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fell upon them as they were fleeing for no reason and drove them all back, only their commanders being left behind with a few 8.18.6 others. These men attempted to drag them back and to check their retreat, but accomplished nothing, using neither pitiful entreaties nor fearful threats. 8.18.7 Audoin, therefore, becoming very fearful as he saw them scattering in this disorderly fashion (for he did not know that the enemy had met with the same fate), immediately sent some of his followers on an embassy to the enemy to ask for 8.18.8 peace. These men, when they arrived before Thorisin, the ruler of the Gepids, and saw what was happening, understood from what had happened among themselves what had befallen the enemy, and coming into the presence of Thorisin, they enquired of him where in the world the multitude of his subjects might be. 8.18.9 And he, denying nothing of what had happened, said, "They are fleeing, though no one pursues." And they, taking him up, said, "The Langobards have suffered this very same thing. For since you are telling the truth, O king, we shall conceal nothing of our own 8.18.10 affairs. Therefore, since it is God's will that these peoples should by no means be utterly destroyed and he himself has broken up the battle-line, casting a saving fear upon both sides, come, let us also yield to the will of God, by putting an end to the war." "So be it, let these things be done," 8.18.11 said Thorisin. And so they made a truce for two years, so that in the meantime, by sending heralds and constantly visiting one another, they might settle all their differences with precision. At that time, then, both sides withdrew in this manner. 8.18.12 But during this truce, being unable to come to an agreement with one another for the settlement of their disputes, 8.18.13 they were about to proceed again to the deeds of war. And the Gepids, fearing the Roman power (for it was expected that they would ally themselves with the Langobards), planned to bring in some of the 8.18.14 Huns as allies. They therefore sent to the rulers of the Cutrigurs, who live on this side of the Maeotic Lake, and asked them to help wage the war against the Langobards 8.18.15 with them. And they immediately sent them twelve thousand men, who were led by others and by Chinialon, a man 8.18.16 pre-eminently skilled in warfare. But the Gepids, being burdened for the present by the presence of these barbarians, since the time for battle had not yet come, but a year of the treaty still remained, persuaded them to overrun the emperor's land in the meantime, making the plot against the Romans a by-product of their own inopportune 8.18.17 timing. And since the Romans were carefully guarding the crossing of the river Ister in Illyricum and in the regions of Thrace, they themselves ferried these Huns across the river Ister in their own 8.18.18 territory and sent them into the Roman domains. And they plundered almost all the places there, but the Emperor Justinian devised the following. Sending to the rulers of the Utigur Huns, who live beyond the Maeotic Lake, he found fault and called their inaction towards the Cutrigurs unjust, if indeed it would be necessary to count it among the most unjust of deeds to overlook friends being destroyed. 8.18.19 "For the Cutrigurs," he said, "taking no thought of their neighbours, and this though they receive great sums of money from Byzantium every year, are in no way willing to cease their injustice toward the Romans, but every day they run down and plunder them without any 8.18.20 reason. And you yourselves, gaining no part of this, nor sharing the booty with the Cutrigurs, pay no attention to the Romans being ill-treated, although you have been their especial friends from of old. 8.18.21 Having indicated these things to the Utigurs, the Emperor Justinian both presented them with money and reminded them of how many gifts they had often received from him before, and persuaded them to make an immediate attack upon the Cutrigurs who had been 8.18.22 left behind. They, of the Goths dwelling near them, who are called Tetraxites,

