[1: See this fable or satire, p. 306-336 of the Leipsig edition of Julian's works. The French version of the learned Ezekiel Spanheim (Paris, 1683) is coarse, languid, and correct; and his notes, proofs, illustrations, &c., are piled on each other till they form a mass of 557 close-printed quarto pages. The Abbe' de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien, tom. i. p. 241-393) has more happily expressed the spirit, as well as the sense, of the original, which he illustrates with some concise and curious notes.]

  

  


[2: Spanheim (in his preface) has most learnedly discussed the etymology, origin, resemblance, and disagreement of the Greek satyrs, a dramatic piece, which was acted after the tragedy; and the Latin satires, (from Satura,) a miscellaneous composition, either in prose or verse. But the Caesars of Julian are of such an original cast, that the critic is perplexed to which class he should ascribe them. Note: See also Casaubon de Satira, with Rambach's observations. - M.]

  

  


[3: This mixed character of Silenus is finely painted in the sixth eclogue of Virgil.]

  

  


[4: Every impartial reader must perceive and condemn the partiality of Julian against his uncle Constantine, and the Christian religion. On this occasion, the interpreters are compelled, by a most sacred interest, to renounce their allegiance, and to desert the cause of their author.]

  

  


[5: Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek to a Roman. But when he seriously compared a hero with a philosopher, he was sensible that mankind had much greater obligations to Socrates than to Alexander, (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264.)]

  

  


[6: Inde nationibus Indicis certatim cum aonis optimates mittentibus . . . . ab usque Divis et Serendivis. Ammian. xx. 7. This island, to which the names of Taprobana, Serendib, and Ceylon, have been successively applied, manifests how imperfectly the seas and lands to the east of Cape Comorin were known to the Romans. 1. Under the reign of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed the customs of the Red Sea, was accidentally driven by the winds upon this strange and undiscovered coast: he conversed six months with the natives; and the king of Ceylon, who heard, for the first time, of the power and justice of Rome, was persuaded to send an embassy to the emperor. (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 24.) 2. The geographers (and even Ptolemy) have magnified, above fifteen times, the real size of this new world, which they extended as far as the equator, and the neighborhood of China. Note: The name of Diva gens or Divorum regio, according to the probable conjecture of M. Letronne, (Trois Mem. Acad. p. 127,) was applied by the ancients to the whole eastern coast of the Indian Peninsula, from Ceylon to the Canges. The name may be traced in Devipatnam, Devidan, Devicotta, Divinelly, the point of Divy. M. Letronne, p.121, considers the freedman with his embassy from Ceylon to have been an impostor. - M.]

  

  


[7: These embassies had been sent to Constantius. Ammianus, who unwarily deviates into gross flattery, must have forgotten the length of the way, and the short duration of the reign of Julian.]

  

  


[8: Gothos saepe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quaerere se meliores aiebat: illis enim sufficere mercators Galatas per quos ubique sine conditionis discrimine venumdantur. (Ammian. xxii. 7.) Within less than fifteen years, these Gothic slaves threatened and subdued their masters.]

  

  


[9: Alexander reminds his rival Caesar, who depreciated the fame and merit of an Asiatic victory, that Crassus and Antony had felt the Persian arrows; and that the Romans, in a war of three hundred years, had not yet subdued the single province of Mesopotamia or Assyria, (Caesares, p. 324.)]


[10: The design of the Persian war is declared by Ammianus, (xxii. 7, 12,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 79, 80, p. 305, 306,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 158,) and Socrates, (l. iii. c. 19.)]

  

  


[11: The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St. Chrysostom, exhibit the same picture of Antioch. The miniature which the Abbe de la Bleterie has copied from thence, (Vie de Julian, p. 332,) is elegant and correct.]

  

  


[12: Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus, comedians; Caesarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza, gladiators, Ascalon, wrestlers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hudson's Minor Geographers.]

  

  


[13: The people of Antioch ingenuously professed their attachment to the Chi, (Christ,) and the Kappa, (Constantius.) Julian in Misopogon, p. 357.]

  

  


[14: The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-five years, (A. D. 330-415,) was inflamed, while Julian resided in that city, by the indiscreet ordination of Paulinus. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 803 of the quarto edition, (Paris, 1701, &c,) which henceforward I shall quote.]

  

  


[15: Julian states three different proportions, of five, ten, or fifteen medii of wheat for one piece of gold, according to the degrees of plenty and scarcity, (in Misopogon, p. 369.) From this fact, and from some collateral examples, I conclude, that under the successors of Constantine, the moderate price of wheat was about thirty-two shillings the English quarter, which is equal to the average price of the sixty-four first years of the present century. See Arbuthnot's Tables of Coins, Weights, and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 12. Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 718-721. Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, vol. i. p 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage and a friend.]

  

  


[16: Nunquam a proposito declinabat, Galli similis fratris, licet incruentus. Ammian. xxii. 14. The ignorance of the most enlightened princes may claim some excuse; but we cannot be satisfied with Julian's own defence, (in Misopogon, p. 363, 369,) or the elaborate apology of Libanius, (Orat. Parental c. xcvii. p. 321.)]

  

  


[17: Their short and easy confinement is gently touched by Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. xcviii. p. 322, 323.)]

  

  


[18: Libanius, (ad Antiochenos de Imperatoris ira, c. 17, 18, 19, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 221-223,) like a skilful advocate, severely censures the folly of the people, who suffered for the crime of a few obscure and drunken wretches.]

