The Alexiad, book 14, Turks, Franks, Cumans and Manichaeans (1108-1115)

The Alexiad

by

Anna Comnena (Komnene)

Edited and translated by Elizabeth A. Dawes.

London: Routledge, Kegan, Paul, 1928.

BOOK XIV

Turks, Franks, Cumans and Manichaeans (1108-1115)

I Thus these matters were brought to an end conformably with the Emperor’s
wishes and Bohemund ratified by oaths the agreement which has been set out at
length above with the holy Gospels in front of him and the lance, with which the
lawless soldiers pierced our Saviour’s side. Then he asked to be allowed to return
to his own country, and placed all his forces in the power and at the discretion
of the Emperor, requesting at the same time that they should pass the winter within
the Roman dominions and be supplied abundantly with all necessaries, and that
when the winter was over and they had recovered from their many toils, they should
be allowed to go wherever they wanted. These requests he made and the Emperor
immediately gave his consent to them. After being then and there honoured with
the rank of Sebastus and receiving a large sum of money he returned to his own
army. And Constantine Euphorbenus, usually called Catacalon, accompanied him so
that no injury should be done to him on the road by any soldiers of ours, but
more especially to take forethought for a camp for the Frankish army in some suitable
and safe spot, and to listen to, and grant, any requests the soldiers might make.
When Bohemund reached his own camp and had handed over his army to the men sent
with him by the Emperor for this purpose, he embarked on a ship with one bank
of oars and landed in Lombardy. He lived only six months longer and then paid
the debt that all must pay.

The Emperor was detained for some time by his care for the Franks; and when
he had arranged everything satisfactorily for them, he took the road home to Byzantium.
But after his return he did not give himself entirely to rest and repose, for,
when he reflected how the barbarians had laid the whole sea-coast of Smyrna in
ruins right up to Attalia, he thought it would be a disgrace if he could not restore
the cities to their pristine state, bring back their former prosperity [360] and
repeople them with the inhabitants who were now scattered far and wide. Not but
what he was also concerned about the city of Attalus but he gave much thought
to it. There was a man, Philocales Eumathius, who was very energetic, and not
only belonged to the nobility by birth, but excelled most in prudence; he was
liberal in mind and hand, faithful to God and his friends, singularly devoted
to his masters but absolutely uninitiated in military training, for he neither
knew how to hold a bow and draw its string to his breast, or how to protect himself
with a shield. In other ways he was very clever as, for example, in setting ambuscades
and in worsting the enemy by various devices. This man went to the Emperor and
earnestly besought him to give him the governorship of Attalia. Knowing the man’s
subtlety in inventions and undertakings and the good luck which always attended
him (whatever that is or is supposed to be), for he never put his hand to any
undertaking without attaining his object, the Emperor let himself be persuaded
by these reasons, and gave him a good supply of troops, and also many suggestions
and bade him above all be very discreet in his enterprises. On reaching Abydus
Eumathius at once sailed across the intervening straits and reached Atramytium.[*=Adramytium]
This was formerly a very populous town ; but when Tzachas was laying waste the
country round Smyrna, he laid it in ruins and rased it to the ground. On observing
the complete disappearance of this town which looked as if man had never dwelt
in it, Eumathius forthwith rebuilt it and restored it to its former appearance
and recalled the inhabitants from all sides, at least such of the original ones
as had escaped, and sent for many from other parts and settled them in the town,
and thus gave it back its former appearance. Then he enquired about the Turks
and learnt that they were at the moment near Lampe, so he separated a detachment
from his forces and sent it to meet them. They attacked them and after a fierce
battle carried off the victory without delay; and they treated the Turks so cruelly
that they even threw newborn infants into kettles of boiling water; they killed
many and others they took alive, and returned to Eumathius with rejoicing. The
surviving Turks put on black clothes as they wished to represent their misfortunes
to their countrymen even by their garments, and travelled through all the country
occupied by the Turks and with shrill lamentations, related the horrors that had
befallen them and by their very dress [361] they moved all to pity and roused
them up to avenge them. Eumathius who had betaken himself to Philadelphia was
rejoicing at the success of his enterprise. But a certain leading satrap, Asan
by name, who was in possession of Cappadocia and treated the inhabitants like
purchased slaves, heard of the calamity that had befallen the Turks of whom we
have spoken, so collected his forces, sent for more from other places and brought
up his army to twenty-four thousand, and then marched out to meet Eumathius. Now
Eumathius, being a clever man, as already said, was not living in unconcern in
Philadelphia, nor had he fallen into idle ways directly be got inside its walls,
but kept on sending out scouts in all directions and to prevent their becoming
careless, he sent a second lot after the first to rouse them into wakefulness,
with the result that they watched all night long and kept an eye on all the by-ways
and plains. One of these scouts saw the Turkish army in the distance and came
running to bring Eumathius the tidings. As he was quick-witted and swift at grasping
the needful and in giving effect to his decisions without a moment’s loss, he
immediately bade all the gates of the city to be made secure because he felt that
his forces were insufficient against such numbers, and ordered that nobody at
all was to be allowed to go up to the walls, or shout or play on the flute or
lyre. In a word he gave such an appearance to the town, that passers-by would
have thought it was quite uninhabited.

On reaching Philadelphia Asan encircled it with his army and remained there
for three days. But as not a single inhabitant could be seen looking out, and
the gates were securely fastened and he had neither siege-engines nor catapults,
he concluded that Eumathius’ army was small and for this reason did not dare to
venture out, so he condemned those within severely for weakness and turned in
another direction in utter contempt of Eumathius. Consequently he dispatched ten
thousand of his own army against Celbianum, and . . . others toward Smyrna and
Nymphaeum, and the rest to ChliarA and Pergamus; he sent them all out to forage
and himself followed the troops that were going to Smyrna. Philocales, however,
guessing Asan’s intention, sent all the forces he had in pursuit of the Turks.
They followed up the division that was proceeding to Celbianum and surprised them
sleeping unheedingly, so attacked them at dawn of day and cut them down without
mercy; and also liberated all the prisoners taken by the [362] Turks. Afterwards
they pursued the Turks marching to Smyrna and Nymphaeum; some of the troops ran
on ahead and opened battle with them from the front and the two flanks and routed
them completely. They killed many and took many captive ; the few that were left
f ell into the streams of the Maeander in their flight and were immediately drowned.
This is a river in Phrygia, the most winding of all rivers, for it twists hither
and thither the whole way. Emboldened by their second victory they pursued the
third division, but could do nothing more as the Turks had already travelled on
too far ahead. They therefore returned to Philadelphia. When Eumathius saw them
and heard how gallantly they had fought and made a point of not letting one of
the enemy slip through their fingers, he rewarded their. lavishly and promised
them further favours in the future.

II After Bohemund’s death Tancred kept a tight hold on Antioch for he considered
that it belonged to him, so he kept the Emperor entirely out of it. The Emperor
meanwhile reflected that the barbarian Franks had broken their oaths in the case
of this city, that he himself had spent a great deal of money and suffered many
inconveniences in transporting those myriad hosts from the Western countries into
Asia, in spite of his finding them a stiff-necked and sharp-tempered people. He
had also sent many Roman armies out with them to fight against the Turks, and
this for two reasons, firstly, to prevent their falling a
prey to the Turkish sword (for being Christians he was concerned for them),
and secondly, in order that they with our co-operation should destroy some of
the Ishmaelites’ cities, and give others under a truce to the Roman Emperors,
and in this way the portions of the Romans would be enlarged. But no good had
accrued to the Roman rule from these innumerable toils and dangers and gifts,
for the Franks kept a tight hold on the city of Antioch, and did not give us back
the other cities either so he felt he could not bear it nor restrain himself any
longer from returning evil for evil and taking revenge for their horrible inhumanity.
For that Tancred should enjoy those countless presents and those heaps of gold
and the Emperor’s unending care of the Franks and the quantities of armies lie
had sent as auxiliaries to them, whilst the Roman kingdom reaped no benefit from
all this and the Franks considered the prize their own and disregarded and counted
as naught the treaties and oaths they had made with him-this thought [363] rent
his soul asunder and he did not know how to bear the insult. Consequently he sent
ambassadors to Tancred the governor of Antioch, to accuse him of injustice and
the violation of oaths and to say that he would no longer submit to being despised
by him but would take vengeance upon him for his ingratitude to the Romans.. For
it would be disgraceful, and more than disgraceful, if after spending countless
sums of money, and sending the finest regiments of the Roman army with them to
take the whole of Syria and Antioch itself, and striving with all his heart and
might to enlarge the boundaries of the Roman Empire, it should be Tancred who
luxuriated in his, the Emperor’s, money and labours.

