ARGUMENT.
I. The Cæsar Julian consults the welfare of the Gauls, and provides
for the general observance of justice.--II. He repairs the walls of
the castles on the Rhine which he had recovered; crosses the Rhine,
and having conquered those of the Alemanni who remained hostile, he
compels their kings to sue for peace, and to restore their
prisoners.--III. Why Barbatio, the commander of the infantry, and
his wife, were beheaded by command of Constantius.--IV. Sapor, king
of Persia, prepares to attack the Romans with all his power.--V.
Antoninus, the protector, deserts to Sapor, with all his men; and
increases his eagerness to engage in war with the Romans.--VI.
Ursicinus, the commander of the legions, being summoned from the
East, when he had reached Thrace was sent back to Mesopotamia, and
having arrived there he hears from Marcellinus of Sapor's
approach.--VII. Sapor, with the kings of the Chionitæ and Albani,
invades Mesopotamia--The Romans of their own accord lay waste their
lands with fire; compelled the countrymen to come into the towns,
and fortify the western bank of the Euphrates with castles and
garrisons.--VIII. Seven hundred Illyrian cavalry are surprised by
the Persians, and put to flight--Ursicinus escapes in one
direction, and Marcellinus in another.--IX. A description of Amida;
and how many legions and squadrons were there in garrison.--X.
Sapor receives the surrender of two Roman fortresses.
I.
A.D. 359.
§ 1. These events took place in the different parts of the world in one
and the same year. But while the affairs in Gaul were in a better state;
and while titles of consul were ennobling the brothers Eusebius and
Hypatius, Julian, illustrious for his uninterrupted successes, now in
his winter quarters, being relieved for a while from his warlike
anxieties, was devoting equal care to many points connected with the
welfare of the provinces. Taking anxious care that no one should be
oppressed by the burden of taxation; that the power of the officers
should not be stretched into extortion; that those who increase their
property by the public distresses, should have no sanction, and that no
judge should violate justice with impunity.
2. And he found it easy to correct what was wrong on this head, because
he himself decided all causes in which the persons concerned were of any
great importance; and showed himself a most impartial discerner of right
and wrong.
3. And although there are many acts of his in deciding these disputes
worthy of praise, it will be sufficient to mention one, on the model of
which all his other words and actions were framed.
4. Numerius, a native of Narbonne, had a little time before been accused
before the governor as a thief, and Julian, by an unusual exercise of
the censor's power, heard his cause in public; admitting into the court
all who sought entrance. And when Numerius denied all that was charged
against him, and could not be convicted on any point, Delphidius the
orator, who was assailing him with great bitterness, being enraged at
the failure of his charges, exclaimed, "But, great Cæsar, will any one
ever be found guilty if it be enough to deny the charge?" To whom
Julian, with seasonable wisdom, replied, "Can any one be judged innocent
if it be enough to make a charge?" And he did many similar actions in
his civil capacity.
II.
§ 1. But when he was about to set out on an important expedition against
some tribes of the Allemanni whom he considered hostile, and likely to
proceed to acts of atrocious daring if they were not defeated in a way
to be an example to the rest, he hesitated in great anxiety, since a
report of his intentions had gone before him, what force he could
employ, and how he could be quick enough to take them by surprise the
first moment that circumstances should afford him an opportunity.
2. But after he had meditated on many different plans, he decided on
trying one, which the result proved to be good without any one being
aware of it. He had sent Hariobaudes, a tribune who at that time had no
particular command, a man of honour, loyalty, and courage, under pretext
of an embassy, to Hortarius the king who was now in a state of
friendship with us; in order that from his court Hariobaudes might
easily proceed to the frontiers of the enemy whom he was proposing to
attack; and so ascertain what they were about, being thoroughly skilled
in the language of the barbarians.
3. And when he had gone boldly on this commission, Julian himself, as it
was now a favourable time of the year, assembled his soldiers from all
quarters for the expedition, and set out; thinking it above all things
desirable, before the war had got warm, to effect his entrance into the
cities which had been destroyed some time before, and having recovered
them to put them in a state of defence; and also to establish granaries
in the place of those which had been burnt, in which to store the corn
usually imported from Britain.
4. Both these objects were accomplished, and that more speedily than
could have been looked for. For the store-houses were rapidly built, and
abundance of provisions laid up in them; and seven cities were occupied.
The camp of Hercules, Quadriburgium,[89] Kellen, Nuys, Bonn, Andernach,
and Bingen. At which last city, by exceedingly good fortune, Florentius
the prefect also arrived unexpectedly, bringing with him a division of
soldiers, and a supply of provisions sufficient to last a long time.
5. After this, the next measure of urgent necessity was to repair the
walls of the recovered cities, while as yet no one raised any hindrance;
and it is abundantly plain that at that time the barbarians did out of
fear what was commanded them for the public interests, while the Romans
did it for love of their ruler.
6. According to the treaty made in the preceding year, the kings sent
their own waggons with many articles useful for building. And the
auxiliary soldiers who always hold themselves above employments of this
kind being won over by Julian's caresses to diligent obedience, now
carried beams fifty feet long and more on their shoulders, and gave the
greatest aid to the labours of the architect.
7. And while all this was being done with diligence and speed,
Hariobaudes, having learnt all he wanted, returned and related what he
had ascertained. And after his arrival the army marched with all speed,
and soon reached Mayence, where, though Florentius and Lupicinus, who
succeeded Severus, insisted vehemently that they might cross by the
bridge laid down at that town, the Cæsar strenuously objected,
maintaining that it was not well to trample on the lands of those who
were brought into a state of tranquillity and friendship; lest the
treaty made with them should be brought to an abrupt end, as had often
happened through the discourtesy of the soldiers ravaging everything
that came in their way.
