ich, alike disinclined to and unfit for military
enterprise; he therefore absolutely rejected the advice of Ursicinus,
and determined on making no effort. He had positive orders, he said,
from the court to keep on the defensive and not endanger his troops by
engaging them in hazardous adventures. Amida must protect itself, or at
any rate not look to him for succor. Ursicinus chafed terribly, it
is said, against this decision, but was forced to submit to it. His
messengers conveyed the dispiriting intelligence to the devoted city,
which learned thereby that it must rely wholly upon its own exertions.

Nothing now remained but to organize sallies on a large scale and attack
the besieger's works. Such attempts were made from time to time with
some success; and on one occasion two Gaulish legions, banished to the
East for their adherence to the cause of Magnentius, penetrated, by
night, into the heart of the besieging camp, and brought the person of
the monarch into danger. This peril was, however, escaped; the legions
were repulsed with the loss of a sixth of their number; and nothing was
gained by the audacious enterprise beyond a truce of three days, during
which each side mourned its dead, and sought to repair its losses.

The fate of the doomed city drew on. Pestilence was added to the
calamities which the besieged had to endure. Desertion and treachery
were arrayed against them. One of the natives of Amida, going over to
the Persians, informed them that on the southern side of the city
a neglected staircase led up from the margin of the Tigris through
underground corridors to one of the principal bastions; and under his
guidance seventy archers of the Persian guard, picked men, ascended
the dark passage at dead of night, occupied the tower, and when morning
broke displayed from it a scarlet flag, as a sign to their countrymen
that a portion of the wall was taken. The Persians were upon the alert,
and an instant assault was made. But the garrison, by extraordinary
efforts, succeeded in recapturing the tower before any support reached
its occupants; and then, directing their artillery and missiles against
the assailing columns, inflicted on them tremendous losses, and soon
compelled them to return hastily to the shelter of their camp. The
Verte, who maintained the siege on the south side of the city, were the
chief sufferers in this abortive attempt.

Sapor had now spent seventy days before the place, and had made no