to prostrate himself before him as having proved himself master, and,
taking the oaths traditional among the Persians, should give pledges
that they would never again take the field against the nation of the
Ephthalitae. When Perozes heard this, he held a consultation with the
Magi who were present and enquired of them whether he must comply with
the terms dictated by the enemy. The Magi replied that, as to the oath,
he should settle the matter according to his own pleasure; as for the
rest, however, he should circumvent his enemy by craft. And they
reminded him that it was the custom among the Persians to prostrate
themselves before the rising sun each day; he should, therefore, watch
the time closely and meet the leader of the Ephthalitae at dawn, and
then, turning toward the rising sun, make his obeisance. In this way,
they explained, he would be able in the future to escape the ignominy of
the deed. Perozes accordingly gave the pledges concerning the peace, and
prostrated himself before his foe exactly as the Magi had suggested, and
so, with the whole Median army intact, gladly retired homeward.


IV

Not long after this, disregarding the oath he had sworn, he was eager to
avenge himself upon the Huns for the insult done him. He therefore
straightway gathered together from the whole land all the Persians and
their allies, and led them against the Ephthalitae; of all his sons he
left behind him only one, Cabades by name, who, as it happened, was just
past the age of boyhood; all the others, about thirty in number, he took
with him. The Ephthalitae, upon learning of his invasion, were aggrieved
at the deception they had suffered at the hands of their enemy, and
bitterly reproached their king as having abandoned them to the Medes.
He, with a laugh, enquired of them what in the world of theirs he had