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they delivered timely blows against them; 39.3 but so that they might make them linger in their pains, cutting into the parts towards their backs and thighs, they forced them to delay their end. 39.4 And not even thus was the besiegers' wrath sated, but they were madly vexed that they could not die many times. 39.5 For in order to sate that beastly and untamable appetite, they spared not even women at the beginning of the peril, nor their children, whose tender age often compels even the eyes of wild beasts to sympathy; 39.6 but the slaughter was equal for all, just as in a grassy field it reaps whatever comes its way, so that in a brief moment of time the city, which a little before was cramped and teeming with multitudes, was shown to be uninhabited. 39.7 For as we said before, part of the populace, having been driven together, had occupied the heights at the so-called acropolis, or the area named after the holy David (for these places rise higher than the rest of the city, where indeed there was also a multitude of monks, all virtuous and deemed worthy of the heavenly life), while another part again flowed to the two gates facing the west of the city, all having one concern, to escape the cut of the sword. 39.8 But they accomplished nothing more than the others, with the barbarians lying in wait outside the gates, and not otherwise being able to pass through easily, pressing one another in the crush and blocking the exit. 40.1 For what an evil thing had happened at the so-called Golden Gate! 40.2 How, wishing to open it a little, as many of the populace as had flocked to the place, failed in the attempt! 40.3 For they had only just separated the gates from each other, when by their own pressure they forced them to run together again on themselves; 40.4 and the enemy, finding them in this state, no longer killed them one by one with their swords, but when they saw them pressed together and holding on to each other and unable to turn aside, they struck them on the head with their swords, so that after the blow the head of whomever it hit was split, and the parts fell here and there among their fellows, and even after death it was not given to the earth but was still held up by the remaining bodies, until, with all being slain, the bodies of all fell, and, as if that which supported them had given way (I mean, the life of all having fled), the bodies of all fell, sharing in one another's blood as they had in their end. 41.1 This very same thing also happened at the other gate, which they call Litaia. 41.2 For as we said, the barbarians themselves had already seized the other gates leading to the sea, while we had previously barred those facing the east, suspecting the same fire device which we had suffered before at the gates outside the forewall, so that as a result of this the populace, at a loss for flight from every side, could only mill about in the streets and everywhere fall upon death. 41.3 For almost a few, and as is likely, very easily counted, escaped the danger by casting themselves from the walls at the western part of the harbor; 41.4 and some others, secretly slipping out of the gate at the acropolis before the disaster struck, saved their lives. 41.5 These were the leaders of the Sclavenes, who had long planned this and had wickedly stolen the keys of those gates beforehand. 41.6 who ought, upon seeing the height of the evil, to have yielded the exit to everyone they met; 41.7 for thus many of those who happened to be there would have escaped death before the barbarians arrived. 41.8 But they did not deign to take any such thing into consideration; 41.9 but always looking out for their own interest, and having considered how they might escape the danger in this way, they opened the gates a little and made their sally swiftly, leaving a certain person at the place for the purpose of shutting them again after their exit; 41.10

