ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the following summer, after the emperor wrote those letters, Za Celacê rebelled against him because of I know not what misgivings that he had, and he allowed Suz{e}niôs to enter Gojâm, where he was viceroy, promising to help him take the empire. The emperor was very aggrieved at this, because he did not expect such a thing from someone who had received so many favours from him; indeed, he had thought that he had no more faithful servant, and that is why he put him in Gojâm, which was where Suz{e}niôs could do most harm. He marched against them at once with a large army, but was unable to cross the Nile (which they call Abaoî) because he was prevented by Suz{e}niôs, who was on the other side with his men, until Suz{e}niôs withdrew a few days later. Once the emperor had crossed over, he pursued him for three or four days; Suz{e}niôs took his men to a mountain fastness and the emperor encamped his army {[f. 437v]} at its foot on a very broad plain, which they call Agamnâ. After they had been there for a few days, Suzeneôs wanted to improve his position in order to give battle. One Saturday morning, 10th March 1607, he therefore commanded his baggage train to go over the top of the mountain with a captain, and he <[f. 391/380]> went down with the rest of his men and took up position on a high hill. When the emperor’s men saw this, they thought he was trying to flee and decided to give battle at once without waiting any longer, thinking victory was certain since {Suzeneôs [Suzniôs]} <Suzeneôs> had so few men, for (so they say) he had not one sixth of the emperor’s, although not even the very men who were there can give the exact number. And so the captains said to the emperor, ‘Lord, how long must we march on in this manner? He is already fleeing. Let us give battle before he escapes from us, because for thirty of ours there is not even one of his.’ The emperor thought it was good counsel and commanded them to draw up their men in great haste.
