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of Rome. And at that time indeed both that Tuscan and his story incurred laughter. For before the experience, men are always fond of mocking prophecies, since the proof does not restrain them, as the events have neither come to pass nor is the account of them credible, but seems to be like some ridiculous8.21.18 fable. But now indeed all, yielding to the things that have come to pass, marvel8.21.19 at this sign. And for this reason perhaps Narses was marching against Totila, either because the emperor's mind was aiming at what was to be,8.21.20 or because fortune was ordaining what was necessary. Narses, then, having received from the emperor both a noteworthy army and great sums of money,8.21.21 set out. But when with his followers he came to the middle of Thrace, he remained for some time in Philippopolis, cut off from the road.8.21.22 For a Hunnic army, having descended upon the Roman dominion, was plundering and carrying off everything, with no one resisting them. But when some of them went towards Thessalonica, and others towards Byzantium, he with difficulty got away from there and went forward. 8.22.1 And while John was waiting for Narses at Salona, and Narses, being hindered by the incursion of the Huns, was proceeding more slowly, at this time Totila, expecting8.22.2 the army of Narses, did the following. He established other Romans and some members of the senatorial council in Rome, having left the rest in Campania.8.22.3 And he commanded them to take care of the city with all their power, showing that he regretted the things he had formerly done to Rome, since he had happened to burn much of it, especially beyond the Tiber river.8.22.4 But those who had been established, being in the condition of prisoners and stripped of all their money, were unable to attend not only to public matters, but not even to those which concerned them privately.8.22.5 And yet the Romans happen to be the most patriotic of all men whom we know, and they are zealous to protect and preserve all their ancestral things, so that nothing of the ancient adornment of Rome may be lost.8.22.6 Indeed, though they had been barbarized for a very long time, they preserved the buildings of the city and most of its ornaments, as many as was possible, which have endured for so great a length of time and through neglect because of the excellence of their construction.8.22.7 Moreover, whatever monuments of their race were still left, among them also the ship of Aeneas, the founder of the city, lies even to this day,8.22.8 a completely incredible sight. For having made a ship-shed in the middle of the city, beside the bank of the Tiber, and having placed it there, they preserve it since that time. And what sort it is, having seen it myself,8.22.9 I am about to describe. This ship is a single-banked galley and happens to be exceedingly long, one hundred and twenty feet in length, and twenty-five in breadth, and its height is such that it is not impossible for it to be rowed. 