Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  XIX

  UPON hearing this Belisarius sent Peranius with a numerous army to Urviventus with instructions to besiege it, while he himself led his army against Urbinus, a city of strong defences and guarded by a sufficient garrison of Goths (it is at a distance from the city of Ariminum of one day’s journey for an unencumbered traveller), and as he led forth the army he was followed by Narses and John and all the others. And upon coming near the city, they encamped in two divisions along the foot of the hill; for they had not combined their forces at all, but the troops of Belisarius held the position to the east of the city, and those of Narses that to the west. Now the city of Urbinus is situated upon a hill which is round and exceedingly high. However, the hill is neither precipitous nor altogether impossible to climb, and it is difficult only by reason of being very steep, especially as one comes very close to the city. But it has one approach by level ground on the north. So the Romans were stationed for the siege as has been stated. Now Belisarius was of the opinion that the barbarians would somewhat readily make terms with the Romans for a surrender, believing that they had become terrified by the danger, and so he sent envoys to them, promising that they would receive many benefits, and exhorting them to become subjects of the emperor. These envoys stood near the gates (for the enemy would not receive them into the city), and spoke at length, making a great effort to win them over, but the Goths, confident in the strength of their position and their abundance of provisions, would not listen to their proposals, and bade the Romans depart from the city with all speed. So when Belisarius heard this, he ordered the army to collect thick poles and to make of them a long colonnade. This device was destined to cover the men hidden inside as they moved it forward close up to the gate at the particular point where the ground was level and carried on their operations against the wall. So the soldiers were engaged in this work.

  But some of the intimates of Narses gathered around him and declared that Belisarius was undertaking an endless task and devising impracticable plans. For John, they said, had already made an attempt upon the place, and that too at a time when it was guarded by only a few men, and had perceived that it was altogether impregnable (and this was true), and they said that he ought to recover for the emperor the land of Aemilia. And since he was won over by this suggestion, Narses at night abandoned the siege, although Belisarius begged him earnestly to remain there and assist his own troops in capturing the city of Urbinus. So Narses and his followers went in haste to Ariminum with a portion of the army. And as soon as Moras and his barbarians saw at daybreak that one-half of the enemy had withdrawn, they began to shout taunts and bantering words from the fortifications at those who had remained. Belisarius, however, was purposing to storm the wall with his remaining force. And while he was laying plans for this attack, an altogether wonderful piece of good fortune befell him. There was only one spring in Urbinus, and from it all the inhabitants of the city were drawing water. This spring of its own accord little by little dried up and began to give out. And in three days the water had left it to such an extent that the barbarians drawing from it were drinking the water along with mud. Consequently they decided to capitulate to the Romans. But Belisarius, who had not received any information of this, was still purposing to make an attempt upon the fortifications. And he armed his entire force and placed it in a circle about the whole hill, and then commanded a few men to move forward the colonnade of poles (for such is the name by which this device is customarily called ) where the ground was level. So these men went into it and began to walk and to draw the colonnade with them, hidden from the eyes of the enemy. Thereupon, the barbarians, stretching forth their right hands from the parapet, begged to receive peace. But the Romans, not knowing anything of what had taken place regarding the spring, supposed that it was the combat and the Roman device which they dreaded. Both sides, at any rate, gladly refrained from battle. And the Goths surrendered both themselves and the city to Belisarius with the condition that they should remain free from harm and that they should become subjects of the emperor on terms of complete equality with the Roman army.

  But Narses, upon hearing of this success, was filled with both astonishment and dejection. And he himself still remained quietly in Ariminum, but he ordered John to lead his whole army against Caesena. So they went, taking ladders with them. And when they came close to the fortress, they delivered an attack and made trial of the fortifications. But since the barbarians defended themselves manfully, many fell in the fight and among them Phanitheus, the leader of the Eruli. So John. failing to capture the fortress of Caesena at that time, saw fit to make no further attempt upon it, since it seemed to him impregnable, and he marched forward with Justinus and the rest of the army. And by a sudden move he succeeded in taking possession of an ancient city which is named Forocornelius; and since the barbarians constantly retired before him and never came to an engagement, he recovered the whole of Aemilia for the emperor. Such was the course of these events.

