Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  II

  For soon Belisarius was despatched with Photius to carry on the war against Chosroes, while Antonina remained in Byzantium, contrary to her previous custom. [2] For in order that the man might not be alone and thus come to himself, and scorning her enchantments might come to think as he ought concerning her, she had taken care to travel all over the world with him. [3] Furthermore, in order that Theodosius might once more have access to her, she took measures to have Photius put out of her way. [4] So she persuaded some of the retinue of Belisarius to torment him constantly and insult him, sparing him not a moment; she herself, meanwhile, by writing practically every day was maintaining a steady attack of slander and was moving everything against the youth. [5] So he in turn, under the compulsion of these measures, decided to resort to slander against his mother, and when a certain person arriving from Byzantium announced that Theodosius was secretly staying with Antonina, he straightway brought him before Belisarius, bidding him to reveal the whole story. [6] And when Belisarius heard the story, he was transported with rage and fell on his face before the feet of Photius and begged him to avenge his father who was suffering unholy treatment from those who, least of all, should do such things. And he said: “O son most beloved, you have no knowledge of what your father was, since while you were still being nourished at the breast, he fulfilled the term of life and left you and you have profited by no portion of his estate; for he was not very fortunate in the matter of possessions. [7] But you were reared under my care, who am only your stepfather, and you are now of such an age that it is your duty to defend me to the utmost when I suffer injustice; and you have risen to the rank of Consul and have acquired such a mass of wealth, my noble boy, that I might justly be called, and indeed might be, both father to you and mother and all your kindred. [8] For it is not by ties of blood, but in very truth by deeds, that men are wont to gauge their affection for one another. [9] The time has come, then, for you not to stand by and see me, in addition to the ruin of my home, also deprived of property in so vast an amount and your own mother fastening upon herself a disgrace so great in the eyes of all mankind. [10] And bear in mind that the sins of women do not fall upon the husbands alone, but affect their children even more; for it will generally be their lot to carry with them a certain reputation to the effect that they resemble their mothers in character. [11] Thus would I have you take counsel concerning me, that I love my wife exceedingly, and if it be granted me to take vengeance upon the corrupter of my home, I shall do her no harm; but while Theodosius lives, I cannot forgive her the accusation against her.”

  [12] Upon hearing all this Photius said that he would indeed assist in everything, but that he feared he might suffer some harm therefrom, for he decidedly could feel no confidence in the unsteady judgment of Belisarius in matters touching his wife; for many circumstances, and in particular the fate of Macedonia, troubled him. [13] Accordingly the two men swore to each other all the oaths which are the most terrible among the Christians and are in fact so designated by them, that they would never betray each other, even in the presence of dangers threatening their destruction. [14] And so for the present it seemed to them not advisable to undertake the deed, but when Antonina should arrive from Byzantium and Theodosius should go to Ephesus, at that moment Photius was to arrive in Ephesus, where without difficulty he would lay hands upon Theodosius and the money. [15] Now at that time, while they were making the invasion into the land of Persia with the whole army, the affair of John the Cappadocian chanced to be taking place in Byzantium, as has been set forth by me in the preceding narrative. [16] But in the other account one fact was passed over in silence by me through fear — that Antonina had practised deception upon John and his daughter, not without intent, but after giving them the assurance of countless oaths, than which none is accounted more terrible among Christians, at any rate, that she was not acting with any treacherous purpose towards them. [17] So after she had completed this transaction and felt a much greater confidence in the friendship of the Empress, she sent Theodosius to Ephesus and herself, foreseeing no obstacle, set out for the East. [18] And just after Belisarius had captured the fortress of Sisauranon, it was reported to him by someone that she was on the way. Whereupon he, counting all other things as of no importance, led his army back. [19] For it so happened that certain other things too, as related by me previously, had occurred in the army which influenced him to this retreat. [20] This information, however, led him much more quickly to the decision. But, as I said at the beginning of this book, it seemed to me at that time to be dangerous to state all the causes of what had taken place. [21] As a result of this action Belisarius was accused by all Romans as having subordinated the most vital interests of the State to those of his own family. [22] For from the first he was so constrained by the misconduct of his wife that he had been quite unwilling to get to a region as distant as possible from Roman territory, in order that he might be able, as soon as he learned that the woman had come from Byzantium, to turn back and to catch and to punish her immediately. [23] So for this reason he ordered Arethas and his men to cross the Tigris River, and they, after having accomplished nothing worthy of mention, departed for home, while as for himself he saw to it that he did not get even one day’s march from the Roman boundary. [24] For while the fortress of Sisauranon, if one goes by way of the city of Nisibis, is indeed for an unencumbered traveller more than one day’s journey from the Roman boundary, yet by another road it is only half that distance. [25] And yet if he had been willing in the first place to cross the Tigris River with his whole army, I believe that he would have plundered the whole land of Assyria and would have reached the city of Ctesiphon without encountering any opposition whatever, and would have rescued the prisoners from Antioch and all the other Romans who chanced to be there before he finally returned to his native land. Furthermore, he was chiefly responsible for the fact that Chosroes returned home from Colchis in comparative security. And the manner in which this happened I shall straightway make clear.

