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others hindering and not allowing to bring to action the things that had been decided, he had wasted time until now. But now that matters had turned out well, and he himself being present, who would be heir to the rule, he thought it was especially the right time to lay aside the rule. And to hand this over to him, and for himself, having taken his leave, to withdraw. But the young emperor was not moderately displeased, having immediately heard such things from the emperor against all hope and expectation, and he attempted to persuade 3.307 him to remain in his station again, putting forward not a few reasons, which seemed especially able to persuade. But when he saw that it was impossible for him to be persuaded, though unwilling and greatly grieved, he nevertheless allowed him to do whatever he thought best. And on the next day, in the palace itself, having laid aside the imperial insignia, he took on the monastic habit, being renamed Joasaph instead of John. And at the same hour, the empress Eirene, she too having renounced the empire, took on the monastic habit, being renamed Eugenia. After this, the emperor Kantakouzenos withdrew to the monastery of the Manganes, as had been prepared for him before, while the empress Eugenia went to the one called Martha's, which belonged to the emperor Kantakouzenos from his paternal inheritance. But of those around him, especially those who were well-disposed and close to him, seeing him suddenly change and both lay aside the empire and withdraw to the life of quiet and full of peace, were deprived of all hope of good fortune and, not having any way to defend themselves against the new emperor, they turned to slander. And they spread other rumors against him, accusing him of perjury and instability of character and great readiness for change, and that he had compelled the emperor his father-in-law to take the monastic habit against his will. And by such rumors they persuaded not only the masses and the common people, but also many of the more sensible to pay attention. But all 3.308 were lies and slanders and nothing was sound. For the emperor Kantakouzenos willingly stepped down from the rule, being especially able to hold onto it, if he had wished, and the new emperor did nothing to offend him after the oaths, but showed all zeal, omitting nothing of what was due to him, so that it was not unknown to anyone on the outside, that he neither planned nor did anything to cause grief to the emperor his father-in-law. So the emperor Kantakouzenos, as has been related by us, having thus unwillingly fallen into being emperor and having been fiercely warred against by his own people, and having himself encountered many dangers and various calamities, using no less every device and standing against everything with the spirit befitting him, and finally overcoming all who had opposed him, since through the wickedness of his associates he had again fallen into similar circumstances and was forced to fall into war against his own people, when the opportunity presented itself, he renounced the rule, as if despairing that the Romans would ever be able to think rightly and in ways beneficial to themselves. After spending some time in the monastery of the Manganes, he then considered going to the holy mountain of Athos to the monastery of Vatopedi and to live out the rest of his life; but the new emperor prevented him, begging him to stay a little longer in Byzantium, until he could reconcile 3.309 his son, the emperor Matthew, to him. For during that winter after the emperor Kantakouzenos's withdrawal from the rule, the new emperors showed no act of war toward each other, but each remained within his own boundaries of the empire, as had been divided before by his father. However, they were not so disposed as to be well-intentioned toward each other, but were suspicious of one another because of what had previously been done at Adrianople, so that, if someone did not reconcile them, they would go to war. For this reason the new emperor John intended to make a treaty with him concerning peace, and he begged the emperor his father-in-law not to depart for Athos before they were reconciled; and he himself was persuaded

