winter. With the first breath of spring he put his forces in motion,
and, quitting Antioch, marched with all speed to the Euphrates. Passing
Litarbi, and then Hiapolis, he crossed the river by a bridge of boats in
the vicinity that place, and proceeded by Batnee to the important city
of Carrhae, once the home of Abraham. Here he halted for a few days and
finally fixed his plans. It was by this time well known to the Romans
that there were two, and two only, convenient roads whereby Southern
Mesopotamia was to be reached, one along the line of the Mons Masius to
the Tigris, and then along the banks of that stream, the other down the
valley of the Euphrates to the great alluvial plain on the lower course
of the rivers. Julian had, perhaps, hitherto doubted which line he
should follow in person. The first had been preferred by Alexander and
by Trajan, the second by the younger Cyrus, by Avidius Cassius, and by
Severus. Both lines were fairly practicable; but that of the Tigris
was circuitous, and its free employment was only possible under the
condition of Armenia being certainly friendly. If Julian had cause to
suspect, as it is probable that he had, the fidelity oL the Armenians,
he may have felt that there was one line only which he could with
prudence pursue. He might send a subsidiary force by the doubtful route
which could advance to his aid if matters went favorably, or remain on
the defensive if they assumed a threatening aspect; but his own
grand attack must be by the other. Accordingly he divided his forces.
Committing a body of troops, which is variously estimated at from 18,000
to 30,000, into the hands of Procopius, a connection of his own, and
Sebastian, Duke of Egypt, with orders that they should proceed by way of
the Mons Masius to Armenia, and, uniting themselves with the forces
of Arsaces, invade Northern Media, ravage it, and then join him before
Ctesiphon by the line of the Tigris, he reserved for himself and for
his main army the shorter and more open route down the valley of the
Euphrates. Leaving Carrhae on the 26th of March, after about a week's
stay, he marched southward, at the head of 65,000 men, by Davana and
along the course of the Belik, to Callinicus or Nicophorium, near the
junction of the Belik with the Euphrates. Here the Saracen chiefs came
and made their submission, and were graciously received by the emperor,
to whom they presented a crown of gold. At the same time the fleet made
its app