8. But all the Allemanni who were the objects of our attack, seeing the
danger now on their borders, with many threats urged Surmarius their
king, who by a previous treaty was on friendly terms with us, to prevent
the Romans from crossing the river. For their villages were on the
eastern bank of the Rhine. But when Surmarius affirmed that he by
himself was unable to offer effectual resistance, the barbarian host
assembled in a body, and came up to Mayence, intending by main force to
prevent our army from crossing the river.
9. So that Cæsar's advice now seemed best in two points, both not to
ravage the lands of our friends; and also, not in the teeth of the
opposition of a most warlike people, to risk the loss of many lives in
order to make a bridge, even in a spot the most favourable for such a
work.
10. And the enemy, watching his movements with great skill, marched
slowly along the opposite bank, and when they saw our men pitching their
tents at a distance, they still watched all night, exerting the most
sleepless vigilance to prevent the passage of the river from being
attempted.
11. But when our men reached the spot intended, they surrounded their
camp with a rampart and ditch, and took their rest; and the Cæsar,
having taken counsel with Lupicinus, ordered some of the tribunes to get
ready three hundred light-armed soldiers with stakes, without letting
them know what was to be done, or whither they were going.
12. They being collected, when the night was well advanced, and being
all embarked on board of forty light boats, which were all that were at
hand, were ordered to go down the stream so silently as not to use even
their oars, lest the noise should rouse the barbarians, and then using
all activity both of mind and body, to force a landing on the opposite
bank, within the frontier of the enemy, while they were still watching
the camp-fires of our men.
13. While these orders were being performed with great promptness, King
Hortarius, who had been previously bound to us by treaties, and was
without any intention of revolting, kept on friendly terms with the
bordering tribes, having invited all their kings, princes, and
chieftains to a banquet, detained them to the third watch, the banquet
being prolonged so late according to the custom of his nation. And as
they were departing, our men chanced to come upon them suddenly, but
could neither stay nor capture any of them owing to the darkness of the
night and the fleetness of their horses, on which they fled at random in
all directions. A number of sutlers and slaves, however, who were
following them on foot, our men slew; the few who escaped being likewise
protected by the darkness of the hour.
14. When it became known that the Romans had crossed the river (and they
then as well as in all former expeditions accounted it a great relief to
their labours when they could find the enemy), the kings and their
people, who were watching zealously to prevent the bridge from being
made, were alarmed, and being panic-stricken fled in all directions, and
their violent fury being thus cooled, they hastened to remove their
relations and their treasures to a distance. And as all difficulties
were now surmounted, the bridge was at once made, and before the
barbarians could expect it, the Roman army appeared in their
territories, and passed through the dominions of Hortarius without doing
any injury.
15. But when they reached the lands of those kings who were still
hostile, they went on invincibly through the midst of their rebellious
country, laying waste with fire and sword, and plundering everything.
And after their frail houses were destroyed by fire, and a vast number
of men had been slain, and the army, having nothing to face but corpses
and suppliants, had arrived in the region called Capellatum, or Palas,
where there are boundary stones marking the frontiers of the Allemanni
and the Burgundians; the army pitched its camp, in order that Macrianus
and Hariobaudus, brothers, and both kings, might be received by us, and
delivered from their fears. Since they, thinking their destruction
imminent, were coming with great anxiety to sue for peace.
16. And immediately after them King Vadomarius also came, whose abode
was opposite Augst: and having produced some letters of the Emperor
Constantius, in which he was strictly recommended to the protection of
the Romans, he was courteously received, as became one who had been
admitted by the emperor as a client of the Roman empire.
17. And Macrianus and his brother, being admitted among our eagles and
standards, marvelled at the imposing appearance of our arms, and various
resources which they had never seen before. And they offered up
petitions on behalf of their people. But Vadomarius, who had met us
before, since he was close to our frontier, admired indeed the
appointments of our daring expedition, but remembered that he had often
seen such before, ever since his childhood.
18. At last, after long deliberation, with the unanimous consent of all,
peace was granted to Macrianus and Hariobaudus; but an answer could not
be given to Vadomarius, who had come to secure his own safety, and also
as an ambassador to intercede for the kings Urius, Ursicinus, and
Vestralpus, imploring peace for them also; lest, as the barbarians are
men of wavering faith, they might recover their spirits when our army
was withdrawn, and refuse adherence to conditions procured by the agency
of others.
19. But when they also, after their crops and houses had been burnt, and
many of their soldiers had been slain or taken prisoners, sent
ambassadors of their own, and sued for mercy as if they had been guilty
of similar violence to our subjects, they obtained peace on similar
terms; of which that most rigorously insisted on was that they should
restore all the prisoners which they had taken in their frequent
incursions.
III.
§ 1. While the god-like wisdom of the Cæsar was thus successful in Gaul,
great disturbances arose in the court of the emperor, which from slight
beginnings increased to grief and lamentations. Some bees swarmed on the
house of Barbatio, at that time the commander of the infantry. And when
he consulted the interpreters of prodigies on this event, he received
for an answer, that it was an omen of great danger; the answer being
founded on the idea that these animals, after they have fixed their
abode, and laid up their stores, are usually expelled by smoke and the
noisy din of cymbals.
2. Barbatio's wife was a woman called Assyria, neither silent nor
prudent. And when he had gone on an expedition which caused her much
alarm, she, because of the predictions which she recollected to have
been given her, and being full of female vanity, having summoned a
handmaid who was skilful in writing, and of whom she had become
possessed by inheritance from her father Silvanus, sent an unseasonable
letter to her husband, full of lamentations, and of entreaties that
after the approaching death of Constantius, if he himself, as she hoped,
was admitted to a share in the empire, he would not despise her, and
prefer to marry Eusebia, who was Constantius's empress, and who was of a
beauty equalled by few women.
