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all to the customs of the Persians, and would make the city a sheep-pasture. 2.26.5 At any rate, having come near Edessa with his whole army, he sent some of the Huns who followed him to the circuit-wall of the city, which is indeed above the hippodrome, not to do any other harm, but to seize sheep, which the shepherds happened to have stationed in great numbers somewhere there beside the fortification, trusting in the strength of the place, because it was exceedingly steep, and thinking that the enemy would never dare to go so 2.26.6 very near the wall. So the barbarians were already laying hands on the sheep, but the shepherds, defending themselves most stoutly, were preventing them. 2.26.7 And when many Persians had come to the aid of the Huns, the barbarians were strong enough to carry off a certain flock from there, but when the Roman soldiers and some of the populace went out against the enemy, the battle became hand-to-hand, and the flock of its own accord returned again to the shepherds. 2.26.8 And a certain one of the Huns, fighting in front of the others, was troubling 2.26.9 the Romans most of all. And a certain countryman, hitting him on the right knee with a sling, strikes him, and he immediately fell headlong from his horse to the ground, which 2.26.10 indeed encouraged the Romans still more. And the battle, having begun in the morning, ended at midday, at which point they separated, each side thinking they had the advantage. 2.26.11 And the Romans went inside the circuit-wall, and the barbarians, being quartered seven stades from the city, all made camp. 2.26.12 Then Chosroes, whether he saw some vision in a dream or some thought came to him, that if, having tried twice, he should not be able to take Edessa, it would come about that a great disgrace would befall him. 2.26.13 For which reason, indeed, he decided to sell his withdrawal to the Edessenes for a large sum of money. 2.26.14 At any rate, on the following day, Paul the interpreter, coming to the wall, said that it was necessary for the Romans to send some of their notable men to Chosroes. 2.26.15 And they quickly selected four of the most distinguished among themselves and sent them. 2.26.16 When these men arrived at the camp of the Medes, Zaberganes, meeting them by the king's will and having terrified them with many threats, asked them which of two courses happened to be more preferable for them, whether those leading to peace, 2.26.17 or those leading to war. And when they agreed that they would choose peace before dangers, Zaberganes said, "Therefore, it is necessary for you to buy this for a large sum of money." 2.26.18 And the envoys said they would give as much as they had provided before, when, after capturing Antioch, he came against them. 2.26.19 And Zaberganes sent them away with a laugh, on the condition that after deliberating most carefully concerning their safety, they should thus come to them again. 