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the remaining insignia of the empire. And when he was proclaimed, it was announced that Scleros was also coming from Syria. For having been imprisoned, as we said, by Chosroes along with those around him, he remained guarded in the prison in Babylon, deprived of all care and worn down by the hardship of imprisonment and by the drunken abuses of the guards; but suddenly a brilliant fortune shone upon him, and he was released from the prison with those around him unexpectedly. And in what manner he was freed 2.439 from his chains, and how he was saved and returned to Roman territory, the narrative will proceed to tell. The Persian race, having been deprived of the beginning of its rule by the Saracens, was always angry with them and resented it inwardly, and it sought an opportunity and a device to overthrow those in power and to take back its ancestral rule; and there was among them a certain man descended from a noble line, Inargos by name, skilled in speaking and otherwise a warlike and energetic man. This man, noticing that king Chosroes was ruling laxly and poorly, and thinking that the opportunity the Persians sought was now at hand, roused the entire race of the Achaemenids and instigated a revolt against the Saracens. And having also taken on about twenty thousand mercenaries from the eastern Turks, he ravaged and overran the lands of the Saracens, utterly destroying those who were captured and not even sparing children. Against him Chosroes, having drawn up in battle many times both through his own generals and himself in person, was defeated in all the battles. Despairing, therefore, for the future and knowing that he was not capable from now on of taking up arms against the Persians, since his own forces had been cut down many times and could not even bear to hear the name of the Persians, he came to think of the Romans in the prison, reasoning very sensibly that if the prisoner were not someone distinguished and eminent and noble in both soul and body, he would not have risen up against his own master and driven him to this extremity, and after this, while enduring exile and an unfortunate life, 2.440 he is hailed as emperor by so many and such great men. Having conferred with his own council, he released this man and those with him from the prison and deemed them worthy of all care, and finally he made his request concerning the war.

While Scleros was at first feigning reluctance, and saying with irony how men imprisoned for so long and who had had their fill of the hardships of prison could possibly take up arms, Chosroes persisted again, and begged him to take money beyond counting and troops both countless in number and splendid in their preparations, and to command the war, and not to bear a grudge for the imprisonment, as he himself would be able by his subsequent good deeds and kindnesses to obscure the preceding evils and the unpleasantness of the prison. At last Scleros was persuaded, and promised to carry out what had been commanded. However, he did not at all consent to take troops of Arabs or Saracens or other nations subject to Chosroes, but demanded to search the prisons of the cities in Syria, and to lead out and arm the Romans held in them, saying that with these and not otherwise would it be possible for him to undertake the war against the Persians. Chosroes accepted his proposal, and the prisons were quickly opened, and the Romans in them were freed, and from these about three thousand men were gathered together; whom, after taking them to the baths and cleansing the filth of imprisonment, and clothing them in new garments and cloaks, and giving to each 2.441 the proper and sufficient full armor, taking guides for the road, he went out with them against the Persians. And when battle was joined, and Scleros's men attacked the Persians with great momentum, they, because of the strangeness of the armor and the unfamiliarity of the language and the unknown nature of the battle-line, but for the most part

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τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς βασιλείας γνωρί σματα. τούτου δὲ ἀναγορευθέντος ἠγγέλλετο καὶ ὁ Σκληρὸς ἥκων ἀπὸ Συρίας. καθειρχθεὶς γάρ, ὡς εἴπομεν, παρὰ τοῦ Χοσρόου μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἔμενε τηρούμενος ἐν τῇ φρουρᾷ, πάσης ἐπιμελείας ἐστερημένος καὶ τῇ ἐκ τῆς καθείρξεως κακουχίᾳ καὶ ταῖς τῶν φυλαττόντων παροινίαις τετρυχωμένος· ἐξαίφνης δ' ἐπέλαμψεν αὐτῷ τύχη λαμπρά, καὶ τῆς φυλακῆς ἐκβάλλεται σὺν τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν παραδόξως. οἵῳ δὲ τρόπῳ τῶν δεσμῶν ἠλευ 2.439 θερώθη, καὶ ὅπως εἰς τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἤθη διεσώθη καὶ ἐπανῆλθεν, ἄπεισι λέξων ὁ λόγος. Τὸ τῶν Περσῶν γένος τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς βασιλείας ἀφαιρεθὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν ἀεὶ μὲν ἐνεκότει τούτοις καὶ ἐνεδομύχει, καὶ καιρὸν ἐζήτει καὶ μηχανὴν ὅπως τοὺς τὸ κράτος ἔχοντας κατα σπάσῃ καὶ τὴν πάτριον πάλιν ἀναλάβῃ ἀρχήν· ἦν δέ τις ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνὴρ ἐξ εὐγενοῦς σειρᾶς καταγόμενος, Ἴναργος τοὔνομα, λέγειν τε δεινὸς καὶ ἄλλως πολεμικὸς καὶ δραστήριος ἄνθρωπος. οὗτος τὸν βασιλέα Χοσρόην κατανοήσας ἀνειμένως καὶ φαύλως ἄρχοντα, καὶ νῦν παρεῖναι ὃν ἐζήτουν οἱ Πέρσαι καιρὸν οἰηθείς, ἀνασείει τε τὸ γένος τῶν Ἀχαιμενιδῶν ἅπαν καὶ ἀπόστασιν κινεῖ κατὰ τῶν Σαρακηνῶν. προσλαβόμενος δὲ καὶ μισθοφορικὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ἑῴων Τούρκων ἀμφὶ τὰς εἴκοσι χιλιάδας ἐδῄου καὶ κατέτρεχε τὰ Σαρα κηνῶν, ἄρδην ἀναιρῶν τοὺς ἁλισκομένους καὶ μηδὲ παίδων φειδό μενος. πρὸς τοῦτον ὁ Χοσρόης πολλάκις καὶ διὰ τῶν οἰκείων στρατηγῶν καὶ αὐτὸς δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἀντιπαραταξάμενος ἐν πάσαις ταῖς μάχαις ἡττήθη. ἀπογνοὺς οὖν λοιπὸν καὶ εἰδὼς μὴ ὢν ἱκα νὸς ὅπλα ἀπὸ τοῦδε κινῆσαι κατὰ Περσῶν, τῶν αὐτοῦ στρατευ μάτων πολλάκις κατακοπέντων καὶ μηδ' ὄνομα στεγόντων ἀκοῦσαι Περσῶν, εἰς ἔννοιαν ἔρχεται τῶν ἐν τῇ φρουρᾷ Ῥωμαίων, ἐπιλογισάμενος λίαν ἐμφρόνως ὡς εἰ μή τις τῶν ἐπισήμων ἦν καὶ ἐμφα νῶν ὁ καθειργμένος καὶ κατὰ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα γενναίως ἔχων, οὐκ ἂν τοῦ οἰκείου δεσπότου κατεξανέστη καὶ ἐς τόδε ἀνάγκης συνήλασε τοῦτον, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα φυγὰς καὶ βίον διαντλῶν ἀτυχῆ 2.440 ὑπὸ τοσούτων καὶ τηλικούτων ὡς βασιλεὺς ἀνυμνεῖται. κοινολο γησάμενος μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γερουσίας ἐκβάλλει τε τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦ τον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ τῆς φυλακῆς καὶ πάσης ἐπιμελείας κατ αξιοῖ, καὶ τελευταῖον τὴν περὶ τοῦ πολέμου προσφέρει ἀξίωσιν.

