lr0

Arthlmr

Ih

HLtodo

dlrcction until lr empdeg itself into thc prcponth: hcnce the roodrtead
situated on the shores of the propontis at theouth of the river takes tts
name from the dver and is called Athyras too.

6 rit! the eneiny encamped ar sudr close quarters the citizens of

constantinople were rerror-striclen and were akeidy conjuring up the torr,
a sjes9, the burnings, the scarciry o{ foodstufis" arrd. frnatlj rrr. *ru,
t.ins
9f
lreached. 7 And so it frequently happened that *., io the cen*al
thoroughfares of the city crows
p."pl would suddenly ir.ui. o,rt into
"f
a run, pushing and jostling in an unaccountable
fit of terror, as though the
barbarians had abeady forced their way in, and a ffemendou, din wu,
rar"d
in the shops as doors were violently rl-J.
s iJ;ii"riri.
people but even the authorities had succumbed to the prevailing "o-,,,on
mood of
anguish andr.ear. Even the Emperor himself was, r imagie, impssed
with
the gravity of the siruation. Accordingly all the churih"es sirj;;Bide the
citp, o1 the European side- aryl_ al_ong the coastal strip which stretches
alongside the Bosphorus from the Bladrern ae andthe Golen Ho* to trr.
Euxin,
where both it and the,Bosphorus come to an end, *"t" ,mipp.J of their
omaments by order of the Emperor. 9 AII the costly giftr and oth"r fittings
were removed by those in drarge of- the operation. some o{ these articls
were brought in ca*-loads into the city, whirst otrers were loaded on ro
ships, ferried across the. srrair and conveyed ro rhe opposite sie of the
Bosphorus. The bare and unadorned aspect whidr the .lr,r".lr., in that
atea
now assumed made them loolc as tho,ugh they had been recently b,r.rilt and

were still unconsecrated.

. 15._so alarming was the prospect and such was the magnitude of the

impending danger that a number of captains and commanders and men-,ataruns l-rad mounted guard over the fort at sycae and the Golden Gate, with
the idea of,offering vigorous resistance in the event of an enenty attaci<.
z But they did not consrirute an efiecive fighting force of properl ffained
men, being drawn from those regiments known ,r s.holu"ii, who are"specially
selectgd to spend all their rime ar court. Though they are called soldrr- un
have their names entered on the Rolls, most o? them are merely ciuilir, in
splendid uniforms and perform sud-r purely decorative functions as enharicing
t\ rcyo of-a rcyaJprogress. I n times part entry ro this corps rrras restricted to those who had seen active serviJe. There was no enrJlment fe.
and those who were accepted received this honour openly and without payment, in recognition of their former services on the field of battle.
4 zeno
the rsaurian seeems to have been the first to introduce the pnesent practice
by enrolling in these regimenfs, after his restoration, mrny of his feJlow
cuntrymen who, though they were men who had either not distinguished
themselves on the field or had absolutely no military experience whatsoever,
were nevertheless known to him in some other capacity and were his close

lfl

EL,

frlendl,

p Then, once a prcedont hrd bcen rct whaeby not only thorc
whoae distingulched military record entitled them to thls privilege wcre
cnrolled but entry was extended, on a basis not of merit but of preference,
to those who knew nothing of fi1ghting, money, that most powerful of allies,
entered the contest for admission and the whole business was dragged down
to the level of the market place, with the result that ir was no longsrpossible
to join these regiments without first paying a fixed sum of money. On payment of this sum people are auto,matically enrolled without having to pass
any sort of test and have their names included in the muster-rolls even if
they do not know the first thing about war{arc. 6 Once the principle of
selection was disregarded the men l-ere, naturally, under no compulsion to
exert themselves since they had paid a high price to smrre the privilege of
idleness. These, then, were the sort of men that, in the absence of trained
soldiers, appeared to be guarding the walls. 7 After the capital had been
in a prolonged state of uproar and the barbarians h,ad continued to rva1e
everything in the immediate vicinity the aged general, Belisarius, was sent
out against them by order of the Emperor. 8 And now, after a great lapse
of time, as he once more put on his breastplate and helmet and donned the
familiar uniform of his younger days the memory of past exploits came
flooding into the old man's mind and filled him with youthful ardour. Indeed by this feat of arms, whidr was to be the last in his life, he won as
gteat a measure of glory as he had done by his eadier victories over the
Vandals and the Goths. 9 The desperate urgency of the situation added
importance and lustre to the enterprise and ensured an especially joyous recq>tion for its successful outcome. I shall now proceed to give an accurate
account of eacle succepsive event.
16. Displ.aying superb generalship ancl a daring out of all proportion to
his age, Belisarius encamped at a short distance from the city in the village
of Chettus. Already aged and ailing, his courage was nonetheless undiminishsd and no exertion seemed too great forhim. z He was accompanied by
slightly over thre hundred heavily-armed troops, first-rate soldiers who had
fought with him in some of his later campaigns. The rest of his following
consisted of unarmed civilians who had no notion of what fighting involved
and whose ino<perience and ignorance of its harsh realities gave them the

festive air of men who had come to watch a show rather than to frght u
by crowds of peasants from the neighbouring fields whose farms had been ravaged by the barbarians. Having

battle. 3 He was also accompanied

took

nowhere to gg they immediately gathered round Belisarius who

4 advantage of the opportunity afforded by their numbers and put them to work
diggng a trendr around the camp. Spies were sent out e\rery now and then
to form as accurte an estimate as possible of the strength of the enemy and
bring bacJ< whatever additional information they could obtain, and in this