98

to him who wished it, did they then have no sense but were they talking nonsense, those who labored much on this subject 266 in their tactical treatises and the greatest of emperors and generals, who set up many trophies over many foes, not one of whom ever dared to enter into battle line against the enemy with an unlearned and untrained populace? But it is not possible for one who has not learned to know, nor for one who has not practiced and trained to compete. For this reason this noble man, having first trained and equipped the military battalions, and having mixed the newly-levied army with the old, and having enriched their sinews with fitting provisions and gifts and strengthened their right hands, thus attacked the enemy with them and set up many trophies and won countless victories. And I shall relate it in brief. 37 And having found the opportune time for the settlement of the city and having leisure for action, when spring was dawning he took up arms and was reviewed along with the military rolls, believing that a true ruler must face danger for his own people and for the sake of his subjects living in complete security, he should voluntarily undertake toils and hardships. And since at that time the leader of Tephrike, whom they called Chrysocheir, seeming to excel in manliness and intelligence, was grievously harassing the land of the Romans and its peoples, and taking many of the country-folk captive each day, he was haughty and arrogant, the emperor marched out against him 267 and the city under his command. But when that haughty and audacious man did not dare to openly stand against the valor of the advancing army and the intelligence and manliness of the emperor, but was retreating and had resolved only to guard and fortify his own city, the emperor advanced through a great lack of anyone to hinder him, plundering and sacking and ravaging and burning all the lands and towns under Chrysocheir, gathering infinite booty and captives. And having attacked the city of Tephrike itself, and having tried to take it by skirmishes and a not-so-long siege, when he saw that it was fortified and difficult to capture by the strength of its walls and the multitude of barbarians and the abundance of supplies, and since everything outside had been destroyed in a very short time by the multitude of the army and the necessities had been almost consumed, he desisted from a prolonged persistence in the siege; and having sacked the fortresses around it, Abara and Spathe and certain others, and having withdrawn from there his entire army unharmed, he returned with much, as has been said, spoils and captives. 38 Therefore, when the other of the Ishmaelite cities, which they call Taranta, saw the great slaughter in Tephrike, it sent ambassadors, asking to obtain peace and to be enrolled among the allies. But the most excellent emperor, showing as much manliness towards those who opposed him, 268 as he did clemency towards those who submitted, was won over by the embassy and granted peace to those who asked, and from that time on possessed them as allies instead of enemies. After this, not a few others, and a certain Kourtikios the Armenian, who then held Lokana and was continually ravaging the frontiers of the Roman dominion, fled to him, and subjected his city and his arms and his people to the emperor, admiring his clemency with manliness and his justice with power. 39 And while the enemies had their mind on him, and were looking around to see to what part he would turn, so that they too might unite their shields with the side that was in trouble, he sent a raiding party of select warriors against the city called Zapetra, who, having passed through the narrows of the road with haste, fell upon the city itself, and took it by assault, and slaughtered many in it, and took much captivity and booty, and led out long-term prisoners from the garrison. Then the

