thou wilt gain only this, that thou wilt
have wrongfully wrought deeds of irreparable harm upon those who have
recently made peace with thee." So spoke the ambassadors.

And Chosroes, upon hearing this, insisted that the treaty had been
broken by the Emperor Justinian; and he enumerated the causes of war
which the Emperor afforded, some of them of real importance and others
idle and fabricated without any reason; most of all he wished to shew
that the letters written by him to Alamoundaras and the Huns were the
chief cause of the war, just as I have stated above[6]. But as for any
Roman who had invaded the land of Persia, or who had made a display of
warlike deeds, he was unable either to mention or to point out such a
one. The ambassadors, however, referred the charges in part not to
Justinian but to certain of those who had served him, while in the case
of others they took exception to what he had said on the ground that the
things had not taken place as stated. Finally Chosroes made the demand
that the Romans give him a large sum of money, but he warned them not to
hope to establish peace for all time by giving money at that moment
only. For friendship, he said, which is made by men on terms of money is
generally spent as fast as the money is used up. It was necessary,
therefore, that the Romans should pay some definite annual sum to the
Persians. "For thus," he said, "the Persians will keep the peace secure
for them, guarding the Caspian Gates themselves and no longer feeling
resentment at them on account of the city of Daras, in return for which
the Persians themselves will be in their pay forever." "So," said the
ambassadors, "the Persians desire to have the Romans subject and
tributary to themselves." "No," said Chosroes, "but the Romans will have
the Persians as their own soldiers for the future, dispensing to them a
fixed payment for their service; for you give an annual payment of gold
to some of the Huns and to the Saracens, not as tributary subjects to
them, but in order that they may guard your land unplundered for all
time." After Chosroes and the ambassadors had spoken thus at length with
each other, they at last came to terms, agreeing that Chosroes should
forthwith take from the Romans fifty centenaria[7], and that, receiving
a tribute of five more centenaria annually for all time, he should do
them no further harm, but taking with him hostages from the ambassadors
to pledge the keeping of the agreement