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all things, and the oaths were being fulfilled, in which it was written that he should give up his wife to the Triballi and live with the sister of the Krales, she decided it was necessary to save herself and not be destroyed herself through the folly of others. And sending to the Peloponnese to the despot 3.318 Manuel, her brother, she asked him to take some care for her. And he, without any delay, sending by sea, received his sister, with all the Acarnanians and Albanians sending her off with acclamations and vying with one another for the sake of goodwill and honor toward her, not only because of her own reasonableness and magnanimity and her being adorned with all good qualities, but also because of their goodwill toward the emperor her father. For all the westerners had been completely won over by him and were precisely dependent on him even after the withdrawal of his affairs. But of the despot Nikephoros, although they knew he would not bear gently the sending off and acclamation of his wife, not only did they pay no heed, but they also openly reviled him, as one completely devoid of sober thoughts, and, as they say, exchanging bronze for gold. Wherefore also a little later for this reason the Albanians openly revolted from the despot, saying that they would eagerly make war, as if for themselves, unless, having dissolved the marriage-alliance with the Triballi, he should recall the emperor's daughter from the Peloponnese and live with her. But he, whether perceiving the absurdity himself, or fearing the expected revolt, which was suspected would arise on account of his wife, sent and forbade those lawless nuptials, and sent an embassy to his wife in the Peloponnese, ordering her to 3.319 come to him, and giving assurances by oaths, that he would no longer act unkindly toward her, but would live with her in the former manner with all kindness and reasonableness. And she, being fond of her husband and considering it of the greatest importance that her marriage not be dissolved, overlooking all that had happened, prepared to go to her husband a little later; but he, out of ambition, so that it would not seem that his rule was established for him through her, set out to subdue the revolted Albanians by war before she arrived. And it so happened, that Persians also, having crossed over to Thessaly with pirate monoremes, fought as allies, having been summoned by him. Trusting especially in these, he attacked the Albanians, and when an engagement took place near a certain place called Achelous, he himself fell fighting before the battle lines joined, and his entire army was destroyed, having been defeated. But the empress his wife, still staying in the Peloponnese, when she learned of his death, mourned there for a considerable time, and lamented the death of her husband, then, coming to Byzantium, she was with the empress her mother for the rest of her life, who was staying at the monastery of Martha. These things, then, happened later. 44. But then, since the treaties made between the emperors were being dissolved and the war was rekindled, the emperor Matthew, having gathered the army under his command, came 3.320 to Bizye to his uncle, the despot Manuel Asanes; and taking him also with whatever army he had, he marched against the new emperor in Byzantium and encamped by the Melas river at a certain fortified village called Metrai. And the emperor Palaiologos likewise armed triremes and an army from the mainland, both infantry and cavalry, and appointing commanders for the mainland troops, he ordered them to advance to the village of Athyras, it too being fortified like a kind of isthmus and washed by the sea on all sides, and he himself, having the triremes, also came to Athyras. And they were encamped opposite each other for some days, with each being unable to advance on the enemy's camp and compel them to fight. For it did not seem right to the emperor Palaiologos to attack the enemy on open plains and completely bare of woods, since they led cavalry, while he himself led mostly infantry and hoplites, and the enemy were not able to lead against difficult terrain and the many ruins of the former settlement

