Res Gestae

This embassy having been sent back without obtaining anything—for no fuller answer could be made to the king’s unbridled greed—after a very few days it was followed by Count Prosper,[*](See xiv. 11, 5; xv. 13, 3.) Spectatus, tribune and secretary,[*](There were three classes of secretaries. The highest held the rank of tribune; see Introd., pp. xliii f.) and likewise, at the suggestion of Musonianus,[*](See xv. 13, 1; xvi. 9, 2.) the philosopher Eustathius,[*](From Cappadocia, a pupil of Iamblichus.) as a master of persuasion; they carried with them letters of the emperor and gifts, and meanwhile planned by some craft or other to stay Sapor’s preparations, so that his northern provinces might not be fortified beyond the possibility of attack.