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came to be for the Romans and the Persians for five years, in the nineteenth year that the emperor Justinian held the imperial power. 2.28.12 A little later Arethas and Alamoundaras, the rulers of the Saracens, waged war against each other by themselves, with neither the Romans nor the Persians 2.28.13 assisting them. And Alamoundaras, having captured by a raid one of the sons of Arethas who was pasturing horses, immediately sacrificed him to Aphrodite, and from this it was known that Arethas would not betray the interests of the Romans to the Persians. 2.28.14 And after this both sides met in battle with their entire army, and those with Arethas won a decisive victory, and having routed the enemy they killed many. And Arethas came close to capturing two of Alamoundaras' sons alive, but he did not capture them. So the affairs of the Saracens 2.28.15 were in this state. But Chosroes, the king of the Persians, made it clear that he had made the truce with the Romans with a treacherous mind, in order that he might catch them relaxed because of the peace and work some irreparable harm. 2.28.16 For in the third year of the truce he contrived the following things. There were in Persia two brothers, Phabrizos and Isdigousnas, who were invested with the greatest offices there and were besides the most wicked in mind of all the Persians, and had a great reputation for their cleverness and malevolence. 2.28.17 Having planned, therefore, to seize the city of Daras by a sudden attack and to remove all the Colchians from Lazica, and to establish Persians as settlers in their place, he chose these two men to serve in both these tasks; 2.28.18 for it seemed to be a godsend and a matter of great account for him to appropriate the land of Colchis and to hold it in secure possession, reckoning that this would be advantageous to the Persian empire 2.28.19 in many ways. For he would hold Iberia in security for the future, since the Iberians would no longer have any people to whom they could revolt and find safety; 2.28.20 for since the most notable of these barbarians, together with their king Gourgenes, had looked to revolt, as was told by me in the previous narrative, the Persians would not henceforth permit a king to be established over them, nor were the Iberians obedient subjects to the Persians of their own free will, but they were possessed with great suspicion and distrust toward one another. 2.28.21 And it was clear that the Iberians were bearing it very ill and would revolt not much later, 2.28.22 if ever they should be able to seize some opportunity. And that the Persian empire would be forever unravaged by the Huns who bordered on Lazica, and that he would be able to send them more easily and with less trouble against the Roman empire, whenever he should wish. For Lazica is nothing other than a fortress against the barbarians who dwell in the Caucasus. 