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set foot on the land of the Libyans, when he was campaigning against Gelimer and the Van6.6.9 dals. There indeed God displayed for the emperor that wondrous gift, which is beyond description, and which has been related by me in the 6.6.10 account of the wars. For since the place was exceedingly waterless, and the Roman army was being hard pressed by a great lack of water, the earth, which had previously been most firmly dry, sent forth a spring, where indeed the soldiers were building the palisade. 6.6.11 For they were digging, and it was gushing up. And the earth, having cast off its native drought and having changed its own 6.6.12 nature, had become moist with potable water. And so for the rest of the time, having encamped and bivouacked in a suitable place, and on the next day having prepared for battle, to cut short the 6.6.13 intervening events, they took Libya. Therefore, the Emperor Justinian, confirming the gift of God with a perpetual testimony—for whom, when he wishes, the most impossible things become easy—decided to transform this place at once into a city, strong in its wall, and in its other appointments designed to the scale of a prosperous city, and the emperor's thought became 6.6.14 a deed. For a wall was completed and a city, and the fortune of a field is suddenly chan6.6.15 ged. And the rustics, having cast aside the plough-handle, live the life of citizens, no longer managing a rustic way of life, but a city 6.6.16 one. Since they even spend their days in the market here, and hold assemblies concerning their necessities, and conduct trade with one another, and do all the other things which pertain to the dignity of a city. 6.6.17 These things were done in Byzacium on the sea. But in the interior towards the farthest parts of the country, where indeed the barbarian Maurusians live nearby, most powerful fortresses have been built against them, from which indeed they are no longer a6.6.18 ble to ravage the Roman domain. For the cities which are there at the edge of the country, having surrounded each with exceedingly strong walls—whose names are Mammes and Telepte and Cululis—and having walled a fort, which the locals call Aumetra, he established reliable garrisons of soldiers there. 6.7.1 And in the same way for the country of the Numidians he provided security by means of fortifications and garrisons of soldiers, each of which I shall now describe. 6.7.2 There is a mountain in Numidia which is called Aurasium, such as is scarcely to be found elsewhere in the inhabited 6.7.3 world. For this mountain rises heaven-high in its sheer cliffs, and it extends in circumference a journey of about three days. And to one approaching it is inaccessible, having no ascent except 6.7.4 a precipitous one. But when one is on top, the land is tillable and the plains level and the roads gentle, with good pasture meadows, parks planted thick with trees, all kinds of fragrant things. 