[1: See this fable or satire, p. 306-336 of the Leipsig
edition of Julian's works. The French version of the learned
Ezekiel Spanheim (Paris, 1683) is coarse, languid, and correct;
and his notes, proofs, illustrations, &c., are piled on each
other till they form a mass of 557 close-printed quarto pages.
The Abbe' de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien, tom. i. p. 241-393) has
more happily expressed the spirit, as well as the sense, of the
original, which he illustrates with some concise and curious
notes.]
[2: Spanheim (in his preface) has most learnedly
discussed the etymology, origin, resemblance, and disagreement of
the Greek satyrs, a dramatic piece, which was acted after the
tragedy; and the Latin satires, (from Satura,) a miscellaneous
composition, either in prose or verse. But the Caesars of Julian
are of such an original cast, that the critic is perplexed to
which class he should ascribe them.
Note: See also Casaubon de Satira, with Rambach's
observations. - M.]
[3: This mixed character of Silenus is finely painted in
the sixth eclogue of Virgil.]
[4: Every impartial reader must perceive and condemn the
partiality of Julian against his uncle Constantine, and the
Christian religion. On this occasion, the interpreters are
compelled, by a most sacred interest, to renounce their
allegiance, and to desert the cause of their author.]
[5: Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek to a
Roman. But when he seriously compared a hero with a philosopher,
he was sensible that mankind had much greater obligations to
Socrates than to Alexander, (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264.)]
[6: Inde nationibus Indicis certatim cum aonis optimates
mittentibus . . . . ab usque Divis et Serendivis. Ammian. xx. 7.
This island, to which the names of Taprobana, Serendib, and
Ceylon, have been successively applied, manifests how imperfectly
the seas and lands to the east of Cape Comorin were known to the
Romans. 1. Under the reign of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed
the customs of the Red Sea, was accidentally driven by the winds
upon this strange and undiscovered coast: he conversed six months
with the natives; and the king of Ceylon, who heard, for the
first time, of the power and justice of Rome, was persuaded to
send an embassy to the emperor. (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 24.) 2.
The geographers (and even Ptolemy) have magnified, above fifteen
times, the real size of this new world, which they extended as
far as the equator, and the neighborhood of China.
Note: The name of Diva gens or Divorum regio, according to
the probable conjecture of M. Letronne, (Trois Mem. Acad. p.
127,) was applied by the ancients to the whole eastern coast of
the Indian Peninsula, from Ceylon to the Canges. The name may be
traced in Devipatnam, Devidan, Devicotta, Divinelly, the point of
Divy.
M. Letronne, p.121, considers the freedman with his embassy
from Ceylon to have been an impostor. - M.]
[7: These embassies had been sent to Constantius.
Ammianus, who unwarily deviates into gross flattery, must have
forgotten the length of the way, and the short duration of the
reign of Julian.]
[8: Gothos saepe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quaerere
se meliores aiebat: illis enim sufficere mercators Galatas per
quos ubique sine conditionis discrimine venumdantur. (Ammian.
xxii. 7.) Within less than fifteen years, these Gothic slaves
threatened and subdued their masters.]
[9: Alexander reminds his rival Caesar, who depreciated
the fame and merit of an Asiatic victory, that Crassus and Antony
had felt the Persian arrows; and that the Romans, in a war of
three hundred years, had not yet subdued the single province of
Mesopotamia or Assyria, (Caesares, p. 324.)]
[10: The design of the Persian war is declared by
Ammianus, (xxii. 7, 12,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 79, 80, p.
305, 306,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 158,) and Socrates, (l. iii. c.
19.)]
[11: The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St.
Chrysostom, exhibit the same picture of Antioch. The miniature
which the Abbe de la Bleterie has copied from thence, (Vie de
Julian, p. 332,) is elegant and correct.]
[12: Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus,
comedians; Caesarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza,
gladiators, Ascalon, wrestlers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See
the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hudson's
Minor Geographers.]
[13: The people of Antioch ingenuously professed their
attachment to the Chi, (Christ,) and the Kappa, (Constantius.)
Julian in Misopogon, p. 357.]
[14: The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-five
years, (A. D. 330-415,) was inflamed, while Julian resided in
that city, by the indiscreet ordination of Paulinus. See
Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 803 of the quarto edition,
(Paris, 1701, &c,) which henceforward I shall quote.]
[15: Julian states three different proportions, of five,
ten, or fifteen medii of wheat for one piece of gold, according
to the degrees of plenty and scarcity, (in Misopogon, p. 369.)
