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if God should later decide and he should perish from among men, then indeed either to pay heed to the one ruling the Romans, 2.330 if he is able to free them from the enemy, or, having grain and other abundance, to endure the siege. But now they should not deliberate so badly concerning themselves as to willingly choose terrible things and to draw war upon themselves, when it was possible to be saved by intelligence and shrewdness. The emperor, then, gave such counsel to the people of Pherae and begged them to obey, as it would be of great advantage to them. But when they heard, they poured out many insults and reproaches against the emperor and said that it would be better for him to deliberate about himself and his companions, how he might be saved, than about them. And having slaughtered the ambassador and having divided him into four parts in a beastly and inhuman way, they hung the pieces with ropes on the towers. The emperor considered these things terrible and condemned the great inhumanity and folly of the men, and he sent them a letter by a certain George who had been captured outside, reproaching their cruelty and ill counsel and proclaiming the bringing on of many terrible things, and that they would then beg for his assistance, at a time when it would no longer be in his power to do anything more than grieve for them. And the Romans with him were now in a state of complete helplessness and thought it altogether impossible that another city would come over to the emperor, since the people of Pherae had dared such things. Therefore, having come together, they begged the emperor to delay no longer, nor to waste time toiling without result, but to hasten to Didymoteichon, so that along 2.331 with their families they might either obtain some good, if their affairs should turn out for the better, or die, if it should be necessary. It seemed good, therefore, to the emperor as well to obey their counsels, since they held the return journey of such great importance. And having taken leave of the Kral, and having taken the army, as much as he himself provided to accompany him, they took to the road. But the Kral, remaining at Pherae, ravaged the land and laid waste to everything, utterly destroying it. But when the emperor was far from Pherae, realizing that the accompanying army of Triballians was only a useless mob—for the Kral, having previously picked out the best of them, had left them as a garrison in the cities which he himself had taken after the death of Hrelja, who had held them—and especially since the remaining ones were worn out by the long campaign (for they had been following the campaigning Kral for more than two months previously), and moreover were possessed by an unbearable fear, believing they were campaigning not into Thrace, but into Parthia or India, from where it would be possible by no means to return home, and for this reason were sending home their war horses and arms and whatever useful thing they carried for the war, so that these at least might be left to their children, since they themselves would certainly perish; the emperor, therefore, observing these things and not wishing to arrive at Didymoteichon so weak as to be besieged himself by the Byzantines (for this would profit neither him nor his companions most of 2.332 all), considered returning to the Kral and asking for a sufficient army, so that on arriving at Didymoteichon he would be formidable to the enemy, and not be despised for his weakness. But when he communicated the plan to the Romans with him, they all, as if by a signal, said they would choose rather to endure everything and dare ten thousand deaths, than to turn back again into the land of the Triballians. For they did not think they would be marching into a land lit by the sun and inhabited by men, but into the depths of Hades and the haunts of the dead and anything else more difficult. And though the emperor exhorted them at length, that he was counseling better and more profitable things, and begged them to obey, they would not receive it even with the tips of their ears, but considered all terrible things one might mention more bearable than to turn back again to the Triballians. But the emperor, seeing the danger, that it was not small in obeying his companions, who were counseling such unprofitable things and were already eager to act so irrationally, and not knowing what to do in the situation, since his companions were not able to be persuaded, previously to them

