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would inflict the same upon the enemy, he did the same. 5.27.14 And making three sorties, as I have related, he destroyed about four thousand of the enemy. 5.27.15 But Vittigis (for it did not enter his mind what the difference was between the two armies in point of equipment and of training in the works of war) thought that he too would most easily work irreparable harm upon the enemy, if he should make the attack upon them with a small force. 5.27.16 He therefore sent five hundred horsemen, commanding them to go very near the circuit-wall, and to display against their whole army all those things which they had often suffered at the hands of a few of the enemy. 5.27.17 And they took their stand in a high place not far from the city, but just out of range of missiles. 5.27.18 But Belisarius, having selected a thousand men and having set Bessas over them as commander, ordered them to go against the enemy. 5.27.19 And they, having made an encircling movement of the barbarians and always shooting them in the back, killed many and forcing the rest 5.27.20 compelled them to come down into the plain. There the battle was fought at close quarters, with the forces not evenly matched, and most of the Goths were destroyed, but a few with difficulty escaped and withdrew to their own 5.27.21 camp. These men Vittigis reproached as having been defeated by cowardice, and promising to retrieve the disaster with other men before long, for the present he remained quiet; but three days later he selected five hundred men from all the camps and commanded them to display against the enemy 5.27.22 deeds worthy of valour. When Belisarius saw these men approaching nearer, he sent against them fifteen hundred men with Martinus and Valerian as commanders. 5.27.23 And a cavalry battle having straightway taken place, the Romans, being far superior to the enemy in number, routed them with no trouble and destroyed almost all of them. 5.27.24 And to the enemy it seemed to be a terrible and altogether contrary stroke of fortune, if when they were many they were defeated by a few of the enemy attacking them, and again when going against them in small numbers they were destroyed. 5.27.25 But the Romans publicly praised Belisarius for his sagacity, holding it, as was natural, in great admiration, while in private his intimates asked him by what evidence he had concluded on that day, on which he escaped after being so badly defeated, that he had become hopeful of overpowering them completely in the 5.27.26 war. And he himself said that when at the beginning he came to blows with them with a few men, he perceived what the difference was in each army, so that if he should make the engagements in proportion to his strength, the multitude of the enemy would in no way injure their own small numbers. 5.27.27 And the difference was, that practically all the Romans and their allies, the Huns, are good horse-bowmen, but among the Goths this art is practiced by none, but their horsemen are accustomed to use only spears and swords, while their bowmen, being foot-soldiers and covered by the men-at-arms, 5.27.28 enter into battle. So their horsemen, unless the engagement is at close quarters, have no means of defending themselves against enemies using bows, and are easily shot down and destroyed, while their foot-soldiers would never be 5.27.29 able to make sorties against mounted men. For these reasons, Belisarius maintained, the barbarians were defeated by the Romans in these engagements. But the Goths, bearing in mind the unexpectedness of what had happened to them, for the future neither advanced in small numbers against the circuit-wall of Rome nor pursued the enemy when they harassed them, except only so far as to drive them from their entrenchments. 5.28.1 But later all the Romans, elated by their previous successes, were eager to go into battle with the whole army of the Goths and thought they must wage war 5.28.2 openly. But Belisarius, thinking that the difference between the two was still very great, was always hesitant to risk a decisive battle with his whole army, and was even more zealous about making sorties and

