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borne along with a dead body. But from this I have learned that the whole barbarian race is hard to recall from whatever it rushes upon, and that nothing is too burdensome for it that it would not bear, once it has cast itself into self-willed evils. For this man, not yet having died, but having died only in appearance, did not shrink from living with dead bodies. This, then, was the barbarian's first and only artifice in our inhabited world, which appeared to be aimed at the destruction of the Roman dominion. Neither before this had any barbarian or Greek devised such things against enemies, nor, I think, will our present age witness such things hereafter. 11.12.4 When he reached Korypho, as if coming to some high peak and summit and place of refuge, this very Korypho, and being in a safe place, he rose up from among the supposedly dead, and leaving the corpse-bearing coffin there, he was sated with more sunlight and breathed purer air and wandered about the city of Korypho; and seeing him in strange and barbarian dress, they inquired about his race and his fortune and who he was and whence he had come and to whom he was arriving. 11.12.5 But he disregarded all the others, and was seeking the duke of the city. This man, it turned out, was a certain Alexios, who had come from the Armeniac theme; and when he saw him, with a haughty glance and bearing and using a haughty and altogether barbarian voice, he ordered him to report to Alexios the emperor that: “To you I, that Bohemond, the son of Robert, whom time from of old has taught both you and the empire under you how great I am in courage and in resolve. For should I gain the advantage, God knows that I would not endure the evils that have been done to me. For from the time that I, through Roman territory, seized Antioch and with my spear enslaved all of Syria, I have been filled with much bitterness from you and your army, being put off with hope after hope, and being cast into countless misfortunes and barbarian wars. 11.12.6 But know now that I, though I died, have come back to life again from the beginning and have escaped your hands. For having eluded every eye and every hand and mind in the guise of one who had died, now, both living and moving and breathing the air, I send from this Koryphos most hateful messages to your empire, which, when you learn of them, you will not receive with great joy: that I have entrusted the city of Antioch to Tancred my nephew, leaving him as a worthy adversary against your generals, while I myself am departing to my own country, rumored to you and yours to be dead, but to myself and my own people both alive and plotting terrible things against you. For in order to shake the Romania under you, I have both died while living and lived after dying. For if I should reach the opposite continent and see Lombards and all the Latins and Germans and the Franks among us, men mindful of Ares, I will fill your cities and lands with many murders and much blood, until I plant my spear on Byzantium itself.” To such a degree, then, was the barbarian lifted up with arrogance.

