From the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae – Joseph D.C. Frendo translation. Agathias (Scholasticus) of Myrina’s (Ἀγαθίας σχολαστικός) (536-582) Histories cover the years 552-559 continuing the work of Procopius. He covered mostly the years’ military campaigns. Here are his mentions of the Slavs.
Book III (6)
“…Some six hundred horse at the most were sent against the relief-force from Mucheirisis. They were under the command of Dabragezas and Usigardus, two barbarians who were officers in the Roman army. The rest of the men together with the generals went into action and made an assault on the gates. Then they surrounded the wall with the main body of their forces and let fly with their weapons from all sides. The Persians for their part defended themselves by every available means, dashing about on the battlements, raining down missiles and securing themselves against the oncoming ones by suspending canvas mantlets to soften and absorb the blows. The fight was sustained with great fury by both sides and looked more like a pitched battle than a siege. Both sides were worked up to a feverish state of excitement and were showing their mettle with equal determination though for different reasons. In one case it was a struggle for survival in the face of a serious menace, in the other it was the humiliating prospect, once the attack had been launched, of returning without achieving the objective of reducing the fort and ridding Archaeopolis of an enemy presence in its own neighborhood.”
Book III (7)
“Meanwhile the Persian relief force consisting of about three thousand horse had left Cotaïs and Mucheirisis and set out for Onoguris. On their way they were suddenly attacked by Dabragezas and Usigardus and their men. They were not expecting to encounter any opposition and were caught off their guard, with the result that they panicked and fled. As soon as the besieging Romans heard the news they charged more furiously pulled down the mantlets and swarmed up many parts of the wall, confident that they would sweep everything before them, now that the enemy from without had taken to flight and there was no longer anyone to cause them concern. But the Persians soon realized that it was not the whole Roman army that had attacked them as they thought at first, but an insignificant reconnaissance force too few in number even to be considered a detachment of fighting men. So they faced about and charged them with a deafening shout. The Romans were unable to cope with the new situation and hastily exchanged the rôle of pursuer for that of fugitive. The Persians followed hard on their heels, with the result that, as the pursuers rushed to catch up with their victims and the victims to evade their pursuers, both parties reached the Roman lines indiscriminately confused…”
Book III (21)
“…To ensure that these ships on the river should come to no harm the commanders, Dabragezas the Ant and Elminegeir the Hun, acting on the instructions of the generals, manned with troops from their own contingents ten skiffs of a special kind equipped with fore and aft rudders, and travelled up the river as far as possible. They kept a non-stop watch on the various crossing points, sometimes sailing in the middle of the river and sometimes veering towards one or the other of its banks. In the course of this operation they experienced one of war’s most pleasant surprises. Even further up the river than they were, the two thirty-oared Roman vessels, whose capture without their crews by the Persians I have already related, now lay in wait moored to the bank of the river and manned by Persians. At nightfall their crews all fell asleep. The current was particularly strong and the cables were stretched by the tilting of the boats, with th result that the moorings o one of them suddenly snapped. Cut adrift and virtually without oars to propel it or a rudder to steer it, it was caught in the current, swept away and eventually consigned to Dabragezas and his men, who rejoicing at their good fortune gleefully seized their prey. The ship which they had abandoned empty had returned to them full.”
Book IV (18)
“Since he had already had some experience of the ascent Illus went in front and led the way. Immediately after him came Marcellinus’ personal guard Ziper followed by Leontius the son of Dabragezas who was followed in turn by Theodorus the commander of the Tzani, and so on one after the other in one continuous line…”
Book IV (20)
“The whole night had been spent in the commission of these and similar atrocities and the spot and already assumed as aspect of complete devastation when about five hundred heavily-armed Misimians sallied forth from the fortress at the first light of dawn and attacked the Romans. The latter were caught off guard because the thought they and overcame all resistance. All were driven headlong into flight by the Misimians and most of them were either killed or wounded. After a confused and precipitous descent the survivors returned to camp a mass of wounds. They and been struck the by the enemy’s spears and their legs were badly torn through frequent tumbles against rocks. And so, since they had no inclination for another climb up that rock, they decided to attack the for at its most vulnerable point and at the same time to fill in the most. Assembling therefore a number of sheds and penthouses they brought them up and proceeded to attack the wall from a safe position. They employed siege-englines, bows and arrows and ever other available means of making life difficult for the defenders. The barbarians were in dire straits but they still put up a stiff resistance. Some of them brought up a wicker-roof and advanced against the Roman siege-works with the idea of demolishing them. But before they drew near and took cover under it a Slav called Suarunas hurled his spear at the one that was most visible and struck him a mortal blow. As the man fell the wicker-roof toppled over revealing and leaving unprotected the men inside it. The Romans had no difficulty in shooting them all down except for one man who managed to get away, had almost made it to the fort and had already reached the small side-gate when he was struck dead by an arrow. He fell sprawling on the threshold with a small part of his body protruding outside of the fort but most it inside. When the Misimians saw this I think they interpreted it as a bad omen. Apart from that they were beginning to break down under the strain of the fighting and were anxious to effect a reconciliation with the Romans, and above all they were influenced by the fact that the relief-force promised by the Persians had not arrived…”
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