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both sides had taken many places by siege, without either assaulting walls before, or daring to come down to the plain, since these barbarians have never even attempted to ravage the land of the Romans 7.38.8 at any time. Nor indeed do they appear to have crossed the Ister river with an army in all time, except, of course, from the time I have mentioned before. 7.38.9 But these men, who had conquered Asbadus, plundered everything in succession as far as the sea and took by storm a coastal city, although it had a garrison of soldiers, Toperus by name; which is the first of the coastal cities of Thrace, and is a twelve days’ journey distant from Byzantium. They took it in the following manner. 7.38.10 The majority hid themselves in difficult terrain in front of the circuit-wall, while a few, having come near the gates, which are toward the rising sun, were harassing the Romans on the 7.38.11 battlements. But the soldiers, as many as held the garrison there, suspecting that they were no more numerous than those who were seen, immediately taking up 7.38.12 their arms all went out against them. The barbarians turned back, giving the impression to their attackers that they were retreating in fear of them; and the Romans, rushing into the pursuit, 7.38.13 got far from the circuit-wall. Therefore those from the ambush rose up, and getting behind the pursuers, made it no longer possible for them to enter the city. 7.38.14 And those who seemed to be fleeing also turned back and now had the Romans surrounded. After destroying all of them, the barbarians attacked the circuit-wall. 7.38.15 The inhabitants of the city, deprived of the strength of the soldiers, were in great perplexity, but even so they defended themselves against the attackers with what they had. 7.38.16 And at first, heating oil and pitch to a very high temperature, they poured it down on those assaulting the wall, and using volleys of stones against them with all their people, they were not far from repelling 7.38.17 the danger. Then the barbarians, overwhelming them with a multitude of missiles, forced them to abandon the battlements, and setting ladders against the circuit-wall, 7.38.18 took the city by storm. So they immediately killed all the men, up to fifteen thousand, and plundered all the property, and the children 7.38.19 and women they reduced to the state of slaves. And yet previously they had spared no age, but both they and the other band, ever since they had invaded the land of the Romans, had been killing everyone they met, from youth upwards. So that the whole land, which is that of the Illyrians and Thracians, became for the most part full of unburied 7.38.20 corpses. For they killed those they met neither with sword nor with spear nor in any other accustomed manner, but fixing stakes most securely in the ground, and making them as sharp as possible, they would set the wretched men on these with great violence, driving the point of the stake between the buttocks and pushing it up into the entrails of the men, thus they thought fit to do away 7.38.21 with them. And these barbarians, burying four thick pieces of wood deep in the ground and binding the hands and feet of their captives to them, then would beat them on the head continuously with clubs, and destroy them as if they were dogs or snakes or some other wild 7.38.22 beast. Others, along with cattle and sheep which they were quite unable to take to their native lands, they would shut up in the buildings and burn them without any mercy. Thus, indeed, the Sclaveni were always killing 7.38.23 those they met. But now both they and those of the other band, as if drunk with the great quantity of blood, saw fit from now on to take some of those they met alive, and as a result, leading tens of thousands of captives, more than could be numbered, they all departed for home. 7.39.1 Later the Goths attacked the fortress of the Rhegians, but the besieged, defending themselves most stoutly, repulsed them, and Thorimuth was always displaying 7.39.2 deeds worthy of valour against them. But Totila, knowing that the besieged were short of provisions, a portion of his army

