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But the Romans, having been scattered by an untimely fear through places difficult to pass, fell into great dangers. But when morning came, they were delivered from the calamity, and having found the general, they assailed him with the most shameful insults. But the Persians, thinking the flight to be a feigned one, did not dare to pursue.

But Heraclius, having crossed the Tigris, gave over to fire as many of the notable places of the Median land as there were, and thus returned to Philippicus with much spoil. And again a war of the Persians with the Romans takes place at Martyropolis, and the Romans prevail, and the general of the Persians, Barouzas, is killed, and three thousand are also taken alive, along with the commanders of the Persian regiments. But only a thousand in number were saved, who also returned with dangers to Persia. The Romans send to the emperor the Persian spoils and all those taken alive along with the standards. And Maurice built the Carian Portico in Blachernae, depicting on it through painting his own deeds from childhood until his reign. He also completed the public bath in it. And he decreed that the supplication called the *litē* be performed on Friday in Blachernae and be completed in the Chalkoprateia.

In the 6th year the Longobards took up war against the Romans, 1.695 and the nations of the Maurusii made great disturbances in Africa. And in Persia there is a prison called Lethe, in which the king of the Persians had locked up many from different nations, along with the captives from the city of Daras. These therefore, despairing for themselves, rose up against those guarding them; and having killed them, they came to Byzantium, and the emperor received them with great joy. And again Comentiolus goes into the war against the Persians, and having been victorious sends much spoil to Byzantium. In the 7th year, Bahram, having risen against Chosroes, forced him to take refuge with the Romans; to whom the emperor gave an alliance, killed Bahram, and took control of Persia. But fearing assassination, he asks Maurice for a thousand Romans for his guard. And the emperor does this also, so that Chosroes said that the Romans grant the kingdom to the Persians. In the 8th year at Easter, Theodosius, son of Maurice, is crowned by John, patriarch of Constantinople, being four and a half years old. In the same year, Maurice completed the church of the Forty Saints, which Tiberius had begun, and with the east having a deep peace, he transferred the forces of the armies to Thrace. In the 9th year, as the emperor was setting out with the armies to the west, he was prevented by everyone from serving in the war. And in Daonium a woman bore a child having neither eyes nor 1.696 eyelids nor hands nor feet, and attached to its hip was the shelled tail of a fish. On the same day also a six-footed dog, having the head of a lion, was born and became very large. On the same day the emperor's horse, which wore the golden ornament, suddenly fell and burst apart. Taking all these as an omen, the emperor was very sorrowful. But learning that ambassadors of the Persians and of the Franks had arrived in Byzantium, he returned to the palace. From the histories of Simocatta, the speech of Chosroes, king of the Persians, to John, the general of the Romans, who had mocked him when he was sent by Maurice to his aid. "If we were not being oppressed by fortune, you would not have dared, general, to assail the great king among men with jests. But since you are puffed up by present circumstances, you will hear what indeed has been planned by the gods for a later time. Terrible things, know well, will flow back upon you Romans, and you will have the Babylonian race ruling the Roman state for a three-fold cyclical week of years. and after this for a fifth week

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Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ τῷ ἀκαίρῳ φόβῳ διασκεδασθέντες διὰ δυσδιεξοδεύτων τόπων μεγάλοις κινδύνοις περιέπεσον. πρωΐας δὲ γενομένης, τῆς συμφορᾶς ἀπηλλάττοντο, καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν καταλαβόντες ὕβρεσιν αἰσχίσταις τοῦτον ἔβαλον. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι ἐπίπλαστον νομίσαντες εἶναι τὴν φυγὴν διῶξαι οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν.

Ἡράκλειος δὲ διαπερά σας τὸν Τίγρην, ὅσα τῆς Μηδικῆς χώρας ἦσαν ἐπίσημα χωρία παρεδίδου πυρί, καὶ οὕτως πρὸς Φιλιππικὸν ἀνέστρεψε μετὰ σκύ λων πολλῶν. καὶ γίνεται πάλιν κατὰ τὴν Μαρτυρούπολιν Περ σικὸς μετὰ Ῥωμαίων πόλεμος, καὶ κρατοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι, καὶ ἀναιρεῖται ὁ τῶν Περσῶν στρατηγὸς Βαρουζᾶς, συλλαμβάνονται δὲ καὶ ζῶντες τρισχίλιοι καὶ οἱ τῶν Περσικῶν ταγμάτων ταξίαρχοι. χίλιοι δὲ μόνοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐσώθησαν, οἳ καὶ μετὰ κινδύνων ἐπὶ τὴν Περσίδα ἀνέστρεψαν. οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι πέμπουσι πρὸς τὸν βα σιλέα τὰ Περσικὰ λάφυρα καὶ τοὺς ζωγρηθέντας ἅπαντας σὺν τοῖς βάνδοις. ὁ δὲ Μαυρίκιος ἔκτισε τὸν Καριανὸν ἔμβολον ἐν Βλα χέρναις, γράψας ἐν αὐτῷ διὰ ζωγραφίας τὰς ἑαυτοῦ πράξεις τὰς ἐκ παιδόθεν μέχρι τῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλείας. ἀνεπλήρωσε δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ δημόσιον λουτρόν. τυποῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν λιτὴν καλουμένην πρεσβείαν κατὰ παρασκευὴν ἐν Βλαχέρναις τελεῖσθαι καὶ ἐν τοῖς Χαλκοπρατείοις πληροῦσθαι.

