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The satisfaction which Constantius had received from this
journey excited him to the generous emulation of bestowing on the
Romans some memorial of his own gratitude and munificence. His
first idea was to imitate the equestrian and colossal statue
which he had seen in the Forum of Trajan; but when he had
maturely weighed the difficulties of the execution, 42 he chose
rather to embellish the capital by the gift of an Egyptian
obelisk. In a remote but polished age, which seems to have
preceded the invention of alphabetical writing, a great number of
these obelisks had been erected, in the cities of Thebes and
Heliopolis, by the ancient sovereigns of Egypt, in a just
confidence that the simplicity of their form, and the hardness of
their substance, would resist the injuries of time and violence.
43 Several of these extraordinary columns had been transported
to Rome by Augustus and his successors, as the most durable
monuments of their power and victory; 44 but there remained one
obelisk, which, from its size or sanctity, escaped for a long
time the rapacious vanity of the conquerors. It was designed by
Constantine to adorn his new city; 45 and, after being removed
by his order from the pedestal where it stood before the Temple
of the Sun at Heliopolis, was floated down the Nile to
Alexandria. The death of Constantine suspended the execution of
his purpose, and this obelisk was destined by his son to the
ancient capital of the empire. A vessel of uncommon strength and
capaciousness was provided to convey this enormous weight of
granite, at least a hundred and fifteen feet in length, from the
banks of the Nile to those of the Tyber. The obelisk of
Constantius was landed about three miles from the city, and
elevated, by the efforts of art and labor, in the great Circus of
Rome. 46
Footnote 42: Hormisdas, a fugitive prince of Persia, observed to
the emperor, that if he made such a horse, he must think of
preparing a similar stable, (the Forum of Trajan.) Another saying
of Hormisdas is recorded, "that one thing only had displeased
him, to find that men died at Rome as well as elsewhere." If we
adopt this reading of the text of Ammianus, (displicuisse,
instead of placuisse,) we may consider it as a reproof of Roman
vanity. The contrary sense would be that of a misanthrope.
Footnote 43: When Germanicus visited the ancient monuments of
Thebes, the eldest of the priests explained to him the meaning of
these hieroglyphics. Tacit. Annal. ii. c. 60. But it seems
probable, that before the useful invention of an alphabet, these
natural or arbitrary signs were the common characters of the
Egyptian nation. See Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, vol.
iii. p. 69-243.
Footnote 44: See Plin. Hist. Natur. l. xxxvi. c. 14, 15.
Footnote 45: Ammian. Marcellin l. xvii. c. 4. He gives us a
Greek interpretation of the hieroglyphics, and his commentator
Lindenbrogius adds a Latin inscription, which, in twenty verses
of the age of Constantius, contain a short history of the
obelisk.
Footnote 46: See Donat. Roma. Antiqua, l. iii. c. 14, l. iv. c.
12, and the learned, though confused, Dissertation of Bargaeus on
obelisks, inserted in the fourth volume of Graevius's Roman
Antiquities, p. 1897- 1936. This dissertation is dedicated to
Pope Sixtus V., who erected the obelisk of Constantius in the
square before the patriarchal church of at. John Lateran.
Footnote *: It is doubtful whether the obelisk transported by
Constantius to Rome now exists. Even from the text of Ammianus,
it is uncertain whether the interpretation of Hermapion refers to
the older obelisk, (obelisco incisus est veteri quem videmus in
Circo,) raised, as he himself states, in the Circus Maximus, long
before, by Augustus, or to the one brought by Constantius. The
obelisk in the square before the church of St. John Lateran is
ascribed not to Rameses the Great but to Thoutmos II.
Champollion, 1. Lettre a M. de Blacas, p. 32. - M
The departure of Constantius from Rome was hastened by the
alarming intelligence of the distress and danger of the Illyrian
provinces. The distractions of civil war, and the irreparable
loss which the Roman legions had sustained in the battle of
Mursa, exposed those countries, almost without defence, to the
light cavalry of the Barbarians; and particularly to the inroads
of the Quadi, a fierce and powerful nation, who seem to have
exchanged the institutions of Germany for the arms and military
arts of their Sarmatian allies. 47 The garrisons of the
frontiers were insufficient to check their progress; and the
indolent monarch was at length compelled to assemble, from the
extremities of his dominions, the flower of the Palatine troops,
to take the field in person, and to employ a whole campaign, with
the preceding autumn and the ensuing spring, in the serious
prosecution of the war. The emperor passed the Danube on a
bridge of boats, cut in pieces all that encountered his march,
penetrated into the heart of the country of the Quadi, and
severely retaliated the calamities which they had inflicted on
the Roman province. The dismayed Barbarians were soon reduced to
sue for peace: they offered the restitution of his captive
subjects as an atonement for the past, and the noblest hostages
as a pledge of their future conduct. The generous courtesy which
was shown to the first among their chieftains who implored the
clemency of Constantius, encouraged the more timid, or the more
obstinate, to imitate their example; and the Imperial camp was
crowded with the princes and ambassadors of the most distant
tribes, who occupied the plains of the Lesser Poland, and who
might have deemed themselves secure behind the lofty ridge of the
Carpathian Mountains. While Constantius gave laws to the
Barbarians beyond the Danube, he distinguished, with specious
compassion, the Sarmatian exiles, who had been expelled from
their native country by the rebellion of their slaves, and who
formed a very considerable accession to the power of the Quadi.
