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Epitaph for John Doukas

Epitaph of lord George Akropolites for the renowned emperor lord John Doukas.

1 Woe, woe, the great emperor is dead, woe, woe, the famous and most mighty John, a name terrible and dreadful to his enemies, but to us graceful and longed for. Woe, woe, the most secure bulwark of the Romans has been cast down, stronger than the walls of Semiramis, in which all things were fenced about and were kept unassailable by our adversaries. The pillar of the world has been shaken and shattered, which raised the empire of the Romans to a celestial height and made it more renowned to all. The center of the Ausonian circle has vanished, from which lines were sent out for cohesion, on the one hand, mastering and gathering the elements of saving renown, and on the other, casting far away the stings of enemies rising against us. The famous and brilliant sun has been extinguished, by which we avoided the stones of stumbling, by whom our light was sweet, and by whom we made our way decently as in the day, from which grace-gushing rays flowed, illuminating the entire land of the Romans, by which also the pride of our adversaries was turned to ashes, whom the body of the moon running underneath could not curtail by that small amount, the empty boasts of insolent foreigners, nor did the mist of a cloud cast a shadow over him, the wily plots of treacherous opponents.

2 Woe, woe, for I must return my discourse to lamentation. Alas for so great a suffering, for the healers of such a calamity for us. A tall and broad-leafed tree has fallen, in which all creatures were refreshed, being sheltered, not scorched by the heats of the sun nor chilled by the frosts of snow. Come now, O Romans present, are we ourselves truly alive, with the emperor having flown away from us, who represented for us the principle of the soul or the place of life? Or do we seem to live, but in truth are dead? For there is also a death among men not yet apparent, but being real and known to those who examine, and the fable itself both makes a stone out of men and declares that this stone does not hesitate to weep. For indeed a heavy suffering, having forced its way in, truly turns a man's nature to stone and renders him senseless in other things, clinging only to grief and wishing to weep continually.

3 So then, O Romans, has that mightiest and most magnificent of all emperors ever, like one of men, himself also gone beneath the earth and is clothed in a cold stone slab, having exchanged for it most brilliant stones and pearls? He who was great in strength, he who was peerless in understanding, he who was tested in many battles and crowned with very many victories, whose trophies are beyond the sand of the sea and the uncounted multitude of the stars, some on land, and some on sea, whom the snorting Italian feared, whom the warlike Persian shuddered at, whom the bloodthirsty Paeonian dreaded and the Mysian and the Dalmatian cowered before, whose spear they have feared even to the boundaries of Gades, whose sword even those who excel above all men trembled at? So then has he, along with the rest, become the prey of Charon and the work of a deadly sword? And has the dart of Pluto boasted even over him? Who might give me a Stentorian voice, who will broaden my mouth and make it more wide-gaping, so that I might utter a cry worthy of the suffering and commensurate with the magnitude of the calamity? Who will lend me a Homeric tongue or the Herodotan muse, so that in my speech I might approach in some small way the emperor's great deeds, and in the case of the suffering

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Epitaphius in Joannem Ducam

Τοῦ Ἀκροπολίτου κυροῦ Γεωργίου ἐπιτάφιος τῷ ἀοιδίμῳ βασιλεῖ κυρῷ Ἰωάννῃ τῷ ∆ούκᾳ.

1 Ἰοὺ ἰοὺ καὶ ὁ μέγας τέθνηκε βασιλεύς, ἰοὺ ἰοὺ ὁ περί πυστος Ἰωάννης καὶ

κράτιστος, τὸ φοβερὸν καὶ φρικαλέον τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὄνομα, χάριεν δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ποθούμενον. ἰοὺ ἰοὺ τὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐχυρώτατον καταβέβληται πύργωμα, τὸ Σεμιραμείων τειχῶν ἐρυμνότερον, ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα περι φράγνυντο καὶ τοῖς ἐναντίοις διετηροῦντο ἀνεπιβόυλευτα. ὁ κοσμικὸς στύλος σεσάλευται καὶ κατήρρακται, ὃς εἰς ὕψος αἰθέριον τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀνῆγεν ἀρχὴν καὶ περιφανεστέραν πᾶσιν ἐτίθετο. τὸ κέντρον τοῦ τῶν Αὐσόνων κυκλώματος ἐξηφάνισται, ἐξ οὗ γραμμαὶ πρὸς ξυνοχὴν ἀπεπέμποντο, τὰ μὲν τῆς σωστικῆς περιφανείας περικρατοῦσαί τε καὶ ξυνάγουσαι, μακρὰν δὲ βάλλουσαι τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν κεντρία τὰ καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπαλλόμενα. ὁ κλεινὸς καὶ λαμπρὸς ἀπέ σβεσται ἥλιος, δι' οὗ προσκόμματος λίθους ἡμεῖς ἐφυγγάνομεν, δι' οὗ φαῦσις ἡδεῖα ἡμῖν, δι' ὃν καὶ ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχη μόνως τὴν βάδισιν ἐποιούμεθα, ἐξ οὗπερ ἀκτῖνες ἀπέρρεον χαριτόβλυτοι, πᾶσαν Ῥωμαίων χθόνα περιαυγάζουσαι, ὑφ' ὧν καὶ κατετεφροῦντο τὰ τῶν ἐναντίων φρονήματα, ὃν οὐ σελήνης ὑποτρέχειν σῶμα, τὸ αὐτὸ μικρὸν κολούειν ἠδύνατο, ἀλλοθρόων ἀναιδῶν κεναυχήματα, οὐδὲ νέφους ἀχλὺς ὑπε σκότιζεν, ἀντιμάχων δολερῶν διαβούλια.

