d by a distribution
of the stores set apart for the officers and for the members of the
imperial household. Under these circumstances it is not surprising
that Julian's firmness deserted him, and that he began to give way to
melancholy forebodings, and to see visions and omens which portended
disaster and death. In the silence of his tent, as he studied a favorite
philosopher during the dead of night, he thought he saw the Genius of
the State, with veiled head and cornucopia, stealing away through the
hangings slowly and sadly. Soon afterwards, when he had just gone forth
into the open air to perform averting sacrifices, the fall of a shooting
star seemed to him a direct threat from Mars, with whom he had recently
quarrelled. The soothsayers were consulted, and counselled abstinence
from all military movement; but the exigencies of the situation caused
their advice to be for once contemned. It was only by change of place
that there was any chance of obtaining supplies of food; and ultimate
extrication from the perils that surrounded the army depended on a
steady persistence in retreat.

At dawn of day, therefore, on the memorable 26th of June, A.D. 363, the
tents were struck, and the Roman army continued its march across the
wasted plain, having the Tigris at some little distance on its left, and
some low hills upon its right. The enemy did not anywhere appear; and
the troops advanced for a time without encountering opposition. But, as
they drew near the skirts of the hills, not far from Samarah, suddenly
an attack was made upon them. The rearguard found itself violently
assailed; and when Julian hastened to its relief, news came that the van
was also engaged with the enemy, and was already in difficulties. The
active commander now hurried towards the front, and had accomplished
half the distance, when the main Persian attack was delivered upon his
right centre, and to his dismay he found himself entangled amid the
masses of heavy horse and elephants, which had thrown his columns into
confusion. The suddenness of the enemy's appearance had prevented him
from donning his complete armor; and as he fought without a breastplate,
and with the aid of his light-armed troops restored the day, falling on
the foe from behind and striking the backs and houghs of the horses and
elephants, the javelin of a horseman, after grazing the flesh of his
arm, fixed itself in his right side, penetrating-through the ribs to
the liver. Julian,