at that time for the ruler to ratify to her through a gift of a golden bull the property which he had previously granted to the man, not having been informed that the one who had received the first gift had sold it. Whence the chrysobull document does not possess any power to help the accuser; for the ruler did not knowingly grant what belonged to another, for otherwise he would have noted this in the gift. It was necessary then for the plaintiff, having been silenced by all these things, to no longer exchange arguments for arguments, nor to leap from other invalid arguments to other invalid ones; but what he wanted, he wanted very much. Because of this he used all means, and fought with all means, not striking his opponent with a sword nor cutting with a knife nor hitting with a stone, but touching him with a finger. For such were the powers of his objections; among which was the metropolitan of Ankyra, taking up the case not only unsuitably, but also artlessly, and making the chrysobull the origin of the gift, and in all things using the plaintiff's voice; and Michael's daughter Maria, supposedly settling with him after what he had done, and testifying for him to the ownership of the property, and ceding to him the lawsuits concerning it; or again, considering this a trivial matter, she settled concerning the same thing with the manglabites' father. And it is reasonable for the second settlement to be called a settlement, with ambiguity <not> arising in the matter, but the first settlement a fabrication. For the woman played it out, playing the role of the adversary and imitating his words. In addition to these things, the plaintiff himself was often suing and being acclaimed and bringing forth decrees to the judges of judges. Since, therefore, he gained nothing from this, he resorted to the last anchor, demanding substantiations from the opponent, either the demonstrated sale by his grandfather or the grandmother's confirmatory right. But the long time that had elapsed for him after the first alienation, did not even make the lawsuit admissible; for it was agreed by both that in the year 6509 the alienation of the property by the Iberian took place, but the manner of the alienation was disputed. For one called this a sale, and this was sealed in the very document of sale, but the other [called it] a pledge, simply asserting so. Therefore, the fifty-third year having elapsed after the alienation made the lawsuit of Iberitzes concerning the property inadmissible. But he, shouting many great things to interrupt the period of time, produced documents of summons, of which the others were found to have been made after the thirty-year period, but one was recorded as having been made in the 12th indiction. And he insisted this was the one in which the renowned among emperors lord Romanos had taken hold of the empire, and that time was the 28th year after the property was alienated by the grandfather. But the signature of the three witnesses rendered such a summons invalid. Nevertheless, however, granting by concession that it be strong and lawful, we demand that this be confirmed by the witnesses, and then to have a beginning of lawsuits concerning the property. But he was not able to provide proof of this, but was shouting loudly, and making a disturbance in the court as if being deprived of his own possessions, lying against the sale as having been fabricated and demanding its substantiation from the opponent. For he knew that, since the long time had caused the witnesses who signed on it to disappear, this man would hesitate to enter into such a contest and would concede the property to him, even unwillingly. But the manglabites, so that the case might not again be postponed, willingly proceeds to the contest, and in the winter season, having traversed impassable roads and having traveled a great distance, came bringing three men, of whom one testified that he was present at the sale and he himself brought the very payment, and that he saw with his own eyes both the witnesses signing and the Iberian who sold making his mark on the document of sale. The others