From this fact, and from some collateral examples, I conclude,
that under the successors of Constantine, the moderate price of
wheat was about thirty-two shillings the English quarter, which
is equal to the average price of the sixty-four first years of
the present century. See Arbuthnot's Tables of Coins, Weights,
and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 12. Mem. de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 718-721. Smith's
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol.
i. p 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage
and a friend.]
[16: Nunquam a proposito declinabat, Galli similis
fratris, licet incruentus. Ammian. xxii. 14. The ignorance of
the most enlightened princes may claim some excuse; but we cannot
be satisfied with Julian's own defence, (in Misopogon, p. 363,
369,) or the elaborate apology of Libanius, (Orat. Parental c.
xcvii. p. 321.)]
[17: Their short and easy confinement is gently touched
by Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. xcviii. p. 322, 323.)]
[18: Libanius, (ad Antiochenos de Imperatoris ira, c.
17, 18, 19, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 221-223,)
like a skilful advocate, severely censures the folly of the
people, who suffered for the crime of a few obscure and drunken
wretches.]
[19: Libanius (ad Antiochen. c. vii. p. 213) reminds
Antioch of the recent chastisement of Caesarea; and even Julian
(in Misopogon, p. 355) insinuates how severely Tarentum had
expiated the insult to the Roman ambassadors.]
[20: On the subject of the Misopogon, see Ammianus,
(xxii. 14,) Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c. xcix. p. 323,)
Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 133) and the Chronicle of
Antioch, by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 15, 16.) I have essential
obligations to the translation and notes of the Abbe de la
Bleterie, (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 1-138.)]
[21: Ammianus very justly remarks, Coactus dissimulare
pro tempore ira sufflabatur interna. The elaborate irony of
Julian at length bursts forth into serious and direct invective.]
[22: Ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus, Heliopoliten
quendam Alexandrum Syriacae jurisdictioni praefecit, turbulentum
et saevum; dicebatque non illum meruisse, sed Antiochensibus
avaris et contumeliosis hujusmodi judicem convenire. Ammian.
xxiii. 2. Libanius, (Epist. 722, p. 346, 347,) who confesses to
Julian himself, that he had shared the general discontent,
pretends that Alexander was a useful, though harsh, reformer of
the manners and religion of Antioch.]
[23: Julian, in Misopogon, p. 364. Ammian. xxiii. 2,
and Valesius, ad loc. Libanius, in a professed oration, invites
him to return to his loyal and penitent city of Antioch.]
[24: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. vii. p. 230, 231.]
[25: Eunapius reports, that Libanius refused the
honorary rank of Praetorian praefect, as less illustrious than
the title of Sophist, (in Vit. Sophist. p. 135.) The critics have
observed a similar sentiment in one of the epistles (xviii. edit.
Wolf) of Libanius himself.]
[26: Near two thousand of his letters - a mode of
composition in which Libanius was thought to excel - are still
extant, and already published. The critics may praise their
subtle and elegant brevity; yet Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon
Phalaris, p. 48) might justly, though quaintly observe, that "you
feel, by the emptiness and deadness of them, that you converse
with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his desk."]
[27: His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions
the seventy-sixth year of his age, (A. D. 390,) and seems to
allude to some events of a still later date.]
[28: Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious
narrative of his own life, (tom. ii. p. 1-84, edit. Morell,) of
which Eunapius (p. 130-135) has left a concise and unfavorable
account. Among the moderns, Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. iv. p. 571-576,) Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p.
376-414,) and Lardner, (Heathen Testimonies, tom. iv. p.
127-163,) have illustrated the character and writings of this
famous sophist.]
[29: From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of
Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely
bad; and the loose stones were cemented only with sand, (Julian.
epist. xxvii.) It is singular enough that the Romans should have
neglected the great communication between Antioch and the
Euphrates. See Wesseling Itinerar. p. 190 Bergier, Hist des
Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100]
[30: Julian alludes to this incident, (epist. xxvii.,)
which is more distinctly related by Theodoret, (l. iii. c. 22.)
The intolerant spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont,
(Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 534.) and even by La Bleterie,
(Vie de Julien, p. 413.)]
[A: This name, of Syriac origin, is found in the Arabic,
and means a place in a valley where waters meet. Julian says,
the name of the city is Barbaric, the situation Greek. The
geographer Abulfeda (tab. Syriac. p. 129, edit. Koehler) speaks
of it in a manner to justify the praises of Julian. - St. Martin.
Notes to Le Beau, iii. 56. - M.]
