510

having these he disregarded them, and sided with a private citizen and a renegade slave, and then he urges them to reconcile with each other. And this indeed happened through the zeal of the emperor, as they made a truce with each other so that Pankratios would be lord and ruler of all Iberia and Abasgia, and that he, as ruler of a part of Meskhia, would have Pankratios as his lord and king for life. And so matters in Abasgia came to this point. But Asan, who was sent against the Romans by the sultan, having passed Tabrizion and the place called Tephlis, came into Vaspurakan, laying waste and burning everything and killing those who fell into his hands, sparing not even the age of childhood. The ruler of the country, Aaron the vestes, the son of Vladislav 2.574 and brother of Prousianos, knowing himself not to be a worthy opponent nor able to stand against so great a multitude of Turks, sends letters to the vestes Katakalon Kekaumenos, the governor of Ani and Iberia, calling upon him and asking him to help with as much force as he could. And he, having received the letters, and faster than words can tell, having gathered the people around him, departs with all speed and unites with Aaron. And when the council was proposed whether they should use a night attack or undertake an open battle, Kekaumenos agreed to neither, for he had decided to outwit the enemy in another way; for he advised that they should abandon the camp as it was, with the tents and the baggage animals and the rest of the equipment, and set up ambushes by night in the most opportune places, and whenever the Turks should arrive and, finding the stockade empty of men, should proceed to plunder the things within, then indeed they should rise from the ambush and attack them. And indeed he was not mistaken in his aim. For at dawn Asan, having set out from his own camp situated on the river Stragna, advanced as if for war; and as no one met him, he approached the stockade of the Romans, and it had neither guard nor was any voice heard, but it was empty of all forces; then indeed, suspecting that the Romans had fled, he both breaks through the camp in many places and orders the spoils to be plundered. But the Romans, rising from their ambushes late in the afternoon, fell upon the disordered Turks in formation, and 2.575 immediately put them to flight, as they could not withstand the irresistible Roman assault. So Asan falls first, fighting among the foremost, and also as many of the army as were valiant. But the survivors, very few and stripped bare, were saved through the mountains in the cities of the Persarmenians. But the sultan, having learned of the unfortunate event from the runaways, fell into great anxiety, and was zealous to rectify the misfortune that had occurred. And so, having assembled a chosen people of about 100,000 from the Turks, Kabeiroi, and Limnitai, and having handed them over to Abramios Aleim, his half-brother, he sends them against the Romans. When the attack was announced, the aforementioned commanders of the armies, having united again, proposed a council and were considering what must be done. And it seemed best to Kekaumenos to meet the Turks with the present force outside the Roman borders, and to fight it out there, since many of the enemy were still without horses and the rest of the force was exhausted from the very long journey, and the Turks were also lacking the iron pieces with which they were accustomed to shoe the hooves of their animals, while the Romans were elated and courageous from the preceding victory, and eager to engage the enemy. But Aaron declared the opposite, holding back the forces, saying that they should fortify the cities and the fortresses and shut everything inside the walls, and inform the emperor and not, without his consent, fight against so great a multitude of barbarians with a small 2.576 force. And with the generals declaring their opinions thus, the opinion of Aaron prevailed. And they themselves, having departed with the army into Iberia, in a certain plain in the country

