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of the king along with the letters he placed on the holy table. 5.15.1 But Bahram, not being captured by Chosroes, escaped an exceptional danger. Therefore the king of the Persians handed over to destruction all who had shared in the usurpation, and Vindoe himself he cast into the depths of the Tigris as 5.15.2 one who had indeed stretched out his hands against the king. And the treaties of the Romans and Persians proceed on equal terms. and thus indeed that great and Persian war was gloriously brought to an end for the Romans. 5.15.3 I would not overlook what is said that Chosroes, practiced in <the> busy futility of the Chaldeans concerning the stars 5.15.2 one who had indeed stretched out his hands against the king. And the treaties of the Romans and Persians proceed on equal terms. and thus indeed that great and Persian war was gloriously brought to an end for the Romans. 5.15.3 I would not overlook what is said that Chosroes, practiced in <the> busy futility of the Chaldeans concerning the stars, foretold at the height of the war. 5.15.4 For when the renowned general John of the Armenian forces <mocked> him on account of his rudeness, and said that a king ought not to be boorish in his ways nor indulge strange impulses of the soul, they say the barbarian said to the general: 5.15.5 "If we were not tyrannized by circumstance, you would not have dared, general, to assail the great king among men with jests. But since you are proud of the present circumstances, you shall hear what indeed has been planned by the gods for the future. 5.15.6 Terrible things, know well, will flow back upon you Romans. The Babylonian race will hold the Roman state, ruling for a three-fold cyclical week of years. After this, for a fifth week of years you Romans 5.15.7 will enslave the Persians. When these things have been accomplished, the day without evening will come among men and the expected cessation of power will arrive, when the things of corruption are given over to dissolution and the affairs of a better way of life are conducted." 5.15.8 Not long after, Probus also took on the high-priestly care of the city of the Chalcedonians, and he heard some amazing things from 5.15. Chosroes. For when the emperor Maurice had sent him to Ctesiphon to Chosroes, on a certain windless noon, having summoned him to the palace, bathed in sweat he asked 5.15.10 to see the icon of the Mother of God from the priest. Therefore the priest, carrying her image in a small box, gave it to the king of the Persians to behold. And after venerating the panel, he said that its archetype had stood by him and told him that she had granted him the victories of Alexander the Macedonian; and this when Chosroes had already secured his return to the kingship and had overcome the usurpers by the force and 5.15.11 power of the emperor. Probus <also> related that near Nineveh some remains of the tower-building attempted by men at Babylon still existed, and that the brickwork, as is related by the hierophant Moses, was very carefully baked with fire. 5.15.12 But since by the composition of the narrative we have terminated the subject of the Persian war as was possible, let the pen proceed again to the things done in Europe, sailing through the books with ink, so that, coming to anchor in the harbor of its purpose and carrying the distinguished deeds as cargo, it might fulfill the accounts worthy of narration. 5.16.1 Just then, with day somehow smiling on affairs in the east, and its advance not made mythically from a barbarian couch in a rather Homeric way, nor rosy-fingered to hear of, since the sword was not reddened with their blood, the emperor was transferring the forces to Europe as quickly as possible and prepares the expedition against Anchialus; for he had determined that the Avar nation intended to advance again. 5.16.2 Therefore, as the barbarian attack was expected, preparations were put in order.

