαίφνης κτύπος καὶ θόρυβος ὥστε καί, τῆς θαλάσσης ἀναβρασσομένης ἔξωθεν, τοὺς περιγεγονότας ὑπο νοεῖν οὐχ ὅπως ἀρχὴν ὠδίνων ἐκεῖνα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ἐπιστῆναι συντέλειαν· τῷ γὰρ παραθαλασσίαν μὲν τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην εἶναι, δεινὸν δὲ καὶ τιναγμὸν ἐμπεσεῖν ἐξαίφνης, τόσου μὲν θορύβου γεγονότος ἀνθρώπων, τόσου δὲ κτύπου ἐπικαταπιπτόντων ἀλλήλοις τῶν οἰκημάτων, οἱ ἔξωθεν εὑρεθέντες, μειζόνως κατασεισθέντες τὰς ἀκοάς, οὐδὲν εἶχον ὑπο νοεῖν ἕτερον ἢ τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ἐξαφάνισιν. Ἐπ' οὐκ ὀλίγον γοῦν τοῦ σεισμοῦ κρατήσαντος, ὡς μηδὲν ἑστὸς ἐγκατα λειφθῆναι, ἀλλὰ πᾶν τὸ ἐντὸς καταπεσεῖν καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους συγκαταχῶσαι, παρὰ μόνην αὐτὴν τὴν ἀκρόπολινἐκείνη γὰρ καὶ ἀντέσχε καὶ οὐχ ὑπήκουε τῷ σεισμῷ, ἡμέρας φανείσης, συντρέχουσιν εὐθὺς οἱ περίοικοι, ἅμα μακέλλαις τε καὶ δικέλλαις καὶ παντὶ τῷ προστυχόντι ὀργάνῳ πρὸς ὀρυγὴν χρώμενοι, καὶ προσπεσόντες ὤρυττον, ἵνα γοῦν καί τισι ταλαιπώροις ἔτι ζῶσιν ἀπαμύναιεν τοῦ κινδύνου, τὸ δὲ πλέον ὡς ἂν καὶ πλοῦτον παντοδαπὸν ἐκφορήσαντες, τοῖς ἐρειπίοις κατασπασθέντα, λαβόντες ἔχοιεν· τότε γὰρ τοῖς πράγμασι τῶν πεσόντων καὶ οἱ κληρονόμοι συγκατεδύοντο, καὶ ὁ λαγχάνειν τὰς ἐξούλης δίκας ἐκείνοις οὐκ ἦν. Ἐφ' ἡμέραις οὖν ἅπαν τὸ γεγονὸς εἰς ἔδαφος κατασκάψαντες καὶ χρυσοῦν ἀμήσαντες θέρος, Ἀλβανῖταί τε καὶ οἱ περίοικοι, ὡς ἄμαις χρώμενοι ταῖς δικέλλαις, τέλος ἔρημον ἀφιᾶσι τήν ποτε πόλιν ἐκείνην, γνωριζομένην σημείοις τισὶν ἀμυδροῖς, ἐν οὖσι καταλε γομένην οὐ τῷ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ὁ δ' ἐκείνης ἀρχιερεὺς Νικήτας, εὑρεθεὶς κἀκεῖνος τῷ τότε καὶ φυλαχθεὶς μέν, ἀλλ' ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν μελῶν τὰ σύμβολα τοῦ κινδύνου φέρων, πικρὰν ἰδὼν συμφορὰν καὶ ἣν ἥκιστ' ἄν τις καὶ προσεδόκησε πώποτε, κατάφοβος φεύγει, ἀφεὶς ἔρημον 461 οὐχ ἑαυτοῦ μόνου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ταύτης ἐποίκων καὶ κάλλους κτισμάτων καὶ πραγμάτων αὐτῶν τὴν μητρόπολιν.

ηʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τὸν ῥῆγα Κάρουλον καὶ ὅπως στόλον ἐξηρτύετο. Τότε τοίνυν καὶ ὁ ῥὴξ Πουλείας Κάρουλος, ἔκπαλαι τὸν Μαφρὲ καταγω νισάμενος, ἐν ἀκμῇ ἦν τῶν καθ' αὑτὸν πραγμάτων καὶ νηῶν παρασκευαῖς πλείστων ἐμεγαλύνετο, ἔκσπονδος δὲ ὢν τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ πλεῖστα ἐπ' αἰτίαις τῶν Βαλδουίνου συναλλαγμάτων, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τῇ πόλει οἴεσθαι δικαιοῦ σθαι. Παρεσκεύαζε μὲν καὶ τὸ ναυτικὸν πλεῖστον ὅσον καὶ σώμασι καὶ ὅπλοις καὶ χρήμασι συνεκρότει· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν πάπαν προσελι πάρει καὶ θερμῶς ἐδέετο ἐφεῖναί οἱ τὴν κατὰ τῆς πόλεως ἐκστρατείαν, ὡς καὶ ἄλλως δίκαιον ὂν ζητεῖν τὰ τῶν παίδων αὐτοῦ, ἐφ' οἷς σφίσι συμφωνοῦσι καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία συνῄνει καὶ συνεργεῖν τὰ μέγιστα ὑπισχνεῖτο. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐν τούτοις ἦν, ἐκ πολλοῦ παρασκευαζόμενος· ὁ δὲ βασιλεύς, ἀνέριστα τὰ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον διαγινώσκων καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἀδήριτα, ὅτι καὶ πλείσταις μὲν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐξηρτύετο, πολλῷ δὲ καὶ τῷ κατὰ γῆν πεζικῷ, διὰ Βρεντησίου περαιωθησομένῳ εἰς τὸ τοῦ ∆υρραχίου ἐπίνειον, ἐρήμου ὄντος ἢ μᾶλλον καὶ παρ' ἐκείνου κατεχομένου εἰς τὸ ἀνακτισθῆναι, χρησόμενος, ὡς ἐλέγετο, δυνατὸς ἦν, κἀντεῦθεν διττὸν ᾠκονόμει τὸ στράτευμα, ἄλλως ἔγνω τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον μάχην μεταχειρίσασθαι. Καὶ δὴ πολλάκις μὲν οὐκ ἰδίους πέμπων παρὰ τὸν πάπανοὐ γὰρ ἠδύνατο, ἐκείνου κατὰ θύρας ἀπαντῶντος, ἄλλως δὲ γραμματοφόρους κρυφηδὸν καὶ δὴ καὶ Ἰταλῶν ἐπιδόξους ὅσους ᾔδει φιλοῦντας καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων συμμορίας γινωσκομένους, ἔστι δ' ἐνίοτε καὶ οὓς