,

surrounding himself with the whole army, having gathered an assembly, he asked to be taught by the multitude what would be advantageous for them for the war. And when they suggested to the general to allow an engagement with the enemy, on the next day the word proceeded to action. 3.7.16 Not long after, each force was prepared for battle formation. And when Bahram attempted to win the war by stealth, the Roman countered his stratagems with quick-wittedness. 3.7.17 It was the fifth day, and both Romans and Medes were arming for battle and arranging their battle line in three divisions. Now the central wing of the barbarian force was being pushed back by the opposing formation. Therefore Bahram, fearing the onslaught of the Roman force, 3.7.18 threw a force around from the left wing. From this, since the left division of the opposing force became weaker, and with great slaughter surging around the Persians, and with matters having proceeded to a great evil for Bahram, and with the flight of the Parthians becoming general, and with a great and most notable pursuit proceeding from the Roman side, fortune was extinguished for Bahram along with his arrogance. 3.7.1 For some, then, the means of escape were secured, while for others, their courage, so to speak, was prolonged. And the dead of the Persians, being stripped of their clothes and deprived of burial, were an impromptu feast for the wild beasts that came upon them. 3.8.1 Hormisdas, having learned these things and not bearing the magnitude of the misfortunes, treated Bahram with contempt with the most shameful insults, bequeathing to him women's clothes as prizes for his disgrace; yes, and indeed he removed him from his generalship, decreeing this in a royal letter. 3.8.2 And from this begins the war of Medes against Medes. For Hormisdas, whom affairs had acknowledged as king of the Persians, is also treated with contempt in return by the general. 3.8.3 And the insults were returned in the letters, and in the replies it was written, reviling him, that Hormisdas himself was not the son but the daughter of Chosroes. 3.8.4 A short time before these events, the Armenians bordering on Persia, having been persuaded by certain Roman men, arranged a conspiracy of revolt, and attempted to desert to the Median side, having murdered the one who had become governor of Armenia under the emperor, his name was John. 3.8.5 And as the affairs of Armenia were declining into turmoil, the emperor Maurice sends Domentziolus, a most distinguished and very dear man who shone forth among the foremost in the senatorial council, to Armenia. 3.8.6 He then puts a check to the attempt at revolt, and he presented the father of the tyranny (his name was Symbatios) as a prisoner to the emperor. And as the emperor, having more piously made the investigation of the charge dependent on the arbitration of a court, so that the punishments might not be carried out with unjust boldness for unexamined crimes, the misdeeds were confessed by the guilty parties. 3.8.7 And indeed when the judges brought forth their decision, saying that those who had done such things should be removed from human affairs by the punishment of being thrown to the wild beasts, and with the theater having been filled, and as those who had committed the misdeeds were about to be food for the beasts, by the acclamations of the people the emperor's humanity came forth. 3.8.8 And he, on the one hand, was separated from the beasts and enjoys an unexpected salvation, while the spectators boast loudly of the philanthropy of the emperor's unexpected mercies. 3.8. And since time innovates, and restamps, and reshapes all things, and at different times fashions and alters them in different ways by the revolution of its ever-moving vortex, and by the axis of the revolution of affairs oppresses stability, and is always discontented with and sick of the certain, and has nowhere to stand from its wandering, and possesses instability by the irregular motion of its ebb and flow, it happened at that time that

