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will be deprived. The emperor, however, granted the request. 7.31.7 And he summoned Artabanes to Byzantium, having appointed another general for Libya in his place, 7.31.8 just as I have related. And when Artabanes was in Byzantium, the people admired his achievements 7.31.9 and loved him for other reasons as well. For he was tall and handsome in body, liberal in character, and a man of few words. The emperor, for his part, had honored him exceedingly. 7.31.10 For having appointed him general of the soldiers in Byzantium and commander of the foederati, he enrolled him in 7.31.11 the dignity of the consuls. However, he was by no means able to marry Praejecta. For he had a wife previously, who was a kinswoman and had come to him in marriage from childhood. 7.31.12 Whom he happened to have put aside long before for some reason that had perhaps arisen, for which it happens that wives clash with their husbands. 7.31.13 This woman, as long as Artabanes' affairs were not going well, sat at home in complete inactivity, bearing her situation in silence; but when Artabanes had now become illustrious in his deeds and great in his fortunes, the woman, no longer bearing the dishonor, came to Byzantium. And becoming a suppliant of the empress, 7.31.14 she asked to get her husband back. The empress (for she was always inclined to side with unfortunate women) decided that she should live with the unwilling Artabanes, and John, the son of Pompeius, the nephew of Hypatius, made Praejecta his wedded wife. 7.31.15 Artabanes did not bear this misfortune calmly, but he grew angry and said that though he had done the Romans so many services ** no one would allow him to marry, he willing and she willing, the woman betrothed to him, but he was compelled to associate for all time with her who was the most hostile of all to him; a thing which is by nature most apt to distress a man's soul. 7.31.16 And so, of course, not long afterwards, as soon as the empress had departed from the world, he gladly sent this 7.31.17 woman away immediately. Now it happened that the emperor had a cousin Germanus, who had a brother Boraides. This Boraides, the brother of Germanus, had recently died, leaving most of his property to his brother and to his children. 7.31.18 And since he had a wife and one daughter, he directed the daughter to have as much as the law compelled. For this reason the emperor saw fit to support the daughter more. This particularly vexed Germanus. 7.32.1 So for the emperor, the affairs concerning Artabanes and Germanus stood in this way. There was a certain Arsaces by name in Byzantium, an Armenian by race, a man of the Arsacids, related by birth to Artabanes. 7.32.2 He had not long before been caught doing mischief against the state and was clearly convicted of treason, inasmuch as he was intriguing with Chosroes, the king of the Persians, for revolutionary action against the Romans. 