Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  XV

  And Cabades sent another army into the part of Armenia which is subject to the Romans. This army was composed of Persarmenians and Sunitae, whose land adjoins that of the Alani. There were also Huns with them, of the stock called Sabiri, to the number of three thousand, a most warlike race. And Mermeroes, a Persian, had been made general of the whole force. When this army was three days’ march from Theodosiopolis, they established their camp and, remaining in the land of the Persarmenians, made their preparations for the invasion. Now the general of Armenia was, as it happened, Dorotheus, a man of discretion and experienced in many wars. And Sittas held the office of general in Byzantium, and had authority over the whole army in Armenia. These two, then, upon learning that an army was being assembled in Persarmenia, straightway sent two body-guards with instructions to spy out the whole force of the enemy and report to them. And both of these men got into the barbarian camp, and after noting everything accurately, they departed. And they were travelling toward some place in that region, when they happened unexpectedly upon hostile Huns. By them one of the two, Dagaris by name, was made captive and bound, while the other succeeded in escaping and reported everything to the generals. They then armed their whole force and made an unexpected assault upon the camp of their enemy; and the barbarians, panic-stricken by the unexpected attack, never thought of resistance, but fled as best each one could. Thereupon the Romans, after killing a large number and plundering the camp, immediately marched back.

  Not long after this Mermeroes, having collected the whole army, invaded the Roman territory, and they came upon their enemy near the city of Satala. There they established themselves in camp and remained at rest in a place called Octava, which is fifty-six stades distant from the city. Sittas therefore led out a thousand men and concealed them behind one of the many hills which surround the plain in which the city of Satala lies. Dorotheus with the rest of the army he ordered to stay inside the fortifications, because they thought that they were by no means able to withstand the enemy on level ground, since their number was not fewer than thirty thousand, while their own forces scarcely amounted to half that number. On the following day the barbarians came up close to the fortifications and busily set about closing in the town. But suddenly, seeing the forces of Sittas who by now were coming down upon them from the high ground, and having no means of estimating their number, since owing to the summer season a great cloud of dust hung over them, they thought they were much more numerous than they were, and, hurriedly abandoning their plan of closing in the town, they hastened to mass their force into a small space. But the Romans anticipated the movement and, separating their own force into two detachments, they set upon them as they were retiring from the fortifications; and when this was seen by the whole Roman army, they took courage, and with a great rush they poured out from the fortifications and advanced against their opponents. They thus put the Persians between their own troops, and turned them to flight. However, since the barbarians were greatly superior to their enemy in numbers, as has been said, they still offered resistance, and the battle had become a fierce fight at close quarters. And both sides kept making advances upon their opponents and retiring quickly, for they were all cavalry. Thereupon Florentius, a Thracian, commanding a detachment of horse, charged into the enemy’s centre, and seizing the general’s standard, forced it to the ground, and started to ride back. And though he himself was overtaken and fell there, hacked to pieces, he proved to be the chief cause of the victory for the Romans. For when the barbarians no longer saw the standard, they were thrown into great confusion and terror, and retreating, got inside their camp, and remained quiet, having lost many men in the battle; and on the following day they all returned homeward with no one following them up, for it seemed to the Romans a great and very noteworthy thing that such a great multitude of barbarians in their own country had suffered those things which have just been narrated above, and that, after making an invasion into hostile territory, they should retire thus without accomplishing anything and defeated by a smaller force.

  At that time the Romans also acquired certain Persian strongholds in Persarmenia, both the fortress of Bolum and the fortress called Pharangium, which is the place where the Persians mine gold, which they take to the king. It happened also that a short time before this they had reduced to subjection the Tzanic nation, who had been settled from of old in Roman territory as an autonomous people; and as to these things, the manner in which they were accomplished will be related here and now.

