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as if he were in tears, he proposed to those then present, both others and Anastasius the ambassador, that they pray God to punish the one responsible for the evils that had happened. 2.9.11 And he wished to indicate Justinian, the emperor of the Romans, knowing well that he himself 2.9.12 was most to blame for everything. Employing such perversity of nature, Chosroes both became king of the Persians (the demon having blinded the eye of Zames, who in time was to win the first place for the kingship after Caoses, whom Cabades hated for no reason at all) and with no trouble overcame those who rose against him, and he easily did to the Romans 2.9.13 whatever evils he planned. For Fortune, always wishing to make someone great, accomplishes her purposes at the appointed times, with no one resisting the rush of her will, neither considering the worth of the man nor calculating how to avoid anything improper from happening, nor that many will blaspheme against her for these things, mocking the event as being beyond the merit of the one who has received her grace, nor taking anything else at all into consideration, if only her purpose might be accomplished. But let these things be as is pleasing to God. 2.9.14 Chosroes ordered the army to take captive and enslave the surviving Antiochenes and to plunder all their property, but he himself with the ambassadors went down from the acropolis to the shrine, which they call a church. 2.9.15 There Chosroes found treasures of gold and silver in such quantity, that taking nothing else of the spoil but these treasures, he departed, invested with a great amount of wealth. 2.9.16 And taking many wonderful marbles from there, he ordered them to be set down outside the precinct, so that these too 2.9.17 might be carried off to the land of the Persians. Having accomplished these things, he instructed the Persians to burn the entire city. And the ambassadors begged him to spare the church alone, for which he had received sufficient ransom. 2.9.18 He, having conceded this to the ambassadors, ordered them to burn everything else, and leaving a few men there to burn the city, he himself with all the others withdrew to the camp, where they had happened to have been quartered before. 2.10.1 Some time before this disaster, God showed a portent to the inhabitants there and signified what was to come. For the standards of the soldiers, who have been stationed there from of old, which previously were standing toward the setting sun, turned of their own accord and stood toward the rising sun, and then returned again to their former position 2.10.2 with no one touching them. The soldiers showed these things to many others who were nearby and to the one who supplied the expenses of the camp, while the standards were still shaking. 2.10.3 This was a man, Tatianus by name, most intelligent, hailing from Mopsuestia. But not even so did those who saw this portent understand that the power over the place would pass from the western king to the eastern, so that, evidently, those who were fated to suffer these things which came to pass might be unable to escape by any means. 2.10.4 But I grow dizzy writing of so great a disaster and committing it to memory for future time, and I am unable to know what on earth God's purpose might be in raising the fortunes of a man or a place to a height, and then again casting them down and destroying them 2.10.5 for no cause apparent to us. For it is not right to say of Him that all things do not always happen according to reason, He who then endured to see Antioch brought down to the ground by a most unholy man, a city whose beauty and magnificence in all respects 2.10.6 it has not been possible to conceal completely even now. So the church alone was left when the city was destroyed, through the effort and foresight of the Persians to whom this task was assigned. 2.10.7 And many houses around the so-called Cerataeum were also left, not by any human foresight, but because they lay somewhere at the extremities of the city, with no other building adjoining them, 2.10.8 the fire was in no way able to reach them. And the barbarians also burned the things outside the circuit wall, except for the shrine which is dedicated to Saint Julian,

