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The strength of Hagar is for her descendants; for God is our ally and runs with us. Thus having sharpened the swords of your army, you made ambushes and a feigned retreat, so that having been tricked from within the fortifications, they would dare to come out. When therefore the time for the plans drew near, at the third hour of the rosy-fingered one, they rushed forth like serpents, those who had their heads shaved as a reproach. And from these there was a clashing of shields, and much shouting and fear, the father of trembling, and all terrible things, but for your generals there was order, silence, solemnity, eagerness. So one of the generals, a branch of a noble root, a man mighty in the hurling of a javelin, but slow in fleeing and swift in pursuing, spoke sweet words in the midst of the army: Chief general, how is it that, leaving the master, you did not, like a cook with his common art, stir and mix him into your exhortation, so that the nectar of the sweet crown-bearer might become a seasoning for your commands? He, admonishing us, entrusting us, stretching out his hand to all, did good. Let us remember his honey-flowing words and his tables, then his gifts of grace. Remember and let us die, men, as is fitting, for the family of the most pious emperor; only may the scepters of the monarchy be broadened and may Romanos alone rule all the earth. And when the myriad-strong multitude of barbarians rushed from the gates like a cloud of the South wind, threatening with a roar and showing its seed, your men, turning into a feigned flight, contrived the Crete-slaying trap. And having all come out of the long tower and having rushed forth outside the gates, they suffered the worthy penalties for their trust. For from four hiding-places in the form of a cross, a wave having been roused and fiercely boiling up, began to beget a storm before the battle, and the disaster of the enemies was turmoil, groaning, but for your peoples, victorious joy. So when they stood in the space between the armies, seeing their way out narrowed, those who were the cause of their own slaughter, they shot immediately, were shot at more, and finding their flight impossible—for everywhere a disturbing harm was upon them—they stood in one place for their burial. Who, dramatizing, will cry out the slaughters and the punishment of each one in the massacre? For one of them, struck in the kidneys, was suffering turns which he did not know, and though not having learned the whirlings of dancers before, he was an unwilling dancer, having been taken by a javelin; another, deprived of his shorn head, lay prone, stretched out in the form of a cross, and wretchedly moving his own feet, wanted to swim in the flood of blood; another, struck in his withered back, bending down unwillingly was bowing before your army; another, dead and with his feet cut off, lay forth forgotten by his steeds; another, pierced in his insatiable stomach, held with his hands the tangle of his intestines, and though before judged a mighty warrior, was an unskilled butcher of entrails. Thus the men of Hagar exchanged their panoply for disasters of other trades, and each, in dying, had for his punishment a wicked art for the destruction of life. So one of them was a Cretan knight, giant-like, who taking his shield and sword, drove against the general of the battle, wanting to attack. But Justice did not permit him to arrive; for the mighty Nikephoros strikes him below the loins, in the middle of the navel, and the dust held his dead body, while the vast army held the other's greatest glory. Thus did the ministers of lawless deeds suffer badly, enclosed from there and from here by their slayers, justly. And if any of them was set on flight, before him he had as a barrier a punishing sword and the general Nikephoros everywhere, striking and shouting to the generals: Let us strike, men, the life-destroying wolves. Homer, fount of words, you who were born far from the battle, but write as if present, you who toiled much over empty things and recounted all the labors of the Hellenes in vain, come here and proclaim with a mass of words the boast of Rome's army and the great groan of ancient foes, of enemies, of slave-born men; for you will have in us truth as a model, as for the Achaeans you had digression as a resounding theme; for there was not where one

