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of an error. But having neglected his duties, and not so much because of difficult sailing, as he claimed, he did not receive a pardon. 4.34 And at that same opportune time, the African Saracens from Carthage with sixty very large transport ships, whose capacity was reckoned at 6,000 men, campaign against and reach as far as Cephalonia and Zacynthus, which declines towards the Zephyr wind at what is called the Fish, and it has received its name from Zacynthus, son of Merops. When the emperor learned of this, he sent out the patrician Nasar with a fleet, a very experienced man, to take command of it. But when he put in at Methone, formerly called Pedasus, most of the soldiers of the fleet deserted, abandoning him. This was quickly reported to the emperor, and someone sent by him with great urgency was ordered to set up a wooden gibbet for impalement in the area and to impale the deserters on it, thus devising the order openly; for secretly at night, taking thirty Hagarenes from the prison, he handed them over to the droungarios in command of his guard, having secured a promise that he would reveal the plan to no one, lest he be subjected to an unbearable penalty; for he had been commanded to singe the beards of the thirty Ishmaelites with fire and pitch, and indeed the hair on their heads as well, to smear their faces with soot and have their feet bound in double fetters, and at a certain hour of an appointed day for them to be flogged with terrible scourges in the hippodrome as naval deserters, and to pass through, enduring the public disgrace of deserters with accusatory words, naked and riding on donkeys as far as the golden-named gates of the queen of cities, and to take care that no one accompanying them should approach and speak to them. When these things had thus proceeded, at Methone he gave orders for them to be impaled as cowardly deserters from wars, and that none of the local leaders or the common people, nor indeed the commander of the army himself, should abandon the like secrecy; and all the prisoners were hung on stakes. Thence no ordinary lamentation arose for the patrician Nasar and the commanders under him, heaping blame upon themselves for the desertion concerning these men, since it was confirmed to them from the emperor that the emperor would utterly destroy by the sword all the wives and children of the deserters, and indeed their parents too; so that from this most excellent contrivance, through a few condemned Hagarenes, he saved his own people. Having therefore become terrified, both their admiral Nasar and the leaders under him and all the people, lest they too should ever suffer such a fate, necessarily opposed the enemy, who were most barbarously glorying in their previous victory and were besieging Zacynthus. Therefore Nasar drew up his forces and attacked them and brought utter destruction upon them by divine strength and the emperor's intercession. And as our naval force was overpowering the Hagarenes, a certain articulate cry was let out from a valley, urging them to advance. From where these men, having overrun all Sicily and Africa, and also Lombardy, with military fire and every kind of sword, having burned and ravaged the Hagarenes in the ships, they also captured other merchant ships, whose number it is not at all easy to state, loaded with all kinds of goods, and in addition to these, most abundant oil, and so much that in those days a pound weight was bought for an obol, and the things then done were reported to all with wonder, and especially from the refugees around Tephrike, both of Paul of Samosata, and with him Cubricus and Montanus, and of various other heresiarchs, who were formerly arrogant, and were later overthrown by the mighty arm of God and by the successive supplications and cares of the emperor. who attacked them once and twice, and the first time, all the lands in captivities and

