CAP. XIX. — Concerning the destruction of Rome, which was conquered and destroyed by the Barbarians under the Emperor Justinian.
« In the third year after the capture of Ilium, while Eli and Simeon were exercising the priesthood at Jerusalem, kings began to emerge in Rome, which was previously called Italy; and the kings who reigned in it approached the primitive men. But when Joatham and Achaz were reigning among the Jews, Romulus reigned in Rome and constructed it with noble buildings, and it was called Rome from his name: the empire of its citizens, however, was called that of the Romans, in the times of king Ezechias. »
On the ornaments of the city of Rome.
« This is the brief history of the ornaments of the Roman city: first, the abundance and tranquility of matters which its citizens enjoy are very great and manifold. Its delights and comforts are superb and magnificent, such, naturally, as befit an admirable city. Moreover, the excellence of its ornaments (beyond those things which are in the interior of the houses, such as the elegance of the columns in the domestic atria and their circuit and height) is such and so great that it truly corresponds to the city, which is admirable on every side. In it there are twenty-four churches of the apostles; two magnificent basilicas, in which the emperor dwells, and before whom the senators gather daily; three hundred and twenty-four large and spacious streets; two capitols; eighty large golden statues of the gods; likewise sixty-six of ivory; forty-six thousand six hundred and three houses; one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven palaces; one thousand three hundred and fifty-two fountains erupting water. Two hundred and seventy-four bakers, who supply bread to the citizens, besides those who walk about the city selling the same bread; five thousand sepulchers, in which corpses are gathered and buried; thirty-one large marble bases; three thousand seven hundred and eighty-five bronze statues of emperors and other leaders; likewise twenty-five others of bronze, relating to Abraham, Sarah, and the kings of the lineage of David, which the Emperor Vespasian carried to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem, along with the gates of the same city and other monuments; two colossi; two cochlid columns; two circuses; thirty-one theaters; two buildings destined for midwives; and for those giving birth, four; eleven amphitheaters; twenty-two large and magnificent bronze horses; nine hundred and thirty-eight baths. Four Arvilicon (Arches? A) or Rostra? or libraries? or obelisks?); fourteen tinon ankaphtrion (granaries? or bakeries? or markets for commodities?); two phrenmapoli (quadrigae?) of bronze of foreign horses; forty-five xysti; two thousand three hundred workshops of spice-sellers; two hundred and eighty prisons B; near the places destined for public games, two hundred and fifty-four latrines; six hundred and seventy-three amprochi (vigiles? or vicomagistri? or aediles?) for the guarding of the city, among whom seven preside; thirty-seven gates of the city; the circuit of the city is twenty-one thousand six hundred and thirty-six feet, which are forty thousand paces. But the width from east to west is twelve thousand paces, from north to south thirteen thousand paces. Would that the faithful God may make its future prosperity greater than the past, since this city is the ornament of the entire Roman empire! »
I, curiously searching for knowledge of Zacharias from the monuments, thought that the Vallicellian codex, formerly C belonging to Allatius, was not to be neglected, in which I had learned that, besides other Greek melodes, John the grammarian of Gaza was also counted with his ode inscribed to a certain Zacharias. For I spoke formerly in the preface to the first volume of this collection about another similar codex of Greek melodes inspected by me; and I exhorted that it should be published by any learned man, which, however, no one has attempted up to now: though I do not judge that the same fate now threatens the Vallicellian codex, because an industrious man will not be lacking by whom the zither of the aforementioned melodes, mute for so long, may be plucked. Therefore, in order to track down knowledge of my Zacharias, I went to the aforementioned codex of Allatius, where I read this title of the ode: *A discourse of John the grammarian of Gaza to the most superior Zacharias the Dux the Ascalonite; it contains also some things to the most magnificent Zacharias the Gazan present at the hearing.* Two Zachariases are therefore called here, of whom the first is the most noble Ascalonite Dux, that is, a leader of one thousand soldiers, as Maurice says according to Du Cange, *those called duces, that is, chiliarchs*. In reality, he is called a general in the ode. For it begins thus: *The discourse, having received general authority... confidently proceeds to the general accompanying.* The other, however, is the most clear Zacharias, a Gazan by homeland: and D the former has the shape indeed; and in the surrounding work the beautiful and ample representation of the entire operation of baking, from the millstone up to the sale and distribution of bread, is in anaglyph. Singular counsel of this married couple! Who, since they referred their wealth to the baker's art, ordered themselves to be buried in a marble bread-basket, with the notable statue of each placed there. On the western side, this inscription is read in good letters:
EST HOC MONIMENTVM MARCEI VERGILEI EVRYSACIS PISTORIS REDEMTORIS apparet
On a stone, however, found near the same monument:
FVIT ATISTIA VXOR MIHEI FEMINA OPITVMA VEJISIT QVOIVS CORPORIS RELIQVIAE QVOD SVPERANT SVNT IN HOC PANARIO
the poet calls one Mars, the other Phoebus, for his erudition, no doubt: Whence came Phoebus, men, Having mingled the power of Ares? The other Phoebus is near, Again he appeared like himself. Whether from these one or the other has turned out to be the historian and bishop of Melitene, or rather neither, I cannot define; but that Procopius of Gaza wrote the letters which I have edited is hardly to be doubted.
OF ZACHARIAS THE RHETOR, BISHOP OF MELITENE, SELECTED CHAPTERS FROM THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, FROM THE VATICAN SYRIAC CODEX.
CHAPTER ONE. On the death of Nestorius.
They were invited to the synod, and the death of Nestorius and Dorotheus was signified to them. But since the bishops, called from all sides, were about to celebrate a synod at Nicaea, as had been decreed at first, the emperor later ordered that they should rather gather at Chalcedon; lest, indeed, a meeting of rebels should be held at Nicaea. Meanwhile, the followers of Nestorius persuaded the emperor that Theodoret should be made president of the synod, so that all things might be defined by his judgment.
After the faithful prince Theodosius died, Marcian obtained the empire, who, at the urging of his wife Pulcheria and Leo the Roman, ordered a synod to be gathered, which in reality was convened at Chalcedon, in the year of Alexander the Great 764, with five hundred and sixty-four bishops coming together. However, Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, had previously stirred up Leo to write that letter to Flavian which is called dogmatic, opposing the Eutychian doctrine. Following this, Leo, writing, recommended Theodoret intensely to Marcian Augustus and his wife: for this Augustus had imbibed the doctrine of Nestorius B and adhered to his dogmas: wherefore he had even recalled him from his Oasian exile through the tribune John, together with Dorotheus, a fellow countryman of Marcian himself and an associate of Nestorius. Once returned, Nestorius began to mock the holy Virgin, the Theotokos, with these words: "What is Mary? Is she still called Mother of God?" And soon a vengeful punishment from God overtook him, just as once with Arius, who had been blasphemous against the Son of God; for Nestorius, thrown from his beast of burden, with his tongue cut out and his mouth eaten away by worms, perished on the way; and with him his associate Dorotheus died; upon hearing which, the emperor was grieved, and did not pass over this matter without suspicion and concern. Meanwhile, the tribune John delivered the letters of the Emperor Marcian to Dioscorus and Juvenal, by which they were invited to the synod. But because the bishops, called from all sides, were about to celebrate a synod at Nicaea, as had been decreed at first, the emperor later ordered that they should rather gather at Chalcedon; lest, indeed, a meeting of rebels should be held at Nicaea. Meanwhile, the followers of Nestorius persuaded the emperor that Theodoret should be made president of the synod, so that all things might be defined by his judgment.
On Dioscorus.
This apostolic man, a follower of the doctrine of the apostles, and trained from infancy in the rite of professing it, was deposed from his see and driven into exile, because he refused to adore the unity of person in two natures, as had been defined by Leo and the Council of Chalcedon; and because he refused to follow the parties of Theodoret, who had once been cast out of the Church because of their blasphemies. They say that Dioscorus, when he saw Theodoret speaking in the council not standing as was customary, but sitting, asked leave, and as if he himself had been canonically deposed from his priestly rank, left his throne, saying: "I have not sat with the impious, nor have I entered in with the foolish." Seeing this, the supporters of Theodoret exclaimed that he had abrogated his own dignity; the others, on the contrary, cried out that the bishop's faith would be subverted if the Nestorian Theodoret were admitted, which would be the same as if we also rejected Cyril. And having inserted a few things, after the symbol concerning the two natures...
the bishops received, and gave their assent to him, Theodoret began to openly perpetrate his own fraud, mocking and jeering at them; "I have," said he, "given them the nectar of the Nestorian dogma to drink, and rendered it pleasing to them." Furthermore, the confessor Dioscorus was exiled to Gangra to dwell. Juvenal, however, who had been with him, denied the faith and, setting aside the promises which he had made before the citizens of Jerusalem, embraced the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, as will appear hereafter.
CAP. II. On Proterius being ordained in place of Dioscorus at Alexandria.
