preserved; and when this army returns to Persia, each one of the soldiers takes one weapon out of the baskets.  A count is then made by those whose office it is to do so of all the weapons which have not been taken by the men, and they report to the king the number of the soldiers who have not returned, and in this way it becomes evident how many have perished in the war.  Thus the law has stood from of old among the Persians.  Now when Azarethes came into the presence of the king, Cabades enquired of him whether he came back with any Roman fortress won over to their side, for he had marched forth with Alamoundaras against the Romans, with the purpose of subduing Antioch.  And Azarethes said that he had captured no fortress, but that he had conquered the Romans and Belisarius in battle.  So Cabades bade the army of Azarethes pass by, and from the baskets each man took out a weapon just as was customary.  But since many weapons were left, Cabades rebuked Azarethes for the victory and thereafter ranked him among the most unworthy.  So the victory had this conclusion for Azarethes.

XIX

At that time the idea occurred to the Emperor Justinian to ally with himself the Aethiopians and the Homeritae, in order to injure the Persians.  I shall now first explain what part of the earth these nations occupy, and then I shall point out in what manner the emperor hoped that they would be of help to the Romans.  The boundaries of Palestine extend toward the east to the sea which is called the Red Sea.  Now this sea, beginning at India, comes to an end at this point in the Roman domain.  And there is a city called Aelas on its shore, where the sea comes to an end, as I have said, and becomes a very narrow gulf.  And as one sails into the sea from there, the Egyptian mountains lie on the right, extending toward the south; on the other side a country deserted by men extends northward to an indefinite distance; and the land on both sides is visible as one sails in as far as the island called Iotabe, not less than one thousand stades distant from the city of Aelas.  On this island Hebrews had lived from of old in autonomy, but in the reign of this Justinian they have become subject to the Romans.  From there on there comes a great open sea.  And those who sail into this part of it no longer see the land on the right, but they always anchor along the left coast when night comes on.  For it is impossible to navigate in the darkness on this sea, since it is everywhere full of shoals.  But there are harbours there and great numbers of them, not made by the hand of man, but by the natural contour of the land, and for this reason it is not difficult for mariners to find anchorage wherever they happen to be.