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horsemen." And one of them, a horseman named Zouber, came and stood before them, saying, "A slave has fled after stealing much money, and we have ridden out on account of him." But the general, having recognized their deceptive art, said to them, "Do not be troubled. For wherever he may have gone in our castles, we will find him." And being distressed, 388 he was able to secretly declare through one of his men to those of Amorion, "Fear God, do not betray yourselves. For behold, Masalmas is also drawing near." And the bishop comes out to him, and says these very things to him. But when Souleiman learned that the bishop had come out to him, they send to the general, saying, "Give us the bishop." But being hard-pressed, he hid him, saying to one of his men, "While we are talking, dress him in another garment and as if for wood or water, send him away to go to the mountains." And when the Saracens insisted about the bishop, the general says, "He is not here, but go to the amir, and I will come too, and we will speak about everything." But they, reasoning that as he was entering to the amir they could seize him in their midst, let him go. And having mounted his horse with two hundred of his men, as if supposedly hunting, he turned to the left. So the Saracens who were with him say to him, "Where are you going?" And he said, "I wish to move camp to the meadows." But they said, "Your plan is not good, and we are not coming with you." Then the general says to his own men, "Having given us their word, they wished to seize us, and through us to destroy the Christians; they are to seize none of our men or of the remaining horses." And going ten miles, he made camp. And on the next day, he sends the domesticus of his stratores, and declares to them, "You gave me your word, and by deceit you wished to seize me; for this reason I withdrew." But Masalmas had crossed the mountain passes, and Souleiman did not know this. And the amirs and the people rose up in sedition against Souleiman, saying, "Why do we sit before the walls and not make raids?" And having packed up the tents, they withdrew. And the general brought Nicaean the tourmarch with 800 soldiers into Amorion, having also sent out most of the women and children. And he himself goes away 389 to Pisidia. And when Masalmas came into Cappadocia, the Cappadocians, despairing for themselves, came out to him, begging him to receive them. And Masalmas, hearing of the enmity which Theodosios the emperor had towards the general, wishing to entice him and to make peace with him and through him to subject Romanía, says to them, "Are you not the general's men?" And they said, "Yes." "Do you do whatever he does?" They said, "Yes." Then he says to them, "Go away to your castles, and fear no one." And he ordered his people not to plunder in any of the provinces of the general. The general, knowing these things and realizing that Souleiman was reporting to Masalmas that he had let him go and he had withdrawn, sent letters to Masalmas, saying, "I wished to come near you; but Souleiman, when I went to him, wanted to seize me, and now I am afraid to come to you." So Masalmas says to the general's man, "I know that the general is mocking me because I did not plunder his provinces at all." The general's man says to him, "It is not so; but he writes to you in truth." Then he asks, "How is Amorion near him?" He said, "Well, and under his subjection." And becoming angry, he insulted him, saying, "Why do you lie?" He said, "It is as I said, and he placed taxatoi with a tourmarch in it; and he brought out the surplus families." Masalmas therefore, receiving great affliction concerning this and becoming angry, drove him away. For he had a plan to take it during the summer and to await the fleet, and thus to come down to Asia and spend the winter. Therefore, having sought again the general's man