The emperor, embracing a generous but artful system of policy,
released the Sarmatians from the bands of this humiliating
dependence, and restored them, by a separate treaty, to the
dignity of a nation united under the government of a king, the
friend and ally of the republic. He declared his resolution of
asserting the justice of their cause, and of securing the peace
of the provinces by the extirpation, or at least the banishment,
of the Limigantes, whose manners were still infected with the
vices of their servile origin. The execution of this design was
attended with more difficulty than glory. The territory of the
Limigantes was protected against the Romans by the Danube,
against the hostile Barbarians by the Teyss. The marshy lands
which lay between those rivers, and were often covered by their
inundations, formed an intricate wilderness, pervious only to the
inhabitants, who were acquainted with its secret paths and
inaccessible fortresses. On the approach of Constantius, the
Limigantes tried the efficacy of prayers, of fraud, and of arms;
but he sternly rejected their supplications, defeated their rude
stratagems, and repelled with skill and firmness the efforts of
their irregular valor. One of their most warlike tribes,
established in a small island towards the conflux of the Teyss
and the Danube, consented to pass the river with the intention of
surprising the emperor during the security of an amicable
conference. They soon became the victims of the perfidy which
they meditated. Encompassed on every side, trampled down by the
cavalry, slaughtered by the swords of the legions, they disdained
to ask for mercy; and with an undaunted countenance, still
grasped their weapons in the agonies of death. After this
victory, a considerable body of Romans was landed on the opposite
banks of the Danube; the Taifalae, a Gothic tribe engaged in the
service of the empire, invaded the Limigantes on the side of the
Teyss; and their former masters, the free Sarmatians, animated by
hope and revenge, penetrated through the hilly country, into the
heart of their ancient possessions. A general conflagration
revealed the huts of the Barbarians, which were seated in the
depth of the wilderness; and the soldier fought with confidence
on marshy ground, which it was dangerous for him to tread. In
this extremity, the bravest of the Limigantes were resolved to
die in arms, rather than to yield: but the milder sentiment,
enforced by the authority of their elders, at length prevailed;
and the suppliant crowd, followed by their wives and children,
repaired to the Imperial camp, to learn their fate from the mouth
of the conqueror. After celebrating his own clemency, which was
still inclined to pardon their repeated crimes, and to spare the
remnant of a guilty nation, Constantius assigned for the place of
their exile a remote country, where they might enjoy a safe and
honorable repose. The Limigantes obeyed with reluctance; but
before they could reach, at least before they could occupy, their
destined habitations, they returned to the banks of the Danube,
exaggerating the hardships of their situation, and requesting,
with fervent professions of fidelity, that the emperor would
grant them an undisturbed settlement within the limits of the
Roman provinces. Instead of consulting his own experience of
their incurable perfidy, Constantius listened to his flatterers,
who were ready to represent the honor and advantage of accepting
a colony of soldiers, at a time when it was much easier to obtain
the pecuniary contributions than the military service of the
subjects of the empire. The Limigantes were permitted to pass
the Danube; and the emperor gave audience to the multitude in a
large plain near the modern city of Buda. They surrounded the
tribunal, and seemed to hear with respect an oration full of
mildness and dignity when one of the Barbarians, casting his shoe
into the air, exclaimed with a loud voice, Marha! Marha! * a
word of defiance, which was received as a signal of the tumult.
