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he would want to do even harm. Saying these things they persuaded him, and, having sworn oaths that John would indeed become the emperor's son-in-law and would return with very many good things, and that those with him would be well received, they embarked on a long ship and were brought down to the city. But since the emperor happened to be absent at the present time, staying in Lopadion—for there, having passed through the region of the Sangarius and having secured it as was possible, he had halted his march, so that from there he could also fortify the heights of Achyraous—and he was entering the borders of the Romans, the ambassadors introduced a plan to John's retinue for him to put aside the red insignia and put on black shoes, on the grounds that all the honor pertaining to him would come immediately from the emperor. For it had been agreed by them that he, having put on the symbols of despotship at the same time as becoming his son-in-law, would be famously acclaimed thereafter. And that changing the two-colored purple garments for red ones might not be altogether unseemly, in addition to otherwise appearing displeasing to the emperor. Having said and done these things, they approached the city and, disembarking from the ship at the harbor of the Horn, they were lavishly hosted in some of the dwellings in the city. And for some days, having rid themselves of the commotion of the sea, and having received the emperor's commands, they went to Lopadion; 659 and indeed, having been courteously received as was fitting, they took possession of the city with the emperor himself, making use of a voyage. For on the one hand the marriage of his daughter urged him on, and on the other, the Tochars who were reported to be coming out from the west, whom the emperor himself, having requested them from Nogai against the sebastokrator John, was expecting, since he had sent them. At any rate, arriving at the end of the month of Gamelion, he celebrated the wedding for his daughter. And having spent the whole of Elaphebolion, he equipped his forces and prepared for an expedition.

35. How the emperor summoned the Tochars against the sebastokrator John. For it was not possible for the sebastokrator John to be at peace, but having broken those treaties again, he was attempting things that were not his to do. And the emperor, having no other way to restrain him from his plans—for his rashness and insolence went so far as to brand him as a rebel—unless, by bringing in the Tochars, he should plunder all his land and place him in a tight spot regarding his affairs and his hopes, if for the time being he should escape the danger; turning these things over in his mind, he brought on the Tochars. He also had the present winter as an opportune time—for it was customary for them to campaign in winter—which he hastened to anticipate, so as to meet the Tochars outside the city. And the plan being devised was on the one hand suitably fitting for a soldier, but on the other hand quite discordant for a Christian; for to set impious men upon Christians and godless men upon holy things, was not this the daring act of those utterly unmindful of the fear of God? But the request from the emperor to Nogai brought them out, and his desire to utterly destroy both those lands and the enemy; but Justice was not, it seems, to be slighted, but, turning back, she then rather even went before, as the account will say shortly. At that time, when the month of Mounichion had begun, he was preparing for the expedition, trusting not so much in his own multitude and forces as in the Tochars; but the augusta, on the one hand seeing the irrational and inopportune nature of the campaign, and on the other hand noticing the illness that beset the emperor, which had resulted from the hardship of the summer, and suspecting some ill-advised outcome, restrained him more strongly and did not allow him to go out, not unconcernedly, as one might say, and indirectly, but 661 very insistently and openly, on the grounds that the expedition would of necessity cause some great evil. And: "What is wrong with you," she said, "that you are careless of your body, and careless even of your very life?" Whom, if nothing else would have led to unfavorable suspicions and mortal fears, yet at least the illness itself and his lack of strength would have been considered sufficient to prevent him. But in truth it was on his mind, as he feared for himself

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ποιεῖν ἐκεῖνον καὶ κακὸν βούλοιτο. Ταῦτα λέγοντες ἔπειθον καί, ὅρκους ταμόντες ἦ μὴν καὶ γαμβρὸν γενέσθαι τοῦ βασιλέως τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ μετὰ πλείστων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπανήξειν, καλῶς καὶ τῶν περὶ ἐκεῖνον δεχθησομένων, μακρᾶς νηὸς ἐπιβάντες, ἐς πόλιν κατήγοντο. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς μὲν ἔτυχεν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπών, διατρίβων ἐν Λοπαδίῳἐκεῖ γάρ, τὰ κατὰ Σάγγαριν διελθὼν καί γ' ὡς ἦν κατασφαλι σάμενος, ἔστησε τὴν πορείαν, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν κατοχυρώσων καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ἀχυράους ἄκρας, ἐκεῖνος δὲ τῶν ὁρίων τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπιβαίνων, βουλὴν καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις εἰσάγουσι τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἀποθέσθαι τοῦτον τὰ ἐρυθρὰ καὶ πεδίλοις μέλασιν ὑποδήσασθαι, ὡς δὴ παντὸς εὐθὺς παρὰ βασι λέως γενησομένου τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν ἀξιώματος. Ἦν γὰρ συγκείμενον σφίσι καὶ τὰ τῆς δεσποτείας ἐκεῖνον ἀμφιβαλλόμενον σύμβολα, ἅμα τῷ παῖδα γενέσθαι, περιφανῶς ἐσαῦθις κλεΐζεσθαι. Τὸ δ' ἐπ' ἐρυθροῖς μεταλαμβάνειν τὰ ἐκ πορφύρας δίχροα μὴ καὶ ὅλως ἀπρεπὲς ᾖ, πρὸς τῷ καὶ ἄλλως δυσχερὲς φανῆναι τῷ βασιλεῖ. Ταῦτα λέξαντές τε καὶ πράξαντες, τῇ πόλει προσίσχουσι καί, κατὰ τὸν λιμένα τὸ Κέρας ἀποβάντες νηός, ξεναγοῦνται πολυτελῶς ἔν τισι τῶν κατὰ τὴν πόλιν οἰκήμασι. Καί γ' ἐφ' ἡμέραις τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀποσκευασά μενοι θόρυβον, ἐντολὰς δεξάμενοι βασιλέως, πρὸς τὸ Λοπάδιον γίνονται· 659 καὶ δή, τὰ εἰκότα φιλοφρονηθέντες, ἅμ' αὐτῷ βασιλεῖ, πλῷ χρησάμενοι, τὴν πόλιν καταλαμβάνουσιν. Ἤπειγον γὰρ αὐτὸν τοῦτο μὲν οἱ γάμοι τῆς θυγατρός, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐκ δύσεως Τόχαροι ἀγγελθέντες ἐξέρχεσθαι, οὓς αὐτὸς βασιλεύς, Νογᾶν ἀξιώσας κατὰ τοῦ σεβαστοκράτορος Ἰωάννου, ἐκείνου πέμψαντος, ἐξεδέχετο. Τῷ τέως γοῦν, μηνὸς γαμηλιῶνος λήγοντος ἐπιστάς, τοὺς γάμους ἐτέλει τῇ θυγατρί. Ὅλον δ' ἐλαφηβολιῶνα διαγαγών, ἐξήρτυε τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ πρὸς ἔξοδον ἡτοιμάζετο.

