History
to diggers and smiths and full of much soot and to be familiar to those who look to arms and Ares, nor being difficult for working women who quarry it
this one he overlooked, and chose a son-in-law instead. But if ever such a thing has happened, we shall not consider, O wife, what is rare a law. ςοην
of the palace are thrown to the ground by broad bronze bars, having been raised a little at one of the ends, and from there he himself had entered wit
not having it so, overshadowed the majority of the family and made Axouch desirable to all. But not a full year had passed for the emperor when a plot
from the depths of Hades, coming through the middle of my bowels, they were about to cause immortal pain. But the emperor, seeing that the Persians h
having set before them, but also having bewitched them with silken garments and having won them over with silver cups and cauldrons. And having soften
he proclaimed a campaign, and an engagement having occurred, he decisively defeated this barbarian people also and brought them to a treaty, as they w
He showed Persarmenian, despairing of everything, as a fugitive. And leading away from there a not inconsiderable number of Persians as captives, he r
For instance, launching from their engines round and light stones, for the sake of visibility, as far as possible, so that these seemed to be flying a
approaching, he challenged the Armenian to come down a little, so that they might fight on level ground, if he truly chose single combat and was not,
of which he had previously had a share, having subdued Gangra, wishing from there to test the disposition of the Armenians and to know precisely where
of the towers giving way to the ςοην2.28 volleys of stones and collapsing to the ground broke the spirit of the sons of Hagar. From this, the audaciou
sallies of the best men, and retreats and pursuits from both sides. But the Romans' side always appeared to be the stronger, while the enemy, even if
to John, but being short of funds and seeing the emperor John always renowned for his actions in war, he found no one who concurred with his purpose.
of the Romans who had subdued the eastern cities, the most powerful and most shameless. Therefore, when spring began to draw to a close, the emperor d
matters. But he himself a little later, having renounced the Christian mysteries, married the daughter of the Persian of Iconium. But the emperor, ama
I might also mention as inauspicious omens for the journey beyond the deaths of his dearest ones which he had before his eyes, nevertheless he suffere
he passed with ease but on the day after this, when the wound began to swell and throb, he was stricken with extreme pains and makes known to the phy
To those knowledgeable of what is being said, I say these things. I was born of a kingly father, I have become the successor of his rule, I have lost
It is not by giving credit to the virtue of the first son that I have preferred the later-born of necessity the appropriate things will be said. Ther
pursuing magnificence with both gifts and expenditures and this is shown by the frequent distributions of gold coins to the inhabitants of the city a
to mint for them annual silver coins amounting to two hundred minas. It was said also that Axouch carried another imperial document, sealed in red, wh
they were in a prophetic frenzy. Therefore, having offered sacrifices to God for his proclamation and for his arrival, he considers who would be allot
When these things had been administered, he returned to the reigning city. This emperor took a wife from the Germans, of a very glorious and brilliant
Therefore, through meanness, the pirates rule the sea and the coastal lands of the Romans have fared badly from the robberies, just as their enemies w
suffering with his hands. And at this, the boys were shaking with their whole bodies in fits of laughter, while his fellow-travelers were in mockery a
the ebb tide forced it and at times it justified the redistribution, and for reasons it deemed just, not so much I think from a sententious cause (for
strengthens their morale with distributions of money, which one of the ancients excellently named the sinews of affairs. And so with God as his helper
becomes marshy, because it does not flow through sandy ground, but through soil that is all rich and black and is split into a deep furrow by plowing
raising the all-seeing eye, as they were not using just weights nor pitying them as foreigners, nor setting anything aside for them as fellow believer
we are exhausted by the heat, we have the earth for a bed, the sky for a roof, we the well-born, the finely-robed, who rule over glory and wealth and
having shown the signals for battle, he himself let his horse go, frequently spurring and urging it on, as if about to cross the river with a rush, an
advancing as a fox, upon stated agreements they receive a Sicilian garrison within, numbering one thousand mailed soldiers. And so, fleeing the smoke
ending in a plateau, securely walled. Inside there are not a few wells of potable and clear water and the spring Peirene, which Homer mentions in a rh
He improvised the other matters, as many as contributed to the common advantage, but he took exceptional care of the military registers, especially en
he allowed every entering monk to tread on the entrance of the pronaos, saying that he had unprofitably for himself pushed aside his old and beloved t
having fulfilled her bearing of female children throughout her entire life, for my part I do not clearly know man1,πτ2.82 but the emperor, being fair
one after another, until the ladder had received them all. Therefore, there was no one of the onlookers who did not cry out at this deed being done, g
they rested from their purpose or laid down their arms after a defeat, but like beasts that die hard, leaping upon and attacking, they consider it a t
at the same time, with famine also slowly consuming them, they turned to the aforementioned course. The castellan Theodore, who was in command of the
herds of cattle cropping the green shoots of the wood, he left to the attackers for scattering and destruction, permitting each man to find safety thr
(where also a very strong fort has been built, which is called Zeugminon) he managed the affairs there very badly. Then also a certain Paion, greatest
he, indeed, did not bear what had happened tolerably, but suffered sufficiently. But being not one to fear noise, nor to shrink in dreadful encounters
