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and through them and with the enthusiasm of the people assenting with them, they brought them and said: Are you eager, O rival men, that we attack the enemy, with God as our helper? to whom they declared with noble spirit: yes. And for this reason we bind you with the greatest oath by the imperial head, that we shall engage with them. For the place in which we are positioned is among the most fortified; from which if we should accomplish some noble deed against them, this is a trophy for us; but if not, we would be harmed by them in no way. Then indeed, then the two generals selected men up to the sixth hundred, and the rest they left in the tents of their leaders with the standards, and they secured these by saying: We will draw near to the army, running up, and when they direct their arrival towards us, we shall attack them; and if they should rush against us, come out opposite them and shout loudly, signifying the cry of a very large host, so that from this they might guess that the commander of the Scholae with the themes had arrived. So, with the generals having moved by this instruction and having fallen upon the enemies from nearby before the day dawned clearly, they attacked with the beating of the drums; but some of them with Chrysocheres [...], and others were lightening the baggage on the beasts of burden. While these were thus occupied, the generals with the commanders under them attacked them, and with a mighty voice, 'The Cross has conquered,' as if they were beating war drums. But these, shrinking from the sudden attack, took to flight without turning back, not even enduring to see and investigate who their pursuers might be, being pursued from Bathyryax for thirty miles up to the hill named for Constantine, being cut down severely. 4.37 And Chrysocheres, taking a few men with him, embraced flight. Then Poullades, who had this as a famous name, wearing a felt cap, overtook him; he had been previously captured near Tephrike and had been associated with Chrysocheres in a friendly way. So when he saw him, he recognized him and cried out piercingly: Here, generals, here, let the commander of the Scholae come. Chrysocheres departs, and called out to Poullades: Wretched Poullades, what evil have I shown you? Rather, indeed, I have done very many good things for you. Go away, and be not a stumbling block to me. But he said in reply to him: I know, Chrysocheres, that you have done very many good things for me, and I have good hope in my savior God on this very day to give you the thank-offering. And Chrysocheres, riding his horse, finds a ditch before him, which his horse <was afraid to leap over and for> this reason crouched down. Whence Chrysocheres for the rest did not care at all to see Poullades, but was looking rather in front of him, so that he might not fall into the ditch; and Poullades secretly wounds him in the armpit with a lance; and he being disturbed by this blow, the horse stumbled and threw him off. Therefore, the one most intimate to his service, who was called Diakonitzes, dismounted, (whom Leo, the emperor of blessed memory, after he had undergone the change for the better from the abominable religion of the Paulicians, appointed *mensurator*, which is so called in the Roman tongue) and carrying his head, he deemed it worthy of transport, placing it on his knees; whom the generals, having found, seized, and cutting it off, they eagerly sent it as a gift to the God-crowned sovereign Basil. 4.38 And concerning public works, the emperor was thus most solicitous, along with the many things accomplished by him, so that during the season of fasting for its weeks, after the senatorial departure from the palace, he would enter the *sekreton*, where the collections of public taxes were recorded, and there the occurring disputes were practically resolved. 4.39 And in the matters of hunting and

