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after paying homage to the emperor, they were departing; but over five hundred chose to share his danger, to whom he also professed much gratitude for their good will and unfeigned loyalty toward him, and he returned with the rest of the army. Of the deserters, the majority went over to the generals in Christopolis without an agreement and were gladly received by them; but those who were of most account sent and requested pledges from the commanders. They swore oaths, but had the intention of putting them to the test of many sorrows even after the oaths. Whether they themselves perceived the deceit from the words, or whether it was revealed by one of their companions, they escaped the danger and returned again to the emperor. The emperor reproached them for their unstable opinion and faintheartedness, but again allowed them to remain with him. 50. The generals in Christopolis, however, when the army of the Triballi and the emperor had withdrawn from Pherai to their own country, sent to Byzantium and reported to the empress and the megas doux, that Kantakouzenos, having come with the Triballi as far as the cross-wall, was unable to pass through as we were defending it strongly. When the army was returning, all the Romans who were with him, except for ten, left him and came to us; and he himself, out of immense shame, not knowing what to do with himself, went to Athos, the holy mountain, intending there to lay aside the imperial power, which he had unjustly and illegally seized, and to put on the monastic habit. Immediately, then, 2.297 there was a splendid public festival in Byzantium and the most joyous of celebrations. And the people went in a body to the sanctuary of the Mother of God Hodegetria, to give thanks for the victory, especially those in office, and then the others on foot like the common people. And no one dared to be left behind, but even those who were most vexed and displeased at the emperor’s misfortune, they too were compelled to celebrate with the others, or rather to feign celebration, or else they paid severe and inescapable penalties for their gloom. For not only if someone were caught collaborating with the emperor Kantakouzenos was he cruelly punished, but also if someone were caught not being pleased with what was happening but showing the disposition of one who turned away, he was compelled to suffer the same penalties as those convicted of manifest treason. And many perished from such charges, not only in Byzantium, but also in the other cities as far as Thessalonica. For further on and toward the west, both the common people and the powerful men of the cities commonly supported the emperor Kantakouzenos. Whence they did not resort to seditions and civil wars, but in those times when the others especially experienced great misfortunes, these cities were administered with good order and peace. But those from Thessalonica to Byzantium, there was nothing that they did not endure. For having been completely divided in two, the army and the other nobles of the cities chose the side of the emperor Kantakouzenos, 2.298 thinking that he would be able to put a stop to the misfortunes that had taken hold; but the common people, urged on by the seditionists, who were able to get rich from the war by taking the property of others, warred against both the emperor Kantakouzenos and the powerful men in each city alike and inflicted many evils, not only plundering their possessions and making them utterly destitute from being rich in the twinkling of an eye, but also shutting them up in prisons and displaying every other form of mistreatment toward them. And those entrusted with the governorships of the cities, especially emulating the rulers of the entire state, strove to be punitive, savage, and beastly. For they proceeded to such a degree of cruelty as to punish many others inhumanly, and to allow Patrikiotes to die under torture, hung up by ropes. And Sideras, after they had tortured him until he was breathless, they threw naked into a dark prison, as if he were a corpse, not even deeming him worthy of a proper burial. Him, thus thrown aside breathless for some days, a certain Persian prisoner of war, who by divine providence was imprisoned in that same prison, deemed worthy of care

