,

always courting danger, whenever he somewhere heard a 2.16.2 war-trumpet sounding. At that time, this man was garrisoned 2.16.2 in the fortress. Therefore it seemed good to Bousas to ride out into the meadows near the fortress, and then to extend himself somewhat farther, as if to hunt with more distinction. 2.16.3 And so the Avars captured Bousas, and the hunter became the hunted. When they had seized him, they threatened to pierce him with a spear. But he begged them not to do this, but rather to bargain for his life with a ransom; for it would not profit the barbarians for Bousas to be dead 2.16.4 and to scorn splendid gifts. The barbarians therefore accepted the promise and did not refuse the bargain. And so they led the captive to the fortress and proclaimed to those in the stronghold that they would slay Bousas before their eyes, unless they honored him with gifts and kindness. And 2.16.5 Bousas also implored the Romans not to overlook him as he wavered on the very balance between salvation and death, as if in a no-man's land, and he begged them to weigh favors in return for him, and with shouting and tears he recited his deeds of valor, which he had won for the Romans 2.16.6 through the greatest dangers, and he improvised a catalogue of his exploits, and showed the contests inscribed by the scars on his body, displaying them as if they were signs of his labors, and he bared the marks of the enemy's missiles all the more clearly, and, to speak concisely, from what he had suffered he deemed it right to carry away from those he had benefited the boon of not suffering. 2.16.7 But they were displeased, having been corrupted by a certain man, who, rumor had it, consorted with the wife of Bousas in certain stolen pleasures. And so they sent the barbarians 2.16.8 away dishonored. Being in greater danger, therefore, Bousas beseeched the barbarian to grant a brief delay to his death, and as a reward for the temporary truce to hand over the fortress to the barbarians; for he thought it necessary for the ungrateful to suffer first and for their inhumanity to share beforehand in the disaster, so that the evil might first begin 2.16. with himself. And when the enemy had received a greater promise, they became more cheerfully disposed towards mercy, and they secured by oath to preserve Bousas, and not to kill him, but to grant him the right to a natural death, whenever it wished to dissolve his bond; for they would not inflict upon him this artificial and acquired death, if he would accept for himself the terms 2.16.10 of the agreement. And indeed Bousas taught the Avars, who were still most ignorant of such devices, to construct a certain siege engine, 2.16.11 and he prepared the helepolis for shooting. And not long after, the fortress was cast down, and Bousas exacted retribution for their inhumanity, having taught the barbarians a terrible contrivance for siege warfare. For from that time on, the enemy effortlessly subdued a great many Roman cities by using this original device. 2.16.12 Nevertheless, he attacks Beroe and, having suffered a very great loss of time and having engaged in great toils, he carried away the conclusion of the contests un-crowned, since the inhabitants of the city arrayed themselves against him more nobly. However, for some small sum of money they exchanged their armed conflict; for this was for him a plausible cover for his failure. 2.17.1 And he also besieged the city of Diocletian with persistence, but the city resisted most vigorously and prevented him from attacking with impunity; for it had set up catapults on the walls and other defensive machines, and it was impossible for the barbarians to engage in close combat. 2.17.2 Therefore he departed, vexed, and, as the saying goes, suffering the fate of the wolf; for he had gaped at empty hopes. And immediately he moved on to the city of Philippus and, having surrounded the town, strove to take it. And the men of the city fought back more nimbly 2.17.3 and wounded many from both the circuit walls and the battlements,