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δι' αὐτῶν δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ λαοῦ προθυμίας συνευδοκούσης αὐτοῖς, ἤγαγον καὶ εἰρήκεσαν· προθυμεῖσθε, ὦ ἄνδρες ἀνθάμιλλοι, ἵνα τοῖς πολεμίοις, θεοῦ συνεργοῦντος, προσβάλωμεν; πρὸς οὓς γενναιοφρόνως ἐξεῖπον· ναί. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὅρκῳ μεγίστῳ τῆς βασιλικῆς κεφαλῆς περιδεσμοῦμεν ὑμᾶς, ὅπως συμπλακῶμεν αὐτοῖς. ὁ γὰρ τόπος ἐν ᾧ ἐρηρείσμεθα, τῶν ἐχυρωτάτων· ἐξ οὗ εἴπερ τι κατ' αὐτῶν γενναῖον καταπραξαίμεθα, τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἐστιν εἰς τρόπαιον· εἰ δὲ μή, κατ' οὐδὲν παρ' αὐτῶν πημανθείημεν. τότε δή, τότε οἱ δύο στρατηγέται διεῖλον ἄνδρας μέχρι ἕκτης ἑκατοντάδος, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς παρῆκαν ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς τῶν ἀρχηγῶν αὐτῶν σὺν φλαμμούλοις, καὶ τούτοις διησφαλίσαντο ἐπειπόντες· ἡμεῖς μὲν τῷ φοσσάτῳ παρεμπελάσομεν ἐπιτρέχοντες, καὶ ὅταν τὴν ἄφιξιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπευθύνωσι, παρεμβαλοῦμεν αὐτοῖς· καὶ εἰ μὲν ὁρμήσουσι κατέναντι ἡμῶν, ἐξέλθετε ἄντικρυς καὶ μεγάλως κεκράξατε, πλείστου λαοῦ βοὴν ἐνσημαίνοντες, ὅπως ἐκ ταύτης εἰκάσειαν τὸν τῶν σχολῶν ἐξηγούμενον μετὰ τῶν θεμάτων ἐφεστηκέναι. τῇ οὖν ὑφηγήσει ταύτῃ κεκινηκότων τῶν στρατηγῶν καὶ παρεμπεπτωκότων ἐκ τοῦ σύνεγγυς τοῖς ἐχθροῖς πρὸ τοῦ τὴν ἡμέραν τρανῶς ἐπιλάμψαι τοῖς τῶν τυμπάνων κρούμασιν ἐπεκίνησαν· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν μετὰ τοῦ Χρυσόχειρος [...], οἱ δὲ τὰ φορτία τοῖς ὑποζυγίοις ἐκούφιζον. τούτων οὕτως μεριζομένων οἱ στρατηγέται σὺν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοὺς ἄρχουσιν ἐπέ θεντο κατ' αὐτῶν, καὶ φωνῇ βριαρᾷ· σταυρὸς νενίκηκεν οἷον πολεμικῶς ἐτυμπάνισαν. οὗτοι δὲ τῇ ἀθρόᾳ προσβολῇ καταπτήξαντες ἀμετα στρεπτὶ τῆς φυγῆς εἴχοντο, μηδὲ ὁρᾶν καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν ἀνεχόμενοι, τίνες διῶκται τούτων ὑπάρχοιεν, ἀπὸ τοῦ Βαθυρύακος διωκόμενοι ἐπὶ μιλίοις λʹ ἕως τοῦ κατωνομασμένου Κωνσταντίνου βουνοῦ, χαλεπῶς συγκοπτόμενοι. 4.37 Καὶ ὁ Χρυσόχειρ ὀλίγους τινὰς μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ προσλαβόμενος φυγαδείαν ἠσπάσατο. ἐπιφθάνει τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὁ Πουλλάδης, ᾧ τοῦτο παρῆν ὄνομα περιβόητον, πῖλον ἐνδεδυμένος· προεκεκράτητο δὲ κατὰ Τεφρικὴν καὶ κατὰ χαριεντισμὸν τῷ Χρυσόχειρι προσῳκείωτο. ὡς οὖν ἑωράκει τοῦτον, ἐπέγνω καὶ ἐκεκράγει διαπρυσίως· ὧδε οἱ στρατηγέται, ὧδε ὁ τῶν σχολῶν ἐξηγούμενος ἴτω. ἄπεισιν ὁ Χρυσόχειρ, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Πουλλάδην ἐφώνησεν· ἄθλιε ὦ Πουλλάδη, τί σοι φαῦλον ἐνεδειξάμην; μᾶλλον μέντοι γε πλεῖστά σοι χρηστὰ εἰργασάμην. ἄπελθε, καὶ μή μοι πρόσκομμα εἴης. ὁ δὲ ἀντέφη αὐτῷ· ἐγὼ γινώσκω, Χρυσόχειρ, ὅτι πλεῖστα καλά μοι πεποίηκας, καὶ εὐελπιστῶ τῷ σωτῆρί μου θεῷ κατ' αὐτήν γε τὴν ἡμέραν ἀποδοῦναί σοι τὰ χαριστήρια. ἱππάζων δὲ ὁ Χρυσόχειρ εὑρίσκει τάφρον πρὸς τοῖς ἐνωπίοις αὐτοῦ, ἣν ὁ ἵππος αὐτοῦ ὑπερπηδᾶν <ἀπεδειλία καὶ ἐκ> τούτου διώκλαζεν. ὅθεν ὁ μὲν Χρυσόχειρ τοῦ λοιποῦ ὁρᾶν τὸν Πουλλάδην οὐδ' ὅλως ἐφρόντιζεν, ἑώρα δὲ μᾶλλον κατέναντι αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ τῷ τῆς τάφρου περιπέσειεν πτώματι· καὶ λαθραίως αὐτὸν ὁ Πουλλάδης κατὰ τὴν μασχάλην τιτρώσκει κοντῷ· οὗ τῇ πληγῇ ταραχθέντος ὁ ἵππος παρέσφηλέν τε καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπεκρήμνισεν. καταβὰς οὖν ὁ τῶν πρὸς θεραπείαν αὐτοῦ οἰκειότατος, ᾧ ∆ιακονίτζης τὸ φημιζόμενον, (ὃν Λέων ὁ ἀοίδιμος βασιλεὺς ἀλλοιωθέντα τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλοίωσιν ἐκ τῆς μυσαρᾶς θρησκείας τῶν Παυλιανιστῶν, προεχειρίσατο μηνσουράτωρα, ὅπερ φωνῇ Ῥωμαίων οὕτω προσαγορεύεται) καὶ τούτου τὴν κεφαλὴν βαστάξας ἠξίωσε κομιδῆς ταύτην ἐνθεὶς τοῖς αὐτοῦ γόνασιν· ὃν εὑρηκότες οἱ στρατηλάται κατέσχον καὶ διατεμόντες αὐτὴν σπουδαίως τῷ θεοστέπτῳ ἄνακτι Βασιλείῳ ὡς δῶρον ἀνέπεμψαν. 4.38 Περὶ δὲ τὰς κοινωφελεῖς πράξεις τοιούτως ὑπῆρχεν μεριμνηματικώτατος ὁ βασιλεὺς μετά γε πλείστων τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ διαπεπραγμένων, ὥστε κατὰ τὸν ἐγκρατείας καιρὸν ἐπὶ ἑβδομάσιν αὐτῆς, μετὰ τὴν συγκλητικὴν τῶν βασιλείων ἀπαναχώρησιν, εἰσίεσθαι τῷ σεκρέτῳ, ἔνθα αἱ εἰσπράξεις τῶν δημοσίων πεφορολόγηνται, κἀκεῖσε τὰς συμπιπτούσας ἀμφισβητήσεις πραγματικῶς διαλύεσθαι. 4.39 Ἐν δὲ ταῖς κατὰ κυνηγεσίαν καὶ