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having come to terms most secretly, they agreed to hand over the city, 7.36.8 and a fixed day was agreed upon for the deed. And when the appointed day was at hand, Totila devised the following plan. In the first watch of the night he sent down two long boats into the river Tiber, putting on board men who knew how to use the 7.36.9 trumpets. To these men he gave orders to row forward up the Tiber, and whenever they should come very near the circuit-wall, there to sound the trumpets 7.36.10 with all their might. But he himself, hiding from the enemy, 7.36.11 held the Gothic army in readiness very near the aforesaid gate, which is named for the apostle Paul. And reckoning that if any of the Roman army, escaping notice in the dark, should be able to flee from the city, they would go to Centumcellae, since no other stronghold in that region was left to them, he decided to set an ambush in advance with some fighting men on the road leading there, whom he ordered 7.36.12 to destroy the fugitives. So the men in the boats, when they got near the city, now used their trumpets 7.36.13 according to their instructions. And the Romans, panic-stricken and falling into great fear and confusion, suddenly abandoning their own posts for no reason, ran to help there, 7.36.14 thinking that the plot was against the wall in that direction. And the Isaurian traitors alone, remaining at their own post, opened the gates at their leisure and 7.36.15 received the enemy into the city. And great was the slaughter there of those who fell in their way, and many fled and departed through other gates, but those going towards Centumcellae, falling in with the ambushers, were destroyed. A few of them, however, escaped with difficulty, among whom they say Diogenes also, though wounded, was saved. 7.36.16 There was a certain man in the Roman army, Paul by name, a Cilician by birth, who at first had been in charge of Belisarius' household, but later, as commander of a cavalry detachment, he campaigned in Italy and with Diogenes 7.36.17 had been assigned to the garrison of Rome. This Paul, when the city was then being captured, ran up with four hundred horsemen into the tomb of Hadrian and held the bridge which leads to the sanctuary of Peter the apostle. 7.36.18 And when the army of the Goths, it being dawn and about to show some daylight, came to close quarters with these men, there withstanding the enemy most stoutly they gained the advantage; and of the barbarians, since there was both a great crowd and a lack of space among them, 7.36.19 they killed many. When Totila saw this, he immediately stopped the battle, and ordered the Goths to encamp opposite the enemy and remain quiet, think-7.36.20ing he would capture the men by famine. So on that day Paul and the four hundred went without food, and they bivouacked that night in the