  

  


[19: Libanius (ad Antiochen. c. vii. p. 213) reminds Antioch of the recent chastisement of Caesarea; and even Julian (in Misopogon, p. 355) insinuates how severely Tarentum had expiated the insult to the Roman ambassadors.]

  

  


[20: On the subject of the Misopogon, see Ammianus, (xxii. 14,) Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c. xcix. p. 323,) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 133) and the Chronicle of Antioch, by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 15, 16.) I have essential obligations to the translation and notes of the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 1-138.)]

  

  


[21: Ammianus very justly remarks, Coactus dissimulare pro tempore ira sufflabatur interna. The elaborate irony of Julian at length bursts forth into serious and direct invective.]

  

  


[22: Ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus, Heliopoliten quendam Alexandrum Syriacae jurisdictioni praefecit, turbulentum et saevum; dicebatque non illum meruisse, sed Antiochensibus avaris et contumeliosis hujusmodi judicem convenire. Ammian. xxiii. 2. Libanius, (Epist. 722, p. 346, 347,) who confesses to Julian himself, that he had shared the general discontent, pretends that Alexander was a useful, though harsh, reformer of the manners and religion of Antioch.]

  

  


[23: Julian, in Misopogon, p. 364. Ammian. xxiii. 2, and Valesius, ad loc. Libanius, in a professed oration, invites him to return to his loyal and penitent city of Antioch.]

  

  


[24: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. vii. p. 230, 231.]

  

  


[25: Eunapius reports, that Libanius refused the honorary rank of Praetorian praefect, as less illustrious than the title of Sophist, (in Vit. Sophist. p. 135.) The critics have observed a similar sentiment in one of the epistles (xviii. edit. Wolf) of Libanius himself.]

  

  


[26: Near two thousand of his letters - a mode of composition in which Libanius was thought to excel - are still extant, and already published. The critics may praise their subtle and elegant brevity; yet Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon Phalaris, p. 48) might justly, though quaintly observe, that "you feel, by the emptiness and deadness of them, that you converse with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his desk."]

  

  


[27: His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions the seventy-sixth year of his age, (A. D. 390,) and seems to allude to some events of a still later date.]

  

  


[28: Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious narrative of his own life, (tom. ii. p. 1-84, edit. Morell,) of which Eunapius (p. 130-135) has left a concise and unfavorable account. Among the moderns, Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 571-576,) Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 376-414,) and Lardner, (Heathen Testimonies, tom. iv. p. 127-163,) have illustrated the character and writings of this famous sophist.]

  

  


[29: From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely bad; and the loose stones were cemented only with sand, (Julian. epist. xxvii.) It is singular enough that the Romans should have neglected the great communication between Antioch and the Euphrates. See Wesseling Itinerar. p. 190 Bergier, Hist des Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100]

  

  


[30: Julian alludes to this incident, (epist. xxvii.,) which is more distinctly related by Theodoret, (l. iii. c. 22.) The intolerant spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 534.) and even by La Bleterie, (Vie de Julien, p. 413.)]

  

  


[A: This name, of Syriac origin, is found in the Arabic, and means a place in a valley where waters meet. Julian says, the name of the city is Barbaric, the situation Greek. The geographer Abulfeda (tab. Syriac. p. 129, edit. Koehler) speaks of it in a manner to justify the praises of Julian. - St. Martin. Notes to Le Beau, iii. 56. - M.]

  

  


[31: See the curious treatise de Dea Syria, inserted among the works of Lucian, (tom. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.) The singular appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8) might induce a suspicion, that Heirapolis had been the royal seat of the Assyrians.]

  

  


[32: Julian (epist. xxviii.) kept a regular account of all the fortunate omens; but he suppresses the inauspicious signs, which Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded.]

  

  


[33: Julian. epist. xxvii. p. 399-402.]

  

  


[B: Or Bambyce, now Bambouch; Manbedj Arab., or Maboug, Syr. It was twenty-four Roman miles from the Euphrates. - M.]

  

  


[34: I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to M. d'Anville, for his recent geography of the Euphrates and Tigris, (Paris, 1780, in 4to.,) which particularly illustrates the expedition of Julian.]

  

  


[35: There are three passages within a few miles of each other; 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the ancients; 2. Bir, frequented by the moderns; and, 3. The bridge of Menbigz, or Hierapolis, at the distance of four parasangs from the city.]

  

  


[C: Djisr Manbedj is the same with the ancient Zeugma. St. Martin, iii. 58 - M.]

  

  


[36: Haran, or Carrhae, was the ancient residence of the Sabaeans, and of Abraham. See the Index Geographicus of Schultens, (ad calcem Vit. Saladin.,) a work from which I have obtained much Oriental knowledge concerning the ancient and modern geography of Syria and the adjacent countries.]

  

  


[D: On an inedited medal in the collection of the late M. Tochon. of the Academy of Inscriptions, it is read Xappan. St. Martin. iii 60 - M.]

  

  


[37: See Xenophon. Cyropaed. l. iii. p. 189, edit. Hutchinson. Artavasdes might have supplied Marc Antony with 16,000 horse, armed and disciplined after the Parthian manner, (Plutarch, in M. Antonio. tom. v. p. 117.)]

  

  


[38: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. l. iii. c. 11, p. 242) fixes his accession (A. D. 354) to the 17th year of Constantius.]

