Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/273

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 249 proved himself an intrepid soldier and a skilful general. CHAP. The great king fled before his valour ; an immense ^^^^- booty, and the conquest of Mesopotamia, vrere the im- mediate fruits of this signal victory. Such are the circumstances of this ostentatious and improbable re- lation, dictated, as it too plainly appears, by the vanity of the monarch, adorned by the unblushing servility of his flatterers, and received without contradiction by a distant and obsequious senate ^. Far from being in- clined to believe that the arms of Alexander obtained any memorable advantage over the Persians, we are induced to suspect, that all this blaze of imaginary glory was designed to conceal some real disgrace. Our suspicions are confirmed by the authority ofMorepro- a contemporary historian, who mentions the virtues ofcouiuof Alexander with respect, and his faults with candour. tl»e war. He describes the judicious plan which had been formed for the conduct of the war. Three Roman armies were destined to invade Persia at the same time, and by different roads. But the operations of the campaign, though wisely concerted, were not executed either with ability or success. The first of these armies, as soon as it had entered the marshy plains of Babylon, towards the artificial conflux of the Euphrates and the Tigris *, was encompassed by the superior numbers, and de- stroyed by the arrows of the enemy. The alHance of Chosroes, king of Armenia^, and the long tract of moun- tainous country, in which the Persian cavalry was of little service, opened a secure entrance into the heart of Media, to the second of the Roman armies. These brave troops laid waste the adjacent provinces, and by several successful actions against Artaxerxes, gave a faint colour to the emperor's vanity. But the retreat of this victorious army was imprudent, or at least un- d Hist. August, p. 133. somewhat confused. Media, by asserting, that Chosroes, king of Armenia, defeated Artaxerxes, and pursued him to the confines of India. The exploits of Chosroes have been magnified ; and he acted as a dependent ally to the Romans.
 * M. de Tillemont has already observed, that Herodian's geography is
 * " Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 71.) illustrates this invasion of