3. She sent this letter as secretly as she could; but the maid, when the
troops had returned from their expedition at the beginning of the night,
took a copy of the letter which she had written at the dictation of her
mistress, to Arbetio, and being eagerly admitted by him, she gave him
the paper.
4. He, relying on this evidence, being at all times a man eager to bring
forward accusations, conveyed it to the emperor. As was usual, no delay
was allowed, and Barbatio, who confessed that he had received the
letter, and his wife, who was distinctly proved to have written it, were
both beheaded.
5. After this execution, investigations were carried further, and many
persons, innocent as well as guilty, were brought into question. Among
whom was Valentinus, who having lately been an officer of the
protectores, had been promoted to be a tribune; and he with many others
was put to the torture as having been privy to the affair, though he was
wholly ignorant of it. But he survived his sufferings; and as some
compensation for the injury done to him, and for his danger, he received
the rank of duke of Illyricum.
6. This same Barbatio was a man of rude and arrogant manners, and very
unpopular, because while captain of the protectores of the household, in
the time of Gallus Cæsar, he was a false and treacherous man; and after
he had attained the higher rank he became so elated that he invented
calumnies against the Cæsar Julian, and, though all good men hated him,
whispered many wicked lies into the ever-ready ears of the emperor.
7. Being forsooth ignorant of the wise old saying of Aristotle, who when
he sent Callisthenes, his pupil and relation, to the king Alexander,
warned him to say as little as he could, and that only of a pleasant
kind, before a man who carried the power of life and death on the tip of
his tongue.
8. We should not wonder that mankind, whose minds we look upon as akin
to those of the gods, can sometimes discern what is likely to be
beneficial or hurtful to them, when even animals devoid of reason
sometimes secure their own safety by profound silence, of which the
following is a notorious instance:--
9. When the wild geese leave the East because of the heat, and seek a
western climate, as soon as they reach Mount Taurus, which is full of
eagles, fearing those warlike birds, they stop up their own beaks with
stones, that not even the hardest necessity may draw a cry from them;
they fly more rapidly than usual across that range, and when they have
passed it they throw away the stones, and then proceed more securely.
IV.
§ 1. While these investigations were being carried on with great
diligence at Sirmium, the fortune of the East sounded the terrible
trumpet of danger. For the king of Persia, being strengthened by the aid
of the fierce nations whom he had lately subdued, and being above all
men ambitious of extending his territories, began to prepare men and
arms and supplies, mingling hellish wisdom with his human counsels, and
consulting all kinds of soothsayers about futurity. And when he had
collected everything, he proposed to invade our territories at the first
opening of the spring.
2. And when the emperor learnt this, at first by report, but
subsequently by certain intelligence, and while all were in suspense
from dread of the impending danger, the dependents of the court,
hammering on the same anvil day and night (as the saying is), at the
prompting of the eunuchs, held up Ursicinus as a Gorgon's head before
the suspicious and timid emperor, continually repeating that, because on
the death of Silvanus, in a dearth of better men, he had been sent to
defend the eastern districts, he had become ambitious of still greater
power.
3. And by this base compliance many tried to purchase the favour of
Eusebius, at that time the principal chamberlain, with whom (if we are
to say the real truth) Constantius had great influence, and who was now
a bitter enemy of the safety of the master of the horse, Ursicinus, on
two accounts; first, because he was the only person who did not need his
assistance, as others did; and secondly, because he would not give up
his house at Antioch, which Eusebius greatly coveted.
4. So this latter, like a snake abounding in poison, and exciting its
offspring as soon as they can crawl to do mischief, stirred up the other
chamberlains, that they, while performing their more private duties
about the prince's person, with their thin and boyish voices, might
damage the reputation of a brave man by pouring into the too open ears
of the emperor accusations of great odium. And they soon did what they
were commanded.
5. Disgust at this and similar events leads one to praise Domitian, who
although, by the unalterable detestation he incurred, has ever stained
the memory of his father and his brother,[90] still deserved credit for
a most excellent law, by which he forbade with severe threats any one to
castrate any boy within the limits of the Roman jurisdiction. For if
there were no such edict, who could endure the swarms of such creatures
as would exist, when it is so difficult to bear even a few of them?
6. However, they proceeded with caution, lest, as Eusebius suggested, if
Ursicinus were again sent for, he should take alarm and throw everything
into confusion; but it was proposed that on the first casual opportunity
he should be put to death.
7. While they were waiting for this chance, and full of doubt and
anxiety; and while we[91] were tarrying a short time at Samosata, the
greatest city of what had formerly been the kingdom of Commagene, we
suddenly received frequent and consistent reports of some new
commotions, which I will now proceed to relate.
V.
§ 1. A certain man named Antoninus, who from having been a wealthy
merchant had become superintendent of the accounts of the duke of
Mesopotamia, and after that entered the corps of the protectores, a man
of experience and wisdom, and very well known in all that country. Being
through the avarice of certain persons involved in heavy losses, and
perceiving that while defending actions against men of influence he was
being sunk lower and lower through injustice, since the judges who had
to decide on his affairs sought to gratify people in power, he, not
wishing to kick against the pricks, bent himself to obsequious caresses;
and confessing that he owed what was claimed of him, the claim, by
collusion, was transferred to the treasury. He now, having resolved on a
flagitious plan, began secretly to look into the secrets of the whole
republic; and being acquainted with both languages, he devoted his
attention to the accounts; remarking the amount, quality, and situation
of the different divisions of the army, and the employment of them on
any expeditions; inquiring also with unwearied diligence into the extent
of the supplies of arms and provisions, and other things likely to be
needful in war.
