with all the forces of the empire; a very hyperbolical
expression.]

[Footnote 64: Our five abbreviators, Eutropius, Festus, the two Victors,
and Orosius, all relate the last and great battle; but Orosius is the
only one who speaks of the two former.]

[Footnote 65: The nature of the country is finely described by Plutarch,
in the life of Crassus; and by Xenophon, in the first book of the
Anabasis]

[Footnote 66: See Foster's Dissertation in the second volume of the
translation of the Anabasis by Spelman; which I will venture to
recommend as one of the best versions extant.]

[Footnote 67: Hist. Armen. l. ii. c. 76. I have transferred this exploit
of Tiridates from an imaginary defeat to the real one of Galerius.]

[Footnote 68: Ammian. Marcellin. l. xiv. The mile, in the hands of
Eutropoius, (ix. 24,) of Festus (c. 25,) and of Orosius, (vii 25),
easily increased to several miles]

As soon as Diocletian had indulged his private resentment, and asserted
the majesty of supreme power, he yielded to the submissive entreaties of
the Caesar, and permitted him to retrieve his own honor, as well as that
of the Roman arms. In the room of the unwarlike troops of Asia, which
had most probably served in the first expedition, a second army was
drawn from the veterans and new levies of the Illyrian frontier, and
a considerable body of Gothic auxiliaries were taken into the Imperial
pay. [69] At the head of a chosen army of twenty-five thousand men,
Galerius again passed the Euphrates; but, instead of exposing his
legions in the open plains of Mesopotamia he advanced through the
mountains of Armenia, where he found the inhabitants devoted to his
cause, and the country as favorable to the operations of infantry as it
was inconvenient for the motions of cavalry. [70] Adversity had confirmed
the Roman discipline, while the barbarians, elated by success, were
become so negligent and remiss, that in the moment when they least
expected it, they were surprised by the active conduct of Galerius, who,
attended only by two horsemen, had with his own eyes secretly examined
the state and position of their camp. A surprise, especially in the
night time, was for the most part fatal to a Persian army. "Their horses
were tied, and generally shackled, to prevent their running away; and
if an alarm happened, a Persian had his housing to fix, his horse to
bridle, and his corselet to put on, before he could mount." [71] On this
occasion, the impet