164

but upon those who were advanced in years they inflicted every kind of punishment. 10.6.2 But those inside, becoming aware of what was happening, threw open the gates and went out against them. But when a fierce battle then broke out, they were driven back into the fortress, as the Normans fought spiritedly. And so, taking all the booty, they again occupied Helenopolis. But when a dispute arose between them and those who had not gone out with them, as is wont to happen in such cases, with envy inflaming the anger of those who had been left behind, and a skirmish consequently breaking out between both sides, the daring Normans separated themselves again, and taking Xerigordos by assault, they occupied it. 10.6.3 When the sultan learned what had happened, he sent Elchanes against them with a sufficient force. And he, having arrived, took Xerigordos, and of the Normans he made some the consumption of swords, and others he led away captive, having at the same time plotted against those who had been left behind with Kuku-Peter. And having set up ambushes in strategic places, so that when they were going against Nicaea they might fall upon them unexpectedly and be slain, and knowing the love of money of the Celts, he sent for two men of enterprising spirit and commanded them to go to the army of Kuku-Peter and proclaim that the Normans, having seized Nicaea, were dividing the spoils within it. 10.6.4 This rumor, reaching those with Peter, greatly disturbed them. For having heard of plunder and money, they immediately and disorderly took to the road leading to Nicaea, forgetting almost both military experience and the good order for those going into battle... For the Latin race is in other respects also most fond of money, as has been said before, but whenever it inclines toward a raid on a country, it is unreasoning and ungovernable. And marching neither in ranks nor in squadrons, they fell in with the Turks lying in ambush around the Drakon and were miserably slain. And so great a multitude of Celts and Normans had become the work of the Ishmaelite sword that, when they gathered the remains of the slaughtered men lying everywhere, they made not a hill, I say, nor a mound, nor a watch-tower, but a kind of high mountain, having a most remarkable depth and breadth; so great was the pile of bones. And later some of the same race as the slaughtered barbarians, having built a wall in the form of a city, inserted the bones of the dead in the spaces between the stones as if they were pebbles, in a way making the city a tomb for them. Which stands to this day fortified, having its circuit wall of stones and bones mixed together. 10.6.5 When all had become the consumption of swords, Peter alone with a few others returned again and entered Helenopolis. But the Turks were again laying an ambush for him, wanting to capture him. But the emperor, having heard everything and having been assured of such a great slaughter of men, considered it a terrible thing if Peter too should be captured. Therefore, he immediately sent for Constantine Katakalon Euphorbenos, of whom our account has already made mention in many places, and putting sufficient forces on warships, he sent him across the sea to his aid. But when the Turks saw him arrive, they took to flight. And he, without delaying even a little, took up Peter with those who were with him, for they were few in number, and brought him safely to the emperor. 10.6.6 And when the emperor reminded him of his folly from the beginning and how, by not obeying his counsels, he had fallen into such terrible disasters, he, being a Latin of a haughty neck, said that he himself was not the cause of so great an evil, but those who had not obeyed him, but had followed their own wills, calling them robbers and plunderers and not from the Savior to

164

πρὸς δὲ τοὺς τῷ χρόνῳ προήκοντας· πᾶν εἶδος ποινῆς ἐπεδεί κνυντο. 10.6.2 Οἱ δὲ ἐντὸς τῶν γινομένων ἐν αἰσθήσει γεγο νότες ἀναπετάσαντες τὰς πύλας κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξῄεσαν. Καρτεροῦ δὲ τηνικαῦτα συρραγέντος πολέμου παλίνορσοι εἴσω τοῦ κάστρου γεγόνασιν ἐκθύμως τῶν Νορμάνων ἀγω νισαμένων. Καὶ ὣς τὴν λείαν ἅπασαν ἀναλαβόμενοι κατέ λαβον αὖθις τὴν Ἑλενούπολιν. Λόγου δὲ ἀναμεταξὺ αὐτῶν τε καὶ τῶν μὴ σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀπελθόντων κινηθέντος, ὁποῖα φιλεῖ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις γίνεσθαι, τοῦ φθόνου τὸν θυμὸν ἀναφλέγοντος τῶν ἀπολειφθέντων κἀντεῦθεν ἁψιμαχίας ἀμφοῖν γενομένης οἱ τολμητίαι Νορμάνοι ἀποκριθέντες αὖθις τὴν Ξερίγορδον καταλαβόντες ἐξ ἐφόδου κατέσχον. 10.6.3 Μαθὼν δὲ τὸ γεγονὸς ὁ σουλτὰν κατ' αὐτῶν μετὰ ἀπο χρώσης δυνάμεως ἐκπέμπει τὸν Ἐλχάνην. Ὁ δὲ καταλαβὼν αἱρεῖ μὲν τὴν Ξερίγορδον, τῶν δέ γε Νορμάνων τοὺς μὲν ξιφῶν παρανάλωμα ἐποιήσατο, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ζωγρίαν ἦγε μελετήσας ἅμα καὶ κατὰ τῶν συναπολειφθέντων τῷ Κουκουπέτρῳ. Καὶ λόχους μὲν ἐν ἐπικαίροις καταστήσας τόποις, ὡς ἂν <ἐν> τῷ κατὰ τῆς Νικαίας ἀπιέναι τούτοις ἀπροόπτως ἐμπίπτοντες ἀναιρῶνται, γινώσκων δὲ καὶ τὸ τῶν Κελτῶν ἐρασιχρήματον δύο τινὰς δραστηρίους τὴν γνώμην μεταπεμψάμενος ἐνετείλατο ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς τὸ στράτευμα τοῦ Κουκουπέτρου διακηρυκεύοντας ὡς οἱ Νορ μάνοι, κατασχόντες τὴν Νίκαιαν, δασμὸν τῶν ἐνόντων ἐν αὐτῇ ποιοῦνται. 10.6.4 Αὕτη ἡ φήμη τοὺς μετὰ τοῦ Πέτρου συνόντας καταλαβοῦσα δεινῶς συνετάραξε. ∆ασμὸν γὰρ καὶ χρήματα ἀκηκοότες παραχρῆμα τῆς πρὸς τὴν Νίκαιαν φερούσης ὁδοῦ ἀσυντάκτως ἥψαντο ἐπιλαθόμενοι μονονοὺ καὶ στρατιωτικῆς ἐμπειρίας καὶ τῆς τοῖς πρὸς μάχην ἀπιοῦσιν ... εὐταξίας. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἄλλως τὸ τῶν Λατί νων γένος φιλοχρηματώτατον, ὥσπερ ἄνωθεν εἴρηται, ἐπὰν δὲ καὶ πρὸς καταδρομὴν χώρας ἀπονεύσειε, καὶ λόγῳ μὴ χρώμενον ἀχαλιναγώγητον. Μὴ κατὰ στοίχους δὲ μήτε ἰλαδὸν πορευόμενοι τοῖς περὶ τὸν ∆ράκοντα λοχῶσι Τούρ κοις περιπίπτοντες οἰκτρῶς ἀνῃροῦντο. Καὶ τοσοῦτον πλῆ θος Κελτῶν τε καὶ Νορμάνων ἔργον μαχαίρας Ἰσμαηλιτι κῆς ἐγεγόνει ὥστε, τὰ ἑκασταχοῦ κείμενα λείψανα τῶν ἀποσφαγέντων ἀνδρῶν συγκομίσαντες, μέγιστον οὐ λόφον φημὶ οὐδὲ βουνὸν οὐδὲ σκοπιὰν ἐποιήσαντο, ἀλλ' οἷον ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ βάθος καὶ πλάτος ἀξιολογώτατον ἀπολαμβάνον· τοσοῦτος ἔκειτο ὁ τῶν ὀστῶν κολωνός. Καί τινες ὕστερον τῶν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους τῶν ἀποσφαγέντων βαρβάρων ἐν σχήματι πόλεως οἰκοδομήσαντες τεῖχος μεσέμβολά τινα καθάπερ κάχληκας τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἐνέθεντο τρό πον τινὰ τάφον αὐτοῖς τὴν πόλιν ποιούμενοι. Ἥτις καὶ εἰς τὴν τήμερον ἵσταται τετειχισμένη ὁμοῦ τε λίθοις καὶ ὀστοῖς ἀναμὶξ ἔχουσα τὸν περίβολον. 10.6.5 Πάντων οὖν ξιφῶν παρανάλωμα γεγονότων μόνος ὁ Πέτρος μετ' ὀλίγων τινῶν εἰς Ἑλενούπολιν αὖθις ὑποστρέψας εἰσῄει. Οἱ δὲ Τοῦρκοι αὖθις τοῦτον ἐνήδρευον ἑλεῖν ἐθέλοντες. Ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ, ἅπαντα ἀκηκοὼς καὶ τὴν τοσαύτην ἀνδροκ τασίαν βεβαιωθείς, ἐν δεινῷ ἐποιεῖτο εἰ καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἁλῴη. Παραχρῆμα τοίνυν μεταπεμψάμενος τὸν Κατακαλὼν Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν Εὐφορβηνόν, οὗ ὁ λόγος ἐν πολλοῖς ἤδη ἐμνήσθη, ἀποχρώσας δυνάμεις ἐν ναυσὶ πολεμικαῖς ἐμβα λὼν διαπόντιον εἰς ἀρωγὴν αὐτοῦ πέπομφε. Θεασάμενοι δὲ τοῦτον οἱ Τοῦρκοι καταλαβόντα φυγαδείᾳ ἐχρήσαντο. Ὁ δὲ μηδὲ μικρὸν ἀναμείνας ἀναλαβόμενος τὸν Πέτρον μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ, ῥητοὶ γὰρ ἦσαν, διασῴζει πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα. 10.6.6 Τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως ἀναμιμνήσκοντος αὐτὸν τῆς ἀρχῆθεν ἀβουλίας αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅπως ταῖς αὐτοῦ ὑποθημοσύναις μὴ πειθόμενος τοσούτοις ἐνεπεπτώκει δεινοῖς, ὁποῖα Λατῖνος ὑψαύχην οὐχὶ ἑαυτὸν αἴτιον τοῦ τοσούτου κακοῦ ἔλεγεν, ἀλλ' ἐκείνους τοὺς μὴ αὐτῷ πειθομένους, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἰδίοις θελήμασι χρωμένους, λῃστὰς ἀποκαλῶν τούτους καὶ ἅρπα γας καὶ μηδὲ παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰς