Ready to retreat, the emperor, fearing that, with the Frankish
bulwark broken, the Turks might now more freely move against him,
gave orders to his troops, "Go," he said, "and promulgate an imperial
edict throughout this region. Lay waste the Bulgar's land, so that,
when the Turks attack to depopulate our lands, they will find no
useful supplies." Willingly or not, the Christians who had been
eager to rejoin us were compelled to return with the emperor. The
knights hastened to carry out the tyrant's orders, while the
conscripted foot-soldiers followed the army. In their attempt to
follow the swift cavalry, they fell into inextricable problems
because of their weakness. Therefore, wearied by the effort, they
continually dropped away, falling in their tracks, worn out by
exhaustion. When the tyrant returned to the city of Constantinople,
the troops returned, by way of Greece, to the lands from which they
had come. Let this book end here.




BOOK SIX

When we read in the authentic histories of the holy Fathers about the
wars waged under God's direction, and when we see that such things
were accomplished by inconsequential people of such little faith (we
do not place in this class the blessed Joshua, David, Samuel, but we
are speaking of the despicable vanity of the Jewish people, with the
exception of those whose radiance is now celebrated by the church of
God), then we might think, if reason did not intervene, that such
wretched men, serving God for their bellies only, were more pleasing