Residence of Julian at Antioch— His successful Expedition against the Persians.— Passage of the Tigris.— The Retreat and Death of Julian.— Election of Jovian.— He saves the Roman Army by a disgraceful Treaty.
The Caesars of Julian
THE philosophical fable which Julian composed under the name
of the Caesars (1) is one of the most agreeable and instructive productions of ancient wit.(2) During the freedom
and equality of the days of the Saturnalia, Romulus prepared
a feast for the deities of Olympus, who had adopted him as a
worthy associate, and for the Roman princes, who had reigned
over his martial people and the vanquished nations of the
earth. The immortals were placed in just order on their
thrones of state, and the table of the Caesars was spread
below the moon, in the upper region of the air. The tyrants,
who would have disgraced the society of gods and men, were
thrown headlong, by the inexorable Nemesis, into the
Tartarean abyss. The rest of the Caesars successively
advanced to their seats; and as they passed, the vices, the
defects, the blemishes of their respective characters, were
maliciously noticed by old Silenus, a laughing moralist, who
disguised the wisdom of a philosopher under the mask of a
Bacchanal.(3) As soon as the feast was ended, the voice of Mercury proclaimed the will of Jupiter, that a celestial crown should be the reward of superior merit. Julius Caesar,
Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Antoninus, were selected as the
most illustrious candidates; the effeminate Constantine(4) was not excluded from this honourable competition; and the great Alexander was invited to dispute the prize of glory
with the Roman heroes. Each of the candidates was allowed to
display the merit of his own exploits; but, in the judgment
of the gods, the modest silence of Marcus pleaded more
powerfully than the elaborate orations of his haughty
rivals. When the judges of this awful contest proceeded to
examine the heart and to scrutinise the springs of action,
the superiority of the Imperial Stoic appeared still more
decisive and conspicuous. (5) Alexander and Caesar, Augustus,
Trajan, and Constantine acknowledged, with a blush, that
fame, or power, or pleasure, had been the important object
of their labours; but the gods themselves beheld with
reverence and love a virtuous mortal, who had practised on
the throne the lessons of philosophy, and who, in a state of
human imperfection, had aspired to imitate the moral
attributes of the Deity. The value of this agreeable
composition (the Caesars of Julian) is enhanced by the rank
of the author. A prince, who delineates with freedom the
vices and virtues of his predecessors, subscribes, in every
line, the censure or approbation of his own conduct.
He resolves to march against the Persians, A.D. 362
In the cool moments of reflection, Julian preferred the
useful and benevolent virtues of Antoninus; but his
ambitious spirit was inflamed by the glory of Alexander, and
he solicited, with equal ardour, the esteem of the wise and
the applause of the multitude. In the season of life when
the powers of the mind and body enjoy the most active
vigour, the emperor, who was instructed by the experience
and animated by the success of the German war, resolved to
signalise his reign by some more splendid and memorable
achievement. The ambassadors of the East, from the continent
of India and the isle of Ceylon,(6) had respectfully saluted
the Roman purple. (7) The nations of the West esteemed and
dreaded the personal virtues of Julian both in peace and
war. He despised the trophies of a Gothic victory,(8) and was
satisfied that the rapacious barbarians of the Danube would
be restrained from any future violation of the faith of
treaties by the terror of his name and the additional
fortifications with which he strengthened the Thracian and
Illyrian frontiers. The successor of Cyrus and Artaxerxes
was the only rival whom he deemed worthy of his arms, and he
resolved, by the final conquest of Persia, to chastise the
haughty nation which had so long resisted and insulted the
majesty of Rome. (9) As soon as the Persian monarch was
informed that the throne of Constantius was filled by a
prince of a very different character, he condescended to
make some artful or perhaps sincere overtures towards a
negotiation of peace. But the pride of Sapor was astonished
by the firmness of Julian, who sternly declared that he
would never consent to hold a peaceful conference among the
flames and ruins of the cities of Mesopotamia, and who
added, with a smile of contempt, that it was needless to
treat by ambassadors, as he himself had determined to visit
speedily the court of Persia. The impatience of the emperor
urged the diligence of the military preparations. The
generals were named, a formidable army was destined for this
important service, and Julian, marching from Constantinople
through the provinces of Asia Minor, August arrived at Antioch about eight months after the death of his predecessor. His
ardent desire to march into the heart of Persia was checked
by the indispensable duty of regulating the state of the
empire, by his zeal to revive the worship of the gods, and
by the advice of his wisest friends, who represented the
necessity of allowing the salutary interval of winter
quarters to restore the exhausted strength of the legions of
Gaul and the discipline and spirit of the Eastern troops.
Julian was persuaded to fix, till the ensuing spring, his
residence at Antioch, among a people maliciously disposed to
deride the haste and to censure the delays of their
sovereign.(10)
Licentious manners of the people of Antioch
If Julian had flattered himself that his personal connection
with the capital of the East would be productive of mutual
satisfaction to the prince and people, he made a very false
estimate of his own character and of the manners of Antioch.
(11) The warmth of the climate disposed the natives to the
most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and opulence, and
the lively licentiousness of the Greeks was blended with the
hereditary softness of the Syrians. Fashion was the only
law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress
and furniture was the only distinction of the citizens of
Antioch. The arts of luxury were honoured, the serious and
manly virtues were the subject of ridicule, and the contempt
for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal
corruption of the capital of the East. The love of
spectacles was the taste, or rather passion, of the Syrians;
the most skilful artists were procured from the adjacent
cities;(12) a considerable share of the revenue was devoted
to the public amusements, and the magnificence of the games
of the theatre and circus was considered as the happiness
and as the glory of Antioch. The rustic manners of a prince
who disdained such glory, and was insensible of such
happiness, soon disgusted the delicacy of his subjects, and
the effeminate Orientals could neither imitate nor admire
the severe simplicity which Julian always maintained and
sometimes affected. The days of festivity, consecrated by
ancient custom to the honour of the gods, were the only
occasions in which Julian relaxed his philosophic severity,
and those festivals were the only days in which the Syrians
of Antioch could reject the allurements of pleasure. The
majority of the people supported the glory of the Christian
name, which had been first invented by their ancestors:(13)
they contented themselves with disobeying the moral
precepts, but they were scrupulously attached to the
speculative doctrines, of their religion. The church of
Antioch was distracted by heresy and schism; but the Arians
and the Athanasians, the followers of Meletius and those of
Paulinus,(14) were actuated by the same pious hatred of their
common adversary.
Their aversion to Julian
The strongest prejudice was entertained against the
character of an apostate, the enemy and successor of a
prince who had engaged the affections of a very numerous
sect, and the removal of St. Babylas excited an implacable
opposition to the person of Julian. His subjects complained
with superstitious indignation, that famine had pursued the
emperor's steps from Constantinople to Antioch, and the
discontent of a hungry people was exasperated by the
injudicious attempt to relieve their distress. Scarcity of corn, and public discontent. The inclemency of the season had affected the harvests of Syria, and the price of bread (15) in the markets of Antioch had naturally risen in proportion to the scarcity of corn. But the fair and reasonable proportion was soon violated by the rapacious arts of monopoly. In this unequal contest, in which the produce of the land is claimed by one party as his exclusive property, is used by another as a lucrative object of trade, and is required by a third for the daily and necessary support of life, all the profits of the intermediate agents are accumulated on the head of the
defenceless consumers. The hardships of their situation were
exaggerated and increased by their own impatience and
anxiety, and the apprehension of a scarcity gradually
produced the appearances of a famine. When the luxurious
citizens of Antioch complained of the high price of poultry
and fish, Julian publicly declared that a frugal city ought
to be satisfied with a regular supply of wine, oil, and
bread; but he acknowledged that it was the duty of a
sovereign to provide for the subsistence of his people. With
this salutary view the emperor ventured on a very dangerous
and doubtful step, of fixing, by legal authority, the value
of corn. He enacted that, in a time of scarcity, it should
be sold at a price which had seldom been known in the most
plentiful years; and that his own example might strengthen
his laws, he sent into the market four hundred and
twenty-two thousand modii, or measures, which were drawn
by his order from the granaries of Hierapolis, of Chalcis,
and even of Egypt. The consequences might have been
foreseen, and were soon felt. The Imperial wheat was
purchased by the rich merchants; the proprietors of land or
of corn withheld from the city the accustomed supply; and
the small quantities that appeared in the market were
secretly sold at an advanced and illegal price. Julian still
continued to applaud his own policy, treated the complaints
of the people as a vain and ungrateful murmur, and convinced
Antioch that he had inherited the obstinacy, though not the
cruelty, of his brother Gallus.(16) The remonstrances of the
municipal senate served only to exasperate his inflexible
mind. He was persuaded, perhaps with truth, that the
senators of Antioch, who possessed lands or were concerned
in trade, had themselves contributed to the calamities of
their country; and he imputed the disrespectful boldness
which they assumed to the sense, not of public duty, but of
private interest. The whole body, consisting of two hundred
of the most noble and wealthy citizens, were sent, under a
guard, from the palace to the prison; and though they were
permitted, before the close of evening, to return to their
respective houses,(17) the emperor himself could not obtain
the forgiveness which he had so easily granted. The same
grievances were still the subject of the same complaints,
which were industriously circulated by the wit and levity of
the Syrian Greeks. During the licentious days of the
Saturnalia, the streets of the city resounded with insolent
songs, which derided the laws, the religion, the personal
conduct, and even the beard of the emperor; and the
spirit of Antioch was manifested by the connivance of the
magistrates and the applause of the multitude. (18) The
disciple of Socrates was too deeply affected by these
popular insults; but the monarch, endowed with quick
sensibility and possessed of absolute power, refused his
passions the gratification of revenge. A tyrant might have
proscribed, without distinction, the lives and fortunes of
the citizens of Antioch; and the unwarlike Syrians must have
patiently submitted to the lust, the rapaciousness, and the cruelty of the faithful legions of Gaul. A milder sentence might have deprived the capital of the East of its honours and privileges, and the courtiers, perhaps the subjects of Julian, would have applauded an act of justice which asserted the dignity of the supreme magistrate of the republic. (19)Julian composes a satire against Antioch But instead of abusing or exerting the authority of the state to revenge his personal injuries, Julian contented himself with an inoffensive mode of retaliation, which it would be in the power of few princes to employ. He had been insulted by satires and libels; in his turn he composed, under the title of the Enemy of the Beard, an ironical confession of his own faults, and a severe satire of the licentious and effeminate manners of Antioch. This Imperial reply was publicly exposed before the gates of the palace; and the MISOPOGON(20) still remains a singular monument of the resentment, the wit, the humanity, and the indiscretion of Julian. Though he affected to laugh, he could not forgive.(21) His contempt was expressed, and his
revenge might be gratified, by the nomination of a governor
(22) worthy only of such subjects; and the emperor, for ever renouncing the ungrateful city, proclaimed his resolution to pass the ensuing winter at Tarsus in Cilicia.(23)
The sophist Libanius. A.D. 319-390, Ec
Yet Antioch possessed one citizen whose genius and virtues
might atone, in the opinion of Julian, for the vice and
folly of his country. The sophist Libanius was born in the
capital of the East, he publicly professed the arts of
rhetoric and declamation at Nice, Nicomedia, Constantinople,
Athens, and, during the remainder of his life, at Antioch.