[31: See the curious treatise de Dea Syria, inserted
among the works of Lucian, (tom. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.)
The singular appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8) might
induce a suspicion, that Heirapolis had been the royal seat of
the Assyrians.]
[32: Julian (epist. xxviii.) kept a regular account of
all the fortunate omens; but he suppresses the inauspicious
signs, which Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded.]
[33: Julian. epist. xxvii. p. 399-402.]
[B: Or Bambyce, now Bambouch; Manbedj Arab., or Maboug,
Syr. It was twenty-four Roman miles from the Euphrates. - M.]
[34: I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my
obligations to M. d'Anville, for his recent geography of the
Euphrates and Tigris, (Paris, 1780, in 4to.,) which particularly
illustrates the expedition of Julian.]
[35: There are three passages within a few miles of each
other; 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the ancients; 2. Bir, frequented
by the moderns; and, 3. The bridge of Menbigz, or Hierapolis, at
the distance of four parasangs from the city.]
[C: Djisr Manbedj is the same with the ancient Zeugma.
St. Martin, iii. 58 - M.]
[36: Haran, or Carrhae, was the ancient residence of the
Sabaeans, and of Abraham. See the Index Geographicus of
Schultens, (ad calcem Vit. Saladin.,) a work from which I have
obtained much Oriental knowledge concerning the ancient and
modern geography of Syria and the adjacent countries.]
[D: On an inedited medal in the collection of the late
M. Tochon. of the Academy of Inscriptions, it is read Xappan.
St. Martin. iii 60 - M.]
[37: See Xenophon. Cyropaed. l. iii. p. 189, edit.
Hutchinson. Artavasdes might have supplied Marc Antony with
16,000 horse, armed and disciplined after the Parthian manner,
(Plutarch, in M. Antonio. tom. v. p. 117.)]
[38: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. l. iii. c. 11, p.
242) fixes his accession (A. D. 354) to the 17th year of
Constantius.]
[*: Arsaces Tiranus, or Diran, had ceased to reign
twenty- five years before, in 337. The intermediate changes in
Armenia, and the character of this Arsaces, the son of Diran, are
traced by M. St. Martin, at considerable length, in his
supplement to Le Beau, ii. 208-242. As long as his Grecian queen
Olympias maintained her influence, Arsaces was faithful to the
Roman and Christian alliance. On the accession of Julian, the
same influence made his fidelity to waver; but Olympias having
been poisoned in the sacramental bread by the agency of
Pharandcem, the former wife of Arsaces, another change took place
in Armenian politics unfavorable to the Christian interest. The
patriarch Narses retired from the impious court to a safe
seclusion. Yet Pharandsem was equally hostile to the Persian
influence, and Arsaces began to support with vigor the cause of
Julian. He made an inroad into the Persian dominions with a body
of Rans and Alans as auxiliaries; wasted Aderbidgan and Sapor,
who had been defeated near Tauriz, was engaged in making head
against his troops in Persarmenia, at the time of the death of
Julian. Such is M. St. Martin's view, (ii. 276, et sqq.,) which
rests on the Armenian historians, Faustos of Byzantium, and
Mezrob the biographer of the Partriarch Narses. In the history
of Armenia by Father Chamitch, and translated by Avdall, Tiran is
still king of Armenia, at the time of Julian's death. F.
Chamitch follows Moses of Chorene, The authority of Gibbon. - M.]
[39: Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) says,
in general terms, that Constantius gave to his brother's widow,
an expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian.]
[40: Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too soft for
the occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius, Bibliothec. Graec.
tom. vii. p. 86) has published an epistle from Julian to the
satrap Arsaces; fierce, vulgar, and (though it might deceive
Sozomen, l. vi. c. 5) most probably spurious. La Bleterie (Hist.
de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and rejects it.
Note: St. Martin considers it genuine: the Armenian writers
mention such a letter, iii. 37. - M.]
[E: Arsaces did not abandon the Roman alliance, but gave
it only feeble support. St. Martin, iii. 41 - M.]
[F: Kirkesia the Carchemish of the Scriptures. - M.]
[41: Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian.
xxiii. 3 Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is
four stadia or 800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad.
(Xenophon, Anabasis, l. i. p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's
Observations, p. 29, &c., in the 2d volume of Spelman's
translation.) If the breadth of the Euphrates at Bir and Zeugma
is no more than 130 yards, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 335,)
the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth of the
channel.]
