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the resignation he did not even want to unroll out of reverence but to give to the fire, since he had also done these things at other times. But when it was read out and he heard the patriarch saying that he would swear an oath, he was in the greatest anxiety, and he was considering what the high priests would declare concerning these things. Therefore, the present evils threatening the Roman state did not allow for both demonstrating and examining at the same time. For each day the 344 terrible things were reported, not in one part but flowing together from everywhere and in every way, not only by land but now also by sea. For previously, pirates, having seized the island of Tenedos, held it as their own, and used it as a base of operations, and sailing up from there and committing many terrible deeds, they would land on it again upon returning. But then, when those others had departed, even voluntarily, out of fear, the Persian force, as much as was further inland, having built ships, fell upon the Cyclades and did them harm, and attacking now Chios, now Samos and Karpathos and Rhodes itself and with them many other not-a-few islands with their ships, they rendered the hitherto inhabited places almost uninhabited. But it was not at all possible even for those on the land and the continent to get a breath from their toils, not even for a short while; for just as if like a savage fire, they were consuming the interior, and each day new calamities were reported and pulled the emperor towards them, and other cares replaced the cares that were incomplete. Therefore, to investigate the patriarch's affairs was difficult on the spot, and the time did not permit it; but for the time being he sought a suitable and fitting time. 345

30. From here, since those at the gates and nearer were suffering more greatly (these were the regions from Nicomedia and up to the Thracian strait) and since it was not possible to pursue the battles with war and by attacking openly, he decided to handle the matters concerning the enemies in another way. And Koutzimpaxis the Tochar, who had formerly been a familiar of Nogai, but revered the Persian ways and was foremost among the magi around him, and later, after Nogai had perished, while making the voyage from there to the Persians in the east with his wife and children, he fell among the Romans around Pontic Heraclea due to contrary winds, and having called upon the emperor he is saved and chooses the Christian faith and is baptized with his whole household, and from then on was a familiar of the emperor. At that time, therefore, the emperor, trying to devise something secret and prudent, allows this man to form a marriage alliance with Solymampaxis over his daughter, who was indeed the leader of the nearby enemies, and along with the marriage alliance proceeding, he also appoints him leader of the region around Nicomedia, in order that some benefit might come to the Roman state out of love and kinship, even though the plan did not help to that extent. For he was making the marriage alliances for his own advantage, and he set out with 346 firm hopes, if indeed by coming together through kinship, and the same also with respect to their territories, the one, serving the emperor, would provide for the Romans, while the other, respecting the marriage alliance and the treaties, would check his attacks. But they, the one bringing about peace and the other making a truce, nevertheless did not achieve what was advantageous for the borderlands. Rather, therefore, because of these things they both incurred blame, the one for treaty-breaking against the emperor, the other for ill-will towards the Romans. For the evil came around from another direction; and this was from Amoures, another Persian general, who, by frequently raiding Mesothinia, blunted the favor of Solymampaxis as being of no benefit. For fighting in factions and individually one by one was entirely due to the fact that there was not one single ruler. For which reason the correction of the ensuing events was considered difficult for the emperor and almost impossible, with one setting out from here and another from there, and differing in their opinions, and each leading a people that was led only so far as there would be profit for them from warring, and if the 347 leaders did not wish to make war, the people sought others who would lead them, under whose command they might themselves profit by fighting. This circumstance also made the benefit of the truce with Solymampaxis useless for the Romans, since those who had been commanded by him for a time joined with others, and the same things

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τὴν πα ραίτησιν οὐδ' ἤθελεν ἀναπτύσσειν ἐξ εὐλαβείας ἀλλὰ πυρὶ διδό ναι, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἄλλοτε ταῦτ' ἔπραττεν. ἐπεὶ δ' ἀναγνωσθέντος τὸν πατριάρχην ἤκουε λέγοντα ὡς ὀμόσοι, ἐν φροντίδι μεγίστῃ ἦν, καὶ ὅ τι περὶ τούτων ἀρχιερεῖς ἀποφήναιντο διεσκόπει. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἅμα δεικνύναι καὶ ἐξετάζειν ἐφιέναι τὰ ἐφεστῶτα τῇ Ῥω μαΐδι κακὰ οὐ παρεῖχεν. ἡμέρας γὰρ ἑκάστης ἠγγέλλοντο τὰ 344 δεινά, καὶ οὐ καθ' ἕν τι μέρος ἀλλὰ πανταχόθεν καὶ πανταχῇ συρρέοντα, οὐ κατὰ γῆν μόνον ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν. πρότερον μὲν γὰρ πειραταὶ καταλαβόντες Τένεδον νῆσον ὡς ἰδίαν εἶχον, καὶ ὁρμητηρίῳ ἐχρῶντο, κἀκεῖθεν ἀναπλέοντες καὶ πόλλ' ἄττα τῶν δεινῶν πράττοντες ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ αὖθις προσώκελλον ὑποστρέφοντες. τότε δ' ἀλλ' ἐκείνων καὶ ἑκόντων κατὰ φόβον ἀπαλλαξάντων, τὸ Περσικὸν ὅσον ἦν ἐνδοτέρω ναυπηγησάμενον ταῖς Κυκλάσιν ἐπέχραον καὶ κακῶς ἐποίουν, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν Χίῳ τοῦτο δὲ Σάμῳ καὶ Καρπάθῳ καὶ αὐτῇ Ῥόδῳ καὶ πολλαῖς σὺν αὐταῖς ἑτέραις οὐκ ὀλίγαις προσβάλλοντες ταῖς ναυσὶ τὰς τέως ἐνῳκισμένας σχεδὸν ἀοικήτους εἰργάζοντο. οὐκ ἦν δ' ὅλως οὐ δὲ τοῖς ἐν τῇ γῇ τε καὶ ἠπειρώταις ἀναπνέειν τῶν μόχθων οὐδ' ἐς βραχύ· ὅσον γὰρ ὅσον καὶ δίκην ἀγρίου πυρός, τὰ ἐντὸς κα τεβόσκοντο, καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν νέαι δύαι ἠγγέλλοντο καὶ βασιλέα πρὸς ἑαυτὰς ἀντέσπων, καὶ ἀτελεῖς μετήλλαττον τὰς φροντίδας φροντίδες ἕτεραι. τὸ μὲν οὖν τὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου ζητεῖν αὐτό θεν δυσχερὲς ἦν, καὶ ὁ καιρὸς οὐκ ἐνεδίδου· τέως δὲ καιρὸν ἐζήτει τὸν εὔθετον καὶ ἁρμόδιον. 345

30. Ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τῶν κατὰ θύρας καὶ ἐγγυτέρω ἐπὶ πλέον κακουμένων (τὰ δ' ἦσαν τὰ ἐκ Νικομηδείας καὶ μέχρι πορ θμοῦ Θρᾳκικοῦ) ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἦν μετελθεῖν πολέμῳ τὰς μάχας καὶ τῷ φανερῷ προσβάλλοντας, ἄλλως ἔγνω μεταχειριεῖσθαι τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἐχθρούς. καὶ τὸν Κουξίμπαξιν Τόχαρον, ὃς Νογᾷ μὲν ᾠκείωτο πάλαι, τὰ Περσῶν δ' ἔσεβε καὶ τῶν περὶ ἐκεῖνον Μά γων τὰ κράτιστα ἦν, ὕστερον δ' ἐκείνου ἀπολωλότος τῷ ἐκεῖθεν πλῷ πρὸς τοὺς κατ' ἀνατολὴν Πέρσας χρώμενος ὅσα γυναικὶ καὶ παισὶν ἐξ ἀντιπνοίας περιπίπτει τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ποντικὴν Ἡρά κλειαν Ῥωμαίοις, καὶ βασιλέα ἐπικαλεσάμενος σώζεταί τε καὶ τὰ Χριστιανῶν αἱρεῖται καὶ πανοικὶ βαπτίζεται, κἀντεῦθεν ᾠκείωτο βασιλεῖ. τότε τοίνυν βασιλεὺς κρυπτόν τι καὶ συνετὸν πειρώμε νος ἐννοεῖν, κηδεύειν τοῦτον ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ τὸν Σολυμάμπαξιν ἐγ χωρεῖ, ὃς δὴ καὶ τῶν πλησίον ἐχθρῶν ἡγεμόνευε, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ τὸ κῆδος προβῆναι καὶ αὐτὸν ἡγεμόνα τῶν κατὰ τὴν Νικομήδειαν καθιστᾷ, ἐφ' ᾧπερ ἐξ ἀγάπης καὶ συγγενείας ὄνησίς τις τοῖς Ῥωμαίων πράγμασι γίνοιτο, κἂν οὐδὲν ἐς τόσον ἡ ἐπίνοια ὤνη σεν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἐπιγαμίας πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον ἐποίει, καὶ ἐπὶ 346 βεβαίαις ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ὥρμει, εἴγε κατὰ συγγένειαν συνεγγίζοντες, ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς τόποις, ὁ μὲν βασιλεῖ δουλεύων προ νοοῖτο Ῥωμαίων, ὁ δὲ τὸ κῆδος καὶ τὰς συνθεσίας αἰδούμενος ἀνακόπτοιτο τὰς ὁρμάς. οἱ δέ, ὁ μὲν εἰς εἰρήνην ἐνάγων ὁ δὲ σπενδόμενος, ὅμως τὸ τῶν προσχώρων συμφέρον οὐκ ἤνυτον. μᾶλλον μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα αἰτίαν καὶ ἀμφότεροι ἀπηνέγκαντο, ὁ μὲν παρασπονδήσεως τῆς πρὸς βασιλέα, ὁ δὲ δυσνοίας τῆς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους. περιέρχεται γὰρ ἄλλοθεν τὸ κακόν· τὸ δ' ἦν τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀμούρη, ἄλλου Περσῶν στρατηγοῦ, ὃς καὶ καταθέων Μεσοθινίας συχνάκις τὴν Σολυμάμπαξι χάριν ὡς οὐδὲν ὀνοῦσαν ἀπήμβλυνε. τὸ γὰρ κατὰ συστάσεις καὶ ἰδίως καθ' ἕνα μάχε σθαι ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ἕνα εἶναι τὸν κυριεύοντα ἦν πάντως. παρ' ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ δυσχερὴς τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ σχεδὸν ἀδύνατος ἡ τῶν ἐπι συμβαινόντων διόρθωσις ἐνομίζετο, τοῦ μὲν ἔνθεν τοῦ δ' ἐκεῖ θεν ὁρμώντων, καὶ κατὰ γνώμας διαφερόντων, καὶ λαὸν ἀγόν των ἑκάστου ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀγόμενον ἐφ' ὅσον καὶ τὸ κερδαίνειν σφίσιν ἐκ τοῦ πολεμεῖν ἔσοιτο, εἰ δὲ μὴ θέλοιεν πολεμεῖν οἱ προ 347 άγοντες, ἑτέρους ζητοῦντα τοὺς ἄξοντας, ὧν καὶ μαχομένων αὐτοὶ κερδαίνοιεν πολεμοῦντες. τοῦτο συμβεβηκὸς καὶ τῷ Σολυ μάμπαξι ἀχρείαν ἐποίει Ῥωμαίοις τὴν τῆς ἀνακωχῆς χάριν, τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῷ στρατηγουμένων τέως ἑτέροις συνιόντων, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