as pontoons, and it was not worth the army's
while to encumber itself with the remainder. They could only have been
tracked up the strong stream of the Tigris by devoting to the work some
20,000 men; thus greatly weakening the strength of the armed force, and
at the same time hampering its movements. Julian, in sacrificing his
ships, suffered simply a pecuniary loss--they could not possibly have
been of any further service to him in the campaign.

Retreat being resolved upon, it only remained to determine what route
should be followed, and on what portion of the Roman territory the
march should be directed. The soldiers clamored for a return by the
way whereby they had come; but many valid objections to this course
presented themselves to their commanders. The country along the line of
the Euphrates had been exhausted of its stores by the troops in their
advance; the forage had been consumed, the towns and villages desolated.
There would be neither food nor shelter for the men along this route;
the season was also unsuitable for it, since the Euphrates was in full
flood, and the moist atmosphere would be sure to breed swarms of flies
and mosquitoes. Julian saw that by far the best line of retreat was
along the Tigris, which had higher banks than the Euphrates, which
was no longer in flood, and which ran through a tract that was highly
productive and that had for many years not been visited by an enemy. The
army, therefore, was ordered to commence its retreat through the country
lying on the left bank of the Tigris, and to spread itself over the
fertile region, in the hope of obtaining ample supplies. The march was
understood to be directed on Cordyene (Kurdistan), a province now in
the possession of Rome, a rich tract, and not more than about 250 miles
distant from Ctesiphon.

Before, however, the retreat commenced, while Julian and his victorious
army were still encamped in sight of Ctesiphon, the Persian king,
according to some writers, sent an embassy proposing terms of
peace. Julian's successes are represented as having driven Sapor to
despair--"the pride of his royalty was humbled in the dust; he took
his repasts on the ground; and the grief and anxiety of his mind were
expressed by the disorder of his hair." He would, it is suggested, have
been willing "to purchase, with one half of his kingdom, the safety of
the remainder, and would have gladly subscribed himself, in a treaty of
peace, the faithful and dependen