8.22.10 There is not a single joining of timbers in it at all, nor are the timbers of the vessel fitted to one another anywhere by iron or by any other device, but they are all of one piece, beyond description and hearing, and made,8.22.11 as far as we know, in this vessel alone. For the keel, being of a single piece, extends from the end of the stern to the prow, dipping down wonderfully for a short space into a curve, and again from there rising up very gracefully in proportion to a straight and extended line. 8.22.12 And all the thick timbers fitted to the keel (which some poets call rib-props, and others ribs) each extends from one side of the ship to the8.22.13 other side. And these too, curving down from each end, make a remarkably graceful bend, so that the ship happens to be fashioned most hollow, whether nature, according to the necessity of its use, cut the timbers and fitted them together beforehand with this curvature, or whether by man-made art and other device the irregularity of the ribs was suitably produced.8.22.14 And in addition to these, each plank reaches from the end of the stern to the other end of the ship, being of a single piece and having taken iron pegs for this reason only, so that8.22.15 to the beams

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Ῥώμης. καὶ τηνικάδε μὲν ὅ τε Τοῦσκος ἐκεῖνος καὶ ὁ παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγος γέλωτα ὦφλε. πρὸ γὰρ τῆς πείρας ἀεὶ ἄνθρωποι τὰς προρρήσεις φιλοῦσι χλευάζειν, οὐκ ἀναχαιτίζοντος αὐτοὺς τοῦ ἐλέγχου, τῷ μήτε ἀποβεβηκέναι τὰ πράγματα μήτε τὸν περὶ αὐτῶν λόγον εἶναι πιστὸν, ἀλλὰ μύθῳ τινὶ γε8.21.18 λοιώδει ἐμφερῆ φαίνεσθαι. νῦν δὲ δὴ ἅπαντες τὸ ξύμβολον τοῦτο τοῖς ἀποβεβηκόσιν ὑποχωροῦντες θαυ8.21.19 μάζουσι. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἴσως ἐπὶ Τουτίλαν ἐστρατήγει Ναρσῆς, ἢ στοχαζομένης τοῦ ἐσομένου τῆς βασιλέως 8.21.20 γνώμης, ἢ πρυτανευούσης τὸ δέον τῆς τύχης. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ναρσῆς στράτευμά τε λόγου ἄξιον καὶ χρήματα 8.21.21 μεγάλα πρὸς βασιλέως κεκομισμένος ἐστέλλετο. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ξὺν τοῖς ἑπομένοις ἐν μέσῃ Θρᾴκῃ ἐγένετο, χρόνον τινὰ ἐν Φιλιππουπόλει ἀποκεκλεισμένος τῆς ὁδοῦ 8.21.22 ἔμεινε. στράτευμα γὰρ Οὐννικὸν ἐπισκῆψαν τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ ἅπαντα ἦγόν τε καὶ ἔφερον, οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἀντιστατοῦντος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ μέν τινες ἐπὶ Θεσσαλονίκην, οἱ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ Βυζάντιον ᾔεσαν, μόλις ἐνθένδε ἀπαλλαγεὶς ἐπίπροσθεν ᾔει. 8.22.1 Ἐν ᾧ δὲ ὁ μὲν Ἰωάννης ἐπὶ Σαλώνων Ναρσῆν ἔμενε, Ναρσῆς δὲ Οὔννων τῇ ἐφόδῳ συμποδιζόμενος σχολαίτερον ᾔει, ἐν τούτῳ ὁ Τουτίλας προσδε8.22.2 χόμενος τὴν Ναρσοῦ στρατιὰν ἐποίει τάδε. ἄλλους τε Ῥωμαίους καί τινας τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς ἐν Ῥώμῃ καθίστη, τοὺς λοιποὺς ἐπὶ Καμπανίας 8.22.3 