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to await the end of the war. 5.6.23 «which indeed some, having experienced, have fai»led in the greatest matters. And you will never regret having made us friends 5.6.24 «instead of enemies. But you will also have these things which «you ask from us, and it will be added for you to be inscribed in the 5.6.25 «first honors of the Romans. Now then «I have sent Athanasius and Peter, so that by some agree»ment there will be certainty for each party. And Belisarius will come to you very «soon, to put an end to all things 5.6.26 «that may have been agreed upon between us.» The emperor, having written these things, sent both Athanasius, the brother of Alexander, who formerly was an ambassador to Atalaric, as was said, and again Peter the rhetor, whom I mentioned before, instructing them to assign to Theodatus the lands of the emperor's house, which they call patrimony, and having made letters and oaths a security for the agreements, thus to summon Belisarius from Sicily, in order that he, having taken over both the palace and all Italy, 5.6.27 might hold it in guard. And he wrote to Belisarius to come to them with all speed, whenever they should summon him. 5.7.1 While the emperor was doing these things and these envoys were being sent to Italy, at this time the Goths, with Asinarius and Gripas among others leading them, 5.7.2 came to Dalmatia with a large army. And when they came very near Salona, Mauricius, the son of Mundus, met them, coming not for battle, but for reconnaissance with a few 5.7.3 men. But when the engagement became fierce, the first and best of the Goths fell, but almost all the Romans and Mauricius the general. 5.7.4 When Mundus heard this, becoming exceedingly grieved by the misfortune and now possessed by great anger, he immediately 5.7.5 went against the enemy in no order. And since the battle became fierce, it came to pass that the Romans won a Cadmean victory. For most of the enemy fell there and the rout had become glorious, but Mundus, both killing and pursuing wherever he chanced, and being least able to control his mind because of his son's misfortune, was struck by one of the fugitives and fell, and the pursuit ended at this point and 5.7.6 both armies were broken up. Then the Romans remembered the verse of the Sibyl, which, being sung in former time, had seemed to them a prodigy. For that oracle said that, whenever Africa should be held, the world 5.7.7 with its offspring would be destroyed. However, the oracle did not mean this, but having hinted that Libya would again be under the Romans, it also said this, that then Mundus would perish with his son. For it speaks thus: αφριξα ξαπτα 5.7.8 μυνδυς ξυμ νατο περιβιτ. But since Mundus means "world" in the Latin tongue, they thought the oracle was about the world. So these things turned out in this way. But 5.7.9 no one entered Salona. For