[42: Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum, Abora (the
Orientals aspirate Chaboras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt
flumina, velut spatium insulare fingentes. Ammian. xxiii. 5.]
[43: The enterprise and armament of Julian are described
by himself, (Epist. xxvii.,) Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxiii. 3, 4,
5,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 108, 109, p. 332, 333,) Zosimus,
(l. iii. p. 160, 161, 162) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. l,) and John
Malala, (tom. ii. p. 17.)]
[44: Before he enters Persia, Ammianus copiously
describes (xxiii. p. 396-419, edit. Gronov. in 4to.) the eighteen
great provinces, (as far as the Seric, or Chinese frontiers,)
which were subject to the Sassanides.]
[45: Ammianus (xxiv. 1) and Zosimus (l. iii. p. 162,
163) rately expressed the order of march.]
[46: The adventures of Hormisdas are related with some
mixture of fable, (Zosimus, l. ii. p. 100-102; Tillemont, Hist.
des Empereurs tom. iv. p. 198.) It is almost impossible that he
should be the brother (frater germanus) of an eldest and
posthumous child: nor do I recollect that Ammianus ever gives him
that title.
Note: St. Martin conceives that he was an elder brother by
another mother who had several children, ii. 24 - M.]
[47: See the first book of the Anabasis, p. 45, 46.
This pleasing work is original and authentic. Yet Xenophon's
memory, perhaps many years after the expedition, has sometimes
betrayed him; and the distances which he marks are often larger
than either a soldier or a geographer will allow.]
[48: Mr. Spelman, the English translator of the
Anabasis, (vol. i. p. 51,) confounds the antelope with the
roebuck, and the wild ass with the zebra.]
[49: See Voyages de Tavernier, part i. l. iii. p. 316,
and more especially Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, tom. i. lett.
xvii. p. 671, &c. He was ignorant of the old name and condition
of Annah. Our blind travellers seldom possess any previous
knowledge of the countries which they visit. Shaw and Tournefort
deserve an honorable exception.]
[G: This is not a title, but the name of a great Persian
family. St. Martin, iii. 79. - M.]
[50: Famosi nominis latro, says Ammianus; a high
encomium for an Arab. The tribe of Gassan had settled on the
edge of Syria, and reigned some time in Damascus, under a dynasty
of thirty-one kings, or emirs, from the time of Pompey to that of
the Khalif Omar. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 360.
Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arabicae, p. 75-78. The name of
Rodosaces does not appear in the list.
Note: Rodosaces-malek is king. St. Martin considers that
Gibbon has fallen into an error in bringing the tribe of Gassan
to the Euphrates. In Ammianus it is Assan. M. St. Martin would
read Massanitarum, the same with the Mauzanitae of Malala. - M.]
[51: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 1, 2,) Libanius, (Orat.
Parental. c. 110, 111, p. 334,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 164-168.)
Note: This Syriac or Chaldaic has relation to its position;
it easily bears the signification of the division of the waters.
M. St. M. considers it the Missice of Pliny, v. 26. St. Martin,
iii. 83. - M.]
[52: The description of Assyria, is furnished by
Herodotus, (l. i. c. 192, &c.,) who sometimes writes for
children, and sometimes for philosophers; by Strabo, (l. xvi. p.
1070-1082,) and by Ammianus, (l.xxiii. c. 6.) The most useful of
the modern travellers are Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 226-258,)
Otter, (tom. ii. p. 35-69, and 189-224,) and Niebuhr, (tom. ii.
p. 172-288.) Yet I much regret that the Irak Arabi of Abulfeda
has not been translated.]
[53: Ammianus remarks, that the primitive Assyria, which
comprehended Ninus, (Nineveh,) and Arbela, had assumed the more
recent and peculiar appellation of Adiabene; and he seems to fix
Teredon, Vologesia, and Apollonia, as the extreme cities of the
actual province of Assyria.]
[54: The two rivers unite at Apamea, or Corna, (one
hundred miles from the Persian Gulf,) into the broad stream of
the Pasitigris, or Shutul- Arab. The Euphrates formerly reached
the sea by a separate channel, which was obstructed and diverted
by the citizens of Orchoe, about twenty miles to the south-east
of modern Basra. (D'Anville, in the Memoires de l'Acad. des
Inscriptions, tom.xxx. p. 171-191.)]
[H: We are informed by Mr. Gibbon, that nature has
denied to the soil an climate of Assyria some of her choicest
gifts, the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree. This might have
been the case ir the age of Ammianus Marcellinus, but it is not
so at the present day; and it is a curious fact that the grape,
the olive, and the fig, are the most common fruits in the
province, and may be seen in every garden. Macdonald Kinneir,
Geogr. Mem. on Persia 239 - M.]
