cities, such
as Bostra, Gerasa, and Philadelphia, fortified with very strong walls.
It was the Emperor Trajan who first gave this country the name of a
Roman province, and appointed a governor over it, and compelled it to
obey our laws, after having by repeated victories crushed the arrogance
of the inhabitants, when he was carrying his glorious arms into Media
and Parthia.

14. There is also the island of Cyprus, not very far from the continent,
and abounding in excellent harbours, which, besides its many municipal
towns, is especially famous for two renowned cities, Salamis and Paphos,
the one celebrated for its temple of Jupiter, the other for its temple
of Venus. This same Cyprus is so fertile, and so abounding in riches of
every kind, that without requiring any external assistance, it can by
its own native resources build a merchant ship from the very foundation
of the keel up to the top sails, and send it to sea fully equipped with
stores.

15. It is not to be denied that the Roman people invaded this island
with more covetousness than justice. For when Ptolemy, the king, who was
connected with us by treaty, and was also our ally, was without any
fault of his own proscribed, merely on account of the necessities of our
treasury, and slew himself by taking poison, the island was made
tributary to us, and its spoils placed on board our fleet, as if taken
from an enemy, and carried to Rome by Cato. We will now return to the
actions of Constantius in their due order.

IX.

Sec. 1. Amid all these various disasters, Ursicinus, who was the governor
of Nisibis, an officer to whom the command of the emperor had
particularly attached me as a servant, was summoned from that city, and
in spite of his reluctance, and of the opposition which he made to the
clamorous bands of flatterers, was forced to investigate the origin of
the pernicious strife which had arisen. He was indeed a soldier of great
skill in war, and an approved leader of troops; but a man who had always
kept himself aloof from the strife of the forum. He, alarmed at his own
danger when he saw the corrupt accusers and judges who were associated
with him, all emerging out of the same lurking-places, wrote secret
letters to Constantius informing him of what was going on, both publicly
and in secret; and imploring such assistance as, by striking fear into
Gallus, should somewhat curb his notorious arrogance.

2. But through excessive caution he had fallen int