ering us, without the least delay, to return to Mesopotamia,
without any officers, and having, indeed, no important duty to
discharge, since all the power had been transferred to another.

6. And this had been arranged by those mischievous meddlers in the
government, in order that if the Persians failed and returned to their
own country, our success might be attributed to the valour of the new
governor; while, if our affairs turned out ill, Ursicinus might be
impeached as a traitor to the republic.

7. Accordingly we, being tossed about without any reason, after much
time had been lost, returned, and found Sabinianus, a man full of pride,
of small stature, and of a petty and narrow mind, scarcely able without
fear to encounter the slight noise of a beast, much less to face the
crash of battle.

8. Nevertheless, since our spies brought positive and consistent
intelligence that all kind of preparations were going on among the
enemy, and since their report was confirmed by that of the deserters,
while this manikin was in a state of perplexity, we hastened to Nisibis
to make such preparation as seemed requisite, lest the Persians, while
concealing their intention to besiege it, should come upon it by
surprise.

9. And while all things necessary were being pressed forward within the
walls, continued fires and columns of smoke being seen on the other side
of the Tigris, near the town called the Camp of the Moors, and Sisara,
and the other districts on the Persian frontier, and spreading up to the
city itself, showed that the predatory bands of the enemy had crossed
the river, and entered our territories.

10. And therefore we hastened forwards with a forced march, to prevent
the roads from being occupied; and when we had advanced two miles, we
saw a fine boy of about eight years old, as we guessed, wearing a
necklace, of noble appearance, standing on the top of a small hillock,
and crying out, stating himself to be the son of a man of noble birth,
whom his mother, while fleeing in her alarm at the approach of the
enemy, had left in her panic in order to be less encumbered. We pitied
him, and at the command of our general, I put him on my horse, in front
of me, and took him back to the city, while the predatory bands of the
enemy, having blockaded the city, were ravaging all around.

11. And because I was alarmed at the difficulties in which we should be
placed by a blockade, I put the child in at a half open postern gat