It was in vain that the flower of the garrison threw itself across the path of the entering columns--nothing could withstand the ardor of the Persian troops.

In a little time all resistance was at an end; those who could quitted the city and fled--the remainder, whatever their sex, age, or calling, whether armed or unarmed, were slaughtered like sheep by the conquerors.
Thus fell Amida after a siege of seventy-three days.

Sapor, who on other occasions showed himself not deficient in clemency, was exasperated by the prolonged resistance and the losses which he had sustained in the course of it.

Thirty thousand of his best soldiers had fallen; the son of his chief ally had perished; he himself had been brought into imminent danger.

Such audacity on the part of a petty town seemed no doubt to him to deserve a severe retribution.