d 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 49a: 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
behavior.]

[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 o