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were to know of the offenses, even if the priest of the city blamed the contracts of the tax-collectors, of which not even he had any complete share, so as to know all of them, and especially in the affairs of the church. For there was nothing lacking from those former things that he himself did not possess, and even the very privileges of dignities were being precisely exercised by them, so that for these the honors completely ceased, he alleged the great number of the poor, 560 but holding honorable men and those reasonably worthy of respect as nothing, providing nothing for their livelihood, but also behaving as callously as possible from a bitter and harsh character, he caused them to be impoverished, O what a calamity, not such as free men could bear at all, throughout the city. For to a bitter character, the rancor composed from the memory of past events made the man a public Erinys openly, not even the emperor himself being able to change his character at all, even if he were pitied. For as reports were made to him daily, nothing at all was accomplished. And it was likely perceived that he had wished to do these things before, even if he had been prevented by many and great men close to the emperor. But now, with some having departed from among men, others having willingly withdrawn, and others having been alienated through spite from both the emperor and the city, he himself easily accomplished his customary bitterness as was likely wished, with no one daring to prick the one in power. And just as when God is idle, according to the popular proverb, certain things are done, so too when the emperor was idle, with the rights 561 of God being put forward, which not even he, having become a man, had used, these things were happening. And that the concession is because of sins, is very clear; yet let him who is called to punish fear the calling, since none of the good angels at all punish those who sin against God. But, as it seems, it was a care to God that those within should also commonly meet with harsh things, even if they did not use the same punishments nor undergo the same chastisements, since there the attackers were enemies, but here our own people, and there the danger revolved around the body, but here it passed also into the soul. But let these things be conducted as is pleasing to God, and would that it were even for the better; but we must again take up what follows.

{Η.} Now then for the two emperors, for the one the twenty-third and for the other

the twelfth was being completed for them as rulers, and affairs in the east were so sickened from the attack of the Persians that, seeming to be in an incurable state, they were entirely neglected, and 562 what was said about them was dissembled by those who, by listening, might have been able to cure them, while affairs in the west, on the one hand Sfetislav of the Altemirenoi, being praised for nothing except when blaming his defection from the emperor, leading and carrying everything plundered, not even abstaining from Roman possessions, on the other hand the Almogavars, strengthened by their own audacity, having prospered unexpectedly in battle, left nothing safe and in order inside the river Maritsa, so called in the local language. And the region of Thrace lay easy to attack, and for the inhabitants, everything that makes them run for their lives urged them to emigrate, so that all was deserted of its inhabitants, except for those who, heedless of danger, were accustomed to plunder and to live off stolen goods out of wickedness. However, the emperor Michael, having slipped into Didymoteichon, not at all willingly, but it was not at all pleasing for the soldiers, who were held by hesitation, to follow him, was nursing his wounds from the war. But the emperor, having despaired from this of the battle against the Catalans, men who were utterly hard to kill and who treated their lives as if they were pieces in a game, decided to handle matters concerning them 563 in another way, and especially because it was reported to him that the Persians again, if they should get ships, were eager to cross over, and that these ships, if the emperor wished, were the emperor's, anchored somewhere thereabout, at which time also

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ἦσαν εἰδέναι πλημμελημάτων, εἰ καὶ ὁ τῆς πό λεως ἱερεὺς τὰς τῶν εἰσπραττόντων ἐργολαβίας ἐπῃτιᾶτο, ὧν οὐδ' αὐτῷ ἐς ἅπαν, ὡς τοὺς πάντας εἰδέναι, οὐ μετὸν ἦν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας πράγμασιν. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἦν ἐλλει φθὲν τῶν προτέρων ἐκείνων ὅπερ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἔχων, καὶ αὐτὰ δὴ τὰ τῶν ἀξιωμάτων προνόμια ἀκριβῶς αὐτοῖς ἐνεργούμενα, ὡς ἀπαυανθῆναι τελέως τούτοις καὶ τὰς τιμάς, πτωχῶν μὲν πολυω 560 ρίαν προΐσχετο, τιμίους δ' ἄνδρας καὶ αἰδοῦς ἐπιεικῶς ἀξίους παρ' οὐδὲν ἔχων, μηδὲν ἐκείνοις ζωῆς προνοῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀναλ γήτως ὡς ἐνῆν προσφερόμενος ἐκ πικροῦ καὶ ἀτενοῦς ἤθους, πτω χεύειν ἐποίει, ὢ συμφορᾶς οὐχ οἵας τ' ἐνεγκεῖν ἐλευθέροις ὅλως, πανταχόθι τῆς πόλεως. τῷ γὰρ ἤθει πικρῷ γε ὄντι ὁ τῶν πάλαι ξυμπεσόντων κατὰ μνήμην συντακεὶς κότος κοινὴν Ἐριννὺν ἄντι κρυς ἐποίει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, μηδ' αὐτοῦ βασιλέως ὅλως δυναμέ νου μεταβάλλειν τὸ ἦθος, εἴ πού γε καὶ οἰκτίζοιτο. ὁσημέραι γὰρ ἀναφορῶν πρὸς αὐτὸν γιγνομένων οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν ἠνύετο. καὶ ὡς εἰκὸς κατενοεῖτο καὶ πρότερον ταῦτα πράττειν θέλων, εἰ καὶ παρὰ πολλῶν καὶ μεγάλων τῷ βασιλεῖ πλησιαζόντων κατεκω λύετο. νῦν δ' ἀλλὰ τῶν μὲν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γενομένων, τῶν δ' ἐκποδὼν ἑκόντων, τῶν δὲ καὶ κατ' ἐπήρειαν ἀπαλλοτριωθέντων καὶ βασιλέως καὶ πόλεως, αὐτὸς τὸ κατ' ἔθος πικρὸν ὡς εἰκὸς θελητὸν ῥᾳδίως ἐξήνυε, μηδενὸς τὸν κρατοῦντα τολμῶντος νύτ τειν. καὶ ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ θεοῦ ἀργοῦντος, κατὰ τὴν δημώδη παροι μίαν, τινὰ πράττονται, οὕτω καὶ βασιλέως ἀργοῦντος, δικαιω 561 μάτων προϊσχομένων θεοῦ, οἷς οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς ἐχρήσατο, ταῦτ' ἐγίγνοντο. καὶ ὅτι μὲν δι' ἁμαρτίας ἡ παρα χώρησις, πρόδηλον· πλὴν ἀλλ' ὁ πρὸς τὸ κολάζειν κληθεὶς φο βείσθω τὴν πρόσκλησιν, ὡς οὐδὲν ὅλως τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀγγέλων κολάζειν τοὺς εἰς θεὸν ἁμαρτάνοντας. ἀλλ' ὡς ἔοικε, μέλον ἦν θεῷ κοινῇ καὶ τοὺς ἐντὸς κυρῆσαι τοῖς χαλεποῖς, εἰ καὶ μὴ ὁμοίως τοῖς προστιμῶσιν ἐχρῶντο μηδὲ τὰς κολάσεις ὑφίσταντο τὰς αὐτάς, ὡς ἐκεῖ μὲν πολεμίων ὄντων τῶν ἐπιτιθεμένων, ἐν ταῦθα δ' ἰδίων, κἀκεῖ μὲν εἰς σῶμα τοῦ κινδύνου περιισταμέ νου, ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ εἰς ψυχὴν διαβαίνοντος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὅπῃ τῷ θεῷ φίλον ἀγέσθω, εἴθε δέ γε καὶ ἄμεινον· ἡμῖν δ' αὖ θις ἑκτέον τῶν ἐφεξῆς.

