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having come and trying to cross, was not permitted, as the river was in flood from violent rains that had suddenly poured down. And this seemed dreadful to the emperor and worthy of much concern. For to leave the river behind, flowing as it did through the territory subject to the Kral, presented no small suspicion, since the latter seemed to have been made an enemy, and especially since he was encamped not far, but somewhere near with an army; and to remain encamped, waiting for the force of the waters to abate, he suspected would not be to their advantage. For he feared lest, as was likely, when the cavalry from Thrace and Macedonia, many times more numerous than those he himself led, and the hoplites and light-armed troops from the triremes and the Persian allies attacked, he would not be able to defend himself in a pitched battle, leading as he did forces far inferior in measure. And another thing that happened troubled him more. For an army of Triballi, having come to the far bank of the Axios, sent to the emperor and said they had come as his allies, in case he needed them with the army from Thessaloniki attacking. But they intended nothing just, but whether sent secretly by the Kral, or on their own initiative having guessed their master's mind that he had decided to make war on the emperor, they had come with the intention that, if a battle were joined, they would join those who had the advantage and plunder the vanquished, which seemed to the emperor one of the most dreadful prospects, if at the very engagement he would be forced to deal with both the Romans 2.359 and the Triballi at once, drawn up on either side. Nevertheless, being in such difficulty and concern about what was to be done, it seemed necessary to encamp there for the night. And having gathered the chief officials and Angelos his nephew, and in addition his sons Matthew and Manuel; for they were inferior to none in intelligence and good counsel, although not yet having passed the age of youth, because of the greatness of their nature and their aptitude for noble things, and especially because they had already campaigned with the emperor their father for a long time, not only were they good in matters of war, lacking nothing in courage, boldness, and endurance in the face of dreadful things, but also quick to perceive what was necessary and to accomplish it in time of danger, and were able to give counsel to others; for which reasons their father also employed them for the counsels that most required earnestness and was persuaded by them not infrequently, not as a favor—for the necessity of the situation did not allow it—but because he considered it most advantageous; therefore deliberating with them and the rest until late in the night, it seemed best first to the emperor, and then to all the others, not to wait, but to prefer the lighter of the dangers and, passing along the Axios as far as possible, to seek a ford where it would be crossable, reckoning it better to encounter the Triballi again, whom they might perhaps be able to get rid of in some way, than the Romans and their barbarian allies. Such things, therefore, had been decided by them. 2.360 59. But outside the tent a certain man approached from the village on the far side of the Axios, opposite where they were encamped, where the army of the Triballi was also spending the night, a village called Gaurobos, and he asked to meet with the emperor, as he wished to speak about certain necessary matters. And when he was led in to the emperor, first he acknowledged that he owed thanks to the emperor for some old kindness, then he revealed that the army of the Triballi, which a certain man named Bozikis leads, with Stephen as second-in-command, gathered from infantry and cavalry, had been sent by the Kral for the purpose of harming the emperor as much as they could. and that they were prepared in such a way that, if the emperor's army were to use skiffs for the crossing, they would attack and destroy the first ones to cross; then, holding the others back from the ford, they themselves would remain unharmed, while the emperor with his followers, having become an easy target, would be easily destroyed by the army from Thessaloniki. He said, therefore, that the plot had been thus contrived by the Triballi, but that he himself knew a ford unknown to the many, by which the river would be easily crossable; which he said

