,

a hostile sight, lest he should suddenly encounter him, he took precaution for his bodyguard. Therefore, in the tower established in the area and constructed of picked stones, 5.1.12 he would pass the whole night, seemingly a bedfellow of cowardice. Rhosas therefore, having arrived not far from the general, when he recognized the place where this man was accustomed to sleep all night, received a guide and proceeded forward. And when he drew near the stronghold, he ordered one of his force to run ahead to tell the general that there would be a messenger from Bahram, and that an auxiliary 5.1.13 force was being brought to him. So he, having arrived at the quasi-fort in the middle of the night, deceiving the guards in his native tongue, requested that the message be announced to the general through them. So the miserable men, joyfully receiving the message, convey the report to Zadesprates, as if indeed they were being hurried about some favorable and urgent matter. 5.1.14 Zadesprates, therefore, being still full of wine and half-drunk, interrupted from his sleep, told the Persians to be of good cheer, having effortlessly admitted the message, and orders the small gate of the fort to be opened. This indeed became for him both a sudden and self-inflicted death, having acquired his folly as a pretext for the danger. 5.1.15 So the men with Rhosas, rushing into the fort, gave free rein to the sword; but the general, seeing the unexpected abyss, getting onto the roof of a small house, sought to draw salvation from his captors. But when it was threatened that the 5.1.16 small room would be destroyed by fire, he comes to the enemy. Therefore the adversaries, having beheaded him and having plundered everything in the fort, came to Solchan, carrying the head of Zadesprates and as much as fortune had allowed them to get by trickery. 5.2.1 Solchan, therefore, exulting in the initial results of his plans, sent to Chosroes at Constantina both the head of the enemy general and the wealth which 5.2.2 his good counsel had effortlessly despoiled. Chosroes, therefore, departing from his ill-omened hopes, gives a divorce to despondency and exchanged the outcomes 5.2.3 of future events for the more favorable. And in these days, those at Anathon who had been sent by Bahram also rose up and killed the commander, and sent his head 5.2.4 to Chosroes. When, at any rate, Chosroes saw the convergence of these valiant deeds crowning him, taking from what had already happened a pledge of things to come, he confessed that the greatest god of all was Christ, who is worshipped and honored by the Romans, and with an unbarred 5.2.5 mouth he condemned his old religion. And it was the tenth day, and he summoned some of his attendant commanders to the Emperor Maurice and signifies the reversal of what had transpired, and he asked that he put an end to the delay for the allied forces and help as quickly as possible, and for the provision of money to be made to him by the emperor, maintaining that upon recovering his own rule, he would repay 5.2.6 the loan to the Romans. And the Roman emperor, along with the military alliance, also granted him a very great sum of money. Chosroes, therefore, having signed for the loan and sending it to Maurice, received the wealth of many talents of money, and having cut this into small pieces, he scatters it among the Persian forces around him. 5.2.7 Gregory, therefore, who presided over the priesthood of the East, leaving Constantina, departed for Antioch. And not long after, Chosroes ordered Sarames to go to the emperor, beseeching the Caesar to remove Comentiolus from the military command, as if he were being insulted by Comentiolus, and who by his delays was ruining the attempts 5.2.8 of assistance. Sarames, therefore, according to what was commanded

