o
was secretly anxious for the conclusion of the peace, entertained some
hopes that the dignity of the first of these ministers, the dexterity
of the second, and the rhetoric of the third, would persuade the Persian
monarch to abate of the rigor of his demands. But the progress of their
negotiation was opposed and defeated by the hostile arts of Antoninus,
a Roman subject of Syria, who had fled from oppression, and was
admitted into the councils of Sapor, and even to the royal table, where,
according to the custom of the Persians, the most important business was
frequently discussed. The dexterous fugitive promoted his interest by
the same conduct which gratified his revenge. He incessantly urged the
ambition of his new master to embrace the favorable opportunity when
the bravest of the Palatine troops were employed with the emperor in a
distant war on the Danube. He pressed Sapor to invade the exhausted and
defenceless provinces of the East, with the numerous armies of Persia,
now fortified by the alliance and accession of the fiercest Barbarians.
The ambassadors of Rome retired without success, and a second embassy,
of a still more honorable rank, was detained in strict confinement, and
threatened either with death or exile.

The military historian, who was himself despatched to observe the army
of the Persians, as they were preparing to construct a bridge of boats
over the Tigris, beheld from an eminence the plain of Assyria, as far as
the edge of the horizon, covered with men, with horses, and with arms.
Sapor appeared in the front, conspicuous by the splendor of his purple.
On his left hand, the place of honor among the Orientals, Grumbates,
king of the Chionites, displayed the stern countenance of an aged and
renowned warrior. The monarch had reserved a similar place on his right
hand for the king of the Albanians, who led his independent tribes from
the shores of the Caspian. * The satraps and generals were distributed
according to their several ranks, and the whole army, besides the
numerous train of Oriental luxury, consisted of more than one hundred
thousand effective men, inured to fatigue, and selected from the bravest
nations of Asia. The Roman deserter, who in some measure guided the
councils of Sapor, had prudently advised, that, instead of wasting the
summer in tedious and difficult sieges, he should march directly to
the Euphrates, and press forwards without delay to seize the feeble and
wealthy metropo