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In addition to these things, since it was entirely waterless, 4.2.7 he also devised a reservoir for rainwater. Then also, he precisely fortified many passes which were previously 4.2.8 unguarded and unwalled. One might reasonably marvel at the king of the Persians, that after wasting much time there, he found only a single narrow path, and this though he had met with Greek traitors, when there were many unwalled roads in that region, 4.2.9 and roads almost suitable for wagons. For the sea, washing over the foothills of the mountains, caused the passes from there to be for the most part wide open, and since there were also impassable clefts and ravines there, it seemed impossible to the men of old to enclose with precise fortifications the parts separated by nature, and so, through their hesitation to undertake the most difficult of tasks, they neglected their security without effort and left it to chance, placing their hopes of safety in the future ignorance of the road on the part of the barbarians. 4.2.10 Since men always shrink from hardship, the things which seem most difficult to themselves they do not think will be easy for any 4.2.11 others. For this reason no one could still dispute that, of all men who have ever lived throughout all time, the Emperor Justinian has been the most provident and pre-eminently the most diligent, for whom not even the sea has proven an obstacle, though it is adjacent to the mountains, washing around and over them, for a wall to be established on its foundations in the surf and wet sand, and to be fitted manifestly to the most contrary elements, yielding to the skill of men and submitting to their compulsion. 4.2.12 However, not even after connecting the thickets and glens to each other, nor after fitting the sea to the mountain, and having surrounded all of Greece with fortifications, did this Emperor cease his concern for his subjects, but he also constructed many forts inside the wall, having planned in a manner befitting human fortune, according to which nothing becomes secure or unconquerable. 4.2.13 So that if it should happen that these walls were captured in any way or at any time, the garrisons might be kept safe in the 4.2.14 forts. And indeed he also made granaries in a safe place and water reservoirs everywhere, and he established here a garrison of about two thousand soldiers; something which not one of the former emperors has ever done in all 4.2.15 time. For these walls were entirely unguarded from of old and down to my time, and some of the local rustics, when the enemy overran the country, would immediately change their way of life, and improvising military matters as the occasion demanded, would keep guard here in turns, and through their inexperience in this work they, along with Greece, were very easily captured by the enemy, and because of this parsimony the country for a very long time lay open to attacking barbarians. 4.2.16 Thus indeed did the Emperor Justinian strengthen the defences at Thermopylae. And for all the cities which, being outside them, are important to the country, with great care he built strong walls, both in Saccus and Hypata and Coracii and Unnus and Baleae and the place 4.2.17 called Leontarium. And at Heracleia these things were done. As one goes from Illyricum into Greece, two mountains for a very great distance come as close as possible to each other, making the space between them into a narrow pass for a short distance (they are accustomed to call such places 4.2.18 "clisurae"); and a spring comes down through the middle, in the summer season gushing forth potable and clear water from the mountains which rise here, and separated into a small 4.2.19 stream. But whenever it rains, a torrent swells up here, both exceedingly high and terribly wild, collecting its stream from the ravines over a great part of the cliffs 4.2.20 there. From here it became possible for the barbarians to enter with no trouble both Thermopylae and this part of Greece. 4.2.21 And on either side of the narrow pass there were two strongholds from of old, on one side the city of Heracleia, which I just mentioned, and on the other the one called Myropoles, separated by no small 4.2.22 distance. And both these strongholds, which had been in ruins from of old, the Emperor Justinian rebuilt, and the narrow pass with a cross-wall