  

  


[*: Arsaces Tiranus, or Diran, had ceased to reign twenty- five years before, in 337. The intermediate changes in Armenia, and the character of this Arsaces, the son of Diran, are traced by M. St. Martin, at considerable length, in his supplement to Le Beau, ii. 208-242. As long as his Grecian queen Olympias maintained her influence, Arsaces was faithful to the Roman and Christian alliance. On the accession of Julian, the same influence made his fidelity to waver; but Olympias having been poisoned in the sacramental bread by the agency of Pharandcem, the former wife of Arsaces, another change took place in Armenian politics unfavorable to the Christian interest. The patriarch Narses retired from the impious court to a safe seclusion. Yet Pharandsem was equally hostile to the Persian influence, and Arsaces began to support with vigor the cause of Julian. He made an inroad into the Persian dominions with a body of Rans and Alans as auxiliaries; wasted Aderbidgan and Sapor, who had been defeated near Tauriz, was engaged in making head against his troops in Persarmenia, at the time of the death of Julian. Such is M. St. Martin's view, (ii. 276, et sqq.,) which rests on the Armenian historians, Faustos of Byzantium, and Mezrob the biographer of the Partriarch Narses. In the history of Armenia by Father Chamitch, and translated by Avdall, Tiran is still king of Armenia, at the time of Julian's death. F. Chamitch follows Moses of Chorene, The authority of Gibbon. - M.]

  

  


[39: Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) says, in general terms, that Constantius gave to his brother's widow, an expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian.]

  

  


[40: Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too soft for the occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius, Bibliothec. Graec. tom. vii. p. 86) has published an epistle from Julian to the satrap Arsaces; fierce, vulgar, and (though it might deceive Sozomen, l. vi. c. 5) most probably spurious. La Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and rejects it. Note: St. Martin considers it genuine: the Armenian writers mention such a letter, iii. 37. - M.]

  

  


[E: Arsaces did not abandon the Roman alliance, but gave it only feeble support. St. Martin, iii. 41 - M.]

  

  


[F: Kirkesia the Carchemish of the Scriptures. - M.]

  

  


[41: Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian. xxiii. 3 Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is four stadia or 800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad. (Xenophon, Anabasis, l. i. p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's Observations, p. 29, &c., in the 2d volume of Spelman's translation.) If the breadth of the Euphrates at Bir and Zeugma is no more than 130 yards, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 335,) the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth of the channel.]

  

  


[42: Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum, Abora (the Orientals aspirate Chaboras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt flumina, velut spatium insulare fingentes. Ammian. xxiii. 5.]

  

  


[43: The enterprise and armament of Julian are described by himself, (Epist. xxvii.,) Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxiii. 3, 4, 5,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 108, 109, p. 332, 333,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 160, 161, 162) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. l,) and John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 17.)]

  

  


[44: Before he enters Persia, Ammianus copiously describes (xxiii. p. 396-419, edit. Gronov. in 4to.) the eighteen great provinces, (as far as the Seric, or Chinese frontiers,) which were subject to the Sassanides.]


[45: Ammianus (xxiv. 1) and Zosimus (l. iii. p. 162, 163) rately expressed the order of march.]

  

  


[46: The adventures of Hormisdas are related with some mixture of fable, (Zosimus, l. ii. p. 100-102; Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs tom. iv. p. 198.) It is almost impossible that he should be the brother (frater germanus) of an eldest and posthumous child: nor do I recollect that Ammianus ever gives him that title. Note: St. Martin conceives that he was an elder brother by another mother who had several children, ii. 24 - M.]

  

  


[47: See the first book of the Anabasis, p. 45, 46. This pleasing work is original and authentic. Yet Xenophon's memory, perhaps many years after the expedition, has sometimes betrayed him; and the distances which he marks are often larger than either a soldier or a geographer will allow.]

  

  


[48: Mr. Spelman, the English translator of the Anabasis, (vol. i. p. 51,) confounds the antelope with the roebuck, and the wild ass with the zebra.]

  

  


[49: See Voyages de Tavernier, part i. l. iii. p. 316, and more especially Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 671, &c. He was ignorant of the old name and condition of Annah. Our blind travellers seldom possess any previous knowledge of the countries which they visit. Shaw and Tournefort deserve an honorable exception.]

  

  


[G: This is not a title, but the name of a great Persian family. St. Martin, iii. 79. - M.]

  

  


[50: Famosi nominis latro, says Ammianus; a high encomium for an Arab. The tribe of Gassan had settled on the edge of Syria, and reigned some time in Damascus, under a dynasty of thirty-one kings, or emirs, from the time of Pompey to that of the Khalif Omar. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 360. Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arabicae, p. 75-78. The name of Rodosaces does not appear in the list. Note: Rodosaces-malek is king. St. Martin considers that Gibbon has fallen into an error in bringing the tribe of Gassan to the Euphrates. In Ammianus it is Assan. M. St. Martin would read Massanitarum, the same with the Mauzanitae of Malala. - M.]

  

  


[51: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 1, 2,) Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. 110, 111, p. 334,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 164-168.) Note: This Syriac or Chaldaic has relation to its position; it easily bears the signification of the division of the waters. M. St. M. considers it the Missice of Pliny, v. 26. St. Martin, iii. 83. - M.]

