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address him, to drive him away in anger. Such was the demand of the emperor Palaiologos. But the emperor Matthew preferred to be imprisoned for life, rather than to endure such things. For first, he said, it was not easy to bear for one who yesterday and the day before was venerated as emperor now to be in the condition of a private citizen and to differ little or not at all from others; then, not even the reason itself for his imprisonment was base or ignoble. But fighting for the freedom of his countrymen against the barbarians who had enslaved them, he was captured, having had ill fortune in the battle, a thing which has happened to many Roman emperors before; and now for the sake of good repute and honor he rather chooses the terrible things; for which no one of sound mind could justly blame him. But if, cowering before his apparent misfortune, he should willingly betray his good repute, anyone at all could justly indict him for faint-heartedness and servility. For which reasons he would more easily bear being imprisoned for life than to give up his glory for a present release from his troubles; and he demanded of the emperor his son-in-law, if he wished 3.347 to do what was right, to deprive him of none of his possessions, but in addition to releasing him from prison to also permit him to be emperor. Or if he would not concede these things, he himself would rather choose to be in bonds for life. 48. But the emperor Kantakouzenos, having arrived in Epibatai, when he heard such things about his son, attempted to persuade him that he was choosing things that were not fitting. For first, he said, there is nothing at all that is not managed by God's providence, and especially if he should examine each of his own affairs, examining from the very beginning, he will find all things to have been worked by the wise providence of God. For the fact that the pirates from Phokaia, sailing past Bithynia for plunder and considering it the greatest profit to enslave even some of the meanest people, had such sudden and unexpected good fortune as to effortlessly capture the one who ruled tens of thousands of men and was invested with great power, able to oppose great armies, and that Orhan the father, out of sympathy for his son, begged the emperor many times to free his son from captivity, and promised great rewards for this benefaction, for he saw it was not otherwise possible to free his son from his bonds, and that the emperor himself, realizing that in this way he would best be able to persuade Orhan to pay attention to him and to compel him to refrain from allying with you against him, 3.348 and for the sake of this hope having equipped triremes, always to keep to the sea and to try to rescue Orhan's son, and that at the same time you also, having been summoned by the Triballians, having only barbarians, had marched out against Macedonia, having been so constrained by necessity as to leave behind the existing Roman army, and that the Triballians, who before had never dared even to look the Persians in the face, though few, contrary to expectation stood against many times their number, and that the Persians, although they had become superior to their enemies, were destroyed by themselves, having turned to flight, and that you, having been left alone, were both captured by the enemy and led away as a prisoner to the emperor your son-in-law, who immediately marched against the cities under your control and subdued them with all ease and made your wife and children subject to himself, and that all these things happened together as if by a signal—I think that no one at all, unless he is completely deprived of his senses and of right reason, would think that this did not happen according to divine providence. And since you are persuaded of these things, it is necessary that you not be disposed otherwise but be content with what has been decreed by God and not refuse the recall after this benevolent chastisement—for He has chastised you benevolently by not handing you over to death—if it is not also possible to enjoy the imperial glory, as before. And yet to be agitated by any other glory in this life, which is perishable and fleeting, 3.349 is not characteristic of men who have sense and pay attention to true reasonings. But the glory from this emperorship also brings no ordinary danger to one who does not rightly manage affairs

