,

During the night watch, the perpetrator of the murder returned to the camp, but the emperor and those around him, seeing the bodyguard nowhere, were struck with dismay in their souls at the 6.2. uncertainty. And so, as the horse was wandering aimlessly, a farmer happened upon it and brought it to the ditch. The emperor, therefore, suspecting that this very man was responsible for the murder, handed him over for punishment by torture. 6.2.10 On the next day, three men, Sclavenes by race, wearing no iron at all or instruments of war, were captured by the emperor's guards; their baggage was lyres, and they carried nothing else. 6.2.11 The emperor therefore asked what their nation was, and where they had made their home, and the reason for their presence in Roman lands. 6.2.12 They said that they were Sclavene by nation and lived at the very edge of the western Ocean, and that the Chagan had sent envoys as far as their lands for the purpose of gathering a fighting force and had lavished many gifts on their chieftains. 6.2.13 Those who had received the gifts, however, had refused the alliance with him, claiming that the lengths of the journey wore them out, and so the Chagan had sent them, the ones who had been captured, with the task of making an apology; and they had completed the journey in fifteen months. But the Chagan, forgetting the law of envoys, 6.2.14 decreed a prohibition on their departure. And they, having heard that the nation of the Romans was exceedingly renowned, so to speak, for both wealth and humanity, seized the 6.2.15 opportunity to escape to Thrace. They carried lyres because they were not practiced in girding weapons on their bodies, as their country was ignorant of iron and for that reason provided them with a peaceful and strife-free life, and they played on lyres, not knowing how to make a din with trumpets; for to those for whom war was unknown, they would reasonably say 6.2.16 their musical pursuits were somewhat more rustic. The emperor, therefore, admiring the tribe for what was said, deemed worthy of his hospitality those very men from the barbarians who had met him, and admiring the size of their bodies and the noble stature of their limbs, he sent them on to Heraclea. 6.3.1 And it was the third day, and envoys were sent out from the imperial city, and a request was made to the emperor by the senate; the objective was to secure the return from the emperor's expedition. The emperor, therefore, accepting none of the embassy's requests, ordered the envoys to return. 6.3.2 And it was the fourth day, and the emperor was moving forward. And as a narrow bridge was being used by a great number of troops, and as a marshy, difficult terrain befell them, the crossing was hard to pass through. Nearby were the sources of a river which the locals call Xerogypsus. 6.3.3 And as the force was in disorder around the crossing, and a din arose around the bridge, and an unexpected shout occurred among the multitude, and as some were thrown down the precipice by the pressure of the crowd, the emperor, dismounting his horse and taking a staff, became himself an agent of order, and ordering the multitudes to refrain from rushing, he gave a smooth flow to the advance, showing the troops by the postponement of confusion 6.3.4 the safety that comes from proceeding little by little. Thus, therefore, ahe emperor, having spent the day without food around the bridge, provided a passage through the difficult terrain. And as the sun was setting in the west, 6.3.5 he encamped at a distance of two stades from the bridge. On the next day, he marked out the camp near Anchialus, and having spent fifteen days there, he returned to the imperial city, having heard that envoys had come to Byzantium from the king of the Persians. 6.3.6 And it was the third day, and envoys from Celtic Iberia arrived at the imperial city; (these, it seems, are called Franks in the more recent language) and the names of the envoys were Bosos and Bettos.

