408

and he showed them to be the cause of the destruction and captivity of the Romans that had occurred. Then he also made them witnesses of the things that were happening, how he himself intended nothing harsh either before or now concerning the empress and the children, but rather whatever was most conducive to the salvation and benefit of the empire. But if she, 2.609 still showing her former ill-will, should attempt to resist and to save herself and her children through war, the blame should not be imputed to him, if anything unpleasant should happen concerning her and her children. For it did not seem expedient to him, nor prudent otherwise, to allow her to sit in the palace, stirring up civil war again, and to overlook the remaining Romans being destroyed by each other. But if she were not persuaded to proceed to agreements, he himself would plan nothing terrible concerning her; but he feared lest, with everyone rushing against them, he might not be able to restrain the impulse, but something irreparable might be dared against them. Then having chosen the metropolitan of Philippi and Kabasilas the sakellarios, who had also previously come to him in Didymoteichon as ambassadors, he sent them to the empress. The embassy was about peace. And first he confessed great thanks to God, that He had brought him to this day, which could make manifest to all, more brightly than the sun, both the wickedness of those who had slandered him and their aversion to what is good, and his own clemency, preserved from the beginning until now, towards the emperor's children, and that nothing ignoble, nor unworthy of the emperor's friendship towards him, was shown to have been done after his death. Then he advised her to proceed to agreements, and not, being suspended by empty hopes 2.610 or deceived by her associates, to think that she would still hold out against the war. For one should not expect that an alliance would come from anywhere outside. For there is not, there is no one, who will come to help, and from the present circumstances there was no hope of being saved, since the fortress required both some time and expenses and materials for repair, which it was not possible to procure, and since her associates were neither a match in battle against such a great force, nor well-supplied with provisions, so as to endure the siege easily. For all these reasons he advised her to proceed to agreements, and not, through ill counsel, to bring about irreparable evils for herself and her children, and to take from him a very great opportunity for good repute. For during the time of the war, he always both wished and prayed that the divine would provide some occasion, from which he himself might demonstrate his clemency and good judgment, and his affection for the emperor, which he has preserved intact until now, and that he intends to care for the children no less than before, taking no account of all the wrongs that were done to him during the war. 104. So the ambassadors and the others present, hearing the emperor's words and his proposal, almost disbelieved because of the excessiveness. For for one who had previously endured so much from his enemies and been placed ten thousand times at the height of danger, then having prevailed with arms and overcome his enemies, not to proceed to murders and slaughters 2.611 and to render like for like to those who began it, but after victory to call for agreements, even though he could destroy them in a short time, seemed to be better than human nature. They were therefore both pleased at the emperor's clemency and amazed at his magnanimity. But the empress did not accept the embassy at all, but sent the ambassadors away unsuccessful, being persuaded by her associates. And the emperor was annoyed and vexed intolerably, wrestling with countless thoughts. For he perceived that her opposition would not end well, but would be a cause of irreparable evils for them and of grief for him greater than during the time the war lasted. For all his associates had come to experience many painful things, and those within Byzantium likewise, having come out of the prisons and bearing the utmost resentment towards the empress's associates, were themselves being sawn asunder by rage

