Here the Romans refused to attack him; and Chosroes very imprudently ordered the Persians who fought on his side to advance up the ascent.

They were repulsed, and thrown into complete confusion; and the battle would infallibly have been lost, had not Narses come to their aid, and with his steady and solid battalions protected their retreat and restored the fight.

Yet the day terminated with a feeling on both sides that Bahram had on the whole had the advantage in the engagement; the king _de facto_ congratulated himself; the king _de jure_ had to bear the insulting pity of his allies, and the reproaches of his own countrymen for occasioning them such a disaster.
But though Bahram might feel that the glory of the day was his, he was not elated by his success, nor rendered blind to the difficulties of his position.

Fighting with his back to the mountains, he was liable, if he suffered defeat, to be entangled in their defiles and lose his entire force.

Moreover, now that Ctesiphon was no longer his, he had neither resources nor _point d'appui_ in the low country, and by falling back he would at once be approaching nearer to the main source of his own supplies, which was the country about Rei, south of the Caspian, and drawing his enemies to a greater distance from the sources of theirs.
He may even have thought there was a chance of his being unpursued if he retired, since the Romans might not like to venture into the mountain region, and Chosroes might be impatient to make a triumphal entry into his capital.