nd offensive behavior naturally turned the willing friend
into an enemy. Odenathus, finding himself forced into a hostile
position, took arms and watched his opportunity. So long as Sapor
continued to advance he kept aloof. As soon, however, as the retreat
commenced, and the Persian army, encumbered with its spoil and captives,
proceeded to make its way back slowly and painfully to the Euphrates,
Odenathus, who had collected a large force--in part from the Syrian
villages, in part from the wild tribes of Arabia--made his appearance in
the field. His light and agile horsemen hovered about the Persian host,
cut off their stragglers, made prize of much of their spoil, and even
captured a portion of the seraglio of the great king.

The harassed troops were glad when they had placed the Euphrates between
themselves and their pursuer, and congratulated each other on their
escape. So much had they suffered and so little did they feel equal to
further conflicts that on their march through Mesopotamia they consented
to purchase the neutrality of the people of Edessa by making over to
them all the coined money that they had carried off in their Syrian
raid. After this it would seem that the retreat was unmolested, and
Sapor succeeded in conveying the greater part of his army, together with
his illustrious prisoner, to his own country.

With regard to the treatment that Valerian received at the hands of his
conqueror it is difficult to form a decided opinion. The writers nearest
to the time speak vaguely and moderately, merely telling us that he grew
old in his captivity and was kept in the condition of a slave. It is
reserved for authors of the next generation to inform us that he was
exposed to the constant gaze of the multitude, fettered, but clad in the
imperial purple; and that Sapor, whenever he mounted on horseback,
placed his foot upon his prisoner's neck. Some add that when the
unhappy captive died, about the year A.D. 265 or 266, his body was
flayed and the skin inflated and hung up to view in one of the most
frequented temples of Persia, where it was seen by Roman envoys on their
visits to the great king's court.

It is impossible to deny that oriental barbarism may conceivably have
gone to these lengths; and it is in favor of the truth of the details
that Roman vanity would naturally have been opposed to their invention.
But, on the other hand, we have to remember that in the East the person
of a king is generally re