2 Ἰοὺ ἰού, ἀνακτέον γάρ μοι τὸν λόγον εἰς τὸ θρηνῴδημα. φεῦ τοσούτου πάθους, ἰαταὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ἡμῖν συμφορᾶς. πέπτωκε δένδρον τὸ ὑψιτενὲς καὶ πλατύκομον, ἐν ᾧ τὰ τῶν ὅλων ἐψυχαγωγοῦντο περισκεπόμενα, οὐχ ἡλιακαῖς εἰληθερούμενα καύσεσιν οὐδὲ ταῖς ἐκ χιόνων πηγυλίσιν ἀποψυχόμενα. ἆρ' ἄγε, ὦ παρόντες Ῥωμαῖοι, ἀληθῶς αὐτοὶ τῷ βίῳ περίεσμεν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐξ ἡμῶν ἀποπτάντος, ὃς ψυχῆς λόγον ἢ ζωῆς τόπον ἐν ἡμῖν ἀπεξέφερεν; ἢ ζῆν μὲν δοκοῦμεν, τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ τεθνήκα μεν; ἔστι γὰρ καὶ θάνατος ἐν ἀνθρώποις μήπω φαινόμενος, ὄντως δὲ ὢν καὶ τοῖς ἐξετάζουσι γινωσκόμενος, αὐτομιᾷ δὲ μύθου καὶ λίθον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ποιεῖ καὶ δακρύειν τοῦτον οὐ κατοκνεῖν ἀποφαίνεσθαι. λιθοῖ μὲν γὰρ ὄντως ἀνθρώπου φύσιν πάθος ἐπεισφρῆσαν βαρὺ καὶ ἀναίσθητον ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐργάζεται μόνου τοῦ ἄλγους ἐχόμενον καὶ διηνεκῶς δακρύειν βουλόμενον.

3 Ἆρ' οὖν, ὦ Ῥωμαῖοι, ὁ κράτιστος ἐκεῖνος καὶ τῶν πώποτε βασιλέων μεγαλουργότατος ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν γῆν ὑποδέδυκε καὶ ψυχρὰν περιβέβληται πλάκα, λίθων λαμπροτάτων καὶ μαργάρων ταύτην ἀνταλλαξάμενος; ὁ πολὺς τὴν ἰσχύν, ὁ τὴν σύνεσιν ἀπαράμιλλος, ὁ πολλαῖς μάχαις ἐξετασθεὶς καὶ πλείστας νίκας ἀναδησάμενος, οὗ τὰ τρόπαια ὑπὲρ ψάμμον θαλάσσης καὶ ἄστρων πλῆθος μὴ ἀριθμούμενον, τὰ μὲν κατὰ χέρσον, τὰ δὲ κατὰ θάλατταν, ὃν ὁ φριμακτίας ἔτρεσεν Ἰταλός, ὃν ὁ μάχιμος πέφρικε Πέρσης, ὃν ἐδεδοίκει Παίων αἱμοχαρὴς καὶ Μυσὸς καὶ ∆αλμάτης ὑπέπτηξαν, οὗ τὸ δόρυ καὶ ἐς Γαδείρων ὅρους πεφόβηνται, οὗ τὴν σπάθην καὶ οἱ κατὰ πάντων ἀριστεύοντες ἐτετρέμαινον; ἆρ' οὖν οὕτως ἐκεῖνος σὺν τοῖς λοιποῖς Χάρωνος γεγένηται παρανάλωμα καὶ ξίφους ἔργον θανατηροῦ; καὶ κατεκαυχήσατο καὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ τοῦ Πλού τωνος βέλεμνον; τίς μοι δοίη φωνὴν Στεντόρειον, τίς πλα τυνεῖ μου τὸ στόμα καὶ εὐρυχανδέστερον θήσειεν, ὡς ἂν φωνὴν ἀπερεύξωμαι τοῦ πάθους ἀξίαν καὶ παραμετρουμένην τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ δυσπραγήματος; τίς μοι δανείσοι γλῶτταν Ὁμήρειον ἢ μοῦσαν τὴν Ἡροδότειον, ὡς ἂν τοῦ μὲν αὐτοκράτορος μικρὸν ἐγγίσω τῷ λόγῳ τοῖς ἀριστεύμασι, τῷ δὲ πάθει