7.32.3 The emperor did him no other unpleasantness, but after a light scourging on the back he paraded him through the city mounted on a camel, yet he deprived him of nothing, neither of his person nor of his property, nor 7.32.4 indeed did he punish him with exile. But Arsaces, nevertheless being vexed at what had happened, began to devise plots against both Justinian 7.32.5 and the state. And when he saw that Artabanes was aggrieved, as he was a kinsman, he provoked him still more and, catching the man in verbal snares, reproached him, letting up neither night nor day, and taunted him with being brave and unmanly according to the occasion. 7.32.6 For in the misfortunes of others, he said, he had been noble and a destroyer of tyranny, and had killed Gontharis, who was his friend and host, with his own hand for no reason. 7.32.7 But now, having become a coward, he sat there so unmanly, while his country was being most constantly garrisoned and worn out by unaccustomed taxes, and his father had been killed under pretext of treaties and agreement, and all his kin were enslaved and ever scattered everywhere throughout the Roman empire. 7.32.8 But although things were in this state for him, Artabanes thought it was enough if only he were a general of the Romans and called consul. "And you," he said, "being both my kinsman and
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στερήσονται. βασιλεὺς μέντοι τὴν δέησιν 7.31.7 ἐπιτελῆ ἐποίει. καὶ τὸν Ἀρταβάνην ἐς Βυζάντιον μετεπέμπετο, ἕτερον ἀντικαταστήσας Λιβύης στρατηγὸν, 7.31.8 ᾗπέρ μοι δεδιήγηται. γενόμενον δὲ τὸν Ἀρταβάνην ἐν Βυζαντίῳ ὁ μὲν δῆμος τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐθαύ7.31.9 μαζε καὶ ἄλλως ἠγάπα. ἦν γὰρ εὐμήκης τε τὸ σῶμα καὶ καλὸς, τό τε ἦθος ἐλευθέριος καὶ ὀλίγα ἄττα φθεγγόμενος. βασιλεὺς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα 7.31.10 ἐτετιμήκει. στρατηγόν τε γὰρ τῶν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ στρατιωτῶν καὶ ἄρχοντα φοιδεράτων καταστησάμενος ἐς 7.31.11 τῶν ὑπάτων ἀνεγράψατο τὸ ἀξίωμα. τῇ μέντοι Πρεϊέκτᾳ ξυνοικίζεσθαι οὐδαμῆ ἴσχυσεν. ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ γυνὴ πρότερον ξυγγενής τε οὖσα καὶ ἐκ παιδὸς αὐτῷ ἐς 7.31.12 γάμον ἐλθοῦσα. ἣν δὴ πολλῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἀποσεισάμενος αὐτὸς ἔτυχε τῶν τινος ἴσως παραπεπτωκυίας αἰτίας, ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα γυναῖκας ἀνδράσι προσκρούειν 7.31.13 ξυμβαίνει. αὕτη, τέως μὲν τῷ Ἀρταβάνῃ οὐκ εὖ καθεστήκει τὰ πράγματα, οἴκοι καθῆστο ἐν πάσῃ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ, τὰ παρόντα σιωπῇ φέρουσα· ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀρταβάνης ἤδη λαμπρός τε τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ μέγας ἐγεγόνει ταῖς τύχαις, οὐκ ἐνεγκοῦσα ἡ γυνὴ ἔτι τὴν ἀτιμίαν ἐς Βυζάντιον ἦλθεν. ἱκέτις τε γενομένη τῆς βασιλίδος 7.31.14 ἀπολαβεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα ἠξίου. ἡ δὲ βασιλὶς (ἐπεφύκει γὰρ ἀεὶ δυστυχούσαις γυναιξὶ προσχωρεῖν) ἀκουσίῳ αὐτὴν τῷ Ἀρταβάνῃ ὡς μάλιστα ξυνοικεῖν ἔγνω, τήν τε Πρεϊέκταν Ἰωάννης ὁ Πομπηίου τοῦ Ὑπατίου γυ7.31.15 ναῖκα γαμετὴν ἐποιήσατο. ταύτην Ἀρταβάνης τὴν ξυμφορὰν οὐκ ἤνεγκε πρᾴως, ἀλλ' ἠγριαίνετό τε καὶ ἀγαθὰ εἰργασμένον Ῥωμαίους ἔλεγε τόσα ** γυναῖκα μὲν τήν οἱ αὐτῷ κατηγγυημένην ἑκόντα ἑκοῦσαν ἀγαγέσθαι οὐδεὶς ἐῴη, τῇ δὲ πάντων αὐτῷ δυσμενεστάτῃ οὔσῃ πλησιάζειν ἀναγκάζηται τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον· ὃ δὴ μάλιστα 7.31.16 ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν ἀνιᾶν πέφυκεν. ὥστε ἀμέλει οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα ἡ βασιλὶς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφάνιστο, ταύτην ἀσμένως ἀπεπέμψατο τὴν 7.31.17 γυναῖκα εὐθύς. ἐτύγχανε δὲ βασιλεῖ τὸν Γερμανὸν ἀνεψιὸν ὄντα Βοραΐδην ἀδελφὸν ἔχειν. οὗτος οὖν Βοραΐδης ὁ Γερμανοῦ ἀδελφὸς ἔναγχος ἐτετελευτήκει, τῶν χρημάτων τὰ πλεῖστα τῷ τε ἀδελφῷ καὶ παισὶ 7.31.18 τοῖς ἐκείνου ἀπολιπών. οὔσης δὲ αὐτῷ γυναικός τε καὶ παιδὸς μιᾶς, τοσαῦτα τὴν παῖδα ἐκέλευεν ἔχειν ὅσα ὁ νόμος ἠνάγκαζε. διὸ δὴ βασιλεὺς τῇ παιδὶ μᾶλλον ἀμύνειν ἠξίου. ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα Γερμανὸν ἔδακνε. 7.32.1 Βασιλεῖ μὲν οὖν τά τε ἀμφὶ Ἀρταβάνῃ καὶ Γερμανῷ ταύτῃ πη εἶχεν. ἦν δέ τις Ἀρσάκης ὄνομα ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, Ἀρμένιος γένος, Ἀρσακίδης ἀνὴρ, τῷ 7.32.2 Ἀρταβάνῃ κατὰ γένος προσήκων. ὃς δὴ κακουργῶν ἐς τὴν πολιτείαν οὐ πολλῷ ἔμπροσθεν ἐφωράθη καὶ προδοσίας διαφανῶς ἑάλω ἅτε δὴ ἐς Χοσρόην τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα πράγματα ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίοις νεώτερα 7.32.3 πράσσων. βασιλεύς τε αὐτὸν ἄλλο μὲν εἰργάσατο οὐδὲν ἄχαρι, ξάνας δὲ οὐ πολλὰς κατὰ νώτου ἐπόμπευσε καμήλῳ ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν ὀχούμενον, οὐδὲν μέντοι αὐτὸν οὔτε τοῦ σώματος οὔτε τῆς οὐσίας ἀφείλετο, οὐ 7.32.4 μὴν οὐδὲ φυγῇ ἐζημίωσε. δυσφορούμενος δὲ ὅμως τοῖς ξυμπεπτωκόσιν Ἀρσάκης δολώσεις ἐπί τε Ἰου7.32.5 στινιανῷ καὶ τῇ πολιτείᾳ ἐπινοεῖν ἤρξατο. ἐπειδή τε ξυναχθόμενόν οἱ τὸν Ἀρταβάνην ἅτε ξυγγενῆ εἶδεν, ἔτι μᾶλλον ἠρέθιζέ τε καὶ λόγων ἐνέδραις τὸν ἄνθρωπον καταλαβὼν ἐκάκιζεν, οὔτε νύκτα οὔτε ἡμέραν τινὰ ἀνιεὶς, ἀνδρεῖόν τε καὶ ἀνδρόγυνον ἀπὸ καιροῦ γεγο7.32.6 νότα ὠνείδιζεν. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ κακοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις γενναῖόν τε καὶ τῆς τυραννίδος διαλυτὴν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι, φίλον τε ὄντα καὶ ἑστιάτορα Γόνθαριν αὐτοχειρὶ λαβόντα 7.32.7 κτεῖναι οὐδενὶ λόγῳ. ἐν δέ γε τῷ παρόντι ἀποδειλιάσαντα οὕτως ἀνάνδρως ἐνταῦθα καθῆσθαι, τῆς μὲν πατρίδος οἱ φρουρουμένης τε ἐνδελεχέστατα καὶ δασμοῖς ἐκτετηκυίας ἀήθεσι, τοῦ δὲ πατρὸς ἀνῃρημένου ἐπὶ ξυνθηκῶν τε καὶ ξυμβάσεως λόγῳ, παντὸς δὲ τοῦ ξυγγενοῦς δεδουλωμένου τε καὶ σκεδαννυμένου ἀεὶ παν7.32.8 ταχόσε τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῆς. ἀλλὰ τούτων τοιούτων ὄντων αὐτῷ Ἀρταβάνης ἀποχρῆν οἴεται, εἰ στρατηγός τε Ῥωμαίων εἴη καὶ ὕπατος καλοῖτο μόνον «Καὶ σὺ «μὲν» ἔφη «ξυγγενεῖ τέ μοι ὄντι καὶ