  

  


[52: The description of Assyria, is furnished by Herodotus, (l. i. c. 192, &c.,) who sometimes writes for children, and sometimes for philosophers; by Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1070-1082,) and by Ammianus, (l.xxiii. c. 6.) The most useful of the modern travellers are Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 226-258,) Otter, (tom. ii. p. 35-69, and 189-224,) and Niebuhr, (tom. ii. p. 172-288.) Yet I much regret that the Irak Arabi of Abulfeda has not been translated.]

  

  


[53: Ammianus remarks, that the primitive Assyria, which comprehended Ninus, (Nineveh,) and Arbela, had assumed the more recent and peculiar appellation of Adiabene; and he seems to fix Teredon, Vologesia, and Apollonia, as the extreme cities of the actual province of Assyria.]

  

  


[54: The two rivers unite at Apamea, or Corna, (one hundred miles from the Persian Gulf,) into the broad stream of the Pasitigris, or Shutul- Arab. The Euphrates formerly reached the sea by a separate channel, which was obstructed and diverted by the citizens of Orchoe, about twenty miles to the south-east of modern Basra. (D'Anville, in the Memoires de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, tom.xxx. p. 171-191.)]

  

  


[H: We are informed by Mr. Gibbon, that nature has denied to the soil an climate of Assyria some of her choicest gifts, the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree. This might have been the case ir the age of Ammianus Marcellinus, but it is not so at the present day; and it is a curious fact that the grape, the olive, and the fig, are the most common fruits in the province, and may be seen in every garden. Macdonald Kinneir, Geogr. Mem. on Persia 239 - M.]

  

  


[55: The learned Kaempfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a traveller, has exhausted (Amoenitat. Exoticae, Fasicul. iv. p. 660-764) the whole subject of palm-trees.]

  

  


[56: Assyria yielded to the Persian satrap an Artaba of silver each day. The well-known proportion of weights and measures (see Bishop Hooper's elaborate Inquiry,) the specific gravity of water and silver, and the value of that metal, will afford, after a short process, the annual revenue which I have stated. Yet the Great King received no more than 1000 Euboic, or Tyrian, talents (252,000l.) from Assyria. The comparison of two passages in Herodotus, (l. i. c. 192, l. iii. c. 89-96) reveals an important difference between the gross, and the net, revenue of Persia; the sums paid by the province, and the gold or silver deposited in the royal treasure. The monarch might annually save three millions six hundred thousand pounds, of the seventeen or eighteen millions raised upon the people.]

  

  


[I: Libanius says that it was a great city of Assyria, called after the name of the reigning king. The orator of Antioch is not mistaken. The Persians and Syrians called it Fyrouz Schapour or Fyrouz Schahbour; in Persian, the victory of Schahpour. It owed that name to Sapor the First. It was before called Anbar St. Martin, iii. 85. - M.]

  

  


[J: And as guilty of a double treachery, having first engaged to surrender the city, and afterwards valiantly defended it. Gibbon, perhaps, should have noticed this charge, though he may have rejected it as improbable Compare Zosimus. iii. 23. - M.]

  

  


[57: The operations of the Assyrian war are circumstantially related by Ammianus, (xxiv. 2, 3, 4, 5,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 112- 123, p. 335-347,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 168-180,) and Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat iv. p. 113, 144.) The military criticisms of the saint are devoutly copied by Tillemont, his faithful slave.]

  

  


[58: Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. 13, p. 162.]

  

  


[59: The famous examples of Cyrus, Alexander, and Scipio, were acts of justice. Julian's chastity was voluntary, and, in his opinion, meritorious.]

  

  


[60: Sallust (ap. Vet. Scholiast. Juvenal. Satir. i. 104) observes, that nihil corruptius moribus. The matrons and virgins of Babylon freely mingled with the men in licentious banquets; and as they felt the intoxication of wine and love, they gradually, and almost completely, threw aside the encumbrance of dress; ad ultimum ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Q. Curtius, v. 1.]

  

  


[61: Ex virginibus autem quae speciosae sunt captae, et in Perside, ubi faeminarum pulchritudo excellit, nec contrectare aliquam votuit nec videre. Ammian. xxiv. 4. The native race of Persians is small and ugly; but it has been improved by the perpetual mixture of Circassian blood, (Herodot. l. iii. c. 97. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 420.)]

  

  


[62: Obsidionalibus coronis donati. Ammian. xxiv. 4. Either Julian or his historian were unskillful antiquaries. He should have given mural crowns. The obsidional were the reward of a general who had delivered a besieged city, (Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. v. 6.)]

  

  


[63: I give this speech as original and genuine. Ammianus might hear, could transcribe, and was incapable of inventing, it. I have used some slight freedoms, and conclude with the most forcibic sentence.]

  

  


[64: Ammian. xxiv. 3. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 122, p. 346.]

  

  


[65: M. d'Anville, (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxxviii p. 246-259) has ascertained the true position and distance of Babylon, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Bagdad, &c. The Roman traveller, Pietro della Valle, (tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 650-780,) seems to be the most intelligent spectator of that famous province. He is a gentleman and a scholar, but intolerably vain and prolix.]

  

  


[66: The Royal Canal (Nahar-Malcha) might be successively restored, altered, divided, &c., (Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 453;) and these changes may serve to explain the seeming contradictions of antiquity. In the time of Julian, it must have fallen into the Euphrates below Ctesiphon.]

  

  


[67: Rien n'est beau que le vrai; a maxim which should be inscribed on the desk of every rhetorician.]

