Ammianus Marcellinus, History

§ 22.16.19 But enough on this point. If one wishes to investigate with attentive mind the many publications on the knowledge of the divine, and the origin of divination, he will find that learning of this kind has been spread abroad from Egypt through the whole world,

§ 22.16.20 There, for the first time, long before other men, they discovered the cradles, so to speak, of the various religions, and now carefully guard the first beginnings of worship, stored up in secret writings.

§ 22.16.21 Trained in this wisdom, Pythagoras, secretly honouring the gods, made whatever he said or believed recognised authority, and often showed his golden thigh at Olympia, and let himself be seen from time to time talking with an eagle.

§ 22.16.22 From here Anaxagoras foretold a rain of stones, and by handling mud from a well predicted an earthquake. Solon, too, aided by the opinions of the Egyptian priests, passed laws in accordance with the measure of justice, and thus gave also to Roman law its greatest support. On this source, Plato drew and after visiting Egypt, traversed higher regions, and rivalled Jupiter in lofty language, gloriously serving in the field of wisdom.

§ 22.16.23 Now the men of Egypt are, as a rule, somewhat swarthy and dark of complexion, and rather gloomy-looking, slender and hardy, excitable in all their movements, quarrelsome, and most persistent duns. Any one of them would blush if he did not, in consequence of refusing tribute, show many stripes on his body; and as yet it has been possible to find no torture cruel enough to compel a hardened robber of that region against his will to reveal his own name.

§ 22.16.24 Moreover, it is a well-known fact, as the ancient annals show, that all Egypt was formerly ruled by their ancestral kings; but after Antony and Cleopatra were vanquished in the sea-fight at Actium, the country fell into the power of Octavianus Augustus and received the name of a province. We acquired the dryer part of Libya by the last will of King Apion; we received Cyrene, with the remaining cities of Libya - Pentapolis, through the generosity of Ptolemy. After this long digression, I shall return to the order of my narrative.

§ 23.1.1 Book 23 These were the events of that year, to pass over minor details. But Julian, who had already been consul three times, assumed the chief magistracy for the fourth time, taking as his colleague in the office Sallustius, prefect of Gaul. And for a private citizen to be associated with the reigning emperor seemed an innovation which no one recalled to have been made since Diocletian and Aristobulus.

§ 23.1.2 And although he weighed every possible variety of events with anxious thought, and pushed on with burning zeal the many preparations for his campaign, yet turning his activity to every part, and eager to extend the memory of his reign by great works, he planned at vast cost to restore the once splendid temple at Jerusalem, which after many mortal combats during the siege by Vespasian and later by Titus, had barely been stormed. He had entrusted the speedy performance of this work to Alypius of Antioch, who had once been vice-prefect of Britain.

§ 23.1.3 But, though this Alypius pushed the work on with vigour, aided by the governor of the province, terrifying balls of flame kept bursting forth near the foundations of the temple, and made the place inaccessible to the workmen, some of whom were burned to death; and since in this way the element persistently repelled them, the enterprise halted.

§ 23.1.4 At that same time envoys were sent to him from the eternal city, men illustrious by birth and approved by the services of a commendable life, on whom the emperor conferred various honours. Apronianus he appointed prefect of Rome, and Octavianus proconsular governor of Africa; to Venustus he entrusted the vice-governorship of Spain, Rufinus Aradius he raised to the rank of Count of the Orient in room of his uncle Julian, who had recently died.

§ 23.1.5 When these matters had been arranged as planned, he was alarmed by an omen which, as the result showed, was most trustworthy. For when Felix, head of the public treasury, had suddenly died of a haemorrhage, and Count Julian had followed him to the grave, the people as they looked at the public inscriptions, uttered the names as Felix, Julianus and Augustus.

§ 23.1.6 Another unlucky thing had happened before this; for just on the Kalends of January, as the emperor was mounting the steps of the temple of the Genius, one of the college of priests who was older than the rest suddenly, without being pushed, fell and died of the unlooked-for accident. The bystanders — whether through ignorance or desire to flatter is uncertain — said that this surely pointed to Sallustius, the elder of the two consuls; but (as was evident) it showed that death was approaching, not the man of greater age, but the higher in rank.

§ 23.1.7 Besides these, other lesser signs also indicated from time to time what came to pass. For amid the very beginning of the preparations for the Parthian campaign word came that Constantinople had been shaken by an earthquake, which those skilled in such matters said was not a favourable omen for a ruler who was planning to invade another's territory. And so they tried to dissuade Julian from the untimely enterprise, declaring that these and similar signs ought to be disregarded only in the case of attack by an enemy, when the one fixed rule is, to defend the safety of the State by every possible means and with unremitting effort. Just at that time it was reported to him by letter, that at Rome the Sibylline books had been consulted about this war, as he had ordered, and had given the definite reply that the emperor must not that year leave his frontiers.

