47

on some pretext the Persians attacked the Romans, gradually pouring into Syria and Cappadocia, as if, forsooth, they were being wronged and were being deprived of the expense incurred for the common good which fell to the Romans' share, 214 so that Sporacius was first sent out by Theodosius the Great to negotiate with the Persians; and he, with the power of money and the wisdom of his arguments, almost persuaded the Persians, with the Romans, as it were, gratifying them as tributaries, to remain quiet and be friends. And these matters were dragged out until our own Anastasius, being spoken of and formalized and simply left hanging. But in his reign, when Koades the elder was leading all of Persia against the Romans, war broke out. And though the Romans were able to win by force of arms, through the profligacy and luxury of Areobindus the last—for he was a lover of song and flute and dance—and through the inexperience and cowardice of the generals Patricius and Hypatius, they were defeated at first, when the Persians suddenly poured in, but for the rest of the time, having driven out the Persians and rescued the captured Amida again, the Persian opened negotiations with Celer, who was Master of the Divine Offices for Anastasius, concerning Biraparach, as we said before, and the expense incurred by the Persians alone concerning it. And the dispute came to an end, with certain moderate sums being granted by Anastasius to Koades; for the magnanimity and resourcefulness of Anastasius piously endured the loss for the sake of peace. Such then is the account of the Roman historians concerning the Caspian Gates. Arrian, in his Alanic History, and not least in the eighth book of his Parthica, goes through it more accurately, having himself visited the places as one who governed the country itself under the good Hadrian. For he had such rulers, who by both their words and their deeds raised the state to such great renown. 216 54 With such affairs concerning the Persians, and countless other wars breaking out, for the rest there was no access for men of letters to the prefecture. «But there was a need for money, and none of the necessary things could be done without it.» And so that nothing that might lead to the overthrow of the previous prosperity should be overlooked, quakes, leaping and splitting the earth from its foundations, broke apart Seleucus' Antioch, covering the city with the overhanging hill, so that no difference between mountain and city was left in the place, but the whole was a ravine and crags, which formerly overshadowed the Orontes as it glided past the city. Therefore the prefecture had to rain down limitless gold for the removal, for the time being, of the mounds of earth which had been heaped up from the fall and had swelled into a steep and difficult place; for it was not safe to overlook the capital of the Syrians cast to the ground. And as the city was growing up again, as if from Erebus, with much labor and abundance of money and the cooperation of the arts, when Justin came to his end, the ill-fated Chosroes, falling upon the Syrian lands through Arabia with an infinite army, took the city that had just fallen—it appearing easy to capture as it was undefended—and burned it down in war, working measureless slaughter, and having simply seized the statues with which the city was adorned, along with slabs and stones and tablets, he drove all of Syria away to Persia. There was no farmer, no longer a taxpayer to the state, and tribute was not brought in to the empire; and the prefect was compelled to support the soldiery and to provide all the usual expenses for the state, not only being mulcted of the tribute from the Syrians, which alone made a difference to the rulers, but was even forced to provide in addition expenses beyond number concerning the captured cities and concerning the taxpayers, if any happened to escape the Persian bonds and wander in the desolate places of the once-admired regions. 218 55 As the state was being tossed by such surges and storms of evils, Fortune set forth diligence as a counterweight to the former indolence, placing Justinian, the most vigilant of all emperors, over public affairs, who, a loss of his own

