oldiers, according to the
precepts of Homer, [70] were distributed in the front and rear: and all
the trumpets of the Imperial army sounded to battle. The Romans, after
sending up a military shout, advanced in measured steps to the animating
notes of martial music; launched their formidable javelins; and rushed
forwards with drawn swords, to deprive the Barbarians, by a closer
onset, of the advantage of their missile weapons. The whole engagement
lasted above twelve hours; till the gradual retreat of the Persians
was changed into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example
was given by the principal leader, and the Surenas himself. They were
pursued to the gates of Ctesiphon; and the conquerors might have entered
the dismayed city, [71] if their general, Victor, who was dangerously
wounded with an arrow, had not conjured them to desist from a rash
attempt, which must be fatal, if it were not successful. On their side,
the Romans acknowledged the loss of only seventy-five men; while they
affirmed, that the Barbarians had left on the field of battle two
thousand five hundred, or even six thousand, of their bravest soldiers.
The spoil was such as might be expected from the riches and luxury of
an Oriental camp; large quantities of silver and gold, splendid arms
and trappings, and beds and tables of massy silver. [71a] The victorious
emperor distributed, as the rewards of valor, some honorable gifts,
civic, and mural, and naval crowns; which he, and perhaps he alone,
esteemed more precious than the wealth of Asia. A solemn sacrifice was
offered to the god of war, but the appearances of the victims threatened
the most inauspicious events; and Julian soon discovered, by less
ambiguous signs, that he had now reached the term of his prosperity.
[72]

[Footnote 67: Rien n'est beau que le vrai; a maxim which should be
inscribed on the desk of every rhetorician.]

[Footnote 67a: This is a mistake; each vessel (according to Zosimus
two, according to Ammianus five) had eighty men. Amm. xxiv. 6, with
Wagner's note. Gibbon must have read octogenas for octogenis. The five
vessels selected for this service were remarkably large and strong
provision transports. The strength of the fleet remained with Julian to
carry over the army--M.]

[Footnote 68: Libanius alludes to the most powerful of the generals. I
have ventured to name Sallust. Ammianus says, of all the leaders, quod
acri metu territ acrimetu territi duces concordi prec