Many a commander would have despaired at this but Flavius had been in such a situation before and was therefore untroubled, eschewing modesty to remind them the army was now led by the Victor of Dara. That alone lifted their spirits and their general knew that fully supplied with weapons, given proper training and under good officers, even the most fearful body could be brought to the peak of fighting ability and these were the matters he set out to address. His spies reported back that Khusrow was not bent on a second incursion into central Mesopotamia. He had gone north to fight the Huns, a tribe forever raiding his borderlands and that presented Flavius with a golden opportunity: he had time to exercise his men, and that complete he could invade Sassanid territory with no fear of meeting the main enemy force. At a gathering of his officers only one pair demurred at this plan, the two imperial duces of Phoenice Libanensis, who ruled jointly from Damascus and Palmyra.
