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he strikes a Scythian pursuing him on the chest, and he immediately lay dead. For he knew in truth how to brandish a spear and to protect himself with a shield; and if anyone had seen him riding, he would not have supposed him to be a Roman, but to have come from the land of the Normans. For that young man was a wonder when riding and truly a masterpiece of nature; great in piety toward God, sweet and gentle toward men. 10.3.6 Not yet forty-eight days had passed, when at the command of Nicephorus Bryennius (for in him was all the authority of Adrianople), the brave soldiers, flinging open the gates all at once, went out against the Cumans. And a fierce battle having broken out, a considerable number of the Romans fell, fighting bravely and unsparing of their own lives, but they killed more. At which time Marianus Maurocatacalon, having taken aim at Togortak (this man was the preeminent leader of the Cuman army), cradling a long spear and giving full rein to his horse, drove straight at him and would have almost killed him, if the Cumans who happened to be around him had not rescued him first, almost killing Marianus as well. But this Marianus, though he was young in age and just entering adolescence, often went out from the gates of Orestias and fought with the Cumans, and as many times, either wounding or killing, he returned a victor. For he was in truth a most noble fighter, having inherited courage like a paternal legacy, a nobler child born of most noble men. And having been rescued from imminent death, boiling with anger, he went against the Pseudo-Diogenes as he was standing on the other side by the bank of the river, where Marianus was fighting with the barbarians; and seeing him wearing purple and royally attired and those around him scattered, he then raised his whip and struck him on the head without mercy, calling him a falsely-named emperor.

10.4.1 But the emperor, learning of the Cumans' persistence around Adrianople and the frequent battles there, judged it necessary for him too to go there from Anchialus. Therefore, having summoned the select leaders and the foremost of the people, he was deliberating what he should do. But a certain man named Alacaseus came in and said: "My father happened to be an old acquaintance of the falsely-named one's father. I, therefore, will go and lead him into one of the small towns and seize him." Then, therefore, the method for carrying out such a deed was sought. But he, imitating Zopyrus in the time of Cyrus, proposed that man's method to the emperor; for he promised to mutilate himself and to cut off his beard and hair and to go to that man, as if he had supposedly suffered these things from the emperor. 10.4.2 He did not just say these things without doing them, nor did he make the promise without putting the promise into action, but as soon as the emperor praised the counsel, Alacaseus was shorn to the scalp and his flesh was mutilated, and he went to that fake Diogenes. And among other things he reminded him of the old friendship and said, "Having suffered many terrible things from the emperor Alexius, I have come to you, emboldened by the old loyalty of my father to your imperial majesty, in order to assist you in the matter at hand." For he also used such flattering words, in order to draw him in more. And that I may narrate the matters concerning him more fully, having received the pass from the emperor Alexius and writings likewise indicating to the one entrusted with the guard of a certain small town named Poutza, "Whatever the present bearer suggests to you, do it, obeying him without hesitation" (for the emperor rightly reckoned that the

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διώκοντα αὐτὸν Σκύθην πλήττει κατὰ τὸ στέρνον, ὁ δ' εὐθὺς νεκρὸς ἔκειτο. Οἶδε γὰρ ἐπ' ἀληθείᾳ δόρυ κραδαίνειν καὶ ἀσπίδι περιφράττεσθαι· καὶ ἱππαζόμενον ἄν τις αὐτὸν ἐθεάσατο, οὐ Ῥωμαῖον εἴκασεν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ Νορμανόθεν ἥκειν. Θαῦμα γὰρ ἦν ὁ νεανίσκος ἐκεῖνος ἐξιππαζόμενος καὶ ὄντως φιλοτίμημα φύσεως· τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν εὐσέβειαν πολύς, τὰ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἡδὺς καὶ μειλίχιος. 10.3.6 Οὔπω τεσσαράκοντα πρὸς ταῖς ὀκτὼ διῆλ θον ἡμέραι, καὶ παρακελευσαμένου Νικηφόρου τοῦ Βρυεν νίου (ἐν ἐκείνῳ γὰρ ἡ πᾶσα ἐξουσία τῆς Ἀδριανουπόλεως ἦν) τὰς πύλας ἀθρόον ἀναπετάσαντες ἐξῆλθον κατὰ τῶν Κομάνων γενναῖοι στρατιῶται. Καὶ πολέμου καρτεροῦ συρ ραγέντος πίπτουσι μὲν ἱκανοὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων γενναίως ἀγωνιζόμενοι καὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ζωῆς ἀφειδήσαντες, πλείους δὲ κτείνουσιν. Ὁπηνίκα καὶ Μαριανὸς ὁ Μαυροκατακαλὼν τοῦ Τογορτὰκ καταστοχασάμενος (ἡγεμὼν δὲ οὗτος ὑπερέ χων τῆς τῶν Κομάνων στρατιᾶς), δόρυ μακρὸν ἐναγκαλισά μενος ὅλας τε τῷ ἵππῳ δοὺς τὰς ἡνίας εὐθὺ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἤλαυνε καὶ μικροῦ ἂν τοῦτον ἀνεῖλεν, εἰ μὴ προφθάσαντες οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν τυχόντες Κόμανοι τοῦτον ἐξείλοντο, μικροῦ καὶ τὸν Μαριανὸν ἀποκτείναντες. Οὗτος δὲ ὁ Μαριανός, κἂν νέος τὴν ἡλικίαν ἦν καὶ ἐς μείρακας ἄρτι παραγγέλλων, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις τῶν τῆς Ὀρεστιάδος πυλῶν ἐξερχόμενος μετὰ τῶν Κομάνων ἐμάχετο καὶ τοσαυτάκις πλήττων ἢ καὶ κτείνων νικητὴς ἀνθυπέστρεφεν. Ἦν γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς μαχητὴς γενναιότατος, καθάπερ τινὰ κλῆρον πατρῷον τὴν ἀνδρείαν κληρωσάμενος ἐκ γενναιοτάτων ἀνδρῶν γενναιό τερος παῖς γεννηθείς. Ἐξ ὑπογύου δὲ τοῦ θανάτου ῥυσθείς, ἀναζέσας τῷ θυμῷ κατὰ τοῦ Ψευδοδιογένους ἐχώρησε πέραθεν παρὰ τῷ χείλει τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ ἱσταμένου, ὅπου ὁ Μαριανὸς μετὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐμάχετο· καὶ θεασά μενος ἐρυθροφοροῦντα καὶ βασιλικῶς ἐσταλμένον καὶ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν σκεδασθέντας, ἀνατείνας τηνικαῦτα τὴν μάστιγα ἔπαιε τοῦτον κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἀφειδῶς ψευδώνυμον ἀποκαλῶν βασιλέα.

