of savage warfare which was
not used, the fourth century anticipating some of the horrors which have
most disgraced the nineteenth.

Nothing now but the river Tigris intervened between Julian and the
great city of Ctesiphon, which was plainly the special object of the
expedition. Ctesiphon, indeed, was not to Persia what it had been
to Parthia; but still it might fairly be looked upon as a prize of
considerable importance. Of Parthia it had been the main, in later times
perhaps the sole, capital; to Persia it was a secondary rather than
a primary city, the ordinary residence of the court being Istakr, or
Persepolis. Still the Persian kings seem occasionally to have resided at
Ctesiphon; and among the secondary cities of the empire it undoubtedly
held a high rank. In the neighborhood were various royal hunting-seats,
surrounded by shady gardens, and adorned with paintings or bas-reliefs;
while near them were parks or "paradises," containing the game kept
for the prince's sport, which included lions, wild boars, and bears of
remarkable fierceness. As Julian advanced, these pleasaunces fell,
one after another, into his hands, and were delivered over to the rude
soldiery, who trampled the flowers and shrubs under foot, destroyed the
wild beasts, and burned the residences. No serious resistance was as
yet made by any Persian force to the progress of the Romans, who
pressed steadily forward, occasionally losing a few men or a few baggage
animals, but drawing daily nearer to the great city, and on their way
spreading ruin and desolation over a most fertile district, from which
they drew abundant supplies as they passed through it, while they left
it behind them blackened, wasted, and almost without inhabitant. The
Persians seem to have had orders not to make, as yet, any firm stand.
One of the sons of Sapor was now at their head, but no change of tactics
occurred. As Julian drew near, this prince indeed quitted the shelter of
Ctesiphon, and made a reconnaissance in force; but when he fell in with
the Roman advanced guard under Victor, and saw its strength, he declined
an engagement, and retired without coming to blows.

Julian had now reached the western suburb of Ctesiphon, which had lost
its old name of Seleucia and was known as Coche. The capture of this
place would, perhaps, not have been difficult; but, as the broad and
deep stream of the Tigris flowed between it and the main town, little
would have been gained by the oc