Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  “Fellow-men, I know not whether it is necessary to address any exhortation to you to impel you to be of good courage. For those men whose enthusiasm is upheld by the necessity of circumstances would, I think, need no further exhortation, and this is the case with us, in the present crisis at any rate. For it is your women and children and your ancestral land, and, to speak plainly, your all, which is involved in this danger, for it is to secure these that the Persians are coming upon us. For no one in the whole world gives way to those who are seeking by violence to rob him of any of his possessions, for nature compels him to fight for his property. And you are not ignorant that nothing stops the avarice of the Persians when they have come to have power in their grasp, and if at the present time they prevail over us in the war, they will not stop with simply ruling us or imposing taxes or treating us in other matters as subjects, — a statement which we can test by our own memory of what Chosroes attempted upon us not long ago. But let me not even so much as mention the experience we have had with the Persians, and let not the name of the Lazi come to an end. And the struggle against the Medes, my fellow-men, is not a hard one for us who have many times grappled with them and prevailed over them in the fight. For a task which has become thoroughly familiar entails no difficulty whatever, the necessary labour having been previously expended in practice and experience. Consequently we shall be obliged because of this fact actually to despise the enemy as having been defeated in previous combats and having no such ground for courage as you have. For when the spirit has been humbled, it is by no means wont to mount again. Holding these thoughts then before your minds, advance with high hopes to close with the enemy.”

  After making such a speech Gubazes led out the army of the Lazi, and they arrayed themselves as follows. As a vanguard the cavalry of the Lazi advanced in order against the foe, while the Roman cavalry followed them, not at a short interval, but very far in the rear. This particular Roman force was under the leadership of Philegagus, a Gepaid by birth and an energetic man, and of John the Armenian, son of Thomas, an exceptionally able warrior who was known by the surname Guzes, and who has been mentioned already in the previous narrative. Behind these followed Gubazes, the king of the Lazi, and Dagisthaeus, the general of the Romans, with the infantry of both armies, reasoning that, should it come about that the cavalry were routed, they would be saved very easily by falling back on them. So the Romans and the Lazi arrayed themselves in this manner; Chorianes meanwhile selected from his army a thousand men equipped with the corselet and in all other respects most thoroughly armed, and sent them forward as a scouting party, while he himself with all the rest of the army marched in the rear, leaving behind in the camp a garrison of only a few men. Now the cavalry of the Lazi which had gone ahead shewed in what they did scant regard for their professions, denouncing by their actions the hopes which they had previously aroused. For when they came suddenly upon the advance party of the enemy, they did not bear the sight of them, but straightway wheeled their horses and began to gallop back to the rear in complete disorder; and pressing onward they mingled with the Romans, not declining to take refuge with the very men beside whom they had previously been unwilling to array themselves. But when the two forces came close to each other, neither side at first opened the attack or joined battle, but each army drew back as their opponents advanced and in turn followed them as they retired, and they consumed much time in retreats and counter-pursuits and swiftly executed changes of front.

  But there was a certain Artabanes in that Roman army, a Persarmenian by birth, who had, as it happened, deserted long before to the Armenians who are subjects of the Romans, not as a simple deserter however, but by the slaughter of one hundred and twenty Persian warriors he had given the Romans a pledge of his loyalty to them. For he had come before Valerian, who at that time was a general in Armenia and requested him to give him fifty Romans; and upon getting what he wished he proceeded to a fortress situated in Persarmenia. There a garrison of one hundred and twenty Persians received him with his company into the fortress, it not being as yet clear that he had changed his allegiance and gone over to the enemy. He then slew the hundred and twenty men and plundered all the money in the fortress — and there was an enormous quantity of it — and so came to Valerian and the Roman army, and having thus proved himself faithful to them, he thereafter marched with the Romans. This Artabanes in the present battle placed himself in the space between the armies, taking with him two of the Roman soldiers, and thither came some of the enemy also. Artabanes charged these men, and engaging with one of the Persians who was a man of high valour and great bodily prowess, he straightway slew him with his spear and throwing him from his horse brought him down to the ground. But one of the barbarians standing beside the fallen man smote Artabanes on the head with a sword, but not with a mortal stroke. Then one of the followers of Artabanes, a Goth by birth, attacked this man, and while he still held his hand at Artabanes’ head, smote him with a well-directed blow in the left flank and laid him low. Thereupon the thousand, being terrified at what had taken place, began to withdraw to the rear, where they awaited Chorianes and the rest of the army of Persians and Alani, and in a short time mingled with them.