  As one goes from the land of Armenia into Persarmenia the Taurus lies on the right, extending into Iberia and the peoples there, as has been said a little before this, while on the left the road which continues to descend for a great distance is overhung by exceedingly precipitous mountains, concealed forever by clouds and snow, from which the Phasis River issues and flows into the land of Colchis. In this place from the beginning lived barbarians, the Tzanic nation, subject to no one, called Sani in early times; they made plundering expeditions among the Romans who lived round about, maintaining a most difficult existence, and always living upon what they stole; for their land produced for them nothing good to eat. Wherefore also the Roman emperor sent them each year a fixed amount of gold, with the condition that they should never plunder the country thereabout. And the barbarians had sworn to observe this agreement with the oaths peculiar to their nation, and then, disregarding what they had sworn, they had been accustomed for a long time to make unexpected attacks and to injure not only the Armenians, but also the Romans who lived next to them as far as the sea; then, after completing their inroad in a short space of time, they would immediately betake themselves again to their homes. And whenever it so happened that they chanced upon a Roman army, they were always defeated in the battle, but they proved to be absolutely beyond capture owing to the strength of their fastnesses. In this way Sittas had defeated them in battle before this war; and then by many manifestations of kindness in word and in deed he had been able to win them over completely. For they changed their manner of life to one of a more civilized sort, and enrolled themselves among the Roman troops, and from that time they have gone forth against the enemy with the rest of the Roman army. They also abandoned their own religion for a more righteous faith, and all of them became Christians. Such then was the history of the Tzani.

  Beyond the borders of this people there is a cañon whose walls are both high and exceedingly steep, extending as far as the Caucasus mountains. In it are populous towns, and grapes and other fruits grow plentifully. And this canon for about the space of a three days’ journey is tributary to the Romans, but from there begins the territory of Persarmenia; and here is the gold-mine which, with the permission of Cabades, was worked by one of the natives, Symeon by name. When this Symeon saw that both nations were actively engaged in the war, he decided to deprive Cabades of the revenue. Therefore he gave over both himself and Pharangium to the Romans, but refused to deliver over to either one the gold of the mine. And as for the Romans, they did nothing, thinking it sufficient for them that the enemy had lost the income from there, and the Persians were not able against the will of the Romans to force the inhabitants of the place to terms, because they were baffled by the difficult country.

  At about the same time Narses and Aratius who at the beginning of this war, as I have stated above, had an encounter with Sittas and Belisarius in the land of the Persarmenians, came together with their mother as deserters to the Romans; and the emperor’s steward, Narses, received them (for he too happened to be a Persarmenian by birth), and he presented them with a large sum of money. When this came to the knowledge of Isaac, their youngest brother, he secretly opened negotiations with the Romans, and delivered over to them the fortress of Bolum, which lies very near the limits of Theodosiopolis. For he directed that soldiers should be concealed somewhere in the vicinity, and he received them into the fort by night, opening stealthily one small gate for them. Thus he too came to Byzantium.

