Anna Komnenetranslated by Elizabeth A. S. Dawes

“ All took courage at his words and each kept his own place and went on marching at his ease; so much so that to the barbarians they did not even appear to be moving. Throughout the whole of the day the Turks kept attacking the Roman army without any success, for they were unable to break it up either entirely or even partially, so they ran back to the hills without accomplishing anything and lighted a great many bonfires and howled all through the night like wolves and occasionally made jeering remarks at the Romans; for there were some semi-barbarians among them who spoke Greek. ”

“ Then the people looking on clamoured loudly and demanded that all the rest who belonged to Basil's pernicious sect should be thrown into the fire as well, but the Emperor did not allow it but ordered them to be confined in the porches and verandahs of the largest palace. After this the concourse was dismissed. Later, the godless ones were transferred to another very strong prison into which they were cast and after pining away for a long time died in their impiety. This was the last and crowning act of the Emperor's long labours and successes and it was an innovation of startling boldness. ”

“ When day dawned Monolycus with the same intention ordered the Turks to do the same as before. In the meantime Clitziasthlan [2] himself, the Sultan, arrived, and when he saw the perfect order of the army, he marvelled, but like a young man jeered at the old man, Monolycus, for having deferred battle with the Emperor. Monolycus replied, " I, because I am old or cowardly, have put off a close engagement with him up to the present ; but if you are so courageous, go yourself and have a try; the proof will lie in the result." ”

“ But I in truth am more unfortunate than she was, because after these very great and supreme misfortunes I am still alive and shall still feel others. It would have been better to be turned to senseless stone ... and to have remained with tears flowing ... without any feeling for sufferings . . . than to endure such ills ; and that intolerable troubles in the palace should be stirred up against me by men is more wretched than even Niobe's sufferings . ”

“ A Bogomil looks gloomy and is covered up to the nose and walks with a stoop and mutters, but within he is an uncontrollable wolf. And this most pernicious race, which was like a snake hiding in a hole, my father lured and brought out to the light by chanting mysterious spells. ”

“ If there ever was a man who was fond of danger, it was he, and dangers could be seen continually rising up in his path, and at times he would walk into them bare-headed and come to close quarters with the barbarians, and at others again he would pretend to decline battle, and act the frightened man, if the occasion demanded it and circumstances advised it. ”

“ Anyone who likes can gather from history that a victory is not always achieved in the same way, or by the same means, but that from olden days down to the present it is gained by various efforts, hence we conclude that victory is indeed one and the same, but that the means by which generals obtain it, are diverse and varied in nature. For some of our former celebrated generals seem to have conquered their enemies by sheer strength . ”

“ You would have called it Solomon's porch on seeing it full of men maimed either in their limbs or in their whole bodies. This ring of houses is two-storied and semi-detached, for some of these maimed men and women live up above twixt earth and sky, while others creep along below on the ground-floor. ”

“ For wherever there was a farm in a good situation, granted it was easily accessible, he gave it to these brethren, so that wine flows down for them in rivers, and bread and all the things men eat with bread. And those who eat are beyond counting. And I say, audaciously perhaps, that the Emperor's work can be compared with my Saviour's miracle, I mean the feeding of the seven, and five, thousand. ”

“ When he pursues, he captures his man with the bow; when he is pursued he conquers with his darts ; he throws a dart and the flying dart hits either the horse or its rider, and as it has been dispatched with very great force it passes right through the body; so skilled are they in the use of the bow. Having noticed this from long experience the Emperor arranged his lines and phalanxes in such a way that the Turks should shoot from the right side, the side on which the shields were advanced, and that our men should shoot from the left, the side on which the Turks' bodies were unprotected. ”

“ Saisan, the fool, followed Pucheas' advice and on reaching Tyragium, was received pleasantly by the Roman inhabitants who knew the Emperor's goodwill towards him. Soon the barbarians arrived and Masut encircled the walls and got ready for a siege. Then Saisan looked down from the walls and violently upbraided his fellow-barbarians, saying that the Roman forces with the Emperor were close at hand, and if they did not desist from fighting, they would suffer the worst. And the Romans inside resisted the Turks bravely. ”

“ When the Empress listened to him and heard what he suffered she seemed to be suffering from the same disease herself and her breathing too was caught by asthma, so deeply affected was she by the Emperor's words. She frequently sent for the more skilled physicians and compelled them to enquire closely into the nature of the disease, and asked to be taught the immediate and the indirect cause of it. They placed their hands on his arteries and acknowledged that they found in every movement of the arteries proof of multifold irregularities, but they were quite unable to discover the cause. ”

“ But after it had reached Philomelium and rescued men on all sides from the hand of the barbarians, as we have related before somewhere, and enclosed all the captives and the women too and the children and the booty in the centre it marched slowly on its return and moved forward leisurely, as it were, and at an ant's pace. Moreover since many of the women were with child and many of the men afflicted with disease, whenever a woman's time for bringing forth came, a trumpet was sounded at a nod from the Emperor and made all the men stop and the whole army halted on the instant. ”

“ But it is wonderful that nowadays nobody is changed, as they say happened in former days, into a stone or bird or tree or some inanimate thing, changing his nature into such things under the force of great calamities; whether it is all a fable or truth. ”