of the Sicilians. Having therefore drawn an embassy from Sicily, he sends it up to the emperor and asks him to pay attention to what the ambassadors h
having transferred money there, but having resulted in no useful end for the Romans or worthy of zeal for later emperors. But what could one say to th
Gallipoli. While the emperor Manuel was near Tarsus, the escape from prison of his cousin Andronikos was announced to him, the cause of which was both
the king, pulling him by the hair, was being led away ignobly, and suspecting a death no less womanish and inglorious. Therefore, drawing his sword an
the father would hear, I mean John, to whom Andronikos afterwards also gave a share of the empire, as the narrative will relate in due course, departs
to wholly endure the Romans to control the war fought with spears. man1,pt3.110 But the emperor himself with two horsemen attacked, charging his horse
therefore pledges of what was said by the emperor, while he was still staying in Cilicia, he places him behind a curtain, and taking Styppeiotes aside
to drink dry the porphyry basin, which the open-air court of the bedchamber of the emperor Nikephoros Phokas formerly had, the one lying open above th
he inherited Amaseia and Ankyra and the prosperous land of the Cappadocians and whatever bordered these cities, while to Dadounes were assigned the pr
proclaims the triumph of Constantine. And the triumph was magnificent, all-resplendent with the most beautiful and precious robes and elaborate with t
wishing to impress Kilij Arslan with the treasures of many talents with which the Roman empire was overflowing, he set out in order in one of the most
He often waged war, transgressing laws and confounding treaties for no reason, but weighing what was to be done by his own desire. He did not even hol
they draw on more afflictions, so that they may counteract and stop the evils that spread forward. Nor, however, did Manuel remain quiet at these thi
for it was suspected that while the Hungarians might be ruled by him, he himself might be ruled by the one ruling the Romans. For these reasons, there
slender ones. And when what had been planned came to an end, the bars are opened at night, the prison is opened without difficulty the boy assists in
having slipped into the woody place there, like a gazelle rescued from snares and a bird from a trap, he rushed on. But when at last they realized the
astonished at the first sight of him, opened the gates and received him inside but when these men completely barred the entrances to him and strength
was flourishing. At that time a certain one of the Paeonians was being led captive, still having the native felt cap on his head and dressed in the re
to the daughter of the king, nor indeed was it advantageous for the Roman populace to graft a shoot from a foreign stock into a most fruitful cultivat
what he had suffered, this he did more ambitiously, being wealthy and otherwise of admirable appearance and rising like a shoot of a fir tree, but als
The plots against Andronicus being contrived, she immediately hands the letter to him. Andronicus, therefore, understanding that it was necessary to d
and using a gift-loving hand towards all, perhaps also smoldering with desire for his available wealth, he arrests this man while staying in Sardica,
he sees through and hearkens to the things muttered under the tongue. Whether, therefore, he was also indignant at the emperor for this unjust action,
leading astray and driving out from the chaste life as if from Eden. And from then on, having become a bitter husband, he never again saw at all the o
(for they are called Neokastra) they have their own governor sent from Byzantium and contribute annual coin to the imperial treasury. man1,pt5.151 FIF
Andronicus, having girded himself as commander, departed from there with all his forces, and after some days had passed, the Saubos and the Danube had
we are superior in military methods. And indeed, having engaged on another occasion, we contended with the Paeonians, entering and ravaging their land
with wounds. And so, when that unbreakable squadron was broken apart, there was no one of the Romans who was not striking and striking down a Paeonian
he sends Theodore Padyates with a force. But the toparch Neman was of such a hostile disposition, that he immediately launched an undeclared war and a
he presents himself to the king and asks what he has in mind, whether he will wait for him in Cyprus or if he will proceed to Jerusalem. But the king,
mysteries, singing in some places prayers, and in others hymns of thanksgiving. But as Andronicus was not accomplishing what he intended even in this
a drug, which the wife of Thon had given to the Laconian woman, nepenthe, making one forget all evils, but also effeminizing warlike men and making th
of picked men, and having checked the impulses of all, he proposes to abstain from fighting with men who had long ago informed him that they would sur
a great and famous sanctuary of the Mother of God received him at Blachernai. man1,pt5.170 and through the fulfillment of oaths transferring the scept
having conferred, planned an escape, and since a three-masted ship was moored in the city's dockyards, a more capacious or larger one was said never t
Truces of the opposing forces, and libations and treaties and proclamations of ambassadors, prevented and walled off attacks against each other, but b
they were accusing and attacking one another, the emperor charging ingratitude towards his benefactor and forgetfulness of previous good deeds and of
he sent the ambassadors away unsuccessful. But the sultan did not give up, again discussing matters of peace. But when he saw that the agreements were
of its emperor, or a withdrawal and a turning aside to the other side for the wagons, being drawn along the middle, in no way allowed the preceding r
That pass was split into many ditches and narrow passages, widening for a short space and then contracting again into a narrow way and these were bei
with ornaments composed of horsehair hanging down a good length and having ringing bells hung around them. But the emperor, having raised the spirits
turning his attack, he says, Was it not you who through this deserted and narrow road squeezed us and strained us to destruction, or rather, as thoug