His school was assiduously frequented by the Grecian youth;
his disciples, who sometimes exceeded the number of eighty,
celebrated their incomparable master; and the jealousy of
his rivals, who persecuted him from one city to another,
confirmed the favourable opinion which Libanius
ostentatiously displayed of his superior merit. The
preceptors of Julian had extorted a rash but solemn
assurance that he would never attend the lectures of their
adversary; the curiosity of the royal youth was checked and
inflamed; he secretly procured the writings of this
dangerous sophist, and gradually surpassed, in the perfect
imitation of his style, the most laborious of his domestic
pupils.(24) When Julian ascended the throne, he declared his
impatience to embrace and reward the Syrian sophist, who had
preserved in a degenerate age the Grecian purity of taste,
of manners, and of religion. The emperor's prepossession was
increased and justified by the discreet pride of his
favourite. Instead of pressing, with the foremost of the
crowd, into the palace of Constantinople, Libanius calmly
expected his arrival at Antioch, withdrew from court on the
first symptoms of coldness and indifference, required a
formal invitation for each visit, and taught his sovereign
an important lesson, that he might command the obedience of
a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment of a
friend. The sophists of every age, despising or affecting to
despise the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune,(25)
reserve their esteem for the superior qualities of the mind,
with which they themselves are so plentifully endowed Julian
might disdain the acclamations of a venal court who adored
the Imperial purple; but he was deeply flattered by the
praise, the admonition, the freedom, and the envy of an
independent philosopher, who refused his favours, loved his
person, celebrated his fame, and protected his memory. The
voluminous writings of Libanius still exist; for the most
part they are the vain and idle compositions of an orator
who cultivated the science of words—the productions of a
recluse student, whose mind, regardless of his
contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the Trojan war and
the Athenian commonwealth. Yet the sophist of Antioch
sometimes descended from this imaginary elevation; he
entertained a various and elaborate correspondence;(26) he
praised the virtues of his own times; he boldly arraigned
the abuses of public and private life; and he eloquently
pleaded the cause of Antioch against the just resentment of
Julian and Theodosius. It is the common calamity of old age
(27) to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable; but
Libanius experienced the peculiar misfortune of surviving
the religion and the sciences to which he had consecrated
his genius. The friend of Julian was an indignant spectator
of the triumph of Christianity, and his bigotry, which
darkened the prospect of the visible world, did not inspire
Libanius with any lively hopes of celestial glory and
happiness.(28)
March of Julian to the Euphrates, A.D. 363, March 5
The martial impatience of Julian urged him to take the field
in the beginning of the spring, and he dismissed, with
contempt and reproach, the senate of Antioch, who
accompanied the emperor beyond the limits of their own
territory, to which he was resolved never to return. After a
laborious march of two days (29) he halted on the third at
Bercea, or Aleppo, where he had the mortification of finding
a senate almost entirely Christian, who received with cold
and formal demonstrations of respect the eloquent sermon of
the apostle of Paganism. The son of one of the most
illustrious citizens of Bercea, who had embraced, either
from interest or conscience, the religion of the emperor,
was disinherited by his angry parent. The father and the son
were invited to the Imperial table. Julian, placing himself
between them, attempted without success to inculcate the
lesson and example of toleration, supported, with affected
calmness, the indiscreet zeal of the aged Christian, who
seemed to forget the sentiments of nature and the duty of a
subject, and at length, turning towards the afflicted youth,
"Since you have lost a father," said he, "for my sake, it is incumbent on me to supply his place." (30)
The emperor was received in a manner much more agreeable to his wishes at Batnae, a small town pleasantly seated in a grove of cypresses, about twenty miles from the city of Hierapolis. The solemn rites of sacrifice were decently prepared by the inhabitants of Batnae, who seemed attached to the worship of their tutelar deities, Apollo and Jupiter; but the serious piety of Julian was offended by the tumult of their applause, and he clearly discerned that the smoke which arose from their altars was the incense of flattery rather than of devotion. The ancient and magnificent temple, which had sanctified for so many ages the city of Hierapolis,(31) no longer subsisted, and the consecrated wealth, which afforded a liberal maintenance to more than three hundred priests, might hasten its downfall. Yet Julian enjoyed the satisfaction of embracing a philosopher and a friend, whose religious firmness had withstood the pressing and repeated solicitations of Constantius and Gallus as often as those princes lodged at his house in their passage through Hierapolis. In the hurry of military preparation, and the careless confidence of a familiar correspondence, the zeal of Julian appears to have been lively and uniform. He had now undertaken an important and difficult war, and the anxiety of the event rendered him still more attentive to observe and register the most trifling presages from which, according to the rules of divination, any knowledge of futurity could be derived. (32) He informed Libanius of his progress as far as Hierapolis by an elegant epistle,(33) which displays the facility of his genius and his tender friendship for the sophist of Antioch.
His design of invading Persia
Hierapolis, situate almost on the banks of the Euphrates,(34)
had been appointed for the general rendezvous of the Roman
troops, who immediately passed the great river on the bridge
of boats which was previously constructed. (35) If the
inclinations of Julian had been similar to those of his
predecessor, he might have wasted the active and important
season of the year in the circus of Samosata or in the
churches of Edessa. But as the warlike emperor, instead of
Constantius, had chosen Alexander for his model, he advanced
without delay to Carrhae, (36) a very ancient city of
Mesopotamia, at the distance of four-score miles from
Hierapolis. The temple of the Moon attracted the devotion of
Julian, but the halt of a few days was principally employed
in completing the immense preparations of the Persian war.
The secret of the expedition had hitherto remained in his
own breast; but as Carrhae is the point of separation of the
two great roads, he could no longer conceal whether it was
his design to attack the dominions of Sapor on the side of
the Tigris, or on that of the Euphrates. The emperor
detached an army of thirty thousand men, under the command
of his kinsman Procopius, and of Sebastian, who had been
duke of Egypt. They were ordered to direct their march
towards Nisibis, and to secure the frontier from the
desultory incursions of the enemy, before they attempted the
passage of the Tigris. Their subsequent operations were left to the discretion of the generals; but Julian expected that, after wasting with fire and sword the fertile districts of Media and Adiabene, they might arrive under the walls of Ctesiphon about the same time that he himself, advancing
with equal steps along the banks of the Euphrates, should besiege the capital of the Persian monarchy. Disaffection of the king of Armenia The success of this well-concerted plan depended, in a great measure, on the powerful and ready assistance of the king of Armenia, who, without exposing the safety of his own dominions, might detach an army of four thousand horse and twenty thousand foot to the assistance of the Romans. (37) But the feeble Arsaces Tiranus,(38) king of Armenia, had degenerated still more shamefully than his father Chosroes from the manly virtues of the great Tiridates; and as the pusillanimous monarch was averse to any enterprise of danger and glory, he could disguise his timid indolence by the more decent excuses of religion and gratitude. He expressed a pious attachment to the memory of Constantius, from whose hands he had received in marriage Olympias, the daughter of the praefect Ablavius; and the alliance of a female who had been educated as the destined wife of the emperor Constans exalted the dignity of a barbarian king. (39) Tiranus professed the Christian religion; he reigned over a nation of Christians; and he was restrained, by every principle of conscience and interest, from contributing to the victory which would consummate the ruin of the church. The alienated mind of Tiranus was exasperated by the indiscretion of Julian, who treated the king of Armenia as his slave, and as the enemy of the gods. The haughty and threatening style of the Imperial mandates (40) awakened the secret indignation of a prince who, in the humiliating state of dependence, was still conscious of his royal descent from the Arsacides, the lords of the East, and the rivals of the Roman power.
Military preparations
The military dispositions of Julian were skilfully contrived
to deceive the spies and to divert the attention of Sapor.
The legions appeared to direct their march towards Nisibis
and the Tigris. On a sudden they wheeled to the right,
traversed the level and naked plain of Carrhae, and reached,
on the third day, the banks of the Euphrates, where the
strong town of Nicephorium, or Callinicum, had been founded
by the Macedonian kings. From thence the emperor pursued his
march, above ninety miles, along the winding stream of the
Euphrates, till at length, about one month after his
departure from Antioch, he discovered the towers of
Circesium, the extreme limit of the Roman dominions. The
army of Julian, the most numerous that any of the Caesars
had ever led against Persia, consisted of sixty-five
thousand effective and well-disciplined soldiers. The
veteran bands of cavalry and infantry, of Romans and
barbarians, had been selected from the different provinces,
and a just pre-eminence of loyalty and valour was claimed by
the hardy Gauls, who guarded the throne and person of their
beloved prince. A formidable body of Scythian auxiliaries
had been transported from another climate, and almost from
another world, to invade a distant country of whose name and
situation they were ignorant. The love of rapine and war
allured to the Imperial standard several tribes of Saracens,
or roving Arabs, whose service Julian had commanded, while
he sternly refused the payment of the accustomed subsidies.
