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choosing to be silent. I, then, as I have demonstrated many times by my very deeds, even now declare with God as my witness, that I would most easily and with a prayer have given up my own life, if only it were possible for him not to go to Hades. But since, though I wished this and as much as was in my power I had most easily made it happen, it was so decreed by God and he died, as he ought not to have, leaving behind for me an unlivable life, to live and to rule 2.316 his wife and dearest ones with all my strength I have taken very good care of, by the decree of the most divine emperor and of all in succession afterwards having been entrusted with the administration of common affairs, as before. Therefore, when affairs were going well and according to our prayer and for the better, and promising to continue to go easily, being wounded by that most destructive and evil passion, I mean envy, those who, as has been said, had rather been treated well by us, whose leader was Apokaukos, who was most wickedly to perish, whispered like a serpent to the empress and wickedly prepared her to fall from the right path, having twisted her judgment; for I would not say knowledge against us, alas, and this while we were striving on behalf of her and her son and emperor, and undergoing countless toils for them both. Nevertheless she even attempted to repay me with evils, or rather with death, me who by the grace of Christ was so good concerning her and the common affairs. But what things I have received in return for what! For when I ought to have said the words of Paul—it would be better to say the words of the divinely inspired apostle—"I have kept the faith, I have finished the race," and to have taken courage for the rest of what follows the saying, then indeed, while I was silent, the deed itself cried out the struggles and exacted great things in return for great. But those who were indebted to us, oh, the madness of the slanderers, condemned us in our absence and wrote against us, fabricating what was not in our intention or plan, no, by the one 2.317 who knows exactly the thoughts of hearts. But let these things be stored up by me for another time, when the truth will be revealed well, God granting it. But now, lest, being carried away by the flow of my speech, and from there rushing to linger on such subjects, we might be thought to be doing something strange, trying to convey in few words things that are not small, we must go straight to the matter at hand. Since once, by the envy of a demon, as has been related, raging unjustly against us, those whom over a long time we had established as friends and made partners with us in our good fortune, perpetrated the most terrible things, and the path we were traveling with God, both right and contributing to the common good, evil men having wickedly slandered and done evil to it, they were altogether eager and have attempted to destroy us with our remaining friends, with the danger for the time being upon us, we have suddenly deliberated on what is necessary for our salvation; no less shuddering with God as our witness and having deliberated together, and still being concerned, also how those who betrayed us might be saved, and so that I may pass over the many things in between which are both very numerous and cause weariness to the ears, when almost all in a necessary and threatening time of danger, in various ways, had renounced and abandoned me—friends, genuine relatives, and servants, owing these things to me, or rather to say even 2.318 more, and having often chosen to betray me to countless dangers, by divine judgments and ineffable words I perceived the right hand of God itself, and it alone, brightly taking hold of me and strongly pushing back against those arrayed against us, as one might say, the brought-on skirmishes and the siege engines, then it appeared stronger than all the threats, and so many very terrible things. And the much-longed-for brother of my majesty, lord John Angelos, who, happening to be from the same root of our family and flowing with royal blood, very praiseworthily strove to surpass all more in the nobility of his soul than he surpasses them in that of his body. For he knows the one both grows and again diminishes, but the other remains ever imperishable. Therefore, the courage of his soul, or the firmness of his judgment and steadfastness towards his friends, so that he chooses to face danger for them,