  

  


[K: This is a mistake; each vessel (according to Zosimus two, according to Ammianus five) had eighty men. Amm. xxiv. 6, with Wagner's note. Gibbon must have read octogenas for octogenis. The five vessels selected for this service were remarkably large and strong provision transports. The strength of the fleet remained with Julian to carry over the army - M.]

  

  


[68: Libanius alludes to the most powerful of the generals. I have ventured to name Sallust. Ammianus says, of all the leaders, quod acri metu territ acrimetu territi duces concordi precatu precaut fieri prohibere tentarent. Note: It is evident that Gibbon has mistaken the sense of Libanius; his words can only apply to a commander of a detachment, not to so eminent a person as the Praefect of the East. St. Martin, iii. 313. - M.]

  

  


[69: Hinc Imperator . . . . (says Ammianus) ipse cum levis armaturae auxiliis per prima postremaque discurrens, &c. Yet Zosimus, his friend, does not allow him to pass the river till two days after the battle.]

  

  


[70: Secundum Homericam dispositionem. A similar disposition is ascribed to the wise Nestor, in the fourth book of the Iliad; and Homer was never absent from the mind of Julian.]

  

  


[71: Persas terrore subito miscuerunt, versisque agminibus totius gentis, apertas Ctesiphontis portas victor miles intrasset, ni major praedarum occasio fuisset, quam cura victoriae, (Sextus Rufus de Provinciis c. 28.) Their avarice might dispose them to hear the advice of Victor.]

  

  


[L: The suburbs of Ctesiphon, according to a new fragment of Eunapius, were so full of provisions, that the soldiers were in danger of suffering from excess. Mai, p. 260. Eunapius in Niebuhr. Nov. Byz. Coll. 68. Julian exhibited warlike dances and games in his camp to recreate the soldiers Ibid. - M.]

  

  


[72: The labor of the canal, the passage of the Tigris, and the victory, are described by Ammianus, (xxiv. 5, 6,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 124-128, p. 347-353,) Greg. Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 115,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 181-183,) and Sextus Rufus, (de Provinciis, c. 28.)]

  

  


[73: The fleet and army were formed in three divisions, of which the first only had passed during the night.]

  

  


[74: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. l. iii. c. 15, p. 246) supplies us with a national tradition, and a spurious letter. I have borrowed only the leading circumstance, which is consistent with truth, probability, and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 131, p. 355.)]

  

  


[75: Civitas inexpugnabilis, facinus audax et importunum. Ammianus, xxiv. 7. His fellow-soldier, Eutropius, turns aside from the difficulty, Assyriamque populatus, castra apud Ctesiphontem stativa aliquandiu habuit: remeansbue victor, &c. x. 16. Zosimus is artful or ignorant, and Socrates inaccurate.]

  

  


[76: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 130, p. 354, c. 139, p. 361. Socrates, l. iii. c. 21. The ecclesiastical historian imputes the refusal of peace to the advice of Maximus. Such advice was unworthy of a philosopher; but the philosopher was likewise a magician, who flattered the hopes and passions of his master.]

  

  


[77: The arts of this new Zopyrus (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 115, 116) may derive some credit from the testimony of two abbreviators, (Sextus Rufus and Victor,) and the casual hints of Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357) and Ammianus, (xxiv. 7.) The course of genuine history is interrupted by a most unseasonable chasm in the text of Ammianus.]

  

  


[78: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c. 132, 133, p. 356, 357,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183,) Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 26) Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 116,) and Augustin, (de Civitate Dei, l. iv. c. 29, l. v. c. 21.) Of these Libanius alone attempts a faint apology for his hero; who, according to Ammianus, pronounced his own condemnation by a tardy and ineffectual attempt to extinguish the flames.]

  

  


[79: Consult Herodotus, (l. i. c. 194,) Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1074,) and Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 152.)]

  

  


[80: A celeritate Tigris incipit vocari, ita appellant Medi sagittam. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 31.]

  

  


[81: One of these dikes, which produces an artificial cascade or cataract, is described by Tavernier (part i. l. ii. p. 226) and Thevenot, (part ii. l. i. p. 193.) The Persians, or Assyrians, labored to interrupt the navigation of the river, (Strabo, l. xv. p. 1075. D'Anville, l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 98, 99.)]

  

  


[82: Recollect the successful and applauded rashness of Agathocles and Cortez, who burnt their ships on the coast of Africa and Mexico.]

  

  


[83: See the judicious reflections of the author of the Essai sur la Tactique, tom. ii. p. 287-353, and the learned remarks of M. Guichardt Nouveaux Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p. 351-382, on the baggage and subsistence of the Roman armies.]

  

  


[84: The Tigris rises to the south, the Euphrates to the north, of the Armenian mountains. The former overflows in March, the latter in July. These circumstances are well explained in the Geographical Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman's Expedition of Cyras, vol. ii. p. 26.]

  

  


[85: Ammianus (xxiv. 8) describes, as he had felt, the inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and the insects. The lands of Assyria, oppressed by the Turks, and ravaged by the Curds or Arabs, yield an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty fold, for the seed which is cast into the ground by the wretched and unskillful husbandmen. Voyage de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 279, 285.]

  

  


[86: Isidore of Charax (Mansion. Parthic. p. 5, 6, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom. ii.) reckons 129 schaeni from Seleucia, and Thevenot, (part i. l. i. ii. p. 209-245,) 128 hours of march from Bagdad to Ecbatana, or Hamadan. These measures cannot exceed an ordinary parasang, or three Roman miles.]

  

  


[87: The march of Julian from Ctesiphon is circumstantially, but not clearly, described by Ammianus, (xxiv. 7, 8,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183.) The two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to the banks of the Tigris.]

  

  


[88: Chardin, the most judicious of modern travellers, describes (tom. ii. p. 57, 58, &c., edit. in 4to.) the education and dexterity of the Persian horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno Persico, p. 650 651, &c.,) has collected the testimonies of antiquity.]

  

  


[89: In Mark Antony's retreat, an attic choenix sold for fifty drachmae, or, in other words, a pound of flour for twelve or fourteen shillings barley bread was sold for its weight in silver. It is impossible to peruse the interesting narrative of Plutarch, (tom. v. p. 102-116,) without perceiving that Mark Antony and Julian were pursued by the same enemies, and involved in the same distress.]

  

  


[90: Ammian. xxiv. 8, xxv. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 184, 185, 186. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 134, 135, p. 357, 358, 359. The sophist of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were hungry.]

  

  


[91: Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had sworn in a passion, nunquam se Marti sacra facturum, (xxiv. 6.) Such whimsical quarrels were not uncommon between the gods and their insolent votaries; and even the prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honors of public processions. See Hume's Philosophical Reflections. Essays, vol. ii. p. 418.]

  

  


[92: They still retained the monopoly of the vain but lucrative science, which had been invented in Hetruria; and professed to derive their knowledge of signs and omens from the ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage.]

  

  


[93: Clambant hinc inde candidati (see the note of Valesius) quos terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male compositi culminis declinaret. Ammian. xxv 3.]

  

  


[94: Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was his practice to comfort the families of his deceased satraps, by sending them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers who had not fallen by their master's side. Libanius, de nece Julian. ulcis. c. xiii. p. 163.]

  

  


[95: The character and situation of Julian might countenance the suspicion that he had previously composed the elaborate oration, which Ammianus heard, and has transcribed. The version of the Abbe de la Bleterie is faithful and elegant. I have followed him in expressing the Platonic idea of emanations, which is darkly insinuated in the original.]

  

  


[96: Herodotus (l. i. c. 31,) has displayed that doctrine in an agreeable tale. Yet the Jupiter, (in the 16th book of the Iliad,) who laments with tears of blood the death of Sarpedon his son, had a very imperfect notion of happiness or glory beyond the grave.]

  

  


[97: The soldiers who made their verbal or nuncupatory testaments, upon actual service, (in procinctu,) were exempted from the formalities of the Roman law. See Heineccius, (Antiquit. Jur. Roman. tom. i. p. 504,) and Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxvii.)]

  

  


[98: This union of the human soul with the divine aethereal substance of the universe, is the ancient doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato: but it seems to exclude any personal or conscious immortality. See Warburton's learned and rational observations. Divine Legation, vol ii. p. 199-216.]

  

  


[99: The whole relation of the death of Julian is given by Ammianus, (xxv. 3,) an intelligent spectator. Libanius, who turns with horror from the scene, has supplied some circumstances, (Orat. Parental. c 136-140, p. 359-362.) The calumnies of Gregory, and the legends of more recent saints, may now be silently despised. Note: A very remarkable fragment of Eunapius describes, not without spirit, the struggle between the terror of the army on account of their perilous situation, and their grief for the death of Julian. "Even the vulgar felt that they would soon provide a general, but such a general as Julian they would never find, even though a god in the form of man - Julian, who, with a mind equal to the divinity, triumphed over the evil propensities of human nature, - * * who held commerce with immaterial beings while yet in the material body - who condescended to rule because a ruler was necessary to the welfare of mankind." Mai, Nov. Coll. ii. 261. Eunapius in Niebuhr, 69.]

  

  


[100: Honoratior aliquis miles; perhaps Ammianus himself. The modest and judicious historian describes the scene of the election, at which he was undoubtedly present, (xxv. 5.)]

  

  


[101: The primus or primicerius enjoyed the dignity of a senator, and though only a tribune, he ranked with the military dukes. Cod. Theodosian. l. vi. tit. xxiv. These privileges are perhaps more recent than the time of Jovian.]

  

  


[M: The soldiers supposed that the acclamations proclaimed the name of Julian, restored, as they fondly thought, to health, not that of Jovian. loc. - M.]

  

  


[102: The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates, (l. iii. c. 22,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 3,) and Theodoret, (l. iv. c. 1,) ascribe to Jovian the merit of a confessor under the preceding reign; and piously suppose that he refused the purple, till the whole army unanimously exclaimed that they were Christians. Ammianus, calmly pursuing his narrative, overthrows the legend by a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque inspectis, pronuntiatum est, &c., xxv. 6.]

  

  


[103: Ammianus (xxv. 10) has drawn from the life an impartial portrait of Jovian; to which the younger Victor has added some remarkable strokes. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Histoire de Jovien, tom. i. p. 1-238) has composed an elaborate history of his short reign; a work remarkably distinguished by elegance of style, critical disquisition, and religious prejudice.]

  

  


[104: Regius equitatus. It appears, from Irocopius, that the Immortals, so famous under Cyrus and his successors, were revived, if we may use that improper word, by the Sassanides. Brisson de Regno Persico, p. 268, &c.]

