OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

205

the walls of Amida, lie resolved to try whether chap.

^ XIX

the majesty of his presence would not awe the__

garrison into immediate submission. The sa-crilegious insult of a random dart, which glan-ced against the royal tiara, convinced him ofhis error; and the indignant monarch listenedwith impatience to the advice of his ministers,who conjured him not to sacrifice the successof his ambition to the gratification of his resent-ment. The following day Grumbates advancedtowards the gates with a select body of troops,and required the instant surrender of the city,as the only atonement which could be acceptedfor such an act of rashness and insolence. Hisproposals were answered by a general discharge,and his only son, a beautiful and valiant youth,was pierced through the heart by a javelin, shotfrom one of the balistce. The funeral of theprince of the Chionites was celebrated accord-ing to the rites of his country; and the grief ofhis aged father was alleviated by the solemnpromise of Sapor, that the guilty city of Amidashould serve as a funeral pile to expiate thedeath, and to perpetuate the memory, of his son.

The ancient city of Amid or Amida, c which Siege 0 fsometimes assumes the provincial appellation ofDiarbekir , h is advantageously situate in a fertile

e For the description of Amida, see d’Herbelot, Bibliotheqne Orien-tal*, p. 108. Histoire de Timur Bee, par Clierefeddin Ali, 1. iii, c. 41.

Ahmed Arabsiades, tom. i, p. 331, c. 43. Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i,p. 301. Voyages d’Otter, tom. ii, p. 273; and Voyages de Niebuhr,tom. ii, p. 324-328. The last of these travellers, a learned and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida, which illustrates the operation^of the siege.

i 11 Diarbekir, which is styled Amid, or Kara-Amid, in the public writ,ings of the Turks, contains above 1G,000 houses, and is the residence of