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πολλὰ πολιορκίᾳ ἑκάτεροι εἷλον, οὔτε τειχομαχήσαντες πρότερον, οὔτε ἐς τὸ πεδίον καταβῆναι τολμήσαντες, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ γῆν τὴν Ῥωμαίων καταθεῖν ἐγκεχειρήκασι 7.38.8 οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι πώποτε. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ στρατῷ ποταμὸν Ἴστρον φαίνονται διαβεβηκότες ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς χρόνου, πλήν γε δὴ ἐξ ὅτου μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται. 7.38.9 Οὗτοι δὲ οἱ τὸν Ἄσβαδον νενικηκότες μέχρι ἐς θάλασσαν ληϊσάμενοι ἐφεξῆς ἅπαντα καὶ πόλιν ἐπιθαλασσίαν τειχομαχήσαντες εἷλον, καίπερ στρατιωτῶν φρουρὰν ἔχουσαν, Τόπηρον ὄνομα· ἣ πρώτη μὲν Θρᾳκῶν τῶν παραλίων ἐστὶ, τοῦ δὲ Βυζαντίου διέχει ὁδῷ ἡμερῶν δυοκαίδεκα. εἷλον δὲ αὐτὴν τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. 7.38.10 οἱ μὲν πλεῖστοι ἐν δυσχωρίαις πρὸ τοῦ περιβόλου σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔκρυψαν, ὀλίγοι δέ τινες ἀμφὶ τὰς πύλας γενόμενοι, αἳ πρὸς ἀνίσχοντά εἰσιν ἥλιον, τοὺς ἐν ταῖς 7.38.11 ἐπάλξεσι Ῥωμαίους ἠνώχλουν. ὑποτοπήσαντες δὲ οἱ στρατιῶται, ὅσοι τὸ ἐνταῦθα φυλακτήριον εἶχον, οὐ πλείους αὐτοὺς ἢ ὅσοι καθεωρῶντο εἶναι, ἀνελόμενοι 7.38.12 αὐτίκα τὰ ὅπλα ἐξίασιν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἅπαντες. οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι ὀπίσω ἀνέστρεφον, δόκησιν παρεχόμενοι τοῖς ἐπιοῦσιν ὅτι δὴ αὐτοὺς κατωρρωδηκότες ἐς ὑπαγωγὴν χωροῦσι· καὶ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι ἐς τὴν δίωξιν ἐκπεπτωκότες 7.38.13 πόρρω που τοῦ περιβόλου ἐγένοντο. ἀναστάντες οὖν οἱ ἐκ τῶν ἐνεδρῶν κατόπισθέν τε τῶν διωκόντων γενόμενοι ἐσιτητὰ σφίσιν ἐς τὴν πόλιν οὐκέτι ἐποίουν. 7.38.14 ἀναστρέψαντες δὲ καὶ οἱ φεύγειν δοκοῦντες ἀμφιβόλους ἤδη τοὺς Ῥωμαίους πεποίηνται. οὓς δὴ ἅπαντας οἱ βάρβαροι διαφθείραντες τῷ περιβόλῳ προσέβαλον. 7.38.15 οἱ δὲ τῆς πόλεως οἰκήτορες τῶν στρατιωτῶν τῆς δυνάμεως ἐστερημένοι, γίνονται μὲν ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ πολλῇ, καὶ ὣς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἠμύνοντο. 7.38.16 καὶ πρῶτα μὲν ἔλαιόν τε καὶ πίσσαν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον θερμήναντες τῶν τειχομαχούντων κατέχεον, καὶ λίθων βολαῖς πανδημεὶ ἐς αὐτοὺς χρώμενοι τοῦ ἀπεῶσθαι 7.38.17 τὸν κίνδυνον οὐ μακράν που ἐγένοντο. ἔπειτα δὲ αὐτοὺς πλήθει βελῶν οἱ βάρβαροι βιασάμενοι ἐκλιπεῖν τε τὰς ἐπάλξεις ἠνάγκασαν καὶ κλίμακας τῷ περιβόλῳ 7.38.18 ἐρείσαντες κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν εἷλον. ἄνδρας μὲν οὖν ἐς πεντακισχιλίους τε καὶ μυρίους εὐθὺς ἅπαντας ἔκτειναν καὶ πάντα τὰ χρήματα ἐληΐσαντο, παῖδας δὲ 7.38.19 καὶ γυναῖκας ἐν ἀνδραπόδων πεποίηνται λόγῳ. καίτοι τὰ πρότερα οὐδεμιᾶς ἡλικίας ἐφείσαντο, ἀλλ' αὐτοί τε καὶ ἡ συμμορία ἡ ἑτέρα, ἐξ ὅτου δὴ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἐπέσκηψαν χώρᾳ, τοὺς παραπίπτοντας ἡβηδὸν ἅπαντας ἔκτεινον. ὥστε γῆν ἅπασαν, ἥπερ Ἰλλυριῶν τε καὶ Θρᾳκῶν ἐστι, νεκρῶν ἔμπλεων ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀτάφων 7.38.20 γενέσθαι. ἔκτεινον δὲ τοὺς παραπίπτοντας οὔτε ξίφει οὔτε δόρατι οὔτε τῳ ἄλλῳ εἰωθότι τρόπῳ, ἀλλὰ σκόλοπας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πηξάμενοι ἰσχυρότατα, ὀξεῖς τε αὐτοὺς ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ποιησάμενοι, ἐπὶ τούτων ξὺν βίᾳ πολλῇ τοὺς δειλαίους ἐκάθιζον, τήν τε σκολόπων ἀκμὴν γλουτῶν κατὰ μέσον ἐνείροντες ὠθοῦντές τε ἄχρι ἐς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ ἔγκατα, οὕτω δὴ αὐτοὺς 7.38.21 διαχρήσασθαι ἠξίουν. καὶ ξύλα δὲ παχέα τέτταρα ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐς γῆν κατορύξαντες οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι, ἐπ' αὐτῶν τε χεῖράς τε καὶ πόδας τῶν ἡλωκότων δεσμεύοντες, εἶτα ῥοπάλοις αὐτοὺς κατὰ κόρρης ἐνδελεχέστατα παίοντες, ὡς δὴ κύνας ἢ ὄφεις ἢ ἄλλο τι θηρίον 7.38.22 διέφθειρον. ἄλλους δὲ ξύν τε βουσὶ καὶ προβάτοις, ὅσα δὴ ἐπάγεσθαι ἐς τὰ πάτρια ἤθη ὡς ἥκιστα εἶχον, ἐν τοῖς δωματίοις καθείρξαντες, οὐδεμιᾷ φειδοῖ ἐνεπίμπρασαν. οὕτω μὲν Σκλαβηνοὶ τοὺς ἐντυχόντας ἀεὶ 7.38.23 ἀνῄρουν. ἀλλὰ νῦν αὐτοί τε καὶ οἱ τῆς ἑτέρας συμμορίας, ὥσπερ τῷ τῶν αἱμάτων μεθύοντες πλήθει, ζωγρεῖν τὸ ἐνθένδε ἠξίουν τῶν παραπεπτωκότων τινὰς, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ μυριάδας αἰχμαλώτων ἐπαγόμενοι ἀριθμοῦ κρείσσους ἐπ' οἴκου ἀπεκομίσθησαν ἅπαντες. 7.39.1 Ὕστερον δὲ Γότθοι τῷ Ῥηγίνων προσέβαλον ὀχυρώματι, οἱ δὲ πολιορκούμενοι καρτερώτατα σφᾶς ἀμυνόμενοι ἀπεκρούοντο, ἔργα τε ὁ Θουριμοὺθ ἐπε7.39.2 δείκνυτο ἀεὶ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἀρετῆς ἄξια. γνοὺς δὲ ὁ Τουτίλας ἐνδεῖν τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις τὰ ἐπιτήδεια, μοῖραν μὲν τοῦ στρατοῦ αὐτοῦ