Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/245

 of the Byzantine autocrat. Hearing that Justinian favoured the Blues, he announced himself in opposition as a partisan of the Greens. As, however, his temper was uncertain, it was thought prudent to conciliate him with a gift of a thousand pounds of silver before his departure; but, still insatiate, he insisted also in appropriating the treasures of the cathedral. He now discarded all respect for the peace negotiations, and resumed his career of subjugation. Ransoms were exacted as before, and he decided on the blockade of Edessa, but was deterred by the evil omen of a boil on his cheek. He then laid siege to Dara, and drove a tunnel beneath the walls. His design, however, was betrayed, and frustrated by a counterwork on the part of the besieged, whereupon he abandoned the enterprise and returned to Persia for the winter.

Justinian now repudiated the peace convention, which had been made by his legates, on the ground that Chosroes had violated the conditions; and in the spring of 541 Belisarius arrived at Dara to organize the defences of the country. The result of a military council was an advance, with all the forces which could be mustered, on Nisibis. Here the usual round of skirmishes were fought outside the walls, but at length it was decided that the fortress was impregnable, and the Roman army retired. A conflict with the