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made splendid by the barbarians, when he approached the walls, he encountered barbarian phalanxes meeting him with arrogant snorting and war-cries, with whom he engaged vigorously and, taking his stand at the head of the phalanx, routed those drawn up against him, and then the rest routed the others, and they pursued them, slaying them, as far as the city, so that the ground in between was strewn and filled with the dead, and not a few were also captured alive, while the rest were ignobly shut up within the walls. The emperor, therefore, wished to make an assault on the place with siege engines and machines; but when he saw that the city was well-towered and teeming with a multitude of defenders from the wall, and learned from deserters that they had a great 2.209 abundance of provisions and did not fear a long siege, departing from there he attacks the land of the Manichaeans, and having burned to ashes everything in his path, he burned and razed the fort called Argaouth and that of Koutakiou and that of Stephanos and that of Ararach. From there, having gathered the army, he made for the ruling city. And having honored the soldiers who had distinguished themselves, he dismissed them; but he himself, having reached the queen of cities and crossed over into Thrace, making the public procession from the Hebdomon, entered through the Golden Gate and celebrated a most magnificent triumph, with the entire populace magnifying him with victory shouts and acclamations until he reached the temple of the hypostatic Wisdom of God. And having arrived there and given hymns of thanksgiving to God, and having been crowned with diadems by Ignatius the patriarch, he returned to the palace, and after rejoicing for a short time with his wife and children, he again took up the civil administrations.

In the following year, when Chrysocheres, the leader of the Manichaeans, invaded the land of the Romans with a heavy army and was plundering it, the emperor, as was his custom, sends against him the commander of the Schools. But this man, having taken with him the entire Roman army, since he was afraid to decide the whole matter in a pitched battle, for the time being he followed him at some distance, and he checked the separate raids, and did not allow them to scatter fearlessly throughout the country 2.210. So when the barbarian, achieving some things and failing in others, was already mindful of his return home and turned back with much booty, the Domestic of the Schools set apart two of the generals, the one of the Charsianon and the one of the Armeniacs, each with the force under his command, to march alongside Chrysocheres as far as the so-called Bathyrryax, and from there, 'if,' he said, 'he sends an army against the Roman borders, to make this known to him, but if he should proceed home without turning back, they were to let him go and return to him again.' So when evening came, and the barbarian army had reached Bathyrryax and encamped at the foot of the mountain, while the aforesaid generals occupied the higher ground above him and were watching what would happen, a certain strife and rivalry over precedence arose among the soldiers of the two themes; for those of the Charsianon insisted that the first prize for valor belonged to them, while the Armeniacs, in turn, claimed it for themselves. So when the contention went on for a long time and both of the regiments were inclined to boasting, at that point it is said that someone from the Armenian contingent said, ‘Why, O fellow-soldiers, do we make this unseemly and vain boast, when it is possible to show indisputable valor by deeds? For the enemy is not far, and it is possible for the best men to show themselves in action.’ Having heard such words, therefore, the generals, and perceiving the people's impulse toward valor, and understanding also the advantage of the position, that they were about to attack from higher ground the enemy situated in a hollow 2.211 place, they divide the force in two. And it was decided that the elite part of this, up to six hundred, with the generals themselves, should attack the of the barbarians

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βαρβάρων γεγανωμένῃ, ἐπεὶ τοῖς τείχεσιν ἐπλησίασε, βαρβαρικὰς ὑπεδέξατο φάλαγγας μετὰ φρυαγμάτων καὶ ἀλαλαγμῶν ἀπαντώσας αὐτῷ, οἷς νεανικῶς συμμίξας καὶ πρῶτος τῆς φάλαγγος προϊστάμενος τοὺς ἀντιτεταγμένους ἐτρέψατο, εἶθ' οἱ λοιποὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ ἄστεως ἀναιροῦντες ἐδίω κον, ὡς καταστρωθῆναι τὸ μεταξὺ ἔδαφος καὶ πληρωθῆναι νε κρῶν, ἁλῶναι δὲ καὶ ζῶντας οὐκ ὀλίγους, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἀγεν νῶς εἴσω τειχῶν συγκλεισθῆναι. ἐβουλήθη μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἑλεπόλεσι καὶ μηχαναῖς ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τοῦ χωρίου· ὡς δὲ ἑώρα τὴν πόλιν εὔπυργον καὶ πλήθει τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους ἀμυνομένων βρίθουσαν, ἐπύθετο δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν αὐτομόλων ἀφθονίαν ἔχειν 2.209 πολλὴν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων καὶ μὴ δεδιέναι χρονίαν πολιορκίαν, ἄρας ἐντεῦθεν τῇ Μανιχαίων προσβάλλει γῇ, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν ποσὶν ἐκτεφρώσας, τὸ Ἀργαοὺθ λεγόμενον φρούριον καὶ τὸ Κουτακίου καὶ τὸ Στεφάνου καὶ τὸ Ἀραρὰχ ἐμπρήσας κατέσκαψεν. ἐκεῖθεν ἀγείρας τὸν στρατὸν τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλεύουσαν εἴχετο. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀριστεύσαντας τῶν στρατιωτῶν τιμήσας ἀπέλυσεν· αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν βασιλίδα κατασχὼν καὶ περαιωθεὶς εἰς Θρᾴκην, ἐκ τοῦ Ἑβδό μου τὴν δημοσίαν ποιησάμενος πρόοδον, διὰ τῆς χρυσῆς πόρτης εἰσελθὼν καὶ θρίαμβον καταγαγὼν μεγαλοπρεπέστατον, τοῦ δήμου παντὸς ἐπινικίοις φωναῖς καὶ εὐφημίαις αὐτὸν μεγαλύνοντος ἄχρι τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνυποστάτου σοφίας ἐγένετο. ἐκεῖσε δὲ γενόμενος καὶ τῷ θεῷ εὐχαριστηρίους ἀποδοὺς ὕμνους, παρὰ Ἰγνα τίου τε τοῦ πατριάρχου ταινιωθεὶς στεφάνοις, ἐπανῆκεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, μικρόν τε συνησθεὶς τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις τῶν πολιτικῶν αὖθις εἴχετο διοικήσεων.

