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THE Emperor Justinian now sent not less than two thousand infantry by sea to Sicily and ordered Valerian to join Belisarius without any delay. He accordingly crossed the sea and put in at Dryus where he found Belisarius together with his wife. At about this time Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, set off for Byzantium, intending to beg the empress to make larger provision for carrying on the war. But the Empress Theodora had fallen sick and passed from the world, having lived as queen twenty-one years and three months. [June 28, 548 A.D.]
Meanwhile the Romans who were being held under siege in the fortress near Rusciane, hard pressed, as they were, by the lack of necessary supplies, opened negotiations with the enemy and agreed that precisely at the middle of the summer season they would hand over the fortress, unless some relief came to them in the interval, on condition, however, that they should all remain free from harm. Now there were in this fortress many notables of the Italians, among whom was Deopheron the brother of Tullianus, while the Roman army was represented by three hundred Illyrian horsemen whom John had stationed in that place, appointing as commanders over them Chalazar the guardsman, a Massagete by birth and an especially able warrior, and Gudilas the Thracian; and there were also a hundred infantry sent by Belisarius to guard the fortress.
At that time also the soldiers who had been detailed by Belisarius for the garrison of Rome killed their commander Conon, bringing against him the charge of trafficking in grain and the other provisions to their detriment. And they sent some of the priests as envoys, firmly declaring that if the emperor did not exonerate them from guilt for this deed and remit to them within a specified time the back payment which the state owed them, they would without the slightest hesitation go over to Totila and the Goths. And the emperor fulfilled their request.
Belisarius now summoned John to Dryus and, together with him and Valerian and other commanders, he gathered a great fleet and sailed straight for Rusciane with all speed, being intent upon bringing relief to the besieged. And those in the fortress, seeing this fleet from their elevated position, revived their hopes and now decided not to yield to the enemy, although the day upon which they had agreed was already close at hand. First then a terrific storm came on, and for this reason and also because the coast there is altogether without harbours, the ships came to be scattered far apart from one another; thus it came about that considerable time was wasted. And when they had been collected in the harbour of Croton, they put out a second time for Rusciane. But when the barbarians saw them, they leaped upon their horses and came down to the beach, intending to prevent the disembarkation of their enemy. And Totila placed them for a great distance along the shore face to face with the prows of the ship, some with spears and some with bows ready strung. This array struck terror to the hearts of the Romans when they saw it and they had not the courage to come close, but they first stopped their ships at a great distance and remained quiet for some time, and then, giving up the landing in despair, they all backed off and put to sea and sailed once more into the harbour of Croton.
There, after taking council together, they decided that it was better that Belisarius should proceed to Rome and there set matters in order as well as possible and bring in provisions, while John and Valerian should first disembark the men and horses on the shore and then march overland into Picenum, in order to throw into confusion those of the barbarians who were besieging the strongholds in that region. For they entertained the hope that Totila would be led by such moves to abandon the siege and follow them. Accordingly, John, for his part, accompanied by his troops, a thousand in number, carried out this plan; but Valerian, fearing the danger, went around through the Ionian Gulf with the ships and sailed straight for Ancon. For he thought that he could in this way reach Picenum with safety and unite with John. But even so Totila was unwilling to abandon the siege, but, while he himself remained settled there, he selected two thousand horsemen from the army and sent them into Picenum, in order to unite with the barbarians there and throw back the forces of John and Valerian.
The Romans who were besieged in the fortress at Rusciane, seeing that their provisions had now completely failed them and that they had no further hope of assistance from the Romans, sent Gudilas the guardsman and Deopheron the Italian to Totila and opened negotiations concerning their safety, begging him to pardon them for their deeds. And Totila promised that he would inflict punishment upon no one except Chalazar, seeing that he had disregarded the previous agreement, but he would remit the charge against all the others. On such terms he in person took over the fortress. And he cut off both the hands of Chalazar and his private parts and then killed him immediately; as for the soldiers, he ordered those who wished to do so to remain, keeping their own possessions, on condition that they array themselves thereafter with the Goths on terms of complete equality; indeed this was the same procedure which he had regularly followed when the other strongholds were captured; those, on the other hand, who were not at all satisfied to remain, he commanded to depart from there and go without equipment wherever they pleased, in order that no man in the world might march unwillingly under his standard. Thus, while eighty of the Roman army abandoned their possessions and came to Croton, the rest remained where they were with their possessions. The Italians, however, he deprived of all their property, though he left their persons entirely unharmed.
When Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, reached Byzantium after the decease of the empress, she begged the emperor to summon her husband thither. This she accomplished very readily. For the Persian war was now pressing the Emperor Justinian to the utmost, and influenced him to this decision.
Ἐν τούτῳ δέ τινες ἐπίθεσιν ἐπὶ βασιλέα Ἰουστινιανὸν ἐβουλεύσαντο. οἵπερ ὅπως τε ἐς τὸ βούλευμα τοῦτο κατέστησαν καὶ τρόπῳ δὴ ὅτῳ ἀποκρουσθέντες οὐδαμῆ ἐς τὸ ἔργον ἀφίκοντο, [2] αὐτίκα δηλώσω. Ἀρταβάνῃ Γόνθαριν καθελόντι τὸν τύραννον, ὥσπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, ἐξαισία τις ἐπιθυμία ἐγένετο Πρεϊέκταν τὴν βασιλέως ἀδελφιδῆν, ἣν εἶχεν ἐγγυητήν, [3] γυναῖκα ποιήσασθαι. ὅπερ καὶ αὐτῇ βουλομένῃ ὡς μάλιστα ἦν, οὐκ ἔρωτι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐνταῦθα ἠγμένῃ, ἀλλ̓ ὅτι οἱ χάριτας ὡμολόγει πολλὰς ἅτε τισαμένῳ μὲν τὸν Ἀρεοβίνδου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς φόνον, αὐτὴν δὲ ἀνασωσαμένῳ καὶ ἀναρπάσαντι, αἰχμάλωτόν τε οὖσαν καὶ οὐκ ἐς μακρὰν τῷ τυράννῳ Γονθάριδι μέλλουσαν οὔτι έκουσίαν ἐς εὐνὴν ξυνελθεῖν. [4] ἐπεί τε ἄμφω ταῦτα ἤρεσκε, Πρεϊέκταν μὲν Ἀρταβάνης βασιλεῖ ἔπεμψεν, αὐτὸς δέ, καίπερ Λιβύης ὅλης στρατηγὸς καταστάς, ἔχρῃζε βασιλέως, ἀναπλάσας τινὰς οὐχ ὑγιεῖς σκήψεις, [5] ὅπως αὐτὸν ἐς Βυζάντιον μεταπέμποιτο. ἐνῆγε γὰρ ἐς τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἡ τοῦ γάμου ἐλπίς, ἄλλα τε πολλὰ ἐνθένδε ἀγαθὰ ὑποφαίνουσα καὶ τῆς βασιλείας οὐ πόρρω αὐτὸν τὸ λοιπὸν ἔσεσθαι. [6] οἱ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι εὐημερίας ἐκ τοῦ παραλόγου ἐπιλαβόμενοι οὐ δύνανται τὴν διάνοιαν ἐνταῦθα ἑστάναι, ἀλλὰ καραδοκοῦσι τὰ πρόσω, καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπίπροσθεν ἀεὶ χωροῦσιν, ἕως καὶ τῆς οὐ δέον ὑπαρξάσης αὐτοῖς εὐδαιμονίας στερήσονται. Βασιλεὺς μέντοι τὴν δέησιν ἐπιτελῆ ἐποίει καὶ τὸν Ἀρταβάνην ἐς Βυζάντιον μετεπέμπ
ετο, [7] ἕτερον ἀντικαταστήσας Λιβύης στρατηγόν, ᾗπέρ μοι δεδιήγηται. [8] γενόμενον δὲ τὸν Ἀρταβάνην ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ὁ μὲν δῆμος τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐθαύμαζε καὶ ἄλλως ἠγάπα. [9] ἦν γὰρ εὐμήκης τε το σῶμα καὶ καλός, τό τε ἦθος ἐλευθέριος καὶ ὀλίγα ἄττα φθεγγόμενος. βασιλεὺς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ἐτετιμήκει. [10] στρατηγόν τε γὰρ τῶν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ στρατιωτῶν καὶ ἄρχοντα φοιδεράτων καταστησάμενος ἐς τῶν ὑπάτων ἀνεγράψατο τὸ ἀξίωμα. [11] τῇ μέντοι Πρεϊέκτᾳ ξυνοικίζεσθαι οὐδαμῆ ἴσχυσεν. ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ γυνὴ πρότερον ξυγγενής τε οὖσα καὶ ἐκ παιδὸς αὐτῷ ἐς γάμον ἐλθοῦσα. [12] ἣν δὴ πολλῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἀποσεισάμενος αὐτὸς ἔτυχε τῶν τινος ἴσως παραπεπτωκυίας αἰτίας, ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα γυναῖκας ἀνδράσι προσκρούειν ξυμβαίνει. [13] αὕτη, τέως μὲν τῷ Ἀρταβάνῃ οὐκ εὖ καθεστήκει τὰ πράγματα, οἴκοι καθῆστο ἐν πάσῃ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ, τὰ παρόντα σιωπῇ φέρουσα. ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀρταβάνης ἤδη λαμπρός τε τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ μέγας ἐγεγόνει ταῖς τύχαις, οὐκ ἐνεγκοῦσα ἡ γυνὴ ἔτι τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἐς Βυζάντιον ἦλθεν. ἱκέτις τε γενομένη τῆς βασιλίδος ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα ἠξίου. [14] ἡ δὲ βασιλὶς ῾ἐπεφύκει γὰρ ἀεὶ δυστυχούσαις γυναιξὶ προσχωρεῖν̓ ἀκουσίῳ αὐτὴν τῷ Ἀρταβάνῃ ὡς μάλιστα ξυνοικεῖν ἔγνω, τήν τε Πρεϊέκταν Ἰωάννης ὁ Πομπηίου τοῦ Ὑπατίου γυναῖκα γαμετὴν ἐποιήσατο. [15] ταύτην Ἀρταβάνης τὴν ξυμφορὰν οὐκ ἤνεγκε πρᾴως, ἀλλ̓ ἠγριαίνετό τε καὶ ἀγαθὰ εἰργασμένον Ῥωμαίους ἔλεγε τόσα... γυναῖκα μὲν τήν οἱ αὐτῷ κατηγγυημένην ἑκόντα ἑκοῦσαν ἀγαγέσθαι οὐδεὶς ἐῴη, τῇ δὲ πάντων αὐτῷ δυσμενεστάτῃ οὔσῃ πλησιάζειν ἀναγκάζηται τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον: ὃ δὴ μάλιστα ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν ἀνιᾶν πέφυκεν. [16] ὥστε ἀμέλει οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα ἡ βασιλὶς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφάνιστο, ταύτην ἀσμένως ἀπεπέμψατο τὴν γυναῖκα εὐθύς. [17] Ἐτύγχανε δὲ βασιλεῖ τὸν Γερμανὸν ἀνεψιὸν ὄντα Βοραΐδην ἀδελφὸν ἔχειν. οὗτος οὖν Βοραΐδης ὁ Γερμανοῦ ἀδελφὸς ἔναγχος ἐτετελευτήκει, τῶν χρημάτων τὰ πλεῖστα τῷ τε ἀδελφῷ καὶ παισὶ τοῖς ἐκείνου ἀπολιπών. [18] οὔσης δὲ αὐτῷ γυναικός τε καὶ παιδὸς μιᾶς, τοσαῦτα τὴν παῖδα ἐκέλευεν ἔχειν ὅσα ὁ νόμος ἠνάγκαζε. διὸ δὴ βασιλεὺς τῇ παιδὶ μᾶλλον ἀμύνειν ἠξίου: ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα Γερμανὸν ἔδακνε.
Delphi Complete Works of Procopius Page 494