Russians fought on foot in columns, clad in mail shirts and armed with axe and spear. John’s army was largely composed of heavy cavalry, and its most efficient footmen were slingers and bowmen. In two great battles at Presthlava and Dorystolum (Silistria), Russians and Greeks fought under conditions that almost anticipate the battle of Hastings, and in both cases the result was the same. After long resisting the fierce charges of the Greek horsemen, the close array of the Russians was broken up by a hail of arrows and stones, and the lancers, returning to the charge, rushed in and completed the discomfiture of the enemy. After the second battle, Sviatoslav and the remnants of his host stood a siege within Silistria, until a treaty was drawn up by which they promised to go home, on being supplied with enough corn to prevent them plundering by the way. For the future, they were to renew the old commercial treaties and leave the Empire in peace. Intercourse between Russia and Constantinople was quickly renewed, and henceforth Russian or Norse mercenaries, the famous Varangians, began to form an important part of the imperial armies. Thus the Empire was relieved from the pressure of her most dangerous foe in the north, and again acquired the command of the interior of the Balkan peninsula. Bulgaria, already conquered by Sviatoslav, was reduced to obedience, while its titular king lived as a pensioner at Constantinople. Flushed with these brilliant successes, John again turned his arms against the Saracens of Syria, who had won back many of Nicephoros’ conquests, including Antioch. He reconquered Antioch, though only with great difficulty; his capture of Edessa prepared the way for the occupation of the upper valley of the Euphrates; and many holy relics passed from Moslem to Orthodox custody. In the midst of his triumphs John died suddenly in 976, poisoned, it was said, by the crafty eunuch Basilius, who feared that his wealth had excited the Emperor’s jealousy. [Sidenote: Basil II.’s personal rule, 976–1025.]