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should campaign with them against Totila and the Goths. Such then were the events here. 8.25.16 But at this time extraordinary earthquakes fell upon Greece and shook both Boeotia and Achaea and 8.25.17 the regions around the Crisaean Gulf. And they razed to the ground countless places and eight cities, among which were Chaeronea and Coronea and Patrae and the whole of Naupactus, where indeed there was also a great slaughter of men. 8.25.18 And chasms were formed in many places as the earth was rent apart. Some of the parts which had been separated came together again and restored to the earth its former shape and appearance, but in some places they have remained separated; so that the people there are not able to have dealings with one another except by making long detours. 8.25.19 And in the strait, which happens to be between Thessaly and Boeotia, there was a sudden inrush of the sea about the city called Echinus and Scarpheia in Boeotia. 8.25.20 It advanced far inland and, inundating the places there, immediately razed them to the ground. And a long time was spent by the sea lingering over the land, so that for a very great distance the islands which happen to be inside this strait became accessible to men going on foot, since the surge of the sea had obviously abandoned its own place and unexpectedly spread over the land as far as the mountains which rise there. 8.25.21 And when it came to pass that the sea returned to its proper place, fish were left behind on the land, the sight of which, being altogether unfamiliar to the men there, 8.25.22 seemed to be a kind of portent. Thinking that these were edible, they took them up to cook them, but when the heat of the fire touched them, it came to pass that the whole body dissolved into ichor and unbearable putrefaction. 8.25.23 And around the places there, where the place called Schisma is, a very great earthquake occurred and wrought a greater slaughter of men than in all the rest of Greece, especially since it happened that many people from all over Greece were gathered there at that time for the purpose of celebrating some festival. 8.25.24 And in Italy the following things happened. The people of Croton and the soldiers who held the garrison there, whom Palladius commanded, being most bitterly besieged by the Goths and hard pressed by the lack of necessities, many times sent secretly to the enemy in Sicily, adjuring the commanders of the Roman army there, and especially Artabanes, that if they did not help them as quickly as possible, they would, not at all willingly, surrender both themselves and the city to the enemy not much later. 8.25.25 But no one came from there to help them. And the winter was ending, and the seventeenth year was coming to a close for this war, which Procopius wrote. 8.26.1 But the Emperor, learning what was being done at Croton, sent to Greece and ordered the guards at Thermopylae to sail to Italy with all speed and to help the besieged in Croton with all their might. 8.26.2 And they acted accordingly. Setting out with great haste and chancing upon a favorable wind, they put in unexpectedly at the harbor of Croton. And the barbarians, seeing the fleet unexpectedly, were immediately thrown into great fear and with much confusion broke off the siege. 8.26.3 And some of them escaped by ship to the harbor of Tarentum, while others, going on foot, withdrew to Mount Scylaeum; which events further 8.26.4 enslaved the spirit of the Goths. And in consequence Ragnaris, a most distinguished Goth who commanded the garrison in Tarentum, and Moras, who was in charge of the guards in Acherontia, with the approval of their followers, entered into negotiations with Pacurius, the son of Peranius, the commander of the Romans in Dryus, on the condition that, after receiving pledges from the Emperor Justinian concerning their safety, they would hand over themselves, together with their followers and the strongholds which they happened to be guarding, to the Romans. On this agreement, therefore, Pacurius was conveyed to Byzantium. 8.26.5 But Narses, setting out from Salona

