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horses; and not fewer of them were wounded. But the emperor, seeing that the enterprise was now impossible, although he had known it even before, led the army away, and he ordered the infantry to withdraw immediately, but he himself, having the cavalry, remained at the camp and bivouacked for the night. On the next day, leading out the army in arms, he halted for a considerable time before the gates of Galata, but no one of the Latins came out against them, nor did they shoot an arrow at them. From there, since no one came out against them, he returned to Byzantium. 3.200 And Nicholas, the commander of the Venetians, concealing the reason why he had abstained entirely from battle and wished to withdraw, saying only this, that he had been ordered by the council and the doge to sail away, took his leave and departed for Venice, leaving the war against the Genoese to the emperor alone, who besieged them by sea with his own triremes and from the mainland made frequent assaults, sending an army, and did everything by which they might suffer badly, and he harmed them not a little. But Nicholas, sailing away to Venice, encountered the enemy fleet, and having perceived them beforehand, he fled as fast as he could, and the enemy pursued; but reaching before them the town near Euboea, which is subject to them, he saved the triremes, losing not one, and he preserved the town, which would have been very easily captured if they had not arrived first and entered it. 27. While matters were in this state, the war between the emperors began again and found not insignificant causes. For those left behind in Thessalonica with the young emperor John were not content with the present state of affairs, but attempted revolutionary measures and stirred up the young emperor to war against the emperor his father-in-law, even though they were recipients of much goodwill from the emperor Cantacuzenus and seemed to be among his most loyal and intimate associates. For they said they were indignant on his behalf, as he was being wronged and deprived of his paternal rule. 3.201 For not only was this the terrible thing, that he, holding all the power, had left to him only the name of emperor, empty of substance, but also, as if condemning him to exile, had led him away and left him in the midst of enemies, deeming him worthy of no forethought, as he had promised when departing; but using wars as a pretext, he himself sits holding the rule of the Romans, while he has cast him aside like something useless, to be either besieged by the Triballi, or betrayed by such a disorderly populace that dares all things lightly; which things he ought to perceive and to consider how he might again become master of his paternal rule, being able to do so very easily; for the Kral would help with all his might, considering that one among his greatest enemies and wishing especially to cooperate with him, and they themselves would endure every danger on his behalf and would eagerly contend with him with money and arms and their persons; and they advised him not to shrink from the enterprise. They were induced to stir up a war between the emperors not less by the baseness and wickedness of their characters, by which they were readily led to the most shameful acts, but especially also they had been corrupted with money by the Kral, if they would again stir up a war of the Romans against each other. To whom the young emperor, being altogether inexperienced in villainy and the corruptions of lives and words, and thinking their counsel to be just and advantageous and their zeal to be on his behalf, 3.202 was persuaded and ranked among his closest friends those who were in truth his greatest enemies and who for a little profit and gain were betraying both him and the entire empire, and he deliberated with them from what quarter and how he might stir up the war against the emperor his father-in-law. It seemed necessary, therefore, before their plans became known, to remove Andronicus Asan from Thessalonica. For they suspected that he would offer the greatest opposition, not only by resisting in other matters, but also by advising the young emperor to refrain from absurd enterprises and not to voluntarily destroy the empire, of which he would be master in a short time, if he would act with good sense towards the emperor his father-in-law. and having approached in

