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he had in it, and many of his relatives and household members lived there, by whom the city was almost led. For this very reason of his affinity with the protostrator his son-in-law, he appointed Manuel Asan to rule over them. For the protostrator, 2.492 after the emperor's withdrawal at Gynaikokastron, having been greatly deceived by the megas doux, and having been ranked among his first friends, and having been named protovestiarios a little later, was then confined to his house and condemned to darkness, similarly to his other friends, and after passing so much time guarded in his house, he later died, having become poor and dishonored from being wealthy and illustrious. And to the patriarch of Jerusalem, who had just then escaped from Byzantium, being under suspicion and about to suffer ill, and who had come to him, the emperor entrusted the church of Bizye, so that he might do what is permitted by the sacred canons, since its hierarch was departing, rejecting the emperor's arrival. And when all matters in the city had been arranged by the emperor, he returned again to Charioupolis and both compelled the cities that had not yet submitted with arms and attempted to persuade them with plausible words to submit to him. But the megas doux, since lingering outside the walls was out of the question—for some of the cities had submitted to the emperor Kantakouzenos, while others, being besieged and suffering badly from daily assaults, were now wavering; for they received no aid from him, though they sent frequent embassies and lamented their misfortune—so that he might not seem, as if having abandoned the rudders of government in a great storm and given up on saving it, to be sitting idle, he devised 2.493 something rather extravagant, so that he might seem to the multitude to be occupied in Byzantium with certain necessary matters. And he who never before had taken any account of the good and just, proclaimed justice and uprightness in legal cases; and sitting in the monastery of Christ the Savior and Benefactor he judged throughout the entire day, busying himself with contracts and private disputes. And he thought no less of himself than Rhadamanthus in these matters, who was said to have been entrusted with the judgment of the dead on account of his justice, not knowing that there is nothing more ignoble and ridiculous than for a general surrounded by so great a war to be occupied with contracts, in order to help individual private citizens while neglecting the common good. 80. Gabalas the megas logothetes, as time was being wasted, since the megas doux was not carrying out the marriage of his daughter according to the oaths, was not a little displeased by the delay and spoke with the megas doux about the marriage, demanding that he act according to the oaths. And he said that it was a matter of concern to him and of the first importance, but that the bride and her mother were refusing on account of his obesity. And he advised him to use some remedies, if somehow it might happen, with his insides shrunk, to appear thinner and more lovely to the bride; for she was very displeased with the disproportion 2.494 of his flesh. And he suspected that such things were excuses and pretexts and pure irony; but being utterly overcome by love for the girl, things that anyone with even a little sense would have understood, he himself wished to ignore and thought it necessary to undertake the most ridiculous things for the sake of the girl. And having spoken with a certain doctor who had arrived from Italy about his obesity, he persuaded him with the promise of large fees, that he would make his body well-proportioned and symmetrical with certain remedies, and indeed considering all other things secondary, he devoted himself to baths and vomitings and evacuations of the stomach, as seemed best to the doctor. And he adhered to a meager diet and practiced all other things that contribute to thinness. From which he became weak and feeble, and his strength was paralyzed, but his stomach yielded little in its bulk. But the megas doux, suspecting that later, having given up on the remedies, he would clearly see the irony, and fearing lest, because he was being slighted, he might turn again to the war against him and persuade the empress to make a truce with Kantakouzenos