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νεκροῦ συμφε ρόμενος σώματος. Ἀλλ' ἐντεῦθεν μεμάθηκα ὡς ἄρα πᾶν τὸ βάρβαρον γένος δυσανάκλητον ἐφ' ὅπερ ἂν ἐφορμήσειε, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ φορτικώτατον ὃ μὴ ἐνέγκοι καθάπαξ ἐμβα λὸν ἑαυτὸ πρὸς αὐθαιρέτους κακώσεις. Καὶ γὰρ οὗτος μηδέπω ἀποθανών, ἀλλὰ σχήματι μόνῳ ἀποθανὼν οὐκ ἀπώκνησε ζῆν μετὰ ἀποθανόντων σωμάτων. Τέχνη μὲν οὖν τοῦ βαρβάρου αὕτη πρώτη καὶ μόνη κατὰ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην πέφηνεν εἰς καταστροφὴν ἀποβλέπουσα τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας. Οὐδὲ πρὸ ταύτης βάρβαρος ἢ Ἕλλην τοιαῦτα κατὰ πολεμίων ἐμηχανήσατο οὔτ' ἄν, οἶμαι, μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς θεάσαιτο βίος. 11.12.4 Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν Κορυφὼ καταλάβοι, ὥσπερ εἰς ἀκρώρειάν τινα γενό μενος καὶ κορυφὴν καὶ κρησφύγετον τὴν Κορυφὼ ταυτηνὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀκινδύνῳ τυγχάνων, ἀνήγερτό τε ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν δόξῃ νεκρῶν, καὶ τὴν νεκροφόρον ἐκεῖσε λάρνακα καταλεί ψας, ἡλίου τε ἐνεφορεῖτο πλείονος καὶ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀνέπνει καθαρωτέρου καὶ περιενόστει τὴν πόλιν τὴν Κορυφώ· ὃν ἑωρακότες ἐν ξένῃ καὶ βαρβαρικῇ στολῇ ἀνεπυνθάνοντο τό τε γένος καὶ τὴν τύχην καὶ τίς τε εἴη καὶ πόθεν ἥκει καὶ εἰς οὓς παραγίνεται. 11.12.5 Ὁ δὲ τῶν μὲν ἄλλων ὑπερεώρα πάντων, ἀνεζήτει δὲ τὸν δοῦκα τῆς πόλεως. Ἦν δὲ ἄρα οὗτος Ἀλέξιός τις θέματος Ἀρμενιακοῦ γενόμενος· Ὃνθεασάμενος, μετὰ σοβαροῦ τοῦ βλέμματός τε καὶ σχήματος καὶ σοβαρᾷ τῇ φωνῇ χρώμενος καὶ ὅλως βαρβαρικῇ, ἀπαγ γεῖλαι προσέταττεν Ἀλεξίῳ τῷ αὐτοκράτορι ὅτι «Σοὶ ἐγὼ Βαϊμοῦντος ἐκεῖνος ὁ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου, ὃν ὁ ἀνέκαθεν χρόνος καὶ σὲ καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ σὲ βασιλείαν ἐδίδαξεν, ὁπόσος τίς εἰμι τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ τὴν ἔνστασιν. Ἐφ' ᾧπερ ἂν καὶ τὴν ῥοπὴν λάβοιμι, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἀνασχοίμην, ἴστω Θεός, τῶν πρὸς ἐμὲ γεγενημένων κακῶν. Ἐξ ὅτου γὰρ διὰ τῆς Ῥωμαίων τὴν Ἀντιόχου κατέλαβον καὶ Συρίαν ὅλην ἠνδραπο διασάμην τῷ ἐμῷ δόρατι, πολλῆς παρὰ σοῦ καὶ τῆς σῆς στρατιᾶς πικρίας ἐνεφορήθην, ἐλπίσιν ἐξ ἐλπίδων παρα πεμπόμενος, καὶ εἰς μυρίας συμφορὰς καὶ πολέμους βαρ βαρικοὺς ἐμβαλλόμενος. 11.12.6 Ἀλλὰ νῦν γε ἴσθι με, κἂν ἀπέθανον, πάλιν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβιωκότα καὶ τὰς σὰς διαδεδρακότα χεῖρας. Πάντα γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ πᾶσαν χεῖρα καὶ γνώμην διαλαθὼν ἐν σχήματι ἀποτεθνηκότος, νῦν καὶ ζῶν καὶ κινούμενος καὶ τὸν ἀέρα πνέων ἐκ τῆσδε τῆς Κορυφοῦς διαπέμπω πάνυ μεμισημένας ἀγγελίας τῇ σῇ βασιλείᾳ, ἃς καὶ ἀναμαθὼν οὐκ ἂν περιχαρῶς ἀποδέξαιο, ὡς τῷ μὲν Ταγγρὲ καὶ ἐμῷ ἀνεψιῷ τὴν Ἀντιόχου πόλιν παρακατεθέμην, πρὸς τοὺς σοὺς στρατηγοὺς ἀντίμαχον ἀξιόμαχον καταλείψας αὐτόν, αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἄπειμι χώραν, σοὶ μὲν νεκρὸς φημιζόμενος καὶ τοῖς σοῖς, ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ ζῶν καὶ κατὰ σοῦ δεινὰ βου λευόμενος. Ἐφ' ᾧ γὰρ τὴν ὑπὸ σὲ Ῥωμανίαν κλονήσειν, καὶ ζῶν ἀποτέθνηκα καὶ ἀποθανὼν ἔζησα. Εἰ γὰρ τὴν ἀντιπέραν ἤπειρον καταλάβοιμι καὶ Λογγιβάρδους καὶ πάν τας Λατίνους καὶ Γερμανοὺς καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἡμᾶς Φράγ γους ὀψαίμην, ἄνδρας Ἄρεως μνήμονας, πολλῶν φόνων καὶ πολλῶν αἱμάτων τὰς σὰς ἐμπλήσω πόλεις καὶ χώρας, ἕως ἂν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Βυζαντίου τὸ δόρυ πηξαίμην.» Εἰς τοσοῦτον ἄρα ὁ βάρβαρος ἀλαζονείας ἐπῆρτο.

12.t.1 ΑΛΕΞΙΑΣ ΙΒʹ