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ὡς εἴη δεδακρυμένος παρεχόμενον τοῖς τότε παροῦσιν ἄλλοις τε καὶ Ἀναστασίῳ τῷ πρεσβευτῇ, εὔξασθαι τὸν θεὸν τίσασθαι τὸν τῶν γεγονότων κακῶν 2.9.11 αἴτιον. Ἰουστινιανὸν δὲ τὸν Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτορα παραδηλοῦν ἤθελεν, ἐξεπιστάμενος ὅτι δὴ αὐτὸς 2.9.12 αἰτιώτατος ἁπάντων εἴη. τοσαύτῃ χρώμενος φύσεως ἀτοπίᾳ Χοσρόης βασιλεύς τε Περσῶν γέγονε (Ζάμου τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν τοῦ δαιμονίου πηρώσαντος, ὅσπερ τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ πρωτεῖα ἐς τὴν βασιλείαν ἐφέρετο μετά γε τὸν Καόσην, ὅνπερ οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ἐμίσει Καβάδης) καὶ πόνῳ οὐδενὶ τῶν οἱ ἐπαναστάντων ἐκράτησε, κακά τε 2.9.13 Ῥωμαίους ὅσα ἐβούλευσεν εὐπετῶς ἔδρασε. βουλομένη γάρ τινα μέγαν ἀεὶ ποιεῖν ἡ τύχη πράσσει τοῖς καθήκουσι χρόνοις τὰ δόξαντα, οὐδενὸς τῇ ῥύμῃ τῆς βουλήσεως ἀντιστατοῦντος, οὔτε τὸ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διασκοπουμένη ἀξίωμα οὔτε ὅπως μὴ γένηταί τι τῶν οὐ δεόντων λογιζομένη, οὐδὲ ὅτι βλασφημήσουσιν ἐς αὐτὴν διὰ ταῦτα πολλοὶ τὸ γεγονὸς αὐτῇ παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ τῆς χάριτος τετυχηκότος χλευάζοντες, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τῶν πάντων οὐδὲν ἐν νῷ ποιουμένη, ἢν τὸ δόξαν αὐτῇ περαίνοιτο μόνον. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὅπη τῷ θεῷ φίλον ἐχέτω. 2.9.14 Χοσρόης δὲ τὸ μὲν στράτευμα τῶν Ἀντιοχέων τοὺς περιόντας ζωγρεῖν καὶ ἀνδραποδίζειν ἐκέλευε καὶ τὰ χρήματα πάντα ληίζεσθαι, αὐτὸς δὲ ξὺν τοῖς πρέσβεσιν ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄκρας κατέβαινεν, ὅπερ ἐκκλη2.9.15 σίαν καλοῦσιν. ἐνταῦθα κειμήλια χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου τοσαῦτα τὸ πλῆθος ὁ Χοσρόης εὗρεν, ὥστε τῆς λείας ἄλλο οὐδὲν ὅτι μὴ τὰ κειμήλια ταῦτα λαβὼν πλούτου τι μέγεθος περιβεβλημένος ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο. 2.9.16 καὶ μάρμαρά τε πολλὰ καὶ θαυμαστὰ ἐνθένδε ἀφελὼν ἔξω τοῦ περιβόλου ἐκέλευε κατατίθεσθαι, ὅπως καὶ ταῦτα 2.9.17 ἐς τὰ Περσῶν ἤθη κομίσωνται. ταῦτα διαπεπραγμένος ξύμπασαν τὴν πόλιν ἐμπρῆσαι Πέρσαις ἐπέστελλε. καὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ πρέσβεις ἐδέοντο τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπέχεσθαι μόνης, ἧς τὰ λύτρα κεκομισμένος διαρκῶς εἴη. 2.9.18 ὁ δὲ τοῦτο τοῖς πρέσβεσι ξυγκεχωρηκὼς τἄλλα καίειν ἐκέλευε πάντα, ὀλίγους τέ τινας αὐτόθι ἀπολιπὼν τοὺς τὴν πόλιν ἐμπρήσοντας αὐτὸς ξὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀπεχώρησεν, οὗ καὶ πρότερον διεσκηνημένοι ἐτύγχανον. 2.10.1 Τούτου τοῦ πάθους χρόνῳ τινὶ πρότερον τέρας ὁ θεὸς ἐνδειξάμενος τοῖς ταύτῃ ᾠκημένοις ἐσήμηνε τὰ ἐσόμενα. τῶν γὰρ στρατιωτῶν, οἵπερ ἐνταῦθα ἐκ παλαιοῦ ἵδρυνται, τὰ σημεῖα πρότερον ἑστῶτα πρὸς δύοντά που τὸν ἥλιον, ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου στραφέντα πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον ἔστησαν, ἐς τάξιν τε αὖθις ἐπαν2.10.2 ῆκον τὴν προτέραν οὐδενὸς ἁψαμένου. ταῦτα οἱ στρατιῶται ἄλλοις τε πολλοῖς ἄγχιστά πη παροῦσι καὶ τῷ χορηγῷ τῆς τοῦ στρατοπέδου δαπάνης ἔδειξαν, ἔτι τῶν σημείων κραδαινομένων. ἦν δὲ οὗτος ἀνὴρ, Τατιανὸς ὄνομα, ξυνετὸς μάλιστα, ἐκ Μοψουεστίας ὁρμώ2.10.3 μενος. ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὣς ἔγνωσαν οἱ τὸ τέρας τοῦτο ἰδόντες ὡς δὴ ἐκ βασιλέως τοῦ ἑσπερίου ἐπὶ τὸν ἑῷον τὸ τοῦ χωρίου ἀφίξεται κράτος, ὅπως δηλαδὴ διαφυγεῖν μηδεμιᾷ μηχανῇ δύνωνται οὕσπερ ἔδει ταῦτα, ἅπερ 2.10.4 ξυνηνέχθη, παθεῖν. ἐγὼ δὲ ἰλιγγιῶ πάθος τοσοῦτον γράφων τε καὶ παραπέμπων ἐς μνήμην τῷ μέλλοντι χρόνῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἔχω εἰδέναι τί ποτε ἄρα βουλομένῳ τῷ θεῷ εἴη πράγματα μὲν ἀνδρὸς ἢ χωρίου του ἐπαίρειν εἰς ὕψος, αὖθις δὲ ῥιπτεῖν τε αὐτὰ καὶ 2.10.5 ἀφανίζειν ἐξ οὐδεμιᾶς ἡμῖν φαινομένης αἰτίας. αὐτῷ γὰρ οὐ θέμις εἰπεῖν μὴ οὐχὶ ἅπαντα κατὰ λόγον ἀεὶ γίγνεσθαι, ὃς δὴ καὶ Ἀντιόχειαν τότε ὑπέστη ἐς τὸ ἔδαφος πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀνοσιωτάτου καταφερομένην ἰδεῖν, ἧς τό τε κάλλος καὶ τὸ ἐς ἅπαντα μεγαλοπρεπὲς οὐδὲ 2.10.6 νῦν ἀποκρύπτεσθαι παντάπασιν ἔσχεν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐκκλησία καθαιρεθείσης τῆς πόλεως ἐλείφθη μόνη, πόνῳ τε καὶ προνοίᾳ Περσῶν, οἷς τὸ ἔργον ἐπέκειτο 2.10.7 τοῦτο. ἐλείφθησαν δὲ καὶ ἀμφὶ τὸ λεγόμενον Κεραταῖον οἰκίαι πολλαὶ, οὐκ ἐκ προνοίας ἀνθρώπων τινὸς, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ἔκειντό που πρὸς ἐσχάτοις τῆς πόλεως, ἑτέρας αὐταῖς οὐδεμιᾶς τινος οἰκοδομίας ξυναπτομένης, τὸ 2.10.8 πῦρ ἐς αὐτὰς ἐξικνεῖσθαι οὐδαμῆ ἴσχυσεν. ἐνέπρησάν τε καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς τοῦ περιβόλου οἱ βάρβαροι, πλὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ὅπερ Ἰουλιανῷ ἀνεῖται ἁγίῳ,