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a deserter from the Armenians who were subjects of the Persians, having previously come over to the Roman side with his brother Aratius, who a little before happened to have come to Belisarius with another army. 6.13.18 And there followed him also about two thousand of the nation of the Eruli, whom Visandus and Aluithes and Phanitheus were leading. 6.14.1 Who the Eruli are among men and from where they came into an alliance with the Romans I shall now proceed to say. From ancient times they dwelt beyond the Ister river, believing in a great host of gods, whom indeed it seemed to them a holy thing to propitiate with human 6.14.2 sacrifices. And they used many customs not in the same way as other men. For neither for those growing old nor for those who were sick among them was it permitted to live, but whenever one of them was overcome by either old age or sickness, it became necessary for him to ask his kinsmen 6.14.3 to remove him from among men as quickly as possible. And they, having piled up much wood to a great height and having seated the man on top of the wood, would send to him one of the Eruli, but a stranger, with a dagger. 6.14.4 For it is not lawful for the slayer to be a kinsman of his. And when the slayer of their kinsman returned to them, they immediately burned all the wood, beginning from the outer edges. 6.14.5 And when the flame had ceased for them, having collected the bones, they at once buried them in the earth. 6.14.6 And when an Erulian man died, it was necessary for his wife, if she claimed virtue and wished to leave glory for herself, to fasten a noose by her husband's 6.14.7 tomb and to die not long after. And if she did not do these things, the result for the future was for her to be dishonored and to have offended her husband's relatives. Such then were the customs used by the Eruli in ancient times. 6.14.8 And as time went on, having become superior in both power and population to all the neighboring barbarians, they naturally attacked and conquered each one 6.14.9 and plundered them by force. And finally they made both the Langobards, who were Christians, and certain other nations subject to themselves for the payment of tribute, this practice not being customary for the barbarians in that region, but they were led to this 6.14.10 by avarice and arrogance. However, when Anastasius took over the Roman empire, the Eruli, having no one against whom they might go for the future, laid down their arms and remained at peace, and a period of three years was spent by them in this 6.14.11 peace. And they themselves, being exceedingly vexed, were freely reviling Rodulph their leader, and constantly going to him they called him soft and effeminate, and taunting him with certain other names they abused him without any restraint. 6.14.12 And Rodulph, bearing the insult very badly, marched against the Langobards, who were doing no wrong, neither bringing any charge against them nor considering any dissolution of their agreements, but 6.14.13 bringing on a war that had no cause. When the Langobards heard of this, sending to Rodulph they enquired and asked him to state the cause for which the Eruli were coming against them in arms, agreeing that, if they had withheld any of the tribute, to pay it back at once with a large addition; but if they found fault that the tribute assigned to them was moderate, the Langobards would never be reluctant to make it greater. 6.14.14 Having dismissed with a threat the envoys who proposed these things, Rodulph marched forward. And they, yet again sending other envoys to him, beseeched him with many entreaties concerning the same matters. 6.14.15 And when the second envoys had also departed in this way, a third set of envoys, coming to him, warned the Eruli 6.14.16 by no means to bring upon them a war without pretext. For if they should come against them with such an intention, they themselves too, not willingly, but as being utterly compelled, would array themselves against the attackers, calling God to witness, of whose turning of the scale even the slightest drop would be a match for all the power of men; and it was likely that He, moved by the causes of the war, would award the outcome of the battle 6.14.17 to both sides. They said these things, thinking by this to frighten the attackers, but the Eruli, shrinking from...