They rushed with fury to seize the person of the emperor; his
royal throne and golden couch were pillaged by these rude hands;
but the faithful defence of his guards, who died at his feet,
allowed him a moment to mount a fleet horse, and to escape from
the confusion . The disgrace which had been incurred by a
treacherous surprise was soon retrieved by the numbers and
discipline of the Romans; and the combat was only terminated by
the extinction of the name and nation of the Limigantes. The
free Sarmatians were reinstated in the possession of their
ancient seats; and although Constantius distrusted the levity of
their character, he entertained some hopes that a sense of
gratitude might influence their future conduct. He had remarked
the lofty stature and obsequious demeanor of Zizais, one of the
noblest of their chiefs. He conferred on him the title of King;
and Zizais proved that he was not unworthy to reign, by a sincere
and lasting attachment to the interests of his benefactor, who,
after this splendid success, received the name of Sarmaticus from
the acclamations of his victorious army. 48
Footnote 47: The events of this Quadian and Sarmatian war are
related by Ammianus, xvi. 10, xvii. 12, 13, xix. 11
Footnote *: Reinesius reads Warrha, Warrha, Guerre, War. Wagner
note as a mm. Marc xix. ll. - M.
Footnote 48: Genti Sarmatarum magno decori confidens apud eos
regem dedit. Aurelius Victor. In a pompous oration pronounced by
Constantius himself, he expatiates on his own exploits with much
vanity, and some truth
While the Roman emperor and the Persian monarch, at the
distance of three thousand miles, defended their extreme limits
against the Barbarians of the Danube and of the Oxus, their
intermediate frontier experienced the vicissitudes of a languid
war, and a precarious truce. Two of the eastern ministers of
Constantius, the Praetorian praefect Musonian, whose abilities
were disgraced by the want of truth and integrity, and Cassian,
duke of Mesopotamia, a hardy and veteran soldier, opened a secret
negotiation with the satrap Tamsapor. 49 ! These overtures of
peace, translated into the servile and flattering language of
Asia, were transmitted to the camp of the Great King; who
resolved to signify, by an ambassador, the terms which he was
inclined to grant to the suppliant Romans. Narses, whom he
invested with that character, was honorably received in his
passage through Antioch and Constantinople: he reached Sirmium
after a long journey, and, at his first audience, respectfully
unfolded the silken veil which covered the haughty epistle of his
sovereign. Sapor, King of Kings, and Brother of the Sun and
Moon, (such were the lofty titles affected by Oriental vanity,)
expressed his satisfaction that his brother, Constantius Caesar,
had been taught wisdom by adversity. As the lawful successor of
Darius Hystaspes, Sapor asserted, that the River Strymon, in
Macedonia, was the true and ancient boundary of his empire;
declaring, however, that as an evidence of his moderation, he
would content himself with the provinces of Armenia and
Mesopotamia, which had been fraudulently extorted from his
ancestors. He alleged, that, without the restitution of these
disputed countries, it was impossible to establish any treaty on
a solid and permanent basis; and he arrogantly threatened, that
if his ambassador returned in vain, he was prepared to take the
field in the spring, and to support the justice of his cause by
the strength of his invincible arms. Narses, who was endowed
with the most polite and amiable manners, endeavored, as far as
was consistent with his duty, to soften the harshness of the
message. 50 Both the style and substance were maturely weighed
in the Imperial council, and he was dismissed with the following
answer: "Constantius had a right to disclaim the officiousness of
his ministers, who had acted without any specific orders from the
throne: he was not, however, averse to an equal and honorable
treaty; but it was highly indecent, as well as absurd, to propose
to the sole and victorious emperor of the Roman world, the same
conditions of peace which he had indignantly rejected at the time
when his power was contracted within the narrow limits of the
East: the chance of arms was uncertain; and Sapor should
recollect, that if the Romans had sometimes been vanquished in
battle, they had almost always been successful in the event of
the war." A few days after the departure of Narses, three
ambassadors were sent to the court of Sapor, who was already
returned from the Scythian expedition to his ordinary residence
of Ctesiphon. A count, a notary, and a sophist, had been selected
for this important commission; and Constantius, who was secretly
anxious for the conclusion of the peace, entertained some hopes
that the dignity of the first of these ministers, the dexterity
of the second, and the rhetoric of the third, 51 would persuade
the Persian monarch to abate of the rigor of his demands. But
the progress of their negotiation was opposed and defeated by the
hostile arts of Antoninus, 52 a Roman subject of Syria, who had
fled from oppression, and was admitted into the councils of
Sapor, and even to the royal table, where, according to the
custom of the Persians, the most important business was
frequently discussed. 53 The dexterous fugitive promoted his
interest by the same conduct which gratified his revenge. He
incessantly urged the ambition of his new master to embrace the
favorable opportunity when the bravest of the Palatine troops
were employed with the emperor in a distant war on the Danube. He
pressed Sapor to invade the exhausted and defenceless provinces
of the East, with the numerous armies of Persia, now fortified by
the alliance and accession of the fiercest Barbarians. The
ambassadors of Rome retired without success, and a second
embassy, of a still more honorable rank, was detained in strict
confinement, and threatened either with death or exile.