[55: The learned Kaempfer, as a botanist, an antiquary,
and a traveller, has exhausted (Amoenitat. Exoticae, Fasicul. iv.
p. 660-764) the whole subject of palm-trees.]
[56: Assyria yielded to the Persian satrap an Artaba of
silver each day. The well-known proportion of weights and
measures (see Bishop Hooper's elaborate Inquiry,) the specific
gravity of water and silver, and the value of that metal, will
afford, after a short process, the annual revenue which I have
stated. Yet the Great King received no more than 1000 Euboic, or
Tyrian, talents (252,000l.) from Assyria. The comparison of two
passages in Herodotus, (l. i. c. 192, l. iii. c. 89-96) reveals
an important difference between the gross, and the net, revenue
of Persia; the sums paid by the province, and the gold or silver
deposited in the royal treasure. The monarch might annually save
three millions six hundred thousand pounds, of the seventeen or
eighteen millions raised upon the people.]
[I: Libanius says that it was a great city of Assyria,
called after the name of the reigning king. The orator of
Antioch is not mistaken. The Persians and Syrians called it
Fyrouz Schapour or Fyrouz Schahbour; in Persian, the victory of
Schahpour. It owed that name to Sapor the First. It was before
called Anbar St. Martin, iii. 85. - M.]
[J: And as guilty of a double treachery, having first
engaged to surrender the city, and afterwards valiantly defended
it. Gibbon, perhaps, should have noticed this charge, though he
may have rejected it as improbable Compare Zosimus. iii. 23. -
M.]
[57: The operations of the Assyrian war are
circumstantially related by Ammianus, (xxiv. 2, 3, 4, 5,)
Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 112- 123, p. 335-347,) Zosimus, (l.
iii. p. 168-180,) and Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat iv. p. 113, 144.)
The military criticisms of the saint are devoutly copied by
Tillemont, his faithful slave.]
[58: Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. 13, p.
162.]
[59: The famous examples of Cyrus, Alexander, and
Scipio, were acts of justice. Julian's chastity was voluntary,
and, in his opinion, meritorious.]
[60: Sallust (ap. Vet. Scholiast. Juvenal. Satir. i.
104) observes, that nihil corruptius moribus. The matrons and
virgins of Babylon freely mingled with the men in licentious
banquets; and as they felt the intoxication of wine and love,
they gradually, and almost completely, threw aside the
encumbrance of dress; ad ultimum ima corporum velamenta
projiciunt. Q. Curtius, v. 1.]
[61: Ex virginibus autem quae speciosae sunt captae, et
in Perside, ubi faeminarum pulchritudo excellit, nec contrectare
aliquam votuit nec videre. Ammian. xxiv. 4. The native race of
Persians is small and ugly; but it has been improved by the
perpetual mixture of Circassian blood, (Herodot. l. iii. c. 97.
Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 420.)]
[62: Obsidionalibus coronis donati. Ammian. xxiv. 4.
Either Julian or his historian were unskillful antiquaries. He
should have given mural crowns. The obsidional were the reward
of a general who had delivered a besieged city, (Aulus Gellius,
Noct. Attic. v. 6.)]
[63: I give this speech as original and genuine.
Ammianus might hear, could transcribe, and was incapable of
inventing, it. I have used some slight freedoms, and conclude
with the most forcibic sentence.]
[64: Ammian. xxiv. 3. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 122,
p. 346.]
[65: M. d'Anville, (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions,
tom. xxxviii p. 246-259) has ascertained the true position and
distance of Babylon, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Bagdad, &c. The Roman
traveller, Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 650-780,)
seems to be the most intelligent spectator of that famous
province. He is a gentleman and a scholar, but intolerably vain
and prolix.]
[66: The Royal Canal (Nahar-Malcha) might be
successively restored, altered, divided, &c., (Cellarius,
Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 453;) and these changes may serve to
explain the seeming contradictions of antiquity. In the time of
Julian, it must have fallen into the Euphrates below Ctesiphon.]
[67: Rien n'est beau que le vrai; a maxim which should
be inscribed on the desk of every rhetorician.]
[K: This is a mistake; each vessel (according to Zosimus
two, according to Ammianus five) had eighty men. Amm. xxiv. 6,
with Wagner's note. Gibbon must have read octogenas for
octogenis. The five vessels selected for this service were
remarkably large and strong provision transports. The strength
of the fleet remained with Julian to carry over the army - M.]
