Anna Komnenetranslated by Elizabeth A. S. Dawes

“ The Emperor in very truth ever considered his own comfort and affairs as secondary to the welfare of the cities. For nothing could separate him from his love of the Christians, neither pains nor pleasure nor the miseries of wars, nor anything either great or small, neither the blazing heat of summer, nor the biting cold of winter, nor any barbarian attack. ”

“ Chapter IV Directly the men of the western provinces heard that the Emperor had arrived in Thessalonica, they all assembled round him there, exactly as heavy bodies are drawn by gravity to the centre. This time, indeed, a locust did not precede the advent of the Franks as it did before; but a large comet appeared in the sky, the largest of all that had ever been seen before, and some pronounced it to be a beam-meteor, and others a javelin-meteor. For it was only right that some unusual signs, predicting the strange things that were shortly to happen, should be sent from above. ”

“ And I in my desire to rescue the man from such misery repeatedly implored the Empress, my mother, to come and see the procession. For to tell the truth we were concerned about the men for the Emperor's sake, for in them he would be deprived of such good soldiers, especially Michael on whom the heaviest sentence had been pronounced. ”

“ Now Bohemund was skilled above all men in the art of sieges even surpassing the famous Demetrius Poliorcetes, and as he had set his whole mind on Epidamnus, he moved up all his engineering contrivances against that town. First he encompassed with his army and besieged all the places close to, and those at some distance from, the town of Dyrrachium; at times the Roman armies would oppose him, and at others there was nobody at all to interfere with him. After several battles and encounters and massacres he contemplated, as we said before, besieging the town of Dyrrachium itself. ”

“ For the Emperors had fixed up these bronze hands in a very conspicuous place on a lofty stone arch with the fixed intention that if a man, condemned to death by law, should be short of them, and on the way receive a pardon from the hand of the Emperor, he was to be freed from his punishment. ”

“ For who among the barbarians close by, or further off, would not come of his own accord to a war against us when the high-priest gave his consent, and an apparently just cause aroused every horse, man and soldierly arm? The Pope was constrained by Bohemund's arguments, and agreed with him, and sanctioned his crossing into Illyria. ”

“ For some he gladdened with honours and promotions, and never ceased enriching by handsome gifts; while as for the barbarians of whatever country they were, he never gave them any pretext for war nor enforced the necessity of it upon them, but when they made a tumult he checked them ; for it is bad generals who in a time of universal peace purposely excite their neighbours to war. For peace is the end of every war, but to choose war in every case instead of peace for the sake of anything . ”

“ At the same time he ordered the Cyclades, and all the maritime towns of Asia and even of Europe, to get a fleet ready; and when several objected to building a fleet as Bohemund was in no haste to cross yet, he would not listen to them, but said that a general must be a watchful guardian, and not only be prepared for immediate happenings, but look far ahead, and by no means be caught unprepared when danger threatened through having stinted money, especially if he knew that the enemy was advancing. ”

“ For Bohemund did in truth visit all the towns and countries, inveighing bitterly against the Emperor and calling him a pagan and an enemy of the Christians. During the time that countless hosts of Franks crossed from the West into Asia and were proving a scourge to Antioch, Tyre and all the surrounding towns and countries, the Babylonian [1] had managed to capture three hundred Counts and was keeping them bound in prison where their treatment was as cruel as it used to be in olden times. ”

“ Now if you will give a full account of the plot you will be granted an immediate pardon, but, if not, then you will be handed over to horrible tortures." Solomon looked fixedly at him, and then at the barbarians standing in a circle round the Sebastocrator, brandishing their one-edged axes on their shoulders, and forthwith fell to trembling, and revealed everything and gave the names of his fellow-plotters, but insisted that he knew nothing about any intention to murder. They were then handed over to the men assigned to guard them and put into separate prisons. ”

“ Thus while all the men inside and outside the town were hurrahing and the shouts filled the whole neighbourhood, and that martial woman, as I said, was holding Contostephanus in suspense by her messages and promises, the son she expected actually arrived with his fellow-counts, at once attacked Contostephanus and routed him completely. All the men of the fleet being unversed in land-fighting threw themselves into the sea. ”

“ But if he would not listen, John was to oppose him with a large force and resist him manfully by land and sea. When Gregory Taronites heard he was coming he at once left for Colonea (a very strong and impregnable fort) in order to call Tanismanes to his aid. John was informed of this as he was starting, so he detached the Franks and some picked Roman troops from his army, and sent them against Gregory. They overtook him and engaged him in a fierce battle, in which two brave soldiers attacked him with their spears and struck him down from his horse. ”

“ At last the Emperor reluctantly avowed his hypocrisy, yielded to John's prayers but exhorted him repeatedly not to let their conversation be divulged. Three days later, he had Gregory's hair and beard shaven off close to the skin and led in that condition through the middle of the Agora and then imprisoned in the tower of Anemas of which I have just spoken. Since even in prison he was still foolish and uttered words of madness daily to his jailers the Emperor bestowed great care upon him for a long time, in the hope of making him change and give proof of repentance. ”

“ Now Contostephanus' only orders were to watch the straits of Lombardy carefully and to prevent the ships crossing which Bohemund was sending ahead to carry all his apparatus from the one coast to the other-in fine, not to allow anything whatever to be conveyed from Lombardy to Illyria. When he departed he did not even know the likeliest spot from which the ships would sail across to Illyria, and not only that, but he disregarded orders and crossed to Hydruntum, which is a town situated on the coast of Lombardy. ”

“ This river runs down from the Taurus mountains, and flows between the two cities of Mopsus, the one in ruins, the other newly built, and empties itself into the Syrian sea. Tancred's ships sailed from this sea and when they had entered the mouth of this river, they went up it as far as the bridges which unite the two cities. In this way the city was encircled and attacked on both sides. For Tancred's men were able easily to fight against the city from the sea on the one side, while on the other the army could fight and harass it from the land. ”

