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bringing two thousand into an alliance, they crossed the river 8.18.23 Tanais with their whole people. Sandil ruled them, a man most sagacious and experienced in many wars, and 8.18.24 naturally well-endowed with courage and manliness. And when they had made the crossing of the river, they came to blows with many of the Kutrigurs who came to meet them. And since these defended themselves most vigorously against their attackers, the battle had gone on for a very long time, but afterward the Utigurs, having routed their opponents, 8.18.25 killed many. And some few fleeing, wherever was possible for each of them, were saved. And their enemies, having enslaved their children and women, carried them off to their homes. 8.19.1 While these barbarians were then fighting against each other as I have said, and as the danger for them was at its height in the struggle, it came about that the Romans experienced 8.19.2 great good fortune. For all of them who happened to be held as captives by the Kutrigurs, amounting to many myriads, as they say, having escaped notice in this trouble and having departed from there with speed with no one pursuing them, arrived at their native homes, and of another's victory in their most pressing need 8.19.3 they reaped the benefit. But the Emperor Justinian, sending the general Aratius to Chinialon and the other Huns, ordered him to announce what had happened to them in their own land, and offering them money to persuade them to depart as quickly as possible from the land 8.19.4 of the Romans. And they, having learned of the attack of the Utigurs and having received great sums of money from Aratius, agreed neither to commit any more slaughter nor to enslave any Roman nor to do any other unpleasant thing, but to make their withdrawal as if through friends among the people 8.19.5 here. And this also was agreed, that if these barbarians were able to return and settle in their ancestral land, they were to remain there and for the future hold to their allegiance to the Romans; but if it should be impossible for them to remain in it, they were to return again to the land of the Romans, and the emperor would grant them some of the districts in Thrace, on the condition that having settled there they would be allies to the Romans for all time and would guard the country carefully against all barbarians. 8.19.6 And already also of the Huns who had been defeated in the battle and had escaped the Utigurs, two thousand came into the land of the Romans, bringing their children and women; 8.19.7 and their leaders were others and Sinnion, who much earlier with Belisarius had marched against both Gelimer and the Vandals; and they became suppliants of the Emperor Justinian. And he received them with all readiness, and ordered them to be settled in the districts of 8.19.8 Thrace. When Sandil, the king of the Utigurs, learned these things, being incensed and exceedingly angry, that he, on the one