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he determined on the east side of the city. For only in this direction is the ground suitable for digging, since the rest of the circuit wall had been built on rock by its constructors. 2.13.21 The Persians, accordingly, began to dig, starting from the moat. And since this was exceedingly deep, they were neither seen by the enemy nor gave them any perception 2.13.22 of what was being done. So they had already undermined the foundations of the outer wall, and they were about to come into the space between the two circuit walls, and a little later, after passing the great wall, to take the city by storm, but (for it was not fated to be captured by the Persians) one man from Chosroes' camp, around midday, came alone very near the circuit wall, whether he was a man or something else greater than a man, and he gave the impression to those who saw him that he was gathering the missiles which the Romans had a little earlier shot from the wall at the 2.13.23 troublesome barbarians. And while doing this and holding his shield before him, he seemed to be mocking and jeering with laughter at those on the battlements. Then, having told them the whole story, he ordered them all to be on the alert 2.13.24 and to take the greatest possible care for their safety. And he, having given this sign, went away and was gone, but the Romans with great noise and confusion ordered 2.13.25 digging in the space between the two walls. And the Persians, meanwhile, not knowing what 2.13.26 was being done, were no less engaged in their work. So while the barbarians were making a straight path underground towards the city wall, the Romans, by the plan of Theodore, a man renowned for his wisdom in what is called engineering, were working on a transverse trench of sufficient depth, it happened that the Persians, having arrived in the middle of the two circuit walls, suddenly 2.13.27 fell into the Romans' trench. And the Romans killed the first 2.13.27 of them, but those behind fled and made it safely back to their camp with speed. For the Romans by no means decided to pursue them in the dark. 2.13.28 Chosroes, therefore, having failed in this attempt and no longer hoping to take the city by any device, entered into negotiations with the besieged, and having received a thousand 2.13.29 pounds of silver, he departed to the lands of the Persians. When the Emperor Justinian learned these things, he was no longer willing to carry out the agreements, charging Chosroes with having attempted to capture the city of Daras during a truce. These things happened to the Romans during the first invasion of Chosroes, and the summer came to an end. 2.14.1 But Chosroes built a city in Assyria in a place a day's journey distant from the city of Ctesiphon, and he named it Antioch of Chosroes and settled all the captives from Antioch there, for whom he constructed both a bath and a hippodrome 2.14.2 and allowed them to indulge in other luxuries. For he brought with him both charioteers and artisans of musical works from Antioch and the other Roman cities. 