180 THE SOPHIST LIBANIUS. CHAP. XXIV. 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 25 Eunapius reports that Libanius refused the honorary rank of Prætorian præfect, as less illustrious than the title of Sophist (in Vit. Sophist. p. 135 [p. 175, ed. Comm.]). The critics have observed a similar sentiment in one of the epistles (xviii. [p. 7] ed. Wolf.) of Libanius himself. 26 Near two thousand of his letters-a mode of composition in which Libanius was thought to excel-are still extant, and already published. The critics may praise their subtle and elegant brevity; yet Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon Phalaris, p. 487) might justly though quaintly observe that "you feel, by the emptiness and deadness "of them, that you converse with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his "desk." His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions [Ep. 866] the seventy-sixth year of his age (A.D. 390), and seems to allude to some events of a still later date. 28 Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious narrative of his own life (tom. ii. p. 1-84, edit. Morell.), of which Eunapius (p. 130-135) has left a concise and unfavourable account. Among the moderns, Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, A.D. 363. MARCH OF JULIAN TO THE EUPHRATES. 187 Euphrates, March 5. The martial impatience of Julian urged him to take the field in the beginning of the spring, and he dismissed, with contempt March of and reproach, the senate of Antioch, who accompanied the Julian to the emperor beyond the limits of their own territory, to which 363, he was resolved never to return. After a laborious march of two days 29 he halted on the third at Beroa, 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 Beroa, 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 incum"bent on me to supply his place." 30 The emperor was received in a manner much more agreeable to his wishes at Batnæ,* 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 Batnæ, 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 too 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 tom. iv. p. 571-576), Fabricius (Biblioth. Græc. tom. vii. p. 376-414), and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, tom. iv. p. 127-163) have illustrated the character and writings of this famous sophist. 29 From Antioch to Litarbi, on the territory of Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely bad; and the loose stones were cemented only with sand (Julian, Epist. xxvii.). It is singular enough that the Romans should have negleeted the great communication between Antioch and the Euphrates. See Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 190. Bergier, Hist. des Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100. 30 Julian alludes to this incident (Epist. xxvii.), which is more distinctly related by Theodoret (1. iii. c. 22). The intolerant spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 534), and even by La Bléterie (Vie de Julien, p. 413). 31 See the curious treatise de Deâ Syria, inserted among the works of Lucian (tom. "This name, of Syriac origin, is foundry 'Exanxóv. The geographer Abulfeda in the Arabic, and means a place in a valley where waters meet. Julian says the name of the city is barbaric, the situAtion Greek. Βαρβαρικὸν ὄνομα τοῦτο, χωρίον (tab. Syriæ, p. 129, edit. Koehler) speaks of it in a manner to justify the praises of Julian.-St. Martin, Notes to Le Beau, iii. 56.Μ. 188 JULIAN'S DESIGN OF LIVADING PERSIA. CHAP. XXIV. 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, which displays the facility of his genius and his tender friendship for the sophist of Antioch. His design Persia. 33 Hierapolis, situate almost on the banks of the Euphrates,34 had been appointed for the general rendezvous of the Roman of invading troops, who immediately passed the great river on a 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 Carrhæ,36 a very ancient city of Mesopotamia, at the distance of fourscore miles from Hierapolis. The temple of the Moon attracted the devotion of Julian, but the halt of a few days was principally employed in com March 19. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.). The singular appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8) might induce a suspicion that Hierapolis had been the royal seat of the Assyrians. 32 Julian (Epist. xxviii. [xxvii.]) kept a regular account of all the fortunate omens; but he suppresses the inauspicious signs, which Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded. 33 Julian, Epist. xxvii. p. 399-402. I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to M. d'Anville for his recent geography of the Euphrates and Tigris (Paris, 1780, in 4to.), which particularly illustrates the expedition of Julian. 35 There are three passages within a few miles of each other: 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the ancients; 2. Bir, frequented by the moderns; and, 3. The bridge of Menbigz [Manbedj] or Hierapolis, at the distance of four parasangs from the city. 36 Haran, or Carrhæ, was the ancient residence of the Sabæans and of Abraham. See the Index Geographicus of Schultens (ad calcem Vit. Saladin.), a work from which I have obtained much Oriental knowledge concerning the ancient and modern geography of Syria and the adjacent countries. Hierapolis was not situate almost upon the banks of the Euphrates, but twenty-four Roman miles from the river, according to the Peutinger Table. Hierapolis was also called Bambyce, which is only the Hellenized form of its Syrian name Mabog, which the Arabs called Manbedj.--Smith's Dict. of Greek and Rom. Geography, vol. i. p. 1064; St. Mar. tin, Notes on Le Beau, vol. iii. p. 58.-S. A.D. 33 DISAFFECTION OF THE KING OF ARMENIA. 189 pleting the immense preparations of the Persian war. The secret of the expedition had hitherto remained in his own breast; but as Carrhæ 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. The success Disaffection of this well-concerted plan depended, in a great measure, of the king 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 præfect 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." 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 consum of Armenia, 39 See Xenophon, Cyropæd. 1. iii. [c. 1, § 34] p. 189, edit. Hutchinson. Artavasdes might have supplied Marc Antony with 16,000 horse, armed and disciplined after the Parthian manner (Plutarch, in M. Antonio [c. 50], tom. v. p. 117). 39 Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. 1. iii. c. 11, p. 241 [ed. Whiston, Lond. 1736]) fixes his accession (A.D. 354) to the 17th year of Constantius." 39 Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) says, in general terms, that Constantius gave his brother's widow ros Bagbagus, an expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian. a According to the Armenian historians, Faustus of Byzantium, and Mesrob, the biographer of the patriarch Narses, Tiranus, or Diran, the son of Chosroes, had ceased to reign twenty-five years before, in A.D. 338, and was succeeded by his son Arsaces. (See note, vol. ii. p. 369.) St. Martin, vol. ii. p. 208, seq.-S. 190 MILITARY PREPARATIONS. CHAP. XXIV. mate 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 March 27. Beginning The military dispositions of Julian were skilfully contrived to deceive the spies and to divert the attention of Sapor. preparations. 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 Carrhæ, 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 of April. 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 Cæsars 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 "1 was crowded by a fleet of 40 Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too soft for the occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius, Bibliothec. Græc. tom. vii. p. 86) has published an epistle from Julian to the satrap Arsaces; fierce, vulgar, and (though it might deceive Sozomen, 1. vi. c. 5 [c. 1]), most probably spurious. La Bléterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and rejects it." 4 Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian. xxiii. 3. Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is four stadia, or 800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad (Xenophon, Anabasis, 1. i. [c. 4, § 11] p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's Observations, p. 29, &c., in the second volume of Spelman's translation). If the breadth of the Euphrates at Bir and Zeugma is no more than 130 yards (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 335), the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth of the channel. St. Martin considers it genuine: the Armenian writers mention such a letter, vol iii. p. 37.-M b On the position of Circesium, see note, vol. ii. p. 87.-S. |