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Etos Kosmou 6140

To His Radiant Clemency Flavius Herakleios Augustus, Basileus of the Romans:

May the Holy Trinity, Creator, Saviour, and Inspirer, guide all our deeds and protect our souls now and in the hour of our deaths!

Your servant humbly submits the report of his activities in the diocese of Egypt and Arabia. Your commander enforcing the restoration of Roman rule to that region was plagued by bandit raids upon the supply columns. Under Your Majesty’s will, he dispatched a force of light horse commanded by your humble servant to resolve the matter.

The chief of the bandits was a Arab, by the name of Mouamet, who had made himself predominant in the area by an inexorable cruelty and savagery. Having conquered the town of Iathrivos, from there he had recently established himself in the town of Makoraba, from whence his raiders preyed upon the locals and upon travellers indifferently.

Such was his godless fanaticism that it was easy to find local guides who would aid in preparing an ambush. I regret to say that many of them were the contemptible Jews, for whom Mouamet and his ruffians had contrived a great hatred.

When the gang of robbers led by Mouamet went forth to capture this great Roman caravan, they were cut to pieces by the Avars of your Majesty’s force, with great slaughter amid the Arabs. Mouamet was, as it happened, taken alive.

The army then proceeded to Makoraba and stormed the town. The locals were of little worth, and any who made resistance were easily slain. As for their vile leader, he was castrated, disemboweled, blinded, and impaled in the public square.

Interrogations of the surviving locals revealed that Mouamet had proclaimed himself a prophet, and composed a book of many blasphemies, heresies, and lies which he asserted had been given to him by his false god. Many copies of this were confiscated and burned in a great pile before the gibbet of the bandit. It was also necessary to destroy the pagan temple that Mouamet had established, taking care to crack the very stones of the despicable place with fire and vinegar, as Hannibal did in the early days of Rome.

The heads of Mouamet’s principal lieutenants were removed and placed on stakes before his corpse, while the surviving population of the town, including some dozen women who one and all claimed to be his widow, were driven into the wilds, they being worthless as slaves.

The goods of the Makorabans, such as they are, were confiscated to the imperial fisc. Some small part of the Roman property has been recovered, it appears that much of the plunder of the bandits was employed in recruiting more to their vile chieftain’s following, or in the purchase of slave women.

Thus a petty but irritating impediment to Your Majesty’s rule has been expunged. I remain, Your Sacred Majesty’s humble and insignificant servant . . .

[NOTE: To be reproached, reduced in rank, and dispatched to the Ister frontier. He used the singular personal pronoun.]
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