See them squirming yonder
Their camp is rank with fear;
No breath dares blow the horn
Only a whispered word –
"The cataphracts are here!"

Belisarius rides at dawn
To greet the barbarians
With steel, fire and sword
He'll bring them to kneel
Before the Empire's golden
Double headed Eagle...

"The cataphracts are here!"
The enemy quakes in fear –
Belisarius rides at dawn:
Hellenic blood a' flowing
In the brave Thracian's veins...

Emperor Justinian has decreed
That the cataphracts doth march
To free the Eternal City anon
From the clutches of the Ostrogoth...

Belisarius rides at dawn
Proud ahead of a legion
Of cataphracts bound for war
The imperial standard
They carry forth...