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ἄλλων κωλυόντων καὶ οὐκ ἐώντων εἰς ἔργον ἄγειν τὰ βεβουλευμένα, κατατετριφέναι μέχρι νῦν τὸν χρόνον. νυνὶ δὲ καλῶς παρασχομένων τῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ αὐτοῦ παρόντος, ὃς ἔσται κληρονόμος τῆς ἀρχῆς, μάλιστα οἴεσθαι κατὰ καιρὸν εἶναι ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν. καὶ ταύτην μὲν αὐτῷ παραδιδόναι, αὐτὸν δὲ συνταξάμενον ἀναχωρεῖν. βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ νέος ἐδυσχέραινε μὲν οὐ μετρίως εὐθὺς τοιαῦτα παρ' ἐλπίδα πᾶσαν ἀκηκοὼς καὶ προσδοκίαν παρὰ βασιλέως, καὶ ἐπεχείρει πεί 3.307 θειν μένειν αὖθις ἐπὶ σχήματος, αἰτίας οὐκ ὀλίγας προβαλλόμενός τινας, αἳ μάλιστα ἐδόκουν πείθειν εἶναι δυναταί. ὡς δ' ἀδυνάτως ἔχοντα ἑώρα μεταπείθεσθαι, ἄκων μὲν καὶ ἀνιώμενος πολλὰ, ὅμως συνεχώρει πράττειν, ὅ,τι ἂν δοκῇ. καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν ἐν αὐτοῖς βασιλείοις τὰ βασιλικὰ ἀποθέμενος παράσημα, σχῆμα ὑπέδυ μοναχῶν, Ἰωάσαφ ἀντὶ Ἰωάννου μετακληθείς. τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ ὥρας καὶ ἡ βασιλὶς Εἰρήνη, τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπειπαμένη, τὸ μοναχῶν ὑπέδυ σχῆμα, Εὐγενία μετακληθεῖσα. μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ βασιλεὺς μὲν ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς εἰς τὴν Μαγκάνων ἀπεχώρει μονὴν, ὥσπερ παρεσκεύαστο καὶ πρότερον, Εὐγενία δὲ ἡ βασιλὶς εἰς τὴν τῆς Μάρθας προσαγορευομένην, ἐκ πατρῴου κλήρου διαφέρουσαν Καντακουζηνῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ. τῶν δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν μάλιστα οἱ εὔνως καὶ οἰκείως ἔχοντες, ἀθρόον ἰδόντες μεταβαλόντα καὶ τήν τε βασιλείαν ἀποθέμενον καὶ ἀποχωρήσαντα πρὸς τὸν ἀπράγμονα καὶ μεστὸν γαλήνης βίον, πᾶσαν εὐπραγίας ἐλπίδα περιαιρεθέντες καὶ οὐκ ἔχοντες, πρὸς ὅ,τι ἀμυνοῦνται τὸν νέον βασιλέα, ἐτράποντο πρὸς τὸ λοιδορεῖσθαι. καὶ ἄλλας τε φήμας διέδοσαν κατ' αὐτοῦ, ἐπιορκίαν ἐγκαλοῦντες καὶ ἀστασίαν ἤθους καὶ πρὸς μεταβολὰς εὐχέρειαν πολλὴν, καὶ ὡς βασιλέα καταναγκάσειε τὸν κηδεστὴν ἄκοντα τὸ μοναχῶν ὑποδύναι σχῆμα. καὶ ταῖς τοιαύταις φήμαις οὐ τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ ἀγοραίους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν συνετωτέρων ἔπεισαν πολλοὺς προσέχειν. πάντα δὲ 3.308 ἦσαν ψεύδη καὶ συκοφαντίαι καὶ οὐδὲν ὑγιές. Καντακουζηνός τε γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἑκὼν ἐξέστη τῆς ἀρχῆς, μάλιστα δυνάμενος, εἴπερ ἠβούλετο, κατέχειν, καὶ ὁ νέος βασιλεὺς οὐδὲν αὐτῷ προσέκρουσε μετὰ τοὺς ὅρκους, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν ἐπεδείξατο σπουδὴν, τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἡκόντων μηδὲν παραλιπεῖν, ὥστε μηδ' ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀγνοεῖσθαι μηδενὸς, ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν πρὸς ἀνίαν βασιλεῖ τῷ κηδεστῇ οὔτε βουλεύεται, οὔτε πράττει. βασιλεὺς μὲν οὖν ὁ Καντακουζηνὸς, ὥσπερ ἡμῖν ἱστόρηται, οὕτω εἰς τὸ βασιλεύειν ἄκων ἐμπεσὼν καὶ πολεμηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ὁμοφύλων κραταιῶς, πολλοῖς τε κινδύνοις καὶ συμφοραῖς ποικίλαις προσομιλήσας καὶ αὐτὸς, οὐδὲν ἧττον πάσῃ μηχανῇ χρησάμενος καὶ πρὸς πάντα μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος αὐτῷ φρονήματος ἀντικαταστὰς, καὶ τελευταῖον πάντων περιγενόμενος τῶν ἀντικαταστάντων, ἐπεὶ διὰ τὴν μοχθηρίαν τῶν συνόντων τοῖς ὁμοίοις αὖθις περιπεπτώκει καὶ πρὸς τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοφύλους πόλεμον ἠναγκάσθη ἐκπεσεῖν, καιροῦ παρασχόντος, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπείπατο, ὥσπερ ἀπαγορεύσας τὸ μὴ ἄν ποτε δυνήσεσθαι Ῥωμαίους ὀρθὰ φρονήσειν καὶ λυσιτελοῦντα ἑαυτοῖς. χρόνον δέ τινα τῇ τῶν Μαγκάνων μονῇ ἐνδιατρίψας, ἔπειτα ἐσκέψατο εἰς Ἄθω τὸ ἱερὸν ὄρος ἐν τῇ Βατοπεδίου μονῇ γενέσθαι καὶ τὸν ἐπίλοιπον βίον διανύειν· ἐκώλυσε δὲ βασιλεὺς ὁ νέος, δεηθεὶς ἔτι μικρὸν προσδιατρίψαι Βυζαντίῳ, ἄχρις ἂν αὐτῷ Ματθαῖον διαλλάξῃ 3.309 βασιλέα τὸν υἱόν. τοῦ χειμῶνος γὰρ ἐκείνου μετὰ τὴν Καντακουζηνοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀναχώρησιν ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς οὐδὲν οἱ νέοι βασιλεῖς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐπεδείξαντο πολέμου ἔργον, ἀλλ' ἐν ἰδίοις ὅροις ἕκαστος διετέλουν τῆς ἀρχῆς, ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς μεμέριστο τὸ πρότερον. οὐ μὴν οὐδ' οὕτως εἶχον, ὥστε ἀλλήλοις εὐνοεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐν ὑποψίαις ἦσαν ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀδριανούπολιν πρότερον εἰργασμένων, ὡς, εἰ μή τις διαλλάξειεν αὐτοὺς, πολεμησείοντες. οὗ δὴ ἕκενα καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ νέος Ἰωάννης διενοεῖτο συμβάσεις θέσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν περὶ εἰρήνης, καὶ βασιλέως ἐδεήθη τοῦ κηδεστοῦ, μὴ πρὶν ἀπαίρειν πρὸς τὸν Ἄθω, πρὶν αὐτοὺς καταλλαγῆναι· ἐπείθετό τε καὶ αὐτὸς