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that a few had been set apart, but to the emperor, with few of his soldiers being lost, the 5.9.7 victory in the war would come. And for this reason they say that no impulse came upon Theudatus to enter into a conflict with Belisarius. Concerning these things, then, let each man speak as he may have belief or disbelief in them. 5.9.8 But Belisarius, besieging the Neapolitans by both land and sea, was vexed. For he did not think they would ever surrender to him, nor indeed did he expect that the city would be captured, since he had the difficulty of the place resisting him as much as 5.9.9 possible. And the time being spent there annoyed him, as he considered how he might not be compelled in the winter season to go against both Theudatus 5.9.10 and Rome. And he had already announced to the army to pack up, intending to depart from there as quickly as possible. And for him, being at a very great 5.9.11 loss, it happened that he experienced such good fortune. A desire seized one of the Isaurians to see the construction of the aqueduct, and in what manner it provided the city with its supply of 5.9.12 water. And entering it far from the city, where Belisarius had broken it, he proceeded with no difficulty, since the water had failed it, as it was broken. 5.9.13 And when he came very near the circuit-wall, he came upon a great rock, placed there not by the hands of men, but by the nature 5.9.14 of the place. To this rock those who built the aqueduct long ago, joining their structure to it, made a channel from there, not, however, large enough for a man's passage, but only so much as to provide a course for the 5.9.15 water. And for this reason it happened that the aqueduct was not the same width everywhere, but a narrow passage was encountered in that rock, being 5.9.16 impassable for a man, especially one wearing a breastplate or carrying a shield. When the Isaurian perceived these things, it did not seem impossible for the army to go into the city, if they should make the channel there wider by a small 5.9.17 measure. But since he himself was obscure and had never come into conversation with any of the commanders, he brought the matter to Paucaris, an Isaurian man, held in high repute among Belisarius's bodyguards. Paucaris, therefore, immediately reported the 5.9.18 whole account to the general. And Belisarius, breathing again with pleasure at the report and promising to reward the man with great sums of money, proceeded to the deed, and he ordered him, having associated with some Isaurians, to make a cutting of the rock as quickly as possible, taking care that they should give no one any perception of the 5.9.19 work. And Paucaris, having chosen Isaurians who were in every way suited for the work, secretly got inside the 5.9.20 aqueduct with them. And coming to the place where the rock made the narrow passage, they set to work, not cutting the rock with mattocks or axes, so that they might not make what was being done evident to the enemy by the noise, but with some sharp iron tools 5.9.21 scraping it most persistently. And