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The Iohannis is a panegyrical epic of eight books composed by Corippus in honor of the Magister militum John Troglita, whom the Emperor Justinian commanded to crush the Berber uprisings and pacify Africa in the years 546 to 548. In the overall economy of the poem, book 4 enjoys special status. It holds the end of the self-contained narration (3, 52 ? 4, 246) of Africa?s past, a territory now at bay, made by the tribune Liberatus, and evokes the first decisions of John Troglita, who arrived on the scene at a providential moment. In his analysis, the author brings to light the specific mechanisms of composition, establishes the epic aspects and discusses the underlying political and religious ideology of the book as well as its historical (notably prosopographical) interest, before considering the language, metrics and style. Finally, this critical edition is the first to restore to the book what is very likely its real ending, which previous editors had placed 48 lines later. Compared to books 2 and 3 (primarily ethnographic and historical) and books 5 to 8 (forming an Iliadic section through their many battle scenes), book 4 thus appears ? thanks to the variety of form nevertheless unified by its purpose ? to be a valid touchstone by which to judge Corippus? skills as a writer and his relationship to the literary authority.