before the trial pronounced for us a victorious judgment. However, since the barbarians thought fit to resist in the contests of battle, all the beautified area before the wall senselessly became the work of fire; and the flame, smoking, was hidden by the strange mist, making a new gloom. And for the Persians campaigning on the other side, as the battle was against us, the smoke became a herald of the darkness. For there was a certain desire for the barbarians on both sides, not who might take up arms more quickly, but who would be first to burn the innocent stones. And these things, indeed, were in this manner. And now, at last, joining battle, the barbarians, having taken the places of the judge and of the general, the unwavering Virgin, held them as if they were their shields, and they thought fit to have as allies by necessity those who had been impiously insulted by them. And the barbarian mind, having put multitudes of Slavs mixed with Bulgars onto the transport ships—for he had carved dug-out vessels—mixed the battle of the sea with that of the land. And to me now came a mixture and a battle, and with my purpose everywhere confused and marshaling my words as if for battle, what shall I say first to begin the second part? So one fell from the hurl of a stone, receiving in the same place the blow and his grave, another, thoughtfully speaking to his comrade, struck from above by an unseen archer, gave up his spirit quicker than his word. And one among them of the highest ranks, thinking to arrange the battalions as needed, stood, having slipped in between the shields, eager to hide himself safely. But a swift throw of a stone, arriving unexpectedly, cuts the shields in two, and shoves them aside, and for him becomes death. And all the rest, like locusts, fell utterly, accurately unfortunate. Thus did the divine judgment make precise the bows, the shooters, the very stones, so that nothing thrown fell by chance. But what was sent arrived accurately for the specific fate of each of those struck. And these deeds of fortune the back of the earth easily bore. But it was necessary now for the naval struggles also to receive their balanced judgment. And it is for me to wonder at this even more: how the barbarians, seeing so great an expanse of sea spread out, thinking it was as if constrained in width, were immediately enclosed there where the general, the Virgin, had her house. For there, as a net in the sea, they spread out their carved boats, having joined them together. And when, having given a sign to one another, they all attacked our ships with a shout, from that point the clear battle was unclear. For I think that only the one who gave birth without seed drew the bows and threw the shield, and, mixed in the unseen clashes, she threw, she wounded, she sent back the sword, she overturned and covered the boats and gave to all the deep as a dwelling. For it is not strange if a Virgin fights in the front ranks, through whom a sword, sent I know not how, passed again into the reverence of her soul. Nevertheless, it passed by or passed through swiftly, wounding the nature nowhere wounded. So then those carved boats held the harbor by necessity for a storm; and much mixture and fear and confusion came together for the sea-fighting barbarians. And somewhere one of them, having fallen from his ship, was found improvising the art of a swimmer, another, imitating a corpse in the water, hoped to escape by appearing to have been drowned, and one among them secretly went under the keel instead of a tower and, remaining a long time, unhappily endured out of necessity. Nevertheless, the surge of the sea overwhelmed them all, as one fleet. Then the barbarian, previously kindled abundantly and breathing a torch from fire-hurling words, was quickly turned to soot, and suddenly he became ash fittingly, as one who set fire to blameless wood. For one sent another messenger, bringing to him misfortunes like sheaves, from land to sea, and to land again from the sea a surge of calamities.

Thus, then, he suffered the new surge, thinking his mind was surging onto land. For like a battle of waves running against each other into one stream of misfortunes

