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Procopius - History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8)

P >> Procopius >> History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8)




When Chosroes had matured these plans, he sent Isdigousnas to Byzantium,
ostensibly to act as an envoy, and he picked out five hundred of the
most valorous of the Persians and sent them with him, directing them to
get inside the city of Daras, and to take their lodgings in many
different houses, and at night to set these all on fire, and, while all
the Romans were occupied with this fire, as was natural, to open the
gates immediately, and receive the rest of the Persian army into the
city. For word had been sent previously to the commander of the city of
Nisibis to conceal a large force of soldiers near by and hold them in
readiness. For in this way Chosroes thought that they would destroy all
the Romans with no trouble, and seizing the city of Daras, would hold it
securely. But someone who knew well what was being arranged, a Roman who
had come to the Persians as a deserter a little earlier, told everything
to George, who was staying there at the time; now this was the same man
whom I mentioned in the preceding pages[25] as having persuaded the
Persians who were besieged in the fortress of Sisauranon to surrender
themselves to the Romans. George therefore met this ambassador at the
boundary line between Roman and Persian soil and said that this thing he
was doing was not after the fashion of an embassy, and that never had so
numerous a body of Persians stopped for the night in a city of the
Romans. For he ought, he said, to have left behind all the rest in the
town of Ammodios, and must himself enter the city of Daras with some few
men. Now Isdigousnas was indignant and appeared to take it ill, because
he had been insulted wrongfully, in spite of the fact that he was
dispatched on an embassy to the Roman emperor. But George, paying no
heed to him in his fury, saved the city for the Romans. For he received
Isdigousnas into the city with only twenty men.

So having failed in this attempt, the barbarian came to Byzantium as if
on an embassy, bringing with him his wife and two daughters (for this
was his pretext for the crowd which had been gathered about him); but
when he came before the emperor, he was unable to say anything great or
small about any serious matter, although he wasted no less than ten
months in Roman territory. However, he gave the emperor the gifts from
Chosroes, as is customary, and a letter, in which Chosroes requested the
Emperor Justinian to send word whether he was enjoying the best possible
health. Nevertheless the Emperor Justinian received this Isdigousnas
with more friendliness and treated him with greater honour than any of
the other ambassadors of whom we know. So true was this that, whenever
he entertained him, he caused Braducius, who followed him as
interpreter, to recline with him on the couch, a thing which had never
before happened in all time. For no one ever saw an interpreter become a
table-companion of even one of the more humble officials, not to speak
of a king. But he both received and dismissed this man in a style more
splendid than that which befits an ambassador, although he had
undertaken the embassy for no serious business, as I have said. For if
anyone should count up the money expended and the gifts which
Isdigousnas carried with him when he went away, he will find them
amounting to more than ten centenaria of gold. So the plot against the
city of Daras ended in this way for Chosroes.


XXIX

His first move against Lazica was as follows. He sent into the country a
great amount of lumber suitable for the construction of ships,
explaining to no one what his purpose was in so doing, but ostensibly he
was sending it in order to set up engines of war on the fortifications
of Petra. Next he chose out three hundred able warriors of the Persians,
and sent them there under command of Phabrizus, whom I have lately
mentioned, ordering him to make away with Goubazes as secretly as
possible; as for the rest, he himself would take care. Now when this
lumber had been conveyed to Lazica, it happened that it was struck
suddenly by lightning and reduced to ashes. And Phabrizus, upon arriving
in Lazica with the three hundred, began to contrive so that he might
carry out the orders received by him from Chosroes regarding Goubazes.
Now it happened that one of the men of note among the Colchians,
Pharsanses by name, had quarrelled with Goubazes and in consequence had
become exceedingly hostile to him, and now he did not dare at all to go
into the presence of the king. When this was learned by Phabrizus, he
summoned Pharsanses and in a conference with him disclosed the whole
project, and enquired of the man in what way he ought to go about the
execution of the deed. And it seemed best to them after deliberating
together that Phabrizus should go into the city of Petra, and should
summon Goubazes there, in order to announce to him what the king had
decided concerning the interests of the Lazi. But Pharsanses secretly
revealed to Goubazes what was being prepared. He, accordingly, did not
come to Phabrizus at all, but began openly to plan a revolt. Then
Phabrizus commanded the other Persians to attend as carefully as they
could to the guarding of Petra, and to make everything as secure as
possible against a siege, and he himself with the three hundred returned
homeward without having accomplished his purpose. And Goubazes reported
to the Emperor Justinian the condition in which they were, and begged
him to grant forgiveness for what the Lazi had done in the past, and to
come to their defence with all his strength, since they desired to be
rid of the Median rule. For if left by themselves the Colchians would
not be able to repel the power of the Persians.

