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and the emperor to be subject to her. But the plan 748 was not tolerable to him, who was already counted among men and long since joined to a wife, the daughter of the leader of the nation of the Hungarians, and had become the father of children. For he feared for his rule or even for his very life, seeing his mother showing much affection for the elder of her daughters and for her son-in-law, Bryennios. Therefore he went after his relatives, but indeed also everyone, and secretly lamenting his own situation to each one, he reminded the men of the oaths which most of them had sworn, that they would not accept another than him as emperor after his father. And they encouraged him and most eagerly promised to assist him when the opportunity called, confirming their promises with oaths. But these things had not escaped the empress's notice, because of which she also became vexed with her son. From then on he was forbidden to approach anyone at all, and from all sides there were spies and watchers of him. But even so he did not cease drawing almost everyone to himself, some through himself, and others through his adherents. The younger of his brothers was also devoted to him; but the other one, namely Andronikos, was opposed to his brother and emperor; for they too, having reached manhood, were joined 749 to wives. And Andronikos was honored as sebastokrator, and Isaakios and Bryennios as Caesars, and the son-in-law by the emperor's second daughter, Phorbenos, as panhypersebastos. So these matters stood thus, even if my account, running ahead, has related what happened later; And one of the Latins who crossed over into the East was also the son of that Robert, whom the history has already mentioned, named Bohemond, who, coming up from the western lands with those under him, both promised submission to the emperor and making a treaty with him he confirmed it with oaths, and having received money almost beyond counting he went to Antioch in Coele-Syria, and having taken it by siege he not only became a violator of what had been agreed, but also planned to take up war against the Romans. But thinking of returning from the eastern lands to the western, he feared lest on his return journey while passing through Roman lands he might be seized by one of those entrusted with the rule of those lands and be led away a prisoner, as a violator of the treaties he had made. What then does he 750 devise? He feigns his own death and got into a coffin, having instructed his servants to say that he had died and his corpse was being brought home. Thus having escaped notice he was brought safely to his own country; where, speaking much ill of the emperor, he roused many of his countrymen to take up arms against the Romans, as commander of whom he crossed over to Epidamnos and made a great effort to sack its city. And having spent a long time in the siege and having distressed those in the city, but having himself been distressed no less, he despaired of the capture of Dyrrachion, and he proceeded to other things and failed in those too; wherefore he sent an embassy to the emperor, seeking terms. And he was staying in Thessalonica, and setting out from there towards European Koloneia he pitched his camp, where he also conferred with the barbarian and made the treaty terms. The war with Bohemond, therefore, was resolved in this way; and the patriarch Nicholas, having guided the church for twenty-seven years and having reached a deep old age, fell ill and died; 751 whose funeral procession the emperor magnificently honored, then he installed another on the patriarchal throne, one of the clergy of the church, of the rank of deacons, indeed, and numbered among the patriarchal officials, and a nephew of the one then presiding over the church in Chalcedon, one nourished on both secular and our own learning, the emperor himself having come to the church and having appointed him in it. But after some time the ruler fell ill, and his illness became so strong that he seemed to have passed away. And in this of the salvation of our savior