2.28.23 But most of all he hoped that the control of Lazica would benefit the Persians in this respect, that starting from there they would be able, with no trouble, by overrunning both by land and by sea the regions on the so-called Euxine sea, to subdue the Cappadocians and their neighbors the Galatians and Bithynians, and by a sudden attack to capture the Byzan- 2.28.24 tines, with no one resisting them. For these reasons, indeed, Chosroes wanted to acquire Lazica, but he had the least confidence in the Lazi. 2.28.25 For since the Romans had withdrawn from Lazica, the multitude of the Lazi were reasonably vexed with the Persian rule. For the Persians are unvarying in their ways, if any people are, 2.28.26 and in matters of daily life they are exceedingly harsh. And their laws are inaccessible to all men and their commands in no way tolerable. And towards the Lazi, however, the difference both of opinion and of daily life is especially and by far apparent, since the Lazi are Christians above all others, while for the Persians all matters concerning the divine are the opposite of theirs. 2.28.27 And apart from these things, salt is nowhere produced in Lazica, nor indeed does grain or wine or any other good thing grow there. 2.28.28 But all things are brought in to them by ship from the coastal Romans, and this not by giving gold to their trading partners, but hides and slaves and whatever else happens to be in great abundance there; 2.28.29 and being shut off from this, as was likely, the

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γεγόνασι Ῥωμαίοις τε καὶ Πέρσαις ἐς ἐνιαυτοὺς πέντε, δέκατόν τε καὶ ἔνατον ἔτος Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλέως τὴν αὐτοκράτορα ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος. 2.28.12 Ὀλίγῳ δὲ ὕστερον Ἀρέθας τε καὶ Ἀλαμούνδαροςοἱ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ἄρχοντες πόλεμον πρὸς ἀλλήλους κατὰ μόνας διέφερον, οὔτε Ῥωμαίων οὔτε Περσῶν 2.28.13 ἀμυνόντων σφίσι. καὶ Ἀλαμούνδαρος μὲν ἕνα τῶν Ἀρέθα παίδων ἵππους νέμοντα ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἑλὼν τῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ εὐθὺς ἔθυσε, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἐγνώσθη οὐ καταπροΐεσθαι τὰ Ῥωμαίων πράγματα Πέρσαις Ἀρέθαν. 2.28.14 μετὰ δὲ ξυνίασι μὲν ἐς μάχην ἑκάτεροι παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ, νικῶσι δὲ κατὰ κράτος οἱ ξὺν τῷ Ἀρέθᾳ, τρεψάμενοί τε τοὺς πολεμίους πολλοὺς ἔκτειναν. καὶ παρ' ὀλίγον Ἀρέθας ἦλθε δύο τῶν Ἀλαμουνδάρου παίδων ζῶντας ἑλεῖν, οὐ μέντοι γε εἷλε. τὰ μὲν οὖν 2.28.15 Σαρακηνῶν ταύτῃ πη εἶχεν. Χοσρόης δὲ, ὁ Περσῶν βασιλεὺς, ἔνδηλος γέγονε τὴν ἐκεχειρίαν νῷ δολερῷ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πεποιημένος, ἐφ' ᾧ δὴ αὐτοὺς διὰ τὴν εἰρήνην ἀναπεπτωκότας λαβὼν ἀνήκεστόν τι ἐργάσεται. 