2. And when he had made himself acquainted with all the internal
circumstances of the East, and had learnt that a great portion of the
troops and of the money for their pay was distributed in Illyricum,
where the emperor himself was detained by serious business; as the day
was now approaching which had been fixed for the payment of the money
for which he had been constrained by fear to give an acknowledgment of
his bond; and as he saw that he must be overwhelmed by disasters on all
sides, since the chief treasurer was devoted to the interests of his
adversary; he conceived the audacious design of crossing over to the
Persians with his wife and children, and his whole numerous family of
relations.
3. And to elude the observation of the soldiers at their different
stations, he bought for a small price a farm in Hiaspis, a district on
the banks of the Tigris. And, relying on this pretext, since no one
would venture to ask why a landed proprietor should go to the extreme
frontier of the Roman territory, as many others did the same, by the
agency of some trusty friends who were skilful swimmers, he carried on
frequent secret negotiations with Tamsapor, who was at that time
governing the country on the other side of the river with the rank of
duke, and with whom he was already acquainted. And at last, having
received from the Persian camp an escort of well-mounted men, he
embarked in some boats, and crossed over at night with all his family,
in the same manner as Zopyrus, the betrayer of Babylon, had formerly
done, only with an opposite object.
4. While affairs in Mesopotamia were in this state, the hangers-on of
the palace, always singing the same song for our destruction, at last
found a handle to injure the gallant Ursicinus; the gang of eunuchs
being still the contrivers and promoters of the plot; since they are
always sour tempered and savage, and having no relations, cling to
riches as their dearest kindred.
5. The design now adopted was to send Sabinianus, a withered old man of
great wealth, but infirm and timid, and from the lowness of his birth
far removed from any office of command, to govern the districts of the
East; while Ursicinus should be recalled to court, to command the
infantry, as successor to Barbatio. And then he, this greedy promoter of
revolution, as they called him, being within their reach, could easily
be attacked by his bitter and formidable enemies.
6. While these things were going on in the camp of Constantius, as at a
festival or a theatre, and while the dispensers of rank which was bought
and sold were distributing the price agreed upon among the influential
houses, Antoninus, having reached Sapor's winter quarters, was received
with gladness; and being ennobled by the grant of a turban, an honour
which gives admission to the royal table, and also that of assisting at
and delivering one's opinion in the councils of the Persians, went
onwards, not with a punt pole or a tar rope, as the proverb is (that is
to say, not by any tedious or circuitous path), but with flowing sails
into the conduct of state affairs, and stirring up Sapor, as formerly
Maharbal roused the sluggish Hannibal, was always telling him that he
knew how to conquer, but not how to use a victory.
7. For having been bred up in active life, and being a thorough man of
business, he got possession of the feelings of his hearers, who like
what tickles their ears, and who do not utter their praises aloud, but,
like the Phæacians in Homer, admire in silence,[92] while he recounted
the events of the last forty years; urging that, after all these
continual wars, and especially the battles of Hileia and Singara,[93]
where that fierce combat by night took place, in which we lost a vast
number of our men, as if some fecial had interposed to stop them, the
Persians, though victorious, had never advanced as far as Edessa or the
bridges over the Euphrates. Though with their warlike power and
splendid success, they might have pushed their advances especially at
that moment, when in consequence of the protracted troubles of their
civil wars the blood of the Romans was being poured out on all sides.
8. By these and similar speeches the deserter, preserving his sobriety
at the banquets, where, after the fashion of the ancient Greeks, the
Persians deliberate on war and other important affairs, stimulated the
fiery monarch, and persuaded him to rely upon the greatness of his
fortune, and to take up arms the moment that the winter was over, and he
himself boldly promised his assistance in many important matters.
VI.
§ 1. About this time Sabinianus, being elated at the power which he had
suddenly acquired, and having arrived in Cilicia, gave his predecessor
letters from the emperor, desiring him to hasten to court to be invested
with higher dignities. In fact the affairs of Asia were in such a state
that, even if Ursicinus had been at Ultima Thule their urgency would
have required him to be summoned thence to set them right, since he was
a man of the ancient discipline, and from long experience especially
skilful in the Persian manner of conducting war.
2. But when the report of this reached the provinces, all ranks of the
citizens and agricultural population, by formal edicts and by unanimous
outcries, endeavoured to detain him, almost forcibly, as the public
defender of their country, remembering that though for ten years he had
been left to his own resources with a scanty and unwarlike force, he had
yet incurred no loss; and fearing for their safety if at so critical a
time he should be removed and a man of utter inactivity assume the rule
in his stead.
3. We believe, and indeed there is no doubt of it, that fame flies on
wings through the paths of the air; and she it was who now gave
information of these events to the Persians while deliberating on the
entire aspect of affairs. At last, after many arguments pro and con,
they determined, on the advice of Antoninus, that as Ursicinus was
removed, and as the new governor was contemptible, they might venture
to neglect laying siege to cities, an operation which would cause a
mischievous loss of time, and at once cross the Euphrates, and advance
further, in order, outstripping all rumour of their march, to occupy
those provinces which, throughout all our wars, had always been safe
(except in the time of Gallienus), and which, from their long enjoyment
of peace, were very wealthy. And in this enterprise, with the favour of
God, Antoninus offered himself as a most desirable guide.