  Βελισάριος δέ, ἐπεὶ Οὐρβῖνον ἀμφὶ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς εἷλεν, ἐς μὲν Αὔξιμον ἐν τῷ παραυτίκα ἰέναι ἀξύμφορον ᾤετο εἶναι: χρόνον γὰρ σφίσι τετρίψεσθαι πολὺν ἐν τῇ ἐς αὐτὴν προσεδρείᾳ ὑπώπτευε. [2] βίᾳ τε γὰρ τὸ χωρίον ἑλεῖν ἐρύματος ἰσχύϊ ἀδύνατον ἦν, καὶ οἱ βάρβαροι πολλοί τε καὶ ἄριστοι ἐνταῦθα, ὥσπερ μοι προδεδήλωται, φυλακὴν ἔχοντες, πολλήν τινα ληϊσάμενοι χώραν μέγα τι τῶν ἐπιτηδείων χρῆμα ἐσηνέγκαντο σφίσιν. [3] Ἀράτιον δὲ σὺν πολλῇ στρατιᾷ ἐν Φίρμῳ διαχειμάζειν ἐκέλευε φυλάσσειν τε ὅπως τὸ λοιπὸν μὴ κατ̓ ἐξουσίαν οἱ βάρβαροι τὰς ἐπεκδρομὰς ἐνθένδε ποιουμενοι ἀδεέστερον τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία βιάζωνται: αὐτὸς μέντοι ἐπὶ Οὐρβιβεντὸν ἐπῆγε τὸ στρατευμα. [4] Περάνιος γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐς τοῦτο ἐνῆγεν, ἐπεὶ τοὺς ταύτῃ Γότθους τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ὑποσπανίζειν ἠκηκόει πρὸς τῶν αὐτομόλων, ἤλπιζέ τε, ἢν πρὸς τῇ ἀπορίᾳ τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ Βελισάριον παντί που παρόντα τῷ στρατῷ ἴδωσι, ῥᾷον ἐνδώσειν: [5] ὅπερ ἐγένετο. Βελισάριος γάρ, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα ἐς Οὐρβιβεντὸν ἀφίκετο, ἅπαντας μὲν ἐνστρατοπεδεύσασθαι ἐν χώρῳ ἐπιτηδείως κειμένῳ ἐκέλευσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ κύκλῳ περιιὼν διεσκοπεῖτο εἴ πως αὐτὴν βιάζεσθαι οὐκ ἀδύνατα ᾖ. καί οἱ μηχανὴ μὲν οὐδεμία ἔδοξεν εἶναι ὥστε βίᾳ τινὶ τὸ χωρίον ἑλεῖν. [6] λάθρα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς οὐ παντάπασιν ἐδόκει ἀμήχανός οἱ ἡ ἐπικράτησις ἔσεσθαι. [7] Λόφος γάρ τις ἐκ κοίλης γῆς ἀνέχει μόνος, τὰ μὲν ὕπερθεν ὕπτιός τε καὶ ὁμαλός, τὰ δὲ κάτω κρημνώδης. ἀμφὶ δὲ τὸν λόφον ἰσομήκεις πέτραι κύκλωσιν αὐτοῦ ποιοῦνταί τινα, οὐκ ἄγχιστά πη οὖσαι, ἀλλ̓ ὅσον βολὴν διέχουσαι λίθου. [8] ἐπὶ τούτου δὴ τοῦ λόφου οἱ πάλαι ἄνθρωποι τὴν πόλιν ἐδείμαντο, οὔτε τείχη περιβαλόντες οὔτ̓ ἄλλο τι ὀχύρωμα ποιησάμενοι, ἐπεὶ φύσει αὐτοῖς τὸ χωρίον ἀνάλωτον ἔδοξεν εἶναι. [9] μία γὰρ ἐς αὐτὴν ἐκ τῶν πετρῶν εἴσοδος τυγχάνει οὖσα, ἣν φυλασσομένοις τοῖς ταύτῃ ᾠκημέ�
�οις οὐδεμίαν ἑτέρωθι πολεμίων προσβολὴν δεδιέναι ξυμβαίνει. [10] χωρὶς γὰρ τοῦ χωρίου ᾗ τὴν εἴσοδον ἡ φύσις ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἐτεκτήνατο, ὥσπερ ἐρρήθη, ποταμὸς ἀεὶ μέγας τε καὶ ἀπόρευτος τὰ μεταξὺ ἔχει τοῦ τε λόφου καὶ τῶν πετρῶν ὧν ἄρτι ἐμνήσθην. [11] διὸ δὴ καὶ βραχεῖάν τινα οἰκοδομίαν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ εἰσόδῳ πεποίηνται τὸ παλαιὸν Ῥωμαῖοι. καὶ πύλη τις ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν, ἣν τότε Γότθοι ἐφύλασσον. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἀμφὶ Οὐρβιβεντῷ ταύτῃ πη ἔχει. [12] Βελισάριος δὲ τῷ παντὶ στρατῷ ἐς τὴν πολιορκίαν καθίστατο, ἢ διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ κακουργήσειν τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχων ἢ λιμῷ παραστήσεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους. [13] οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι τέως μὲν οὐ παντάπασι τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐσπάνιζον, καίπερ ἐνδεεστέρως ἢ κατὰ τὴν χρείαν αὐτὰ ἔχοντες, ὅμως τῇ ταλαιπωρίᾳ παρὰ δόξαν ἀντεῖχον, ἥκιστα μὲν ἐς τροφῆς κόρον ἐρχόμενοι, ὅσον δὲ μὴ λιμῷ ἀποθνήσκειν χρώμενοι σιτίοις ἐς ἡμέραν ἑκάστην. [14] ἐπεὶ δὲ ἅπαντα σφᾶς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἐπελελοίπει, δέρρεις τε καὶ διφθέρας ὕδατι βρέχοντες πολύν τινα χρόνον εἶτα ἤσθιον: Ἀλβίλας γὰρ ὃς αὐτῶν ἦρχεν, ἀνὴρ ἐν Γότθοις δόκιμος μάλιστα, ἐλπίσιν αὐτοὺς κεναῖς ἔβοσκεν. [15] Ἡνίκα τε αὖθις ἐπανιὼν ὁ χρόνος τὴν τοῦ θέρους ὥραν ἤνεγκεν, ὁ σῖτος ἤδη ἐν τοῖς ληΐοις αὐτόματος ἤκμαζεν, οὐχὶ τοσοῦτος μέντοι ὅσος τὸ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ ἥσσων. [16] ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς αὔλαξιν οὐκ ἀρότροις οὐδὲ χερσὶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκέκρυπτο, ἀλλ̓ ἐπιπολῆς κείμενος ἔτυχε, μοῖραν αὐτοῦ τινα ὀλίγην ἡ γῆ ἐνεργεῖν ἴσχυεν. [17] οὐδενός τε αὐτὸν ἔτι ἀμήσαντος, πόρρω ἀκμῆς ἐλθὼν αὖθις ἔπεσε καὶ οὐδὲν τὸ λοιπὸν ἐνθένδε ἐφύη. ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ Αἰμιλίᾳ ξυμπεπτωκὸς ἔτυχε. [18] διὸ ἐκλιπόντες τὰ οἰκεῖα οἱ ταύτῃ ἄνθρωποι ἐς Πικηνὸν ἦλθον. οὐκ ἂν οἰόμενοι τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία διὰ τὸ ἐπιθαλάττια εἶναι παντάπασι τῇ ἀπορίᾳ πιέζεσθαι. [19] καὶ Τούσκων δὲ οὐδέν τι ἧσσον ἐξ αἰτίας τῆς αὐτῆς ὁ λιμὸς ἥψατο, ἀλλ̓ αὐτῶν ὅσοι ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ᾤκηντο, τῶν δρυῶν τὰς βαλάνους ἀλοῦντες, ὥσπερ τὸν σῖτον, ἄρτους τε ἀπ̓ αὐτῶν ποιούμενοι ἤσθιον. [20] καὶ νόσοις μὲν παντοδαπαῖς, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, οἱ πλεῖστοι ἡλίσκοντο, [21] ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ περιγενόμενοι διεσώζοντο. ἐν Πικηνῷ μέντοι λέγονται Ῥωμαῖοι γεωργοὶ οὐχ ἥσσους ἢ πέντε μυριάδες λαοῦ λιμῷ ἀπολωλέναι, καὶ πολλῷ ἔτι πλείους ἐκτὸς κόλπου τοῦ Ἰονίου. [22] Ὁποῖοι δὲ τὸ εἶδος ἐγίνοντο καὶ ὅτῳ τρόπῳ ἔθνησκον αὐτὸς θεασάμενος ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. [23] ἰσχνοὶ μὲν καὶ ὠχροὶ ἐγίνοντο πάντες: ἥ τε γὰρ σὰρξ ἀποροῦσα τροφῆς κατά γε τὸν παλαιὸν λόγον ἑαυτῆς ἥπτετο, καὶ ἡ χολὴ τῷ περιόντι τὸ κράτος τῶν σωμάτων ἤδη ἔχουσα οἰκείαν τινὰ εἰκασίαν ἐς ταῦτα ἠφίει. [24] προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ, πᾶσά τε αὐτοὺς ἰκμὰς ἐπελελοίπει καὶ τὸ δέρμα λίαν ἀπεσκληκὸς βύρσῃ μάλιστα ἐμφερὲς ἦν, δόκησιν παρέχον ὡς ἄρα τοῖς ὀστέοις ἐμπεπηγὸς εἴη. τό τε πελιδνὸν ἐς τὸ μέλαν μεταβαλόντες δᾳδίοις τισὶν ἐς ἄγαν καυθεῖσιν ἐῴκεσαν. [25] καὶ αὐτοῖς μὲν ἀεὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ἔκθαμβα ἦν, ἀεὶ δὲ δεινῶς τι μανικὸν ἔβλεπον. ἔθνησκόν τε οἱ μὲν ἀπορίᾳ τροφῆς, οἱ δὲ καὶ λίαν αὐτῆς ἐς κόρον ἰόντες. [26] ἐπειδὴ γὰρ σφίσιν ἀποσβεσθὲν ἅπαν τὸ θερμὸν ἔτυχεν ὅπερ ἡ φύσις ἐντὸς ἔκαυσεν, εἴ τις ἐς κόρον αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατὰ βραχύ, θρέψειεν, ὥσπερ τὰ ἐπὶ καιροῦ τεχθέντα παιδία, οἵδε καταπέψαι οὐκέτι τὰ σιτία ἔχοντες, πολλῷ διεφθείροντο θᾶσσον. [27] τινὲς δὲ τοῦ λιμοῦ ὑπερβιαζομένου ἀλλήλων ἐγεύσαντο. καὶ λέγονται γυναῖκες δύο ἐν ἀγρῷ τινι ὑπὲρ Ἀριμίνου πόλεως ἄνδρας ἑπτακαίδεκα ἐδηδοκέναι, ἅσπερ ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ μόνας περιεῖναι ξυνέπεσε. [28] διὸ δὴ τοὺς ἐκείνῃ πορευομένους ξένους εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον καταλύειν οὗπερ αὗται ᾤκουν ξυνέβαινεν: οὓς δὴ καθεύδοντας διαφθείρουσαι ἤσθιον. [29] λέγουσιν οὖν τὸν ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ξένον ἐξ ὕπνου ἀναστάντα, ἡνίκα αὐτῷ ταῦτα τὰ γύναια ἐγχειρεῖν ἔμελλον, μαθεῖν τε παῤ αὐτῶν ἀναθορόντα τὸν πάντα λόγον καὶ ἄμφω κτεῖναι. [30] τοῦτο μὲν δὴ οὕτω γεγενῆσθαί φασιν. οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι τῇ τοῦ λιμοῦ ἀνάγκῃ ἐχόμενοι, εἴ πού τις παρατύχῃ πόα, πολλῇ μὲν σπουδῇ ἐπ̓ αὐτὴν ᾔεσαν, ὀκλάσαντες δὲ ἀνέλκειν αὐτὴν ἐκ γῆς ἐπειρῶντο. [31] εἶτα ῾οὐ γὰρ ἠδύναντο, ἐπεὶ πᾶσα αὐτοὺς ἰσχὺς ἐπελελοίπεἰ ὑπέρ τε τῆς πόας καὶ τῆς χειρὸς πίπτοντες ἔθνησκον. [32] καὶ γῇ μὲν αὐτοὺς ἔκρυπτεν οὐδεὶς οὐδαμῶς: οὐ γὰρ ἦν τις ὅτῳ καὶ ταφῆς λόγος γένοιτο: ὄρνις μέντοι αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ἥπτετο, οἷοι πολλοὶ σιτίζεσθαι πεφύκασι νεκροῖς σώμασιν, [33] ἐπεὶ οὐκ εἶχον οὐδὲν ὅτου ἐφεῖντο. σάρκας γὰρ ἁπάσας, ὥσπερ μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, προδεδαπανῆσθαι τῷ λιμῷ ἤδη τετύχηκε. τὰ μὲν δὴ ἀμφὶ τῷ λιμῷ ταύτῃ πη ἔσχε.