第8巻 第7章

Greek Ὅτου δὲ ὁ Χοσρόης ἕνεκα Λαζικῆς μεταποιεῖσθαι διὰ σπουδῆς εἶχεν ἤδη μὲν πρόσθεν μοι ἐρρήθη· ὃ δὲ δὴ αὐτόν τε καὶ Πέρσας μάλιστα πάντων ἐς τοῦτο ἤνεγκεν, ἐνταῦθα δηλώσω, ὅτι δὴ καὶ χώραν τήνδε περιηγησάμενος ξύμπασαν σαφῆ τὸν περὶ τούτου πεποίηκα λόγον.

Dewing Now the reason why Chosroes was eager to get possession of Lazica has already been stated by me in a previous passage,⁠ but that particular consideration which above everything else impelled him and the Persians to desire this I shall here set forth, now that I have given a description of this whole country and so made clear my statement of this matter.

Greek πολλάκις οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι, Χοσρόου σφίσιν ἡγουμένου, στρατῷ μεγάλῳ ἐμβαλόντες ἐς Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν οὐκ εὐδιήγητα μὲν τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπήνεγκαν πάθη, ἅπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, αὐτοῖς δὲ ὄφελος οὐδ’ ὁτιοῦν ἀπενεγκαμένοις ἐνθένδε τοῖς τε χρήμασι καὶ τοῖς σώμασι προσκεκακῶσθαι ξυνέπεσε· πολλοὺς γὰρ ἀποβεβληκότες ἀεὶ ἀπηλλάσσοντο ἐκ Ῥωμαίων τῆς γῆς.

Dewing Many times these barbarians, under the leader­ship of Chosroes, had invaded the Roman domain with a mighty army, and while they had inflicted upon their enemy sufferings not easy to describe, as has been told by me in the books on this subject,⁠ still they gained from these invasions no advantage whatsoever and had also to bear the loss of both treasure and lives: for they always departed from the Roman domain having lost many men.

Greek διὸ δὴ ἐς ἤθη ἐπανιόντες τὰ πάτρια Χοσρόῃ ὡς λαθραιότατα ἐλοιδοροῦντο καὶ διαφθορέα τοῦ Περσῶν γένους αὐτὸν ἀπεκάλουν.

Dewing Consequently, after they had returned to their own land, they would very privately rail against Chosroes and call him the destroyer of the Persian nation.

Greek καί ποτε καὶ ἐκ Λαζικῆς ἐπανήκοντες, ἐπειδὴ ἐνταῦθα πάθεσιν ἔτυχον ὡμιληκότες ἀνηκέστοις τισί, ξυστήσεσθαί τε ἐκ τοῦ ἐμφανοῦς ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ἔμελλον καὶ διαχρήσεσθαι θανάτῳ οἰκτίστῳ, εἰ μὴ προμαθὼν ἐφυλάξατο, θωπείᾳ πολλῇ τοὺς ἐν σφίσι λογιμωτάτους περιελθών.

Dewing And on one such occasion when they had returned from Lazica, seeing that they had suffered terrible losses there, they were actually on the point of combining openly against him and doing away with him by a most cruel death, and would have done so had he not learned in advance and guarded against it by winning over the most notable of them by assiduous wheedling.

Greek καὶ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ ἀπολογεῖσθαι τὴν κατηγορίαν ἐθέλων μέγα τι ὄφελος Περσῶν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐκπορίζεσθαι διὰ σπουδῆς εἶχε. Πόλει γοῦν Δάρας αὐτίκα ἐγκεχειρηκὼς ἀπεκρούσθη ἐνθένδε, ὥσπερ μοι εἴρηται, ἐς ἀπόγνωσίν τε τῆς τοῦ χωρίου ἐπικρατήσεως παντάπασιν ἦλθεν.

Dewing As a result of this incident he wished to remove the sting from the accusation, and to this end was eager to gain some great advantage for the Persian Empire. He accordingly made an attempt⁠ upon the city of Daras, but met with reverse there, as I have told,⁠ and came to a state of utter despair regarding the capture of the place.

Greek οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὸ ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς ἐξαιρήσειν τὸ λοιπὸν εἶχεν, οὕτω φυλασσομένων τῶν ἐκείνῃ φρουρῶν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ πολιορκῶν μηχανῇ τινὶ περιέσεσθαι αὐτῶν ἤλπιζε.

Dewing For neither could he thereafter capture it by a surprise assault, seeing that the guards of the city were so alert, nor indeed did he entertain the hope that he would by any device get the better of them in a siege.