“ But on that occasion five thousand were filled with five loaves as it was God who worked the miracle, whilst on this the work of humanity results from the divine command; again in the former case there was a miracle and here an Emperor's bounty provides his brethren with sustenance. I myself have seen an old woman tended by a young one and a blind man led by the hand by one who saw, and a man without feet have feet, though not his own but another's, and a man without hands using other men's hands, and babies Dursed by other mothers, and paralytics waited upon by strong men. ”

“ Then you shall all be given your choice and those who are ready to die to-day for their Christian faith, can separate themselves from the others and walk to the pyre with the cross, while those who cling to the Bogomilian heresy shall be thrown on the other. For it is better that even Christians should die, than live to be persecuted as Bogomils and offend the consciences of many. Go now and let each one of vou choose his station." Withthis verdict against the Bogomils the Emperor pretended to have closed the matter. ”

“ But other Turks coming from an easterly direction and hurrying to Monolycus fell upon Burtzes' encampment before he had returned and carried off all the beasts of burden that were there and the soldiers' baggage. As Burtzes was returning victorious and bringing much plunder with him, he met one of the Turks coming from the camp and learnt from him how the Turks had stolen everything in his encampment and gone off with all the booty, so he meditated what he had better do. Although he wished to pursue the Turks, who journey very swiftly, yet he could not do so, because the horses were worn out. ”

“ But he himself embarked on a small galley at once about lighting-up time and reached the palace. On the morrow he was fully occupied in caring for the captives and guests. The children who had lost their parents and were afflicted with the bitter evil of orphanhood he distributed among his relations and others who, as he knew, led a well-conducted life, or sent them to the abbots of the holy monasteries with orders to bring them up, not as slaves, but as free children and allow them a thorough education and instruction in the Holy Writings. ”

“ So these men at once started on the journey assigned them, but the Emperor, holding to his former purpose, hastened to reach Polybotum and thence hurry on as far as Iconium. With these intentions he was on the point of commencing his task when he received reliable information that the barbarians and the Sultan Soliman himself on hearing of his approach, had set fire to all tile crops and plains in Asia, so that there was no sustenance at all for man or beast. Another incursion of barbarians from the higher countries was heralded too, and the rumour flew quickly throughout Asia. ”

“ But Basil was so uplifted by the demon that was deluding him that he said, "Look at my cloak floating up to the sky! " Then they 'recognizing the web from the edge,' took him and pushed him, clothes, shoes and all, into the middle of the pyre. And the flames, as if deeply enraged against him, ate the impious man up, without any odour arising or even a fresh appearance of smoke, only one thin smoky line could be seen in the midst of the flames. For even the elements are excited against the impious ”

“ And if anyone died, the same procedure took place, and the Emperor would be at the side of the dying man, and the priests were summoned to sing the hymns for the dying and administer the sacraments to the dying. And after the rites for the dead had been duly performed and not until the dead had been put in the earth and buried, was the army allowed to move even a step. And when it was the Emperor's time for lunch he invited the men and women who were labouring under illness or old-age and placed the greater part of the victuals before them and invited those who lunched with him to do the same. ”

“ I have lost the shining light of the world, the great Alexius; and verily his soul was master over his suffering body. Another very great light has been extinguished too, or rather that brightly shining moon, the great achievement and pride of the East and the West, the Empress Irene. And yet we live and breathe I One ill has followed upon another and hurricanes have beaten down upon us and we have been forced to see the climax of our troubles, the death of the Caesar, and we have been reserved for such terrible catastrophes. ”

“ For perhaps it were better to exchange one's nature for another that is non-sentient, than to possess such a vivid perception of evil. If this had been possible, the ills that have befallen me would very likely have turned me into stone.
Chapter VI When Nicephorus saw that the battle had become a hand-to-hand contest, he dreaded a defeat and therefore wheeled round with all his troops and hastened to their aid. Hereupon the barbarians turned their backs and with the Sultan Clitziasthlan himself they fled at full speed and hurried back to the hills. ”

“ A man called Parasceviotes who had been appointed guard over that infatuated old man to prevent his having intercourse with others and infecting them with his mischief, swore most solemnly that he had heard the clatter of the stones as they were thrown on the ground and on the tiles, and that he had seen the stones coming in successive showers but had not caught a glimpse anywhere of anyone throwing the stones. ”

“ For in all things he was superior to other men; in teaching he surpassed those whose profession was teaching; in battles and strategy he excelled those who were admired for their exploits. By this time the fame of the Bogomils had spread everywhere. (For Basil, a monk, was very wily in handling the impiety of the Bogomils; he had twelve disciples whom he called 'apostles,' and also dragged about with him some female disciples, wretched women of loose habits and thoroughly bad, and he disseminated his wickedness everywhere.) ”

“ For these reasons, he turned round and marched to Nicomedia through Bithynia, with the idea that the barbarians would in consequence no longer expect his attack and each return to the place where he had formerly dwelt. Afterwards when they had regained courage and again dispersed for skirmishing, as was the Turks' way, and the Sultan himself recommenced his old tricks, and his own soldiers had had a brief rest and the horses and beasts of burden had fattened, he would shortly carry on the war against him more vigorously and attack him fiercely in battle. ”

“ Chapter V As he proceeded further, the barbarians did not shew themselves, but Monolycus followed him and lay in wait for the army with a large force on either side of the road. While the Emperor was crossing the plain between Polybotum and the lake we just mentioned, a detachment of the barbarian army, without baggage, all light-armed, bold men, who had lain in wait for the army on both sides, suddenly appeared to them from the heights. And the arch-satrap, Monolycus, then saw this new formation for the first time. ”