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we were saying, riding about within the army of Bryennius, he sees one of the grooms of Bryennius leading a certain one of the imperial horses, adorned with a purple saddle-cloth and having golden trappings, and indeed also those holding the swords which by custom accompanied the emperors running alongside near him. Seeing these things, then, he covers his face with the gorget, which was hung around his helmet, and having charged fiercely against them with the six soldiers, whom the account indicated above, he strikes down the groom, and captures the imperial horse, and seizes the swords along with it, and secretly withdraws from the army. And having established himself in a safe place, he sent out that horse with the golden trappings and the swords that were brandished on either side of the imperial person, and having ordered a certain very loud-voiced herald to run throughout the whole army shouting that Bryennius had fallen. 1.5.8 This having happened, it gathered from all sides many of the scattered men of the army of the great domestic of the schools and my father and made them turn back, and persuaded others to hold firm. And they stood motionless, wherever each happened to be, and turning their gazes backward, they were astonished at what they saw against all expectation. And it was possible to see something strange happening to them, the heads of the horses on which they were riding facing forward, but their own faces turned backward, and neither moving forward nor willing to turn their reins backward, but being astounded and bewildered as it were at what had happened. 1.5.9 For the Scythians, remembering their return and going homeward, were no longer going to pursue, but having gone far from both armies, were wandering about somewhere with their booty. And what was being proclaimed, that Bryennius, it seemed, had been captured and struck down, was encouraging the hitherto cowardly and fugitive men, and the proclamation immediately had plausibility, as the horse with the imperial insignia was shown everywhere, and the swords all but announcing that Bryennius, who was guarded by these, had become the work of an enemy's hand.

1.6.1 Then fortune also contributed something of this sort. A certain detachment from the Turkish alliance finds the domestic of the schools, Alexius, and having learned how matters of the war stood and having sought out the enemy, wherever they might be, having come together on a certain hill with Alexius Comnenus, my father, they were observing them as if from some lookout point, as he was pointing out the army with his hand; and the situation regarding them was as follows. For they were in disarray, not yet having drawn themselves up in formation, and as if they had already seized the victory, they were contemptuous and thought themselves out of danger. And they had become especially lax, since the Franks accompanying my father had gone over to Bryennius on account of the rout that had previously occurred. For since the Franks had dismounted from their horses and were giving him their right hands, just as it is indeed their custom to give pledges of faith, others were flocking to them from all sides to watch what was happening. For rumor was trumpeting through the army that the Franks, it seemed, had also joined them, having abandoned their general Alexius. 1.6.2 Seeing them in this state of confusion, those around my father and the newly arrived Turks divided themselves into three parts, and ordered two to lie in ambush somewhere there, and commanded the third part to advance against the enemy. And the whole of such a disposition was referred to my father Alexius. 1.6.3 The Turks, however, did not all advance together in an orderly phalanx, but separately and standing apart from each other everywhere in certain groups. Then for each squadron to attack, driving their horses against them and

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ἐλέγομεν, περιχορεύων ἐντὸς τοῦ στρατεύματος τοῦ Βρυεννικοῦ ὁρᾷ τῶν ἱπποκόμων ἕνα τοῦ Βρυεννίου ἵππον τινὰ τῶν βασιλικῶν ἐπισυρόμενον, τῇ τε ἁλουργῷ ἐφεστρίδι κεκοσμημένον καὶ κατάχρυσα τὰ φάλαρα ἔχοντα καὶ δὴ καὶ τοὺς κατέχοντας τὰς ἐξ ἔθους τοῖς βασι λεῦσι παρεπομένας ῥομφαίας ἐγγύθεν αὐτῷ παραθέοντας. Ταῦτ' οὖν θεασάμενος καλύπτει μὲν τὸ πρόσωπον τῷ θωρα κιδίῳ, ὃ τῆς κόρυθος κύκλῳ ἐξήρτητο, σφοδρῶς δὲ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξορμήσας σὺν τοῖς ἓξ στρατιώταις, οὓς ἄνωθεν ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσε, καταβάλλει μὲν καὶ τὸν ἱπποκόμον, αἱρεῖ δὲ καὶ τὸν βασιλικὸν ἵππον, συναφαιρεῖται δὲ καὶ τὰς ῥομ φαίας καὶ λάθρᾳ ὑπέξεισι τοῦ στρατεύματος. Ἐν τῷ ἀκιν δύνῳ δὲ καταστὰς τόν τε χρυσοφάλαρον ἐκεῖνον ἵππον ἐξέπεμψε καὶ τὰς παρ' ἑκάτερα τοῦ βασιλικοῦ σώματος στρεφομένας ῥομφαίας καὶ κήρυκά τινα μεγαλοφωνότατον παρακελευσάμενος ἁπανταχοῦ τοῦ στρατεύματος διαθέοντα βοᾶν ὡς ὁ Βρυέννιος ἐπεπτώκει. 1.5.8 Τοῦτο γενόμενον πολλοὺς τῶν σκεδασθέντων τοῦ στρατεύματος τοῦ μεγάλου δομεστίκου τῶν σχολῶν καὶ ἐμοῦ πατρὸς ἁπανταχόθεν ξυνέλεγε καὶ παλιμπορεύτους ἐποίει, τοὺς δὲ καὶ ἔπειθεν ἐγκαρτερεῖν. Οἱ δὲ ἑστήκεσαν ἀτρεμοῦντες, ἵνα ἕκαστος ἔτυχε, καὶ εἰς τοὐπίσω τὰς ὄψεις στρέψαντες ἐξεπλήτ τοντο ἐφ' οἷς παρ' ἐλπίδα ἐώρων. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς καινόν τι γενόμενον, τῶν ἵππων ἐν οἷς ἐπωχοῦντο τὰς κεφαλὰς ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσω ὁρώσας, τὰ δ' αὐτῶν πρόσωπα εἰς τοὐπίσω ἐστραμμένα, καὶ μήτε ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω χωροῦντας μήτε εἰς τοὐπίσω στρέψαι τοὺς χαλινοὺς ἐθέλοντας, ἀλλ' ἐκθάμβους ὄντας καὶ ἐξαπορουμένους οἷον ἐπὶ τοῖς ξυμπε σοῦσιν. 1.5.9 Οἵ τε γὰρ Σκύθαι νόστου μνησάμενοι καὶ οἴκαδε ἀπιόντες οὐκ ἔμελλον ἔτι ἐπιδιώκειν, ἀλλὰ πόρρω τῶν στρατευμάτων ἀμφοῖν γεγονότες μετὰ τῆς λείας αὐτοῦ που περιπεπλάνηντο. Τό τε διακηρυκευόμενον, ὡς ἄρα ὁ Βρυέννιος ἑάλω καὶ κατενήνεκτο, ἐθαρσοποίει τοὺς τέως δειλοὺς καὶ φυγάδας καὶ τὸ κηρυττόμενον αὐτόθεν εἶχε τὸ πιθανὸν ἐνδεικνυμένου πανταχόθι μετὰ τῶν βασιλικῶν παρασήμων τοῦ ἵππου καὶ τῶν ῥομφαιῶν μονονουχὶ διαγγελ λουσῶν, ὡς ὁ φυλαττόμενος ταύταις Βρυέννιος χειρὸς πολεμίας γέγονεν ἔργον.

