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as one who would change from a private citizen to an emperor, he demanded that everything be in his power, both to command the army and to give orders to all, both greater and lesser. Not obtaining these things, he was unbearably vexed. For the emperor thought that such offices were fitting for those most related by blood and for the most noble of the others. But then at Gynaikokastron, when the apostasy of the others was happening, he himself considered going away with them to Byzantium, as if there he would obtain what he deserved. But being ashamed to appear ungrateful after so many 2.248 benefits, he attempted to conceal his apostasy. For having entered Gynaikokastron, he awaited the emperor's departure from there, so that he might have a plausible defense to those who would later accuse him, that having been left behind on account of some need, he went away with the others by necessity, after the emperor had departed. The emperor, guessing his intention, did not depart from there, but sent to summon him, until he openly refused. 41. And when the protostrator also came to take his leave, first he reproached him for his cowardice and his ingratitude towards him, because he himself was the first to proceed to the apostasy, and he drew the others after him, who were especially thrown into confusion on his account, and they handed themselves over to the enemy no better than slaves, and for him, as far as it concerned them, they became the cause of great evils. Then he offered forgiveness, because he was not able to resist nature. For such things do not belong to the many and the contemptible, but to the few and those capable of great things, who for this reason are especially admired, as not only resisting nobly against changes of circumstances and difficulties of the times, but also deeming it right to appear superior to nature itself. And bringing forward Andronikos Asanes, his wife's nephew, who was still a child, whom, while his father Manuel Asanes was still guarded 2.249 in chains in Bera, he himself had taken and was raising and deemed worthy of a fitting education just like his own children, “Take this,” he said to the protostrator, “young man, who is the child of your daughter—for because of his age he would not be able to endure the toils and hardship of the campaign—deem him worthy of all fitting education and providence. And if I myself quickly return to you—and I think, trusting in the all-holy mother of God and in being conscious of having done nothing amiss myself for which I might justly perish, that I will return most swiftly and invested with great power—I will take back the boy again. But if God has decided something else concerning us, give him back to his father, since God did not permit us to bring to completion what was decided for him.” Then, having addressed the protostrator as well, he sent him away with the others. And he himself, as if displaying his magnanimity and that one ought not to lose heart in misfortunes, chose to have breakfast on that very spot and ordered the others to do the same. And after this, having gathered around him the officers and the army, he exhorted them as follows. “Fellow soldiers, that the present state of affairs is filled with much difficulty and confusion, has become perfectly clear to all of you. For the hopes which we had from home when we set out have flowed away, and we have lost many of our fellow soldiers, not overcome in battle, 2.250 but betrayed by those very men whom we hoped would fight alongside us to the end. But I, even before, never thought it right to trust in arms and horses and the multitude of an army, but in the invincible right hand of God which holds all things together, for whom it is easy both to show those who are less powerful to be stronger than their enemies, and to put down those who are greatly puffed up, if by the abundance of their power they are led beyond measure; and especially now, when every other device has been taken away, only hope in God is left to us. And yet someone might say, that we ourselves have neglected none of the human means, but we set out from home having an army superior in number to the enemy and better in all other respects, and until now we seemed fearsome and invincible to the enemy, and nothing