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ἐλθὼν καὶ πειρώμενος διαβαίνειν, οὐ συνεχωρεῖτο πλημμυροῦντος τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐξ ὄμβρων ῥαγδαίων ἀθρόον κατενεχθέντων. ἐδόκει δὲ δεινὸν τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ πολλῆς ἄξιον φροντίδος. τό,τε γὰρ παριέναι τὸν ποταμὸν διὰ τῆς Κράλῃ ὑπηκόου ῥέοντα, οὐ μικρὰν παρεῖχεν ὑποψίαν, ἐκείνου δοκοῦντος ἐκπεπολεμῶσθαι, ἄλλως τε καὶ οὐ μακρὰν, ἀλλ' ἐγγύς που μετὰ στρατιᾶς ἐστρατοπεδευμένου· καὶ τὸ μένειν ἐστρατοπεδευμένους, τῶν ὑδάτων περιμένοντας ἀμβλυνθῆναι τὴν ὁρμὴν, οὐ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἔσεσθαι ὑπώπτευεν. ἐδεδίει γὰρ, μὴ, ὥσπερ ἦν εἰκὸς, τῶν τε ἐκ Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας ἱππέων, πολλαπλασιόνων ὄντων ἢ ὧν ἦγεν αὐτὸς, καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῶν τριηρέων ὁπλιτῶν καὶ ψιλῶν καὶ Περσῶν τῶν συμμάχων ἐπελθόντων, οὐχ οἷόστε ᾖ ἀμύνεσθαι ἐκ παρατάξεως, πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ καταδεεστέρους ἄγων. συμβὰν δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον μᾶλλον ἐθορύβει. πρὸς γὰρ τὴν Ἀξειοῦ περαίαν στρατιὰ ἐλθοῦσα Τριβαλῶν, πέμποντες πρὸς βασιλέα, κατὰ συμμαχίαν μὲν ἔφασκον ἥκειν τὴν αὐτοῦ, εἰ δέοιτο αὐτῶν τῆς ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης στρατιᾶς ἐπιθεμένης. ἦσαν δὲ οὐδὲν ἐννοοῦντες δίκαιον, ἀλλ' εἴθ' ὑπὸ Κράλη λάθρα προσπεμφθέντες, εἴτε καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῶν αὐτοὶ τῆς τοῦ δεσπότου γνώμης στοχασάμενοι, ὡς πολεμεῖν ἔγνω βασιλεῖ, γνώμην ἧκον ἔχοντες, ὡς εἰ μάχη συναφθείη, προσθησόμενοι τοῖς ἔχουσι τὸ πλέον καὶ τοὺς νενικημένους διαρπάσοντες, ὅπερ καὶ μᾶλλον ἐδόκει τῶν δεινοτάτων βασιλεῖ, εἰ παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν συμβολὴν Ῥωμαίοις 2.359 τε ὁμοῦ καὶ Τριβαλοῖς προσέχειν ἀναγκάζοιτο ἑκατέρωθεν παρατεταγμένοις. ὅμως οὕτως ἔχοντι δυσκολίας καὶ φροντίδος περὶ τῶν πρακτέων, ἐδόκει δεῖν αὐτοῦ αὐλίσασθαι τὴν νύκτα. τοὺς ἐν τέλει δὲ μάλιστα καὶ Ἄγγελον τὸν ἀνεψιὸν, προσέτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ματθαῖον καὶ Μανουὴλ συναγαγών· ἦσαν γὰρ οὐδενὸς λειπόμενοι πρὸς σύνεσιν καὶ εὐβουλίαν, καίτοι μήπω τὴν μειρακικὴν ὑπερβάντες ἡλικίαν, διὰ φύσεως μέγεθος καὶ εὐφυΐαν τὴν πρὸς τὰ καλὰ, ἄλλως θ' ὅτι καὶ βασιλεῖ τῷ πατρὶ πολὺν ἤδη συστρατευόμενοι χρόνον, οὐ περὶ τὰ πολέμια μόνον ἀγαθοὶ καὶ εὐψυχίας καὶ τόλμης καὶ καρτερίας τῆς πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ οὐδὲν ἐλλείποντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ νοῆσαι τὰ δέοντα καὶ καταπράξασθαι ἐν καιρῷ κινδύνων ὀξεῖς καὶ βουλεύσασθαι ἑτέροις ἦσαν ἱκανοί· δι' ἃ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῖς πρὸς τῶν βουλευμάτων τὰ μάλιστα σπουδῆς δεόμενα ἐχρῆτο καὶ ἐπείθετο οὐκ ὀλιγάκις, οὐ χαριζόμενος· οὐ γὰρ εἴα τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ ἀνάγκη· ἀλλὰ νομίζων μάλιστα λυσιτελεῖν· μετ' ἐκείνων δ' οὖν καὶ τῶν ἐπιλοίπων ἄχρι πόῤῥω βουλευόμενοι νυκτῶν, ἐδόκει βασιλεῖ τε πρῶτον, ἔπειτα καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι μὴ μένειν, ἀλλὰ τὸν κουφότερον τῶν κινδύνων προτιμᾷν καὶ παριόντας τὸν Ἀξειὸν ἄχρις ἂν ἐξῇ, πόρον ζητεῖν ᾗ διαβατὸς ἔσται, βέλτιον λογισαμένους αὖθις Τριβαλοῖς περιτυχεῖν, οὓς ἴσως ἂν καὶ δύναιντο τρόπῳ δή τινι ἀποσκευάζεσθαι, ἢ Ῥωμαίοις καὶ βαρβάροις τοῖς συμμάχοις. τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἐδέδοκτο τοιαῦτα. 2.360 νθʹ. Ἔξω δὲ τῆς σκηνῆς προσελθών τις ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὴν περαίαν Ἀξειοῦ κώμης καταντικρὺ οὗ ηὐλίζοντο, ἔνθα καὶ ἡ Τριβαλῶν διενυκτέρευε στρατιὰ, Γαυρόβου προσαγορευομένης, ἐδεῖτο βασιλεῖ συντυχεῖν, ὡς περί τινων ἀναγκαίων διαλεξόμενος. ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰσήγετο πρὸς βασιλέα, πρῶτα μὲν ἀρχαίας τινὸς εὐεργεσίας χάριτας ὀφείλειν ὡμολόγει βασιλεῖ, ἔπειτα ἐμήνυεν, ὡς ἡ στρατιὰ Τριβαλῶν, ἧς ἡγεῖται Μποζίκης τις προσαγορευόμενος καὶ Στέφανος δεύτερος, ἐκ πεζῶν καὶ ἱππέων ἠθροισμένη, πεμφθείη μὲν παρὰ Κράλη ἐπὶ τῷ βλάπτειν βασιλέα, ὅσα δύναιτο. αὐτοὶ δὲ οὕτως εἶναι παρεσκευασμένοι, ὡς, εἰ ἀκατίοις χρῷτο ἡ βασιλέως στρατιὰ πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν, τοῖς πρώτως διαβᾶσιν ἐπιτίθεσθαι καὶ διαφθείρειν· ἔπειτα ἀνείργοντας τοὺς ἄλλους πρὸς τὸν πόρον, αὐτοὺς μὲν διαμένειν ἀπαθεῖς κακῶν· βασιλέα δὲ μετὰ τῶν συνόντων ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκ Θεσσαλονίκης στρατιᾶς διαφθείρεσθαι ῥᾳδίως εὐεπιχείρητον γενόμενον. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἐπιβουλὴν οὕτως ἔφασκεν εἶναι συνεσκευασμένην παρὰ Τριβαλῶν, αὐτὸν δὲ εἰδέναι πόρον ἀγνοούμενον τοῖς πολλοῖς, ᾗ διαβατὸς ὁ ποταμὸς ῥᾳδίως ἔσται· ὃν ἔφασκεν