Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/103

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 81 emperor was indispensably required to soothe the restless and rapacious spirit of the Avars. Since the days of Scipio and Hannibal, no bolder enterprise His second has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the a.d. k23, gm, deliverance of the empire. ^''^ He permitted the Persians to oppress for a while the provinces, and to insult with impunity the capital, of the East ; while the Roman emperor explored his perilous way through the Black Sea ^''- and the mountains of Armenia, penetrated into the heart of Persia,!'^^ and i*ecalled the armies of the Great Kin^ to the defence of their bleeding (Heracnua ^, _ ^ ^^ leaves Cou- country. With a select band of five thousand soldiers, Hera- stantinopie, clius sailed fi*om Constantinople to Trebizond ; assembled his celebrates ^ ' Easter, April 20, at Nlcome- dia, A.D. 624] 1"! Theophanes (p. 256 [p. 306, ed. de Boor]) carries Heraclius swiftly (Kurd Taxos") into Armenia. Nicephorus (p. 11), though he confounds the two expedi- tions, defines the province of Lazica. Eutychius (Annal. torn. ii. p. 231) has given the 5000 men, with the more probable station of Trebizond. [Nicephorus and George Monachus throw the three expeditions of Heraclius into one.] i"2 From Constantinople to Trebizond, with a fair wind, four or five days ; from thence to Erzerom, five; to Erivan, twelve ; to Tauris, ten : in all thirty-two. Such is the Itinerary of Tavernier( Voyages, toni. i. p. 12-56), who was perfectly con- versant with the roads of Asia. Tournefort, who travelled with a pasha, spent ten or twelve days between Trebizond and Erzerom (Voyage du Levant, torn. lii. lettre -wiii.); and Chardin (Voyages, tom. i. p. 249-254) gives the more correct distanceof fifty-three parasangs, each of 5000 paces (wliat paces?) between Erivan and Tauris. [It has been shown by Gerland (oJ>. fit., p. 345) that in none of his three expeditions did Heraclius reach the scene of operations by sailing across the Euxinc. In regard to this second expedition, the assumption (resting on the statements of Nicephorus and George Monachus) is disproved by the narrative of the Armenian historian Sebaeos. From him we learn that Heraclius proceeded from Chalcedon to Csesarea in Cappa- docia. This shows that a result of the first expedition was the setting free of Chalcedon from the Persian occupation. From Csesarea, he marched northward, crossed the Euphrates, reached Karin or Erzeruni, and thence entered the valley of the Araxes, and destroyed the towns of Uovin and Nakitchevan (Sebaeos, c. 26, p. 102, Russ. iransl. by Patkanian). A brilliant emendation of Prof. H. Gelzer has restored to a passage of George of Pisidia a reference to the capture of Dovin. Heracliad, 2, 163— (09 kv Trape'pycu <rvfjL(j)opa^ TOvS' 6 ^io?. Read— 0J5 el' TTapfpyci) cru;ai^opas tou Aov(5io?. Then Heraclius entered Adherbijan, destroyed a fine temple at Ganzaca (Tavriz), and followed Chosroes in the direction of Dastagerd (Theophanes, p. 307). But a new army had been formea under Shahin, and Shahrbaraz was approaching with his forces from the west (Sebaeos, //'.); they were to join at Xisibis. The news of their movements forced Heraclius to abandon his advance on Dastagerd and retreat to Albania. The campaign has been thoroughly discussed by E. Gerland, o/>. cit.] ^"^ The expedition of Heraclius into Persia is finely illustrated by M. d'Anville (M6moires de I'Acad^mie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 559-573). He discovers the situation of Gandzaca, Thebarnia, Dastagerd, &:c. with admirable skill and learning ; but the obscure campaign of 624 [probably 625] he passes over in silence. [The date of the first campaign of the second expedition, namely the campaign in Adherbijan, is probably 624 (not 623). Sec Gerland, op. cit.'] VOL. V. 6