Proterius B is substituted in the Alexandrian see in place of Dioscorus, he who had been a presbyter with him. At first, indeed, he vehemently opposed the council; but afterwards, to usurp the throne for himself, he became like Judas to his master, and like Absalom to his parent, a traitor. Soon he showed himself in his flock in the manner of a ravening lion: for he began to afflict and oppress many in order that they might unwillingly go over to his opinion, and he mulcted them with exile and the proscription of their goods through the civil prefects who were subservient to him by the command of the Emperor. Wherefore the presbyters and monks and the greater part of the people, considering the religion to be corrupted, and C the deposition of Dioscorus and the audacity and wickedness of Proterius to be iniquitous, having entered into a mutual agreement, separated from him; and they began to proclaim Dioscorus, and inscribed his name in the book of life as a good and faithful priest of God. Proterius, bearing this with great indignation, offered gifts to the Romans and moved their arms against the people, staining his hands with the blood of the slain: for he committed public violence, nor was there fighting without the slaughter of many beside the altars and the baptistery, to which they had fled as suppliants.
CAP. III. On Juvenal and Theodosius.
Similar, indeed even graver, crimes occurred in Palestine, the cause of which was this. At the time when Juvenal was summoned to Chalcedon, having learned that he accompanied the tribune John and had executed the Emperor's will and the recall of Nestorius from exile; and having furthermore sufficiently ascertained D what shameful doctrine was contained in the dogmatic epistle, since it completely favored Nestorius; he called together the clergy, the monks, and the people, and laid bare the fraud of such a doctrine, and anathematized it, and strengthened the minds of many in the true faith: he further gave order that if he himself should ever change his opinion in the council, they should never thereafter admit him to communion. In reality, having proceeded thither with his associate Dioscorus, he struggled long for the faith; yet at length, under the pressure of imperial necessities, with the Emperor himself wondrously flattering and cajoling him, seeing as he served the bishops with his own hand at table, and gave other tokens of a humble and reverent spirit; having finally received from him a promise that the see of Jerusalem would be honored by the subjection to it of the three seats of Palestine; he obstructed the eyes of his mind, abandoned Dioscorus alone in the contest, and crossed over to the side of the adversaries, and, spurning his oath to God, suffered himself to subscribe with the rest of the bishops. When the matter became known, the monk Theodosius and his associates, who were studiously observing the acts of the council, immediately returned to Palestine and announced to Jerusalem that the faith had been betrayed, and made the monks aware of the whole affair.
Therefore, all having taken counsel, they met Juvenal on his return, and admonished him concerning the promises made and afterwards broken, and demanded of him that he should repudiate what he had done by anathema: to whom he himself, like another Pilate, says: "What I have written I have written": having heard which, the monks protested that they would by no means receive him, since he had broken his oath and his promises. Thus, therefore, he indeed returns to the Emperor; but they, having returned to Jerusalem, gathered together the people and the bishops of their own party for the sake of taking counsel, and decreed that another bishop should be substituted for Juvenal: and having first had a deliberation concerning two modest monks, Romanus and Marcian, and other men distinguished for virtue, they at length cast their votes for Theodosius, a man endowed with zeal, and one who had long been struggling for the faith. Him, therefore, they dragged by force to the episcopate, having rejected his prayers and adjurations, by which he begged that they would allow him to be a minister for choosing another rather; and having consecrated him, they placed him in the seat. Having received this news, other cities of Palestine offered him candidates to be consecrated for the office of priesthood, because, forsooth, they had found the man to have virtue and a zeal for the truth.
CAP. IV. On Peter the Iberian.
Among these admirers of the new bishop was Peter the Iberian, famous throughout the world, a man of counsel, formerly given as a hostage to Theodosius, and very dear to him and his wife for the right life which he led; for he had been educated in the royal palace, and had attained the dignity of Master of Soldiers in the empire. He, afterwards leaving the court, embraced the Christian profession with his faithful godfather, by whom he had been raised from the spiritual font: both, therefore, were so greatly advanced in the way of virtue that God even…
brought forth by them; fleeing from that city, they betook themselves to the deserts of Palestine, where they diligently practiced the monastic life; and the more they strove to hide themselves, the more vehement the fame of them increased: for they performed wonders, no differently than the apostles of old. Finally, as they changed their various stations, they arrived at Gaza and Majuma; where men and women of every kind and condition, having met them, A seized Peter by force and led him to Jerusalem to Theodosius, praying that he would give him to them as their bishop. Peter indeed resisted for many reasons brought forth, however Theodosius, to whom the candidate was sufficiently known, consecrated him, though he was reluctant, by the laying on of hands; who, placed in these straits, began to call himself a heretic; having heard this, Theodosius pausing a little said: "Christ, the tribunal of whom will judge both about me and about you, will decide": having heard which, Peter corrected his statement, and said that he was not a heretic but a sinner. B Moreover Theodosius, to whom the morals of the man were sufficiently known, ordained him bishop for the Gazans. Other praises of this man are also reported in writings, which we omit for the sake of brevity.
CHAPTER V. De Theodosii expulsione.
While Theodosius was conducting these things prosperously, the report of the events having been heard, the emperor Marcian sent Juvenal with Dorotheus the Count and an army, that they might cast Theodosius into chains, that they might drive the bishops ordained by his own authority from their seats, that they might punish and harass the monks and the people, for the reason that they had rashly and audaciously made Theodosius C bishop of Jerusalem; with one exception, Peter the Iberian, for whom the Augusta had interceded, although he refused to communicate with the universality of the bishops. Juvenal, therefore, arriving, found many monks of simple mind, armed only with true faith and upright works: whom at first he indeed entreated with flatteries that they might communicate with him; but they utterly rejected his words, unless he himself anathematized those things which had been violently acted at Chalcedon; but when he opposed the will of the emperor to them, they nevertheless refused. Then finally by his mandate, the Romans and Samaritans began to beat the monks with clubs and to kill those who, singing, said: "O God, the nations are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple, they have made Jerusalem a place to keep fruit"*. Indeed, some of the Romans, touched by mercy, wept; others, however, combining their efforts with the Samaritans, killed very many monks, so that the earth overflowed with their blood. D Some blind Samaritan, however, deceived his leader saying: "Since I cannot see the blood of the slain with my eyes, and rejoice at it, I pray you bring me there so that I may touch it": whom when his leader moved there, having touched the blood, he anointed his hands, and being prostrate on the ground, weeping, he prayed that he might be made a participant in their martyrdom. And soon rising, he anointed his eyes with that gore, and with his hands raised to heaven, he felt his eyes open and he saw, and he was gifted with saving baptism: which matter, as many as heard, being touched with wonder, they embraced the faith. Moreover, the ministers of the royal commands drove those whomsoever they had left alive out of the confines of the empire. They say, however, that while that Peter, of whom it was said above, was living tranquilly, that is, with no one causing him trouble on account of the emperor's mandate and the Augusta's protection, he saw our Lord in a vision with a somewhat angry countenance saying to him: "Therefore, Peter, do I suffer persecution in my faithful ones, do you, however, follow ease?" To whom soon Peter, repenting of his ease, obeyed, and Gaza having been left, he departed with the host of those suffering.
CHAPTER VI. De Salomone monacho.
After Juvenal had persecuted the faithful and the monks who were living in the fields with the Roman army, he came to Jerusalem and occupied his see, completely oblivious of his promises, of the slaughters perpetrated, and of the perjuries which had accompanied his entrance. Then a certain monk, by the name of Solomon, a venerable type of modesty, moved by zeal, feigned that he was asking for a blessing from the archbishop; and carrying on his arm a basket full of ashes and dust, he approached Juvenal, whom the latter having caught sight of, ordered to approach him: to whom Solomon said: "I am here, Lord, that I may be blessed by you"; and the Romans granting access to his person, he poured the basket laden with dust upon the head of Juvenal, using these words: "The liar and persecutor is covered with shame and ignominy": whom when the Romans were about to beat, Juvenal did not allow it; nor did he become angry, but astonished by that deed, he shook the dust from his head. In the meantime, the attendants removed the monk from the sight of Juvenal, whom he ordered to depart having been assigned travel money; but in fact the monk went away having rejected the money.
Chapter VII. De Zenonis obitu et de Anastasii exaltatione.
Zeno having finished 17 years in the empire, just as it was said in the chapters of the sixth book, died in the 517th Olympiad, in the year of the Greeks 802 in the 14th indiction, in the week of the greater Wednesday. To him succeeded Anastasius, who had been a silentiary decurion, born in the city of Dyrrachium, a man endowed with a comely body, a most upright mind, and a faithful dogma: who with Ariadne the empress.
receiving payment for his service, his grace prevailed until he was raised to the empire by his own will.
CAP. VIII. Of the vision of John the Scholastic of Amida, brother of Donatus, concerning the empire of Anastasius.
BA few days before Anastasius assumed the purple, a certain John, nicknamed Scholasticus, brother of Donatus, a man of blameless justice, reverent toward God, free from every vice, and persisting of his own accord and freely in his office as a scholastic of the Church, while he was in Constantinople because of his native city’s business, twice learned through a vision that it would come to pass that Anastasius the silentiarius would reign. Having called him to himself, he addressed him thus: "I prophesy that you shall soon reign; take care, therefore, that through your excellent virtue of spirit you acquiesce to the holy will of God. Show yourself peaceful, tranquil, humble, adorned with all gifts, and toward all, gentle and amiable, and be favorable to all of your kin. I do not say these things because I am lacking towards you, or to flatter you." Now because this John was sufficiently famous, and well known to many for the manner of his lived life, Anastasius gave him belief without hesitation, and was assiduous toward him during the vigils of the Church. But it happened that when Anastasius was elevated to the royal height, he strove to repay his friend with favor, namely with those things which mortals are accustomed most to desire; but John suffered himself to accept nothing at all from the Augustus; furthermore, he quickly departed from the royal city to his own country; content with this one thing which he had obtained from Anastasius: that those things which Zeno had established for the Christians should remain firm.
