marvelling greatly at what he was doing.  And three of the Moors, who had been stationed to guard the approach, suspecting that the man was coming against them, went on the run to confront him.  But since they were in a narrow way, they did not proceed in orderly array, but each one went separately.  And Gezon struck the first one who came upon him and killed him, and in this way he despatched each of the others.  And when those in the rear perceived this, they advanced with much shouting and tumult against the enemy.  And when the whole Roman army both heard and saw what was being done, without waiting either for the general to lead the way for them or for the trumpets to give the signal for battle, as was customary, nor indeed even keeping their order, but making a great uproar and urging one another on, they ran against the enemy’s camp.  There Rufinus and Leontius, the sons of Zaunas the son of Pharesmanes, made a splendid display of valorous deeds against the enemy.  And by this the Moors were terror-stricken, and when they learned that their guards also had been destroyed, they straightway turned to flight where each one could, and the most of them were overtaken in the difficult ground and killed.  And Iaudas himself, though struck by a javelin in the thigh, still made his escape and withdrew to Mauretania.  But the Romans, after plundering the enemy’s camp, decided not to abandon Aurasium again, but to guard fortresses which Solomon was to build there, so that this mountain might not be again accessible to the Moors.

Now there is on Aurasium a perpendicular rock which rises in the midst of precipices; the natives call it the Rock of Geminianus; there the men of ancient times had built a tower, making it very small as a place of refuge, strong and unassailable, since the nature of the position assisted them.  Here, as it happened, Iaudas had a few days previously deposited his money and his women, setting one old Moor in charge as guardian of the money.  For he could never have suspected that the enemy would either reach this place, or that they could in all time capture the tower by force.  But the Romans at that time, searching through the rough country of Aurasium, came there, and one of them, with a laugh, attempted to climb up to the tower; but the women began to taunt him, ridiculing him as attempting the impossible; and the old man, peering out from the tower, did the same thing.  But when the Roman soldier, climbing with both hands and feet, had come near them, he drew his sword quietly and leaped forward as quickly as he could, and struck the old man a fair blow on the neck, and succeeded in cutting it through.  And the head fell down to the ground, and the soldiers, now emboldened and holding to one another, ascended to the tower, and took out from there both the women and the money, of which there was an exceedingly great quantity.  And by means of it Solomon surrounded many of the cities in Libya with walls.