Res Gestae

And from here, having completed a march of thirty stadia, on the first of July we reached a city called Dura.[*](On the far side of the Tigris; different from the city of the same name in Mesopotamia (xxiii. 5, 8; xxiv. 1, 5), where excavations have lately been made.) Our horses were tired, and their riders, who marched on foot and fell to the rear,

We found these Saracens hostile for the reason that they had been prevented by Julian’s order from receiving pay and numerous gifts,[*](To buy peace from them and prevent their raids.) as in times past, and when they complained to him, had received the simple reply that a warlike and watchful emperor had steel and not gold.

In this place the persistence of the Persians delayed us for four days. For when we began to march, they followed us, and by frequent onsets forced us to turn back; if we halted to do battle with them, they little by little retired and harassed us by continual delays. But now (since to those who are in fear of the worst even false reports are commonly welcome) the rumour was circulated that the frontiers of our possessions were not far distant; whereupon the army, with mutinous bluster, demanded that they be allowed to cross the Tigris.

The emperor, as well as the generals, opposed them, and pointing to the river, which was in flood, since the dog-star had already risen, begged them not to trust themselves to the dangerous currents, declaring that very many could not swim, and adding that scattered bands of the enemy had beset the banks of the swollen stream in various places.

But when these warnings, though several times repeated, had no effect, and the loud shouts of the excited soldiers threatened violence, Jovian reluctantly consented that the Gauls, mingled with the northern Germans, should enter the river first of all, to the end that if these were swept away by the force of the stream,

For this attempt the most skilful men were chosen, who from early childhood were taught in their native lands to cross the greatest of all rivers. and as soon as the quiet of night gave an opportunity for concealment, as if starting all together in a race,[*](Cf. xxii. 11, 22, note. Here the meaning is with one accord, all at once. Wagner took transenna of the rope stretched before contestants in a footrace, which was dropped at a given signal, so that the runners started all together; others, of a bowstring.) they gained the opposite bank more quickly than could have been expected, and after trampling under foot and killing a great number of the Persians, who had been posted to guard the places, but from a feeling of security were buried in quiet sleep, they raised their hands and waved their mantles, to show that their bold attempt had succeeded.

When this was seen from afar, the soldiers, now eager to cross, were delayed only by the promise of the pontoon builders to make bridges of bladders from the hides of slain animals.[*](Cf. xxiv. 3, 11, note.)

While these vain attempts were being made, King Sapor, both when far away and when he had come near, learned from the true accounts of scouts and deserters of the brave deeds of our men and the shameful defeats of his army, accompanied by a