The broad channel of the Euphrates(41) was crowded by a fleet
of eleven hundred ships, destined to attend the motions and
to satisfy the wants of the Roman army. The military
strength of the fleet was composed of fifty armed galleys,
and these were accompanied by an equal number of
flat-bottomed boats, which might occasionally be connected
into the form of temporary bridges. The rest of the ships,
partly constructed of timber and partly covered with raw
hides, were laden with an almost inexhaustible supply of
arms and engines, of utensils and provisions. The vigilant
humanity of Julian had embarked a very large magazine of vinegar and biscuit for the use of the soldiers, but he prohibited the indulgence of wine, and rigorously stopped a long string of superfluous camels that attempted to follow the rear of the army. The river Chaboras falls into the Euphrates at Circesium, (42) and, as soon as the trumpet gave the signal of march, April 7th the Romans passed the little stream which separated two mighty and hostile empires. The custom of ancient discipline required a military oration, and Julian embraced every opportunity of displaying his eloquence He animated the impatient and attentive legions by the example of the inflexible courage and glorious triumphs of their ancestors. He excited their resentment by a lively picture of the insolence of the Persians and he exhorted them to imitate his firm resolution either to extirpate that perfidious nation, or to devote his life in the cause of the republic. The eloquence of Julian was enforced by a donative of one hundred and thirty pieces of silver to every soldier, and the bridge of the Chaboras was instantly cut away to convince the troops that they must place their hopes of safety in the success of their arms. Yet the prudence of the emperor induced him to secure a remote frontier, perpetually
exposed to the inroads of the hostile Arabs. A detachment of four thousand men was left at Circesium, which completed, to the number of ten thousand, the regular garrison of that important fortress.(43)
His march over the desert of Mesopotamia
From the moment that the Romans entered the enemy's country,
(44) the country of an active and artful enemy, the order of march was disposed in three columns.(45) The strength of the infantry, and consequently of the whole army, was placed in the centre, under the peculiar command of their master-general Victor. On the right, the brave Nevitta led a
column of several legions along the banks of the Euphrates, and almost always in sight of the fleet. The left flank of the army was protected by the column of cavalry. Hormisdas and Arinthseus were appointed generals of the horse, and the singular adventures of Hormisdas (46) are not undeserving of our notice. He was a Persian prince, of the royal race of the Sassanides, who, in the troubles of the minority of Sapor, had escaped from prison to the hospitable court of
the great Constantine. Hormisdas at first excited the compassion, and at length acquired the esteem, of his new masters; his valour and fidelity raised him to the military honours of the Roman service; and, though a Christian, he might indulge the secret satisfaction of convincing his
ungrateful country that an oppressed subject may prove the most dangerous enemy. Such was the disposition of the three principal columns. The front and flanks of the army were covered by Lucilianus with a flying detachment of fifteen hundred light-armed soldiers, whose active vigilance observed the most distant signs, and conveyed the earliest notice of any hostile approach. Dagalaiphus, and Secundinus duke of Osrhoene, conducted the troops of the rearguard; the baggage securely proceeded in the intervals of the columns; and the ranks, from a motive either of use or ostentation, were formed in such open order that the whole line of march extended almost ten miles. The ordinary post of Julian was at the head of the centre column, but, as he
preferred the duties of a general to the state of a monarch, he rapidly moved, with a small escort of light cavalry, to the front, the rear, the flanks, wherever his presence could
animate or protect the march of the Roman army. The country
which they traversed from the Chaboras to the cultivated
lands of Assyria may be considered as a part of the desert
of Arabia, a dry and barren waste, which could never be
improved by the most powerful arts of human industry. Julian
marched over the same ground which had been trod above seven
hundred years before by the footsteps of the younger Cyrus,
and which is described by one of the companions of his
expedition, the sage and heroic Xenophon.(47)
"The country was a plain throughout, as even as the sea, and full of wormwood and if any other kind of shrubs or reeds grew there, they had all an aromatic smell, but no trees could be seen. Bustards and ostriches, antelopes and wild asses, (48) appeared to be the only inhabitants of the desert, and the fatigues of the march were alleviated by the amusements of the chase."
The loose sand of the desert was frequently raised by the wind into clouds of dust, and a great number of the soldiers of Julian, with their tents, were suddenly thrown to the ground by the violence of an unexpected hurricane.
His success
The sandy plains of Mesopotamia were abandoned to the
antelopes and wild asses of the desert, but a variety of
populous towns and villages were pleasantly situated on the
banks of the Euphrates and in the islands which are
occasionally formed by that river. The city of Anah, or
Anatho,(49) the actual residence of an Arabian emir, is composed of two long streets, which enclose, within a
natural fortification, a small island in the midst, and two
fruitful spots on either side, of the Euphrates. The warlike
inhabitants of Anatho showed a disposition to stop the march
of a Roman emperor, till they were diverted from such fatal
presumption by the mild exhortations of Prince Hormisdas,
and the approaching terrors of the fleet and army. They
implored and experienced the clemency of Julian, who
transplanted the people to an advantageous settlement near
Chalcis in Syria, and admitted Pusaeus, the governor, to an
honourable rank in his service and friendship. But the
impregnable fortress of Thilutha could scorn the menace of a
siege, and the emperor was obliged to content himself with
an insulting promise that, when he had subdued the interior
provinces of Persia, Thilutha would no longer refuse to
grace the triumph of the conqueror. The inhabitants of the
open towns, unable to resist and unwilling to yield, fled
with precipitation, and their houses, filled with spoil and
provisions, were occupied by the soldiers of Julian, who
massacred, without remorse and without punishment, some
defenceless women. During the march the Surenas, or Persian
general, and Malek Rodosaces, the renowned emir of the tribe
of Gassan,(50) incessantly hovered round the army; every
straggler was intercepted, every detachment was attacked,
and the valiant Hormisdas escaped with some difficulty from
their hands. But the barbarians were finally repulsed, the
country became every day less favourable to the operations
of cavalry, and when the Romans arrived at Macepracta they
perceived the ruins of the wall which had been constructed
by the ancient kings of Assyria to secure their dominions
from the incursions of the Medes. These preliminaries of the
expedition of Julian appear to have employed about fifteen
days, and we may compute near three hundred miles from the
fortress of Circesium to the wall of Macepracta.(51)
Description of Assyria
The fertile province of Assyria (52) which stretched beyond
the Tigris, as far as the mountains of Media,(53) extended
about four hundred miles from the ancient wall of Macepracta
to the territory of Basra, where the united streams of the
Euphrates and Tigris discharge themselves into the Persian
Gulf.(54) The whole country might have claimed the peculiar
name of Mesopotamia, as the two rivers, which are never more
distant than fifty, approach, between Bagdad and Babylon,
within twenty-five miles of each other. A multitude of
artificial canals, dug without much labour in a soft and
yielding soil, connected the rivers and intersected the
plain of Assyria. The uses of these artificial canals were
various and important. They served to discharge the
superfluous waters from one river into the other at the
season of their respective inundations. Subdividing
themselves into smaller and smaller branches, they refreshed
the dry lands and supplied the deficiency of rain. They
facilitated the intercourse of peace and commerce, and, as
the dam could be speedily broke down, they armed the despair
of the Assyrians with the means of opposing a sudden deluge
to the progress of an invading army. To the soil and climate
of Assyria nature had denied some of her choicest gifts -
the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree; but the food which
supports the life of man, and particularly wheat and barley,
were produced with inexhaustible fertility, and the
husbandman, who committed his seed to the earth, was
frequently rewarded with an increase of two or even of three
hundred. The face of the country was interspersed with
groves of innumerable palm-trees, (55) and the diligent
natives celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three
hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the
leaves, the juice, and the fruit were skilfully applied.
Several manufactures, especially those of leather and linen,
employed the industry of a numerous people, and afforded
valuable materials for foreign trade, which appears,
however, to have been conducted by the hands of strangers.
Babylon had been converted into a royal park, but near the
ruins of the ancient capital new cities had successively
arisen, and the populousness of the country was displayed in
the multitudes of towns and villages, which were built of
bricks dried in the sun and strongly cemented with bitumen,
the natural and peculiar production of the Babylonian soil.
While the successors of Cyrus reigned over Asia, the
province of Assyria alone maintained, during a third part of
the year, the luxurious plenty of the table and household of
the Great King. Four considerable villages were assigned for
the subsistence of his Indian dogs; eight hundred stallions
and sixteen thousand mares were constantly kept, at the
expense of the country, for the royal stables; and as the
daily tribute which was paid to the satrap amounted to one
English bushel of silver, we may compute the annual revenue
of Assyria at more than twelve hundred thousand pounds
sterling. (56)
Invasion of Assyria. A.D. 363. May.
The fields of Assyria were devoted by Julian to the
calamities of war; and the philosopher retaliated on a
guiltless people the acts of rapine and cruelty which had
been committed by their haughty master in the Roman
provinces. The trembling Assyrians summoned the rivers to
their assistance; and completed with their own hands the
ruin of their country. The roads were rendered
impracticable; a flood of waters was poured into the camp;
and, during several days, the troops of Julian were obliged
to contend with the most discouraging hardships. But every
obstacle was surmounted by the perseverance of the
legionaries, who were inured to toil as well as to danger,
and who felt themselves animated by the spirit of their
leader. The damage was gradually repaired; the waters were
restored to their proper channels; while groves of palm
trees were cut down and placed along the bro ken parts of
the road; and the army passed over the broad and deeper
canals on bridges of floating rafts, which were supported by
the help of bladders. Siege of Perisabor, Two cities of Assyria presumed to
resist the arms of a Roman emperor; and they both paid the
severe penalty of their rashness At the distance of fifty
miles from the royal residence of Ctesiphon, Perisabor, or
Anbar, held the second rank in the province: a city, large,
populous, and well fortified, surrounded with a double wall,
almost encompassed by a branch of the Euphrates, and
defended by the valour of a numerous garrison. The
exhortations of Hormisdas were repulsed with contempt; and
the ears of the Persian prince were wounded by a just
reproach, that, unmindful of his royal birth, he conducted
an army of strangers against his king and country. The
Assyrians maintained their loyalty by a skilful as well as
vigorous defence, till the lucky stroke of a battering-ram
having opened a large breach by shattering one of the angles
of the wall, they hastily retired into the fortifications of
the interior citadel. The soldiers of Julian rushed
impetuously into the town, and, after the full gratification
of every military appetite, Perisabor was reduced to ashes;
and the engines which assaulted the citadel were planted on
the ruins of the smoking houses. The contest was continued
by an incessant and mutual discharge of missile weapons; and
the superiority which the Romans might derive from the
mechanical powers of their balistae and catapultae was
counterbalanced by the advantage of the ground on the side
of the besieged. But as soon as an Helepolis had been
constructed, which could engage on equal terms with the
loftiest ramparts, the tremendous aspect of a moving turret,
that would leave no hope of resistance or of mercy,
terrified the defenders of the citadel into an humble
submission, and the place was surrendered only two days
after Julian first appeared under the walls of Perisabor.
Two thousand five hundred persons of both sexes, the feeble
remnant of a flourishing people, were permitted to retire:
the plentiful magazines of corn, of arms, and of splendid
furniture, were partly distributed among the troops and
partly reserved for the public service; the useless stores
were destroyed by fire or thrown into the stream of the
Euphrates; and the fate of Amida was revenged by the total
ruin of Perisabor.
of Maogamalcha
The city, or rather fortress, of Maogamalcha, which was
defended by sixteen large towers, a deep ditch,, and two
strong and solid walls of brick and bitumen, appears to have
been constructed at the distance of eleven miles, as the
safeguard of the capital of Persia. The emperor,
apprehensive of leaving such an important fortress in his
rear, immediately formed the siege of Maogamalcha; and the
Roman army was distributed for that purpose into three
divisions. Victor, at the head of the cavalry and of a
detachment of heavy-armed foot, was ordered to clear the
country as far as the banks of the Tigris and the suburbs of
Ctesiphon. The conduct of the attack was assumed by Julian
himself, who seemed to place his whole dependence in the
military engines which he erected against the walls; while
he secretly contrived a more efficacious method of
introducing his troops into the heart of the city. Under the
direction of Nevitta and Dagalaiphus, the trenches were
opened at a considerable distance, and gradually prolonged
as far as the edge of the ditch. The ditch was speedily
filled with earth; and, by the incessant labour of the
troops, a mine was carried under the foundations of the
walls and sustained at sufficient intervals by props of
timber. Three chosen cohorts, advancing in a single file,
silently explored the dark and dangerous passage; till their
intrepid leader whispered back the intelligence that he was
ready to issue from his confinement into the streets of the
hostile city. Julian checked their ardour, that he might
ensure their success; and immediately diverted the attention
of the garrison by the tumult and clamour of a general
assault. The Persians, who from their walls contemptuously
beheld the progress of an impotent attack, celebrated with
songs of triumph the glory of Sapor; and ventured to assure
the emperor that he might ascend the starry mansion of
Ormusd before he could hope to take the impregnable city of
Maogamalcha. The city was already taken. History has
recorded the name of a private soldier, the first who
ascended from the mine into a deserted tower. The passage
was widened by his companions, who pressed forwards with
impatient valour. Fifteen hundred enemies were already in
the midst of the city. The astonished garrison abandoned the
walls, and their only hope of safety; the gates were
instantly burst open; and the revenge of the soldier, unless
it were suspended by lust or avarice, was satiated by an
undistinguishing massacre. The governor, who had yielded on
a promise of mercy, was burnt alive, a few days afterwards,
on a charge of having uttered some disrespectful words
against the honour of Prince Hormisdas. The fortifications
were razed to the ground; and not a vestige was left that
the city of Maogamalcha had ever existed. The neighbourhood
of the capital of Persia was adorned with three stately
palaces, laboriously enriched with every production that
could gratify the luxury and pride of an Eastern monarch.
