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reproached him for his irrational audacity, by which he was destroying both himself and the Persian race in no good order, and he promised that the Huns would grant them salvation even so, if Perozes would be willing to prostrate himself before him, as one who had become his master, and give pledges, swearing their ancestral oaths, that the Persians would never again march against the nation of the Hephthalites. 1.3.18 When Perozes heard these things, having conferred with the Magi who were present, he inquired whether the things promised by the enemy should be done. 1.3.19 The Magi replied that as for the matter of the oath, it was for him to arrange it as he wished, but as for the 1.3.20 other matter, he could outwit the enemy with a clever trick. For it was their custom to worship the rising of the sun 1.3.21 each day. Therefore, it would be necessary for him, having observed the moment precisely, to meet with the ruler of the Hephthalites at daybreak, but turned towards the rising sun to prostrate himself; for in this way he would be able to escape the dishonor of the act for the 1.3.22 future. Perozes, therefore, both gave pledges concerning the peace and prostrated himself before the enemy, just as the suggestion of the Magi instructed, and with his entire Median army intact, he gladly withdrew homeward. 1.4.1 But not much later, disregarding what he had sworn, he wished to punish the Huns for their insolence towards him. 1.4.2 Therefore, he immediately gathered all the Persians and their allies from every land and led them against the Hephthalites, leaving behind only one of his sons, named Kavadh (for he happened to be of age at that time), but taking with him all the rest, about thirty in number. 1.4.3 But the Hephthalites, learning of his attack and vexed that they had been deceived by the enemy, reproached their king for having betrayed 1.4.4 their cause to the Medes. And he, with a laugh, asked them what in the world he had betrayed of theirs, whether it was their 1.4.5 land or their arms or any other of their possessions. They replied that it was nothing other than the opportunity, they said, on which everything else happened to depend. 1.4.6 They, therefore, demanded to meet the invaders with all eagerness, but he for the present prevented them. For he maintained that nothing certain about the attack had yet become known to them, since the Persians were still in their own 1.4.7 land; but remaining there he did the following. In the plain where the Persians were about to invade the Hephthalite territory, having marked off a large area for a great distance, he constructed a trench both deep and of considerable width, leaving a small, solid space in the middle, enough for a path for ten 1.4.8 horses. And having placed reeds over the trench 1.4.8 and having piled earth on the reeds, he concealed it superficially in this way, and he instructed the host of the Huns that, when they were about to retreat from there, they should gather themselves into a