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was at a loss. But his men cutting timbers 3.123 from the thicket of equal length with the wall; for the most renowned of the Beroeans, who had been exiled by Kral, were campaigning with him, lacking in none of the courage and daring of those with the emperor; who also most eagerly served in every way, and were zealous for the capture of their fatherland. Since they did not have a ready supply of nails, using the ropes from the imperial tent, they constructed four ladders in a short time, and hoplites and light-armed troops, lifting them, with the Beroeans leading under Marzelatos, set them against the walls, with none of the citizens inside knowing; and they themselves went up first, then also some of the hoplites and the light-armed. And when the emperor perceived that his own men were inside, he immediately divided the army, and he himself, having the Roman cavalry and infantry, proceeded to the ladders, but he ordered the barbarian contingent with the remaining Romans to proceed against the acropolis, so as to strike terror by attacking from many sides. The soldiers who got inside, first encountering some guards, seized them and ordered them to be silent, or threatened to kill them. Then, coming to the gate called the Opsikian, they met other citizen guards, whom they ordered to cooperate with them and break the bars; and quicker than a word they opened the gates and admitted the emperor. He, keeping a few of the best men with him at the gates, ordered the others to go inside and engage 3.124 the enemy. The locals alone were sufficient to destroy them. For when they perceived the emperor was inside, as the acclamation made it clear to all, they immediately attacked the Triballians, and both plundered their possessions, and seized any they happened to meet. But the Triballians, when they perceived that Beroea was taken, at first ran together armed from all sides to their leaders, in order either to defend themselves, if it were possible, or to open the gates near the acropolis and escape. But when the barbarians shouted from outside the acropolis, they at once gave up all hope of safety, dismounted from their horses, and entered the acropolis, with their children and wives, taking no account of their other possessions. And there were many of them, for there were thirty of the nobles with their wives and children, all of whom commanded soldiers, and one thousand five hundred soldiers, and since the walls of the acropolis and the towers were unfinished, the leaders with their wives and children entered one of the towers of sufficient height, but of the rest of the multitude of soldiers, some were immediately captured, and others hid in the houses of their friends. But the Germans held the other acropolis by themselves, which was near the gate called the Basilikē; but another multitude of porters, said to be over ten thousand, brought from all the land under Kral for the building of the acropolis, bivouacking outside the walls, when it perceived the barbarians, still thinking that great 3.125 things had been set against the walls, they rushed in through them for the hauling of stones and other material and were saved inside the city. But when the emperor perceived that the city was now held by force, he himself also went to the acropolis, acclaimed by the citizens and escorted; and arriving there, he found everything plundered by both the people and the army; but he sent and prevented the barbarians from entering into the city, so that no harm might be done by them, as if the city had been taken by war. Then he ordered the Triballians in the tower to come out, giving his right hand in pledge that they would suffer no harm from him. And they, coming out at once, did obeisance. For they were all friends. But the Germans held out against the people and the hoplites from the triremes who were fighting, until the emperor also came to them. And they too immediately abandoned the acropolis and came over. These were the ones who, when the emperor first came to Beroea, had campaigned with him at the command of Kral, to whom the emperor was very grateful for their goodwill toward him at that time. For they did not endure, although by Kral