Greek τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἐσαεὶ ἐν πόλει Δάρας διαρκῶς ἐστὶν ἐξεπίτηδες ἀποκείμενα, ὅπως δὴ ἐς μέγα τι χρόνου διαρκέσειε μῆκος, καὶ πηγὴ ἄγχιστά πη φυομένη ἐν χώρῳ κρημνώδει ποταμὸν ἀπεργάζεται μέγαν ὅσπερ τῆς πόλεως εὐθὺ φέρεται, οὐ δυναμένων ʽτῶν ἐπιβουλεύειν ἐφιεμένων’ ἑτέρωσέ πη αὐτὸν ἀποτρέπειν ἢ τρόπῳ τῳ ἄλλῳ διὰ τὴν δυσχωρίαν βιάζεσθαι.

Dewing For there is always an abundant supply of all manner of provisions in the city of Daras stored away against a siege, so that it may last for a great length of time, and close by there is a spring placed by nature among precipices, forming a large river which flows straight towards the city, and those who seek to interfere with it are unable to turn it to any other course or otherwise do violence to it on account of the rough character of the terrain.

Greek ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοῦ περιβόλου ἐντὸς γένηται, τήν τε πόλιν περιιὼν ξύμπασαν καὶ τὰς ταύτῃ δεξαμενὰς ἐμπλησάμενος εἶτα ἔξεισιν, ὡς ἀγχοτάτω τε τοῦ περιβόλου ἐς χάος ἐμπεσὼν ἀφανίζεται. καὶ ὅπη

Dewing But as soon as this river gets inside the circuit wall, it flows about the entire city, filling its cisterns, and then flows out, and very close to the circuit-wall it falls into a chasm, where it is lost to sight.

Greek ποτὲ τὸ ἐνθένδε ἐκδίδωσιν οὐδενὶ γέγονε φανερὸν ἐς τόδε τοῦ χρόνου. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ χάος οὐκ ἐπὶ παλαιοῦ γεγονὸς ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἢ τὴν πόλιν Ἀναστάσιος βασιλεὺς ἐδείματο ταύτην ἡ φύσις αὐτὸ τοῦ χωρίου ἀπαυτοματίσασα ἔθετο, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ξυμβαίνει τοῖς προσεδρεύειν ἐθέλουσιν ἀμφὶ πόλιν Δάρας πιέζεσθαι ὕδατος ἀπορίᾳ πολλῇ.

Dewing And where it emerges from there has become known to no man up to this time. Now this chasm was not there in ancient times, but a long time after the Emperor Anastasius built this city and unaided nature fashioned and placed it there, and for this reason it comes about that those desiring to draw a siege about the city of Daras are very hard pressed by a scarcity of water.

Greek Ταύτης οὖν, ὥσπερ μοι εἴρηται, ἀποτυχὼν ὁ Χοσρόης τῆς πείρας ἐς ἔννοιαν ἦλθεν ὡς, ἢν καὶ πόλιν οἱ Ῥωμαίων ἑτέραν τινὰ παραστήσασθαι δυνατὰ εἴη, ἀλλὰ καθίζεσθαι οὐ μή ποτε οἷός τε εἴη ἐν μέσῳ Ῥωμαίων, ὀχυρωμάτων τοῖς πολεμίοις ἀπολελειμμένων ὀπίσω πολλῶν.

Dewing So Chosroes, having failed in this attempt, as I have said, came to the conclusion that, even if he should be able to gain some other Roman city, he would still never be able to establish himself in the midst of the Romans while many strongholds were left behind in the hands of his enemy.

Greek καὶ Ἀντιόχειαν γὰρ τούτου δὴ εἵνεκα ἐς ἔδαφος καθελὼν ἡνίκα ἐξεῖλεν, ἀπηλλάγη ἐκ Ῥωμαίων τῆς γῆς. διὸ δὴ μετεωρισθεὶς τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπὶ μακροτέρας ἐλπίδος ὠχεῖτο, διερευνώμενος ἀμήχανα ἔργα.

Dewing Indeed it was for this reason that he rrazd Antioch to the ground when he captured it and do departed from the Roman soil. Consequently his thoughts soared aloft and were carried toward more distant hopes as he sought after impossible things.