6.7.5 and springs gush forth from the cliffs there, and the waters are calm, and rivers swell with abundance of flow, and—most paradoxical of all—both the crops and the trees on this mountain bear fruit of double the size than is wont to grow in the rest of Libya. 6.7.6 Such, then, are the characteristics of Mount Aurasium. Now the Vandals at first held it along with all Libya, from whom 6.7.7 indeed the Maurusians took it and established themselves there. But the Maurusians and Iaudas, who was their ruler, the Emperor Justinian drove from there, and added it to the rest of the Roman 6.7.8 dominion. And taking forethought so that the barbarians should not come here and do mischief again, he found the cities around the mountain deserted and entirely unwalled and fortified them—I mean Pentebagae and Florentiana and Bades and Meleum and Thamugade, and furthermore also two forts, Dabusis and Gaiana—and having established sufficient garrisons of soldiers there, to the barbarians of that region no hope of plotting against Aurasium 6.7.9 did he leave. And the land beyond Aurasium, which had scarcely been under the Vandals, he took away from the Maurusians. and he walled two cities there, both Frice and 6.7.10 Sitifis. And indeed in the cities situated in the rest of Numidia he established impregnable defences. to which the

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Λιβύων τῆς γῆς ἐπεβάτευεν, ἡνίκα ἐπὶ Γελίμερά τε καὶ Βανδί6.6.9 λους ἐστράτευεν. οὗ δὴ καὶ τὸ θαυμάσιον ἐκεῖνο καὶ λόγου κρεῖσσον ἐς τὸν βασιλέα ἐπιδέδεικται ὁ θεὸς δώρημα, ὅπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῶν πολέμων δεδήλωται 6.6.10 λόγοις. ἀνύδρου γὰρ τοῦ χωρίου τὰ μάλιστα ὄντος, ὕδατός τε ἀπορίᾳ πολλῇ πιεζομένου τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ, ἡ γῆ, πρότερον ἐπὶ ξηροῦ βεβαιότατα οὖσα, πηγὴν ἀνῆκεν, οὗ δὴ τὸ χαράκωμα οἱ στρατιῶται εἰργάζοντο. 6.6.11 οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὤρυσσον, ἡ δὲ ἀνεβλύστανεν. ἥ τε γῆ αὐχμὸν ἀποβαλοῦσα τὸν ἐπιχώριον καὶ μεθαρμοσαμένη τὴν αὐτῆς 6.6.12 φύσιν ὕδατι ποτίμῳ ὑγρὰ ἐγεγόνει. ταύτῃ τε τὸ λοιπὸν ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ στρατοπεδεύσαντές τε καὶ αὐλισάμενοι, καὶ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ὡς ἐς τὴν μάχην συσκευασάμενοι, ἵνα τὰ 6.6.13 ἐν μέσῳ συντέμω, Λιβύην ἔσχον. μαρτυρίῳ τοίνυν διηνεκεῖ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ δῶρον πιστούμενος Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεύς, ᾧ δὴ βουλομένῳ τὰ ἀμηχανώτατα εὔκολα γίνεται, ἐς πόλιν αὐτίκα μεταβιβάσαι τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο βεβούλευται, τείχει μὲν ἐρυμνήν, τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ κατασκευῇ ἐς πόλεως ὄγκον ὑπογεγραμμένην εὐδαίμονος, καὶ γέγονεν 6.6.14 ἔργον τὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνθύμημα. τεῖχός τε γὰρ ἀποτετόρνευται καὶ πόλις, καὶ ἀγροῦ τύχη ἐξαπιναίως ἀμεί6.6.15 βεται. οἵ τε ἄγροικοι τὴν ἐχέτλην ἀπορριψάμενοι πολιτικῶς βιοτεύουσιν, οὐκ ἄγροικον δίαιταν ἔτι, ἀλλ' ἀστείαν 6.6.16 διαχειρίζοντες. ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀγοράζουσιν ἐνταῦθα διημερεύοντες, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν σφίσιν ἀναγκαίων ἐκκλησιάζουσι, καὶ ἀγορὰν ἀλλήλοις συμβάλλουσι, τἄλλα τε ἅπαντα πράσσουσιν ὅσα δὴ ἐς πόλεως ἀξίωμα ἥκει. 6.6.17 Ταῦτα μὲν ἐν Βυζακίῳ τῷ ἐπιθαλασσίῳ πεποίηται. κατὰ δὲ τὴν μεσόγειαν ἐς τῆς χώρας τὰ ἔσχατα, ἵνα δὴ αὐτὴν βάρβαροι προσοικοῦσι Μαυρούσιοι, ἐπιτειχίσματα κατ' αὐτῶν πεποίηται δυνατώτατα, ἐξ ὧν δὴ οὐκέτι οἷοί 6.6.18 τέ εἰσι καταθεῖν τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχήν. πόλεις τε γὰρ τὰς ἐνταῦθα οὔσας ἐν ἐσχατιᾷ τῆς χώρας ἑκάστην τείχεσιν ἐχυροῖς ἄγαν περιβαλών, αἷς αἱ προσηγορίαι Μάμμης τε καὶ Τελεπτὴ καὶ Κούλουλις, καὶ φρούριον τειχισάμενος, ὅπερ καλοῦσιν οἱ ἐπιχώριοι Αὐμέτρα, ἐχεγγύους ἐνταῦθα φρουροὺς στρατιωτῶν κατεστήσατο. 6.7.1 Τρόπῳ δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ Νουμιδίων τῇ χώρᾳ τειχίσματί τε καὶ στρατιωτῶν φυλακτηρίοις τὴν ἀσφάλειαν προσ6.7.2 εποίησεν, ὧνπερ ἕκαστα ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν Νουμιδίᾳ, ὅπερ Αὐράσιον ἐπικέκληται, οἷον δὴ γῆς τῆς 6.7.3 οἰκουμένης ἑτέρωθι ὡς ἥκιστα ξυμβαίνει εἶναι. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ὄρος οὐρανόμηκες μὲν ἐν τῷ ἀποτόμῳ ἀνέχει, ἐς περίμετρον δὲ ἡμερῶν μάλιστα διήκει ὁδῷ τριῶν. καὶ προσιόντι μὲν ἀπρόσβατόν ἐστιν, ἀνάβασιν οὐδεμίαν ὅτι 6.7.4 μὴ ἐν ἀποκρήμνῳ ἔχον. ἄνω δὲ γενομένῳ γεώδης τε ἡ χώρα καὶ ὁμαλῆ τὰ πεδία καὶ ὁδοὶ προσηνεῖς, λειμῶνες εὔνομοι, παράδεισοι κατάφυτοι δένδροις, ἀρόματα πάντα. 6.7.5 καὶ πηγαὶ μὲν ἀποβλύζουσαι τῶν τῇδε σκοπέλων, γαληνὰ δὲ τὰ ὕδατα, καὶ ποταμοὶ πλήθει ῥοθίου ἐπικυρτούμενοι, καὶ τὸ δὴ πάντων παραδοξότατον, τά τε λήϊα καὶ τὰ δένδρα ἐν τούτῳ τῷ ὄρει διπλάσιον μεγέθους πέρι τὸν καρπὸν φέρουσιν ἢ ἐν Λιβύῃ τῇ ἄλλῃ πέφυκε γίνεσθαι. 6.7.6 τὰ μὲν οὖν ὄρους τοῦ Αὐρασίου ταύτῃ πη ἔχει. Βανδίλοι δὲ αὐτὸ σὺν πάσῃ Λιβύῃ τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς εἶχον, οὓς 6.7.7 δὴ Μαυρούσιοι ἀφελόμενοι τῇδε ἱδρύσαντο. Μαυρουσίους δὲ καὶ Ἰαῦδαν, ὃς αὐτῶν ἦρχεν, ἐξελάσας ἐνθένδε Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεύς, τῇ ἄλλῃ προσεποίησε Ῥωμαίων 6.7.8 ἀρχῇ. προνοήσας τε ὡς μὴ καὶ αὖθις οἱ βάρβαροι κακουργοῖεν ἐνταῦθα ἰόντες, πόλεις μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸ ὄρος ἐρήμους τε καὶ ἀτειχίστους τὸ παράπαν εὑρὼν ἐτειχίσατο, Πεντεβαγάην τε λέγω καὶ Φλωρεντιανὴν καὶ Βάδην τε καὶ Μήλεον καὶ Ταμουγάδην, ἔτι μέντοι καὶ φρούρια δύο ∆άβουσίν τε καὶ Γαιανά, φυλακτήρια δὲ στρατιωτῶν διαρκῆ ἐνταῦθα καταστησάμενος, οὐδεμίαν τοῖς ἐκείνῃ βαρβάροις ἐλπίδα τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ Αὐράσιον ἐπιβουλῆς 6.7.9 ἀπελίπετο. καὶ χώραν δὲ τὴν ὑπὲρ τὸ Αὐράσιον ὑπὸ Βανδίλοις ὡς ἥκιστα οὖσαν τοὺς Μαυρουσίους ἀφείλετο. πόλεις τε ἐνταῦθα ἐτειχίσατο δύο, τήν τε Φρίκην καὶ 6.7.10 Σίτιφιν. ἐν δὲ δὴ πόλεσι ταῖς ἐπὶ Νουμιδίας τῆς ἄλλης κειμέναις ἀνανταγώνιστα ἐρύματα κατεστήσατο. αἷς αἱ