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σιγᾷν αἱρουμένων. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν, ὡς καὶ πλειστάκις αὐτοῖς ἔργοις ἐπεδειξάμην, ὑπὸ θεῷ καὶ τὰ νῦν διισχυρίζομαι μάρτυρι, ὡς ῥᾷστ' ἂν καὶ σὺν εὐχῇ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀπεδόμην ζωὴν, εἴγε ἐξὸν ἦν ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ἐς ᾅδου ἰέναι. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτ' ἐβουλόμην μὲν καὶ ὅσον τὸ ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ εἶχον ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου πεποιηκέναι, τῷ θεῷ δ' οὕτω κέκριται καὶ τέθνηκεν, ὡς μὴ ὤφελε, βίον ἀβίωτον ἐμοὶ καταλελοιπὼς, τοῦ ζῇν καὶ ἄρχειν 2.316 τὴν ἐκείνου σύζυγον καὶ τὰ φίλτατα παντὶ σθένει καλῶς ἐγὼ λίαν ἐπιμεμέλημαι, ψήφῳ τοῦ θειοτάτου βασιλέως καὶ πάντων ἐφεξῆς ὕστερον τὴν τῶν κοινῶν, ὡς καὶ πρὶν ἐγκεχειρισμένος διοίκησιν. καλῶς τοίνυν καὶ κατ' εὐχὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον τῶν πραγμάτων ἡκόντων καὶ ἥξειν ἔτι ῥᾳδίως ἐπαγγελομένων, τῷ ἐξώλει καὶ κακίστῳ πάθει δή φημι τῷ φθόνῳ τρωθέντες, οἱ μᾶλλον, ὡς εἴρηται, παθόντες εὖ παρ' ἡμῶν, ὧν ἔξαρχος ὁ κάκιστ' ἀπολούμενος ἦν Ἀπόκαυκος, δίκην ὄφεως ὑπεψιθύρισαν τῇ βασιλίδι καὶ τοῦ ὀρθοῦ ταύτην ἐκπεπτωκέναι παρεσκευάκασι κακῶς, τὴν αὐτῆς διαστρέψαντες γνώμην· οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴποιμι γνῶσιν καθ' ἡμῶν, βαβαὶ, καὶ ταῦτα σπουδαζόντων ὑπὲρ ἐκείνης καὶ τοῦ παιδὸς καὶ βασιλέως, καὶ μυρίους ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν ὑφισταμένων καμάτους. μέντοι γε καὶ κακοῖς ἐπεχείρησεν ἀμείψασθαί με, μᾶλλον δὲ θανάτῳ, τὸν ὅσῳ περὶ ἐκείνην καὶ τὰ κοινὰ ἀγαθὸν τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτι. ἀλλ' οἷα ἀνθ' οἵων κεκόμισμαι. ὁπηνίκα γάρ με ἐχρῆν εἰπεῖν τὸ τοῦ Παύλου, κρεῖττον ἂν εἴη λέγειν τὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου τοῦ θεηγόρου, τὸ τὴν πίστιν τετήρηκα, τὸν δρόμον τετέλεκα, καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς τοῦ ῥητοῦ λοιπὸν εἰληφέναι θαῤῥεῖν, τότ' ἄρα ἐμοῦ μὲν σιγῶντος, αὐτὸ τοὖργον ἐβόα τοὺς ἄθλους καὶ μεγάλα ἀντὶ μεγάλων εἰσέπραττεν. οἱ δ' ὀφείλοντες, ὢ τῆς τῶν συκοφαντησάντων παραπληξίας, ἐρήμην ἡμᾶς κατεδίκασαν καὶ ἐγράψαντο πλάσαντες καθ' ἡμῶν, ὃ πρὸς βουλῆς καὶ μελέτης ἡμῖν οὐκ ἦν, οὔτοι μὰ τὸν 2.317 καὶ λογισμοὺς καρδιῶν ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενον. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς ἕτερόν μοι τεταμιεύσθω καιρὸν, ἡνίκα καὶ φανήσεται τἀληθὲς καλῶς θεοῦ διδόντος. νῦν δ' ὡς μὴ τῇ τοῦ λόγου ῥύμῃ συνισχημένοι, κἀντεῦθεν ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν ὑποθέσεσιν ἐπειγόμενοι, ἄτοπόν τι ποιεῖν ὑποληφθείημεν, μικροῖς λόγοις τὰ μὴ μικρὰ παραδοῦναι πειρώμενοι, ἰτέον εὐθὺ τοῦ προκειμένου. ἐπειδή ποτε βασκανίᾳ δαίμονος, ὡς διείληπται, καθ' ἡμῶν μανέντες οὐκ ἔνδικα οὓς διὰ χρόνου μακροῦ φίλους συνεστησάμεθα καὶ κοινωνοὺς ἡμῖν ἐποιησάμεθα τῆς εὐπραγίας, ἐσκαιώρησαν τὰ δεινότατα, καὶ ἣν ἐπορευόμεθα σὺν θεῷ πορείαν ὀρθήν τε καὶ τῷ κοινῷ συντείνουσαν κακοὶ κακῶς διαβεβληκότες τε καὶ κεκακουργηκότες παντάπασι προτεθύμηνται καὶ ἐπικεχειρήκασιν ἡμᾶς ὀλέσαι σὺν τοῖς ὑπολειφθεῖσι φίλοις, τοῦ κινδύνου τέως ἐφεστῶτος ἡμῖν, τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἀθρόον βεβουλεύμεθα· οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπὶ θεῷ μάρτυρι πεφρικότες καὶ συνδιασκεψάμενοι, καὶ ἔτι φροντίζοντες, καὶ πῶς ἂν ἐκεῖνοι σωθεῖεν οἱ καταπροδόντες ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἵνα τὰ ἐν μέσῳ πλεῖστά γε ὄντα καὶ κόρον ὠσὶ παρέχοντα παρῶ, πάντων σχεδὸν ἐν ἀνάγκῃ καὶ καιρῷ κίνδυνον ἀπειλοῦντι διαφόρως, ἀπειπόντων τε καὶ καταλελοιπότων με φίλων, συγγενῶν γνησίων καὶ θεραπόντων, ταῦτά μοι τούτοις ὀφειλόντων, μᾶλλον δ' εἰπεῖν καὶ 2.318 πλείω καὶ μυρίοις καταπροέσθαι με κινδύνοις πολλάκις ᾑρημένων, κρίμασι θείοις καὶ λόγοις ἀῤῥήτοις αὐτῆς καὶ μόνης τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δεξιᾶς ᾐσθόμην λαμπρῶς ἀντιλαμβανομένης μου καὶ ἀντωθουμένης ἰσχυρῶς τοὺς καθ' ἡμῶν, ὡς ἄν τις φαίη, ἐπενηνεγμένους ἀκροβολισμοὺς καὶ τὰς ἑλεπόλεις τηνικαῦτα πέφηνε κρείττων τῶν ἀπειλούντων πάντων, καὶ σφόδρα δεινῶν τοσούτων. καὶ ὁ περιπόθητος αὐτάδελφος τῆς βασιλείας μου κύριος Ἰωάννης ὁ Ἄγγελος, ὃς τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμῖν τοῦ γένους ῥίζης τετυχηκὼς καὶ βασιλικοῖς βρύων αἵμασι, λίαν ἐπαινετῶς ἀντεφιλονείκησε περιγεγενῆσθαι μᾶλλον ἁπάντων τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐγενείᾳ, ἢ ὅσῳ περιγίνεται τῇ τοῦ σώματος. τὴν μὲν γὰρ οἶδε φύουσάν τε καὶ αὖθις μείουσαν, τὴν δ' ἄφθιτον ἀεὶ μίμνουσαν. ψυχῆς μὲν οὖν ἀνδρίαν, ἢ φρονήσεως ἑδραιότητα καὶ περὶ τοὺς φίλους στεῤῥότητα, ὥστε προκινδυνεύειν αὐτῶν αἱρεῖσθαι,