Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  XIV

  THERE was a certain Chilbudius of the household of the Emperor Justinian, who was exceedingly efficient in war, and, at the same time, so far superior to the lure of money that instead of a great property in his own right he had no possessions at all. This Chilbudius was appointed by the emperor, in the fourth year of his reign, to be General of Thrace, [531 A.D.] and was assigned to guard the river Ister, being ordered to keep watch so that the barbarians of that region could no longer cross the river, since the Huns and Antae and Sclaveni had already made the crossing many times and done irreparable harm to the Romans. And Chilbudius became such an object of terror to the barbarians that for the space of three years, during which time he remained there holding this office, not only did no one succeed in crossing the Ister against the Romans, but the Romans actually crossed over to the opposite side many times with Chilbudius and killed and enslaved the barbarians there. But three years later, when Chilbudius crossed the river, as was his custom, with a small force, the Sclaveni came against him with their entire strength; and a fierce battle taking place, many of the Romans fell and among them the general Chilbudius. Thereafter the river became free for the barbarians to cross at all times just as they wished, and the possessions of the Romans were rendered easily accessible; and the entire Roman empire found itself utterly incapable of matching the valour of one single man in the performance of this task.

  But later on the Antae and Sclaveni became hostile to one another and engaged in a battle, in which it so fell out that the Antae were defeated by their opponents. Now in this battle one of the Sclaveni took captive a certain young man of the enemy named Chilbudius, who was just wearing his first beard, and took him off to his home. This Chilbudius, as time went on, became devoted to his master to an extraordinary degree and proved himself a vigorous warrior in dealing with the enemy. Indeed he exposed himself to danger many times to save his master, distinguishing himself by his deeds of valour, through which he succeeded in winning great renown. At about this time the Antae descended upon the land of Thrace and plundered and enslaved many of the Roman inhabitants; and they led these captives with them as they returned to their native abode.

  Now chance brought one of these captives into the hands of a kind and gentle master. This man was a great rascal and one capable of circumventing and deceiving those who fell in his way. And since he was unable by any device to effect his return to the land of the Romans, much as he wished it, he conceived the following plan. Coming before his master, he praised him for his kindness and declared that God on account of this would bestow upon him blessings in abundance, and that he for his part would shew himself by no means ungrateful to a most kindly master; but, if only he was willing to give ear to the excellent suggestion which he had to offer, he would shortly put him in possession of a great sum of money. For there was, he said, among the nation of the Sclaveni one Chilbudius the former general of the Romans, in the condition of a slave, while all the barbarians were ignorant as to who in the world he was. If, therefore, he was willing to pay out the price set upon Chilbudius and convey the man to the land of the Romans, it was not unlikely that he would acquire for himself from the emperor not only a fair reputation but also an enormous amount of money. By these words the Roman speedily persuaded his master, and he went with him into the midst of the Sclaveni; for these barbarians were already on peaceful terms and were mingling with one another without fear. Consequently they were able, by paying out a large sum of money to the master of Chilbudius, to purchase the man, and they departed with him immediately. And when they had come into their own country, the purchaser enquired of the man whether he was Chilbudius himself, the general of the Romans. And he did not hesitate to state truly all the facts in order, saying that he too was by birth of the Antae, and that while fighting with his compatriots against the Sclaveni, who were then at war with them, he had been captured by one of the enemy, but now, upon arriving in his native country, he too according to the law would be free from that time forth.

  Thereupon the man who had paid out gold for him became speechless with vexation, seeing that he had failed of a hope of no moderate sort. But the Roman, wishing to reassure the man and to controvert the truth, so that no difficulty might arise to prevent his return to his home, still insisted that this man actually was that Chilbudius, but that he was afraid, clearly because he was in the midst of the barbarians, and so was quite unwilling to reveal the whole truth; if, however, he should get into the land of the Romans, he would not only not conceal the truth, but in all probability would actually take pride in that very name. Now at first these things were done without the knowledge of the other barbarians.

  But when the report was carried about and reached the entire nation, practically all the Antae assembled to discuss the situation, and they demanded that the matter be made a public one, thinking that great benefit would come to them from the fact that they had now become masters of the Roman general Chilbudius. For these nations, the Sclaveni and the Antae, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived from of old under a democracy, and consequently everything which involves their welfare, whether for good or for ill, is referred to the people.

  It is also true that in all other matters, practically speaking, these two barbarian peoples have had from ancient times the same institutions and customs. For they believe that one god, the maker of the lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacrifice to him cattle and all other victims; but as for fate, they neither know it nor do they in any wise admit that it has any power among men, but whenever death stands close before them, either stricken with sickness or beginning a war, they make a promise that, if they escape, they will straightway make a sacrifice to the god in return for their life; and if they escape, they sacrifice just what they have promised, and consider that their safety has been bought with this same sacrifice. They reverence, however, both rivers and nymphs and some other spirits, and they sacrifice to all these also, and they make their divinations in connection with these sacrifices. They live in pitiful hovels which they set up far apart from one another, but, as a general thing, every man is constantly changing his place of abode. When they enter battle, the majority of them go against their enemy on foot carrying little shields and javelins in their hands, but they never wear corselets. Indeed some of them do not wear even a shirt or a cloak, but gathering their trews up as far as to their private parts they enter into battle with their opponents. And both the two peoples have also the same language, an utterly barbarous tongue. Nay further, they do not differ at all from one another in appearance. For they are all exceptionally tall and stalwart men, while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blonde, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in colour. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts, just as the Massagetae do, and, like them, they are continually and at all times covered with filth; however, they are in no respect base or evildoers, but they preserve the Hunnic character in all its simplicity. In fact, the Sclaveni and Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called Spori in olden times, because, I suppose, living apart one man from another, they inhabit their country in a sporadic fashion. And in consequence of this very fact they hold a great amount of land; for they alone inhabit the greatest part of the northern bank of the Ister. So much then may be said regarding these peoples.

  So on the present occasion the Antae gathered together, as has been said, and tried to compel this man to agree with them in the assertion that he was Chilbudius, the Roman general himself. And they threatened, if he denied it, to punish him. But while this affair was progressing in the manner described, meantime the Emperor Justinian had sent some envoys to these very barbarians, through whom he expressed the desire that they should all settle in an ancient city, Turris by name, situated to the north of the river Ister. This city had been built by the Roman emperor Trajan in earlier times, but for a long time now it had remained unoccupied, after it h
ad been plundered by the barbarians of that region. It was this city and the lands about it that the Emperor Justinian agreed to give them, asserting that it had belonged to the Romans originally; and he further agreed to give them all the assistance within his power while they were establishing themselves, and to pay them great sums of money, on condition that they should remain at peace with him thereafter and constantly block the way against the Huns, when these wished to overrun the Roman domain.

  When the barbarians heard this, they expressed approval and promised to carry out all the conditions, provided that he restore Chilbudius to the office of General of the Romans and assign him to assist them in the establishment of their city, stoutly maintaining, what they wished was so, that the man there among them was Chilbudius. Thereupon the man himself, being lifted up by these hopes, began now to claim and to assert, as well as the others, that he was Chilbudius the Roman general. Indeed he was setting out for Byzantium on this mission when Narses, in the course of his journey, came upon him. And when he met the man and found him to be playing the part of an imposter, although he spoke in the Latin tongue and had already learned many of the personal peculiarities of Chilbudius and had been very successful in assuming them, he confined him in prison and compelled him to confess the whole truth, and thereafter brought him in his own train to Byzantium. But I shall return to the point from which I have strayed.

  XV

  WHILE the emperor was taking such measures as have been described, Belisarius on his part sent an army to the harbour of Rome under command of Valentinus and one of his own bodyguards, Phocas by name, an exceptionally able warrior, with instructions to join the garrison in Portus, which was commanded by Innocentius, and to assist them in guarding that fortress; and wherever they found it possible, they were to make excursions and harass the enemy’s camp. Consequently, Valentinus and Phocas secretly sent a messenger into Rome bearing the intelligence to Bessas that they were at that moment about to make a sudden attack upon the stockade of their opponents; he should, therefore, on his part, select the most warlike of the soldiers in Rome, and, whenever he observed their assault, rush to their assistance, so that each of the two forces might be able to inflict some great injury upon the barbarians. Bessas, however, was by no means taken with this plan, notwithstanding the fact that he had as many as three thousand soldiers under him. Thus it was that Valentinus and Phocas with a force of five hundred descended unexpectedly upon the enemy’s camp and killed a few men, and the tumult occasioned thereby soon reached the ears of the besieged. But seeing that no one came out from the city against the camp, they quickly retired to the harbour without suffering any loss.

  So they sent to Bessas a second time, and first charging him with having had a regrettable attack of timidity, they declared that they would soon make another assault upon the enemy and urged that he too should fall upon the barbarians with all his strength at the proper moment. Bessas, however, still refused to make a sally against his opponents and risk a battle. Still Valentinus and Phocas were purposing to assail the enemy in larger force and had already made their preparations. But a certain soldier of Innocentius’ command went as a deserter to Totila and carried the news that on the following day there would be an attack upon them from Portus. So Totila decided to fill with ambuscades of soldiers all the places which were adapted for this purpose. On the following day, therefore, Valentinus and Phocas fell into these ambuscades, and not only lost the most of their men, but were also killed themselves. And only a small handful made their escape with difficulty and betook themselves to Portus.

  It was at this time that Vigilius, the chief priest of Rome, who was then sojourning in Sicily, filled with grain as many ships as he could and sent them off, thinking that in some way or other those who were conveying the cargoes would be able to get into Rome. So these ships were sailing toward the Roman harbour, but the enemy spied them and got to the harbour a short time before the ships arrived; there they concealed themselves inside the walls, their purpose being that, as soon as the ships should come to the land there, they might capture them with no difficulty. And when all the men keeping guard in Portus observed this, they went up to the battlement, every man of them, and by waving their cloaks strove to signal the men on the ships not to come ahead, but to turn aside and go elsewhere — anywhere in fact, where chance might lead them. But the men on the ships failed to comprehend what they were doing, supposing that the Romans in Portus were rejoicing and inviting them to the harbour, and since they had a favouring wind they quickly got inside the harbour. Now there were many Romans on board the ships, and among them a certain bishop named Valentinus. Then the barbarians arose from their hiding place and took possession of all the boats without encountering any resistance. And as for the bishop, they took him prisoner and led him before Totila, but all the rest they killed, and drawing the boats up on shore with their cargoes still in them, they departed.

  And Totila made such enquiries of this priest as he wished, and then accused him of not telling the truth in any respect and so cut off both his hands. Such was the course of these events. And the winter drew to a close, and the eleventh year ended in this war, the history of which Procopius has written. [546 A.D.]

  XVI

  AND Vigilius, the chief priest of Rome, in obedience to the emperor’s summons, came to Byzantium from Sicily; for he had been waiting a considerable time in Sicily for this summons.

  It was at about this time that the Romans besieged in Placentia, seeing that all their provisions had now been completely exhausted, resorted to foods of an unnatural sort under constraint of famine. In fact they had actually tasted each other’s flesh. And it was because of this situation that they came to terms with the Goths and surrendered both themselves and Placentia to them. Such was the course of events here.

  At Rome likewise, as it laboured under the siege of Totila, all the necessaries of life had already failed. Now there was a certain man among the priests of Rome, Pelagius by name, holding the office of deacon; he had passed a considerable time in Byzantium and had there become especially intimate with the Emperor Justinian, and it so happened that he had a short time previously arrived at Rome possessed of a great fortune. And during this siege he had bestowed a great part of his fortune upon those destitute of the necessaries of life; and thus, though he had been a notable person even before that time, among all the Italians, now quite naturally he won still greater renown for philanthropy. So the Romans, finding their situation desperate by reason of the famine, persuaded this Pelagius to go before Totila and negotiate for them an armistice of only a few days, the understanding to be that, if within the time of that armistice no help should reach them from Byzantium, they would surrender both themselves and the city to the Goths. Pelagius accordingly went on this mission to Totila. And when he came, Totila greeted him with great respect and friendliness, and then spoke first as follows:

  “Among all barbarian peoples it is a well-nigh universal custom to reverence the office of ambassadors, and I for my part have always been eager to honour particularly those, such as yourself, who can lay claim to excellence. Now it is my opinion that the distinction between honour and insult to a man clothed with the office of ambassador is not made by a smiling countenance or bombastic utterances on the part of those who receive him, but either by simply speaking the truth or, on the other hand, by addressing him with insincere speeches. For signal honour, on the one hand, is conferred upon him who has not been dismissed until the truth has been disclosed to him with directness, but the greatest possible insult, on the other hand, has been heaped upon that ambassador who takes his departure after hearing only deceitful and insincere phrases. Now, therefore, O Pelagius, with the exception of three things you will never fail to receive from us whatever you may crave. These things, then, you had best avoid and pass by without mention, so that you may not, though having been yourself most to blame for failing to accomplish any of the objects of your coming, impute to us the blame for this failure. For
the inevitable consequence of making a request inappropriate to the actual situation is generally failure to gain one’s object. I warn you, then, that you are to make no plea in the interest of either anyone of the Sicilians, or the fortifications of Rome, or the slaves who have put themselves under our protection. For it is impossible either for the Goths to shew any mercy to anyone of the Sicilians or for this wall to remain standing or for the slaves who have been serving in our army to return to the service of their former masters. And in order to avoid the appearance of advancing these demands in a spirit of unreason, we shall clear ourselves of that suspicion by stating our grounds immediately.

  “In the first place, then, that island from ancient times enjoyed an unrivalled degree of prosperity, as evidenced by its revenues and by the abundance of the crops produced therein, so that it not only provided enough for its inhabitants, but you Romans also were abundantly supplied by importing annually as tribute the produce of Sicilian fields. It was for this reason that the Romans begged Theoderic at the beginning of his reign that no numerous garrison of Goths should be placed there, so that no check might be put upon the freedom of the inhabitants or their general prosperity. In such circumstances the enemy’s army put in at Sicily with a force which was a match for us neither in numbers of men nor in any other respect whatever. But the Sicilians, upon seeing the fleet, did not report this to the Goths, did not even shut themselves into their strongholds, did not consent to shew hostility to our adversaries in any other manner, but opening the gates of their cities with all zeal received the army of the enemy with open arms, just as I suppose the most untrustworthy slaves would do, who had for a long time been watching for the favourable moment to escape from the hand of their owners and find some new and unknown masters. Then by using that island as a base, the enemy, as if fighting from an advanced fortress, without difficulty possessed themselves of all Italy and seized upon this city of Rome, having brought with them from Sicily such a great quantity of grain that, though they were besieged for an entire year, it continued to suffice for the whole population of the city. Such is the case of the Sicilians, whose misdeeds have been such that it will be utterly impossible for the Goths to shew them forgiveness, seeing that the gravity of the accusations sweeps away all compassion for the guilty.