The Subleon. Thus, having found the barbarian truly speaking towards peace and not devising deceits in anger, he asks to journey by another man1,pt6.1
the sultan withdrawing from the treaties and from beneath his own banner boasting that he would bring them to an end, as it was unfurled to the wind a
the destruction of those who were stumbling. Therefore, having held out for a considerable time, he fought eagerly, showing the works of a manly spiri
man1,pt6.196 with feet and voice spurred it to move swiftly, not travelling on the road leading to the general's headquarters, but rushing straight fo
For he was eager, desiring to reach the besiegers before those inside suffered some terrible fate, the likes of which cannot be described in words. Th
were destroyed, but the inhabitants of this city, having outwitted those who had imposed upon them an obligation under oath that they would never rebu
He promises to provide everything, whatever it was fitting for them to ask that was both blameless and possible. But he also sent many times more gold
to the barbarians and these he easily assigned, for the most part inclining his ear to them and readily accomplishing what they asked. To some of thes
has conducted his life but if, on the contrary, one looked at him when he was meeting every situation with humble gentleness and holding sensual plea
having made the military weaker and having channeled abysses of money into idle bellies and having put the Roman provinces in a very bad state for th
and has been initiated by him into the things concerning him more clearly and more divinely. When therefore an inquiry arose concerning the scriptural
analysis of things confirmed, as attributing the lesser to the Logos himself man1,pt7.213 through the midst of the flesh, and especially because they
He declared that access to the emperor was not now possible because of some impediment that had crept in from his illness, but it was necessary to pay
of Mohammed should be expunged from the catechetical books, and that an anathema should be inscribed against Moham man1,pt7.219 med and all his teachi
they were prophesying outbursts of stars and extraordinary winds man1,pt7.221 and almost the transformation of the universe, showing themselves to be
MANUEL KOMNENOS And so Manuel Komnenos ends his life, and after him his son Alexios reigns, not yet having clearly reached puberty, but still in need
alex2.226 Let the telling of the history concerning this man proceed from that point from which it is better to proceed for the sake of coherence and
But some, like goats, desire the shoot of the kingdom alech2.228 and constantly long to pluck it, while some, imitating swine, are fattened from the f
they were set forth for drainage and the saying of Archilochus was directly fulfilled, which says that things collected over a long time and with muc
of a plantation and to be harmed by a ruin growing up with and choking the emperor like wheat. And she was openly striving for things which were not d
The multitude, becoming savage in their audacity, tore down the most splendid houses and plundered the things within them, which both the protosebasto
they were broken down and the armed force of the Caesarissa, no longer able to resist, as it was being struck from above by those from the arches and
they will be kept untouched and we would be unplundered. Using these and similar words, he himself went down into the narthex, where the story says M
He stirred them up against him with gold and banquets, having corrupted them, and with deposition, and he accused him even in his absence, as if he ha
he was sleeping, and in another sense, making the darkness his hiding place. But if it is necessary to speak more truthfully, enjoying the works of ni
He made the Byzantines hang on him, so that abandoning the tasks at hand they stretched their sight to the opposite shore, approaching the coasts and
But there were some who from the first sight immediately recognized the wolf hidden in sheep's skin and the snake that, after being warmed, was about
their kinsmen, escaped falling by the sword. But as many as were captured were condemned to death. All, however, lost their property. And the triremes
at the same time vividly describing for Andronikos the things he had seen along with what the emperor Manuel had reported to him, and making him out t
when they murmured that they had mourned sufficiently, he did not yield at all to their entreaties, but having asked that a little more time be grante
and a single guard leading them away together. And John Kantakouzenos confirms my account for me by striking a certain eunuch called Tzitas with his m
pretext. But those who did not accept what was being said even with the tips of their ears and who rendered their attacks ineffective with the laws as
to receive the noble war-cries and the customary shouts for victory from the eastern cities, and furthermore to be assured by his deeds what sort of l
The dog-faced men of the marketplace laid hold of his beard, esteeming as nothing the piety due to him, if he had not consented to the demands of Andr
she is led away ingloriously to some lodging somewhere there, a very narrow prison, where for a considerable time, being treated with drunken violence
radiance, unanimously crying out that what was proposed had long been their desire, and that it was no longer time to hold back for indeed they would
having raised his hands as if toward the chalice and fashioning himself into one suffering, he swears by the dreadful mysteries, with almost all stand
he seemed to be ruled rather than to rule, commanding and doing those things which the apostates suggested to him, even to the point of accepting the
he had... immediately set out, anticipating rumor, which sees even things hidden under the earth and often makes clear future events as if they had al
What these newly-appeared letters might have done and accomplished, the swift seizure of the man did not allow to be ascertained. And then Andronicus,
he would set her forth as a shield for the siege engines, but now placing her on the ram as if in a chariot, he thus brought the machines to the wall.
when he fell, they became even more disheartened. And looking to Isaakios Angelos they wished to submit to him and to treat him as their own leader. B
drawing his tongue like a sharp sword, and having filled him with good expectations, but to speak more truly, nourishing by divine will his own murder
