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wherever it is his will.» {βάρβαροι} «Not even if we should assign ourselves to bring a stated sum of money to the emperor each year?» 6.6.32 {Βελισάριος} «Certainly not. For we are 6.6.33 «emperors for no other reason than to guard the country for its owner.» {βάρβαροι} «Come now, it is necessary for us to be sent to the emperor «and to make the treaty with him concerning all matters. «And it is necessary also to define a fixed time «during which it is proper for the armies to enter into a truce.» 6.6.34 {Βελισάριος} «So be it; let these things be done. For I shall never 6.6.35 «stand in the way of you who are planning for peace.» Having said so much, both sides broke off from the conference, and the envoys of the Goths withdrew to their own camp. 6.6.36 And on the following days, going back and forth frequently to one another, they both arranged the matters concerning the truce and how, on this condition, each side should furnish to the other some of their notable men as hostages. 6.7.1 While these things were being done here, at this time the fleet of the Isaurians put in at the harbour of the Romans, and the men with John came to Ostia, and not one of the enemy became an obstacle to them either as they were landing or as they were making camp. 6.7.2 And so that they might be able to pass the night in safety from a raid by the enemy, the Isaurians, having dug a deep trench very near the harbour, always kept guard in turn, and those with John, having fortified their camp with their wagons, remained quiet. 6.7.3 And when night came on, Belisarius came to Ostia with one hundred horsemen, and after telling both what had happened in the battle and what had been agreed upon by them and the Goths, and encouraging them in other matters, he ordered them to send the supplies and to proceed to Rome with eagerness. «For how,» he said, «the road shall be without danger I will 6.7.4 «provide.» He himself, therefore, rode off to the city at deep dawn, but Antonina, with the commanders, at daybreak was making a plan for the transport of the supplies. 6.7.5 And the matter seemed difficult and terribly perplexing. For the oxen no longer held out, but lay half-dead, all of them, and it was not without danger to travel along a narrow road with the wagons, and to tow the barges up the river, as had been the custom of old, was impossible. 6.7.6 For the road which is on the left of the river, as was said by me in the previous account, being held by the enemy, was at that time impassable for the Romans, and the one on the other side, at least along the bank, 6.7.7 happens to be altogether untrodden. For this reason, having selected the small boats from the larger ships, and having walled them around with high planks, so that those sailing might be least likely to be shot by the enemy, they put aboard both archers and 6.7.8 sailors according to the capacity of each. And having loaded on them as much of the cargo as they were able to carry, they sailed up the Tiber to Rome, watching for a favorable wind, and part of the army 6.7.9 had come to help on the right of the river. And