Book 25
6.15
When this was seen from afar, the soldiers, now eager to cross, were delayed only by the promise of the pontoon builders to make bridges of bladders from the hides of slain animals.Cf. xxiv. 3, 11, note.
7.1
While these vain attempts were being made, King Sapor, both when far away and when he had come near, learned from the true accounts of scouts and deserters of the brave deeds of our men and the shameful defeats of his army, accompanied by a greater loss of elephants than he had ever known in his reign; also that the Roman army, inured to constant hardship after the loss of their glorious leader, were looking out (as they said), not for their safety, but for revenge, and would end the difficulties of their situation by either a decisive victory or a glorious death.
7.2
This news filled his mind with fear for many reasons: for he knew by experience that the troops scattered in great numbers through the provinces could easily be assembled by one little ticket,The watchword, and orders of various kinds, were written on small square tablets, called tesserae; cf. xiv. 2, 15; Suet., Galba, 6, 2; etc. and he was aware that his own subjects, after the loss of so many men were in a state of extreme panic, and, besides, that in Mesopotamia a Roman army had been left which was not much smaller.I.e. than the one which had invaded Persia.
