returned and rushed upon the infantry and Belisarius with all the
others. Then the Romans turned their backs to the river so that no
movement to surround them might be executed by the enemy, and as best
they could under the circumstances were defending themselves against
their assailants. And again the battle became fierce, although the two
sides were not evenly matched in strength; for foot-soldiers, and a very
few of them, were fighting against the whole Persian cavalry.
Nevertheless the enemy were not able either to rout them or in any other
way to overpower them. For standing shoulder to shoulder they kept
themselves constantly massed in a small space, and they formed with
their shields a rigid, unyielding barricade, so that they shot at the
Persians more conveniently than they were shot at by them. Many a time
after giving up, the Persians would advance against them determined to
break up and destroy their line, but they always retired again from the
assault unsuccessful. For their horses, annoyed by the clashing of the
shields, reared up and made confusion for themselves and their riders.
Thus both sides continued the struggle until it had become late in the
day. And when night had already come on, the Persians withdrew to their
camp, and Belisarius accompanied by some few men found a freight-boat
and crossed over to the island in the river, while the other Romans
reached the same place by swimming. On the following day many
freight-boats were brought to the Romans from the city of Callinicus and
they were conveyed thither in them, and the Persians, after despoiling
the dead, all departed homeward. However they did not find their own
dead less numerous than the enemy's.

When Azarethes reached Persia with his army, although he had prospered
in the battle, he found Cabades exceedingly ungrateful, for the
following reason. It is a custom among the Persians that, when they are
about to march against any of their foes, the king sits on the royal