  [26] When Chosroes, son of Cabades, made his invasion into the land of Colchis and achieved all those things which have been set forth by me above, including the capture of Petra, it chanced that many of the army of the Medes were destroyed both by the fighting and by the difficult nature of the country. For Lazica, as I have stated, is a country of bad roads and everywhere abounds in precipices. [27] In addition to these difficulties it chanced that a pestilence fell upon the army and many of the soldiers also met their death as a result of their lack of provisions. [28] At this point also certain persons from the land of Persia, who were passing that way, announced that Belisarius had defeated Nabedes in a battle near the city of Nisibis and was moving forward, had taken the fortress of Sisauranon by siege and captured Bleschames and eight hundred horsemen of the Persians, and had sent out another Roman army under Arethas, leader of the Saracens, and that this army had crossed the Tigris River and laid waste that whole country, which had never been plundered before. [29] It happened also that Chosroes had sent an army of Huns against the Armenians who are subjects of the Romans, in order that by reason of their preoccupation with this force the Romans there might take no notice of what was going on in Lazica. [30] Still other messengers brought word that these barbarians had encountered Valerian and the Romans and, upon engaging with them, and having been heavily defeated in battle, had for the most part been destroyed. [31] When the Persians heard these things and, partly because of the miseries which they had suffered in Lazica, and partly because they feared lest they might during the withdrawal chance upon some hostile force among the cliffs and the regions overgrown with thickets and all, in the utter confusion of their forces, be destroyed, had become exceedingly anxious for the safety of their wives and children and native land, then all the loyal element in the Medic army began to heap abuses upon Chosroes, charging him with having, in violation of his oaths and the obligations commonly held to by all mankind, made during a truce an invasion of Roman territory to which
he had no claim, and was wronging a State which was ancient and worthy, above all states, of the highest honour, one which he could not possibly overcome in war; and they were on the point of a revolution. Now [32] Chosroes was thoroughly disturbed by this situation, but he found the following remedy for the trouble. For he read to them a letter which the Empress had recently chanced to send to Zaberganes. Now this letter set forth the following: [33] “How devoted I am to you, O Zaberganes, believing you to be loyal to our interests, you know already, since you quite recently came to us on an embassy. [34] You would then be acting in accord with the high opinion I hold of you, if you should persuade King Chosroes to adopt a peaceful attitude toward our State. [35] For in case you do this, I promise that great benefits will accrue to you from my husband, who can be counted upon to carry out no measure whatever without consulting my judgment.” [36] When Chosroes had read this to the Persian notables, he reproached any of them who thought that any real State existed when a woman was the administrator, and thus succeeded in checking the vehemence of the men. [37] Yet even so he departed from there in the fear, thinking that the forces of Belisarius would block their way. No hostile force, however, encountered him, and he gladly repaired to his own land.

