XXIV. CHAP. pofed themselves under the walls of Nifibis. The meffengers 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 fecure the allegiance of the armies and provinces of Europe; by placing the military command in the hands of thofe officers, who, from motives of intereft, or inclination, would firmly fupport the cause of their benefactor """. Univerfal clamour treaty of peace. The friends of Julian had confidently announagainst the ced the fuccefs of his expedition, They entertained a fond perfuafion, that the temples of the gods would be enriched with the fpoils of the Eaft; that Perfia would be reduced to the humble state of a tributary province, governed by the laws and magiftrates of Rome; that the Barbarians would adopt the dress, and manners, and language, of their conquerors; and that the youth of Ecbatana and Sufa would study the art of rhetoric under Grecian masters 120. The progrefs of the arms of Julian interrupted his communication with the empire; and, from the moment that he paffed the Tigris, his affectionate fubjects 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 perfifted to doubt, after 119 The retreat of Jovian is defcribed by Ammianus (xxv. 9.), Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 143. P. 365.), and Zofimus (1. iii. p. 194.). 120 Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 145. p. 366. Such were the natural hopes and wishes of a rhetorician. they they could no longer deny, the truth of that fatal event 2. The meffengers of Jovian promulgated the specious tale of a prudent and neceffary peace; the voice of fame, louder and more fincere, revealed the disgrace of the emperor, and the conditions of the ignominious treaty. The minds of the people were filled with aftonishment and grief, with indignation and terror, when they were informed, that the unworthy fucceffor of Julian relinquished the five provinces, which had been acquired by the victory of Galerius; and that he fhamefully furrendered to the Barbarians the important city of Nifibis, the firmeft bulwark of the provinces of the Eaft 2. The deep and dangerous queftion, how far the public faith fhould be obferved, when it becomes incompatible with the public fafety, was freely agitated in popular conversation; and some hopes were entertained, that the emperor would redeem his pufillanimous behaviour by a splendid act of patriotic perfidy. The inflexible spirit of the Roman fenate had always difclaimed the unequal conditions which were extorted from the distress of her captive armies; and, if it were neceffary 122 121 The people of Carrhæ, a city devoted to Paganism, buried -the inaufpicious meffenger under a pile of stones (Zofimus, 1. iii. P. 196.). Libanius, when he received the fatal intelligence, caft his eye on his fword: but he recollected that Plato had condemned suicide, and that he must live to compofe the panegyric of Julian (Libanius de Vitâ fuâ, tom. ii. p. 45,46.). 122 Ammianus and Eutropius may be admitted as fair and credible witneffes of the public language and opinions. The people of Antioch reviled an ignominious peace, which exposed them to the Perfians, on a naked and defenceless frontier (Excerpt. Valefiana, p. 845. ex Johanne Antiocheno.). to CHA P. XXIV. XXIV. CHAP. to fatisfy 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 acquiefced in the precedent of ancient times as Jovian e vacuates Nifibis, and reftores the five provinces to the Perfians. Auguft. But the emperor, whatever might be the limits. of his conftitutional authority, was the abfolute mafter of the laws and arms of the ftate; and the fame motives which had forced him to fubfcribe, now preffed him to execute, the treaty of peace. He was impatient to fecure an empire at the expence of a few provinces; and the respectable names of religion and honour concealed the perfonal fears and the ambition of Jovian. Notwithstanding the dutiful folicitations of the inhabitants, decency, as well as prudence, forbade the emperor to lodge in the palace of Nifibis; but, the next morning after his arrival, Bineses, the ambaffador of Perfia, entered the place, difplayed from the citadel the ftandard of the Great King, and proclaimed, in his name, the cruel alternative of exile or fervitude. The principal citizens of Nifibis, 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, ex 123 The Abbé de la Bleterie (Hift. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 212227.), though a severe casuist, has pronounced that Jovian was not bound to execute his promife; fince he could not difmember the empire, nor alienate, without their confent, the allegiance of his people. I have never found much delight or instruction in such political metaphyfics. XXIV. afperated by the three fucceffive defeats, which CHAP. he had experienced under the walls of Nifibis. They ftill poffeffed arms and courage to repel the invaders of their country: they requested only the permiffion of ufing them in their own defence; and, as foon as they had afferted their independence, they fhould implore the favour of being again admitted into the rank of his fubjects. Their arguments, their eloquence, their tears, were ineffectual. Jovian alleged, with some confufion, the fanctity of oaths; and, as the reluctance with which he accepted the prefent of a crown of gold, convinced the citizens of their hopeless condition, the advocate Sylvanus was provoked to exclaim,, " O Emperor! may you "O "thus be crowned by all the cities of your do"minions!" Jovian, who, in a few weeks had affumed the habits of a prince "24, was displeased with freedom, and offended with truth: and as he reasonably supposed, that the discontent of the people might incline them to fubmit to the Perfian 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 univerfal despair which he feems to have viewed with an eye of compaffion "25, The martial youth deferted, with indignant grief, the walls which they had so gloriously defended; the difconfolate £24 his 124 At Nifibis he performed a royal act. A brave officer, name-fake, who had been thought worthy of the purple, was drag ged from fupper, thrown into a well, and stoned to death, without any form of trial or evidence of guilt. Ammian. xxv. 8. 125 See xxv, 9, and Zofimus, l. iii. p. 194, 195. mourner XXIV. CHA P. mourner dropt a last tear over the tomb of a fon or husband, which must foon be profaned by the rude hand of a Barbarian master; and the aged citizen kiffed the threshold, and clung to the doors, of the house, where he had paffed the cheerful and careless hours of infancy. The highways were crowded with a trembling multitude: the distinctions of rank, and fex, and age, were loft in the general calamity. Every one ftrove to bear away fome fragment from the wreck of his fortunes; and as they could not command the immediate fervice of an adequate number of horses or waggons, they were obliged to leave behind them the greatest part of their valuable effects. The favage infenfibility of Jovián appears to have aggravated the hardships of these unhappy fugitives. They were feated, however, in a new-built quarter of Amida; and that rifing city, with the reinforcement of a very confiderable colony, foon recovered its former fplendour, and became the capital of Mefopotamia 126. Similar orders were difpatched by the emperor for the evacuation of Singara and the castle of the Moors; and for the reftitution of the five provinces beyond the Tigris. Sapor enjoyed the glory and the fruits of his victory; and this ignominious peace has juftly been confidered as a memorable æra in the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The predeceffors of Jovian had fometimes relinquifhed the dominion of distant and unprofitable provinces: but, fince the foun 126 Chron. Pafchal, p. 300. The ecclefiaftical Notitiæ may be confulted. |