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They all encamped at the Phasis, and from there, going about in small groups, they plundered the places in that region. 2.30.35 When Gubazes learned of this, he sent word to Dagisthaeus to bring help there with speed; for it would be possible for the enemy to do them some great harm. 2.30.36 And he did accordingly, and with the whole Roman army he went forward, keeping the Phasis river on his left, until he came to a place where the Lazi were encamped on the other bank of the river. 2.30.37 Now it happened that the Phasis was fordable at this point, a thing which the Romans and Persians, through their ignorance of the places there, least suspected, but the Lazi, knowing it well, crossed there suddenly and mingled with the Roman army; but the Persians chose a thousand of their proven men and sent them, so that no one should go to harm the camp. 2.30.38 Two of these who had gone ahead to reconnoiter, and had unexpectedly fallen in with the enemy, reported the whole story. 2.30.39 Therefore the Romans and Lazi suddenly fell upon the thousand, 2.30.39 and not one of them was able to escape, but the majority were destroyed, and taking some of them alive, the forces of Gubazes and Dagisthaeus were able to learn both the size of the Median army and the length of the road, and how their present circumstances were. 2.30.40 So, setting out with the whole army, they went against them, calculating how to fall upon them late in the night; 2.30.41 and they were fourteen thousand. So the Persians, having nothing hostile in mind, were sleeping a very long sleep; for they thought the river was uncrossable and that the thousand men, since no one had opposed them, 2.30.42 were proceeding on a very long road. But the Romans and Lazi, falling upon them unexpectedly at deep dawn, found some still taken with sleep, and others just awakened from sleep and lying naked on their 2.30.43 beds. Therefore it befell none of them to turn to resistance, but most were overtaken and killed, and the enemy took some alive, among whom one of the commanders happened to be, and a few, 2.30.44 escaping in the darkness, were saved. The Romans and Lazi captured the camp and all the standards, and plundered many arms and great sums of money, 2.30.45 and a great number of horses and mules. And making the pursuit for a very long way, they came far into Iberia. There, indeed, encountering some other Persians, 2.30.46 they killed many. Thus the Persians departed from Lazica, and the Romans and Lazi, finding there other provisions and abundant flour, burned everything which the barbarians had brought from Iberia, 2.30.47 so that they might be brought into Petra. And they left many of the Lazi in the narrow pass, so that it would no longer be possible for provisions to be brought into Petra for the Persians, and they returned with the rest of the booty and the prisoners. 2.30.48 And the fourth year of the truce of the Romans with the Persians came to an end, it being the twenty-third year that the Emperor Justinian held the imperial power. 2.30.49 But John the Cappadocian, having been summoned by the emperor, had come to Byzantium a year before. For at that time the final day of life had come upon the Empress Theodora. 2.30.50 However, he was able to recover none of his former dignities, but remained a priest with that unwilling honour; and yet an apparition had often come to the man that he would arrive at the imperial power. 2.30.51 For the demonic power, which is by nature disposed to trifle with men, is accustomed to keep suspended by greater and loftier hopes those whose minds happen not to be established on a firm foundation. 2.30.52 And indeed to this John prophetic visions always foretold many other things, and that he must put on the attire of Augustus. 2.30.53 Now there was a certain priest in Byzantium, Augustus by name, who had charge of the treasures of the church of Sophia. 2.30.54 When, therefore, John, having had his head shorn, was forcibly invested with the priesthood, since he had no clothing befitting a priest, he was forced to put on the chasuble and tunic of this Augustus, who was somewhere nearby, by