  III

  When Belisarius had reached Roman territory, he found that his wife had arrived from Byzantium. And he kept her under guard in disgrace, and though he many times set about destroying her, his heart was softened, being vanquished, as it seems to me, by a sort of flaming-hot love. [2] But they say that it was also through her magic arts that he was brought under the control of the woman and immediately undone. Now Photius set off in haste for Ephesus, taking with him as a prisoner one of the eunuchs, Calligonus by name, who acted as a go-between for his mistress, and he on this journey revealed to him under torture all the woman’s secrets. [3] But Theodosius, having advance information, fled for safety to the sanctuary of the Apostle John, which is the most holy one there and held in very high honour. [4] Andreas, however, the Chief Priest of Ephesus, accepted a bribe and delivered the man over to Photius. At this point Theodora, being solicitous for Antonina (for she had heard all that had happened to her), summoned Belisarius and her to Byzantium. [5] And Photius, upon hearing this, sent Theodosius into Cilicia where the spearmenº and guards chanced to be passing the winter, instructing the escort to convey this man with the utmost secrecy, and when they reached Cilicia, to keep him in very strictly hidden confinement, giving information to no man where in the world he was. He himself, meanwhile, with Calligonus and the money of Theodosius, which amounted to a rather imposing sum, came to Byzantium. [6] There the Empress made an exhibition before all mankind, shewing that she knew how to requite bloody favours with greater and more unholy gifts. [7] For whereas Antonina had recently laid snares for one enemy for her, the Cappadocian, and had betrayed him, she herself delivered over to Antonina a host of men and brought about their destruction without even a charge having been brought against them. [8] For she first tortured certain intimates of Belisarius and Photius, alleging against them only the fact that they were on friendly terms with these two men, and then so disposed of them that up to this day we do not yet know what their final fate was; others too she punished by banishment, laying this same charge against them. [9] But one of those who had followed Photius to Ephesus, Theodosius by name, though he had attained the dignity of Senator, she stripped of his property and forced him to stand in an underground chamber which was utterly dark, tying his neck to a sort of manger with a rope so short that it was always stretched taut for the man and never hung slack. [10] So the poor wretch stood there continuously at this manger, both eating and sleeping and fulfilling all the other needs of nature, and nothing except braying was needed to complete his resemblance to the ass. [11] And a time amounting to not less than four months was passed by the man in this existence until he was attacked by the disease of melancholy, became violently insane and so finally was released from this confinement and then died. And she forced Belisarius, [12] quite against his will, to become reconciled with his wife Antonina. She then inflicted sundry servile tortures upon Photius, among others combing his back and his shoulders with many lashes and commanded him to tell where in the world Theodosius and the go-between were. [13] But he, though being racked with torture, determined to hold fast to his oath; for though he was a sickly person and had in earlier life been dissolute, yet he had been devoted to the care of his body, having experienced neither wanton treatment nor hardship. [14] At any rate, he disclosed not one of the secrets of Belisarius. At a later time, however, everything which hitherto had remained secret came to light. [15] She also found Calligonus there and handed him over to Antonina. And she summoned Theodosius to Byzantium, and upon his arrival, straightway concealed him in the Palace; and next day, calling Antonina to her, she said [16] “O dearest Patrician, yesterday a pearl fell into my hands, such as no man ever saw. If you wish, I should not begrudge you the sight of this, nay, I shall shew it to you.” [17] And she, not comprehending what was going on, begged her earnestly to shew her the pearl. And she brought Theodosius out of the room of one of the eunuchs and shewed him to her. [18] And Antonina was so overjoyed that she at first remained speechless with pleasure, and then she acknowledged that Theodora had done her a great favour, calling her Saviour and Benefactor and Mistress in very truth. [19] And so the Empress detained this Theodosius in the Palace and bestowed upon him luxury and all manner of indulgence, and threatened that she would make him a Roman General after no long time. [20] But a sort of justice forestalled her, for he was seized by an attack of dysentery and removed from the world. [21] Now Theodora had concealed rooms which were completely hidden, being dark and isolated, where no indication of night or day could be observed. [22] There she confined Photius and kept him under guard for a long time. From this place he had the fortune, not once but even twice, to escape and get away. [23] The first time he fled to the Church of the Mother of God, which among the Byzantines is considered most holy, as it indeed was designated in its name, and he sat as a suppliant beside the holy table. Thence she forced him with great violence to rise and once more put him into confinement. [24] And the second time he reached the sanctuary of Sophia, and he suddenly seated himself close to the divine receptacle itself, which the Christians have been wont to reverence above all things. [25] But the woman succeeded in dragging him away even from there. For no inviolable spot ever remained inaccessible to her, but it seemed nothing to her to do violence to any and all sacred things. [26] And not only the populace but also the priests of the Christians, smitten with terror, stood aside and conceded everything to her. [27] So a period of three years was passed by him in this manner of life, but afterwards the prophet Zachariah stood over him in a dream and with oaths, they say, commanded him to flee, promising that he would lend him a hand in this undertaking. [28] Persuaded by this vision he got away from there and escaping detection came to Jerusalem, and though countless persons were searching for him, no man saw the youth, even when he stood before him. [29] There he shaved his head, and by clothing himself in the garb of the monks, as they are called, he succeeded in escaping the punishment of Theodora. [30] But Belisarius had neglected his oath and had chosen in no way to support this man, though he was suffering unholy treatment, as I have said; and so, in all his undertakings thereafter, he naturally found the power of God hostile. For straightway, being sent against the Medes and Chosroes, who were making their third invasion into Roman territory, he was guilty of cowardice. [31] And yet he did seem to have accomplished something of note in having shaken off the war from that quarter. Yet when Chosroes crossed the Euphrates River, captured the populous city of Callinicus which had not a man to defend it, and enslaved many thousand Romans, and when Belisarius was not concerned even to follow up the enemy, he won the reputation of having remained where he was for one of two reasons — either because he was wilfully negligent or else because he was a coward.