s to have been a bad appointment. Mustacon was unequal to the
position. He gave the Persians battle at the conjunction of the Nymphius
with the Tigris, but was defeated with considerable loss, partly through
the misconduct of one of his captains. He then laid siege to Arbas, a
strong fort on the Persian side of the Nymphius, while the main body
of the Persians were attacking Aphumon in the neighboring district of
Arzanene. The garrison of Arbas made signals of distress, which speedily
brought the Persian army to their aid; a second battle was fought at
Arbas, and Mustacon was again defeated, and forced to retire across
the Nymphius into Roman territory. His incapacity was now rendered so
clearly evident that Maurice recalled him, and gave the command of the
army of the East to a new general, Philippicus, his brother-in-law.

The first and second campaigns of Philippicus, in the years A.D. 584
and 585, were of the most commonplace character. He avoided any general
engagement, and contended himself with plundering inroads into the
Persian territory on either side of the Upper Tigris, occasionally
suffering considerably from want of water and provisions. The Persians
on their part undertook no operations of importance until late in A.D.
585, when Philippicus had fallen sick. They then made attempts upon
Monocartum and Martyropolis, which were unsuccessful, resulting only in
the burning of a church and a monastery near the latter town. Neither
side seemed capable of making any serious impression upon the other; and
early the next year negotiations were resumed, which, however, resulted
in nothing.

In his third campaign Philippicus adopted a bolder line of proceeding.
Commencing by an invasion of Eastern Mesopotamia, he met and defeated
the Persians in a great battle near Solachon, having first roused the
enthusiasm of his troops by carrying along their ranks a miraculous
picture of our Lord, which no human hand had painted. Hanging on the
rear of the fugitives, he pursued them to Daras, which declined to
receive within its walls an army that had so disgraced itself. The
Persian commander withdrew his troops further inland; and Philippicus,
believing that he had now no enemy to fear, proceeded to invade
Arzanene, to besiege the stronghold of Chlomaron, and at the same time
to throw forward troops into the more eastern parts of the country. He
expected them to be unopposed; but the Persian general, having rallied
his force