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without any addition. The barbarian, however, seemed to receive the embassy gladly and sent back gifts and promised to be well-disposed henceforth, but he sent letters to the emperor Cantacuzenus, as if he had condemned the young emperor for great ingratitude. The barbarians, therefore, were again in Asia. And the patriarch Callistus, having spoken at length about peace with the young emperor, since he was able to accomplish nothing of what was needed, as those around the emperor would not allow it, but rather were urging the emperor toward war and advising him to endure nothing ignoble on account of his misfortune, but to hold to his previous calculations, as he would certainly be superior to his enemies and would recover his rule, returned to Adrianople to the emperor and reported the wickedness of the men, 3.251 that for the sake of their own advantage, as they thought, they were betraying the common good and were provoking the war. But the emperor Cantacuzenus was vexed, seeing the war growing, and he held those who were preventing the peace to be at fault, as bringing an experience of many misfortunes again upon the Romans; but not yet despairing of peace, he again sent his nephew Manuel Cantacuzenus and Metrophanes the bishop of Melenikon as envoys to the young emperor, and advised him to end the war, having desisted from his revolutionary acts. But when his companions openly opposed and rejected the peace, since the envoys returned without success, the emperor Cantacuzenus no longer delayed, but attacked the cities that had revolted, especially Morra and the others in the Rhodope region subject to the Romans. For most of them had gone over to the young emperor. Then, also sending an army to the Chalcidice, he ordered it to make raids, not wishing to harm them himself, for he did not think it right to willingly wear down those handed over by him to the young emperor, on the grounds that they had shown ingratitude, but the people in Morra, partly because the war was on their border, and partly because the land of the Chalcidians was more suitable for wintering their flocks on account of both the warmth and its providing abundant fodder, having brought many flocks down there, forced the emperor to send an army against them; 3.252 who, having made raids, harmed not only the foreigners but also the natives not a little. For it was not possible to distinguish between them, even especially for those who wanted to. But he did not allow Didymoteichon to be harmed, on account of the emperor his son-in-law. The people around Morra, therefore, having been greatly harmed and pressed by the war, again went over to the emperor Cantacuzenus, and the young emperor, seeing his power slipping away and his affairs moving backward, sent to the emperor his father-in-law and discussed peace and begged that they should lay down the war, each holding what they held. But he said that he especially valued peace very highly, and that nothing was either more dear or more important, and this not simply being toward those of the same race, but toward his dearest ones; it was necessary, however, both on account of his experience in affairs and of his being a father, that he himself should take precautions, lest his son fall into the same things again, but to remove the causes of the sedition and the revolutionary acts. For if someone, seeing his son occupied with drunkenness and dice and such ruin, making him master of his money and allowing him to associate with worthless and drunken men, or wildly impassioned about hunting and spending all his money on this one thing, were to provide him with hunting dogs and horses, he would not seem to be acting with sense. For these reasons, indeed, of the cities which he had formerly granted, he would cede Didymoteichon itself; however, of the Romans with him 3.253 the most distinguished, whom he himself had not willingly granted to be with him, whether they have their homes in Didymoteichon or somewhere else, these he would not permit to be with him, but to serve him, just as before, so that they might not be seen as causes of wars and revolutionary acts for him again. It was necessary, however, that they too should not suspect they would suffer anything terrible on account of their apostasy. For he did not wish to bring them under his own authority in order to take vengeance on them, but so that they might not

