ly be connected into the
form of temporary bridges. The rest of the ships, partly constructed
of timber, and partly covered with raw hides, were laden with an almost
inexhaustible supply of arms and engines, of utensils and provisions.
The vigilant humanity of Julian had embarked a very large magazine of
vinegar and biscuit for the use of the soldiers, but he prohibited the
indulgence of wine; and rigorously stopped a long string of superfluous
camels that attempted to follow the rear of the army. The River Chaboras
falls into the Euphrates at Circesium; [42] and as soon as the trumpet
gave the signal of march, the Romans passed the little stream which
separated two mighty and hostile empires. The custom of ancient
discipline required a military oration; and Julian embraced every
opportunity of displaying his eloquence. He animated the impatient and
attentive legions by the example of the inflexible courage and glorious
triumphs of their ancestors. He excited their resentment by a lively
picture of the insolence of the Persians; and he exhorted them to
imitate his firm resolution, either to extirpate that perfidious nation,
or to devote his life in the cause of the republic. The eloquence of
Julian was enforced by a donative of one hundred and thirty pieces of
silver to every soldier; and the bridge of the Chaboras was instantly
cut away, to convince the troops that they must place their hopes of
safety in the success of their arms. Yet the prudence of the emperor
induced him to secure a remote frontier, perpetually exposed to the
inroads of the hostile Arabs. A detachment of four thousand men was
left at Circesium, which completed, to the number of ten thousand, the
regular garrison of that important fortress. [43]

[Footnote 40b: Kirkesia the Carchemish of the Scriptures.--M.]

[Footnote 41: Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian. xxiii. 3
Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is four stadia or
800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad. (Xenophon, Anabasis, l.
i. p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's Observations, p. 29, &c., in
the 2d volume of Spelman's translation.) If the breadth of the Euphrates
at Bir and Zeugma is no more than 130 yards, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom.
ii. p. 335,) the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth
of the channel.]

[Footnote 42: Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum, Abora (the
Orientals aspirate Chaboras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt flumina,