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and they ordered him to depart from here and save himself wherever he wished. And he with no delay, with his followers and some Gepid volunteers, came again to the Sclaveni. And setting out from there, he went to Totila and the Goths, having with him an army of not less than six thousand, and having arrived in Venetia and encountered some Romans, whom Lazarus led, he came to blows, and routing them killed many. He did not, however, join the Goths, but crossing the Ister river he withdrew again to the Sclaveni. And while these things were being done in the way I have described, at this time one of Belisarius' bodyguards, Indulph by name, a barbarian by birth, high-spirited and energetic, who happened to have been left in Italy, went over to Totila and the Goths for no good reason. And Totila straightway sent him with a large army and ships to the districts of Dalmatia. And he, having come to a place called Muicurus, which is on the sea-coast somewhere very near Salona, at first mingled with the people there as though he were a Roman and attached to Belisarius, but then, both drawing his sword himself and urging on his followers, he suddenly killed them all. And having plundered all the property, he departed from there and went away, and he fell upon another fortress situated on the coast, which the Romans call Laureate. And setting foot on this, he was slaying those he met. When Claudianus, who then was in command of Salona, learned this, he sent an army against him on the ships called dromons. And when they came to Laureate, they came to blows with the enemy. And being by far defeated in the battle, they fled wherever it was possible for each man, leaving the dromons in the harbour. There also the other vessels happened to be, full of grain and other provisions. And Indulph and the Goths, capturing all these, and killing all who were in their way, and plundering the property, came to Totila. And the winter was ending, and the fourteenth year was coming to an end for this war, which Procopius wrote. After this Totila led his whole army against Rome, and encamping began a siege. And it happened that Belisarius had chosen three thousand men on the basis of merit, whom he had established for the garrison of Rome, and set over them as commander Diogenes, one of his own bodyguards, a man exceedingly intelligent and good at the business of war. For this reason, a long time was spent in this siege. For the besieged, by their superiority in valour, appeared to be a match for the whole army of the Goths, and Diogenes both maintained the guard with exactness so that no one might approach the wall to do mischief, and by sowing grain everywhere in the city inside the circuit-wall, he brought it about that they were least of all in want of provisions. And the barbarians, having often attempted to assault the wall and to make an attempt upon the circuit-wall, were repulsed, as the Romans drove them from it by their valour. However, having gained control of Portus, they were besieging Rome with all their might. So matters were proceeding in this way. But the Emperor Justinian, when he saw that Belisarius had arrived in Byzantium, was planning to send another commander with an army against the Goths and Totila. And if he had indeed carried this thought to completion, I think that, with Rome still under his control, and with the soldiers there saved and able to mingle with those who had come to their aid from Byzantium, he would have prevailed over his enemies in the war. But as it was, at first he chose Liberius, a man of the patricians from Rome, and ordered him to be in readiness, but afterwards, perhaps because some other business arose for him, he put a stop to the undertaking. And when much time had been spent on the siege of Rome, some of the Isaurians, who were on guard duty around the gate which is named after the apostle Paul, (on the one hand alleging that for many years nothing had been given to them by the emperor, and on the other hand seeing the Isaurians who had previously handed Rome over to the Goths flaunting the great bulk of some fortune) to Totila

