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deliberating whether he should attack the Scythians. 7.3.4 Palaiologos and Gregory Maurokatakalon, therefore, were for postponing the war with the Patzinaks, and advised that they should arm themselves and occupy great Peristhlava. "For the Scythians," they said, "seeing us thus advancing fully armed in good order, will by no means dare to wage war against us. But if their cavalry should even dare war without the wagons, know well, they will be defeated, and we for the future will have great Peristhlava as a most secure stronghold." This is a famous city situated near the Ister, which once did not have this barbarian name, but a Greek one in its appellation, being and being called a great city. But since Mokros, the king of the Bulgarians, and those descended from him, and in addition Samuel, the last of the Bulgarian dynasty, just as Zedekiah of the Jews, overran the west, it acquired a composite name, being called great from its Greek meaning and dragging in the word from the Sthlavogenoi, being called by them everywhere great Peristhlava. 7.3.5 "Having this as a refuge," said the party of Maurokatakalon, "and attacking the Scythians daily with skirmishes, we shall not cease from harming them, nor allow them to go out of their own camp at all for the sake of foraging or gathering necessities." While these words were being debated, the sons of Diogenes, Nikephoros and Leo, dismounting from their horses, as they were young and untasted by the evil of battles, taking off the bridles and striking them on the flanks, drove them forth, adding, "Fear not, O Emperor; for we ourselves, drawing our swords, will cut them to pieces." 7.3.6 But the emperor, being very fond of danger and by nature inclined to seize battles, did not at all take into his mind the words of those who restrained him, but entrusting the imperial tent and all the baggage to George Koutzomites, he sent it to Betrinon, and ordered the army not to light a lamp or a fire at all that evening, but to remain awake holding their horses until sunrise. And he himself went out of the camp around dawn and, having divided the forces and arranged the phalanxes into a battle formation, he rode alongside and reviewed the army. Then he himself held the center of the battle line, which was filled by his kinsmen by blood and by marriage, and by his brother Adrianos, who was then commander of the Latins, and by other noble men. Nikephoros Caesar Melissenos, his brother-in-law, commanded the left wing. And on the right stood as leaders Kastamonites and Tatikios; and of the foreign troops, Ouzas and Karatzas the Sauromatae. And dividing his own guard, he entrusted it to six men in number, ordering them to look to him and to pay no attention to anyone else at all: namely, the two sons of Romanos Diogenes, and Nikolaos Maurokatakalon, who had long and great experience of wars, and Ioannakes, and the commander of the Varangians Nampites, and a certain paternal servant called Goules. 7.3.7 But the Scythians also, forming a battle formation, knowing how to fight from natural skill, and drawing up in phalanx and setting ambushes and binding their ranks with tactical tightness and fortifying the army, as it were, with wagons, advanced in squadrons against the emperor and skirmished from a distance. But the emperor, having joined the hoplite army into squadrons, ordered no one to leap forward or to break ranks, until they should come to close quarters with the Scythians; then when the space between