[68: Libanius alludes to the most powerful of the
generals. I have ventured to name Sallust. Ammianus says, of
all the leaders, quod acri metu territ acrimetu territi duces
concordi precatu precaut fieri prohibere tentarent.
Note: It is evident that Gibbon has mistaken the sense of
Libanius; his words can only apply to a commander of a
detachment, not to so eminent a person as the Praefect of the
East. St. Martin, iii. 313. - M.]
[69: Hinc Imperator . . . . (says Ammianus) ipse cum
levis armaturae auxiliis per prima postremaque discurrens, &c.
Yet Zosimus, his friend, does not allow him to pass the river
till two days after the battle.]
[70: Secundum Homericam dispositionem. A similar
disposition is ascribed to the wise Nestor, in the fourth book of
the Iliad; and Homer was never absent from the mind of Julian.]
[71: Persas terrore subito miscuerunt, versisque
agminibus totius gentis, apertas Ctesiphontis portas victor miles
intrasset, ni major praedarum occasio fuisset, quam cura
victoriae, (Sextus Rufus de Provinciis c. 28.) Their avarice
might dispose them to hear the advice of Victor.]
[L: The suburbs of Ctesiphon, according to a new
fragment of Eunapius, were so full of provisions, that the
soldiers were in danger of suffering from excess. Mai, p. 260.
Eunapius in Niebuhr. Nov. Byz. Coll. 68. Julian exhibited warlike
dances and games in his camp to recreate the soldiers Ibid. - M.]
[72: The labor of the canal, the passage of the Tigris,
and the victory, are described by Ammianus, (xxiv. 5, 6,)
Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 124-128, p. 347-353,) Greg.
Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 115,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 181-183,) and
Sextus Rufus, (de Provinciis, c. 28.)]
[73: The fleet and army were formed in three divisions,
of which the first only had passed during the night.]
[74: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. l. iii. c. 15, p.
246) supplies us with a national tradition, and a spurious
letter. I have borrowed only the leading circumstance, which is
consistent with truth, probability, and Libanius, (Orat. Parent.
c. 131, p. 355.)]
[75: Civitas inexpugnabilis, facinus audax et
importunum. Ammianus, xxiv. 7. His fellow-soldier, Eutropius,
turns aside from the difficulty, Assyriamque populatus, castra
apud Ctesiphontem stativa aliquandiu habuit: remeansbue victor,
&c. x. 16. Zosimus is artful or ignorant, and Socrates
inaccurate.]
[76: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 130, p. 354, c. 139, p.
361. Socrates, l. iii. c. 21. The ecclesiastical historian
imputes the refusal of peace to the advice of Maximus. Such
advice was unworthy of a philosopher; but the philosopher was
likewise a magician, who flattered the hopes and passions of his
master.]
[77: The arts of this new Zopyrus (Greg. Nazianzen,
Orat. iv. p. 115, 116) may derive some credit from the testimony
of two abbreviators, (Sextus Rufus and Victor,) and the casual
hints of Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357) and Ammianus,
(xxiv. 7.) The course of genuine history is interrupted by a most
unseasonable chasm in the text of Ammianus.]
[78: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat.
Parentalis, c. 132, 133, p. 356, 357,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183,)
Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 26) Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 116,)
and Augustin, (de Civitate Dei, l. iv. c. 29, l. v. c. 21.) Of
these Libanius alone attempts a faint apology for his hero; who,
according to Ammianus, pronounced his own condemnation by a tardy
and ineffectual attempt to extinguish the flames.]
[79: Consult Herodotus, (l. i. c. 194,) Strabo, (l. xvi.
p. 1074,) and Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 152.)]
[80: A celeritate Tigris incipit vocari, ita appellant
Medi sagittam. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 31.]
[81: One of these dikes, which produces an artificial
cascade or cataract, is described by Tavernier (part i. l. ii. p.
226) and Thevenot, (part ii. l. i. p. 193.) The Persians, or
Assyrians, labored to interrupt the navigation of the river,
(Strabo, l. xv. p. 1075. D'Anville, l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p.
98, 99.)]
[82: Recollect the successful and applauded rashness of
Agathocles and Cortez, who burnt their ships on the coast of
Africa and Mexico.]
[83: See the judicious reflections of the author of the
Essai sur la Tactique, tom. ii. p. 287-353, and the learned
remarks of M. Guichardt Nouveaux Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p.
351-382, on the baggage and subsistence of the Roman armies.]
