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having advanced to the peak of Roman learning and being most beautifully trained in the works of Aristotle. One of them was from Savoy, of the paternal house of the Empress Anna, the leader of the men-at-arms; for which reason he was then sent by his countrymen to the emperor, in order to investigate as thoroughly as possible the causes of the war, through his familiarity with the empress Anna not only not currying favor with the emperor, but also contradicting and refuting him, as much as was possible; the other came only to be a hearer of the matters being investigated, so that the former, by again showing favor to himself, might not wish to conceal the truth. And coming into the camp and addressing the emperor, they said that they had come both for the sake of conversation and for an audience with him, since he was encamped so near. But what had most persuaded them to come was that for a long time now this mutual war among the Romans having been stirred up, and the cities being destroyed daily by the warring factions, and the rest of the country by the ravages of Romans and barbarians, and very many incurable things being done, and many being killed and enslaved each day, neither is any solution to these evils 2.504 found, nor is it even possible to learn the truth, whence the war first began and for what causes it has not yet been able to be stopped, but so it advances, consuming everything like a flame. And yet they had heard from many, who related things in different ways according as each had hostility or good will towards you, the emperors; whom they had judged it not right to believe, since they deem it proper that the facts also change along with their own passions. And so they especially asked him to explain himself, as he knew each matter more clearly than others and would not wish to conceal the truth, since he held to the truth, as we hear, from the beginning, and especially since there were many who would be able to refute him, if he should appear to have chosen not to speak the truth. The emperor praised them not only for having come to him, but also for their request and acknowledged no ordinary thanks. For he said that he had long desired those who would be willing to listen for the sake of truth, and not for strife and contention. For in addition to the other evils which the war had brought upon him, he also considered this one of the burdens, never to have found any intelligent hearers who would judge for him concerning this war. And now that they had come by chance, and were asking for things which he himself considered a matter of greatest prayer to obtain, especially since they were able to hold the place of judges with him, not only 2.505 because of their wisdom and understanding, but also because they had come for this very purpose, so that from what was said they might know the truth about the war, he would most gladly set forth everything and would be grateful for the request. And he asked them, holding nothing back, to refute him, if he should appear to be breaking his oath and doing wrong and plotting either against the emperor's children of his friend, or to have been the cause of the war and of the unspeakable ruin of the Romans. And beginning straightway from the start he related each thing, both his and the emperor Andronikos's precise goodwill and friendship toward one another, and how after his death he himself had exercised great forethought, not only for the emperor's children and his wife the empress, but also for the benefit of the Romans, being ready not only to spend money on their behalf, but also to give up his dear life most readily, if the occasion should call for it; and how he had been plotted against by the parakoimomenos for no reason, except that he had envied him and intended to destroy him, so that he himself might rule affairs; and how he had deceived the patriarch and the others, fabricating lies and slanders, which he had not even thought of; and how they, for the sake of their own differences, as they thought, knowing most clearly that they were lying and slandering, started the war, ostensibly on behalf of the empress and the children, having deceived many; and what ingratitude and inhumanity they had displayed not only toward him but also his mother and his relatives, using outrages befitting base 2.506 and servile men, and who not even in