When the Emperor’s ambassadors brought this message, that mad and demented
barbarian would not listen, even with the tips of his ears, to the truth of their
words and the free speech of the ambassadors, but acted like the men of his race
and being puffed up with vanity boasted that he would place his throne above the
stars and threatened to bore a hole through the walls of Babylon with the tip
of his spear, and sang the praise of his power for being undaunted and irresistible
in onslaught, and reiterated that, no matter what happened, he would never give
up Antioch, not even if the soldiers set to fight against him had hands of fire.
He further likened himself to Ninus, the great king of Assyria, and said he was
a big, irresistible giant, a dead weight standing upon the earth, and he considered
all the Romans ants and the weakest of all creatures. The ambassadors left
him and returned and after they related the Frank’s mad talk, the Emperor became
filled with rage and could hardly be restrained but wanted to start for Antioch
on the spot. He then convoked the men of the highest repute in military circles
and all the members of the senate and asked them for their advice. They immediately
and unanimously rejected the idea of the Emperor’s marching against Tancred. They
said that he ought first to win over the other Counts who were masters of the
towns round about Antioch, and also Balduinus, King of Jerusalem, and find out
their opinions and whether they would be willing to assist him in an expedition
against Antioch. Afterwards if he were sure that they were all hostile to Tancred,
he could advance against him with full confidence ; but, if not, the matter of
Antioch must be managed in some different way. The Emperor commended this advice
and shortly summoned Manuel Butumites and another man [364] who knew the Latin
language and sent them to the Counts and to the King of Jerusalem, after giving
them full instructions on the subject about which they were to converse with the
Counts and also with Balduinus himself, the King of Jerusalem. As it was imperative
that they should have money to use in their mission to these Counts, because the
Latins are so covetous, he handed Butumites orders for Eumathius Philocales, at
that time Duke of Cyprus, telling the latter to supply them with as many ships
as they needed; he also bade him give them plenty of money of all kinds, of every
shape and coinage and of varying qualities to be used as gifts for the Counts.
He also enjoined on the men mentioned, more especially on Manuel Butumites, that
after receiving the money from Philocales, they should anchor off Tripoli and
visit the Count Pelctranus,[*=Bertram, son of Raymond of Toulouse] the son of
the Isangeles who has often been mentioned in this history, and remind him of
the faith which his father had always kept with the Emperor, and hand him the
Emperor’s letters at the same time. And they were to say to him, “You must not
shew yourself inferior to your own father, but preserve faith with us just as
he did. I would have you know that I am going to Antioch to take my vengeance
on that man who has violated the solemn oaths he made to God and to me. Be careful
not to give him assistance in any way and do your best to induce the Counts to
pledge their faith to us so that they may not for some reason or other espouse
Tancred’s cause.” So they made their way to Cyprus and, after collecting the money
there and as many ships as they wanted, they sailed straight to Tripoli. They
moored their ships in its harbour, disembarked and had an interview with Pelctranus
and recited to him the messages with which the Emperor had charged them. They
found him very wefl-inchned and ready to fulfil any wish of the Emperor’s, and
willing even to suffer death for his sake if that should be necessary, and he
promised that when the Emperor arrived in the neighbourhood of Antioch, he would
come down and do obeisance to him. Then with his consent they deposited the money
they had brought with them in the episcopal palace of Tripoli, as the Emperor
had suggested. For he feared that if the Counts found out they were carrying money
with them, they would take the money but send them away empty-handed, and use
the money for themselves and Tancred. He therefore judged it wiser that the ambassadors
should first go [ 365] empty-handed and test the Counts’ feelings but also tell
them how much the Emperor had destined for them, and promise the gift of the money
and require an oath from them and, if in the meanwhile they shewed themselves
willing to yield to the Emperor’s demands, then only to hand the money over to
them. So Butumites and his fellows deposited the money in the bishop’s residence
at Tripoli, as we have said. But on Balduinus’ hearing of these ambassadors’ arrival
in Tripoli, he at once, through desire for the money, sent his own cousin Simon
to forestall their coming and invite them. They with Pelctranus’ consent left
the money behind there and accompanied Simon who had been sent from Jerusalem
and found Balduinus besieging Tyre. He received them with pleasure and shewed
them much friendliness, and as they had reached him on the Carnival, he kept them
there through the whole of Lent Whilst he, as we said, was besieging Tyre.

Now this city was protected by impregnable walls as well as by three outworks
which enclosed it in a circle. For the outmost circle encompassed the second,
and this in its turn the innermost or third one. They were like three circles,
enclosing each other and set like girdles round the city. Balduinus knew well
that he must first destroy these outworks and only then take the city; for they
were like corselets placed in front of Tyre and hindered the siege. He had already
destroyed this first and second belt by means of machines of destruction and was
at work on the third, but after tearing down its battlements he had grown idle,
for he could have taken this one too, if he had set his mind to it. But, thinking
that after this he could ascend into the city by the help of a few ladders, he
lost interest in the siege, just as if he already had the town in his power. This
fact brought salvation to the Saracens; and the man who had had victory almost
in his hand, was utterly beaten off from it, and the men who were inside the net,
escaped from its meshes. For the interval spent by Balduinus in idleness was most
diligently used by them as a time of recovery. They devised the following cunning
trick. To all seeming they had an eye to making terms of peace and sent embassies
to Balduinus about it; but in reality while the terms of peace were under discussion,
they were preparing their defence, and while they kept him buoyed up with hope
they were forming machinations against him. For having noticed his great slackness
in the war, and also that the soldiers outside the walls had lost heart, one night
they filled a number of clay [366] jars full of liquid pitch, and hurled them
down on to the engines standing round the city. As the jars were necessarily broken
to pieces in their fall, the liquid was poured all over the woodwork, and on to
that they threw lighted torches. Then they brought other jars containing a great
deal of naphtha which caught the fire and made the flames shoot up into the air
and converted the Franks’ engines into ashes. And the light of the breaking day
mingled with the light from the towering blaze of the wooden sheds. Thus Balduinus!
soldiers reaped the fruits of the carelessness in which they had indulged and
of which they repented now that the smoke and fire shewed them the result. Some
of the soldiers standing near the sheds were taken captive, six in number, and
on seeing them the Tyrian governor had their heads cut off and shot into Balduinus’
camp from catapults. When the soldiers saw the fire and the heads they were seized
with panic, jumped on their horses and fled as if utterly terrified by those heads,
although Balduinus rode to and fro among them and called back the fugitives and
tried to embolden them in every way. But ‘he was singing to deaf men’; for once
they had abandoned themselves to flight, they kept steadily on their course and
seemed swifter than any bird. And the goal of their course was the fortress locally
called Ace,[*=Acre] for that appeared to those cowardly runagates like a tower
of refuge. Then in despair and at an utter loss Balduinus, though unwillingly,
followed the fleeing soldiers and likewise ran away, to the city mentioned. Meanwhile
Buturnites; embarked on his Cyprian ships (they were twelve in all) and sailed
along the coast towards Ace, and there met Balduinus and then reported to him
all the Emperor had ordered him to say ; but he supplemented his speech by saying
that the Emperor had already reached Seleucia. This was not true at all but just
an artifice to frighten the barbarian and make him dismiss him quicl4y. But Balduinus
was not deceived by this dodge, and rebuked Butumites sternly for having lied.
For he had already received information from elsewhere of the Emperor’s doings,
namely that he had gone down to the long coast, suppressed the pirate-ships which
were ravaging those shores, and then returned home from there because he was ill
(about this we will speak more in detail later on). With this information Balduinus
contradicted Butumites, and after censuring him for his false statement, said,
“You must come with me to the Holy Sepulchre and from there I will send ambassadors
[367] to carry our decisions to the Emperor.” Directly they reached the Holy City,
he demanded the money which the Emperor had sent. Butumites said, ” If you promise
that you will help the Emperor against Tancred and thus keep the oath which you
made with him when you passed through, then you shall receive the money which
was sent for you without delay.” Balduinus however was anxious to get the money
although eager to help Tancred and not the Emperor, and when he did not get it,
he was annoyed. The whole barbarian race is like that, it is always agape for
presents and money, but is very little inclined to carry out the purpose for which
the money is given. So he merely handed Buturnites some letters and dismissed
him. The ambassadors also met the Count Iatzulinus,[Joscelin de Courtney] on the
day of our Lord’s resurrection, who had come to worship at the Holy Sepulchre,
and discussed what was fitting with him. But when they discovered that he answered
in the same strain as Balduinus, they left Jerusalem without having accomplished
anything.