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βουλευόμενος εἰ χρὴ προσβαλεῖν τοῖς Σκύθαις. 7.3.4 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Παλαιο 7.3.4 λόγος καὶ ὁ Μαυροκατακαλὼν Γρηγόριος τὸν μετὰ τῶν Πατζινάκων ἀνεβάλλοντο πόλεμον, ὁπλισαμένους δὲ συνε βούλευον τὴν μεγάλην Περισθλάβαν καταλαβεῖν. «Οἱ γὰρ Σκύθαι οὕτω πορευομένους ἡμᾶς καθωπλισμένους μετ' εὐκοσμίας θεώμενοι οὐδαμῶς τὸν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀποθαρρήσουσι πόλεμον» ἔλεγον. «Εἰ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἱππεῖς ἄτερ τῶν ἁμαξῶν τοῦ πολέμου κατατολμήσειαν, εὖ ἴσθι, ἡττηθήσονται καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῦ λοιποῦ ὀχύρωμα ἐρυμνότατον τὴν μεγάλην ἕξομεν Περισθλάβαν.» Πόλις δὲ αὕτη περιφανὴς περὶ τὸν Ἴστρον διακειμένη, ποτὲ μὲν οὐ τοὔνομα τοῦτο ἔχουσα τὸ βαρβαρικόν, ἀλλ' ἑλληνίζουσα περὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν, μεγάλη πόλις καὶ οὖσα καὶ λεγομένη. Ἀφ' οὗ δὲ Μόκρος ὁ τῶν Βουλγάρων βασιλεὺς καὶ οἱ ἐξ ἐκείνου γενόμενοι καὶ προσέτι γε Σαμουὴλ ὁ τελευταῖος τῆς Βουλγαρικῆς δυνα στείας, καθάπερ ὁ Σεδεκίας τῶν Ἰουδαίων, τῆς ἑσπέρας κατέδραμον, σύνθετον ἐκτήσατο τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπό τε τῆς ἑλληνικῆς σημασίας μεγάλη ἐπονομαζομένη καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν Σθλαβογενῶν ἐπισυρομένη λέξιν, μεγάλη Περι σθλάβα πανταχόθεν τούτοις φημιζομένη. 7.3.5 «Ταύτην τοίνυν κρησφύγετον ἔχοντες» οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Μαυροκατα καλὼν ἔλεγον «καὶ ὁσημέραι δι' ἀκροβολισμῶν τοῖς Σκύ θαις προσβάλλοντες οὐ παυσόμεθα ζημιοῦντες αὐτοὺς μηδ' ὅλως τούτους τῆς οἰκείας παρεμβολῆς χορταγωγίας χάριν ἢ τῆς τῶν χρειωδῶν συγκομιδῆς συγχωροῦντες ἐξεληλυθέναι». Τούτων οὖν τῶν λόγων τριβομένων ἀπο βάντες οἱ τοῦ ∆ιογένους υἱοὶ τῶν σφετέρων ἵππων, οἷα νέοι καὶ τῆς τῶν μόθων κακότητος ἄγευστοι, ὅ τε Νικη φόρος καὶ ὁ Λέων, τοὺς χαλινοὺς ἀφελόμενοι πλήξαντές τε αὐτοὺς κατὰ τῶν κέγχρων ἐξήλασαν ἐπειπόντες «Μὴ δέδιθι, βασιλεῦ· αὐτοὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἀκινάκεις σπασάμενοι διαμελίσομεν αὐτούς.» 7.3.6 Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς φιλοκινδυ νότατος ὢν καὶ προαρπάζειν πεφυκὼς τὰς μάχας οὐδ' εἰς νοῦν ὅλως τῶν ἀπειργόντων αὐτὸν τοὺς λόγους ἐβάλετο, ἀλλὰ τὴν βασιλικὴν σκηνὴν καὶ τὰς σκευὰς ἁπάσας ἀνα θέμενος τῷ Κουτζομίτῃ Γεωργίῳ πρὸς τὸ Βέτρινον ἐξέπεμψε, τὸ δὲ στράτευμα ἐπέταξε μὴ λύχνον μηδὲ πῦρ ἀνάψαι τὸ παράπαν κατὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐκείνην, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἵππους κατέχοντας ἐγρηγορέναι μέχρις ἡλίου ἀνατολῆς. Αὐτὸς δὲ κατὰ τὸ περίορθρον ἔξεισι τῆς παρεμβολῆς καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις διελὼν καὶ τὰς φάλαγγας εἰς πολέμου καταστησάμενος σχῆμα παραθέων ἐθεᾶτο τὸ στράτευμα. Εἶτα τὴν μέσην τῆς παρατάξεως χώραν εἶχεν αὐτὸς συμπληρουμένην ἀπό τε τῶν ἐξ αἵματος καὶ ἀγχιστείας προσηκόντων αὐτῷ συγγενῶν καὶ τἀδελφοῦ Ἀδριανοῦ τῶν Λατίνων τῷ τότε ἡγεμονεύοντος καὶ ἑτέρων γενναίων ἀνδρῶν. Τοῦ δέ γε ἀριστεροῦ κέρως κατῆρχε Νικηφόρος Καῖσαρ ὁ Μελισσηνὸς ὁ ἐπ' ἀδελφῇ γαμβρὸς αὐτοῦ. Κατὰ δὲ τὸ δεξιὸν ἡγεμόνες ἵσταντο ὅ τε Καστα μονίτης καὶ ὁ Τατίκιος· τῶν δὲ ἐθνικῶν ὅ τε Οὐζᾶς καὶ ὁ Καρατζᾶς οἱ Σαυρομάται. Ἓξ δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν διελόμενος τὴν αὐτοῦ φυλακὴν ἐπέτρεψε πρὸς αὐτόν τε ὁρᾶν παραγ γείλας καὶ μηδενὶ τὸ παράπαν προσεσχηκέναι ἑτέρῳ, τούς τε δύο υἱούς φημι Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ ∆ιογένους καὶ Νικόλαον τὸν Μαυροκατακαλὼν πολλὴν ἐκ μακροῦ πεῖραν τῶν πολέ μων ἐσχηκότα καὶ τὸν Ἰωαννάκην καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα Βαραγ γίας Ναμπίτην καὶ Γουλήν τινα καλούμενον πατρῷον θεράποντα. 7.3.7 Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Σκύθαι σχῆμα πολέμου δια τυπώσαντες ἐκ φυσικῆς ἐπιστήμης πολεμεῖν εἰδότες καὶ κατὰ φάλαγγα ἵστασθαι καὶ λόχους καθίσαντες καὶ τὰς τάξεις τοῖς τακτικοῖς δεσμήσαντες σφίγμασι καὶ κατα πυργώσαντες οἱονεὶ ταῖς ἁρμαμάξαις τὸ στράτευμα ἰλαδὸν κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ᾔεσαν καὶ ἠκροβολίζοντο πόρρωθεν. Ὁ δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ συναρμόσας ταῖς ἴλαις τὸ στρατόπεδον τῶν ὁπλιτῶν οὐδενὶ προπηδᾶν ἐνετέλλετο οὐδὲ τὸν συνασ πισμὸν λύειν, μέχρις ἂν ἀγχέμαχοι τοῖς Σκύθαις γένων ται· εἶτ' ἐπειδὰν τὸ μεσαίχμιον