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προσαγορεύοι, τοῦτον ἀπελαύνειν πρὸς ὀργήν. τοιαύτη μὲν ἡ Παλαιολόγου τοῦ βασιλέως ἦν ἀξίωσις. Ματθαῖος δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς μᾶλλον εἵλετο φρουρεῖσθαι διὰ βίου, ἢ τοιαῦτα ὑπομένειν. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἔφασκεν, οὐ ῥᾷον εἶναι ἐνεγκεῖν τὸν χθὲς καὶ πρώην προσκυνούμενον ὡς βασιλέα νῦν ἐν ἰδιώτου σχήματι τελεῖν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὀλίγον διαφέρειν ἢ οὐδέν· ἔπειτα οὐδ' ἡ πρόφασις αὐτὴ τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου φαύλη τις καὶ ἀγεννής. ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἐλευθερίας βαρβάροις τοῖς δουλωσαμένοις πολεμῶν, ἡλίσκετο κατὰ τὴν μάχην ἀτυχήσας, ὃ πολλοῖς συμβέβηκε καὶ πρότερον Ῥωμαίων βασιλεῦσι· καὶ νῦν ὑπὲρ εὐδοξίας καὶ τιμῆς μᾶλλον αἱρεῖται τὰ δεινά· ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐκ ἄν τις μέμφοιτο δικαίως εὖ φρονῶν. ἂν δὲ πρὸς τὴν δοκοῦσαν δυσπραγίαν ὑποπτήξας, καταπροδῷ τὴν εὐδοξίαν ἑκοντὶ, πᾶς ὁστισοῦν ἂν δικαίως μικροψυχίας καὶ ἀνελευθερίας γράφοιτο. δι' ἃ ῥᾷον ἂν ἐνέγκοι τὸ δεσμεῖσθαι διὰ βίου, ἢ καταπροΐεσθαι τὴν δόξαν διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ παρόντι τῶν δεινῶν ἀπαλλαγήν· ἠξίου τε βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν, εἰ βού 3.347 λοιτο τὰ δέοντα ποιεῖν, μηδενὸς ἀποστερεῖν τῶν ὄντων, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τῷ ἀφεῖναι τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου καὶ τὸ βασιλέα εἶναι συγχωρεῖν. ἢ εἰ μηδὲ ταῦτα συγχωροίη, μᾶλλον αὐτὸν αἱρήσεσθαι τὸ εἶναι διὰ βίου ἐν δεσμοῖς. μηʹ. Καντακουζηνὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς γενόμενος ἐν Ἐπιβάταις, ἐπεὶ πύθοιτο τοιαῦτα περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ, πείθειν ἐπεχείρει, ὡς οὐ προσήκοντα αἱρεῖται. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἶναι μηδὲν τῶν πάντων, ἔφασκεν, ὃ μὴ τῇ θεοῦ προνοίᾳ διοικεῖται, μάλιστα δὲ εἰ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν ἕκαστα σκοποίη, πάνθ' εὑρήσει τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ σοφῇ προνοίᾳ εἰργασμένα εὐθὺς ἐξαρχῆς σκοπῶν. τὸ γὰρ τοὺς ἐκ Φωκαίας πειρατὰς Βιθυνίαν παραπλέοντας ἐφ' ἁρπαγῇ καὶ μέγιστον κέρδος ἡγουμένους καὶ τῶν φαυλοτάτων τινὰς ἐξανδραποδίζειν, ἀθρόον οὕτω καὶ πέρα προσδοκίας εὐτυχηκέναι, ὥστε τὸν μυρίων μὲν ἀνθρώπων ἄρχοντα καὶ δύναμιν μεγάλην περιβεβλημένον, μεγάλοις δὲ στρατοπέδοις δυνάμενον ἀντικαθίστασθαι, συλλαβεῖν ἀπονητὶ, Ὀρχάνην δὲ τὸν πατέρα τῇ πρὸς τὸν παῖδα συμπαθείᾳ πολλὰ δεηθῆναι βασιλέως, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν ἀπαλλάττειν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, καὶ μεγάλας τῆς εὐεργεσίας ταύτης ὑποσχέσθαι ἀμοιβὰς, ἑτέρως γὰρ ἑώρα οὐκ ἐνὸν τὸν υἱὸν ἀπαλλάττειν τῶν δεσμῶν, βασιλέα δὲ συνιδόντα καὶ αὐτὸν, ὡς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον μάλιστα δυνήσεται Ὀρχάνην πείθειν αὐτῷ προσέχειν καὶ τοῦ σοὶ κατ' ἐκείνου συμμαχεῖν ἀναγκάζειν ἀποσχέ 3.348 σθαι, καὶ ταύτης τῆς ἐλπίδος ἕνεκα τριήρεις ἐφοπλίσαντα προσέχειν ἀεὶ θαλάσσῃ καὶ πειρᾶσθαι τὸν Ὀρχάνη παῖδα ἀνασώζειν, ὑπὸ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον καὶ σὲ ὑπὸ Τριβαλῶν προσκεκλημένον, μόνους ἔχοντα βαρβάρους, ἐξεστρατευκέναι πρὸς Μακεδονίαν, οὕτως ὑπ' ἀνάγκης περισχεθέντα, ὥστε τὴν οὖσαν ἐκ Ῥωμαίων στρατιὰν ἀπολιπεῖν, Τριβαλοὺς δὲ τοὺς πρότερον οὐδ' ἀντιβλέπειν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας πώποτε τετολμηκότας ὀλίγους παρὰ δόξαν πρὸς πολλαπλασίους ἀντικαταστῆναι, τοὺς Πέρσας δὲ, καίτοι κρείττους τῶν πολεμίων γενομένους, αὐτοὺς ὑφ' ἑαυτῶν διαφθαρῆναι τραπομένους πρὸς φυγὴν, σὲ δὲ ὑπολειφθέντα μόνον, ἁλῶναί τε ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων καὶ δεσμώτην ἀπαχθῆναι πρὸς βασιλέα τὸν γαμβρὸν, ἐπιστρατεύσαντα αὐτίκα ταῖς πόλεσι ταῖς ὑπὸ σὲ καὶ σὺν ῥᾳστώνῃ πάσῃ χειρωσάμενον καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ παῖδας τοὺς σοὺς ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν πεποιημένον, καὶ πάντα ὥσπερ ἐκ συνθήματος συνδραμεῖν, οὐδένα οἴομαι τῶν πάντων, εἰ μὴ φρενῶν ἀπεστέρηται παντάπασι καὶ λογισμῶν ὀρθῶν, μὴ κατὰ θείαν πρόνοιαν οἰήσεσθαι συμβεβηκέναι. ἃ καὶ σὲ πεπεισμένον, οὐχ ἑτέρως ἐσχηκέναι δέον τοῖς ἐψηφισμένοις στέργειν τῷ θεῷ καὶ μὴ μετὰ τὴν φιλάνθρωπον παιδείαν ταύτην, πεπαίδευκε γάρ σε φιλανθρώπως τῷ θανάτῳ μὴ παραδοὺς, ἀναίνεσθαι τὴν ἀνάκλησιν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἔξεστιν εὐδοξίας ἀπολαύειν, ὥσπερ πρότερον. καίτοι καὶ τὸ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἑτέραν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τόνδε τὸν βίον ἐπίκηρον οὖσαν καὶ διαῤῥέου 3.349 σαν ἐπτοῆσθαι, οὐκ ἀνδρῶν ἐχόντων νοῦν καὶ προσεχόντων ἀληθέσι λογισμοῖς. ἡ δὲ ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας ταύτης καὶ κίνδυνον οὐ τὸν τυχόντα τῷ μὴ καλῶς τοῖς πράγμασι