swaddling clothes had imposed this lot upon him); and there were also
Cyprian, Valerian, Martinus, Althias, John, Marcellus, and the Cyril
whom I have mentioned above; and the commanders of the regular cavalry
were Rufinus and Aïgan, who were of the house of Belisarius, and
Barbatus and Pappus, while the regular infantry was commanded by
Theodorus, who was surnamed Cteanus, and Terentius, Zaïdus, Marcian, and
Sarapis. And a certain John, a native of Epidamnus, which is now called
Dyrrachium, held supreme command over all the leaders of infantry. Among
all these commanders Solomon was from a place in the East, at the very
extremity of the Roman domain, where the city called Daras now stands,
and Aïgan was by birth of the Massagetae whom they now call Huns; and
the rest were almost all inhabitants of the land of Thrace. And there
followed with them also four hundred Eruli, whom Pharas led, and about
six hundred barbarian allies from the nation of the Massagetae, all
mounted bowmen; these were led by Sinnion and Balas, men endowed with
bravery and endurance in the highest degree. And for the whole force
five hundred ships were required, no one of which was able to carry more
than fifty thousand medimni,[38] nor any one less than three thousand.
And in all the vessels together there were thirty thousand sailors,
Egyptians and Ionians for the most part, and Cilicians, and one
commander was appointed over all the ships, Calonymus of Alexandria. And
they had also ships of war prepared as for sea-fighting, to the number
of ninety-two, and they were single-banked ships covered by decks, in
order that the men rowing them might if possible not be exposed to the
bolts of the enemy. Such boats are called "dromones"[39] by those of the
present time; for they are able to attain a great speed. In these sailed
two thousand men of Byzantium, who were all rowers as well as fighting
men; for there was not a single superfluous man among them. And
Archelaus was also sent, a man of patrician standing who had already
been pretorian prefect both in Byzantium and in Illyricum, but he then