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he used to lock them in the prisons, until one might be released from there; then he did none of the necessary things, 2.543 deprived of his senses by God, as it seems, and abandoned to die. But the prisoners, scattered about, were wandering the courtyard of the palace, and he himself, leaving his bodyguard outside, entered with only one man accompanying him. And the prisoners, when they saw him entering so unguarded, thinking it an opportunity for an attack, rushed upon him, a few of them at first, who happened to be in the same place. Among them was also his nephew Alexios the doux, who had himself been condemned to prison by his uncle on behalf of the emperor Kantakouzenos. So at first they used stones against him; for they had no iron weapon readily available. Then one of them, with a club found by chance, struck him on the head many times and brought him down. After this, using an axe belonging to the carpenters who were building the prison, they cut off his head. But the guard of the megas doux and the others who followed, when they perceived that he was dead, did not turn to his defense, but, astounded at the audacity, scattered, some in one direction, some in another. The prisoners, for their part, at first all ran together towards the commotion. For most of them did not know what was happening. But when they learned that the megas doux was dead, some of the more daring ones hung the body on the walls. And having impaled the head on a javelin, they likewise placed it on the walls, so that it might be 2.544 clearly visible to all. For they thought they were doing a favor to the people, who considered the megas doux a common enemy, as being the one most responsible for the civil war. For everyone by now was not ignorant of what had happened. And they prepared themselves with the resources at hand, so as to defend themselves if anyone should attack, trusting especially in the high walls of the palace. At the same time a certain hope also flattered them, that no one would take vengeance for him, since everyone hated him, and that the empress, fearing they might cause more trouble, would not only provide oaths of amnesty and impunity, but would also yield to certain other demands. So the empress, as soon as she learned of it, ordered the panhypersebastos Isaac Asan (for he immediately succeeded to the command of affairs) to take every precaution and to give oaths to the prisoners, so that they would leave the palace. For she feared concerning them the very things which they themselves supposed. But he, since a great mass of business had suddenly come upon him, neglected the prisoners. And they passed that day and that night with no one attacking; during which, if they had wished, they could have saved themselves, either by getting to the temple of God's Wisdom, or by scattering somewhere else; for no one was guarding them. But having foolishly hoped for great things, they were deprived of their dear life. For on the next day Tzephraitis, one of the servants of the megas doux, a man who delighted in blood and a bitter and inhuman punisher (for 2.545 he held the place of executioner while that one was alive), taking vengeance for his master, stirred up the people, and especially the navy, which held no small goodwill towards that man, as he had always been occupied with their affairs. And taking up arms, they proceeded against them. But they, lacking any useful resources—for they had no arms with which to arm themselves and man the walls, and the size of the fortress was too great to be guarded by them, being fewer in number, while the attackers were countless and swarming from all sides—when they perceived the walls being dug through and that they were now about to be captured, left the fortress and fled to the nearby church called that of the Nine Orders. And some of them entered the sanctuary, while others hid in the underground passages, of which there were many there, and labyrinthine. But the people, attacking with an uncontrollable and frenzied rush, slaughtered some of them inside the sanctuary, and the others where they were caught, and very few escaped the danger, and especially those who had killed the megas doux. All the others were slaughtered, and they were not a few. For it was not possible to learn the number very clearly, as indeed from different

