,

all of it; but he himself, having destroyed the fortress of Singara, since the winter season was approaching, took his forces and returned to Roman territory. 3.16.3 In this very year, Justin, the Roman emperor, died from his illness, 3.16.4 having received great recompense for his life. And so, being on the point of departure from this world, he appointed the emperor Tiberius as lord of the monarchy, a man at once gentle and philanthropic, superior to gain and heedless of money, considering this alone to be happiness, that his subjects should be flourishing and glorying in great wealth, reckoning the common blessedness of men a most beautiful and inviolable treasure; 3.16.5 who, hating the pomp of tyranny and aspiring to the affection of his countrymen, chose to have his subjects reign with him rather than to enslave his people more tyrannically, wishing to be proclaimed father rather than master by his subjects. 3.16.6 And since the vessel of his authority was steered by him without corruption, it was fitting that the war, along with his affairs, also experienced a change for the better. 3.16.7 At the beginning of spring, Chosroes, the king of the Persians, ensnared by disease, ended his life here, having appointed his son Hormisdas as his successor, a man who in harshness 3.16.8 far surpassed his father’s unholy character; for he was violent and a most insatiable lover of more, holding justice in no esteem whatsoever; delighting in deceit and surrounded by falsehood, he longed for wars, not for peace. 3.16. And having become most hostile toward his subjects, some of the most powerful he subjected forever to stocks and bonds, others he cut down with the sword, some he sent to the depths of the Tigris, and the river was their unadorned tomb (for it was not done secretly) of those sent by the king to their 3.16.10 death. For they say that Hormisdas was warned by an oracle through the Magi that he would be overthrown by his subjects and suffer the loss of his power, and would disgracefully lay down the rudders of authority 3.16.11 and of the kingdom. Wretched in their impiety are those who obey these things; for what was perhaps not going to happen in reality, demons often speak monstrously, so that by fear of their prediction the designs of the unholy powers who give oracles might somehow come to pass 3.16.12 through the most cunning sophism of wickedness. For from this, Hormisdas sets his sword even against the multitude itself, and having destroyed many thousands of the multitude out of fear for the future, he stored up for himself irreconcilable ill-will from his subjects. 3.16.13 And he withheld a tenth of the soldiers' pay and compelled the army to go into great dangers, so that through the destruction of the Babylonian force his royal throne might have a foundation free from sedition. 3.17.1 And so Hormisdas, having put on the diadem of tyrants, became boastful and arrogant and cut short the custom, as if not deigning to send the symbols of his proclamation 3.17.2 to the emperor Tiberius. The emperor, therefore, renounces war against Hormisdas, demanding that peace be on equal terms for both; but he, exulting in the embassy, demanded that the Romans be openly taxed, and that the Armenians and Iberians be his subjects, with the Romans granting this to him, and that Daras no longer be sought by the Caesar, although his father Chosroes had been willing to grant a reconciliation to the Caesar on equal terms, and had not refused to restore Daras 3.17.3 to Roman rule. But when the arrogance of Hormisdas became clear to the emperor Tiberius, when summer came again, Maurice gathered his forces and entered Persia, having sent Romanus and Theodoric, and indeed also Martin, to the opposite side of the Tigris, 3.17.4 the inner parts of Media