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ἀπόροις ἦν. οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν δὲ ξύλα τε 3.123 μόντες ἐκ τῆς λόχμης τῷ τείχει ἰσομήκη· συνεστρατεύοντο γὰρ Βεῤῥοιωτῶν οἱ μάλιστα ἐν λόγῳ ὑπὸ Κράλη φυγαδευθέντες, πρὸς εὐψυχίαν καὶ τόλμαν οὐδενὸς λειπόμενοι τῶν συνόντων βασιλεῖ· οἳ καὶ μάλιστα προθύμως πρὸς πάντα ὑπηρέτουν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῆς πατρίδος ἐσπούδαζον κατάληψιν. ἐπειδὴ ἥλων οὐκ εὐπόρουν, τοῖς ἐκ τῆς βασιλικῆς σκηνῆς χρησάμενοι καλωδίοις, κλίμακας κατεσκεύασαν τέτταρας ἐν βραχεῖ, ὁπλῖται δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ψιλῶν ἄραντες αὐτὰς, Βεῤῥοιωτῶν ἡγουμένων μετὰ Μαρζελάτου, τοῖς τείχεσι προσήρεισαν, μηδενὸς εἰδότος τῶν ἔνδον πολιτῶν· καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀνέβαινον πρῶτοι, ἔπειτα καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὁπλιτῶν καὶ τῶν ψιλῶν. βασιλεὺς δ' ἐπεὶ ᾐσθάνετο ἔνδον ὄντας τοὺς οἰκείους, αὐτίκα τὸ στράτευμα διῄρει, καὶ Ῥωμαίους μὲν ἔχων αὐτὸς ἱππέας καὶ πεζοὺς, ἐπὶ τὰς κλίμακας ἐχώρει, τὸ βαρβαρικὸν δὲ μετὰ Ῥωμαίων τῶν ἐπιλοίπων ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐκέλευε χωρεῖν, ὥστε καταπλήττειν πολλαχόθεν προσβαλόντας. οἱ ἔνδον δὲ γενόμενοι στρατιῶται, πρῶτα μὲν φύλαξί τισι περιτυχόντες, συνελάμβανον καὶ σιωπᾷν ἐκέλευον, ἢ ἠπείλουν ἀποκτείνειν. ἔπειτα ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ πύλην τὴν Ὀψικκιανὴν προσαγορευομένην, ἑτέροις ἐνέτυχον φύλαξι πολίταις, οὓς ἐκέλευον συμπράττειν σφίσι καὶ καταγνύναι τοὺς μοχλούς· θᾶττον δὲ ἢ λόγος ἐκεῖνοι τὰς πύλας διανοίξαντες, εἰσεδέχοντο βασιλέα. ὁ δὲ, τῶν ἀρίστων ὀλίγους πρὸς ταῖς πύλαις κατασχὼν περὶ αὑτὸν, τοὺς ἄλλους ἔνδον ἐκέλευε χωρεῖν καὶ συμπλέ 3.124 κεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις. τοὺς δὲ καὶ μόνοι ἤρκουν διαφθείρειν οἱ ἐγχώριοι. ὡς γὰρ ᾔσθοντο ἔνδον ὄντα βασιλέα, τῆς εὐφημίας πᾶσι ποιούσης δῆλον, ἐπέθεντο αὐτίκα Τριβαλοῖς, καὶ τά τε ὄντα διήρπαζον, καὶ συνελάμβανον εἴ που περιτύχοιέν τινι. οἱ Τριβαλοὶ δὲ ἐπεὶ ᾐσθάνοντο ἑαλωκυῖαν Βέῤῥοιαν, πρῶτα μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας συνέθεον πανταχόθεν ὡπλισμένοι, ὡς ἢ ἀμυνούμενοι, ἂν ἐξῇ, ἢ τὰς πρὸς τῇ ἀκροπόλει πύλας διανοίξαντες ἀποδιδράσκοιεν. τῶν βαρβάρων δὲ ἀλαλαξάντων ἔξωθεν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως, αὐτίκα πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἀπογνόντες, τῶν ἵππων ἀποβαίνοντες, εἰσῄεσαν εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας ἔχοντες, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων οὐδένα λόγον ἐποιοῦντο. ὄντων δὲ πολλῶν, τριάκοντα γὰρ ἦσαν τῶν εὐπατριδῶν ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις, οἳ στρατιωτῶν πάντες ἦρχον, στρατιῶται δὲ πεντακόσιοι καὶ χίλιοι, ἐπεὶ τὰ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως τείχη καὶ οἱ πύργοι ἦσαν ἀτελεῖς, οἱ μὲν ἄρχοντες ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ τέκνοις εἰς ἕνα τῶν πύργων ὕψους ἱκανῶς ἔχοντα εἰσῄεσαν, τὸ δ' ἄλλο τῶν στρατιωτῶν πλῆθος, οἱ μὲν συνελαμβάνοντο αὐτίκα, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τὰς οἰκίας κατεκρύπτοντο παρὰ τοὺς φίλους. οἱ Γερμανοὶ δὲ τὴν ἑτέραν εἶχον ἀκρόπολιν καθ' ἑαυτοὺς, ἣ πρὸς τῇ Βασιλικῇ καλουμένῃ πύλῃ ἦν· ἄλλο δέ τι πλῆθος ἀχθοφορούντων, ὡς ἐλέγετο ὑπὲρ μυρίους ὂν, ἐκ πάσης τῆς ὑπὸ Κράλην γῆς ἠγμένον ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς ἀκροπόλεως, ἔξω αὐλιζόμενον τειχῶν, ὡς ᾔσθετο τοὺς βαρβάρους, ἔτι δοκῶν με 3.125 γάλων προσερηρεισμένων τοῖς τείχεσιν, ἐπὶ λίθων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ὕλης ἀνολκὴν δι' αὐτῶν εἰσρυέντες, διεσώθησαν ἐντὸς τῆς πόλεως. ὁ βασιλεὺς δὲ ἐπεὶ ᾔσθετο ἤδη κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν ἐχομένην, ἴη καὶ αὐτὸς πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν εὐφημούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ προπεμπόμενος· γενόμενος δὲ ἐκεῖ, πάντα μὲν εὕρισκεν ὑπό τε τοῦ δήμου καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς διηρπασμένα· τοὺς βαρβάρους δὲ πέμψας ἐκώλυσε, μὴ εἰσελθεῖν ἐντὸς τῆς πόλεως, ἵνα μή τι ὑπ' αὐτῶν κακουργηθῇ, ὡς πολέμῳ τῆς πόλεως ἑαλωκυίας. ἔπειτα τοῖς Τριβαλοῖς τοῖς ἐν τῷ πύργῳ ἐκέλευεν ἐξιέναι δεξιὰν διδοὺς, ὡς οὐδὲν παρ' αὐτοῦ πείσονται δεινόν. οἱ δ' αὐτίκα ἐξιόντες προσεκύνουν. πάντες γὰρ τῶν φίλων ἦσαν. Γερμανοὶ δὲ ἀντεῖχον πρὸς τὸν δῆμον καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν τριηρέων ὁπλίτας μαχομένους ἄχρις οὗ βασιλεὺς ἐγένετο καὶ πρὸς αὐτούς. αὐτίκα δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐκλιπόντες τὴν ἀκρόπολιν προσεχώρουν. ἦσαν δὲ ἐκεῖνοι, οἳ μετὰ βασιλέως, ὅτε πρὸς Βέῤῥοιαν τὸ πρῶτον ἧκε, Κράλη προστάττοντος, συνεστρατεύοντο, οἷς ὁ βασιλεὺς μεγάλας ᾔδει χάριτας τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐνοίας τότε. οὐ γὰρ ὑπέμειναν, καίτοι ὑπὸ Κράλη