2.28.16 τρίτῳ γὰρ τῆς ἐκεχειρίας ἐνιαυτῷ μηχανᾶται τοιάδε· ἤστην ἐν Πέρσαις ἀδελφοὶ δύο, Φάβριζός τε καὶ Ἰσδιγούσνας, ἀρχὰς μὲν περιβεβλημένω ἐνταῦθα μεγίστας καὶ ἄλλως λογισμῷ πονηροτάτω Περσῶν ἁπάντων καὶ δόξαν ἐπὶ τῇ δεινότητι καὶ κακοτροπίᾳ πολλὴν 2.28.17 ἔχοντε. βουλευσάμενος οὖν πόλιν ∆άρας καταλαβεῖν ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς καὶ Λαζικῆς ἐξοικίσαι Κόλχους ἅπαντας, Πέρσας δὲ ἀντ' αὐτῶν οἰκήτορας καταστήσασθαι, τὼ ἄνδρε τούτω ἐς ἄμφω τὰ ἔργα ὑπηρετήσοντας εἵλετο· 2.28.18 ἕρμαιον γὰρ καὶ λόγου πολλοῦ ἄξιον ἐφαίνετο εἶναι γῆν τὴν Κολχίδα σφετερισαμένῳ ἐν τῷ βεβαίῳ τῆς κτήσεως ἔχειν, ξύμφορον λογισαμένῳ τῇ Περσῶν ἀρχῇ 2.28.19 κατὰ πολλὰ ἔσεσθαι τοῦτό γε. τήν τε γὰρ Ἰβηρίαν ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ ἐς τὸ ἔπειτα ἕξειν, οὐκ ἂν ἔτι ἐχόντων Ἰβήρων ἐφ' οὕστινας ἀνθρώπων ἀποστάντες σωθή2.28.20 σονται· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἱ τούτων δὴ λογιμώτατοι τῶν βαρβάρων ὁμοῦ Γουργένῃ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐς ἀπόστασιν εἶδον, ὥσπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθε λόγοις ἐρρήθη, οὔτε βασιλέα σφίσι καταστήσεσθαι τὸ ἐνθένδε ξυνεχώρουν Πέρσαι οὔτε αὐτογνωμονοῦντες Περσῶν κατήκοοι Ἴβηρες ἦσαν, ἀλλ' ὑποψίᾳ τε καὶ ἀπιστίᾳ ἐς ἀλλήλους 2.28.21 πολλῇ εἴχοντο. ἔνδηλοί τε Ἴβηρες ἦσαν δυσανασχετοῦντές τε ἰσχυρότατα καὶ νεωτεριοῦντες οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον, 2.28.22 ἤν τινός ποτε καιροῦ λαβέσθαι δυνατοὶ εἶεν. καὶ πρὸς Οὔννων τῶν Λαζικῇ προσοίκων ἀδῄωτον μὲν τὴν Περσῶν ἀρχὴν ἐς ἀεὶ ἔσεσθαι, ῥᾷον δὲ καὶ ἀπονώτερον αὐτοὺς τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ ἐπιπέμψειν, ἡνίκα ἂν αὐτῷ βουλομένῳ εἴη. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο οὐδὲν τοῖς ἐν Καυκάσῳ 2.28.23 οἰκοῦσι βαρβάροις ἢ ἐπιτείχισμα Λαζικὴν εἶναι. μάλιστα δὲ πάντων κατὰ τοῦτο ξυνοίσειν πρὸς Λαζικῆς ἐπικράτησιν ἤλπιζε Πέρσαις, ὅτι δὴ ἐξ αὐτῆς ὁρμώμενοι δυνήσονται οὐδενὶ πόνῳ καταθέοντες καὶ πεζῇ καὶ ναυσὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ Εὐξείνου καλουμένου πόντου χωρία Καππαδόκας μὲν καὶ τοὺς αὐτῶν ἐχομένους Γαλάτας καὶ Βιθυνοὺς παραστήσεσθαι, ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς δὲ Βυζαν2.28.24 τίους αἱρήσειν, οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἀντιστατοῦντος. τούτων μὲν δὴ ἕνεκα προσποιεῖσθαι Χοσρόης Λαζικὴν ἤθελεν, ἐπὶ Λαζοῖς δὲ τὸ θαρσεῖν ὡς ἥκιστα εἶχεν. 2.28.25 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ῥωμαῖοι ἐκ τῆς Λαζικῆς ἀνεχώρησαν, Λαζῶν τὸ πλῆθος τῇ Περσῶν ἀρχῇ ἐπιεικῶς ἤχθετο. μονότροποι γὰρ, εἴπερ ἄλλοι τινὲς, οἱ Πέρσαι εἰσὶ 2.28.26 καὶ τὰ ἐς τὴν δίαιταν ὑπεράγαν σκληροί. καὶ αὐτοῖς οἵ τε νόμοι δυσπρόσοδοί εἰσι πρὸς πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ τὰ ἐπιτάγματα οὐδαμῆ ἀνεκτά. πρὸς μέντοι Λαζοὺς καὶ διαφερόντως τὸ διαλλάσσον τῆς τε γνώμης ἀεὶ καὶ τῆς διαίτης παρὰ πολὺ διαφαίνεται, ἐπεὶ Λαζοὶ μὲν Χριστιανοί εἰσι πάντων μάλιστα, Πέρσαις δὲ ἀπ' 2.28.27 ἐναντίας αὐτῶν τὰ ἐς τὸ θεῖον ἅπαντα ἔχει. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἅλες μὲν τῆς Λαζικῆς οὐδαμῆ γίνονται, οὐ μὴν οὔτε σῖτος οὔτε οἶνος οὔτε τι ἄλλο ἀγαθὸν 2.28.28 φύεται. ἐκ δὲ Ῥωμαίων τῶν παραλίων ἅπαντα ταῖς ναυσὶν ἐπεισέρχεται σφίσι, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ χρυσίον τοῖς συμβάλλουσι προϊεμένοις, ἀλλὰ δέρρεις τε καὶ ἀνδράποδα καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο ἐνταῦθα κατὰ πολὺ περιεῖναι 2.28.29 ξυμβαίνει· τούτου τε, ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς, ἀποκεκλεισμένοι τὸ