259

their provisions had failed them, and for a very long time they soaked hides and skins in water and then ate them; for Albilas, who was their commander, a man most esteemed among the Goths, kept feeding them with empty hopes. 6.20.15 And when the revolving time again brought the summer season, the grain was already ripening of its own accord in the fields, not so much, however, as before, but 6.20.16 much less. For since it had not been hidden in the furrows by ploughs or by the hands of men, but happened to be lying on the surface, the earth was able to make only a small portion of it grow. 6.20.17 And since no one reaped it anymore, when it was past its prime it fell again and nothing grew from it thereafter. And this same thing happened to have occurred also in Aemilia. 6.20.18 Therefore the people there left their homes and went to Picenum, not thinking that the places there, because they were 6.20.19 on the sea, would be entirely oppressed by the scarcity. And the famine gripped the Tuscans no less for the same reason, but as many of them as lived in the mountains ground the acorns of the oaks, just like grain, 6.20.20 and making loaves from them, they ate them. And most, as was likely, were afflicted with all kinds of diseases, 6.20.21 but some even recovered and were saved. In Picenum, however, it is said that Roman farmers, no fewer than fifty thousand people, perished from famine, and many more still 6.20.22 outside the Ionian gulf. What they became in appearance and in what manner they died I myself have seen and will now proceed to tell. 6.20.23 They all became thin and pale; for their flesh, lacking nourishment, began, according to the old saying, to consume itself, and the bile, now holding sway over what was left of their bodies, cast its own peculiar hue upon them. 6.20.24 As the affliction progressed, all moisture failed them and their skin, having become exceedingly dry, was very much like leather, giving the impression that it was stuck fast to their bones. And changing from a livid to a black colour, they resembled torches that have been excessively burned. 6.20.25 And their faces were always stupefied, and they always had a terribly frantic look. And some died from lack of 6.20.26 food, and others from eating too much of it to satiety. For since all the natural heat which nature had kindled within them happened to be extinguished, if anyone fed them to satiety and not little by little, like newborn children, they, being no longer able to digest the food, perished much 6.20.27 more quickly. And some, as the famine became overpowering, tasted of one another. And it is said that two women in a certain country place above the city of Ariminum had eaten seventeen men, as they happened to be the only ones left in the place. 6.20.28 So it happened that travelers on that road would lodge in the dwelling where these women lived; and these they would kill as they slept and eat. 6.20.29 They say, then, that the eighteenth traveler, having awakened from sleep when these women were about to set upon him, started up and learned the whole story from them 6.20.30 and killed them both. So they say this happened in this way. But most people, constrained by the necessity of the famine, if they happened upon any grass anywhere, would go to it with great haste, and kneeling down they would try to pull it from 6.20.31 the earth. Then (for they were not able, since all strength had failed them) they would fall over the grass and their 6.20.32 hand and die. And no one at all buried them in the earth; for there was no one for whom burial could be a concern; however, no bird touched them, though many are accustomed to feed on dead bodies, since 6.20.33 there was nothing for them to desire. For all their flesh, as I have said before, had already been consumed by the famine. Such, then, were the circumstances of the famine in this region. 6.21.1 But when Belisarius heard that Uraias and the barbarians were besieging Mediolanum, he sent Martinus and Uliaris against them with a large army. 6.21.2 And they, having arrived at the river Padus, which is a day's journey from Mediolanum, encamped and remained there. And much time was spent by them there, as they deliberated about 6.21.3 crossing the river. When Mundilas heard this, a certain one of the Romans, Paulus by name, 6.21.4 to them

259

σφᾶς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια ἐπελελοίπει, δέρρεις τε καὶ διφθέρας ὕδατι βρέχοντες πολύν τινα χρόνον εἶτα ἤσθιον· Ἀλβίλας γὰρ, ὃς αὐτῶν ἦρχεν, ἀνὴρ ἐν Γότθοις δόκιμος μάλιστα, ἐλπίσιν αὐτοὺς κεναῖς ἔβοσκεν. 6.20.15 Ἡνίκα τε αὖθις ἐπανιὼν ὁ χρόνος τὴν τοῦ θέρους ὥραν ἤνεγκεν, ὁ σῖτος ἤδη ἐν τοῖς ληΐοις αὐτόματος ἤκμαζεν, οὐχὶ τοσοῦτος μέντοι, ὅσος τὸ πρότερον, ἀλλὰ 6.20.16 πολλῷ ἥσσων. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς αὔλαξιν οὐκ ἀρότροις οὐδὲ χερσὶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκέκρυπτο, ἀλλ' ἐπιπολῆς κείμενος ἔτυχε, μοῖραν αὐτοῦ τινα ὀλίγην ἡ γῆ ἐνεργεῖν 6.20.17 ἴσχυεν. οὐδενός τε αὐτὸν ἔτι ἀμήσαντος, πόρρω ἀκμῆς ἐλθὼν αὖθις ἔπεσε καὶ οὐδὲν τὸ λοιπὸν ἐνθένδε ἐφύη. ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ Αἰμιλίᾳ ξυμπεπτωκὸς ἔτυχε. 6.20.18 διὸ ἐκλιπόντες τὰ οἰκεῖα ταύτῃ ἄνθρωποι ἐς Πικηνὸν ἦλθον, οὐκ ἂν οἰόμενοι τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία διὰ τὸ ἐπι6.20.19 θαλάττια εἶναι παντάπασι τῇ ἀπορίᾳ πιέζεσθαι. καὶ Τούσκων δὲ οὐδέν τι ἧσσον ἐξ αἰτίας τῆς αὐτῆς ὁ λιμὸς ἥψατο, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν ὅσοι ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ᾤκηντο, τῶν δρυῶν τὰς βαλάνους ἀλοῦντες, ὥσπερ τὸν σῖτον, 6.20.20 ἄρτους τε ἀπ' αὐτῶν ποιούμενοι ἤσθιον. καὶ νόσοις μὲν παντοδαπαῖς, ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς, οἱ πλεῖστοι ἡλίσκοντο, 6.20.21 ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ περιγενόμενοι διεσώζοντο. ἐν Πικηνῷ μέντοι λέγονται Ῥωμαῖοι γεωργοὶ οὐχ ἥσσους ἢ πέντε μυριάδες λαοῦ λιμῷ ἀπολωλέναι, καὶ πολλῷ ἔτι πλείους 6.20.22 ἐκτὸς κόλπου τοῦ Ἰονίου. ὁποῖοι δὲ τὸ εἶδος ἐγίνοντο καὶ ὅτῳ τρόπῳ ἔθνησκον αὐτὸς θεασάμενος ἐρῶν ἔρχο6.20.23 μαι. ἰσχνοὶ μὲν καὶ ὠχροὶ ἐγίνοντο πάντες· ἥ τε γὰρ σὰρξ ἀποροῦσα τροφῆς κατά γε τὸν παλαιὸν λόγον ἑαυτῆς ἥπτετο, καὶ ἡ χολὴ τῷ περιόντι τὸ κράτος τῶν σωμάτων ἤδη ἔχουσα οἰκείαν τινὰ εἰκασίαν ἐς ταῦτα 6.20.24 ἠφίει. προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ, πᾶσά τε αὐτοὺς ἰκμὰς ἐπελελοίπει καὶ τὸ δέρμα λίαν ἀπεσκληκὸς βύρσῃ μάλιστα ἐμφερὲς ἦν, δόκησιν παρέχον ὡς ἄρα τοῖς ὀστέοις ἐμπεπηγὸς εἴη. τό τε πελιδνὸν ἐς τὸ μέλαν μεταβαλόντες δᾳδίοις τισὶν ἐς ἄγαν καυθεῖσιν ἐῴκεσαν. 6.20.25 καὶ αὐτοῖς μὲν ἀεὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ἔκθαμβα ἦν, ἀεὶ δὲ δεινῶς τι μανικὸν ἔβλεπον. ἔθνησκόν τε οἱ μὲν ἀπορίᾳ 6.20.26 τροφῆς, οἱ δὲ καὶ λίαν αὐτῆς ἐς κόρον ἰόντες. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ σφίσιν ἀποσβεσθὲν ἅπαν τὸ θερμὸν ἔτυχεν, ὅπερ ἡ φύσις ἐντὸς ἔκαυσεν, εἴ τις ἐς κόρον αὐτοὺς, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατὰ βραχὺ θρέψειεν, ὥσπερ τὰ ἐπὶ καιροῦ τεχθέντα παιδία, οἵδε καταπέψαι οὐκέτι τὰ σιτία ἔχοντες, πολλῷ 6.20.27 διεφθείροντο θᾶσσον. τινὲς δὲ τοῦ λιμοῦ ὑπερβιαζομένου ἀλλήλων ἐγεύσαντο. καὶ λέγονται γυναῖκες δύο ἐν ἀγρῷ τινι ὑπὲρ Ἀριμίνου πόλεως ἄνδρας ἑπτακαίδεκα ἐδηδοκέναι, ἅσπερ ἐν τῷ χωρίῳ μόνας περιεῖναι 6.20.28 ξυνέπεσε. διὸ δὴ τοὺς ἐκείνῃ πορευομένους ξένους εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον καταλύειν, οὗπερ αὗται ᾤκουν, ξυνέβαινεν· οὓς δὴ καθεύδοντας διαφθείρουσαι ἤσθιον. 6.20.29 λέγουσιν οὖν τὸν ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ξένον ἐξ ὕπνου ἀναστάντα, ἡνίκα αὐτῷ τὰ τοιαῦτα γύναια ἐγχειρεῖν ἔμελλον, μαθεῖν τε παρ' αὐτῶν ἀναθορόντα τὸν πάντα 6.20.30 λόγον καὶ ἄμφω κτεῖναι. τοῦτο μὲν δὴ οὕτω γεγενῆσθαί φασιν. οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι τῇ τοῦ λιμοῦ ἀνάγκῃ ἐχόμενοι, εἴ πού τις παρατύχῃ πόα, πολλῇ μὲν σπουδῇ ἐπ' αὐτὴν ᾔεσαν, ὀκλάσαντες δὲ ἀνέλκειν αὐτὴν ἐκ 6.20.31 γῆς ἐπειρῶντο. εἶτα (οὐ γὰρ ἠδύναντο, ἐπεὶ πᾶσα αὐτοὺς ἰσχὺς ἐπελελοίπει) ὑπέρ τε τῆς πόας τε καὶ 6.20.32 τῆς χειρὸς πίπτοντες ἔθνησκον. καὶ γῇ μὲν αὐτοὺς ἔκρυπτεν οὐδεὶς οὐδαμῶς· οὐ γὰρ ἦν τις ὅτῳ καὶ ταφῆς λόγος γένοιτο· ὄρνις μέντοι αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ἥπτετο, οἷοι πολλοὶ σιτίζεσθαι πεφύκασι νεκροῖς σώμασιν, ἐπεὶ 6.20.33 οὐκ εἶχον οὐδὲν ὅτου ἐφεῖντο. σάρκας γὰρ ἁπάσας, ὥσπερ μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, προδεδαπανῆσθαι τῷ λιμῷ ἤδη τετύχηκε. τὰ μὲν δὴ ἀμφὶ τῷ λιμῷ ταύτῃ πη ἔσχε. 6.21.1 Βελισάριος δὲ ἐπειδὴ Οὐραΐαν τε καὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους Μεδιόλανον πολιορκεῖν ἤκουσε, Μαρτῖνόν τε καὶ Οὐλίαριν ξὺν πολλῷ στρατῷ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς 6.21.2 ἔπεμψεν. οἱ δὲ ἀφικόμενοι ἐς ποταμὸν Πάδον, ὃς Μεδιολάνου ἀπέχει ἡμέρας ὁδὸν, ἐνστρατοπεδευσάμενοι αὐτοῦ ἔμενον. χρόνος τε σφίσι πολὺς ἐνταῦθα ἐτρίβη, ἀμφὶ 6.21.3 τῇ διαβάσει τοῦ ποταμοῦ βουλὴν ἔχουσιν. ὅπερ ἐπεὶ Μουνδίλας ἤκουσε, τῶν τινα Ῥωμαίων, Παῦλον ὄνομα, 6.21.4 παρ' αὐτοὺς