It is worth our while to describe his works upon the torrent which descends from these mountains. Two precipitous mountains overhang the city, standing close to one another; of these, the one is called Orocassias, the other Stauris. They are joined by a glen and ravine which lies between them, which in time of rain produces the torrent named Onopnictes, which used to flow down from the high ground and overflow the fortifications, and sometimes rose so high as to pour into the streets of the city, doing much mischief to the inhabitants. The Emperor Justinian remedied this in the following manner. In front of that part of the wall which is nearest to the ravine, from which the torrent used to rush against the wall, he built an exceedingly high wall, reaching from the hollow bed of the ravine to the mountains on either side, so that the torrent was not able to rush past it, but was forced to stay and collect its waters there. In this wall he made apertures, through which he forced the water to run gently in a smaller volume, checked by this artificial barrier, so that it no longer broke with its full force against the city wall so as to overflow it and ruin the city, but proceeded gently and quietly, as I have explained, and flowing in this manner passed wherever it was desired to go through the channels constructed for it by the former inhabitants. Thus did the Emperor Justinian reconstruct the walls of Antiochia; he also rebuilt the entire city, which was burnt by the enemy. As the whole city was reduced to ashes, and levelled to the ground, and only heaps of rubbish remained after the conflagration, it was at first impossible for the citizens of Antiochia to recognise the site of their own dwellings. He consequently removed all the ruins, and cleared away the charred remains of the houses; but, as there were no public porticos or halls supported by columns, no market-place, and no streets which marked out the quarters of the city, there was nothing to point to the site of any particular house. However, the Emperor, without any delay, removed the rubbish as far as possible from the city, thus freeing the air and the ground from all impediments to building, and first covered the foundations of the city everywhere with stones large enough to load a waggon. After this he divided it by porticos and market-places, defined all the blocks of building by streets, arranged the aqueducts, fountains, and watercourses with which the city is adorned, constructed theatres and public baths in it, and graced it with all the other public buildings which belong to a prosperous city.