They persuaded him that the armies of Persia would again prevail in the battle. But these devious counsels of deceit in their midst did not benefit him at all. For as his heart was moved unsteadily, he had his hopes also in turmoil; and he had the outcomes everywhere contrary, and wandering along with his reasonings. For being astounded at the prevailing misfortune of the barbarians and the cowardice among them, and seeing bitter hopes beyond hope, again he came back up to us at a run, and not having kept his word, finding your word ready, he was quickly saved; thus you receive all who run to you and you wait for those who do not run, to save them. That man described to us with all accuracy the cowardice of the barbarians, and with these very words he prayed to see the enemies thus through to the end, as they are all now terrified. But the barbarian, being thrown into confusion everywhere, plans to dare something terrible out of necessity; for he knows that crisis for the most part also begets terrible counsels out of fear. And indeed, at that very time of necessity, having watched for an hour that seemed opportune, when the morning star, peering up from the deep, goes forth, the bright messenger of the day, he sets his army in three divisions, making his battalions seem to face your phalanxes with deceit, and having assembled the choice part of the army, he hid them in the midst of the ravines, so that when they burst forth from the depths unexpectedly and beyond hope, they might with fear throw some part of your battalions into confusion. For a certain accustomed hope from the past times of cowardice deceived him, that if even one part of your army were broken, the slip of a rout might run through the whole. But the strategy of your readiness was not armed in return unprepared. For before the night reached its midpoint, you, by your customary cares, knew all his hidden deceits, and having divinely arranged and ordered the army, you yourself led it out to battle, at the time when the revered sun, rising with its light, again darkened the enemy for them. And so you send forth a small part of your army, most excellent one, having armed them not so much with weapons as with good counsel. For when they rode out as if to battle, they feigned a fabricated fear, fleeing falsely. But the barbarians, that stubborn cloud of the chosen troop, bursting forth from the hidden ravines, pursued those who seemed to be fleeing. But you yourself quickly lead out your best men against them, and then, clashing against the unexpected formation beyond hope, they turned their backs to your servants.

O sufficient mind and most keen nature and fire of reason running in the depths! Yet fire both blackens and burns, but your mind, most excellent one, whitens everything and warms all with its heat, without burning. But the barbarian, finding his hidden deceit to be a pit for himself from the opposite side, ordered his allies from his own battalions to leap forward in full force against those who had been routed. But when he saw that they too were terrified and quickly falling in unrestrained fear, first he acted impiously toward his own patrons and quickly dishonored those who were honored, pouring out the water and extinguishing the fire. And making many confusions of smoke, he conceals his flight and contrives darkness, and making an innovation, he turns the day into night. And finding cliffs and narrow passages and slanted, impassable projections of rocks, he pushes his battalions, having covered them with the darkness, and their wretched companies toward the highest height and the precipitous depth. From there a danger of manifold misfortunes and calamities and slaughters and broken limbs was prepared for them, full of shattering. And one of them, out of necessity, prayed for a swifter sword to come against him; another, sitting on a horse's back, was lifted high by the force of the constriction; for many the crisis then constructed the flanks of camels as a wall; and they all, like wild goats, explored the leaps of flight from the cliffs. But your entire company of the army, watching, rejoiced at the divine judgment, the wonders of the paradoxical strategy; for there was no cast of a winged arrow