[84: The Tigris rises to the south, the Euphrates to the
north, of the Armenian mountains. The former overflows in March,
the latter in July. These circumstances are well explained in the
Geographical Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman's
Expedition of Cyras, vol. ii. p. 26.]
[85: Ammianus (xxiv. 8) describes, as he had felt, the
inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and the insects. The lands
of Assyria, oppressed by the Turks, and ravaged by the Curds or
Arabs, yield an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty fold, for
the seed which is cast into the ground by the wretched and
unskillful husbandmen. Voyage de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 279, 285.]
[86: Isidore of Charax (Mansion. Parthic. p. 5, 6, in
Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. ii.) reckons 129 schaeni from
Seleucia, and Thevenot, (part i. l. i. ii. p. 209-245,) 128 hours
of march from Bagdad to Ecbatana, or Hamadan. These measures
cannot exceed an ordinary parasang, or three Roman miles.]
[87: The march of Julian from Ctesiphon is
circumstantially, but not clearly, described by Ammianus, (xxiv.
7, 8,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357,) and Zosimus, (l.
iii. p. 183.) The two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was
retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to the banks of
the Tigris.]
[88: Chardin, the most judicious of modern travellers,
describes (tom. ii. p. 57, 58, &c., edit. in 4to.) the education
and dexterity of the Persian horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno
Persico, p. 650 651, &c.,) has collected the testimonies of
antiquity.]
[89: In Mark Antony's retreat, an attic choenix sold for
fifty drachmae, or, in other words, a pound of flour for twelve
or fourteen shillings barley bread was sold for its weight in
silver. It is impossible to peruse the interesting narrative of
Plutarch, (tom. v. p. 102-116,) without perceiving that Mark
Antony and Julian were pursued by the same enemies, and involved
in the same distress.]
[90: Ammian. xxiv. 8, xxv. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 184,
185, 186. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 134, 135, p. 357, 358, 359.
The sophist of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were
hungry.]
[91: Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had sworn in a passion,
nunquam se Marti sacra facturum, (xxiv. 6.) Such whimsical
quarrels were not uncommon between the gods and their insolent
votaries; and even the prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been
twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honors of public
processions. See Hume's Philosophical Reflections. Essays, vol.
ii. p. 418.]
[92: They still retained the monopoly of the vain but
lucrative science, which had been invented in Hetruria; and
professed to derive their knowledge of signs and omens from the
ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage.]
[93: Clambant hinc inde candidati (see the note of
Valesius) quos terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male
compositi culminis declinaret. Ammian. xxv 3.]
[94: Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was
his practice to comfort the families of his deceased satraps, by
sending them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers
who had not fallen by their master's side. Libanius, de nece
Julian. ulcis. c. xiii. p. 163.]
[95: The character and situation of Julian might
countenance the suspicion that he had previously composed the
elaborate oration, which Ammianus heard, and has transcribed.
The version of the Abbe de la Bleterie is faithful and elegant.
I have followed him in expressing the Platonic idea of
emanations, which is darkly insinuated in the original.]
[96: Herodotus (l. i. c. 31,) has displayed that
doctrine in an agreeable tale. Yet the Jupiter, (in the 16th
book of the Iliad,) who laments with tears of blood the death of
Sarpedon his son, had a very imperfect notion of happiness or
glory beyond the grave.]
[97: The soldiers who made their verbal or nuncupatory
testaments, upon actual service, (in procinctu,) were exempted
from the formalities of the Roman law. See Heineccius,
(Antiquit. Jur. Roman. tom. i. p. 504,) and Montesquieu, (Esprit
des Loix, l. xxvii.)]
[98: This union of the human soul with the divine
aethereal substance of the universe, is the ancient doctrine of
Pythagoras and Plato: but it seems to exclude any personal or
conscious immortality. See Warburton's learned and rational
observations. Divine Legation, vol ii. p. 199-216.]
[99: The whole relation of the death of Julian is given
by Ammianus, (xxv. 3,) an intelligent spectator. Libanius, who
turns with horror from the scene, has supplied some
circumstances, (Orat. Parental. c 136-140, p. 359-362.) The
calumnies of Gregory, and the legends of more recent saints, may
now be silently despised.
