100

the army of the Romans, not waiting for the general nor the trumpets, nor keeping their formation, but making a great noise and urging one another on, ran upon the enemy's camp. There both Rufinus and Leontius showed deeds against the enemy worthy of valor. Immediately the barbarians went into flight, wherever each was able. And Iaudas, having been struck in the thigh with a javelin, both escaped and withdrew to the Mauritanians. But the Romans, having plundered the enemy's camp, no longer left Mount Aurasion, but having built forts, they guard it. And there was a certain very steep rock, on which the Maurusians, having built a tower, made this a strong refuge, both strong and most impregnable. There Iaudas happened to have deposited both his treasures and his women, and to have appointed one old man as a guard for the treasures. For he would never have suspected that the enemy would arrive at this tower, nor that they would be able to take it by force. But the Romans, searching the rough places of Aurasion, came there; and one of them attempted with laughter to climb up to the tower. But the women were laughing at him along with the old man. But the Roman, when climbing with hands and feet he had come somewhere near, drawing his sword leaped up, and hitting the old man on the neck, he cut off his head. And the soldiers, now taking courage and holding on to one another, were climbing up to the tower, and having taken the women and the treasures, which were great, they brought them to Solomon. And Solomon surrounded the cities in Libya with walls, and when the Maurusians withdrew from Numidia, having been defeated, he made both the country of Zabe and Mauritania and the metropolis of Itiphis tributary to the Romans. For Caesarea is the first metropolis of the other Mauritania. And this Belisarius had previously subjugated. For this reason all the Libyans have become subjects of the Romans, having obtained a secure peace. And having had this peace for a period of four years, in the 17th year of Justinian, both Cyrus and Sergius, the sons of Bacchus, Solomon's208 brother, were sent by the emperor to rule in Libya, Cyrus of Pentapolis, and Sergius of Tripolis. And the Maurusians sent their elders to the city of Leptimagna to Sergius, in order that they might both bring him gifts and ratify the peace. But Sergius, being persuaded by Pudentius, a man of Tripolis, received eighty of the most distinguished of the barbarians in the city, promising to fulfill all their requests, and ratified the peace with oaths; but the rest he drove outside into a suburb. And these, having invited them to breakfast, he killed them all. But one of them, having leaped out secretly, reported to his countrymen what had happened. And they, having heard these things, went at a run to their own camp and with all the others came against the Romans. And Sergius with Pudentius met them, and battle having been joined, Pudentius, having lost many men, died, but Sergius, having fallen into unspeakable fear, sailed to Carthage to Solomon, his uncle. And the Maurusians abandoned all of Tripolis. And the barbarians, having plundered all the places there and having enslaved a multitude of Romans, went to Pentapolis. And Cyrus, having learned this, sailed down to Carthage as a fugitive. And the barbarians, with no one resisting them, having taken the city of Beronice, marched on Carthage, and having arrived in Byzacium, they plundered very many of the places there in a raid. But Antalas, having an enmity toward Solomon because he had killed his brother, united with the barbarians and led them against Carthage and Solomon. And Solomon, having heard these things, taking the army, set out against them. And having come to the city of Beste, which was a six days' journey from Carthage, he encamped in it, and with him were Cyrus and Sergius and Solomon the younger, the sons of Bacchus. But seeing the multitude of the

