22

For it is not easy for all things to be enumerated precisely2.4.21 by name. But, to speak concisely, all things that were previously exposed to our enemies he has now made to be unassailable. And as a result, Mesopotamia is manifestly inaccessible to the Persian race. 2.4.22 Nor, indeed, must I fail to mention what he devised in the fort of Baras, which I have just mentioned. For the interior of the fort happened to be completely without water, and on a very high mountain especially on the precipitous part this Baras 2.4.23 has been built. And outside it, at the greatest possible distance, at the foot of the mountain beyond the steep slope, there was a spring, which it seemed disadvantageous to enclose with the wall of the fort, lest some part of it, lying in a low place, should be easily captured. 2.4.24 So he devised the following. He ordered the area inside the circuit-wall to be excavated until they should reach approximately the same level. And when this was accomplished according to the emperor's command, the water from the spring, contrary to expectation, was seen flowing into this place. And so the fort has been constructed with security and, as for water, is seen to be situated in a suitable place. 2.5.1 And so too with Theodosiopolis, which is by the river Aborrhas set as a defence for the land of the Romans, its circuit-wall, which time had been most able to ruin, and on account of this did not give confidence for their safety to the people there, but continually terrified them all with the threat that it would not be long before it fell upon them—this emperor, by rebuilding the greater part of it, was well able to prevent the invasions of the Persians into Mesopotamia. 2.5.2 It is worthy to tell what sort of things he also displayed in Constantina. Formerly the circuit-wall of Constantina was, in its height, pregnable by ladder, and in its other construction exceedingly easy to attack, as if it had been built as a sort of secondary task by the men of old. 2.5.3 For the towers stood so far from one another that, if any attackers should approach the space between, those standing on the towers had no way in which they might repel them in their defence. But indeed also, being decayed by length of time, for the most part it was not far from collapsing. 2.5.4 And besides, the city had such an outwork that it seemed to have become a counter-fortification against itself. For its thickness was not more than three feet, and it was, moreover, put together with mud, the lower parts for a short distance being raised of millstone, but the parts above of the so-called "white stone," which is both friable and exceedingly soft. So that, in fact, the whole thing was easily captured by attackers. 2.5.5 But the Emperor Justinian restored the decayed parts of the circuit-wall with new construction, and especially those parts facing the setting sun and 2.5.6 the north wind. And everywhere in the fortification between two towers he has inserted another, and as a result all the towers, being as close as possible to each other, project 2.5.7 from the circuit-wall. And by adding a great deal of height to the whole wall and to all the towers, he made the stronghold of the 2.5.8 city invincible to the enemy. But also by having made covered ascents for the towers, and by building them three-storied with courses of stones fashioned with the curves of vaults, he has caused each of them both to be 2.5.9 and to be called a "tower-fortress". For they call forts "castelli" in the Latin tongue. But also with regard to its water supply, 2.5.10 Constantina previously suffered incurable ills. For outside, as from a single point, there are springs of drinking water and from there grows a grove of considerable size, planted full with trees that reach to the sky; but inside, where the streets happen to be not on level ground but on a slope, the city was without water from ancient times, and with both thirst and 2.5.11 great helplessness the inhabitants were always afflicted. But the Emperor Justinian, by bringing the stream inside the wall by an aqueduct and adorning the city with ever-flowing fountains, would rightly be called its founder. So then, the works relating to these cities have been accomplished in this way by the Emperor Justinian. 2.6.1 There was a fort of the Romans by the river Euphrates on the borders of Mesopotamia, where indeed the river Aborras, mingling with the Euphrates, makes its outlet there. 2.6.2