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ἐκέλευον δὲ αὐτὸν ἐνθένδε ἀπαλ7.35.21 λαγέντα ὅπῃ βούλοιτο διασώσασθαι. καὶ ὃς μελλήσει οὐδεμιᾷ ξὺν τοῖς ἑπομένοις καὶ Γηπαίδων τισὶν ἐθε7.35.22 λουσίοις ἐς Σκλαβηνοὺς αὖθις ἀφίκετο. ἔνθεν τε ἀναστὰς παρὰ Τουτίλαν τε καὶ Γότθους ᾔει, στράτευμα οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ἐς ἑξακισχιλίους ξὺν αὑτῷ ἔχων, ἔς τε Βενετίας ἀφικόμενος Ῥωμαίοις τισὶν ὑπαντήσας, ὧν Λάζαρος ἡγεῖτο, ἐς χεῖρας ἦλθε, τρεψάμενός τε αὐτοὺς πολλοὺς ἔκτεινεν. οὐ μέντοι Γότθοις ξυνέμιξεν, ἀλλ' Ἴστρον ποταμὸν διαβὰς αὖθις ἐς Σκλαβηνοὺς ἀπεχώρησεν. 7.35.23 Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπράσσετο τῇδε ᾗπέρ μοι εἴρηται, ἐν τούτῳ τῶν τις Βελισαρίου δορυφόρων, Ἰνδοὺλφ ὄνομα, βάρβαρος γένος, θυμοειδής τε καὶ δραστήριος, ὃς δὴ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ λειφθεὶς ἔτυχε, Τουτίλᾳ τε καὶ Γότ7.35.24 θοις προσεχώρησεν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ. καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ Τουτίλας εὐθὺς ξὺν στρατῷ πολλῷ καὶ ναυσὶν ἔπεμψεν 7.35.25 ἐς τὰ ἐπὶ ∆αλματίας χωρία. ὃς δὴ ἐν χωρίῳ Μουικούρῳ καλουμένῳ γενόμενος, ὅπερ ἐπιθαλάσσιον ἄγχιστά πη Σαλώνων ἐστὶ, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ξυνέμισγε τοῖς ταύτῃ ἀνθρώποις ἅτε Ῥωμαῖός τε ὢν καὶ Βελισαρίῳ προσήκων, ἔπειτα δὲ αὐτός τε τὸ ξίφος ἀράμενος καὶ τοῖς ἐπισπομένοις 7.35.26 ἐγκελευσάμενος ἐξαπιναίως ἅπαντας ἔκτεινε. ληϊσάμενός τε τὰ χρήματα πάντα ἐνθένδε ἀπιὼν ᾤχετο, ἐπέσκηψε δὲ ἄλλῳ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ κειμένῳ φρουρίῳ, ὅπερ Λαυ7.35.27 ρεάτην καλοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι. οὗ δὴ ἐπιβὰς τοὺς παραπε7.35.27 πτωκότας ἀνῄρει. ἅπερ ἐπεὶ Κλαυδιανὸς ἔγνω, ὅσπερ τότε Σαλώνων ἦρχε, στράτευμα ἐπὶ τῶν καλουμένων 7.35.28 δρομώνων ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔπεμψεν. οἳ δὴ ἐπεὶ ἐν Λαυρεάτῃ ἐγένοντο, τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐς χεῖρας ἦλθον. παρὰ πολύ τε ἡσσηθέντες τῇ μάχῃ ἔφυγον ὅπη ἑκάστῳ δυνατὰ γέγονε, τοὺς δρόμωνας ἐν τῷ λιμένι ἀπολιπόντες. οὗ δὴ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πλοῖα ἔμπλεα σίτου τε καὶ τῶν 7.35.29 ἄλλων ἐπιτηδείων ὄντα ἐτύγχανεν. ἅπερ ἅπαντα Ἰνδούλφ τε καὶ Γότθοι ἑλόντες κτείναντές τε τοὺς ἐν ποσὶν ἅπαντας καὶ τὰ χρήματα ληϊσάμενοι παρὰ Του7.35.30 τίλαν ἦλθον. καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἔληγε, καὶ τέταρτον καὶ δέκατον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα τῷ πολέμῳ τῷδε, ὃν Προκόπιος ξυνέγραψε. 7.36.1 Μετὰ δὲ Τουτίλας ἅπαν ἐπὶ Ῥώμην τὸ στράτευμα ἦγε, καὶ ἐγκαθεζόμενος εἰς πολιορκίαν καθίστατο. ἐτύγχανε δὲ Βελισάριος τρισχιλίους ἀριστίνδην ἀπολεξάμενος, οὕσπερ ἐπὶ τῷ Ῥώμης φυλακτηρίῳ καταστησάμενος ∆ιογένην αὐτοῖς ἄρχοντα, τῶν δορυφόρων τῶν αὑτοῦ ἕνα, ἐπέστησεν, ἄνδρα ξυνετόν τε δια7.36.2 φερόντως καὶ ἀγαθὸν τὰ πολέμια. διὸ δὴ χρόνου μῆκος τῇ προσεδρείᾳ ταύτῃ ἐτρίβετο. οἵ τε γὰρ πολιορκούμενοι ἀρετῆς περιουσίᾳ πρὸς ἅπαντα τὸν Γότθων στρατὸν ἀξιόμαχοι ὄντες ἐφαίνοντο καὶ ∆ιογένης ἔς τε τὸ ἀκριβὲς τῇ φυλακῇ ἐχρῆτο ὡς μή τις κακουργήσων ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος ἴοι καὶ πανταχόθι τῆς πόλεως σῖτον ἐντὸς τοῦ περιβόλου σπείρας ἐνδεῖν σφίσι τὰ 7.36.3 ἐπιτήδεια ὡς ἥκιστα ἐποίει. πολλάκις δὲ οἱ βάρβαροι τειχομαχεῖν ἐγχειρήσαντες καὶ τοῦ περιβόλου ἀποπειράσασθαι ἀπεκρούσθησαν, ἀρετῇ σφᾶς ἀπωσαμένων ἐνθένδε Ῥωμαίων. τοῦ μέντοι Πόρτου κρατήσαντες Ῥώμην κατὰ κράτος ἐπολιόρκουν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐφέ7.36.4 ρετο τῇδε. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς ἐπειδὴ Βελισάριον ἐς Βυζάντιον ἥκοντα εἶδεν, ἄρχοντα πέμπειν ξὺν στρατῷ ἄλλον ἐπὶ Γότθους τε διενοεῖτο καὶ Τουτίλαν. 7.36.5 καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐπιτελῆ ταύτην δὴ ἐπεποιήκει τὴν ἔννοιαν, οἶμαι ἂν, Ῥώμης μὲν ἔτι ὑπ' αὐτῷ οὔσης, σεσωσμένων δέ οἱ τῶν ἐνταῦθα στρατιωτῶν καὶ τοῖς ἐκ Βυζαντίου ἐπιβεβοηθηκόσιν ἀναμίγνυσθαι δυναμένων, περιέσε7.36.6 σθαι τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτὸν τῷ πολέμῳ. νῦν δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα Λιβέριον ἀπολεξάμενος, ἄνδρα τῶν ἐκ Ῥώμης πατρικίων, ἐν παρασκευῇ ἐκέλευε γενέσθαι, μετὰ δὲ ἀσχολίας οἱ ἴσως ἐπιγενομένης ἑτέρας τινὸς τὴν προθυμίαν κατέπαυσε. 7.36.7 Χρόνου δὲ τῇ Ῥώμης πολιορκίᾳ τριβέντος πολλοῦ, τῶν τινες Ἰσαύρων, οἳ ἀμφὶ πύλην, ἣ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι, φυλακὴν εἶχον, (ἅμα μὲν ἐπικαλοῦντες ἐνιαυτῶν πολλῶν οὐδὲν πρὸς βασιλέως σφίσι δεδόσθαι, ἅμα δὲ καὶ Ἰσαύρους ὁρῶντες τοὺς παραδόντας Ῥώμην τὰ πρότερα Γότθοις, κεκομψευμένους ἐπὶ μεγάλων τινῶν χρημάτων ὄγκῳ) Τουτίλᾳ