booty was
abundant.

3. But Julian himself, being always eager to extend his conquests,
disregarded the advice of those who remonstrated against his advance;
and reproaching his chiefs, as men who out of mere laziness and a love
of ease advised him to let go the kingdom of Persia when he had almost
made himself master of it, left the river on his left hand, and led by
unlucky guides, determined to proceed towards the inland parts of the
country by forced marches.

4. And he ordered all his ships to be burnt, as if with the fatal torch
of Bellona herself, except twelve of the smaller vessels, which he
arranged should be carried on waggons, as likely to be of use for
building bridges. And he thought this a most excellently conceived plan,
to prevent his fleet if left behind from being of any use to the enemy,
or on the other hand to prevent what happened at the outset of the
expedition, nearly twenty thousand men being occupied in moving and
managing the vessels.

5. Then, as the men began in their alarm to grumble to themselves (as
indeed manifest truth pointed out), that the soldiers if hindered from
advancing by the height of the mountains or the dryness of the country,
would have no means of returning to get water, and when the deserters,
on being put to the torture openly confessed that they had made a false
report, he ordered all hands to labour to extinguish the flames. But the
fire, having got to a great head, had consumed most of them, so that
only the twelve could be preserved unhurt, which were set apart to be
taken care of.

6. In this way the fleet being unseasonably destroyed, Julian, relying
on his army which was now all united, having none of its divisions
diverted to other occupations, and so being strong in numbers, advanced
inland, the rich district through which he marched supplying him with an
abundance of provisions.

7. When this was known, the enemy, with a view to distressing us by want
of supplies, burnt up all the grass and the nearly ripe crops; and we,
being unable to advance by reason of the conflagration, remained
stationary in our camp till the fire was exhausted. And the Persians,
insulting us from a distance, sometimes spread themselves widely on
purpose, sometimes offered us resistance in a compact body; so that to
us who beheld them from a distance it might seem that the reinforcements
of the king had come up, and we might imagine that it was on that
account that they had venture