100

τῶν Ῥωμαίων στρατιά, οὐδὲ τὸν στρατηγὸν ἀναμείναντες οὐδὲ τὰς σάλπιγγας, οὐδὲ τὴν τάξιν φυλάξαντες, ἀλλὰ πατάγῳ τε πολλῷ χρώμενοι καὶ ἀλλήλους ἐγκελευόμενοι ἔθεον ἐπὶ τὸ τῶν πολεμίων στρατόπεδον. ἐνταῦθα Ῥουφῖνός τε καὶ Λεόντιος ἔργα ἐπεδείξαντο εἰς τοὺς πολεμίους ἀρετῆς ἄξια. αὐτίκα οἱ βάρβαροι εἰς φυγὴν ὅπου ἕκαστος ἠδύνατο ᾔεσαν. Ἰαύδας δὲ πληγεὶς ἀκοντίῳ τὸν μηρὸν διέφυγέ τε καὶ εἰς Μαυριτάνους ἀπεχώρησεν. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι διαρπάσαντες τὸ τῶν πολεμίων στρατόπεδον οὐκέτι τὸ Αὐράσιον ὄρος κατέλιπον, ἀλλὰ φρούρια οἰκοδομησάμενοι τοῦτο φυλάττουσιν. ἦν δέ τις πέτρα ἀπότομος πάνυ, ἐν ᾗ πύργον οἰκοδομήσαντες οἱ Μαυρούσιοι ὀχυρὰν ταύτην ἐποίησαν καταφυγήν, ἰσχυράν τε καὶ ἀμαχωτάτην. ἐνταῦθα ἐτύγχανεν Ἰαύδας τά τε χρήματα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἀποθέμενος καὶ ἕνα φύλακα γέροντα τῶν χρημάτων καταστησάμενος. οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ὑπετόπησε τοὺς πολεμίους εἰς τόνδε τὸν πύργον ἀφίξεσθαι, οὐδὲ βίᾳ τοῦτον ἑλεῖν δύνασθαι. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰς τοῦ Αὐρασίου δυσχωρίας διερευνώμενοι ἐνταῦθα ἧκον· καὶ αὐτῶν τις ἀναβαίνειν εἰς τὸν πύργον σὺν γέλωτι ἐνεχείρησεν. αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες τοῦτον κατεγέλων σὺν τῷ πρεσβύτῃ. ὁ δὲ Ῥωμαῖος, ἐπειδὴ χερσὶ καὶ ποσὶν ἀναβαίνων ἐγγύς που ἐγεγόνει, σπασάμενος τὸ ξίφος ἐξήλατο καὶ τοῦ γέροντος εἰς τὸν αὐχένα ἐπιτυχὼν τούτου τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐξέτεμεν. οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται θαρροῦντες ἤδη καὶ ἀλλήλων ἐχόμενοι εἰς τὸν πύργον ἀνέβαινον καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας τά τε χρήματα μεγάλα ὄντα λαβόντες πρὸς Σολόμωνα ἤγαγον. ὁ δὲ Σολόμων τείχη ταῖς ἐν Λιβύῃ πόλεσι περιέβαλεν, καὶ ἐπεὶ Μαυρούσιοι ἀνεχώρησαν ἐκ Νουμιδίας νικηθέντες, Ζάβην τε τὴν χώραν καὶ Μαυριτανίαν καὶ Ἴτιφιν τὴν μητρόπολιν ὑπόφορον Ῥωμαίοις πεποίηκεν. τῆς γὰρ ἑτέρας Μαυριτανίας Καισάρεια ἡ πρώτη μητρόπολις ὑπάρχει. ταύτην δὲ Βελισάριος τὸ πρότερον καθυπέταξεν. διὰ τοῦτο Λίβυες ἅπαντες ὑπήκοοι Ῥωμαίων γεγόνασιν εἰρήνης ἀσφαλοῦς τυχόντες. τετραετίαν δὲ ποιήσαντες ταύτῃ τῇ εἰρήνῃ, ἐν τῷ ιζʹ ἔτει Ἰουστινιανοῦ, Κῦρός τε καὶ Σέργιος, οἱ Βάκχου, τοῦ Σολό208 μωνος ἀδελφοῦ, παῖδες, ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπεστάλησαν ἄρχειν ἐν Λιβύῃ, Πενταπόλεως μὲν Κῦρος, Τριπόλεως δὲ Σέργιος. οἱ δὲ Μαυρούσιοι τοὺς αὑτῶν πρεσβυτέρους εἰς Λεπτιμάγναν τὴν πόλιν ἔπεμψαν πρὸς Σέργιον, ὅπως δῶρά τε αὐτῷ προσαγάγωσι καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην κρατύνωσιν. Σέργιος δὲ Πουδεντίῳ πεισθείς, ἀνδρὶ Τριπολίτῃ, ὀγδοήκοντα μὲν τῶν βαρβάρων τοὺς δοκιμωτέρους ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐδέξατο πάντα ἐπιτελεῖν τὰ αἰτούμενα ὑπισχνούμενος, καὶ ὅρκοις τὴν εἰρήνην ἐκράτυνεν· τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἔξω ἐν προαστείῳ ἤλασεν. τούτους δὲ ἐπ' ἄριστον καλέσας ἅπαντας ἔκτεινεν. εἷς δὲ τούτων λάθρα ἐκπηδήσας τοῖς ὁμοφύλοις τὰ γενόμενα ἐμήνυσεν. οἱ δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες δρόμῳ ἐπὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον στρατόπεδον ᾔεσαν καὶ σὺν πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίους ἐγένοντο. ὁ δὲ Σέργιος σὺν τῷ Πουδεντίῳ τούτοις ἀπήντησεν, καὶ μάχης κροτηθείσης, Πουδέντιος μὲν πολλοὺς ἀποβαλὼν θνήσκει, Σέργιος δὲ εἰς ἄφατον φόβον ἐμπεπτωκὼς ἐπὶ Καρχηδόνα ἔπλευσε πρὸς Σολόμωνα, τὸν αὐτοῦ θεῖον. πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Τρίπολιν Μαυρούσιοι ἀπέλιπον. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι ἅπαντα ληϊσάμενοι τὰ ἐκεῖ χωρία ἐξανδραποδίσαντές τε πλῆθος Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ Πεντάπολιν ᾔεσαν. ὁ δὲ Κῦρος γνοὺς φυγὰς εἰς Καρχηδόνα κατέπλει. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι, μηδενὸς ἀντιστάντος αὐτοῖς, Βερονίκην τὴν πόλιν ἑλόντες ἐπὶ Καρχηδόνα ἐστράτευσαν, καὶ εἰς τὸ Βυζάκιον ἀφικόμενοι πλεῖστα ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς τῶν ἐκεῖ ἐληΐσαντο χωρία. Ἀντάλας δὲ ἔχθραν ἔχων πρὸς Σολόμωνα, διότι τὸν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὸν ἔκτεινεν, τοῖς βαρβάροις ἑνοῦται καὶ κατὰ Καρχηδόνος καὶ Σολόμωνος τούτους ὡδήγησεν. Σολόμων δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας, παραλαβὼν τὸ στράτευμα κατ' αὐτῶν ὥρμησεν. ἐλθὼν δὲ εἰς Βέστην τὴν πόλιν ἓξ ἡμερῶν Καρχηδόνος ὁδὸν ἀπέχουσαν ἐν αὐτῇ ἐστρατοπεδεύσατο, ἦσάν τε σὺν αὐτῷ Κῦρος καὶ Σέργιος καὶ Σολόμων ὁ νέος, οἱ τοῦ Βάκχου παῖδες. ἰδὼν δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν