Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/393

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 575 arro<Tantlv tlireatenetl, that if his ambassador returned CHAP. o J ' _ XIX in vain, he was prepared to take the field in the spring, L. and to support the justice of his cause by the strength of his invincible arms. Narses, who was endowed with the most polite and amiable manners, endeavoured, as far as was consistent with his duty, to soften the harsh- ness of the message •*. Both the style and substance were maturely weighed in the imperial council, and he was dismissed with the following answer: " Constan- tius had a right to disclaim the officiousness of liis ministers, who had acted without any specific orders from the throne: he was not, however, averse to an equal and honourable treaty ; but it was highly inde- cent, as well as absurd, to propose to the sole and victorious emperor of the Roman world, the same con- ditions of peace which he had indignantly rejected at the time when his power was contracted within the narrow limits of the east : the chance of arms was un- certain; and Sapor should recollect, that if the Ro- mans had sometimes been vanquished in battle, they had almost always been successful in the event of the war." A few days after the departure of Narses, three ambassadors were sent to the court of Sapor, who was already returned from the Scythian expedition to his ordinary residence of Ctesiphon. A count, a notary, and a sophist, had been selected for this important commission; and Constantius, who was secretly anxious for the conclusion of the peace, entertained some hopes that the dignity of the first of these ministers, the dex- terity of the second, and the rhetoric of the third ^, w^ould persuade the Persian monarch to abate of the •1 Ammianus (xvii. 5.) transcribes the haughty letter. Themistius (Orat. iv. p. 57. edit. Petav.) takes notice of the silk covering. Idatius and Zona- ras mention the journey of the ambassador ; and Peter the patrician (in Ex- cerpt. Legat. p. 28. ) has informed us of his conciliating behaviour. e Ammianus, xvii. 5, and Valesius ad loc. The sophist, or piiilosopiier, (in that age these words were almost synonymous) was Eustathius the Cap- padocian, the disciple of Jamblichus, and the friend of St. Basil. Eunapius (in Vit. .tdesii, p. 44 — 47.) fondly attributes to this philosophic ambas- sador the glory of enchanting the barbarian king by the persuasive ciiarms of reason and eloquence. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, toni. iv. p. 828. 1132.