married a wife of excellent character, and had a family, and that having
been frequently sent as a spy to our camp, he had always brought the
Persians true intelligence. And now he said he had been sent by the
nobles Tamsapor and Nohodares, who were in command of the predatory
bands, to bring them such intelligence as he could collect. After
telling us this, and also that he knew of the operations of the enemy,
he was put to death.

16. Afterwards, as our anxiety increased, we proceeded from thence with
as much speed as we could make to Amida, a city celebrated at a later
period for the disaster which befel it. And when our scouts had rejoined
us there we found in one of their scabbards a scrap of parchment
written in cipher, which they had been ordered to convey to us by
Procopius, whom I have already spoken of as ambassador to the Persians
with the Count Lucillianus; its terms were purposely obscure, lest if
the bearers should be taken prisoners, and the sense of the writing
understood, materials should be found for fatal mischief.

17. The purport was, "The ambassadors of the Greeks, having been
rejected, and being perhaps to be put to death, the aged king, not
contented with the Hellespont, will throw bridges over the Granicus and
the Rhyndacus, and invade Asia Minor with a numerous host, being by his
own natural disposition irritable and fierce; and being now prompted and
inflamed by him who was formerly the successor of the Roman emperor
Hadrian,[95] it is all over with the Greeks if they do not take care."

18. The meaning of this was that the Persian king, having crossed the
rivers Anzaba and Tigris, at the prompting of Antoninus was aiming at
the sovereignty of the entire East. When it had been interpreted with
difficulty, from its great obscurity, a wise plan was decided on.

19. The satrap of Corduena, a province under the authority of the
Persians, was a man named Jovinianus, who had grown up to manhood in the
Roman territories, and was secretly friendly to us, because he had been
detained as a hostage in Syria, and being now allured by the love of
liberal studies, he was exceedingly desirous to return among us.

20. To this man I, being sent with a faithful centurion, for the purpose
of learning with greater certainty what was being done, reached him by
travelling over pathless mountains, and dangerous defiles. And when he
saw and recognized me, he received me courteously, and I avowed to him
alone th