12. How you should lead a war against the Slavs, Antes and other similar tribes
The tribes of the Slavs and the Antes have the same way of living and the same customs. They’re freedom-loving and in no way allow themselves to be enslaved or ruled, especially in their own land. They are numerous and hardy, they easily endure heat, cold, rain, nakedness and lack of food. To the foreigners that come to them, they are kind and carefully take them from one place to another, as need be. So if the guest is hurt due to the negligence of the one who accepted him, the one who sent the guest to him starts a war, believing it to be a sacred duty to avenge his guest. They don’t keep their captives in slavery for an unlimited time like the other tribes, but they set them a term and leave them to decide if they want to go home in exchange for a certain ransom or to stay there as free men and friends. They have a great number of all kinds of domestic animals and foods stacked in piles – mostly millet and wheat. Their women are more virtuous than human nature would allow, most of them take their husband’s death as their own, strangling themselves by free will, as they don’t consider widowhood as real living. They live in forests, rivers, marshes and impassable lakes. They build many exits of their homes, due to the various dangers that usually befall them. They bury in secret places all their necessary things, they don’t keep anything out in the open and they live like brigands. They like to make attacks against their enemies in woody, narrow and steep places. They cleverly use ambushes, sudden attacks, stratagems and spend days and nights devising different ways of action. They’re experienced more than any other people in crossing the rivers and manly enduring in the waters. It is often that if some of them are surprised by some danger in their lands, they plunge into the deep waters, holding in their mouths specially prepared long reeds with holes at the ends. They lie on their backs on the bottom, breathing through the reeds and enduring many hours, so no suspicion about their presence would arise. If the reeds happen to be seen from outside, the inexperienced observers would think they just grow in these waters. That’s why those experienced in this distinguish the reeds by their cuts and their location and either pierce their mouths with them or they pull the reeds and thus the enemy out of the water, since they can’t stay below any longer. Every one of their men is armed with two small spears and some of them with shields – very strong, but uncomfortable for wearing. They also use wooden bows and small arrows tipped in poison, which acts strongly if the one pierced by them hasn’t smeared himself in advance with the liquid ternak or with other remedies known by the medical science. The wound could also be cut off right away, so the poison doesn’t spread to the rest of the body. They live in anarchy and hate each other. They neither know battle ranks, nor are they used to fight in a regular battle or to appear in open plains. But if they decide to engage in an open battle, they advance forward a bit, while they all shout together, and if the enemy retreats from their warcry, they charge fiercely. If not, they go back without engaging in a melee fight. They run to the forests, where they find great protection, as they know well how to fight in the narrow places. And often, as they carry some loot with them, they abandon it and run to the forests due to some feigned noise and while the attackers walk around the loot, they easily attack them and harass them. This is something they’ve learned to do skillfully as intentional bait for their enemies. They’re disloyal in every regard, they don’t come to agreement during negotiations and go back rather out of fear than because of presents. So if some discord appears among them, they either don’t reach an agreement or, if they reach one, immediately others break it, and all adversaries are in enmity with each other till death and no one wants to yield before the others. Especially harmful to them in battles are the hits of the arrows, the sudden attacks, the charges from different sides, the fights with infantrymen, especially the lighter-armed ones, as well as positioning in open and wide places. Therefore it is necessary to prepare against them an army of cavalry and infantry, mostly lightly armed soldiers or archers with a lot of ranged weapons – not only arrows, but also other throwing spears. Bridges should also be prepared, if possible, from the so-called floating bridges, so the rivers could be crossed without being noticed, since there are many impassable rivers in their land. And it should be done in the Scythian manner – ones should build the bridges, while others should prepare traps/caltrops. There should also be ox or goat water-skins, so rafts could be made from them and the soldiers could float with them in the sudden attacks and the crossings during the summer. Attacks against them should happen mostly in winter-time, because the trees are naked and the enemies can’t hide so easily, the snow reveals their tracks, their tribe is exhausted, since they’re all almost naked, and lastly because the rivers could easily be crossed when they’re frozen. The bigger part of the horses and the excess luggage should be left in a safe place in our land with a not large guard unit and one commander. The dromons should be located at the defined crossing points. One cavalry unit should be sent ahead in the enemy’s land, led by skillful commanders, from one side in order to keep guard, so the crossing army doesn’t get routed, as the enemies are probably lying in waiting nearby, and from another side in order to spread rumours that such attacks will be made also in other places. Because of this rumour and by the proposal of their chieftains, they will fight only for their own villages and will not have the chance to get together and cause trouble for our army. The cavalry shouldn’t stay close to the Danube, lest the enemy sees their few numbers and neglects the danger [and thus stay united], neither should they be far away, so they don’t get delayed when they have to unite with the crossing army, but they should be approximately one day’s distance from the Danube. When the army crosses, it should immediately invade the enemy’s lands, passing through flat areas, and one skillful commander with chosen soldiers should then advance forward and capture a prisoner, through whom he would be able to find out what is the situation of the enemy. They should be careful, as much as possible, to not pass in the summer-time through hardly-passable or woody areas just like that, without scouting, especially if there are enemies there, before the infantry or the cavalry disperses them. If it’s believed that the way back would pass through these same narrow places, they should, as it was said in the chapter dedicated to it, either cut them down and flatten them or leave enough forces until the return of the main army, lest the enemy unnoticeably sneaks by and suddenly attacks the army which might carry the loot through the passes. In setting up camp, the woody areas should again be avoided, as much as possible, since it’s easier for the enemy to make attacks and steal cattle there. The infantry should camp, ready for action, inside the camp, while the cavalry should be outside it and the scouting should be done far, around the horses that are out at feed. But if the horses can’t be led to graze, neither at day, nor at night, the cavalry should remain inside. When the time for battle comes, the ranks shouldn’t be formed too deep against them; neither should they be attacked only from the front and not from other sides as well. And if they, as it sometimes happens, take some better fortified location and, guarding their sides, don’t allow us to surround and charge them at the flanks and rear, some of our men should prepare an ambush, while others should feign a retreat before them. In such a case the Slavs, in their desire to chase us, would leave their fortified positions and our men would turn back against them, while the men in ambush would charge out. Since they have many knyazes [reges, i.e. kings], often at strife with each other, it’s not out of place that some of them, especially the ones nearer the border, to be drawn in with promises or gifts, while others are attacked, lest the hostile behaviour towards all of them unites them or creates an autocracy...
Will continue translating later on.