bove twelve hours; till the gradual retreat of the Persians
was changed into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example
was given by the principal leader, and the Surenas himself. They were
pursued to the gates of Ctesiphon; and the conquerors might have entered
the dismayed city, if their general, Victor, who was dangerously wounded
with an arrow, had not conjured them to desist from a rash attempt,
which must be fatal, if it were not successful. On their side, the
Romans acknowledged the loss of only seventy-five men; while they
affirmed, that the Barbarians had left on the field of battle two
thousand five hundred, or even six thousand, of their bravest soldiers.
The spoil was such as might be expected from the riches and luxury of
an Oriental camp; large quantities of silver and gold, splendid arms and
trappings, and beds and tables of massy silver. * The victorious emperor
distributed, as the rewards of valor, some honorable gifts, civic, and
mural, and naval crowns; which he, and perhaps he alone, esteemed more
precious than the wealth of Asia. A solemn sacrifice was offered to
the god of war, but the appearances of the victims threatened the most
inauspicious events; and Julian soon discovered, by less ambiguous
signs, that he had now reached the term of his prosperity.

On the second day after the battle, the domestic guards, the Jovians and
Herculians, and the remaining troops, which composed near two thirds of
the whole army, were securely wafted over the Tigris. While the Persians
beheld from the walls of Ctesiphon the desolation of the adjacent
country, Julian cast many an anxious look towards the North, in full
expectation, that as he himself had victoriously penetrated to the
capital of Sapor, the march and junction of his lieutenants, Sebastian
and Procopius, would be executed with the same courage and diligence.
His expectations were disappointed by the treachery of the Armenian
king, who permitted, and most probably directed, the desertion of his
auxiliary troops from the camp of the Romans; and by the dissensions of
the two generals, who were incapable of forming or executing any plan
for the public service. When the emperor had relinquished the hope of
this important reenforcement, he condescended to hold a council of war,
and approved, after a full debate, the sentiment of those generals,
who dissuaded the siege of Ctesiphon, as a fruitless and pernicious
undertaking. It is not easy for us to