10. And therefore we hastened forwards with a forced march, to prevent the roads from being occupied; and when we had advanced two miles, we saw a fine boy of about eight years old, as we guessed, wearing a necklace, of noble appearance, standing on the top of a small hillock, and crying out, stating himself to be the son of a man of noble birth, whom his mother, while fleeing in her alarm at the approach of the enemy, had left in her panic in order to be less encumbered. We pitied him, and at the command of our general, I put him on my horse, in front of me, and took him back to the city, while the predatory bands of the enemy, having blockaded the city, were ravaging all around.
11. And because I was alarmed at the difficulties in which we should be placed by a blockade, I put the child in at a half open postern gate, and hastened back with all speed to my troop. And I was very nearly taken prisoner; for a tribune named Abdigidus, accompanied by a groom, was fleeing, pursued by a squadron of cavalry, and though the master escaped the servant was taken. And as I was passing by rapidly, they, examining the servant, inquired of him who was the chief who had advanced against them; and when they heard that Ursicinus had a little while before entered the city, and was on his way to Mount Izala, they put their informant to death, and then, forming into one body, pursued us with ceaseless speed.
12. But I outstripped them by the speed of my horse, and finding my comrades reposing securely under the walls of a slight fort, called Amudis, with their horses dispersed over the grass, I waved my hand, and raising the hem of my cloak: by this usual signal I gave notice that the enemy was at hand, and then joining them we retreated together, though my horse was greatly fatigued.
13. Our alarm was increased by the brightness of the night, as the moon was full, and by the even level of the plain, which, if our danger should become worse, afforded no possible hiding-place, as having neither trees, nor bushes, nor anything but low herbage.
14. Accordingly we adopted the following plan: we lit a lamp and fastened it tightly on a horse, which we turned loose without a rider, and let go where it pleased to our left, while we marched towards the high ground on our right, in order that the Persians might fancy the light a torch held before the general as he proceeded slowly forwards, and so keep on in that direction. And unless we had adopted this precaution we should have been circumvented, and have fallen as prisoners into the power of the enemy.
15. Being delivered from this danger, when we had come to a woody spot, full of vines and fruit-bearing trees, called Meiacarire, a name derived from the cool springs found there, we found that the inhabitants had all fled, and there was only a single soldier remaining behind, concealed in a remote corner. And when he was brought before our general, and through fear told all kinds of different stories, and so became an object of suspicion; at last, under the compulsion of our threats, he told the real truth, that he was a native of Gaul, and had been born among the Parisii, that he had served in our cavalry, but that fearing punishment for some offence he had deserted to the Persians; that he had since married a wife of excellent character, and had a family, and that having been frequently sent as a spy to our camp, he had always brought the Persians true intelligence. And now he said he had been sent by the nobles Tamsapor and Nohodares, who were in command of the predatory bands, to bring them such intelligence as he could collect. After telling us this, and also that he knew of the operations of the enemy, he was put to death.
16. Afterwards, as our anxiety increased, we proceeded from thence with as much speed as we could make to Amida, a city celebrated at a later period for the disaster which befel it. And when our scouts had rejoined us there we found in one of their scabbards a scrap of parchment written in cipher, which they had been ordered to convey to us by Procopius, whom I have already spoken of as ambassador to the Persians with the Count Lucillianus; its terms were purposely obscure, lest if the bearers should be taken prisoners, and the sense of the writing understood, materials should be found for fatal mischief.
17. The purport was, "The ambassadors of the Greeks, having been rejected, and being perhaps to be put to death, the aged king, not contented with the Hellespont, will throw bridges over the Granicus and the Rhyndacus, and invade Asia Minor with a numerous host, being by his own natural disposition irritable and fierce; and being now prompted and inflamed by him who was formerly the successor of the Roman emperor Hadrian,[95] it is all over with the Greeks if they do not take care."
18. The meaning of this was that the Persian king, having crossed the rivers Anzaba and Tigris, at the prompting of Antoninus was aiming at the sovereignty of the entire East. When it had been interpreted with difficulty, from its great obscurity, a wise plan was decided on.
19. The satrap of Corduena, a province under the authority of the Persians, was a man named Jovinianus, who had grown up to manhood in the Roman territories, and was secretly friendly to us, because he had been detained as a hostage in Syria, and being now allured by the love of liberal studies, he was exceedingly desirous to return among us.