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being defeated by bribes, and in fear of suffering something from the emperor, as having been remiss contrary to what was likely, covering up their mistakes, in their fearlessness writing falsehoods, they were devastating the country and finally rendered the inhabited world desolate. Saying these things, having cast aside imperial luxuries and all his retinue, so as to be fed even with whatever was at hand, he proceeded as he had done before. And the Persians, as much as he advanced, he made to be subjugated, for where they would pass the evening, there the emperor would spend the day, so that their hearths were found still warm, and where the emperor was stationed, they would anticipate him and move their camp from there one or even two days before. And there was a multitude of fruits scattered beneath the trees, so that from there the greater part of the army was fed; for bringing in any foodstuffs there was utterly sworn against on account of fear. Whence also the emperor, often sending the dainties of his table, the hard and black bran-bread, to his wife and at the same time to his mother-in-law and indeed to the patriarch and his friends, presented the hardship, writing that he did not even have an abundance of spring water, and that the water from the river, strained through a wine-filter and left out in the open air, was a barely acceptable drink for him. Not being able, then, to pursue the Persian force in the difficult terrain at that time, especially since a lack of necessities was pressing, he decided for the time being to fortify the place. And indeed, with many forts he secured the areas on both sides of the river, repairing and restoring those that had been damaged by time, and erecting others himself, where, with the river running low, a ford was bound to be formed, so that both by the density of the forts and by the pre-occupation of necessary places, the affairs of the Persians would be rendered impossible. And wishing to check the attacks of the invaders, so that they might not freely sally forth from wherever they wished and fall upon them unawares, he orders a great number of axe-bearers to be assembled and, having measured out the length of the river that was necessary to be fortified, and having calculated a sufficient width, he orders them, cutting the trees with haste, to fell them one on top of another and thus to make the place so dense with the boughs of the trees, that it would be almost impossible for even a snake to pass through. Having both ordered and constructed these things for the present, being distressed by remaining, and finally having supplied sufficient grain to those in the forts, he leads his forces up along the river as far as the region of Prousa, having postponed to a suitable time the matter of inspecting them so that the enemy might be completely driven out.

30. The matter concerning the apocrisiarii to Pope Martin. And it happened then, while he was passing through Prousa, that he also learned the news concerning the pope, who was Martin, after Nicholas. For he had already sent to him both Leo of Heraclea and Theophanes of Nicaea, who, upon arriving, were not received by them according to the hopes they had when they were sent, but entirely the opposite. For having learned how our affairs stood and having suspected what was happening, (they considered) the event a mockery and not outright truth—for except for only the emperor and the patriarch and some of those around them, everyone was hostile to the peace, and all the more because the emperor wished to secure it with unusual penalties—they held those men in dishonor and granted them access to the pope late and with difficulty; and finally they subjected the emperor and those around him to excommunications with penances, as mockers not adhering to the truth, and they sent the ambassadors away, having deemed them worthy of none of the customary honors. The emperor, learning these things from the bishop of Nicaea on his return—for the bishop of Heraclea had died—took it terribly, so that also, when the deacon was about to commemorate the pope as was customary while the emperor was present, the ruler forbade it, saying that he had reaped fine rewards from their love, such that on their account he had made his own people hostile to him, while they not only showed no gratitude, but even excommunicated him in addition. And at that time he wished to break the treaty, and it would have been broken, if something had not stood in the way of his plan; for he himself had suffered many things on account of this and had accomplished it with difficulty, and if