2.26.20 And a little later Chosroes, having sent for them, when they came before him, recounted both what had happened before and in what manner he had enslaved the lands of the Romans, and he threatened that more terrible things would befall the Edessenes from the Persians, unless they should give them all the money they had within the circuit-wall; for he said that only in this way would the army depart from there. 2.26.21 The envoys, hearing these things, agreed that they would purchase peace from Chosroes, if, at least, he did not demand of them the impossible; and they said that the outcome of the danger was clear to no one at all before the contest. 2.26.22 For a war is never carried on by its participants on the basis of a previous agreement. So then Chosroes with anger ordered the envoys to depart as quickly as possible. 2.26.23 And on the eighth day from the beginning of the siege, wishing to raise up a man-made mound against the circuit-wall of the city, since after cutting down many trees with their leaves from places somewhere nearby, he placed them in a square before the wall, to which place it was indeed impossible for a missile from the city to reach, and having heaped up a very great quantity of earth without art above the trees, he threw on a great mass of stones, not suitably for building, but cut at random, caring for this one thing only, that the mound might be raised to a great height as quickly as possible. 2.26.24 and continually throwing in long timbers between the earth and the stones as a binder

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ἅπαντας ἐς τὰ Περσῶν ἤθη, τὴν δὲ πόλιν μηλό2.26.5 βοτον καταστήσεσθαι. παντὶ γοῦν τῷ στρατῷ ἀγχοῦ Ἐδέσσης γενόμενος Οὔννων τῶν οἱ ἑπομένων τινὰς ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς πόλεως περίβολον ἔπεμψεν, ὃς δὴ τοῦ ἱπποδρόμου καθύπερθέν ἐστιν, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν κακουργήσοντας, πρόβατα δὲ ἁρπασομένους, ἅπερ οἱ ποιμένες πολλὰ ἐνταῦθά πη παρὰ τὸ τείχισμα στήσαντες ἔτυχον, χωρίου τε ἰσχύϊ θαρσοῦντες, ὅτι δὴ ἄναντες ὑπερφυῶς ἦν, καὶ οὔποτε τολμήσειν τοὺς πολεμίους οἰόμενοι 2.26.6 οὕτω πη ἄγχιστα τοῦ τείχους ἰέναι. οἱ μὲν οὖν βάρβαροι τῶν προβάτων ἥπτοντο ἤδη, οἱ δὲ ποιμένες 2.26.7 καρτερώτατα ἀμυνόμενοι διεκώλυον. Περσῶν τε τοῖς Οὔννοις ἐπιβεβοηθηκότων πολλῶν, ἀγέλην μὲν ἐνθένδε ἀφελέσθαι τινὰ οἱ βάρβαροι ἴσχυσαν, Ῥωμαίων δὲ στρατιωτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ δήμου ἐπεξελθόντων τοῖς πολεμίοις ἡ μὲν μάχη ἐκ χειρὸς γέγονεν, ἡ δὲ ἀγέλη αὐτόματος ἐς τοὺς ποιμένας ἐπανῆκεν αὖθις. 2.26.8 τῶν τέ τις Οὔννων πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων μαχόμενος μάλιστα 2.26.9 πάντων ἠνώχλει Ῥωμαίους. καί τις αὐτὸν ἀγροῖκος ἐς γόνυ τὸ δεξιὸν σφενδόνῃ ἐπιτυχὼν βάλλει, ὁ δὲ πρηνὴς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἵππου ἐς τὸ ἔδαφος εὐθὺς ἔπεσεν, ὃ 2.26.10 δὴ Ῥωμαίους ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐπέρρωσεν. ἥ τε μάχη πρωὶ ἀρξαμένη ἐτελεύτα ἐς μέσην ἡμέραν, ἐν ᾗ ἑκάτεροι τὸ 2.26.11 πλέον ἔχειν οἰόμενοι διελύθησαν. καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι μὲν ἐντὸς τοῦ περιβόλου ἐγένοντο, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι ἀπὸ σταδίων τῆς πόλεως ἑπτὰ διεσκηνημένοι ἐστρατοπεδεύσαντο ἅπαντες. 