Res Gestae

Finally, worn out by scarcity of supplies and the very obstinate resistance of the defenders, he was already pre- paring to depart, when those who had meanwhile been blockaded at Nicaea suddenly opened the gates and rushed out, and after slaying a great part of the besiegers, headed by their bold leader, Rumitalca, hastened eagerly on with the purpose of surrounding Valens from the rear; for he had not left the suburb of Chalcedon. And they would have been successful, if the emperor had not from an earlier rumour learned of the danger that threatened him, and by a hasty retreat by way of the Sunonian lake[*](Near Nicomedia, mentioned by the geographer Ascanius.) and the many windings of the river Gallus[*](The Gallus is in Phrygia, but nothing is known of its windings. There was, however, a river Drako at Helen- opolis in Bithynia, which in a journey to Bithynia one had to cross twenty times.) outwitted the enemy, who were close upon his heels in vain pursuit. And by this mischance Bithynia also fell into the power of Procopius.

When Valens had returned thence by rapid marches to Ancyra and learned that Lupicinus[*](Appointed commander of the infantry (magister militum) by Jovian in the Orient, probably the man mentioned in xx. 1, 2; 4, 3, 9; 9, 9. He did good service against Procopius and was made consul in the following year.) with a force not to be despised was drawing near from the Orient, his hopes for better success were aroused, and he sent his best general Arintheus[*](Cf. xxv. 5, 2; 7,) to attack the enemy.

When Arintheus reached Dadastana, the station where, as we have said,[*](Cf. xxv. 10, 12.) Jovian died, he suddenly saw Hyperechius and his forces opposed to him; he

While affairs were proceeding in this way, a certain Venustus, an attendant on the state-treasury under Valens, who had been sent long before to Nicomedia, in order to distribute into the soldiers’ hands the money that had been raised for the pay of those stationed in various parts of the Orient, hearing of this unfortunate occurrence, and seeing that the time was unfavourable for his task, quickly made his way to Cyzicus with the money he had received.

There he chanced to meet Serenianus, at that time commander of the household troops, who had been sent to protect the treasures there; and since the city had an impregnable circuit of walls, and was known because of its old monuments, he tried to hold it, relying on the hastily formed garrison. Procopius had appointed a strong force to storm that city, in order to join Hellespontus to his side now he held Bithynia.

However, the success of the work was delayed because often whole masses of the besiegers were slain by arrows, slingshots, and other missiles, and through the skill of the garrison the entrance to the port had been barred by a very strong iron chain, which was fastened to the land on both sides, so that even