Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestarum
John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., Ed.

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Julian, after ordering Arsaces, king of Armenia, to get ready for a Persian war, crosses the Euphrates with his army and with Scythian auxiliaries.

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Meanwhile, however, embassies from many nations which promised aid were cordially received and sent back; for the emperor with laudable confidence replied, that it was by no means fitting for the Roman State to defend itself by means of foreign aid, since its duty was rather by its power to protect its friends and allies, if necessity forced them to apply for help. [2] Arsaces only, the king of Armenia, ¹ did he order to muster a strong army and await his orders, since he would shortly learn to what place he was to march and what he ought to push forward. Thereupon, as soon as regard for [p. 317] prudence offered the opportunity, he hastened to invade the enemy's country, outstripping the report of his coming; and spring had barely arrived, when he ordered all to cross the Euphrates, sending marching orders ² to every division of his army. [3] As soon as this was known, all hastened from their winter quarters, and having crossed as their written orders directed, they dispersed to their several posts and awaited the coming of the emperor. He himself, when on the point of leaving Antioch, appointed as governor of Syria a certain Alexander of Heliopolis, who was hot-tempered and cruel; and he said that the man did not deserve the post, but was the kind of judge proper for the avaricious and rebellious people of Antioch. [4] And when a crowd of all conditions of men escorted him as he was leaving the city, wishing him a successful march and a glorious return, and begging that in the future he might be more placable and mild, since the anger which their attacks and insults had aroused was not yet assuaged, he replied harshly, saying that they would never see him again. [5] For he said that he had arranged when the campaign was finished to return by a shorter route to Tarsus in Cilicia for the purpose of wintering, and that he had written to Memorius, the governor of that city, to prepare everything that was necessary for his use. And this not long afterwards came to pass; for his body was brought back there, and he was buried in a suburb of the city with simple rites, as he himself had directed. ³

[6] And when the season was now sunny, he set out on the fifth of March, and came by the usual route to Hierapolis. ⁴ There, as he was entering the [p. 319] gates of the great city, a colonnade on his left suddenly collapsed and crushed with a great weight of timbers and tiles fifty soldiers who were encamped under it, besides wounding many more. [7] Then, uniting all his forces, he marched to Mesopotamia so rapidly that, since no report of his coming had preceded him (for he had carefully guarded against that), he came upon the Assyrians unawares. Finally, having crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of boats, he arrived with his army and his Scythian auxiliaries at Batnae, ⁵ a town of Osdroëne, where he met with a sad portent. [8] For when a great throng of ostlers, in order to get fodder as usual, had taken their place near a very high stack of chaff (such as are commonly constructed in that country), since many at once laid hold on what they wanted, the heap was broken and gave way, and fifty men at once met death by being buried under the huge mass that fell upon them.