§ 23.2.1 Meanwhile, however, embassies from many nations which promised aid were cordially received and sent back; for the emperor with laudable confidence replied, that it was by no means fitting for the Roman State to defend itself by means of foreign aid, since its duty was rather by its power to protect its friends and allies, if necessity forced them to apply for help.

§ 23.2.2 Arsaces only, the king of Armenia, did he order to muster a strong army and await his orders, since he would shortly learn to what place he was to march and what he ought to push forward. Thereupon, as soon as regard for prudence offered the opportunity, he hastened to invade the enemy's country, outstripping the report of his coming; and spring had barely arrived, when he ordered all to cross the Euphrates, sending marching orders to every division of his army.

§ 23.2.3 As soon as this was known, all hastened from their winter quarters, and having crossed as their written orders directed, they dispersed to their several posts and awaited the coming of the emperor. He himself, when on the point of leaving Antioch, appointed as governor of Syria a certain Alexander of Heliopolis, who was hot-tempered and cruel; and he said that the man did not deserve the post, but was the kind of judge proper for the avaricious and rebellious people of Antioch.

§ 23.2.4 And when a crowd of all conditions of men escorted him as he was leaving the city, wishing him a successful march and a glorious return, and begging that in the future he might be more placable and mild, since the anger which their attacks and insults had aroused was not yet assuaged, he replied harshly, saying that they would never see him again.

§ 23.2.5 For he said that he had arranged when the campaign was finished to return by a shorter route to Tarsus in Cilicia for the purpose of wintering, and that he had written to Memorius, the governor of that city, to prepare everything that was necessary for his use. And this not long afterwards came to pass; for his body was brought back there, and he was buried in a suburb of the city with simple rites, as he himself had directed.

§ 23.2.6 And when the season was now sunny, he set out on the fifth of March, and came by the usual route to Hierapolis. There, as he was entering the gates of the great city, a colonnade on his left suddenly collapsed and crushed with a great weight of timbers and tiles fifty soldiers who were encamped under it, besides wounding many more.

§ 23.2.7 Then, uniting all his forces, he marched to Mesopotamia so rapidly that, since no report of his coming had preceded him (for he had carefully guarded against that), he came upon the Assyrians unawares. Finally, having crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of boats, he arrived with his army and his Scythian auxiliaries at Batnae, a town of Osdroene, where he met with a sad portent.

§ 23.2.8 For when a great throng of ostlers, in order to get fodder as usual, had taken their place near a very high stack of chaff (such as are commonly constructed in that country), since many at once laid hold on what they wanted, the heap was broken and gave way, and fifty men at once met death by being buried under the huge mass that fell upon them.

§ 23.3.1 Departing from there in sorrow, by a forced march he came to Carrae, an ancient town, notorious for the disaster of the Crassi and the Roman army. From there two different royal highways lead to Persia: the one on the left through Adiabene and over the Tigris; the other, on the right, through Assyrians and across the Euphrates.

§ 23.3.2 Having delayed there several days for necessary preparations, and to offer sacrifices according to the native rites to the Moon, which is religiously venerated in that region, before the altar, with no witness present, Julian is said secretly to have handed his purple mantle to his relative Procopius, and to have ordered him boldly to assume the rule, if he learned that the emperor had died among the Parthians.

§ 23.3.3 Here, as Julian slept, his mind was disturbed by dreams, which made him think that some sorrow would come to him. Therefore, both he himself and the interpreters of dreams, considering the present conditions, declared that the following day, which was the nineteenth of March, ought to be carefully watched. But, as was afterwards learned, it was on that same night that the temple of the Palatine Apollo, under the prefecture of Apronianus, was burned in the eternal city; and if it had not been for the employment of every possible help, the Cumaean books also would have been destroyed by the raging flames.

§ 23.3.4 After these matters were thus arranged, just as Julian was busy with the army and in getting supplies of every kind, it was reported to him by scouts who arrived in breathless haste, that some bands of the enemy's horsemen had suddenly broken through a part of the neighbouring frontier and carried off booty.

§ 23.3.5 Startled by this cruel disaster, Julian (as he had previously planned) instantly put 30,000 picked men under the command of the aforesaid Procopius, and joined to him with equal powers Sebastianus, formerly a military commander in Egypt, and now a count, with orders to keep for the present on this side of the Tigris and to watch carefully everywhere and see that nothing unexpected should happen on the unprotected side, such as he had heard had often occurred. And he gave the order that (if it could be done to greater advantage) they should join King Arsaces, march with him through Corduene and Moxone, lay waste in passing by Chiliocomum, a fruitful region of Media, and other places, and meet him while he was still in Assyrians, so as to aid him in cases of necessity.

