whom were from among his own guard, putting two
guardsmen in command of them, Trajan and John who was called the
Glutton, both capable warriors. These men he directed to obey Arethas in
everything they did, and he commanded Arethas to pillage all that lay
before him and then return to the camp and report how matters stood with
the Assyrians with regard to military strength. So Arethas and his men
crossed the River Tigris and entered Assyria. There they found a goodly
land and one which had been free from plunder for a long time, and
undefended besides; and moving rapidly they pillaged many of the places
there and secured a great amount of rich plunder. And at that time
Belisarius captured some of the Persians and learned from them that
those who were inside the fortress were altogether out of provisions.
For they do not observe the custom which is followed in the cities of
Daras and Nisibis, where they put away the annual food-supply in public
store-houses, and now that a hostile army had fallen upon them
unexpectedly they had not anticipated the event by carrying in any of
the necessities of life. And since a great number of persons had taken
refuge suddenly in the fortress, they were naturally hard pressed by the
want of provisions. When Belisarius learned this, he sent George, a man
of the greatest discretion with whom he shared his secrets, to test the
men of the place, in the hope that he might be able to arrange some
terms of surrender and thus take the place. And George succeeded, after
addressing to them many words of exhortation and of kindly invitation,
in persuading them to take pledges for their safety and to deliver
themselves and the fortress to the Romans. Thus Belisarius captured
Sisauranon, and the inhabitants, all of whom were Christians and of
Roman origin, he released unscathed, but the Persians he sent with
Bleschames to Byzantium, and razed the fortification wall of the
fortress to the ground. And the emperor not long afterwards sent these
Persians and Bleschames to Italy to fight against the Goths. Such, then,
was the course of events which had to do with the fortress of
Sisauranon.

But Arethas, fearing lest he should be despoiled of his booty by the
Romans, was now unwilling to return to the camp. So he sent some of his
followers ostensibly for the purpose of reconnoitring, but secretly
commanding them to return as quickly as possible and announce to the
army that a large hostile force was at t