The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 46

VI.

-- 1. And while these arrangements were being made, the victims and entrails were inspected on behalf of Jovian, and it was p.r.o.nounced that he would ruin everything if he remained in the camp, as he proposed, but that if he quitted it he would have the advantage.

2. And just as we were beginning our march, the Persians attacked us, preceded by their elephants. Both our horses and men were at first disordered by their roaring and formidable onset; but the Jovian and Herculean legions slew a few of the monsters, and made a gallant resistance to the mounted cuira.s.siers.

3. Then the legions of the Jovii and Victores coming up to aid their comrades, who were in distress, also slew two elephants and a great number of the enemy's troops. And on our left wing three most gallant men were slain, Julian, Macrobius, and Maximus, all tribunes of the legions which were then the chief of the whole army.

4. When they were buried as well as circ.u.mstances permitted, as night was drawing on, and as we were pressing forward with all speed towards a fort called Sumere, the dead body of Anatolius was recognized and buried with a hurried funeral. Here also we were rejoined by sixty soldiers and a party of the guards of the palace, whom we have mentioned as having taken refuge in a fort called Vaccatum.

5. Then on the following day we pitched our camp in a valley in as favourable a spot as the nature of the ground permitted, surrounding it with a rampart like a wall, with sharp stakes fixed all round like so many swords, with the exception of one wide entrance.

6. And when the enemy saw this they attacked us with all kinds of missiles from their thickets, reproaching us also as traitors and murderers of an excellent prince. For they had heard by the vague report of some deserters that Julian had fallen by the weapon of a Roman.

7. And presently, while this was going on, a body of cavalry ventured to force their way in by the Praetorian gate, and to advance almost up to the emperor's tent. But they were vigorously repulsed with the loss of many of their men killed and wounded.

8. Quitting this camp, the next night we reached a place called Charcha, where we were safe, because the artificial mounds of the river had been broken to prevent the Saracens from overrunning Armenia, so that no one was able to hara.s.s our lines as they had done before.

9. Then on the 1st of July we marched thirty furlongs more, and came to a city called Dura, where our baggage-horses were so jaded, that their drivers, being mostly recruits, marched on foot till they were hemmed in by a troop of Saracens; and they would all have been killed if some squadrons of our light cavalry had not gone to their a.s.sistance in their distress.

10. We were exposed to the hostility of these Saracens because Julian had forbidden that the presents and gratuities, to which they had been accustomed, should be given to them; and when they complained to him, they were only told that a warlike and vigilant emperor had iron, not gold.

11. Here, owing to the obstinate hostility of the Persians, we lost four days. For when we advanced they followed us, compelling us to retrace our steps by their incessant attacks. When we halted gradually to fight, they retired, tormenting us by their long delay. And now (for when men are in great fear even falsehoods please them) a report being spread that we were at no great distance from our own frontier, the army raised an impatient shout, and demanded to be at once led across the Tigris.

12. But the emperor and his officers opposed this demand, and showed them that the river, now just at the time of the rising of the Dogstar, was much flooded, entreated them not to trust themselves to its dangerous currents, reminding them that most of them could not swim, and adding likewise that the enemy had occupied the banks of the river, swoln as it was at many parts.

13. But when the demand was repeated over and over again in the camp, and the soldiers with shouts and great eagerness began to threaten violence, the order was given very unwillingly that the Gauls, mingled with the northern Germans, should lead the way into the river, in order that if they were carried away by the violence of the stream the obstinacy of the rest might be shaken; or on the other hand, if they accomplished the pa.s.sage in safety the rest might attempt it with more confidence.

14. And men were selected suited to such an enterprise, who from their childhood had been accustomed in their native land to cross the greatest rivers. And when the darkness of night presented an opportunity for making the attempt unperceived, as if they had just escaped from a prison, they reached the opposite bank sooner than could have been expected; and having beaten down and slain numbers of the Persians whom, though they had been placed there to guard the pa.s.sage, their fancied security had lulled into a gentle slumber, they held up their hands, and shook their cloaks so as to give the concerted signal that their bold attempt had succeeded.

15. And when the signal was seen, the soldiers became eager to cross, and could only be restrained by the promise of the engineers to make them bridges by means of bladders and the hides of slaughtered animals.

VII.

-- 1. While these vain attempts were going on, king Sapor, both while at a distance, and also when he approached, received from his scouts and from our deserters a true account of the gallant exploits of our men, of the disgraceful slaughter of his own troops, and also of his elephants in greater numbers than he ever remembered to have lost before. And he heard also that the Roman army, being hardened by its continual labours since the death of its glorious chief, did not now think so much, as they said, of safety as of revenge; and were resolved to extricate themselves from their difficulties either by a complete victory or by a glorious death.