to let it go, so that wherever the beast of burden might rush, he would wander alone. And perhaps he would have become ανδρον1,πτ1.289 prey for wild b
approaching. ανδρον1,πτ1.291 This Isaac, therefore, being unwilling to submit to Andronikos and imagining his homeland as among the stars and taking n
he was declaring, and this Andronikos Doukas, as if he had been taught by the murderer from the beginning who rejoices in the misfortunes of mortals,
Discourse. Certain men, who had freedom of speech, ask Andronicus that the bodies of the hanged men be taken down. But he, like Pilate concerning the
David of the Komnenoi was the general. For he was seen to be of no use to the Thessalonians, but was most skilled only in always fearing Andronikos an
And treading upon these, if any ornament of precious material was present, they took it off, pulling it out as it chanced, and they carried them out t
we are very great and in our opinions incompatible and diametrically opposed, even if we are joined in body and often share the same dwelling. Wherefo
Did the Sicilians of old welcome the lords of the houses and serve them, but the rest, who ran past their ανδρον1,πτ1.304 houses as if they were the m
other services, which the oil provides when present, they used lavishly and wastefully. But proceeding as from an inexhaustible spring or bubbling up
his word reached the joyless rock and seen only with reverence he was led by the foreigners and they yielded their seats and listened to him gladly an
Andronicus dealt with Alexius unmercifully, but also as many of his notable servants as he could he arrested and held in prison. Not long after, he ar
And now rumors from all sides, loosening their wing, announced that the Sicilians had subdued Epidamnus, and were marching towards Thessalonica withou
John, Tripsychos did not cease from slandering him, uttering frantic words and proclaiming this abomination would be established in the sacred place o
therefore, never to be at rest, but those whom the scouts announced to them as enemies, these to see for themselves and to be taught by their deeds th
being heedless, as if there was no one resisting, and always advancing forward and enticed by the desire for more spoils, they were about to fall into
or also departure from life and another ultimate evil was reckoned, since the man, having once for all presupposed his own cruelty in the soil of his
they collected what was ordered, and there was numbness and paralysis of hands, which formerly looked only to receiving. And for many, even that which
for whom they willingly avoided the correction of these things. Having said these things, he added, Men, who are related to me by blood and all for
the large and popular crowd and those who administered the magistracies, lest they should lose something on land which the salty surge had not destroy
praising the eloquent sophist and holding the men skilled in law in very high esteem. ανδρον1,πτ2.332 Wishing to make the deposition of his body in th
to go through almost all the nations and andron1,pt2.334 on every occasion to bear and preach apostolically the name of Christ and to partake of the h
Is it not by the decree of our mighty and holy lord and emperor that we vote and declare it to be commonly and privately advantageous and beneficial f
they were about to be gathered together into one flock like sheep for the slaughter, those who had been exiled in various provinces and those who were
an earth-loving spirit prophesied through incantations, such as it is not right to reveal, as being within the days of the Exaltation of the Cross. Th
they openly declare their own transgression by asking forgiveness from those entering and leaving the most holy sanctuary but the multitude of the ci
standing and watching the things being done by others. But those involved in rational studies also called them a rotten limb, not suffering with the r
putting it on, which, ending in a point, is likened to a pyramid, again enters the imperial trireme, by which he had arrived from the Meloudion at the
listening together and singing psalms together. But the most versatile one was pursuing all these things in vain and contriving them to no purpose fo
they thrust a short sword with both hands from the platform, and su ανδρον1,πτ2.351 rrounding him they brought down their swords, testing which was sh
having adorned it with gold, dedicated it to the said church but it, as the destruction of Andronikos approached, began to drip a tear from its eyes.
they were, and they themselves no less were young men, some only to see the liberator Moses and Zerubbabel who led back the captivity of Zion (for so
boasting that they would lift up and move mountains with their spears, as if struck by a thunderbolt or driven out of their minds by the sound of a mo
the cause of all evils, and is deprived of the light of his eyes, he who is worthy of the dwellings of Charon. ισααξ2,πτ1.361 And there were some who
the voyage home. They say that many of these, crew and all, sank into the deep, having encountered contrary winds and consorting with stormy gales. An
to pay attention to letters, attending a schoolmaster's from a tender age, wearing a leather tunic, going through numbers, and holding in his hands a
he drove herds of all kinds of animals and with other benefits filled his own army. When the eastern nations were at peace with other temporary honors
of the Romans after the defeat he enrolled in their own units, and many he subjected to savage punishments, such an inexorable punisher was he, among
like a herd into isaac2,pt1.373 the sea, rushed to the Ister and having sailed across it, joined with the neighboring Scythians but the emperor, sinc
not being able to see what was at his feet, nor knowing that the enemy was encamped against him. ισααξ2,πτ1.376 And when the Romans had been thus rout
the army, which are called those of Charsios, he divides it into a right and left wing isaac2,pt1.379 and holding the center of the phalanx himself, h
swimming upon them, and they raised a splendid trophy. But not for long enduring the shame from the defeat, those of the emperor's fleet made a pursui
Of those related by blood to the emperor and of as many as did not have their dwellings outside the city, all submitted to Branas, and it was not poss
John, as he was both long acquainted with Branas and a little before the rebellion had celebrated the marriage of his son with the daughter of Branas.