in a short time it was accomplished, so that it was possible for a man wearing a breastplate and carrying a shield to go that way. 5.9.22 But when everything was now in the best possible condition, the thought came to Belisarius that if the army should be able to enter Naples by force of arms, it would come to pass that the people would perish and all the other things would happen which are accustomed to happen to a city captured 5.9.23 by an enemy. And immediately summoning Stephen, he spoke as follows: «I have often seen «cities captured and of what happens at such times I am 5.9.24 «experienced. For they kill the men, «all who are of military age, but women who beg to die they do not deign «to kill, but being led away to be violated they suffer incurable things 5.9.25 «and worthy of much pity. And children, having received thus neither nurture «nor education, are forced to be slaves, «and that too to the most hated of all men, in whose hands 5.9.26 «they have seen the blood of their fathers. For I forbear, O dear «Stephen, to speak of the fire, by which both the other property and «the beauty of the city is destroyed. Seeing Naples «this suffer these things, as in a mirror in the previously captured «cities, for both it and for you I have come to 5.9.27 «pity. For devices have now been made by me against «it, by which it is impossible for it not to be captured. but an anc»ient city and Christian inhabitants

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ὀλίγους ἀποκεκρίσθαι, ἐς βασιλέα δὲ, ὀλίγων οἱ στρατιωτῶν ἀπολουμένων, τὸ 5.9.7 τοῦ πολέμου ἀφίξεσθαι κράτος. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Θευδάτῳ λέγουσιν οὐδεμίαν ὁρμὴν ἐπιπεσεῖν ἐς ἀγῶνα Βελισαρίῳ καθίστασθαι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων λεγέτω ἕκαστος ὥς πη ἐς αὐτὰ πίστεώς τε καὶ ἀπιστίας ἔχει. 5.9.8 Βελισάριος δὲ Νεαπολίτας κατὰ γῆν τε καὶ θάλατταν πολιορκῶν ἤσχαλλεν. οὐ γάρ οἱ οὐδὲ προσχωρήσειν ποτὲ αὐτοὺς ᾤετο, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἁλώσεσθαι ἤλπιζεν, ἐπεὶ τοῦ χωρίου τὴν δυσκολίαν ἀντιστατοῦσαν ὡς 5.9.9 μάλιστα εἶχε. καὶ ὁ χρόνος αὐτὸν, τριβόμενος ἐνταῦθα, ἠνία λογιζόμενον ὅπως μὴ χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ ἐπὶ Θευδάτον 5.9.10 τε ἀναγκάζηται καὶ Ῥώμην ἰέναι. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τῷ στρατῷ ἐπήγγειλε συσκευάζεσθαι, μέλλων ἐνθένδε ὅτι τάχιστα ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι. καί οἱ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀπορου5.9.11 μένῳ εὐτυχίᾳ τοιᾷδε ξυνηνέχθη χρῆσθαι. τῶν τινα Ἰσαύρων ἐπιθυμία ἔσχε τὴν τοῦ ὀχετοῦ οἰκοδομίαν θεάσασθαι, καὶ ὅντινα τρόπον τῇ πόλει τὴν τοῦ ὕδα5.9.12 τος χρείαν παρείχετο. ἐσβάς τε τῆς πόλεως ἄποθεν, ὅθεν αὐτὸν διέρρηξε Βελισάριος, ἐβάδιζε πόνῳ οὐδενὶ, ἐπεὶ τὸ ὕδωρ αὐτὸν ἅτε διερρωγότα ἐπελελοίπει. 5.9.13 ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄγχιστα τοῦ περιβόλου ἐγένετο, πέτρᾳ μεγάλῃ ἐνέτυχεν, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων χερσὶν ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς 5.9.14 τῆς φύσεως τοῦ χωρίου ἀποτεθείσῃ. ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἱ τὸν ὀχετὸν δειμάμενοι πάλαι τὴν οἰκοδομίαν ἐνάψαντες διώρυχα ἐνθένδε ἐποίουν, οὐκ ἐς δίοδον μέντοι ἀνθρώπου ἱκανῶς ἔχουσαν, ἀλλ' ὅσον τῷ ὕδατι τὴν 5.9.15 πορείαν παρέχεσθαι. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξυνέβαινεν οὐκ εὖρος τὸ αὐτὸ πανταχόσε τοῦ ὀχετοῦ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ στενοχωρία ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ὑπηντίαζεν, ἀνθρώπῳ, ἄλλως τε καὶ τεθωρακισμένῳ ἢ ἀσπίδα φέροντι, ἀπό5.9.16 ρευτος οὖσα. ταῦτα τῷ Ἰσαύρῳ κατανοήσαντι οὐκ ἀμήχανα ἔδοξεν εἶναι τῷ στρατῷ ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἰέναι, ἢν ὀλίγῳ μέτρῳ τὴν ἐκείνῃ διώρυχα εὐρυτέραν ποιή5.9.17 σωνται. ἅτε δὲ αὐτὸς ἀφανής τε ὢν καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων οὐδενὶ πώποτε ἐς λόγους ἥκων τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐς Παύκαριν ἤνεγκεν, ἄνδρα Ἴσαυρον, ἐν τοῖς Βελισαρίου ὑπασπισταῖς εὐδοκιμοῦντα. ὁ μὲν οὖν Παύκαρις τὸν 5.9.18 πάντα λόγον αὐτίκα τῷ στρατηγῷ ἤγγειλε. Βελισάριος δὲ τῇ τοῦ λόγου ἡδονῇ ἀναπνεύσας καὶ χρήμασι μεγάλοις τὸν ἄνθρωπον δωρήσεσθαι ὑποσχόμενος ἐς τὴν πρᾶξιν ἦγε, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκέλευεν Ἰσαύρων τινὰς ἑταιρισάμενον ἐκτομὴν ὡς τάχιστα τῆς πέτρας ποιεῖσθαι, φυλασσόμενον ὅπως τοῦ ἔργου μηδενὶ αἴσθησιν δώ5.9.19 σουσι. Παύκαρις δὲ, Ἰσαύρους ἀπολεξάμενος πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐπιτηδείως πάντη ἔχοντας, ἐντὸς τοῦ ὀχε5.9.20 τοῦ σὺν αὐτοῖς λάθρα ἐγένετο. ἔς τε τὸν χῶρον ἐλθόντες, ἵνα δὴ τὴν στενοχωρίαν ἡ πέτρα ἐποίει, ἔργου εἴχοντο, οὐκ ἀξίναις τὴν πέτραν οὐδὲ πελέκεσι τέμνοντες, ὅπως μὴ ἔνδηλα τῷ κτύπῳ τοῖς πολεμίοις ποιήσωσι τὰ πρασσόμενα, ἀλλὰ σιδηρίοις τισὶν ὀξέσιν 5.9.21 αὐτὴν ἐνδελεχέστατα ξέοντες. καὶ χρόνῳ ὀλίγῳ κατείργαστο, ὥστε ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατὰ εἶναι θώρακά τε ἀμπεχομένῳ καὶ ἀσπίδα φέροντι ταύτῃ ἰέναι. 5.9.22 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἅπαντα ἤδη ὡς ἄριστα εἶχεν, ἔννοια Βελισαρίῳ ἐγένετο ὡς, ἢν πολέμῳ ἐς Νεάπολιν τῷ στρατῷ ἐσιτητὰ εἴη, τοῖς τε ἀνθρώποις ἀπολωλέναι ξυμβήσεται καὶ τἄλλα ξυμπεσεῖν ἅπαντα, ὅσα πόλει 5.9.23 πρὸς πολεμίων ἁλούσῃ γίνεσθαι εἴωθε. Στέφανόν τε εὐθὺς μεταπεμψάμενος ἔλεξε τοιάδε «Πολλάκις εἶδον «πόλεις ἁλούσας καὶ τῶν τηνικαῦτα γινομένων εἰμὶ 5.9.24 «ἔμπειρος. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄνδρας ἀναιροῦσιν ἡβηδὸν «ἅπαντας, γυναῖκας δὲ θνήσκειν αἰτουμένας οὐκ ἀξιοῦσι «κτείνειν, ἀλλ' ἐς ὕβριν ἀγόμεναι πάσχουσιν ἀνήκεστά 5.9.25 «τε καὶ ἐλέου πολλοῦ ἄξια. παῖδας δὲ οὔτε τροφῆς «οὔτε παιδείας οὕτω μεταλαχόντας δουλεύειν ἀνάγκη, «καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς πάντων ἐχθίστοις, ὧν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ 5.9.26 «τὸ τῶν πατέρων αἷμα τεθέανται. ἐῶ γὰρ, ὦ φίλε «Στέφανε, λέγειν τὸ πῦρ, ᾧ τά τε ἄλλα χρήματα καὶ «τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἀφανίζεται κάλλος. ταῦτα Νεάπολιν «τήνδε ὥσπερ ἐν κατόπτρῳ ταῖς πρότερον ἁλούσαις «πόλεσιν ὁρῶν πάσχουσαν, αὐτῆς τε καὶ ὑμῶν ἐς 5.9.27 «οἶκτον ἥκω. μηχαναὶ γάρ μοι πεποίηνται νῦν ἐς «αὐτὴν, ἣν μὴ οὐχὶ ἁλῶναι ἀδύνατον. πόλιν δὲ ἀρ»χαίαν καὶ οἰκήτορας Χριστιανούς