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assault. 3.5.13 However, at Bizana nothing has been done by this emperor for the following reason. The place is situated on level ground, and plains suitable for cavalry extend far around it, but there are many pools of stagnant water there. 3.5.14 And for this reason it happens to be 3.5.15 very vulnerable to enemies and most pestilential for its inhabitants. For which reasons indeed, disregarding this place, he built a city elsewhere named after the emperor himself, both most noteworthy and altogether impregnable, in a place called Tzoumina, which is three stades distant from Bizana, and being situated in a most precipitous spot, enjoys a healthy climate. 3.6.1 Such, then, were the achievements of the Emperor Justinian in Armenia. But to write down the story of the nation of the Tzani at this point in my narrative has seemed to me not at all out of place, 3.6.2 since they are also neighbours of the Armenians. From of old the Tzani lived as an independent and leaderless people, leading a certain brutish existence, believing in and worshipping as gods groves and birds and other such creatures, and spending their whole lives in mountains that are sky-high and thickly wooded, and they cultivated the land in no way, but engaged in robbery 3.6.3 and always lived off their plunder. For they themselves are unpractised in tilling the soil, and their country, where it is not encompassed by the most precipitous mountains, is hilly. 3.6.4 But the elevations of the land are not hills of earth, nor are they of soil, nor such as to yield crops, if one should care for them, but they are exceedingly rough and excessively hard and 3.6.5 terribly barren of all crops. And it is not possible there at all either to plough the land or to reap a harvest or to find a meadow, but even the trees with which Tzancia is covered, blossom with fruit that is both unripe and altogether barren, since for the most part the seasons do not even follow one another, nor is the earth at one time assailed by the moisture and cold of the season, and at another benefited by the warmth of the sun, but the country is beset by endless winter 3.6.6 and is drenched with eternal snows. For these reasons the Tzani in ancient times lived as an independent people, but during the reign of this Justinian they were defeated in battle by the Romans, when Tzittas was general of the Romans, and despairing of the struggle, they all immediately submitted to him, choosing for themselves a toil-free servitude in place of a dangerous freedom. 3.6.7 And they at once changed their belief to the pious one, all having become Christians, and they adapted their way of life to a more civilized one, abstaining from all robbery, and campaigning with the Romans, always going against 3.6.8 their own enemies. But the Emperor Justinian, fearing that the Tzani might at some time, altering their way of life, again turn their customs to the more savage, devised the following. 