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πάντα, καὶ οἱ ὅρκοι ἐτελοῦντο, οἷς ἐνεγέγραπτο, τὴν μὲν γυναῖκα Τριβαλοῖς αὐτὸν προέσθαι, τῇ δὲ ἀδελφῇ Κραλαίνης συνοικεῖν, δεῖν ἔγνω σώζειν ἑαυτὴν καὶ μὴ δι' ἑτέρων παραπληξίαν αὐτὴν παραπολέσθαι. καὶ πέμψασα εἰς Πελοπόννησον πρὸς δεσπότην 3.318 Μανουὴλ τὸν ἀδελφὸν, πρόνοιάν τινα αὐτῆς ποιήσασθαι ἐδεῖτο. καὶ ὃς οὐδὲν μελλήσας ἐκ θαλάσσης πέμψας, προσελάμβανε τὴν ἀδελφὴν, πάντων Ἀκαρνάνων καὶ Ἀλβανῶν μετ' εὐφημίας προπεμπόντων καὶ ἁμιλλωμένων πρὸς ἀλλήλους τῆς εἰς ἐκείνην ἕνεκα εὐνοίας καὶ τιμῆς, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἐπιείκειαν καὶ μεγαλοφροσύνην καὶ τὸ πᾶσι κεκοσμῆσθαι ἀγαθοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν βασιλέα τὸν πατέρα εὔνοιαν. κατάκρας γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ τῶν ἑσπερίων ἅπαν ἥττητο καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐξήρτητο αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀναχώρησιν. δεσπότου δὲ τοῦ Νικηφόρου, καίτοι γε αὐτὸν εἰδότες οὐ πρᾴως οἴσοντα τὴν προπομπὴν καὶ εὐφημίαν τῆς γυναικὸς, οὐ μόνον οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιοῦντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ φανερῶς ἐλοιδοροῦντο, ὡς παντάπασι τῶν σωφρόνων λογισμῶν ἐξεστηκότα, καὶ, ὅ φασι, χάλκεα χρυσείων ἀλλαττόμενον. ὅθεν καὶ ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον ἐκ ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας ἀπέστησαν δεσπότου φανερῶς οἱ Ἀλβανοὶ, φάσκοντες προθύμως πολεμήσειν, ὥσπερ ὑπὲρ σφῶν αὐτῶν, εἰ μὴ τὴν πρὸς Τριβαλοὺς ἐπιγαμίαν διαλύσας, ἐκ Πελοποννήσου ἀνακαλέσηται τὴν βασιλέως θυγατέρα καὶ ταύτῃ συνοικοίη. ὁ δὲ εἴτε καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν ἀτοπίαν συνιδὼν, εἴτε καὶ τὴν προσδοκωμένην στάσιν δείσας, ἣ διὰ τὴν γυναῖκα ὑπωπτεύετο φυήσεσθαι, τοὺς μὲν ἀθέσμους ἐκείνους γάμους πέμψας ἀπηγόρευε, πρὸς δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα ἔπεμψεν εἰς Πελοπόννησον πρεσβείαν, κελεύων ἥ 3.319 κειν παρ' αὐτὸν, καὶ πίστεις παρεχόμενος δι' ὅρκων, ὡς οὐδὲν ἀγνωμονήσει ἔτι πρὸς αὐτὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀρχαῖον τρόπον μετὰ πάσης εὐγνωμοσύνης καὶ ἐπιεικείας συνοικήσει. ἡ δὲ φίλανδρος οὖσα καὶ περὶ πλείστου ποιουμένη τὸ μὴ τὸν γάμον αὐτῇ διαλυθῆναι, πάντων ὑπεριδοῦσα τῶν γεγενημένων, παρεσκευάζετο ὡς ὕστερον μικρῷ ἀφιξομένη πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα· ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας, ἵνα μὴ δοκοίη τὴν ἀρχὴν δι' ἐκείνης καθίστασθαι αὐτῷ, ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὸ τοὺς ἀποστάντας Ἀλβανοὺς πρὶν ἐκείνην ἥκειν καταδουλώσασθαι πολέμῳ. συμβὰν δὲ οὕτω, καὶ Πέρσαι κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν μονήρεσι λῃστρικαῖς περαιωθέντες, συνεμάχουν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προσκεκλημένοι. οἷς μάλιστα θαῤῥῶν ἐπῆλθεν Ἀλβανοῖς, καὶ γενομένης συμβολῆς περί τι χωρίον Ἀχελῷον προσαγορευόμενον, αὐτός τε ἔπιπτε μαχόμενος πρὶν τὰς φάλαγγας συμμίξαι, καὶ ἡ ἐκείνου πᾶσα διέφθαρτο ἡττηθεῖσα στρατιά. βασίλισσα δὲ ἡ ἐκείνου γαμετὴ ἔτι ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ διατρίβουσα, ἐπεὶ πύθοιτο τὴν ἐκείνου τελευτὴν, ἐπένθησε μὲν ἐκεῖ ἐφ' ἱκανὸν, καὶ ἀπωδύρατο τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τὴν τελευτὴν, ἔπειτα εἰς Βυζάντιον ἐλθοῦσα, συνῆν τὸν ἐπίλοιπον βίον βασιλίδι τῇ μητρὶ κατὰ τὴν Μάρθας μονὴν διατριβούσῃ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὕστερον. μδʹ. Τότε δὲ ἐπεὶ αἱ μεταξὺ τῶν βασιλέων γεγενημέναι συνθῆκαι διελύοντο καὶ ὁ πόλεμος ἀνεῤῥιπίσθη, Ματθαῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν ὑπ' αὐτὸν οὖσαν στρατιὰν συναγαγὼν, ἧκεν 3.320 εἰς Βιζύην παρὰ τὸν θεῖον Ἀσάνην δεσπότην τὸν Μανουήλ· καὶ παραλαβὼν καὶ αὐτὸν μεθ' ὅσης εἶχε στρατιᾶς, ἐπεστράτευσε τῷ νέῳ βασιλεῖ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ καὶ ἐστρατοπέδευσε κατὰ τὸν Μέλανα ποταμὸν ἐπί τινα τετειχισμένην κώμην Μέτρας προσαγορευομένην. Παλαιολόγος τε ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁμοίως τριήρεις ἐφοπλίσας καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἠπείρου στρατιὰν πεζὴν καὶ ἱππικὴν, τοῖς μὲν ἠπειρώταις ἡγεμόνας ἐπιστήσας, ἐπὶ Ἀθύραν κώμην, καὶ αὐτὴν τετειχισμένην ὥσπερ ἰσθμόν τινα οὖσαν καὶ πάντοθεν περικλυζομένην τῇ θαλάσσῃ, ἐκέλευε χωρεῖν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἔχων τὰς τριήρεις, ἧκε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ Ἀθύραν. καὶ ἀντεστρατοπεδεύοντο ἀλλήλοις ἐπί τινας ἡμέρας, ἑκατέρων ἀδυνάτων ὄντων ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον χωρεῖν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ καταναγκάζειν μάχεσθαι. Παλαιολόγῳ τε γὰρ οὐκ ἐδόκει βασιλεῖ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπιέναι ἐφ' ὕπτια πεδία καὶ ὕλης παντάπασι ψιλὰ ἱππέας ἄγουσι, πεζὴν αὐτὸς τὴν πλείστην δύναμιν ἄγων καὶ ὁπλίτας, καὶ οἱ πολέμιοι ἐπὶ δυσχωρίας καὶ ἐρείπια πολλὰ τῆς πρώην συνοικίας ἄγειν οὐκ