φυλακῆς τῆς νυκτὸς γενομένης, ὁ μὲν ἐργάτης τοῦ φόνου ἐς τὸν χάρακα ἐπανῆκεν, ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς οἵ τε ἀμφ' αὐτὸν τὸν δορυφόρον μηδαμῇ που θεώμενοι ἐπὶ τῇ 6.2. ἀδηλίᾳ τὰς ψυχὰς κατεπλήττοντο. τοῦ ἵππου τοίνυν τηνάλλως πλανωμένου, γηπόνος ἀνὴρ τούτου περιτυγχάνει καὶ ἐς τὴν τάφρον αὐτὸν ἀπεκόμιζεν. ὑποτοπήσας γοῦν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦτον αὐτὸν κύριον καθεστάναι τοῦ φόνου ἐς βάσανον ἐξεδίδου κολάσεων. 6.2.10 Τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ ἄνδρες τρεῖς Σκλαυηνοὶ τὸ γένος μηδέν τι σιδήρου περιβαλλόμενοι ἢ ὀργάνων πολεμικῶν ἑάλωσαν ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπασπιστῶν· κιθάραι δὲ αὐτοῖς τὰ 6.2.11 φορτία, καὶ ἄλλο τι οὐδὲν ἐπεφέροντο. ὁ μὲν οὖν βασιλεὺς διηρώτα τί τὸ ἔθνος αὐτῶν, καὶ ποῖ τὰς διατριβὰς ἐκληρώσαντο, τήν τε αἰτίαν τῆς περὶ τοὺς ῾Ρωμαϊκοὺς τόπους ἀνα6.2.12 στροφῆς. οἱ δὲ τὸ μὲν ἔθνος ἔφασαν πεφυκέναι Σκλαυηνοὶ πρὸς τῷ τέρματί τε τοῦ δυτικοῦ ᾠκηκέναι ᾿Ωκεανοῦ, τὸν δὲ Χαγάνον μέχρι τῶν αὐτόθι πρέσβεις ἐκπέμψασθαι ἐπὶ συλλογῇ μαχίμου δυνάμεως δῶρά τε πολλὰ τοῖς ἐθνάρχαις 6.2.13 φιλοτιμήσασθαι. τοὺς μὲν οὖν δεξαμένους τὰ δῶρα τὴν συμμαχίαν αὐτῷ ἀπανήνασθαι, ἀποκναίειν τε αὐτοὺς τὰ μήκη τῆς ὁδοιπορίας διισχυριζομένων, ὡς δὲ τὸν Χαγάνον ἐπαποστείλασθαι αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους τοὺς ἑαλωκότας ἀπολογίας ὑπόθεσιν ἔχοντας· πεντεκαίδεκά τε μησὶ τὴν ὁδὸν διανύσαι. τὸν δὲ Χαγάνον ἐπιλαθόμενον τοῦ νόμου τῶν πρέσβεων 6.2.14 δογματίσαι κωλύμην αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀναζεύξεως. αὐτούς τε τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων ἔθνος ἀκηκοότας ἐπί τε πλούτῳ καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ λίαν, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, εὐκλεέστατον, ἐμπορευσαμένους τὴν 6.2.15 εὐκαιρίαν πρὸς τῇ Θρᾴκῃ ἀναχωρῆσαι. κιθάρας τε ἐπιφέρεσθαι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐξησκῆσθαι ὅπλα τοῖς σώμασι περιβάλλεσθαι, τῆς χώρας αὐτοῖς ἀγνοούσης τὸν σίδηρον κἀντεῦθεν τὸν εἰρηναῖον καὶ ἀστασίαστον παρεχομένης τὸν βίον αὐτοῖς, λύραις τε καταψάλλεσθαι περιλαλεῖν οὐκ εἰδότας ταῖς σάλπιγξιν· οἷς γὰρ ὁ πόλεμος ἦν ἀνιστόρητος, εἰκότως ἂν ἔφασκον 6.2.16 ἀγρότερά πως ὑπεῖναι τὰ τῆς μουσικῆς μελετήματα. ὁ μὲν οὖν αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπὶ τοῖς ῥηθεῖσι τὸ φῦλον ἀγάμενος φιλοξενίας ἠξίου ἐκείνους αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐντετυχηκότας αὐτῷ, θαυμάσας τούτων τῶν σωμάτων τὸ μέγεθος τό τε μεγαλοφυὲς τῶν μελῶν ἐς τὴν ῾Ηράκλειαν τούτους παρεπέμπετο. 6.3.1 Τρίτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ πρέσβεις ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλείου ἐξεπέμποντο ἄστεος, ἥ τε ἀξίωσις ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου ἐς τὸν βασιλέα ἐγίγνετο· ἡ δὲ ὑπόθεσις τὴν ἐπανάζευξιν τῆς βασιλέως ἐκδημίας ἐθήρα λαβεῖν. ὁ μὲν οὖν αὐτοκράτωρ μηδέν τι προσηκάμενος τῆς πρεσβείας παλιννοστεῖν προστάττει τοῖς 6.3.2 πρέσβεσιν. τετάρτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ ἐς τὸ πρόσω ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ μετωχετεύετο. στενῆς δὲ γεφύρας ἱκανοῖς στρατεύμασιν ὁμιλούσης, τεναγώδους τε δυσχωρίας συγκυρησάσης αὐτοῖς, δυσδιέξοδος ἦν ἡ διάβασις. ὑπῆσαν δὲ πλησίον πηγαὶ ποταμοῦ ὃν Ξηρόγυψον προσκαλοῦσιν οἱ πλησιόχωροι. 6.3.3 ἀκοσμούσης τε τῆς δυνάμεως περὶ τὴν διάβασιν, θρύλου τε περὶ τὴν γέφυραν ἀναθορήσαντος, ἀνυπονοήτου τε βοῆς προσγενομένης τῷ πλήθει, καί τινων κατακρημνισθέντων ὑπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸν ὄχλον ἐκθλίψεως, τοῦ ἵππου ἀποβὰς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ βακτηρίας ἑλόμενος αὐτουργὸς ἐγίγνετο κοσμιότητος, καὶ τῆς ἐπιθέσεως ἀπέχεσθαι τὰ πλήθη προστάξας ἐδίδου τῇ βαδίσει τὴν εὔροιαν, τῇ ἀναβολῇ τῆς συγχύσεως 6.3.4 τὸ κατὰ μικρὸν δεικνὺς ἀσφαλὲς τοῖς στρατεύμασιν. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἄσιτος διημερεύσας περὶ τὴν γέφυραν παρεῖχε τῇ δυσχωρίᾳ διέξοδον. ἡλίου δὲ πρὸς δυσμὰς ἀποκλίναντος 6.3.5 ἀπὸ σημείων δύο τῆς γεφύρας ἐστρατοπέδευεν. τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ πρὸς τῇ ᾿Αγχιάλῳ διαγράφει τὸν χάρακα, ἡμέρας τε πέντε πρὸς ταῖς δέκα ἐνθαδὶ τὴν διατριβὴν ποιησάμενος ἐς τὸ βασίλειον ἄστυ ἐπάνεισιν, ἥκειν ἀκούσας ὑπὸ τοῦ Περσῶν 6.3.6 βασιλέως ἐς Βυζάντιον πρέσβεις. τρίτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ οἱ τῆς Κελτικῆς ᾿Ιβηρίας πρέσβεις ἐς τὸ βασίλειον παραγίγνονται ἄστυ· (Φράγγοι δὲ ἄρα οὗτοι τῇ νεωτέρᾳ γλώττῃ κατονομάζονται) αἱ δὲ προσηγορίαι τοῖς πρέσβεσι Βόσος καὶ Βέττος.