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Ἀρμενίων τῶν Πέρσαις κατηκόων αὐτόμολος ἐς τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἤθη πρότερον ξὺν Ἀρατίῳ τἀδελφῷ ἥκων, ὃς ὀλίγῳ ἔμπροσθεν ξὺν ἑτέρῳ στρατῷ παρὰ Βελι6.13.18 σάριον ἐλθὼν ἔτυχεν. εἵποντο δέ οἱ καὶ τοῦ Ἐρούλων ἔθνους δισχίλιοι μάλιστα, ὧν Οὐίσανδός τε καὶ Ἀλουὶθ καὶ Φανίθεος ἦρχον. 6.14.1 Οἵτινες δὲ ἀνθρώπων εἰσὶν Ἔρουλοι καὶ ὅθεν Ῥωμαίοις ἐς ξυμμαχίαν κατέστησαν ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. ὑπὲρ μὲν Ἴστρον ποταμὸν ἐκ παλαιοῦ ᾤκουν πολύν τινα νομίζοντες θεῶν ὅμιλον, οὓς δὴ καὶ ἀνθρώπων 6.14.2 θυσίαις ἱλάσκεσθαι ὅσιον αὐτοῖς ἐδόκει εἶναι. νόμοις δὲ πολλοῖς οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώπων ἑτέροις ἐχρῶντο. οὔτε γὰρ γηράσκουσιν οὔτε νοσοῦσιν αὐτοῖς βιοτεύειν ἐξῆν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδάν τις αὐτῶν ἢ γήρᾳ ἢ νόσῳ ἁλῴη, ἐπάναγκές οἱ ἐγίνετο τοὺς ξυγγενεῖς αἰτεῖσθαι 6.14.3 ὅτι τάχιστα ἐξ ἀνθρώπων αὐτὸν ἀφανίζειν. οἱ δὲ ξύλα πολλὰ ἐς μέγα τι ὕψος ξυννήσαντες καθίσαντές τε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐν τῇ τῶν ξύλων ὑπερβολῇ, τῶν τινα Ἐρούλων, ἀλλότριον μέντοι, ξὺν ξιφιδίῳ παρ' 6.14.4 αὐτὸν ἔπεμπον. ξυγγενῆ γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸν φονέα εἶναι οὐ θέμις. ἐπειδὰν δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁ τοῦ ξυγγενοῦς φονεὺς ἐπανῄει, ξύμπαντα ἔκαιον αὐτίκα τὰ ξύλα, ἐκ τῶν 6.14.5 ἐσχάτων ἀρξάμενοι. παυσαμένης τε αὐτοῖς τῆς φλογὸς ξυλλέξαντες τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐν τῷ παραυτίκα τῇ γῇ ἔκρυπτον. 6.14.6 Ἐρούλου δὲ ἀνδρὸς τελευτήσαντος ἐπάναγκες τῇ γυναικὶ ἀρετῆς τε μεταποιουμένῃ καὶ κλέος αὑτῇ ἐθελούσῃ λείπεσθαι βρόχον ἀναψαμένῃ παρὰ τὸν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς 6.14.7 τάφον οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν θνήσκειν. οὐ ποιούσῃ τε ταῦτα περιειστήκει τὸ λοιπὸν ἀδόξῳ τε εἶναι καὶ τοῖς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς συγγενέσι προσκεκρουκέναι. τοιούτοις μὲν ἐχρῶντο Ἔρουλοι τὸ παλαιὸν νόμοις. 