§ 23.3.6 After these arrangements had thus been made, he himself feigned a march across the Tigris, an expedition for which he had also ordered supplies to be carefully prepared, but then turned to the right and, after passing a quiet night, called next morning for the mount which he usually rode. And when the horse, called Babylonius, was brought to him, it was laid low by a missile from the artillery, and as it rolled on the ground in unbearable pain, it scattered about its ornaments, which were adorned with gold and precious stones. Delighted by this omen, Julian cried out amid expressions of joy from the bystanders, that Babylon had fallen to the ground, stripped of all its adornments.

§ 23.3.7 Then delaying for a time, in order to confirm the omen by favourable signs from victims, he came to the fortified camp of Davana at the source of the river Belias, a tributary of the Euphrates. Here we rested and took food, and on the following day arrived at Callinicum, a strong fortress, and most welcome because of its rich trade. There, on the twenty-seventh of March, the day on which at Rome the annual procession in honour of the Mother of the Gods takes place, and the carriage in which her image is carried is washed, as it is said, in the waters of the Almo, he celebrated the usual rites in the ancient fashion and spent the night in peaceful sleep, happy and full of confidence.

§ 23.3.8 The next day he marched on from there along the brow of the river-banks, since the waters were rising from streams flowing in on all sides, and kept on with his armed force until he came to an outpost, where he encamped. There the princes of the Saracen nations as suppliants on bended knees presented him with a golden crown and did obeisance to him as lord of the world and of its peoples; and they were gladly received, since they were adapted for guerilla warfare.

§ 23.3.9 And while he was giving them audience his fleet arrived, equal to that of the mighty king Xerxes, under the command of the tribune Constantianus and Count Lucillianus; and the broad Euphrates was almost too narrow for it, consisting as it did of a thousand cargo-carriers of varied construction, and bringing an abundance of supplies, weapons, and also siege-engines; there were besides fifty warships and an equal number which were needed for making bridges.

§ 23.4.1 What I have just said suggests that I should, as briefly as my modest ability permits, give a concise description of engines of this kind, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with them; and I shall first explain the form of the ballista.

§ 23.4.2 Between two posts a long, strong iron bar is fastened, and projects like a great ruler; from its smooth, rounded surface, which in the middle is highly polished, a squared staff extends to a considerable distance, hollowed out along its length with a narrow groove, and bound there with a great number of twisted cords. To this two wooden rollers are very firmly attached, and near one of them stands the gunner who aims the shot. He carefully places in the groove of the projecting iron bar a wooden arrow, tipped with a great iron point. When this is done, strong young men on both sides quickly turn the rollers and the cords.

§ 23.4.3 When its point has reached the outermost ropes, the arrow, driven by the power within, flies from the ballista out of sight, sometimes emitting sparks because of the excessive heat. And it often happens that before the weapon is seen, the pain of a mortal wound makes it felt.

§ 23.4.4 The scorpion, which is now-a-days called the wild ass, has the following form. Two posts of oak or holm-oak are hewn out and slightly bent, so that they seem to stand forth like humps. These are fastened together like a sawing-machine and bored through on both sides with fairly large holes. Between them, through the holes, strong ropes are bound, holding the machine together, so that it may not fly apart.

§ 23.4.5 From the middle of these ropes a wooden arm rises obliquely, pointed upward like the pole of a chariot, and is twined around with cords in such a way that it can be raised higher or depressed. To the top of this arm, iron hooks are fastened, from which hangs a sling of hemp or iron. In front of the arm is placed a great cushion of hair-cloth stuffed with fine chaff, bound on with strong cords, and placed on a heap of turf or a pile of sundried bricks; for a heavy machine of this kind, if placed upon a stone wall, shatters everything beneath it by its violent concussion, rather than by its weight.

§ 23.4.6 Then, when there is a battle, a round stone is placed in the sling and four young men on each side turn back the bar with which the ropes are connected and bend the pole almost flat. Then finally the gunner, standing above, strikes out the pole-bolt, which holds the fastenings of the whole work, with a strong hammer, thereupon the pole is set free, and flying forward with a swift stroke, and meeting the soft hair-cloth, hurls the stone, which will crush whatever it hits.