narrow column and proceed more slowly through the solid ground, taking care not to fall into the 1.4.9 excavated parts; and he hung the salt from the top of the royal standard, by which Perozes had formerly sworn the oath, which he had then disregarded and marched against the Huns. 1.4.10 As long, therefore, as he heard that the enemy was in their own land, he remained quiet, but when he learned from his scouts that they had arrived at the city of Gorgo, which happens to be on the farthest borders of Persia, and having departed from there were now marching against them, he himself remained with the greater part of his army inside the trench, but he sent a few men and ordered them to appear to the enemy on the plain from a great distance, and as soon as they were seen, to flee back at full speed, keeping in mind his instructions about the trench, 1.4.11 when they came very near it. They acted accordingly, and when they got very close to the trench, they gathered themselves into a narrow column, all crossed over, and 1.4.12 mingled with the rest of the army. But the Persians, being in no way able to perceive the plot, pursued at full speed on a very level plain, filled with great fury against the enemy, and they all fell into the trench, 1.4.13 not only the first, but also all who followed behind; for since they were making the pursuit with great fury, as was said, they were least aware of the disaster, which indeed

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αὐτῷ θράσους πέρι ἀλογίστου ὠνείδισεν, ἀφ' οὗ δὴ αὑτόν τε καὶ τὸ Περσῶν γένος κόσμῳ οὐδενὶ διαφθείρειεν, ἐνδώσειν δὲ καὶ ὣς τὴν σωτηρίαν Οὔννους αὐτοῖς ἐπηγγέλλετο, ἤν γε αὐτόν τε Περόζης προσκυνεῖν βούλοιτο, ἅτε δεσπότην γεγενημένον καὶ ὅρκους τοὺς σφίσι πατρίους ὀμνὺς τὰ πιστὰ δοίη, μήποτε Πέρσας ἐπὶ τὸ Ἐφθαλιτῶν 1.3.18 ἔθνος στρατεύσασθαι. ταῦτα ἐπεὶ Περόζης ἤκουσε, μάγων τοῖς παροῦσι κοινολογησάμενος ἀνεπυνθάνετο εἰ τὰ ἐπαγγελλόμενα πρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων ποιητέα εἴη. 1.3.19 οἱ δὲ μάγοι ἀπεκρίναντο τὰ μὲν ἀμφὶ τῷ ὅρκῳ ὅπη οἱ βουλομένῳ ἐστὶν αὐτὸν διοικήσασθαι, ἐς μέντοι τὸ 1.3.20 ἕτερον σοφίᾳ περιελθεῖν τὸν πολέμιον. εἶναι γὰρ αὐτοῖς νόμον τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου ἀνατολὰς προσκυνεῖν 1.3.21 ἡμέρᾳ ἑκάστῃ. δεήσειν οὖν αὐτὸν τηρήσαντα ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τὸν καιρὸν ξυγγενέσθαι μὲν ἅμα ἡμέρᾳ τῷ τῶν Ἐφθαλιτῶν ἄρχοντι, τετραμμένον δέ που πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα ἥλιον προσκυνεῖν ταύτῃ γὰρ ἂν ἐς τὸ 1.3.22 ἔπειτα τῆς πράξεως τὴν ἀτιμίαν φυγεῖν δύναιτο. Περόζης μὲν οὖν ἀμφί τε τῇ εἰρήνῃ τὰ πιστὰ ἔδωκε καὶ τὸν πολέμιον προσεκύνησε, καθάπερ τῶν μάγων ἡ ὑποθήκη παρήγγελλεν, ἀκραιφνεῖ δὲ παντὶ τῷ Μήδων στρατῷ ἐπ' οἴκου ἄσμενος ἀνεχώρησε. 1.4.1 Χρόνῳ δὲ οὐ πολλῷ ὕστερον ἀλογήσας τὰ ὀμωμοσμένα τίσασθαι Οὔννους τῆς ἐς αὐτὸν ὕβρεως ἤθελε. 