Part 44 (1/2)

BOOK XXV.

ARGUMENT.

I. The Persians attack the Romans on their march, but are gallantly repelled.--II. The army is distressed by want of corn and forage; Julian is alarmed by prodigies.--III. The emperor, while, in order to repulse the Persians, who pressed him on all quarters, he rashly rushes into battle without his breastplate, is wounded by a spear, and is borne back to his tent, where he addresses those around him, and, after drinking some cold water, dies.--IV. His virtues and vices; his personal appearance.--V. Jovian, the captain[151] of the imperial guards, is tumultuously elected emperor.--VI. The Romans hasten to retreat from Persia, and on their march are continually attacked by the Persians and Saracens, whom, however, they repulse with great loss.--VII. The emperor Jovian, being influenced by the scarcity and distress with which his army is oppressed, makes a necessary but disgraceful peace with Sapor; abandoning five provinces, with the cities of Nisibis and Singara.--VIII. The Romans having crossed the Tigris, after a very long and terrible scarcity of provisions, which they endured with great courage, at length reach Mesopotamia--Jovian arranges the affairs of Illyric.u.m and Gaul to the best of his power.--IX. Bineses, a n.o.ble Persian, acting for Sapor, receives from Jovian the impregnable city of Nisibis; the citizens are unwilling to quit their country, but are compelled to migrate to Amida--Five provinces, with the city of Singara, and sixteen fortresses, are, according to the terms of the treaty, handed over to the Persian n.o.bles.--X. Jovian, fearing a revolution, marches with great speed through Syria, Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Galatia, and at Ancyra enters on the consuls.h.i.+p, with his infant son Varronia.n.u.s, and soon afterwards dies suddenly at Dadastana.

I.

A.D. 363.

-- 1. The night was dark and starless, and pa.s.sed by us as nights are pa.s.sed in times of difficulty and perplexity; no one out of fear daring to sit down, or to close his eyes. But as soon as day broke, brilliant breastplates surrounded with steel fringes, and glittering cuira.s.ses, were seen at a distance, and showed that the king's army was at hand.

2. The soldiers were roused at this sight, and hastened to engage, since only a small stream separated them from the Persians, but were checked by the emperor; a sharp skirmish did indeed take place between our outposts and the Persians, close to the rampart of our camp, in which Machamaeus, the captain of one of our squadrons was stricken down: his brother Maurus, afterwards Duke of Phoenicia, flew to his support, and slew the man who had killed Machamaeus, and crushed all who came in his way, till he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a javelin; but he still was able by great exertions to bring off his brother, who was now pale with approaching death.

3. Both sides were nearly exhausted with the intolerable violence of the heat and the repeated conflicts, but at last the hostile battalions were driven back in great disorder. Then while we fell back to a greater distance, the Saracens were also compelled to retreat from fear of our infantry, but presently afterwards joining themselves to the Persian host, they attacked us again, with more safety to themselves for the purpose of carrying off the Roman baggage. But when they saw the emperor they again retreated upon their reserve.

4. After leaving this district we reached a village called Huc.u.mbra, where we rested two days, procuring all kinds of provisions and abundance of corn, so that we moved on again after being refreshed beyond our hopes; all that the time would not allow us to take away we burnt.

5. The next day the army was advancing more quietly, when the Persians unexpectedly fell upon our last division, to whom that day the duty fell of bringing up the rear, and would easily have slain all the men, had not our cavalry, which happened to be at hand, the moment that they heard what was going on, hastened up, though scattered over the wide valley, and repulsed this dangerous attack, wounding all who had thus surprised them.

6. In this skirmish fell Adaces, a n.o.ble satrap, who had formerly been sent as amba.s.sador to the emperor Constantius, and had been kindly received by him. The soldier who slew him brought his arms to Julian, and received the reward he deserved.

7. The same day one of our corps of cavalry, known as the third legion, was accused of having gradually given way, so that when the legions were on the point of breaking the enemy's line, they nearly broke the spirit of the whole army.

8. And Julian, being justly indignant at this, deprived them of their standards, broke their spears, and condemned all those who were convicted of having misbehaved of marching among the baggage and prisoners; while their captain, the only one of their number who had behaved well, was appointed to the command of another squadron, the tribune of which was convicted of having shamefully left the field.

9. And four other tribunes of companies were also cas.h.i.+ered for similar misconduct; for the emperor was contented with this moderate degree of punishment out of consideration for his impending difficulties.

10. Accordingly, having advanced seventy furlongs with very scanty supplies, the herbage and the corn being all burnt, each man saved for himself just as much of the grain or forage as he could s.n.a.t.c.h from the flames and carry.

11. And having left this spot, when the army had arrived at the district called Maranx, near daybreak an immense mult.i.tude of Persians appeared, with Merenes, the captain of their cavalry, and two sons of the king, and many n.o.bles.

12. All the troops were clothed in steel, in such a way that their bodies were covered with strong plates, so that the hard joints of the armour fitted every limb of their bodies; and on their heads were effigies of human faces so accurately fitted, that their whole persons being covered with metal, the only place where any missiles which fell upon them could stick, was either where there were minute openings to allow of the sight of the eyes penetrating, or where holes for breathing were left at the extremities of the nostrils.

13. Part of them who were prepared to fight with pikes stood immovable, so that you might have fancied they were held in their places by fastenings of bra.s.s; and next to them the archers (in which art that nation has always been most skilful from the cradle) bent their supple bows with widely extended arms, so that the strings touched their right b.r.e.a.s.t.s, while the arrows lay just upon their left hands; and the whistling arrows flew, let loose with great skill of finger, bearing deadly wounds.

14. Behind them stood the glittering elephants in formidable array, whose grim looks our terrified men could hardly endure; while the horses were still more alarmed at their growl, odour, and unwonted aspect.

15. Their drivers rode on them, and bore knives with handles fastened to their right hands, remembering the disaster which they had experienced at Nisibis; and if the ferocious animal overpowered his overseer, they pierced the spine where the head is joined to the neck with a vigorous blow, that the beast might not recoil upon their own ranks, as had happened on that occasion, and trample down their own people; for it was found out by Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, that in this way these animals might be very easily deprived of life.

16. The sight of these beasts caused great alarm; and so this most intrepid emperor, attended with a strong body of his armed cohorts and many of his chief officers, as the crisis and the superior numbers of the enemy required, marshalled his troops in the form of a crescent with the wings bending inwards to encounter the enemy.

17. And to hinder the onset of the archers from disordering our columns, by advancing with great speed he baffled the aim of their arrows; and after he had given the formal signal for fighting, the Roman infantry, in close order, beat back the front of the enemy with a vigorous effort.

18. The struggle was fierce, and the clas.h.i.+ng of the s.h.i.+elds, the din of the men, and the doleful whistle of the javelins, which continued without intermission, covered the plains with blood and corpses, the Persians falling in every direction; and though they were often slack in fighting, being accustomed chiefly to combat at a distance by means of missiles, still now foot to foot they made a stout resistance; and when they found any of their divisions giving way, they retreated like rain before the wind, still with showers of arrows seeking to deter their foes from pursuing them. So the Parthians were defeated by prodigious efforts, till our soldiers, exhausted by the heat of the day, on the signal for retreat being sounded, returned to their camp, encouraged for the future to greater deeds of daring.

19. In this battle, as I have said, the loss of the Persians was very great--ours was very slight. But the most important death in our ranks was that of Vetranio, a gallant soldier who commanded the legion of Zianni.[152]

II.