10. But the savage populace were not content with this; but having mutilated their bodies, put them on camels and conveyed them to the shore, where they burnt them and threw the ashes into the sea; fearing, as they exclaimed, lest their remains should be collected and a temple raised over them, as the relics of men who, being urged to forsake their religion, had preferred to endure torturing punishments even to a glorious death, and so, by keeping their faith inviolate, earning the appellation of martyrs. In truth the wretched men who underwent such cruel punishment might have been protected by the aid of the Christians, if both parties had not been equally exasperated by hatred of George.
11. When this event reached the emperor's ears, he roused himself to avenge the impious deed; but when about to inflict the extremity of punishment on the guilty, he was appeased by the intercession of those about him, and contented himself with issuing an edict in which he condemned the crime which had been committed in stern language, and threatening all with the severest vengeance if anything should be attempted for the future contrary to the principles of justice and law.
XII.
§ 1. In the mean time, while preparing the expedition against the Persians, which he had long been meditating with all the vigour of his mind, he resolved firmly to avenge their past victories; hearing from others, and knowing by his own experience, that for nearly sixty years that most ferocious people had stamped upon the East bloody records of massacre and ravage, many of our armies having often been entirely destroyed by them.
2. And he was inflamed with a desire for the war on two grounds: first, because he was weary of peace, and dreaming always of trumpets and battles; and secondly, because, having been in his youth exposed to the attacks of savage nations, the wishes of whose kings and princes were already turning against us, and whom, as was believed, it would be easier to conquer than to reduce to the condition of suppliants, he was eager to add to his other glories the surname of Parthieus.
3. But when his inactive and malicious detractors saw that these preparations were being pressed forward with great speed and energy, they cried out that it was an unworthy and shameful thing for such unseasonable troubles to be caused by the change of a single prince, and laboured with all their zeal to postpone the campaign; and they were in the habit of saying, in the presence of those whom they thought likely to report their words to the emperor, that, unless he conducted himself with moderation during his excess of prosperity, he, like an over-luxuriant crop, would soon be destroyed by his own fertility.
4. And they were continually propagating sayings of this kind, barking in vain at the inflexible prince with secret attacks, as the Pygmies or the clown Thiodamas of Lindus assailed Hercules.
5. But he, as more magnanimous, allowed no delay to take place, nor any diminution in the magnitude of his expedition, but devoted the most energetic care to prepare everything suitable for such an enterprise.
6. He offered repeated victims on the altars of the gods; sometimes sacrificing one hundred bulls, and countless flocks of animals of all kinds, and white birds, which he sought for everywhere by land, and sea; so that every day individual soldiers who had stuffed themselves like boors with too much meat, or who were senseless from the eagerness with which they had drunk, were placed on the shoulders of passers-by, and carried to their homes through the streets from the public temples where they had indulged in feasts which deserved punishment rather than indulgence. Especially the Petulantes and the Celtic legion, whose audacity at this time had increased to a marvellous degree.
7. And rites and ceremonies were marvellously multiplied with a vastness of expense hitherto unprecedented; and, as it was now allowed without hindrance, every one professed himself skilful in divination, and all, whether illiterate or learned, without any limit or any prescribed order, were permitted to consult the oracles, and to inspect the entrails of victims; and omens from the voice of birds, and every kind of sign of the future, was sought for with an ostentatious variety of proceeding.