  

  


[105: The obscure villages of the inland country are irrecoverably lost; nor can we name the field of battle where Julian fell: but M. D'Anville has demonstrated the precise situation of Sumere, Carche, and Dura, along the banks of the Tigris, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 248 L'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 95, 97.) In the ninth century, Sumere, or Samara, became, with a slight change of name, the royal residence of the khalifs of the house of Abbas. Note: Sormanray, called by the Arabs Samira, where D'Anville placed Samara, is too much to the south; and is a modern town built by Caliph Morasen. Serra-man-rai means, in Arabic, it rejoices every one who sees it. St. Martin, iii. 133. - M.]

  

  


[106: Dura was a fortified place in the wars of Antiochus against the rebels of Media and Persia, (Polybius, l. v. c. 48, 52, p. 548, 552 edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.)]

  

  


[107: A similar expedient was proposed to the leaders of the ten thousand, and wisely rejected. Xenophon, Anabasis, l. iii. p. 255, 256, 257. It appears, from our modern travellers, that rafts floating on bladders perform the trade and navigation of the Tigris.]

  

  


[108: The first military acts of the reign of Jovian are related by Ammianus, (xxv. 6,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 146, p. 364,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 189, 190, 191.) Though we may distrust the fairness of Libanius, the ocular testimony of Eutropius (uno a Persis atque altero proelio victus, x. 17) must incline us to suspect that Ammianus had been too jealous of the honor of the Roman arms.]

  

  


[109: Sextus Rufus (de Provinciis, c. 29) embraces a poor subterfuge of national vanity. Tanta reverentia nominis Romani fuit, ut a Persis primus de pace sermo haberetur.]

  

  


[N: He is called Junius by John Malala; the same, M. St. Martin conjectures, with a satrap of Gordyene named Jovianus, or Jovinianus; mentioned in Ammianus Marcellinus, xviii. 6. - M.]

  

  


[O: The Persian historians couch the message of Shah-pour in these Oriental terms: "I have reassembled my numerous army. I am resolved to revenge my subjects, who have been plundered, made captives, and slain. It is for this that I have bared my arm, and girded my loins. If you consent to pay the price of the blood which has been shed, to deliver up the booty which has been plundered, and to restore the city of Nisibis, which is in Irak, and belongs to our empire, though now in your possession, I will sheathe the sword of war; but should you refuse these terms, the hoofs of my horse, which are hard as steel, shall efface the name of the Romans from the earth; and my glorious cimeter, that destroys like fire, shall exterminate the people of your empire." These authorities do not mention the death of Julian. Malcolm's Persia, i. 87. - M.]

  

  


[P: The Paschal chronicle, not, as M. St. Martin says, supported by John Malala, places the mission of this ambassador before the death of Julian. The king of Persia was then in Persarmenia, ignorant of the death of Julian; he only arrived at the army subsequent to that event. St. Martin adopts this view, and finds or extorts support for it, from Libanius and Ammianus, iii. 158. - M.]

  

  


[110: It is presumptuous to controvert the opinion of Ammianus, a soldier and a spectator. Yet it is difficult to understand how the mountains of Corduene could extend over the plains of Assyria, as low as the conflux of the Tigris and the great Zab; or how an army of sixty thousand men could march one hundred miles in four days. Note: Yet this appears to be the case (in modern maps: ) the march is the difficulty. - M.]

  

  


[Q: Sapor availed himself, a few years after, of the dissolution of the alliance between the Romans and the Armenians. See St. M. iii. 163. - M.]

  

  


[111: The treaty of Dura is recorded with grief or indignation by Ammianus, (xxv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 142, p. 364,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 190, 191,) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 117, 118, who imputes the distress to Julian, the deliverance to Jovian,) and Eutropius, (x. 17.) The last-mentioned writer, who was present in military station, styles this peace necessarium quidem sed ignoblem.]

  

  


[112: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 143, p. 364, 365.]

  

  


[113: Conditionibus . . . . . dispendiosis Romanae reipublicae impositis . . . . quibus cupidior regni quam gloriae Jovianus, imperio rudis, adquievit. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 29. La Bleterie has expressed, in a long, direct oration, these specious considerations of public and private interest, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 39, &c.)]

  

  


[114: The generals were murdered on the bauks of the Zabatus, (Ana basis, l. ii. p. 156, l. iii. p. 226,) or great Zab, a river of Assyria, 400 feet broad, which falls into the Tigris fourteen hours below Mosul. The error of the Greeks bestowed on the greater and lesser Zab the names of the Walf, (Lycus,) and the Goat, (Capros.) They created these animals to attend the Tiger of the East.]

  

  


[115: The Cyropoedia is vague and languid; the Anabasis circumstance and animated. Such is the eternal difference between fiction and truth.]

  

  


[116: According to Rufinus, an immediate supply of provisions was stipulated by the treaty, and Theodoret affirms, that the obligation was faithfully discharged by the Persians. Such a fact is probable but undoubtedly false. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 702.]

  

  


[117: We may recollect some lines of Lucan, (Pharsal. iv. 95,) who describes a similar distress of Caesar's army in Spain: - Saeva fames aderat - Miles eget: toto censu non prodigus emit Exiguam Cererem. Proh lucri pallida tabes! Non deest prolato jejunus venditor auro. See Guichardt (Nouveaux Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p. 370-382.) His analysis of the two campaigns in Spain and Africa is the noblest monument that has ever been raised to the fame of Caesar.]

  

  


[118: M. d'Anville (see his Maps, and l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 92, 93) traces their march, and assigns the true position of Hatra, Ur, and Thilsaphata, which Ammianus has mentioned. ^P He does not complain of the Samiel, the deadly hot wind, which Thevenot (Voyages, part ii. l. i. p. 192) so much dreaded.]