§ 23.4.7 And the machine is called tormentum as all the released tension is caused by twisting (torquetur); and scorpion, because it has an upraised sting; modern times have given it the new name onager, because when wild asses are pursued by hunters, by kicking they hurl back stones to a distance, either crushing the breasts of their pursuers, or breaking the bones of their skulls and shattering them.

§ 23.4.8 Now we shall come to the ram. A tall fir or mountain ash is selected, to the end of which is fastened a long, hard iron; this has the appearance of a projecting ram's head, and it is this shape which has given the machine its name. This is suspended between ironbound beams running across on both sides, so that it hangs from a third beam like the pan of a balance. Then a number of men, as great as the length of the pole permits, draw it back and then shove it forward again with powerful blows, just as a ram charges and retreats, to break everything in its way. As this is renewed with the force of a repeated stroke of lightning, buildings are cracked and shattered as the structure of their walls is destroyed.

§ 23.4.9 If this kind of engine is worked with full vigour, the strongest cities, after their walls have been stripped of defenders, are laid open, and the siege is thus brought to an end.

§ 23.4.10 In place of these devices of rams, which, because they are now so frequent, are in less esteem, a machine is made, well known to the historians, which we Greeks call helepolis. It was through the constant employment of this engine that Demetrius, the son of King Antigonus, after taking Rhodes and other cities gained the name of Poliorcetes.

§ 23.4.11 It is built in the following manner: a huge mantlet is constructed of strong planks of great length fastened together with iron nails, and covered with ox -hides and hurdles of green twigs; and over these is spread mud, in order to protect it from fire and falling missiles.

§ 23.4.12 On its front side are set very sharp, three-pronged spear-points, of the form which our painters and sculptors give to thunderbolts, made heavy with iron weights, so that whatever it attacks it shatters with the projecting points.

§ 23.4.13 This powerful mass is guided by numerous soldiers within by means of wheels and ropes, and by their united efforts is brought up to the weaker part of the walls; and unless the strength of the defenders above is too great, it shatters the walls and opens great breaches.

§ 23.4.14 But fire-darts (a kind of missile) are made in this form: the shaft is of reed, and between this and the point is a covering of bands of iron; it looks like a woman's distaff for making linen threads. It is skilfully hollowed out on the lower side with many openings, and in the cavity fire and some inflammable matter are placed.

§ 23.4.15 And if it is shot slowly from a somewhat loose bow (for it is extinguished by too swift a flight) and has stuck anywhere, it burns persistently, and water poured upon it rouses the fire to still greater heat; and there is no way of extinguishing it except by sprinkling it with dust. So much for mural engines, of which I have described only a few. Now let us return to the course of our narrative.

§ 23.5.1 After having received the auxiliaries of the Saracens, which they offered him with great willingness, the emperor marched at quick step to Cercusium, a very safe and skilfully built fortress, whose walls are washed by the Abora and Euphrates rivers, which form a kind of island, and entered it at the beginning of the month of April.

§ 23.5.2 This place, which was formerly small and exposed to danger, Diocletian, alarmed by a recent experience, encircled with walls and lofty towers, at the time when he was arranging the inner lines of defence on the very frontiers of the barbarians, in order to prevent the Persians from overrunning Syria, as had happened a few years before with great damage to the provinces.

§ 23.5.3 For once upon a time at Antioch, amid deep silence, an actor of mimes, who with his wife had been presented in stage-plays, was presenting some scenes from everyday life. And while all the people were amazed at the charm of the performance, the wife suddenly cried: “Is it a dream, or are the Persians here?” Whereupon all the people turned their heads about and then fled in all directions, to avoid the arrows that were showered upon them from the citadel. Thus the city was set on fire, and many people who were carelessly wandering about, as in time of peace, were butchered; neighbouring places were burned and devastated, and the enemy, laden with plunder, returned home without the loss of a single man. Mareades, who had inconsiderately brought the Persians there to the destruction of his own people, was burned alive. This took place in the time of Gallienus.

§ 23.5.4 But while Julian was lingering at Cercusium, to the end that his army with all its followers might cross the Abora on a bridge of boats, he received a sorrowful letter from Sallustius, prefect of Gaul, begging that the campaign against the Parthians might be put off, and that Julian should not thus prematurely, without having yet prayed for the protection of the gods, expose himself to inevitable destruction.

§ 23.5.5 But the emperor, disregarding his cautious counsellor, pushed confidently on, since no human power or virtue has ever been great enough to turn aside what the decrees of fate had ordained. Immediately upon crossing the bridge he ordered it to be destroyed, so that no soldier in his own army might entertain hope of a return.

