"Thy men were on the point of destroying my camp; and thou rewardest me by throwing suspicion upon me!" The Turk swore that he knew no reason for the act, upon which Anûshirwân addressed him, saying, "Brother, thy troops and mine look with disfavor on the peace we made, because they have thereby lost the booty depending on razzias and wars that might be carried out between us. I fear they undertake things to corrupt our hearts after our mutual agreement of sincerity, so that we may once more have recourse to enmity after our new blood relationship and our friendship. I deem it wise, therefore, that thou allowest me to build a wall between thee and me with one gate through which none from us will go to you and from you to us, except the ones thou wishest and we wish." The Turk accepted the proposal and left for his own land.
Anûshirwân commenced building the wall. He built the side of it that faced the sea with rock and lead. Its width he made 300 dhirâʿs, and its height reached the mountain heights. He ordered that stones be carried in boats and dropped into the sea, so that when they appeared above the surface, he could build on them. The wall extended over a distance of three miles in the sea. When the construction was completed, he fixed on its entrance iron gates and entrusted it to one hundred horsemen to guard it. Before this, it took 50,000 troops to guard the place. On this wall he also set a mantelet. The Khaḳân[1] was later told, "Anûshirwân has deceived thee and given thee for wife one who is not his daughter and fortified himself against thee"; but Khaḳân was no match for such wiles.
Anûshirwân assigns kings. Anûshirwân assigned kings, stationed them in different districts, and conferred on each one of them the governorship [made him Shâh] of one dis-
- ↑ The Turkish king.
