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days or for such agreements to take place, with Hrelja joining Melenikou, as was becoming clear from his letters. But the emperor, being unable both to persuade on account of such pretexts and to use force, yielded even unwillingly, and the oaths were made on these terms. And after the oaths, the Kral, having gathered his twenty-four most powerful men in authority, kept four himself, and handed over the twenty to the emperor along with the armies under them, on the understanding that they would do eagerly all that the emperor might command. He, therefore, along with the Triballi were preparing to arrive at 2.277 Didymoteichon. But the army in Thessaloniki, when they departed with Syrges leading, encamped near Rentina. But the people in the fortress, when they learned that the emperor Kantakouzenos had arrived in the land of the Triballi due to misfortune, and Syrges was present with the army, they attacked the two hundred whom the emperor had left to guard along with a commander, and having overpowered them, they handed both them and the fortress over to Syrges. And he, employing his usual cruelty, having taken away their horses and weapons and having stripped them of the other things they had, then inflicted two hundred lashes on each in the sight of all, omitting no one, and from then on, having locked them up in prisons, and having deprived the powerful citizens—as men who had chosen the side of the emperor Kantakouzenos—of all their possessions and having punished them not moderately, and having even condemned some to exile, he came to Pherae. 40. But Apokaukos the megas doux, having come to Polystylon with his ships, since it surrendered willingly, held on the ships those of the citizens whom he most suspected, to be brought to Byzantium; but having treated well those who had chosen his side, he left them there, having appointed as governor Goudeles, the empress's wine-steward. And sending to those in Didymoteichon, "The things accomplished by me against Kantakouzenos," he wrote, "in Thessaloniki I do not think even you are ignorant of; so very well known have they become to all because of their magnitude. Therefore, since all your hope in him has been taken away, it is necessary, having left behind all pretext, 2.278 to come to Ainos to meet us, bringing also my brother—for he was being guarded in prison there; if, then, Asanes also should wish to come with you, he would be making the best decision for himself. But if he should wish to remain there, you at any rate must come to Ainos with my brother. As for Asanes and his sister and her children, when I am in Didymoteichon, I will deem them worthy of such provision as would seem sufficient even to them in the present circumstances." The megas doux, therefore, wrote such things, filled with boastfulness and arrogance. But those in Didymoteichon, since they had previously heard nothing about the emperor, were disturbed, as was likely, at first; then, taking courage and thinking that something had happened to the emperor of the sort that is accustomed to happen to armies, which would quickly be set right, they themselves also wrote back to the megas doux Apokaukos as follows. "Having read what was written by you, which reaches such a point of madness and folly and insolence, first we were amazed whence you have reached such a depth of melancholy, then, realizing that as one who has dared the same things as your father, the devil, and has moved an unjust hand against the emperor who was his great benefactor and has openly made war, you ought not to be left behind in the arrogance and boastfulness of your father's words, we considered that you were acting reasonably and speaking in a manner befitting yourself. Therefore, your obscurity from the beginning, and the worthlessness of both your character and your birth, we ourselves are not ignorant of, just as 2.279 not a single one of the other Romans is. For first you served Makrenos, who was collecting money from certain farmers, for a small wage, and after him, the official Nikolaos, who was engaged in the same practices, and third, after them, the man named Strategos, who was then occupied with the salt pans and their administration, whom you also drove out of his office with your own money, with slanders and false accusations and lies