2.14.3 Moreover, he also fed these Antiochenes at public expense more carefully than was customary for captives for all time, and he deemed them worthy to be called "king's men," so that they would be subject to no official except the king 2.14.4 alone. And if any of the other Romans, having become a fugitive, managed to escape to Antioch of Chosroes, and one of the inhabitants there called him a kinsman, it was no longer permitted for the one who owned this captive to lead him away, not even if the person who had enslaved the man happened to be one of the most distinguished among the Persians. 2.14.5 For the Antiochenes, however, the portent which had occurred when Anastasius was emperor ended by culminating in this. For at that time a harsh wind having suddenly fallen upon the suburb of Daphne, the cypresses which were exceedingly tall there, being overturned from their very roots, fell to the ground, which the law in no way permitted to be cut down. 2.14.6 A little later, then, when Justin was ruling the Romans, a very extraordinary earthquake occurred and shook the whole city, and immediately brought most and the finest of the buildings to the ground, and it is said that at that time three hundred thousand of the Antiochenes 2.14.7 perished. And in this capture, the entire city, as has been related by me, was destroyed. The

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τὰ πρὸς ἕω τῆς πόλεως ἔγνω. ταύτῃ γὰρ μόνον ὀρύσσεσθαι ἡ γῆ οἵα τέ ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ τὰ ἄλλα τοῦ περιβόλου ἐπὶ πέτρας τοῖς δειμαμένοις πεποί2.13.21 ηται. οἱ γοῦν Πέρσαι ἀπὸ τῆς τάφρου ἀρξάμενοι ὤρυσσον. ἧς δὴ βαθείας κομιδῆ οὔσης οὔτε καθεωρῶντο πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων οὔτε αὐτοῖς τινα αἴσθησιν 2.13.22 τοῦ ποιουμένου παρείχοντο. ἤδη μὲν οὖν ὑπέδυσαν τὰ θεμέλια τοῦ ἐκτὸς τείχους, ἔμελλον δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν μεταξὺ χώραν ἑκατέρου περιβόλου γινόμενοι ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον καὶ τὸ μέγα τεῖχος ἀμείψαντες τὴν πόλιν κατὰ κράτος ἑλεῖν, ἀλλ' (οὐ γὰρ αὐτὴν ἔδει Πέρσαις ἁλῶναι) εἷς ἐκ τοῦ Χοσρόου στρατοπέδου ἀμφὶ ἡμέραν μέσην ἄγχιστά πη τοῦ περιβόλου μόνος ἀφίκετο, εἴτε ἄνθρωπος ὢν εἴτε τι ἄλλο ἀνθρώπου κρεῖσσον, δόξαν τε τοῖς ὁρῶσι παρείχετο, ὅτι δὴ τὰ βέλη ξυλλέγοι, ἅπερ ἐκ τοῦ τείχους Ῥωμαῖοι ὀλίγῳ πρότερον ἐπὶ τοὺς 2.13.23 ἐνοχλοῦντας βαρβάρους ἀφῆκαν. ταῦτά τε ποιῶν καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα προβεβλημένος ἐρεσχελεῖν τε τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἐπάλξεσι καὶ ξὺν γέλωτι τωθάζειν ἐδόκει. εἶτα φράσας αὐτοῖς τὸν πάντα λόγον ἐγρηγορέναι πάντας ἐκέλευε 2.13.24 καὶ ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα τῆς σωτηρίας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι. καὶ ὁ μὲν ταῦτα σημήνας ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τὰ ἐν μέσῳ τείχους ἑκατέρου θορύβῳ πολλῷ καὶ ταραχῇ ἐκέ2.13.25 λευον σκάπτειν. καὶ Πέρσαι μέντοι οὐκ εἰδότες τὰ 2.13.26 πρασσόμενα οὐδέν τι ἧσσον ἔργου εἴχοντο. τῶν μὲν οὖν βαρβάρων ὀρθήν τινα ἔνερθεν ποιουμένων ὁδὸν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς πόλεως