ἔπειθον αὐτὸν ὡς πάλιν τὰ Περσίδος ἐπικρατήσει τῆς μάχης στρατεύματα. ἀλλ' οὐδὲν αὐτὸν ὠφέλησαν ἐν μέσῳ τὰ λοξὰ ταῦτα τοῦ δόλου βουλεύματα. τῆς καρδίας γὰρ ἀστάτως κινουμένης συναστατούσας εἶχε καὶ τὰς ἐλπίδας· ἐναντίας δὲ πανταχοῦ τὰς ἐκβάσεις, καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς εἶχε συμπλανωμένας. τὴν γὰρ κρατοῦσαν συμφορὰν τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐκπλαγεὶς ἀτολμίαν βλέπων τε πικρὰς ἐλπίδας παρ' ἐλπίδα, πάλιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀντανήρχετο δρόμῳ, καὶ μὴ φυλάξας τὸν λόγον, τὸν σὸν λόγον ἕτοιμον εὑρών, ὀξέως ἐσῴζετο· οὕτως ἅπαντας καὶ τρέχοντας προσδέχῃ καὶ μὴ τρέχοντας εἰς τὸ σῴζειν ἐκδέχῃ. ἐκεῖνος ἡμῖν πᾶσαν ἠκριβωμένως τῶν βαρβάρων ἐξεῖπε τὴν ἀτολμίαν, καί που σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς λόγοις ἐπηύξατο οὕτω διὰ τέλους τοὺς ἐναντίους βλέπειν ὥς εἰσιν ἄρτι πάντες ἐπτοημένοι. ὁ βάρβαρος δὲ πανταχοῦ κλονούμενος δεινόν τι τολμᾶν ἐκ βίας βουλεύεται· οἶδεν γὰρ ὡς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ περίστασις τὰ δεινὰ τίκτειν ἐκ δέους βουλεύματα. καὶ δὴ κατ' αὐτὸν τῆς ἀνάγκης τὸν χρόνον, ὥραν φυλάξας, ὡς ἔδοξεν, εὔθετον, ὅτε προκύψας ἐκ βάθους ἑωσφόρος πρόεισι λαμπρὸς ἄγγελος τῆς ἡμέρας, εἰς τρεῖς μὲν ἱστᾷ τὸν στρατὸν διαιρέσεις ἀντιπρόσωπα τῷ δοκεῖν τὰ τάγματα ταῖς σαῖς φάλαγξι σὺν δόλῳ ποιούμενος, τὴν ἐκλογὴν δὲ τοῦ στρατοῦ συναρμόσας ἔκρυψεν αὐτοὺς τῶν φαράγγων ἐν μέσῳ, ὅπως ἐκείνων ἐκραγέντων ἐκ βάθους ἀπροσδοκήτως καὶ παρ' ἐλπίδας φόβῳ μέρος τι τῶν σῶν συνταράξῃ ταγμάτων. τῶν γὰρ φθασάντων τῆς ἀτολμίας χρόνων εἰθισμένη τις ἐλπὶς αὐτὸν ἠπάτα, ὡς εἴπερ ἕν τι σοῦ στρατοῦ λυθῇ μέρος, τροπῆς ὄλισθος εἰς τὸ πᾶν διαδράμοι. ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀνευτρέπιστος ἀνθωπλίζετο τῆς σῆς ἑτοιμότητος ἡ στρατηγία. πρὶν ἢ γὰρ ἡ νὺξ τὴν μέσην τομὴν λάβοι, πάντας μὲν αὐτοῦ τοὺς κεκρυμμένους δόλους ταῖς σαῖς μερίμναις ἐξ ἔθους ἠπίστασο, τάξας δὲ θείως τὸν στρατὸν καὶ ῥυθμίσας πρὸς τὴν μάχην ἐξῆγες αὐτός, ἡνίκα τὸ φῶς ἀνίσχων τοὺς ἐναντίους πάλιν ὁ σεπτὸς αὐτοῖς ἐσκότιζεν ἥλιος. καὶ δὴ προπέμπεις εὐαρίθμητον μέρος τοῦ σοῦ στρατοῦ, κράτιστε, τούτους ὁπλίσας οὐ τοῖς ὅπλοις τοσοῦτον ὡς εὐβουλίαις. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐξήλαυνον ὥσπερ εἰς μάχην, τὸν πλαστὸν αὖθις σχηματίζονται φόβον ἐψευσμένως φεύγοντες. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι, τῆς ἐκλογῆς ἐκεῖνο τὸ στερρὸν νέφος, ἐκ τῶν ἀδήλων ἐκπεσόντες αὐλάκων ἤλαυνον αὐτοὺς τῷ δοκεῖν πεφευγότας. αὐτὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀντεπεξάγεις τάχος τοὺς σοὺς ἀρίστους, καὶ παρ' ἐλπίδας τότε ἀπροσδοκήτῳ προσραγέντες συντάσει τὰ νῶτα τοῖς σοῖς οἰκέταις ἀπέστρεφον.

ὦ νοῦς διαρκὴς καὶ τομωτάτη φύσις καὶ πῦρ λογισμῶν ἐν βάθει διατρέχον· ὅμως τὸ πῦρ μὲν καὶ μελαίνει καὶ φλέγει, ὁ σὸς δὲ νοῦς, κράτιστε, λευκαίνει τὸ πᾶν θάλπει τε πάντας τῇ πυρώσει μὴ φλέγων. ὁ βάρβαρος δὲ τὸν κεκρυμμένον δόλον εὑρὼν ἑαυτῷ βόθρον ἐκ τοὐναντίου, ὅλους προπηδᾶν τοῖς τραπεῖσι συμμάχους ἐκ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ταγμάτων ἐπέτρεπεν· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὐτοὺς εἶδεν ἐπτοημένους καὶ συντόμως πίπτοντας ἀσχέτῳ φόβῳ, πρῶτον μὲν αὑτοῦ δυσσεβεῖ τοὺς προστάτας καὶ θᾶττον ἠτίμωσε τοὺς τιμωμένους ὕδωρ κενώσας καὶ τὸ πῦρ κατασβέσας. καπνοῦ δὲ πολλὰς συγχύσεις ποιούμενος κλέπτει τὸ φεύγειν καὶ σχεδιάζει τὸν γνόφον, καὶ νύκτα ποιεῖ καινοτομῶν τὴν ἡμέραν· εὑρών τε κρημνοὺς καὶ στενὰς διεξόδους λοξάς τε πετρῶν ἐξοχὰς καὶ δυσβάτους, ὠθεῖ καλύψας τῷ γνόφῳ τὰ τάγματα καὶ τὰς ἐκείνων δυστυχεῖς συνοικίας πρὸς ἄκρον ὕψος καὶ κατάρροπον βάθος. ἐντεῦθεν αὐτοῖς συμφορῶν πολυτρόπων συμπτωμάτων τε καὶ φόνων καὶ κλασμάτων κίνδυνος ηὐτρέπιστο συντριβῆς γέμων. καί πού τις αὐτῶν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ηὔξατο ἐλθεῖν καθ' αὑτοῦ συντομώτερον ξίφος· ἄλλος δὲ νώτοις ἱππικοῖς ἐφιζάνων μετέωρος ἤρθη τῇ βίᾳ τοῦ σφίγματος· πολλοῖς δὲ τεῖχος τὰς καμηλείους τότε πλευρὰς κατεσκεύαζεν ἡ περίστασις· κρημνούς τε πάντες ἀγρίων αἰγῶν δίκην φυγῆς ἀνεξίχνευον ἐκπηδήματα. ἡ σὴ δὲ πᾶσα τοῦ στρατοῦ συνοικία βλέποντες εὐφραίνοντο τῇ θείᾳ κρίσει τὰ τῆς παραδόξου θαύματα στρατηγίας· βολὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ἐπτερωμένου βέλους