The king had fled in terror, not feeling safe till he and his harem had the bridge of the Tigris at Ctesiphon behind them. Heraclius had naturally accomplished his tremendous march from the Caucasus with comparatively few troops, and was in no position to attack the capital, strongly fortified and protected by waterways as it was. On the contrary, before the king had collected a large army he withdrew, but only to Ganjak, thus remaining on the enemy’s soil; and in February and March traversed the Alps of Kurdistan amidst perpetual snow-storms, a feat which has not often been matched in the annals of war. Meanwhile important events had been taking place at Ctesiphon. Chosroes’ tyranny and extortion had exasperated high and low alike; by his cowardly flight he had forfeited the respect of his people. In addition, he had designated Mardanshah--his son by Shirin, who still governed him wholly in spite of her years and his thousands of other wives--as his successor, to the exclusion of Kavadh. The latter was imprisoned in a fortress with most of his brothers. Some nobles, among whom was a Christian, Shamta, son of the deceased farmer-general Ezdin, now set Kavadh at liberty and proclaimed him king (February 25th, 628). Chosroes, deserted by all men, was dragged out of his hiding-place, put in prison, and, after a few days, executed (the 29th of February, 628). Thus miserably and horribly perished the man whose camps extended almost to the borders of the Achæmenid Empire. No hand was raised to defend or avenge him. The Christians above all--who, apart from other things, had suffered deadly insult at his hands by the carrying away of the True Cross--hailed with acclamations the parricide Kavadh, in whose elevation one of themselves had played no small part. SUCCESSORS OF CHOSROES II The first thing that Kavadh (II) Seroes did was to murder all his brothers (probably to the number of eighteen); the second was to send the emperor an urgent entreaty for peace. A truce was quickly concluded, but no peace as yet, Heraclius being in no hurry for it, since he was now to some extent master of the situation. All Persian troops received orders to evacuate Roman territory. Heraclius seems next to have introduced such order as he could into the affairs of the provinces so recovered, and of Mesopotamia in particular. On reaching Syria he learned that Kavadh Seroes was already dead. The wretched man had only reigned for about half a year. His reign was marked by a dreadful pestilence.