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he was master of doing both good and the opposite; and in all things similarly he competed with the emperor Cantacuzenus, while he was still grand domestic, wishing everything to be directed by him. But realizing that his rule would be burdensome to the more noble, and fearing lest he be plotted against by them on this account, he decided that he must destroy them all, thinking, not without reason, that if only those of low fortune were left, they would easily yield to his every command. And he began first with those related by blood and especially the legitimate relatives of the emperor Cantacuzenus, both having ample material for slanders and fearing them more than the others as being more powerful. Then he went after the others in succession, sparing no one, in appearance, imposing the punishments on whomever he wished by a vote of the senate council and the empress and especially the patriarch, but in truth, doing what seemed best to himself. And they deliberately mistreated the emperor Cantacuzenus's mother, who was already shut up in prison, and they left no form of grief untried against her. 2.220 For they appointed as guards shameless men, barbarians in character, and they ordered them to show all bitterness towards her and to do everything for insult and contempt. And the necessities for sustenance, although they had previously provided them meagerly, they now supplied even more stingily. And if ever they had to provide some broth, pretending to be humane, knowing that she had been raised in luxury and delicacy and would not touch anything defiled, they would put their unwashed hands in, pretending to search the broth, lest letters sent from her son be hidden within, even though they themselves were the cooks of what was brought in. Seeing these things, she preferred to die a violent death by starvation rather than to taste such things. And in the most severe and frosty winter they provided no comfort, neither from other necessities nor from a fire, although the empress ordered that she not be deprived of any bodily care. And every day the guards did not fail to insult her son indecently in her presence, and as if they had heard news, they would report, at one time, that her son had been captured and was being led away in disgrace, wearing a collar; at another, that a battle had occurred, he had been killed in it and his head was being brought, which they promised to bring to her for her consolation, and other things much more cruel and inhuman, from which her heart was overwhelmed and she lay prostrate, 2.221 and was seized by most violent fevers. And the women around her, having begged those most cruel rulers many times to allow a doctor to be brought in to her and to deem her worthy of some small care, were not able to call forth to pity the hearts of those ungrateful men, who were accustomed daily to devour human entrails. But they refused her all care, as if slaughtering her with their own hands. But the empress, having learned from someone that the emperor's mother was ill, and that the rulers and the teacher of the world and disciple of the meek and philanthropic one had not allowed a doctor to enter to her, reproached them bitterly for their cruelty and callousness; and she ordered the doctor, who was her usual physician for illnesses, to go to her and to deem her worthy of the necessary care. But the patriarch and the rest of the faction of those good men, taking the doctor aside, demanded oaths, that when he went to her, he would prescribe nothing for the illness. And when he refused the visit, if he was to offer no help from his art, they themselves forced him to do what was commanded, so that both their original cruelty might be preserved for them and they might not seem to despise the empress by not doing what was ordered. But if he should be stubborn and say anything for the benefit of the sick woman, he should not blame 2.222 them, as he himself would be the cause of the evils that would befall him; for he would clearly have already chosen the side of Cantacuzenus. But he, fearing the threat, for there was no interval between being suspected and suffering the most terrible things, having first promised nothing

