Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/63

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 41 fourscore, the sovereign of the East would perhaps have chosen the peaceful enjoyment of his glory and greatness ; but, as soon Hi« laat war as war became inevitable, he took the field with the alacrity of Romam. a.d. youth, whilst the aggressor trembled in the palace of Constanti- ■* ' nople. Nushirvan, or Chosroes, conducted in person the siege of Dara ; and, although that important fortress had been left destitute of troops and magazines, the valour of the inhabitants [ad. 674] resisted above five months the archers, the elephants, and the military engines of the Great King. In the meanwhile his general Adarman advanced from Babylon, traversed the desert, passed the Euphrates, insulted the suburbs of Antioch, reduced [a.d. sts] to ashes the city of Apamea, and laid the spoils of Syria at the feet of his master, whose perseverance in the midst of winter at length subverted the bulwark of the East. But these losses, which astonished the provinces and the court, produced a salutary effect in the repentance and abdication of the emperor Justin ; a new spirit arose in the Byzantine councils ; and a truce of three years was obtained by the prudence of Tiberius." That [a.d. sre-s] seasonable interval was employed in the preparations of war ; and the voice of rumour proclaimed to the world that from the distant countries of the Alps and the Rhine, from Scythia, Mfesia, Pannonia, Illyricum, and Isauria, the strength of the Imperial cavalry was reinforced with one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Yet the king of Persia, without fear or without faith, resolved to prevent the attack of the enemy ; again passed the Euphrates ; and, dismissing the ambassadors of Tiberius, arrogantly commanded them to await his arrival at Caesarea, the metropolis of the Cappadocian provinces. The two » armies encountered each other in the battle of Melitene : the[A.D. sts] barbarians, who darkened the air with a cloud of aiTows, prolonged their line, and extended their wings across the plain ; while the Romans, in deep and solid bodies, expected to prevail in closer action, by the weight of their swords and lances. A Scythian chief, who commanded their right wing, suddenly turned the flank of the enemy, attacked their rear-guard in the presence of Chosroes, penetrated to the midst of the camp, pillaged the royal tent, profaned the eternal fire, loaded a train of camels with the spoils of Asia, cut his way through the Persian host, and returned with songs of victory to his friends, who had consumed the day in single combats or ineffectual [The truce of three years was preceded by an armistice of a year (spring 574 to spring 575). The Romans had to pay a sum of money annually for the truce, '. hich did not apply to I'crsarmenia ; cp. John of Ephesus, vi. 8.]