Footnote 49: Ammian. xvi. 9.
Footnote *: In Persian, Ten-schah-pour. St. Martin, ii. 177. -
M.
Footnote 50: Ammianus (xvii. 5) transcribes the haughty letter.
Themistius (Orat. iv. p. 57, edit. Petav.) takes notice of the
silken covering. Idatius and Zonaras mention the journey of the
ambassador; and Peter the Patrician (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 58)
has informed us of his behaviour.
Footnote 51: Ammianus, xvii. 5, and Valesius ad loc. The
sophist, or philosopher, (in that age these words were almost
synonymous,) was Eustathius the Cappadocian, the disciple of
Jamblichus, and the friend of St. Basil. Eunapius (in Vit.
Aedesii, p. 44-47) fondly attributes to this philosophic
ambassador the glory of enchanting the Barbarian king by the
persuasive charms of reason and eloquence. See Tillemont, Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 828, 1132.
Footnote 52: Ammian. xviii. 5, 6, 8. The decent and respectful
behavior of Antoninus towards the Roman general, sets him in a
very interesting light; and Ammianus himself speaks of the
traitor with some compassion and esteem.
Footnote 53: This circumstance, as it is noticed by Ammianus,
serves to prove the veracity of Herodotus, (l. i. c. 133,) and
the permanency of the Persian manners. In every age the Persians
have been addicted to intemperance, and the wines of Shiraz have
triumphed over the law of Mahomet. Brisson de Regno Pers. l. ii.
p. 462-472, and Voyages en Perse, tom, iii. p. 90.
The military historian, 54 who was himself despatched to
observe the army of the Persians, as they were preparing to
construct a bridge of boats over the Tigris, beheld from an
eminence the plain of Assyria, as far as the edge of the horizon,
covered with men, with horses, and with arms. Sapor appeared in
the front, conspicuous by the splendour of his purple. On his
left hand, the place of honor among the Orientals, Grumbates,
king of the Chionites, displayed the stern countenance of an aged
and renowned warrior. The monarch had reserved a similar place
on his right hand for the king of the Albanians, who led his
independent tribes from the shores of the Caspian. * The satraps
and generals were distributed according to their several ranks,
and the whole army, besides the numerous train of Oriental
luxury, consisted of more than one hundred thousand effective
men, inured to fatigue, and selected from the bravest nations of
Asia. The Roman deserter, who in some measure guided the
councils of Sapor, had prudently advised, that, instead of
wasting the summer in tedious and difficult sieges, he should
march directly to the Euphrates, and press forwards without delay
to seize the feeble and wealthy metropolis of Syria. But the
Persians were no sooner advanced into the plains of Mesopotamia,
than they discovered that every precaution had been used which
could retard their progress, or defeat their design. The
inhabitants, with their cattle, were secured in places of
strength, the green forage throughout the country was set on
fire, the fords of the rivers were fortified by sharp stakes;
military engines were planted on the opposite banks, and a
seasonable swell of the waters of the Euphrates deterred the
Barbarians from attempting the ordinary passage of the bridge of
Thapsacus. Their skilful guide, changing his plan of operations,
then conducted the army by a longer circuit, but through a
fertile territory, towards the head of the Euphrates, where the
infant river is reduced to a shallow and accessible stream.
Sapor overlooked, with prudent disdain, the strength of Nisibis;
but as he passed under the walls of Amida, he resolved to try
whether the majesty of his presence would not awe the garrison
into immediate submission. The sacrilegious insult of a random
dart, which glanced against the royal tiara, convinced him of his
error; and the indignant monarch listened with impatience to the
advice of his ministers, who conjured him not to sacrifice the
success of his ambition to the gratification of his resentment.
The following day Grumbates advanced towards the gates with a
select body of troops, and required the instant surrender of the
city, as the only atonement which could be accepted for such an
act of 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 ballistae. The funeral of the prince of the Chionites was
celebrated according to the rites of the 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 memory, of his son.
Footnote 54: Ammian. lxviii. 6, 7, 8, 10.
Footnote *: These perhaps were the barbarous tribes who inhabit
the northern part of the present Schirwan, the Albania of the
ancients. This country, now inhabited by the Lezghis, the terror
of the neighboring districts, was then occupied by the same
people, called by the ancients Legae, by the Armenians Gheg, or
Leg. The latter represent them as constant allies of the
Persians in their wars against Armenia and the Empire. A little
after this period, a certain Schergir was their king, and it is
of him doubtless Ammianus Marcellinus speaks. St. Martin, ii.
285. - M.
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. (NY : Knopf, 1993), v. 2, pp. 217 - 225 .