4. His advice, therefore, being unanimously praised and adopted, and the
attention of the whole nation being directed to the speedy collection of
those things which were required, supplies, soldiers, arms, and
equipments, the preparation of everything for the coming campaign was
continued the whole winter.
5. In the mean time, we, hastening at the emperor's command towards
Italy, after having been detained a short time on the western side of
Mount Taurus, reached the river Hebrus, which descends from the
mountains of the Odrysæ[94], and there we received letters from the
emperor, ordering us, without the least delay, to return to Mesopotamia,
without any officers, and having, indeed, no important duty to
discharge, since all the power had been transferred to another.
6. And this had been arranged by those mischievous meddlers in the
government, in order that if the Persians failed and returned to their
own country, our success might be attributed to the valour of the new
governor; while, if our affairs turned out ill, Ursicinus might be
impeached as a traitor to the republic.
7. Accordingly we, being tossed about without any reason, after much
time had been lost, returned, and found Sabinianus, a man full of pride,
of small stature, and of a petty and narrow mind, scarcely able without
fear to encounter the slight noise of a beast, much less to face the
crash of battle.
8. Nevertheless, since our spies brought positive and consistent
intelligence that all kind of preparations were going on among the
enemy, and since their report was confirmed by that of the deserters,
while this manikin was in a state of perplexity, we hastened to Nisibis
to make such preparation as seemed requisite, lest the Persians, while
concealing their intention to besiege it, should come upon it by
surprise.
9. And while all things necessary were being pressed forward within the
walls, continued fires and columns of smoke being seen on the other side
of the Tigris, near the town called the Camp of the Moors, and Sisara,
and the other districts on the Persian frontier, and spreading up to the
city itself, showed that the predatory bands of the enemy had crossed
the river, and entered our territories.
10. And therefore we hastened forwards with a forced march, to prevent
the roads from being occupied; and when we had advanced two miles, we
saw a fine boy of about eight years old, as we guessed, wearing a
necklace, of noble appearance, standing on the top of a small hillock,
and crying out, stating himself to be the son of a man of noble birth,
whom his mother, while fleeing in her alarm at the approach of the
enemy, had left in her panic in order to be less encumbered. We pitied
him, and at the command of our general, I put him on my horse, in front
of me, and took him back to the city, while the predatory bands of the
enemy, having blockaded the city, were ravaging all around.
11. And because I was alarmed at the difficulties in which we should be
placed by a blockade, I put the child in at a half open postern gate,
and hastened back with all speed to my troop. And I was very nearly
taken prisoner; for a tribune named Abdigidus, accompanied by a groom,
was fleeing, pursued by a squadron of cavalry, and though the master
escaped the servant was taken. And as I was passing by rapidly, they,
examining the servant, inquired of him who was the chief who had
advanced against them; and when they heard that Ursicinus had a little
while before entered the city, and was on his way to Mount Izala, they
put their informant to death, and then, forming into one body, pursued
us with ceaseless speed.
12. But I outstripped them by the speed of my horse, and finding my
comrades reposing securely under the walls of a slight fort, called
Amudis, with their horses dispersed over the grass, I waved my hand, and
raising the hem of my cloak: by this usual signal I gave notice that
the enemy was at hand, and then joining them we retreated together,
though my horse was greatly fatigued.
13. Our alarm was increased by the brightness of the night, as the moon
was full, and by the even level of the plain, which, if our danger
should become worse, afforded no possible hiding-place, as having
neither trees, nor bushes, nor anything but low herbage.
14. Accordingly we adopted the following plan: we lit a lamp and
fastened it tightly on a horse, which we turned loose without a rider,
and let go where it pleased to our left, while we marched towards the
high ground on our right, in order that the Persians might fancy the
light a torch held before the general as he proceeded slowly forwards,
and so keep on in that direction. And unless we had adopted this
precaution we should have been circumvented, and have fallen as
prisoners into the power of the enemy.
15. Being delivered from this danger, when we had come to a woody spot,
full of vines and fruit-bearing trees, called Meiacarire, a name derived
from the cool springs found there, we found that the inhabitants had all
fled, and there was only a single soldier remaining behind, concealed in
a remote corner. And when he was brought before our general, and through
fear told all kinds of different stories, and so became an object of
suspicion; at last, under the compulsion of our threats, he told the
real truth, that he was a native of Gaul, and had been born among the
Parisii, that he had served in our cavalry, but that fearing punishment
for some offence he had deserted to the Persians; that he had since
married a wife of excellent character, and had a family, and that having
been frequently sent as a spy to our camp, he had always brought the
Persians true intelligence. And now he said he had been sent by the
nobles Tamsapor and Nohodares, who were in command of the predatory
bands, to bring them such intelligence as he could collect. After
telling us this, and also that he knew of the operations of the enemy,
he was put to death.
16. Afterwards, as our anxiety increased, we proceeded from thence with
as much speed as we could make to Amida, a city celebrated at a later
period for the disaster which befel it. And when our scouts had rejoined
us there we found in one of their scabbards a scrap of parchment
written in cipher, which they had been ordered to convey to us by
Procopius, whom I have already spoken of as ambassador to the Persians
with the Count Lucillianus; its terms were purposely obscure, lest if
the bearers should be taken prisoners, and the sense of the writing
understood, materials should be found for fatal mischief.
17. The purport was, "The ambassadors of the Greeks, having been
rejected, and being perhaps to be put to death, the aged king, not
contented with the Hellespont, will throw bridges over the Granicus and
the Rhyndacus, and invade Asia Minor with a numerous host, being by his
own natural disposition irritable and fierce; and being now prompted and
inflamed by him who was formerly the successor of the Roman emperor
Hadrian,[95] it is all over with the Greeks if they do not take care."
