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and to say and hear the things that were fitting. Then, therefore, having prepared himself as was likely and having stationed his own men on either side, he himself, sitting with difficulty on a cot, as the occasion permitted and his own condition allowed, with a few words would put off their reception, indicating that he was grateful both to Nogai, for having fulfilled his request, and to them, for having come so readily to his aid, but was displeased with his illness, because it did not permit his audience with them to take place in a proper manner, and that he was hopeful of recovering from the illness and of carrying out what was in his heart, treating them well as they deserved. When he had said these things, the Tocharoi put on a show of being grieved, but also displayed a show of hoping again that his suffering would soon ease and that they would have good things from the emperor when he was well. And so they spoke; but the illness was worsening and was about to run its course. When, therefore, the decisive day was at hand and the signs of death were already expected, especially by the physicians, to the actuary Kavasilas it did not seem safe to remind him of the danger—for among the sick this too is considered a portion of death, as if the speaking of these things were the cause of their happening—but on the other hand to let him depart unprepared he did not judge to be a good thing. And so, approaching the emperor who would be after him, Andronikos, he ventured the word of his prognosis, that the emperor would not live any longer. And he, not daring himself to mention the ill-omened thing, nevertheless devised the preparation. For immediately the symbols of the lord's death are prepared, which a pious priest of the clergy took, and being vested as was necessary, stood beside him completely unnoticed, since he knew nothing. The emperor happened to be looking toward the wall and considering his own affairs—for he was also strong in his reasoning—as he was able. The presbyter, therefore, stood on the other side, holding the holy gifts in his hands, and, awaiting his turning toward him and him alone, he stood silent for a considerable time. But he, whether suspecting something of the sort, or whether it occurred to him for another reason, turned toward the presbyter, and at once he saw and at once he understood the scene, and: "What," he says, "is this?" So when the priest said that they, having prayed on his behalf, were bringing for his assistance also the gifts that would contribute to his health, he himself, interrupting, took courage and rose from the bed and asks for a belt and recites the holy 667 symbol and, saying, "Lord, deliver me from this hour," and having made the fitting supplications to the Most High, he receives the holy communion and, falling back again and waiting a short time, gives up his spirit. And indeed, having died, he was honored no less by the tears of the Tocharoi than of his own people; whose corpse those assigned to this task quickly shrouded and transported by night to the Nea Moni, which lies somewhere nearby. And so the emperor departed, having lived in all fifty-eight years, and having reigned for twenty-four years, less twenty days. For he put on the red imperial boots on the first of Hekatombaion, as has been said, and he dies on the eleventh of Skirophorion, on a Friday. And thus also the sign concerning him was fulfilled; for the symbol for him was a three-letter word from the letter pi. And this, I think, was a declaration both of his surname—for it was Palaiologos—, of the place where he was to die—for the location was called Pachomiou—and, in addition to these, of the day of his death; for it was a Friday on which these things took place, the eleventh, as has been said, of Skirophorion, of the year #226791.