many of the Isaurians were left behind guarding the ships. Therefore, where the river went straight, they sailed with no trouble, having raised the sails of the small boats; but where the current, winding, took a sideways course, there, since the sails were not at all acted upon by the wind, the sailors, by rowing and forcing their way against the current, had no moderate toil. 6.7.10 But the barbarians, sitting in their camps, were by no means willing to become an obstacle to the enemy, either because they dreaded the danger, or because they did not think that the Romans would ever bring in any of their necessities this way, and because they considered it disadvantageous to themselves to hinder, for a reason not worth mentioning, the hope of the truce which Belisarius had confirmed by his promise. 6.7.11 The Goths, however, as many as were in Portus, seeing the enemy always sailing close by, in no way attacked, but sat amazed at 6.7.12 their plan. But when, having sailed up many times in the same manner, they had brought in all the supplies at their leisure, the sailors with the ships withdrew with all speed (for it was already about the winter solstice of the year), and the rest of the army entered Rome, except that Paul in Ostia with

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ὅπη αὐτῷ βουλομένῳ ἐστίν.» {βάρβαροι} «Οὐδ' ἢν χρήματα ῥητὰ φέρειν βασιλεῖ «ἐφ' ἕκαστον ἔτος ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τάξωμεν;» 6.6.32 {Βελισάριος} «Οὐ δῆτα. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλου του ἡμεῖς 6.6.33 «αὐτοκράτορες ἢ ὥστε τῷ κεκτημένῳ φυλάξαι τὴν χώραν.» {βάρβαροι} «Φέρε δὴ, στέλλεσθαι ἡμᾶς παρὰ βασιλέα «ἀνάγκη καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὰς ξυνθήκας περὶ τῶν ὅλων «ποιήσασθαι. δεῖ δὲ καὶ τακτόν τινα ὁρίζεσθαι χρόνον «καθ' ὃν προσήκει τὰ στρατόπεδα ἐς ἐκεχειρίαν παρί»στασθαι.» 6.6.34 {Βελισάριος} «Ἔστω· γινέσθω ταῦτα. οὐ γάρ ποτε 6.6.35 «ὑμῖν εἰρηναῖα βουλευομένοις ἐμποδὼν στήσομαι.» τοσαῦτα εἰπόντες διελύθησάν τε ἐκ τῶν λόγων ἑκάτεροι καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις τῶν Γότθων ἐς τὸ σφέτερον στρατό6.6.36 πεδον ἀπεχώρησαν. ἡμέραις δὲ ταῖς ἐπιγινομέναις συχνὰ παρ' ἀλλήλους φοιτῶντες τά τε ἀμφὶ τῇ ἐκεχειρίᾳ διετίθεντο καὶ ὅπως δὴ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῶν τινας ἐπισήμων ἑκάτεροι ἀλλήλοις ἐν ὁμήρων λόγῳ παρέχωνται. 6.7.1 Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπράσσετο τῇδε, ἐν τούτῳ ὅ τε τῶν Ἰσαύρων στόλος τῷ Ῥωμαίων λιμένι προσέσχε καὶ οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐς Ὀστίαν ἦλθον, καὶ τῶν μὲν πολεμίων οὐδεὶς οὔτε καταίρουσιν οὔτε στρατο6.7.2 πεδευομένοις ἐμπόδιος σφίσιν ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς. ὅπως δὲ ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ διανυκτερεύειν οἷοί τε ὦσιν ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς τῆς πρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων, οἵ τε Ἴσαυροι τάφρον βαθεῖαν ἄγχιστα τοῦ λιμένος ὀρύξαντες φυλακὰς ἐκ περιτροπῆς ἀεὶ ἐποιοῦντο καὶ οἱ ξὺν τῷ Ἰωάννῃ ταῖς ἁμάξαις φραξάμενοι τὸ στρατόπεδον ἡσυχίαν εἶχον. 