βασιλέως ἅμα τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐν τῇ ἱερᾷ περιέθετο τραπέζῃ. 5.15.1 ῾Ο δὲ Βαρὰμ μὴ χειρωθεὶς ὑπὸ Χοσρόου ἐξαίσιον ὑπεκρούσατο κίνδυνον. τοιγάρτοι τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς πάντας τοὺς κεκοινωνηκότας τῇ τυραννίδι ὀλέθρῳ παρέδοτο, αὐτόν τε Βινδόην τοῖς τοῦ Τίγριδος ἐγκάτοις κατέθετο ὡς 5.15.2 οἷα δὴ κατὰ βασιλέως χεῖρας ἐκτείναντα. αἱ δὲ σπονδαὶ ῾Ρωμαίων τε καὶ Περσῶν ἐν ἴσῃ μοίρᾳ προέρχονται. καὶ οὕτω δῆτα ἐνδόξως ὁ μέγας τε καὶ Περσικὸς ἐκεῖνος ῾Ρωμαίοις κατεπέπαυτο πόλεμος. 5.15.3 Οὐκ ἂν δὲ περιόψομαι καὶ ὅσα λέγεται Χοσρόην <τὴν> περὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας τῶν Χαλδαίων ἐξησκημένον πολυάσχολον 5.15.2 οἷα δὴ κατὰ βασιλέως χεῖρας ἐκτείναντα. αἱ δὲ σπονδαὶ ῾Ρωμαίων τε καὶ Περσῶν ἐν ἴσῃ μοίρᾳ προέρχονται. καὶ οὕτω δῆτα ἐνδόξως ὁ μέγας τε καὶ Περσικὸς ἐκεῖνος ῾Ρωμαίοις κατεπέπαυτο πόλεμος. 5.15.3 Οὐκ ἂν δὲ περιόψομαι καὶ ὅσα λέγεται Χοσρόην <τὴν> περὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας τῶν Χαλδαίων ἐξησκημένον πολυάσχολον ματαιότητα προαναγορεῦσαι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πολέμου ἀκμήν. 5.15.4 τοῦ γὰρ στρατηγοῦ ᾿Ιωάννου τῆς τῶν ᾿Αρμενίων δυνάμεως εὐδοκίμου <ἀποσκώψαντος εἰς> αὐτὸν ἀκοσμίας ἕνεκα, καὶ ὡς οὐ δεῖ βασιλέα σκαιὸν πεφυκέναι τοὺς τρόπους τάς τε τῆς ψυχῆς ὁρμὰς ὑπεῖναι ἀλλόκοτον, φασὶ πρὸς τὸν στρατη5.15.5 γὸν λέξαι τὸν βάρβαρον· "εἰ μή περ ὑπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ ἐτυραννούμεθα, οὐκ ἂν ἐθάρρησας, στρατηγέ, τὸν μέγαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις βασιλέα βάλλειν τοῖς σκώμμασιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖς παροῦσι μέγα φρονεῖς, ἀκούσῃ τί δῆτα τοῖς θεοῖς ἐς ὕστερον μεμελέ5.15.6 τηται. ἀντικαταρρεύσει, εὖ ἴσθι, ἐς τοὺς ῾Ρωμαίους ὑμᾶς δεινά. ἕξεται δὲ τὸ Βαβυλώνιον φῦλον τῆς ῾Ρωμαϊκῆς πολιτείας κρατοῦν τριττὴν κυκλοφορικὴν ἑβδομάδα ἐτῶν. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο πεμπταίαν ἑβδομάδα ἐνιαυτῶν ῾Ρωμαῖοι Πέρσας 5.15.7 δουλαγωγήσητε. τούτων δὴ διηνυσμένων, τὴν ἀνέσπερον ἡμέραν ἐνδημεῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ τὴν προσδοκωμένην λῆξιν ἐπιβαίνειν τοῦ κράτους, ὅτε τὰ τῆς φθορᾶς παραδίδοται λύσει καὶ τὰ τῆς κρείττονος διαγωγῆς πολιτεύεται." 5.15.8 οὐ μετὰ πολὺ δὲ καὶ ὁ Πρόβος τῆς Χαλκηδονέων πόλεως τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν φροντίδα περιεβάλετο, καὶ ἤκουσέ που παρὰ 5.15. Χοσρόου παράδοξα. τοῦ γὰρ αὐτοκράτορος Μαυρικίου τοῦτον ἐς Κτησιφῶντα πρὸς Χοσρόην ἐπαποστείλαντος, ἐν σταθηρᾷ μεσημβρίᾳ τινὶ μετάκλητον εἰς τὰ ἀνάκτορα τοῦτον εἰσποιησάμενος, ἱδρῶτι περιρρεόμενος τῆς θεομήτορος εἰκόνα 5.15.10 ἠξίου παρὰ τοῦ ἱερέως θεάσασθαι. ἐπιφερόμενος οὖν ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸ ταύτης ἴνδαλμα ἐν πυκτίῳ ἐδίδου ἐς θέαν ἐλθεῖν τῷ Περσῶν βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ προσκυνήσας τὸν πίνακα ἔφασκε παρεστάναι αὐτῷ τὸ τούτου ἀρχέτυπον φῆσαί τε πρὸς αὐτὸν τὰς ᾿Αλεξάνδρου νίκας αὐτῷ τοῦ Μακεδόνος χαρίσασθαι· καίτοι ἤδη που ἀπολαβόντος Χοσρόου τὴν ἐς τὰ βασίλεια κάθοδον τῶν τε τυράννων ἐπικεκρατηκότος ῥύμῃ τε καὶ 5.15.11 δυνάμει τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος. διεξῄει <δὲ> ὁ Πρόβος καὶ περὶ τὴν Νινευί τινά που λείψανα τῆς ἐπὶ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ἐγχειρηθείσης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πυργοποιΐας ὑπεῖναι, τήν τε πλίνθευσιν, καθὰ τῷ ἱεροφάντῃ Μωσῇ διηγόρευται, εἶναι λίαν ἐπιμελῶς ἐξοπτηθεῖσαν πυρί. 5.15.12 ᾿Αλλ' ἐπεὶ τοῦ Περσικοῦ πολέμου τῇ συνθήκῃ τῆς ἀφηγήσεως ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν ἀπετερματίσαμεν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, πρὸς τὰ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ πραχθέντα χωρείτω αὖθις ὁ κάλαμος τὰς βίβλους ναυτιλλόμενος μέλανι, ὅπως ἐπὶ τὸν λιμένα τοῦ σκοποῦ καθορμιζόμενος καὶ τὰς ἐπιφανεῖς τῶν πράξεων φόρτον φερόμενος τὰ τῶν ἀξιαφηγήτων ἀκουσμάτων πληρώσειεν. 5.16.1 ῎Αρτι γε ἄρα που τοῖς περὶ τὴν ἕω γελώσης ἡμέρας τοῖς πράγμασιν, καὶ τὴν πρόοδον οὐκ ἐκ κλίνης βαρβαρικῆς μυθικῶς ποιουμένης ῾Ομηρικώτερον, ῥοδοδάκτυλός τε ἀπανηναμένης ἀκούειν, ἐπεὶ τὸ ξίφος τοῖς αἵμασιν αὐτοῖς οὐ φοινίσσεται, τὰς δυνάμεις ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἐς τὴν Εὐρώπην ὡς τάχιστα μετεβίβαζεν ἐπί τε τὴν ᾿Αγχίαλον τὴν ἐκδημίαν παρασκευάζεται· διεγνώκει γὰρ τὸ ᾿Αβαρικὸν αὖθις ἐθέλειν 5.16.2 φοιτᾶν. προσδοκίμου τοιγαροῦν τοῦ βαρβαρικοῦ τυγχάνοντος, ἐς παρασκευὴν συνετέτακτο.