t their lives in attempting to stop
the flight of their soldiers. The battle was at length restored by the
persevering valor of the Romans; the Persians were repulsed with a
great slaughter of men and elephants; and the army, after marching and
fighting a long summer's day, arrived, in the evening, at Samara, on the
banks of the Tigris, about one hundred miles above Ctesiphon. [105]
On the ensuing day, the Barbarians, instead of harassing the march,
attacked the camp, of Jovian; which had been seated in a deep and
sequestered valley. From the hills, the archers of Persia insulted
and annoyed the wearied legionaries; and a body of cavalry, which had
penetrated with desperate courage through the Praetorian gate, was cut
in pieces, after a doubtful conflict, near the Imperial tent. In the
succeeding night, the camp of Carche was protected by the lofty dikes
of the river; and the Roman army, though incessantly exposed to the
vexatious pursuit of the Saracens, pitched their tents near the city of
Dura, [106] four days after the death of Julian. The Tigris was still
on their left; their hopes and provisions were almost consumed; and
the impatient soldiers, who had fondly persuaded themselves that the
frontiers of the empire were not far distant, requested their new
sovereign, that they might be permitted to hazard the passage of the
river. With the assistance of his wisest officers, Jovian endeavored to
check their rashness; by representing, that if they possessed sufficient
skill and vigor to stem the torrent of a deep and rapid stream, they
would only deliver themselves naked and defenceless to the Barbarians,
who had occupied the opposite banks, Yielding at length to their
clamorous importunities, he consented, with reluctance, that five
hundred Gauls and Germans, accustomed from their infancy to the waters
of the Rhine and Danube, should attempt the bold adventure, which might
serve either as an encouragement, or as a warning, for the rest of the
army. In the silence of the night, they swam the Tigris, surprised an
unguarded post of the enemy, and displayed at the dawn of day the signal
of their resolution and fortune. The success of this trial disposed
the emperor to listen to the promises of his architects, who propose to
construct a floating bridge of the inflated skins of sheep, oxen, and
goats, covered with a floor of earth and fascines. [107] Two important
days were spent in the ineffectual labor; and the Romans, who