2.26.12 Τότε ὁ Χοσρόης εἴτε τινὰ ὄψιν ὀνείρου εἶδεν ἤ τις αὐτῷ ἔννοια γέγονεν, ὡς δὶς ἐγχειρήσας ἢν μὴ δυνατὸς εἴη Ἔδεσσαν ἐξελεῖν, πολλήν οἱ αἰσχύνην τινὰ 2.26.13 περιβαλέσθαι ξυμβήσεται. διὸ δὴ πολλῶν χρημάτων 2.26.14 ἀποδόσθαι τὴν ἀναχώρησιν Ἐδεσσηνοῖς ἔγνω. τῇ γοῦν ἐπιγινομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ Παῦλος ἑρμηνεὺς παρὰ τὸ τεῖχος ἥκων ἔφασκε Ῥωμαίους χρῆναι παρὰ Χοσρόην 2.26.15 σταλῆναι τῶν δοκίμων τινάς. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τάχος τέσσαρας ἀπολεξάμενοι τῶν ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπιφανῶν 2.26.16 ἔπεμψαν. οἷς δὴ ἐς τὸ Μήδων ἀφικομένοις στρατόπεδον ἐντυχὼν γνώμῃ βασιλέως ὁ Ζαβεργάνης ἀπειλαῖς τε πολλαῖς δεδιξάμενος ἀνεπυνθάνετο αὐτῶν ὁπότερα σφίσιν αἱρετώτερα τυγχάνει ὄντα, πότερον τὰ ἐς τὴν 2.26.17 εἰρήνην, ἢ τὰ ἐς τὸν πόλεμον ἄγοντα. τῶν δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην ἑλέσθαι ἂν πρὸ τῶν κινδύνων ὁμολογούντων, «Οὐκοῦν» ἔφη ὁ Ζαβεργάνης «ὠνεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς ταύτην 2.26.18 «ἀνάγκη χρημάτων πολλῶν.» οἵ τε πρέσβεις ἔφασαν τοσαῦτα δώσειν ὅσα παρέσχοντο πρότερον, ἡνίκα τὴν 2.26.19 Ἀντιόχειαν ἐξελὼν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἦλθε. καὶ ὁ Ζαβεργάνης αὐτοὺς ξὺν γέλωτι ἀπεπέμψατο, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐνδελεχέστατα βουλευσάμενοι ἀμφὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ οὕτω δὴ αὖθις 2.26.20 παρ' αὐτοὺς ἔλθωσιν. ὀλίγῳ τε ὕστερον μεταπεμψάμενος αὐτοὺς ὁ Χοσρόης, ἐπειδὴ παρ' αὐτὸν ἵκοντο, κατέλεξε μὲν ὅσα τε πρότερον καὶ ὅντινα τρόπον ἐξηνδραπόδισε Ῥωμαίων χωρία, ἠπείλησε δὲ τὰ δεινότερα Ἐδεσσηνοῖς πρὸς Περσῶν ἔσεσθαι, εἰ μὴ πάντα σφίσι τὰ χρήματα δοῖεν ὅσα τοῦ περιβόλου ἐντὸς ἔχουσιν· οὕτω γὰρ μόνως ἐνθένδε ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι 2.26.21 τὸν στρατὸν ἔφασκε. ταῦτα οἱ πρέσβεις ἀκούσαντες ὡμολόγουν μὲν παρὰ Χοσρόου τὴν εἰρήνην ὠνήσεσθαι, ἤν γε σφίσι μὴ τὰ ἀδύνατα ἐπαγγείλειε· τοῦ δὲ κινδύνου τὸ πέρας οὐδενὶ τῶν πάντων ἔφασαν πρὸ τῆς 2.26.22 ἀγωνίας ἔνδηλον εἶναι. πόλεμον γὰρ τοῖς αὐτὸν διαφέρουσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁμολογουμένοις οὐ μή ποτε εἶναι. τότε μὲν οὖν ξὺν ὀργῇ ὁ Χοσρόης τοὺς πρέσβεις ἐκέλευεν ὅτι τάχιστα ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι. 2.26.23 Ἡμέρᾳ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς προσεδρείας ὀγδόῃ λόφον ἐπαναστῆσαι χειροποίητον τῷ τῆς πόλεως περιβόλῳ βουλόμενος, ἐπεὶ τὰ δένδρα ἐκτεμὼν αὐτοῖς φύλλοις πολλὰ ἐκ χωρίων ἐγγύς πη ὄντων πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ἐν τετραγώνῳ ξυνέθηκεν, οὗ δὴ βέλος ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξικνεῖσθαι ἀδύνατα ἦν, χοῦν τε πολύν τινα ἀτεχνῶς ὕπερθεν τῶν δένδρων ξυναμησάμενος μέγα τι χρῆμα λίθων ἐπέβαλλεν, οὐκ ἐχόντων εἰς οἰκοδομίαν ἐπιτηδείως, ἀλλ' εἰκῆ τμηθέντων, ἐκείνου μόνου ἐπιμελούμενος, ὅπως δὴ ὁ λόφος ὅτι τάχιστα ἐς ὕψος μέγα ἐπαίροιτο. 2.26.24 καὶ ξύλα μακρὰ τοῦ τε χοῦ καὶ τῶν λίθων μεταξὺ ἐς ἀεὶ ἐμβαλλόμενος ἔνδεσμον