unnic
peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land.
As a result of this they have never made any incursion into the Roman
territory except in company with the Median army. They are the only ones
among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not
ugly. It is also true that their manner of living is unlike that of
their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are
ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they
observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and
with their neighbours, in no degree less than the Romans and the
Persians. Moreover, the wealthy citizens are in the habit of attaching
to themselves friends to the number of twenty or more, as the case may
be, and these become permanently their banquet-companions, and have a
share in all their property, enjoying some kind of a common right in
this matter. Then, when the man who has gathered such a company together
comes to die, it is the custom that all these men be borne alive into
the tomb with him.

Perozes, marching against these Ephthalitae, was accompanied by an
ambassador, Eusebius by name, who, as it happened, had been sent to his
court by the Emperor Zeno. Now the Ephthalitae made it appear to their
enemy that they had turned to flight because they were wholly terrified
by their attack, and they retired with all speed to a place which was
shut in on every side by precipitous mountains, and abundantly screened
by a close forest of wide-spreading trees. Now as one advanced between
the mountains to a great distance, a broad way appeared in the valley,
extending apparently to an indefinite distance, but at the end it had no
outlet at all, but terminated in the very midst of the circle of
mountains. So Perozes, with no thought at all of treachery, and
forgetting that he was marching in a hostile country, continued the
pursuit without the least caution. A small body of the Huns were in
flight before him, while the greater part of their force, by concealing
themselves in the rough country, got in the rear of the hostile army;
but as yet they desired not to be seen by them, in order that they might
advance well into the trap and get as far as possible in among the
mountains, and thus be no longer able to turn back. When the Medes began
to realize all this (for they now began to have a glimmering of their
peril), though they refrained from speaking of the situati