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Thus, then, the disaster of the Antiochians proceeded in this way. 2.14.8 But Belisarius came summoned by the emperor from Italy to Byzantium, and the emperor sent him, after he had wintered in Byzantium, as general against both Chosroes and the Persians at the beginning of spring, and the commanders who had come with him from Italy, one of whom, Valerian, he ordered to lead 2.14.9 the troops in Armenia. For Martinus had happened to be sent straightway to the East, and for this reason Chosroes found him, as has been previously shown, at Daras. 2.14.10 Of the Goths, Wittigis remained in Byzantium, but all the rest marched with Belisarius against Chosroes. 2.14.11 At that time one of the ambassadors of Wittigis, the one who held the title of bishop, died in the land of the Persians, but the other one remained there. 2.14.12 But the interpreter who had accompanied them returned to the land of the Romans, and John, who was in command of the soldiers in Mesopotamia, arrested him near the borders of Constantina, brought him into the city, and confined him in prison, who reported to him, as he inquired there, everything that had been done. 2.14.13 Thus, then, these things proceeded in this way. But Belisarius with his followers went with all speed, being eager to arrive before Chosroes should make another invasion into the land of the Romans. 2.15.1 Meanwhile Chosroes led his army against Colchis, the Lazi having invited him for the following reason. 2.15.2 The Lazi at first inhabited the land of Colchis, being subjects of the Romans, not, however, in the way of tribute payment, nor obeying them in anything else they command, except that, whenever their king died, the Roman emperor sent the symbols of his office to the one who would succeed to the kingship. 2.15.3 And he, with his subjects, guarded the borders of the country precisely, so that hostile Huns from the Caucasus mountain, which was adjacent to them, might not march through Lazica and invade the land of the Romans. 2.15.4 They kept guard, neither receiving money or an army from the Romans themselves, nor campaigning with the Romans anywhere, but always engaging in maritime trade with the Romans who lived on the Pontus. 2.15.5 For they themselves have neither salt nor grain nor any other good thing, but by providing fleeces and hides and slaves they procured for themselves the necessities of life. 2.15.6 But when the events concerning Gourgenes, the king of the Iberians, came to pass, as was told by me in the preceding account, Roman soldiers began to be stationed in the country of the Lazi, with whom these barbarians were vexed, and most of all with Peter the general, who was prone to treat insolently those he met. 2.15.7 This Peter was from Arzanene, which is beyond the Nymphius river, being a subject of the Persians from of old, but had been enslaved by the Emperor Justin while still a boy, when Justin, after the capture of Amida, invaded the land of the Persians with the army of Celer. And since his master treated him with great kindness, he attended the school of a grammarian. 