6.14.8 Προϊόντος δὲ χρόνου δυνάμει τε καὶ πολυανθρωπίᾳ τῶν περιοίκων βαρβάρων ἁπάντων καθυπέρτεροι γεγενημένοι, ἐπιόντες τε, ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς, ἑκάστους ἐνίκων 6.14.9 καὶ βιαζόμενοι ἐληΐζοντο. καὶ τελευτῶντες Λαγγοβάρδας τε Χριστιανοὺς ὄντας καὶ ἄλλα ἄττα ἔθνη ὑπήκοα σφίσιν ἐς ἀπαγωγὴν φόρου πεποίηνται, οὐκ εἰθισμένον τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο τοῖς ἐκείνῃ βαρβάροις, ὑπὸ δὲ φιλο6.14.10 χρηματίας τε καὶ ἀλαζονείας ἐνταῦθα ἠγμένοι. ἡνίκα μέντοι Ἀναστάσιος Ῥωμαίων τὴν βασιλείαν παρέλαβεν, οὐκ ἔχοντες Ἔρουλοι ἐφ' οὕστινας ἀνθρώπους τὸ λοιπὸν ἔλθοιεν, καταθέμενοι τὰ ὅπλα ἡσυχῆ ἔμενον, χρόνος τε αὐτοῖς ἐνιαυτῶν τριῶν ἐν ταύτῃ δὴ τῇ 6.14.11 εἰρήνῃ ἐτρίβη. καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐς ἄγαν ἀχθόμενοι Ῥοδοῦλφον ἀνέδην σφῶν τὸν ἡγεμόνα ἐκάκιζον, φοιτῶντές τε ἀεὶ παρ' αὐτὸν μαλθακόν τε καὶ γυναικώδη ἐκάλουν, ἄλλοις τέ τισιν αὐτὸν ἐρεσχελοῦντες ὀνόμασι κόσμῳ 6.14.12 οὐδενὶ ἐλοιδοροῦντο. Ῥοδοῦλφός τε τὴν ὕβριν ὡς ἥκιστα φέρων ἐπὶ Λαγγοβάρδας οὐδὲν ἀδικοῦντας ἐστράτευσεν, οὔτε τινὰ σφίσιν ἁμαρτάδα ἐπενεγκὼν οὔτε λύσιν τινὰ τῶν ξυγκειμένων σκεψάμενος, ἀλλὰ 6.14.13 πόλεμον ἐπιφέρων αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔχοντα. ὅπερ ἐπειδὴ Λαγγοβάρδαι ἀκοῇ ἔλαβον, πέμψαντες παρὰ τὸν Ῥοδοῦλφον ἀνεπυνθάνοντο καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἠξίουν εἰπεῖν, ἧς δὴ ἕνεκα Ἔρουλοι ἐν ὅπλοις ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἴοιεν, ὁμολογοῦντες, εἰ μέν τι ἀπεστερήκασι τοῦ φόρου, ἀλλ' αὐτίκα μάλα ξὺν μεγάλῳ αὐτὸ ἀποτίσειν· εἰ δὲ μέμφονται μέτριον σφίσι τετάχθαι τὸν φόρον, ἀλλὰ μείζω ποιήσειν αὐτὸν οὐ μήποτε Λαγγοβάρδαι ὀκνηροὶ ἔσον6.14.14 ται. ταῦτα μὲν τοὺς πρέσβεις προτεινομένους ξὺν ἀπειλῇ ὁ Ῥοδοῦλφος ἀποπεμψάμενος πρόσω ἤλαυνεν. οἱ δὲ καὶ αὖθις πρέσβεις ἑτέρους πρὸς αὐτὸν στείλαντες περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πολλὰ λιπαροῦντες ἱκέτευον. 6.14.15 οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῶν δευτέρων ἀπαλλαγέντων τρίτοι πρέσβεις παρ' αὐτὸν ἥκοντες ἀπεῖπον Ἐρούλους πόλεμον 6.14.16 ἀπροφάσιστον μηδαμῶς σφίσιν ἐπενεγκεῖν. ἢν γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι γνώμῃ τοιαύτῃ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἴωσι, καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐχ ἑκούσιοι, ἀλλ' ὡς μάλιστα ἠναγκασμένοι, ἀντιτάξονται τοῖς ἐπιοῦσι, μαρτυράμενοι τὸν θεὸν, οὗπερ τῆς ῥοπῆς καὶ βραχεῖά τις τὸ παράπαν ἰκμὰς πάσῃ τῇ ἀνθρώπων δυνάμει ἀντίξους ἔσται· αὐτόν τε εἰκὸς ταῖς τοῦ πολέμου αἰτίαις ἠγμένον ἀμφοτέροις πρυτανεῦσαι τῆς 6.14.17 μάχης τὸ πέρας. οἱ μὲν ταῦτα εἶπον, δεδίσσεσθαι ταύτῃ τοὺς ἐπιόντας οἰόμενοι, Ἔρουλοι δὲ, ὑποστειλάμενοι τῶν