fies the river and mountain, and describes their combat. See
the course of the Tigris and Euphrates in the excellent treatise of
D'Anville.]

[Footnote 132: Procopius (Persic. l. ii. c. 12) tells the story with the
tone, half sceptical, half superstitious, of Herodotus. The promise was
not in the primitive lie of Eusebius, but dates at least from the year
400; and a third lie, the Veronica, was soon raised on the two former,
(Evagrius, l. iv. c. 27.) As Edessa has been taken, Tillemont must
disclaim the promise, (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 362, 383, 617.)]

But the national enmity, at least the effects of that enmity, had
been suspended by a truce, which continued above fourscore years. An
ambassador from the emperor Zeno accompanied the rash and unfortunate
Perozes, [1321] in his expedition against the Nepthalites, [1322] or
white Huns, whose conquests had been stretched from the Caspian to the
heart of India, whose throne was enriched with emeralds, [133] and whose
cavalry was supported by a line of two thousand elephants. [134] The
Persians [1341] were twice circumvented, in a situation which made valor
useless and flight impossible; and the double victory of the Huns was
achieved by military stratagem. They dismissed their royal captive
after he had submitted to adore the majesty of a Barbarian; and the
humiliation was poorly evaded by the casuistical subtlety of the Magi,
who instructed Perozes to direct his attention to the rising sun. [1342]
The indignant successor of Cyrus forgot his danger and his gratitude; he
renewed the attack with headstrong fury, and lost both his army and his
life. [135] The death of Perozes abandoned Persia to her foreign and
domestic enemies; [1351] and twelve years of confusion elapsed before
his son Cabades, or Kobad, could embrace any designs of ambition or
revenge. The unkind parsimony of Anastasius was the motive or pretence
of a Roman war; [136] the Huns and Arabs marched under the Persian
standard, and the fortifications of Armenia and Mesopotamia were, at
that time, in a ruinous or imperfect condition. The emperor returned
his thanks to the governor and people of Martyropolis for the prompt
surrender of a city which could not be successfully defended, and the
conflagration of Theodosiopolis might justify the conduct of their
prudent neighbors. Amida sustained a long and destructive siege: at
the end of three months the loss of fifty thousand of the soldiers of
Cabades was not bala