[Footnote 39: The general detail of the war against the
Avars may be traced in the first, second, sixth, seventh,
and eighth books of the history of the emperor Maurice, by
Theophylact Simocatta. As he wrote in the reign of
Heraclius, he had no temptation to flatter; but his want of
judgment renders him diffuse in trifles, and concise in the
most interesting facts.]