ds of the East, and the rivals of the
Roman power.

The military dispositions of Julian were skilfully contrived to deceive
the spies and to divert the attention of Sapor. The legions appeared
to direct their march towards Nisibis and the Tigris. On a sudden they
wheeled to the right; traversed the level and naked plain of Carrhae; and
reached, on the third day, the banks of the Euphrates, where the strong
town of Nicephorium, or Callinicum, had been founded by the Macedonian
kings. From thence the emperor pursued his march, above ninety miles,
along the winding stream of the Euphrates, till, at length, about one
month after his departure from Antioch, he discovered the towers of
Circesium, * the extreme limit of the Roman dominions. The army of
Julian, the most numerous that any of the Caesars had ever led against
Persia, consisted of sixty-five thousand effective and well-disciplined
soldiers. The veteran bands of cavalry and infantry, of Romans and
Barbarians, had been selected from the different provinces; and a just
preeminence of loyalty and valor was claimed by the hardy Gauls, who
guarded the throne and person of their beloved prince. A formidable body
of Scythian auxiliaries had been transported from another climate, and
almost from another world, to invade a distant country, of whose name
and situation they were ignorant. The love of rapine and war allured to
the Imperial standard several tribes of Saracens, or roving Arabs, whose
service Julian had commanded, while he sternly refuse the payment of the
accustomed subsidies. The broad channel of the Euphrates was crowded by
a fleet of eleven hundred ships, destined to attend the motions, and to
satisfy the wants, of the Roman army. The military strength of the fleet
was composed of fifty armed galleys; and these were accompanied by
an equal number of flat-bottomed boats, which might occasionally be
connected into the form of temporary bridges. The rest of the ships,
partly constructed of timber, and partly covered with raw hides, were
laden with an almost inexhaustible supply of arms and engines, of
utensils and provisions. The vigilant humanity of Julian had embarked a
very large magazine of vinegar and biscuit for the use of the soldiers,
but he prohibited the indulgence of wine; and rigorously stopped a long
string of superfluous camels that attempted to follow the rear of the
army. The River Chaboras falls into the Euphrates at Circesium; and
as soon as the