they were revealed to be excellent; for how great were the trophies they raised against the enemy when sent into Lombardy, and how they subjugated and subdued those who opposed our empire, accept us as witnesses. 8 Therefore, with them, being both servants and soldiers of one empire and dominion, undertake the present campaign eagerly, being disposed toward them fraternally and caring for their safety paternally; for they have been sent as your fellow-workers, and have become sharers in your dangers and brave deeds. To all of you, as to my own heart and limbs, exhorting the same things and speaking through the present letter, I trust in Christ the true God, the only immortal king, and I rely on such hopes, that you will not shame my expectation of you, you will not extinguish the hopes, you will not blunt your gratitude, you will not adulterate your service, but as genuine and most faithful servants and subjects of our empire and steadfast and unconquerable champions of the Roman race, you have now demonstrated such and so great courage and all other boldness and nobility, so that having appeared as victors and trophy-bearers against the enemy and having returned with victory and joyful shouts, we shall both embrace you and receive you, and we shall kiss your bodies wounded for Christ's sake, as limbs of martyrs, and we shall glory and be glorified in the gore of your blood and in you and your noble achievements and struggles, and that you may know how much my soul is inflamed for you and how I am entirely kindled and ablaze from all sides, devising for you things that contribute to your salvation and give you success, behold, from the undefiled and all-venerable symbols of the passion of Christ our true God, from the precious woods and the undefiled lance, and the precious title, and the wonder-working reed, and the life-giving blood that flowed from his precious side, and the all-venerable tunic, and the holy swaddling clothes, and the God-bearing linen cloth and the other symbols of his undefiled passion, having poured out myrrh, we have sent to you a means of sanctification to be sprinkled upon you and through it to be anointed and to put on divine power from on high. For I believe in my true God and Savior Christ, that just as through the blood and water that flowed from his undefiled side he both refashioned and gave life to the human race, so also through the sprinkling of this holy water he will both give you life and refashion you, and will supply you with courage and strength and power against the enemy. And the creator of the ages and sustainer of all creation, Christ, our true God, who is worshipped and glorified together with his beginningless Father and his co-essential and life-giving Spirit, who strengthens the weak and makes the lowly powerful, who covered the army of Pharaoh in the depth of the sea and saved a humble people, the only high and mighty one, who sits upon the Cherubim and looks upon the lowly, who girds the mighty with a sword in war and supplies help from on high to those who call upon him, who opposes the proud, but humbles sinners to the earth, who teaches hands for war and makes the arms of those who hope in him a bronze bow, who gives the shield of salvation to pursue the blasphemous enemies until they fail, who girds with power for war, who trips up all those who rise up against those who fight for him and grinds them fine like dust before the face of the wind, he himself

