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5. All the land of Rome, and sea and city, hills, ravines, stars, the water of ever-flowing rivers, the order of the church, all things, rejoice together with the master. Let the multitude of stars above exult, and let the host of angels dance, because the unapproachable beast has been slaughtered, the terribly-formed sea-monster has been destroyed, the unrestrainable wound of the earth has been checked. Proclaim, O ether, this to all the earth, cry out, O star-sun, running above, to the barbarians now the slaughter of the barbarians. Let nations and cities and lands know the new power of the greatest Romanus, let them learn of his sleepless toils, such as the crown-wearer undertook for us; let them get experience of him from their neighbors, before the slayer runs up against them. O sword-bearers of the land of Africa, shudder, for the city of the Tarsians is in turmoil. An ancient curse, O tribe of Arabs, may you receive from the spear of mighty Romanus, and quickly. Your arrow, O scepter-holder, will persuade the places of the Delemites to be called Belemites. And as for the Egyptians, rejoice, vultures, with your sword they will devour their unresisting flesh. Chaudas, who wished to grasp the whole earth in his maw, remains gaping, speechless at the disaster of the Cretans. O Christ, child of the Father before the ages, what glory you have granted to the crown-wearer. Who would now groan over the tomb of Polyxena, who over the fall of the Phrygians? O band of youths, for whom the thought is of Homer's compositions, do not be deceived by the words of the old man, do not be charmed by the resounding lines of the myth-weaver; for he has narrated false things, even if most wisely, the blind man, having words like charms. Applaud the capture of Crete, which in its time the spear of the wise rulers took, that Crete, the fatherland of Zeus, of Zeus the tyrant, the falsely-named demon, who found the furnace, but an eternal one, because he had set himself up as a god below, because he filled the earth with the pollutions of slaughter, because he was the inventor of passions. This land, the renowned, the sweet branch of Rome, the all-serene, the slayer of barbarians, the all-revered and pursuer of Syria, this land, sending fever-flashing inflammations against us, he conquered. O great strength, O two-edged swords, three-barbed and two-edged, and three-barbed arrows, all-bronze helmets, which wrought the slaughter of the blood-stained and stopped the daily murders, which the sea held, full of piracy. O whirlings of stone-throwing slings, neighing of horses, sharpness of javelins, tension of sword and breastplate, of shield, which razed to the ground the barbarian-held land, which the master has given instead of medicines and saved the