the Romans withdrew to their homes, since they were left altogether without a leader, and the Goths, since none of their best men were left to them, becoming afraid, held the forts in that region; 5.7.10 for they did not trust the wall of Salona, especially since the Romans who dwelt there were not very well-disposed towards them. 5.7.11 When Theodatus heard these things, he held in no account the envoys who had already come to him. For he was naturally quite faithless and had a mind in no way steadfast, but the present turn of fortune always led him, both irrationally and unworthily of the circumstances, into a boundless fear and then again replaced it with 5.7.12 some unspeakable boldness. And so then, hearing about the death of both Mundus and Mauricius, he was excessively elated and not in proportion to what had been accomplished, and he thought fit to mock the envoys who had already come to him. 5.7.13 And when Peter once reviled him for having transgressed the things agreed upon with the emperor, Theodatus, 5.7.14 having summoned them both in public, spoke as follows: «The business of envoys is indeed «a solemn thing and has been established as honorable among «all men in other respects, but this privilege the «envoys preserve among themselves up to the point that by their» own fairness they guard the dignity of the embassy. 5.7.15 «For men have considered it lawful to kill an envoy, «whenever, having insulted a king,

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πολέμου καραδοκεῖν πέρας. 5.6.23 «ὅπερ ἤδη πεπονθότες τινὲς ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις ἐσφά»λησαν. καί σοι οὔ ποτε μεταμελήσει φίλους ἡμᾶς 5.6.24 «ἀντὶ πολεμίων ποιησαμένῳ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα ἅπερ «αἰτεῖς παρ' ἡμῶν ἕξεις, καὶ προσέσται σοι ἐν ταῖς 5.6.25 «πρώταις Ῥωμαίων τιμαῖς ἀναγράπτῳ εἶναι. νῦν μὲν «οὖν Ἀθανάσιόν τε καὶ Πέτρον ἀπέσταλκα, ὅπως ὁμο»λογίᾳ τινὶ ἑκατέρῳ τὸ βέβαιον ἔσται. ἥξει δὲ ὅσον «οὔπω καὶ Βελισάριος παρὰ σὲ, πέρας ἅπασιν ἐπιθή5.6.26 «σων ὅσα ἂν ἐν ἡμῖν ξυγκείμενα ᾖ.» ταῦτα βασιλεὺς γράψας Ἀθανάσιόν τε τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀδελφὸν, ὃς πρώην ἐς Ἀταλάριχον, ὥσπερ ἐρρήθη, ἐπρέσβευσε, καὶ Πέτρον αὖθις τὸν ῥήτορα ἔπεμψεν, οὗ πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθην, ἐντειλάμενος τὰ μὲν χωρία τῆς βασιλέως οἰκίας, ἣν πατριμώνιον καλοῦσι, Θευδάτῳ νεῖμαι, γράμματα δὲ καὶ ὅρκους ὀχύρωμα ταῖς ξυνθήκαις ποιησαμένους οὕτω δὴ ἐκ Σικελίας Βελισάριον μεταπέμψασθαι, ἐφ' ᾧ τά τε βασίλεια καὶ Ἰταλίαν παραλαβὼν ξύμπασαν 5.6.27 ἐν φυλακῇ ἔχει. καὶ Βελισαρίῳ ἐπέστειλεν ὥστε αὐτοῖς, ἐπειδὰν μεταπέμψωνται, κατὰ τάχος ἥκειν. 