177
to Constantine Maleinos the patrician of Cappadocia and to the other generals with their regiments, and having encountered the campaign of the braggart in the place called Andrassos, he engaged and won a mighty victory, and having defeated 480 and put to flight. Then it was possible to see the dead being despoiled, and the arrogant Hagarenes being slain, and being put to flight, and being taken captive as slaves and not caring for chariots [or horses] or steeds or money or kin; but each one saved himself from his own disaster. Then indeed, then the arrogant and proud Hamdan was captured as the steed he was riding stumbled and knelt, had not John the Magarites, his man, dismounted from his own steed and given it to him, with himself being captured and the braggart being saved. And with the war won, he carried off all the spoils along with the captured deniers of Christ to Byzantium and paraded in a triumph. 15 And when the Turks made a campaign against Thrace, and the patrician Marianos Argyros was sole general in the theme of Macedonia and katepano of the west, he met and defeated them, and having captured very many, he made them return to their own land in shame. 16 And when the emperor Romanos learned of the hardship and destitution and lack of provisions of the army, by the good counsel of Joseph the parakoimomenos, he immediately sent them supplies. And they, having been briefly refreshed, and having sat down in siege for nearly eighteen months and more, and the food and money of the Cretans having been spent, and as they were driven to necessity and were deserting every day to the magistros 481, and by the command of God who directs all things, in the month of March of the sixth indiction, the Domestic of the Schools urged the army to battle formations, having formed various phalanxes and shields and trumpets. And when he had arranged these things, he ordered the tagmata and the thematic commanders and the Armenians and the Rus' and the Sclavenians and the Thracians to attack the fortress. And it was possible to see pushing and counter-pushing and clashes against one another, and volleys of stones and arrows and of siege engines against the wall and the battlements of the fortress, and upon the braggarts fell astonishment and amazement and fear. And with the battle raging for a short time, they took the fortress. and it was possible to see the Saracens, women and children
177
Καππαδοκίας Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ πατρικίῳ Μαλεΐνῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς στρατηγοῖς μετὰ τῶν ταγμάτων, καὶ τὴν ἐκστρατείαν τοῦ ἀλαζόνος ἐπιτυχὼν εἰς τὸν τόπον ̓Ανδρασσὸν λεγόμενον, συμβαλὼν κατὰ κράτος νενίκηκε, καὶ καταπολεμήσας 480 καὶ εἰς φυγὴν τρέψας. ην τότε θεάσασθαι νεκροὺς σκυλευομένους, καὶ ἀναιρουμένους τοὺς ἀλαζόνας ̓Αγαρηνούς, καὶ εἰς φυγὲν τρεπομένους, καὶ ἐν ἀνδραπόδων λόγῳ τούτους ζωγρουμένους καὶ μήτε ἁρμάτων [η ιππων] η φαρίων η χρημάτων η συγγενῶν μεταποιουμένους· ἀλλ' εκαστος ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας συμφορᾶς ἑαυτὸν περιέσωζεν. τότε δὴ τότε ὁ ἀλαζὼν καὶ ὑπερήφανος Χαμβδᾶς ἐχειροῦτο σταθέντος καὶ ὀκλάσαντος τοῦ φάρα ου τινὸς ἐπέβαινεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ μαγαρίτης ̓Ιωάννης ὁ ανθρωπος αὐτοῦ ἀποβὰς τοῦ ἰδίον φάρα ἐπέδοτο, αὐτοῦ κρατηθέντος καὶ τοῦ ἀλαζόνος περισωθέν- τος. πάντα δὲ τοῦ πολέμου κρατηθέντος λάφυρα αμα τῶν ζωγρηθέντων ἀρνητῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον ἀπηνέγκατο καὶ ἐν τῷ θριάμβῳ ἐπόμπευσεν. 15 Τῶν δὲ Τούρκων ἐκστρατείαν ποιησάντων κατὰ τῆς Θρᾴκης, καὶ τοῦ πατρικίου Μαριανοῦ τοῦ ̓Αργυροῦ μονοστρα-τηγοῦντος ἐν τῷ θέματι τῆς Μακεδονίας καὶ κατεπάνω οντος τῆς δύσεως, συνήντησεν καὶ κατεπολέμησεν, καὶ πλείστους ζωγρήσας μετ' αἰσχύνης εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν χώραν ὑπονοστῆσαι ἐποίησεν. 16 Τοῦ δὲ αὐτοκράτορος ̔Ρωμανοῦ μαθόντος τὴν στενο- χωρίαν καὶ γύμνωσιν καὶ ενδειαν τῶν τροφῶν τοῦ στρατοπέδου, τῇ εὐβουλίᾳ τοῦ παρακοιμωμένου ̓Ιωσὴφ παρευθὺ τὰ πρὸς χορη- γίαν αὐτοῖς ἀπέστειλεν. οἱ δὲ βραχὺ ψυχαγωγηθέντες καὶ ἐπὶ μησὶν ὀκτωκαίδεκα σχεδὸν καὶ πλέον παρακαθίσαντες, καὶ τῆς τροφῆς καὶ δαπάνης τῶν Κρητικῶν δαπανηθείσης, καὶ εἰς ἀνάγ- κην προχωρούντων καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην πρὸς τὸν μάγιστρον αὐτομο- 481 λούντων, καὶ τῇ τὰ πάντα θεοῦ ἡνιοχοῦντος προστάξει τῇ τοῦ Μαρτίου μηνὸς τῆς εκτης ἰνδικτιῶνος ὁ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν τὸν στρατὸν πρὸς πολεμικὰς ωτρυνε παρατάξεις, διαφόρους συστησάμενος φάλαγγάς τε καὶ ἀσπίδας καὶ σάλπιγγας. ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῦτα συνέστησεν, τῶν ταγμάτων καὶ τῶν θεματικῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ ̓Αρμενίων καὶ ̔Ρὼς καὶ Σθλαβησιάνων καὶ Θρᾳκικῶν ἐπελθεῖν τῷ κάστρῳ ἐκέλευσεν. καὶ ην ἰδεῖν ὠθισμοὺς καὶ ἀντωθισμοὺς καὶ συγκρούσματα πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καὶ πετρῶν βολὰς καὶ βέλη καὶ μηχανικῶν ἑλεπόλεων πρὸς τὸ τεῖχος καὶ τὰς ἐπάλξεις τοῦ κάστρου, καὶ τοῖς ἀλαζόσι θάμβος καὶ εκπληξις καὶ φόβος ἐπιπεσών. καὶ βραχὺ τοῦ πολέμου κρατοῦντος τὸ κάστρον παρέλαβον. καὶ ἐν θεάσασθαι τοὺς Σαρακηνοὺς γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας