grasping the head of the weapon, attempted to draw
it forth, but in vain--the sharp steel cut his fingers, and the pain and
loss of blood caused him to fall fainting from his steed. His guards,
who had closed around him, carefully raised him up, and conveyed him to
the camp, where the surgeons at once declared the wound mortal. The sad
news spread rapidly among the soldiery, and nerved them to desperate
efforts--if they must lose their general, he should, they determined,
be avenged. Striking their shields with their spears, they everywhere
rushed upon the enemy with incredible ardor, careless whether they lived
or died, and only seeking to inflict the greatest possible loss on those
opposed to them. But the Persians, who had regarded the day as theirs,
resisted strenuously, and maintained the fight with obstinacy till
evening closed in and darkness put a stop to the engagement. The losses
were large on both sides; the Roman right wing had suffered greatly; its
commander, Anatolius, master of the offices, was among the slain, and
the prefect Sallust was with difficulty saved by an attendant. The
Persians, too, lost their generals Meranes and Nohodares; and with them
no fewer than fifty satraps and great nobles are said to have perished.
The rank and file no doubt suffered in proportion; and the Romans were
perhaps justified in claiming that the balance of advantage upon the day
rested with them. But such advantage as they could reasonably assert was
far more than counterbalanced by the loss of their commander, who died
in his tent towards midnight on the day of the battle. Whatever we
may think of the general character of Julian, or of the degree of his
intellectual capacity, there can be no question as to his excellence as
a soldier, or his ability as a commander in the field. If the
expedition which he had led into Persia was to some extent rash--if his
preparations for it had been insufficient, and his conduct of it not
wholly faultless; if consequently he had brought the army of the East
into a situation of great peril and difficulty--yet candor requires us
to acknowledge that of all the men collected in the Roman camp he was
the fittest to have extricated the army from its embarrassments, and
have conducted it, without serious disaster or loss of honor, into a
position of safety. No one, like Julian, possessed the confidence of
the troops; no one so combined experience in command with the personal
activity and vigor