Res Gestae

After this they retired to their tents and (so far as the circumstances allowed) refreshed themselves with food and sleep. It gave courage to the army besides that Julian constantly took oath, not by those dear to him, but by the great deeds that he planned, saying: As I hope to send the Persians under the yoke; As I hope to restore the shattered Roman world. Just as Trajan is said sometimes to have emphasized a statement by the oaths: As I hope to see Dacia reduced to the form of a province; As I hope to cross the Hister and the Euphrates on bridges; and many other oaths of the same kind.

Next, after a march of fourteen miles, we came to a place where the fields are made fertile by an abundance of water; but the Persians, having learned in advance that we should take that route, had broken the dykes and allowed the water to flow everywhere without restraint.