περιβαλόμενος πανστρατιᾷ συναθροισάμενος ξύλλογον ὑπὸ τῆς πληθύος ἠξίου διδάσκεσθαι τὸ συνοῖσον αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον. τῶν δὲ συγχωρεῖν διανήξασθαι εἰσηγησαμένων τῷ στρατηγῷ τὸ πολέμιον, τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ὁ λόγος πρὸς πρᾶξιν 3.7.16 ἐχώρησεν. οὐ μετὰ πολὺ δὲ πρὸς ἔκταξιν ἑκατέρα παρεσκεύαστο δύναμις. τοῦ δὲ Βαρὰμ ἀποπειραθέντος κλέψαι τὸν πόλεμον, ἀντεστράτευεν ὁ ῾Ρωμανὸς τοῖς σοφίσμασι τὴν 3.7.17 ἀγχίνοιαν. ἡμέρα δὲ πέμπτη, καὶ ῾Ρωμαῖοι καὶ Μῆδοι πρὸς παράταξιν καθωπλίζοντο καὶ τρισσοῖς συντάγμασι διεκόσμουν τὸν πόλεμον. τὸ μὲν οὖν μεσαίτατον κέρας τῆς βαρβάρου δυνάμεως ἐταπεινοῦτο ὑπὸ τῆς ἀντιθέτου παρασκευῆς. δεδιὼς τοιγαροῦν ὁ Βαρὰμ τὴν ἐπιφορὰν τῆς ὁλκῆς τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων 3.7.18 ἐκ τοῦ εὐωνύμου κέρατος περιεβάλλετο δύναμιν. ἐντεῦθεν ἀσθενεστέρου τοῦ λαιοῦ γεγονότος συντάγματος ἐκ τῆς ἀντιστρατηγούσης δυνάμεως, καὶ φόνου πολλοῦ τοῖς Πέρσαις περικυμαίνοντος, καὶ ἐς μέγα κακοῦ τῶν πραγμάτων τῷ Βαρὰμ κεχωρηκότων, πανστρατιᾷ τε τῆς φυγῆς γενομένης τοῖς Πάρθοις, τῆς τε διώξεως μεγάλης καὶ ἐπισημοτάτης ὑπὸ τοῦ ῾Ρωμαϊκοῦ προελθούσης, συναπέσβη μετὰ τοῦ τύφου 3.7.1 τῷ Βαρὰμ καὶ ἡ τύχη. τοῖς μὲν οὖν τὰ τῆς ἀποδράσεως ἐκρατύνετο, τοῖς δὲ τὰ τοῦ θάρσους ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἐμηκύνετο. οἱ δὲ τῶν Περσῶν τεθνεῶτες λωποδυτούμενοι καὶ ταφῆς ἀμοιροῦντες τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι θηρίοις ἑστίασις ἦν αὐτοσχέδιος. 3.8.1 Ταῦτα διαγνοὺς ὁ ῾Ορμίσδας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀτυχημάτων οὐ φέρων κομψὸν αἰσχίσταις ὕβρεσι τὸν Βαρὰμ ἐξουθένησεν, γυναικείας ἐσθῆτας ἔπαθλα τῆς ἀδοξίας κληροδοτήσας αὐτῷ· ναὶ μὴν καὶ τῆς στρατηγίας ἀπεχειροτόνησε τοῦτο γράμμασι 3.8.2 βασιλικοῖς ψηφισάμενος. ἄρχεται δ' ἐντεῦθεν Μήδοις καὶ Μήδοις ὁ πόλεμος. ἀντευτελίζεται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ καὶ ῾Ορμίσδας, ὃν βασιλέα Περσῶν ἐγνώκει τὰ πράγματα. 3.8.3 τὰ δὲ τῆς ὕβρεως ἀντετυποῦτο τοῖς γράμμασιν, καὶ οὐ παῖς ἀλλὰ θυγάτηρ Χοσρόου ἐκεῖνος ῾Ορμίσδας αὐτὸς ἐπὶ ταῖς 3.8.4 ἀντιγραφαῖς προπηλακιζόμενος ἐνεγέγραπτο. πρό τινος δὲ τούτων βραχέος καιροῦ οἱ γειτνιῶντες πρὸς τῇ Περσίδι ᾿Αρμένιοι ὑποπεισθέντες ὑπό τινων ῾Ρωμαίων ἀνδρῶν ἀπο-στασίου ξυνωμοσίαν διέθεντο, καὶ πρὸς τὸ Μηδικὸν αὐτομολεῖν ἐνεχείρησαν δολοφονήσαντες τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἡγεμόνα τῆς ᾿Αρμενίας γενόμενον, ᾿Ιωάννης ὄνομα αὐτῷ. 3.8.5 καὶ ἐν σάλῳ τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς ᾿Αρμενίας ἀποκλινάντων, ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ Μαυρίκιος ∆ομεντζίολον, ἄνδρα περιφανῆ φιλιώτατόν τε καὶ ἐς συγκλήτου βουλὴν ἐν τοῖς κορυφαιοτέροις 3.8.6 προλάμποντα, εἰς τὴν ᾿Αρμενίαν ἐκπέμπει. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐγκοπὴν τῇ ἐπιβολῇ τῆς ἀποστασίας παρέχεται, τὸν δὲ τῆς τυραννίδος πατέρα (Συμβάτιος ὄνομα αὐτῷ) δέσμιον βασιλεῖ παρεστήσατο. τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως τεμένει διαιτητῶν τὴν βάσανον τῆς κατηγορίας εὐσεβέστερον ἐξαρτήσαντος, ἵνα μὴ τῷ ἀνεξετάστῳ τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἀδίκῳ παρρησίᾳ τὰ τῆς ποινῆς πολιτεύσηται, καθομολογεῖται παρὰ τῶν αἰτίων τὰ πλημ3.8.7 μελήματα. καὶ δῆτα τῶν δεδικακότων προσενεγκαμένων ἀπόφασιν τιμωρίᾳ τε θηριοβλήτῳ φησάντων τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα δράσαντας ἐκποδὼν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων γενέσθαι πραγμάτων, τοῦ τε θεάτρου πλησθέντος, καὶ μελλόντων εἶναι θηρίων βορὰ τῶν πεπραχότων τὰ πλημμελήματα, ταῖς εὐφημίαις 3.8.8 τῶν δήμων τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως προῆλθε φιλάνθρωπον. καὶ ὁ μὲν τῶν θηρίων διεκρίνετο καὶ τὴν παράδοξον σωτηρίαν καρπίζεται, οἱ δὲ θεαταὶ μεγαλαυχοῦσι τῶν ἀδοκήτων τοῦ βασιλέως οἰκτειρμῶν τὸ φιλάνθρωπον. 3.8. Τοῦ πάντα δὲ χρόνου καινίζοντός τε καὶ παραχαράττοντος καὶ διαμορφοῦντος καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλως πλάττοντος καὶ μετατρέποντος τῇ περιστροφῇ τῆς ἀεικινήτου δινήσεως, καὶ τῷ ἄξονι τῆς περιφορᾶς τῶν πραγμάτων τυραννοῦντος τὸ πάγιον, καὶ ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ βέβαιον δυσαρεστοῦντός τε καὶ νοσηλευομένου, καὶ ὅποι στῆναι τῆς πλάνης οὐκ ἔχοντος, καὶ τῇ τῆς παλιρροίας ἀνωμάλῳ κινήσει τὸ ἀνίδρυτον κεκτημένου, συμβαίνει τὸ τηνικαῦτα