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Lucilianus, and his garrison, was seconded bythe desperate courage of the people. The citi-zens of Nisibis were animated by the exhorta-tions of their bishop,’ inured to arms by thepresence of danger, and convinced of the inten-tions of Sapor to plant a Persian colony in theirroom, and to lead them away into distant andbarbarous captivity. The event of the two for-mer sieges elated their confidence, and exasper-ated the haughty spirit of the great king, whoadvanced a third time towards Nisibis , at thehead of the united forces of Persia and India .The ordinary machines invented to batter or un-dermine the walls, were rendered ineffectual bythe superior skill of the Homans; and manydays had vainly elapsed, when Sapor embraceda resolution, worthy of an eastern monarch, whobelieved that the elements themselves were sub-ject to his power. At the stated season of themelting of the snows in Armenia , the river Myg-donius, which divides the plain and the city ofNisibis, forms, like the Nile , b an inundation overthe adjacent country. By the labour of thePersians , the course of the river w as stopt be-

houses; the marshy lands produce rice, and the fertile meadows, asfar as Mosul and the Tigris, are covered with the ruins of towns and vil-lages. See Niebuhr, Voyages, tom. ii, p. 300 309.

* The miracles which Theodoret (1. ii, c. SO) ascribes to St. James,bishop of Edessa, were at least performed in a worthy cause, the de-fence of his country. He appeared on the walls under the figure ofthe Roman emperor, and sent an army of gnats to sting the trunks ofthe elephants, and to discomfit the host of the new Senacherib.

b Julian. Orat. i, p. 27. Though Niebuhr (tom. ii, p. 307_) allows avery considerable swell to the Mygdonius, over which he saw a bridgeof twelve arches, it is difficult, however, to understand this parallel ofetrifling rivulet with a mighty river. There arc many circumstancesobscure, and almost unintelligible, in the description of these stupend-ous water-works*

CHAP*

xvin.