n of Sapor had
vanished: he observed, with serious concern, that, in the repetition of
doubtful combats, he had lost his most faithful and intrepid nobles, his
bravest troops, and the greatest part of his train of elephants: and
the experienced monarch feared to provoke the resistance of despair, the
vicissitudes of fortune, and the unexhausted powers of the Roman empire;
which might soon advance to relieve, or to revenge, the successor of
Julian. The Surenas himself, accompanied by another satrap, * appeared
in the camp of Jovian; and declared, that the clemency of his sovereign
was not averse to signify the conditions on which he would consent to
spare and to dismiss the Caesar with the relics of his captive army.
The hopes of safety subdued the firmness of the Romans; the emperor was
compelled, by the advice of his council, and the cries of his soldiers,
to embrace the offer of peace; and the praefect Sallust was immediately
sent, with the general Arinthaeus, to understand the pleasure of the
Great King. The crafty Persian delayed, under various pretenses,
the conclusion of the agreement; started difficulties, required
explanations, suggested expedients, receded from his concessions,
increased his demands, and wasted four days in the arts of negotiation,
till he had consumed the stock of provisions which yet remained in the
camp of the Romans. Had Jovian been capable of executing a bold and
prudent measure, he would have continued his march, with unremitting
diligence; the progress of the treaty would have suspended the attacks
of the Barbarians; and, before the expiration of the fourth day, he
might have safely reached the fruitful province of Corduene, at the
distance only of one hundred miles. The irresolute emperor, instead of
breaking through the toils of the enemy, expected his fate with patient
resignation; and accepted the humiliating conditions of peace, which
it was no longer in his power to refuse. The five provinces beyond the
Tigris, which had been ceded by the grandfather of Sapor, were
restored to the Persian monarchy. He acquired, by a single article, the
impregnable city of Nisibis; which had sustained, in three successive
sieges, the effort of his arms. Singara, and the castle of the Moors,
one of the strongest places of Mesopotamia, were likewise dismembered
from the empire. It was considered as an indulgence, that the
inhabitants of those fortresses were permitted to retire with their
effects; but