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σφάλματος. ἀλλὰ τῶν δεόντων ὀλιγωρήσας, καὶ οὐχὶ δυσπλοίᾳ πλέον, ὡς ἔφασκεν, συγγνώμης οὐκ ἔτυχεν. 4.34 Ἐν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ ἐφεστηκότι καιρῷ οἱ ἀπὸ Καρχηδόνος Ἄφροι Σαρακηνοὶ σὺν ὁλκάσι παμμεγέθεσιν ξʹ, αἷς χώρησις ςʹ ἀνδρῶν διηρί θμητο, καταστρατεύουσι καὶ διϊκνοῦνται Κεφαληνίας μέχρι καὶ Ζακύνθου, ἥτις πρὸς ἄνεμον Ζέφυρον κατὰ τὸν καλούμενον Ἰχθὺν ἀπονένευκεν, ἐκ δὲ Ζακύνθου τοῦ Μέροπος τῆς προσηγορίας τετύχηκε. περὶ ὧν ὁ βασιλεὺς διαγνοὺς τὸν πατρίκιον Νάσαρ ἐκπέμπει σὺν ναυστολίᾳ, ἄνδρα πολύπειρον, ταύτης καθηγησόμενον. τοῦ δὲ κατὰ Μεθώνην τὴν πρὶν Πήδασον καλουμένην ἐπιδημήσαντος οἱ πλεῖστοι στρατιωτῶν τῶν πλοίων ἀπέδρασαν καταλελοιπότες αὐτόν. ὃ διαγινώσκεται ταχέως τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ σὺν κατεπείξει σφοδρᾷ παρ' αὐτοῦ τις ἀποσταλεὶς διατέτακται περὶ τὸν τόπον ἀνασκολοπισμὸν ἱδρύσασθαι ξυλουργήματος καὶ τοὺς δραπέτας ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνασκολοπίσαι, οὕτως τὴν πρόσταξιν κατὰ τὸ ἐμφανὲς μηχανώμενος· κρυφίως γὰρ ἐν νυκτὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς φυλακῆς Ἀγαρηνοὺς λʹ προσλαβόμενος δρουγγαρίῳ τῷ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ φρουρὰν προεστῶτι ἐκδέδωκεν, διασφαλισάμενος μηδενὶ ἔκφορον ποιήσασθαι τὸ συντεθησόμενον, ἵνα μὴ ποινῇ ἀφορήτῳ καθυποβάλοιτο· ἐκεκέλευστο γὰρ αὐτῷ τῶν λʹ Ἰσμαηλιτῶν πυρὶ καὶ πίσσῃ τὰς γενειάδας, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰς κατὰ κεφαλὴν τρίχας ἐναποφλέξαι, τάς τε ὄψεις αὐτῶν ἀσβόλῃ ἐμπεριχρῖσαι καὶ πέδαις διπλαῖς τοὺς πόδας ἐπιπιέζεσθαι, καί τινι ὥρᾳ διωρισμένης ἡμέρας μεμαστιγῶσθαι αὐτοὺς ὡς λιποτάκτας πλευσίμους ἐν φραγελλίοις δεινοῖς κατὰ τὸν ἱππόδρομον, καὶ διασυρμοὺς δραπετῶν κατηγόροις ἐν λόγοις ὑφισταμένους διελεύσεσθαι γυμνητεύοντας καὶ ὀχουμένους ἐπ' ὄνων ἕως πυλῶν χρυσωνύμων βασιλίδος τῆς πόλεως, παραφυλάξασθαι δὲ μηδένα τῶν συνόντων αὐτοῖς ἐμπελάσαντα ὁμιλῆσαι. τούτων ταύτῃ προχωρησάντων κατὰ Μεθώνην προΐησιν ἀνεσκολοπίσθαι τούτους ὡς δραπέτας πολέμων ἀνάλκιδας, καὶ μή τινα τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀρχηγετῶν εἴτε λαοῦ τῆς κοινότητος, ἀλλὰ μήτε αὐτὸν προηγέτην στρατοῦ τῶν ὁμοίων τῆς ἐχεμυθίας ἀπολιμπάνεσθαι· καὶ δεσμῶται πάντες ἀνήρτηντο σκόλοψιν. ἐνθένδε θρῆνος οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν τῷ πατρικίῳ Νάσαρ καὶ <τοῖς> ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἄρχουσιν ἐπεγίνετο, μέμψιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιτρίβουσι τῆς περὶ τούτους λιποταξίας, τοῦ ἐκ βασιλέως διαβεβαιουμένου αὐτοῖς τάς τε συνεύνους καὶ παῖδας δραπετευσάντων, ἔτι μὴν καὶ γεννήτορας, τὸν αὐτοκράτορα πάντας ἄρδην ξίφει διολοθρεῦσαι· ὡς ἐκ τοῦδε τοῦ καλλίστου σκευάσματος δι' εὐαριθμήτων κατακρίτων Ἀγαρηνῶν τὸν οἰκεῖον λαὸν ἀνασώσασθαι. περιδεεῖς οὖν γεγονότες ὅ τε ναύαρχος αὐτῶν Νάσαρ καὶ οἱ ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἀρχηγοὶ ὅ τε σύμπας λαός, τὸ τοιοῦτον μήποτε καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑποστήσονται, ἀναγκαίως τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀντικαθίστανται, νίκῃ τῇ πρὶν μεγαλειουμένοις βαρβαρικώτατα καὶ Ζάκυνθον προσεδρεύουσιν. οὐκοῦν ἐπιτίθεται τούτοις Νάσαρ παρεμβαλὼν καὶ πανωλεθρίαν θείᾳ ἰσχύϊ καὶ βασιλέως ἐντεύξει κατ' αὐτῶν τίθεται. τοῦ δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς πλοΐμου στρατοῦ τῶν Ἀγαρηνῶν κατισχύοντος ἔναρθρός τις βοὴ κοιλάδος ἠφίετο τοῖς πρόσω φοιτᾶν ἐγκελευομένη. ὅθεν οὗτοι Σικελίαν πᾶσαν καὶ Ἀφρικήν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ Λογγιβαρβίαν διαδραμόντες, πολεμικῷ πυρὶ καὶ παντοδαπεῖ ξίφει τοὺς ἐν τοῖς πλοίοις Ἀγαρηνοὺς καταφλέξαντές τε καὶ δηϊωσάμενοι, καὶ ἑτέρας τὰς πρὸς ἐμπορίαν κατέσχον, ὧν ἀριθμὸν συνθέσθαι πάντως οὐ ῥᾴδιον, ἐπιφορτιζομένων εἴδη παντοῖα, πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ δαψιλέστατον ἔλαιον, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὡς ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις τὴν κατὰ λίτραν ὁλκὴν ὀβολοῦ πρίασθαι καὶ κατὰ θαυμασιότητα πᾶσι τὰ τότε πραχθέντα φημίζεσθαι, καὶ μάλιστά γε ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Τεφρικὴν συνηλύδων, τοῦ τε Παύλου Σαμοσατέως, σὺν αὐτῷ Κούβρηκός τε καὶ Μοντανοῦ, καὶ ἄλλων αἱρεσιαρχῶν διαφόρων, κατοφρυωσάντων τὸ πρότερον, καὶ καταδυναστευθέντων τὸ ὕστερον θεοῦ βραχίονι κραταιῷ καὶ ἱκετηρίαις σὺν φροντίσμασιν ἐπαλλήλοις τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. ὃς ἅπαξ καὶ δὶς κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπιών, καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἁπάσας χώρας ἐν αἰχμαλωσίαις καὶ