CAP. IX. Of Amida captured by the Persians.
While Perozes was reigning over the Persians, in the thirteenth year of Anastasius, the Huns, having surpassed the ways and mountainous places which the Persians were guarding, made an incursion into Persis. Struck by terror at this, Perozes forced an army and presented himself to meet them, in order to explore the cause of their movement and incursion into Persis. They answered him that the pay which the Persians had been paying them as Barbarians did not suffice for them: "For we," they said, "live under the open sky in the manner of beasts in the northern parts which lean toward the west; we seek our sustenance by bow and sword, and feed on every kind of meat. Furthermore, the Roman emperor promised us double the pay through his legates, if we certainly would break our alliance with you, O Persians. This, therefore, is the reason why we have come here armed: wherefore, you must either give us [as much as] the Romans, or if not, prepare for war." Having heard these machinations of the Huns, Perozes, although he saw that they were fewer in number than his own forces, nevertheless preferred to deceive them with a fallacious promise. Meanwhile, the leaders of the Huns went forth with four hundred armed men, with whom was a certain Eustathius, an Apamean merchant and A Magus, whose counsel the Huns were using. In turn, Perozes went forth with four hundred men, and together they all ascended a mountain, entered into a covenant, and having shared a feast, they swore mutual faith with their hands lifted to heaven. Then, when the Huns had departed to their own region, except for a few leaders who had remained with those four hundred for the sake of exacting payment; after a lapse of ten days, Perozes broke his faith and constructed a war against the Huns—who, indeed, with those four hundred and their leaders, were already retreating, had not Eustathius restored the spirits of the Huns, so that they might not be afraid even with a smaller number; meanwhile, however, at the persuasion of that same Eustathius, they burned incense and musk in the place where the oath had been sworn, so that God might avenge the perjured. Then, attacking Perozes in war, they killed him with his entire army, and having desolated Persis, they retreated into their own lands. Moreover, the cadaver of Perozes (who in his own region was called "the Liar" by nickname) appeared nowhere.
But Cavades, who succeeded him in the empire, and his nobles were of hostile spirit toward the Romans, and accused them regarding the incursion of the Huns and the devastation and ruin of their own country. Therefore, having gathered forces, Cavades attacked and captured Theodosiopolis in Armenia; yet he showed himself merciful to its citizens, because they had done him no injury. However, he took Constantine, the prefect of the city, with him, and in the month of October halted before Amida, the city of Mesopotamia, and began to strike it with great impetuosity with arrows and battering rams, with which he strove to prostrate the walls. For the Persians, protecting their engines with skins as if with a roof, moved them toward the city, and having led up a high mound, they leveled them with the ramparts; nevertheless, fighting daily, they were not capturing the city, and the soldiers were greatly exhausted by varying works and battles. During that time, the ears of Cavades were beaten by a great force of insults and derisions from those who stood on the ramparts: regarding which he was feeling the utmost pain and was also inwardly very distressed, because a rigid winter was encroaching, and the Persians, entangled in loose clothing, seemed more languid, and their bows were becoming enervated in the humid air; finally, the fronts of the battering rams were striking the walls in vain, and were of no detriment to them, nor did they effect any rupture; for the defenders, with bundles of rushes tied together among themselves, were blunting the force of the striking rams, or moving them from their straight course, so that they might not breach the walls.
Now when the machine was standing, the citizens of the city, perforating the wall from the inner side and throwing out the excavated material, filled the cavity of the place from below with brushwood. Which being done, when about five hundred men chosen from the Persians had climbed into the machine with arms, and were already extending beams onto the walls, so that they might leap over through them (with the king himself standing by with his army, and by shouts adding spirits, and by arms, moreover, and arrows bringing aid, and by his own presence and appearance stimulating them), the defenders [with...]
A poured down upon those who were laying siege—from the walls—beams and bull-hides boiled with vetch to make them slippery; finally, they threw fire upon the brushwood which they had placed under their siege engines. On account of this, after a battle that continued for six hours, while the defenders were repelling the Persians from the approach to the city, the fire caught the brushwood, and the rest of the material immediately flared up with flames; the machine, thus consumed, collapsed, and the Persians who were inside were burned and crushed, while those upon the wall struck them with a hail of stones, so that the king retreated, ashamed and saddened, especially because he was being mocked and assailed with insults by the bold and arrogant citizens.
Indeed, there was no bishop in the city to restrain them from this recklessness; for a few days previously, Bishop John, a man who was frugal, chaste, and endowed with holy character, had exchanged life for death. Having been taken from the Cartaminasian monastery to the bishopric, he had changed nothing of his fasting, abstinence, and ancient manners, but remained night and day in the monastery. He had gravely admonished the wealthy of the city during the time of famine and the incursion of the Arabs and the pestilence, not to withhold grain during the scarcity of the years, but rather to sell it and grant it to the needy, lest they happen to reserve it for the coming enemies, as Scripture says, whose prophecy proved true. To him an angel appeared openly by the side of the altar and foretold the advent of the enemies; and furthermore [he foretold] that he himself, for the sake of his righteousness, would be gathered to God before the enemies invaded the city; all of which he himself revealed to the entire population of the city, so that they might do penance and avoid the imminent punishment.
Now, indeed, Cavades, defeated with his army after repeated struggles against the city, and having lost many of his own men, broken in spirit, requested that a small sum of silver be weighed out for him, upon the receipt of which he would depart from the siege of the city. But Leontius Bar-Paphi, the prince of the nobility, and Cyrus the prefect, and Paul the steward, answered Cavades that they wished him to pay the price of all the crops that his army had consumed, as well as of the wheat and wine which he had seen to be transported to himself from the villages. While, therefore, the king, pressed and troubled by all these difficulties, was planning his departure, Christ appeared to him in a nightly vision (as he himself later narrated) promising that within three days He would hand over the city to him along with the citizens who had committed crimes against Him. B But the event took place in this manner. A certain tower in the western part of the city had been committed to the custody of monks who inhabited the monastery of John the Iberian, whose abbot was a Persian by race. Opposite this tower, which was entrusted to the watch of the monks, a certain commander named Cancrakus Haghirus had placed his camp; he not only kept diligent watch by night, but had also long been applying all his study and artifice in order to devise some stratagem for capturing the city.
There was also a certain man in the city commonly called Cutricus, a turbulent and rapacious man, who, showing every kind of boldness against the Persians, would drive off much prey from them; and the Persians themselves, as they heard from those who were guarding the walls, called him Cutricus. In the meantime, Cancrakus observed him as he went out near the tower through the aqueduct and returned from his plunder; indeed, the Persians sometimes even allowed him free power of plundering, with their eyes fixed upon him, and soon would follow him, and thus they discovered the place of his exit and return. That night, which proved to be the city's last, was very dark and rainy, and it happened that a certain citizen was hosting a friendly dinner for the monks, with wine served deep into the night; wherefore they, overcome by sleep, did not keep watch according to the usual custom. When, therefore, Cancrakus with a few of his men, following Cutricus, approached the walls, the monks neither raised a shout nor threw stones; from which, understanding that the monks were indulging in sleep, Cancrakus immediately summoned ladders and soldiers; and immediately those who were with him entered through the aqueducts and escaped into the monks' tower, and having killed them, gained possession of the tower, and soon, having applied ladders to the walls, sent messengers to the king. Those who were guarding the nearest tower, having understood the event, raised a cry and tried to bring help to the slaughtered monks, but in vain; indeed, some of them perished, struck by the arrows of the Persians. Then Cyrus the prefect, having been informed of the matter, came running with lighted torches, and thus he easily lay open to the weapons of the Persians, who, dwelling in the dark, were safe from the enemies' missiles. Thus Cyrus departed wounded.
C At daybreak, the king arriving with his forces, ladders were directed against the walls, and the soldiers were ordered to climb. Then many of those who had climbed perished, struck by stones and missiles and repelled by spears; but those who, overcome by fear, leaped down from the ladders, the king ordered to be killed as cowards and deserters. Wherefore, regaining their courage, the Persians decided to obtain glory from victory and battle, or at least a death born of fighting, rather than be held in contempt and killed by their own king, who stood by as a spectator of the contest. And while the citizens indeed attempted to undermine the tower which the Persians held, and its beams were already dissolving; but meanwhile another tower was occupied, and soon another, and the defenders of the walls were killed. But a certain Peter, of the country of D Ilamcarensis, a man of huge body, claimed for himself the defense of a part of the rampart and the city alone; encased in an iron breastplate, scattering missiles, repelling the Persians, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving, firm and unshaken like a giant; and although many thousands of men had perished in other parts of Amida—in tunnels, wells, and temples—and five towers had already been taken, he himself departed safely, having received no wound. The Persians, having advanced further, gained possession of all the walls, having repelled and killed those who for two nights and one day were continuously guarding them, and then finally by downward descent
the gates were opened, and the whole army rushed in with the king’s command to kill men and women of every rank and dignity for three days and as many nights. One church, which they called the Great [Church], A dedicated to the Forty Martyrs, escaped destruction, as a certain Christian regulus from the region of Aran interceded with the king, who granted that it be preserved full of people.