408

καὶ τῆς γεγενημένης φθορᾶς καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐκείνους ἀπεδείκνυεν αἰτίους. ἔπειτα καὶ τῶν γιγνομένων ἐποιεῖτο μάρτυρας, ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν οὔτε πρότερον, οὔτε νῦν δυσχερές τι περὶ βασιλίδος διανοοῖτο καὶ τῶν παίδων, ἀλλ' ὅσα μάλιστά ἐστι πρὸς σωτηρίαν καὶ λυσιτέλειαν τῆς ἀρχῆς. ἂν δ' ἐκείνη 2.609 ἔτι τὴν προτέραν δυσμένειαν ἐνδεικνυμένη, ἀνθίστασθαι ἐπιχειροίη καὶ σώζειν ἑαυτὴν καὶ τέκνα διὰ τοῦ πολέμου, μὴ αὐτῷ προσλογίζεσθαι τὴν αἰτίαν, εἴ τι περὶ αὐτὴν καὶ τέκνα συμβαίη δυσχερές. οὐ γὰρ αὐτῷ λυσιτελεῖν δοκεῖν, οὐδὲ ἄλλως σῶφρον, ἐᾷν αὐτὴν ἐν βασιλείοις καθημένην, τὸν πόλεμον αὖθις τὸν συγγενικὸν ἀνακινοῦσαν, καὶ περιορᾷν τοὺς ὑπολειπομένους Ῥωμαίους ὑπ' ἀλλήλων διαφθειρομένους. ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ πείθοιτο χωρεῖν πρὸς τὰς συμβάσεις, αὐτὸν μὲν περὶ αὐτῆς οὐδὲν βουλεύσεσθαι δεινόν· δεδοικέναι δὲ μὴ, συμπάντων ὡρμημένων ἐπ' αὐτοὺς, μὴ δύνηται αὐτὸς ἀνέχειν τὴν ὁρμὴν, ἀλλά τι τολμηθῇ περὶ αὐτοὺς τῶν ἀνηκέστων. ἔπειτα τὸν τῆς Φιλίππου μητροπολίτην ἀπολεξάμενος καὶ Καβάσιλαν τὸν σακελλίου, οἳ καὶ πρότερον εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον ἧκον πρὸς ἐκεῖνον πρεσβευταὶ, ἔπεμπε πρὸς βασιλίδα. ἡ πρεσβεία δὲ ἦν περὶ εἰρήνης. καὶ πρῶτα μὲν πολλὰς ὡμολόγει χάριτας θεῷ, ὅτι πρὸς ταύτην ἤγαγε τὴν ἡμέραν, ἣ λαμπρότερον ἡλίου πᾶσι δύναται καταφανῆ ποιεῖν καὶ τὴν μοχθηρίαν τῶν σεσυκοφαντηκότων καὶ τὴν ἀπέχθειαν πρὸς τὰ καλὰ, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρός τε τοὺς βασιλέως παῖδας ἐξαρχῆς ἄχρι νῦν ἐπιείκειαν διασεσωσμένην, καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἀγεννὲς, μηδὲ ἀνάξιον τῆς βασιλέως πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίας μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν φανῆναι διαπεπραγμένον. ἔπειτα συνεβούλευε χωρεῖν πρὸς τὰς συμβάσεις, καὶ μὴ κεναῖς ἐλπίσιν 2.610 αἰωρουμένην ἢ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν συνόντων ἐξαπατωμένην, οἴεσθαι ἀντισχήσειν ἔτι πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. οὔτε γὰρ ἔξωθέν ποθεν ἥξειν χρὴ συμμαχίαν προσδοκᾷν. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεὶς, ὃς ἀφίξεται ἐπικουρήσων, ἔκ τε τῶν παρόντων ἐλπὶς οὐδεμία σώζεσθαι, τοῦ φρουρίου μὲν καὶ χρόνου τινὸς καὶ ἀναλωμάτων δεομένου καὶ ὑλῶν πρὸς ἐπισκευὴν, ἃ οὐκ ἔξεστι πορίζεσθαι, τῶν συνόντων δὲ οὔτε ἀξιομάχων ὄντων πρὸς τοσαύτην δύναμιν, οὔτε τῶν ἐπιτηδείων εὐπορούντων, ὥστε διαφέρειν τὴν πολιορκίαν εὐμαρῶς. δι' ἃ πάντα πρὸς συμβάσεις αὐτῇ συνεβούλευε χωρεῖν, καὶ μὴ αὐτῇ μὲν καὶ τέκνοις τὰ ἀνήκεστα προξενεῖν ἐξ ἀβουλίας, αὐτοῦ δὲ μεγίστην πρόφασιν εὐδοξίας ἀφαιρεῖν. τοῦτο γὰρ κατὰ τὸν τοῦ πολέμου χρόνον καὶ βούλεσθαι ἀεὶ καὶ εὔχεσθαι πρόφασίν τινα τὸ θεῖον παρασχεῖν, ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸς τὴν ἐπιείκειαν καὶ τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην ἐπιδείξεται, καὶ τὸ πρὸς βασιλέα φίλτρον, ὡς ἀκέραιον νῦν ἄχρι διασώζει, καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ πρότερον κήδεσθαι τῶν παίδων διανοεῖται, λόγον ποιούμενος οὐδένα τῶν ὅσα πρὸς αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν πόλεμον ἠγνωμονήθη. ρʹ. Οἱ μὲν οὖν πρέσβεις καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οἱ παρόντες τοὺς βασιλέως λόγους καὶ τὴν ἀξίωσιν ἀκούοντες, ὀλίγου δεῖν καὶ ἠπίστουν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολήν. τὸ γὰρ τοσαῦτα πρότερον ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμούντων ὑπομείναντα καὶ μυριάκις ἐν ἀκμῇ κινδύνου καταστάντα, ἔπειτα κρατήσαντα τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ περιγενόμενον τῶν πολεμίων, μὴ πρὸς φόνους καὶ σφαγὰς χωρεῖν 2.611 καὶ ἴσ' ἀντ' ἴσων ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς πρώτοις ἄρξασιν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν νίκην ἐπὶ συμβάσεις προκαλεῖσθαι, καίτοι δυνάμενον ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ διαφθείρειν, κρεῖττον εἶναι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἐδόκει. ἥδοντό τε οὖν ὁμοῦ διὰ τὴν βασιλέως ἐπιείκειαν καὶ ἐθαύμαζον τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν. βασιλὶς δὲ παντάπασιν οὐ προσεδέχετο τὴν πρεσβείαν, ἀλλ' ἀπράκτους ἀπέπεμπε τοὺς πρέσβεις, ὑπὸ τῶν συνόντων πειθομένη. καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἠνιᾶτο καὶ ἐδυσχέραινεν οὐκ ἀνεκτῶς μυρίοις προσπαλαίων λογισμοῖς. συνεώρα γὰρ τὴν ἔνστασιν οὐ τελευτήσουσαν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ, ἀλλ' ἐκείνοις τε ἀνηκέστων κακῶν καὶ τούτῳ μείζονος ἢ καθ' ὅσον χρόνον ἦν ὁ πόλεμος, λύπης αἰτίαν ἐσομένην. οἵ τε γὰρ συνόντες ἅπαντες εἰς πολλῶν πεῖραν ἀλγεινῶν ἐλθόντες, καὶ οἱ ἔνδον ὁμοίως Βυζαντίου τῶν δεσμωτηρίων ἐξελθόντες καὶ μνησικακοῦντες ἐσχάτως τοῖς συνοῦσι βασιλίδι, αὐτοί τε διεπρίοντο ὑπ' ὀργῆς