Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/396

 378 THE DECLINE AND FALL C II A P. atonement which could be accepted for such an act of ____i__ rashness and insolence. His proposals were answered by a general discharge ; and his only son, a beautiful and valiant youth, was pierced through the heart by a javelin, shot from one of the balista^. The funeral of the prince of the Chionites was celebrated according to the rites of his country ; and the grief of his aged father was alleviated by the solemn promise of Sapor, that the guilty city of Amida should serve as a funeral pile to expiate the death, and to perpetuate the me- mory, of his son. Siege of The ancient city of Amid or Amida', which some- times assumes the provincial appellation of Diarbekir'', is advantageously situate in a fertile plain, watered by the natural and artificial channels of the Tio^ris, of which the least inconsiderable stream bends in a semi- circular form round the eastern part of the city. The emperor Constantius had recently conferred on Amida the honour of his own name, and the additional forti- fications of strong walls and lofty towers. It was pro- vided with an arsenal of military engines, and the ordi- nary garrison had been reinforced to the amount of seven legions, when the place was invested by the arms of Sapor'. His first and most sanguine hopes de- pended on the success of a general assault. To the several nations which followed his standard their re- spective posts were assigned ; the south to the Vertge, the north to the Albanians, the east to the Chionites, inflamed with grief and indignation ; the west to the Segestans, the bravest of his warriors, who covered ' Foi- the description of Amida, see d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 108 ; Histoire de Timur Bee, par Cherefeddin AH, 1. iii. c. 41 ; Ahmed Arabsiades, torn. i. p. 331. c. 43 ; Voyages de Tavernier, torn. i. p. 301 ; A''oyages d'Otter, torn. ii. p. 273 ; and Voyages de Niebuhr, torn. ii. p. 324 — 328. The last of these travellers, a learned and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida, which illustrates the operations of the siege. k Diarbekir, which is styled Amid, or Kara- Amid, in the public writings of the Turks, contains above sixteen thousand houses, and is the residence of a pasha with three tails. The epithet of Kara is derived from the black- ness of the stone which composes the strong and ancient wall of Amida. ' The operations of the siege of Amida are very minutely described by Ammiinus, (xix. 1 — 9.) who acted an honourable part in the defence, ani escaped with difficulty when the city was stormed by the Persians.