was upon him.  But about that time Jesus, the Son of God, was in the body and moving among the men of Palestine, shewing manifestly by the fact that he never sinned at all, and also by his performing even things impossible, that he was the Son of God in very truth; for he called the dead and raised them up as if from sleep, and opened the eyes of men who had been born blind, and cleansed those whose whole bodies were covered with leprosy, and released those whose feet were maimed, and he cured all the other diseases which are called by the physicians incurable.  When these things were reported to Augarus by those who travelled from Palestine to Edessa, he took courage and wrote a letter to Jesus, begging him to depart from Judaea and the senseless people there, and to spend his life with him from that time forward.  When the Christ saw this message, he wrote in reply to Augarus, saying distinctly that he would not come, but promising him health in the letter.  And they say that he added this also that never would the city be liable to capture by the barbarians.  This final portion of the letter was entirely unknown to those who wrote the history of that time; for they did not even make mention of it anywhere; but the men of Edessa say that they found it with the letter, so that they have even caused the letter to be inscribed in this form on the gates of the city instead of any other defence.  The city did in fact come under the Medes a short time afterwards, not by capture however, but in the following manner.  A short time after Augarus received the letter of the Christ, he became free from suffering, and after living on in health for a long time, he came to his end.  But that one of his sons who succeeded to the kingdom shewed himself the most unholy of all men, and besides committing many other wrongs against his subjects, he voluntarily went over to the Persians, fearing the vengeance which was to come from the Romans.  But long after this the citizens of Edessa destroyed the barbarian guards who were dwelling with them, and gave the city into the hands of the Romans. * * [11] he is eager to attach it to his cause, judging by what has happened in my time, which I shall present in the appropriate place.  And the thought once occurred to me that, if the Christ did not write this thing just as I have told it, still, since men have come to believe in it, He wishes to guard the city uncaptured for this reason, that He may never give them any pretext for error.  As for these things, then, let them be as God wills, and so let them be told.

For this reason it seemed to Chosroes at that time a matter of moment to capture Edessa.  And when he came to Batne, a small stronghold of no importance, one day’s journey distant from Edessa, he bivouacked there for that night, but at early dawn he was on the march to Edessa with his whole army.  But it fell out that they lost their way and wandered about, and on the following night bivouacked in the same place;