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ON war being waged against the Romans by Sapor King of Persia,
Constantius mustered his forces and marched to Antioch. But the
enemy were driven forth, not by the Roman army, but by Him whom the
pious in the Roman host worshipped as their God. How the victory was
won I shall now proceed to relate.
Nisibis, sometimes called Antiochia Mygdonia, lies on the confines
of the realms of Persia and of Rome. In Nisibis Jacobus whom I
named just now was at once bishop, guardian, and commander in chief.
He was a man who shone with the grace of a truly apostolic character.
His extraordinary and memorable miracles, which I have fully related
in my religious history, I think it superfluous and irrelevant to
enumerate again.
One however I will record because of the subject before us. The city
which Jacobus ruled was now in possession of the Romans, and besieged
by the Persian Army. The blockade was prolonged for seventy days.
"Helepoles" and many other engines were advanced to the walls. The
town was begirt with a palisade and entrenchment, but still held out.
The river Mygdonius flowing through the middle of the town, at last
the Persians dammed its stream a considerable distance up, and
increased the height of its bank on both sides so as to shut the waters
in. When they saw that a great mass of water was collected and already
beginning to overflow the dam, they suddenly launched it like an engine
against the wall. The impact was tremendous; the bulwarks could not
sustain it, but gave way and fell down. Just the same fate befell the
other side of the circuit, through which the Mygdonius made its exit;
it could not withstand the shock, and was carried away. No sooner did
Sapor see this than he expected to capture the rest of the city, and
for all that day be rested for the mud to dry and the river to become
passable. Next day he attacked in full force, and looked to enter the
city through the breaches that had been made. But he found the wall
built up on both sides, and all his labour vain. For that holy man,
through prayer, filled with valour both the troops and the rest of the
townsfolk, and both built the walls, withstood the engines, and beat
off the advancing foe. And all this he did without approaching the
walls, but by beseeching the Lord of all within the church. Sapor,
moreover, was not only astounded at the speed of the building of the
walls but awed by another spectacle. For he saw standing on the
battlements one of kingly mien and all ablaze with purple robe and
crown. He supposed that this was the Roman emperor. and threatened
his attendants with death for not having announced the imperial
presence; but on their stoutly maintaining that their report had been a
true one and that Constantius was at Antioch, he perceived the
meaning of the vision and exclaimed "their God is fighting for the
Romans." Then the wretched man in a rage flung a javelin into the
air, though he knew that be could not hit a bodiless being, but unable
to curb his passion. Therefore the excellent Ephraim (he is the best
writer among the Syrians) besought the divine Jacobus to mount the
wall to see the barbarians and to let fly at them the darts of his
curse. So the divine man consented and climbed up into a tower but
when he saw the innumerable host he discharged no other curse than to
that mosquitoes and gnats might be sent forth upon them, so that by
means of these tiny animals they might learn the might of the Protector
of the Romans. On his prayer followed clouds of mosquitoes and
gnats; they filled the hollow trunks of the elephants, and the ears
and nostrils of horses and other animals. Finding the attack of these
little creatures past endurance they broke their bridles, unseated
their riders and threw the ranks into confusion. The Persians
abandoned their camp and fled head-long. So the wretched prince
learned by a slight and kindly chastisement the power of the God who
protects the pious, and marched his army home again, reaping for all
the harvest of the siege not triumph but disgrace.
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