Sclaveni, Gepaeds, and the Ister Crossing

This Good Works Translation continues the Book 8 Procopius dossier passages from the Greek.

The chapter belongs to the Scythian shelf because it records a major Sclaveni raid into Illyricum, the Gepaeds' paid ferrying of Sclaveni across the Ister, Justinian's anxiety over the Danube crossing system, and the use of that charge in Roman-Gepid-Lombard alliance politics.

The translation is newly made from the Greek source text printed below. Dewing's public-domain English translation was used only as a control.

Translation

Wars 8.25.1-25

A throng of Sclaveni now descended upon Illyricum and inflicted sufferings there not easily described.

The Emperor Justinian sent an army against them commanded by the sons of Germanus with others.

But since this army was far outnumbered by the enemy, it was quite unable to engage them; instead it always remained in the rear and cut down the stragglers left by the barbarians.

They killed many of them and took a few prisoners, whom they sent to the emperor.

Nevertheless these barbarians continued their work of devastation. Spending a long time in this plundering expedition, they filled all the roads with corpses, enslaved countless multitudes, and pillaged everything without meeting any opposition. Then at last they departed on the homeward journey with all their plunder.

Nor could the Romans ambush them while they were crossing the Ister River, or harm them in any other way, since the Gepaeds, having engaged their services, took them under their protection and ferried them across, receiving large payment for their labor.

The payment was at the rate of one gold stater per head. At this the emperor was grievously vexed, seeing that for the future he had no possible way of checking the barbarians either when they crossed the Ister River to plunder Roman territory or when they departed from such expeditions with the booty they had gained. For these reasons he wished to enter into some kind of treaty with the nation of the Gepaeds.

Meanwhile the Gepaeds and the Lombards were once more moving against one another, determined to make war.

But the Gepaeds, fearing the power of the Romans, for they had certainly heard that the Emperor Justinian had made a sworn offensive and defensive alliance with the Lombards, were eager to become friends and allies of the Romans.

They accordingly sent envoys straightway to Byzantium, inviting the emperor to accept an offensive and defensive alliance with them also.

He gave them the pledges of alliance without hesitation.

At the request of the same envoys, twelve members of the senate also furnished them with a sworn statement confirming this treaty.

But not long after this, when the Lombards, according to the terms of their alliance, requested an army to fight with them against the Gepaeds, the Emperor Justinian sent it, laying against the Gepaeds the charge that after the treaty they had transported certain of the Sclaveni across the Ister River to the detriment of the Romans.

The leaders of this army were, first, Justin and Justinian, the sons of Germanus; second, Aratius; third, Suartuas, who had previously been appointed by Justinian ruler over the Eruli, but when those who had come from the island of Thule rose against him, as I have told in the previous narrative, he fled back to the emperor and immediately became general of the Roman forces in Byzantium; and last, Amalafridas, a Goth, grandson of Amalafrida the sister of Theoderic king of the Goths, and son of Hermenefridus, the former ruler of the Thuringians.

This man had been brought by Belisarius to Byzantium with Vittigis; the emperor appointed him a Roman commander and betrothed his sister to Auduin, ruler of the Lombards.

But not a man of that army reached the Lombards except this Amalafridas with his command.

For the others, by direction of the emperor, stopped at the city of Ulpiana in Illyricum, since a civil war had arisen among the inhabitants of that place over those matters about which the Christians fight among themselves, as will be told by me in the treatise on this subject.

So the Lombards in full force, accompanied by Amalafridas, came into the lands of the Gepaeds; when the Gepaeds encountered them, a fierce battle followed in which the Gepaeds were defeated, and they say that a vast number of them perished in this engagement.

Thereupon Auduin, king of the Lombards, sent some of his followers to Byzantium, first to announce the good news to the Emperor Justinian, since the enemy had been defeated, and second to reproach him because the emperor's army had not been present in accordance with the terms of their alliance, although such a host of Lombards had recently been sent to march with Narses against Totila and the Goths. Such was the course of these events.

At this time extraordinary earthquakes occurred throughout Greece; Boeotia, Achaea, and the country on the Crisaean Gulf were badly shaken.

