L'4

Agcthlalr ThE llhtorler

what kind of men they were togcthcr with thclr numbera nd the orrlcr atd
mmner in which the succession has bcen maintnlned, 4 r(/hat Sergiul dld
then was to take the names and dates and principal evcnts and put theEl
into good Greek, a task for whid: he was peculiarly well.fitted bcing tru&
and away the best translator of his day, so mudr so that his talents hocl wca
him the admiration of Chosroes himself and made him the acJ<nowleclged
master of his subject in both Empires. After having made what muct lrrv
been an e)ftremely accurate translation he was as good as his word and ntorG
obligingly brought me all his material, urging me to fulfil the purpouc for
whidr it had been entrusted to him. And that is exactly what I have cloue,
5 Consequently even if there are some discrqnncies between my accouut of
the reign o{ Kavad and Procopius' version of it we must follow the authurlty
of the Persian documents and credit their contents with gfeater veracity,
Now that I have acquitted myself of my task let me resume my accoullt
of events inLazica.I had intemupted it at the following point:
6 Because of his cowardice, because of his defeat at the hands of Mrrrtln
and the Roman forces and of his disgraceful retreat to lberia, Nachotrrgan
\r/as put to an extremely cruel death the manner of whidr I have alreorly
described. 7 Realizng that he was in no position to fight the Romans in
Lazica, since they had control of the sea and so had no difiiculty in procurirrg
whatever they needed, whilst he was obliged to send a few scanty supplier
to his troops over immense tracts of desert conveying them with increcliblo
difiiculty on the shoulders of porters and the bacl<s of pad<-animals, Chosroee
decided to put an end to the'ffar on all fronts. There seemed to be no point
in protractinga f.aalty and defective peace which was confined only to certnin
regions and every reason for giving it general and universal validity,
8 Consequently he dispatdred a very high-ranking Persian dignitary, a mnn
by the name of Zidt, on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. 9 On hir
anival there he met the Emperor Justinian and they had a lengthy exdrange
of views. Finally they agreed that both the Romans and the Persians shoultl
retain whatever they had acquired tnLazica by right of conquest, whether
tolvns or forts, and that both sides should observe a general armistice ancl
refrain from all forms of mutual aggression pending some more far-reacJring
and authoritative agreement between the sovereigns of both states.38 Ancl
so Zidd having accomplished his mission returned home. ro ilhen these
terms had been announced to the generals the armies rdrained from all
further hostities for a considerable length of time, and a situation which

had akeady risen spontaneously was ofiicially endorsed.

BOOK

1. And so these great rival powets laid down their arms in accordance
time' with,1;itlrg
[-,;s;;;;;i a ,.*ri" at peace{or avery long
meanwhile the
z
But
;;l"ii;, i.i"a of fotceaginst the other'

of the fact that they had long

J;;; klrt t. majority of thm, in spitegi""'
up their:Itled wavs of
;-ii;';;d ;"i*it'Litr,. Romans hud
of ?ontus and its
dismict
the
raiding
;"d ,*";i; rigundrg. and kept
Nevertheless a

,;iJ ,uurglrg th"e fields aid molesting wayfarers.

Arh;;.ili tJ-ri*d true to their former wavs and
budl" hand in
of the Euxine near
a*..rr"r. The[zam,incidentally, live to the south

aond. They even crossed over

Autumn of 557 A. D.

inio Armenia wherever it was practicable,

noa"ri"* an behaving with all the hostility of declared enemies'

F;;'d'ctyir,ao*'"whomlthinkl11::',,!::*.y^fl
;;#b* of their nation and the most distinguished:":':i;"1::i
9f tlt R9m1n
,J";;.-*;, senr to deal with them. It was only naara) that he should

lob since he was

r.* ,lr. man whom the Emperor selected for the and
';;q"il.i with his own couny than anyone.else knew;x1a!
the best
;ilifr point he could invade it most successfully, whidr wasSetting
ofi
i.i.r-p*g and how best to trad<- dow-n the enemy' .he4 crossed the
men
of
with a not inconsiderable body
; ilfi;a
io" *.r, on the opposite side of the river Phasis and penetrated
Endi*h into the h.uri f what at the time 'as enemy territory.
place
called
the
and
Theodorias
tr;-il rhe vicinity of the rown of
those peacedffi" and building'atampattround the camp he summoned
yet disafiected and

fri"narv el.meit, in the population whidr we-re not

;;J;tfr; on them, praising-them the_ w1ile for their moderation and
,orr"1 ", to thoseho had violated the terms of their alliance and

,ia

lrorrt compunction he prepared to mete out summary punishment

blow
i* of ur.r. i f"t the enemy lost no time in striking the firstheights
commanding
on
the
forces
their
Concentrating
fortl
;rrr.kirg the
, i"rm they rained down spears -and arrows on the Romanq who
by this unexpected piece_ of daring.
i"r"
""nfusion
But they
, N.u.rth.lo,
-roy of them eagerly rushed out to the attack'enemy,.olt
waiting.to
witho-ut
fashlon
irregular
in
an
:dvanced
'.h:
they tried in a frt of. disorganized fury to climb
,up th. rrn, nouing their shields tilted over their heads and stooping
however, throwing their spears from a great height
)

.il"d

;;a

*i

-il;;;n

!.ot

&'y

il';^il;-g*i."f""ead

38

'

,fi*frii, f1.fi*i