X.
§ 1. While the first onset of the Persians was by its unexpected vehemence throwing these troops into disorder, the king, with his native and foreign troops, having after leaving Bebase turned his march to the right, according to the advice of Antoninus, passed by Horre and Meiacarire and Charcha, as if he meant also to pass by Amida. And when he had come near the Roman forts, one of which is called Reman, and the other Busan, he learnt from some deserters that many persons had removed their treasures there for protection, trusting to their lofty and strong walls; and it was also added that there was there, with a great many valuables, a woman of exquisite beauty, the wife of a citizen of Nisibis named Craugasius, of great consideration by birth, character, and influence; with her little daughter.
2. Sapor, eager to seize what belonged to another, hastened on, and attacked the castle with force; and the garrison, being seized with a sudden panic at the variety of arms of the assailants, surrendered themselves, and all who had fled to them for protection; and at the first summons gave up the keys of the gates. Possession being taken, all that was stored there was ransacked; women bewildered with fear were dragged forth; and children clinging to their mothers were taught bitter suffering at the very beginning of their infancy.
3. And when Sapor, by asking each whose wife she was, had found that of Craugasius trembling with fear of violence, he allowed her to come in safety to him, and when he saw her, veiled as she was with a black veil to her lips, he kindly encouraged her with a promise that she should recover her husband, and that her honour should be preserved inviolate. For hearing that her husband was exceedingly devoted to her, he thought that by this bribe he might win him over to betray Nisibis.
4. And he also extended his protection to other virgins who, according to Christian rites, had been formally consecrated to the service of God, ordering that they should be kept uninjured, and be allowed to perform the offices of religion as they had been accustomed. Affecting clemency for a time, in order that those who were alarmed at his former ferocity and cruelty might now discard their fears, and come to him of their own accord, learning from these recent examples that he tempered the greatness of his success with humanity and courtesy.
[89] It is not known what towns are meant by Castra Herculis and Quadriburgium.
[90] Vespasian and Titus.
[91] Ammianus was still in attendance on Ursicinus.
[92] Homer, Od. xiii. I; translated by Pope--
"He ceased, but left, so pleasing on their ear, His voice, that listening still they seemed to hear."
And imitated by Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 1--
"The angel ended, and in Adam's ear So pleasing left his voice that he awhile Thought him still speaking, still stood fixed to hear."
[93] The battle of Hileia took place A.D. 348; that of Singara three years earlier.
[94] The Maritza, rising in Mount Hæmus, now the Balkan.
[95] Antoninus is meant, as Hadrian was succeeded by Antoninus Pius.
[96] Doriscus was the town where Xerxes reviewed and counted his army, as is related by Herodotus, vii. 60.
[97] "Ammianus has marked the chronology of this year by three signs which do not perfectly coincide with each other, or with the series of the history:--1. The corn was ripe when Sapor invaded Mesopotamia, 'cum jura stipulâ flavente turgerent'--a circumstance which, in the latitude of Aleppo, would naturally refer us to the month of April or May. 2. The progress of Sapor was checked by the overflowing of the Euphrates, which generally happens in July and August. 3. When Sapor had taken Amida, after a siege of seventy-three days, the autumn was far advanced. 'Autumno præcipiti hædorumque improbo sidere exorto.' To reconcile these apparent contradictions, we must allow for some delay in the Persian king, some inaccuracy in the historian, and some disorder in the seasons."--Gibbon, cap. xix.; ed. Bohn, vol. ii. 320. "Clinton, F.R., i. 442, sees no such difficulty as Gibbon has here supposed; he makes Sapor to have passed the Tigris in May, reached the Euphrates July 8th, arrived before Amida July 27th, and stormed the place October 7th."--Editor of Bohn's ed.
[98] That is, in the suburbs of Edessa, as cemeteries in ancient times were usually outside the walls of cities.
[99] It is not known what this name is derived from: some read Fortensis, instead of Fretensis, and those who prefer this reading derive it either from Fortis, brave; or from Fortia, a small town of Asiatic Sarmatia.
[100] Præventores, or "going before;" superventores, "coming after," as a reserve.
[101] In one of the earlier books which has been lost.
## BOOK XIX.
ARGUMENT.
I. Sapor, while exhorting the citizens of Amida to surrender, is assailed with arrows and javelins by the garrison--And when king Grumbates makes a similar attempt, his son is slain.--II. Amida is blockaded, and within two days is twice assaulted by the Persians.--III. Ursicinus makes a vain proposal to sally out by night, and surprise the besiegers, being resisted by Sabinianus, the commander of the forces.--IV. A pestilence, which breaks out in Amida, is checked within ten days by a little rain--A discussion of the causes, and different kinds of pestilences.--V. Amida, betrayed by a deserter, is assailed both by assaults on the walls and by underground mines.--VI. A sally of the Gallic legions does great harm to the Persians.--VII. Towers and other engines are brought close to the walls of the city, but they are burnt by the Romans.--VIII. Attempts are made to raise lofty mounds close to the walls of Amida, and by these means it is entered--After the fall of the city, Marcellinus escapes by night, and flees to Antioch.--IX. Of the Roman generals at Amida, some are put to death, and others are kept as prisoners--Craugasius of Nisibis deserts to the Persians from love of his wife, who is their prisoner.--X. The people of Rome, fearing a scarcity, become seditious.--XI. The Limigantes of Sarmatia, under pretence of suing for peace, attack Constantius, who is deceived by their trick; but are driven back with heavy loss.--XII. Many are prosecuted for treason, and condemned.--XIII. Lauricius, of the Isaurians checks the hordes of banditti.