8. The lower class of soldiers, who had long been deprived of rank or reward, were encouraged by this speech to entertain better hopes, and now rising up with a great noise, and beating their shields with their spears, they with unanimous shouts showed their approbation of his language and purpose.
9. And that no opportunity, however brief, might be afforded to disturb so wise an arrangement, the Petulantes and Celtic legion immediately besought him, on behalf of their commissaries, to give them the government of any provinces he pleased, and when he refused them, they retired without being either offended or out of humour.
10. But the very night before the day on which he was thus proclaimed emperor, Julian had mentioned to his most intimate friends that during his slumbers some one had appeared to him in a dream, in the form and habit of the genius of the empire, who uttered these words in a tone of reproach: "For some time, Julian, have I been secretly watching the door of thy palace, wishing to increase thy dignity, and I have often retired as one rejected; but if I am not now admitted, when the opinion of the many is unanimous, I shall retire discouraged and sorrowful. But lay this up in the depth of thy heart, that I will dwell with thee no longer."
VI.
§ 1. While these transactions were proceeding in Gaul, to the great anxiety of many, the fierce king of Persia (the advice of Antoninus being now seconded by the arrival of Craugasius), burning with eagerness to obtain Mesopotamia, while Constantius with his army was at a distance, crossed the Tigris in due form with a vast army, and laid siege to Singara with a thoroughly equipped force, sufficient for the siege of a town which, in the opinion of the chief commanders of those regions, was abundantly fortified and supplied.
2. The garrison, as soon as they saw the enemy, while still at a distance, at once closed their gates, and with great spirit thronged to the towers and battlements, collecting on them stones and warlike engines. And then, having made all their preparations, they stood prepared to repel the advancing host if they should venture to approach the walls.
3. Therefore the king, when he arrived and found that, though they would admit some of his nobles near enough to confer with them, he could not, by any conciliatory language, bend the garrison to his wishes, he gave one entire day to rest, and then, at daybreak, on a signal made by the raising of a scarlet flag, the whole city was surrounded by men carrying ladders, while others began to raise engines; all being protected by fences and penthouses while seeking a way to assail the foundation of the walls.
4. Against these attempts the citizens, standing on the lofty battlements, drove back with stones and every kind of missile the assailants who were seeking with great ferocity to find an entrance.
5. For many days the struggle continued without any decided result, many being wounded and killed on both sides. At last, the struggle growing fiercer, one day on the approach of evening a very heavy battering-ram was brought forward among other engines, which battered a round tower with repeated blows, at a point where we mentioned that the city had been laid open in a former siege.
6. The citizens at once repaired to this point, and a violent conflict arose in this small space; torches and firebrands were brought from all quarters to consume this formidable engine, while arrows and bullets were showered down without cessation on the assailants. But the keenness of the ram prevailed over every means of defence, digging through the mortar of the recently cemented stones, which was still moist and unsettled.