When the Medes retired from the country of the Romans, restoring to them the city of Amida,[33] as has been narrated in my ‘History of the Wars,’ the Emperor Anastasius took great pains to build a wall round an, at that time, unimportant village named Dara, which he observed was situated near the Persian frontier, and to form it into a city which would act as a bulwark against the enemy. Since, however, by the terms of the treaty formerly made by the Emperor Theodosius with the Persians, it was forbidden that either party should build any new fortress on their own ground in the neighbourhood of the frontier, the Persians urged that this was forbidden by the articles of the peace, and hindered the work with all their power, although their attention was diverted from it by their war with the Huns. The Romans, perceiving that on account of this war they were unprepared, pushed on their building all the more vigorously, being eager to finish the work before the enemy should bring their war against the Huns to a close and march against themselves. Being alarmed through their suspicions of the enemy, and constantly expecting an attack, they did not construct their building carefully, but the quickness of building into which they were forced by their excessive hurry prevented their work being secure; for speed and safety are never wont to go together, nor is swiftness often accompanied by accuracy. They therefore built the city-walls in this hurried fashion, not making a wall which would defy the enemy, but raising it barely to the necessary height; nor did they even place the stones in their right positions or arrange them in due order, or fill the interstices with mortar. In a short time, therefore, since the towers, through their insecure construction, were far from being able to withstand snow and hot sun, most of them fell into ruins. Thus was the first wall built round the city of Dara.[34] [Illustration: FORTIFICATIONS AT DARA. _From Texier & Pullan’s Byzantine Architecture_]