Italy. Bouzes therefore at first remained at Hierapolis, keeping his
whole army with him; but when he learned what had befallen Sura, he
called together the first men of the Hierapolitans and spoke as follows:
"Whenever men are confronted with a struggle against an assailant with
whom they are evenly matched in strength, it is not at all unreasonable
that they should engage in open conflict with the enemy; but for those
who are by comparison much inferior to their opponents it will be more
advantageous to circumvent their enemy by some kind of tricks than to
array themselves openly against them and thus enter into foreseen
danger. How great, now, the army of Chosroes is you are assuredly
informed. And if, with this army, he wishes to capture us by siege, and
if we carry on the fight from the wall, it is probable that, while our
supplies will fail us, the Persians will secure all they need from our
land, where there will be no one to oppose them. And if the siege is
prolonged in this way, I believe too that the fortification wall will
not withstand the assaults of the enemy, for in many places it is most
susceptible to attack, and thus irreparable harm will come to the
Romans. But if with a portion of the army we guard the wall of the city,
while the rest of us occupy the heights about the city, we shall make
attacks from there at times upon the camp of our antagonists, and at
times upon those who are sent out for the sake of provisions, and thus
compel Chosroes to abandon the siege immediately and to make his retreat
within a short time; for he will not be at all able to direct his attack
without fear against the fortifications, nor to provide any of the
necessities for so great an army." So spoke Bouzes; and in his words he
seemed to set forth the advantageous course of action, but of what was
necessary he did nothing. For he chose out all that portion of the Roman
army which was of marked excellence and was off. And where in the world
he was neither any of the Romans in Hierapolis, nor the hostile army was
able to learn. Such, then, was the course of these events.