ἀριστεύσαντες κατεφάνησαν· ἡλίκα γὰρ ἐν Λαγγοβαρδίᾳ σταλέντες κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀνέστησαν τρόπαια, καὶ ὅπως τοὺς ἐναντιουμένους τῇ βασιλείᾳ ἡμῶν ἐχειρώσαντό τε καὶ καθυπέταξαν, ἡμᾶς μαρτυροῦντας προσδέξασθε. 8 Μετ' αὐτῶν οὖν ὡς μιᾶς καὶ βασιλείας καὶ δεσποτείας καὶ δοῦλοι καὶ στρατιῶται τυγχάνοντες τὴν παροῦσαν ἐκστρατείαν προθύμως ποιήσατε ἀδελφικῶς πρὸς αὐτοὺς διακείμενοι καὶ πατρικῶς τῆς αὐτῶν σωτηρίας φροντίζοντες· συνεργοὶ γὰρ ὑμῶν ἀπεστάλησαν, καὶ κοινωνοὶ τῶν ὑμετέρων κινδύνων καὶ ἀριστευμάτων γεγένηνται. πᾶσιν ὑμῖν, ὡς ἐμοῖς σπλάγχνοις καὶ μέλεσι, τὰ αὐτὰ παραινῶν καὶ διὰ τῆς παρούσης φθεγγόμενος γραφῆς πέποιθα ἐπὶ Χριστὸν τὸν ἀληθινὸν θεόν, τὸν μόνον ἀθάνατον βασιλέα, καὶ τοιαύταις ἐλπίσιν ἐπερείδομαι, ὡς οὐ καταισχυνεῖτέ μου τὴν εἰς ὑμᾶς προσδοκίαν, οὐκ ἀποσβέσετε τὰς ἐλπίδας, οὐ τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνην ἀμβλύνετε, οὐ νοθεύσετε τὴν δούλωσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς βασιλείας ἡμῶν μὲν γνήσιοι καὶ πιστότατοι δοῦλοί τε καὶ ὑπήκοοι καὶ τοῦ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ γένους ὑπέρμαχοι στερροὶ καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστοι τοιαύτην καὶ τοσαύτην τὰ νῦν καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν καὶ ἄλλην πᾶσαν εὐτολμίαν καὶ γενναιότητα ἐπεδείξασθε, ὥστε νικητὰς ὑμᾶς καὶ τροπαιοφόρους κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἀναφανέντας καὶ μετὰ νίκης καὶ ἀλαλαγμῶν χαροποιῶν ὑποστρέψαντας καὶ ἀγκαλισόμεθα ὑμᾶς καὶ προσδεξόμεθα, καὶ τὰ διὰ Χριστὸν τραυματισθέντα σώματα ὑμῶν, ὡς μαρτυρικὰ μέλη, κατασπασόμεθα καὶ τῷ τοῦ αἵματος λύθρῳ ἐγκαυχησόμεθα καὶ ἐνδοξασθησόμεθα ἐφ' ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς ὑμετέροις γενναίοις κατορθώμασί τε καὶ ἀγωνίσμασιν, ἵνα δὲ γνῶτε, ὁπόσον περὶ ὑμῶν ἐμπυρίζομαι τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ὅλος διακαίομαι καὶ καταφλέγομαι πάντοθεν ὑμῖν ἐπινοῶν τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν συντείνοντα καὶ κατευοδοῦντα ὑμᾶς, ἰδοὺ ἐκ τῶν ἀχράντων καὶ πανσέπτων συμβόλων τοῦ πάθους Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, τῶν τε τιμίων ξύλων καὶ τῆς ἀχράντου λόγχης, καὶ τοῦ τιμίου τίτλου, καὶ τοῦ θαυματουργοῦ καλάμου, καὶ τοῦ ἐκ τῆς τιμίας αὐτοῦ πλευρᾶς ἀπορρεύσαντος ζωοποιοῦ αἵματος, τοῦ τε πανσέπτου χιτῶνος, καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν σπαργάνων, καὶ τῆς θεοφόρου σινδόνος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ ἀχράντου πάθους αὐτοῦ συμβόλων ἀπομυρίσαντες ἐξαπεστείλαμεν ὑμῖν ἁγίασμα τοῦ ῥαντισθῆναι ἐφ' ὑμῖν καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ περιχρισθῆναι καὶ θείαν ἐξ ὕψους ἐπενδύσασθαι δύναμιν. πιστεύω γὰρ τῷ ἀληθινῷ μου θεῷ καὶ σωτῆρι Χριστῷ, ὅτι ὥσπερ διὰ τοῦ ἀπορρεύσαντος αἵματός τε καὶ ὕδατος ἐκ τῆς ἀχράντου αὐτοῦ πλευρᾶς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἀνέπλασέν τε καὶ ἐζωοποίησεν, οὕτως καὶ διὰ τοῦ ῥαντισμοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου ὕδατος καὶ ζωογονήσει καὶ ἀναπλάσει ὑμᾶς, καὶ θάρσος καὶ ἰσχὺν καὶ δυναστείαν κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιχορηγήσει. ὁ δὲ τῶν αἰώνων δημιουργὸς καὶ πάσης κτίσεως συνοχεὺς Χριστός, ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς ἡμῶν, ὁ σὺν τῷ ἀνάρχῳ αὐτοῦ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ συμφυεῖ καὶ ζωοποιῷ Πνεύματι συνπροσκυνούμενος καὶ συνδοξαζόμενος, ὁ τὰ ἀσθενῆ ἐνισχύων καὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ δυναμῶν, ὁ καὶ Φαραωνίτιδα στρατιὰν βυθῷ θαλαττίῳ περικαλύψας καὶ λαὸν ταπεινὸν διασώσας, ὁ μόνος ὑψηλὸς καὶ δυνάστης, ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ καὶ ἐφορῶν ταπεινά, ὁ περιζωννύων ῥομφαίαν τοῖς δυνατοῖς ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ χορηγῶν ἐξ ὕψους τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτὸν βοήθειαν, ὁ ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτασσόμενος, ταπεινῶν δὲ ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἕως γῆς, ὁ διδάσκων χεῖρας εἰς πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς βραχίονας τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπιζόντων εἰς τόξον τιθέμενος χαλκοῦν, ὁ διδοὺς ὑπερασπισμὸν σωτηρίας καταδιώκειν τοὺς βλασφήμους ἐχθροὺς ἕως ἂν ἐκλίπωσιν, ὁ περιζωννύων δύναμιν εἰς πόλεμον, ὁ συμποδίζων πάντας τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πολεμοῦσιν καὶ λεπτύνων αὐτοὺς ὡσεὶ χνοῦν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, αὐτὸς