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being of others. And when they entered into discussions, the grand domestic spoke to him such things: "I think that no one at all, unless he is completely deprived of his senses, undertakes anything whatsoever without looking toward some end. Therefore, I believe you have chosen first the rebellion and now this seeming magnanimity in the siege for no other reason than to work some benefit for Nicephorus, the son of the despot, toward his rule, and for yourselves toward prosperity. Let us then consider both points; and if we can find some advantage from what has been done or from what you yourselves hope for, to do those things by which your plans might come to completion; but if things are contrary to what you yourselves suppose, not only to desist 1.529 from what is not right, but also to be persuaded by me as I advise what is advantageous. You, then, having rebelled against an emperor who had shown no ill will towards you, went over to the Tarentines not simply or irrationally, but thinking that with their alliance you would be able to subject Acarnania to yourselves. But this is far from being possible. For they themselves, moved by their own greed, have often campaigned against the Acarnanians with a great army and have ravaged the land as much as was possible; but they were not able to become masters of any city, neither by forcing it with arms nor by compelling it to surrender by treaty through siege, but they retreated having lost not a few of those whom they led, except for those which the rulers of Acarnania willingly ceded to them, Vonitsa and Naupactus and Buthrotum, so as to have them as allies for the war against the emperor of the Romans. They, then, warring against the Acarnanians alone, were able to accomplish nothing more; what hope is there of prevailing now, when the emperor is also present with an army, who both before and now is more than enough to fight the Acarnanians and the Tarentines together? Moreover, there is no hope for you that any of the Acarnanians will join your revolt; for even the people of Rogoi and Arta who formerly joined the revolt, having deliberated well for their own best interests, surrendered their cities to the emperor and came over to him, and became for themselves the cause of their good fortune. For they obtained many of the emperor's benefactions, for themselves and for their fellow citizens. Thus, that even if the Tarentines do come, 1.530 they will profit you little or not at all, has been shown by us; but that they will not come at all, I will now try to make immediately clear. For everyone, whoever he may be, who engages in war because of his own grievances or in alliance with others, in the beginning, especially when he is strong in money and arms, holds to it eagerly; but if he tries once and twice and fails, he is blunted. The princess, therefore, as you yourselves think and we would not deny, eagerly undertaking the war on your behalf