tioch to Constantinople the unfortunate Constantius, anxious and
perhaps over-fatigued, fell sick at Mopsucrene, in Cilicia, and died
there, after a short illness, towards the close of A.D. 361. Julian
the Apostate succeeded peacefully to the empire whereto he was about to
assert his right by force of arms; and Sapor found that the war which
he had provoked with Rome, in reliance upon his adversary's weakness and
incapacity, had to be carried on with a prince of far greater natural
powers and of much superior military training.

CHAPTER X.

_Julian becomes Emperor of Rome. His Resolution to invade Persia. His
Views and Motives. His Proceedings. Proposals of Sapor rejected. Other
Embassies. Relations of Julian with Armenia. Strength of his Army.
His invasion of Mesopotamia. His Line of March. Siege of Perisabor; of
Maogamalcha. Battle of the Tigris. Further Progress of Julian checked
by his Inability to invest Ctesiphon. His Retreat. His Death. Retreat
continued by Jovian. Sapor offers Terms of Peace. Peace made by Jovian.
Its Conditions. Reflections on the Peace and on the Termination of the
Second Period of Struggle between Rome and Persia._

"Julianus, redacta ad unum se orbis Romani curatione, glorise nimis
cupidus, in Persas proficiscitur."--Aurel. Viet. Epit. Sec.43.

The prince on whom the government of the Roman empire, and consequently
the direction of the Persian war, devolved by the death of Constantius,
was in the flower of his age, proud, self-confident, and full of energy.
He had been engaged for a period of four years in a struggle with the
rude and warlike tribes of Germany, had freed the whole country west
of the Rhine from the presence of those terrible warriors, and had even
carried fire and sword far into the wild and savage districts on the
right bank of the river, and compelled the Alemanni and other powerful
German tribes to make their submission to the majesty of Rome.
Personally brave, by temperament restless, and inspired with an ardent
desire to rival or eclipse the glorious deeds of those heroes of former
times who had made themselves a name in history, he viewed the disturbed
condition of the East at the time of his accession not as a trouble, not
as a drawback upon the delights of empire, but as a happy circumstance,
a fortunate opportunity for distinguishing himself by some great
achievement. Of all the Greeks, Alexander appeared to him the most
illustrious; of all his predec