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καὶ βασιλέα ὑποκεῖσθαι αὐτῇ. τῷ δὲ τὸ σκέμμα 748 οὐκ ἀνεκτὸν ἐς ἄνδρας ἤδη τελοῦντι καὶ γυναικὶ πρὸ πολλοῦ συναφθέντι τοῦ ἔθνους τῶν Οὔγγρων ἀρχηγοῦ θυγατρὶ καὶ παίδων γεγονότι πατρί. ἐδεδοίκει γὰρ περὶ τῇ ἀρχῇ ἢ καὶ περὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ζωῇ, ὁρῶν τὴν μητέρα πολλὴν περὶ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν τῶν θυγατέρων ἐνδεικνυμένην σχέσιν καὶ περὶ τὸν ἐπ' αὐτῇ κηδεστὴν τὸν Βρυέννιον. ὅθεν μετῄει τὸ συγγενές, ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ ξύμπαντας, καὶ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πρὸς ἕκαστον λαθραίως ἀποκλαιόμενος ἀνεμίμνησκε τῶν ὅρκων τοὺς ἄνδρας, οὓς οἱ πλείονες αὐτῶν ἦσαν ὀμωμοκότες, ὡς οὐχ ἕτερον ἂν παρὰ τοῦτον μετὰ τὸν πατέρα δέξαιντο αὐτοκράτορα. οἱ δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπεθάρρυνον καὶ ἐπαρῆξαί οἱ καιροῦ καλοῦντος προθυμότατα ἐπηγγέλλοντο, ὅρκοις ἐμπεδοῦντες τὰς ὑποσχέσεις. ταῦτα δὲ τὴν βασιλίδα οὐκ ἐλελήθεισαν, δι' ἃ καὶ προσώχθισε τῷ υἱῷ. ἐντεῦθεν παντί που καθάπαξ προσιέναι οἱ ἀπείρητο, καὶ πάντοθεν σκοποί τε καὶ κατοπτῆρες ἦσαν αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ καὶ οὕτως οὐκ ἐπαύετο πρὸς ἑαυτὸν σχεδὸν τοὺς σύμπαντας ἐφελκόμενος, τοὺς μὲν δι' ἑαυτοῦ, τοὺς δὲ διὰ τῶν προσκειμένων αὐτῷ. προσέκειτο δ' αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὁ νεώτερος· θάτερος δέ γε, δηλαδὴ ὁ Ἀνδρόνικος, τῷ συγγόνῳ καὶ βασιλεῖ ἠναντίωτο· ἤδη γὰρ καὶ οὗτοι ἀνδρωθέντες γυναιξὶ συνεζεύ 749 χθησαν. καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἀνδρόνικος σεβαστοκράτωρ τετίμητο, ὁ δ' Ἰσαάκιος καὶ ὁ Βρυέννιος Καίσαρες, ὁ δ' ἐπὶ τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν θυγατέρων τοῦ βασιλέως γαμβρὸς ὁ Φορβηνὸς πανυπερσέβαστος. Εἶχον μὲν οὖν οὕτω ταῦτα, εἰ καὶ προδραμὼν ὁ λόγος τὰ ὕστερον διηγήσατο· εἷς δὲ τῶν εἰς τὴν ἑῴαν διαβάντων Λατίνων καὶ ὁ τοῦ Ῥομπέρτου ἐκείνου, οὗπερ ἤδη ἡ ἱστορία ἐμνήσθη, ὑπῆρχεν υἱός, Βαϊμοῦνδος ὀνομαζόμενος, ὃς ἐκ τῶν ἑσπερίων μετὰ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἀνιὼν δούλωσίν τε τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐπηγγείλατο καὶ συνθήκας θέμενος πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅρκοις αὐτὰς ἐμπεπέδωκε καὶ χρήματα λαβὼν σχεδὸν ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν τῇ κατὰ Κοίλην Συρίαν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ἐπιδεδήμηκε καὶ ταύτην πολιορκίᾳ ἑλὼν οὐ μόνον τῶν ὡμολογημένων παραβάτης ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλεμον κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἄρασθαι μεμελέτηκεν. ἐπανιέναι δὲ φροντίζων ἐκ τῶν ἑῴων εἰς τὰ ἑσπέρια ἐδεδίει μὴ ἐν τῇ ἐπανόδῳ χώρας Ῥωμαϊκὰς διιὼν κατασχεθείη παρά του τῶν τῶν χωρῶν ἐκείνων τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐμπεπιστευμένων καὶ ἀπαχθείη δεσμώτης, ὡς παραβάτης ὧν ἔθετο συνθηκῶν. τί γοῦν μηχα750 νᾶται; ἑαυτοῦ καταψεύδεται θάνατον καὶ λάρνακι ἐμβεβήκει, ἐντειλάμενος τοῖς θεράπουσι λέγειν ὡς ἐτεθνήκει καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς ἐκείνου κομίζεται οἴκαδε. οὕτω λαθὼν εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ διασέσωστο· ἔνθα πολλὰ κατειπὼν τοῦ βασιλέως πολλοὺς τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ἆραι κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ὅπλα ἠρέθισεν, ὧν στραταρχῶν ἐκεῖνος διεπεραιώθη πρὸς τὴν Ἐπίδαμνον καὶ πολλὴν ἔθετο σπουδὴν ἐκπορθῆσαι τὸ ἄστυ αὐτῆς. χρόνον δὲ διατρίψας ἐν τῇ πολιορκίᾳ μακρὸν καὶ κακώσας μὲν τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει, οὐ μείω δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς κακωθεὶς ἀπέγνω μὲν τοῦ ∆υρραχίου τὴν ἅλωσιν, προέβη δ' εἰς ἕτερα κἀκείνων διήμαρτεν· ὅθεν διαπρεσβεύεται πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα, συμβάσεις ζητῶν. ὁ δὲ τῇ Θεσσαλονίκῃ ἦν ἐνδημῶν, καὶ ἀπάρας ἐκεῖθεν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρωπαίαν Κολώνειαν τὸν χάρακα ἔθετο, ἔνθα καὶ προσωμίλησε τῷ βαρβάρῳ καὶ τὰς συνθήκας τῶν σπονδῶν ἐποιήσατο. Ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ Βαϊμούνδου μάχη οὕτω πως διαλέλυτο· ὁ δὲ πατριάρχης Νικόλαος ἐπὶ εἴκοσι πρὸς ἑπτὰ ἐνιαυτοὺς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνας καὶ ἐς γῆρας ἐλάσας βαθύ, νοσήσας ἀπεβίω· 751 οὗ τὴν ἐκφορὰν μεγαλοπρεπῶς ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐτίμησεν, εἶτα ἕτερον εἰς τὸν θρόνον τὸν πατριαρχικὸν ἐγκαθίδρυσεν, ἕνα μὲν τοῦ κλήρου τῆς ἐκκλησίας, τοῦ τῶν διακόνων δέ γε βαθμοῦ καὶ τοῖς πατριαρχικοῖς συνταττόμενον ἄρχουσιν, ἀδελφιδοῦν δὲ τοῦ τῆς ἐν Χαλκηδόνι τότε προεδρεύοντος ἐκκλησίας, λόγοις ἐντεθραμμένον τοῖς τε θύραθεν καὶ τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς, αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπιδεδημηκὼς καὶ αὐτὸν ἐν ταύτῃ προχειρισάμενος. Μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον νοσεῖ ὁ κρατῶν, καὶ οὕτως ἡ νόσος ἐκείνου κατίσχυσεν ὡς ἐκλελοιπέναι δοκεῖν. ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τοῦ σωτηρίου τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν