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having encamped, remained quiet. 7.23.1 At this time one of those who had fled from Rome with Conon, when the city was being captured, Martinianus by name, a Byzantine by birth, approaching Belisarius, asked to be sent ostensibly as a deserter to the enemy, promising that he would do great services for the Romans; and this seeming good to Belisarius, he went off and was gone. and 7.23.2 Totila, upon seeing him, was exceedingly pleased. For he had often heard of and seen the young man being distinguished in single combats. And since his two children and his wife were among the captives, he immediately returned the wife and one of the children to the man, but kept the other as a hostage, and sent him to Spo7.23.3 letium with some others. Now it happened that the Goths, when they took Spoletium through the surrender of Herodianus, had razed the circuit-wall of the city to the ground, but for the hunting-place before the city, which they are accustomed to call an amphitheater, they had carefully blocked up the entrances and established a garrison there of both Goths and Roman deserters, so that they might 7.23.4 guard the places in that region. Martinianus, therefore, when he came to Spoletium, was able to win over fifteen soldiers, whom he persuaded, after doing some great deed against the barbarians, to return thus to the Roman 7.23.5 camp. And sending some men also to the commander of the garrison in Perusia, he bade him send an army as quickly as possible to Spoletium, having made a full disclosure of the whole 7.23.6 plan. And Hodolgan the Hun was then in command of the garrison in Perusia, Cyprian having been removed from the world by treachery at the hands of one of his own bodyguards, as I have said before. who with an army 7.23.7 was marching on Spoletium. And Martinianus, perceiving that this army was somewhere very near, together with the fifteen soldiers—for he had been able to win over that many—suddenly killed the commander of the garrison, and throwing open the gates, received all the Romans into the fortress. They indeed killed most of the enemy, and taking some alive, led them to Belisarius. 7.23.8 A little later the idea occurred to Belisarius to go up to Rome and see to what state of fortune it had come. So selecting a thousand of the soldiers, 7.23.9 he went there. But a Roman man came running to the enemy, who were encamped at Algedon, 7.23.10 and announced the army of Belisarius. And the barbarians, having laid some ambushes in the places before Rome, when they saw Belisarius' men arriving somewhere very near, rose from their ambushes and went against them. 7.23.11 And a fierce battle taking place, the Romans by their own valour turned the enemy, and having destroyed very many, they immediately withdrew to Portus. So these things proceeded in this way. 7.23.12 There is a coastal city of the Calabrians, Tarentum, about a two days' journey distant from Dryus, 7.23.13 for one going from there towards Thurii and Rhegium. There John arrived with a few men, the Tarentines having invited him, after stationing the rest for the 7.23.14 garrison of Dryus. And when he saw that the city was exceedingly large and entirely unwalled, he thought he would by no means be able to guard all of it, but seeing that the sea by the city, toward the north wind, on both sides of a very narrow space entered into a gulf, where indeed the harbor of the Tarentines is, and that the space in between was an isthmus, as was natural, of not less than twenty stades, 7.23.15 he devised the following. Cutting off the portion of the isthmus from the rest of the city, he surrounded it with a wall from one side of the sea to the other and dug a deep trench 7.23.16 around the wall. And there he gathered not only the Tarentines but also as many as inhabited the places in that region, and left them a garrison of considerable strength 7.23.17. And in this way all the Calabrians, being now in safety, turned to revolt from the Goths. These things 7.23.18 were proceeding in this way. But Totila, having seized a very strong fortress in Lucania, situated somewhere very near the borders of Calabria,

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στρατοπεδευσάμενος ἡσυχῆ ἔμενεν. 7.23.1 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῶν τις ξὺν τῷ Κόνωνι ἐκ Ῥώμης φυγόντων, ἡνίκα ἡ πόλις ἡλίσκετο, Μαρτινιανὸς ὄνομα, Βυζάντιος γένος, Βελισαρίῳ προσελθὼν στέλλεσθαι αὐτόμολος δῆθεν τῷ λόγῳ παρὰ τοὺς πολεμίους ἠξίου, μεγάλα Ῥωμαίους ἐπαγγελλόμενος ἀγαθὰ δράσειν· δόξαν τε τοῦτο Βελισαρίῳ, ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο. καὶ 7.23.2 αὐτὸν ὁ Τουτίλας ἰδὼν ὑπερφυῶς ἥσθη. εὐδοκιμοῦντα γὰρ ἐν μονομαχίαις τὸν νεανίαν ἤκουσέ τε καὶ εἶδε πολλάκις. ὄντων δὲ αὐτῷ παίδων τε δύο καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐν τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις, τὴν μὲν γυναῖκα καὶ τῶν παίδων τὸν ἕτερον εὐθὺς τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπέδωκε, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον ἐν ὁμήρου λόγῳ ἐφύλασσεν, ἔς τε Σπο7.23.3 λίτιον ξὺν ἑτέροις τισὶν ἔπεμψεν. ἐτύγχανον δὲ Γότθοι, ἡνίκα Ἡρωδιανοῦ ἐνδιδόντος Σπολίτιον εἷλον, τῆς μὲν πόλεως τὸν περίβολον ἐς τὸ ἔδαφος καθελόντες, τοῦ δὲ πρὸ τῆς πόλεως κυνηγεσίου, ὅπερ καλεῖν ἀμφιθέατρον νενομίκασι, τάς τε εἰσόδους ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἀποφράξαντες καὶ φρουρὰν ἐνταῦθα καταστησάμενοι Γότθων τε καὶ Ῥωμαίων τῶν αὐτομόλων, ἐφ' ᾧ φυ7.23.4 λάξωσι τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία. Μαρτινιανὸς οὖν ἐπειδὴ εἰς Σπολίτιον ἦλθε, στρατιώτας πεντεκαίδεκα ἑταιρίσασθαι ἴσχυσεν, οὕσπερ ἀνέπειθε δράσαντάς τι ἐς τοὺς βαρβάρους μέγα οὕτω δὴ ἐπανήκειν ἐς τὸ Ῥωμαίων 7.23.5 στρατόπεδον. στείλας δέ τινας καὶ παρὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ ἐν Περυσίᾳ φυλακτηρίου ἐκέλευέν οἱ στράτευμα ὅτι τάχιστα ἐς Σπολίτιον πέμψαι, τοῦ παντὸς λόγου 7.23.6 τὴν δήλωσιν ποιησάμενος. Ὁδολγὰν δὲ Οὖννος ἦρχε τότε τῆς ἐν Περυσίᾳ φρουρᾶς, Κυπριανοῦ πρός του τῶν αὐτοῦ δορυφόρων, ὥς μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, δόλῳ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανισθέντος. ὅσπερ ξὺν στρα7.23.7 τεύματι ἐπὶ τὸ Σπολίτιον ᾔει. Μαρτινιανὸς δὲ ἄγχιστά πη εἶναι τὸ στράτευμα τοῦτο αἰσθόμενος, ἅμα τοῖς πεντεκαίδεκα στρατιώταις τοσούτους γὰρ ἑταιρίσασθαι ἴσχυσε τοῦ τε φυλακτηρίου τὸν ἄρχοντα ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου διέφθειρε καὶ τὰς πύλας ἀναπετάσας Ῥωμαίους ἅπαντας τῷ φρουρίῳ ἐδέξατο. οἳ δὴ κτείνουσι μὲν τῶν πολεμίων πλείστους, τινὰς δὲ ζωγρήσαντες παρὰ Βελισάριον ἦγον. 7.23.8 Ὀλίγῳ δὲ ὕστερον Βελισαρίῳ ἔννοια γέγονεν ἐς Ῥώμην τε ἀναβῆναι καὶ ἐς ὅ τι τύχης ἐληλύθει θεάσασθαι. τῶν στρατιωτῶν οὖν χιλίους ἀπολεξάμενος 7.23.9 ἐνταῦθα ᾔει. Ῥωμαῖος δὲ ἀνὴρ ἀφικόμενος δρόμῳ ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους, οἵπερ ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο ἐν Ἀλγηδόνι, 7.23.10 τὸ Βελισαρίου στράτευμα ἤγγειλεν. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι προλοχίσαντες ἐνέδραις τισὶ τὰ πρὸ τῆς Ῥώμης χωρία, ἐπειδὴ ἄγχιστά πη ἀφικομένους τοὺς ἀμφὶ Βελισάριον εἶδον, ἐκ τῶν ἐνεδρῶν ἀναστάντες ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ᾔεσαν. 7.23.11 μάχης τε καρτερᾶς γενομένης, τῇ σφετέρᾳ ἀρετῇ Ῥωμαῖοι τοὺς πολεμίους τρεψάμενοι, πλείστους τε διαφθείραντες ἐς τὸν Πόρτον εὐθὺς ἀνεχώρησαν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῇδε ἐχώρησεν. 7.23.12 Ἔστι δὲ Καλαβρῶν ἐπιθαλασσία πόλις ὁ Τάρας, δυοῖν σχεδόν τι ἡμέραιν ὁδὸν ∆ρυοῦντος διέχουσα, 7.23.13 ἐπί τε Θουρίους καὶ Ῥηγίνους ἐνθένδε ἰόντι. ἐνταῦθα Ἰωάννης ξὺν ὀλίγοις τισὶ, Ταραντηνῶν αὐτὸν ἐπαγαγομένων, ἀφίκετο, τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ ∆ρυοῦντος 7.23.14 φυλακῇ καταστησάμενος. καὶ ἐπεὶ τὴν πόλιν εἶδε μεγίστην τε ὑπερφυῶς καὶ παντάπασιν ἀτείχιστον οὖσαν, πᾶσαν μὲν φυλάξαι οἷός τε ἔσεσθαι οὐδεμιᾷ μηχανῇ ᾤετο, ἰδὼν δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς πόλεως ἐς τὰ πρὸς βορρᾶν ἄνεμον ἀμφί τινα χῶρον στενὸν μάλιστα ἑκατέρωθεν ἐς κόλπον ἰοῦσαν, οὗ δὴ Ταραντηνῶν ὁ λιμήν ἐστιν, ἰσθμόν τε, ὡς τὸ εἰκὸς, τὸν ἐν μέσῳ χῶρον οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ σταδίων εἴκοσιν ὄντα, 7.23.15 ἐπενόει τάδε. ἀποτεμὼν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄλλης πόλεως τὴν τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ μοῖραν τειχίσματί τε αὐτὴν περιέβαλεν ἐκ θατέρου θαλάσσης μέρους ἄχρι ἐς ἕτερον καὶ τάφρον 7.23.16 βαθεῖαν ἀμφὶ τὸ τείχισμα ὤρυσσεν. ἐνταῦθά τε οὐ Ταραντηνοὺς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία ᾤκουν συνήγαγε, καὶ φυλακὴν αὐτοῖς λόγου ἀξίαν 7.23.17 ἐλίπετο. ταύτῃ τε Καλαβροὶ ἅπαντες ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ ἤδη γενόμενοι Γότθων ἐς ἀπόστασιν εἶδον. ταῦτα 7.23.18 μὲν ἐφέρετο τῇδε. Τουτίλας δὲ φρούριον ἐν Λευκανοῖς καταλαβὼν ἐχυρώτατον ἄγχιστά πη τῶν Καλαβρίας ὁρίων κείμενον,