already
endured the miseries of famine, cast a look of despair on the Tigris,
and upon the Barbarians; whose numbers and obstinacy increased with the
distress of the Imperial army. [108]

[Footnote 104: Regius equitatus. It appears, from Irocopius, that the
Immortals, so famous under Cyrus and his successors, were revived, if we
may use that improper word, by the Sassanides. Brisson de Regno Persico,
p. 268, &c.]

[Footnote 105: The obscure villages of the inland country are
irrecoverably lost; nor can we name the field of battle where Julian
fell: but M. D'Anville has demonstrated the precise situation of Sumere,
Carche, and Dura, along the banks of the Tigris, (Geographie Ancienne,
tom. ii. p. 248 L'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 95, 97.) In the ninth
century, Sumere, or Samara, became, with a slight change of name, the
royal residence of the khalifs of the house of Abbas. * Note: Sormanray,
called by the Arabs Samira, where D'Anville placed Samara, is too
much to the south; and is a modern town built by Caliph Morasen.
Serra-man-rai means, in Arabic, it rejoices every one who sees it. St.
Martin, iii. 133.--M.]

[Footnote 106: Dura was a fortified place in the wars of Antiochus
against the rebels of Media and Persia, (Polybius, l. v. c. 48, 52, p.
548, 552 edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.)]

[Footnote 107: A similar expedient was proposed to the leaders of the
ten thousand, and wisely rejected. Xenophon, Anabasis, l. iii. p. 255,
256, 257. It appears, from our modern travellers, that rafts floating on
bladders perform the trade and navigation of the Tigris.]

[Footnote 108: The first military acts of the reign of Jovian are
related by Ammianus, (xxv. 6,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 146, p. 364,)
and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 189, 190, 191.) Though we may distrust the
fairness of Libanius, the ocular testimony of Eutropius (uno a Persis
atque altero proelio victus, x. 17) must incline us to suspect that
Ammianus had been too jealous of the honor of the Roman arms.]

In this hopeless condition, the fainting spirits of the Romans were
revived by the sound of peace. The transient presumption 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 pow