and he hurls Branas from his horse. From this point on, the Caesar's bodyguards, surrounding him, spear him to death. They say that when he was first
that their horses would not strike the ground with their feet, but fly like Pegasus, and that they themselves would be covered in invisibility, as if
the impoverished multitude of the city and its environs, having run through them, some still carrying weapons, others using whatever makeshift defense
each pursuit. And to speak in another way, since their usual leader, wine I mean, had not armed them, nor sharpened them for the contest more precisel
various, not at all considering the difficulty of the matter, nor that they themselves would surely be destroyed, and not having accomplished another'
to enter Zagora again and to try as best he could to subdue the Mysians. And so setting out from Philippopolis he arrived at Triaditza for from there
the inhabitants of my Chonae, burning the threshing floors during the summer season and treating whatever he chanced upon most cruelly like an enemy
the circuit-wall of Philippopolis and to dig a trench, and thus acting during those narrow and dangerous times, but a little later being censured in l
was said to have become but having become an intimate of Isaac before his reign, he foretold his reign to him, and since the prophecy had reached its
Dositheus is accused of adultery, and he had his second honor annulled and is brought down from the throne. The emperor, unable to bear the defeat, wa
Romans, so as to be more than sixty stades apart for they were still waiting at Philippopolis, while we, having come to the outermost parts of Achris
recognizing what had been done as unreasonable, he made them masters of their possessions again and had deemed them worthy of their former judicial ho
Having fled, he pleaded that he knew nothing of what his sons had done, and that he had been cast out of power by one of them, Kotpatinos. But the Tur
having been received by the Armenians and having spent several days there, he set out to move to the city of Antioch, always clothed with a great name
he collected taxes. And as he was already departing from Palestine, he gave Cyprus as his own country to the king who was ruler of Jerusalem, so that
not even then did he put an end to the exorbitant requests, but he nevertheless granted through a sultanic letter, which the Turks call a *musurion*,
But having been arrested and suspended and subjected to heavy tortures in order to reveal the accomplices of the tyranny, his internal organs were des
as a monk, with us ministering to the task, in one of the monasteries, which are many and all salutary for souls on Mount Papykion, concerning which,
a refluent strait For taking Alexios as his messmate, he honored him with continuous chines of meat, as Agamemnon of old honored Ajax, and urging him
the emperor was far into that difficult place and having no escape at all, the barbarians then attacked with as large a host as possible. But neither
they have supposed that God gives over myriads of the pious as an exchange and ransom for any drunken violence by one of them to nations stirred up, a
the raids of the Vlachs and Scythians. But when the Zupan of the Serbs was doing evil and laying waste to Skopje, he goes against him and when the ra
they received it. And the emperor indeed knew these were the devices of duplicitous men and fabricated proposals, but having nevertheless praised the
The man-loving disease, having pitied those who do not pity themselves, raged against the man with a more wicked matter, which, wrenching open the joi
the things being done by this emperor, while he was residing for a time in the queen of cities, to say a few things out of many, were made manifest in
he was adorned and put on airs, as no one else, preening himself on his marvelous works. For he considered removal an offering and transfer an additio
He appointed this one for the repose of the sickly, sparing no expense on whatever contributes to the health of the infirm, and when a fire had destro
the just lot. And he departed, nurturing such eagerness and advancing to close quarters with the height of danger but the hand and scale that is over
which he carried in his two hands, the icon of the emperor, which in the little house assigned to him for prayer had been painted in colors on a wall,
indeed had this suffering after this, for many days not taking food because of the harshness of the punishment, a temporary imprisonment within the pa
to say, as being compelled to yield to the occasion and the circumstances, he then allows the armies to return to their native lands, taking no accoun
from the beginning of his reign, they augured the beginning of recent misfortunes and they called to mind the affairs of Osiris and Typhon, by whom Eg
waves, he was wearing gold and opening his whole hearing and granting every audience to those from the party of those who had helped him to power and
The Persian, taking advantage of the opportunity, would not accept the peace otherwise, unless the emperor would immediately present him with five cen
she had for Isaacius. But he was discontented and grew angry at the mere sound of what was written in the letters, saying he had learned to rule, not
if you will judge fairly, you would not know this man to have succeeded in anything whatsoever for neither did he engage in wars and expose himself t
enticing him with hopes by no means inferior, that if, having passed through the Vlachs, he could carry him off to his own lands, the emperor would pa
civilized) they resisted Peter's men. For at dawn the rumor trumpeted Asan's death not only on the top of the walls of Ternovon but also outside and f
by scourgings from God. But the Greeks sought the cause of the plague, and having learned it from the seer Calchas, they did not leave the evil unheal
Leading around in a circle those with their hands bound behind their backs, the Persian showed them to those on the walls and advised them, while the
and superfluous to the king's upbringing. And the things being negotiated by them were restitutions of many talents of money, and boastings and brags
having distributed to all who were useless and whose lamps of the body were extinguished, he departed from this proposal with all intensity, the one w
