ns is ever an unequal struggle. The Emperor John Cantacuzene,
taking the side of the monks, condemned their opponent to silence in the
Chora, and there for some three years Nicephorus Gregoras discovered how
scenes of happiness can be turned into a veritable hell by imperial
disfavour and theological odium. Notwithstanding his age, his physical
infirmities, his services to the monastery, his intellectual eminence,
he was treated by the fraternity in a manner so inhuman that he would
have preferred to be exposed on the mountains to wild beasts. He was
obliged to fetch water for himself from the monastery well, and when, on
one occasion, he was laid up for several days by an injury to his foot,
none of the brothers ever thought of bringing him water. In winter he
was allowed no fire, and he had often to wait till the frozen water in
his cell was melted by the sun before he could wash or drink. The vision
of the light of the Transfiguration did not transfigure the character
of its beholders.

During this trying period of his life one ray of comfort wandered into
the cell of the persecuted man. On the 13th December 1351, in the dead
of night, while the precincts of the monastery were crowded with
worshippers attending the vigil of the festival of the Conception of the
Theotokos, a strange figure climbed into the prisoner's room through an
open window. It proved to be an old friend and former pupil named
Agathangelus, who had not been seen for ten years owing to his absence
from the city. Taking advantage of the darkness and of the absorption of
the monks in the services of the festival, he had made this attempt to
visit his revered master. Eagerly and hurriedly, for the time at their
command was short, the two friends recounted the story of their lives
while separated. Rapidly Agathangelus sketched the course of affairs in
State and Church since the seclusion of Nicephorus Gregoras; and the
brief visit ended and seemed a dream. But the devoted disciple was not
satisfied with a single interview. Six months later he contrived to see
his master again, and, encouraged by success, saw him again three times,
though at long intervals, during the three years that Nicephorus
Gregoras was detained in the Chora. One great object of these visits was
to keep the prisoner informed of events in the world beyond the walls of
his cell, and on the basis of the information thus supplied Nicephorus
Gregoras wrote part of his important history.