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prepared the one who dared such things? but he kept these things under observation, the perpetrator being untraceable. 578
6. The Amogabars, as we have already often said before, running out everywhere and inflicting terrible things on the Romans, besieged a fortress near the Sigos river, locally called Madytus. Since it was strong, as was likely, it was not possible for it to be taken by them. Making sieges and using engines every day, everything proved to be in vain. Since it was not accomplishable for the Italians, they decided to besiege the fortress with famine. Therefore, as time was spent, famine began to prevail mightily within, so that it is said that the inhabitants even touched forbidden things. At last, then, constrained by want, on the agreement that no one would be killed, and otherwise that they would be treated as seemed best to them, they handed over the fortress. So, entering, they removed all the inhabitants, scattering some one way, some another. And they, using this as a base of operations, ran out everywhere in Thrace, working all kinds of terrible deeds.
7. But Berenguer, as we have already said before, having been seized by the Genoese and taken up to Trebizond as a captive, then brought down again with them, and after two triremes had waited for two months on the emperor's pay at the strait of Gallipoli, when the period of the two months was completed, he is led away with them to Genoa. And when the Catalan triremes had previously sent an embassy about this, they accomplished nothing. 579
8. But the emperor, in addition to the other troubles he had and was endeavoring to remedy as he was able, also made it of great importance to remedy the affairs of the patriarch Athanasios. For this reason he tried in every way to persuade Athanasios, the patriarch of Alexandria, to agree with what had been done regarding the patriarch Athanasios. But he not only did not consent to what had been done, but openly went into schism. And since there was nothing else for him to do, shepherding by himself and moreover having a reputation for intelligence and sagacity, he was urged to go by sail to the affairs of his own church. And he, having packed up at once, since it was not possible for him to go to Alexandria at that time, was sent to Crete on a Venetian trireme; for it had been decided for him to go there to the metochion of Sinai (for he was a Sinaite from the beginning). Nevertheless, however, while passing somewhere in between to Makri near Euboea, the story went, he arrived. But what happened to him while wandering will be told shortly. But the patriarch Athanasios, having taken control of that man's monasteries from the chrysobulls, both the one of the Archistrategos at Anaplous and the one of Christ the Benefactor within, with the emperor issuing a personal seal, and he appointed an abbot 580 over them. And later he also did this to the monastery of the Hodegoi, he himself taking charge, he himself installing an abbot by ordination, he himself innovating also the commemoration of his own name, since the see of Antioch was then without a pastor, so that from this he might have authority over these as well as the others, and reap the powerful and easy fruits. But these things were so.
9. And from this, terrible things happened to a certain fortress in Mysia near Olympus, called Kouboukleia. For since the men in the fortress came into imminent danger when the men of the Persian Atares attacked, being at a loss they considered help from Lopadion as the only expedient; for Makrenos was staying there with a few men and the remaining Amogabars, whom the Caesar had previously sent for the defense of those parts. Therefore, sending, they begged Makrenos to help. He sends sixty Amogabars as loyal to the Romans, who, having arrived, first secretly conferred with the Persians, and giving and receiving pledges, that they would cooperate for their own good, and would save them across to Lampsakos when they crossed over, and entering the fortress there was no terrible thing which they did not do to the inhabitants. 581 And finally those within
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παρεσκεύαζεν τὸν τοιαῦτα τολμῶντα; ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐν παρατηρήσει ἐτίθει ἀνίχνευτον τὸν δεδρακότα. 578
6. Οἱ δὲ Ἀμογάβαροι, ὡς πολλάκις ἤδη προείπομεν, ἐκ θέοντες πανταχοῦ καὶ τὰ δεινὰ Ῥωμαίους τιθέμενοι περικαθί ζουσι φρούριον περὶ τὸν Σιγὸν ποταμόν, Μάδυτον ἐγχωρίως λε γόμενον. ὀχυρὸν δὲ ὄν, ὡς εἰκός, οὐ δυνατὸν ἦν αὐτοῖς κρα τηθῆναι. πολιορκήσεις δὲ καθ' ἑκάστην ποιοῦντες καὶ μηχανάς, τὰ πάντα μάταια διεφαίνοντο. ἐπεὶ δὲ μὴ ἀνυστὰ τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς ἦν, λιμῷ τὸ φρούριον ἔγνωσαν πολιορκεῖν. χρόνου τοιγαροῦν τριβομένου ὁ λιμὸς ἐντὸς κραταιῶς ἐπήρχετο, ὥστε καὶ τῶν ἀπη γορευμένων τοὺς ἐποίκους ἅψασθαι λόγος. τέλος γοῦν ἀπορίᾳ συσχεθέντες ἐφ' ὁμολογίαις τοῦ μή τινας ἤδη φονευθῆναι, ἄλ λως δὲ ὡς ἐκείνοις ἀρεστὸν χρήσασθαι, τὸ φρούριον ἤδη παρέ χουσιν. εἰσελθόντες οὖν ἅπαντας ἐξοίκισαν, ἄλλους ἀλλαχοῦ διασπείραντες. αὐτοὶ δὲ ὡς ὁρμητηρίῳ τούτῳ χρώμενοι ἐξέθεον πανταχοῦ τῆς Θρᾴκης, τὰ πάνδεινα ἐργαζόμενοι.
7. Ὁ δὲ Μπυριγέριος, ὡς ἤδη προείπομεν, Γεννουΐταις κρατηθεὶς καὶ εἰς Τραπεζοῦντα ἀναχθεὶς ὡς αἰχμάλωτος, ἔπειτα πάλιν καταχθεὶς μετ' αὐτῶν, καὶ δύο μῆνας προσμεινάντων τριήρεων δύο μισθοφορίαις τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ τὸ στενὸν Καλλιου πόλεως, τελεσθείσης δὲ τῆς τῶν δύο μηνῶν προθεσμίας ἀπάγε ται μετ' αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν Γέννουαν. τῶν δὲ Κατελάνων πρότε ρον τριήρεων πρεσβευσάντων περὶ τούτου, οὐδὲν ἤνυσαν. 579
8. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις οἷς εἶχε καὶ ὡς δυνα τὸν ἐσπούδαζε ταῦτα θεραπεύειν, καὶ τὰ τοῦ πατριαρχοῦντος Ἀθανασίου θεραπεύειν περὶ πολλοῦ ἐποιεῖτο. διὰ τοῦτο παν τοίως μετήρχετο τὸν πατριάρχην Ἀλεξανδρείας Ἀθανάσιον ὁμονοῆσαι τοῖς πραχθεῖσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἀθανασίου. ὁ δὲ οὐ μὴ μόνον συνῄνει τοῖς πραχθεῖσιν, ἀλλὰ προφανῶς ἀπεσχί ζετο. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἦν ἄλλο τι ἐκεῖνον δρᾶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ποιμε ναρχοῦντα καὶ μᾶλλον δόξαν ἐπὶ συνέσει καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ ἔχοντα, πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκλησίας χρησάμενον πλῷ ἰέναι ἠπεί γετο. καὶ ὃς ἐξ αὐτῆς συσκευασάμενος, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἦν δυνατὸν αὐτῷ ἐπ' Ἀλεξανδρείας τῷ τότε, ἐπὶ Βενετικῆς τριήρεως ἐς Κρήτην ἐστέλλετο· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἔγνωστο αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ τοῦ Σινᾶ (Σιναΐτης γὰρ ἦν ἀρχῆθεν) παραγενέσθαι μετόχιον. ὅμως γε μέντοι μεταξύ που διερχόμενος εἰς τὴν κατ' Εὔβοιαν Μάκρην, ὁ λόγος εἶχε, κατήντησεν. ἃ δὲ τούτῳ συνέβη περιπλανωμένῳ, μετ' ὀλίγον ῥηθήσεται. ὁ δὲ πατριαρχεύων Ἀθανάσιος τὰς ἐκείνου ἐκ χρυσοβούλλων μονάς, τήν τε κατὰ τὸν Ἀνάπλουν τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου καὶ τὴν ἐντὸς τοῦ εὐεργέτου Χριστοῦ, χειρωσά μενος, τοῦ βασιλέως ἀφιέντος σφραγῖδα ἰδίαν, καὶ καθηγούμε 580 νον ἐπ' αὐταῖς καθίστα. ὕστερον δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν Ὁδηγῶν μο νὴν οὕτως ἔδρα, αὐτὸς ἐπιστάς, αὐτὸς καταστήσας ἐκ χειροτο νίας ἡγούμενον, αὐτὸς καινουργήσας καὶ τὴν ἀναφορὰν τοῦ ἰδίου ὀνόματος, τότε χηρευούσης ποιμένος τῆς Ἀντιοχείας, ὡς ἐντεῦ θεν καὶ τούτων ὡς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐξουσιάζειν, καὶ τὰ δυνατὰ καὶ εὔπορα καρπίζεσθαι. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως εἶχε.
9. Συνέπεσε δὲ ἐντεῦθεν δεινὰ φρουρίῳ τινὶ κατὰ τὴν Μυσίαν τὴν ἐν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ, τὰ Κουβούκλεια λεγομένῳ. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἱ ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ ἐπιθεμένων τῶν περὶ τὸν Πέρσην Ἀτά ρην ἐν χρῷ κινδύνου ἐγένοντο, ἀμηχανοῦντες μόνον σύμφορον ἐνενόουν τὴν ἐκ Λοπαδίου ἀρωγήν· ἐκεῖ γὰρ διῆγεν ὁ Μακρηνὸς σὺν ὀλίγοις τισὶ καὶ τοῖς περιοῦσιν Ἀμογαβάροις, οὓς φθάσας ὁ Καῖσαρ ἀπέστειλεν ἐπὶ φυλακῇ τῶν ἐκεῖ. πέμψαντες οὖν βοη θεῖν ἠντιβόλουν τῷ Μακρηνῷ. πέμπει ἑξήκοντα Ἀμογαβάρους ὡς πιστοὺς τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, οἵτινες δὴ παραγεγονότες πρότερον Πέρσαις κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς κοινολογησάμενοι, καὶ τὰ πιστὰ δόντες καὶ λαβόντες, ἦ μὴν αὐτοὺς μὲν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ τῷ ἰδίῳ συμπράξειν, ἐκείνους δὲ πρὸς Λάμψακον ὡς περαιωθεῖεν διασώσασθαι, εἰσελ θόντες δὲ τὸ φρούριον οὐδὲν ἦν δεινὸν ὅπερ εἰς τοὺς ἐποίκους 581 οὐκ ἐποίησαν. καὶ τέλος τοὺς ἐντὸς