511

and that Matthew Cantacuzenus the emperor, remaining in his station, should hold Adrianople and the cities in the Rhodope subject to the Romans, possessing the authority for his lifetime, being autonomous and without accountability, and that the young emperor John should never wage war against him concerning the cities granted to him. On these terms, emperor Cantacuzenus was to give back to the young emperor the fortress at the so-called Golden Gate, which he himself held with a Latin garrison, it being most strong and almost impregnable by its construction; 3.293 to which there were two towers from the circuit-wall of Byzantium, between which was the gate leading into the city. And the towers, being of the greatest size, were not built like the others, but right from the beginning, to their great height, they were put together with great marbles prepared for this by stonemasons, fitting perfectly against one another, requiring no other binding material, but using only iron clamps, as is said, for joining where they touched each other, so that from the outside they seemed not to be put together from parts, but to be hewn from a single stone for this purpose. Whence they seem to allow no attempt at assault, being impossible either to be undermined or to suffer any other damage from any engine or artifice. As soon as the emperor Cantacuzenus became master of the Roman empire, he repaired them from above wherever was needed, as they had been neglected through time, and he held them continuously with a garrison, like a kind of acropolis. When these oaths had been sworn by both emperors, the strife was immediately dissolved, and the young emperor, having put aside all suspicion, came to the palace to the emperor his father-in-law. And he received him most gladly and showed great friendliness. After they had been together for a sufficient time and had discussed as many things as they needed, the young emperor, having again departed from the palace, was in the house where he had lodged before. And after the agreements, the sebastocrator Andronicus Asan came from Bizye with an army 3.294 to aid the emperor Cantacuzenus; whom, after he had stayed inside the palace for three days with his army, the emperor again sent away to his home, having praised him for his zeal and goodwill towards him, but saying that he had no need of him, having made agreements with the emperor his son-in-law. And he wrote also to his son and to the despot Nicephorus his son-in-law and to the other leaders to turn back, since the war had now been ended and peace had been made in these affairs. And he wrote the same things also to the barbarians in Thrace; for they too were going to Byzantium, having been summoned by the emperor, as we have said; and they turned back from the middle of their journey. And from Hieron on the Propontis toward the east other barbarians, unsummoned, not a few, came by night as far as the palace, thinking that emperor Cantacuzenus would need them, and they begged him to receive them and lead them against the enemy. But the emperor, for their zeal and goodwill towards him, acknowledged not a few thanks; however, he said that having made agreements and oaths with the emperor his son-in-law, he had no need of them; and he ordered them to return to their homes. And he made these things known to the barbarians not only through envoys but also himself in person, speaking to them from the palace while they were outside the walls at night by torchlight, as the place allowed this, so that he could both be seen and heard as he spoke. Nevertheless, he himself also would go out from the palace and go to the house where the emperor his son-in-law was staying, and consult with him about the administration 3.295 of common affairs. And it being necessary to deliberate also about the barbarians in Thrace, whether war should be waged against them or not, the emperors came together in the house of the Grand Logothete Metochites with all the senators and those distinguished by their noble birth, and entered into discussion. The others, then, were making a disorderly noise and each attempted to bring forward an opinion which seemed most likely to be advantageous in the present circumstances. But the young emperor and those of his companions who were most in esteem with emperor Cantacuzenus

