History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 323 pages of information about History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8).

History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 323 pages of information about History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8).
and pointed out to them the enemy.  And when the Persians saw the men coming against them, they were astounded at the suddenness of the thing, and were in much distress what to do.  For neither could they retire to the rear, since their opponents were behind them, nor were they able to flee anywhere else in a hostile land.  But as well as they could under the circumstances, they arrayed themselves for battle and tried to drive back their assailants; but being at a great disadvantage in numbers they were vanquished, and all of them together with Glones were destroyed.  Now when the son of Glones learned of this, being deeply grieved and at the same time furious with anger because he had not been able to defend his father, he fired the sanctuary of Symeon, a holy man, where Glones had his lodging.  It must be said, however, that with the exception of this one building, neither Glones nor Cabades, nor indeed any other of the Persians, saw fit either to tear down or to destroy in any other way any building in Amida at any rate, or outside this city.  But I shall return to the previous narrative.

[504 A.D.] Thus the Romans by giving the money recovered Amida two years after it had been captured by the enemy.  And when they got into the city, their own negligence and the hardships under which the Persians had maintained themselves were discovered.  For upon reckoning the amount of grain left there and the number of barbarians who had gone out, they found that rations for about seven days were left in the city, although Glones and his son had been for a long time doling out provisions to the Persians more sparingly than they were needed.  For to the Romans who had remained with them in the city, as I have stated above, they had decided to dispense nothing at all from the time when their enemy began the siege; and so these men at first resorted to unaccustomed foods and laid hold on every forbidden thing, and at the last they even tasted each other’s blood.  So the generals realized that they had been deceived by the barbarians, and they reproached the soldiers for their lack of self-control, because they had shewn themselves wanting in obedience to them, when it was possible to capture as prisoners of war such a multitude of Persians and the son of Glones and the city itself, while they had in consequence attached to themselves signal disgrace by carrying Roman money to the enemy, and had taken Amida from the Persians by purchasing it with silver. [506 A.D.] After this the Persians, since their war with the Huns kept dragging on, entered into a treaty with the Romans, which was arranged by them for seven years, and was made by the Roman Celer and the Persian Aspebedes; both armies then retired homeward and remained at peace.  Thus, then, as has been told, began the war of the Romans and the Persians, and to this end did it come.  But I shall now turn to the narration of the events touching the Caspian Gates.

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History of the Wars, Books I and II (of 8) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.