II. After our survey of the whole of Epirus we pass over Ætolia and Acarnania, and come to the Crissæan Gulf, the Isthmus of Corinth, and the other parts of Greece. Here the Emperor’s foresight was most especially displayed, and one may marvel at the numerous walled cities with which he fortified the Roman Empire. Amongst the rest he paid especial care at the pass of Thermopylæ. In the first place he raised its walls to a great height, for the mountains in this place were easy to be taken by an enemy, and were fortified by what was more like a hedgerow than a wall. He placed double battlements upon all these walls, and also upon the fort, which had been built there in an equally careless manner by the ancients, giving it a sufficient height, and double bulwarks. Besides all this, as the place was entirely without water, he contrived a reservoir for rain-water, and also carefully fortified many paths up the mountain which had formerly been left unguarded. One may well wonder how the Persian King spent so long a time here, and only found one path, and that, too, one which was betrayed to him by Greek traitors, when there are many unfortified roads in the place along which one could almost drive a waggon; for the sea, which washes the base of the mountains, has widened the mouths of most of the paths leading up from thence, and as the ground was full of glens and impassable ravines, it appeared to the ancients that what was thus divided by nature could not be continuously enclosed by fortifications, so that they lazily sacrificed their safety in their reluctance to embark upon so difficult a work, and trusted to chance, resting all their hopes of safety against the invasion of the barbarians on their probable ignorance of the roads; for men who despair of accomplishing difficult tasks always imagine that what they have found so hard, will not easily be effected by others; so that it cannot be disputed that the Emperor Justinian showed greater care and foresight than anyone else who has ever lived, since he was not prevented, even by the sea which washes and breaks upon these mountains, from laying firm foundations on the very beach and watery shore, and making the most contrary elements serve his purpose, and yield to him, subdued by human art. However, not even after having connected these mountain thickets and glens, and having joined the sea to the mountain, and enclosed the whole of Greece with his fortifications, did our Emperor relax his zeal on behalf of his subjects, but he also built many forts within this wall, taking a just view of the chances of human life, which render no place secure or impregnable; so that if by any mischance it should happen that these walls should at any time be taken, the garrison might find a refuge in these forts. Moreover, he established everywhere granaries and reservoirs of water in secure positions, and placed nearly 2,000 soldiers to garrison the works, which was never done by