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either fearing the man's fortune or his valour, or having been deceived by some sophisms, advanced no further, but in deed fled, while in word he was desirous of peace. 2.21.30 Meanwhile Chosroes, disregarding the agreements, took the city of Callinicum, with no one defending it at all. For the Romans, seeing that its circuit-wall was unsound and altogether easy to capture, were always tearing down a portion of it and renewing it with some new 2.21.31 construction. So at that time, having torn down a part of it, but not yet having built this remaining part, when they learned that the enemy were somewhere very near, they brought out their most valuable possessions, and the wealthy among its inhabitants withdrew to certain other strongholds, 2.21.32 but the rest remained there without soldiers. And it happened that a very great number of farmers had gathered there. These Chosroes enslaved and razed everything to 2.21.33 the ground. And a little later, having received the hostage John, he departed to his ancestral lands. 2.21.34 And the Armenians who had gone over to Chosroes, having received pledges from the Romans, came to Byzantium with Bassakes. Thus it happened that these things occurred for the Romans during the third invasion of Chosroes, and Belisarius, summoned by the emperor, came to Byzantium, in order that he might be sent again to Italy, since the affairs there were already in an altogether bad state for the Romans. 2.22.1 But during these times a plague occurred, from which all of humanity nearly perished. Now for all things that are sent from heaven, perhaps a causal explanation might be given by daring men, such as those clever at these things love to invent, of causes which are in no way comprehensible to man, and to fabricate supernatural natural philosophies, knowing well that what they say is nothing sound, but thinking it sufficient for them if they can deceive some of their audience with their argument and persuade them. 2.22.2 For this evil, however, there is no means either to express in word or to conceive in thought any explanation, except indeed to refer it to God. 2.22.3 For it did not happen upon a part of the earth, nor to certain men, nor did it have a particular season of the year, from which it might be possible to devise sophistical explanations of its cause, but it encompassed the entire earth and afflicted the lives of all men, though they differed greatly from one another, sparing neither any constitution 2.22.4 nor age. For whether in dwelling place, or in manner of diet, or in mode of constitution, or in pursuits, or in any other way in which men differ from one another, in this disease alone the difference was of no avail. 2.22.5 And it fell upon some in the summer season, others in winter, and others at other times. Let each one, therefore, both sophist and astronomer, say what he knows about these things, but I shall proceed to tell both from where this disease began and in what manner it destroyed men. 2.22.6 It began from the Egyptians who dwell in Pelusium. And dividing, it went in one direction to Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and in the other direction it came upon the Palestinians who border Egypt, and from there it seized the entire earth, always advancing on its course and 2.22.7 moving on at the appointed times. For it seemed to proceed according to a set plan and to spend a fixed time in each country, dealing its destruction to no men in a cursory way, but spreading in either direction to the very ends of the inhabited world, as if fearing 2.22.8 lest some recess of the earth should escape it. For it left behind no island or cave or mountain peak which had human inhabitants. And if it ever passed over any land, either not touching the people there or touching them in some slight way, yet at a later time it would return there, and it would not touch at all the neighbors whom it had previously afflicted most bitterly, but it would not depart from that land until it had rendered the measure of the dead rightly and justly, which was the number of those who had happened to be destroyed among those living around it at the previous time. 2.22.9 And this disease, always beginning from the coast, thus to the interior

