Sapor still pressed the reduction of Nisibis,
with an obstinate firmness, which could have yielded only to the
necessity of defending the eastern provinces of Persia against
a formidable invasion of the Massagetae. [67] Alarmed by this
intelligence, he hastily relinquished the siege, and marched with rapid
diligence from the banks of the Tigris to those of the Oxus. The danger
and difficulties of the Scythian war engaged him soon afterwards to
conclude, or at least to observe, a truce with the Roman emperor, which
was equally grateful to both princes; as Constantius himself, after the
death of his two brothers, was involved, by the revolutions of the
West, in a civil contest, which required and seemed to exceed the most
vigorous exertion of his undivided strength.

[Footnote 63: See Julian. Orat. i. p. 27, Orat. ii. p. 62, &c., with the
Commentary of Spanheim, (p. 188-202,) who illustrates the circumstances,
and ascertains the time of the three sieges of Nisibis. Their dates are
likewise examined by Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 668,
671, 674.) Something is added from Zosimus, l. iii. p. 151, and the
Alexandrine Chronicle, p. 290.]

[Footnote 64: Sallust. Fragment. lxxxiv. edit. Brosses, and Plutarch
in Lucull. tom. iii. p. 184. Nisibis is now reduced to one hundred and
fifty houses: the marshy lands produce rice, and the fertile meadows,
as far as Mosul and the Tigris, are covered with the ruins of towns and
allages. See Niebuhr, Voyages, tom. ii. p. 300-309.]

[Footnote 65: The miracles which Theodoret (l. ii. c. 30) ascribes to
St. James, Bishop of Edessa, were at least performed in a worthy cause,
the defence of his couutry. He appeared on the walls under the figure of
the Roman emperor, and sent an army of gnats to sting the trunks of the
elephants, and to discomfit the host of the new Sennacherib.]

[Footnote 66: Julian. Orat. i. p. 27. Though Niebuhr (tom. ii. p. 307)
allows a very considerable swell to the Mygdonius, over which he saw a
bridge of twelve arches: it is difficult, however, to understand this
parallel of a trifling rivulet with a mighty river. There are many
circumstances obscure, and almost unintelligible, in the description of
these stupendous water-works.]

[Footnote 66a: Macdonald Kinnier observes on these floating batteries,
"As the elevation of place is considerably above the level of the
country in its immediate vicinity, and the Mygdonius is a very
insignificant stream,