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ξυστρατεύσωσιν ἐπὶ Τουτίλαν τε καὶ Γότθους. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐφέρετο τῇδε. 8.25.16 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ σεισμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπιπεσόντες ἐξαίσιοι τήν τε Βοιωτίαν καὶ Ἀχαίαν καὶ 8.25.17 τὰ περὶ κόλπον τὸν Κρισαῖον κατέσεισαν. καὶ χωρία μὲν ἀνάριθμα, πόλεις δὲ ὀκτὼ ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλον, ἐν ταῖς Χαιρώνειά τε καὶ Κορώνεια ἦν καὶ Πάτραι καὶ Ναύπακτος ὅλη, ἔνθα δὴ καὶ φόνος γέγονεν ἀνθρώ8.25.18 πων πολύς. καὶ χάος δὲ τῆς γῆς πολλαχῆ ἀποσχισθείσης γεγένηται. τὰ δὲ διαιρεθέντα ἔνια σχῆμα μὲν αὖθις ἐς ταὐτὸ ξυνιόντα τὸ πρότερον τῇ γῇ σχῆμά τε καὶ εἶδος ἀπέδωκεν, ἔστι δὲ οὗ καὶ διεστηκότα μεμένηκεν· ὥστε οὐδὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιμίγνυσθαι οἱ τῇδε ἄνθρωποί εἰσι δυνατοὶ ὅτι μὴ περιόδοις πολλαῖς χρώ8.25.19 μενοι. ἐν δέ γε τῷ πορθμῷ, ὅνπερ μεταξὺ Θεσσαλίας τε καὶ Βοιωτίας ξυμβαίνει εἶναι, γέγονέ τις ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπιρροὴ ἀμφί τε πόλιν τὴν Ἐχιναίων καλουμένην καὶ τὴν ἐν Βοιωτοῖς Σκάρφειαν. 8.25.20 πόρρω τε τῆς ἠπείρου ἀναβᾶσα καὶ κατακλύσασα τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλεν εὐθύς. χρόνος τε τῇ θαλάσσῃ πολὺς ἐπιχωριαζούσῃ τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἐτρίβη, ὥστε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πεζῇ ἰοῦσι βατὰς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γενέσθαι τὰς νήσους, αἵπερ ἔντοσθεν τοῦ πορθμοῦ τούτου τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι, τοῦ τῆς θαλάσσης δηλονότι ῥοθίου ἐκλιπόντος μὲν τὴν αὑτοῦ χώραν, ἐπιπολάζοντος δὲ παρὰ δόξαν τὴν γῆν ἄχρι ἐς τὰ ὄρη, ἃ ταύτῃ 8.25.21 ἀνέχει. ἡνίκα δὲ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐπανιέναι ξυνέπεσεν, ἰχθύες ἐν τῇ γῇ ἀπελείποντο, ὧνπερ ἡ ὄψις ἀήθης παντάπασιν οὖσα τοῖς τῇδε ἀνθρώποις 8.25.22 τερατώδης τις ἔδοξεν εἶναι. οὓς δὴ ἐδωδίμους εἶναι οἰόμενοι ἀνείλοντο μὲν ὡς ἑψήσοντες, θέρμης δὲ αὐτῶν τῆς ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἁψαμένης ἐς ἰχῶράς τε καὶ σηπεδόνας οὐ φορητὰς τὸ σῶμα ὅλον ἀποκεκρίσθαι ξυνέπεσεν. 8.25.23 ἀμφὶ δὲ τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία, οὗ δὴ τὸ Σχίσμα ὠνόμασται, καὶ σεισμὸς ὑπερμεγέθης γενόμενος πλείω φόνον ἀνθρώπων ἢ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ἄλλῃ Ἑλλάδι εἰργάσατο, μάλιστα ἐπεί τινα ἑορτὴν πανηγυρίζοντες ἔτυχον ἐκ πάσης τε τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐνταῦθα τότε τούτου δὴ ἕνεκα ξυνειλεγμένοι πολλοί. 8.25.24 Ἐν δὲ Ἰταλίᾳ τάδε ξυνέπεσε. Κροτωνιᾶται καὶ στρατιῶται οἱ τὸ φυλακτήριον ταύτῃ ἔχοντες, ὧν Παλλάδιος ἦρχε, πικρότατα πρὸς Γότθων πολιορκούμενοι καὶ πιεζόμενοι τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῇ ἀπορίᾳ, πολλάκις μὲν λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἔπεμψαν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, μαρτυρόμενοι τοὺς ἐνταῦθα τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ ἄρχοντας καὶ διαφερόντως τὸν Ἀρταβάνην, ὡς εἰ μὴ βοηθοῖεν ὅτι τάχιστα σφίσιν, οὔτι ἐθελου8.25.25 σίως σφᾶς τε αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν πόλιν οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐνδώσουσιν. οὐδεὶς δὲ ἐνθένθε αὐτοῖς ἐπικουρήσων ἦλθε. καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἔληγε, καὶ τὸ ἑπτακαιδέκατον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα τῷ πολέμῳ τῷδε, ὃν Προκόπιος ξυνέγραψε. 8.26.1 Βασιλεὺς δὲ μαθὼν τὰ ἐν Κρότωνι πρασσό8.26.1 μενα πέμψας ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐκέλευε τοὺς ἐν Θερμοπύλαις φρουροὺς ἔς τε τὴν Ἰταλίαν πλεῖν κατὰ τάχος καὶ τοῖς ἐν Κρότωνι πολιορκουμένοις βοηθεῖν δυνάμει 8.26.2 τῇ πάσῃ. οἱ δὲ κατὰ ταῦτα ἐποίουν. ἄραντές τε σπουδῇ πολλῇ καὶ πνεύματος ἐπιφόρου ἐπιτυχόντες ἀπροσδόκητοι τῷ Κροτωνιατῶν λιμένι προσέσχον. οἵ τε βάρβαροι ἐξαπιναίως τὸν στόλον ἰδόντες αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα ἐς δέος μέγα ἐμπεπτωκότες θορύβῳ πολλῷ τὴν πολιορκίαν διέ8.26.3 λυσαν. καὶ αὐτῶν οἱ μέν τινες ναυσὶν ἐς τὸν Ταραντηνῶν λιμένα διέφυγον, οἱ δὲ πεζῇ ἰόντες ἐς ὄρος τὸ Σκύλαιον ἀνεχώρησαν· ἃ δὴ ξυνενεχθέντα πολλῷ ἔτι 8.26.4 μᾶλλον ἐδούλωσε Γότθων τὸ φρόνημα. καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ Ῥάγναρίς τε, Γότθος ἀνὴρ δόκιμος μάλιστα, ὃς τοῦ ἐν Ταραντηνοῖς φυλακτηρίου ἦρχε, καὶ Μόρας, ὅσπερ ἐφειστήκει τοῖς ἐν Ἀχεροντίᾳ φρουροῖς, Πακουρίῳ τῷ Περανίου τῶν ἐν ∆ρυοῦντι Ῥωμαίων ἄρχοντι, γνώμῃ τῶν σφίσιν ἑπομένων, ἐς λόγους ἦλθον, ἐφ' ᾧ δὴ ἀμφὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τὰ πιστὰ πρὸς Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλέως λαβόντες Ῥωμαίοις σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐγχειρίσουσι ξὺν τοῖς ἑπομένοις καὶ τὰ ὀχυρώματα, ὧνπερ ἐπὶ τῇ φυλακῇ καταστάντες ἐτύγχανον. ἐπὶ ταύτῃ μὲν οὖν τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ Πακούριος ἐπὶ Βυζαντίου κομίζεται. 8.26.5 Ναρσῆς δὲ ἐκ Σαλώνων ἄρας