1.4.2 πάντας οὖν αὐτίκα ἐκ πάσης γῆς Πέρσας τε καὶ ξυμμάχους ἀγείρας ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἐφθαλίτας ἦγε, τῶν παίδων ἕνα μὲν Καβάδην ὄνομα μόνον ἀπολιπὼν (τηνικαῦτα γὰρ ἡβηκὼς ἔτυχε), τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἅπαντας ἐπαγό1.4.3 μενος τριάκοντα μάλιστα. Ἐφθαλῖται δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔφοδον γνόντες ἀχθόμενοί τε οἷς δὴ πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ἠπάτηντο τὸν βασιλέα ἐκάκιζον, ἅτε προέμενον 1.4.4 Μήδοις τὰ πράγματα. καὶ ὃς αὐτῶν ξὺν γέλωτι ἐπυνθάνετο τί ποτε ἄρα σφῶν προέμενος εἴη, πότερον τὴν 1.4.5 γῆν ἢ τὰ ὅπλα ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν πάντων χρημάτων. οἱ δὲ ὑπολαβόντες οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν πλήν γε δὴ ὅτι τὸν καιρὸν ἔφασαν, οὗ τἄλλα πάντα ἠρτῆσθαι ξυμβαίνει. 1.4.6 οἱ μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἐπιοῦσιν ὑπαντιάζειν πάσῃ προθυμίᾳ ἠξίουν, ὁ δὲ αὐτοὺς μὲν ἔν γε τῷ παρόντι ἐκώλυεν. οὐ γάρ πω σαφές τι ἀμφὶ τῇ ἐφόδῳ ἰσχυρίζετο γεγονέναι σφίσιν, ἐπεὶ οἱ Πέρσαι ἔτι ἐν γῇ τῇ οἰκείᾳ τυγ1.4.7 χάνουσιν ὄντες· μένων δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐποίει τάδε. ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ, ᾗ ἔμελλον Πέρσαι ἐς τὰ Ἐφθαλιτῶν ἤθη ἐσβάλλειν, χώραν πολλήν τινα ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀποτεμὼν τάφρον εἰργάσατο βαθεῖάν τε καὶ εὔρους ἱκανῶς ἔχουσαν, ὀλίγον τινὰ ἐν μέσῳ ἀκραιφνῆ χῶρον ἀπολιπὼν ὅσον 1.4.8 ἵππων ὁδῷ ἐπαρκεῖν δέκα. καλάμους τε τῇ τάφρῳ 1.4.8 ὕπερθεν ἐπιθεὶς καὶ γῆν ἐπὶ τοὺς καλάμους συναμησάμενος ταύτῃ ἐπιπολῆς ἔκρυψεν, Οὔννων τε τῷ ὁμίλῳ ἐπέστελλεν, ἐπειδὰν ἐνθένδε ὀπίσω ἀπελαύνειν μέλλωσι, διὰ χώρου τοῦ χέρσου ἐς ὀλίγους σφᾶς ξυναγαγόντας σχολαιτέρους ἰέναι, φυλασσομένους ὅπως μὴ ἐς τὰ 1.4.9 ἐσκαμμένα ἐμπίπτοιεν· τοὺς δὲ ἅλας ἄκρου σημείου τοῦ βασιλείου ἀπεκρέμασεν, ἐς οὓς τὸν ὅρκον Περόζης ὤμοσε πρότερον, ὃν δὴ ἀλογήσας εἶτα ἐπὶ Οὔννους 1.4.10 ἐστράτευσεν. ἕως μὲν οὖν ἐν γῇ τῇ σφετέρᾳ τοὺς πολεμίους ἤκουεν εἶναι, ἡσυχῇ ἔμενεν, ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐς Γοργὼ πόλιν ἔμαθεν ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς τῶν κατασκόπων, ἥπερ ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις Περσῶν ὁρίοις τυγχάνει οὖσα, ἐνθένδε τε ἀπαλλαγέντας ὁδῷ ἐπὶ σφᾶς ἤδη ἰέναι, αὐτὸς μὲν τῷ πλείονι τοῦ στρατοῦ τῆς τάφρου ἐντὸς ἔμεινεν, ὀλίγους δὲ πέμψας ὀφθῆναι μὲν τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ ἐκέλευε μακρὰν ἄποθεν, ὀφθέντας δὲ μόνον εἶτα ἀνὰ κράτος φεύγειν ὀπίσω, ἐν μνήμῃ τὰς αὐτοῦ ἐντολὰς ἀμφὶ τῇ κατώρυχι ἔχοντας, 1.4.11 ἡνίκα δὴ αὐτῆς ἄγχιστα ἵκοιντο. οἱ δὲ κατὰ ταῦτα ἐποίουν, καὶ ἐπεὶ τῆς διώρυχος ἀγχοτάτω ἐγένοντο, ἐς ὀλίγους σφᾶς ξυναγαγόντες διέβησαν ἅπαντες καὶ 1.4.12 τῷ ἄλλῳ στρατῷ ἀνεμίγνυντο. οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι ξυνεῖναι τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς οὐδαμῆ ἔχοντες κατὰ κράτος ἐν πεδίῳ λίαν ὑπτίῳ ἐδίωκον, θυμῷ πολλῷ ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους ἐχόμενοι, ἔς τε τὴν τάφρον ἐμπεπτώκασιν ἅπαντες, 1.4.13 οὐχ οἱ πρῶτοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι ὄπισθεν εἵποντο· ἅτε γὰρ τὴν δίωξιν ξὺν θυμῷ μεγάλῳ, καθάπερ ἐρρήθη, ποιούμενοι, ὡς ἥκιστα ᾔσθοντο τοῦ κακοῦ, ὃ δὴ