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ἔστιν ἰσχὺς τῆς Ἄγαρ τοῖς ἐγγόνοις· θεὸς γὰρ ἡμῖν συμμαχεῖ καὶ συντρέχει. οὕτω στομώσας τοῦ στρατοῦ σου τὰ ξίφη, λόχους ἐποίεις καὶ τροπὴν πεπλασμένην, ὡς ἂν κλαπέντες ἔνδοθεν τειχισμάτων ἔξωθε θαρσήσωσιν ἐκβεβηκέναι. Ὡς οὖν ὁ καιρὸς ἤγγισεν βουλευμάτων, ὥραν ἐχούσης τῆς ῥοδοχρόου τρίτην, χειὰς ἀνώρμων ὡς ὄφεις οἱ τὰς κάρας ἔχοντες ὡς ὄνειδος ἐξυρημένας. τούτων ὑπῆρχε καὶ κρότος ταῖς ἀσπίσι, βοή τε πολλὴ καὶ τρόμου πατὴρ φόβος καὶ πάντα δεινά, τοῖς δὲ σοῖς στρατηγέταις τάξις, σιωπή, σεμνότης, προθυμία. εἷς οὖν στρατηγῶν εὐγενοῦς ῥίζης κλάδος, ἀνὴρ κραταιὸς εἰς στροφὴν ἀκοντίου, βραδὺς δὲ φεύγων καὶ ταχὺς κατατρέχων, λόγους γλυκεῖς ἔλεξεν ἐν στρατῷ μέσον· Πρωτοστράτηγε, πῶς λιπὼν τὸν δεσπότην οὐχ ὡς μάγειρος τῇ βαναυσίῳ τέχνῃ κυκῶν ἔμιξας τοῦτον ἐν παραινέσει, ὡς ἂν τὸ νέκταρ ὁ γλυκὺς στεφηφόρος ταῖς σαῖς γένηται προσταγαῖς ἀρτυσία; ἐκεῖνος ἡμᾶς νουθετῶν, ἐπιτρέπων, τὴν χεῖρα πᾶσιν ἐξαπλῶν εὐηργέτει. μνησθῶμεν αὐτοῦ ῥημάτων μελιρρύτων καὶ τῶν τραπεζῶν, εἶτα τῶν χαρισμάτων. μνήσθητε καὶ θάνωμεν, ἄνδρες, εἰς δέον ὑπὲρ γένους ἄνακτος εὐσεβεστάτου· μόνον πλατυνθῇ σκῆπτρα τῆς μοναρχίας καὶ γῆς ἀνάξῃ Ῥωμανὸς πάσης μόνος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πληθὺς μυρίανδρος βαρβάρων ἐκ τῶν πυλῶν ὥρμησεν ὡς Νότου νέφος βρυχὴν ἀπειλοῦν καὶ προδεικνύον σπόρον, οἱ σοὶ τραπέντες εἰς φυγὴν πεπλασμένην πάγην ἐτεχνάζοντο τὴν Κρητοκτόνον. πύργον δὲ μακρὸν πάντες ἐκβεβηκότες καὶ τῶν πυλῶν ἔξωθεν ἐξωρμηκότες, ποινὰς ὑπεῖχον πίστεως τὰς ἀξίας. ἐκ τεττάρων γὰρ σταυρικῶς ἐγκρυμμάτων κλύδων ἐγερθεὶς καὶ σφοδρῶς ἐπιβράσας, χειμῶνα γεννᾶν ἤρξατο πρὸ τῆς μάχης καὶ δυσμενῶν ἦν συμφορὰ κλόνος, στόνος, λαῶν δὲ τῶν σῶν χαρμονὴ νικηφόρος. ὡς οὖν σταθέντες ἦσαν ἐν μεταιχμίῳ, τὴν ἔκβασιν βλέποντες ἐστενωμένην οἱ τῆς ἑαυτῶν αἴτιοι φονουργίας, ἔβαλλον εὐθύς, ἀντεβάλλοντο πλέον καὶ τὴν φυγὴν ἔχοντες ἠπορημένην πάντῃ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἦν ταράττουσα βλάβη ἔστησαν εἰς ἓν τῆς ταφῆς τὸ χωρίον. τίς ἐκτραγῳδῶν ἐκβοήσει τοὺς φόνους καὶ τὴν ἑκάστου τῆς σφαγῆς τιμωρίαν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐν νεφροῖς βεβλημένος περιτροπὰς ἔπασχεν, ἅσπερ ἠγνόει, καὶ πρὶν χορευτῶν οὐ μαθὼν περικλάσεις, ἄκων χορευτὴς ἦν λαβὼν ἀκοντίῳ· ἄλλος στερηθεὶς τῆς κεκαρμένης κάρας ἔκειτο πρηνὴς σταυρικῶς ἡπλωμένος καὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ δυστυχῶς κινῶν πόδας χύσει κολυμβᾶν ἤθελεν τῶν αἱμάτων· ἄλλος δὲ πληγεὶς τὴν κατάξηρον ῥάχιν κύπτων ἄκων ἦν προσκυνῶν σου τὸν στόλον· ἄλλος δὲ νεκρὸς καὶ πόδας τετμημένος λελησμένος προὔκειτο τῶν ἱππασμάτων· ἄλλος δὲ τὴν ἄναλτον ὠσθεὶς γαστέρα χερσὶν κατεῖχε τὴν πλοκὴν τῶν ἐντέρων, καὶ πρὶν μαχητὴς εὐσθενὴς κεκριμένος, μάγειρος ἦν ἄπειρος ἐντεροπράτης. οὕτως μετηλλάξαντο τὴν πανοπλίαν εἰς ἀλλοτέχνους συμφορὰς οἱ τῆς Ἄγαρ, καὶ πᾶς τελευτῶν εἶχε τὴν τιμωρίαν τέχνην πονηρὰν εἰς ἀναίρεσιν βίου. Εἷς οὖν ἐκείνων ἦν ἀνὴρ Κρὴς ἱππότης, γιγαντοειδής, ὃς λαβὼν τὴν ἀσπίδα καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν τῷ στρατηγῷ τῆς μάχης ἐναντίως ἤλαυνε προσβαλεῖν θέλων. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἡ δίκη τοῦτον φθάσαι· πλήττει γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁ κρατῶν Νικηφόρος τῆς ὀσφύος κάτωθεν, ὀμφαλοῦ μέσον, καὶ τοῦ μὲν εἶχε σῶμα νεκρὸν ἡ κόνις, τοῦ δὲ κλέος μέγιστον ὁ πλατὺς στόλος. οὕτω κακῶς ἔπασχον ἐγκεκλεισμένοι ἐκεῖθεν ἔνθεν τοῖς φονευταῖς ἐνδίκως οἱ τῶν ἀθέσμων πράξεων ὑπηρέται. εἰ δ' ἦν τις αὐτῶν εἰς φυγὴν ὡρμημένος, ἔμπροσθεν εἶχε φραγμὸν ἔμποινον ξίφος καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν πανταχοῦ Νικηφόρον βάλλοντα καὶ κράζοντα τοῖς στρατηγέταις· βάλλωμεν, ἄνδρες, τοὺς βιοφθόρους λύκους. Ὅμηρε, πηγὴ τῶν λόγων, ὁ τῆς μάχης πόρρω πεφυκώς, ὡς παρὼν δὲ συγγράφων, ὁ πολλὰ κάμνων ἐν κενοῖς καὶ τοὺς πόνους διεξιὼν ἅπαντας Ἑλλήνων μάτην, σὺ δεῦρο καὶ βόησον ὄγκῳ ῥημάτων Ῥώμης στρατοῦ καύχημα καὶ μέγαν στόνον ἐχθρῶν παλαιῶν, δυσμενῶν, δουλοσπόρων· ἕξεις γὰρ ἡμῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν τύπον, ὡς τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς τὴν παρέκβασιν κτύπον· οὐκ ἦν γὰρ ἔνθα τις