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ὕστερον βουλεύσαιτο ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἀπόλοιτο ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, τότ' ἤδη ἢ τῷ βασιλεύοντι Ῥωμαίων προσέχειν, 2.330 ἂν δύνηται ἐλευθεροῦν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων, ἢ σῖτον ἔχοντας καὶ ἄλλην ἀφθονίαν, ὑπομένειν τὴν πολιορκίαν. νυνὶ δὲ μὴ οὕτω κακῶς περὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν βουλεύσασθαι, ὥστε ἑκοντὶ ἑλέσθαι τὰ δεινὰ καὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἑλκῦσαι κατ' αὐτῶν, ἐνὸν συνέσει καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ διασώζεσθαι. βασιλεὺς μὲν οὖν τοιαῦτα Φεραίοις συνεβούλευε καὶ πείθεσθαι ἐδεῖτο ὡς συνοίσουσι μεγάλως. ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἐπεὶ ἀκούσειαν, βασιλέως μὲν πολλὰς ὕβρεις κατέχεον καὶ λοιδορίας καὶ μᾶλλον ἔφασαν ἐκείνῳ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν συνόντων βουλευτέον ἂν εἴη ὅπη σωθήσεται, ἢ περὶ ἡμῶν. τὸν δὲ πρεσβευτὴν ἀποσφάξαντες καὶ διελόντες τετραχῇ θηριωδῶς καὶ ἀπανθρώπως, τὰ τμήματα ἀνῆψαν καλλωδίοις ἐν τοῖς πύργοις. ἃ βασιλεὺς μὲν δεινὰ ἡγεῖτο καὶ πολλὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπανθρωπίαν κατεγίνωσκε καὶ ἀβουλίαν, ἔπεμπε δὲ καὶ γράμματα αὐτοῖς διά τινος Γεωργίου ἔξω συλληφθέντος, τήν τε ὠμότητα καὶ τὴν κακοβουλίαν ὀνειδίζοντα καὶ πολλῶν προαναφωνοῦντα δεινῶν ἐπαγωγὴν, καὶ ὡς τότε τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ δεήσονται ἐπικουρίας, ἡνίκα μηδ' αὐτῷ τοῦ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀνιᾶσθαι πλέον τι ἐξέσται. οἱ δὲ συνόντες Ῥωμαῖοι ἐν πάσῃ ἤδη καθέστασαν ἀμηχανίᾳ καὶ ἄπορον παντάπασιν ἡγοῦντο πόλιν βασιλεῖ ἑτέραν προσελθεῖν, Φεραίων τοιαῦτα τετολμηκότων. ὅθεν καὶ ἐδέοντο βασιλέως συνελθόντες μηκέτι μέλλειν, μηδὲ κατατρίβειν τὸν καιρὸν ἀνήνυτα πονοῦντας, ἀλλ' εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον ἐπείγεσθαι, ὡς ἅ 2.331 μα τοῖς οἰκείοις ἤ τινος τυγχάνειν ἀγαθοῦ, εἰ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον αὐτοῖς τὰ πράγματα χωροίη, ἢ ἀποθνήσκειν, εἰ δεήσειεν. ἐδόκει μὲν οὖν καὶ βασιλεῖ τοῖς ἐκείνων πείθεσθαι βουλεύμασιν, οὕτω περὶ πλείστου ποιουμένων τὴν ἐπάνοδον. καὶ συνταξάμενος Κράλῃ, παραλαβών τε τὴν στρατιὰν, ὅσην αὐτὸς παρείχετο συνέπεσθαι, εἴχοντο ὁδοῦ. Κράλης δὲ ἐν Φεραῖς ὑπολειπόμενος, ἔτεμνε τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐδῄου πάντα ἄρδην διαφθείρων. βασιλεὺς δὲ ἐπεὶ γένοιτο μακρὰν Φερῶν, συνιδὼν ὡς ἡ ἑπομένη στρατιὰ τῶν Τριβαλῶν ὄχλος μόνον ἀνόνητός εἰσι, τοὺς ἀρίστους γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀπολεξάμενος πρότερον ὁ Κράλης, φρουρὰν κατέλιπε ταῖς πόλεσιν, ἃς Χρέλη ἔχοντος μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν ἔλαβεν αὐτὸς, ἄλλως τε καὶ τῶν ὑπολειφθέντων χρονίῳ τε στρατείᾳ τεταλαιπωρηκότων, ἦσαν γὰρ πλέον ἢ δυσὶ πρότερον μησὶ Κράλῃ ἑπόμενοι στρατευομένῳ, ἄλλως τε καὶ δέει ἀσχέτῳ κατεχομένων καὶ νομιζόντων, οὐκ εἰς Θρᾴκην, ἀλλ' εἰς Πάρθους ἢ Ἰνδοὺς στρατεύεσθαι, ὅθεν οὐκ ἐξέσται μηχανῇ οὐδεμιᾷ οἴκαδε ἐπανελθεῖν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἵππους πολεμιστηρίους καὶ ὅπλα καὶ εἴ τι ἐπεφέροντο χρήσιμον πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον, οἴκαδε ἀποπεμπόντων, ἵνα ταῦτα γοῦν τοῖς παισὶν ὑπολειφθείη, ὡς ἐκείνων ἀπολουμένων πάντως· ταῦτα δὴ συνορῶν ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ βουλόμενος εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον μὴ οὕτως ἀφικέσθαι ἀσθενὴς, ὥσθ' ὑπὸ Βυζαντίων καὶ αὐτὸς πολιορκεῖσθαι, οὔτ' αὐτῷ γὰρ οὔτε τοῖς συνοῦσι τοῦτο μάλι 2.332 στα συνοίσειν, ἐσκέψατο εἰς Κράλην ἀναστρέφειν καὶ στρατιὰν ἀξιόχρεων αἰτεῖν, ὥστε εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον φοβερὸν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐλθόντα εἶναι, ἀλλὰ μὴ καταφρονεῖσθαι διὰ τὴν ἀδυναμίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς συνοῦσι Ῥωμαίοις ἐκοινοῦτο τὴν βουλὴν, πάντες ὥσπερ ἐκ συνθήματος πάντα μᾶλλον ἔφασαν αἱρεῖσθαι ὑπομένειν καὶ μυρίων θανάτων κατατολμᾷν, ἢ εἰς τὴν γῆν αὖθις ἀναστρέφειν Τριβαλῶν. οὐ γὰρ ἐνόμιζον εἰς γῆν πορεύσεσθαι ἡλίῳ περιλαμπομένην καὶ ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένην, ἀλλ' εἰς ᾅδου κευθμῶνας καὶ νεκρῶν διατριβὰς καὶ ἄλλο εἴ τι δυσχερέστερον. πολλὰ δὲ βασιλέως παραινοῦντος, ὡς βελτίω καὶ λυσιτελέστερα βουλεύοιτο, καὶ δεομένου πείθεσθαι, οὐδ' ἄκροις παρεδέχοντο ὠσὶν, ἀλλὰ πάνθ' ὅσα ἄν τις εἴποι δεινὰ φορητότερα ἡγοῦντο, ἢ εἰς Τριβαλοὺς αὖθις ἀναστρέφειν. βασιλεὺς δὲ τόν τε κίνδυνον ὁρῶν, ὡς οὐ μικρὸς ἐκ τοῦ πείθεσθαι τοῖς συνοῦσιν, οὕτως ἀλυσιτελῆ καὶ βουλευομένοις καὶ πράττειν ἤδη ὡρμημένοις ἀλογίστως, ὅ,τι τε χρήσαιτο τοῖς πράγμασιν οὐκ ἔχων, τῶν συνόντων πείθεσθαι μὴ δυναμένων, πρότερον αὐτοῖς