Note: A very remarkable fragment of Eunapius describes, not
without spirit, the struggle between the terror of the army on
account of their perilous situation, and their grief for the
death of Julian. "Even the vulgar felt that they would soon
provide a general, but such a general as Julian they would never
find, even though a god in the form of man - Julian, who, with a
mind equal to the divinity, triumphed over the evil propensities
of human nature, - * * who held commerce with immaterial beings
while yet in the material body - who condescended to rule because
a ruler was necessary to the welfare of mankind." Mai, Nov. Coll.
ii. 261. Eunapius in Niebuhr, 69.]
[100: Honoratior aliquis miles; perhaps Ammianus
himself. The modest and judicious historian describes the scene
of the election, at which he was undoubtedly present, (xxv. 5.)]
[101: The primus or primicerius enjoyed the dignity of a
senator, and though only a tribune, he ranked with the military
dukes. Cod. Theodosian. l. vi. tit. xxiv. These privileges are
perhaps more recent than the time of Jovian.]
[M: The soldiers supposed that the acclamations
proclaimed the name of Julian, restored, as they fondly thought,
to health, not that of Jovian. loc. - M.]
[102: The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates, (l. iii.
c. 22,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 3,) and Theodoret, (l. iv. c. 1,)
ascribe to Jovian the merit of a confessor under the preceding
reign; and piously suppose that he refused the purple, till the
whole army unanimously exclaimed that they were Christians.
Ammianus, calmly pursuing his narrative, overthrows the legend by
a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque inspectis,
pronuntiatum est, &c., xxv. 6.]
[103: Ammianus (xxv. 10) has drawn from the life an
impartial portrait of Jovian; to which the younger Victor has
added some remarkable strokes. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Histoire
de Jovien, tom. i. p. 1-238) has composed an elaborate history of
his short reign; a work remarkably distinguished by elegance of
style, critical disquisition, and religious prejudice.]
[104: Regius equitatus. It appears, from Irocopius,
that the Immortals, so famous under Cyrus and his successors,
were revived, if we may use that improper word, by the
Sassanides. Brisson de Regno Persico, p. 268, &c.]
[105: The obscure villages of the inland country are
irrecoverably lost; nor can we name the field of battle where
Julian fell: but M. D'Anville has demonstrated the precise
situation of Sumere, Carche, and Dura, along the banks of the
Tigris, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 248 L'Euphrate et le
Tigre, p. 95, 97.) In the ninth century, Sumere, or Samara,
became, with a slight change of name, the royal residence of the
khalifs of the house of Abbas.
Note: Sormanray, called by the Arabs Samira, where D'Anville
placed Samara, is too much to the south; and is a modern town
built by Caliph Morasen. Serra-man-rai means, in Arabic, it
rejoices every one who sees it. St. Martin, iii. 133. - M.]
[106: Dura was a fortified place in the wars of
Antiochus against the rebels of Media and Persia, (Polybius, l.
v. c. 48, 52, p. 548, 552 edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.)]
[107: A similar expedient was proposed to the leaders of
the ten thousand, and wisely rejected. Xenophon, Anabasis, l.
iii. p. 255, 256, 257. It appears, from our modern travellers,
that rafts floating on bladders perform the trade and navigation
of the Tigris.]
[108: The first military acts of the reign of Jovian are
related by Ammianus, (xxv. 6,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 146,
p. 364,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 189, 190, 191.) Though we may
distrust the fairness of Libanius, the ocular testimony of
Eutropius (uno a Persis atque altero proelio victus, x. 17) must
incline us to suspect that Ammianus had been too jealous of the
honor of the Roman arms.]
[109: Sextus Rufus (de Provinciis, c. 29) embraces a
poor subterfuge of national vanity. Tanta reverentia nominis
Romani fuit, ut a Persis primus de pace sermo haberetur.]
[N: He is called Junius by John Malala; the same, M. St.
Martin conjectures, with a satrap of Gordyene named Jovianus, or
Jovinianus; mentioned in Ammianus Marcellinus, xviii. 6. - M.]
[O: The Persian historians couch the message of
Shah-pour in these Oriental terms: "I have reassembled my
numerous army. I am resolved to revenge my subjects, who have
been plundered, made captives, and slain. It is for this that I
have bared my arm, and girded my loins. If you consent to pay
the price of the blood which has been shed, to deliver up the
booty which has been plundered, and to restore the city of
Nisibis, which is in Irak, and belongs to our empire, though now
in your possession, I will sheathe the sword of war; but should
you refuse these terms, the hoofs of my horse, which are hard as
steel, shall efface the name of the Romans from the earth; and my
glorious cimeter, that destroys like fire, shall exterminate the
people of your empire." These authorities do not mention the
death of Julian. Malcolm's Persia, i. 87. - M.]