λεʹ. Ὅπως ὁ βασιλεὺς μετεκαλέσατο Τοχάρους κατὰ τοῦ σεβαστοκράτορος Ἰωάννου. Τῷ γὰρ σεβαστοκράτορι Ἰωάννῃ οὐκ ἦν ἠρεμεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὖθις σπονδὰς ἐκείνας συγχέας, ἐπεχείρει τοῖς μὴ προσήκουσιν. Ἄλλως δ' ἐπισχεῖν αὐτὸν τῶν βουλευμάτων βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἔχωντὸ γὰρ θερμουργὸν ἐκείνου καὶ αὔθαδες μέχρι καὶ ἐς ἀποκήρυξιν ἐκεῖνον ὡς ἀποστάτην ἐτίθει, εἰ μή γε, Τοχάρους ἐπαγαγών, πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν ἐκείνου ληΐσεται, αὐτὸν δ' ἐν στενῷ καταστήσει πραγμάτων τε καὶ ἐλπίδων, εἰ τέως διαδράσει τὸν κίνδυνον, ταῦτ' ἐπὶ νοῦν στρέφων, Τοχάρους ἐπῆγεν. Εὔκαιρον δ' εἶχε καὶ τὸν ἐφεστῶτα χειμῶναχειμῶνος γὰρ καὶ σύνηθες ἐκείνοις στρατεύειν, ὃν καὶ προκα ταλαβεῖν ἠπείγετο, ὡς ἔξω πόλεως συμβαλεῖν Τοχάροις. Ἦν δὲ ἄρα τὸ μελετώμενον μέλημα μὲν ἄλλως στρατιώτῃ πρέπον ἐπιεικῶς, χριστιανῷ δὲ καὶ λίαν ἀπᾷδον· ἀσεβεῖς γὰρ ἐπὶ χριστιανοὺς ἐξορμᾶν καί γ' ἀθέους ἐφ' ἱρά, μὴ καὶ τῶν σφόδρα θείου φόβου ἀνεπιστρόφων τὸ τόλμημα ἦν. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνους μὲν ἐξῆγεν ἡ ἀπὸ βασιλέως ἀξίωσις πρὸς Νογᾶν, καὶ τὸ θέλειν πάντως ἐκεῖνον ἐξαφανίσαι καὶ χώρας ἐκείνας καὶ τὸν ἐχθρόν· οὐκ ἦν δὲ ἄρα καταρρᾳθυμεῖν καὶ τὴν ∆ίκην, ἀλλά, παλίμπους οὖσα, τότε μᾶλλον καὶ προηγεῖτο, ὡς μετὰ μικρὸν ὁ λόγος ἐρεῖ. Τηνίκα δέ, μουνυχιῶνος μηνὸς ἐνστάντος, ἐκεῖνος μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον ἡτοιμάζετο, οὐ τόσον τῷ καθ' αὑτὸν πλήθει καὶ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ὅσον Τοχάροις θαρρῶν· ἡ δ' αὐγούστα, τοῦτο μὲν ἀφορῶσα καὶ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἐκστρατείας παράλογόν τε καὶ παρακαίριον, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀρρωστίαν ἐπι κειμένην κατανοοῦσα τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὸ θέρος δυσπραγίας ἐπισυμβᾶσαν, καί τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων ὑπονοοῦσα, ἐπεῖχέ τε σθεναρώτερον καὶ ἐξιέναι οὐκ εἴα, οὐκ ἀφωσιωμένως, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, καὶ ἐκ πλαγίου, ἀλλ' 661 ἐνστατικῶς ἄγαν καὶ φανερῶς, ὡς μέγα τι κακὸν ἐξ ἀνάγκης προξενησού σης τῆς ἐκστρατείας. Καί· «Τί παθών, ἔλεγεν, ἀφειδεῖς μὲν σώματος, ἀφειδεῖς δὲ καὶ αὐτῆς ζωῆς;» Ὅν, εἰ μή τί γ' ἄλλο εἰς ὑποψίας ἂν ἐνῆγεν οὐκ ἀγαθὰς καὶ δείματα καίρια, ἀλλ' οὖν ἡ νόσος αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ μὴ εὐρώστως ἔχειν ἱκανὸν κωλύειν ἂν ἐνομίζετο. Τῷ δὲ ταῖς ἀληθείαις κατὰ νοῦν ἦν, περὶ ἑαυτῷ δειλιῶντι