2.15.8 And at first he became a secretary of Justin, but when Justin took over the empire of the Romans after Anastasius had died, Peter, having become a general, ran to an excess of avarice as no other man, and treated all with great stupidity. 2.15.9 Later the Emperor Justinian sent other commanders to Lazica, and also John, whom they called Tzibus, a man who was at first obscure and of no reputation, but had risen to the rank of general for no other reason than that he was the most wicked of all men and most capable of devising unjust sources of revenue. He indeed threw into confusion and turmoil all the affairs of both the Romans and the Lazi. 2.15.10 This man also persuaded the Emperor Justinian to build a city on the sea, Petra by name, among the Lazi; and there, sitting as in a citadel, he plundered the affairs of the Lazi. 2.15.11 For the salt and whatever other goods seemed to be necessary for the Lazi, it was no longer permitted for the merchants to bring into the land of Colchis, or to buy elsewhere from there, but having established in Petra what is indeed called a monopoly, he himself as a retailer and of all

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μὲν οὖν Ἀντιοχέων πάθος τῇδε ἐχώρησε. 2.14.8 Βελισάριος δὲ βασιλεῖ ἐς Βυζάντιον ἐξ Ἰταλίας μετάπεμπτος ἦλθε, καὶ αὐτὸν διαχειμάσαντα ἐν Βυζαντίῳ στρατηγὸν ἐπί τε Χοσρόην καὶ Πέρσας ἅμα ἦρι ἀρχομένῳ βασιλεὺς ἔπεμψεν ἄρχοντάς τε τοὺς ἐξ Ἰταλίας ξὺν αὐτῷ ἥκοντας, ὧν δὴ ἕνα Βαλεριανὸν ἡγεῖ2.14.9 σθαι τῶν ἐν Ἀρμενίοις καταλόγων ἐκέλευε. Μαρτῖνος γὰρ ἔτυχεν εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν ἑῴαν σταλεὶς, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Χοσρόης αὐτὸν, ὡς προδεδήλωται, ἐς ∆άρας εὗρε. 2.14.10 τῶν δὲ Γότθων Οὐίττιγις μὲν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ἔμεινεν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ ξύμπαντες ἐπὶ Χοσρόην σὺν Βελισαρίῳ 2.14.11 ἐστράτευσαν. τότε τῶν Οὐιττίγιδος πρέσβεων ἅτερος μὲν, ὅσπερ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου ὀνόματος ἐπεβάτευεν, ἐν τοῖς Περσῶν ἤθεσι θνήσκει, ὁ δὲ δὴ ἕτερος αὐτοῦ 2.14.12 ἔμεινεν. ὅστις δὲ αὐτοῖς ἑρμηνεὺς εἵπετο, ἀνεχώρησεν ἐς Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν, καὶ αὐτὸν Ἰωάννης, ὃς τῶν ἐν Μεσοποταμίᾳ στρατιωτῶν ἦρχεν, ἀμφὶ τὰ Κωνσταντίνης ὅρια ξυλλαβὼν ἔς τε τὴν πόλιν εἰσαγαγὼν ἐν δεσμωτηρίῳ καθεῖρξεν, ὅσπερ οἱ ἐνταῦθα ἅπαντα ἀνα2.14.13 πυνθανομένῳ τὰ πεπραγμένα ἐξήνεγκε. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῇδε ἐχώρησε. Βελισάριος δὲ ξὺν τοῖς ἑπομένοις κατὰ τάχος ᾔει, προτερῆσαι ἐν σπουδῇ ἔχων, πρίν τινα ὁ Χοσρόης ἐσβολὴν αὖθις ποιήσεται ἐς Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν. 2.15.1 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ὁ Χοσρόης ἐπὶ Κολχίδα τὸν στρατὸν ἦγε, Λαζῶν αὐτὸν ἐπαγομένων ἐξ αἰτίας 2.15.2 τοιᾶσδε. Λαζοὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα γῆν τὴν Κολχίδα ᾤκουν, Ῥωμαίων