[549 A.D.] When the Emperor Justinian heard this, he was overjoyed, and
sent seven thousand men under the leadership of Dagisthaeus and a
thousand Tzani to the assistance of the Lazi. And when this force
reached the land of Colchis, they encamped together with Goubazes and
the Lazi about the fortifications of Petra and commenced a siege. But
since the Persians who were there made a most stalwart defence from the
wall, it came about that much time was spent in the siege; for the
Persians had put away an ample store of victuals in the town. And
Chosroes, being greatly disturbed by these things, dispatched a great
army of horse and foot against the besiegers, putting Mermeroes in
command of them. And when Goubazes learned of this, he considered the
matter together with Dagisthaeus and acted in the manner which I shall
presently set forth.

The river Boas rises close to the territory of the Tzani among the
Armenians who dwell around Pharangium. And at first its course inclines
to the right for a great distance, and its stream is small and can be
forded by anyone with no trouble as far as the place where the territory
of the Iberians lies on the right, and the end of the Caucasus lies
directly opposite. In that place many nations have their homes, and
among them the Alani and Abasgi, who are Christians and friends of the
Romans from of old; also the Zechi, and after them the Huns who bear the
name Sabeiri. But when this river reaches the point which marks the
termination of the Caucasus and of Iberia as well, there other waters
also are added to it and it becomes much larger and from there flows on
bearing the name of Phasis instead of Boas[26]; and it becomes a
navigable stream as far as the so-called Euxine Sea into which it
empties; and on either side of it lies Lazica. Now on the right of the
stream particularly the whole country for a great distance is populated
by the people of Lazica as far as the boundary of Iberia. For all the
villages of the Lazi are here beyond the river, and towns have been
built there from of old, among which are Archaeopolis, a very strong
place, and Sebastopolis, and the fortress of Pitius, and Scanda and
Sarapanis over against the boundary of Iberia. Moreover there are two
cities of the greatest importance in that region, Rhodopolis and
Mocheresis. But on the left of the river, while the country belongs to
Lazica as far as one day's journey for an unencumbered traveller, the
land is without human habitation. Adjoining this land is the home of the
Romans who are called Pontic. Now it was in the territory of Lazica, in
the part which was altogether uninhabited, that the Emperor Justinian
founded the city of Petra in my own time. This was the place where John,
surnamed Tzibus, established the monopoly, as I have told in the
previous narrative[27], and gave cause to the Lazi to revolt. And as one
leaves the city of Petra going southward, the Roman territory commences
immediately, and there are populous towns there, and one which bears the
name of Rhizaeum, also Athens and certain others as far as Trapezus. Now
when the Lazi brought in Chosroes, they crossed the River Boas and came
to Petra keeping the Phasis on the right, because, as they said, they
would thus provide against being compelled to spend much time and
trouble in ferrying the men across the River Phasis, but in reality they
did not wish to display their own homes to the Persians. And yet Lazica
is everywhere difficult to traverse both to the right and to the left of
the River Phasis. For there are on both sides of the river exceedingly
high and jagged mountains, and as a result the passes are narrow and
very long. (The Romans call the roads through such passes "clisurae"
when they put their own word into a Greek form.[28]) But since at that
time Lazica happened to be unguarded, the Persians had reached Petra
very easily with the Lazi who were their guides.

