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of the Romans and Latins in that battle, thirty-two. And it happened on the same night that a trireme from Venice arrived to Nicholas, which announced that seventy triremes, having set sail from Gen 3.197 oa, were coming against them, and the council and the doge ordered him to take care of himself and the triremes, lest he be caught by the enemy's fleet and be destroyed. For the people in Genoa, no short time before, having warred against the powerful men among them, had driven some out, having overcome the nobles and voted for their perpetual exile, and held others in dishonor, deeming them worthy of neither council nor any office, but in every way they oppressed and humiliated them. For they wished rather to be ruled by a democracy than to be ruled by those men. Having appointed a certain one of the people, called Simon Boccanegra, they allowed him to rule their affairs, with both the people and the council voting in agreement. But when this Venetian war was stirred up, since they saw that they themselves were unable to resist, without the powerful men also contributing, as the war required much money and greater preparation, they voted for the return of the exiled nobles and gave them a share in their council and ordered them to take part in affairs. But the powerful men, seeing that if they in their anger should reject reconciliation with the people, nothing else remained than for them, with the people being destroyed by the Venetians, to share the danger, and considering it terrible and most shameful, on account of the people's ingratitude towards them, to willingly betray their freedom and serve those far worse than themselves disgracefully and ignobly, they reproached the people for their ingratitude and lack of dis 3.198 cernment, because they so readily mistreat the nobles, having nothing else to accuse them of, than that they are better than the many, but they took up the war eagerly for the common good, providing both money and arms and the other contribution, as much as was needed; And they prepared the fleet of seventy ships, and having appointed as general Paganino from the most illustrious Doria family, who surpassed the others on account of his intelligence and daring and experience, they sent him out to the war. But Nicholas, the general of the Venetian triremes, when he learned the news about the enemy's fleet, being previously most timid in battles, was then even more terrified and immediately looked to flight; but so that the prepared assault on the walls might not be prevented, he reported nothing of what he had learned to the emperor, but having his own triremes and the engine on the transport ship, drawn up so as not to be hit, he was only under arms, giving the appearance that he was about to fight, but he refrained entirely from action. But the Romans, according to the emperor's command, at dawn attacked the enemies' walls both with the triremes and with the engines from the transport ships. The engines, therefore, not reaching the walls, were left useless. Nevertheless, the hoplites in them, having come near, shot at those on the walls and wounded very many; likewise also those from the triremes. And not a few of the imperial troops were wounded, and some fell. And the general Tarchaneiotes was wounded 3.199 in the right elbow by an arrow, and it passed through both surfaces, although he was wearing armor; with such force did it strike. From this he came very near to dying, but by the providence of God he was saved, having endured many and unbearable pains; for with difficulty in two years did the wound receive a scar. And the emperor ordered the army to attack from the land and to throw the wagons into the ditch, so that they might rest the ladders against the walls, once it had been made crossable. And they did not throw all of them in. And while the soldiers were still occupied with these things, the men in Galata, having repulsed the battle from the sea, ran to the most hard-pressed part of the walls on the landward side, and opening the gates, they poured out and set fire to the material and burned it all up along with the wagons. And shooting from the walls they wounded many men and
477
