nephew. A few of their men held together; though many had already quitted the line during its advance, to seek plunder in the tents which they had overthrown. For a few minutes there was a hot struggle, in which Marcellus shewed the daring and coolness which had been well tried in the wars of the West. When the elephants were driven against his line, he called to his men to open and allow their passage, and then rushing forward, he slew, with his own hand, the leader of the royal body-guards. Rutilius seconded him bravely; and in a few moments their opponents were flying like the rest of the army, though not till several persons had issued from the royal tent, and mounted upon horses which stood in readiness; one elephant also passed with a rapid and unwieldy pace in the same direction, and Rutilius fancied that he could descry some female figures in the tower upon its back. A moment, however, and all had disappeared in the darkness. The royal tent was fairly surrounded; but when it was on the point of being pillaged by the soldiery, Marcellus raised his voice, and with a commanding tone ordered his men to forbear. "This tent," he said, "must be kept till the Cæsar has declared his pleasure; seek elsewhere your booty." The order was readily obeyed; for spoils of incredible wealth were scattered on every side: every where might be seen common soldiers leading off the war-horses of the Persian nobility, loaded with sumptuous trappings. One man had met with a bag of pearls, which he was

pouring out, from ignorance of their value, that he might carry away the leather which contained them with more convenience. No one but had furnished himself with some valuable; Marcellus only and his nephew were anxiously guarding the royal tent, which they had their own reason for preferring to any other prize. When they had collected men enough to secure all its outlets, they proceeded to learn whom it contained. Their prisoners, they soon found, were of great value, being no less than the wives and children of the Persian king; but the countenance of Marcellus fell, when, after a most diligent search, he was compelled to abandon the hope that the ample precincts of the royal tent contained the captive maiden whom he was so desirous to rescue.

The shepherd last appears,

And with him all his patrimony bears;
His house and household-gods, his trade of war,
His bow and quiver, and his trusty cur.

DRYDEN'S Virgil.

THE second day after the battle found the victorious army in motion towards the town of Nisibis, the strongest post which the Romans possessed in Mesopotamia, where Galerius expected to be joined by Dioclesian himself with the reserve. The object of the campaign was already answered. The Persians had fled across plains where it was impossible to pursue them; but in the wives and children of Narses, the Romans had the best hostages for his

submission. At Nisibis, therefore, a peace was concluded, the Persian monarch renouncing all claim to that wide region which extended northward of the Tigris, between the Caspian Sea and the ridges of Caucasus. A large part of this country was added to the dominions of Tiridates. Nor were the infe

Mamgo, with his

rior agents of Rome forgotten. Scythians, was allowed, by Tiridates, to occupy a fertile plain near the Araxes; and Marcellus, to whose rapidity and forbearance was attributed the capture and preservation of the family of Narses, was advanced to a station of greater trust by the emperor.

As soon as a treaty was made, the army moved westward; but, to the surprise of his comrades, Marcellus solicited and received an appointment in the neighbourhood of Nisibis; and, at his desire, his nephew remained with him. Rutilius was not as yet enrolled as a regular soldier, his uncle having hitherto retained him as a sort of attendant upon himself; and to this arrangement the young man the more readily consented, because it would leave him at greater liberty, if, as he suspected, there was still some scheme in agitation for the deliverance of the captive, of whom he fancied he had caught a distant 'glimpse through the darkness of the night of battle. Though the dejection under which his uncle evidently suffered prevented him from making any direct inquiries, yet a few hints which had been dropped induced him to put this interpretation on the frequent visits of Viriathes, who had attended

the king of Armenia to Nisibis. But he was soon to receive clearer information. About a month after the departure of the Roman army, the governor of Nisibis sent for Marcellus, and desired him to undertake a service of great importance, which required his presence in Egypt. The veteran would gladly have declined, but the governor would take no excuse; and as the party which was sent had to cross directly through the desert which intervenes between Mesopotamia and Palestine, it required a soldier of experience for its command. Though purposing to return as speedily as possible, Marcellus now thought it necessary to impart the subject of his anxiety to his nephew. Viriathes had ascertained, from some followers of the Persian army, that Flavia—such was the name of the lady he sought—had not returned into Persia after the battle, but that she had been carried away by one of those independent chieftains who followed the standard of Narses; but no tidings could yet be gained of the place of her captivity. Yet Viriathes had not given up his search; and if any news arrived from him before the return of Marcellus, his nephew was to make immediate application for assistance to the governor of Nisibis.

Nothing occurred for some time after the departure of Marcellus. But at length Rutilius was surprised by the sudden arrival of Viriathes himself. He had heard that Flavia was the captive of a Curdish chieftain, whose tribe was in the habit of ranging to the south and south-east of the Caspian, and who

D