exist. But this would not seem to be becoming even to ordinary men, much
less to kings. But leaving aside these things do thou consider the
number of those who will be destroyed on both sides in the course of the
war, and consider well who will justly bear the blame for those things
which will come to pass, and ponder upon the oaths which thou didst take
when thou didst carry away the money, and consider that if, after that,
thou wrongly dishonour them by some tricks or sophistries, thou wouldst
not be able to pervert them; for Heaven is too mighty to be deceived by
any man." When Chosroes saw this message, he neither made any immediate
answer nor did he dismiss Anastasius, but he compelled him to remain
there.


V

[540 A.D.] When the winter was already reaching its close, and the
thirteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Justinian was ending,
Chosroes, son of Cabades, invaded the land of the Romans at the opening
of spring with a mighty army, and openly broke the so-called endless
peace. But he did not enter by the country between the rivers, but
advanced with the Euphrates on his right. On the other side of the river
stands the last Roman stronghold which is called Circesium, an
exceedingly strong place, since the River Aborras, a large stream, has
its mouth at this point and mingles with the Euphrates, and this
fortress lies exactly in the angle which is made by the junction of the
two rivers. And a long second wall outside the fortress cuts off the
land between the two rivers, and completes the form of a triangle around
Circesium. Chosroes, therefore, not wishing to make trial of so strong a
fortress and not having in mind to cross the River Euphrates, but rather
to go against the Syrians and Cilicians, without any hesitation led his