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courage of Tiridates, and the victorious arms CHAP. of Galerius, had annexed to the Armenian mo- XVIII. narchy 59.

During the long period of the reign of Con- The Perfian war, ftantius, the provinces of the eaft were afflicted A. D. by the calamities of the Perfian war.

The irre-337-360.

gular incurfions of the light troops alternately spread terror and devastation beyond the Tigris, and beyond the Euphrates, from the gates of Ctefiphon to thofe of Antioch; and this active fervice was performed by the Arabs of the defert, who were divided in their interest and affections; fome of their independent chiefs being enlifted in the party of Sapor, whilft others had engaged their doubtful fidelity to the emperor more grave and important operations of the war were conducted with equal vigour; and the armies of Rome and Perfia encountered each other in nine bloody fields, in two of which Conftantius himself commanded in perfon. The event of Battle of the Singara,

59 The

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$8 Julian. Orat. i. p. 20, 21. Mofes of Chorene, 1. ii. c. 89. 1. iii. c. 1—9. p. 226–240. The perfect agreement between the vague hints of the contemporary orator, and the circumftantial narrative of the national hiftorian, gives light to the former, and weight to the latter. For the credit of Mofes it may be likewife obferved, that the name of Antiochus is found a few years before in a civil office of inferior dignity. See Godefroy, Cod. Theod. tom. vi. P. 350.

59 Ammianus (xiv. 4.) gives a lively description of the wandering and prædatory life of the Saracens, who stretched from the confines of Afyria to the cataracts of the Nile. It appears from the adven❤ tures of Malchus, which Jerom has related in fo entertaining a manner, that the high road between Berea and Edessa was infested by thefe robbers. See Hieronym. tom. i. p. 256.

6. We shall take from Eutropius the general idea of the war (x. 19.). A Perfis enim multa et gravia perpeffus, fæpe captis oppidis,

A.D. 348.

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CHAP. the day was most commonly adverfe to the RoXVIII. mans, but in the battle of Singara, their imprudent valour had almoft atchieved a fignal and decifive victory. The ftationary troops of Singara retired on the approach of Sapor, who paffed the Tigris over three bridges, and occupied near the village of Hilleh an advantageous camp, which, by the labour of his numerous pioneers, he furrounded in one day with a deep ditch, and a lofty. rampart. His formidable hoft, when it was drawn out in order of battle, covered the banks of the river, the adjacent heights, and the whole extent of a plain of above twelve miles, which feparated the two armies. Both were alike impatient to engage; but the Barbarians, after a flight refiftance, fled in diforder; unable to refift, or defirous to weary, the ftrength of the heavy legions, who, fainting with heat and thirft, purfued them across the plain, and cut in pieces a line of cavalry, clothed in complete armour, which had been posted before the gates of the camp to protect their retreat. Conftantius, who was hurried along in the purfuit, attempted, without effect, to restrain the ardour of his troops, by reprefenting to them the dangers of the approaching night,

pidis, obfeffis urbibus, cæfis exercitibus, nullumque ei contra Sa.
porem profperum prælium fuit, nifi quod apud Singaram, &c. This
honeft account is confirmed by the hints of Ammianus, Rufus, and
Jerom. The two first orations of Julian, and the third oration of
Libanius, exhibit a more flattering picture; but the recantation of
both thofe orators, after the death of Conftantius, while it reftores
us to the poffeffion of the truth, degrades their own character, and
that of the emperor.
The commentary of Spanheim on the first ora-
tion of Julian is profufely learned. See likewife the judicious obfer-
vations of Tillemont, Hift. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 655.

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and the certainty of completing their fuccefs with CHAP.
the return of day. As they depended much XVIII.
more on their own valour, than on the experience
or the abilities of their chief, they filenced by their
clamours his timid remonftrances; and rufhing with
fury to the charge, filled up the ditch, broke
down the rampart, and difperfed themselves
through the tents to recruit their exhaufted
strength, and to enjoy the rich harvest of their
labours. But the prudent Sapor had watched the
moment of victory. His army, of which the
greater part securely pofted on the heights, had
been spectators of the action, advanced in filence,
and under the fhadow of the night; and his Per-
fian archers, guided by the illumination of the
camp poured a fhower of arrows on a difarmed
and licentious crowd. The fincerity of history
declares that the Romans were vanquished with a
dreadful flaughter, and that the flying remnant
of the legions was expofed to the most intolerable
hardships. Even the tenderness of panegyric,
confeffing that the glory of the emperor was ful-
lied by the difobedience of his foldiers, chufes to
draw a veil over the circumftances of this melan-
choly retreat. Yet one of those venal orators, fo
jealous of the fame of Conftantius, relates with
amazing coolness, an act of fuch incredible cruelty,
as, in the judgment of pofterity, muft imprint a
far deeper ftain on the honour of the Imperial
The fon of Sapor, the heir of his crown,

name.