18. The meaning of this was that the Persian king, having crossed the
rivers Anzaba and Tigris, at the prompting of Antoninus was aiming at
the sovereignty of the entire East. When it had been interpreted with
difficulty, from its great obscurity, a wise plan was decided on.
19. The satrap of Corduena, a province under the authority of the
Persians, was a man named Jovinianus, who had grown up to manhood in the
Roman territories, and was secretly friendly to us, because he had been
detained as a hostage in Syria, and being now allured by the love of
liberal studies, he was exceedingly desirous to return among us.
20. To this man I, being sent with a faithful centurion, for the purpose
of learning with greater certainty what was being done, reached him by
travelling over pathless mountains, and dangerous defiles. And when he
saw and recognized me, he received me courteously, and I avowed to him
alone the reason of my coming; and having received from him a silent
guide, well acquainted with the country, I was sent to some lofty rocks
at a distance, from which, if one's eyes did not fail, one could see
even the most minute object fifty miles off.
21. There we remained two whole days; and on the morning of the third
day we saw all the circuit of the earth, which we call the horizon,
filled with countless hosts of men, and the king marching before them
glittering with the brilliancy of his robes. And next to him on his left
hand marched Grumbates, king of the Chionitæ, a man of middle age, and
wrinkled limbs, but of a grand spirit, and already distinguished for
many victories. On his right hand was the king of the Albani, of equal
rank and splendour. After them came various generals, renowned for their
rank and power, who were followed by a multitude of all classes, picked
from the flower of the neighbouring nations, and trained by long
hardship to endure any toil or danger.
22. How long, O mendacious Greece, wilt thou tell us of Doriscus,[96]
the Thracian town, and of the army counted there in battalions in a
fenced space, when we careful, or to speak more truly, cautious
historians, exaggerate nothing, and merely record what is established by
evidence neither doubtful nor uncertain!
VII.
§ 1. After the kings had passed by Nineveh, an important city of the
province of Adiabene, they offered a sacrifice in the middle of the
bridge over the Anzaba, and as the omens were favourable, they advanced
with great joy; while we, calculating that the rest of their host could
hardly pass over in three days, returned with speed to the satrap, and
rested, refreshing ourselves by his hospitable kindness.
2. And returning from thence through a deserted and solitary country,
under the pressure of great necessity, and reaching our army more
rapidly than could have been expected, we brought to those who were
hesitating the certain intelligence that the kings had crossed over the
river by a bridge of boats, and were marching straight towards us.
3. Without delay, therefore, horsemen with horses of picked speed were
sent to Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, and to Euphronius, at that time
the governor of the province, to compel the residents in the country to
retire with their families and all their flocks to a safer place; and
to quit at once the town of Carræ, which was defended by very slight
walls; and further, to burn all the standing crops, that the enemy might
get no supplies from the land.
4. And when these orders had been executed, as they were without delay,
and when the fire was kindled, the violence of the raging element so
completely destroyed all the corn,[97] which was just beginning to swell
and turn yellow, and all the young herbage, that from the Euphrates to
the Tigris nothing green was to be seen. And many wild beasts were
burnt, and especially lions, who infest these districts terribly, but
who are often destroyed or blinded in this manner.
5. They wander in countless droves among the beds of rushes on the banks
of the rivers of Mesopotamia, and in the jungles; and lie quiet all the
winter, which is very mild in that country. But when the warm weather
returns, as these regions are exposed to great heat, they are forced out
by the vapours, and by the size of the gnats, with swarms of which every
part of that country is filled. And these winged insects attack the
eyes, as being both moist and sparkling, sitting on and biting the
eyelids; the lions, unable to bear the torture, are either drowned in
the rivers, to which they flee for refuge, or else by frequent
scratchings tear their eyes out themselves with their claws, and then
become mad. And if this did not happen the whole of the East would be
overrun with beasts of this kind.
6. While the plains were thus being laid waste by fire, as I have
described, the tribunes, who were sent with a body of protectores,
fortified all the western bank of the Euphrates with castles and sharp
palisades and every kind of defence, fixing also large engines for
hurling missiles on those spots where the more tranquil condition of the
river made it likely that the enemy might attempt to cross.
7. While these things were being expeditiously done, Sabinianus, chosen
in the hurried moment of general danger as the fittest conductor of an
internecine war, was living luxuriously, according to his custom, at the
tombs of Edessa,[98] as if he had established peace with the dead, and
had nothing to fear: and he took especial pleasure in breaking the
silence of the place with the sounding measures of the martial
pyathicari, instead of the usual theatrical exhibitions; a fancy,
considering the place, pregnant with omens. Since these and similar
gloomy scenes foreshow future commotions, as we learn in the progress of
time, all good men ought to avoid them.
8. In the mean time, passing by Nisibis as of no importance, while the
conflagration increased through the dryness of the crops, the kings,
dreading a scarcity of food, marched through the grassy valleys at the
foot of the mountains.
9. When they had arrived at a small place called Bebase (from which
place to the town of Constantina, which is one hundred miles distant,
the whole country is an arid desert, except where a little water is
found in some wells), they hesitated for some time, doubting what to do;
and at last resolving to proceed in reliance on the endurance of their
men, they learnt from a trusty spy that the Euphrates was swollen by the
melting of the snow, and was now extensively inundating the adjacent
lands, and so could not possibly be forded.