Τῷ ʹ ἔτει οἱ Λογγίβαρδοι πόλεμον ἤραντο κατὰ Ῥωμαίων, 1.695 καὶ τὰ τῶν Μαυρουσίων ἔθνη κατὰ τὴν Ἀφρικὴν μεγάλας ταραχὰς ἐποιήσαντο. ἐν δὲ τῇ Περσίδι φυλακὴ ὑπάρχει ἡ λεγομένη Λήθη, ἐν ᾗ πολλοὺς ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεὺς ἀπὸ διαφόρων ἐθνῶν ἐν ταύτῃ κατέκλεισε σὺν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις τῆς πόλεως ∆αράς. οὗτοι οὖν ἀπογνόντες ἑαυτῶν ἐπανίστανται κατὰ τῶν φυλασσόντων αὐ τούς· οὓς καὶ ἀνελόντες εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον ἥκασι, καὶ ὑπεδέξατο αὐτοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ χαρᾶς μεγάλης. καὶ πάλιν Κομμεντίολος εἰς τὸν κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν πόλεμον χωρεῖ, καὶ νικήσας πολλὰ λά φυρα ἐν Βυζαντίῳ πέμπει. Τῷ ζʹ ἔτει Βαρὰμ κατὰ Χοσρόου γενόμενος τοῦτον τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις προσρυῆναι ἠνάγκασεν· ᾧ δοὺς ὁ βασιλεὺς συμμαχίαν τόν τε Βαρὰμ ἀπέκτεινε καὶ τὴν Περσίδα ἐκράτησε. δεδοικὼς δὲ τὴν δολοφονίαν, ζητεῖ Μαυρίκιον εἰς φυλακὴν αὐτοῦ χιλίους Ῥω μαίους. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ποιεῖ καὶ τοῦτο, ὡς λέγειν τὸν Χοσρόην ὅτι Ῥωμαῖοι Πέρσαις τὴν βασιλείαν χαρίζονται. Τῷ ηʹ ἔτει τὸ πάσχα Θεοδόσιος υἱὸς Μαυρικίου στέφεται ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, χρόνων ὑπάρχων τεσσάρων ἥμισυ. τῷ δ' αὐτῷ ἔτει Μαυρίκιος τὸν ναὸν τῶν ἁγίων τεσσαράκοντα, ὃν ἀπήρξατο Τιβέριος, ἀνεπλήρωσε, καὶ τῆς ἀνα τολῆς εἰρήνην βαθεῖαν ἐχούσης τὰς δυνάμεις τῶν στρατευμάτων ἐπὶ τὴν Θρᾴκην διεβίβασε. Τῷ θʹ ἔτει τοῦ βασιλέως μετὰ τῶν στρατευμάτων ἐπὶ τὴν δύσιν ἐξερχομένου, ἐκωλύετο παρὰ πάντων ὑπουργῆσαι τῷ πο λέμῳ. ἐν δὲ τῷ ∆αονίῳ ἔτεκε γυνὴ παιδίον μήτε ὀφθαλμοὺς μήτε 1.696 βλέφαρα μήτε χεῖρας μήτε πόδας ἔχων, πρὸς δὲ τῷ ἰσχίῳ ἰχθύος οὐρὰ προσφυῶς ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ ὀστρακόδερμος. τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ κύων ἑξάπους, κεφαλὴν ἔχων λεοντώδη, γεννηθεὶς ἐγένετο μέγας σφόδρα. τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὁ ἵππος τοῦ βασιλέως, ὁ τὸν χρυσοῦν περικείμενος κόσμον, ἀθρόως διερράγη πεσών. τούτοις πᾶσιν οἰωνισάμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς περίλυπος ἦν. μαθὼν δὲ ὅτι πρέσβεις εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον Περσῶν τε καὶ Φράγγων παρεγένοντο, ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια. Ἀπὸ τῶν ἱστορικῶν τοῦ Σιμοκάτου λόγος Χοσρόου βασιλέως Περσῶν πρὸς Ἰωάννην στρατηγὸν Ῥωμαίων, ἀποσκώψαντα εἰςαὐτὸν ὅτε ἀπεστάλη παρὰ τοῦ Μαυρικίου εἰς βοήθειαν αὐτοῦ. "εἰ μή περ ἀπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ ἐτυραννούμεθα, οὐκ ἂν ἐθάρρησας, στρατηγέ, τὸν μέγαν ἐν ἀνθρώποις βασιλέα βάλλειν τοῖς σκώμ μασιν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖς παροῦσι μέγα φρονεῖς, ἀκούσῃ τί δῆτα τοῖς θεοῖς ἐσύστερον μεμελέτηται. ἀντικαταρρεύσει, εὖ ἴσθι, εἰς τοὺς Ῥωμαίους ὑμᾶς δεινά, ἕξετε δὲ τὸ Βαβυλώνιον φῦλον τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς πολιτείας κρατοῦν τριττὴν κυκλοφορικὴν ἑβδομάδα ἐτῶν. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο πεμπταίαν ἑβδομάδα