Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  XXIII

  Now Belisarius wished first to capture Auximus and Fisula, and after that to march against Vittigis and Ravenna, with no one of the enemy any longer able to oppose his advance or to harass his rear.

  He accordingly sent Cyprian and Justinus with their men and some of the Isaurians to Fisula, together with five hundred foot-soldiers from the detachment commanded by Demetrius; and they made camp about the fortress and commenced a siege of the barbarian garrison. And Martinus and John with their troops and another army, commanded by John whom they called the Glutton, he sent to the country along the Po River. These officers he commanded to take care that Uraias with his forces should not advance from Milan against his own army; and if they were not able to repel the enemy’s attack, they were secretly to follow behind them and assail their rear. So they took possession of Dorthon, an unwalled city which lay on the river, and having established their camp remained there, while Belisarius himself went to the city of Auximus with eleven thousand men. Now this is the first of the cities in Picenum, being the metropolis, as the Romans are accustomed to call it.

  And it is about eighty-four stades distant from the shore of the Ionian Gulf, and from the city of Ravenna a journey of three days and eighty stades. And it is situated upon a very high hill, having no approach at all upon the level ground, and for this reason it is entirely inaccessible for an enemy. In that city Vittigis had assembled all the most notable troops among the Goths and had established them there as a garrison, conjecturing that the Romans, unless they should first capture this city, would never dare to march against Ravenna.

  Now when the Roman army arrived at Auximus, Belisarius commanded them all to encamp in a circle about the base of the hill. So they took their places by companies, and were setting up their huts at different points in the line; and the Goths, observing that the enemy were rather far apart from one another, and were not able easily to bring assistance to each other, since they were in a great plain, suddenly advanced upon them in the late afternoon, on the side to the east of the city, where Belisarius happened to be still engaged in making camp with his spearmen and guards. And the Romans took up their arms and began to defend themselves against their assailants as well as the circumstances permitted, and by their valour they forced them back with the greatest ease and routed them; and in following up their flight they reached the middle of the hill. There the barbarians turned upon them, and, confident in the strength of their position, made a stand against their pursuers; and since they were shooting from above, they slew many of them, until night coming on put a stop to the fighting. Thus the two armies separated and bivouacked that night. Now it happened that on the day before this encounter some of the Goths had been sent out to the country close by at early dawn in order to gather provisions. These foraging parties, having learned nothing of the presence of the enemy, returned at night, and suddenly spying the fires of the Romans, they became greatly amazed and frightened. And many of them, who plucked up courage to take the risk and escaped detection by their enemy, entered Auximus. But as many as were overcome by terror and hid themselves for the time in any convenient clumps of trees with the intention of proceeding to Ravenna, all these not long afterward fell into hostile hands and were destroyed. And Belisarius, seeing that Auximus was exceedingly strong and securely placed, and that it was altogether impossible for him to make an attack upon the fortifications, was of the opinion that he could never take the place by storm, but he hoped by a close siege to reduce the enemy to want by cutting off their food supplies and thus to bring them into his power by the passage of time.

  Now not far from the fortifications there was a place where the ground was covered with an abundant growth of grass, and this gave rise every day to an encounter between the Romans and the Goths. For every time the Romans saw their opponents cutting this grass for the sake of their horses, they would ascend the hill with a great rush, and, upon reaching the enemy, they would engage with them, and by making a display of valorous deeds, try to prevent them altogether from carrying off the grass; and they always slew many of the Goths in this place. Then the Goths, finding themselves no match for their enemy in valour, devised the following plan. They removed the wheels along with the axles from their waggons and held them in readiness; then, when they had commenced to cut the grass, as soon as they saw that the Romans, as they ascended, were at the middle of the hill, they released the wheels to rush down upon them from above. But by some chance it so happened that these wheels went all the way to the level ground without touching a single man. And since they had failed in this attempt, the barbarians on that occasion took to flight and got inside the fortifications, but after that they adopted the following plan. After filling the ravines which are close to the fortifications with ambuscades of the men of note among them, a few soldiers would shew themselves near the grass to the enemy, and when the fighting had come to close quarters, those in concealment would leap out from their ambuscades, and, being greatly superior to their opponents in number, and striking terror into them because they had not previously seen their assailants, they used to kill great numbers of them and always turned the rest to flight. And although those of the Romans who had kept their position in the camps did see the enemy rising from the ambuscades, and tried, with much shouting, to call their companions back, still they failed utterly to do so, since those fighting could not in the least hear their call, because, in the first place, they were separated from them by a great expanse of hillside, and, in the second place, the barbarians purposely always made a din to drown the voices by beating their weapons together.