πρὸ τῆς δίκης νικῶσαν ἡμῖν ἐξεφώνησε κρίσιν. ὅμως ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἀγῶσι τῆς μάχης προσαντιτείνειν ἠξίουν οἱ βάρβαροι, πυρὸς μὲν ἔργον ἀφρόνως ἐγίνετο πᾶς ὁ πρὸ τείχους ὡραϊσμένος τόπος· ἡ φλὸξ δὲ καπνίζουσα τὸν καινὸν ζόφον ἐκ τῆς ὁμίχλης τῆς ξένης ἐκρύπτετο. τοῖς δ' αὖ γε Πέρσαις ἐστρατευμένοις πέραν ὡς δὴ καθ' ἡμῶν ἔργον εἶχεν ἡ μάχη κῆρυξ ὁ καπνὸς τοῦ σκότους ἐγίνετο· ἔρως γὰρ ἦν τις τοῖς ἐπ' ἄμφω βαρβάροις, οὐχ ὅστις ὅπλα συντομώτερον λάβοι, ἀλλ' ὃς προφλέξει τοὺς ἀναιτίους λίθους· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ τοῦτον εἶχε τὸν τρόπον. ἤδη δὲ λοιπὸν συγκροτοῦντες τὴν μάχην οἱ βάρβαροι μὲν τοῦ δικαστοῦ τοὺς τόπους καὶ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ, τῆς ἀτρέπτου Παρθένου, λαβόντες εἶχον ὡσανεὶ τὰς ἀσπίδας, καὶ τοὺς παρ' αὐτῶν δυσσεβῶς ὑβρισμένους ἔχειν συνεργοὺς εἰς ἀνάγκην ἠξίουν. Σθλάβων τε πλήθη Βουλγάροις μεμιγμένα ὁ βάρβαρος νοῦς ἐμβαλὼν ταῖς ὁλκάσι γλύψας γὰρ εἶχεν ἐσκυφωμένα σκάφη, ἔμιξε τῇ γῇ τῆς θαλάττης τὴν μάχην. κἀμοὶ δὲ μῖξις νῦν ἐπῆλθε καὶ μάχη, καὶ πανταχοῦ μοι τοῦ σκοποῦ πεφυρμένου καὶ συγκροτοῦντος τοὺς λόγους ὡς εἰς μάχην τί πρῶτον εἰπὼν δευτέρων ἀπάρξομαι; ἄλλος μὲν οὖν ἔπιπτεν ἐκ ῥιπῆς λίθου λαβὼν κατ' αὐτὸ τὴν βολὴν καὶ τὸν τάφον, ἄλλος δὲ σύννους προσλαλῶν τῷ συμμάχῳ βληθεὶς ἄνωθεν ἐξ ἀδήλου τοξότου τὸ πνεῦμα θᾶττον ἀνταφῆκε τοῦ λόγου· καί τις παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐν μεγίσταις ἀξίαις τάξαι νομίζων εἰς δέον τὰ τάγματα ἔστη παρεισδὺς ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀσπίδων, κρύπτειν ἑαυτὸν ἀσφαλῶς ἠπειγμένος· βολὴ δέ τις φθάσασα συντόμου λίθου ἀπροσδοκήτως διχοτομεῖ τὰς ἀσπίδας, καὶ τὰς μὲν ὠθεῖ, τῷ δὲ γίνεται φόνος· οἱ δ' αὖ γε λοιποὶ πάντες, ἀκρίδων δίκην, ἔπιπτον ἄρδην δυστυχοῦντες εὐστόχως. οὕτως ἀπηκρίβωσεν ἡ θεία κρίσις τὰ τόξα, τοὺς βάλλοντας, αὐτοὺς τοὺς λίθους, ὡς μηδὲν εἰκῇ συμπεσεῖν ἐρριμμένον· ἀλλ' ἦν τὸ πεμφθὲν εὐστόχως ἀφιγμένον πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστην τῶν βεβλημένων τύχην. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ τῆς τύχης τὰ πράγματα τὰ νῶτα τῆς γῆς εὐφόρως ἐβάστασεν· ἔδει δὲ λοιπὸν καὶ τὰ τῶν θαλαττίων λαβεῖν ἀγώνων τὴν ἰσόρροπον κρίσιν. καί μοι πρόσεστι τοῦτο θαυμάσαι πλέον· πῶς τὴν τοσαύτην τῆς θαλάττης οὐσίαν οἱ βάρβαροι βλέποντες ἐξηπλωμένην, δοκοῦντες ὥσπερ ἐστενῶσθαι τῷ πλάτει, ἐκεῖ συνεκλείσθησαν εὐθέως ὅπου τὸν οἶκον εἶχεν ἡ στρατηγὸς Παρθένος· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν θαλάττῃ δίκτυον τὰ γλυπτὰ συζεύξαντες ἥπλωσαν σκάφη. ἐπεὶ δὲ συννεύσαντες ἀλλήλοις ὅλοι ἐπῆλθον ἡμῶν σὺν βοῇ ταῖς ὁλκάσιν, ἐντεῦθεν ἦν ἄδηλος ἡ δήλη μάχη· μόνην γὰρ οἶμαι τὴν Τεκοῦσαν ἀσπόρως τὰ τόξα τεῖναι καὶ βαλεῖν τὴν ἀσπίδα, καὶ ταῖς ἀδήλοις συμπλοκαῖς μεμιγμένην βάλλειν, τιτρώσκειν, ἀντιπέμπειν τὸ ξίφος, ἀνατρέπειν τε καὶ καλύπτειν τὰ σκάφη δοῦναί τε πᾶσι τὸν βυθὸν κατοικίαν. ξένον γὰρ οὐδὲν εἰ <προ>πολεμεῖ Παρθένος, δι' ἧς παρῆλθεν εἰς τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς σέβας οὐκ οἶδα πῶς πεμφθεῖσα ῥομφαία πάλιν· ὅμως παρῆλθεν ἢ διῆλθεν ὀξέως τρώσασα τὴν ἄτρωτον οὐδαμοῦ φύσιν. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνα τὰ γλυπτὰ σκάφη τὸν ὅρμον εἶχον ἐξ ἀνάγκης εἰς ζάλην· πολλὴ δὲ φύρσις καὶ φόβος καὶ σύγχυσις τοῖς ναυμαχοῦσι βαρβάροις συνήρχετο. καὶ πού τις αὐτῶν ἐκπεσὼν τῆς ὁλκάδος πλωτὴρ σχεδιάζων τὴν τέχνην ηὑρίσκετο, ἄλλος δὲ νεκρὸν εἰς ὕδωρ μιμούμενος ἤλπιζε φεύγειν τῷ δοκεῖν πεπνιγμένος, καί τις παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ πύργου τὴν τρόπιν λαθὼν ὑπῆλθε καὶ πολὺν μείνας χρόνον ἐκ τῆς ἀνάγκης δυστυχῶν ἐκαρτέρει· ὅμως ἐκείνους πάντας, ὡς ἕνα στόλον, ὁ τῆς θαλάττης συγκατέκλυσεν σάλος. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ πρὶν ἀφθόνως ἀνημμένος πνέων τε πυρσὸν ἐκ λόγων πυρεκβόλων ἀπῃθάλωτο συντόμως ὁ βάρβαρος, ἄφνω δὲ τέφρα προσφόρως ἐγίνετο, ὡς πῦρ ἀνάψας εἰς ἀνέγκλητα ξύλα. ἄλλος γὰρ ἄλλον ἐξέπεμπεν ἄγγελον φέροντας αὐτῷ συμφορὰς ὡς δράγματα, ἐκ γῆς μὲν εἰς θάλατταν, εἰς δὲ γῆν πάλιν ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης δυστυχημάτων σάλον.

οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἔπασχε τὸν καινὸν σάλον εἰς γῆν νομίζων κυματοῦσθαι τὰς φρένας· ὡς κυμάτων γὰρ ἀντισύνδρομον μάχην εἰς ἕν τι ῥεῦμα συμφορῶν