When they found that Pelctranus was no longer among the living, they asked
for the moneys they had deposited in the episcopal palace. But Pelctranus’ son
and the bishop of Tripoli delayed giving them back the money for some time, so
at last the ambassadors threatened them saying, ” If you do not give back the
money to us, you are not true servants of the Emperor and you are proved not to
observe the same fidelity to him as Pelctranus and his father Isangeles did. Very
well then, you shall not have an abundant supply of necessaries from Cyprus in
the future, nor shall the Duke of Cyprus come to your aid, and then you will perish
by famine.” After they had ‘let out every reef,’ as the proverb says, and tried
first honeyed words and then threats and yet could not persuade Pelctranus’ son
to give up the money, they judged it expedient to make him take a solemn oath
of fidelity to the Emperor, and then to give him only the gift destined for his
father, consisting of gold and silver stamped money and garments of divers kinds.
On receipt of these the son took the solemn oath of fidelity to the Emperor. The
rest of the money they took back to Eumathius and with it purchased well-bred
horses from Damascus and Edessa and even Arabia. From there they crossed the Syrian
sea and gulf of Pamphylia and then gave up sailing as they considered the land
safer than the sea, and made their way to the Chersonese where [368] the Emperor
was, and after crossing the Hellespont they reached the Emperor.

III And now troubles fell upon him one after the other, like a snowstorm, for
at sea the chiefs of Pisa, Genoa and Lombardy were preparing to lay waste all
the sea-board by means of their fleet; and on land in the East the Ameer Saisan
[*=or Melek] was again trying to get hold of Philadelphia and the maritime districts.
Consequently the Emperor decided he must leave the capital and go to some place
from which he could carry on the war against both parties. So he went to the Chersonese
and called up troops from all parts both from land and sea, and set apart a goodly
army to go over the Scamander to Atramytium or even Thracesium and stay there.
At that time the governor of Philadelphia was Constantine Gabras who had sufficient
men to garrison the town; the semi-barbarian Monastras (who has often been mentioned
in this history) held Pergamus and Chliara and the towns round about it, and all
the other towns along the sea were governed by men renowned for daring and military
experience. The Emperor sent them frequent messages exhorting them to keep a constant
watch and to send out spies in all directions to observe the barbarians’ skirmishings
and bring their news quickly. Having thus made things in Asia secure he turned
his attention to the war at sea ; he ordered some of the sailors to anchor their
ships in the harbours of Madytus and Coeli and keep a steady watch on the straits
opposite and also make excursions with light cruisers and keep a continual look-out
over the sea-ways in expectation of the Frankish fleet. Others were to sail among
the islands and guard them without at the same time overlooking the Peloponnese,
but to give that too the requisite protection.

As he wished to stay in those parts for a considerable time, he had some dwellings
constructed in a suitable spot and spent the winter there. When the fully-equipped
fleet from Lombardy and the other places loosed its cables and sailed forth, the
admiral of it picked out five biremes and sent them out to catch some ships and
from them learn the Emperor’s whereabouts. But when they reached Abydos, it fell
out that only one ship returned to the man who sent them forth, as the rest were
captured, crews and all. From this ship the admirals of the said fleets learnt
of the Emperor’s doings, namely that after making everything very secure on land
[369] and sea, he was wintering in the Chersonese in order to hearten up all his
men. Since they were unable to fight successfully against the Emperor’s subtle
plans, they put their hands to their rudders and went off in another direction.
One Frank alone from among these admirals took his own monoreme which was very
swift and sailed away to Balduinus. He found him besieging Tyre and related to
him all that we have just said about the Emperor (I fancy he had sailed with the
other admirals’ consent); and also told him that the Roman fleet had succeeded
in capturing the scout-ships, as told above. And he even confessed without a blush
that when the leaders of the Frankish fleet discovered that the Emperor was all
ready to meet them, they retreated, thinking it better to return without accomplishing
anything than to fight with the Roman fleet and be beaten. All these things that
Frank, who was nervous and still in dread of the Roman fleet, recounted to Balduinus.
That then is what happened to the Franks at sea; but on land things did not settle
down without distresses and worries for the Emperoi. For a certain Michael from
Amastris who was the governor of Acrunus, was meditating defection and took the
town and began to ravage the surrounding country terribly. On being informed of
this the Emperor sent George, the son of Decanus, against him with an adequate
force. After a siege of three months George took the city and sent the rebel to
the Emperor without delay. The Emperor entrusted the care of the fortress to another
man, but at Michael he shot a severe glance, threatened him with many things and
apparently had doomed him to death; thus he instilled great fear into the man,
and yet very soon relieved the soldier of his dread. For the sun had not set below
the horizon before the prisoner was a free man, and the man condemned to death
was the recipient of many gifts. Such was my father, the Emperor, on all occasions,
and yet later on he met with much ingratitude from the whole world. Just in the
same way our universal Benefactor was once treated, our Lord who rained down manna
in the wilderness, gave food to men in the mountains and made them pass through
the sea with dry feet, and yet later He was set at naught and insulted and beaten
and finally condemned to be crucified by the impious. But as I write this my tears
gush out before my words, and I long to speak of these men and make a list of
the ungrateful, but I restrain my tongue and beating heart and continually repeat
to myself the words of the poet, “Bear up, O heart, for thou [370] hast borne
more horrible things already I ” This is enough about that ungrateful soldier.

