CHAPTER XVII

FLIGHT OF CHOSROES THE YOUNGER

THEY establish as his successor his son Chosroes, against whom Varamus advanced with his troops. Chosroes encounters him with an inconsiderable force, and takes to flight on seeing his own men deserting him. He arrives at Circesium, having, according to his own account, vowed to the God of the Christians, that he would allow his horse to take its course wherever it should be guided by Him. He was accompanied by his wives and two newly-born children, and certain Persian nobles who voluntarily followed him. Thence he sends an embassy to the emperor Maurice; who, manifesting on this occasion too the soundest judgment, and deriving from the very circumstances an estimate of the instability and mutability of life, and the sudden fluctuations of human affairs, admits his suit, and treats him as a guest instead of an exile, and as a son instead of a fugitive, welcoming him with royal gifts, which were sent not only by the emperor himself, but, in similar style, by the empress to the consorts of Chosroes, and also by their children to the children.