187

one of two things to happen, either that if he did not yield, the peace would be confounded, or that by transgressing one of the established points, he would sin more greatly, and that they would claim to still justly avoid the union, as men who had openly transgressed. The emperor, therefore, knowing and perceiving these things, that those who had until now kept the peace would be disturbed upon hearing this suddenly, sent for and summoned both the hierarchs and all the clergy and, taking them aside privately—for it was forbidden for laymen to be present... 579

15. The Emperor's assurance to those of the Church concerning the unreasonable demands of the ambassadors. “You surely know,” he said, “how the present affairs were managed and with how much difficulty they were accomplished, since these matters were not undertaken by me in so unfeeling a manner. For I know that I overlooked a patriarch from here, I mean Joseph, whom I loved as much as my own father, or rather even more, since the one was the cause of my coming into the light, while the other was the cause of my return to what is better. I know also that I compelled many and offended my friends, and in addition grieved my own people. And my kinsmen in prison will bear witness, for whom their disregard for us and in turn our anger toward them happened for no other reason than the matter negotiated with the Italians alone. I had it in mind, therefore, to accomplish the whole matter from this point, on the understanding that the Italians would seek nothing more; for it was on this basis that I made the agreements with you, and the chrysobull in the church will bear witness to my words. But since some of our own people, as I have heard, and especially those who delight in schism, having suffered I know not what—unless someone should call these things a trial for us and a cause for revolt—upon meeting with friars somewhere in Pera, said that the peace was a mockery and a deceit and induced them to seek more, as a sort of test—and this is the main point of the present embassy—I wish to say a few things to you beforehand and to give you assurance, so that you may not be disturbed upon hearing this suddenly, nor, seeing once again our administrative skill towards them, be struck with unfavorable suspicions about us. For I—and may God be my witness—in order that not one of our own things be altered, down to a single horn or iota, I myself promise to place the divine Symbol of the Fathers itself on a banner and to fight not only the Italians, but any nation that disputes these things. And this is the assurance that I give to you; but to manage otherwise and to send the ambassadors away in peace is surely no cause for blame for me, nor any injustice at all to you. I ask you, therefore, to embrace them in a friendly manner and to greet them kindly, lest we scare away the prey, as they say, and 581 especially since there is a new pope who is not so well-disposed to our affairs as Gregory was. From this point on, it will be my concern, without taking any interval for deliberation, to give them their answer.” When the emperor had said these things, the patriarch took his stand at the monastery of Mangana, and arranged his own affairs in such a way as to give them no knowledge of the things that had been done concerning him; and when the hierarchs and the elect of the clergy had gathered around him, the ambassadors also arrived. And in bringing up the matters of the embassy, they were clearly proposing those things which the emperor had already indicated; for which reason, having been previously instructed, they heard kindly what they would otherwise have listened to with extreme difficulty, had they not learned of it beforehand.

10. How the ambassadors were sent to see those shut up in the prisons. The emperor, therefore, to give assurance that the peace was not a mockery, sent Isaac of Ephesus with the ambassadors and showed them his kinsmen who were confined in the prisons. They were the protostrator Andronikos Palaiologos, the pinkernes Manuel Raoul, his brother Isaakios, and fourth, the protostrator's own cousin, John Palaiologos; who indeed, adorned in a fourfold manner, as a poet might say, with heavy chains, each occupied a corner of the square prison. Then also the

187

γενέσθαι θάτερον, ἢ μὴ καθυποκλιθέντος τὴν εἰρήνην συγχέεσθαι, ἢ καί τι τῶν κειμέ νων παραβάντα μειζόνως ἁμαρτεῖν, καὶ σφᾶς ἰσχυρίζεσθαι φεύγειν ἔτι δικαίως τὴν ἕνωσιν, ὡς ἄντικρυς παραβάντων, γνοὺς ταῦτα τοίνυν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ εἰδώς, ἐξαπιναίως ἀκούσαντας, θορυβηθησομένους καὶ τοὺς τέως εἰρήνην ἄγοντας, πέμψας μετακαλεῖται καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ κλῆρον ἅπαντα καί, σφᾶς κατ' ἰδίαν λαβώνκοσμικοῖς γὰρ ἀπείρητο μὴ παρεῖ ναι... 579