When three days had at length passed, the king withheld the destruction, and guards were appointed for the spoils of the sacred buildings and palaces, so that whatever had been collected might be saved for the king: he also commanded that the bodies of the slain that were found be carried out through the western gate, so that he himself might later enter through the southern one. Thus, eighty thousand corpses were collected and counted during the transport, B besides those which had been sunk in the tunnels, or cast into wells, or left in the courtyards. Then the king entered the church, and when he had gazed upon the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was depicted in the habit of a Galilean there, he asked whose it was; when those present answered that it was the image of the God of the Nazarenes, the king bowed his head before it and said: "He said to me: 'Remain; and take the city which is to be delivered to you by me because of the crimes of the citizens.'"
Thus, therefore, the city having been handed over to the Persians by the will of God, Cavades took a huge weight of silver and golden sacred vessels, and other precious furniture, which had been bequeathed to the church a few years earlier by Isaac son of Barai, a man of consular rank and very wealthy among the citizens. He also found a large quantity of excellent wine, dried up to the dregs, which it was the custom to place in the sun for seven years, and thus it became dry and solid. They were accustomed to reduce this to powder and carry it with them on journeys, stored cleanly in linen bags, and they would mix a small amount of it into a drink, which restored the flavor and taste of wine; but they persuaded those who were ignorant of what it was that it was saffron. The king greatly admired this kind of wine and took it with him; but from that time on this gastronomic art has been lost to oblivion among Christians. Then gold and silver and all precious clothing collected from the houses of the nobles was handed over to the prefects of the royal treasury: statues also were deposited, and horologia (sundials) and public marbles, C and all the bronze, and whatever was desired was loaded onto makeshift boats and carried down the Tigris, which flows past the eastern part of the city, into Persis.
Then the king ordered that the city’s magistrates and governors be sought out, and Leontius and Cyrus the prefect, who had been wounded by a missile, were offered to him, along with the remaining commanders. For the Persians had already slaughtered the steward Paul Bar-Zainab, lest he perhaps report to the king the great amount of gold which had been found on his person. Then, having dressed Leontius and Cyrus in sordid garments, with a pig’s rope tied around their necks, and placing female pigs upon them and dragging them along, they shouted for the sake of infamy: "These prefects are worthy of this disgrace, who governed their city poorly, and did not protect its people from D our king's restraint." Finally, in chains, along with a crowd of all the craftsmen, they were led away by the hand of the soldiers into Persis, addicted to royal service or captivity. After these things, some from the army approached the king and addressed him thus: "Our kinsmen and brothers perished, struck down in battle by the citizens of this city; we therefore demand that every tenth citizen be handed over to us for the sake of vengeance." By a calculation having actually been instituted, that number was granted from the assembly of citizens, whom they killed with exquisite tortures. The king, however, washed in the bath of Barzainab, and with winter having ended, he departed from the city, leaving for its governance Eglon, a tribune of the soldiers, with two other commanders and three thousand soldiers for a garrison, as well as John Bar-Balba, a nobleman, and Sergius Bar-Zabduni to oversee the military.
In the following summer, the Romans arrived at Amida, with the supreme commander Patricius leading the army, a man of advanced years, upright and faithful, but lacking in counsel, along with Hypatius, Celer the master [of offices], and Areobindus: with whom also was Justin the count, who after Anastasius assumed the purple. They, having joined their forces, began to batter the city with war, using wooden towers, engines, and tunnels; and they threw fire at the very gate which is named Mar-Zoane: but they were prevented from entering by the Persians, who closed the gate again; wherefore the Romans were in vain, nor could they obtain the city by war. Now, how great was the distress of the people caused by famine, which raged from day to day, to such an extent that the citizens devoured one another; and how foul and lamentable this narrative is, will be made clear in the following chapter, where I pursue the history of the Amidene war.
CAP. X.
On the redemption of Amida.
King Cavades, when he was departing from the city of Amida with his army, as has been said above, left there Eglon the commander and two prefects, and about three thousand soldiers for the sake of a garrison, along with two or three noblemen and other men of the same city. But when the aforementioned Roman commanders had by no means been able to storm Amida, Patricius finally descended into the lands of the Persians, made captives, and obtained fortified castles: but Areobindus and Hypatius attacked Nisibis, although they tried in vain to occupy its fortifications, even though the citizens desired the Romans, and for that reason were resisting more languidly. With the matter understood, Cavades set out with the army against the Romans, who committed themselves to flight; Areobindus indeed from the field of the Arzamenians, but Patricius and Hypatius from the castle of Siphrin, having left their camps and their baggage, and many horses (besides those which they themselves were riding), which threw themselves headlong from the cliffs—and they either perished, having been gravely wounded, or were torn to pieces. One among these, Pharazmenes, fought happily many times, and had long since rendered his name known and formidable to the Persians, whom he was bit by bit diminishing and consuming with various assaults, so that they collapsed in fear before him. He finally
came with five hundred horsemen to Amida, and began to lay an ambush for the Persians who were going out A into the villages to forage; some of these he would kill, others he would plunder of their herds and horses.
At that time, a cunning man named Gadanas, from the village of Achedoruin—whom I myself knew by sight—approached Pharazmenes and began to plot with him how to use some ruse and deceit so that Eglon, the Persian leader, might lead three or four hundred horsemen out of the city. Gadanas was a famous hunter of wild beasts, partridges, and doves, and he had free access to Eglon, to whom he would provide portions of his hunt and was also admitted to his table; from him, in turn, he obtained urban services of no small value. Finally, he said to Eglon that the Roman infantry hardly numbered a hundred, and that they were with five hundred horsemen about seven miles from the city at a place called Hubeto Rohen; he therefore advised him as a friend to go out to plunder the cattle, kill the Romans, and gain glory for himself. Eglon, however, sent scouts, who returned and said they had seen a few Romans and horses. Then, armed and girded, Eglon went out with four hundred horsemen, leading Gadanas himself, who was mounted on a mule, by whom he was set in the midst of the Roman ambush: and thus the Romans killed the Persians with great slaughter and carried the head of Eglon into the fortress.
This slaughter B filled Eglon’s son with great grief and anger; the prefects, having been made more cautious, no longer allowed the besieged citizens to go out to the markets which used to take place near the walls, to which country folk brought wine, wheat, and other things of that kind from the villages, to sell them to the Persians and citizens alike: for picked horsemen were stationed to meet them, and would intercept the country folk and lead them into the city; and no one, according to the laudable law of the Persians, dared to snatch anything from the inhabitants of the villages; but they sold their goods at their own price as they wished, and in turn purchased what they needed in the city markets. Yet, because of the slaughter of Eglon and his armed men, these markets ceased, and the remaining nobles in the city, together with about ten thousand men, were driven into a certain stadium guarded by soldiers: these, destitute of food, began to die, after they had eaten their own footwear and filth, and had drunk urine; at last, they began to rage against one another, until almost all of them were consumed: those, however, who survived alive in the stadium, were sent out of the city like men appearing from the tombs of the dead. Women, too, crazed by hunger, were killing men here and there by clever ruses and deceits, and were feeding upon them; so that more than five hundred men were devoured by women: and such was the calamity of hunger in this city that it surpassed the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem, concerning which Josephus writes in his History.
Finally, Pharazmenes proceeded to the city C and offered terms to the Persians who were now weakened: wherefore, with the leaders of the Romans and Persians sitting at the gate of the city, the Persians went out without arms, carrying whatever they were able with them: as for those of the citizens who followed them, the choice was offered to them by name, that if they wished to remain, they might do so; otherwise, they might freely depart with the Persians; and thus they migrated from the city. Nevertheless, one thousand one hundred pounds of gold were given to Cavades through Celer the master of offices, as the price of the redeemed city and of peace. The signed documents of the treaty were presented to the king for him to subscribe; but he, having taken a nap and been warned in a vision not to conclude the peace; upon waking, tore up the document and withdrew into Persis, with the gold taken with him. Furthermore, Pharazmenes remained to manage the city and the inhabitants, who were made immune from tribute for seven years by the decree of the Caesar; he treated them kindly, and honored those who returned from captivity with benefits, and received everyone according to their degree in peace: wherefore the city began to enjoy quiet and tranquility, and the buildings were increased upon the walls; and Bishop Thomas, a monk, a man who was peaceful, courteous, and merciful, was sent to it. Moreover, through the providence of God, he brought thither from the monastery of the Cathari a certain Samuel, a just man, and a wonder-worker, capable of releasing knots (of demons), who by his prayers preserved the city, and provided whatever aid he could to the citizens.
CAP. XI. Concerning the founding of the city of Dara.
