he had reached the Blue Colonnade which is on the right of the emperor’s throne, he purposed to go against Hypatius himself first; but since there was a small door there which had been closed and was guarded by the soldiers of Hypatius who were inside, he feared lest while he was struggling in the narrow space the populace should fall upon him, and after destroying both himself and all his followers, should proceed with less trouble and difficulty against the emperor.  Concluding, therefore, that he must go against the populace who had taken their stand in the hippodrome—­a vast multitude crowding each other in great disorder—­he drew his sword from its sheath and, commanding the others to do likewise, with a shout he advanced upon them at a run.  But the populace, who were standing in a mass and not in order, at the sight of armoured soldiers who had a great reputation for bravery and experience in war, and seeing that they struck out with their swords unsparingly, beat a hasty retreat.  Then a great outcry arose, as was natural, and Mundus, who was standing not far away, was eager to join in the fight,—­for he was a daring and energetic fellow—­but he was at a loss as to what he should do under the circumstances; when, however, he observed that Belisarius was in the struggle, he straightway made a sally into the hippodrome through the entrance which they call the Gate of Death.  Then indeed from both sides the partisans of Hypatius were assailed with might and main and destroyed.  When the rout had become complete and there had already been great slaughter of the populace, Boraedes and Justus, nephews of the Emperor Justinian, without anyone daring to lift a hand against them, dragged Hypatius down from the throne, and, leading him in, handed him over together with Pompeius to the emperor.  And there perished among the populace on that day more than thirty thousand.  But the emperor commanded the two prisoners to be kept in severe confinement.  Then, while Pompeius was weeping and uttering pitiable words (for the man was wholly inexperienced in such misfortunes), Hypatius reproached him at length and said that those who were about to die unjustly should not lament.  For in the beginning they had been forced by the people against their will, and afterwards they had come to the hippodrome with no thought of harming the emperor.  And the soldiers killed both of them on the following day and threw their bodies into the sea.  The emperor confiscated all their property for the public treasury, and also that of all the other members of the senate who had sided with them.  Later, however, he restored to the children of Hypatius and Pompeius and to all others the titles which they had formerly held, and as much of their property as he had not happened to bestow upon his friends.  This was the end of the insurrection in Byzantium.

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