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χωρίς τινος προσθήκης. ὁ μέντοι βάρβαρος τὴν μὲν πρεσβείαν ἐδόκει δέχεσθαι ἡδέως καὶ δῶρά τε ἀντέπεμπε καὶ εὐνοήσειν ἐπηγγέλλετο ἑξῆς, τὰ δὲ γράμματα πρὸς Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα ἔπεμπεν, ὡσπερεὶ πολλὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην τοῦ νέου βασιλέως κατεγνωκώς. οἱ μὲν οὖν βάρβαροι αὖθις εἰς Ἀσίαν ἦσαν. πατριάρχης δὲ ὁ Κάλλιστος πολλὰ περὶ εἰρήνην βασιλεῖ τῷ νέῳ διαλεχθεὶς, ἐπεὶ μηδὲν ἀνύειν τῶν δεόντων εἶχε, τῶν περὶ βασιλέα οὐκ ἐώντων, ἀλλ' ἐξορμώντων μᾶλλον βασιλέα πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον καὶ μηδὲν ἀγεννὲς ὑπομένειν παραινούντων διὰ τὴν κακοπραγίαν, ἀλλ' ἔχεσθαι τῶν προτέρων λογισμῶν, ὡς κρείττω πάντως ἐσόμενον τῶν πολεμίων καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνασωσόμενον, ἀνέστρεφεν εἰς τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ πρὸς βασιλέα καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀπήγγελλε τὴν μοχθηρίαν, 3.251 ὅτι τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας ἕνεκα, ὡς ᾤοντο, προὐδίδοσαν τὰ κοινῇ λυσιτελοῦντα καὶ τὸν πόλεμον παρώξυνον. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς ἠνιᾶτο μὲν, αὐξανόμενον ὁρῶν τὸν πόλεμον, καὶ τοὺς κωλύοντας τὴν εἰρήνην ἐν αἰτίαις ἐποιεῖτο, ὡς πολλῶν αὖθις δυστυχημάτων πεῖραν ἐπάγοντας Ῥωμαίοις· μήπω δὲ πρὸς τὴν εἰρήνην ἀπηγορευκὼς, τόν τε ἀνεψιὸν αὖθις Μανουὴλ τὸν Καντακουζηνὸν καὶ Μητροφάνην τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Μελενίκου πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν νέον πρέσβεις ἔπεμπε, καὶ τὸν πόλεμον παρῄνει καταλύειν τοῦ νεωτερίζειν ἀποστάντα. τῶν συνόντων δὲ φανερῶς ἐναντιωθέντων καὶ ἀπειπαμένων τὴν εἰρήνην, ἐπεὶ οἱ πρέσβεις ἐπανῆκον ἄπρακτοι, καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς οὐκέτι ἔμελλεν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἀποστάσας ἐκάκου πόλεις, μάλιστα δὲ Μόῤῥαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ῥοδόπην Ῥωμαίοις ὑπηκόους. αἱ πλείους γὰρ τῷ νέῳ προσεχώρουν βασιλεῖ. ἔπειτα καὶ πρὸς τὴν Χαλκιδικὴν πέμψας στρατιὰν, ἐκέλευε κατατρέχειν, αὐτοὺς μὲν οὐ βουλόμενος κακοῦν, οὐ γὰρ ἠξίου τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν νέον παραδεδομένους ἑκοντὶ κατατρίβειν, ὡς ἠγνωμονηκότας, ἀλλ' οἱ ἐν Μόῤῥᾳ τοῦτο μὲν διὰ τὸν πόλεμον ὅμορον αὐτοῖς ὄντα, τοῦτο δ' ὅτι καὶ ἡ Χαλκιδέων βοσκήμασι διαχειμάζειν μᾶλλον ἐπιτηδειοτέρα διά τε τὴν ἀλέαν καὶ τὸ τροφὴν παρέχειν ἄφθονον, βοσκήματα ἐκεῖ πολλὰ καταγαγόντες, ἠνάγκασαν βασιλέα πέμπειν ἐπ' ἐκείνους στρατιάν· 3.252 οἳ καὶ καταδραμόντες πρὸς τοῖς ξένοις ἐκάκωσαν καὶ τοὺς ἐγχωρίους οὐκ ὀλίγα. διακρίνειν γὰρ οὐδὲ βουλομένοις μάλιστα ἐξῆν. ∆ιδυμότειχον δὲ κακοῦν οὐκ εἴα διὰ βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρόν. οἱ μὲν οὖν κατὰ Μόῤῥαν πλεῖστα κακωθέντες καὶ πιεσθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ πολέμου αὖθις προσεχώρουν βασιλεῖ τῷ Καντακουζηνῷ, βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος, ὁρῶν ὑποῤῥέουσαν αὐτῷ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὰ πράγματα χωρήσαντα ὀπίσω, πέμψας πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν κηδεστὴν διελέγετο περὶ εἰρήνης καὶ ἐδεῖτο τὸν πόλεμον καταθέσθαι ἔχοντας, ἃ ἔχουσιν, ἑκάτερον. ὁ δὲ τὴν μὲν εἰρήνην περιπλείστου μάλιστα ἔλεγε ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ μηδὲν εἶναι μήτε φίλον μᾶλλον, μήτε σπουδαιότερον, καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ἁπλῶς πρὸς ὁμοφύλους ἐσομένης, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς φιλτάτους· δέον μέντοι καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐμπειρίαν τὴν ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ τὸ πατέρα εἶναι πρόνοιαν αὐτὸν ποιήσασθαι, μὴ τοῖς ἴσοις πάλιν τὸν υἱὸν περιπεσεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῆς στάσεως περιελεῖν τὰς αἰτίας καὶ τῶν νεωτερισμῶν. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴ τις ὁρῶν τὸν παῖδα περὶ μέθας καὶ κύβους καὶ τοιαύτην ἐξώλειαν ἠσχολημένον, χρημάτων κύριον ποιῶν καὶ φαύλοις ἀνθρώποις καὶ μεθύουσι συνεῖναι ἐπιτρέπων, ἢ περὶ θήρας ἐπτοημένον ἀκρατῶς καὶ πάντα χρήματα ἑνὸς τούτου προϊέμενον, εἰ κύνας παρείχετο θηρευτικὰς καὶ ἵππους, νοῦν ἂν ἔχοντα ἐδόκει πράττειν. διὰ ταῦτα δὴ τῶν μὲν πόλεων, ἃς πρότερον αὐτὸς παρέσχετο, παραχωρεῖν καὶ αὐτοῦ ∆ιδυμοτείχου· τῶν μέντοι συνόντων αὐτῷ Ῥωμαίων 3.253 τοὺς ἐπιφανεστέρους, οὓς μὴ αὐτὸς ἑκοντὶ παρέσχετο συνεῖναι, ἄντ' ἐν ∆ιδυμοτείχῳ ἢ ἄλλοθί που τὰς οἰκίας ἔχωσι, τούτους δὲ μὴ συνεῖναι ἐφιέναι, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ δουλεύειν, ὥσπερ καὶ πρότερον, ἵνα μὴ αὐτῷ πολέμων αὖθις καὶ νεωτερισμῶν αἴτιοι ὀφθῶσι. δέον μέντοι μηδ' ἐκείνους μηδὲν ὑποπτεύειν πείσεσθαι δεινὸν διὰ τὴν ἀποστασίαν. οὐ γὰρ ὥστε ἀμύνασθαι αὐτοὺς βούλεσθαι ὑπάγειν ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ μὴ