Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/465

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 4*11 but martial ignorance of the legions in the elegant su- CHAP, perfluities of life. A bag of shining leather filled with "^^^^^, pearls fell into the hands of a private soldier ; he care- fully preserved the bag, but he threw away its con- tents, judging, that whatever was of no use could not possibly be of any value ^ The principal loss of Narses and beha- was of a much more affecting nature. Several of his ^.^ "J ^.^ '* wives, his sisters, and children, who had attended the tives. army, were made captives in the defeat. But though the character of Galerius had in general very little affinity with that of Alexander, he imitated, after his victory, the amiable behaviour of the Macedonian to- wards the family of Darius. The wives and children of Narses were protected from violence and rapine, con- veyed to a place of safety, and treated with every mark of respect and tenderness, that was due from a gen- erous enemy to their age, their sex, and their royal dignity ^. While the east anxiously expected the decision of Negociation this great contest, the emperor Diocletian, having as- ^^ ^^^^^' sembled in Syria a strong army of observation, dis- played from a distance the resources of the Roman power, and reserved himself for any future emergency of the war. On the intelligence of the victory, he condescended to advance towards the frontier, with a view of moderating, by his presence and counsels, the pride of Galerius. The interview of the Roman princes at Nisibis was accompanied with every expression of respect on one side, and of esteem on the other. It was in that city that they soon afterwards gave audience to the ambassador of the great king ®. The power, or at least the spirit of Narses, had been broken by his scutum. '^ The Persians confessed the Roman superiority in morals as well as in arms : Eutrop. ix. 24. But this respect and gratitude of enemies is very seldom to be found in their own accounts. « The account of the negociation is taken from the fragments of Peter the patrician, in the Excerpta Legationum published in the Byzantine collec- tion. Peter lived under Justinian ; but it is very evident, by the nature of his materials, that they are drawn from the most authentic and respectable writers. i
 * The story is told by Amraianus, 1. xxii. Instead of saccum some read