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they sent away, fearing lest the emperor Kantakouzenos, who was staying nearby, might suddenly march against them and they would not be able to defend themselves, because almost all their soldiers had either been captured, or did not even dare to peek out of the houses in which they were hiding, and besides, they were not expecting any help to come to them from Byzantium; for they knew that the army of the emperor Kantakouzenos was encamped there; they sent an embassy to the king of the Mysians, asking him to help them with speed. And Alexander, as was likely, thinking that not only because of the strife, but also with money, if he corrupted 2.180 the rulers of the city, he would easily persuade it to come over to him, came to Adrianople without any delay. He accomplished none of the things he planned. For those who led the city said they had called an ally, not a master. But his arrival did no small harm to the emperor Kantakouzenos, since it was thought by all to have been on behalf of the empress. For both the army sent by him to the Melas river and its generals, not thinking it advantageous to risk battle there while their emperor was being besieged by the Mysians, were returning. And during the withdrawal, some of the senators and not a few soldiers, leaving their generals behind, were deserting to Byzantium. Among them was John Batatzes, who led the regiment called the Achyraitai. And the cities of Thrace and Macedonia, as many as were subject to the emperor Kantakouzenos, on learning of the invasion of the Mysians as being against the emperor, except for a very few, revolted together to the empress, and arresting their rulers and the powerful among the citizens, they carried them off in chains to Byzantium. And the cities around Rhodope did the same; and the war was common against both the emperor Kantakouzenos and the powerful men in each place. For the affairs of the cities were divided roughly into two, and the few supported the cause of the emperor Kantakouzenos, but the common people, led by the rebels and the poor, preferred the cause of the empress. And the many, becoming stronger everywhere, 2.181 were destroying the powerful, and a terrible confusion and disorder held the cities. And Alexander the king of the Mysians, since he was not able to seize Adrianople, came and encamped near Didymoteichon, not yet having crossed the Hebros. And having selected no small army from his own, he sent it out to plunder the cities throughout Thrace. As it happened, the army returning from Byzantium with Angelos the cup-bearer, encountering not a few of them and proving superior, killed them in battle. Likewise also in the coastal regions of Thrace, a Persian army, having itself crossed over for plunder, by chance encountered the remaining Mysians, and both killed and took many of them alive. The rest returned to their own camp, not only having nothing, but also having lost many of their own men. And Alexander, although previously disposed contemptuously toward the emperor Kantakouzenos, as though thinking him unable to oppose him even in small matters, besides being struck on both sides by both the Romans and the Persians, and furthermore learning that the emperor in Didymoteichon had abundant and good troops, became afraid also for the remainder, lest his audacity not turn out well for him, and sending an embassy, he negotiated for peace. But those with the emperor who were of military age and bolder in their impulses advised him not to accept the peace, but rather urged the emperor 2.182 to battle. But he was not persuaded, thinking that the war would not profit them at all. «For if,» he said, «our struggle were against the Mysians alone, this audacity would have some reason; but now we must consider not so much these men, as how we are to defend ourselves against the Byzantines. For if we defeat the Mysians, there will be no advantage, other than driving them away from here; which they must do, whether they are defeated or not. But if we ourselves are defeated, as against us