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προσκυνήσαντες βασιλέα ἀπεχώρουν· ὑπὲρ πεντακοσίους δὲ συγκινδυνεύειν εἵλοντο, οἷς καὶ πολλὴν ὁμολογήσας χάριν τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐνοίας καὶ πίστεως ἀδόλου, ἀνέστρεφε μετὰ τῆς ἄλλης στρατιᾶς. τῶν δὲ ἀφεστηκότων οἱ πλείους μὲν ὁμολογίας χωρὶς προσεχώρησαν τοῖς ἐν Χριστουπόλει στρατηγοῖς καὶ προσεδέχθησαν ἀσμένως παρ' αὐτῶν· ὅσοι δὲ μάλιστα ἐν λόγῳ ἦσαν, πέμψαντες ᾐτοῦντο πίστεις παρὰ τῶν ἀρχόντων. οἱ δὲ ὤμνυον μὲν, γνώμην δὲ εἶχον, ὡς καὶ μετὰ τοὺς ὅρκους εἰς πεῖραν ἄξοντες πλείστων ἀλγεινῶν. ὧν εἴτε αὐτοὶ αἰσθόμενοι τῆς ἀπάτης ἐκ τῶν λόγων, εἴτε καὶ παρά του τῶν συνόντων μηνυθείσης, τὸν κίνδυνον διαδράντες αὖθις πρὸς βασιλέα ἐπανῆκον. βασιλεὺς δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸ ἄστατον τῆς γνώμης καὶ μικρόψυχον ὀνειδίσας, αὖθις ἐφῆκεν αὐτῷ συνδιατρίβειν. νʹ. Οἱ μέντοι ἐν Χριστουπόλει στρατηγοὶ, ἐπεὶ Τριβαλῶν ἡ στρατιὰ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνεχώρησαν ἐκ Φερῶν πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν, πέμψαντες ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, βασιλίδι ἀπήγγελλον καὶ μεγάλῳ δουκὶ, ὡς ἄχρι τοῦ διατειχίσματος μετὰ Τριβαλῶν ἐλθὼν ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς, διελθεῖν μὲν οὐ δυνηθείη ἡμῶν ἰσχυρῶς ἀμυνομένων. ἀναστρεφούσης δὲ τῆς στρατιᾶς, ὅσοι Ῥωμαίων αὐτῷ συνῆσαν, καταλιπόντες ἧκον πρὸς ἡμᾶς πλὴν δέκα πάντες· αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' αἰσχύνης ἀμυθήτου, ὅ,τι χρήσασθαι μὴ ἔχων ἑαυτῷ, πρὸς Ἄθω ἦλθε τὸ ἱερὸν ὄρος, ὡς ἐκεῖσε τὴν βασιλείαν, ἣν ἀδίκως ἥρπασε καὶ παρανόμως, ἀποθησόμενος καὶ σχῆμα μοναχῶν περιθησόμενος. εὐθὺς μὲν 2.297 οὖν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ πανήγυρις ἦν λαμπρὰ καὶ ἑορτῶν ἡ χαριεστάτη. καὶ ὁ δῆμος πρὸς τὸ τῆς θεομήτορος Ὁδηγητρίας τέμενος ἐχώρουν πανδημεὶ, εὐχαριστήρια τῆς νίκης ἀποδώσοντες, καὶ οἱ ἐν τέλει μάλιστα, εἶτα καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πεζῇ τοῖς πολλοῖς ὁμοίως. καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα ἀπολείπεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἳ μάλιστα ἠνιῶντο καὶ ἐδυσχέραινον τὴν βασιλέως δυσπραγίαν, κἀκεῖνοι τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως ἀνάγκην εἶχον συνεορτάζειν ἢ μᾶλλον συνασχημονεῖν, ἢ τῆς κατηφείας χαλεπὰς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτους παρείχοντο εὐθύνας. οὐ γὰρ μόνον εἴ τις Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ συμπράττων φωραθείη, ἐκολάζετο ὠμῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τις πρὸς τὰ πραττόμενα μὴ ἡδέως διακείμενος, ἀλλὰ ἦθος ἐμφαίνων ἀποστρεφομένου φωραθείη, τὰς ὁμοίας δίκας τοῖς ἑαλωκόσιν ἐπὶ προδοσίᾳ φανερῶς διδόναι ἦν ἀνάγκη. καὶ πολλοὶ ἐκ τοιούτων αἰτιῶν ἀπώλοντο, οὐκ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ ταῖς ἄλλαις πόλεσιν ἄχρι Θεσσαλονίκης. τὰ γὰρ περαιτέρω καὶ πρὸς ἑσπέραν κοινῇ οἵ τε δῆμοι καὶ οἱ δυνατοὶ τῶν πόλεων βασιλεῖ προσεῖχον Καντακουζηνῷ. ὅθεν οὐδὲ πρὸς στάσεις ἐχώρησαν καὶ πολέμους ἐμφυλίους, ἀλλ' ἐν οἷς μάλιστα αἱ ἄλλαι μεγάλαις ἐχρήσαντο συμφοραῖς καιροῖς, ἐν τούτοις αὗται πρὸς εὐνομίαν καὶ εἰρήνην διῳκοῦντο. αἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Θεσσαλονίκης ἄχρι Βυζαντίου οὐδὲν ἦν, ὅ,τι μὴ ὑπέμενον. καθάπαξ γὰρ εἰς δύο διαιρεθεῖσαι, στρατιὰ μὲν καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἄριστοι τῶν πολιτῶν τὰ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ᾑροῦν 2.298 το, ἐκεῖνον οἰόμενοι δυνήσεσθαι τὰς κατασχούσας στήσειν συμφοράς· οἱ δῆμοι δὲ, τῶν στασιαστῶν ἐναγόντων, οἷς ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου τὰ ἑτέρων ἔχουσι πλουτεῖν ἐνῆν, πρός τε βασιλέα Καντακουζηνὸν καὶ τοὺς παρ' ἑκάστοις δυνατοὺς ὁμοίως ἐπολέμουν καὶ πολλὰ διετίθεσαν κακὰ, οὐ μόνον τὰς οὐσίας διαρπάζοντες καὶ ἀπορωτάτους ἐκ πλουσίων ἀποδεικνύντες ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεσμωτηρίοις κατακλείοντες καὶ ἄλλην πᾶσαν εἰς αὐτοὺς κάκωσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενοι. οἵ τε τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν πόλεων ἐπιτετραμμένοι, τοῖς τῶν ὅλων ἄρχουσι πραγμάτων μάλιστα ἐξομοιούμενοι, κολαστικοί τινες καὶ ἀνήμεροι καὶ θηριώδεις ἐφιλοτιμοῦντο εἶναι. ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ εἰς τοσοῦτον ὠμότητος προῆλθον, ὡς ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς ἀπανθρώπως τιμωρήσασθαι, καὶ Πατρικιώτην ταῖς βασάνοις ἐναποθανεῖν ἐᾶσαι καλλωδίοις ἐξηρτημένον. Σιδηρᾶν δὲ μετὰ τὸ αἰκίσασθαι μέχρι ἄπνουν εἶναι, ζοφώδει τινὶ δεσμωτηρίῳ ἐναπέῤῥιψαν γυμνὸν, οἷα δὴ νεκρὸν, οὐδὲ ὁσίας ἀξιώσαντες. ὃν οὕτως ἄπνουν ἀπεῤῥιμμένον ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας, τῶν Περσῶν τις δοριάλωτος θείᾳ προνοίᾳ τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ ἐκείνῳ καθειρχθεὶς, προνοίας τε ἠξίωσεν