he condemned the ringleader of the conspiracy, who had been chosen for command, to a heavier punishment than the rest having ordered a crown of bronz
he would be entirely moderate. When he began to rule, however, he appeared completely different and in his own actions he proved everyone to be idle t
Andronicus Kontostephanos, who was married to her daughter Irene, and her kinsman Basil Kamateros almost choked at what had happened. Therefore, leavi
of the same tribe, always advancing and courting power for himself, is handed over to a guard. Then, released and sent to guard Stroummitza, he disapp
but the reproaches of the people and the mockeries falling upon them were oppressive. So six months passed, and the empress Euphrosyne had been cast o
done or even said unobserved, nor might anyone escape his notice when entering into his domain. Nevertheless, having arrived at Thessalonica alech3,pt
lacking in precision, graceful in character, and especially skilled at rounding off his speeches and drawing them out into rhetorical periods this wa
he inquired of their station, and asked who had captured them, and if they had lost any property, and if a son or a little daughter or αλεχ3,πτ1.495 a
despairs, which the account is about to relate. He suffered in the joints of his body in a sort of cycle and period, and his feet especially, as a mor
having been captured, however, by the hands of shameless lovers, not even valued at an obol by prudent men, who αλεχ3,πτ1.499 indeed neither had the a
they were decamping, but the Roman army guarding Bizye, learning that the Scythians were returning, turned against them. And when both armies joined b
Who could possibly bear to linger long in these barbaric and graceless lands for no or little gain, when the season of cucumbers and melons is at hand
the fortress and Chrysos had been captured and this deed had become a cause for praise for the Romans and a removal of many future toils, if the engin
sending embassies, whom he had feared as enemies. But late in changing from such thoughts, he gave them to the Romans, joining Irene, who was of fine
to innovate in places and to increase his own native army, while reducing the Roman one, and in some places even to render it unfit for battle as usel
making an account of their own salvation. Indeed, he had the Romans shortly after this doing these very things, whatever he was turning over in his mi
that the partaking of the divine mysteries is a remembrance of the Lord having both died and come back to life for our sakes, according to the great i
he would by no means agree with the emperor, but insisted that he would not make a treaty on any other terms, unless the emperor ceded to him in writi
carried off the victory from his brother, having been allotted a more skillful nature and proving himself exceptionally warlike. And indeed, Rukn al-D
they joined the battle with Ruricius, a most powerful and most noble phalanx seen around him. But it is necessary not to pass over even this unrecorde
of axe-bearers having been sent, not departing from the praetorium, they uttered unseemly taunts against the ruler. But he, not being present in the c
is hoisted up for public spectacle, still gushing with blood, grinning terribly and with her two eyes closed but the rest of John, lifted onto a bier
voyage for the terrestrial and marine graces disputed with this ruler and in turn held sway and they were claiming αλεχ3,πτ2.530 for themselves a bri
But against this truly indecent and abrupt action and the excessive vindictiveness, his brother Volkos stood up and reproached his sibling for his inh
to attack the themes. Therefore, they easily subdue Pelagonia and readily subject Prilep, they attack the next places, αλεχ3,πτ2.534 they cause the mo
he was contriving his deposition, sending letters to Irene his daughter, who shared the bed of Philip, then ruler of the Alamanni, inciting her to her
administering the scepters of the Romans. And knowing that it would proceed against his own head if he should work any treacherous thing against the R
at Iadara, and at Epidamnus they ran aground, and the emperor of the Romans who was with them, Alexios, was proclaimed by the Epidamnians, and Alexios
but they were separated by the wall of our city. But the emperor Alexios, having long since treasured up flight in his soul and being entirely given o
the panic over what must be done at the critical moment drove Alexios out of his senses. And having only drawn up his forces, whence he had gone out w
and he hastened her appointed destruction. Having therefore shared his plan with a few of his bedfellows αλεχ3,πτ2.547 and relatives and with his daug
when he had gathered and addressed them on what was necessary, and when a certain faction also ran together, who were eager that Isaakios should be em
he used, but Isaac was reigning, he reconciles those from Pisa with the Venetians, contriving this also against us but they, having set out for Pera,
extended to the Philadelphion. And with them also the Constantinian Forum and all the intervening parts, as many as proceed toward the north and south
Isaac was speaking of the son, but also by committing many more and far more wanton transgressions he was defiling the magnificent and all-glorious na
to draw by hand the armies from the west, judging badly and not applying themselves to what was seen with a right understanding. So some, with such mo
of the rulers to send up vapors of insolence and for their long-hidden and unknown opinion to boil out into the light. It was then the twenty-fifth of
he spoke evil things and to me indeed they spoke peaceful things, and with wrath they devised deceits, these things he was isaaξ2̈aλεχ4.564 pursuin
avoiding his destruction, they thought it a divine reversal. αλεχ5.567 And indeed, with Baldwin, the count of Flanders, ravaging the regions around Ph
to go under the yoke of her who rules all cities, God deemed it just to squeeze our jaws with a muzzle and a bridle, because we all, priest and people
he did not cease exhorting those who assembled and flattering them into opposition. But he also sent those who brandished the martial blades from thei
It was not thus that some things were done lawlessly and others not, or those things to a greater degree, and others to a lesser, but with one accord
similar things. And in this way he dealt with the faithless Latins in a Christ-fighting manner, not magnanimously inflicting upon them the sword, nor
