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being managed. But these things a little later. Then, when Amour had departed, a terrible war by all the neighbors immediately surrounded the emperor. For the Kral, leading the best of his own army, had arrived as far as Zichna, with the intention of attacking the emperor in Thrace. And Alexander, the king of the Mysians, came to Stilbnon with his whole army, to ally himself with the young emperor Palaiologos, as he had promised. And the patriarch, having convened an assembly of all the Byzantines and having strongly denounced the emperor Kantakouzenos, as unjustly and unlawfully plotting against the sons 2.421 of the emperor from whom he had enjoyed many and very great benefits, then having proclaimed himself father and guardian of the young emperor, and [declaring] that for his salvation he himself had resolved to expose himself to dangers and battles and to destroy the common enemy, he urged everyone to war against the emperor Kantakouzenos, some willingly, but others even by necessity, fearing to be suspected. And all, both infantry and cavalry, made a common expedition; and those of the senators who were still not in bonds were also present. For the megas doux held most of them, some in prisons under shackles, among whom Andronikos Asanes, the emperor Kantakouzenos’ father-in-law, was being interrogated; and others he kept under guard in their houses, not allowing them to go out. And he himself was the commander-in-chief of the army. They, having with them the young emperor John, came to Herakleia in Thrace; and sending to Momtzilos, who had been entrusted by the emperor Kantakouzenos with the command of the fortresses around Merope and the other nomads, they persuaded him with many promises to take up war against him. For Momtzilos was already of some account and was invested with sufficient power. Thus then the war surrounded the emperor from all sides and terrible suspicions arose. But he, as was his custom, always being magnanimous in the face of 2.422 dangers and bearing the assaults of terrible things evenly and calmly, sent an embassy to Alexander, the king of the Mysians, and advised him to keep the peace, since not much later the war against him would become for him the cause of many misfortunes. And he himself, having come to the Chalcidice, was besieging the city of Gratianou, which was not large, but very strong both from the nature of its location and the construction of its walls, and otherwise well-suited for everything and being like the metropolis of the Chalcidice. He did not, therefore, attempt an assault on the walls; for he knew it would be impregnable by arms and force of hand. But since not a few of the citizens were prisoners, being guarded in its acropolis on account of their good will toward him, he sent secretly and conversed with them, [asking] if they could, after seizing the acropolis, hand over the city. And they themselves promised to undertake the attempt eagerly, and they gave a signal for the assault, to raise a beacon by night, and to show smoke by day as a sign of the attempt. For this reason, therefore, the emperor, although surrounded on all sides by the war, did not withdraw from the siege, but was determined to oppose everything equally. And at the time when these things were taking place, the Latin force also, which a little later attacked Smyrna and took it by storm, in twenty-four triremes, having learned near Pallene that near a certain harbor called locally Longos 2.423 sixty Persian ships were at anchor, they both attacked and seized them empty. For the Persians, being unable to oppose them in a naval battle, leaving their ships, saved themselves by fleeing to land. But the Latins, having hauled up the ships and given them to the fire, withdrew. But the Persians, being left in want of ships, resolved that they must retreat to the Thracian Chersonese over land, so that from there they might cross over to Asia, having found a good supply of ships. 69. But the Kral, being encamped at Zichna, as we said, to make war on the emperor Kantakouzenos, when he learned what had happened concerning the Persians and that they were about to go to the Chersonese by the same route, the best of the [force] around

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οἰκονομούμενα. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον. τότε δὲ Ἀμοὺρ ἀναχωρήσαντος, εὐθὺς ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν περιοίκων πόλεμος δεινὸς βασιλέα περιίστατο. ὅ,τε γὰρ Κράλης τὸ κράτιστον ἄγων τῆς οἰκείας στρατιᾶς ἄχρι Ζιχνῶν ἀφῖκτο, γνώμην ἔχων, ὡς κατὰ Θρᾴκην ἐπιθησόμενος βασιλεῖ. καὶ ὁ τῶν Μυσῶν βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος ἧκεν ἐπὶ Στίλβνον πανστρατιᾷ, Παλαιολόγῳ τῷ νέῳ συμμαχήσων βασιλεῖ, ὥσπερ ἦν ὑπεσχημένος. πατριάρχης τε ἐκκλησίαν ἀπὸ πάντων Βυζαντίων ποιησάμενος καὶ πολλὰ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως καθαψάμενος, ὡς ἀδίκως καὶ παρανόμως τοῖς παισὶν 2.421 ἐπιβουλεύοντος βασιλέως, οὗ πολλῶν ἀπέλαυσε καὶ μεγίστων εὐεργεσιῶν, ἔπειτα ἑαυτὸν πατέρα καὶ κηδεμόνα τοῦ νέου βασιλέως ἀνακηρύξας, καὶ ὡς διὰ τὴν ἐκείνου σωτηρίαν κινδύνοις καὶ μάχαις καὶ αὐτὸς ἔγνω παραβάλλεσθαι καὶ καταλύειν τὸν κοινὸν πολέμιον, πάντας παρώρμησε πρὸς τὸν Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως πόλεμον, τοὺς μὲν ἑκόντας, ἔστι δ' οὓς καὶ δι' ἀνάγκην, δείσαντας τὸ ὑποπτεύεσθαι. καὶ πάντες κοινὴν ἐκστρατείαν ἐποιήσαντο πεζοί τε καὶ ἱππεῖς· παρῆσαν δὲ καὶ τῶν συγκλητικῶν ὅσοι ἦσαν ἔτι ἄδετοι. τοὺς πλείους γὰρ αὐτῶν ὁ μέγας δοὺξ, τοὺς μὲν ἐν δεσμωτηρίοις εἶχεν ὑπὸ κλοιοῖς, ἐν οἷς καὶ Ἀνδρόνικος Ἀσάνης ὁ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξητάζετο πενθερός· ἔστι δ' οὓς καὶ ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐφρούρει ἀπροΐτους. αὐτὸς δὲ ἦν τῆς στρατιᾶς αὐτοκράτωρ στρατηγός. οἳ καὶ βασιλέα τὸν νέον ἔχοντες Ἰωάννην, ἧκον εἰς Ἡράκλειαν τῆς Θρᾴκης· πέμψαντες δὲ καὶ πρὸς Μομιτζίλον, ὃς τῶν κατὰ Μερόπην φρουρίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων νομάδων ὑπὸ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνεχειρίσθη τὴν ἀρχὴν, ἔπεισαν ὑποσχέσεσι πολλαῖς πόλεμον πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἄρασθαι. ἦν γὰρ ἤδη ἐν λόγῳ τινὶ ὁ Μομιτζίλος καὶ δύναμιν περιβεβλημένος ἱκανήν. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ πόλεμος πανταχόθεν βασιλέα περιίστατο καὶ ὑποπτεύειν δεινὰ εἰσῄει. αὐτὸς δὲ, ὥσπερ εἴωθεν, ἀεὶ πρὸς 2.422 τοὺς κινδύνους μεγαλοψυχῶν καὶ τῶν δεινῶν τὰς ἐπιφορὰς ὁμαλῶς καὶ πρᾴως διαφέρων, πρὸς μὲν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Μυσῶν βασιλέα πρεσβείαν ἐποιεῖτο καὶ παρῄνει ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, ὡς οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἐκείνῳ αἰτίου συμφορῶν πολλῶν τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν πολέμου γενησομένου. αὐτὸς δὲ γενόμενος πρὸς τὴν Χαλκιδικὴν, τὴν Γρατιανοῦ πόλιν ἐπολιόρκει οὖσαν οὐ μεγάλην, ὀχυροτάτην δὲ ἔκ τε φύσεως τοῦ τόπου καὶ τῶν τειχῶν τῆς κατασκευῆς, ἄλλως δὲ εὐφυῶς πρὸς πάντα ἔχουσαν καὶ ὥσπερ μητρόπολιν οὖσαν τῆς Χαλκιδικῆς. πρὸς μὲν οὖν τειχομαχίαν οὐκ ἐπεχείρει· ᾔδει γὰρ ἀνάλωτον ὅπλοις καὶ χειρῶν βίᾳ ἐσομένην. δεσμωτῶν δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐκ τῶν πολιτῶν ἐν τῇ ταύτης ἀκροπόλει φρουρουμένων διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εὔνοιαν, πέμψας κρύφα διελέγετο αὐτοῖς, εἰ δύναιντο κρατήσαντες τῆς ἀκροπόλεως, παραδιδόναι τὴν πόλιν. καὶ ἐπηγγέλλοντο καὶ αὐτοὶ προθύμως ὑπελθεῖν τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν, καὶ σύνθημα τῆς ἐφόδου ἔδοσαν, νυκτὸς μὲν φρυκτὸν ἀνίσχειν, ἡμέρας δὲ καπνὸν δεικνύειν τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως σημεῖον. διὰ ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν αἰτίαν ὁ βασιλεὺς, καίτοι περιῤῥεόμενος πανταχόθεν ὑπὸ τοῦ πολέμου, οὐκ ἀνίστατο ἐκ τῆς πολιορκίας, ἀλλ' ἐφιλονείκει πρὸς πάντα ἀντικαθίστασθαι ὁμοίως. ὑφ' ὃν δὲ ταῦτα χρόνον ἐτελεῖτο, καὶ ἡ Λατινικὴ δύναμις, ἣ ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον Σμύρνῃ ἐπελθοῦσα ἐκράτησε τειχομαχίᾳ, ἐν τέσσαρσι καὶ εἴκοσι τριήρεσι, περὶ Παλλήνην πεπυσμένοι πρός τινα λιμένα Λογγὸν ἐγχωρίως προσαγορευό 2.423 μενον ναῦς ἑξήκοντα ἐφορμεῖν Περσικὰς, ἐπέθεντό τε καὶ ἐκράτησαν αὐτῶν κενῶν. τὸ γὰρ Περσικὸν, μὴ δυνάμενον ἀντικαθίστασθαι πρὸς ναυμαχίαν, τὰς ναῦς καταλιπόντες διεσώζοντο εἰς τὴν γῆν. Λατῖνοι δὲ ἀνελκύσαντες τὰς ναῦς καὶ πυρὶ παραδόντες ἀνεχώρουν. οἱ Πέρσαι δὲ ἀπολειφθέντες ἀπορίᾳ νεῶν, ἔγνωσαν δεῖν ἐπὶ Χεῤῥόνησον τῆς Θρᾴκης διὰ τῆς ἠπείρου ἀναχωρεῖν, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν εἰς Ἀσίαν περαιωσόμενοι εὐπορήσαντες νεῶν. ξθʹ. Κράλης δὲ ἐν Ζίχνᾳ ἐστρατοπεδευμένος, ὥσπερ ἔφημεν, ἐπὶ τῷ Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ πολεμεῖν, ἐπεὶ πύθοιτο τὸ περὶ τοὺς Πέρσας συμβὰν καὶ ὡς διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ὁδοῦ ἐπὶ Χεῤῥόνησον μέλλουσιν ἰέναι, τὸ κράτιστον τῆς περὶ