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having constructed a high tower with timbers, they were able to gain no advantage; for a wise man had been entrenched there, who, by devising a counter-measure to the plots of the Persians, built a higher tower on the inside, and while the Persians were fighting from their tower on the outside, and the Romans were fighting back from their tower on the inside, a column was released by a machine and destroyed everything to the ground, and also destroyed many Persians along with it. When, therefore, the remaining Persians saw what had happened, and since they were being destroyed and had heard that Zittas, the magister militum of the Romans, was coming down to help those in the fort, the Persians themselves withdrew, fearing lest they might also be surrounded. And when the emperor Justinian heard these things, he forbade his own ambassadors from entering Persia until his second command, but they remained in Roman territory with the gifts. The same emperor sent down laws to all the cities on account of those litigating concerning the expenses provided in judicial investigations, and likewise also concerning the sportulae that were provided, decreeing that no one should dare to take more than 471 the amount stipulated by him. In the city of the Antiochians it was inscribed on wooden tablets in Greek letters. And at the same time an imperial rescript was issued concerning the theatre of the city. On the eighth of the month of September, Koades, the king of the Persians, having heard of the evils that had befallen the Persians at the hands of the Romans, and having suddenly been paralyzed in his right side, and having brought forward his second son, Chosroes, proclaimed him king, placing a crown on his head; and having been sick for five days, Koades, the king of the Persians, died, being 82 years and three months old; and he had reigned for 43 years and two months. When Chosroes was proclaimed king of the Persians, he indicated to the Roman ambassadors through a Persian magisterianus that they should enter Persian territory and make a treaty of peace between the Romans and the Persians; but since the Roman ambassadors did not venture to enter Persian territory without an imperial command, they made the excuse, 'We do not dare to come to you,' and the king of the Persians, learning this, wrote a letter and sent it to the emperor Justinian, asking that the Roman ambassadors be permitted to enter Persia and make a treaty. And having written a friendly letter, the king of the Persians sent it by Hermogenes the magister; and having received this message, the emperor of the Romans wrote back, 'We do not permit our 472 ambassadors to come to you; for we do not know you as king of the Persians.' And at that time, the king of the Persians ordered the Manichaeans who were under his rule to worship as they wish. But the Persian magi, being grieved at what had happened, and having taken counsel with the senators, wished to expel him from the kingdom and to make his brother king in his place. And when the king of the Persians learned these things, he beheaded his brother, and having killed senators and magi, he writes to the emperor of the Romans a letter containing a truce of three months for the war. And the emperor of the Romans wrote back to the magister to accept the three-month truce and to give hostages and to receive them from the Persians, ordering Strategius and Rufinus, the ambassadors, to come up to Byzantium. And at that time the Sabir Huns, having crossed through the Caspian Gates, appeared in the Roman territories, raiding the land of the Armenians; and spreading themselves out, they occupied territory as far as Euphratesia and Cilicia Secunda and the lands of Cyrrhus. And when the emperor of the Romans learned this, having summoned the patrician Rufinus, he ordered him to go out to the eastern parts and learn if they had come against the Romans from the king of the Persians. And Rufinus, having gone out and having informed the king of the Persians, found that the same Huns not by the will of the king of the Persians