Countless towns and eight cities were leveled to the ground, among them Chaeronea, Coronea, Patrae, and all of Naupactus, where there was also great loss of life.

The earth was torn open in many places and formed chasms. Some of these openings came together again so that the earth presented the same form and appearance as before, but in other places they remained open, with the result that the people in those places could not intermingle with one another except by making many detours.

In the gulf between Thessaly and Boeotia there was a sudden influx of the sea at the city called Echinus and at Scarphea in Boeotia.

Advancing far over the land, it flooded the towns there and leveled them immediately. For a long time the sea thus visited the mainland, so that for a considerable period it was possible for men on foot to walk to the islands within this gulf, since the water of the sea had plainly abandoned its proper place and, strange to say, spread over the land as far as the mountains rising there.

But when the sea returned to its proper place, fish were left on the ground. Since their appearance was wholly unfamiliar to the people of the country, they seemed a kind of prodigy.

Thinking them edible, they picked them up to boil them; but when the heat of the fire touched them, the whole body was reduced to a liquid putrefaction of an unbearable kind.

In the locality where the so-called Schisma, or Cleft, is located, there was a tremendous earthquake which caused more loss of life than in all the rest of Greece, especially because of a certain festival they happened to be celebrating there, for which many had gathered in that place from all Greece.

In Italy the following occurred. The people of Croton and the soldiers who formed the garrison there, commanded by Palladius, were being very closely besieged by the Goths.

Hard pressed by scarcity of provisions, they had many times sent to Sicily without being detected by the enemy, calling the commanders of the Roman army there, especially Artabanes, to witness, and saying that if they did not relieve them at the earliest possible moment, they would, little as they wished it, surrender themselves and the city to the enemy not long afterward.

But no one came from there to assist them.

And the winter drew to a close, and the seventeenth year ended in this war, the history of which Procopius has written.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Greek source text printed below. The Greek text was downloaded from the PerseusDL canonical Greek repository as tlg4029.tlg001.perseus-grc2.xml and inspected locally. Dewing's public-domain English, preserved in the local ToposText capture and Ready archival dossier, was used only as a control.

This is the thirty-ninth unit in the Procopius Wars steppe and Black Sea translation dossier, and the fourteenth Book 8 unit.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Procopius, Wars 8.25.1-25

Greek source text from Procopius, Wars 8.25. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Wars 8.25

§ 8.25.1 Σκλαβηνῶν δὲ πολὺς ὅμιλος Ἰλλυριοῖς ἐπισκήψαντες πάθη ἐνταῦθα οὐκ εὐδιήγητα εἰργάσαντο. βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς στράτευμα ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς ἔπεμψεν, οὗ δὴ ἄλλοι τε καὶ οἱ Γερμανοῦ παῖδες ἡγοῦντο. οἵπερ τῷ πλήθει τῶν

§ 8.25.2 πολεμίων παρὰ πολὺ ἐλασσούμενοι χωρῆσαι μὲν αὐτοῖς ὁμόσε οὐδαμῆ ἴσχυσαν, ὄπισθεν δὲ ἀεὶ μένοντες τῶν βαρβάρων τοὺς ἀπολειπομένους ἐσίνοντο,

§ 8.25.3 καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν ἔκτεινον, τινὰς δὲ καὶ ζωγρήσαντες βασιλεῖ ἔπεμψαν. οὐδὲν μέντοι ἧσσον οἱ βάρβαροι οὗτοι τὰ δεινὰ ἔδρασαν.

§ 8.25.4 ἐν ταύτῃ τε τῇ λεηλασίᾳ χρόνου τι μέγα κατατρίψαντες μῆκος τὰς μὲν ὁδοὺς νεκρῶν ἀνέπλησαν ἁπάσας, ἐξανδραποδίσαντες δὲ ἀνάριθμα πλήθη καὶ ληϊσάμενοι ξύμπαντα, οὐδενὸς σφίσιν ἀντιστατοῦντος, ἐπ’ οἴκου ἀπεκομίσθησαν σὺν πάσῃ τῇ λείᾳ.