98

βουλομένῳ, οὐκ ειχον αρα νοῦν ἀλλ' ἐλήρουν οἱ πολλὰ περὶ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο πονή- 266 σαντες ἐν τοῖς τακτικοῖς συγγράμμασι καὶ οἱ μέγιστοι τῶν αὐτο- κρατόρων καὶ στρατηγῶν, οἱ πολλὰ ἀπὸ πολλῶν τρόπαια συστή- σαντες, ων οὐδεὶς ἐθάρρησε πώποτε μετ' ἀμαθοῦς καὶ ἀγυμνά- στου λαοῦ εἰς πολεμίων παράταξιν ἐμβαλεῖν. ἀλλ' οὐκ εστιν ουτε τὸν μὴ μαθόντα εἰδέναι ουτε τὸν μὴ ἀσκήσαντα καὶ γυμνασάμε- νον ἀγωνίζεσθαι. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ γενναῖος ουτος πρότερον γυμνά- σας καὶ καταρτίσας τὰ τάγματα τὰ στρατιωτικά, καὶ τὴν νεοσύλ- λεκτον στρατιὰν ἀναμίξας τῇ παλαιᾷ, καὶ ταῖς ἁρμοζούσαις χορη- γίαις καὶ δωρεαῖς λιπάνας αὐτῶν τὰ νεῦρα καὶ τονώσας τὰς δεξιάς, ουτω μετ' αὐτῶν προσέβαλε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τρόπαια εστησεν καὶ τὰς μυρίας νίκας ἀνείλετο. διὰ βραχέων δὲ διη- γήσομαι. 37 Καὶ κατάστασιν πόλεως ἐνευκαιρήσας καὶ σχολάσας πράξεσιν, εαρος ὑπολάμποντος τὰ οπλα ἀνείλετο καὶ μετὰ τῶν στρατιωτικῶν καταλόγων ξυνεξητάζετο, ἡγούμενος χρῆναι τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς αρχοντα τοῦ οἰκείου προκινδυνεύειν λαοῦ καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ πᾶν ἀδεῶς διάγειν τὸ ὑποχείριον πόνους καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἑκουσίως αὐτὸν ἀναδέχεσθαι. καὶ ἐπεὶ κατὰ τοὺς καιροὺς ἐκείνους ὁ τῆς Τεφρικῆς ἐξηγούμενος, ον Χρυσόχειρα κατωνόμαζον, ἐπ' ἀνδρίᾳ καὶ συνέσει διαφέρειν δοκῶν σφόδρα παρελύπει τὴν ̔Ρωμαίων χώ- ραν καὶ τοὺς λαούς, καὶ πολλοὺς τῶν ἀγροίκων καθ' ἑκάστην αἰχμαλώτους ποιούμενος ἐφρόνει σοβαρὰ καὶ ὑπέρογκα, κατ' αὐτοῦ 267 καὶ τῆς ὑπ' αὐτὸν πόλεως ἐκστρατεύει ὁ βασιλεύς. τοῦ δὲ σοβαροῦ καὶ θρασέος ἐκείνου πρὸς τὴν γενναιότητα τοῦ ἐπιόντος στρατεύ- ματος καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν καὶ ἀνδρίαν τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος ἐμφανῶς μὴ τολμήσαντος ἀντιστῆναι, ἀλλ' ὑποχωροῦντος καὶ μόνην τὴν οἰκείαν πόλιν φυλάξαι καὶ κρατύνεσθαι διεγνωκότος, ἐπῄει κατὰ πολλὴν τοῦ κωλύσοντος ἐρημίαν ληϊζόμενος καὶ πορθῶν καὶ κατα- τέμνων καὶ πυρπολῶν πάσας τὰς ὑπὸ τὸν Χρυσόχειρα χώρας καὶ κωμοπόλεις ὁ βασιλεύς, λείαν απειρον καὶ αἰχμαλωσίαν περιβαλ- λόμενος. προσβαλὼν δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ αστει Τεφρικῆς, καὶ δι' ἀκροβολισμῶν καὶ προσεδρείας οὐχὶ μακρᾶς ἑλεῖν πειραθείς, ὡς ἑώρα καὶ τειχῶν καρτερότητι καὶ πλήθει βαρβαρικῷ καὶ ἀφθονίᾳ χρειῶν κατωχυρωμένον αὐτὸ καὶ δυσάλωτον, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς απαντα δι' ἐλαχίστου χρόνου τῷ πλήθει τῆς στρατιᾶς κατηρείπωτο καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα σχεδὸν κατηνάλωτο, ἀπέστη τῆς πρὸς τὴν πο- λιορκίαν χρονίου ἐπιμονῆς· τὰ δὲ περὶ αὐτὴν φρούρια τὴν Αβα- ραν καὶ τὴν Σπάθην καὶ ετερά τινα ἐκπορθήσας, καὶ αρας ἐντεῦ- θεν ἀσινῆ τὸν περὶ αὐτὸν πάντα στρατόν, μετὰ συχνῶν, ὡς ειρη- ται, λαφύρων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων ἐπανεχώρησεν. 38 Τῶν ἐν τῇ Τεφρικῇ τοίνυν τὸν πολὺν φόνον ἡ ἑτέρα τῶν ̓Ισμαηλιτῶν πόλις θεασαμένη, ην Τάραντα λέγουσι, πρέσβεις πέμψασα εἰρήνης ἠξίου τυχεῖν καὶ ταῖς συμμαχίσιν ἐγγράφεσθαι. ὁ δὲ κράτιστος βασιλεύς, οσην πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιταττομένους ἀνδρίαν, 268 τοσαύτην πρὸς τοὺς ὑποταττομένους ἐπιείκειαν ἐνδεικνύμενος, ἡτ- τήθη τε τῆς πρεσβείας καὶ τῆς εἰρήνης τοῖς αἰτοῦσι μετέδωκε, καὶ συμμάχους ἀντὶ πολεμίων τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε ἐκέκτητο. ἐκ τούτου αλλοι τε οὐκ ὀλίγοι καὶ Κουρτίκιός τις ̓Αρμένιος, ος ειχε τότε τὴν Λό- καναν καὶ συνεχῶς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς ἀρχῆς ἐλυμαίνετο, προσέφυγε πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ οπλα καὶ τὸν λαὸν τῷ αὐτοκράτορι καθυπέταξε, θαυμάσας αὐτοῦ τὸ μετὰ τοῦ ἀνδρείου ἐπιεικὲς καὶ μετὰ τῆς δυνάμεως δίκαιον. 39 Εως δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ειχον τὸν νοῦν οἱ πολέμιοι, καὶ περιεσκόπουν πρὸς ο μέρος ῥέψει, ινα πρὸς τὸ πονοῦν καὶ αὐτοὶ συνασπίσωσι, κοῦρσον κατὰ τῆς λεγομένης Ζαπέτρας ἀπέστειλεν ἐπιλέκτων πολεμιστῶν, οι σπουδῇ τὰ στενὰ τῆς ὁδοῦ διελθόντες αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει προσπίπτουσι, καὶ ταύτην ἐξ ἐφόδου λαμβάνουσι, καὶ πολλοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ κατασφάττουσιν, αἰχμαλωσίαν τε πολλὴν καὶ λείαν λαμβάνουσι, καὶ δεσμίους χρονίους ἐξάγουσι τῆς φρουρᾶς. ειτα τὰς