3.6.9 Tzancia was exceedingly difficult of access and altogether impassable for horses, being enclosed on all sides by cliffs and places 3.6.10 that were for the most part wooded, as I have said. And for this reason it was impossible for the Tzani to mingle with their neighbours, but isolated among themselves they had grown wild and lived in the manner of wild beasts. 3.6.11 Therefore, having cut down all the trees, by which it happened that the roads were blocked, and having transformed the difficult terrain there, making it easy and passable for horses, he has made them mingle in the same way with other men and engage in 3.6.12 intercourse with their neighbours. Then, having built for them a church in a place called Schamalinichon, he arranged for them to be ordained and to partake of the mysteries and to propitiate God with prayers, and to perform the other sacred rites, 3.6.13 understanding that they were men. And having built forts everywhere in the country and having established there most securely garrisons of Roman soldiers, he has made the mingling of the Tzani with other men unhindered. 3.6.14 And wherever in Tzancia these forts were built, I shall now proceed to say. 3.6.15 There is a certain place here which happens to be separated into a three-way junction. For the boundaries of the Romans and of the Persarmenians and of the Tzani themselves, having begun at this point, diverge from here. 3.6.16 Here a most strong fort, not existing before, Horonon by name,

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ἔφοδον. 3.5.13 Ἐς μέντοι τὰ Βιζανὰ οὐδὲν εἴργασται τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε. κεῖται μὲν ἐν τῷ ὁμαλῷ τὸ χωρίον, πεδία τε ἀμφ' αὐτὸ ἐπὶ μακρὸν ἱππήλατά ἐστιν, ὕδατος δὲ σηπεδόνες πολλαὶ ξυνισταμένου ἐνταῦθά εἰσι. 3.5.14 καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις ἐπιμαχώτατον, τοῖς δὲ 3.5.15 οἰκήτορσι λοιμωδέστατον αὐτὸ ξυμβαίνει εἶναι. ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο ὑπεριδὼν ἑτέρωθι πόλιν ἐδείματο αὐτοῦ βασιλέως ἐπώνυμον, ἀξιολογωτάτην τε καὶ ἄμαχον ὅλως ἐν χωρίῳ Τζουμινᾷ καλουμένῳ, ὅπερ σημείοις μὲν τρισὶ Βιζανῶν διέχει, ἐν κρημνώδει δὲ μάλιστα κείμενον εὐεξίας ἀέρων εὖ ἔχει. 3.6.1 Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐν Ἀρμενίοις Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ τῇδέ πη ἔχει. τὰ δὲ δὴ κατὰ τὰ Τζάνων ἔθνη ἀναγράψασθαί μοι ἐνταῦθα τοῦ λόγου οὔ τι ἀπὸ τρόπου ἔδοξεν εἶναι, 3.6.2 ἐπεὶ καὶ πρόσοικοι Ἀρμενίοις εἰσίν. αὐτόνομοι μὲν Τζάνοι ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ ἄναρχοι ᾤκουν, θηριώδη τινὰ βιοτὴν ἔχοντες, θεοὺς μὲν τά τε ἄλση καὶ ὄρνις καὶ ἄλλα ἄττα ζῷα ἡγούμενοί τε καὶ σέβοντες, ἐν ὄρεσι δὲ οὐρανομήκεσί τε καὶ ἀμφιλαφέσι τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα δίαιταν ἔχοντες, γῆν δὲ οὐδαμῆ γεωργοῦντες, ἀλλὰ λῃστεύοντές 3.6.3 τε καὶ τοῖς φωρίοις ἀεὶ ἀποζῶντες. αὐτοί τε γὰρ ἀμελέτητοί εἰσιν ἐργάζεσθαι γῆν καὶ ἡ χώρα σφίσιν, ἔνθα δὴ μὴ ὄρη τά γε ἀποτομώτατα περιβέβληται, λοφώδης 3.6.4 ἐστίν. οὐ γήλοφοι δέ εἰσι τὰ ἐπανεστηκότα τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ γεώδη οὐδὲ οἷα καρποὺς