  By this time the infantry under Gubazes and Dagisthaeus also came up with their cavalry and both armies closed to a hand-to-hand encounter.

  At this point Philegagus and John, thinking they were too few to bear the onset of the barbarian horse, particularly because they had no confidence in the power of the Lazi, leaped from their horses and compelled all to do the same, both Romans and Lazi. They then arrayed themselves on foot in a very deep phalanx, and all stood with a front facing the enemy and thrusting out their spears against them. But the barbarians knew not what to make of it, for they were neither able to charge their opponents, who were now on foot, nor could they break up their phalanx, because the horses, annoyed by the points of the spears and the clashing of the shields, balked; and so they all resorted to their bows, emboldened by the hope that by a multitude of missiles they would very easily turn their enemy to flight. The Romans likewise and all the Lazi began to do exactly the same thing. So from each side the arrows were flying in great numbers into both armies, and on both sides many men were falling. Now the Persians and Alani were discharging their missiles in a practically continuous stream and much faster than their opponents. However, the Roman shields checked the most of them.

  In the course of this battle Chorianes, the commander of the Persians, happened to be hit. But by whom this man was wounded was not clear to anyone; for some chance guided the shaft as it came out of a crowded mass of men, fastened itself in the man’s neck, and killed him outright, and by one man’s death the battle was inclined and victory fell to the Romans. For as he fell from his horse to the ground on his face and lay there, the barbarians went in a wild rush to their stockade, while the Rinnans with the Lazi followed upon their heels and slew many, hoping to capture with one rush the camp of their opponents. But one of the Alani, who was a man of great courage and bodily strength and who knew unusually well how to shoot rapidly to either side, took his stand at the entrance of the stockade, which was very narrow, and unexpectedly blocked the way for the oncoming Romans for a long time. But John, the son of Thomas, approached alone very close to him and slew the man with a spear, and thus the Romans and Lazi captured the camp. And great numbers indeed of the barbarians were destroyed there, and the remainder betook themselves away to their native land, each one as he found it possible to get there. So this invasion of the Persians into the land of Colchis ended in this way. Meanwhile another Persian army, after fortifying the garrison at Petra with an abundance of provisions and all other supplies, had departed on their way.

  Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τάδε ξυνηνέχθη γενέσθαι. Λαζοὶ Δαγισθαῖον ἐς βασιλέα διέβαλλον, ἐς Βυζάντιον ἥκοντες, προδοσίαν τε καὶ μηδισμὸν ἐπιφέροντες. [2] Πέρσαις γὰρ αὐτ
ὸν ἰσχυρίζοντο ἀναπεισθέντα οὐ βεβουλῆσθαι καταπεπτωκότος τοῦ Πέτρας περιβόλου ἐπιβατεῦσαι, τούς τε πολεμίους θυλάκους μεταξὺ ψάμμου ἐμπλησαμένους καὶ αὐτῶν τὰς ἐπιβολὰς ἀντὶ λίθων ποιησαμένους τοῦ περιβόλου ὅσα καταπεπτώκει ταύτῃ κρατύνασθαι. [3] ἔλεγόν τε ὡς Δαγισθαῖος, εἴτε χρήμασιν εἴτε ὀλιγωρίᾳ ἐς τοῦτο ἠγμένος, τὴν ἐπίθεσιν ἐς ἕτερόν τινα χρόνον ἀπέθετο, καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ τὴν ἀκμὴν ἐν τῷ παραυτίκα μεθῆκεν, ἧς γε οὐκέτι ἀντιλαβέσθαι οἷός τε ἐγεγόνει. [4] αὐτὸν οὖν βασιλεὺς ἐν τῷ οἰκήματι καθείρξας ἐτήρει: Βέσσαν δέ, ἐξ Ἰταλίας οὐ πολλῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἥκοντα, στρατηγὸν Ἀρμενίων καταστησάμενος ἐς Λαζικὴν πέμπει, ἄρχειν ἐπαγγείλας τοῦ ἐνταῦθα Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ. [5] οὗ δὴ καὶ Βενῖλος, ὁ Βούζου ἀδελφός, ξὺν στρατῷ ἤδη σταλεὶς ἔτυχε καὶ Ὀδόναχός τε καὶ ὁ Βάβας ἐκ Θρᾴκης καὶ Οὐλίγαγος Ἔρουλος γενος. [6] Ὅ τε Ναβέδης ἐσβαλὼν ἐς Λαζικὴν στρατῷ ἄλλο μέν τι λόγου ἄξιον οὐδὲν ἔδρασεν, Ἀβασγοῖς δὲ ἀποστᾶσιν ἀπό τε Ῥωμαίων καὶ Λαζῶν ἐπιχωριάσας τῇ στρατιᾷ ταύτῃ, παῖδας τῶν ἐν σφίσι λογίμων ἑξήκοντα ἐν ὁμήρων λόγῳ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἔλαβε. [7] ῾τότε δὲ ποιούμενος ὁ Ναβέδης ὁδοῦ πάρεργον, καὶ Θεοδώραν Ὀψίτῃ ξυνοικήσασαν ῾ὃς ἐγεγόνει Γουβάζου μὲν θεῖος, Λαζῶν δὲ βασιλεὺς᾿ εὑρὼν ἐν Ἀψιλίοις εἷλεν, ἔς τε τὰ Περσῶν ἤθη ἀπήνεγκε. [8] Ῥωμαία δὲ γένος ἡ γυνὴ ἐτύγχανεν οὖσα, ἐπεὶ ἐκ παλαιοῦ οἱ Λαζῶν βασιλεῖς ἐς Βυζάντιον πέμποντες βασιλέως τε γνώμῃ ξυνιόντες ἐς κῆδός τισι τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς γυναῖκας ἐνθένδε γαμετὰς ἐκομίζοντο. [9] καὶ Γουβάζης ἀμέλει Ῥωμαίας γυναικὸς ἐγεγόνει γένος.᾿ ὅτου δὲ ἕνεκα οἱ Ἀβασγοὶ οὗτοι ἐς ἀπόστασιν εἶδον, ἐγὼ δηλώσω. [10] Ἐπειδὴ βασιλεῖς τοὺς σφετέρους καθεῖλον, ᾗπέρ μοι ἔναγχος δεδιήγηται, στρατιῶται Ῥωμαίων πρὸς βασιλέως στελλόμενοι ἐπεχωρίαζόν τε αὐτοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον καὶ προσποιεῖσθαι τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ τὴν χώραν ἠξίουν, καινά τε αὐτοῖς ἄττα ἐπέταττον. [11] οἷσπερ Ἀβασγοὶ βιαιοτέροις οὖσιν ἀτεχνῶς ἤχθοντο. δείσαντες οὖν μὴ Ῥωμαίων δοῦλοι τὸ λοιπὸν ἔσονται, τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὖθις κατεστήσαντο σφίσιν Ὀψίτην μὲν ὄνομα ἐς τῆς χώρας τὰ πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον, [12] Σκεπαρνᾶν δὲ ἐς τὰ πρὸς ἑσπέραν. ἐς ἀγαθῶν γὰρ ἐκπεπτωκότες ἀπόγνωσιν τὰπρότερον δόξαντα σφίσι μοχθηρὰ εἶναι τῶν ἐπιγενομένων ἅτε πονηροτέρων