Anastasius Caesar rebuked the Roman soldiers and their leaders very severely, who had reached the metropolis D of the empire after the Persian war, because, against his judgment—which he hoped had been pleasing to God—they had conducted the war against the Persians successfully, and had not driven them out of Amida with arms, but with gold sent by him. They, on the contrary, were purging themselves, saying that it had been an arduous task to wage war with the king, whom, though an Assyrian and an enemy, God had sent upon the Roman dominion to punish it on account of sins, as God himself had declared; furthermore, he was surrounded by a very numerous army. Regarding Nisibis, they said that it could not be captured at all, even with the king absent, due to a lack of suitable siege engines, the absence of an asylum for night rest, the Roman forts being located too far away and being unsuitable for holding an army, besides the shortage of provisions and water. Hence, they asked the emperor to order a city to be built near the mountain, which would be a refuge and a station for the army, a workshop for weapons, and a defense for the Arabian region against the Persian brigands and the Ishmaelites: further, some advised that Dara be built, others that Ammodia be built and fortified.
Therefore, the emperor sent a letter with architects to Thomas, the bishop of Amida: he came to the Caesar with a sketch of the future city, which pleased him when he had looked upon it.
with the counsel that Dara should be built. The prefect at that time was Philaesimus, a man brave and wise, not at all greedy for money, but just and benevolent toward the poor and the laborers. While, therefore, the emperor was waging war against the Tamarites and other enemies, he gave a certain sum of gold to Bishop Thomas, as the price of the village (Dara), which was patrimony of the Church; and having bought it, he dismissed all the strangers living there to freedom, having bought up the houses of individuals and the lots. For the building of the city, he supplied many hundreds of pounds of gold, and gave a sworn promise that he would liberally compensate whatever the bishop had spent, and that no one would be defrauded of their wages. Finally, he proposed a broad edict concerning the building of the city at the bidding of the bishop, and for the increasing of the artisans and the work, and for the conveying of building materials from everywhere. He sent, moreover, many sculptors and craftsmen of the mason’s art, and provided by law that no one should lack the reward for his labor; for he understood that under these conditions the city would be built as quickly as possible on the borders of the empire. B
Furthermore the bishop, when with God’s help he had made a beginning of building the city, placed incorruptible overseers over the work: Cyrus, Adamus, and Eutychianus as presbyters; and as deacons, Paphnutius, Sergius, and John, and others from the clergy of Amida. The bishop himself was often present at the site and visited them, and money was abundantly given to the artisans and to all the workmen without any fraud, so that each one received a *danek* per day (which is the sixth part of a drachma); and those who had a beast of burden received two *danek*. From this building of the city many acquired riches; and when the fame of the work and the fair pay had spread abroad, craftsmen of the mason’s art arrived in competition from the East and the West, as well as the supervisors of the works, who all filled their purses; deservedly and with the favor of the bishop—a man who was liberal, courteous, and kind, and who relied upon the just promises of the Caesar—the work was finished within two or three years, and the city appeared suddenly on the borders of the empire like a sprout. C
When Cavades received notice of the matter, he strove to destroy the city; but in vain, for it was surrounded by strong walls for the defense of the inhabitants. A royal bath and beautiful granaries were also built, along with an aqueduct which runs to the foot of the mountain; and within the city, wonderful pools as a reservoir for water. The overseers and supervisors of the works took care to carry the excellent report of the bishop to the Caesar, namely concerning his uprightness and justice; for which reason the Augustus delighted wonderfully in this man and sent him whatever sum of gold he asked for. Finally, a calculation was made of the entire sum of money which had been sent; and the bishop responded to the Caesar, invoking God as his witness, that the whole of it had been spent on the building, and that nothing had devolved either into his own hand or into that of his church; he wrote back, D demonstrating that he had consumed all the gold sent to him in the village, in bringing it to the form and dignity of a city. Dara, however, was called Anastasiopolis after the name of the emperor.
Then Thomas consecrated Eutychianus, a presbyter of the city, as its first bishop, a watchful man and skilled in the management of affairs, and he granted him *pronomia*—that is, exemption from the Amiden jurisdiction. A constant companion to this man was a certain John, brought up in Amida, although Roman by race, to whom Eutychianus bestowed the tonsure and the presbyterate, and made him a *syndic*, and took him with him as a companion of his journey to the metropolis of the empire. Having met with the Caesar, he brought back a dowry from him for his church. Moreover, a certain Abraham Bar-Chili of Telebrane, having taken as a companion at that time a certain Ephraem of Tel, a notary, followed Bishop Eutychianus, by whom he was ordained a presbyter and sent as curator of the royal bath building, and finally obtained the *oeconomatum* of the Church. The Caesar, however, bestowed gifts upon Eutychianus, namely sacred furnishings, and an amount of gold for the building of a great church, and dismissed him from the palace. Furthermore, this bishop survived for little time; and Thomas of Resaina, son of Abdias, Roman by birth, who had been the steward at Amida, succeeded him. He was a diligent man and skilled in managing affairs, and he greatly cherished John the *syndic* on account of his fairness and modesty. When, however, he was driven from his see on account of his zeal for the faith, this John followed him faithfully, whom he even made chorepiscopus. Thomas lived in exile for about 17 years, constant in his faith, and died in the third indiction, at which time Chosroes took Antioch (in the year of Christ 540), and he was buried in the monastery of Tirensis, where he had gathered himself with the monks who had fled from the sight of the enemies at Merdino; and he was deposited next to the bishop of that monastery, who likewise rested there.
CHAPTER XII. On Marinus of Apamea.
After Macedonius, Timotheus was made bishop of Constantinople—an orthodox man (impius scilicet Eutychianus), whose works agree with his name: for he interprets "honoring God." In his days lived a certain Marinus of Apamea, a man vigilant, adroit, sagacious in works, wise, and learned. He also cultivated the orthodox faith and, as a friend of the emperor, was of his secret council: he who, when walking through the villages of the city or sitting anywhere, whatever worthy of observation occurred to his mind, would command it to be committed to letters. Moreover, he kept an inkstand fastened to his bed, with a light lit next to the bolster, so that he might describe his thoughts on paper, which at sunrise he would signify to the emperor,
admonishing the same that he should carry them into execution. And because he was a native of the province of Antioch, which from the times of Bishop Eustathius had set itself to preach him who was crucified for us, he himself also with all diligence urged the Emperor Anastasius to perform this same thing. When certain heretics had learned of the man’s efforts, they attacked him in a crowd; why, they say, do you wish to introduce earthly men to do things beyond the holy hymn which the angels offer to the Trinity, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, with whose praises the heavens and the earth are filled? To these things, God the Word, who was crucified for us men, immediately prepared in his mouth an apology of this kind: the angels indeed rightly direct the hymn of their confession to the adorable and consubstantial Trinity, and they do not in the least preach him as crucified for them; but we, in the hymn of our profession, justly call him who was crucified for us men, for he assumed a body from us, not from the angels. And thus he stopped their mouths; but to the emperor he opened his mind, and he ordered that that clause, *who was crucified for us*, should be preached in the royal city just as it was in the province of Antioch.
CAP. XIII. Of the eclipse of the sun.
At this same time a prodigy occurred, similar to that which long ago displayed Christ’s divinity to the wise in the flesh of him who was crucified at Jerusalem, namely an eclipse of the sun, which was darkened from the sixth hour to the ninth. C
CAP. XIV. Of Ariadne Augusta.
Ariadne Augusta, after the death of her husband Zeno, celebrated her nuptials with Anastasius, and took him as her partner in the kingdom; she died in the year of the Greeks 824, after having administered the empire for 40 years. Her husband, already advanced in age, lived holily and uprightly, and ruled the commonwealth watchfully.
CAP. XV. Of the death of Anastasius Augustus.
After Timothy had completed six or seven years in the episcopate, he died in an indiction of nine, and John succeeded him. In the year that Anastasius died, many Egyptians, Alexandrians, dwellers across the Jordan, Idumeans, and Arabs who had come to Jerusalem for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on the day before the Ides of September, were possessed by demons; and barking like dogs against the cross, they would then depart in silence. This prodigy brought pain and sadness to the wise, although not even they understood the cause of the matter until it became known by events: for the contentions and scandals were being heralded which A regarding the faith followed, and which God had predicted beforehand; that we might accurately weigh the coming temptation, and so enduring it with an immovable faith, might obtain that joy of which the Apostle James says: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into many and various temptations; knowing that the trial of your faith works patience for you; but patience shall have a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. And Anastasius indeed died on the fifth of the Ides of July, and Justin succeeded him, who happened to be in the army at the time when Cavades, the king of the Persians, came to Amida. He was advanced in age, of handsome appearance, with long, grey hair; but he professed the religion of the Romans because he was of the same origin, having been born in the castle of Bederiana, the waters of which B are of a very bad nature, for when boiled they turn into blood.
CAP. XVI. Of the martyrdom of the holy confessors of the Homerites.