ἅπασαν· αὐτὸς δὲ τὸ Σιγγάρων φρούριον καταστρεψάμενος, ἐπεὶ χειμῶνος ὥρα παρέκυπτεν, τὰς δυνάμεις ἀναλαβόμενος τοῖς ῾Ρωμαϊκοῖς 3.16.3 ἐνεδήμησεν. κατὰ τοῦτον δῆτα τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἀπέσκλη ὑπὸ τῆς νόσου ᾿Ιουστῖνος, ὁ τοῦ ῾Ρωμαϊκοῦ βασιλεύς, μεγάλαις 3.16.4 τῶν βεβιωμένων αὐτῷ ἐντετυχηκὼς ἀντιδόσεσιν. ἀπόφοιτος γοῦν τῶν ἐντεῦθεν ὅσον οὔπω γινόμενος κύριον τῆς μοναρχίας συνίστησι Τιβέριον τὸν αὐτοκράτορα, ἄνδρα πρᾶον ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλάνθρωπον κρείττονά τε λήμματος καὶ χρημάτων ἀφρόντιδα, τοῦτο μόνον εὐδαιμονίαν ἡγούμενον, τὸ τεθηλέναι τε καὶ ἐς μέγα πλούτου κομᾶν τὸ ὑπήκοον, τὴν κοινὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μακαριότητα πάγκαλον καὶ ἀσυλότατον θησαυρὸν 3.16.5 λογιζόμενον· ὃς τὸν ὄγκον τῆς τυραννίδος μισήσας καὶ πρὸς τὸ φιλόστοργον τῶν ὁμοφύλων ἀναδραμὼν εἵλετο συμβασιλεύειν αὐτῷ τὸ ὑπήκοον ἢ τοὺς ἰθυνομένους τυραννικώτερον ἀνδραποδίζεσθαι, πατὴρ ἐθέλων ἢ δεσπότης ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπηκόων 3.16.6 ἀναγορεύεσθαι. ἐπεὶ δ' ἀκαπηλεύτως αὐτῷ τὸ τῆς ἐξουσίας οἰακίζετο σκάφος, εἰκότως καὶ ὁ πόλεμος μετὰ τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολὴν ἐκληρώσατο. 3.16.7 ῏Ηρος δ' ἀρχομένου, νόσῳ σαγηνευθεὶς Χοσρόης, ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεύς, τὸν τῇδε κατεστρέψατο βίον, διάδοχον προστησάμενος ῾Ορμίσδαν τὸν υἱόν, ἄνδρα τῇ χαλεπότητι 3.16.8 τὴν πατρῴαν ὑπερηκοντικότα τῶν τρόπων ἀνοσιότητα· ἦν γὰρ βίαιός τε καὶ τοῦ πλείονος ἐραστὴς ἀκορέστατος, ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ τὸ δίκαιον μοίρᾳ τιθέμενος· ἀπάτῃ τε ἡδόμενος καὶ τῷ ψεύδει περιρρεόμενος τῶν πολέμων, οὐ τῆς εἰρήνης, ἐγλίχετο. 3.16. δυσμενέστατός τε πρὸς τὸ ὑπήκοον γεγονώς, οὓς μὲν τῶν δυνατωτάτων ποδοκάκῃ καὶ δεσμοῖς ἐς τὸ ἀεὶ καθυπέβαλλεν, οὓς δὲ ξίφει διέτεμνεν, ἐνίους παρέπεμπε ταῖς λαγόσι τοῦ Τίγριδος, καὶ τάφος ἦν ὁ ποταμὸς ἀναμφίαστος (οὐ γὰρ ἀδημοσίευτος ἐτύγχανεν ὢν) τῶν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως παραπεμπομένων ἐς 3.16.10 θάνατον. χρηματισθῆναι γὰρ τὸν ῾Ορμίσδαν διὰ τῶν μάγων φασὶν ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπηκόων καταστασιασθέντα ἀποβολὴν τοῦ κράτους ποιήσασθαι, ἐπονειδίστως τε καταθέσθαι τῆς ἐξουσίας 3.16.11 ὁμοῦ καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοὺς οἴακας. δείλαιοι τῆς ἀσεβείας οἱ τούτοις πειθήνιοι· ἃ γὰρ οὐκ ἤμελλε συμβαίνειν ἴσως τοῖς πράγμασιν, πολλάκις τερατολογοῦσι δαιμόνια, ἵνα δέει τῆς τούτων προαγορεύσεως σχοίη που πάντως συμπέρασμα τῶν χρησμολογούντων ἀνοσίων δυνάμεων τὰ βουλήματα τῷ 3.16.12 τῆς πονηρίας πανουργικωτάτῳ σοφίσματι. ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ἐπιτίθησι καὶ πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος αὐτὸ ῾Ορμίσδας τὴν μάχαιραν, καὶ διαφθείρας δέει τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους χιλιάδας πολλὰς ἀπεθησαύριζεν ἑαυτῷ παρὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων δυσμένειαν 3.16.13 ἀδιάλλακτον. ἀπεδεκάτου δὲ καὶ τὰς στρατιωτικὰς ἐπιδόσεις καὶ πρὸς κινδύνους μεγάλους χωρεῖν τὸ ὁπλιτικὸν κατηνάγκαζεν, ὅπως τῇ διαφθορᾷ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας δυνάμεως ἀστασίαστον αὐτῷ ὁ βασίλειος θρόνος σχοίη τὴν ἵδρυσιν. 3.17.1 περιβαλόμενος γοῦν ὁ ῾Ορμίσδας τὸ τῶν τυράννων διάδημα περιαυτίζεταί τε καὶ αὐθαδίζεται καὶ περικείρει τὸ εἰωθός, τὰ τῆς ἀναρρήσεως σήμαντρα ἀποστέλλειν ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀξιῶν 3.17.2 Τιβερίῳ τῷ αὐτοκράτορι. ὁ μὲν οὖν αὐτοκράτωρ ἀποκηρυκεύεται πρὸς ῾Ορμίσδαν τὸν πόλεμον τὴν εἰρήνην ἐν ἴσῃ μοίρᾳ ἑκατέροις γενέσθαι ἐξαιτούμενος· ὁ δ' ἐπὶ τῇ πρεσβείᾳ καταγαυρούμενος ἠξίου φορολογεῖσθαι ἐς τὸ φανερὸν τοὺς ῾Ρωμαίους, ᾿Αρμενίους τε καὶ ῎Ιβηρας ἐν ὑπηκόοις τελεῖν,῾Ρωμαίων τοῦτο παρεχομένων αὐτῷ, τό τε ∆αρὰς μὴ ἐπιζητεῖσθαι λοιπὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος, καίτοι Χοσρόου τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἴσοις βουληθέντος τὰς διαλλαγὰς ἀντιδοῦναι τῷ Καίσαρι, τό τε ∆αρὰς οὐκ ἀπαξιώσαντος ἀποκαταστῆσαι 3.17.3 τῇ τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων ἀρχῇ. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰ τῆς ἀλαζονείας ῾Ορμίσδου καταφανῆ Τιβερίῳ τῷ αὐτοκράτορι γέγονεν, θέρους ἐπιγενομένου πάλιν Μαυρίκιος τὰς δυνάμεις ἀθροίσας ἐνδημεῖ τῇ Περσίδι, ἐς τὸ ἀντιπέρας τοῦ Τίγριδος ῾Ρωμανόν τε καὶ Θεοδώριχον, ναὶ μὴν καὶ Μαρτῖνον πεπομφὼς τὰ ἐνδόμυχα 3.17.4 τῆς Μηδικῆς