But on this occasion Goubazes, upon learning of the advance of the
Persians, directed Dagisthaeus to send some men to guard with all their
strength the pass which is below the River Phasis, and he bade him not
on any account to abandon the siege until they should be able to capture
Petra and the Persians in it. He himself meanwhile with the whole
Colchian army came to the frontier of Lazica, in order to devote all his
strength to guarding the pass there. Now it happened that long before he
had persuaded the Alani and Sabeiri to form an alliance with him, and
they had agreed for three centenaria not merely to assist the Lazi in
guarding the land from plunder, but also to render Iberia so destitute
of men that not even the Persians would be able to come in from there in
the future. And Goubazes had promised that the emperor would give them
this money. So he reported the agreement to the Emperor Justinian and
besought him to send this money for the barbarians and afford the Lazi
some consolation in their great distress. He also stated that the
treasury owed him his salary for ten years, for though he was assigned a
post among the privy counsellors in the palace, he had received no
payment from it since the time when Chosroes came into the land of
Colchis. And the Emperor Justinian intended to fulfil this request, but
some business came up to occupy his attention and he did not send the
money at the proper time. So Goubazes was thus engaged.

But Dagisthaeus, being a rather young man and by no means competent to
carry on a war against Persia, did not handle the situation properly.
For while he ought to have sent certainly the greater part of the army
to the pass, and perhaps should have assisted in person in this
enterprise, he sent only one hundred men, just as if he were managing a
matter of secondary importance. He himself, moreover, though besieging
Petra with the whole army, accomplished nothing, although the enemy were
few. For while they had been at the beginning not less than fifteen
hundred, they had been shot at by Romans and Lazi in their fighting at
the wall for a long time, and had made a display of valour such as no
others known to us have made, so that many were falling constantly and
they were reduced to an exceedingly small number. So while the Persians,
plunged in despair and at a loss what to do, were remaining quiet, the
Romans made a trench along the wall for a short space, and the
circuit-wall at this point fell immediately. But it happened that inside
this space there was a building which did not stand back at all from the
circuit-wall, and this reached to the whole length of the fallen
portion; thus, taking the place of the wall for the besieged, it
rendered them secure none the less. But this was not sufficient greatly
to disturb the Romans. For knowing well that by doing the same thing
elsewhere they would capture the city with the greatest ease, they
became still more hopeful than before. For this reason Dagisthaeus sent
word to the emperor of what had come to pass, and proposed that prizes
of victory should be in readiness for him, indicating what rewards the
emperor should bestow upon himself and his brother; for he would capture
Petra after no great time. So the Romans and the Tzani made a most
vigorous assault upon the wall, but the Persians unexpectedly withstood
them, although only a very few were left. And since the Romans were
accomplishing nothing by assaulting the wall, they again turned to
digging. And they went so far in this work that the foundations of the
circuit-wall were no longer on solid ground, but stood for the most part
over empty space, and, in the nature of things, would fall almost
immediately. And if Dagisthaeus had been willing immediately to apply
fire to the foundations, I think that the city would have been captured
by them straightway; but, as it was, he was awaiting encouragement from
the emperor, and so, always hesitating and wasting time, he remained
inactive. Such, then, was the course of events in the Roman camp.


XXX

But Mermeroes, after passing the Iberian frontier with the whole Median
army, was moving forward with the River Phasis on his right. For he was
quite unwilling to go through the country of Lazica, lest any obstacle
should confront him there. For he was eager to save the city of Petra
and the Persians in it, even though a portion of the circuit-wall had
fallen down suddenly. For it had been hanging in the air, as I have
said; and volunteers from the Roman army to the number of fifty got
inside the city, and raised the shout proclaiming the Emperor Justinian
triumphant. These men were led by a young man of Armenian birth, John by
name, the son of Thomas whom they used to call by the surname Gouzes.
This Thomas had built many of the strongholds about Lazica at the
direction of the emperor, and he commanded the soldiers there, seeming
to the emperor an intelligent person. Now John, when the Persians joined
battle with his men, was wounded and straightway withdrew to the camp
with his followers, since no one else of the Roman army came to support
him. Meanwhile the Persian Mirranes who commanded the garrison in Petra,
fearing for the city, directed all the Persians to keep guard with the
greatest diligence, and he himself went to Dagisthaeus, and addressed
him with fawning speeches and deceptive words, agreeing readily to
surrender the city not long afterwards. In this way he succeeded in
deceiving him so that the Roman army did not immediately enter the city.