same way; but on the next day they planned to feed on some of their horses, but reluctance, because of the unfamiliarity of the food, put them off until late afternoon, although they were pressed 7.36.21 by hunger most severely. Then, having reasoned much among themselves, and having encouraged one another to bravery, they decided it was better for them to end their lives at once with a glorious 7.36.22 death. For they decided to rush suddenly against the enemy, and to kill as many of them as was possible for each man, 7.36.23 and thus all to meet their end bravely. So then, suddenly embracing one another and kissing each other's faces, they gave the greeting for death, 7.36.24 as if they were all about to perish immediately. When Totila perceived this, he feared that men desperate for death and having no hope of safety for the future might do irreparable 7.36.25 deeds to the Goths. So he sent to them and offered them a choice of two things: that either, leaving their horses there and laying down their arms, and swearing an oath never again to campaign against the Goths, they might depart unharmed to Byzantium, or, keeping their own property, they might henceforth campaign with the Goths on an equal and like footing. 7.36.26 These words the Romans gladly

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λαθραιότατα ἐς λόγους ἐλθόντες ὡμολόγησαν τὴν πόλιν 7.36.8 ἐνδώσειν, τακτή τε ξυνέκειτο ἡμέρα τῇ πράξει. καὶ ἐπεὶ παρῆν ἡ κυρία, Τουτίλας μηχανᾶται τοιάδε. ἐς ποταμὸν Τίβεριν ἐν πρώτῃ τῶν νυκτῶν φυλακῇ δύο πλοῖα μακρὰ καθῆκεν, ἄνδρας ἐνταῦθα χρῆσθαι ταῖς 7.36.9 σάλπιγξιν ἐπισταμένους ἐνθέμενος. οἷς δὴ ἐπέστελλε διὰ μὲν τοῦ Τιβέριδος ἐρέσσοντας ἐπίπροσθεν ἰέναι, ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοῦ περιβόλου ἄγχιστα ἥκωσι, ταῖς σάλπιγξιν 7.36.10 ἐνταῦθα ἠχεῖν δυνάμει τῇ πάσῃ. αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν Γότθων στρατὸν ἄγχιστα πύλης τῆς εἰρημένης, ἣ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπώνυμός ἐστι, λανθάνων τοὺς πολεμίους 7.36.11 ἐν παρασκευῇ εἶχε. λογισάμενός τε ὡς ἤν τινες τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ ἅτε ἐν σκότῳ διαλαθόντες ἐκ τῆς πόλεως διαδρᾶναι οἷοί τε ὦσιν, ἴωσιν ἐς Κεντουκέλλας, ἐπεὶ ὀχύρωμα ἕτερον τῶν τῇδε χωρίων οὐδαμῆ σφίσιν ἐλέλειπτο, ἀνδρῶν μαχίμων ἐνέδραις τισὶ προλοχίζειν ἔγνω τὴν ἐνταῦθα ὁδὸν φέρουσαν, οἷς δὴ ἐπήγγελλε 7.36.12 τοὺς φεύγοντας διαχρήσασθαι. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς πλοίοις ὄντες, ἐπεὶ τῆς πόλεως ἄγχι ἐγένοντο, ἐχρῶντο 7.36.13 ἤδη κατὰ τὰ σφίσιν ἐπηγγελμένα ταῖς σάλπιγξι. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ καταπλαγέντες ἐς μέγα τε δέος καὶ θόρυβον καταστάντες ἐξαπιναίως ἀπολιπόντες οὐδενὶ λόγῳ τὰ σφέτερα φυλακτήρια ἐβοήθουν ἐνταῦθα δρόμῳ, τὴν 7.36.14 ἐπιβουλὴν ἐς τὸ ἐκείνῃ τεῖχος εἶναι οἰόμενοι. μόνοι τε οἱ προδιδόντες Ἴσαυροι ἐπὶ τῇ αὐτῶν φυλακῇ μείναντες τάς τε πύλας κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἀνέῳγον καὶ 7.36.15 τῇ πόλει τοὺς πολεμίους ἐδέξαντο. καὶ πολὺς μὲν τῶν παραπεπτωκότων ἐνταῦθα γεγένηται φόνος, πολλοὶ δὲ φεύγοντες δι' ἑτέρων πυλῶν ᾤχοντο, οἱ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ Κεντουκέλλας ἰόντες ὑπό τε τοῖς ἐνεδρεύουσι γενόμενοι διεφθάρησαν. ὀλίγοι μέντοι αὐτῶν διέφυγον μόλις, ἐν οἷς καὶ ∆ιογένην πληγέντα φασὶ διασεσῶσθαι. 7.36.16 Ἦν δέ τις ἐν τῷ Ῥωμαίων στρατῷ Παῦλος μὲν ὄνομα, Κίλιξ δὲ γένος, ὃς τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ἐφειστήκει τῇ Βελισαρίου οἰκίᾳ, ὕστερον δὲ καταλόγου ἱππικοῦ ἄρχων ἔς τε Ἰταλίαν ἐστράτευσε καὶ ξὺν τῷ ∆ιογένει 7.36.17 ἐπὶ τῷ Ῥώμης φυλακτηρίῳ ἐτέτακτο. οὗτος ὁ Παῦλος, ἁλισκομένης τότε τῆς πόλεως, ξὺν ἱππεῦσι τετρακοσίοις ἔς τε τὸν Ἀδριανοῦ τάφον ἀνέδραμε καὶ τὴν γέφυραν ἔσχε τὴν ἐς Πέτρου τοῦ ἀποστόλου τὸν νεὼν φέρουσαν. 7.36.18 τοῦ δὲ Γότθων στρατοῦ, ὄρθρου τε ὄντος καὶ μέλλοντός τι ὑποφαίνειν ἡμέρας, τούτοις δὴ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἐς χεῖρας ἐλθόντος, ἐνταῦθα ἰσχυρότατα τοὺς πολεμίους ὑφιστάμενοι τὸ πλέον ἔσχον· τῶν τε βαρβάρων ἅτε πλήθους τε μεγάλου καὶ στενοχωρίας ἐν αὐτοῖς 7.36.19 οὔσης πολλοὺς ἔκτειναν. ὅπερ ἐπεὶ ὁ Τουτίλας εἶδε, κατέπαυσε μὲν αὐτίκα τὴν μάχην, Γότθους δὲ τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀντικαθεζομένους ἡσυχάζειν ἐκέλευεν, οἰό7.36.20 μενος λιμῷ τοὺς ἄνδρας αἱρήσειν. ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν ἡμέραν Παῦλός τε καὶ οἱ τετρακόσιοι ἀπόσιτοι διαγεγόνασι, τήν τε νύκτα οὕτως ηὐλίσαντο· τῇ δὲ ἐπιγενομένῃ ἐβουλεύσαντο μὲν σιτίζεσθαι τῶν ἵππων τισὶν, ὄκνησις δὲ αὐτοὺς τῷ τῆς ἐδωδῆς οὐ ξυνειθισμένῳ διεκρούσατο μέχρι ἐς δείλην ὀψίαν, καίπερ πιεζομένους 7.36.21 τῷ λιμῷ ἐς τὰ μάλιστα. τότε δὲ πολλὰ λογισάμενοι ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἀλλήλους ἐς εὐτολμίαν παρακαλέσαντες, ἐβουλεύσαντο ἄμεινον σφίσιν εἶναι εὐπρεπεῖ 7.36.22 θανάτῳ αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον. ὁρμῆσαι μὲν γὰρ ἔγνωσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμίους ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου, κτεῖναι δὲ αὐτῶν ὅσους ἂν ἑκάστῳ δυνατὰ εἴη, 7.36.23 οὕτω τε ἀνδρείως τῆς τελευτῆς τυχεῖν ἅπαντες. ἀλλήλους τοίνυν ἐξαπιναίως περιπλακέντες καὶ τῶν προσώπων καταφιλήσαντες τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ἠσπάζοντο, 7.36.24 ὡς ἀπολούμενοι εὐθὺς ἅπαντες. ὅπερ κατανοήσας ὁ Τουτίλας ἔδεισε μὴ θανατῶντες ἄνθρωποι καὶ σωτηρίας πέρι ἐλπίδα οὐδεμίαν τὸ λοιπὸν ἔχοντες ἀνήκεστα 7.36.25 ἔργα Γότθους δράσωσι. πέμψας οὖν παρ' αὐτοὺς δυοῖν προὐτείνετο αὐτοῖς αἵρεσιν, ὅπως ἢ τοὺς ἵππους ἀφέντες ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὰ ὅπλα καταθέμενοι, ἀπομόσαντές τε μηκέτι ἐπὶ Γότθους στρατεύεσθαι, κακῶν ἀπαθεῖς ἐς Βυζάντιον ἀπαλλάσσωνται, ἢ τὰ σφέτερα αὐτῶν ἔχοντες ἐπὶ τῇ ἴσῃ καὶ ὁμοίᾳ Γότθοις τὸ λοιπὸν 7.36.26 ξυστρατεύσωσι. τούτους Ῥωμαῖοι τοὺς λόγους ἄσμενοι