§ 23.5.6 Here also, with like fatality, an unfavourable omen appeared: the outstretched corpse of a certain attendant slain by the hand of an executioner, whom the resident prefect Salutius had condemned to death because, after promising to supply additional provisions within a designated time, he had been prevented by an accident from keeping his word. But on the day after the wretched man had been executed another fleet arrived, as he had promised, bringing an abundance of supplies.

§ 23.5.7 Setting out from there we came to a place called Zaitha, which means “Olive tree.” Here we saw, conspicuous from afar, the tomb of the Emperor Gordianus, of whose deeds from early childhood, his successful campaigns, and his treacherous murder we have spoken at the appropriate time.

§ 23.5.8 When Julian had there, in accordance with his native piety, made offerings to the deified emperor, and was on his way to Dura (a deserted town), he saw a troop of soldiers in the distance and halted. And while he was in doubt what they were bringing, they presented him with a lion of huge size, which had attacked their line and had been slain by a shower of arrows. Elated by this omen, as if he now had surer hope of a successful outcome, the emperor pushed on with proud confidence, but since the breeze of fortune is uncertain, the result turned out otherwise; for the death of a king was foretold, but of which king was uncertain.

§ 23.5.9 And, in fact, we read of other ambiguous oracles, the meaning of which only the final results determined: as, for example, the truth of the Delphic prediction which declared that Croesus, after crossing the river Halys, would overthrow a mighty kingdom; and another which in veiled language designated the sea as the place for the Athenians to fight against the Medes; and a later one than these, which was in fact true, but none the less ambiguous: “ Aeacus' son, I say, the Roman people can conquer.

§ 23.5.10 However, the Etruscan soothsayers, who accompanied the other adepts in interpreting prodigies, since they were not believed when they often tried to prevent this campaign, now brought out their books on war, and showed that this sign was adverse and prohibitory to a prince invading another's territory, even though he was in the right.

§ 23.5.11 But they were spurned by the opposition of the philosophers, whose authority was then highly valued, but who were sometimes in error and very persistent in matters with which they had little acquaintance. They, indeed, advanced as a specious argument for establishing belief in their knowledge, that when the former Caesar Maximianus was already on the point of engaging with Narseus, king of the Persians, in the same way a lion and a huge boar that had been killed were brought to him, and that he came back safely after conquering the enemy. And there was no idea at all that such a portent threatened destruction to the invader of another's territory, although Narseus had first seized Armenia, which was subject to Roman jurisdiction.

§ 23.5.12 Likewise, on the following day, which was the seventh of April, as the sun was already sloping towards its setting, starting with a little cloud thick darkness suddenly filled the air and daylight was removed; and after much menacing thunder and lightning a soldier named Jovian, with two horses which he was bringing back after watering them at the river, was struck dead by a bolt from the sky.

§ 23.5.13 Upon seeing this, Julian again called in the interpreters of omens, and on being questioned they declared emphatically that this sign also forbade the expedition, pointing out that the thunderbolt was of the advisory kind; for so those are called which either recommend or dissuade any act. And so much the more was it necessary to guard against this one. because it killed a soldier of lofty name as well as war- horses, and because places which were struck in that mannerso the books on lightning declare must neither be looked upon nor trodden.

§ 23.5.14 The philosophers, on the other hand, maintained that the brilliance of the sacred fire which suddenly appeared signified nothing at all, but was merely the course of a stronger mass of air sent downward from the aether by some force; or if it did give any sign, it foretold an increase in renown for the emperor, as he was beginning a glorious enterprise, since it is well known that flames by their very nature mount on high without opposition.

§ 23.5.15 So when the bridge had been broken down (as was said before) and all had crossed, the emperor thought that the most urgent of all his duties was to address the soldiers, who were advancing confidently through trust in themselves and their leader. Therefore, when the signal had been given with the trumpets, and all the centuries, cohorts and maniples had come together, he took his place upon a mound of earth, surrounded by a ring of high officials, and with calm countenance and favoured with the unanimous devotion of all, spoke as follows:

§ 23.5.16 Seeing the great vigour and eagerness that animate you, my valiant soldiers, I have resolved to address you, in order to explain in full detail that this is not the first timeas some evil-minded men mutterthat the Romans have invaded the Persian kingdom. For not to mention Lucullus and Pompey, who, passing through the Albani and the Massagetae, whom we now call the Alani, broke into this nation also and came to the Caspian Sea, we know that Ventidius, the lieutenant-general of Antony, inflicted innumerable sanguinary defeats in this region.

