,

to kill the guard of the palace. 5.4.3 But the tyrant, having learned that Chosroes was approaching with the Roman battalions, gathered his fighting men and prepared for war. Mebodes, therefore, proceeded to the task out of fear of the emperor's command. At the beginning of summer, when the grass was at its thickest, Chosroes, having left Daras, 5.4.4 advanced forward with his allied force. When they were at Ammodius, fourteen stadia from Daras, Domentziolus, having assembled the Roman force together with its commanders and having led it up to a small hill, exhorted the troops with these words. 5.4.5 "Men, the occasion devises for you the starting-point of great deeds, and the manner a just cause. The place demands a love of danger; the reason proclaims piety and repudiates the ruinous love of tyranny. Become, therefore, worthy allies; for you are returning to an enemy land, in which to conquer is most glorious and the fate of a second chance is grievous even 5.4.6 to be spoken of. Therefore, the battle line has the pretext of renown to begin a great and illustrious deed. For all the nations of the inhabited world are inscribing your story in their minds. The enterprise is destined to be famous, the war notable, the contests immortal; trophies are not consigned 5.4.7 to tombs of oblivion. Therefore, it is advantageous to fight and suffer all things, rather than to abandon your bodies along with your good repute. This end to your labors you will have by excelling, this is the advance of peace. Do not be deprived of being shot at, so that you may not be penalized from being saved. Embrace the missiles, so that you may also embrace the 5.4.8 triumphs. Let no one accept a weal on his back; the back does not know how to behold victory. Be united in spirit or entangled in body, becoming partners in labors but not in cowardice. Let him who has not taken up the primacy of dangers be proclaimed an outlaw. In killing, strive for victory. Trophies are bought with wounds and missiles. 5.4. Indolence provides nothing glorious. There is nothing sweeter than a warrior's death. For if it is unprofitable to grow old and be struck down by the wasting of diseases, it is surely more fitting for you, the best of men, to die in battle array along with your youth, reaping the glory of an epitaph. For nature does not know how to make immortal 5.4.10 those who run away. Let the body being stripped of the soul not frighten you. Life has not found a place without destruction. Nothing in this world is foreign to grief. All things are mingled with sorrow. A certain much-tyrannical necessity governs human 5.4.11 life. Do not be amazed at a short span of time which abandons life's limit and provides from itself a great pretext, on the one hand preparing licence for sloth, and on the other leading the 5.4.12 misguided towards pleasures. Be brave in your souls, admiring the change of circumstances. For a Babylonian king has come to us, led into slavery with the Persian fortune, and has all but given over to us his power along with his person, placing piety 5.4.13 of religion as the foremost of his hopes. The Persians do not welcome the tyrant. Baram treads upon unhallowed altars; for he is not of royal lineage. Therefore, having surrounded the foundation of his power with the laws of hubris, he will be overthrown the sooner; for violence does not know how to have an existence free 5.4.14 from strife. Store these things in the chambers of your heart, having inscribed them with unformed writings, and let not the opportune part of my speech be scattered, dissolving into the air, so that you do not inherit the more grievous shame 5.4.15 of failure. And let the escort for your battle-array be the commander of the Lord's host, the only-begotten son of God, God before the ages, who provides for you fulfillments more auspicious than your hopes." 5.5.1 When, therefore, these words were cast into the ears of the forces, the Roman assembly was filled with a certain divine inspiration, and having fortified their eagerness with irresistible strength, they were henceforth frenzied to proceed to the very culminating act, with a sober madness