ἀφεῖναι, εἴ τις αὐτῶν ἐπιμελοῖτο, ἀλλὰ τραχέα τε ὑπερβαλλόντως καὶ σκληρὰ ὑπεράγαν καὶ 3.6.5 καρπῶν ἁπάντων δεινῶς ἄφορα. καὶ οὔτε ἀρόσαι τὴν γῆν οὔτε ἀμήσασθαι λήιον οὔτε λειμῶνι ἐντυχεῖν ἐνταῦθά πη δυνατὰ γίνεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς δένδροις, οἷσπερ ἡ Τζανικὴ τέθηλεν, ἀκάρποις τε οὖσιν ἀνθεῖ καὶ ὅλως ἀγόνοις, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ ἀλλήλους ἐκδέχονται καιροὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, οὐδὲ νῦν μὲν ἡ γῆ τῷ τῆς ὥρας ὑγρῷ τε καὶ ψυχρῷ βάλλεται, νῦν δὲ δὴ αὐτὴν ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου θέρμη ὀνίνησιν, ἀλλὰ χειμῶνί τε ἀπεράντῳ ξυνῴκισται ἡ χώρα 3.6.6 καὶ χιόσιν ἀϊδίοις κατάρρυτός ἐστι. διὰ ταῦτα μὲν αὐτόνομοι τὸ παλαιὸν οἱ Τζάνοι ἐβίουν, ἐπὶ τούτου δὲ Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἡττήθησάν τε Ῥωμαίων τῇ μάχῃ, Τζίττα στρατηγοῦντος Ῥωμαίων, καὶ τὴν ἀγώνισιν ἀπογνόντες εὐθὺς προσεχώρησαν αὐτῷ ἅπαντες, πρὸ τῆς ἐπικινδύνου ἐλευθερίας τὴν ἄπονον δουλείαν ἑλόμενοι 3.6.7 σφίσι. καὶ τήν τε δόξαν ἐπὶ τὸ εὐσεβὲς αὐτίκα μετέθεντο ἅπαντες Χριστιανοὶ γεγενημένοι, τήν τε δίαιταν ἐπὶ τὸ ἡμερώτερον μεθηρμόσαντο, λῃστείας μὲν ἀφέμενοι πάσης, τοῖς δὲ Ῥωμαίοις συστρατεύοντες, ἐπὶ πολεμίους ἀεὶ 3.6.8 τοὺς σφετέρους ἰοῦσι. δείσας δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς μή ποτε Τζάνοι μεταπορευσάμενοι τὴν δίαιταν αὖθις τὰ σφέτερα ἤθη ἐπὶ τὸ ἀγριώτερον μεταστρέψωνται ἐπενόει τοιάδε. 3.6.9 ∆ύσοδος ἦν ἡ Τζανικὴ λίαν καὶ ἄφιππος ὅλως, κρημνοῖς τε πανταχόθεν καὶ χώροις περικεκλεισμένη ἐκ τοῦ 3.6.10 ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ὑλώδεσιν, ᾗπέρ μοι εἴρηται. καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ Τζάνοις ἐπιμίγνυσθαι τοῖς πλησιοχώροις ἀμήχανον ἦν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μόνας ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἀπηγριωμένοι θηρίων 3.6.11 τρόπον τὴν δίαιταν εἶχον. τὰ τοίνυν δένδρα ἐκτεμὼν ἅπαντα, οἷσπερ τὰς ὁδοὺς ξυνέβαινε ξυμποδίζεσθαι, καὶ τὰς ἐκείνῃ δυσχωρίας μεθαρμοσάμενος, εὐπετεῖς τε αὐτὰς καὶ ἱππασίμους καταστησάμενος, ἐπιμίγνυσθαι αὐτοὺς κατὰ ταὐτὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις καὶ προσχωρεῖν τῇ 3.6.12 ὁμιλίᾳ τῶν πλησιοχώρων πεποίηκεν. ἔπειτα δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐκκλησίαν ἐν χωρίῳ Σχαμαλινίχων καλουμένῳ δειμάμενος, ἱερᾶσθαί τε διεπράξατο καὶ μυστηρίων μεταλαμβάνειν λιταῖς τε τὸν θεὸν ἱλεοῦσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἐξοσιοῦ3.6.13 σθαι, συνιέντες ὡς ἄνθρωποι εἶεν. καὶ φρούρια δὲ οἰκοδομησάμενος πανταχόθι τῆς χώρας φρουρούς τε ἐνταῦθα Ῥωμαίων στρατιωτῶν ἱδρυσάμενος βεβαιότατα, Τζάνοις ἐς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους τὰς ἐπιμιξίας ἀκωλύτους 3.6.14 πεποίηκεν. ὅπη ποτὲ δὲ Τζανικῆς τὰ φρούρια ταῦτα ἐδείματο, ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. 3.6.15 Χώραν ἐνταῦθά τινα ἐς τρίοδον ἀποκεκριμένην ξυμβαίνει εἶναι. Ῥωμαίων τε γὰρ καὶ Περσαρμενίων τὰ ὅρια καὶ Τζάνων αὐτῶν τῇδε ἀρξάμενα ἐνθένδε διασκε3.6.16 δάννυται. ἐνταῦθα φρούριον ἐχυρώτατον, οὐ πρότερον ὄν, ὄνομα Ὁρονῶν,