61

61 Acerrimâ nocturnâ concertátione pugnatum eft, noftrorum copiis ingenti ftrage confoffis. Ammian, xviii. 5、 See likewife Eu. tropius, x. 19. and S. Rufus, c. 27.

had

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CHAP. had been made a captive in the Perfian camp. XVIII. The unhappy youth, who might have excited the compaffion of the most favage enemy, was fcourged, tortured, and publicly executed by the inhuman Romans 62.

Siege of Nifibis.

Whatever advantages might attend the arms of Sapor in the field, though nine repeated victories diffused among the nations the fame of his valour and conduct, he could not hope to fucceed in the execution of his defigns, while the fortified towns of Mefopotamia, and above all, the strong and ancient city of Nifibis, remained in the poffeffion of the Romans. In the fpace of twelve years, Nifibis, which fince the time of Lucullus, had been defervedly esteemed the bulwark of the east, fuftained three memorable fieges against the power of Sapor; and the disappointed monarch, after 346. 350. urging his attacks above fixty, eighty, and an hundred days, was thrice repulfed with lofs and ignominy 63. This large and populous city was fituate about two days journey from the Tigris, in the midst of a pleafant and fertile plain at the foot of mount Mafius. A treble inclosure of brick walls was defended by a deep ditch 64; and

A.D.338.

62 Lihanius, Orat. iii. p. 133. with Julian. Orat. i. p. 24. and Spanheim's Commentary, p. 179.

63 See Julian. Orat. i. p. 27. Orat. ii. p. 62, &c. with the Commentary of Spanheim (p. 188-202.), who illuftrates the circum ftances, and afcertains the time of the three fieges of Nifibis. Their dates are likewife examined by Tillemont (Hift. des Empereurs, tom, iv. p. 668. 671. 674.). Something is added from Zofimus, 1. iii. p. 151. and the Alexandrine Chronicle, p. 290.

64 Salluft. Fragment. lxxxiv. edit. Broffes, and Plutarch in Lucull. tom. iii. p. 184. Nifibis is now reduced to one hundred and fifty houses; the marshy lands produce rice, and the fertile meadows,

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the intrepid affiftance of Count Lucilianus, and CHA P.
his garrison, was feconded by the defperate cou- XVIIL
rage of the people. The citizens of Nifibis were
animated by the exhortations of their bithops, in-
ured to arms by the prefence of danger, and con-
vinced of the intentions of Sapor to plant a Per-
fian colony in their room, and to lead them away
into diftant and barbarous captivity. The event
of the two former fieges elated their confidence
and exasperated the haughty fpirit of the Great
King, who advanced a third time towards Nifi-
bis, at the head of the united forces of Perfia and
India. The ordinary machines invented to bat-
ter or undermine the walls, were rendered inef-
fectual by the superior skill of the Romans; and
many days had vainly elapsed, when Sapor em-
braced a refolution, worthy of an eastern monarch,
who believed that the elements themselves were

fubject to his power. At the ftated feafon of the
melting of the fnows in Armenia, the river Myg-
donius, which divides the plain and the city of
Nifibis, forms like the Nile " an inundation

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as far as Moful and the Tigris, are covered with the ruins of towas
and villages. See Niebuhr, Voyages, tom. ii. p. 320-309.

65 The miracles which Theodoret (1. ii. c. 30.) afcribes to St.
James, bishop of Edeffa, were at least performed in a worthy caufe,
the defence of his country. He appeared on the walls under the
figure of the Roman emperor, and fent an army of gnats to Ring
the trunks of the elephants, and to discomfit the host of the new
Senacherib.

66 Julian Orat. i. p. 27. Though Niebuhr (tom, ii. p. 307.) allows a very confiderable swell to the Mygdonius, over which he faw a bridge of twelve arches: it is difficult, however, to understand this parallel of a trifling rivulet with a mighty river. There are many circumstances obfcure, and almost unintelligible, in the description of these stupendous waterworks.

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