Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/464

 440 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, and permitted him to retrieve his own honour as well • as that of the Roman arms. In the room of the un- warhke troops of Asia, which had most probably served in the first expedition, a second army was drawn from the veterans and new levies of the lUyrian frontier, and a considerable body of Gothic auxiliaries were taken into the imperial pay ^. At the head of a chosen army of twenty-five thousand men, Galerius again passed the Euphrates ; but, instead of exposing his legions in the open plains of Mesopotamia, he advanced through the mountains of Armenia, where he found the inhabitants devoted to his cause, and the country as favourable to the operations of infantry, as it was inconvenient for the motions of cavalry *. Adversity had confirmed the Roman discipline, while the barbarians, elated by suc- cess, were become so neghgent and remiss, that in the moment when they least expected it, they were sur- prised by the active conduct of Galerius, who, attended only by two horsemen, had with his own eyes secretly examined the state and position of their camp. A sur- prise, especially in the night-time, was for the most part fatal to a Persian army. " Their horses were tied, and generally shackled, to prevent their running away ; and if an alarm happened, a Persian had his housing to fix, his horse to bridle, and his corslet to His victory, put on, before he could mounts" On this occasion, the impetuous attack of Galerius spread disorder and dismay over the camp of the barbarians. A slight re- sistance was followed by a dreadful carnage, and in the general confusion the wounded monarch (for Narses commanded his armies in person) fled towards the de- serts of Media. His sumptuous tents, and those of his satraps, afforded an immense booty to the conqueror ; and an incident is mentioned, which proves the rustic » Aurelius Victor ; Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 21. sola, seu facilior vincendi via est. He followed the conduct of Trajan, and the idea of Julius Caesar. •» Xenophon's Anabasis, 1. iii. For that reason the Persian cavalry en- camped sixty stadia from the enemy.
 * Aurelius Victor says, Per Armeniaiu in hostes contendit, quae fenne