  

  


[R: Hatra, now Kadhr. Ur, Kasr or Skervidgi. Thilsaphata is unknown - M.]

  

  


[119: The retreat of Jovian is described by Ammianus, (xxv. 9,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 143, p. 365,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 194.)]

  

  


[120: Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 145, p. 366.) Such were the natural hopes and wishes of a rhetorician.]

  

  


[121: The people of Carrhae, a city devoted to Paganism, buried the inauspicious messenger under a pile of stones, (Zosimus, l. iii. p. 196.) Libanius, when he received the fatal intelligence, cast his eye on his sword; but he recollected that Plato had condemned suicide, and that he must live to compose the Panegyric of Julian, (Libanius de Vita sua, tom. ii. p. 45, 46.)]

  

  


[122: Ammianus and Eutropius may be admitted as fair and credible witnesses of the public language and opinions. The people of Antioch reviled an ignominious peace, which exposed them to the Persians, on a naked and defenceless frontier, (Excerpt. Valesiana, p. 845, ex Johanne Antiocheno.)]

  

  


[123: The Abbe de la Bleterie, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 212- 227.) though a severe casuist, has pronounced that Jovian was not bound to execute his promise; since he could not dismember the empire, nor alienate, without their consent, the allegiance of his people. I have never found much delight or instruction in such political metaphysics.]

  

  


[124: At Nisibis he performed a royal act. A brave officer, his namesake, who had been thought worthy of the purple, was dragged from supper, thrown into a well, and stoned to death without any form of trial or evidence of guilt. Anomian. xxv. 8.]

  

  


[125: See xxv. 9, and Zosimus, l. iii. p. 194, 195.]

  

  


[126: Chron. Paschal. p. 300. The ecclesiastical Notitie may be consulted.]

  

  


[127: Zosimus, l. iii. p. 192, 193. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 29. Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. iv. c. 29. This general position must be applied and interpreted with some caution.]

  

  


[128: Ammianus, xxv. 9. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 196. He might be edax, vino Venerique indulgens. But I agree with La Bleterie (tom. i. p. 148-154) in rejecting the foolish report of a Bacchanalian riot (ap. Suidam) celebrated at Antioch, by the emperor, his wife, and a troop of concubines.]

  

  


[129: The Abbe de la Bleterie (tom. i. p. 156-209) handsomely exposes the brutal bigotry of Baronius, who would have thrown Julian to the dogs, ne cespititia quidem sepultura dignus.]

  

  


[130: Compare the sophist and the saint, (Libanius, Monod. tom. ii. p. 251, and Orat. Parent. c. 145, p. 367, c. 156, p. 377, with Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 125-132.) The Christian orator faintly mutters some exhortations to modesty and forgiveness; but he is well satisfied, that the real sufferings of Julian will far exceed the fabulous torments of Ixion or Tantalus.]

  

  


[131: Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 549) has collected these visions. Some saint or angel was observed to be absent in the night, on a secret expedition, &c.]

  

  


[132: Sozomen (l. vi. 2) applauds the Greek doctrine of tyrannicide; but the whole passage, which a Jesuit might have translated, is prudently suppressed by the president Cousin.]

  

  


[133: Immediately after the death of Julian, an uncertain rumor was scattered, telo cecidisse Romano. It was carried, by some deserters to the Persian camp; and the Romans were reproached as the assassins of the emperor by Sapor and his subjects, (Ammian. xxv. 6. Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. xiii. p. 162, 163.) It was urged, as a decisive proof, that no Persian had appeared to claim the promised reward, (Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 141, p. 363.) But the flying horseman, who darted the fatal javelin, might be ignorant of its effect; or he might be slain in the same action. Ammianus neither feels nor inspires a suspicion.]

  

  


[134: This dark and ambiguous expression may point to Athanasius, the first, without a rival, of the Christian clergy, (Libanius de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 5, p. 149. La Bleterie, Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 179.)]

  

  


[135: The orator (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 145-179) scatters suspicions, demands an inquiry, and insinuates, that proofs might still be obtained. He ascribes the success of the Huns to the criminal neglect of revenging Julian's death.]

  

  


[136: At the funeral of Vespasian, the comedian who personated that frugal emperor, anxiously inquired how much it cost. Fourscore thousand pounds, (centies.) Give me the tenth part of the sum, and throw my body into the Tiber. Sueton, in Vespasian, c. 19, with the notes of Casaubon and Gronovius.]

  

  


[137: Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 119, 120) compares this supposed ignominy and ridicule to the funeral honors of Constantius, whose body was chanted over Mount Taurus by a choir of angels.]

  

  


[138: Quintus Curtius, l. iii. c. 4. The luxuriancy of his descriptions has been often censured. Yet it was almost the duty of the historian to describe a river, whose waters had nearly proved fatal to Alexander.]

  

  


[139: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 156, p. 377. Yet he acknowledges with gratitude the liberality of the two royal brothers in decorating the tomb of Julian, (de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 7, p. 152.)]

  

  


[140: Cujus suprema et cineres, si qui tunc juste consuleret, non Cydnus videre deberet, quamvis gratissimus amnis et liquidus: sed ad perpetuandam gloriam recte factorum praeterlambere Tiberis, intersecans urbem aeternam, divorumque veterum monumenta praestringens Ammian. xxv. 10.]


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