{Η.} Ἤδη μὲν οὖν τοῖν βασιλέοιν τῷ μὲν εἰκοστὸν καὶ τρίτον τῷ δὲ

δωδέκατον αὐτοκρατοροῦσι ξυνέβαινεν ἐξανύεσθαι, καὶ τὰ μὲν κατ' ἀνατολὴν καὶ ἐς τόσον ἐνόσει ἐκ τῆς τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιθέσεως ὥστε καὶ ἀνηκέστως ἔχειν δοκοῦντα παρεῶσθαι τὸ ξύμπαν, καὶ 562 ἀποπροσποιεῖσθαι τὰ περὶ ἐκείνων λεγόμενα οἷς οἵοις τ' ἦν ἀκού ουσιν ἂν ἐξιᾶσθαι, τὰ δὲ κατὰ δύσιν, ἔνθεν μὲν Ὀσφεντίσθλα βος τὰ Ἐλτιμηρῆ κατήκοα, οὐδὲν ἐπευλογούμενος ὅτι μὴ τὴν ἐς βασιλέα οἱ ἀπόκλισιν αἰτιώμενος, ἄγων καὶ φέρων τὰ πάντα ἐξε ληΐζετο, μηδ' αὐτῶν τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἀπισχόμενος, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ Ἀμογάβαροι τῷ καθ' αὑτοὺς κρατυνόμενοι θράσει ἐξ ὑπογύου κατὰ τὴν μάχην εὐημερήσαντες οὐδὲν ὅτι τοῦ ἐντὸς ποταμοῦ Μα ρίτζης, οὕτω πως ἐπιχωρίως λεγομένου, ἀδεὲς εἴασαν καὶ ἐν κα ταστάσει. εὐέφοδος δὲ καὶ ὁ κατὰ Θρᾴκην ἔκειτο τόπος, καὶ τοῖς προσοικοῦσιν ὅσα δὴ καὶ τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς τρέχουσι κατήπειγε τὸ μεταναστεύειν, τὸ πάντ' ἔρημ' ἦσαν τῶν ἐνοικούντων, πλὴν οἷς ἀφροντιστοῦσι κινδύνου σκυλεύειν καὶ φωρίοις ἀποζῆν ἐξ ἀλα στορίας εἴθιστο. ὁ μέντοι γε βασιλεὺς Μιχαὴλ τὸ ∆ιδυμότειχον ὑπεισδύς, οὔ τι ἑκούσιός γε, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἦν ὅλως πρὸς ἡδονὴν τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐπισπέσθαι οἱ ὀκνήσει ἰσχομένοις, τὰς ἐκ τοῦ πολέ μου τρώσεις ἐθεραπεύετο. βασιλεὺς δ' ἀπογνοὺς ἐντεῦθεν τὴν πρὸς Κατελάνους μάχην, ἄνδρας ὅλως δυσθανατῶντας καὶ τὸ ζῆν ἐν πεττοῖς ὡσανεὶ τιθεμένους, ἄλλως ἔγνω τὰ κατὰ τούτους 563 μεταχειρίσασθαι, καὶ μάλισθ' ὅτι ἠγέλλετό οἱ Πέρσας μὲν καὶ αὖθις, ἢν νηῶν τύχοιεν, ἀντιπερᾶν ὡρμῆσθαι, εἶναι δὲ ταύ τας, ἢν βασιλεὺς θέλοι, τὰς βασιλέως ἐκείνῃ πῃ σαλευούσας καθ' ὃν καὶ