5.7.1 Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτά τε βασιλεὺς ἔπρασσε καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις οὗτοι ἐς Ἰταλίαν ἐστέλλοντο, ἐν τούτῳ Γότθοι, ἄλλων τε καὶ Ἀσιναρίου καὶ Γρίπα σφίσιν ἡγουμένων, 5.7.2 στρατῷ πολλῷ ἐς ∆αλματίαν ἧκον. ἐπειδή τε Σαλώνων ἄγχιστα ἵκοντο, Μαυρίκιος σφίσιν, ὁ Μούνδου υἱὸς, οὐκ ἐς παράταξιν, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ ἥκων ξὺν ὀλί5.7.3 γοις τισὶν ὑπηντίαζε. καρτερᾶς δὲ γενομένης τῆς ξυμβολῆς Γότθων μὲν οἱ πρῶτοι καὶ ἄριστοι ἔπεσον, Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες καὶ Μαυρίκιος ὁ στρατηγός. 5.7.4 ἅπερ ἐπεὶ ἤκουσε Μοῦνδος περιώδυνός τε γενόμενος τῇ ξυμφορᾷ καὶ θυμῷ πολλῷ ἤδη ἐχόμενος, αὐτίκα 5.7.5 μάλα ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ ᾔει. τῆς τε μάχης κρατερᾶς γεγενημένης τὴν Καδμείαν νίκην Ῥωμαίοις νικῆσαι ξυνέπεσε. τῶν μὲν γὰρ πολεμίων ἐνταῦθα οἱ πλεῖστοι ἔπεσον καὶ ἡ τροπὴ λαμπρὰ ἐγεγόνει, Μοῦνδος δὲ κτείνων τε καὶ ὅπῃ παρατύχοι ἑπόμενος καὶ κατέχειν τὴν διάνοιαν τῇ τοῦ παιδὸς ξυμφορᾷ ὡς ἥκιστα ἔχων ὑφ' ὅτου δὴ τῶν φευγόντων πληγεὶς ἔπεσε, καὶ ἥ τε δίωξις ἐς τοῦτο ἐτελεύτα καὶ 5.7.6 τὰ στρατόπεδα ἑκάτερα διελέλυτο. τότε Ῥωμαῖοι ἀνεμνήσθησαν τοῦ Σιβύλλης ἔπους, ὅπερ ᾀδόμενον ἐν τῷ πρὶν χρόνῳ τέρας αὐτοῖς ἔδοξεν εἶναι. ἔλεγε γὰρ τὸ λόγιον ἐκεῖνο ὡς, ἡνίκα ἂν Ἀφρικὴ ἔχηται, ὁ κόσμος 5.7.7 ξὺν τῷ γόνῳ ὀλεῖται. τὸ μέντοι χρηστήριον οὐ τοῦτο ἐδήλου, ἀλλ' ὑπειπὸν ὅτι δὴ αὖθις ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίοις Λιβύη ἔσται καὶ τοῦτο ἐπεῖπεν, ὅτι τότε ξὺν τῷ παιδὶ ἀπολεῖται Μοῦνδος. λέγει γὰρ ὧδε αφριξα ξαπτα 5.7.8 μυνδυς ξυμ νατο περιβιτ. ἐπεὶ δὲ κόσμον τῇ Λατίνων φωνῇ Μοῦνδος δύναται, ᾤοντο ἀμφὶ τῷ κόσμῳ τὸ λόγιον εἶναι. ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ὧδέ πη ἔσχεν. ἐς δὲ 5.7.9 Σάλωνας εἰσῆλθεν οὐδείς. οἵ τε γὰρ Ῥωμαῖοι ἐπ' οἴκου ἀνεχώρησαν, ἐπεὶ ἄναρχοι τὸ παράπαν ἐλείποντο, καὶ οἱ Γότθοι τῶν ἀρίστων οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἀπολελειμμένου ἐς δέος ἐλθόντες τὰ ἐκείνῃ φρούρια ἔσχον· 5.7.10 οὐδὲ γὰρ Σαλώνων τῷ περιβόλῳ ἐπίστευον, ἄλλως τε καὶ οὐ λίαν αὐτοῖς εὐνοϊκῶς ἐχόντων Ῥωμαίων, οἳ ταύτῃ ᾤκηντο. 5.7.11 Ταῦτα ἐπεὶ Θευδάτος ἤκουσε, τοὺς πρέσβεις ἤδη παρ' αὐτὸν ἥκοντας ἐν οὐδενὶ ἐποιήσατο λόγῳ. ἐς γὰρ ἀπιστίαν ἱκανῶς ἐπεφύκει καὶ βέβαιον τὴν διάνοιαν οὐδαμῆ εἶχεν, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ αὐτὸν ἡ παροῦσα τύχη ἀλόγως τε καὶ τῶν καθεστώτων οὐκ ἐπαξίως ἔς τε ὀρρωδίαν ἀπῆγε μέτρον οὐκ ἔχουσαν καὶ αὖθις ἐς 5.7.12 ἄφατόν τι ἀντικαθίστη θράσος. καὶ τότε γοῦν τοῦ θανάτου πέρι Μούνδου τε ἀκούσας καὶ Μαυρικίου ἐπήρθη τε ὑπεράγαν καὶ οὐ κατὰ λόγον τῶν πεπραγμένων, καὶ τοὺς πρέσβεις ἤδη παρ' αὐτὸν ἥκοντας 5.7.13 ἐρεσχελεῖν ἠξίου. καὶ ἐπειδὴ αὐτῷ Πέτρος ποτὲ ἅτε ὑπερβάντι τὰ βασιλεῖ ὡμολογημένα ἐλοιδορεῖτο, ἄμφω 5.7.14 Θευδάτος δημοσίᾳ καλέσας ἔλεξε τοιάδε «Σεμνὸν μὲν «τὸ χρῆμα τῶν πρέσβεων καὶ ἄλλως ἔντιμον καθέστηκεν «ἐς πάντας ἀνθρώπους, τοῦτο δὲ τὸ γέρας ἐς τόδε οἱ «πρέσβεις ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς διασώζουσιν, ἐς ὃ τῇ σφε»τέρᾳ ἐπιεικείᾳ φυλάξωσι τὸ τῆς πρεσβείας ἀξίωμα. 5.7.15 «κτεῖναι γὰρ ἄνδρα πρεσβευτὴν ἐνδίκως νενομίκασιν «ἄνθρωποι, ὅταν ἢ ἐς βασιλέα ὑβρίσας