The pleasant situation of the gardens along the banks of the
Tigris was improved, according to the Persian taste, by the
symmetry of flowers, fountains, and shady walks: and
spacious parks were enclosed for the reception of the bears,
lions, and wild boars, which were maintained at a
considerable expense for the pleasure of the royal chase.
The park-walls were broken down, the savage game was
abandoned to the darts of the soldiers, and the palaces of
Sapor were reduced to ashes, by the command of the Roman
emperor. Julian, on this occasion, showed himself ignorant
or careless of the laws of civility, which the prudence and
refinement of polished ages have established between hostile
princes. Yet these wanton ravages need not excite in our
breasts any vehement emotions of pity or resentment. A
simple, naked statue, finished by the hand of a Grecian
artist, is of more genuine value than all these rude and
costly monuments of barbaric labour; and, if we are more
deeply affected by the ruin of a palace than by the
conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have formed a
very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human life.(57)
Personal behaviour of Julian
Julian was an object of terror and hatred to the Persians;
and the painters of that nation represented the invader of
their country under the emblem of a furious lion, who
vomited from his mouth a consuming fire.(58) To his friends
and soldiers the philosophic hero appeared in a more amiable
light; and his virtues were never more conspicuously
displayed than in the last and most active period of his
life. He practised, without effort, and almost without
merit, the habitual qualities of temperance and sobriety.
According to the dictates of that artificial wisdom which
assumes an absolute dominion over the mind and body, he
sternly refused himself the indulgence of the most natural
appetites. (59) In the warm climate of Assyria, which
solicited a luxurious people to the gratification of every
sensual desire, (60) a youthful conqueror preserved his
chastity pure and inviolate: nor was Julian ever tempted,
even by a motive of curiosity, to visit his female captives
of exquisite beauty,(61) who, instead of resisting his power,
would have disputed with each other the honour of his
embraces. With the same firmness that he resisted the
allurements of love, he sustained the hardships of war. When
the Romans marched through the flat and flooded country,
their sovereign, on foot, at the head of his legions, shared
their fatigues and animated their diligence. In every useful
labour the hand of Julian was prompt and strenuous; and the
Imperial purple was wet and dirty, as the coarse garment of
the meanest soldier. The two sieges allowed him some
remarkable opportunities of signalising his personal valour,
which, in the improved state of the military art, can seldom
be exerted by a prudent general. The emperor stood before
the citadel of Perisabor, insensible of his extreme danger,
and encouraged his troops to burst open the gates of iron,
till he was almost overwhelmed under a cloud of missile
weapons and huge stones that were directed against his
person. As he examined the exterior fortifications of
Maogamalcha, two Persians, devoting themselves for their
country, suddenly rushed upon him with drawn scimitars: the
emperor dexterously received their blows on his uplifted
shield; and, with a steady and well-aimed thrust, laid one
of his adversaries dead at his feet. The esteem of a prince
who possesses the virtues which he approves is the noblest
recompense of a deserving subject; and the authority which
Julian derived from his personal merit enabled him to revive
and enforce the rigour of ancient discipline. He punished
with death, or ignominy, the misbehaviour of three troops of
horse, who, in a skirmish with the Surenas, had lost their
honour and one of their standards: and he distinguished with
obsidional(62) crowns the valour of the foremost soldiers
who had ascended into the city of Maogamalcha. After the
siege of Perisabor the firmness of the emperor was exercised
by the insolent avarice of the army, who loudly complained
that their services were rewarded by a trifling donative of
one hundred pieces of silver. His just indignation was
expressed in the grave and manly language of a Roman.
"Riches are the object of your desires; those riches are in the hands of the Persians and the spoils of this fruitful country are proposed as the prize of your valour and discipline. Believe me," added Julian, "the Roman republic, which formerly possessed such immense treasures, is now reduced to want and wretchedness; since our princes have been persuaded, by weak and interested ministers, to purchase with gold the tranquillity of the barbarians. The revenue is exhausted; the cities are ruined; the provinces are dis-peopled. For myself, the only inheritance that I have received from my royal ancestors is a soul incapable of fear; and as long as I am convinced that every real advantage is seated in the mind, I shall not blush to acknowledge an honourable poverty, which in the days of ancient virtue was considered as the glory of Fabricius. That glory, and that virtue, may be your own, if you will listen to the voice of Heaven and of your leader. But if you will rashly persist, if you are determined to renew the shameful and mischievous examples of old seditions, proceed. As it becomes an emperor who has filled the first rank among men, I am prepared to die standing, and to despise a precarious life which every hour may depend on an accidental fever. If I have been found unworthy of the command, there are now among you (I speak it with pride and pleasure), there are many chiefs whose merit and experience are equal to the conduct of the most important war. Such has been the temper of my reign, that I can retire, without regret and without apprehension, to the obscurity of a private station." (63)
The modest resolution of Julian was answered by the unanimous applause and cheerful obedience of the Romans, who declared their confidence of victory while they fought under the banners of their heroic prince. Their courage was kindled by his frequent and familiar asseverations (for such wishes were the oaths of Julian), "So may I reduce the Persians under the yoke!" "Thus may I restore the strength and splendour of the republic!" The love of fame was the ardent passion of his soul: but it was not before he trampled on the ruins of Maogamalcha that he allowed himself to say, "We have now provided some materials for the sophist of Antioch." (64)
He transports his fleet from the Euphrates to the Tigris
The successful valour of Julian had triumphed over all the
obstacles that opposed his march to the gates of Ctesiphon.
But the reduction, or even the siege, of the capital of
Persia was still at a distance: nor can the military conduct
of the emperor be clearly apprehended without a knowledge of
the country which was the theatre of his bold and skilful
operations.(65) Twenty miles to the south of Bagdad, and on
the eastern bank of the Tigris, the curiosity of travellers
has observed some ruins of the palaces of Ctesiphon, which
in the time of Julian was a great and populous city. The
name and glory of the adjacent Seleucia were for ever
extinguished; and the only remaining quarter of that Greek
colony had resumed, with the Assyrian language and manners,
the primitive appellation of Coche. Coche was situate on the
western side of the Tigris; but it was naturally considered
as a suburb of Ctesiphon, with which we may suppose it to
have been connected by a permanent bridge of boats. The
united parts contributed to form the common epithet of Al
Modain, THE CITIES, which the Orientals have bestowed on the
winter residence of the Sassanides; and the whole
circumference of the Persian capital was strongly fortified
by the waters of the river, by lofty walls, and by
impracticable morasses. Near the ruins of Seleucia the camp
of Julian was fixed, and secured by a ditch and rampart
against the sallies of the numerous and enterprising
garrison of Coche. In this fruitful and pleasant country the
Romans were plentifully supplied with water and forage: and
several forts, which might have embarrassed the motions of
the army, submitted, after some resistance, to the efforts
of their valour. The fleet passed from the Euphrates into an
artificial deviation of that river, which pours a copious
and navigable stream into the Tigris at a small distance
below the great city. If they had followed this royal
canal, which bore the name of NaharMalcha, (66) the
intermediate situation of Coche would have separated the
fleet and army of Julian; and the rash attempt of steering
against the current of the Tigris, and forcing their way
through the midst of a hostile capital, must have been
attended with the total destruction of the Roman navy. The
prudence of the emperor foresaw the danger, and provided the
remedy. As he had minutely studied the operations of Trajan
in the same country, he soon recollected that his warlike
predecessor had dug a new and navigable canal, which,
leaving Coche on the right hand, conveyed the waters of the
NaharMalcha into the river Tigris at some distance above the
cities. From the information of the peasants Julian
ascertained the vestiges of this ancient work, which were
almost obliterated by design or accident. By the indefigable
labour of the soldiers a broad and deep channel was speedily
prepared for the reception of the Euphrates. A strong dyke
was constructed to interrupt the ordinary current of the
NaharMalcha: a flood of waters rushed impetuously into their
new bed; and the Roman fleet, steering their triumphant
course into the Tigris, derided the vain and ineffectual
barriers which the Persians of Ctesiphon had erected to
oppose their passage.
Passage of the Tigris, and victory of the Romans
As it became necessary to transport the Roman army over the
Tigris, another labour presented itself, of less toil, but
of more danger, than the preceding expedition. The stream
was broad and rapid, the ascent steep and difficult; and the
entrenchments which had been formed on the ridge of the
opposite bank were lined with a numerous army of heavy
cuirassiers, dexterous archers, and huge elephants; who
(according to the extravagant hyperbole of Libanius) could
trample with the same ease a field of corn or a legion of
Romans.(67) In the presence of such an enemy the construction
of a bridge was impracticable; and the intrepid prince, who
instantly seized the only possible expedient, concealed his
design, till the moment of execution, from the knowledge of
the barbarians, of his own troops, and even of his generals
themselves. Under the specious pretence of examining the
state of the magazines, four-score vessels were gradually
unladen; and a select detachment, apparently destined for
some secret expedition, was ordered to stand to their arms
on the first signal. Julian disguised the silent anxiety of
his own mind with smiles of confidence and joy; and amused
the hostile nations with the spectacle of military games,
which he insultingly celebrated under the walls of Coche.