510

ἔχων ταύτας μὲν ἠθέτησε, προσέθετο δὲ ἀνδρὶ ἰδιώτῃ καὶ δούλῳ ἀποστάτῃ, ἔπειτα καὶ καταλλάξαι ἀλλήλους παρακαλεῖ. ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονε τῇ σπουδῇ τοῦ βασιλέως, σπεισαμένων ἀλλήλοις ὥστε τὸν μὲν Παγκράτιον κύριον εἶναι καὶ ἀρχηγὸν πάσης τῆς Ἰβηρίας καὶ Ἀβασγίας, αὐτὸν δὲ μέρους ἄρχοντα τῆς Μεσχίας διὰ βίου κύριον ἐκεῖνον ἔχειν καὶ βασιλέα. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀβασγίαν κατήντησεν εἰς τοῦτο. Ἀσὰν δὲ ὁ κατὰ Ῥωμαίων πεμφθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ σουλτά νου, παρελθὼν τὸ Ταβρέζιον καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον Τεφλὶς ἦλθεν εἰς Βαασπρακανίαν, πάντα κείρων καὶ πυρπολῶν καὶ τοὺς προσπί πτοντας ἀναιρῶν, καὶ μηδὲ τῆς παιδικῆς φειδόμενος ἡλικίας. ὁ δὲ τῆς χώρας ἄρχων Ἀαρὼν βέστης, ὁ τοῦ Βλαδισθλάβου 2.574 υἱὸς καὶ τοῦ Προυσιάνου ἀδελφός, μὴ ἀξιόμαχον εἰδὼς ἑαυτὸν μηδὲ δυνάμενον ἀντιστῆναι πρὸς τοσαύτην Τούρκων πληθύν, γράμματα ἐκπέμπει πρὸς τὸν βέστην κατακαλῶν τὸν Κεκαυμένον τὸν Ἀνίου καὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας κατάρχοντα, καὶ ὁπόση δύναμις παρακαλεῖ βοηθεῖν. ὁ δὲ τὰ γράμματα δεξάμενος, καὶ θᾶττον ἢ λό γος τὸν ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ἀγείρας λαόν, ἄπεισι διὰ ταχέων καὶ ἑνοῦται τῷ Ἀαρών. καὶ συμβουλῆς προτεθείσης πότερον νυκτομαχίᾳ χρηστέον ἢ φανερὰν μάχην ἀναδεκτέον, πρὸς οὐδέτερον ὁ Κεκαυ μένος κατένευεν, ἐγνώκει δὲ τρόπον ἄλλον καταστρατηγῆσαι τοὺς ἐχθρούς· συνεβούλευε γὰρ τὴν παρεμβολὴν καταλιπόντας ὡς εἶχε μετὰ τῶν σκηνῶν καὶ τῶν ὑποζυγίων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἀποσκευῆς, λόχους νυκτὸς ἐν ἐπικαιροτάτοις στῆσαι χωρίοις, κἀπειδὰν οἱ Τοῦρκοι ἀφίκωνται καὶ ἔρημον ἀνδρῶν εὑρόντες τὸν χάρακα πρὸς διαρπαγὰς τῶν ἔνδον χωρήσωσι, τότε δὴ τῆς ἐνέδρας ἀπαναστάν τας ἐπιθέσθαι αὐτοῖς. καί γε οὐ διεψεύσθη τοῦ σκοποῦ. ἕωθεν γὰρ ὁ Ἀσὰν ἀναστὰς ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας παρεμβολῆς κατὰ τὸν Στράγνα κειμένης ποταμὸν ἄπεισιν ὡς πρὸς πόλεμον· ὡς δὲ οὐδεὶς ὑπήντα, ἐπλησίασε δὲ καὶ τῷ χάρακι τῶν Ῥωμαίων, καὶ οὔτε φυλακὴν εἶχεν οὔτε φωνὴ ἐξηκούετο, ἀλλὰ κενὸς ἦν πάσης δυνάμεως, τότε δὴ φυγεῖν ὑπονοήσας τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ῥήγνυσί τε διὰ πολλῶν τόπων τὴν παρεμβολὴν καὶ διαρπαγὴν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν λαφύρων κελεύει. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι περὶ δείλην ὀψίαν ἀναστάντες τῶν λόχων, ἀσυντάκτοις συντεταγμένοι προσρήγνυνται τοῖς Τούρκοις, καὶ 2.575 παραχρῆμα τρέπουσι τὸ ἀνυπόστατον μὴ ἐνεγκόντας τῆς Ῥωμαϊ κῆς ὁρμῆς. πίπτει μὲν οὖν πρῶτος ὁ Ἀσὰν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις ἀγω νιζόμενος, πίπτει δὲ καὶ ὅσον ἄλκιμον τοῦ στρατοῦ. οἱ δὲ περι σωθέντες λίαν ὀλίγοι καὶ γυμνοὶ διὰ τῶν ὀρέων ἐς τὰς τῶν Περσαρμενίων διασώζονται πόλεις. Ὁ δὲ σουλτάνος διὰ τῶν ἀποδράντων μεμαθηκὼς τὸ συμβὰν ἀτύχημα εἰς μεγάλην ἐνέπεσεν ἀγωνίαν, καὶ ἐν σπουδῇ ἐποιεῖτο ὅπως ἂν τὴν γενομένην ἐπανορθώσηται ἀκληρίαν. καὶ δὴ λαὸν ἐπίλεκτον συστησάμενος ἔκ τε Τούρκων καὶ Καβείρων καὶ Λιμνι τῶν περὶ τὰς ρʹ χιλιάδας, καὶ Ἀβραμίῳ Ἀλεὶμ τῷ ἑτεροθαλεῖ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ παραδοὺς ταύτας, κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἐκπέμπει. ἀγ γελθείσης δὲ τῆς ἐφόδου, ἑνωθέντες πάλιν οἱ ἄνωθεν ῥηθέντες ἄρχοντες τῶν στρατευμάτων βουλὴν προετίθεσαν καὶ διεσκοποῦντο τὸ πρακτέον. καὶ τῷ μὲν Κεκαυμένῳ ἐδόκει μετὰ τῆς παρούσης δυνάμεως ὑπαντῆσαι τοῖς Τούρκοις ἔξωθεν τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ὅρων, κἀκεῖσε διαγωνίσασθαι, ἔτι τῶν πλειόνων ἀντιπάλων ἀνίππων ὄν των καὶ τῆς ἄλλης δυνάμεως κεκμηκυίας ἀπὸ τῆς πλείστης ὁδοι πορίας, ἐπιλελοιπότων δὲ καὶ σιδηρίων τοῖς Τούρκοις, οἷς τὰς χηλὰς τῶν ζῴων εἰώθασι περιστέλλειν, ἐπῃρμένων δὲ καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ θαρραλέων ὄντων ἀπὸ τῆς προηγησαμένης νίκης, καὶ προθυμουμένων συμμῖξαι τοῖς πολεμίοις. τοὐναντίον δὲ ὁ Ἀαρὼν ἀπεφαίνετο, ἐπέχων τὰς δυνάμεις, λέγων ὀχυρῶσαί τε τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰ φρούρια καὶ εἴσω τειχῶν συγκλεῖσαι τὰ πάντα, μηνῦσαί τε τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ μὴ ἄνευ γνώμης ἐκείνου μετὰ δυνά 2.576 μεως μικρᾶς πρὸς τοσοῦτον πλῆθος πολεμῆσαι βαρβάρων. οὕτω δὲ τῶν στρατηγῶν ἀποφηναμένων ἐνίκησεν ἡ τοῦ Ἀαρὼν γνώμη. καὶ αὐτοὶ μὲν μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀπελθόντες ἐν Ἰβηρίᾳ κατά τινα πεδιάδα ἐγχωρίως