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And that Semas, the son of Tael, who occupied the difficult terrain of the Taurus and from raids devastated the Roman frontiers, fled for refuge to the emperor. 47 If we narrate such great matters briefly and plainly, as if in a cursory manner, let no one be surprised, nor indeed complain. For the narrative seems to imitate the swiftness of those actions, and for this reason it is so simple and summary; for those things were then captured more quickly and the actions reached their conclusion than they are now narrated. And besides, since much time has now flowed by in the interim and has obscured, as it were, the details of the deeds through the intervening silence, and since we are not able 280 to know and to narrate the methods of battle formations nor the approaches for assaults nor the extensions and contractions of phalanxes nor the opportune uses of stratagems, it is not possible to linger on the details and, as it were, to dwell upon them, from which the narrative is expanded. But as for things that have unattested credibility, even if they are often said, we do not wish to accept them without examination, so as not to seem to attribute to the emperor a fabricated narrative of things that did not happen, especially since he, when still alive, did not seem to accept words that run fawningly towards flattery. But we who are not able or do not have the leisure to commit to writing even the things agreed upon by all, would hardly lengthen our account on doubtful matters. But let it be checked and let the account run back to the path of the original narrative. 48 After these things, then, having crossed the river called the Onopniktes and the Sarus, the emperor with his army came to Koukousos, and having set fire to the thickets there and having made the impassable passable by cutting down the trees, he took control of the thickets in these places. And having arrived at Kallipolis and Padasia, then traveling through difficult roads, dismounting from his horse, he went through the narrow parts of the road on foot, encouraging the weakness of those under his command through his own labor. And at that time, having attacked Germanikeia, since all the resistance immediately retreated and was shut up within the walls, and no one of the enemy dared to come to blows, having given over to fire everything around it and having shown the splendors before the city 281 as a plain of destruction, he arrived at Adata. And since the people of that city did not dare to fight in the open, but were driven within the walls and had decided to withstand the siege, he himself, having plundered the area before the city, and having sacked the neighboring town, which they called Geron, and allowed it to be plundered, and having made the soldiers more eager to toil from the spoils, attacks the walls themselves, and he had used engines for the siege, and he was not of small hope of taking the city by storm because of the weight of the force around him. But seeing those inside bearing the assaults fearlessly, and not being disturbed at the almost manifest destruction of their homeland, he inquired in what they were trusting that they seemed to be making little account of him. And indeed having heard from one of the locals that they happened to have received full assurance from one of their pious men, who knew either from some diviner knowledge or from a scientific method, that it was fated for such a city to be captured not by you, who are now besieging them, but by a certain other of your relatives by birth, called Constantine; and for this reason they were not dismayed by the assaults. And when he showed them his son and informed them that he was so called, and said that not even their oracle would fail in any way in the city being captured now, the interpreter did not so much say that that Constantine was the one 282 who was going to make their city desolate, but some other one of your descendants after a long time. at which he, becoming as it were enraged, and wishing to refute by deed an otherwise empty saying