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παρέπεμψαν, δείσαντες, μὴ ἐγγὺς βασιλεὺς διατρίβων ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς ἀθρόον αὐτοῖς ἐπιστρατεύσῃ καὶ οὐχ οἷοίτε ἀμύνεσθαι ὦσι διὰ τὸ τοὺς στρατευομένους μικροῦ δεῖν ἅπαντας τοὺς μὲν ἑαλωκέναι, τοὺς δὲ μηδὲ τῶν οἰκιῶν προκύπτειν, ἐν αἷς κατεκρύπτοντο, τολμᾷν, ἄλλως τε μηδ' ἐκ Βυζαντίου βοήθειάν τινα σφίσι προσδοκῶντες ἥξειν· ᾔδεσαν γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὴν Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως στρατιὰν ἐστρατοπεδευμένην· πρὸς βασιλέα τῶν Μυσῶν πέμπουσι πρεσβείαν, δεόμενοι σφίσι κατὰ τάχος βοηθεῖν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ, ὥσπερ ἦν εἰκὸς, οὐ διὰ τὴν στάσιν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ χρήμασι νομίσας, εἰ διαφθείρειε 2.180 τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῆς πόλεως, πείσειν αὐτῷ ῥᾳδίως προσχωρήσειν, ἧκεν εἰς Ἀδριανούπολιν οὐδὲν μελλήσας. τῶν μὲν οὖν μελετωμένων ἤνυσεν οὐδέν. οἱ γὰρ τὴν πόλιν ἄγοντες σύμμαχον ἔφασαν, οὐ δεσπότην κεκληκέναι. βασιλέα δὲ τὸν Καντακουζηνὸν οὐ τὰ τυχόντα ἔβλαψεν ἡ ἐκείνου ἄφιξις, νομισθεῖσα παρὰ πᾶσιν ὡς ὑπὲρ βασιλίδος ἐγεγόνει. ἥτε γὰρ πρὸς τὸν Μέλανα ποταμὸν ἀπεσταλμένη παρ' ἐκείνου στρατιὰ καὶ οἱ στρατηγοὶ, μὴ νομίσαντες λυσιτελεῖν ἐνταῦθα διακινδυνεύειν, τοῦ βασιλέως σφίσι πολιορκουμένου παρὰ τῶν Μυσῶν, ἐπανεζεύγνυον. ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀναχωρήσει τῶν τε συγκλητικῶν τινες καὶ οὐκ ὀλίγοι στρατιῶται τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καταλιπόντες, διεδίδρασκον εἰς Βυζάντιον. ὧν ἦν καὶ ὁ Βατάτζης Ἰωάννης, τάξιν ἄγων τὴν Ἀχυραϊτῶν προσαγορευομένην. καὶ αἱ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας πόλεις, ὅσαι βασιλεῖ τῷ Καντακουζηνῷ ὑπήκοοι ἦσαν, τὴν ἐσβολὴν τῶν Μυσῶν πυθόμεναι ὡς κατὰ βασιλέως γένοιτο, πλὴν ὀλίγων λίαν πρὸς βασιλίδα συναπέστησαν καὶ τούς τε ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν συλλαμβάνοντες τοὺς δυνατοὺς, ὑπὸ δεσμοῖς εἰς Βυζάντιον ἀπεκόμιζον. τὰ ἴσα δὲ καὶ αἱ κατὰ τὴν Ῥοδόπην πόλεις ἔδρων· καὶ κοινὸς ἦν ὁ πόλεμος πρός τε Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς παρ' ἑκάστοις δυνατούς. σχεδὸν γάρ τοι εἰς δύο διῄρητο τὰ τῶν πολιτειῶν, καὶ οἱ μὲν ὀλίγοι τὰ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἔδρων, οἱ δῆμοι δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν στασιαστῶν ἀγόμενοι καὶ τῶν ἀπόρων, τὰ βασιλίδος ᾑροῦντο μᾶλλον. κρείττους δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ πανταχοῦ 2.181 γινόμενοι, διέφθειρον τοὺς δυνατοὺς, καὶ σύγχυσις δεινὴ καὶ ἀταξία τὰς πόλεις κατεῖχεν. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ Μυσῶν βασιλεὺς ἐπεὶ τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ κατασχεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθη, πρὸς ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ ἐστρατοπέδευσεν ἐλθὼν, μήπω διαβὰς τὸν Ἕβρον. στρατιὰν δὲ ἀπολεξάμενος ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας οὐκ ὀλίγην, πρὸς τὰς κατὰ Θρᾴκην ἐξαπέστειλε πόλεις ληϊσομένους. οὕτω δὲ συμβὰν, ἡ ἐκ Βυζαντίου μετὰ Ἀγγέλου τοῦ πιγκέρνη ἀναστρέφουσα στρατιὰ, οὐκ ὀλίγοις αὐτῶν περιτυχοῦσα καὶ κρείττων γενομένη, ἀπέκτεινε κατὰ τὴν μάχην. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰ παράλια τῆς Θρᾴκης χωρία στρατιὰ Περσικὴ ἐπὶ λείαν καὶ αὐτὴ περαιωθεῖσα, τοῖς ὑπολοίποις τῶν Μυσῶν κατὰ τύχην συντυχοῦσα, ἀπέκτεινέ τε καὶ εἷλε ζῶντας ἐξ αὐτῶν πολλούς. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ πρὸς τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπανῆλθον, οὐ μόνον ἔχοντες μηδὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόντες. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ καίτοι πρότερον καταφρονητικῶς πρὸς Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα διακείμενος, οἷα δὴ οἰόμενος μηδὲ ὀλίγα δυνάμενον ἀντιτάττεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν, πρὸς τῷ πληγῆναι ἀμφοτέρωθεν ὑπό τε Ῥωμαίων καὶ Περσῶν, ἔτι καὶ τὸν βασιλέα πυθόμενος ἐν ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ στρατιᾶς πολλῆς καὶ ἀγαθῆς εὐπορεῖν, ἔδεισε καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑπολοίπων, μὴ οὐκ εἰς ἀγαθὸν αὐτῷ ἡ τόλμα ἀποβῇ, καὶ πέμψας πρεσβείαν, διελέγετο περὶ εἰρήνης. τῶν δὲ βασιλεῖ συνόντων οἱ ἐν ἡλικίᾳ καὶ θρασύτεροι τὰς ὁρμὰς, μὴ δέχεσθαι παρῄνουν τὴν εἰρήνην, ἀλλ' ἐξώρμων βασιλέα μᾶλ 2.182 λον πρὸς τὴν μάχην. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐπείθετο, πρὸς οὐδὲν οἰόμενος τὸν πόλεμον αὐτοῖς λυσιτελήσειν. «εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς μόνους» ἔφασκε «Μυσοὺς ἦν ὁ ἀγὼν ἡμῖν, εἶχεν ἄν τινα ἡ τόλμα λόγον· νυνὶ δὲ οὐ μᾶλλον τούτους ἡμᾶς, ἢ ὅπως Βυζαντίους ἀμυνούμεθα χρὴ σκοπεῖν. ἄν τε γὰρ νικήσωμεν Μυσοὺς, οὐδὲν ἔσται πλέον, ἢ ὅπως ἐνθένδε ἀπελάσωμεν· ὅπερ αὐτοῖς ἀνάγκη πράττειν, ἄν τε ἡττηθῶσιν, ἄν τε μή. ἐὰν δὲ ἡττώμεθα αὐτοὶ, ὥσπερ καθ' ἡμῶν