“ I know only one Lord of life and death, and do not believe for a minute that the fall of an image can cause a death. For come, tell me when a Pheidias or any sculptor by hewing stone produces a statue can he bring the dead to life or bring forth living creatures ? ”

“ The Emperor arrived in Thessalonica, as already stated, and there prepared for Bohemund's crossing by training the recruits in stretching the bow and shooting arrows at a mark and protecting themselves with their shields; by means of letters he was also procuring troops from foreign countries so that they might come quickly when required. He also showed great care for Illyria, strengthened the city of Dyrrachium and appointed Alexius, the Sebastocrator Isaac's second son, prefect of it. ”

“ Landulph, commander of the whole fleet, who had a long and varied experience of sea-craft and of naval battles, kept exhorting them to be continually on their guard, and to expect Bohemund's arrival. But the Contostephani, when leaving for Chimara to take the baths, left the man called the second Drungaire of the fleet with the monoreme Excussatum on watch near the promontory Glossa which is not very far from Valona. And Landulph remained at Valona with a suitable supply of ships. ”

“ The fate of men under punishment is therefore in the hands of fortune, which I interpret as the decree of God, and it is right, therefore, to implore His help. For either mercy reaches them short of the Hands and the wretches are delivered from danger, or they have passed beyond the Hands and are far from salvation. ”

“ There he approached the apostolic seat, and conversed with the Pope and raised his fierce ire against the Romans and fanned the ancient grudge of those barbarians against our race. And in order to excite the Pope's and his Italians' rage still further, Bohemund brought in the captured Scythians as a convincing proof that the Emperor Alexius was hostile to the Christians, as he used unbelieving barbarians and monstrous mounted archers to wield weapons and draw their bows against Christians. ”

“ The Emperor lingered on in those parts for a year and two months, and then he was informed that Bohemund was still staying about in Lombardy and as winter was already setting in, he dismissed all the soldiers to their homes and himself returned to Thessalonica. Whilst he was journeying to Thessalonica, the first son of the prince John Porphyrogenitus was born at Balabista and a little girl was born at the same time. The Emperor attended the services of the commemoration of the Proto-martyr Demetrius in Thessalonica and then returned to the Capital. ”

“ For they bring a charge even against the innocent (the Homeric Muse, too, knew this human trait) and they disparage noble deeds and find fault with the faultless. And thus on the expedition which took place at that time (the Emperor was marching to meet Bohemund) she accompanied him, partly against, and partly of, her own will. For it was not necessary for the Empress to take part in the attack on the barbarian army. ”

“ Afterwards the Emperor and his brother questioned the rest about the plot ; they confessed everything and even avowed their intention to murder. When it was found that the soldiers had arranged this, or rather Michael Anemas, the ringleader of the plot, who had murderous feelings against the Emperor, they were all banished, and their property confiscated. However, Solomon's house was given to the Empress, as it was very beautiful. But she, with her usual kindness, took pity on Solomon's wife, and gave it back to her without taking the slightest thing out of it. ”

“ These form the boundaries of the Adriatic. The town Dyrrachium, or Epidamnus, an ancient Greek city, lies somewhat lower than Elissus and on its left side, for Elissus stands higher and more to the right. This Elissus is either named after some river Elissus, a tributary of the great river Drymon, or the fortress was simply given t at name, I cannot say which it was. Now Elissus is a fort built on a hill and quite impregnable, and looks down upon Dyrrachium in the plains, as the saying is ; and it is so secure that both by land and sea it can afford great assistance to Dyrrachium. ”

“ Let this be sufficient about the position of Dyrrachium and Elissus and the security of both places. Whilst still lingering in the capital the Emperor heard by letters from the Duke of Dyrrachium of Bohemund's crossing and therefore hastened his departure. For the Duke of Dyrrachium was most vigilant and did not even allow himself any sleep, and when he knew for certain that Bohemund had sailed across to the plains of Illyria, disembarked from his ships, and pitched his camp there, he sent a Scythian, a 'winged' messenger as they are called, to the Emperor to announce his crossing. ”

“ For he intended to occupy Illyria again and was anxious to collect more allies than before for this purpose. And after conferring about a matrimonial alliance with the King of France, the latter gave him one of his daughters in marriage, and sent another by sea to Antioch to be united in marriage to Bohemund's nephew, Tancred. Next Bohemund collected innumerable forces from all quarters and every town and country, and sent for the Counts with their respective armies and hurried on his crossing to Illyria. ”

“ Of this fort Elissus the Emperor Alexius made use in order to help the city of Epidamnus both from the side of the river Drymon which was navigable, and from the land-side he strengthened Dyrrachium and brought in necessaries by land and water, everything, in fact, that was required for the sustenance of the soldiers and citizens in it or in the way of arms and equipment forfighting. ”

“ He also continually sent letters to his nephew Alexius, the Duke of Dyrrachium, stirring him up and bidding him keep a sharp look-out and to order those who were at guard on the sea to do the same, to prevent Bohemund's crossing secretly, but to send word of his crossing at once by letter. ”

“ Chapter VIII Having thus attended to the matter of the conspirators and the rebel Gregory he did not on account of these forget Bohemund, but summoned Isaac Contostephanus, and promoted him to be Great Duke of the fleet, and sent him to Dyrrachium and further threatened him that his eyes would be put out if he did not manage to arrive in Illyria before Bohemund crossed. ”

“ But if anyone of you has a longing for home and wishes to return thither, he can start on his homeward journey without let or hindrance, after taking leave of us, and in addition being well provided with money and every other necessary for the journey. ”