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καὶ Σήμας ἐκεῖνος ὁ τοῦ Ταήλ, τὰς δυσχωρίας κατέχων τοῦ Ταύρου καὶ ἐξ ἐφόδου τὰς τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων λυμαινόμενος ἐσχατιάς, πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα κατέφυγεν. 47 Εἰ δὲ συντόμως καὶ ψιλῶς τὰ ουτω μεγάλα οἱονεὶ κατ' ἐπιδρομὴν ἀπαγγέλλομεν, μηδεὶς θαυμαζέτω, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἐγκα- λείτω. αμα γὰρ τὴν ταχύτητα τῶν πράξεων ἐκείνων μιμεῖσθαι ἡ διήγησις εοικεν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ουτως ἐστὶν ἁπλῆ τε καὶ ἐπιτρέ- χουσα· θᾶττον γὰρ ᾑρέθη τότε ἐκεῖνα καὶ τῶν πράξεων ελαβε τὴν συντέλειαν η νῦν ἀπήγγελται. αλλως τε καὶ ἐπεὶ ὁ χρόνος ηδη ῥεύσας διὰ μέσου πολὺς τὰ καθ' εκαστα τῶν εργων διὰ τῆς μετα- ξὺ σιγῆς οιον ἠμαύρωσε, καὶ ουτε παρατάξεων τρόπους ουτε προσβολῶν ἐφόδους ουτε φαλάγγων ἐκτάσεις καὶ συστολὰς ουτε στρατηγημάτων ἐπικαίρους χρήσεις εἰδέναι καὶ ἀπαγγέλλειν εχο- 280 μεν, οὐκ εστι περὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐγχρονίζειν καὶ οιον ἐμφιλοχω- ρεῖν, ἐξ ων πλατύνεται τὸ διήγημα. τὰ δὲ ἀμάρτυρον εχοντα τὴν πίστιν, εἰ καὶ λέγεται πολλάκις, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἀβασανίστως προσδέχεσθαι οὐ βουλόμεθα διὰ τὸ μὴ δόξαι πεπλασμένην μὴ γεγονότων πραγμάτων διήγησιν ἀνατιθέναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, μάλιστα οτι οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνος ετι ζῶν τὰ πρὸς χάριν θωπευτικῶς ὑποτρέχοντα ῥήματα ἐφαίνετο προσιέμενος. οἱ δὲ μηδὲ τὰ παρὰ πάντων ὁμο- λογούμενα δυνάμενοι η σχολάζοντες παραδοῦναι γραφῇ σχολῇ γε αν περὶ τὰ ἀμφίβολα τὸν λόγον ἀπομηκύνοιμεν. ἀλλ' ἀνακρουέ- σθω καὶ καθ' ὁδὸν τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς διηγήσεως ὁ λόγος ἀνατρεχέτω. 48 Μετὰ ταῦτα τοίνυν τὸν ̓Ονοπνίκτην λεγόμενον ποτα- μὸν καὶ τὸν Σαρὸν διαπεράσας ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ τοῦ στρατεύματος ηλθε πρὸς Κουκουσόν, καὶ τὰς ἐκεῖσε λόχμας ἐμπρήσας καὶ τὴν αβατον τῇ τῶν δένδρων ἐκτομῇ βατὴν πεποιηκὼς τῶν ἐν ταύταις λόχων ἐκράτησε. πρὸς δὲ τὴν Καλλίπολιν καὶ Παδασίαν φθά- σας, ειτα διὰ δυσβάτων ὁδεύων ὁδῶν, τοῦ ιππου ἀποβὰς πεζὸς διεξῄει τὰ στενὰ τῆς ὁδοῦ, διὰ τοῦ οἰκείου κόπου τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρα παραμυθούμενος. τηνικαῦτα δὲ τῇ Γερμανικείᾳ προσ- βαλών, ἐπεὶ τὸ ἀνθιστάμενον απαν ἐκ ποδὸς ἐχώρει καὶ τοῖς τεί- χεσι συνεκλείετο καὶ οὐδεὶς τῶν πολεμίων ἐτόλμα εἰς χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν, τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν πάντα πυρὶ παραδοὺς καὶ τὰ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως κάλλη 281 ὡς πεδίον δείξας ἀφανισμοῦ πρὸς Αδατα παρεγένετο. τῶν δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης πόλεως μὴ τολμώντων ἐν τοῖς ὑπαίθροις διαγωνίζεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐντὸς τῶν τειχῶν συνελαθέντων καὶ διεγνωκότων τὴν πολιορ- κίαν ὑφίστασθαι, αὐτὸς τὰ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως καταληϊσάμενος, καὶ τὸ παρακείμενον πολίχνιον, οπερ ἐκάλουν Γέροντα, ἐκπορθήσας καὶ διαρπαγῆναι ἐφείς, καὶ προθυμοτέρους ἀπὸ τῶν ὠφελειῶν πρὸς τὸ πονεῖν τοὺς στρατιώτας πεποιηκώς, αὐτοῖς προσβάλλει τοῖς τείχεσι, καὶ ταῖς πρὸς πολιορκίαν ἐκέχρητο μηχαναῖς, καὶ ἐπ' ἐλπίδος ην οὐ μικρᾶς διὰ τὸ βάρος τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν δυνάμεως κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν ἑλεῖν. ὁρῶν δὲ τοὺς ενδον ἀδεῶς τὰ προσ- πίπτοντα φέρεσθαι, καὶ οὐ ταραττομένους ἐπὶ προδήλῳ σχεδὸν ὀλέθρῳ τῆς πατρίδος αὐτῶν, ἐφ' οτῳ πεποιθότες ὀλίγον αὐτοῦ λόγον τῷ δοκεῖν ποιούμενοι φαίνονται ἐπυνθάνετο. καὶ δὴ παρ' ἑνὸς ἀκούσας τῶν ἐγχωρίων ὡς ὑπό τινος τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς εὐλα- βῶν, ειτε ἀπό τινος θειοτέρας γνώσεως ειτε ἀπὸ ἐπιστημονικῆς μεθόδου γινώσκοντος, πληροφορίαν δεδεγμένοι τυγχάνουσιν οὐχ ὑπὸ σοῦ τοῦ νῦν πολιορκοῦντος αὐτούς, ἀλλ' ὑφ' ἑτέρου τινὸς τῶν κατὰ γένος σοι προσηκόντων, Κωνσταντίνου καλουμένου, πε- πρωμένον ειναι τὴν τοιαύτην ἁλῶναι πόλιν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς προσπίπτουσι μὴ ἐκπλήττεσθαι. τοῦ δὲ τὸν υἱὸν ἐπιδείξαντος καὶ ὡς ουτω καλεῖται διδάξαντος, καὶ μηδὲ τὸ παρ' αὐτοῖς εἰπόντος διαπίπτειν πάντως πυθόχρηστον ἐν τῷ νῦν τὴν πόλιν ἁλίσκεσθαι, οὐ τοσοῦτον ὁ ἐξηγούμενος ελεγε τὸν Κωνσταντῖνον ἐκεῖνον ειναι 282 ος αὐτῶν μέλλει τὴν πόλιν ποιεῖσθαι ἀνάστατον, αλλον δέ τινα μετὰ χρόνον συχνὸν τῶν ἀπογόνων τῶν σῶν. ἐφ' οις ἐκεῖνος οιον διοργισθείς, καὶ βουληθεὶς ἐξελέγξαι δι' εργου λόγον αλλως κενὸν