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and to omit no proof of steadfastness and gratitude towards friends, nor you any of greed and perjury and faithlessness towards friends. For when I was in Beroea, and certain small towns around it and Thessaly came over to me, I for my part tried to increase my dominion from the resources at hand, and having gathered as large an army as was most possible, having also the Germans from you, I came to Thessalonica, having been summoned by my friends; but you immediately plotted against me, though I had provided no cause nor pretext for the war, and you both advised the Thessalonians to attack, and recalled your Germa 3.146 ns almost from the very battle line; which things, if not those of a most hostile man—and if you will not say so, at least all who are present will. And as I was returning from there, you sent an army to the Axius to block the crossing, and all but delivered me into the hands of the enemy with your own hand. For you brought me to such a necessity that, if God from above had not held out a hand for the crossing of the river, we would all have perished ingloriously under the Romans and barbarians who poured around us at the same time. Thus you kept the oaths precisely, and these written not long before. Indeed, you were not content with plotting secretly only, but persuaded by the boasts and fabrications of Apokaukos, and having taken money from him, as it was said, you openly voted me an enemy, whom in the oaths you write you would have as an ally and friend for life; not even you yourself, I think, would say you were keeping your oath. And you sent letters to me openly renouncing the peace and the alliance and declaring a war without herald; which can even now be seen, having been preserved by me to this day. And from that time you did not cease warring openly and plotting secretly. For when I returned to Didymoteichon with Amur, since he was in Asia, you, fulfilling your promise to Apokaukos, marched with the best part of your army, and advanced as far as Mygdonia, openly attacking me. But having encountered Persian 3.147 foot-soldiers, whose ships the Latin triremes had burned, and who did much damage to the army which he sent against them, you yourself also retreated home, struck unexpectedly. And you openly besieged Manuel the Despot, my son, who had been left by me in command of Beroea and the other small towns, by sending an army, and you did not neglect to corrupt those within with money, until, having persuaded them to be disloyal to him, you drove him out to Thessaly, and you yourself held the city. And likewise having besieged Pherae for a long time, while I was pleading and reminding you of the oaths, since I was not able to visit the cities, being occupied by the civil war, you paid no heed, but having pressed them with want and frequent siege, you finally persuaded them to surrender, there too corrupting the most powerful men with money. And after this you campaigned against Thessaly and Acarnania, which were Roman subject lands, leading a multitude of both infantry and cavalry, and you wrought that memorable destruction, by which the Acarnanians came to such distress from famine, that they willingly went to the coasts, to be set forth as an effortless gain for the barbarian slave-traders, and to beg to be carried to another land to be slaves for life, rather than to perish immediately from hunger. And later, after my nephew Angelos died, who ruled, having been sent by me, you seized the provinces and hold them; and in addition to the 3.148 se, not a few other cities of Macedonia, which were under Roman rule when the oaths were made between us. Are these actions, then, of one who is a friend and keeps his oaths and hates greed and robbery, or entirely the opposite? But my actions were not such, but even when Amur came here to my aid, leading twenty-four thousand barbarians, who were able to overthrow your entire dominion, I myself took every precaution that the land under you should suffer no harm, although I had a plausible pretext for the war in your previous plots and your having openly made war both in deeds and indeed by these very things sent from you

