Unpractised in the art of violating treaties, he secretly excited his bold and subtle vassal Almondar.

That prince of the Saracens, who resided at Hira, [59] had not been included in the general peace, and still waged an obscure war against his rival Arethas, the chief of the tribe of Gassan, and confederate of the empire.

The subject of their dispute was an extensive sheep-walk in the desert to the south of Palmyra.

An immemorial tribute for the license of pasture appeared to attest the rights of Almondar, while the Gassanite appealed to the Latin name of strata, a paved road, as an unquestionable evidence of the sovereignty and labors of the Romans.

[60] The two monarchs supported the cause of their respective vassals; and the Persian Arab, without expecting the event of a slow and doubtful arbitration, enriched his flying camp with the spoil and captives of Syria.