Ῥωμαίων καὶ Λατίνων κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν μάχην δύο καὶ τριάκοντα. συνέβη δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς νυκτὸς ἐκ Βενετίας τριήρη πρὸς Νικόλαον ἀφῖχθαι, ἣ ἐμήνυεν, ἑβδομήκοντα τριήρεις ἐκ Γεν 3.197 νούας ἀνηγμένας ἰέναι ἐπ' αὐτοὺς, ἐκέλευόν τε ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δοὺξ, πρόνοιαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν τριηρέων ποιεῖσθαι, μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ πολεμίων στόλου ἐγκαταληφθεὶς ἀπόληται. ὁ γὰρ ἐν Γεννούᾳ δῆμος οὐκ ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ πρότερον πρὸς τοὺς παρὰ σφίσι πολεμήσαντες δυνατοὺς, τοὺς μὲν ἐξήλασαν, περιγενόμενοι τῶν ἀρίστων καὶ ἀειφυγίαν καταψηφισάμενοι, τοὺς δ' ἀτίμους εἶχον, μήτε βουλῆς ἀξιοῦντες, μήτ' ἀρχῆς μηδεμιᾶς, ἀλλὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐπίεζον καὶ ἐταπείνουν. δημοκρατεῖσθαι γὰρ ἐβούλοντο μᾶλλον, ἢ ὑπ' ἐκείνων ἄρχεσθαι. τοῦ δήμου δέ τινα προστησάμενοι Σίμωνα Μπουκανέγραν προσαγορευόμενον, ἄρχειν ἐφῆκαν τῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῆς βουλῆς συνεπιψηφιζομένης. τοῦ Βενετικοῦ δὲ πολέμου τουτουῒ κεκινημένου, ἐπεὶ ἑώρων ἀντικαθίστασθαι ὄντες ἀδύνατοι αὐτοὶ, μὴ καὶ τῶν δυνατῶν συναιρομένων, οἷα δὴ πολλῶν χρημάτων καὶ μείζονος δεομένου τοῦ πολέμου τῆς παρασκευῆς, τῶν τε φευγόντων ἀρίστων κάθοδον ἐψηφίσαντο καὶ τῆς παρὰ σφίσι μετέδοσαν βουλῆς καὶ τῶν πραγμάτων ἅπτεσθαι ἐκέλευον. οἱ δυνατοὶ δὲ ὁρῶντες, ὡς, ἢν αὐτοὶ πρὸς ὀργὴν τὰς πρὸς τὸν δῆμον διωθῶνται καταλλαγὰς, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ὑπολείπεται, ἢ, ἐκείνων διαφθειρομένων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ Βενετίας, καὶ αὐτοὺς συγκινδυνεύειν, καὶ δεινὸν ἡγούμενοι καὶ τῶν αἰσχίστων, διὰ τὴν τοῦ δήμου πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀγνωμοσύνην ἑκοντὶ προδιδόναι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ δουλεύειν τοῖς πολλῷ χείροσιν αἰσχρῶς καὶ ἀγεννῶς, ὠνείδισαν μὲν τῷ δήμῳ τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἀκρι 3.198 σίαν, ὅτι τοὺς ἀρίστους οὕτω προπηλακίζουσιν εὐχερῶς, μηδὲν ἕτερον ἔχοντες ἐγκαλεῖν, ἢ ὅτι βελτίους τῶν πολλῶν εἰσιν, ὑφίσταντο δὲ τὸν πόλεμον προθύμως ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ, καὶ χρήματα παρασχόμενοι καὶ ὅπλα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην συντέλειαν, ὅσην ἔδει· τόν τε στόλον τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα νεῶν παρεσκευάσαντο, καὶ Παγανὴν ἐπιστήσαντες στρατηγὸν ἐκ τοῦ τῶν Ὀρίων γένους τὸν ἐπιφανέστατον, καὶ συνέσεως καὶ τόλμης ἕνεκα καὶ ἐμπειρίας ὑπερέχοντα τῶν ἄλλων, ἐξέπεμψαν ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον. Νικόλαος δὲ ὁ τῶν Βενετικῶν τριηρέων στρατηγὸς, ἐπεὶ ἐπύθετο τὴν περὶ τοῦ τῶν πολεμίων στόλου ἀγγελίαν, καὶ πρότερον ἀτολμότατος πρὸς μάχας ὢν, τότε μᾶλλον ἐξεπέπληκτο καὶ εὐθὺς ἀπεῖδε πρὸς φυγήν· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἡ παρεσκευασμένη τειχομαχία κωλυθῇ, βασιλεῖ μὲν οὐδὲν ὧν ἐπύθετο ἀπήγγελλε, τὰς σφετέρας δὲ τριήρεις ἔχων καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ὁλκάδος μηχανὴν, ὅσον μὴ βάλλεσθαι παρατεταγμένος, μόνον ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις ἦν, δόκησιν παρέχων, ὡς μαχούμενος, ἔργου δὲ παντάπασιν ἀπείχετο. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἐπίταγμα βασιλέως ἅμα ἕῳ τοῖς τείχεσι προσέβαλον τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ταῖς τριήρεσι καὶ ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ὁλκάδων μηχαναῖς. αἱ μὲν οὖν μηχαναὶ τῶν τειχῶν μὴ ἐφικνούμεναι, ἄπρακτοι ἐλείποντο. ὅμως ἐγγὺς γενόμενοι οἱ ἐν αὐταῖς ὁπλῖται ἔβαλλον τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν καὶ πλείστους ἐτραυμάτισαν· ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν τριηρέων. ἐτραυματίσθησαν δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγοι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλικῶν, καὶ ἔπεσόν τινες. ἐτρώθη 3.199 δὲ καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς Ταρχανειώτης τὸν δεξιὸν ἀγκῶνα βέλει, καὶ διήλασεν ἀμφοτέρας τὰς ἐπιφανείας, καίτοι τεθωρακισμένον· μετὰ τοσαύτης προσέπεσε τῆς ῥύμης· ἐξ οὗ μάλιστα μὲν ἦλθε τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν ἐγγὺς, προνοίᾳ δὲ θεοῦ περιεσώθη, πολλὰς καὶ ἀνυποίστους ἀλγηδόνας ἐνεγκών· μόλις γὰρ ἐν ἔτεσι δυσὶν οὐλὴν ἐδέξατο τὸ τραῦμα. βασιλεύς τε ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου προσβάλλειν τε ἐκέλευε τῇ στρατιᾷ καὶ τῇ τάφρῳ ἐμβάλλειν τὰς ἁμάξας, ὡς ἂν τοῖς τείχεσι τὰς κλίμακας ἐρείσωσι, διαβατῆς γεγενημένης. καὶ ἐνέβαλλον οὐ πάσας. ἔτι δὲ τοῖς στρατιώταις περὶ ταῦτα ἠσχολημένοις, οἱ ἐν Γαλατᾷ τὴν ἐκ θαλάττης μάχην ἀποσκευασάμενοι, ἔθεον ἐπὶ τὸ μάλιστα πονοῦν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἤπειρον τειχῶν, καὶ τὰς πύλας διανοίξαντες, ἐξεχέοντο καὶ πῦρ ἐνίεσαν τῇ ὕλῃ καὶ πᾶσαν κατέφλεξαν αὐταῖς ἁμάξαις. ἐτραυμάτισαν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν βάλλοντες πολλοὺς ἀνθρώπους τε καὶ