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τὰ ὅμοια τοὺς πολεμίους ἐργά5.27.14 σονται, ταὐτὰ ἔδρασε. τρεῖς τε, καθάπερ μοι ἐρρήθη, ἐπεκδρομὰς ποιησάμενος τῶν ἐναντίων ἀμφὶ τετρακισχιλίους διέφθειρεν. 5.27.15 Οὐίττιγις δὲ (οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸν εἰσῄει τὸ διαλλάσσον ἐν τοῖς στρατοπέδοις τῆς τε ὁπλίσεως καὶ τῆς ἐς τὰ πολέμια ἔργα μελέτης) ῥᾷστα καὶ αὐτὸς ᾤετο τὰ ἀνήκεστα τοὺς πολεμίους ἐργάσασθαι, ἤν γε στρατῷ ὀλίγῳ 5.27.16 ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τὴν ἔφοδον ποιοίη. ἔπεμψεν οὖν ἱππεῖς πεντακοσίους, ἄγχιστά τε τοῦ περιβόλου ἰέναι κελεύσας, καὶ ὅσα πρὸς ὀλίγων πολλάκις πολεμίων πεπόνθασι, ταῦτα δὴ ἐς ξύμπασαν τὴν ἐκείνων στρατιὰν 5.27.17 ἐπιδείξασθαι. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν χωρίῳ ὑψηλῷ γενόμενοι τῆς πόλεως οὐ μακρὰν ἄποθεν, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἔξω βελῶν, 5.27.18 ἵσταντο. Βελισάριος δὲ ἄνδρας τε ἀπολέξας χιλίους καὶ Βέσσαν αὐτοῖς ἄρχοντα ἐπιστήσας ὁμόσε χωρεῖν 5.27.19 ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐπέστελλεν. οἱ δὲ κύκλωσίν τε τῶν βαρβάρων ποιησάμενοι καὶ κατὰ νώτου ἀεὶ βάλλοντες κτείνουσί τε συχνοὺς καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς βιασά5.27.20 μενοι κατελθεῖν ἐς τὸ πεδίον ἠνάγκασαν. ἔνθα δὴ τῆς μάχης οὐκ ἐξ ἀντιπάλου τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκ χειρὸς γενομένης, τῶν Γότθων οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ διεφθάρησαν, ὀλίγοι δέ τινες μόλις διαφυγόντες εἰς τὸ σφέτερον 5.27.21 στρατόπεδον ἀνεχώρησαν. οὓς δὴ ὁ Οὐίττιγις ἅτε τῷ ἀνάνδρῳ ἡσσημένους ἐκάκιζε, καὶ τὸ πάθος ἑτέροις τισὶν ἀνασώσασθαι οὐκ ἐς μακρὰν ὑποσχόμενος, ἐν μὲν τῷ παρόντι ἡσύχαζε, τρισὶ δὲ ὕστερον ἡμέραις ἐκ πάντων τῶν χαρακωμάτων ἄνδρας ἀπολεξάμενος πεντακοσίους ἔργα ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκέλευεν ἐπι5.27.22 δείξασθαι ἀρετῆς ἄξια. οὓς ἐπειδὴ Βελισάριος ἐγγυτέρω ἥκοντας εἶδε, πεντακοσίους τε καὶ χιλίους καὶ ἄρχοντας Μαρτῖνόν τε καὶ Βαλεριανὸν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς 5.27.23 ἔστελλεν. ἱππομαχίας τε ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος γεγενημένης, τῷ πλήθει Ῥωμαῖοι παρὰ πολὺ ὑπεραίροντες τῶν πολεμίων, τρέπουσί τε αὐτοὺς οὐδενὶ πόνῳ καὶ σχεδόν τι ἅπαντας διαφθείρουσι. 5.27.24 Καὶ τοῖς μὲν πολεμίοις δεινόν τε καὶ τύχης ἐναντίωμα παντάπασιν ἐδόκει εἶναι, εἰ πολλοί τε ὄντες πρὸς ὀλίγων πολεμίων ἐπιόντων σφίσιν ἡσσῶνται καὶ κατ' ὀλίγους αὖθις ἰόντες ἐπ' αὐτοὺς διαφθείρονται. 5.27.25 Βελισάριον δὲ δημοσίᾳ μὲν τῆς ξυνέσεως Ῥωμαῖοι ἐπῄνουν, ἐν θαύματι αὐτὴν, ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς, μεγάλῳ ποιούμενοι, ἰδίᾳ δὲ αὐτὸν ἠρώτων οἱ ἐπιτήδειοι ὅτῳ ποτὲ τεκμαιρόμενος ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗ τοὺς πολεμίους οὕτως ἡσσημένος διέφυγεν, εὔελπις ἐγεγόνει τῷ πο5.27.26 λέμῳ κατὰ κράτος αὐτῶν περιέσεσθαι. καὶ αὐτὸς ἔλεγεν ὡς αὐτοῖς κατ' ἀρχὰς ξὺν ὀλίγοις τισὶν ἐς χεῖρας ἐλθὼν κατενόησεν ὅτι ποτὲ τὸ διαφέρον ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ στρατιᾷ εἴη, ὥστε ἢν κατὰ λόγον τῆς δυνάμεως τὰς ξυμβολὰς ποιοίη, οὐδὲν ἂν τῇ σφετέρᾳ ὀλιγανθρωπίᾳ 5.27.27 τὸ τῶν πολεμίων λυμήνασθαι πλῆθος. διαφέρειν δὲ, ὅτι Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν σχεδόν τι ἅπαντες καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι Οὖννοι ἱπποτοξόται εἰσὶν ἀγαθοὶ, Γότθων δὲ τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο οὐδενὶ ἤσκηται, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ἱππεῖς αὐτοῖς μόνοις δορατίοις τε καὶ ξίφεσιν εἰώθασι χρῆσθαι, οἱ δὲ τοξόται, πεζοί τε ὄντες καὶ πρὸς τῶν ὁπλιτῶν καλυπτό5.27.28 μενοι, ἐς μάχην καθίστανται. οἵ τε οὖν ἱππεῖς, ἢν μὴ ἐκ χειρὸς ἡ ξυμβολὴ εἴη, οὐκ ἔχοντες καθ' ὅ τι ἀμυνοῦνται πρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων τοξεύμασι χρωμένων, εὐπετῶς ἂν βαλλόμενοι διαφθείρονται, καὶ οἱ πεζοὶ κατ' ἀνδρῶν ἱππέων ἐπεκδρομὰς ποιεῖσθαι οὐκ ἄν 5.27.29 ποτε ἱκανοὶ εἶεν. διὰ ταῦτα μὲν Βελισάριος ἰσχυρίζετο τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐν ταύταις δὴ ταῖς ξυμβολαῖς πρὸς Ῥωμαίων ἡσσῆσθαι. Γότθοι δὲ τῶν σφίσι ξυμβεβηκότων τὸ παράλογον ἐν νῷ ἔχοντες οὔτε κατ' ὀλίγους τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὸν Ῥώμης περίβολον ἐχώρουν οὔτε τοὺς πολεμίους ἐνοχλοῦντας ἐδίωκον, πλήν γε δὴ ὅσον ἐκ τῶν χαρακωμάτων ἀπώσασθαι. 5.28.1 Ὕστερον δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἅπαντες, ἐπαρθέντες τοῖς φθάσασιν εὐτυχήμασι, παντί τε τῷ Γότθων στρατεύματι ὤργων διὰ μάχης ἰέναι καὶ πολεμητέα εἶναι 5.28.2 ἐκ τοῦ ἐμφανοῦς σφίσιν ᾤοντο. Βελισάριος δὲ, πάμπολυ ἔτι εἶναι τὸ διαφέρον ἐν ἀμφοτέροις οἰόμενος, ὤκνει τε ἀεὶ τῷ παντὶ διακινδυνεύειν στρατεύματι καὶ τὰς ἐπεκδρομὰς ἐσπούδαζέ τε ἔτι μᾶλλον καὶ