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Ῥωμαίοις εἰς ἄκρον ἐληλακότας καὶ τὰ Ἀριστοτέλους κάλλιστα ἐξησκημένους. ἦν δὲ ὁ μὲν ἕτερος αὐτῶν ἐκ Σαβωΐας τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας Ἄννῃ τῇ βασιλίδι, τῶν μενουρίων ἡγούμενος· διὸ καὶ τότε πρὸς βασιλέα παρὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἐπέμφθη, ἵν' ὡς μάλιστα τὰς αἰτίας ἐξετάσῃ τοῦ πολέμου, τῇ πρὸς βασιλίδα τὴν Ἄνναν οἰκειότητι οὐ μόνον βασιλεῖ μὴ χαριζόμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντιλέγων καὶ ἀπελέγχων, ὅσα δυνατά· ὁ δὲ λοιπὸς τῶν ἐξεταζομένων ἀκροατὴς ἐσόμενος μόνον ἥκει, ἵνα μὴ ἐκεῖνος αὖθις χαριζόμενος ἑαυτῷ, ἀποκρύπτειν ἐθελήσῃ τἀληθῆ. ἐλθόντες δὲ εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ βασιλέα προσαγορεύσαντες, ἥκειν μὲν ἔφασαν καὶ ὁμιλίας ἕνεκα καὶ συντυχίας τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν, οὕτως ἐγγὺς ἐστρατοπεδευμένου. τὸ μάλιστα δὲ πεῖσαν εἶναι ἀφικέσθαι, ὅτι χρόνον ἤδη συχνὸν τοῦ πρὸς ἀλλήλους Ῥωμαίοις πολέμου τουτουῒ κεκινημένου καὶ διαφθειρομένων ὁσημέραι τῶν πόλεων ὑπ' ἀλλήλων στασιαζόντων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης χώρας ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων καὶ βαρβάρων τῶν κατατρεχόντων καὶ πλείστων καὶ ἀνηκέστων τελουμένων καὶ πολλῶν καθ' ἡμέραν κτεινομένων καὶ ἐξανδραποδιζομένων, οὔτε λύσις τῶν κακῶν 2.504 οὐδεμία ἐξευρίσκεται, οὐδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔξεστι τἀληθὲς μαθεῖν, ὅθεν τε ἤρξατο ὁ πόλεμος τὸ πρῶτον κἀκ τίνων τῶν αἰτίων οὔπω μέχρι νῦν καταλυθῆναι ἠδυνήθη, ἀλλ' οὕτως ἔπεισι πάντα ὥσπερ φλὸξ καταναλίσκων. καίτοι γε ἀκηκοέναι ἐκ πολλῶν, ἄλλων ἄλλως ὡς ἕκαστος ἀπεχθείας ἢ εὐνοίας πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς βασιλέας ἔχουσι διηγουμένων· οἷς οὐ δίκαιον πιστεύειν κεκρικέναι, τοῖς σφετέροις αὐτῶν πάθεσι συμμεταβάλλεσθαι ἀξιοῦσι καὶ τὰ πράγματα. διὸ καὶ δεῖσθαι μάλιστα αὐτοῦ αὐτὸν ἐξηγήσασθαι, ὡς ἔσχεν ἕκαστα σαφέστατά τε εἰδότα τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον καὶ τἀληθὲς οὐ βουλησόμενον ἀποκρύπτειν, οἷα δὴ ἀληθείας τε ἐχόμενον, ὥσπερ ἀκούομεν, ἐξαρχῆς, ἄλλως τε καὶ πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν δυνησομένων ἀπελέγχειν, ἂν φαίνηται μὴ λέγειν ᾑρημένος τἀληθῆ. βασιλεὺς δὲ οὐ τοῦ παρ' αὐτὸν ἀφῖχθαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς αἰτήσεως ἐπῄνει καὶ χάριτας οὐ τὰς τυχούσας ὡμολόγει. πάλαι γὰρ ἔφασκεν ἐπιθυμεῖν τῶν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ' οὐ πρὸς ἔριν καὶ φιλονεικίαν ἀκούειν βουλησομένων. πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις οἷς ἐπήνεγκεν ὁ πόλεμος αὐτῷ κακοῖς καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἐπαχθῶν ἡγεῖσθαι, τὸ μηδέποτε συνετῶν τινων ἀκροατῶν τυχεῖν, οἳ δικάσουσιν αὐτῷ περὶ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου. νυνὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς κατὰ τύχην ἀφιγμένοις παρέχεσθαί τε δεομένοις, ὧν αὐτὸς τυχεῖν ἐν μεγίστης εὐχῆς ἦγε μέρει, ἄλλως τε καὶ δυναμένοις τόπον δικαστῶν κατέχειν παρ' αὐτῷ, οὐ μόνον 2.505 διὰ τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τούτῳ ἥκοιεν, ἵν' ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων τἀληθῆ περὶ τοῦ πολέμου γνοῖεν, ἥδιστά τε ἅπαντα αὐτὸν ἐκθήσεσθαι καὶ χάριν εἰδήσειν τῆς αἰτήσεως. ἐδεῖτό τε αὐτῶν, μηδὲν ὑποστειλαμένους ἐξελέγχειν, ἂν φαίνηται ἐπιορκῶν καὶ ἀδικῶν καὶ ἢ τοῖς βασιλέως παισὶ τοῦ φίλου ἐπιβουλεύων, ἢ τοῦ πολέμου αἴτιος καὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀμυθήτου φθορᾶς γεγενημένος. ἀρξάμενός τε ἀπ' ἀρχῆς εὐθὺς διηγεῖτο ἕκαστα, τήν τε αὐτοῦ καὶ βασιλέως Ἀνδρονίκου εὔνοιαν καὶ φιλίαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀκριβῆ, καὶ ὡς μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν πολλὴν πρόνοιαν αὐτὸς ποιήσαιτο, οὐ τῶν βασιλέως μόνον παίδων καὶ γυναικὸς τῆς βασιλίδος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ὠφελείας, οὐ χρήματα μόνον ἕτοιμος ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων ἀναλίσκειν ὢν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ζωὴν τὴν φίλην, εἰ καιρὸς καλοίη, ῥᾷστα προησόμενος· ὅπως τε ὑπὸ παρακοιμωμένου ἐπιβουλευθείη οὐδεμιᾶς αἰτίας ἕνεκα, ἢ φθονήσαντος αὐτῷ καὶ φθείρειν διανοηθέντος, ἵν' αὐτὸς ἄρχῃ τῶν πραγμάτων· καὶ ὡς πατριάρχην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐξαπατήσειε, ψεύδη πλασάμενος καὶ συκοφαντίας, ἃ οὐδὲ ἐνεθυμήθη· καὶ ὡς ἐκεῖνοι τῶν ἰδίων ἕνεκα, ὡς ᾤοντο, διαφορῶν, σαφέστατα εἰδότες, ὅτι ψεύδονται καὶ συκοφαντοῦσιν, ὑπὲρ βασιλίδος δῆθεν καὶ τῶν παίδων τὸν πόλεμον κινοῖεν πολλὰ ἐξαπατήσαντες· καὶ οἵαν ἀγνωμοσύνην καὶ ἀπανθρωπίαν οὐ περὶ αὐτὸν μόνον καὶ μητέρα καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ἐπιδείξαιντο, ὕβρεσιν ἀτόποις καὶ φαύλοις προσηκούσαις 2.506 καὶ ἀνελευθέροις χρησάμενοι ἀνθρώποις, καὶ τὸν οὐδ' ἐν