The day was consecrated to pleasure; but, as soon as the
hour of supper was past, the emperor summoned the generals
to his tent, and acquainted them that he had fixed that
night for the passage of the Tigris. They stood in silent
and respectful astonishment; but when the venerable Sallust
assumed the privilege of his age and experience, the rest of
the chiefs supported with freedom the weight of his prudent
remonstrances.(68) Julian contented himself with observing
that conquest and safety depended on the attempt; that,
instead of diminishing, the number of their enemies would be
increased by successive reinforcements; and that a longer
delay would neither contract the breadth of the stream nor
level the height of the bank. The signal was instantly
given, and obeyed: the most impatient of the legionaries
leaped into five vessels that lay nearest to the bank; and,
as they plied their oars with intrepid diligence, they were
lost after a few moments in the darkness of the night. A
flame arose on the opposite side; and Julian, who too
clearly understood that his foremost vessels in attempting
to land had been fired by the enemy, dexterously converted
their extreme danger into a presage of victory.
"Our fellow-soldiers," he eagerly exclaimed, "are already masters of the bank: see — they make the appointed signal; let us hasten to emulate and assist their courage."
The united and rapid motion of a great fleet broke the violence of the current, and they reached the eastern shore of the Tigris with sufficient speed to extinguish the flames and rescue their adventurous companions. The difficulties of a steep and lofty ascent were increased by the weight of armour and the darkness of the night. A shower of stones, darts, and fire was incessantly discharged on the heads of the assailants; who, after an arduous struggle, climbed the bank and stood victorious upon the rampart. As soon as they possessed a more equal field, Julian, who with his light infantry had led the attack,(69) darted through the ranks a skilful and experienced eye; his bravest soldiers, according to the precepts of Homer,(70) were distributed in the front and rear; and all the trumpets of the Imperial army sounded to battle. The Romans, after sending up a military shout, advanced in measured steps to the animating notes of martial music; launched their formidable javelins, and rushed forwards with drawn swords to deprive the barbarians, by a closer onset, of the advantage of their missile weapons. The whole engagement lasted above twelve hours; till the gradual retreat of the Persians was changed into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example was given by the principal leaders and the Surenas himself. They were pursued to the gates of Ctesiphon; and the conquerors might have entered the dismayed city,(71) if their general, Victor, who was dangerously wounded with an arrow, had not conjured them to desist from a rash attempt, which must be fatal if it were not successful. On their side the Romans acknowledged the loss of only seventy-five men; while they affirmed that the barbarians had left on the field of battle two thousand five hundred, or even six thousand, of their bravest soldiers. The spoil was such as might be expected from the riches and luxury of an Oriental camp; large quantities of silver and gold, splendid arms and trappings, and beds and tables of massive silver. The victorious emperor distributed, as the rewards of valour, some honourable gifts, civic, and mural, and naval crowns; which he, and perhaps he alone, esteemed more precious than the wealth of Asia. A solemn sacrifice was offered to the god of war, but the appearances of the victims threatened the most inauspicious events; and Julian soon discovered, by less ambiguous signs, that he had now reached the term of his prosperity.(72)
Situation and obstinacy of Julian, A.D. 363. June.
On the second day after the battle the domestic guards, the
Jovians and Herculians, and the remaining troops, which
composed near two-thirds of the whole army, were securely
wafted over the Tigris. (73) While the Persians beheld from
the walls of Ctesiphon the desolation of the adjacent
country, Julian cast many an anxious look towards the North,
in full expectation that, as he himself had victoriously
penetrated to the capital of Sapor, the march and junction
of his lieutenants, Sebastian and Procopius, would be
executed with the same courage and diligence. His
expectations were disappointed by the treachery of the
Armenian king, who permitted and most probably directed, the
desertion of his auxiliary troops from the camp of the
Romans;(74) and by the dissensions of the two generals, who
were incapable of forming or executing any plan for the
public service. When the emperor had relinquished the hope
of this important reinforcement, he condescended to hold a
council of war, and approved, after a full debate, the
sentiment of those generals who dissuaded the siege of
Ctesiphon, as a fruitless and pernicious undertaking. It is
not easy for us to conceive by what arts of fortification a
city thrice besieged and taken by the predecessors of Julian
could be rendered impregnable against an army of sixty
thousand Romans, commanded by a brave and experienced
general, and abundantly supplied with ships, provisions,
battering engines, and military stores. But we may rest
assured, from the love of glory, and contempt of danger,
which formed the character of Julian, that he was not
discouraged by any trivial or imaginary obstacles.(75) At the
very time when he declined the siege of Ctesiphon, he
rejected, with obstinacy and disdain, the most flattering
offers of a negotiation of peace. Sapor, who had been so
long accustomed to the tardy ostentation of Constantius, was
surprised by the intrepid diligence of his successor. As far
as the confines of India and Scythia, the satraps of the
distant provinces were ordered to assemble their troops, and
to march, without delay, to the assistance of their monarch.
But their preparations were dilatory, their motions slow;
and before Sapor could lead an army into the field, he
received the melancholy intelligence of the devastation of
Assyria, the ruin of his palaces, and the slaughter of his
bravest troops, who defended the passage of the Tigris. The
pride of royalty was humbled in the dust; he took his
repasts on the ground; and the disorder of his hair
expressed the grief and anxiety of his mind. Perhaps he
would not have refused to purchase, with one half of his
kingdom, the safety of the remainder; and he would have
gladly subscribed himself, in a treaty of peace, the
faithful and dependent ally of the Roman conqueror. Under
the pretence of private business, a minister of rank and
confidence was secretly despatched to embrace the knees of
Hormisdas, and to request, in the language of a suppliant,
that he might be introduced into the presence of the
emperor. The Sassanian prince, whether he listened to the
voice of pride or humanity, whether he consulted the
sentiments of his birth or the duties of his situation, was
equally inclined to promote a salutary measure which would
terminate the calamities of Persia, and secure the triumph
of Rome. He was astonished by the inflexible firmness of a
hero who remembered, most unfortunately for himself and for
his country, that Alexander had uniformly rejected the
propositions of Darius. But as Julian was sensible that the
hope of a safe and honourable peace might cool the ardour of
his troops, he earnestly requested that Hormisdas would
privately dismiss the minister of Sapor, and conceal this
dangerous temptation from the knowledge of the camp.(76)
He burns his fleet
The honour, as well as interest, of Julian, forbade him to
consume his time under the impregnable walls of Ctesiphon;
and as often as he defied the barbarians, who defended the
city, to meet him on the open plain, they prudently replied
that, if he desired to exercise his valour, he night seek
the army of the Great King. He felt he insult, and he
accepted the advice. Instead of confining his servile march
to the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, he resolved to
imitate the adventurous spirit of Alexander, and boldly to
advance into the inland provinces, till he forced his rival
to contend with him, perhaps in the plains of Arbela, for
the empire of Asia. The magnanimity of Julian was applauded
and betrayed by the arts of a noble Persian, who, in the
cause of his country, had generously submitted to act a part
full of danger, of falsehood, and of shame.(77) With a train
of faithful followers he deserted to the Imperial camp;
exposed, in a specious tale, the injuries which he had
sustained; exaggerated the cruelty of Sapor, the discontent
of the people, and the weakness of the monarchy; and
confidently offered himself as the hostage and guide of the
Roman march. The most rational grounds of suspicion were
urged, without effect, by the wisdom and experience of
Hormisdas; and the credulous Julian, receiving the traitor
into his bosom, was persuaded to issue an hasty order,
which, in the opinion of mankind, appeared to arraign his
prudence and to endanger his safety. He destroyed in a
single hour the whole navy, which had been transported above
five hundred miles, It so great an expense of toil, of
treasure, and of blood. Twelve, or, at the most, twenty-two,
small vessels were saved, to accompany, on carriages, the
march of the army, and to form occasional bridges for the
passage of the rivers. A supply of twenty days' provisions
was preserved for the use of the soldiers; and the rest of
the magazines, with a fleet of eleven hundred vessels, which
rode at anchor in the Tigris, were abandoned to the flames
by the absolute command of the emperor. The Christian
bishops, Gregory and Augustin, insult the madness of the
apostate, who executed, with his own hands, the sentence of
divine justice. Their authority, of less weight, perhaps, in
a military question, is confirmed by the cool judgment of an
experienced soldier, who was himself spectator of the
conflagration, and who could not disapprove the reluctant
murmurs of the troops. (78) Yet there are not wanting some
specious, and perhaps solid, reasons, which might justify
the resolution of Julian. The navigation of the Euphrates
never ascended above Babylon, nor that of the Tigris above
Opis.(79) The distance of the last-mentioned city from the
Roman camp was not very considerable; and Julian must soon
have renounced the vain and impracticable attempt of forcing
upwards a great fleet against the stream of a rapid river,
(80) which in several places was embarrassed by natural or
artificial cataracts.(81) The power of sails and oars was
insufficient, it became necessary to tow the ships against
the current of the river; the strength of twenty thousand
soldiers was exhausted in this tedious and servile labour;
and if the Romans continued to march along the banks of the
Tigris, they could only expect to return home without
achieving any enterprise worthy of the genius or fortune of
their leader. If, on the contrary, it was advisable to
advance into the inland country, the destruction of the
fleet and magazines was the only measure which could save
that valuable prize from the hands of the numerous and
active troops which might suddenly be poured from the gates
of Ctesiphon. Had the arms of Julian been victorious, we
should now admire the conduct as well as the courage of a
hero who, by depriving his soldiers of the hopes of a
retreat, left them only the alternative of death or
conquest.(82)
and marches against Sapor.
