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bringing his horse alongside and meeting him, he strikes him with his mace against his helmet. And he, having fainted from the irresistible force of the blow, immediately falls from his horse, but Phokas, having gained greater security, 2.431 continued on his forward course, going at a leisurely pace and walking, but not with loosened reins; for those with Gabras, having seen their own general fallen, and taking care of him, gave up the pursuit. But Phokas, along with those with him, having reached the so-called Charsianon and encamped there, was considering the future, both welcoming the many who approached with honors from the emperor, and encouraging the zeal of his companions with benefactions. And Skleros, following him, and having encamped near a place called Basilika Therma, challenged his namesake to battle. And when the latter gladly accepted the challenge, another battle was joined. And for some time the men around Phokas held out, as he himself rode everywhere and with his iron mace broke the enemy phalanxes and wrought countless slaughter; nevertheless, the men around him again turned their backs and were routed.

From there, therefore, Phokas, just as he was, went up quickly into Iberia, and approaching David, the ruler of the Iberians, he asked for an army as reinforcements; and since the latter served him with eagerness (for he had been on friendly terms with Phokas since he was doux in Chaldia), having taken from there no small force, and having gathered also those with him who had been scattered from the rout, he comes down to Pankaleia, where Skleros had encamped. Pankaleia is a place, an open and horse-traversable plain, lying somewhere very near the river Halys. And again a fierce battle takes place. There, 2.432 Phokas, seeing his own people gradually giving way and looking to flee, judging a glorious death to be better than an ignoble and shameful life, breaking through the enemy phalanxes, he rushes with violence towards Skleros himself. And when the other man powerfully met his charge, and with none of the soldiers coming to aid, but deciding that matters should be judged by the contest of the leaders (for indeed it appeared a very fine spectacle and brought amazement to the onlookers, the single combat of two men who prided themselves on their boldness and strength of spirit), they withstood each other and fought hand to hand. And Skleros, striking the right ear of Phokas's horse along with the bridle, cuts it off with his sword; but Phokas, having struck him on the head with his mace, throws him onto the neck of his horse, brought down by the weight of the blow, and he himself, spurring his horse and cutting through the enemy phalanxes, goes out, and having gone up a certain hill, he rallied those from the rout. But the men around Skleros, seeing that he was in a bad way from the blow and was already fainting from the wound, lead him to a spring to wash off the gore; for they suspected that Phokas had also already been given over to complete destruction. But when the horse bolted and escaped its holder and ran without a rider through the armies in a disorderly rush, and was stained with blood (they called the horse Aigyptios), and they realized whose horse it was, and thinking that their own leader had fallen, they turn in disorder to flight, throwing themselves down cliffs and into the river Halys and perishing ingloriously, 2.433 with no one pursuing. Seeing this from the hill, and suspecting, as was likely, that the matter was a divine work, Phokas comes down with his companions, pursuing the fugitives who were being trampled by one another and had no memory of courage at all, killing some and capturing others. But Skleros, having escaped after a little while, flees towards Martyropolis. From there he sends his own brother Constantine as an ambassador to Chosroes the ruler of Babylon, asking for aid and alliance. But when that man procrastinated and neither agreed to the giving nor

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ἵππον παρενεγκὼν καὶ ὑπαντιάσας παίει κορύνῃ κατὰ τῆς κό ρυθος. καὶ ὁ μὲν λειποθυμήσας τῇ ἀνυποστάτῳ φορᾷ τῆς πληγῆς πίπτει παραυτίκα τοῦ ἵππου, ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς ἀδείας μείζονος τυχὼν 2.431 τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω πορείας εἴχετο, σχολῇ καὶ βάδην ἰών, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀνειμένοις τοῖς χαλινοῖς· οἱ γὰρ σὺν τῷ Γαβρᾷ τὸν οἰκεῖον πεπτω κότα θεασάμενοι στρατηγόν, καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν τούτου τιθέμενοι, ἀνῆκαν τὸν διωγμόν. ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς ἅμα τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ τὸν λεγό μενον Χαρσιανὸν κατειληφὼς κἀκεῖσε αὐλισάμενος ἐσκόπει τὸ μέλ λον, τιμαῖς τε ταῖς ἐκ βασιλέως δεξιούμενος πολλοὺς προσφοιτῶν τας, καὶ τῶν συνόντων εὐεργεσίαις παραθερμαίνων τὰς προθυ μίας. ἑπόμενος δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ὁ Σκληρός, καὶ περί τινα τόπον Βασιλικὰ θέρμα καλούμενον κατασκηνώσας, εἰς μάχην τὸν ὁμώ νυμον ἐξεκαλεῖτο. ἀσπασίως δὲ καὶ τούτου δεξαμένου τὴν πρό κλησιν αὖθις ἑτέρα συνίσταται μάχη. καὶ χρόνον μέν τινα ἀντ έσχον οἱ περὶ τὸν Φωκᾶν, αὐτοῦ τούτου παριππεύοντος ἁπανταχοῦ καὶ τῇ σιδηρέᾳ κορύνῃ τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων ῥηγνύντος φάλαγγας καὶ μύριον ἐργαζομένου φόνον· ὅμως δὲ καὶ πάλιν νῶτα δεδωκότες οἱ περὶ τοῦτον ἐτράπησαν.

