should be entrusted to fortune, nor should one believe that all wars
ought to be successful. For this is not likely and besides it is not in
keeping with the course of human events, but this idea is most
unfortunate for those who are possessed by it. For when men who expect
that all the good things will come to them fail at any time, if it so
happen, they are distressed more than is seemly by the very hope which
wrongly led them on. Therefore, since men have not always confidence in
fortune, they do not enter into the danger of war in a straightforward
way, even if they boast that they surpass the enemy in every respect,
but by deception and divers devices they exert themselves to circumvent
their opponents. For those who assume the risk of an even struggle have
no assurance of victory. Now, therefore, O King of Kings, neither be
thus distressed by the misfortune which has befallen Mirranes, nor
desire again to make trial of fortune. For in Mesopotamia and the land
of Osroene, as it is called, since it is very close to thy boundaries,
the cities are very strong above all others, and now they contain a
multitude of soldiers such as never before, so that if we go there the
contest will not prove a safe one; but in the land which lies outside
the River Euphrates, and in Syria which adjoins it, there is neither a
fortified city nor an army of any importance. For this I have often
heard from the Saracens sent as spies to these parts. There too, they
say, is the city of Antioch, in wealth and size and population the first
of all the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire; and this city is
unguarded and destitute of soldiers. For the people of this city care
for nothing else than fêtes and luxurious living, and their constant
rivalries with each other in the theatres. Accordingly, if we go against
them unexpectedly, it is not at all unlikely that we shall capture the
city by a sudden attack, and that we shall return to the land of the
Persians without having met any hostile army, and before the troops in
Mesopotamia have learned what has happened. As for lack of water or of