  And when Belisarius was in perplexity because of this situation, Procopius, who wrote this history, came before him and said: “The men, General, who blew the trumpets in the Roman army in ancient times knew two different strains, one of which seemed unmistakably to urge the soldiers on and impel them to battle, while the other used to call the men who were fighting back to the camp, whenever this seemed to the general to be for the best. And by such means the generals could always give the appropriate commands to the soldiers, and they on their part were able to execute the commands thus communicated to them. For during actual combat the human voice is in no way adapted to give any clear instructions, since it obviously has to contend with the clash of arms on every side, and fear paralyzes the senses of those fighting. But since at the present time such skill has become obsolete through ignorance and it is impossible to express both commands by one trumpet, do you adopt the following course hereafter. With the cavalry trumpets urge on the soldiers to continue fighting with the enemy, but with those of the infantry call the men back to the retreat. For it is impossible for them to fail to recognize the sound of either one, for in the one case the sound comes forth from leather and very thin wood, and in the other from rather thick brass.” So spoke Procopius.

  And Belisarius was pleased by the suggestion, and calling together the whole army he spoke as follows:

  “I consider that enthusiasm is beneficial and thoroughly praiseworthy, but only so long as it continues to be of a moderate sort and consequently brings no harm upon those under its spell. For every good thing, when in excess, is wont to change for the worse. Do you, therefore, from this time forth, not allow your enthusiasm for battle to cause you to fail of success; for to flee from one who is inflicting loss upon you is, as you surely know, no disgrace. But he who without looking about him goes into trouble which is before his eyes and, should it so happen, escapes from it, still stands convicted of folly; but the man truly noble is he who plays the part of a brave man in dangers that cannot be avoided. Now the barbarians, since they are unable to fight a decisive battle with us in the open, are trying to destroy us by laying snares. But for us it is more blameworthy to face the danger than to escape from their ambush. For nothing is more shameful than to fall in with the plans of the enemy. It will rest with me, accordingly, to see to it that you do not come unawares upon the ambuscades of the enemy. And it will be your duty, as so
on as I give the signal, to retire with all speed. And this signal, soldiers, will be given by the trumpet of the infantry.” So spoke Belisarius. And the soldiers, seeing the enemy near the grass, made a charge against them and killed a few of their number in the first onset. And one of the Moors saw among these fallen Goths one in particular whose person was adorned with gold, and laying hold of the hair of his head, he began to drag the corpse after him in order to strip it. But some Goth hurled a javelin at him, and with such a lucky aim that the weapon passed through both his legs, piercing the muscles which are behind the shins, with the result that his two legs were pinned together by means of the javelin. But nevertheless the Moor kept holding the hair of the corpse and dragging it along. At this point the barbarians roused their men from ambush, and Belisarius, seeing from the camp what was being done, commanded the foot-soldiers to whom this duty was assigned to sound the trumpets quickly. And the Romans, hearing it, began immediately to withdraw gradually, taking up and carrying the Moor, javelin and all. And the Goths dared follow them no further, but returned unsuccessful

  Προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῆς ἀπορίας οἱ βάρβαροι τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐπὶ μέγα χωρούσης, ἀνενεγκεῖν ἐς Οὐίττιγιν ἐβουλεύοντο τὰ παρόντα σφίσι. [2] καὶ ἐπεὶ αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς στέλλεσθαι ἐς ταύτην δὴ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐτόλμα ῾λήσειν γὰρ τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας οὐκ ἄν ποτε ᾤοντὀ, ἐπενόουν τάδε. [3] ἀσέληνον νύκτα τηρήσαντες καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παρασκευῇ ποιησάμενοι οὓς δὴ παρὰ τὸν Οὐίττιγιν πέμπειν διενοοῦντο, γράμματά τε αὐτοῖς ἐν χερσὶ θέμενοι, ἐπειδὴ πόρρω ἦν τῶν νυκτῶν, ἐβόων ἅπαντες πολλαχῆ τοῦ περιβόλου ἐξαίσιον. [4] εἴκασεν ἄν τις ἐς ταραχὴν αὐτοὺς καταστῆναι λίαν τε σφίσιν ἐγκειμένων τῶν πολεμίων καὶ παρὰ δόξαν ἁλισκομένης τῆς πόλεως: [5] οὐκ ἔχοντες δὲ παντάπασι Ῥωμαῖοι ξυμβαλεῖν τὸ γινόμενον, Βελισαρίου γνώμῃ ἐν τοῖς στρατοπέδοις ἡσυχῆ ἔμενον, ἔκ τε τῆς πόλεως ἐπιβουλήν τινα ὑποτοπάσαντες ἔσεσθαι καὶ στρατὸν ἐκ Ῥαβέννης ἐπιβεβοηθηκότα τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπὶ σφᾶς ἥκειν. ἃ δὴ δεδιότες ᾤοντο ἄμεινον σφίσιν εἶναι ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ ἡσυχάζουσι διασώζεσθαι ἢ ἐς προὖπτόν τινα κίνδυνον ἐν νυκτὶ ἀσελήνῳ χωρεῖν. [6] οὕτω γοῦν οἱ βάρβαροι λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπὶ Ῥαβέννης τοὺς ἄνδρας ἔπεμψαν. οἳ οὐδενὸς πολεμίου ἀνδρὸς ἐς ὄψιν ἐλθόντες παρά τε Οὐίττιγιν τριταῖοι ἀφίκοντο καὶ τὰ γράμματα ἔδειξαν. [7] ἐδήλου δὲ ἡ γραφὴ τάδε: ‘Ἡνίκα ἡμᾶς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, ἐς τὴν ἐν Αὐξίμῳ φρουρὰν καθίστης, τὰς κλεῖς ἔφησθα παρακαταθέσθαι ἡμῖν Ῥαβέννης τε αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τῆς σῆς. [8] διὸ δὴ ἐπήγγελλες ἡμῖν παντὶ σθένει φυλάσσεσθαι, ὅπως μὴ τὸ καθ̓ ἡμᾶς μέρος παραδῶμεν τοῖς πολεμίοις τὸ Γότθων κράτος, ἰσχυρίζου τε δεομένοις ἡμῖν παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ παρέσεσθαι αὐτεπάγγελτος. [9] ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν ἄχρι τοῦδε λιμῷ τε καὶ Βελισαρίῳ μαχόμενοι πιστοὶ φύλακες τῆς σῆς βασιλείας γεγόναμεν, σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ ὁπωστιοῦν ἡμῖν βοηθεῖν ἔγνωκας. [10] λογίζου τοίνυν μή ποτε Αὔξιμον ἑλόντες Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τὰς κλεῖς ἀνελόμενοι, ὧν αὐτὸς ἐνταῦθα κειμένων ὑπερορᾷς, οὐδενὸς τῶν σῶν ἀποκεκλεισμένοι τὸ λοιπὸν ὦσι.’ τὰ γράμματα μὲν τοσαῦτα ἐδήλου. [11] Ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτὰ Οὐίττιγις ἀπενεχθέντα εἶδεν, ἐν μὲν τῷ παραυτίκα τοὺς ἄνδρας πάσῃ τῇ Γότθων στρατιᾷ βοηθήσειν Αὐξίμῳ ὑποσχόμενος ἀπεπέμψατο, μετὰ δὲ πολλὰ λογισάμενος ἡσυχίαν ἦγε. [12] τούς τε γὰρ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ὑπώπτευε μὴ κατὰ νώτου σφίσιν ἐπισπόμενοι ἐν ἀμφιβόλῳ ποιήσωνται, καὶ πολλὴν οἰόμενος ξὺν Βελισαρίῳ μαχίμων ἀνδρῶν δύναμιν εἶναι ἐς ἀμήχανόν τι δέος ἐξέπιπτε. [13] μάλιστα δὲ ἁπάντων ὁ λιμὸς αὐτὸν ξυνετάρασσεν, οὐκ ἔχοντα ὅθεν ἂν τὰ ἐπιτήδεια τῷ στρατοπέδῳ πορίζηται. [14] οἱ μὲν γὰρ Ῥωμαῖοι ἅτε θαλασσοκρατοῦντες καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἀγκῶνι φρούριον ἔχοντες, τὰ ἀναγκαῖα πάντα ἔκ τε Σικελίας καὶ Καλαβρίας ἐνταῦθα κατατιθέμενοι ἐς καιρὸν ἐνθένδε εὐπετῶς ἔφερον. [15] Γότθοις δὲ στρατεύουσιν ἐς Πικηνῶν τὴν χώραν πόρον οὐδένα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐννοῶν ἔσεσθαι ἐς ἀμηχανίαν καθίστατο. [16] Οὐιττίγιδος μὲν οὖν τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἐς Αὔξιμον ἤνεγκαν οἱ πρώην ἐς αὐτὸν ἐνθένδε σταλέντες καὶ βαρβάρους τοὺς ἐνταῦθα κεναῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπέρρωσαν. [17] Βελισάριος δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς τῶν αὐτομόλων ἀκούσας ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς φυλακὴν ἐκέλευε ποιεῖσθαι, ὅπως μή τι συμβαίη καὶ αὖθις τοιοῦτο. ταῦτα μὲν ἐγίνετο τῇδε. [18] Οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ Κυπριανὸν καὶ Ἰουστῖνον Φισούλαν πολιορκοῦντες τῷ μὲν περιβόλῳ προσβάλλειν ἢ ἄγχιστά που αὐτοῦ ἰέναι οὐδαμῆ εἶχον: δυσπρόσοδον γὰρ τοῦτο πανταχόθεν τὸ φρούριον ἦν. τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων σφίσι συχνὰ ἐπεξιόντων μάχῃ τε μᾶλλον διακρίνεσθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐθελόντων ἢ τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῇ ἀπορίᾳ πιέζεσθαι, ἀγχώμαλοι μὲν αἱ ξυμβολαὶ τὰ πρῶτα ἐγίνοντο, ἔπειτα δὲ πλέον ἤδη Ῥωμαῖοι ἔχοντες ἔς τε τὸ τεῖχος τοὺς πολεμίους κατέκλεισαν καὶ ἀσφαλῶς διεφύλασσον, [19] ὥστε μηδένα πη ἐνθένδε ἰέναι. οἱ μὲν οὖν βάρβαροι τῶν τε ἀναγκαίων σπανίζοντες καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀπορούμενοι, λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους παρὰ τὸν Οὐίττιγιν ἔπεμπον, βοηθεῖν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τάχος δεόμενοι, ὡς οὐκέτι πλείω τινὰ ἀνθέξουσι χρόνον. [20] Οὐίττιγις δὲ Οὐραΐαν ἐκέλευε ξὺν τῷ ἐν Λιγούροις στρατῷ ἐς Τικινοὺς ἰέναι: οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἰσχυρίζετο πάσῃ τῇ Γότθων δυνάμει τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις παρέσεσθαι. [21] ὁ δὲ κατὰ ταῦτα ἐποίει καὶ ἅπαν κινήσας τὸ ξὺν αὐτῷ στράτευμα ἐς Τικινοὺς ᾔει: Πάδον τε ποταμὸν διαβάντες ἐγγύς που τοῦ
τῶν Ῥωμαίων στρατοπέδου ἦλθον. [22] οὗ δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ στρατοπεδευσάμενοι ἀντεκάθηντο τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἀπέχοντες αὐτῶν μάλιστα ὅσον σταδίους ἑξήκοντα. χειρῶν δὲ οὐδέτεροι ἦρχον. [23] τοῖς τε γὰρ Ῥωμαίοις ἔδοξεν ἀποχρῆν, εἰ τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐμποδὼν στήσονται, ὥστε μὴ ἐπὶ τοὺς πολιορκοῦντας πορεύεσθαι, καὶ οἱ βάρβαροι ἐνταῦθα ὤκνουν διαμάχεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, λογιζόμενοι ὡς, ἢν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ξυμβολῇ ἀτυχήσωσιν, ἅπαντα Γότθων διαφθεροῦσι τὰ πράγματα. [24] οὐ γὰρ ἔτι τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Οὐίττιγιν ἐπιμιγνύμενοι ἀμύνειν τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ξὺν αὐτῷ ἕξουσι. τοιαύτῃ μὲν γνώμῃ ἑκάτεροι ἡσυχίαν ἦγον.