Res Gestae

This writing meant that the king of the Persians had crossed the rivers Anzaba and Tigris, and, urged on by Antoninus, aspired to the rule of the

There was at that time in Corduene,[*](A mountainous region in Armenia, taken by Caesar Maximnianus from the Persians in the time of Galerius, but not yet wholly freed from their rule. Later it was separated from the Persian dominion by Jovian: cf. xxv. 2.) which was subject to the Persian power, a satrap called Jovinianus on Roman soil, a youth who had secret sympathy with us for the reason that, having been detained in Syria as a hostage and allured by the charm of liberal studies, he felt a burning desire to return to our country.

To him I was sent with a centurion of tried loyalty, for the purpose of getting better informed of what was going on; and I reached him over pathless mountains and through steep defiles. After he had seen and recognized me, and received me cordially, I confided to him alone the reason for my presence. Thereupon with one silent attendant who knew the country he sent me to some lofty cliffs a long distance from there, from which, unless one’s eyesight was impaired, even the smallest object was visible at a distance of fifty miles.

There we stayed for two full days, and at dawn of the third day we saw below us the whole circuit of the lands (which we[*](That is, the Greeks.) call ὁρίζοντες[*](The horizon.) ) filled with innumerable troops with the king leading the way, glittering in splendid attire. Close by him on the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae,[*](Sapor had recently made peace with them; see xvi. 9, 4.) a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shrivelled limbs, but of a certain

How long, storied Greece, will you continue to tell us of Doriscus, the city of Thrace, and of the armies drawn up in troops within enclosures and numbered?[*](Cf. Herodotus, vii. 59. Xerxes, in order to reckon the size of his army, assembled ten thousand men and drew a circle around them; then he filled the space again and again with men, until the whole army was thus counted.) For I am too cautious, or (to speak more truly) too timid, to exaggerate anything beyond what is proven by trustworthy and sure evidence.

After the kings had passed by Nineveh, a great city of Adiabene, and after sacrificing victims in the middle of the bridge over the Anzaba and finding the omens favourable, had crossed full of joy, I judged that all the rest of the throng could hardly enter in three days; so I quickly returned to the satrap and rested, entertained with hospitable attentions.

Then I returned, again passing through deserted and solitary places, more quickly

Therefore at once swift horsemen were sent to Cassianus, commander in Mesopotamia, and to Euphronius, then governor of the province, to compel the peasants with their households and all their flocks to move to safer quarters, directing also that the city of Carrhae should quickly be abandoned, since the town was surrounded only by weak fortifications; and in addition that all the plains be set on fire, to prevent the enemy from getting fodder.