§ 23.5.17 But to leave ancient times, I will disclose what recent history has transmitted to us. Trajan, Verus, and Severus returned from here victorious and adorned with trophies, and the younger Gordianus, whose monument we just now looked upon with reverence, would have come back with equal glory, after vanquishing the Persian king and putting him to flight at Resaina, had he not been struck down by an impious wound inflicted by the faction of Philippus, the praetorian prefect, and a few wicked accomplices, in the very place where he now lies buried. But his shade did not long wander unavenged, for as if their deeds were weighed in the scales of Justice, all who had conspired against him perished by agonising deaths.

§ 23.5.18 Those emperors, indeed, their own desire, inclined as they were to lofty enterprises, drove to undertake noteworthy exploits, but we are urged on to our present purpose by the pitiful fate of recently captured cities, by the unavenged shades of armies destroyed, by the great disasters that have been suffered, and by the loss of many a camp. For everybody's desires are one with ours to make good the past and give strength to our country by making this side of her domain safe, and thus leave to future generations material for singing our praises.

§ 23.5.19 Everywhere shall I, with the help of the eternal deity, be by your side, as emperor, as leader, and as fellow horseman, and (as I think) under favourable auspices. But if fickle fortune should overthrow me in any battle, I shall be content with having sacrificed myself for the Roman world, after the example of the Curtii and Mucii of old and the noble family of the Decii. We must wipe out a most mischievous nation, on whose sword-blades the blood of our kinsmen is not yet dry.

§ 23.5.20 Our forefathers spent many ages in eradicating whatever caused them trouble. Carthage was conquered in a long and difficult war, but our distinguished leader feared that she might survive the victory. Scipio utterly destroyed Numantia, after undergoing many vicissitudes in its siege. Rome laid Fidenae low, in order that no rivals of her power might grow up, and for that same reason crushed Falerii and Veil; and even trustworthy ancient histories would have difficulty in convincing us that those cities were ever powerful.

§ 23.5.21 This I have set forth from my knowledge of ancient records; it remains for each of you, putting aside the desire for plunder, which has often tempted the Roman soldier, to keep with the army on its march, and when battle must be joined, to follow each his own standard, remembering that if anyone falls behind, he will be left hamstrung. For I fear nothing, save the craft and treachery of the over-cunning enemy.

§ 23.5.22 Finally, I promise one and all that when, after this, affairs shall be brought to a successful conclusion, waiving all prior rights of princes, who by reason of their full powers think that whatever they have said or resolved is just, I will give to anyone who demands it an account of what has been rightly or wrongly undertaken.

§ 23.5.23 Therefore rouse, I pray you, at once rouse your courage, both in the anticipation of great success, since you will undergo whatever difficulty arises on equal terms with me, and with the conviction that victory must always attend the just cause.”

§ 23.5.24 After the speech had been brought to this most welcome conclusion, the warriors, exulting in the fame of their leader, and still more greatly fired with the hope of success, lifted their shields on high and cried that nothing would be dangerous or difficult under a leader who imposed more toil upon himself than on the common soldiers.

§ 23.5.25 In particular, the Gallic troops showed this feeling by joyful shouts, remembering how often under his command, and as he ran about from company to company, they had seen some nations overcome and others reduced to entreaties.

§ 23.6.1 Affairs have reached a point where I am led in a rapid digression to explain the topography of the Persian kingdom, carefully compiled from the descriptions of the nations, in only a few of which the truth has been told, and that barely. My account, however, will be a little fuller, which will be to the advantage of complete knowledge. For anyone who aims at extreme brevity in telling of the unknown tries to discover what he ought to leave out rather than what he may explain more clearly.

§ 23.6.2 This kingdom, which was once small and for reasons which we have often given was called before by various names, after the fates had taken off Alexander the Great at Babylon, took its name from the Parthian Arsaces, a man of low birth; he had been a brigand chief during his younger days, but since his ideals gradually changed for the better, by a series of brilliant exploits he rose to greater heights.

§ 23.6.3 After many glorious and valiant deeds, and after he had conquered Seleucus Nicator, successor of the said Alexander, on whom his many victories had conferred that surname, and had driven out the Macedonian garrisons, he passed his life in quiet peace, and was a mild ruler and judge of his subjects.

§ 23.6.4 Finally, after all the neighbouring lands had been brought under his rule, by force, by regard for justice, or by fear, and he had filled Persia with cities, with fortified camps, and with strongholds, and to all the neighbouring peoples, which she had previously feared, he had made her a constant cause of dread, he died a peaceful death in middle life. And nobles and commons rivalling each other in agreement, he was placed among the stars according to the sacred custom of their country; and (as they believe) he was the first of all to be so honoured.

§ 23.6.5 Hence to this very day the over-boastful kings of that race suffer themselves to be called brothers of the Sun and Moon, and just as for our emperors the title of Augustus is beloved and coveted, so to the Parthian kings, who were formerly low and obscure, there fell the very greatest increase in distinction, won by the happy auspices of Arsaces.

