Res Gestae

In reply to this Arintheus[*](Cf. xxiv. 1, 2.) was sent to him with the prefect Salutius, but, while a deliberate discussion was going on as to what ought to be determined, four days passed by, full of torments from hunger and worse than any death.

If the emperor, before letting these envoys go, had used this space of time to withdraw gradually from the enemy’s territories, he could surely have reached the protection of Corduena,[*](Cf. xviii. 6, 20; the distance was fourteen geographic, or nautical, miles.) a rich region belonging to us, and distant only a hundred miles from the spot where all this took place.

Now the king obstinately demanded the lands which (as he said) were his and had been taken from him long ago by Maximianus; but, in fact, as the negotiations showed, he required as our ransom five provinces on the far side of the Tigris: Arzanena,[*](In Armenia.) Moxoëna,[*](In Armenia.) and Zabdicena,[*](In Mesopotamia.) as well as Rehimena[*](Unknown.) and Corduena with fifteen fortresses, besides Nisibis,[*](A strong city thrice vainly besieged by the Persians.) Singara[*](Cf. xviii. 5, 7; xx. 6.) and Castra Maurorum,[*](xviii. 6, 9.) a very important stronghold.

And whereas it would have been better to fight ten battles than give up any one of these, the band of flatterers pressed upon the timid

Jovian, inflamed by these dangerous hints too continually repeated, without delay surrendered all that was asked, except that with difficulty he succeeded in bringing it about that Nisibis and Singara should pass into control of the Persians without their inhabitants, and that the Romans in the fortresses that were to be taken from us should be allowed to return to our protection.

To these conditions there was added another which was destructive and impious, namely, that after the completion of these agreements, Arsaces, our steadfast and faithful friend[*](Cf. note to xxiv. 7, 8.) should never, if he asked it, be given help against the Persians. This was contrived with a double purpose, that a man who at the emperor’s order[*](Cf. xxiii. 3, 6.) had devastated Chiliocomum might be punished, and that the opportunity might be left of presently invading Armenia without opposition. The result was that later this same Arsaces was taken alive,[*](Cf. xxvii. 12, 3.) and that the Parthians amid various dissensions and disturbances seized a great tract of Armenia bordering on Media, along with Artaxata.

When this shameful treaty was concluded, lest anything contrary to the agreements should be done during the truce, distinguished men were given on both sides as hostages: from our side Nemota, Victor, and Bellovaedius,[*](The names are evidently corrupted and there should be four Roman hostages; see crit. note.) tribunes of famous corps,

And so a peace of thirty years was made and consecrated by the sanctity of oaths; but we returned by other routes, and since the places near the river were avoided as rough and uneven, we suffered from lack of water and food.

But the peace which was granted under pretence of humanity caused the destruction of many, who, tormented by hunger up to their last breath, and so going ahead unnoticed by the army,[*](Since hunger drove them to try to cross before the rest.) were either, being unskilled in swimming, swallowed up in the depths of the river, or if they mastered the power of the stream and reached the opposite bank, were seized by the Saracens or Persians (who, as I said shortly before, had been routed by the Germans),[*](Cf. 6, 14, above.) and were either cut down like so many cattle, or led off farther inland to be sold.

But as soon as the trumpets’ blast openly gave the signal for crossing the river, it was remarkable with what great eagerness and haste they rushed into all kinds of danger. Each man strove to outstrip all others and hastened to save himself from so many terrors; some used the hastily constructed rafts, holding to

The emperor himself with a few others crossed in the small boats, which, as I have said, survived the burning of the fleet, and ordered the same craft to go back and forth, until we were all transported. At last all of us (except those who were drowned) reached the opposite bank, saved from danger by the favour of the supreme deity after many difficulties.

While the fear of impending disasters oppressed us, we learned from the report of our scouting cavalry, that the Persians, too far off to be seen, were making a bridge, in order that when all hostilities should cease after the conclusion of the treaty of peace, and our men were marching carelessly, they might attack the sick and the animals which had long been exhausted; but when they found that they were discovered, they gave up their wicked design.

Relieved now from this anxiety and hastening on by forced marches, we approached Hatra, an old city lying in the midst of a desert and long since abandoned. The warlike emperors Trajan[*](Dio. lxviii. 31, 2.) and Severus tried at various times to destroy it, but almost perished with their armies; I have related these acts also in telling of their careers.