Now when the army of Mermeroes came to the pass, the Roman garrison,
numbering one hundred men, confronted them there and offered a stalwart
resistance, and they held in check their opponents who were attempting
the entrance. But the Persians by no means withdrew, but those who fell
were constantly replaced by others, and they kept advancing, trying with
all their strength to force their way in. Among the Persians more than a
thousand perished, but at last the Romans were worn out with killing,
and, being forced back by the throng, they withdrew, and running up to
the heights of the mountain there were saved. Dagisthaeus, upon learning
this, straightway abandoned the siege without giving any commands to the
army, and proceeded to the River Phasis; and all the Romans followed
him, leaving their possessions behind in the camp. And when the Persians
observed what was being done, they opened their gates and came forth,
and approached the tents of the enemy in order to capture the camp. But
the Tzani, who had not followed after Dagisthaeus, as it happened,
rushed out to defend the camp, and they routed the enemy without
difficulty and killed many. So the Persians fled inside their
fortifications, and the Tzani, after plundering the Roman camp proceeded
straight for Rhizaeum. And from there they came to Athens and betook
themselves to their homes through the territory of the Trapezuntines.

And Mermeroes and the Median army came there on the ninth day after the
withdrawal of Dagisthaeus; and in the city they found left of the
Persian garrison three hundred and fifty men wounded and unfit for
fighting, and only one hundred and fifty men unhurt; for all the rest
had perished. Now the survivors had in no case thrown the bodies of the
fallen outside the fortifications, but though stifled by the evil
stench, they held out in a manner beyond belief, in order that they
might not afford the enemy any encouragement for the prosecution of the
siege, by letting them know that most of their number had perished. And
Mermeroes remarked by way of a taunt that the Roman state was worthy of
tears and lamentation, because they had come to such a state of weakness
that they had been unable by any device to capture one hundred and fifty
Persians without a wall. And he was eager to build up the portions of
the circuit-wall which had fallen down; but since at the moment he had
neither lime nor any of the other necessary materials for the building
ready at hand, he devised the following plan. Filling with sand the
linen bags in which the Persians had carried their provisions into the
land of Colchis, he laid them in the place of the stones, and the bags
thus arranged took the place of the wall. And choosing out three
thousand of his able fighting men, he left them there, depositing with
them victuals for no great length of time, and commanding them to attend
to the building of the fortifications; then he himself with all the rest
of the army turned back and marched away.

But since, if he went from there by the same road, no means of
provisioning his army was available, since he had left everything in
Petra which had been brought in by the army from Iberia, he planned to
go by another route through the mountains, where he learned that the
country was inhabited, in order that by foraging there he might be able
to live off the land. In the course of this journey one of the notables
among the Lazi, Phoubelis by name, laid an ambush for the Persians while
camping for the night, bringing with him Dagisthaeus with two thousand
of the Romans; and these men, making a sudden attack, killed some of the
Persians who were grazing their horses, and after securing the horses as
plunder they shortly withdrew. Thus, then, Mermeroes with the Median
army departed from there.

But Goubazes, upon learning what had befallen the Romans both at Petra
and at the pass, did not even so become frightened, nor did he give up
the guarding of the pass where he was, considering that their hope
centred in that place. For he understood that, even if the Persians had
been able by forcing back the Romans on the left of the River Phasis to
cross over the pass and get into Petra, they could thereby inflict no
injury upon the land of the Lazi, since they were utterly unable to
cross the Phasis, in particular because no ships were at their disposal.
For in depth this river is not inferior to the deepest rivers, and it
spreads out to a great width. Moreover it has such a strong current that
when it empties into the sea, it goes on as a separate stream for a very
great distance, without mingling at all with the sea-water. Indeed,
those who navigate in those parts are able to draw up drinking water in
the midst of the sea. Moreover, the Lazi have erected fortresses all
along the right bank of the river, in order that, even when the enemy
are ferried across in boats, they may not be able to disembark on the
land.

The Emperor Justinian at this time sent to the nation of the Sabeiri the
money which had been agreed upon, and he rewarded Goubazes and the Lazi
with additional sums of money. And it happened that long before this
time he had sent another considerable army also to Lazica, which had not
yet arrived there. The commander of this army was Rhecithancus, from
Thrace, a man of discretion and a capable warrior. Such then was the
course of these events.

