200
THE DECLINE AND FALL
CHAP.
XIX.
cus from the acclamations of his victoriousarmy.*
While the Roman emperor and the Persian monarch, at the distance of three thousandmiles, defended their extreme limits against thebarbarians of the Danube and of the Oxus , theirintermediate frontier experienced the vicissi-tudes of a languid war, and a precarious truce.Two of the eastern ministers of Constantins, thepraetorian praefect Musonian, whose abilitieswere disgraced by the want of truth and inte-grity, and Cassian duke of Mesopotamia , ahardy and veteran soldier, opened a secret ne-gociation with the satrap Tamsapor. b Theseovertures of peace, translated into the servileand flattering language of Asia , were transmit-ted to the camp of the great king; who resolvedto signify, by an ambassador, the terms whichhe was inclined to grant to the suppliant Ro-mans. Narses , whom he invested with thatcharacter, was honourably received in his pas-sage through Antioch and Constantinople ; hereached Sirmium after a long journey, and, athis first audience, respectfully unfolded thesilken veil which covered the haughty epistleof his sovereign. Sapor, king of kings, andbrother of the Sun and Moon (such were thelofty titles affected by oriental vanity), express-ed his satisfaction that his brother, Constantius
* Genti Sarmatarum magno decori considens a pud eos regent deditAurelius Victor . In a pompous oratiou pronounced by Constantiushimsclt, he expatiates on his own exploits with much vanity, and sometruth.