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ἰδιώτου πρὸς βασιλέα μεταβάλλοι, πάντα εἶναι παρ' αὐτῷ ἠξίου, καὶ ἄρχειν τῆς στρατιᾶς καὶ πᾶσιν ἐπιτάττειν καὶ μείζοσι καὶ ἐλάττοσιν. ὧν μὴ τυγχάνων, ἐδυσχέραινεν οὐκ ἀνεκτῶς. βασιλεὺς γὰρ τοῖς μάλιστα προσήκουσι καθ' αἷμα καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς εὐγενεστέροις τὰς τοιαύτας ᾤετο ἀρχὰς προσήκειν. τότε δὲ ἐν Γυναικοκάστρῳ τῆς ἀποστασίας τῶν ἄλλων γινομένης, καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐσκέψατο ἐκείνοις εἰς Βυζάντιον συναπελθεῖν, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν ὧν ἦν ἄξιος τευξόμενος. αἰσχυνόμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τοσού 2.248 τοις ἀγαθοῖς ἀγνώμων φαίνεσθαι, κλέπτειν τὴν ἀποστασίαν ἐπεχείρει. εἰσελθὼν γὰρ εἰς Γυναικόκαστρον, τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀναχώρησιν βασιλέως περιέμενεν, ἵν' εὐπρόσωπος εἴη πρὸς τοὺς κατηγοροῦντας ὕστερον ἀπολογία, ὡς χρείας τινὸς ἕνεκα ὑπολειφθεὶς, ἀνάγκῃ τοῖς ἄλλοις συναπέλθοι, βασιλέως ἀναχωρήσαντος. οὗ τῆς διανοίας στοχασάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς, οὐκ ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν, ἀλλὰ μετεκαλεῖτο πέμπων, ἄχρις οὗ φανερῶς ἀπείπατο. μαʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ πρωτοστράτωρ ἧκε συνταξόμενος, πρῶτα μὲν ὠνείδιζε τῆς ἀνανδρίας καὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγνωμοσύνης, ὅτι πρῶτος αὐτὸς πρὸς τὴν ἀποστασίαν χωρήσας, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπεσπάσατο, μάλιστα δι' αὐτὸν θορυβηθέντας καὶ σφᾶς τε αὐτοὺς οὐδὲν ἄμεινον ἀνδραπόδων παρέδοσαν τοῖς πολεμίοις, καὶ αὐτῷ, τόγε εἰς αὐτοὺς ἧκον, μεγάλων αἴτιοι κατέστησαν δεινῶν. ἔπειτα δὲ παρείχετο συγγνώμην, ὅτι μὴ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ἀντιστῆναι δυνηθείη. οὐ γὰρ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ εὐκαταφρονήτων εἶναι τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἀλλὰ τῶν ὀλίγων καὶ μεγάλα δυναμένων, οἳ καὶ διὰ ταῦτα μάλιστα θαυμάζονται, ὡς οὐ μόνον πρὸς πραγμάτων μεταβολὰς καὶ καιροῦ δυσκολίας ἀνθιστάμενοι γενναίως, ἀλλὰ καὶ φύσεως αὐτῆς φαίνεσθαι κρείττους ἀξιοῦντες. παραστησάμενος δὲ καὶ Ἀνδρόνικον Ἀσάνην τὸν γυναικὸς ἀδελφιδοῦν, ἔτι παιδίον ὄντα, ὃν ἔτι τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀσάνη Μανουὴλ ἐν Βήρᾳ φρουρου 2.249 μένου ὑπὸ κλοιοῖς, παραλαβὼν αὐτὸς ἔτρεφέ τε καὶ παιδείας προσηκούσης ἠξίου τοῖς παισὶν ὁμοίως, «τοῦτον» ἔφη πρωτοστράτορι «τὸν νεανίσκον παραλαβὼν, τῆς σῆς ὄντα παῖδα θυγατρὸς, οὐ γὰρ ἂν δύναιτο διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν πρὸς πόνους ἀντέχειν καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν τῆς ἐκ τῆς στρατείας, πάσης ἀξίου καὶ παιδείας καὶ προνοίας τῆς προσηκούσης. κἂν μὲν αὐτὸς ταχέως ἐπανέλθω πρὸς ὑμᾶς, οἴομαι δὲ τῇ τε πανάγνῳ τοῦ θεοῦ μητρὶ πεποιθὼς καὶ τῷ μηδὲν ἐμαυτῷ συνειδέναι τῶν ἀτόπων εἰργασμένῳ, δι' ὃ δικαίως ἀπολοίμην ἂν, τάχιστά τε ἐπανήξειν καὶ δύναμιν μεγάλην περιβεβλημένος, πάλιν ἀπολήψομαι τὸ μειράκιον. εἰ δ' ἕτερόν τι δέδοκται θεῷ περὶ ἡμῶν, ἀπόδος τῷ πατρὶ, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἡμῖν γε θεὸς τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐγνωσμένα ἄγειν ἐπέτρεψεν εἰς τέλος.» ἔπειτα καὶ πρωτοστράτορα προσαγορεύσας, ἀπέπεμπε μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων. αὐτὸς δὲ ὥσπερ ἐνδεικνύμενος τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν καὶ τὸ μὴ δεῖν καταπίπτειν ἐν ταῖς δυσπραγίαις, ἄριστον ᾑρεῖτο ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ τόπου καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τὰ ἴσα ἐκέλευε ποιεῖν. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο τοὺς ἐν τέλει καὶ τὴν στρατιὰν περιστησάμενος, παρεκελεύετο τοιάδε. «ἄνδρες συστρατιῶται, τὰ μὲν παρόντα πράγματα ὡς πολλῆς δυσκολίας ἐμπέπλησται καὶ ταραχῆς, πᾶσιν ὑμῖν καθέστηκε καταφανές. αἵ τε γὰρ ἐλπίδες, ἃς οἴκοθεν ἔχοντες κεκινήμεθα, ἐξεῤῥυήκεσαν καὶ τῶν συστρατευομένων ἀπεβάλομεν πολλοὺς, οὐ μάχῃ κρατηθέντες, 2.250 ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐκείνων προδοθέντες, οὓς ἠλπίζομεν ἄχρι παντὸς ἡμῖν συναγωνιεῖσθαι. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ πρότερον μὲν οὐδέποτε δίκαιον εἶναι ἡγησάμην ὅπλοις καὶ ἵπποις καὶ πλήθει στρατιᾶς θαῤῥεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῇ πάντα συνεχούσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀμάχῳ δεξιᾷ, ᾧ ῥᾴδιον καὶ τοὺς ὀλίγα δυναμένους τῶν πολεμίων κρείττους ἀποφαίνειν, καὶ τοὺς μέγα φυσῶντας καταστέλλειν, ἂν τῷ περιόντι τῆς δυνάμεως ἐξάγωνται τοῦ μέτρου· μάλιστα δὲ νυνὶ, ἡνίκα πάσης ἄλλης ἐπινοίας περιαιρεθείσης, μόνη καταλέλειπται ἡμῖν ἡ περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐλπίς. καίτοι γε φαίη τις ἂν, ὡς οὐδὲ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων οὐδενὸς ἠμελήσαμεν αὐτοὶ, ἀλλὰ πλήθει τε τῶν πολεμίων ὑπερέχουσαν οἴκοθεν ἔχοντες κεκινήμεθα στρατιὰν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι βελτίω, καὶ φοβεροί τινες ἄχρι νῦν καὶ ἄμαχοι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐδοκοῦμεν, καὶ οὐδὲν