a king on the Sarmatian exiles, whom
he restores to their country and to freedom.--XIII. He compels the
Limigantes, after defeating them with great slaughter, to emigrate,
and harangues his own soldiers.--XIV. The Roman ambassadors, who
had been sent to treat for peace, return from Persia; and Sapor
returns into Armenia and Mesopotamia.

I.

A.D. 357.

Sec. 1. After the various affairs which we have described were brought to a
conclusion, the warlike young prince, now that the battle of Strasburg
had secured him the navigation of the Rhine, felt anxious that the
ill-omened birds should not feed on the corpses of the slain, and so
ordered them all to be buried without distinction. And having dismissed
the ambassadors whom we have mentioned as having come with some arrogant
messages before the battle, he returned to Saverne.

2. From this place he ordered all the booty and the prisoners to be
brought to Metz, to be left there till his return. Then departing for
Mayence, to lay down a bridge at that city and to seek the barbarians in
their own territories, since he had left none of them in arms, he was at
first met by great opposition on the part of his army; but addressing
them with eloquence and persuasion he soon won them to his opinion. For
their affection for him, becoming strengthened by repeated experience,
induced them to follow one who shared in all their toils, and who, while
never surrendering his authority, was still accustomed, as every one
saw, to impose more labour on himself than on his men. They soon arrived
at the appointed spot, and, crossing the river by a bridge they laid
down, occupied the territory of the enemy.

3. The barbarians, amazed at the greatness of his enterprise, inasmuch
as they had fancied they were situated in a position in which they could
hardly be disturbed, were now led by the destruction of their countrymen
to think anxiously of their own future fate, and accordingly, pretending
to implore peace that they might escape from the violence of his first
invasion, they sent ambassadors to him with a set message, offering a
lasting treaty of agreement; but (though it is not known what design or
change of circumstances altered their purpose) they immediately
afterwards sent off some others with all speed, to threaten our troops
with implacable war if they did not at once quit their territories.

4. And when this was known, the Caesar, as soon as all was qui