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ἵππους· οὐκ ἐλάττους δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν ἐτραυματίσθησαν. ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ ἤδη τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν ὁρῶν ἀδύνατον, καίτοι καὶ πρότερον εἰδὼς, ἀπήγαγε τὴν στρατιὰν, καὶ τὴν μὲν πεζὴν ἐκέλευεν ἀναχωρεῖν αὐτίκα, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν ἵππον ἔχων ἔμεινεν ἐπὶ τοῦ στρατοπέδου καὶ ηὐλίσατο τὴν νύκτα. εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν δὲ ὡπλισμένην ἀγαγὼν τὴν στρατιὰν, ἔστησε πρὸ τῶν Γαλατᾶ πυλῶν ἐφικανὸν, οὐδεὶς δὲ Λατίνων ἀντεπεξῆλθεν, οὐδὲ βέλος ἀφῆκεν ἐπ' αὐτούς. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ, ἐπεὶ μηδεὶς ἀντεπεξῄει, εἰς Βυζάντιον ἀνέ 3.200 στρεφε. Νικόλαος δὲ ὁ τῶν Βενετικῶν ἄρχων τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποκρύψας, δι' ἣν τῆς τε μάχης ἀπέσχετο παντάπασι καὶ βούλοιτο ἀναχωρεῖν, μόνον δὲ τοῦτο εἰπὼν, ὡς παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τοῦ δουκὸς ἀποπλέειν κελευσθείη, πρὸς Βενετίαν ἀπεχώρει συνταξάμενος, τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ Γεννούας πόλεμον μόνῳ βασιλεῖ καταλιπὼν, ὃς τριήρεσί τε ἐκ θαλάττης ἐπολιόρκει ταῖς ἰδίαις καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου συχνὰς ἐποιεῖτο τὰς ἐφόδους, πέμπων στρατιὰν, καὶ πάντα ἔπραττεν, ἐξ ὧν ἐκείνους πάσχειν ἦν κακῶς, καὶ ἔβλαπτεν οὐ μέτριά τινα. Νικόλαος δὲ πρὸς Βενετίαν ἀποπλέων, τῷ τῶν πολεμίων στόλῳ περιέτυχε, προαισθόμενος δὲ ἔφευγεν, ᾗ τάχους εἶχεν, ἐπεδίωκόν τε οἱ πολέμιοι, φθάσας δὲ αὐτοὺς πρὸς τῇ κατὰ τὴν Εὔβοιαν πολίχνῃ, ἣ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ὑπήκοος, τάς τε τριήρεις διέσωσεν οὐδεμίαν ἀπολέσας, καὶ περιεποίησε τὴν πολίχνην, ῥᾷστα ἂν ἑαλωκυῖαν, εἰ μὴ φθάσαντες αὐτοὶ εἰσῆλθον. κζʹ. Ἐν τούτοις δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων ὄντων, καὶ ὁ τῶν βασιλέων πόλεμος αὖθις ἤρχετο καὶ ἐλάμβανεν αἰτίας οὐ μικράς. οἱ γὰρ ἐν Θεσσαλονίκῃ μετὰ βασιλέως ὑπολελειμμένοι τοῦ νέου Ἰωάννου οὐκ ἠγάπων τοῖς παροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ νεωτέροις ἐπεχείρουν καὶ βασιλέα τὸν νέον ἐξεπολέμουν βασιλεῖ τῷ κηδεστῇ, καίτοι οἱ πολλῆς εὐμενείας παρὰ Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ τυγχάνοντες καὶ τῶν εὔνων καὶ οἰκείων μάλιστα δοκοῦντες εἶναι. ἔφασαν γὰρ ἀγανακτεῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἀδικουμένου καὶ τῆς πατρῴας ἡγεμονίας ἀπο 3.201 στερουμένου. καὶ γὰρ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον εἶναι τὸ δεινὸν, ὅτι σύμπασαν ἐκεῖνος ἔχων τὴν ἀρχὴν, ὄνομα μόνον βασιλείας καταλέλοιπεν αὐτῷ κενὸν πραγμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὥσπερ ὑπερορίαν καταψηφισάμενος, ἀγαγὼν ἐν μέσοις πολεμίοις καταλέλοιπεν, οὐδεμιᾶς προνοίας ἀξιώσας, ὥσπερ ἐπηγγέλλετο ἀπαίρων, ἀλλὰ πολέμους προφασιζόμενος, τὴν Ῥωμαίων κάθηται αὐτὸς ἡγεμονίαν ἔχων, αὐτὸν δὲ ὥσπερ τι τῶν ἀχρήστων προεῖτο, ἢ ὑπὸ Τριβαλῶν ἐκπολιορκηθησόμενον, ἢ προδοθησόμενον ὑφ' οὕτως ἀτάκτου δήμου καὶ τολμῶντος πάντα εὐχερῶς· ἃ χρὴ συνορᾷν αὐτὸν καὶ σκοπεῖν, ὅπως τῆς πατρῴας αὖθις ἐγκρατὴς γένοιτο ἀρχῆς ῥᾷστά γε δυνάμενος· Κράλης τε γὰρ δυνάμει πάσῃ βοηθήσει, ἐν τοῖς πολεμιωτάτοις ἐκεῖνον ἄγων καὶ βουλησόμενος αὐτῷ μάλιστα συναίρεσθαι, καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάντα κίνδυνον ὑπομενοῦσι καὶ προθύμως συναγωνιοῦνται καὶ χρήμασι καὶ ὅπλοις καὶ σώμασι· καὶ μὴ κατοκνεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἐπιχείρησιν παρῄνουν. ἐνήγοντο δὲ ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τὸ κινεῖν τῶν βασιλέων πρὸς ἀλλήλους πόλεμον οὐχ ἧττον μὲν καὶ τρόπων φαυλότητι καὶ μοχθηρίᾳ, ᾗ καὶ πρὸς τὰ αἴσχιστα ἐξήγοντο ἑτοίμως, μάλιστα δὲ καὶ χρήμασι διεφθάρησαν πρὸς Κράλη, εἰ τὸν πρὸς ἀλλήλους Ῥωμαίων αὖθις πόλεμον κινοῖεν. οἷς ὁ νέος βασιλεὺς, ἅτε δὴ πρὸς πανουργίας καὶ διαφθορὰς καὶ βίων καὶ λόγων παντάπασιν ἀπείρως ἔχων καὶ δίκαια βουλεύεσθαι καὶ συμφέροντα νομίσας καὶ τὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ 3.202 αὐτοῦ ποιεῖσθαι, ἐπείθετό τε καὶ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τῶν φίλων ἔταττε τοὺς πολεμιωτάτους ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ κέρδους μικροῦ καὶ λήμματος αὐτόν τε καὶ σύμπασαν ἡγεμονίαν προδιδόντας, καὶ ἐσκέπτετο σὺν αὐτοῖς, ὅθεν τε καὶ ὅπως τὸν πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν κηδεστὴν πόλεμον ἀνακινοίη. ἐδόκει δὴ δεῖν, πρὶν ἔκπυστα γενέσθαι τὰ βεβουλευμένα, Ἀσάνην τὸν Ἀνδρόνικον ἀφιστᾷν Θεσσαλονίκης. ὑπώπτευον γὰρ ἐκεῖνον τὰ μέγιστα ἐναντιώσεσθαι, οὐ μόνον ἀντικαθιστάμενον πρὸς τἄλλα, ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεῖ τῷ νέῳ παραινοῦντα τῶν ἀτόπων ἀπέχεσθαι ἐπιχειρήσεων καὶ μὴ διαφθείρειν τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἑκοντὶ, ἧς ἔσοιτο κύριος μετὰ μικρὸν, εἰ πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν κηδεστὴν εὐγνωμονοίη. καὶ προσελθόντες ἐν