τεῖχος, τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων τε Θεοδώρου γνώμῃ, ἐπὶ σοφία, τῇ καλουμένῃ μηχανικῇ λογίου ἀνδρὸς, ἐγκαρσίαν τε τὴν διώρυχα ἐργαζομένων καὶ βάθους ἱκανῶς ἔχουσαν, ξυνέβη Πέρσας κατὰ μέσον τοῖν περιβόλοιν γεγενημένους ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου 2.13.27 ἐμπεσεῖν ἐς τὴν Ῥωμαίων κατώρυχα. καὶ αὐτῶν τοὺς 2.13.27 μὲν πρώτους Ῥωμαῖοι ἔκτειναν, οἱ δὲ ὄπισθεν φυγόντες κατὰ τάχος ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον διεσώθησαν. διώκειν 2.13.28 γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐν σκότῳ Ῥωμαῖοι οὐδαμῆ ἔγνωσαν. ταύτης οὖν τῆς πείρας ὁ Χοσρόης ἀποτυχὼν ἑλεῖν τε τὴν πόλιν μηχανῇ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐδεμιᾷ ἐλπίσας, τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ἐς λόγους ἦλθε, χίλιά τε κεκομισμένος 2.13.29 ἀργύρου σταθμὰ ἐς τὰ Περσῶν ἤθη ἐχώρει. ταῦτα ἐπεὶ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς ἔμαθεν, οὐκέτι τὰ ξυγκείμενα ἐπιτελῆ ποιήσειν ἤθελεν, ἐπικαλῶν Χοσρόῃ ὅτι δὴ πόλιν ∆άρας ἐν σπονδαῖς ἐξελεῖν ἐνεχείρησε. ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ Χοσρόου ἐσβολῇ Ῥωμαίοις ξυνέβη, καὶ τὸ θέρος μὲν ἐτελεύτα. 2.14.1 Ὁ δὲ Χοσρόης πόλιν ἐν Ἀσσυρίοις δειμάμενος ἐν χώρῳ Κτησιφῶντος πόλεως διέχοντι ἡμέρας ὁδῷ, Ἀντιόχειάν τε τὴν Χοσρόου αὐτὴν ἐπωνόμασε καὶ Ἀντιοχέων τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἐνταῦθα ξυνῴκισεν ἅπαντας, οἷς δὴ βαλανεῖόν τε καὶ ἱπποδρόμιον κατεσκεύαζε 2.14.2 καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις τρυφαῖς ἀνεῖσθαι ἐποίει. τούς τε γὰρ ἡνιόχους καὶ τοὺς τῶν μουσικῶν ἔργων τεχνίτας ἔκ τε Ἀντιοχείας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ῥωμαϊκῶν πόλεων 2.14.3 ξὺν αὑτῷ ἦγεν. ἔτι μέντοι καὶ δημοσίᾳ τοὺς Ἀντιοχέας τούτους ἐπιμελεστέρως ἢ κατὰ αἰχμαλώτους ἐσίτιζεν ἐς πάντα τὸν χρόνον, καὶ βασιλικοὺς καλεῖσθαι ἠξίου, ὥστε τῶν ἀρχόντων οὐδενὶ ὑποχειρίους εἶναι ἢ βασι2.14.4 λεῖ μόνῳ. εἰ δέ τις καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ῥωμαίων δραπέτης γεγονὼς ἐς Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν Χοσρόου διαφυγεῖν ἴσχυσε, καί τις αὐτὸν ξυγγενῆ τῶν ταύτῃ ᾠκημένων ἐκάλεσεν, οὐκέτι ἐξῆν τῷ κεκτημένῳ τὸν αἰχμάλωτον τοῦτον ἀπάγειν, οὐδ' ἤν τις τῶν λίαν ἐν Πέρσαις δοκίμων ὁ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐξανδραποδίσας τυγχάνοι. 2.14.5 Ἀντιοχεῦσι μέντοι τὸ ξυμβὰν ἐπὶ Ἀναστασίου βασιλεύοντος τέρας ἐς τοῦτο ἀποβὰν ἐτελεύτησε. τότε γὰρ ἀνέμου σκληροῦ ∆άφνῃ τῷ προαστείῳ ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου ἐπιπεσόντος, τῶν κυπαρίσσων αἳ ταύτῃ ὑψηλαὶ ἀτεχνῶς ἦσαν ἐκ ῥιζῶν τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀνατραπεῖσαι εἰς τὴν γῆν ἔπεσον, ἅσπερ ὁ νόμος ἐκτέμνεσθαι οὐδα2.14.6 μῆ εἴα. ὀλίγῳ μὲν οὖν ὕστερον, ἡνίκα Ἰουστῖνος Ῥωμαίων ἦρχε, σεισμός τις ἐπιγενόμενος ἐξαίσιος λίαν τήν τε πόλιν κατέσεισε πᾶσαν καὶ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων τά τε πλεῖστα καὶ κάλλιστα ἐς τὸ ἔδαφος εὐθὺς ἤνεγκε, καὶ λέγονται τότε τριάκοντα μυριάδες Ἀντιοχέων ἀπο2.14.7 λωλέναι. ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ ἁλώσει ξύμπασα ἡ πόλις ὥσπερ μοι ἐρρήθη, διέφθαρται. τὸ