§ 8.25.5 οὐδὲ γὰρ διαπορθμευομένους ποταμὸν Ἴστρον ἴσχυσαν σφᾶς ἐνεδρεῦσαι Ῥωμαῖοι ἢ ἄλλῳ τῳ βιάσασθαι τρόπῳ, ἐπεὶ Γήπαιδες αὐτοὺς μισθαρνήσαντες ὑπεδέξαντο καὶ διεπόρθμευσαν μακρόμισθοι γεγενημένοι. ἐπὶ κεφαλῇ γὰρ ἑκάστῃ κατὰ στατῆρα χρυσοῦν ἡ μίσθωσις ἦν.

§ 8.25.6 διόπερ βασιλεὺς ἐδυσφορεῖτο, οὐκ ἔχων τὸ λοιπὸν ὅπη ποτὲ αὐτοὺς ἀναστέλλοι διαβαίνοντας ποταμὸν Ἴστρον ἐφ’ ᾧ ληΐσονται τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχήν, ἢ ξὺν ταῖς ὠφελίαις τὴν ἀποπορείαν ποιουμένους ἐνθένδε, ἤθελέ τε τούτων δὴ ἕνεκα Γηπαίδων τῷ ἔθνει ἐς συνθήκας καταστῆναί τινας.

§ 8.25.7 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ Γήπαιδές τε καὶ Λαγγοβάρδαι αὖθις πολεμησείοντες ἐπ’ ἀλλήλους ᾔεσαν. Γήπαιδές τε τὴν Ῥωμαίων δειμαίνοντες δύναμιν ʽἀνήκοοι γὰρ οὐδαμῆ ἦσαν ὡς Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς ὁμαιχμίαν διωμότως πρὸς Λαγγοβάρδας πεποίηταἰ φίλοι καὶ ξύμμαχοι Ῥωμαίοις γενέσθαι ἐν σπουδῇ ἔσχον.

§ 8.25.8 πρέσβεις οὖν ἐς Βυζάντιον εὐθὺς πέμπουσι, βασιλέα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐς τὴν ὁμαιχμίαν παρακαλοῦντες. καὶ ὃς αὐτοῖς μελλήσει οὐδεμιᾷ ἐπὶ τῇ ξυμμαχίᾳ τὰ πιστὰ ἔδωκε.

§ 8.25.9 δεηθέντων δὲ τῶν πρέσβεων τῶνδε καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς ἄνδρες δυοκαίδεκα ὅρκια δόντες, ταύτας αὐτοῖς τὰς συνθήκας ἐπέρρωσαν.

§ 8.25.10 οὐ πολλῷ δὲ ὕστερον Λαγγοβάρδαις κατὰ τὸ ξυμμαχικὸν δεομένοις στρατιὰν ἐς ξυμμαχίαν ἐπὶ Γήπαιδας Ἰουστινιανὸς βασιλεὺς ἔπεμψεν, ἐπενεγκὼν Γήπαισι Σκλαβηνῶν τινας ἐπὶ πονηρῷ τῶν Ῥωμαίων μετὰ τὰς ξυνθήκας διαβιβάσαι ποταμὸν Ἴστρον.

§ 8.25.11 Ἡγοῦντο δὲ τῆς στρατιᾶς ταύτης Ἰουστῖνός τε καὶ Ἰουστινιανὸς οἱ Γερμανοῦ παῖδες Ἀράτιός τε καὶ Σουαρτούας, ὃς πρὸς Ἰουστινιανοῦ μὲν ἄρχων Ἐρούλοις κατέστη πρότερον, ἐπαναστάντων δέ οἱ τῶν ἀπὸ Θούλης τῆς νήσου ἡκόντων, ὥσπερ μοι ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις ἐρρήθη, ἐς βασιλέα τε ἀφίκετο φεύγων καὶ Ῥωμαίοις στρατηγὸς τῶν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ καταλόγων εὐθὺς γέγονε, καὶ Ἀμαλαφρίδας, Γότθος ἀνήρ, Ἀμαλαφρίδης μὲν θυγατριδοῦς, τῆς Θευδερίχου τοῦ Γότθων βασιλέως ἀδελφῆς, Ἑρμενεφρίδου δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ Θορίγγων ἡγησαμένου.

