On receipt of this news the Emperor made him offers of extravagant rewards, provided only he would quit the city and hand it over to him. Pulchases indeed was willing, but hesitated, as he had his eye upon Apelchasem; he sent message upon message to the Emperor, keeping him in suspense, but really waiting for his brother’s return. In the interval something like this happened. Before his murder by the Chasii he Sultan of Chorosan had managed to secure the great Soliman’s two sons, and after his death they ran away from Chorosan and quickly found their way to Nicaca, where the inhabitants gave them an ovation and received them with the greatest joy.
And Pulchases willingly handed over Nicaea to them as being their rightful inheritance, and the elder of the two, Clitziasthlan [*=Kilidje Arslan] by name, was elected Sultan. He sent for the wives and children of the men then staying in Nicaeea, and bade them live there, and made this city the dwelling-place, as one might say, of the Sultans. After making this arrangement in Nicaca, he deposed Pulchases from his post, appointed the arch-satrap, Mahomet, chief over the satraps in Nicaea, and leaving him in charge set out for Melitene.
Emperor assembled a number of the boats
XIII So much about the Sultans. Elchanes, the archsatrap, with the troops under him, seized Apollonias and Cyzicus (both these are on the coast) and then laid waste all the country along the sea. On being informed of this the Emperor assembled a number of the boats he had (for the fleet was not ready yet), put siege-engines in them and brave soldiers, appointed Euphorbenus Alexander, one of the most illustrious for lineage and famous for valour, over the expedition and sent him against Elchanes.
On reaching Apollonias he at once besieged it, and after six days and nights, for he did not at all stop the work at night, he made himself master of the outer circuit of the fort, which is now usually called the ‘exopolos.’ But Elchanes held on stoutly to the citadel as he expected relieving forces. And indeed Alexander found out that a large barbarian army was advancing to the assistance of Elchanes, and seeing that his own men were but a small fraction of this new army, he decided that, as he could not conquer, it would be wiser at least to keep his men unharmed. Since his affairs were in a precarious state and no road of safety remained, he led his men off towards the sea.
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