The cumbersome train of artillery and wagons, which retards
the operations of a modern army, was in a great measure
unknown in the camps of the Romans.(83) Yet, in every age,
the subsistence of sixty thousand men must have been one of
the most important cares of a prudent general; and that
subsistence could only be drawn from his own or from the
enemy's country. Had it been possible for Julian to maintain
a bridge of communication on the Tigris, and to preserve the
conquered places of Assyria, a desolated province could not
afford any large or regular supplies in a season of the year
when the lands were covered by the inundation of the
Euphrates,(84) and the unwholesome air was darkened with
swarms of innumerable insects. (85) The appearance of the
hostile country was far more inviting. The extensive region
that lies between the river Tigris and the mountains of
Media was filled with villages and towns; and the fertile
soils for the most part, was in a very improved state of
cultivation. Julian might expect that a conqueror who
possessed the two forcible instruments of persuasion, steel
and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from
the fears or avarice of the natives. But on the approach of
the Romans this rich and smiling prospect was instantly
blasted. Wherever they moved, the inhabitants deserted the
open villages and took shelter in the fortified towns; the
cattle was driven away; the grass and ripe corn were
consumed with fire; and, as soon as the flames had subsided
which interrupted the march of Julian, he beheld the
melancholy face of a smoking and naked desert. This
desperate but effectual method of defence can only be
executed by the enthusiasm of a people who prefer their
independence to their property; or by the rigour of an
arbitrary government, which consults the public safety
without submitting to their inclinations the liberty of
choice. On the present occasion the zeal and obedience of
the Persians seconded the commands of Sapor; and the emperor
was soon reduced to the scanty stock of provisions which
continually wasted in his hands. Before they were entirely
consumed he might still have reached the wealthy and
unwarlike cities of Ecbatana or Susa by the effort of a
rapid and well-directed march; (86) but he was deprived of
this last resource by his ignorance of the roads and by the
perfidy of his guides. The Romans wandered several days in
the country to the eastward of Bagdad; the Persian deserter,
who had artfully led them into the snare, escaped from their
resentment; and his followers, as soon as they were put to
the torture, confessed the secret of the conspiracy. The
visionary conquests of Hyrcania and India, which had so long
amused, now tormented, the mind of Julian. Conscious that
his own imprudence was the cause of the public distress, he
anxiously balanced the hopes of safety or success without
obtaining a satisfactory answer either from gods or men. At
length, as the only practicable measure, he embraced the
resolution of directing his steps towards the banks of the
Tigris, with the design of saving the army by a hasty march
to the confines of Corduene, a fertile and friendly
province, which acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome. The
desponding troops obeyed the signal of retreat, only seventy
days June 16after they had passed the Chaboras with the sanguine
expectation of subverting the throne of Persia.(87)
Retreat and distress of the Roman army
As long as the Romans seemed to advance into the country,
their march was observed and insulted from a distance by
several bodies of Persian cavalry; who, showing themselves,
sometimes in loose, and sometimes in closer order faintly
skirmished with the advanced guards. These detachments were,
however, supported; by a much greater force; and the heads
of the columns were no sooner pointed towards the Tigris
than a cloud of dust arose on the plain. The Romans, who now
aspired only to the permission of a safe and speedy retreat,
endeavoured to persuade themselves that this formidable
appearance was occasioned by a troop of wild asses, or
perhaps by the approach of some friendly Arabs. They halted,
pitched their tents, fortified their camp, passed the whole
night in continual alarms; and discovered at the dawn of day
that they were surrounded by an army of Persians. This army,
which might be considered only as the van of the barbarians,
was soon followed by the main body of cuirassiers, archers,
and elephants, commanded by Meranes, a general of rank and
reputation. He was accompanied by two of the king's sons and
many of the principal satraps; and fame and expectation
exaggerated the strength of the remaining powers, which
slowly advanced under the conduct of Sapor himself. As the
Romans continued their march, their long array, which was
forced to bend or divide, according to the varieties of the
ground, afforded frequent and favourable opportunities to
their vigilant enemies. The Persians repeatedly charged with
fury; they were repeatedly repulsed with firmness; and the
action at Maronga, which almost deserved the name of a
battle, was marked by a considerable loss of satraps and
elephants, perhaps of equal value in the eyes of their
monarch. These splendid advantages were not obtained without
an inadequate slaughter on the side of the Romans: several
officers of distinction were either killed or wounded; and
the emperor himself, who, on all occasions of danger,
inspired and guided the valour of his troops, was obliged to
expose his person and exert his abilities. The weight of
offensive and defensive arms, which still constituted the
strength and safety of the Romans, disabled them from making
any long or effectual pursuit; and as the horsemen of the
East were trained to dart their javelins and shoot their
arrows at full speed, and in every possible direction,(88)
the cavalry of Persia was never more formidable than in the
moment of a rapid and disorderly flight. But the most
certain and irreparable loss of the Romans was that of time.
The hardy veterans, accustomed to the cold climate of Gaul
and Germany, fainted under the sultry heat of an Assyrian
summer; their vigour was exhausted by the incessant
repetition of march and combat; and the progress of the army
was suspended by the precautions of a slow and dangerous
retreat in the presence of an active enemy. Every day, every
hour, as the supply diminished, the value and price of
subsistence increased in the Roman camp. (89) Julian, who
always contented himself with such food as a hungry soldier
would have disdained, distributed, for the use of the
troops, the provisions of the Imperial household, and
whatever could be spared from the sumpter-horses of the
tribunes and generals. But this feeble relief served only to
aggravate the sense of the public distress; and the Romans
began to entertain the most gloomy apprehensions that,
before they could reach the frontiers of the empire, they
should all perish, either by famine or by the sword of the
barbarians.(90)
Julian is mortally wounded.
While Julian struggled with the almost insuperable
difficulties of his situation, the silent hours of the night
were still devoted to study and contemplation. Whenever he
closed his eyes in short and interrupted slumbers, his mind
was agitated with painful anxiety: nor can it be thought
surprising that the Genius of the empire should once more
appear before him, covering with a funeral veil his head and
his horn of abundance, and slowly retiring from the Imperial
tent. The monarch started from his couch, and, stepping
forth to refresh his wearied spirits with the coolness of
the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor, which shot
athwart the sky, and suddenly vanished. Julian was convinced
that he had seen the menacing countenance of the god of war;
(91) the council which he summoned, of Tuscan Haruspices,(92)
unanimously pronounced that he should abstain from action;
but, on this occasion, necessity and reason were more
prevalent than superstition; and the trumpets sounded at the
break of day. The army marched through a hilly country and
the hills had been secretly occupied by the Persians. Julian
led the van with the skill and attention of a consummate
general; he was alarmed by the intelligence that his rear
was suddenly attacked. The heat of the weather had tempted
him to lay aside his cuirass; but he snatched a shield from
one of his attendants, and hastened, with a sufficient
reinforcement, to the relief of the rear guard. A similar
danger recalled the intrepid prince to the defence of the
front; and, as he galloped between the columns, the centre
of the left was attacked, and almost overpowered, by a
furious charge of the Persian cavalry and elephants. This
huge body was soon defeated by the well-timed evolution of
the light infantry, who aimed their weapons, with dexterity
and effect, against the backs of the horsemen, and the legs
of the elephants. The barbarians fled: and Julian, who was
foremost in every danger, animated the pursuit with his
voice and gestures. His trembling guards, scattered and
oppressed by the disorderly. throng of friends and enemies,
reminded their fearless sovereign that he was without
armour; and conjured him to decline the fall of the
impending ruin. As they exclaimed,(93) a cloud of darts and
arrows was discharged from the flying squadrons, and a
javelin, after razing the skin of his arm, transpierced the
ribs, and fixed in the inferior part of the liver. Julian
attempted to draw the deadly weapon from his side; but his
fingers were cut by the sharpness of the steel, and he fell
senseless from his horse. His guards flew to his relief; and
the wounded emperor was gently raised from the ground, and
conveyed out of the tumult of the battle into an adjacent
tent. The report of the melancholy event passed from rank to
rank; but the grief of the Romans inspired them with
invincible valour, and the desire of revenge. The bloody and
obstinate conflict was maintained by the two armies till
they were separated by the total darkness of the night. The
Persians derived some honour from the advantage which they
obtained against the left wing, where Anatolius, master of
the offices, was slain, and the praefect Sallust very
narrowly escaped. But the event of the day was adverse to
the barbarians. They abandoned the field; their two
generals, Meranes and Nohordates, (94) fifty nobles or
satraps, and a multitude of their bravest soldiers [were
slain]: and the success of the Romans, if Julian had
survived, might have been improved into a decisive and
useful victory.
The death of Julian, A.D. 363. June 26.
The first words that Julian uttered, after his recovery from
the fainting fit into which he had been thrown by loss of
blood, were expressive of his martial spirit. He called for
his horse and arms, and was impatient to rush into the
battle. His remaining strength was exhausted by the painful
effort; and the surgeons, who examined his wound, discovered
the symptoms of approaching death. He employed the awful
moments with the firm temper of a hero and a sage; the
philosophers who had accompanied him in this fatal
expedition compared the tent of Julian with the prison of
Socrates; and the spectators, whom duty, or friendship, or
curiosity, had assembled round his couch, listened with
respectful grief to the funeral oration of their dying
emperor.(95)
"Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period of my departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with the cheerfulness of a ready debtor, the demands of nature. I have learned from philosophy how much the soul is more excellent than the body; and that the separation of the nobler substance should be the subject of joy, rather than of affliction. I have learned from religion that an early death has often been the reward of piety; (96) and I accept, as a favour of the gods, the mortal stroke that secures me from the danger of disgracing a character which has hitherto been supported by virtue and fortitude. I die without remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the innocence of my private life; and I can affirm with confidence that the supreme authority, that emanation of the Divine Power, has been preserved in my hands pure and immaculate. Detesting the corrupt and destructive maxims of despotism, I have considered the happiness of the people as the end of government. Submitting my actions to the laws of prudence, of justice, and of moderation, I have trusted the event to the care of Providence. Peace was the object of my counsels, as long as peace was consistent with the public welfare; but when the imperious voice of my country summoned me to arms, I exposed my person to the dangers of war, with the clear foreknowledge (which I had acquired from the art of divination) that I was destined to fall by the sword. I now offer my tribute of gratitude to the Eternal Being, who has not suffered me to perish by the cruelty of a tyrant, by the secret dagger of conspiracy, or by the slow tortures of lingering disease. He has given me, in the midst of an honourable career, a splendid and glorious departure from this world; and I hold it equally absurd, equally base, to solicit, or to decline, the stroke of fate — Thus much I have attempted to say; but my strength fails me, and I feel the approach of death. — I shall cautiously refrain from any word that may tend to influence your suffrages in the election of an emperor. My choice might be imprudent or injudicious; and if it should not be ratified by the consent of the army, it might be fatal to the person whom I should recommend. I shall only, as a good citizen, express my hopes that the Romans may be blessed with the government of a virtuous sovereign."
After this discourse, which Julian pronounced in a firm and gentle tone of voice, he distributed, by a military testament, (97) the remains of his private fortune; and making some inquiry why Anatolius was not present, he understood, from the answer of Sallust, that Anatolius was killed; and bewailed, with amiable inconsistency, the loss of his friend. At the same time he reproved the immoderate grief of the spectators; and conjured them not to disgrace, by unmanly tears, the fate of a prince who in a few moments would be united with heaven and with the stars. (98) The spectators were silent; and Julian entered into a metaphysical argument with the philosophers Priscus and Maximus on the nature of the soul. The efforts which he made, of mind as well as body, most probably hastened his death. His wound began to bleed with fresh violence: his respiration was embarrassed by the swelling of the veins: he called for a draught of cold water, and, as soon as he had drunk it, expired without pain, about the hour of midnight. Such was the end of that extraordinary man, in the thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of one year and about eight months from the death of Constantius. In his last moments he displayed, perhaps with some ostentation, the love of virtue and of fame, which had been the ruling passions of his life. (99)
Election of the emperor Jovian, A.D. 363, June 27.