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καὶ βεβαιότητος περὶ τοὺς φίλους καὶ εὐγνωμοσύνης μηδὲν δεῖγμα παραλείπειν, μήτε σὲ ἀπληστίας καὶ ἐπιορκίας καὶ περὶ τοὺς φίλους ἀπιστίας. ὡς γὰρ ἐγενόμην ἐν Βεῤῥοίᾳ, καί τινες πολίχναι προσεχώρουν περὶ αὐτὴν καὶ Θετταλία, ἐγὼ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων ἐπειρώμην αὔξειν τὴν ἀρχὴν, καὶ στρατιὰν ἠθροικὼς ὅσην μάλιστα ἐξῆν, ἔχων καὶ Γερμανοὺς τοὺς παρὰ σοῦ, ἧκον εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων κεκλημένος· σὺ δὲ αὐτίκα ἐπεβούλευες μηδεμίαν αἰτίαν, μηδὲ πρόφασιν πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον παρασχομένῳ, καὶ τοῖς τε Θεσσαλονικεῦσι συνεβούλευες ἐπεξιέναι, καὶ Γερμα 3.146 νοὺς τοὺς σοὺς ἀνεκαλοῦ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς παρατάξεως σχεδόν· ἃ εἰ μὴ πολεμιωτάτου, εἰ μὴ σύ γε, ἀλλ' οἱ παρόντες ἅπαντες ἐροῦσι. ἀναστρέφοντι δὲ ἐκεῖθεν στρατιὰν ἔπεμψας ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀξειὸν κωλύουσαν πρὸς τὸν πόρον, καὶ μονονουχὶ τοῖς πολεμίοις αὐτοχειρίᾳ παρεδίδους. ἐς τοσαύτην γὰρ κατέστησας ἀνάγκην, ὥστ' εἰ μὴ θεὸς ἄνωθεν ὑπερέσχε χεῖρα πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ, ἀπωλόμεθ' ἂν πάντες ἀκλεῶς ὑπὸ τῶν περιχυθέντων ὁμοῦ Ῥωμαίων καὶ βαρβάρων. οὕτω τοὺς ὅρκους διετήρησας ἀκριβῶς, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ πρὸ πολλοῦ τοῦ χρόνου γεγραμμένους. οὐ μὴν ἠρκέσθης ἀφανῶς ἐπιβουλεύειν μόνον, ἀλλ' Ἀποκαύκου τοῖς κόμποις καὶ τοῖς πλάσμασι πεισθεὶς, χρήματά τε, ὡς ἐλέγετο, παρ' ἐκείνου εἰληφὼς, πολέμιον ἐμὲ ἐψηφίσω φανερῶς, ὃν ἐν τοῖς ὅρκοις γράφεις διὰ βίου σύμμαχον καὶ φίλον ἕξειν· οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἂν, οἶμαι, φαίης εὐορκῶν. καὶ γράμματα ἔπεμπες ἐμοὶ τὴν εἰρήνην καὶ τὴν συμμαχίαν φανερῶς ἀπαγορεύοντα καὶ πόλεμον καταγγέλλοντα ἀκήρυκτον· ἃ καὶ νῦν ἔξεστιν ὁρᾷν εἰς δεῦρο διασωθέντα παρ' ἐμοί. καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου οὐ διέλιπες φανερῶς τε πολεμῶν καὶ ἀφανῶς ἐπιβουλεύων. ἐμοί τε γὰρ εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον ἐπανήκοντι μετὰ Ἀμοὺρ, ἐπεὶ ἐκεῖνος ἦν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν Ἀποκαύκῳ ἐκπληρῶν, τὸ κράτιστον τῆς στρατιᾶς ἔχων ἐπεστράτευες, καὶ προῆλθες ἄχρι Μυγδονίας φανερῶς ἐπιὼν ἐμοί. Περσῶν δὲ πεζῶν περιτυχόν 3.147 των, ὧν τὰς ναῦς αἱ Λατινικαὶ ἐνέπρησαν τριήρεις, καὶ πολλὰ τῇ στρατιᾷ λυμηναμένων, ἣν ἔπεμπεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς, ἀνεχώρεις καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν πληγεὶς ἀπροσδοκήτως. καὶ Μανουὴλ δεσπότην τὸν υἱὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Βεῤῥοίας τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πολιχνίων καταλελειμμένον ὑπ' ἐμοῦ φανερῶς τε ἐπολιόρκεις πέμπων στρατιὰν, καὶ τοὺς ἔνδον οὐκ ἠμέλεις διαφθείρων χρήμασιν, ἄχρις οὗ πείσας ἐκείνῳ δυσνοεῖν, ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἐξήλασας εἰς Θετταλίαν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν πόλιν εἶχες. καὶ Φερὰς ὁμοίως ἐπὶ συχνὸν πολιορκήσας χρόνον, ἐμοῦ δεομένου καὶ τῶν ὅρκων ἀναμιμνήσκοντος, ἐπεὶ μὴ ταῖς πόλεσιν εἶχον ἐπιδημεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐμφυλίου κατεχόμενος πολέμου, οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐνδείᾳ πιέσας καὶ συχνῇ πολιορκίᾳ, τέλος ἔπεισας προσχωρεῖν, κἀκεῖ τοὺς δυνατωτέρους διαφθείρας χρήμασι. καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο Θετταλίᾳ καὶ Ἀκαρνανίᾳ ἐπεστράτευσας Ῥωμαίοις οὔσαις ὑπηκόοις, πλῆθος πεζῶν τε καὶ ἱππέων ἄγων, καὶ τὴν μνημονευομένην ἐκείνην φθορὰν εἰργάσω, ὑφ' ἧς εἰς τοσαύτην ἀνάγκην Ἀκαρνᾶνες ἦλθον ὑπὸ τοῦ λιμοῦ, ὡς ἑκοντὶ πρὸς τὰ παράλια γινόμενοι, προκεῖσθαι τοῖς ἀνδραποδισταῖς βαρβάροις κέρδος ἄπονον, καὶ δεῖσθαι ἐφ' ἑτέραν γῆν μετενεχθέντας δουλεύειν μᾶλλον διὰ βίου, ἢ ἐν τῷ αὐτίκα διαφθείρεσθαι ὑπὸ λιμοῦ. ὕστερον δὲ Ἀγγέλου τοῦ ἐμοῦ τετελευτηκότος ἀνεψιοῦ, ὃς ἦρχεν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ πεμφθεὶς, ἁρπάσας τὰς ἐπαρχίας ἔχεις· καὶ πρὸς τού 3.148 τοις ἑτέρας πόλεις τῆς Μακεδονίας οὐκ ὀλίγας, αἱ ὑπὸ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίαν ἦσαν, ὅτε πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡμῖν ἐγίνοντο οἱ ὅρκοι. πότερον οὖν ταῦτα φιλοῦντος καὶ εὐορκοῦντος καὶ μισοῦντος τὴν ἀπληστίαν καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν, ἢ τοὐναντίον ἅπαν; ἀλλ' οὐ τὰ ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀμοὺρ ἐνταῦθα πρὸς ἐμὴν ἐπικουρίαν γενομένου, τετρακισχιλίους ἐπὶ δισμυρίοις ἄγοντος βαρβάρους, οἳ τὴν σὴν ἡγεμονίαν πᾶσαν ἀνατρέπειν ἦσαν δυνατοὶ, αὐτὸς ἐποιησάμην πᾶσαν πρόνοιαν, μηδὲν τὴν ὑπὸ σὲ ζημιωθῆναι χώραν, καίτοι πρόφασιν εὐπρόσωπον ἔχων τοῦ πολέμου τὰς προτέρας ἐπιβουλὰς καὶ τὸ φανερῶς ἐκπεπολεμῶσθαι καὶ ἔργοις καὶ τούτοις δὴ τοῖς παρὰ σοῦ πεμφθεῖσι