nd themselves with all their might.

And first Narses with the Eruli and those of the Romans who were under
him, engaged with the enemy, and after a hard hand-to-hand struggle, he
routed the Persians who were before him. And the barbarians in flight
ascended on the run to the fortress, and in so doing they inflicted
terrible injury upon one another in the narrow way. And then Narses
urged his men forward and pressed still harder upon the enemy, and the
rest of the Romans joined in the action. But all of a sudden the men who
were in ambush, as has been said[20], came out from the cabins along the
narrow alleys, and killed some of the Eruli, falling unexpectedly upon
them, and they struck Narses himself a blow on the temple. And his
brother Isaac carried him out from among the fighting men, mortally
wounded. And he died shortly afterwards, having proved himself a brave
man in this engagement. Then, as was to be expected, great confusion
fell upon the Roman army, and Nabedes let out the whole Persian force
upon his opponents. And the Persians, shooting into great masses of the
enemy in the narrow alleys, killed a large number without difficulty,
and particularly of the Eruli who had at the first fallen upon the enemy
with Narses and were fighting for the most part without protection. For
the Eruli have neither helmet nor corselet nor any other protective
armour, except a shield and a thick jacket, which they gird about them
before they enter a struggle. And indeed the Erulian slaves go into
battle without even a shield, and when they prove themselves brave men
in war, then their masters permit them to protect themselves in battle
with shields. Such is the custom of the Eruli.

And the Romans did not withstand the enemy and all of them fled as fast
as they could, never once thinking of resistance and heedless of shame
or of any other worthy motive. But the Persians, suspecting that they
had not turned thus to a shameless flight, but that they were making use
of some ambuscades against them, pursued them as far as the rough ground
extended and then turned back, not daring to fight a decisive battle on
level ground, a few against many. The Romans, however, and especially
all the generals, supposing that the enemy were continuing the pursuit
without pause, kept fleeing still faster, wasting not a moment; and they
were urging on their horses as they ran with whip and voice, and
throwing their corselets and other accoutrements i