ιεʹ. Πληροφορία βασιλέως πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας διὰ τὰς παραλόγους ἀπαιτήσεις τῶν πρέσβεων. «Τὰ μὲν τῶν παρόντων, εἶπεν, ὅπως καὶ κατεπράχθη καὶ μεθ' ὅσης τῆς δυσχερείας ἠνύσθη, οἴδατε πάντως, ἐπεὶ οὐδ' ἐμοὶ τόσον ἀναλγήτως ἔχοντι τάδ' ἐφῆπται. Οἶδα γὰρ καὶ πατριάρχην ἐντεῦθεν παριδών, τὸν Ἰωσὴφ λέγω, ὃν δὴ ἶσα καὶ τὸν γεννησάμενον ἔστεργον, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἔτι πλέον, ἐπεὶ ἐκεῖνος μὲν τῆς εἰς φῶς προόδου, οὗτος δὲ τῆς εἰς τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπανελεύσεως αἴτιος γέγονεν. Οἶδα καὶ πολλοὺς βιασάμενος καὶ τοὺς φίλους σκανδαλίσας, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους λυπήσας. Καὶ μαρτυρήσουσιν οἱ ἐν φυλακαῖς προσγενεῖς, οἷς παρ' οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς Ἰταλοὺς πραγματευθὲν καὶ μόνον ἥ τε πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὀλιγωρία ξυνέβη καὶ ἡ ἀφ' ἡμῶν αὖθις σφίσιν ὀργή. Εἶχον μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ λογισμῶν ἀνύσαι τὸ πᾶν ἐντεῦθεν, ὡς μηδὲν πλέον ζητησόντων τῶν Ἰταλῶν· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐποιούμην τὰς συνθεσίας, καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ χρυσοβούλλειος λόγος τοῖς λόγοις μου μαρτυρήσει. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ἡμετέρων τινές, ὡς πέπυσμαι, καὶ μᾶλλον οἷς ἁνδάνει τὸ σχίζεσθαι, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι παθόντες, εἰ μή τις πεῖράν θ' ἡμῶν ταῦτ' εἴποι καὶ μεριμνῶν ἐπανάστασιν, φρερίοις ἐντυχόντες κατά που τὴν Περαίαν, χλεύην τὴν εἰρήνην εἶπον καὶ ἀπάτην εἶναι καὶ προὐβίβασαν ζητεῖν σφᾶς τὸ πλέον κατά τινα δοκιμήνκαὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ τῆς ἐπιστάσης πρεσβείας κεφά λαιον, βούλομαι προλαβὼν μικρὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν καὶ πληροφορῆσαι, ὡς ἂν μή, ἐξαπιναίως ἀκούσαντες, ταραχθείητε, μηδέ τι πάλιν ἡμῶν τὸ πρὸς σφᾶς κυβερνητικὸν ἰδόντες, ὑποψίαις ταῖς οὐ καλαῖς περὶ ἡμῶν βληθείητε. Ἐγὼ γάρ, καὶ ὁ συνίστωρ εἴη Θεός, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μή τι παραλυθῆναι τῶν ἡμετέρων μέχρι καὶ αὐτῆς κεραίας ἢ μὴν ἰῶτα, αὐτὸς ἐγὼ καθυπισχνοῦμαι αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον σύμβολον τῶν πατέρων ἐνθεῖναι σημαίᾳ καὶ πολεμῆσαι μὴ ὅτι γε Ἰταλοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντὶ ἔθνει ὑπὲρ τούτων ἀμφισβητοῦντι. Καὶ αὕτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ πληροφορία ἣν δίδωμι πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἄλλως δὲ κυβερνῆσαι καὶ μετ' εἰρήνης ἀποπέμψαι τοὺς πρέσβεις οὔτ' ἐμοὶ νέμεσις πάντως οὔθ' ὑμῖν ἀδικία τὸ σύνολον. Ἀξιῶ γοῦν καὶ προσπτύσσεσθαι σφᾶς φιλικῶς καὶ ἀσπάζεσθαι εὐμενῶς, μήπως καὶ τὴν θήραν, ὃ δή φασιν, ἀνασοβήσωμεν, καὶ 581 μᾶλλον πάπα γεγονότος νέου καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸν Γρηγόριον ὄντος εὐμενοῦς οὕτω τοῖς ἡμετέροις πράγμασι. Τὸ δ' ἐντεῦθεν ἐμοὶ μελήσει, μηδὲ διωρίαν λαβόντι βουλῆς, τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποκρίσεως.» Ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως εἰπόντος, ὁ μὲν πατριάρχης ἐφίσταται τῇ τῶν Μαγγάνων μονῇ, καὶ οὕτω τὰ καθ' αὑτὸν διασκευάζεται ὡς μηδεμίαν τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πραχθέντων γνῶσιν παρασχεῖν σφίσι· τῶν δ' ἀρχιερέων τε καὶ τῶν ἐκκρίτων τοῦ κλήρου ἀμφ' αὐτὸν συναχθέντων, παραγίνονται καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις. Καὶ τὰ τῆς πρεσβείας κινοῦντες, δῆλοι ἦσαν ἐκεῖνα προτείνοντες ἃ δὴ φθάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς προεδήλου· παρ' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ προενηχηθέντες εὐμενῶς ἤκουον ἃ δή, μὴ προμαθόντες, καὶ λίαν δυσχερῶς ἂν ἠνωτίζοντο.

ιʹ. Ὅπως ἀπεστάλησαν οἱ πρέσβεις ἰδεῖν τοὺς ἀποκλείστους ἐν φυλακαῖς. Ταῦτ' ἄρα καὶ βασιλεύς, ὡς οὐ χλεύην εἶναι τὴν εἰρήνην πληροφορῶν, τὸν Ἐφέσου Ἰσαὰκ σὺν πρέσβεσιν ἀποστείλας, καθειργμένους ἐδείκνυ τοὺς προσγενεῖς ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς. Οἱ δ' ἦσαν ὁ πρωτοστράτωρ Παλαιολόγος Ἀνδρόνικος, ὁ πιγκέρνης Ῥαοὺλ Μανουήλ, ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Ἰσαάκιος καὶτέταρτος ὁ τοῦ πρωτοστράτορος αὐτανέψιος Παλαιολόγος Ἰωάννης· οἳ δὴ καί, τέτραχα κοσμηθέντες, εἴποι τις ποιητής, βαρείαις ἁλύσεσι, φυλακῆς τετραγώνου γωνίαν ἐπεῖχεν ἕκαστος. Τότε καὶ ὁ