Τῷ δ' ἐπιόντι χρόνῳ τοῦ τῶν Μανιχαίων ἐξηγουμένου Χρυσόχειρος εἰς τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐμβαλόντος βαρεῖ στρατῷ καὶ ταύτην ληϊζομένου, ἀποστέλλει κατ' αὐτοῦ συνήθως ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν τῶν σχολῶν ἐξηγούμενον. οὗτος δὲ πάντα τὸν Ῥωμαϊκὸν στρατὸν συμπαρειληφώς, ἐπειδὴ σταδαίᾳ μάχῃ κρῖναι τὸ πᾶν ἐδειλία, παρείπετο τέως αὐτῷ ἀπό τινος διαστήματος, καὶ τὰς μερικὰς ἀνεῖργε καταδρομάς, καὶ οὐ συνεχώρει κατὰ τῆς χώρας 2.210 ἀδεῶς διασκίδνασθαι. ὡς οὖν τὰ μὲν δρῶν τὰ δὲ ἀπρακτῶν ὁ βάρβαρος ἤδη καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰ οἴκοι ἐπανόδου ἐμέμνητο καὶ μετὰ λείας συχνῆς ὑπέστρεψεν, ὁ δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν δύο τῶν στρα τηγῶν ἀφώρισε, τόν τε τοῦ Χαρσιανοῦ καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν, μετὰ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν δυνάμεως ἕκαστον συμπαρομαρτεῖν τῷ Χρυ σόχειρι ἄχρι τοῦ λεγομένου Βαθυρρύακος, κἀκεῖθεν εἰ μὲν ἐπα φήσει, φησί, κατὰ τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ὁρίων στρατόν, δῆλα θέσθαι αὐτῷ τὰ περὶ τούτου, εἰ δὲ οἴκαδε ἀμεταστρεπτὶ βαδίσειεν, ἐάσαν τας τοῦτον αὖθις ἐπανελθεῖν πρὸς αὐτόν. ἑσπέρας οὖν καταλα βούσης, καὶ τοῦ βαρβαρικοῦ στρατεύματος γεγονότος κατὰ τὸν Βαθυρρύακα αὐλισαμένου τε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὄρους ὑπώρειαν, τῶν δὲ εἰρημένων στρατηγῶν κατασχόντων τὰ τούτου μετεωρότερα καὶ τὸ μέλλον ἀποσκοπούντων, ἐμπίπτει τις ἔρις περὶ πρωτείων καὶ ἅμιλλα τοῖς τῶν δύο θεμάτων στρατιώταις· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Χαρ σιανοῦ ἑαυτοῖς ἐνίσταντο τὰ τῆς ἀνδρίας ἁρμόζειν πρωτεῖα, ἔμ παλιν δὲ ἑαυτοῖς οἱ Ἀρμενιακοί. ὡς οὖν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐχώρει τὰ τῆς φιλονεικίας καὶ πρὸς τὸ μεγάλαυχον ἑκάτερα ἔρρεπε τῶν τα γμάτων, ἐνταῦθα δὴ λέγεται παρά τινος λεχθῆναι τοῦ τῶν Ἀρμε νιακῶν συστήματος ὡς ἵνα τί μάτην ὦ συστρατιῶται ἀπρεπῶς θρασυνόμεθα, ἐξὸν τοῖς ἔργοις ἀναμφισβήτητον ἀρετὴν ἐπιδείξα σθαι; οἱ πολέμιοι γὰρ οὐ μακράν, καὶ ἔξεστιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων φα νῆναι τοὺς ἀριστεῖς. τοὺς τοιούτους τοίνυν λόγους διενωτισθέντες οἱ στρατηγοὶ καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἀνδρίαν ὁρμὴν κατανοήσαντες τοῦ λαοῦ, καταμαθόντες δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου βοήθειαν, ὅτι ἐξ ὑπερ δεξίων μέλλουσιν ἐπιτίθεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐν κοίλῳ κειμένοις 2.211 τόπῳ, διχῇ διαιροῦσι τὴν δύναμιν. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔκκριτον ταύτης ἄχρις ἑξακοσίων μετ' αὐτῶν γε τῶν στρατηγῶν προσβαλεῖν ἐκρίθη τῷ τῶν βαρβάρων