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having slaughtered the guards, having driven out all the settlers, they betrayed the fortress to the Persians for destruction. And they themselves with them, taking the road to Lampsacus, encounter a multitude of Romans along the way, others fleeing in different directions, and having enslaved these with much booty and a very great windfall, they cross the Hellespont.

10. Thenceforth Byzantium was in danger of being straitened on both sides, from east and west, so that the greatest despair and perplexity befell the Romans. But the patriarch Athanasius, in addition to this, did not hesitate to continually bring accusations against the people, as if the causes of the events came from there, from the transgression of the people. Therefore frequent litanies were performed by him with monks and clerics and the whole multitude, and he frequently laid blame sometimes on monks, sometimes on priests, sometimes on the laity, and often he would impose fines and threats and penalties on the wretched who were otherwise in a bad state. And on top of this was his love of ostentation and the belief that the ruin had come about from the negligence of the previous shepherds, and especially of John who came after him, calling their affability and benevolence thus, while the return to a better state was to be expected from his 582 own zealous pedantry. which in fact rather turned out to the contrary, so that in all respects the affairs of the Romans were ruined under him, so much so as to be a warning to one who was so autocratic. So that having performed a litany on one day, on that very evening, from the so-called gate of the hunters as far as the monastery of the Forerunner, fire took hold of that whole district and reduced it to ashes, and it utterly annihilated all that commercial wealth and all other luxury of the nobles; which indeed had also happened before during his patriarchate. For this reason some reviled him, saying that such a great conflagration had occurred on account of his litany. But he blamed their indifference to the supplications and the indolence and carelessness of their life for the divine wrath above all else. But which of them hit upon the truth, I cannot say. But occasions for lawsuits were thereby contrived for the patriarch, not only because the written contracts in the marketplaces had been burned, but also because many, running together that night, carried off the property of the people, plundering 583 it; for all judgment was from the beginning assigned to the patriarch, with the emperor yielding, ostensibly because of his freedom from bribery, but according to suspicion, because he procured for the judge respect and fear from all, so that thenceforth the priest was mobbed from morning until evening, as a countless crowd ran together in throngs to the monastery of the great accountant (for he spent most of his time there).

11. But before Madytus was captured, being besieged by Ferran Ximénez, the ameral Andreas Mouriskos arrived, having been sent by the emperor to supply with grain the fortress, which was short of food, together with two ships; and indeed arriving he brings in the grain with difficulty. Thence he proceeded again somewhere around Imbros; for he happened to learn that two ships were setting sail from Sicily for the Almogavars, and he hastened to intercept their course. But they, having slipped away unseen and having arrived at the strait near Kallion, capture by assault one of Mouriskos' ships, which had willingly put in to shore, because it mistook the one carrying Mouriskos for the enemy. And they, 584 having surrounded the ship with its crew as ready prey, put all to the sword, except for some who disembarked by sea, sparing only the admiral; for the admiral was Mouriskos' uncle. And they, having barely escaped with their lives by swimming, arrived at Tenedos and reported what had happened to Mouriskos; moreover they also revealed the ships' cargo, that they were transporting oars for the Catalans. Mouriskos, learning these things, and as he also learned of the capture of another ship which the emperor had sent ahead, was terribly distressed, and

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κατασφάξαντες φύλακας, τοὺς ἐποίκους πάντας ἐξελάσαντες, προδιδοῦσιν ἐπὶ ἀπωλείᾳ τοῖς Πέρσαις τὸ φρούριον. αὐτοὶ δὲ σὺν ἐκείνοις ἁψάμενοι τῆς ἐπὶ Λάμψακον, ἐντυγχάνουσι πλήθει Ῥωμαίων καθ' ὁδὸν ἄλ λους ἀλλαχοῦ φεύγοντας, καὶ τούτους ἐξανδραποδισάμενοι σὺν ἄγρᾳ πλείστῃ καὶ μεγίστῳ ἑρμαίῳ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον περαιοῦνται.

10. Ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐστενῶσθαι τὸ Βυζάν τιον ἐκινδύνευεν, ἐξ ἀνατολῆς τε καὶ δύσεως, ὥστε ἀπόγνωσις καὶ ἀπορία πλείστη Ῥωμαίοις συνέπεσεν. ὁ δέ γε πατριάρχης Ἀθανάσιος πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τῷ λαῷ ἐπεγκαλεῖν ἐγκλήματα διηνε κῶς οὐκ ἀπώκνει, ὡς δῆθεν τὰς αἰτίας τῶν συμβαινόντων ἐντεῦ θεν ἐπερχομένας ἐκ τῆς τοῦ λαοῦ πλημμελείας. διὸ καὶ συχναὶ λιτανεῖαι παρ' ἐκείνου μετὰ μοναχῶν καὶ κληρικῶν καὶ παντὸς πλήθους ἐπετελοῦντο, καὶ συχνάκις ἐπαιτιῷτο ποῖ μὲν μοναχοῖς ποῖ δ' ἱερωμένοις ποῖ δὲ λαϊκοῖς, καὶ πρόστιμα πολλάκις καὶ φόβους καὶ ζημίας ἐπιτιθείη τοῖς ταλαιπώροις καὶ ἄλλως κακῶς ἔχουσι. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἥ τε φιλενδειξία καὶ τὸ οἴεσθαι τὴν φθο ρὰν ξυμβῆναι ἐκ τῆς τῶν προτέρων ποιμένων, καὶ μᾶλλον τοῦ μετ' αὐτὸν Ἰωάννου, ἀτημελησίας, τὸ προσηνὲς καὶ ἀγαθοθε λὲς οὕτω καλοῦντος, τὴν δ' ἐς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπάνοδον ἐκ τῆς αὐ 582 τοῦ σπουδαιοτριβήσεως προσδοκᾶσθαι. ὃ δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον εἰς τοὐναντίον συνέπιπτεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὅλοις ἐπὶ τούτου τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐφθάρθαι, ὅσον εἰς διέγερσιν τῷ οὕτως αὐτονομοῦντι. ὥστε καὶ ἐν μιᾷ λιτανεύσας κατ' αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἑσπέρας, ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν κυνηγῶν λεγομένης πύλης μέχρι καὶ τῆς τοῦ Προδρόμου μονῆς, πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπώρειαν ἐκείνην τὸ πῦρ ἐπιλαβὸν ἐπημάθυνε, πλοῦ τον δ' ἐκεῖνον ὅσον ἐμπορικὸν καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην πολυτέλειαν εὐ γενῶν εἰς τὸ μηδὲν ἀπηκόντισεν· ὃ δὴ καὶ πρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς αὐ τοῦ πατριαρχείας ἐγένετο. ταύτῃ τοι καὶ διελοιδοροῦντό τινες ὡς διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου λιτανείαν γεγενῆσθαι τὴν τοσαύτην πυρπόλη σιν. ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων πρὸς τὰς ἱκετείας ῥαστώνην καὶ τὸ ἐρρα στωνευμένον τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀμελὲς ὑπὲρ πᾶν ἄλλο τῆς θεομηνίας κατῃτιᾶτο. ὁπότεροι δὲ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς κατηυστόχουν, λέγειν οὐκ ἔχω. ἀλλ' ἀφορμαὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων τῷ πατριάρχῃ ἐντεῦθεν ἐσχεδιάζοντο, οὐ μόνον πυρποληθέντων τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐμπορίαις συμβολαίων γραμμάτων, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ πολλοὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ξυνδρα μόντες ἐκείνης τὰς οὐσίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξεφόρουν διαρπάζον 583 τες· ἡ γὰρ πᾶσα κρίσις ἀρχῆθεν τῷ πατριάρχῃ προσανετίθετο, τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνδόντος, τῷ μὲν φαινομένῳ διὰ τὸ καθαρὸν τῶν λημμάτων, τῷ δ' ὑπονοουμένῳ τὸ ἀπὸ πάντων αἰδοῖον καὶ φο βερὸν περιποιοῦντος τῷ κρίνοντι, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν ἐκ πρωΐας μέχρις ἑσπέρας ὀχλαγωγεῖσθαι τὸν ἱερέα, ὄχλου μυρίου ἐπὶ τὴν μονὴν τοῦ μεγάλου λογαριαστοῦ (ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διῆγεν) ἰλαδὸν συντρέχοντος.

11. Πρὸ δὲ τοῦ ἁλωθῆναι Μάδυτον πολιορκουμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ Φαρέντα Τζιμῆ, ἐφίσταται ἀμηράλης Ἀνδρέας Μουρίσκος ἀποσταλεὶς παρὰ βασιλέως σιταρκήσων τὸ φρούριον λειποσιτοῦν, συνάμα δύο ναυσίν· καὶ δὴ ἐπιστὰς μόλις εἰσάγει τὸν σῖτον. ἐκεῖ θεν δ' αὖθις περί που τὴν Ἴμβρον ἐχώρει· ἔτυχε γὰρ μαθὼν ὡς ἀνάγονται δύο νῆες ἐκ Σικελίας Ἀμογαβάροις, καὶ προκαταλαβεῖν τὸν ἐκείνων ἔσπευδε δρόμον. αἱ δὲ ἐξ ἀφανοῦς διαδρᾶσαι καὶ τῷ πορθμῷ ἐπιστᾶσαι κατὰ τὴν Καλλίου χειροῦνται μὲν ἐξ ἐφό δου θατέραν τῶν τοῦ Μουρίσκου ἑκοντὶ προσσχοῦσαν τῷ τὴν πολεμίαν ὑποτοπάσαι εἶναι τὴν τὸν Μουρίσκον φέρουσαν. οἱ δὲ 584 ὡς ἕτοιμον θήραν αὔτανδρον περισχόντες τὴν ναῦν, πάντας, δίχα τινῶν τῶν θαλάσσῃ ἀποκειλάντων, ἔργον ποιοῦσι μαχαίρας, μόνον τὸν ναύαρχον περιποιησάμενοι· ὁ γὰρ ναύαρχος θεῖος ἦν τοῦ Μουρίσκου. ἐκεῖνοι δὲ μόλις τῷ σώματι διαπλεύσαντες, τὸ πραχθὲν ἐπιστάντες Τενέδῳ ἀγγέλλουσι τῷ Μουρίσκῳ· πλὴν καὶ τὸν τῶν νηῶν φόρτον δηλοῦσιν, ὡς κώπας τοῖς Κατελάνοις δια κομίζοιεν. ταῦτα γνοὺς Μουρίσκος, καὶ ὡς κατάσχεσιν ἐπύθετο καὶ ἑτέρας νηὸς ἣν προαπέστειλε βασιλεύς, δεινῶς ἤλυε, καὶ