Part 37 (1/2)

[129] The old name was ??e????, inhospitable; turned into e??e????, friendly to strangers--e?????, according to etymology, would mean ”of a good disposition:” e?f????, ”the time when people have happy thoughts;” ??e??de?, ”deities of propitious might.”

[130] A people living in one of the islands near Sicily, and changed by Jupiter as related, Ov. Met. xiv., into monkeys.

[131] Two of the chief giants, Hom. Od. xi.

[132] A time spoken of by Pliny as before the fourth watch.

[133] These books are lost.

[134] We must remark here Ammia.n.u.s's complete ignorance of comparative geography and the bearings of the different countries of which he speaks. The Syrtes and Cape Ras are due _west_, not south of Egypt, The Ethiopians and Catadupi are on the north; while the Arabs, whom he places in the same line, are on the south-east. The Sea of Issus, on the Levant, which he places on the west, is on the north.

[135] The Blemmyae were an Ethiopian tribe to the south of Egypt.

[136] These names seem derived from the real or fancied shape of the snakes mentioned: the amphisbaena, from ?f? and a???, to go both ways, as it was believed to have a head at each end. The scytalas was like ”a staff;” the acontias, like ”a javelin;” the dipsas was a thirsty snake.

[137] From ??t?, opposite; and s???, shadow.

BOOK XXIII.

ARGUMENT.

I. Julian in vain attempts to restore the temple at Jerusalem, which had been destroyed long before.--II. He orders Arsaces, king of Armenia, to prepare for the war with Persia, and with an army and auxiliary troops of the Scythians crosses the Euphrates.--III.

As he marches through Mesopotamia, the princes of the Saracenic tribes of their own accord offer him a golden crown and auxiliary troops--A Roman fleet of eleven hundred s.h.i.+ps arrives, and bridges over the Euphrates.--IV. A description of several engines, balistae, scorpions, or wild-a.s.ses, battering-rams, helepoles, and fire-machines.--V. Julian, with all his army, crosses the river Aboras by a bridge of boats at Circesium--He harangues his soldiers.--VI. A description of the eighteen princ.i.p.al provinces of Persia, their cities, and the customs of their inhabitants.

I.

A.D. 363.

-- 1. To pa.s.s over minute details, these were the princ.i.p.al events of the year. But Julian, who in his third consuls.h.i.+p had taken as his colleague Sall.u.s.tius, the prefect of Gaul now entered on his fourth year, and by a novel arrangement took as his colleague a private individual; an act of which no one recollected an instance since that of Diocletian and Aristobulus.

2. And although, foreseeing in his anxious mind the various accidents that might happen, he urged on with great diligence all the endless preparations necessary for his expedition, yet distributing his diligence everywhere; and being eager to extend the recollection of his reign by the greatness of his exploits, he proposed to rebuild at a vast expense the once magnificent temple of Jerusalem, which after many deadly contests was with difficulty taken by Vespasian and t.i.tus, who succeeded his father in the conduct of the siege. And he a.s.signed the task to Alypius of Antioch, who had formerly been proprefect of Britain.

3. But though Alypius applied himself vigorously to the work, and though the governor of the province co-operated with him, fearful b.a.l.l.s of fire burst forth with continual eruptions close to the foundations, burning several of the workmen and making the spot altogether inaccessible. And thus the very elements, as if by some fate, repelling the attempt, it was laid aside.

4. About the same time the emperor conferred various honours on the amba.s.sadors who were sent to him from the Eternal City, being men of high rank and established excellence of character. He appointed Ap.r.o.nia.n.u.s to be prefect of Rome, Octavia.n.u.s to be proconsul of Africa, Venustus to be viceroy of Spain, and promoted Rufinus Aradius to be count of the East in the room of his uncle Julian, lately deceased.

5. When all this had been carried out as he arranged, he was alarmed by an omen which, as the result showed, indicated an event immediately at hand. Felix, the princ.i.p.al treasurer, having died suddenly of a hemorrhage, and Count Julian having followed him, the populace, looking on their public t.i.tles, hailed Julian as Felix and Augustus.

6. Another bad omen had preceded this, for, on the very first day of the year, as the emperor was mounting the steps of the temple of the Genius, one of the priests, the eldest of all, fell without any one striking him and suddenly expired; an event which the bystanders, either out of ignorance or a desire to flatter, affirmed was an omen affecting Sall.u.s.tius, as the elder consul; but it was soon seen that the death it portended was not to the elder man, but to the higher authority.

7. Besides these several other lesser signs from time to time indicated what was about to happen; for, at the very beginning of the arrangements for the Parthian campaign, news came that there had been an earthquake at Constantinople, which those skilful in divination declared to be an unfavourable omen to a ruler about to invade a foreign country; and therefore advised Julian to abandon his unreasonable enterprise, affirming that these and similar signs can only be disregarded with propriety when one's country is invaded by foreign armies, as then there is one everlasting and invariable law, to defend its safety by every possible means, allowing no relaxation nor delay. News also came by letter that at Rome the Sibylline volumes had been consulted on the subject of the war by Julian's order, and that they had in plain terms warned him not to quit his own territories that year.

II.

-- 1. But in the mean time emba.s.sies arrived from several nations promising aid, and they were liberally received and dismissed; the emperor with plausible confidence replying that it by no means became the power of Rome to rely on foreign aid to avenge itself, as it was rather fitting that Rome should give support to its friends and allies if necessity drove them to ask it.