§ 23.6.6 Hence they venerate and worship Arsaces as a god, and their regard for him has been carried so far, that even down to the memory of our time only a man who is of the stock of Arsaces (if there is one anywhere) is preferred to all in mounting the throne. Even in any civil strife, which constantly arises among them, everyone avoids as sacrilege the lifting of his hand against an Arsacid, whether he is bearing arms or is a private citizen.

§ 23.6.7 It is well known that this nation, after vanquishing many peoples by its power, extended its domain as far as the Propontis and Thrace, but through the arrogance of its haughty leaders, who lawlessly extended their raids to a great distance, it was weakened by severe losses: first through Cyrus, who crossed the Bosporus with an army of incredible size, but was completely annihilated by the Scythian queen Tomyris, the fierce avenger of her sons.

§ 23.6.8 Later, when Darius, and after him Xerxes, changed the use of the elements and attacked Greece, almost all their forces were destroyed by land and sea, and they themselves barely found a safe return; not to mention the wars of Alexander and the passing by his will and testament of the whole nation to the jurisdiction of a single successor.

§ 23.6.9 After this was done and a long time had passed, during which the Roman commonwealth was governed by consuls and later brought under the sway of the Caesars, these nations carried on wars with us from time to time, and sometimes the contest was equal, at other times they were conquered, and occasionally they came off victorious.

§ 23.6.10 I shall now describe the lie of the land — so far as my purpose allows — briefly and succinctly. These regions extend to a wide area in length and breadth, and run all along the Persian Gulf, which has many islands and peoples all round. The entrance to this sea (they say) is so narrow that from Harmoz, the promontory of Carmania, the other headland opposite it, which the natives call Maces, may be seen without difficulty.

§ 23.6.11 After one has passed through this narrow strait, a wide expanse of sea opens, which is favourable to navigation as far as the city of Teredon, where after many losses the Euphrates mingles with the deep. The entire gulf is bounded by a shore of 20,000 stadia, which is rounded as if turned on a lathe. All along the coast is a throng of cities and villages, and many ships sail to and fro.

§ 23.6.12 After passing the strait which has been mentioned, one comes to the bay of Carmania facing the east. Then, a long distance to the south, the bay of Canthicus opens, and not far off is another, called Chalites, facing the setting sun. Next, after one has skirted many islands, few of which are well known, those bays unite with the Indian ocean, which is first of all to receive the glowing sun when it rises, and is itself also exceedingly warm.

§ 23.6.13 And as the pens of geographers have drawn it, the whole circuit just described has this form. In the northern direction, to the Caspian Gates it borders on the Cadusii, on many tribes of the Scythians, and on the Arimaspse, wild, one-eyed men. On the west it touches Armenia, Niphates, the Asiatic Albani, the Red Sea, and the Scenitic Arabs, whom men of later times called the Saracens. Under the southern heaven it looks down on Mesopotamia. Opposite the eastern front it extends to the Ganges river, which cuts through India and empties into the southern ocean.

§ 23.6.14 Now there are in all Persia these greater provinces, ruled by vitaxae, or commanders of cavalry, by kings, and by satraps — for to enumerate the great number of smaller districts would be difficult and superfluous — namely, Assyrians, Susiana, Media, Persis, Parthia, Greater Carmania, Hyrcania, Margiana, the Bactriani, the Sogdiani, the Sacae, Scythia at the foot of Imaus, and beyond the same mountain, Serica, Aria, the Paropanisadae, Drangiana, Arachosia, and Gedrosia.

§ 23.6.15 Nearest to us of all the provinces is Assyrians, famous for its large population, its size, and the abundance and great variety of its products. This province once spread over great and prosperous peoples and districts, then it was combined under a single name, and today the whole region is called Assyrians. There, besides a great abundance of berries and common fruits, bitumen is found near the lake called Sosingites, in whose bed the Tigris is swallowed up, and then, after flowing under ground, and traversing a long distance, appears again.

§ 23.6.16 Here naphtha also is produced, a glutinous substance which looks like pitch. This too is similar to bitumen, and even a little bird, if it lights upon it, is prevented from flying, sinks, and disappears utterly. And when fluid of this kind catches fire, the mind of man will find no means of putting it out, except dust.

§ 23.6.17 In these regions there is also to be seen a cleft in the earth, from which rises a deadly exhalation, which with its foul odour destroys every living creature that comes near it. If this pestilential stuff, rising from a kind of deep well, should spread out widely from its opening before rising on high, it would by its fetid odour have made the surrounding country a desert.

