Res Gestae

While these preparations were being hastened, Sabinianus, that splendid choice[*](Of course, ironical.) of a leader in a deadly war, when every moment should have been seized to avert the common dangers, amid the tombs of Edessa, as if he had nothing to fear when he had made his peace with the dead, and acting with the wantonness of a life free from care, in complete inaction was being entertained by his soldiers with a pyrrhic dance,[*](These were originally war dances in armour, but their scope was extended to pantomime of all kinds; see Suet., Nero, 12, 1 and 2.) in which music accompanied the gestures of the performers— conduct ominous both in itself and in its occasion, since we learn that these and similar things that are ill-omened in word and deed ought to be avoided by every good man as time goes on as foreboding coming troubles.

Meanwhile the kings passed

And now they had come to a hamlet called Bebase, from which as far as the town of Constantina,[*](Formerly Antoninupolis, renamed after its restoration by Constantine, see 9, 1, below.) which is a hundred miles distant, everything is parched by constant drought except for a little water to be found in wells. There they hesitated for a long time what to do, and finally were planning to cross, being confident of the hardiness of their men, when they learned from a faithful scout that the Euphrates was swollen by the melted snows and overflowing in wide pools, and hence could not be forded anywhere.

Therefore, being unexpectedly disappointed in the hope that they had conceived, they turned to embrace whatever the chance of fortune should offer; and on holding a council, with reference to the sudden urgent difficulties of their present situation, Antoninus, on being bidden to say what he thought, began by advising that they should turn their march to the right, in order to make a long detour through regions abounding in all sorts of supplies, and still untouched by the Romans in the belief that the enemy would march straight ahead,[*](That is, the Romans had not devastated that part of the country because they thought that the enemy would march straight to the river without making a detour.) and that they should go under his guidance to the two garrison camps of Barzalo and Claudias: for there the river was shallow and narrow near its source, and as yet increased by no tributaries, and hence was fordable and easy to cross.

When this proposition had been heard and its author

When this was known through trustworthy scouts, we planned to hasten to Samosata, in order to cross the river from there and break down the bridges at Zeugma and Capersana, and so (if fortune should aid us at all) repel the enemy’s attacks.

But there befell a terrible disgrace, which deserves to be buried in utter silence. For about seven hundred horsemen, belonging to two squadrons who had recently been sent to the aid of Mesopotamia from Illyricum, a spiritless and cowardly lot, were keeping guard in those parts. And dreading a night attack, they withdrew to a distance from the public roads at evening, when all the paths ought to be better guarded.

This was observed by the Persians, and about twenty thousand of them, under the command of Tamsapor and Nohodares, passed by the horsemen unobserved, while these were overcome with wine and sleep, and hid themselves with arms behind some high mounds near Amida.