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κατέκλειεν ἐν ταῖς εἱρκταῖς, ἄχρις ἂν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπαλλάττοιτο, τότε τῶν δεόντων 2.543 οὐδὲν ἐποίει, τὸ φρονεῖν ὑπὸ θεοῦ, ὡς ἔοικε, παρῃρημένος καὶ ἐγκαταλειφθεὶς πρὸς τὸ ἀποθανεῖν. ἀλλὰ οἵ τε δεσμῶται διεσκεδασμένοι, περιῄεσαν τῶν βασιλείων τὴν αὐλὴν, καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν δορυφορίαν ἔξω καταλιπὼν, εἰσῄει ἑνὸς παρεπομένου μόνου. οἱ δεσμῶται δὲ ὡς εἶδον οὕτως ἀφύλακτον εἰσιόντα, καιρὸν ἐπιθέσεως νομίσαντες, ὥρμησαν ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ὀλίγοι τινὲς πρῶτον, οἳ ἔτυχον ὄντες ἐν ταὐτῷ. ἐν οἷς καὶ ὁ ἀνεψιὸς ἦν αὐτῷ Ἀλέξιος ὁ δοὺξ ὑπὲρ Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως τὸ δεσμωτήριον κατακεκριμένος καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου. πρῶτα μὲν οὖν ἐχρῶντο λίθοις ἐπ' αὐτῷ· οὐ γὰρ εὐπόρουν τινὸς σιδήρου. ἔπειτά τις αὐτῶν ῥοπάλῳ κατὰ τύχην εὑρημένῳ ἔπληξε κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς πολλάκις καὶ κατήνεγκε. μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ χρησάμενοι σκεπάρνῳ τῶν τὸ δεσμωτήριον οἰκοδομούντων τεκτόνων, ἀπέτεμον αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλήν. ἡ δὲ περὶ μέγαν δοῦκα φρουρὰ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι, ὅσοι εἵποντο, ὡς ᾐσθάνοντο ἐκεῖνον τεθνεῶτα, οὐ πρὸς ἄμυναν ἐτράποντο ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου, ἀλλὰ καταπλαγέντες πρὸς τὴν τόλμαν, ἄλλοι ἄλλοσε διεσκεδάσθησαν. οἱ δεσμῶται δὲ πρῶτα μὲν πρὸς τὴν ταραχὴν συνέδραμον πάντες. ἠγνόουν γὰρ αὐτῶν οἱ πλεῖστοι ὅ,τι εἴη. ὡς δὲ ἔγνωσαν τὸν μέγαν δοῦκα τεθνηκότα, τὸ σῶμα μὲν ἀνήρτησαν ἐπὶ τῶν τειχῶν τῶν θρασυτέρων τινές. τὴν κεφαλὴν δὲ περιπείραντες ἀκοντίῳ, καὶ αὐτὴν ὁμοίως ἐπέστησαν τοῖς τείχεσιν, ἵν' εἴη πᾶσι 2.544 καταφανής. ᾤοντο γὰρ μᾶλλον κεχαρισμένα τῷ δήμῳ δρᾷν, πολέμιον κοινὸν τὸν μέγαν δοῦκα ἡγουμένῳ, οἷα δὴ τοῦ ἐμφυλίου πολέμου ὄντα αἰτιώτατον. πάντες γὰρ ἤδη τὰ γεγενημένα οὐκ ἠγνόουν. αὐτοὶ δὲ παρεσκευάζοντο ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων, ὡς ἀμυνούμενοι, ἂν ἐπίωσί τινες, τοῖς τείχεσι τῶν βασιλείων μάλιστα θαῤῥοῦντες οὖσιν ὑψηλοῖς. ἅμα δὲ καὶ ὑπέσαινέ τις αὐτοὺς ἐλπὶς, ὡς οὐδεὶς ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου ἀμυνεῖται, πάντων ἐχθραινόντων, καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς δὲ, δείσασα μή τι νεωτερίσωσι πλέον περὶ αὐτῶν, οὐ μόνον ἀμνηστίας ὅρκους παρέξεται καὶ ἀπαθείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἕτερά τινα αἰτήματα ὑπείξει. ἡ μὲν οὖν βασιλὶς αὐτίκα ὡς ἐπύθετο, πανυπερσέβαστον Ἰσαάκιον ἐκέλευε τὸν Ἀσάνην, οὗτος γὰρ αὐτίκα διεδέχετο τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ἀρχὴν, πᾶσαν πρόνοιαν ποιήσασθαι καὶ ὅρκους παρέχειν τοῖς δεσμώταις, ὥστε τῶν βασιλείων ἐξελθεῖν. ἔδεισε γὰρ περὶ αὐτῶν ἅπερ κἀκεῖνοι ὑπενόουν. ἐκεῖνος δὲ, ὄχλου πολλοῦ πραγμάτων ἀθρόον περὶ αὐτὸν γεγενημένου, ἠμέλει τῶν δεσμωτῶν. καὶ τήν τε ἡμέραν ἐκείνην καὶ τὴν νύκτα διήγαγον, οὐδενὸς ἐπιθεμένου· καθ' ἣν εἰ ἐβούλοντο, διεσώζοντο ἂν, ἢ ἐν τῷ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενόμενοι νεῷ Σοφίας, ἢ ἄλλοσέ ποι διασκεδασθέντες· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐφρούρει. μεγάλα δὲ ἐλπίσαντες ἀνοήτως, καὶ τῆς φίλης ἀπεστέρηνται ζωῆς. ἐς τὴν ὑστεραίαν γὰρ Τζεφραίτις ἐκ τῶν οἰκετῶν μεγάλου δουκὸς, αἵμασι χαίρων ἄνθρωπος καὶ πικρὸς καὶ ἀπάνθρωπος κολαστὴς, δημίου γὰρ 2.545 ἐπεῖχε τόπον ἐκείνου περιόντος, ὑπὲρ τοῦ δεσπότου ἀμυνόμενος, τὸν δῆμον ἐκίνει, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ ναυτικὸν, εὔνοιαν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον κεκτημένον οὐ μικρὰν, οἷα δὴ περὶ αὐτοὺς ἀεὶ ἠσχολημένον. καὶ ὅπλα ἀναλαβόντες ἐχώρουν ἐπ' ἐκείνους. οἱ δὲ τῶν χρησίμων εὐποροῦντες οὐδενὸς, ὅπλα τε γὰρ αὐτοῖς οὐ παρῆσαν, οἷς φραξάμενοι ἐπιστήσονται τοῖς τείχεσι, καὶ τὸ τοῦ φρουρίου μέγεθος κρεῖττον ἦν, ἢ ὥστε παρ' αὐτῶν φυλάττεσθαι, ὄντων ἐλασσόνων, ἀπείρων τῶν ἐπικειμένων ὄντων καὶ πανταχόθεν περιῤῥυέντων, ὡς ᾔσθοντο διορυσσόμενα τὰ τείχη καὶ ἁλίσκεσθαι μέλλειν ἤδη, τὸ φρούριον ἐκλιπόντες ἐπὶ τὸν ἐγγὺς κατέφυγον ναὸν τὸν τῶν ἐννέα ταγμάτων προσαγορευόμενον. καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν τὰ ἄδυτα εἰσῄεσαν, οἱ δὲ ἐν ὑπονόμοις κατεκρύπτοντο οὖσιν ἐκεῖ πλείστοις καὶ δυσελίκτοις. ὁ δῆμος δὲ ἐπελθόντες ὁρμῇ τινι ἀσχέτῳ καὶ μανιώδει, τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέσφαξαν τῶν ἀδύτων ἔνδον, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους οἷ κατελαμβάνοντο, καὶ διέδρασαν τὸν κίνδυνον ὀλίγοι πάνυ καὶ μάλιστα οἱ τὸν μέγαν δοῦκα ἀπεκτονότες. οἱ δ' ἄλλοι πάντες ἀπεσφάγησαν ὄντες οὐκ ὀλίγοι. σαφέστατα γὰρ τὸν ἀριθμὸν οὐκ ἐξεγένετο μαθεῖν, οἷα δὴ ἐκ διαφόρων