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after their retreat they approached, the emperor set loose sending as many as he possibly could; but most of them they led to the east for slavery. The Romans, however, did not enslave people. For it is not permitted for them, unless they were from barbarians who have not believed in the economy of Christ the savior on our behalf. But they seized a number of livestock almost beyond counting, and not a little furniture and other goods. And it was said, and it was true, as later became apparent from those who had suffered badly coming before the emperor, when after that great disaster they were counting their own possessions, that the Romans had seized in the plunder three hundred thousand cattle, five thousand horses, and one million two hundred thousand sheep. Being so great in number, the army was not able to drive them, but having driven away only those possessing them, 1.498 they left them to be carried off unguarded as chance would have it. And the cities which previously had suffered badly at the hands of the Albanians, going out, each took as much as he wished, with no one preventing them, and they themselves, the owners, after coming under the emperor and promising servitude, again became masters of many things, finding them scattered through the glens and the ravines, and they bought many from the army, giving one gold piece for five hundred sheep, and for one hundred cattle. And while it was previously the custom for the army, whenever they seized any plunder, whether more or less, to offer the fifth part to the emperor as a prize, and after him an equal share to the grand domestic as the leader of the entire army, at that time they did none of the customary things. And no one troubled them about the fifth part, but just as from ever-flowing rivers it was permitted for each to become master of as much as he wished. Such were the injustices the Albanians had previously inflicted on the westerners, and such was the penalty they later paid for the injustices they had inflicted. And the cities that had previously suffered badly enjoyed a double benefit, being both freed from the abuse of the Albanians and enjoying the emperor’s visit and providence; which made their pleasure greater and more splendid, and they celebrated the most joyous of all festivals. For from the time of the emperor Manuel Comnenus until the second emperor, Andronicus Palaiologos, no other emperor had visited them nor 1.499 deemed them worthy of such providence. For which reason they considered his visit not as of some earthly being, but of the greater ones. So, after subjugating the Albanians, the emperor sent the Persians to their own country, who, having arrived in Thessalonica through Thessaly and Bottiaea, crossed from there to Ionia by ship. But he himself intended to invade Acarnania. And while he was still staying at Valagrita, there was much talk of him among the Acarnanians. For a rumor was spreading that he would march against them. Some, therefore, thought it right not to receive him in the cities, nor, having departed from their ancient goodwill towards the Angeli, who had ruled them for a long time already, to become subject to the emperor, but to keep their allegiance firm to the wife of the despot John, the queen Anna, who was the daughter of the protovestiarios Andronicus Palaiologos, whom we have recorded as being most especially responsible for the last war between the emperors, and to her son Nikephoros. But others spoke against it, and counseled that they ought to receive the emperor and not start a war. For by yielding now to the emperor, they would both preserve their country and themselves from the countless evils of war, and they would ask from the emperor what was advantageous for the queen and her son Nikephoros. But if they should enter into war, first, they would not be able to hold out against the emperor, not only because he was leading a large 1.500 army, but also because there was no one to be general against him and oppose him in the war, since Nikephoros, the son of the despot, was not yet seven years old. And even if they should be able to resist for a time, it would profit them nothing more, than that their country would be laid waste and their army destroyed, and in the end to the emperor and