ὄντων, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, ἀντηλλάσσοντο, δύναμίν τε ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ τὴν Ῥωμαίων δειμαίνοντες Πέρσαις ὡς λαθραιότατα προσεχώρησαν. ἅπερ ἐπεὶ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς ἤκουσε, Βέσσαν ἐκέλευε στράτευμα λόγου ἄξιον ἐπ̓ αὐτοὺς στεῖλαι. [13] ὁ δὲ πολλοὺς ἀπολεξάμενος τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ, καὶ ἄρχοντας ἐπιστήσας αὐτοῖς Οὐλίγαγόν τε καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν Θωμᾶ υἱόν, αὐτίκα ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀβασγοὺς ναυσὶν ἔπεμψεν. ἐτύγχανε δὲ ἅτερος μὲν τῶν ἐν Ἀβασγοῖς ἡγουμένων, Σκεπαρνᾶς ὄνομα, ἐν Πέρσαις τινὰ διατριβὴν ἔχων: [14] μετάπεμπτος γὰρ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον παρὰ Χοσρόην ἀφῖκτο. ὁ δὲ δὴ ἕτερος, τὴν Ῥωμαίων μαθὼν ἔφοδον, τούς τε Ἀβασγοὺς ἅπαντας ἤγειρε καὶ ὑπαντιάζειν διὰ σπουδῆς εἶχεν. [15] Ἔστι δὲ χῶρος μετὰ τοὺς Ἀψιλίας ὅρους ἐν τῇ ἐς τὴν Ἀβασγίαν εἰσόδῳ τοιόσδε: ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἐκ τῶν Καυκασίων ἀρχόμενον καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ ἐλασσούμενόν τε καὶ ὑπολῆγον ὥσπερ τις κλῖμαξ κατατείνει καὶ τελευτᾷ ἐς τὸν Εὔξεινον Πόντον. [16] καὶ φρούριον μὲν ἐχυρώτατόν τε καὶ μεγέθους πέρι ἀξιολογώτατον ἐκ παλαιοῦ Ἀβασγοὶ ἐν τῇ ὑπωρείᾳ τοῦ ὄρους τούτου ἐδείμαντο. [17] οὗ δὴ καταφεύγοντες ἐκκρούουσιν ἀεὶ τὰς τῶν πολεμίων ἐφόδους, οὐδαμῆ ἐχόντων τὴν δυσχωρίαν βιάζεσθαι. μία δὲ εἴσοδος εἰσάγουσά ἐστιν ἔς τε τὸ φρούριον τοῦτο καὶ ἐς τὴν ἄλλην Ἀβασγῶν χώραν, ἥπερ ἀνδράσι σύνδυο ἐρχομένοις ἀπόρευτος τυγχάνει οὖσα. [18] μηχανὴ γὰρ οὐδεμία ἐστὶν ὅτι μὴ κατ̓ ἄνδρα καὶ μόλις πεζεύοντα ἐνθένδε ἰέναι. τῆς τε ἀτραποῦ ταύτης ὑπέρκειται φάραγξ ἐσάγαν σκληρὰ ἐκ τοῦ φρουρίου διήκουσα μέχρι ἐς τὴν θάλασσαν. [19] φέρεται δὲ καὶ προσηγορίαν τῆς φάραγγος ἀξίαν ὁ χῶρος, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸν ἑλληνίζοντες οἱ τῇδε ἄνθρωποι τὰ Τραχέα καλοῦσιν. [20] Ὁ μὲν οὖν Ῥωμαίων στόλος μεταξὺ ὁρίων τῶν τε Ἀβασγῶν καὶ Ἀψιλίων κατέπλευσεν, Ἰωάννης δὲ καὶ Οὐλίγαγος ἐς τὴν γῆν τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀποβιβάσαντες πεζῇ ἐχώρουν, οἵ τε ναῦται ταῖς ἀκάτοις ἁπάσαις παρὰ τὴν ἠϊόνα τῷ στρατῷ εἵποντο. [21] ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν Τραχέων ὡς ἀγχοτάτω ἐγένοντο, ἐξωπλισπένους τε ὁρῶσιν Ἀβασγοὺς ἅπαντας καὶ τῆς ἀτραποῦ ὕπερθεν ἧς ἄρτι ἐμνήσθην κατὰ τὴν φάραγγα ὅλην ἐν τάξει ἑστῶτας, ἀμηχανίᾳ τε πολλῇ εἴχοντο θέσθαι τὰ σφίσι παρόντα οὐδαμῆ ἔχοντες, ἕως ἐν αὑτῷ πολλὰ λογισάμενος Ἰωάννης ἄκεσίν τινα τοῦ κακοῦ εὗρε. [22] τὸν γὰρ Οὐλίγαγον ξὺν τῷ ἡμίσει τοῦ στρατοῦ ἐνταῦθα ἐάσας αὐτὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπαγόμενος τὰς ἀκάτους ἐπλήρου. ἐρέσσοντές τε χῶρον τὸν τῶν Τραχέων περιῆλθόν τε καὶ διέβησαν ὅλον καὶ κατὰ νώτου τῶν πολεμίων ταύτῃ ἐγένοντο. [23] ἄραντες οὖν τὰ σημεῖα ἐς αὐτοὺς ᾔεσαν. Ἀβασγοὶ δὲ τοὺς πολεμίους σφίσιν ἑκατέρωθεν ἐγκειμένους ἰδόντες ἐς ἀλκὴν μὲν οὐκέτι ἔβλεπον, οὐδὲ τὴν τάξιν ἐφύλασσον, ἐς ὑπαγω�
