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

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The Romans capture and burn a stronghold well fortified by its position and by defensive works.

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Then going on, we came to groves and fields rich with the bloom of many kinds of fruits; there we found a palace built in Roman style, with which we were so pleased that we left it untouched. [2] There was also in that same region an extensive round tract, enclosed by a strong fence and containing the wild beasts that were kept for the king's entertainment: lions with flowing manes, boars with bristling shoulders, and bears savage beyond all manner of madness (as they usually are in Persia), and other choice animals of enormous size; our cavalry burst the fastenings of the gates and butchered them all with hunting-spears and showers of missiles. [3] This district is fruitful in fields of grain and in cultivation. ¹ Not far from it is Coche, which they call Seleucia; there a camp [p. 451] was hastily fortified, and the entire army because of the convenience of water and fodder rested for two days. But the emperor went on ahead with some light-armed skirmishers, in order to visit a deserted city destroyed in former days by the emperor Carus ² ; in this there is an ever flowing spring forming a great pool which empties into the Tigris. There he saw the impaled bodies of many kinsmen of the man who (as I have already said) ³ had surrendered the city of Pirisabora. [4] Here too Nabdates, who (as I have said) was dragged with eighty men from a hiding-place in a captured city, ⁴ was burned alive, because early in the beginning of the siege he had secretly promised to betray the town, but had fought most vigorously, and after obtaining an unhoped-for pardon had gone to such a pitch of insolence as to assail Ormisda with every kind of insult.

[5] We had gone on some distance, when we were shocked by a sad misfortune. For while three cohorts of light-armed skirmishers were fighting with a band of Persians which had burst forth from the suddenly opened gates of a town, ⁵ others who had sallied forth from the opposite side of the river, cut off and butchered the pack-animals that followed us, along with a few foragers who were carelessly roaming about. [6] The emperor left the spot in a rage, grinding his teeth, and was already nearing the vicinity of Ctesiphon, when he came upon a lofty, well-fortified stronghold. He ventured to approach and examine the place, riding up to the walls with a few followers [p. 453] and thinking that he was not recognized; but when with somewhat too great rashness he appeared within arrow-shot, he could not escape recognition, and was at once exposed to a rain of various missiles and all but met death from a mural engine. But only his armour-bearer, who was close at his side, was wounded; he himself was protected by a close array of shields, and so escaped the great danger and went his way.

[7] Fearfully enraged because of this, he resolved to besiege the fortress, and its garrison was intent upon a vigorous resistance, trusting to their position, which was all but inaccessible, and believing that the king, who was rapidly advancing with an impressive force, would shortly make his appearance. [8] Already the mantlets and all the other equipment required for a siege were being made ready, when, as the night chanced to be clear and the bright moonlight clearly revealed everything to those who stood upon the battlements, near the end of the second watch a throng quickly gathered and burst from the suddenly opened gates, and falling unawares on one of our cohorts, killed a great number, including also a tribune who tried to avert the danger. [9] While this was going on, the Persians, in the same way as before, attacked a part of our men from the opposite side of the river, killed some, and took a few alive. And from fear, and at the same time because they thought that the enemy had gained greater numbers, our men for a time were held irresolute; but when they had recovered their courage, had armed themselves as well as they could in the confusion, and our army, aroused by the trumpets' blast, was [p. 455] hastening to the spot with threatening cries, the attacking force retreated in terror, though without loss. [10] The emperor, roused to bitter anger, reduced the surviving members of the cohort, who had shown no spirit ⁶ in resisting the marauders' attack, to the infantry service ⁷ (which is more burdensome) with loss of rank. [11] This set him afire to destroy the fortress before which he had been so endangered, ⁸ and he devoted his energies and thoughts to that end, never himself leaving the van, in order that by fighting among the foremost he might by his personal example rouse the soldiers to deeds of valour, as the witness and judge of their conduct. And so when he had exposed himself valiantly and long to extreme peril, after using every kind of attack ⁹ and weapons, through the unanimous valour of the besiegers that same fortress was at last taken and destroyed by fire. [12] After this, in consideration of the difficult tasks already performed and those which impended, the army, exhausted by excessive toil, was given a rest and many kinds of provisions were distributed in abundance. However, after that time the palisade of the camp was more carefully constructed with a close array of stakes and a deep moat, since there was fear of sudden sallies and other secret attempts from Ctesiphon, which was now not far distant.