2. He looked on this news as formidable, being aware by experience that our troops who were scattered over these provinces could easily be a.s.sembled, and knowing also that his own troops after their heavy losses were in a state of the greatest alarm; he also heard that we had in Mesopotamia an army little inferior in numbers to that before him.

3. And besides all this, his courage was damped by the fact of five hundred men having crossed that swollen river by swimming in perfect safety, and having slain his guards, and so emboldening the rest of their comrades to similar hardihood.

4. In the mean time, as the violence of the stream prevented any bridges from being constructed, and as everything which could be eaten was consumed, we pa.s.sed two days in great misery, and the starving soldiers began to be furious with rage, thinking it better to perish by the sword than by hunger, that most degrading death.

5. But the eternal providence of G.o.d was on our side, and beyond our hopes the Persians made the first overtures, sending the Surena and another n.o.ble as amba.s.sadors to treat for peace, and they themselves being in a state of despondency, as the Romans, having proved superior in almost every battle, weakened them daily.

6. But the conditions which they proposed were difficult and intricate, since they pretended that, out of regard for humanity, their merciful monarch was willing to permit the remains of our army to return home, provided the Caesar, with his officers, would satisfy his demands.

7. In reply, we sent as amba.s.sadors on our part, Arinthaeus and Sall.u.s.tius; and while the proper terms were being discussed with great deliberation, we pa.s.sed four more days in great suffering from want of provisions, more painful than any kind of torture.

8. And in this truce, if before the amba.s.sadors were sent, the emperor, being disabused, had retired slowly from the territories of the enemy, he would have reached the forts of Corduena, a rich region belonging to us, only one hundred miles from the spot where these transactions were being carried on.

9. But Sapor obstinately demanded (to use his own language) the restoration of those territories which had been taken from him by Maximian; but as was seen in the progress of the negotiation, he in reality required, as the price of our redemption, five provinces on the other side of the Tigris,--Arzanena, Moxoena, Zabdicena, Rehemena, and Corduena, with fifteen fortresses, besides Nisibis, and Singara, and the important fortress called the camp of the Moors.

10. And though it would have been better to fight ten battles than to give up one of them, still a set of flatterers hara.s.sed our pusillanimous emperor with harping on the dreaded name of Procopius, and affirmed that unless we quickly recrossed the river, that chieftain, as soon as he heard of the death of Julian, would easily bring about a revolution which no one could resist, by means of the fresh troops which he had under his command.

11. Jovian, being wrought upon by the constant reiteration of these evil counsels, without further delay gave up everything that was demanded, with this abatement, which he obtained with difficulty, that the inhabitants of Nisibis and Singara should not be given up to the Persians as well as the cities themselves; and that the Roman garrisons in the forts about to be surrendered should be permitted to retire to fortresses of our own.

12. To which another mischievous and unfair condition was added, that after this treaty was concluded we were not to be at liberty to a.s.sist Arsaces against the Persians, if he implored our aid, though he had always been our friend and trusty ally. And this was insisted on by Sapor for two reasons, in order that the man might be punished who had laid waste Chiliocomum at the emperor's command, and also that facility might be given for invading Armenia without a check. In consequence of this it fell out subsequently that Arsaces was taken prisoner, and that, amid different dissensions and disturbances, the Parthians laid violent hands on the greater portion of Armenia, where it borders on Media, and on the town of Artaxata.

13. This ign.o.ble treaty being made, that nothing might be done during the armistice, in contravention of its terms, some men of rank were given as hostages on each side: on ours, Remora, Victor, and Bellovaedius, tribunes of distinguished legions: and on that of the enemy, one of their chief n.o.bles named Bineses, and three other satraps of note.

14. So peace was made for thirty years, and ratified by solemn oaths; and we, returning by another line of march, because the parts near the river were rugged and difficult, suffered severely for want of water and provisions.

VIII.

-- 1. The peace which had been granted on pretence of humanity was turned to the ruin of many who were so exhausted by want of food as to be at the last gasp, and who in consequence could only creep along, and were either carried away by the current of the river from not being able to swim, or if able to overcome the force of the stream so far as to reach the bank, were either slain like sheep by the Saracens or Persians (because, as we stated some time back, the Germans had driven them out), or sent to a distance to be sold for slaves.

2. But when the trumpets openly gave the signal for crossing the river, it was dreadful to see with what ardour every individual hastened to rush into this danger, preferring himself to all his comrades, in the desire of avoiding the many dangers and distresses behind him. Some tried to guide the beasts who were swimming about at random, with hurdles hurriedly put together; others, seated on bladders, and others, being driven by necessity to all kinds of expedients, sought to pa.s.s through the opposing waves by crossing them obliquely.