Now when Mermeroes got into the mountains, as I have said, he was
anxious to fill Petra with provisions from there. For he did not by any
means think that the victuals which they had brought in with them would
suffice for the garrison there, amounting to three thousand men. But
since the supplies they found along the way barely sufficed for the
provisioning of that army, which numbered no less than thirty thousand,
and since on this account they were able to send nothing at all of
consequence to Petra, upon consideration he found it better for them
that the greater part of the army should depart from the land of
Colchis, and that some few should remain there, who were to convey to
the garrison in Petra the most of the provisions which they might find,
while using the rest to maintain themselves comfortably. He therefore
selected five thousand men and left them there, appointing as commanders
over them Phabrizus and three others. For it seemed to him unnecessary
to leave more men there, since there was no enemy at all. And he himself
with the rest of the army came into Persarmenia and remained quietly in
the country around Doubios.

Now the five thousand, upon coming nearer to the frontier of Lazica,
encamped in a body beside the Phasis River, and from there they went
about in small bands and plundered the neighbouring country. Now when
Goubazes perceived this, he sent word to Dagisthaeus to hasten there to
his assistance: for it would be possible for them to do the enemy some
great harm. And he did as directed, moving forward with the whole Roman
army with the River Phasis on the left, until he came to the place where
the Lazi where encamped on the opposite bank of the river. Now it
happened that the Phasis could be forded at this point, a fact which
neither the Romans nor the Persians suspected in the least because of
their lack of familiarity with these regions; but the Lazi knew it well,
and they made the crossing suddenly and joined the Roman army. And the
Persians chose out a thousand men of repute among them and sent them
forth, that no one might advance against the camp to harm it. And two of
this force, who had gone out ahead of their fellows to reconnoitre, fell
unexpectedly into the hands of the enemy and informed them of the whole
situation. The Romans, therefore, and the Lazi fell suddenly upon the
thousand men, and not one of them succeeded in escaping, but the most of
them were slain, while some also were captured; and through these the
men of Goubazes and Dagisthaeus succeeded in learning the numbers of the
Median army and the length of the journey to them and the condition in
which they then were. They therefore broke camp and marched against them
with their whole army, calculating so that they would fall upon them
well on in the night; their own force amounted to fourteen thousand men.
Now the Persians, having no thought of an enemy in their minds, were
enjoying a long sleep; for they supposed that the river was impassable,
and that the thousand men, with no one to oppose them, were making a
long march somewhere. But the Romans and Lazi at early dawn unexpectedly
fell upon them, and they found some still buried in slumber and others
just roused from sleep and lying defenceless upon their beds. Not one of
them, therefore, thought of resistance, and the majority were caught and
killed, while some also were captured by the enemy, among whom happened
to be one of the commanders; only a few escaped in the darkness and were
saved. And the Romans and Lazi captured the camp and all the standards,
and they also secured many weapons and a great deal of money as plunder,
besides great numbers of horses and mules. And pursuing them for a very
great distance they came well into Iberia. There they happened upon
certain others of the Persians also and slew a great number. Thus the
Persians departed from Lazica; and the Romans and Lazi found there all
the supplies, including great quantities of flour, which the barbarians
had brought in from Iberia, in order to transport them to Petra, and
they burned them all. And they left a large number of Lazi in the pass,
so that it might no longer be possible for the Persians to carry in
supplies to Petra, and they returned with all the plunder and the
captives. [549 A.D.] And the fourth year of the truce between the Romans
and Persians came to an end, being the twenty-third year of the reign of
the Emperor Justinian.

And John the Cappadocian one year before this came to Byzantium at the
summons of the emperor. For at that time the Empress Theodora had
reached the term of her life. However, he was quite unable to recover
any of his former dignities, but he continued to hold the priestly
honour against his will; and yet the vision had often come to the man
that he would arrive at royalty. For the divine power is accustomed to
tempt those whose minds are not solidly grounded by nature, by holding
before their vision, on great and lofty hopes, that which is counted
splendid among men. At any rate the marvel-mongers were always
predicting to this John many such imaginary things, and especially that
he was bound to be clothed in the garment of Augustus. Now there was a
certain priest in Byzantium, Augustus by name, who guarded the treasures
of the temple of Sophia. So when John had been shorn and declared worthy
of the priestly dignity by force, inasmuch as he had no garment becoming
a priest, he had been compelled by those who were in charge of this
business to put on the cloak and the tunic of this Augustus who was near
by, and in this, I suppose, his prophecy reached its fulfilment.

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