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ἡμέραις ἢ γενέσθαι τὰς τοιαύτας συμβάσεις Χρέλη μετὰ Μελενίκου προσχωρήσαντος, ὡς ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου γραμμάτων ἐγίνετο καταφανές. βασιλεὺς δὲ πρός τε τὸ πείθειν ὁμοῦ διὰ τὰς τοιαύτας εὑρεσιλογίας καὶ πρὸς τὸ βιάζεσθαι ἔχων ἀδυνάτως, παρεχώρησε καὶ ἄκων, καὶ ἐγένοντο οἱ ὅρκοι ἐπὶ τούτοις. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς ὅρκους ὁ Κράλης τῶν ἐν τέλει τοὺς δυνατωτάτους αὐτοῦ συναγαγὼν τέσσαρας ὄντας πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι, τέσσαρας μὲν αὐτὸς κατεῖχε, τοὺς δὲ εἴκοσι παρεδίδου βασιλεῖ ἅμα ταῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνους στρατιαῖς, ὡς πάντα προθύμως, ἅπερ ἂν κελεύῃ βασιλεὺς, ποιήσοντας. ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν ἅμα Τριβαλοῖς παρεσκευάζοντο ὡς ἀφιξόμε 2.277 νοι εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον. ἡ δὲ ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ στρατιὰ ἐπεὶ ἀπῆραν ἡγουμένου Συργῆ, πρὸς Ῥεντίναν ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο. ὁ δὲ ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ δῆμος, ἐπεὶ ἐπύθετο Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα πρὸς τὴν γῆν τῶν Τριβαλῶν ἀφιγμένον κατὰ συμφορὰν, παρῆν δὲ καὶ Συργὴς μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς, ἐπιτίθενται τοῖς διακοσίοις, οὓς κατέλιπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς φρουρεῖν ἅμα ἡγεμόνι, καὶ κρατήσαντες, αὐτούς τε παρέδοσαν καὶ τὸ φρούριον Συργῇ. ὁ δὲ τῇ συνήθει χρησάμενος ὠμότητι, ἵππους τε καὶ ὅπλα ἀφελόμενος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὧν εἶχον, ἀπογυμνώσας, ἔπειτα πληγὰς ἑκάστῳ διακοσίας ἐπετίθει πάντων ὁρώντων, μηδένα παραλιπὼν, τὸ ἀπ' ἐκείνου δὲ κατακλείσας ἐν δεσμωτηρίοις, καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τοὺς δυνατοὺς, ὡς τὰ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ᾑρημένους, πάντων ἀποστερήσας τῶν ὄντων καὶ τιμωρησάμενος οὐ μετρίως, ἐνίων δὲ καὶ καταψηφισάμενος φυγὴν, ἦλθεν εἰς Φεράς. μʹ. Ἀπόκαυκος δὲ ὁ μέγας δοὺξ ἅμα ταῖς ναυσὶν εἰς Πολύστυλον ἐλθὼν, ἐπεὶ προσεχώρει ἑκουσίως, τοὺς μὲν τῶν πολιτῶν ὅσους μάλιστα ὑπώπτευεν, ἐν ταῖς ναυσὶν εἶχεν, ὡς εἰς Βυζάντιον κομίσων· τοὺς δὲ τὰ ἐκείνου ᾑρημένους εὖ ποιήσας ἀπέλιπεν ἐκεῖ, ἄρχοντα ἐπιστήσας Γουδέλην τὸν βασιλίδος οἰνοχόον. πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐν ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ πέμψας, «τὰ μὲν περὶ Καντακουζηνὸν εἰργασμένα» ἔγραφεν «ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ παρ' ἐμοῦ οὐδ' ὑμᾶς οἴομαι ἀγνοεῖν· οὕτω πᾶσι γνωριμώτατα διὰ μέγεθος γεγενημένα. τοίνυν ἐπεὶ πᾶσα ἡ περὶ ἐκεῖνον ἐλπὶς περιῄρηται ὑμῶν, δέον πᾶσαν πρόφασιν καταλι 2.278 πόντας εἰς Αἶνον ἥκειν ὑπαντήσοντας, ἄγοντας καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἦν γὰρ ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ φρουρούμενος ἐκεῖ· εἰ μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἀσάνης βούλοιτο συνελθεῖν ὑμῖν, ἄριστ' ἂν ἑαυτῷ βουλεύσαιτο. εἰ δ' αὐτόθι μένειν ἐθελήσει, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς γε πάντως μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ εἰς Αἶνον ἥκειν. Ἀσάνην δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν καὶ παιδία τὰ ἐκείνης, ὅταν ἐν ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ γένωμαι, προνοίας ἀξιώσειν, ἥτις καὶ αὐτοῖς ἂν δόξειεν ἀρκοῦσα ὡς ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν μέγας δοὺξ τοιαῦτα ἔγραφε κόμπου καὶ φρονήματος πεπληρωμένα. οἱ ἐν ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ δὲ, ἐπεὶ πρότερον οὐδὲν ἦσαν περὶ βασιλέως πεπυσμένοι, ἐθορυβήθησαν μὲν, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς, τὸ πρῶτον· ἔπειτα ἀναθαρσήσαντες καί τι περὶ βασιλέα οἰηθέντες ἃ περὶ στρατεύματα εἴωθε συμβεβηκέναι, ὃ ταχέως ἂν διορθωθείη, πρὸς μέγαν δοῦκα τὸν Ἀπόκαυκον καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀντέγραψαν τοιαῦτα. «τὰ παρὰ σοῦ γεγραμμένα ἀναγνόντες εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀπονοίας καὶ μωρίας ἥκοντα καὶ θρασύτητος, πρῶτα μὲν ἐθαυμάσαμεν, ὅθεν εἰς τοσοῦτον ἥκεις μελαγχολίας, ἔπειτα συνιδόντες, ὡς τὰ ἴσα τετολμηκότι τῷ σῷ πατρὶ τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ κατὰ βασιλέως τοῦ πολλὰ εὐεργετήσαντος ἄδικον χεῖρα κεκινηκότι καὶ πολεμήσαντι φανερῶς, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν καὶ τὸν κόμπον τῶν ῥημάτων τοῦ πατρὸς ἔδει ἀπολείπεσθαι, εἰκότα ἐνομίσαμεν ποιεῖν καὶ προσήκοντα φθέγγεσθαι σαυτῷ. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐξαρχῆς ἀφάνειαν τὴν σὴν καὶ τὴν φαυλότητα καὶ τῶν τρόπων καὶ τοῦ γένους, οὐδ' αὐτοὶ ἀγνοοῦμεν, ὥσπερ 2.279 οὐδὲ τῶν λοιπῶν Ῥωμαίων οὐδὲ εἷς. Μακρηνῷ γὰρ πρῶτον χρήματά τινας εἰσπράττοντι γεωργοὺς, ὀλίγου ἕνεκα ἐδούλευσας μισθοῦ, καὶ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἄρχοντι τῷ Νικολάῳ, τῶν αὐτῶν κἀκείνῳ ἐχομένῳ ἐπιτηδευμάτων, καὶ τρίτῳ μετ' ἐκείνους τῷ Στρατηγῷ ὠνομασμένῳ, περὶ τοὺς ἄλας καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων διάθεσιν ἠσχολημένῳ τότε, ὃν καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις χρήμασιν ἐξώσας τῆς ἀρχῆς, διαβολαῖς καὶ συκοφαντίαις καὶ ψεύδεσι