προκινδυνεύων ἀεί, ὁπότε που καὶ 2.16.2 σάλπιγγος ἐνυάλιον φωνούσης ᾐσθάνετο. οὗτος κατ' ἐκεῖνο 2.16.2 καιροῦ παρῴκει τὸ φρούριον. τοιγαροῦν ἔδοξε τῷ Βουσᾷ ἱππάζεσθαι ἐς τοὺς πέλας τοῦ φρουρίου λειμῶνας, εἶτά τι καὶ πορρωτέρω που παρεκτείνεσθαι ἅτε δὴ κυνηγετήσων πως 2.16.3 εὐδοκιμώτερον. οὐκοῦν τὸν Βουσᾶν οἱ βάροι συλλαμβάνουσιν, καὶ γέγονεν ὁ κυνηγέτης εἰς θήρατρον. ἐπεὶ δὲ κατέσχον, ἠπείλουν αὐτοῦ καθικέσθαι τῷ δόρατι. ὁ δ' ἐξῄτει μὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖν, λύτροις δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ ζῆν ἐμπορεύεσθαι· μὴ γὰρ ὀνήσειν τοὺς βαρβάρους τὸ τεθνάναι τὸν 2.16.4 Βουσᾶν καὶ δώρων ὑπερφρονῆσαι λαμπρῶν. εἰσεποιήσαντο τοίνυν οἱ βάρβαροι τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν καὶ τὴν ἐμπορίαν οὐκ ἀπηνήναντο. καὶ οὖν ἄγουσι τὸν ἑαλωκότα ἐπὶ τὸ φρούριον ἐπεκηρυκεύοντό τε τοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀχυρώματι πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀποσφάττειν τὸν Βουσᾶν, εἰ μὴ δώροις αὐτὸν καὶ φιλοφροσύνῃ τιμήσαιντο. ἠντιβόλει δὲ καὶ ὁ 2.16.5 Βουσᾶς μὴ περιορᾶν ῾Ρωμαίους αὐτὸν ὥσπερ ἐν μεταιχμίῳ τινὶ τῇ πλάστιγγι σωτηρίας καὶ θανάτου ταλαντευόμενον, καὶ ζυγοστατεῖν αὐτῷ ἀμοιβαίως ἱκέτευε χάριτας, μετὰ βοῆς τε καὶ δακρύων τὰς ἀριστείας ἀπεστόμιζεν, ἃς ὑπὲρ ῾Ρω2.16.6 μαίων διὰ μεγίστων κινδύνων ἀπεκληρώσατο, τόν τε τῶν ἄθλων κατάλογον ἀπεσχεδίαζεν, καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ὠτειλαῖς ἀναγράπτους ἐδείκνυε τὰς ἐμφάσεις ὥσπερ τῶν πόνων ἐπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ τῶν πολεμίων βολῶν τρανέστερον ἀνεγύμνου τὰ σήμαντρα, καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν, ἐξ ὧν ἔπαθε τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἠξίου παρὰ τῶν εὐεργετηθέντων 2.16.7 ἀποίσεσθαι. οἱ δὲ δυσανασχετοῦσιν ὑπό τινος διαφθαρέντες ἀνδρός, ὃν καὶ λόγος διεκωμῴδει τῇ τοῦ Βουσᾶ γυναικὶ ἐπικλόποις τισὶν ἡδοναῖς ὁμιλῆσαι. ἀτάρ τοι τοὺς βαρβάρους 2.16.8 ἠτιμωμένους ἀπεπέμποντο. ἐν μείζονι τοίνυν κινδύνῳ ὁ Βουσᾶς γενόμενος ἐλιπάρει τὸ βάρβαρον ἀναβολήν τινα μικρὰν τὰ τοῦ θανάτου λαβεῖν, καὶ μισθὸν τῆς τέως ἀνακωχῆς παραδιδόναι τοῖς βαρβάροις τὸ φρούριον· δεῖν γὰρ ᾤετο προπαθεῖν τοὺς ἐπιλήσμονας χάριτος καὶ προμεταλήψεσθαι τῆς συμφορᾶς τὸ ἀπάνθρωπον, ἵνα πρῶτον καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸ 2.16. κακὸν σχοίη τὴν πρόοδον. ἐπεὶ δὲ μείζονος ἐπαγγελίας τετύχηκε τὸ πολέμιον, ἱλαρώτερον πρὸς φιλανθρωπίαν ἐγίνετο, ὠχύρου τε ὅρκῳ τὸν Βουσᾶν περισώζειν, μὴ μὴν ἀναιρεῖν, φυσικῷ δὲ θανάτῳ τὴν ἐξουσίαν χαρίζεσθαι, ὁπόταν ἐθέλοι τὸν ἐκείνου διαλύεσθαι σύνδεσμον· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιφέρειν αὐτῷ τὸν τεχνητὸν τοῦτον καὶ ἐπίκτητον θάνατον, εἴγε πέρας 2.16.10 αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας προσδέξηται. καὶ δῆτα ὁ Βουσᾶς τοὺς ᾿Αβάρους ἐδίδασκε συμπήγνυσθαι πολιορκητικόν τι μηχάνημα ἔτι τῶν τοιούτων ὀργάνων ἀμαθεστάτους ὑπάρ2.16.11 χοντας, ἀκροβολίζειν τε παρεσκεύαζε τὴν ἑλέπολιν. καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ τὸ φρούριον κατεβέβλητο, καὶ δίκας ὁ Βουσᾶς ἀπανθρωπίας εἰσέπραττε δεινόν τι διδάξας τοὺς βαρβάρους πρὸς πολιορκίαν τεχνούργημα. ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ πλείστας λοιπὸν τῶν ῾Ρωμαϊκῶν πόλεων ἀμογητὶ τὸ πολέμιον παρεστή2.16.12 σατο τῷ ἀρχετύπῳ σοφίσματι προσχρησάμενον. μενοῦνγε τῇ Βερόῃ προσπίπτει καὶ πλεῖστον παρανάλωμα χρόνου ζημιωθὲν καὶ μεγάλοις πόνοις προσομιλῆσαν τὸ τέρμα τῶν ἀγώνων ἀστεφάνωτον ἀπεφέρετο, τῶν τὴν πόλιν περιοικούντων ἀντιπαραταξαμένων γεννικώτερον. ὅμως χρήμασιν ὀλίγοις τισὶ τὴν ὁμαιχμίαν ἠλλάξαντο· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ πιθανὸν τῆς ἀστοχίας ἐγκάλυμμα. 2.17.1 περικάθηται δὲ καὶ τὴν ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ πόλιν κατὰ τὸ καρτερόν, ἀντετάξατο δὲ καὶ ἡ πόλις ἐς τὰ μάλιστα καὶ προσβάλλειν ἀπεῖργεν ἐπ' ἀδείας· καταπέλτας γὰρ ἐν τοῖς τείχεσιν ἀνεστήσατο ἄλλα τε ἀμυντήρια, καὶ ἀπρόσιτον ἦν τοῖς βαρβάροις ἐξ ὑπογύου 2.17.2 συμπλέκεσθαι. ἀπῄει τοίνυν ἀσχάλλων, καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον, τὸ τοῦ λύκου παθών· κεναῖς γὰρ ἐκεχήνει ἐλπίσιν. παρευθὺ δ' ἐπὶ τὴν Φιλίππου πόλιν μετέβαινε καὶ περιβὰς τὸ πόλισμα ἐνήθλει λαβεῖν. ἀντεμάχοντό τε οἱ τοῦ ἄστεος ἐντρεχέστερον 2.17.3 καὶ πολλοὺς τραυματίας ἔκ τε τῶν περιβόλων καὶ τῶν ἐπάλξεων ἐποιήσαντο,