47

ἀφορμῆς οἱ Πέρσαι Ῥωμαίοις ἐπετέθησαν, κατὰ σμικρὸν ἐπὶ τὰς Συρίας καὶ Καππαδοκίας ἐκχεόμενοι, ὡς δῆθεν ἀδικούμενοι καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν κοινῶν γενομένην 214 δαπάνην κατὰ τὸ ἐπιβάλλον Ῥωμαίοις ἀποστερούμενοι, ὥστε Σποράκιον τὸν πρῶτον ὑπὸ Θεοδοσίου τοῦ μείζονος ἐκπεμφθῆναι διαλεχθησόμενον Πέρσαις· ὁ δὲ δυνάμει τε χρημάτων καὶ συνέσει λόγων ἐγγὺς ἔπειθε Πέρσαις, Ῥωμαίων ὥσπερ χαριζομένων αὐτοῖς, ὑποφόρων Ῥωμαίων ἡσυχάζειν καὶ φίλους εἶναι. καὶ ταῦτα ἕως τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς Ἀναστασίου διεσύρη λαλούμενά τε καὶ τυπούμενα καὶ ἁπλῶς ἠρτημένα. ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτοῦ, Κωάδου τοῦ γέροντος ὅλην Περσίδα κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ἄγοντος, γίνεται πόλεμος. καὶ χειρὶ μὲν νικᾶν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι δυνάμενοι, ἀσωτίᾳ δὲ καὶ τρυφῇ Ἀρεοβίνδου τοῦ τελευταίου ἦν γὰρ φιλῳδὸς καὶ φίλαυλος καὶ φιλορχήμων καὶ ἀπειρίᾳ καὶ δειλίᾳ Πατρικίου καὶ Ὑπατίου τῶν στρατηγῶν, ἠλαττώθησαν μὲν τὸ πρότερον, ἐξαπίνης τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιχεθέντων, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν τούς τε Πέρσας διωξάντων καὶ Ἄμιδαν ἁλοῦσαν ῥυσαμένων αὖθις, ὁ Πέρσης λόγους ἐκίνησε πρὸς Κέλερα, ὃς ἦν μάγιστρος τῶν θείων ὀφφικίων τῷ Ἀναστασίῳ, περὶ Βιραπαράχ, ὡς προέφαμεν, καὶ τῆς κατὰ μόνας ὑπὸ Περσῶν γενομένης περὶ αὐτοῦ δαπάνης. καὶ πέρας ἔσχεν ἡ φιλονεικία, μετρίων τινῶν ὑπὸ Ἀναστασίου χαρισθέντων Κωάδῃ· τὸ γὰρ μεγαλόφρον Ἀναστασίου καὶ εὐμέθοδον εὐσεβῶς τὴν ὑπὲρ εἰρήνης ζημίαν ὑπέμενεν. τοιοῦτος μὲν οὖν ὁ περὶ τῶν Κασπίων πυλῶν τοῖς Ῥωμαίων συγγραφεῦσιν ὁ λόγος. Ἀρριανὸςἐπὶ τῆς Ἀλανικῆς Ἱστορίας, καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπὶ τῆς ὀγδόης τῶν Παρθικῶν, ἀκριβέστερον διεξέρχεται, αὐτὸς τοῖς τόποις ἐπιστὰς οἷα τῆς χώρας αὐτῆς ἡγησάμενος ὑπὸ Ἀδριανῷ τῷ χρηστῷ. τοιούτους γὰρ ἄρχοντας ἐκεῖνος ἔσχεν, οἳ τοῖς τε λόγοις τοῖς τε ἔργοις εἰς τοσαύτην εὔκλειαν τήν τε πολιτείαν ἀνέστησαν. 216 54 Τοιούτων μὲν περὶ Πέρσας, μυρίων δὲ ἄλλων πολέμων ἀναπτομένων, τὸ λοιπὸν λογικοῖς πάροδος οὐκ ἦν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπαρχότητα. «ἔδει δὲ χρημάτων, καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἄνευ αὐτῶν πραχθῆναι τῶν δεόντων.» ὅπως δὲ μηδὲν τῶν πρὸς ἀνατροπὴν τῆς πρόσθεν εὐπραγίας παροφθείη, σάλοι σκιρτῶντες καὶ διϊστῶντες τὴν γῆν ῥιζόθεν τὴν Σελεύκου Ἀντιόχειαν κατέαξαν, τῷ ὑπερκειμένῳ βουνῷ τὴν πόλιν σκεπάσαντες, ὡς μηδεμίαν διαφορὰν ὄρους καὶ πόλεως ἀπολειφθῆναι τῷ χωρίῳ, νάπην δὲ τὸ πᾶν καὶ σκοπέλους, οἳ πάλαι τὸν Ὀρόντην παρολισθαίνοντα τῇ πόλει ἐσκίαζον. χρυσίον οὖν ἄπειρον ἐχρῆν ἐπομβρίσαι τὴν ἐπαρχότητα πρὸς ἐκφορὰν τέως τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ πτώματος ἐξογκωθέντων καὶ εἰς ἠλίβατον δυσχωρίαν ἀνοιδησάντων χωμάτων· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν ἀσφαλὲς τὴν Σύρων πρωτεύουσαν παριδεῖν ἐρριμμένην εἰς ἔδαφος. ὡς δὲ κόπῳ πολλῷ καὶ χρημάτων ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ τεχνῶν συνεργείᾳ ὥσπερ ἐρεβόθεν ἡ πόλις ἀνεφύετο, Ἰουστίνου τέλος λαβόντος, Χοσρόης ὁ κακοδαίμων διὰ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἐμπεσὼν σὺν ἀπείρῳ στρατιᾷ ταῖς Συρίαις αὐτὴν μὲν τὴν ἄρτι καταπεσοῦσαν, εὐχείρωτον αὐτῷ φανεῖσαν ὡς ἄφρακτον λαβὼν πολέμῳ κατέφλεξεν, φόνον ἄπειρον ἐργασάμενος, τοὺς δὲ ἀνδριάντας, οἷς ἐκοσμεῖτο τὸ ἄστυ, σὺν πλαξὶ καὶ λίθοις καὶ πίναξιν ἁπλῶς ἀναρπάσας ὅλην εἰς Πέρσας Συρίαν ἀπήλασεν. γεωργὸς δὲ οὐκ ἦν, οὐχ ὑποτελὴς τῷ δημοσίῳ λοιπόν, καὶ δασμὸς μὲν οὐκ εἰσεφέρετο τῇ βασιλείᾳ, τὸν δὲ στρατιώτην ἀποτρέφειν ὁ ὕπαρχος ἠναγκάζετο καὶ πάσας τὰς συνήθεις ἐπιδιδόναι τῇ πολιτείᾳ δαπάνας, οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἀπὸ Σύρων φόρους ζημιούμενος, οἳ καὶ μόνοι ῥοπὴν τοῖς κρατοῦσιν ἐποίουν, ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ προσεπιδιδόναι δαπάνας ἀριθμοῦ κρείττονας συνωθούμενος περί τε τὰς ἀλούσας τῶν πόλεων περί τε τοὺς συντελεῖς, εἴ πού τινας τὰ Περσῶν δεσμὰ διαφυγόντας ἐμπλανᾶσθαι ταῖς ἐρημίαις τῶν πάλαι θαυμαζομένων χωρίων συνέβαινεν. 218 55 Τοιούτοις κλύδωσι τοῦ πολιτεύματος καὶ θυέλλαις κακῶν ῥιπταζομένου, ἀντίρροπον προὔθηκεν ἡ Τύχη τῆς πάλαι ῥᾳθυμίας τὴν ἐμμέλειαν, Ἰουστινιανὸν τὸν πάντων βασιλέων ἀγρυπνότατον ἐπιστήσασα τοῖς κοινοῖς, ὃς ζημίαν τῆς οἰκείας