Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

HISTORY OF PERSIA. 165
of the Persians. So far from it, it is clear that the
son and successor of Constantine, Constantius, did his
best to secure the frontier of his empire from the
incessant inroads of their light horse. Details in these
matters are wanting, and accounts vary; but it seems
certain that, of nine bloody fields, in two of which
Constantius commanded in person, the general result
was in favour of the Persian.
Of these, the most memorable was the battle of Sin-
gara, in which, as long as daylight lasted, the Persians
failed to hold their own against the Roman veterans,
who forced their : camp but the following night told a
different tale. In the silence of that night, Shahpur
drew together his forces, many of which had been
watching the action of the previous day on secure
heights, and falling on the Roman troops, dispersed
here and there and rejoicing in the plunder of the
Persian camp, cut them to pieces, with an incredible
slaughter. The end therefore, of the battle of Singara,
though it was victorious at its commencement, was the
entire rout and destruction of the army of Constan-
tius. Yet the Persian, superior in the plain,
where he
had ample room to manoeuvre his chief arm, cavalry,
failed as surely when he had to besiege a fortified town ;
hence he was forced to raise the siege of Nisibis, with
a loss, it is said, of 20,000 men. Moreover, as he
was, about the same time, invaded from the North by
the Massagetae, he thought it as well to patch up a
hasty peace with Constantius, who, at the same time,
was nothing loath to do so, as, by the death of his two
brothers, he was involved in a civil contest demanding
the utmost exertion of his undivided strength. The