The Sultan Saisan sent troops from Chorosan, some of whom marched through the
lands of Sinaus, and the others through what is properly called Asia. On receipt
of this news, Constantine Gabras, then Governor of Philadelphia, collected his
troops and overtook the Turks at Celbianum; he was the first to dash upon them
at full gallop and ordered the others to do the same and thus they routed the
barbarians. When the Sultan who had dispatched these troops heard how many had
been killed, he sent ambassadors to the Emperor to treat about peace, confessing
at the same time that he had long desired to see peace between Mussulmans and
Romans. For from afar he had heard of the Emperor’s prowess against all his foes,
and on making trial of it himself he had ‘recognized the cloth by its edge,’ and
the ‘lion by its claws,’ and though against his will had turned aside to thoughts
of peace. Now when the Ambassadors from Persia arrived, the Emperor, a formidable
figure, seated himself on his throne and the men, whose business it was, arranged
the soldiers of every nationality and the axe-bearing barbarians in their proper
order, and then brought in the ambassadors to the imperial throne. The Emperor
first asked them the conventional questions about the Sultan, and, after listening
to the messages they brought, he confessed that he welcomed and desired peace
with the whole world. He next enquired about the Sultan’s proposals and when he
recognized that some of his requests would not be expedient for the Roman rule,
he wrapped up very persuasive arguments in many words and made a very clever defence
of his actions to them, and by his long speech persuaded them to concur with his
wishes. Then he dismissed them to the tent prepared for them with injunctions
to think over his words and said that if they agreed wholeheartedly with them
the treaty between them should be concluded on the morrow. They shewed themselves
very ready to accept the Emperor’s terms, and the treaty was concluded on the
following day. In this the Emperor was not thinking only of his own interests
but of the Roman Empire. For he was more solicitous of the universal welfare than
of his own, and in all his arrangements he only regarded, and referred everything
to, the dignity of the Roman sceptre, in order that treaties might last on even
after his death to future years-and yet he failed in his object. For after [371]
him things were different and everything was turned into confusion. In the meantime
all disturbing elements had been laid to rest and we looked forward to perfect
peace, and we had peace from then to the end of his life. But all that was most
desirable vanished together with the Emperor, and his efforts were all rendered
vain after his departure by the stupidity of his successors to the throne.

IV After receiving trustworthy information about the Roman fleet from the survivors
of the five cruisers, as we have related, and learning that the Emperor had equipped
his fleet and was staying in the Chersonese in expectation of their arrival, the
admirals of the Frankish fleet abandoned their first plan and had no longer the
slightest desire to approach the coasts of Romania. The Emperor wintered in Calliopolis
with the Empress (who, as we have mentioned several times, accompanied him because
of the severe pains in his feet) and after waiting for the season in which the
Frankish fleet usually sailed home he returned to the capital. But only a short
time elapsed before news was brought of the advance of a Turkish host, collected
from all the countries of the East, even from Chorosan itself and numbering about
fifty thousand men. For never throughout his whole reign did the Emperor enjoy
even a short time of rest, as enemies after enemies kept continually cropping
up. Consequently he called up his whole army from all sides, and choosing the
time of year when the barbarians were wont to make their expeditions against the
Christians, he crossed the straits between Byzantium and Damalis. And not even
the increasing pain in his feet could deter him from this undertaking.

Now this disease had never attacked any of his ancestors, so that one might
think it had been passed on to him by heredity; nor was it due to soft living
which often gives it to those who are intemperate in their life and pleasures.
But I will relate the real origin of this affection of his feet. One day for the
sake of exercise, he was playing at polo with Taticius, of whom I have often spoken.
Taticius was caused to swerve by his horse and fell against the king, whose kneecap
was injured by the weight of the impact and the pain extended right down the leg.
But, as he was used to endurance, he said nothing about the pain, and only had
the leg slightly attended to, and as the pain soon passed he pursued his usual
routine. This was the original cause of the Emperor’s sufferings in his feet;
for the local injury drew the rheumatics to the injured part. But the second and
more active source [372] of all this trouble was the following. Who has not heard
of those countless hosts of Franks who arrived in the Queen of Cities when they
had quitted their own homes and invaded ours? By them the Emperor was engulfed
in an immense sea of worries, for he had long grasped the fact that the Franks
were dreaming of the Roman Empire; and he saw their multitude exceeding the sand
and the stars in number, and then looked at the Roman forces which did not equal
a fraction of theirs, even if they could all be concentrated on one spot. But
on the contrary most of them were dispersed, for some were keeping guard in the
valleys of Serbia and in Dalmatia; others were protecting the lands along the
Ister against the inroads of the Comans and the Dacians, and many again were entrusted
with the guarding of Dyrrachium. so that it might not be re-taken by the Franks-when
he considered all this the Emperor bent his whole attention to the Franks and
relegated everything else to the second place. And the barbarians who were moving
about secretly and had not yet openly declared their enmity, he appeased by titles
and gifts. By all possible means he tried to check the Franks’ aim, and when he
reflected not less, but rather more, on the internal disaffection, he did his
utmost to guard himself by skilfully bringing their plots to naught. But who could
describe the welter of ills which overtook him? Therefore he made himself all
things to all men, and by re-arranging matters as far as possible, according to
circumstances, he applied himself to the most pressing need, just as a good physician
who follows the rules of his art. In the morning, as soon as the sun had leapt
above the eastern horizon, he sat on the imperial throne and gave orders that
all the Franks should come in freely every day, partly because he wished them
to state their requests, and partly too because he was manoeuvring by arguments
of various kinds to bring them to accede to his own wishes.

Now the Frankish Counts are naturally shameless and violent, naturally greedy
of money too, and immoderate in everything they wish, and possess a flow of language
greater than any other human race ; and they did not make their visits to the
Emperor in any order, but each Count as he came brought in as many men as he liked
with him ; and one came after another, and another in turn after him. And when
they came in, they did not regulate their conversation by a waterglass, as the
rule was for orators formerly, but for as long as each wished to talk to the Emperor,
be he even a mere [373] nobody, for so long he was allowed to talk. Now, as this
was their character, and their speech very long-winded, and as they had no reverence
for the Emperor, nor took heed of the lapse of time nor suspected the indignation
of the onlookers, not one of them gave place to those who came after them, but
kept on unceasingly with their talk and requests. Their talkativeness and hunting
instinct and their finicking speech axe known to all who are interested in studying
the manners of mankind, but we who were then present learnt them more thoroughly
from experience. For even when evening came, the Emperor who had remained without
food all through the day, rose from his throne to retire to his private bedroom;
but not even then was he freed from the Franks’ importunity. For one came after
the other and not only those who had not been heard during the day, but the same
came over again, always preferring one excuse after another for further talk,
whilst he stood unmoved in the midst of the Franks, quietly bearing their endless
chatter. And you could see him all alone and with unchanging countenance ever
giving a ready answer to all their questions. And there was no end to their unseasonable
loquacity. If any one of the ministers tried to cut them short, the Emperor prevented
him For knowing the Franks’ natural irritability he was afraid lest from some
trifling pretext a great fire of scandal should be lighted and great harm ensue
to the Roman rule. And really it was a most wonderful sight. For like a hammer-wrought
statue, made perhaps of bronze or cold iron, he would sit the whole night through,
from the evening until midnight perhaps, and often even till the third cock-crow,
and very occasionally almost till the sun’s rays were bright. All his attendants
were dead-tired and would retire and rest and then come back again grumbling.
Not one of his courtiers could remain as long as he did without resting, but all
kept fidgeting in one way or another. For one would sit, another would rest his
head on something and lie down, and another would prop himself against the wall.
The Emperor alone presented an unyielding front to all this labour. And what words
would properly describe his patience. For in this babel of tongues each one spoke
at length and ‘wrangled on unbridled of tongue,’ as Homer says; then he would
stand aside for another and give him the opportunity of speaking, and he passed
it on to another and so on from one to the other. And they only stood at intervals,
but he had to retain his position unceasingly up to the first or second [374]
cockcrow. After a short rest he was again seated on his throne when the sun rose
and then fresh labours and new contentions succeeded those of the night. Clearly
it was from this reason that the pain in his feet attacked the Emperor. And from
that time on to his death the rheumatism visited him at periodical intervals,
and caused him exquisite agony. But he endured it so patiently without ever uttering
a word of complaint, but only said, “I deserve the pain; it comes upon me justly
because of the multitude of my sins.” If perchance a word of despondency had escaped
his lips, he at once made the sign of the cross against the miscreant demon, and
said, ” way from me, thou wicked one! Perdition to thee and thy machinations against
Christians!” I have said sufficient about the pains in his feet for the present.

