Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/462

 438 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, monarch. Tiridates, a second time expelled from the '__ throne of Armenia, once more took refuge in the court of the emperors. Narses soon reestablished his au- thority over the revolted province; and loudly com- plaining of the protection afforded by the Romans to rebels and fugitives, aspired to the conquest of the east 'J. War be- Neither prudence nor honour could permit the em- Persians ^ perors to forsake the cause of the Armenian king, and and the Ro- it was resoIvcd to exert the force of the empire in the A.D.296. Persian war. Diocletian, with the calm dignity which he constantly assumed, fixed his own station in the city of Antioch, from whence he prepared and directed the military operations "". The conduct of the legions was intrusted to the intrepid valour of Galerius, who, for that important purpose, was removed from the banks Defeat of of the Danube to those of the Euphrates. The armies a enus. ^^^^ encountered each other in the plains of Mesopo- tamia, and two battles were fought with various and doubtful success : but the third engagement was of a more decisive nature ; and the Roman army received a total overthrow, which is attributed to the rashness of Galerius, who, with an inconsiderable body of troops, attacked the innumerable host of the Persians '. But the consideration of the country that was the scene of action, may suggest another reason for his defeat. The same ground on which Galerius was vanquished, had been rendered memorable by the death of Crassus, and the slaughter of ten legions. It was a plain of more than sixty miles, which extended from the hills of Carr- hae to the Euphrates ; a smooth and barren surface of 1 Moses of Chorene takes no notice of this second revolution, which I have been obliged to collect from a passage of Ammianus Marcellinus, 1. xxiii. c. 5. Lactantius speaks of the ambition of Narses : " Concitatus domesticis exemplis avi sui Saporis ad occupandum orientem magnis copiis inhiabat." De Mort. Persecut. c. 9. "■ We may readily believe, that Lactantius ascribes to cowardice the con- duct of Diocletian. Julian in his oration says, that he remained with all the forces of the empire : a very hyperbolical expression. 8 Our five abbreviators, Eutropius, Festus, the two Victors, and Orosius, all relate the last and great battle ; but Orosius is the only one who speaks of the two former.