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ἐπιπεσόντα φεύγοντας ἀπ' αἰτίας οὐδεμιᾶς ἅπαντας ὀπίσω ἀπήνεγκε, μόνων τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ ἀπολελειμμένων ξὺν ὀλί8.18.6 γοις τισίν. οἵπερ αὐτοὺς ἀνθέλκειν τε καὶ τῆς ὑπαγωγῆς ἀναχαιτίζειν ἀποπειρασάμενοι οὐδὲν ἤνυον οὔτε θωπείαις οἰκτραῖς οὔτε ἀπειλαῖς φοβεραῖς χρώμενοι. 8.18.7 περιδεὴς οὖν γεγονὼς Αὐδουὶν ὁρῶν διασκεδαννυμένους ἀκόσμως οὕτως (οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει τοὺς πολεμίους τὴν ὁμοίαν κεκληρῶσθαι τύχην) τῶν οἱ ἑπομένων τινὰς ἐπὶ πρεσβείᾳ παρὰ τοὺς ἐναντίους εὐθὺς ἔπεμψε τὴν 8.18.8 εἰρήνην αἰτησομένους. οἵπερ, ἐπεὶ παρὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν Γηπαίδων Θορισὶν ἀφικόμενοι τὰ πρασσόμενα εἶδον, ἔκ τε τῶν ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τετυχηκότων κατενόησαν τὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις ξυνενεχθέντα καὶ τῷ Θορισὶν ἐς ὄψιν ἐλθόντες ἀνεπυνθάνοντο αὐτοῦ ὅπη ποτέ 8.18.9 οἱ γῆς τῶν ἀρχομένων τὸ πλῆθος εἴη. καὶ ὃς τῶν ξυμπεπτωκότων οὐδὲν ἀρνηθεὶς «Φεύγουσιν οὐδενὸς «διώκοντος» ἔφη. οἱ δὲ ὑπολαβόντες «Ταὐτὸ τοῦτο» φασὶ «Λαγγοβάρδαι πεπόνθασιν. ἀληθιζομένῳ γάρ «σοι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, οὐδέν τι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀποκρυψό8.18.10 «μεθα. οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ τὰ γένη ταῦτα διολωλέναι ὡς «ἥκιστα βουλομένῳ τῷ θεῷ ἐστι καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ διέ»λυσε τὴν παράταξιν, σωτήριον ἀμφοτέροις ἐπιβαλὼν «δέος, φέρε δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐπιχωρήσωμεν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ «γνώμῃ, τὸν πόλεμον καταλύοντες.» «Ἔστω, γινέσθω 8.18.11 «ταῦτα» ὁ Θορισὶν ἔφη. δυοῖν τε οὕτως ἐνιαυτοῖν ἐκεχειρίαν πεποίηνται, ὅπως μεταξὺ ἐπικηρυκευόμενοί τε καὶ παρ' ἀλλήλους ἀεὶ φοιτῶντες ἅπαντα ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τὰ διάφορα διαλύσωσι. τότε μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἑκάτεροι ἀνεχώρησαν. 8.18.12 Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐκεχειρίᾳ ταύτῃ οὐχ οἷοί τε γεγενημένοι ἐς τῶν ἀντιλεγομένων τὴν διάλυσιν ἀλλήλοις ξυμβῆναι, 8.18.13 αὖθις ἐπὶ τὰ πολέμια ἔργα χωρεῖν ἔμελλον. δειμαίνοντές τε Γήπαιδες τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν (ἐπίδοξοι γὰρ ἦσαν ὡς Λαγγοβάρδαις ξυντάξονται) τῶν τινας Οὔν8.18.14 νων ἐς τὴν ὁμαιχμίαν ἐπάγεσθαι διενοοῦντο. ἔπεμψαν οὖν παρὰ τῶν Κουτριγούρων τοὺς ἄρχοντας, οἳ δὴ ἐνθένδε ᾤκηνται Λίμνης τῆς Μαιώτιδος, καὶ αὐτῶν ἐδέοντο πόλεμον τὸν πρὸς Λαγγοβάρδας ξυνδιενεγκεῖν 8.18.15 σφίσιν. οἱ δὲ αὐτοῖς δισχιλίους τε καὶ μυρίους εὐθὺς ἔπεμψαν, ὧν ἄλλοι τε ἡγοῦντο καὶ Χινιαλὼν, ἀνὴρ 8.18.16 διαφερόντως ἀγαθὸς τὰ πολέμια. Γήπαιδες δὲ τούτων δὴ τῶν βαρβάρων τῇ παρουσίᾳ ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἀχθόμενοι, ἐπεὶ οὔπω ὁ τῆς μάχης ἐνειστήκει καιρὸς, ἀλλ' ἐνιαυτὸς ταῖς ξυνθήκαις ἔτι ἐλέλειπτο, πείθουσιν αὐτοὺς καταθεῖν μεταξὺ τὴν βασιλέως γῆν, πάρεργον τῆς σφετέρας ἀκαιρίας πεποιημένοι τὴν ἐς Ῥωμαίους 8.18.17 ἐπιβουλήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι τὴν διάβασιν ποταμοῦ Ἴστρου ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἔν τε Ἰλλυριοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης χωρίοις ἐφρούρουν, αὐτοὶ τούτους δὴ τοὺς Οὔννους ἐν χώρᾳ τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς διαπορθμεύσαντες 8.18.18 ποταμὸν Ἴστρον ἐς τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἤθη ἀφίεσαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν πάντα σχεδόν τι ἐληΐσαντο τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία, βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς ἐπενόει τάδε. πέμψας παρὰ Οὔννων τῶν Οὐτιγούρων τοὺς ἄρχοντας, οἳ δὴ ἐπέκεινα Λίμνης ᾤκηνται τῆς Μαιώτιδος, ἐμέμφετό τε καὶ ἄδικον αὐτῶν ἀπεκάλει τὴν ἐς Κουτριγούρους ἀπραγμοσύνην, εἴπερ τὸ τοὺς φίλους διαφθειρομένους περιορᾶν ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἔργων ἀδικωτάτοις καταλέγειν δεήσει. 8.18.19 αὐτῶν γὰρ Κουτρίγουροι, ἔφη, πλησιοχώρων ὄντων ἀφροντιστήσαντες, καὶ ταῦτα ἐκ Βυζαντίου χρήματα μεγάλα κομιζόμενοι ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος, τρόπῳ οὐδενὶ τῆς ἐς Ῥωμαίους ἀδικίας οὐ θέλουσιν ἀποπαύεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὁσημέραι καταθέουσί τε καὶ ληΐζονται αὐτοὺς οὐδενὶ 8.18.20 λόγῳ. τούτων δὲ αὐτοὶ οὐδὲν τὸ μέρος κερδαίνοντες, οὐδὲ τῆς λείας Κουτριγούροις διαλαγχάνοντες, οὐ προσποιοῦνται κακουμένους Ῥωμαίους, καίπερ αὐτοῖς 8.18.21 φίλοι ἐκ παλαιοῦ ἐς τὰ μάλιστα ὄντες. ταῦτα σημήνας τοῖς Οὐτιγούροις Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς καὶ χρήμασι μὲν αὐτοὺς δωρησάμενος, ὑπομνήσας δὲ ὅσων δώρων καὶ πρότερον πολλάκις πρὸς αὐτοῦ ἔτυχον, ἀναπείθει σφᾶς ἔφοδον αὐτίκα ἐς τῶν Κουτριγούρων τοὺς ὑπο8.18.22 λελειμμένους ποιήσασθαι. οἱ δὲ Γότθων τῶν σφίσι προσοίκων, οἳ δὴ Τετραξῖται καλοῦνται,