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when no cause is apparent to us, the ships are destroyed.8.6.23 And for this reason the poets say that the vessels are sucked down by Charybdis, as many as happen to be in this strait at that time. 8.6.24 But these men think that all these things, which happen in all straits with the greatest inexplicability, happen because of the continent being very close on either side. For they say that the rushing water, being constrained by the narrowness, proceeds to certain strange and irrational necessities. 8.6.25 So that even if the current seems to flow from the so-called Hieron to Byzantium, no one could reasonably maintain that both the sea and the Euxine Pontus end there. 8.6.26 For this reasoning does not stand on any solid nature, but let the narrowness prevail here also. However, the situation is not entirely thus. 8.6.27 For the fishermen of these parts say that the current does not all descend straight to Byzantium, but while its upper part, which is visible to us, happens to go in this direction, the lower part, where there is and is named the abyss, moves explicitly in the opposite direction to the upper part, and is always carried contrary to what is seen. 8.6.28 And so, when in pursuit of a catch of fish they cast their nets somewhere here, these nets, being always forced by the current, are carried toward the Hieron. 8.6.29 But in Lazica the land on all sides, beating back the advance of the sea and checking its course, makes it end here for the first and only time, since the Creator, clearly, has set their boundaries here. 8.6.30 For the sea, touching the shore here, neither proceeds forward nor is raised to any greater height, although it is always surrounded on all sides by the mouths of rivers both numberless and exceedingly large, but turning back it returns again and, measuring out its own measure, preserves its own limit, as if fearing some law, and by the necessity from it is constrained with precision and is on guard lest it be seen to transgress any of the established agreements. 8.6.31 For all the other shores of the sea happen to lie not opposite it, but on its flank. But concerning these things, let each one know and say as he pleases. 8.7.1 For what reason Chosroes was eager to lay claim to Lazica has already been stated by me before; but what most of all brought both him and the Persians to this, I shall make clear here, since by describing this whole country I have made my account of this matter clear. 8.7.2 Often these barbarians, with Chosroes leading them, invading the land of the Romans with a great army, inflicted sufferings on their enemies not easy to describe, which have been related by me in my accounts concerning them, but for themselves, having carried away no benefit at all from there, it came about that they were injured in both their money and their persons. For having lost many men, they always departed from the land of the Romans. 