But perhaps there was a person who contributed to this disease and increased
the sufferings he bore from this cup of his, so full of bitterness; however I
will only suggest it in a few words, but not tell the whole story. Although the
Empress smeared the rim of the cup with honey and contrived to make much of his
suffering slip down easily, through being his ever-watchful guardian, yet this
man must be added to our description and may be called a third reason of the Emperor’s
malady; and he was not only the immediate but the most effective cause, to use
the traditional language of physicians. For he did not only attack him once and
then disappear, but he was always present and his companion, just as the most
subtle humours are present in the bloodvessels. Nay more, if one reflected on
that man’s nature, he was not only the cause of disease, but actually a malady
itself and its severest symptom. But it behoves me to bite my tongue and restrain
my words and not run off the track, however eager I may be to leap upon those
villains. But I will reserve my story about him to a fitting moment.

V Now let my history resume its narrative. The Emperor had crossed to Darnalis
on the opposite coast and was in camp there, and there our narrative had left
him. And soon all flocked to him like a snowstorm, and crossed to him who was
staying in that place, partly because he vras awaiting the arrival of them all,
and partly in the hope that his excessive pains would diminish. The Empress was
with him taking care of him and lightening the pains in his feet by various kinds
of tendance. When he saw the full moon, he said to her, ” If the Turks really
think of sallying forth to plunder, now is the fittest time for it, and I am annoyed
[375] that I have missed this opportunity.” He said this in the evening and at
dawn the eunuch in attendance on their Majesties’ bedchamber announced that the
Turks had made an attack upon Nicaea, and shewed them a letter from Eustathius
Camytzes, at that time governor of that city, describing what they had done. Immediately,
without waiting a little or delaying at all, and as if oblivious of his continuous
pains, the Emperor started in a war-chariot for Nicaea, holding the whip himself
in his right hand. The soldiers too picked up their spears and marched in orderly
bands on either side. Some ran along at his side, some went ahead and others followed,
all in high spirits at his marching against the barbarians, but saddened because
his pains prevented his riding (on horseback). And he inspired all with confidence
by his signs and words, for he smiled sweetly and talked to them. After three
days’ journey they reached a place called Aegiali, from which he intended to cross
to Cibotus. As the Empress saw that he wished to hurry on the crossing, she bade
him farewell and returned to the capital. On the Emperor’s reaching Cibotus a
messenger came to him saying that the chief satraps of the forty thousand had
separated, and some of them had gone to ravage Nima and the lands around it, whilst
Monolycus and . . . were devastating the countries along the sea. The troops which
had laid waste all the districts adjacent to the lake of Nicaea, as well as Prusa
and Apollonias, had pitched their camp by the town and brought all their booty
together there. Then they had moved forward in a body and laid waste Lopadium
and the surrounding districts, and, as the messenger said, had even taken Cyzicus
at the first assault from the seaward side, as the governor of the town had not
offered even the slightest resistance, but fled ignominiously from the place.

Further, Contogmen and the Ameer Muhumet, the archsatraps of the picked troops,
had proceeded by way of Untiana to Poemanenum, dragging along with them much booty
and very many captives, both men and wretched women and children whom the sword
had spared. After crossing the river Monolycus (locally called Barenus, which
flows down from a mountain named Ibis, in which many other rivers take their rise,
namely the Scamander, the Angelocomites and the Empelus), they turned off to Parium,
and Abydus on the Hellespont and then marched through Atramytium.and Chliara with
their whole train of prisoners without shedding a drop of blood or fighting a
single battle. On receipt of [376] this news the Emperor sent letters to Camytzes,
then acting as Duke of Nicaea, ordering him to follow up the barbarians with five
hundred soldiers and keep him informed by letter about them, but to avoid an engagement
with them. He marched out from Nicaea, overtook Contogmen and the Ameer Muhumet
and the rest near the place called Aorata, and as if forgetful of the Emperor’s
instructions, at once attacked them.

Now they were expecting the Emperor and, thinking it was he who had fallen
upon them, they fled in a panic. But they had captured a Scythian prisoner and
when they learnt the truth from him, and found it was Camytzes, they crossed the
mountains and took heart and by means of kettledrums and shouts recalled their
tribesmen who had scattered in all directions. And these recognizing this signal
of recall, all flocked back to them. Then they returned to the plain which lies
immediately below the place called Aorata and reassembled there. But Camytzes,
after taking all the booty from them, did not wish to push on to Pcemanenum where
he could have arranged matters well (for it was a very strongly fortified town),
but loitered round Aorata without noticing that he was plotting his own destruction.
For the barbarians who had secured a safe position did not forget Camytzes but
lay in wait for him all the time. And when they found out that he was still staying
at Aorata arranging about all the booty and the prisoners they drew up all their
forces in companies and fell upon him at early dawn. Directly they saw the vast
crowd of barbarians which had attacked them, the greater part of Camytzes’ army
thought good to ensure their own safety by flight, but Camytzes himself with the
Scythians and the Franks and the braver of the Romans fought valiantly. And there
the greater number of them fell; yet Camytzes, with a few survivors, still continued
the fight. But when the horse on which he was riding received a fatal blow, he
was thrown to the ground, whereupon his nephew, Catarodon by name, jumped off
his own horse and gave it to him. But as he was a tall, heavy man Camytzes did
not find it easy to mount the horse; so he stepped back a little and then propping
himself against an oak, drew his dagger; he despaired of any hope of safety, but
did not cease hitting at the helmet, shoulders or even the hands of any barbarians
who dared approach him. When the barbarians saw him maintaining his resistance
so long and killing many and also wounding many, they admired the man’s boldness
and marvelled at his steadiness and decided to [377] save him for this reason.
The arch-satrap, Muhumet by name, who had known him formerly and now recognized
him, checked the attack of the men who were fighting with Camytzes, and dismounting
from his horse, as did also the men with him, went up to him and said, ” Do not
choose death in preference to your safety, but give me your hand and be saved
I ” Then Camytzes, seeing the numbers by which he was surrounded and feeling unable
to cope with so many, gave his hand to Muhumet, who had him put on a horse and
his feet bound so that he could not easily run away. This, then, was the fate
which overtook Eustathius.

The Emperor guessing the route by which the barbarians would come took another,
passed through Nicaea and Malagina and the so-called Basilica (these are narrow
valleys and very difficult paths lying on the mountain-ridges of Olympus) and
then descended to Alethina and next reached Acrocus as he was hurrying to get
ahead of the Turks and attack them from the front and thus start a pitched battle
with them. But the Turks in absolute forgetfulness of the Roman army found a reed-bed
along the valley, and scattered themselves about in it and rested. When the news
was brought to the Emperor as he was starting out against them that the barbarians
had occupied the plains of the valley, he drew up his army in battle-order at
a suitable distance. In the van he placed Constantine Gabras and Monastras, the
rest of the troops he arranged in squadrons on either flank, and the rear he entrusted
to Tzipoureles and Abelas who had had long and varied military experience. The
centre of the line he held himself and falling upon the Turks like a thunderbolt
he threw all their troops into confusion and commenced a pitched battle with them.
Many of the barbarians were killed on that occasion, after a very close fight
and many too were taken by the spear. Those who sought refuge in the reed-bed,
were safe for a time; but after securing a brilliant victory over the others the
Emperor turned to the reed-bed and tried to drive the men there out of it. However
his soldiers did not know how to do it as they could not go in because of the
swampy nature and density of the reed-bed. So the Emperor put a ring of his soldiers
round the reed-bed and ordered a fire to be lighted on oiie side of it. This was
done and the flames rose to a great height ; the Turks inside while fleeing from
the fire f ell into the soldiers’ hands; and some of them fell to the sword while
others were led alive to the Emperor.