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καὶ εὖ ποιεῖν καὶ τοὐναντίον κύριος ἦν· καὶ πάνθ' ὁμοίως πρὸς Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα, ἕως ἔτι μέγας ἦν δομέστικος, ἡμιλλᾶτο πάντα ὑπ' ἐκείνου ἄγεσθαι βουλόμενος. συνιδὼν δὲ, ὡς ἐπαχθὴς τοῖς εὐγενεστέροις ἡ ἐκείνου ἔσεται ἀρχὴ, καὶ δείσας, μή τι διὰ ταύτην ὑπ' ἐκείνων ἐπιβουλευθῇ, ἔγνω δεῖν πάντας διαφθείρειν, ὡς, εἰ τῆς φαύλης τύχης ὑπολειφθεῖεν μόνοι, ῥᾳδίως αὐτῷ πρὸς ἅπαν εἴξοντες τὸ προσταττόμενον οὐκ ἀνοήτως οἰηθείς. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν καθ' αἷμα προσηκόντων καὶ μάλιστα γνησίων ἤρχετο Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὕλης τε εὐπορῶν πρὸς τὰς διαβολὰς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον ὡς δυνατωτέρους δεδοικώς. ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐφεξῆς μετῆλθε, μηδενὸς φεισάμενος, τὸ δοκεῖν μὲν, ὅτι ψήφῳ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς καὶ βασιλίδος καὶ μάλιστα πατριάρχου τὰς τιμωρίας, οἷς ἂν ἐθελήσειεν, ἐπάγων, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ, τὰ δοκοῦντα ἑαυτῷ ποιῶν. τὴν δὲ βασιλέως μητέρα Καντακουζηνοῦ, καὶ πρότερον ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ κατακεκλεισμένην, μᾶλλον ἐκάκουν ἐξεπίτηδες καὶ οὐδὲν εἶδος λύπης ἀπέλιπον ἐπι 2.220 δεδειγμένοι πρὸς ἐκείνην. φύλακάς τε γὰρ ἐπέστησαν ἀνθρώπους ἀναιδεῖς καὶ τὸν τρόπον βαρβάρους, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι προσέταττον πικρίαν πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ πάντα ποιεῖν ἐφ' ὕβρει καὶ καταφρονήσει. τά τε ἀναγκαῖα πρὸς τροφὴν, καίτοι καὶ πρότερον ἐνδεῶς παρέχοντες, ἔτι μᾶλλον γλίσχρως ἐχορήγουν. εἰ δέ ποτε ἔδει καὶ ζωμόν τινα παρέχειν, φιλανθρωπευσαμένους δῆθεν, εἰδότες, ὡς πολυτελείᾳ ἐντραφείη καὶ τρυφῇ καὶ οὐδενὸς ἂν ἅψαιτο μεμολυσμένου, τὰς χεῖρας ἀνίπτους καθιέντες, διηρεύνων δῆθεν τὸν ζωμὸν, εἰ μή τοι ἔνδον κρύπτοιτο γράμματα παρὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀπεσταλμένα, καίτοι γε αὐτοὶ τῶν προσαγομένων ὄντες μάγειροι. ἃ ὁρῶσα, μᾶλλον ᾑρεῖτο λιμῷ βιαίως ἀποθνήσκειν, ἢ τοιούτων γεύεσθαι. ἐν χειμῶνί τε σφοδροτάτῳ καὶ κρυμώδει οὐδεμίαν, οὔτ' ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων, οὔτε ἐκ πυρὸς παρείχοντο παραμυθίαν, καίτοι βασιλίδος μηδεμιᾶς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα θεραπείας κελευούσης ἀποστερεῖν. παρὰ πᾶσάν τε ἡμέραν οὐκ ἐνέλιπον οἱ φύλακες τὸν υἱὸν ἀσέμνως ὑβρίζειν ἐπ' αὐτῆς, καὶ ὡς ἀγγελίας δῆθεν πεπυσμένοι, ἀπήγγελλον, ποτὲ μὲν, ὡς συλληφθείη ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ἀτίμως ἄγοιτο περικείμενος κλοιά· ἄλλοτε δὲ, ὡς μάχης γενομένης, ἐπ' αὐτῆς ἀποκτανθείη καὶ ἄγοιτο ἡ κεφαλὴ, ἣν παραμυθίας ἕνεκα καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἄγειν ὑπισχνοῦντο, καὶ ἕτερα ὠμότερα καὶ ἀπανθρωπότερα πολλῷ, ἐξ ὧν ἐκείνη τὴν καρδίαν ὑπερζέσασα καὶ κατατα 2.221 κεῖσα, πυρετοῖς ἐλήφθη σφοδροτάτοις. αἱ δὲ περὶ αὐτὴν γυναῖκες, πολλὰ τῶν ὠμοτάτων ἐκείνων ἀρχόντων δεηθεῖσαι, ὥστ' ἐπιτρέψαι ἰατρὸν πρὸς αὐτὴν εἰσαγαγεῖν καὶ προνοίας ἀξιῶσαι μικρᾶς τινος, οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν πρὸς ἔλεον ἐκκαλέσασθαι τὰ σπλάγχνα τῶν ἀγνωμόνων ἐκείνων καὶ σπλάγχνα ἐσθίειν ἀνθρώπων εἰθισμένων ὁσημέραι. ἀλλ' ἀπεῖπον αὐτῇ πᾶσαν θεραπείαν, ὥσπερ αὐτοχειρίᾳ κατασφάττοντες. ἡ βασιλὶς δὲ ὑπό του πυθομένη, ὅτι νοσοίη ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως μήτηρ, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἐπιτραπείη παρὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ τοῦ διδασκάλου τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ μαθητοῦ τοῦ πρᾴου καὶ φιλανθρώπου ἰατρὸς πρὸς αὐτὴν εἰσελθεῖν, ὠνείδισε μὲν αὐτοῖς πικρῶς τὴν ὠμότητα καὶ τὴν ἀναλγησίαν· τὸν δὲ ἰατρὸν ἐκέλευεν, ὃς αὐτῇ πρὸς τὰς νόσους συνήθης ἦν, πρὸς ἐκείνην τε ἐλθεῖν καὶ προνοίας ἀξιῶσαι τῆς δεούσης. πατριάρχης δὲ καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων ἀνδρῶν φατρία τὸν ἰατρὸν παραλαβόντες, ὅρκους ἀπῄτουν, ὥστε ἐλθόντα πρὸς ἐκείνην, μηδὲν περὶ τῆς νόσου διατάξασθαι. τοῦ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν ἀπαγορεύοντος, εἰ μέλλοι μηδὲν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης ὠφελεῖν, ἠνάγκαζον αὐτοὶ τὰ κελευόμενα ποιεῖν, ἵν' αὐτοῖς τε ἡ ἐξαρχῆς ὠμότης διασώζοιτο καὶ μηδὲ βασιλίδος καταφρονεῖν δοκοῖεν, τὰ κεκελευσμένα μὴ ποιοῦντες. εἰ δ' ἰσχυρογνωμονοίη καὶ πρὸς ὠφέλειάν τι τῆς νοσούσης λέγοι, μὴ μέμφεσθαι αὐ 2.222 τοῖς, ὡς αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐσομένων κακῶν αἰτίου ἑαυτῷ παρεσομένου· δῆλος γὰρ ἤδη εἶναι ᾑρημένος τὰ Καντακουζηνοῦ. ὁ δὲ δείσας τὴν ἀπειλὴν, οὐδὲν γὰρ ἦν τὸ μέσον τοῦ τε ὑποπτευθῆναι καὶ τοῦ πάσχειν τὰ δεινότατα, πρότερον ἐπαγγειλάμενος μηδὲν