3. The emperor himself with a few others crossed over in the small boats, which we said were saved when the fleet was burnt, and then sent the same vessels backwards and forwards till our whole body was brought across. And at length all of us, except such as were drowned, reached the opposite bank of the river, being saved amid our difficulties by the favour of the Supreme Deity.

4. While we were still oppressed with the fear of impending disasters, we learnt from information brought in by our outposts that the Persians were throwing a bridge over the river some way off, at a point out of our sight, in order that while all ideas of war were put an end to on our side by the ratification of the treaty of peace, they might come upon our invalids as they proceeded carelessly onwards, and on the animals exhausted with fatigue. But when they found their purpose discovered, they relinquished their base design.

5. Being now relieved from this suspicion, we hastened on by rapid marches, and approached Hatra, an ancient town in the middle of a desert, which had been long since abandoned, though at different times those warlike emperors, Trajan and Severus, had attacked it with a view to its destruction, but had been almost destroyed with their armies, as we have related in our history of their exploits.

6. And as we now learnt that over the vast plain before us for seventy miles in that arid region no water could be found but such as was brackish and fetid, and no kind of food but southernwood, wormwood, dracontium, and other bitter herbs, we filled the vessels which we had with sweet water, and having slain the camels and the rest of the beasts of burden, we thus sought to insure some kind of supplies, though not very wholesome.

7. For six days the army marched, till at last even gra.s.s, the last comfort of extreme necessity, could not be found; when Ca.s.sia.n.u.s, Duke of Mesopotamia, and the tribune Mauricius, who had been sent forward with this object, came to a fort called Ur, and brought some food from the supplies which the army under Procopius and Sebastian, by living sparingly, had managed to preserve.

8. From this place another person of the name of Procopius, a secretary, and Memoridus, a military tribune, was sent forward to Illyric.u.m and Gaul to announce the death of Julian, and the subsequent promotion of Jovian to the rank of emperor.

9. And Jovian deputed them to present his father-in-law Lucillia.n.u.s (who, after giving up military service, had retired to the tranquillity of private life, and who was at that time dwelling at Sirmium) with a commission as captain of the forces of cavalry and infantry, and to urge him at the same time to hasten to Milan, to support him there in any difficulties which might arise, or (what he feared most) to oppose any attempts which might be made to bring about a revolution.

10. And he also gave them still more secret letters, in which he warned Lucillia.n.u.s to bring him some picked men of tried energy and fidelity, of whose aid he might avail himself according as affairs should turn out.

11. He also made a wise choice, and selected Malarichus, who was at that time in Italy on his own private affairs, sending him the ensigns of office that he might succeed Jovinus as commander of the forces in Gaul, in which appointment he had an eye on two important objects; first, to remove a general of especial merit who was an object of suspicion on that very account, and also by the promotion to so high a position of a man whose hopes were not set on anything so lofty to bind him to exert all his zeal in supporting the doubtful position of the maker of his fortunes.

12. And the officers who went to perform these commands were also enjoined to extol the emperor's conduct, and wherever they went to agree in reporting that the Parthian campaign had been brought to an honourable termination; they were also charged to prosecute their journey with all speed by night and day, delivering as they went letters from the new emperor to all the governors of provinces and commanders of the forces on their road; and when they had secretly learnt the opinions of them all, to return to him with all speed, in order that when he knew what was being done in the distant provinces, he might be able to frame well-digested and wise plans for strengthening himself in his government.

13. But Fame (being alway the most rapid bearer of bad news), outstripping these couriers, flew through the different provinces and nations; and above all others struck the citizens of Nisibis with bitter sorrow when they heard that their city was surrendered to Sapor, whose anger and enmity they dreaded, from recollecting the havoc and slaughter which he had made in his frequent attempts to take the place.

14. For it was clear that the whole eastern empire would have fallen under the power of Persia long before if it had not been for the resistance which this city, strong in its admirable position and its mighty walls, had been able to offer. But miserable as they now were, and although they were filled with a still greater fear of what might befall them hereafter, they were supported by this slender hope, that, either from his own inclination or from being won over by their prayers, the emperor might consent to keep their city in its existing state, as the strongest bulwark of the east.

15. While different reports were flying about of what had taken place, the scanty supplies which I have spoken of as having been brought, were consumed, and necessity might have driven the men to eat one another, if the flesh of the animals slain had not lasted them a little longer; but the consequence of our dest.i.tute condition was, that the arms and baggage were thrown away; for we were so worn out with this terrible famine, that whenever a single bushel of corn was found (which seldom happened), it was sold for ten pieces of gold at the least.

16. Marching on from thence, we come to Thilsaphata where Sebastian and Procopius, with the tribunes and chief officers of the legions which had been placed under their command for the protection of Mesopotamia, came to meet the emperor as the solemn occasion required, and being kindly received, accompanied us on our march.