The

was darkened with swarms of innumerable insects.* 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 soil, 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;† 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,

the Geographical Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman's Expedition of Cyrus, vol. ii, p. 26. [For the floods of the Tigris, in the months of March and April, see Layard, p. 337, 347.-ED.] * Ammianus (24, 8), describes, as he had felt, the inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and the insects. The lands of Assyria, oppressed by the Turks, and ravaged by the Curds, or Arabs, yield an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty-fold, for the seed which is cast into the ground by the wretched and unskilful husbandman. Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii, p. 279-285. + Isidore of Charax (Mansion. Parthic. p. 5, 6. in Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. ii), reckons one hundred and twenty-nine schoni from Seleucia; and Thevenot (part 1, lib. 1, 2, p. 209-245), one hundred

A.D. 363.]

RETREAT OF THE ROMANS.

37

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 the retreat, only seventy days after they had passed the Chaboras with the sanguine expectation of subverting the throne of Persia.*

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, shewing 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 and twenty-eight hours' march from Bagdad to Ecbatana or Hamadam. These measures cannot exceed an ordinary parasang, or three Roman miles. [The parasang, like the modern farsang, or farsakh, of Persia, 46 was not a measure of distance very accurately determined, but rather indicated a certain amount of time employed in traversing a given space." It denoted the journey of an hour, as the word Stunde is now used by the Germans. The length of the Persian farsang now varies according to the nature of the country. In the plains of Khorassan, it is equal to about four miles; on difficult and precipitous roads, it scarcely amounts to three." Layard, pp. 60, 61.-ED.] *The march of Julian

from Ctesiphon is circumstantially, but not clearly described by Ammianus (24, 7, 8), Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357), and Zosimus (lib. 3, p. 183.) The two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to the banks of the Tigris.

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 adequate 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,* 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.† Julian,

* Chardin, the most judicious of modern travellers, describes (tom. iii, p. 57, 58, &c. edit. in 4to.) the education and dexterity of the Persian horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno Persico, p. 650-661, &c.) has collected the testimonies of antiquity. + In Mark Antony's retreat, an Attic choenix sold for fifty drachmæ, or in other words, a pound of flour for twelve or fourteen shillings; barley-bread was sold for its weight in silver. It is impossible to peruse the interesting narrative of Plutarch (tom. v, p. 102-116,) without perceiving that Mark

A.D. 363.]

ANXIETY OF JULIAN.

39

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.*

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 funereal 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;t the council which he summoned, of Tuscan Haruspices, 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 Antony and Julian were pursued by the same enemies, and involved in the same distress.

* Ammian. 24, 8. 25, 1. Zosimus, 1. 3, p. 184-186. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 134, 135, p. 357-359. The sophist of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were hungry.

Ammian. 25, 2. Julian had sworn in a passion, nunquam se Marti sacra facturum. (24, 6.) Such whimsical quarrels were not uncommon between the gods and their insolent votaries; and even the prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honours of public processions. See Hume's Philosophical Reflections, Essays, vol. ii, p. 418. They still retained the monopoly of the vain, but lucrative, science, which had been invented in Hetruria; and professed to derive their knowledge of signs and omens from the ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage.

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 * 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 prefect 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,t

* Clamabant hinc inde candidati (see the note of Valesius) quos disjecerat terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male compositi culminis declinaret. Ammian. 25, 3. Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was his practice to comfort the families of his deceased satraps, by sending them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers who had not fallen by their master's side. Lib.