The triumph of Christianity, and the calamities of the
empire, may, in some measure, be ascribed to Julian himself,
who had neglected to secure the future execution of his
designs by the timely and judicious nomination of an
associate and successor. But the royal race of Constantius
Chlorus was reduced to his own person; and if he entertained
any serious thoughts of investing with the purple the most
worthy among the Romans, he was diverted from his resolution
by the difficulty of the choice, the jealousy of power, the
fear of ingratitude, and the natural presumption of health,
of youth, and of prosperity. His unexpected death left the
empire without a master, and without an heir, in a state of
perplexity and danger which, in the space of four-score
years, had never been experienced, since the election of
Diocletian. In a government which had almost forgotten the
distinction of pure and noble blood, the superiority of
birth was of little moment; the claims of official rank were
accidental and precarious; and the candidates who might
aspire to ascend the vacant throne could be supported only
by the consciousness of personal merit, or by the hopes of
popular favour. But the situation of a famished army,
encompassed on all sides by an host of barbarians, shortened
the moments of grief and deliberation. In this scene of
terror and distress, the body of the deceased prince,
according to his own directions, was decently embalmed; and,
at the dawn of day, the generals convened a military senate,
at which the commanders of the legions, and the officers
both of cavalry and infantry, were invited to assist. Three
or four hours of the night had not passed away without some
secret cabals; and when the election of an emperor was
proposed, the spirit of faction began to agitate the
assembly. Victor and Arinthaeus collected the remains of the
court of Constantius; the friends of Julian attached
themselves to the Gallic chiefs Dagalaiphus and Nevitta; and
the most fatal consequences might be apprehended from the
discord of two factions, so opposite in their character and
interest, in their maxims of government, and perhaps in
their religious principles. The superior virtues of Sallust
could alone reconcile their divisions and unite their
suffrages; and the venerable praefect would immediately have
been declared the successor of Julian, if he himself, with
sincere and modest firmness, had not alleged his age and
infirmities, so unequal to the weight of the diadem. The
generals, who were surprised and perplexed by his refusal,
showed some disposition to adopt the salutary advice of an
inferior officer,(100) that they should act as they would have acted in the absence of the emperor; that they should exert their abilities to extricate the army from the present
distress; and, if they were fortunate enough to reach the
confines of Mesopotamia, they should proceed with united and
deliberate counsels in the election of a lawful sovereign.
While they debated, a few voices saluted Jovian, who was no
more than first (101) of the domestics, with the names of Emperor and Augustus. The tumultuary acclamation was instantly repeated by the guards who surrounded the tent,
and passed, in a few minutes, to the extremities of the
line. The new prince, astonished with his own fortune, was
hastily invested with the Imperial ornaments, and received
an oath of fidelity from the generals, whose favour and
protection he so lately solicited The strongest
recommendation of Jovian was the merit of his father, Count
Varronian, who enjoyed, in honourable retirement, the fruit
of his long services. In the obscure freedom of a private
station, the son indulged his taste for wine and women; yet
he supported, with credit, the character of a Christian(102) and a soldier. Without being conspicuous for any of the ambitious qualifications which excite the admiration and
envy of mankind, the comely person of Jovian, his cheerful
temper, and familiar wit, had gained the affection of his
fellow soldiers and the generals of both parties acquiesced
in a popular election which had not been conducted by the
arts of their enemies. The pride of this unexpected
elevation was moderated by the just apprehension that the
same day might terminate the life and reign of the new
emperor. The pressing voice of necessity was obeyed without
delay; and the first orders issued by Jovian, a few hours
after his predecessor had expired, were to prosecute a march
which could alone extricate the Romans from their actual
distress.(103)
Danger and difficulty of the retreat
The esteem of an enemy is more sincerely expressed by his
fears; and the degree of fear may be accurately measured by
the joy with which he celebrates his deliverance. June 27th—July 1stThe
welcome news of the death of Julian, which a deserter
revealed to the camp of Sapor, inspired the desponding
monarch with a sudden confidence of victory. He immediately
detached the royal cavalry, perhaps the ten thousand
Immortals, (104) to second and support the pursuit and discharged the whole weight of his united forces on the
rearguard of the Romans. The rearguard was thrown into
disorder; the renowned legions, which derived their title
from Diocletian and his warlike colleague, were broke and
trampled down by the elephants; and three tribunes lost
their lives in attempting to stop the flight of their
soldiers. The battle was at length restored by the
persevering valour of the Romans; the Persians were repulsed
with a great slaughter of men and elephants; and the army,
after marching and fighting a long summer's day, arrived, in
the evening, at Samara, on the banks of the Tigris, about
one hundred miles above Ctesiphon. (105) On the ensuing day
the barbarians, instead of harassing the march, attacked the
camp of Jovian, which had been seated in a deep and
sequestered valley. From the hills, the archers of Persia
insulted and annoyed the wearied legionaries; and a body of
cavalry, which had penetrated with desperate courage through
the Praetorian gate, was cut in pieces, after a doubtful
conflict, near the Imperial tent. In the succeeding night
the camp of Carche was protected by the lofty dykes of the
river; and the Roman army, though incessantly exposed to the
vexatious pursuit of the Saracens, pitched their tents near
the city of Dura (106) four days after the death of Julian.
The Tigris was still on their left; their hopes and
provisions were almost consumed; and the impatient soldiers,
who had fondly persuaded themselves that the frontiers of
the empire were not far distant, requested their new
sovereign that they might be permitted to hazard the passage
of the river. With the assistance of his wisest officers,
Jovian endeavoured to check their rashness, by representing
that, if they possessed sufficient skill and vigour to stem
the torrent of a deep and rapid stream, they would only
deliver themselves naked and defenceless to the barbarians;
who had occupied the opposite banks. Yielding at length to
their clamorous importunities, he consented, with
reluctance, that five hundred Gauls and Germans, accustomed
from their infancy to the waters of the Rhine and Danube,
should attempt the bold adventure, which might serve either
as an encouragement or as a warning for the rest of the
army. In the silence of the night they swam the Tigris,
surprised an unguarded post of the enemy, and displayed at
the dawn of day the signal of their resolution and fortune.
The success of this trial disposed the emperor to listen to
the promises of his architects, who proposed to construct a
floating bridge of the inflated skins of sheep, oxen, and
goats, covered with a floor of earth and fascines.(107) Two
important days were spent in the ineffectual labour; and the
Romans, who already endured the miseries of famine, cast a
look of despair on the Tigris, and upon the barbarians,
whose numbers and obstinacy increased with the distress of
the Imperial army.(108)
Negotiation and treaty of peace. July.
In this hopeless situation, the fainting spirits of the
Romans were revived by the sound of peace. The transient
presumption of Sapor had vanished: he observed, with serious
concern, that, in the repetition of doubtful combats, he had
lost his most faithful and intrepid nobles, his bravest
troops, and the greatest part of his tram of elephants: and
the experienced monarch feared to provoke the resistance of
despair, the vicissitudes of fortune, and the unexhausted
powers of the Roman empire, which might soon advance to
relieve, or to revenge, the successor of Julian. The Surenas
himself, accompanied by another satrap, appeared in the camp
of Jovian,(109) and declared that the clemency of his
sovereign was not averse to signify the conditions on which
he would consent to spare and to dismiss the Caesar with the
relics of his captive army. The hopes of safety subdued the
firmness of the Romans; the emperor was compelled, by the
advice of his council and the cries of the soldiers, to
embrace the offer of peace; and the praefect Sallust was
immediately sent, with the general Arinthecus, to understand
the pleasure of the Great King. The crafty Persian delayed,
under various pretences, the conclusion of the agreement;
started difficulties, required explanations, suggested
expedients, receded from his concessions, increased his
demands, and wasted four days in the arts of negotiation,
till he had consumed the stock of provisions which yet
remained in the camp of the Romans. Had Jovian been capable
of executing a bold and prudent measure, he would have
continued his march with unremitting diligence; the progress
of the treaty would have suspended the attacks of the
barbarians; and, before the expiration of the fourth day, he
might have safely reached the fruitful province of Corduene,
at the distance only of one hundred miles. (110) The
irresolute emperor, instead of breaking through the toils of
the enemy, expected his fate with patient resignation; and
accepted the humiliating conditions of peace which it was no
longer in his power to refuse. The five provinces beyond the
Tigris, which had been ceded by the grandfather of Sapor,
were restored to the Persian monarchy. He acquired, by a
single article, the impregnable city of Nisibis, which had
sustained, in three successive sieges, the effort of his
arms. Singara and the castle of the Moors, one of the
strongest places of Mesopotamia, were likewise dismembered
from the empire. It was considered as an indulgence that the
inhabitants of those fortresses were permitted to retire
with their effects; but the conqueror rigorously insisted
that the Romans should for ever abandon the king and kingdom
of Armenia. A peace, or rather a long truce, of thirty
years, was stipulated between the hostile nations; the faith
of the treaty was ratified by solemn oaths and religious
ceremonies; and hostages of distinguished rank were
reciprocally delivered to secure the performance of the
condition.(111)
The weakness and disgrace of Jovian
The sophist of Antioch, who saw with indignation the sceptre
of his hero in the feeble hand of a Christian successor,
professes to admire the moderation of Sapor in contenting
himself with so small a portion of the Roman empire. If he
had stretched as far as the Euphrates the claims of his
ambition, he might have been secure, says Libanius, of not
meeting with a refusal. If he had fixed, as the boundary of
Persia, the Orontes, the Cydnus, the Sangarius, or even the
Thracian Bosphorus, flatterers would not have been wanting
in the court of Jovian to convince the timid monarch that
his remaining provinces would still afford the most ample
gratifications of power and luxury.(112) Without adopting in
its full force this malicious insinuation, we must
acknowledge that the conclusion of so ignominious a treaty
was facilitated by the private ambition of Jovian. The
obscure domestic, exalted to the throne by fortune, rather
than by merit, was impatient to escape from the hands of the
Persians, that he might prevent the designs of Procopius,
who commanded the army of Mesopotamia, and establish his
doubtful reign over the legions and provinces which were
still ignorant of the hasty and tumultuous choice of the
camp beyond the Tigris.(113) In the neighbourhood of the same
river, at no very considerable distance from the fatal
station of Dura, (114) the ten thousand Greeks, without
generals, or guides, or provisions, were abandoned, above
twelve hundred miles from their native country, to the
resentment of a victorious monarch. The difference of their
conduct and success depended much more on their character
than on their situation. Instead of tamely resigning
themselves to the secret deliberations and private views of
a single person, the united councils of the Greeks were
inspired by the generous enthusiasm of a popular assembly,
where the mind of each citizen is filled with the love of
glory, the pride of freedom, and the contempt of death.
