The Various Counsels Put Forward to the Emperor with Regard to the Rebellion
10. Well, I bore him no malice and my advice to him was to take the following three measures at once. I knew there was a difference of opinion between himself and the patriarch, and I knew that the latter was angry with Michael. So my first counsel was this, that he should put an end, once and for all, to his quarrel with the patriarch and come to some common agreement with him, because his position in the present circumstances was particularly strong.
Unless the emperor made quite sure of his adherence first, he was likely to join the rebel party in their attack. My second proposal was that an embassy should be despatched to the enemy leader, with instructions to disband his forces: a reward should be promised him — a reasonable sum of money — and the prospect of further inducements later on. The embassy should moreover seek to undermine discipline in the enemy’s camp and try to disorganize his army.
To these I added a third suggestion, the most convincing of all and more cogent than the others, that he should mass the armies of the west, centralize whatever forces remained to him in one group, invoke the alliances concluded with the neighbouring barbarians, strengthen the mercenary army then in Byzantium, put them under the command of a brave general, build up an adequate corps of men for him, and everywhere resist the hordes set in motion against us. These proposals were actually accepted by the emperor.
The Despatch of the Army Against Isaac
11. Later, however, he rejected the first plan — and the disregarding of that alone was enough to cause his downfall — but he did apply himself to the second and third. Nevertheless, nothing was accomplished in respect of the second. As for the armies in the west, they were prepared in the most warlike fashion and reinforced by other allied forces.**173 So, after being divided up into companies and grouped by regiments, they faced the eastern armies not only wellequipped but with confidence The two sides were entrenched at no great distance from each other and the no-man’s land between them was quite small, but that space remained empty, for neither party sallied out to do battle.
Clearly the emperor’s men were more numerous, but the enemy had the advantage in discipline and strength, and — more important and still more astonishing — their army was coherent, with an unwavering belief in its leader, whereas in our camp there were gaps and empty places, when every day bodies of men deserted to the rebels. Moreover, our commander**174 — I need not mention his name — was divided in his loyalties; in fact, as I see it, he was biassed against us.
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