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καβαλλάριοι." ἐλθὼν δὲ εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν καβαλλάριος ὀνόματι Ζοῦβερ, ἔστη ἔμπροσθεν λέγων, ὅτι "δοῦλος ἔφυγε κλέψας χρῆμα πολύ, καὶ δι' ἐκεῖνον ἐκαβαλλικεύσαμεν." ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς τὴν τέχνην τῆς ἀπάτης αὐτῶν ἐγνωκὼς ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς· "μὴ περισπασθῆτε. ὅπου γὰρ δήποτε ἂν ἀπέλθῃ ἐν τοῖς κάστροις ἡμῶν, εὑρίσκομεν αὐτόν." λυπηθεὶς 388 δὲ ἠδυνήθη κρυπτῶς δι' ἀνθρώπου αὐτοῦ δηλῶσαι τοῖς τοῦ Ἀμωρίου, ὅτι "φοβήθητε τὸν θεόν, μὴ προδώσητε ἑαυτούς. ἰδοὺ γὰρ πλησιάζει καὶ ὁ Μασαλμᾶς." καὶ ἐξέρχεται ὁ ἐπίσκοπος πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ ταῦτα αὐτὰ λαλεῖ αὐτῷ. γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Σουλεϊμάν, ὅτι ἐξῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, πέμπουσι πρὸς τὸν στρατηγόν, ὅτι "δὸς ἡμῖν τὸν ἐπίσκοπον." ὁ δὲ περιστατηθεὶς ἔκρυψεν αὐτὸν εἰπὼν ἑνὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων αὐτοῦ, ὅτι "ἡμῶν ὁμιλούντων, ἔνδυσον αὐτὸν ἑτέραν στολὴν καὶ ὡς διὰ ξύλα ἢ ὕδωρ ἀπόλυσον αὐτὸν πορευθῆναι εἰς τὰ ὄρη." ἐνισταμένων δὲ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν περὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου, λέγει ὁ στρατηγός· "οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, πλὴν ἀπέλθετε πρὸς τὸν ἀμηρᾶν, καὶ ἔρχομαι κἀγώ, καὶ περὶ πάντων λαλοῦμεν." αὐτοὶ δὲ λογισάμενοι, ὅτι εἰσερχομένου αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἀμηρᾶν ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν κρατοῦσιν αὐτόν, ἀφῆκαν αὐτόν. καβαλλικεύσας δὲ σὺν διακοσίοις ἀνθρώποις αὐτοῦ, ὡς δῆθεν κυνηγῶν, ἔδωκεν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀριστερά. οἱ οὖν συνόντες αὐτῷ Σαρακηνοὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ. "ποῦ ἀπέρχῃ;" ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, ὅτι "εἰς τὰ λιβάδια θέλω μεταπληκεῦσαι." οἱ δὲ εἶπον, ὅτι "ἡ βουλή σου οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθή, καὶ οὐκ ἐρχόμεθα μετὰ σοῦ." τότε λέγει ὁ στρατηγὸς τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτοῦ, ὅτι "λόγον ἡμῖν δόντες κρατῆσαι ἡμᾶς ἠθέλησαν, καὶ δι' ἡμῶν τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς ἀπολέσαι· ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡμῶν ἢ τῶν ἀλόγων τῶν ἀπομεινάντων οὐδένα κρατοῦσιν." καὶ πορευθεὶς μίλια δέκα ἠπλήκευσεν. τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον πέμπει τὸν δομέστικον τῶν στρατόρων αὐτοῦ, καὶ δηλοῖ αὐτοῖς, ὅτι "λόγον μοι ἐδώκατε, καὶ δόλῳ κρατῆσαί με ἠθελήσατε· διὰ τοῦτο ἀνεχώρησα." ὁ δὲ Μασαλμᾶς ὑπερβὰς ἦν τὰς κλεισούρας, ὁ δὲ Σουλεϊμὰν τοῦτο οὐκ ἔγνω. ἐστασίασαν δὲ οἱ ἀμηραῖοι καὶ ὁ λαὸς κατὰ τοῦ Σουλεϊμάν, ὅτι "τί παρακαθεζόμεθα τὰ τείχη καὶ οὐ κουρσεύομεν;" καὶ ἐκτρέψαντες τὰς τένδας ἀνεχώρησαν. ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς Νικαίαν τὸν τουρμάρχην μετὰ ωʹ στρατιωτῶν εἰσήνεγκεν εἰς τὸ Ἀμώριον ἐκβαλὼν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα γυναικόπαιδα. καὶ ἀπέρχεται αὐτὸς 389 εἰς Πισιδίαν. τοῦ δὲ Μασαλμᾶ ἐλθόντος εἰς Καππαδοκίαν, ἀπογνόντες ἑαυτῶν οἱ Καππάδοκες ἐξῆλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν παρακαλοῦντες αὐτὸν λαβεῖν αὐτούς. ἀκούων δὲ ὁ Μασαλμᾶς τὴν ἔχθραν, ἣν εἶχε Θεοδόσιος ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς τὸν στρατηγόν, βουλόμενος τοῦτον δελεάσαι καὶ εἰρηνεῦσαι μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν Ῥωμανίαν ὑποτάξαι, λέγει αὐτοῖς· "οὔκ ἐστε τοῦ στρατηγοῦ;" οἱ δὲ εἶπον· "ναί." "ποιεῖτε, εἴ τι ποιεῖ ἐκεῖνος;" ὅτι "ναί." τότε λέγει αὐτοῖς· "ἀπέλθετε ἐν τοῖς κάστροις ὑμῶν, καί τινα μὴ φοβηθῆτε." καὶ παρήγγειλε τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ τοῦ μὴ πραιδεῦσαι ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις τοῦ στρατηγοῦ. ταῦτα γνοὺς ὁ στρατηγὸς καὶ ἐννοηθείς, ὅτι ὁ Σουλεϊμὰν δηλοῖ τῷ Μασαλμᾷ, ὅτι ἀφῆκεν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀνεχώρησεν, ἀπέστειλε γράμματα πρὸς τὸν Μασαλμᾶν, ὅτι "ἐγγύς σου ἐβουλόμην ἐλθεῖν· ἀλλ' ὁ Σουλεϊμάν, ἀπελθόντος μου πρὸς αὐτόν, ἠβουλήθη κρατῆσαί με, καὶ νῦν φοβοῦμαι ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σέ." λέγει οὖν ὁ Μασαλμᾶς τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ· "οἶδα ὅτι ἐμπαίζει με ὁ στρατηγὸς διὰ τὸ ὅλως μὴ πραιδεῦσαί με τὰς ἐπαρχίας αὐτοῦ." λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ στρατηγοῦ· "οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτως· ἀλλ' ἐν ἀληθείᾳ σοι γράφει." τότε ἐρωτᾷ· "τὸ Ἀμώριον πῶς ἐστὶν ἐγγὺς αὐτοῦ;" ἔφη· "καλῶς, καὶ ἐν ὑποταγῇ αὐτοῦ." ὀξυνθεὶς δὲ ὕβρισεν αὐτόν, εἰπών· "τί ψεύδῃ;" ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, ὅτι "ὡς εἶπον, οὕτως ἐστίν, καὶ ταξάτους ἔβαλε μετὰ καὶ τουρμάρχου ἐν αὐτῷ· καὶ ἐξήγαγε τὰς περισσὰς φαμιλίας." θλῖψιν οὖν μεγάλην δεξάμενος περὶ τούτου ὁ Μασαλμᾶς καὶ θυμωθεὶς ἐδίωξεν αὐτόν. βουλὴν γὰρ εἶχε διὰ τοῦ καλοκαιρίου λαβεῖν αὐτὸ καὶ ἐκδέξασθαι τὸν στόλον, καὶ οὕτω ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν κατελθεῖν καὶ χειμάσαι. πάλιν οὖν ζητήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ στρατηγοῦ