Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/260

 way lay open through the richest part of Assyria to Ctesiphon, where were congregated the captives and spoils of Antioch, within reach of a strategical march. But Belisarius could not persuade himself to quit the vicinity of the frontier, intent as he was on settling his relations with his wife; and on hearing of her approach he retreated with his forces to a position which enabled her to join him. Subsequent events in this connection now become merged in occurrences which I have yet to relate.

Chosroes, on his side simultaneously, was beset with untoward circumstances. Owing to the barren nature of Lazica his army was ill-provided with necessaries, and many of his soldiers had perished through disease and want. A mutinous spirit became rife, and during their retreat, hearing of the successes of Belisarius and Valerian, they feared to be cut off in the rocky passes commanded by heights accessible to a hostile force. The Shah was assailed with reproaches for having entered unadvisedly on a war with a nation of so much political competency, and he began to be alarmed for the security of his throne. In this strait his good fortune had provided him with a remedy of a peculiar kind, which emanated from the assumption and indiscretion of the Byzantine Empress herself. Zaberganes, his most influential adviser, had received a letter from Theodora, to whom he was personally known, imploring him to incline his master to grant considerate terms of peace. "Should you achieve this object," she added, "I can promise you a splendid recompense on the part of my husband, who is absolutely dependent on my advice." Having read this epistle Chosroes inquired of his staff whether a state could be efficiently governed in which a woman exercised such a preposterous ascendancy. They agreed unanimously that such an adver