Greek ἀκοῇ γὰρ ἔχων ὅντινα τρόπον ἐπ’ ἀριστερᾷ Πόντου τοῦ Εὐξείνου οὗτοι δὴ βάρβαροι οἳ ἀμφὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν ᾤκηνται Λίμνην ἀδεῶς κατατρέχουσι Ῥωμαίων τὴν γῆν, οὕτω καὶ Πέρσαις Λαζικὴν ἔχουσι πόνῳ οὐδενὶ δυνατὰ ἔσεσθαι ἔλεγεν, ἡνίκα ἂν βουλομένοις ᾖ, εὐθὺ Βυζαντίου ἰέναι, οὐδαμῆ διαπορθμευομένοις τὴν θάλασσαν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα βαρβαρικὰ ἔθνη ἃ ταύτῃ ἵδρυται ἐσαεὶ δρῶσι.

Dewing For having learned by report how those barbarians on the left of the Euxine Sea who dwell about the Maeotic Lake overrun fearlessly the Roman domain, he kept saying that it would be possible for the Persians, if they held Lazica, to go, whenever they wished, straight to Byzantium with no trouble and without crossing the sea at all, just as the other barbarian nations who are settled in that region are constantly doing.

Greek διὰ ταῦτα μὲν Λαζικῆς Πέρσαι μεταποιοῦνται. ἐγὼ δὲ ὅθεν τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ λόγου ἐποιησάμην ἐπάνειμι.

Dewing For this reason, then, the Persians are trying to gain Lazica. But I shall return to the point where I made this digression from the narrative. The Loeb Editor's Notes: 1 Books I and II. ❦ 2 Xenophon, Anabasis IV.viii.22, and Arrian, Periplus xi, state that the Colchians were neighbours of the Trapezuntines. ❦ 3 Modern Eregli and Amasra. ❦ 4 Modern Trabuzun. ❦ 5 Modern Sinob and Samsun. ❦ 6 Modern Terme. ❦ 7 Modern Terme Tschai. ❦ 8 Modern Särmene and Rize. ❦ 9 Cf. Xenophon, Anabasis IV.viii.20. ❦ 10 Schol. Hor. A. P. 375 notes that Sardinian honey was "pessimi saporis." ❦ 11 Tscharukh Su. ❦ 12 Literally "bend it." Procopius takes the name to mean ἄκαμπτος, "unbent" or "unbending," which it certainly does not mean; his explanation is doubtless fanciful. ❦ 13 Modern Atina. ❦ 14 Modern Akhava and Makryalos. ❦ 15 Roughly modern Georgia, south of the Caucasus. ❦ 16 •About 63 miles. ❦ 17 An obviously absurd statement. Procopius perhaps thinks of the Haemus Range (modern Balkans) as a continuation of the Caucasus; but the valleys of the great rivers Tanais (Don), Borysthenes (Dnieper), and Ister (Danube) lie between them. ❦ 18 Cf. Book I.x.1 ff. ❦ 19 Book XI.5, XII.3.21. ❦ 20 i.e. the northern end. ❦ 21 Cf. chap. ii.16, above. ❦ 22 Modern Sea of Azov. ❦ 23 Modern Don. ❦ 24 548 A.D. ❦ 25 Book I.xi.4. See also note on Book III.xi.3. ❦ 26 Book I.xvii.13‑20. ❦ 27 Cheersonnesus; near modern Sevastopol. ❦ 28 The Alps. ❦ 29 •About 1,248 miles. Cf. Book III.i.17 for Procopius' standard. ❦ 30 Modern Cadiz: the Strait of Gibraltar. ❦ 31 That is, well within the boundaries of Europe. ❦ 32 By the supporters of the former view. ❦ 33 To the north. ❦ 34 East and west. ❦ 35 Book IV.45. ❦ 36 The Cimmerian Bosporus, Mod. Strait of Yenikale. ❦ 37 Frag. 106, preserved by Arrian, Voyage in the Euxine, 99.22. ❦ 38a 38b On the upper part of the Bosporus. ❦ 39 Mentioned in par. 18 ff., above. ❦ 40 The Mediterranean, or, more accurately, the Sea of Marmara. ❦ 41 This observation is amply confirmed by experience at the present time. The counter-current below is caused perhaps by variation in temperature. ❦ 42 Book II.xxviii.18. ❦ 43 Books I and II. ❦ 44 By stratagem, not by storm. ❦ 45 Book II.xxviii.31 ff. ❦ 46 Chap. i.7. ◂ previous next ▸ Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.) UP TO: Wars Ancient Military History Military History Home Procopius Greek & Latin Texts LacusCurtius A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information. Page updated: 14 Sep 20 Accessibility