8.7.3 Therefore indeed, upon returning to their ancestral homes, they reviled Chosroes as secretly as possible and called him a destroyer of the Persian race. 8.7.4 And once, when they returned from Lazica, since they had happened to encounter certain incurable sufferings there, they were about to conspire openly against him and to destroy him with a most pitiable death, if he had not learned of it beforehand and taken precautions, winning over the most distinguished among them with much flattery. 8.7.5 And from that time on, wishing to defend himself against the accusation, he was eager to provide some great benefit to the Persian empire. At any rate, having at once made an attempt on the city of Daras, he was repulsed from there, as has been said by me, and he came to a complete despair of mastering the place. 8.7.6 For he could no longer take it by a raid, so well were the guards there keeping watch, nor indeed, by besieging them, did he hope to overcome them with any engine. 8.7.7 For besides all the other necessary provisions which are always purposely stored in sufficient quantity in the city of Daras, so that they might last for a very long time, a spring also, rising somewhere nearby in a precipitous place, creates a great river, which flows straight to the city, and those who desire to plot against it are not able to divert it elsewhere or in any other way through 8.7.8

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οὐδεμιᾶς ἡμῖν φαινομένης αἰτίας τὰς ναῦς δια8.6.23 χρῶνται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγουσι πρὸς τῆς Χαρύβδεως ῥοφεῖσθαι τὰ πλοῖα, ὅσα ἂν τύχῃ τηνικάδε 8.6.24 ὄντα ἐν τῷ πορθμῷ τούτῳ. οὗτοι δὲ ταῦτα δὴ ἅπαντα οἴονται τὰ πλείστῳ παραλόγῳ ἐν πᾶσι ξυμβαίνοντα τοῖς πορθμοῖς, ἐκ τῆς ἄγχιστα οὔσης ἑκατέρωθεν ἠπείρου ξυμβαίνειν. βιαζόμενον γάρ φασι τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ τὸ ῥόθιον ἐς ἀτόπους τινὰς καὶ λόγον οὐκ 8.6.25 ἐχούσας ἀνάγκας χωρεῖν. ὥστε εἰ καὶ ὁ ῥοῦς ἐκ τοῦ Ἱεροῦ καλουμένου ἐς Βυζάντιον δοκεῖ φέρεσθαι, οὐκ ἄν τις τήν τε θάλασσαν καὶ τὸν Εὔξεινον Πόντον ἀπο8.6.26 λήγειν ἰσχυρίσαιτο ἐνταῦθα εἰκότως. οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ στερρᾶς τινος ὁ λόγος ὅδε φύσεως ἕστηκεν, ἀλλ' ἡ στενοχωρία κἀνταῦθα νικάτω. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ παντάπασι 8.6.27 τὸ τοιοῦτον ταύτῃ πη ἔχει. λέγουσι γὰρ οἱ ἀσπαλιεῖς τῶν τῇδε χωρίων ὡς οὐχ ὅλος δὴ εὐθὺ τοῦ Βυζαντίου ὁ ῥοῦς κάτεισιν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τὰ μὲν ἄνω, ἅπερ ἡμῖν διαφανῆ ἐστι, κατὰ ταῦτα ἰέναι ξυμβαίνει, τὰ μέντοι ἔνερθεν, ἵνα δὴ ἄβυσσός ἐστί τε καὶ ὠνόμασται, τὴν ἐναντίαν τοῖς ἄνω διαρρήδην χωρεῖν, ἔμπαλίν τε τοῦ 8.6.28 φαινομένου ἐσαεὶ φέρεσθαι. ταῦτά τοι, ἐπειδὰν ἄγραν μετιόντες ἰχθύων τὰ λίνα ἐνταῦθά πη ἀπορρίψωσι, ταῦτα δὲ ἀεὶ τῷ ῥεύματι βιαζόμενα τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ Ἱερὸν 8.6.29 φέρεσθαι. ἐν δὲ Λαζικῇ πανταχόθεν ἡ γῆ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀποκρουομένη τὴν πρόοδον καὶ ἀναχαιτίζουσα τὸν αὐτῆς