and preparing for about a year, in which you have been besieged by us, has now sent these ten triremes, which are not able to defend not only you, but not even themselves. For with me encamped along the sea, they have neither disembarked nor are they able to disembark, but are little different from inanimate objects. It remains, then, for them to return empty-handed to her who sent them. And she, seeing that the war against the emperor requires not a few expenses nor trivial effort, will refrain from attempting impossibilities; but for you, left destitute of aid from there, nothing else remains than to surrender yourselves to the lot of slaves, pressed by want, and to become slaves and homeless, or to perish here under siege, all together, shut up in a stifling and foul-smelling fortress. It is possible, therefore, to see the benefit which both you and Nicepho 1.531 rus your lord will enjoy from the rebellion. And if, indeed, we were to concede that the Tarentines, having set out from their own land with a great force, will come here, it is uncertain if even so they will be able to drive us out of Acarnania, they who, even against the Acarnanians alone, although having tried many times, did not have the strength to depart from the war without loss. But if we should also grant this, that upon seeing them we will prove the weaker and surrender the cities, then at least your affairs will be in no better a state than misfortune. For it is necessary for you to them

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ἄλλων ὄντα. καταστάντων δὲ εἰς λόγους, τοιαῦτα πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ μέγας δομέστικος διειλέχθη· «οὐδένα οἴομαι τῶν πάντων, εἰ μὴ παντάπασι ἀπεστέρηται φρενῶν, μὴ πρός τι τέλος ἀποβλέποντα ὁτῳδήποτε ἐπιχειρεῖν. διὸ τήν τε ἀποστασίαν πρῶτον καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ νῦν δοκοῦσαν μεγαλοψυχίαν οὐκ ἄλλου του ἕνεκα ἑλέσθαι ὑμᾶς νομίζω ἢ ὥστε Νικηφόρῳ τῷ τοῦ δεσπότου παιδὶ εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς εἰς εὐπραγίαν ὠφέλειάν τινα ἐργάσασθαι. σκεψώμεθα δὴ ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων· κἂν μέν τινα ἐκ τῶν εἰργασμένων ἢ ἐξ ὧν αὐτοὶ ἐλπίζετε δυνώμεθα εὑρεῖν, ταῦτα πράττειν ἐξ ὧν ἂν εἰς πέρας ἔλθοι τὰ βεβουλευμένα· ἂν δ' ἐναντίως ἔχοντα ἢ αὐτοὶ ὑπονοῆτε, μὴ μόνον μὴ ἀφίστασθαι 1.529 τῶν μὴ ὀρθῶς ἐχόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐμοὶ πείθεσθαι παραινοῦντι τὰ συνοίσοντα. ὑμεῖς τοίνυν βασιλέως ἀποστάντες οὐδὲν εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀγνωμονήσαντος, προσεχωρήσατε τοῖς Ταραντίνοις οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ ἀλόγως, ἀλλ' οἰόμενοι τῇ ἐκείνων συμμαχίᾳ Ἀκαρνανίαν δυνήσεσθαι ὑπάγειν ἑαυτοῖς. τοῦτο δὲ οὐδὲ ὀλίγου δεῖ τοῦ εἶναι δυνατόν. αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἰδίᾳ κινούμενοι πλεονεξίᾳ πολλάκις Ἀκαρνᾶσι στρατῷ μεγάλῳ ἐπεστράτευσαν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐκάκωσαν ὅσα μάλιστα ἐξῆν· πόλεως δὲ οὐδεμιᾶς