world from tyranny. O wind that launched ten thousand ships and was seen as a harmless escort for the master. Lament, O whole land of Syria now, having your own champion of shouting, your own wanderer, not prophet, Mohammed, whose tunic, stained with countless shameful deeds, the sons of a slave-woman hide, they hide it, though stained, as if it were spotless, they hold it, though defiled, as if it were undefiled; for it was necessary for those who are a pollution from defilements to call the curse of foreign seed undefiled. Dance now, Sicily of the Africans, announce the good cheer to all; the master frees you shortly. dance, land, dance, all that is of the Romans, how you have prospered in the crowns of palaces, how you have broadened to the ancestral breadths, how you have conquered what was once conquered from you. If only you would emerge from the tomb, Constantine, if only you would see how things are with Syria; you would have recognized a son, as Philip did the horseman, and you would have said to him: "O son, seek a kingdom; for not even the power over the whole earth is sufficient for you." For such was the groan of lamentations from Crete, such was the tearing, when they saw the bared swords of the Romans from within the fortifications, when small children saw their mothers, some with their hands twisted behind them with nooses, others stained with blood and dust, others laid out in a row for slaughter. there children embraced fathers and fathers children and together they drenched the sword with gushing streams of blood. there was lamentation, there was a cry of the ravaged, no prophet was strong enough, nor sword; for this was honored by the enemies as a god. there old men, having set out to flee, were struck from behind with javelins. there, youths fleeing, the of the tunics

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Εʹ Γῆ πᾶσα Ῥώμης καὶ θάλασσα καὶ πόλις, βουνοί, φάραγγες, ἄστρα, τῶν ἀειρρύτων ὕδωρ ποταμῶν, τάγμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας, τὰ πάντα κοινῇ συγχάρητε δεσπότῃ. Ἀγαλλιάσθω πλῆθος ἀστέρων ἄνω, χορευέτω δὲ τάξις ἀγγέλων, ὅτι τὸ δυσπρόσιτον θηρίον κατεσφάγη, τὸ δεινόμορφον κῆτος ἀντανῃρέθη, τὸ δυσκάθεκτον τραῦμα γῆς ἀνεστάλη. κήρυξον, αἰθήρ, τοῦτο πᾶσαν εἰς χθόνα, βόησον, ἀστὴρ ἥλιε, τρέχων ἄνω, τοῖς βαρβάροις νῦν τὴν σφαγὴν τῶν βαρβάρων. Γνώτωσαν ἔθνη καὶ πόλεις καὶ χωρία τὸ τοῦ μεγίστου Ῥωμανοῦ νέον κράτος, μάθωσιν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀκοιμήτους πόνους, οἵους δι' ἡμᾶς ἔσχεν ὁ στεφηφόρος· λάβωσιν αὐτοῦ πεῖραν ἐκ τῶν πλησίον, πρὶν ἢ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ σφαγεὺς ἀναδράμῃ. τῆς Ἀφρικῆς γῆς φρίξατε ξιφηφόροι, ταράσσεται γὰρ Ταρσεωτῶν ἡ πόλις. ἀρὰν παλαιάν, Ἀράβων φυλή, λάβῃς δουρὶ κραταιοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ, πλὴν ἐν τάχει. τῶν ∆ελεμιτῶν Βελεμιτῶν τοὺς τόπους πείσει καλεῖσθαι σὸν βέλος, σκηπτροκράτορ. Αἰγυπτίων δέ, χαῖρε, γῦπες σῷ ξίφει σάρκας καταβρώξουσι τὰς ἀσυστάτους. Χαυδᾶς, ὁ χανδὸν γῆν ὅλην λαβεῖν θέλων, χανὼν ἄναυδος συμφορᾷ Κρητῶν μένει. Ὦ Χριστέ, πατρὸς τοῦ πρὸ αἰώνων τέκνον, οἷον παρέσχου τῷ στεφηφόρῳ κλέος. Τίς ἂν στενάξῃ τὸν Πολυξένης τάφον, τίς τὴν Φρυγῶν ἅλωσιν; ὦ χορὸς νέων, ὅσοις Ὁμήρου φροντὶς ἡ τῶν σκεμμάτων, μὴ τοῖς λόγοις κλέπτεσθε τοῦ γεροντίου, μὴ τοῖς κτύποις θέλγεσθε τοῦ μυθοπλόκου· ψευδῆ γὰρ ἱστόρησεν, εἰ καὶ πανσόφως, ὁ πηρὸς ὡς θέλγητρα τοὺς λόγους ἔχων. Κρήτης κροτεῖτε τὴν ἅλωσιν, ἣν χρόνος καθεῖλε δουρὶ τῶν σοφῶν ἀνακτόρων, Κρήτης ἐκείνης, τοῦ ∆ιὸς τῆς πατρίδος, ∆ιὸς τυράννου, δαίμονος ψευδωνύμου, ὃς εὗρε τὴν κάμινον, ἀλλ' αἰωνίαν, ἀνθ' ὧν ἑαυτὸν ἦν θεὸν στήσας κάτω, ἀνθ' ὧν ἔπλησε γῆν σφαγῆς μιασμάτων, ἀνθ' ὧν ὑπῆρξεν εὑρετὴς παθημάτων. ταύτην ὁ κλεινός, ὁ γλυκὺς Ῥώμης κλάδος, ὁ παγγάληνος, ὁ σφαγεὺς τῶν βαρβάρων, ὁ πανσέβαστος καὶ διώκτης Συρίας, ταύτην καθ' ἡμῶν φλεγμονὰς πυρεκβόλους πέμπουσαν ἐκράτησεν. ὦ μέγα σθένος, ὦ δίστομα, τρίκογχαδίστομα ξίφη, βέλη δὲ τὰ τρίκογχα, πάγχαλκα κράνη, τὰ τὴν σφαγὴν δράσαντα τῶν μιαιφόνων ἢ τοὺς φόνους στήσαντα τοὺς καθημέραν, οὓς εἶχεν ἡ θάλασσα λῃστρικωτέρους. Ὦ πετροπόμπων σφενδονῶν στροφουργίαι, ἵππων φριμαγμός, ὀξύτης ἀκοντίων, σπάθης τε καὶ θώρακος, ἀσπίδος τάσις, ἃ γῆν κατηδάφισε βαρβαρουμένην, ἃ δεσπότης δέδωκεν ἀντὶ φαρμάκων καὶ κόσμον ἐξέσωσε τῆς τυραννίδος. Ὦ ναυστολῆσαν πνεῦμα μυρία σκάφη καὶ πομπὸς ὀφθὲν ἀβλαβὴς τοῦ δεσπότου. Θρήνησον, ὦ γῆ πᾶσα νῦν τῆς Συρίας, ἔχουσα τὸν σὸν τῆς βοῆς πρωτοστάτην, τὸν σὸν πλανήτην, οὐ προφήτην, Μωάμεθ, οὗ τὸν χιτῶνα μυρίαις αἰσχρουργίαις πεφυρμένον κρύπτουσιν οἱ δούλης γόνοι, κρύπτουσιν ὡς ἄσπιλον ἐσπιλωμένον, ἔχουσιν ὡς ἄχραντον ἐγκεχραμμένον· ἔδει γὰρ ὄντας ἐκ μιασμάτων ἄγη καλεῖν ἄχραντον τοὺς ξενοσπόρους ἄγος. Χόρευε λοιπὸν Ἀφρικῶν Σικελία, εὐαγγελίζου πᾶσι τὴν εὐθυμίαν· ἐλευθεροῖ σε συντόμως ὁ δεσπότης. χόρευε γῆ, χόρευε Ῥωμαίων ὅση, ὡς ηὐτύχησας εἰς ἀνακτόρων στέφη, ὡς ἐπλάτυνας εἰς τὰ πατρῷα πλάτη, ὡς ἐκράτησας τῶν πάλαι κρατουμένων. Εἴθε προκύψαις τοῦ τάφου, Κωνσταντῖνε, εἴθε σκοπήσαις, ὡς ἔχει τὰ Συρίας· ἔγνως ἂν υἱόν, ὡς Φίλιππος ἱππότην, καὶ τοῦτον εἶπες· Ὦ τέκνον, ζήτει κράτος· οὐκ ἀρκετόν σοι γῆς ὅλης καὶ γὰρ κράτος. Κρήτης γὰρ οἷος τῶν ὀδυρμάτων στόνος, οἷος σπαραγμός, γυμνὰ Ῥωμαίων ξίφη ὅταν κατεῖδον ἔνδοθεν πυργωμάτων, ὅταν κατεῖδον τέκνα μικρὰ μητέρας, τὰς μὲν βρόχοις ὄπισθεν ἐστρεβλωμένας, τὰς δὲ πρὸς αἷμα καὶ κόνιν πεφυρμένας, τὰς δὲ στιχηδὸν εἰς σφαγὴν προκειμένας. ἐκεῖ τὰ τέκνα πατέρας καὶ πατέρες παῖδας κατησπάζοντο καὶ κοινῇ ξίφος κρουνηδὸν ὁρμαῖς ἔβρεχον τῶν αἱμάτων. ὑπῆρχε θρῆνος, ἦν βοὴ πορθουμένων, οὐκ ἦν προφήτης ἰσχύων οὐδὲ σπάθη· αὕτη γὰρ ἐχθροῖς ὡς θεὸς τιμωμένη. ἐκεῖ γέροντες εἰς φυγὴν ὡρμηκότες ὄπισθεν ἐπλήττοντο τοῖς ἀκοντίοις. ἐκεῖ νέους φεύγοντας ἡ χιτωνίων