le would infallibly have been lost, had not Narses come to their
aid, and with his steady and solid battalions protected their retreat
and restored the fight. Yet the day terminated with a feeling on both
sides that Bahram had on the whole had the advantage in the engagement;
the king _de facto_ congratulated himself; the king _de jure_ had to
bear the insulting pity of his allies, and the reproaches of his own
countrymen for occasioning them such a disaster.

But though Bahram might feel that the glory of the day was his, he was
not elated by his success, nor rendered blind to the difficulties of his
position. Fighting with his back to the mountains, he was liable, if he
suffered defeat, to be entangled in their defiles and lose his entire
force. Moreover, now that Ctesiphon was no longer his, he had neither
resources nor _point d'appui_ in the low country, and by falling back
he would at once be approaching nearer to the main source of his own
supplies, which was the country about Rei, south of the Caspian, and
drawing his enemies to a greater distance from the sources of theirs.
He may even have thought there was a chance of his being unpursued if
he retired, since the Romans might not like to venture into the mountain
region, and Chosroes might be impatient to make a triumphal entry into
his capital. Accordingly, the use which Bahram made of his victory was
quietly to evacuate his camp, to leave the low plain region, rapidly
pass the mountains, and take up his quarters in the fertile upland
beyond them, the district where the Lesser Zab rises, south of Lake
Urumiyeh.

If he had hoped that his enemies would not pursue him, Bahram was
disappointed. Chosroes himself, and the whole of the mixed army which
supported his cause, soon followed on his footsteps, and pressing
forward to Canzaca, or Shiz, near which he had pitched his camp, offered
him battle for the second time. Bahram declined the offer, and retreated
to a position on the Balarathus, where, however, after a short time, he
was forced to come to an engagement. He had received, it would seem, a
reinforcement of elephants from the provinces bordering on India, and
hoped for some advantage from the employment of this new arm. He had
perhaps augmented his forces, though it must be doubted whether he
really on this occasion outnumbered his antagonist. At any rate, the
time seemed to have come when he must abide the issue of his appeal to
arms, and secure or lose h