κατήκοοι ὄντες, οὐ μέντοι ἐς φόρου ἀπαγωγὴν, οὐδέ τι ἄλλο ἐπαγγέλλουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπακούοντες, πλήν γε δὴ ὅτι, ἐπειδὰν αὐτοῖς ὁ βασιλεὺς τελευτήσειε, ξύμβολα τῆς ἀρχῆς τῷ διαδεξομένῳ τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ 2.15.3 Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς ἔπεμπε. τὰ δὲ τῆς χώρας ὅρια ξὺν τοῖς ἀρχομένοις ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς διεφύλασσεν, ὅπως δὴ μὴ Οὖννοι πολέμιοι ἐξ ὄρους τοῦ Καυκάσου, ὁμόρου σφίσιν ὄντος, διὰ Λαζικῆς πορευόμενοι ἐσβάλλωσιν ἐς 2.15.4 γῆν τὴν Ῥωμαίων. ἐφύλασσον δὲ οὔτε αὐτοὶ χρήματα ἢ στρατιὰν πρὸς Ῥωμαίων δεχόμενοι οὔτε Ῥωμαίοις πη ξυστρατεύοντες, ἐπ' ἐμπορίᾳ δὲ τῇ κατὰ θάλασσαν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἀεὶ τοὺς ἐν πόντῳ ᾠκημένους ἐργα2.15.5 ζόμενοι. αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὔτε ἅλας οὔτε σῖτον οὔτε ἄλλο τι ἀγαθὸν ἔχουσι, δέρρεις δὲ καὶ βύρσας καὶ ἀνδράποδα παρεχόμενοι τὰ σφίσιν ἐπιτήδεια ἐκομί2.15.6 ζοντο. ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ ἀμφὶ Γουργένει τῷ Ἰβήρων βασιλεῖ γενέσθαι ξυνέπεσεν, ὥσπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, στρατιῶται Ῥωμαίων ἐπιχωριάζειν Λαζοῖς ἤρξαντο, οἷς δὴ οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι ἤχθοντο, καὶ πάντων μάλιστα Πέτρῳ τῷ στρατηγῷ, ἐπηρεάζειν 2.15.7 τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν εὐπετῶς ἔχοντι. ὁ δὲ Πέτρος οὗτος ὥρμητο μὲν ἐξ Ἀρζανηνῆς, ἣ ἐκτὸς Νυμφίου ποταμοῦ ἐστι, Περσῶν κατήκοος ἐκ παλαιοῦ οὖσα, πρὸς Ἰουστίνου δὲ βασιλέως ἔτι παῖς ὢν ἠνδραπόδιστο, ἡνίκα Ἰουστῖνος μετὰ τὴν Ἀμίδης ἅλωσιν ξὺν τῷ Κέλερος στρατῷ ἐσέβαλλεν ἐς τὴν Περσῶν γῆν. φιλανθρωπίᾳ δὲ πολλῇ χρωμένου τοῦ κεκτημένου ἐς αὐτὸν 2.15.8 ἐς γραμματιστοῦ ἐφοίτησε. καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα Ἰουστίνου γραμματεὺς γέγονεν, ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀναστασίου τετελευτηκότος Ἰουστῖνος τὴν βασιλείαν παρέλαβε Ῥωμαίων, ὁ Πέτρος στρατηγὸς γεγονὼς ἔς τε φιλοχρηματίαν εἴπερ τις ἄλλος ἐξώκειλε καὶ ἀβελτερίᾳ πολλῇ ἐς ἅπαντας ἐχρῆτο. 2.15.9 Ὕστερον δὲ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς ἄλλους τε ἐς Λαζικὴν ἄρχοντας ἔπεμψε καὶ Ἰωάννην, ὃν Τζίβον ἐκάλουν, ἄνδρα ἐξ ἀφανῶν μὲν καὶ ἀδόξων ἀρχὴν γεγονότα, ἐς στρατηγίαν δὲ ἀναβεβηκότα κατ' ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἢ ὅτι πονηρότατός τε ἦν ἀνθρώπων ἁπάντων καὶ πόρους χρημάτων ἀδίκους ἱκανώτατος ἐξευρεῖν. ὃς δὴ ἅπαντα ἔσφηλέ τε καὶ συνετάραξε τὰ Ῥωμαίων 2.15.10 τε καὶ Λαζῶν πράγματα. οὗτος καὶ βασιλέα Ἰουστινιανὸν πόλιν ἀνέπεισεν ἐπιθαλασσίαν, Πέτραν ὄνομα, ἐν Λαζοῖς δείμασθαι· ἐνταῦθά τε ὥσπερ ἐν ἀκροπόλει καθήμενος ἦγέ τε καὶ ἔφερε τὰ Λαζῶν πράγματα. 2.15.11 τούς τε γὰρ ἅλας καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα φορτία Λαζοῖς ἀναγκαῖα ἐδόκει εἶναι, οὐκέτι φέρειν ἐς γῆν τὴν Κολχίδα τοῖς ἐμπόροις ἐξῆν, ἢ ἄλλοθι ἐνθένδε ὠνεῖσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐν Πέτρᾳ ξυστησάμενος τὸ δὴ καλούμενον μονοπώλιον αὐτὸς κάπηλός τε καὶ ξυμπάσης