�ὴν δὲ ξὺν πολλῇ ἀκοσμίᾳ τραπόμενοι πρόσω ἐχώρουν, οὕτω τῷ δέει καὶ τῇ ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ ἀμηχανίᾳ συμποδιζόμενοι ὥστε οὔτε τὴν πατρῴαν σφίσι δυσχωρίαν ἔτι διαγινώσκειν ἐδύναντο οὔτε πη εὐπετῶς ἐνθένδε ἰέναι. [24] Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ αὐτοῖς ἑκατέρωθεν ἐπισπόμενοί τε καὶ καταλαβόντες πολλοὺς ἔκτειναν. δρόμῳ τε ξὺν τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἐς τὸ φρούριον ἀφικόμενοι ἀνακεκλιμένης ἔτι ἐπιτυγχάνουσι τῆς ταύτῃ πυλίδος: οἱ γὰρ φύλακες ἐπιθεῖναι τὰς θύρας οὐδαμῆ εἶχον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς φεύγοντας ἔτι ἐδέχοντο. [25] τῶν τε φυγόντων τοῖς διώκουσιν ἀναμιχθέντων ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας ἵενται ἅπαντες, οἱ μὲν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τοῦ σώζεσθαι, [26] οἱ δὲ τοῦ τὸ φρούριον ἐξελεῖν. ἀνακεκλιμένας οὖν τὰς πύλας εὑρόντες συνεισέβαλον ἐς ταύτας ἀλλήλοις. οἱ γὰρ πυλωροὶ οὔτε διακρίνειν ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων τοὺς Ἀβασγοὺς εἶχον οὔτε τὰς πύλας ὑπερβιαζομένου τοῦ ὁμίλου ἐπιτιθέναι. [27] Καὶ οἱ μὲν Ἀβασγοὶ ἄσμενοι ἐντὸς τοῦ περιβόλου γενόμενοι ξὺν τῷ φρουρίῳ ἡλίσκοντο, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων κεκρατηκέναι οἰόμενοι πόνῳ δυσκολωτέρῳ ἐνταῦθα ὡμίλουν. [28] τῶν γὰρ οἰκιῶν συχνῶν τε οὐσῶν καὶ οὐ λίαν διεχουσῶν ἀλλήλων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρόπον τείχους πανταχόθεν συμπεφραγμένων, Ἀβασγοὶ ἐς αὐτὰς ἀναβάντες καὶ σθένει παντὶ ἀμυνόμενοι, τοὺς πολεμίους κατὰ κορυφὴν ἔβαλλον, πόνῳ καὶ φόβῳ καὶ τῷ ἐς παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας ἐλέῳ καὶ τῇ ἐνθένδε ἀπορίᾳ ἐχόμενοι, ἕως Ῥωμαίοις ἐμπρῆσαι τὰς οἰκίας ἐς ἔννοιαν ἦλθε. [29] πῦρ τοίνυν αὐταῖς πανταχόθεν ἀνάψαντες τοῦ ἀγῶνος παντάπασι τούτου ἐκράτησαν. Ὀψίτης μὲν οὖν, ὁ τῶν Ἀβασγῶν ἄρχων, ξὺν ὀλίγοις τισὶ φυγεῖν ἴσχυσεν, ἔς τε Οὔννους τοὺς πλησιοχώρους καὶ ὄρος τὸ Καυκάσιον ἀνεχώρησε. [30] τοῖς δὲ δὴ ἄλλοις ἢ ξὺν ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐξηνθρακωμένοις τετεφρῶσθαι ξυνέβη, ἢ ὑπὸ ταῖς τῶν πολεμίων γεγονέναι χερσίν. ἐζώγρησαν δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀρχόντων γυναῖκας ξὺν γόνῳ παντί, τοῦ τε φρουρίου τὸν περίβολον ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλον καὶ τὴν χώραν ἔρημον κατεστήσαντο ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον. Ἀβασγοῖς μὲν οὖν τὰ τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἐς τοῦτο ἐτελεύτα: ἐν δὲ Ἀψιλίοις ἐγένετο τάδε.