any emperor at any former time; for these walls remained unguarded formerly, even down to my own time, and if the enemy assaulted them, some of the peasants in the neighbourhood, adopting a military life on the spur of the moment, used to act as garrison, and, from their want of experience, risked the capture of them and of the whole of Greece, by which parsimony this country was for a long time exposed to the attack of the barbarians.[73] Thus did the Emperor Justinian strengthen the fortifications of Thermopylæ. He also with great care built walls round the cities which lie in the country beyond it—Saccus, Hypata, Coracii, Unnum, Baleæ and Leontarium. At Heraclea he did as follows: as one goes from Illyria to Greece, two mountains stand close to one another for a long distance, forming a narrow pass between them, of the kind called Clisuræ. In the midst runs a fountain, which in the summer-time pours a clear and drinkable stream down from the mountains which stand around, and forms a tiny rivulet; but in rainy seasons there rises a very deep and violent torrent, which collects its waters from the ravines among the cliffs. By this path the barbarians were able to gain an easy passage to Thermopylæ and the neighbouring parts of Greece. On either side of the path there were in ancient times two ancient fortresses, one being the city of Heraclea, which I mentioned before, and the other that of Myropole, standing at a little distance from it. The Emperor Justinian restored both these fortresses, which had long been in ruins, and built a very strong wall across the pass, joining it to the mountains on either side, so that he closed the passage against the barbarians, and forced the torrent first to form a lake within this wall, and then to flow over it and continue its course. He secured all the cities of Greece which lie within the walls of Thermopylæ, restoring the fortifications of all of them, for they had long ago fallen into decay—at Corinth in consequence of violent earthquakes, and at Athens, Platæa, and the towns in Bœotia having fallen into decay through age, as no one had taken any care of them; he, however, left no place assailable or unguarded, for in his watchful care for his subjects he bethought him that the barbarians, should they reach the country about Thermopylæ, would despair of success as soon as they learned that they would gain nothing by forcing the works there, since all the rest of Greece was fortified, and they would have to undertake the siege of each individual city; for a deferred hope does not encourage men to endure labour, nor are they eager for gain which is far distant, but give up their hopes of future advantage to avoid present discomfort.