ἐάσας. καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευεν ὅση δύναμις ἐπιμελεῖσθαι τῆς πόλεως, ἐνδεικνύμενος ὅτι δὴ αὐτῷ μεταμέλει τῶν οἱ ἐς Ῥώμην εἰργασμένων τὰ πρότερα, ἐπεὶ ἐμπρήσας αὐτῆς πολλὰ ἔτυχεν, ἄλλως τε καὶ ὑπὲρ Τίβεριν πο8.22.4 ταμόν. οἱ δὲ καθεστῶτες ἐν αἰχμαλώτων λόγῳ καὶ περιῃρημένοι χρήματα πάντα, μὴ ὅτι τῶν κοινῶν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν ἰδίᾳ σφίσι προσηκόντων δυνατοὶ ἦσαν 8.22.5 μεταποιεῖσθαι. καίτοι ἀνθρώπων μάλιστα πάντων ὧν ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν φιλοπόλιδες Ῥωμαῖοι τυγχάνουσιν ὄντες, περιστέλλειν τε τὰ πάτρια πάντα καὶ διασώζεσθαι ἐν σπουδῇ ἔχουσιν, ὅπως δὴ μηδὲν ἀφανίζηται Ῥώμῃ τοῦ 8.22.6 παλαιοῦ κόσμου. οἵ γε καὶ πολύν τινα βεβαρβαρωμένοι αἰῶνα τάς τε πόλεως διεσώσαντο οἰκοδομίας καὶ τῶν ἐγκαλλωπισμάτων τὰ πλεῖστα, ὅσα οἷόν τε ἦν, χρόνῳ τε τοσούτῳ τὸ μῆκος καὶ τῷ ἀπαμελεῖσθαι δι' 8.22.7 ἀρετὴν τῶν πεποιημένων ἀντέχειν. ἔτι μέντοι καὶ ὅσα μνημεῖα τοῦ γένους ἐλέλειπτο ἔτι, ἐν τοῖς καὶ ἡ ναῦς Αἰνείου, τοῦ τῆς πόλεως οἰκιστοῦ, καὶ εἰς τόδε 8.22.8 κεῖται, θέαμα παντελῶς ἄπιστον. νεώσοικον γὰρ ποιησάμενοι ἐν μέσῃ τῇ πόλει, παρὰ τὴν τοῦ Τιβέριδος ὄχθην, ἐνταῦθά τε αὐτὴν καταθέμενοι, ἐξ ἐκείνου τηροῦσιν. ἥπερ ὁποία ποτέ ἐστιν αὐτὸς θεασάμενος 8.22.9 ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. μονήρης τε ἡ ναῦς ἥδε καὶ περιμήκης ἄγαν τυγχάνει οὖσα, μῆκος μὲν ποδῶν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν, εὖρος δὲ πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι, τὸ δέ γε ὕψος τοσαύτη ἐστὶν ὅσον αὐτὴν ἐρέσσεσθαι μὴ ἀδύνατα εἶναι. 8.22.10 ξύλων δὲ κόλλημα οὐδὲ ἓν τὸ παράπαν ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν οὐδὲ σιδήρων ἄλλῃ τινὶ μηχανῇ τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πλοίου εἰς ἄλληλά πη ἐρήρεισται, ἀλλὰ μονοειδῆ ξύμπαντά ἐστι λόγου τε καὶ ἀκοῆς κρείσσω καὶ μόνῳ γεγονότα, 8.22.11 ὅσα γε ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι, ἐν τῷδε τῷ πλοίῳ. ἥ τε γὰρ τρόπις μονοφυὴς οὖσα ἐκ πρύμνης ἄκρας ἄχρι ἐς τὴν πρῷραν διήκει, κατὰ βραχὺ μὲν θαυμασίως ἐπὶ τὸ κοῖλον ὑποχωροῦσα, καὶ αὖ πάλιν ἐνθένδε κατὰ λόγον εὖ μάλα ἐπὶ τὸ ὀρθόν τε καὶ διατεταμένον ἐπανιοῦσα. 8.22.12 τά τε παχέα ξύμπαντα ξύλα ἐς τὴν τρόπιν ἐναρμοσθέντα (ἅπερ οἱ μὲν ποιηταὶ δρυόχους καλοῦσιν, ἕτεροι δὲ νομέας) ἐκ τοίχου μὲν ἕκαστον θατέρου ἄχρι ἐς 8.22.13 τῆς νεὼς διήκει τὸν ἕτερον τοῖχον. ὑφιζάνοντα δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ ἐξ ἑκατέρας ἄκρας καμπὴν ποιεῖται διαφερόντως εὐπρόσωπον, ὅπως ἂν τὴν νῆα μάλιστα κοίλην ἀποτετορνεῦσθαι ξυμβαίη, εἴτε τῆς φύσεως κατὰ τὴν τῆς χρείας ἀνάγκην τά τε ξύλα διακοψάσης καὶ ξυναρμοσαμένης τὰ πρότερα τὸ κύρτωμα τοῦτο εἴτε χειροποιήτῳ τέχνῃ τε καὶ μηχανῇ ἄλλῃ τῆς τῶν νομέων 8.22.14 ἀνωμαλίας ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ γεγενημένης. σανίς τε πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἑκάστη ἐκ πρύμνης ἄκρας ἐς τῆς νηὸς ἐξικνεῖται τὴν ἑτέραν ἀρχὴν, μονοειδὴς οὖσα καὶ κέντρα σιδηρᾶ τούτου ἕνεκα προσλαβοῦσα μόνον, ὅπως 8.22.15 δὴ ταῖς δοκοῖς