Procopius ("De bello Gothico", I.18.39–41), calls him one of the "archontes" (leaders) of the Goths and "a man of no mean station". He records that in February 537, after Belisarius took Rome, he was dispatched by Witigis to persuade the citizens of Rome not to abandon the Ostrogoths. He gave a speech at the Porta Salaria in which he reminded the Romans that the Ostrogoths were capable of defending them, but the Greeks had only ever came to Italy before as "actors of tragedy and mimes and thieving sailors". The Romans made no response and the siege of Rome began the following day.