  Οὕτ�
� μὲν Ῥωμαίοις τὰ πράγματα εἶχε. Πέρσαι δὲ πρὸς Βελισαρίου ἐν Δάρας ἡσσημένοι τῇ μάχῃ οὐδ̓ ὣς ἐνθένδε ἀναχωρεῖν ἔγνωσαν, ἕως Ῥουφῖνος, ἐπεὶ ἐς ὄψιν τὴν Καβάδου ἦλθεν, ἔλεξεν ὧδε, ‘Ἔπεμψέ με, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ὁ σὸς ἀδελφὸς μέμψιν δικαίαν μεμφόμενος, ὅτι δὴ Πέρσαι ἀπ̓ οὐδεμιᾶς αἰτίας ἐς γῆν τὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν ὅπλοις ἦλθον. [2] καίτοι βασιλεῖ μεγάλῳ τε καὶ ἐς τόσον ξυνέσεως ἥκοντι ἐκ πολέμου εἰρήνην πρυτανεῦσαι μᾶλλον ἂν πρέποι ἢ τῶν πραγμάτων εὖ καθεστώτων ταραχὴν οὐ δέον αὑτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς πέλας προστρίβεσθαι. [3] οἷς δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς εὔελπις ὢν ἐνθάδε ἀφῖγμαι, ὅπως τὸ λοιπὸν ἀμφοτέροις τὰ ἐκ τῆς εἰρήνης ἀγαθὰ εἴη.’ Ῥουφῖνος μὲν τοσαῦτα εἶπε. [4] Καβάδης δὲ ἀμείβεται ὧδε, ‘Ὦ παῖ Σιλβανοῦ, μηδαμῶς ἀντιστρέφειν τὰς αἰτίας πειρῶ, πάντων ἐξεπιστάμενος μάλιστα ταραχῆς ἁπάσης αἰτιωτάτους γεγονέναι τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ὑμᾶς. πύλας γὰρ τὰς Κασπίας ἡμεῖς ἔσχομεν ἐπὶ τῷ Περσῶν τε καὶ Ῥωμαίων ἀγαθῷ, βιασάμενοι τοὺς ἐκείνῃ βαρβάρους, ἐπεὶ Ἀναστάσιος ὁ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτωρ, ὥς που καὶ αὐτὸς οἶσθα, παρὸν αὐτὰς χρήμασιν ὠνεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἤθελεν, ὅπως μὴ στράτευμα εἰς πάντα τὸν αἰῶνα ἐνταῦθα ἔχων χρήματα μεγάλα ὑπὲρ ἀμφοτέρων προΐεσθαι ἀναγκάζηται. [5] ἐξ ἐκείνου τε ἡμεῖς στρατιὰν τοσαύτην τὸ πλῆθος ἐνταῦθα καταστησάμενοι καὶ ἐς τὸν παρόντα χρόνον ἐκτρέφοντες δεδώκαμεν ὑμῖν τό γε κατὰ τοὺς ἐκείνῃ βαρβάρους μέρος ἀδῄωτον τὴν χώραν οἰκεῖν, ξὺν. πολλῇ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ τὰ ὑμέτερα αὐτῶν ἔχουσιν. [6] ὥσπερ δὲ οὐχ ἱκανὸν ὑμῖν τοῦτό γε, καὶ πόλιν μεγάλην Δάρας ἐπιτείχισμα Πέρσαις πεποίησθε, καίπερ διαρρήδην ἐν ταῖς σπονδαῖς ἀπειρημένον ἅσπερ Ἀνατόλιος πρὸς Πέρσας ἔθετο: καὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ δυοῖν στρατοπέδοιν ἀνάγκη πόνοις τε καὶ δαπάνῃ κεκακῶσθαι τὰ Περσῶν πράγματα, τὸ μέν, ὅπως μὴ Μασσαγέται τὴν ἀμφοτέρων γῆν ἄγειν τε καὶ φέρειν ἀδεῶς δύνωνται, τὸ δέ, ὅπως ἂν τὰς ὑμετέρας ἐπιδρομὰς ἀναστέλλοιμεν. [7] ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔναγχος μεμφομένων ἡμῶν, δυοῖν τε τὸ ἕτερον ἀξιούντων παῤ ὑμῶν γίγνεσθαι, ἢ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τὸν ἐς πύλας τὰς Κασπίας στρατὸν στέλλεσθαι, ἢ πόλιν Δάρας καταλύεσθαι, τῶν μὲν λεγομένων τὴν μάθησιν οὐ προσίεσθε, κακῷ δὲ μείζονι κρατύνασθαι τὴν ἐς Πέρσας ἐπιβουλὴν ἔγνωτε, εἴ τι μεμνήμεθα τῆς ἐν Μίνδουος οἰκοδομίας: καὶ νῦν δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ἑλετὰ μὲν τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης, αἱρετὰ δὲ τὰ ὅπλα, ἢ τὰ δίκαια πρὸς ἡμᾶς τιθεμένοις, ἢ ἀπ̓ ἐναντίας αὐτῶν ἰοῦσιν. [8] οὐ γὰρ τὰ ὅπλα καταθήσουσι πρότερον Πέρσαι, πρὶν δὴ αὐτοῖς Ῥωμαῖοι ἢ τὰς πύλας δικαίως τε καὶ ὀρθῶς ξυμφυλάξουσιν, ἢ πόλιν Δάρας καταλύσουσι.’ [9] τοσαῦτα Καβάδης εἰπὼν τὸν πρεσβευτὴν ἀπεπέμψατο, παραδηλώσας ὥς οἱ βουλομένῳ εἴη χρήματά τε πρὸς Ῥωμαίων λαβεῖν καὶ τὰς τοῦ πολέμου καταλύειν αἰτίας. [10] ἅπερ Ῥουφῖνος ἐς Βυζάντιον ἥκων βασιλεῖ ἤγγειλεν. οὗ δὴ οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον καὶ Ἑρμογένης ἀφίκετο, καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἔληγε, καὶ τέταρτον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν αὐτοκράτορα ἀρχὴν ἔχοντι.