Θρυπτομένου δὲ κατ' ἀρχὰς τοῦ Σκληροῦ, καὶ μετ' εἰρωνείας πῶς ἂν δυνηθεῖεν λέγοντος ὅπλα κινῆσαι ἄνδρες ἐν τοσούτῳ καιρῷ καθειργμένοι καὶ κατακόρως μετασχόντες τῶν ἐκ τῆς φρουρᾶς κακοπαθειῶν, ὁ Χοσρόης καὶ πάλιν ἐνέκειτο, καὶ χρήματα λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἱκέτευεν ἀριθμοῦ διεκπίπτοντα καὶ στρατεύματα πλήθει τε ἄπειρα καὶ λαμπρὰ ταῖς παρασκευαῖς, καὶ στρατηγῆσαι τὸν πόλε μον, καὶ μὴ μνησικακῆσαι τῆς καθείρξεως, ὡς δυναμένου καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα καλοῖς καὶ ταῖς φιλοφροσύναις ἐπηλυγάσαι τὰ προφθάσαντα κακὰ καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀηδίας. πείθεται τὸ τελευταῖον ὁ Σκληρός, καὶ ἐκτελέσειν ὑπέσχετο τὸ κεκελευσμέ νον. στρατεύματα μέντοι λαβεῖν Ἀράβων ἢ Σαρακηνῶν ἢ ἑτέρων ἐθνῶν τῶν τῷ Χοσρόῃ ὑποκειμένων οὐδ' ὅλως ἠνέσχετο, τὰς δὲ φυλακὰς τῶν ἐν Συρίᾳ πόλεων ἀναζητῆσαι ἠξίωσε, καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς κρατουμένους Ῥωμαίους ἐξαγαγεῖν καὶ καθοπλίσαι, μετὰ τούτων καὶ οὐκ ἄλλως λέγων εἶναι δυνατὸν αὐτῷ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Πέρσας ἀναδέξασθαι πόλεμον. ἐδέξατο ὁ Χοσρόης τὸν λόγον, καὶ αἱ φυλακαὶ ταχὺ ἀνεῴγνυντο, καὶ οἱ ἐν αὐταῖς ἠλευθεροῦντο Ῥω μαῖοι, καὶ συνηθροίσθησαν ἀπὸ τούτων ἄνδρες ὁμοῦ τρισχίλιοι· οὓς εἰς βαλανεῖα ἐκδοὺς καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς καθείρξεως ῥύπον ἀπο καθάρας, ἐσθῆσί τε καὶ περιβολαῖς καιναῖς ἀμφιάσας, καὶ ἑκάστῳ 2.441 τὴν προσήκουσαν καὶ ἀρκοῦσαν δοὺς παντευχίαν, ὁδηγοὺς τῆς ὁδοῦ λαβὼν ἔξεισι μετ' αὐτῶν κατὰ τῶν Περσῶν. γενομένης δὲ ἀντιπαρατάξεως, καὶ μετὰ ῥύμης σφοδρᾶς τῶν περὶ τὸν Σκληρὸν ἐπιθεμένων τοῖς Πέρσαις, ἐκεῖνοι τῷ ξένῳ τῆς καθοπλίσεως καὶ τῷ ἀήθει τῆς φωνῆς καὶ τῷ ἀγνώστῳ τῆς παρατάξεως, τὸ δὲ πλέον