VI This is what happened to the Turks who had come down from Carme. When the
Ameer Muhumet heard of the disaster which had overtaken the Turks from Carme,
he at once marched in pursuit of the Emperor after joining up with the Turcomans,
who dwelt in Asia, and the rest; and thus it came about that the same man was
both pursuer and pursued. For the barbarians with Muhumet pursued the Emperor
by following his tracks while he was marching after the Turks from Carme and was
thus caught between the two. However he had already conquered the one lot, and
the pursuers were quite free from danger. When Muhumet suddenly attacked the Emperor’s
rear he first fell in with Abelas. As he was within sight of the Emperor this
gave him greater confidence and being moreover a rash man, he did not wait a little
for his troops to come up so as to receive the Turks’ attack with a properly arrayed
army, but dashed against Muhumet. And Tzipoureles followed him. When the two had
reached an old fort, but their men had not yet arrived, Muhumet, a very determined
man, met them, and wounded Abelas’ horse, but not its rider, with an arrow and
so unhorsed him. And when the Turks saw him on foot they surrounded and killed
him. Likewise on seeing Tzipoureles riding fearlessly against them they ‘winged’,
so to say, the horse on which he was riding with their arrows and unseated him
and straightway dispatched him with their swords. Now the soldiers of the rear-guard
whose duty it was to protect the wearied baggage-carriers and the horses and drive
off as much as possible any who worried them, saw the Turks making this attack,
so rushed upon them and routed them completely. Camytzes was there with the Turks,
as a prisoner, and when he noticed the confusion that had arisen in the battle
and saw that the Turks were now fleeing and our men pursuing, he, being a determined
man, planned his escape and took to the road, and fell in with a Frank in full
armour who gave him his horse. He found the Emperor encamped in the plain of the
valley lying between Philadelphia and Acrocus which was large enough, not only
for one, but for several armies. When he saw Camytzes he received him with great
joy and after offering thanksgiving to God for having delivered him, he sent him
off to the capital, saying, ” Tell them all you have suffered and seen and report
to our relations that, thanks to God, we are alive.” On being told of the death
of Abelas and Tzipoureles the Emperor was deeply grieved in soul about their death
and said, “We [379] have gained one, but lost two.” For, whenever he had been
victorious in war, it was his wont to enquire whether any of his soldiers had
been captured or fallen a victim to the enemy’s hands, and even though he had
routed whole phalanxes and carried off the victory, yet had it happened that any
one even of the lowest rank of soldiers had perished, he considered that victory
as haught but regarded it as virtually a Cadmean one, and a loss instead of gain.
After that he constituted certain officers, George Lebunes and others, custodians
of that country and left them his troops and then returned to the capital as victor.

Camytzes meanwhile reached Damalis and got into a little boat about the mid-watch
of the night, and, as he knew that the Empress was in the upper part of the palace,
he went there and knocked at the door next to the shore. When the porters asked
who he was, he did not want to declare his own name, but only asked them to open
the doors to him. And directly he gave his name he was permitted to enter. The
Empress was overjoyed and received him outside her bedroom-door (this balcony
was formerly called ‘Aristerion ‘ ), but when she saw him dressed in Turkish clothes
and limping on both feet through having been beaten during the battle, she first
enquired about the Emperor and then bade him be seated. Next she asked him about
everything and when she heard of the Emperor’s recent and unexpected victory and
saw the prisoner free before her, she did not know what to do for joy. She allowed
him to rest till daytime and then go out and proclaim to the whole world what
had happened. So he got up in the morning and mounted a horse in the same clothes
in which he had arrived after his marvellous deliverance from captivity, and rode
down to the Forum of Constantine. And the whole city at once ran out to him, partly
to know what he was doing, and partly because they were still more anxious to
have news of the Emperor. Then surrounded by a number of horse- and foot-soldiers
he related the events of the war in a loud voice and all that had befallen the
Roman army, and the plans the Emperor had made against the barbarians and the
brilliant victory he bad gained whereby he had avenged himself several times over;
and concluded with his own miraculous escape from the barbarians. The whole populace
applauded his speech and the noise of their applause reached the skies.

VII After this had been done, Constantinople was full of the news of the Emperor’s
successes. For in very truth, [380] to what an extent had fate involved him in
difficult affairs which were adverse to him and the Roman state, and in general
by what a number of misfortunes was he encompassed! Yet his valour and vigilant
and energetic nature resisted and struggled manfully against every misfortune.
For not one of the former Emperors right down to the present day were ever met
by such a complication of affairs and such wickedness from all kinds of men, both
at home and abroad, as we have found to be the case with regard to this Emperor.
For either it was decreed by God’s permission that the Roman state should be oppressed
by ills (for I should never consider our fate as dependent upon the revolution
of the stars) or the Roman dynasty had been reduced to such a state by the foolishness
of the previous Emperors that a crowd of business and a heavy swell of confusion
was accumulated on the time of my father’s reign. For at one and the same moment
the Scythian rose against him from the North, the Frank from the West, and the
Ishmaelite from the East, to say nothing of the dangers of the sea, and the barbarians
who ruled the sea, and the countless pirate-ships, some of which were built by
the wrath of the Saracens, and others by the covetousness of the Vetones and their
dislike to the Roman Empire. For all cast envious glances at it. For being by
nature mistress of the other nations the Roman Empire is regarded as an enemy
by her subjects, and, whenever an opportunity offers, either the one or the other
rushes upon her either from the land or from the sea.

Now the difficulties during the reigns before our time were very slight and
fairly tolerable; but -in the case of my father directly he mounted the imperial
chariot dangers of every kind streamed down upon him from all quarters at the
same time. For the Frank was moving and shewing the tip of his spear, the Ishmaelite
was stretching his bow, and all the nomadic and Scythian tribes with their myriad
wagons were rushing upon him. But perhaps someone who has lighted upon this history
and read so far will say that my tongue has been corrupted by nature. But verily
that is not so; I swear by the dangers the Emperor underwent for the welfare of
the Roman Empire, and the struggles and disasters my father suffered on behalf
of the Christians, I most certainly do not describe and write of these things
in order to favour my father. And, wherever I perceive that my father made a mistake,
I unhesitatingly transgress the natural law and cling to the truth, for though
I hold him dear, I hold [381] truth dearer still. For, as some philosopher has
said, when two things are dear, it is best to prefer the truth. But I follow up
the facts themselves, without adding anything of my own or slurring over events,
and thus I speak and write. And the proof is close at hand; for I am not writing
about things of ten thousand years ago, but there are many still living to-day
who knew my father and tell me of his doings; and no small part of my history
has been gathered from them, for one will relate one thing which he happens to
remember and another another, and all are of the same opinion. And as a rule I
was with my father and mother and accompanied them. For it was not my lot to be
kept at home and brought up in the shade and in luxury; but even from my cradle
(I call my God and His Mother to witness!) toils and afflictions and continual
misfortunes beset me, some from without and some from within. What my physical
appearance was I cannot say, that the attendants of the women’s apartments can
describe and tell at length. But as for all the external ills which happened to
me before I had even completed my eighth year, and the many enemies the malice
of men aroused against me it would require the Siren of Isocrates to tell, or
the eloquence of Pindar, the breeziness of Polemo, the Calliope of Homer, the
lyre of Sappho or some other power beyond all these. For there is no terror either
great or small, from near or afar that did not throng around us. And verily the
floods overwhelmed me and from that time until now, up to the very time that I
am writing this history, the sea of calamities rushes over me and waves follow
upon waves. But unconsciously I have been drawn to speak of my own troubles; now
having returned to my senses, I will swim upstream again, as it were, and return
to my first subject.

