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sent him three thousand armed men. But they had not yet arrived. But when the emperor learned these things, he sent the baggage train on ahead; and he himself followed, considering to find a place in which he ought to fight before the three thousand joined them. And finding a plain suitable for battle and having addressed the army, he drew up for battle. But Rhazates, arriving, also drew up for battle in three divisions and advanced against the emperor. And on the 12th of the month of December, on a Saturday, the battle was joined; and leaping forth before all, the emperor encountered a commander of the Persians; and by the power of God and the aid of the Theotokos, he struck him down; and those who had leaped forth with him were turned to flight; and again the emperor, encountering another, also struck him down. And a third also attacked him, who also gave him a blow with a spear on the lip and wounded it. But the emperor killed this one as well; and when the trumpets sounded, both sides engaged one another, and, as a fierce battle was joined, the emperor’s dun-colored horse, the one called Dorkon, was wounded by the foot soldiers, receiving a lance-thrust in his thigh; and he also received many sword-blows on his face; but as he was wearing sinew-woven armor he was not harmed, nor did they have any effect. 319 And in the battle fell Rhazates and the three tourmarchs of the Persians and almost all the commanders and the greater part of their army. And 50 Romans were slain, and a sufficient number were wounded, but did not die, except for ten others; and the battle was joined from morning until the 11th hour. And the Romans took 28 Persian banners, apart from those that were broken, and having despoiled the dead they took their breastplates and their helmets and all their arms; and they remained two arrow-shots apart from each other. For there had been no rout. And the Roman forces watered their horses during the night and gave them fodder. But the Persian cavalrymen stood until the seventh hour of the night over the tents of the dead Persians; and in the eighth hour of the night, having set out, they returned to their camp, and taking it they departed and encamped at the foot of a rugged mountain, being afraid. And they took many all-gold swords and gold-embroidered belts and pearls and the all-gold shield of Rhazates which had 120 plates, and they took his all-gold breastplate, and they brought his tunic along with his head and his bracelets and his all-gold saddle; and Barsamousas, the commander of the Iberians under the Persians, was taken alive. And no one remembers such a battle having happened between Persians and Romans, [not] that the battle had a pause during the whole day. The Romans were victorious; but this happened by the help of God alone. And the emperor, having encouraged the army, was marching against Chosroes, so that he might frighten him, and having sent a message, might summon Sarbaros from Byzantium [Chalcedon.] On the twenty-first of the month of Decem- 320 -ber the emperor learned that the force of Rhazates that had escaped from the battle had united with the three thousand sent by Chosroes, and was following behind him, having occupied Nineveh. And the emperor, having crossed the Great Zab, sends George the tourmarch with a thousand soldiers, in order that he might march to seize the bridges of the Lesser Zab before Chosroes found out. And George, having marched 48 miles through the night, seized the four bridges of the Lesser Zab; and finding Persians in the forts, he took them prisoner. On the twenty-third of the month of December, the emperor, arriving at the bridges, crossed over and encamped at the houses of Iesdem; and he rested both the army and the horses and celebrated the feast of the Nativity of Christ in that place. But Chosroes, learning that the Romans had seized the bridges of the Lesser Zab, sent to the Persian force that was with Rhazates, that they should make great haste and get ahead of the emperor and go to him. But they, having hastened and crossed the Lesser Zab in

