and Severus; its thick walls
and valiant inhabitants would probably have defied every attempt of
the Persian prince to make himself master of it by force. He therefore
condescended to stratagem. Manizen had a daughter who cherished
ambitious views. On obtaining a promise from Sapor that if she gave
Hatra into his power he would make her his queen, this unnatural child
turned against her father, betrayed him into Sapor's hands, and thus
brought the war to an end. Sapor recovered his lost territory; but he
did not fulfil his bargain. Instead of marrying the traitress, he handed
her over to an executioner, to receive the death that she had deserved,
though scarcely at his hands. Encouraged by his success in these two
lesser contests, Sapor resolved (apparently in A.D. 241) to resume the
bold projects of his father, and engage in a great war with Rome. The
confusion and troubles which afflicted the Roman Empire at this time
were such as might well give him hopes of obtaining a decided advantage.
Alexander, his father's adversary, had been murdered in A.D. 235 by
Maximin, who from the condition of a Thracian peasant had risen into the
higher ranks of the army. The upstart had ruled like the savage that he
was; and, after three years of misery, the whole Roman world had risen
against him. Two emperors had been proclaimed in Africa; on their fall,
two others had been elected by the Senate; a third, a mere boy, had been
added at the demand of the Roman populace. All the pretenders except
the last had met with violent deaths; and, after the shocks of a year
unparalleled since A.D. 69, the administration of the greatest kingdom
in the world was in the hands of a youth of fifteen. Sapor, no doubt,
thought he saw in this condition of things an opportunity that he ought
not to miss, and rapidly matured his plans lest the favorable moment
should pass away.

Crossing the middle Tigris into Mesopotamia, the bands of Sapor first
attacked the important city of Nisibis. Nisibis, at this time a Roman
colony, was strongly situated on the outskirts of the mountain
range which traverses Northern Mesopotamia between the 37th and 38th
parallels. The place was well fortified and well defended; it offered a
prolonged resistance; but at last the Avails were breached, and it was
forced to yield itself. The advance was then made along the southern
flank of the mountains, by Carrhae (Harran) and Edessa to the Euphrates,
which was probably reached in