§ 23.6.18 A similar opening was formerly to be seen (as some say) at Hierapolis in Phrygia. And from this also a noxious vapour with a penetrating stench came forth and was destructive to whatever came near it, excepting only eunuchs; and the reason for this may be left to natural philosophers to determine.

§ 23.6.19 Also at the temple of Jupiter Asbamaeus in Cappadocia, where that famous philosopher Apollonius is said to have been born near the town of Tyana, a spring may be seen, flowing from a pool, which now is filled with an abundance of water, and again sucks itself back, and so never swells beyond its banks.

§ 23.6.20 Within this area is Adiabena, called Assyrians in ancient times, but by long custom changed to this name because, lying between the navigable rivers Ona and Tigris it could never be approached by a ford; for we Greeks for transire say diabainein. At least, this is the opinion of the ancients.

§ 23.6.21 But I myself say that there are two perpetually flowing rivers to be found in these lands, the Diabas and Adiabas, which I myself have crossed, and over which there are bridges of boats; and therefore it is to be assumed that Adiabena was named from them, as from great rivers Egypt was named, according to Homer, as well as India, and the Euphratensis, before my time called Commagena; likewise from the Hiberus, Hiberia (now Hispania ), and the province of Baetica from the noble river Baetis.

§ 23.6.22 In this Adiabena is the city of Ninus, which once possessed the rule over Persia, perpetuating the name of Ninus, once a most powerful king and the husband of Semiramis; also Ecbatana, Arbela, and Gaugamela, where Alexander, after various other battles, overthrew Darius in a hot contest.

§ 23.6.23 But in all Assyrians there are many cities, among which Apamia, formerly called Mesene, and Teredon, Apollonia, and Vologessia, and many similar ones are conspicuous. But these three are especially magnificent and widely known: Babylon, whose walls Semiramis built with bitumen (for the ancient king Belus built the citadel), and Ctesiphon, which Vardanes founded long ago; and later king Pacorus strengthened it with additional inhabitants and with walls, gave it a Greek name, and made it the crowning ornament of Persia. And finally there is Seleucia, the splendid work of Seleucus Nicator.

§ 23.6.24 When this city was stormed by the generals of Verus Caesar (as I have related before), the statue of Apollo Comaeus was torn from its place and taken to Rome, where the priests of the gods set it up in the temple of the Palatine Apollo. And it is said that, after this same statue had been carried off and the city burned, the soldiers in ransacking the temple found a narrow crevice; this they widened in the hope of finding something valuable; but from a kind of shrine, closed by the occult arts of the Chaldaeans, the germ of that pestilence burst forth, which after generating the virulence of incurable diseases, in the time of the same Verus and of Marcus Antoninus polluted everything with contagion and death, from the frontiers of Persia all the way to the Rhine and to Gaul.

§ 23.6.25 Near these is the land of the Chaldaeans, the foster-mother of the old-time philosophy — as they themselves say — where the true art of divination first made its appearance. Now the most important rivers that flow through those lands, besides the others that I have mentioned, are the Marses, the Royal River, and the Euphrates, greatest of all. The last-named divides into three branches, all of which are navigable, forms several islands, and often thoroughly waters the fields through the diligence of the farmers, and prepares them for the ploughshare and for tree-culture.

§ 23.6.26 Neighbours to these lands are the Susiani, who have few cities. Conspicuous among them, however, is Susa, often the residence of the kings, and Arsiana, Sele, and Aracha. The others are small and little known. On the other hand, many rivers flow through this region; most notable among them are the Oroates, Harax, and Mosaeus, which along the narrow sandy tract that separates the Caspian from the Red Sea overflow into a great number of pools.

§ 23.6.27 On the left Media extends, bordering on the Hyrcanian Sea. Of this province we read that before the reign of the elder Cyrus and the growth in Persia's power, it was the queen of all Asia, after it had overcome Assyrians, whose many provinces, changed in name to Agropatena, it possessed by the right of conquest.

§ 23.6.28 It is a warlike nation, and most of all to be feared next to the Parthians, by whom alone it is surpassed, and its territory has the form of a rectangle. The inhabitants of these lands as a whole dwell in a most spacious country, overhung by very lofty mountains, which they call Zagrus, Orontes, and Iasonius.

§ 23.6.29 Those who dwell on the western side of the lofty mountain Coronus abound in fields of grain and vineyards, enjoy the fertility of a productive soil, and are rich in rivers and clear springs.

§ 23.6.30 Their green meadows produce a noble breed of horses, on which their chiefs (as the writers of old say, and as I myself have seen) when entering battle are wont to ride full of courage. These horses they call Nesaean.