The Roman History · Amm. 25.8.14

For it was clear that the whole eastern empire would have fallen under the power of Persia long before if it had not been for the resistance which this city, strong in its admirable position and its mighty walls, had been able to offer. But miserable as they now were, and although they were filled with a still greater fear of what might befall them hereafter, they were supported by this slender hope, that, either from his own inclination or from being won over by their prayers, the emperor might consent to keep their city in its existing state, as the strongest bulwark of the east.

Ammianus Marcellinus · translated by C. D. Yonge · 1911 reprint
C. D. Yonge translation (preface dated February 1862); G. Bell and Sons, 1911; Project Gutenberg #28587
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