22

ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀκρι2.4.21 βολογεῖσθαι πρὸς ὄνομα οὐκ εὐπετές ἐστι. συνελόντα δὲ εἰπεῖν ἅπαντα πρότερον τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσιν ὑποκείμενα τανῦν ἀνανταγώνιστα πεποίηκεν εἶναι. καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἡ Μεσοποταμία τῷ Περσῶν γένει ἄβατος διαφανῶς ἐστιν. 2.4.22 Οὐ σιωπητέον δὲ οὐδὲ ὅπερ ἐν τῷ Βάρας φρουρίῳ ἐξεῦρεν, οὗπερ ἐπεμνήσθην ἀρτίως. τὰ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ φρουρίου ἐντὸς ἄνυδρα τὸ παράπαν ὄντα ἐτύγχανεν, ἐν ὄρει δὲ ὑψηλῷ μάλιστα κατὰ τὸ κρημνῶδες τὸ Βάρας 2.4.23 τοῦτο πεποίηται. ἔκτοσθεν δὲ αὐτοῦ ὡς ἀπωτάτω ἐν τῇ ὑπωρεία μετὰ τὸ πρανὲς κρήνη ἦν, ἥνπερ ἐδόκει ἀξύμφορον εἶναι τῷ τειχίσματι τοῦ φρουρίου περιβαλεῖν, ὡς μή τις αὐτοῦ μοῖρα ἐν ὑπτίῳ κειμένη εὐάλωτος εἴη. 2.4.24 ἐπενόει δὲ τάδε. τὰ ἐντὸς τοῦ περιβόλου διορύσσειν ἐκέλευεν ἕως ἐς τὸ ὁμαλὲς μάλιστα ἵκωνται. ὅπερ ἐπεὶ ὑπετελέσθη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπίταξιν, ἐπιρρέον ἐνταῦθα τὸ ὕδωρ ἐκ τῆς πηγῆς παρὰ δόξαν ἐφάνη. οὕτω τε καὶ τὸ φρούριον δεδημιούργηται ξὺν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ καὶ ὕδατος πέρι ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ φαίνεται κείμενον. 2.5.1 Οὕτω δὲ καὶ Θεοδοσιουπόλεως, τῆς παρὰ ποταμὸν Ἀβόρραν γῆς τῆς Ῥωμαίων προβεβλημένης, τὸν περίβολον, ὅνπερ ὁ χρόνος κατεργάσασθαι μάλιστα ἴσχυσε, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῖς τῇδε ἀνθρώποις οὐχ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἐδίδου θαρρεῖν, ἀλλὰ διηνεκὲς ἅπαντας ἐξέπλησσε, δεδισσόμενος ὅτι δὴ οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν αὐτοῖς ἐμπεσεῖται, ἀνοικοδομησάμενος ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος διακωλύειν τάς γε κατὰ Μεσοποταμίαν Περσῶν ἐσβολὰς ἱκανῶς ἔσχεν. 2.5.2 Οἷα δὲ καὶ ἐν Κωνσταντίνῃ ἐπιδέδεικται εἰπεῖν ἄξιον. ἦν μὲν τὰ πρότερα ὁ Κωνσταντίνης περίβολος τό τε ὕψος κλίμακι ἁλωτὸς τήν τε ἄλλην κατασκευὴν εὐέφοδος ἄγαν, ὥσπερ τι πάρεργον γεγενημένος τοῖς πάλαι ἀν2.5.3 θρώποις. τοσούτῳ γὰρ διειστήκεισαν οἱ πύργοι ἀλλήλων ὥστε, εἰ προσβαλοῦντές τινες ἐς τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν προσίοιεν, οὐκ εἶχον οἱ κατὰ τοὺς πύργους ἑστῶτες καθ' ὅτι ἂν αὐτοὺς ἀμυνόμενοι ἀποκρούοιντο. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ χρόνου μήκει πεπονηκὼς ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τοῦ κατα2.5.4 πεπτωκέναι οὐ μακράν που ἐγένετο. πρὸς δὲ καὶ τοιοῦτο τῇ πόλει προτείχισμα ἦν οἷον ἐπιτείχισμα κατ' αὐτῆς γεγονέναι δοκεῖν. οὐ πλέον γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἢ ἐς πόδας τρεῖς ἐγεγόνει τὸ πάχος, καὶ αὐτὸ μέντοι πηλῷ σύνθετον, τὰ μὲν κάτω ἐς ὀλίγον ἐκ λίθου μυλίτου ἀνεστηκός, τὰ δὲ ὕπερθεν ἐκ τοῦ λευκολίθου καλουμένου, σφαλεροῦ τε ὄντος καὶ μαλακοῦ λίαν. ὥστε δὴ ὅλον ἦν τοῖς ἐπι2.5.5 οῦσιν εὐάλωτον. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς τὰ μὲν πεπονηκότα τοῦ περιβόλου νέᾳ τινὶ ἀνεσώσατο οἰκοδομίᾳ, καὶ διαφερόντως τὰ πρὸς ἥλιον δύοντα τετραμμένα καὶ 2.5.6 βορρᾶν ἄνεμον. τοῦ δὲ δὴ ἐρύματος πανταχῆ μεταξὺ πύργοιν δυοῖν ἄλλον ἐντέθεικε, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πύργοι ἅπαντες ὡς ἀγχοτάτω ἀλλήλοις ὄντες τοῦ περιβόλου προ2.5.7 βέβληνται. ὅλῳ δὲ τῷ τείχει καὶ πᾶσι πύργοις μέγα τι χρῆμα ὕψους ἐνθέμενος ἄμαχον τοῖς πολεμίοις τὸ τῆς 2.5.8 πόλεως ὀχύρωμα κατεστήσατο. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνόδους τοῖς πύργοις κεκαλυμμένας πεποιημένος, τριωρόφους τε αὐτοὺς λίθων ἐπιβολαῖς τεκτηνάμενος κυρτώμασι γεγονυίαις θόλων, πυργοκάστελλον αὐτῶν ἕκαστον εἶναί τε 2.5.9 καὶ καλεῖσθαι πεποίηκε. καστέλλους γὰρ τὰ φρούρια τῇ Λατίνων καλοῦσι φωνῇ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀμφὶ τοῖς ὕδασιν ἡ 2.5.10 Κωνσταντίνα τὰ ἀνήκεστα ἔπασχε πρότερον. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκτός, ὅσον ἐκ σημείου ἑνός, πηγαί τέ εἰσι ποτίμων ὑδάτων καὶ ἄλσος ἐνθένδε φύεται ἐπιεικῶς μέγα, οὐρανομήκεσι κατάφυτον δένδροις· τὰ μέντοι ἐντός, ἵνα δὴ οὐκ ἐφ' ὁμαλοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ἀνάντει τὰς ἀγυιὰς συμβαίνει εἶναι, ἄνυδρός τε ἦν ἡ πόλις ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ δίψῃ τε καὶ 2.5.11 ἀμηχανίᾳ πολλῇ οἱ τῇδε ᾠκημένοι ἐς ἀεὶ εἴχοντο. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς ὀχετῷ τὸ ῥεῖθρον μεταβιβάσας τοῦ τείχους ἐντός, κρήναις τε τὴν πόλιν ἀειρρύτοις διακοσμήσας, οἰκιστὴς ἂν αὐτῆς δικαίως καλοῖτο. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐς τάσδε τὰς πόλεις ταύτῃ Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ εἴργασται. 2.6.1 Ἦν δὲ Ῥωμαίων φρούριον παρὰ ποταμὸν Εὐφράτην ἐν τοῖς Μεσοποταμίας ἐσχάτοις, ἵνα δὴ Ἀβόρρας ποταμὸς τῷ Εὐφράτῃ ἀναμιγνύμενος τὴν ἐκβολὴν ἐν2.6.2 ταῦθα ποιεῖται.