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εἶχεν ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐκεῖ πολλοὶ κατῴκουν, ὑφ' ὧν ἤγετο σχεδὸν ἡ πόλις. διὰ ταύτην δὴ τὴν οἰκειότητα πρὸς πρωτοστράτορα τὸν γαμβρὸν αὐτοῖς ἐπέστησεν ἄρχειν Ἀσάνην τὸν Μανουήλ. πρωτοστράτωρ γὰρ 2.492 μετὰ τὴν ἐν Γυναικοκάστρῳ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναχώρησιν ὑπὸ μεγάλου δουκὸς πολλὰ φενακισθεὶς, καὶ εἰς τοὺς πρώτους τῶν φίλων τεταγμένος, πρωτοβεστιάριός τε ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον ἀναδειχθεὶς, ἔπειτα εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν κατεκλείσθη καὶ ζόφον κατεκρίθη τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως φίλοις, καὶ χρόνον οὕτω συχνὸν διανύσας φρουρούμενος ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ, ὕστερον ἐτελεύτησε, πένης καὶ ἄτιμος ἐξ εὐπόρου καὶ περιφανοῦς γεγενημένος. πατριάρχῃ δὲ τῷ Ἱεροσολύμων ἄρτι τότε ἐκ Βυζαντίου διαδράντι, ὑποπτευομένῳ καὶ πάσχειν μέλλοντι κακῶς καὶ ἀφιγμένῳ πρὸς αὐτὸν, ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν Βιζύης ἐνεχείρησεν ἐκκλησίαν, ὥστε τὰ τοῖς ἱεροῖς κανόσιν ἐνδεδομένα πράττειν, ἐπεὶ ταύτης ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ἀπεχώρει τὴν βασιλέως ἀποσειόμενος ἐπιδημίαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντα διῴκητο τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν βασιλεῖ, αὖθις ἀνέστρεφεν εἰς Χαριούπολιν καὶ τὰς μήπω προσχωρησάσας πόλεις τοῖς τε ὅπλοις ἐβιάζετο καὶ λόγοις πιθανοῖς ἐπεχείρει πείθειν προσχωρεῖν αὐτῷ. δοὺξ δὲ ὁ μέγας, ἐπεὶ τὸ διατρίβειν τειχῶν ἔξω ἀπηγόρευεν, αἱ μὲν γὰρ τῶν πόλεων Καντακουζηνῷ προσεχώρησαν τῷ βασιλεῖ, αἱ δὲ πολιορκούμεναι καὶ κακῶς πάσχουσαι ταῖς καθημεριναῖς ἐφόδοις ἀμφίβολοι ἤδη ἦσαν· ἐπικουρίας γὰρ οὐδεμιᾶς παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐτύγχανον, συχνὰς ποιούμενοι τὰς πρεσβείας καὶ τὴν κακοπραγίαν ὀδυρόμενοι, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίη, ὥσπερ ἐν μεγάλῳ κλύδωνι τοὺς οἴακας τῆς ἀρχῆς καταλιπὼν ἀργὸς καθῆσθαι πρὸς τὸ διασώζειν ἀπειπὼν, ἐσκέψατό 2.493 τι περιεργότερον, ἵνα τοῖς πολλοῖς δοκοίη ἀναγκαίων τινῶν πέρι Βυζαντίῳ ἐνδιατρίβειν· καὶ ὃς οὐδέπω πρότερον οὐδένα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ δικαίου λόγον ἐποιήσατο, δικαιοσύνην ἐκήρυξε καὶ εὐθύτητα περὶ τὰς δίκας· καὶ καθήμενος ἐν τῇ μονῇ Χριστοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ εὐεργέτου ἐδίκαζε διὰ πάσης τῆς ἡμέρας, περὶ συμβόλαια καὶ ἰδιωτικὰς ἀμφισβητήσεις ἀσχολούμενος. ἐφρόνει δὲ Ῥαδαμάνθυος οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὃς καὶ τὴν νεκρῶν δίκην ἐλέγετο ἐπιτετράφθαι διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ἀγνοῶν ὡς οὐδὲν ἀγεννέστερον καὶ καταγελαστότερον στρατηγοῦ ὑπὸ πολέμου τοσούτου περιῤῥεομένου καὶ συμβολαίοις σχολάζοντος, ἵνα τοὺς καθ' ἕκαστον ἰδιώτας ὠφελοίη τῶν κοινῶν καταμελῶν. πʹ. Γαβαλᾶς δὲ ὁ μέγας λογοθέτης, τοῦ χρόνου τριβομένου, ἐπεὶ τὸν γάμον τῆς θυγατρὸς ὁ μέγας δοὺξ κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους οὐκ ἀπεδίδου, ἐδυσχέραινέ τε οὐ μετρίως τὴν τριβὴν καὶ μεγάλῳ δουκὶ περὶ τοῦ γάμου διελέγετο, ἀξιῶν ποιεῖν κατὰ τοὺς ὅρκους. ὁ δ' ἔφασκε μὲν καὶ αὐτῷ διὰ σπουδῆς εἶναι καὶ προὔργου παντὸς, τὴν νύμφην δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἀπαναίνεσθαι διὰ τὴν πολυσαρκίαν. συνεβούλευέ τε φαρμακείαις χρήσασθαί τισιν, εἴ πως γένοιτο, τῶν ἐγκάτων συνεσταλμένων, λεπτότερον φανῆναι καὶ ἐπέραστον τῇ νύμφῃ· πάνυ γὰρ ἔχειν ἀηδῶς πρὸς τὴν ἀσυμμετρίαν 2.494 τῶν σαρκῶν. ὁ δ' ὑπώπτευε μὲν σκήψεις εἶναι καὶ προφάσεις τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ εἰρωνείαν ἀκριβῶς· τῷ δὲ κατάκρας ἡττῆσθαι τῷ τῆς κόρης ἔρωτι, ἃ καὶ ὀλίγα φρενῶν μετέχων συνῆκεν ἄν τις, αὐτὸς ἐβούλετο ἀγνοεῖν καὶ ἐδόκει δεῖν τοῖς καταγελαστοτάτοις ἐπιχειρητέα εἶναι διὰ τὴν κόρην. διαλεχθεὶς δέ τινι ἰατρῷ ἐξ Ἰταλίας ἀφιγμένῳ περὶ τῆς πολυσαρκίας, ἔπειθε μεγάλοις μισθοῖς ἐπαγγελλόμενον καὶ αὐτὸν, εὐσταλὲς τὸ σῶμα καὶ σύμμετρόν τισι ποιήσειν φαρμακείαις, καὶ δὴ τἆλλα πάντα δεύτερα ἡγούμενος, λουτροῖς ἐσχόλαζε καὶ ἐμέτοις καὶ κενώσεσι γαστρὸς, ᾗ τῷ ἰατρῷ ἐδόκει. ὀλιγοσιτία τε προσεῖχε καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἐπετήδευεν, ὅσα πρὸς λεπτότητα συναίρεται. ἐξ ὧν ἠτόνει μὲν καὶ ἀδρανὴς ἦν, καὶ παρελύετο τὴν ῥώμην, ἡ γαστὴρ δὲ ὀλίγα πρὸς τὸν ὄγκον ἐνεδίδου. ὑποπτεύσας δὲ ὁ μέγας δοὺξ, ὡς ὕστερόν ποτε ἀπαγορεύσας πρὸς τὰς φαρμακείας εἴσεται σαφῶς τὴν εἰρωνείαν, καὶ δείσας, μὴ διὰ τὸ περιορᾶσθαι πρὸς τὸν κατ' αὐτοῦ πόλεμον αὖθις ἐκτραπῇ καὶ πείσῃ βασιλίδα τίθεσθαι σπονδὰς πρὸς Καντακουζηνὸν