OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

159

The city of Mursa, or Essek, celebrated in chap.

modern times for a bridge of boats five miles in_

length, over the river Drave, and the adjacent Battle ofmorasses, p has been always considered as a a. d. 351,1place of importance in the wars of Hungary . Scpt ' 28Magnentins, directing his march towards Mur-sa, set fire to the gates, and, by a sudden as-sault, had almost scaled the walls of the town.

The vigilance of the garrison extinguished theflames; the approach of Constantius left himno time to continue the operations of the siege;and the emperor soon removed the only obstaclethat could embarrass his motions, by forcing abody of troops which had taken post in an ad-joining amphitheatre. The field of battle roundMursa was a naked and level plain: on thisground the army of Constantius formed, withthe Drave on their right; while their left, eitherfrom the nature of their disposition, or from thesuperiority of their cavalry, extended far be-yond the right flank of Magnentius . q Thetroops on both sides remained under arms, inanxious expectation, during the greatest partof the morning; and the son of Constantine , af-ter animating his soldiers by an eloquent speech,retired into a church at some distance from thefield of battle, and committed to his generals

p This remarkable bridge, which is flanked with towers, and sup-ported on large wooden piles, was constructed, A.. D. 1566, by SultanSoliman, to facilitate the match ot bis armies into Hungary . SeeBrowne’s Travels, and Busching’s System of Geography, vol. ii, p.00.

'< This position, and the subsequent evolutions, are cleatly, thoughconcisely, described by Julian, Oral, i, p. 36.