amandarus for his
guide and make a joint expedition with him across the Euphrates. It was
understood that the great object of the expedition was the capture of
Antioch.

The allied army crossed the Euphrates below Circesium, and ascended the
right bank of the river till they neared the latitude of Antioch, when
they struck westward and reached Gabbula (the modern Jabul), on the
north shore of the salt lake now known as the Sabakhah. Here they
learned to their surprise that the movement, which they had intended to
be wholly unknown to the Romans, had come to the ears of Belisarius,
who had at once quitted Daras, and proceeded by forced marches to the
defence of Syria, into which he had thrown himself with an army of
20,000 men, Romans, Isaurians, Lycaonians, and Arabs. His troops were
already interposed between the Persians and their longed-for prey,
Belisarius having fixed his headquarters at Chalcis, half a degree
to the west of Gabbula, and twenty-five miles nearer to Antioch. Thus
balked of their purpose, and despairing of any greater success than they
had already achieved, the allies became anxious to return to Persia with
the plunder of the Syrian towns and villages which they had sacked on
their advance. Belisarius was quite content that they should carry off
their spoil, and would have considered it a sufficient victory to have
frustrated the expedition without striking a blow. But his army was
otherwise minded; they were eager for battle, and hoped doubtless to
strip the flying foe of his rich booty. Belisarius was at last forced,
against his better judgment, to indulge their desires and allow an
engagement, which was fought on the banks of the Euphrates, nearly
opposite Callinicus. Here the conduct of the Roman troops in action
corresponded but ill to the anxiety for a conflict. The infantry indeed
stood firm, notwithstanding that they fought fasting; but the Saracenic
Arabs, of whom a portion were on the Roman side, and the Isaurian and
Lycaonian horse, who had been among the most eager for the fray, offered
scarcely any resistance; and, the right wing of the Romans being left
exposed by their flight, Belisarius was compelled to make his troops
turn their faces to the enemy and their backs to the Euphrates, and in
this position, where defeat would have been ruin, to meet and resist
all the assaults of the foe until the shades of evening fell, and he was
able to transport his troops in boats across the river. T