10.4.1 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς τὴν περὶ τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν καρτερίαν τῶν Κομάνων μανθάνων καὶ τοὺς συχνοὺς ἐκεῖσε πολέμους δέον ἔκρινε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξ Ἀγχιάλου κεῖθι παρα γενέσθαι. Μεταπεμψάμενος οὖν τοὺς ἐκκρίτους τῶν ἡγε μόνων καὶ προέχοντας τοῦ λαοῦ ἐβουλεύετο τί ἂν ποιήσειεν. Εἰσελθὼν δέ τις ἀνὴρ Ἀλακασεὺς ὀνομαζόμε νος ἔφη· «Ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ συνήθης πάλαι τῷ τοῦ ψευδωνύμου πατρὶ ἔτυχεν ὤν. Ἔγωγε τοίνυν ἀπελθὼν καὶ εἰς ἓν τῶν πολιχνίων εἰσαγαγὼν αὐτὸν κατασχήσω.» Ἐζητεῖτο οὖν τηνικαῦτα ὁ τρόπος τῆς τοῦ τοιούτου ἔργου μεταχει ρίσεως. Ὁ δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ Κύρου Ζώπυρον μιμησάμενος τὸν ἐκείνου τρόπον ὑπέθετο πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα· αἰκίσασθαι γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἐπηγγείλατο καὶ τὸν πώγωνα καὶ τὰς τρίχας ἀποκερεῖν καὶ εἰς ἐκεῖνον φοιτῆσαι ὡς δῆθεν ταῦτα παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος πεπονθώς. 10.4.2 Ταῦτ' οὐκ εἶπε μέν, οὐκ εἰργάσατο δέ, οὐδ' ἐπηγγείλατο μέν, εἰς ἔργον δὲ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν οὐκ ἤγαγεν, ἀλλ' ἅμα τε ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπῄνει τὴν συμβουλὴν καὶ ὁ Ἀλακασεὺς ἐν χρῷ τε κουρίας ἐγίνετο καὶ τὰς σάρκας κατῄκιστο καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἐπίπλαστον ∆ιογένην ἐκεῖνον ἐφοίτησε. Καὶ τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν ὑπέμ νησε φιλίαν καὶ ὡς «Πολλὰ δεινὰ παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος πεπονθὼς Ἀλεξίου ἥκω πρὸς σὲ θαρρήσας» ἔλεγεν «ἐπὶ τῇ πάλαι τοὐμοῦ πατρὸς πρὸς τὴν σὴν βασιλείαν γνησιό τητι ἐφ' ᾧ συνάρασθαί σοι πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον». Ἐχρῆτο γὰρ καὶ τοιούτοις ὀνόμασι κολακευτικοῖς, ἵνα πλέον αὐτὸν ἐφελκύσηται. Καὶ ἵνα πλατύτερον τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν διηγήσω μαι, λαβὼν τὸ ἐνδόσιμον παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος Ἀλεξίου καὶ γραφὰς ὡσαύτως παραδηλούσας πρὸς τὸν τὴν φυλακὴν πολιχνίου τινὸς Πούτζης ὠνομασμένου πεπιστευμένον ὡς «Πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν ὁ παρών σοι ὑπόθηται, ποίησον ἀδιστάκτως ὑπακούσας αὐτοῦ» (ἐκεῖσε γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς καλῶς ἐστοχά σατο τοὺς