The letter which Simeon, bishop of the Christians in Persia, wrote in the sixth year of Justin to Simeon, the abbot of Gabula, was as follows:
We indicate to your charity that on the twentieth day of January of the present eight hundred and thirty-fifth year of the Greeks, we departed from the dominion of Naaman, together with Abraham the presbyter, the son of Euphrasius, who was sent by the Emperor Justinian to Monderus, the king of the Arabs, to reconcile peace: just as we wrote of him in our former letter, giving thanks to him, both we and all the faithful, because he favors our cause; and he keeps in sight both what we wrote long ago, and what we now write. Having therefore spent ten days through the desert, traveling toward the south and east, we arrived at the camp of Monderus, against the boundaries of the arena, which the Arabs call Ramle. But as we were entering the camp of Monderus, heathen Arabs and Maaddeni met us; and, what more remains for you to do, they say, when your Christ has been expelled from the borders of the Romans, the Persians, and the Homerites? The Arabs cast this in our teeth; but we were wasting away with great sorrow: especially when there was present near us an envoy sent by the king of the Homerites to King Monderus, who presented a letter full of arrogance, in these words:
Know, my brother King Monderus, that that king, whom the Ethiopians had placed over our region, has already departed from the living. As winter was approaching, however, when the Ethiopians could not make for our region to appoint a Christian king according to custom, I occupied the whole Homerite kingdom: and first indeed I took all the Christians who believed in Christ, threatening them with death, unless D
A they should become like us. I found, and put to death, two hundred and eighty priests: the Ethiopians also, who guarded the church, I took away along with them; but I converted their church into our synagogue. Then at last with a hundred and twenty thousand men I moved my camp to Nagran, their royal city; and since I had beseiged it for several days in vain, I promised them safety under oath: though in my heart I had no intention of observing the faith pledged to my Christian enemies. Therefore, after the surrender was made, I commanded that they bring forth their gold, silver, and all their wealth. I took what was brought. Shortly after, I sought out Paul, their bishop: and when they affirmed that he had already departed from the living, I did not in the least give credence to them until they showed me his tomb: and I indeed took his bones from it and B burned them. Their church, also, and their priests, and as many as I detected to have fled to the church, I consumed with flames. The rest, however, I compelled to abjure Christ and the cross. Which thing, nevertheless, they refused to commit themselves to: they testified that He was God, and the Son of the Blessed One; and they affirmed that a death met for this reason was to be preferred to life. But their leader also, uttering many things, did not fear to assail me with insults and reproaches. And so I ordered all their chiefs to be led to execution. Meanwhile, we urged the women to repent, considering in their minds the end of their husbands, if they wished to consult for themselves and their children. But they were not so moved by our exhortations, but that they complained that they had been forestalled in this by the virgins, whom we had condemned to death, and they were eager to rush into their midst, and lamented that they were separated from their husbands.
These having been put to the ultimate torture, I thought that Ruma, the wife of the designated king, should be dismissed with guards given from our army, in case, taken by pity for her daughters, she might repudiate the Christian religion and embrace the Jewish, to recover her daughters, wealth, and all her fortunes. But she, as soon as she hurried from our sight, bared her head, and with an open countenance went out in public, to the wonder of the people: since no one in the forum had seen her face since she had become a bit older; and running through the streets and crossroads of the city, she began to cry out and shout in this manner. "Women of Nagran, as many of you as are present, my companions, Christian, Jewish, and Gentile, listen. You know that I am a Christian, and you know my family and my ancestors, and that a vast quantity of gold and silver, a handsome patrimony, and crowds of servants are at my disposal; and if, now that my husband has perished for Christ, it pleased me to desire a new marriage, there would be no lack of a dowry of sixty thousand pieces of gold, and beyond the wealth left to me by him, a nearly infinite world of necklaces, gems, and most precious garments: and it is well known to you that these things are not falsely boasted by me, but I know that it cannot escape you that to a woman no day is more desirable than the day of her wedding: but to this follow hardships, the pains of childbirth, and in death the C unbearable griefs of children. For me, therefore, it has been decided to put an end to all these. I have spent the most joyous days of my former marriage: and now with equal joy of my mind I have betrothed my five virgin daughters D to Christ. Here, therefore, bring your eyes, my companions; behold your companion, appearing before you for the second time. Since in that former pomp of my marriage, with you all watching, I was led to the house of a former bridegroom: and now likewise I hasten with open face to Christ God, and to my Lord and that of my daughters, just as Christ Himself descended to us for His love for us, and suffered for our salvation.
"I ask you, therefore, to follow my footsteps, and do not allow yourselves to be led astray by the fleeting shape of the face: for I am no less beautiful to you: but I shall bring this very form, such as it is, intact and immune from Jewish perfidy to Christ, so that even the appearance of my face may give faith to my Lord, that I could in no way be led away from Him into the crime of infidelity: and gold, and silver, and vast riches will show that nothing was dearer to me than He Himself. For the rebel king promised me salvation and safety, if only I would abjure Christ. But may God avert this, companions; may He avert it, I say, that I should now desert Christ God, in whom I believed: but since I and my daughters were baptized in the name of the Trinity, to adore the cross of Christ, and for Him to commute death with life, together with them is firmly resolved for me: since Christ also was crucified for us, and suffered death in His own flesh. Wherefore these fleeting things, although they may now allure the eyes, and flatter the body, yet because they are destined to fall, I willingly resign, about to receive from the Lord riches that are perennial and will remain forever. O blesssed ones, companions, if you give your ears to my words, and your hands to the truth, and love Christ God, for whom I and my daughters are dying! Now, however, I pray for peace and tranquil times for the people of God: may the blood of the brothers and sisters killed in this city for Christ become a wall for it, if only it has adhered perpetually to its Lord Christ. Behold, I confidently depart from the city, in which I and my daughters have lived until now as if in a temporary hostel, thinking of that eternal city, in which we are to find the Bridegroom to whom I have given them. Pray for me, companions, that my Lord Christ may receive me, and forgive me, since I have lived three days as a survivor of my husband."
As the shouts rose up from the city, we, being stirred, asked those who returned, the messengers we had sent there, what in the world was the cause of that unusual wailing. They reported what we were presently describing: that Ruma, namely, had incited the crowd of women to those shouts: for it had happened through the sluggishness and laziness of the guards that such a thing was permitted to a woman. And it was resolved to punish them with the ultimate penalty, unless the intercession of some had later bent us to a milder opinion.
A rus, having respect for the most noble man’s lineage and also because he was most renowned among the princes of the kingdom, and valiant in arms.
Thence we set out and held the lands of Naaman on the first Saturday of the fast; and there the legate of the deceased king of the Homerites met us. When he had learned from us of the slaughter committed by the Jewish tyrant, he ordered a certain Naamanite to set out with all speed to the city of Nagran at an agreed price, and to explore everything that had happened there as diligently as possible. And so, after a few days, he related to the Christian legate, in our hearing, those things which we have mentioned above, and he added that three hundred and forty nobles, who had encountered the tyrant in the city, had been killed on that same occasion. Furthermore, he added that a Jew had insulted the son of Arethas, Caleb, their leader and the husband of Ruma, in these words: “Do you see to what your trust in Christ has led you, as you plot war against me? Resipisce now, wretch, and abjure Christ; learn, though late, to take thought for your old age, lest the punishment which involves your companions also enwraps you.” To which Arethas D said: “I complain justly now of these things, as of those who would not heed me when I gave good counsel; for I kept saying that no trust was to be placed in your words, but that we should remain in the city and that the matter should be settled by arms, not by words; that Christ, whom we looked to, would surely put an end to the war; and that the city would never be taken, especially while there was such a supply of all things. Thus they surely resolved, caught by your arts. Wherefore I deem you unworthy of the name of king; I should rather call you an impostor. For indeed, the kings whom I have seen, many as they are, keep their covenants and abhor deceits and frauds. What is most important is that I do not change the faith I have given to Christ my God, nor will I become a Jew, an apostate like yourself. And that I know well it lies within my power to live and evade death—this I know well. Yet I have now lived long, and I leave behind a great band of children, grandchildren, and relatives; moreover, with Christ’s favor, I have gathered no small fame in the deeds of war and at home. As regards the future, there remains for me not a doubtful but a sure hope that, just as the vine flourishes with grapes when the superfluous branches are pruned, so our Christian people shall be, and the Church which you have burned shall be more magnificently restored in a short time: furthermore, that the Christian religion shall reign and command with strength resumed; but the sect of the Jews shall be overwhelmed in darkness, your kingdom shall fall, and your power shall perish. Lay aside, therefore, your pride, and do not think you have accomplished anything noble; for when you have shone, you shall suddenly perish.”
These things the great and venerable old man Arethas said. Soon he addressed the Christians who stood in great numbers around him in this manner: “Have you heard, brothers, what I testified to that Jew?” To which they replied: “Indeed, Father.” Arethas said: “Are those things true or not?” When they replied that they were true, he added: “If, therefore, anyone, struck by the fear of death, thinks to change the faith given to Christ, let him depart as quickly as possible.” At this, all raised a cry and said, “May God be propitious to us, let not th-
let us go, Father; for truly, it is decreed that we should die with Christ, and I will never be torn from your side." After this, Arethas turned to the crowd of Christians, Jews, and Pagans, and said: "Listen, all of you who are present. If any among my kin, or my relatives, or my family, should fall away from Christ and adhere to this Jew, I disown him as mine, I reject him as an heir, and I desire that my goods be yielded for the expenses of building a church. But if any of mine shall have kept the faith in Christ and survives me, I command that he succeed to the rights of my property, and I declare him my heir; the church, however, shall have whichever of the three fields of my patrimony it chooses, for the expenses of construction." B Turning then again to the king with his prayer, he said: "Thee, and whosoever have denied Christ, I deny, I abjure, I renounce. Behold, we are here, having made ourselves subject to your will and jurisdiction." At these words, the remaining Christians, inflamed with zeal, cried out: "Behold, Abraham, prince of the Fathers, awaits you and us with him, to receive us as we come. Whoever turns away from you, and denies Christ, him we all disown."