511

Ματθαῖον δὲ βασιλέα τὸν Καντακουζηνὸν μένοντα ἐπὶ τοῦ σχήματος, τὴν Ἀδριανοῦ κατέχειν καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὴν Ῥοδόπην τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις ὑπηκόους πόλεις, διὰ βίου αὐτόνομον ὄντα καὶ ἀνεύθυνον κεκτημένον τὴν ἀρχὴν, καὶ βασιλέα τὸν νέον Ἰωάννην πόλεμον μηδέποτε πρὸς ἐκεῖνον περὶ τῶν ἐνδεδομένων πόλεων κινεῖν. ἐπὶ τούτοις δὲ ἀποδοῦναι Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα τῷ νέῳ καὶ τὸ κατὰ τὴν Χρυσῆν καλουμένην πύλην φρούριον, ὃ κατεῖχεν αὐτὸς φρουρᾷ Λατινικῇ, καρτερώτατον ὂν καὶ ἀνάλωτον σχεδὸν ἐκ τῆς 3.293 κατασκευῆς· ᾧ πύργοι μὲν ἦσαν δύο τῶν ἐκ τοῦ περιβόλου Βυζαντίου, ὧν μεταξὺ ἡ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν εἰσάγουσα πύλη ἦν. οἱ πύργοι δὲ μέγιστοι μεγέθει ὄντες, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἦσαν ᾠκοδομημένοι, ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἐπὶ μήκιστον ὕψους ἐξαρχῆς μαρμάροις μεγάλοις ὑπὸ λιθουργῶν εἰς τοῦτο κατεσκευασμένοις ἦσαν συντεθειμένοι, ὑπ' ἄκρας συμφυΐας πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὐδεμιᾶς ἑτέρας δεόμενοι ὕλης συνδεούσης, ἀλλ' ἥλοις μόνοις σιδηροῖς, ὡς λέγεται, καθὸ ἀλλήλων ἐπιψαύουσι κεχρημένοι πρὸς συνάφειαν, ὥστε ἔξωθεν δοκεῖν οὐκ ἐκ μερῶν συντεθειμένους, ἀλλ' αὐτολιθίνους εἰς τοῦτο ἀπεξεσμένους εἶναι. ὅθεν οὐδὲ ἐπιχείρησιν δοκοῦσιν οὐδεμίαν ἔχειν, μήτε διορυχθῆναι ὄντες δυνατοὶ, μήτε ἐκ μηχανῆς τινος ἢ τέχνης ἑτέραν μηδεμίαν ὑποστῆναι βλάβην. οὓς ἅμα βασιλεὺς ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς τῷ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς ἐγκρατὴς γενέσθαι ἄνωθεν ἐπισκευάσας, ὅσα ἔδει, ἀτημελήτους ὑπὸ χρόνου ὄντας, εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς φρουρᾷ κατεῖχεν, ὥσπερ ἀκρόπολίν τινα. τούτων δὴ τῶν ὅρκων ὑφ' ἑκατέρων ὀμωμοσμένων βασιλέων, ὅ,τε στασιασμὸς διελέλυτο αὐτίκα, καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ νέος πᾶσαν ὑποψίαν ἀποθέμενος, ἧκεν εἰς βασίλεια πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν κηδεστήν. κἀκεῖνος ὑπεδέχετο ἡδέως ἐς τὰ μάλιστα καὶ πολλὴν ἐπεδείκνυτο φιλοφροσύνην. συγγενομένων δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐφ' ἱκανὸν, καὶ περὶ ὅσων ἐδέοντο διαλεχθέντων, αὖθις ὁ νέος βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλείων ἐξελθὼν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ πρότερον ηὐλίζετο οἰκίᾳ ἦν. μετὰ τὰς συμβάσεις δὲ ἧκεν ἐκ Βιζύης Ἀνδρόνικος Ἀσάνης ὁ σεβαστοκράτωρ μετὰ στρατιᾶς 3.294 ἐπικουρήσων βασιλεῖ τῷ Καντακουζηνῷ· ὃν ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἔνδον βασιλείων διατρίψαντα μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς, αὖθις ἐξέπεμπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, τῆς μὲν προθυμίας ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς εὐνοίας ἐπαινέσας τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν, μὴ δεῖσθαι δὲ αὐτοῦ, συμβάσεις θέμενος πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν, εἰπών. ἔγραφε δὲ καὶ τῷ υἱῷ καὶ Νικηφόρῳ δεσπότῃ τῷ γαμβρῷ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἡγεμόσιν ἀναστρέφειν, τοῦ πολέμου ἤδη καταλελυμένου καὶ εἰρήνης ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι γεγενημένης. τὰ ἴσα δὲ καὶ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἔγραφε τοῖς κατὰ Θρᾴκην· καὶ γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι ᾔεσαν ἐπὶ Βυζάντιον μετακεκλημένοι ὑπὸ βασιλέως, ὥσπερ ἔφημεν· καὶ ἀνέστρεφον ἐκ μέσης τῆς ὁδοῦ. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Προποντίδα πρὸς τὴν ἕω Ἱεροῦ ἕτεροι βάρβαροι αὐτόκλητοι ἧκον οὐκ ὀλίγοι νυκτὸς ἄχρι βασιλείων, οἰόμενοι σφῶν δεήσεσθαι Καντακουζηνὸν τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ἐδέοντο ἐπάγειν τοῖς πολεμίοις εἰσδεξάμενον. βασιλεὺς δὲ τῆς μὲν προθυμίας ἕνεκα καὶ τῆς εὐνοίας τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν χάριτας ὡμολόγει οὐκ ὀλίγας· συμβάσεις μέντοι ἔφασκε πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν καὶ ὅρκους θέμενος, αὐτῶν μὴ δεῖσθαι· καὶ ἐκέλευεν ἀναχωρεῖν πρὸς τὴν οἰκίαν. ταῦτα δὲ οὐ διὰ πρέσβεων μόνον ἐδήλου τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ αὐτὸς, ἐκ βασιλείων ἔξω τειχῶν οὖσιν ἐκεῖνος διειλεγμένος νυκτὸς ὑπὸ λαμπάσι, τοῦτο παρέχοντος τοῦ τόπου, ὥστε δύνασθαι καὶ ὁρᾶσθαι καὶ ἀκούεσθαι διαλεγόμενον. ἐξιὼν μέντοι καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν βασιλείων πρὸς τὴν οἰκίαν, ἐν ᾗ βασιλεὺς ὁ γαμβρὸς διέτριβεν, ἀπῄει καὶ περὶ 3.295 τῆς διοικήσεως τῶν κοινῶν συνδιεσκέπτετο αὐτῷ. δεῆσαν δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν Θρᾴκῃ βουλεύσασθαι βαρβάρων, εἰ πολεμητέα εἴη πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἢ μὴ, ἐν τῇ μεγάλου λογοθέτου οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Μετοχίτου μετὰ πάντων τῶν συγκλητικῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπ' εὐγενείᾳ λαμπρυνομένων γενόμενοι οἱ βασιλεῖς, κατέστησαν εἰς λόγους. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι ἀτάκτως ἐθορύβουν καὶ γνώμην ἕκαστος εἰσφέρειν ἐπεχείρουν, ἣ μάλιστα ἂν λυσιτελεῖν δοκοίη ὡς ἐν τοῖς παροῦσι. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος καὶ τῶν συνόντων οἱ μάλιστα ἐν λόγῳ Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