XXIV. CHAP. hands. But the Barbarians were finally repulfed the country became every day lefs 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 Affyria, to fecure their dominions from the incurfions 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 fortrefs of Circefium to the wall of Macepracta ". Defcription of Af fyria, The fertile province of Affyria ", which ftretched 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 Bafra, where the united streams of the Euphrates and Tigris difcharge themselves into the Perfian Gulf 54. The whole country 1 See Ammianus (xxiv. 1, 2.), Libanius (Orat. Parental. c. 110, III. p. 334.), Zofimus (1. iii. p. 164-168.). 52 The description of Affyria is furnished by Herodotus (1. i. c. 192, &c.), who fometimes writes for children, and sometimes for philofophers; by Strabo (1. xvi. p. 1070-1082.), and by Ammianus, (1. xxiii. c. 6.). The most useful of the modern travellers are Tavernier (part i. I. ii. p. 226–258.), Otter (fom. ii, p. 35—69, and 189-224.), and Niebuhr (tom. ii. p. 172—288.). Yet I much regret that the Irak Arabi of Abulfeda has not been translated. 53 Ammianus remarks, that the primitive Affyria, which com prehended Ninus (Nineveh) and Arbela, had assumed the more recent and peculiar appellation of Adiabene: and he feems to fix Te redon, Vologefia, and Apollonia, as the extreme cities of the actual province of Affyria. 54 The two rivers unite at Apamea, or Corna (one hundred miles from the Perfian Gulf), into the broad ftream of the Pafitigris, or Shat-ul-Arab. The Euphrates formerly reached the fea by a feparate channel, which was obstructed and diverted by the citizens of Orchoe, about twenty miles to the fouth-eaft of modern Bafra (d'Anville, in the Memoires de l'Acad. des Infériptions, tom. xxx. P: 170-191.). 16 might XXIV. might have claimed the peculiar name of Mefo- CHAP. potamia; 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 foft and yielding foil, connected the rivers, and interfected the plain, of Affyria. The ufcs of thefe artificial canals were various and important. They ferved to discharge the fuperfluous waters from one river into the other, at the season of their respective inundations. Subdividing themselves into fmaller and smaller branches, they refreshed the dry lands, and supplied the deficiency of rain. They facilitated the intercourfe of peace and commerce; and, as the dams could be fpeedily broke down, they armed the despair of the Affyrians with the means of oppofing a fudden deluge to the progrefs of an invading army. To the foil and climate of Affyria, nature had denied fome of her choiceft gifts, the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree; but the food which fupports the life of man, and particularly wheat and barley, were produced with inexhaustible fertility; and the husbandman, who committed his feed to the earth, was frequently rewarded with an encreafe of two, or even of three, hundred. The face of the country was interfperfed with groves of innumerable palm-trees "; and the diligent natives celebrated, either in verfe or profe, the 55 The learned Kæmpfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a tra veller, has exhaufted (Amonitat. Exotice, Fafcicul. iy. p. 660764.) the whole subject of palm-trees. CHAP. three hundred and fixty uses to which the trunk, XXIV. the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit, were fkilfully 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 ftrangers. Babylon had been converted into a royal park; but near the ruins of the ancient capital, new cities had fucceffively arifen, and the populoufnefs of the country was displayed in the multitude of towns and villages, which were built of bricks, dried in the fun, and ftrongly cemented with bitumen; the natural and peculiar production of the Babylonian foil. While the fucceffors of Cyrus reigned over Asia, the province of Affyria alone maintained, during a third part of the year, the luxurious plenty of the table and household of the Great King. Four confiderable villages were affigned for the fubfiftence of his Indian dogs; eight hundred ftallions, and fixteen thousand mares, were constantly kept, at the expence of the country, for the royal ftables: and as the daily tribute, which was paid to the fatrap, amounted to one English bufhel of filver, we may compute the annual revenue of Affyria at more than twelve hundred thousand pounds fterling 5, 56 The 56 Affyria yielded to the Persian fatrap, an Ariaba of filver each day. The well-known proportion of weights and measures (see Bishop Hooper's elaborate Inquiry), the fpecific gravity of water and filver, and the value of that metal, will afford, after a short procefs, the annual revenue which I have stated. Yet the Great King re XXIV. Invasion of Affyria, May, The fields of Affyria were devoted by Julian CHAP. to the calamities of war; and the philofopher 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 Affyrians fummoned the rivers to their affistance; 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 feveral days, the troops of Julian were obliged to contend with the most discouraging hardships. But every obftacle was furmounted by the perfeverance 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; whole groves of palmtrees were cut down, and placed along the broken parts of the road; and the army paffed over the broad and deeper canals, on bridges of floating rafts, which were fupported by the help of bladders. Two cities of Affyria prefumed to refift the arms of a Roman emperor: and they both paid the fevere penalty of their rashness. At the distance of fifty miles from the royal refi- Siege of dence of Ctesiphon, Perifabor, or Anbar, held Perifabor, ceived no more than 1000 Euboic, or Tyrian, talents (252,000 1,) from Affyria. The comparison of two paffages in Herodotus (1.i. c. 192.1. iii. c. 89-96.) reveals an important difference between the gross, and the net, revenue of Perfia; the fums paid by the province, and the gold or filver depofited in the royal treasure. The monarch might annually fave three millions fix hundred thousand pounds, of the feventeen or eighteen millions raifed upon the people. the XXIV. 176 peared |