The tyrant, moved to great wrath by these things, passed a sentence of death upon all and ordered them to be led to punishment; where the torrent flows (the inhabitants call it the Wade), there he commanded them to be slaughtered and their bodies thrown into the flowing water. Meanwhile, Arethas, lifting his hands to heaven, prayed in these words: "Christ God, be present with us, and confirm us, and receive our souls: may the blood of thy servants poured out for thee be pleasing to thee, and make us worthy of thy sight: confess us before thy Father, just as thou hast promised, and cause the Church to be built, and let another bishop be provided C for thy servant Paul, whose bones the fire has long since consumed."
At length, when they had greeted one another with the kiss of peace, and the elder Arethas had blessed them with the sign of the cross, he willingly offered his neck to the executioner and received the stroke. Soon, the companions, gathered together, ran up with such ardor of spirit that they pressed against one another, and were sprinkled with the blood of the recently martyred Arethas. And so at last, all were crowned with martyrdom.
There was a three-year-old boy whom his mother was pulling by the hand as she was being led to execution. Catching sight of the king sitting there, dressed in royal attire, the child slipped from his mother's side, ran to him, and kissed his knees. The king, delighted by the child's simplicity, began playfully to embrace the little boy; at last he questioned him thus: "What do you prefer, my little boy? To die with your mother, or to live with me?" To which the boy replied: "Through our Lord, I prefer to die with my mother; and therefore I go with my mother; for she said to me: 'Come, my son, let us die for Christ.' But let me go, I pray you, so that I may hasten to my mother, lest I should fail to see her die; for she D told me that the king of the Jews commanded that those who will not deny Christ should be killed: but I do not wish to deny Christ." The king said to him: "Where, then, did you learn to know Christ?" The boy: "Every day I go to the church, and there I see him." The king continues: "Do you love me, or your mother?" The boy: "Through our Lord, my mother." The king again: "Do you love me, or Christ?" The boy: "Christ more than you." "Why then," the king says, "did you run here just now and kiss my knees?" "I thought," the boy replied, "that you were the Christian king whom I saw in the church, and I did not know until now that you were a Jew." The king: "I will give you nuts, and almonds, and figs." The boy: "By no means, by Christ; I will not eat the nuts of the Jews. But let me go, I pray, to my mother." The king: "Stay here with me instead, and be my son." The boy: "By no means, by Christ, I will not stay, because you stink, and do not smell sweet like my mother." Then the king said to those standing behind him: "Do you see, have you noticed this wicked breed, which Christ seduced from the earliest age so that he might destroy it?" Meanwhile, one of the nobles by command interrupted the boy thus: "Come with me, and I will lead you so that you may become the queen's son." The boy replied: "O mouth worthy of a slap, for me my mother is better, who leads me to the church." But when he felt that he was being held against his will, he bit the king's thigh with his teeth, shouting these things: "O most wicked Jew, let me go, so that I may go to my mother and die with her." Finally, the king handed the little boy to one of his nobles, ordering him to be diligently educated until, having become an adult, he might either renounce Christ and thus escape punishment, or, if he persisted until then in the faith of Christ, be killed. And when the boy was being led away by his servant, he struggled with all his might, kicking his feet and calling to his mother: "Help me, mother," he said, "and take me, and lead me to the church." To whom his mother: "But now go, son, think of yourself as commended to Christ, and do not weep, but wait for me in the church, where I shall return to you as soon as possible through Christ." Having said this, she offered her neck and was beheaded.
When these things became known, both through these letters and the fame propagated by many rumors, all the Christians staying in these places were saddened: and we too thought it right to write these things down for you, so that the holy and faithful bishops, having understood the series of events that occurred in the Homerite land, might celebrate the commemoration of the holy martyrs. As for the rest, we beseech your charity again and again, that these things be signified as soon as possible to the heads of monasteries and to the bishops, and especially to the Alexandrian, so that he may exhort the king of the Ethiopians by his letters to bring aid to the Homerites: and at the same time, take care that the leaders of the Jews staying in Tiberias be compelled to write to that king of the Jews who has just appeared, so that he may abstain in the future from war and the persecution of the Homerites. The rest which follows in the letter contains the salutations of the bishops and abbots of that time.
CHAPTER XVII.
An elegant prologue of the holy Maris, bishop of Amida, worthy of the memory of the blessed, on the Gospel and the economy of Christ incarnate. That every man, by his mind and the power of his intellect, should...to reduce the meaning of the discourse to a few chapters, I shall myself propose a standard: indeed, I will make an effort so that, with a certain Summary written out, readers may be able to grasp the theory of the entire work at once, as it is read by them step by step. In fact, whoever is willing to condense the scripture of the Gospels will recognize from it that God assumed flesh, and that human and divine things were in His power, and that the foundations of the world were to be dissolved by Him—a fact which He A will openly demonstrate at His second coming. Whoever considers these things from every angle will understand, first of all, the sense of the narrative that precedes the incarnation; and likewise that the nativity of John the Baptist, who was to bear witness to the God of Israel, was in conformity with those things which the angel had previously announced. Furthermore, he will recognize the supernatural nativity of Christ from the Virgin Mary; and that He, as an earthly man, took His beginning from her; yet, whatever is not earthly, that Jesus brought down from heaven. Moreover, the testimonies of His incarnation related in the book of the Gospel are those which Elisabeth spoke under inspiration, and those which the angel spoke to the Virgin and Joseph, and finally the words of the angels to the shepherds: likewise the prophecy of Zacharias, the apparition of the star which portended that the kingdom of the recently born Son of God was eternal: finally, the prophecy of the priest Simeon and of Anna, that Christ had indeed come for the salvation of the world and of Israel: to which is added the preaching of the Baptist, who testified that he himself was born from the earth, but our Savior from heaven.
Furthermore, the reader will recognize from the book of the Gospels that the divine economy of our Lord was accomplished with incomprehensible wisdom, and not by the doctrine of books or the study of sciences: he will understand His power as the producer of miracles, His admirable sayings, the knowledge of all things, and that He was never subject to any sin: also that it was in His power and will to suffer at His own time, and at a time outside that, not to suffer at all; likewise to abolish the passions of men through His own voluntary passions in the body, to destroy death by His resurrection, and finally to ascend into heaven. Again, this book teaches that Jesus took flesh from the Virgin, animated and gifted with intellect, that His human conception was completed in nine months, that His nativity was at once natural and supernatural, that He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, D sucked milk, was circumcised according to the legal rite, fled into Egypt because of Herod’s threats while His mother carried Him, and thence returned for the restoration of Israel. His age then grew while He was subject to His mother and her spouse Joseph; and He was baptized in the waters by John, so that He might signify the restoration of the human race, which is actually and figuratively renewed in baptism: because then, in reality, baptism provided us with a holy birth from the Spirit. He was tempted by the devil as a man; but, being God, He easily overcame both in A the struggle, and also in the question of the tempter, and the angels ministered to Him; and He granted peace to our race through our return to paradise.
He lived with His disciples in the human manner, sometimes departed far from persecutors, and suffered hunger, thirst, and labor. Otherwise, He demonstrated that He suffered none of these things violently or by necessity, as if He were not God; for it is said that, having tolerated fasting for forty days, He afterward hungered. He is said to have slept in a like manner. But when He was alone on the mountain, He occupied Himself in watchful prayer, obviously praying to the Father for men in the human manner. He slept in the ship during a raging storm, for the instruction of the disciples, namely so that they might believe that He ruled over the tempests of the sea and the sound of its waves. So also when the Jews tried to throw Him down from the top of the mountain, they were in vain; for although He was surrounded by them, yet passing through the midst of them, He departed: but on the cross, transfixed by a lance, He did not depart from His body violently, but He Himself, inclining His head, gave up His spirit. Therefore, in Him, divine and human ways of speaking are seen in every respect. Now, the remedies which Christ brought to the world are almost these: the rebuke of the devil, demons cast out, evil spirits driven from bodies, grave diseases healed, the dead recalled to life, the warding off of temptations and common passions, by which indeed He foreshadowed the future age, void of every kind of evil, which we await with hope, charity, and faith. Moreover, the doctrine of our Redeemer keeps men away from the lust for money, glory, and pleasures, and lifts them up to serve God with a right will.
There exists in the evangelical code of the same holy Bishop Maris, in the eighty-ninth section, a unique chapter of the Gospel of John, which is missing in other copies. And that chapter is of this kind. It happened one day, that as Jesus was teaching, they brought to Him a woman who had been caught having conceived from adultery, and narrated to Him the matter that had occurred. Jesus, however, to whom, as God, their shameful passions and works were known, said: What, He asked, is prescribed by the law? They answered Him: That, if two or three witnesses affirm it, she should be killed with stones. Then Jesus, according to the rule of the same Mosaic law, said: Whoever is clean and free from the passion of this sin, let him be the first to cast a stone, and let her, struck by stones, perish. But indeed they, knowing themselves to be very fragile and guilty regarding the passion of such a sin, slipped away from Him one by one, leaving the woman there. After their departure, Jesus, looking at the ground and writing in the dust, said to the woman: Have they who brought you here, and who were about to bear witness against you, gone away, leaving you, once you have considered those things which you heard said by Me? Return now and go, and do not wish to sin any further.