ἠδυνήθησαν κύριοι γενέσθαι, οὔτε ὅπλοις βιασάμενοι οὔτε πολιορκίᾳ ἀναγκάσαντες ὁμολογίᾳ παραδοῦναι, ἀλλ' ἀνεχώρησαν ὧν ἦγον ἀποβαλόντες οὐκ ὀλίγους, πλὴν εἰ μὴ ὧν αὐτοῖς ἑκόντες οἱ Ἀκαρνανίας ἄρχοντες παρεχώρησαν, Βοντίτζης καὶ Ναυπάκτου καὶ Βοθρεντοῦ, ὥστε ἔχειν αὐτοὺς συμμάχους πρὸς τὸν πρὸς βασιλέα Ῥωμαίων πόλεμον. οἳ οὖν Ἀκαρνᾶσι μόνοις πολεμοῦντες οὐδὲν ἠδυνήθησαν ἀνύσαι πλέον, τίς ἐλπὶς περιγενέσθαι νῦν καὶ βασιλέως παρόντος ἅμα στρατιᾷ, ὃς πρότερόν τε καὶ νῦν ῥᾷον ἐξαρκεῖ Ἀκαρνᾶσιν ὁμοῦ καὶ Ταραντίνοις πολεμεῖν; οὐ μὴν ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὑμῖν ἐλπὶς Ἀκαρνάνων τινὰς συναποστῆναι· καὶ οἳ γὰρ πρότερον Ῥώγιοι καὶ Ἀρταῖοι συναπέστησαν, καλῶς περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν βουλευσάμενοι τὰ δέοντα, βασιλεῖ τὰς πόλεις παραδόντες προσεχώρησαν καὶ σφίσι τε αὐτοῖς αἴτιοι ἐγένοντο εὐπραγίας. πολλῶν γὰρ ἐπέτυχον τῶν βασιλέως εὐεργεσιῶν καὶ τοῖς πολίταις τοῖς αὐτῶν. ὡς μὲν οὖν εἰ καὶ ἥξουσι Ταραντῖνοι, 1.530 ὀλίγα ἢ οὐδὲν λυσιτελήσουσιν ὑμῖν, δέδεικται ἡμῖν· ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ ἥξουσι τὴν ἀρχὴν, αὐτόθεν ἤδη πειράσομαι κατάδηλον ποιεῖν. πᾶς γὰρ ὁστισοῦν ἰδίων ἕνεκα ἐγκλημάτων ἢ ἑτέροις συμμαχῶν ἁπτόμενος πολέμου, ἐν ἀρχαῖς μὲν μάλιστα καὶ χρήμασι καὶ ὅπλοις ἐῤῥωμένος ἔχεται προθύμως· ἐὰν δὲ ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς ἐπιχειρήσας σφαλῇ, ἀμβλύνεται. πριγκίπισσα τοιγαροῦν, ὡς αὐτοί τε οἴεσθε καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἂν ἔξαρνοι γενοίμεθα, προθύμως τοῦ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν πολέμου ἁπτομένη ἐν ἐνιαυτῷ μάλιστα, ᾧ πολεμεῖσθε ὑφ' ἡμῶν, παρασκευαζομένη, νῦν τὰς δέκα ταύτας πέπομφε τριήρεις, οἳ οὐχ ὅτιγε ὑμῖν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἑαυτοῖς ἀμύνειν οἷοί τέ εἰσιν. ἐμοῦ γὰρ παρὰ θάλασσαν ἐστρατοπεδευμένου, οὔτε ἀπέβησαν οὔτε ἀποβῆναι οἷοί τέ εἰσιν, ἀλλ' ὀλίγον ἀπεοίκασιν ἀψύχων. λείπεται δὴ οὖν κεναῖς χερσὶ πρὸς τὴν πέμψασαν ἐπανελθεῖν. ἐκείνη δὲ ὁρῶσα ὡς οὐκ ὀλίγων τινῶν ἀναλωμάτων οὐδὲ φαύλης πραγματείας ὁ πρὸς βασιλέα δεῖται πόλεμος, ἀποσχήσεται ἐπιχειροῦσα ἀδυνάτοις· ὑμῖν δὲ ἐρήμοις τῆς ἐκεῖθεν βοηθείας λειπομένοις οὐδὲν ἄλλο λείπεται ἢ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀνδραπόδων μοίρᾳ παραδοῦναι ἐνδείᾳ πιεσθέντας καὶ δούλους καὶ ἀναστάτους γενέσθαι, ἢ πολιορκουμένους ἐνταῦθα ἀπολέσθαι πανδημεὶ ἐν φρουρίῳ πνιγηρῷ καὶ πλήρει δυσωδίας κατακεκλεισμένους. ἔξεστιν οὖν συνορᾷν τὴν ὠφέλειαν, ἧς αὐτοί τε καὶ Νικηφό 1.531 ρος ὁ ὑμῶν δεσπότης ἀπολαύσεται ἐκ τῆς ἀποστασίας. εἰ δ' ἄρα καὶ συγχωρήσαιμεν παρασκευῇ μεγάλῃ Ταραντίνους ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας ὁρμηθέντας ἐνθάδε ἥκειν, ἄδηλον μὲν εἰ καὶ οὕτω δυνήσονται ἡμᾶς Ἀκαρνανίας ἐξελάσαι, οἳ οὐδὲ πρὸς μόνους Ἀκαρνᾶνας, καίτοι γε πολλάκις ἐπιχειρήσαντες, ἴσχυσαν χωρὶς ζημίας ἀπαλλάξαι πολεμοῦντες. εἰ δ' ἄρα καὶ τοῦτο δοίημεν, τὸ ἡμῶν αὐτοὺς ὀφθέντας κρείττους παραστήσασθαι τὰς πόλεις, τότε γε ὑμῖν τὰ πράγματα οὐδεμιᾶς βέλτιον ἕξει δυσπραγίας. ἀνάγκη γὰρ ὑμᾶς αὐτοῖς