,

he engaged. And having set out from there and arrived at the church of Alexander the martyr, he gave this over to the all-devouring fire as fuel, and having advanced three miles he encountered those sent out on reconnaissance by the Roman general. 6.5.3 So the barbarian investigated by means of tortures what the purpose of the captives might be, and searching into the reason for their journey he was distressed at being unable to learn the unadulterated truth; 6.5.4 for they put him off with spurious tales. On the fifth day having passed, he moved his camp to Drizipera and attempted somehow to subdue the city. But since the men of the city drew themselves up for a stout resistance, on the seventh day the 6.5.5 barbarian began to construct siege-engines. When, then, an extraordinary rumour reached the city, and their hopes of safety became precarious, they resorted to a counterfeit boldness; for throwing open the gates of the town they threatened to scorn the rampart and to take up the 6.5.6 war on equal terms with the barbarians. So they, having made their battle-array up to the point of a shout and a demonstration, being struck down by cowardice did not advance from the city; but by some divine providence the 6.5.7 barbarian was restrained from attacking. For at midday he thought he saw countless Roman phalanxes being drawn up, and departing from the city and hastening across the plain, swelling with desire to fight and to die in battle array. So the Khagan embraced an impromptu flight. And the enemy was a phantom, a bogeyman of 6.5.8 sight and a terror to the mind. It was the fifth day, and the Khagan arrived at Perinthus; the Romans call this Heracleia. But when Priscus suddenly saw the barbarian, he offered no delay to the attack. 6.5. Therefore, having engaged in battle with the Khagan's forces, he immediately showed his back to the enemy, being unable to bear the brunt of the battle because of the abundance of the opposing force. But the Roman general 6.5.10 retreated to Didymoteichon with the infantry. After this, having arrived at Tzurullum, he surrounded the city with his forces as a place of refuge. And the barbarian, having encamped around the city, was bravely besieging Priscus. 6.5.11 When the emperor, then, heard these things, he was both distressed and afraid of the outcome, and he was thrown into the greatest confusion by the news of what had happened. It was the fourth day, and he put forward a plan 6.5.12 consistent with his shrewdness; for having summoned one of his bodyguards, he ordered him to be captured voluntarily by the barbarians and to claim that he was carrying imperial letters to Priscus, so that the barbarians, having picked these up as some kind of windfall, might hear for themselves the force of what was written and, being terrified by it, might be deceived into making the withdrawal to their homes. Such letters, then, were inscribed. 6.5.13 "To Priscus, the most glorious general of both forces in Thrace. The attack of the accursed barbarians has not at all caused alarm to our Piety; on the contrary, it has made us even more diligent for their destruction. 6.5.14 And let your Glory know this, that the Khagan must withdraw inauspiciously with shame and having lost many men to the land consecrated to him by the Romans. Therefore your Glory, with the most fortunate army, shall hold out in the city of Tzurullum and shall seem 6.5.15 to be encircling the most accursed Avars. For we have sent 6.5.15 ships and an army by sea, so that they might go up against their families and take them all captive, and that from there the accursed leader of the Avars may be forced to return to his own land with shame and great loss from our state." 6.5.16 So the counterfeit messenger carried out what was commanded. It was the seventh day, and having been captured by the barbarians, he willingly handed over the royal tablets; and the Khagan, through an interpreter what was contained in them in his native tongue