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τρισχιλίους ὡπλισμένους ἀπέστειλεν αὐτῷ. ἀλλ' ἀκμὴν οὐκ ἔφθασαν. ταῦτα δὲ μαθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς προαπέλυσε τὸ τοῦλδον ἔμπροσθεν· καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπηκολούθει σκεπτόμενος εὑρεῖν τόπον, ἐν ᾧ ὤφειλε πολεμῆσαι πρὸ τοῦ ἑνωθῶσιν αὐτοῖς οἱ τρισχίλιοι. εὑρὼν δὲ πεδίον ἐπιδέξιον πρὸς πόλεμον καὶ διαλαλήσας τῷ λαῷ παρετάξατο. ὁ δὲ Ῥαζάτης καταλαβὼν καὶ αὐτὸς παρετάξατο τρισὶ φούλκοις καὶ κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐχώρησεν. τῇ δὲ ιβʹ τοῦ ∆εκεμβρίου μηνὸς ἡμέρᾳ σαββάτῳ ἐκροτήθη ὁ πόλεμος· καὶ προπηδήσας πάντων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄρχοντι τῶν Περσῶν συνήντησεν· καὶ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμει καὶ τῇ βοηθείᾳ τῆς θεοτόκου τοῦτον κατέβαλεν· καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ προεκπηδήσαντες ἐτράπησαν· καὶ αὖθις ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄλλῳ συναντήσας καὶ τοῦτον κατέβαλεν. προσέβαλε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τρίτος, ὃς καὶ δέδωκεν αὐτῷ μετὰ δόρατος εἰς τὸ χεῖλος καὶ τοῦτο ἔπληξεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καὶ τοῦτον ἀνεῖλεν· καὶ τῶν σαλπίγγων ἠχησασῶν συνέβαλον ἀλλήλοις ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη, καί, μάχης κροτηθείσης σφοδρᾶς, ἐπληγώθη ὑπὸ τῶν πεζῶν ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως ἵππος φάλβας, ὁ λεγόμενος ∆όρκων, εἰς τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ λαβὼν κονταρέαν· πολλὰς δὲ καὶ σπαθέας ἐν τῇ ὄψει ἔλαβεν· ἀλλὰ φορῶν κατάφρακτα νευρικὰ οὐκ ἐβλάπτετο, οὐδὲ αὐταὶ ἐνήργουν. 319 πίπτει δὲ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ ὁ Ῥαζάτης καὶ οἱ τρεῖς τουρμάρχαι τῶν Περσῶν καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες σχεδὸν πάντες καὶ τὸ πλεῖον τοῦ στρατοῦ αὐτῶν. ἐσφάγησαν δὲ καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι νʹ, καὶ ἐπληγώθησαν ἱκανοί, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπέθανον, εἰ μὴ ἄλλοι δέκα· ἐκροτήθη δὲ ὁ πόλεμος ἀπὸ πρωῒ ἕως ὥρας ιαʹ. ἐπῆραν δὲ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι τῶν Περσῶν βάνδα κηʹ χωρὶς τῶν κλασθέντων, καὶ σκυλεύσαντες τοὺς νεκροὺς ἔλαβον τὰ λωρίκια αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς κασσίδας καὶ πάντα τὰ ἄρματα· καὶ ἔμειναν ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ἀπὸ δύο σαγιττοβολῶν. τροπὴ γὰρ οὐ γέγονεν. οἱ δὲ τῶν Ῥωμαίων λαοὶ τῇ νυκτὶ ἐπότισαν τὰ ἄλογα αὐτῶν καὶ παρέβαλον. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι καβαλλάριοι ἵσταντο ἕως ὥρας ἑβδόμης τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπάνω τῶν σκηνωμάτων τῶν τεθνεώτων Περσῶν· καὶ τῇ ὀγδόῃ ὥρᾳ τῆς νυκτὸς κινήσαντες ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς τὸ φωσάτον αὐτῶν, καὶ τοῦτο λαβόντες ἀπῆλθον καὶ ἠπλήκευσαν εἰς πρόποδα ὄρους τραχεινοῦ πεφοβημένοι. πολλὰ δὲ σπαθία ὁλόχρυσα καὶ ζώνας διαχρύσους καὶ μαργαρίτας καὶ τὸ σκουτάριν τοῦ Ῥαζάτου ὁλόχρυσον ἔλαβον ἔχον πέταλα ρκʹ, καὶ τὸ λωρίκιν αὐτοῦ ὁλόχρυσον ἔλαβον, καὶ τὸ σκαραμάγγιν αὐτοῦ ἤνεγκαν σὺν τῇ κεφαλῇ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ βραχιόλια αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σέλλαν αὐτοῦ ὁλόχρυσον· ἐκρατήθη δὲ ζῶν Βαρσαμούσης, ὁ ἄρχων τῶν Ἰβήρων τῶν ὑπὸ Πέρσας. οὐδεὶς δὲ μέμνηται τοιούτου πολέμου γεγονότος μεταξὺ Περσῶν καὶ Ῥωμαίων, [οὐχ] ὅτι ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἔσχε στάμα ὁ πόλεμος. ἐνίκησαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι· ἀλλὰ τοῦτο γέγονε μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ βοηθείᾳ. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς θαρσοποιήσας τὸν στρατὸν κατὰ Χοσρόου ἤλαυνεν, ὅπως τοῦτον ἐκφοβήσῃ, καὶ ἀποστείλας προσκαλέσηται τὸν Σάρβαρον ἐκ τοῦ Βυζαντίου [τῆς Χαλκηδόνος.] τῇ δὲ εἰκάδι πρώτῃ τοῦ ∆εκεμ320 βρίου μηνὸς ἔμαθεν ὁ βασιλεύς, ὅτι ὁ λαὸς τοῦ Ῥαζάτου ὁ ἐκ τοῦ πολέμου ἐξειλήσας ἡνώθη τοῖς ὑπὸ Χοσρόου ἀποσταλεῖσι τρισχιλίοις, καὶ ἀκολουθεῖ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ καταλαβὼν τὴν Νινευί. καὶ περάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν μέγαν Ζάβαν πέμπει Γεώργιον τὸν τουρμάρχην μετὰ χιλίων στρατιωτῶν, ἵνα ἐλάσῃ πρὸς τὸ κρατῆσαι τὰς γεφύρας τοῦ μικροῦ Ζάβα πρὸ τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Χοσρόην. ἐλάσας δὲ Γεώργιος μίλια μηʹ διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκράτησε τὰς τέσσαρας γεφύρας τοῦ μικροῦ Ζάβα· καὶ εὑρὼν ἐν τοῖς καστελλίοις Πέρσας, τούτους ἐζώγρησεν. τῇ δὲ εἰκάδι τρίτῃ τοῦ ∆εκεμβρίου μηνὸς φθάσας ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς τὰς γεφύρας ἐπέρασε καὶ ἠπλήκευσεν εἰς τοὺς οἴκους τοῦ Ἰεσδέμ· καὶ ἀνέπαυσε τόν τε στρατὸν καὶ τὰ ἄλογα καὶ ἐποίησε τὴν ἑορτὴν τῆς Χριστοῦ γεννήσεως ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ τόπῳ. γνοὺς δὲ Χοσρόης, ὅτι ἐκράτησαν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰς γεφύρας τοῦ μικροῦ Ζάβα, ἀπέστειλε πρὸς τὸν Περσικὸν λαὸν τὸν μετὰ τοῦ Ῥαζάτου, ἵνα πολὺ σπουδάσωσι καὶ προλάβωσι τὸν βασιλέα καὶ ἀπέλθωσι πρὸς αὐτόν. σπεύσαντες δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ περάσαντες τὸν μικρὸν Ζάβαν ἐν