to preserve the victory unmarred.  For on that day the Persians had been defeated in battle by the Romans, a thing which had not happened for a long time.  Thus the two armies separated from each other.  And the Persians were no longer willing to fight a pitched battle with the Romans.  However, some sudden attacks were made on both sides, in which the Romans were not at a disadvantage.  Such, then, was the fortune of the armies in Mesopotamia.

XV

And Cabades sent another army into the part of Armenia which is subject to the Romans.  This army was composed of Persarmenians and Sunitae, whose land adjoins that of the Alani.  There were also Huns with them, of the stock called Sabiri, to the number of three thousand, a most warlike race.  And Mermeroes, a Persian, had been made general of the whole force.  When this army was three days’ march from Theodosiopolis, they established their camp and, remaining in the land of the Persarmenians, made their preparations for the invasion.  Now the general of Armenia was, as it happened, Dorotheus, a man of discretion and experienced in many wars.  And Sittas held the office of general in Byzantium, and had authority over the whole army in Armenia.  These two, then, upon learning that an army was being assembled in Persarmenia, straightway sent two body-guards with instructions to spy out the whole force of the enemy and report to them.  And both of these men got into the barbarian camp, and after noting everything accurately, they departed.  And they were travelling toward some place in that region, when they happened unexpectedly upon hostile Huns.  By them one of the two, Dagaris by name, was made captive and bound, while the other succeeded in escaping and reported everything to the generals.  They then armed their whole force and made an unexpected assault upon the camp of their enemy; and the barbarians, panic-stricken by the unexpected attack, never thought of resistance, but fled as best each one could.  Thereupon the Romans, after killing a large number and plundering the camp, immediately marched back.

Not long after this Mermeroes, having collected the whole army, invaded the Roman territory, and they came upon their enemy near the city of Satala.  There they established themselves in camp and remained at rest in a place called Octava, which is fifty-six stades distant from the city.  Sittas therefore led out a thousand men and concealed them behind one of the many hills which surround the plain in which the city of Satala lies.  Dorotheus with the rest of the army he ordered to stay inside the fortifications, because they thought that they were by no means able to withstand the enemy on level ground, since their number was not fewer than thirty thousand, while their own forces scarcely amounted to half that number.  On the following day the barbarians came up close to the fortifications and busily set about closing