at least one unusual condition. The
Romans and Persians agreed that neither party should construct any new
fortified post in the vicinity of the other's territory--a loose phrase
which was likely to be variously interpreted, and might easily lead to
serious complications.

It is difficult to understand this sudden conclusion of peace by a young
prince, evidently anxious to reap laurels, who in the first year of
his reign had, at the head of a large army, invaded the dominions of a
neighbor. The Roman account, that he invaded, that he was practically
unopposed, and that then, out of politeness towards the prefect of
the East, he voluntarily retired within his own frontier, "having done
nothing disagreeable," is as improbable a narrative as we often meet
with, even in the pages of the Byzantine historians. Something has
evidently been kept back. If Isdigerd returned, as Procopius declares,
without effecting anything, he must have been recalled by the occurrence
of troubles in some other part of his empire. But it is, perhaps, as
likely that he retired, simply because he had effected the object with
which he engaged in the war. It was a constant practice of the Romans to
advance their frontier by building strong towns on or near a debatable
border, which attracted to them the submission of the neighboring
district. The recent building of Theodosiopolis in the eastern part
of Roman Armenia had been an instance of this practice. It was perhaps
being pursued elsewhere along the Persian border, and the invasion of
Isdigerd may have been intended to check it. If so, the proviso of the
treaty recorded by Procopius would have afforded him the security which
he required, and have rendered it unnecessary for him to continue the
war any longer.

His arms shortly afterwards found employment in another quarter. The
Tatars of the Transoxianian regions were once more troublesome; and in
order to check or prevent the incursions which they were always ready
to make, if they were unmolested, Isdigerd undertook a long war on
his northeastern frontier, which he conducted with a resolution
and perseverance not very common in the East. Leaving his vizier,
Mihr-Narses, to represent him at the seat of government, he transferred
his own residence to Nishapm, in the mountain region between the Persian
and Kharesmian deserts, and from that convenient post of observation
directed the military operations against his active enemies, making a
campaig