Conscious of their superiority over the barbarians in arms
and discipline, they disdained to yield, they refused to
capitulate: every obstacle was surmounted by their patience,
courage, and military skill; and the memorable retreat of
the ten thousand exposed and insulted the weakness of the
Persian monarchy.(115)
He continues his retreat to Nisibis
As the price of his disgraceful concessions, the emperor
might perhaps have stipulated that the camp of the hungry
Romans should be plentifully supplied, (116) and that they
should be permitted to pass the Tigris on the bridge which
was constructed by the hands of the Persians. But if Jovian
presumed to solicit those equitable terms, they were sternly
refused by the haughty tyrant of the East, whose clemency
had pardoned the invaders of his country. The Saracens
sometimes intercepted the stragglers on the march; but the
generals and troops of Sapor respected the cessation of
arms, and Jovian was suffered to explore the most convenient
place for the passage of the river. The small vessels which
had been saved from the conflagration of the fleet performed
the most essential service. They first conveyed the emperor
and his favourites, and afterwards transported, in many
successive voyages, a great part of the army. But as every
man was anxious for his personal safety and apprehensive of
being left on the hostile shore, the soldiers, who were too
impatient to wait the slow returns of the boats, boldly
ventured themselves on light hurdles or inflated skins, and
drawing after them their horses, attempted, with various
success, to swim across the river. Many of these daring
adventurers were swallowed by the waves; many others, who
were carried along by the violence of the stream, fell an
easy prey to the avarice or cruelty of the wild Arabs; and
the loss which the army sustained in the passage of the
Tigris was not inferior to the carnage of a day of battle.
As soon as the Romans had landed on the western bank, they
were delivered from the hostile pursuit of the barbarians;
but in a laborious march of two hundred miles over the
plains of Mesopotamia they endured the last extremities of
thirst and hunger. They were obliged to traverse a sandy
desert, which, in the extent of seventy miles, did not
afford a single blade of sweet grass nor a single spring of
fresh water, and the rest of the inhospitable waste was
untrod by the footsteps either of friend or enemies.
Whenever a small measure of flour could be discovered in the
camp, twenty pounds weight were greedily purchased with ten
pieces of gold, (117) the beasts of burden were slaughtered
and devoured, and the desert was strewed with the arms and
baggage of the Roman soldiers, whose tattered garments and
meagre countenances displayed their past sufferings and
actual misery. A small convoy of provisions advanced to meet
the army as far as the castle of Ur; and the supply was the
more grateful, since it declared the fidelity of Sebastian
and Procopius. At Thilsaphata (118) the emperor most
graciously received the generals of Mesopotamia, and the
remains of a once flourishing army at length reposed
themselves under the walls of Nisibis. The messengers of
Jovian had already proclaimed, in the language of flattery,
his election, his treaty, and his return, and the new prince
had taken the most effectual measures to secure the
allegiance of the armies and provinces of Europe by placing
the military command in the hands of those officers who,
from motives of interest or inclination, would firmly
support the cause of their benefactor.(119)
Universal clamour against the treaty of peace
The friends of Julian had confidently announced the success
of his expedition. They entertained a fond persuasion that
the temples of the gods would be enriched with the spoils of
the East; that Persia would be reduced to the humble state
of a tributary province, governed by the laws and
magistrates of Rome; that the barbarians would adopt the
dress, and manners, and language of their conquerors; and
that the youth of Ecbatana and Susa would study the art of
rhetoric under Grecian masters.(120) The progress of the arms
of Julian interrupted his communication with the empire,
and, from the moment that he passed the Tigris, his
affectionate subjects were ignorant of the fate and fortunes
of their prince. Their contemplation of fancied triumphs was
disturbed by the melancholy rumour of his death, and they
persisted to doubt, after they could no longer deny, the
truth of that fatal event. (121) The messengers of Jovian
promulgated the specious tale of a prudent and necessary
peace; the voice of fame, louder and more sincere, revealed
the disgrace of the emperor and the conditions of the
ignominious treaty. The minds of the people were filled with
astonishment and grief, with indignation and terror, when
they were informed that the unworthy successor of Julian
relinquished the five provinces which had been acquired by
the victory of Galerius, and that he shamefully surrendered
to the barbarians the important city of Nisibis, the firmest
bulwark of the provinces of the East. (122) The deep and
dangerous question, how far the public faith should be
observed when it becomes incompatible with the public
safety, was freely agitated in popular conversation, and
some hopes were entertained that the emperor would redeem
his pusillanimous behaviour by a splendid act of patriotic
perfidy. The inflexible spirit of the Roman senate had
always disclaimed the unequal conditions which were extorted
from the distress of her captive armies; and, if it were
necessary to satisfy the national honour by delivering the
guilty general into the hands of the barbarians, the
greatest part of the subjects of Jovian would have
cheerfully acquiesced in the precedent of ancient times.(123)
Jovian evacuates Nisibis, and restores the five provinces to the Persians.
But the emperor, whatever might be the limits of his
constitutional authority, was the absolute master of the
laws and arms of the state; and the same motives which had
forced him to subscribe now pressed him to execute the
treaty of peace. August He was impatient to secure an empire at the
expense of a few provinces, and the respectable names of
religion and honour concealed the personal fears and the
ambition of Jovian Notwithstanding the dutiful solicitations
of the inhabitants, decency, as well as prudence, forbade
the emperor to lodge in the palace of Nisibis; but the next
morning after his arrival, Bineses, the ambassador of
Persia, entered the place, displayed from the citadel the
standard of the Great King, and proclaimed, in his name, the
cruel alternative of exile or servitude. The principal
citizens of Nisibis, who till that fatal moment, had
confided in the protection of their sovereign, threw
themselves at his feet. They conjured him not to abandon, or
at least not to deliver, a faithful colony to the rage of a
barbarian tyrant, exasperated by the three successive
defeats which he had experienced under the walls of Nisibis.
They still possessed arms and courage to repel the invaders
of their country; they requested only the permission of
using them in their own defence, and, as soon as they had asserted their independence, they should implore the favour of being again admitted into the rank of his subjects. Their arguments, their eloquence, their tears, were ineffectual. Jovian alleged, with some confusion, the sanctity of oaths; and as the reluctance with which he accepted the present of a crown of gold convinced the citizens of their hopeless condition, the advocate Sylvanus was provoked to exclaim, "O emperor! may you thus be crowned by all the cities of your dominions!" Jovian, who in a few weeks had assumed the
habits of a prince, (124) was displeased with freedom, and offended with truth; and as he reasonably supposed that the discontent of the people might incline them to submit to the
Persian government, he published an edict, under pain of death, that they should leave the city within the term of three days. Ammianus has delineated in lively colours the scene of universal despair, which he seems to have viewed with an eye of compassion.(125) The martial youth deserted, with indignant grief, the walls which they had so gloriously defended; the disconsolate mourner dropped a last tear over the tomb of a son or husband, which must soon be profaned by the rude hand of a barbarian master; and the aged citizen kissed the threshold and clung to the doors of the house where he had passed the cheerful and careless hours of infancy. The highways were crowded with a trembling multitude; the distinctions of rank, and sex, and age, were lost in the general calamity. Every one strove to bear away
some fragment from the wreck of his fortunes; and as they
could not command the immediate service of an adequate
number of horses or wagons, they were obliged to leave
behind them the greatest part of their valuable effects. The
savage insensibility of Jovian appears to have aggravated
the hardships of these unhappy fugitives. They were seated,
however, in a new built quarter of Amida; and that rising
city, With the reinforcement of a very considerable colony,
soon recovered its former splendour and became the capital
of Mesopotamia.(126) Similar orders were despatched by the
emperor for the evacuation of Singara and the castle of the
Moors, and for the restitution of the five provinces beyond
the Tigris. Sapor enjoyed the glory and the fruits of his
victory; and this ignominious peace has justly been
considered as a memorable era in the decline and fall of the
Roman empire. The predecessors of Jovian had sometimes
relinquished the dominion of distant and unprofitable
provinces; but, since the foundation of the city, the genius
of Rome, the god Terminus, who guarded the boundaries of the
republic, had never retired before the sword of a victorious
enemy.(127)
Reflections on the death,
After Jovian had performed those engagements which the voice
of his people might have tempted him to violate, he hastened
away from the scene of his disgrace, and proceeded with his
whole court to enjoy the luxury of Antioch.(128) Without
consulting the dictates of religious zeal, he was prompted,
by humanity and gratitude, to bestow the last honours on the
remains of his deceased sovereign;(129) and Procopius, who
sincerely bewailed the loss of his kinsman, was removed from
the command of the army, under the decent pretence of
conducting the funeral. The corpse of Julian was transported
from Nisibis to Tarsus, in a slow march of fifteen days,
and, as it passed through the cities of the East, was
saluted by the hostile factions with mournful lamentations
and clamorous insults. The Pagans already placed their
beloved hero in the rank of those gods whose worship he had
restored while the invectives of the Christians pursued the
soul of the apostate to hell, and his body to the grave.(130)
One party lamented the approaching ruin of their altars, the
other celebrated the marvellous deliverance of the church.
The Christians applauded, in lofty and ambiguous strains,
the stroke of divine vengeance which had been so long
suspended over the guilty head of Julian. They acknowledged
that the death of the tyrant, at the instant he expired
beyond the Tigris, was revealed to the saints of Egypt,
Syria, and Cappadocia ;(131) and instead of suffering him to
fall by the Persian darts, their indiscretion ascribed the
heroic deed to the obscure hand of some mortal or immortal
champion of the faith.(132) Such imprudent declarations were
eagerly adopted by the malice or credulity of their
adversaries, (133) who darkly insinuated or confidently
asserted that the governors of the church had instigated and
directed the fanaticism of a domestic assassin.(134) Above
sixteen years after the death of Julian, the charge was
solemnly and vehemently urged in a public oration addressed
by Libanius to the emperor Theodosius. His suspicions are
unsupported by fact or argument, and we can only esteem the
generous zeal of the sophist of Antioch for the cold and
neglected ashes of his friend.(135)
and funeral of Julian
It was an ancient custom in the funerals, as well as in the
triumphs of the Romans that the voice of praise should be
corrected by that of satire and ridicule, and that, in the
midst of the splendid pageants which displayed the glory of
the living or of the dead, their imperfections should not be
concealed from the eyes of the world.(136) This custom was
practised in the funeral of Julian. The comedians, who
resented his contempt and aversion for the theatre,
exhibited, with the applause of a Christian audience, the
lively and exaggerated representation of the faults and
follies of the deceased emperor. His various character and
singular manners afforded an ample scope for pleasantry and
ridicule.(137) In the exercise of his uncommon talents he
often descended below the majesty of his rank. Alexander was
transformed into Diogenes—the philosopher was degraded
into a priest. The purity of his virtue was sullied by
excessive vanity; his superstition disturbed the peace and
endangered the safety of a mighty empire; and his irregular
sallies were the less entitled to indulgence, as they
appeared to be the laborious efforts of art, or even of
affectation. The remains of Julian were interred at Tarsus
in Cilicia; but his stately tomb, which arose in that city
on the banks of the cold and limpid Cydnus, (138) was
displeasing to the faithful friends who loved and revered
the memory of that extraordinary man. The philosopher
expressed a very reasonable wish that the disciple of Plato
might have reposed amidst the groves of the Academy,(139)
while the soldier exclaimed, in bolder accents, that the
ashes of Julian should have been mingled with those of
Caesar, in the field of Mars, and among the ancient monuments of Roman virtue. (140) The history of princes does not very frequently renew the example of a similar competition.
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