Ἐκεῖθεν οὖν ὁ Φωκᾶς, ὡς εἶχε, διὰ ταχέων ἄνεισιν εἰς τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, καὶ ∆αβὶδ τῷ τῶν Ἰβήρων ἄρχοντι προσελθὼν εἰς ἐπικουρίαν ᾔτει στρατόν· τοῦ δὲ μετὰ προθυμίας ὑπηρετοῦντος (ἐπε φιλίωτο γὰρ τῷ Φωκᾷ ἐξ οὗ δοὺξ ἦν ἐν Χαλδίᾳ) λαὸν ἐκεῖθεν εἰληφὼς οὐκ ὀλίγον, ἀθροίσας δὲ καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐσκεδασμέ νους ὄντας ἐκ τῆς τροπῆς, κάτεισιν εἰς Παγκάλειαν, ἔνθα στρα τοπεδευσάμενος ἦν ὁ Σκληρός. τόπος δὲ ἡ Παγκάλεια, πεδίον ἀναπεπταμένον τε καὶ ἱππήλατον, ἔγγιστά που τοῦ ποταμοῦ Ἅλυος κείμενον. καὶ γίνεται πάλιν καρτερὸς ἀγών. ἐνταῦθα τὸν ἑαυ 2.432 τοῦ λαὸν θεασάμενος ὁ Φωκᾶς κατὰ μικρὸν ἐνδιδόντα καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν βλέποντα, βέλτιον εἶναι κρίνας τὸν εὐκλεῆ θάνατον τῆς ἀγεννοῦς καὶ ἐπονειδίστου ζωῆς, τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων συγκόψας φάλαγγας πρὸς αὐτὸν μετὰ σφοδρότητος ἵεται τὸν Σκληρόν. εὐ ρώστως δὲ κἀκείνου τὴν αὐτοῦ ὑποδεξαμένου ὁρμήν, καὶ μηδενὸς τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἐπιβοηθοῦντος, ἀλλὰ τῷ τῶν ἀρχηγῶν ἀγῶνι κριθῆναι τὰ πράγματα βουλευομένων (καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἐφαίνετο πάγκαλόν τι θέαμα καὶ κατάπληξιν τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ἐπάγον ἀνδρῶν δύο μονομαχία ἐπ' εὐτολμίᾳ καὶ ῥώμῃ ψυχῆς μέγα φρονούντων), ὑποστάντες ἀλλήλους συστάδην ἐμάχοντο. καὶ ὁ μὲν Σκληρὸς τοῦ ἵππου τοῦ Φωκᾶ τὸ δεξιὸν οὖς σὺν τῷ χαλινῷ παίσας ἀποκό πτει τῷ ξίφει· ὁ δὲ Φωκᾶς τῇ κορύνῃ πατάξας αὐτὸν κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦτον μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ τραχήλου τοῦ ἵππου ῥίπτει τῷ βάρει τῆς πληγῆς κατενεχθέντα, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν ἵππον κεντρίσας καὶ τὰς τῶν ἐναντίων διατεμὼν φάλαγγας ἔξεισι, καὶ πρός τινα λόφον ἀνελθὼν τοὺς ἐκ τῆς τροπῆς ἀνεκαλεῖτο. οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Σκληρὸν κακῶς ἔχοντα τοῦτον ἐκ τῆς πληγῆς θεασάμενοι καὶ ἤδη λειποψυ χοῦντα τῷ τραύματι ἐπί τινα πηγὴν ἄγουσι τὸν λύθρον ἀπονιψό μενον· ὑπώπτευον γὰρ καὶ τὸν Φωκᾶν τελείῳ ἤδη παραδοθῆναι ἀφανισμῷ. τοῦ ἵππου δὲ ἀποσκιρτήσαντος καὶ τὸν κατέχοντα ἀποδράντος καὶ διὰ τῶν στρατευμάτων ἐπιβάτου χωρὶς θέοντος ἀτάκτῳ ῥύμῃ, καὶ τῷ αἵματι πεφυρμένου (Αἰγύπτιον τὸν ἵππον ἐκάλουν), καὶ καταμαθόντες οὗ τινὸς ὁ ἵππος, καὶ νομίσαντες τὸν ἑαυτῶν ἄρχοντα πεπτωκέναι, ἀκόσμως τρέπονται πρὸς φυγήν, κρημνοῖς καὶ Ἅλυϊ τῷ ποταμῷ ῥιπτοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀκλεῶς 2.433 ἀπολλύμενοι, μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ διώκοντος. τοῦτο κατιδὼν ὁ Φωκᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ λόφου, καὶ θεῖον ἔργον εἶναι τὸ πρᾶγμα, ὥσπερ ἦν εἰκός, ὑποτοπάσας, κάτεισι μετὰ τῶν συνόντων ἐπιδιώκων τοὺς φεύγοντας ὑπ' ἀλλήλων συμπατουμένους καὶ ἀλκῆς ὅλως μὴ με μνημένους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀναιρῶν τοὺς δὲ χειρούμενος. ὁ δὲ Σκληρὸς μετ' ὀλίγον διασωθεὶς φεύγει πρὸς Μαρτυρόπολιν. ἐκεῖ θεν δὲ πρεσβευτὴν ἐκπέμπει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφὸν Κωνσταντῖνον πρὸς Χοσρόην τὸν τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ἄρχοντα, ἐπικουρίαν καὶ συμ μαχίαν αἰτῶν. παρέλκοντος δ' ἐκείνου καὶ μήτε τῇ δόσει συντι θεμένου μήτ'