hand, punishing the Kutrigurs, who were of the same race, for their injustice toward the Romans, should drive them from their ancestral homes, while they, on the other hand, being received by the emperor, having settled in the land of the Romans, would live much better, he sent ambassadors to the emperor to reproach him for what had been done, not handing them any letter, since the Huns are altogether unacquainted with and unpractised in writing up to this day, and they have no schoolmaster nor are their children brought up with any toil over letters, but to recite everything by word of mouth in a rather barbarous fashion, all that he had instructed them. 8.19.9 So the ambassadors, having arrived into the presence of the Emperor Justinian, said that King Sandil spoke through them as in a letter the following: «I know a certain proverb, having heard it from childhood, «and if I have not forgotten any of it, the 8.19.10 «proverb happens to be something like this. The beast, the «wolf, of its hair, they say, might perhaps even be able to change it somewhat «not unable, but its mind it does not alter», since nature does not allow it to adjust this 8.19.11 «nature. These things,» says Sandil, speaking in proverbs, «I have heard from my elders, who by some indirect speech indicate» human affairs. And I also know something, having learned it from «experience, such as was likely for a barbarian living in the country 8.19.12 «to learn; the shepherds, taking up the dogs «while they are still sucklings, not

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δισχιλίους ἐς ξυμμαχίαν ἐπαγόμενοι διέβησαν πανδημεὶ ποταμὸν 8.18.23 Τάναϊν. ἦρχε δὲ αὐτῶν Σανδὶλ, ἀνὴρ ξυνετώτατος μὲν καὶ πολέμων πολλῶν ἔμπειρος, ἐς ἀλκὴν δὲ 8.18.24 καὶ ἀνδρίαν ἱκανῶς πεφυκώς. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὴν διάβασιν ἐποιήσαντο, τῶν Κουτριγούρων πολλοῖς ὑπαντιάσασιν ἐς χεῖρας ἦλθον. ὧνπερ ἰσχυρότατα τοὺς ἐπιόντας ἀμυνομένων ἐπὶ μακρότατον μὲν ἡ μάχη ἐγεγόνει, μετὰ δὲ Οὐτίγουροι τρεψάμενοι τοὺς ἐναντίους 8.18.25 πολλοὺς ἔκτειναν. ὀλίγοι δέ τινες φεύγοντες, ὅπη αὐτῶν ἑκάστῳ δυνατὰ γέγονε, διεσώθησαν. καὶ αὐτῶν οἱ πολέμιοι παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας ἀνδραποδίσαντες ἐπ' οἴκου ἀπεκομίσθησαν. 8.19.1 Τούτων δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων τότε πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαμαχομένων ᾗπέρ μοι εἴρηται, τοῦ τε κινδύνου σφίσι κατὰ τὴν ἀγωνίαν ἀκμάζοντος, εὐτυχίᾳ χρῆσθαι 8.19.2 Ῥωμαίοις ξυνηνέχθη πολλῇ. ὅσοι γὰρ αὐτῶν ὑπὸ Κουτριγούροις ἐν αἰχμαλώτων λόγῳ ὄντες ἐτύγχανον, ἐς μυριάδας, ὥς φασι, ξυνιόντες πολλὰς, ἐν τῷ πόνῳ τούτῳ διαλαθόντες ἐνθένδε τε κατὰ τάχος ἐξαναστάντες οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἐπισπομένου ἐς τὰ πάτρια ἤθη ἀφίκοντο, καὶ νίκης ἀλλοτρίας ἐν τοῖς ἀναγκαιοτάτοις 8.19.3 ἀπώναντο. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς Ἀράτιον στρατηγὸν στείλας παρά τε Χινιαλὼν καὶ Οὔννους τοὺς ἄλλους, ἀγγεῖλαι μὲν ἐκέλευε τὰ σφίσιν ἐν γῇ τῇ σφετέρᾳ αὐτῶν ξυνενεχθέντα, χρήματα δὲ αὐτοῖς προϊέμενον πεῖσαι ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ὅτι τάχιστα ἐκ Ῥωμαίων 8.19.4 τῆς γῆς. οἱ δὲ τῶν τε Οὐτιγούρων τὴν ἔφοδον γνόντες καὶ χρήματα μεγάλα πρὸς τοῦ Ἀρατίου κεκομισμένοι ξυνέβησαν μήτε φόνον ἔτι ἐργάσεσθαι μήτε ἀνδραποδιεῖν Ῥωμαίων μηδένα μήτε τι ἄλλο ἄχαρι δράσειν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ἅτε διὰ φίλων ποιήσε8.19.5 σθαι τῶν τῇδε ἀνθρώπων. ξυνέκειτο δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ὥστε, εἰ μὲν δυνατοὶ εἶεν οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι ἐν γῇ τῇ πατρῴᾳ ἐπανιόντες ἱδρύεσθαι, μένειν τε αὐτοῦ καὶ πίστεως τῆς ἐς Ῥωμαίους τὸ λοιπὸν ἔχεσθαι· ἢν δέ γε αὐτοῖς ἐν ταύτῃ μένειν ἀδύνατα ᾖ, ἐπανιέναι μὲν αὖθις αὐτοὺς ἐς γῆν τὴν Ῥωμαίων, βασιλέα δὲ σφᾶς δωρήσασθαί τισι τῶν ἐπὶ Θρᾴκης χωρίων, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐνταῦθα ἐνοικησάμενοι ἔνσπονδοί τε τὸν πάντα αἰῶνα Ῥωμαίοις ἔσονται καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ξυμφυλάξουσιν ἐκ πάντων βαρβάρων. 8.19.6 Ἤδη δὲ καὶ Οὔννων τῶν ἡσσημένων ἐν τῇ ξυμβολῇ καὶ διαφυγόντων τοὺς Οὐτιγούρους δισχίλιοι ἦλθον ἐς Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν, παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας 8.19.7 ἐπαγόμενοι· ἡγοῦντο δὲ αὐτῶν ἄλλοι τε καὶ Σιννίων, ὅσπερ ξὺν Βελισαρίῳ πολλῷ πρότερον ἐπί τε Γελίμερα καὶ Βανδίλους ἐστράτευσε· γίνονταί τε Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλέως ἱκέται. καὶ ὃς αὐτοὺς ὑπεδέξατο προθυμίᾳ τῇ πάσῃ, ἔν τε χωρίοις ἱδρύσασθαι τοῖς ἐπὶ 8.19.8 Θρᾴκης ἐκέλευσεν. ἅπερ ἐπεὶ Σανδὶλ, ὁ τῶν Οὐτιγούρων βασιλεὺς, ἔμαθε, παρωξυσμένος τε καὶ περιωργισμένος, εἰ αὐτὸς μὲν Κουτριγούρους ὁμογενεῖς ὄντας ἀδικίας τῆς ἐς Ῥωμαίους τιννύμενος ἐξ ἠθῶν ἀναστήσειεν αὐτοὺς τῶν πατρίων, οἱ δὲ βασιλέως σφᾶς ἐνδεξαμένου ἐνοικησάμενοι ἐν Ῥωμαίων τῇ γῇ πολλῷ ἄμεινον βιοτεύσουσιν, ἔπεμψε πρέσβεις ἐς βασιλέα τὰ πεπραγμένα ὀνειδιοῦντας, οὐκ ἐπιστολὴν αὐτοῖς τινα ἐγχειρίσας, ἐπεὶ γραμμάτων παντάπασιν Οὖννοι ἀνήκοοί τε καὶ ἀμελέτητοι ἐς τόδε εἰσὶ καὶ οὔτε γραμματιστήν τινα ἔχουσιν οὔτε τῳ περὶ τὰ γράμματα πόνῳ συναύξεται αὐτοῖς τὰ παιδία, βαρβαρικώτερον δὲ ἅπαντα ἀποστοματιοῦντας, ὅσα δὴ αὐτὸς ἐπιστείλειε σφίσιν. 8.19.9 ἀφικόμενοι οὖν οἱ πρέσβεις ἐς ὄψιν Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ λέγειν οἱ ἔφασαν δι' αὐτῶν ὡς ἐν ἐπιστολῇ τάδε βασιλέα Σανδίλ «Παροιμίαν τινὰ ἐκ παιδὸς «ἀκηκοὼς οἶδα, καὶ εἴ τι μὴ αὐτῆς ἐπιλέλησμαι, τοι8.19.10 «αύτη τις ἡ παροιμία τυγχάνει οὖσα. τὸ θηρίον ὁ «λύκος τῆς μὲν τριχὸς, φασὶν, ἴσως ἄν τι καὶ παραλλάξαι «οὐκ ἀδύνατος εἴη, τὴν μέντοι γνώμην οὐ μεταστρέ»φει, οὐκ ἀφιείσης αὐτῷ μεθαρμοσαμένῳ ταύτην τῆς 8.19.11 «φύσεως. ταῦτα μὲν», παροιμιαζόμενός φησιν ὁ Σανδὶλ, «τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀκήκοα, πλαγίῳ τινὶ παραδηλούν»των τὰ ἀνθρώπινα λόγῳ. οἶδα δέ τι καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς «πείρας μαθὼν, οἷα εἰκὸς ἦν ἀγροικιζόμενον βάρβαρον 8.19.12 «ἐκμαθεῖν· τοὺς κύνας οἱ ποιμένες ἐπιτιτθίους ὄντας «ἀναιρούμενοι οὐκ