§ 8.25.12 ὅνπερ Βελισάριος μὲν σὺν Οὐιττίγιδι ἐς Βυζάντιον ἤγαγε, βασιλεὺς δὲ Ῥωμαίων ἄρχοντα κατεστήσατο, καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀδελφὴν Αὐδουὶν τῷ Λαγγοβαρδῶν ἄρχοντι κατηγγύησε.

§ 8.25.13 τοῦ δὲ στρατοῦ τούτου οὐδεὶς παρὰ Λαγγοβάρδας ἀφίκετο, ὅτι μὴ οὗτος Ἀμαλαφρίδας σὺν τοῖς ἑπομένοις. οἱ γὰρ ἄλλοι ἐν Ἰλλυριοῖς ἀμφὶ πόλιν Οὐλπίαναν βασιλέως ἐπαγγείλαντος διατριβὴν ἔσχον, στάσεως ἐνταῦθα πρὸς τῶν οἰκητόρων γεγενημένης, ὧνπερ ἕνεκα σφίσιν αὐτοῖς οἱ Χριστιανοὶ διαμάχονται, ᾗπέρ μοι ἐν λόγοις τοῖς ὑπὲρ τούτων γεγράψεται.

§ 8.25.14 Οἱ μὲν οὖν Λαγγοβάρδαι πανδημεὶ σὺν τῷ Ἀμαλαφρίδᾳ ἐς τὰ Γηπαίδων ἤθη ἀφίκοντο, ὑπαντιασάντων δὲ τῶν Γηπαίδων σφίσι καὶ μάχης καρτερᾶς γενομένης ἡσσῶνται Γήπαιδες, καὶ αὐτῶν παμπληθεῖς φασὶν ἐν τῷ πόνῳ τούτῳ ἀποθανεῖν.

§ 8.25.15 Αὐδουίν τε, ὁ τῶν Λαγγοβαρδῶν βασιλεύς, τῶν οἱ ἑπομένων τινὰς ἐς Βυζάντιον πέμψας εὐαγγέλια μὲν Ἰουστινιανῷ βασιλεῖ ἐδήλου, νενικημένων τῶν πολεμίων, ἐμέμφετο δὲ οὐ παραγενέσθαι οἱ κατὰ τὸ ξυμμαχικὸν τὸν τοῦ βασιλέως στρατόν, καίπερ Λαγγοβαρδῶν τοσούτων τὸ πλῆθος ἔναγχος ἐσταλμένων ἐφ’ ᾧ Ναρσῇ ξυστρατεύσωσιν ἐπὶ Τουτίλαν τε καὶ Γότθους. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐφέρετο τῇδε.

§ 8.25.16 Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ σεισμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπιπεσόντες ἐξαίσιοι τήν τε Βοιωτίαν καὶ Ἀχαίαν καὶ τὰ περὶ κόλπον τὸν Κρισαῖον κατέσεισαν.

§ 8.25.17 καὶ χωρία μὲν ἀνάριθμα, πόλεις δὲ ὀκτὼ ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλον, ἐν ταῖς Χαιρώνειά τε καὶ Κορώνεια ἦν καὶ Πάτραι καὶ Ναύπακτος ὅλη, ἔνθα δὴ καὶ φόνος γέγονεν ἀνθρώπων πολύς.

§ 8.25.18 καὶ χάος δὲ ʽτῆς γῆς πολλαχῆ ἀποσχισθείσησ̓ γεγένηται. τὰ δὲ διαιρεθέντα ἔνια μὲν αὖθις ἐς ταὐτὸ ξυνιόντα τὸ πρότερον τῇ γῇ σχῆμά τε καὶ εἶδος ἀπέδωκεν, ἔστι δὲ οὗ καὶ διεστηκότα μεμένηκεν· ὥστε οὐδὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιμίγνυσθαι οἱ τῇδε ἄνθρωποί εἰσι δυνατοὶ ὅτι μὴ περιόδοις πολλαῖς χρώμενοι.

