the city to plead for them and to beg that the town
be spared; so he took with him some of his attendants,
who carried fowls and wine and clean loaves, and came
before Chosroes; there he threw himself on the ground,
and with tears supplicated him to spare a pitiable
population and a city altogether without honour in
the eyes of the Romans, and one which in past times
had never been of any account to the Persians, and
which never would be such thereafter; and he promised
that the men of Sura would give him ransom worthy of
themselves and the city which they inhabited.
But Chosroes was angry with the townsmen because,
being the first he had met of all the Romans, they
had not willingly received him into their city, but
even daring to raise their arms against him had slain
a large number of Persian notables. However he
did not disclose his anger, but carefully concealed
it behind a smooth countenance, in order that by carrying
out the punishment of the inhabitants of Sura he might
make himself in the eyes of the Romans a fearful person
and one not to be resisted. For by acting in this
way he calculated that those who would from time to
time come in his way would yield to him without trouble.
Accordingly with great friendliness he caused the
bishop to rise, and receiving the gifts, gave the impression,
in a way, that he would immediately confer with the
notables of the Persians concerning the ransom of
the townsmen, and would settle their request favourably.
Thus he dismissed the bishop and his following without
any suspicion of the plot, and he sent with him certain
of the men of note among the Persians, who were to
be ostensibly an escort. These men he secretly
commanded to go with him as far as the wall, encouraging
him and cheering him with fair hopes, so that he and
all those with him should be seen by those inside
rejoicing and fearing nothing. But when the guards
had set the gate open and were about to receive them
into the city, they were to throw a stone or block
of wood between the threshold and the gate and not
allow them to shut it, but should themselves for a
time stand in the way of those who wished to close
it; for not long afterwards the army would follow them.
After giving these directions to the men Chosroes
made ready the army, and commanded them to advance
upon the city on the run whenever he should give the
signal. So when they came close to the fortifications,
the Persians bade farewell to the bishop and remained
outside, and the townsmen, seeing that the man was
exceedingly happy and that he was being escorted in
great honour by the enemy, forgetting all their difficulties
opened the gate wide, and received the priest and his
following with clapping of hands and much shouting.
And when all got inside, the guards began to push
the gate in order to close it, but the Persians flung
down a stone, which they had provided, between it and
the threshold. And the guards pushed and struggled
still more, but were quite unable to get the gate