Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/400

 38;^ THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, the eunuchs; and the military command of the east XIX. . ^__^_1_ was bestowed, by the same influence, on Sabinian, a wealthy and subtle veteran, who had attained the in- , firmities, without acquiring the experience, of age. By a second order, which issued from the same jea- lous and inconstant counsels, Ursicinus was again de- spatched to the frontier of Mesopotamia, and con- demned to sustain the labours of a war, the honours of which had been transferred to his unworthy rival. Sa- binian fixed his indolent station under the walls of Edessa, and while he amused himself with the idle parade of military exercise, and moved to the sound of flutes in th6 Pyrrhic dance, the public defence was abandoned to the boldness and diligence of the former general of the east. But whenever Ursicinus recom- mended any vigorous plan of operations; when he proposed, at the head of a light and active army, to wheel round the foot of the mountains, to intercept the convoys of the enemy, to harass the wide extent of the Persian lines, and to relieve the distress of Amida ; the timid and envious commander alleged, that he was restrained by his positive orders from endangering the safety of the troops. Amida was at length taken ; its bravest defenders, who had escaped the sword of the barbarians, died in the Roman camp by the hand of the executioner ; and Ursicinus himself, after support- ing the disgrace of a partial enquiry, was punished for the misconduct of Sabinian by the loss of his military rank. But Constantius soon experienced the truth of the prediction which honest indignation had extorted from his injured lieutenant, that as long as such maxims of government were suffered to prevail, the emperor himself would find it no easy task to defend his eastern dominions from the invasion of a foreisfn enemy. When he had subdued or pacified the bar- barians of the Danube, Constantius proceeded by slow grace of Ursicinus with that faithful attention which a soldier owed to his general. Some partiality may be suspected ; yet the whole account is con- sistent and probable.