Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/397

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 379 tlieir front with a formidable line of Indian elephants '". CHAP. The Persians, on every side, supported their efforts, ' ' ' and animated their courage ; and the monarch himself, careless of his rank and safety, dis[)layed, in the prose- cution of the siege, the ardour of a youthful soldier. After an obstinate combat the barbarians were re- pulsed ; they incessantly returned to the charge ; they were again driven back with a dreadful slaughter, and two rel)el legions of Gaids, who had been banished into the east, signalized their undisciplined courage by a nocturnal sally into the heart of the Persian camj). In one of the fiercest of these repeated assaults, Amida was betrayed by the treachery of a deserter, who indi- cated to the barbarians a secret and neglected staircase, scooped out of the rock that hangs over the stream of the Tigris. Seventy chosen archers of the royal guard ascended in silence to the third story of a lofty tower which commanded the precipice ; they elevated on high the Persian banner, the signal of confidence to the as- sailants, and of dismay to the besieged; and if this devoted band could have maintained their post a few minutes longer, the reduction of the place might have been purchased by the sacrifice of their lives. After Sapor had tried, without success, the efficacy of force and of stratagem, he had recourse to the slower but more certain operations of a regular siege, in the con- duct of which he was instructed by the skill of the Roman deserters. The trenches were opened at a convenient distance, and the troops destined for that service advanced under the portable cover of strong hurdles, to fill up the ditch, and undermine the foun- dations of the walls. Wooden towers were at the ■" Of these four nations, the Albanians are too well known to require any description. The Segestans inhabited a large and level country, which still preserves their name, to the south of Khorasan, and the west of Hindostan. See Geographia Nubiensis, p. 133, and d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 797. Notwithstanding the boasted victory of Bahram, (vol. i. p. 410.) the Segestans, above fourscore years afterwards, appear as an independent nation, the ally of Persia. ^Ve are ignorant of the situation of the Vertae and Chionites, but I am inclined to place them (at least the latter) towards the confines of India and Scyihia. See Ammian. xvi. 9.