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πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις δὲ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ παντάπασιν 4.2.7 ὄντι ταμιεῖον ὑετίων ὑδάτων ἐπετεχνήσατο. ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἀνόδους πολλὰς ἀφυλάκτους τε καὶ ἀτειχίστους τὰ 4.2.8 πρότερα οὔσας ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἐτειχίσατο. θαυμάσειεν ἄν τις εἰκότως τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα, ὅτι δὴ χρόνον ἐνταῦθα κατατρίψας πολύν, μίαν τινὰ στενὴν ἀτραπὸν εὕρατο, καὶ ταῦτα προδοτῶν Ἑλλήνων τυχών, ὁδῶν τε ἀτειχίστων 4.2.9 ἐκείνῃ πολλῶν καὶ ἁμαξιτῶν σχεδόν τι οὐσῶν. ἥ τε γὰρ θάλασσα τοὺς πρόποδας ἐπικλύζουσα τῶν ὀρῶν, ἀνεστομωμένας ἐκ τοῦ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐποιεῖτο εἶναι τὰς ἐνθένδε ἀνόδους, καὶ σηράγγων τε καὶ χαραδρῶν ἀδιεξόδων ἐνταῦθα οὐσῶν, ἀμήχανα ἔδοξεν εἶναι τοῖς πάλαι ἀνθρώποις τειχίσμασιν ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς περιβαλέσθαι τὰ διῃρημένα τῇ φύσει, τῇ τε πρὸς τὰ χαλεπώτατα τῶν ἔργων ὀκνήσει ἀταλαίπωρον ἀφέμενοι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἐπὶ τῇ τύχῃ κατέλιπον, ἐς τὴν ἐσομένην βαρβάροις τῆς ὁδοῦ 4.2.10 ἄγνοιαν ἀποθέμενοι τὰς τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδας. ἐπεὶ πρὸς τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν ἀπολέγοντες ἀεὶ ἄνθρωποι, τὰ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς δυσκολώτατα δόξαντα εἶναι οὐδὲ ἄλλοις 4.2.11 τισὶν οἴονται ῥᾴδια ἔσεσθαι. διὸ δὴ οὐκ ἄν τις ἔτι φιλονεικοίη μὴ οὐχὶ ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων, οἳ δὴ ἐς τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα γεγένηνται, Ἰουστινιανὸν βασιλέα προμηθέστατον γεγονέναι καὶ διαφερόντως ἐπιμελέστατον, ᾧ γε οὐδὲ θάλασσα χαλεπὴ γέγονε, γειτνιῶσά τε τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ περιχεομένη καὶ ἐπικλύζουσα, ἐν κλυδωνίῳ τε καὶ ψάμμῳ ὑγρᾷ τοῖς θεμελίοις στηρίζεσθαι, καὶ τοῖς ἐναντιωτάτοις διαφανῶς ἐναρμόζεσθαι, ἀνθρώπων τε προσ4.2.12 χωρεῖν τέχνῃ καὶ βιαζομένοις ὑπείκειν. οὐ μέντοι οὐδὲ τάς τε λόχμας καὶ νάπας ἀλλήλαις ἀνάψας, οὐδὲ τὴν θάλασσαν τῷ ὄρει ἐναρμοσάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς οὗτος, ὅλην τε τὴν Ἑλλάδα περιβαλὼν τοῖς ὀχυρώμασι, κατέπαυσε τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν κατηκόων σπουδήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φρούρια πολλὰ τοῦ τείχους ἐντὸς ἐτεκτήνατο, ἄξια τύχης τῆς ἀνθρωπείας βεβουλευμένος, ᾗ βέβαιον οὐδὲν οὐδὲ ἀκατα4.2.13 γώνιστον γίνεται. ὥστε εἰ τοῖς τείχεσι τούτοις τρόπῳ ὁτῳοῦν ἢ χρόνῳ ἁλῶναι ξυμβαίη, ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις τὰ 4.2.14 φυλακτήρια διασώζοιτο. καὶ μὴν καὶ σιτῶνας ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ καὶ ὑδάτων ἔλυτρα πανταχόθι πεποίηται, στρατιώτας τε φρουροὺς ἐς δισχιλίους μάλιστα τῇδε ἱδρύσατο· ὃ οὐδέ τις τῶν πρώην βασιλέων πώποτε ἐκ τοῦ 4.2.15 παντὸς χρόνου πεποίηκεν. ἀφύλακτα γὰρ τὸ παράπαν τὰ τείχη ταῦτα ἄνωθέν τε καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἦν, ἀγροίκων τε τῶν ἐπιχωρίων τινὲς τῶν πολεμίων καταθεόντων μεθαρμοσάμενοι τὴν δίαιταν ἐν τῷ παραυτίκα, ἐπὶ καιροῦ τε αὐτοσχεδιάζοντες τὰ πολέμια, ἐκ περιτροπῆς ἐνταῦθα ἐφρούρουν, ἁλώσιμοί τε τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπειρίᾳ τοῦ ἔργου ῥᾷστα ξὺν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἐγίνοντο, ταύτῃ τε τῇ σμικρολογίᾳ ἡ χώρα ἐπὶ μακρότατον ἀπέκειτο ἐπιοῦσι βαρβάροις. 4.2.16 Οὕτω μὲν Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς τὰ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις ἐρύματα ἐκρατύνατο. καὶ πόλεων δὲ ἁπασῶν, αἵπερ αὐτῶν ἐκτὸς τῇ χώρᾳ ἐξικανοῦσιν οὖσαι, ξὺν ἐπιμελείᾳ πολλῇ τείχη ᾠκοδομήσατο ἰσχυρά, ἔν τε Σάκκῳ καὶ Ὑπάτῃ καὶ Κορακίοις καὶ Οὐννῷ καὶ Βαλέαις καὶ τῷ 4.2.17 καλουμένῳ Λεονταρίῳ. ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἡρακλείᾳ πεποίηται τάδε. ἐξ Ἰλλυριῶν ἐς Ἑλλάδα ἰόντι, ὄρη δύο ἐπὶ μακρότατον ἀλλήλοιν ὡς ἀγχοτάτω ξυνίασι, στενωπὸν ἐν βραχεῖ ἀπεργαζόμενα τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν (κλεισούρας νενομίκασι 4.2.18 τὰ τοιαῦτα καλεῖν)· πηγὴ δὲ κατὰ μέσον κάτεισιν, ἐν μὲν ὥρᾳ θερινῇ πότιμον ἀποβλύζουσα καὶ καθαρὸν ὕδωρ ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρῶν, ἃ ταύτῃ ἀνέχει, ἐς ῥύακά τε ἀποκεκριμένη 4.2.19 βραχύν. ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὕοι, χειμάρρους ἐνταῦθα ἐπικυρτοῦται ὑψηλός τε ὑπερφυῶς καὶ δεινῶς ἄγριος ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τῶν ἐκείνῃ σκοπέλων ἀπὸ τῶν χαραδρῶν συνάγων 4.2.20 τὸ ῥεῦμα. ἐνθένδε τοῖς βαρβάροις εἰσιτητὰ ἐπί τε Θερμοπύλας οὐδενὶ πόνῳ ἐγίνετο καὶ τὴν ταύτῃ Ἑλλάδα. 4.2.21 τοῦ δὲ στενωποῦ ἐφ' ἑκάτερα δύο ἐκ παλαιοῦ ὀχυρώματα ἦν, πὴ μὲν Ἡράκλεια πόλις, ἧσπερ ἐπεμνήσθην ἀρτίως, πὴ δὲ ὁ Μυροπώλης καλούμενος, οὐκ ὀλίγῃ διεστηκὼς 4.2.22 χώρᾳ. ταῦτα δὲ ἄμφω τὰ ὀχυρώματα ἐν ἐρειπίοις ἐκ παλαιοῦ ὄντα Ἰουστινιανὸς ἀνῳκοδομήσατο βασιλεὺς καὶ διατειχίσματι τὸν στενωπὸν