1.6.1 Εἶτα ἡ τύχη ξυνέβαλε καί τι τοιοῦτον. Ἀπόμοιρά τις ἐκ τῆς συμμαχίας τῶν Τούρκων καταλαμβάνει τὸν δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν Ἀλέξιον καὶ ὡς καθειστήκει τὰ τοῦ πολέμου μαθόντες καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους, ὅπου καὶ εἶεν, ἐπιζητήσαντες, ἐπὶ λόφου τινὸς συνεληλυθότες τῷ Κομνηνῷ Ἀλεξίῳ καὶ ἐμῷ πατρὶ ἐκείνου δεικνύντος τῇ χειρὶ τὴν στρατιὰν ἐθεῶντο τούτους ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος σκοπιᾶς· εἶχε δὲ ὧδε τὰ κατ' αὐτούς. Συγκεχυμένοι τε γὰρ ἦσαν μήπω συντάξαντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ὡς τὴν νίκην ἤδη ἀράμενοι κατα φρονητικῶς εἶχον καὶ ἔξω κινδύνων ἑαυτοὺς ᾤοντο. Μάλιστα δὲ ἀναπεπτώκεισαν τῶν τῷ ἐμῷ πατρὶ ξυνεπο μένων Φράγγων προσκεχωρηκότων τῷ Βρυεννίῳ διὰ τὴν προγεγενημένην τροπήν. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἵππων ἀποβεβηκότων τῶν Φράγγων καὶ δεξιὰς διδόντων αὐτῷ, καθάπερ δὴ πάτριόν ἐστι διδόναι τὰς πίστεις, ἄλλος ἀλλαχόθεν πρὸς τούτους ξυνέρρεον θεασόμενοι τὸ γινόμενον. ∆ιεσάλπιζε γὰρ ἡ φήμη τὸ στράτευμα, ὡς ἄρα καὶ οἱ Φράγγοι τούτοις προσέθεντο τὸν ἀρχιστράτηγον καταλελοιπότες Ἀλέξιον. 1.6.2 Οὕτω δῆτα συγκεχυμένως ἔχοντας τούτους οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν ἐμὸν πατέρα καὶ τοὺς νεήλυδας Τούρκους θεασάμενοι εἰς τρεῖς μοίρας ἑαυτοὺς διενείμαντο καὶ τὰς μὲν δύο ἐλλο χεῖν αὐτοῦ που διέταττον, τὴν δὲ τρίτην μερίδα χωρεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκέλευον. Καὶ τὸ ξύμπαν τῆς τοιαύτης διαταγῆς ἐς τὸν ἐμὸν πατέρα Ἀλέξιον ἀνεφέρετο. 1.6.3 Οἱ μέντοι Τοῦρκοι οὐ κατὰ φάλαγγα συντεταγμένως ἐπῄεσαν ἅμα πάντες, ἀλλὰ μεμερισμένως καὶ ἀπ' ἀλλήλων κατά τινας ὁμίλους διεστηκότες ἑκασταχοῦ. Εἶτα προσβάλλειν ἑκάστην ἴλην τοὺς ἵππους ἐπὶ τούτους ἐλαύνοντας καὶ