10. Therefore they turned to see what opportunities chance might afford
them, being now cut off unexpectedly from the hope which they had
conceived. And in the present emergency a council was held, at which
Antoninus was requested to give his advice: and he counselled them to
direct their march to the right, so that by a longer circuit they might
reach the two strong forts of Barzala and Laudias, to which he could
guide them through a region fertile in everything, and still
undestroyed, since the march of the army was expected to be made in a
straight line. And the only river on their road was one small and
narrow, to be passed near its source, before it was increased by any
other streams, and easily fordable.
11. When they had heard this, they praised their adviser, and bidding
him lead the way, the whole army turned from its previously appointed
line, and followed his guidance.
VIII.
§ 1. When our generals received intelligence of this from their spies,
we settled to march in haste to Samosata, in order to cross the river at
that point, and destroying the bridges at Zeugma and Capersana, to check
the invasion of the enemy if we could find a favourable chance for
attacking them.
2. But we met with a sad disaster, worthy to be buried in profound
silence. For two squadrons of cavalry, of about seven hundred men, who
had just been sent from Illyricum to Mesopotamia as a reinforcement, and
who were guarding the passes, becoming enervated and timid, and fearing
a surprise by night, withdrew from the public causeways in the evening,
a time above all others when they most required watching.
3. And when it was remarked that they were all sunk in wine and sleep,
about twenty thousand Persians, under the command of Tamsapor and
Nohodares, passed without any one perceiving them, and fully armed as
they were, concealed themselves behind the high ground in the
neighbourhood of Amida.
4. Presently, when (as has been said) we started before daybreak on our
march to Samosata, our advanced guard, on reaching a high spot which
commanded a more distant view, was suddenly alarmed by the glitter of
shining arms; and cried out in a hurried manner that the enemy were at
hand. Upon this the signal for battle was given, and we halted in a
solid column, never thinking of fleeing, since, indeed, those who would
have pursued us were in sight; nor to engage in battle with an enemy
superior to us in numbers, and especially in cavalry; but seeing the
necessity for caution in the danger of certain death which lay before
us.
5. At last, when it seemed clear that a battle could not be avoided, and
while we were still hesitating what to do, some of our men rashly
advanced as skirmishers, and were slain. And then, as each side pressed
onwards, Antoninus, ambitiously marching in front of the enemy, was
recognized by Ursicinus, and addressed by him in a tone of reproach, and
called a traitor and a scoundrel; till at last, taking off the tiara
which he wore on his head as a badge of honour, he dismounted from his
horse, and bending down till his face nearly touched the ground, he
saluted the Roman general, calling him patron and master; and holding
his hands behind his back, which among the Assyrians is a gesture of
supplication, he said, "Pardon me, most noble count, who have been
driven to this guilt by necessity, not by my own will. My creditors, as
you know, drove me headlong into it: men whose avarice even your high
authority, which tried to support me in my distress, could not
overcome." Having said this, he withdrew without turning his back upon
him, but retiring backwards in a respectful manner, with his face
towards him.
6. And while this was taking place, which did not occupy above half an
hour, our second rank, which occupied the higher ground, cried out that
another body of cuirassiers appeared behind, and was coming on with
great speed.
7. And then, as is often the case at critical moments, doubting which
enemy we ought, or even could resist, and being pressed on all sides by
an overwhelming mass, we dispersed in every direction, each fleeing
where he could. And while every one was trying to extricate himself from
the danger, we were brought, without any order, face to face with the
enemy.
8. And so struggling vigorously while giving up all desire of saving our
lives, we were driven back to the high banks of the Tigris. Some of our
men, driven into the water where it was shallow, locked their arms, and
so made a stand; others were carried off by the current and drowned;
some, still fighting with the enemy, met with various fortune, or,
panic-stricken at the numbers of the barbarians, sought the nearest
defiles of Mount Taurus. Among these was the general himself, who was
recognized and surrounded by a vast body of the enemy; but he escaped
with the tribune Aiadalthes and one groom, being saved by the swiftness
of his horse.
9. I myself was separated from my comrades, and while looking round to
see what to do, I met with one of the protectores named Verrinianus,
whose thigh was pierced through by an arrow, and while at his entreaty I
was trying to pull it out, I found myself surrounded on all sides by
Persians, some of whom had passed beyond me. I therefore hastened back
with all speed towards the city, which, being placed on high ground, is
only accessible by one very narrow path on the side on which we were
attacked; and that path is made narrower still by escarpments of the
rocks, and barriers built on purpose to make the approach more
difficult.
10. Here we became mingled with the Persians, who were hastening with a
run, racing with us, to make themselves masters of the higher ground:
and till the dawn of the next day we stood without moving, so closely
packed, that the bodies of those who were slain were so propped up by
the mass that they could not find room to fall to the ground; and a
soldier in front of me, whose head was cloven asunder into equal
portions by a mighty sword-blow, still stood upright like a log, being
pressed upon all sides.
11. And although javelins were incessantly hurled from the battlements
by every kind of engine, yet we were protected from that danger by the
proximity of the walls. And at last I got in at the postern gate, which
I found thronged by a multitude of both sexes flocking in from the
neighbouring districts. For it happened by chance on these very days
that it was the time of a great annual fair which was held in the
suburbs, and which was visited by multitudes of the country people.
12. In the mean time all was in disorder with every kind of noise; some
bewailing those whom they had lost; others being mortally wounded; and
many calling on their different relations whom the crowd prevented them
from discovering.
IX.
§ 1. This city had formerly been a very small one, till Constantius
while Cæsar, at the same time that he built another town called
Antinopolis, surrounded Amida also with strong towers and stout walls,
that the people in the neighbourhood might have a safe place of refuge.
And he placed there a store of mural engines, making it formidable to
the enemy, as he wished it to be called by his own name.