Part of my history, as I said, I derive from my own memory and part from the
men who accompanied the Emperor on his expeditions and told me divers things about
them, and who by means of ferrymen conveyed the news to us of what had happened
in the wars; but most I gathered first-hand as I often heard the Emperor and George
Palaeologus talking about them. In this way I collected much of my material, but
most during the reign of the third successor to the imperial throne after my father,
when all flatteries and lies about his grandfather had expired together, for the
whole world was flattering the present occupant of the throne and nobody shewed
any sign of adulation for the departed, but related the naked facts, and spoke
of things just as they had received them. [382] But now I am bewailing my own
misfortunes and lamenting the deaths of three Emperors, my Emperor and father,
my Empress and mistress-mother, and alas! my own husband and Caesar; so I mostly
keep in a comer and occupy myself with books and God. And I shall not allow even
the most insignificant of men to approach me unless they be men from whom I can
learn of things which they happen to have heard of from others, or they be my
father’s intimate friends. For during these last thirty years, I swear it by the
souls of the most blessed Emperors, I have neither seen nor spoken to a friend
of my father’s, this is due partly to many of them having died and partly to many
being prevented by fear. For the powers that be have condemned us to this ridiculous
position so that we should not be seen, but be a general object of abhorrence.
And what I have added to my history, let God and His Mother my Mistress be my
witnesses, I have collected from some absolutely unpretentious, simple commentaries,
and from a few old men who were soldiers when my father seized the Roman sceptre
but have fallen upon evil times and retired from the turmoil of the world to the
calm life of monasteries. For the commentaries which fell into my hands were simple
in diction and incurious and strictly truthful and displayed no style and were
free from all rhetorical pretensions. And the narrations of the old men were like
the commentaries both in phrase and scope, and I judged the truth of my history
from them by comparing and examining what I had written with what they told me,
and what they told me with what I remembered from having often heard the accounts
both from my father himself and from my paternal and maternal uncles. From all
these sources I wove the whole fabric of my truthful history. And now let me return
to the point in my history of which I was speaking above, namely Camytzes’ escape
from the barbarians and his speech to the citizens.

He, as I have said, recounted all that had happened, and the devices the Emperor
employed against the Ishmaelites; and the inhabitants of Constantinople with one
voice and mouth shouted their applause, hymned the Emperor and made a god of him
and blessed him for his generalship and could not restrain their pleasure in him.
And after escorting Camytzes homeward in high spirits, they welcomed the Emperor
a few days later as a triumphant victor, an invincible general, an undefeated
King and a revered Emperor. That was how the people acted; but he after entering
the palace and offering [383] thanksgiving for his safe return to God and the
Mother of God, recommenced his usual mode of life. For as he had settled his enemies
abroad and put down the rebellions of pretenders he now turned his attention to
the courts of justice and the laws. For he was at the same time the best administrator
both of peace and of war. For he judged the case of orphans, had right done to
widows, looked very severely on any case of injustice and only occasionally sought
physical refreshment in the chase or other relaxations. For as in other matters
he acted as a philosopher, in this too, in subduing his body and making it subservient
to him. During the greater part of the day he devoted it to labours, and then
again would recall it from labours. But even his relaxation was a second labour,
the reading and studying of books and the careful observance of the precept, ‘search
the scriptures.’ The chase and the game of polo were but of secondary, or tertiary,
importance to my father, even while he was still a young man and before that monster,
the affection in his feet, had fastened itself upon him like a sinuous serpent,
and kept ‘biting his heel,’ as it says in the curse. But directly this disease
commenced and began to increase then certainly he gave himself up to gymnastics,
and horse-exercise and other games for he was ordered to do this by medical science
in order that by regular horse-exercise some of the fluid which descended might
be dispersed and he might be relieved of the weight which pressed upon him. For
as I have said above, this racking affliction of my father’s arose from no other
cause than his labours and fatigues for the glory of the Romans.

VIII Not a year had passed before the Emperor heard a rumour that the Comans
had crossed the Ister; consequently at the commencement of the eighth Indiction
in the month of November in the beginning of autumn he left the Queen of Cities
after calling up all his forces and stationed these, some in Philippopolis and
in the towns called Petritzus and Triaditza and in the province of Nisus and some
as far away as Branizoba (or Buranitzobe) on the banks of the Ister. He enjoined
them to bestow great care on their horses so that they should grow stout and strong
enough to carry their riders in time of battle. He himself remained in Philippopolis,
a town in the centre of Thrace, which is washed by the Eurus on the side of the
North wind.

This river flows down from the extreme end of Rhodope, makes many twists and
turns, flows past the town of Adrian [384] and after many tributaries have joined
it, empties itself into the sea near the town of Aenus. When speaking of Philip
I do not mean the Macedonian, the son of Amyntas, for the city is younger than
that Philip, but I mean the Roman Philip, an extremely tall man whose physical
strength nobody could resist. At first it was a small town called Crenides before
Philip’s time, and by others Trimus. But that very large man Philip enlarged the
town and girt it round with walls and made it the most famous town in Thrace,
for he built a very large circus in it and other admirable edifices, the traces
of which I saw myself when I once stayed in the town with the Emperor for some
purpose or other. The city stands on three hills and each hill is surrounded by
a strong and high wall, and on the side where it slopes down to the plains and
level ground there is a moat running alongside of the Eurus. From all appearances
it must once have been a large and fine city. After the Tauri and Scythians enslaved
the city in bygone days, it was reduced to the condition in which we found it
during my father’s reign and conjectured that it must have been very large. The
chief of its misfortunes was the residence of so many heretics there. For the
Armenians took possession of the city and the so-called Bogomils (I will speak
of them and their heresy later at an opportune moment), and even those most godless
Paulicians, an offshoot of the Manichaean sect, founded as their name shows by
Paul and John, two men who had imbibed the undiluted heresy of Manes and handed
it on to their followers.

I rather wished to treat lightly of the doctrine of the Manicha~ans and to
explain it very concisely, and even attempt a refutation of their most godless
doctrines. But I will omit these as I know that everybody considers the Manichaean
heresy an absurdity and also because I wish to hasten on with my history. Moreover
I know that not only men of our own court have refuted them, but that Porphyrius,
our great opponent, reduced the nonsensical doctrine of the Manichaeans to utter
absurdity when in several chapters he very scientifically examined the question
of two principles, although his doctrine of the unity of God compels his readers
-to support Plato’s “Unity ” or “the One.” We do indeed worship the unity of the
Divine nature, but not that Unity which contains only one Person. Nor do we accept
the ‘One’ of Plato; that which is with the Greeks, the ‘Mysterious’ and with the
Chaldeans the ‘Ineffable’; for from it they make [385] many other principles dependent,
both mundane and hyper-mundane.

Now these followers of Manes and of Paul and John, the sons of Callinice, who
were very uncivilized and cruel and would not hesitate to shed blood, were conquered
in war by that most admirable of Emperors, John Tzimisces; then he led them as
slaves out of Asia and transported them from the regions of Chalybes and Armenia
to Thrace and compelled them to*. take up their abode near Philippopolis. This
he did firstly to drive them out of their strong cities and forts which they held
as despotic rulers, and secondly to post them as trustworthy guards against the
inroads of the Scythians by which the country of Thrace was often oppressed; for
the barbarians crossed the passes of the Haemus and over-ran the plains below.