§ 8.25.19 ἐν δέ γε τῷ πορθμῷ ὅνπερ μεταξὺ Θεσσαλίας τε καὶ Βοιωτίας ξυμβαίνει εἶναι, γέγονέ τις ἐκ τοῦ αἰφνιδίου τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπιρροὴ ἀμφί τε πόλιν τὴν Ἐχιναίων καλουμένην καὶ τὴν ἐν Βοιωτοῖς Σκάρφειαν.

§ 8.25.20 πόρρω τε τῆς ἠπείρου ἀναβᾶσα καὶ κατακλύσασα τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία ἐς ἔδαφος καθεῖλεν εὐθύς. χρόνος τε τῇ θαλάσσῃ πολὺς ἐπιχωριαζούσῃ τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἐτρίβη, ὥστε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πεζῇ ἰοῦσι βατὰς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον γενέσθαι τὰς νήσους αἵπερ ἔντοσθεν τοῦ πορθμοῦ τούτου τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι, τοῦ τῆς θαλάσσης δηλονότι ῥοθίου ἐκλιπόντος μὲν τὴν αὑτοῦ χώραν, ἐπιπολάζοντος δὲ παρὰ δόξαν τὴν γῆν ἄχρι ἐς τὰ ὄρη ἃ ταύτῃ ἀνέχει.

§ 8.25.21 ἡνίκα δὲ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἐς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐπανιέναι ξυνέπεσεν, ἰχθύες ἐν τῇ γῇ ἀπελείποντο, ὧνπερ ἡ ὄψις ἀήθης παντάπασιν οὖσα τοῖς τῇδε ἀνθρώποις τερατώδης τις ἔδοξεν εἶναι.

§ 8.25.22 οὓς δὴ ἐδωδίμους εἶναι οἰόμενοι ἀνείλοντο μὲν ὡς ἑψήσοντες, θέρμης δὲ αὐτῶν τῆς ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἁψαμένης ἐς ἰχῶράς τε καὶ σηπεδόνας οὐ φορητὰς τὸ σῶμα ὅλον ἀποκεκρίσθαι ξυνέπεσεν.

§ 8.25.23 ἀμφὶ δὲ τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία, οὗ δὴ τὸ Σχίσμα ὠνόμασται, καὶ σεισμὸς ὑπερμεγέθης γενόμενος πλείω φόνον ἀνθρώπων ἢ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ἄλλῃ Ἑλλάδι εἰργάσατο, μάλιστα ἐπεί τινα ἑορτὴν πανηγυρίζοντες ἔτυχον ἐκ πάσης τε τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐνταῦθα τότε τούτου δὴ ἕνεκα ξυνειλεγμένοι πολλοί.

§ 8.25.24 Ἐν δὲ Ἰταλίᾳ τάδε ξυνέπεσε. Κροτωνιᾶται καὶ στρατιῶται οἱ τὸ φυλακτήριον ταύτῃ ἔχοντες, ὧν Παλλάδιος ἦρχε, πικρότατα πρὸς Γότθων πολιορκούμενοι καὶ πιεζόμενοι τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῇ ἀπορίᾳ, πολλάκις μὲν λαθόντες τοὺς πολεμίους ἔπεμψαν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, μαρτυρόμενοι τοὺς ἐνταῦθα τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατοῦ ἄρχοντας καὶ διαφερόντως τὸν Ἀρταβάνην, ὡς εἰ μὴ βοηθοῖεν ὅτι τάχιστα σφίσιν,

§ 8.25.25 οὔτι ἐθελουσίως σφᾶς τε αὐτοὺς καὶ τὴν πόλιν οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐνδώσουσιν. οὐδεὶς δὲ ἐνθένθε αὐτοῖς ἐπικουρήσων ἦλθε. καὶ ὁ χειμὼν ἔληγε, καὶ τὸ ἑπτακαιδέκατον ἔτος ἐτελεύτα τῷ πολέμῳ τῷδε ὃν Προκόπιος ξυνέγραψε.

Source Colophon

Greek source text from the PerseusDL canonical Greek repository file tlg4029.tlg001.perseus-grc2.xml, inspected locally for this translation unit.

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