often shorn against vermin and our souls wasting away in evils, no longer finding the way to a city for dwelling, but carried about, great wanderers,
my wrath, rejoicing and playing at the same time they are consecrated, and I lead them, but he also inflicts upon them more violent blows and scourg
of the then demos of the Athenians, whose ear was tickled by useful proposals and who gently yielded to the persuasive words of the best men. And in o
they made no account of the loss of these things as not yet grievous, or they lamented a beautiful maiden of marriageable age, seized by someone and d
we had received our own, and we commanded the young women to smear their faces with mud in place of their former cosmetics, and thus to extinguish the
destruction in a day of wrath, when the Lord rises up to shatter those who have treated us thus, riding perhaps upon the west according to the Davidic
Such were our affairs and those of the men of our station who shared with us in a rational education. But those of the vile faction and the vulgar sor
The nomination having been committed to a vote by Dandolo, five electors were chosen from the race of the Franks and Lombards, the best among them, an
according to the laws. But since Baldwin was encamped at Mosynopolis, and the marquis learned from many that Baldwin had never intended to give up to
especially those of the well-born, sweeping the lands and leveling the roads, by deceit and treachery to the firstborn son of Maria (for this one, roy
Caesarea. Similarly to these things, Theodore of Philadelphia, intending to settle the matter through battle, proceeded against Erres, who was staying
with his lips the one bearing Christ's name, as in dress and tongue one who speaks the same language as the Romans, but in his heart he might wander f
the capture of the city and the return from it to Alexios Doukas, who was surnamed Mourtzouphlos and was the last to hold the scepter of the Romans. B
ηαλοσις,πτ1.611 you would make clear to the barbarians in Sicily, nor make widely known how many great deeds those of them who campaigned with the Gre
having taken possession of and fortified Didymoteichon, remained in place, having no small assistance from the Vlachs but Ioannes, bringing his own t
they held on. But when they saw the Scythians again, they armed themselves with haste and at once, and more vigorously than before they pressed on, sh
having hanged them, sacrificed to their own demons, and the Latins, infuriated by the revolt of the Romans against them and by being defeated by the S
some he killed, and some he even hanged from the multitude of the laity and the order consecrated to God and the unfortunate among emperors Alexios a
he found the city with wide and deep moats, and the towers of the city at the extremities received structures of beams, rising high into the air and h
almost all of them were destroyed. Wherefore, looking to the construction of other engines, they collected masts of dismantled ships from the coastal
he was tonsured. But Theodore Laskaris, as most distinguished in lineage and renowned for his imperial connection by marriage, having rejected that on
bodies, but marvelous in military exercises and commanded by a certain Teres, a man of the most distinguished and noble. So, having armed itself, it w
were led away captive by the spear, but not even the infants at the breast proved superior to the evil, but these too were reaped down like green gras
They were feigning retreat and employing stratagems but when he, dismounting the elite of his army from their horses, was arranging this contingent,
for barbarians there is no sparing or restraint from acts contrary to nature. ηαλοσις,πτ1.637 And it was the days of Easter, in the course of the nint
he brought under his control. And having made a treaty with Kaykhusraw, the sultan of Iconium, he assigned a part of his dominion to that man's kinsma
Having been rescued from him who he had creeping closer and almost not so much as a knee's distance from his own shin away, he again clung fast to Her
Thus it came to pass. Having been captured in the Scythian war and put in chains, as it was told to me, he had already been imprisoned for a long time
here and there, nor was his spirit in his breast restrained to sit still, but he shifts his seat and settles upon both feet. And in his breast his hea
we will give a summary account. For when our empire had just been diced away to the Franks, and likewise the high priesthood had been allotted to the
Bellerophon, born and raised of Pelops, seated upon Pegasus for the horse was unbridled, as Pegasus is described, striking freely across the plains a
displaying, and this stretched out and with huge teats and full of savagery, and from then on split apart into beasts leaping upon Odysseus' ship and
rather if they devote themselves to dice and are glued to game-boards all day long, or even towards an irrational and mad impulse, but not prudent cou
parts of the body the gape of the mouth held fast and was pierced in the jaws. And so they were being killed by one another, and the contest was commo
History
A CHRONOLOGICAL NARRATIVE OF LORD NIKETAS CHONIATES, BEGINNING FROM THE REIGN OF JOHN KOMNENOS AND ENDING WITH THE
CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE PREFACE Histories, then, are invented as a thing of common benefit for life, since from them it is possible to gather not a few better things for those who have chosen them. For, being knowledgeable of ancient times and customs, they clarify human affairs and suggest extensive experience for as many men are high-minded and nurture a native love for the good; and wickedness, being ridiculed in them, and good practice, being exalted, for the most part make moderate and improving those who lean to either side, as long as they are not immovably disposed against the much-loved thing, virtue, by a most shameful habit and pro.2 a rather base disposition. since even mortals, being subject to fate and having long ago cast off life, seem somehow to be immortal, as many as history has received; for having lived rightly or, on the contrary, badly, they are spoken of well and shamefully. And while one's soul has gone to Hades, and the body has returned to the elements from which it was composed; the things lived by him, whether they be holy or just or lawless or outrageous, whether he lived happily, or