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πύργον ὑψηλὸν διὰ ξύλων μηχανησάμενοι οὐδὲν ἠδυνήθησαν ὠφελῆσαι· ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖσε φοσσευθεὶς ἀνὴρ σοφός, ὅστις ἀντιμηχανησάμενος ταῖς τῶν Περσῶν ἐπιβουλαῖς, ποιήσας ἔσωθεν ὑψηλότερον πύργον, καὶ τῶν Περσῶν ἐκ τοῦ πύργου ἔξωθεν μαχομένων, τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἔσωθεν ἐκ τοῦ πύργου ἀντιμαχομένων, κίων ἀπελύθη ὑπὸ μηχανήματος καὶ πάντα κατέστρεψεν ἕως ἐδάφους, καὶ Πέρσας δὲ πολλοὺς συναπώλεσεν. ὡς οὖν εἶδον τὸ γεγονὸς οἱ λοιποὶ Πέρσαι, φθειρόμενοι καὶ ἀκηκοότες ὡς Ζίττα στρατηλάτου Ῥωμαίων κατερχομένου πρὸς βοήθειαν τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ καστελλίῳ, ἀνεχώρησαν οἱ αὐτοὶ Πέρσαι, φοβούμενοι μήπως καὶ κυκλευθῶσιν. ἀκούσας δὲ ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰουστινιανὸς διεκώλυσε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ πρεσβευτὰς τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν ἐν Περσίδι ἄχρι δευτέρας αὐτοῦ μηνύσεως, ἀλλ' ἔμειναν εἰς τὸ Ῥωμαϊκὰ σὺν τοῖς δώροις. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς κατέπεμψεν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσι νόμους ἕνεκεν τῶν δικαζομένων περὶ τῶν παρεχομένων δαπανημάτων ἐν ταῖς διαγνώσεσιν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν παρεχομένων σπορτούλων, θεσπίσας μηδένα τολμᾶν λαμβάνειν περαιτέ 471 ρω τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ τυπωθείσης ποσότητος. ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἀντιοχέων πόλει ἐν τίτλοις σανίδων ἐπεγράφη δι' Ἑλληνικῶν γραμμάτων. ἐν ταὐτῷ δὲ καὶ τὸ θέατρον τῆς πόλεως ἐχρημάτισε. Τῇ δὲ ὀγδόῃ τοῦ σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν Κωάδης, ἀκηκοὼς τὰ συμβάντα Πέρσαις κακὰ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, καὶ αἰφνίδιον παρεθεὶς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη, καὶ ἀγαγὼν τὸν δεύτερον αὐτοῦ υἱὸν Χοσδρόην, ἀνηγόρευσε βασιλέα, ἐπιθεὶς αὐτῷ στέφανον τῇ κορυφῇ· καὶ ἀῤῥωστήσας ἡμέρας πέντε ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς Κωάδης τελευτᾷ, ὢν ἐνιαυτῶν πβʹ καὶ μηνῶν τριῶν· ἐβασίλευσε δὲ ἔτη μγʹ καὶ μῆνας δύο. Ὅτε δὲ ἀνηγορεύθη βασιλεὺς Περσῶν Χοσδρόης, ἐδήλωσε τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς Ῥωμαίων διὰ Περσοῦ μαγιστριανοῦ εἰσελθεῖν ἐν τοῖς Περσικοῖς καὶ ποιῆσαι εἰρήνης πάκτα μεταξὺ Ῥωμαίων τε καὶ Περσῶν· τῶν δὲ πρεσβευτῶν Ῥωμαίων μὴ ἀνασχεθέντων εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὰ Περσικὰ δίχα κελεύσεως βασιλικῆς, ἀπολογούμενοι, Οὐ τολμῶμεν τὰ πρὸς ὑμᾶς καταφθάσαι, καὶ γνοὺς ταῦτα ὁ Περσῶν βασιλεύς, γράψας ἐπιστολὴν ἔπεμψε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἰουστινιανόν, αἰτῶν ἐπιτραπῆναι τοὺς πρεσβευτὰς Ῥωμαίων εἰσελθεῖν ἐν Περσίδι καὶ πάκτα ποιῆσαι. καὶ γράψας φιλικὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν, ἀπέστειλε διὰ Ἑρμογένους μαγίστρου· ἥντινα μήνυσιν δεξάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων ἀντέγραψεν, Ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐπιτρέπομεν τοῖς ἡμετέροις πρεσβευ 472 ταῖς πρὸς ὑμᾶς καταλαβεῖν· οὔτε γὰρ ἐπιστάμεθά σε βασιλέα Περσῶν. Καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ χρόνῳ ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν τοὺς ὄντας ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ πολιτείαν Μανιχαίους ἐκέλευσε θρησκεύειν ὡς βούλονται. οἱ δὲ μάγοι Περσῶν, λυπηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ συμβάντι, βουλευσάμενοι μετὰ τῶν συγκλητικῶν ἠβουλήθησαν ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτὸν τῆς βασιλείας καὶ ποιῆσαι ἀντ' αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. καὶ γνοὺς ταῦτα ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν, τὸν μὲν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπεκεφάλισε, συγκλητικοὺς δὲ καὶ μάγους φονεύσας γράφει τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων ἐπιστολὴν περιέχουσαν τριῶν μηνῶν ἔνδοσιν πολέμου. καὶ ἀντέγραψεν ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς τῷ μαγίστρῳ τοῦ δέξασθαι τὴν τῶν τριῶν μηνῶν ἔνδοσιν καὶ δοῦναι ὁμήρους καὶ λαβεῖν ἀπὸ Περσῶν, κελεύσας Στρατηγίῳ καὶ Ῥουφίνῳ τοῖς πρεσβευταῖς ἀνελθεῖν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ. Καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ χρόνῳ Οὗννοι Σάβηρες περάσαντες διὰ τῶν Κασπίων πυλῶν ἀνεφάνησαν ἐν τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς μέρεσι, πραιδεύοντες ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀρμενίων χώραν· καὶ ἁπλώσαντες ἑαυτοὺς κατέσχον ἕως τῆς Εὐφρατησίας καὶ τῆς δευτέρας Κιλικίας καὶ τῶν Κυρηστικῶν. καὶ γνοὺς τοῦτο ὁ βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων, μεταστειλάμενος τὸν πατρίκιον Ῥουφῖνος ἐκέλευσεν αὐτῷ ἐξελθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀνατολικὰ μέρη καὶ μαθεῖν εἰ ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Περσῶν ἦλθον κατὰ Ῥωμαίων. καὶ ἐξελθὼν Ῥουφῖνος καὶ μηνύσας τῷ βασιλεῖ Περσῶν, εὗρεν ὅτι οὐ κατὰ γνώμην τοῦ βασιλέως Περσῶν οἱ αὐτοὶ Οὗννοι