the Roman emperor, of his brother's person. In weighing the reasons for
and against war he cannot but have assigned considerable importance to
this circumstance. It did not ultimately prevent him from challenging
Rome to the combat; but it may help to account for the hesitation, the
delay, and the fluctuations of purpose, which we remark in his conduct
during the four or five years which immediately preceded the death of
Constantine.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Position of Affairs on the Death of Constantine. First War of Sapor
with Rome, A.D. 337-350. First Siege of Nisibis. Obscure Interval.
Troubles in Armenia, and Recovery of Armenia by the Persians. Sapor's
Second Siege of Nisibis. Its Failure. Great Battle of Singara. Sapor's
Son made Prisoner and murdered in cold blood. Third Siege of Nisibis.
Sapor called away by an Invasion of the Massagatae._

[Illustration: CHAPTER-8]

"Constantius adversus Persas et Saporem, qui Mesopotamiam vastaverant,
novem prasliis parum prospere decertavit."--Orosius, Hist. vii. 39.

The death of Constantine was followed by the division of the Roman world
among his sons. The vast empire with which Sapor had almost made up his
mind to contend was partitioned out into three moderate-sized kingdoms.
In place of the late brave and experienced emperor, a raw youth, who
had given no signs of superior ability, had the government of the Roman
provinces of the East, of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and
Egypt. Master of one third of the empire only, and of the least warlike
portion, Constantius was a foe whom the Persian monarch might well
despise, and whom he might expect to defeat without much difficulty.
Moreover, there was much in the circumstances of the time that seemed to
promise success to the Persian arms in a struggle with Rome. The removal
of Constantme had been followed by an outburst of licentiousness and
violence among the Roman soldiery in the capital; and throughout the
East the army had cast off the restraints of discipline, and given
indications of a turbulent and seditious spirit. The condition of
Armenia was also such as to encourage Sapor in his ambitious projects.
Tiridates, though a persecutor of the Christians in the early part of
his reign, had been converted by Gregory the Illuminator, and had then
enforced Christianity on his subjects by fire and sword. A sanguinary
conflict had followed. A large portion of the Armenians, firmly attached
to the old n