πολεμίαν ὄψιν, μή που ἐξαπιναίως αὐτῷ συγκυρήσειεν, τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα φρουρᾶς προμηθίαν ἐτίθετο. οὐκοῦν ἐν τῷ πύργῳ τῷ ἀνὰ τὸν χῶρον ἱδρυμένῳ καὶ ἐκ λογάδων λίθων κεκτημένῳ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῇ δοκήσει 5.1.12 κατεπαννυχίζετο τῆς δειλίας ἀπόκοιτος. ὁ τοίνυν ῾Ροσᾶς οὐ πόρρω τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ἀφικόμενος, ἐπεὶ διέγνωκε τὸν χῶρον ὅπου δὴ οὗτος πάννυχος κατηυνάζετο, ποδηγὸν δεξάμενος ἐς τὸ πρόσω ἐβάδιζεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῷ ἐχυρώματι προσεπέλασεν, προθέειν προσέταττέ τινα τῆς δυνάμεως λέξοντα τῷ στρατηγῷ ὑπὸ Βαρὰμ ἔσεσθαι ἄγγελον, καὶ ἐπίθετον αὐτῷ ἐπι5.1.13 φέρεσθαι δύναμιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ ὡσανεὶ φρούριον γεγονὼς μεσούσης νυκτός, τῇ πατρίῳ φωνῇ τοὺς περιφρουροῦντας φενακισάμενος ἠξίου τῷ στρατηγῷ δι' αὐτῶν περιηχηθῆναι τὸ ἄκουσμα. ἐπίχαρι τοίνυν οἱ δείλαιοι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν δεξάμενοι μεταπορθμεύουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν Ζαδεσπράτην τὸν λόγον, ὡς οἷα δὴ περὶ δεξιοῦ τινος καὶ συντονίας ἀξίου κατεπειγό5.1.14 μενοι. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ζαδεσπράτης ἔτι ἔξοινος ὢν καὶ ἡμικραίπαλος, ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕπνου διακοπτόμενος, θαρρεῖν ἔλεξε Πέρσαις ἀταλαιπωρήτως τὸν λόγον εἰσοικισάμενος, καὶ τὴν πυλίδα τοῦ φρουρίου διανοῖξαι προστάττει. τοῦτό τοι καὶ γέγονεν αὐτῷ αὐτοσχέδιός τε καὶ αὐθαίρετος θάνατος, ἀφορμὴν τοῦ κινδύνου 5.1.15 τὴν ἀφροσύνην κτησάμενος. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸν ῾Ροσᾶν εἰσρεύσαντες περὶ τὸ φρούριον τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τὴν παρρησίαν ἐδίδοσαν· ὁ δὲ στρατηγὸς τὸ ἀδόκητον θεασάμενος βάραθρον, ἐπὶ τέγους οἰκίσκου γενόμενος ἠξίου παρὰ τῶν ᾑρηκότων σωτηρίαν ἀρύσασθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ διηπειλεῖτο πυρὶ τὸ 5.1.16 δωμάτιον ἀφανίζεσθαι, ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τὸ πολέμιον. τοίνυν τοῦτον καρατομήσαντες οἱ ἀντίπαλοι καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ φρουρίῳ λαφυραγωγησάμενοι ἧκον παρὰ τὸν Σολχάνην τήν τε κεφαλὴν τοῦ Ζαδεσπράτου ἐπιφερόμενοι καὶ ὅσα ἡ τύχη τῷ δόλῳ δέδωκεν ἐγκολπώσασθαι. 5.2.1 ῾Ο μὲν οὖν Σολχάνης τοῖς προαυλίοις τῶν φροντίδων καταγαυρούμενος ἐς τὴν Κωνσταντῖναν Χοσρόῃ ἐξέπεμπε τήν τε κεφαλὴν τοῦ ἀντιμάχου στρατηγοῦ τόν τε πλοῦτον ὃν 5.2.2 ἀπραγματεύτως τὰ τῆς εὐβουλίας ἐσκύλευσεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Χοσρόης τῶν ἀπαισίων ἐλπίδων μετανάστης γενόμενος τῇ ἀθυμίᾳ διαζύγιον δίδωσι καὶ πρὸς τὸ δεξιώτερον τὰς ἐκβάσεις 5.2.3 τῶν ἐσομένων ἀντιμετέβαλλεν. ἐν ταύταις δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις καὶ οἱ κατὰ τὸ ᾿Ανάθων ὑπὸ τοῦ Βαρὰμ ἐκπεμφθέντες ἐπανίστανται καὶ ἀναιροῦσι τὸν ἡγεμόνα, τήν τε τούτου κεφαλὴν 5.2.4 παρὰ τὸν Χοσρόην ἐξέπεμπον. ὅτε γοῦν ὁ Χοσρόης τούτων δῆτα τῶν ἀνδραγαθημάτων τὴν συμφωνίαν στέφουσαν αὐτὸν ἐθεάσατο, ἐκ τῶν ἤδη φθασάντων ἐνέχυρον τῶν ἐσομένων λαβὼν ὡμολόγει μέγιστον εἶναι ἁπάντων θεὸν τὸν παρὰ ῾Ρωμαίοις Χριστὸν θρησκευόμενον καὶ τιμώμενον, καὶ ἀπυ5.2.5 λώτῳ τῷ στόματι τὴν πάλαι θρησκείαν ὠβέλιζεν. δεκάτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ ἐς βασιλέα Μαυρίκιον τῶν ἑπομένων ἀρχόντων τινὰς μετεπέμπετο καὶ τὴν τῶν παρηκολουθηκότων περιπέτειαν ἐνσημαίνεται, ἠξίου τε μελλήσεως ἐγκοπὴν ταῖς συμμαχικαῖς αὐτὸν ἐπιθεῖναι δυνάμεσι καὶ ὡς τάχιστα βοηθεῖν, τήν τε τῶν χρημάτων αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως γενέσθαι περιβολήν, ἰσχυριζόμενος τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπολαβόντα ἀρχὴν ἀντι5.2.6 καταβάλλειν ῾Ρωμαίοις τὸ δάνειον. ὁ δὲ τοῦ ῾Ρωμαϊκοῦ βασιλεὺς μετὰ τῆς συμμαχίας τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τὴν τῶν χρημάτων αὐτῷ μεγίστην ῥοπὴν ἐχαρίζετο. ὁ τοίνυν Χοσρόης χειρογραφήσας τὸ δάνεισμα καὶ ἐς Μαυρίκιον ἀποστειλάμενος τὸν πολυτάλαντον τῶν χρημάτων ἐκομίζετο πλοῦτον, καὶ τοῦτον κατακερματίσας ταῖς περὶ αὐτὸν Περσικαῖς κατασπείρει δυνάμεσιν. 5.2.7 ὁ μὲν οὖν Γρηγόριος ὁ τῆς ἑῴας ἱερωσύνης προεστηκὼς τὴν Κωνσταντῖναν ἀπολιπὼν πρὸς τὴν ᾿Αντιόχειαν μετεχώρησεν. μετ' οὐ πολὺ δὲ τῷ Σαράμῃ ἐς βασιλέα γενέσθαι Χοσρόης προσέταττε καθικετεύων τὸν Καίσαρα Κομεντίολον τῆς στρατηγικῆς ἐπιστασίας ἀποβαλεῖν, ὡς οἷα δὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κομεντιόλου προπηλακιζομένου, καὶ ταῖς ἀναβολαῖς τὰς ἐπιβολὰς 5.2.8 τῆς ἐπικουρίας ὑποφθείροντος. ὁ τοίνυν Σαράμης κατὰ τὸ προστεταγμένον