προσέμιξεν. ἀπάρας τε ἐντεῦθεν καὶ πρὸς τῷ νεῷ ᾿Αλεξάνδρου τοῦ μάρτυρος γεγονὼς ἐδίδου τοῦτον τῷ παμφάγῳ πυρὶ παρανάλωμα, τρία τε σημεῖα μεταβὰς τοῖς ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ παρὰ τοῦ ῾Ρωμαίων στρατηγοῦ παραπεμφθεῖσι συνετύγχανεν. 6.5.3 ὁ μὲν οὖν βάρβαρος αἰκισμοῖς διηρευνᾶτο τίς ἂν εἴη ὁ τῶν ἑαλωκότων σκοπός, τήν τε αἰτίαν τῆς πορείας αὐτοῖς ἐρεβοδιφούμενος ἤσχαλλεν οὐκ ἔχων μαθεῖν τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκίβδηλον· 6.5.4 νόθοις γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐξεκρούσαντο λόγοις. πέμπτης δὲ παρῳχηκυίας ἡμέρας πρὸς τὰ ∆ριζίπερα μετοχετεύει τὸν χάρακα τήν τε πόλιν ἐνεχείρει πως παραστήσασθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ τοῦ ἄστεος ἐς τὸ καρτερὸν παρετάττοντο, τὰς ἑλεπόλεις ἑβδόμῃ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ 6.5.5 βάρβαρος ἐτεκταίνετο. θρύλου γοῦν ἐξαισίου προσπεσόντος τῇ πόλει, ἐπισάλων τε τῶν τῆς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδων γινομένων αὐτοῖς, εἰς ἐπίπλαστον θράσος ἐφοίτησαν· τὰς γὰρ πύλας ἀναπετάσαντες τοῦ πολίσματος ἠπείλουν τοῦ ἕρκους καταφρονεῖν ἰσοστάσιόν τε πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους ἀναλαμβάνειν 6.5.6 τὸν πόλεμον. οἱ μὲν οὖν μέχρι φωνῆς καὶ τοῦ σχήματος τὴν παράταξιν ποιησάμενοι, ὑπὸ τῆς δειλίας καταπληττόμενοι οὐκ ἐξεχώρουν τοῦ ἄστεος· θείᾳ δὲ φροντίδι τινὶ ἀπείργετο 6.5.7 τὸ βάρβαρον ἐπιτίθεσθαι. ἔδοξε γὰρ ἡμέρας μεσούσης ὁρᾶν ῾Ρωμαϊκὰς ἀπείρους συμφράττεσθαι φάλαγγας ἀποχωρεῖν τε τοῦ ἄστεος καὶ ἀνὰ τὸ πεδίον ἐπείγεσθαι ὀργώσας πολεμεῖν καὶ θανατᾶν πρὸς παράταξιν. ἀσπάζεται τοίνυν αὐτοσχέδιον ὁ Χαγάνος ἀπόδρασιν. καὶ δόκησις ἦν τὸ ἀντίμαχον, μορμολυ6.5.8 κεῖον ὄψεως καὶ διανοίας κατάπληξις. πέμπτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ ὁ Χαγάνος ἐπὶ τὴν Πείρινθον γίγνεται· ῾Ηράκλειαν δὲ ταύτην ῾Ρωμαῖοι προσαγορεύουσιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ Πρίσκος ἐξαπιναίως εἶδε τὸ βάρβαρον, τῇ ἐπιβολῇ ἀναβολὴν οὐ παρείχετο. 6.5. συμπλακεὶς τοιγαροῦν τοῖς ἀνὰ τὸν Χαγάνον πρὸς πόλεμον αὐθωρὸν τοῖς πολεμίοις τὰ νῶτα ὑπέδειξεν, τῇ ἀφθονίᾳ τῆς ἀντιθέτου δυνάμεως φέρειν οὐκ ἔχων τῆς μάχης τὴν ἔνστασιν. ἀτὰρ εἰς ∆ιδυμότειχον ἅμα τῷ πεζικῷ ὁ τῶν ῾Ρωμαίων στρα6.5.10 τηγὸς ὑπεχώρησεν. μετὰ τοῦτο εἰς Τζουρουλλὸν ἀφικόμενος ἀσυλίαν ταῖς δυνάμεσι τὴν πόλιν περιεβάλετο. τὸ δὲ βάρβαρον τὸ ἄστυ περικαθήμενον γεννικῶς ἐπολιόρκει τὸν Πρίσκον. 6.5.11 τούτων γοῦν ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ ἀκηκοὼς ἠδημόνει τε καὶ ἐδεδίει τὴν ἔκβασιν, καὶ μέγιστον τάραχον ἔσπασε τῇ ἀγγελίᾳ τοῦ συγκυρήσαντος. τετάρτη δὲ ἡμέρα, καὶ ἀγχινοίας ἀκόλουθον 6.5.12 βουλὴν προηνέγκατο· τῶν γὰρ σωματοφυλάκων τινὰ μετάκλητον ποιησάμενος ἑκοντὶ ἁλῶναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐκέλευε φάσκειν τε αὐτοκρατορικὰς ὡς τὸν Πρίσκον ἐπιστολὰς ἐπιφέρεσθαι, ὅπως οἱ βάρβαροι καθά πού τι ἕρμαιον ταύτας ἀναλεξάμενοι τῆς τῶν ἐγγεγραμμένων δυνάμεως αὐτήκοοι γένοιντο κἀντεῦθεν ἐκδειματούμενοι τὴν πρὸς τὰ οἴκοι ἀνάζευξιν φενακισθέντες ποιήσωνται. τοιαῦτα δὲ ἄρα ἐνεκεχάρακτο γράμματα. 6.5.13 "Πρίσκῳ τῷ ἐνδοξοτάτῳ στρατηγῷ τῆς περὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην ἑκατέρας δυνάμεως. ἡ τῶν ἀλιτηρίων βαρβάρων ἐγχείρησις θρῦλον τὸ παράπαν οὐκ ἐνεποίησε τῇ ἡμῶν εὐσεβείᾳ· τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐπιμελεστέρους πρὸς τὴν τούτων ἀπώλειαν 6.5.14 ἀπειργάσατο. καὶ τοῦτο γινωσκέτω ἡ σὴ ἐνδοξότης, ὅτι ἀπαισίως μετ' αἰσχύνης καὶ πολλοὺς ἀποβαλόμενος ἔχει ὁ Χαγάνος ἀποχωρῆσαι εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ ῾Ρωμαίων αὐτῷ ἀφιερω-θεῖσαν χώραν. διὰ τοῦτο ἅμα τῷ εὐτυχεστάτῳ στρατῷ καρτερήσει ἡ σὴ ἐνδοξότης ἐν Τζουρουλλῷ τῇ πόλει καὶ δόξει 6.5.15 περιρρεμβεῖν τοὺς ἐπικαταράτους ᾿Αβάρους. ἐπέμψαμεν γὰρ 6.5.15 διὰ θαλάσσης πλοῖα καὶ στρατόν, ἵνα ἀνέλθωσιν εἰς τὰς φαμιλίας αὐτῶν καὶ πάσας αἰχμαλωτεύσωσιν, καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἀναγκασθῇ μετὰ αἰσχύνης καὶ μεγάλης ζημίας ὁ ἐπικατάρατος τῶν ᾿Αβάρων ἡγούμενος εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γῆν ὑποστρέψαι ἀπὸ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς πολιτείας." 6.5.16 ῾Ο μὲν οὖν ἐπίπλαστος ἄγγελος τὸ προστεταγμένον πέρατι παρεδίδου. ἑβδόμη ἡμέρα, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων ἁλοὺς τὰς βασιλείους δέλτους παρεδίδου ἑκών· ὁ δὲ Χαγάνος τὰ ἐμφερόμενα ἐν αὐταῖς ὑπὸ ἑρμηνέως τῇ πατρίῳ