CAP. XVIII. ZACHARIAS, BISHOP OF MITYLENE. On events occurring under Justinian Augustus.
A In the reign of Justinian, the Huns in great numbers, as stipendiaries of the Persians, made a sudden incursion into Roman territory. They ravaged the fields, slaughtered many farmers, set fire to the villages and their churches, and, having crossed the Euphrates, arrived as far as Antioch, with no one standing against them or checking them. However, a certain Bosius, a duke of Maiferactum, upon their return from the slaughter, attacked a detachment of them, rescued about five hundred horses, and seized much booty. Thus, also near Citrisia, the same duke as victor laid low nearly four hundred men and claimed their herds for himself. B
Cavades was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Cosroes, whose mother, while Cavades was still living, was tormented by an evil spirit, nor had any remedy brought her healing, though seers and astrologers—summoned by her husband Cavades, by whom she was greatly beloved—added, rather, evil spirits themselves to the spirits. This queen, therefore, was sent in the fourth indiction under Duke Liberius to the blessed Moyses, who dwelt in a monastery located about two stadia from the city of Dara and who had spread the fame of his name far and wide; and when she had stayed with him for a few days, she was healed and returned to her own region. She received, moreover, from this holy Moyses, from the monastery called Tarmel, a blessing (relics) from the bones of the martyr Cyriacus, by which she was guarded and protected C and freed from the incursion of the unclean spirit; she secretly built, in her own region, an oratory where the martyr is honored. Mindful, moreover, of the benefit received from this blessed Moyses of Tarmel, she assisted the Romans at a time of need, which we shall mention below.
Indeed, Justinian, reflecting on the events in Mesopotamia, which is within the borders of the empire, and on his army having been cut down by the Persians more than once, on farmers killed everywhere or abducted into servitude by the Huns, and finally on the villages throughout that region having been burned; he was moved with great difficulty to think about sending an army anew and waging war with Cosroes, who reigned after Cavades, especially because Cosroes was a friend of Rufinus, for the reason that Rufinus had persuaded Cavades to make Cosroes the heir to the kingdom. D Rufinus, therefore, relating these things to Caesar, injected hope and promised that, if he himself were to approach the king, it would come to pass that whatever the Augustus justly requested concerning peace, he would immediately obtain. And so Rufinus was sent, with the master Hermogenes accompanying him, in the tenth indiction, with letters to Cosroes, with whom they conferred for a long time. And because this Rufinus was known there, being one who had often gone as an envoy to Cavades and had won his affection for himself and had lavished many gifts upon the nobles of the kingdom; the queen, the mother of Cosroes, pursued him with the greatest love, because he had given the counsel to Cavades that he should bestow the kingdom upon his son; furthermore, she owed gratitude for her own healing after God to the blessed Moyses of Tarmel; for this reason, she urgently begged her son that he should grant peace: and when he had received from Justinian Augustus the sum of gold sent to him through the envoys Rufinus and Hermogenes, peace was made and confirmed by written and sealed documents, and the stars themselves were seen in the heavens to rejoice at the novelty of the event. It was then the summer of the indiction, and this peace remained for six or seven years, until the third indiction.
CAP. XIX. From the letter of Julian to Severus.
I, who have always followed the intention of the Fathers, consider that they have never written anything either contrary to themselves or to one another. Just as Paul saying: *Not from works but by faith he has been justified* (Gal. ii, 16); he does not contradict James who says: *Faith without works is dead* (Jac. ii, 20). By no means, I say, are they adversaries among themselves, but with true concord they have said this.
From the letter of Severus to Julian.
You have spoken well and fittingly, that the doctors do not in any way contradict one another, just as neither Paul nor James; for when the one says: *By faith a man is justified*; the other writes: *Faith without works is dead*. Indeed, Paul spoke of faith preceding baptism, which is joined with confession from a pure heart: though before this, the man has not brought forward any good works in his worldly life; for such a man is justified by believing, confessing, and receiving baptism. James, however, says that faith posterior to baptism is dead if it lacks works; that is to say, unless a man confirms it with right works, seeing that baptism is the earnest of a good life. For behold, the Lord Himself, who is our exemplar, having been sanctified in the waters through the baptism received in the mystery of John, and the beginning of baptism having been made, ascended the mountain, went to meet the combat of the tempter, and broke all his power; signifying to us, namely, that after the divine oblation it is necessary for us to manifest our combat by works, and to struggle legitimately with the enemy, so that our virtues may shine forth.
But indeed, someone will oppose, saying: Yet Paul uses Abraham as an argument, so that he may prove a man is justified by faith without works; for he says: *Therefore those who are in faith shall be blessed with the faithful Abraham.* To him who does not work, but believes in him who can justify sinners, his faith is credited to justice. James, however, in the same Abraham, demonstrated that a man is not justified by faith alone, but also by works confirmed by faith. Why, therefore, do these things not conflict among themselves, if one and the same Abraham is the example of those who have not worked, but have only believed; as also of those who have proved faith with works? I shall solve the question from the sacred Scriptures.
A Verily, those things which are read in the Old Testament are not contradictory, but rather convey one and the same sentiment, uttered by one Spirit: first, indeed, concerning the faith that precedes baptism, which—content with a single and brief confession—justifies one who comes to the laver without works; for baptism itself is sufficient for salvation if one were to depart from the world immediately. But there is a second faith, which follows baptism and which requires the showing forth of good works, and which raises a man to a high degree of perfection and dignity.
Whoever carefully considers the times of Abraham—who is the exemplar of both things—will surely discover that the man who believes in Christ professes faith before baptism unto salvation; but that (faith) which follows baptism, being joined with works, is a representation of the ancient circumcision in the flesh, which destroys the infidelity of the foreskin and leads us to adoption as sons of God. For Moses was commanded to say to Pharaoh: "And you shall say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son, my firstborn." On account of this, Paul wrote to the Colossians in these words: "And in him you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, and having been buried with him by baptism."
Therefore, he says that Abraham was justified from faith without works while he was yet in uncircumcision before his circumcision; and thus he demonstrated a confession without works prior to baptism. For he writes to the Romans: "His faith was reckoned to him for righteousness." How? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. For he did not deny the testimony of Moses, who brings in God saying to Abraham: "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him: "So shall your seed be. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness."
B James likewise uses the same Abraham, now circumcised, yet not retaining the foreskin, to demonstrate that faith after baptism does not save empty of the company of works. And we can learn this from his writing, which runs thus: "Do you wish to know, O man, that faith without works is dead? Was not our father Abraham justified by works, offering Isaac his son as a holocaust? You saw that faith acted as an aid to his works, and by works was perfect; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says: Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called his friend." To one reading the Mosaic books, it is easy to understand from Genesis that Abraham offered Isaac as a holocaust after his circumcision, having performed the command of God, and having justified himself by works; and thus he exhibited to us a figure of the faith that is posterior to baptism, which is a certain rational circumcision, justifying man by works. For it is written: "Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son, and all the men of his house, as well those born in his house, as those bought with money from strange nations." After these things, however, God, testing Abraham, said: "Take your son, whom you love, Isaac, and go into the high land, and there offer him as a holocaust." Therefore it is demonstrated that there is in no way any contradiction between the purpose of the apostles C nor in those things which are read in the Old Testament; but on the contrary, it is one and the same view, uttered by one Spirit.
Regarding that which is said in the prophet Ezekiel: "All knees shall drip with water"—this in the Greek copy is held thus: "All thighs shall be polluted with moisture"—and it is said concerning the pestilence. Most aptly, therefore, did James speak concerning this latter point: "By works faith is perfected"; for the wise Paul also teaches elsewhere that faith is indeed perfected by works. The Galatians, having received baptism, and having been numbered among the children of God through the Spirit, turned themselves toward Judaism, having taken on circumcision, led by the vain hope that they would better merit Christ if they had performed the circumcision of the foreskin. Rebuking them for this, the Apostle wrote thus: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith which is perfected by charity." From these words, therefore, it is again established that faith posterior to baptism is useful, and brings salvation to a man, provided he joins charity to it, and is obedient to it with works.
Moreover, Paul subjoins what the works of charity are: "Charity is patient, is kind; charity does not envy; it is not turbulent, it is modest, it is not puffed up, it does not seek its own, it is not angered, and thinks no evil; it is not delighted by violence, but rejoices in the truth; it hopes all things, covers all things; charity never fails." And these things are said for the directing of men's action, labor, and sweat, that they may gain the inheritance, and be saved, if they firmly adhere to faith. But who would despise these things, since our Lord Himself says: "If you love me, keep my commandments." And just as the holy Scriptures and our Fathers have always handed down to us a harmonious doctrine, so too have they taught us this question with the same perfect harmony; unless, perchance, some read in an erroneous manner and understand imprudently. Thus far, I have written prudently to your charity, as is the duty of Christians.
The province of Africa (Roman) extends in width for about fifty leagues, and in it are more than 130 cities; but the seat of the kingdom is Carthage. D