2. On the southern side it is watered by the Tigris, which passes close
to it, making a kind of elbow: on the east it looks towards the plains
of Mesopotamia, on the north it is close to the river Nymphæus, and is
overshadowed by the chain of Mount Taurus, which separates the nations
on the other side of the Tigris from Armenia. On the west it borders on
the province of Gumathena, a fertile and well-cultivated district, in
which is a village known as Abarne, celebrated for the healing
properties of its hot springs. But in the very centre of Amida, under
the citadel, there rises a rich spring of water, drinkable indeed, but
often tainted with hot vapours.
3. In the garrison of this town, the fifth or Parthian legion was always
located with a considerable squadron of native cavalry. But at that time
six legions, by forced marches, had outstripped the Persian host in its
advance, and greatly strengthened the garrison: they were the Magnentian
and Decentian legions whom, after the end of the civil war, the emperor
had sent as mutinous and discontented to the East, since there the only
danger was from foreign wars: the tenth, and the thirteenth legion
called the Fretensian:[99] and two legions of light infantry called
præventores and superventores,[100] with Ælian, who was now a count. Of
these latter, when only new recruits, we have already[101] spoken, as
sallying out from Singara at the instigation of this same Ælian, then
only one of the guard, and slaying a great number of Persians whom they
had surprised in their sleep.
4. There was also the greater part of the force called companion
archers, being squadrons of cavalry so named, in which all the free-born
barbarians serve, and who are conspicuous among all others for the
splendour of their arms and for their prowess.
X.
§ 1. While the first onset of the Persians was by its unexpected
vehemence throwing these troops into disorder, the king, with his native
and foreign troops, having after leaving Bebase turned his march to the
right, according to the advice of Antoninus, passed by Horre and
Meiacarire and Charcha, as if he meant also to pass by Amida. And when
he had come near the Roman forts, one of which is called Reman, and the
other Busan, he learnt from some deserters that many persons had removed
their treasures there for protection, trusting to their lofty and strong
walls; and it was also added that there was there, with a great many
valuables, a woman of exquisite beauty, the wife of a citizen of Nisibis
named Craugasius, of great consideration by birth, character, and
influence; with her little daughter.
2. Sapor, eager to seize what belonged to another, hastened on, and
attacked the castle with force; and the garrison, being seized with a
sudden panic at the variety of arms of the assailants, surrendered
themselves, and all who had fled to them for protection; and at the
first summons gave up the keys of the gates. Possession being taken, all
that was stored there was ransacked; women bewildered with fear were
dragged forth; and children clinging to their mothers were taught bitter
suffering at the very beginning of their infancy.
3. And when Sapor, by asking each whose wife she was, had found that of
Craugasius trembling with fear of violence, he allowed her to come in
safety to him, and when he saw her, veiled as she was with a black veil
to her lips, he kindly encouraged her with a promise that she should
recover her husband, and that her honour should be preserved inviolate.
For hearing that her husband was exceedingly devoted to her, he thought
that by this bribe he might win him over to betray Nisibis.
4. And he also extended his protection to other virgins who, according
to Christian rites, had been formally consecrated to the service of God,
ordering that they should be kept uninjured, and be allowed to perform
the offices of religion as they had been accustomed. Affecting clemency
for a time, in order that those who were alarmed at his former ferocity
and cruelty might now discard their fears, and come to him of their own
accord, learning from these recent examples that he tempered the
greatness of his success with humanity and courtesy.
[89] It is not known what towns are meant by Castra Herculis and
Quadriburgium.
[90] Vespasian and Titus.
[91] Ammianus was still in attendance on Ursicinus.
[92] Homer, Od. xiii. I; translated by Pope--
"He ceased, but left, so pleasing on their ear,
His voice, that listening still they seemed to hear."
And imitated by Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 1--
"The angel ended, and in Adam's ear
So pleasing left his voice that he awhile
Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear."
[93] The battle of Hileia took place A.D. 348; that of Singara three
years earlier.
[94] The Maritza, rising in Mount Hæmus, now the Balkan.
[95] Antoninus is meant, as Hadrian was succeeded by Antoninus Pius.
[96] Doriscus was the town where Xerxes reviewed and counted his army,
as is related by Herodotus, vii. 60.
[97] "Ammianus has marked the chronology of this year by three signs
which do not perfectly coincide with each other, or with the series of
the history:--1. The corn was ripe when Sapor invaded Mesopotamia, 'cum
jura stipulâ flavente turgerent'--a circumstance which, in the latitude
of Aleppo, would naturally refer us to the month of April or May. 2. The
progress of Sapor was checked by the overflowing of the Euphrates, which
generally happens in July and August. 3. When Sapor had taken Amida,
after a siege of seventy-three days, the autumn was far advanced.
'Autumno præcipiti hædorumque improbo sidere exorto.' To reconcile these
apparent contradictions, we must allow for some delay in the Persian
king, some inaccuracy in the historian, and some disorder in the
seasons."--Gibbon, cap. xix.; ed. Bohn, vol. ii. 320. "Clinton, F.R., i.
442, sees no such difficulty as Gibbon has here supposed; he makes Sapor
to have passed the Tigris in May, reached the Euphrates July 8th,
arrived before Amida July 27th, and stormed the place October
7th."--Editor of Bohn's ed.
[98] That is, in the suburbs of Edessa, as cemeteries in ancient times
were usually outside the walls of cities.
[99] It is not known what this name is derived from: some read
Fortensis, instead of Fretensis, and those who prefer this reading
derive it either from Fortis, brave; or from Fortia, a small town of
Asiatic Sarmatia.
[100] Præventores, or "going before;" superventores, "coming after," as
a reserve.
[101] In one of the earlier books which has been lost.