Such was the letter which Solomon wrote.  And the Moors replied as follows:  “Belisarius deluded us with great promises and by this means persuaded us to become subjects of the Emperor Justinian; but the Romans, while giving us no share in any good thing, expected to have us, though pinched with hunger, as their friends and allies.  Therefore it is more fitting that you should be called faithless than that the Moors should be.  For the men who break treaties are not those who, when manifestly wronged, bring accusation against their neighbours and turn away from them, but those who expect to keep others in faithful alliance with them and then do them violence.  And men make God their enemy, not when they march against others in order to recover their own possessions, but when they get themselves into danger of war by encroaching upon the possessions of others.  And as for children, that will be your concern, who are not permitted to marry more than one wife; but with us, who have, it may be, fifty wives living with each of us, offspring of children can never fail.”

When Solomon had read this letter, he decided to lead his whole army against the Moors.  So after arranging matters in Carthage, he proceeded with all his troops to Byzacium.  And when he reached the place which is called Mammes,[36] where the four Moorish commanders, whom I have mentioned a little before,[37] were encamped, he made a stockade for himself.  Now there are lofty mountains there, and a level space near the foothills of the mountains, where the barbarians had made preparations for the battle and arranged their fighting order as follows.  They formed a circle of their camels, just as, in the previous narrative,[38] I have said Cabaon did, making the front about twelve deep.  And they placed the women with the children within the circle; (for among the Moors it is customary to take also a few women, with their children, to battle, and these make the stockades and huts for them and tend the horses skilfully, and have charge of the camels and the food; they also sharpen the iron weapons and take upon themselves many of the tasks in connection with the preparation for battle); and the men themselves took their stand on foot in between the legs of the camels, having shields and swords and small spears which they are accustomed to hurl like javelins.  And some of them with their horses remained quietly among the mountains.  But Solomon disregarded one half of the circle of the Moors, which was towards the mountain, placing no one there.  For he feared lest the enemy on the mountain should come down and those in the circle should turn about and thus make the men drawn up there exposed to attack on both sides in the battle.  But against the remainder of the circle he drew up his whole army, and since he saw the most of them frightened and without courage, on account of what had befallen Aigan and Rufinus, and wishing to admonish them to be of good cheer, he spoke as follows:  “Men who have campaigned with