6.7.3 ἐπειδή τε νὺξ ἐπεγένετο, Βελισάριος ἐς Ὀστίαν ξὺν ἱππεῦσιν ἑκατὸν ἦλθε καὶ τά τε ξυμπεπτωκότα ἐν τῇ ξυμβολῇ τά τε ξυγκείμενα σφίσι τε καὶ Γότθοις εἰπὼν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα παραθαρσύνας, τά τε φορτία πέμπειν ἐκέλευε καὶ ξὺν προθυμίᾳ ἐς Ῥώμην ἰέναι. «ὅπως «γὰρ», ἔφη, «ἄνευ κινδύνου ἡ ὁδὸς ἔσται ἐγὼ προ6.7.4 «νοήσω.» αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ὄρθρου βαθέος ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἀπήλαυνεν, Ἀντωνίαν δὲ ξὺν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἅμα ἡμέρᾳ τῶν φορτίων τὴν παρακομιδὴν ἐν βουλῇ ἐποιεῖτο. 6.7.5 ἐδόκει δὲ χαλεπὸν καὶ δεινῶς ἄπορον τὸ πρᾶγμα εἶναι. οἵ τε γὰρ βόες οὐκέτι ἀντεῖχον, ἀλλ' ἡμιθνῆτες ἅπαντες ἔκειντο, ἦν δὲ οὐδὲ ἀκίνδυνον στενήν τινα ὁδὸν ξὺν ταῖς ἁμάξαις πορεύεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰς βάρεις ἀνέλκειν, καθάπερ τὸ παλαιὸν εἴθιστο, ἀδύνατα 6.7.6 ἦν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὁδὸς, ἣ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐν ἀριστερᾷ ἐστιν, ὥσπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ἐχομένη Ῥωμαίοις τηνικαῦτα ἀπόρευτος ἦν, ἡ δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ θάτερα, ὅσα γε παρ' ὄχθην, 6.7.7 ἀστίβητος παντάπασι τυγχάνει οὖσα. διὸ δὴ τοὺς λέμβους νηῶν τῶν μειζόνων ἀπολεξάμενοι, σανίσι τε αὐτοὺς ὑψηλαῖς κύκλῳ τειχίσαντες, ὅπως οἱ πλέοντες πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ἥκιστα βάλλωνται, τοξότας τε καὶ 6.7.8 ναύτας ἐσεβίβασαν κατὰ λόγον ἑκάστου. τῶν τε φορτίων ἐν αὐτοῖς ὅσα φέρειν οἷοί τε ἦσαν ἐνθέμενοι, διὰ τοῦ Τιβέριδος ἐς Ῥώμην πνεῦμα τηρήσαντες σφίσιν ἐπίφορον ἐναυτίλλοντο, καὶ τοῦ στρατοῦ μέρος 6.7.9 ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ ποταμοῦ παρεβεβοηθήκει. ἐλείποντο δὲ τῶν Ἰσαύρων συχνοὺς τὰς ναῦς φυλάσσοντας. ἔνθα μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος ὁ ποταμὸς ᾔει, πόνῳ οὐδενὶ ἔπλεον, ἀράμενοι τὰ τῶν λέμβων ἱστία· ᾗ δὲ ὁ ῥοῦς ἑλισσόμενος ὁδὸν πλαγίαν ἐφέρετο, ἐνταῦθα ἐπεὶ τὰ ἱστία τῷ πνεύματι οὐδαμῆ ἐνηργεῖτο, ἐρέσσοντές τε καὶ τὸν ῥοῦν βιαζόμενοι πόνον οἱ ναῦται οὐ μέτριον 6.7.10 εἶχον. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι ἐν τοῖς στρατοπέδοις καθήμενοι ἐμπόδιοι γίνεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις ἥκιστα ἤθελον, ἢ κατωρρωδηκότες τὸν κίνδυνον, ἢ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ταύτῃ Ῥωμαίους ἐσκομίζεσθαί τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων οἰόμενοι, αἰτίᾳ τε οὐ λόγου ἀξίᾳ διακωλύειν τὴν τῆς ἐκεχειρίας ἐλπίδα, ἣν ὑποσχέσει Βελισάριος ἐκρατύνατο, ἀξύμφο6.7.11 ρον σφίσιν εἶναι ἡγούμενοι. Γότθοι μέντοι, ὅσοι ἐν Πόρτῳ ἦσαν, ἐν χρῷ ἀεὶ παραπλέοντας τοὺς πολεμίους θεώμενοι οὐδαμῆ ἥπτοντο, ἀλλὰ τεθηπότες ἐκάθηντο 6.7.12 τὴν αὐτῶν ἔννοιαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τρόπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ πολλάκις ἀναπλεύσαντες ἅπαντα κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐσεκομίσαντο τὰ φορτία, οἱ μὲν ναῦται ξὺν ταῖς ναυσὶν ἀνεχώρησαν κατὰ τάχος (ἤδη γὰρ καὶ τοῦ ἔτους ἀμφὶ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς ἦν), τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν στράτευμα ἐς Ῥώμην ἐσῆλθε, πλήν γε δὴ ὅτι Παῦλος ἐν Ὀστίᾳ ξὺν