Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/111

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 89 boldly advanced from the Araxes to the Tigris^ and the timid prudence of Rhazates was content to follow them by forced [Rahzadh] marches through a desolate country, till he received a peremp- tory mandate to risk the fate of Persia in a decisive battle. Eastward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mosul, the great Nineveh had formerly been erected ; ^'^ the city, and even the ruins of the city, had long since disappeared ; ^-"^ the vacant space afforded a spacious field for the operations of the two armies. But these operations are neglected by the Byzantine historians, and, like the authors of epic poetry and romance, they ascribe the victory not to the military conduct, but to the personal valour, of their favourite hero. On this memorable day, Heraclius, on his horse Phallas,^-^ surpassed the bravest of his warriors: his lip was pierced with a spear, the steed was and victories, wounded in the thigh, but he carried his master safe and &*""" " ' victorious through the triple phalanx of the bai'barians. In the heat of the action, three valiant chiefs were successively slain by the sword and lance of the emperor ; among these was Rhazates himself; he fell like a soldier, but the sight of his head scattered grief and despair through the fainting ranks of the Persians. His armour of pure and massy gold, the shield of one hundred and twenty plates, the sword and belt, the saddle and cuirass, adorned the triumph of Heraclius, and, if he had not been faithful to Christ and his mother, the champion of Rome might have offered the fourth opime spoils to the Jupiter of the Capitol. ^-' In the battle of Nineveh, which was fiercely fought from daybreak to the eleventh hour, twenty-eight [Dec. 12, 1*^ Ctesias (apud Diodor. Sicul. torn. i. 1. ii. p. 115, edit. Wesseling [c. 3]) as- signs 480 stadia (perliaps only tliirty-two miles) for the circumference of Nineveh. Jonas talks of three days' journey : the 120,000 persons described by the prophet as incapable of discerning their right hand from their left may afford about 700,000 persons of all ages for the inhabitants of that ancient capital (Goguet, Origines des Loix, &x. tom. iii. part i. p. 92, 93) which ceased to exist 600 years before Christ. The western suburb still subsisted, and is mentioned under the name of Mosul in the first age of the Arabian caliphs. I--' Niebuhr (Voyage en Arabic, &c. tom. ii. p. 286) passed over Nineveh with- out perceiving it. He mistook for a ridge of hills the old rampart of brick or earth. It is said to have been 100 feet high, flanked with 1500 towers, each of the height of 200 feet. )-■* [^a.fia<;, 6 Aeyo/ici-os Arip/coji' (Theoph. p. 31S). Dorcoit scems to have been the name of the steed, '/'"^^"s (cf. ^aL6<;) to describe its colour (white ?).] 125 Rex regia arma fero (says Romulus, in the first consecration) . . . bina postea (continues Livy, i. lo) inter tot bella opima parta sunt spolia, adeo rara ejus fortuna decoris. If Varro (apud Pomp. Festum, p. 306, edit. Dacier) could justify his liberality in granting the opimc spoils even to a common soldier who had slain the king or general of the enemy, the honour would have been much more cheap and common.