s barren of timbers fit for
shipbuilding, he brought the boats which had been constructed in the
forests surrounding Nisibis on wagons to the river. The vessels had been
arranged in such a way that they could be taken apart and put together. He
had very hard work in bridging the stream opposite Mount Carduenum, for
the opposing barbarians tried to hinder him. Trajan, however, had a great
abundance of both ships and soldiers, and so some boats were fastened
together with great speed while others lay motionless in front of them,
carrying heavy infantry and archers. Still others kept making dashes this
way and that, as if they intended to cross. As a result of these tactics
and from their very astonishment at seeing so many ships at once appear
_en masse_ from a land devoid of trees the barbarians gave way and
the Romans crossed over. They won possession of the whole of Adiabene.
(This is a portion of Assyria in the vicinity of Ninus; and Arbela and
Gaugamela, close to which Alexander conquered Darius, are also in this
same territory. The country has also been called Atyria in the language of
the barbarians, the double S being changed to T).

[Adenystrae was a strong post to which one Sentius, a
centurion, had been sent as an envoy to Mebarsapes. He was imprisoned by
the latter in that place, and later, at the approach of the Romans, he
made an arrangement with some of his fellow-prisoners, and with their aid
escaped from his shackles, killed the commander of the garrison, and
opened the gates to his countrymen.] [Sidenote:--26--] Hereupon they
advanced as far as Babylon itself, being quite free from molestation,
since the Parthian power had been ruined by civil conflicts and was still
at this time involved in dissensions.

[Sidenote:--27--] Cassius Dio Cocceianus in writings concerning the Latins
has written that this city [i.e. Babylon] comprised a circuit of four
hundred stades. (Compare also Tzetzes, Exegesis of Homer's Iliad, p. 141,
15 ff).

Here, moreover, Trajan saw the asphalt out of which the walls of Babylon
had been built. When mixed with baked bricks or smooth stones this
material affords so great strength as to render them stronger than rock or
any kind of iron. He also looked at the opening from which issues a deadly
vapor that destroys any creature living upon the earth and any winged
thing that so much as inhales a breath of it. If it extended far above
ground or had several vents, the place would not be