 Instead of exploiting the empire's weakened state, Yazdegerd I had Roman Christian prisoners who were saved after an Iranian victory over the Huns returned to Roman territory.The Roman emperor Arcadius () asked Yazdegerd for aid to guarantee the succession of his young son, Theodosius, as a result of the shah's generosity.This account is only mentioned by the 6th-century Roman historian Procopius and was questioned by his fellow Roman historian Agathias, who wrote that the report was "on the lips" of "Roman commoners and aristocrats alike" but was absent from contemporary sources.