De velitatione bellica

The work describes tactics used previously against Muslim opponents but the author notes that due to recent Byzantine successes they might "not find application in the eastern regions at the present time" but might be useful for future campaigns.

Following the repulsion of two Arab sieges of Constantinople, the imperial capital, the situation was stabilized, and the border between Byzantium and the Muslim Caliphate was established along the Taurus Mountains defining the eastern edge of Asia Minor.

The author himself was aware of that, and notes at the beginning of the work that Muslim power had been "greatly cut back", and that his instructions might "not find application in the eastern regions at the present time", but that they would be "readily available" should a need for them arise in the future.

[6] The book is divided into twenty-five chapters:[9] The treatise puts emphasis on good reconnaissance, the use and control of terrain features, the desirability of achieving surprise, and the avoidance of pitched battle until the Byzantine forces have mobilized and are able to choose the appropriate time and place for their attack.

[1] The treatise is also interesting for revealing the militant Christian fervour of the times, particularly espoused by the ascetic Nikephoros Phokas,[1] and for illustrating, especially in Chapter 19, the disdainful attitude of its author, clearly a member of the provincial military aristocracy, to the Constantinopolitan bureaucracy and its agents in the provinces.