covered with leprosy,
and released those whose feet were maimed, and he cured all the other
diseases which are called by the physicians incurable. When these things
were reported to Augarus by those who travelled from Palestine to
Edessa, he took courage and wrote a letter to Jesus, begging him to
depart from Judaea and the senseless people there, and to spend his life
with him from that time forward. When the Christ saw this message, he
wrote in reply to Augarus, saying distinctly that he would not come, but
promising him health in the letter. And they say that he added this also
that never would the city be liable to capture by the barbarians. This
final portion of the letter was entirely unknown to those who wrote the
history of that time; for they did not even make mention of it anywhere;
but the men of Edessa say that they found it with the letter, so that
they have even caused the letter to be inscribed in this form on the
gates of the city instead of any other defence. The city did in fact
come under the Medes a short time afterwards, not by capture however,
but in the following manner. A short time after Augarus received the
letter of the Christ, he became free from suffering, and after living on
in health for a long time, he came to his end. But that one of his sons
who succeeded to the kingdom shewed himself the most unholy of all men,
and besides committing many other wrongs against his subjects, he
voluntarily went over to the Persians, fearing the vengeance which was
to come from the Romans. But long after this the citizens of Edessa
destroyed the barbarian guards who were dwelling with them, and gave the
city into the hands of the Romans. * * *[11] he is eager to attach it to
his cause, judging by what has happened in my time, which I shall
present in the appropriate place. And the thought once occurred to me
that, if the Christ did not write this thing just as I have told it,
still, since men have come to believe in it, He wishes to guard the city
uncaptured for this reason, that He may never give them any pretext for
error. As for these things, then, let them be as God wills, and so let
them be told.

For this reason it seemed to Chosroes at that time a matter of moment to
capture Edessa. And when he came to Batne, a small stronghold of no
importance, one day's journey distant from Edessa, he bivouacked there
for that night, but at early dawn he was on the march to Edessa with his
whole army. But it fel