Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/64

 42 THE DECLINE AND FALL skirmishes. The darkness of the night and the separation of the Roinans afforded the Persian monarch an opportunity of revenge ; and one of their camps was swept away by a rapid and impetuous assault. But the review of his loss and the consciousness of his danger determined Chosroes to a speedy retreat ; he burnt, in his passage, the vacant town of Melitene ; and, without consulting the safety of his troops, boldly swam the Euphrates on the back of an elephant." After this unsuc- cessful campaign, the want of magazines, and perhaps some inroad of the Turks, obliged him to disband or divide his forces ; the Romans were left masters of the field, and their general Justinian, advancing to the relief of the Persarmenian rebels, erected liis standard on the banks of the Araxes. The great Pompey had formerly halted within three days' march of the ("aspian ; '^ that inland sea was explored, for the first time, by an hostile fleet,'' and seventy thousand captives were transplanted from Hyrcania to the isle of Cyprus. On the return of spring, Justinian descended into the fertile plains of Assyria, the flames Hisde.Tth. of war approached the residence of Nushirvan, the indignant monarch sunk into the grave, and his last edict restrained his successors from exposing their person in a battle against the Romans. Yet the memory of this transient affront was lost in the glories of a long reign ; and his formidable enemies, after indulging their dream of conquest, again solicited a short respite from the calamities of war.^" TvrannyaDd Tile thronc of Chosrocs Nusliirvau was filled bv Hormouz. '."icea of his ., .,, ,, ifi Mn Hormouz or Hormisdas, tfie eldest or the most favoured of his sons. A.D. 579-590 With the kingdoms of Persia and India, he inherited the repu- ^ [Cp. John Eph. , vi. 8. The Romans might have followed up their victory, or at least hindered the destruction of Melitene. Their inactivity is ascribed to the mutual jealousies of the commanders.] '^ He had vanquished the Albanians, who brought into the field 12,000 horse and 60,000 foot ; but he dreaded the multitude of venomous reptiles, whose exist- ence may admit of some doubt, as well as that of tiie neighbouring Amazons. Plutarch, in Pompeio, toni. ii. p. 1165, 1166 [c. 36J. '• In the history of the world I can only perceive two navies on the Caspian ; i. Of the Macedonians, when Patrocles, the admiral of the kings of Syria, Seleucus and Antiochus, descended most probably the river Oxus, from the confines of India (Plin. Hist. Xatur. vi. 21). 2. Of the Russians, when Peter the First con- ducted a fleet and army from the neighbourhood of Moscow to the coast of Persia (Bell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 325-352). He justly observes that such martial pomp had never been displayed on the 'olga. ^^ For these Persian wars and treaties, see Menander in E.xcerpt. Legat. p. 113 [/e^. 114], 125 [fr. 33, 36 ei sqq., in F. H. G. iv.]. Theophanes Byzant. apud Photium, cod. Ixiv. p. j'j, 80, 81. Evagrius, 1. v. c. 7-15. Theophylact, 1. iii. c. 9-16. Agathias, 1. iv. p. 140 [c. 29]. [John of Ephesus, vi. 3-13. The last edict