φύλακα τῶν ἀνακτόρων δια5.4.3 χρήσασθαι. ὁ δὲ τύραννος σὺν τοῖς ῾Ρωμαίων τάγμασιν ἐπιόντα Χοσρόην μεμαθηκώς, συναθροίσας τὸ μάχιμον ἐξεδίδου πρὸς πόλεμον. ὁ μὲν οὖν Μεβόδης δέει τῷ τοῦ βασιλέως προστάγματος πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐχώρει. θέρους δὲ ἀρχομένου καὶ τῆς πόας παχυνομένης ἀκμῇ, τὸ ∆αρὰς καταλελοιπὼς ἅμα 5.4.4 τῷ συμμαχικῷ ὁ Χοσρόης ἐς τὸ πρόσω ἐχώρει. ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς τῷ ᾿Αμμοδίως ἐγένοντο τέτρασι καὶ δέκα διεστηκότι ∆αράς, ∆ομετιανὸς ἅμα τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τὸ ῾Ρωμαϊκὸν συναθροίσας καὶ πρός τι βουνίον ἀνείς, τοῖσδε τοῖς λόγοις τὰς δυνάμεις κατήχει. 5.4.5 "῾Ο μὲν καιρὸς ὑμῖν μεγαλουργῶν ἀφορμήν, ἄνδρες, τεκταίνεται, ὁ δὲ τρόπος δικαίαν ὑπόθεσιν. ὁ δὲ τόπος τὸ φιλοκίνδυνον ἐκζητεῖ· ἡ αἰτία τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ λύμην φιλοτύραννον ἀπαναίνεται. γίνεσθε γοῦν ἀξιόμαχοι σύμμαχοι· ἐς πολεμίαν γὰρ γῆν ἀναστρέφεσθε, ἐν ᾗ τὸ νικᾶν ὑπερένδοξον καὶ τὸ τῆς δευτέρας τύχης βαρὺ καὶ 5.4.6 λεγόμενον. τοίνυν ἡ παράταξις εὐδοξίας ἔχει τὴν πρόφασιν μεγάλης καὶ ἐπιφανοῦς ἀπάρχεσθαι πράξεως. ἅπαντα γὰρ τὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνη τὴν ὑμετέραν ἱστορίαν ταῖς διανοίαις ἐγγράφεται. ἐξάκουστον πέφυκε τὸ ἐγχείρημα, ὁ πόλεμος ἀξιόλογος, οἱ ἀγῶνες ἀθάνατοι· τὰ τρόπαια τάφοις οὐ παρα5.4.7 πέμπονται λήθης. οὐκοῦν πάντα παθεῖν λυσιτελὲς ἀγωνίσασθαι, ἢ προέσθαι μετὰ τῆς εὐκλείας τὰ σώματα. τοῦτο πέρας τῶν πόνων ἀριστεύοντες ἕξετε, αὕτη τῆς εἰρήνης ἡ πρόοδος. μὴ στερηθῆτε τοῦ βάλλεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ ζημιωθῆτε τοῦ σώζεσθαι. ἐνστερνίσασθε τὰς βολάς, ἵνα καὶ τοὺς θριάμβους ἐναγκαλί5.4.8 σησθε. μηδεὶς προσδέξηται νώτειον μώλωπα· οὐκ οἶδε τὰ μετάφρενα νίκην θεάσασθαι. ἑνοῦσθε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἢ τοῖς σώμασι συμπλεκόμενοι, κοινωνοὶ τῶν πόνων ἀλλ' οὐ τῆς δειλίας γινόμενοι. ἀποκήρυκτος ἔστω ὁ μὴ τὰ πρεσβεῖα τῶν κινδύνων ἀράμενος. τῆς νίκης θανατῶντες ὀρέγεσθε. τραύμασι καὶ βολαῖς ἐξωνοῦνται τὰ τρόπαια. οὐδὲν ἐπίδοξον ἡ 5.4. ῥαθυμία πορίζεται. οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν ἐνυαλίου θανάτου γλυκύτερον. εἰ γὰρ γηράσκειν ἀσύμφορον καὶ νόσων μαρασμοῖς καταβάλλεσθαι, πάντως που μετὰ τῆς ἥβης τεθνάναι παραταττόμενον, ἐπιτάφιον δόξαν καρπούμενον, ὑμῖν τοῖς ἀριστεῦσι καταλληλότερον. οὐ γὰρ ἀπαθανατίζειν οἶδεν ἡ φύσις 5.4.10 τοὺς ἀποδράσαντας. ἀναμορμολυττέτω τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς γυμνοῦσθαι τὰ σώματα. οὐχ εὗρεν ὁ βίος τόπον ἀνώλεθρον. οὐδὲν τῶν τῇδε τῆς ἀνίας ἀλλότριον. ἅπαντα τῇ λύπῃ συμμέμικται. ἀνάγκη τις πολυτύραννος τὸν βίον οἰκονομεῖ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον 5.4.11 μὴ θαυμάσῃς προθεσμίαν μικρὰν ὅρον ζωῆς ἐκλιπαίνουσαν, καὶ μεγάλην ἀπ' αὐτῆς παρεχομένην ὑπόθεσιν, ἐξουσίαν μὲν τῇ ῥαθυμίᾳ παρασκευάζουσαν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς ἡδονὰς τοὺς πλανω5.4.12 μένους. ἀνδρεῖοι γίνεσθε τὰς ψυχὰς τὴν μεταβολὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἀγάμενοι. ἥκει γὰρ παρ' ἡμῖν βασιλεὺς Βαβυλώνιος μετὰ τῆς Περσικῆς τύχης δουλαγωγούμενος, καὶ μονονουχὶ μετὰ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῖν καὶ τὸ κράτος ἀπέδοτο, εὐσέ5.4.13 βειαν θρησκείας τὰ κορυφαῖα τῶν ἐλπίδων τιθέμενος. οὐκ ἀσμενίζουσι Πέρσαι τὸ τύραννον. ἀπίστων ἐπιβαίνει βωμῶν ὁ Βαράμ· οὐ γὰρ βασίλειον ἐπιφέρεται γένος. νόμοις τοιγαροῦν ὕβρεως τὴν κρηπῖδα τοῦ κράτους περιβαλόμενος καταστασιασθήσεται θᾶττον· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶδε τὸ βίαιον ἀφιλόνεικον ἔχειν 5.4.14 τὴν ὕπαρξιν. ταῦτα τοῖς τῆς καρδίας ταμιείοις ἐναποτίθεσθε γραφαῖς ἀτυπώτοις ἀπογραψάμενοι, καὶ μὴ διαχείσθω τοῦ λόγου τὸ καίριον εἰς ἀέρα διαλυόμενον, ἵνα μὴ τὴν αἰσχύνην 5.4.15 τῆς ἀποτεύξεως λυπηροτέραν κληρώσησθε. ἔστω δὲ προπομπὸς ὑμῖν τῆς ἐκτάξεως ἀρχιστράτηγος κυρίου δυνάμεως, ὁ μονογενὴς παῖς τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων θεός, τὰς ἀποπερατώσεις αἰσιωτέρας τῶν ἐλπίδων ὑμῖν παρεχόμενος." 5.5.1 ῾Οπηνίκα οὖν ταῦτα τοῖς ὠσὶ τῶν δυνάμεων ἐνεβάλλετο, θείας ἐπιπνοίας τινὸς τὸ ῾Ρωμαϊκὸν ἐπεπλήρωτο ἄθροισμα, τήν τε προθυμίαν ἀνανταγωνίστῳ σθένει φραξάμενοι ἐπ' αὐτήν που λοιπὸν τὴν τελεσιουργὸν κατεβακχεύοντο πρᾶξιν χωρεῖν, σώφρονι μανίᾳ