δρόμον, πρῶτόν τε καὶ μόνον ἀπολήγειν αὐτὴν ἐνταῦθα ποιεῖ, τοῦ δημιουργοῦ δηλονότι τὰ ὅρια σφίσι 8.6.30 τῇδε θεμένου. ἁπτομένη γὰρ ἡ θάλασσα τῆς ταύτῃ ἠϊόνος οὔτε πρόσω χωρεῖ οὔτε πη ἐς ὕψος ἐπαίρεται μεῖζον, καίπερ πανταχόθεν ἀεὶ περιρρεομένη ποταμῶν ἐκβολαῖς ἀναρίθμων τε καὶ ὑπερφυῶν ἄγαν, ἀλλ' ἀναποδίζουσα ὀπίσω ἐπάνεισιν αὖθις καὶ μέτρον διαριθμουμένη τὸ ταύτης ἴδιον, διασώζει τὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς ὅρον, ὥσπερ τινὰ δειμαίνουσα νόμον, ἀνάγκῃ τε τῇ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς σφιγγομένη καὶ φυλασσομένη μή 8.6.31 τι τῶν ξυγκειμένων ἐκβᾶσα φανείη. τὰς γὰρ ἄλλας ἁπάσας τῆς θαλάσσης ἀκτὰς οὐκ ἀπ' ἐναντίας αὐτῇ, ἀλλ' ἐκ πλαγίου ξυμβαίνει κεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων γινωσκέτω τε καὶ λεγέτω ἕκαστος ὅπη αὐτῷ φίλον. 8.7.1 Ὅτου δὲ ὁ Χοσρόης ἕνεκα Λαζικῆς μεταποιεῖσθαι διὰ σπουδῆς εἶχεν ἤδη μὲν πρόσθεν μοι ἐρρήθη· ὃ δὲ δὴ αὐτόν τε καὶ Πέρσας μάλιστα πάντων ἐς τοῦτο ἤνεγκεν, ἐνταῦθα δηλώσω, ὅτι δὴ καὶ χώραν τήνδε περιηγησάμενος ξύμπασαν σαφῆ τὸν περὶ τούτου 8.7.2 πεποίηκα λόγον. πολλάκις οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι, Χοσρόου σφίσιν ἡγουμένου, στρατῷ μεγάλῳ ἐμβαλόντες ἐς Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν οὐκ εὐδιήγητα μὲν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπήνεγκαν πάθη, ἅπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, αὐτοῖς δὲ ὄφελος οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν ἀπενεγκαμένοις ἐνθένδε τοῖς τε χρήμασι καὶ τοῖς σώμασι προσκεκακῶσθαι ξυνέπεσε. πολλοὺς γὰρ ἀποβεβληκότες ἀεὶ ἀπηλ8.7.3 λάσσοντο ἐκ Ῥωμαίων τῆς γῆς. διὸ δὴ ἐς ἤθη ἐπανιόντες τὰ πάτρια Χοσρόῃ ὡς λαθραιότατα ἐλοιδοροῦντο καὶ διαφθορέα τοῦ Περσῶν γένους αὐτὸν ἀπεκάλουν. 8.7.4 καί ποτε καὶ ἐκ Λαζικῆς ἐπανήκοντες, ἐπειδὴ ἐνταῦθα πάθεσιν ἔτυχον ὡμιληκότες ἀνηκέστοις τισὶ, ξυστήσεσθαί τε ἐκ τοῦ ἐμφανοῦς ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔμελλον καὶ διαχρήσεσθαι θανάτῳ οἰκτίστῳ, εἰ μὴ προμαθὼν ἐφυλάξατο, θωπείᾳ πολλῇ τοὺς ἐν σφίσι λογιμωτάτους 8.7.5 περιελθών. καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι τὴν κατηγορίαν ἐθέλων μέγα τι ὄφελος Περσῶν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐκπορίζεσθαι διὰ σπουδῆς εἶχε. πόλει γοῦν ∆άρας αὐτίκα ἐγκεχειρηκὼς ἀπεκρούσθη ἐνθένδε, ὥσπερ μοι εἴρηται, ἐς ἀπόγνωσίν τε τῆς τοῦ χωρίου ἐπικρατήσεως 8.7.6 παντάπασιν ἦλθεν. οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὸ ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἐξαιρήσειν τὸ λοιπὸν εἶχεν, οὕτω φυλασσομένων τῶν ἐκείνῃ φρουρῶν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ πολιορκῶν μηχανῇ τινι περιέ8.7.7 σεσθαι αὐτῶν ἤλπιζε. τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐσαεὶ ἐν πόλει ∆άρας διαρκῶς ἐστιν ἐξεπίτηδες ἀποκείμενα, ὅπως δὴ ἐς μέγα τι χρόνου διαρκέσειε μῆκος, καὶ πηγὴ ἄγχιστά πη φυομένη ἐν χώρῳ κρημνώδει ποταμὸν ἀπεργάζεται μέγαν, ὅσπερ τῆς πόλεως εὐθὺ φέρεται, οὐ δυναμένων τῶν ἐπιβουλεύειν ἐφιεμένων ἑτέρωσέ πη αὐτὸν ἀποτρέπειν ἢ τρόπῳ τῳ ἄλλῳ διὰ 8.7.8