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μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀναχώρησιν προσῆλθον, ἔλυσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς πέμψας ὅσους μάλιστα ἐνῆν· τοὺς πλείους δὲ εἰς ἕω ἤγαγον ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ ἀνθρώπους μὲν οὐκ ἐξηνδραποδίζοντο. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔξεστιν αὐτοῖς, εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ βαρβάρων εἶεν τῶν τῇ σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν οἰκονομίᾳ μὴ πεπιστευκότων. βοσκημάτων δὲ ἐκράτησαν σχεδὸν ἀριθμὸν ὑπερβαινόντων, ἐπίπλων τε καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν χρημάτων οὐκ ὀλίγων. ἐλέγετο δὲ, καὶ ἦν ἀληθὲς, ὡς ὕστερον ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν κακῶς παθόντων βασιλεῖ προσελθόντων, μετὰ τὴν συμφορὰν ἐκείνην τὴν μεγάλην ἀριθμούντων τὰ αὑτῶν, ἐγένετο καταφανὲς ὡς κρατήσειαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι κατὰ τὴν λείαν βοῶν μὲν τριάκοντα μυριάδων, πεντακισχιλίων δὲ ἵππων, προβάτων δὲ μυριάδων εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατόν. τοσαῦτα δὲ ὄντα τὸ πλῆθος ἄγειν μὲν οὐκ ἠδύνατο ἡ στρατιὰ, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἔχοντας μόνον ἀπελάσαν 1.498 τες, κατέλιπον φέρεσθαι ἀνόμευτα ὡς ἔτυχεν. αἵ τε πόλεις ὅσαι πρότερον κακῶς πάσχουσαι ἦσαν ὑπὸ Ἀλβανῶν, ἐξερχόμενοι ἦγον ὅσα ἕκαστος ἐβούλετο, κωλύοντος οὐδενὸς, αὐτοί τε οἱ ἔχοντες μετὰ τὸ ὑπὸ βασιλέα γενέσθαι καὶ ἐπαγγείλασθαι δουλείαν πολλῶν ἐγένοντο αὖθις κύριοι κατὰ νάπας καὶ τὰς φάραγγας εὑρόντες διεσκεδασμένα, ὠνήσαντό τε καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς στρατιᾶς πολλὰ, ὑπὲρ πεντακοσίων ἕνα παρέχοντες χρυσοῦν προβάτων, ὑπὲρ βοῶν δὲ ἑκατόν. ἔθους δὲ ὄντος πρότερον τῇ στρατιᾷ ἐπειδάν τινος κρατήσωσι λείας ἢ πλείονος ἢ ἐλάσσονος, τὴν πέμπτην μοῖραν παρέχειν ἀριστεῖον βασιλεῖ, καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον τῷ μεγάλῳ δομεστίκῳ ἴσην οἷα δὴ τῆς συμπάσης ἡγουμένῳ στρατιᾶς, τότε οὐδὲν ἐποίουν τῶν εἰωθότων. οὐδέ τις ἠνώχλει αὐτοῖς περὶ τῆς πέμπτης, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀεννάων ποταμῶν ἐξῆν ἑκάστῳ ὅσων ἂν βούλοιτο κύριος γενέσθαι. τοιαῦτα μὲν Ἀλβανοὶ πρότερον τοὺς ἑσπερίους ἠδίκουν, τοιαύτην δὲ ἔδοσαν τὴν δίκην ὑπὲρ ὧν ἠδίκουν ὕστερον. πόλεις δὲ αἱ πρότερον πάσχουσαι κακῶς διπλῆς ἀπήλαυσαν εὐεργεσίας, ἐπηρείας τε τῆς παρὰ Ἀλβανῶν ἀπηλλαγμένοι καὶ τῆς βασιλέως ἀπολαύσαντες ἐπιδημίας καὶ προνοίας· ὃ μείζω καὶ λαμπροτέραν αὐτοῖς τὴν ἡδονὴν ἐποίει καὶ ἑορτὴν ἦγον τὴν πασῶν χαριεστάτην. ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν Κομνηνοῦ τοῦ Μανουὴλ βασιλέως χρόνων ἄχρις Ἀνδρονίκου τῶν Παλαιολόγων τοῦ δευτέρου βασιλέως ἕτερος βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἐπεδήμησεν αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ προ 1.499 νοίας ἠξίωσε τοσαύτης. διὸ καὶ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν αὐτοῦ οὐχ ὡς τῶν ἐπιγείων τινὸς, τῶν κρειττόνων δὲ ἦγον. τοὺς μὲν οὖν Πέρσας μετὰ τὸ καταδουλώσασθαι Ἀλβανοὺς ἀπέπεμπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν, οἳ καὶ διὰ Θετταλίας καὶ Βοττιαίας εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην καταντήσαντες, ἐκεῖθεν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπεραιώθησαν πρὸς Ἰωνίαν. αὐτὸς δὲ διενοεῖτο ὡς εἰς Ἀκαρνανίαν ἐμβαλῶν. ἔτι δὲ κατὰ τὰ Βαλάγριτα διατρίβοντι λόγος Ἀκαρνάσι πολὺς ἐγίνετο περὶ αὐτοῦ. φήμη γὰρ διῄει ὡς αὐτοῖς ἐπιστρατεύσει. οἱ μὲν οὖν μὴ δέχεσθαι ταῖς πόλεσιν ἠξίουν, μηδὲ τῆς παλαιᾶς εὐνοίας τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Ἀγγέλους ἀποστάντας, πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον ἄρξαντας αὐτῶν, ὑπὸ βασιλεῖ ὑποχειρίους γίνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ δεσπότου Ἰωάννου γυναικὶ τῇ βασιλίσσῃ Ἄννῃ, ἣ πρωτοβεστιαρίου θυγάτηρ ἦν Ἀνδρονίκου τοῦ Παλαιολόγου, ὃν ἱστορήκαμεν τοῦ πρὸς ἀλλήλους τελευταίου τῶν βασιλέων πολέμου μάλιστα αἰτιώτατον γεγενημένον, καὶ Νικηφόρῳ τῷ ἐκείνου παιδὶ τὴν πίστιν τηρεῖν βεβαίαν. οἱ δὲ ἀντέλεγον, καὶ δεῖν ἐβουλεύοντο δέχεσθαι βασιλέα καὶ μὴ πόλεμον κινεῖν. προσχωρήσαντας γὰρ νῦν τῷ βασιλεῖ, τήν τε χώραν διατηρήσειν καὶ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου ἀπειράτους κακῶν, καὶ βασιλίσσῃ καὶ Νικηφόρῳ τῷ ἐκείνης παιδὶ παρὰ βασιλέως τὰ συμφέροντα αἰτήσειν· ἐὰν δὲ καταστῶσι πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, πρῶτον μὲν οὐ δυνήσεσθαι πρὸς βασιλέα ἀντισχήσειν, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὸ πολλὴν ἄγειν 1.500 στρατιὰν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ὁ ἀντιστρατηγήσων αὐτῷ καὶ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἀντικαταστησόμενος οὐκ ἔστι, Νικηφόρου τοῦ δεσπότου παιδὸς οὔπω ἔτη ἑπτὰ γεγενημένου. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀντιστῆναι δυνήσονται πρὸς χρόνον, οὐδὲν λυσιτελήσειν πλέον, ἢ ὅσον τῆς τε χώρας ἀναστάτου γινομένης καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς διεφθαρμένης, τελευταῖον βασιλεῖ καὶ