room for the evolutions of cavalry.  The Persians, like their predecessors the Parthians, were especially strong in horse; and the host which Narses had brought into the field greatly outnumbered the troops which Diocletian had placed at the disposal of Galerius.  Yet Galerius took the offensive.  Fighting under the eye of a somewhat stern master, he was scarcely free to choose his plan of campaign.  Diocletian expected him to drive the Persians from Mesopotamia, and he was therefore bound to make the attempt.  He accordingly sought out his adversary in this region, and engaged him in three great battles.  The first and second appear to have been indecisive; but in the third the Roman general suffered a complete defeat.  The catastrophe of Crassus was repeated almost upon the same battle-field, and probably almost by the same means.  But, personally, Galerius was more fortunate than his predecessor.  He escaped from the carnage, and, recrossing the Euphrates, rejoined his father-in-law in Syria.  A conjecture, not altogether destitute of probability, makes Tiridates share both the calamity and the good fortune of the Roman Caesar.  Like Galerius, he escaped from the battle-field, and reached the banks of the Euphrates.  But his horse, which had received a wound, could not be trusted to pass the river.  In this emergency the Armenian prince dismounted, and, armed as he was, plunged into the stream.  The river was both wide and deep; the current was rapid; but the hardy adventurer, inured to danger and accustomed to every athletic exercise, swam across and reached the opposite bank in safety.

Thus, while the rank and file perished ignominiously, the two personages of most importance on the Roman side were saved.  Galerius hastened towards Antioch, to rejoin his colleague and sovereign.  The latter came out to meet him, but, instead of congratulating him on his escape, assumed the air of an offended master, and, declining to speak to him or to stop his chariot, forced the Caesar to follow him on foot for nearly a mile before he would condescend to receive his explanations and apologies for defeat.  The disgrace was keenly felt, and was ultimately revenged upon the prince who had contrived it.  But, at the time, its main effect doubtless was to awake in the young Caesar the strongest desire of retrieving his honor, and wiping out the memory of his great reverse by a yet more signal victory.  Galerius did not cease through the winter of A.D. 297 to importune his father-in-law for an opportunity of redeeming the past and recovering his lost laurels.

The emperor, having sufficiently indulged his resentment, acceded to the wishes of his favorite.  Galerius was continued in his command.  A new army was collected during the winter, to replace that which had been lost; and the greatest care was taken that its material should be of good quality, and that it should be employed where it had the best chance of success.  The veterans of Illyria and Moesia constituted