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Φᾶσιν ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο ἅπαντες, ἔνθεν τε κατ' ὀλίγους περιιόντες ἐληί2.30.35 ζοντο τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία. ὧν δὴ ὁ Γουβάζης αἰσθόμενος τῷ ∆αγισθαίῳ ἐπέστελλε βοηθεῖν ἐνταῦθα σπουδῇ· δράσειν γὰρ σφίσι τοὺς πολεμίους κακόν τι 2.30.36 μέγα δυνατὰ ἔσεσθαι. ὁ δὲ κατὰ ταῦτα ἐποίει, παντί τε τῷ Ῥωμαίων στρατῷ ἐπίπροσθεν ᾔει, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ἔχων ποταμὸν Φᾶσιν, ἕως ἐς χῶρον ἀφίκετο ἵνα δὴ οἱ Λαζοὶ ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο ἐν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τοῦ ποταμοῦ 2.30.37 ὄχθῃ. ἐτύγχανε δὲ ταύτῃ ὁ Φᾶσις διαβατὸς ὢν, ὅπερ Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν καὶ Πέρσαι ἀπειρίᾳ τῶν ἐκείνῃ χωρίων ὡς ἥκιστα ὑπετόπαζον, Λαζοὶ μέντοι ἐξεπιστάμενοι ἐνταῦθα διέβησαν ἐξαπιναίως καὶ ἀνεμίγνυντο τῷ Ῥωμαίων στρατῷ· Πέρσαι δὲ ἄνδρας χιλίους τῶν ἐν σφίσι δοκίμων ἀπολεξάμενοι ἔπεμψαν, ὡς μή τις ἐπὶ 2.30.38 τὸ στρατόπεδον κακουργήσων ἴοι. ὧνπερ δύο ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ προτερήσαντες καὶ παρὰ δόξαν ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐμπεπτωκότες τὸν πάντα λόγον ἐσήγγειλαν. 2.30.39 διὸ δὴ Ῥωμαῖοί τε καὶ Λαζοὶ τοῖς χιλίοις ἐξαπιναίως 2.30.39 ἐπέστησαν, οὐδείς τε αὐτῶν διαφυγεῖν ἔσχεν, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ διεφθάρησαν, τινὰς δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ ζωγρήσαντες οἵ τε ἀμφὶ Γουβάζην καὶ ∆αγισθαῖον τό τε μέτρον τοῦ Μήδων στρατοῦ καὶ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ μῆκος μαθεῖν ἴσχυσαν, καὶ ὅπη ποτὲ αὐτοῖς τὰ παρόντα 2.30.40 ἔχοι. ἄραντες οὖν παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ᾔεσαν, διαριθμούμενοι ὅπως πόρρω που τῶν νυκτῶν ἐπιπέσοιεν 2.30.41 σφίσι· τετρακισχίλιοι δὲ καὶ μύριοι ἦσαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Πέρσαι πολέμιον οὐδὲν ἐν νῷ ἔχοντες μακρόν τινα ὕπνον ἐκάθευδον· τόν τε γὰρ ποταμὸν ἀπόρευτον ᾤοντο εἶναι καὶ τοὺς χιλίους, οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ὑπαντιά2.30.42 σαντος, ἐπὶ μακρότατόν πη ὁδῷ ἰέναι. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ Λαζοὶ ὄρθρου βαθέος ἀπροσδόκητοι ἐπιπεσόντες τοὺς μὲν ἔτι ὕπνον αἱρουμένους εὗρον, τοὺς δὲ ἄρτι ἐξ ὕπνου ἐγηγερμένους καὶ γυμνοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν 2.30.43 στρωμάτων κειμένους. διὸ δὴ αὐτῶν οὐδενὶ ἐς ἀλκὴν ἰδεῖν ξυνηνέχθη, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι καταλαμβανόμενοι ἔθνησκον, τινὰς δὲ καὶ ἐζώγρησαν οἱ πολέμιοι, ἐν τοῖς καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἕνα τετύχηκεν εἶναι, ὀλίγοι 2.30.44 δέ τινες ἐν σκότῳ διαφεύγοντες ἐσώθησαν. τό τε στρατόπεδον Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ Λαζοὶ αἱροῦσι καὶ τὰ σημεῖα πάντα, ὅπλα τε πολλὰ καὶ χρήματα μεγάλα ἐληί2.30.45 σαντο, καὶ ἵππων τε καὶ ἡμιόνων μέγα τι χρῆμα. ἐπὶ μακρότατον δὲ τὴν δίωξιν ποιησάμενοι καὶ Ἰβηρίας πόρρω ἀφίκοντο. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ Περσῶν 2.30.46 ἐντυχόντες πολλοὺς ἔκτειναν. οὕτω μὲν ἐκ Λαζικῆς Πέρσαι ἀπήλλαξαν, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ καὶ Λαζοὶ τά τε ἄλλα ἐπιτήδεια καὶ ἄλευρα παμπληθῆ ἐνταῦθα εὑρόντες ἅπαντα ἔκαυσαν ἅπερ ἐξ Ἰβηρίας οἱ βάρβαροι ἐπηγά2.30.47 γοντο, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐς Πέτραν ἐσκομίσονται. Λαζῶν τε πολλοὺς ἐλίποντο ἐν τῷ στενωπῷ, ὡς μηκέτι Πέρσαις ἐς Πέτραν τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἐσκομίζεσθαι δυνατὰ εἴη, ξύν τε τῇ ἄλλῃ λείᾳ καὶ τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις ἀνέστρεφον. 2.30.48 καὶ τέταρτον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα Ῥωμαίοις τῆς ἐς Πέρσας ἐκεχειρίας, τρίτον καὶ εἰκοστὸν ἔτος Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλέως τὴν αὐτοκράτορα ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος. 2.30.49 Ἰωάννης δὲ ὁ Καππαδόκης ἐνιαυτῷ πρότερον βασιλεῖ ἐς Βυζάντιον μετάπεμπτος ἦλθε. τηνικάδε γὰρ Θεοδώρᾳ τῇ βασιλίδι ἐπεγένετο ἡ τέλειος ἡμέρα τοῦ 2.30.50 βίου. τῶν μέντοι πρόσθεν ἀξιωμάτων ἀνασώσασθαι οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἔσχεν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκουσίου τιμῆς ἱερεὺς ἔμεινε· καίτοι φάντασμα τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐγεγόνει πολλά2.30.51 κις ὡς εἰς βασιλείαν ἀφίξεται. φιλεῖ γὰρ τὸ δαιμόνιον, ὅπερ ἐς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὡραΐζεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἀπὸ μειζόνων τε καὶ ὑψηλοτέρων ἐλπίδων κρεμᾶν οἷς δὴ οὐκ ἐπὶ στερρᾶς φύσεως τὴν διάνοιαν ἑστάναι 2.30.52 ξυμβαίνει. καὶ τούτῳ γοῦν τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ἄλλας τε πολλὰς τερατολόγοι φαντάσεις ἐς ἀεὶ προὔλεγον καὶ ὡς χρῆν αὐτὸν τὸ τοῦ Αὐγούστου ἀμπίσχεσθαι σχῆμα. 2.30.53 ἦν δέ τις ἱερεὺς ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, Αὔγουστος ὄνομα, ὃς δὴ τῶν κειμηλίων τοῦ τῆς Σοφίας ἱεροῦ φυλακὴν 2.30.54 εἶχεν. ἡνίκα τοίνυν Ἰωάννης ἀποθριξάμενος τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἠξίωτο βίᾳ, οὐ γὰρ ἦν αὐτῷ ἐσθὴς ἱερεῖ πρέπουσα, τούτου δὴ τοῦ Αὐγούστου, ἐγγύς πη ὄντος, τόν τε φαινόλην καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα ἐνδιδύσκεσθαι πρὸς