.
For soon Belisarius went off to war on Chosroes, and he took Photius
with him; but Antonina remained behind, though this was contrary to her
usual habit. She had always preferred to voyage wherever her husband
went, lest he, being alone, come to his senses and, forgetting her
enchantments, think of her for once as she deserved. But now, so that
Theodosius might have free access to her, she planned once more how to
rid herself permanently of Photius. She bribed some of Belisarius's
guards to slander and insult her son at all times; while she, writing
letters almost every day, denounced him, and thus set everything in
motion against him. Compelled by all of this to counterplot against his
mother, Photius got a witness to come from Constantinople with evidence
of Theodosius's commerce with Antonina, took him to Belisarius, and
commanded him to tell the whole story.
When Belisarius heard it, he became passionately angry, fell at
Photius's feet, kissed them, and begged him to revenge one who had been
so wronged by those who should least have treated him thus. "My dearest
boy," he said, "your father, whoever he was, you have never known, for
he left you at your mother's breast when the sands of his life were
measured. Nor have you even benefited from his estate, since he was not
overblessed with wealth. But brought up by me, though I was only your
stepfather, you have arrived at an age where it becomes you to avenge my
wrongs. I, who have raised you to consular rank, and given you the
opportunity of acquiring such riches, might call myself your father and
mother and entire kindred, and I would be right, my son. For it is not
by their kinship of blood, but by their friendly deeds that men are wont
to measure their bonds to one another.
"Now the hour has come, when you must not only look on me in the ruin of
my household and the loss of my greatest treasure, but as one sharing
the shame of your mother in the reproach of all mankind. And consider
too, that the sins of women injure not only their husbands, but touch
even more bitterly their children, whose reputation suffers the greater
from this reason, that they are expected to inherit the disposition of
those who bore them.
"Yet remember this of me, that I still love my wife exceedingly well;
and if it is in my power to punish the ruiner of my house, to her I
shall do no hurt. But while Theodosius is present, I cannot condone this
charge against her."
When he had heard this, Photius agreed to serve him in everything; but
at the same time he was afraid lest some trouble might come to himself
from it, for he had little confidence in Belisarius's strength of will,
where his wife was concerned. And among other unhappy possibilities, he
remembered with distaste what had happened to Macedonia. So he had
Belisarius exchange with him all the oaths that are held most sacred and
binding among Christians, and each swore never to betray the other,
even in the most mortal peril.
Now for the present they decided the time had not yet come to take
action. But as soon as Antonina should arrive from Constantinople and
Theodosius return to Ephesus, Photius was to go to Ephesus and dispose
without difficulty of Theodosius and his property.
It was at this time that they had invaded the Persian country with the
entire army, and there occurred to John of Cappadocia what is reported
in my previous works. There I had to hush up one matter out of prudence,
namely, that it was not without malice aforethought that Antonina
deceived John and his daughter, but by many oaths, than which none is
more reverenced by the Christians, she induced them to trust her as one
who would never use them ill. After she had done this, feeling more
confident than before of the friendship of the Empress, she sent
Theodosius to Ephesus, and herself, with no suspicion of opposition, set
out for the East.
Belisarius had just taken the fort of Sisauranum when the news of her
coming was brought to him; and he, setting everything else as nothing in
comparison, ordered the army to retire. It so happened, as I have shown
elsewhere, that other things had occurred to the expedition which
fitted in with his order to withdraw, however, as I said in the foreword
to this book, it was not safe for me at that time to tell all the
underlying motives of these events. Accusation was consequently made
against Belisarius by all the Romans that he had put the most urgent
affairs of state below the lesser interests of his personal household.
For the fact was that, possessed with jealous passion for his wife, he
was unwilling to go far away from Roman territory, so that as soon as he
should learn his wife was coming from Constantinople, he could
immediately seize her and avenge himself on Theodosius.
For this reason he ordered the forces under Arethas to cross the Tigris
River; and they returned home, having accomplished nothing worthy of
mention. And he himself was careful not to leave the Roman frontier for
much more than a one hour's ride. Indeed, the fort of Sisauranum, going
by way of the city of Nisibis, is not more than a day's journey for a
well-mounted man from the Roman border; and by another route is only
half that distance. Yet if he had been willing in the beginning to cross
the Tigris with his entire army, I believe he could have taken all the
plunder in the land of Assyria, and marched as far as the city of
Ctesiphon, with none to hinder him. And he could have rescued the
captured Antiochans and whatever other Romans misfortune had brought
there, and restored them to their native lands.
Furthermore, he was culpable for Chosroes's unhindered return home from
Colchis. How this happened I shall now reveal. When Chosroes, Cabades's
son, invading the land of Colchis, accomplished not only what I have
elsewhere narrated, but captured Petra, a great part of the army of the
Medes was destroyed, either in battle or because of the difficulty of
the country. For Lazica, as I have explained, is almost roadless and
very mountainous. Also pestilence, falling upon them, had destroyed most
of -the army, and many had died from lack of necessary food and
treatment. It was at this time that messengers came from Persia with
news that Belisarius, having conquered Nabedes in battle before the city
of Nisibis, was approaching; that he had taken the fort of Sisauranum
by siege, captured at the point of the spear Bleschames and eight
hundred Persian cavalry; and that he had sent a second army of Romans
under Arethas, ruler of the Saracens, to cross the Tigris and ravage all
the land there that heretofore had not known fear.
It happened also that the army of Huns which Chosroes had sent into
Roman Armenia, to create a diversion there so that the Romans would not
notice his expedition into Lazica, had fallen into the hands of Valerian
and his Romans, as other messengers now reported; and that these
barbarians had been badly beaten in battle, and most of them killed.
When the Persians heard this, already in low spirits over their ill
fortune among the Lazi, they now feared if they should meet a hostile
army in their present difficulties, among precipices and wilderness,
they would all perish in disorder. And they feared, too, for their
children and their wives and their country; indeed, the noblest men in
the army of the Medes reviled Chosroes, calling him one who had broken
his plighted word and the common law of man, by invading in time of
peace the land of the Romans. He had wronged, they cried, the oldest and
greatest of all nations, which he could not possibly surpass in war. A
mutiny was imminent.
Aroused at this, Chosroes found the following remedy for the trouble. He
read them a letter which the Empress had recently written to
Zaberganes. This was the letter:
"How highly I esteem you, Zaberganes, and that I believe you friendly to
our State, you, who were ambassador to us not so long ago, are well
aware. Would you not be acting suitably to this high opinion which I
have for you, if you could persuade King Chosroes to choose peace with
our government? If you do this, I can promise you will be rewarded by my
husband, who does nothing without my advice."
Chosroes read this aloud, and asked the Persian leaders if they thought
this was an Empire which a woman managed. Thus he calmed their
nervousness. But even so, he withdrew from the place with considerable
anxiety, thinking that at any moment Belisarius's forces would confront
him. And when none of the enemy appeared to bar his retreat, with great
relief he marched back to his native land.
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