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τύχην ἢ τὴν ἀρετὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς δείσαντα ἢ καί τισιν ἐξαπατηθέντα σοφίσμασιν, ἐπίπροσθεν μηκέτι χωρῆσαι, ἀλλὰ τῷ μὲν ἔργῳ φυγεῖν, λόγῳ δὲ τῆς εἰρήνης ἐφίεσθαι. 2.21.30 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Χοσρόης ἀλογήσας τὰ ὡμολογημένα Καλλίνικον πόλιν οὐδενὸς τὸ παράπαν ἀμυνομένου εἷλε. ταύτης γὰρ τὸν περίβολον ὁρῶντες Ῥωμαῖοι σαθρόν τε καὶ εὐάλωτον παντάπασιν ὄντα, μοῖραν αὐτοῦ ἀεὶ καθαιροῦντές τινα, νέᾳ τινὶ ἀνενεοῦντο 2.21.31 οἰκοδομίᾳ. τότε γοῦν μέρος τι αὐτοῦ καθελόντες, οὔπω δὲ τὸ λειπόμενον τοῦτο δειμάμενοι, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς πολεμίους ἄγχιστά πη ἐπύθοντο εἶναι, τῶν χρημάτων ὑπεξαγαγόντες τὰ τιμιώτατα, οἱ μὲν εὐδαίμονες αὐτῆς τῶν οἰκητόρων ἐς ἕτερα ἄττα ὀχυρώματα ἀπεχώρησαν, 2.21.32 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ στρατιωτῶν χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἔμειναν. καὶ γεωργῶν πάμπολύ τι χρῆμα ἐνταῦθα ξυνειλέχθαι συνέβη. οὓς δὴ ὁ Χοσρόης ἀνδραποδίσας ἅπαν ἐς 2.21.33 ἔδαφος καθεῖλεν. ὀλίγῳ τε ὕστερον τὸν ὅμηρον Ἰωάννην δεξάμενος ἀπεχώρησεν ἐς τὰ πάτρια ἤθη. 2.21.34 Ἀρμένιοί τε οἱ τῷ Χοσρόῃ προσκεχωρηκότες, τὰ πιστὰ πρὸς Ῥωμαίων λαβόντες ξὺν τῷ Βασσάκῃ ἐς Βυζάντιον ἦλθον. ταῦτα μὲν ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ Χοσρόου ἐσβολῇ Ῥωμαίοις γενέσθαι ξυνέβη, καὶ ὁ Βελισάριος βασιλεῖ ἐς Βυζάντιον μετάπεμπτος ἦλθεν, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐς Ἰταλίαν αὖθις σταλήσεται, πονηρῶν ἤδη παντάπασι τῶν ἐκείνῃ πραγμάτων Ῥωμαίοις ὄντων. 2.22.1 Ὑπὸ δὲ τοὺς χρόνους τούτους λοιμὸς γέγονεν, ἐξ οὗ δὴ ἅπαντα ὀλίγου ἐδέησε τὰ ἀνθρώπεια ἐξίτηλα εἶναι. ἅπασι μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπισκήπτουσιν ἴσως ἂν καὶ λέγοιτό τις ὑπ' ἀνδρῶν τολμητῶν αἰτίου λόγος, οἷα πολλὰ φιλοῦσιν οἱ ταῦτα δεινοὶ αἰτίας τερατεύεσθαι οὐδαμῆ ἀνθρώπῳ καταληπτὰς οὔσας, φυσιολογίας τε ἀναπλάσσειν ὑπερορίους, ἐξεπιστάμενοι μὲν ὡς λέγουσιν οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς, ἀποχρῆν δὲ ἡγούμενοι σφίσιν, ἤν γε τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων τινὰς τῷ λόγῳ 2.22.2 ἐξαπατήσαντες πείσωσι. τούτῳ μέντοι τῷ κακῷ πρόφασίν τινα ἢ λόγῳ εἰπεῖν ἢ διανοίᾳ λογίσασθαι μηχανή τις οὐδεμία ἐστὶ, πλήν γε δὴ ὅσα ἐς τὸν θεὸν 2.22.3 ἀναφέρεσθαι. οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ μέρους τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπων τισὶ γέγονεν οὐδέ τινα ὥραν τοῦ ἔτους ἔσχεν, ὅθεν ἂν καὶ σοφίσματα αἰτίας εὑρέσθαι δυνατὰ εἴη, ἀλλὰ περιεβάλλετο μὲν τὴν γῆν ξύμπασαν, βίους δὲ ἀνθρώπων ἅπαντας ἔβλαψε, καίπερ ἀλλήλων ἐς τοὐναντίον παρὰ πολὺ διαλλάσσοντας, οὔτε φύσεώς τινος 2.22.4 οὔτε ἡλικίας φεισάμενον. εἴτε γὰρ χωρίων ἐνοικήσει εἴτε νόμῳ διαίτης, ἢ φύσεως τρόπῳ, ἢ ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ἢ ἄλλῳ ὅτῳ ἀνθρώπων ἄνθρωποι διαφέρουσιν, ἐν ταύτῃ δὴ μόνῃ τῇ νόσῳ τὸ διαλλάσσον οὐδὲν ὤνησεν. 2.22.5 ἐπέσκηψε δὲ τοῖς μὲν ὥρᾳ θέρους, τοῖς δὲ χειμῶνι, τοῖς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους καιρούς. λεγέτω μὲν οὖν ὥς πη ἕκαστος περὶ αὐτῶν γινώσκει καὶ σοφιστὴς καὶ μετεωρολόγος, ἐγὼ δὲ ὅθεν τε ἤρξατο ἡ νόσος ἥδε καὶ τρόπῳ δὴ ὅτῳ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διέφθειρεν ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. 2.22.6 Ἤρξατο μὲν ἐξ Αἰγυπτίων οἳ ᾤκηνται ἐν Πηλουσίῳ. γενομένη δὲ δίχα πὴ μὲν ἐπί τε Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ τῆς ἄλλης Αἰγύπτου ἐχώρησε, πὴ δὲ ἐπὶ Παλαιστίνους τοὺς Αἰγυπτίοις ὁμόρους ἦλθεν, ἐντεῦθέν τε κατέλαβε τὴν γῆν σύμπασαν, ὁδῷ τε ἀεὶ προϊοῦσα καὶ 2.22.7 χρόνοις βαδίζουσα τοῖς καθήκουσιν. ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς γὰρ ἐδόκει χωρεῖν καὶ χρόνον τακτὸν ἐν χώρᾳ ἑκάστῃ διατριβὴν ἔχειν, ἐς οὐδένας μὲν ἀνθρώπων παρέργως τῷ φθόρῳ χρωμένη, σκεδαννυμένη δὲ ἐφ' ἑκάτερα μέχρι ἐς τὰς τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐσχατιὰς, ὥσπερ δεδοικυῖα 2.22.8 μή τις αὐτὴν τῆς γῆς διαλάθοι μυχός. οὔτε γὰρ νῆσόν τινα ἢ σπήλαιον ἢ ἀκρώρειαν ἐλίπετο ἀνθρώπους οἰκήτορας ἔχουσαν· ἢν δέ πού τινα καὶ παρήλασε χώραν, ἢ μὴ ψαύσασα τῶν ταύτῃ ἀνθρώπων ἢ ἀμωσγέπως αὐτῶν ἁψαμένη, ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ τῷ ὑστέρῳ αὖθις ἐνταῦθα ἐπανιοῦσα τῶν μὲν περιοίκων, οἷς δὴ πικρότατα ἐπέσκηψε πρότερον, οὐδαμῶς ἥψατο, τῆς δὲ χώρας ἐκείνης οὐ πρότερον ἀπέστη ἕως τὸ μέτρον ὀρθῶς καὶ δικαίως τῶν τετελευτηκότων ἀπέδωκεν, ὅπερ καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὴν ᾠκημένοις χρόνῳ τῷ προτέρῳ 2.22.9 διεφθάρθαι τετύχηκεν. ἀρξαμένη δὲ ἀεὶ ἐκ τῆς παραλίας ἡ νόσος ἥδε, οὕτω δὴ ἐς τὴν μεσόγειον