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μὲν ἡσσημένοι λημμάτων, δέει δὲ τοῦ μή τι παρὰ βασιλέως παθεῖν, ὡς παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἐλλελειμμένους, τὰ πταίσματα συγκαλύπτοντες, τῷ κατὰ σφᾶς ἀδεεῖ ψευδῆ γράφοντες, ἠρήμουν τὴν χώραν καὶ τέλος ἔρημον τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀπέφηναν. Ταῦτα λέγων, τρυφὰς βασιλικὰς ἀφεικὼς καὶ θεραπείαν ἅπασαν, ὡς σιτεῖ σθαι καὶ τοῖς τυχοῦσι, τῶν πρόσθεν ὡς εἶχεν ἐπέβαινε. Πέρσας δέ, ὅσον ἐκεῖνος προσεχώρει, ὑπὸ πόδα χωρεῖν ἐποίει, ὅπου μὲν ἡσπέρουν ἐκεῖνοι, ἐκεῖ τοῦ βασιλέως διημερεύοντος, ὡς καὶ ἔτι θερμὰς τὰς ἑστίας ἐκείνων καταλαμβάνεσθαι, ὅπου δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐφειστήκει, ἐκεῖθεν πρὸ μιᾶς φθανόντων ἐκείνων ἢ καὶ δευτέρας μετασκηνοῦν. Πλῆθος δ' ἦν ὀπωρῶν ἐκκεχυμένων κάτω τῶν δένδρων, ὡς ἐκεῖθεν τὸ πλέον τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ σιτίζεσθαι· τὸ γὰρ εἰσαχθῆναί τισι τῶν ἐδωδίμων ἐκεῖ καὶ λίαν διὰ τὸ δέος ἀπώμοτον ἦν. Ὅθεν καὶ πολλάκις πέμπων ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ τῆς τραπέζης τρύφη, τὸν σκληρὸν πιτυρίαν καὶ μέλανα, γυναικί τε ἅμα καὶ πενθερᾷ καί γε πατριάρχῃ καὶ τοῖς γνωρίμοις, παρίστα τὸ δυσπαθές, γράφων μηδ' αὐτοῦ πηγιμαίου ὕδατος εὐπορεῖν, τὸ δέ γε τοῦ ποταμοῦ, τρυγοίπῳ διηθούμενον καὶ ἐξαιθριαζόμενον, μόλις προσιτὸν εἶναί οἱ ποτόν. Μὴ γοῦν ἱκανῶς ἔχων τότε διώκειν ἐν δυσχωρίαις τὸ Περσικόν, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐνδείας ἐπικειμένης τῶν ἀναγκαίων, τῷ γε τέως ἔγνω τὸν τόπον κατο χυροῦν. Καὶ δὴ φρουρίοις μὲν συχνοῖς τὰ παρ' ἑκάτερα τοῦ ποταμοῦ διε λάμβανε, τὰ μὲν πεπονηκότα τῷ χρόνῳ ἐπισκευάζων καὶ συνιστῶν, ἄλλα δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνιστῶν, ὅπου, τοῦ ποταμοῦ λειψυδροῦντος, πόρον ἔδει γίγνεσθαι, ὡς ἂν ἅμα μὲν τῇ τῶν φρουρίων πυκνότητι, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀναγκαίων τόπων προκατοχαῖς, ἐν ἀμηχάνοις τὰ τῶν Περσῶν γίνωνται. Συστεῖλαι δὲ θέλων καὶ τὰς ἐφόδους τῶν ἐπιόντων, ὡς μὴ ἀνέδην ὁπόθεν βούλοιντο διεκπαίειν καὶ ἐπεισπίπτειν ἀδήλως, ἀξινηφόρους ἐς πολὺ πλῆθος συναθροι σθῆναι κελεύει καί, μῆκος μὲν παραμετρήσας τοῦ ποταμοῦ ὅσον ἦν ἀναγκαῖον κατοχυροῦσθαι, πλάτος δὲ τὸ ἱκανὸν λογισάμενος, σπουδῇ τὰ δένδρα 637 κόπτοντας, ἐπιτάττει ἐπικαταβάλλειν ἓν ἐφ' ἑνὶ καὶ οὕτω καταπυκνῶσαι τοῖς κλωσὶ τῶν δένδρων τὸν τόπον, ὡς μηδ' ὄφιν οἷόν τ' εἶναι σχεδὸν διέρχεσθαι. Ταῦτα πρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἐπιτάξας τε καὶ κατασκευάσας, τῷ ἐπιμεῖναι ταλαιπωρούμενος, τέλος σιταρκήσας τοῖς ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις τὸ ἱκανόν, παρὰ τὸν ποταμὸν μέχρι καὶ τῶν τῆς Προύσης μερῶν ἀνάγεται, τὰ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐπισκέψεως, ὥστε καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν τελέως ἐκδιωχθῆναι, εἰς καιρὸν εὔθετον ἀναθέμενος.

λʹ. Τὰ κατὰ τοὺς πρὸς τὸν πάπαν Μαρτῖνον ἀποκρισιαρίους. Ξυνέβη δὲ τότ' ἀνὰ τὴν Προῦσαν διάγοντι καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πάπαν μαθεῖν, ὃς δὴ καὶ Μαρτῖνος μετὰ Νικόλαον ἦν. Πρὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔφθασε πέμψαι τόν τε Ἡρακλείας Λέοντα καὶ τὸν Νικαίας Θεοφάνην, οἳ δὴ καὶ ἐπιστάντες οὐ κατ' ἐλπίδας, ἃς εἶχον ἀποστελλόμενοι, παρ' ἐκείνων ἐδέχοντο, ἀλλὰ τοὐ ναντίον ἅπαν. Τὰ γὰρ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὡς εἶχον μαθόντες καὶ ὅπερ ἦν ὑποτο πάσαντες, χλεύην τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ οὐκ ἀλήθειαν ἄντικρυςπαρὰ μόνον γὰρ βασιλέα καὶ πατριάρχην καί τινας τῶν περὶ αὐτούς, πάντες ἐδυσμέναινον τῇ εἰρήνῃ, καὶ μᾶλλον ὅτι καὶ ποιναῖς ἀλλοκότοις ἤθελεν ἀσφαλίζεσθαι ταύτην ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐκείνους μὲν ἐν ἀτίμοις εἶχον καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸν πάπαν πρόσοδον ὀψὲ καὶ μόλις παρεῖχον· τέλος δὲ βασιλέα μὲν καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν ὡς χλευαστὰς ἐπιτιμίοις καὶ μὴ ἀληθείαις στοιχοῦντας ἀφορισμοῖς καθυπέβαλον, τοὺς δὲ πρέσβεις, μηδενὸς ἀξιώσαντες τῶν εἰκότων, ἀπέπεμπον. Ταῦτα γνοὺς βασιλεὺς παρὰ τοῦ Νικαίας ἐπανιόντοςὁ γὰρ Ἡρακλείας ἐτεθνήκειἐν δεινῷ ἐποιεῖτο, ὥστε καί, τοῦ διακόνου μέλλοντος μνημονεύειν τοῦ πάπα κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες, βασιλέως παρόντος, ὁ κρατῶν διεκώλυε, καλὰ λέγων τῆς ἀγάπης ἐκείνων ἀπόνασθαι, ὥστ' αὐτὸν μὲν ἐκπολεμῶσαι δι' ἐκεί νους ἑαυτῷ τοὺς οἰκείους, ἐκείνους δὲ μὴ ὅπως χάριν ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσαφορίζειν. Τότε δὲ καὶ διαλύειν ἤθελε τὰς σπονδάς, κἂν διελύοντο, εἰ μή τι προσίστατο τῇ βουλῇ· αὐτὸν μὲν γὰρ πολλὰ παθεῖν διὰ ταῦτα καὶ μόλις ἀνύσαι, κἂν