spewed out his soul while faring ill, history proclaims aloud. So that in another way and respect, history will be called a book of the living and a piercing trumpet for what is written, raising up, as it were, the long-dead from their tombs and placing them before the eyes of those who wish it. But such is history, for me to say in passing, but to those who come upon it, is it by no means pleasing? May no one be so mad as to think anything else is more pleasant than history; for what long-lived men, older than Tithonus and thrice as old as a crow, if they were still alive, would know and relate to eager listeners, kindling the things of memory and digging up the furrows of their deeds, these things a historian might indeed set forth, even if he has not yet passed his youth. For these reasons, therefore, I myself did not think it right to pass over in silence the events that have occurred in my own time and a little before, being worthy of memory and narration and so great in number and so great in magnitude. Therefore, through this my composition, I make these things clear to those who come after. pro.3 Since, as others are able to surmise and I myself not least perceive, they do not accept in history an unclear narration, contorted with circumlocutions and periods, as not being congenial to them, but they love clarity, not only according to the wise man who said it, but also as it most suits them, nor will anyone find what is written falling outside of this virtue, since we have not for the most part embraced the boastful and obscure style, marked off by precipitous words, although many are gaping at this, or rather, to speak more truly, being deficient in the things of old and of today and in whatever most excellent pursuit they have long practiced, but for the most part proposing to do what is fitting for history in this matter, and not loving to stretch an excessive foot or to leap over its axles altogether. For above all else, the fact that the phrasing is not simple, as I have said, and easy to comprehend has been decried in it, and the unadorned style has been loved very much, as narrating naturally, and it wondrously embraces what is easily grasped. for having truth as its most watchful aim and standing diametrically opposed to the cleverness of rhetoric and the myth-making of poetry, it also rejects their characteristics. And otherwise, although history drags in no small amount of gravity and reverence, yet loving to be set forth
Historia
ΧΡΟΝΙΚΗ ∆ΙΗΓΗΣΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΧΩΝΙΑΤΟΥ ΚΥΡ ΝΙΚΗΤΑ ΑΡΧΟΜΕΝΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΛΗΓΟΥΣΑ ΜΕΧΡΙ ΤΗΣ
ΑΛΩΣΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ Αἱ ἱστορίαι δὲ ἄρα κοινωφελές τι χρῆμα τῷ βίῳ ἐφεύρηνται, εἴπερ ἐκ τούτων οὐκ ὀλίγα
ἔστι ξυλλέγειν τὰ βελτίω τοῖς ᾑρημένοις. εἰδυῖαι γὰρ τὰ ἀρχαῖα καὶ ἔθη αὗται διατρανοῦσιν ἀνθρώπεια καὶ πολυπειρίαν ὑποτιθέασιν
ὁπόσοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων μεγαλογνώμονες καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ αὐτόφυτον τρέφοντες ἔρωτα· καὶ κακία δὲ παρ' αὐταῖς κωμῳδουμένη καὶ ἀγαθοπραξία
ἐξαιρομένη μετρίους ὡς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ ἐπιδιδόντας τοὺς παρ' ἑκάτερα τιθέασι ῥέποντας, ὅσοι τέως οὐχ ὑπ' αἰσχίστης συνηθείας
καὶ προ.2 φαυλοτέρας τῆς ἕξεως ἀνεπιστρόφως ἔχουσι τοῦ πολυεράστου χρήματος ἀρετῆς, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀθανάτοις ἐοίκασι δήπουθεν θνητοὶ
καὶ ἐπίκηροι γεγονότες καὶ πάλαι τὸ ζῆν ἐκτοξεύσαντες ὅσους παρειλήφει τὸ ἱστορεῖν· ὀρθῶς γὰρ ἢ τοὐναντίον φαύλως βεβιωκότες
εὖ τε καὶ ὡς αἰσχρῶς ἀκούουσι. καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐς ᾅδου βέβηκεν ἡ ψυχή, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐξ ὧν ἡρμόσθη τὸ σῶμα ἐπαλινδρόμησε· τὰ δὲ παρ'
αὐτοῦ βεβιωμένα, κἂν ὅσια εἴη, κἂν δίκαια, κἂν ἀθέμιτα, κἂν ἐφύβριστα, κἂν ἐβίω εὐδαιμόνως, κἂν κακοπραγῶν ἀνεχρέμψατο τὴν
ψυχήν, ἡ ἱστορία διαπρυσίως βοᾷ. ὥστε καθ' ἕτερόν τινα τρόπον καὶ λόγον καὶ βίβλος ζώντων ἡ ἱστορία κληθήσεται καὶ σάλπιγξ
περίτρανος τὰ γραφόμενα, τοὺς πάλαι τεθνεῶτας οἷον τῶν σημάτων ἐξανιστῶσα καὶ ὑπ' ὄψιν τιθεῖσα τοῖς βουλομένοις. Ἀλλὰ τοιάδε
μὲν ἡ ἱστορία, ὡς ἐπιτρέχοντά με εἰπεῖν, αὐτοῖς δὲ τοῖς ἐπιοῦσιν οὐμενοῦν οὐδαμῶς χαρίεσσα; μὴ οὕτω μανείη τις ὡς ἥδιον ἡγεῖσθαί
τι ἕτερον ἱστορίας· ἃ γὰρ οἱ πολυετεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ Τιθωνοῦ παλαίτεροι καὶ τρικόρωνοι, εἰ τῷ βίῳ ἔτι περιῆσαν, ᾔδεσαν
ἂν καὶ ἐξηγοῦντο τοῖς φιλακροάμοσι, τὰ τῆς μνήμης ἐμπυρεύοντες καὶ τὰς τῶν πράξεων ῥυσσὰς ἀνασκάλλοντες, ταῦτα δήπου προθείη
καὶ ὁ φιλίστωρ, κἂν οὐδέπω παρηλλάχει τὸν μείρακα. ∆ιὰ ταῦτ' οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ τοῖς κατ' ἐμὲ χρόνοις γεγενημένα καὶ ἀνόπιν
ἔτι βραχύ, μνήμης καὶ διηγήσεως ἄξια ὄντα καὶ τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τοιαῦτα τὸ μέγεθος, οὐκ ἔγνων δεῖν σιγῇ παρελθεῖν. οὐκοῦν
καὶ διὰ τῆσδέ μου τῆς ξυγγραφῆς δῆλα ταῦτα τοῖς ἔπειτα καθιστῶ. προ.3 Ἐπεὶ δέ, ὡς καὶ ἄλλοι τε ξυμβαλεῖν ἔχουσι καὶ αὐτὸς
δὲ συνορῶν οὐχ ἥκιστά εἰμι, τὰ τοῦ ἱστορεῖν τὸ τῆς διηγήσεως ἀσαφὲς καὶ περιβολαῖς καὶ περιόδοις ἐπεστραμμένον ὡς μὴ συνᾷδον
αὐτοῖς οὐ προσίενται, φιλοῦσι δὲ τὸ σαφὲς ὡς οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα σοφόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συμβαῖνόν σφισι μάλιστα, οὐδὲ τούτου
ἔξωθεν τοῦ καλοῦ πίπτοντ' ἂν εὑρήσει τις τὰ γραφόμενα, οἷα καὶ ἡμῶν μὴ τὸ κομπηρὸν καὶ δυσφραδὲς καὶ κρημνώδεσιν ἀποδιειλημμένον
λέξεσιν ὡς ἐπίπαν ἀσπασαμένων, εἰ καὶ χαίνοντές εἰσιν εἰς τοῦτο πολλοὶ εἴτ' οὖν, ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἐκλείποντες τῶν πάλαι
καὶ σήμερον καὶ ὅσα τι καὶ ἐπιτήδευμα προυργιαίτατον ἐξησκηκότες διὰ μακροῦ, ἐκ τοῦ πλείονος δὲ κἀν τούτῳ δρᾶν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ
προθεμένων τὰ πρόσφορα, μηδ' ὑπερβάθμιον πόδα τείνειν ἠγαπηκότων ἢ ὅλως τοὺς ἄξονας αὐτῆς ὑπεράλλεσθαι. Ὑπὲρ γὰρ ἅπαν ἕτερον
τὸ μὴ τὴν φράσιν ἁπλοῦν, ὡς ἔχω εἰπών, καὶ πρόχειρον εἰς κατάληψιν αὐτῇ διαβέβληται καὶ ἠγαπήθη ἕως σφόδρα τὸ ἄκομψον καὶ
ὡς ἔχον φύσεως διηγούμενον καὶ δαιμονίως τὸ εὔληπτον περιπτύσσεται. τέλος γὰρ σκοπιμώτατον τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔχουσα καὶ τῆς τε
ῥητορικῆς δεινότητος καὶ τῆς ποιητικῆς λογοποιΐας ἀφεστῶσα κατὰ διάμετρον καὶ τὰ τούτων ἔτι διωθεῖται χαρακτηριστικά. καὶ
ἄλλως δὲ κἂν οὐ βραχὺ τὸ σεμνὸν ἡ ἱστορία καὶ τὸ αἰδέσιμον ἐπισύρηται, ἐρῶσα δ' ὅμως προκεῖσθαι