This Haemus is a very long mountain range running along a line parallel to
Mount Rhodope. The range begins at the Euxine sea, leaves the cataracts a little
on one side and continues right into Illyria; there it is cut through by the Adriatic
Sea, I fancy, and emerges again in the opposite continent and finishes right away
in the Hercynian forests. On either side of its slopes dwell many very wealthy
tribes, the Dacians and the Thracians on the northern side, and on the southern,
more Thracians and the Macedonians. In olden days the Scythian nomads would cross
the Haemus, before Alexius’ spear and his many battles brought them almost to
extermination, and spoil the Roman territory with their large armies and especially
the nearer towns, of which the chief one was the formerly renowned city of Philippopolis.
But John Tzimisces converted our opponents of the Manichaean heresy into our allies,
as far as arms are concerned, by opposing them as redoubtable forces to these
Scythian nomads, and from that time the cities had a respite from most of their
incursions. However the Manichaeans, being naturally free and unruly, soon acted
as usua:1 and reverted to their original nature. For, as all the inhabitants of
Philippopolis were Manichaeans except a few, they tyrannized over the Christians
there and plundered their goods, caring little or naught for the envoys sent by
the Emperor. They increased in numbers until all the inhabitants around Philippopolis
were heretics. Then another brackish stream of Armenians joined them and yet another
from the most polluted sources of James. And thus, metaphorically speaking, it
was a meeting-place of all evils; for the rest disagreed [386] indeed with the
Manichaeans in doctrines, but agreed with them in disaffection. But my father,
the Emperor, arrayed his long military experience against them too and subdued
some without fighting and others he reduced to slavery by fighting. How much that
valiant man did and endured over this truly apostolic work! For what reason could
anyone forbear to praise him? perhaps because he was negligent in his military
duties? -nay, he filled the East and the West with his exploits as general. Or
is it because he was indifferent to argumentation? -nay again, for he had studied
the Holy Writings more than anybody else in order to sharpen his tongue for wrestlings
with the heretics. He alone commingled arms and arguments, and conquered the barbarians
with his arms, and subdued the impious by his arguments; as in this present instance
he engaged the Manichaeans in a contest that was apostolic rather than military.
I for my part should call him ‘the thirteenth apostle.’ Although some ascribe
this glory to Constantine the Great; yet I am of opinion that Alexius should be
ranked equal to the Emperor Constantine or, to prevent contentiousness, let him
be placed second to Constantine both as apostle and Emperor.

For, as we were saying above, he went to Philippopolis for the reasons given
and, as the Comans had not yet appeared, he made the secondary purpose of his
journey more important than his actual task and began turning the Manichaeans
from their brackish religion and instilling into them the sweet doctrines of the
Church. So from the morning till afternoon or even evening, and sometimes till
the second or third watch of the night he would send for them and teach them the
orthodox faith and refute their distorted heresies. Present with him were Eustratius,
the bishop of Nicaea, a man of wide knowledge of religious and secular literature
and pluming himself on dialectics more than those who frequent the Stoa and Academy,
and also the incumbent of the archiepiscopal throne of Phillippopolis. In addition
to all the others and in preference to them the Emperor had as his coadjutor my
Caesar, Nicephonis, whom he had trained in the study of the sacred books. Consequently
many of the Manichaeans on that occasion went to the priests without any hesitation,
confessed their sins and received divine baptism. But many too could be seen who
with a tenacity exceeding that of the Maccabeans of old clung to their own religion
and quoted passages and proofs from the sacred writings, thinking thereby to confirm
their own detestable doctrine. But by the Emperor’s [387] continuous arguments
and frequent admonitions the majority of these too were convinced and accepted
divine baptism. For from the first rays of the sun in the East to deepest night
very often the controversy was continued and he would not desist from the conference
but often remained without food and this too in summer-time in an open-air tent.

IX While this was going on and that wordy disputation with the Manichaeans
was being hammered out, a messenger came from the Ister and announced that the
Comans had crossed. Without delay the Emperor started for the Danube, taking with
him what soldiers he had. On reaching Bidyne and not finding the barbarians (for
they had already crossed back directly they heard of the Emperor’s approach) he
at once detached a band of brave soldiers and bade them go in pursuit of the barbarians.
So they crossed the Danube and started off after them. They pursued them for three
days and nights but when they found that the Comans had crossed the river beyond
the Danube on rafts, they returned to the Emperor without having effected anything.
The Emperor was indeed somewhat annoyed that his soldiers had not over-taken the
barbarians, and yet he considered it a species of victory that by the mere sound
of his name he had driven the barbarians away, and converted many from the Manichaean
heresy to our faith. So he set up a double trophy, one for a victory over the
barbarians by means of arms, and the other over the heretics by most pious discourses.
Then he returned to Philippopolis and after a short rest applied himself to fresh
contests. For Culeon and Cusinus and with them Pholus, the chief upholders of
the Manichaean heresy, and in other respects like the rest of the Manichaeans,
but clever at maintaining their heterodoxy, were adamantine against all verbal
persuasion; they were also exceedingly able in pulling the Scriptures to pieces
and in interpreting them perversely; so the Emperor summoned them every day and
engaged in a war of words with them. Then could be seen a double contest–on the
one side, the Emperor contending with all his might for their salvation, and on
the other, these three men disputing earnestly to gain, if possible, a so-called
Cadmean victory. For the three stood there sharpening each other’s wits, as if
they were boar’s teeth, intent upon rending the Emperor’s arguments. And if any
objection escaped Cusinus, Culeon would take it up; and il Culeon was at a loss,
Pholus in his turn would rise in opposition; or they would, one after the other,
rouse themselves against [388] the Emperor’s premises and refutations, just like
very large waves following up other large waves. But the Emperor swept away all
their objections as if they were a spider’s web and quickly closed their impious
mouths. But as he could not convince them at all, he finally wearied of these
men’s silliness and dispatched them to the Queen City, allotting to them as their
abode the verandahs which surrounded the great palace. And yet his hunting had
not been all in vain in spite of his not having captured those leaders by his
words; for every day he brought to God, maybe a hundred, maybe even more than
a hundred; so that the sum total of those he had captured before and those whom
he won now by the words of his mouth would amount to thousands and ten thousand
souls. But why should I linger to speak of that which the whole world knows and
to which the East and West bear testimony? for whole towns and districts infected
by various heresies he brought back by divers means to our orthodox faith. Upon
the more eminent Manicbmans he bestowed great gifts and enrolled them among the
picked soldiery. But the more vulgar, such as were diggers or had to do with ploughing
and cattle, he gathered together and transplanted them with their wives and children
to a town he built for them near Philippopolis on the other side of the river
Eurus. There he settled them and called the town Alexiopolis, or a name more generally
used, Neocastrum, and to one and all he distributed plough-lands and vineyards,
horses and immovable property. Nor did he leave these gifts unsecured, so that
like the gardens of Adonis they should bear flowers one day and fall away the
next, but by Golden Bulls he confirmed these gifts to them and he did not limit
his benefactions to them only but made them transmissible to their sons and sons’
sons; and, in case the males failed, the women could succeed to the inheritance.
In this wise did the great man confer his benefits. Let this be sufficient on
this subject, although a great deal has been omitted; and let no one revile this
history as if it were corrupt. For many of the people still living can testify
to the truth of what I have related and I could not be convicted of falsehood.

After arranging all matters as was best the Emperor left Philippopolis and
went back to the Queen City. And there he renewed his continual discussions and
arguments with Culeon and Cusinus and their followers. And he captured Culeon,
for he, I fancy, was the more intelligent and able to follow [389] the true arguments
closely, and he became a very tame lamb in our fold. But Cusinus and Pholus became
savage and, like iron, they were hammered upon by the Emperor’s frequent discourses
and yet they remained of iron and turned away from him and would not be led by
him. Therefore as they were the most blasphemous of all the Manichaeans and clearly
drifting into melancholy madness, he had them cast into the prison called Elephantine,
and while supplying them liberally with all necessaries, he allowed them to die
in company with their sins alone.