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καιρίας κατ' αὐτῶν ἀφιεῖσι πληγάς· 39.3 ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐνδιατρίβειν ποιῶσι τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς, τὰ πρὸς τὸν νῶτον μέρη καὶ τοὺς μηροὺς κατατέμνοντες σχολάζειν αὐτοὺς τῇ τελειώσει παρεβιάζοντο. 39.4 καὶ οὐδ' οὕτως ὁ πολιορκῶν αὐτοὺς ἐνεπίμπλατο θυμός, ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ πολλάκις δύνανται θνήσκειν μανικῶς ἐδυσφόρουν. 39.5 ἵνα γὰρ τὴν θηριώδη καὶ ἀδάμαστον ἐκείνην ὄρεξιν ἐμφορήσωσιν, οὐδὲ γυναικῶν ἐφείσαντο κατ' ἀρχὰς τοῦ κινδύνου, οὐδὲ παίδων αὐτῶν, ὧν τὸ τῆς ἡλικίας ἄωρον ἄγειν βιάζεται πολλάκις καὶ θηρῶν ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς συμπάθειαν· 39.6 ἀλλ' ἦν ἐπ' ἴσης ἅπασιν ἡ τομή, καθάπερ ἐν χλοηφόρῳ πεδίῳ πᾶν τὸ παρατυχὸν ἐκθερίζουσα, ὡς ἐν βραχείᾳ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ ἄοικον ἀποδειχθῆναι τὴν πόλιν τὴν πρὸ μικροῦ στενοχωρουμένην καὶ τοῖς πλήθεσι βρίθουσαν. 39.7 καθὸ γὰρ φθάσαντες εἴπομεν, τὸ μὲν τοῦ δήμου τὰς ἀκρωρείας κατειλήφει κατὰ τὴν καλουμένην ἀκρόπολιν συνελαθέν, ἢ τὴν περιοικίδα τοῦ ὁσίου ∆αβὶδ ὀνομαζομένην (ταῦτα γὰρ μᾶλλον τῆς λοιπῆς ὑπερανέχουσι πόλεως, ἔνθα δὴ καὶ πλῆθος ἦν μοναχῶν ἐναρέτων πάντων καὶ τῆς οὐρανίου πολιτείας ἠξιωμένων), τὸ δὲ πάλιν ταῖς δυσὶ πύλαις προσερρύη ταῖς πρὸς δύσιν ἀφορώσαις τῆς πόλεως, μίαν ἐχόντων πάντων σπουδήν, τοῦ ξίφους διεκφυγεῖν τὴν τομήν. 39.8 ἀλλ' οὐδὲν πλέον τῶν ἄλλων διήνυον, τῶν πυλῶν ἐκτὸς τῶν βαρβάρων ἐφεδρευόντων, καὶ μηδ' ἄλλως ἔχοντες εὐχερῶς ὑπερβῆναι, τῷ συνωθισμῷ πιέζοντες ἀλλήλους καὶ τὴν διέξοδον ἀποφράττοντες. 40.1 Οἷον γὰρ ἐγεγόνει κακὸν κατὰ τὴν καλουμένην Χρυσέαν πύλην! 40.2 πῶς παρανοῖξαι ταύτην βουληθέντες μικρόν, ὅσοι τοῦ δήμου τῷ τόπῳ συνέρρευσαν, διήμαρτον τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως! 40.3 μόνον γὰρ ὅτι τὰς πύλας ἀλλήλων διέστησαν, καὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ πιλήματι πάλιν ἐν ἑαυταῖς συνδραμεῖν αὐτὰς κατηνάγκασαν· 40.4 οὕτω δὲ ἔχοντας αὐτοὺς καταλαβόντες οἱ δυσμενεῖς οὐκέτι καθ' ἕνα τοῖς ξίφεσιν ἀνῄρουν, ἀλλ' ὡς εἶδον συνεσφιγμένους ἀλλήλων τε ἐχομένους καὶ ἐκτραπῆναι μὴ δυναμένους, κατὰ κόρρης αὐτοὺς τοῖς ξίφεσιν ἔπαιον, ὡς μετὰ τὴν πληγὴν διαιρεῖσθαι τοῦ προστυχόντος τὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ τοῖς ὁμοίοις τῇδε κἀκεῖσε τὰ μέρη συμπίπτειν, καὶ μηδὲ μετὰ θάνατον τῇ γῇ δίδοσθαι ἀλλ' ἔτι παρακρατεῖσθαι τοῖς λοιποῖς σώμασιν, ἕως πάντων ἀναιρεθέντων κατηνέχθη τὰ πάντων πτώματα τοῦ, καὶ ὥσπερ τοῦ ὑποστηρίζοντος (τῆς ἁπάντων λέγω ζωῆς διαδράσης) κατηνέχθη τὰ πάντων πτώματα τοῦ αἵματος ἀλλήλων καθάπερ καὶ τῆς τελευτῆς κοινωνήσαντα. 41.1 Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τὴν ἄλλην πύλην, ἣν καλοῦσι Λιταίαν, πραχθῆναι συνέβη. 41.2 καθὼς γὰρ ἔφαμεν, τῶν ἄλλων τὰς μὲν πρὸς θάλασσαν ἐξαγούσας αὐτοὶ προκατεῖχον οἱ βάρβαροι, τὰς δέ γε πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἀφορώσας ἡμεῖς προαποκλείσαντες ἦμεν, τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς μηχανήν, ἣν κατὰ τῶν ἔξω τοῦ προτειχίσματος πυλῶν προπεπόνθαμεν, καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ὑφορώμενοι, ὡς λοιπὸν ἐκ τούτων πανταχόθεν ἀποροῦντα τὸν δῆμον πρὸς τὴν φυγὴν περὶ τὰς ἀγυιὰς μόνον εἰλεῖσθαι καὶ πανταχοῦ τῷ θανάτῳ προσπίπτειν. 41.3 σχεδὸν γὰρ ὀλίγοι, καὶ λίαν ὡς εἰκὸς εὐαρίθμητοι, κατὰ τὸ δυτικὸν μέρος τοῦ λιμένος ἑαυτοὺς τῶν τειχῶν ἀκοντίσαντες τὸν κίνδυνον ὑπεξέφυγον· 41.4 καί τινες ἄλλοι τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν πύλης λάθρα ὑπεκδραμόντες πρὸ τοῦ τὴν συμφορὰν ὑφεστάναι διεσώσαντο τὴν ζωήν. 41.5 οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ τῶν Σκλαβήνων ἡγούμενοι, πάλαι προμελετήσαντες τοῦτο καὶ τὰς κλεῖδας τῶν πυλῶν ἐκείνων κακούργως προϋφελόμενοι. 41.6 οὓς καὶ ἐχρῆν, τὴν ἀκμὴν τοῦ κακοῦ θεασαμένους, παντὶ τῷ προστυχόντι παραχωρῆσαι τὴν ἔξοδον· 41.7 οὕτω γὰρ πολλοὶ τῶν αὐτόθι λαχόντων, πρὸ τοῦ τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐπελθεῖν, τὸν θάνατον ὑπεξέκλιναν ἄν. 41.8 οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτον μὲν οὐδὲν οὐδὲ εἰς νοῦν λαβεῖν ἠνέσχοντο· 41.9 ἀεὶ δὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον προορώμενοι, καὶ ὅπως τὸν κίνδυνον διακρούσονται κἀν τούτῳ διασκεψάμενοι, τὰς πύλας μικρὸν παρανοίξαντες καὶ τὴν ἐπεκδρομὴν τομῶς ποιησάμενοι, ἕνα τινὰ τῷ τόπῳ καταλιπόντες πρὸς τὸ μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἔξοδον καὶ αὖθις ταύτας συγκλεῖσαι· 41.10