are ever changing about according to the desire of men who control them, and men pay little heed to the meaning which they originally attached to a name.  And the commanders of the foederati were Dorotheus, the general of the troops in Armenia, and Solomon, who was acting as manager for the general Belisarius; (such a person the Romans call “domesticus.”  Now this Solomon was a eunuch, but it was not by the devising of man that he had suffered mutilation, but some accident which befell him while in 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 Aigan, 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, Zaidus, 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 Aigan 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 held the position of prefect of the army; for thus the officer charged with the maintenance of the army is designated.  But as general with supreme authority over all the emperor sent Belisarius, who was in command of the troops of the East for the second time.  And he was followed by many spearmen and many guards as well, men who were capable warriors and thoroughly experienced in the dangers of fighting.  And the emperor gave him written instructions, bidding him do everything as seemed best to him, and stating that his acts would be final, as if the emperor himself had done them.  The writing, in fact, gave him the power of a king.  Now Belisarius was a native of Germania, which lies between Thrace and Illyricum.  These things, then, took place in this way.