LI. When Kawad found that he was not a match for the city, he sent Na'man, the king of the Arabs (of al-Hirah), with his whole force, to go southwards to the district of Harran . Some of the Persian troops advanced as far as the city of Constantina or Tella, and were plundering and harrying and laying waste the whole country. On the 19th of the latter Teshri (November) Olympius, the dux of Tella, and Eugenius, the dux of Melitene (who had come down at that time), went forth, they and their troops, and destroyed the Persians whom they found in the villages around Tella. And when they had turned to go back to the city, some one told them that there were five hundred men in a ravine not very far from them. They were ready to go against them, but the Roman troops that were with them had dispersed themselves to strip the slain; and because it was night, Olympius gave orders to light a fire on the top of an eminence and to blow trumpets, that those who were scattered might rejoin them. But the Persian generals, who were encamped at the village of Tell Beshmai, when they saw the light of the fire and heard the sound of the trumpets, armed all their force and came against them. When the Roman cavalry saw that the Persians were too many for them, they turned (their backs); but the infantry were unable to escape and were constrained to fight. So they came together and drew up in battle array, forming what is called the χελώνη or tortoise, and fought for a long time. But as the army of the Persians was too many for them, and there were added to these the Huns and Arabs, their ranks were broken, and they were thrown into disorder, and mixed up among the cavalry, and trampled and crushed under the hoofs of the horses of the Arabs. So many of the Romans were killed, and the rest were made prisoners.