СНАР. The military hiftorian 54, who was himfelf dif XIX. patched to obferve the army of the Perfians, as Invafion they were preparing to conftruct a bridge of boats over the Tigris, beheld from an eminence the by Sapor, plain of Affyria, as far as the edge of the horizon, A.D. 359 covered with men, with horfes, and with arms.

of Mefo

potamia

Sapor appeared in the front, confpicuous by the fplendor of his purple. On his left hand, the place of honour among the Orientals, Grumbates, king of the Chionites, difplayed the ftern countenance of an aged and renowned warrior. The monarch had referved a fimilar place on his right hand for the king of the Albanians, who led his independent tribes from the fhores of the Cafpian. The fatraps and generals were diftributed according to their feveral ranks, and the whole. army, befides the numerous train of Oriental luxury, confifted of more than one hundred thoufand effective men, inured to fatigue, and felected from the braveft nations of Afia. The Roman deferter, who in fome measure guided the councils of Sapor, had prudently advised that inftead of wafting the fummer in tedious and difficult fieges, he fhould march directly to the Euphrates, and prefs forwards without delay to fieze the feeble and wealthy metropolis of Syria. But the Perfians were no fooner advanced into the plains of Mefopotamia, than they discovered that every precaution had been ufed which could retard their progrefs, or defeat their defign. The inhabitants, with their cattle, were fecured in

54 Ammian. 1. xviii. 6, 7, 8, 10.

places

places of ftrength, the green forage through- CHAP. out the country was fet on fire, the fords of XIX. the river were fortified by fharp ftakes; military engines were planted on the oppofite banks, and a seasonable fwell of the waters of the Euphrates deterred the Barbarians from attempting the ordinary paffage of the bridge of Thapfacus. Their fkilful guide, changing his plan of operations, then conducted the army by a longer circuit, but through a fertile territory, towards the head of the Euphrates, where the infant river is reduced to a fhallow and acceffible ftream. Sapor overlooked, with prudent difdain, the ftrength of Nifibis; but as he paffed under the walls of Amida, he refolved to try whether the majesty of his presence would not awe the garrifon into immediate fubmiffion. The facrilegious infult of a random dart, which glanced against the royal tiara, convinced him of his error; and the indignant monarch listened with impatience to the advice of his minifters, who conjured him not to facrifice the fuccefs of his ambition to the gratification of his refentment. The following day Grumbates advanced towards the gates with a select body of troops, and required the inftant furrender of the city, as the only atonement which could be accepted for fuch an act of rashness and infolence. His propofals were answered by a general difcharge, and his only fon, a beautiful and valiant youth, was pierced through the heart by a javelin, fhot from one of the baliftæ. The funeral of the prince of the Chionites was celebrated according to the rites of his country; and the

XIX.

CHAP. grief of his aged father was alleviated by the folemn promise of Sapor, that the guilty city of Armida fhould ferve as a funeral pile to expiate the death, and to perpetuate the memory, of his fon.

Siege of
Amida.

55

The ancient city of Amid or Amida 5, which fometimes affumes the provincial appellation of Diarbekir 5, is advantagecufly fituate in a fertile plain, watered by the natural and artificial channels of the Tigris, of which the least inconfiderable ftream bends in a femicircular form round the eastern part of the city. The emperor Conftantius had recently conferred on Amida the honour of his own name, and the additional fortifications of strong walls and lofty towers. It was provided with an arsenal of military engines, and the ordinary garrifon had been reinforced to the amount of feven legions, when the place was invested by the arms of Sapor 57. His first and most fanguine hopes depended on the fuccefs of a general

55 For the defcription of Amida, fee d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 108. Hiftoire de Timur Bec, par Cherefeddin Ali, 1. iii. c. 41. Ahmed Arabfiades, tom. i. p. 331. c. 43. Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 301. Voyages d'Otter, tom. ii. P. 273. and Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 324–328. The last of these travellers, a learned and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida, which illuftrates the operations of the fiege.

56 Diarbekir, which is filed Amid, or Kara-Amid, in the public writings of the Turks, contains above 16,000 houses, and is the refidence of a pafia with three tails. The epithet of Kara is derived from the blackness of the ftone which compofes the ftrong and ancient wall of Amida.

57 The operations of the fiege of Amida are very minutely defcribed by Ammianus (xix. 1-9.), who acted an honourable part in the defence, and efcaped with difficulty when the city was ftormed by the Perfians.

affault.

affault. To the feveral nations which followed CHA P.
his ftandard their refpective pofts were affigned;

the fouth to the Vertæ, the north to the Alba-
nians, the east to the Chionites, inflamed with
grief and indignation; the weft to the Segeftans,
the braveft of his warriors, who covered their
front with a formidable line of Indian elephants 5.
The Perfians, on every fide, fupported their ef-
forts, and animated their courage; and the mo-
narch himself, careless of his rank and fafety, dif-
played, in the prosecution of the fiege, the ardor
of a youthful foldier. After an obstinate combat,
the Barbarians were repulfed; they inceffantly
returned to the charge; they were again driven
back with a dreadful flaughter, and two rebel le-
gions of Gauls, who had been banished into the
Eaft, fignalized their undifciplined courage by a
nocturnal fally into the heart of the Perfian camp.
In one of the fierceft of these repeated affaults,
Amida was betrayed by the treachery of a de-
ferter, who indicated to the Barbarians a fecret
and neglected ftaircafe, fcooped out of the rock
that hangs over the ftream of the Tigris.
venty chosen archers of the royal guard afcended
in filence to the third ftory of a lofty tower which

Se

58 Of these four nations, the Albanians are too well known to require any defcription. The Segeftans inhabited a large and level country, which ftili preferves their name, to the fouth of Khorafan, and the west of Hindoftan (fee Geographia Nubienfis, p. 133. and d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 797) Notwith@tanding the boasted victory of Bahram (vol. i. p. 410.), the Segeftans, above fourfcole years afterwards, appear as an independent nation, the ally of Perfia. We are ignorant of the fituation of the Vertæ and Chionites, but I am inclined to place them (at least the latter) towards the confines of India and Scythia. See Ammian. xvi, 9.

com

XIX.

CHAP. commanded the precipice; they elevated on high XIX. the Perfian banner, the fignal of confidence to the affailants, and of dismay to the befieged; and if this devoted band could have maintained their poft a few minutes longer, the reduction of the place might have been purchafed by the facrifice of their lives. After Sapor had tried, without fuccefs, the efficacy of force and of ftratagem, he had recourse to the flower but more certain operations of a regular fiege, in the conduct of which he was inftructed by the skill of the Roman deferters. The trenches were operred at a convenient distance, and the troops destined for that fervice advanced under the portable cover of ftrong hurdles, to fill up the ditch, and undermine the foundations of the walls. Wooden towers were at the fame time conftructed, and moved forwards on wheels, till the foldiers, who were provided with every fpecies of miffile weapons, could engage almoft on level ground with the troops who defended the rampart. Every mode of refiftance which art could fuggeft, or courage could execute, was employed in the defence of Amida, and the works of Sapor were more than once deftroyed by the fire of the Romans. But the refources of a befieged city may be exhaufted. The Perfians repaired their loffes, and pushed their approaches; a large breach was made by the battering ram, and the ftrength of the garrison, wafted by the fword and by disease, yielded to the fury of the affault. The foldiers, the citizens, their wives, their children, all who

had