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καὶ τὰ προσήκοντα εἰπεῖν τε καὶ ἀκοῦσαι. Τότε τοίνυν καὶ παρασκευασάμενος ὡς εἰκὸς καί γε τοὺς οἰκείους ἐφ' ἑκάτερα παραστήσας, αὐτὸς καὶ βίᾳ καθήμενος ἐπὶ σκίμποδος, ὡς ὁ καιρὸς ἐδίδου καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν πράγματα ἐνεχώρουν, ὀλίγοις τισὶ λόγοις τὴν ἐκείνων ἀφωσιοῦτο θεραπείαν, χάριν μὲν ἔχειν ἐμφαί νων καὶ τῷ Νογᾷ, τὰ κατ' ἀξίωσιν ἐκτελέσαντι, χάριν δ' ἔχειν κἀκείνοις, ὡς προθύμως ἐπὶ βοήθειαν ἀπαντήσασι, δυσχεραίνειν δ' ἐπὶ τῇ νόσῳ, ὅτι μὴ καθαρῶς ἐᾷ τὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐντυχίαν γίνεσθαι, ἐν ἐλπίσι δ' ἔχειν ῥαΐσαι τῆς νόσου καὶ τὰ πρὸς θυμοῦ ἐκτελέσαι, εὖ ἐκείνους ποιοῦντα ὡς ἄξιον. Ταῦτ' εἰπόντος ἐκείνου, τοὺς Τοχάρους σχῆμα μὲν ἀλγούντων ἐνδεί ξασθαι, σχῆμα δὲ καὶ ἐλπιζόντων αὖθις ἐμφαίνειν ὡς ῥαΐσει τε τὸ πάθος μετ' οὐ πολὺ καί γε σφίσιν ἔσται τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως καλὰ ὑγιαίνοντος. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ταῦτα· ἡ νόσος δὲ ἐπεδίδου καὶ τὰ ἑαυτῆς πληροῦν ἔμελλεν. Ὡς γοῦν ἡ κυρία ἐνέστη καὶ ἤδη τὰ τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ μᾶλλον τοῖς ἰατροῖς, προσδόκιμα ἦν, τῷ μὲν ἀκτουαρίῳ Καβάσιλᾳ οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς τὸ ὑπομιμνῄσκειν τὰ τοῦ κινδύνου ἐδόκεινομίζεται γὰρ τοῖς νοσοῦσι καὶ τοῦτο μοῖρα θανάτου, ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ αἴτιον ἦν ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ λέγειν τοῦ γίνεσθαι, ἀφεῖναι δὲ πάλιν ἀπελθεῖν ἀνέτοιμον οὐ τῶν καλῶν ἐδοκίμαζε. Τῷ τοι καὶ προσελθὼν τῷ ἐξ ἐκείνου βασιλεῖ Ἀνδρονίκῳ, ἐθάρρει τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀποφάσεως, ὡς οὐ βιώσοντος ἔτι τοῦ βασιλέως. Καὶ ὃς οὐδ' αὐτὸς ὑπομιμνῄσκειν τὸ ἀπευκταῖον ἐθάρρει, ὅμως δὲ τὴν ἑτοιμασίαν σοφίζεται. Εὐθὺς γὰρ τὰ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ θανάτου σύμβολα εὐτρεπίζονται, ἃ λαβὼν ὁ ἱερεὺς τῶν τοῦ κλήρου καὶ εὐλαβῶν, στολισθεὶς ὡς ἔδει, παρίσταταί οἱ ἀνωΐστως πάμπαν, μηδὲν εἰδότι. Ἔτυχε δὲ πρὸς τὸν τοῖχον ὁρῶν βασιλεὺς καὶ τὰ καθ' αὑτόνἦν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἐρρωμένοςὡς εἶχε διανοούμενος. Ἵστατο γοῦν ὁ πρεσβύτερος παρὰ θάτερα, τὰ ἅγια δῶρα κρατῶν ἐν χερσί, καί, τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνου καὶ μόνου ἐπιστροφὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν καραδοκῶν, ἐφ' ἱκανὸν σιωπῶν ἵστατο. Ὁ δέ, εἴτε τι τοιοῦτον ὑπονοήσας, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως ἐπελθὸν αὐτῷ, ἐπεγκλίνει πρὸς τὸν πρεσβύτερον, καὶ ἅμ' εἶδε καὶ ἅμα συνῆκε τὸ δρᾶμα, καί· «Τί, φησί, τοῦτο;» Τοῦ γοῦν ἱερέως ὡς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ εὐξάμενοι φέρουσιν εἰς βοήθειαν καὶ τὰ δῶρα τὰ εἰς ὑγείαν συνοίσοντα λέγοντος, αὐτὸς διακόψας ἀναθαρρεῖ καὶ τῆς κλίνης ἀνέγρεται καὶ ζητεῖ ζώνην καὶ τὸ ἅγιον διέξεισι 667 σύμβολον καί, τό· Κύριε, ῥῦσαί με ἐκ τῆς ὥρας ταύτης, εἰπὼν καὶ τὰ εἰκότα ποτνιασάμενος πρὸς τὸν Ὕψιστον, τὴν ἁγίαν μετάληψιν δέχεται καί, πεσὼν αὖθις καὶ καιρὸν ἐπισχών, τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφίησι. Καὶ δὴ τελευτήσας οὐχ ἧττον τοῖς τῶν Τοχάρων ἢ τῶν οἰκείων τετίμηται δάκρυσιν· οὗ τὸν νεκρὸν τὸ τάχος οἱ εἰς τοῦτο ταχθέντες συστείλαντες νυκτὸς παρὰ τὴν Νέαν Μονήν, ἐγγύς που τῶν ἐκεῖ κειμένην, μετακομίζουσι. Καὶ οὕτως ἀπέρχεται βασιλεύς, ζήσας μὲν τὰ σύμπαντα ἔτη πεντήκοντα καὶ ὀκτώ, βασιλεύσας δέ, ἡμερῶν δεουσῶν εἴκοσι, τὰ εἴκοσι τέσσαρα. Ὑποδεῖται μὲν γὰρ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας ἐρυθρὰ ἑκατομβαιῶνος πρώτῃ, ὡς λέλεκται, θνῄσκει δὲ σκιροφοριῶνος ἑνδεκάτῃ, ἡμέρᾳ παρασκευῇ. Καὶ οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ σημεῖον ἐτελειοῦτο· ἦν γὰρ ἐκ πῖ στοιχείου τριγράμματον τὸ ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ σύμβολον. ∆ήλωσις δ' οἶμαι ταῦτα τοῦ τε κατ' ἐπίκλην αὐτῷ λεγομένουΠαλαιολόγος γάρ, τοῦ τόπου καθ' ὃν ἔμελλε τελευτᾶν τὰ Παχωμίου γὰρ τὸ χωρίον ἐλέγετοκαὶ τῆς ἐπιτελευτίου ἐπὶ τούτοις ἡμέρας· ἡμέρα γὰρ ἦν παρασκευὴ καθ' ἣν ταῦτ' ἐπράττετο, ἑνδεκάτη, ὡς εἴρηται, σκιροφοριῶνος τοῦ #22ψαʹ ἔτους.