Res Gestae

There being given permission to say what he wished, with mild words he advised the Persians to return to their homes, declaring that after the lamentable losses on both sides it was to be feared that perhaps even greater ones might follow. But it was in vain that he persisted in making these and many similar pleas, opposed as they were by the frenzied rage of the king, who roundly swore that he would not leave the place until the fortress had been destroyed.

But the bishop incurred the shadow of a suspicion, unfounded in my opinion, though circulated confidently by many, of having told Sapor in a secret conference what parts of the wall to attack, as being slight within and weak. And in the end there seemed to be ground for this, since after his visit the enemy’s engines deliberately battered those places which were tottering and insecure from decay, and that too with