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having appointed; for this is customary for both Romans and Persians to do, when-8.15.3 ever they attain imperial power. So Lilius, bearing imperial gifts, arrives at Dara. Him Ger-manus (this man being adorned with the dignity of the consuls and having been allotted the super-8.15.4 intendence of the army stationed there) received very splendidly; for a short time before the period of the tyranny, since Chosroes the king of the Persians detested the general Narses, the emperor Maurice removes the commander Narses from the garrison of Dara, and appoints Germanus in his place, Maurice wishing thereby 8.15.5 to appease the Babylonian harshness. Therefore, while Germanus and Lilius were riding and had formed a pair, a soldier strikes with his sword around the third hour of the morning Ger- 8.15.6 manus as he was riding. So Germanus, dismounting from his horse, is brought home on a litter; but since the blow did not prove to be in a fatal spot, in a few days Germanus healed the wound. Therefore, having been made better by medicines, after feasting Lilius very grandly he sent him on to Chosroes. 8.15.7 So Chosroes, having con-trived the tyranny as a pretext for war, sounded that world-destroying trumpet; for this became the dissolution of the prosperity of both the Romans and the Persians. For Chosroes, feigning, seemed to up-hold the holy memory of the emperor Maurice. So then the Persian war had its beginning, and Lilius continued to be treated harshly among the Persians. 8.15.8 In these days a delusion broke into the world, and the Romans be-lieved that Theodosius had not died. And this becomes an occasion for the greatest evils, and this false notion produces an abundance of murders. As the rumour grew towards the palace, the 8.15. tyrant is greatly disturbed and destroyed Alexander with a sword. For it was necessary for Phocas to destroy the collaborators of the tyranny and to consign to monstrous destruc-tions those who had allied with him for the evil deed; for a partnership in evil does not know how to establish a firm friendship between those who have agreed together.

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προχειρισάμενος· τοῦτο γὰρ εἴθισται ῾Ρωμαίοις τε καὶ Πέρσαις ποιεῖν, ὁπη-8.15.3 νίκα τῆς βασιλείου ἐπιβῶσι δυνάμεως. ὁ μὲν Λίλιος βασιλικὰ δῶρα ἐπιφερόμενος ἐς τὸ ∆αρὰς παραγίνεται. τοῦτον ὁ Γερ-μανὸς (ἀνὴρ δ' οὗτος τῇ τῶν ὑπάτων ἀξίᾳ κοσμούμενος τήν τε τοῦ συντεταγμένου αὐτόθι στρατοπέδου λαχὼν ἐπι-8.15.4 μέλειαν) περιφανῶς λίαν εἰσεδέξατο· πρό τινος γὰρ βραχέος τῆς τυραννίδος καιροῦ, Χοσρόου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως ἀπεχθανομένου τῷ πολεμάρχῳ Ναρσῇ, ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ Μαυρίκιος ἀποπαύει τῆς περιφρουρᾶς τοῦ ∆αρὰς τὸν ἡγεμόνα Ναρσῆν, καὶ Γερμανὸν ἀντανίστησιν, ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Μαυρίκιος ἐθέλων 8.15.5 κατευνάσαι τὴν Βαβυλώνιον χαλεπότητα. ἱππαζομένων τοι-γαροῦν καὶ ξυνωρίδα πεποιημένων Γερμανοῦ καὶ Λιλίου, στρατιώτης ἀνὴρ πλήττει τῷ ξίφει ὑπὸ τρίτην ἕω τὸν Γερ- 8.15.6 μανὸν ἱππαζόμενον. ὁ μὲν οὖν Γερμανὸς ἀποβὰς τοῦ ἵππου φοράδην οἴκαδε παραγίνεται· ἐπεὶ δ' οὐκ ἐν καιρίῳ τὰ περὶ τὴν καταφορὰν εὐδοκίμησεν, ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ὁ Γερμανὸς ἀκέσατο τὴν πληγήν. ὑπὸ τοίνυν φαρμάκων βελτιωθείς, ἑστιάσας τὸν Λίλιον λίαν ἐπισήμως πρὸς Χοσρόην παρέπεμψεν. 8.15.7 ὁ μὲν οὖν Χοσρόης ὑπόθεσιν πολέμου τὴν τυραννίδα πρα-γματευσάμενος τὴν κοσμοφθόρον ἐκείνην ἐστράτευσε σάλπιγγα· αὕτη γὰρ λυτήριος γέγονε τῆς ῾Ρωμαίων τε καὶ Περσῶν εὐπραγίας. ἐδόκει γὰρ κατειρωνευόμενος ὁ Χοσρόης ἀντέ-χεσθαι τῆς ὁσίας Μαυρικίου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος μνήμης. οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ Περσικὸς πόλεμος τὴν γένεσιν ἐκληρώσατο, ὁ δὲ Λίλιος διετέλει παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις σκληραγωγούμενος. 8.15.8 Κατὰ ταύτας τὰς ἡμέρας εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην πλάνη εἰσήρρησεν, καὶ Θεοδόσιον οἱ ῾Ρωμαῖοι μὴ τεθνηκέναι ἐδό-ξαζον. καὶ γίνεται τοῦτο καίριον μεγίστων κακῶν, καὶ φόνων εὐθηνίαν ἡ ψευδὴς αὕτη ὑπόθεσις πραγματεύεται. τοῦ δὲ λόγου αὐξανομένου πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια, ταράττεται λίαν ὁ 8.15. τύραννος καὶ τὸν ᾿Αλέξανδρον ξίφει διέφθειρεν. ἔδει γὰρ τοὺς συνεργάτας τῆς τυραννίδος τὸν Φωκᾶν διαφθεῖραι καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῷ κακῷ συμμαχήσαντας ἐξαισίοις παραπέμψαι ὀλέ-θροις· οὐκ οἶδε γὰρ κοινοπραγία κακοῦ τὴν φιλίαν τῶν συμπεφρονηκότων βεβαίαν ἱδρύσασθαι.